Why I Game

My parents were actually the first to introduce my brother and myself to gaming (and they may have regretted it at some point). Gaming not in the entertainment sense, but in the educational one where they had bought several different CD-ROMs and installed software into our shared computer that sat within our playroom. My parents encouraged us to play all the different grade levels within the Jumpstart series. If you don't remember these games, you were totally missing out.

I recall exploring these digital worlds and accomplishing a variety of mini-games throughout them. My brother and I would challenge ourselves even further and play grade levels ahead of us. This experience transitioned into upgrading our gaming even further. We convinced our parents, like most children, to buy the latest and greatest consoles like the N64 and Playstation. We each got our own individual Game Boys and when the next newest handheld gaming device launched, we would again beg for it. Gaming became a way for our parents to distract us, but it became our way to escape. I think they recognized that gaming would stimulate our minds in a way that other mediums did not.

Fast forward to today, I'm about to turn 29 and I still game pretty much on a daily basis. I wouldn't say I'm addicted to gaming whatsoever, rather I would say it's my hobby and a pastime. I don't game for more than 2 hours a sitting and while others may sit and watch a tv show or read a book, I love being able to entertain myself in a more interactive digital format. I would say I'm not the best player nor expert in any game. I simply enjoy the challenges gaming brings (which I'll get into), and the ability to play with others and work to a common goal.

When I met my husband, I was also never turned off by his gaming. I would say he has a much stronger relationship with it as he can game for hours on end, but I would never say he prioritizes gaming above me. He's truly an introvert, and gaming allows him to not only escape into different types of worlds but also connect with all sorts of people around the world. I often hear him talking through his mic and conversing with close friends, different teams, and strangers all around. Although he doesn't expend the energy by going out to bars on the weekend with friends, he truly takes the time to simply play a game with friends, and honestly, it's no different than the former experience.

There shouldn't be a stigma against gaming. It's truly a positive, mind-stimulating hobby. You learn to create solutions to problems, or you find out about different experiences with simulations, or you open your imagination and creativity even further through building something entirely new. Games are a way to go outside of certain boundaries and interact with a challenge hands-on in a digital form, and that's what I truly love about it. It's not what people think as a waste of time and marked as "bad for you".

Interestingly enough, my grandfather who is almost 90 has an Xbox and he uses it to exercise his mental health daily. He always tells me about what new game he's already completed or where he's hitting a roadblock. I think this surprises a lot of my friends when I mention this, but if you met my grandfather he's at a point in his life where he's the healthiest he's ever been. I believe he hasn't had any dementia or confusion, for one - because he has great genetics, but secondly, he avidly exercises his mind.

I hope to only continue this hobby myself well into the rest of my life and you bet our daughter will be introduced to gaming at an early age. We don't have plans to move her away from this hobby, and if Ken had his way - he would have raise an eSports athlete if he could. We're honestly pretty excited to raise a fellow nerd! :)

Welcome to the Plant Family!

So, to start - I do not have a green thumb. I have pretty much killed every plant I have ever owned, yet I want a house that is absolutely filled to the brink with all sorts of plants. It's currently my dream vibe.

Recently, I've brought 3 new plants into the fold. As a responsible plant parent, I'm going to do some decent research on how to care for these new babies with the hopes of keeping them alive longer than a year. Let's go!

The first plant I've chosen from the local Home Depot is a lovely Calathea. The leaves on this little baby can only be described as velvety, with a distinct pattern. I believe I had this plant before, which I had called my bitch plant mostly because of how finicky she was. She was much more mature and would respond horribly to light and water I gave. I didn't quite get the balance right and unfortunately, she did not make it. So here's what the internet has told me to care for my Calathea moving forward.

1. This is a low light plant. Because of its broader leaves, it can absorb light relatively easily. They need bright light, but not direct. These plants usually sit on the jungle floor. If I start to see the leaves get a bit burned and lose color, the light is too much and needs to be moved!

2. Calatheas like it moist. They don't want lots of water as to be soggy, but rather think tropical humidity. Water might need to be distilled, as it doesn't like the chemicals in tap. Misting the leaves is okay to do!

The next plant I got which I know is a new one for me is a tiny Parlor Palm 'Bella'. I was attracted to this one because it kind of looks like mini bamboo, plus found it in the bright light section so I thought this could be perfect for my windowsill.

1. Bright, but indirect light. Some sun will be helpful, but harsh direct sunshine will scorch the leaves in time.

2. Underwatering is better than overwatering. The plant should stay evenly moist, meaning the soil should never be completely dry or overly wet. A good rule of thumb would be to water the plant once a week and adjust according to how quickly the soil dries.

