I got laid off…now what? May 6, 2008

Yep, you read it here first folks. I got laid off. Thank that beautiful economy of ours, I guess. But now that I’m unemployed, what do I do?

Be thankful for the emergency fund

Remember that emergency fund that every personal finance guru, blogger, author, etc. tells you about? You’ll be very relieved when you find out you have that nice cushion to fall back on. And really, that whole “pay yourself first” idea really works. I never noticed the money was gone (every month I had an automatic transfer over to my ING account), and now that I need it, it’s sitting there waiting for me to draw from when I need to.

Take care of the transitions

Depending on what your severance package provides (or if you didn’t get one at all), you’ll probably look at a few things. Did you get any severance pay? Congratulations. Stash that into your bank account ASAP, and be thankful that your company was nice enough to help you out there. My company did provide some severance pay, but a friend of mine got laid off recently and got pretty much next to nothing. It’s really dependent on your company.

What are you going to do about insurance? Again, some of this depends on your company; they may immediately stop paying the premiums for your insurance, or provide you a grace period. Either way, you should learn about the COBRA. This is where you are given the opportunitiy to continue your insurance plan, but you must pay the premiums, at up to 102% of the cost. Many people can just find alternate, often cheaper plans that still cover their needs. Depending on your state, you might be required to have insurance (which is the case in Massachusetts). From what I’ve heard, if you don’t elect to continue through COBRA, but then something happens and you need insurance, you can retroactively get it taken care of. Don’t quote me on that, I’m looking into it.

Were you enrolled in a 401(k) or similar program? If so, you have a few options that I know of. They are summarized rather nicely in Get Rich Slowly’s page. I am most likely going to either roll my 401(k) over into an IRA, or, if I find new work soon enough and it’s a feasibility, I will move my 401(k) to my new company’s 401(k). What I will NOT do, and I don’t recommend you do it either, is cash out my 401(k). You have to pay a penalty, and taxes right then for your money, and now you are back to square one with your retirement planning.

And if you had an FSA account (I did), you’re probably going to have to just submit the rest of your claims ASAP, and lose any money that you didn’t spend. I guess this wasn’t something I considered when I initially signed up, but I guess that’s something to think about…how quickly you’ll spend the money in your account. I’m not sure what happens if you spent more than you accumulated, if you have to pay back the extra. I’ll have to check on that as well (for you guys, not for me).

Looking ahead

It’s rough, but it’s time to get back out there! Let your friends know that you are looking. I went ahead and listed it on my facebook profile…which worked out nicely, because a friend saw that and offered to talk to someone in his company that works in my desired area of research. Having good friends willing to help you out is definitely a plus. This is not the time to start networking with people you’ve casually met in the past…hopefully you’ve been networking all along…of course, if you haven’t, you might as well start now! It just looks a little fishy when you suddenly talk to someone you sort of know who can help you find a job. But don’t be afraid to. Update your profiles on your social/business networking sites, and confirm that the available information and connections is accurate and represents you in a positive light. My next step is to look at companies that interest me, and then determine if I have a personal connection to that company, either through friends or through my alumni network.

In the meantime, I’ve also started looking at the assorted job posting sites out there, like monster.com and career builder. There are plenty of others that I’m looking at, and if you want, I can post those, too, though I’m not sure how popular of a site they all are.

Well, hopefully you aren’t all in the same boat as me. Let me know what you’ve found helpful, or if you’re looking for information that I didn’t include, since I probably just omitted it for no useful reason.

[Edit: I forgot to mention applying for unemployment. There's a good overview here, and for Massachusetts, you can find out how to file claims and such here. If you have trouble navigating that site, let me know. I managed to figure it out.]

Looking for 20-something bloggers! April 28, 2008

So, I know that well-heeled is running a series for 20-something money stories, but I guess my post is looking for something different: I’m looking for a list of blogs. I feel like there should be a specific community for people in our situation…you or some blogger you know or read may be some or any of the following:

• Recently out of college
• Recently joined the working world
• 20-29 years old
• Looking at personal finance options
• Trying to get on track financially
• Something similar that seems to fit…

As of right now, I know that there’s me, Well Heeled, Tough Broad, Mya Moola…I realized that this is all women so far…but men in a similar position should be included! It would be especially interesting to compare, and see how different it might be for different people.

