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February Net Worth Snapshot...
2007-02-03 21:29:00
Where has the time gone? February 7th will be our 1 year anniversary since I made my first post on this blog. Posting has been sporadic, but it's done a lot to help with our personal finances. It's been an interesting month, interesting as in doing lot's of spending and saving. This month we managed to increase our net worth by 4.26% or $5,750.69 for a grand total of $140,597.24. You can view the balance sheet I use on the left (click to enlarge). The most surprising thing about this month is the amount of money we were able to bank, a little over $5,100. Unfortunately some of that will be off set by the credit card debt we've racked up. Those expenses include new baby furniture, a wedding shower my wife is in charge of, and various household and auto expenses. Wait until next month when the new carpet we bought hits the books. We've been using the cards in place of cash in a lot of transactions. It's to build up points for various merchandise, and other cash rewards. Th...
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Cut Your Property Tax?!
2007-01-16 17:27:00
I didn't know it was actually possible. But The National Tax payers Union reports... "As many as 60% of homes are assessed for too much. About 33% of property-tax appeals succeed." The procedures on how to get this done vary, but you normally have 30 to 60 days to file an appeal. "Ask the assessor's office for a copy of your property card, which documents the information on which the assessment was based. If the card lists the wrong number of rooms or square footage, for example, you may be able to get your assessment changed without a formal appeal." If the information seems to be accurate, visit sites like Zillow.com and domainia.com to check how your homes assessment compares to the other homes in your area. If you find similar homes assessed at a lower value, that may help you build a stronger case. Pete Sepp from the national taxpayers union recommends... "If you spot big discrepancies, check your local assessor's office's records for more details on homes with similar ...
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Bank Of America: Trying to Break the Glass Ceiling...
2007-01-16 17:05:00
A report by Market Watch this morning mentions that the Bank Of America is looking to lift the 10% cap on deposits for all U.S. banks. "Bank of America is now the nation's largest holder of deposits and ranks as the second-largest U.S. bank by market value after Citigroup." Bank of America goes on to make a good point for why they would like to lift the cap in order to grow to become a larger force... "In addition to restricting the growth of giants, the cap keeps U.S. banks artificially small and makes them vulnerable to international acquirers that aren't similarly limited." "Over time, foreign banks will be in a position to buy U.S. banks." They're not saying how much higher they'd like the cap to go, or even if the cap should be taken off all together. The banks move to try and lift or even eliminate the cap is being opposed by the Independent Community Bankers of America and other small community banks. But interestingly The Bank of America have a few allies in this m...
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A Busy Bee...
2007-01-15 21:27:00
A busy bee, that's been me. I've been working extra over time this past couple of months, the paychecks have been nice. Unfortunately they have been offset by extra big expenses. Holiday spending, and a new patio door. Now we're working on getting a new carpet and recently bought new baby furniture. By the way, we purchased baby furniture manufactured by a company named Babee Tenda. It's supposed to be some of the safest and most durable baby furniture around. They've been around since the 60's with a great track record. Has anyone out there used their furniture or have at least known someone who has? Not much to report in the financial sector of our family. Saving and spending, and repeat....
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Man, it keeps getting worse around here...
2007-01-09 02:36:00
In posts here and there I've mentioned that my wife and I planned on moving out of our condo within the next couple of years. That time may be getting closer and closer with all of the problems we've had with this place in the past 2.5 years. Within the first year of purchasing our place, we find that the complex has an issue with the building continuing to "settle" after being built 30 years ago. Then we had issues with our neighbors above us where water was coming through our ceiling. Recently we had issues with our new neighbors across the way drilling holes in our pipes when trying to install a medicine cabinet! Now we have issues were the patio above our patio isn't functioning properly, and it's funneling water into our patio door and possibly our wall! We're thinking about starting to put a plan together shortly after the baby is born around 6 months from now. Hopefully by the time the place is sold we'll be financially ready to take on a house. In the mean time, we'l...
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January Net Worth Snapshot...
