Future Millionaire is Coming back to the ATL!!! ---- The Money Side to Moving

Today I was officially given my transfer notice, I"ll be moving back to the ATL in the middle of April. I’ve known this was coming since I was transferred from Atlanta to Valdosta so I’ve had time to think about it, especially since I knew my time in Valdosta was only temporary (and I wanted it that way, Atlanta is home for me). But now that I officially have my notice I've got to start getting my act together and plan for the move including apartment hunting which is planned for this weekend. Fortunately my old roommate from before I moved to V-town hasn't met anyone new she's willing to live with and the timing of her lease works out that we're going to live together again which is awesome for two reasons #1 she’s one of my best friends living with her was the absolute best roommate situation I’ve ever been in and #2 having a roommate means we can have wine tastes on a beer budget (notice I didn't say Champaign tastes because we really can't afford that) by splitting costs we can live in a much nicer part of town and have a much nicer apartment than we each would have had on our own. Plus I’ll be happy to have a real kitchen table again instead using my outdoor bistro table. ( I opted not to buy a new table because I knew I was moving back in less than 2 years and my old roommate and I planned to live together again, just like she didn’t buy a sofa but made do with her chair and a half).

On top of the packing of boxes and finding that “perfect” apartment I also need to make sure to budget for my move and for added costs I’ll have living back in Atlanta.

The company's paying for my move, but I've been told I need to keep it cheap, real cheap so I guess the means U-haul and buying pizza and beer for my friends who help with the move, I hate always having to ask them for help moving but as one of my friends said, they like it when I ask for help because it make them feel useful -- don't know if I buy that but I do appreciate the help. So now I just have to think of the other expenses I will incur after this move so I can start gearing myself up for it.

The biggest expense with my move will be the potential cost of living increase moving from small town South Georgia back to “Big City” Atlanta. (Okay for those of you living in NY and LA, maybe Atlanta’s not big but compared to Valdosta heck anything would be a big city.) You’d think I’d have a good feel for this cost since I moved from Atlanta about a year and a half ago, so I should have a pretty good feel of costs, but life’s changed some since then. My roomy, we’ll call her “Fashionista” (I’ll have to write a post about her at some point to explain her nickname), and I are planning to live in a nicer part of town. When we last lived together we were either in college or very recently out of college and lived close to campus in the “college ghetto” area. Now that we’re both “grown-ups” we’d rather not live around a bunch of rowdy college kids. Go figure! See what two years will do to change your perspective!

On top of the change of location, the type of apartment we’ll be renting will change from one where utilities are included in the rent (which by the way was awesome) to one where it will all be separate, again I guess one of those “grown-up things”. I’ve never had to pay utilities until moving to Valdosta and I know currently living in South Georgia I have had a serious steal on utilities compared to in the “Big City”, for example I get my DVR cable, super channels, and high speed internet access for $55 a month (trust me if it weren’t that cheap I wouldn’t have those extra’s). Go try and find that price in Atlanta – I’d be lucky to pay that for high speed internet alone. On top of just a changed media bill, I’ll have the whole electric and gas bill to deal with. I’m a cold natured person and living about 6.5 miles from FL I’ve been able to keep my heating completely off this winter and with the use of ceiling fans kept my apartment comfortable without using the AC for all put three months this year. Unfortunately “Fashionista” is not like me, she’s very hot natured and that was fine in our previous living situation since utilities were included and there was no direct effect for keeping it below freezing other than I literally walked around the apartment in August in sweats, gloves, toe socks, and a scarf. She thought it hilarious; I thought it was a sacrifice to roommate gods.

Another way I’ve been spoiled with a lower cost of living in South Georgia is my gym membership. I expect to see that increase by moving back to Atlanta. On the plus side my gas budget should decrease since I’ll no longer be maintaining a relationship long distance.

Hmm…other than that I’m stumped as to what other expenses I should consider about moving back to Atlanta.

