Speed is an important stat to have in a pokémon battle.  Since the attacks are turn-based, speed is what determines the order of the attacks.  The faster the pokémon, the earlier they get to attack.  This can make a difference if the pokémon has low defense and one hit will knock it out.  They need to attack first in order to knock out their opponent before they faint.
 
Timing is an important factor in the financial world too.  Buying a stock at the right time.  Paying bills on-time.  Making sure we deposit money into our accounts before that autopayment goes through.  These are all based on the moment in time that we do them, just like pokémon attacks are based on speed.  However, both pokémon battles and financial institutions have an invisible mechanic of priority that allows some attacks and payments to go earlier than others, before ever considering their speed.  These are called priority moves and transaction processing order, or what I call priority transactions.
 
Before diving too deep, today’s post will be one of the most technical posts I have written to date.*  Hopefully, I will make it as interesting as I find it.  Please, try not to yawn and fall asleep.

I know 2018 has just begun, but tax season is coming.  Before I know it, an IRS Spearow will be a-rattata-ta-tapping at my window, trying to collect my 2017 taxes.  Businesses have until the end of January to get us the tax documents that we need from them.  February, I usually gather my receipts together to determine if an itemized deduction will help or if I should just take the standard deduction.  March, I file my taxes before the slush rush to get taxes in before the April 17th deadline.
 
These tend to be the three months I focus on my taxes and my tax record keeping habits.  In 2017, I did a horrible job tracking the information I will need to complete my 2017 taxes this year, and even worse sorting my receipts, checks and other paperwork from 2016.  Hoping to turn over a new bayleef, I plan on starting a 2018 Tax Notebook.  In this three-ringed binder, I plan on tracking all of my general receipts, business-related receipts, large purchases, medical expenses, paychecks, and my future tax documents.  I dream that once 2018 closes, I will instantly have everything ready for the tax spearow and I will store it easily for the following 3-7 years.

Whether I am playing the video games, the trading card game or other RPGs, there comes a time when my naturally formed team needs direction and training.  This usually involves determining my team’s strategy and replacing the pokémon that doesn’t quite fit.  I am currently playing Ultra Sun and I determined that my lycanrock needs to be replaced.  Her low defenses cause her to faint before she does any damage.  Luckily there are many pokémon of different types and species that can fill her position on the team.
 
In Part I, I discussed that in June 2017 a sludge wave hit my financial pokémon team when our rent checks were stolen.  While recovering from the damage, I learned I misunderstood my team’s strategy.  I needed to replace my servine, nicknamed Income, with a Checking pokémon to strengthen my team.  That meant I had to replace my system of different bank accounts made up Income.  Just like the multiples of pokémon, there are also numerous types and species of financial accounts.  This is how I found the ones that worked best for my team.

Welcome to January and 2018!  The first post of the month means that it’s time for December's Review and Net Worth Update.
 
For those who are new to The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer, each month I write a financial review to xatu my net worth by writing down my thoughts on the previous and following months.  I share these summaries so everyone can gain insight into my personal finances and my thoughts behind them.
 
I started tracking my net worth to measure my progress, inspired by Budgets Are Sexy, which has helped me keep a keen eye on my personal finances.  I have been tracking my net worth since January 2015 and writing monthly financial reviews for myself since 2016.  I recommend both because they have been such helpful tools to watch my personal finances stat changes.

Blog Berry Juice is a triannual post where my squirtle and I treat one of my newer pokémon out to some berry juice at Shuckle Shack and discuss the progress of The Grown-Up Trainer.  This post's guest, Oranguru.

First, let’s start the final Blog Berry Juice of 2017 by checking out the blog’s stat summary.  It has an average of 50 unique visitors a day, with an average of 140 visitors each weekend in December.  The most popular posts continue to be the monthly financial reviews.

The blog's social media following continues to grow.  Instagram, a great place to see all of the blog art in one spot, has 56 followers.  Twitter, the best place to hear about truant posts, U-Turn Tuesday and see Shadow Sneak Peeks, has 58 followers.  Facebook, a place that mentions when new posts go live, has 35 follows.  The weekly e-mails, which I always send out immediately after a post goes live, are up to 15 subscribers.

It has been an interesting four months.  A sweet kiss from getting married in August caused some confusion longer than anticipated.  My schedule was thrown off by going to Drag Con NYC in September and continued into our honeymoon in October.  I struggled, even more, trying to find my own tempo in November.  Finally, in December I skill swapped some inner focus and got back on track.  During the whirlwind of these last four months, I fell far behind reading other blogs and even missed appearing on Mrs. Picky Pincher’s list of Favorite Money Bloggers, Part 4.

