July 12, 2006
So, it’s July 12th. 11 days after July 1st. And I don’t have my new title, nor the raise that SHOULD come with it. Why? Because my supervisor/boss and his boss are super-busy and haven’t had a chance to talk to me yet. Yeah yeah, they have a wedding to plan, deadlines to miss, and travel to arrange, all the usual excuses around this time of year.
So even though I “know” that I’m supposed to get them, I don’t KNOW that I’m going to get them, ya know? I have no details. Other than it’ll happen. Eventually.
Naturally, I feel like – even though it is likely nothing more unusual than the delay is due to the fact that they’re very busy, can’t manage their time worth a hill o’ beans, and they even dropped the ball big time on a Major Deadline because of their little wedding project –
1) I’m not going to GET the promotion OR raise after all. (no rational reason for this. In the last 8 months I’ve accomplished goals that haven’t been hit in years, logged more time and work hours than my workaholic boss.)
2) They’re delaying so that they’ll hit my 2-year anniversary mark so that they can give my coworker an undeserved, equalizing promotion. (rational reason for this: they actually have a SCHEDULE for promotions. Two years, first promotion. I’m a few months early. 4, actually. And she and I were hired and started on the same day. And she’s a bratty, tantrum-throwing troll.)
3) Any Number Of Disastrous Things are Brewing. Not in my favor.
Again, even though I “know” that it’s gonna happen and that I’m supposed to come up with an new job title that’s *snazzy* and *important-sounding* to match all the work that I’ve taken on and pushed through, I’m still on edge. Because it hasn’t actually happened yet. And it’s making me a little stir crazy.
And at the same time we’re trying to start interviewing for what should be my former position (actually, to replace a departed coworker, really). A position for which my friend would be perfect, and also incidentally needs in a major way. But I can’t seem biased. Though, I personally want him to get it and and feel that professionally, he’s right for the job.
So when all this is resolved and dust settles, I may be able to intelligibly post about How Raises and Promotions Seem to Work in a Small Office. (population: 3 student interns, 4 full time staffers, 1 supervisor staffer, 1 reigning Boss). Until then I’m going to be nervously shuffling my projects around my desk and trying to work through the increasing anxiety.
July 10, 2006
I previously touched on a few things I wasn’t happy with in working with my Citibank accounts system, so I thought it’d be fair to do a full assessment.
Pros:
** Immediate online access to all my checking and high-interest savings accounts. (I suppose this could be a con for those who don’t want easy access to their savings, but I find that it just doesn’t make sense to have emergency money that’s not readily available.)
** Linking Citicards: You can link all your Citi branded cards and it will show your basic card information such as total balance, amount due, amount available, and some transactions. I don’t particularly need the transactions as I just log on to the Citicard account but it’s still handy.
** Ability to show or mask all your account numbers: Let’s be honest. I’m simple. I want to be able to do stuff online, and not have to lug every single account number around with me in my head or wallet. I can just show the account numbers so when I call with a dumb question, I don’t have to fumble around looking for any bank account information that I don’t have.
** Next Day Transfer: double -edged ability, this one. It’s great for a one day transfer of my savings from my WAMU account which is loads better (and worth 2-3 days of interest) than the transfer times I had with ING or ED. But it can be a con as well.
** Awesome sign-up bonus — when they pay you. My signup bonus was $100 for opening a checking account (after 90 days) and another $100 for linking and paying a Citi credit card online (I don’t remember how long it says I have to wait for this part). I haven’t seen my money yet since I opened the accounts at the end of April so I still have a few more weeks before they’re late. I’d opened a checking account a few years back just for the bonus and closed it soon after, and they waited a while to deposit the money but didn’t give me any problems. Feathers crossed that they’re still as hassle-free this time around!
** The requirement of having a checking account with them was good to me because they give you a set of free checks (not just starter checks, printed ones) which is convenient if you just use a few checks.
** Thank You Points: the break-up radio commercials ads may be annoying, but a little extra for free is always good. With these points I may eventually be able to liberate those stray points that never quite add up to a good reward ($100 GCs = yum!)
Squawks:
** So far it doesn’t look like they’re terribly prompt with interest payments, and I’m not a fan of the rolling statement date. I’d gotten used to the last of the month statement-ending-date with ING and ED. That’s minor though.
