Category Archive

I think I had goals in June. I wrote them down and then promptly forgot about them. I didn’t think about them once all month! As you will see below, that is not a recipe for success.

Wow, that is a lot of red! Here are some other accomplishments that staying within close to the budget entailed: (See, I don’t completely suck!)

• Saved $308 to Roth IRA, and over $400 to 401k (plus match), even though my retirement balance went down (boo, markets!)
• Added $572 to emergency savings. (Some of this was cash leftover from May’s abundance, but it wasn’t flowed into the Efund until this month.)
  
• Increased gift fund to $185 (increase of $60)
• Paid for hotel for Vegas trip, but kept travel fund at a healthy $268
  
• Increased car fund by $40 (and paid just $20 for a repair) to $350 (Slightly pathetic, but progress still)
  
• Saved $105 for insurance
• Procured some boogie boards and spent a day on public transit (more to come on that… maybe…)
  

For July, I will…..

For the big picture, my net worth increased from $18,815 to $23,881. I’m pretty sure that’s the biggest step yet–over $5k! The biggest jump was, as usual, in my retirement accounts. Not only did I have my regular retirement savings, but I added about $200 extra to my 401k through increased contributions (since it was a 3 paycheck month), added $300 extra to my Roth IRA (from stimulus), and received about $1100 in a pension cash out from my last job, which went into my rollover IRA. The rest of the details are available at networthIQ (see sidebar).

My goals weren’t as nice. I met two of the four.

1. Save $1400 in E-fund: Since I used sent $300 unplanned to the Roth, I expect the best I could do was $1100. I increased it by $1125. I’m going to say success for this!
2. Stay within $145 grocery budget and be a winner in Krystal’s challenge: I went over, but just by a dollar. So, fail, but not a big one.
3. Pending knee pain, resume running at minimum 2x a week: Oh. My. Gosh. 100% fail on this, and I can tell because my mood/anxiety have been less controlled.
4. Add $250 to T-Fund (travel), $150 to car fund, and $100 to gift fund: T-fund increased by $285, car by $155, and gifts… actually the fund itself didn’t increase because I bought both a mother’s day and a wedding present this month, but I allocated $120 for gifts this month. That was the spirit of the goal, so I’m going to say success for this one.

June Goals:
1. Resume running habit. Seriously. Two times a week isn’t much, so I’ll start with that again.
2. No new clothes this month. I got a swimsuit, yoga pants, and a pair of shorts in May, so I’m still at -$45 for my clothes budget, despite allocating an extra (gulp) $70 from my stimulus check for clothes. I started out May at almost -$100, so I did make some improvement. I need to get it in the black before I spend any more on clothing
3. Stay within June Budget. Seriously this time! I adjusted some categories, and I should be able to do it.
4. Read a book. Preferably one that I already own.

Pretty boring, but my budget really encompasses my savings/spending goals.

April is over and behind me (well, almost) and I have a clean slate for May. Here are my May goals:

1. Save $1400 in E-fund.
2. Stay within $145 grocery budget and be a winner in Krystal’s challenge. How do people live on such small budgets?? (Also, stay within budget in general)
3. Pending knee pain, resume running at minimum 2x a week
4. Add $250 to T-Fund (travel), $150 to car fund, and $100 to gift fund

As these goals indicate, my top priorities right now are my emergency fund and retirement savings. Well, retirement savings isn’t indicated, but I’m increasing my 401k contributions to 15% temporarily (May only), since it is a 3 paycheck month and I can afford the difference. That is what I really wish I could afford every month, but I just can’t do it yet.

The emergency fund, in my mind, isn’t just for emergencies. Some of it may someday go to a house down payment, to a newer car, or even for some really amazing traveling someday. Or maybe wedding expenses, depending on what my parents are able to contribute. I really don’t know. It is just money that I don’t want to touch for quite some time, and I don’t have a plan to spend it. I want to keep a hefty cash reserve right now. Maybe it won’t be touched unless of a true emergency, but maybe it will. We’ll see.

I also have been itching to travel lately. It makes much more sense to do some traveling around this part of the US than to go abroad for now. At my current savings rate, my travel fund really is only going to cover “regular” trips throughout the year. Some friends have been talking about meeting in Vegas. I may go home this summer for a visit. My friend wants me to visit her in Montreal. Then there will be Christmas… This fund will allow me to go on little trips without disrupting my cash flow too heavily, but really doesn’t do much for my dream of being a vagabond.

