Money: 2012 Year in Review January 9, 2013

Happy New Year!  It’s 2013! I’ve been posting my yearly changes in assets and debts for the past few years now.  One thing I noticed this time around is that the changes in my liquid assets and my student loans are just about the same as they were last time around. How much did my assets and debts change this past year?  Check it out:

Assets:

• Liquid assets (checking and savings accounts, including my new AbleBanking account ):  +$15,522

• Retirement (401(k), Roth IRA, Rollover IRA):  +$28,369

• Car (edmunds.com private sale value): -$938 (I know there’s a lot of debate over including cars in net worth calculations.  I initially included it to make myself feel better about my auto loan, to balance out the ugly dip in my net worth).

Debts:

• Student Loans: Reduced  payoff balance by $11,528 (It helps that I paid off my entire Sallie Mae loan)

• Credit cards: I pay them off every month, but if I want to be exact, I have $713 less to pay off as of the same time last year.

Change in net worth since last year:  +$55,194. Booya!

It turns out, I didn’t post very often.  Only 26 posts!  And quite a few of them talked about fitness.  That became quite a focus for me this year.  (More on that in a separate post).  Though I definitely thought about money and fitness together!

Looking back at my old personal finance related posts….remember the Approved Card from Suze Orman?  I wasn’t a fan.

I shared my story about getting into and (partially) out of student debt.

I confessed that I have a strange relationship with shopping, especially when it comes to Kohls.

I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff, and keep thinking about the big picture.

My nagging tendency was in full force when I told you that there were NO EXCUSES when it comes to opening an IRA.

I tackled the yearly concern of Benefits Open Enrollment.

I converted my traditional IRA into my Roth IRA.  Which also means that the networth numbers will be lowered in the next few months when I have to pay taxes on the converted amount.  Shhhhh.  Don’t worry, I have the money saved to pay the taxes, but we’ll recalculate things later.

And, even though this is more in the fitness than the personal finance category, I’m really glad I did the Walk For Hunger last year.  I look forward to doing it again in 2013!

I mused on twitter that I might try to pay off my entire student loan balance by the end of the year.  Not sure yet if I’ll actually do it, but I do have a plan in mind.  The cool part about that tweet?  The amazing, personal finance queen Gail Vaz-Oxlade replied to my tweet asking how I would do it!  So that might become a 2013 personal finance goal.

Happy New Year! How was your 2012?  What were your big events (positive or negative) for 2012?  What are your big plans for 2013!  Please share your own blog posts (if you have them) in the comments, I want to make sure I read all of your year-end wrap ups and your 2013 goals!

Hello new blog readers! April 14, 2012

Well, this was quite the surprise.  There I was, minding my own business, when I see a tweet mentioning me and a bunch of other Boston bloggers.  Apparently, TNGG loves our blogs?!  I had no clue what that meant.  So naturally, I clicked the link.  Which brought me to a post on Boston.com, written from the group The Next Great Generation.  The post listed a bunch of blogs written by 20-something Bostonians.  The instructions?  Subscribe to these blogs.  NOW!

You can see the whole post here.

I felt honored!  And of course I immediately told all my friends.

So, new readers.  What can you expect from me?

Like the article said, I’m usually talking about personal finance.  I often write about financial decisions I’m trying to make, new financial websites I’ve tried, or career/personal finance books I’ve read.  I’ve recently started branching out a bit beyond finance to fitness.  I’m also hoping to start writing about Boston events and places a bit more.

I always welcome questions, comments, and suggestions!

So, are you one of the new readers?  Or have you been reading my blog for a while?  Either way, I hope you stick around!

Holiday Spending March 12, 2012

I know.  When you think of holiday spending, you think of the ridiculous amount of money people plunk down for Christmas (and Hannukah) presents.  Followed closely by Valentine’s.  Debt Ninja had a guest post from Jenna at Adaptu about it.

