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Debt Consolidation Loans
2007-06-15 04:44:00
I just received my financial aid offer for my final year of law school. It got me thinking about loans, interest rates, and all those kinds of things. I remember how I consolidated my undergraduate student loans as well as those from my first year of law school in order to take advantage of the low fixed interest rate that was available to me at the time.It struck me that many people don’t take advantage of the debt consolidation option. High interest debt, especially credit card debt, is absolutely ridiculous to keep on your balance sheet. Get it off with a consolidation loan at a lower rate. I recently came across an unsecured debt consolidation loan website called ChoicePersonalLoans .com. At the very least, they offer some useful information about debt consolidation options and the debt consolidation process.Let me go through just a few of the reasons that they offer to show why debt consolidation can be a good idea. First, if you have a variety of loan accounts open, you could...
More About: Debt Consolidation , Debt , Cons , Solid

Grades!
2007-06-13 02:01:00
I had to wait forever to get my grades because the school doesn't post them online. Instead, they go through the hassle of sending a letter with your grades. Basically, all it really means is that it takes longer to get your grades. But, after all that waiting, I finally learned today that I kicked law school's butt this semester! Take that! Finally... This past semester was my best by a wide margin. According to the averages the school posts, my grades put me somewhere around the top 15%. I'm very satisfied with that.Happily, my grades have been increasing just about every semester, with an especially large jump between my first and second year. Hopefully this tradition continues and I am perfect all 3L year. Yea, right.Honestly, though, I can't quite figure out the reason for my increase in grades. I haven't been doing anything drastically differently than I did last year. In fact, I might care a bit less about my grades this year than I did last year. So maybe t...
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Where to Live?
2007-06-09 21:51:00
By this question, I don't mean to ask what city, state, or country. Instead, it is simply a "downtown" versus "the suburbs" question. Now, keep in mind, I am in Ohio, so this is not New York or some other mega metropolis.I currently live downtown for the summer, but I did venture out to the suburbs today. I could really see myself living either place. Presumably the suburbs are "safer" and there is more "room" because most people own single family detached homes in the suburbs. Downtown, on the other hand, there is certainly more crime and most people have apartments, condominiums, townhouses, or the like, and thus live closer together. Privacy is certainly much harder to obtain living downtown. But the commute is much better than living in the suburbs and driving to work everyday. I currently walk to work and it is wonderful.The trend I have seen at The Firm seems to be for most newer associates, especially those who don't have family considerations, to live downtown or in the ne...
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Summer School?
2007-06-08 03:27:00
I recently received the information regarding the work I have to do for the journal over the summer. I get the distinct privilege of reading and grading a bunch of student writing pieces. Very exciting, indeed.I have about three weeks to complete the task and send them back. I'm not really looking forward to doing it. This will certainly keep me busy this weekend and perhaps the next couple. Although the idea has popped into my mind, I currently have no intention to try to do any of this work while physically at The Firm.I guess it could be worse. I mean, I remember having to write that paper last year in addition to starting my first position as a summer associate. That first week really sucked while I was trying to do both. I just can't believe that the 1L's are all finished writing their papers so soon. Apparently time flies when you're having fun. Oh well, I guess I had better get to work on grading them.
More About: Summer , School , Summer School

June Net Worth
2007-06-06 03:14:00
Thanks to a great month in the markets and the receipt of my first paycheck from The Firm, my net worth has climbed rather substantially to -$11,500 this month. Yes, I realize that it is still negative, so it isn't all that great. But when I consider that I only have one more year of school left and my net worth is near zero, I don't think it is so bad. I know plenty of students who are a lot worse off than I am, (financially).I hope to get my net worth back into the positives before my tuition payment comes due this summer. We shall see whether I can do it. Probably not, but I think it's a noble goal.
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Summer Food Costs #1
2007-06-05 02:06:00
I don't eat breakfast everyday. I know, I'm bad. I have been eating it "most" days so far this summer, though.I tend not to eat lunch on the weekends, but I do eat it at work. It is never anything spectacular unless The Firm takes me out somewhere. Today, for example, I had a slice of pizza. Even if The Firm does take me out, it's not always spectacular. I had a salad the other day. Don't get me wrong, salad is good - but it's no prime rib.I have dinner everyday. Without fail. The only caveat here is that the dinners I don't eat at home will not be factored into my math. So, if The Firm has an evening event with food, that will likely be my dinner for the day. Or if I go out with friends, I won't count myself as having eaten dinner at home.What am I building up to with all this? Well, I have calculated the first installment of my Summer Food Costs series. Keep in mind that this only deals with food, not things like toothpaste and shampoo.For the relevant period, ...

