Weekdend Round Up - Happy Dad's Day Ya'll

Hope everyone's having a wonderful Sunday with their Dad's.

This past week in the PF Bloggers World was most exciting a few highlights to check out are:

This week Ashley from Wide Open Wallet and I exchanged financial data and posted Millionaire in the Making Stories about each other.

Kristy from Master Your Card posted about how young is too young to have a credit card. I have to say I got my first card that I was responsible for when I was 18 however I listed as an authorized user on one of my mom's credit cards since I was 12. About a year ago I had to ask my mom to take me off of as being an authorized user because it was great when I was younger to have a long credit history but the balance my mom carried on that card was hurting my debt to credit limit since she was close to maxed out on the credit card.

No Debt Plan's Kevin shared about do-it-your-self projects. I think I'm like Kevin a lot in that my DIY project end up taking forever and a day longer than planned. About 4 months ago I bought an unfinished side table and you guessed it - it only have one coat on it right now. Maybe Kevin's success story will help motivate me to finish it up.

Living Almost Large posted about Medical Costs in Retirement. I know that's a big concern for a lot of retirees. I guess I'll have to make sure my mortgage is paid off so I can afford medical care in retirement.

Congrats go out to Ginger from Girls Just Wanna Have Funds for being featured on Good Morning America. -- You go girl!

Also out side of the PF Bloggers World Banker Girl posted 6 Secrets for Fast-Tracking your climb up the corporate ladder. Very useful to me since I'm aiming to make it to the next rung this year.

Millionaire in the Making

I’m a huge fan of the Millionaire in the Making stories that CNN Money publishes. Ashley from Wide Open Wallet and I decided to swap financial data and write each other’s Millionaire in the Makings stories. You can view my story written by Ashley at her blog Wide Open Wallet, below is her story.

Millionaires in the Making:

Ashley and her Dear Husband (DH)

Ages: Ashley 31, DH 42
Occupations: SAHM and Telecommunications Installer
Salary: Approximately $91,000 combined
Home and Land Value: $110,000 estimated equity
Retirement: $17,200
Cash on Hand: Approx $20,000
Monthly Expenses: $4,000 - $5,000
Debt: $34,732 outside of mortgage

Ashley started her blog, Wide Open Wallet, because she wanted an outlet to share her financial views since according to Ashley her friends grew tired of listening to her talk about personal finance. So you know this couple has to have their head on straight when it comes to money.

The couple has two young children, a girl and a boy. Ashley’s DH works in telecommunication as a telephone system installer and she stays home with the children. Ashley plans to eventually return to work after their youngest goes back to school but that won’t be for a few more years. However, she had tried a few part time jobs such as elder care but it’s not really worked out for the time and energy involved.

Currently the household earns around $91,000 a year. This is great considering the household expenses are between $4,000 and $5,000 each month. They have minimum debt out side of their mortgage. Their total non-mortgage debt is $34,732, which is comprised mainly of car loans.

The couple bought their current home in 2004 for $184,000. The home is in a great location in Arizona and has appreciated in value since purchasing. Currently the house is appraised at over $250,000 despite the current housing crisis.

Unfortunately, the couple got a late start saving for retirement. Currently DH has $2,700 in an IRA and is contributing $100 a month. Ashley has a retirement plan that’s currently valued at $14,500 and is saving $50 a month towards her retirement.

The couple’s financial goals include providing for their children and one day retiring.

Future Millionaire’s Take

With their current savings and home value Mom and her DH are well on their way to becoming millionaires – it’s just a matter of when. Calculating a modest return of 7% they will become millionaires in 43 years.

But the even bigger question for this couple will be “Is a Million Dollars Enough for Retirement?” This is a big question for Mom and her DH that needs to be investigated. I recommend they review their current spending and determine which expenses they will still have in retirement and any future expenses, including medical, they might have. Then develop an approximate monthly budget for retirement and add at least a 10% safety net. This will give Ashley and her DH a goal amount and can adjust their savings accordingly. Then determine what monthly contribution is needed to reach this goal. One can determine this by using Bankrate’s calculator for saving goal.

While they are starting to work towards their retirement goal Ashley and her DH should tackle some other financial objectives. Priority number one should be building up their emergency fund to have between 8 – 12 months of living expenses. Even at their bare minimum expenses of $4,000 they only have 5 months and that includes liquidating all sources of cash on hand, not just their emergency fund. The other piece of securing their emergency fund is to make sure it’s earning some money, put it in a high yield Money Market or On-line savings account where they still have easy access but are gaining some interest at the same time.

