Pieces of the Master Plan

Well, it's not fancy but it is looking a little more like a kitchen.  I took a half day off last Friday and managed to get this cabinet up.

I hid my storage containers in the upper cabinet which frees up space on the shelves by the sink.  Next step, put up small shelves and a pot rack, remove the trim I used to cover the paneling seam and put up something for the backsplash.  I have this wacky idea to use a leftover piece of vinyl flooring for the backsplash.  I'll take a picture if I try it.

I have 3 more vacation days to use up before December 8th so I plan to take every Friday off until then.  It is quite nice to have 4 day weeks but on Monday I will have twice as many emails to answer. I can't escape the work.  My plans for Friday are clean up outside, store the shade cloth, roll up hoses, stack construction materials nicely.  Then maybe go through some of the boxes in my bedroom and organize the kitchen.

Every month I track the value of my house and rental house on Zillow and my 401K balance.  I have a certain number in mind before I retire/change careers.  Today I was only $2,000 away from my goal.  That is amazing.  I know the housing market and stock market fluctuate a lot but if I am that close now then I am pretty sure I will surpass my goal by my target date of my 45th birthday 1 1/2 yrs away).  It is great to see the pieces falling in to place.

Adding Up The Stocks

I got my final stock checks in the mail. The total came to $3,429. Not as great as I had originally hoped but more than my goal of $3,000. The only problem is that I spent half of the money on my Thanksgiving trip. Oh well, it was for a good cause.

Tomorrow is payday and I have been waiting to pay my property tax bill until I had enough money in my account. It will be nice to get rid of that bill and not have to worry about it for another year.

I usually pre-pay my state taxes by giving a donation to the schools in December but my budget is so tight that the money will have to come out of my extra mortgage money. I usually get all the money back but I have to wait until I do my taxes and get my refund. That will probably be March.

In other news, a friend invited me to bring stuff over for a garage sale on Saturday. Maybe I can get my dinette, drafting table and glider rocker sold before the dogs destroy them. It will be so nice to have the empty space. The only down side is that I have to get up at 6am on a Saturday. ugh.

Quiet Week

It is so quiet this week with so many people on vacation. There were only 2 other people in the office today. I didn't bring a dog because I brought one yesterday, my own dog Jimmie, and he was a pain. He wanted to run around and he barked when I wouldn't let him. I finally took him for a walk and then chased him around the building a few times to tire him out and he went to sleep.

When I got home today I checked the mail, hopeful that I got another stock check. No, I didn't. I actually got another one of my letters marked return to sender. I hate wasting stamps like that. I am all out of stamps now. Also in the mail was my $50 check for taking surveys. That was probably 6 months of surveys. I was looking forward to having a few extra dollars but then I opened the next letter and it was a bill for $86 for the last doctor's appointment that I went to. I was hoping that would somehow go away. My dog's license renewal notice showed up this week too. $34 for shots, $15 for a license. I'll have to take care of that in the next few weeks.

I found the correct address for the stock and stuffed the form in to a new envelope. Maybe I will see a check in two more weeks. I would like to get them all sold before the end of the year and that is approaching very quickly.

Drip By Drip

I love checking the mail right now. Every few days I get another stock check. Today's check was for $577! Woohoo! That brings my total to $2,200. Only $800 away from my goal. Two more stock checks to go. I think I will get close. I'm happy I made it over $2,000.

It was another slow day at work. More people left for their vacations and the rest of us were mentally gone. I should have brought a dog with me but I was planning on going to the grocery store after work. By the time 5 o'clock came around I was too tired to go to the store. I looked at my list and decided there wasn't anything on there that was urgent.

Tomorrow is another pet store day. I thought about buying some sand for my dog run since Home Depot is next door to the pet store but then I thought, I am surrounded by sand out here in the desert. All I need to do is shovel some sand in to the dog run. It's free. It just requires some manual labor. I hope to fix my fence and get a flu shot. I have already over-committed myself. I'll be lucky if I get half of those things done. What I would really like to do is take a nap in the middle of the day. I haven't done that in a while and it isn't going to happen this weekend either.

