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Half Year Financial Goals Review

30 Jun

We are halfway through the year, so it’s time to review my progress towards meeting my goals. Let’s go!

1. Pay Off Discover Card

MET.  My monthly gym membership ($10) is charged to keep this card active.

2. Pay Off Visa

The card is paid off in full MOST months.  I went overbudget during a trip last month.  By the middle of July 2012, the balance should be back to zero.

3. Pay Off Citibank Student Loan

As of June 23 the payoff balance is $2800.46.  After fully funding my e-fund, I will likely increase the payments to this loan.

4. $5000 Emergency Fund     1/2012

I upped my e-fund goal to $10L.  I’ll meet and exceed this goal by a few hundred dollars as of my July 15th paycheck.  I’ll be reconfiguring my spending once this goal is met.

5. Max Out Roth IRA – I’m still working on this one. With my aggressive savings I don’t know if I’ll be able to accomplish this.

I have not yet made any progress on this goal, although I have been contributing 18% of my gross income to my 401K and 457.

6. 457 Deferred Comp-should be at about 5%-no employer matching, but currently I’m at 15%. I didn’t contribute at all for
a bit. I’m looking to change jobs and will adjust my contributions then. With my new gig I’m contributing 13%. We’ll see how this will work.

MET.  This went well, but I will be decreasing this amount soon.

7. Get a new job I started my new gig on Sept. 1, 2011

MET. I’m networking and looking for another new gig, in New York!

8. Increase my income by at least $35K/yr Epic failure. But this was based on moving to NYC. I was able to increase my income by $7K/yr, but…I decreased my monthly expenses by roughly $1K/month by moving back home.

I should not have labeled this an epic failure.  I’m still working on it.

9. Relocate to New York by June end of 2011 late 2012

See Number 7.

10. Open a high yield savings account 6/3/2011 American Express Bank 1.15% APY currently .85% APY

MET.

11. 401K I opened my 401K on Sept 1, 2011 contributing 5% to get the full match from my employer. The vesting of the match is graduated so I don’t get it all immediately. It depends on how long I remain with the company.

MET.

How was your 2QTR? Did you meet or exceed any of your goals? What are changes are you making for the remainder of the year?

MET. I’ll continue the 5% contribution for the duration of my employment.

Are you progressing towards your financial goals? What changes are you going to make for the remainder of the year?

Brittany

 
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Posted by on June 30, 2012 in Budgeting, Debt, Emergency Fund, Finances, Saving, Student Loans

 

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Finding Your Debt-Life Balance

24 Feb

Sometimes I hate to hear exactly what I need to hear.

My dad called to tell me how much my car repairs were.  Then he turned on his “lecture” voice.  During the rigamarole about the radio, I told him about my $67K student loan balance as a retort to his “you got it” comment.

Look, you are working everyday. You have to live a little.

Tears sprang in my eyes. I didn’t want to hear it, but it was confirmation that I do need to live a little.  Tomorrow is not promised.

Yesterday I decided to only make the minimum payments on my student loans.  Once I madethe realization that I could pay off my Citibank student loan by November I became excited.  I’ve felt like I haven’t been making any progress, although I have.  But not living has made me miserable.  Now spending $ doesn’t always = living life, but most of the time it does.

Life is all about balance.  Even paying off your debt.  How do you strike the balance between debt payoff and living a little?

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

Emotions and Money

22 Feb

A few days ago I had a terrible day full of self loathing.  This is something I have struggled with for most of my life.  I’m generally unhappy with myself most of the time.  Particularly with my appearance.

How does this relate to money? I exist from a place of scarcity. I always feel like there is never enough.  In turn, I won’t spend money on my appearance because I’m always trying to either save, pay down debt or spending money on other people.  How is it that I will spend $300 on someone else without blinking an eye, but find it difficult to spend $100 on myself? Even with a modest emergency fund! So I feel bad about my appearance, withdraw from those around me and continue to not address my feelings of inadequacy.

This particular episode started with my car needing repairs.  My dad does all the work on my car.  What I thought was going to be a basic repair of my brake pads has turned into something more.  The rotors need to be replaced as well.  On a 20 year old car, it just might be expensive.  Then he says the spark plug wires and distributor cap and button needs replacing as well.  Each day I talk to him it’s something more.  Well, I know a little about cars, but not enough to decide when something can wait.

