Over the past two years, my wife and I have made a series of life decisions that have prevented us from settling in any one location. The traveling we've done has been great, but it's no substitute for feeling rooted within one's community. We're currently on our third city in as many years.

Since this semi-nomadic lifestyle began, investing has come to occupy more and more of my time -- in fact, it's been one of the few constants. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but without a physical community to call myself a part of, the life I've been living hasn't yielded what I've hoped for.

So after a decade away from the game, I decided this spring it was time to start coaching high school football, a sport I played through college. Two-a-days started two weeks ago and -- coupled with a wedding and a couple of family reunions -- I figured now was the perfect time to take a mini-sabbatical from all things investing.

Over that time, I've realized a couple lessons that other over-stimulated, investing-focused individuals like myself might benefit from hearing out loud.

Among them:

Invest? Why invest?I would like to believe that, for myself, the chief reason to invest is to allow my family to live the lives we desire without having financial anxiety impinge on our ability to appreciate our varied experiences. And for those who want to accomplish the same thing, I can only hope the Fool's advice helps in that regard.

Notice, though, that you need a "life" which has "varied experiences" to make investing worth it. Making money and investing alone isn't enough to qualify for either of these.

In fact, an Australian nurse who caters to those on their deathbeds made a list of the five greatest regrets she most commonly heard:

Notice that none of these deal with investing or even money. Clearly, if investing is to be a worthwhile pursuit, our lives need to be worthwhile as well.

In the end, I actually think Foolish colleague Jeff Fisher put it best when he said that finances are important, "only because you probably don't want your main focus during your time here to be money. You want your finances to be sensible, sustainable, provide for you and your family, and not worry you much (some worry is hard-wired in all of us). Period."

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What I Learned From an Investing Sabbatical

2012 College Football Preview: What to expect from OU, OSU and TU this football season.

"Angie would kind of shut it down," Bill Blankenship recalls. "She wanted something else to be talked about."

OK, so when Angie and Bill and their three sons - Josh, Caleb and Adam - would convene for a meal, what was discussed other than football?

"Not much," Bill replied with a smile. "It usually got around to football."

Some families are football participants.

The Blankenships are football lifers.

Bill was a quarterback at Spiro High School and the University of Tulsa. Before joining the Golden Hurricane staff in 2007 - and becoming TU's head man last year - he coached all three of his boys at Union High School.

When Angie says, "I can't even estimate how many games I've attended," she's not exaggerating. She and Bill were high school sweethearts, and they've been married since 1978.

"They are still in love and that's incredible to see in this day and age." Caleb Blankenship told the Tulsa World last year.

Bill has coached for three decades. Angie was in the bleachers for all of his games, and she was there for the great majority of their sons' games - from sixth grade through varsity at Union and even at out-of-state games involving Josh and Adam.

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Blankenship boys follow their dad into coaching

LAWRENCE The son wanted to be a football coach, and the father was skeptical. Football was in the family blood, but the life comes with sacrifices. Charlie Weis knew this. And he wanted to make sure his son, Charlie Jr., did, too.

For Charlie Jr.s entire life, in places such as New York and Boston and South Bend, Ind., he had been the kid on the sidelines. Hed been in the stands for Super Bowls, watching his dad coach the offense for the New England Patriots. Hed been the son whom everybody knew at Notre Dame, the one who shared the same name as his father, the Irishs head coach; the one who often heard his family name mocked as the team struggled.

When I was younger, it was a lot harder, Charlie Jr. says now.

But the son who was always around football kept telling his dad that he wanted to be a coach, that he wanted to be just like him. If nothing else, Weis says, he wanted to warn his son. Coaching a college football team in front of 80,000 fans can be a lonely existence. And did he really want his son to endure the long days, the hours away from family, the nomadic lifestyle? Did he really want to follow his old man?

Maybe Charlie Weis couldnt give his son the advice he needed. But he knew someone who could.

