Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Added $550 to my Roth IRA
I'm now up to $2500 ... only $1500 before mid-April left to contribute. I'll be putting in $500 a month for the next three months. Roth-o-Meter is technically at 62.5% - w00t.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
More on my 401(k) Decision
I wanted to say a little more about my decision to cancel my 401(k) contribution so all you nice people don't worry about me ;)
I am 37 years old and I currently have approx 71k in tax-deferred accounts (401k and Rollover IRAs) and a little over 8k in tax-free accounts (my one Roth IRA) and about $2700 in taxable accounts as my emergency fund. If all goes well with my company, I can expect another $11k or so in my tax-deferred accounts (though the "when" is anybody's guess).
After noodling for about three months, I finally made a decision to re-prioritize my savings efforts until I had my emergency "bucket" fully funded. All year I have read ALL sorts of expert suggestions on how big to make an emergency fund...from the "just use your home equity" camp to the "9 months of living expenses" folks and I have chosen something in between.
My plan is to have 10k set aside in liquid assets to cover three months of living expenses. If things happen to get more extreme, I can access as much as 9k from my own Roth IRA (in contributions) by about April (let alone contributions LaLa has made to her Roth) but for me this is an absolute LAST RESORT. I do not want to touch any of my tax-free assets.
I am not conservative when it comes to my emergency funds as I have lived through a year of unemployment while LaLa had a part time job that paid $12/hr. That year was truly trying financially...but we made it through ok and kept the house ;) I certainly don't intend to be caught in that situation again, but I want to get a little more aggressive in having my savings work for me more efficiently.
I've already put nearly $13k away tax-deferred in 2005 and after I meet my other savings goals for 2006 I will begin 401(k) contributions again -- most likely 4th quarter. But in all honesty, my fund options for my 401(k) are pretty poor. The S&P 500 index fund available to me has an expense ratio of about 1.4% -- yes, 1.4% ... on an INDEX FUND. So part of my decision to re-prioritize my 401(k) funding has to do with thinking I can do a little better with my money...despite the tax hit....again, not for the long haul necessarily, but while I get things in order.
Starting this month, I can put an additional $800 a month toward the emergency fund. I had been putting a steady $100 a month in, augmented by other inflows that came my way each month (rebates, ebay sales etc). LaLa will also be reprioritizing the savings pools but her income is erratic (she is a freelance web and graphic designer). I figure that we can easily meet our emergency fund goal by April while maxing out our 2005 Roth contributions AND still meet our 2006 Roth maximums by the end of 2006.
I think this makes the most sense in our particular situation and I am not advocating that others stop their 401(k) contributions simply because an employer doesn't match (I have been maxing my 401k for years with no matching whatsoever). I feel I am simply temporarily shifting my savings priorities to build a more stable financial foundation that suits our circumstances. But even though I am convinced this is right for us...I am still interested in what others think!
Care to weigh in?
I am 37 years old and I currently have approx 71k in tax-deferred accounts (401k and Rollover IRAs) and a little over 8k in tax-free accounts (my one Roth IRA) and about $2700 in taxable accounts as my emergency fund. If all goes well with my company, I can expect another $11k or so in my tax-deferred accounts (though the "when" is anybody's guess).
After noodling for about three months, I finally made a decision to re-prioritize my savings efforts until I had my emergency "bucket" fully funded. All year I have read ALL sorts of expert suggestions on how big to make an emergency fund...from the "just use your home equity" camp to the "9 months of living expenses" folks and I have chosen something in between.
My plan is to have 10k set aside in liquid assets to cover three months of living expenses. If things happen to get more extreme, I can access as much as 9k from my own Roth IRA (in contributions) by about April (let alone contributions LaLa has made to her Roth) but for me this is an absolute LAST RESORT. I do not want to touch any of my tax-free assets.
