financial zen

The guy was incredibly nice. Like, overly, incredibly nice. He is all ready a step-up from the last person - instead of insisting on a bunch of random items and *telling* us what we wanted, jacking the price skyward on what we were looking at, he listened to what we wanted and we went to check out a house a few condominiums.

To be honest, I’m looking at houses based solely on my income. I’m salary, my wife is hourly - and since we’re expecting a baby, this means she can relax and not work, and we won’t be ‘hit’ by her taking time off after the baby is born and she needs to take time off.

This also means we’re aiming lower, which means a lot of houses are out of our reach - to be honest, I do not like condos. It’s like buying an apartment - sure things get done for you, but you can’t change the exterior of your house, and you are paying an association fee that can continually change (seldom in your favor).

Other things I noticed between the house and the condos:

Lots of for sale signs around the condos (and a few foreclosure notices) - generally a sign that people don’t have much interest in staying (or can’t afford to).
*No one* was out at the condos - lots of people were walking around the neighborhood of the house.
Heard loud country music at one condo. (nothing against country music, I just notice it, haha)
Lots of kids around the neighborhood the house was in (which I liked, since we’re having a kid and all) and a lot of old people in the condos.

We liked the house, despite being smaller than the condos it had a bigger yard. It’s also right next to a train track. Luckily, the train rolled through why we were there - a slight rumble. Actually, two trains rolled through. Slight rumble. Not a big deal for either of us. But I’m not rushing into getting this house - don’t want to jump on the first one yet.

So the adventure continues in the foray of real estate!

Tonight we go out with Bruce Baer, a real estate agent, to check out houses and condos.

I’ll write about our first venture when we get home tonight!

No doubt, everyone has been at that point where they want to start credit (responsibly, of course!) and have no idea where to begin.

Do you need credit? Only if you want to buy a house or car down the road without insane interest rates. Or get more credit cards. Or even get a job.

These are just examples, mind you. No Credit is really Needed if you are the cash carrying kind of person. I’m just not, yet, anyways.

I started my journey into financial slavery at the tender age of eighteen - the legal age to get credit. The easiest thing to do is to get a department store card. If you’re in college, you may qualify for a special credit card. Some of them have *great* intro rates and offers. But remember - just because they may give you a limit of $5000 does not mean that you should use it.

So what’s the point, then?

Starting your credit history, is the point! If you get a credit card, look at it like you’re taking money from your older sibling. Or Grandma. She’s got a nasty right hook, and she likes to be paid when you said you’d pay her. Get it? If you’re late on paying your card - you will be hurting (financially, and your credit score will suffer)!

Use your card for the basics and treat it like cash - you’ve got $50 in your checking? Then think of your credit card as like $50 of loaned money. Fill up your tank ($20-25 if you drive a gas-friendly car) and buy a water ($1.50). Turn around and check out your balance online, and keep an eye on it. Pay it off, don’t carry a balance.

Why?

If I gave you $20 and you said you would pay me in a month, but didn’t, would you give me at least ten dollars and promise I’d have the twenty by the next month?

No?

Well, do you think your credit card is going to take that as an answer? When they call for their money (remember, it is not your money), they’ll be asking for some of it back. And tell you you will be charged more for being late. And no, if your mommy and daddy call, they can’t convince them to forgive you for being dumb.

So, boys and girls looking to start credit - especially if you’re in college - go slow. Like you told your parents when they gave you a copy of their card, use it only for *real* emergencies, like being stranded on the bad side of town with no gas, having only water and bread in your apartment, or getting out of a Mexican prison (if they take Visa, that is).

PBS gave some great info if you’re curious about what can happen to you (even if you’re good with your credit). Check out the blogs on the right - they’re also a great source of personal finance. You may be starting - just make sure you take the smart path.

I read once on Lifehacker about using the snowball calculator to pay off debts. (Or was it at Get Rich Slowly? I don’t know - they both reviewed the same method)

Yup, the Dave Ramsey method.

This works by gathering all your information, and I suggest using this calculator.

Select your number of debts (mine was 5, currently)
Setup a minimum amount per month you are willing to devote to this (I chose $1000 - a conservative estimate, really)
And which way would you prefer to snowball? Interest or balance? - the great thing about this calculator is you can compare them both and see which way you would benefit the most.

