Clear Creek Financial Blog

Clear Creek Financial Blog

Financial Advice for All Life's Creeks

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About My Blog

Okay, confession time. While this website and financial blog takes a more expansive view of what Clear Creek means, I have a more personal connection to the name. I grew up in Arvada, just outside of Denver, CO. My dad would take me down to Clear Creek when I was really young and he would tell me stories about Jim Baker, famous frontiersman and key figure in the Colorado Gold Rush.

As I got older, these stories would morph into life lessons, part inspirational, part sobering reality. Jim Baker—the frontiersman not the Secretary of State—did a little bit of everything and was good at whatever he did. Pioneer, soldier, hunter, trader, and rancher. He owned a mine and built a toll bridge. For his retirement, he moved to Wyoming and built a large cabin and ranch.

 

This statue commemorating Jim Baker was scultped by Steve Boyce.

 

The sobering part of these speeches my dad used to give tended to focus on the death of this kind of jack-of-all-trades. Virtuosos, my dad used to call them. He would say, Nowadays everything is so specialized you can’t do that anymore. They don’t let you. You have to always know your corner of the store and you have to prove that you know it at all times. And that means you can’t do other things, by and large.

Still, the idea of limitless potential and diversified interests seemed to stick. As did the reality of the modern-day economy. And so I studied economics and finance in school. Not because of the money or the math, but because finance opens doors to all kinds of knowledge sets and worlds of expertise. What really made Jim Baker possible in his day and in ours is the economic productivity and financial success of his various endeavors. With this in mind, Clear Creek Finance was a natural choice for a financial blog.

 

Recent Posts

  • Understanding Stock Investments: Common vs Preferred
  • Balancing Personal Concerns with DIY Investment Planning During Global Disasters
  • Should You Rent Even When You Can Buy?
  • Do Health Savings Accounts Make Financial Sense?
  • Understanding Stock Investments by Style

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017

RSS Personal Finance News

  • Robert Powell: Don’t stop believing in bonds
    How to find the right bonds for your needs
  • Personal Finance Daily: Fewer Americans will get a stimulus check this time around — here’s exactly how many, and mortgage rates soar above 3% — how high can they go before they scare off homebuyers?
    Thursday’s top personal finance stories
  • The Moneyist: I lost my job at 55 and started my own successful business. I now constantly get texts from friends and former coworkers asking how I did it. What do I do?
    ‘I liken these friends and former colleagues to the kids at school who march right to the head of the lunch line to get their food, without waiting in line like the rest of us.’
  • The Moneyist: ‘What the hell!’ I’m 28, have no debt, a 401(k), Roth IRA and $45K in cash. Should I save for a house or buy a Tesla Model 3?
    ‘I believe I can buy the car and strap down, and save more aggressively to replenish the funds.’
  • The Moneyist: ‘Warren Buffett and Harry Potter couldn’t get those two retired early’: When financial advisers can’t make their clients see the light
    ‘We put our spendthrift neighbors in touch with our financial adviser. They called her lousy. So how come WE are the ones who retired early?’

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