The car fund is one of my lower priorities, but at least it is there. It probably has enough to fund minor repairs, and I’d like to have it be around $1k for any major repairs. I’m going to keep on growing it indefinitely, with the idea that I’ll get a newer car eventually. Eventually could be as soon as next year, but as late as… never? There may be some sense to trying to last my car another 3 years (while T finishes grad school), then sell it for whatever we can get before running away to live in Europe for awhile.

I’m not all savings and no fun. My clothes budget is no longer in the red (yay!), and I allocated a little extra money to spend on “Personal” and “Misc” items for May. That should lighten my budget burden a little bit. I’m happy.

Did I reach my goals this month? In short, no. I really don’t want to revisit them, but I did NOT stick to my budget, did NOT cook dinner for my parents, did NOT run 3x week (but had knee issues). I did get T champagne for passing he PhD qualifying exams, and I did not do any spring shopping. However, overall, no, I didn’t meet them, but I’ll try again next month.

My net worth wasn’t as dismal as I expected, given my failure on my budget and goals in April. I increased it $2,691! It is worth noting that the bulk of that was in retirement funds. My employer and I together added  about $1100 this month, and the balance on my account increased by about $2200 due to earnings. My cash (minus credit card) only increased by about $400, which seems about right. For the nosey, more details can be found by clicking to networthiq on the left.

As mentioned before, next month is going to be quite exciting for my financial life. Not only do most of us get a stimulus check, some of us get 3 paychecks! I also haven’t added in my $1000 of random pension cash-out money from my previous job that I didn’t know I was getting. Should that count towards my retirement savings sidebar?

To keep things a little confusing, I did update my sidebars in anticipation of tomorrows paycheck, but I didn’t include my new paycheck in my NetWorthIQ.

Wow, I am going to be late for work if I don’t leave NOW. I’ll come up with my May goals later.

It’s time to check in with my March goals! My first goal was to follow my budget. I didn’t do too awful, but not as well as I had hoped.

• Grocery: Over by $21
• Gas: Under by $7
• Restaurant: Right on

My other categories are flexible month by month. I spent more on clothes and travel than I allocate per a month, but I hope to make it up over the next couple months. I over spent on “home” (that cast iron skillet ate up my whole budget), but did manage to save on “personal”, so I should be able to get a trim this month. Very much needed!

For groceries, I have to stop myself from making an extra trip to try out a new recipe I found. That was my downfall. Restaurant spending was right on, but I am going to try to come in under budget next month.

April’s budget is up, which includes an e-fund increase to $400 and no other major changes. I did cut contributions to my car fund for this month.

My second goal was to fill out my goals for my work development plan. While the official plan was sparse, I do have a good idea what is needed of me for a promotion.

My last goal (not really financial) was to run 3 times a week. I did great at this, except for the week I went on vacation then had T staying at my place for almost the whole week. I ran just one time last week! I’m back on track for this week.

For April, my goals are pretty similar:

• Stick to my budget (this is by far the hardest one)
• Run at least 3 times a week
• RESIST spring shopping! No clothes until June!
• Cook a nice Atkins friendly meal for my parents (they are in town for about 10 weeks and my dad is an Atkins believer) within my grocery budget
• Surprise T with something special after he passes his qualifying exams (within budget)

Last, my net worth increased from $14,904 to $16,124 in March. You can click my networthIQ chart on the left for details.

Whew! This post is very much a mish mash of updates, but I like to get all my monthly bookkeeping out of the way at once.

I get so impatient with my goals. I decided having an emergency fund of $15,000 was important to me, but it isn’t an exciting goal. Once I reach $15000, what do I get to do? Feel secure that I have a nice sum of money in the bank? While that gives me peace of mind, it isn’t exactly thrilling. It’ll probably take me more than the rest of 2008 to accomplish this goal!

From here on out, it’ll be as boring as auto-depositing an allocated amount into my account each month, then updating the sidebar by similar quantities each month. No more tax refunds, no more reimbursements for moving, no more signing bonuses. I know that making it simple and automatic is good, but I’m convinced I would thrive on more complicated and involved process! Slow and steady is BORING!

