Alright you Blog Stalkers Now's Your Chance to Comment and Win

I'm a huge blog stalker, I'll visit several blogs but rarely comment and I think/hope that's what's happening on this blog since I check my sitemeter reading and see lots of visits but very few comments.

One of my big motivations for starting this blog was that I wanted feedback from readers, otherwise I can think my thoughts on my own with out posting them, so in an effort encourage more comments I'm borrowing an idea from some of the blogs I read and offering a contest to readers who respond. For the next two weeks anyone who comments on any post will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of my favorite financial books The Millionaire Next Door. The more comments the more chances to win.

Happy commenting!

My Mid-Year Performance Review is Tuesday

One of my financial goals for 2008 is to obtain a promotion. To me a promotion equates to this equation promotion = more money = more savings = closer to financial freedom

My career goal was two years after my college graduation to obtain a promotion and by the end of this year it will have been two years. (And I will have worked for the company for over 6 years! – wow saying that makes me feel old even thought I’m not). To date I’ve only received one promotion and the event that prompted this promotion was graduating college since I had been verbally given a promotion a year before then contingent upon graduating college. Because of the company bureaucracy, I understood that I could not be “officially” promoted due to a lack of degree even thought I was very deserving of promotion based upon my contributions to the company. (I think there could have been a way around this but I was willing to follow the rules for the time being, since bucking the system would have meant possibility not having as much flexibility in my job like telecommuting two days a week so I could attend some classes only offered at specific times.)

In my company, promotions are typically given out in September following our end of fiscal year evaluations. Our mid-year evaluations are now in full swing, mine happens to be schedule for this coming Tuesday. The company norm for length between promotions for those of us lower on the corporate ladder occur between 2-3 years for each position, of course dependent upon an individual’s performance. People mid-ladder pole 4-5 years, and then upper ladder it really depends some are 1-2 years, while others peak out and it takes 10 years to move up. I’m still currently on the lower end so a promotion by the end of the year would be with in the norm.

Okay, enough background of my status and the company, I think I’ve sufficiently proven that a promotion is realistic with in the parameters of the corporate bureaucracy and I won’t get into all the money and client contacts above the norm I’ve made on deals for the company or the outstanding job I’ve been doing because I’ll save all that for my review on Tuesday (plus this post is already getting really long). The real meat/intent of my post is that I’ve long sense done my homework for researching how to achieve a promotion since my last one I didn’t have to strategize to obtain (and maybe this one I don’t really need to either but I’d rather be proactive). I stumbled across an article about the key steps to achieving a promotion - I wish for the life of me I knew where I got it as I’d like to give them credit and also revisit this article for my use (if you know the article I’m referring to please let me know where its from). The only remnants I have of this article are my notes on a post-it stuck to my bulletin board above my computer.

Here’s what my notes say:

1. Determine Expectations --- research HR for specific tasks/abilities, talk to Debbie about this
2. Perform a Gap Analysis between current duties and next level --- per HR’s def – ask G if there’s specific form already created, also ask about at Mid-year and request to come up with a list together to achieve the difference
3. Schedule meeting with list of skills and responsibilities, goal is next level, find project etc that will help achieve promotion --- also do together at Mid-year PPM
4. Prioritize and document assignments --- also success and stats from completed projects especially the pharmacy and $$$ made
5. Cash in chips – show documentation that achieved --- start list today of accomplishments with stats

I’ve done a real good job of following this advice over the last couple of months. I have figured out the expectations according to the corporate info established and will find out my boss’s expectations on Tuesday, I preformed my gap analysis and have already put the bug in my boss’s ear about wanting to do this as well as create a list of skills and responsibilities during the review, and I’ve clearly documented success of projects and tasks completed. So I’m hoping all goes well.

My question is what else should I do to a) prep for my mid-year, in past years I’ve already been ready with a jot list of success and my goals, but I’ve never been actively seeking promotions and b) beyond what I’m doing what should I do to position myself to be promoted in September?

Alright you seasoned professionals with several promotions under your belt…any other good tips for me?

New Favortie Blog - Fabulous Financials by Single Ma

I've just found an amazing new to me financial blog that I am adding to my favorite blogs its Fabulous Financials by Single Ma. According to her About profile she's a 30-something single mom who's long term financial goals include having a net worth of $1M+. Her blog is about her journey to financial freedom. Even though I'm not a Ma, I think we share some similar goals.