When I visit with my parents, whether in real life, Skype or on the phone, I always feel like I need to give them assurance that I am doing work that I love and am surviving just fine.  Having been with my parents in Montana for Christmas, for 2017’s final Blog Berry Juice I want to discuss the 6 answers I give my parents about my blog.

It was a clear Christmas Eve Eve night at my parents’ house in Montana. I stepped outside to look at the stars.  I could hear the clock begin chiming in the cold silence as I stood there, admiring the universe.  I had been stressing about my current state of debt and needed a minute to remember what a small part of the universe my debt really was.  I was concerned about my debt from the last 12 years, the new debt we started our marriage with and the possible debt that could result from starting our family.  The ninth and final chime of the hour rang and was followed by a most peculiar sound, the sound of chains.  I looked down and saw a delmise with a note attached to its handle.

Ace Trainer Tojo, there’s no need to fear.
If you are patient three ghosts will appear.
They’ll show you some stories, parts of your life.
We know that it’s debt that fills you with strife.​

When I looked up from the note, delmise had disappeared.  I went inside to show my husband.  “What does this mean?” I asked.  He read the note and passed it to my sister.  “Sounds like you’re going to be busy tonight,” he said.  “We’ll just be hanging out, so join us when you’re done,” declared my sister.  “Have fun.”

After watching them play a round of cards, I moved to the couch and stared out the window at the mountains anticipating what tonight would bring.  What would happen?  What would I see?  Would there be snacks?  I would soon find out.

​June 2017 started off like every other month. By the first Monday, I knew something was off because my rent check yet to clear.  This was unusual and my fiancé, at the time, called the landlord’s office.  They told him to not worry and check again on Friday.  On Wednesday, we received an e-mail notifying us our rent was late.  However, I saw earlier that morning that my rent check cleared.  After some odor sleuthing, we discovered our rent checks were stolen out of the mail and deposited.
 
The following two months were powdered with fraud claims paperwork, collecting documents and signatures, taking time off work to deal with it all and a wailmer of waiting.  The landlord’s office understood what happened and was very helpful, but we still owed them June’s rent.  We borrowed it from our wedding account and returned it once we got our money back from the bank at the end of July.  This annoying adventure became known as "June’s sludge wave" because of all the financial sludge that needed to be cleaned up after it hit.  It was a muked up mess.  I did some soul searching and exploration while cleaning, which eventually led me to restructure my financial pokémon team.
 
In Part I, I look at the damage the sludge wave caused and what I realized about how my team strategy.

Welcome to December!  The first post of December means that it’s time for November’s Review and Net Worth Update.
 
For those who are new to The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer, each month I write a financial review to xatu my net worth by writing down my thoughts on the previous and following months.  I share these summaries so everyone can gain insight into my personal finances and my thoughts behind them.
 
I started tracking my net worth to measure my progress, inspired by Budgets Are Sexy, which has helped me keep a keen eye on my personal finances.  I have been tracking my net worth since January 2015 and writing monthly financial reviews for myself since 2016.  I recommend both because they have been such helpful tools to watch my personal finances stat changes.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are officially in the holiday season.  Tis the season for joyous times with family and friends, an abundance of delicious and fattening foods, and extra reasons to spend money.  In my experience, this is the most challenging time for a lot of people to not cheat on their diets and budgets.
 
Diets and budgets are a bit like the attacks ice ball and rollout.  They may be different types, but they basically do the same thing.  The more times the user hit’s their target, the stronger the attack grows.  If the user misses, just once, it feels like they are starting over from the very beginning.  Unlike the attacks, the goal of my diet and budget are to make them a part of my permanent lifestyle, so if I do mess up I don’t have to start all the way back at the beginning.
 
However, there is long battle ahead of me before I reach that goal.  Whenever I cheat, it lowers my attack’s power and makes the battle longer.  There are three ways that I typically cheat on my budget, planned cheating, spontaneous cheating and last-minute cheating.

Welcome to the second half of November!  I know I have been quieter than a whismur, but I am back and ready to talk.  So, let’s pick up with October’s Review and Net Worth Update.
 
For those who are new to The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer, each month I write a financial review to xatu my net worth by writing down my thoughts on the previous and following months.  I share these summaries so everyone can gain insight into my personal finances and my thoughts behind them.
 
I started tracking my net worth to measure my progress, inspired by Budgets Are Sexy, which has helped me keep a keen eye on my personal finances.  I have been tracking my net worth since January 2015 and writing monthly financial reviews for myself since 2016.  I recommend tracking net worth because it has been such a helpful tool to watch my personal finance stat changes over time.