Inchoate Random Abstractions

New Beginnings

2014-04-26T12:03:00.002-05:00

Monday will be my first day on the job. Well, not really. Monday will be my first day in the job as a "permanent" employee. With quotes because nothing in life is really permanent. But after 9 months on the job as a contractor, I'm now a full time employee. The irony is that my engagement was only supposed to last 10 months. And I was pretty sure that they were not going to offer me a permanent position. For reasons that are too complicated to get into, I was literally ready to quit a few days before my senior manager made the offer, but my friend cautioned me to sleep on the decision and wait a week.

It's been quite the journey back to permanent employment. For the past 3 years, I've been working as a legal consultant, first as a part time thing to pay the bills and then full time when I finally acknowledged that my new career as a mental health professional was going nowhere fast. I recently read an article on increased wages for consultants and that's one of the primary benefits of consulting work. You generally get paid on an hourly basis. But the work is pretty irregular (either feast or famine) and you can be "terminated" on a moment's notice. Two of the contractors who started with me were asked to leave after completing 3 months of their 10 month contract. So, as with investments, high risks could potentially translate into high reward. But the other downside is that you often aren't eligible for benefits. The consulting I worked for did provide health insurance and a 401k, but from what I could tell from some of my fellow contractors, that was rare.

As with all careers and vocations, you have to know yourself and determine goodness of fit. Consulting really is for people who are flexible, open to new experiences, and willing to deal with the an inconsistent income stream. Either that or they have a partner's income to fall back on. And although I will try just about anything once, that constant state of uncertainty is not for me.

So it's with much relief that I know where I'll be clocking day in and day out for the foreseeable future. Is it my ideal dream job? Definitely not. And some of the issues that prompted me to want to quit before my contract expired are still there. But as manager told me months ago, it's easier to leverage or find a permanent job when you already have a permanent job.

Of course, his prediction came true, but not in the way that I anticipated. A week after I agreed to stay on as an FTE, my old manager from my previous consulting gig called me to offer me a position that had opened up on his team. When I gently but respectfully told him that he was a day late and a dollar short, he asked me if I had any recommendations because he really needed someone just like me. I was flattered and told him that I would keep my eyes and ears open. I would've never predicted even a month ago that I would have not just one, but two job offers within the span of two weeks, neither of which I had to 'apply' for.

So, it does appear, based on my anecdotal evidence, that the economy is improving, employees feel secure enough to move on to new opportunities, and companies are now hiring. The moral of the story is that timing is everything. Sometimes good things do happen to those who wait. And as all the career experts say, networking is key to finding a new position. My old manager has been burned several times by consultants who seemed great on paper but turned out to be difficult personalities to work with, and hence why he was hoping for a referral from someone like me, who he enjoyed working with.

Anyway, here's to new beginnings....

The Early Retirement Extreme Movement

2014-03-29T11:08:00.000-05:00

As a follow up to my post from last week, I read an interesting article on the Early Retirement Extreme (ERE) movement. After I posted a link to the article on Facebook, one of my good friends, who is actually planning on retiring at 55, immediately responded. You would think she would be supportive of the article. Instead, she seemed angry and questioned whether anyone could save 75% of their income without making 'a ton of money', considering 30% of her income goes to taxes and tithing. I pointed out that the ERE folks are simply suggesting that *ideally* we should try to save 75% of our income. For most folks, that's not feasible. But she couldn't seem to get past that 75% number.

Anyway, my takeaway from the article is that early retirement requires a lot of discipline and commitment on the front end, so you can enjoy more freedom and options on the back end. But please, don't get hung up on that 75% figure. It's an aspirational goal, not an absolute requirement :-)

I like how the article ends by summarizing what it takes to succeed in early retirement: "Having meaningful activities to fill the day is key to successful retirement at any age..." I guess that's what I was trying to say in my last post. I want to live my life with purpose and meaning regardless of my age or stage in life.

Thinking about Retirement

2014-03-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

This post is going to sound as if I'm just complaining my downstairs neighbors. And to a certain extent, I am. But it's also a reflection on aging well and living a meaningful life during our supposed 'golden years'.

I live in a fairly quiet community. For the most part, the residents are close to retirement or already retired. And the couple living beneath me are will into their 80s, with children and grandchildren living nearby. Ironically, the condo development across the street is filled with young couples and young families, but having lived in a yuppie condo building in a busy neighborhood in the city, I was craving solitude and silence.

When I first moved into my current condo nearly 7 years ago, my neighbors were super friendly and upbeat. They would do little things for me, like bringing in my trash can from the curb and placing it near my garage door every single week while I was at school or at work. They stopped to chat with me whenever they saw me. I admired them because they were extremely active, getting up early nearly every morning to go for a 3 mile walk. But then a couple of things started happening that made me think their lives were not so idyllic. I noticed that they were putting their trash in my garbage can, presumably to try to save some money (residents have to pay for garbage stickers vs. pay a monthly fee). They emailed me multiple times to ask me to print out coupons and plane tickets for them because the didn't have a printer. They called me to help troubleshoot and fix their WiFi network, which I found odd, since they have family, including adult grandchildren, living nearby. They asked me to pick up their mail for them every day, while they were on vacation, instead of asking the post office to hold their mail. And they told me that they do laundry for their adult daughter who hasn't been able to hold down a steady job for years because she struggles with anxiety and depression.