Its a sunny afternoon in early August, and Charlie Weis is watching over KU football practice in Memorial Stadium. Across the field, Charlie Jr. is standing near the sideline and barking out cues for a running-backs drill. Weis, of course, is in his first full season as the Jayhawks coach, and Charlie Jr., a sophomore at KU, has taken a spot on his staff.

Officially, Charlie Weis Jr. is a student manager. But inside the program, coaches and players say hes more than that. After spending last season as a student intern at Florida for Gators coach Will Muschamp, Charlie Jr. followed his dad to Lawrence. When they arrived, Weis says, Charlie Jr. helped running backs coach Reggie Mitchell master the new offensive scheme.

Hes got tremendous knowledge of the game, KU quarterbacks coach Ron Powlus says. He knows our plays. He knows our playbook. He knows defenses. He knows coverages and fronts.

Earlier this year, Charlie Jr. helped teach KUs graduate assistant how to break down film, a skill he had learned from his dad, and Weis says his son has become the perfect go-between for players and a valued consultant for dealing with recruits.

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Weis can’t stop son from following him into coaching

Coaches tend to retire and then drift back. You do something for so long, it gets in your blood. So you have to take what they say with a lot of salt. Not a grain. A lot. But Don Nelson is talking like theres no question about it, hes not coming back.

Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com reports that Nelson has said he is permanently done with coaching, not interested, even if called.

Nelson was in talks for the Timberwolves job before they went with Rick Adelman. Hes been rumored here and there for a variety of jobs, and will continue to be. But if hes loving life sitting on beaches sipping drinks with umbrellas in them, more power to him. Hes earned it.

Its interesting, though, that theres not more interest in Nelson returning, considering the positional shifts we see going on in the league. Versatility and smallball is all the rage right now, and that fits right in with what Nelson does. While defense is still at a premium for winning in the playoffs, his ingenuity could do a lot with some of the rosters that are out there. Or it could crash into the ocean. Thats the risk with Nelson.

But it looks for now like we wont be seeing Nellieball again, even as it tenets seem to be roaming the landscape.

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PBT: Nellie's done with coaching — he's earned it

AUSTRALIA'S newest world-record holders have an average age of 90.

In a swim that brought a crowd of about 200 screaming spectators to tears, the four Melbourne ''golden girls'' set a world masters record in the 4 x 50-metre relay, swimming the race in about five minutes, 45 seconds.

''It was great to hear the applause and think, we're not so old after all,'' said the team's fourth or ''anchor'' swimmer, Hazel Gillbee, 84, the ''baby'' of the team. ''It's pretty good to feel fit.''

The women, members of the North Lodge Neptune AUSSI Masters Swimming Club, recently discovered that no one had ever entered a world record for a relay swim in the ''360'' masters division (representing the total ages of team members).

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As members of the same swimming club, they were eligible to try to set the first record, and chose last night's swim meet at the Jubilee Park Aquatic Centre for their attempt.

While the four women swim at least weekly and were confident of succeeding, the event had all the drama and anticipation of an Olympic meet, with the bleachers packed and TV news crews and local media vying for position at the end of the 25-metre pool.

''We are a bit concerned about the changeovers,'' said Ms Gilbee before the race, ''I said to the girls, 'Make sure you do it right, it doesn't matter about the time - we don't want to get disqualified'.''

Eldest team member Clarise Artis, 97, started swimming competitively when she was 86 (four years after having a quadruple heart bypass) and swims 800 metres twice a week.

But she has recently recovered from pneumonia and said: ''I've not been swimming as well as I could.'' As the team's first swimmer, her nerves were rattled further after the starting gun failed three times.

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Life turns 360 for our oldest world champions

By Mike Watkins//Correspondent

Life hasnt been easy or simple over the many years since Anthony Ervin won gold in the 50 freestyle at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

After winning world titles the next year in the 50 and 100 freestyles, Ervin was restless in life and swimming fighting some inner demons and within a few months, was contemplating making a drastic, life-altering change.

Two years later, at just 22 years old, he retired, vowing not to return.

