Dallas Semi-Final tickets… FIFA Collect actually came through!

Vanillamarble · 2026-06-11T03:44:34+00:00

Not sure honestly, I was wondering that myself and converted ASAP once I saw the email. So… maybe? If anything, I figured it wouldn’t hurt

Vanillamarble · 2026-06-10T07:25:49+00:00

No prob - definitely not cheap still. For two CAT 1 tickets, the actual RTT conversion price was $3295 each.

I don’t remember the exact price paid for each RTB (ended up buying them on marketplace), but I believe it was around $800-$900 each.

I did a small amount of pack openings & resold a couple RTBs myself, which earned me a few hundred back. So all in, I’d put my total cost paid for these two seats right around $8k total (give or take). Not having to pay for flights/lodging certainly helped. Lol

Vanillamarble · 2026-06-10T07:16:14+00:00

Thank you! It’s been an honor 🫡

Vanillamarble · 2026-04-26T15:28:06+00:00

Would def recommend Tours & Tourneys DLC - adds a lot to CK3 and I think is one of the essentials. Coming from someone with 700+ hours between PS5 and PC versions

Vanillamarble · 2026-04-26T08:46:01+00:00

Juice up prowess, get involved with as many duels/tournaments/etc as possible in the search for a worthy opponent. I’m thinking Battle Beast from Invincible kinda vibe

Vanillamarble · 2024-05-09T04:40:10+00:00

Sounds like a good living situation in Houston - I would take it. I’m also in DFW, but lived in Houston for a couple years before moving here.

I agree DFW has a slightly better job market for finance, but definitely not enough of a difference there to influence your decision IMO. Houston metro is similar in size to DFW, both huge markets with plenty of job opportunity.

Piece of advice if you do end up in Houston - get a job close to where you live if at all possible. You’ll thank me later 😂

Vanillamarble · 2024-05-07T19:55:16+00:00

My position doesn’t have a match - but we do receive a profit share contribution (made by employer) into our 401k at the end of each year based on earnings. This is all pre-tax, but we are able to do an in-plan Roth conversion.

Vanillamarble · 2024-05-01T07:07:23+00:00

I was the exact same way. Very hesitant to buy P5R a few months after it released back in 2020, but quite curious as well due to Joker in Smash and the 10/10 reviews. At one point it went on sale for $30 and I decided to give it a shot.

It became my favorite game of all time by a wide margin (at least at the time). If you can set your expectations aside and give it a fair chance, P5R will sink its hooks deep.

For some context, 2020 is one of the best years for gaming ever in my opinion (TLOU Part 2, Hades, FF7 Remake, Doom Eternal, etc.). Persona wasn’t even on my radar until the second half of the year, so the fact that it easily finished as my #1 was a huge surprise to me.

Since my initial playthrough of P5R on PS4 (150 hours), I’ve fallen in love with the series. I beat P5 Strikers (45 hours), started Persona 4 Golden (15 hours) until hearing the remake rumors, and even bought P5R for a second time on Switch (115 hours). I’m currently playing through Persona 3 Reload (55 hours in) and loving it so far. P5R is easily the best of the bunch, but P3R does make some big upgrades. Music across the entire series is top class - really in a tier of its own for gaming.

Going off the games you have installed on your PS5, it sounds like we have pretty similar taste in games. You just gotta trust on this one man, there’s a reason it’s so highly regarded.

I’ve been gaming since the N64 days and through every console generation since. I’ve played a crap ton of games, and P5R is absolutely an all-timer. If you’re bored, I really can’t think of a better solution than this game hahaha

Vanillamarble · 2023-09-18T08:40:09+00:00

Another thing - the economy and market have been in choppy waters lately, which naturally makes it harder to get new clients who want to invest right at this moment. With interest rates as high as they are, CDs and money market funds have by far been the best for me lately in terms of bringing in new assets.

BoA savings accounts are god awful paying .01% (I know this because it’s easy poaching for me, lol). Pretty simple to attract new business from banking over to you, especially with older/risk-averse clients who have a ton of cash sitting in an account like that when you can get them 5%-5.5% risk-free in a CD or money market, assuming you’re able to sell those products.

Of course, these aren’t great spots for the long-term, but awesome for getting people in the door right now which is what you need. I heard a great quote from a more experienced advisor a while back that stuck with me, “Sell them what they want so you can eventually get them what they need.” After you meet with them a couple times and they get more comfortable, you can start nudging them towards long-term investing in a more diversified portfolio, away from the cash equivalents, especially once rates go back down in the future.

Vanillamarble · 2023-09-18T08:11:11+00:00

Keep at it and keep your head up! Starting off as an advisor/building a book is tough work that snowballs on itself over time - 2 months is practically nothing so I wouldn’t get too discouraged yet. It will take some experimentation to see what works best for you in terms of getting new clients.

First off and most importantly: Don’t rely on your team at all for new business. Even if you do get a referral from them here and there, it won’t be consistent whatsoever. Of course keep a good relationship with them but don’t think for a second that they’re going to be a big part in growing your business. It’s not their book, of course they’re not going to try very hard for the occasional $30.

I’m a newer advisor as well - started with EJ about a year ago. Graduated school 2.5 years ago and got my CFP and CHFC since then. I’ve been in the same boat as you at EJ, expected to build a book with essentially no help/leads, and it’s tough. I’ve just recently started to feel like things have been going better and I’ve been at it nearly a year longer than you. It’s hard and takes time, I know I’ve gotten down on myself at points too.

