QUESTION

Should I agreesively pay down my mortgage after i remodel? or just throw in some extra so i pay it off sooner, but not agreeively sooner...?

.... here are my thoughts....

if i'm planning on getting married in the next 1-2- or 3 years... shouldn't I start saving for the big day? weddings on the cheap end cost 5,000-10,000 and I have no parents to help.

Then there's the $4,900 to buy that extra service year for cal pers... shouldn't I put some money towards that next year?

When I think about it, i'd like to bring my emergency fund to a full 6 months worth of expenses which would mean saving another 3,000.00

and then there is travel and enjoying my mid twenties... which I haven't really gotten to do since i've been saving every dime for my condo.

I mean sure, I could throw a little extra at it each month to knock off some interest over the life of the loan and pay it off sooner... but I don't know if its the right money smart decision for me to make.

hmmmm

thoughts??????

Maybe I need a financial planner...

Stock market

After reading some of the stock blogs I have booked-marked... I'm glad i transfered my mutual funds that were more volital into my more moderate fund, despite the loss this week.

I'm going to keep watch on the market, my accounts, and the blogs for the next 2 weeks of october and then figure out what to do with my funds if we're in for another down turn.

time to reseach other fund options if we go down hill.

retirement perspectives

The market wasn't as nice to me this week... i have to keep remembering to only buy shares on fridays.

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,546 Days from now.

** I’m not including the $1,100 in cash that I have sitting aside to Max out my Roth IRA for 2009. Until the money is deposited in there, it technically isn’t in there and therefore is not accounted for in this update.**

401 Account: Approximately 3.01 % of my portfolio• $586.92 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $623.53 Worth
o Up 6.23% from inception, +$36.61
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 31.34%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 68.65%

457 Account: Approximately 4.98% of my portfolio• Employer Funded. Future Contributions Discontinued (minimal interest earned—like pennies)
o Positive $1,032.33

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 11.34% of my portfolio• $2,300.00 Invested; Worth $2,349.84
o Up 2.16% from inception. Positive $49.84
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5%.
o Current Average CD rate 2.94%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 48.79% of my portfolio• $10,600 Invested; Worth $10,110.89
o Down 4.62% since inception… Loss of -$489.11
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 100%
o Money Market Cash 0.0%

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $14,116.49. Of that I’ve only invested $12,900.00 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 9.4%. If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 14,519.25), my portfolio is down 2.77% since inception.


Pension: Approximately 31.88% of my portfolio
I’ll have my 5 years of service in July of 2010. If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account. New Statements Delivered every November
• Up until 2007, Employer paid all contributions.
• Jan 2007- July 2009 Employee’s contributed 1%
o 2007- Contributions $299.74
o 2008- Contributions $336.12
o 2009- Contributions $214.82 (July 31st, 2009)
• As of August 1st, 2009 –Employee’s will now contribute 2% of income.
o 2009-Contrbutions $121.66 (September 25th, 2009)
o Cash Value as of 07.01.2008 $6,605.55.
• I’m ALSO buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less then a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 45 more installments.
o 2009- Total Contributions $231.42 (September 25th, 2009)

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $20,722.14

Retirement Future-ness

Since its Friday, and a payday, I’m really focused on making wise money choices. I guess every time I get more money, it’s my hope that I’ll be responsible with it. Anyways, as you all know, every year I max out my Roth IRA because I want a balanced portfolio. I know my work pension and mini 401a will be taxable income (and hopefully substantial) so I’m trying to balance those choices with ones that will grow tax free and not count as taxable income.

Once my condo remodel is complete I will begin to try and pay down my mortgage more aggressively since 5.25% is better than any CD rate out there… and since in a few years the itemizing will disappear the instant I get hitched. So I might as well pay it down faster when the majority of the bill goes to interest.

But while I’m aggressively paying down my mortgage, I also need to be thinking about retirement and building wealth. I refuse to put all my eggs in one basket and hope that my pension will sustain me, even when the formula and numbers look good. I may not work for this company till I’m 55… u never know… and I need to prepare for that.

So my original plan needs to change because my service years (which are used in determining how much money I get in my pension) are capped at 38… and at 55 I should have around 36.85… so I can’t buy the 5 years I planned on buying. In fact I can only buy one year because they sell them in one year increments.

The sooner I elect to buy that one year, the cheaper it is because the cost is based on my current salary… and I have to have 5 years of earned service (I have 4 so I have to wait until at least July)…

For the one year, the lump sum cost is $4,810.52.

