Personal Finance
Well, I finally went ahead and got myself a new blog. I'm still updating it (currently I'm adding the relevant personal finance posts to the new site).
Where should you go to follow my blog?
http://graduatedlearning.wordpress.com/Thanks for reading, hopefully you'll follow me to the new blog!
I keep hearing about how if you don't want to get all those useless credit card offers, you should call or go to
optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (which is 1-888-567-8688). I'm thinking I've found another good reason: I got someone else's mail. Basically, within one credit card offer, there were two offers. One for me, and one for someone in my same town. I called them to complain, and the guy said "oh, sometimes our machines can get a bit sticky". He didn't want the name of who else's offer I got. "We send out plenty of mailers, she'll be sure to get something else". Yeah, that's the excuse I heard!
In other news, I got an email from
LazyMan in response to a comment I posted on his
health blog. He saw that I'm looking to officially start a personal finance blog. He sent me a
link to an advice list on how to start a personal finance blog. It references quite a few other blogs, and so it's something I'm thinking I'll be referencing a decent amout while working through my blog.
Okay, I swear I'm going to blog about my trip to Nicaragua soon!
[Edit: I've started blogging about my trip to Nicaragua on my new site,
http://graduatedlearning.wordpress.com/. Check out Day 1 of my trip
here. Check out Day 2 of my trip
here. Day 3 is
here and Day 4 is
here. For a recap of the whole trip, and advice for traveling (especially to Nicaragua) click
here. I've also stopped updating this site for the most part..., so please check out my new blog!]
So, I realized that getting your haircut can be a lot cheaper if you don't care that much. I asked around with friends to see what was good/cheap/nearby and got some good recommendations. I suppose this post will be extra helpful for anyone living in the Davis area, since that's where some friends were living. So, I think these are probably all good places to go, if you trust my friends! I got recommendations for
Salonika and
Salon Femia in
Davis Square,
Salon CU and
Amal Niccoli Salon (ask for Julie, according to a friend) in
Ball Square, and
Supercuts in
Porter Square.
I ended up going to Supercuts, believe it or not. I got a pretty darn good haircut! Compared to the $35 or so that most of the salons were charging, I paid $19 (including tip) for a hair washing and a cut. And I desperately needed a hair cut. I was going against all those rules of getting it cut every 3 months or whatever it should be. Oh, and don't worry, I had gotten a haircut within the past year, it was back near my family's house. That's where I had gotten my haircut all through college. I didn't really trust the place in the student center, and so I'd just get my hair cut whenever I went home for a vacation. I got it cut around shoulder length this time around, which will hopefully make me look and feel a lot less dumpy. The people there were really nice, and, really, I didn't need anything fancy! So, the moral of this story is, you don't necessarily need to go to a fancy salon. I might end up going to one of the other places some time, depending on where I'm living, and what I'm looking for with my hair. I probably would have gotten more attention, and a thorough blow drying (you pay extra to get your hair washed and/or blow dried at Supercuts) had I gone to one of the other places listed. And I'm guessing people have horror stories of both the really cheap places as well as the really expensive places. So, if you're on a budget, and you're not willing to spend more than you have to to get just a basic cut, go for the cheaper locations! If you have difficult hair to work with, or you've found a place you like, I'm not saying you shouldn't go!
Well, hopefully that came through with enough of the "go for cheap if you want" without hurting anyone's feelings (hair stylists, big spenders).
I do want to update soon about my recent trip to Nicaragua (quick preview: That place is AMAZING!), and hopefully soon switch over to a new blog (I'm thinking of going to
wordpress) but I'm still stuck on a good name for my new blog. So, please give me a recommendation for a good blog name! I really appreciate the comments I've received, by the way, and hopefully you'll keep reading my site (and letting me know what you think)! Thanks! And thanks also to those of you who have emailed me about getting an ING savings account or ING electric orange checking account referalls. I hope you are enjoying your new account! (and your $25 bonuses!) Anyone interested, please do shoot me an
email!
Wow, too many exclamation points! This is what happens when you're writing a post after midnight.
