About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
Read More
September 24, 2008
Wow, it’s amazing how much brighter my outlook is now that I’m not in excruciating pain. I always forget how much pain, self inflicted or disease related, affects my mood.
In the interest of getting it off my chest, and thus (with any luck), off my mind: I’ve been eaten up by the gimmes. (It’s strange, confession really IS good for you.)
Not a surprise, really. I’ve been quite focused on purging, cleaning and organizing, which is great, but since it’s been rather intermittent, it creates a bit of mental vacuum.
Which leads me to ….
A new laptop. We knew this. I’ve wanted a new one since 2006, but have held off in part thanks to Kira’s post about saving old computers and knowing it’s not in the budget. If I were to give in, I’d still have to wait until Black Friday, so it’s really just best to get a replacement battery. It’s just a matter of finding a reputable place to buy from. Decision: Get a new battery. Hold for another 3 years.
A new business/interview suit. Because I want to look snappy. (Uh- huh. That’s the whole of it.) Not a good enough reason, when the suit fund’s still a fledgling. Decision: on hold.
A cruise. HS friends and I have been talking about going on a little 3-4 day cruise to Mexico together for years. It’s been about six years now. Girlfriend and I were on the phone yesterday and she’s determined that we’re really going to do it!! And she wants to go in November. Lordy. Well, I have $268 in the travel fund. This could be a birthday gift for BF, since he was just complaining that we *never* travel together because of my schedule. I’d have to scare up another $300. Decision: maybe, because it’s a potential birthday gift and right now I just have a cute toy for him.
Pretty shoes. I don’t actually want to own more shoes. I don’t even want to store the ones I DO have, so this is just a symptom of mouse+cookie=craving. Also, I’m supposed to buy real quality when I buy from now on. Right.
September 23, 2008
I got a random email from BF’s relative the other day, a forward actually, asking if this relative was the person who had told Other Friend that I “also had an econ blog.”
Hrm. How did friend, much less relative, know that I had anything to do with blogging????
Uh huh. BF!!
Grr….. BF got his, of course, and I let the matter drop telling relative that the blog was a secret and I wasn’t sure that I was ready to come out with it to the rest of the world. I assumed (hoped) that was the end of that.
Today, however, I was chatting with Mentor who mentioned that she’d overheard that another friend of mine, connected with the same group, was sharing that I was interested in financial-related work and if anyone knew of any position for me …? ARGH! What the heck is going on? And to add insult to injury, Mentor scolded me, “BAD idea. Now is the WORST time!”
I know. I know that it’s the worst time, I don’t have any interest in jumping into the shark-infested waters while they’re roiling with blood, and I especially know that dabbling in PF blogging does not a financial advisor make. I don’t have any formal education or background in finances or banking, so I would obviously pursue some form of education like accounting classes or an MBA program if I decided that was the route I wanted to take. *huf*
I’m just a little aggravated that practically a whole congregation of people are now aware of my propensity to finance blog, and that … really … bothers me. And the fact that random friends are trying to scare up jobs for me in the financial sector without my knowledge, without my consent, and I’m sure with good intentions but apparently little or no comprehension of the market, sort of bothers me, too.
I might be overreacting, but I’m a bit annoyed.
Please. Good intentions I understand, but a little consideration? It’s not just that I’m less than comfortable with that particular kind of networking because it’s little more than trolling, and indicates a lack of finesse or professionalism that comes with knowing your industry and your goals. I think it comes off as naive and desperate, as though I’m incapable of focusing my efforts where they’d be most effective, and I’ve got to take the shotgun approach in an attempt to drum up any opportunity, anywhere.
I’ve never been terribly concerned with the exact opinions other people had of me, but I do insist on projecting at the very least, professionalism. I don’t much care for the potential of gaining a reputation for naivete, desperation or aimless. And I know that it’s pretty easy for that impression to form.
I don’t plan to say anything about it just yet, I don’t have the whole story and I haven’t spent time with this group of people in a while so I don’t know if it’ll just die out without my saying a word; it’s still more like a scratchy clothing tag that pokes me every so often.