One idea I had was to save up the entire cost, and then have it deducted out of 5 paychecks so I pay with pre-tax dollars and limit the interest I pay on the balance… They would deduct $970.42 out of each check I received for 5 pay periods and I would take the difference out of savings to “live on.” For 12 payments they deduct $408.41 a check… you get the picture… but I’d plan to have it only for a small number of payments to limit the interest I have to pay on it. I would have it finished off in one year.

The only question, is when to do this. Essentially I’ll be getting to lower my income by $4,800 for one year’s worth of taxes. I was thinking that I should wait to do this until the first year I know I won’t be able to itemize to help with the switch to a higher tax burden. I could slowly save up the money, a little each month, and then wait for the ideal moment when I know I won’t be able to itemize (which could be soon if I get hitched in the next couple of years). The downside is that the longer I wait, the more expensive it becomes IF my income increases…

Any ideas on when I should go for it and buy the year?

ALSO, Any ideas on other investment vehicles that are similar to the Roth IRA? I’m looking for something where I contribute post tax and the earning grow tax free.

My raise went through

WOOT!!!!!

my raise went through today! I got my retro pay!

Now to seriously look at keyboards!

I'm changing my Roth IRA

Instead of investing in 2 very similar mutual funds in my sharebuilder ROTH IRA account, i'm switching them over to one mutual fund (the one that was basically my whole portfolio).

The Moderate fund has the least amount of fees, is more in line with my market risk, and will make it easier to track and update.

I've purchased more shares this week so tomorrows re-cap should be accurate as everything will post and clear today.

Pension cap...

I just found out that there is a cap on the amount of service credit one can earn when it comes to the CALpers pension system. That cap is 38 years.

I have 4.05 years as of July 1st 2009, and if I work till I’m 55 I’ll have earned another 32 years for a total of 36.05… I’m also currently buying some time from before I was officially enrolled in CalPERS (service prior to membership… its about 0.8 of a year…) which means I can only purchase 1.15 years… and since they only sell them in one year increments, I can only purchase one year. I was originally planning on purchasing 5 years of service credit (the max since you can only elect to purchase one time)… but apparently I’ll only be able to buy one year of credit.

Which is A LOT cheaper… and since any extra years I put in won’t be calculated after 55, I won’t be working a day after 55… that’s for sure.

I also found out that any remaining vacation time I have is paid out when I retire or separate from my employer… Every year I seem to learn more and more about the benefit system. Apparently I have an employer paid life insurance policy that equals 2 times my annual salary too.

Its open enrollment time at work

Looks like health care costs are still going up. I’m allotted $825.00 a month in employer paid benefits. Last year my health insurance with Kaiser and my small dental plan cost me $442.54 a month… this year it costs me $472.98…


Which means I get a “pay cut” because my unused benefits are cashed out into my paychecks. Last year I got $191.23 a check… this year I’ll only be getting $176.01 a check.

Hopefully my raise will be processed soon to help offset the difference. I’m hoping it will go through soon because I want to use my retroactive pay from may 20th to now to get a nice 88 key weighted keyboard… (I started piano lessons with one of my friends who is recently unemployed to help him out financially, and because I’ve always wanted to learn. You can’t beat $20 bucks for an hour lesson.) but I’m hoping it comes soon because I need to practice and have nothing to practice with! Eek!

I signed my life away

I signed my loan docs yesterday...

now we wait for the bank to fund the loan... and then I get keys to my condo!

Retirement Perspectives

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,560 Days from now.

** I’m not including the $1,300 in cash that I have sitting aside to Max out my Roth IRA for 2009. Until the money is deposited in there, it technically isn’t in there and therefore is not accounted for in this update.**

401 Account: Approximately 2.96 % of my portfolio• $579.04 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $612.21 Worth
o Up 5.72% from inception, +$33.17
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 31.40%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 68.60%

457 Account: Approximately 5.00% of my portfolio• Employer Funded. Future Contributions Discontinued (minimal interest earned—like pennies)
o Positive $1,032.27

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 11.38% of my portfolio
• $2,300.00 Invested; Worth $2,349.25
o Up 2.14% from inception. Positive $49.25
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5%.
o Current Average CD rate 2.94%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 48.67% of my portfolio• $10,400 Invested; Worth $10,051.56
o Down 3.35% since inception… Loss of -$348.44
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 93.50%
o Strategic Allocation Growth 6.50%
o Money Market Cash 0.0%

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $14,045.29. Of that I’ve only invested $12,700.00 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 10.59%. If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals $14,311.31), my portfolio is down 1.85% since inception.