I am not conservative when it comes to my emergency funds as I have lived through a year of unemployment while LaLa had a part time job that paid $12/hr. That year was truly trying financially...but we made it through ok and kept the house ;) I certainly don't intend to be caught in that situation again, but I want to get a little more aggressive in having my savings work for me more efficiently.
I've already put nearly $13k away tax-deferred in 2005 and after I meet my other savings goals for 2006 I will begin 401(k) contributions again -- most likely 4th quarter. But in all honesty, my fund options for my 401(k) are pretty poor. The S&P 500 index fund available to me has an expense ratio of about 1.4% -- yes, 1.4% ... on an INDEX FUND. So part of my decision to re-prioritize my 401(k) funding has to do with thinking I can do a little better with my money...despite the tax hit....again, not for the long haul necessarily, but while I get things in order.
Starting this month, I can put an additional $800 a month toward the emergency fund. I had been putting a steady $100 a month in, augmented by other inflows that came my way each month (rebates, ebay sales etc). LaLa will also be reprioritizing the savings pools but her income is erratic (she is a freelance web and graphic designer). I figure that we can easily meet our emergency fund goal by April while maxing out our 2005 Roth contributions AND still meet our 2006 Roth maximums by the end of 2006.
I think this makes the most sense in our particular situation and I am not advocating that others stop their 401(k) contributions simply because an employer doesn't match (I have been maxing my 401k for years with no matching whatsoever). I feel I am simply temporarily shifting my savings priorities to build a more stable financial foundation that suits our circumstances. But even though I am convinced this is right for us...I am still interested in what others think!
Care to weigh in?
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Cancelled my 401(k) Contribution
Earlier this month I cancelled my 401(k) contribution after re-prioritizing some of our financial goals. For several years, the mantra "max out the 401(k)" was helpful to me as my sole savings goal but my goals are getting more diversified as I learn more and it's time to do some adjusting.
When I made my goal early in 2005 to save $10,000 in an emergency fund by the end of the year, it was before my paycut. Even with my moderately successful efforts at reducing expenses, I only had $2300 saved at the end of November. My reduction in pay combined with the addition of a 50% health and dental contribution resulted in an $800 monthly reduction in my take home pay mid year (incidentally, you can see this reflected in my NetWorthIQ graph...it's interesting). This unforseen event really put a crimp in my savings rate.
My company does do both 401(k) matching and profit sharing 401(k) contributions...when there is a profit. Cash flow has been a problem all year for my company and it appears we will end the year with a net loss. In 2004, we received (theoretical) matching and profit sharing contributions, but they have yet to be applied to our 401(k) accounts due to the cash flow issues (and apparently it's costing the company even more money in penalty fees to stay in compliance because of that fact).
Essentially there will be no 401(k) matching this year so I will not forfeit any "free money" through a match. By cancelling before either of my December paychecks, I have still contributed nearly $13,000 to my 401(k) for 2005. When (if?) my 2004 bonus is applied to my account, I will treat it as a stand-in for the bulk of my 2006 401(k) contributions (psychologically that is...not in my calculated savings rate)
My twice-a-month 2005 401(k) contribution was $584. With that stopped, I do take a tax hit...of $177 per paycheck (Federal + State income taxes combined). So I am netting just over $400 more in my new paycheck. This means I now have $800 a month (starting with December) to put towards our emergency fund. LaLa's marginal tax rate is lower than mine, so she is also re-prioritizing the emergency fund over tax-deferred savings until we meet our goal.
Obviously cash flow issues and my ever declining salary makes me very concerned about the health of my company. It just finally sunk in that my most important goal right now should be the emergency fund.
I've already made my first $400 contribution to the emergency fund...bringing the Save-O-Meter up to 27% ...it's a start
When I made my goal early in 2005 to save $10,000 in an emergency fund by the end of the year, it was before my paycut. Even with my moderately successful efforts at reducing expenses, I only had $2300 saved at the end of November. My reduction in pay combined with the addition of a 50% health and dental contribution resulted in an $800 monthly reduction in my take home pay mid year (incidentally, you can see this reflected in my NetWorthIQ graph...it's interesting). This unforseen event really put a crimp in my savings rate.
