Thursday, July 31, 2008

401k Rollover

Phew! Step 4 of my 401k rollover is complete!

1) Call Vanguard, figure out how to get 401k money from old employer- DONE
2) Call old employer, have them send me the forms- DONE
3) Fill out forms, send back to old employer- DONE
4) Figure out how to distribute money to current employer- DONE
5) Send rollover checks to current employer


And BTW, the reps at Vanguard are super friendly and helpful. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner.

I worked at my old employer as an intern for a few summers, and after the first full year (they kept me on the payroll all year long), I was eligible for my very first 401k! I was only 19, but dutifully put away 10% of my money, and my employer even matched some of it! Since I only did that for two summers, and my intern salary was pretty low, the total in my accounts is less than $3,000, but it's MY $3,000!

(More) Reflections on July Spending

Ha, it didn't take me long after posting my July expenses to develop some serious thoughts on the matter.

Having been with my employer for three years, I make a good amount of money. $80,000/yr, my anonymous friends, to be exact. Given the high cost of living here, I'd say my adjusted income is more like $50-$60k. For example, my rent is $1375- and that's only MY share of the apartment! Total rent for the one bedroom apt is $2700, and we had to put up a wall to make a second bedroom! See how crazy it is?

But what's really crazy, is that my nice salary barely supports ME. Just one person- ME. Families of four+ can live off of this salary, but I still manage to spend more than I make (as you can see from this month). I don't have to pay for childcare, extra clothes/food, health care, I don't have car payments (although I do chip in for the BF's gas), and I while my rent would probably cover a decent mortgage, I don't have to pay condo fees/taxes, etc. So where does all of my money go? Well, some months it goes into clothes for my professional work wardrobe (July was an anomoly... hmmm), but mostly it's been going towards travel expenses. Granted, if I had a family to care for, I wouldn't be flying out of town every weekend, so I guess that makes up for part of it. But what this exercise has done is given me a lot of respect for the families out there that have to budget on less money than what I have, and still make sure there is some leftover for the future. Although, without making unfair assumptions, it's possible that a lot of families living beyond their means and are incurring debt to make ends meet. No surprise that money in America is tight.

July Spending

Yikes. For the first time in a while, I'm actually looking at what I'm spending versus what I earn. I usually spend less than I earn, because I have some leftover cash to toss into savings most months, but if I don't have much left over, I don't stress about it because I've got some hefty savings in place already. Now that I'm blogging about how I spend and save money, I would be remiss not to give my expenditures a good, hard look so that someday soon I can properly assess my spending categories and start to... gulp... budget.

I spent the last hour or so scouring my credit card and bank statements to analyze all of the money in and out, and here is what I've come up with:

MONEY EARNED: $4166 (after 401k, FSA, health insurance, gym membership, taxes, etc. This is what is direct-deposited into my savings account each month)

MONEY SPENT: $4,203 Oops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BREAKDOWN: (In alphabetical order)

Beauty: $124- highlights, including tip. Ouch :( The roots were looking pretty bad, I had no choice. But no mani/pedis this month, even though I really needed one before my trip to Vegas!

Cash: $300- ATM withdrawals for items not listed below, to pay for lunches and all the taxis I paid for with cash in Vegas

Charity: $50- colleague's Swim Across America event

Dining out: $165- includes drinks I bought in Vegas. This is considerably less than what I actually spend eating out in NYC, considering that client entertainment dinners are company-expensed.

Drugstore/household: $120

Entertainment: $84- two D.C. United Tickets

Furniture: $420- to buy my roommate out of her share of the stuff we bought together

Gifts: $141- my two best friends have birthdays in July, don't expect this expense next month

Groceries: $61- I stocked up on canned goods on sale. I love canned green beans! Ha.

Rent + Utilities: $1507- $1375 rent, half of $165 for cable and $99 for electricity

Travel/Lodging: $1025- not surprising. I acknowledged from the beginning that this would be my biggest expense category. Items this month include: various taxis (including the $5 taxi I take to work every day), transportation to/from airports (I always take public transportation, but the trains to the airports are still $15 or so each way), hotel at MGM Grand in Vegas, return flight from San Fran for the wedding this fall, two Virgin America flights to Vegas in December, train ticket from NYC to DC (return ticket was free via Amtrak Guest Reward points)

Wedding related: $108- down payment on limo for bachelorette party, but will be paid back by other attendants for part of the cost



This breakdown doesn't include the things I paid for in advance of this month, such as prepaid reunion costs (flights, show tickets, dinner, etc.). But I also paid for travel this month that I won't be taking until later this year. Since I don't have any new trips on the horizon (yet... those are dangerous words), I might not have any plane tickets to buy next month. Watch me eat these words later. Other one-time costs include the furniture buy-out and the birthday gifts for my two best friends. There are no August birthdays in my family, that I know of...

Next month I expect (money in) - (money out) to be a positive number, not just because I will be conscious of spending less, but my paycheck will get a boost! The 20% raise from my promotion will be effective (YEAH!!!), and I will max out my 401k with my bonus, so no more paycheck deductions. And at the end of August, I will have maxed out my social security tax- another boost to look forward to!



Flight deals

I love finding the best travel deals possible (since I travel almost every weekend), and one of the best tools in my box right now is www.kayak.com. Kayak is different from other flight search engines because it helps you find the best airfare available for only the flights you want, and it's so easy and uncluttered. I have pretty strict requirements- I need to leave Friday evenings after work and I usually like to stay at my destnation through Sunday evening, but not arrive in NYC too late, so I just adjust the "depart by" and "arrive by" bars so that I don't get fooled by cheap flights that leave at inconvenient times. You can also select (or de-select) a group of airlines to search from, include a range of nearby airports, and choose from all kinds of other search criteria. Note, I am not sponsored by Kayak to laud them, I just love them so much because they help make my fantasy vacations become reality!

