tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295791282024-03-20T11:12:22.631-04:00Penny FoolishThe life of a girl bad with the pennies, who's trying to keep from making the really big mistakes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger425125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-77728814706680188402013-07-13T14:12:00.004-04:002013-07-13T14:12:35.946-04:00Marriage'd!Well, the day has finally come and gone - Fiance got an upgrade to Husband. People keep asking me if things feel different now, but I really can't say they do. (Of course, my stock answer to this is "Yes, now the police have to return his dead body to me." and Husband's stock answer is "Yeah, her mother is moving in next month and she took all my money." Just gotta be smartasses.) We've been living together for eight years and have always had very commingled lives, so I don't think things will "feel" any different until we hit another real milestone, like buying a house together or having a kid. Things continue on as they were.<br />
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On that front, we have started considering what we need to do for our next steps in life. We're not sure yet if we should have the kid first or move first. Our house is pretty small - about 1000 square feet - and we would literally have to remove furniture in order to have anyplace to put a crib. I don't want to get sucked into the "babies need all kinds of specialized stuff" vortex, since many babies did just fine getting changed on a regular table or the floor or bed for thousands of years, and diapers just went in the trash, but they do need SOME stuff and we don't really have any room to put it. Unless the baby wants to live in the living room, since that is the only room that has space in it currently. Maybe the baby just wants some space, ok??<br />
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Anyway. So the way things are going in our local real estate market, we are probably not going to get any money back out of our house. Or if we do, not a ton. Right now best case scenario is getting a price about $15-20k more than our mortgage balance - but after the 6%, cost of moving, etc, we would end up with at best a few thousand bucks. And since we got the $7500 homebuyers' incentive way back when, we have to repay it. You have to pay it off $500 a year through your tax return, and then whatever is left comes out of the profits of the sale if you aren't there for 15 years. So if we make any profit, some of it goes to the government anyway, and there would likely be none left for us at the end of the day.<br />
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The short answer here is that we have to save up for a down payment again.
We have an FHA mortgage now, on which you only put down 3%, and I guess we could get another, but there are a lot of fees associated and I'd rather not if we don't have to. The other end of the timing is that based on my current estimates we should both be debt-free other than student loans by the end of 2014, and since we both make decent salaries and have good credit, we might be able to get a normal, non-FHA mortgage at that point. Plus we are both saving, and should have at least some money to put down. The wedding cost more than we were planning on (though we were not off by far) so we do not have as much in savings left as we'd like, but we'll build back up.<br />
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The biggest impact of getting married, for me, was that because I am changing my name, I have to get new EVERYTHING. Comically, only one credit card company actually requested proof of ID with my new name. So it's a good thing not too many people have my first name or it would be a lot easier to steal my identity. I think my health insurance and medical records are going to be the biggest hassle, but I have a LOT of accounts around the internet and I am probably going to be changing those for years to come. Apparently I'm more on top of it than others though - the lady at the bank said a lot of people don't even bother for up to a year. Sheesh!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-26104901037936659542013-05-08T07:55:00.002-04:002013-05-08T07:55:25.408-04:00Reinvesting in my futureI became aware of Mr. Money Mustache a few weeks ago and have read a few posts - though it's the commenters that really interest me! Part of his philosophy is that you should have your "little green employees" working for you all the time, as hard as possible. After reading some of his stuff, I started thinking again about a plan I'd had a while back - to buy some DRIP stocks. If you aren't into stock trading, a DRIP is a dividend reinvestment plan. When you get dividends from a dividend-bearing stock, a stock that has a DRIP allows you to use the dividends to just buy more stock. I find this quite a keen idea, because when I was a teen a family friend gave me a single share of AT&T stock. Over the years with the DRIP in place (and some timely stock splits) it became about eight shares of Verizon, which I then sold to buy the furniture in my first apartment. Not too shabby!
So I've been looking around to see what kinds of DRIP stocks I can buy through <a href="https://invest.etrade.com.au/home.aspx" rel="dofollow">online trading</a>, since I am far too lazy to actually mail anything to anyone, and started looking into what I might like to buy. I'm working out the details of selling my business, and while most of that money was intended to pay for the wedding, I do want to set some aside to invest. I feel like I spend so much time worrying about paying down debt that I forget about taking advantage of time while I am young to make money grow for me. Debt will always be there for me to pay off, but if I don't do some investing, there won't be anything there when I do pay off that debt.
I think I'm going to set aside about $500 to buy some DRIPs and maybe also put some money in my Roth IRA, which I also feel guilty about not contributing to this year! I do put money in my 401k but the whole idea of that is that I don't have to do anything. (Note the lazy.) Fiance's work has a Roth 401k of which I am very jealous. Maybe someday I will have a Roth 401k of my very own. But for the moment, I should really get on this investing bus before it passes me by.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-33264000035378952542013-05-01T20:25:00.002-04:002013-05-08T07:45:15.915-04:00And now for the rest of our life...Now that the wedding preparations are in full swing, we decided that that was just not enough crazy and so Fiance has gone and gotten himself a brand new job! He actually was not looking for one - the company approached him. But this is a company he'd interviewed with a few years ago and really liked, so he was willing to give them a shot. They were so interested in him they actually skipped the phone interview and went straight to an in-person interview, then offered him the job only a few days later. He got the salary he asked for, and even got the extra week of vacation that he'd put in his offer response. It remains to be seen how it will work out for the long term, but most of the people at this company are there for DECADES.. so if he likes it, he could be there quite some time. I hear they have free donuts on Fridays, which is a stellar retention perk, if not the best for their health insurance costs.<br><br>
One of the things that I was really happy to see about this company is that they offer not only a match for the 401k, but a Roth 401k, a 403b plan, a supplemental 457b plan, and after two years they'll start putting some percentage of his salary into a separate retirement account with NO match required. That is pretty darn sweet in my book. The best thing his previous company offered was a discount on employee stock. (Fiance had already set aside some money so decided to invest it in the old company's stock anyhow - he still thinks the stock will perform well and will probably keep buying more anyway.) I'm too laissez-faire of an investor to keep watch on a stock, but he finds it pretty interesting and is going to buy more of another company he worked for. <br><br>
I'm glad that this is going to give Fiance a chance to catch up to me in retirement savings. Mine have not grown as much as I'd have liked during this wonderful recession of ours, but I've still got a lot more than most people my age in retirement accounts. Since Fiance was in graduate school during the years I was socking most of that away, he has not had a chance to catch up, and I think it's important that we at least try to get relatively equal amounts in our retirement accounts. We're both trying to consolidate old 401k accounts, both to save on fees and to actually figure out how much we even have. His earning power now outstrips mine pretty handily, but since we are saving most of our cash for the wedding, he doesn't know yet how much he wants to sock into his numerous options for saving at this new company. (Plus he is paid monthly which has kind of screwed up our budgeting system.) I would also like to raise my contribution percentage to my 401k, and put some more in my Roth IRA, but I feel like I have a lot of competing goals there. <br><br>
We're on the home stretch for the wedding now - six weeks! It does kind of scare me how much cash we're ponying up for this, but in order to spend less, we'd have had to have a drastically different wedding and cut out a lot of people that are important to us. And while it will be financially painful for a little while, I'm not worried about the long term effects. I'll just be happy to be back on budget! Wish us luck!