My company does do both 401(k) matching and profit sharing 401(k) contributions...when there is a profit. Cash flow has been a problem all year for my company and it appears we will end the year with a net loss. In 2004, we received (theoretical) matching and profit sharing contributions, but they have yet to be applied to our 401(k) accounts due to the cash flow issues (and apparently it's costing the company even more money in penalty fees to stay in compliance because of that fact).
Essentially there will be no 401(k) matching this year so I will not forfeit any "free money" through a match. By cancelling before either of my December paychecks, I have still contributed nearly $13,000 to my 401(k) for 2005. When (if?) my 2004 bonus is applied to my account, I will treat it as a stand-in for the bulk of my 2006 401(k) contributions (psychologically that is...not in my calculated savings rate)
My twice-a-month 2005 401(k) contribution was $584. With that stopped, I do take a tax hit...of $177 per paycheck (Federal + State income taxes combined). So I am netting just over $400 more in my new paycheck. This means I now have $800 a month (starting with December) to put towards our emergency fund. LaLa's marginal tax rate is lower than mine, so she is also re-prioritizing the emergency fund over tax-deferred savings until we meet our goal.
Obviously cash flow issues and my ever declining salary makes me very concerned about the health of my company. It just finally sunk in that my most important goal right now should be the emergency fund.
I've already made my first $400 contribution to the emergency fund...bringing the Save-O-Meter up to 27% ...it's a start
The Expensive Thing *I* WON'T Be Buying
A little while ago, Madame X wrote about which expensive things she will NOT be buying. Aside from finding that post hilarious, it reminded me of the one thing that I have seen this year that is both expensive and (to me) utterly ridiculous.
While flying down to Florida in November, I spied something in SkyMall...
Amaze your friends with a life-like animatronic chimpanzee for only $149.95 (though it appears to be on sale right now)
I know, I know...it's really not much more expensive than Gucci ice cube trays...
While flying down to Florida in November, I spied something in SkyMall...
Amaze your friends with a life-like animatronic chimpanzee for only $149.95 (though it appears to be on sale right now)
I know, I know...it's really not much more expensive than Gucci ice cube trays...
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Fed Raises Rate to 4.25%
The Federal Reserve raised the main U.S interest rate to 4.25% [via Bloomberg] I hope the online savings accounts start reflecting that soon....
Inaugural Festival of Frugality!
Jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity has launched the Festival of Frugality. I am particularly excited by this new blogging carnival since I'm still in my "lower expenses" phase (maybe that phase should never truly end...). As much as I enjoy and value the other finance related carnivals frugality holds a special place in my heart as a Enjoy!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Household Relationship Approved!
I logged into Fidelity this evening and our household relationship has been enacted by Fidelity. We still have close to $2000 to go until we qualify for the "silver" commission level but this should be accomplished by year end. It will be nice to have the lower trading costs as I head into next year because I want to learn more about investing and trading stocks.
My portfolio is still the same as before, I do not have access to LaLa's accounts through my login, but when I check my commission level, all four of our account numbers are listed below and constitute our current list of eligible accounts. I do wonder if the statement pages will change at all, or if they just stuff all the printed statements into one envelope. We'll see.
My portfolio is still the same as before, I do not have access to LaLa's accounts through my login, but when I check my commission level, all four of our account numbers are listed below and constitute our current list of eligible accounts. I do wonder if the statement pages will change at all, or if they just stuff all the printed statements into one envelope. We'll see.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Carnival Monday!
The Carnival of Personal Finance #26 is up at WealthJunkie and it's yet another whopper. Many entries look quite interesting and most from a few new (to me) blogs. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me tonight in catching up on all those posts.
The Carnival of Debt Reduction #13 is up at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and that's also looking particularly good this week.
