Ace Wisdom

I watched the NCAA Basketball Tournament over the last few weeks. It is fun if you know just a little about the different teams. “Upsets” make it interesting.
I couldn’t help thinking about the “zone”. This a place where people go when things always go right. It is a place where amazing things happen. If you get in this zone, personal confidence is sky high. You don’t want it to end.
Michael Jordon was playing in an NBA Championship game in the 90’s and he was in a zone. He made an impossible twisting basket and on his way up the court to play defense, he shrugged his shoulders and had a whimsical grin as if to say “when you are hot, you’re hot”. He had found the zone. He had an amazing game.
I remember a practice basketball game when I was a senior in high school. The seniors were playing all the other aspiring undergraduate students. I made my first basket by pulling it out of my left ear (or some other difficult place) and I can still see the shot ripping the net. And that was the way it went. Shot after shot after shot. Give me the ball. It was going down baby. I was in the zone. I could do no wrong. And then? And then the game was over. The spell disappeared and I was back to normal. But it was magical.
I’ve been in the zone on the golf course where it just feels like every shot is going where you want. Putts go in. Chips are amazing. And then it ends.
I’m sure everybody reading this can think of situations where things were going so well, you didn’t want it to end. Music. Sports. Dance. Romance. Oops, I’m not sure romance applies. For romance, stupor might be more appropriate. You get the idea.
In the basketball game last night, North Carolina beat Illinois. The big man, Sean May for North Carolina made 10 out of 11 basket attempts. He rebounded. He blocked shots. He was in the zone. It was also his birthday. Imagine being in a zone on your birthday.
My sincere wish is that you all experience the “zone”. I hope it happens for long periods of time and often. You can not plan it. You can only recognize it when it occurs. You can keep putting yourself in situations where the zone might occur.
The zone be with you!
Love,
Dad

On the eve of our 45th wedding anniversay I’d like to reflect on the moments in life where a significant change takes place. These events mark a point in time where your life changes forever. You don’t know it at the time, but hindsight is revealing.
Yes, April 2, 1960 defines our wedding. For me, I remember meeting Shelby in September, 1954. We were members of a “float committee” designing a decorated wagon for the Homecoming parade. Shelby volunteered her home as a place to plan our entry. We were freshmen in high school, tremendously insecure and impressionable. For some reason I remember the girl in a sparkling white blouse with a flashy smile. As Oprah would say, “it was a magic moment”. I was smitten.
What followed was high school romance. Chuckie from downtown Plymouth living above the City Club Rooms. Shelby, a good catholic girl living in the ideal family house up on the hill. Rich people lived up there. I made many trips up that hill. Going together during high school reduces many anxieties. Homecoming and Prom are givens. Throw in the oldsmobile convertible and you have very special times.
Commiting to college was important for me, but not a magic moment. The eminent arrival of Deborah Kay was! Life took on a needed direction. My studying to be a high school math teacher turned to pursing an engneering degree at Marquette. That was significant because it served as the basis for my life career. Shelby’s folks made the schooling possible. And then there was Debbie. She changed the life certainly of Shelby and Chuck, but also the whole Steger clan. She represented the energy of life. She got lots of special attention. All first borns do.
The coming of Kelly and Chris over the next few years were no less joyous. They made life very busy and meaningful. The next magic moment that changed my life, however, was starting at Vollrath Company becaue it was a journey that would let me gain confidence and grow personally. The money wasn’t bad either. It was a special 17 years.
During the Vollrath years, Paul and Margaret appeared on the scene. They were kind of like a second family becaue they were distant from the “early three kids”. If you don’t do it right the first time, you get a second chance.
I would say that buying our first cottage was a magic moment. It served as the basis for more than 25 years of family entertainment. The boats, the rafts, the family “get togethers”. It was a catalyst for our lives. I think that every child has his/her memories of the cottages.
I’m not sure moving to Appleton and starting employment at Ripon Foods is a magic moment. It did signify the bridge that got us from Vollrath/Sheboygan to retirement/Appleton.
It has been a journey. It all began with Shelby. Life is meant to be shared and I can’t think of a better life partner. We had tremendous early years filled with infatuation, then years of building a family and the joy in watching the growth of each child.
For all the times that Shelby felt she was raising the kids alone, for the times that she needed a much need “break” and I wasn’t listening and for never being the dance partner she yearned for, I hope she forgives me. I have never stopped loving her and she has made my life complete.
So you see, anniversary dates mark time but it is “magic moments” and special people that define life. Shelby has been the one constant in my life and I have never doubted her support and trust. She has given her life to me. What else is there?
