tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75184131756056752432024-03-21T23:31:08.494-05:00Coins On The PavementClinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-58059124743817111352007-02-23T10:48:00.000-05:002007-02-23T10:57:04.612-05:00Giving planThis week, I've been checking all my online finance stuff, since I will have intermittent access. While I was doing my bill pay and such, I set up my donation checks. This sounds silly, but I am super excited about finally being able to donate.I'll be supporting 4 "charities", which are Modest Needs, AVDA, American Cancer Society, and some friends of mine who are doing volunteer work in Kenya (Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-10421643446359646552007-02-21T15:14:00.000-05:002007-02-21T15:18:46.472-05:00Blog Hiatus/Intermittent PostingFYI - I am preparing to start my new job this Monday, so posting will be very light (i.e. nonexistent). Also, until I get my internet hooked up at home (I have been mooching at work), I won't be able to post. Please bookmark my site and check back often. I'm going to try to set up my RSS feed, but we'll see.Toodles, ClinkClinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-70017329351536415742007-02-16T11:36:00.000-05:002007-02-16T11:52:57.435-05:00To pay off the credit card, car payment, or neither...I have a dilemma and I'd like some feedback/suggestions as to what to do about it.Here's the situation:I have ~$7500 in debt to the credit mofos at 0% interest.I am about to have $7500 on a car loan at ~10% interest.Currently, I am saving my credit mofo money in a temporary EFund, but when the due date is up, I'll pay off the entire card. However, I question paying off the credit mofos when Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-77933819015756799772007-02-14T12:18:00.000-05:002007-02-14T12:53:07.762-05:00Debt vs SavingsThis is a somewhat continuation of a discussion going on in this post's comment section.There has been some serious debate around the pf blogosphere regarding the subject of savings versus paying down debt (I talked about it before). On one hand, people suggest paying down the debt if the interest is higher than what you can gain with investments/savings or if it makes you feel better; on the Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-71698035558618193192007-02-14T10:10:00.000-05:002007-02-14T10:13:49.884-05:0031 Days to Fix Your FinancesTrent over at the Simple Dollar ran a 31 day series in which he writes how to examine every aspect of your financial life. It wrapped up a few weeks ago, but I thought it was worthwhile to post. Plus, it's a reminder for me.Here's the wrap-up.ClinkClinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-22643521488689552562007-02-13T10:38:00.000-05:002007-02-13T11:10:43.631-05:00Revamping the budgetHere are some things I'm thinking about WRT the budget:(While these are in no particular order, the more pertinent stuff is on top.) 1. 10% giving - I may bump this down to 5% depending on what I want to do with the rest of the budget, but we'll see.2. Full 401k investment - I think my new/old company matches up to 5 or 6%, so I'll contribute that.3. Fully fund Roth IRA - I also want to move it Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-53782873445805309742007-02-13T08:53:00.000-05:002007-02-12T13:41:15.519-05:0087th Carnival of Personal FinanceIt's up over at 2million. He's (I'm assuming) got a great Carni'val parade theme going on. I entered my Get oodles of money, but work for a company you don't like post.Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-16320836419977357262007-02-10T12:45:00.000-05:002007-02-12T13:04:02.983-05:00Eatting my words...So, I thought long and hard about this issue. And I decided to say no. It was extremely hard (like, really, really hard), but I thought about what Miguel was saying about working towards my career and being on the right path, etc. etc. (I'm going somewhere with this, you'll see.) and I decided it wasn't right. I would just have to bust my ass to maximize my current job and its opportunities Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-54509983215601438362007-02-09T13:37:00.000-05:002007-02-09T14:24:02.657-05:00OMG, they offered me $52,000! Let me tell y'all, I am SO torn. Can I be bought for that much money (which to me is a lot)? There are some things about the job that I did not like, such as the start time (6AM) and the time off (only 6 holidays per year [if they fall on working days], 5 sick days, 1 week's vacay - which sounds normal, but not when you despised the job). These things I cannot Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-16545527705540077982007-02-08T09:02:00.000-05:002007-02-13T16:38:27.351-05:00Get oodles of money, but work for a company you don't like?Just the other day, my former boss called me and offered me a position. The bump (OK, huge leap) in pay would be very nice - to the tune of at least a $10k raise (to be on the conservative side). This would push my current salary of $27K up to over $40K. I would be able to fulfill my short term financial goals of paying off the credit mofos, building up a great E-fund, fully contributing to my Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-68729792391975114012007-02-06T11:28:00.000-05:002007-02-06T09:32:35.176-05:00Giving to charityI don't give to charity and it's been bugging me lately. For a long time, I've considered that I did not have the money to give. Y'all know how it is, the usual thoughts go like this: "How can I give away 10% when I have to pay my bills?" When I was in college, I would volunteer for things. But, now that I'm in the real world, I haven't donated my time nor my money.This has to change. There Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-23146020670782119242007-01-31T11:01:00.000-05:002007-01-31T14:17:30.985-05:00How to invest when you're broke.So you want to know how to invest when you're broke, huh?Say you're making $25,000 a year and know that (along with feeding yourself, paying for gas, rent, etc.) you need to start thinking about your future. It pays to do that, because even small amounts add up surprisingly fast if you invest on a regular basis.Couple points to the article:1. If you're making only a little bit of money (up to $Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-48974774760599847622007-01-29T13:27:00.000-05:002007-01-30T15:35:37.591-05:00Buy more, save more?Normally, this is the conventional advice when buying items in bulk or large quantities. The reason is that, usually, you save more per ounce/package. Case in point: It's generally cheaper to buy a 24 pack of toilet paper than a 4 pack of toilet paper.There is a problem with doing this, though. First, if you were only going to buy a small amount because that's all you needed, buying the