And speaking of Jim, tomorrow will be the first Festival of Frugality...I'm really excited to see this new carnival launch. And I'm also happy Jim chose a day other than Monday ;)
Enjoy!
The Carnival of Debt Reduction #13 is up at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and that's also looking particularly good this week.
And speaking of Jim, tomorrow will be the first Festival of Frugality...I'm really excited to see this new carnival launch. And I'm also happy Jim chose a day other than Monday ;)
Enjoy!
Diana Krall Holiday Tune for Free
I'm planning a "music on the cheap" post in the near future, but it's probably no surprise that using iTunes free downloads are a frugal way to get new music. If you like Diana Krall, iTunes has a free download this week of her Jingle Bells (see the link to the right). I think this lasts until Tuesday so go get it!
(And in the interest of full disclosure if you go their via a link of mine and spend money, I get a small commission. iTunes made me fall in love with music all over again so I wholeheartedly stand by my shill-osity.)
(And in the interest of full disclosure if you go their via a link of mine and spend money, I get a small commission. iTunes made me fall in love with music all over again so I wholeheartedly stand by my shill-osity.)
Saturday, December 10, 2005
My "New" iPod
When the iPod Nano came out this year, I was pretty sure that it was the only thing I wanted for Christmas. And we are already a multi iPod household so this seems ridiculous, but let me explain.
When the iPod Mini came out two years ago, LaLa and I thought it was a less expensive way to own an iPod and honestly the green color and the size made it so damn cute. We pooled all our xmas gift monies and bought one, named it "sweetpea" and have loved it dearly ever since. It is honestly one of our most treasured objects and we very nearly worship the thing.
So when I realized I'd be doing a lot of traveling this year for business (air and rail alike!) I desperately wanted music with me, but I could not bear the thought of taking sweetpea. If anything happened to sweetpea I would be devastated. So LaLa and I talked it over and we decided to buy a shuffle. Not the best financial decision I admit, but if you knew how much I hate traveling and how much relief having all my "5 stah!" songs with me brings me...you'd allow me that weakness. So I had a shuffle for travel, and LaLa had sweetpea dedicated to workouts and roadtrips of course.
When the Nano came along, I realized that what I really wanted was 1) something that wasn't as precious as sweetpea 2) had my contacts from my iMac's address book and 3) had my iCal calendar info and the shuffle wasn't cutting it on 2 and 3. (Ridiculous...isn't it?)
BUT. I don't want a Nano anymore (at least not right now). I am the proud owner of a 3rd Generation 10GB iPod that I got for essentially $40.
While I was at my parents house for Thanksgiving I learned that my sister's iPod had stopped working several months ago. The Apple store told my folks some crap about it being not worth it to fix so ... well I think they bought my sister an iPod mini to replace it. My sister told me that the battery would not hold a charge and I knew there were kits out there to replace iPod batteries and even services that will do it for $64. So I asked if I could have it and she said yes, but wanted me to save her playlist data for her.
When I got it home, I fiddled around with several programs and applescripts until I found the one that could extract the song names from a playlist. I then located this page and went through all the steps to make sure the battery was in fact no good. Once I determined that, I ordered a new iPod battery replacement kit from Sonnet Technologies for $39.90 shipped.
It arrived while I was traveling last week, but I finally installed it yesterday. The iPod is pretty scratched up from living in my sister's bag for 2 years (I found a few grains of beach sand *inside* the ipod!) so I gave it the once over with some plastic polish which helped a little. I've got my highly rated and my purchased songs on the 'pod and today I finally loaded up iPodBartender and westciv's CSS podGuide. With my contacts and calendar on there too I am truly ready for anything ;)
And my new battery lasted more than 8.5 hours on it's maiden voyage. Sweet!
Sometimes when things seem broken, it really just takes some research and a simple repair (ok maybe not *simple* but totally *do-able* I mean...they give you a video!) to make something whole again. And another person's trash is someone's treasure. Or something like that.
