tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115280892011-12-14T20:48:15.491-06:00Financial Management. No Idea. Feeling our Way Along.CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-60319410387637798112008-11-14T13:32:00.003-06:002008-11-14T13:52:50.048-06:00

It has been a while since I wrote. For a reason. The financial turmoil we've all been reading about in the papers came home to roost, so to speak, right here. I got laid off in late October and have been marshaling resources/networking/job hunting like a crazy man. Nothing focuses the brain like huge debt on the one hand and no job or income stream on the other. So here we are. The good thing is

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-74340293537014199452008-05-04T18:44:00.003-06:002008-08-02T09:26:15.849-06:00

Back a few months ago we shifted our retirement investments from bonds and cash equivalents back to stocks, but mixing the mix a little more than we had before. Previously we were concentrated in international stocks, but for this shift we moved to roughly equal shares in bonds, big caps, small caps and international funds. And then the market kept sinking. I feel good that we avoided at least

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-37535177915936114132008-05-02T20:24:00.002-06:002008-08-02T09:09:10.327-06:00

Five to go! April 15, 2008 saw the full and complete payoff of my first student loan! Big party! Now back to work. I still have about $130,000 in student loans as a result of grad school, but we have a plan. We pay extra to the principal of the highest interest rate loan, then roll over that payment plus the minimum payment from the loan just paid off, into the next one. Line em up, knock

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-33728465233629053732008-05-02T20:15:00.002-06:002008-05-02T20:24:06.223-06:00

So I just learned how to do a chart in Excel, and I charted our "net worth" over 2007. Yowza! we went from about $40,000 in total net worth in January 2007 to over $93,000 at 1/1/2008, which we wrote down to $75,000 because of the possibly sinking value of our house. The house value estimate is all funny money anyway - the only loss or gain occurs if we sell or cash out, I guess. At any rate,

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-79733924934148721492008-04-18T19:34:00.001-06:002008-04-18T19:35:49.896-06:00

Twins...born. sleep...none. work...lots. love...lots. fun...yes. tired...you bet. all's well. we love it!

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-60387409055537114642007-12-31T19:23:00.000-06:002007-12-31T19:49:42.593-06:00

The year end is a natural time to think about financial progress, goals, and ideas going forward. I do not consider myself very educated about all this, but just tracking balances on a monthly basis has me thinking about what might be helpful to track going forward. Right now, we track liquid assets (cash and stocks), illiquid assets (IRA's and 401k's), hard assets (cars and home); as well as

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-86315240653193176712007-11-28T20:04:00.000-06:002007-11-28T20:14:16.921-06:00

So, should we take a write down on the value of our house? I'm talking about the value we ascribe to our house as we keep track of our net worth. This is a totally esoteric debate since we're not planning on selling anytime soon. We may, however refinance the house in a couple of years, so maybe it would benefit us to take a very conservative view, if for nothing else, it would keep us pleasantly

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-33710411649236152702007-11-08T21:01:00.000-06:002007-11-08T21:07:49.227-06:00

We've got more kids on the way. As in twins - due soon, and it will bring our grand total to 4. Who has four kids? We will! And we're all fired up about it.This does cause some concern among the adults, though. Questions like: where will we all sleep? Will we sleep? (likely not, for a while) should we get some help? (definitely) Can we afford this? (definitely not!) So we made a list.

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-2298209006840820832007-10-20T18:12:00.001-06:002007-10-20T18:16:28.809-06:00

Is it just me, or does everyone get letters from their student loan lenders, saying that the payment amount on their loans has changed? So strange. And it makes it tough to keep the amount we're paying toward principal consistent. They keep lowering it, so we have to adjust the "extra payments" we send regularly. So I started a spreadsheet to track it all, so that we can keep on our tracked

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-488317870928057572007-10-17T11:16:00.000-06:002007-10-17T11:33:58.578-06:00

After searching long and hard for a new job, I finally got one. Starting Monday I'll move from the government to the private sector, working for a large company. Should be a big change I guess, although people are pretty much people, and I have the benefit of going to work with a friend from an old job. I'm looking forward to it. Financially speaking, the new job should help us a lot. There

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-49202295548117689602007-09-27T19:15:00.000-06:002007-09-27T19:23:44.708-06:00

So back to the Plan. To get all this crap paid off. The deal is: throw as much as possible at it, then save that much going forward so we can quit this working thing as soon as possible. Rounding my salary down to the nearest thousand and putting the amount rounded off toward loans every 2 weeks will allow us to pay $360 toward my loans every month. Following that plan, then rolling over

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-54449338630401593982007-09-04T20:32:00.001-06:002007-09-04T20:37:25.064-06:00

We track our finances at the beginning of every month. Although we still carry a significant debt load, we are concentrating much of our resources toward saving for retirement. This month we crossed the 100,000 dollar mark for the first time. It's a small signpost, but on this long journey it is important to recognize the smallest achievements as progress toward the goal. Which begs the

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-78652476884073347882007-08-29T19:56:00.000-06:002007-08-29T20:03:13.666-06:00

So it took me long enough, and I still don't have the spreadsheet to upload to the blog ready. But the basic idea is, we have about 5 loans to pay off. And some of them won't be paid off for something like 25 years at the current rate. So something has to be done. So the plan is, since we bought our house 3 years ago and have that cost basically fixed, we're going to use what we'll call

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-51825585035937702692007-06-25T18:13:00.000-06:002007-06-25T18:15:59.113-06:00

So I'm working on figuring out when, if ever, we'll have student loans and other debts paid off, and I think I've got a bead on it. More to come v. soon.

