2010 Goals... and How i'd going to do them

Financial $$$ Goals

Pay off non-mortgage Debt

Pay off Tile Loan -> $4,000.00 FTH Tax Return
Pay off Home Depot -> $4,000.00 FTH Tax Return

Lower Mortgage to under $115,000.00

By paying an extra $60.00 a month (slightly more then one extra payment a year)my balance will hit under $115,000.00. This move saves me $23,372.99 in interest over the life of the loan... and I get rid of my mortgage 63 months sooner... or 5.25 years faster.

Get emergency fund to $8,200.00 (+$1,200.00)

If I save an additional $100.00 a month I'll add over $1,000.00 to my emergency fund this year. No matter how much money I have in my Emergency fund, every year i'll continue to add more because its important to get in the habit of saving for emergencies... because one day i'll have to tap into it for, well an emergency... and this way i'll already have the discipline to build that money back up. Plus I'm a homeowner now and its more important then ever to save money for the unexpected.

Max out Roth IRA ($5,000.00)

I'll get 2 extra checks in 2010 (not including the one I'm getting this week which is going to the condo projects so I can finish them without harassing my emergency fund because those things are not emergencies.)Plus, I'll be adding $250.00 a month to my accounts so that should land me in the $5,000.00 range.

Car Fund $500.00 (+$250)

I'll be filtering money starting in March to get the full amount of my deductible stashed away incase of a car accident or an unbudgeted expensive repair. I'm waiting to March to make sure all the stuff with the condo is taken care of. =)

Increase Networth to $60,000.00

last year my goal was a networth of $65,000.00... and I would have made it if I didn't buy my condo... but, since I did, I'm ending the year with a networth of $50,000.00 So, I'm aiming for a more realistic $60,000.00. I make around $43,000 a year so i'm shooting to keep 23% of my income this year. Hopefully its a good year for the market. If I meet my other goals, ($5000.00 Roth, $1200.00 Ef, $2,418.77 Mortgage, $250.00 Car Fund) I'll only need to "find" or earn/save an additional $1,080.23 in Interest, Market Dividends, Overtime, Ect.

Personal Goals:

GET IN SHAPE

I have no more excuses come January 1st... and even though I like to start my new years resoultions on Thanksgiving... That's just not the case for me this year. I'll have a kitchen with running water after today, no roommates, and life will begin to move at a normal pace for me. I'm also giving up red meat and eating seafood, & poultry (Turkey, & chicken)only. One small step to getting healthier. Plus I'm going to attempt a food journal.

Give More

Kiva (micro loans), Childshare (fundraising, events, and time), my new church... and this doesn't just mean $$$$... it means time, talents, and love as well.

Track my spending

Last year I gave up half way through the year, and this year i'll be better at it. I won't go so nitty gritty and i'll categorize things more generally instead of trying to figure out how much milk and mustard I bought... lol man I was silly last year.

Read One book a Month or more

Cause I just like this one.

Retirement Perspectives

WOOT WOOT WOOT

Happy Christmas to me… Happy Christmas to me… all of my accounts are in the green…. Happy Christmas to me…

I have profit in every sector!


My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,455 Days from now...

401 Account: Approximately 2.80 % of my portfolio
• $685.02 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $741.62 Worth
o Up 6.67% from inception, +$56.60
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 29.50%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 70.50%

457 Account: Approximately 3.89% of my portfolio
• Was employer funded but future contributions discontinued (minimal interest earned)
o Positive $1,032.80

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 9.68% of my portfolio
• $2,500.00 Invested; Worth $2,570.56
o Up 2.68% from inception. Positive $67.56
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5% (savings 1.30%).
o Current Average CD rate 2.866%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 43.47% of my portfolio
• $11,500 Invested; Worth $11,532.06
o Down 1.25% since inception… Positive: $32.06
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 100.00%
o I have 1,351.528 Shares
o For my account to break even, shares would have to be: $8.51
o Currently shares are worth:$8.52

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $15,874.04. Of that I’ve only invested $14,000 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 13.386% If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 15,717.82), my portfolio is UP 0.99 % since inception.