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-36114597553417174822013-01-20T00:16:00.001-05:002013-01-20T00:30:17.764-05:00Yes I do want to know how much jewelry costs before I buy it... why is that so bad?Today Fiance and I went out to look at wedding rings. My engagement ring band is somewhat unusual, and we've looked at stores in the past and not found any good matches. However, this store had an engagement ring that was almost identical to mine, and when the lady checked online she found that it had a matching band. They didn't have it in the store but said they would call on Monday to find out the price. I asked how much the engagement ring band was - and found that it was almost three times what Fiance paid for my band. That band alone actually cost almost as much as what Fiance paid for the whole damn ring including the store. When they told us the price, both of us made a face. Another lady there confidently told me that it was because the price of gold went up. (It has gone up about 10% since he bought the engagement ring. I checked five minutes later.) But I was really wondering what was going on there - if it was because it was a brick and mortar store, or if this was a fancier designer, or what.
But I was pretty pissed. I said that that was a lot more than I had been expecting, and the lady who told me gold had gone up (who was not the person helping us) asked what my budget was. I said about $500 or somewhat above that, and she looked genuinely appalled. Seriously people?? I know this shit is not cheap, but I don't want any diamonds or other stones, and I'm looking at white gold, which isn't even pure gold (it's an alloy, usually with silver, to give it that color and make it sturdier.) Fiance's theory was that they price the women's jewelry much higher because women expect to pay more, and that was borne out - when we were given a price on the ring Fiance was looking at, which had at least twice as much gold in it, it was less than half the cost of the one I had been looking at. They also have tungsten carbide rings for the men, which are really cheap (mostly under $100) and plain gold bands - I didn't see a single plain gold band for women in the cases. The store probably has some somewhere but they definitely weren't on display.
This is part of why I hate jewelry stores. Mostly I hate this delusion they are encouraging - that the only thing that matters is whether you got exactly the perfect ring that you love, and who cares whether spending that kind of change on a piece of jewelry is a good idea. That price doesn't matter and is a vaguely dirty question to ask, like you're haggling over the price of a child's life. There are no prices anywhere - in fact they don't even know the prices and half the time can't even find the price.
She's going to call me on Monday to tell me how much the matching band is, but I already know that it will be four figures. Definitely not willing to do that when I have other options I like, or I could even get it custom made for less. Ridiculous! I'm not going to cheap out on something I'll wear for years, but I also don't see the need to pay tons of money when I have other options I like just as well.... plus, both Fiance and I maaaay have written down the model number when she found that matching ring.. we do think alike sometimes! ;)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-72424719137349950452013-01-03T22:02:00.001-05:002013-01-03T22:02:49.853-05:00A milestone that seems pretty major to me!So I would just like to notify all my loyal readers that I recently, as in two days ago, actually got approved for a credit card offer that I got in the mail! This is very exciting!
The reason this is so exciting is that I have a very good credit score, so I get really awesome credit card offers in the mail. The problem is that when I go to apply for them, the bank takes one look at my debt and goes "eeeeeeee" off into the woods. So if I get approved, it's for a lesser card, with a small limit and a stupid APR. Obviously I have not tried this too many times, usually about every eight months or so, and I did manage to get a balance transfer card last year. This time, I got 18 months of 0% balance transfer and 0% on purchases. Which is by any account a pretty sweet deal - Fiance (with his stellar credit) has gotten the same offer in the mail too.
But this is really tangible proof that how much I've been working on my debt has affected how really creditworthy I am. Fiance is also happy - I'm estimating we won't save enough cash by the wedding to cover the whole thing, so it's very nice that both of us will have a good bit of credit available for the various odds and ends expenses that will crop up. (But thank God for long engagements.)
Look at me with my big girl credit card! I haven't had one with terms this good since I was running CashDuck. Things are definitely looking up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-48721655136910380032012-09-22T23:02:00.002-04:002012-09-22T23:03:46.550-04:00How I do love checking off a checklist!So my longtime readers may know that I am not a particularly girly girl. Normally this just manifests itself in having to buy new makeup every time I go back on the job market because that's the only time I wear any. But, since I am the bride (or, as Fiance's hometown newspaper put it, the bride-elect) most of the wedding planning falls to me. This is not to say that Fiance is not able to help out, but somehow despite my lack of girliness I have absorbed more wedding knowledge than I actually was conscious of possessing. So Fiance has specific tasks, but I am generally responsible for picking up the ends and pieces - which is fine by me since I like to organize things.<br><br>
We set a date for next June, and we have got contracts down for our ceremony location, reception location (which is also the caterer), cake, photographer, photo booth, and musicians. The wedding is being held in Fiance's hometown which is not far from my own, so we did reserve some hotel rooms but not a ton since not that many people will need one. And we are meeting with a florist next week. All in all I feel like I have checked off all the important boxes on the checklist.<br><br>
So why do I feel like there MUST be a million things that I haven't done and need to do? To be honest, I am now really unsure what it is that women who are planning their wedding are DOING, since so many of them seem to regard it as a part time job that they must work at for a whole year before the wedding. I mean, we aren't having a huge blowout, but we're inviting a lot more than just immediate family, and we're having a bridal party and all that. But so far, this just hasn't taken as much time as I thought it would and so of course I think I am missing something.<br><br>
Part of it may be that there are a great many details I just don't care that much about. For example, the dress - I like dresses, I own a lot of them, but I am unwilling to pay four figures for this thing and I am unwilling to try on 298347597 of them just because that seems to be what people do. I'm going to try on a few, see if I like them - if I don't, I try on a few more, and pick the one I like the best, and if I do, I buy it on the spot. This is how I approach cars, and I have spent a lot more money on those than on dresses! <br><br>
But I feel pretty good about the progress I have made on getting things done. In my mind, even if all we do from this point forward is send out invitations, we've got places reserved, there'll be food, photos, and music, and places for people to stay. I figure I have covered my bases well enough.
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That, combined with our (still trying to) refinancing the house, means I'll have an extra couple HUNDRED each month that I didn't have before. In general, I had planned to spend this year putting all available extra money towards debt payoff, and then next year put all extra money into savings for the wedding, and this will enable me to actually make good headway on both. So while I could have paid off higher-interest items, or used the "snowball" method and paid off the smallest, I think paying off one with a bigger monthly payment will ultimately help my cash flow a lot. And that comes even more in handy since I acquired two additional monthly payments this year in order to pay off my gallbladder removal surgery and my braces. (Ah, the indignities of adulthood.) But I still feel pretty yay about the whole thing, and it's kind of fun to do the math and think about which card I want to attack next.
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I am a world champion level list maker, so the last few weeks, we've been going down the list and making decisions. I know that traditionally brides agonize over what kind of flowers to get for months, but we decided on blue delphinium, blue irises, and white alstromeria and that is DONE. BOOM. Fiance even has a cousin who is a florist so we're going to see if she can just order us the flowers for the reception in bulk and we'll put the centerpieces together ourselves.
