One Month Down, 11 to go…

Okay, so January isn’t quite over yet, but you get the idea.

I didn’t really have any New Year’s resolutions, but I did lay down a few goals for 2008 and I guess now is as good a time as any to see if things are still on track…

Eliminate all credit card debt by the end of June 2008. Current credit card debt is $10318. I’m aiming to achieve this goal slightly ahead of schedule, by about a month, according to the snowball plan I started in November.

Progress is far ahead of schedule on this goal. This morning, my total credit card debt is under $5000 and with Thursday being another pay day, it’s likely to fall even more by the end of the month. I’m hoping to have all of this wrapped up by the end of March now.

Eliminate PMI from the Mortgage by the end of December 2008. Right now, it’s costing me over $1000 per year. For what? Nothing. To meet this goal, I’ll have to contribute an additional $160 per month towards my mortgage.

I’m on pace for this, though it doesn’t really feel like it. At the start of the year, I began throwing $125 towards the principle each Monday. So, with the extra payments this month, I’ve climbed $500 closer to my target of $6100. In total, I have $5124 left to go.

Pay off my auto loan by the end of December 2008. Current balance is $7418. This is also included in my snowball plan and it’s scheduled to be paid off in October if all goes as planned. I’m not looking to speed this up; just finish it off.

Nothing worth mentioning on this one. I’m just making the payments…nothing extra. This goal comes in a distant second to the credit card goal. Current balance is $7177.

Increase my 401k contributions to 15%. This way I’ll receive the maximum match allowed from my employer. Right now, I’m contributing just under 10%. I’ll plan to make this move once the credit card debt is eliminated. Achieved 12-27-2007

I achieved this goal before the year even started, but with the way the markets have been going, my increased contributions habe only resulted in larger losses. That’s okay though — in the long run, it will be a very good thing that I got this back up to the full match percentage when I did.

Increase my passive income. Now that I’ve dumped my largest client, the hockey team, I’ll soon find myself bringing in a lot less income. But, I also find myself with a lot more free time. Free time that I should use to optimize my other ventures to make up the difference; except now I’ll focus on more passive income streams because, in all honesty, I’m tired of working so much. Right now my 100% passive income hovers around $50/month. With the least effort possible, I’m looking to triple that in 2008 and pick-up a few low maintenance clients as well.

I’ve made a few moves in the past couple of weeks to get this goal on track, but nothing really impressive. I missed out on a generous advertising opportunity last week because I took too long to respond to the email offer — but that won’t happen again. I’ve got everything forwarding to one address now so nothing sits and waits for a week. Eitherway, things are headed in the positive direction. Passive income for January is looking to top out around $80.

$10k in savings. This is my lofty goal. I’m not sure it’s even possible. Right now my ING account is holding a mere $1k. No matter how far rates fall, with a 5-figure balance working in my favor I’ll have to be making atleast $1/day in interest and for whatever reason, I like that. I’d also like to pay for some still needed interior renovations in 2008 with cash and this is where I’ll draw from.

I’m tanking on this goal. On January 1st, I had around $1000 in savings. Today, I’m well below that, and the interest rate is falling so I’m not real *excited* about trying to right the ship on this one. I haven’t thrown in the towel just yet, there are 337 days remaining in the year, but I’d be shocked if I come close to realizing this goal.

Posted on January 29th, 2008 at 10:50 am by Brainy Smurf
2008 Goals, 401k, Credit Card, Finance, Mortgage | No Comments »

Buying into the Economic Hysteria?

Oh, the humanity!This morning at work I walked into a heated conversation between two co-workers about how “things” are going up, but no one is getting paid more.

I kept quiet, wisely, as I passed through, but the gears in my head were turning.

True, no one at my place of employment is getting paid more. Okay, maybe a few are, I’m not exactly privy to that type of info, but by and large, most of us are making the same amount we made last year, and probably the year before that too.

They were comparing their electric bills, insurance bills, oil bills… that sort of thing. At first, I almost jumped into the fray — it’s exciting to hear people discussing the taboo subject of their finances out in the open.

But then it became apparent that they were just buying into the media’s hype of the economic downturn. Complaining about this. Complaining about that.

I got back to my desk and started to brainstorm this entry.