Pension: Approximately 31.99% of my portfolio
I’ll have my 5 years of service in July of 2010. If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account. New Statements Delivered every November
• Up until 2007, Employer paid all contributions.
• Jan 2007- July 2009 Employee’s contributed 1%
o 2007- Contributions $299.74
o 2008- Contributions $336.12
o 2009- Contributions $214.82 (July 31st, 2009)
• As of August 1st, 2009 –Employee’s will now contribute 2% of income.
o 2009-Contrbutions $80.58 (September 11th, 2009)
o Cash Value as of 07.01.2008 $6,605.55.
• I’m ALSO buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less then a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 46 more installments.
o 2009- Total Contributions $198.36 (September 11th, 2009)

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $20,650.84

The HUD is in

I got my HUD in my email box yesterday and went through it line by line. I saved $3,000.00 in one phone call. They had credits marked down as fees… and it was messy… but I now have an accurate one and I’m pleased to say it was less then I was expecting. Here’s the breakdown.

• Service Link Fee $25.00
• Hoa dues from 9/23-9/30 $57.53
• Lender Fee $1050.00
• Flood Check Fee $26.00
• Prepaid Interest $135.60
• Taxes (10 Months) $1125.00
• HOA Transfer fee $150.00
• Notary Fee $150.00
• Title Insurance $315.00
• HOA for October $250.00
• Recording $78
• Remaining Down payment $200.00
• $0.50
• REFUNDABLE PAD $500.00

Total: $4,062.63
I have a $500.00 Credit from my lender, and I’m being reimbursed $576.37 in taxes for a new total of:

$2,986.26 ($500 of which should be returned to me) so $2,486.26

To date I’ve spent : $4,792.00
• Cashier’s check $7.00
• Home Inspection $275.00
• Down payment $4,000.00
• Appraisal Fee $465.00
• Credit Report Fee $35.00
• Account Verification Fee from IGOBANKING $10.00

I add in my closing costs with what i've already spent and it’s a grand total of $7,278.26…. My tax credit is $8,000.00 so all of my money is being returned to me (and then some). (and I have $2,174.00 in equity on day one.)

My total mortgage, taxes, PMI, and HOA all comes to: $1,078.38

I got my condo!

The bank agreed to give it to me for 120,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!


I might even get keys this month!

so sad....

Boyfriends family has to sell their home via short sale...

it will be the 4th house on the street up for sale...

and thankfully the nicest so it might sale faster...

I feel so bad...


I know people who have lost jobs, gotten laid off, but none who have lost their homes. They are current on the place but its just too much to make the payments every month... they tried to get their loan changed and it was denied.

I feel so bad for them...

Retirement Perspectives

It was a good week for me!

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,560 Days from now.

** I’m not including the $1,400 in cash that I have sitting aside to Max out my Roth IRA for 2009. Until the money is deposited in there, it technically isn’t in there and therefore is not accounted for in this update.**

401 Account: Approximately 2.96 % of my portfolio• $579.04 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $602.78 Worth
o Up 4.09% from inception, +$23.74
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 31.40%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 68.60%

457 Account: Approximately 5.06% of my portfolio
• Employer Funded. Future Contributions Discontinued (minimal interest earned—like pennies)
o Positive $1,032.22

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 11.52% of my portfolio• $2,300.00 Invested; Worth $2,349.25
o Up 2.14% from inception. Positive $49.25
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5%.
o Current Average CD rate 2.94%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 48.07% of my portfolio• $10,300 Invested; Worth $9,803.80
o Down 4.81% since inception… Loss of -$496.20
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 93.50%
o Strategic Allocation Growth 6.50%
o Money Market Cash 0.0%

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $13,788.05. Of that I’ve only invested $12,600.00 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 9.42%. If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals $14,211.60), my portfolio is down 2.98% since inception.