bigger Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-52384419833910960992007-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:002007-01-25T09:55:15.052-05:00Work or go to school?I sent this in an e-mail to Single Ma the other day:I'm studying anthropology (to be read as a career with NO money - anecdote: my professor always tells us that if we want to make money in Anthropology, we should marry lawyers!). I eventually want to get into Public Health (to be read as a career with A LITTLE money) and work for the UN/W.H.O. or the CDC/NIH. But, I'm still figuring it out.It's Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-85612591955357124172007-01-23T10:30:00.000-05:002007-01-25T09:43:35.928-05:00Accumulating wealth? Not here.Apparently, I'm a bad millionaire in training.Saw this on Single Ma's blog recently:Make sure that your lifestyle does not expand to fit your income when times are good because we have no idea what’s just around the corner. (Link)I read this and it makes me sigh because my gf and I don't do this and it's terribly unfortunate. We finally get into a position to pay off some bills and something Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-88903630952371724052007-01-18T11:33:00.000-05:002007-01-18T11:55:56.978-05:00Are you *still* trying to keep up with the Joneses?Now, y'all should know better. But for reinforcement, look no further than this quote:People are still trying to keep up with the Joneses, but they don't know how much in debt the Joneses are. - From 6 ways to be a grown-up about debt. (The article details a couple that is drowning in debt and what people, in general, should do to change their thinking when it comes to money.)This is SO true. Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-5957866888259051002007-01-17T13:25:00.001-05:002007-01-19T14:24:50.750-05:00Premier General Finance, Inc.Premier General Finance, Inc. offers several business and personal financing options. From their website:Premier General Finance was created in 2004 to assist business owners, investors, and startup entrepreneurs in developing the most effective and productive solutions for obtaining lines of credit and funding.On the business side of things, they can assist a company to obtain working capital Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-60136554940329341952007-01-16T15:07:00.000-05:002007-01-16T15:46:13.188-05:00How to keep your sanity while working a second job.This article is about keeping your sanity when you work a second job. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a person chooses to work a second job. Be it because they can't make ends meet or they're trying to get ahead on bills or savings. I have seen people push this online, particularly in the PF blogosphere, as a means of getting extra money. Moonlighting at a second job is a great idea to bring Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-67599666664553944192007-01-12T11:59:00.000-05:002007-01-12T12:02:54.543-05:00Update on the dilemma - Credit or E-fundAs a follow up to this post, I have decided to just pay the minimums on the 0% accts and save what I would be paying into my current savings acct. I will put it into a sep savings acct (just for the cc money), but I haven't set it up just yet. I contemplated sending it over to ING, but that's only at 4.5% and it takes a few days to get it (both a pos and a neg). This way, I'll earn more interest Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-11676995371099612882007-01-12T11:45:00.000-05:002007-01-12T12:01:58.457-05:00It could be automatic...*Amanda, over at Young and Broke, just posted about making your savings automatic (as does just about everyone else in the pf blogosphere). I just set up an automatic transfer recently for $7 per week (I would have done it $1 per day and obsessively checked the balance everyday, but, alas, not an option), so that I'm at least saving the equivalent of $1 per day. I know that it's not much, but it'sClinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-14355899872468845112007-01-12T10:39:00.000-05:002007-01-12T10:47:52.945-05:00NetworthY'all see that fabulous networth widget on the right? I am SO embarrassed. Well, my goal is the get the line going up. Definitely for January's numbers it will, but it will take a nosedive when my student loan disbursement comes out (maybe Feb's update). It will get added to the loan balance and a large portion of the money is allocated already, so it won't be reflected as much in the assestsClinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-258502246797190562007-01-12T09:34:00.000-05:002007-01-12T09:51:07.054-05:00Could you survive (and thrive) on $12K a year?Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year. This MSN article details what a 48yo returnee college student is doing to survive and thrive on $12K per year. There are several things I find interesting about her story. First, I think it's great that she is taking responsibility for her choices - in other words, she chose to leave her marriage and she chose to go to college and she chose to, Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-36730667018910271842007-01-08T11:25:00.000-05:002007-01-10T16:09:03.722-05:00Couples finances - updateThis is a quick update to this post on how to handle couples finances.I broached the idea of having a talk about how to handle the joint finances with the gf and it went well! We will be moving back together in March. I suggested that we figure out what our personal financial goals (of all sorts) are so that we can come to an agreement as to what we want to do together. I am glad that it went Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-34996949665244234032007-01-04T12:23:00.000-05:002007-01-26T10:35:06.179-05:00Current Net WorthSingle Ma's recent Net Worth Post prompted me to calculate my net worth. I downloaded this format from Microsoft Office online, but I could have easily made up a spreadsheet in Excel.The cash and the credit card numbers are accurate as of 1/4/07, but the other balances are conservative guesstimates (basically, if I can check it online, it's good.). As I get a more accurate handle on balances, theClinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7518413175605675243.post-1785913510118901132007-01-03T09:40:00.000-05:002007-01-04T15:15:21.880-05:00Handling joint finances?I mentioned in my previous post how I have had some personal issues with my relationship recently. As a result of this, we separated all of our finances. Now that we are coming out of our troubles and merging as a couple again, I am not sure what to do about our finances. I have several questions - how do people who keep separate finances save/pay bills together? I understand having multiple Clinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12374369862473291815noreply@blogger.com2