Pension: Approximately 40.16% of my portfolio
If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account.

Account Value as of 07.01.2009: $9,890.40
Paycheck deductions added to account post balance: $764.89
Total: $10,655.29

• 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 39 more installments.

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $26,509.33

Glad I took a week off

The tile took 2 days to complete... instead of the one I was promised... so I called The TILE COMPANY and they are crediting my account 10% of my tile costs.

but they did a fabulous job. I wish they would have sent this team out the first time because its sooooooo nice. They fixed everything. Underlayment is in, they gave me a smaller grout line, and made sure the tile was dry before anything went on it.

Monday my wall AC unit will be installed... and It should be a week or so for the shutters and the extra granite work i'm having done to the place. (the half wall is going to get granite on top cause I had extra material leftover!)

A very happy and safe holiday to all of you out there.

New layout

i was talking with someone from the midwest at work last week... and he called me "a south county girl with a midwest mindset" so i decided to snazz up the blog a bit.

eventually when i settle in to my condo and get internet access all hooked up i'm going to re-vamp the blog.

=)

Total Condo Costs 2009

I added up everything... including some things i've yet to pay for (installation of my wall A/C unit... the second half of my plantation shutters) but here's the break down of the final costs for my condo:

Money paid to aquire the property and get keys:
$7,057.08

Money Spent to Remodel and Repair Property:
$17,798.89

total: $24,855.97

First Time Home buyers Credit: $8,000.00
Current equity: $2,581.23 (not including any change in value the upgrades gave me)

amount in the hole: $14,274.74

when I file my taxes, if i'm able to itemize, i'll deduct the money I saved by itemizing that money from the money I'm in the hole for.

Starting in January, I'll be paying an additional $54.22 a month on my mortgage (1/12 a payment)... which brings ownership costs to $1,132.60 a month including HOA and taxes... ruffly the amount of a one bedroom apartment so my comparrison plan should work nicely to find a happy break even point on my condo.

Retirement Perspectives

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,462 Days from now...

401 Account: Approximately 2.77 % of my portfolio
• $685.02 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $730.41 Worth
o Up 6.67% from inception, +$45.39
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 29.50%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 70.50%

457 Account: Approximately 3.92% of my portfolio
• Was employer funded but future contributions discontinued (minimal interest earned)
o Positive $1,032.77

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 9.75% of my portfolio
• $2,500.00 Invested; Worth $2,570.00
o Up 2.68% from inception. Positive $67.00
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5% (savings 1.30%).
o Current Average CD rate 2.866%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 43.11% of my portfolio
• $11,500 Invested; Worth $11,356.10
o Down 1.25% since inception… Loss of -$143.90
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 100.00%
o I have 1,351.528 Shares
o For my account to break even, shares would have to be: $8.51
o Currently shares are worth:$8.39

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $15,686.28. Of that I’ve only invested $14,000 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 12.04% If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 15,717.79), my portfolio is Down 0.20 % since inception.

Pension: Approximately 40.45% of my portfolio
If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account.

Account Value as of 07.01.2009: $9,890.40
Paycheck deductions added to account post balance: $764.89
Total: $10,655.29

• 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 39 more installments.

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $26,341.57

The week wind up

Granite should go in today while i'm at work...

tomorrow we move in furniture and the rest of my belongings.... possibily hook up and install the sink...

Monday the tile guys come back out to finish and fix the job they started...

Tuesday I get to clean, vacumnn, dust, and I can put all the appliances back and put the kitchen together!

Wednesday i get to finish decorating for xmas... Then go to my apartment for some much needed cleaning

thursday sit back and relax and the eve before the big day... then I enjoy Christmas.

BEFORE PICTURES

Okay. I found my camera, the cord, and a bit of time to upload and crop and re-size.
So, I give you the junky photos of my condo pre remodel. (the after photos should be ready in a few weeks after I finish moving in)

Cabinets installed

Cabinets were finished yesterday. They look spectacular...