And I’m not immune from holiday spending.  Heck, I splurged on the Xbox holiday bundle for my boyfriend (which is a bit of a boomerang gift…I wanted it, too!)  I’m a big fan of giving gifts, as long as I have a good idea of what to give!

But the other thing that stands out for me is holiday apparel.

What?  Is that a thing?  Yes.

Take, for example, a holiday party I attended last year.  Festive apparel and costumes were encouraged.  So, I wore things like this:

Holly socks in bright red shoes

A jingle-bell ring I picked up at Davis Squared

And the obligatory green on red (green short-sleeve sweater over a red long-sleeve sweater)

There’s something about dressing for the holiday that makes me feel extra festive!

 

I’ve got Halloween pajama pants and two different pairs of socks (don’t worry, I don’t wear the pajamas in public!)

Red heart earrings for Valentine’s Day

And most recently, on a trip to A.C. Moore for sewing supplies, I caved and bought myself some St. Patrick’s Day socks for $1.  Big spender!

Whether  it’s obvious (like the earrings or ring) or more secret (like the socks), I really love dressing up in holiday colors and designs.  Since it’s usually frowned upon to wear Halloween costumes to the office, wearing fun socks is my own way of secret celebration.  So every once in a while, I’ll pick up a new pair of holiday socks.

How do you celebrate holidays?  Do you buy lots of stuff at the party store every year?  Or have a collection of holiday decorations and swag you pull out every year?

Do you have a stash of holiday socks like I do?  Wear all green on St. Patrick’s Day, orange and black on Halloween, and red on Valentine’s Day?  Because I do!

11 things + 11 things March 4, 2012

I’ve been tagged.  Twice.  By Eric at Postgrad Agenda and by Make Love, Not Debt.  So it’s about time I answer these questions!  The rules are that you answer the questions, then make up new questions and tag people to answer those questions.  I’m going to answer all 11 of each of their questions (22 total) then come up  with 11 new questions.

Questions from Eric at Postgrad Agenda:

1. If you worked in your current job until retirement, would you be happy?

I’m assuming the question is if I’d be happy to stay at the same company until retirement.  I’d be happy as long as I continue to be challenged and learn new things.  My happiness in my career is contingent on gaining additional responsibilities and expertise.  I love working with my colleagues and learning a lot from them, and hope I can continue to grow.

2. What are three things you do that you wish you could change?

I wish I could change my procrastinating habits:  case in point, this post is LONG overdue!
I also wish I could stop putting myself down.  I think I tend to look at myself and find all the flaws (physically, intellectually) instead of embracing all the good in myself!
I wish I could change my addictive behavior when it comes to computers/video games.  I will stay on my computer way too late or play a video game for hours.  It’s bad news.  Go to bed!

3. What do you enjoy doing more than anything?

I love spending time with my family and friends.  Especially if there’s delicious food around

4. Do you think everyone is born with the potential to change the world, or just a few?

I think everyone has the potential, but not everyone gets the opportunity.

5. How would you like to change the world?

I’d like to change the world by increasing access to education and knowledge.  I don’t know how to achieve it, but I think education is a good way to start.

6. What have you done so far to make that change?

Not much.  Though I try to teach people about personal finance

7. Fiction or non-fiction?

I’m always hooked on personal finance books!  And books about interesting science discoveries.  So sign me up for Non-Fiction. Though I would read a good fiction book, if anyone has some suggestions!

8. Have you succumbed to the Apple influence? Why or why not?

I had the same iPod (or a repair/replacement) since college, until it finally kicked the bucket late last year.  And since then I’ve been using my new iPod Nano.  And I have iTunes.  And I’m always tempted to take my parents up on their offer to get me an iPhone.  But I never do take them up on that offer.  I think the stuff Apple makes is really cool, but I fear having it would make me less productive (too many distractions).  Not sure if that means I’ve succumbed or not!

