Buying A Jeep From The Middle Of The Ocean

Hey guys.  Guess what?  Once Pete found out I was going to be talking greenbacks with you guys he wanted to have a say in that conversation...so here it goes.  The "He Said" part of our financial story..enjoy


I am probably one of the most boring people to have at a dinner party. Despite being a division III, all American preseason Quarterback, I find talk about sports boring. Flying aircraft in some of the most demanding environments in the world? Yawn. Astronaut Uncle? Glazed eyes for sure.

Ask me to talk about money, religion or politics? By golly, I can liven up a wine and cheese yawn-er-roo faster than you can say, “passez le fromage”.

Unfortunately, most of my opinions about the latter are uninformed, amateurish, emotionally charged and juvenile at best.

That is why I jumped at my dear wife’s invitation to discuss one of the holy trinity of party impropriety…money. Yup, moolah, greenbacks and dead presidents. I’ll take that over the Knicks shooting average any day. Hopefully this will help me sharpen the saw, so to speak, and, as an added bonus, provide some financial entertainment.

On the other hand, as a member of the “not so gentle” sex, it is extremely hard to lay out your mistakes for all to see. So with Caritas in Veritate, some number$ may be changed to protect the pride of this cat, but, despite the slight of hand, I think you will get the gist.

Oh, and don’t think we will just air out our dirty laundry…we plan on discussing some of our atta-boys too. So bear with us as we lay our dollar signs on our sleeves and “shock and awe” you with 15 years of financial hits and misses.

But first, a brief history. I graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in May of 1996. Lisa and I were married in July of 1996. I promptly and dutifully went to sea for 6 months in August of 1996. Lisa inherited the checkbook and my (our) pay of $2400 a month ($1200 on the 1st and 15th). That is not a lot of money when you live in San Francisco at the beginning of the internet boom. Our rent was $960. What was left over went to what 21 year old newlyweds do…dinners, skiing trips and plenty of overpriced fermented hops. No investments, no saving, no giving, no nothing…but fun.

Believe it or not, we never felt richer.

I am getting a bit ahead of myself. The point I want to make is that I went off to sea, and Lisa and I never talked about the Pay. No plan, except what I felt (and never said) should be done. I just figured that she would pay the rent and I would come back to a bunch of money in 6 months. Heck, she had a job right?

Somewhere around the Tropic of Capricorn, I got some mail and it mentioned something about my beautiful bride buying a jeep and a lamp. As I sat puzzled on my rack, letter in hand and mouth open agape, with the swaying of the South Pacific gently rocking 378 feet of sovereign US of A, I had to ask myself, “Where the heck did she get the money for a Jeep?”


This is my favorite part of the story.  I can't wait until tomorrow to tell the rest...until then ...