Food Costs
2007-06-04 03:26:00
Since I am living away from home and away from school, in other words, totally on my own, I am fending for myself when it comes to food. I have decided to track my food cost for all the meals I eat here in my apartment. So far, I have kept all my grocery receipts and I will continue to do so. I will then compute the cost for each meal according to type (breakfast, dinner, etc). I look forward to the numbers. Honestly, I'm rather curious.Preliminary numbers coming soon, as well as my monthly net worth update.
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Law Firm Insider Trading
2007-05-28 20:40:00
Lawyers, especially corporate lawyers, could make a boatload of money by trading on the information they obtain from their clients. I saw this just the other day when I worked on an M&A deal. This was just a small deal, but I have heard about some large deals going on at The Firm. In those cases, I am sure that the lawyers involved could have made a fortune with some well timed options.The problem is those pesky laws that make such trading illegal. The penalties are stiff and involve jail time. That doesn't sound like much fun. So, lawyers have this information, but can't do anything with it. The temptation must be tremendous, though.The Firm seems well aware of the possibility of insider trading and made all the summer associates read up on The Firm's policy, watch a video on insider trading, and sign off that they understand and will abide by The Firm's policy and all relevant securities laws. In other words, The Firm is doing everything it can to protect both itself and its l...
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I Saved Something!
2007-05-26 18:27:00
Actually, the fact that I saved something should come as no surprise. I'm usually quite good at saving things. Well, I'm good at saving money. But other things? I'm not as good about saving other things.Some people might consider this to be a positive thing. Nobody likes a pack rat who saves every little thing they ever touch. I have some relatives like this. They save EVERYTHING. Not me, though. I only keep what I feel is important. From a cost standpoint, that is probably a good idea. Storage space is expensive, especially if you live in a high rent area or happen to be a large law firm with a monstrous document management system.Getting to my point here, I saved something today that I know is important. It is only two pieces of paper, but those two pieces have the potential to bring back a very emotional memory at some point in the future. Just how emotional the memory depends on the course of the rest of my life.Those are the kinds of things I like to save. So, ...
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Shaving
2007-05-25 04:15:00
I have always shaved using an electric shaver. This is presumably because my father uses an electric shaver and little boys do as their father does.Recently, though, I decided to try using a real razor (shaving cream and all). I did this for one day - ONE. It is a pain in the neck (literally) and I don't really notice that much of a difference. The whole point of trying the real razor was to reduce or eliminate my five o'clock (actually more like 11am) shadow. Unfortunately, using the razor did not really have much effect on my facial hair or its tendency to become very conspicuous far too early in the workday.So, I have gone back to my electric shaver. It's easier and it does (almost) as good a job. Plus, it is cheaper. Razors and shaving cream would probably get expensive over time. All my electric shaver costs me is the electricity to charge the thing. Well, that is the only cost until I need a new electric shaver. How much do those run, anyway?
More About: Shaving , Ving

A Free Lunch
2007-05-24 00:20:00
Is there such a thing as a free lunch? While tradition says there is no such thing, I beg to differ.I was taken out to lunch today by my esteemed colleagues at The Firm. In fact, this has happened about half of my working days so far. It cost me nothing and I ate well each time. So, from my standpoint, it was a "free" lunch.Of course, it could also be argued that The Firm paid for my lunch with money it could otherwise use to pay me. In other words, my salary was reduced to pay for my lunch. But I really don't think they would pay me more money if they weren't taking me to lunch. Honestly, they are paying me well enough as it is. Of course, there is always the possibility that my esteemed colleagues at The Firm will try to take it out of my hide when/if I become an associate after I graduate.The lunches aren't terribly expensive, but a free lunch is a free lunch. It is money I don't have to spend. So, while there are still free lunches, I will continue to accept them. ...
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My Interview
2007-05-22 02:43:00
I was interviewed recently. The interview consisted of eight questions. I responded to them via email and my responses, along with some highlighted phrases, are available here at The Frugal Law Student.
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Amazon Fiasco Finally Finished
2007-05-20 17:59:00
Yes, I know that alliteration may be a bit much. But there is good news! I FINALLY received the correct item through the Amazon marketplace. And only a bit under two months after my original order. In the end, I did end up filing a claim with Amazon for reimbursement. They paid it, but only in the amount that I wasn't already reimbursed to ship the incorrect item back to the seller. So, as it stands right now, I am in possession of:1: The incorrect item2: The correct item3: The total price I paid for the correct itemIf I were to keep things the way they are now, I would make out like a bandit. But, as I promised, I will send the incorrect item back to the seller. Unfortunately, that will cost me some money. I don't really have a way to repay the seller for the correct item, so I'm just going to keep that money as payment for all my trouble. In the end, all it will really cost me for the correct item is the return shipping for the incorrect item. I'm happy to finally b...
More About: Finally , Fina , Asco , Fiasco

