We're in that funny, early-season period when the budget billing on our electric and gas have not yet reset. That means I'm running fans in every room, but I'm still paying low electric bills based on my winter and spring usage. Meanwhile, the heat is obviously off, and I don't use the oven or even the stove as much, but we're paying high gas bills based on the amount of gas we were using when the weather is colder. The same thing will happen in the fall. I'll be paying astronomical electricity bills, a la summer, and low gas bills even as I'm cranking up the thermostat.
I'm happy to say that I'm feeling less pinched, though. I don't know if I'm just used to the higher food prices now, but I don't have that same gasping for breath feeling when I'm paying bills. Also, one of my employers was five weeks late in paying me, and now I'm all paid up, so that helps.
In a couple weeks, I should start getting paid for my new ongoing freelance writing gig, so that will also help, although I'm still hoping to funnel most of that money into savings.
27 June 2008
18 June 2008
General update
House:
We had to fire our contractor mid-project. That sucked. So the new facade on our house is not finished. I'm in the process of getting quotes from two other contractors. This time, I'm making sure I get someone experienced. And insured. And who is not a friend. Yes, it's true. We hired a friend. Who didn't know what he was doing. And wasn't licensed. Or insured. Now you know I have not business giving advice to anyone because I make all the classic mistakes myself.
And there's another house for sale in my neighborhood that I've fallen in love with. I know it's not the right time for us to buy, but it's so so tempting, especially when the renovations on this house are such a huge pain in my butt. I just want to sell this problem and buy a different one.
Work:
My weekly freelance gig started, altho they're still publishing the articles I wrote and got paid for earlier in the year. But it's finally up and running and I'm very excited.
Family:
School is out. I have a preschool tuition payment for September due in July, but other than that, it's nice to have a break from those big monthly bills. The kid is in camp, which is wicked cheap, but is not nearly enough childcare. Gotta go pick him up in a minute here. My two-hour workday is just about over.
That's about it!
Hope everybody in the Northeast is enjoying the cooler weather, and that everyone in the Midwest is starting to dry out.
We had to fire our contractor mid-project. That sucked. So the new facade on our house is not finished. I'm in the process of getting quotes from two other contractors. This time, I'm making sure I get someone experienced. And insured. And who is not a friend. Yes, it's true. We hired a friend. Who didn't know what he was doing. And wasn't licensed. Or insured. Now you know I have not business giving advice to anyone because I make all the classic mistakes myself.
And there's another house for sale in my neighborhood that I've fallen in love with. I know it's not the right time for us to buy, but it's so so tempting, especially when the renovations on this house are such a huge pain in my butt. I just want to sell this problem and buy a different one.
Work:
My weekly freelance gig started, altho they're still publishing the articles I wrote and got paid for earlier in the year. But it's finally up and running and I'm very excited.
Family:
School is out. I have a preschool tuition payment for September due in July, but other than that, it's nice to have a break from those big monthly bills. The kid is in camp, which is wicked cheap, but is not nearly enough childcare. Gotta go pick him up in a minute here. My two-hour workday is just about over.
That's about it!
Hope everybody in the Northeast is enjoying the cooler weather, and that everyone in the Midwest is starting to dry out.
Single-stream recycling
For years, I've taken my plastic bottles and cardboard to a monthly recycling drop-off.
Finally, finally, almost the entire city has single-stream recycling, and all this stuff can be recycled on the curb.
Hooray!
Now, how to get more people to compost?
Finally, finally, almost the entire city has single-stream recycling, and all this stuff can be recycled on the curb.
Hooray!
Now, how to get more people to compost?
Book review: Cash-rich retirement
I've had my review copy of Cash-rich retirement
by Jim Schlagheck sitting on my bedside table for months. Here are the key take-away points that I've found the most helpful.
Schlagheck's book starts with the usual scare tactics. They're scary because they're true. Most people aren't prepared for retirement! You may be one of them! Good thing you bought this book! I can save your golden years before it's too late!
But Schlagheck's book does make some interesting points that I haven't seen emphasized to the same degree elsewhere. He talks about the history of retirement, which is a relatively new concept, and is perhaps becoming passe as people re-think the possibility of ceasing to work for pay altogether during the final third of their life.
Schlagheck says that we should be looking more closely at demographic trends and letting them inform our investing. He's not the only one who is worried about the boomer retirement wave that we're just starting to see. He thinks that boomers will have a huge impact on the economy. Especially scary: Boomers own a lot of houses, and as they sell or downsize or die, there is going to be a huge amount of housing inventory on the market, which will drive prices down. Great. Just what us working folks need. Further depreciation in our largest single asset.