[Edit: I also saved money by signing up for their email program. Yes, it's another email clogging up your inbox, but I got a $2 coupon, and they're going to send me coupons every few months, along with a reminder that I might need another haircut]
I tuned in to
NPR yesterday and caught a majority of this week's installment of
The Infinite Mind. The topic of the broadcast was
Money and the Mind. Have a
listen, it's pretty interesting stuff!
I figured since I've been treating this blog as a bit of a personal finance blog, it made sense to mention this to you all.
In other news, I've been contacted regarding sign up bonuses for ING Direct. So far I've only heard from one person about Electric Orange (the checking account) but I have referrals for both the checking and savings accounts. So, do
email me! Thanks to the woman who contacted me with a referral request! Hopefully you're enjoying your new account, and your $25!
Not much else to report, really. I've still been tracking my expenses on
Walletproof. I think the one problem is that I pretty much just spend and then track, but I don't know if this is curbing my spending habits. I've still been ordering lunches at work a few times a week, and some things I'm buying for the long term (clothes, beauty supplies), but I think I end up bottling up lots of my spending until all at once. I went to the mall last weekend because I had to buy bathing suits for a trip I was going on. I hadn't bought bathing suits in a year or two, so I was due to get one. The good part was that because it was the end of season, and I had a $10 off coupon, I got 2 bathing suits for less than $20 at The Gap. I've decided that my Gap credit card is actually worthwhile for me, since I opened it when I bought some nice pants before (yes, it should have been a bigger purchase) I've been getting percent off and $ off coupons from them, and I pay the whole balance off every time. I think I only go there for biggish purchases (maybe I save up my spending for those, too?) like when I desperately needed new bras, or this time for bathing suits. I don't go without a coupon. Of course, getting me into the store was the need for bathing suits, but I walked away after also buying a pair of khakis. I think I treat dressy pants as a necessity, since I have barely any khakis, but lots of jeans (and I feel like a slob when I wear jeans to work).
I think that the whole don't spend-spend a lot problem partially arises because I don't have a car. My roommates were driving somewhere, so I asked for a ride to the mall so I could shop. So while I was there for the bathing suit, I ended up buying two bathing suits, and khakis from The Gap (like I mentioned), then picked up some tank tops and headbands from H&M (I always buy tank tops there, I'm into layering, at least in a kind of non-crazy way). Then to the CVS to pick up random things I needed. I spent almost $100! Well, at least I wont have to buy some of those things for a while.
Phew, this post was meant to just mention the Infinite Mind show. Well, there's my money confession for the day.
So I opened an I
NG Direct Electric Orange checking account. I had been thinking about doing this for a while, but I didn't like having to change over any of my direct deposit/autopay accounts or anything. But I now HAVE to do it, because Bank of America apparently lied to me recently. I originally opened my Bank of America checking account with my mom as custodian (I guess I started young...or needed a place to put birthday checks). I never took her off of it. I've called and also "chatted" with a representative (they have popup chats when you're on the website too long, it seems) and while I got two different answers (you have to close this one and open a new one vs. here's paperwork to fill out), when my mom tried to go to Bank of America to have the paperwork notarzied and dealt with, they completely shot her down. So, if in fact it is possible to merely remove her from my account, the people she talked to wouldn't let her do it. So now I have to open a new account and close the first one, so I might as well switch some autopay accounts. So, I'm thinking I'll pay my utilities as well as my rarely used credit cards (I'll keep my more often used cards on my BoA account) and put the average utilities cost in my Electric Orange, so I'll earn interest on that. I figure this is just a way to increase my savings, since I probably won't touch it too much. It's just a more easily accessible savings account that the regular
ING Direct Savings Account.
I do still have ING referalls if anyone is interested. If you open an account with at least $250, you get an extra $25, and I get an extra $10. Not too shabby! Leave me a comment or shoot me an
email if you want one!
I saw this promotion where if you post a paragraph, you can win $2500. I don't know if it's true, but I figured I might as well try it.
Over at
Ashwin’s blog,
you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just
copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition
will not last long! So get posting!
