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Friends

I looked at this photo I took of a dear friend and me. We were out in New Mexico on an art trip, and were standing and looking out at the beautiful vista. As we turned around to view another direction, I looked down at our shadow. I lifted my camera and took what I consider a unique and wonderful photo. It says ”friends.” We have friends that fill different areas of our lives. We have family friends. There are church friends, and we have friends that may go back to our school days. There are friendships that develop through business events. Friendships develop when there is a common interest…as in this photo…the love of art. What would our life be without friends? True friends support each other, and love us even when we are not so “lovable.” We overlook each other’s short comings because none of us are perfect. I have traveled across the continents, and enjoyed each trip to the fullest. But, I have to say that my yearly trips to the Texas Hill Country have been my favorites. It is hard to experience more beauty than springtime in central and southern areas of Texas. As a photographer and an artist, I have hundreds of memories in my photos and paintings of those Texas Hill Country trips with friends. Cherish your friends, life is short.

Slow and steady: A smart way to invest

You’ve probably heard stories about fortunate investors who “get in the ground floor” of a new, hot company and quickly make a fortune. But while these things may happen, they are exceedingly rare and often depend on hard-to-duplicate circumstances — and they really don’t represent a viable way of investing for one’s goals. A far more tried-and-true approach is the “slowand-steady” method. To follow this strategy, consider these suggestions: Start small — and add more when you can. When you’re first starting out in the working world, you may not have a lot of extra money with which to invest, especially if you’re carrying student loan debt. But one of the key advantages of the slow-and-steady method is that it does not require large investment sums to get going. If you can afford to put away even $50 or $100 a month into individual stocks or mutual funds, month after month, you may be surprised and pleased at how your account can grow. And when your salary goes up, you can put away more money each month.

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