Latest Journal Posts on NetworthIQ

Cash for your trash

444 — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:21:18 GMT

In trying to clean out our messy residence, Mr. 444 put an item on Ebay the other day. It's a stupid replica football helmet (can't be worn, is made of plastic, but is almost full-sized.) He said he was actually going to throw it away before deciding to see if any jokers out there wanted to buy it.

There's a bidding war going on and it's up over $70 now!

Repost From Earlier: Re: Making Progress!

cerzebet — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:22 GMT

OK everyone! Check out my update for May! As some of you know, I paid off 1 of our 2 credit cards this week. This was due to our fed and state refunds. Our stimulus check will go to our E funds when those arrive. Once we get the checks, that should give us close to 2 months living expenses. I am so excited!!! OK, I will quit patting myself on the back now! Have a great day!

I posted this earlier, but was having trouble viewing it so we will try this again!

May 15th

begby69th — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:01:51 GMT

I have not used the AMEX or the Chase Credit Card for several weeks.

Although when we go to Paris I think we will put about $1,000 on the Amex.

Amex is at $3,000
Chase at $2,800

No new wine purchase.

Making Progress!!!

cerzebet — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:55:42 GMT

Tell me how you think I'm doin' (Mid-month update)

444 — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:25:38 GMT

Stock value is now $71,500.23, and was $68,994.00 as of the last monthly update (last day of April). This does not represent any "new" money, just a gain of $2,506.23 or 3.63%.

The 401K balance is now $4,063.20 and was $3,699.00 as of last monthly update - I put in May 1's numbers there. This is a change of $364; however, There was a contribution made of $173.07 (115 from Mr. 444 and 58 from the employer). This means the gain from investment was $191.00 in just two weeks. Not bad!

If I have calculated correctly, that's a gain of 4.93% on the 401K. That's the old balance of 3,699 plus contribution made on May 2 of 173 equaling 3,872, and the 191 from gain in value being 4.93% of the value as of May 2. Someone correct me if I've made an egregious error.

(I have rounded off cents here and there. For one thing, NWIQ doesn't even allow cents.)

I see that the Dow is up about .75% in the same time frame and the S&P about 1.8%, so we are not doing too shabbily.

GnuCash

chill20 — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:27:29 GMT

Finally set-up my new system and running Fedora 8 on it. After deciding that 10 excel workbooks shouldn't be used to keep track of all my spending etc. I set out to a find a free and linux friendly Quicken type application.

Hello, GnuCash.
http://www.gnucash.org/

Finally have it full setup and linked with all my bank accounts, savings accounts and investments accounts. Couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Moral of the post: don't spend $100s on Quicken/MS Money, go open source. It's the way of the future.

My car is a ticking timebomb

RyanC — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:42:38 GMT

I have a dilemma. I had my car in the shop at the end of last year. They told me that my engine has a history of major problems! i.e. seizes up.

I purchased the car in 2002 and planned on it lasting for 10 to 12 years.

I paid about $15,000 for the car and now its worth about $4,000.

If the engine blows, the car will probably be worth $500.

Do I "bite the bullet" and get a new(er) car now - knowing what I know? Or do I drive it until it blows up?

If I purchase another car, it will impact my plans.

(The car has only 70,000 miles on it, but thats about the time many owners have major problems!)

Personal Property

portfola — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:21:22 GMT

Running summary of stuff and approximate worth:

Bed: 400
Dresser: 100
Bookshelf: 200
TV: 500
Kitchen table: 500
Couch: 1000
Chair: 700
Dining table/chairs: 150
Laptop: 300
Coffee table: 50
IKEA Lamps/dressers: 100
Jewelry: 2000
Plates etc: 500

One year on...

bigchrisb — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:46:50 GMT

Well, its now 12 months since I put in my first real post on networthiq. When I started here, I'd already started trying to pay down debt and move towards a more financially stable position. So, one year on, how have I done??

Pretty well in my opinion! Net worth is up by $62,000 over the 12 months ($5166/month) - slightly more than my after-tax income for the period. Much of it has been hard work, some luck, and some bad luck. But more important to me is that:
- I don't have any consumer debt any more
- My asset mix has changed from 20% of assets as earning assets (anything but cars, personal property and other), to 86% of assets as earning assets.

So where to now? Given that my assets are now doing some earning of their own, and my salary is likely to rise significantly at next review, and that I don't have any dead-weight debt, I'd like to do even better for the next 12 months. I'm setting myself a goal of getting to $160k total net worth at the end of the next year, equivalent to a $6250/month increase in net worth. Think I can do it? Check back in 12 months and see!

ran Hotel Havana Barcelona

stefores — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:44:06 GMT

The Gran Hotel Havana Barcelona is a first class hotel extended and upgraded to deluxe in 1991, and completely redecorated in 2002. Its location is the Casa L. Fradera, a historic building dating from 1882. On Barcelona's Gran V�a, the hotel is right in the centre of the city, only a step away from the most emblematic buildings of Gaud�, the mythical Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter. see also: Book hotel Barcelona

Spain Hotels

stefores — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:41:33 GMT

Looking for a nice hotels in vacation, is sometimes a headache, maybe the hotel is fully booked or the available hotels are far enough to the place where the planned adventure held. The ideal is, book the hotel early. plan the travel activity to have a good vacation. see also: Hotel Booking Madrid

Beaches and Hotels

stefores — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:34:07 GMT

Have you ever checked-in to the hotel with overlooking Beach? Hotel in Platja d Aro a place that everyones dream place. It is preserved from 1950's until now and developed as modern time structure.

