Wow, I'm prolific tonight.
But don't get used to it. For the next two days I'll be up to my eyeballs in work, and then I'll be feverishly getting ready to take L to visit my family on the West Coast. We leave Monday, and there will be little to no blogging while we're there.
29 May 2007
Romance!
I feel like calling everyone I know and telling them, we did it! We finally went out on a date. We bravely asked a friend to watch our son and even put him to bed. Our son does great with babysitters, but we've never left him with anyone but family past bedtime. Our friend Jim brought his little daughter (one of L's comrades) for the beginning part of the sit, and then she went home with her mom and her older sisters, and Jim stayed to put L to bed. L had fun, bedtime was a breeze, and Jim complimented us on our children's book collection when we came home.
Meanwhile, M and I were out on the town. I managed to bite my tongue and not direct the whole thing. He organized everything. When I came downstairs in a dress with mascara and earrings on, he only needed a few subtle remarks about his shorts and T-shirt ensemble before he, too, went upstairs to change his clothes. And because I was determined not to help him plan the date, he didn't buy movie tickets ahead and the movie we wanted to see was sold out. So that was a bad moment. But we asked the guy at the theater if there was another theater nearby (we were out in an unfamiliar suburb close to where we live at the edge of the city). We found the other theater, which didn't have our first, second, or third choice movie. But we saw Spiderman 3, which was what it was. We both like Toby McGuire, and we had fun mocking what M called the damsel-tied-to-the-tracks aspects of the movie. M hopes that if there's a Spidey 4, Kirsten Dunst will finally be given some super powers. It tickles me when M says things that reveal that he's even more of a feminist than I am. I like the idea of Spiderman, but I'm so afraid of heights that watching the movies gives me vertigo. But other than that, I enjoyed it.
Before the show, we had time to kill, so we played with one of those photo booths that spits out a strip of 4 photos. Yes, there was some kissing in the final photo. I haven't done that since the last time I dated someone named M, in college. Ironic, that. Anyway, we had popcorn and malt balls and we held hands and it was just wonderful.
Because a friend watched L, the whole date cost us about $25. I can't wait to go again. Maybe we'll even try to do this more than once a year. What next?
And, to top it off, M surprised me with tickets to a very special and obscure museum neither of us has ever been to that requires you to buy tickets weeks in advance. So we already have another date planned (a midafternoon date, this time) for the end of June.
Despite the minor wrinkle of our movie being sold out, M has redeemed himself. And I have promised not to get him any presents for Father's Day, altho I'm allowed to make him a card. So we're both hearing each other a little better and getting more of what we want.
Meanwhile, M and I were out on the town. I managed to bite my tongue and not direct the whole thing. He organized everything. When I came downstairs in a dress with mascara and earrings on, he only needed a few subtle remarks about his shorts and T-shirt ensemble before he, too, went upstairs to change his clothes. And because I was determined not to help him plan the date, he didn't buy movie tickets ahead and the movie we wanted to see was sold out. So that was a bad moment. But we asked the guy at the theater if there was another theater nearby (we were out in an unfamiliar suburb close to where we live at the edge of the city). We found the other theater, which didn't have our first, second, or third choice movie. But we saw Spiderman 3, which was what it was. We both like Toby McGuire, and we had fun mocking what M called the damsel-tied-to-the-tracks aspects of the movie. M hopes that if there's a Spidey 4, Kirsten Dunst will finally be given some super powers. It tickles me when M says things that reveal that he's even more of a feminist than I am. I like the idea of Spiderman, but I'm so afraid of heights that watching the movies gives me vertigo. But other than that, I enjoyed it.
Before the show, we had time to kill, so we played with one of those photo booths that spits out a strip of 4 photos. Yes, there was some kissing in the final photo. I haven't done that since the last time I dated someone named M, in college. Ironic, that. Anyway, we had popcorn and malt balls and we held hands and it was just wonderful.
Because a friend watched L, the whole date cost us about $25. I can't wait to go again. Maybe we'll even try to do this more than once a year. What next?
And, to top it off, M surprised me with tickets to a very special and obscure museum neither of us has ever been to that requires you to buy tickets weeks in advance. So we already have another date planned (a midafternoon date, this time) for the end of June.
Despite the minor wrinkle of our movie being sold out, M has redeemed himself. And I have promised not to get him any presents for Father's Day, altho I'm allowed to make him a card. So we're both hearing each other a little better and getting more of what we want.
Surprise party for me on Thursday
In seventy-two hours, I'll be done with my primary job.
Last week, my four officemates took me out to lunch, gave me a very generous and personal gift, and a funny but sentimental card that I read later in private. I figured that was it.
Then, yesterday, I got an email from someone saying she's so sorry she can't make my goodbye party on Thursday but she wishes me well and hopes we can work together again soon.
Huh? Goodbye party on Thursday? Luckily, the invitation was at the bottom of her email to me, so I now know all the details of what was apparently going to be a surprise party. The gathering will be at 12:30 in the staff lounge on my last day in the office. Cake and lemonade will be served. My officemate makes phenomenal cakes, so the cake part is good news.
Now, what's the honest thing to do here? Should I tell them the cat's out of the bag? Should I pretend to be surprised?
I think neither. I think I won't mention it to them, but if they asked me later if I was surprised, I'll say no, I suspected something.
The thing is, I hate things like this. Everyone will be looking at me. I'll be expected to say something. I'll be feeling teary and regretful but also wildly elated. I'll be trying not to show the wildly elated part. I will have forty-seven things to finish back in my office but will have to stay and chat as long as there's somebody to stay and chat with.
How I wish it was Friday already, and my last day was behind me, and I could focus on other things, like figuring out how in the hell I am going to manage to be nice to my Tyrannosaurus Rex of a three-year-old for an additional thirty hours a week.
Related posts:
T minus one week
Last week, my four officemates took me out to lunch, gave me a very generous and personal gift, and a funny but sentimental card that I read later in private. I figured that was it.
Then, yesterday, I got an email from someone saying she's so sorry she can't make my goodbye party on Thursday but she wishes me well and hopes we can work together again soon.
Huh? Goodbye party on Thursday? Luckily, the invitation was at the bottom of her email to me, so I now know all the details of what was apparently going to be a surprise party. The gathering will be at 12:30 in the staff lounge on my last day in the office. Cake and lemonade will be served. My officemate makes phenomenal cakes, so the cake part is good news.
Now, what's the honest thing to do here? Should I tell them the cat's out of the bag? Should I pretend to be surprised?
I think neither. I think I won't mention it to them, but if they asked me later if I was surprised, I'll say no, I suspected something.
The thing is, I hate things like this. Everyone will be looking at me. I'll be expected to say something. I'll be feeling teary and regretful but also wildly elated. I'll be trying not to show the wildly elated part. I will have forty-seven things to finish back in my office but will have to stay and chat as long as there's somebody to stay and chat with.
How I wish it was Friday already, and my last day was behind me, and I could focus on other things, like figuring out how in the hell I am going to manage to be nice to my Tyrannosaurus Rex of a three-year-old for an additional thirty hours a week.
Related posts:
T minus one week
Getting paid to not work
I have a long history of getting paid to do nothing. My first job (aside from the usual teenage babysitting and petsitting rackets) involved staffing a writing lab in the basement of my college library. I earned $4.65 an hour to sit in that lab in case anybody came in and needed help with writing. Most of the time, I sat in there doing homework. I still have a self portrait I painted in that room while I was taking a painting class. I didn't have a mirror, so the self portrait is just of my legs, crossed at the ankles on the rug in front of me.
At first, I thought, this is great. I have to do homework anyway. I might as well get paid for it. But over time I started to hate the job. It was a dreary room. When anyone entered the library basement, I could hear their echoing footsteps for a long time until they passed my door, usually without coming in. And I realized that I really liked working with students, especially ESL students. When somebody showed up to be tutored, the job was fun and challenging and I felt useful. When nobody showed up, I felt bored and depressed and slightly guilty for not working, even though there was no work to be done.
Then, after college, I worked in a small used clothing store with almost no foot traffic. Since the main point of the store was to buy vintage Levi's to be sold overseas, the owner kept the store open despite the low sales. I bought jeans from people, occasionally sold an item of clothing, repaired clothes on the huge industrial sewing machine that I was slightly afraid of, and the rest of the time, I read. That job paid $6.50 an hour at first, and because of my skill at buying the right kind of used Levi's at the right prices, I was eventually raised to $7.00.
That job was also a bummer. The people selling used jeans were often homeless and had bought them at thrift stores to resell. I hated having to tell them that the jeans weren't worth anything unless they were original blue button-fly 501s, which were selling for a lot of money in Japan and Russia. And when nobody came in, I sat in there smelling old clothes and delousing spray, read novels, and thought about how I was going to get up the gumption to start writing a novel of my own any day now. I stayed until the store got held up at gunpoint while I was in there by myself. I still didn't quit, until my big brother came to town on business, found me another job, and ordered me to take it.
In grad school I worked in a branch library and my main job was to tell people with serious research questions that they'd really be better off going to the main library. There, I got paid $13 an hour, which was almost twice as much as I'd ever made before in my life. It was fine with me to have very little work to do because I was in grad school and working three jobs and trying to maintain a long distance relationship.
My current job at a local college library is different in a lot of ways. For one thing, I make $33 an hour and I have benefits. For another thing, more than half of the time I am extremely busy answering reference questions, teaching information literacy classes, providing tech support for the public computers and printers, and asking people to get off their cell phones. The other half the time, I read blogs and catch up on email and take surveys and think about how any day now I'm going to get up the gumption to write a novel of my own. In that job, I don't mind the slow times, when I'm getting paid to do nothing, because they're balanced by frenetic activity during the busy times.
But I have been working at the college's main library for 3.5 years. Now, everything's different.
I recently volunteered to be transferred to the itty bitty library at one of the college's branch campuses. And here I am. I can hear the HVAC system, it's so quiet in here. There was a guy looking at pictures of swords (mostly scimitars) on one of the computers and talking to himself for a few hours, but even he is gone now. Somebody came in and returned a book a while back. Somebody else needed the name of a faculty member who hasn't submitted her grade yet.
That's about it. Gee. This is no fun. I'm earning about fifty-five cents a minute and I'm bored to tears. I have a Master's degree and more than five years of professional librarian experience, and dammit, I want to use my skills. I don't know if I can take this.
I've committed to be here for the summer, but after that I can go back to the main campus library. Even though this branch is super close to my house and has free parking, I may just have to do that. I really don't like getting paid to not work.
At first, I thought, this is great. I have to do homework anyway. I might as well get paid for it. But over time I started to hate the job. It was a dreary room. When anyone entered the library basement, I could hear their echoing footsteps for a long time until they passed my door, usually without coming in. And I realized that I really liked working with students, especially ESL students. When somebody showed up to be tutored, the job was fun and challenging and I felt useful. When nobody showed up, I felt bored and depressed and slightly guilty for not working, even though there was no work to be done.
Then, after college, I worked in a small used clothing store with almost no foot traffic. Since the main point of the store was to buy vintage Levi's to be sold overseas, the owner kept the store open despite the low sales. I bought jeans from people, occasionally sold an item of clothing, repaired clothes on the huge industrial sewing machine that I was slightly afraid of, and the rest of the time, I read. That job paid $6.50 an hour at first, and because of my skill at buying the right kind of used Levi's at the right prices, I was eventually raised to $7.00.
That job was also a bummer. The people selling used jeans were often homeless and had bought them at thrift stores to resell. I hated having to tell them that the jeans weren't worth anything unless they were original blue button-fly 501s, which were selling for a lot of money in Japan and Russia. And when nobody came in, I sat in there smelling old clothes and delousing spray, read novels, and thought about how I was going to get up the gumption to start writing a novel of my own any day now. I stayed until the store got held up at gunpoint while I was in there by myself. I still didn't quit, until my big brother came to town on business, found me another job, and ordered me to take it.
In grad school I worked in a branch library and my main job was to tell people with serious research questions that they'd really be better off going to the main library. There, I got paid $13 an hour, which was almost twice as much as I'd ever made before in my life. It was fine with me to have very little work to do because I was in grad school and working three jobs and trying to maintain a long distance relationship.
