Market upswings

I was pleasantly surprised to see 2 days in a row of stock market ups.  I have become numb to the downturns which is probably a good thing.  

I have been very bus at work so I have not been able to write in my blog as often as I would like over the past week or so.  Once I slow down again I will get back to writing at least every other day.

Next week I plan to check my credit score again.  I have not checked it since last November and I have paid down my Discover card to zero since then.

Best Money Websites

This list of the Best Money Websites is compliments of Money Magazine. In case you don't read the Money Magazine website regularly I thought I would pass it along.

Today was payday! At the beginning of the year I started parking in the parking deck of the building that I work in. The monthly cost is $110 and the company acts as the intermediaries to get me the parking pass swipe card and collect the payments. It has been almost two months and not one dime as come out of my paychecks for parking. I am wondering how much longer I hold out before I tell them.

To be fair I do utilize the Pre-Tax Parking Program at work so I am setting aside the pre-tax funds to pay for my parking. I cannot claim any parking reimbursements until I have actually paid for the parking. I think I am going to go another month and see if they catch it.

Credit Card Debt Update

I was able to pay down the entire Discover card balance earlier this month with my federal tax refund so all I have left of credit card debt is $1,268 of Citibank. In a few days I will pay down an additional $500 on Citibank. I am not feeling quite as joyous at being almost debt free as I thought I would but it does feel good.

One from American Express vs. Delta Skymiles Platinum

I am considering switching my Delta Skymiles Platinum card for the One card from American Express.  My current card earns miles on Delta and I have earned enough miles from my spending to purchase several plane tickets.  I also get a free companion certificate each year when I renew it.  There is a $135 membership fee but again the companion certificate which was worth a $400 ticket last year along with the thousands of miles I earn make the card  worth the $135 fee.

The One card has a deal where 1% of your spending to be deposited in a savings account along with a $50 bonus the first time you use the card.  I spend between $20,000 and $25,000 a year on my American Express so that would earn me at least $250 this year including the $50 bonus.  The annual fee for this card is $35 but it is waived in year one. 

The interest rates are irrelevant because I pay the balance off every month.  Now that I see the pros of each card in black and white in front of me...it makes more sense to stay with my platinum skymiles card.  There are also benefits with the platinum card that I would not get with the other such as doubling the warranty periods for items bought with the card, etc.

What do you think?

Recession: Are we or aren't we?

Many of the talking heads on TV and the financial doomsayers are saying that we are either in a recession or that we are heading for one.  Ben Bernanke says that we will not have a recession in 2008...so when will we?  It is reasonable to think that recessions are a normal part of the financial cycle.  

When I was growing up it seemed that we were always in some type of recession.  There is no doubt that recessions can cause upheaval for those who are most effected and who could lose their jobs but many of the people losing their jobs might take steps to get re=training so that they can find a better job.  

I guess I just want to get this recession going so that we can come out on the other side to another boom time.

Week one with the MacBook

I have had my MacBook for one week and I have to say that I am happy with it thus far.  Yesterday I purchased the iWork software suite from Amazon.com for $59.  In contrast the Apple store sells it for $79.  This is the software that has word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation applications in it.  Basically it is Apple's version of Microsoft office.   

I am also contemplating purchasing the extended warranty for $249.  My 2 month old iPod nano went on the fritz yesterday so that makes me a little nervous.  The computer purchase put a serious dent in my monthly budget for February.  I am going to have to watch my spending in the allowance category more closely over the next several months.

I do now believe what I have heard, "you buy a PC for work and a Mac for home." 

Balance Transfer Offers

I am amazed at how many balance transfer offers I get in the mail. I feel lucky because my mailbox locks. I feel sorry for people who have an unlocked mailbox. Anyone could steal them right from the mailbox and go to town screwing up their credit!

Most of the credit card companies have wised up and now charge a balance transfer fee which can be up to 3% of the entire amount transferred. When I transferred my balance to Discover last year at 0% they offered the transfers for a fee of $29 each. I made transfers from 3 different cards so it cost me $87 total. Since then I have received $80 in rebates which helps to offset the transfer fees and the small amount of interest I have paid on purchases in that time.

Federal tax refund

Imagine my surprise when I logged in to my online bank account as saw that my federal tax refund had been deposited.  I filed my taxes two weeks ago.  I promptly paid off my 0% balance Discover card.  Now my only credit card debt is $1,280 on a 0% balance transfer.  That will get paid off this month.  What a relief to be freeing myself of credit card debt.  

My Financial History

For what it is worth and for anyone who might be interested, here are the highlights and lowlights of my financial history.