9. What would you consider yourself an expert in?

Well, I’m not an expert in personal finance, but among friends, I’m definitely a resource.  And I think I’m pretty good at the Materials Science stuff that I’m working on.  And I’d probably consider myself an expert at making puns.  Or at least an expert at making people groan at the puns I try to tell

10. What accomplishment are you most proud of?

I’d like to think getting into MIT and then graduating in four years from MIT are two things I’m pretty proud of.

11. Ideally, what’s next in life for you?

I have no idea.  I’d love some big happy changes, but I’m content with small happy life

And from Make Love, Not Debt:

1.  Have you ever been ripped off and for how much?

Last year I was parked in a lot with signage that I assumed meant I could park there.  Apparently the tow trucks in Allston had a different interpretation of the sign, and they stole my car away and held it for ransom (that’s at least how I see it).  So having to pay this sketchy place, IN CASH, for my own car seemed like a bit of a rip off.  Especially since I thought I was in the right.

2.  Do you have pets? Are they awesome?

I don’t have any pets.  I hope to get a dog when I have a house and yard more suited for one.  I’m ridiculously allergic to cats, so that’s not going to happen.  So, my future dog is awesome.  That’s already a given.

3.  What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

African or European?  Apparently someone actually tried to calculate it.

4.  Why are most children’s musicians terrible?

I think you’re just listening to the wrong children’s music.  Go with artists like Raffi, Fred Penner, and albums like Snacktime from the Barenaked Ladies and a lot of stuff from They Might Be Giants.

5.  What’s the most offensive thing about the $5 bill?

That it’s not a $50 bill?

6.  Prior to Jeremy Lin’s current basketball greatness, he was staying on his brother’s couch because he didn’t have a definitive contract with the New York Knicks. Was the couch long enough to fit an out-stretched Jeremy Lin?

I have no idea.  My guess is regardless of if he fit, he probably wasn’t very comfortable.  I’ve fallen asleep on the couch with plenty of room to stretch out, and I’ve woken up as quite a mess.

7.  What’s the least you’ve purchased with $100?

I’m not sure.  I know that the next thing I’m planning on purchasing with ~$100 is a FitBit Ultra

8.  What’s a reasonable amount of money to spend at a strip club?

Zero dollars.  Ew.

9.  How much do you tip the bartender? Really? That’s it?

I rarely go to bars.  I’ll usually give them a dollar or so per drink.  I’ve even given a tip when I asked for ice water because I felt like I’d be a jerk not to.

10.  How much would you pay for the perfect hamburger?

Maybe $15 max?  But I’d be okay with a $7 hamburger.

11.  Is an iPad worth it?

I only ever really want an iPad when I’m on travel and everyone else has their Kindles, Nooks, and iPads.  It’s gadget envy.

And now, here are the questions I want answers for:

1.  What would you do if you won $10,000?  How would your answer change if it was $1 million?

2.  Is your current job anything like what you thought it would be when you were younger?

3.  What store/brand are you unable to resist?

4.  What’s the last book you read?

5.  Who do you most admire among your friends and family?

6.  What’s your go-to recipe for dinner?  Dessert?

7.  What’s your least favorite food?

8.  Which Disney character do you think you are most like?

9.  What board game do you love to play?  Do you dominate at it?  Or do you always lose?

10.  What’s the longest distance you’ve ever walked/jogged/run?

11.  What clichéd phrase drives you the craziest?

Who to tag?  I’ve already seen Elizabeth, Serendipity, Big City…Beer Budget, Fabulously Fru-girl, eemusings (the Abstract Aucklander, Annabelle (twice!), Nicole, Bridget, and Andrea participate in these.  I’m not going to make any of them make a new answer list (unless they want to!).

So, I’ll tag some new people who (to the best of my knowledge) haven’t been tagged yet.  Hello Below Her Means, Deena Dollars, Stacking Pennies, Paranoid Asteroid, My Pretty Pennies, Money Maus, Penny Pinching Pro, Fig, ShtinkyKat, Julia, Mariel, and Katie.  You’ve been tagged!