My Own Mutual Fund

I have my own collection of individual stocks which I call my mutual fund. They are all dividend reinvestment stocks and most are direct purchase so I didn't need a broker. I bought them back in 2000 when I got my first full time job and stock prices were high. I planned to hold them long term so I wasn't worried about their value.

With all that has gone on since 2000, I am not surprised that they aren't worth as much as I had hoped, although I am disappointed. Every year at tax time I added up their totals since I have to pay tax on the dividends. I had hoped they would be worth $5k, then when the economy tanked I hoped for $4k, then GM went bankrupt and I hoped for $3.5k. I just added them up and they are barely worth $3k. The worst losses in value came from Motorola and Eastman Kodak. This is a bad time to sell.

I suppose 10 years is a long term investment to some and not long enough for others. If I don't sell them and use the proceeds for my mortgage then I will have to add at least 2 more months on to my mortgage plan. Ugh, that sound awful. If I don't sell, I should at least sell Motorola and Kodak and reinvest in one of the other stocks that has done well over the last 10 years like Proctor and Gamble. Maybe that would give my little mutual fund a chance to grow.

I haven't decided what I will do yet. 8 more months for the mortgage seems like a very long time and that's IF my tenant pays regularly. Then there's the capital gains tax that is going up next year. I should sell now or many years from now. Decisions, decisions.

I Want This House

I want a lot of things. With housing prices dropping I decided to peek at some of the ones for sale around me. There was a neighborhood built across the main street from my rental house after I bought my house. I liked the houses. They had more character than my neighborhood. I found a house for sale in that neighborhood for $103,000. It is 1,300 sq.ft., 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, the only down side is that it only has a one car garage. The builders started doing that so that they could offer lower priced homes. It originally sold for $137,000 (I bought my house for $131,000). I wonder if they would accept $100,000? I like even numbers.

It doesn't really matter though. I don't have 30% to put down for a rental house. Or 20% for a personal residence. I wonder if they still do home equity lines of credit to get out of paying PMI (private mortgage insurance). That's what I did when I bought my house and only put 10% down. Still, I could only scrape up $7,000 if I had to.

What would I do with a house? Well, that is the big question. Would I cart all of my dogs over there and drive the neighbors crazy? Probably not a good idea. Would I rent it out? Gee, I just "love" being a landlord.

If I planned to work at my job for a long time I would seriously consider buying another rental and letting a management company manage it for me. It would be a part of my long term retirement income plans. But I have to decide what my priorities are. Do I want a richer retirement later on or a modest retirement sooner? I give myself different answers depending on the day. Today I would have to say that I would choose the modest retirement sooner. So, no house for me. I'll stick to my original plan...although I reserve the right to change my mind at any time!

GM Stock And My Taxes

I searched around the internet today to see what I could find on the old GM stock. There is plenty out there to read. I had to keep checking the date on the articles because the early ones gave a glimmer of hope and the later ones pretty much gave up entirely. I learned that I should have sold it in December in order to take the loss on my taxes this time. I thought the stock just went away but no. It is being traded as MTLQQ and is worth 58 cents a share today.

I have 32 shares x .58 that's $18.56. What's the fee to sell? Probably $10 or $15. I'm not going to do it just yet. I'll wait until I am ready to sell my other stocks. I can't claim the loss until next years taxes anyway so there is no rush.

I also found a site trying to sell me a cost-basis calculator exclusively for GM stock. On sale for ONLY $70! I kept all of my stock summary letters so I think I can figure out how much I paid. I think I only bought it two times...maybe three.

And for those of you interested, I tried the Chocolate Cheerios today and they did remind me of little frosted donuts. They were sweeter than I expected. Not really something I would eat for breakfast regularly unless I liked a morning sugar-rush. Maybe I can mix them with plain Cheerios and tone them down a bit. I have to think of something, I have a whole box to eat.