Because of my current job, I have a really long commute. So, during the work week, I get up at the crack of dawn to try to avoid traffic. On the weekends, I look forward to sleeping in. But every Saturday morning at 7AM, without fail, my neighbors start slamming doors and making a ton of noise. It took me a while to figure out that they do their weekly cleaning and errands on Saturday mornings. In my head, I was thinking, "You're retired. You could do this on any other given day, when no one is home and the stores are less crowded." But my guess is that they grew accustomed to doing everything on Saturdays during most of their adult life, and now they can't seem to change their schedule.

And as for double standards, the husband is hard of hearing and the wife is extremely sensitive to noise and has a hard time falling asleep at night. So, often when I get home from work, they have TV set at high volume. But thankfully, they turn the volume off at 9PM, which is when they apparently decide that it's time to go to bed. A few weeks ago, I turned my TV on to watch the opening ceremony of the winter Olympics and didn't turn it off until 10:30PM. Mind you, I rarely watch TV, and if I do watch a movie, it's with my headphones on. But the next morning at 6:30AM, the neighbors literally started slamming each and every door in their condo *multiple* times. I mean, multiple times. Later that week, I used my hair dryer once at 10PM, and presumably the wife, started slamming doors to let me know that she was displeased. I finally emailed them to 'apologize' for disturbing them and asking them to let me know if I'm being too loud. To be honest, I was just tired of the passive aggressive behavior. I guess I expected more mature behavior from them. It's both disheartening and somewhat depressing to realize that my neighbor is effectively imposing her impossibly rigid schedule on someone who is literally half her age.

A few days ago, when it snowed early in the morning, I noticed that the wife was outside shoveling the snow....even though the predicted high for the day was 40 degrees....and the snow had already started melting. As I pulled out of my garage, she waved at me, and I waved back. But inside, I was just shaking my head in amazement.

All of this has prompted me to think about retirement (i.e., how I want to spend my twilight years). Admittedly, elderly people are known for having difficulty sleeping and craving predictability. But other than a handful of roommates, I've lived by myself for most of my adult years. And I'm in even more danger of falling into a habit or routine and doing things just for the sake of doing them or because I've always done them that way.

I've been asking myself the following questions:

Will I be able to maintain a close network of family and friends I'll be able to call upon when I have problems rather than begging acquaintances for help?
Will I be flexible enough to shift my schedule so that it takes advantage of the freedom that I'll have when I no longer need to commute to work?
Will I be able to do things a different way when it makes sense? Will I try to impose my schedule on other people?
Will I finally focus on doing some of the things that I've been putting off for years? Or will I engage in meaningless busy work, just to fill the hours and days?

In contrast to my neighbors, my parents (in their late 60s, early 70s), made the decision to move to CA last year, after having lived in the Chicagoland area for 40 plus years. And after a few rough months where they complained incessantly about everything, they're now happy with their new life. They live next door to my brother's family, they take long walks each day, and they drive my niece to and from school. They've developed new friendships with neighbors, and they're super involved at church, having started a new ministry to help mentor some of the younger couples and families. In addition to all that, in her early 60s, my mom started learning about day trading as a way to keep her mind active and earn extra income in her 'spare time', and she's become progressively better at it each year. Likewise, in his early 60s, my dad discovered that he had a gift for teaching and public speaking, and for a while, he was a regular teacher and guest preacher at church.

All this to say, I don't know what the future holds for me, but I know that I can start making some decisions now as to what my retirement years will look like. And although there are many things that my parents have done wrong, they've also been a great example to me of how to live my life with meaning and purpose in the back nine.

Open Office Environments

2014-03-01T11:55:00.001-06:00

Studies have shown that rather than increasing collaboration, open office environments actually decrease productivity. And after Susan Cain's TED talk on The Power of Introverts, it seems as if the trend is finally shifting away from the emphasis on collaboration and more towards contemplation.

That being said, the CEO of the company where I'm currently working is a huge fan of Google. Never mind the fact that we are not an innovative technology company. But in the past few months, he's actually been doubling down on the open office environment. So, the new video conferencing rooms that were recently built out don't have doors. Just imagine how disruptive that would be for the poor folks who sit in cubicles next to those conference rooms. For someone like me, who has to do a lot of reading, writing and critical thinking, that would be sheer torture.

Nevertheless, this week, I was reminded that as in every situation, there are both pros and cons to an open office environment. On Monday morning, I squeezed some honey into my mug and immediately heard a coworker say 'Ewww!' before she realized that what she thought she heard wasn't what actually happened. Sigh. But later that day, I had a nice conversation with my manager and two other guys with whom I share a cubicle wall. And then Thursday, I overheard an older coworker use the term 'shag' repeatedly during a conference call. I kept cringing every time he said it because I kept thinking about the movie 'Austin Powers' (as in 'shag, baby'). Yesterday, I overhead him use the term again. So, I finally walked over and asked if he know what the word 'shag' really means. He said he thought it meant 'to chase something down'. And technically he's correct. But then I showed him the definition of the word from urbandictionary.com. He turned beet read and thanked me profusely for letting him know. Apparently, two of the guys on his conference call made snide remarks the first time he said the word, and everyone laughed, but the jokes went straight over his head. All this to say, he agreed that he should probably use a different word in the future.