Anyone else who wants to answer these questions, either in a comment below or on their own blogs is welcome to.  I can’t wait to learn more about you!

FlyLady: Keeping Me Sane September 5, 2011

If you follow me on twitter, then you may have seen me mention “setting my timer” or using the hashtag #flylady.  I’m trying to create new habits using FlyLady’s methods.

I first heard about FlyLady from my aunt, who sent me a timer from FlyLady’s store that has the message on it “You can do anything for 15 minutes!”.  That same year, my aunt also bought FlyLady’s book, “Sink Reflections“, for my older sister.  I’ll admit, I was keen to try a new technique, so I checked out the website.  I tried to get started on her “baby steps“.  I even started following a new blog, Life With FlyLady, [which has since been deleted ]  which chronicled one woman’s attempts at following FlyLady’s advice.  But I burned out on it pretty quickly from trying to do too much at once.

My older sister, having read the book, was a convert.  She told me how much it was helping her.  So, the next time I saw her, she gave me the book to read.  I finished reading it, and even before I finished, I was already starting to take the “baby steps”.  I’ll acknowledge right now:  this book/way of thinking/style isn’t for everyone.  But personally, the techniques, which include doing a task for 15 minutes (as a way to keep focused and avoid burning out on cleaning), and keeping your sink shining (seeing my clean sink makes me want to work more on the kitchen and beyond) are really helpful starting points.  It’s all about just taking a few minutes of maintaining the clean, instead of waiting until your house is a disaster and then doing a crazy clean.

At this point, I’m signed up for her daily emails (super helpful as reminders on what to do each day).  And I’m trying to do some of her 27-fling boogie (quick decluttering: collecting things to throw away or donate) and we’re trying to run the laundry daily (as she says, A Load A Day Keeps the CHAOS Away–where CHAOS stands for Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome!)

Still working on those baby steps.  But I’m trying to develop lasting habits that will help keep our new place beautiful.  And I think in the process of keeping everything manageable, I can start stressing less about the apartment and find more time to relax!  The less clutter in our apartment, the better both of us feel

Do you have techniques to keep your place clean and organized?  Have any of you tried FlyLady’s techniques?  Or are you just one of those “Born Organized” types who never have a problem with clutter?

P.S. I’m just telling you about a technique that is helping me.  I’m not being compensated for this post AT ALL.  Just wanted to assure you all of that!

The Hassles of Moving: Packing August 20, 2011

I don’t know how you do it.  How you move from place to place all the time.  Or maybe that’s my problem.  I haven’t moved since we moved in after college.  Five years of accumulating junk and good stuff.  Packing time means sorting through the junk to find the good stuff.  I’d like to have a more minimalist lifestyle, but I don’t know how to part with all this “stuff”.   Kitchen supplies, clothes.  Paperwork that should probably be shredded or tossed.

I know it’s just “stuff”.  That what really matters are the people you love and the experiences you share with them.  But that doesn’t eliminate cake pans and woks, or pajamas and dress pants.

I think I’m stuck right now.  We’re moving all the “big stuff” (furniture like couches, beds, dressers, and bookshelves) tomorrow, and we’ll try to move as much “small stuff” (clothes, dishes, books, etc.) as well.  Luckily we’ve still got our “old” apartment until the end of the month, and our new place is only 2 miles away.  So if worst comes to worst, we can finish up moving things (and then give the old place a good cleaning) in the next week and a half.

It’s possible that knowing I don’t have to get EVERYTHING out ASAP is making me a little more lazy when it comes to packing everything up.  That and the 2-mile move.  And the fact that I’m fighting a cold that keeps knocking me out.