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Last weekend we did the save the dates - I guess magnets are all the rage now, so we got magnets, and now we have to get going on collecting addresses. That is the really painful and annoying part - between the two of us, we're in Facebook or email contact with the majority of our list, but you still need to send out invites. So I will be emailing and Facebooking people to ask for their real addresses, and hoping they are all the same by the time we send out the real invitations. I'm just happy to have it crossed off my list.
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Next up? Probably getting a dress, visiting our locations to get some pictures for decorating planning, doing trial hair, and reserving tuxes. Hopefully we can get a lot done in a single weekend - we're planning to go up for a couple of business days so we can meet up with a bunch of vendors in our "destination wedding" city, as my mother likes to put it. (It's in a dying former factory town that is losing population like there's a contest it wants to win.)
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The Knot has a helpful if depressing list of all the things you need to do, so we're in the 9-to-12 months away block. I'm trying to take the approach that you're supposed to use on term papers: get started now and lay groundwork and the rest will be easier as you just fill in the blanks. Let's see if that actually works and keeps me from tearing my hair out (and then having to pay for expensive hair extensions.)
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So I have decided that when I pay off all my credit card debt, I can buy a new car.<br><br>
(Not new-new, of course, as I am neither wealthy, nor stupid, nor wealthy enough to be stupid. My sights are set on a car a couple years old, probably a retired Enterprise rental car 'cause they come with a lot of options.)<br><br>
Of course, this plan didn't seem quite so brilliant on review, since I'm celebrating getting out of debt by getting into more debt. But on the whole, I'll actually have a lot more disposable income after my debt is paid off, and my current car is sliding down the drain pretty quickly. I'm hoping it actually lives until my debt gets paid off! <br><br>
This is actually a pretty motivating idea for me. I've literally never owned a car that cost more than $4,000, because I've never had much on hand and never cared much about it. But it's really getting old fixing the problems that older, poorly maintained cars create - no one I know has ever had to replace the speedometer, the circuit board that runs your turn signals, or the temperature control panel in the dashboard. None of these were things I could have foreseen, and all of the cars I've purchased were checked out by mechanics before I purchased them, but you just don't see these kinds of problems in normal cars. It's getting old having to fix something every time I take it in for an oil change. So it's very motivating to think about owning a car that won't have random crap breaking all the time. <br>
Right now I have my eye on the Pontiac G6.. here's hoping there's still some good 2009's and 2010's (I think that's when they stopped making them) when I pay off my debt!<br><br>
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However, sometimes junk mail can be useful. Fiance got a card in the mail from some mortgage company, as he often does as the proud holder of an FHA mortgage, but this one said something about an "FHA streamline refinance". I had not heard of this rare item before, so I Googled, and it turns out that this is a real thing. An FHA streamline refinance basically allows you to do a quick refinance without having to get the house appraised or even provide new proof of income. And some dude from Quicken Loans told me that we could probably get a 4.5% or even 4.25% refinance without paying closing costs - since our current rate is 6.25%, that is pretty darn sweet. That'd lower our mortgage payment by about $150 a month. Not bad at all.<br />
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And on top of THAT, I did some shopping for home insurance and found a company that'll insure us for about $400 a year less than our current insurance (which is even nicer, because our current insurance is both going up $300 a year and also dropping coverage on our 100 year old slate roof, since so many of our neighbors evidently have been cashing in on their hail coverage recently.) So between the two, that's about $200 a month right off the top without costing us any money or significant hassle. I'm quite pleased with myself.<br />
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Luckily, since my credit is no longer the pile of poo that it used to be, I have an Amex (a green card, of course, but an Amex nonetheless) onto which I put the purchases, and then a paid-off Discover card that I could transfer them onto at 0% for a year. So between that and my other 0% card that I transferred some of the Discover balance onto, I'll be out of those in a year if I can pay $500 a month towards it.<br />
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But lately it seems as if I have no money to spend - and since I have been terrible about updating my personal Quickbooks (since I always have the business's file open instead) I haven't really been looking at how much money I have after paying bills each paycheck. Turns out: sometimes it is $8. Between paying all the utilities, the debt payments, paying Fiance my part of the mortgage, and putting aside $150 a month for the wedding, I end up with pretty much nothing left. This isn't a regular occurrence and is mostly due to the fact that the majority of my bills' due dates are in the beginning of the month, so I usually avoid it by shifting utility payments around on my bill-paying calendar, but sometimes it just can't be avoided. That's when I really feel like I have to step it up on doing extra work because that's literally the only money I have to spend unless I want to dip into savings. So obviously not a lot of extra money after THAT to put into savings. Most of the money that's been going into my savings account has been directly transferred from Paypal, usually from mystery shopping money, but none of my actual paycheck is going into my emergency savings.<br />
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So even though I have all these 0% deals, I can't help but think that my actual life would be easier if I put that $500 a month towards one of my fixed-payment cards - cause then I'd eliminate a fairly large payment and not be on the "did a check come today?" hamster wheel.<br />
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Check out <a href="http://www.ppiclaims5.co.uk/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">ppiclaims5.co.uk</a> for information on payment protection insurance recovery!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-82924305314236460522012-03-18T11:43:00.002-04:002012-06-06T18:13:05.225-04:00What do you do with a drunken sailor.. I mean, $1000So I have quite a happy decision to make. The new business is doing quite well for itself, and at the end of March, if everything goes well, I'm going to be able to pull out $1,000 without any problems. That's JUST in profit and that's less than my 2/3 of the share. (Because I am a perpetual worrier on these fronts, I don't like to empty the bank account.) Now I have to decide what to do with it, which is a nice change of mental exercise from the usual gymnastics of "can I pay all these bills with my paycheck and still have a couple bucks left to, I dunno, buy lunch".<div><br /></div><div>The two options I am considering are whether to put money into my IRA or to pay down my Discover. Dollars-wise, the IRA is the better choice, because I am in the 25% tax bracket and thus will get 25% back on whatever amount I put in the IRA. (To be precise, because I will have to pay several hundred dollars to the IRS currently, I will just pay less in taxes, but won't actually get money back.) If I put $1,000 in my IRA, I'll get a $250 reduction on my taxes.</div><div><br /></div><div>I balance-transferred half of the Discover balance to a 0% card, so I only have about $1,900 left of it. Putting $1,000 towards that would mean I could pay off the Discover card a lot faster. But, its interest rate is a little under 15%, so I'd only save $150, and that calculation only holds true if I didn't pay it off within the year. On the other hand, if I paid off the Discover, that would eliminate a monthly payment from my budget, freeing up money for other things. Plus it would allow me to do a 0% balance transfer back onto the Discover when I pay for the car repairs and my federal taxes without worrying about how much of each month's payment is going to the 0% portion. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't want to be blase and say "oh, $125, who cares, I have thousands more in debt!" because that is precisely the attitude that got me INTO thousands in debt. But I'm kind of leaning towards using the money to pay down the Discover because I need some simplicity in my financial life. And I already have a lot in retirement savings. (Not that we couldn't all use more, but I'm not catastrophically underfunded with $37,843 at age 28, and I do contribute 5% to my 401k.) If I paid off the Discover, I would have no more debt at anything above 6%, and could then start knocking down the temporary-0% loans without also having to make payments on the Discover. Hmm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, I had intended this to be a "help me decide!" post, but I think I just convinced myself. :) If I put everything I can towards the Discover and eliminate the payment, I might not save as much money as if I put it in my IRA, but I would definitely make my life easier. And I'll feel pretty happy about not having ANY debt at a variable rate anymore.</div><br><br><br><br>If you need help with a short term loan give <a href="http://www.yetiloans.co.uk">www.yetiloans.co.uk</a> a try.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-58175442979304650922012-02-26T00:05:00.003-05:002012-03-14T22:24:42.791-04:00Holy cow!Ok, that's a slightly toned down version of what I actually said to Fiance, but I was super excited! So, I get a lot of credit card offer junk mail, just like most people, because I make a good income and my credit score is quite good. The problem is that because of my debt, I don't get approved for these "preapproved" cards. Every now and then when I'm feeling more positive about my debt, I try to apply for one, and then I get said because I get turned down. Since I have one card left that's at a regular APR, I could really use a nice 0% balance transfer. <div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, I got some other good news - I have a <a href="http://www.plastekcards.com/">plastic business credit card</a> that I use for my business which has only a $250 limit. Yeah, I wasn't terribly excited about the limit, but I was happy that I was able to get approved for ANYTHING. But yesterday I got a thin letter in the mail from the card issuer - and while usually the thin letter means "We're cutting your limit" or "We've cancelled your card" or "We're jacking up your minimum payments" (thanks a bunch, Chase!) this particular thin letter said, "We're raising your limit to $1,000." Awesome! I was really quite excited about this, because a card with a $250 limit is not much fun when the business charges over $800 a month, and so I had to pay it off over and over, sometimes twice a week, to keep from going over. So this was very good news.</div><div><br /></div><div>Feeling more positive about my credit after getting this news, I viewed my latest junk mail in a new light. And it had a 0% balance transfer for a year offer. Seduced once more by the "preapproved" note, I applied once more. And lo and behold I actually was approved! I put in a balance transfer for the Discover - I was only approved for $2,000, but hey, I'll take it. I really didn't believe I'd gotten it until I'd actually gotten all the way through and created an account on the website and seen the credit limit.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm pretty psyched. I have a bunch of other expenses hanging over my head right now ($1,500 to repair the car, at least $1,800 in medical bills) so I was feeling pretty low about my financial situation, and this was just the good news I needed. It's not really that this is going to help all that much in the grand scheme of things, although I will certainly be glad to save on some interest charges, but more that it's a sign that my credit is getting better and I might be able to rejoin the land of the normally-financed at some point soon.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-52148785673688504472012-02-14T20:46:00.000-05:002012-05-01T23:34:48.376-04:00Tips on Finding Affordable Life insurance over 50<div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.4614266494754702"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Today's sponsored post is provided by <a href="http://www.comparethemarket.com/" rel="nofollow">comparethemarket.com</a>!<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />Generally, the </span></span><a href="http://www.comparethemarket.com/life-insurance/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">life insurance over 50</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> coverage plan is an insurance policy that is intended to benefit the senior citizens. It is specially planned to provide financial security to those individuals who have reached their retiring years, but are not to have been freed off their financial obligations. Aging comes with a number of health issues, thus considerably increasing your risk level. As a result of this situation, senior members are incapable of qualifying for life insurance coverage; that is where the senior insurance policy comes into play. For this type of insurance coverage, senior individuals up to 85 years of age are eligible to apply for the coverage.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />While other financial security measures like pension plans, contingency funds and personal savings are good, it is prudent to seek a financial plan that offers cash returns. With the life insurance over 50 policy coverage, the insured is at liberty to leave the disbursement to selected beneficiaries in case of any misfortune. The policy holder can also choose to allocate the compensation to cover the funeral expenses in the event of death or cover any debts or pending bills. The senior insurance policy is therefore crucial for providing financial relief for people in their fifty’s and over.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />It is known for a fact that life coverage for younger individuals’ costs cheaper since the risk factors that affect the premium costs are lower. However, it is possible to get senior life coverage at affordable prices if you perform a thorough comparison shopping. Here are some of the tips that will assist you get affordable insurance coverage;<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />• Make sure that you meet the entire basic qualification requirements for a senior insurance coverage policy. The main minimum qualification is being between the ages of 50 to about 85 depending on the terms of the insurance company. <br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />• Ensure that you verify the exact date the insurance policy commences. If you are not certain about the dates, it is always advisable to contact the insurance agent to clear the issue. Policies bought online usually commence immediately you are done filling in the registration formalities and made a down payment. On the other hand, policies purchased via conventional methods like in person or via phone, the usually confirms the exact date the policy will commence.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />• Take notice of the duration of your coverage, generally senior insurance policies provide coverage as long as the premium payment is current. If at all your premium payments lapse, you are not entitled to any reimbursement from the insurance company. The prudent cause of action to ensure that you are always covered is to opt for a premium cap, meaning that you are required to premium just until your coverage amount is met. <br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />• Choose a policy option that allows you to pay premiums on the basis of the actual extent of the coverage provided. This is not only affordable but also allows you to pay for your life coverage comfortably since this plan offers manageable monthly premium rates.</span></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-58021311759067882782012-02-04T21:44:00.002-05:002012-02-04T22:08:30.828-05:00Multiple savings goalsSo of course right as I want to start saving up for the wedding, there are a lot of other expenses that I have to save for at the same time. It's frustrating because I do do a lot of extra side work, what with the mystery shopping, the business, the extra job, the writing (which unfortunately I haven't had much time to do lately), and I do bring in extra money, but since so much of my regular salary goes to paying down debt, I rely on that side work to bulk up my savings. And then I get frustrated because it's annoying to have to parcel out a nice chunk and put $50 here and $50 here. But if I don't, I feel like I am shortchanging my other goals. Ack.<div><br /></div><div>Current savings goals:</div><div><br /></div><div>Wedding - Obvious. Right now Fiance and I have to save up enough to put deposits down on stuff, which is probably going to be about $2k, if not more, but then we have a year to save up the rest of it, which is nice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Medical bills - I do have much better health insurance now, but I also did just have my gallbladder taken out. (About which I am very happy, because owning one was a serious downer.) So I am definitely going to hit my out of pocket maximum for the year, which is $2,000, and I have a couple hundred in medical bills from last year to pay off too. I'm hoping to work out some kind of payment plan so I don't have to put it on a credit card and pay interest.