A Taxing Weekend

This was another weekend for the dogs. After yesterday's rained out Animal Fair, I decided to take one of my fosters to the bookstore adoption event across town. I was going to leave early but there was a lot of interest in my dog and at the end someone was serious about adopting him. I brought him to their house to make sure they had good fences and that he got along with their other dog and cat. All went well. They didn't even mind when he peed around the backyard...and in the house. He only marked his territory at my house for a day or so (until I got the other male dog who peed everywhere).

After that I picked up one of my old foster dogs who was returned because the people decided they weren't dog people. She is a mellow black lab/chow mix but she steals my dog's treats. She doesn't play much either so I hope she finds a new home soon. Of course, my little foster dog is trying to be dominant and barking his little head off again.

Since it was rainy and cold I decided to start my taxes. I have used H&R Block for the last 2 years so I tried it again. It turns out that they have made all but the very simplest return require an upgrade. The upgrade that I would need for dividends and rental income costs $50. I went through the program just to see how much I would owe and it said $604. That would totally deplete my mobile home renovation fund.

I was talking to my Mom and she said that my sister used TaxAct. I looked at that site 2 years ago and wasn't impressed but they have made some real improvements. Plus, they will still let me use the free version even with dividends and rental income. I put in all of my information again and it said I owe $590. That's better. But then I remembered that I forgot to calculate depreciation for my rental house. I just guessed at the amount because I don't have last years tax records handy yet but I believe that I am not going to owe any taxes after all. That's what I like to hear.

I still need to go through it again and check my numbers but I feel much better. It doesn't look like I'll have to add any months on to my mortgage plan in order to pay my taxes. I also added up my stock and found that it only adds up to $3,645 right now. I was hoping for $4k at least. I'm not going to sell it yet so it still has time to grow. Maybe it will double in the next 6 months. One can always hope.

Retirement Fund Rebound

I got this link in my inbox today from my Vanguard retirement account.
Why So Many Americans Are Broke. I didn't think it was a great article. I especially thought point #3 was crazy. First of all the research was from 1981. Couldn't they find anything more relevant, I mean gas is $3 a gallon now. They expect me to drive 20 minutes to save $5? Besides the gas, my time is worth more than that. Maybe if I had other errands in the same area, but I don't want to make a special trip.

I kind of have the same dilemma right now. I want a $19 RV sink that is located 45 minutes away. I could make do with a single bowl sink for $25 and buy it close by but I really want a double bowl sink so I am waiting until I can combine the trip with another errand on that side of town. I have to wait until Sunday but I don't have an immediate need for the sink (other than I just WANT IT NOW). If it was just the $5 savings ($6 in this case), I wouldn't drive all that way. But because it is a hard to find size plus a good price, I am willing to drive across town.

Besides the amusing article from my retirement fund, I also checked my balance and was pleased to see that it was only $500 away from it's peak back in 2007. Hopefully it will keep gaining and make up for the last 2 pitiful years.

Shooting For The Moon

I was talking to someone today who is putting a large amount of money in to peer to peer lending. He is very excited and sure that he will double his money in 5 years with a 12-14% interest rate. He is so sure about this plan that he is using most of his retirement money in the hopes that he can re-coup the recent losses and put his 10 year retirement plan back on track. I sure do hope it works out for him. That is more risk than I am willing to take although he doesn't admit there is much risk at all.

My retirement plans are much shorter. I would like to have the option to retire in 2 years with any additional work time padding my bank account. I'm not willing to try any risky investments for such a short period of time. Perhaps after I have reached my retirement goal, I will have extra money to use for creative investing. But even then, it will be small sums that won't derail my life if I lose them.