Single Ma is witty, well in formed, down to earth, on top of her financial future, and she's a blast to read with her colloquial talk about her friends and family.

I hope you'll enjoy her blog as much as I did.

(Graphic from Single Ma's Profile)

Judging The Jones’ Money Moves

I dropped off my car today to get detailed for the very first time ever. (I have owned the car since 2004). I am most excited about this and have been looking forward to it for months. In fact I’ve been wanting to do it for quite a while but always felt it was too expense, so in November I decided what the heck its worth it because in a way its also a form of car maintenance and started saving for it. Since then I’ve saved more than enough to have my car detailed.

When my car was picked up at the jobsite today to get detailed one of the guys I work with made the joked that apparently I’m getting paid too much to be able to afford these luxuries. He went on and on about how broke he is and how much he would like to be able to afford the same luxuries.

So this guy, we’ll call “Big Spender”, continues to rant on and on about how its not fair that I can get my car detailed. Well I know “Big Spender” makes more money than I do because I do the GC’s and cost analysis every month so I know roughly what his costs ( salary and benefits) to the project are per month. But despite making what in my opinion is a pretty nice salary, he always talks about how broken and in debt he is. And I can’t help but feel sorry for him, especially when he talks about how he “can’t” save for retirement because his bills are so high and that retirement is a luxury for people with money. I don’t feel sorry for him that he “can’t” save, what I feel sorry about is that he doesn’t get it, he refuses to change his spending habits. And in my humble opinion retirement isn’t a luxury for people with money, it’s a comfort for people who allocate their resources effectively and prioritize their future over their present over-spending. And while “Big Spender” doesn’t spring for “luxuries” like getting his car detailed once in 4 years and savings for retirement like I do, he does blow money like crazy on random knick-knacks, high dollar electronics, DVD’s, and credit card interest. For super bowl weekend he sprung for a brand new High-Def LDC TV, and I know that bad boy had to have been at least 40, that’s right four-zero, times more expensive than detailing a car. If you ask me he’s making a choice and that choice is that he doesn’t value the same “luxuries” that I do.

Choices --- that’s what life and personal finance come down --- priorities and choosing what’s important to you.

Well I’m off to enjoy my newly cleaned car.

Monday's Money Funny - The Current Economy

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" (at least I sincerely hope its a satire) about why not to invest in a 401k which promoted a search for information regarding reasons to invest in a 401k or other retirement savings account. This week's is a satire on the government's plans to spark the struggling economy.

I hope you enjoy the fourth of the series from The Onion.

Below is the article:

Congress To Raise Alpacas To Aid Struggling Economy

January 30, 2008

WASHINGTON—Members of Congress assured Americans that they have a definitive plan for reviving the slumping economy when they unveiled on Monday a bold new fiscal stimulus package that calls for the purchase of a pair of alpacas

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the proposal, which is expected to solve the sub-prime mortgage crisis, boost consumer confidence, and pump much-needed liquid capital into the market, will be put into motion as soon as the first issue of Alpaca World magazine arrives and Congress has a chance to go through the catalog and select the perfect mating pair.

Proponents of the new economic stimulus package show off the comfort and versatility of alpaca fleece.

"We're confident that breeding alpacas will jump-start the economy and lift this nation out of debt once we get the start-up money," said McConnell, who insists the exotic livestock require very little maintenance and are of a gentler temperament than their cousin the llama. "All you need is a fertile male and a female in heat, and nature takes it course. Before you know it, the money is rolling in and there's alpacas everywhere."

After weeks of debate, a bipartisan commission finally chose the alpaca initiative over a number of other proposals, including handcrafting turquoise jewelry, an extensive job-training program in the nation's most impoverished regions, and opening a U.S. Congress seller's account on Ebay. McConnell said the group was swayed toward the idea of mating alpacas and also shearing them for their valuable fleece because it required the fewest resources and was a "super-easy" way to rake in cash.

"It is time to stop bickering and take real steps to revive the U.S. dollar—which is why we're sending a fact-finding delegation out to the alpaca farm in Hagerstown [MD] next weekend," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said. "Senator Chuck Hagel's brother-in-law said we could borrow his truck to pick up the alpacas from the National Zoological Society on Saturday."