Finally, the last plant I got is a pot filled with a variety of succulents. Sadly, I've been able to kill succulents in the past. This one can have the most light as these are obviously drought tolerant. The key is to only water the succulent when the soil is dry, however, I tend to be bad at gauging this - it can go a few weeks without any water. So here's what I have to tell myself...don't water this plant...if you want to, just don't.

Ok, that's all 3! Wish me luck! :)

Mutual Funds 101

Come with me on a new unknown where I dive into the world of investing. I'm by no means an expert, but while we are in these low market times I thought it would be something to take a look into and actively start learning about. Here are all my notes I've pulled together as I jump into this crazy information.

What is a Mutual Fund?

It's an investment strategy with a "portfolio" of stocks, bonds, and other securities. Think of it as buying little crumbs from a pie that a company owns, but you're buying crumbs from lots of different pies and it all sits in one basket. The benefit of this strategy is that because it consists of a group of assets when one company goes bankrupt or is not performing well and the stock goes down, there's a way to offset this loss with the overall group of assets. This type of "diversification" gives the investment more flexibility and basically makes it less risky than other strategies like directly investing into stocks with one company.

Mutual funds are managed by a team of investment managers and research analysts. They decide what to change within the fund and optimize performance based on the objective in place. Due to this 3rd party management, mutual funds incur fees. This is typically known as an expense ratio and it's a small percentage of your shares.

How is a Mutual Fund priced?

You need to look at 2 values that are computed daily:

• Net asset value (NAV): This tells you how much it costs for one share of the mutual fund. This is the price you receive if you were to sell. To calculate this amount, you need to add up all the assets, subtract the liabilities, and finally divide by all the number of shares owned by the public.

• Public offering price (POP): It takes money for someone to run a mutual fund. POP is the cost a person would have to spend to purchase the mutual fund which contains a sales charge, aka a "sales load". A sales load typically ranges from 0% to 8.5% of the POP.

Therefore, POP = NAV + sales load!

How to Choose the Right Mutual Fund?

1. Determine your objective: Are you in this for the long haul or the short term, or maybe somewhere in between? Think of this like a 5 year, 15-20 year, or 30+ year investment and when you're willing to pull out the funds. The longer time you plan to invest, the more likely you can tolerate risk. For myself, I'm in this for the long haul so I can take on more risk.

2. Match your goal to the investment objective: Essentially there are 4 objectives that a mutual fund can take.

• "Growth and Income" which consists of large companies (large cap) like Apple. These are consistent and low risk.

• "Growth" which has stocks made up of growing companies (mid to large cap) and add a bit more risk.

• "Aggressive Growth" has the highest possible return, but also the riskiest with small cap companies.

• "International" which provides a way to spread your risk beyond the US and invest in big foreign companies.

3. Research, Research, Research: This is honestly the hardest part, with thousands of mutual funds, it's hard to trim down your options. I have a Morningstar subscription which is an online screening tool and provides a compilation of data and insights to inform you. I may have to do another blog post on just navigating this tool, it's super comprehensive, but for now, I'll give you a quick gist of what to look at and the definitions.

• Expense Ratio: This is the percentage amount you'll need to pay for a fund's annual operating expense. These typically range from 0% to 1%. Obviously the lower this fee percentage is, the better!

• Sales Load: As mentioned in the pricing, there is often a sales load added in when buying (front-end load) and selling (back-end load). These are commissions paid to third parties.

• Category/Investment Style: Basically, now you can match your objective and investment objective to this parameter. It will tell you what types of companies the fund consists of and where it intends to invest.

• Trailing 12 Month Yield (TTM Yield): This is where the money is at! It refers to the percentage of income a fund returned over the past 12 months. The higher the percentage, the better return you're getting back.

• Turnover: Refers to the fund's trading activity within a year. A low turnover percentage (20% - 30%) tells you the fund has a buy-and-hold strategy, while a high turnover percentage (more than 100%) means the fund has a very fluid strategy of buying and selling assets. Typically really aggressive mutual funds have a higher turnover.

4. Check Past Performance: This is an obvious one that most people tend to look at as you want a fund that has a history of strong returns aka the track record, but it's not all about the fund's historical performance. You also need to look at who manages it. Review the manager's experience extensively and check if they have also had their net worth invested in the same fund.

Next up, I'll be putting these 4 steps into practice! Wish me luck and happy investing!