https://zetta.savingadvice.com My musings as I strive to build wealth and learn more about investing. info@savingadvice.com Zetta en-us https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/12/13/quarterly-goals-review-2009-q4_55809/ <b>Quarterly Goals Review 2009 Q4</b><br /> Items marked ? are ones I hope to finish before the end of December.<br /> Items marked X* are finished, but occurred later than the designated quarter.<br /> <br /> Q1 Goals 2009<br /> [X*] Call will and trust lawyers friends have recommended, pick one. <br /> [X] Fully fund... Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:49:07 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/11/26/the-twins-have-arrived_55382/ <a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2969&id=7262&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2969&id=7262&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a><br /> <br /> Our twins were born by c-section just over a week ago.<br /> <br /> Baby girl A was born at 2:10pm, 6 lb 0 oz, 19.3 in<br /> Baby girl B was born at 2:11pm, 5 lb 3 oz, 18.9 in<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2969&id=7263&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2969&id=7263&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a><br /> <br /> Not sure what to call them here -- DDa and DDb? DTa and DTb (for dear twin)?<br /> <br /> We had a harrowing couple... Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:11:07 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/09/21/quarterly-goals-review-2009-q3_53741/ Quarterly Goals Review 2009 Q3<br /> I wrote up this list of Goals for 2009 in February. Looks like I forgot to do my quarterly goals review in March and June! Now that it's September, let's see how we're doing. Items marked X* are finished, but occurred later than the designated quarter.<br /> <br /> Q1... Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:03:06 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/09/20/its-a-control-thing_53705/ I try to download all our transactions and update our YNAB budget twice a month. I'm not rigorous about it by any means and sometimes do it just once a month. Just by luck, I happened to update it on Friday, and discovered a fraudulent charge that occurred on Thursday -- $255.42... Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:07:15 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/09/12/finally-got-the-wills-started_53557/ When I started my blog 2.5 years ago, one of the first goals I listed was to get our wills updated. Talk about procrastination! We finally met with a lawyer yesterday, and should have everything signed in a month. I had set up a will and trust before we married, and DH had never... Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:35:52 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/08/29/earning-interest-on-cash_53255/ After tracking our spending for August, I took a glance at the various accounts we have at E*Trade. We sure have a lot sitting in cash, and getting lousy interest rates:<br /> <br /> Money Market: $33k @ .4%<br /> DH investment: $20k @ .4%<br /> Savings: $17k @ .8%<br /> Checking: $ 7k @ .4%<br /> <br /> I... Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:29:08 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/08/15/passing-on-a-sweet-house_52924/ I love our current location. DH works 5 minutes away, and we're in a little sweet spot that is a reverse commute from most areas of the city. We're on a canyon, and get breezes that come in from the ocean keep our house cool enough that we almost never run the A/C. The beach is... Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:27:40 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/08/04/great-return-on-espp_52703/ DH invests 12% of his salary into the company employee stock purchase plan (ESPP). Every six months, the plan purchases shares. My understanding is that they look at the market prices on the first and last day of the plan period, and then take an additional 15% off the lesser price.<br /> <br /> The... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:06:09 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/08/03/not-impressed-with-the-farmers-markets_52686/ A new farmer's market recently started on Tuesday afternoons near my son's preschool, and I decided to check it out. I was not impressed to say the least. First of all, half of the market wasn't even food -- just junky impulse purchase stuff, tupperware, etc. The next quarter was... Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:18:09 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/07/29/adjusting-the-budget-for-twins_52589/ The twins are due in November, and I'm planning to quit working Oct 1, so I've been looking over our budget to figure out where to cut back. I think we need to cut about $675 per month to make it work. Here are some numbers based on averages for Jan-Jun this year.<br /> <br /> DH pay after... Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:08:19 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/07/04/planning-for-twins_52146/ We had the 18 week level 2 ultrasound this week, and I'm excited to announce that the babies are both girls! It was extremely cool to see the babies' hearts -- you could clearly see all four chambers and watch the valves moving as the heart pumped. They took measurements of all kinds... Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:41:09 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/05/30/happy-news_51363/ I've been on pins and needles waiting until it was safe to share my news -- we're expecting twins! They are due in November.<br /> <br /> I've made some comments in the past about how we dearly wanted another child but were having difficulties. We were fortunate to be able to affort a few... Sat, 30 May 2009 16:21:56 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/04/19/my-brothers-thoughts-on-mutual-funds_50442/ My brother was here for a visit this week, and we had an interesting conversation about mutual funds. My dad used to be a stock broker, and now works for a mutual fund company that sells actively managed funds that carry a load. Of course he believes that you're getting the value... Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:25:29 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/04/18/2008-taxes_50422/ I finished the taxes a couple of weeks ago, but only now am getting around to blogging the results.<br /> <br /> Gross Income: $244k<br /> Adjusted Gross Income: $229k<br /> Taxable Income: $157k<br /> Total Federal Tax: $44k<br /> Payments: $38k<br /> Federal Tax due: $6k<br /> Effective Federal Tax Rate: 13.94%<br /> <br /> State... Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:03:41 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/03/03/financial-fire-drill_48696/ There are rumors that there may be layoffs at DH's employer in 3 months time. We don't think he is likely to be affected because he is in an engineering group designing a core product -- the support staff and less central projects are likely to get hit first. But it seems a good... Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:30:00 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/02/22/quarterly-2009-goals_48694/ I decided to reformat my 2009 goals list to make it quarterly. Hopefully this will motivate me to check it quarterly, instead of waiting until the end of the year. <img src="https://www.savingadvice.com/forums/core/images/smilies/smile.png" alt="Smile" /><br /> <br /> Q1 Goals 2009<br /> [ ] Call will and trust lawyers friends have recommended, pick one.<br /> [ ] Fully fund 401(k): $4,125... Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:50:00 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/02/22/computer-blues_48692/ How annoying! I woke up early this morning, and decided it would be a good time to try and do my quarterly review on our investments while DH and DS are still asleep. Wouldn't you know it, my brokerage's system is down for maintanence and I can't get into my account. Grrrr. Plus... Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:28:45 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/02/18/dow-down-to-7500_48570/ My dad, a former stockbroker who now works for a mutual fund company, called me yesterday afternoon. He said the DOW was down to 7500 and he wanted to add $1,000 to my son's 529 account. He asked me to go ahead and make the purchase and he would send me a check. Thanks, Dad!<br /> <br /> It's... Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:17:59 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2009/02/16/squirt-bottle-blues_48512/ I haven't blogged in quite a while. My 3 year old son LOVES to clean, and I let him have a squirt bottle of this Pledge stuff that is supposed to be safe for wood, glass, stainless steel, and electronics. So no worries about what he might be squirting, right? WRONG! Usually I keep... Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:08:32 PST Zetta https://zetta.savingadvice.com/2008/12/31/a-look-back-at-2008-goals_46689/ I decided to look back at my 2008 goals and see how I did. (Hmmmm...sounds like I need to involve DH more so that in 2009 it will be "our" goals and the review will be how "we" did!) Although I know our gross income for the year, I won't really know our net income until after we... Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:16:44 PST Zetta