Archive for 2009

Summary

Well my cash reserves finally took a hit from the large school tax bill I paid the previous month. We also took a big hit from the value of our SUV – I think I did not input the specs in correctly last month as that number seemed high to me, so hopefully its correct going forward.

On the plus side, I was finally able to refinance our home loan down to 4.875% thought it does not take effect until next month. Pretty happy about that since our rate was probably about the highest it had been in the last 6 years or so.

Monthly Goals

Rebuild the cash reserves. They are much lower than I am comfortable with right now. Would also be nice to keep the holiday shopping under control.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary

I was happy to see the net worth go up this month. Had a pretty hefty school tax bill which caused the cash reserves to dip a little bit. Luckily our 401ks went up a bit, and the Zestimate of our home as well thanks to a couple strong sales in the neighborhood.

What I didn’t do was pay down much credit card balance which will be going out of 0% very soon. I have been looking for other cards to transfer them to but so far it has come up empty.

Monthly Goals

My refinance should go through this month so I will have a bit of a payment on that for the closing costs. It will bring my rate down to 4.875% though so I think it is definitely worth it in the long run.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary

My net worth for this month is a complete rewrite. I decided to include a couple other figured that are my wife’s into our combined net worth which caused quite a crash – mainly her graduate school student loan. We also financed a new (used) car so that loan and car value is now included on my net worth.

Pretty much feels like I’m starting from scratch at this point, but I’m obviously keeping all the history to compare to the past.

Monthly Goals

Rebuild my cash reserves after paying my school taxes – I mailed the check but they haven’t cashed it yet so its not reflected in this months net worth. Also need to continue to make progress on paying down our credit cards, I stalled a bit on that this month.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

Hard to believe its September already, the summer has flown by!

This month I was able to further pay down some of our credit cards while holding the savings pretty steady. My 401k also did pretty well which helped my net worth out.

As part of my ongoing project to simplify our finances I have switched my various ROTH accounts to Ameriprise. This eventually should help me reduce the amount of information I have to sift through on a weekly basis.

Monthly Goals

Pay off some more credit cards whose 0% term will be expiring soon.

Also, I have to seriously consider refinancing. I have been playing the waiting game but the rates have held pretty steady for the last few months. Even if I can’t get in at my goal of under 5% (with no points / low fees) I still will be saving enough at 5.25% to make it worthwhile.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

It has been a pretty slow month financially for me. I started paying off some of my expiring 0% credit card offers. I also was able to reduce my homeowners insurance by shopping around which freed up some extra cash.

Monthly Goals

Pay off some more credit cards whose 0% term will be expiring soon.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

Well, I finally did it. The project I have been talking about for about a year – selling my individual stocks – is complete! Honestly selling them wasn’t the painful part, calculating the capital gains on them will be. I will probably have to dedicate a few days to that.

With the proceeds I was able to rebuild my cash reserves and pay off a credit card whose 0% term expires this month.

Monthly Goals

Pay off some more credit cards whose 0% term will be expiring soon.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

I didn’t too great on my goal this month of rebuilding my cash reserves. Fortunately the stock market was up so my net worth took a bigger than anticipated jump. Other than that everything else was pretty stagnant.

Monthly Goals

Plan once again this month is I am also going to try to get working on my never ending goal of selling my individual stock accounts. I have said I am going to do this for a year or so, but every time I look at it calculating the cap gain on it turns out to be more work than I feel like undertaking.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

Another up month for my stock investments which at the beginning of the year I had all but given up on. As expected my cash reserves dropped due to having to pay my hefty tax bill.

Monthly Goals

Try to rebuild my cash reserves up to their usual levels. This will probably prove to be pretty difficult since we have a large vacation planned for this month.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

The stock market rebounded a bit (finally) so some of my investments actually went up this month! Shocking I know. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. I have been looking into refinancing my mortgage but have not pulled the trigger as of yet.

Monthly Goals

I am going to owe on my taxes this year so that will probably wipe out any gains I am able to make on my cash reserves. I think holding steady on those will be my goal of the month.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

The stock market continues to take heavy tolls on my net worth. I also had a hefty property tax bill due this month which took away some of my cash reserves. I didn’t get as much accomplished this month as I had hoped.

Monthly Goals

Rebuild some of my cash reserves. Also I need to address my credit cards, some of the 0% balances are running out in the next few months so I need to see if I can move them to another 0% offer or if its time to pay them off.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The rates of savings accounts have been plummeting lately. Only a handful remain over 3% APY and some of them have dropped 1% or more in the last couple months. I am currently with Dollar Savings Direct, which has plummeted as of late and has me thinking of switching.

I thought I would take some time to look at the interest rates of some of the top as well as the more popular savings solutions.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Quizno’s is giving away one million free subs by just registering with your name and email address at the link below. You will be emailed your coupon to print:

Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway

The coupon reads:

“This online certificate entitles you to: ONE FREE SUB, Free Small Signature Sub or Small Every Day Value Sub”

It also says “Valid only at participating locations” and some people have reported that their location is not accepting there, so you may want to call ahead.

Popularity: 3% [?]

From February 16th through February 19th, discount gift certificate website Restaurant.com is offering 70% off their regular prices. $25 certificates which normally sell for $10, are now just $3.

Be sure to check the fine print on the gift certificates for each particular restaurant you are interested in. Some of them include minimum purchase amounts, exclude other coupons, and are only valid on weekdays.

The code is PREZ

Restaurant.com

Popularity: 2% [?]

For Valentines Day all the local stores in my area jack the prices of flowers up 100%-300%. It hardly seems worth it when I can get them next week for a significant discount, but it is tradition.

So if you are looking I have found in previous years that Aldi’s market has the cheapest prices on flowers for the occasion. This year they have Dozen Premium Long Stemmed Roses for $16.99, and then assorted other flower bouquets for $6.99.

I have gotten flowers from there each of the previous 2 years on v-day and have always been happy with the quality. At least I can see them here instead of just getting whatever some dot com sends (which I have always had back luck with).

Aldi’s Store Locator

Popularity: 2% [?]

For the third time in 2 weeks Dollar Savings Direct is lowering their interest rate. This time they are going down to 3.05% APY.

Its been quite a plunge the last few weeks, almost half a point reduction in the rate. I still am holding my cash reserves in this account, but probably one more significant drop and I will seriously be considering transferring. In the meantime I will keep my eye out for the higher rate accounts out there that hopefully are more stable.

Dollar Savings Direct

Popularity: 2% [?]