October 4, 2006
There’s been too much talk of spending and saving money here lately, and not enough of cutting fixed costs and generating income other than that earned from my employer.
So, things I have to do before I leave for Chicago:
~~ Switch our internet plan to Verizon’s broadband. I’m debating which I should sign up for: the up to 1.5 Mbps at 29.99/month for 12 months with a free wireless networking start up kit, or the up to 768 kbps at 14.99/month for 12 months with a free modem. They both come with a free 30-day trial period, and $20 FatCash bonus. I know that this is a far cry from the AT&T Yahoo deal I was investigating earlier but that would have entailed changing our phone service as well and I just didn’t have the time to research the best phone plan through AT&T. Maybe towards the middle of this 12 month term I’ll work on that, in case I can’t get a better deal once the promotional period for Verizon is over.
After Chicago:
~~ Sharebuilder has an automatic investment plan promoted on their website. Since I’ve never invested in individual stocks before, I have no idea what a good deal would be, but I can take a look at this to diversify my investments. If I go with Sharebuilder, I believe Kira has a nice little signup bonus over at CashDuck, or MyPoints has a sign-up bonus as well.
~~ Otherwise I can do some more mutual funds research and pick a couple funds as income funds, not retirement fund. I can continue with Vanguard or consider Fidelity or Dodge&Cox, depending on which ones are more fee-friendly. The reason I hadn’t done this before is because I didn’t want to pay more in fees than I was investing and I need at least $3000 to open an IRA. That hasn’t changed but I should have the decisions made now so that I can move on that with my Christmas bonus money, instead of letting it sit around passively in the E-funds.
My greatest weakness when preparing for a business trip is watching my “special circumstances” spending. It becomes a tug-of-war between my usual budgeting mentality of: “Do you NEED this? Noo .. no you don’t” versus “Do you NEED this? Uh, yes, I do have to be dressed well/look good/professional/better than the new kids on the block! DUH!”
It’s critical to closely evaluate the existing items in the closet and decide what pieces can double as businessy clothes, what absolutely must be purchased, and as far in advance as possible. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m cursed with the twin disabilities of lacking fashion sense and being too d@rned small to fit into most off-the-rack clothing. [Hey, at least I admit to needing a second, third or fourth opinion!] Oh, and does being a total budgetary miser count as a disability? It does when it comes to actually getting stuff, doesn’t it?
Either of these would be sad enough, but together I’m a double whammy of potential-disaster-walking. Soooo … I combat this by recruiting more savvy friends, or getting ideas for what to look out for and shopping as far in advance as possible.
Now that the clothes shopping for Chicago has been completed, I just have to chart out the itinerary so that I can pack exactly what I need.
**If you’re travelling on your own, this could be a huge time and money saver. You save time not having to dig through your suitcase during the trip, packing time before you leave and return, you’re not lugging six pieces of luggage from car to airport to hotel to airport to car. You save money not buying a load of crap you might not need, you’re not paying for extra weight if you go over AND you save your back!**
At the same time, I don’t want to run short, even though I think All-Expenses-Paid includes emergency clothing … HMM!! Just kidding, I’m not sure that would be a valid reason: “Oh, I underpacked cause y’know, I figured I could shop Michigan Ave. Cool? Cool!”
Soooo … the next battle? Is the digital camera battle. I’ve been fighting with myself for the past two years because I bought a perfectly good point-and-shoot 35 mm camera four years ago. Unfortunately, it developed this awkward tendency to “pull” the lower left or right hand corner of the photo giving everyone a maimed, fat-cheek sort of look. The repair shop wants over a hundred dollars to try to fix it, and I’m torn between just paying almost half the price of the camera again or just buying a new digital camera. Over a hundred dollars could buy about a half a low-end or decent dig cam, right?
80% of the year, I don’t have a camera and I don’t miss it. 20% of the year, I still don’t have a camera but I really want one. See? Want. Do I need it? Well, probably not, but when these trips roll around we’re told to take pictures like the paparazzi and I find myself twiddling my thumbs and wishing that I’d just picked something up. Cause you know, I have a few hundred bucks lying around with which to “pick up” that camera. In the meantime, I drool over things like the Canon Powershot SD800 IS. Or the SD630 would be fine.
