July 7, 2006
In contributing to the family budget, monetarily or in terms of time devoted to searching out a better deal or a better price/package for a variety of services, I’m frequently frustrated by having to work with the non-ideal scenario that is not under my control. Today’s case is ….. auto insurance! I did the usual: research the top companies, compare the exact same quotes with the same requirements, increase the deductible to $1000 since I know I have enough in the e-fund to cover that, drop any unnecessary coverage.
BUT, the things that would really help lower the price are not options!
ie: I can’t age our vehicles, unfortunately we have relatively new cars (2003, 2005).
AND: I can’t improve the family’s driving record: every Ducky in the family has some dings on their driving record. BroDucky most of all it seems, but since cutting him out of the plan is not an option …
On the bright side, the credit union membership that I’d financed my car through three years ago and hadn’t gotten around to cancelling may offer an additional discount for our current company. Or …. the only representative they have is on vacation and they don’t have anyone else available to help. Drat! You know, shopping for insurance is really not fun at all! I’ve been doing it for about a month now and haven’t turned up any good deals at all. I think the only one quote that was significantly lower (about 200-300, per 6 month term) was esurance.com, but I can’t really find any sort of feedback on what kind of company they are. And I think this is really a situation where you do get what you pay for, I’m not willing to compromise that much on quality when the gains are so little.
July 6, 2006
And I don’t mean the cookie.
Kira has very valid points regarding how to prioritize and treat adults as adults. I definitely have that outlook with Sibling after the years of frustration, but for the most part I still can’t shake the knowledge that my parents literally changed everything about their lives in order to give us better opportunities. It’s the curse of the first generation! *shakes fist*
I know, it’s my choice. And Mom has (very good for her!) arrived at the mentality that if Dad chooses to retreat behind wounded pride (rather than just going for the jobs that don’t involve entrepreneurship), well, she’s going to develop some marketable skills on her own and try to take the burden of their suppport off of me for the present. Again, that takes the pressure off me for the present, but the future casts a rather daunting, mysteriously shaped, shadow over me that mocks my efforts to build up the E-fund. Which is why I’m here, and doing this bloggy thing, honestly. Because I love to save and plan and plan and save, but even I get disheartened when it seems like it’s one step forward and a tango backwards.
July 5, 2006
So, in my last post I asked how marrieds/to-be-marrieds deal with familial financial issues and felt that, in my mind, it’s a big enough question to merit its own post.
How DO you handle these matters? Certainly a great big dose of discussion, yes, but … do you have concrete rules or guidelines by which you abide? Do you take each situation as they come and talk it out? Please keep in mind that there are some very obvious steps such as determining our budget and the stretchiness of the budget waistband that won’t be taken until there are rings on fingers and such because there will be no shacking up (though Make Love, Not Debt did suggest a very helpful book to read if the shacking up is for you).
Boyfriend, hereafter shall be known as BF, comes from a well-off family that can and has afforded such things as paying for a vastly elegant wedding or contributing a huge chunk o’ down payment on a home. I certainly can’t and won’t ask for that sort of financial support from my parents nor would I from his.
Obviously, we’re quite at the other end of the spectrum and Dad despises asking for help and especially won’t accept help if he thinks that I would have to hide it (postmarriage) from BF. Which I wouldn’t plan on doing anyway, but it’s still rather an uncomfortable thing to bring up. In any case, BF is aware of my concerns, that I need for them to be “ok” before I leave the home.
And I’m equally committed to saving for my future with him as I am for my parents’ future so until we actually set a wedding date, our financials can remain, basically, our own business and responsibility. (This is also, more or less, a way to keep me from thinking: “You spent what on what?? Do you know that I have bought nothing for myself in X number of days, weeks, months, etc. just to meet Goals 1-6?”)
After reading archive upon archive of pf blogs, I’m tearing myself away long enough to tiptoe in the shallow end. I love the random (and not so random) sharing of ideas and research of all the big ‘uns, and felt compelled to join in the under-30 club if you’ll have me.
I suppose the best place to begin is … anywhere, really, and flesh out the details as I go along. So, hi! I’m a 23 year old living in SoCal with my parents, and trying to work out how to best tackle all my financial goals in the next five years.
I’m living at home because I can help out my parents with the bills, and can provide for them in case of any financial emergency, and in the good months I can really save quite a lot towards my long term goals.
My goals? Well, I’d like to save enough:
1) to put a down payment on a modest home for my parents: in the next 2-3 years
2) to help pay off the sedan they’re upside-down on (a result of a mixed bag of poor financial history): ASAP
3) to fund an emergency and Roth accounts for my parents: over the next 2-3 years
4) to build a healthier emergency fund for myself: within 6-8 months
5) to pay for my wedding (no ring yet, so no major pressure, but I don’t plan on asking Dad or Mom to help at all, obviously, given their very barebones financial situation): in 3ish years
6) to be able to put a substantial down payment on a home of my own: in 4-5 years.
I definitely do not make enough money to easily fund even half of these savings goals (but, who does?) as there are certainly shared living expenses such as rent, utilities, insurance, etc.
I pay a good chunk of those every month, but definitely hold myself back from contributing more than my self-allotted amounts because I know that I am totally serious about saving as much as humanly possible for my parents’ future as well as my own. I’d say the save/spend ratio on the budget is: 55% spending (on all personal spending and bills, including phone bills, rent, bills) to 45% saving. Of course it’s not always that cut and dry, but let’s call that the ideal. Or the real ideal budget would be 60(save)/40(spend). Yeah….. that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.
My parents’ prospective retirement and emergency funds are meant to be a failsafe (I know it won’t be THE answer to their financial situation, but at least they would have a cushion against real disaster) because I know my ability to help them financially, and on a regular basis, will change once I get married. This is a huge question mark for me, how do you marrieds or to-be-marrieds plan or deal with helping out parents?