My current job at a local college library is different in a lot of ways. For one thing, I make $33 an hour and I have benefits. For another thing, more than half of the time I am extremely busy answering reference questions, teaching information literacy classes, providing tech support for the public computers and printers, and asking people to get off their cell phones. The other half the time, I read blogs and catch up on email and take surveys and think about how any day now I'm going to get up the gumption to write a novel of my own. In that job, I don't mind the slow times, when I'm getting paid to do nothing, because they're balanced by frenetic activity during the busy times.
But I have been working at the college's main library for 3.5 years. Now, everything's different.
I recently volunteered to be transferred to the itty bitty library at one of the college's branch campuses. And here I am. I can hear the HVAC system, it's so quiet in here. There was a guy looking at pictures of swords (mostly scimitars) on one of the computers and talking to himself for a few hours, but even he is gone now. Somebody came in and returned a book a while back. Somebody else needed the name of a faculty member who hasn't submitted her grade yet.
That's about it. Gee. This is no fun. I'm earning about fifty-five cents a minute and I'm bored to tears. I have a Master's degree and more than five years of professional librarian experience, and dammit, I want to use my skills. I don't know if I can take this.
I've committed to be here for the summer, but after that I can go back to the main campus library. Even though this branch is super close to my house and has free parking, I may just have to do that. I really don't like getting paid to not work.
28 May 2007
Review of Repair My Credit Now
Repair My Credit Now, also known as RMCN Credit Services, has the makings of a really good site. The site represents a Texas-based company that helps people with bad credit improve their scores. Their program focuses on helping people clear errors and settled accounts from their credit reports.
The site has a well-written and clear description of what factors are used in determining your credit score, and what effect your credit score will have on your ability to borrow. Although I already knew the basics about credit scores, I learned quite a bit that I didn't know about credit repair from this site. For instance, your credit report usually comes with a list of factors that kept your score down. If you want to improve your score, you should focus on the first item in this list because doing so will have the biggest impact on your score.
The site also explains how long various types of black marks stay on your credit score, how your score impacts the interest rates you are charged for mortgages and auto loans, and details important laws that effect credit scores.
The site could be improved by adding a sidebar menu to some of the pages with longer blocks of text, like this page about credit scores. There are some useful graphs on the credit scores page that illustrate how much more you'll pay over the life of a mortgage if you have a higher interest rate due to bad credit, but there is not enough text to explain the graphs. You have to look at them for a while to figure out what it is they're telling you.
The site also includes a charming list of testimonials from satisfied customers, including pictures of people smiling in front of the things they've been able to buy on credit because of their improved credit scores. The pictures of people in front of their homes are heart warming. The pictures of people in front of their SUVs, not so much.
As always, I like to see websites that offer credit help include some small morsel of general personal finance education. Because this company works with people who have low credit scores due to errors and old delinquencies on their records, they probably have a lot of clients who are actually in great shape financially. But they probably also have a lot of clients who really need somebody to encourage them not to take on more debt. Improving your credit score so that you can get approved for a large auto loan is not necessarily a great improvement of your overall financial situation. The site does point out that you can improve your score by paying down debt rather than just moving it around. And they say that if you need to open a credit account to improve your score you should do so "responsibly." But I think the site could benefit from a more explicit discussion of the responsible use of credit.
This site has a lot of good information in it. If I ever run up against errors in my record, I'd consider getting credit help from this company. Although the site lacks some polish, it is informative and inspires confidence in the company behind it.
The site has a well-written and clear description of what factors are used in determining your credit score, and what effect your credit score will have on your ability to borrow. Although I already knew the basics about credit scores, I learned quite a bit that I didn't know about credit repair from this site. For instance, your credit report usually comes with a list of factors that kept your score down. If you want to improve your score, you should focus on the first item in this list because doing so will have the biggest impact on your score.
The site also explains how long various types of black marks stay on your credit score, how your score impacts the interest rates you are charged for mortgages and auto loans, and details important laws that effect credit scores.
The site could be improved by adding a sidebar menu to some of the pages with longer blocks of text, like this page about credit scores. There are some useful graphs on the credit scores page that illustrate how much more you'll pay over the life of a mortgage if you have a higher interest rate due to bad credit, but there is not enough text to explain the graphs. You have to look at them for a while to figure out what it is they're telling you.
The site also includes a charming list of testimonials from satisfied customers, including pictures of people smiling in front of the things they've been able to buy on credit because of their improved credit scores. The pictures of people in front of their homes are heart warming. The pictures of people in front of their SUVs, not so much.
As always, I like to see websites that offer credit help include some small morsel of general personal finance education. Because this company works with people who have low credit scores due to errors and old delinquencies on their records, they probably have a lot of clients who are actually in great shape financially. But they probably also have a lot of clients who really need somebody to encourage them not to take on more debt. Improving your credit score so that you can get approved for a large auto loan is not necessarily a great improvement of your overall financial situation. The site does point out that you can improve your score by paying down debt rather than just moving it around. And they say that if you need to open a credit account to improve your score you should do so "responsibly." But I think the site could benefit from a more explicit discussion of the responsible use of credit.
This site has a lot of good information in it. If I ever run up against errors in my record, I'd consider getting credit help from this company. Although the site lacks some polish, it is informative and inspires confidence in the company behind it.
26 May 2007
Parent-teacher conferences
We had a conference with our son's preschool teacher last night. I don't like the teacher very much, so I was dreading it. The conference went like this.
Teacher: L is doing SO much better.
Us: Um, that's good.
Teacher: He's really starting to interact with the other kids.
Us: Starting to interact?
Teacher: Yes, I'm so proud of him. He even plays with a couple of kids. Two kids. A and S. I'm thinking he's not far away from being able to make other friends, and even initiate play.
Us: But he is often playing with R when we pick him up, and I know he likes T and O.
Teacher: He is starting to express himself. He even talked during circle time yesterday.
Us: At home he never shuts up.
Teacher: He's really improved.
Us: Er, that's wonderful.
The teacher then launched into a very long list of instructions about how we should encourage his development, implying that we are not encouraging his development and that we're even impeding it. When I foolishly attempted to express some concerns about the books she reads to the kids in the classroom, she didn't appear to understand that I was trying to ask her to change something. Instead, she instructed us to read those books at home, and even told us what exact words we should use to explain the concepts in the books. But my point was that I don't WANT him to be exposed to the concepts in those books.
I know no preschool is perfect, but I'm really glad next week is our last week there.
Can any more experienced parents tell me, is it normal for teachers to take it upon themselves to educate parents about how they should raise their kids? I take umbrage at this, but if this is really how most teachers conduct their relationships with families, I suppose I should get used to it and just decide I'm going to take what I like and leave the rest.
Also, with the amount we're paying for this stupid school, shouldn't I be able to expect that his lead teacher be able to write a short paragraph without FIVE grammatical errors in it? How dare this teacher tell me what to do? She can't even write a sentence where the verbs and nouns agree? Okay, granted, I'm a terrible snob when it comes to language (altho you might have noticed my spelling leaves something to be desired).
I am steaming. I am feeling defensive because she criticized my child and criticized me. I have an only child and I suppose I can sometimes be a little overprotective. But as I said, I am happy next week is the last week at this school.
Teacher: L is doing SO much better.
Us: Um, that's good.
Teacher: He's really starting to interact with the other kids.
Us: Starting to interact?
Teacher: Yes, I'm so proud of him. He even plays with a couple of kids. Two kids. A and S. I'm thinking he's not far away from being able to make other friends, and even initiate play.
Us: But he is often playing with R when we pick him up, and I know he likes T and O.
Teacher: He is starting to express himself. He even talked during circle time yesterday.
Us: At home he never shuts up.
Teacher: He's really improved.
Us: Er, that's wonderful.
The teacher then launched into a very long list of instructions about how we should encourage his development, implying that we are not encouraging his development and that we're even impeding it. When I foolishly attempted to express some concerns about the books she reads to the kids in the classroom, she didn't appear to understand that I was trying to ask her to change something. Instead, she instructed us to read those books at home, and even told us what exact words we should use to explain the concepts in the books. But my point was that I don't WANT him to be exposed to the concepts in those books.
I know no preschool is perfect, but I'm really glad next week is our last week there.
Can any more experienced parents tell me, is it normal for teachers to take it upon themselves to educate parents about how they should raise their kids? I take umbrage at this, but if this is really how most teachers conduct their relationships with families, I suppose I should get used to it and just decide I'm going to take what I like and leave the rest.
Also, with the amount we're paying for this stupid school, shouldn't I be able to expect that his lead teacher be able to write a short paragraph without FIVE grammatical errors in it? How dare this teacher tell me what to do? She can't even write a sentence where the verbs and nouns agree? Okay, granted, I'm a terrible snob when it comes to language (altho you might have noticed my spelling leaves something to be desired).
I am steaming. I am feeling defensive because she criticized my child and criticized me. I have an only child and I suppose I can sometimes be a little overprotective. But as I said, I am happy next week is the last week at this school.
24 May 2007
T minus one week
My last day at this job is next Thursday.
I think I'm going to have to come in on Memorial Day to try to get this project finished before I leave. Why Memorial Day? Because my partner's office is closed and so he'll be home and so he can take care of the kid. When did my life start revolving around childcare? Oh yeah, in December of 2003. When will it stop revolving around childcare? When??
So, anyway, I was talking about how I am not going to have a 3-day weekend. I am going to come in here and I won't even really be getting paid for it, because I already submitted my letter of resignation and my end date is firm and I have more than enough hours to finish out the job even if I don't come in on Monday. But I have got to finish this project.
Darn, I hate it when I have a work ethic.
I've been working on this document All. Freaking. Week. Except that I only work Weds, Thurs and Fri, so really this is just day 2. But I don't want to do it. I want to procrastinate some more, but I can't! There is no more time!
[Insert panicked breathing, approaching hyperventilation.]
This calls for hot chocolate. And I'm going to use my master key to get into our admin assistant's office. She already went home for the day, but she keeps a big container of publicly available candy on her desk. I need hot chocolate, and it needs to have several mini Hershey's bars from her stash melted in it.
Then, maybe, I can go on.
I think I'm going to have to come in on Memorial Day to try to get this project finished before I leave. Why Memorial Day? Because my partner's office is closed and so he'll be home and so he can take care of the kid. When did my life start revolving around childcare? Oh yeah, in December of 2003. When will it stop revolving around childcare? When??
So, anyway, I was talking about how I am not going to have a 3-day weekend. I am going to come in here and I won't even really be getting paid for it, because I already submitted my letter of resignation and my end date is firm and I have more than enough hours to finish out the job even if I don't come in on Monday. But I have got to finish this project.
Darn, I hate it when I have a work ethic.
I've been working on this document All. Freaking. Week. Except that I only work Weds, Thurs and Fri, so really this is just day 2. But I don't want to do it. I want to procrastinate some more, but I can't! There is no more time!
[Insert panicked breathing, approaching hyperventilation.]
This calls for hot chocolate. And I'm going to use my master key to get into our admin assistant's office. She already went home for the day, but she keeps a big container of publicly available candy on her desk. I need hot chocolate, and it needs to have several mini Hershey's bars from her stash melted in it.
Then, maybe, I can go on.
Carnival of Ethics, Values and Personal Finance No. 9
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Carnival of Ethics, Values and Personal Finance. This carnival is about the ways our ethics and values shape our financial decisions. For some reason, this concept is hard for folks to understand. The carnival receives a huge number of submissions that are just general personal finance articles and don't pertain to ethics or personal values at all. Out of the 32 submissions I received for this carnival, I only included 15 of them. Several were simply not on topic. Several had already been included in other carnivals. And one zealous blogger submitted FOUR posts, when my policy is only to include one post from each blogger. I think he's under the mistaken impression that the carnival is held weekly.
If you'd like to host the carnival, please use this form to send Penny Nickel a message. Otherwise, be sure to get your submissiones (about values! and money! get it?) to Penny before 5 PM on June 6th.
The Editor's Choice award this week goes to Charles H. Green of Trust Matters. He asks, Does Business Squeeze the Poor?
The runner-up for Editor's Choice is John Wesley of Pick the Brain. This excellent article is about the working conditions of information workers. Why the 9 to 5 Office Worker Will Become a Thing of the Past.