To recap expense so far I have:
Moving Expenses (Truck, gas, etc) – Company Covered
Beer and Pizza for my fabulous movers – Me – anticipate around $100/one time expense
Slightly Higher Rent – Me – anticipate an additional $10-$50/month
Potentially Higher Utilities – Me – anticipate an additional $50-$100/month
Security Deposits – Me (although theoretically I should receive mine for my current apartment back which can be used to reimburse myself for what I’ll be paying at the new apartment.) --- anticipate $600/one time expense
Higher Gym Membership Fees – Me – anticipate an additional $5-$30/month
Less Gas Money – Me – anticipate a savings of $100/month

So all in all I’m looking at $700 worth of one time expenses and between savings $35/month to spending an extra $80/month for my move back to Atlanta. All in all it doesn’t sound too bad, unless I’m forgetting something.

Any suggestions on other expenses should I consider? I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.

Taxes -- The Good, The Bad, and the Plain Rude!

I never win anything - ever. I mean I never, not even the free lunch from the fast food burito place where you put your business card in the fish bowl so the insurance guy trying to sell you something can make a sales pitch.

So much to my surprise, I received an email today from Will at Wise Bread that read

Hi Future Millionaire, You are the winner of our TurboTax giveaway! I just need your name and address so we can ship the software to you. Thanks again for participating on our forums. Congrats! Will

I won the Turbo Tax give away! I actually won something, but now winning this makes me start to rethinking my original thoughts to get an accountant to do my taxes this year -- after all when you're provided something for free you should at least take advantage of it. For now I'm just going to sit tight, wait for the software, see if I like it and then make my decision. I'll at least go through the Turbo Tax software and if I decide not to use it, the run through could at least serve as a basis before I go to a professional for my taxes.

Although all of this is a little moot since I've still not received my W-2 yet! RGGGG, I've seriously been ready to get my taxes over and done with for the last two months but I've been waiting on my W-2. Supposedly it was mailed out on January 31st but its not made its way to me yet. I've checked with my co-workers and they all have received theirs, so last week I call up our Payroll department to see what's going on and received the worst customer service known to man. Granted our company has over 5,000 employees in the US alone but you'd think that if you all work for the same top boss man you're be nice to each other a little...but no. So after trying to politely explain to the most rude person known to man that I have not received my W-2 and wanted to see if they were still being distrusted or if I needed to request a copy. After much heartburn, finally I was told to fill out form 10-52-C (no joke that's the form number) located on our company's portal and fax to xyz number. So about two days after faxing in form 10-52-C I receive a phone call from a different person with the payroll department and was interrogated about if I'd lost my W-2, after assuring them I had not, swearing on my grandmothers grave, promising my first born child, and begging I was finally approved to receive a "duplicate" W-2 form. So we'll see if/when that comes.

As a side note about our wonderful payroll department, for the last 4-5 months our paycheck subs that we used to receive at our home address on paydays are now being received at home about 7-8 days later. Thank goodness the direct deposit still comes on pay day.

Monday's Money Funny - Flirting at Work

One of the regular features on my blog is "Monday's Money Funny" which are humorous (or at least humorous to me) articles/jokes/just about anything (real or satire) that I've discovered over the weekend when I catch up on all my on line reading that spark a need for knowledge. For example last week's was a book review on "House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes” by Daniel McGinn.

This Monday I've decided go with a topic that's a little controversial and that's flirting in the work place. This NY Times Article "Two Paths for Aspiring Alpha Females" peeked my interest when one of the authours interviewed talked about using seduction and manipulation to get ahead including flirting.

Below are a few excerpts of the article:

The two principal tactics advocated by Ms. DiSesa are seduction and manipulation. After bundling them together in a glib Madison Avenue abbreviation, she declares that, “All the men in our lives — the ones we work with or live with, admire or desire, and love or hate — are easier to control if we master the Art of S.& M.” Why would men fall for such tactics? “First of all, they love seduction,” she writes. “And second, they are oblivious to manipulation.”
[...]
“One of the greatest tools, or weapons, we have as women is flirting,” she says, later adding, “Men like women who like them.”