I’m dreading this move (it’s a lot of stuff!), but I’m also looking forward to it.  I can’t wait to get settled in to our new place.  Just the two of us.  It will take some time to get everything in order (and maybe once we finish unpacking, we’ll realize we can get rid of more junk that we initially thought was good stuff).

My hope is that, with the new place, I can get a fresh start on organizing and decluttering.  I’ll make sure that we don’t have anything lying around that we don’t have a need for.  But it will take time.

I’m going to try to spend the next few hours taking care of as much as I can.  But then I’ll set my alarm and go to bed, so I can get up nice and early to pick up our UHaul and some donuts for our helpful friends.

Stylish Blogger Award! February 12, 2011

Well, look at that.  Postgrad Agenda nominated me for a Stylish Blogger Award! I wouldn’t consider myself the most stylish person around.  But I think this award (which has been floating around the blogosphere for years, I think) is to recognize other bloggers and spread the word about new bloggers. I’m supposed to post 7 facts about myself, then nominate some other bloggers.

Facts:

1.  I took French in middle and high school.  I learned “Canadian” French because I lived so close to Canada.

2.  Even though I grew up living near a lot of good ski areas, I never went downhill skiing until a few years ago, because my boyfriend has skied all his life and encouraged me to join him.

3.  My height and feet don’t match.  I’m only 5’2″ but I wear size 8.5 or 9 shoes.

4.  Between high school and college, I’ve learned 4 programming/computer languages:  Visual Basic, C++, Java, and Mathematica (I think it counts as a language).  But I wouldn’t be a good programmer unless I went back and studied the language.  And even then, I’d probably only be good at “Hello World” level work.  But I wish I had kept up with it.

5.  I still have clothes in my closet that I wore during high school, possibly even during middle school.  They probably don’t fit very well, but I’m just really bad at getting rid of stuff.  If only What Not To Wear could come and make me get rid of the unflattering stuff.  Or, even just a friend with fashion sense and a strict “GET RID OF IT OR ELSE” policy.

6.  I feel bad when I don’t post a new blog post.  But I never know what to write about, and as a recovering perfectionist, I want every post to be just right before I post it…

7.  I love it when I find out friends are learning more about personal finance.  It makes me happy knowing that they’re taking control of their finances.  It’s especially fun because I now have friends telling me when they open a Roth IRA or that they’ve paid off a loan or something.  It’s fun to share in other people’s personal finance journey!

Well, that’s 7 facts.  Now who to nominate?  It’s tricky, because, as you can see from my blogroll, I like a lot of people’s blogs.  And I’m guessing a lot of people who follow here are personal finance bloggers, so you probably already know about most of them.  So I’m going to nominate some other people.

Elizabeth at On Tap for Today.  Love her blogging style.  And she lives in Boston!  With an awesome dog!

The Financialite.  She’s new to the blogosphere, but I like her posts.  Another Bostonian!

Aayesha at Flutter By.  She posts inspirational quotes, amusing anecdotes, and amazing pictures.  A third Boston-dweller!

Yes, I’m biased towards Bostonians.  I love it here  Even if it’s pretty much a snow village this time of year.

2010 blogging in review January 2, 2011

I just got an email from WordPress summing up my blogging statistics for the year.

Let’s review what happened, blogwise, this past year.  My comments will be in regular font, the email from WordPress will be in navy blue italics.

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Thanks, stats helper monkey.  Looks like WordPress wants to convince me to keep blogging.  I really have no idea if anyone else gets anything besides Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2010. That’s about 29 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 21 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 142 posts.

The busiest day of the year was December 7th with 98 views. The most popular post that day was Christmas Car Commercials, I hate you.

I find it a little sad that I only posted 21 new posts last year.  I promise to do better this year!

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were myprettypennies.com, freemoneyfinance.com, twitter.com, stackingpennies.wordpress.com, and wisebread.com.

Thanks, MPP, FMF, SP, and Wisebread for your linking awesomeness!

