Category: Financial

Putting the brakes on and being focused

I’ve been having a blast on the bike. Definitely not overdoing it so that I am not overly tired. I’m thinking of putting the kibosh on a few things and I’m mulling over it to make sure I’m doing it for the right reasons. In any case, I think that I will be fine with whatever decision I make. I’ve made the first steps and I feel good about that. I’m attending a shower (my first ever!!) for Mrs. J and I’m excited about that. I’m planning on busting out the camera and taking tons of pictures. 🙂 It makes me wish that I could also be around my own sister who’s got visited by the stork too! One of these days… I know I keep saying that, but it will happen. Little drops of water make puddles and puddles turn into ponds and so on.

In financial use, our usage of the credit card is down to 25%. I recently got them to increase the limit purely to inflate the credit to debt ratio so that our credit scores don’t nosedive. As a matter of fact, I’ve cracked past 710 on Transunion and Experian! Equifax reads a bit lower, but I’m not bothered. Again, you do not want to up your spending simply because your limit has been increased. So nothing has changed except that we’re waiting on a certain buyer to pony up money so we can send a relatively large snowflake to the credit card. I’m also committing to savings and I’ve been treating it as a ‘debt’ that I have to make payments to. So far, it’s working. I was so close to not making a payment this month, but I reminded myself of my goal for this year which was to have an emergency fund. I have to say that we had a month of some large expenses, but Uncle Sam’s tax rebate helped buffer a lot of it without us having to dip into our emergency fund. Not to mention that we have been consciously keeping tabs on spending. Nevertheless, I still think a budget will go a long way in curtailing things further.

In other news, I just wooted this morning and got myself a Garmin Mobile 20 Portable GPS receiver for $54.99 which is $10 less at Amazon. If you recall, I upgraded to a Treo 750 (refurbished) for the princely sum of $100. This smart phone can become a GPS device. All it needs is a receiver which is what the garmin thingamabob is. Of course, this was an impulse buy, but it is currently at a low price than I’ve been seeing all year. I can’t wait to play with my new toy. 😀 Speaking of toys, I still haven’t gotten proper bike gear. Right now, I’m wearing the pants off my shorts. As I’m doing more challenging trails, I will need to get biking gear so I’ve started a sub-account to fund the purchase of my biking gear. I’m glad that I’ve stopped thinking about simply charging things to the card. It’s a Ferris wheel that’s hard to get off once you get on it. My other goal for the year besides building our emergency fund will be clearing the credit card balance.

In other other news, I just got done watching a performance by Pilobolus at TED (a conference) which is awesome. I just downloaded the movie file to my computer to watch again to ponder its meaning. Right now, I would willingly pay $100 to see a live performance. I’m sad they won’t even be visiting Georgia (based on their schedule on the web). Right now, I’m obsessively going through their videos. Very impressive.

Yes, we did it again.

For thirty days, we used approximately $1.18 per day of electricity. I was a bit bummed that it was not $30 that I was expecting, but $35.42 for electricity is not bad at all for two people! Now that gas prices are creeping up, M & I are just now realizing how much we are saving just moving closer to my place of work and at the risk of being repetitive, how much we are saving by virtue of being away from the fast food hub. Yes, we (i.e. M) could exercise some self discipline, but sometimes, I like instant gratification. Now, I’m trying to streamline our financial habits by tracking how much goes into certain things like grocery shopping. I’ve crunched the numbers and we can get away with ~ $300 per month on food. That sounds like a lot, but I think food prices have increased a whole lot too. This amount doesn’t include the money spent eating out.