The rest of the carnival is divided into four categories:
Ethical Consumers
Ethical Investors
Ethical Business Practices
and Ethical Miscellany
Enjoy!
Ethical consumers
Paula presents WWYD: Ask for Help or Screw the Scanner? posted at Queercents.
Jack Yoest presents An Anniversary posted at Reasoned Audacity.
Henry presents Bad News: You Can't Personally Lower Gasoline Prices posted at Binary Dollar!.
Ethical Investors
H.S. Ayoub presents Is Early Release of Study Data to Doctors Unfair? posted at BioHealth Investor.
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Getting Rich The Easy Way, When Your Company Cheats posted at The Digerati Life. [or business]
Ethical Business Practices
Tracee Sioux presents I saw Satan on TV (and he's a little dork) posted at So Sioux Me.
Donna Jean presents Another New Customer, Thanks Mom! posted at The Weight of Money.
Jimmy Atkinson presents How to Avoid Being Audited When You're Self Employed posted at Ask the Advisor.
Leon Gettler presents The world's most ethical companies? posted at Sox First.
Mr Credit Card presents Terminix - Fraudulent Marketing Statement? (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog) posted at Ask Mr Credit Card's Blog.
Ethical Miscellany
ispf presents 5 Questions for Single Ma about "Women, Ethics and Personal Finance" posted at Grad Money Matters.
Ruby presents 10 Things You shouldn?t do in the name of frugality posted at Frugal Aussie.
TheNourisher presents Money = Gratitude posted at The Nourisher.
If you'd like to host the carnival, please use this form to send Penny Nickel a message. Otherwise, be sure to get your submissiones (about values! and money! get it?) to Penny before 5 PM on June 6th.
The Editor's Choice award this week goes to Charles H. Green of Trust Matters. He asks, Does Business Squeeze the Poor?
The runner-up for Editor's Choice is John Wesley of Pick the Brain. This excellent article is about the working conditions of information workers. Why the 9 to 5 Office Worker Will Become a Thing of the Past.
The rest of the carnival is divided into four categories:
Ethical Consumers
Ethical Investors
Ethical Business Practices
and Ethical Miscellany
Enjoy!
Ethical consumers
Paula presents WWYD: Ask for Help or Screw the Scanner? posted at Queercents.
Jack Yoest presents An Anniversary posted at Reasoned Audacity.
Henry presents Bad News: You Can't Personally Lower Gasoline Prices posted at Binary Dollar!.
Ethical Investors
H.S. Ayoub presents Is Early Release of Study Data to Doctors Unfair? posted at BioHealth Investor.
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Getting Rich The Easy Way, When Your Company Cheats posted at The Digerati Life. [or business]
Ethical Business Practices
Tracee Sioux presents I saw Satan on TV (and he's a little dork) posted at So Sioux Me.
Donna Jean presents Another New Customer, Thanks Mom! posted at The Weight of Money.
Jimmy Atkinson presents How to Avoid Being Audited When You're Self Employed posted at Ask the Advisor.
Leon Gettler presents The world's most ethical companies? posted at Sox First.
Mr Credit Card presents Terminix - Fraudulent Marketing Statement? (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog) posted at Ask Mr Credit Card's Blog.
Ethical Miscellany
ispf presents 5 Questions for Single Ma about "Women, Ethics and Personal Finance" posted at Grad Money Matters.
Ruby presents 10 Things You shouldn?t do in the name of frugality posted at Frugal Aussie.
TheNourisher presents Money = Gratitude posted at The Nourisher.
23 May 2007
What do you value?
I've been thinking about why I value my house so much. It's not because it's a great investment, or because I have X amount of equity, or even because I have some Ayn Rand-type obsession with owning property. It's not even because I especially love this house. It's nice enough, and I like the size, but parts of it are downright grotty, and I wish my neighbors wouldn't drop their drug paraphernalia on my lawn so often. My tiny lawn. Where I can grow two flowers as I'm dreaming about someday having a bigger yard.
Despite all the ways it's not perfect, my house is one of my very favorite things about my life.
I value my house because it allows me to keep my overhead so low that I have a lot of freedom. Because we bought a house that cost so little, we don't have to have a household where both parents work full time. Because our house payments are low, we can go on vacation every year. We can save money. We can give money away.
This got me thinking about other things that I value because of the ways they allow me to not have to worry about my finances. While some of these things can be bought, many of them have no monetary value. And yet they all have a major impact on how much time I am required to spend earning money.
My degree. After getting a supremely impractical undergraduate degree and slogging away at retail jobs for a couple years, I got a graduate degree in Library Science. This means that I will always have a specialized skill set that will allow me to get a good job that I enjoy (mostly). Unless the job market tanks or all information retrieval is automated, but that's unlikely to happen.
A good, stable, part-time union job. My moonlighting gig operates on a system of seniority. I have enough seniority now to put me in the middle of the list of workers in my department. That means I will probably be able to get at least some hours at this interesting and high-paying job (with health insurance!) for as long as I want them. This gives me a great feeling of security.
A healthy kid. I'm thinking about this a lot lately as a close friend deals with her two-year-old son's medical issues. Okay, my kid won a set of crappy teeth in the genetic crapshoot, but it could be so much worse.
A strong family. We have a lot of close relatives who would be available to help us in a crisis. It gives me a great feeling of safety knowing I could pick up the phone and make a couple of phone calls if we were in deep trouble. The help might not be in the form of a cash bailout, but it would be something like this: "You're having a medical crisis? Let's call the health care professionals in the family and get advice." or "You're having a legal crisis? Let's call the law school professor in the family and see what he has to say."
Coping skills. When I'm feeling depressed, I garden. When I'm feeling stressed, I read. When I'm feeling isolated, I call a friend. When I'm restless, I go visit my closest family (my sister).
Cooperatives! We're part of a co-op food store and a childcare co-op. This keeps our costs down and gives us a venue for meeting people in our community.
This website. I'm proud of the slow, steady growth I've been able to achieve in 18 months of blogging. It's also a nice little stream of income, which makes me feel less pressure to keep my dayjob.
My car. I couldn't sell it for very much at all, but it's cheap to maintain, cheap to insure, and it gets great mileage. Like the house, it frees up a lot of money and therefore a lot of time for more important things.
A good relationship. I didn't put this one last on purpose, but I've been stalling because I can't think of anything to say that won't sound too mushy. Suffice to say I like my man.
What about you? What things do you have that make your financial life easier? What has value that you couldn't put a dollar figure on? What things about your life make you feel secure?
Despite all the ways it's not perfect, my house is one of my very favorite things about my life.
I value my house because it allows me to keep my overhead so low that I have a lot of freedom. Because we bought a house that cost so little, we don't have to have a household where both parents work full time. Because our house payments are low, we can go on vacation every year. We can save money. We can give money away.
This got me thinking about other things that I value because of the ways they allow me to not have to worry about my finances. While some of these things can be bought, many of them have no monetary value. And yet they all have a major impact on how much time I am required to spend earning money.
What about you? What things do you have that make your financial life easier? What has value that you couldn't put a dollar figure on? What things about your life make you feel secure?
22 May 2007
Resisting temptation
I am quite proud of myself today. Here's how I resisted temptation.
The devil on my shoulder says: You have to go see your Primary Care Physician to get a prescription for allergy medication. It will be a pain in the neck to bring the kid along for that visit. You should leave him with a sitter.
The angel on my other shoulder says: Of course he can come with you. Why should you pay a babysitter? Just bring lots of snacks and toys.
The devil on my shoulder says: After your appointment, you could take the baby to the children's museum. He'd love that. It's totally worth the $20 entrance fee.
The angel on my other shoulder says: But we're members of the science museum and he'll like that just as well. Since we've already paid for it, we should go there as much as possible. I'll go there instead.
The devil on my shoulder says: It would be most convenient to park near my doctor's appointment, then drive over to the museum and park there.
The angel on my other shoulder says: Rubbish. My employer's parking garage is reasonably close to both places, and I can park there all day for a low flat rate. Besides, the walk will be good for me.
The devil on my shoulder says: Maybe we'll stop for pizza or subway sandwiches on the way to the museum, or visit the foodcourt once we get there.
The angel on my other shoulder says: I've got some tuna salad already made up in the fridge, and I'll bring some humus and little triangles of pita for the kid. Hey, maybe I'll even throw some of these cookies in a tupperware container so we won't be tempted to buy treats.
The devil on my shoulder says: The museum store has some really good educational science videos. If I bought a couple of them, I wouldn't have to go to the library quite so often to check out L's favorite dinosaur and shark videos.
The angel on my other shoulder says: Who am I kidding? He'll be over dinosaurs before I know it, and then I'll have to just add them to the stack of other videos I bought during his earlier obsessions--Bob the Builder, Thomas, Maisy, etc.
The devil on my shoulder says: Wow, check out these dinosaur figurines. L plays with the plastic dinosaurs he has so much, and he doesn't have any aquatic reptiles in his collection. I should buy him this toy elasmosaurus.
The angel on my other shoulder says: That elasmosaurus costs $10! What a rip off. Besides, I know exactly who will end up having to pick it up off the rug every night after the kid goes to bed along with all his other plastic dinosaurs. Those little spines hurt like hell when you step on them with bare feet.
The devil on my shoulder says: You have to go see your Primary Care Physician to get a prescription for allergy medication. It will be a pain in the neck to bring the kid along for that visit. You should leave him with a sitter.
The angel on my other shoulder says: Of course he can come with you. Why should you pay a babysitter? Just bring lots of snacks and toys.
The devil on my shoulder says: After your appointment, you could take the baby to the children's museum. He'd love that. It's totally worth the $20 entrance fee.
The angel on my other shoulder says: But we're members of the science museum and he'll like that just as well. Since we've already paid for it, we should go there as much as possible. I'll go there instead.
The devil on my shoulder says: It would be most convenient to park near my doctor's appointment, then drive over to the museum and park there.
The angel on my other shoulder says: Rubbish. My employer's parking garage is reasonably close to both places, and I can park there all day for a low flat rate. Besides, the walk will be good for me.
The devil on my shoulder says: Maybe we'll stop for pizza or subway sandwiches on the way to the museum, or visit the foodcourt once we get there.
The angel on my other shoulder says: I've got some tuna salad already made up in the fridge, and I'll bring some humus and little triangles of pita for the kid. Hey, maybe I'll even throw some of these cookies in a tupperware container so we won't be tempted to buy treats.
The devil on my shoulder says: The museum store has some really good educational science videos. If I bought a couple of them, I wouldn't have to go to the library quite so often to check out L's favorite dinosaur and shark videos.
The angel on my other shoulder says: Who am I kidding? He'll be over dinosaurs before I know it, and then I'll have to just add them to the stack of other videos I bought during his earlier obsessions--Bob the Builder, Thomas, Maisy, etc.
The devil on my shoulder says: Wow, check out these dinosaur figurines. L plays with the plastic dinosaurs he has so much, and he doesn't have any aquatic reptiles in his collection. I should buy him this toy elasmosaurus.
The angel on my other shoulder says: That elasmosaurus costs $10! What a rip off. Besides, I know exactly who will end up having to pick it up off the rug every night after the kid goes to bed along with all his other plastic dinosaurs. Those little spines hurt like hell when you step on them with bare feet.
21 May 2007
Call for submissions
I'm hosting the 9th Carnival of Ethics, Values, and Personal Finance this coming Thursday. I'll be taking submissions until 5 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday.
So, send me your posts that discuss the way your values inform your financial decisions.
One post per blog, please, and I don't take posts that have been included in some other carnival already. Also, please note that the post must be ABOUT your ethical approach to personal finance. If it's a post about some other aspect of personal finance and just mentions your values in passing, it will not be included.
I look forward to reading your submissions.
So, send me your posts that discuss the way your values inform your financial decisions.
One post per blog, please, and I don't take posts that have been included in some other carnival already. Also, please note that the post must be ABOUT your ethical approach to personal finance. If it's a post about some other aspect of personal finance and just mentions your values in passing, it will not be included.
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Review of Total Bankruptcy
At last, I've been commissioned to review a site that's out of its infancy. The Total Bankruptcy website is a well-developed resource with a lot of well-written content.
