August 3, 2006

Just for laughs: Guinea pigs are lovers, not fighters

Hope you can read this!

August 2, 2006

Travel: New Airport/Fare information site

Steal Your Travel Agent’s Tricks reveals a new website that may come in handy for travelers who need more convenience in their travel plans. Personally, I’m hoping that ExpertFlyer.com will help with unlocking some good fares for United as I’ve got plans to be flying up north a couple times the next few months and I could really use some good deals.

Other travel tips that I am currently trying:

**Bonus** I did nothing to find this but the some of usual round trip routes that run 167.10 before taxes/fees came up as 137.10! Score!!

Scheduling an open jaw flight: I usually go all the way home (1 hour, 15 mins) and then leave out of my favorite international airport that’s rarely ever crowded enough that you have to be there more than 30 minutes before departure (and this on a holiday weekend!)

This time, I’m going to try leaving from the airport near work (LAX – haven’t been there in years so I’m hoping it won’t be a nightmare!!) From Union Station I can use the Flyaway for 3 bucks and leave work only a little earlier than usual (1 hour) instead of 2 and 1/2 hours early.
I will fly back home to my usual airport, though. Cost? $149 after taxes and fees, plus 3 for the Flyaway.

Holy Late Fees, Citibank!!

I’ve been receiving notices for unspecified Citi credit cards. I have 5 cards with them, and only regularly use one, the others are for BTs [2], emergencies [1] and to maximize the Credit Protection retention program for ten bucks a month [1]. I could only be bothered to skim it for any details that would pertain to me and found that they’re increasing late fees to THIRTY NINE DOLLARS. Not that I ever worry about paying late but IF you did, they’d hit you with a basically 40 dollar fee!! Also, they would then increase your APR to prime rate plus a gazillion%. On all your cards. So, all it takes is one misstep, folks.

That being said, I’ve had mental technical errors before and kind of forgot to send my e-payment on that due date (I can’t help it, I like to keep the money in a high interest savings account until the last possible second. Also I forget what day it is a lot, too.) When that happens, invariably I’ll have trouble getting my browser to work. I’ve called Citi and explained that I had problems sending the payment through and they’ve processed the payment over the phone with no fee. I’ve only had to do that a couple of times, but they were very nice about it and I didn’t get hit with a late fee or any other fee. I don’t know if that’s because I have so many cards/accounts with them, but there it is.

August 1, 2006

Spending and Saving: August

In a very weird way, I like being on a budget because I like to know exactly where every single penny goes. However, my attempt to simplify financial matters so that I can branch out into doing other sorts of research instead of just staring at my online banking pages has spawned an entirely new system that I’ve talked about before. Chunks of my paychecks are allotted to different accounts and theoretically that was to cut down on the detail work. I’m still getting used to it, but since I’m not really at a point where I want to track my net worth, I’m going to try a different kind of tracking, just a very simple overview of what I’m actually saving and spending each month, per check. It’ll look something like this:

Savings (per check)
Budgeted: 200, pre-tax 403 (b)
Actual 1: 200, pre-tax 403 (b)
Actual 2: 200, pre-tax 403 (b)

Budgeted: 540, post-tax E-fund
Actual 1: 365
Actual 2:

Spending (per check)
Budgeted: 75, car insurance
Actual 1: 75
Actual 2:

Budgeted: 360, everything/personal,etc.
Actual 1: 360
Actual 2:

Budgeted: 100, household bill
Actual 1: 0 🙁
Actual 2:

I’m trying to reconcile the fact that my budget actually requires me to make a lot more than I make without overtime. Another factor in the reduced cash flow is my huge increase in 403 (b) contributions but I’ve decided that it’s a necessary evil because I have to reduce my taxable liability somehow and besides that I’ve got a lot of catching up to do! So, weird though it is for a hard-core saver to say: when I come up “short” each month, it’ll be the savings post-tax category that gets shorted because that figure is a high ideal number. I would reduce it to a more reasonable number but … well … I just don’t want to. Ok, I don’t want to because I know I usually work a good chunk of overtime, so there’s no reason not to maintain a high expectation – except for those times I just can’t do the OT. Maybe I’ll have to settle for a range: 450-540.

Money is an emotionally charged subject …

or I must be highly emotional right now.