One of the best new features at kayak.com is the "weekend" search function, which will find the best fares to a destination for a variety of weekends over a period of time, perfect for this weekend traveler! Instead of having to separately search for multiple weekends and compare prices, it does all the work for you! That means that I will be more likely to visit my brother in Ft. Lauderdale this fall, and maybe even squeeze in another trip to Vegas, and since my schedule is flexible, I will just go when it is cheapest!

If you're obsessive-compulsive about getting good deals on plane tickets like I am, then you might also like www.yapta.com, which tracks the prices of any flights you are watching or have purchased, and notifies you when the prices go down. You can see at a glance how the prices have changed, and if you've purchased a ticket and the price goes down significantly, Yapta gives you advice on how to get a refund from the airline, if possible. I find that airlines are being stingy about giving refunds these days, though. Virgin America wasn't too sympathetic when my recently purchased ticket went down $70 during their sale, but Jet Blue has awarded me flight credits for lowered fares in the past.

Also, be sure to check out the sale that Jet Blue and Virgin America are having right now.... I really wish I had waited to buy that wedding ticket...

Last of my flight-website shout-outs is www.airfarewatchdog.com. They post amazingly low deals each day found by real people, not computers, and you can stay ahead of the airlines' shenanigans such as checked-baggage fees and discontinued flight routes by reading their blog.

Happy traveling!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Paying for HBO

Last year, after a series of horrible displays of incompetence by my local cable company (Time Warner, I'm talking about YOU!), I wrote a letter to customer service (the phone reps were extremely unhelpful, and even more incompetent, I'm afraid to say) and they offered me three free months of HBO to compensate me for my poor service. Well, my roommate at the time became hooked and suggested that we renew the HBO subscription after the free period ended, so we've been paying ~$15.00/mo now for about a year. At first I found a few things on the channel that I liked to watch, but now that I am home less and less, I realize that I haven't watched anything on it in a few months.

Are any of you addicted to something on HBO that I need to check out? Between my roommate and I, it's only $7.50 each, so I could probably find enough to watch each month that would be worth that much, right? I don't even know if my new roommate watches the darn channel. I'm kind of too lazy to cancel it, in fear that I might be missing out on some awesome programming, so I need to poll you guys and find out if there's anything I need to watch, or if I should scrap the channel all together.

Free shipping at Drugstore.com

I just made an online purchase at drugstore.com (following the link from ShopDiscover to get an extra 10% off using my Discover card!) and I could have sworn the purchase threshold for free shipping was $25. So instead of getting my $15 of goodies, I found some extra stuff that I needed to get to $25. And I'm pretty sure that I saw the shipping fee go from $5.99 to "FREE" in my shopping cart. But then I just looked at the confirmation order sent to me today when it was shipped, and I was charged for shipping! And now, I look and it says that free shipping is for orders of $50+. I wonder if this JUST changed on me, and if I got caught in the transition between when I placed my order and when it shipped/was charged for the items.

Am I crazy? Does anyone remember $25+ free shipping at drugstore.com?


Update: I'm crazy. Aparently the $25 off is for new customers only, and because I put all of the items in my shopping cart before logging in, it assumed I was a new customer. However, I don't remember there being an updated total page after I logged in, although I'm sure there must have been. Customer service has graciously waived the shipping fee as a one-time courtesy because of my mistake. Yeah, drugstore.com! Also, I ordered the products on Monday, and they arrived at my apartment today! Yeah!

Comp Day

Today is the almighty Comp Day, the day when I learn what my bonus will be for the year's worth of toil. I imagine that I will find out sometime later this afternoon between 3 and 5pm, so if you're reading this early in the morning, keep your fingers crossed for me! The bonus I got last year made me very happy, but as the business has not be doing as well this year (although our firm has held in better than our competitors), I don't think there's as much money to go around. Our bonuses are a substantial part of our compensation, because while the salaries are decent, they're not very impressive alone and don't stretch too far in NYC.

Despite the smaller pool of bonus money this year (I assume), I am optimistic b/c my performance review indicated a dramatic improvement from last year, and as such I am ranked in the 1st quartile of analysts at my firm! I am hoping that this translates into $$.

Effective August 1 is my promotion from analyst to associate, which comes with a 20% raise in my salary!!! That's HUGE!!!! Because of all of my before-tax deductions (FSA, gym membership, transit card, etc.) I'm not sure how many extra dollars this will exactly translate into. Also, I will have maxed out my social security tax for the year, so that's an extra kick to my paycheck! I've only invested about $3k in my 401k this year, so I will be maxing out the remaining ~$12 from my bonus. This will dramatically reduce the amount of cash I have leftover from my bonus, but I purposely kept my monthly contributions low in anticipation of this large mid-year contribution. That means I will have a couple hundred extra dollars each month to play with (aka SAVE) that I was previously contributing to my 401k. Additionally, my share of rent is a little bit lower because my new roommate is paying a bit more than my old one, so that's also extra cash I didn't have. Thus, a few new reasons to love my paycheck on August 15!

Anyway, wish me luck on my bonus... I'm trying to go in with low expectations, but even if I'm disappointed, I need to remember all of the blessings that I have that money cannot buy!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

While my boyfriend and I have only been together for less than a year (having been friends for a few), I see great potential in our relationship and we have begun fantasizing about the future, and what we want to do/have. This includes a house/apartment (buy a tiny place in the city or get a huge lake house in the Adirondacks? hmmm? :) ), phatty retirement fund, lots of camping gear, dream vacations, etc. If we do decide to be together forever, I assume that we will be pooling our funds to make these things happen. As such, even though our funds are very far from being comingled, I still think of his money as my money and vice versa when it comes to our future spending potential.

That said, I'm unhappy to learn that he lost $200 playing flip cup while I was in Vegas. Ok, so I lost some money, too ($75), and did not discuss with him my $5o0 gambling budget, so I realize that I'm being hypocritical. It's just that when I make the effort to be frugal on other fronts (clipping coupons, taking the subway instead of a cab, making dinner instead of ordering out) and he goes ahead and spends excessive amounts of money in these categories, I feel like our combined net worth is going down because of his spending habits despite my best efforts to preserve it (gambling aside!). OK, I guess flip cup is also gambling. And he's quite the chugger, so I can see why he thought he would win, haha.