Love,
Dad(Just Chas.)

The title is not what you think. I keep trying to pick practical subjects that you can use to get rich. Life choices refers to insurance. Life Insurance!
Life insurance is always interesting. I joke about “why do I need insurance, when I die I don’t get to see any of it”. Actually that is true! Life insurance becomes practical when you think about the loved ones you leave behind that have been dependent on your income. So if you have a wife/husband and kiddies, life insurance makes sense.
The first thing you need to do is differentiate between insurance and investments. My advice is when you buy insurance on your life, buy just that. Term Insurance. If you want investments, set up different programs on your own and don’t use the “insurance vehicle”. Examples of the life insurance muddled together with investments are “whole life” and “universal life” programs.
To insure your loved ones, you want “rot gut” plain term insurance with the lowest annual premium that you can find provided it is with a A+ rated insurance company. You will get the coverage for the family in case of untimely death at a very low cost. Mission achieved!
How much term insurance? Lets work it backwards. If your work brings home $50,000 per year, you might want to continue that same amount for your family after you die. If you make the assumption the family would be paid a lump sum and they would invest it in bonds for 5% interest, you would need $1 million of term insurance. If you use a proper mix of stocks and bonds, 10% return is probably realistic and you would need $500,000 of term insurance. If your family is close to being grown, then you may figure that everyone can fend for themselves and you could rationalize lessor insurance. If you figure that your spouse would marry some asshole and use the life insurance in some extravagant way, then maybe you shouldn’t consider insurance. As you can see, there probably isn’t any right amount. If you have a two income family, losing one income isn’t as big a deal and lessor insurance could be selected.
I don’t put life insurance salespeople in the bottom dwelling, scum sucking category. They get paid on commission. The more products they can sell you, the more commission they make, They don’t like plain term insurance because they make almost nothing. Dah! They play on your emotions. All the things that could happen if you die. Insist on term insurance.
At age 40, you should pay about $1.00 per year for $1,000 worth of term life insurance. So if you want $300,000 worth of insurance, it would cost about $300 per year. Pretty reasonable.
Don’t even use an insurance agent. Call Selectquote or similar phone/computer agent that will compare companies for you and recommend the best deal. You never need face to face contact with an insurance agent.
You want a policy that is annually renewable and guaranteed premium for as long as possible. You don’t want them raising your premium every year. Lock in the premium. Plan on needing the insurance to 65.
Make the term insurance convertible to cash value policy should you choose. You probably would not do this, but you want the right. Insist on not having to take a medical exam.
Insurance agents want to sell you “whole life” policies. To get the $300,000 “life” coverage you would probably pay $2,000 to $3,000 per year. You are buying the life insurance of a term policy and the rest of the payments you make are to pay his commissions and are to be invested to give you a 3-4% return. Really lousy investment returns. They also like to sell “universal life” which is mix and match of life insurance and different investment vehicles. Again, if you want to invest, do it some other way. Don’t use insurance.
There are so many variations of insurance including health insurance, disability insurance, mortgage insurance, auto insurance, and liability insurance. They need to be considered when deciding on the right amount of life insurance to chose. For example, if you die and your $100,000 mortgage is paid off, maybe you can select a lessor amount of life insurance. All subjects for a future writing. For pure life insurance coverage, think TERM.
Love,
Dad(Just Chas.)

This blog entry is intended to be glorius and light. As Easter approaches, we can each count our many blessings. He has risen. He gives hope to the whole Christian world.
Grasshopper No. 1 is doing her own form of extreme makeover. Facial surgery. Dental work. What pray tell is going on? Seems like a rebirth here too.
Grasshopper No. 2 saw Carlos off to Peru for 7-8 days. I know he was really excited to be going “home” finally after 6 years. Grasshopper No. 2 is negotiating on a horse she can call her own. Something about teaching it not to trot. What is it with girls and horses?
Grasshopper No. 3 celebrates Easter on the eve that his wife, last born, and mother-in-law depart for Ireland for 9 days. I guess the rest of the family will just have to stay home and look for better ski boats.
Grasshopper No. 4 is celebrating the improvement of cash flow. He has a job! Only 30 more years of this and he’ll be rich. If he thinks about it, maybe he is already rich. He wrote a very nice tribute to his mom on his blog. Oooooohhhh!
Grasshopper No. 5 is preparing to go to England for 11 days. She is going alone. Yeah, right! Nobody told her there are lots of places to visit right her in the U.S.
I guess as I close, my thoughts are “what the hell ever happened to the discipline of saving”? Ireland, England, Peru, elective surgery, boats, and horses. Is there something I don’t understand? I guess rich means different things to different people. You are all rich.
