Friday, November 28, 2008
Woohoo!
My student loan servicer added a new section to their website called Borrower Benefits. I recently remembered that I had an option when I consolidated. I could choose a lower interest rate after a number of on-time payments or I could have a principal reduction. I chose the reduced rate. I thought it kicked in after 2 years but I couldn't find anything in my file to suggest this was anything more than a figment of my imagination :) Ta-da! The new section has details. I'm about 8 months away from my reduced rate. I assume my payment stays the same so I just make faster progress. Way cool.. 3.75% :D
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
This was my latest read. It was a good one. The author has an entertaining writing style. Here's the two-minute summary. Buy assets, not liabilities. I know Quicken suggests your car and house are an asset but the author suggests that in this context, these things don't count. For this purpose, an asset is something that generates income. Since you dump money in a car and it only depreciates, it is definitely out. Your home will at least appreciate over the long term, but you still must dump money into it and it usually doesn't generate income, unless you rent parts of it out. Which brings me to my next point. He doesn't really give many examples. This takes away from his credibility in my mind. He suggested he didn't want to stifle creativity or narrow your visions when you look for opportunities. This makes sense but still..
So yeah, buy your house and your car but keep them small and reasonably priced, at least until you have enough assets to comfortably afford a Porsche and a mansion.
One example he did give was with real estate, which hits home at this point in time. He would buy houses at auctions for much reduced prices, fix them up, rent them out for a few years, and sell them at nearly double the purchase price. All the while the renters pay the mortgage. Not too many other examples. Some of the book sounds a little too much like get-rich-quick scheming. But he says more than once that you'll probably lose money and make mistakes. If you don't want the risk, you can buy mutual funds. But then you can only expect average results..
So yeah, buy your house and your car but keep them small and reasonably priced, at least until you have enough assets to comfortably afford a Porsche and a mansion.
One example he did give was with real estate, which hits home at this point in time. He would buy houses at auctions for much reduced prices, fix them up, rent them out for a few years, and sell them at nearly double the purchase price. All the while the renters pay the mortgage. Not too many other examples. Some of the book sounds a little too much like get-rich-quick scheming. But he says more than once that you'll probably lose money and make mistakes. If you don't want the risk, you can buy mutual funds. But then you can only expect average results..
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monthly Update
Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses - 98.8% (Down .8%)
Oops, bad month in the stock market world. Must..add..more..cash. I do have extra funds this month after paying myself first and paying bills so at least some of the extra can go here.
Pay off car loan - 14.9% (Up 1.5%)
Pay off student loan - 8.6% (Up .7%)
House down payment - 32.7% (Up 11.1%) Oh my gosh, getting excited.
It's getting hard though. I find myself thinking thinks like, "At this time next year, I'll have trick-or-treaters." Or, "At this time next year, I'll be raking my own leaves." You know? Blahhh. There are two open houses this weekend in my target locale and price range so I might check them out. I'm aiming to form healthy ideas about what sort of housing you get for the price. I tell myself it will be less painful to reform my goals now than say, in 5 months when I might be house-shopping. Ooh, and I found out you can amend your 2008 taxes to to get the first time homebuyer's interest-free loan if you buy the house before 7/1/09. I was thinking I'd have to wait months.
Yes, and for the first time since I started paying attention, my net worth has gone done. Yayyy, stock market. Hopefully we're almost at the bottom.. Any day now..
Oops, bad month in the stock market world. Must..add..more..cash. I do have extra funds this month after paying myself first and paying bills so at least some of the extra can go here.
Pay off car loan - 14.9% (Up 1.5%)
Pay off student loan - 8.6% (Up .7%)
House down payment - 32.7% (Up 11.1%) Oh my gosh, getting excited.
It's getting hard though. I find myself thinking thinks like, "At this time next year, I'll have trick-or-treaters." Or, "At this time next year, I'll be raking my own leaves." You know? Blahhh. There are two open houses this weekend in my target locale and price range so I might check them out. I'm aiming to form healthy ideas about what sort of housing you get for the price. I tell myself it will be less painful to reform my goals now than say, in 5 months when I might be house-shopping. Ooh, and I found out you can amend your 2008 taxes to to get the first time homebuyer's interest-free loan if you buy the house before 7/1/09. I was thinking I'd have to wait months.
Yes, and for the first time since I started paying attention, my net worth has gone done. Yayyy, stock market. Hopefully we're almost at the bottom.. Any day now..
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Randomness
87 words
That was fun. It's been awhile since I tried one of those. I spent entirely too much of my teen life chatting at the computer screen. At one point I was even contracted to moderate and host in some youth chat rooms at a chat server. But alas, all good things must end and shortly thereafter I started my stint in retail hell. These days I'm back to spending a whole ton of time at the computer but it's not a whole lot of intense typing. I spend of a lot of time waiting for programs to run or thinking..haha.