2007-01-03 23:45:00
Are the holidays over already? The part of me takes care of the finances says hooray! And the part of me that loves friends, family and this time of the year says boooo! The pic on the left side of my post is our net worth balance sheet, click to enlarge. It's the worst net worth increase since I've been keeping track February of last year. I guess that's to be expected due to the holiday shopping, and having a new patio door put in. With all of the overtime I've been working, I expect a nice rebound this month. Wait, we're looking to have a new carpet installed this month, and will be starting to purchase baby furniture...crap. Looks like we might be in for another sub par month. There's not much really to say about this months net worth. Assests only creeped up due to household and holiday spending, and liabilities creeped down for the same reason. Again, I'm keeping the automobile values static until my next net worth calculation. I've decided to re-evaluate them every y...
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
2006-12-25 15:58:00
A Merry Christ mas and Happy Holiday s to you and yours!
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Rethinking Poverty...
2006-12-23 17:11:00
I recently came across a wonderful site simply named "TED." It's an acronym that stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design." Each year TED hosts some of the worlds most fascinating people. Who are these people? Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. The talks they deliver have had had such a great impact, we thought they deserved a wider audience. A couple of months back they had two speakers who talk about rethinking poverty. Both of them have simple and great ideas on how to help lift up impoverished countries in Africa and Asia. Both speakers gave me a little inspiration and hope for the future of our world... Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz persuasively argues for a new approach to foreign aid: "The question isn't 'how do we fix this?' The question is 'How can we help Africans to do this for themselves?'"Watch video online here Iqbal Quadir is co-founder of GrameenPhone, an innovative wireless operator offering s...
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Free Things Are Nice...
2006-12-17 16:22:00
...like the Motorola RAZR V3. My current two year Verizon contract expires in a couple of months, and to entice their customers to sign up for another two years, they're offering a discount of $100 off any upgraded phone of your choice. At the moment they're offering the razr for $99! I've desired this phone since it was HOT on the market two years back, and being sold for something like $400! I guess it wasn't technically free since I re-signed for a two year contract, but I've used Verizon for about six years now with a good service record, so I would've re-signed with them anyway. In the past I've always paid a discounted price, but this time it's totally free, I paid $0.00 this time! I'll be sticking with my current plan of $34.99 per month, 300 mintues for prime time usage, and free nights and weekends. I also receive a 12% discount on top of that offered through the company I work for. It's nothing special, but the service is good and the plan seems to be cheaper ...
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My Car: Brought Back To Life...
2006-12-12 23:15:00
I was driving home from work the other day, cruising along at about 25 miles an hour, when my car suddenly lost all power!! The car went dead and totally unresponsive. Luckily I was driving on a semi busy avenue, and was able to roll to the side of the road. I was a little surprised since I bought the car brand new back in 2001. Thanks to my car insurer G.E.I.C.O., there was a towtruck there within 45 minutes. Thank god I only needed a jump start to get me going. Dropped it off at the dealer the next day, and about $100 later found that a ground wire to the frame from the starting system was corroded. The day after that I picked up a a set of jumper cables on sale for $15. Ya never know when I or maybe someone else may need them. This experience reminds me of the days with my prevous two cars which were used, car issues all the time, and AAA on speed dial....
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Good-bye Virtual Bank, It Was Nice Knowing You...
2006-12-04 21:10:00
Several months back I opened two virtual bank money market accounts on behalf of my wife and I. At the time I was taking advantage of the high interest rate, and $20 sign up fee. Alas, the 4.60% interest rate has been left behind in the dust, and all of my referrals aren't as popular as they used to be. I didn't like that the money I had sitting in the accounts was earning a lower rate. So for now, that'll leave us with 5 savings accounts, and one checking account...
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December Net Worth Snapshot...