So, I realized I should disclose something now before I post about some things (and I'll probably re-disclose if I post about things like this again). I've been using a site called
BzzAgent, which is a word-of-mouth generating site. Basically, when you join (it's free) you are invited to participate in surveys and test out new products. The idea is that if people try out new products, and they like them, they'll tell friends, family, etc. about it. So I joined it...I haven't gotten too active in it, but they just recently started a separate page for website recommendations called
Frogpond. I've started checking it out, and one site that I realized I should post about (because it's a personal finance related site) is
Walletproof. I still have to look through it a lot more, but it looks pretty easy to use, and you can track your income and expenses, categorize them, and share ideas with the community. It's still in beta, so I'm guessing there are plenty of kinks to work out, but I'm going to try it and see how it goes. It seems less annoying than Microsoft Money, and more interactive that my spreadsheets.
Let me know what you think of it!
Oh, and the first link I had for the site should take you directly to
walletproof.com (but I guess it gives me referal credit? I'm not even sure, it's what Frogpond suggested I link to), then just go through the normal link at the begining of this sentence.
So, I've taken the first step at being super-aggressive with paying off my student loans. Before, I was upping my my monthly loan payments on the higher interest student loan by $500 while lowering the amount I was putting into my ING account by $500, so I still have about the same amount of money to budget (if I was actually budgeting...that's another story altogether). But I just transferred $5000 out of my ING to my student loans...I realized paying 8.25% on my loans when I'm only earning 4.5% on my ING, it seems pretty logical in the long run to owe less on the high interest instead of earning more with the lower interest. Plus, I'll be getting taxed on my savings interest, but the interest paid on student loans is tax deductible.
So, I'm proud of myself. This seems like something personal finance bloggers do, that is, post about their accomplishments in reducing debt/increasing net worth, etc.
I'll be posting soon about the ridiculously awesome rafting/camping trip I went on this weekend!
I came across this posting, and continued to follow along.
MakeYourNut.com has a great series with "Advice for New Graduates", and I'd like to share it, because I realized this is all pretty good advice for people in my situation (or similar situations).
Advice for New Graduates: Student LoansAdvice for New Graduates: Credit and Financing, Part 1Advice for New Graduates: Credit and Financing, Part 2 (Maxed Out at Graduation)Advice for New Graduates: Housing and Transportation TipsAdvice for New Graduates: The Tao of the Job HuntMake Your Nut Advice for New Graduates: Series RecapSo, The last link actually has a link to the other pages, but I figure you can either navigate from here or from there.
It's a gorgeous day today, maybe I should go outside? Or maybe I'll build furniture, since I bought some "assembly required" furniture from Target (it was on sale, don't worry!). My mom nagged me the last time she was here, pointing out that I have no real furniture (which is almost completely true, except I have an "assembly required" desk my roommate picked up for free a year ago, plus a bed, and plastic pull drawers, which don't really act as real furniture much). I figured that, yes, it does cost some money, but I snatched them up when they were on sale (Thanks to my Mom for pointing out the sale!), and the piece of mind I'll have from being more organized (it will be much easier to store my clothes in real dressers) and I like the idea of making my room not look so much like that of a college student. I'm trying to be a grown up!
Well, maybe I'll lounge outside for a little bit, take advantage of the nice weather while I can...
So, after reading a
post at
thesimpledollar.com about mistakes he made after his financial meltdown, I decided to respond to one of his "mistakes" (Number 7, "Not asking for credit card rate reduction right off the bat) and ask how to go about doing this.
Mapgirl responded, telling me I just need to ask if there is any way for them to lower my rate. (also check out a
bankrate.com article about it) So I did it...and it worked! I called the customer service phone number on the back of the card, and at first all the phone system let me do was listen to my account balance. I hung up and tried again...I had to play dumb and not enter any of my account information, and eventually, after a bit of a delay after the "last" option, there was another option to talk to customer service. I told them I wanted a rate decrease, and they told me I was eligible, I just had to be transferred to someone else. I talked to the other person, who gave me a lower rate! While it's not great (21+% to 15.9%), it still changed, and they said that in 3 months, I can call back for another rate decrease! So that's pretty cool. Granted, I try not to carry a balance, but it gives me a piece of mind knowing that if I mess up, I'll have a lot less interest to deal with. They did mention that if I do mess up (go over my credit limit or miss a payment) my rate will skyrocket to 30+%...so I have to be careful...