Hotel in Spain

stefores — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:28:10 GMT

Hotel in Spain is one of the nice hotel in the world. The views, services, foods and dishes, weather, people and the adventure zone of the placed makes the hotels more rapidly growing to cater the needs of the foreign visitors. Hotel Madrid is one of the perfect example.

Hotel Bilbao

stefores — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:15:03 GMT

The Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao, facing the Guggenheim Museum, is the Silken Hotels' first five-star and the chain's pride. The GHBD expresses a contemporary concept that avoids ostentation and promotes fun. The project is infected by its neighbour, the Guggenheim's, activity and offers a space that contains a selection of furniture that represents the most emblematic design from the 20th century. see also: Hotel Bibao .

My New Goal

itchyeyes — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:35:36 GMT

I'm a big fan of setting personal financial goals for myself. They give me focus, something to work towards. Last year, paying off my car loan served as a huge motivation for me to clean up my finances and make the most of them.

After I paid off the car though, I kind of drifted. I was lacking a new goal for myself to work towards. So today I'm setting a new goal for myself. This one is a bit loftier than before, to own a home with all debts (including mortgage) paid off. As with all goals, it's important to set a timeline for yourself. So my goal here is to have this accomplished by my 3rd wedding anniversary (8/2011).

I told you it was lofty.

However, I've run the numbers, and while it may be lofty it's still achievable. With diligence and focus I'm certain that we can achieve it.

There are a few key points here that are crucial to our success. Firstly, we plan to move to a state with significantly lower land values, not just for the financial gains but also to be closer to family. Second, I currently have a large amount employer stock that will vest over the next 2-3 years. I will have to stay with my employer for at least a year and a half to see most of that value realized.

I'm aware that from a purely numbers standpoint paying off your home so quickly isn't always the best idea. However, I think there are several other factors working here that make this an important goal for my fiance and I. Primarily, the financial stability that it brings us is important to both of us, particularly for when we decide to start having children. But additionally, I think that just having such a clear and tangible goal motivates us to be much more efficient with out money than we would otherwise be without the goal.

Discrimination!!!! Unbelievable.

ddragon — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:28:54 GMT

I'm self employed. I've been self employed for more than five years. I should say I've been successfully self employed for about 4 and a half years. (It took me awhile to figure out how to make it work). By successful, I mean I earn an average annual income - somewhere around the $40,000 mark, and all without leaving home.

Anyway, I'm looking for an apartment or house to rent. Preferably, a house.

Here is how it typically happens:

I dial the number of an apartment listing. "Hi, I'm calling about the 3 bedroom apartment you have listed in the blah-blah-blah paper."

Landlord: "How many people is it for?"

Me: "3".

Landlord: "Who is it for?"

Me: "Myself and my 2 children."

Landlord: "oooh." Long pauses... sighs... grunts.. sometimes a "I don't know" or "I don't think so" thrown in.

Me: "Are you showing the apartment anytime soon? Where exactly is it located?"

Landlord: "Where do you work?"

Me: "I'm self employed, I-" (almost always get cut off at this point, before being able to say what I do, average monthly income, how many years I've been doing it, etc)

Landlord: "I don't think so. No." Hang up.

So it's pretty obvious that they're against single moms and/or self employed people. I'm getting pretty sick of it. I dread making phone calls because I know how it's going to turn out. They know nothing about my level of debt, my income level or the fact that I've been paying for a mortgage and utilities for the last 4 years.

I'm not at a stage where I can buy a home, so I have to find a place to rent. It has to be in a good school district and a safe area, so I'm limiting myself to certain places but have to for the kid's sake. I just can't get over how difficult these landlords are making it for me to find a place!

Coming Soon....

cerzebet — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:48:58 GMT

So I got both our fed and state refunds just now. I haven't fully updated May yet, b/c I wanted to wait until I had our bills paid for the month. So, by the end of the week you should see our CC debt drop considerably. I am paying off the smaller of the 2 CCs that we have, yay! After that we can debt snowball onto the other card, hopefully that should be paid off early next year if not sooner. The sooner the better I say! I will let you all know as soon as I update! Have a great week!

I hate adjustments

MrsUSMC — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:39:50 GMT

I think I've settled into the new job rather well. It's been 6 weeks and I'm still loving going to work everyday. I do get exasperated about a couple of things that go on every now and then, but I just shrug it off to being part of the profession and know it'll be gone and something new will come along a little later.

I've managed to get approval for a little bit of overtime each week. There's a main player out until maybe the end of July and I feel with my being new and still catching on to a few things, some of the mundane, day-to-day things (like filing and closing out accounts) are getting pushed to the side and I fear them buiding up. So I asked for 30 minutes overtime each day to work on nothing but that. It also has been helping me feel a little less overwhelmed, since I don't worry about. Only one day, since approval, have I worked on regular "stuff" instead of the things I specifically asked for the overtime for.

