My father and stepmother are serving missions in Chile. Attached is a letter from the Santiago temple president and matron, Ted and Cheryl Lyon.
Thanks to all of you who have emailed your concern for us. We can state unequivocally that we’re fine. We can also state with the same emphasis that riding through that quake in our rocking fourth-floor apartment was for me the scariest experience I’ve ever been through! Continue reading
A man in Ohio bulldozed his large home rather than give it back to the bank in foreclosure. Part of me wants to cheer him on, another part wants to hear the bank’s side of the story, which was not presented. I wonder if the bank will press charges and if the guy will go to jail.
That’s what this article (kind of) suggests. The point is that if you saved money for the wedding and reception rather than splurging you would have hundreds of thousands of dollars saved in a few decades (if your investments did well). It turns out the recession is forcing parents, rather than the bride and groom, to pay for more weddings. Good news: the cost of a wedding fell in 2009 from 2008.
The Vancouver winter games have been getting a lot of bad press lately. Check out this article for a good summary. A fair amount of the problems have been simply poor organization. It appears holding some of the events on a ski resort at a low altitude was, in retrospect, a pretty stupid decision. Does this make the Salt Lake City games, which were universally applauded for being well-organized, look good in comparison?
I’d like to point out that, despite being a big fan of the Olympics, I have been unable to stand watching more than few minutes of the games because the commercials drive me absolutely batty. That is not the fault of the Olympic organizers, but instead is simply a financial reality, but I don’t think I’m alone.
Mormons are often told not to get into debt. But we are also told that two types of debt can often be justified: a sensible mortgage and student loans. Well, as in everything else, every kind of debt can be a millstone. Check out the story of this woman who ended up with $550,000 in student loans. She’s a doctor in her 40s. She will be paying off the debt into her Seventies. Meanwhile, her credit rating has been destroyed.
It’s tough to take any generic lesson from this story. Should you not go to medical school? Obviously not. Should you never take out a loan? No. Perhaps the only lesson is what modern-day prophets have been telling us repeatedly, which is to be extremely careful about debt.