When the iPod Mini came out two years ago, LaLa and I thought it was a less expensive way to own an iPod and honestly the green color and the size made it so damn cute. We pooled all our xmas gift monies and bought one, named it "sweetpea" and have loved it dearly ever since. It is honestly one of our most treasured objects and we very nearly worship the thing.
So when I realized I'd be doing a lot of traveling this year for business (air and rail alike!) I desperately wanted music with me, but I could not bear the thought of taking sweetpea. If anything happened to sweetpea I would be devastated. So LaLa and I talked it over and we decided to buy a shuffle. Not the best financial decision I admit, but if you knew how much I hate traveling and how much relief having all my "5 stah!" songs with me brings me...you'd allow me that weakness. So I had a shuffle for travel, and LaLa had sweetpea dedicated to workouts and roadtrips of course.
When the Nano came along, I realized that what I really wanted was 1) something that wasn't as precious as sweetpea 2) had my contacts from my iMac's address book and 3) had my iCal calendar info and the shuffle wasn't cutting it on 2 and 3. (Ridiculous...isn't it?)
BUT. I don't want a Nano anymore (at least not right now). I am the proud owner of a 3rd Generation 10GB iPod that I got for essentially $40.
While I was at my parents house for Thanksgiving I learned that my sister's iPod had stopped working several months ago. The Apple store told my folks some crap about it being not worth it to fix so ... well I think they bought my sister an iPod mini to replace it. My sister told me that the battery would not hold a charge and I knew there were kits out there to replace iPod batteries and even services that will do it for $64. So I asked if I could have it and she said yes, but wanted me to save her playlist data for her.
When I got it home, I fiddled around with several programs and applescripts until I found the one that could extract the song names from a playlist. I then located this page and went through all the steps to make sure the battery was in fact no good. Once I determined that, I ordered a new iPod battery replacement kit from Sonnet Technologies for $39.90 shipped.
It arrived while I was traveling last week, but I finally installed it yesterday. The iPod is pretty scratched up from living in my sister's bag for 2 years (I found a few grains of beach sand *inside* the ipod!) so I gave it the once over with some plastic polish which helped a little. I've got my highly rated and my purchased songs on the 'pod and today I finally loaded up iPodBartender and westciv's CSS podGuide. With my contacts and calendar on there too I am truly ready for anything ;)
And my new battery lasted more than 8.5 hours on it's maiden voyage. Sweet!
Sometimes when things seem broken, it really just takes some research and a simple repair (ok maybe not *simple* but totally *do-able* I mean...they give you a video!) to make something whole again. And another person's trash is someone's treasure. Or something like that.
Special Oriental Flavor: $1.39
I'm still plugging away at items in the pantry. I have tons of asian noodle products I bought while attempting a "wheat free" experiment a while back. We went to the local Asian market (viva la Super88!) and I loaded up on instant rice vermicelli and bean thread noodle soups. Honestly, I got a little tired of them after a while and my consumption slowed. And LaLa informed me she pretty much hated the instant soups made with rice noodles. I see.
So the girl is out tonight so I thought I'd dig into the pantry rather than (cringe!) order out. I picked one of the two remaining "noodle bowls": Instant "Q" Noodle Stick with Jah Jan Flavor (cost $1.39) To me, these noodle bowls are like ramen for grownups. Cheap and instant, but with a touch of the exotic. Ok, I didn't like the abalone flavor one from a few months back, but this Jah Jan one was pretty tasty (I have no idea what Jah Jan flavor is...and google didn't help. It's a bit spicy, that's all I got).
Of course they have flavors like "seafood" and "pork" too. What they don't have...is directions in English. Even though I knew to let it sit for a couple minutes after adding nearly boiling water, I didn't know for sure how much water to add. I went for about 1.5 to 2 cups this time and filled the styrofoam bowl about 2/3 full. The flavor (a dry packet and a flavored oil packet) was nice and intense...probably less water than you are supposed to use, but I liked it.