As to the adjustments, the new job has thrown a wrench in my fitness schedule, plus the paydays are twice a month instead of every other Friday and that's thrown my calculating schedule off. I feel like things are getting paid off slower now instead of at a steady pace.

Unexpected Change of Life's Plans

ddragon — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:18:51 GMT

Well, it was probably good that I left off my husband's income and assets and everything when calculating networth... Turns out he's been planning a divorce for quite some time.

So- without getting into the personal, nitty gritty details of it, we can just say that it will change my financial situation.

Except- in most cases, people feel a divorce makes their financial situation worse. For me- I am almost certain it will improve it!

That's because he's not been very good with his finances, ever. Not saying I'm great (just see my networth to agree! LOL) but I pay what I can when I can. He has no issues taking an entire paycheck and taking a last minute trip or blowing it on small purchases here and there. And can never tell you where his money has gone. When that happens, it was often up to me to make up the difference. Our property/school taxes were prime example of it. He took them out of the escrow payment, despite my protests (house is in his name only) and assured me he would set aside the required $60 a week to pay them when they came due.

Well, that didn't happen. I ended up paying $3528 because the taxes were late and it took me a few months to come up with the money to pay them. That money of course could have been put to use paying off my credit cards or a loan, etc. Just an example.

So not only will I never have unexpected bills handed to me once things are finalized, but I will also be assured, by law, a certain percentage of his income for child support. So in that sense, I can actually budget because I'll know there will be "X" amount per week for groceries and kids clothing, school events, etc.

I like to look at the bright side of things :)

So, more than ever, Learning to Spend Less To Make More is going to be important for me.

Well, guess what? (this is basically an edit on a previous post)

444 — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:12:28 GMT

I didn't know whether to edit or delete an old post or just tell the tale here. This is mainly for my own records, but if people want to read and comment, that's fine and great.

As mentioned, we sold stock that we calculated would give us roughly $5K to withdraw and pay off a credit card bill that is as annoying as an unwedgeable wedgie or a tiny stone in the shoe.

I did not understand (I understand better now) exactly and precisely how margin sales affect account balance; (for any gloom-and-doomers, no this story does not end in a tale of woe, nothing happened against our favor.) I'm not an accountant but I'll try to summarize the issue as it's understood by my pointy head.

I thought that for each security sold, the portion that had been borrowed would be paid back to the brokerage automatically (and indeed it was) and the portion that had been mine, originally, bought with cash (and any profit, and there were some profits, $700 worth for one of Mr. 444's sales) would go right into my cash holding pen so I could withdraw it.

Turns out that they scrape any cash on the table right into the margin balance to reduce it. Makes sense; I now understand the process from their side and from my side. While there is some additional cash that I could have talked them into making available, I was not able to take all of that money out; it was all there as "available for trading" but not necessarily available for withdrawal. They are all too eager to lend on margin - they want you to borrow, for obvious reasons (interest) but once cash is generated (a stock liquidated) they want anything borrowed back to reduce the entire margin balance in aggregate (I had mistakenly thought they treated each purchase as its own separate little loan account.) Or rather, they want to keep it in-house (they don't want their brokerage used like an ATM machine - not insofar as we are talking about usage of margin, anyway.)

If anyone is preparing a speech about the hazards of margin borrowing, save it - even over the hellacious winter I did not get burned with margin - and part of the reason is that I do not choose what I guess would be considered risky, speculative stocks. Also, I don't use all the margin buying power I could. At this point I am not completely comfortable doing that, but I am using a large amount, and Mr. 444's account is utilizing the maximum possible, and I think that's a good thing for us, right now. We need to use OPM to get anywhere. And the OPM is generating more for us than the OPM we are contributing to (interest on our credit balances like credit cards, margin loan.)

To summarize, we took the funds, which thankfully represented a profit and therefore increased our margin buying power for any potential new purchases, and reinvested every last cent of it. Which is sort of what I really wanted to do anyway. (right here is the serendipitious nugget of this essay - my plans to cash out and redirect money were foiled or at least mucked up with complications and I decided to just go with my first inclination which is always to keep the money in the brokerage and keep it working.) It pained me to cash out just to pay a stupid credit card. Obviously I like investing more than I like paying off debt.

I don't like the card balance, though, and at least we have banished that card to the top shelf of the cabinet next to the cat's flea medicine, etc., where it will stay till we pay it off which will happen either slowly and gradually or through some other chunk of money that falls out of the sky from somewhere (e.g. the economic stimulus check still has a portion not allocated for anything else so we could throw $600 at that stupid card.)

And remember we do get some pats on the back for cashing out $14,000 just a month ago and paying the CC debt way down. The cards paid off with that $ have not been touched or even thought of, and it is good to be dealing with less debt, even if not with no debt, right now. I tend to preach (and have to remind my own self of this) the careful consideration of compromise rather than all-or-nothing thinking at every juncture, and I guess we're living that philosophy right now.

Depressing!

ddragon — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:13:05 GMT

I don't own much... an old, beat up 1997 Chevy Cavalier I bought when I was 19 years old and my computer equipment. What I do have is over $42,000 in school loan debt. (That's down from a starting point of $53,000 though, so I guess I can say I've made some progress).