I just feel like there isn’t a lot for me to do towards these goals, other than just try to do well at my job in hopes of a promotion this fall. I have about 7 months to earn a promotion, and I still am having a lot of self-doubt about how well I will be able to do this job. I know in my last job my manager was much more impressed with me after 18 months in than he was at 6 months. It is hard to come up to speed and become a valued team member in just 6 months, at least in this particular job. I might be able to do it, but I might not. I’ll certainly try. If I don’t get a promotion in late fall, then the yearly salary reviews are in February.

Wasn’t this personal finance stuff more fun when I could at least count on my retirement portfolio to actually increase in value?

The tortoise and the hare fable talks about how slow and steady wins the race. But if the stinkin’ hare would have just been steady, he would have won. Fast and steady will win over slow and steady any day!

I updated my NetworthIQ page in mid-February, but I updated it again today (slightly downward) to reflect my “end of month” state for consistency. I also quit including “short term savings” in my calculations. That money is earmarked to be spent, and now paying for things like car insurance won’t have much effect. I can see reasons to include it, but the whole point of net worth calculations is to track progress, so it really doesn’t matter a whole lot.

So, let me just say this. I wrapped up 2007 with 13k net worth. After dipping lower in January, I’ve rebounded to almost 15k! The reasons have to do with my new job–I received $2000 in relocation money and $3000 in a signing bonus. Taking that into consideration, the increase isn’t all that impressive. I also probably spent about $600 on random moving in stuff (dresser, file cabinet, cleaning supplies, food, power drill, new art…) Anyway, progress from here on out should be more linear.

March goals

• Follow my budget. If I do that, I’m simultaneously meeting every spending/savings goal I have for myself. I do reserve the right to adjust my 401k withholding by 1% this month and adjust the budget accordingly.
• Get my work development plan in really good shape before my meeting with my manager and find out (specifically) what I need to do to be promoted next year.
• Continue to run 3 times a week (or more)

I’m excited for March, because this is the first month of really using a formal budget! I hope that I can be successful at it!

I’m not certain that my budget is sustainable long term. Ultimately, I would like to spend more on travel and have more room in the “Misc” category. However, my favorite travel partner is a grad student and probably can’t afford big vacations anyway. There has been some rumblings of some friends meeting in Vegas, but I think I can fit that into my current budget. I’d also like to visit a friend in Portland at some point, but the main cost there would be the plane tickets (not too much). I also would like to seriously start saving for a newer car next year, and $100-$150/mo isn’t going to cut it there. I guess my idea is, if I end up having to increase my budget, I will, but if I can stick to this one for awhile, I’ll really get a boost to my savings.

It is that time of the month again…. Time for a net worth update!

As expected, my net worth took a hit this month. I switched jobs and was only paid for less than 2 weeks in the new year. Plus I front loaded my pre-tax Health Savings Account at my old job, so my paycheck was extra small. Not to mention the dip in my investments and extra spending associated with moving. Oh, and I paid rent in two places this month—$575 in Iowa and an astounding $1425 in Los Angeles. (And my new place is quite a bit smaller.) Luckily, I really am only obligated to pay for half of January, so come February 1st, I have to pay “only” $762.50. There was also a $500 security deposit for my new place (I’m due $100 from my old place), and a modem that will be eventually covered by rebates for $100.

With all that said, here are the results:

January Net Worth: $11,235, down $1,824, or -13.97% from $13,059.

The detailed numbers can be seen on my NetworthIQ page (sidebar). I did move $1000 to Roth IRA, which hurt my cash savings. The rest of the loss was expenses described above. It is worth noting that I should make up all of that next month (and more), provided my relocation money and signing bonus are processed.

I took a break from monthly goals for December and January, due to all the transitions. I’m going to do the same for February, at least until I get my first paycheck and I know exactly what I’m working with.

My boyfriend randomly started up a personal finance conversation with me last night. He isn’t that well informed (though he’s good with money), so it was fun for me to share what I’ve learned from this personal finance blogosphere. Not that I mentioned my blog–it’s private for now, though I wouldn’t be horrified to share it with him.