Now I know everyone’s situation is different, but that fact is, things really haven’t gone up?!

Last year, my total electric bill was lower than it was the year before. My natural gas bill was lower. My insurance premiums were lower (even with an accident). My phone bill was lower. My cable bill, well, that one went up. But you know what? It only went up $48. That’s $4 a month. Hardly a sum to cause hardship.

Gasoline, okay, last year it was costing me around $21 to $23 dollars to fill my tank. This year, it’s been around $33 for each full tank. People can complain all they like about gas prices, but really, is $10 more a few times a month really enough to break the bank?

The funny thing to me is that most of these folks wouldn’t even consider dropping the “unlimited text messaging” option on their cell phones or not spending $5 at Dunkin Donuts on the way to work each morning…

I guess my viewpoint is that things really aren’t as bad as the lead story on every newscast makes it out to be. For the average Joe, a 600-point swing in the markets or a 75 point rate cut is totally meaningless.

And really, in the grand scheme of things, most of us are just that — average Joes.

Posted on January 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am by Brainy Smurf
Current Events | No Comments »

Jan 22: Hold Your Breath

Hold Your Breath!

With a big day ahead of us, Brainy Smurf is predicting the DJIA to drop 515 points today.

I’ll even go out on a limb and say that the intra-day low will be down 700 points — shortly after the market opens only to recover later in the day.

I don’t like it. I don’t even really understand it, but I’m really glad that everything I have invested in the markets is for the long term. Today’s gonna hurt, but just for a little while.

Posted on January 22nd, 2008 at 8:29 am by Brainy Smurf
Current Events | 1 Comment »

The Frisbee — Why didn’t I think of that?

Wham-O FrisbeeI was never really terribly impressed by the hula-hoop.

Magic Sand held my interest for about 15 minutes.

Slip ‘N Slide was painful.

And though I spent countless hours playing ultimate frisbee in university, I never could throw a frisbee very accurately.

I guess I was just more of a yo-yo fan — and those were manufactured by a completely different company.

Last week, Richard Knerr passed away. He didn’t invent the Frisbee, or even the Hula Hoop, but he did make a successful business around them.

Wham-O co-founder dead at 82

Richard Knerr, co-founder of the toy company that popularized the Hula Hoop, Frisbee and other fads that became classics, has died. He was 82.

Knerr, who started Wham-O in 1948 with his childhood friend Arthur “Spud” Melin, died Monday at Methodist Hospital after suffering a stroke earlier in the day at his Arcadia home, his wife Dorothy told the Los Angeles Times.

Knerr and Melin, who died in 2002, got their start in business peddling slingshots. They named their enterprise Wham-O after the sound a slingshot made when it hit its target.

They branched into other sporting goods, including boomerangs and crossbows, then added toys such as the Superball, Slip ‘N Slide and Silly String.

When a friend told them in 1958 about a large ring used for exercise in Australia, they devised their own version and called it the Hula Hoop.

Around the same time, they bought the rights to a plastic flying disc invented by Walter “Fred” Morrison, and renamed it the Frisbee.

Anyway, as I’m slowly but surely dissolving my own company, I’ve come to realize that I made a critical mistake when I started. Originally I’d planned to start my own ISP — and I even had the backing to do it. At the time, AOL was the market standard and they had a lot of critics — basically they were easy prey on a small scale. I think I easily could have started a small and local dial-up service out of my parents home.

That never materialized because I didn’t really pursue it aggressively. What I did pursue was web design. That lead to generic graphic design for logos and things, and eventually I even took up photography too. I think I did alright. I’d consider myself a pro across all three lines of work.

The photography was easily the most profitable, but it also had the highest start-up costs and without a contracted job, it would have been an impossible climb to profitability. Freelance photography just isn’t profitable these days and that’s where I find myself these days.

The problem was that all three required, well, me. And that’s where I screwed up. I went into a business that would essentially *always* require me on the frontlines.

Knerr and Melin did it the right way with Wham-O. They came up with an idea, financed the initial start-up costs to manufacture and market the product and then sat back and managed while low wage employees did all of the actual work. They were able to step back and just reap the benefits.

The fields I chose weren’t something that I could ever pass off to a low wage employee. And that was my big mistake.

