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As I get ready to become a full time blogger, I’m finding more and more accounts and potential gotchas that I need to take care of before it’s too late. I’ve hence come up with a checklist to remind myself to find a solution to everything still outstanding so my finances won’t be affected unexpectedly.
401k The obvious account that I need to take care of is my 401k. I’ve decided to roll everything into a traditional IRA. Since I’m going to be self employed, I can also combine the traditional IRA into my SEP IRA (if I open one). For more options, read what to do with my 401k after I quit.
Checking Account I bank with Wells Fargo and the reason why I have a no fee checking account from them is because of direct deposit. Once I don’t get a regular paycheck, I won’t get any automatic direct deposits going to my checking account. I spoke with a representative at the branch and they say that the monthly fee will be $8. There is a workaround though, which is to open a savings account and have an automatic transfer of at least $25 from checking to savings every month.
I haven’t really decided on what I should do. I can either close my checking account or just open the savings account and leave it alone for a while. What do you suggest?
Benefits and Insurance Luckily for us, my wife will be able to add me to her plan for health, dental and vision benefits. Otherwise, I will need to get my own which could potentially cost me hundreds of dollars a month.
Last Paycheck This might not be on most people’s checklist, but my wife’s last company filed for bankruptcy and she happened to be one of the last people that got all her salary paid in full. Since I’m a salesperson and my commission won’t be until 3-4 weeks after I quit, I need to make sure that my address is correct so the check can be mailed to the right place.
So far, this is all I have remaining. Is there anything I should really look out for? I’d love to hear from you.
I recently experienced a “first” while I was in Las Vegas over the weekend. No it’s probably not what you are thinking since what I’m referring to is cooking while my wife and I are on a trip together. I never thought it was possible but the dinner actually turned out great. We had delicious food, we had fun and we saved a ton of money too.
It all started when my wife noticed that the hotel we stayed at offered a gas grill by the pool side. As our room also provided a dishwasher, plates and utensils, my wife decided to prepare some chicken wings to grill on Saturday night.
It was quite surprising to come back to the hotel room to find uncooked food on the counter but after my wife explained the plans, I was delighted to help and start our evening.
Why Cooking During Our Trip was Amazing The gas grill worked great and we had a lovely dinner outdoors while watching the stars. Here are some other reasons why it was amazing.
No Wait – Everywhere in Las Vegas is packed so it was a good change as there were no lines.
Romantic – It was just the two of us and it was peaceful and also a wonderful night.
It was different – it was surprising to say the least.
And of course, it saved us a ton of money – The night’s cost was about $8 for the two of us since everything else was provided by the hotel. Compare this with the dinner we had the night before that cost us $50.
What I Learned about Saving Money from The BBQ
Think out of the Box – There are always new ways to save money. Be creative.
Don’t be Afraid to Try New Things – If my wife didn’t decide to just prepare the food, I might not think it would be a good idea as we were in a hotel after all. As it turned out, I had a wonderful night and I will probably do it again in the future.
Turn Old Tricks in New by Changing the Environment – If I cooked while I’m on a trip, I might be able to save more money by applying what I already do with one activity and expand it to different environments. Hmm. Time to Start Brainstorming.
I accidentally overheard my coworker’s decision to sell her house as she doesn’t think that she could afford living there anymore. With the recent financial crisis and certain stocks basically going to zero, there are many people who lost a fortune (like this guy who lost $6 million because of Lehman Brothers). Luckily, she still has a job or else the situation will be even worst.
When I found out about the situation, I didn’t know how to react as I feel like we weren’t close enough for me to give her any advice without her feeling offended. However, I feel bad that something like this is happening to someone I know and I really want to help.
This post is intended to bring light to what I observed about her and her lifestyle. Along with the discussion that take place, we can all learn from one another in a real life situation and hopefully she (or someone close to her) will read this and find a way to solve her financial situation.
Money Leaks
Coffee and Sodas – $150 a month The first thing she needs to do is get rid of all her money leaks. Up until recently, she buys a cup of Starbucks coffee as well as a bottle of diet coke everyday. As we all know, $5 a day really adds up. At that rate, it’s $150 a month and we aren’t even talking about interest through the years yet.
Car Selection – $420 a month Unfortunately, she picked a pretty high end vehicle that takes $100 to fill up a tank. As she works 30 miles away from the office, she is spending $600 on gas alone every month. As a comparison, I spend $180 a month. What a big difference.
Many articles that illustrates buying a new car just to save gas is not worth it. In her case though, she should sell her car and buy another least expensive car with that money and save the difference. Once she does that, she can save money on gas, on maintenance and she will also have some leftover money to earn interest.
Utilities – $550 a month Most people seem to think they won’t survive without air conditioning, but it is simply not true. Turn off that air conditioning and open the windows. My electric bill was $13.01 last month while my mom told me theirs were $600. How much was yours?
Eating Out – $200 a month She brings lunches once in a while but if I were her, I would eat lunch and dinner with homemade food only. I regularly hear about her gatherings with friends in what sounds like a pretty high end restaurant. Say it costs $50 per meal and she goes once a week, that’s $200 a month.
Total Savings – $1320 every month. I’m sure there are many more things that she could cut back but without even trying, I just saved her $1320 per month.
Disaster Prevention is More Important than Disaster Recovery
With a little help, she can hopefully get out of her situation and start making the best financial decision moving forward. The true takeaway though is not what you can do when things go wrong but what you can do to prevent a personal financial crisis from happening.
Bad Habits Many money leaks we have are a result of our bad habits. Whether it’s smoking, buying coffee or splurging, we all do one or more of these activities. In order to prevent a financial disaster later in life, we should cut these down as much as possible.