Coupons
2007-05-17 15:16:00
Some people use coupons for everything while others wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. My parents are "coupon people" and try to find coupons for everything. In fact, they often go places (generally to eat) just BECAUSE they have a coupon. So, from the marketing perspective, I guess those coupons are working.Using coupons makes good sense to me. If you can get a discount on something that you were going to do anyway, then why not take advantage of it.The difficulty comes where you go somewhere different or do something new just because you have a coupon. In those cases, there may not be much of a benefit to the coupon at all. It might just be a situation of the coupon user falling prey to the marketing techniques and believing that they are "saving money" by using a coupon to purchase something the person really doesn't need and never wanted in the first place.So, my coupon rule is this. If you wouldn't be willing to do or buy something without a coupon, then you pr...
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Total Student Loan Debt
2007-05-02 07:10:00
In an effort to avoid studying for the remainder of my exams, I decided to refigure my expected student loan debt at graduation. This will include my deferred undergraduate loans as well. This is not exact because I estimated some of the interest compounding for the sake of simplicity (mainly because only a portion of my consolidated loan is accruing interest while deferred). In any case, I expect to have roughly $102,500 in student loan debt at graduation. I had been expecting around $100,000 all along, so this number does not come as a terrible shock. It is still a large number, but when I consider that I currently expect my starting salary to be higher than that, I feel much better.
More About: Student , Loan , Debt , Total

Net Worth Plus
2007-05-02 01:22:00
-$15472! For the most recent net worth breakdown, check out the graph at the right. Click for details. It was a positive month thanks to the recent stock market trend, although I can't help but feeling that we may be in the midst of some stock market irrational exuberance here. One never knows for sure and don't blame me if there is a "correction" sometime soon.Secondly, I have another article in a carnival! Well, it's actually a festival, but really, what's the difference? My article, Do Digital Cameras Save Money?, is in the May Day edition of Festival of Frugality #72.
More About: Net worth , Worth , Plus , Wort

Carnival Season
2007-04-30 19:22:00
My recent article, Credit Cards Online, is in the 98th Carnival of Personal Finance this week. Head on over and check it out for lots of interesting reading.
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Do Digital Cameras Save Money?
2007-04-28 02:23:00
The initial reaction to the question, "Do digital cameras save money?" might be an off-the-cuff negative response, but that might not be the case.It is true that digital cameras cost money, generally a fair amount more than a traditional film camera. Fortunately for digital camera owners, that is only the tip of this iceberg. Let's start by just naming the costs associated with traditional film camera ownership and use:1 - cost of the camera2 - cost of the film3 - cost to have pictures developed4 - cost to store the photosNow let's compare each of these costs for a traditional film camera with those of a digital camera.Cost of the Camera - Digital cameras generally do cost more than traditional film cameras. In some cases, especially depending on the quality of the digital camera, digital cameras can cost far more. There is very little to say in this area. So this is one strike against the digital camera. As we will see, though, it is the only strike.Cost of the Film - There...
More About: Money , Save Money , Digital Cameras , Cameras

Credit Cards Online
2007-04-25 19:23:00
If you are still stuck in the old days of receiving paper credit card statements in the mail and sending a check to pay the bill, it is time to catch up with the rest of society. In addition to making you feel better about yourself for being more tech-savvy, moving your credit card activities to the internet will save you money and time.First, checks and stamps cost money. Unless you have a "totally free" checking account (which I suggest you get), your checks cost you something. That could either be through check fees from the bank or just the cost of reordering new checks when your supply runs out. Either way, that's money that you don't need to be spending. Stamps, on the other hand, have no "unless" clause attached to their cost. If you buy stamps and use them to send in your credit card payments, you are wasting money. Granted, it's not a ton of money, but it can certainly start to add up.Second, doing everything by hand wastes time. In today's world of "time is mon...
More About: Credit Cards , Credit , Online , Credit Card , Cards