I blog about debt all the time, and share tips about how I got out from underneath excessive debt on credit cards used while in college.

But I'm all grown up now. I have 2 young children, and I'm ready to start building a "networth". My husband has a house in his name, but I'm not including that as part of my networth, because it's not in my name. Financially, I'm independent anyway, so I thought it made more sense to track our financial stuff separately.

I just opened a savings account with SmartyPig - and the goal is to save $2000 towards a Disneyland trip because in addition to wanting to pay down my debt and build networth, I want to take my children to Disneyland. I will contribute $29 a month to it for now, and as my credit card debt is paid down again, I'll increase that a bit.

I have a separate savings account with ING that is specifically used to save for school and property taxes for my husband's home. We contribute $60 a week to that in order to have enough when the taxes are due. I'm including this as part of my expenses because I generally am the one contributing to this particular cause. (He tends to wait until the week it's due to say "Oh yeah, we don't have the money for tha taxes yet-" so I had to take matters into my own hands and set up a savings account for it so that wouldn't happen again!)

So that's how I'm set up. I also have a regular checking account that I use whenever I need to write checks, an ING checking account that I don't use very often but should because it earns interest; and a paypal account.

No retirement or investments at this time... that's on my list of things to start.

Summer Blues

chill20 — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:07:11 GMT

People say I've achieved pretty good financial standing for my age. I feel like I finally got my head above water only for the next wave to come.

What can I say about taxes. They're seriously a bitch. I currently live in a pretty "tax state" with no income tax just federal. However, falling into the 20% bracket is really killing me. My money just kind of sits in my bank account not really doing anything. I have a few third party savings accounts but with the APY slipping more and more...it's hardly worth it. I did set up an automatic savings plan though.

Medical bills - that's my _other_ debt in case anyone was wondering. A gas related injury, lol, set me back $3,000.00 and a few points on my FICO score. They're only going to get worse too. I'm going to get a top denture plate in a few weeks. Not something I'm proud of but it has to be done. Poor genes, bad choices and a lack of check-ups got me to this point.

But, whats the point of making bank if you can't improve your health and lifestyle. That's my justification for it all. I'm trying to struggle.. I'm 23, I come from a poor family and I'm self-employed. I'm not suppose to have $30,000 in the bank. I watch my money but still tend to spend a little here and there on random things.

Expect my net worth to plummet in June. With $3,000.00 in medical bills, $2,400.00 for dentures, $1,200.00 going out in 2nd quarter taxes and the normal bills. It's going to be a rough next few months. Not to mention that I just spent $1,500.00 rebuilding my home office.

It's going to fall pretty hard after all that is said and done but I expect it to be over $35,000.00 by the start of Winter. I'm looking forward to doing a bit more with the stock market. I only have $200 in there right now testing methods and learning the system. Hands on learning is the only way to learn. If shit hits the fan it's only $200 - I try to justify _everything_.

So, this post is dedicated to the debt thats about to come, the shit storm that is my health and the over whelming feeling of failure.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Goal 1: to pay down debt

brownsugar283 — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:51:35 GMT

In the up coming weeks I should be receiving my tax refund and hopefully a stimulus payment. I plan to take half of each and pay down my credit card debt. I want to wipe that out first then move on to my student loans. In the mean time I am still making my regular monthly payment.

Update: I have to wait until June 27, 2008 for my refund because they had the wrong address. I am scheduled to get my stimulus package on May 30, 2008.

Oh no! I lost $1,245 today!

444 — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:39:26 GMT

OK, to be exact, it was -$1,245.51.

That neatly counteracts gain of $1,245.84 yesterday.

I have a few cents left over, as you can see. I'll add that onto the gain of $1,774.96 the day before yesterday, $902.30 the day before that, $279.75 the day before that day, and $2,887.50 on April 30th.

These days sure are more fun than some choice days, and a series of other mildly offensive days, in Jan., Feb., March to name a few months. But we hung in through it all.

It's funny that I will not ride actual roller-coasters but I don't mind this. Volatility is something I am able to take. (Though the day after MLK Jr. Day was like going through the tunnel of the roller coaster, in the dark, down a steep incline.) My tolerance is helped by things like a 50% gain on VISA in the approximate one month that it's been out.

Anyway, I was going to say that while I made and lost an identical amount today and yesterday, today the market at large was way down and yesterday it was mildly up. On May 5, it was down, and on April 30, it was down.

Does anyone else play CAPS, by the way? My score dropped a lil' today but yesterday I had one of those jewels in my cap for a little while (I think you get one when over 95 or 96, not sure.)

Getting There Slowly

time4planB — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:50:16 GMT

I am finally getting close to positive net worth, which is a great feeling. Will have room to breath once I am under that �10,000 mark. That will feel really, really good I know! My finances will be where they were in September 2006 which is better than where they were in June 2007. That date is the hight of my debit and the point when I decide enough was enough and started to blog my debit clearing adventure.
After hitting below the 10k mark my next goal is to get below �6,662.28, which is the lowest my debit has been since 2001.