He sank deep into a counter-culture trap, playing guitar, growing dreads, tattooing sleeves on both arms and smoking and drinking. Locked in a world of substance use and depression, he attempted suicide by eating a bottle of tranquilizers and had a high-speed chase with the cops in Berkeley, where he swam collegiately, ending with his motorcycle entangled with a Mustang and his shoulder separated and hanging from a sling.

He was headed nowhere fast, swapping Olympic and world venues for tattoo parlors and record shops and looking for a sign of what the future might still hold for him and his amazing talent wrapped in indifference and self-admittedly, arrogance and entitlement.

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Anthony Ervin: Loving Life and Swimming... Again

Australia's champion hockey player Jamie Dwyer has retired from internatiional duties but has vision of coaching the Kookaburras. Source: Getty Images

JAMIE Dwyer has flagged his interest in coaching the Australian men's hockey team in the future.

Dwyer, a triple Olympian and captain of Australia's only Games gold medal team, has already embarked on a coaching career, having taken up the role leading the men's ones at local club YMCC Coastal City.

The club job is in addition to his DwyerOnline.com coaching business and 1&9 Coaching, a hockey tuition program he runs with teammate Mark Knowles.

Dwyer this week returned to Perth after a London campaign that netted his second Olympic bronze - the team also finished third at Beijing - and the 33-year-old confirmed it was his final Games.

He said coaching the Kookaburras, a side that had been such a large part of his life, was a future goal.

"I love hockey and I'd like to stay involved in hockey.

"(Coaching) is definitely a possibility, but I need to think about whether I'm going to carry on my career first and I've got a few things outside of hockey that I'm interested in as well.

"(Coaching the national side) would be good and I think I'd like to do it.

"I've got a lot to learn before then and I don't think I'd do it in the next 10 years, but after that and down the track, it's definitely a possibility.

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Dwyer wants top job with Kookaburras

I couldnt help but notice that Helen Gurley Brown died on Annie Oakleys birthday this past week. What came to mind immediately was something my mother used to sing to me when I was a teenager:

Oh you cant get a man with a gun, as the Irving Berlin song goes. With a gun, with a gun. No, you cant get a man with a gun.

Relax, NRA sharp shooters, Mom was talking in metaphor. That kind of independence, she figured, was frowned upon when trying to land a man. It was intimidating and emasculating.

But this was a time (the late 1970s) when Gurley Brown and Gloria Steinem and even The Mary Tyler Moore Show were well-entrenched in our culture and delivering other messages to balance that out. It was this Gurley Brown line of thinking that influenced me:

The message was: So youre single. You can still have sex. You can have a great life. And if you marry, dont just sponge off a man or be the gold-medal-winning mother. Dont use men to get what you want in life -- get it for yourself.

It surprises me how even today some of my life coaching clients especially those of my generation -- dont get this way of thinking. Some do and could pretty much teach courses in how to be strong, vibrant, independent and female, but I find others struggle with their identity as it relates to the social order of things. Their self image is often tied up in roles where they are in relationship to others mother, wife, daughter. Not so much seeing themselves as a whole person who may be all of those things.

As a coach, I love the challenge of this kind of client. Sometimes a divorce, illness or death forces them into building their own lives and they thrive. In some cases what is initially loneliness turns to solitude, a wholly different experience. It allows for room to reflect, to attract new things and people, and to reconnect with interests they once loved and began to neglect.

We all have those individuals weve met or admire from afar who have helped propel us along our path. I like to collect examples, from my life and others, so that I can have one at the ready when a client needs a boost from a real, tangible individual who overcame or accomplished something. I want to at the very least get them nodding and at the most give them a push to action on their own goals.

For instance, upon discovering then-New York Times op-ed columnist Anna Quindlen, I was buoyed by the idea of another New Jersey Italian-American woman, also raised Catholic, having a voice in that forum. It validated my own decision to become a columnist.