So, on balance, I still hate the lack of privacy and the amount of noise and distractions that are inherent in any open office environments. But there are some redeeming moments that come from being in close contact with coworkers.

Frugal-Generous Balance

2014-02-19T19:32:00.002-06:00

We've all heard the phrase work-life balance. Similarly, two of the principles that I strive to live by are frugality towards self and generosity towards others. Or, to coin a new phrase, frugal-generous balance. To that end, I try to give away roughly 15% or more of my gross income each year. The first 10% goes straight to my local church. And the remaining 5% or more goes to various not for profits and charitable organizations.

So, how did I do in 2013? Well, it looks as if I gave away roughly 14% of my gross income, thereby missing my goal by at least 1%.

I admit that last year was a bit of an anomaly. Without steady employment, it's a bit harder to be consistent about giving. As a consultant, I wound up working only 10 months out of the 12 on two very different long-term assignments. Plus, December was one of the busiest months ever in both my personal and professional life. That's not really an excuse for missing my annual giving goal, but it does explain why I was a bit surprised when I crunched the numbers.

So this year, I'll try to be more proactive in terms of giving. I've already set a reminder for myself to do a quick check up in October and/or early November, just as I would with my savings plan.

As a side note, I learned the principles of tithing and generosity at a very early age from my parents. When I started working, I asked my mom whether I should tithe based on gross or net income. I'll never forget her response. In her heavily accented English she said, "Tithe on gross, receive gross blessings. Tithe on net, receive net blessings." I had to laugh. I'm not saying that I agree entirely with her theology. There have been many, many articles written on the so called health and wealth gospel, seemingly overlooking vast sections of the Bible that refer to suffering and persecution. But I do appreciate my mom's heart. It's a good thing that God doesn't give us what we deserve. That's grace, in a nut shell. But if we're stingy towards God, we can't exactly complain when God doesn't shower us with blessings in return.

The Butterfly Effect of the Target Data Breach

2014-02-13T21:42:00.001-06:00

You've undoubtedly heard about the massive Target data breach that affected anywhere from 70 to 110 million customers. And you've probably heard that Target is offering one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance to all of its customers (not just the ones affected). And you also may have heard that the hackers accessed Target's network via a heating and cooling contractor that fell prey to a simple 'spear phishing' attack.

But what you may not know is that the data breach has had a 'chilling' effect on philanthropic giving. I was startled to hear a heartfelt plea on my favorite listener supported radio station this afternoon. The announcer begins by reassuring the listener that their personal information is safe and secure (a statement that's been proven false time and time again), then he goes on to acknowledge that many listeners have had to cancel their old credit cards and obtain new ones recently. He ends by encouraging listeners to update their credit card information to enable the radio station to process pledge commitments.

In December, I had to cancel and replace my credit card after an unauthorized $500 charge appeared on my statement. Ironically, it had nothing to do with the Target data breach. In my situation, it was simply a shady local business that tried to charge my credit card for services that it had never performed. However, one of the first things I did when I received my replacement card was to look through my old statements to see which bills I had on 'set it and forget it' auto payment. So, if I had been using that credit card to make monthly payments to the radio station, I probably would have caught it.

What about you? Have you had to replace your credit cards in the last few months? If yes, did you remember to update your information for auto payments?

Free FICO Score for Discover Card Customers

2014-02-08T10:13:00.000-06:00

Okay, true confessions. Since I first opened a credit card 20+ years ago, I've pretty much paid all my bills on time. So, I've never bothered to pull my credit score. I figured I probably had a pretty decent score. But I've been curious. And now my curiosity has been satisfied.

Discover has expanded one of its offerings and is now providing FICO credit scores to *all* of its credit card customers for free! And yes, it's a real score vs. the close approximation from vendors like Credit Karma. Ironically, my first credit card was a Discover card. So, it's kind of fitting since they're contributing to 15% of my score via the "length of credit history" component, don't you think?

I just shared my score with a close friend who is in my opinion a personal finance queen. And apparently, her score is 7 points lower. Her disgruntled comment was "I attribute it to the fact that you're older." Umm...okay. Considering length of credit history is a very minor component of the score, I really don't think so :-)

Minimalism

2014-02-05T08:32:00.001-06:00

I have to admit, this story about a millennial who quit his six figure job and gave most of his possessions away, really struck a chord with me. My parents are very frugal, and they taught me the values of minimalism even before I became aware of the minimalist movement. But I admit that in my early 30s, I did have a tendency to acquire way more 'stuff' than I needed. Instead of exercising or meeting with folks during my lunch hour, I used to go clothes shopping. However, the decision to go back to grad school in 2007 helped re-prioritize and reboot my life. I sold my luxury sports sedan, gave away most of my book collection, and put myself on a really tight budget. After graduation, the lack of steady employment for 3 years definitely reinforced my minimalist ways. So, in some ways, I'm grateful for the recession. When you no longer have the trappings of success, you start to see more clearly the things that really matter to you. I no longer buy books, unless they're on the bargain rack at my local library or Goodwill store. And my clothes are mostly items that I found at thrift stores or hand me downs from friends. But I'm a lot happier now than when I was making a six figure salary with an impressive title and closets full of random 'stuff' :-)