In other news, I've been reading a heck of a lot more blogs than that (thanks to the magic of RSS!), and I came across
BostonGal's
post about the
Pudding Calculator. Basically, it helps you see how you're doing in your retirement funds. As of right now, my score is 69...not great, since the benchmark is 100, but I know that I'm still putting money in my Roth IRA and my 401(k), and I'll be putting more in once my student loans are paid off.
So, anyway, this I guess is me linking to other people's blogs...let me know if that bothers you, or if you like it, or whatever is on your mind!
So, I was thinking about how there are lots of ways to track your finances, and I realzed that my computer came with Microsoft Money.
I tried setting it up...I am not happy!
I can't track anything easily (credit cards, checking accounts, 401(k), student loans). I've found it extremely difficult.
Until I can figure out a way to get the program to do what I was hoping for, I'm ignoring it.
any hints on how to make it more streamlined and easy to use?
So, almost every personal finance blogs I've come across talks about the high-yield savings accounts...
HSBC,
ING Direct,
Emigrant Direct. There are also lots of money market accounts and CDs out there with really good rates. You're supposed to put your "emergency fund" in a stable account like that...put away at least 10% into a fund that can be accessed ASAP if it needs to be.
This is sort of going back to my last post, where I wondered if it was a good idea to pay down my loans as fast as I can. In the long run, I suppose, "future me" will have more money, since less money will be spent towards interest payments. "Present me" mentioned last post how I don't like the idea of having barely any actual money. Of course, since my student loan interest rate is almost twice that of my savings rate, it seems like I'll have a lot more money in the long run if I pay down as much as I can. I guess the question I'm asking myself (and anyone who reads this blog): How much money is "enough"? I mean, if I want to just have some money in my checking account for bills and other expenses, and some money earning interest for emergencies, how much should that be? I've calculated that my expenses per month at least are less than what I'm making, even when I am putting money in my 10% fund and my Roth IRA. So that's good. Should I put the rest into my loans? And should I take money out of my savings to pay down my loans? It's hard to figure out what to do.
I'm also debating getting the
Electric Orange Account from ING. It's an interest-bearing checking account, which is pretty impressive, but I suppose I don't need to be keeping too much money in a checking account. Then again, every little bit counts! I'm not sure about the hastle of switching over.
Lastly, I've noticed a lot of people post about referal bonuses from ING Direct. Basically if someone joins from a referral and puts in at least $250, they get a $25 bonus! And my happy part is I get an extra $10...so that's pretty cool!
So, let me know if you're thinking about opening a savings account with them (with a comment or from emailing me) and I'll send you a referal.
And anyone who has gone through the ridiculousness of student loans and has any words of wisdom for me or others reading this, please post!
Thanks!
So, I've been out of school for about a year now and have been trying to pay down my student loans...and let me tell you, it's no walk in the park! I consolidated all of my federal loans with the same company that I have my private loans with...not sure if that was necessarily the best idea in the world, because maybe my interest rate might not have been too bad to begin with, but I guess it's good that it's all at one company, so I only have to go to one site! One thing that's got me confused/annoyed is that I keep getting solicitations from both reputable and suspicious looking companies offering to consolidate my loans. It's frustrating, since most of them offer the option to consolidate my federal loans, which have already been consolidated, so that just adds to the trash. And it seems like maybe I could get a decent option if I were to consolidate my private loans, but I don't know how to go about getting the rates from places, especially without knowing if I can trust these different banks and companies.
So, I'm trying to figure that out...I'm paying extra towards the principal on my loan with the higher interest (an extra $500 or so a month) and since my other loan is the same interest rate as my ING account, I'm not worrying about it too much, and just paying the amount due every month. I think this is one of those common suggestions: Pay down the debt with the highest interest rate! Of course, I'm also contributing to my 401(k), my Roth IRA, my ING account, and still paying for rent and utilities and food and whatnot....so that's a lot of money to keep track of! I'm trying to go by another one of the common personal finance rules: Pay yourself first! The idea of taking at least 10% off the top of my earnings every month and sending it to my savings account really seems to work, since I don't notice the lack of money, and it feels good knowing that my money is making money for me, instead of me spending that amount. I suppose I could be paying more towards my student loans, since they are the highest interest (higher than any of my investment returns) but I'd rather have both money available and some debt than no money and no debt!