That was fun. It's been awhile since I tried one of those. I spent entirely too much of my teen life chatting at the computer screen. At one point I was even contracted to moderate and host in some youth chat rooms at a chat server. But alas, all good things must end and shortly thereafter I started my stint in retail hell. These days I'm back to spending a whole ton of time at the computer but it's not a whole lot of intense typing. I spend of a lot of time waiting for programs to run or thinking..haha.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
My Emergency Fund
I did some rearranging of my emergency fund. It had been in savings, checking, and a money market fund with the exception of 2% which was in an index fund. For the past few weeks I've been thinking it would be really unfortunate to miss the opportunities we have in these times. I mean, I have been continuing to contribute to my 401k but that's it.
So I decided to put another 10% of my e-fund into the index fund. Then I caught my father's excitement and put in an order for AIG. The 10% promptly fell to 9% and the AIG would only be around 2% of my e-fund so totaled up, I have 12.5-13% of my e-fund in pretty unstable places. This doesn't really bother me, though. I figured eventually I would move in that direction anyway. I mean, if I amass 25k or 50k in stocks and mutual funds, who needs a whole pile sitting in stable funds? I would still want a few months worth of expenses in "cash" but 6 might be overkill.
Besides, I currently have what would be an additional 10% of my emergency fund in a stock and a mutual fund but I'm not counting that as e-fund. I dunno, I can see myself having trouble drawing the line.. 'cause at the end of the day, if I had a true emergency, I wouldn't stop at my cash funds, you know?
In any event, now is a good time to make this move. If what amounts to 20% of my emergency fund suddenly drops like a rock and turns into 5% of my emergency fund, I can easily steal from my house down payment fund in an emergency. I think I will re-evaluate things at the point when I want to empty my house DP fund, but I don't think I will change my mind. Also, I added a bit more "cash" to the e-fund to make up for a bit of the drop that already happened. It'll be interesting to see where things sit at the end of the month.
Overall my net worth dropped so far this month despite me spending less than what I bring home, therefore saving money and paying off little bits of my debts. Don't you hate it when that happens? So yeah, I'm one of those obsessive money watchers. I don't think it's a problem, though. I have no desire to pull my money out of the stock market or the bank and put it under the mattress. Especially where I currently live :)
So I decided to put another 10% of my e-fund into the index fund. Then I caught my father's excitement and put in an order for AIG. The 10% promptly fell to 9% and the AIG would only be around 2% of my e-fund so totaled up, I have 12.5-13% of my e-fund in pretty unstable places. This doesn't really bother me, though. I figured eventually I would move in that direction anyway. I mean, if I amass 25k or 50k in stocks and mutual funds, who needs a whole pile sitting in stable funds? I would still want a few months worth of expenses in "cash" but 6 might be overkill.
Besides, I currently have what would be an additional 10% of my emergency fund in a stock and a mutual fund but I'm not counting that as e-fund. I dunno, I can see myself having trouble drawing the line.. 'cause at the end of the day, if I had a true emergency, I wouldn't stop at my cash funds, you know?
In any event, now is a good time to make this move. If what amounts to 20% of my emergency fund suddenly drops like a rock and turns into 5% of my emergency fund, I can easily steal from my house down payment fund in an emergency. I think I will re-evaluate things at the point when I want to empty my house DP fund, but I don't think I will change my mind. Also, I added a bit more "cash" to the e-fund to make up for a bit of the drop that already happened. It'll be interesting to see where things sit at the end of the month.
Overall my net worth dropped so far this month despite me spending less than what I bring home, therefore saving money and paying off little bits of my debts. Don't you hate it when that happens? So yeah, I'm one of those obsessive money watchers. I don't think it's a problem, though. I have no desire to pull my money out of the stock market or the bank and put it under the mattress. Especially where I currently live :)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Scores
So I have all three at once, although one is outdated..
TU - 757 (10/10/08) dropped.. hm.. I think the new account hurt me since avg age is down almost 2 years.
Exp - 788 (9/12/08)
Eq - 752 (10/10/08) this did not drop with the new account/inquiry.. yay!
My short time in the 760+ midscore club was well enjoyed :)
TU - 757 (10/10/08) dropped.. hm.. I think the new account hurt me since avg age is down almost 2 years.
Exp - 788 (9/12/08)
Eq - 752 (10/10/08) this did not drop with the new account/inquiry.. yay!
My short time in the 760+ midscore club was well enjoyed :)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Monthly Update
Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses - 99.6% (Up .3%)
Clearly I haven't taken care of that last little bit. Maybe this month..
Pay off car loan - 13.4% (Up 2.5%)
Pay off student loan - 7.9% (Up .2%)
House down payment - 21.6% (Up 7.1%)
Yay, check out the DP progress. I didn't even hit my goal for the month. Hope to catch up this month. But darn, I really should fill out the e-fund. B-oring.. :)
Credit scores are still 752 and 788. Not sure on the last one.
Clearly I haven't taken care of that last little bit. Maybe this month..
Pay off car loan - 13.4% (Up 2.5%)
Pay off student loan - 7.9% (Up .2%)
House down payment - 21.6% (Up 7.1%)
Yay, check out the DP progress. I didn't even hit my goal for the month. Hope to catch up this month. But darn, I really should fill out the e-fund. B-oring.. :)
Credit scores are still 752 and 788. Not sure on the last one.
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