Have a VERY HAPPY EASTER!
Love,
Dad(Just Chas.)

I’ve had a number of questions about investing in Mutual Funds. It is the “vehicle” that most companies offer you as you set money aside in your 401(k). The concept of Mutual Fund is not hard but selecting the mutual fund that suits you is a little more difficult.
The most fun is selecting one stock, watching it grow, collecting your profit and dancing into the sunset. Unfortunately not all stock goes up and sometimes one announcement can cause a major change in stock value. Merck voluntarily withdrew it’s blockbuster drug Vioxx from the market because of alleged heart problems. When it made the announcement everyone was concerned about lawsuits and the stock fell 25% within 8 hours. Bummer. Most people don’t want to take that kind of a hit, especially in their retirement account.
So some financial genius decided to select a “breadbasket” of various stock, put them together in a single Mutual Fund and then make them available to you. When you buy a mutual fund you are buying various stock under one umbrella. At the end of the day, the mutual fund adds up the results of how all it’s stock selections did and publishes in the paper, a NAV (net asset value). You can look in the paper everyday and read how your particular fund did. I think there are now more mutual funds available than the number of individual stocks in the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ combined.
In most cases, mutual fund are good things. They diversify risk by buying many different shares of stock so if one goes down, the rest buoy it up and you don’t take a big loss. You get full time professional management of the fund including research. You can invest through automatic payroll deduction and all your dividends in the fund along with gains and losses in sale of stock within the mutual fund get reinvested by the manager.
Now the sleezy side of mutual funds. Some funds charge as much as an 8% fee for you to get into. So if you invest $1,000, the management gets $80 just for taking the money into their fund. Now you have $920 to invested. You need to gain 8.7% just to get back to $1,000. That is baloney because you can find excellent funds that do not charge any commission. Usually life insurance salespeople offer mutual funds as the investment vehicle within a “whole life policy”. You are getting screwed royally. Mutual funds can charge you getting in, charge you with reinvestment fees while you are in the fund and charge you to get out. They can charge redemption fees, exchange fees, and management fees. A key to getting rich. Avoid all the un-cessary fees.
Now the good news. There are fund families out there that charge nothing to get in, nothing to get out and a annual management fee (which is fair to watch your money) of less than 0.5% (one half of one percent). Vanguard and Fidelity are excellent mutual fund groups.
Your employer usually offers a menu of mutual funds typically selecting a Vanguard or Fidelity family of funds for you to chose from. The Employer should have your best interest at heart and paying big mutual fund management fees is not in your best interest.
I do not have enough space in this blog to begin to talk about the techniques you should use in choosing a particular fund. I’ll attempt that another time.
If you remember nothing else: Mutual Funds diversify your risk in investing in stocks making them a good thing AND mutual funds that charge all kinds of fees other than an annual management fee are bad.
Some mutual funds will say that they are so astute at picking stock that they are worth additional management fees. There are very, very, very few that can back up that claim over the long term. Don’t participate in that kind of fund.
If you have questions, let me know.
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

This is for son Paul. It is the start of basketball’s March Madness. It is all about dreams. I’m sure Paul dreams of “what might have been” if he had continued playing Xavier High school hoops his junior and senior years. Well, I dream about things too.
It was November 1957. My Dad had just died and my Plymouth High School basketball practices had begun. We had good players and the 57-58 season promised to be pretty good. Yeah! I heard that before.
Similar to the movie Hoosiers, we had a new coach, Ken Andersen. Several years out of college, the previous year he had coached Clintonville High School to an unbeaten season. He looked like a high school senior. Thin, kind of a flashy dresser with a crew haircut.
This year our practices were a little different. Lots of practice on technique. Double down trapping of dribbling opponents, setting of brutal screens and running an offensive fast break where the ball never touches the court (no dribbling). And lots of shooting practice.
The season started with our winning the first 3 games. I remember in early December playing mighty Campbellsport on their court. It was supposed to be a big test. We won rather easy. Then we got two more conference victories before the two week Christmas Break.
After Christmas we won a few more conference games and guess what! We were unbeaten and at the top of the Eastern Wisconsin Conference. The big opponent was Kohler, also unbeaten and they had to play us on our court that year. Only one meeting. They had a guy named Dick Newton who excelled at football. Thunder thighs that acted like thunderbolts when he jumped. They also had a guy named Ron Schmeling that played point guard and could dribble behind his back. In those days that was unheard of. He would dibble around his back while driving to the basket for a soft layup. How special was that? Our two unbeaten teams met. Our Gym was packed and they turned away lines of people. It was a tight game. I remember only getting four shots all night and made all four. We won 46-44. Hey, hey. Now we were leading the conference with a 6-0 record and something like 10-0 overall.
