Networth Update: May 2012 (+4621)

The big news this month isn’t so much that my net worth has reached a new high but that I’ve rid myself of credit card debt again.

It doesn’t feel as great the second time around but it’s still a nice load off of my shoulders…

Anyway, here’s the breakdown:

Cash:
This is a little low because, well, I extended myself a bit to get rid of the balances on the credit cards sooner rather than later.

Savings:
With the weekly credit card payments a thing of the past, the pace here should increase to the tune of around $1200 per month…

Gov’t Bonds:
Hey, the rates are quite attractive when compared to a savings account…

Home:
Some months up, some months down.

Auto 1, Auto 2, and Auto 3:
They all dropped. Makes sense — they aren’t getting newer!

Credit Cards:
Hooray!

Auto Loans and Other Loans:
Nothing to report.

Mortgage:
Just another minimum payment.

On second thought, you know, it does feel pretty darn great to have pretty much nothing to say about the liabilities.

Here’s to hoping I can continue on this path for the rest of the year…

Posted on May 2nd, 2012 at 8:42 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | 3 Comments »

Spending Report for March 2012

Another month, another four thousand dollars (plus!)…

For those that haven’t read super closely in the past — and I would never expect you to — the lines in red are infrequent or unusual expenses.

$922.22 : Day Care
$625.28 : Hockey Jersey
$525.00 : March of Dimes
$498.72 : Mortgage
$396.42 : Gasoline
$228.25 : Auto Insurance
$195.49 : Natural Gas
$153.98 : Electricity
$146.18 : Cable/Internet
$141.30 : Tax Preparation
$109.50 : Hockey Skates and Helmet for Duncan
$104.81 : Plastic Hangers
$100.00 : Cash
$90.38 : Land Rover Parts
$66.15 : Business Expenses
$40.08 : Life Insurance
$25.63 : Finance Charges
$21.27 : Cell Phone
$21.26 : Lego Set
$5.00 : Car Wash

That all adds up to $4416.92.

Okay, so, with the success that I had in paying down my credit card debt, well, I got a little crazy on the spending side of things.

I won’t deny it.

I bought a few pricey items (including over $100 worth of plastic hangers!) and even donated $525 to charity but guess what?

Yeah, I could afford it.

And that feels pretty darn good.

Posted on April 28th, 2012 at 3:16 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | No Comments »

Debt Free: Another $28k Paid in Full

Lacking all of the fanfare of the last time that I did this, I am proud to announce that I have paid off all of my credit card debt.

Hooray!

Again.

Today was a pay day and my latest paycheck allowed me to make a $450 payment to the fine folks at Chase Bank.

It worked out quite well too as today was my due date so the statement that will come out in a few days will be a totally clean slate.

So, let’s see, the first time around I paid off $28555 in credit card debt in 17 months.

This time, I paid down $28165 in 11 months.

So, if you’re keeping track at home, you can mark that financial goal for 2012 as completed.

Now to build up some savings…

Posted on April 20th, 2012 at 8:32 pm by Brainy Smurf
2012 Goals, Finance, Success | 5 Comments »

Networth Update: April 2012 (+$4221)

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…

Thanks mostly to that insurance check, my credit card debt level is nearing zero again for the first time in nearly two years.

It feels good.

Here’s the breakdown:

Cash:
Glad I’ve been keeping my distance from the Bank of America fee threshhold.

Savings:
This is the result of weekly transfers of $135. Basically $95 goes in each week to cover my property taxes that come due in July and Decemeber. The other $40 is for whatever…

Gov’t Bonds:
Why am I still holding on to these?

401k:
I’m pretty sure that this is the highest point I’ve ever reported. It was back in October that I broke the six figure mark and I’m up 33% in just 6 months while making no contributions. Crazy.

Home:
Ebb and flow.

Auto 1, Auto 2, and Auto 3:
Eh, they all work.

Credit Cards:
If the balance isn’t gone this month, it’ll certainly be gone next month. It’s crazy what can be done when you really work at it and when some un-expected cash rolls in.

Auto Loans and Other Loans:
Nothing to report.

Mortgage:
Just another minimum payment for now but once the credit card debt is gone, I’ll start attacking this more aggressively.

Posted on April 4th, 2012 at 9:22 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | No Comments »

Spending Report for February 2012

Sure, it’s almost April already but it’s not too late to list out my spending for the month of February so here goes!