</div><div><br /></div><div>Car insurance - I maaaay not have mentioned this before, but I was in a very, very minor fender bender a couple months ago. Like at one mile per hour when the person in front of me stopped short. So I'm a little worried how much my<a href="http://carinsurance.org.uk"> car insurance</a> is going to go up. Hopefully not very much. But you never know, and I have zero saved for it right now. It comes due in April so I need to get cracking on that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fixing the car - Somehow, I managed to purchase a car in which neither the heat nor the A/C worked properly. A while back, some part in the car broke in such a manner that the A/C was on permanently. As it was November, this was not fun. So, I took it into the shop, and it seems that the switchy-thingy (I'm sure it has a real name) was broken in the "on" position. To fix this, they broke it into the "off" position, so now it can only produce heat. I decided that I could live with this until spring, when I'll get it fixed - to the tune of about $1300. Owch.</div><div><br /></div><div>General "oh no" fund - I like to have at least $1,000 in the "oh no" fund. Right now it's only at $800, and that's probably going to go into the car, which is also making an unhappy grindy noise in addition to the no-A/C thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, in conclusion, I have now made myself fidgety about the amount of money I have to save up. Yay!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-66939215407281365862012-02-01T21:26:00.003-05:002012-02-01T21:36:45.159-05:00Big news!Actually, two big pieces of news!<div><br /></div><div>First: Boyfriend got an upgrade and is now Fiance! He proposed at our favorite restaurant and I of course accepted. I had to tell my mom before I put it on Facebook, but now that everyone's informed I felt I needed to share it here. We're planning on keeping the wedding very simple, mostly because I am the least girly girl on the planet and could not care less what color the napkins are, and won't be able to muster up caring, but also because neither of us sees spending a ton of money on a wedding as a worthwhile endeavor.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I don't anticipate that I will be gushing about wedding crap here much, and I am actively avoiding the bridal-industrial complex and Brides Magazine and all of that. I registered for an account on The Knot and it told me I had 189 things on my to-do list and I don't wanna go back. We're hoping to get the major parts nailed down within a month or two for June 2013 (officiant, ceremony location, reception location, caterer) and then promptly forget about it for six months. </div><div><br /></div><div>Second: I paid off my Amex Blue card! I feel like I should not be as excited about this as I am, given that I paid off the CareCredit and Amex Gold cards previously, but this feels like a milestone more than those did. For one thing, this has really made budgeting a lot easier. Before I paid it off, I was paying $100 per paycheck, and with the new job, the paychecks were a little smaller (since I took a pay cut and started contributing to a 401k again.) So now not having to pay that $100 per paycheck means I don't have paychecks where less than $200 is left for actual spending, and I can up my payments to the other cards without running out of money after a week.</div><div><br /></div><div>Paying it off also means I have more ability to save money for the wedding. Boyfriend (sorry, Fiance) and I are each contributing $150 per paycheck to the wedding account, and I already had $500 in it because I kind of knew this was coming. So we should be able to take care of our deposits pretty soon, especially since I am still working two jobs and running the business, and then we can just save up for all of the million expenses we can't anticipate now. But not fancy napkins.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-70995156563932325382012-01-27T15:38:00.002-05:002012-02-01T21:41:35.515-05:00Guest Post: Mitigating That Student Loan Burden<p><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >This is a guest post written by Sam Peters, who frequently blogs about topics relating to money and personal finance.</span></span></p> <p><span >Those of you following my battle against debt have probably realized that a substantial portion of that</span> debt – around $13,000 worth at the end of last year – is tied up in student loan obligations. Student loans reflect a different sort of debt when it comes to prevention or mitigation. Consider it this way: someone with thousands of dollars of debt sitting on their Visa likely made some imprudent spending decisions in the past. But a person trying to pay off their <a href="https://www.discover.com/student-loans/private-student-loans/graduate-student-loans.html">Discover graduate student loans</a>, for example, was probably fully aware of their impending burden when they took out the loans in the first place. They knew they were going to be in debt, they saw the writing on the wall, but they decided that it was worth it to get an education.</p> <p>Considering the <a href="http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/importance-of-college-education">importance of a college degree</a> these days, I believe that there is certainly nothing wrong with that approach. I have student loan debt, to be sure, but education I received has contributed to a job that helps me pay off that debt. In the long run I come out even, if not (hopefully) on top.</p> <p>So I don’t regret deciding to take out loans and financing a college education. But what I do regret is that I didn’t take concerted steps to reduce the cost, the number of loans I needed to take out, and consequently the debt with which I graduated. If I could go back in time, I would tell my pre-college self to try harder to bring down my college costs. Specifically, these are the tips I would recommend:</p> <p><strong>Boost Financial Aid</strong></p> <p>Increasing the amount of financial aid you receive is naturally often a losing battle. Still, there are countless tricks that I may no effort to try back in the day. These tricks include investing assets in retirement accounts, taking yourself as a dependent, and including family liabilities if you have siblings in school at the same time.</p> <p><strong>Follow A Loan Forgiveness Program</strong></p> <p>Many schools, scholarships, and financial aid programs provide stipulations whereby a graduate can earn forgive on loan interest if they pursue certain public sector careers for a given amount of time. While such work doesn’t exactly interest me, it would have been nice if I had kept those options open. I could have paid off my debt and moved on to a different job by now.</p> <p><strong>Save on Textbooks</strong></p> <p>A surprisingly significant portion of my student loan debt comes not from textbook costs. I’ve always appreciated that textbooks are expensive, but I never realized how quickly that all added up. If I was redoing college, then, I would make a point to shop for textbook deals on <a href="file:///C:/Users/Kazulanth/Downloads/half.com">half.com</a>, share books with friends, or simply forgo a non-required class that has a heavy reading load.</p> <p>There are many other tips for reducing your student loan debt, but there are the three main ones I would probably give my pre-college self. Too bad time travel isn’t possible. But fortunately, someday my student debts will be gone and – hopefully – the benefits of my degree will continue to live on.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-19141524682261732352012-01-17T16:38:00.003-05:002012-01-17T16:52:57.205-05:00Don't Give Up Yet! Why Sticking to Resolutions Can Save You Money<b><i><span >This is a guest post written by Sam Peters, who frequently blogs about topics relating to money and personal finance.</span></i></b><br /><br />The holidays are rarely nice to any of our budgets. I personally dread the holidays only because I feel like I won't be able to pay down as much of my debt as I would like due to gift buying, holiday cooking, and additional travel expenses. Then once New Year's has passed, I find myself scrambling to set a budget to determine how quickly I can get my finances back on track.