We continued to roll. We defeated conference opponents by double digit margins. As we rolled into March with one game to go, we were 11-0 in our conference and had clinched at least a share of the conference championship with Kohler who still had only one loss. We were 15-0 overall. Our last game, our last hurdle to an unbeaten season was Valders at Valders.
The Valders gym was jumping. By the end of the season, everybody knew we were unbeaten and loyal Plymouth fans and Valders fans packed the place. In my mind, the whole game was like slow motion. They were making shots they shouldn’t have, they stole the ball a few times and wouldn’t you know with 3 minutes left in the game, we were down one point. We came out of a timeout. We had the ball and I was to inbound it. We sprung a man free and I threw to him. Then I used a line of screens to breakfree and get a return pass and make an easy layup. I did that. I had gotten bumped coming off the screens and they called me for “traveling” and the basket didn’t count. The ball went over to Valders. I still think that “travel” call was bullshit. Still lots of time. They still led by one point when we finally stole the ball with 6 seconds remaing in the game. We called time. The plan was to throw the ball to a man a mid court and then try to hit our biggest man Jerry Klemme somewhere near our free throw line. We did that! Jerry got the ball and turned and drove to the basket and got up an errant shot. The horn went off! There was total pandamonium. But wait, Klemme had been fouled and had two free throws coming. The dream was still alive. One free throw and we get another chance in overtime. Two free throws and we get our undefeated season.
Klemme was a very good free throw shooter. He never showed nerves. Well the Valders fans were under the basket waving and yelling to distract Jerry. He released the first free throw and I think it got 2/3 of the way to the basket and fell to the floor. Air ball! Air ball! Now our only chance was overtime. Jerry released the second shot but he “shortarmed it” and it hit the front of the rim and fell harmlessly to the floor. Valders had beaten us by one point.
Co-Champions of Eastern Wisconsin Conference. 15-1 overall. So close. Such a good season. Almost perfect.
But here is the dream part. I still think about the play from out of bounds where I was called for a travel. My basket would have given us the lead and who knows the final outcome. Also Jerry Klemme making two or even one free throw after time had expired might have given us the perfect season. Almost.
That is what March Madness is all about. Fullfillment of dreams. Agony of defeat. It is for that excitement that we play the games. Each of us is left to contemplate “what if”.
Our coach, Ken Andersen went on to become legendary at UW-Eau Claire. I think he won 3 national NCAA Division 3 Championships and was named UW Badger Coach.
Our team went to Sheboygan to start the State Tournament and got blitzed by Sheboygan North. We lost bad.
And Kohler which was technically a Class C school because of it’s small size, went on to win the State Class C Championship.
Ah what could have been. And my dad who had followed me religiously for years would have had a heart attack in the stands as he munched his cigar. Too bad he couldn’t have been there. Maybe he was?
So let the madness begin! Enjoy.
Love,
Dad(Just Chas.)

Addie had been pestering me to write down the family history because son Ryan keeps asking. It turns out Ryan wants to know history but he is looking for baby names. Her pestering and the article on the Central House has forced me to dig through old files on family information.
What follows is concentrated on my side of the family. Your mom will have to fill in the Steger/Krushke information. Isn’t that slightly German.
As you know your grandfather was Warren C. Andrews(Bucky), born 5/28/1920 in Mukwanago, Wisconsin. He died Nov.10, 1957. I have really given you his bio. Your grandmother was Alice Helen Andrews (maiden name was Stiller). Hence there is more German in your gene pool. Couple Stiller with your mother’s maiden name of Steger and you can’t deny German. Alice was born 3/19/1922 and died Dec.23, 1986. She died of a heart attack, coughing spell from smoking, or diabetes. Take your choice. I will do a bio of her in the next few weeks. That takes care of the first generation removed from me. Remember this is my side of the family.
The second generation removed on Bucky’s side would be your great-grandfather Charles Elmer Andrews (Chalk) born in 1898. I don’t have Chalk’s exact date of birth. His wife was great-grandmother Myrna Elizabeth Andrews (maiden name Roberts) born 1/2/1901. Chalk and Myrna wer married June 28,1919. Chalk died Oct.4, 1946 of a stroke. He had something like 12 operations on his knee and eventually they surgically locked his knee in a straight position so he walked with a limp. I attribute his short life to the poor quality of surgery in those days and poor anesthetics. Chalk’s brother George lived into his mid-90’s so my guess is that Chalk’s gene pool was basically pretty good. Myrna died in January of 1983 of cancer of the esphogus and lungs. She had been a heavy smoker through the middle part of her life but who knows?
