Enrolling in my new 401(k) July 27, 2008

As I mentioned before, I got a new job!  And with that job came a 401(k) that the company matches up to 4%.  So, as any personal finance person knows, I’m going to definitely contribute at least 4% to my 401(k).  Hello!  Free Money!  Always a good perk.

The difficult part is deciding what to invest in.  I have to consider my whole retirement portfolio, not just my 401(k), as I’ve got a Roth IRA that I’ve been trying to fully fund each year, plus a rollover IRA for my last job’s 401(k).  It also sounds like I am allowed to roll money from the rollover IRA into my new 401(k) (according to the paperwork I got from work), so I’ll need to decide if I should do that.  It seems a bit like it’s a draw either way, as they’re both from pre-tax contributions, so there isn’t an obvious advantage either way.  It would probably just help to get a better idea of my portfolio if I have fewer separate accounts to consider.  I’ll think about it a little more before I decide.

As for the portfolio decisions, I’m thinking I want to select a wide variety of funds.  The options available in this plan are pretty good, as they encompass all sorts of investment strategies and comfort levels.  They have funds that fit any combination of the Morningstar style categories (Small, Mid, Large; Value, Blend, Growth).  There are also funds with certain sectors of stocks:  Technology, Healthcare, Real Estate.  They also have a fund that helps you buy stock in the company.  I know in terms of the company stock, I wont put too much in that one.  I don’t have anything against the company, I just know it’s a bit risky to have too much of your portfolio invested in one stock, especially if the stock is for your own company.  You’re that much more dependent on the success of your company.  Plenty of former Enron employees were in horrible financial situations after the company went down the tubes because they not only lost their jobs, but they also had been heavily invested in the Enron stock (I believe the company match in their case was company stock).  When a large part of your portfolio ceases to exist, you’re in for trouble!  All that aside, I have confidence that my employer is going to be around for a while, so I’m not too worried about that sort of thing happening.  But it always could.  So, like I said, I wont be investing too much into their stock.

I think I realized something weird.  My investment strategy is a bit weak.  At my old company’s 401(k) plan, I basically looked for funds with high Morningstar ratings (4 or 5 stars) and that fit in the “growth” category.  I figured that I should go for the growth funds, as I was under the impression that those were the best ones for young people like me who can handle short term instability in favor of long term gains.  I’m now not quite sure I should have had most of my money in Growth funds, as Value funds take on a different approach, but could still be just as risky.  As this article states, Growth funds depend on the fact that the funds have a lot of momentum, and so they can increase fairly quickly.  The downside is that the momentum works in both directions, which means you could end up with a considerable loss.  So that’s why those are considered good for long term investments.  The Value funds, they explained, look for cheaper investments with the hope that they’ll increase in value.  It’s that whole basic idea of “buy low, sell high”.  And Blend funds, as they state, are the funds that don’t fit on either side.  They may either have a combination of the Growth and Value funds, or they may just have a wide variety of investments that act as a good portfolio diversification.  So, I think I had used the fact that Growth is volatile to mean it was okay for young investors, as most investment guides say that younger investors can handle the short term troubles that can arise.

So, I guess all this discussion, and I’m still not quite sure what to do.  I’m interested in putting a little bit towards the company stock, and a little bit in the Technology fund, but other than that, I’m a bit in the dark.  They have life-cycle funds available, but I figured I’m too heavily invested in those as it is with my Roth and rollover IRAs.  I’ll just enter a tentative portfolio initially to get myself enrolled in the 401(k) and start getting the matched contributions.  I’ll just have to adjust my portfolio once I actually take a little more time to do the research on the individual options available.

I’ll probably also increase my contribution after a while.  Right now the plan is to contribute up to the match.  I did sign up with the option they have available through the 401(k) to increase your contribution by a 1-3% each year.  I set it to increase by 1% every year.  I’m not sure when exactly it will stop increasing, but I’m okay with it for now.  I guess the idea with it, in part, might be that you intend to get raises at certain times of the year, and so you can keep a similar take-home pay as before, but start contributing more to your account.  It’s also helpful so that you can start off with a minimal amount coming out of your paycheck, and as you go, you’ll be more comfortable with it as you build up emergency savings and other investments.

Oh, one thing I noticed, I mentioned Morningstar a good amount in this post.  This isn’t a sponsored post or anything.  It’s more of what I first heard about when I was setting up my portfolio for my last 401(k).

Well, I’d better get to bed soon.  I’ve found that I can get a heck of a lot more tired these days, now that I’ve started working, which includes waking up a lot earlier than I’d been getting used to.

Next step in determining what to do with all the company benefits:  select a medical insurance plan.  They have 5 options available, and I’ve got to sort through all the pros and cons of each.  More on this later!