An alpaca

"I can't believe we ever wasted our time with tariffs, raising interest rates, and tax hikes," Pelosi added. "This is such a no-brainer."

Under the new proposal, a Senate subcommittee will be formed to attend to the day-to-day care of the alpacas, providing food and water, cleaning up their communal dung pile, and securing the animals in their pen inside the Senate chamber at night. In addition, Congressman Robert Andrews (D-NJ) made his office available for storing buckets and shovels, saying the space is usually empty anyway since he prefers to work from home.

A Senate majority has already voted to name the alpacas Jefferson and Bongo.

Advocates also claimed that using the alpacas' fleece for knitted and woven items would energize the textile industry and eliminate the nation's dependence on foreign- produced ponchos.

"If we are truly committed and learn to spin our own fibers, we can cut out the middleman and sell socks, hats, and gloves directly to the American public," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said. "People don't realize how much softer alpaca wool is because they've never had a chance to try it. Once they do, though—let's just say this war could be paid for in no time."

While initial reaction has been positive, critics of the plan have pointed out that Congress has still not paid back the money it borrowed from the American public to start that silk-screen T-shirt business it was so excited about in 2004, and many were concerned that this will just be a repeat of the Bedazzling the Economy Act of 2000.

The bill's sponsors, however, claimed that they had thought it all through, and that this economic stimulus package "can't miss."

A special committee was sent to a nearby alpaca farm to scout mating pairs and pet some alpacas.

"If for some reason it doesn't work out—which it will—we can always allocate some additional spending for a goat and convert the venture into an executive petting zoo," Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) said. "Those other projects required too much overhead. With alpacas, it's just grass, and we already have the whole National Mall right across the street."

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), a well-known fiscal conservative, remained one of the sole voices against the proposal.

"This harebrained scheme is shortsighted, ill conceived, and an absolute waste of time and effort," Martinez said. "Which is why from the beginning I said, let's raise emus. Not only do you have meat and eggs, but you can probably get some money for those feathers too."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday called the new plan "intriguing," but stressed that the nation's economic policy should continue to center around Sen. Robert Byrd's (R-WV) practice of selling soda and candy bars out of his office, which accounted for almost 30 percent of last year's gross domestic product.

This crazy idea to me seems about as successful as the stimulus package's $300, $600, and $1200 tax rebates. One author at CNN's Money even thinks the tax rebates would head straight to China rather than have an impact on the US's economy.

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.

February's Net Worth

While this has been a super crazy week at work, I have taken the time to update my net worth and see where I stand since January.

My new net worth is just shy of $90k --- $89,807.11. This increase is primarily due to my regular savings via my 401k plan and Roth IRA because I know it sure wasn't market gains. I'm hoping by the time March roll's around I should be over the 90 mark which will be most exciting. Anyway that's all for now, back to the grind --- next week I should pick back up more regular writing.

Monday's Money Funny - 401k's

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 was a joke about a man wanting to take his money with him which promoted a search for information regarding how create a will. This week's is a "satire" (at least I sincerely hope its a satire) about why not to invest in a 401k which promoted a search for information regarding reasons to invest in a 401k or other retirement savings account.

I hope you enjoy the third of the series from Time Out New York that I found via a blog I frequently read called My Open Wallet.

Below is the article: 401ks are for suckers

Five out of five financial planners think you should have one, and 70 million Americans do. This clock-puncher says they’re all wrong.

By Ashlea Halpern

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

So here I am, 26 years old, and I haven’t saved a penny for retirement. Like many folks my age, I have a litany of excuses for opting out of my company’s 401k—school loans, credit-card debt, high rent, low pay and a minor addiction to eating out. It’s that last vice that speaks to my true feelings: I can’t rationalize budgeting for a tomorrow that may never come. I want to live now. I want to spend my cash on everything listed in this magazine, not hoard it away so I can score a nice trailer in Clearwater, Florida, 40 years from today.

For this, people think I am insane. Of TONY’s 88 eligible employees, only 11 have not enrolled in the company plan. Our editor-in-chief, the unofficial poster boy for employer-sponsored 401k plans, was beside himself when he found out I was one of them. “Why would you turn down free money?” he said. “If you saw a dollar on the street, would you take it?”