Another major point: He doesn't hold with the standard wisdom that you should gradually shift out of securities and into bonds as you get closer to retirement. He writes about the fact that bonds are not risk-free, and one of the biggest risks you run in bond investing is inflation. He thinks that your retirement money ALWAYS needs to be diversified and conservative and have inflation protection built in. You can't afford to lose that money at any point in your career, and you certainly can't afford to let it get whittled away by inflation during the 30 odd years you may be living in retirement.
This is definitely a new idea for me. I have never seen myself becoming a blue-haired old lady with 60, 70, or 80% of my money in bonds and only a token representation in the stock market. No, I've always imagined myself as a blue-haired old lady who is still actively managing her portfolio and keeping a diversified mix of stocks. All while I'm going on adventure travel expeditions or writing books about sex for octogenarians, of course.
But this idea may impact my investing in the near term as well. I actively manage my Roth IRA, which accounts for a little less than half of my retirement savings. But my workplace plans (all 3 of them) are invested in target-date funds. Schlagheck hates target-date funds. This is bad news for a lazy investor such as myself, and this book has made me want to rethink my strategy a bit.
He is also a big, big dividend guy. He thinks investments should produce income. Period. If your main profit lies only in appreciation, whether it's real estate or stocks, he thinks you're risking being hammered by market downturns. If you're receiving income all along from your investments (which you of course reinvest), market downturns don't take all the profitability out of owning assets.
Schlagheck published this book in 2008, which means he was probably writing it in 2006 and editing it in 2007. It's obvious to him that the real estate bubble is bursting, although it's not clear yet how bad it's going to be. And the economic woes of 2008 are not upon him yet. The book is an interesting time capsule of what we were all thinking two years ago. It's amazing how fast this stuff changes. But many of his ideas will be relevant for a long, long time. His ideas are certainly thought-provoking. Maybe we should all be looking at our portfolios and asking ourselves how demographics will effect us. Maybe we should all give dividend stocks another look. Maybe we should kick those target-date funds to the curb.
And maybe not. But the book is an interesting read, even if the guy uses way too many exclamation points!
by Jim Schlagheck sitting on my bedside table for months. Here are the key take-away points that I've found the most helpful.Schlagheck's book starts with the usual scare tactics. They're scary because they're true. Most people aren't prepared for retirement! You may be one of them! Good thing you bought this book! I can save your golden years before it's too late!
But Schlagheck's book does make some interesting points that I haven't seen emphasized to the same degree elsewhere. He talks about the history of retirement, which is a relatively new concept, and is perhaps becoming passe as people re-think the possibility of ceasing to work for pay altogether during the final third of their life.
Schlagheck says that we should be looking more closely at demographic trends and letting them inform our investing. He's not the only one who is worried about the boomer retirement wave that we're just starting to see. He thinks that boomers will have a huge impact on the economy. Especially scary: Boomers own a lot of houses, and as they sell or downsize or die, there is going to be a huge amount of housing inventory on the market, which will drive prices down. Great. Just what us working folks need. Further depreciation in our largest single asset.
Another major point: He doesn't hold with the standard wisdom that you should gradually shift out of securities and into bonds as you get closer to retirement. He writes about the fact that bonds are not risk-free, and one of the biggest risks you run in bond investing is inflation. He thinks that your retirement money ALWAYS needs to be diversified and conservative and have inflation protection built in. You can't afford to lose that money at any point in your career, and you certainly can't afford to let it get whittled away by inflation during the 30 odd years you may be living in retirement.
This is definitely a new idea for me. I have never seen myself becoming a blue-haired old lady with 60, 70, or 80% of my money in bonds and only a token representation in the stock market. No, I've always imagined myself as a blue-haired old lady who is still actively managing her portfolio and keeping a diversified mix of stocks. All while I'm going on adventure travel expeditions or writing books about sex for octogenarians, of course.
But this idea may impact my investing in the near term as well. I actively manage my Roth IRA, which accounts for a little less than half of my retirement savings. But my workplace plans (all 3 of them) are invested in target-date funds. Schlagheck hates target-date funds. This is bad news for a lazy investor such as myself, and this book has made me want to rethink my strategy a bit.
He is also a big, big dividend guy. He thinks investments should produce income. Period. If your main profit lies only in appreciation, whether it's real estate or stocks, he thinks you're risking being hammered by market downturns. If you're receiving income all along from your investments (which you of course reinvest), market downturns don't take all the profitability out of owning assets.
Schlagheck published this book in 2008, which means he was probably writing it in 2006 and editing it in 2007. It's obvious to him that the real estate bubble is bursting, although it's not clear yet how bad it's going to be. And the economic woes of 2008 are not upon him yet. The book is an interesting time capsule of what we were all thinking two years ago. It's amazing how fast this stuff changes. But many of his ideas will be relevant for a long, long time. His ideas are certainly thought-provoking. Maybe we should all be looking at our portfolios and asking ourselves how demographics will effect us. Maybe we should all give dividend stocks another look. Maybe we should kick those target-date funds to the curb.