Ashley and her DH should also look into starting to plan for their kid’s college. As young as their children are who knows if Daughter or Son will go to college but by starting to save for them now will save their children from the burden of working full time while in college or having to take out student loans. (I fully support kids being responsible for a portion of their education, it will make them value it more but if possible it’s nice if parents are able to help them out). The best way to start saving for their children’s college expenses is via a state 529 plan. This allows for tax exempt dollars to be saved and grow to be used towards college expenses much like a 401k except you’re not taxed on the money at the time of withdraw if its used for college expenses. If they are not sure if Daughter or Son will attend college they can still save because they can change the beneficiary to another qualifying family member at any time in order to keep the account going and avoid taking non-qualified withdrawals when the original beneficiary doesn't need those funds. And even if all else fails 529 Federal law only imposed a 10% penalty on the earnings from this plan.

Once their Emergency Fund contains between 8-12 months of living expenses and college savings has been started for their children Mom and her DH should look into accelerating their debt pay off and then establish a future car savings account so that any future car purchases can be paid in full and avoid paying interest. After that Ashley and her DH should just focus on enjoying a good financial future.

All in all Ashley and her DH are right on track to be Millionaires in the Making.

Monday Money's Funny -- Too Happy to be Rich

One of the regular features on my blog is "Monday's Money Funny" which are humorous (at least to me) articles/jokes/just about anything 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 the previous Monday Money Funny was a not so Funny Money Funny about being unable to Afford the Mortgage.

This week's Monday Money Funny is from CNN Money. Its an article called What to be Rich? Don't get to Happy.

Below are highlights from the article, click here to read the article in full:

"Diener and his colleagues used data from the World Values Survey, which measures the happiness of respondents on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 the happiest). They found that income did indeed increase along with happiness but not at the very top. The 10s earned significantly less than the 8s and the 9s. The latter were also more likely to have gone to college, have engaged in the political process and have saved money."

For those of you too happy to get rich here's a few resources to help you still get rich. (PS Teach me to be that happy!)

Business Week's Advice for How to Get a Raise at Work Ieke's Top Ten Saving Money Tips


Stay tuned for next week's Monday's Money Funny. If you run across any Money 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.

Weekend Round Up

I had a lovely weekend. We celebrated my mom's Birthday and I baked a storm. I spend all of Saturday in the kitchen but it was well worth it to see my mom so appreciative. So times in life the best presents are the ones that are of your time and energy.

Now for some highlights from this week in the PF Blogger World:

Our Four Pence Worth's Penelope Pince posted Simple Solutions to Staying out of Debt.
Kristy from Master Your Card posted about the Modern "Necessities" that Drain your Cash. (Althought I have to say I love my cable TV)
Girls Just Wanna have Fund's Ginger provide a great link for the Ultimate Graduation Resource List. Good luck to all of your recent Graduates!
Mom @ Wide Open Wallet posted about the Opportunity Cost of Having a Baby. Its very interesting read for any one especially a career woman.
No Debt Plan's Kevin post about Portion Control and your Finances. I'm always worried about portion control for food and finances as a Marathon Runner and as a Future Millionaire.
Living Almost Large posted Food Inflation. No wonder my grocery bill keeps going up.
And Seb from Pinching Copper with is humorously truthful posted posted the death of the SUV with rising gas prices.

Carnival of Personal Finance #155

The Carnival of Personal Finance #155 Hosted by Pinyo @ Moolanomy is up and running.

Check out my article which is post #4 under Money Management.

There's a ton of great articles (a total of 98), I know what I'll be doing this weekend in addition to celebrating my mom's B-day.

While you're reading all of the great articles - the ones I scanned so far seem to be very useful (especially the career ones in my case) don't forget to check out fellow PF Bloggers posts by Our Four Pence and Living Almost Large that were included in the Carnival.

My Annual Review is coming up

My annual performance review is coming up and one of my financial goals for this year is to obtain a promotion.

I'm a little worried that my goal of a promotion might not happen this year, not because of a lack of performance on my part but because my role in the company has changed. The new role which is on a difference career ladder I've only been performing for about 6 weeks now, definitly not enough to prove myself in to obtain a promotion but I definitly deserved in my old role.

I feel like a promotion was coming if I had been able to stay in my old role or go back to preconstruction, especially since on Monday my old boss, who's doing my review, called to make sure I was going to fill out a skills assessment that he was going to email me. I said I'd never heard of it before and he said it was a tool that he liked to use to prove to the brass that someone was ready for a promotion.

I've filled that form out and have all of my other ducks in a row to prove I'm ready for a promotion so we'll see how it all goes - unfortunately I won't find out anything until late August.

So we'll see how it all turns out - wish me luck.