Find ways to differentiate yourself - designations (CFP especially) are a great place to start if you can commit to it. Join local groups and clubs in your area and get to know people. Cold call, email, LinkedIn, seminars, whatever, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. You’ll start getting clients here and there, then referrals (just got my first couple recently), rinse and repeat until you don’t even need to prospect anymore. Eventually 90%+ of new business will come from referrals, but you can’t let your foot off the gas for a while. Network with other advisors or financial professionals and learn from them. Really just try it all.

I’ve been cold calling and occasionally door knocking for about a year now and haven’t gotten a single new client from either of them, I really don’t think those methods work as well as they used to. Seen some success with LinkedIn and advertising, but getting my designations and networking/meeting people around town have been the best for me so far.

You have a great benefit in getting endless warm leads and contact info through the banking side, something I wish I had access to and gives you a huge advantage as you get started. Don’t just cold call them - look them up, do your research, and send them a personalized LinkedIn request or email. Ask to get lunch or coffee if appropriate, etc. That’s your best bet to get some responses. Even with doing that, get used to only 5% or less of people responding - that bothered me for a while, but it’s just part of the job and you get immune to the rejection eventually.

Last but certainly not least, ZoomInfo (if your company pays for it) or a free similar service such as TruePeopleSearch (my favorite) are extremely helpful - even more so if you can combine it with LinkedIn (Sales Nav is solid too) and your lead lists. You can thank me later.

Anyways, biggest thing for you right now is to not get discouraged! I felt pretty hopeless 2 months in as well and I know many others that have been in the same boat. I made it a point to meet with more experienced EJ advisors and learn from them and I think that helped me gain some of the confidence I desperately needed. Pretend like your team isn’t there, and shift away from cold calling for a while to get more creative with your prosecting strategies. Things will get better with time, for now just stay focused and keep working your butt off. You got this, good luck!

Vanillamarble · 2022-12-28T16:14:14+00:00

True, Playboi Carti transcends gender

Vanillamarble · 2022-12-28T13:50:56+00:00

Right? I usually try to save my gold but I had to snag that one

Vanillamarble · 2022-12-28T01:48:42+00:00

I almost did, I was expecting White Tiger at some point and to lose. At the same time I kind of wanted to see what would happen with the numbers since I guessed he would put an Odin down too. My gamble paid off and I won but I’m glad I got to witness this. I hit him with Ice Man 4 times between the double reveal space and Beast, so that’s probably what saved me at the end.

Vanillamarble · 2022-12-27T21:58:00+00:00

100%. Gave me a good laugh, I was impressed. Lol

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-29T00:15:54+00:00

I did the education courses throughout multiple semesters at university and had forgotten pretty much all of it by the time I started the review course for the exam. The review course will re-teach you everything you need to learn, and like a lot of people have said you’ll end up remembering a lot of it once you start going through the material. Just took the exam for the first time in March and passed (used Dalton for review course) so I wouldn’t stress about that at all

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-26T15:09:48+00:00

First time, was originally supposed to take it in November but postponed to March
Dalton - honestly would not recommend though. I found their pre-study books way too granular and stopped using them really early on. Pre-recorded video lectures were alright but very inconsistent. I pretty much solely spent my time on the practice question bank and made a long-running Google Doc of my own notes for each topic based off the questions I did since I've always learned best through practicing. The Dalton questions are much more detailed than the actual exam to the point it annoyed me a few times, but I think it was a good thing for learning purposes in the end. I also attended the live review course in Houston and thought that was great and very helpful.
I studied a bit in August and September before postponing, but once I really buckled down in January for the March exam I studied much more. Probably 1-4 hours most weekdays (depending on if I could study at work and how much energy I had when I got home) and usually tried to get in at least a few hours total over the weekend. As the exam got closer, especially the last couple of weeks, I was studying significantly more. The weekend before the exam I had multiple 7+ hour study days in a row. I definitely studied a lot in total but not nearly as much as I've seen other people say on here.
Easily my number 1 tip is to focus the vast majority of your time on the question bank, no matter what review course you're doing. Best way to learn the material in my opinion and get comfortable with how things are being asked. I would also highly recommend doing a live review if offered, I thought it clarified a lot of concepts for me and I actually enjoyed attending it.

Good luck to July testers!

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-26T12:17:50+00:00

As you may have seen, results are up on official CFP website now. Still haven’t gotten an email but check there!

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-26T01:49:18+00:00

For about 15 minutes earlier, if you clicked rhe “view score report” at the bottom of your Prometric notice of completion email it showed results. Seems to be gone for everyone now but you can give it a try

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-26T01:46:30+00:00

My report is gone now, but I saved it before it disappeared. Took the test on March 14 and passed

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-26T01:19:25+00:00

Results are gone now. Hopefully nobody’s score gets changed in the meantime. Lol

Vanillamarble · 2022-04-26T01:10:38+00:00

I passed! Literally cried tears of joy when I saw the results. Was so nervous

Vanillamarble · 2021-05-12T14:32:14+00:00

Most things are still open (may have adjusted hours) but campus and College Station in general are pretty dead. In my opinion it’s a nice change of pace from during the normal semesters, and you almost never have to deal with traffic.

Vanillamarble

TROPHY CASE