**As previously mentioned: The savings accounts are money market accounts, which means there’s a limit of 6 transactions per statement period. Ideally I wouldn’t need that many, but I’m still working out the allocations and everything, I need some slack!
** Next Day Transfers: from outside institutions are unreasonably restricted, very annoying. (see previous post). I can understand if this were a transfer into a checking account in which case they’d be protecting themselves from people who transfer ghost money and write bad checks which may not be caught for a while, but these. are. savings. accounts!! I can only try to transfer money out, which just wouldn’t go through anyway if I didn’t have the money!
Hm, I guess I’m more a fan of Citibank’s new accounts than I thought.
Hope this is useful for someone out there 🙂
I did decide to check the numbers again, and I seem to recall that Vanguard probably has some sort of calculator that tells you how much is REALLY taken out of your check if you contribute X amount of dollars. I’ve played with something like that before. But before I could find that tool, I signed in to see a new Retirement Income Outlook. It graphs your current contribution of your average monthly contribution, and shows alternate monthly contributions on the x-axis and how small increases could increase your (estimated) monthly retirement income on the y-axis. I’d show it here but I still don’t know how yet … that’ll have to wait until I learn a little more than basic blogging!
But it also had a sidebar that sums it up:
Can you live on $527 per month? That’s the amount we estimate you may have in retirement. This estimate is based on:
- Your average monthly contribution of $108.
- Your current account balance of $1,496.
How cute is that? No, but thanks Vanguard!
Ok that totally sidetracked me but I need to stop procrastinating on my work or the next few blog posts will be: “Unemployment: how it screws MiniDucky’s retirement and savings goals!”
July 9, 2006
of denial….
The Women in Red of MSN recently had a discussion about their frustrations with maintaining a budget that would allow them to accomplish the financial goals they set for themselves (ie: get out of debt, save for emergencies, retirement, etc.) while their friends lived a totally different lifestyle. At first I thought, “that sucks, I’m glad that’s not how it is with my friends who are still, though post-college, not spending much more than they did when they were college students.” Plus, after paying our first auto insurance premium (nearly $1000!!) I’d resolved to spend absolutely no more money between now and the end of the month. In fact, I’d *sigh* virtuously decided, I was going to return the great deals I’d bought at Macy’s because even after the extra 15% off, it still added up to $60 for a tank top and a blazer. A very very nice blazer that actually FIT, but wasn’t easily matched, so, ta-ta blazer! But today I discovered that, boy, it’s all too easy to get sucked right into careless, and thoughtless, buying when you’re just hanging out with friends.
I’m normally safe with these two friends as we worked together, whined together (about our pathetic paychecks), and budgeted together but today was just temptation after temptation! Denny’s was the easiest part of the day. We met up at Denny’s for a very lowkey meal and chat session.
Then we headed to Target – which is SUCH a no-fly zone when you’re on a spending diet – and barely managed to escape there unscathed. Well, Married friend and hubby were supposed to keep it to $60: $80. Single friend got her one item but also ended up picking up a wallet for herself while helping me look for one: $20. I held strong at $0.
Then we went to the mall to return my stuff. Of course it’s a scorching hot day again, and just walking from the parking lot to the mall drove us to the food court …. we got away with a bottled water and a cup of ice water. Then we stopped by Hollister in search of a really really good sale on flipflops (very nice ones for about $3, even I couldn’t resist that!) but they didn’t have any. Instead, we ran across nice tank tops …. $12.90, layering tees …. $9.90, we finally walked out of there emptyhanded. Penney’s had a very cute kid’s skirt on sale for $15, and I don’t have any spring/summer skirts …. but the beading was loose on more than one skirt. And on and on went the day; close calls but always saved by some small justification why it wasn’t worth the buy. You know, other than “I don’t HAVE that money to spend.” We finally made it to our final destination: Borders, for some free air conditioning while I got some work done. But I could easily have spent a couple hundred dollars just picking up things that I liked! Thank goodness these friends understand the lament of the empty wallet, I know too many people who like to pressure others into buying just to have Stuff. (Of course, this does explain why I have no cute clothing, shoes, or bags …. but no debt! Yay for no debt!)
I came home to find voicemails on my cell phone telling me that there were dinner plans and movie plans (Islands: $15-$20, movies: $10). Instead I’m sitting at home blogging about how easily “spending time with friends” becomes Spending. *whew!*
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?”)