Then my dad basically tried to force me to purchase a $200 radio for the car.  I had agreed to purchase a $75 used one, but when he discovered it wasn’t in good working order HE decided he was going to just purchase a new one.  He calls me FROM THE STORE.  I asked him several questions necessary for me to determine if I could afford to purchase the radio. Namely, how much had he already spent on my car.  He couldn’t tell me.  So I told him then I couldn’t tell him how much I wanted to spend on the radio.  We go round and round and round about it. To make a long store short, he shamed me into spending $150 on something that is not a priority for me by 1) raising his voice, 2) calling me cheap and 3) disregarding what I said concerning my own money.  He straight up told me that I had the money to spend.  I relented even though 1) I don’t give a shit about a car radio and 2) I couldn’t really afford it. He has no clue about my financial situation.

Why? I allowed him to bully me and I felt ashamed because he called me cheap.  Becoming more conscious about my spending (or lack thereof) is intertwined with emotions. This day I felt frumpy, unattractive, stupid, broke and ashamed.  The uncertainty of how much my car repairs were going to cost PLUS this money for a radio I didn’t want sent me into a downward spiral.  Most glaring for me is that in all of this, I did not allocate any money for ME.

I felt defeated.  I told myself I am never able to buy things I want because I can never afford them. I felt undeserving.

If you are new to budgetting/personal finance be aware of your emotions as they arise.  Don’t ignore them.  Our emotional reactions are our ques to take care of ourselves.  Explore them.  Work through them.  Remember them.  Adjust your strategy accordingly.  Stay your course.

Stay YOUR course.  Rather than deal with an uncomfortable emotional situation, I gave in to someone else’s will about MY money.  Now I’m stuck with paying for something I don’t want.

Never again.

In response, I am going to take care of myself by first, revamping my budget to include tasks to ensure I am taking the steps necessary to 1) improve my appearance and 2) leave thoughts of scarcity behind.

What emotions have arisen for you surrounding money? How have you acknowledged them in your finances?

 

 

 
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Posted by on February 22, 2012 in Budgeting, Personal Growth

 

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Direct Loans Repayment Plans

11 Feb

Selecting a repayment plan for your student loans is no easy matter.  Primarily I was concerned about two things: 1) being able to pay my living expenses and 2) the amount of interest I will pay over the life of repayment.

I recall being able to see a projection of the total amount paid under each repayment option once I graduated.     (I’ll explain how you can figure out a similar projection below.) Initially, I selected the graduated repayment option because at the time I had a Direct Loan payment (3 loans, but two have the same interest rate so on my progress bar they are reflected as two) plus two private loans.  The minimum payment on all three was about $430.

My starting salary was $42,000.  Upon passing the bar, it increased to $49,000.  After one raise, I grossed right at $51K.  After weighing my options, I selected the graduated repayment plan where my payment increases every two years.  This month my payment has increased to $379. 24 from $330.09.  Under the standard repayment plan, my payment would be about $550 per month plus my payment for my remaining loan ($224.11-snowball amount).

Although I received a bit of a salary increase when I changed jobs, it was not very significant.  Currently, I gross about $54,900. After taxes and retirement plan contributions, I take home about $2727 per month.  I’ll remain on the graduated repayment plan for the foreseeable future.   After I pay off my private loan, I will direct that monthly payment of approximately $224.11 to my direct loans balance until I have a salary increase.

How Do You Determine Which Repayment Plan Is Right For You?

1) Calculate your monthly expenses exclusive of your student loans.

2) Gather all of your private and federal student loan information  (If you have no clue who services your loans, contact your financial aid office if you are graduated. If you are still in school, contact the National Student Clearinghouse and/or your financial aid office).

3) Use a repayment calculator.  Your private loan servicer should have one available on its website.  For federal loans start with the calculators provided at Direct Loans.

4) Input the loan balances and interest rates into the calculator.

5) Print the results for each loan. Don’t forgot to complete this step for your private loans as well.

6) Input the values into a spreadsheet or just write them down.

7) Select a plan you can afford based on your goals and priorities.