Multi-State Tax Issues
2007-04-23 05:31:00
As I have said a few times before, I am working at a law firm in Ohio for the summer. I recently filled out the necessary tax forms for my employment and it made me realize that I could potentially have tax liability in three separate states.1 - the state where my parents live, my "permanent residence" state2 - the state where I go to law school and maintain a part time job3 - Ohio, where I will work this summerUpon looking into the matter further, I discovered that my "permanent residence" state and Ohio have a reciprocal tax agreement. That means that I can avoid paying Ohio state taxes altogether by claiming a full exemption. But I will have to pay my "permanent residence" state taxes instead. I decided to go with this option (mainly because Ohio has higher tax rates).The problem is that The Firm does not have the ability to withhold state payroll taxes for a different state. This means that I would be responsible for making estimated tax payments to my "permanent residence"...
More About: Issues , Multi , State , Stat , Issue

Don't Forget to Budget for Gifts
2007-04-20 17:39:00
I have been looking at budgeting tools recently and there is a line item that remains conspicuously (at least to me) absent from most of them - gifts. While gifts are rather "all or nothing" in nature, I think it still makes sense to account for them monthly. Take birthdays as an example. Each person's birthday comes only once per year. Say you have six people for whom you purchase $50 birthday gifts each year. That means an expenditure of $300 on birthday gifts. To have an accurate budget picture, just take the average and plug it into the budget each month. So, the monthly budget should have a line item for birthday gifts in the amount of $25 ($300/12).This is just one example, though. Rest assured that there are many more categories of gifts: anniversaries, religious holidays, family holidays (Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, Grandparents' Day, etc), and even professional holidays like Secretaries' Day (or whatever politically correct term you choose to use for it). In o...
More About: Gifts , Budget , Forge

All is Well - Except Me
2007-04-19 03:34:00
My problem with the Amazon vendor seems to be resolved. I received a reply stating that the vendor would promptly ship the correct item and would credit my Amazon account generously for the return shipping (more than they originally charged me for shipping). I am satisfied with that. All it will cost me is a little extra time and a stop at the post office. I am fairly confident that all will turn out well.Sadly, I have become sick over the course of the past couple days. I have a sore throat, runny nose, the whole works. It seems like everyone at school is sick now too. I am blaming the erratic weather around here recently. Well , either that or this campus is one of the first targets of some kind of biological terrorism attack. Hopefully it is just the weather.

They Sent Me the Wrong Item
2007-04-18 02:34:00
I ordered something on Amazon a couple weeks ago and it finally arrived today. Unfortunately, when I opened the package, I found that it was not the item that I had ordered. It is similar, but still wrong.To be fair, I didn't order this from Amazon itself. I actually ordered it on the Amazon Marketplace, but it was still through Amazon.Anyway, I found the email confirmation to check that I had not made a mistake. Thankfully, I purchased the right thing. They just sent me the wrong one. So, I logged into my Amazon account, pulled up the order, and followed the "problem" links. I eventually got to a screen where I could send a message to the seller (through Amazon). I courteously expressed my displeasure and asked what could be done. I haven't received a response, but I will let you know when I do.While I really don't know what is going to happen for sure, I do know two things. First, I will eventually get the right item out of this deal. And second, I am NOT going to pa...
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Quarterly Statement of Financial Assets
2007-04-14 03:49:00
As promised, I have decided to start posting a more detailed statement of my financial assets (and liabilities). My assets are rather spread out. Thankfully, though, the only real liabilities that I have are my student loans. I plan to do this at the end of every quarter from here on out. Hopefully I can stick to that. Additionally, I might add some analysis in subsequent quarters. Maybe an asset allocation breakdown or something along those lines. Anyway, here it is. This is accurate through the end of the first quarter (3/31). I would be happy to hear your thoughts.Also, thanks to Chitown for her help in getting this spreadsheet to display proper in Blogger. Let me know if you have any trouble with either the picture or the formatting.
More About: Financial , State , Stat , Finan , Asset