Many of you PF bloggers out there are married or are in significant relationships- how do you deal with or compromise with your partner's spending habits, when they are not the same as your own?

I'm Back

I'm back from my reunion in Vegas, and I'm very, VERY tired. I didn't go to bed at all on Saturday night thanks to a rocking afterparty in a penthouse suite, and Sunday I spent all day going back and forth from the airport after a number of cancellations and delays left me and all of my friends stranded in Vegas (not a terrible place to be stranded, I might add). When I was finally confirmed on a flight, I arrived at the airport two hours early to be sure not to miss it and I was so tired from not having gone to bed the night before that I passed out at the gate and didn't wake up until the jetway door had already been shut. The agent had called my name over the loudspeaker five times, and was 10 seconds away from giving my seat to a standby passenger. HUGE PHEW. Spent yesterday recovering from the red-eye.

Financial summary of the weekend: not too bad! I had been OK with taking about $500 to play with (and probably lose), but in reality I was too busy catching up with old classmates to gamble, and my hour and a half at the craps table only cost me $75. Highlights include our reunion dinner at the Venetian, Cirque du Soleil Mystere at Treasure Island, and clubbing at Jet/after party at the Mirage. My only other expenses were taxis ($30-$40 total- those multiple trips to the airport added up! Luckily it's right off the strip and I was able to share rides), breakfast/lunch ($30 or so, because I forgot to eat on Sunday morning) and drinks (holy cow- almost $100 and I only bought one round!!). Drinks were uber expensive, and I'm used to NYC prices! $16 for red bull and vodka, and $6 for just plain soda water in a glass, out of the fountain sprayer! I was alternating alcoholic drinks with plain soda water, both to make it through the night without falling over, and to stick to my less-alcohol diet. I thought that would make my bar tab cheaper, but it was only marginally less.

All in all, I had a very fun time, even though I'm still extremely exhausted.

On another note, I just noticed today that airlines are having some price wars to multiple destinations, and the Virgin America flight I recently bought from San Fran to NYC for a wedding this fall is $70 cheaper :( Jet Blue will sometimes refund you via a flight credit if the price of your flight goes down within a certain period of time, so I called VA this morning and they said that they do not have any price guarantees, and cannot offer me flight credit for the $70. Oh well, I guess I timed that poorly (stupid sales!). I had watched the price go all the way up to $260, so when it came back down to $220, I wanted to act before prices went up again. Now it's offered for $150. BUMMER! Oh well, that's what I get for planning ahead. I just love myself a good flight sale, and it makes me sad when I miss them.

Flights to keep an eye on: NYC to RIC for a wedding in October; some flights currently being sold for $59 right now... if only I knew exactly when I need to be there for MOH duties, otherwise I'll pay even more to change my flight later.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Vivaaaa Las Vegas!

My Monday post for next week will probably NOT include a spending summary of the weekend, as I'm going to Vegas, and the expenditures will be too absurd. I'm not sure where I got my gambling bone, as I don't think it was inherited (neither of my parents gamble, that I know of), but the thrill of risk/reward is just so much fun. Don't worry about this blogger- I don't gamble more than I can afford to lose, and I'm perfectly happy to walk away from the table when I'm done and not feel the urge to go to the ATM. (Walking away while I'm ahead is slightly more difficult!!)

I first learned how to play poker when I was interning in California as an engineer. I was the only female intern staying in a particular apartment complex, so to stay entertained, I had to hang with the guys, and that included Thursday poker night! I had never played, as I was a little bit intimidated by the rules and didn't want to look stupid in front of my new friends, but one patient teacher turned me into a poker machine. That summer also included some trips to Reno, Tahoe, and my first ever trip to Las Vegas, where I learned how to play roulette and craps. I don't play blackjack because I want to play it "right" and I've never taken the time to learn the proper rules, and I don't play roulette anymore b/c I think the odds are just TOO low (yes, I know they're ALWAYS against you, but...). Craps is my favorite casino game because it's very social, and there are some clever ways that you can hedge your bets. There are ways to stack the odds in your favor, but then you become very unpopular at the table because you're betting against everyone else, and that's just not fun. I taught a bunch of my sorority sisters how to play craps at a recent trip to Foxwoods, and now they're hooked ;) (They'll also be with me in Vegas-- so watch out!!)

NYC is about two hours from Atlantic City and about two and a half hours from Foxwoods/Mohegan Sun and now MGM in Connecticut, but there's nothing like Vegas! The reason for the trip is a college reunion (yes, we're so cool we go to VEGAS! hahaha), and so I bought these tickets back in March for $359, and while that's quite a bit, it's been the average as of late for direct flights to LAS from NYC. Airlines have been reducing the number of flights for this itinerary, which has contributed to the price increase. I bought tickets on Jet Blue/Virgin America to go back to Vegas in December and we paid about $350 direct RT, and that was the cheapest weekend this winter. I guess I won't be frequenting sin city as much as I'd like.

My flight is on Continental, which makes me a little bit sad because I don't think I'll be able to sleep on a 3:30pm flight, yet there will be no in-flight entertainment for me to enjoy, a la Jet Blue or Virgin America :( Continental had undercut them both enough to make a difference, thus I'll be visiting the bookstore before my flight.

Some prelim stats for the weekend:
Flight: $359
My share of hotel at MGM Grand: $103 for weekend
Event registration (includes dinner, a show, and who knows what else): $150

Yet to be determined:
Food, drinks (free on the gambling floor :P ), gambling losses

So, this weekend has already cost me $612 and that's only including one meal! Boy I hope breakfast is offered somewhere.

As for gambling, I think I am willing to lose up to $500. My last trip to Vegas cost me only $200 in losses (my tax refund arrived the day I went to Vegas!!! then I promply lost half of it :) ), and I actually won $100 at the craps table in San Juan this June. If I lose $500, oh well... and chances are that I'll probably be too busy at the pool/ in the club to actually gamble, so the actual loss could be a lot less. It is a reunion, after all, and I'd rather catch up with my homies.