One thing he came up with was a goal that we should try to have 150k saved up for a house in the next 3.5 years. Not that I do “SMART” goals (specific, measurable… acheiveable… see, I don’t even know the acroynm), but I don’t to dumb goals either. In fact, I invented a new acronym: Daft, Unattainable, Meaningless and Bogus! I asked if there was any math involved in coming up with that number, and he said no. He just took the date when he’d be done with grad school, pulled another number out of a hat, and said it would be a good goal for our house downpayment.

I did some quick math. Assuming I had to come up with 1/2 of that, I would have to save about $1800 a month. I could maybe do it, if I stopped saving for retirement! Besides, I’m not really all that keen on property ownership at this point in my life. I don’t even know where I want to settle! I told him that we could discuss a goal like this if/when we are engaged, but for now, I’m sticking to my own goals. I’m willing to compromise, but not just on some whim of his!

Speaking of retirement, I would like to leave you with this depressing snapshot of my 401k. I’m sure glad I don’t need this money for years!

I have an asset allocation I’m comfortable with. I have goals I like, and prioritized appropriately. My current goals are keeping an e-fund in savings, funding retirement accounts, and general savings for a future car/home. Also, paying student loans, though this is a low priority.

Then I get an idea in my head and want to run with it. I start to wonder if I’m being too conservative. I suddenly think that I need to open up a taxable account for investments . Despite the fact that none of my goals are long enough away (besides retirement) that a taxable account really makes more sense than a simple high yield savings account. I start to think 4-5% isn’t enough, and that I need to grow my wealth faster.

Logically, I don’t really believe I’m ready for a taxable account. I have too many other goals to randomly throw another one in the mix for no good reason. What is the money for? Why not put it in retirement? Or savings? Besides the fact that before I open a taxable investment account, I have some research to do on how to be tax efficient.

I think it is the comments of my friend ringing in my ears, even if these comments aren’t necessarily qualified. We just have different philosophies.
“He’d probably do something stupid with the money, like leave it in savings instead of investing it.”
“I am young. I want to invest as much as I can now.”

I have a good plan and good goals. I just have to stay the course

I have an asset allocation I’m comfortable with. I have goals I like, and prioritized appropriately. My current goals are keeping an e-fund in savings, funding retirement accounts, and general savings for a future car/home. Also, paying student loans, though this is a low priority.

Then I get an idea in my head and want to run with it. I start to wonder if I’m being too conservative. I suddenly think that I need to open up a taxable account for investments . Despite the fact that none of my goals are long enough away (besides retirement) that a taxable account really makes more sense than a simple high yield savings account. I start to think 4-5% isn’t enough, and that I need to grow my wealth faster.

Logically, I don’t really believe I’m ready for a taxable account. I have too many other goals to randomly throw another one in the mix for no good reason. What is the money for? Why not put it in retirement? Or savings? Besides the fact that before I open a taxable investment account, I have some research to do on how to be tax efficient.

I think it is the comments of my friend ringing in my ears, even if these comments aren’t necessarily qualified. We just have different philosophies.
“He’d probably do something stupid with the money, like leave it in savings instead of investing it.”
“I am young. I want to invest as much as I can now.”

I have a good plan and good goals. I just have to stay the course

I was hoping to wait until 2008 to talk about my goals and plans for 2008. However, I’m a planner to the extreme and I can’t help myself from starting now.

There are a lot of unknowns in the first part of next year. I’m moving to a new city with expensive rent. While I have one job offer, I’m waiting on the one that I want more (tomorrow? Very soon!) so I’m not sure what my salary will be. Still, no matter what, there are some goals I can set right away, and adjust as needed.

First, I want to max out my Roth IRA again. That is about $415 a month of post tax money to be directed into savings immediately. In my first year and a half of working, I’ve already saved about $20k in retirement accounts. As my salary increases, I’ll be able to contribute more each year. I think I’m on track to have a comfortable retirement. I have a vague idea of retiring early, but still am not ready to make a plan for that goal.

In that same vein, I want to contribute at least 10% to my 401k. This is pretty painless and will get me a full match of (probably) 6% total from my company. Based on my first job offer, that will mean I’ll save about $15000 in 2008 for retirement. If I feel that I can afford it, this will be increased, with a stretch goal of 15% towards 401k.