If you've ever considered bankruptcy but don't know much about it, this website is a great place to start. If you know it's time for you to declare bankruptcy but you don't know how to locate reputable bankruptcy attorneys, this site allows you to search according to your state. And if you're happily solvent but curious about the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, this site makes for some interesting reading.
Total Bankruptcy's main purpose is to educate consumers about all the aspects of bankruptcy: whether to file, whether you're eligible, how to file, how much it will cost, what the timeline is like, and what you can expect afterwards. It was founded by bankrupcty attorney Kevin Chern, who also runs a blog to help lawyers adjust to changes in bankruptcy laws.
My favorite thing about this site is that it has a lot of content. Some websites are so skeletal it seems they just exist to provide a list of links to other sites. This one has enough reading material to keep you engaged and teach you what you need to know about bankruptcy. I was able to quickly learn that Chapter 7 filing is better for folks who have a lot of unsecured debt (credit card debt, medical bills, etc), very few assets, and very little disposable income. This type of bankrutpcy filing is harder to qualify for, but more of your debts will be forgiven if you take this route. Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing, on the other hand, is for folks who have some assets they want to protect. In this version, your debts are not forgiven right away but are put under a payment plan. If you meet these payments on time for a certain period, some of your debts may be forgiven at the end of it. This type of filing is useful for people who are facing foreclosure, because it stops the foreclosure process in its tracks and gives you half a chance of keeping your house.
The site has another section that I found fascinating, which looks at different economic factors and how they effect bankruptcy filings. For example, you can look at your region to see what major layoffs have recently taken place. I was quite interested to see what companies and government agencies are laying off workers in my area. I wish these layoff listings were dated, or that it was a little clearer how often the list is updated, but the there was quite a bit of information here that I found useful.
The site has some information about how to improve your financial skills after bankruptcy to avoid falling into old patterns, but I see this as the one major gap in the site's thoroughness. While I appreciate that the site offers guidance to bankruptcy filers so they won't fall in with predatory lenders who promise to help them rebuild their credit, I'd like to see more development of this area, or even a simple list of links to take site users to some of the money sites out there that cater to personal finance novices.
Other points in the site's favor: It's got a site map! I'm a sucker for sites with good site maps. It's also got a toll-free number prominently displayed on the site. When you're considering taking such a drastic step as filing for bankruptcy, being able to reach a real human is invaluable. The site's content seemed very timely, with many references to events and economic factors as they exist in 2007. This is pretty impressive, considering the quantity of pages on this site and the fact that 2007 isn't even half over yet.
Overall, I enjoyed browsing through this site, and I learned a lot about bankruptcy and who might file. I hope this site isn't necessary for very many of my readers, but if you do have questions about bankruptcy, I'd feel comfortable recommending Total Bankruptcy as a place to start your research.
If you've ever considered bankruptcy but don't know much about it, this website is a great place to start. If you know it's time for you to declare bankruptcy but you don't know how to locate reputable bankruptcy attorneys, this site allows you to search according to your state. And if you're happily solvent but curious about the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, this site makes for some interesting reading.
Total Bankruptcy's main purpose is to educate consumers about all the aspects of bankruptcy: whether to file, whether you're eligible, how to file, how much it will cost, what the timeline is like, and what you can expect afterwards. It was founded by bankrupcty attorney Kevin Chern, who also runs a blog to help lawyers adjust to changes in bankruptcy laws.
My favorite thing about this site is that it has a lot of content. Some websites are so skeletal it seems they just exist to provide a list of links to other sites. This one has enough reading material to keep you engaged and teach you what you need to know about bankruptcy. I was able to quickly learn that Chapter 7 filing is better for folks who have a lot of unsecured debt (credit card debt, medical bills, etc), very few assets, and very little disposable income. This type of bankrutpcy filing is harder to qualify for, but more of your debts will be forgiven if you take this route. Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing, on the other hand, is for folks who have some assets they want to protect. In this version, your debts are not forgiven right away but are put under a payment plan. If you meet these payments on time for a certain period, some of your debts may be forgiven at the end of it. This type of filing is useful for people who are facing foreclosure, because it stops the foreclosure process in its tracks and gives you half a chance of keeping your house.
The site has another section that I found fascinating, which looks at different economic factors and how they effect bankruptcy filings. For example, you can look at your region to see what major layoffs have recently taken place. I was quite interested to see what companies and government agencies are laying off workers in my area. I wish these layoff listings were dated, or that it was a little clearer how often the list is updated, but the there was quite a bit of information here that I found useful.
The site has some information about how to improve your financial skills after bankruptcy to avoid falling into old patterns, but I see this as the one major gap in the site's thoroughness. While I appreciate that the site offers guidance to bankruptcy filers so they won't fall in with predatory lenders who promise to help them rebuild their credit, I'd like to see more development of this area, or even a simple list of links to take site users to some of the money sites out there that cater to personal finance novices.
Other points in the site's favor: It's got a site map! I'm a sucker for sites with good site maps. It's also got a toll-free number prominently displayed on the site. When you're considering taking such a drastic step as filing for bankruptcy, being able to reach a real human is invaluable. The site's content seemed very timely, with many references to events and economic factors as they exist in 2007. This is pretty impressive, considering the quantity of pages on this site and the fact that 2007 isn't even half over yet.
Overall, I enjoyed browsing through this site, and I learned a lot about bankruptcy and who might file. I hope this site isn't necessary for very many of my readers, but if you do have questions about bankruptcy, I'd feel comfortable recommending Total Bankruptcy as a place to start your research.
20 May 2007
Rebalancing my retirement accounts
It has been a year since I finally got off my duff and made a reasonable asset allocation for my retirement accounts. I had a note in my calendar to rebalance again this month, so I'm starting that process.
My first step was to look at the allocations I set up last May. These can be found here, but for simplicity's sake, I'll reproduce them in this post.
My goal allocations looked like this:
25% large cap
15% mid cap
15% small cap
25% international
10% emerging markets
10% bonds
But because I didn't have enough money in my Roth IRA to meet the fund minimums in all these asset classes, my actual allocations one year ago looked like this:
25% large cap (FSLVX)
16.5% mid cap (PARMX)
16.5% small cap (PARSX)
25% int'l (DEUFX)
16.5% bonds (PRFIX)
Now I need to know what my allocations look like today. Because I focused on my Roth last year, these are the fund balances I have in my Roth only. The allocations look like this:
22% large cap (FSLVX)
13% mid cap (PARMX)
14% small cap (PARSX)
24% int'l (DEUFX)
13% bonds (PRFIX)
14% cash (FDRXX)
Last year I looked at my Roth in isolation. This year, I want to take a more comprehensive approach, so I want to include the 403b accounts I have at Fidelity in my analysis. I confess, I'm still leaving out a TIAA CREF 403b account, but maybe next year I'll be brave and look at the asset allocations across all my retirement accounts.
So, my asset allocation for my Roth, and my Fidelity 403b holdings that are in target date funds, looks like this:
42% large cap
6% mid cap
6% small cap
22% international
9% bonds
15% cash
Now for a few observations, and some questions.
First of all, I'm learning a lot about what's in my target date funds, which I've never looked at closely before. You can get a general sense of this from looking at the differences between the asset allocation in my Roth (see above) and the asset allocations when my Roth and my 403b accounts are combined. It seems like the target date funds I hold in my 403b accounts are really heavy on the large cap domestic stocks, which is sending that asset class to a much higher percentage of my overall portfolio than I would like. To correct this, I will probably sell off some shares of the large cap fund I own in my Roth IRA. And it looks like my target date funds are very light on the small and mid caps, so I'll probably increase my holdings in those funds in my Roth.
Also, clearly I do not need to hold 15% of my retirement portfolio in cash. The high cash balance is there for two main reasons. The first is that my contributions over the past year are still sitting in cash waiting to be invested. The second is that the bond fund I own holds a lot of cash, something I didn't expect. I need to look at other bond funds and see if that's typical. I'm inclined to keep the fund because it's from a socially responsible fund company I like, but I won't add anything to it because I think 10% bonds is a high percentage anyway for someone of my age (I'm 30) and risk tolerance.
When I decided upon a goal asset allocation last year, I wanted to put 10% of my nest egg into an emerging markets fund. I didn't, partly because I couldn't find a socially responsible one and I was leery of profiting from business ventures in the third world without some kind of progressive screening of the businesses involved. Another reason I didn't buy such a fund was that emerging markets had experienced a big run-up and were the hottest thing going. I learned my lesson the hard way during the tech bust (I bought microsoft shares in 1998 for over $80 a share and they still hadn't recovered when I finally sold them last year). I didn't want to jump into an asset class just because it was on everybody's lips. In addition, my nest egg was so small that I would have had to invest nearly 17% of the $$ in my Roth IRA in order to meet Fidelity's $2500 minimum to invest in a given fund. ($2500 is about 17% of the $15,000 balance I was working with at the time).
Now I'm working with a larger nest egg, partly because my Roth IRA has grown over the past year, and partly because I'm including my 403b accounts when I look at overall asset allocation. So that $2500 fund minimum would be less than 7% of the total figure I'm working with (about $37,000 between my Roth IRA and the two 403b accounts I hold at Fidelity). I'd be much more comfortable jumping into emerging markets with such a small percentage of my money. But I still have serious concerns about whether such an investment would really jibe with my politics. And I have no idea whether the folks who know about these things are still advising investors to put money in these funds. I need to do some thinking and some reading to decide whether I want to invest in emerging markets or not. The end result will probably be that I scrap the idea of investing in emerging markets, and revise my goal allocations to include slightly more foreign stock (which usually means from developed nations). Maybe I'll think of some other asset class not yet represented in my pie to try to diversify a little more.
Somewhere in all this I should also probably look at the funds I own and compare them against others in their asset classes to decide if I want to stay with these funds going forward. I am prepared to accept slightly higher expense ratios and slightly lower returns in exchange for getting a really good socially responsible fund manager out of the deal, but I also don't want to throw my money away on poorly performing do-gooder funds. So I need to take a good hard look at what I own and see if it's serving me well.
One other note: The reason I ignored my 403b accounts and only looked at my Roth IRA last year when I was developing my asset allocation strategy is because I had never developed a clear asset allocation strategy before. I was intimidated by all the choices and afraid of making a mistake. It was easier to dump my 403b accounts in target date funds and use my Roth IRA to learn a little more about investing. Now I'm feeling a little more confident (after developing the strategy and letting it percolate for a year) and I'm ready to look at more of my assets in combination.
I'll report back for those of you who enjoy this stuff, and please feel free to make suggestions in the comments if you flatter yourself that you know about these things. I can use all the help I can get.
[edit--Comments link should be active now. Sorry 'bout that.]
My first step was to look at the allocations I set up last May. These can be found here, but for simplicity's sake, I'll reproduce them in this post.
My goal allocations looked like this:
25% large cap
15% mid cap
15% small cap
25% international
10% emerging markets
10% bonds
But because I didn't have enough money in my Roth IRA to meet the fund minimums in all these asset classes, my actual allocations one year ago looked like this:
25% large cap (FSLVX)
16.5% mid cap (PARMX)
16.5% small cap (PARSX)
25% int'l (DEUFX)
16.5% bonds (PRFIX)
Now I need to know what my allocations look like today. Because I focused on my Roth last year, these are the fund balances I have in my Roth only. The allocations look like this:
22% large cap (FSLVX)
13% mid cap (PARMX)
14% small cap (PARSX)
24% int'l (DEUFX)
13% bonds (PRFIX)
14% cash (FDRXX)
Last year I looked at my Roth in isolation. This year, I want to take a more comprehensive approach, so I want to include the 403b accounts I have at Fidelity in my analysis. I confess, I'm still leaving out a TIAA CREF 403b account, but maybe next year I'll be brave and look at the asset allocations across all my retirement accounts.
So, my asset allocation for my Roth, and my Fidelity 403b holdings that are in target date funds, looks like this:
42% large cap
6% mid cap
6% small cap
22% international
9% bonds
15% cash
Now for a few observations, and some questions.