What to do with my cash?

zyncl19 — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:25:22 GMT

I plowed my savings into an EmigrantDirect account while interest rates were high. Now they're significantly lower, so what should I do with my extra money? Much of it is stuff that I don't want to risk - an emergency fund and part of a downpayment for a house.

Current Company Stock Options: ###### Sharing 2007

ladam8518 — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:53:32 GMT

Checked my company stock options today, they finally closed up above the reference price of 142.41 Euros. This means I will be recieving a bonus of at least 1.94 Euros when the program ends.

Facts about ###### Sharing 2007:

A reference price was set based on the average daily close of the last two months of 2007. This reference price is 142.41 Euros. We were entitled to purchase up to four shares at a 20% discount to this price, I purchased four. These shares have to be held for five years.

At the end of the holding period, we will recieve one free share for each of the shares we purchased which will give me eight shares. In addition to the free shares, our program includes a Stock Appreciation Right (SAR) agreement and an Indemnity Agreement.

The SAR requires us to give up any dividend and capital gains distributions for a bonus. The bonus is based on the average monthly closing price over the duration of the holding period. The closing price used is the price at close on the fourth business day of the month. If the closing price is less than the reference price, the reference price will be used. The bonus will be the difference between this average and the reference price multiplied by a factor of four.

The Indemnity Agreement will pay out the difference between the closing price at the end of the five year holding period and the subscription price paid (80% of the reference price) if the stock should lose value over the holding period.

These terms sounded like excuse enough to completely blow my portfolio allocation, so if I refer to my allocation, it does not include my company stock options. As I stand, I will make a 0.86% annualized return on my investment assuming the value of the company stock goes to 0 Euros from now till the end of the holding period (which is the worst case scenario due to the matching shares). This does not include the effect of taxes or fees as these are still big questions due to the company being listed only on the Paris Exchange.

In my networth statement, the value of stocks reflects only the latest closing price going into the average along with the exchange rate of that day for only the four shares I paid for, no bonus, indemnity, or matching shares are accounted for.

A Budget at a glance...

project60 — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:49:51 GMT

1. an estimate of expected income and expense.
2. a plan of operations which is based on a budget.
3. an itemized allotment of funds for a given period.
4. a sum of money set aside and/or needed for a purpose.
5. to plan for an allotment of funds.

Many ways to estimate, plan and track...do what works/fits your needs and stick with it. Occasionally reward yourself, keep a balanced life, good nature and a positive attitude.
Good Fortune,
P60

What a day! Stocks gone wild

444 — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:22:38 GMT

Dow went down 88 points, but we went up $1,774.96 today.

I'm referring to the "stocks" section - that's what we watch actively.

This is all after selling about $5,000 worth of stock in order to pay and be rid of an annoying and burdensome credit card account. The stocks we sold today didn't change price by more than a few cents all day - that was gratifying to see at the end of the day.

Pick your Financial Advisor Carefully

umvoic — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:45:22 GMT

Financial Advisory Firm that I've been with for 16 years that I can't consolidate my index mutual funds into (because they don't earn anything if I could). I have a mix of their "recommended" mutual funds that I want to convert to Index MF portfolio, but again, they don't sell index MF's.

Ouch! Short-term pain, hopefully long-term gain

444 — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:18:09 GMT

Made the decision to sell more stock to pay off a credit card with a balance of about $4,500. It will be great to get that one off the books and into the top shelf of the medicine cabinet where the other banished cards are.

I think I still may be overstating our cc debt due to pulling the totals from a credit report which may not have completely updated large payments made not long ago.

Anyway, by next month should be able to get an accurate total. Instead of pulling from a report, I'll just get the total for each card (there are fewer now and it won't take long to tally up the grand total.)

Hurts to sell potentially gain-generating stock (purposely chose securities to sell that seemed to be pedaling in place, didn't want to touch those that had a significant loss because I don't like to lock in losses and didn't want to cash in those that are printing money as we speak. $1,300 up today just on what's left in there now, in large part thanks to V, IPI, ACI and assorted others.)

But feels good to stick it to a credit card company that happens to prey on those without the most sterling credit. I think we've gotten rid of the bottom-feeders now and while we still owe some money, the terms are reasonable. This one was mid-rate - not the worst, not the best, but it's history now.

Sad Start

jo72 — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:16:09 GMT

Entering in our net worth was depressing. We have way too much student debt. However we should be out of credit card debt in Dec 08 or Jan 09. That will be a great booster for us.

We will then target our car debt while increasing our savings.

Once the car is paid off, then we will agressively start paying off the student loans. Right now we are simply making minimum payments.

The challenge this month: grocery store food only

444 — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:13:26 GMT

Last month our food expenditure was a little embarrassing: $460 for take-out/restaurant food and about $479 for grocery store food.

There are six of us in the family. One is pretty small, and we all know that little kids consume less than pre-teen or teenage boys. The boys are teenage or pushing teenage-size appetites. Two of them spend an average of a few days or a week per month away from home visiting relatives, so if you want to compute, you could subtract about one or two person-weeks.

I read an article based on USDA research and it appears that we're coming in OK for food spending, actually spending less per person than average (I think the average per person last year in the U.S. was $1,926 *per year* on groceries, and that does not include take-out. I believe take-out was another $600 *per year* per person.)