Sorry posts are brieft, but time is flying and I'm out again!

I did it

I got my shutters. They will be installed in 4-6 weeks and out the door with tax and installation, $1,900.00

But i'm glad I got them.

My contractor friend should be coming over to install my kitchen today while i'm at work (boyfriend is letting him in). and his buddy will install my AC unit for $100.00 cause he's a nice guy and i'm getting the "friend" discount.


woot woot.

or not

I might not pass up on the sliding shutters of heaven that I desire.

I did a better google job, called a company, and they are coming out on Monday for a free estimate.

If its too much $$$$$$ then i'll get drapes or something like that. but i'll make a decision by Monday afternoon and that makes me feel better.

Blinds | kitchen cabinets

I think I'm going to take a PASS on the plantation slider doors that I really want in my condo.

I'm having a really hard time getting in contact with a company to even get a quote about them, and since i'm dissatisfied with The TILE COMPANY and the tile fiasco, I don't want to give them my money and have them do it. I believe you earn a customer and they did not earn my business so I don't want to give them anymore business or money.

Which means, I now need to figure out some kind of way to cover my sliding glass doors without using those horrible blind things. Looks like i'll be googling that today. Maybe I'll be able to get it done this weekend. That would be nice.

My kitchen cabinets are being delivered on Tuesday (so I had to take another day off of work for my remodel). I'll talk to my contactor tonight and get the number for one of his buddies that is bonded so I can get him to install my A/C unit that I bought. I'll be turning in the HOA forms this week for it to be approved.

This Sunday I think we are going to attempt to move some of my bedroom furniture over ... and on Monday I plan on throwing things away/taking things to goodwill/ or setting them aside for a possible church rummage sale.

I have less then 30 days... its time to get a move on it. (I also need to buy the microwave and garbage disposal for my kitchen still... and take back the fawcets I bought for the kitchen-- wrong one)

Retirement Perspectives

GUESS WHAT? It's POSITIVE... for the first time since I can remember, my investing is in the GREEN!

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,476 Days from now...

401 Account: Approximately 2.80 % of my portfolio
• $670.78 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary); $716.82 Worth
o Up 6.86% from inception, +$46.04
o Stable Value Money Market Accounts make up 29.60%
o Milestone 2040 makes up 70.40%

457 Account: Approximately 4.03% of my portfolio
• Was employer funded but future contributions discontinued (minimal interest earned)
o Positive $1,032.70

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 10.02% of my portfolio
• $2,500.00 Invested; Worth $2,566.28
o Up 2.65% from inception. Positive $66.28
o CD’s ranging from 1.65% to 4.5% (savings 1.30%).
o Current Average CD rate 2.866%

ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 44.54% of my portfolio
• $11,500 Invested; Worth $11,409.76
o Down 0.78% since inception… Loss of -$90.24
o Strategic Allocation Moderate 99.10%
o Money Market Cash .90%
o I have 1,341.523 Shares
o For my account to break even, shares would have to be: $8.50
o Currently shares are worth:$8.43

Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $15,725.56. Of that I’ve only invested $14,000 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 12.35% If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 15,703.48), my portfolio is UP 0.14 % since inception. HOLY WOW… ITS FINALLY IN THE POSITIVE

Pension: Approximately 38.61% of my portfolio
If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account.

Account Cash Value as of 07.01.2008 $9,890.40

• 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 40 more installments.

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $25,615.96

While paying my mortgage...

While I was paying my mortgage for the month, I noticed my escrow account shrunk... which means that my first installment of my property taxes was deducted from my account and paid for me by the bank.

So, I went to the County's website and looked at the bill. (since the bank takes care of it, I never see the bill for myself so I wanted to look at it.)

They value my property (structure and land) at $155,000.00

But I just paid $120,000.00 for it a few months ago. Can that be right? Can they charge me taxes on it for $155,000.00 or shouldn't they be charging me taxes on the 120,000.00 i paid (after all that was the assessment?)

If its really worth $155,000.00 and I only owe $117,500.00 that means I shouldn't pay PMI right?