Begrudgingly, I started to research our plan. TONY’s participant-directed 401k allows me to contribute up to $15,500 pretax annually, with a 50-cents-on-the-dollar match for up to 3 percent of my salary. Pretty sweet, right?
But wait—there’s fine print.
Employer contributions are discretionary (i.e., in times of “business hardship,” they may be nixed—though TONY financial adviser Wayne Banks tells me this has never happened); and while you’re 100 percent vested in your contributions from the get-go, the company’s match follows a timetable: stay only one year, and get 25 percent, and so on. In creative fields with high turnover (like ours), that level of commitment is, well, scary.

I also resent that more and more businesses are beefing up their 401k plans instead of offering living wages and bonuses. While I appreciate that companies aren’t required to offer any match at all, isn’t a vesting schedule diametrically opposed to the spirit in which 401ks were created—to empower employees after pensions went kaput?
Brian Fernandez, a financial planner at Smith Barney, paints a bleaker picture of why I should save for retirement instead of taking trips to Europe. “Social Security is broken,” he says. “Congress set up the 401k because it knew the American public needed to save its own money.”
David Wray, president of the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America, evaluated TONY’s plan and concluded that “while it isn’t a very rich match,” it’s unlikely you could outperform a 50 percent return elsewhere.
Kevin Kautzmann, founder of EBNY Financial LLC, also reiterated our 401k’s tax benefits, particularly in a city like New York: “It’s the best deduction you’re going to get.”
That’s all good, but why should Congress—or my boss, for that matter—care what I do? Is it out of the kindness of their hearts?
I’d like to think so. But there’s also an IRS rule that caps the amount of money a company’s highly compensated employees (or HCEs, defined as people who make over $100,000) can save based on the average amount put away by the rank and file. Assuming the boss is an HCE, it’s to his benefit that underlings like you, me and the janitor save for retirement. “The employer has an incentive, sure,” says Wray. “But it’s win-win.”
Win-win until your kid gets sick or your mortgage shoots through the roof. The 401ks are designed in such a way that everyone—financial advisers, stockbrokers, mutual-fund managers—gets paid before you do. I fundamentally object to that. It’s my money, dammit. Why should I be penalized 10 percent for a hardship withdrawal?
“It has to be enforced savings, otherwise people won’t do it,” says Wray. “The other benefit of a 401k is that the investment decision has been enormously simplified. That’s terrific because most people are never going to open a brokerage account by their own volition.”
But that’s exactly it—most folks enrolled in 401k plans don’t have a clue how they work. “If you offer more than eight choices, their eyes glaze over,” says Kautzmann. Clearly, I’m supposed to take comfort in knowing that the government and my employer are directing my investments. Just keep in mind, this is the same government that botched Social Security, and some of the same employers that didn’t think twice about screwing a whole generation out of its pensions. (That’s not TONY, thankfully. Enron, on the other hand…)
“Money is very emotional for people, and it’s really difficult for them to give up control,” says Wray. “A 401k requires that an employee trust his employer, trust the government and trust the financial-services industry.” Sorry, bud, but that’s a trust I just don’t have. My mother was what you might call a “mattress banker”—she ratholed money around the house, $5,000 under the sink, $10,000 in a boot. And my dad, well, let’s just say “the masses are asses” is his favorite catchphrase. So if I’m on the dole at 65, eating cat food out of a rusty hubcap, I’ll be content knowing that while y’all Steady Eddies were fastidiously stashing pennies, I was gorging myself on expensive cheese in Paris and snorting hard drugs off the backs of go-go boys in Berlin.
In other words, I was living.

I'm really hoping that Ashley Halpern is writing this article as a satire, otherwise I fear for her in retirement as she won't be able to feed her minor addition to eating out let alone her basis necessity of feeding her self. Here's an article from About.Com explaining why you should contribute to your 401k as well as an article from HowStuffWorks.com explaining the benefits of a 401k and how to contribute.

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.

Sticky Situations at Work

One of my big goals for 2008 is obtaining a promotion. But some times its hard to do that when you're caught in sticky situations with a boss or co-worker.

One of my biggest problems at work and is with a co-worker who's a major slacker. This man is not my boss but he is in a position of higher rank and authority than I am. We both report back to the same boss.