I finally decided to test my mountain biking chops at Fort Yargo and boy, did I have fun? 😀 I rode at least 15 miles and didn’t feel too tired. I think I was probably riding on adrenalin. I rode with Matt’s dad while M ran nonstop (with us) for at least 2 hours! He’s in incredible conditioning although he is not a muscle-head. After the ride, I was so ravenous that I downed a quart (yes, you read right) of vegetable soup. I would feel bad if it was a quart of lasagna or something. It was vegetable soup that was chockful of vegetables. M gave me grief, but in keeping with the spirit of instant gratification, I didn’t deny myself that wholesome quart of vegetable soup. Besides, we got the same quart of vegetable soup a couple of days later and I measured it out. It was not an obscene amount. 🙂 M’s only got video and pictures of me during the first 3 days that I was a bumbling rider. Not saying I’m expert or anything, but I’ve got a hell of a lot more balance than I did when I first rode a bike on our anniversary. Now I can keep tabs on M on his “rides”. lol, I kid. 🙂 The ride helped me realize that:

  1. Having a bike odometer will be super cool. 🙂 Those little suckers tell you your average speed, highest speed, lowest speed and how many miles you’ve ridden. Definitely neat.
  2. I definitely need biking gloves. Thus far, I’ve been using with handlebars sans any sort of gloves. Thankfully, I don’t sweat on the palms like M does so I am not in any immediate danger of having my hands accidentally slip off the bike. However, I think it will slow the callus-formation process, I hope. 🙂 My hands need some TLC because I have this death-kungfu grip on the handle bars such that when I get off the bike, it’s sheer agony trying to straighten my fingers out.
  3. I definitely need padded shorts. Need I say more? My butt’s not as sore as it used to be because I learned to stand up when crossing a really gnarly bike path. Score! Still, it would be nice.
  4. In short, I need biking gear. Specifically, a kneecap protector. I have hit my left knee more times that I care to count and I’m getting tired of it. Right now, I think I’ve messed it up because walking down the stairs causes the knee to rebel against the horrible person making it go down the stairs. M just thinks it’s inflamation (it looks swollen) so I’m hoping that time will work its magic.

And the coolest thing happened on the day we went to Yargo. There was a thunderstorm was moving in so we decided to call it a day and head home. What happened next is the unadulterated, unembellished truth: Matt and I saw lightning strike thisclose to our car while he was driving on the highway. Actually, I was actually dozing when I heard the bolt strike some trees on the opposing side of track and the next thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a flash of fire which was presumably quickly doused by the pouring rain. With our hearts pounding, we proceeded cautiously and wondered if what we had just seen was real or a figment of our imagination. I’m sure I would have said M was fibbing if I hadn’t witnessed it. Now, I just regret not having my camcorder or my camera with me because that would have been an instant hit online at YouTube. 😀

In the spirit of taking care of business (the business of maintaining the entity that is Jane), I’ve had a couple of visits that are adding up (insurance-wise). Now, I’ve got the thankless task of making sure that healthcare providers are not charging me 3X the rate they have negotiated with my insurance provider. I’ve also got to make sure that said healthcare providers are in-network because you will get slammed with a higher rate (90% of network coverage for in-network providers versus 50% or 60% for out-of-network providers). In short, don’t go there. As such, things like paying down the credit card aggressively had to mellow out. Actually, I made more payments to the card, but they were mostly to mitigate the damage of having to make a few big payments so that my credit score wouldn’t nosedive. Hell, I just got an offer in the mail for a credit card with 5.9% APR so that’s a big improvement from getting the 18% APRs in the days of yore. 🙂 Of course, I didn’t apply because I don’t want to be indebted forever. I’m content with my sole credit card and they are not averse to credit limit increases so I’ve “got money” if I need it. However, I’m definitely getting back on track once the month of May, thanks in part to Uncle Sam’s tax rebate. We didn’t get the full amount allotted to couples filing jointly but I ain’t complaining. We put the money to good use: M’s new toy a.k.a. his mountain bike. lol. We’d been planning this so it wasn’t an impulse buy. The original plan was to pay for this with the money from the sale of his old bike. The buyer has been dragging his foot for weeks and finally managed to make a downpayment of $200. This situation caused us frustration to no end and I initially was going to be the mean old Lady and tell M that if he didn’t have the money, he wasn’t touching our rebate. However, the new bike happens to be badass and had started drawing the attention of other buyers who had the ready cash. The bike’s officially his now so we can stop sweating the buyer. He can take his sweet time for all I care right now. I’m so mad, but that’s flaky humans for you. M’s got his old bike so until the buyer pays up, he’s not touching it.