Sad CD Rates, But Better Than Nothing

My parents have a small nest egg that has been percolating in a nice Washington Mutual CD for the last year. It was bought up by Chase Bank but it kept it's 4% interest rate. Now it is ready to roll over and CD rates are dismal. Using bankrate's CD finder I found that GMAC bank has the best rate right now. That's not surprising. GM is on the verge of bankruptcy so they want as much cash as they can get. Don't worry though, it is FDIC insured and if they do go bankrupt someone will buy the bank, I'm sure, at least they'll buy the assets. Just like Chase did with WaMu. Here's the list of rates as of 4/22/09. OCCU is my credit union. I thought I would include them for comparison. They used to be competitive. In fact I have a CD with them that comes out in September. I'll definitely be moving it somewhere else.

GMAC: 3m-1.75%, 6m-2.25%, 9m-2.3%, 12m-2.75%, 2y-2.9%, 3y-3.2%
Discover: 3m-1.25%, 6m-1.75%, 9m-1.9%, 12m-2.35%, 2y-2.72%, 3y-3.06%
Chase: 9m-1.5%, 12m-1.75%
OCCU: 6m-1.2%, 12m-1.5%

I suggested that my mom split her money in to 3 or 4 CDs for different lengths, that way she will have money available for bills or other projects and if she finds a higher CD rate some time in the (hopefully near) future her money won't be tied up for a long time.

I have $2,000 of my emergency fund that needs a safe place to grow. It has been padding my checking account but next month I should have enough padding so it will be safe to put that money in a 3 month CD.

Remember when CD rates were at 5%? It seems like so long ago. I am very glad I decided to pay down my mortgage instead of saving the money in short term investments. It is much more motivating and fun to see my mortgage disappear.

Mars Doesn't Want Me

I mentioned in a previous post that Mars, Inc., the candy maker, bought Wrigley's, the gum people. This is disappointing because Wrigley's used to give out free gum every December to every stockholder, even if you just owned one share like I did.

This week I received a letter informing me that my Wrigley's shares (I just bought another share so I had 2 shares plus dividend reinvestments) will NOT be transferred to Mars shares. They gave me a check for my Wrigley's shares and I guess they don't want anything more to do with me. I wonder if they allowed ANY Wrigley's stockholders to join the Mars club. Perhaps I didn't own enough shares or maybe...I can't even guess.

Why do you think it is that Mars doesn't want me? And what shall I do with my $250 check? I hadn't planned to sell my stocks until the end of my mortgage repayment plan (in about 2 years). Should I buy more shares of another stock I own since prices are very low right now? Or should I just forget about keeping my stock money together and put this little bit towards the mortgage now?

A Little Feel-Good Video From Vanguard

Human resources sent out an email to the whole company today telling us to go to the Vanguard website if we have concerns about our retirement plans. Here is a little Vanguard video to reassure us that everything is going to be ok.

Basically it says we should all do nothing. That is easy for us folks that have plenty of time before retirement. If I was one of the many people who were going to retire in the next 5 years, I think I would be worried. I am one of the youngest people in our company. There are many that have been there 40+ years. Not to be pessimistic or anything but it seems to me that if you work in to your 70's and all you've ever done is sit behind a desk you might not have the health and longevity to make it to your 100's. Still, that would be a good 30 more years of retirement to have to pay for. I would hate to work until I was 70 just to use all of my savings on a nursing home.

Anyway, I will do what Vanguard says and do nothing except continue my monthly investments. I think my money is diversified enough so that I don't have to worry...let's see...401k mutual funds-not doing well, individual stocks-not doing well, real estate-not doing well, undeveloped land-not doing well, collectibles-not doing well, coin collection-um, hey, I think my coin collection hasn't gone down in value. Oh wait, the dollar has weakened. Hmmm, maybe I should go buy some gold bars. I still have a job. Those are becoming pretty scarce. Right now my job is my most valuable investment. Funny thing is, it's also the thing I want to get rid of the most.