I think it's interesting for me to be discussing my gambling habit on a PF blog, because I try to be super savvy when it comes to making the most out of my money, and then I'll go participate in an activity that is almost guaranteed to destroy my entire 'investment.' And speaking of investments, three of my colleagues gave me a little bit of cash for me to throw on the roulette table for them. I did warn them that they are not likely to ever see that money again :)


Wish me luck!!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hey, Wait a Minute....

When I recently purchased my IndyMac CD online, the yield was quoted as 4.45% APY. The funds were transferred just a few days later from my checking account at USAA, and just yesterday I received the new-account forms in the mail. The form says that my APY will be 4.15%-- Hey, wait a minute!! That's not right...

I called them up and explained the discrepancy, and after being on hold for almost 20 minutes (to some pretty lame muzak, I might add), they came back and said that they will back-date my interest and honor the 4.45% APY rate. I also made sure to request that they send me a new Certificate of Deposit Certificate (redundant!) that states my rate, since the one I received in the mail says 4.15%, and I don't want to have any problems.

Phone call = $117! Which will be a lot less after taxes, but hey... that's my money!

Fears I Won't Confront

Yes folks, I am completely avoiding an aspect of my financial portfolio, because I'm afraid of what I'm going to find. I can deal with the 4% decline in the value of my 401k this year..... not TOO bad, considering what is going on in the market. However, I don't think that I can deal with seeing the amount I've lost in my stock portfolio :(

I can't bring myself to even log in to my brokerage account. The number is going to be so ridiculously low, that I don't even want to know what it is. I'm just considering it to be money that I don't have anymore :(

**DISCLAIMER** Everything mentioned below in regards to investing or to the specific companies in my portfolio is an OPINION, and not an expert one, at that!

It all started last summer after I received a bonus from my employer, and since I already had a lot of money invested in CDs at various banks, I wanted to diversify. Plus they always tell you to invest in stocks when you're young and have a more aggressive investment strategy- 60% stocks, 40% bonds is what they say. So, I set up a brokerage account and wired in some cash. At first it was a lot of fun! Pick companies that I like and BAM! I own part of it! The market was on a steady rise in August, so I felt like a rock star every time I looked at my portfolio and saw all of the green numbers (indicating a positive change). This inspired me to invest even more, until eventually I had invested $27,500. In hindsight, I acknowledge that my purchases were driven emotionally, and not based on sound financial research. I missed a lot of important metrics such as price/earning ratios, expected growth, earnings margins, etc. which is probably why the bulk of my portfolio has declined. I knew that I should study those numbers, I just... didn't.

My holdings, in order of purchase:

*A Gold exchange-traded-fund (ETF) (Ticker: GLD), partly as a hedge, as commodities will rise when the dollar decreases in value, and also just because I believe in the value of semi-rare metals.

*Celanese Corporation (CE), the chemical company that my grandfather worked for, just to be loyal. My grandma owns a lot of it, and so it gives us something extra to chat about :)

*Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), because that place is ALWAYS busy, even at odd times of the day! I have never gone there and not had to wait for a table, so that must mean that they are rolling in the dough, right? Apparently not....

*Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), because the stock looked unstoppable, rising 1-5% a week on occasion! I wanted to get in before I lost my opportunity.

*GOOGLE! (GOOG) One day they will own the world, I am convinced of that fact. Shareholders used to agree with me; now, not so much. Even at $700/share, I thought it was cheap.

*Brazil (EWZ) and India (INP) ETFs also partly as a hedge against US dollar-denominated assets, but also as a view on rising emerging market players. Brazil has become an active player in the global markets, even having developed its own trading exchanges. India is embracing microfinance and I think that it will earn itself a secure place in the global markets, in time.

*Under Armour (UA), my favorite brand of performance wear, and they have recently acquired exclusive contracts with almost every major league sports franchise to supply their uniforms and gear. This has to pay off, right?

*Lastly, but not least.... Citigroup (C) One of my colleagues used to work for Citigroup and thought their stock was really cheap, so he bought a boat-load of it. I and a few of my colleagues who discuss our stock trades decided to go into the trade with him... unfortunately.


SIGH. Big, long, loud SIGH. What went wrong? Well, a few things. August through October, when I bought most of my stock holdings, was a cheery time in the markets. Subprime woes were being mitigated, banks were staying afloat, and everyone was enjoying long weekends at the beach or watching baseball games. Everyone was HAPPY!

Then, gas prices finally began to affect the consumer, and fewer people were driving to go out to eat (Cheesecake Factory or Chipotle, anyone?) or buying retail goods if it wasn't absolutely necessary (Under Armour). Then, banks started writing down their portfolios of mortgages and other stuff no one wanted to buy, and so my Citigroup stock sank like a ship (my colleague still thinks it's cheap and will buy more if it goes below $10/share). My emerging market plays have held in, and Celanese and gold have risen a bit since I bought them, but as they were my first purchases, I bought a lot less of them than of the other stocks I own, since I was just dipping my toes in to start. As I became more confident in my stock trading, the number of shares I purchased increased, as well, and so my later purchases tend to be my biggest ones.

I'm afraid that I've lost more than 1/3 of my investment. I know that I should cut my losses at some point, and I know that somehow they're tax deductible (but not clear exactly on the specifics), but part of me just wants to hold on and wait for the market to correct itself before evaluating the fate of my holdings. In the meantime, as I said, I'm too fearful to log in to my account and face the truth.

Thus, if I ever do a "net worth analysis" on my blog, it will probably not include whatever pennies are left in my brokerage account.

:(

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Macy's Credit Card

No surprise by now that I like to shop... I've recently been buying a lot of gifts and even some gifts for myself ;) at Macy's, and I don't have a Macy's card, which means that I'm missing out on a lot of the "extra 20% off" deals for cardholders, which I'm now thinking could really pay off.