Just called BroDucky and explained that because of the recent renewal of the auto insurance and the phone bill fluctuating, and his ticket -still unidentified, but I know that it’ll be a hit on the bill- I wanted him to think about if he might be able to contribute a little more each month and to get back to me.
He gives me 200 per month to hold onto for his portion of the auto insurance (we all take turns every two months). It’s just that the timing on that has not smoothed out enough so that I have the correct amount at the time the bills are due so it’s kind of an overage/underage issue.
Theoretically that would be 1200 every six months, enough for a third of the insurance bill with some extra for his portion of the cell phone bill (approx 30/month, if he doesn’t go over). When I add that up: ~ 900-1000 for the insurance (I’m overestimating but I’m not sure how much the ticket and reducing the deductible will cost us. Unfortunately the car loan that PadresDuckies have requires that the deductible be no more than 500 – yet another reason not to like that loan – and I didn’t know that.) Anyway, approx 1000 for the car insurance and 30 x 6 months = 180. If he goes over, he pays the extra, but generally he’s in the realm of 30ish/month.
I made sure to speak entirely in Vietnamese so that my coworkers couldn’t understand what I was saying but also because there are phrasings that sound “softer” or more polite in Vietnamese than English. Plus it forces me to stay calmer because I do get riled pretty easily when it comes to BroDucky and money.
He was very nice and amenable to the request – he thanked me for calling early enough in the month that he could try to figure out how to accommodate and said that he’d see what he could do.

I found myself almost crying when I hung up. Is it because it’s just difficult to talk money with my possibly-reforming brother? Is it misplaced guilt for asking more of him when I think that if he could give more, he would/should/could offer it? [Which is stupid because he hasn’t had a good few months at work and if he has extra he’s a spender, obviously.] Is it because I almost can’t believe we had a short, almost-adult conversation stating a need and a solution? Is it just actual relief/hope that maybe he’s starting to get his act together and understands that he has to be responsible for his actions? *sigh* Whatever the reason, I feel weird about being upset – in the sense that I’m not perfectly calm – after a conversation that could have gone a lot worse.

July 31, 2006

Investing Smarts

Kiplinger’s Ordinary Investors, Extraordinary Results article from their August issue has some interesting profiles of investors who have, thus far, had some very impressive results. I have to admit, I haven’t got a quarter of the knowledge or experience these folks have garnered – and it’s a little intimidating. My reaction is mixed: seeing others accomplish tends to inspire and motivate me. Seeing them accomplish so much so that I can’t fathom where to begin is just plain disheartening.

I stick to it for a couple of reasons. One, I know that even though I don’t know a tenth of what “real” investors know, I can make small changes and slowly push my comfort level and knowledge. Two, there’s , rightly or wrongly, a stereotype that women are A, not investors and B, when they are investors, they’re timid, prone to paralysis, investors. I don’t care for that image one bit and you know what? Maybe I’m not in the majors, nor the minors. Maybe I’ll never be. But, at least I’m in the game — and that’s what counts.

What are YOU saving for?

I’m sure that we all agree that financial security is freedom – but what does that, specifically, really mean for you? After this exhausting weekend, I have a clearer idea of what that might be for me.

I’d like to have the freedom not to have to work overtime over the weekend (ok, this was a work-related spate of work this time).
I’d like to be able to go home on time to do whatever it is people do when they come home at a reasonable hour instead of two hours late everyday and still not worry that I won’t have extra funds this next paycheck.
I’d like to be able to travel at will on the weekends to see BF without being on a financial schedule.
I’d like to be able to get a manicure and pedicure after repeated ice baths retrieving bottled water from tubs of ice and running around in sandals on hot pavement, sand and rocks without thinking, hm, this means no eating out at all this month.
I’d like to be able to decide to go out and get my Master’s degree when I know what I want it for and not worry about how it’s going to be paid for and how I’m going to survive another grueling spate of school/work fulltime.
I’d like to not to have to work so hard all the time.
I’d like to be able to have my wedding now and not five years from now.
I’d like to be able to take advantage of any downturn in the real estate market to purchase a nice nest to make a home in without overreaching my budget.

I know that I’m already blessed: I have a positive balance emergency fund, no personal debt just my family’s, the discipline to continue both, a job that pays a relatively decent wage. But, the decisions to come (more school, marriage, home) will have enormous influence over those current conditions. And I can only hope, plan and save to make myself free to make the choices that are best for the long-term, and not make reactionary, coping, tide-me-over-til-next-emergency decisions.

In the meantime, I wonder, what sorts of freedoms are you all searching for?

edit: I can’t believe I skipped this part of my wishlist:

I’d like to be able to actually indulge in my comic books (TPBs and otherwise) that I’ve been trying to follow, instead of just drooling over them from afar. I don’t mean buying in rock star style, just buying a few every couple months or so. I must still be in comic-ly fulfilled fugue after Comic Con.