My Fun Stocks Are Losing Their Appeal

When I got my first real job I started reading books on personal finance. I was interested in buying stocks and decided to jump right in with some companies that have direct purchase plans and dividend reinvestment programs. I thought of some companies I liked or at least recognised (not the best way to pick stock, I know). I ended up with Nabisco, GM, Xerox, Kodak, Marriott, Weyerhauser, Proctor and Gamble, Motorola and Wrigley's. Nabisco tripled in value the following month when they were bought by someone else. Unfortunately, I only had 1 share. Xerox cut their dividend to zero and I eventually sold it at a loss. The rest have gone up and down and every so often I buy a little more.

Wrigley's was my favorite. It wasn't a direct purchase stock, I had to get a share transferred from my sister. But I wanted Wrigley's for one reason...they gave every shareholder gum for the holidays. It was great, I only owned one share but every year I would get my box of gum. I don't even like gum that much but I love free gum. I would hand it out to friends and strangers and tell them about my free gum. Then, last week, I got a letter in the mail saying that Mars wants to buy Wrigley's and they want me to vote yes to allow it to happen. Mars? The candy bar people? Are they going to send me free candy bars every Christmas? I sincerely doubt it. I want my free gum! I don't want to vote yes if it means no more free gum. They said I would be paid an extra 50 cents per share. So what? I only own one share. 50 cents will buy what?...one pack of gum? I'm voting no.

How Much Do I Need To Save For Retirement?

I have been reading a lot of articles and advice on how much to save for retirement, how Americans aren't saving enough and how I need millions of dollars or else I will run out of money and have to eat cat food or go back to work when I am 75.

I am confused. Since I am single I assume that I only have to worry about taking care of myself. Right now my monthly bills including utilities equal $700/month. Then my mortgage costs me $800/month but I should only have to pay for taxes, insurance and maintenance once my mortgage is gone so I will add $300 a month to my $700. I would also like to have some fun money so I will add $500/month. Ok, I can live on $1500/month after taxes. Now the only thing that I have to worry about is inflation. According to MSN Money's Retirement Calculator which says it factors in a 3% inflation rate, my current nest egg will keep me comfortable long past my 85th birthday.

So, now what do I do? I am still contributing to my 401k to get the company match and next year I can participate in profit sharing which goes in to my 401k also. I just wonder if I should be putting more money in just in case I get married and have kids or something else unforseen happens that will cause me to need a lot more money when I retire. I hear a lot of talk about not saving enough but I don't hear people talk about what they do after they have reached their retirement savings goal. The articles make it seem like people keep contributing to their retirement up to the day they retire. I suppose once that goal is reached people can retire early but what if my money is not real yet? I am merely anticipating that it will grow over the next 30 years. There is no way I could retire now unless I liquidated all of my assets and I don't want to do that. Is it misguided to stop focusing on retirement and change my goals to building non-retirement wealth when I am only 35?

Maybe I am missing something. I would hate to find out that I really didn't have enough saved 30 years from now. But from where I sit now, I think I'm doing ok.

My Stock Dividends-Free Gum!

Wrigley's is my favorite stock. I don't say this because of its value or company outlook. I am not trying to encourage other people to buy it to raise the price. I am merely stating a fact. They give me free gum every year thus they are my favorite stock. I guess I am easily swayed. I don't even like gum that much. I still have gum from last year, some Citrus-mint stuff. This year they gave out their newest gum called "5". I lost a pack in the car and the next day my car reeked of spearmint. It's strong stuff.

Anyway, Wrigley's gives out packs of gum to its shareholders every December. I found this out from my sister who owned stock and she gave me one share for Christmas one year. Now I get free gum every year and I get to watch my little stock go up (and down) and earn dividends which get reinvested. Eventually I will have 2 shares. After my house is paid off I would like to put a little bit more money in to my "pet stocks" as I call them. I have a few shares from about 10 companies that I bought when I got my first job. Wrigley's is my favorite though. None of my other stocks give me free gum!