$922.22 : Day Care
$694.02 : Dentist
$498.72 : Mortgage
$422.99 : Business Expenses
$314.60 : Gasoline
$273.30 : Framed Photos
$225.38 : Auto Insurance
$204.08 : Natural Gas
$157.45 : Clothing Rack
$151.60 : Electricity
$143.18 : Cable/Internet
$140.00 : Cash
$118.89 : Water/Sewer
$76.77 : Clothing
$59.15 : Birthday Presents for Henrik
$40.08 : Life Insurance
$31.47 : Finance Charges
$26.53 : Oil Change
$11.65 : Hat for Duncan
$7.39 : Air Filters for Furnace
$4.95 : ATM Fees

That adds up to $4524.42.

That’s more than I would have liked but the upside is that over $1100 of it went towards unusual expenses (highlighted in red).

And speaking to those, the dentist expense is due to the fact that I dropped dental insurance last year.

Financially, it was still a good move but every now and then, I’m going to get socked right in the mouth with a big bill.

The framed photos were because, though it’s been nearly two years since our major renovation was completed, the walls are still bare. It was time to start changing that with nicely framed photos.

And the clothing rack… Do I have to explain that one?

Sigh…

No, it’s not for my wife’s extensive wardrobe. It’s for my hockey jerseys.

See, my thought is that by having *all* of them in plain sight (instead of hidden away in bins in the attic), I’ll hold back on purchasing new ones. So far, so good…

Oh, and I just thought I’d mention it but this post marks the third year of posting my spending each month. Hat tip to Debt Destroyer who used to contribute over on the Happy Rock for getting me in this groove.

It has saved me money.

Posted on March 30th, 2012 at 11:08 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | No Comments »

Red Zone Offense

True, it’s not the right time of year to use a football reference but, of late, most of the news I’ve heard is about Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning — two football players.

So, with that, I’d like to announce that I’ve officially entered the red zone where I step up my debt repayment pace tenfold.

Simply put, I’ll be debt free (besides the mortgage) again in a matter of weeks.

Yes, weeks.

Total combined balance is now just under $2500.

Flashback to May of 2011, less than one year ago, and it was $28k.

I’m so thankful that I never get down on myself regarding my finances for very long even when things are clearly bleak.

Can you say $30k in high interest debt?

Ouch. That might be worthy of a stronger adjective than “bleak”.

Anyway, and I realize this is a couple thousand dollars premature, having endured it all over the past year and a half or so, I’m pretty comfortable in proclaiming that I’ve mastered yo-yo debt levels while keeping a level head.

Is there a merit badge for that?

I’m not saying that that’s a good thing but, really, having done it now twice in a relatively short time period (all within the time period that this blog covers), I’m super confident that I can pretty much dig myself out of anything.

Kitchen renovation… you’re officially on the radar screen.

Hopefully this time, though, I won’t dig myself so deep!

Posted on March 24th, 2012 at 5:37 am by Brainy Smurf
2012 Goals, Finance | No Comments »

Networth Update: March 2012 (+$3324)

February has traditionally been a “wild card” month around here.

It’s usually because I’ve normally done my tax return in February but not this year — I sill haven’t found the time to sit down and do my taxes so this year, well, February’s just another month…

Lotsa red over there but the 401k bailed me out…

Cash:
Not much movement here. I spent pretty freely this month and I think it shows.

Savings:
Yep, I spent so freely that I had to take some from my savings. Actually, it was dentist bill but, still, I’m not proud of it.

Gov’t Bonds:
Woo-hoo! Three clams!

401k:
There’s a guy at work (a longtime co-worker) who mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he’d just recently topped the $500 mark in his 401k. In response, when I told him that I’d just recently eclipsed the $130000 mark, I’m pretty certain that he didn’t believe me.

I drove my BMW to work the next day just to subtly rub it in. I still don’t think he noticed. Maybe tomorrow I’ll drive it again and park next to him…

Home:
We had some trees taken down by a landscape service to the tune of roughly $2100. Coincidence?

Auto 1, Auto 2, and Auto 3:
Poor auto number three…

Credit Cards:
Not nearly enough of a drop here. As I said, I spent pretty freely in February but I’ve got that out of my system and the balances are all lined up to drop quickly again.

For the year, I’ve knocked out over $2500 so I’m still making decent progress…

Auto Loans and Other Loans:
Nothing to report.

Mortgage:
Just another minimum payment.

Posted on March 21st, 2012 at 9:46 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | No Comments »

Is it a Good Idea to Cash Out an Insurance Check?

So you may have heard that I have a $1701 check written out to me from Geico that’s causing me lots of grief lately.

Three weeks ago now, I was rear ended by a dunderheaded lummox and it destroyed a tail light and did some cosmetic damage to the rear bumper of my 2004 Land Rover.

Now, what I keep telling myself to do is to sign the check over to the local auto body place and have them take care of everything and give me a brand new looking car in a few days…

That would make me smile.

But I’ve also got dollar signs in my eyes…

See, this is an 8-year old vehicle. Sure, the mileage is low (60k), but it’s still an 8-year old car.