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-22351379913119779792007-05-05T18:47:00.000-06:002007-05-05T18:55:35.222-06:00

I'm back - it has been a long while. Everything is fine. Financial freak outs still happen, but everything seems a lot better since spring came back. Isn't it amazing how much of a difference that makes? Seriously. So I'm still tracking our finances - have abandoned Microsoft Money and now just keep a simple spreadsheet every month to track where we are. So far, the line is going up (slowly

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1126356758862238002005-09-10T06:47:00.000-06:002005-09-10T06:52:38.866-06:00

Originally I started this to motivate me to get ahold of our finances and understand where our money is going. We started using Microsoft Money in mid-July and found it so much easier to understand where we are, what we want, and how to get to where we want to be financially, it's amazing. Sort of like before, we were just swimming along, now, we've got a boat and can look up to see landmarks,

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1122836293515924722005-07-31T12:55:00.000-06:002005-07-31T18:14:55.446-06:00

Good article about people who think they can move up to a nicer, bigger house using the appreciation in their current house - catch is, they're tryig to move into the same bubble market they're living in. Living in a Bubble: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/garden/28turf.htmla

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1116903190831942882005-05-23T20:48:00.000-06:002005-05-23T20:53:10.836-06:00

I read everywhere about people cashing out and selling their homes in order to lock in profit. One question: where do they all live after they sell? I figure you have to either rent or buy a new place, or move in with relatives, right? Assuming most people are buying, and assuming that most buy in their own home market, are they really gaining anything? Aren't the other comperable homes

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1114564929057008782005-04-26T18:32:00.000-06:002005-04-26T19:32:08.550-06:00

I've written before about how we're declaring war on our debt, student loan debt to be precise, and I have a new idea. Apart from enrolling in school part time, which would inevitably lead to me not going to the classes, feeling guilty, and not doing as well as I would like, so I'm bagging that idea.My wife and I actually talked about this idea before, but it slipped into the recesses of my mind

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1113677855399113692005-04-16T12:56:00.000-06:002005-04-16T12:57:35.400-06:00

Short story - we came out even, despite having sold stock to buy our house, and having our income begin to flirt with the AMT, we ended up paying $1k to our old state, getting $14 from our new state, and getting approx $1k from the Feds. I like balance. Makes me have that warm zen feeling.

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1113677717556721422005-04-16T12:48:00.000-06:002005-04-16T12:55:17.556-06:00

In Sunday's NY Times Real Estate section is a good article about people investing in buildings around NYC to build up equity for their retirement. The main point I got was that one should never get into a revenue negative deal, although revenue zero is OK. I guess it's OK so long as rents hold steady - that way you're at least paying down your mortgage. I think these types of investments may

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111865495210758382005-03-26T13:19:00.000-06:002005-03-26T13:31:35.213-06:00

I've been reading lots of articles about what will happen if the real estate market "bubble" that people have been talking about for the last few years finally pops once interest rates rise and other factors make the economy go down the tubes. One today in Sunday's NY Times Real Estate Section sparked a thought. If houses are in a bubble, and there's lots of evidence suggesting they are, then

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111851660629086912005-03-26T09:34:00.000-06:002005-03-26T09:41:00.630-06:00

I usually don't read magazines - the occasional home improvement rag and the daily paper, but nothing really beyond that. I've been seeing reviews though for Money Magazine's new look and format, so I thought I'd pick it up. Two days later, I've read the thing cover to cover, and I think it's great - Seemed the articles were practically tailored for people like me, late 20s, early 30s, sort of

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111715539433774522005-03-24T19:43:00.000-06:002005-03-24T19:52:19.436-06:00

I had an idea today on the train home from work as a possible way to attack these dreadful student loans. Where I work they will subsidize education that is relevant to my job. So I realized that I might be able to get my work to pay for a class or two, which would make me eligible for a deferment of at least some of my loans. During deferment the loans don't accrue interest, so if I continued

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111460862432425582005-03-21T21:06:00.000-06:002005-03-21T21:07:42.433-06:00

I guess the first step is figuring out where we are. So I'm going through all of our outstanding student loans and am trying to write down in one place, how much we owe, what the interest rates are, what the monthly payment is, and, if possible, break down the payment into principal and interest. I noticed on the sallie mae website that they tell you how much interest you pay every day. Seems

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111252843886767682005-03-19T11:20:00.000-06:002005-03-19T11:20:43.886-06:00

Digaditch is actually three words.  Dig. A. Ditch.  And I picked it because when I was growing up ditch digging was the default worst job anyone could have.  "Well, it beats digging a ditch." was a euphamism for quit complaining, you could have it lots worse.  And sometimes I have to remind myself that I could have it lots worse.  So, even though it's a long row, let's get to work, it could be

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111252471168481862005-03-19T11:06:00.000-06:002005-03-19T11:14:31.170-06:00

I just put my 15 month old son down for a nap. It's Saturday and I get to be with him all day. Joy. Exhaustion. I don't know how people who stay home with their infant children every day do it. Anyway, that's why. Him. He's now the reason for everything. Which is a good thing. I love him. So, now we've got to get our house in order. I'm talking cash, thinking about the long term to be

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111121119688226402005-03-17T22:44:00.000-06:002005-03-17T22:45:19.690-06:00

Hellllllllllloooooooooooooooooo

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11528089.post-1111120943106847452005-03-17T22:42:00.000-06:002005-03-17T22:42:23.106-06:00

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CashCrashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735349278702164501noreply@blogger.com