I also read around on the USDA website and over recent years (going back even to 10 or 15 years for which they have data), it seems fairly constant that the average person seems to spend roughly 1/3 of their food budget on take-out and the other 2/3 on grocery store food.

To be fair, last month I did stock up on lots of stuff and some of it is still sitting around (we buy in bulk so sometimes we have lots of stuff in the freezer or pantry.) And it was a banner month, especially for take-out and restaurants; paging back through my Excel sheets for past months I see an average of $600-something through $700-something for each month, and that's combined take-out and grocery. (I DO NOT COUNT GROCERY ITEMS THAT ARE NOT FOOD, and I'm sure the USDA website didn't, either. I sort them out on receipts before entering data.)

We're going to aim for no (or very little) take-out this month and see how our food expenditure shakes out. I've been tracking this for about a year and many months we do indeed mirror the 1/3 on take-out, 2/3 on grocery store food ration that is typical of Americans. I'd like to see what the total really comes down to if we just keep it to the grocery store (and I admit that includes semi-prepared foods like a fresh pre-made pizza from Wal-Mart's food center that you can bake as soon as you get home - they're pretty darned good, BTW, the supreme variety in particular.) I'm going to count that as grocery store food for the purposes of this experiment.

Otherwise, we do a lot of shopping at Sam's Club and of course I'm counting that as grocery store food. Only a small portion of our store shopping happens at an actual supermarket.

I've tried this before and given up pretty early in the month so check back often and shame me into living up to my pledge.

car loan is coming down

outdoorsman_jph — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:13:21 GMT

Over halfway paid off and the interest is dropping. Hopefully it will be paid off by graduation to have only one debt to deal with and a higher income

graduation

outdoorsman_jph — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:11:14 GMT

I am two semesters away from graduation with honors in economics. I just realized my income will increase 3-4X and I will finally have a positive net worth :). I just have to survive the "Theory of Price" class, which is a real doozy

New things to track.

distilla — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:38:54 GMT

I started retirement contributions this month. I opened a T Rowe target retirement account and started off with $50 per month.

I also made my first pre-payment on my private student loan. Awesome.

This could be huge - a revolutionary new money-management system!

444 — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:46:04 GMT

I don't think the world is ready for it yet, though.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

Growing up...sort of

gandlaf77 — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:39:33 GMT

So....I have been in the dark about investing and making money for a long time. I started working in 2001 with a salary of 60k and spent the first 3 years pretty much wasting my money and ending up with a bank balance of 10k or so. Then I got married and something changed - I awoke to the life of responsibility. My wife and I have since then really turned on the heat on saving and we are now almost at 400k (almost!).

I just hope I get to the next level of awakening where I start investing well and get to the million mark. Seems like a tough target, but I have hope that this will happen some day....

Personal Goals Part II

ichimunki — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:13:34 GMT

This sucks. I was not able to set aside money for a Roth IRA in 2007. Part of the problem is that I am getting married this year and with my hubby's income, we make WAY MORE than the Roth IRA maximum income. So it didn't make sense to open a Roth IRA for only a few thousand dollars. I also hope that taxes do not screw me over next year because our combined income will be so high. How does that work anyway?

I do hope to put the money I saved for the Roth into a Vanguard Stock Index Fund. The market has been declining and I think that declining markets are always the best time to buy funds. Another option is the Series I Bond. I may switch my savings over to the Series I Bond.

We are saving our money for a down payment on an apartment and we are hoping for some major real estate declines ahead. I think it is tricky calculating real estate as part of your net worth especially now when real estate is plummeting. I imagine much of what people are assessing as the value of their home may not be a true assessment. I just feel like the current volatile real estate market can seriously skew net worth - I guess the same can be said of the stock market. *sigh* But at least with the stock market, you can see the current value of your assets from month to month. The same can not be said of real estate so I think this is an inherent flaw of measuring net worth on this site.

I guess we will see where this goes.

The Contraceptive Delimma

ThisGuy — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:24:33 GMT

I recently heard that Planned Parenthood is launching an aggressive campaign to raise awareness of the rising costs of contraceptives in America. I must agree that costs are heading skyward, and without health insurance, some methods are certainly cost prohibitive, but a representative for PP put a spin on the situation that only a PP rep could. In an interview on NPR, the rep stated that because the cost of contraceptives is so high, some college students are unable to buy groceries. Yeah, Groceries. Food.

Okay, now chew on that for just a few moments.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were having so much sex that you couldn't afford to go out and buy yourself a loaf of bread? Or you've busted the monthly grocery budget to play biological defense? Or you ended up at the soup kitchen because you decided it was either the Durex or Dinner?

Personally, I have a hierarchey of personal needs, and I don't like to shuffle them around a whole lot. Under almost any fathomable circumstance, I keep food supply at the top of my list. Next comes clothing. And usually shelter squeezes in at #3. Everything else is nice-to-haves, trivial, third tier.

I remember living like a pauper in college, but maybe I'm so far removed from my undergraduate days (4yrs) to really be able to empathize with these poor kids.

Bless their hearts. Let's pray that this crisis is squashed before the promising minds of tomorrow are all starved to death.