The Kelly Blue Book value is somewhere between $5k and $6k which, in reality, means I’d only get maybe $4k for it in a trade-in whether the bumper is damaged or not.

That said, it drives like a charm and it’s not ready to be traded in. Simply put, even with a damaged bumper, I still think it has plenty of life left.

Let’s say I’m fortunate enough to get another 40k miles out of it…

Now we’re theoretically talking about a 10+ year old vehicle with 100k miles on it.

Does relatively minor cosmetic damage have much of an impact on the trade-in value of a car at the end of its lifespan?

Probably not…

So, with that in mind, would it be financially wise to dump $1700 worth of cosmetic repairs into it?

In this instance, I think my mind is all but made up…

I foresee a considerable drop in my credit card balance in the near future… or a super wicked awesome first birthday party for Henrik… courtesy of Geico.

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PIAC Post Extension
For the record, I own this car free and clear. No lienholders in the mix to coddle so please save me the ethics lecture. I don’t like it either but apparently this is how the system works.

I’m also about 80% sure I can replace and repair the tail light myself for under $100.

For an additional $7 (to buy the special plastic clips), I can re-attach the bumper trim piece too…

A $107 repair job is “good enough”.

Posted on March 21st, 2012 at 5:03 am by Brainy Smurf
Accident, Finance | 4 Comments »

Diverging Utility Expenses or just Rate Flucuations?

I’m pretty sure that I’ve said this before and, if not, I’ve certainly thought it — I can’t stand it when people just generally assume that “things are going up”.

Sure, it might seem like they are but… for the most part, they’re not.

Or are they?

In the past, I’ve found that a nice constant to use for this sort of analysis is a utility bill — any utility bill.

I moved into my current home late in October of 2002 but, for simplicity sake, I’ll just pretend that I moved in on January 1, 2003.

Here’s what the my natural gas bill has looked like from 2003 through 2011.

2003 – $329.67
2004 – $988.97 (I switched to a natural gas furnace)
2005 – $1733.93
2006 – $1545.59
2007 – $1666.98
2008 – $1892.21 (Coldest year ever?)
2009 – $1633.42
2010 – $1599.13
2011 – $1512.82

As you can see, I peaked in 2008 and have been on a steady decline ever since.

What happened?

Gas prices do flucuate, yes, but my heating habits certainly haven’t. I like to wear shorts in the house — even in February.

Thanks to global warming (or something), it was a balmy 58 degrees in Connecticut on Wednesday.

So I’ll blame that “inconvenient truth” — and applaud it. Hey, it’s saving me money!

Seriously, though, last time I heard, gas prices have been on the rise since 2008… and are still going higher… yet, my bill is shrinking…

The weather hasn’t been “that” crazy…

What gives?

Ordinarily I’d just flat out say something like, “Things aren’t really going up now, are they?” and end the post there…

But not today…

Could it be that the new siding and that insanely small amount of styrofoam insulation behind it that we had installed in the summer of 2007 got the ball rolling?

And what about the “real” insulation that we put in behind the walls during our 2010 interior renovation?

Could those “investments” be paying for themselves via my natural gas bill?

Apparently.

And I thought that part of the sales pitch was totaly hooey…

Okay, so my gas bill has dropped, what about the others?

Well, here are the stats for the rest of my utilities (exlcuding water/sewer cause it’s pretty static no matter what):

Electricity and Cable went up, phone dropped like rock.

Explanation?

Well, I’m going to attribute the recent electricity increase to laundry for a family of four (starting in 2011) and a power sucking plasma television (which debuted late in November of 2010).

And the cable bill relates directly to the new television — we upgraded to HD service.

The dates coincide with the additional expenses.

As for the phone, in 2010, we got fed up and went with MagicJack.

I can’t stress how great this thing is.

For those interested in all of the actual numbers, click here.

Posted on February 25th, 2012 at 9:28 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance | No Comments »

Spending Report for January 2012

I seem to have made a habit of having good start to the year — last January was pretty thrifty too.

Christmas spending hangover, perhaps?

$922.22 : Day Care
$498.72 : Mortgage
$225.38 : Auto Insurance
$215.76 : Business Expenses
$206.27 : Gasoline
$193.73 : Natural Gas
$184.38 : Electricity
$140.07 : Hockey Jerseys
$138.12 : Cable/Internet
$120.00 : Cash
$73.31 : Phone
$40.08 : Life Insurance
$36.66 : Finance Charges
$26.04 : T-Shirts
$33.09 : Toys
$8.00 : Car Wash

That all adds up to $3061.83.

As I’ve been doing the past few months, I’ve showcased the “infrequent” or “unusual” expenses in red.