Anything Can Happen In life, you just never know what will happen. Plan for the future and be conservative about how much money you need to retire. Don’t feel like you have to use up every penny of your nest egg before you die because no mathematical formula can ever account for the unknown. What if you live 10 years more than the expected age? Don’t turn a good thing into a bad one.
Develop Your Frugal Mindset As Soon As Possible Once you get used to living a frugal life, it really isn’t that bad. In fact, I just came back from a nice walk which is not only healthy but free. As you start spending less money, there will be more to save. It’s as straight forward as that.
Anything Else?
If you know someone in a similar situation, please share with us so my coworker doesn’t feel like she’s the only one in the world with this problem. Do you have any advices for her that you’d like to add? Share with us so we can all learn.
With all the headlines about the crisis in our financial system, it is very easy to become consumed and worry about our wealth. After all, what else are we supposed to think about when our stock holdings are tumbling in front of us?
Then in the middle of reading about all the financial articles, a tweet from Frugal Dad brings everything back to perspective. His mom is in intensive care unit at the hospital, and all he really wishes for is her to recover. I’d like to use this opportunity to wish him and his mom the best and I want to dedicate this post to her.
I’m the first to admit about the important of money, but as I mature, I discover that there are just so many things more important than how much wealth we have.
Health Without our health, nothing really matters. We all wish that we still had the energy when we were 10 years younger. However, we seldom do anything to slow down this process even though we realize our health slowly deteriorates through time.
We just found out my dad’s bones have severely deteriorated and the doctor told us there’s nothing we could do at this point. As the end result might be a need for a wheelchair, we only now wished that we could’ve done more exercises with him through all these years.
Taking care of our health should be our number one priority. This includes doing adequate exercise and maintaining a balance diet.
Family If our health is like a building, then our family is the foundation that holds the structure up. From our mother’s unconditional love to our spouse’s constant emotional support, many of us usually take it for granted.
We need to constantly tell our loved ones how much we appreciate them and let them know that we care about them. We should also go out of our way to help them, because doing so will allow the family bond to stay strong.
Happiness Some of us feel that money equates to happiness but many of us take it to the extreme and miss the point. What ends up happening is that without really thinking about it, we sacrifice our health and family for potential wealth building opportunities. This sounds illogical if I point out that a common example of this is working excessively, you probably understand why. When you work too hard, you are giving up precious family time and also your health as you spend less hours relaxing and resting trying to get ahead.
Money is only a tool to assist with our lifestyle but it is not the source of our happiness. Focus on being happy, and you will suddenly find that money is not as important as it used to be.
Final Words I want to wish Frugal Dad and his mom the best and I wish that I could do more than writing a blog post about it.
For those reading this piece, I hope that you will focus on what’s truly important. Stay healthy, be happy and let your family know how much you care about them.
What Else is More Important than Money? Let’s share and make a list.
“If you want to make more money, then improve your selling skills.” was what my boss once told me.
At that time, my impression of selling skills is what a used car salesman need. Yes, those people who always over promise and under deliver. It never occurred to me that as an IT professional, selling skills benefited me whatsoever.
The Truth About Selling
Today, I actually think that having good selling skills might be the most important skill set anyone can develop because we have to sell ourselves every day of our lives. It not only helps us save more money, but also earn more money.
I Don’t Want to Go to Traffic School. Some of us have been stopped by the police because of speeding, but most of us probably wished we knew how to convince the officer to not give us a ticket. If there is a legitimate reason why you were speeding, don’t you want to tell the officer in a convincing manner why you should be given a break?
Hire Me or Else. Interviewing is all about selling yourself. During the few short sessions, there is no way for the interviewer to know exactly everything there is to know about you. It is up to you to present everything good about yourself and give the interviewer the impression that you can perform the job at hand.
My wife is amazing at interviews because she knows how to show the best side of her. As a result, she can find jobs much easier than everyone else and probably enjoys a better starting salary too.
I Love Living Here. My boss bought a house recently and got an amazing deal on a model home. He convinced the agent that he was very serious in buying and also had the capability to pay for the house long before the model was available. When the home builder put the model homes on fire sale a few weeks ago, the first person the agent called was my boss.
I am the Used Car Salesman Like it or not, we are all used car salesman at some point in our lives. Being able to sell your car at a good price is not just about luck. Give the potential buyer every reason to buy the vehicle. Why should they buy the car when you don’t want it?
Improvement is a Journey
Some people are just better at selling than others, but no matter how good you are, there’s always room to improve. Try to:
Practice – Try to deliberately practice this. The more you intentionally sell yourself, the more natural you become.
Observe Others – Identify who are the great sellers at your company and after you finish admiring how good he/she, take notice. It’s the way picture they paint, the words they use and the confidence in their tone.
Read Books – There are tons of books on this subject and although most of them tailor to a salesperson, many of the principles apply to everyone. The first sales book I ever read was Little Red Book of Selling and I highly recommend it. For less than $20, you really cannot go wrong.
Take Classes – There are classes these days for just about anything and selling is no different. Ask the sales department for some recommendation. Just make sure you let them know that you aren’t after their job.
Get a Mentor – Ask people you are observing to become your mentor. If you approach them sincerely, you will be surprised that many people will actually be happy to help. Remember to respect their time and show your appreciation to develop a win-win relationship.
Ready to Take Action
A person with strong selling skills will have a better job, make more money and have a better personal life as well. So go work on those selling skills. It may very well transform your life.
Before we complain ever again, we should perhaps come back and re-look at this post. Stop complaining about the government’s involvement on Freddie and Fannae, stop complaining about the stock price, and stop complaining about our job. We are the lucky ones in the world.
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