See, the way I see it, once there’s a nice list of all these blogs, it will be easier to find…other bloggers can use that list in their blogroll, and we can all read each other’s blogs, providing advice, support, and congratulations!

I’m sure there’s something out there already, and I’m just going to feel silly when someone tells me about it..I’m guessing that plenty of people already have a nice list like that on their blogroll…Budgeting Babe pointed over to the US News Page with a lot of helpful information for 20-somethings…and there’s the finwikian, which I’ve just added myself to, and I just created a 20-somethings list over there as well. It takes a bit to understand how to use it if you’ve never used a wiki before, but I encourage all you personal finance bloggers to add yourself to the database and the appropriate lists. If you have trouble with it, let me know. In the meantime, still suggest blogs (so I can add them to the finwikian as well as my blogroll and my own personal feed reader), so that we can get this community going!

Sharing Assets, Sharing Debts April 28, 2008

My boyfriend and I were joking about getting married the other day, and he joked that he’d want a prenup, as I’m bringing more debt to the playing field than he is. That got me to thinking…would I want to share my debts and assets? I don’t know if it’s just me, but I kind of want to be responsible for my debts, and keep my money to myself. I don’t want whoever my future husband is to have to shoulder my student loan debts. But I guess, I also sort of selfishly want to keep my money to myself, too. I read in plenty of personal finance blogs about how couples share everything, moneywise.  I think I wouldn’t mind having a joint bank account with my guy, where shared costs like housing, utilities, food, dining out, etc. would get paid from, and we’d put a certain amount in that account every month to cover those expenses.  I know my parents share their money, and I admire that in them.  Maybe this just proves that I’m not ready to get married any time soon.  Don’t worry, I’m not expecting it (in case he’s reading this…we’ve only been together a year)!

So, you single folk, dating folk, married folk…when it comes to money, what situation do you prefer, or assume you’ll do when you get into a long term relationship?

The good thing about e-filing is… April 16, 2008

You get your refund a lot faster!

I used TurboTax to prepare and file my taxes. Well, actually, I e-filed my state taxes, but had to mail my federal taxes (I had to include a document from work). But the awesome part is that because I e-filed, and opted for direct deposit, I already got my state refund!

Other awesome things related to taxes (if you can say there are awesome things about taxes…) is that there are some good tax breaks/deductions (I can’t remember which…) that I was able to take advantage of. They allow deductions for rent you pay, cost of commuting (subway passes and/or EZ-Pass), and for interest on your student loans. Those were the big three that kicked in for me, and granted there are limits for your deductions, but it made me happy to see at least some effect.

That’s all I got for today. Hopefully you’ve all filed your taxes by now…and if you haven’t, you’ve filed an extension.

Getting excited about housewares and decorating April 13, 2008

Sometime after I graduated, I start to get really excited about getting and using assorted housewares. My first Christmas after college, I asked for mixing bowls and a liquid measuring cup. For my last birthday, I requested an electric griddle. I’ve been reading decorating and housewares related blogs, like CasaSugar, decor8, Hostess with the Mostess, and Apartment Therapy (and the other blogs Apartment Therapy has), and watching shows like Small Space Big Style, Decorating Cents, and Design on a Dime. I some day hope to have the big fancy stand mixer (yes, just like they say in the oft referenced Stuff White People Like). In the meantime, I am using the stand mixer that I inherited from my grandmother.

Every once in a while, I get this sudden urge to decorate, to cook using high-tech tools, to buy useful and/or decorative things…for example, after reading a post about some modern-looking fabrics, I realized I really wanted to buy some cute towels for the kitchen and bathroom, all coordinated and everything. Sure, some of it is that commercial, consumer push to have the next best thing. But I’m thinking that I’ve gotten to a certain age where I know it’s time to be a grownup. I guess I am, to some extent. I have a degree, I have a job, I’m paying bills, making meals, cleaning around the house…but I think I’m in some sort of strange transition still. I think I find myself acting the part of someone more grown up than I actually am, mostly because I realize I need to be mature at this point in my life. I suppose the lighter side of all these housewares and decorating urges is that I’m looking forward to having my own place, where I can decorate it however I want, and have all the things I might need to keep my house in working order.  I’ve been trying to be frugal and not buy anything extra, but at some point, I really just want to start buying all the pretty, fancier, more expensive, less necessary items that you find in a house.