Monday's Money Funny --- Can't Afford Mortgage

One of the regular features on my blog is "Monday's Money Funny" which are humorous (at least to me) articles/jokes/just about anything 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 the previous Monday Money Funny was a about the Cost of Pop Culture Icons in today's Dollars.

This week's Money Funny really is not funny, it really sad, but I wanted to use it as a Monday Money Funny because I wanted to share the advice I've found on coping with situations like this.

Last week, Kevin from No Debt Plan wrote a post called People Living in Cars in Santa Barbara that he read about from CNN. (You can check out the full article here.)

Highlights from the CNN article are below:
A former loan processor, the 67-year-old mother of three grown children said she never thought she'd spend her golden years sleeping in her car in a parking lot.

"This is my bed, my dogs," she said. "This is my life in this car right now."

Harvey was forced into homelessness this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.

"It went to hell in a handbasket," she said. "I didn't think this would happen to me. It's just something that I don't think that people think is going to happen to them, is what it amounts to. It happens very quickly, too."

Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament.

If you find your self in a situation where you can't afford your mortgage payments, my advice would be to get out as soon as you discover this problem because its not going to get better only worse. Since I'm not a trained professional that's only my gut instinct but I've found many reputable sources with similar suggestions as well as step by step methods.
New York States Guide to When You Can't Afford Your Mortgage
Non-Profit Neighborhood Works' Mortgage Solutions
HUD's Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure

I hope no one is facing this problem but I know with the current housing market problems and US economy this could be a very real problem for many.

Stay tuned for next week's Monday's Money Funny. If you run across any Money 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.

Weekend Round Up

I was sick most of last week so I had plenty of time to read blogs. Here's some of the highlights from this last week in the PF Blogger world.

Living Almost Large posted about Money Personalities. I checked out the quiz and discovered I'm 38% Saver, 25% Empire Builder, and 13% Guardian.

Jonathan from Master Your Card posted 7 Ways to Curb Overspending. I think I do/will try all of them except I probably won't be freezing my credit cards any time.

Our For Pence Worth's Penelope posted a Vacation Checklist. Which is perfect for me since I'll be leaving for my cruise on July 11th.

Seb at Pinching Copper wrote a very interesting post about Pennies, especially since his blog name is about saving pennies.

Wide Open Wallet's Mom pulled out her budget from last year to check her personal inflation. I love the idea, now I need to go dig around and bull my budget from last year to compare.

Don't forget to check out all of the PF Blogger's blogs and posts by visiting the left tool bar for the links. Hope everyone has a great week.

Net Worth Update -- June 2008

	Updated 5/31/08	Change from Previous Update	Updated 4/29/08
Total Net Worth	$104,853.72	$4,777.40	$100,076.32
Net Worth Comprised of
Retirement Savings:	$29,559.78	$1,728.25	$27,831.53
401k	$23,571.07	$1,347.39	$22,223.68
Roth IRA	$5,988.71	$380.86	$5,607.85
House Down Payment/CD's:	$57,244.83	$163.70	$57,081.13
Future Car Savings	$5,300.72	$5,100.45	$200.27
Emergency Fund/Money Market:	$11,207.28	-$3,738.37	$14,945.65
"Cash"/Checking:	$1,541.11	$1,523.37	$17.74

I'm less than $150 away from my goal net worth for 2008 and the year is only half way over. YAY! This means I need to reevaluate my net worth goal. I have increased my net worth goal to $127,000. I came up with this number based upon my current net worth plus what I anticipate contributing to retirement via my 401k and Roth IRA ($10,250), plus what I anticipate receiving as a bonus after taxes from the project I just completed ($10,000), plus my monthly car savings for the next 6 months ($900), and then I added saving an extra $100/month and rounded up.

I think this new goal is definitely achievable but I will have to push myself to achieve it because it extends beyond my automatic savings.

The Cost of Getting Sick

I have a viral infection...oh the joy. At first I thought it might just be a cold but then Wednesday I woke up with a fever and knew I couldn't go to work and I needed to go visit the doctor. I've since spend the last few days laying in bed trying to get better.

Fortunately my fever finally broke today and I'm starting to feel much better, I started thinking about the finances involved in being sick.

Doctors Visit Co-Pay: $20
Soar Throat Drops: $3.00
Nose Spray: $3.50
Sudafed PE: $6.00
Box of Kleenex: $1.50
Prescription Co-Pay: $40
Special Sick/Comfort Food: $15
"Vacation Days" from Work: Loss of real vacation since vacation day had to be used for sick days

All in all the damage from being sick is $89 -- its a good thing this is the first time I've been sick in about 4 years. Fortunately I also have a flexible spending account that allows me to get reimbursed for most of these expenses with pre-tax dollars.