Articles written by Art West

What is Helium

About me - Art West

I am a married middle aged male.

Many years ago when I was in High School, I always seemed to do well when there were assignments to write short stories. I enjoyed being on the yearbook staff my senior year. The yearbook staff got to do one issue of the + more bio information

RSS Feed

Entertainment > Musicians & Bands Band reviews: The Beatles: 1 of 22
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Four young lads from Liverpool who shook the world in the 1960's. Maybe the most ironic quote that I ever heard was when one of The Beatles said "all we ever wanted to do is make a record." Not only did The Beatles make a record, they revolutionized rock and rol... More..
Personal Finance > Retirement Assessing your retirement needs: 1 of 15
Retirement. It is something that most of us look forward to. Enjoying a life of leisure doing what we want when we want. The key to having a successful retirement is to plan, the earlier you begin to plan, the better off you will be. It is important to have money in retirement. How much money you need depends on what you... More..
Personal Finance > Retirement How much income do you need in retirement: 1 of 11
"If I only had $1 million I could be retired for the rest of my life." How many times have we heard that said...or even said it ourselves? The truth is $1 million dollars may not be enough. First we need to find out how much we need annually to live on. Conventional estimates usually say anywhere from 60%-80% of your take... More..
Sports & Recreation > Recreational & Youth All time favorite sports: 3 of 29
My all-time favorite sport is golf. I did not discover golf until I was 27 years old but it has still taught me many life lessons. I was fortunate enough to find some friends from work and form a foursome. We had about a five year span where we golfed like crazy. We would play 9 holes after work in the middle of the w... More..
Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: My favourite vacation memories: 6 of 46
Every summer when I was growing up, we went to visit my mom's sister in Delaware. We lived in a mid sized city of about 50,000 people until I was 9 and then we moved to just outside of the city. My aunt and uncle lived on a 300 acre farm. It was about a 13 hour drive and we passed the time by napping, playing games that we... More..
Personal Finance > Retirement Best places to live in retirement: 2 of 13
There are several good places to live when you retire. You have to take many factors into consideration. What type of climate do you like? Do you want to be around water? What type of health care is available? What are the housing costs? What will groceries and utilities cost? How much are taxes and what is taxed?... More..
Entertainment > Musicians & Bands Musical memories: The Beatles: 2 of 13
I was nearly 6 years old and my parents were visiting some friends. Their friends had 3 kids: an 8 year old girl that hung around with my 8 year old brother and a 4 year old boy that hung around with me. Oh yeah, they also had a 12 year old girl who had been talking for weeks about The Beatles and that they were going to be a... More..
Sports & Recreation > NBA Why the NBA is not what it used to be: 3 of 17
When John Havlicek was a kid, all of his friends had bicycles. Havlicek's family was so poor that he could not afford a bicycle. The only way he could hang out with his friends was to run when they rode their bikes. This actually became a blessing in disguise for Havlicek because he built up an incredible amount of stamina... More..
Personal Finance > Managing Debt The truth about Dave Ramsey: 1 of 5
I'M DEBT FREE! I heard the scream on the radio. Who can get someone to scream on the radio? More importantly, who can get someone to become debt free? The answer to both of these questions is Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey graduated from the University of Tennessee in the early 1980's with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance. He w... More..
Personal Finance > Retirement Retirement planning: 2 of 9
Many Americans (including myself) dream of retiring early and moving to a warmer climate. Dreaming is fine but you also have to take action. Social Security will not provide enough to live comfortably in retirement. In fact, knowing how our government runs things, it is very possible that Social Security will not be around... More..