I've tried to figure out a way around this situation and talk to my boss in generalities about this issue when I first got put on the same team with "slacker" more than a year ago. I did not feel I was stepping outside of my bounds since my boss asked for my feed back since several other team members were giving unfavorable reviews of "slacker" and he wanted to know if they were true. Plus until this situation arouse I've always had a really good relationship with this boss and have worked on several other projects for him. When I tired to address this issue before I could really express my concerns I was informed that one of my job responsibilities was to make both my boss and "slacker" look good to the brass in our company, which I agree with to an extent. Talk about having to suck a sour egg! But I've come to accept this situation that I'm in and realized it was only for a short time (if you call just a hair over a year a short time) and that by doing both my job and "slacker's" I would be gaining valuable experience. However, every couple of months I get mad, real mad, about the situation and it starts to eat me up inside. I start thinking about the tons of extra hours I put in each week to do both of our jobs, I think about the social activities at work I'm missing because I'm trying to keep up with everything and keep the project afloat and I start resenting the situation. Don't get me wrong I like to work hard and I get enormous satisfaction from a job well done, but everyone needs to pull their own weight, especially on a team. I keep reminding myself that its only for a short duration and it will get better but sometimes its hard, and I know my usually cheery work personality suffers because of my frustration with this problem.

It's wildly accepted and the standard that a person in my boss's place wouldn't do any of the grunt work, he's job is to manage people like "slacker" and me, maintain the relationship with the clients, and relay information from top management to "slacker" and me, but "slacker" on the other hand is fully in a position that he's supposed to be in the trenches and know the project and contribute to the project, in fact its expected and really his only responsibility. Instead "slacker" wants to pretend he's about two levels higher and I'm responsible for all of the work and he just needs to sign off and/or distribute my work, so instead of contributing "slacker" spends all day working on his high school alumni website. (As a side note "slacker", myself and the rest of the team are located in a different office and city from the boss and the boss only comes and visits about once a month to check up on us).

(Additional side notes "Slacker" is only one position above where I am on the career ladder. The side story about how "slacker" came to work for our company about a year ago is that "slacker" was "laid off" without a severance package from his previous two employees -- I don't know about you but to me that sounds like the man was fired, not contributing enough to his other companies since he was always first to be laid off, or he keeps choosing the wrong companies. Personally I'm going with option 1 or 2, either way they don't bode well for "slacker".)

Well anyway, I think you get the problem with "slacker" and can probably read between the lines to see my frustration, especially today -- it was one of those mad days that it really gets to me.

Well I stumbled across this article called Eight Sticky Boss Situations at CNN.com and one of the eight was "While your boss kicks back in her office making personal calls, you're doing both your job and hers. When the time comes to present projects to senior management, your boss takes credit for your hard work." And thought this might apply to my problem with "slacker", except I really believe that the boss knows this is the situation and accepts it because the work is getting done and done correctly (thanks to me) and he doesn't want to rock the boat. This is very typical of his personality, it took one other slacker loosing almost 2million for the company for him to take action and go through the chain of command to reprimand and ultimately fire the other slacker.

So while this might not completely resolve my problem I only have 3 more months of this and at least it gives me hope and a strategy try to deal with the problem. Do you all have problems like this? How did you handle it?

Fed "Emergency" Rate Cut

As you probably know the Fed's cut interest rates in an emergency today. I have plenty of thoughts to share on this but for tonight I've decided I need sleep more, since work has been so crazy lately.

So in lieu of thoughts I'll provide some links with some interesting reading on this recent rate cut.

ABC News Article "Fed Rate Cut Stabilizes Stocks"

MSN Money Articles "More Rate Cuts to Come?" and "Whom the Rate Cuts Help and Hurt"

Bloomberg.com Article "U.S. Stock Futures Drop on Concern Rate Cut Won't Stop Slowdown"

Monday's Money Funny - Wills

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 was a satire on the government's debt which promoted a search for information regarding how to consolidate consumer debt. This week's is a satire about not taking your money with you after death which promoted a search for information regarding how to write a will.

I hope you enjoy the second of the series from the Joke Yard called You Can't Take it with you:

There was a man who had worked all of his life and had saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife." So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him. Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!" she had a shoe box with her, she came over with the box and placed it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away. Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket." She said, "Yes, I promised. I'm a good Christian, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him." "You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?" "I sure did, " said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check."

While its true you can't take it with you, you should plan on how you want your money distributed after you leave this life. Here's an article from US News on How to Write a Will Online that may help you plan how to leave your money to your loved ones and/or good causes.

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 if you have one.