First of all, I'm learning a lot about what's in my target date funds, which I've never looked at closely before. You can get a general sense of this from looking at the differences between the asset allocation in my Roth (see above) and the asset allocations when my Roth and my 403b accounts are combined. It seems like the target date funds I hold in my 403b accounts are really heavy on the large cap domestic stocks, which is sending that asset class to a much higher percentage of my overall portfolio than I would like. To correct this, I will probably sell off some shares of the large cap fund I own in my Roth IRA. And it looks like my target date funds are very light on the small and mid caps, so I'll probably increase my holdings in those funds in my Roth.
Also, clearly I do not need to hold 15% of my retirement portfolio in cash. The high cash balance is there for two main reasons. The first is that my contributions over the past year are still sitting in cash waiting to be invested. The second is that the bond fund I own holds a lot of cash, something I didn't expect. I need to look at other bond funds and see if that's typical. I'm inclined to keep the fund because it's from a socially responsible fund company I like, but I won't add anything to it because I think 10% bonds is a high percentage anyway for someone of my age (I'm 30) and risk tolerance.
When I decided upon a goal asset allocation last year, I wanted to put 10% of my nest egg into an emerging markets fund. I didn't, partly because I couldn't find a socially responsible one and I was leery of profiting from business ventures in the third world without some kind of progressive screening of the businesses involved. Another reason I didn't buy such a fund was that emerging markets had experienced a big run-up and were the hottest thing going. I learned my lesson the hard way during the tech bust (I bought microsoft shares in 1998 for over $80 a share and they still hadn't recovered when I finally sold them last year). I didn't want to jump into an asset class just because it was on everybody's lips. In addition, my nest egg was so small that I would have had to invest nearly 17% of the $$ in my Roth IRA in order to meet Fidelity's $2500 minimum to invest in a given fund. ($2500 is about 17% of the $15,000 balance I was working with at the time).
Now I'm working with a larger nest egg, partly because my Roth IRA has grown over the past year, and partly because I'm including my 403b accounts when I look at overall asset allocation. So that $2500 fund minimum would be less than 7% of the total figure I'm working with (about $37,000 between my Roth IRA and the two 403b accounts I hold at Fidelity). I'd be much more comfortable jumping into emerging markets with such a small percentage of my money. But I still have serious concerns about whether such an investment would really jibe with my politics. And I have no idea whether the folks who know about these things are still advising investors to put money in these funds. I need to do some thinking and some reading to decide whether I want to invest in emerging markets or not. The end result will probably be that I scrap the idea of investing in emerging markets, and revise my goal allocations to include slightly more foreign stock (which usually means from developed nations). Maybe I'll think of some other asset class not yet represented in my pie to try to diversify a little more.
Somewhere in all this I should also probably look at the funds I own and compare them against others in their asset classes to decide if I want to stay with these funds going forward. I am prepared to accept slightly higher expense ratios and slightly lower returns in exchange for getting a really good socially responsible fund manager out of the deal, but I also don't want to throw my money away on poorly performing do-gooder funds. So I need to take a good hard look at what I own and see if it's serving me well.
One other note: The reason I ignored my 403b accounts and only looked at my Roth IRA last year when I was developing my asset allocation strategy is because I had never developed a clear asset allocation strategy before. I was intimidated by all the choices and afraid of making a mistake. It was easier to dump my 403b accounts in target date funds and use my Roth IRA to learn a little more about investing. Now I'm feeling a little more confident (after developing the strategy and letting it percolate for a year) and I'm ready to look at more of my assets in combination.
I'll report back for those of you who enjoy this stuff, and please feel free to make suggestions in the comments if you flatter yourself that you know about these things. I can use all the help I can get.
[edit--Comments link should be active now. Sorry 'bout that.]
18 May 2007
Multi-purpose houseplants
Houseplants have many uses. They clean the air inside your home. They enhance your interior decorating. They're powerful mood enhancers. And I've recently discovered another reason houseplants are useful.When you bring your kid home from preschool and you forget to empty the sand from his shoes before you bring him in the house, you just reach over and pour the sand out of his shoe and into the soil of your nearest houseplant. Voila!
16 May 2007
Gifts between spouses
What do you do when you and your spouse have different desires and expectations on birthdays, anniversaries, and other holidays?
It can get ugly.
You think an anniversary warrants a gift. Your spouse thinks a card is sufficient.
You like to go out on a date with your sweetheart once or twice a year, and you want to go to a nicer restaurant than the local diner. Your spouse thinks eating as a recreational activity is really boring.
Your spouse wants to see intense intellectual plays or go to high-brow music events. You'd rather go see a romantic comedy and eat popcorn.
You feel unloved if your spouse spends less than $50 on your birthday gift. Your spouse thinks that $10 paperback he got you was a fine gift.
You often end up throwing yourself a birthday party and making your own mother's day breakfast. Your spouse shows up, and even helps, but never thinks to plan a celebration for you.
You'd like a little sentimentality now and again, but his style is different. He thinks if he makes you a cup of coffee or cuts up half a grapefruit for you, you should know that he's really saying "I love you." You'd much prefer it if he'd just say "I love you".
Your spouse thinks traditional gifts like flowers and chocolates are corny. You would kill for a dozen long-stemmed red roses.
Your spouse thinks you're above material things. You're not.
Does this sound familiar to anybody?
In some cases, it helps for both parties to spell out their expectations ahead of time and come to some kind of agreement about how holidays will be celebrated. Will there be presents? What kind of outing will there be, and are kids or friends invited? How much will you spend? Who will do the planning for which holidays? I think agreements in writing are sometimes necessary so there are no ugly fights on the holiday itself when somebody comes downstairs to find that the other person didn't get the subtle cues.
It can get ugly.
You think an anniversary warrants a gift. Your spouse thinks a card is sufficient.
You like to go out on a date with your sweetheart once or twice a year, and you want to go to a nicer restaurant than the local diner. Your spouse thinks eating as a recreational activity is really boring.
Your spouse wants to see intense intellectual plays or go to high-brow music events. You'd rather go see a romantic comedy and eat popcorn.
You feel unloved if your spouse spends less than $50 on your birthday gift. Your spouse thinks that $10 paperback he got you was a fine gift.
You often end up throwing yourself a birthday party and making your own mother's day breakfast. Your spouse shows up, and even helps, but never thinks to plan a celebration for you.
You'd like a little sentimentality now and again, but his style is different. He thinks if he makes you a cup of coffee or cuts up half a grapefruit for you, you should know that he's really saying "I love you." You'd much prefer it if he'd just say "I love you".
Your spouse thinks traditional gifts like flowers and chocolates are corny. You would kill for a dozen long-stemmed red roses.
Your spouse thinks you're above material things. You're not.
Does this sound familiar to anybody?
In some cases, it helps for both parties to spell out their expectations ahead of time and come to some kind of agreement about how holidays will be celebrated. Will there be presents? What kind of outing will there be, and are kids or friends invited? How much will you spend? Who will do the planning for which holidays? I think agreements in writing are sometimes necessary so there are no ugly fights on the holiday itself when somebody comes downstairs to find that the other person didn't get the subtle cues.
Review of Bankaholic.com's CD and Money Market Review sites
Bankaholic.com, an ad-heavy site that documents the rate wars, has launched two new sites to track the best CD rates and money market rates. Both sites offer site visitors a chance to post short reviews of each bank and rate them according to a typical five-star system. The main page of each site is a simple table that allows you to sort by several categories, incluing interest rate and minimum deposit. Shockingly, though, you can't sort by the name of the bank, and the bank names are all logos. It's pretty hard to quickly skim the list and look for the name of a bank unless you're familiar with its logo. For example, I wanted to see if ING Direct made the list. Okay, that's easy enough because I know their logo. No orange dot jumped out at me, so I quickly conclude that ING is still flailing in the rate wars and didn't make the list. But then I wanted to look up Corus Bank, where my sister and I both own CDs. I have no idea what their color scheme or logo is, and I have to squint at the list for a good half a minute before I determine that they didn't make the list either.
So who makes the list? What are the criteria? I have been unable to find out. There is no "about" page. Even the parent site, Bankaholic.com, is a little light on the navigation tools.
However, I think it's a very cool idea to collect customer reviews in this manner, and I like the process by which readers can post their own review. When you click on the "write your own review" link, you get a comicbook-like speech bubble with a small text box in which to type. As more people contribute reviews, the site will be even more useful. The link to write your own review is counter-intuitively placed at the TOP of the list of reviews, instead of the bottom, but that's a minor design detail.
I hope they improve the navigation of the site a little, and do away with the eye-grabbing and useless black and green Adsense ads that dominate the main page. However, next time I'm shopping for a CD (if I can manage to shrug out of this irrational and unbreakable customer loyalty to ING that I seem to have) I'll definitely be back to click on those nifty little sorting buttons on the Best CD Rates site.
Full disclosure: This was a PAID REVIEW contracted through ReviewMe.
So who makes the list? What are the criteria? I have been unable to find out. There is no "about" page. Even the parent site, Bankaholic.com, is a little light on the navigation tools.
However, I think it's a very cool idea to collect customer reviews in this manner, and I like the process by which readers can post their own review. When you click on the "write your own review" link, you get a comicbook-like speech bubble with a small text box in which to type. As more people contribute reviews, the site will be even more useful. The link to write your own review is counter-intuitively placed at the TOP of the list of reviews, instead of the bottom, but that's a minor design detail.
I hope they improve the navigation of the site a little, and do away with the eye-grabbing and useless black and green Adsense ads that dominate the main page. However, next time I'm shopping for a CD (if I can manage to shrug out of this irrational and unbreakable customer loyalty to ING that I seem to have) I'll definitely be back to click on those nifty little sorting buttons on the Best CD Rates site.
Full disclosure: This was a PAID REVIEW contracted through ReviewMe.
15 May 2007
Philadelphia redux
I looked back at the reader comment that inspired my recent post about New Yorkers moving to Philadelphia, and realized I didn't answer all of her questions.
She wants to know what the housing stock is like here, and how the atmosphere compares to New York.
1. Atmosphere--the difference between NYC and Philly. The pace is a lot slower here than in New York (but people drive like maniacs in Philly, don't know why). As for general atmosphere, I'll tell you a story. Before I moved to Philly, I spent a lot of weekends here visiting my friend M, who then became my boyfriend M, and is now my partner M. One day I was walking to the train station to go home. M had already left for work. I finished my cup of coffee at his dining room table, and then set out to walk from the Gayborhood (Washington Square West) where he was living to Market East Station. I was pulling a little rolling suitcase behind me. After a couple blocks, a man I didn't know who was walking the same direction greeted me. He said, hey, we're walking the same direction, mind if I walk with you? At first I was suspicious. What could he possibly want? But it was morning on a weekday and there were lots of people around. Why not? I said, and quickly worked the word "boyfriend" into the conversation so he wouldn't get ideas. We walked together for several blocks, chatting about this and that. Then he turned to go a different way and said goodbye. I said goodbye, and that was it. We never exchanged names. He didn't hit on me, rob me, ask me for anything, or try to sell me anything. We were simply walking the same direction and enjoying a beautiful spring morning in the city. I have never lived in New York, but I have spent a fair amount of time there and I really cannot imagine that happening on the street in Manhattan. This city is very southern in a lot of ways.
2. Housing stock. I know a grand total of one person who lives in a co-op apartment that she owns. I know a small handful of people who live in condos, and a lot of my friends still rent apartments. But most of the people I know, regardless of age and income level, own a single-family home. There are a lot of rowhouses here. Where I come from in California, these would be called "townhomes" or something. When I moved here I thought, you might as well live in an apartment if you're going to share walls on two sides. Now I own a rowhome and love the low heating bills I get from having two of the sides of my house sandwiched like that. More windows would be nice, but when I replaced the windows in my house a few years back I was glad to only have eight of them, total. The other really common type of house is what we call a twin. In other parts of the country they'd be called duplexes--one building, two distinct living units. Twins are nice because you get more windows (and consequently more light) than you do with a row home. Usually you have a small railing separating your front porch from the next door neighbor's. At first I was really horrified when twins would be painted vastly different colors. Now I really see them as separate houses and it doesn't bother me if they're quite different. I've said this before, but I really think the architecture here is gorgeous. We have some unbelievably beautiful streets, and many flowering trees.
She wants to know what the housing stock is like here, and how the atmosphere compares to New York.