What's holding me back:
1) I don't like to nick my credit rating with new inquiries from opening up cards. I've heard that multiple inquiries in a short period of time will only count against you once, and since I recently opened up a new USAA cash rewards card, I might be able to sneak in a Macy's card without affecting my credit score.

2) I think you get a pretty good discount on purchases on the DAY that you open the card, and since I want to maximize that benefit, I'm waiting until I need to make an expensive purchase... I guess the $183 dress I bought last month didn't count ;) But then I just bought a gift at Macy's for $76 and I could have saved $10 or so if I had had a Macy's card... not to mention all of the special cardholder coupons you get in the mail.

Sigh. I can't decide when/if to do this.

June Spending and Expenses

I've just paid the credit card balances on my June/July statements and thought it might be interesting to disclose my largest expenses... for the record, I do use credit cards to rack up those reward points, but I never carry a balance unless I'm purposely using a 0% interest-card, for which I always pay the balance in full when the interest-free period ends.

Amtrak Guest Rewards Chase Mastercard, balance from 6/13 to 7/12 : $895

Selected items:
Wedding gift at Crate and Barrel: $65
Car rental for the wedding: $44
Gas for rental car: $19
Cable bill: $165 (roommate pays me half along with rent)
Charity donation for friends' fundraiser: $50 (matched by my employer!)
Bed, Bath & Beyond for curtains and rod: $54 (included $12 savings using a $10 off coupon and a 20% discount on the most expensive item)
Two Virgin America flights from Las Vegas to NYC (BF purchased the flights there): $358

Discover Cash Back Reward Card, balance from 5/26 to 6/25: $683

Selected items:
Mini shopping spree at H&M: $50
Furniture at Ikea: $121 (YIKES! I don't even remember what I bought!!!! All I remember was the salad spinner, and that only cost $4!!)
Fancy dress to wear at upcoming weddings: $183
Outlet shopping in Freeport, ME: $300 (got some great deals on hiking clothes, work clothes and some fun summer stuff, all of which I've already worn- ya!)
Champagne for bridal shower: $163 (Will be split with co-MOH)
Cheesecake Factory lunch w/ best girlfriends: $35

This adds up to more than my balance, because I also had a credit applied for a dress I returned at Bloomingdales. I immediately turned around and spent that money on the "fancy dress" listed above.

Other expenses:
Rent: Whole apartment is $2700/mo, my share is $1375 (I had to buy my old roommate out of her share of the furniture we bought together, so I'm charging my new roommate a slightly higher rent-share to compensate me for using all of my furniture. My old share was $1465, as my bedroom is considerably bigger.)
Furniture share: $420 (I paid her 40% of the half she paid for our furniture to account for depreciation)
Electricity: $99, split with roommate
Transportation to work: $5/day comes out to $100/mo



Oh- I just remembered that what I bought at Ikea: two large mirrors to hang in the living room, which I should have remembered more easily, since it took more more than an hour to them hang all by myself.

While I don't budget (yet), I have to say that it helps to type out all of these items myself, as it makes a bigger impact than just reading my statement. I spent way too much money on clothes last month, especially because I wear work clothes 5/7ths of my life and on the weekends I usually just go to some of my old favorites. As I've been traveling every weekend, I just stuff my favorites in my suitcase weekend after weekend and so the other items in my closet are being neglected. (I started a large donation pile to address this problem). Thus, I should not be buying so many casual clothes at H&M, Old Navy, etc.... they just won't get worn as often as they should to make them worth it. As my mom used to say, "anything that goes on your a$$ is not an a$$et!!"

I spent more than $400 on travel-related expenses this month. That's actually less than what I spend on travel/hotels/cars most months, because the hotel was free. I paid for a hotel stay in Puerto Rico, but it was in early June, thus was on an earlier CC statement.

Also to be noted are the expenses I DIDN'T have this month. My hotel stay for the wedding I went to was free, because I had stayed at that hotel last year on a ski trip and they totally botched our reservation, so I wrote them a polite complaint letter, and they sent me a free-stay voucher. Yeah! I didn't think I'd ever be up in that corner of the world again, but it's a good thing I saved the voucher b/c it was less than 10 miles from the wedding! (My mom's other favorite saying is, "Don't underestimate the power of the pen!") I saved $190 on the hotel. I also bought my flights via a Jet Blue sale (paid for on my May CC statement) and was even awarded 50 extra True Blue points for it because it was during a special promotion. YEAH!!

Goal for next month: LESS SPENDING ON CLOTHES! I do not need more clothes!!! I also do not feel the need to stay on the forefront of fashion, so there is no need for me to be constantly buying clothes. Plus, I will not be buying clothes right now until I lose another five pounds, so that I'm not left with clothes that are too big once I fit into all of my existing clothes again ;P Too much weekend eating on all of my crazy trips, I guess.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

How I Timed IndyMac Just Right... Or Did I?

I either timed my investment with IndyMac just right, or at the worst time... I can't decide.

Last summer, when I had accumulated enough money to make significant CD deposits, I decided to test the water by purchasing a 3-yr 2.95% fixed CD with my favorite bank in the whole world, USAA. I figured that the amount I was investing was a small enough amount relative to my savings that I wouldn't have to worry if I needed a lot of cash for a car or house down payment, and why I locked it up for 3 years, I'm not quite sure... again, was just testing the waters.

When I told my dad about my financial decision, he told me that Navy Federal was offering a special deal with 6% yield for 10 months- I'm in! I had gotten comfortable with the idea of CDs, so I purchased a CD at this special rate last July.

Come August, I've become very comfortable with putting my money into CDs, as there is not a home purchase in my near future (will probably be an NYC renter for a while), so I didn't hestitate to find a home for another chunk of change, courtesy of my summer bonus. Navy Federal was no longer offering such great rates, and USAA was competitive, but not as juicy as some other banks out there at the time. The reason why? Because there were a few banks laden with subprime mortgages that DESPERATELY needed some capital.