Whitewater rafting and camping over the weekend July 23, 2008

This past weekend, I went camping and whitewater rafting in Millinocket, Maine.  And it was AWESOME.  One of my friends has been setting up rafting trips for a few years now, coordinating a bunch of his friends to drive up to Big Moose Inn and Campgrounds and go rafting on the Penobscot River with North Country Rivers.  Every year, the group grows.  This year, we had 32 people in our group!  Basically, people have fun, then the next year, they invite all their friends to come along.  There are different people in charge of different tasks, which really helps.  Hopefully he doesn’t mind me copying his list for your benefit.

Quartermaster – Before trip needs to make sure we have miscellaneous stuff like buckets to clean dishes, rope and garbage bags.  On trip is in charge of all this stuff and makes sure it gets back to correct owner.

Mess Captain – Head of kitchen.  Will go grocery shopping with me the Thursday before the trip.  Manages food and makes sure cleanup happens after each meal.  They also decide who gets to cook.  (This may need to be multiple people)

BoozeCom - Needs to have a hat to pass around.  Will take requests from the group and should get us enough beverages to not get thirsty on Saturday night.  We might have two this year, one to stop at a liquor store and the other to get beer at a supermarket (yeah Maine).

FireCom - Responsible for burners and our main fire.

Concierge – This person only needs to help me before the trip.  They need to help me make sure we have enough tents for the trip.  (Or enough volunteers to sleep under the stars…)

The “Concierge” also ended up taking everyone’s preferences on who they do or don’t want to be in a tent with (best friends, snorers, bedwetters, etc.) and figuring out where everyone is going to sleep.  The Mess Captain made a great choice in chopping up all the fixings for our food prior to the trip (we put chicken or beef in tin foil with seasonings and vegetables for our main meal).  He didn’t have to worry about lunch the day we went rafting…the rafting company provided it.

We sorted ourselves by how hard-core we wanted to be about rafting…whether we were hoping to get by without getting wet (which is IMPOSSIBLE!) or wanted to pay the rafting guides to upturn your boat.

I went last year, and it was just as exciting then as it was this last time.  I’m pretty much not a very adventurous person, but whitewater rafting is just so exhilarating and exciting!  One girl in my raft noted that she was so excited that she was scared!  And really, I think a little fear makes it that much more fun.

I highly recommend going rafting.  It’s pretty awesome.  And camping with a bunch of friend, and meeting new people in the process is pretty great too.

I got a new job! July 20, 2008

So, I was holding off posting this until everything was official.  But now I can spread the good news.  I actually got TWO job offers!  How exciting is that.  Yeah, I’m bragging a little bit…  I joked with my friends that this must be what hot girls feel like, when they get asked out by a ton of guys.

And in the end, I had to make a decision.  My friends also laughed at me, having the “problem of choosing between multiple job offers”.  And let me tell you, it was a tough decision.  Both offers were really interesting.  They had similar pay, and were both for the Boston Area.  There were many differences, however.  Job A was located in Cambridge, so I could take the bus there (though there would be a bit of walking to and from the bus stop).  I’d be working at another startup company, doing pretty interesting research.  Job B is a 20 minute drive from home (a “reverse commute”) at a large established company.  I’d have to buy a car or figure out some sort of sharing or carpool (more on that later).

I decided on the more established company in the end.  They have a lot of opportunities for growth and improvement, and I can try a lot of different projects within Materials Science research.  There’s also the possibility for tuition reimbursement and other educational opportunities.  And I think I wasn’t quite ready to jump into another startup company.  I think stability will be nice.

In the personal finance part of this decision, I’m luckily making money again…always good.  And my salary is higher than my last job, which is also pretty nice.  And they match my 401(k) up to 4%, which is pretty awesome as well.  On the downside, as I mentioned before, I’m likely going to have to buy a car, which will include gas and insurance as well.  I’ll have a post about car ideas later, but if you have any ideas or suggestions for buying a car, I’d love to hear them!

Well, tomorrow’s my first day.

Wish me luck!

A trip to Haymarket July 15, 2008

Just wanted to post briefly on a trip my boyfriend and I took to Haymarket.  For those of you not familiar with Haymarket, it’s basically an open-air produce market downtown in Boston, near Faneuil Hall.  It’s a bit of a Boston landmark, and I’ve been there before, but sometimes it can be a bit of a tourist trap (the most expensive produce tends to be at the ends).  There’s a lot of produce to choose from, but you have to keep in mind that most of the fruit and vegetables are right at their peak freshness.  You’ll be tempted by the prices, but don’t buy more than you need, unless you’re good at preserving/freezing/storing fruit and vegetables.  I remember a few years ago I went, and fell prey to the beauty of cheap and fresh fruit.  Needless to say, plenty of the fruit I bought went bad before I could enjoy it.

To give you an idea of what the prices are, we paid $1 for 8 peaches, $1 for 10 limes (we’ll be making limeade), $1 for a pineapple, $1 for 4 apricots, $1 for a pound of strawberries, and $1 for a bag of 4 garlic bulbs.  I think the price for 3lbs of bananas and 3 limes were also $1.  So yes, it’s cheap.  It’s definitely exciting to get such good deals, and my boyfriend and I have be getting good use out of my magic bullet food processor/blender that I got for Christmas to make all sorts of different fruit smoothies.