I just wonder…is all this want for these things bad?  I don’t think so.  It’s a sign I’m getting older, thinking about my future.  Maybe that’s it.  Who knows?

Looking at the positive of the recession April 11, 2008

The Feds keep lowering rates, which is unfortunate for my savings account, but great for my student loans.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, ING, as well as most other banks that offer “high yield” savings accounts are staying close to the Federal Fund Rates, which is currently 2.25%.  And so my account has suffered a little, but I haven’t taken any money out of my “emergency fund”, except to fully fund my Roth IRA for 2007.  Since I had started the Roth IRA halfway through the year, I didn’t put enough in to cover the $4,000 max for last year.

Anyway, I just wanted to remind you to check your rates that depend on the Federal rate.  Some rates are fixed (for me that means my consolidated student loans stay at 4.5%), but other rates depend on the Federal rate.  While I don’t worry about credit card rates (I pay off my balance every month), some credit card rates are based on the Fed rate plus some constant extra percent above that.  The one rate that I’m excited about is my student loan rates.  I owe a large chunk of money for student loans that follows the Fed Rates…and every quarter, they readjust their interest rates accordingly (I’ve heard many companies do this).  So while ING and other banks follow the Fed rate very closely, these rates go at a slower pace.  So, currently, those loans are only at 6%!  Which still is a lot, but it’s a lot better than the 8.5% it was a year ago.

Oh, and Trent at The Simple Dollar wrote an article about the recession and what’s going on…it’s pretty good, you should check it out!

Thinking about housing April 5, 2008

At the end of my lease, I will have lived in the same apartment for 2 years. We have the top 2 floors of a 3 floor, two family house. I love how big it is, and how low the rent is compared to that of some of my friends. But it’s too far away. I complain, when I note that it takes me 20 minutes to walk home from the subway, when I’m walking quickly. And many friends complain that we live to far away to visit or come to parties. I’ve begrudgingly become used to the walk, knowing which buses to catch if I want to get a little bit closer to the T, shorten my commute by a few minutes to get out of the rain/cold/wind/heat/uncomfortable shoes. And I’ve noticed with such a large, open apartment in an old house leads to relatively high gas/heating bills. So that cost would be nice to lower…

So there are many things to consider:

Q. Should we move?

A. Technically, we could probably get another lease for the next year. We’d have to find a replacement for at least one of our roommates, since he’s planning on moving out at the end of the lease anyway.

Q. If we move, who should we live with?

A. This is a rather complicated situation for us. So, A and I have been dating for almost a year, but we’ve both been living here (with 2 other roommates) for the 2 years of the lease. And we’ve known each other since the begining of college. So we know each other pretty well. I wouldn’t mind living with some of our friends…in fact I think I’d still prefer that to just the two of us…I think it would be weird if it were just the two of us. Plus it would (most likely) be more expensive with just the two of us.

Q. Where should we live?

I very much want to live closer to the T. Both for the sake of shortening my commute, and to urge friends to visit more often. Plus I think living closer will help me get more motivated to be social and go out instead of being lazy and staying in. I’m thinking I’d want to live on the Red Line, perhaps Davis, Porter, Harvard, or Central Square.  I guess I could also live in Boston, but that would mean a bit longer of a commute (switching from the Green Line to the Red Line).  I love all the fun stuff to do in the squares, and living closer to at least one of them would probably get me out trying new things.

Q. Rent or buy?

A. With the current housing market, I keep thinking about buying.  But then I realize it’s a heck of a lot of money, and that I don’t know how long I’ll be around this area (hopefully a while, but who knows?), and well, owning is pretty darn permanent by comparison to renting.  I would like the ability to alter things more (I’ve been watching plenty of decorating shows!), but I figure I can wait a little bit longer and continue to put money away towards a down payment.

So, what am I doing about all these questions?  I’m browsing Craigslist, and discussing housing with friends, both to determine roommate possibilities and to learn more about some apartment and house hunting experiences and opinions.