Last summer was when the subprime mortgage meltdown began (although it had been in the works for years), and several banks were suffering from writedowns on the mortages they had financed. Banks typically package up their mortgages into mortgage backed securities (MBS) that they resell and can be traded on the open market. (See more about MBS here) When the values of the mortgages go down, as they do when mortgages are less likely to be repaid, the mortgage lender has to sell them to investors at a loss. To compensate for the loss of writing down all of the mortgages, the banks then need to borrow money from the Fed to maintain the appropriate level of capital and liquidity. (The Fed will also take steps to make it easier for large banks to borrow money by lowering the rate on the discount window) Banks that are desperate for money will offer the highest rates on their CDs to lure investors to deposit their money. Hey, worked for me!

Summer 2007 was a terrible year for mortgage-laden Countrywide Bank, as indicated by their 5.65% 1yr CD yield, more than 50 basis points (half a percent) higher than the next best yield out there. (I regularly check current CD yields at http://cdrates.bankaholic.com/) I did my research first and learned that FDIC insures CD deposits up to $100,000, which made made me feel better about purchasing a Countrywide CD despite market rumors that the bank might collapse. I purchased a CD from them in August 2007, and since then, the bank has been able to turn itself around and is no longer in such imminent risk of default (that's just my opinion- please regard it as such). And in the meantime, I have been earning a nice 5.65%, with current market rates being an average of 3.75%, and having been much lower earlier this year.

So, given my flirt with danger via the Countrywide CD, I decided to prey on another desperate bank when my Navy Federal CD matured. A quick search on bankrate via the bankaholic link above identified IndyMac as the clear winner with a 4.35% 1yr yield, more than 50 basis points higher than the next best yield. On Thursday, July 10, I did a quick online account activiation, set up an electronic funds transfer, and then left for a long weekend! I really didn't think too much about it, until Sunday when I got a friendly note from fellow PF blogger J. Money with the news that IndyMac had been taken over by the FDIC due to lack of funds. I bought an IndyMac CD on Thursday, and they defaulted on Friday!!! Good or bad timing?

Well, I called the FDIC in a panic in the car while B was driving us home from the beach, and they assured me that my deposit was fully insured because it was below the $100,000 limit. Furthermore, my CD would exist and continue to earn my golden 4.35%, and not just turn back into cash, like I thought it might. (For more information on what the FDIC insures, MyMoneyBlog has a good summary here) Now that the FDIC has taken over IndyMac (once called IndyMac Bank, and now called IndyMac Federal Bank via the FDIC takeover), they will evaluate its assets and try to sell it to another bank. That bank will then either honor my CD at 4.35% or offer me the current market rate, at which point I will be able to withdraw my funds without a penalty before the maturity date. So for now, I am happily earning 4.35% until another bank steps in and decides what to do with it.

Possible outcomes for my CD:

A) If it is longer than a year before a bank buys IndyMac's assets and reevalutes my CD, then I will continue to earn 4.35% until maturity, currently the best rate. (IndyMac is no longer selling new CDs, for now)
B) If a bank buys IndyMac within the year, but rates have gone up, I can reinvest my money at a better rate!
C) If a bank buys IndyMac within the year, but rates have gone down, the new bank does not have to continue paying me 4.35%, and I will have to reinvest somewhere else at a lower rate.

If options A or B play out, then I win! And I timed the market just right, because no other banks are offering 4.35% or better right now.

If option C plays out, then I sort of win, sort of lose, because I will be earning the best rate available, at least for a little while. Then I will be back to where I started, but no worse off.

I will say that the only downside to this situation was the hassle of figuring out where my money was, as the electronic funds transfer took place before I could actually see my funds online, and that made me very nervous. Now it's just a waiting game to see who buys IndyMac Federal Bank, and what they decide to do with my CD.

Also coming up: this year's bonus will be wired to my account late August, and I will be looking for a good place to invest that, too.... I invested a lot of last year's bonus into the stock market, and, well, we all know how that is doing.... :( More on that later!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Selling old stuff on Craig's List

I had a new roommate move in last month, who brought with her a great, dark-wood buffet to put into our already-crowded living room. (Half of which is now a bedroom, thanks to the ease of putting up temporary walls in NYC! That's the only way to make living here affordable when you're first starting out.) The rest of our furniture is dark leather or wood, so it matches quite nicely. I had a 3-yr old light-wood TV stand from IKEA that I bought "as is" when I first moved here, and as such it has some pre-existing scratches and dents but I got it for $80, more than $100 less than retail at the time. I'm now ready to depart with this piece of furniture, since there is not room for it AND the buffet, and they would serve the same purpose, anyway. (And shout-out to my roommate, who is probably not reading this, but just splurged on a brand-new 40 inch Plasma TV! YEAHHH!!!! My boyfriend hugs it whenever we leave the apartment. I think he'd leave me for her if more expensive toys were in the near future...)

My dilemna: do I try to sell it? Or just put it in our apartment building's trash room, where it will hopefully be discovered by someone and be given a proper, loving home? To some, it would seem simple: sell it! Why not make money on it? The reason I hesitate is that I don't know if I can coordinate with people who want to come see it, or even if I feel safe having strangers come to my apartment. I work 6:30-6:30 M-F and am traveling most weekends, and after work I have a host of client events/dinners/etc. that make my hours at home unpredictable. And living in NYC, I don't know how good I feel about having strangers come to see it or pick it up. I'm also a little embarrassed that there are so many dark scratches on it- I might not even get much for it in the first place.

Anyone had good or bad luck selling their old (and heavily used) furniture? Do I just bite the $25-$45 I might make on it and leave it in the trash room?

Weekend Spending

If you haven't read my intro yet, you will soon learn that I travel, a lot. Therefore, my weekend spending stats will usually be a bit high, as I don't have access to the "free" food and amenities in my apartment.