Some call it “passive income”. I’m not sure that’s what I had in mind. Sure I’d like to open a coin-op laundromat or car wash that requires very little maintenance, but I don’t know that 1, those are very profitable or 2, that they’d hold my interest.

If I could do it all over again, one thing that has always come to mind is an ice rink facility. The upfront costs would be huge, and I’d imagine the utility bill would be sizeable too, but once it’s up and running, all you’d need is a couple of part-time Zamboni drivers, a manager of some sort, and local kids earning minimum wage to serve as skating guards and referees — then when profits allow, expand into offering skating lessons with paid instructors.

I’d enjoy it just as much, and now, after 11 years, I’d probably be making more, and working less, than I am now.

Posted on January 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am by Brainy Smurf
Life | 1 Comment »

Credit Card Roll Call – January 2008

NHL Credit CardThe last time I did this was back in June of 2007 and I thought that with just having eliminated two credit card balances recently, it might be a good time to go back and see how the landscape has changed.

This is a list of my open credit card accounts as of January 2008:

Bank of America Business MasterCard
Originally an MBNA account before they were bought out by Bank of America, I opened this account in March of 2005 when I started to divide my personal and business expenses and keep track of them separately. Turned out to be a great move as it was shortly there after I realized how much money I was bleeding on business expenses. This is currently the only card I carry, but I rarely pull it out.
Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $24200 (up $2000 since last update)
Rate: 9.9%

CitiBank AT&T Universal MasterCard
I opened this account in April of 2007 utilizing a 0% for 12 months offer. I wrote a $6000 check to myself, which I originally dropped into my ING Direct savings account to jump on the “arbitrage” bandwagon. Shortly afterwards, I pulled the money out to finance the siding project. As the original plan was to make money on this card, I do not carry it in my wallet – though in the near future I plan to use this card for personal expenses as it’s the only card I have with a “rewards” program.
Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $8500 (up $1700 since last update)
Rate: 0% until April 2008, then 13.81% 13.48%

Chase Bank Visa Card
This was one of my first credit cards. I opened the account in 1998 and it was one of the cards that I ran up a considerable balance on before I got my act together. The highest it ever went was $12905 and that was in October of 2005. By August of 2006, I’d eliminated the balance, but continued to use the card for gas and the occasional purchase. Balance was always paid in full each month. In June of 2007, I took advantage of a 4.9% for the life of the balance offer to fund the siding project. As a result, I no longer carry the card for expenses.
Balance: $5227
Credit Limit: $19200
Rate: 4.9% 17.27%

Bank of America NHL MasterCard
Another of my original credit cards originally opened through MBNA in 1997 for a free t-shirt. This is also another card that I ran up a 5-figure balance on. In May of 2004, it topped out at $10915. By November of 2005, I had wiped the balance out. Now I have my internet service provider automatically bill to this card each month, and like clockwork, I pay back the $42.95 automatically on the same day using an autopay set up from the MBNA days. I do not carry this card and have not carried a balance since November of 2005.
Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $27400 (up $4600 since last update)
Rate: 20.99%

Bank of America Platinum Plus Visa Card
Originally opened in March of 2005 as a failed plan to use balance transfers to consolidate balances at a lower rate. At first I transferred $5000 to this card. Evidently, not having learned my lesson the first time, I transferred another $5000 to this card in March of 2006. Luckily the rate was only 6.25% for both transfers. I wiped out the balance, which topped out at $6925 in March of 2006, in January of 2007. I do not carry this card and don’t ever plan to use it again.
Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $15400 (up $1400 since last update)
Rate: 18.24%

Bank of America GoldOption Loan
This was a loan for $10000 I took out in December of 2002 to, again, consolidate a few balances and put some much needed cash in my hands. At the time, it was LendingTree.com that found me the loan at 9.9%, and when the big check made out to me came in the mail, it was from MBNA. After a couple years of paying it down in regular $226 intervals, MBNA sent me a credit card attached to the account and started treating it like a credit card. With each month, the rate would rise another half percent or so. Not cool. I made my final payment in March of 2005 when the rate had climbed to 13.24%. I do not carry this card and don’t plan to ever use this line of credit.
Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $13700
Rate: 24.99%

I think it’s funny how each month I get correspondence from the banks notifying me of credit limit increases as an attempt to lure me back into using their card. Hasn’t worked yet — though some of the included promotional teaser rates are attractive enough to get me to read the fine print.