Personally, I don't think I've ever knowingly flirted to get ahead, but I've definitely used my awesome personally to seal the deal with a client or get a task accomplished with a subcontractor. I have to say being female in a male dominated industry has its ups and downs, the downs being I feel like I always have to prove myself at the start of any work relationship. I miss out on the "good ole boys" network and don't socialize with them in that setting (ie I don't go with them to Peaches, the local strip club) and I occasionally get called a bitch by workers when they have to fix something that wasn't installed properly - but in that regard I figure the man who told them the same thing would be called a son of a bitch so its all the same. On the plus side I think I'm able to get coroperation and sometimes calmly resolutions a lot better becasue the "good ole boys" don't take too kindly to yelling at women so they'll often hear me out but I don't think that would constitute flirting.

With that in mind I did a little searching about flirting in the workplace and found a different NY Times Q&A article entitled "When Flirty at Work is Flirting with Trouble", also found this very interesting study reported on CNN Money that it does not pay to flirt. In fact according to the study CNN reported about flirting may cost you when it comes to promotions and raises.

I'm not sure what to think. Have you ever flirted at work to get ahead? Ever been flirted with in order to for the flirtee to get ahead?

Stay tuned for next week's Monday's Money Funny. Also if you run across any Monday Funnies please email them to me at future.millionaire.blog@gmail.com and if I use them I will give you credit and link to your blog.

Don't Forget You Could Win one of My Favorite Books

Don't forget any comments posted on any of my other post topics between now and February 22nd make you eligible to win the book The Millionaire Next Door, see my previous post for details.

Happy Commenting! I really do appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Found A New Blog to Start Reading -- Banker Girl

Found a new blog I'm going to start reading...Banker Girl. According to her About profile she's an early thirties real life banker from the Midwest and has been"preaching to my friends about the importance of reigning in unsecured debt, coaching clients on how to improve their FICO scores, and explaining to business owners the importance of liquidity ratios." But in her own worlds is "a financial hypocrite . To date, I haven’t put my money where my mouth is."

Banker Girl's Blog is the journey to financial independence which I can completely relate to. She promised to"dish up advice, include a few (anonymous) client anecdotes, and link you to financial resources that I have found helpful."

I hope you'll enjoy her blog as much as I have discovered.

(photo borrowed from her blog logo)

Income vs. Goals in a Relationships ---- Food For Thought

Warning: This is a financial post, the appetizer (aka background) is just fluffy and coincidentally falls on Valentine’s Day.

So my mom is the type of mom who no guy is ever really good enough for her baby and for some reason is always on the look-out for someone “better” so they’ll take care of her baby in the lifestyle that my mom feels is normal (affluent). Apparently she doesn’t think her baby girl can take care of herself --- but that’s for a different post. Beyond always being on the look-out for someone else, my mom’s never really liked any guy I’ve ever dated, and a few of them were actually guys my mom set me up with – go figure! This is an ongoing issue so I do not take it to mean anything against the guy I’m currently dating and have been dating for the last year.

(Financial stuff coming soon…I promise)

So the current guy I’m dating, we’ll call him “Mr. Be-Mine” in nod to the holiday, is probably the most compatible guy I’ve ever dated, but still different enough to make life interesting. My friends even agree. One of the many ways we’re compatible is financially. We have very similar outlooks towards saving and spending. Long term I think this is probably one of the best things for a couple - love aside because that’s pretty important and can overcome most everything but finances are also very important, especially with all the studies conducted about money arguments being one of the top reasons for divorce. One article even claims that 57% of couples divorcing site money issues as the main cause.

Well even this doesn’t keep my mom from her usual “tricks” of constantly trying to find someone better for me. One of my mom’s co-workers has a son and my mom wants me to meet him. Of course I’m not going to but she still carries on and on about whoever it is she wants to fix me up with, so she’s feed me full of info about this new guy, we’ll call him “New Kid” on the Block. According to my mom “New Kid” is an investment banker and he’s in my mom’s words “bringing home the big bucks”, drives a new BMW, and recently bought his mom and dad a new plasma TV. She also has listed several other characteristics that are in line with mine including a big involvement in community service, but I won’t get into that since this is supposed to resemble a financial blog post and not some self-help girly blog post. My mom sees “New Kid” as security, but I can’t help but wonder what his net worth is like, is this guy saving or is he so deep in debt he’ll never escape. But since I don’t know and it really doesn’t matter since I’d never go out with “New Kid” I can only conjecture so let’s assume he’s at least breaking even with no consumer debt but isn’t aggressively savings for long term goals.