Beginning with Friday night:

*Gift purchased for best friend's birthday: $76

*Tickets to Billy Joel's Shea Stadium closing concert: FREE!
(They were a gift!! An amazing gift, and we got to see Paul McCartney sneak onto the stage for the encore!! Paul performed at the first ever show at Shea with the Beatles, and so it was only fitting that he appear at the last)

*LIRR tickets to/from Shea, two beers, and a water: BF ("B") paid, probably $35

*Cab from Penn to my apt. at 1am: $15 w/tip

Saturday:

*Cab BACK to Penn at 6:30am: $15 w/tip

*Two AMTRAK train tickets to Washington D.C.: $168

*Two Krispy Kreme donuts and a water at Penn Station (my favorite thing about taking morning trains) : $4

*Two 1-day passes on the D.C. Metro: $15.60

*Lunch: FREE thanks to my best friend and her fiance, who packed us lunches

*Admission to National Archives and Portrait Gallery Museums: FREE!

*Dinner at Mexican tapas-style restaurant including two beers, for two, w/tip: $62
(On a side note, you'll be happy to know that one of our friends took the time to figure out the bill for seven people, rather than split it seven ways. Even though I may have had more than my fair share of guac ;) See J. Money's post on splitting checks- I got lucky, even though the check-tackler spent 15 minutes determining everyone's share)

*Two tickets to D.C. United soccer game: $84

*Drinks at the United game: $6.50 for my beer, and who knows how many B had.

Sunday:
*Newly acquired Costco card: FREE w/Dad's Business Membership (the most exciting acquisition of the weekend!!!! I love COSTCO!!!)

*Flintstones Vitamins and Neutrogena Sunscreen at Costco: $26

*North Face tight-rolling, low-temperature sleeping bag for the camping trips B wants to take, and small sleeping pad: FREE! w/ Dad's Bass Pro credit card reward points. Retail: $125

*Three tickets to watch the Baltimore Orioles lose to the Tigers: FREE w/ Dad's season tickets

*Crabcake, diet coke, and water at the stadium: $20.75 (They serve crabcakes at Camden Yards now!! I'm also in trouble b/c I didn't share it with B, oops)

*Two AMTRAK tickets back to NYC: FREE w/the reward points from my Amtrak Mastercard (~$200 value)

*Chinese take-out for two upon getting home: $32

Yikes. Including travel (half of which was free!) and not including the free items I got at Bass Pro and the Oriole's tix compliments of my dad, the two of us, together, spent over $500. No wonder my savings account is growing so slowly. But, I insist on traveling to be with the people I love (I was primarily visiting my two best friends who both had birthdays this past week).


A few notes on some of the expenditures:

I usually take the subway to reasonable destinations from my apartment, but if it's really late at night or super early in the morning, I usually splurge on a cab to be safe, and to save precious sleep time. I live a good 8-10 minute walk from the subway, so when you add in the time spent waiting for trains or transfers, I can easily save 30-40 minutes by spending $10. I tend to value the cost of my time, since I work such long hours and don't have too much time for myself in the first place.

Bass Pro: my dad's obsession... has been paying off for me lately, too. My dad has a Bass Pro credit card, and he uses it to make many of the purchases he needs for his office, which is sometimes upward of $100k for fancy equipment. I think he earns 1% towards purchases at the store (and 4% on purchases made IN the store), which translates to thousands of dollars in credit at Bass Pro. I think he's saving up for a boat or some other pricey purchase, but it's going to take him a while if he keeps taking me there to go shopping! He is very generous with his points and I think it makes him happy when I find something there that I need. On my last trip I got a pair of hard-soled hiking boots that I really needed, an air mattress w/ portable pump, and some North Face hiking pants... FREE! And then just yesterday I scored the sleeping bag I would need to go hiking/camping at Lake Placid later this summer. Every year he takes me there onChristmas Eve and basically tells me to get whatever I want... haha... and that's about all I'll get. At least he's found a reward program that works for him.

Speaking of reward programs, B and I were able to travel from Baltimore to New York for free because of all my spending on my Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard. I also have a Discover Card that I like to use for 5% cash-back categories, but I think I get great bang for my buck earning Amtrak tickets, because they're not cheap!

*Average cost of my Amtrak tickets: $100 (usually purchased last minute)
*Dollars spent to earn the ticket: $3000 (translates into 3,000 points, plus I earn some extra points by shopping online through their website)
*Approximate return on spending: 3.3%! Score! Now I don't feel bad about waiting until the last minute to get tickets.

I've found it really hard lately to use the flight rewards I've earned directly from the airlines (as opposed to earning them on a credit card). For example, I took advantage of some Jet Blue promotions and I fly them a lot in general, so I've earned a few free tickets, but while planning my trip to San Francisco for a wedding, I discovered that they are not as easy to use as they used to be. Thus, I'm happy with my Amtrak rewards because they're straightforward and easy to redeem, even though there are some holiday black-outs.

I'm curious- what credit card reward programs do YOU find useful? Do you stick with cash back?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Help!

As I'm new to PF blogging, but eager to get up-to-speed, can anybody tell me how to get a sidebar insert for savings/networth categories? You know, the sideways-bar chart looking things. Since I plan on remaining anonymous, I don't mind sharing all of the juicy details with y'all :)

Wedding Costs: Part 1

Yeah, I've been putting up a few posts today... trying to give my new readers enough to keep them busy while I'm of town this weekend, so hopefully they will want to keep reading next week when I'm back!

I'm now in the 7th inning of planning my best friend's bachelorette party and bridal shower, with my other best friend who is co-Maid of Honor. Luckily all of the girls coming to the bachelorette party are participating with the assumption that they will be paying their own way, and co-MOH and I have done a good job at finding a cheap hotel, nice-but-inexpensive restaurant, and VIP limo deal in the DC area.