My total credit limit has increased $6000 to a total of $108400 over the last 6 months. In theory, it’s comforting to know that if push came to shove, I could charge 6 figures. That’d be crazy though.

At some point, I’d like to sit down and figure out how much it actually cost us to finance the siding project using credit cards though. At the time, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but now that it’s nearly paid for, it may have actually worked out to be a pretty good move for us (compared to alternatives like a home equity loan) in the long run.

Posted on January 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Finance | 3 Comments »

Lawmakers Seek To End Business Entity Tax

taxes.jpgGood news on the horizon for business owners in Connecticut it seems!

I’ve read numerous places that the best way to become wealthy is to own your own business.

Well, I’ve done that, and while I have earned a lot of additional income over the years, there have always been drawbacks. In Connecticut, the biggest drawback has been the “Business Entity Tax”.

Back in March of 2003, out of the blue, right in the midst of tax season, I received a bill from the Secretary of State for $250 for a Business Entity Tax.

At first I had no idea what this was all about. I’d been in business for six years at that point and had never had to pay the state a dime since incorporating.

I sucked it up and paid it thinking it’d be a one-shot deal and chalked it up as one of those losses you have to classify as a “cost of doing business”.

In 2004, I got the bill again. That’s when I did some research and learned that it was a tax for the sake of a tax. Huge companies in the state like Aetna, Northeast Utilities, ESPN, and even the WWE have to pay the state $250 just for, well, existing.

But so do little guys like me – where, on occasion, $250 is more than we bring in any given month. Chump change for the big guys, but a huge expense for super small business.

One of those great examples where the little guy gets screwed by a flat tax.

With March fast approaching, I’ve budgeted out the expense for 2008, but the news today indicates that I may just be able to hold on to that income this year.

Lawmakers Seek To End Business Entity Tax
By JANICE PODSADA | The Hartford Courant
3:49 PM EST, January 17, 2008

The secretary of the state and a bipartisan group of state legislators said Thursday they will seek to abolish Connecticut’s annual $250 business entity tax during this year’s legislative session, which begins Feb. 6.

“This is an onerous tax. It’s really just a tax for existing,” Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said. The tax was created six years ago as a stopgap measure to balance the state budget, she said.

“In 2002, we had a $96 million deficit. For the past four years we’ve had surpluses,” she said. “Before we get too used to this tax, let’s get rid of it.”

More than 118,000 businesses pay the annual business entity tax, which brings the state about $30 million a year. The amount represents about one-sixth of 1 percent of the state’s annual $18 billion budget. Bysiewicz said making up the $30 million difference should be relatively easy.

Republican policy makers attempted to abolish the tax last year, including the proposal as part of a budget amendment package. But it was defeated.

This year, abolishing the tax will be in a separate bill, which should increase the odds of its passage, both Democratic and Republican legislators said.

Small businesses, which create many new jobs, are unfairly burdened by the tax, said Bonnie Stewart, vice president of government affairs with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.

Business registration fees are relatively low in Connecticut. For example, it costs $60 to register a limited liability company or limited liability partnership in the state. Corporations pay more. But at the end of the year businesses, regardless of size, must pay the $250 tax whether or not they made money or even launched their enterprise.

“I hear from many people who say they formed a company, but didn’t pursue it. And then they get this bill in the mail,” Bysiewicz said.

“While $250 may not seem like a lot, for our members, all of whom are small businesses, it can mean a month’s electricity bill or a month’s insurance,” Frank Alvarado, director of the New Haven and Willimantic offices of the Spanish American Merchants Association said.

“When we get that bill, it’s the one time we think about doing business in another state,” Theodore C. Hsu, owner of Horizon Services Co., a cleaning and supply business in East Hartford, told participants. “I talk to many other business owners, and they see this as being gouged. It stops their spirit.”

Posted on January 17th, 2008 at 9:21 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Finance, Taxes | 1 Comment »

Citi Card Paid Off

CitiBank LogoI’m pretty proud of myself.

On December 17th, the balance on my CitiBank AT&T Universal MasterCard was $5000. This morning, this being a pay day, it’s at $0.