<br />However, living on ramen isn't the only way to get yourself back on the right financial foot come the new year. By simply sticking to those New Year's resolutions, you can save yourself a substantial amount of cash both short term and long term. A few of the most money saving new year's resolutions that you should think twice about before giving up on include:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dropping Weight and Getting in Shape</span><br /><br />If you are looking to save yourself a substantial bit of money both short term and long term, <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan04004/efan04004g.pdf">losing weight</a> is the way to do it. You will immediately notice a difference in your monthly budget as you will save on eating out in both restaurants and drive-thrus - common places to be avoided by dieting individuals - and you will also save yourself money over the long haul as you will prevent yourself from having to pay higher insurance premiums and high medical bills from health conditions associated with being overweight.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Giving Up Addictions </span><br /><br />While you may not consider yourself an addict, if you just “have to have” that cup of coffee each and every morning from your favorite coffee shop, there is a good chance that you are a coffee addict. Whether you are addicted to caffeine, cigarettes, or just frequent that after work happy hour, by giving up these vices, you can <a href="http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/cigarette.asp">save up to $200 a month</a>. All three of the aforementioned also negatively impact your health, especially smoking, and by giving them up now you can avoid high medical bills often associated with the health conditions that arise from abusing any of them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Living on Less</span><br /><br />Choosing to live on less in the New Year obviously has its financial perks, but like losing weight or giving up any vices, living on less is often very difficult because it requires a complete lifestyle change. The reason why most of us get ourselves into high debt is because we overindulge and neglect our budgets for years, and going from living in a nice roomy apartment with a great view of the Chicago skyline to a cramped studio with most of our possessions either sold or tucked away in area <a href="http://us.storage-mart.com/illinois/chicago">Chicago self storage facilities</a> isn't always an easy transition. However, if you stick to living without the excess – including those shopping sprees you feel as though you deserve sometimes – you can quickly reduce your debt.<br /><br />Getting out of debt isn't always easy, but you don't always have to take extreme measures to make it happen. Sometimes, following a simple tradition can help you get there while also making you feel better about yourself both physically and mentally.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-57797072500096894652011-12-18T00:06:00.002-05:002011-12-18T00:27:05.052-05:00State of the debtHow I'm doing as of December 18th:<br /><br />Total debt: $37,938<br />Bank of America $7,507<br />Amex Blue $1,028<br />Amex Gold $0<br />CareCredit $0<br />Chase PerfectCard $6,376<br />Chase Universal $5,334<br />Discover $4,196<br />Student loan debt $13,497<br /><br /><br />Total assets: $34,378<br />Savings (in various accounts) $1,281<br />Traditional IRA $23,089<br />Roth IRA $1,478<br />401k $4,304<br />SEP-IRA $4,226<br /><br /><br />Well, I'm pleased with how the debt has come down (it was $44,591 July 1st) so that's down more than a thousand a month. I repeatedly have this realization about how much freaking money I will actually have once I pay off my debt - so, so much of my paycheck goes to debt that it's going to be shocking to have actual money when I am finished paying it off. However, all my assets went down a lot, so that's not good. Not much you can do about that though!<br /><br />I paid off the CareCredit card and the Amex Gold card, and also paid off the car repairs I put on Boyfriend's card. I also got some extra money and paid down the Amex some. I was hoping to get the Amex paid off entirely by the end of this year, but it doesn't look like that's likely to happen at this point.<br /><br />I'm also pleased that I paid off the CareCredit card because I took a new job! It's great and I'm very happy that I did it, but it did mean taking a small pay cut of about $100 a paycheck. So it's nice to not have that extra payment to be made.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-23053777660933106162011-11-23T21:25:00.002-05:002011-12-03T11:17:31.450-05:00I am a business MACHINESo a few months ago, after I had sold CashDuck and gotten that all squared away, I began to feel.. bored. Restless. I'm not used to not having a business to take care of! I'm still writing for MoneyCrashers, but that doesn't occupy my brain in the same way. I started browsing around looking at businesses for sale. And then, because I don't always think things through, I spent the last $1000 I had in cash on a new business. Hooray!<br /><br />After a few months of running the business, I had had some fun, learned some things, and spent some unnecessary money, but didn't think that this was the business for me. So I thought I'd put it up for sale. And I did, and I got emails from several interested parties, and now I am about to sell it for, all told, a profit of $1200.<br /><br />That is what we in the biz call Not Freaking Shabby.<br /><br />I mentioned this to a friend of mine, who had been watching the goings-on of my business acquisition with interested, and he said, "If you're going to flip another business, I would be up for investing in it."<br /><br />I hadn't actually thought of what I was doing as "flipping" - more like repositioning. The website where I bought the business specializes in selling websites, but doesn't generally deal in honest-to-Pete businesses that have been well established and have cash flow. (More like sites cluttered with AdSense ads and affiliate programs.) So a lot of the increase in price on the site was related to the fact that I put it up for sale on a site that sells real businesses - restaurants, dry cleaners, etc - for which people are willing to pay real money. It's a matter of selling to people who are prepared to pay what a real business that earns real money is worth.<br /><br />But I said I'd keep an eye out, and a couple weeks later found a nice website with solid revenue and tons of traffic, which was being sold at a really low price - both because it was on the cheaper website, but also because the owner needed the money immediately. It was pretty obvious that no one else was willing to pay even close to what the owner would have wanted for it, because the next lowest bid to mine was more than a thousand less. (The cheaper site uses an auction system, but not an eBay style of auction where your bid only goes up as much as it needs to in order to stay winning.) So I bid a price that was a little below the reserve but would still be attractive to the owner, and went to bed. No one else bid, and in the morning we worked out a compromise with the owner and started the process of transferring the site.<br /><br />So I have now been in control of the site for about two weeks, and things have been going well. I'm back in that feverish business-mind mode where I'm constantly thinking about stuff I want to add, programs I could start, what's going to be in the newsletter, etc etc. It's frustrating sometimes (like when AdSense put the account on review and then took it off review three times in one day) but I realize how much I really enjoy this kind of work. <br /><br />The end game for this site is to sell it probably in January or February (hopefully, once we've captured both Christmas and Valentine's Day sales!) and make some money, both from the profit it's making as it goes along and on the higher price we'll sell it for. I am a really enthusiastic seller, because with both this site and the previous site, I think it's a great investment for somebody who wants to have a good solid moneymaker. So it'll be interesting.<br /><br />I've checked off most of the things on the starting-up to-do list, like getting a bank account and a PO box, so now I'm turning my attention to the products on the site. The previous owner didn't seem to have paid much attention to which products were selling and which weren't, and since it's drop-ship I can see why, but people like to see a carefully curated collection of items and don't want to wade through a list of everything you think they could possibly ever want. So I'm deleting stuff that no one has ever bought or even looked at, and adding new products that are similar to the top movers. The previous owner had also never sent out any newsletters, so I'm hoping a few carefully timed Christmas newsletters and promotions are going to bring people back who haven't been there in a while.