2006-12-02 16:52:00
What a difference a day makes, or in our case, 30 days. Thanks to 5 pay periods this month, it's partially a record net worth. Our net worth increased 5.56%, for a record dollar total of $6,937.36. Due to a mistake I made when opening our new E-loan savings account, we missed the percentage record by .01%. It seems I stated on our application that we're subject to federal tax withholding, which meant they took out a few bucks out of our savings this month. But after a quick phone call and e-mail, that should hopefully be corrected by next month. It seems the biggest jump on our balance sheet was made in our liquid assests catagory, with a plump $5,000 increase. Retirement was up a bit, and I kept our home value, car and jewelry static until at least the next net worth calculation. The home value will pretty much stay the same ulness I get an official appraisal, I don't put much faith in my real estate guesstimations. The car values I'll have to relay on Blue Book for, and th...
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Top 100 Blogs To Read In 2007...
2006-12-01 01:47:00
While recently roaming the net for my sites address, I came accross something interesting. An article on creditcard.org dated December 8th 2006, with the headline "Blog gers Tell Financial Secrets." It goes on to spotlight Tricia from "Blogging Away Debt," and then shows a list of it's pick for the "Top 10 0 Blogs To Read In 2007." All of them seem to be personal finance blogs, and they are all nominated for "a national award." Surprisingly I'm one of the blogs on that list...
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Snips And Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails...
2006-12-01 00:48:00
My wife and I recently visited the doctors office for our 19 week sonogram appointment. It's the one where they check EVERYTHING. From fingers and toes, to cleft lips and any heart deformations. Turns out everything looks fine and we're having a BOY! We didn't really have a preference, only for a healthy and happy baby. Though I have to say whew! You see, my paternal line is pretty thin. My great grandfather was the only male of seven children, my grandfather the only male of four children, my father was an only child, and I'm my fathers only son. When searching the net for articles on the cost of raising a child nowa days, I came accross Bankrates baby cost calculator. According to them it's going to cost about 190k to rasie a child until the age of 18! That's hard to believe. With this one being our first, we talk about having a couple more. Does that really mean about 600k? I'll have more time to pay off a mortgage than raising children. Can you say hand me downs, and pe...
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Retriement Portfolio: 401 (k) Asset Re-allocation...
2006-11-26 17:42:00
In a post long ago, I mentioned that I intended on creating a less expensive, and better performing 401 (k) portfolio. Well, I finally got off my butt and did it. Unfortunately my options were limited to Prudential Financial's 9 mutual funds, one fixed income fund, and my companies stock. Those mutual funds had an average expense ratio of 0.92% and a front load of 4.61%, not that bad I suppose, I've heard of worse options. I wound up dropping CABDX, SPVAX, and MIGFX. My portfolio in particular averaged an expense ratio of 1.07% and front load of 5.30%. I kept AEPGX, LAVX and obtained an index fund, PDSIX. No load at all, and it has an expense ratio of 0.30%. Nowa days my portfolio is averaging an expense ratio of 0.73% and front load of 3.83%. The funds I now have, average a five year performance of a little under 11%, and ten year of a little over 12%. I'll try my best to re-balance every quarter, and at the least every two quarters depending on how each sector of the econom...
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The Forbes Richest Fictional 15?
2006-11-23 12:21:00
Wow, Forbes has a rich list for everyone, even people that don't exist. So of all of the fictional characters you've seen in movies, shows, stories and even cartoons, who do you thinks tops them all at #1? Is it Rich ie Rich? No, but he's up there. Then it has to be Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island?! Nope, not even close. Ah ha! It's Mr. Monopoly! NO, but getting warmer....Forbes Fiction al 15
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50 Leading Women to Watch in 2007...
2006-11-21 00:07:00
Today the Wall Street Journal Online reports on something very interesting, the new breed of women moving up the ranks to the top of the worlds biggest companies. They find that women held 16.4% of the Fortune 500 corporate-officer job in 2005. These jobs include positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That was a 0.7 percentage higher since 2002. The same survey found that woman made up 6.4% of the top five earners among officers which is a rise of 1.2% in the same period. Women of color -- African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans -- held just 1.7% of corporate-officer positions in 2005, and were 1% of the top five earners at Fortune 500 companies. All these people have one thing in common: They're breaking stereotypes about what women can and can't do well, and opening up new opportunities for women who will follow them. Melinda Gates tops the list of the top 50 women to watch next year.