Would this bother any of you? Would you simply accept that your friend had good intentions at heart and leave it at that?
Or at least, a little bit wiser. I got back home last night from a long weekend and boy, am I in pain.
Saturday was a day o’ adventuring. First up was the Embarcadero Farmer’s Market where I was treated to a ridiculous amount of … treats! A cone of salami, shockingly expensive but oh-so-good aged Irish Gouda, a huge round of whole wheat and walnut bread from Acme Bread company. Throw in a couple pieces of fruit, and our hikers’ lunch was complete.
I’d so been looking forward to getting out and about that, unfortunately, I never questioned our destination or trail. We invited a rather veteran hiker to lead the way, and many belated regrets ensued. The terrain was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m sure the unfamiliar scent in the air was freshness. At some point, I felt like a Hobbit, packing my way through nature and conquering vast mountains. It really was fun, as long as I didn’t think about the pain. We hiked from Stimson Beach all the way into the Ranger’s Station — which was originally sold as a 6-mile loop, tops — only to find that we had another 3 miles to go before we were back to the car. The worst was that the first 6 miles was continuously uphill, and when the ranger told us it’d take another 1.5 hours, I had a horrifying vision of having to go another 3 miles upcountry. “Our parents were right, you CAN go uphill both ways!!” It was funny for about a minute.
Your resident deskbound homebody was absolutely dying at that point, but refused to show weakness, so trotted off after the others with a stiff upper lip and wobbly knees. Nary a word of complaint passed through my lips, but I sure wish that I’d asked for more than the 2 one-minute breaks that we took, because, oy vay, I was utterly destroyed by the end of that trek.
In retrospect, that was utterly foolish pride. Who cares if my two fellow hikers didn’t want to turn back? I could have taken the car keys and waited for them at the car! Yes, I would have looked like a wussy in my mind, but they knew I’d not hiked in years. *sigh* So very foolish. Luckily for me, 12 Motrins and 4 Tylenols later, I was able to hobble along to a late brunch the next day, and then turn in for a looooong nap before my birthday dinner, thus avoiding the ruination of an entire weekend.
I’m still regretting the (length of the) hike a little. I’d taken Monday off, and it was a relatively quiet day. We visited a friend’s new stable, and I was offered the chance to ride any of their horses …. but had to decline because I could still hardly walk normally. It was heartrending, I miss horseback riding so much, but I’m realizing that perhaps part of being an adult is making fewer foolish decisions, or trying to avoid compounding previous poor decisions. (*cough* bailout! *cough*) Can you imagine adding saddle soreness to the cripple’s hobble I’m sporting now? *eyeroll* That’d be dignified. Instead of riding, we went ’round to pet all the horses, and discovered which of them were “lickers.” At least three of them had developed the hilarious habit of licking visitors’ hands like dogs.
It was a perfectly lovely, refreshing weekend, and while I’ll be sore for another week, and be even longer recovering mentally from the brutality of that hike, I’m proud that I made it through.
Now, for a good long week of work!
I need another day off ….. 🙂
September 19, 2008
What does it say about my sense of money when my reaction to this was: ooh! A bowl of ramen? Yummy!
Ohhhh. Pack of ramen. Bad raise. I get it.
September 18, 2008
An acquaintance of mine is planning a trip to Australia this winter. The cost of the business class ticket?
$18,546
*gasping for air*
A coach class ticket for that self-same flight booked in June went for about $4000. That’s … that’s … I think my brain is broken.
People … who … how? I actually can’t even form a coherent thought about this.
Yes, it’s a business trip and the cost of the ticket will be paid for by someone else. My entire system is still outraged by the notion.
An exercise in thinking like you’re rich.
I had a financial conversation with a colleague recently. ’twas random, we don’t usually talk money. He was on his way to open a new account over at Wells Fargo so that he could move his money out of WAMU, and I dismissively joked that as long as he had less than $100k in there, he’d be fine. Stressed, he said that he DID have more than that in there.