I also want to pay a little extra to my student loan account. My goal is only going to be $1000 extra this year. I’m required to pay about $1500. In 2007 my goal was $4000 total. This is really cheap money so paying it off is more for the mental benefits. That means my month payment will increase to $215, though I’ll likely pay it in chunks rather than automatically every month. If any of my goals are faltering, this will be the first to go, as it is the least cost effective.

Next, I want to continue (but decrease) to auto-contributions to my emergency fund, and really turn it into an emergency fund. I have a general purpose high yield savings account which is my efund, but I don’t treat it as an efund. It’s just a savings account with a continually increasing balance. I think contributing $50/week to this account will be sufficient. I pretty much grew it to 10k from scratch this year, so it is a big decrease. I’m excited to have a base fund so I can focus on other goals.

Now… the “boring” goals are out of the way!

For my fun goals, I want to add $25/week to my “travel” fund. If I have extra money, I’ll increase this amount, but it is a start. I have a travel fund earmarked, but it has had really stagnant growth. I also want to start saving up for a newer car. My car has about 75k miles on it and will last another couple years… but I need to start building up some money to purchase my next one. I want to pay for my next car in cash, and I will be spending at least 10k, maybe more. If my budget works out, I’d like to save $100/week for this, giving me just over 5k by the end of the year.

So that is it! These goals will be tweaked once I’m settled into my new apartment, new city, and new job.

In unrelated news, they are announcing who replaces my current manager at work today. I hope they promote from within the group and that Bryan is it. I think that he would have the job if he wanted it, but I’m not sure he is interested in management.

I am not excited about this post, and considered not writing it. However, I need to be accountable to myself, so here are my results for November

• Resume tracking of spending! I didn’t do this, and filled in the second half of November today. There is a $44 charge at Target that I can’t remember what I bought. I think it was a mix of clothes and groceries. This is why I need to track as I spend!
• Limit groceries to $30/week or less and restaurants to $75 total I just barely met the restaurant goal, and only spent 100 on groceries. Of course, I spent a several days with my family for thanksgiving (food provided) so that made it easier.
• Study for and do well on midterm for my grad class. I did pretty well. I could have done better, but I scored well enough to be satisfied.

December is a hard month to set goals for. I know I’m taking a vacation at the very end of the month, which will involve extra going out/eating out costs. I have to do a lot of shopping, so the “gifts” category of my budget will be large this month. Then in January I’m moving cross country, and I have no idea how things will shake out there. In light of this information, I don’t think I’m going to do month goals until February. There are too many unknowns to think about, and I don’t think my goals could be very accurate. I just will track my spending and be sensible in spending. And also, to find a place to live in my new city. Still, that really isn’t a goal, but an absolute necessity!

I’m not a strict budgeter. I set monthly goals in excel based on fairly narrow categories, and I track my spending for each category. If I buy a magazine at the grocery store, I sometimes it slip into the grocery budget, even if it should be in entertainment. If I go over my budget, I don’t really worry about it. If I save $100 less one month, it’s not a big deal. As long as my net worth continually grows and I’m conscious of my spending, I’m not strict at all. I’m great at making a budget, but after that, I ignore it!

This week I decided I wanted new running shoes. Usually, I’d just buy them and worry about it later. This time I actually went into excel, and tried to see where the money was going to come from. If it was going to detract from my savings, fine, but I just wanted to know. I was able to take a little bit out of my utilities (low energy bill in the fall), a little out of “personal”, and was able to come up with an extra $75 for running shoes. There is a chance the shoes will be a little more, but the vast majority won’t affect my savings.

While I was there, I set up a rough December budget. Due to the year end bonus, I should be able to put $1000 towards my student loan, $2000 in my e-fund, and leave plenty of wiggle room in my new years vacation budget. I love bonus month!

My year and bonus is based on many factors about how the company performs. The base rate for non-senior professionals is 5.5%, and we can earn from 0 to 200% of that. This year the company did well and we earned 170%. That means I will get a check for over 9% of my salary! This is the first year that I was employed for the full fiscal year, so my first year getting such a generous check. My manager, I think, has a base rate of at least 10%, so he’ll be getting a huge bonus.

