November 20, 2006

Oooh, book frugality!

a la bookswapping.
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2006/11/bookswapping-and-frugal-gifts.html

Yodlee’s keeping me honest

So far, so good with the Yodlee aggregation … I like the Dashboard! I don’t like how it times me out every 15 minutes or less, but that’s probably healthier than staring at it umpteen times a day.

BUT it’s counting the stupid truck loan in my net worth which drops me down to, basically, a negative net worth. Ugh. FINE. If you want to get all technical and legal and stuff about it, FINE. Fine, I have a second auto loan in my name and FINE I’m technically responsible for it. Humph.

This would probably be why I don’t like trying to track my net worth. Until I disentangle and detach the last tentacles of familial obligations, it’s gonna bring me down. Hrmph. Oh, did you know that octopus arms DO sort of have minds of their own? That’s kind of creepy.

November 19, 2006

United: Just in time for the holidays

oh, and *incidentally* in time to combat Frontier Airlines’ Fly 3, Get 1 free offer:

25,000 bonus miles-Earn for 3 qualifying roundtrips

Travel dates: November 10, 2006 – January 31, 2007*

Ticketing dates: November 10, 2006 – January 31, 2007

Offer: Purchase and fly qualifying United, United Express or Ted roundtrips during the offer period and earn:

• 5,000 bonus miles for completing one qualifying roundtrip*
• 10,000 bonus miles for completing two qualifying roundtrips
• 25,000 bonus miles for completing three qualifying roundtrips—enough for a Saver Award ticket

*First qualifying roundtrip must be completed by December 31, 2006 in order to be eligible for any bonus.

Terms and conditions:

For full terms and conditions, visit united.com/fly3.

My laziness cost me $5 so far ….

When I quit my get-through-college job, I’d only been 21 for long enough to participate in the company’s 401(k) program for about 6 months. Quitting meant that I had to figure out what to do with my thousandish pre-tax dollars that were sitting in that 401(k) because I was not going to cash that out. Hastily, I ran to Wamu, since they’re my primary bank, asked for information that I couldn’t quite puzzle out and signed the paperwork to rollover my money into their Equity Fund (Class A).

Two years later, the account has increased by $150 and will be costing me a fund fee of $15 for 2006. I still don’t know much about the account either.

Now, my slackerism has cost me at least the extra five bucks for the year (compared to Vanguard which has a $10 annual fund fee for most accounts) but I wonder how much it has cost me in terms of performance?

The allocation pie chart tells me that 97.06% of my money is in equities, and 2.94% is in money markets or cash/cash equivalents.

My homework is to figure out what “equities” equivalent Vanguard has (should I check Fidelity as well? I lean towards Vanguard because I’m already using them, but that doesn’t mean that I should keep all my investments with the same company, does it?) and compare the performance over the last two years.

Ok ok, back to making my bread!! It’s a three-day workweek so I have TONS to accomplish before Turkey Day (2.5 if I’m nice to the newbies cause Lil Boss gave me permission to let them take a half day -fully paid!- on Wednesday … if I so desire. Hah!!)

November 17, 2006

Willfulness

I think PaDucky’s lying to me again. In fact, I’m sure of it. To “protect” me. Supposedly, MaDucky’s been making noises about how hard I work and how bad she feels about how hard I work. [She should know by now that that’s not a good idea, that just pushes him to pull some hardheaded foolishness!] He decided to take matters into his hands by not only telling me not to pay for rent this month, don’t put in my fair share either.

I’m SO MAD AT HIM. I know he’s lying to me because he feels guilty, but WHY can’t he see that he’s making matters worse? Even if I chooose NOT to hunt down where he’s unravelling things to patch things superficially because it’s his choice to make, I KNOW my own father looks me in the eye and lies to me. I don’t lie to them! Doesn’t he care how much that hurts? I’m completely deflated right now. And there’s nothing I can really do about it. Even if I just throw in my fair share wherever he’s stretched, it doesn’t solve the problem. No matter what I say, he refuses to see that his choice upsets me.

Besides, just because I tell them not to stress over the bills when they’re short doesn’t mean I’m pretending not to stress… at least no more than I would if I was making oodles of money I could keep but had no idea how secure they were. I have to work overtime no matter what, even if money were coming out my EARS I would still have to work this hard. And how can I help them, protect them, or otherwise support them if he’s constantly working against me?? [I know he’s making some poor decision in this situation, I’ve seen it before and I’ve had to clean it up because it affects MaDucky too.] Is THIS how parents feel when they have teenagers?!??

I know I’m his little girl. I know I’m supposed to be his coddled, pampered, spoiled to death little girl. I’m already spoiled! I’m better off than every other kid out there who doesn’t know bone deep and off the top of her head that her parents love her. What more do I need?

THIS is not right. Lying to your little girl is NOT RIGHT.

Festival Time!

Check out the Festival of Under 30 Finances over at Tired but Happy’s place!

November 15, 2006

Relationshiply complications

This was the post that never made it up from a few weeks ago.

“If this is the man you’re spending the rest of your life with, he should know and he’ll understand.”

In all my months of blogging and years of financial planning, I never thought I would be on the receiving end of this advice. But I was, and rightly so. Why?
Because I’m so deeply involved in my family’s finances and yet feel like I cannot and do not have the right to discuss them outside the family.
Because I feel that it’s my burden to bear and that no one else needs to be privy to the conversation.
Because it’s embarrassing to admit that as together as my finances are, my family’s are not. It’s a huge responsibility that feels like my real job – making sure everything’s ok – but it’s nothing I can really articulate. I didn’t, and don’t, want to admit to myself that I can’t save them from their circumstances. I don’t want to admit to the world that I’m foolish, and stubborn, enough to try.
Because keeping my mouth shut was better than trying to explain why the situation is the way it is to anyone, even BoyDucky. Especially BoyDucky. I’m as bad as PaDucky: he insists on not disclosing financial need to me and I insist on not asking for help from anybody. This is my baggage. How do I check it?

For weeks, I’ve alternated between feeling guilty for refusing to admit that I have a problem, and being determined to fix the problem instead of talking about it. But month after month, things didn’t really get better. I found myself putting off conversations about our future and wondering how exactly I think I’m going to plan our future together with this big blank information-shaped hole that I insist on censoring.

So, I did it. I finally did it. I finally ‘fessed up to BoyDucky. I admitted that there are times I’m fully supporting the family, and there are times when it’s to a lesser degree. There were times I’ve made poor decisions. There were times I should have simply put the extra money towards savings instead of rushing to the rescue. But I didn’t know, because I didn’t ask. And maybe my naïve insensitivity had just as much to do with PaDucky’s reluctance to reveal times of difficulty as did his pride. The communication on this particular front with PaDucky may never change. And I don’t know if and when things will be in better shape.

It’s the first step, the first salvo fired, but it’s not the war. It’s not even the battle. Despite his reassurances that he both understands and expects to help my parents as I would expect to help his, I know that it’ll continue to be a struggle to ask BoyDucky for help when the time comes. I can hardly reconcile myself to accepting that he can support me through school, but to add the burden of my parents?

Still, it’s a step. And we’re reading the same book, even if it’s not quite the same page.