I still can’t justify the cost when it’s still considered a *luxury* given my other bills to pay, even if I did get a raise. Man, I’m no fun at ALL. I rationalize that I’m saving myself the set-up costs of the camera, the accessories of cabling and casing etc., the photo printing and all that, but am I really gypping myself of photographic evidence of all I’ve gone and done? Am I going to regret this when I’m older and have, at best, a hazy recollection that I was once in Chicago for some thing with those folks whose faces I can’t quit visualize anymore? Or more importantly, what about when I travel for FUN?
Two days before I fly out, I’m not going to go camera shopping. But I’m going to have this same conversation with myself come April if I have to go to D.C.! Or maybe sometime in December. Like that iPod conversation I had for months when I promised myself an iPod for the train ride when I started that new job: “when things get better, you can have *****” I’m such a liar.
October 2, 2006
Someone is learning a very painfully expensive, and painful lesson: TURN IN YOUR BENEFITS PAPERWORK ON TIME!!
It’s not impossible. It’s not that hard. SO DO IT. The alternatives are exceedingly painful.
He has wisdom teeth that are impacted, need to come out, and have needed to come out for some time now. He is now in a lot of pain and a bad financial situation. Wisdoms run close to $500 EACH to remove, and he’s in a bad income month [notice a trend here? Why is it that I …. ach, never mind] so of course he hasn’t the cash flow to cover it.
I don’t know what to do for him that I haven’t already. I have dramatically increased bills at home and I’m not trying to borrow trouble. I can point him in the direction of CashDuck and suggest he get his fingers a-typing. I can suggest that he ask for a cash discount or a payment plan from the dentist, and I can suggest up a storm but only the Good Lord knows if he’s going to actually listen to anything MsMiniducky has to say.
I’m not unsympathetic. I remember horrid dental pain and my heartstrings have been tugged aplenty. But I honestly couldn’t extend myself any further to help even if I had been asked to. And brutally honestly? People have to learn painful lessons when they refuse to learn painless lessons.
I still feel heartless. But my personal journey bodes to be rough enough, I can’t keep bailing people out, and as Claire pointed out, you should only lend money you can afford to give away.
So remember that prevention is worth 80% of cure! Even after paying monthly premiums [10-12 dollars?] and your share of 20%, that other 80% of the cost of treatment in a situation like this can really make a huge difference. Four hundred dollars versus $2000? It’s like buying one, getting THREE free!
September 29, 2006
Periodically I check the rewards offered by my various credit card companies to make sure that I’m not missing out on anything new. I haven’t visited thankyounetwork.com for a while, but I seem to remember that I never redeemed less than 5000 points at a time because you didn’t get a straight dollar-to-point value for denominations of 1500-3000 points. For those amounts you would get a $10 or $15 gift card.
To my chagrin, it appears that the TY network has taken it a step further: most $25 gift cards will cost you 3500 points, and for many $50 gift cards, you must redeem 6000 points! That’s ridiculous! As it is, you have to earn one point per dollar spent if you’re just accumulating points via regular credit card usage.
I hate it when nice juicy bonuses are reduced to a shadow of themselves. I remember my disappointment with Discover when they changed their rewards from doubled rewards to a palty 25% bonus, and I just about stopped using their card because of it. [The $20 Borders gift cards became $25, instead of $40.]
I suppose they make the points much more readily available now by offering a few hundred points per month for Citibank accounts and services holders. Still, I’m not about to sacrifice my Driver’s Edge dollars to convert to points, and I’m enjoying redeeming Chase Flexible Rewards points for cash checks too much to change back to a points-earning card.
I guess I’ll just have to hope that 10,000 points are still worth a $100 gift card when I FINALLY get that many points three years from now!
I had considered using CDs as a short term savings tool, but with the high yield savings accounts so readily available it just didn’t seem worth it to lock up my emergency fund money for a relatively small gain. The decision was made to trade off some monetary gain for convenience in case of emergencies.
