pleasant surprise
I updated my net worth (with a few minor details yet-to-be-updated, like the big reduction in my student loan amount and the actual amount of my stocks’ value) and lo and behold, there was a $6,000 net worth increase sitting there staring me in the face! Wow. Praise God!
This progress, despite my newest material acquisitions – clothes, a smart phone, a data plan, weekly visits with a personal fitness trainer – is nothing short of amazing.
Here’s my latest net worth explanation:
“The amount shown in my net worth is incorrect because I’m having technical difficulties with one of my student loan accounts and with my ShareBuilder account, so I can’t see the actual balances. Until I can get these numbers, the amounts shown here are incorrect.
I used my tax refund to pay down some student loan debt. I made my last medical bills payment in April. Yay!!! That is why my “other debts” category has gone down. Another reason it’s declined is because I’m paying back the $7,500 tax credit from 2008 through payroll deductions, since 2010 is the first tax year in which Uncle Sam will start getting his money back from the homeowners who took the 2008 home buyers’ tax credit (i.e. “loan”) – which, in my case, is sitting in a bank account collecting an insulting amount of interest (when are the rates going to go back up?!?!?) and augmenting our emergency savings.
Mister Ant and I have been saving for our wedding expenses and for start-up costs for a family (no, we’re not trying yet!).
The credit cards get cleared by the end of each month, and I’m pretty much using them for rewards points. My main priority is to use the payment amounts I no longer have to pay to the medical bills to pay down my smaller student loan. I’m really excited about seeing that final 0.00 balance when I log in one day! I hate this loan with a passion.
I haven’t been saving much in my IRA, because so much of my money is going towards wedding/household savings and debt reduction. Apparently I lack the drive/discipline to contribute regularly to the fund, but at least I am saving something somewhere, and next month after open enrollment, I’ll start contributing to the 401K at work, since I become eligible this month. I looked into converting the IRA to a Roth, but it’s really not worth the initial tax costs to me right now.
Someone dinged my car, but not so significantly that it would have been worth paying my $1000 deductible, so I took some value ($500) off of the car, since the body is no longer in “excellent” condition.”
But, perhaps most importantly of all – my net worth has broken the -20,000 mark and I feel like I’m oh-so-close to going positive! I was so excited to see that, and then my jaw dropped when I saw that I’m 77% closer to a positive net worth than I was when I started this journey three-and-a-half years ago back in 2006. Oh joy! Negative 87K seems so far away now. I mean, what’s another 16K? I’ve already improved by about 70. This is so awesome!
paperwork
I won’t even annoy myself by trying to figure out how much time I spent trying to fill out all my benefits paperwork. There was the W4, the I9, the various insurance papers, the direct deposit form, gym waiver, health savings account papers. They had me calling my parents for SSN’s, looking up my doctor’s insurance number, and trying to figure out what I think I might spend in the next year on health care costs – a first for me. My gosh. I don’t want to have to do any of this again. And yet, I already know that when I’m married, I’ll have to. Arrggghhh!
I read through the entire Health Spending Account explanation and packet. I was skeptical at first, ’cause I already learned about the “use-it-or-lose-it” provision. In my imagination, I was thinking of some blogger (was it Mapgirl?) schlepping to the drugstore to buy miscellaneous stuff near the end of her Flexible Spending Account period to keep from “losing it.” I didn’t want to withhold too much money from my check. But it would be nice to take advantage of some tax-free dollars. I’ve done it before with transit vouchers and it was pretty cool – more money in my paycheck, knowing I paid less in taxes… So, I made some estimates of how much stuff would cost me over the course of a year and decided to give it a shot. Guess we’ll see how it goes.
no crystal ball
I was trying to use paycheckcity.com and the IRS Withholding Calculator to figure out how to budget my check and set up my direct deposit over the weekend.
Impossible.
My tax situation is simply not the same as it was last year. I will make less money this year than last. I will itemize for the first time, so I have no idea how much my deductions will be – since it’s only May, and since I’m still learning what all is deductible. My job offers a Health Savings Account, and I don’t even know if or how that may affect me. Oh – and I anticipate being married by the next time I file taxes. Which totally changes my filing status. The tax changes to unemployment benefits threw me off, too, since the withholding calculator doesn’t account for that. I can’t even effectively use the withholding calculator this year.