Even better, it was less than a month ago that I eliminated my balance on my Bank of America Business Card.

Two credit cards gone in the span of a month!

Two down, one to go — and the remaining card’s balance is just over $5000. Can I keep pace and wipe that one out by February 17?

Probably not.

But still, this puts me a good five months ahead of schedule on my snowball plan.

Sure, that may indicate I should have set out with a more aggressive strategy from the get-go, but I’m still perfectly happy with how things are coming together.

Well, except my checking account balance. Have I mentioned that I’m broke yet?

Posted on January 17th, 2008 at 8:55 am by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Finance | 1 Comment »

Report: Pacman accused of Striking Woman

Pac-ManAck!

When I first saw the headline, I thought to myself, “Can this be true? Could one of my childhood heroes be guilty of such a thing?”

But then I clicked the link and saw that it was just some thug football player in a strip club. Phew…

And I wonder how he got the nickname “Pacman”. He looks *nothing* like the real thing…

Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 6:54 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Retro | No Comments »

Generation Gap: Income/Outcome

Smurf Village AssociationLast night, my wife and I attended our first Village Association meeting.

What the hell is that? Well, think, town hall meeting, but a lot less formal.

We live in a section of town that was once its own entity, but has since been absorbed into the neighboring city. The Village Association is its attempt to distinguish itself from the greater community and I’m all for it.

The meetings apparently occur once each month and are hosted by the “ceremonial” mayor of our town. Nice enough guy, I guess (he made a point to shake our hands on the way in and the way out), but he rubs me the wrong way for some reason — he plays the part of an arrogant New Yorker — which is really out of place here.

Anyhow, besides one other couple, that was apparently new to the club as well, it looked more like a senior citizen’s meeting than anything else. I briefly got the feeling that some in the room were happy to see some young faces in the crowd.

The topics covered were interesting, if you live in this small section of town, and the meeting moved along at a pretty decent clip.

We even got pieces of cake! Really, it was like going to a grandparent’s birthday party at the nursing home or something. But who doesn’t like cake?

What struck me was how some of the older people think. One of the more heated discussions was regarding the costs of re-renovating a recently completed park project — and the line was quickly drawn. It was obviously young vs. old.

The debate focused on the engraved bricks you often see in municipal areas these days. You know, you pay $80 to the town and they engrave your name on a brick that will be used in the construction of a new municipal building.

Last year, the Village Association “built” a park that included this kind of brick in a mosaic fashion around a clock tower, with some benches and that sort of thing. Very “Back to the Future”… Okay, not really, but that would be cool…

For the younger set, it was about saving money. For the older set, it was about bringing in more money.

You see, the younger group (by younger, I mean under 50) was opposed to the idea of tearing up the completed park to install more “engraved” bricks. The project is done, the mosaic looks great, the surface is flat, the moss growing between the bricks is uniform. You know, it looks like a job well done. Let’s leave it at that.

The older group seems only interested in selling more bricks. Tear the damn think apart, one brick at a time, as more people request to have a brick engraved.

What they couldn’t seem to get a handle on is that it’s not worth the costs involved. One sold brick doesn’t cover the costs involved to install a new one. All they saw were dollar signs (completely ignoring the costs that would come later).

To me, the whole debate went the opposite way I thought it would have. I wouldn’t have thought the younger set would have been the group that was interested in turning away cash upfront in the name of pinching pennies in the grand scheme. It was the older set that seemed, well, greedy… without even considering the ramifications.

I guess it’s a good sign that the younger folks are more cautious when it comes to finances, but the “topic” will be up for discussion again next month… and I’m pretty sure it will be another 20 years before I join the majority…

Posted on January 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am by Brainy Smurf
Life | 1 Comment »

When I get out of debt I want to…

The VaultIn another month or so, if all goes as planned, I’ll be out of credit card debt 100% for the first time in over a decade.

The deepest I found myself was $29k in November of 2006.

At the time, I was carrying around $l7k in credit card debt (down from $26k two years earlier) and I had just taken out a $12k loan from Bank of America (that turned out to be a credit card too) to have the roof of my house done.

Coming that close to $30k scared the crap out of me. I had worked so hard to get it down to $17k… only to be deeper than I’d ever been after one signature. That’s when I got serious about dropping the debt fast.