All of this rambling about my $1.39 dinner packed in styrofoam bowl and labeled "special oriental flavor" is just to say that if you have an Asian grocery store anywhere near you...go there. I guarantee it's got good cheap food.
DemandNotes @ 5.25% APY (But....)
I was giddy with excitement when LaLa showed me the 5.25% APY (as of November 28th) on her GMAC DemandNote statement. Yes. This *is* my life now...when an APY over 4% truly excites me.
GMAC DemandNotes are available to GM employees and their families. LaLa's father worked for GMAC and in LaLa's family getting a DemandNote account was just What One Did. A right of passage...a foregone conclusion. It must be opened with $1000 and added to with a minimum of $50. The minimum withdrawal is $250 and withdrawals are done via check (though I do believe they support ACH transfers now that it's all the rage).
Her DemandNote has been quite useful in her life. In fact, it's where we stuffed our money while saving for our house because it was our only savings vehicle and the interest rate seemed appealing....but what did *I* know? I didn't know a thing about savings accounts or interest rates, let alone APYs.
Fast forward to my 5.25% APY sponsored giddyness and add a curiousity for how they calculate their rate (all I found was a vague reference to "more than" some average money market statistic) and you can see how finding the following gem let the air out of my sails a bit:
It's unsecured debt. As in "non-FDIC insured". And it's apparently unsubordinated too. But I don't really know what that means in this context. I know this isn't normally a big deal - money market funds aren't insured either, right? But it's GM. They're not exactly a poster child for financial reliability right now. And folks are definitely wondering what will become of the DemandNote if things go further south for GM.
Right now I'm building our emergency cushion at EmigrantDirect though I expect to move it all to HSBC...both FDIC insured and paying a 4.0% APY. But 5.25% APY is juicy. Tasty. And I want some. Dare I risk it? Is it low risk? I'm just "the person"...how can I find information to judge how much (or little) of a risk it is to keep my safe and liquid funds there?
Anyone care to weigh in?
GMAC DemandNotes are available to GM employees and their families. LaLa's father worked for GMAC and in LaLa's family getting a DemandNote account was just What One Did. A right of passage...a foregone conclusion. It must be opened with $1000 and added to with a minimum of $50. The minimum withdrawal is $250 and withdrawals are done via check (though I do believe they support ACH transfers now that it's all the rage).
Her DemandNote has been quite useful in her life. In fact, it's where we stuffed our money while saving for our house because it was our only savings vehicle and the interest rate seemed appealing....but what did *I* know? I didn't know a thing about savings accounts or interest rates, let alone APYs.
Fast forward to my 5.25% APY sponsored giddyness and add a curiousity for how they calculate their rate (all I found was a vague reference to "more than" some average money market statistic) and you can see how finding the following gem let the air out of my sails a bit:
It's unsecured debt. As in "non-FDIC insured". And it's apparently unsubordinated too. But I don't really know what that means in this context. I know this isn't normally a big deal - money market funds aren't insured either, right? But it's GM. They're not exactly a poster child for financial reliability right now. And folks are definitely wondering what will become of the DemandNote if things go further south for GM.
Right now I'm building our emergency cushion at EmigrantDirect though I expect to move it all to HSBC...both FDIC insured and paying a 4.0% APY. But 5.25% APY is juicy. Tasty. And I want some. Dare I risk it? Is it low risk? I'm just "the person"...how can I find information to judge how much (or little) of a risk it is to keep my safe and liquid funds there?
Anyone care to weigh in?
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Lowering the Cost of Holiday Shopping
Reading other personal finance blogs this year is helping me to personally minimize my Christmas spending. I use credit cards for almost all (if not completely all) of my holiday shopping, and I do a lot of that shopping on Amazon. (I'd do even more of it if Borders Gift Cards had more flexible amounts to choose from, but don't get me started). So here are a few things I'm doing this year to help keep my costs down. We're not talking big money here, but every little bit counts.