1. Atmosphere--the difference between NYC and Philly. The pace is a lot slower here than in New York (but people drive like maniacs in Philly, don't know why). As for general atmosphere, I'll tell you a story. Before I moved to Philly, I spent a lot of weekends here visiting my friend M, who then became my boyfriend M, and is now my partner M. One day I was walking to the train station to go home. M had already left for work. I finished my cup of coffee at his dining room table, and then set out to walk from the Gayborhood (Washington Square West) where he was living to Market East Station. I was pulling a little rolling suitcase behind me. After a couple blocks, a man I didn't know who was walking the same direction greeted me. He said, hey, we're walking the same direction, mind if I walk with you? At first I was suspicious. What could he possibly want? But it was morning on a weekday and there were lots of people around. Why not? I said, and quickly worked the word "boyfriend" into the conversation so he wouldn't get ideas. We walked together for several blocks, chatting about this and that. Then he turned to go a different way and said goodbye. I said goodbye, and that was it. We never exchanged names. He didn't hit on me, rob me, ask me for anything, or try to sell me anything. We were simply walking the same direction and enjoying a beautiful spring morning in the city. I have never lived in New York, but I have spent a fair amount of time there and I really cannot imagine that happening on the street in Manhattan. This city is very southern in a lot of ways.
2. Housing stock. I know a grand total of one person who lives in a co-op apartment that she owns. I know a small handful of people who live in condos, and a lot of my friends still rent apartments. But most of the people I know, regardless of age and income level, own a single-family home. There are a lot of rowhouses here. Where I come from in California, these would be called "townhomes" or something. When I moved here I thought, you might as well live in an apartment if you're going to share walls on two sides. Now I own a rowhome and love the low heating bills I get from having two of the sides of my house sandwiched like that. More windows would be nice, but when I replaced the windows in my house a few years back I was glad to only have eight of them, total. The other really common type of house is what we call a twin. In other parts of the country they'd be called duplexes--one building, two distinct living units. Twins are nice because you get more windows (and consequently more light) than you do with a row home. Usually you have a small railing separating your front porch from the next door neighbor's. At first I was really horrified when twins would be painted vastly different colors. Now I really see them as separate houses and it doesn't bother me if they're quite different. I've said this before, but I really think the architecture here is gorgeous. We have some unbelievably beautiful streets, and many flowering trees.
Product review: Mvelopes budgeting system
I've read several posts from enthusiastic Mvelopes users on my favorite financial discussion board, but couldn't quite grasp the idea of paying monthly for the privilege of using a budgeting tool. Still, I've been curious about it. So when I noticed that Cashduck would pay me $7 to sign up for a free one-month trial, I figured, what the heck.
I've been playing with it for about an hour, and so far I must say I like it a lot better than Quicken. For a web-based application, it's pretty fast (but then, I'm on my employer's superfast connection, and I haven't set it up to download data from any of my accounts). Quicken is very good for tracking what you've spent, analyzing your spending, and it is a big help at tax time. Mvelopes is a competitor that is modelled on the old-fashioned envelope budgeting system where you allocate money to actual paper envelopes (remember those?) that represent different budget categories. When you need to spend money, you take it out of the appropriate envelope. In Mvelopes, you assign dollar figures to different virtual "envelopes", or spending categories. You then determine whether this amount is paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, and fund these imaginary envelopes from the money available in your linked online accounts. If you spend more money than you've allocated to that envelope, the total for that envelope shows up in red. The software's main purpose is to keep you from overspending your budget.
A few observations. One thing I do NOT like is that there is only one savings category. I'd like to have at least four. Short term, long term, retirement and college need equal play in my savings strategy. To distill all of these down into one category would drive me crazy. I imagine you can edit this (make savings into a category instead of its own envelope) but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that.
There is a very handy feature where you can view your lists of envelopes by category based on whether an envelope is for a monthly or a periodic expense, and whether it's discretionary spending or "required" spending. Now, this is a great idea, but the defaults are a little interesting. They list auto maintenance and home maintenance as discretionary spending, and I'd take issue with that. If I need my car to get to work and my car breaks down, I'd say it's a requirement that I fix that car. Same goes for broken heating systems in January and any number of other house repairs I could name. I can see that home renovations are often discretionary, but they call the category "home maintenance", and to me, by definition, that's a required expense. They also list monthly memberships as required. The only monthly membership we have is for a fitness center my partner frequents. I'd definitely consider that discretionary spending. If we ran into financial problems, I'd advise him to take up jogging and can the membership.
Other features include a bill pay service powered by CheckFree. I use their free service to pay several monthly bills and have been very happy with them. As far as I can tell, there is no extra charge for using the CheckFree program through Mvelopes.
So how much does Mvelopes cost? It's $12.65 per month. Do I think it's worth it? I think for some people it might be. If you travel frequently but usually have web access wherever you are, it seems like a great way to keep on top of your budget. You can also configure your account to send you mobile updates. Because there's no desktop client (software you have to install on your computer) it may also be useful for people who regularly use multiple computers (work, home, school, your boyfriend's house, etc). Be careful, though, not to compromise your security by being careless with your passwords on public computers.
Personally, I think I'll stick with paper and pencil, with a little Excel thrown in. I would like to use something like Mvelopes, but don't want to commit to another regular monthly bill. If you want to track your investments and regularly check your net worth, Quicken is a better bet than Mvelopes. For people who need help controlling their spending, though, I would definitely recommend Mvelopes.
Note: This is NOT a paid review. To sign up for the free one-month trial through Cashduck, go to the Cashduck site and click on View Offers. Then search for "Mvelopes". Yes, that Cashduck link has a referral code in it. Feel free to strip it out of you don't want me to profit from your Cashduck activities.
I've been playing with it for about an hour, and so far I must say I like it a lot better than Quicken. For a web-based application, it's pretty fast (but then, I'm on my employer's superfast connection, and I haven't set it up to download data from any of my accounts). Quicken is very good for tracking what you've spent, analyzing your spending, and it is a big help at tax time. Mvelopes is a competitor that is modelled on the old-fashioned envelope budgeting system where you allocate money to actual paper envelopes (remember those?) that represent different budget categories. When you need to spend money, you take it out of the appropriate envelope. In Mvelopes, you assign dollar figures to different virtual "envelopes", or spending categories. You then determine whether this amount is paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, and fund these imaginary envelopes from the money available in your linked online accounts. If you spend more money than you've allocated to that envelope, the total for that envelope shows up in red. The software's main purpose is to keep you from overspending your budget.A few observations. One thing I do NOT like is that there is only one savings category. I'd like to have at least four. Short term, long term, retirement and college need equal play in my savings strategy. To distill all of these down into one category would drive me crazy. I imagine you can edit this (make savings into a category instead of its own envelope) but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that.
There is a very handy feature where you can view your lists of envelopes by category based on whether an envelope is for a monthly or a periodic expense, and whether it's discretionary spending or "required" spending. Now, this is a great idea, but the defaults are a little interesting. They list auto maintenance and home maintenance as discretionary spending, and I'd take issue with that. If I need my car to get to work and my car breaks down, I'd say it's a requirement that I fix that car. Same goes for broken heating systems in January and any number of other house repairs I could name. I can see that home renovations are often discretionary, but they call the category "home maintenance", and to me, by definition, that's a required expense. They also list monthly memberships as required. The only monthly membership we have is for a fitness center my partner frequents. I'd definitely consider that discretionary spending. If we ran into financial problems, I'd advise him to take up jogging and can the membership.Other features include a bill pay service powered by CheckFree. I use their free service to pay several monthly bills and have been very happy with them. As far as I can tell, there is no extra charge for using the CheckFree program through Mvelopes.
So how much does Mvelopes cost? It's $12.65 per month. Do I think it's worth it? I think for some people it might be. If you travel frequently but usually have web access wherever you are, it seems like a great way to keep on top of your budget. You can also configure your account to send you mobile updates. Because there's no desktop client (software you have to install on your computer) it may also be useful for people who regularly use multiple computers (work, home, school, your boyfriend's house, etc). Be careful, though, not to compromise your security by being careless with your passwords on public computers.
Personally, I think I'll stick with paper and pencil, with a little Excel thrown in. I would like to use something like Mvelopes, but don't want to commit to another regular monthly bill. If you want to track your investments and regularly check your net worth, Quicken is a better bet than Mvelopes. For people who need help controlling their spending, though, I would definitely recommend Mvelopes.
Note: This is NOT a paid review. To sign up for the free one-month trial through Cashduck, go to the Cashduck site and click on View Offers. Then search for "Mvelopes". Yes, that Cashduck link has a referral code in it. Feel free to strip it out of you don't want me to profit from your Cashduck activities.
14 May 2007
All of New York is moving to Philadelphia
A friend who recently relocated from Brooklyn to my Philadelphia neighborhood got waitlisted for her top-choice preschool. She applied in October 2006 for September of 2007 and it looks like they won't have a spot for her daughter."It's as bad as New York," she said. "It seems like all of New York is moving to Philadelphia."
I know how she feels. Every time I turn around these days, I meet another person who has recently moved here from New York. A reader recently asked me to talk about this phenomenon and talk a little bit more about my city and what it's like to live here. I will tell you that I pretty much hated it here for the first couple years. I tried to be cheerful about it, but really, I had a hard time adjusting to the urban blight and the weather. Now, five years later, I have a hard time imagining living anywhere else. For some reason Philadelphia's public image outside the city is not always very good. Before I moved here, I simply didn't know very much about this place. We need a great big PR campaign. We NEED folks to move here. But I'm not going to try to gloss over some of the very real problems we have. Instead, I'm going to try to give you a list of what I see as the main features of this town. Feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have questions, or if you live here and disagree with something I've said.
First, why are New Yorkers moving to Philadelphia? I think the main reason is definitely the cost of real estate. In Philadelphia, you can still buy a fully renovated 3 bedroom house in an improving neighborhood for $150,000. A fixer-upper in a neighborhood that hasn't been experiencing gentrification can be had for well under $100,000. Want a gorgeous 5 bedroom Victorian house in a great school district near a park? $500,000 will get you that easily. So, what's it gonna be? A fifth-floor walk-up 2 bedroom apartment in New York, or a 2500 square-foot house with original woodwork that's on the historic register?
What else do we have to offer?
* A thriving cultural scene, complete with ballet, theater, opera, many bookstores, film festivals, and an annual alternative arts festival that has gotten less alternative as it has grown but is still pretty kick-ass. We have a lot of good art and science museums, too, and a city-wide mural program.
* High pollution due to industrial areas near the city that still burn coal as their main fuel. There's a growing movement of green geeks in town, though, and we have a car share program and other really cool urban greening programs. Our public transit system is always on the brink of financial crises, but so far, the state gov't has bailed them out every time. I am a happy user of the commuter trains.
* There's plenty of space for outdoor activity. We have the largest urban park in the country. The Schuylkill River (pronounce that, I dare you) has an active rowing community, partly because of the many colleges and universities we have in town. This California girl finds the natural beauty around here to be a little, ah, flat. But it is beautiful all the same, despite the lack of things like sequoias and oceans.
* The schools are frankly pretty terrible, but they're getting better and an enterprising parent can get their kid into a decent public school. There are charter schools for the younger kids, and magnet high schools for the brighter teenagers, but it's pretty hard to get into these. If you want to go private, we've got the works: lots of Quaker schools, the usual assortment of parochial schools, a few co-op schools, Waldorf, etc.
* The job market is starting to get better. We've been in a slump for a long time, but the last five years have seen some improvements. The pay is lower than in many urban areas, but housing is so affordable that you can kinda argue that it all balances out. I can't speak for other fields, but I know in the library field you can make about the same starting salary in Philadelphia as you can in New York. But that's a bad measure because librarians are notoriously underpaid in NYC. I know several people who live in Philly and commute or telecommute to jobs in New York, which is also an option, especially if your company will pay for an Amtrak train pass. There is a hefty city wage tax, though, so expect to shell out a lot for local taxes.
* The city government is super corrupt, there is very bad urban blight in a lot of areas, and there is a ton of violent crime.
* If you're into history, you can't do much better than this. Philadelphia was the political and economic capital of the country for a minute there, and we have all kinds of nifty historic sites as a result. I could go on about this, but will just tell you: skip the Liberty Bell. There is much better historical tourism here than that trumped-up piece of patriotic crap.