So here’s the financial question that I’m wanted to bring to you all to ponder:

Would it be better to be in a long term committed relationship (like marriage) with someone who is on the same page with you regarding your views on money and your financial goals but who’s income will never peak much beyond what it currently is or someone who doesn’t necessarily share the same goals and views on money but apparently has a large income and who’s income potential is enormous?

All things including finances aside, I already know what I’m doing between “Mr. Be-Mine”, my mom and “New Kid”. But the question is definitely good food for thought.

What’s your thought on my financial question?

Question on How I started Saving

Thought I’d share a recent question I received about how I started saving.

As mentioned before I really love Weasabe, its really helped me be able to track my monthly expense. Plus I love the group discussion portion of it as well since members can all post questions and get everyone’s insight.

(To clarify Weasabe is not a sponsor of my blog, in fact they probably don’t even know I’m alive – I’m just a very satisfied client and wanted to offer the idea to everyone else just like if I found the most amazing restaurant in town I would be bragging about it to my friends forever until they tried it and agreed with me that it was amazing).

Anyway recently a member posted a question called “Stock’s for Newby’s”. I think you should be able to view the whole discussion even if you are not a member yet.

Below are my highlights:

Original Question:
Hey guys,
I'm 18 and working 2 part-time jobs, I have no real expenses and save pretty much whatever I make (I think I've spent a total of 12 dollars in the last 6 months). I am interested in the stock market, so I was wondering if you guys could send me on the right track.
Ps: I know nothing of stocks and have no idea where to start :S
Thanks

My response:
I'm in the same boat as you, I'm clueless about picking specific stocks that's why I stick to mutual funds and target date funds which take all of the guess work out of the equation. I use vanguard and they have target date retirement accounts so its as simple as finding the 2045 fund (which is around the year I plan to retire)and selecting it.

My one word of advise those it before selecting do a little homework and discover the fees and the asset allocation first to ensure they are consistent with your goals. Other than that enjoy.

A different member chimed in with this in response to my post:
I went to your blog spot... wowowow your doing a very nice job on the blog and on your savings........How did you get started in the saving track? Someone must have helped you along the way? Vanguard is a good stop to save on Mutual Funds. I also like TRowe Price and Fidelity.

Happy Savings

I then responded: Thank you very much for checking out my blog. I hope you'll keep reading.

To answer your questions:
- I got started on the savings track when I was in high school because I knew that I would be 100% responsible for all of my expenses including tuition so it was up to me to figure out a way to go to college, and then from that it progressed. In college I was fixated on savings because it would mean I could work less so I could go to school longer and finish up and now my focus is on retirement. I talk a little about this in some of my older posts on my blog.
- As for as someone helping me I wish I could say that I had someone help me along the way. It really boiled down to seeing the example that several of my family members made of being deeply in debt and struggling to find a way to retire that made me so debt adverse and want to save heavily for retirement. Beyond that it was getting involved with finances from reading EVERYTHING I could get my hands on. Plus Wesabe has definitely helped me a lot in tracking my expenses.

Hope I answered your questions. Thanks for checking out my blog, I’m glad you enjoyed it


Just wanted to share some insight with everyone else about how I started saving. I’ve been planning for some time to write a post about how I came to have saved over $90k and only be in my early twenties (okay maybe I’m a little north of early twenties but close enough). So keep checking back because the questions in the discussion gave me extra motivation to hurry up and write that post about how I started saving.

Mid-Year Performance Review Update

Well no real news to report on the Mid Year Review front. I met with the Boss man, according to him my work is doing awesome and that I'm already performing at the next level so there's no tasks or project I need to master before I can get promoted. Okay I'm thinking if that's they case why am I not promoted yet? So I polity try to ask this question but just get blown off. So now what do I do???? On top of this come April I'm getting transfered to a different department with different job descriptions but the one good thing is my soon to be new boss man, "Mr. VP", recognizes me as a high achiever. RRRRGGGG that was no help - so it looks like I'm going to bide my time for now.