When Social Justice and Frugality Collide

2014-02-04T21:19:00.000-06:00

Two years ago, I read a book entitled Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson. It's a short little book that provides some practical suggestions on 'living ethically'. Some of the information may be out of date. But it's a good place to start if you're feeling inundated about all of the information on various social justice issues, including modern slavery. I've since started trying to make small adjustments to my buying habits, particularly Fair Trade coffee and chocolate. More recently, I listened to the Planet Money's T-shirt Project podcast series. And they go into much more detail on the economic pressures that are shaping the global textile industry, including the unintended consequences of import/export regulations dating back to the Nixon era. The net effect is that I feel guiltier than ever buying 'cheap' products when I know that the folks who produced the products are not making a fair wage. At the same time, I know that these pangs of conscience are a luxury as well. For folks who are barely making ends meet, urging them to purchase Fair Trade or organic products is akin to saying 'Let them eat cake'. They're concerned about feeding and clothing the children in their own homes, not the child laborers in Bangladesh or C'ote d'Ivoire. So, I try not to impose my choices on others. But the other day, my friend mentioned that she tries to shop at Walmart as much as possible because of their low prices. I mentioned that I avoid Walmart as much as possible because they don't pay their workers a fair wage. And I referenced the book Everyday Justice. Her reply? 'That's why I don't read'. Yes, she was joking, but her response startled me. In point of fact, she exemplifies in many ways what it means to be both frugal and sacrificially generous towards others. But I wonder how many folks have the same mindset as my friend. If you have the luxury of buying Fair Trade items, do you choose to do so? Or do you look for the cheapest products, live a frugal life, and donate the excess income/savings to worthy causes?

Return of the Prodigal Daughter

2014-02-03T19:30:00.000-06:00

When I started this blog, I could count on my hand the number of friends and family who were interested in discussing issues or topics related to personal finance. But as a Christ follower, I noticed that the Bible had a *lot* to say about money. This blog was my attempt to work through some of my frustrations and concerns about finances in a relatively safe environment without being judged by some of my more legalistic acquaintances. Yep, there's a lot to be said for anonymity :-)

However, it's been 6 years since I've updated this blog, and a lot has happened in the intervening years. In a nutshell, I....

Sold my condo in the city in April of 2007
Sold my BMW and replaced it with a more reliable, mid-size, family sedan
Purchased a smaller condo in the suburbs
Started a graduate school program in clinical psychology in August of 2007
Along with the rest of the nation, saw my retirement portfolio and net worth drop precipitously over the course of a very short span of time
Graduated with a master's in clinical psychology in May of 2009 during the height of the recession
Could not find a full-time job as a therapist, so worked part-time at the community counseling center where I did my grad school internship
Started working remotely as a part-time legal consultant with my old employer
Gave up on finding a full-time position as a therapist that didn't require me to be on call both nights and weekends or relocate to a different part of the country
Started working full-time as a legal consultant at various positions that required me to be on site during the work week
Paid off the remainder of my student loans
Saw my retirement portfolio and net worth bounce back to pre-2007 levels

So, what prompted me to post an update now, as opposed to say last year, or the year before? Surprisingly, it was a letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers, indicating that I had a $24.99 credit from Google AdSense "due and owing" to me. It was an 'in your face reminder' that some folks actually did visit my site and hopefully read my blog posts while clicking on some ads. But like the author of a bad serial novel, I left my readers hanging, without providing any closure. Please accept my apologies, dear reader, for my long absence from the blogosphere.

Coincidentally, one of my friends recently asked me what I would want to do if I managed to retire early. My response was a no brainer. I told her that I wanted to write full-time. After majoring in rhetoric in collge and working as a technical writer for two years, I gave up on my dream of making it in the publishing industry and decided to go to law school. But working as a transactional attorney in Corporate America for 8 years left me feeling restless and pretty unfulfilled. So, I decided to make yet another transition into what I thought would be a more fulfilling career as a psychotherapist. Of course, that didn't work out so well, since my timing was a bit off. In future posts, I'll share some of my 'lessons learned'.

However, be forewarned that I plan to expand the focus of this blog from personal finance, to other more general topics (i.e., whatever strikes my fancy). Although I still have a strong interest in personal finance, there are other topics that are also near and dear to my heart (i.e., social justice, Christianity, psychology, technology, leadership, management, productivity, etc.).

If you've stayed with me this long, thanks for reading my post. If you skipped over the middle section and jumped right to the end, you are definitely missing out on the good parts :-)

Spending Beyond Your Limit

2007-12-14T17:13:00.001-06:00

It's been nearly six months since my last post. And a lot has happened since then. I'm almost finished with my first semester of grad school. And I'm starting to freak out about internships next year. Unpaid labor, but that's part of the training process. But on to my story of the day.