-TG

lexicon

Stolid — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:39:16 GMT

I use the following terms in my entries:
Net Worth: the [often estimated] value of all possessions which can be liquidated for cash
- Note I do not include things like personal property or my primary vehicle under net worth because it would take a lot to make me sell my books or my car. If I had a second car that was for, say, joy riding to the beach and not my daily commute I would include that.
- This means if (when) I have to replace my current car it will significantly lower my net worth as reported here.

Net Savings: This is how much I saved divided by my (income-taxes). If I saved $500, made $1200, and paid $200 in taxes it would be 500/(1200-200) or 50%. See definition of savings.

Gross Savings: This is how much I saved divided by my income. If I saved $500, made $1200, and paid $200 in taxes it would be 500/1200 or 41.66%

Salary: Income derived from selling my time to someone. This does not include interest, market gains, or any other income. It DOES include 401(k) matches.

Income: This is money made through some form other than market value. It includes salary as well as bank account interest, gifts, and any other way to gain cash outside of investment.

Market Value: This is normally used to refer to the change in market value of my securities, including cash. This means unrealized gains, realized gains, etc.

Savings: Savings is the amount of cash that was created through income that was not used for taxes or consumption. Every month the increase in net worth is defined as savings+market value. Maximizing savings is my primary goal for net worth, maximizing market value is secondary.

Cash: Funds available on short notice that are stable. Checking, Saving, FDIC Money Market, Money Market Mutual Funds

Stocks: Ownership in companies or mutual funds which are principally invested in ownership of companies. Does not include anything under this definition held in 'retirement' (see Retirement).

Bonds: US Savings Bonds. I have a number of these left over from the savings bonds my family bought to fund my college education. Since I got through college cheaply and ahead of the 4 year schedule I got to keep the rest.

Retirement: Any funds, held in any form, that are in an account that has advantages based on age. Includes: IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, Roth 401(k)s, Health Savings Accounts. Currently [as of this entry] the vast majority of this category is held in Roth IRA form and heavily invested in stocks.

Home: Real Estate which I occupy. I count this under net worth because going back to renting an apartment or home is generally not difficult.

Other Real Estate: Any land or building I own through a form other than stock.

Cars: Any vehicle that I own which I am willing to sell without replacement (generally none). If I owned a particularly valuable car I might discount the price to that of a minimal car for my needs (if I need a $4000 car and own a $20000 car then value it at $16k), but as a rule I drive sub-10k used vehicles.

Personal Property: I have no definition for this in terms of net worth.

Other: Generally a catch all but as a running category includes my ownership of material goods I hold for the express purpose of monetary store of value. e.g. oil, precious metals. I keep these to liquid, non specific items (e.g. not the famous "baseball card collection" nor collectible coins) to make sure the value is reasonably ascertained.

Negativity in current events: Problems and Solutions

debt2income — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:34:29 GMT

There's a lot of bad news in the media lately. If you've been following current world events then you'll know what I'm talking about. Here are the problems and some solutions to go along with them. I'd just be another complainer if I didn't post a solution to the problem. Complainers don't get problems solved, and nobody likes them.

I'm typing this at 3 in the morning, so I may come back to review what I've written here and correct any errors I've posted or add additional problems and/or solutions.

Problem
Gas prices will go over $4/gal for regular this summer (looks like $5/gal). There is talk that OPEC will raise the price of oil to $200/barrel. This would double gas prices from $5/gal to $10/gal for regular. It may or may not be true, but it's always best to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best, and not the other way around.

Solution
There are many ways for you to reduce your fuel expense.
-Carpool
-Use public transportation
-Ride a bicycle
-Purchase a hybrid or fuel efficient car (if buying a car)
-Get a HHO system to convert your car to a gas/water hybrid to save up to 50% on fuel costs (google HHO systems)
-Maintain your car (tires properly inflated, engine running good, clean air filter, etc.)
-Lighten the load, remove unnecessary things from your vehicle to save weight (the heavier the car, the more fuel it uses)
-Drive slower (I know, we hate to do it, but give yourself some extra time to give your wallet a little break)
-Turn your car off if you know you won't be moving it for more than 30 seconds (long traffic lights, train stops, atms and drive through banks, etc.)

Problem
Food will also go up/is going up. The price for grains, especially rice and wheat are going up and up. There is word that there are rice and wheat diseases that are damaging crops in Africa and Asia. This may also be an artificial crisis.

Solution
You don't have to be part of the problem in a crisis
-Don't hoard food, buy it before there's ever a panic
-Store a food supply that will get you through a food crisis or natural disaster (such as hurricane Katrina)
-Grow a fruit and vegetable garden
-No room for a garden, try a Hydroponic system

Problem
There's also the big panic about global warming. I'm still not convinced that we the general populace had any affect on this. In fact last year the average Earth temperature had dropped a few degrees. I wouldn't be surprised if we were going into global cooling. Either way this has pushed all the governments and the people of the world into being eco-conscious (which is a good thing in my book.)