Don’t Consolidate Debt - Eliminate It
2007-04-13 05:05:00
I must be honest with you. I did not come up with this topic on my own. I discovered it at InvestInYourDebt .com.The idea is a simple one. You can’t just consolidate your debt and then forget about it. Cons olidating is alright, but then you have to pay it off - quickly. Just because it has a lower interest rate doesn’t mean that it’s ok to service the debt for 30 years. In fact, from the standpoint of total cost, it would actually be better to pay a higher interest rate but pay the loan off sooner (depending on the exact numbers, of course).Don’t get me wrong. If a loan has a low enough interest rate, then it might actually be a good idea to service the debt for as long as possible. But that is only if you are doing something more constructive with the money that you could otherwise use to pay off the loan. Investing at a higher return while servicing debt at a lower interest rate is simple leverage and is a fine investment strategy (albeit a risky one).InvestInYourDebt.com c...
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I Love Lexis
2007-04-12 03:53:00
I cashed in most of my Lexi s Nexis Ultimate Rewards points the other day. For those of you who don't know, Lexis is an expensive legal research site that tries to get law students hooked with free usage and rewards in law school. I save them up all year and get gift certificates at the end of the year. This year, I got $175 worth of gift certificates. I chose a couple of department stores and a restaurant to spend them on. I will probably get some more clothes for the upcoming job with the department store gift certificates. As for the restaurant gift certificate, that is to keep Girlfriend happy. I might even end up with another gift certificate or two by the end of the semester, but I wanted to make sure that I got at least something before I start work.Regarding my Westlaw (another legal research site) Rewards points, I have been saving those up since I started law school. As opposed to the Lexis points, which I use every year, I keep the Westlaw points for something bi...
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H&R Block Tax Cut vs. Intuit Turbo Tax
2007-04-10 22:35:00
Last year, I used H&R Bloc k's Tax Cut software to do my taxes. I did not pay to use this software, though. Since I am a lowly law student with very little income, I was able to qualify for the Free File program. Through this program, various tax software is available free of charge to individuals. There are various requirements and each company seems to have slightly different ones. If your income is below $50,000 annually, though, you might qualify for one of them. So do yourself a favor and check it out.Individual states also offer free file programs. Check with your state's treasury department/bureau of taxation/bureau of finance for details. Some of the software packages will do both your state and federal tax returns for free. In fact, some will even do your federal tax return and multiple state tax returns (like I need). Beyond that, the filing is done online and you can receive your refund as quickly as possible. Did I mention that it was all free?Back to the topic...
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Of Festivals and Automobiles
2007-04-07 19:25:00
First off, one of my posts is in this week's Fest ival of Under 30 Finances #20.Secondly, as a result of my accident this winter, my car still has some residual defects. I won't go into the boring detail, but suffice to say that it is drivable and that I am currently driving it. It needs one replacement part that I will get when I am at home and it has one other annoyingly noisy issue. At least, I hope that it is only annoying and nothing more. The car tends to make sounds like something is loose whenever I go over large bumps. And, around here, there are large bumps (and some seemingly bottomless pits) everywhere! Oh well, I'll have it checked out when I get home.
More About: Automobiles , Festivals , Automobile , Vals

Articles Galore
2007-04-03 15:10:00
I have two articles up around the web this week:What to do with Large Capital Gains is up in Carnival of Personal Finance #94.A New Spin on the Old Golf Ball is up in Festival of Frugality #68. Sadly, my article comes with the "bad golfing joke" classification. I have received better reviews in the past, but I guess I can live with that.
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Studying in Europe is Getting Expensive
2007-04-03 03:34:00
This may not be news to most people, but for those who are planning to study abroad in Europe or even vacation there sometime soon, it may be an eye opener. The dollar has been falling recently. By falling, I mean dropping like a rock. And by recently, I mean for at least the past five years. It is true that there was a little bit of a rebound during 2005. Since then, though, the downward trend has continued. Let's take a look at the numbers.The Euro:Five years ago, the dollar was worth about 1.15 euros. Today, it is worth just under .75 euros. That is a decline of roughly 35% for the dollar. Looking at it another way, the euro has become about 53% more valuable.The Pound:Five years ago, the dollar was worth about .70 British pounds. At today's close, it is worth a bit more than .50 pounds. The dollar's decline versus the pound is around 29% for the period, meaning that the pound appreciated 40%.The Rouble:Yes, the dollar has even tumbled against the Russian rouble. F...
More About: Pens , Studying , Dying , Rope