Some visitors came searching, mostly for life after college, what to do with 401k after layoff, unemployed after college, collecting unemployment, and paying at costco.

Always sad that common search terms are about unemployment, but that’s a sign of the times.  Hope I was able to help the people looking for advice on most of those topics!  Interestingly enough, people using the “paying at costco” search term probably wont get anything useful coming to my blog.  The post people probably found was this one, which covered two topics:  a shopping trip at Costco and considering using credit cards to pay for bills, in order to build up reward points faster or earn a bonus from a credit card company.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Christmas Car Commercials, I hate you December 2010
3 comments

2

How often should I contribute to my Roth IRA? January 2008
10 comments

3

Layoff Survival Guide: What to do with your 401(k) June 2009
2 comments

4

Notes from Suze Orman January 2010
2 comments

5

About Me October 2007
20 comments

1.  The Christmas Car Commercial post probably got more hits because I shared the link in my gchat status, so more people probably followed through to that.  Plus I did see a few searches come in looking for that, so maybe it was a good topic.  If you are the type that enjoys commentary on commercials, check out my friend’s blog, Drink Moxie.  A fun, witty, and insightful read every time!

2.  I think a common question when it comes to investing is how to start.  Do you put all your money in at once?  Or take advantage of dollar cost averaging and buy funds in smaller increments?  The general consensus among the commenters was that any retirement contribution is better than no contribution at all.  I still continue to contribute each month, since that’s one of the options Fidelity allows so that you don’t have to start with a huge contribution (minimum of $200/month required).  But I contribute to the max allowable ($5,000/year)

3.  You have to deal with a lot of decisions and changes when you get laid off.  One of those is figuring out what to do with your 401(k).  So, that’s been a pretty popular post.

4.  Lots of good advice from Suze Orman.

5.  Guessing a lot of people want to know who I am when they first find my blog.  I may have to go back and update it, since I haven’t looked at it in quite some time.

Well, that’s it, folks.  Thanks again to people who have linked to me.  If I’ve left someone off of my blogroll (or put someone in the wrong list, or am using the wrong link), please let me know, and I’ll fix that ASAP.

Variations on a Theme: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer December 24, 2009

Well, it’s Christmas eve.  And like many others today, we’ve been listening to quite a few Christmas songs.

One of the songs I’ve heard a few times on the radio this year is “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.  It’s a classic, especially among children.  And something I think many children learned with this song was the “echo” that came after each line.

Growing up in Buffalo, my sisters and I learned one version of it.  When we moved to NJ, we discovered that my new friends had learned different echos back in the day.

I’m curious what lyrics you use(or used to use).  I’m including what I know (in parenthesis), and you can comment with your differences.  The ones I usually hear differently I’ll bold:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)
Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)
And if you ever saw it (saw it)
You would even say it glows (like a light bulb)

All of the other reindeer (reindeer)
Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio)
They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)
Join in any reindeer-games (like Monopoly)

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say,
“Rudolph with your nose so bright
Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

Then how the reindeer loved him (loved him)
As they shouted out with glee, (with glee!)
“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, (reindeer)
“You’ll go down in history!” (like George Washington!)

How different are your lyrics, and what are they?  And where did you grow up?  I’m pretty sure it varies by region, though it could vary by elementary school or music teacher, for all I know.

Anyway, just thought this would be fun.  Merry Christmas!

Graduated Learning: Now on Facebook! December 7, 2009

I’ve done it.  I’ve created a Facebook profile for my blogging persona.  I know a few other personal finance bloggers that have blog-specific accounts.  Let me know if there’s any other things I should do with this account (for example, should I add it to Networked Blogs or other Facebook applications?).  It’s another way I can keep in touch with readers, and share ideas.

So “friend” me!  You can find me at http://www.facebook.com/graduated.learning.

[Edit 12/9/09:  I've also added a page on networkedblogs, as I had originally debated doing.  Follow me at http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/graduated_learning_life_after_college/]