Solution
Time to be eco-friendly. Now you can do your part to help the environment. This will give you peace at mind that you are not a part of the problem, even if you don't care. And nobody can tell you otherwise. Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your approval first
-Turn the light off if you're not there
-Shorter hot showers, try cold showers
-Go with compact fluorescent lights to replace your incandescent bulbs
-If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down
-Open the windows instead of turning on the Air conditioning
-Bundle up if it's cold, don't turn the heat a few notches up

Problem
Earthquakes are showing up all over the United states. Fires are abundant. Heck there were 4 tornadoes that touched down last night in Virginia. This is unheard of! Natural disasters are popping up all over.

Solution
Awareness and preparedness
-Have a plan for yourself and family to evac and meet in the event of a disaster
-Have and test your smoke detectors
-Get fire extinguishers for your home and car
-Have a first aid kit and know how to use it
-Learn to survive a building collapse during an earthquake by using the triangle of life (pyramid) method. Lye down next to a solid structure that will not pancake if the roof were to come down (couch, bed, large sturdy tables, etc.) If the roof/ceiling were to collapse, there's a good chance it would leave a cavity in the shape of a triangle along the sides of the furniture or structure you chose to lye next too. Large stacks of paper (magazines, newspapers, etc.) don't compress well either, so if you have them nearby then there's another option. Don't stand under a door way, it could collapse to the side and crush you.
-Find your way into the interior most part of your abode during a tornado, preferably a bathroom, away from windows, and duck and cover.

Taking stock of things---or, the economic stimulus payment whatever

Broke — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:02:09 GMT

I'm about three weeks into my new job. In one sense it's going well, I've met several challenges head on, gotten positive feedback from both my boss and department head, and am already being counted on when there's a problem.

On the other my paycheck isn't as much as I hoped for (higher tax bracket) and my living expenses are more in a bigger city. With the startup costs of moving into a new place it feels like I'm living tighter than before, despite a much higher income. Still, the opportunities this job can give me far outweigh anything else, and I am finally independent. I can't start on one of my goals this month---massively building up my savings, but I can get to it next month.

Oh yeah, I was one of the first people to get my economic stimulus payment(tm) on Monday. What did it go for? Paying off half of my credit card. After a peak of $18,000 in 2005 I'm now under $750, and will soon be free of credit card debt for the first time since 1987, and that's something to feel good about.

Comparison Report

Sum_Day_Debt_Free — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:58:28 GMT

I am not liking the Comparison Report.
Looks like I have a lot of work to do and not sure how to go about it.

Retirement assets swing up

Bill_George — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:30:38 GMT

Net worth increased in April at an unsustainable annualized 61% rate; net worth is 9% higher than one year ago. Value of retirement assets leaped 6%, discounting for new retirement contributions. Nonetheless, satisfaction of pre-existing obligation necessitated additional draws upon line of credit. Increased credit card balance largely attributable to several recent travels and automobile repairs.

After due consideration, goal for 2008 ending net worth revised downward $30k to $495k, which now seems more realistic.

Got My Free $$$

cerzebet — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:55:12 GMT

Yay, I just got my free $100 today from TD. My husband has only had his account about 4 months so he still has 8 months to go. I love getting free money!

Stupid Mistakes Can Make You Money

cerzebet — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:57:26 GMT

I opened up my last paycheck and was like, what???? It was almost $100 short. Then I saw where they took my deferred comp twice. Once from the old company and once from the new deferred comp place. So I saved an extra $100 this year for retirement, yay! I mailed in my paperwork to the old company, so it should be discontinued by next pay.

$11,000 new this month - my mid-month update

444 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:40:22 GMT

The value of my stocks appears to have gone up about $11,000 since I updated on the last day of March. Not too shabby.

New Found Determination

Overcomer — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:01:47 GMT

So, I got my copy of Dave Ramsey's 'Total Money Makeover' this Friday, I've been reading it all weekend. I feel re-energized! He's like a great boot camp drill sergeant, but that's what I need! I needed to begin to look deeply at why I am in the financial predicament that I am - his exhortation to deal with the woman in the mirror was right on! I had a need to 'keep up appearences' and live up to what other people expected of me in terms of the kind of car I should drive, home I should live in, etc. He says that financial behavior is 80% psychology and 20% financial knowledge. He is right! I am an avid reader, but when I look back at the books years later (i.e. I just re-read 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' and 'The Millionaire Next Door' this year), I see that I had the advice, but didn't follow it. Particularly in the area of acquiring 'assets' that are really liabilities, and spending way too much of my income on primary residence. Sometimes you have to mess up so bad and get so far down that there is no other way but up. Or as Dave put it, get sick and tired of being sick and tired - I am definitely there! Change is coming!!

Today, I changed my 401(k) contribution from 10% of my gross to 5%, enough to get the company match. That was hard, as I have felt that putting away 10% of my gross was one of the few wise financial decisions I have made over the past few years. However, with newfound determination to destroy debt (spurred on by Dave), I realize that I should really focus even more of my income on paying off my Student Loans (at a high 8%), my 401(k) home loan (terrible decision to raid my 401(k) for downpayment money), and my home equity line of credit (2nd mortgage). I can taste the freedom that awaits me once I get rid of the shackles of debt, and am so grateful for a practical guide and plan that fully addresses the psychology of debt in America, and the steps needed to liberate onself once and for all.

April

bizzywriter — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:41:13 GMT

Sold a stake of my company to an investor in April.