Pension: Approximately 32.39% of my portfolio
I’ll have my 5 years of service in July of 2010. If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account. New Statements Delivered every November
• Up until 2007, Employer paid all contributions.
• Jan 2007- July 2009 Employee’s contributed 1%
o 2007- Contributions $299.74
o 2008- Contributions $336.12
o 2009- Contributions $214.82 (July 31st, 2009)
• As of August 1st, 2009 –Employee’s will now contribute 2% of income.
o 2009-Contrbutions $80.58 (September 11th, 2009)
o Cash Value as of 07.01.2008 $6,605.55.
• I’m ALSO buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less then a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 46 more installments.
o 2009- Total Contributions $198.36 (September 11th, 2009)

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $20,393.60

lots of updates thrown in one post

I was looking at my pay stub where it shows how much money I’ll make this year and I think I’m just barely going to make what I made last year because I get three extra checks instead of two this year…

Speaking of money, I got paid today and set aside my rent payment for October. 2 more rent payments to make and my lease is over. Wow.

I haven’t heard anything back from the condo people… so maybe today. I hope to know before the weekend so I can spend Saturday thinking my options over, or celebrating my new home.

I didn’t get the job. I knew it was going to be a long shot, but apparently I gave the other candidates a run for their money. I need to hone my interview skills though. While some people don’t say enough, I say too much. I ended up answering questions that weren’t asked of me yet while I was answering other questions. I need to learn to hone answers and the lady in HR said she’d coach me the next time interviews came around for a promotion because she thinks I would have done that job really well. (Most people are in their 30’s when they get it, so a 23 year old applying is a long shot.) But for the time being I’ll get my raise (from my review that should have been done in May) and that means I’ll be making more money with my current job then I would with the new one. My pension will also continue to grow faster then if I took the new job since it was only part time and this is full time. I’m also working out more on my lunch breaks and getting healthier. I have the inner satisfaction that this place would die without me (In my humble opinion I do so much here that no one person could replace me). All of these things are the positives of me keeping my job. I’m focusing on these to help me do one day at a time.

I’m enjoying my new Saturday night church because I get 2 days off that I don’t have to really do anything and it’s lovely. I’ve never felt like I’ve had a weekend before and its really nice to be able to break up my laundry over 2 days and not worry about getting up early to do it…. So what am I doing this Sunday, getting up early to work out with my sister (she’s been bugging me about it and since I work at a gym I think she’s thinking I’m her new free trainer…..)

My roommate told me that if I loose the place she won’t “kick me out” at the end of the lease. I was talking with her new roommate (who is way chill and I love her… and would totally move in with her tomorrow) and she told me that she could always wait a bit for me to figure things out before moving in so I could stay longer in my apartment if I needed to since they decided to keep our place instead of hunt for a new one… but then boyfriend told me that roommate was planning on having her friend move in anyways and have me there. (I’d guess they’d share a room and we’d live in boxes since roommate has sooooo much crap…) Please realtor, call me back with good news!

I also bought another $100 CD for my Roth and purchased $100.00 in mutual funds.

thiws week will be a big week

I find out today if i got the job i applied for...


and i spoke with my realtor... she thinks the bank might drop the price down to 120,000 (she can assure them after talking to my lendor that we are good to go and can still close on time if they lower the price.)

**** cross ur fingers for me.... Today for the Job and I should know by friday for my place!****

My options....

Option 1- Best:
The bank agrees to drop the price of the condo to market value... I buy it and i'm happy.

Option 2- Maybe 2nd best:
The bank agrees to drop the condo to a value i'd accept (slightly higher then market value-) and i still get the tax credit and my home. (2nd best option)

Option 3- eh 3rd best:
The Government extends the homebuyer credit through 2010....My next move would then be to find a place off craigslist (read rent a room) for 700-800 a month and go month to month. That way i'm not stuck in a lease if i find something and my offer is accepted. Plus I get to save more money because rent would be around the same as it is now. I'd continue looking and hopefully get a place.

Option 4 eh.... 4th best?
No homebuyer credit... so I find a place off craigslist (read rent a room) for 700-800 a month and go month to month until i find a decent roommate and hit the 2 bedroom market again. Without the tax credit, i wouldn't be looking a fixer uppers...

Option 5 the Crap option:
The government doesn't extend the tax credit.I Sign a lease at an apartment complex for more money then i would have paid for my mortgage, taxes, hoa, and pmi combined...Since i'd have a lease i'd be unable to really look for a place cause i'd have to pay 1200 a month on top of a new mortgage, etc. I'd only be able to save around 450 a month for my future home since my rent would be larger then it is at present. Fixer uppers would be out of the question since money would be way tighter.
Most likely I wouldn't be looking at one bedrooms anymore cause i'd be already living that lifestyle... and since i was planning on only living there 3-5 years, every month I live in an apartment, is one less month i'd typically live in a one bedroom condo... which means i'd need even more money to get a place cause 2 bedrooms are more money.