I didn't find out about the Amazon A9 discount via a personal finance blog (though some have mentioned it) but from a long forgotten techy type blog (maybe a.wholelottanothing.org?) many moons ago. For several weeks, I have been sure to have A9 selected in my Firefox "search box" so that all my quickie searches are done there and I therefore currently qualify for the 1.57% (half of pi) discount on Amazon purchases.
Thanks to Jane Dough, I have $5 extra to put in the Amazon giftapalooza pot too (every little bit counts). Sadly I missed out on the previous survey while I was traveling. I took Jane's advice and put it right into my Amazon account so I wouldn't have to dig it up when making my order. Very handy. Thanks again, Jane!
I can't find the original post now (if it was you...let me know!) but someone back in November (I think) remembered to check on credit card award point balances and made good use of them (vague, I know). I wish I had acted on it then, but I did make a mental note to do the same. I realized I could turn 7500 Diners Club points into 3 $25 Amazon gift certificates which I did last week. The rub is that it takes them a while to mail (yes...*mail*) them to you so I may not get these in time to use them for present shopping. (I hate it when I procrastinate). Anyway, I had always associated them with airline and hotel rewards so I'm glad I looked closely.
Over at Personal Finance for the New Age, I was informed of a Discover card promotion that gives 5% cash back for online purchases Nov 25th to Dec 31st. Fortunately my Discover card does qualify for that promotion so all online purchases -- and definitely the Amazon purchase -- will be made with the Discover card this month. (If the merchant doesn't take Discover, I'll still use my Citi Dividend Card for 1% back). So that's like getting a 5% discount on all christmas shopping ;)
I will also try to qualify for the Amazon Prime promotion during my big order, but I'm not counting on that.
Also, I don't think I'm actually buying anything from Ebay this year, but if I do, I'll be checking Slickdeals.net for Ebay coupon codes first. These expire 12/18:
)
So that's basically a list of the little things that will help me...any one else have some more tips?
I didn't find out about the Amazon A9 discount via a personal finance blog (though some have mentioned it) but from a long forgotten techy type blog (maybe a.wholelottanothing.org?) many moons ago. For several weeks, I have been sure to have A9 selected in my Firefox "search box" so that all my quickie searches are done there and I therefore currently qualify for the 1.57% (half of pi) discount on Amazon purchases.
Thanks to Jane Dough, I have $5 extra to put in the Amazon giftapalooza pot too (every little bit counts). Sadly I missed out on the previous survey while I was traveling. I took Jane's advice and put it right into my Amazon account so I wouldn't have to dig it up when making my order. Very handy. Thanks again, Jane!
I can't find the original post now (if it was you...let me know!) but someone back in November (I think) remembered to check on credit card award point balances and made good use of them (vague, I know). I wish I had acted on it then, but I did make a mental note to do the same. I realized I could turn 7500 Diners Club points into 3 $25 Amazon gift certificates which I did last week. The rub is that it takes them a while to mail (yes...*mail*) them to you so I may not get these in time to use them for present shopping. (I hate it when I procrastinate). Anyway, I had always associated them with airline and hotel rewards so I'm glad I looked closely.
Over at Personal Finance for the New Age, I was informed of a Discover card promotion that gives 5% cash back for online purchases Nov 25th to Dec 31st. Fortunately my Discover card does qualify for that promotion so all online purchases -- and definitely the Amazon purchase -- will be made with the Discover card this month. (If the merchant doesn't take Discover, I'll still use my Citi Dividend Card for 1% back). So that's like getting a 5% discount on all christmas shopping ;)
I will also try to qualify for the Amazon Prime promotion during my big order, but I'm not counting on that.