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FESTIVAL OF UNDER 30 FINANCES: # 10
2006-11-17 16:52:00
Today's super fun "festival of under 30 finances" will be @ Tired But Happy. Today's submissions cover subjects ranging from issues with room mates to spam that saves you money. From credit cards teaching youth about personal finance to 5 lessons that a millionaire taught me. So be there or be square!
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Moving the power cord out of the wall, and into our wallet...
2006-11-14 20:54:00
Well, it's that time of the month again. Time to see how we did with saving on electric. Well, only a little, but that's better that having to shell out more this year than last year. Since the wifey is pregnant, we've been using more heat so far this year. I'm guessing that's going to be a big factor in our electric bill in the next several months. More heat, more stove usage to due to the increase of cravings, and eventually air conditioning. We're starting to take a few more steps to help energy efficiency around the house. We're going to replace our patio door within the next few weeks, and that'll help a lot. Something like 20-30% of savings on energy use a year We've been told. Luckily we have friends who have contracting businesses, so it'll cost less then using someone else. The money we save on electricity, is helping power our savings!
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Exercise Your Right To Vote...
2006-11-07 21:14:00
Vote now, and vote often...
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Thanks E-Loan, That Was Fast And Easy...
2006-11-02 22:44:00
On Monday I mentioned that I decided to open another savings account, this time @ E-Loan . I logged in today to find that the very next day my $5,000 initial deposit was already transferred and in the new account! I also noticed that the verification deposits had already been deposited and debited, the next day. I've already initiated the money transfer only two days after opening the account, not bad. This is probably the easiest online savings account opening I've had...
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November Net Worth Snapshot...
2006-11-01 23:20:00
Not a bad month, I'll take it. This month we find that our net worth has increased by $4,862.26 or 4.05%. And by the looks of it we probably could've done better if we tried. We spent more than the average on dining out. Not much out of the ordinary on this one. I noticed that our debt to load ratio is down almost 10% for the year. According to some experts, the debt-load ratio should be around 35%, and most of it should consist of the mortgage. Looks like it'll be a couple of years before we're there. The emergency fund is growing nicely, that'll come in handy with a baby on the way (due date April 25th). This is the another month with our net worth increasing over 4%, which is pretty nice. Climbing the ladder, slowly but surely...
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I Couldn't Resist...
2006-10-31 23:11:00
...opening up a savings account @ E-Loan.com. I've been debating it ever since I heard their interest rate was boosted to 5.50% last month. That rate is better than many of the CD's out there. We have several online bank accounts already, so I didn't want the hassel of opening another one. Plus I've been thinking about testing the waters with T-bills. But calculating the rate and dollar difference between a possible E-loan account and our exsisting Emigrant account, I couldn't resist. That's a .45% difference between 5.05% Emigrant and 5.50% E-loan, or $180 annually. And seeing that we save every month, that figure will only rise. The only thing I'm worried about now is what the Federal Reserve will do with the interest rates in the coming months. With the past several decisions pause on the interest rate, and word of inflation on the rise, I'm not sure where they're heading. And whatever happens, will E-loan stay ahead of the pack? We'll just have to wait and see....

Wages & Benefits Racing Upwards...
2006-10-31 15:38:00
The Associated Press reports that wages and benefits paid to American workers are up in the July to September period. It's the fastest pace in more than two years. Here are the juicy bits... The Labor Department reported that its Employment Cost Index was up 1 percent in the third quarter, compared to a 0.9 percent rise in the April-June period. It was the biggest quarterly increase since a similar 1 percent rise in the second quarter of 2004. The increase, which was above the 0.9 percent rise that economists had been expecting, was led by a big jump in the cost of employee benefits such as health insurance and pensions. For the third quarter, benefit costs rose by 1.1 percent, up from a 0.8 percent gain in the second quarter. Wages and salaries were up 0.9 percent, matching the increase in the second quarter. Officials at the Federal Reserve are watching closely to see whether wage pressures are beginning to accelerate, a development that wo...
