What can you do when you have 6 people over for dessert and two uninvited guest arrive just as you cut into your favorite pie?  This is exactly what happens to your monthly budget when you need to repair the transmission on your minivan.  And in addition, you find out, your spouse must unexpectedly travel across the country to visit their Mother who is having surgery.

Let us take a moment and consider what options we have.  We should only consider options where everyone that wanted a slice of pie got one.  To do this we might select one of the following:

• Slice the pie into smaller pieces
• Hope someone is on a diet
• Immediately start baking another pie

If you slice the pie into smaller pieces, sure, everyone gets some pie.  However, it will probably leave most feeling a little unsatisfied.  The same would be true, with your monthly budget if you decided to pay only part of your mortgage, part of your water bill and so on.

You could hope that someone is on a diet and therefore not want any pie.  You might get lucky and have this happen.  But, the people I know and hang around are not going to turn down pie!  This is probably the case with your monthly budget too.  I cannot remember a time the electric company decided they did not want me to pay my bill for the month.

Another idea would be to start immediately baking another pie.  This could work if you have all the ingredients handy and do not have to go to the market to purchase more sugar.  To boot, your guest will probably not be interested in waiting around for you to cook another pie.  They are busy people with things to do and places to go.

A solution that would work for both the uninvited guests and your budget woe is an emergency fund.  For your guest desiring dessert, you could offer them some of the butter pecan ice cream you were saving for a rainy afternoon.  You were stashing the ice cream for when you had the entire house to yourself (just you, the couch, and an old movie).  As for your budget, this is a good time to break out the ole emergency fund.  Your emergency fund should be 3 to 6 months of after tax living expenses.  You can even use a money market account to store these funds.  If you are self-employed, your emergency fund should be 6 to 9 months of expenses.

My wife makes this wonderful pie she calls Carolina Dark Pecan.  One taste of it and you will see why it is my favorite dessert.Here is the recipe:

1 cup dark corn syrup

½ cup butter (melted)

½ cup whole or chopped pecans

½ cup sugar

3 eggs

½ tsp. vanilla

Brush melted butter on piecrust. Arrange pecans in desired pattern in bottom of pie shell. In a separte bowl beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar, syrup, remaining melted butter and vanilla.  Beat until mixture thickens. Pour into unbaked pie shell, and bake 8-10 minutes at 450. Reduce heat to 325 and bake until filling is firm (about 35 minutes).

Until next time, and remember at Stalwart Financial Planning you do not have to have a fortune to start creating one!

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The post Slicing up the Budget Pie first appeared on Stalwart Financial Planning.

If you are like me then this scenario might have happened to you a time or two.  When sitting down to one of Mom’s home cooked meals, and just as you start chewing on those first few bites, you think to yourself, “Mmmm this is good”.  Well this was the case, as I was enjoying a hearty beef stew my Mother had prepared while I was back home visiting.  This meal got me to thinking.  What made the stew so good?  After a little thought and a second bowl of stew, it dawned on me it was not one single extraordinary ingredient but the construction and combination of the ingredients together.I think when constructing a diversified portfolio you should approach it as you would in creating a savory stew. In creating a stew you would start with the basics of perhaps beef, potatoes, carrots and onions.  Much the same is true as you would design a portfolio with some large caps, value stocks, small caps, international stocks and some fixed income and cash.  Once you have the basic ingredients in place you might decide to carefully add in a little seasoning.  While we all know the right amount of spice in our food can add to the depth of flavors enjoyed.  So you too might want to sprinkle in other assets types into your portfolio to make it more robust.  As we think of adding in oil, precious metals, real estate, collectibles and etc., please remember that a little bit can go a long way.  As with the stew, if we add too much salt, it can make the overall stew unpalatable.  And in the long run it can be bad for our health.

As stated earlier the magic flavor of the stew does not come from one secret ingredient, but the real magic is time.  Once, all the ingredients are combined.  Over time and heat the ingredients and flavors are melded together to form a complete meal.  Again this is true of a properly diversified portfolio.  Normally over the long haul it is not the performance of a single stock or fund that makes the portfolio a good one, but the combined group of assets working together to deliver the returns you expect.

If you need help in creating a diversified portfolio, contact Stalwart Financial Planning at (910) 867-8464.  But if you need help making a hearty beef stew, it is better to follow tips from Mom because I’m not much of a cook.

Until next time and remember you do not have to have a fortune to start creating one!

Mom’s Savory Beef Stew

2 lbs.      Stewing Beef

¼ Cup    Oil

1 tbsp.   Butter

Salt and Pepper

2 tbsp.   Flour

2 C         Beef stock

1             medium Onion

4             Potatoes – cubed (peel if desired)

3             Carrots

1             Bay leaf

2             Sprigs of thyme  

Add oil to a large skillet and heat on medium high. In a separate container season the beef with salt and pepper and then coat beef with flour.  Place coated beef into skillet and brown.  Once the beef is browned add the onions and butter to the beef and stir occasionally for about 4 minutes.  Next place browned beef/onion mixture and drippings into a stock pot along with potatoes, carrots, bay leaf and thyme.  Add beef stock and stir thoroughly, cover and cook on medium-low heat for 1 hour 30 minutes or until all ingredients are to desired tenderness. 

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The post Mmmm This is Good first appeared on Stalwart Financial Planning.