Also, I don't think I'm actually buying anything from Ebay this year, but if I do, I'll be checking Slickdeals.net for Ebay coupon codes first. These expire 12/18:
- C23-GiftGuide $15 off $100+
- C22-GiftGuide $5 off $50+
- C11-GIFTGUIDE 10% off ($25 max discount)
So that's basically a list of the little things that will help me...any one else have some more tips?
Friday, December 02, 2005
November Networth
I've updated my profile at NetworthIQ. I finally broke the $190,000 mark mostly due to retirement investment performance (go Calvert Large Cap!). Cash is a bit lower due to November and December being quite spendy-spendy with traveling and the holiday and birthday giftapalooza that December is in our family (FIVE birthdays between our two families fall in December) but it didn't take as big a hit as I thought it would.
Lowering My Fidelity Commission Level
Fidelity offers three commission levels depending on how many trades you do per year and/or the total across all your Fidelity accounts. The default rate that everyone qualifies for is "Bronze" which costs $19.95 per trade. Ouch.
Since my retirement funds are now spread roughly evenly between my Fidelity (a rollover IRA), my Calvert account (another rollover IRA) and my current 401(k) I do not qualify for the "Silver" level which would only cost me $10.95 per trade. I would need $50,000 in household assets for my purposes (since I don't do at least 36 trades a year) in order to qualify for the lower commission and I have roughly half of that at Fidelity. The key word is household.
Fidelity allows you to consolidate accounts that are held within a household (which seems to mean "single address" to them) regardless of relationship between people. I think this is their way of reducing mailing (and printing?) costs, but they offer a nice carrot. Control over the accounts is not affected in any way and you just fill out a simple form declaring the household relationship and mail it in.
I just finished filling this out for LaLa and I -- so even though we are not married, by combining our Fidelity accounts into a "household relationship" we will soon qualify for the silver commission level, hopefully just in time to start next year's project: Investing!
Since my retirement funds are now spread roughly evenly between my Fidelity (a rollover IRA), my Calvert account (another rollover IRA) and my current 401(k) I do not qualify for the "Silver" level which would only cost me $10.95 per trade. I would need $50,000 in household assets for my purposes (since I don't do at least 36 trades a year) in order to qualify for the lower commission and I have roughly half of that at Fidelity. The key word is household.
Fidelity allows you to consolidate accounts that are held within a household (which seems to mean "single address" to them) regardless of relationship between people. I think this is their way of reducing mailing (and printing?) costs, but they offer a nice carrot. Control over the accounts is not affected in any way and you just fill out a simple form declaring the household relationship and mail it in.
I just finished filling this out for LaLa and I -- so even though we are not married, by combining our Fidelity accounts into a "household relationship" we will soon qualify for the silver commission level, hopefully just in time to start next year's project: Investing!
Ebay/Amazon November Totals
Between my one Ebay sale and a few Amazon Marketplace orders I grossed $65.17 in November. I'm pretty sure I trounced Travel Gnome, but since we mutually decided to extend our competition until the end of the year, the game ain't over yet.
I had about $2.12 in fees (ebay and paypal) and postage is a little difficult for me to gauge to get my true net earnings. Normally I keep meticulous track of postage too, but I had a glut of $1 stamps from prior "selling" periods that had already been accounted for and a while ago our household stamps and "selling" stamps got mixed up. But I estimate shipping to have been around $10 total.
I had hoped to clear as much as $200 in November, but things were just too nuts with the traveling and I don't expect them to be much better this month with the holidays and additional travel. But I still think I can take him.
I had about $2.12 in fees (ebay and paypal) and postage is a little difficult for me to gauge to get my true net earnings. Normally I keep meticulous track of postage too, but I had a glut of $1 stamps from prior "selling" periods that had already been accounted for and a while ago our household stamps and "selling" stamps got mixed up. But I estimate shipping to have been around $10 total.
I had hoped to clear as much as $200 in November, but things were just too nuts with the traveling and I don't expect them to be much better this month with the holidays and additional travel. But I still think I can take him.
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