And I’m grateful that there weren’t too many of those unusual expenses to showcase.

Hockey jerseys. What can I say and not sound like I should be on an episode of Intervention? The good news (or bad news) is that this hasn’t appeared on one of these spending reports since September. It’s also good news that I only spent $140.

Seriously, I browse things that cost 10 times that much on a near daily basis…

A phone bill? What? Yep — last time I paid a phone bill was back in March of 2011.

Even better, this is the last phone bill you’ll see in one of these reports until 2017. How about that?

No joke — everyone should switch to MagicJack.

Basically, MagicJack’s rates were slated to increase on January 20th so, since it’s been wicked awesome since we switched to them in 2010, I pre-paid for the next 5 years at the lower rate.

Oh, and I took the car for a car wash.

Posted on February 11th, 2012 at 5:31 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | No Comments »

Networth Update: February 2012 (+$8603)

January was a pretty good month for me.

While most of the gain was due to my 401k and 100% based on a swell in the stock market and not anything that I actually did, I’m still pretty proud of the progress I made on the credit card debt.

Cash:
My side income was a bit higher than normal — especially at the end of the month — which definately shows in the category.

Savings:
After taking a few thousand out in December to pay my property taxes, I’m back on the $135 per week deposit plan.

Gov’t Bonds:
The variable rate portion of these is starting to become noticable. Just five bucks? Sheesh… Hey, at least they’re still earning more than the same amount of cash would in a savings account.

401k:
I’m not totally certain but I think my balance here is approaching the highest level that it’s ever been. What recession?

Home:
This drop must be due the cracked piece of sidewalk out front. ;0)

Auto 1, Auto 2, and Auto 3:
The Scion took it on the chin because some jerk-wad dinged the passenger side door. That said, the car is over 6 years old now so it had a pretty good run…

Credit Cards:
Oh yeah… Down $3260 over the last two months. My financial goal for 2012 is quickly coming together.

Auto Loans and Other Loans:
Nothing to report.

Mortgage:
Just another minimum payment.

Posted on February 10th, 2012 at 6:02 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | No Comments »

Credit Card Debt Rankings – Accurate or Way Off?

I’ve seen a couple of articles over the past couple of weeks on this topic. Essentially they’re just fluff pieces filling space in the business pages but everyone likes fluff pieces…

Anyway, I live in Connecticut so I’m going to focus my attention there.

Huffington Post – January 22, 2012
Credit Card Debt: $7,730 (3rd highest)
Median Household Income:$64,032 (4th highest)
Average Credit Score: 672 (9th highest)
Cost of Living: 4th highest

Connecticut is often recognized as one of the country’s wealthiest states. This is a well-earned reputation. The state has the fourth-highest median household income. The cost of living is also higher than that in all but three states. Residents, therefore, spend more than those in most other states. Average credit card debt is the third highest in the country, but not surprising, their credit scores are also high.

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Hartford Courant — February 2, 2012

Classic example of how you can make numbers say whatever you want them to.

Niether article really listed how they came to these values but I think it’s funny that the largest newspaper in Connecticut came to the conclusion that we’re number one while the Huffington Post (with a more national audience) only put us in third.

All of that aside, where do I stack up?

My current credit card debt totals $6635. Lower than either stat above.

Less than a year ago, it was $28165 which far exceeds them both.

So since I’ve been on both sides, above and below, I think I’m equipped to have a knowledgeable opinion.

Well, not surprisingly, I do.

The Huffington Post puts Connecticut in third place in the nation with an average debt balance of “just” $7730.

No freakin’ way.

First off, I don’t think $7730 is nearly high enough to be third in the country. No way.

How many women between the ages of 18 and 45 do you see walking around with $400 Coach purses with matching $250 rubber boots? They’re all over the place around here.

I don’t have a problem with it (the boots are pretty fugly, though) but I don’t have the income to justify spending that kind of coin on some ugly accessories.

As our household income is considerably higher than the stat listed, I’d pretty comfortable saying that 80% of those Coach accessories were purchased with a Visa, Mastercard, or, heaven forbid, a Discover Card.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I mean, we’re just talkin’ purses and boots here… and, for the guys, I’m pretty sure it’s not cheap to pimp out a Subaru either…

So I’d say the average 24-30 year old in Connecticut is carrying a 5-figure credit card balance. Easily.

And a $20k auto loan too… with an income well shy of $64k per year.

So… I’d say the Hartford Courant’s $15k number is more accurate — but probably not high enough to rank number one.

I mean, Connecticut isn’t New York or California… We’re third.

But combine the two articles and I think you’ve got the accurate result!

Posted on February 5th, 2012 at 2:52 pm by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Finance | No Comments »