Another thing to note is that not all the fruit and vegetables are locally grown.  Much of the produce comes from the Chelsea Produce Terminal nearby.  The vendors at Haymarket find the best deals in Chelsea during the week and then sell them to consumers on Friday and Saturday. (read this news story for more information).

There are also stores in Haymarket that sell fresh meat, fish, cheese, and bread.  I’ve never bought anything from that group, but I’m guessing they’re good deals as well.

I’d like to think that this trip to Haymarket was also helping out my plan to be a healthier person.  We walked around and window-shopped afterward (well, I did go into Crate and Barrel and buy a $3 juicer for the limeade, a bit of an impulse buy), but we got quite a bit of walking in, and it was a beautiful day.  I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I’ve been using MapMyRun to track how much I’ve been exercising.  Granted, most of the walking I do is to and from the subway, but I was excited to find that our walk around Downtown combined with our walk to and from the T added up to 4.13 miles.  Yeah, that’s pretty awesome!  I was also able to enter my workouts that I mentioned in a previous post.  If you enter enough information, it will give you an approximate number of calories that you burned, or the pace that you ran/walked, which I think is pretty cool.  And of course, eating plenty of fruit is a pretty healthy move.  I’m thinking if I’m craving something sweet, it’s better to eat a peach than some ice cream!

So, there’s my review of Haymarket, and MapMyRun, I guess.  I’ve got some pretty exciting news about my job search, but I’ll wait until everything is official before I post…stay tuned!

My student loan rates dropped again! July 5, 2008

I mentioned before that my student loan rates had dropped a few times.  Well, it’s happened again!  I was actually looking forward to July 1st.  Yeah, I know, so lame.  But yep, my variable rate is down to 5%!  So that’s pretty excellent.  It went from 8.25% to 7.5% to 6%, and now to 5%.

Now something I’m not quite certain of is if I could consolidate my loans at this rate.  I’d assume that the Fed rates don’t have too much distance to go (it’s at 2% right now, so really, it can only drop down 2 points, right?), and so it would be pretty low.  I just don’t know for certain how to go about it.  I consolidated my Federal student loans after graduation, but I just left my private loans as they were.  Have any of you done this?  I guess I could just call the company that my loans are with and ask them how it works, but I think I’ll at least hold off until after this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July!

It turns out exercising isn’t that bad! July 2, 2008

So, anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m not the most athletic person.  I get winded pretty easily, and find it hard to get into the habit of exercising.  I know it’s a good idea to stay fit and healthy, but that knowledge doesn’t always translate to activity.  I’ve been debating joining a gym for a while now, but I always decide that I don’t want to spend the money on it.  When I was working, I figured my commute to and from the subway would be a good amount of exercises.  But now that I’m unemployed, I’m only walking to public transportation on interview days.  I do occasionally bike to the library, which is a nice ride, but I don’t do that too often.

My boyfriend and a few few other friends of mine ran the New Charles River Run this weekend.  I felt a little lazy just “supporting” them and not running.  It turns out one of my friends wasn’t running (she had signed up but had gotten sick beforehand and was unable to run), and was there to cheer on her boyfriend.  I complained to her how I am nowhere near running something like that (they had a 5k and a 7.5mi race).  She said that I should just start slow, and check out programs called “Couch to 5k” (or “Couch Potato to 5k).  So when I got home, I hopped on the internet to see what I could dig up.

So I found a site with a lot of the information on it, and this site in particular has the description of what you should do each week.  I the first site in particular has a list of a few different podcasts that are meant to guide you through your runs/walks/jogs.  I think this one is pretty good.  I’m thinking I’m going to start doing them pretty soon.

I also occasionaly read a bunch of different feeds from the Sugar Network, including CitizenSugar, GeekSugar, and CasaSugar.  One of the other ones I read is FitSugar.  The other day they had a post that caught my eye.  They mentioned ExerciseTV.  It turns out, you can watch free exercise videos on the website, and if your cable company provides OnDemand, you can watch on there, too!  And I did!  I closed the shades (I felt like people could watch me contorting about, and I wasn’t ready to be laughed at!) and went through 2 of the workouts…one for abs in particular, and one that was a combination yoga/fitness program.  Yes, I probably shouldn’t have done so much right off the bat.  I was definitely worn out afterward.  And I’m still feeling aches and pains in my body today.  But it felt really good, even if I was struggling through it a little.  I’m planning on doing some more exercises tomorrow, and work my way up.  And I also want to try out the Couch to 5k program.

So, we’ll see what happens.  I am starting this with the best intentions, but I’m not sure if I can keep at it.  Anyone have tips on how to stay on an excercise regimen?  I’ll let you know how I do with this!