Dr. results are in

I don't have endrometriosis... or anything like it.

I had an ultra sound and a barium x-ray thing and they both came back normal.

Both tests came back normal.... phew


now we refer me to a stomach and intestines specialist... and continue to rule out all the crap that isn't wrong with me.

Thank you guys for the support.

Retirement Perspectives

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,567 Days from now.

** I’m not including the $1,600 in cash that I have sitting aside to Max out my Roth IRA for 2009. Until the money is deposited in there, it technically isn’t in there and therefore is not accounted for in this update.**

401 Account: Approximately 2.89 % of my portfolio• $565.61 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $576.60 Worth
o Up 1.94% from inception, +$10.99
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 32.10%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 67.90%

457 Account: Approximately 5.18% of my portfolio• Employer Funded. Future Contributions Discontinued (minimal interest earned—like pennies)
o Positive $1,032.17

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 11.29% of my portfolio• $2,200.00 Invested; Worth $2,248.80
o Up 2.21% from inception. Positive $48.80
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5%.
o Current Average CD rate 2.99%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 47.49% of my portfolio
• $10,200 Invested; Worth $9461.43
o Down 7.24% since inception… Loss of -$738.57
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 93.50%
o Strategic Allocation Growth 6.50%
o Money Market Cash 0.0%

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $13,319.00. Of that I’ve only invested $12,400.00 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 7.41%. If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals $13,997.78), my portfolio is down 4.84% since inception.


Pension: Approximately 33.15% of my portfolio
I’ll have my 5 years of service in July of 2010. If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account. New Statements Delivered every November
• Up until 2007, Employer paid all contributions.
• Jan 2007- July 2009 Employee’s contributed 1%
o 2007- Contributions $299.74
o 2008- Contributions $336.12
o 2009- Contributions $214.82 (July 31st, 2009)
• As of August 1st, 2009 –Employee’s will now contribute 2% of income.
o 2009-Contrbutions $26.86 (August 14th, 2009)
o Cash Value as of 07.01.2008 $6,605.55.
• I’m ALSO buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less then a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 48 more installments.
o 2009- Total Contributions $132.24 (August 14th, 2009)

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $19,924.55


I bought another CD for my Roth IRA... but instead of going for the highest amount i can get regardless of the length of the cd, i limited the length of the CD to only 6 months because the rate was just slightly lower and my money isn't locked in to a crappy cd for 4 years. I'm trying to gage were the market is going and if the cd rates start to go up, I want to be able to take advantage of that. PLUS

ING has a roll over amount added on if you renew cd's. It used to be .10 was added on, but now its .15

Right now the best CD i can get with them is 1.75% but its for 4 years. If i do a 6 month cd at 1.65%, when it expires it should set to 1.8% for another 6 months assuming rates don't change... So let my experiment begin

I was right to worry about my condo....

We got the appraisal in, and its value is coming in at $120,000.00 not $133,000.00

I talked with my lender and if the bank who owns the condo will not negotiate on the price of the condo, I’ll have to shell out an additional $13,000.00 or I’ll have to walk away because my loan will not exceed the value of the property.

Physically, I ran the numbers, and I could hypothetically come up with the additional money, but I’d have to use everything I have (all my condo money, all my emergency fund, my 1500 vacation fund, and the rest of my 2009 contributions to my Roth IRA, and kiss remodel good bye). The tax refund I’d get in January would be use to create an emergency fund.

I’m not comfortable with that… which means if the bank won’t budge, I’ll walk and be screwed.

Blah!~

I'm so busy this month...

I interviewed for a different position at work and i'm still waiting to hear back..

I have 4 birthdays this month... including boyfriend and Both his parents

I have to read through my HOA docs... That i pick up today

and wait impaciently for my Apprasal... which hangs on everything...


If the property doesn't appraise for the value I offered... the bank needs to compromise on the price or i'll have to walk away. The bank won't give me a loan for more then the property is worth, so every dollar i pay over the amount its worth (which I don't want to do) is money that comes from my remodel fund...

So i hope the apprasal comes in soon so i know if the bank will negotiate or not.

really busy...

No retirement updates this week. (I'm really busy)

Loan got approved...

I may close sooner...

My job interview is wed (yup... i'm trying for a promotion in a different department.)

where did my weekend go?