I was counting on this bonus, and I will need it if I have any hope of meeting my year end savings goals. I’m kicking butt on my investing goals, but my savings isn’t growing the way I wish it was. I still need:

• 2k payback for student loans
• 2.1k stashed in HYSA

I can definitely make it, but it is a bit dependent on my relocation situation. I have no idea what the costs will be, but I probably will have to pay rent in two places for January, and come up with a significant deposit. My current apartment had a $100 deposit, so even if I do get it all back… that really just isn’t going to do much. I’ll take that in consideration when I figure if I met my goals or not.

I have 3 paychecks plus this bonus to do it in. I also have to buy Christmas presents, gas for a road trip home, and come up with around $500 in spending money for my New Years vacation. Yikes! It’s going to be close!

• Resume tracking of spending!
• Limit groceries to $30/week or less and restaurants to $75 total
• Study for and do well on midterm for my grad class

Pathetic as it is, that is all I am going to do for goals. I have to buy Christmas presents starting this month, so I don’t think I’ll be able to save as much as I would love to.

In better news, my company announced it’s profits for last quarter, and it looks like my year end incentive bonus might be about $3000 after taxes, and should arrive in very early December. That could be the final kick I’ll need to meet my goal for 10k in my high yeild savings and 4k in student loan repayment!

How did I do in October on meeting my financial goals?

• Continue 401k and Roth contributions: Yes, but I’m considering reducing 401k back to 12% to flow extra into my savings. Most of my net worth increase is getting tied up in retirement accounts, and I need a little more in savings.
• Limit groceries to $30/wk and restaurants to $75: Well, I didn’t track my spending this month…. Ooops… But I would venture a guess that this is true
• Contribute $400 to student loan payback account: I only contributed 300.
• Contribute $1000 to HYSA: I don’t think this happened either….
• Finish writing post about student loans I volunteered to do for for Get Rich Slowly: Done

I really did quite poorly this month…. I need to set more realistic goals. I keep setting the bar too high, and then failing! I think that is better than setting the bar too low and always meeting them, but there has to be a happy medium!

To make myself feel better, here are some things that I did do in October:

• Found a new job in California and negotiated salary
• Had a performance review in my current job and was rated a 3-3 (it’s a scale of 1 to 3 on two scales so 3-3 is the best)
• Booked my ticket for the holidays, convinced my friends to meet in a city where we can have free lodging
• Did decent on my graduate class midterm
• Bought much needed new black work shoes (I’m stretching here!)

Obviously, my first goal for next month is to resume tracking of my spending. I’ll have to think about the other ones.

I haven’t written a post at all this month. I thought I would have more time for this, but I haven’t been making it a priority. I just finished writing an extensive entry on student loans for JD at Get Rich Slowly. It was very rewarding, and reminded me of why I started this blog in the first place.

I still am not sure if I will meet my year end money goals. If I don’t, I’m not incredibly worried, because I still made a TON of progress this year. Since I graduated in May 2006, I’ve mostly been setting up the foundation of a good financial future. I am still in the beginning stages, and I’ve started to think about what might come next. Long term goals have eluded me, but once the foundation is built, I want to have a plan for what do to next.

First, I would like to max out my 401k. This year my personal contributions will be roughly $8,000, far short of the allowed $15,500. Next year, I should be relocated to a higher cost of living area. Ironically, I believe that will allow me to save more of my income, because I plan to leave the percentages the same. This also will mean my employer match will be higher. Still, it may take a couple years before maxing out my 401k and my Roth concurrently is possible.

Second, I’d like to start saving for a house downpayment. This is very much a long term goal. I don’t expect to be purchasing for five years, maybe more. Someday though, I would like a house, and I would like to be prepared for it.

Last, I’d like to start out a non-retirement investment account. This won’t be for “play” money, but for building wealth that I can access before I reach retirement age.

I can’t make much progress on these goals while still building an efund, paying student loans, and saving up for a car, but it is nice to look and see what is on the horizon.

Sasha

This months goals are pretty basic, nothing fancy, but will still require some good hard savings.

1. Continue 401k and Roth contributions

2. Limit groceries to $30/wk and restaurants to $75

3. Contribute $400 to student loan payback account

4. Contribute $1000 to HYSA

5. Finish writing post about student loans I volunteered to do for for Get Rich Slowly.

September Goal Results

• Continue 13% 401k and 100 to Roth IRA

I actually upped it to 15%. Why? Because it is money I can’t touch, and I really want it to grow.