* The city is more than half African American, but like many major cities, it's pretty segregated. It's a strongly democratic town, but voter turnout is as low here as it is anywhere.
* People stay here. On a local discussion board, somebody recently complained that they've been here ten years and have a total of two close friends. They said it's because everybody who lives here grew up here and so nobody wants to make new friends. I have been here for only five years, but I have a lot more than two close friends. I do find that many, many people have enormous extended families plus childhood friends, all within a few miles of where they live. I have also found that it can be a little hard to break into social circles. However, I find Philadelphians to be very friendly and genuine (the city is very southern in many ways). And I think as the city improves and more people start moving here, there will be more scope for making friends.
So there you have it. I hope the reader who is thinking of moving from NYC to Philadelphia will find this helpful.
13 May 2007
Happy Mother's Day to me
Because I know you love these rambling posts that are totally unrelated to the thing this blog is supposed to be about (money), here's how I spent my day.
7AM. L woke me up by climbing on me. I snuggled with him and called pitifully to M to come take him away so I could go back to sleep. M didn't hear me because he was downstairs. I forgave him when I came down later and found he'd straightened up all the public rooms of our house.
7:30 AM. M finallly noticed that L was awake and came to rescue me. By then I was too wide awake to go back to sleep so I lounged in bed reading a book. This is my favorite thing to do on weekend mornings but for once I did it without guilt because it was mother's day.
8 AM. Realized I may miss out on breakfasting with my family if I didn't get a move on. When I came downstairs, L greeted me at the bottom to tell me which presents he wanted for mother's day. M and I prepared bagels and lox and orange juice and coffee together, and tried unsuccessfully to explain to L why he would not be receiving any presents today. Found the hand-made card (red with flowers, a gorgeous fold-out design with a ribbon on the top to hang it by) M had made for me. Felt remorseful for reminding him a few days ago that mother's day was coming and that I'm not above celebrating what he calls "Hallmark Day".
9:30 AM. Lingered over the last bites of my breakfast and the last cup of coffee. M and L were long gone from the table and I took my book out again to read the last ten pages. L got his favorite dinosaur book and dragged his chair up next to mine so we could read together.
11:00 AM. We were finally all clean and dressed. I gave L a bath because we won't have time to do it this evening, I also brushed his teeth, although his gums are still really sensitive and I had to hurt him a little bit to do a good job. We piled into the car and went to a nearby park. L threw sticks in the murky pond and made friends with several dogs. I yelled at him because he didn't listen to me and ran towards a Doberman that wasn't on a leash after I told him I didn't think it was a good idea. The dog's owner was on a cell phone and not paying attention. Luckily I run faster than L and I caught him long before he got close to the dog. I made small talk with a group of people who had a very hyper and very wet dog. They looked at me like I had two heads when I quoted Ogden Nash to them: "I have proved by actual test / A wet dog is the lovingest."
12:30. We got in the car to go home. On the way, we spontaneously stopped at a local bakery for a loaf of fresh bread. We all shared a big chocolate chip cookie.
1:00 PM. Home again. L refused to come inside and dug for dinosaurs in the front yard for a few minutes with M. I went inside and reheated some leftovers for lunch.
2 PM. Put in a load of laundry. Watered plants. Caught up on reading posts to a labor union listserv I recently joined.
2:30 PM. L decided he wanted another round of lunch. I let him sit on the kitchen counter eating maple yogurt. Afterwards he needed an entirely new set of clothes. Even his socks had yogurt on them. M worked on the computer upstairs.
3 PM. L watched a Postman Pat video from the library. M came down and made himself a pot of tea. I read a magazine. M and I marveled over a mystery check for $400 he received from something called the Copyright Clearance Center. The letter that came with the check says that it's payment from people overseas photocopying M's published writing. M has a couple books and a lot of articles floating around, but this is a bigger check than the royalty checks he receives once or twice a year.
4 PM. M and L went to the grocery store. I sat down to write a blog post instead of vacuuming the house. In a couple of hours, some friends will come over for dinner. M will make stir-fry. I'll entertain the kid.
A good mother's day.
7AM. L woke me up by climbing on me. I snuggled with him and called pitifully to M to come take him away so I could go back to sleep. M didn't hear me because he was downstairs. I forgave him when I came down later and found he'd straightened up all the public rooms of our house.
7:30 AM. M finallly noticed that L was awake and came to rescue me. By then I was too wide awake to go back to sleep so I lounged in bed reading a book. This is my favorite thing to do on weekend mornings but for once I did it without guilt because it was mother's day.
8 AM. Realized I may miss out on breakfasting with my family if I didn't get a move on. When I came downstairs, L greeted me at the bottom to tell me which presents he wanted for mother's day. M and I prepared bagels and lox and orange juice and coffee together, and tried unsuccessfully to explain to L why he would not be receiving any presents today. Found the hand-made card (red with flowers, a gorgeous fold-out design with a ribbon on the top to hang it by) M had made for me. Felt remorseful for reminding him a few days ago that mother's day was coming and that I'm not above celebrating what he calls "Hallmark Day".
9:30 AM. Lingered over the last bites of my breakfast and the last cup of coffee. M and L were long gone from the table and I took my book out again to read the last ten pages. L got his favorite dinosaur book and dragged his chair up next to mine so we could read together.
11:00 AM. We were finally all clean and dressed. I gave L a bath because we won't have time to do it this evening, I also brushed his teeth, although his gums are still really sensitive and I had to hurt him a little bit to do a good job. We piled into the car and went to a nearby park. L threw sticks in the murky pond and made friends with several dogs. I yelled at him because he didn't listen to me and ran towards a Doberman that wasn't on a leash after I told him I didn't think it was a good idea. The dog's owner was on a cell phone and not paying attention. Luckily I run faster than L and I caught him long before he got close to the dog. I made small talk with a group of people who had a very hyper and very wet dog. They looked at me like I had two heads when I quoted Ogden Nash to them: "I have proved by actual test / A wet dog is the lovingest."
12:30. We got in the car to go home. On the way, we spontaneously stopped at a local bakery for a loaf of fresh bread. We all shared a big chocolate chip cookie.
1:00 PM. Home again. L refused to come inside and dug for dinosaurs in the front yard for a few minutes with M. I went inside and reheated some leftovers for lunch.
2 PM. Put in a load of laundry. Watered plants. Caught up on reading posts to a labor union listserv I recently joined.
2:30 PM. L decided he wanted another round of lunch. I let him sit on the kitchen counter eating maple yogurt. Afterwards he needed an entirely new set of clothes. Even his socks had yogurt on them. M worked on the computer upstairs.
3 PM. L watched a Postman Pat video from the library. M came down and made himself a pot of tea. I read a magazine. M and I marveled over a mystery check for $400 he received from something called the Copyright Clearance Center. The letter that came with the check says that it's payment from people overseas photocopying M's published writing. M has a couple books and a lot of articles floating around, but this is a bigger check than the royalty checks he receives once or twice a year.
4 PM. M and L went to the grocery store. I sat down to write a blog post instead of vacuuming the house. In a couple of hours, some friends will come over for dinner. M will make stir-fry. I'll entertain the kid.
A good mother's day.
11 May 2007
Baby teeth fixed
My three-year-old son spent 2.5 hours under general anaesthetic today and had THIRTEEN cavities filled. This was way more than the six we were expecting, but xrays taken while he was knocked out revealed more problems between the teeth. He has two new caps, but we were lucky that he didn't need any "nerve treatment", nor did he need any "extractions". This is dental speak for root canals and pulled teeth.
The last hour was pretty nerve wracking since they told us it would only take 1.5 hours, and I was starting to freak myself out that there had been some problem with the drugs and the dentist was working up the nerve to come in and give us some hideously bad news. I got nervous enough that I wasn't able to read the novel I brought with me (me, not able to read! imagine!) and played cards with M instead.
Around this point the parents of a newborn came into the room where we were waiting. It was a family waiting room outside the pediatric surgery area. The baby's mother couldn't seem to stop crying. I felt so terrible for freaking out over mere dental work. I didn't speak to them because it seemed intrusive to do so when they were clearly upset, and I don't know what happened to their baby today. But I've been thinking about them all day as I've been holding my son's little body, watching Maisy DVDs with him, fetching him yet another popsicle to soothe the swelling in his mouth, and mopping up the floor after his first attempt to eat backfired on us.
My baby is fine. Nine hours after we got home, he is still very loopy and drunk and can't walk without bumping into things. He's drinking a lot of liquids, but hasn't been able to keep much food down. But he's not in pain and his teeth are fixed. I didn't have to take him to have surgery by myself like another mother I met there today whose son was having tubes put into his ears. The hospital was only fifteen minutes from our house. We don't have dental insurance for him, but I had the money to pay the $2000 out of pocket we've already paid, and I will also have the money to pay the $1000-$1500 in additional bills we'll receive because of the unexpected cavities. We were able to afford a really excellent pediatric dentist who keeps her practice relatively small, who called as home this evening to check in, and who gave us her personal cell phone number in case we need to reach her this weekend. I wish everyone could afford to give their kids this kind of care.
I know those of you who didn't read my earlier posts on this topic will be wondering if I'm crazy to spend this kind of money and put my son through this kind of trauma to fix temporary teeth. The answer is no, I'm not crazy. I am doing this now to try to prevent future problems, especially since my son is genetically predisposed to be missing some adult teeth. One of those teeth that was filled today may be with him when he's taking his own children to the dentist decades from now. I have one of my second-year molars in my mouth to this day.
Anyway, this is the end of a long, tiring day that followed a long, tiring week. But what's a little tiredness when I am so freaking lucky.
The last hour was pretty nerve wracking since they told us it would only take 1.5 hours, and I was starting to freak myself out that there had been some problem with the drugs and the dentist was working up the nerve to come in and give us some hideously bad news. I got nervous enough that I wasn't able to read the novel I brought with me (me, not able to read! imagine!) and played cards with M instead.
Around this point the parents of a newborn came into the room where we were waiting. It was a family waiting room outside the pediatric surgery area. The baby's mother couldn't seem to stop crying. I felt so terrible for freaking out over mere dental work. I didn't speak to them because it seemed intrusive to do so when they were clearly upset, and I don't know what happened to their baby today. But I've been thinking about them all day as I've been holding my son's little body, watching Maisy DVDs with him, fetching him yet another popsicle to soothe the swelling in his mouth, and mopping up the floor after his first attempt to eat backfired on us.
My baby is fine. Nine hours after we got home, he is still very loopy and drunk and can't walk without bumping into things. He's drinking a lot of liquids, but hasn't been able to keep much food down. But he's not in pain and his teeth are fixed. I didn't have to take him to have surgery by myself like another mother I met there today whose son was having tubes put into his ears. The hospital was only fifteen minutes from our house. We don't have dental insurance for him, but I had the money to pay the $2000 out of pocket we've already paid, and I will also have the money to pay the $1000-$1500 in additional bills we'll receive because of the unexpected cavities. We were able to afford a really excellent pediatric dentist who keeps her practice relatively small, who called as home this evening to check in, and who gave us her personal cell phone number in case we need to reach her this weekend. I wish everyone could afford to give their kids this kind of care.
I know those of you who didn't read my earlier posts on this topic will be wondering if I'm crazy to spend this kind of money and put my son through this kind of trauma to fix temporary teeth. The answer is no, I'm not crazy. I am doing this now to try to prevent future problems, especially since my son is genetically predisposed to be missing some adult teeth. One of those teeth that was filled today may be with him when he's taking his own children to the dentist decades from now. I have one of my second-year molars in my mouth to this day.
Anyway, this is the end of a long, tiring day that followed a long, tiring week. But what's a little tiredness when I am so freaking lucky.
08 May 2007
Prosper.com: My favorite way to lose money
A reader recently wrote to me and pointed out that it has been a long time since I last wrote about my experiences on Prosper.com.
All right, I concede I have been pretty silent on this front. The thing is, it's no fun to write about losing money.
After 15 months of lending on Prosper.com, I have netted $17.75. I've got about a thousand dollars loaned out at any given time. I have pretty modest goals, and my average interest rate hovers at about 12%. I've had one loan default completely, as I wrote about here, and I currently have two other late loans out of a total of 24 active loans. A few loans have been paid off early.