I had even considered moving a chunk of the money to my ED account at 5.15% but Jonathon’s rate-chaser calculator showed that it would take about 66 days to make up for the lost revenue during the transitional period.
Recently, though, I’ve noticed a blogger or two mention a 5.5% CD that piqued my interest, and then I found that my very own Citibank is offering a 5.5% CD for a six-month term.
Although I’ve been accustomed to expecting my emergency money to remain agile and fleet of foot, maybe it’s time to consider putting a portion of it (70%?) into a short term CD.
The specs:
Term: 6 months
APY: 5.5%
APR: 5.35%
Opening deposit req’d: $500 minimum
The benefits:
Interest can be paid monthly to your CD, checking or savings. For CDs with terms of one year or less, interest can be deferred until maturity or credited to your CD each month. You can also have interest paid by check at the end of the term.
The fine print:
CDs renew automatically at maturity for the same term. If you don’t want to renew your CD, you have a 7-day grace period2 after the CD matures to let Citibank know, either verbally or in writing. CDs that are automatically renewed earn the interest rate in effect on the renewal date.
1 Annual Percentage Yield (APY) assumes interest earned is kept in the CD for the full term.
The terms and conditions of a Day-to-Day savings account, non-tiered insured money market account (“IMMA”) and certificate of deposit (“CD”) held in an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) are included in the Plan Documents for traditional and Roth IRAs. The rates for these accounts when held in an IRA can be obtained by calling 1-800-CITI-IRA.
2 During the grace period, money can be added to or withdrawn from the CD, as long as the $500 minimum is maintained.
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is accurate as of 9/25/2006. The rate will apply only to accounts opened through this site. A penalty will be imposed for early withdrawal of principal. Fees may reduce earnings.
My questions are:
~ How much should I lock away, even if it’s only for 6 months? I think I’m comfortable with the idea of about 60-70% of my current emergency fund, but that does leave me with only about a month’s worth of immediately accessible living expenses.
~ Is it best to deposit the monthly interest back into the CD until maturity? I would assume so, in order to compound the interest and achieve the APY. Or am I illogically working that out? It’s kind of early, still.
Scenarios:
$6k, 6 months, 5.35% APR = $162 interest
vs
$6k, 6 months, 4.88% APR = $148 interest
OR
$7k, 6 months, 5.35% APR = $189 interest
vs
$7k, 6 months, 4.88% APR = $172 interest
Hm, it’s a pretty small difference…. but every little bit counts, and I wouldn’t be losing any interest accruing time since it can be opened and funded directly from my Citi checking account.
September 28, 2006
If you have a serious case to make (that does NOT include “oh, uh, whoops, you mean I DON’T have $150 bucks extra?) then you should contact everyone involved and explain -nicely, but firmly – what you felt happened and why the company should reimburse you.
In recent weeks I had a one-two-three combo of having a large payment withdrawn from
my bank account [the one I only keep rent money and car money in] twice and subsequently got hit with an overdraft fee for the second withdrawal as well as a second overdraft fee for a small check that was cashed the day after my account was overdrawn.
That was $50 I simply could not let lie by the wayside. Maybe banks can make their money off of me when I’m filthy rich and $50 is scrounged sofa change but I’m definitely not there yet!
I called my bank as soon as I saw the first overdraft and explained that
1. the first withdrawal was due to an error on the part of the merchant,
2. I understood that I would have to work with the merchant to resolve the issue,
3. BUT I wanted to inform them that I was contesting the second withdrawal so I was not ignoring the problem.
This has the benefit of letting your bank know that you’re on it and they will be far more lenient and informative than if you just let it go for a while until the merchant resolves the issue and refunds your money. It had a bonus benefit, too, which I’ll cover in a bit.
I called the merchant next and explained that
1. the original payment had been scheduled online,
2. that the scheduled payment did NOT appear on the list of pending payments as it has always appeared in previous months,
3. because, I understood that if a scheduled payment drops off the website for any reason, the merchant still considers me responsible for the missed payment
4. so I scheduled the payment *again*
I asked the merchant to reimburse me for the amount of the payment and for the overdraft fee incurred. They accepted a fax of my online banking transactions as proof of the double payment and the overdraft fee and, although they took about two weeks to send a check for the overdraft fee, the payment amount was back in my account within a few days.