8) Don’t forget you can change the plan if necessary and principal payments are allowed with no penalty.

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2012 in Budgeting, Debt, Finances, Student Loans

 

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Battling the Consumer Price Index Increase

23 Oct

CNN Money is reporting, “The Consumer Price Index, the government’s key measure of inflation at the retail level, jumped 3.9% in September from the year before. Higher food and energy prices again were the biggest culprits, with food 4.7% more expensive than a year earlier, and energy prices jumping 19.3%.”

Inflation has become most noticeable on toiletries/personal care items for me. I swear I can walk into CVS and spend $50 and wonder wth did I purchase because 1) my bag is light as sh*t and 2) I swear I just went in to pick up a few things.

When my lotion of choice, Curel, started selling for over $8 per bottle I knew something had to give. Not moisturizing my situation to my particular specifications was NOT an option. Walking around ashy is not the business. I did not want to change brands either. Now I use coupons and only buy lotion when it’s on sale. I’m not an extreme couponer, but I am all about never paying retail.

At CVS, Curel Ultra Moisturizing Lotion retails for $8.49 + tax for 13 fl. oz. Using coupons on the sale price allowed me to purchase Curel for $3.49 per bottle plus tax. You know your girl stocked up, right? I purchased four bottles, for less than what I would have paid for two bottles! I am going to probably purchase two more.

Reducing the cost of energy you consume is not as easy, cheap or as effective as using coupons on sale items in my case. But I plan on shrink wrapping the drafty windows and the fireplace and bundling up to keep heating costs in check.

How do you plan on combating the rising CPI?

 
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Posted by on October 23, 2011 in Budgeting, Finances, Saving

 

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Student Loan Debt Exceeds Credit Card Debt

20 Oct

No surprise there. Many people have returned to school to ride out the recession, change careers or simply because they don’t know what else to do.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports total student loans outstanding will reach the $1 TRILLION DOLLAR mark for the first time this year.

Here’s a few other interesting facts:

  • Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago.
  • Total outstanding loans has doubled in the past five years.
  • The portion of borrowers in default rose from 6.7% in 2007 to 8.8% in 2009, according to the most recent federal data.
  • Student loan debt, unlike other loans, cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.

Source.

Too Many Questions, Not Enough Answers
Why can you pay for your medical expenses (up to a certain amount) with pre-tax money, but you cannot pay your student loans back in this manner? I don’t want my student loans forgiven  (well, I do, but it won’t happen), I just need a little help. In the words of Funky Dineva, “Can a b*tch get a donation?!

Why do the lenders make it so complicated to make principal payments? I really do understand their motivation or “right” to make money, I do. But why make it so difficult for the people able to pay a little extra to do so? Can the consumer get a little help in these lopsided transactions? I guess, no prepayment penalties are enough?

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2011 in Debt, Student Loans

 

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Checking Account and Debit Card Fees

14 Oct

So Bank of America recently announced it will begin charging $5.00 per month to use its debt card.  Citibank will charge $20 per month for one of its checking accounts. Many people are up in arms, but the bank is banking on the hassle of switching accounts and online bill payments to be greater than your outrage.

The debit card fee is to help make up the loss in revenue from the limitations placed on banks by Congress.  Some proponents of the fee have said it reflects the true cost of using a debit card.  Others have said the limit on the swipe fees will enable retailers to pass the savings on to the consumer. Please don’t hold your breath for those lower prices.

I’m not exactly sure what the checking account fee is for other than the banks’ “right to make a profit” as BofA’s CEO so eloquently put it. Noticeably absent from the discussion in my opinion is the banks are ALREADY making money off of our deposits. No one has taken that into account. Additionally, why would I pay to use a a debit card when I can still write checks for free? Sure it takes a bit of time, but it is certainly cheaper than $60 per year for a debit card.

I get it. The banks want to push you to use credit cards and hope you won’t pay off the balance in full every month.  Or you can write checks and use cash to keep more money in your pocket.  If enough people do this, be prepared for there to be fewer ATMs around so you can’t access cash to avoid fees.

So far I haven’t thought seriously about switching to a credit union.  My banks are not currently charging for my accounts. And I don’t have enough cash to put into an account to avoid the fees. (For Citibank you’ll need about $15K).  Besides, why deposit in a brick and mortar when you can get a higher interest rate with online banks?