Yipes! I immediately, reflexively, scolded him, and then asked, “why Wells?” After all, they’re the one bank I remember as consistently charging the most and highest fees of all the major banks. It turns out, he says, they’re one of the few banks doing relatively well.
We chatted for some time about banks, online and B&M, and I had a hard time believing that he knew nothing about online banks. He’s understandably nervous, since he apparently isn’t very financially involved, so he just wants protection for his money. I can understand wanting to protect yourself, but I cautioned him not to settle for the first thing that seems safe just because he’s desperate for safety. Also, that’s what causes bank runs!
I advised him to look at INGDirect, Emigrant Direct, HSBC Direct, and FBNO Direct to get an idea of what kinds of online banks and services are available to him.
He wanted to know how I know that ING is safe. Well, darlin’, no bank is ironclad safe, but I don’t see any evidence that ING was offering the kinds of creative, “exotic” mortgages that all the big (B&M) boys were. At least it appears they didn’t participate in the bad-debt-generating feeding frenzy, so we know that’s good. Their primary business seems to be savings vehicles like their Electric Orange and savings accounts, CDs, and basic mortgages.
After we hung up, I realized: what am I doing giving somewhat superficial financial advice to someone has actual money to worry about? My net worth is less than his small change in the bank! Good grief.
I know he started picking my brains, but I felt a tad irresponsible for not assessing the situation more properly, asking more questions, and working with some actual data before making suggestions. Who’s to say I’m ready to play with big boys’ money?
All of that got me thinking: What DO you do when you have that kind of money (in the six figures)? What should you do if you had upwards of $100k in cash at the bank? I wouldn’t imagine that it would all be cash sitting in a savings account, right? My immediate reaction would be that some of it should be locked up in some high-interest bearing CDs, and a certain amount would have to stay in liquid cash savings accounts, but what about the rest of it?
The main goals would be 1) maximizing interest earnings while 2) keeping the money as safe as possible. Both conditions would have to be fulfilled when picking banks. Part of keeping that money safe is diversifying banks so that if one fails, I still have access to money at another one that is (I hope!) still functioning. Another part of that is making sure that all assets are insured by the FDIC: this means keeping the balances below the 100k limit. Theoretically, this isn’t playing-with-stocks-money, this is all savings.
If you had $150,000 in cash, how would you divvy it up and where would it go?
I’d keep $30K in savings accounts, at ING, for emergencies. Next, ING has an 18-month CD at 4.5% APY so I’d take them up on that for $50k, leaving myself a $20k FDIC cushion. After that? I’m not sure. Another $50 would probably be stashed at ED, at 3% APY. That leaves me with $20k. Without doing more research, I’d be tempted to leave the remaining $20k at Emigrant, but I still don’t have a regular B&M in this plan. So I could leave most of that $20k at ED, and a few thousand in a checking account like my Citibank account for paying bills.
I would also consider the Charles Schwab Bank which seems to have solid financial footing right now, and very little credit losses.
If I wasn’t certain about the amounts I already had in the banks, if I wasn’t just-now divvying up and depositing my money which is a more likely scenario than suddenly finding a sack of hundreds of thousands of dollars, I would use EDIE the Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator to determine how much I had in FDIC covered banks, and make my moves accordingly.
Whew! There’s a whole lot of work involved in managing wealth. I guess it might be true what they say: the more money you have, the more time you have to spend thinking about it. Or at least, you definitely have to have a plan if you want to protect that hard-earned money.
What if you had $150k? $200k? $250k?
Shenanigans!
The work computer and iPhone officially hate each other. If it’s not a failed Sync, it’s a failed backup. If it’s neither of those, iTunes refuses to acknowledge that iPhone is plugged in. If it deigns to acknowledge iPhone long enough to perform any sort of task, it’s sure to kick the phone out of its digital system the second I turn my back. Before it does that, though, it wipes out all my alarms and music so I’m stuck without music and don’t know my alarm won’t go off in the morning.
This feels like trying to get two belligerent three-year-olds to cooperate without smearing peanut butter all over the walls, in their shoes and hair, and anything else they can reach.
Or is it just me?