The bonus from contacting the bank was that they actually reversed the second overdraft fee, without even being asked to!
After talking to about four different people [three from the merchant, and one from the bank] I came out free and clear and NOT in the hole!
Go ahead, give it a try!
September 25, 2006
[of the Joneses with whom we try to keep up.] was the note I found on my credit card that was left with a friend to pay for my and BoyDucky’s share of dinner.
Actually, I was with BoyDucky’s friends/family all weekend and all I was trying to do was to pay for our portion of the bill ($44). We had to leave early to return the rental car, so I asked a friend to just sign for me. But later I found out that the card was “rejected” again. Because it “didn’t work.” And “they don’t take that kind of card.” Mm-hmm. BoyDucky’s eldest sibling is genius at blocking my attempts to pay for most meals and all I can do is protest and walk away shaking my head because unless I get involved in underhanded trickery which involves paying for the WHOLE meal for about 12 people, there’s nothing I can do to make them use my credit card. Well, he’s genius at doing it to almost anyone he wants to do it to, but that’s beside the point.
*sigh* So I inadvertently saved $44 but it touched a nerve. To begin with, I’m not the girl who likes having boyfriends because that means they never have to pay for anything. That’s just unfair.
For another thing, I just can’t help but wonder, just a little, if the treating stems from their knowledge that I don’t have money to slosh around. I know it’s probably just their upbringing – with Asians, the eldest usually pays for all- and I know that he didn’t do it to make me feel bad, but it’s sort of a sensitive thing for me right now.
My sensitivity is that it does help that I’m not paying for all these meals out so I feel like I’m taking advantage of the situation. That’s definitely not my intent, but between paying for rent, all the gas/groceries for the family, and some utilities, things are definitely tighter and there is far less disposable income available than I’m comfortable with. It seems like with all my cuts in personal spending or the lack of personal frivolous spending, I should have SOME breathing space in my bill-paying allowance, but I definitely use up every last bit of it each month.
A lot of this month’s was generated by unexpected miscellaneous expenses that have to come out of pocket:
Microwave died on 8/20: $98.80
Replaced another flat tire on 8/23: 53.95
MaDucky’s dental on 8/25: $85
Dog licenses: $30
I should be grateful that all these expenses come up and still manage to stay very close to my expense budget, but all I can think of right now is that I HATE FEELING POOR. I hate it. I hate that I can’t just make a purchase without immediate flashbacks to my balance sheet, I hate that I can’t stop analyzing every expenditure in terms of what else it could have bought, I hate worrying about making ends meet and I hate feeling Poor.
I know that what that really means is not that I want more things, that I need more things, but that I just want freedom. Freedom to decide for myself whether or not I can have something, rather than saying it doesn’t matter if I need it, I can’t afford it. Freedom not to fear making a mistake if I want to make a career change, freedom to have one thing without sacrificing everything else. Freedom to relax, for heaven’s sake!
I am my own, only, financial safety net and I don’t like this feeling. This feeling that financial disaster is just one little incident away. A car accident, a train wreck, a medical emergency. Even worse, any one of those things involving either of my parents because they’re my responsibility! argh! Of course, it would emotionally just kill me if anything happened to them, but purely practically speaking, I would have to choose between working to support them and physically taking care of them every single day that they needed care and attention. I can NOT imagine how single mothers do this alone. Seriously.
I know that I have the e-fund that’s slowly being funded but that’s for real life emergencies and both it and the retirement funds are inviolable. They may lack funding when some months are tight but they are never to be raided, especially not for optional LIFE&fun things.
So sometimes, despite BoyDucky’s admonitions that I feel guilty for things I really shouldn’t, I feel like my financial insecurity or seeming dependence is highlighted when people pay for me. I need to know they’re paying because they want to, or when it’s their turn, but not because I’m poor. Now there’s an awkward conversation to have.