About Lance

First and foremost, I am not a traditional Christian and not a full blown revolutionary but somewhere in between.  I attend church weekly, pray daily, read Christian books, and try to make my life a living example of being a Christian.  However, I am frequently unhappy with the current state of “The Church” and frequently voice my opinion on changing the old ways and views in favor of living by example and being accepting of others views.  I openly accept criticism of Christianity in hopes that God’s grace and the holy spirit will work in my life and the lives of others by my example and non-traditional thinking.

I’ve learned having fun and enjoying Christ is okay and a true Christian is someone who lives the values daily and when no one else is looking rather than once a week or when others are watching.

Marriage

I married my dream girl from High School, the Homecoming Queen. I was the long haired rebel who played in a band and lived a “less than Christian” lifestyle.

We married young and had our first child soon after, we had no idea what we were doing. My own father died before I was born so I promised to be the father to my children that I never had.

After 2 years, I was a complete failure. Bad marriage, immature, selfish, irresponsible, you name it, I did it. See: My Testimony

My wife and I separated for a year and a half during that time I made some serious life changes and came back to Christianity including truly starting to work on becoming a real husband and father. Once we re-united, I strived to become a super Dad and husband. Many years later, we have the best marriage we know of and our children our daily becoming strong, moral based leaders.

Business

At age 17 I founded and built my first business, a non-profit corporation to help local youth and provide a youth center for them. We transferred the corporation to a Christian group in 2002 and it is the longest running establishment of its kind in my home state. I also built a second business that ended when I moved out of the state and I consult with business owners and help with marketing events.

I started out in the military but after 3 years; I went back to college to earn a degree in Marketing. While I was back in college, I worked as a Financial Planner after the 2000 tech crash. I worked mainly in Estate Planning for wealthy clients. I learned a lot from retirees, wealthy clients and a few CEO’s on what to invest in, why and how to protect it.

After September 11th 2001, I had a strong altruist pull to once again work in the government.  I also felt that I had left my band of brothers and sisters alone to face the most formidable enemy that America has ever faced. Call it patriotism, altruism or simple guilt; I decided to get back in the public sector for the long run and the pension but also to use my investing skills to invest in equities, real estate and business while I was working towards a retirement goal of age 45 in order to become a full time non-profit worker.

Legacy Dad

This blog is a testament of the process we have used to turn our own lives around in the areas of spirituality, finances, values, marriage and how we transfer this knowledge and life experience on to our children.

For further explanations please see the Start Here – Read First area of the blog.

My Interests:

My Family, Relationship with God, Investing, Travel, Reading and spending time with my beautiful, amazing wife. I also teach various classes at my church and assist many friends and colleagues with financial planning and investing free of charge.