Sorry for the large gap in postings.  I was having a blog-identity crisis and wasnt sure what subjects to post about.  I was thinking about what my friends blog about, and wondered if I should shift in that direction.  I think I’ll still stick with personal finance related topics and decisions that 20-somethings face.  But we’ll see where we go from here.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Trying out social bookmarking March 9, 2008

I already share interesting posts with my friends on Google Reader using the share button (or the email button if it’s for someone in particular), but I’ve never really gotten into Digg or other social bookmarking sites. I don’t think that my blog is very popular (yet?) and so it doesn’t seem like a very necessary step for me at this point, but I figured I’d try it out to see how it works. I went through the wordpress.com FAQ page and found a site that instructs how to manually add the assorted bookmarking links if you are hosted at wordpress.com (and how to have it add automatically if you host your own wordpress blog).

So I tried it for my last post, and I’m going to try it again on this post. I welcome advice or suggestions about doing this. Is it considered tacky? Or good blogging practice? I have to admit, I haven’t heard of a few of the sites that I have included in the list. There’s even a larger list of many of those sites here. As a blogger, do I have to be a member of all these groups for you to bookmark the sites? I am a member of Technorati (and that’s not even one of the options below, hmmm). And how do I know when a post or site has been bookmarked at one of these sites?

So many questions. I just wanted to try it out. Let me know if the comments if this should stay or go!

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The laptop saga March 8, 2008

So, I have a long and crazy story about my laptop. But there’s a few lessons learned along the way.

The ups and downs with my old laptop

I got my old laptop before senior year of college since I realized it would be a relatively useful thing to have. Up until that point, I had been using my desktop computer, though once or twice I got a laptop to use from a programming class I was taking, so I had gotten a bit used to using a laptop, and enjoyed the convenience that came with owning one.

I went to CompUSA because they had a deal on a Compaq laptop that appealed to me. Bought it, and bought the extended warranty plan. That plan would cover repairs, including one battery replacement for the first two years (the warranty plan for the computer itself was similar but would only cover the first year).

Fast forward to a year later, when my laptop battery starts to lose its ability to charge. I take it to a CompUSA by my parent’s house, but they wouldn’t be able to fix it in time for me to take it back with me to Boston (I was moving into the sublet I was living in for my first few months in the working world), and I feared being without a computer for any time when I’d be completely on my own.

Fast forward to a little less than a year later, and I try to get my laptop fixed again. By this time the battery takes no charge, which causes my laptop to turn off if my charger shifts away from my computer. I find out I can ship my computer (instead of driving really far away, as CompUSAs are closing all around me), and do so. I get my computer back, with a new charger cord and a halfway charged battery. Not sure if this is a new battery, or my old one, but either way, it also is unable to charge. So I’m left with the same problem I had before. I call to get this re-taken care of, and they say send it back. I was busy trying to back up everything on my computer when my warranty ended. And then I recieved an email that said my case had been closed. So I got pretty darn confused. I called a few times after that, but they refused to do anything about it, since my warranty had expired, and I had waited longer that a supposed grace period of 30 days that they will fix things that they didn’t fix the first time.

Yes, I acknowledge that there are a few things I could have done in there. But I guess I wished they had fixed my computer the first time like I asked.

Now, a few weeks ago, I tried to start up the laptop, and it would go to the windows screen, and then start beeping like heck. I tried all sorts of things, but to no avail.

Call for Backup

So the good news with all of this is that I had backed up all my files (originally for when I sent my computer in, and now I just still have it). This is something I HIGHLY recommend you do. I should have had hard copy backups of my photographs, but I didn’t. There are plenty of ways you can back up your files. Lifehacker has a whole section about backups, (and backup utilities in particular) including a few roundup posts. And PC Magazine has a pretty nice overview of all different types of backup technology. You can use hardware backups, either with hard drives, backup discs, etc. There are also lots of online ways to backup your hard drive, such as Carbonite, Mozy, MediaMax, JungleDisk, and many others. Lifehacker has a comparison of Carbonite to Mozy, a discussion of JungleDisk, and a discussion of MediaMax.