Instead of doing it by the “emotional” method of paying the lowest off, I’m doing it by interest rate - I stand to save more money that way (~$200 in the long run). Of course, this is assuming I’m not going to have any purchases made, any increase of debt, or any changes in income - no doubt with a baby on the way the changes will be coming - and when my wife and I get a house purchase in order - the mortgage actually shouldn’t affect this plan - I’m establishing this as if we are all ready paying on the mortgage.

Has anyone else used this method? What are your experiences with it?

It’s my goal to post once a day - but have it be somewhat insightful at least.

I’m working on getting my “net worth” listed here to help track my progress - I’ll probably get that setup tomorrow, as for right now I’m still trying to run through an alternative theme (when I check out NCN, I feel like a rip-off - another project for tomorrow).

Here’s the ‘rough’ figures - no pretty chart yet:

Grand total of savings, expenses, and student loans, my net worth is:
-6,031.97

Not great. But last year:
-14,633.96

An increase of over $8,000! It should’ve been more. That’s why I’m here today, doing this blog, because I will do *much* better this year. That’s all for today, tomorrow I’ll have more to share and a few tips as well.

I’m currently in the market for a Real Estate agent. I’d figure that once I made my intentions known, people would be beating down my door for business.

So far, we’ve received a flood of “lenders” offering us an assortment of loans. Is that helpful? No.

We finally got contacts by two real estate agents - they sent us a listing of houses and asked us to contact them. One lady sent us a notice saying the property she had listed was sold, but she had similar listings, and another gentleman sent us a listing of homes similar to what we were emailing him about, and asked us to contact him. After these initial offerings (we liked some of them) we contacted them both - and neither have responded.

Did the sub-prime lending scandal end their faith in their own business? Are Real Estate Agents freaking out?

I guess it’s back to square one.

Dawn at Frugal for Life has written an excellent article about ways to save a dollar a day.

I can’t agree with all of them more than I all ready do!

• Cancel cable/satellite - or at least downgrade. Do you really need to have 100+ channels?
• Do you need a cell phone and a home phone? My wife and I have cell phones - no land line. It’s worked great for two years.
• Quit smoking! This one, other than saving money, will let you lead a healthier life. Stick around so you can see your kids growing up.

She’s got a lot more listed, and it’s definitely worth a run through.

Golbguru at Money, Matter, and More Musings has a link to Financial Fundamentals for 2k7.

This list may be common sense to people, but as a rule I never rule out that *somebody* hasn’t thought about some of these. I’ll sum it up for you:
Personal Finance Bloggers have been touting these since the first day I started following them.
Read the rest of this entry »

Being a millionaire just isn’t the same these days - isn’t that the truth? The article brings up some excellent points - anyone, with enough planning can become a millionaire. You and I can retire rich - it’s just a matter of saving, planning, and maybe a little investing. Even more aptly - is a million going to be enough when we retire? Inflation, kids, medical expenses, grandkids, longer lifespans (leading to great grandkids)… so many things that can chip at your nest egg!
Will I retire rich? I’m working on it. I’ve come to the basics that have been repeated so many times:
- if you work for a company that matches your 401k - use it! Get that free money! If you aren’t even sure about 401ks - you are *losing* money by not taking advantage of the match! (I currently invest more than the matching, but now I am currently looking into Roth IRAs for everything over the matching)
- from what I’m reading in the Vanguard Diehard forums - your savings should go along this line:

• 401k to the match.
• Roth IRA to the max.
• 401k to the max.

Currently, the max on a 401k is $15,500, and $4,000 for the Roth (it’s important to note - this depends on your age and income levels! I’m aiming at people in my boat - the <50, <$110,000 single or <$168,000 joint)

I know I’m not alone in this! Start early - retire rich. Sure, you can take that money and play with it now - buy that Acura, that pimped-out ride with the booming sound system. I’m not saying you can’t - but in twenty years when your car is worth less than you put in it, my retirement savings will be able to give me what I want and need (without having to resort to drastic measures!)

Fidelity.com has released a new tool (in beta). I’ve been playing with it for a little while, and it’s got some useful features:

• Savings Rate Finder- make sure you’re getting the best savings with their search that includes online savings accounts, CDs and money market funds.
• Free Checking - does anyone not have free checking anymore?
• Financial Search - a search engine for various online financial sites.
• Fidelity Mortgage Search - Tools and articles.

Being in beta, they’re taking feed back on the tool. It’s very “web 2.0″ in appearance, and I *love* that they’ve got a lot of feedback links - go check it out and let them know what you think!