Mea culpa

Finally, I can breathe. I’m currently at the lab, but I’m unofficially working over so I don’t think the bosses will be too upset about grabbing some internet time that’s not on the company dime this time. Work’s been going okay. We’re in a sort of lull and I’m sure things will soon turn crazy. I’m prepping myself to develop 4 hands. I love it. 🙂 I know I keep giving mixed messages, but as with all things, you love ’em sometimes and you can’t bear it sometimes. What’s new? I’m getting much better on the bike. I obviously need to get my biking attire soon because I’m injuring myself in places that would be protected better if I had things like a pair of padded bike shorts, a pair of biking gloves, etc. All told, I’m loving this new experience and I cannot wait to get out and earn my stripes. 🙂 M says I”m great at powering up hills. Sadly, it’s usually a short burst of energy that lasts me for a short uphill climb. I clearly need to work on my endurance. Anyhow, he’s a great and patient teacher. 🙂 He’s trading his old bike for a better mountain bike so I’m excited for him and because we can both do rides. He’s been without his for a week now.

Next, I just remembered that (duh) I am enrolled in a retirement plan courtesy of my employer (as is M). However, it would be worth investigating what happens to those funds should I (or we) switch employers. M’s rate of return on his investments is 6% (I just read his statement). I don’t know if that’s due to me upping his contribution rate (shhh, don’t tell M that!). I need to do a lot of reading on this financial stuff so I can make sense of his portfolio. In any case, now is the time for me to go ahead and open up that Roth IRA I’ve been blathering about. First, I do want to talk with an adviser and I would greatly prefer doing my business with one of the big 3 (Vanguard, Fidelity or T. Rowe Price). It’s like a game of Russian Roulette although minus the part where you die. If you are playing the stock market, don’t let temporary losses get you down. Think long-term. I shouldn’t be talking because I haven’t had much experience, but I aim to learn all I can and use this blog as my sounding board. My plan on the other hand is really weird. It’s one of these teacher retirement system programs and I can’t mess with them as far as I can tell. The sanctioned option by my employer is a 403(b) or 457 plan with either TIAA-CREF, Fidelity or AIG Retirement. Right now, looking at their websites, information overload-itis is occuring. So, I really would like to talk to a real live person and a company that comes to mind for that is Edward Jones. Hell, there’s a branch that’s less than 1 mile from my apartment so that is a really attractive option. Anyhow, that’s about it. I’ve gotta run.

Oh, I’m going to be an aunt twice over. lol. My sister and my sister-in-law are expecting. This is awesome. 😀

At my wit’s end

Okay, my computer is really really pissing me off! I mean, I’m at the lab at these computers that have less than 20 gb of hard drive space are running faster than mine! I am also getting sick of firefox which seems to take a minute to load these days. I guess it can’t handle my bookmarks anymore? I haven’t gone plugin crazy with firefox. I’ve tried disabling the “check for updates at startup” section but I didn’t observe any appreciable increase in speed. What to do, fellas? I’ve put a freeze on installing new software on my PC except for updating old software. Interestingly, I think my problem can be traced to one program: F Secure. See, when I uninstall that behemoth, I’m speedier than Speedy Gonzalez. However, I cannot surf without my antivirus/rootkit/antispyware combo that is F Secure. As my boss would say, “on a mac, …” So I am actually seriously considering making the jump to the other side … In a year or two when I’ve saved up enough money to buy one of those babies. Grrrrhh.

In other news, changes are happening at Casa de Jane and Matt. 🙂 I’m getting my daily practice on the bicycle. I’m learning that having muscles that came as a result of body fat loss does not equate fitness. In that vein, the bike kicked my ass on inclines, but I pushed back. M & I are going for a bike/run (he runs, I follow on the bike) today so I’m stoked about that. I am getting excited again about certain things that I will reveal in good time. I have actually sat down to map out timelines so wish me luck!