I went to a discount department store this afternoon to purchase some warm socks. I love hardwood floors, but can you say 'brrrrr' in the winter months? When it was time to check out, there was only one cashier working. But then another cashier dropped in and offered to help the next person in line, meaning me. The woman ahead of me was pulling out her wallet, so I told the woman behind me to go ahead and check out with the new cashier. Well, bad move on my part, 'cause the woman ahead of me starting counting out her bills and realized that she didn't have enough cash to cover her purchase. So, instead of putting one of her items back (like any sane person would have done), she asked the cashier to split the bill in two and paid for most of the items in cash. But then when the cashier swiped her credit card, it was rejected. So again, instead of taking that as a sign hat maybe she was spending way beyond her means and that she should put something back, the woman asked the cashier if she could write a check. If I were the cashier, I would've been thinking, what are the odds that she has enough money in her checking account to cover the balance? But I guess you can't really say that to a customer. Anyway, five minutes later, after two customers made it through the other checkout line, I finally made it to the cashier. The sad thing is that all I had was one item...a pair of warm slipper socks.

Anyway, that got me to thinking. Is it more embarrassing to have your card rejected or to put something back? If you were that woman, would you have tried various methods to complete the purchase like she did?

A Second Home

2007-06-14T14:44:00.000-05:00

I closed on my new home yesterday. The closing itself went smoothly. But I missed the commuter train to the suburbs because I took the bus instead of calling a cab. So I had no choice but to hail a cab at the train station and head all the way back home to grab my car. Which meant that I was running 45 minutes behind schedule. And missed the final walk through. Thankfully, my realtor agreed to check everything for me (e.g., ran the washing machine, air conditioner, etc.). Even so, I was 15 minutes late to the closing, which as my realtor pointed out, was very uncharacteristic of me. But now it's over and done with. And I can focus on packing and moving.

So, as my mom pointed out, I actually own two homes, at least until I close on the sale of my home in the city. Big deal, right? But for some reason, my mom is getting a big kick out of the whole situation - her daughter the soon to be unemployed grad student owning two homes. Sigh. Parents are funny like that.

Friends with Benefits

2007-06-11T21:39:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not talking about the type of relationship Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn supposedly have right now. I'm talking about several friends who have been very, very good to me.

My friend P is someone that I hope to emulate. She's "holds loosely" the things that she has. She recently loaned her minivan to a group of college students. And when they struck a deer on a country road, she was glad that they emerged from the accident unscathed. Her thoughts were more for their well-being and safety than the cost of the repairs.

Her family owns a lake house, which they sometimes rent out during the summer months. But more often than not, she offers the use of the house to friends and family who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford a vacation rental. This past weekend, she offered to take me and several of my gal pals to the lake house. The weather was perfect. So we went water skiing, rowed a boat, lay out on the dock, played a couple of rounds of boccie ball, took a long walk around the lake, built a fire outside, drank hot chocolate and talked into the wee hours of the night. All my friend asked of us in return was that we split the cost of some groceries and help tidy up the place before we left. It was well worth the four hour drive.

Gas = $20 (technically $15, but since we were using a friend's car, I rounded up)
Groceries = $23
Total for the weekend = $43

Earlier this month, a coworker was giving away a couple of free tickets to a Cubs game. I'm not a huge fan of baseball, but I'm too frugal to let $35 tickets go to waste. And these were great seats. It took several last minute phone calls, but I managed to convince a couple of friends to go with me to the game. Again, a very fun, relaxing and frugal evening. As an added bonus, they were handing out free baseball caps to all of the women :-)

Hot dogs = $4
Drink = $3
Nachos = $3
Total for the evening = $10

I learned the next day that my coworker and another coworker go in on season tickets every year. And more often than not, they wind up giving the weekday tickets away, usually to support staff.

All this to say, I'm grateful that I have generous friends and coworkers who share freely of their wealth. This wasn't always the case. When I was younger, I used to be jealous of my 'rich' friends and relatives. Kids who drove around in fancy cars and wore designer clothes and spent money like there was no tomorrow. One of my friends in junior high invited me to go water skiing with her and her family. Strange as it seems, I rejected her offer because it seemed too much like charity to me. So maybe I've matured a bit since then. Despite the fact that I may not be able to offer my friends expensive 'perks', they seem to enjoy my company anyway :-)

How Much Did You Pay for That?

2007-06-04T10:24:00.001-05:00

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but it kind of annoys me when people ask me how much I paid for a particular item. Chalk it up to natural curiosity, but I still think that it's kind of rude.

When I mentioned that I was putting my condo on the market, an acquaintenance immediately asked, "For how much?" When I got a hair cut the other day, the owner of the salon said, "Hey...you got a new car. How much did you pay for that?" In the elevator a few weeks ago, a total stranger asked, "I like your purse. Where did you get it? And how much did it cost?"

I mean, most of this information is publicly available (e.g., real estate list prices and closing prices). And we all know people who actually volunteer that information, either because they're insecure and want you to think that they're rich and successful or because they want you to admire their bargain hunting skills. I tend to fall into the later category. If I get a great deal on something, and I'm excited about it, I might mention it to a friend or blog about it. But more often than not, I'd rather keep that information to myself. For example, I bought several sets of fine bone china from overstock.com for much less than you would have paid for comparable dinnerware from Crate and Barrel.

So, what do you think? Is it rude to ask random strangers or even acquaintences how much they paid for something? In my mind, it's kind of like asking someone about their net worth or how much they earn.