And maybe not. But the book is an interesting read, even if the guy uses way too many exclamation points!
New retirement blog from US News
US News reporter Emily Brandon is now writing a blog called Planning to retire, and she's added TBH to her blogroll. Thanks, Emily!
She's just getting the blog off the ground, but I like the profiles of individuals. My enjoyment of this kind of financial voyeurism is how I got into the PF blog world to begin with. Currently she's writing a series on people who have had retirement, or semi-retirement thrust upon them because of their health, family obligations, job loss in their later years, etc. Good stuff.
She's just getting the blog off the ground, but I like the profiles of individuals. My enjoyment of this kind of financial voyeurism is how I got into the PF blog world to begin with. Currently she's writing a series on people who have had retirement, or semi-retirement thrust upon them because of their health, family obligations, job loss in their later years, etc. Good stuff.
03 June 2008
What is this unfamiliar sensation?
Can it be? Yes, I think it's true. I'm all caught up.
The article I've been working on slowly for six weeks is done (altho it will probably come back for revisions next week).
The financial books I keep for my son's school are all ship shape and ready to be handed off to next year's treasurer.
My other volunteer job is sailing along without needing too much interference from me.
M's 45th birthday has come and gone and he was very happy with his presents and the small gathering we had.
The house is clean. Or cleanish, anyway. Good enough for me.
The jungle behind the house has been weed-whacked.
The travel plans and childcare plans for the summer are all set.
I'm pretty much on top of my life.
Except that of course I'm never really caught up. I'm just caught up on all the urgent tasks that have been making me feel overwhelmed. Which means that instead of reading more and going hiking and generally enjoying life as I have been doing, I should start taking care of the other, less urgent stuff:
L's asthma and eczema are worse, and I should take him to the doctor to see if we should be doing something more aggressive with his allergies, which are causing both things. I don't want to give him more medications, though, so I'm dragging my feet on the doctor visit. Still, I should be hoovering the house more often with our Hepa-filter vacuum, and especially I should be cleaning his room more often and more thoroughly to keep the dust down.
I still haven't gotten around to buying a used car, which we decided to do back in December.
And the construction project on my house rages on. M and I still have to make some decisions and this is a huge source of tension for us. We fight horribly every time we have to make a decision about renovating or decorating our house.
Oh, and I still haven't changed my closet over from winter to summer clothes, but that's no problem, because I never got around to changing over from summer to winter clothes last fall. The result: Every available surface in our bedroom has stacks of clean, folded clothes. M's dresser and closet are as usual perfectly organized and season-appropriate. Luckily, he loves me, so he only complains about my stacks of clothes every few weeks or so.
But, the heck with it! We're going on a short vacation this week, Thurs-Sun. It will be soon enough to tackle all these things when I get back, and by then, work will be feeling more urgent again so I'll have a good excuse to put off the really dreadful tasks, like shopping for and buying a new car.
The article I've been working on slowly for six weeks is done (altho it will probably come back for revisions next week).
The financial books I keep for my son's school are all ship shape and ready to be handed off to next year's treasurer.
My other volunteer job is sailing along without needing too much interference from me.
M's 45th birthday has come and gone and he was very happy with his presents and the small gathering we had.
The house is clean. Or cleanish, anyway. Good enough for me.
The jungle behind the house has been weed-whacked.
The travel plans and childcare plans for the summer are all set.
I'm pretty much on top of my life.
Except that of course I'm never really caught up. I'm just caught up on all the urgent tasks that have been making me feel overwhelmed. Which means that instead of reading more and going hiking and generally enjoying life as I have been doing, I should start taking care of the other, less urgent stuff:
L's asthma and eczema are worse, and I should take him to the doctor to see if we should be doing something more aggressive with his allergies, which are causing both things. I don't want to give him more medications, though, so I'm dragging my feet on the doctor visit. Still, I should be hoovering the house more often with our Hepa-filter vacuum, and especially I should be cleaning his room more often and more thoroughly to keep the dust down.
I still haven't gotten around to buying a used car, which we decided to do back in December.
And the construction project on my house rages on. M and I still have to make some decisions and this is a huge source of tension for us. We fight horribly every time we have to make a decision about renovating or decorating our house.
Oh, and I still haven't changed my closet over from winter to summer clothes, but that's no problem, because I never got around to changing over from summer to winter clothes last fall. The result: Every available surface in our bedroom has stacks of clean, folded clothes. M's dresser and closet are as usual perfectly organized and season-appropriate. Luckily, he loves me, so he only complains about my stacks of clothes every few weeks or so.
But, the heck with it! We're going on a short vacation this week, Thurs-Sun. It will be soon enough to tackle all these things when I get back, and by then, work will be feeling more urgent again so I'll have a good excuse to put off the really dreadful tasks, like shopping for and buying a new car.
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