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-76992075895486456762011-11-01T16:36:00.000-04:002012-01-17T16:36:48.615-05:00State of the debt November 1stHow I'm doing as of November 1st:<br /><br />Total debt: $40,585<br /><br />Bank of America $7,916<br />Amex Blue $2,103<br />Amex Gold $0<br />CareCredit $417<br />Chase PerfectCard $6,779<br />Chase Universal $5,545<br />Discover $4,205<br />Student loan debt $13,620<br /><br />Total assets: $33,455<br /><br />Savings (in various accounts) Basically nil<br />Traditional IRA $23,257<br />Roth IRA $1,387<br />401k $4,484<br />SEP-IRA $4,327<br /><br />Net worth: -$7,130<br /><br />In July my net worth was almost $2k higher, but I'm actually pretty pleased about this month's number anyway. Because:<br />1 - I sold my previous car and bought a new one worth about $1k more. I used savings to fix some things in the old car so I could get the best price for it, and to pay for the "upgrade" and fixing the new car's condenser. <br />2 - I also used savings to buy a business. Yes, I know I just sold the last one, but it looked like a good opportunity and the price was good. I will probably sell this business fairly soon, as I put a lot of time and money into upgrading it (new shopping cart system, affiliate program, etc) and will hopefully make about a thousand bucks on the deal. Not bad for a few months' work.<br />3 - I didn't know it at the time, but July was the high point for my investments' worth. The markets have been pretty bad and overall my investments went down about $2500. However, since I am aggressively paying down my debts (at the rate of about $1,000 a month) my debts going down outpaced my investments going down somewhat. So most of the loss of net worth is due to me spending my cash. I guess technically my car and the business are assets, but I don't like including them here since they are not particularly liquid. But, I will use some of the proceeds from selling the business to pay down debts, so it'll eventually show up on the balance sheet.<br /><br />The one thing I'm not too pleased about is the fact that I have practically zero cash on hand. This makes me very nervous. I've started my Christmas shopping, and after spending $300 have presents for most of the people on my list. (I like to get started early, and make sure I have something at least halfway good for everybody, and then if I find something better later, either they get multiple presents or I put the less-good one in the present pile for anyone I forgot to buy something for.) I have a good chunk of change coming in this month from various projects, but none of it's here yet, and then I'll need to spend it on getting the car's heater fixed (go me, buying a car that neither heats nor cools!) and taking the dog to the vet. So here's hoping that nothing goes too wrong between now and whenever I manage to save up some money. I had set a goal of paying off my Amex cards by the end of the year, and I did pay off the Gold card, but have not made as much headway on the Blue card. Hopefully if I sell the business by the end of the year, and get cracking on other projects to make money, I'll still be able to meet that goal. <br /><br />The other day I opined to Boyfriend about how much f&$!@# money I will have once I pay off my debt, given that I turn over essentially half of each paycheck to debt. I make a decent salary, so if I'm not paying $1k a month to someone else, we could go to Italy twice a year without any trouble. He regarded me balefully and said, "Yeah, but by then we'll have kids, so we still won't really have any money." Voice of optimism.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-44157269072955406142011-10-16T21:10:00.002-04:002011-10-29T10:25:29.809-04:00Five Financial Lessons Learned from Star Wars<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: large; "><i>I am a big nerd so I thought this was funny. Today's entertainment is provided by the freelance writer Nicolas Gallego!</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><p><span>Once a year, I force my family to sit down with me and watching the original three Star Wars films back-to-back (the other three are banned from the household). This year was special because the series was finally released on Blu-ray so for once we could play it on our huge living room screen and actually watch it like we were in the theater. Seeing the intergalactic action unfold more vividly than I ever had before, I got to thinking about how much these movies had made me the person I had become.</span><br /></p><p><span>For the sake of this blog, I've isolated five lessons learned from Star Wars that relate to personal finance and money in general:</span><br /></p><p><span>1. <i>Sell your landspeeder to follow your dreams.</i></span><br /></p><p><span>In the original film, hero Luke Skywalker must say goodbye to his landspeeder in order to afford the journey across the galaxy to enroll in spaceflight school. You have to be willing to give up that sports car or other precious personal possession if it allows you to pursue your dreams. Otherwise, you'll continue to stay stuck on the same rock that you've been living on for years.</span><br /></p><p><span>2. <i>Rewards work.</i></span><br /></p><p><span>In order to talk swashbuckling gun-for-hire Han Solo into helping him save Princess Leia, Luke reminds the cynical hotshot that if she were to be saved, her rescuers would surely be handsomely rewarded. Most people in life - even the noble ones - respond best to rewards. Incentives are what get people off the couch,</span><span> and the earlier you learn this, the better. It's a priceless part of getting goals accomplished.</span><br /></p><p><span>3. <i>If they are stronger, then you are faster.</i></span><br /></p><p><span>The Galactic Empire never thought that the Rebel Alliance was a real threat because they had 1,000 times the firepower and resources. Whether it's a small business or a bake sale, those who are financially better equipped than you are always going to create an unfortunate disadvantage on your part. But success can still be found by converting these apparent disadvantages into actual advantages; the Rebels always stayed one step ahead of the Empire because their small size enabled them to.</span><br /></p><p><span>4. <i>Material does not matter.</i></span><br /></p><p><span>Who can forget the stunning revelation that the great Jedi master Yoda was not some decorated beast of a man residing in a fortified palace but rather a munchkin hermit hacking it out in a mud hut? What you are made of - “this crude matter” - and everything else physical in this world doesn't amount to squat compared to who you are. Keep this in mind when making judgments about others you don't know.</span><br /></p><p><span>5. <i>All the wealth in the galaxy can't break certain bonds.</i></span><br /></p><p><span>Darth Vader returned himself to the side of good by saving his son Luke from the clutches of the evil Emperor, something the latter never expected to have happen. At the end of the day, wealth withers in the shadow of family and friendship. All the number crunching and data mining in the world can't predict the power of love in determining how people conduct their lives.</span><br /></p><p><span>Money and finances are strong forces, and have their place in the functioning of society, but they are by no means the only force at work or the only influence that are important in life. Putting money into perspective is key to bettering your life, no matter how much richer or poorer you expect to become in the near future.</span> </p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-13311042430811676752011-08-14T15:30:00.002-04:002012-06-01T17:10:21.330-04:00Ack ack ackThat's one ack for each thing that's gone wrong this month. It's been a ride, let me tell ya.
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First - Our kitchen ceiling started leaking, and after sawing a hole in it, the plumber determined there was nothing wrong with the pipes (phew) but that the walls around our tub were leaking (shit!) and so we have decided to replace the tub walls. The owners before the last owners of this house redid the bathroom, and while they generally did an OK job, they put this PVC sheeting stuff up on the walls around the tub, and didn't quite get it to actually meet at the bottom. This means that there is a lovely gap wherein water can shoot through and come out the kitchen ceiling. We had been meaning to redo the bathroom and put in tile, which would look nicer and also raise the value of the house somewhat, but it was rather low on our priority list. So we have to bite the bullet and get that done, and hopefully it will be all up tonight so maybe we can take a shower sometime soon! I'm actually kind of glad that we are getting this done, because when we took off the PVC sheet, we discovered that the drywall and part of the window box were wet and gross, so now we are preventing the gross from migrating further. It seemed pretty contained so the damage should be all gone now. I think this is going to cost us about $900 and a year off my life - our contractor is very nice and very good, but not very punctual, and I went to four different stores yesterday trying to find special tiles for our weird little foot-of-the-tub wall and the window surround.