Car Buying Experience

2007-05-25T13:34:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in a previous post that I was thinking of buying a 2007 Honda Accord. And I am happy to report that I purchased the car for (a) hundreds of dollars less than what edmunds.com listed as the dealer invoice price and (b) a few dollars less than a comparably equipped 2006 Accord at CarMax. I had my heart set on buying a used, crossover SUV. But my financial planner suggested the Accord (reliability and resale value and factory to dealer incentives).

Thanks to autobytel.com, I was able to negotiate everything with the dealership via email. So, the whole car buying experience turned out to be a pleasant one. But it definitely started off on a sour note.

A few weeks ago, I went to the Honda dealership on the north side of Chicago to test the Accord and the CRV. When my friend and I got there, we were accosted by an older woman in her 50s or 60s (unusual for a car dealership), who immediately went into hard core sales mode. But as we talked, and she realized that we were serious buyers, she toned town her sales pitch a bit. I told her that I wasn't ready to buy the car that evening, but I did want to test drive the Accord and the CRV. She wound up telling us a bit about her life story. I sensed that she was an honest person who was trying to make a living under some difficult circumstances. If she managed to sell a car to me, she would earn $175 in commission. So, although they didn't have the car that I wanted in stock, I decided in my own mind that I would come back and order the car from her.

But then we got back to the showroom. Funny how our feelings can change in the span of a heartbeat. Our salesperson went to log my contact information into the computer, but she was accosted by her manager, who proceeded to berate her in a very loud and hostile tone of voice. "Are you going to close the deal tonight?". No, she needs to sell her car first. "Well, what is she driving? Did you talk to her about trading it in?" No, she's already promised to sell it to a friend. He gave her a dirty look and then announced, "Well, I'm going to ask her myself!" Mind you, from where we were sitting, my friend and I could see and hear the entire exchange. So when he turned and walked over to where we were sitting, I was both irritated and apalled by his bad behavior. He introduced himself and then asked if I'd be willing to buy a car that evening if he offered me a great deal. I explained that I was going to wait a few days because I was selling my car to a friend, and she was in the process of applying for a loan. "Did you think about trading your car in? I could give you a great price." No, you couln't. I've already looked up the trade-in value, and my friend is willing to pay the private party value. "Did you think about the tax savings you'd get by trading in your car?" Yes, I've already calculated that. In my head, I was thinking, "Does he really think that I'm that stupid?" I'd save at most a couple hundred dollars in tax and lose thousands of dollars on the actual sale of the car. He tried one more time to get me to negotiate an actual price with him, and then finally gave up and walked back towards our salesperson where he proceeded to berate her yet again because she was having trouble logging my contact information into the computer system.

At that point, my friend and I were absolutely furious. I can deal with people who are condescending or disrespectful. But it turns my stomach when I see people being verbally abusive towards children or the elderly.

The salesperson came over and explained that when I was ready to buy, she would be my advocate and get me a great deal. And she assured me that I would wind up paying about the same price at any other dealership. I made a vague promise to come in the following week to close the deal and then my friend and I left in silence. When we got back to my car, I said "Was it just me or was that manager just a complete ass?" And that's when my friend let it rip. She said that she was on the verge of telling that manager off, but she didn't want to embarrass me.

Sigh. I really wanted to buy the car from the salesperson. But I just couldn't stomach the idea of adding to that manager's bottom line. So, I called her the next day to cancel my appointment. She of course had the day off, and I had to leave a message with the receptionist. And then we played phone tag for the rest of the week. When we finally did connect, it was the day after I had purchased the car from another dealership in the suburbs. She said that she needed to explain to her management why I chose not to buy the car from her. And so I told her that I didn't appreciate the way her manager talked to her. The sad thing is that she didn't remember the incident. "Was the manager tall and blond or shorter with dark hair?" Which leads me to believe that verbal abuse is a fairly common occurrence for her. Even worse, she tried to defend her manager. "Well, you did come in kind of late in the day." Umm, right. That still doesn't give anyone the right to be disrespectful towards their employees. In the end, she asked if she could relay my story to upper management, and I told her that she should definitely feel free to do so.

So, have you ever walked away from a deal because of poor customer service or because you just really didn't like the buyer/seller?

Free DVD Rental at Redbox Kiosks in Jewel-Osco stores

2007-05-16T19:52:00.000-05:00

For those of you in the Chicagoland area....

Get a free one-night movie rental at the Redbox kiosk at your local Jewel-Osco store. Enter promo code "JEWEL". Free rental code is valid once per customer until 5/31/07, and only unitl 7PM the next night.

Redbox is an interesting concept. Like Coinstar or even ATMs, it's got the convenience factor going for it. But my guess is that the selection is somewhat limited, and therefore not enough to make me want to cancel my Netflix subscription. But if I were with a group of friends on a Friday night, I could see myself making a quick stop at the Redbox kiosk.

Making a Clean Sweep

2007-05-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

I've had somewhat of a love-hate relationship with my car. On the one hand, I love the way it drives. After all, it is the ultimate driving machine ;-). On the other, people have made certain snap judgments or assumptions about me, purely based on the car that I drive. I get a similar reaction from people when I tell them what I do for a living. But I'll save that rant for another day.

The sad thing is that I angsted over the car purchase decision for months. European luxury sedan or just something to get me from point A to B? But grew up in a 'car' family, and I happen to enjoy driving. So when I saw this particular car advertised at CarMax, it was just too good of a deal to pass up. Although this car has a reputation for expensive and frequent repairs, I've been lucky in that sense. It's not particularly fuel efficient, and it requires premium gas, but I don't really drive it very often. I walk or take public transportation to and from work.