One of the late loans is over a year old. It went to collections for a few months, and then miraculously the payments started arriving regularly again. Now it's two months late again and is back in collections.
The other late loan is only a few months old. It's been late before, and I wrote the borrower a falsely cheerful note saying "You can do it! Pay that loan!" She wrote back a flakey note about how her roommate had lost his job so she had to cover all the rent. Hmm. Sounds like she should have negotiated a better lease that didn't make her liable for his financial problems. Well, she's several weeks late again.
The Prosper forums are extremely useful, and judging from some of the posts, it sounds like some people are making a good income from lending on Prosper. However, I don't have the time or the temperament to do this in a big way. The time issue--well, you know how it goes. The temperament thing--I am just too easily swayed by a well-written, interesting story. This is not supposed to be fiction but I get intrigued by the borrowers as if they are characters in a book. Bad, bad technique.
Let's see. My unscientific criteria for selecting loans haven't really changed much. I still like folks who are borrowing in order to consolidate and eliminate consumer debt. I still like smaller loans. I still like folks who give lots of juicy budget and asset info. I like folks who have kids. If there are credit problems, I like to be told that they occurred because of a one-time-only event (like caring for an aged parent who has since died and so cannot rack up more medical bills), not because of long-term bad money management or even long-term poverty.
The group I lead is still fairly small, but generates a lot of inquiries. I've started to be very picky about who I let into the group, so that keeps it tiny. I am quite proud of my 3 borrowers and their on-time payments.
Sorry this post is so lackadaisical, but I find that the minor annoyances of Prosper (like the time it still takes to move money around, during which it is not earning interest), coupled with the reality check of actually losing real money on more than one occasion, make it a less amusing game than it used to be. I still try to keep $50 hanging around in my account in case somebody in my group posts a loan (it takes so long to transfer in new funds that it's not practical to initiate a transfer AFTER somebody submits a loan listing). I still check my account once a week or so. But it's not as riveting as I once found it.
All right, I concede I have been pretty silent on this front. The thing is, it's no fun to write about losing money.
After 15 months of lending on Prosper.com, I have netted $17.75. I've got about a thousand dollars loaned out at any given time. I have pretty modest goals, and my average interest rate hovers at about 12%. I've had one loan default completely, as I wrote about here, and I currently have two other late loans out of a total of 24 active loans. A few loans have been paid off early.
One of the late loans is over a year old. It went to collections for a few months, and then miraculously the payments started arriving regularly again. Now it's two months late again and is back in collections.
The other late loan is only a few months old. It's been late before, and I wrote the borrower a falsely cheerful note saying "You can do it! Pay that loan!" She wrote back a flakey note about how her roommate had lost his job so she had to cover all the rent. Hmm. Sounds like she should have negotiated a better lease that didn't make her liable for his financial problems. Well, she's several weeks late again.
The Prosper forums are extremely useful, and judging from some of the posts, it sounds like some people are making a good income from lending on Prosper. However, I don't have the time or the temperament to do this in a big way. The time issue--well, you know how it goes. The temperament thing--I am just too easily swayed by a well-written, interesting story. This is not supposed to be fiction but I get intrigued by the borrowers as if they are characters in a book. Bad, bad technique.
Let's see. My unscientific criteria for selecting loans haven't really changed much. I still like folks who are borrowing in order to consolidate and eliminate consumer debt. I still like smaller loans. I still like folks who give lots of juicy budget and asset info. I like folks who have kids. If there are credit problems, I like to be told that they occurred because of a one-time-only event (like caring for an aged parent who has since died and so cannot rack up more medical bills), not because of long-term bad money management or even long-term poverty.
The group I lead is still fairly small, but generates a lot of inquiries. I've started to be very picky about who I let into the group, so that keeps it tiny. I am quite proud of my 3 borrowers and their on-time payments.
Sorry this post is so lackadaisical, but I find that the minor annoyances of Prosper (like the time it still takes to move money around, during which it is not earning interest), coupled with the reality check of actually losing real money on more than one occasion, make it a less amusing game than it used to be. I still try to keep $50 hanging around in my account in case somebody in my group posts a loan (it takes so long to transfer in new funds that it's not practical to initiate a transfer AFTER somebody submits a loan listing). I still check my account once a week or so. But it's not as riveting as I once found it.
07 May 2007
The children of cheapskates
Some of the readers who commented on my post about washing out ziplock baggies are still recovering from growing up with overly frugal parents.
I wonder, will my son ever forgive me from buying generic cheese crackers and generic peanut butter and making the little sandwiches by hand rather then buying them pre-packaged?
I wonder, will my son ever forgive me from buying generic cheese crackers and generic peanut butter and making the little sandwiches by hand rather then buying them pre-packaged?
04 May 2007
Dangerous behavior
Friday afternoon.
Coworkers gone.
I'll just do a little browsing on Ebay and Amazon.
Coworkers gone.
I'll just do a little browsing on Ebay and Amazon.
03 May 2007
Passive income from Cashduck
In the month of April, I did not do a single offer on Cashduck, but I had about $160 in earnings.
Yay, referrals!
This month, I resolve to not be such a leech, and to do some surveys etc myself so I'm contributing to the site. But in the meantime, I am happy to have found such a nice source of passive income. My goal is to get to the point where I'm able to fully fund my Roth IRA with Cashduck earnings. That means I need to double my earnings. That's where you come in, dear reader.
Want to join? It will take you a while to build up enough referrals to have decent amounts of passive income (I joined back in the fall), but eventually it will happen if the site keeps growing at the same rate. Here's what you do. Join up, and post a referral link on your blog or another website. Do some offers, even just a bunch of the free offers, to get a feel for it. When you have 35 feathers, buy a referral! Every time you get 35 feathers saved up, buy another referral! Eventually, your referrals will be bringing in money (and more feathers, which you can then use to buy more referrals). Of course, many referrals never earn you a cent because they are not active users. But chances are you'll get some active referrals eventually.
Enjoy!
You can strip out my referral code if you want, but if you do, you will be put in someone else's referral downline anyway because of how the system works. Either way, you don't lose anything by being in someone else's downline. And if you do join using my referral code, I will be able to fund my Roth IRA this year, and I know you want that.
April 2007 budget and net worth report
Well, I am definitely not spending like someone who is about to experience a big reduction in income. I really should be doing a better job of reducing expenses.
Income
Gross pay: $6595
FSAs and reimbursements: -$77
Gift: $1000
Total income: $7518
Savings
Retirement: $858
College: $25
Short term: $201
Total savings: $1084
Expenses
Taxes (except property taxes): $1220
Mortgage (PITI): $600
Childcare: $947
Insurance (except homeowner's): $283
Utilities: $295
Groceries: $475
Restaurants: $206
Transportation: $290
Health and fitness: $1947
Clothing: $60
Professional (dues, etc): $9
Household supplies: $244
House maintenance: $13
Entertainment: $269
Gifts: $57
Donations: $0
Personal: $36
Travel: $806
Total expenses: $7757
Reflections
The biggest unusual expense this month was in the category of health care. We paid a hefty dentist's bill for our little guy. We also spent a lot more than usual on entertainment because we visited a lot of area attractions with some out-of-town guests. I also bought plane tickets for a trip out west, but that was offset by a generous gift from the person we're going to visit. Little L's grandparents are sometimes willing to foot the bill to have L and his entourage come out for a visit.
Net worth
Our net worth this month is up to $171,122. The big spike is mostly because an inheritance we had been expecting arrived. It was earmarked for our son's education, so we can stop worrying so much about that.
A strong stock market and our regular savings deposits also helped our net worth. I can't quite believe we have that much money. I still wish our retirement accounts were a little larger, but I'm happy that they're looking so good when compared to the equity in our home. I have a thing about keeping that ratio weighted toward retirement for some reason.
Related posts:
March 2007 budget report
Net worth report for April 2007
Income
Gross pay: $6595
FSAs and reimbursements: -$77
Gift: $1000
Total income: $7518
Savings
Retirement: $858
College: $25
Short term: $201
Total savings: $1084
Expenses
Taxes (except property taxes): $1220
Mortgage (PITI): $600
Childcare: $947
Insurance (except homeowner's): $283
Utilities: $295
Groceries: $475
Restaurants: $206
Transportation: $290
Health and fitness: $1947
Clothing: $60
Professional (dues, etc): $9
Household supplies: $244
House maintenance: $13
Entertainment: $269
Gifts: $57
Donations: $0
Personal: $36
Travel: $806
Total expenses: $7757
Reflections
The biggest unusual expense this month was in the category of health care. We paid a hefty dentist's bill for our little guy. We also spent a lot more than usual on entertainment because we visited a lot of area attractions with some out-of-town guests. I also bought plane tickets for a trip out west, but that was offset by a generous gift from the person we're going to visit. Little L's grandparents are sometimes willing to foot the bill to have L and his entourage come out for a visit.
Net worth
Our net worth this month is up to $171,122. The big spike is mostly because an inheritance we had been expecting arrived. It was earmarked for our son's education, so we can stop worrying so much about that.
A strong stock market and our regular savings deposits also helped our net worth. I can't quite believe we have that much money. I still wish our retirement accounts were a little larger, but I'm happy that they're looking so good when compared to the equity in our home. I have a thing about keeping that ratio weighted toward retirement for some reason.
Related posts:
March 2007 budget report
Net worth report for April 2007
02 May 2007
Countdown
My last day of work will be May 31.
Therefore, I've entered my last month of employment.
I bought a monthly train pass for the last time.
I submitted my last dependent care Flexible Spending Account claim.
And my last Public transit FSA claim.
Of course all this means that soon I will receive my last paycheck, and my last 403b contribution match, and my last paid vacation day.
But at the moment the positives seem to outweigh the negatives.
Therefore, I've entered my last month of employment.
I bought a monthly train pass for the last time.
I submitted my last dependent care Flexible Spending Account claim.
And my last Public transit FSA claim.
Of course all this means that soon I will receive my last paycheck, and my last 403b contribution match, and my last paid vacation day.
But at the moment the positives seem to outweigh the negatives.
01 May 2007
Supporting my neighborhood economy
I live within walking distance of a retail strip that is undergoing a major revitalization. In the three years since we moved here, several new restaurants and shops have opened. Whenever I go down there, I find it's really easy to take my wallet out of my pocket. After all, I'm supporting my neighborhood economy, right? If those businesses survive and even thrive, it will benefit all of us. If I start feeling guilty about spending too much on that street, I can persuade myself that I NEED to buy that thing because the health of that retail strip will be reflected in the eventual sale price of my house. Basically, that street is a dangerous place for me to set foot.
Today my son and I went to meet a local artist at a restaurant where he's been displaying some photographs. We were buying a photo for my partner for his upcoming birthday. For $35, I got a gorgeous photo in a nice frame. While we were there, I spent a few bucks buying treats from the restaurant to keep the kid happy. I also bought a special sweet treat to wrap along with M's birthday photo. Then, L and I crossed the street and had lunch at a different restaurant. Afterwards, we stopped into a couple of shops, looking for more gifts (our anniversary is two days before M's birthday so I pull out the stops this time of year) and bought a present for M and some new colored pencils for L.
So in total we spent:
1. Local artist: $35
2. First restaurant: $5
3. Second restaurant $12
4. Small shop: $25
Total: $77
While I feel good about supporting my neighbors like that, I'm glad I don't go down there on weekdays too much!
Today my son and I went to meet a local artist at a restaurant where he's been displaying some photographs. We were buying a photo for my partner for his upcoming birthday. For $35, I got a gorgeous photo in a nice frame. While we were there, I spent a few bucks buying treats from the restaurant to keep the kid happy. I also bought a special sweet treat to wrap along with M's birthday photo. Then, L and I crossed the street and had lunch at a different restaurant. Afterwards, we stopped into a couple of shops, looking for more gifts (our anniversary is two days before M's birthday so I pull out the stops this time of year) and bought a present for M and some new colored pencils for L.
So in total we spent:
1. Local artist: $35
2. First restaurant: $5
3. Second restaurant $12
4. Small shop: $25
Total: $77
While I feel good about supporting my neighbors like that, I'm glad I don't go down there on weekdays too much!
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