I graduated from high school in the early 1980's with no set future plans. I ended up joining the military for a short 6 month stint. Once I got out of the military I started working for a certain pizza delivery operation that advertised "30 minute delivery or it is free".

I ended up managing two different stores and making about $24,000 a year. I left that job and decided to go back to school and get some type of college education.

I chose to get an AS degree in a healthcare field that in 1990 paid me about $20,000 per year. I earned merit raises of about 5% each year and had the opportunity to earn additional income at a second job. The most I ever grossed was about $36,000. I managed to put away about $25,000 in my retirement funds during the 7.5 years I worked in healthcare. During this time I was also going to school part-time so I could get a "real" job. I did not pay much attention to paying off debt or establishing an emergency fund.

I then quit my full-time job and went to school full-time for the last 18 months of my education. I earned very little and lived off of what little savings I had, credit cards, and student loans. The kicker was that most of my student loans were unsubsidized, meaning that they accrued interest while I was in school, due to the fact that I had worked full-time prior to quitting my job.

Graduation came and I had a $18,000 in student loans, several thousand in credit card debt, and a job offer for $41,000 a year. The most money I had ever made. I doubt that anyone in my immediate family had ever made more than that. Shortly after I started working I moved my 401k into an IRA. This was the height of the tech bubble and I saw half of my $25,000 savings evaporate in 9 months.

I have been with that same employer for the past 8 years and now earn $105,000. In the time that I have worked my "real" job I have never had one month that I did not have some type of credit card debt and most of that time I have had a car loan.

Today I am close to paying off my credit cards, I owe less that $10,000 on my car, about $10,000 on my student loans, I have a little money in the bank, and my retirement assets are worth about $82,000. I still have miles to go before I am financially comfortable but looking back I can see I have come a long way.

Yikes!!! Another bad day on Wall Street

We all should be used to the ups and downs of the stock market lately. I have decided that I am not going to make any changes to my holdings right now. To do so would only risk further losses. Afterall, these are just paper losses right?

Again, I am not needing my retirement money for another 25 years which is plenty of time to see some significant upside activity.

MySurvey.com income

I received my first $10 check from mysurvey.com the other day. This will go into my savings account. I am scheduled to receive another $10 check in a couple of weeks. Nothing like a little easy money and ten bucks is ten bucks!

I also earned $40 in rebates on my Discover card. This quarter they have a promotion whereby you can earn 5% cash rebates on hotel charges (up to $800 in charges, I believe). I was able to charge a hotel that I stayed in for work on to my Discover card and earned $35 in rebates. Now that was really an easy $35. I also had some residual cash rebates in my account so I was able to apply $40 towards my balance. Discover will only let you apply or redeem rebates in multiples of $20.

New computer purchase

My home computer died a little over a year ago and since then I have been using my work laptop for my primary computer. I would like to buy an Apple Mac but the fact that I have never used an Apple and I have not heard the best reviews about Quicken for Mac have deterred me.

I am almost ready to make the leap now though. I saw that Amazon.com has the Apple MacBook MB061LL/B 13.3" Laptop $1,024 after a $75 rebate and I also have $105 in gift certificates that would bring the price down even further to $919 is prompting me to make some decisions. I am eligible for a 6% discount through my employer but then I could not use the rebate or the gift certificates. I know I could get other brands cheaper but I have heard so many good things about Apple computers. If money were not an object at all I would really be interested in the new Macbook Air that fits in an envelope.

I am a little afraid of the unknown with an Apple. Will I have any trouble setting up my home internet service and wireless network? What is the customer service like?

Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

January 2008 Income and Spending

Even though I spent $194 more than I took in for the month I think I did a great job of sticking to my budget. Key spending categories are:

• Allowance $90 under
• Groceries $3 over
• Household $107 over

I had a one-time unexpected expense of $120 related to burglar proofing my home. I paid down$2,215 of the 0% $4,000 credit card cash advance that I took out. As noted in my earlier posts, the remaining amount will be paid off during February along with my 0% balance on my Discover card. The credit card paydown was the primary cause for the $194 overage.

I earned $16 in interest income that is not shown on the table above.

All in all tracking my spending has really helped me to keep it in check throughout the month.

January 2008 Net Worth Update

It was no surprise to see that my net worth took a hit from the stock market downturn in January. My 401k and IRA accounts lost $3,945 despite me investing an additional $746 in them last month. On a brighter note, although my total credit card debts went up I am going to be able to pay almost every penny of them off in February from my federal tax refund and other funds. I have earmarked an additional $1,700 to pay them down in February on top of my federal refund. Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed that no surprises pop up that could blow me off course.