But since I'm going back to school in the fall, and 'renouncing' my former way of life, I figured I'd make a clean sweep of it and sell my car. When I mentioned it to my mechanic, he immediately offered to call up some of his friends and customers for me. He obviously knows the car and knows that it's been maintained properly, since he's the one who's done all of the work for me. And he knows that I'm an honest person and willing to sell the car at a fair price. So, true to his word, he found a buyer for me. If all goes according to plan, I'll be handing over the keys to her on Monday.

As for my new car purchase, my financial planner suggested that I buy a new Honda Accord. Reliable and safe and reasonably good gas mileage. No, it's not exactly a fun car to drive, but I've had my last hurrah. I just need something that will get me to and from school. So why a new Accord instead of a used one? Accord is being redesigned for 2008, and all of the dealerships are offering huge incentives. And Accords tend to retain their value and depreciate slowly. So the difference or margin between a 2005 and 2007 Accord is negligible right now.

But just to make sure that I covered all of my bases, I test drove several new and used cars, including the RAV4, CRV and Forester. I have more to say on the subject of slimey auto dealerships. But I'll save that for another day.

Beware of Check Related Scams

2007-05-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

There are two great articles in the Chicago Tribune about check related scams. The first article provides some background and history on check washing and certified check overpayment scams.

The second article talks about the writer's personal experience as a victim of check washing. The main point of both of these articles is that thieves are getting back to the basics. Even the most savvy and intelligent individuals may find themselves the victims of check related schemes.

One of my friends almost fell for the bonus check/overpayment scheme a few months ago when he tried to sell his car on Craigslist. The buyer wanted to purchase the car sight unseen (major red flag) and offered to send him a certified check for $5,000. He asked my friend to deduct the cost of the car plus shipping and then wire the rest of the money back to him. Thankfully, my friend sent an email to me and to another attorney friend, asking if we thought it the buyer's request was legit. The sad thing was that the other attorney said he couldn't see anything wrong with the request. My friend was pretty upset when I told him that it's a pretty well-known scam. In the end, he managed to sell his car to a local buyer for list price. But you can be sure that my friend asked for payment in cold, hard cash.

Here are some lessons learned...

1. If you still write checks, buy a solvent resistant pen such as the Uni-ball 207. It's a $1.99 at Walgreens.
2. If you need to send a check, take it to the post office or drop it in a secure, USPS mailbox. Never send it from your home. That little red flag on your mailbox has the unintended effect of alerting thieves as well as your mail carrier.
3. If asks you to cash a check (even if it's a certified check) and then wire money back, DO NOT do it. You could be on the hook for criminal and civil penalties for passing a fraudulent check.

The Shame Factor

2007-05-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

I know that rich people become richer by practising simple economies. But I gotta confess that the shame factor prevents me from using coupons as often as I should. Today, I went to Target to buy a gift card for a friend. And since I had some time to kill, I decided to use some of my free trial coupons. A 16 oz. bottle of creamer, a package of Airborne, and a bar of Cacao Reserve dark chocolate. When I went through the checkout line, the clerk scanned all of my items. But when she tried to scan the coupons, the computer kept prompting her to manually key in the price of each item. Well, that meant that she had to back up to a prior menu and then scan in the coupon and then the price. Repeat that process 3 times, and you have one very frustrated clerk and a mortified customer who avoided the eye of everyone in line behind her. Let's just say that it'll be a while before I try that again. Maybe the trick is to limit myself to one coupon per visit?

Before You Put Your House on the Market

2007-05-02T10:23:00.000-05:00

Before I put my condo on the market, I read this article, How To Prepare Your House For Sale, plus dozens of others. Some of the tips are a bit over the top. I didn't alphabetize my spice jars ;-) But I did remove half the books from my bookshelves and stuffed them in my storage locker. I put away all personal items, cleared everything off of my refrigerator door and stuffed all of my smaller appliances under the sink/counter. When my realtor dropped by for an initial walk through, she told me that our goal was to make the place look like as if no one lives there (i.e., a model home). So she pointed at various things that I needed to hide/put away (for example, she told me to remove all loose papers, magazines and books from the living room area and my desk). And this was after I had already made an initial pass at 'decluttering' my place. She also suggested that I straighten all of the bottles of detergent and cleaners in my laundry room. And she stressed that everything needed to come off the floor, under the theory that if you have stuff on the floor, buyers will assume that you don't have enough storage space. Big sigh. As I've mentioned in the past, I'm somewhat vertically challenged. But I dutifully moved all of my clothes and shoes and miscellaneous food items onto the top shelves of my closets and pantry. My two step ladder saw more use in the past month and a half than in the last 3 years combined.

As for repairs, I had to patch and repaint a small 6"x6" area on each side of the shower stall. And I had to recaulk the bottom of the shower stall and around the kitchen sink. I also adjusted the master bathroom door and a closet door in the second bedroom that didn't close properly. And I used a magic eraser to remove some minor scuff marks on the walls in the hallway.