However, this is what I did: I divided the $5000 IRA contribution limit by the remaining pay periods between now and March 2010 (since I have until April 15 to finish contributing for the 2009 year). That helped me set a goal for how much to invest per paycheck to that account, and you know I need to, ’cause my retirement savings has suffered for a while now. Then I looked at what I paid in taxes last year, because my salary on this job is similar to what I made last year – that looked like it was 16% of my gross income. So I played with the paycheck calculator to see which number of exemptions claimed would result in at least 16% of that amount being held by the end of the year. Looks like two. Since I’m itemizing, I’ll have more deductions, and I’m making less than last year, I still think that I would over pay with two exemptions, but I’m not sure. It’s impossible for me to make an apples-to-apples comparison. But if my withholding is going to be off, I’d rather get a refund this time than owe – I’m erring on the side of caution. Beyond taking two exemptions, and sending enough to my IRA to max it out, I’m going to keep a separate “allowance” account on the side for guilt-free, non-necessity related spending. I will automate as much of this as I can. I figured out roughly how much I should be able to put towards saving, and how much for debt reduction – if my estimates are correct, I should be finished with the student loan progress bar by fall!
But all of this is speculation. I haven’t even received my first check yet. But I noticed that my mind was running – thinking of ways to spend the money I don’t even have yet. Sitting down and taking a realistic look at what I actually have the means to do was necessary, in order to keep my expectations and my goals in check! Better to plan now than spend willy nilly and miss chances to invest, save, and pay down debt.
questions galore
You know how, in a job interview, they ask you whether or not you have any questions for them? Here’s a list of some of the questions I had for my new employer either during the interview or after the formal offer. It’s not an exhaustive list, but they’re questions I figure some others may also benefit from asking for themselves the next time they switch employers.
Is this position a new position to the company? What is the work environment like? Who would I be working with? Is there a pre-tax public transit voucher program in place? (I had it at a previous job, and thought it was cool and convenient.) Are there any continuing education programs for employees in place? How do you handle sick days, holidays, and vacation days? Do the vacation days collect cumulatively over time if they’re not used, or are they use-them-or-lose them? How far in advance should someone request vacation days? Does the company support or ever encourage telecommuting? How is maternity leave handled? How would salary increases be determined and how often would my salary be assessed? Is there a company match in the 401k plan, if so, what is the match percentage, and is there any way to move up my eligibility date for participation? What are the expected hours? When would my first pay date be? Do you deduct and pay local taxes for city residents? Even though dress is casual, should I dress up for my first day? (For the record, the answer was that I could dress up if I wanted to, but everyone else would be wearing jeans. I’ve got half a mind to be like S23 and have people keep asking me why I look so nice. LOL!)
curb appeal
My front yard is simple. It slopes down from the porch to the sidewalk, and it’s bound on all four sides by walls. There’s a strip close to the porch that has some bushes, but other than that, nothing grows but grass and the weeds I pull up. My neighbor has some pretty perennials in a bed of mulch that rides along the sidewalk we share. I like that! I’m going to mirror the shape of her mulch bed on my side of the sidewalk, and it’s going to look like we coordinated our gardens. (At least the shape, anyway – I’m not using the same plants.) I love symmetry! It will make for a more pleasant approach to both our homes. I also need to put some more prominent house numbers in front of the house, ’cause the ones I have now are easy to miss. I have a flower box on the porch, too, that I haven’t filled yet.
I haven’t really done much with the front yard except keep it tidy so far. I need some work done on the porch, and I don’t want my new flowers trampled by workmen, so the porch work comes first. All these changes will cost money, and I’m being really conservative until my job situation improves. But I hope to make these improvements soon. I think I have all the yard tools I’ll ever need to keep up with the yard, except a rake, to pick up leaves. (My city encourages folks to recycle grass clippings by leaving them on the lawn.) But I’ll still need mulch, plants, and the house numbers. And maybe some cute little gardening gloves. I’ll keep you posted on how much all this’ll cost me.
Every once in a while, it’ll dawn on me that I’m a homeowner, and it still makes me happy to think of it. I’m going to be so proud when I finish my yard project!
less than
I estimated $50 for expenses on the trip. It came out to $44. And that’s all I spent, all weekend.
That makes me smile. I also lucked out and got some chair pads for my dining room chairs from the folks. Unfortunately, I also came home with a bunch of stuff I’m going to have to throw out or give away that was in their attic. LOL!