Progress on Goals for 2008

Alright all, its officially been over one month since the start of the new year so thought I should check up on my action plan for achieving my goals especially since some of them had January and February due dates so here goes:

1. Have Net Worth of $105,000 – My net worth is increasing (yeah!) and a very quick calculation of my net worth is over $90k. I have not been as good about saving the $100 a month outside of my retirement accounts, so I need to establish some set plan to prove that I’m saving the $100, be it via a phony withdraw listed in my accounts etc so that I don’t touch this money. I plan to have this plan established before the end of February.

2. Fully Fund my 401k and Roth IRA – I’ve confirmed that my 401k automatic deduction is still set at 27% which will allow me to save the max. When I get my annual cost of living increase I will have to decrease so that I don’t reach the max too soon and loose out on the company matching but the cost of living increase won’t happen until September, so no action is required until then. I have investigated the most economical way and easiest way for me to contribute to my Roth IRA and that is with a once a month automatic transfer from my bank account to Vanguard. Because I’ve signed up for electronic statements there is no cost to do this. So every month on the 22^nd $417 is withdrawn from my bank and invested.

3. Diversify Roth IRA – I’ve made no progress on this one other than to check into other mutual funds. This one will require some more investigation on my part as far as the way to do this economically via Vanguard. I know the minimum transaction required to start a different fund in vanguard is $3,000. So I will need what the best method to procure the other fund (i.e. sell some of my S&P 500 fund and invest in the other or lump sum contribution). I plan to have this work complete by February 29th. Does anyone have any advice on how you did it?

4. Get Promotion – I’m working hard towards this one no only am I 1. Continuing to do an "amazing" job on every task but I also have my mid-year review coming up on Tuesday where I plan to work with my boss to 2. List my responsibilities and compare to established tables for positions 3. Talk to my boss about the discrepancy I find in responsibilities and position and request to know the steps I need to take to make it to the next level (additional tasks to take on, people to talk to etc). 4. Continue to Ace my Performance Review and take the opportunities that are offered to me

5. Get Ready to Buy a House - I’ve pretty much deleted this goal from my list. (read my Rent, Don't Buy Post to better explain my reasoning). I’ve decided to rent for one more year, continue to save for a down payment (above and beyond 20%), and wait out a raise and hopefully promotion to have more monthly cash flow.

Well what do you think, am I on my way to achieving my goals for this year?

Monday's Money Funny - Who Needs a 401k? I'd Rather Have A Castle

I've started a feature on my blog called "Monday's Money Funny" which are humorous (or at least humorous to me) articles/jokes/just about anything (real or satire) that I've discovered over the weekend when I catch up on all my on line reading that spark a need for knowledge. For example last week's a satire on the government's plans to spark the struggling economy. This week's is a book review on "House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes” by Daniel McGinn.

I hope you enjoy the fifth of the series from NY Times

Below is a preview of the article, click on the link above to see the article in its entirety:

Putting a modern-day finish on this propensity is “House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes” by Daniel McGinn (Currency, $24.95), which chronicles an epic of satirical, if not quite biblical, proportions.

“How did home renovations come to routinely turn families’ lives upside down?” he asks. “Why do thousands of us now watch reality shows about home flipping or house hunting? Why did so many people decide to start investing in real estate, or quit good jobs to seek a fortune selling houses?”

[...]

“Our homes may no longer be making us rich,” he writes, “but living through an era when we thought they might has resulted in a permanent shift in thinking — one that will leave many of us happily obsessed with houses for years to come.”

The millions of Americans currently facing home mortgage foreclosures will probably regard such unbounded optimism as the eighth deadly sin.

I don't know about you, but after seeing this book review, I've already consolted my library to be added to the waiting list to read this book. It raising interesting questions of oneself (especially for me since I'm planning to buy a home some time in the near future) about how much of a home is really needed and what's the best strategy for purchasing one. I'm personally a huge fan of Money.MSN and found an article by Liz Pulliam Weston about how big should you really go.

Stay tuned for next week's Monday's Money Funny. Also if you run across any Monday Funnies please email them to me at future.millionaire.blog@gmail.com and if I use them I will give you credit and link to your blog.