As for staging the place, I didn't do very much in the way of rearranging furniture. But I did buy a new comforter set for the master bedroom and added some fluffy pillows to hide the fact that I don't have a headboard. I also put a single pillar candle on the coffee table and the dining room table, artfully arranged a new set of towels in the guest bathroom, and set out fresh cut flowers on the kitchen island. And as the article suggests, I put some organic, scented soap in the master bath. The funny thing is that when my realtor showed the place to another agent in the building, she asked if my place had been professionally staged.

In terms of daily maintenance and cleaning, I had a pretty extensive and exhausting routine. I would make my bed, arranging the pillows and sheets and comforter as you would in a hotel room. After taking a shower and getting ready for work, I would start with the kitchen by clearing all of the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, wipe down the counters and faucets, and store everything under the sink. Then, I would move to the bathroom, wiping down all of the faucets, mirrors and counters. I would rearrange the towels, vacuum the bathroom floor and around the kitchen garbage can. Every other day, I would toss out the garbage and vacuum the kitchen, living and dining area. Every Sunday, I bought a fresh bouquet of flowers (usually from Costco). And every other week, a professional cleaning crew would come in and do a more thorough cleaning of the floors, stove, bathrooms, etc.

Let's just say that I'm relieved that my place sold quickly.

General Life Update

2007-04-30T20:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's been forever and a day since my last post. So my apologies to the few folks out there who were actually reading this blog :-) But let's just say that I've been kind of busy. At the end of March, I found out that I got into grad school. Yipee! But that acceptance letter precipitated a series of crazy events, including the need to sell my condo and find cheaper housing closer to school.

So at the beginning of April, I put my condo on the market. Exactly 18 days later, I received a lowball offer from an independently wealthy buyer. And after several rounds of negotiations, she agreed to pay 97.5% of my original asking price, which I'm told is quite phenomenal in this market. In the mean time, I had been driving my realtor in the burbs crazy, looking at everything from condos to townhouses to single family homes within a fairly huge price range. But 5 days after my place went under contract, I made an offer on a condo in the 'burbs. And after 2 rounds of negotiations, the seller accepted my offer. I'm told that I got a great deal on the condo because it was a For Sale By Owner that had been fully renovated and therefore priced well under market. So, all in all all, I feel blessed that everything turned out so well. But there was a lot of drama leading up the actual sale and purchase. Dishonest neighbors and realtors who lied about square footage, sneaky landlords who own the unit next door, feuding realtors who live on opposite ends of the hallway, and meddling doormen with loose lips. More details to come.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary

2007-03-09T09:37:00.000-06:00

...to me! It's hard to believe that I wrote my first post exactly one year ago today. Where did the time go?

Changing Life Circumstances

2007-03-08T22:14:00.000-06:00

I've sent in my grad school application. So, now the nail biting begins. I'm supposed to hear back from them by April 15th, at which point, I'll probably put my condo on the market. I'm meeting with my realtor on Monday, and hopefully she'll have some good ideas about how to stage the place. I've been in a mad frenzy these past few weeks, trying to declutter the guest bedroom and some of the closets. I managed to give away some electronic items, some small kitchen appliances, and a bunch of CDs. And I posted a bunch of books on bookmooch.com. But you'd be amazed at some of the stuff that I've managed to accumulate over the years. Old cards and letters and my day planner from college. In addition, I found the final distribution statement for my 401k account from my first job out of college. How times have changed. After two years at that job, I only managed to salt away $2,500 in my retirement account -- and that's with a company match. These days, with my current position, it takes me less than a month to save that amount. But now that I'm heading back to grad school, I'll be dipping into savings for the next two years. Although it's a long term investment in what I hope will be a more rewarding career, it's hard not to think that I'm somehow going backwards in life. But you know the old saying, "two steps forward, one step back."

How Low Can You Go?

2007-02-27T18:34:00.000-06:00

No, we're not talking about the limbo. Here's the latest, according to CNN headline news.

"Stocks tumbled across the board Tuesday, with the Dow sinking about 500 points at one point. It closed 415 points down -- the biggest one-day drop since the stock market reopened after the September 11 attacks. The New York Stock Exchange tried to limit declines by imposing trading curbs. The selloff is on the back of a nearly eight-month rally."

My stock investment account plummeted by more than $5,000 today. Ouch! And the verdict is still out on my mutual funds and retirement accounts. It's a good thing I'm in it for the long haul. But still....

Steaming Stamps off Envelopes

2007-02-24T00:07:00.000-06:00

This evening, I rode up in the elevator with a friendly, older woman I see from time to time in my building. I greeted her with a smile and a nod. And then I started flipping through my mail. I commented on the fact that we seem to get a lot of marketing postcards from Fred, one of the Realtors who lives on my floor. Sometimes one or two per day. She laughed and shrugged. "At least you can reuse the 39 cent stamps." I must have given her a confused look. "They're never cancelled," she explained. So then I took a closer look at the postcard in my hand. Sure enough, she was was right. Huh! I never noticed that before. My guess is that Fred mails the postcards from the building. And the postal carrier picks them up and immediately turns around and stuffs them into our mailboxes. I couldn't help but think about the money Fred could be saving if he only had a key to our mailroom. But his loss is my gain. Self-adhesive stamps on slick glossy paper. Can't get much easier than that. Gone are the days when you had to steam stamps off of envelopes.