Anyway, it was time and money well spent, and I’m really glad for that weekend road trip. You know what, I wound up talking about money more than I thought. My aunt had some questions about a retirement fund that I was able to answer. My cousin had some tax issues that I was able to advise on. I suspect that one of these days, all this knowledge I’m picking up is going to make me some money.
happy choppers
My dental treatments are done, for now. I needed deep cleaning in two areas of my mouth. I also needed preventive fillings for a couple of teeth. It took four visits to get the x-rays and the work, and each visit cost money out-of-pocket. I don’t have dental insurance, so I went to one of the city’s dental schools to have a student do the work because they are cheaper than regular dentists. I’ve been really good lately with flossing and brushing at night, which I’ll admit, I never did before I started going to the dentist. The good news is, I don’t have to fear any major problems with my teeth now that I’ve had someone look at them and treat them. This is especially good, because gum disease runs in my mom’s family. The bad news is that they wanted me to pull out my bottom wisdom teeth, and I don’t want them to. They are half in, half out of my gums, and they’re stuck like that, ’cause I have a small mouth and there’s no room for them back there. Both the dental student and her supervising professor warned me that my decision is a ticking time bomb, and that sooner or later, I’ll probably get a bacterial infection, hurt really bad, and wind up getting them taken out anyway. I’m willing to take that chance for now. I’m hesitant to have teeth taken out that aren’t giving me any problems. I’m also hesitant to pay for any more than I have to right now.
I’m saving all my receipts. I’ve had more medical expenses in the last three months than I can ever remember happening in one year. It’s because of some gyn co-pays (no, lest your mind is wandering, I’m not pregnant), paying full price for my generic allergy medication (’cause I don’t have insurance and it’s not one of the generics you can get cheap), and paying full price for my dental treatments. There’s a distinct possibility that I will be able to itemize these expenses at tax time next year, especially if this pace keeps up and because I’ll have thousands in mortgage interest to deduct.
Anyway, my teeth and gums are healthy and, according to my dental student, improving nicely. I’ve lowered my chances of having a big fat expensive tooth emergency.
each one teach one
Mister Ant is filing his tax returns this week. He used to send his papers with his family’s accountant. But really, his taxes are so simple, that he shouldn’t pay any one else to do them. So this year, I persuaded him to do them himself. I referred him to the IRS’ Free File program to H&R Block’s Tax Cut online, which I have been using for years. Then we hopped over to our state’s free electronic filing website. Now Mister Ant is expecting refunds, and he didn’t have to pay any fees to get it done! I’m so proud.
If you haven’t taken care of your taxes yet, please do so. You don’t want to wait until the last minute and chance finding out that you’re missing a document or that you have a question that you need answered.
comin’ round
March’s net worth update is not a loss! I’m $500 up from last month.
Finally, the amount due for the plumbing work on my house is a memory. The amount due for my new mattress isn’t, though. I’m paying that off next week. I could pay it now, but I’m paying my e-fund back this week instead.
I’m still not making any real progress in saving. I’m still not purchasing more shares. I still wasn’t able to accelerate my student loan payments just yet. But believe it or not, I think I did as good as I could have expected this month. My student loans broke another thousand-dollar-barrier, I’m in less debt, my investments rebounded a little, and no emergency wiped out my savings. The only other thing I could hope for is a job.
My hope is not to have another drop in net worth any time soon. Since I’ve been calculating my net worth – back in October 2006, my net worth has only dropped in two months, and that was when I put the down payment on my house and when I took the Homeowner’s “Tax Credit” loan to augment my e-fund, two things that I don’t regret at all. Look, I’m on my way back up.
sweet and sour
The dentist cost $80.00 for yesterday’s visit. I have to go back at least twice, for a grand total of $305.00. Not bad, I guess, for not having dental insurance. There are no major problems, just some deep cleaning and ah… ahem… a couple of fillings – surface fillings. I also had to pay for parking yesterday. Y’all know I don’t pay for parking, unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. Well, yesterday at the dentist it was unavoidable, so, there went another eleven dollars. One more thing – my goal was to have my will drafted by the end of this month, which is fast approaching. I haven’t even sat down to get started yet. I gotta get on the ball. Well anyway, that’s the sour.
Here’s the sweet: I got a check in the mail for over $700 additional pay out from the amended homeowners insurance claim. Yay! I was only expecting two or three hundred. That’s $700 less that I have to spend on the plumbing job, which is sitting on my Visa right now waiting to be paid off by the monthly due date. My goal is to keep my e-fund from dipping below $4000. I’m hoping that between my income and the insurance company checks, I will be able to meet that goal.