The second generation removed on Alice’s side was great-grandpa Ervin Stiller (nicknamed Jiggs) born 7/31/1897 and who died 5/13/1966. I was named after Ervin Stiller. My whole name is Charles (after Chalk), Ervin (after Jiggs) Andrews. Your great-grandmother was Helen Stiller. I don’t have the date Jiggs and Helen were married. Helen was born 3/8/1899 and died 10/13/1958, one year after the funeral services of Bucky. Grandma Alice lost her husband in 1957 and mother in 1958. Tough Ride! Great-grandma Helen’s maiden name was Bruns. I think she was born in Sheboygan and was courted by Jiggs in Sheboygan. I know that Helen worked in the office at Vollrath Company for a few years in the office. Helen death was never autopsied but she had diabetes and “sky high blood pressure” which in those days was uncontrollable. Jiggs died of an intestinal blockage. They never performed an autopsy on him either. Jiggs was known for owning Plymouth Springs Bottling Company producing soda. He sold the company in the 40’s because he wanted to hunt and fish in northern Wisconsin.
The third generation removed on Bucky’s/Chalk side was great-great Grandpa Elmer (Chalk’s dad). He was born in 1870 and died in 1950. He was married to Addie May Andrews (which is where my sister got the name she has never liked), born 1876 and died April 20, 1944. Elmer and Addie May lived with Chalk and Myrna a the City Club for a number of years. My understand is they owned a sheep farm and could not manage it any more. Allegedly Elmer had spent a few years in Canada in his youth and there was a set of twins running around that were part of the Andrews gene pool. Who knows? My understanding is that the Andrews side traces back to Scotland but I don’t know how many generations came before Elmer. I do remember something about “Connecticut Yankees” but that is very vague in my memory.
The third generation removed on Bucky/Myrna side was great-great Grandpa John J. Roberts born 2/2/1874. He died at the City Club 7/13/1969 at age 95. Again, not a bad longevity gene pool. He married Mary Elizabeth Roberts (maiden Smith) Feb.17, 1897. Mary Elizabeth Smith was born Feb. 4, 1872. She died at the City Club sometime during the 1960’s and was about 85 years old. I don’t have the exact date of her death. The Roberts were farmers with dairy cows in Mukwanago, Wisconsin. They left the farm to live out their days at the City Club. Notice that “assisted care facilties” and “retirement homes” were not even available.
The fourth generation removed on the Bucky/Myrna/John J. Roberts side was great-great-great-grandfather John E. Roberts. John E. was born in Wales March 17, 1834 and married Mary Roberts (maiden name West) December 18, 1858 in Mukwanago, Wisconsin. There, I finally made the Wales connection that Myrna always taked about. John E. from Wales died December 4, 1897. Great-great-great-grandma Mary (West) Roberts was born Nov. 28, 1834 in Detroit, Michigan and died April 6, 1915. If my memory serves me right there was English and French heritage on the West side. French? Ick! Yuk!
Now we go fifth generation to the Bucky/Myrna/John J.Roberts/Mary Roberts (West) connection. Mary (West) Roberts parents were great-great-great-great grandpa William West, born May 6, 1810 near Pocklington, Yorkshire England. He married great-great-great-great grandma Elizabeth Mary Touhill who was born Jan. 31, 1814 in Pocklington, Yorkshire, England. They were married March 18, 1834 at Yorkshire, England. William West died Sept. 17, 1900 and his wife Mary died March 25, 1897. They lived in Mukwanago, Wis.
Right now that is far as I can take you. Maybe my Uncle Bob can fill in the “Andrews” gene lineage.
Someone asked about Parkinson’s disease in the family. Myrna’s brother John Everitt Roberts was born 12/16/1903. He died 12/29/1949. He was completely normal until stricken with Parkinson’s when he was around 19. He slowly began to lose muscle control and his arms shook constantly by the time he died. He never married and lived at home until he died.
This gene pool description traces direct lineage. There are lots of brothers and sister that are part of the history at each generation level. I have some of it but it really gets complex.
Anyone who wants to add or correct, let me know by comment or e-mail. It is a work in progress.
The gene pool says that if you behave yourself, you could live a long time. That is either good or bad depending on how you look at it. I mean gumming your food with Alzheimers in a nursing home at 95 isn’t real attractive. Getting shot in bed with a blond at 95 by a jealous lover ain’t too bad.
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)