I personally use Carbonite for my backup. I originally found out about it through BzzAgent (which I’ve mentioned before), and stuck with it for a paid subscription. I liked how it would actively backup files for me when my computer was not being used (so it wouldn’t slow my internet related activities), and that it would backup new and changed files as they were created/edited. So that left me with a a pretty lazy setup on my part. And now that I’m downloading all my files onto my new computer, I can appreciate how nicely everything is working out…I can select what files to download to my new computer (i.e. pictures, music, important documents) and not worry about all the useless files that I didn’t want cluttering up my new computer.

And, just like those ING referrals that I’m always pushing, they have a referral deal that benefits the new user as well as me…it seems the deal is if you start using Carbonite through one of my referrals, and end up buying the plan, you get a free month for free, and I get 3 free months. So, as always, let me know if you’re looking for a referral to start trying Carbonite. Email me or leave me a comment (and enter your email into the email text box so I can email you a referral).

Buying a new computer

So, I took the fact that my old computer crashed as an excuse to buy a new computer. Yes, I should have tried harder to get the computer fixed, figure out what was wrong with it. But I really was sick of all the problems I was having with my old laptop. Time for a new toy!

A few resources that I found pretty useful were NotebookReview.com, especially their “What Notebook Should I Buy” guide, and the forum where you can post your preferences for a new computer and get advice on what to purchase from other forum members. They also have a list of coupons and deals on that site as well. I highly recommend that no matter what computer you buy (or online purchase you make, in general), do a quick internet search for your computer and possible deals (search for Dell deals, Compaq coupons, or Gateway coupon codes, etc.). You can also look at bugmenot’s sister site, retailmenot.com for coupon codes and deals on online purchases. There are often lists of coupons codes that can be applied to your purchase, easing the hit your wallet takes. There was already a deal on the laptop I bought, but I was able to find a slightly better one with a little bit of searching. Just be careful about what links you end up following! Often I try to copy and paste the codes they supply directly into the checkout section of the site I’m purchasing from, to make sure I’m not following a link to a dummy site.

I ended up going with a Dell computer, an Inspiron 1420. There were a lot of other options, and I had to weigh price vs. usability, size, memory, processor, etc. I chatted with the online chat people that you can talk to, and discussed this with my brother-in-law, who until recently sold Dells. He suggested I go with the Core 2 Duo for my processor, and that I should go ahead and get Windows Vista, since the problems that originally came up with early Vista users were that their computers were not compatible with Vista, or that they tried to just upgrade from Windows XP. He said my best bet with Vista was to buy new. With Vista, I only should need a 1.6GHz processor, and even 1.8GHz could be pushing it, since I’m not a heavy gamer or anything. And since I’m getting into digital photography, I should upgrade to the 128MB dedicated graphic memory. So those were the things I looked out for. I also went with the warranty plan, and had it cover the length of time that I would assume I would want to be covered for.

It was a pricey purchase overall, and I’m sure I could have been happy with many other brands and models of laptops, but I think I will be happy with this computer, so it’s all good in my book!

So, that was probably the longest post I’ve posted…hope it wasn’t too long for you!
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Another haircut discussion March 6, 2008

As a warning, there’s no real personal finance story here…mostly just a review of a hair salon.  I guess the only finance related part is that I spent way less on a haircut that I might have if I had gone to a super fancy salon in Boston.

The last time I got a haircut, I mentioned a list of places to get your hair cut in and around the Davis Square area. This time, I didn’t go to Supercuts…I went to Salon Femia. I called to make an appointment (though they do accept walk-ins) for 7:00pm. I was the last appointment of the night. Because it was stormy that night, but I had gotten there early, I just sat and waited inside while the people ahead of me got their hair done. The receptionist and the hairdresser (is that what I should call her?) were both really friendly and chatted with me and the other customers while we were there. Most likely because I was the last appointment, and because one of the girls ahead of me was getting a lot of highlights and such, they took me for my appointment a little late. I wasn’t really too bothered by it, because I got some reading in, and didn’t have to get home any time soon. The receptionist shampooed my hair, and then the hairdresser that was there that night, Ornella, got to work on my hair. Since I didn’t really have a preference what was done to my hair as long as I looked good, I just let her go to work on it, and surprise me with something good.

And I think she did. And for $35 + tip, I think it was a pretty good haircut!

Okay, so yes, this is another one of those review posts I’ve been doing. But hopefully this might help someone find a reasonably priced haircut in the Davis Square Area.