Bridal shower planning has not gone as smoothly. Co-MOH and I had initially expected to pay for the shower ourselves, but we asked some former bridesmaid friends and consulted some etiquette websites, all of which suggested that bridesmaids help the hostess in splitting the cost of the shower. We sent a friendly email to the bridesmaids attending the shower about splitting the costs, and we received a less-than-friendly reply. (The other two are throwing a separate "stock the bar" party, so we did not expect them to contribute to this one) The bridesmaids we emailed happen to be the bride's sisters, and they responded that they will not be contributing, as it's inappropriate for siblings to throw the bride a shower. Um, you're a bridesmaid, and just happen to be her sister. Plus, as a sister, shouldn't you be more inclined to contribute?? Co-MOH and I were stunned at the response, and sent back a polite response explaining why we asked (etiquette appeared to indicate that bridesmaids split the cost) but said that we will ultimately respect their deicision. I am hoping that we can guilt them into contributing something, anything.

Otherwise, Co-MOH are using our bargain-hunting skills, yet again! We purchased all of the champagne using a coupon to a new liquor store, and when we were checking out of the craft store with her memory book supplies, they gave us a coupon for 25% starting that Sunday... so guess what we did? We politely put all of our items back on the shelf and returned Sunday! Haha... Now that we're on our own financing this shower, we'll be looking for even more money-saving ideas. We're cooking all of the food ourselves... coupon clipping, anyone?

Airplane ticket #166

I've done it again, purchased yet ANOTHER plane ticket. I don't think I have had a credit card cycle all year in which I haven't purchased at least one round-trip ticket. I've already earned one Jet Blue round trip ticket and am well on my way to another. JFK is my home airport, so Jet Blue is my airline of choice, and while they tend to be the cheapest, I will still pay for their service and in-flight TV for up to $20 more than the next-cheapest airline if they are not the best deal. I consider this to be the price of entertainment value, as well as an investment towards free flights via my Jet Blue points.

My usual style of purchasing tickets is that I A) develop an urge to go somewhere or B) have a real reason to go somewhere (i.e. wedding, event), I find the best flight, and I try to grab it before prices go up. My favorite travel search engine is Kayak.com- it's simple and you can change all kinds of parameters to compare only the flights you want. (I've become picky about travel times and layovers since my weekends are short) Sometimes I watch fares for a while, but I'm of the camp that believes in "first price is the best price." Not always the case- flight prices do tend to fluctuate. My experience with Jet Blue is that if the price drops by more than $20 after you purchase the flight, they will award you the difference in flight credit to use for future flights. Given the current state of airline penny-pinching, I don't know how willing they are to do this anymore, but it's happened for me twice in the past.

In regards to the ticket I just bought, it involved some cost/time/convenience analysis.

I used a Jet Blue reward voucher to book a ticket to San Francisco the Thursday night before a Friday night wedding. (You can now split Jet Blue rewards into two one-way tickets) I know a lot of people in the Bay area, so I decided that rather than leave on Saturday, I would like to leave on Sunday so that I can visit some people and maybe go out on Saturday night. Having taken half a dozen red-eyes back to NYC from the west coast this year already, I decided early that I did not want to fly out Sunday night. Unfortunately, the only flight leaving the Bay area for which I could use my other one-way Jet Blue reward (OK I love Jet Blue but I hate how difficult they have made it to redeem rewards lately!) was a Sunday morning flight out of San Jose with a connection in Long Beach that would add about 2.5 hours to my travel time. San Jose is not convenient to either of the possible locations I would be staying (either with a friend in Oakland or in SF), nor could I get there using BART, and I like to be self-reliant rather than make a friend drive all the way out there super early in the morning. I found a flight on Virgin America (love airlines with in-flight entertainment) for $220 that left SFO slightly earlier in the morning, which means I could get back to NYC with some time to unwind, and get myself to the airport if necessary. I tracked the VA flight for a couple of weeks and watched it go up to $270, so when it came back down to $220, I felt the need to decide quickly.

Summary of options:
Free flight, inconvenient airport (might cost me $50 in cab fare to get there if no one can take me), extra 2.5 hours with layover

$220 flight, convenient airport, direct with an early-ish return to NYC.


Conclusion: I chose the $220 flight. I can save the voucher for another time, even if the flight value may not be as high as this cross-country one, but any added expense of getting to an inconvenient airport probably compensates for this fact.

Introduction

I'm a 25 year old chick living in New York City, and when I first started my job in finance (after earning a mechanical engineering degree!), I became interested in making my net worth grow as fast as possible. Who doesn't like to have more money, and so making the most out of my buck, while still enjoying the simple pleasures that money can buy, has become a personal hobby. Over the years I've developed my own tricks and methods of saving and making the most of my money, which I will try to share here. I've been following PF blogs regularly now for almost a month, and I'm feeling left out! I'd like to share my thoughts here in hopes of engaging in a broader discussion on various topics.

Disclosure #1: I don't budget. (Yet.) I keep an eye on how much money I spend, and but I think that budgets are too inflexible for my spontaneous life. I don't want to miss out on life just because it costs money (within reason).

Disclosure #2: I LOVE BARGAINS!!! Yes, I am a bargain shopper, almost to a fault. I love 99 cent stores for everyday things like ziploc baggies, sponges, dust wipes, you get the idea- love love love it! I love sales, coupons, everything- the Sunday paper is my favorite because of all the coupons! I don't buy things I don't need just because they're on sale, but I do use it as an excuse to get what I really want but otherwise might not buy ;) I will proudly discuss my bargain effectiveness on this blog, haha.

Disclosure #3: I love to travel. This year has been enormous in terms of travel expenditures, but I've been to places I've never been before, and have seen a lot of family and old friends. Places visited this year so far have been: Ft. Lauderdale, Boston, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuqerque, Portland ME, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Harrisburg PA, and later this year I will be in Richmond VA, San Francisco, and back to Las Vegas (maybe twice). Yes, I gamble, but not very much. I've been out of town every weekend for the last 2.5 months with the exception of 1 weekend, and it will continue for another few weeks from this posting (or maybe longer, as my weekends get filled up with more exciting travel!) Thus, plane tickets/ hotels and even rental cars have been my biggest spending category.

Disclosure #4: Sorry guys, if you love PF chicks, this one's taken ;)

My first series of posts will probably come frequently as I word-vomit all of the PF situations I've had recently, hope you don't mind! I appreciate your readership and your comments!

Best,
CB