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Suggestions for minimizing your drug costs...
2006-10-23 23:37:00
For those of you who have medicare prescription drug coverage, or know someone who does, this one's for you. http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/ask/arch ive/2006/q1023.htm answers a question from a reader who states she's reached the "doughnut hole" (the first threshold for medicare part D which is $2,250) and would like to know how to keep costs down after that. Medicare part D covers most of your drug costs up to $2,250. That includes deductibles, your co-pay, and the insurer's share of the cost. After that, you hit the "doughnut hole" or the coverage gap. After that you'll have to pay 100% of the cost of your drug bills until your total out of pocket goes to $3,600. Then the plan will cover 95% of your bills. The "doughnut hole" thresholds will be $2,400 and $3,850 by next year. To help minimize your out of pocket money between the thresholds.... Ask your doctor about generics. You can save money in the doughnut hole and get better coverage within your plan beforehand. Many p...
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Blog Monetization...
2006-10-23 03:24:00
I've recently been doing a little research on blog monetization and have found some interesting discussions on it... Darren @ Problogger.net: How Blog gers Make Money From Blogs Money Blog network: Blog Monetization Washington Post: Make Money Off Your Blog Know More Media: When Does Blog Monetization Become Excessive? Bloggers Forum: Blog Monetization
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Every little bit adds up...
2006-10-15 17:38:00
The electric bill recently arrived and I was pleasantly surprised to find a $43.61 savings for the Month of October. With the average temperature down by 5 degrees, we only used 261 kwh. That's 365 kwh less than last year. That brings our total savings for the year to $223.05, see image on left. At this point of the year, our average electric bill is $89.41 as opposed to $104.02 last year. Ever y little bit adds up...
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The New Richest Self Made Woman In The World...
2006-10-11 21:31:00
Is a paper recylcling tycoon from China named Zhang Yin. The 49 year old is the founder of the "Nine Dragons Paper Co." Her self made fortune of 3.4 Billion US dollars, puts her ahead of Oprah Winfrey and J.K. Rowling. The company buys scrap paper from the US for use in China.
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Sometimes saving is the best investment...
2006-10-05 23:39:00
I just received a letter from my credit union (mortgage lender) with my new escrow schedule for the next year. It turns out our payments will be about $40 less each month! That's comes out to a savings of about $480 a year! This will be the 4th thing that we will be saving on this year. First it was my car being paid off in June, savings per month $242.47, and for this year $1454.82. Then the electric bills, about $20 bucks a month, $156.00 so far this year. My wifes cell phone bill, about $40 a month, estimated $240.00 for the rest of this year. Now with the escrow adjustment, it'll be approximately $1950.00 saved this year. That's not including all of the other little things we've been doing to save like bringing lunch from home, coupon cutting when food shopping, shopping around for a better deal, etc. It seems like saving could be one of the best investments...
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October Net Worth Snapshot...
2006-10-03 17:16:00
It seems as though all of the "financial" moons have aligned to make this one of our best net worth increases to date. Our net worth has increased by a record 5.57% or $6,332.56 for a total of $119,927.21. To tell you the truth, at first thought, I don't really know how we did it. It's probably several factors that happen to fit well together at this point in time. First off, I've started to add all of the small stuff into our net worth, like any cash we may have in our wallets, money in the change jar, uncashed checks, etc. It may not be much, but every little bit counts. Ah, now I remember, how can I forget? I busted my butt working some overtime this month, and it looks like that really helped. Hm, let's see, we finally received our "New Jersey FAIR home owner rebate" just in time to be calculated. Received a little extra chunk of change from selling on half.com and some ad space on the blog. There's also been a slight increase in the retiremtent accounts due to the market...
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