September 16, 2008

Well, isn’t that dandy, Wall Street?

And what does dandy, mean, anyway? (so asked a friend of mine, today. I know what dandy means.) Current news has Merrill Lynch selling itself to BofA, Lehman Brothers bankrupted, and A.I.G. and WAMU on the mat.

What’s a girl on a quest to do? Contrary to all the other doom and gloom, or PANIC! articles out there, though, this article by Brett Arend has a few bits of rather sensible advice, my favorites in bold:

6. Stop pulling a Monty Python when it comes to your worst investments. If you ever saw John Cleese and Michael Palin perform their famous skit about the dead parrot, you know exactly what I mean. No, your Fannie Mae shares aren’t “resting.” They’re lying at the bottom of the cage with their feet in the air. What more do you need to know? So stop waiting for them to “recover” before sorting out your portfolio.

7. Don’t panic. Journalists, like markets, tend to move in herds. And by the nature of their jobs they write about the plane that crashes instead of the thousands that land safely. Remember, too, that pundits want to seem really wise by putting on serious expressions and saying things like “we don’t know how this thing is going to play out,” and “the situation could get a lot worse”. Bah. Guess what? We never know how things are going to play out. And the situation could get a lot better too. That’s the future for you.

8. When it comes to your short-term money needs, nothing has changed. Any money you might need within the next year or two should be held in cash or equivalents. That was true two years ago and it is true now. The stock market is no home for money you may need urgently. It could fall 30% or jump 30%. Nobody knows. You can get a one year CD paying 5% right now, and it’s federally guaranteed.

Seriously, a Monty Python reference? Perfect. It’s a toss-up, really, between that and that very salient point that Nobody Knows what will happen in the next six months, or heck, six minutes in some cases.

I’m not a fan of suggestion number 4, to set up a HELOC for emergency cash, though. Isn’t relying on credit in case of emergency just a step away from relying on credit? It doesn’t really seem worth the fix you might find yourself in by depending on a line of credit that the bank could very easily close off.

I already know that my deposits, minimal though they are, are covered by the FDIC over at WAMU. My other deposits are at Citibank, Emigrant Direct, ING Direct, well under FDIC limits, or in a family member’s debt ledger, so that’s pretty much a loss no matter which way you cut it.

My Vanguard retirement holdings, however, are not covered by the SIPC. Then again, my understanding of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation is that it does not exist to function like the FDIC. It’s a protection against fraud, or loss of actual stocks and bonds when brokerages go bankrupt, not against the loss of value represented by those stocks and bonds. The retirement account will continue to accrue more shares than value, and I’ll leave well enough alone.

Karen’s reminded me that while I still feel like I’ve got a foot on the ledge, I’m in FAR better shape than I was just a year ago, and I’m going to keep working at the savings and asset building no matter what happens in the economy. If I can pull the belt any tighter, I will, but I’d like to avoid corsetting while I still can.

What, if anything, are you doing?

July 8, 2008

Overpaid at the grocery store

I was tricked. No, it was really my fault. I intended to pick up a slab of Pork Country Ribs that were on sale for 99 cents/lb on Sunday. I was in a hurry, so I picked up one of the slabs in the rack right next to the big red sign proclaiming: Pork Shoulder Ribs: 99 cents/lb!

Unfortunately ….. it wasn’t really the right package. Even though there were no other packages of ribs right next to the sign, I failed to do more than wonder why the package was $10.31, assumed that it was ten pounds (it was only 4.4 pounds), and paid more than twice the price I intended to pay. Had I not been in a rush and preoccupied trying to figure out if I was going to meet with BF for dinner, I’m certain I would have double-checked that price and realized something was wrong before I got to the checkout stand.

My distraction pretty much derailed my budgeted grocery list, and I didn’t get nearly enough for my money. As I look at the ad again, it’s not specific about what brand of pork was on sale, either, so I’ll call later and find out if it’s possible that it wasn’t just a mistake on my part.

Either way, I’m a bit irked at myself. I’m usually so careful, and I just messed up. Phooey.

May 20, 2008

O iPhone, how you frustrate me!

It’s been a long three months with the iPhone, and the last two haven’t been very rosy at all.

Apparently, the phone isn’t accepting (or registering) phone calls, randomly, and doesn’t necessarily deliver all of my sent or accept received text messages. It also pretends that calls aren’t coming in when I’m using other features like email or internet, or vice versa, pretends calls are coming in and kicks me out of the applications when calls aren’t actually coming in. >:(

I’ve spent a good three hours on the phone with AT&T and Apple, and spent another two hours at the Apple store troubleshooting the dang thing. The guy at the Apple store was nice enough to just replace the phone, but like a fool, I hadn’t backed up all of my contacts, songs, and photos to iTunes because iTunes doesn’t work on my home laptop. *feeeeeh* Since I hate keeping personal information on my work computer, I decided to go with Option Idiot: just don’t back it up. And then don’t plan ahead for phone replacement. Luckily, the guy was also nice enough to burn a CD of my photos for me.

Now I get to reenter over 200 contacts.

Naturally, this leads to great temptation to find the money to buy my own Mac laptop to replace the 5-year-old Vaio that always has to be plugged in and has a perma-dark screen because the brightening function doesn’t work anymore.

Or, I could just get my butt in gear and figure out how to make iTunes work on my computer at home. Yeah. That’s the sensible option.

October 4, 2007

October Snapshot

I’d forgotten to include my Rollover 401(k) from the job I was working when I turned 21 in last month’s Snapshot. It looks like I have a “high” net worth if you just do the simple arithmetic here, but that’s all tied up in retirement and dedicated loans or funds. I’m still cash-poor and have a long way to go before I meet substantial goals and most especially before I reach a comfortable level at which I can start funding recreational goals.

On the plus side, there’ll still be something left over after the BT debt is paid off. Either I was very pessimistic or saved much more than anticipated for that to happen. I call pessimistic. And that makes for a pleasant surprise.

So, no more thinking of what might have been had I not made stupid decisions earlier this year, and on to more positive thinking! Relying entirely on myself and just going on: that’s the ticket!

I’ve decided that 40% of the check, which still hasn’t arrived, will go to a savings account for taxes, 40% will go straight to the e-fund, and the last 20% will go towards expenses Oct-Dec. That’s mostly because I increased the 403(b) contributions so much that my paychecks will be miniscule. It’ll all shake out in the end. More untaxed retirement contributions lower the taxable income, I calculated what the difference in take-home would have been and supplement from the bonus, and the rest goes to savings. Win-win-win! Or so the plan goes…..