• Replenish travel fund with $100 (and likely, drain it again to buy a ticket to LA for october)

I did contribute 50 to it, then bought my plane ticket.

• Contribute 450 to student loan payback account

I was able to contribute 500.

• Contribute 875 to HYSA (275 more than autodeposits… slighlty cheating since i expect some of that to come out of todays paycheck)

Well. I am certain this didn’t happen. There has been a change in the way I use my HYSA, but the balance has only increased by about $200. Ouch. It was a big spending month, unfortunately.

• Spend less than 100 on restaurants and less than 30/week on grocery.

YAY, this one I managed. Restaurant was about 90, and grocery was right on track. I’m going to move restaurants down even more next month.

• Finish and send in grad school application, stay up to date in class

Grad school application has been submitted, I’m a little behind in class, but will but up to date by Monday.

I really wasn’t that sucessful this month. I had some unplanned spending (new camera, car repairs) and some expensive planned spending (plane ticket) and bought some clothes at Gap Outlet. On the plus side, I sold about $100 worth of book (mainly, a $70 textbook) on Amazon, so that balanced things a teeny bit. But still, let’s hope for a much better October!

1. Finish reallocating my 401k (as much as possible without incurring short term trading fees)
-I have it planned and have gotten rid of everything undesireable, but am reallocating my target date retirement fund more slowly (since I’m comfortable with that investment)

2. Contribute 700 to my HYSA fund This is sort of an e-fund, but more just a general savings fun (100 more than auto deposits)
-Check.

3. Keep 401k contributions at 13% and contribute the pre-planned 100 to Roth (basically a “stay on track” goal
-Check

4. Contribute $550 to the student loan payback fund.
-Check!

5. Keep restaurant spending below 100 (seems easy, but it’s my weakness!)
-Failed on this. Try again next month! Should be much easier as the boy will be leaving town.

6. Study for GRE more, take it, and rock it! =) Not financial, but personal development at least.
-Check! 780 Q/630 V, writing, no clue. The only thing that matters for me is the quantitative part

7. Apply for 3 or more jobs and continue to update resume.
-Check. No response to the jobs, but I’m not in hard core job search mode just yet.

8. Work over time 2 weeks (at least 6 hours)
-Hmm, not so much. This was partially due to program changes and a reorg that has made work a little slower. It would be silly to stay extra when I don’t have 6 hours of extra work.

So, it seems I did ok overall, but still could improve. I think if I miss goals, that either means I’m being ambitious or I’m not striving hard enough to meet them. This month may have been a bit of both.

Moving on to. . .

September Goals
1. Continue 13% 401k and 100 to Roth IRA
2. Replenish travel fund with $100 (and likely, drain it again to buy a ticket to LA for october)
3. Contribute 450 to student loan payback account
4. Contribute 875 to HYSA (275 more than autodeposits… slighlty cheating since i expect some of that to come out of todays paycheck)
5. Spend less than 100 on restaurants and less than 30/week on grocery.
6. Finish and send in grad school application, stay up to date in class

Goals 3 and 4 are a quite ambitions, especially when taken together, but I did some calculations of what I will need to do to acheive my year end goals, and I need to do some drastic savings, so those goals encompass an overal goal of being frugal this month. Really, I almost expect to fail on those, but I would LOVE to meet them, so I won’t adjust down.

I made some pseudo-goals for July, but I see now they weren’t defined well. I’m not going to report progress on them, except to note I did not reduce eating out as planned. Ah well. It’ll be very low all fall, as my love will no longer be in town with me.

1. Finish reallocating my 401k (as much as possible without incurring short term trading fees)

2. Contribute 700 to my HYSA fund. This is sort of an e-fund, but more just a general savings fun (100 more than auto deposits)

3. Keep 401k contributions at 13% and contribute the pre-planned 100 to Roth (basically a “stay on track” goal

4. Contribute $550 to the student loan payback fund.

5. Keep restaurant spending below 100 (seems easy, but it’s my weakness!)

6. Study for GRE more, take it, and rock it! =) Not financial, but personal development at least.

7. Apply for 3 or more jobs and continue to update resume.

8. Work over time 2 weeks (at least 6 hours)

Wow, a lot of goals! I think they are all achievable, but still challenging enough to not be trite!