Just as soon as they do though, I will be fleeing to a credit union.  I know it’s a matter of time, but the hassle of switching …..

 

 

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2011 in Finances, Saving

 

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Airline and Credit Card Rewards for Holiday Travel

14 Oct

Using A+ Rewards and Rewards Points from my Chase Sapphire, I will be flying to New York to spend Christmas with my love for a whopping $2.50! But for the September 11 tax, I would be flying for completely free.

With AirTran, you earn 1 credit per one way coach flight.  16 credits will give you one round trip flight.  You can use 8 credits for a one-way.  The Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards points translate to $.  If you book your travel through the Ultimate Rewards site you earn 2 points for every $1 spent.  I have been booking all of my AirTran flights through their site, then calling AirTran to add my A+ Rewards number.  Unfortunately, I am unable to do this through the Ultimate Rewards site because AirTran won’t allow it.  I have been able to basically earn double rewards on each flight.

I was concerned I would not be able to get Mr. Terrific something nice for Christmas, see him and stay on track with my savings goals. My ticket last year was close to $500. Needless to say my presence was his present. We had a great time. This year will be no exception. I just hope I’m not trapped by another blizzard.

 

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2011 in Budgeting, Travel

 

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Federal Direct Student Loan Servicing

14 Oct

Federal Direct Student Loan Servicing now has a new. It’s launching did NOT go off without a hitch.

I was granted a forbearance last year that is almost complete. I wanted to log-in to make sure everything was in order to resume my auto-payment to qualify for the interest rate reduction. Well…suprise! suprise! I could NOT log-in.

Today was however, another story. I was pleasantly surprised to see you can now allocate payments between your various loans. Unfortunately, but not shocking in the least bit, if you make additional payments to your account this is how your payments will be applied:

If you pay more than the amount displayed in the Amount Due field, the total amount paid will be applied to satisfying outstanding fees first, then current outstanding interest, and any remaining is applied towards the principal balance.

Note: If you are on the Income-Based Repayment plan, the payment will be applied to interest first, then fees, and then principal. Unless you advise otherwise, your due date will be advanced one month for every full payment received (see example below). If you do not wish for your due date to be advanced more than a single month, regardless of payment amount made, you need to check the “Do not Advance Due Date” checkbox.

Why would anyone want to advance their payment due date? I completely understand the payment of fees first, but I am not sure I even understand what they mean by paying the current outstanding interest. Does that mean all the interest that has accrued since you took out the loan has to be paid before payments will be applied to interest? Or does it mean the interest that has accrued since your last payment? Apparently you need a PhD to figure out what they mean.  Oh they were helpful and provided an example, but guess what? Yup, it does not tell you how much of the example payment is applied to interest/principal/fees.

I hope after I make my first payment with this system will show me the application of each payment to interest vs. principal.

With the fiscal crisis you’d think at least the government would make it easier to pay off your loan. I just said a mouthful right there. I completely understand they want you to take as much time to pay back your loan, but I’m not quite sure why we as the consumer and taxpayer don’t demand better service.

 

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2011 in Debt, Principal Reduction, Student Loans

 

Kudos to Citibank!

14 Oct
Citibank has finally updated their website to allow you to make principal payments in addition to your regular payments.  Before the update, you had to either call to have a representative manually adjust your payments to reflect its application to principal or send in the payment with the instructions.  Unfortunately, I forgot to call for several months so my payment due date was being advanced. :(   Then I set up online bill pay through my bank, but each month would forget to send in extra money. :(   So, my next hurdle is going to be signing up for auto-debit from Citibank to receive the .25% interest rate reduction and see if they will allow the auto-debit to 1) be more than the minimum payment and 2) have the extra applied to the principal balance of the loan. Or simply allow me to make principal only payments via pay online.  Wishful thinking, huh?

Now will the federal government catch up? Somehow I doubt it. Especially since I couldn’t even log-in to their system to check my balance. I have a little bit before I’ll be able to make principal payments on this particular loan, so perhaps Direct Loans will have become more user-friendly by then.

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2011 in Uncategorized

 
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