I’m a bad commenter. Sometimes I don’t revisit places I’ve left comment droppings. Today I found this old comment from Seattle Simplicity, a favorite blogger of mine.

The story of the 40% raise is that I built up a lot of technical skill while working a humdrum job. It was high stress and burnout. At the end of 2 years, a promotion wasn’t forthcoming. I was about to make a lateral move within the firm, and was promised an unspecific raise. However, it was a small firm and they were going to ‘transition’ me. Usually those transitions take months, and I was having none of that. I was fed up and ready to walk, so I did. I found myself another firm that was willing to take the job skills I had and value them at current market rate. I definitely did ask them for an outrageous some of money during the interview process, however, it was the going rate.

Salary.com is a great place to figure out what your regional peers are making. The information comes directly from HR and payroll staff. It’s not self-reported/inflated. This is what people ACTUALLY make from the companies that pay them. However, benefits are not included. This is straight wage income.

Finding out that I was woefully underpaid by my last company was a really shocker. I could actually be making 60% more, but sometimes there are priceless opportunities that you cannot pass up. I took the 40% and tried not to be too greedy.

I can make another 20% easily by switching firms in a year and half. I love double digit raises! Anyone who sticks with a company that isn’t compensating them well should reconsider why they work for their firm. Go back and read Mapgirl, Inc.

If I save approximately 20% of my income per month with a 7 or 8% return, I could be a millionaire by the time I’m 66.

That means I need to save about $1000 a month. That’s a lot of money, but I’ve been doing that to build up my Save-O-Meter. I’m still floating some credit card debt so once the SOM is full, I need to figure out what to do.

This is where fear must be quelled by rational comparisons on interest rates/rates of return. That sounds like homework. I hate homework. (Stand back LAMoneyGuy! Today I am grouchy.)

Thank god my local library has online renewal. I’ve been away for the weekend and forgot that my books were due yesterday. I could have driven over to the library this morning and dropped the books into the book drop, but I am not an early bird. Instead I jumped online and renewed two books all at once before incurring a late fee. Excellent.

If you are a perpetual late fee kind of person, check to see if there’s online renewal at your library. I think no late fees is the genius of Netflix.

Some libraries are now going to collections to gather outstanding fees. Keep that in mind the next time you think you’re going to incur a fee. Pony that money up or else it could hurt your credit report. Besides, it’s your public library is just that, PUBLIC. Therefore it’s your civic duty to be a good brownie and pay those fees.

I like this map, but it never works right for me since I lock down a lot of Active-X/pop-up settings.

Try the lo-fi list.

If you’re in DC near a Metro station, you might want to get added to this list. No, I never get any referring traffic, but I like to go there and spy on my neighbors every once in a while. (just kidding!)

Bubble Meter is on there, one of my favorite Real Estate/PF blogs. It’s funny stuff.

I’m feeling a little local these days. Exploring your own backyard for hidden gems is a frugal way to enjoy life without slogging a lot of miles on travel. I spent all three nights of the holiday weekend in different states. (Four, if you go Friday - Monday nights.) I went out of my way only about 70 miles. It cost me hardly anything in extra gas. I paid about $60 for camping/groceries on one leg of my trip, $55 for dinner, movie and barbecue on another leg. Out of pocket, my holiday cost me about $120 extra beyond what I would have spent if I only did the road trip home. (And I actually got to avoid one toll charge.) I didn’t stay in a hotel anywhere and still managed to have a very fun filled weekend with good friends and family. A memorable trip all around.

If you want more traffic to your blog, try getting interviewed by Jim at
Blueprint for Prosperity. Jim is a swell guy and has lots of subscribers to his feed. I noticed a considerable jump in traffic after he interviewed me.

It was fun to do and it helps crystalize your thoughts about your own blog and its purpose.

Other good interviews are at Money Blogger Podcast. I think Scott does a great job interviewing his guests.

No Credit Needed has podcasts, but the NCN Network also has interviews too. I’m a participating member of NCN Network. I have about 26% left before reaching my goal.

Side note: I got one more link with TLLB and now I am a Lowly Insect! Thanks Rocket Jones & any Munuvian visitors!

If you have any submissions to next week’s Carnival of Personal Finance, please submit them this week. I’ll be hosting next week and I look forward to reading submissions, especially by new PF bloggers.

Carnival of Personal Finance #50 is available now at My Open Wallet. It’s a rainbow of delights!

NPR ran the story this morning. I only caught the tail end about Josh (?) Levy and his frugal habits. NPR is running a series of stories and there should be another one next week.

I am bookmarking this for myself. So there will be no posting till Monday at the earliest.

Plans for the weekend are rapidly evolving right now. Please call me if you need me.

I got my God of Wealth Good Luck coin last week or the week before. I’ve been crazy busy that I forgot to post it here. I was lucky and I was issued Coin #1. That’s Ichiban to you, as in Number One, Best. I haven’t quite yet decided how to give it away since I will be seeing a few prominent bloggers this weekend and they might be worthy of the gift of good luck and wealth.

I also got my $5 gas card just for getting an insurance quote at Liberty Mutual. I will try to use it this weekend when I go on my holiday weekend drive. I wish I could tell you that this was available to everyone, but I got the card through an alumni club special offer. But you might want to ask for one anyway. If you do and receive it, please let me know so that we can spread the word. Thanks!

I’ll post again one more time before I head out for the weekend.

Peoria Pundit has linked back to me and a few of his readers are clicking through. I’d like to extend a hearty welcome to them. Please leave me a comment if you’re visiting from Peoria.

I would like to say that two websites don’t make the Blogosphere, but I hope this story spreads the word.

I was inspired to write this from a post at Yet Another Blog About Money.

Reverse mortgages are aimed at older people who have a lot of equity in their homes. The idea is that you mortgage it out to a bank and instead of you making a payment to the bank, they pay you every month. Basically you are making a loan to the bank and they are buying you out of your house. You can receive the distribution as a lump-sum option up front too, but I’m sure the loan product interest rate is calculated to adjust for the present value of the cash, etc.

If you read the link above from the AARP, they have a good set of references that I suggest people read. If you are like me, and have parents who are exploring their housing options please read up. Your folks might have heard of this product and think it’s going to be their regular income, coupled with their Social Security payment and help them cruise through their declining years. I am not so sure.

I think a person should keep their house as long as they can without pulling out equity. Before older folks retire completely, they ought to fix up long-term repairs (like a 20-year roof) while they still have steady income. Large home repairs are difficult to pay once folks are on a fixed income. Retired seniors are ripe for home-repair scammers to con them out of their money.

They are also going to have to plan their property tax burden as well. Say the home is paid off and there’s no more escrow account. The tax man is going to ring once or twice a year asking for property taxes. At this point I bet selling the house and renting sounds pretty good. I bet the reverse mortgage sounds great too since there would be money still coming in. However I see reverse mortgages as eroding wealth accumulation. I feel like it’s a last resort/desperation option and not a bedrock strategy.

I still don’t know the answer to these things, but these are the thoughts I’ve been having lately about aging and finances. I’m nowhere near retirement, but my folks definitely are and decisions we discuss now will have an impact 5, 10, 20 years down the road.