Regrets, I Have a Few

I was watching a TV show recently and the discussion shifted to "regrets". One of the characters mentioned that he didn't believe in regrets because each decision he made, good or bad, resulted in him being the person he is today. I think he's delusional.

In this blog post I'm going to focus on just some financial regrets that I have experienced over the years, mostly in regard to the stock market.

One of my regrets was my lack of belief in the success of eBay. In July of 1998, eBay had less than 500,000 users and had yet to take the company public. I joined eBay that same month and remember reading in the Wall Street Journal about the company preparing to launch its IPO in September of 1998. The projected stock price was predicted to open at $18.00 but by the end of the first day the price was $53.50. If I had invested $1,000.00 in eBay today that investment would be worth over $18,000.

Top 10 Bands of All Time

Top 10 Bands of All Time

1) Beatles

2) Pink Floyd

3) Steely Dan

4) Genesis

5) Doobie Brothers

6) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

7) Kansas

8) Three Dog Night

9) Chicago

10) Earth, Wind and Fire

No, this list is not up for debate . . .

Memories Of The Braves

My favorite baseball team, the Atlanta Braves, just clinched the National League East for the first time since 2013! This got me to thinking about some of my favorite Atlanta Braves baseball players throughout my lifetime and some of the great memories that I have about this team.

1) Hank Aaron hitting his 715 home run to break Babe Ruth's all-time home run record in Atlanta Fulton County stadium on April 8th, 1974. I remember a couple of things about this historic game, the first was hoping that he would break the record in Atlanta. This was the fourth game of the 1974 baseball season but the first home game of the new season. In the fourth inning he hit a home run which drove in Darrell Evans and tied the game with the Dodgers (who would go on to win the National League pennant that year). Another interesting fact is that the manager of the Braves was Eddie Matthews who is the only Braves player to play in all three of the Braves cities (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) as well as teaming up with Hank Aaron to hit the most home runs (863)  of any two teammates in baseball history (they surpassed the record held by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig).

How Quickly I Forget

In the gospel of Matthew, Chapters 14 through 16, we read an astounding account of Jesus feeding over five thousand men. (Just the men are counted in this story but most scholars put that number at twelve thousand plus when figuring the women and children) He performs this miracle with five loaves of bread and two fish and over the objection of his followers.

It was late in the afternoon and the disciples were tired, hungry, and looking forward to a night of rest. Check out what they said to Jesus in chapter 14:15 ". . . just send the crowd away so they can go back to their villages and buy their own food." Can you hear all the undertones of their request? "Jesus this crowd is standing between us and our dinner and rest so can't we just ask them to leave?" How many times do other people's needs get in the way of our own desires? Plenty, for me if I'm being honest.