Savings and aggressive credit card payments have stalled. I have faith that we can be ride of our Credit Card payments at the month’s end. I just need to keep my wits about me and keep track of where the money is going. In that respect, I find that I’m not very good using Quicken Financial software. The task of downloading those financial forms is a great pain in the patootie and seeing as I’ve got at least 2 accounts per institution, it’s hard. Man, I came this close to signing on the dotted line to opening up a Roth IRA with Fidelity. I don’t know why I am holding back. Obviously, I don’t have the asking price of $2,500, but they can waive that if I commit to a $200 monthly donation. I will have to whip up a spreadsheet to see how thin that will leave me.

What is today?

Brownie points if you knew the answer. It is the anniversary of my marriage to M!!! 🙂 You guys, it is an interesting ride on the slightly surreal side. lol. I love, LOVE my partner in crime and I can’t wait to keep marking off and celebrating this day as the years roll along! I don’t have much work to do at the lab today so I decided to bite the bullet and get out early. M has been wanting to get me a bicycle for the longest time and to see me ride said bicycle. I’m deathly afraid of falling and hurting myself. That’s almost like the story of my life sometimes i.e. not taking risks because of being scared of getting hurt. I digress. Anyways, yesterday, I decided to face my fear and I got on the bike. In short order, I was reminded why I was always  nervous of getting on one of those. BUT I am going to put my  mind to practicing how to ride a bicycle. Yes, M says I’ve got perfect posture so I hope not to disappoint him. 🙂

So much has been going on and everytime something struck my mind, I’d go “damn, that would be nice on my blog” Sadly, I never followed through. The odd thing though is when I do get to typing, the words start flowing and suddenly it’s almost like an avalanche. I’ll give a brief update on things.

  1. With respect to our new apartment, we are simply loving it. Our power bill was ridiculous: $28. I almost wanted to go over to PC to show him that I wasn’t lying when I said I knew how to keep costs down. We still haven’t had to use the heater or the air conditioner. My little heater/air conditioner which cost me less than $5 is still going strong and I think that was one of the better investments I’ve made. Rent is rather steep, but definitely affordable. However, we just need to find our groove and not be so tight towards the end of the month, if you know what I mean.
  2. With respect to expenditures, We’ve not done very well. I will say that moving away from the former house has reduced our spending simply because we are not rather removed from those fast food places we were drowning in. It was less than 5 mins to the mall where they have all sorts of tempting goodies waiting. lol. Now, it’s like pulling teeth for both of us to just casually up and go to, say, McDonalds. Before, we’d be on the road fast than you could recite “The sun shall soon shine”. lol. Expectedly, our grocery spending has gone up. I can’t give exact figures because I haven’t been tracking. Neither can I tell you how much M spends eating out or I do. I suspect at some point, we will both need to sit down and decide how to trim off the fat in order to say more. Right now, we are getting by, but in the event of a job loss, we will be unhappy campers.
  3. With respect to savings, M’s been pretty good about feeding the money pot. lol. I cannot wait to get that thing over to the bank because it’s more than likely got over $200 in it! I’ve been doing my share although not as much as M because I’m all about the plastic. Nevertheless, I still do some saving over the internet. How, my ING Direct savings account of course! The interest rate is dropping, but I don’t care too much because my primary goal for that account is to accummulate and turn it over. If I keep up and/or increase my current rate of contribution and reduce my spending, I will be on track to open a short-term CD. Right now, I don’t even think about that savings account because as far as I am concerned, it is our untouchable emergency fund in the event of an emergency. I’m going to try to get M a savings account too (me earning $25 if he opens it with a referral from me has nothing to do with this blatant solicitation).
  4. With regards to retirement and financial planning, I’ve done nothing. I had an appointment with a Fidelity advisor, but lab work conflicted with said appointment. Since then, I’ve just done my light reading, but it is still very much at the back of my mind.

That’s pretty much it. M & I are going to hang out and do what young and very much in love couples do: wrestle and learn how to defend myself using nut-cracking (that’s illegal in the UFC), arm-breaking, choking, etc techniques. M’s converted me to an appreciat(or)(er) of the mixed martial arts family. It’s just a damn shame that his show (the Ultimate Fighter) comes on the same time my show (Top Chef, Chicago) comes on. My only consolation is that he really does let me free reign with the TV so I can’t complain too much. Thank God for re-runs. I’ve gotta run folks. Digest this post and come back for more!