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Second - So my car developed an expensive and irritating condition - the speedometer needle started jumping a little bit. I didn't think much of it, and when the car went in to have its shocks replaced, I asked the guys to take a look at it and replace the sensor or whatever was not working properly. I figured $100 max. Turns out that there is something wrong with the wiring to the instrumentation panel, which is a single unit, and costs $600 just for the part, plus another $500 for the labor, which includes taking it to the dealership and having the car's computer reprogrammed. Fun! Other than being annoying, this caused the car's cruise control to no longer work properly, as it's an aftermarket addition and depends on the speedometer needle to maintain speed, instead of being routed through the car computer as is typical in other cars where it's installed at the factory. I decided that one way or another the car's value would go down by at least $1,000 - either I would put $1,000 into it to fix this, or the speedometer might eventually break altogether and then I would have to fix it then, or attach a gizmo to the car computer slot that would tell the speed, which would probably look really stupid and further make it difficult to sell the car in the future. In the end I decided I'd rather not deal with it at all, and should sell it before it gets more noticeable. I ended up selling it for only $200 less than I bought it for a year ago, and I probably could have gotten the same price if I'd been more savvy about my advertising. Then I went out and bought a nicer car, for about $1,000 more than I sold the old one for, which needed $500 in repairs (the condenser was cracked so it had no A/C.) Altogether after all is said and done I am pretty much out of cash, but I own a more valuable car that works much better. Hooray!
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Third - American Express cancelled my cards. I had kind of seen this coming, because I am no longer exactly the prime grade A beef customer I was when I got my cards several years ago. I put several large purchases on the gold card which I immediately paid off, but they saw this as suspicious activity, and asked me to have my bank verify how much money I'd had each of the last six months. The not very nice lady on the phone told me that this was to help out their customers who were having some financial straits. Lady, if I was not having financial straits, don't you think I would have just paid for those in cash to begin with?? Sheesh. So basically they cancelled the cards because I don't have a lot of money and didn't use them much. I still have a balance on the cards and have to pay that off, but now the only older credit card that is still actually open is the Discover, which only has $400 in open credit line on it, since all of my cards keep cutting my line every few months to be pretty close to my balance. I realize that they don't want me to charge any more, but if they haven't noticed, I've only been putting charges on the Amex gold card, which I always pay off quickly, and I've been paying everything else down as much as possible.
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Because I now have so little actual available credit anymore, Boyfriend went ahead and put me as an authorized user on one of his credit cards - obviously without asking me, because I would have told him not to, but he does have a point, that I might have an emergency and need to borrow money, and he knows I'm good for it. And I have a tiny bit of hope that perhaps his stellar credit will lift my credit score a little, since it's likely to have taken a nasty hit after my Amex cards were cancelled - one was at least eight years old, and one was five years old, and given that I've only been able to have credit for nine years, that's kind of important.
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And a little bit of funny news - I did apply for a credit card and got approved. However it has a $250 limit and comes from Virgin Airlines. I guess it's better than nothing, since I'm trying to raise my credit score. I'm pretty sure that nothing short of paying off all of my credit cards is going to raise my score at this point though. I'm looking forward to that day (according to Mint, in approximately March 2014) when I have no credit card debt, and I start getting fawning credit card offers in the mail for all of those lovely 0% balance transfers that I could REALLY USE NOW. Grumble.<br><br><br><br><br>
If you're ever in a serious financial situation and decide to take out a cash advance, check out <a href="http://www.cashadvancer.com">www.CashAdvancer.com</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-60401216366002698112011-08-04T08:04:00.003-04:002011-08-04T08:07:15.212-04:00All about the H&R Block tax classI took the H&R Block basic income tax class a few years ago, and since I know a lot of people come to this blog looking for info on it, I also wrote up an article for MoneyCrashers to spread the knowledge. If you're interested in taking the class (you only have about two weeks to register in most places, for the standard twice a week class) you should definitely <a href="http://www.moneycrashers.com/hr-block-income-tax-course-preparer/">check out the article here</a> and then go sign up! Financial knowledge gained is money saved, and taxes are one place a lot of people throw away money because they don't know what they're doing, either by paying someone else hundreds of dollars, or by missing crucial items.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29579128.post-90626167928075048112011-07-03T13:27:00.001-04:002011-07-03T13:50:02.853-04:00State of the DebtHow I'm doing as of July 1st:<br /><br />Total debt: $44,591<br /><ul><li>Bank of America $8,482</li><li>Amex Blue $2,586</li><li>Amex Gold $521</li><li>CareCredit $577</li><li>Chase PerfectCard $7,574</li><li>Chase Universal $6,365</li><li>Discover $4,387<br /></li><li>Student loan debt $14,096</li></ul>Total assets: $39,235<br /><ul><li>Savings (in various accounts) $3,177</li><li>Traditional IRA $25,502</li><li>Roth IRA $1,085</li><li>401k $4,655</li><li>SEP-IRA $4,815</li></ul>Net worth: -$5356<br /><br />I never thought I'd be so happy about a negative number!<br /><br />For comparison, here is what my debts looked like last July, according to Mint (which currently isn't doing so hot of a job at basic math, but it seems OK on regular data)<br /><br />Total as of July 2010: $53,215<br /><ul><li>Student loans: $15,393 </li><li>Bank of America: $10,627 </li><li>Chase PerfectCard: $9,659 </li><li>Universal $8,631 </li><li>Discover $4,653 </li><li>Amex Blue $3,361 </li><li>CareCredit $683 </li><li>Amex Gold $207</li></ul>So in one year I have paid down about $9,000 worth of debt. It doesn't feel like a lot on a month to month basis but it looks great over time!<br /><br />My goal for the year is to get the Amex Blue card paid off. That feels like a little bit of a daunting goal right now, partly because I am first trying to pay off the Amex Gold card since it has a higher interest rate, and I'm also paying down the CareCredit card faster than strictly necessary because it is 0% but only for a certain period of time, and I don't want to get hit with the penalty interest. So to accomplish this I have been stepping up my extracurricular activities. I picked up a couple of assignments I might not otherwise have looked at (like doing price audits at a furniture store - lots of running around the store!) and trying to do more mystery shopping that helps us save money (like getting a pizza pickup shop so we don't have to spend money on dinner.)<br /><br />Hopefully this will get it moving in the right direction so even if I don't get it completely paid off by the end of the year, I will have made a serious dent in its balance. I'm really hoping that that will help improve my credit profile enough that I can qualify for low-rate balance transfers, which would REALLY help pay down the cards that aren't at a fixed rate. Luckily those are the low balance ones but it would still be really nice.<br /><br />I'm also really pleased that I have so much cash on hand, and I'm really loath to spend any of it now, even on paying down my debt. =) Cash on hand means security to me, because I would be OK even if there was something catastrophic. (I found out I have to replace my shocks, but that's $400, not catastrophic.) Our household had a pretty good run of no catastrophes and I was able to save the extra money I earned. Also, I just sold CashDuck to a very nice guy who I think is going to do well with it. I really wasn't putting in as much time and energy as I could and I think new blood will really help it. So that gives me more free time as well as an additional bump to my cash reserves.<br /><br />Our run of no catastrophes ended about two weeks ago, however, when our big cat got a urinary tract blockage and had to spend five days in the vet hospital, to the tune of $1,000. He is doing very well now, and is super floppy and willing to be held any way you want because he is on Valium to keep his urinary muscles relaxed to avoid another blockage. He's... puddly. Boyfriend opened a CareCredit card and put the bill on that, and I'm sending him extra money with each of my paychecks to pay off my half of the bill. Hopefully we can now start on another long catastrophe-free streak!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1