Personal Finance Tag

In the personal finance blogosphere, there is a game of tag that is being played. If you get tagged, you have to answer 11 questions, and then ask 11 new questions to 11 people that you tag. Hmm, I wonder if tag-backs are allowed?

The rules are:

Post these rules.
Answer the 11 questions from the person who tagged you.
Create 11 new questions for the people you tag.
Tag 11 people and link them to your post.
Let them know that you tagged them.

This week, Kris at Simple Island Living tagged me. So now it’s my turn to answer some questions. Her questions were:

What is the charity nearest and dearest to your heart?
What is your “safe” retirement number?
What comes first, paying for your kids education or your retirement?
How are you spending valentine’s day?
Do you pay the extra money to eat organically or local?
What’s your most successful investment so far?
What’s your dream way of making passive income?
If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would that be?
What is one thing you try to do everyday?
What is your “safe” emergency fund number?
Would your problems be solved if you made double what you do today?

My answers:

Not a specific organization, but local food banks.
According to e-Trade, I’ll need $1.3 million dollars to retire. I am .3% there!
Since I don’t have kids, this one is easy. Actually, even if I had kids, I’d still pick retirement, as I’m a firm believer in public education and I paid for my college, so why shouldn’t my kids?
We may see The Vow. The roommates claimed the kitchen for tomorrow, so my original plan of making chicken Marsala (wife’s favorite dish) is out.
Not really. I don’t really get organic. I’ll buy local if there isn’t a price difference (local produce is actually cheaper when it’s in season), but I usually won’t pay more for it.
Nicholas Limited Edition N (NNLEX), a small-cap growth fund). Including reinvested dividends, it has gained 87% of it’s value in the 34 months I’ve owned it.
My dream? Hitting the PowerBall, and living off the interest. More realistic dream? Royalties from book sales.
I am a super-mega procrastinator. I can never seem to get anything done unless I’m busy.
Umm, take a shower? Eat? Actually, one thing I’ll do to the exclusion of eating or bathing is reading.
$12,000. That could carry us through 6 months of NO income, with some cutting.
Double what I make? Not quite, largely due to the seasonal/occasionally part-time nature of my job. Double my wife’s income or (even better) double our combined? Heck, yes! My outstanding debts could be paid off in a year and the mortgage we’ll be getting in a couple months could be paid off in under 5.