Ironically one of my earliest female influences -- Roman Catholic nuns -- has resurfaced as a great inspiration this summer. They are currently under fire from a Vatican Doctrinal Assessment with regard to a number of issues, including the question of womens ordination, their approach in ministering to homosexuals and a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith in speakers they invite to conferences.

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Life Lessons from an Editor, a Sharp Shooter and Some Nuns

LEXINGTON, Ky., Aug. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time Tuesday, the word "life coach" appeared in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. "I think it's great," says Michelle Hollingshead, President of the ICF Ohio Valley Chapter. Merriam-Webster picks about 100 additions for their annual update, by gathering evidence of frequently used words over several years. "I think it communicates the legitimacy and the timeliness of our services." Hollingshead continued, "It's great to get global recognition as a profession."

In an economic age where more and more jobs are being cut, the coaching industry is growing. "The industry keeps growing because it's meeting a societal need to make people more effective, satisfied and able to maximize their potential to help humanity flourish," explains Dr. Damian Goldvarg, President-Elect of ICF's Board of Directors. The first-known usage of the word "life coach" was in 1986 according to Merriam-Webster, but since then the professional coaching industry has exploded. The 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study* revealed there are 47,500 professional coaches worldwide bringing in a total annual income of nearly $2 billion. The growth in the professional coaching industry is one indication that coaching is an effective solution to the common economic struggles plaguing many companies today.

Major corporations have turned to coaching to improve their businesses, including IBM, Nike, Verizon and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Studies show that virtually all companies or individuals who hire a coach are satisfied. According to the ICF Global Coaching Client Study (2009), a stunning 99% of people who were polled said they were somewhat or very satisfied with the overall experience.

A key differentiator for the industry is that coaching is seen as an "action plan" rather than an exploratory process. Coaching has become a significant trend in leadership development because it increases productivity, empowers employees, and provides a return on investment (ROI). Professional coaching explicitly targets maximizing potential and in doing this unlocks latent sources of productivity and effectiveness. At the heart of coaching is a creative and thought-provoking process that supports individuals to confidently pursue new ideas and alternative solutions with greater resilience in the face of growing complexity and uncertainty.

The International Coach Federation is the leading global organization for coaches, with over 21,000 members in more than 100 countries and over 7,900 credentialed coaches worldwide. ICF is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high ethical standards, providing independent certification, and building a worldwide network of credentialed coaches.

* The 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study and the ICF Global Coaching Client Study (2009) were commissioned by ICF but conducted independently by the International Survey Unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Full copies of the studies are available upon request.

http://www.coachfederation.org

ICF HEADQUARTERS CONTACT:

Lindsay Bodkin, +1.859.219.3550, lindsay.bodkin@coachfederation.org

This press release was issued through eReleases Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

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'Life Coach' Added to Merriam-Webster Dictionary

By By PAT EATON-ROBB

STORRS, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said he has no interest in returning as head coach of the U.S. national team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Auriemma met with reporters at UConn, five days after coaching the U.S. team to a fifth straight Olympic gold medal.

He said he was honored to get the job and ecstatic with the results, but described his interest level in doing it again as "zero."

"If you ask me right now, today, I would say it is somebody else's turn," he said.

Mike Krzyzewski returned as coach of the men's team after the 2008 Games to lead them to another gold medal in London, but the USA has traditionally switched women's basketball coaches after each Olympics.

Tara VanDerveer, Nell Fortner, Van Chancellor and Anne Donovan each led teams to Olympic gold before Auriemma took the job as national coach in 2009.

USA Basketball spokeswoman Caroline Williams said it is too soon for the organization to begin thinking about the coach of the 2016 team.

"USA Basketball generally doesn't even begin the process until at least the winter after the Olympics," she said in an email. "We still have many competitions this year and the next major competition for our USA National Team isn't until 2014, so the coaching staff for the next squad hasn't even come up for discussion yet."

Auriemma said he believes it will be more difficult for the women to win in 2016. Other countries such as France and Turkey are making great strides with their programs, and some key players for the U.S. are aging, he said.

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Auriemma: No interest in coaching at 2016 Olympics