I started transferring balances — seriously this time — to take advantage of lower teaser rates and stopped using all but one of the cards. It wasn’t until November of 2007 that I started a snowball plan.

This time my plan worked. I don’t know how we paid off so much. I don’t where the money came from. I mean, I keep track of every penny using MS Money, but the thought of paying over $20k and receiving nothing in return is hard to fathom.

You just don’t have $20k of “extra” money, you just don’t.

But somehow, we came up with it, and sent it all to the fine folks at MasterCard and Visa.

Right now, this morning, my credit card balance stands at $5226.53. At my current pace, that number will be zero at the end of February. Maybe the first week of March… Depends on what we do with our tax refund.

I know I still have the outstanding car loan. I hate it when people call something “good debt”. My car loan is at a 5.35% interest rate. I’m around 5 months ahead on it and the payments are within reason. Basically, it’s a tolerable monthly bill or, ahem, “good debt”.

That said, I’ll likely go another 3-4 months like I have been and wipe that debt out too.

Then what?

In anticipation of this looming achievement, I’ve already increased my 401k contributions to get the maximum employer match, I’ve accelerated my mortgage payments, which I know some people don’t think is a good idea, but it’s mainly to eliminate the (overpriced) PMI I’m paying each month, and I’ve already got a plan in the back of my head to start putting more in savings.

So with all of that already on the go, when I get out of debt and if (a big IF) all of that proposed “extra” money materializes, over the next few years I want to:

  • Quit my extra job. (oops, jumped the gun on that one!)
  • Start a family.
  • Take a real vacation.
  • Have the entire first floor of my house remodeled. We’re talking the works. New floors, walls, ceilings, electrical work, plumbing…
  • Buy an all new living room set with a sectional couch so we can both sleep comfortably when football is on.
  • Have some trees removed and then have other areas landscaped professionally.
  • Tear down and build a new garage.

Best of all, I want to be able to pay for all of these things without carrying a balance. It just *might* be possible.

Posted on January 10th, 2008 at 8:44 am by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Finance | 2 Comments »

Oh…THAT Housing Slump…

Housing Slump HeadlineIt’s been a bit of a reality check for me adding my house to the assets calculation for my net worth updates.

For the longest time, I was thinking, “What housing slump?”, but now I see it first hand. Already this month, I’ve seen the value of my home drop 5-figures. Ouch.

It’s tough to get inspired when you see your assets dropping $12k in the span of a month through no action of your own. In fact, it kinda sucks.

It’s also a bit of an eye opener to see that my net worth is mostly dependent on the markets and not what I do with my paycheck. I guess I always knew that (based on my 401k fluctuations), but never really visualized it like I am now — probably because my home value is over 3 times as high as my 401k balance.

The good news is that that works on both sides — when the markets are up and housing prices are on the rise, I’ll see my net worth rising at the same rate it’s falling now. When those days return, well, wow, that will be *very* fulfilling.

For now though, I’m keeping my spirits up by concentrating on something I do have full control over — the liabilities.

So far this month, I’ve already knocked off another $1100 from my non-mortgage debt. And with 2 paychecks remaining this month, that news can only get better.

Posted on January 9th, 2008 at 9:44 am by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Finance | 1 Comment »

Thoughts on a Joint Account

Joint Account?Recently my wife has been expressing interest in paying some of the bills.

But I’m reluctant to change my ways as I’ve been paying all of the bills from my checking account, while keeping detailed track of everything, for over a decade now.

It’s not so much that it’s a habit, it’s just that I’ve grown accustomed to the consistency of the numbers.

If a bill slips by, or arrives late, I’m going to notice. It throws things off.

I hate it when a second mortgage bill clears before my checking account statement comes. Makes it look like I spent too much one month, and not enough the next, you know what I mean?

While we’ve been married for over a year now, and together for nearly 6 years, we each have our own separate checking accounts.

The benefit, from my perspective, is that we both have our own money to do with as we please — within reason. Without this set-up, there’s no way my wife would have been able to surprise me with a Wii this past Christmas.

The downside is that, I’m sure, with our combined incomes, we could really speed up our current savings rates.

But for now, I’m content with continuing on as we have been!

Posted on January 7th, 2008 at 3:07 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance | No Comments »