Almost a sucker

We finally bit the bullet and decided that we would do our taxes yesterday. Prior to this decision, I had already input all of our tax information into free programs such as H & R Block’s TaxCut program (free for those couples with an AGI of below $54,000 for the 2007 tax year), TaxAct Online, etc. So, without any hanky panky, I knew how much we would be getting. However, M and a co-conspirator decided that we could get way more money. I was happy at that prospect, but I didn’t really believe deep-down that their schemes would work. lol. Well, we went over to a prominent tax preparer’s office and voila! they came up with the same damned figure I came up with. In fact, they shot down many of M & co-conspirator’s  (and I, admittedly) ideas about what we could deduct. Nevertheless, after all was said and done, the nice lady showed up what the bill would be for the privilege of visiting said tax office. It was $164.00!!! Now, to our credit, we’d done much of the leg work for the lady i.e. she was able to pull down our information from the online service that I’d put my blood, sweat and tears into! So, we kindly told her that we would take our chances with our taxes ourselves. I went ahead and "did that joker" in the words of a blogger. It cost us $13.95 and I don’t regret not doing the office route one bit! I mean, last year we spent $244 in tax preparation fees and this year, it was less, but still too much. I’m pretty positive that I did everything right. We got a decent amount back and it will be a big help in getting rid of some debt. In addition, I’m very positive that we will qualify for the much talked about stimulus rebate so here’s to using money wisely. If it were up to me, I’d divvy up the money thusly: 1) ~ 1/2 going to super-secret slush fund (lol) (2) ~ $400 going into both our savings accounts (out of sight is out of mind) (3) rest going off to credit card debt resolution which brings me to my next point: I got my credit limit increased on one of the cards. Not for the purposes of further spending mind you, but to make me "look" good. See, BoA has often cited (in not too many words) that because of my high balance with the other card, they couldn’t reduce my credit card APR. Well, in addition to snowflaking the debt on that credit card, I’ve gotten a credit line increase which reduces my debt-to-credit ratio, provided I (obviously) don’t spend any of that extra money. So, my credit score dove down a little bit, but I expect it to bounce right up once the next reporting season comes around. I can’t wait to clear this debt. I’m so close that I can taste it!

I also found out that the economic stimulus package is in addition to refunds! So whenever that comes it, it’ll be a nice little chunk of change. Lots of changes are happening around this cul-de-sac. Can’t talk too much about them, but I’m excited about the future. I’m hitting publish. Another post will come later.

Tax time, people!

Well, I hate this time because it’s when I inevitably get to "give away" about $100 or $200 of my hard earned money to tax preparers! I know I can probably do it myself, but something always crops up to make me second-guess myself and pay cash for someone at H & R Block to do it. Maybe I need to take some tax classes and get some sort of certification to make this a side hobby that pays. 🙂 I mean, last year M & I plopped over $230 into H & R Block’s arms for doing both our taxes (we were obviously both single then, but we did those suckers at the same time. We also happened to be cheated of about $50 in thank-you money because both tax files were filed in less than 2hrs of each other *rolls eyes*) Anyway, this year, M & I qualified for the IRS Free File program (only federal) and I hopped on that bandwagon. Our federal returns are pretty decent without any "funny" business of deductions, etc. However, here’s when the greed monster pops up. We both think we could probably get back more money, but the free programs aren’t very forthcoming on how to do this. So, We (mostly M.lol) thinks we should see someone. I’m not so inclined because this money is so close that I can taste it and I don’t think we’ll get that much back anyway! It’s enough to clear up with SunTrust credit card bill and leave us with extra change! Actually, I was bargaining for less than half of what it appears to be so I’m pretty darn appreciative at this point. I will look into convincing M that what we have right now is as good as it may get. I mean, I’m sure the deductions he has in mind will result in some more money back, but that may be overshadowed by the cost of tax preparation!! On the "positive" side of paying H & R Block, tax preparation fees can be deducted apparently and so if we do go ahead with having a tax professional’s opinion, we can deduct it when doing next year’s taxes. *sigh* In the meantime, our fund for top secret project is growing nicely. 🙂 I can’t wait for it to "mature".