Comparing this month to last month:
Rent: +40 (new lease, rent was raised)
Utilities: -70 (Due to cable bill!)
Grocery: -70 (not sure why, perhaps because the boyfriend bought half since he was eating most meals at my place)
Charity: +20
Eating out: -3 (very close…)
Gas: -80 (strictly due to NOT taking a 1000 mile road trip as I did in previous month)
Personal: +130 (got hair done this month)
Auto Care: -120 (no need for repair this month, only oil change)
Gifts: +50 Both mothers and fathers day presents were bought this month
Travel: +800 =) Went on a vacation this month!!!

Next months targets:

• Reduce Eating out to about $65–this should allow at least one nice meal with the boyfriend paid for by me, plus a lunch or two out with coworkers if invited
• Gas: Probably will increase, as I’m planning at least one long trip, but prices are lowering slightly
• Personal: Should be only around $20-$30, unless I enroll in Yoga lessons, which would increase this
• Auto care: Barring emergencies, shouldn’t have any expenses here
• Gifts: I’m thinking this will be about $50-$100…. 3 year anniversary is this month!

I’m also due to receive about $2000 next month in tuition reimbursement. I’m considering dumping it into my Roth IRA (reaching the max for the year), thus freeing up $350/mo for the rest of the year for my other goals. That is the goal I’m closest to reaching–sort of the a “investment snowball” rather than a debt snowball psychological trick of reaching my goals.

Another option is a compromise option. Put $1000 towards the Roth, $500 for each of the other accounts, and reduce monthly contributions to $160/mo to the Roth. I’m sort of an all-or-nothing type of girl, so I am less interested in this. In fact, I’ve pretty much talked myself into the first approach! I have about 2 weeks before payday, so I’ll mull it over until then.

Another plus, starting in August my HSA contributions are maxed and I’ll have another $200/m (minus taxes) free!

First, I had a minor emergency today. I scheduled an HSBC withdrawal from my checking that would have caused an overdraft if I wasn’t paying attention. Stupid mistake on my part, and I had no access to cash to fix it. I found a solution, but it makes me think I should put a little in savings to cover things like this.

The main reason I don’t like to keep money there is because I take issue with Wells Fargo, but I don’t want to switch my checking account for a couple reasons. One, my boyfriend, sister and parents have an account there. I know at this point in my life, there should be very little intermingling of family finances, but it happens, and it’s just easiest if we all have the same bank. The boyfriend and I probably will be mingling our finances increasingly. Two, I consolidated my student loans there, so I have to have an account for that, and I don’t need another bank. It seems like I’m stuck with them for a few years. Anyway, thus far their customer service for the loan has been beyond awful, and the other services have been average.

Now for the new goal. I’ve decided is once my high yield savings account hits 6500 I want to start up a T-bill ladder. It will complicate my taxes a little, but since I pay about 8% state tax, my effective yield, based on the past week would be 5.335%. For a better week, it could have been about 6%. I’ll keep an eye on the rates while that is building, because they have been dropping.

It really won’t generate that much extra revenue since I’m working with just a little money, but it is something slightly more “advanced” to do with my cash savings, still pretty liquid, and will continue to work as my cash savings grows.

Now if only those rebates from this laptop would show up. Seriously, I hate rebates. This is the first major rebate I’ve ever had, and it’s turned me off of the process.

I recently set a June 22nd “in the black” goal.

I also want to talk about my goals for the year. My original (financial) goals were as follows:

• Open Roth IRA and contribute 3000 over the course of this year
  
• Contribute 10-15% of pre-tax dollars to 401k
  
• Save $100/wk in INGDIRECT account
  
• Pay at least $200/month on student loans

My updated goals are as follows:

• Max out Roth contributions at $4k
• Contribute $10-15% of pre-tax dollars to 401k (same)
• Save $150/wk in HSBC account (switch banks!)
• Pay $250/month on student loans

And the “reach” goals, that I don’t even know if are possible:

• Max out Roth contributions at 4k (same)
• Contribute 10-15% of pre-tax dollars to 401k (same)
• Accumulate 10k in HSBC account (about 1k extra)
• Reduce loan debt to 16k (about 2k extra)

Good luck to me!