So, what do you think? What are you doing? or, if you're done with loans, what did you do?
I also wanted to thank those of you who commented on my blog! Special thanks to
Matt, who commented on the problem sometimes referred to as the
"latte effect". His blog seems to be a bit over my head, but I think I'll try to work my way through some of his posts!
I've been compiling some ideas for future posts...hopefully I'll post again soon! Thanks for reading!
So, I've subscribed to a bunch of feeds, including
Free Money Finance. They have a commentary on a
yahoo.com list about the top 10 mistakes you can make with regards to retirement. So, yeah, that list looks pretty good.
Also, I've been reading through
The Simple Dollar like I mentioned last time. I started at the
first post and am trying to read all of them, so I can catch up to current posts.
Interestingly enough, some of those posts can sort of serve as metaphors for other goals in life. It makes you recognize the mistakes you may have made, and reminds you to take things one day at a time, making a concious effort to change. So some of the
money saving tips can also apply to, say, trying to be healthier...bring food in instead of going out or ordering food, doing free activites (perhaps running/biking) instead of sitting on your butt doing nothing but using electricity to watch TV.
I'm also curious if anyone actually reads this. Please leave a comment or shoot me an email to let me know how you found this site, and what you think...
And I'm thinking for my next post, I will describe my financial plan for the time being....
I've been chatting with friends, reading books, blogs, and websites, and listening to podcasts.
One blog one of my friends recommended to me is
The Simple Dollar. I haven't really started reading it yet, but I think tonight I may read a few. My friend said she started all the way from the beginning and loves it. So, we'll see. Let me know what you think of it, and I'll do the same.
I've also been listening to some podcasts. The ones I've listened to the most are the
Fidelity Personal Finance Podcast as well as the
Money Girl site from
QDNow.com. They have some other interesting podcasts about
legal matters,
grammar, and
manners among other topics.
Let's see how these help!
So, I've been looking at a lot of financial planning/personal finance blogs and and websites, but it's been hard to determine what is worthwhile. So, I encourage any input from people who come across my blog...help me sort out what's useful and what isn't!
I did come across one page (because I'm too lazy to remove myself from monster.com mailing lists, even though I'm really happy with my job!) There was a link entitled
Six Tips to Put Your Financial House in Order. It's a start, and I'll definitely look more at other information from Suze Orman (like her
yahoo site and her
book-related site). I guess
Yahoo Finance has a lot of information, as does
CNN Money. I guess I'm trying to find out how to better save money for the short term, as well as the long term (i.e. for retirement), where best to invest, and a better plan of action (pay off student loans before getting an IRA account? And then, a Roth or Traditional IRA?).
I really look forward to any input people can provide, and I'll be willing to dole out the information I've so far collected. Granted, I don't know everything, but I've started talking with people, and I've read Suze Orman's
Young, Fabulous & Broke and am reading
The Wealthy Barber.
Let's see where this takes us.
So, it's yet again been a long time since I've posted. I've been working for a month shy of a year now, and things are going pretty well. I really want to start posting again, especially since I have a new angle for posting...I'm gearing my posts more to the after-college experience (which makes sense, since I've been out of school for almost a year!) I'll still respond to questions about MIT and college and stuff, but I think I'm going to start discussing what things are like after college. Granted, I don't know everything yet, but updates on my life that include more about Boston and neighboring cities (because now I have a chance to visit places a lot more), reviewing movies and restaurants and other experiences. I'll also try to discuss what sort of resources I've found regarding personal finances. It seems like these days there are simple lessons that people (including me) just don't learn. I've been reading a lot of books and discussing finances with friends and colleagues, and hopefully people out in the "
blogosphere" will have input about personal finances as well. At least that's my hope...maybe someone with a lot of knowledge about stuff like that will find my blog and comment or email me and we can get more than just my thoughts out here.
Well, let's see if I hold true to this promise.