Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

I’m a big consumer of the Washington Post and WAMU (NPR-affiliate at American University).

Here’s a few stories I thought were great and wanted to pass along. Keep in mind, the Washington Post articles may require login. I recommend BugMeNot.com if you need one. But the Post doesn’t spam you if you sign up. (Not that I’ve noticed. They only bombard you if you get email news alerts. That I do regret.)

From Michelle Singletary’s column, Military Money Makeovers. This year she features three couples in the military or affiliated, and I’m actually kind of surprised. Some of them make really good money, yet seem to indulge themselves or else not crunch the numbers to make sense (going upside down on cars or losing money on a rental property). What makes me sad is that these are folks making really good money, but there’s a lot of younger military couples out there trying to scrape by on even less.

Kiplinger’s via WaPo: Tax Planning for your first job. Good advice for new hires!

Couples and their differing money styles. I think this is a great article. It’s a good reminder that money discussions are really important. That’s not to say it’s the first subject you talk about, but I’m trying something different with my new boyfriend and that’s to be frank about how we pay the check and other financial issues. I refuse to sit idly by with someone only to learn later on what a mess their financial life is. I make a point of ferretting it out a guy’s finances, not to be a gold digger, but to plan appropriately for the future.

Kojo Nnamdi interviews Bob Sullivan of Gotcha Capitalism. (First link is to the radio program. Second link is to Amazon.com for his new book.) I was really struck while listening to this program. Credit card companies and banks are going to nickel and dime us to death with their fees. I’m starting to think I’m better off with my local credit union, but I still feel like I’m being well served by my large retail bank without much hassle. (Especially since their ATMs are everywhere and there’s a branch near my regular bus stop.)

Kojo again with some basics on Investing.

I’m in training, so I’m struggling to have anything to write at all this week. I am brain-fried from powerpoints and all too-energetic presenters.

I’ve been reading Millionaire Mommy Next Door. I keep meaning to blogroll her. I don’t read all the time, but I do think her data driven analysis is convincing. She’s smart and reasoned with her contrarian strategies, especially on homeownership. I’m ready to start renting again, but that’s because I hate my HOA.

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly, because he’s an old pal of mine. His car is setting him back a ways, but it’s coming out of his emergency fund.

Paidtwice at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already. I feel like her blog needs an exclamation point at the end of it. As if to say, “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” It’s very mommy-oriented though, just so you know. Lots of links to family resources. I wish I could say that I partake of them, but I’m still ‘happily single! YAY! *claps hands*’ to quote the corporate trainer. I swear, that’s the best thing I learned all week. To be happy I am single. (Though technically, the trainer is divorced or some other sort of unmarried.)

And finally, GRACEful Retirement. A very different perspective from the under-30-OMG-my-student-loans-are-killing-me category of PF blogs. A late saver, but a mother thinking about college saving and getting by. This is not to say that the Under 30 blogs are bad. There’s just a lot of them and Grace is coming from a very different perspective.

That’s the headline of a Michelle Singletary article from Sunday helping you set and keep goals.

Honestly, one of the best things you can do is make your goal very visible. Michelle writes about putting up a whiteboard. I’ve heard of writing it in dry-erase marker on your bathroom mirror. I used to keep post-it notes on the mirror so I could see my goals every morning as I brushed my teeth. I had a friend in high school who had a label-maker sticker on her dashboard that asked her if her lights were still on. I drained and jumpstarted so many batteries, I probably should have done that too.

Other suggestions for making your goals highly visible and a daily reminder:

1) Change your cellphone banner with your savings goal number.
2) Hack your software’s splash screen to ask you what your goal is.
3) Put a list on your mirror.
4) Make a daily reminder on your time-management software to review your list (Outlook, UGH.).
5) Write it in masking tape and put it on your shirt upside down, so when you look down at it, it’s right side up for reading.
6) Tell a friend. (Ok, perhaps not a daily reminder)
7) Write it on a card and put it in your wallet next to your driver’s license or regularly used ATM card/grocery card.
Make your screensaver a marquee with your goal.
9) Put a post-it note near your front door knob so you read the goal every day as you leave your house.
10) Take a sharpie and write it on the front of your credit card.

I especially like the last one best because I have found that with gift cards that go unused, it’s best to look up the balance, and then mark it on the front of the card so I can use the darned thing up eventually. I see nothing wrong with writing “HAWAII VACATION” on the front of a credit or debit card to remind me that maybe, just maybe my Hawaii vacation is more important than a cute pair of shoes on sale.

Happy holidays everyone! A special happy birthday to my mommy as her birthday is Christmas Day. It’s a big deal to us because she gets screwed out of having an extra “Queen for a Day” day that everyone else gets. (But she doesn’t read my blog.)

At any rate, I will be leaving tonight for the holidays and I really hope everyone, regardless of their predilections, has a wonderful week next week. I am a little sad that there will be no snow in my holiday, but I will have wiggly worm nephews and many hugs and kisses, so it’ll be just fine.

I am remiss in commenting on blogs and collecting my favorite links for the week. I’ve been busy with year-end work and focused on my non-finance personal life.

The can’t miss links are these:

Madame X’s NY Stories. Real people. Real tales. If you want DC Stories, please email me with your preferred pseudonym, blog, and story. There are 4 stories so far, but there are many more New Yorkers out there so I suspect there are many more waiting in the wings.

BostonGal, always hip to the latest financial news, brings you changes to credit scores. Given how important this is, I am surprised more PF Bloggers haven’t written about it. Thanks BG for the article.

Again, Miss BostonGal highlights an article from the NYT asking the age old question, Is it OK to rent when home prices are too high? Read and decide for yourself based on your location, location, location.

Tricia at Blogging Away Debt has 7 sites where your clicks make a donation.

NCN asks PF Bloggers to spotlight their favorite charities. Click the trackback links to get to the reply posts.

Jim’s list of Medical FSA spend down items. A variation on mine, but hopefully it will generate some more ideas for you. (Mine was focused on less perishable items, i.e. non-medications.)

Frugal Duchess on writing down your goals.

Oh and as a final note about my last post about rich people because someone accuses me of being an apologist for capitalism, here’s a story about Chuck Feeney, a founder of Duty Free Shops and his philanthropy. I remember when the story broke about his wealth, or lack thereof. It made a strong impression on me that sometimes what matters most is the utility of things in our lives and not what it costs. (He work a plastic digital watch for many years.) While stuff can exist to be beautiful, what’s most important is its use. As much as I covet the Maserati I saw on I-66 this week, my Altima lovingly gets me to and fro for cheap.

Some are new. Some are old. Mostly stuff I read this week and thought was good.

Bluebird at Hedonic Adjustment writes about the genius of Ben Stein, asking the same question I’ve always wondered as well. But I do agree with Mr. Stein that Taco Bell’s Taco Supremes are very good. Every once in a while I crave a crunchy taco and nothing but a Taco Supreme will do.

Wine tips for your Turkey feast! Kojo is a great radio host. I could listen to his voice every day.

Holiday Stress relief! This is a pretty good list. What works for you? For me, I break out the spinning wheel, turn on old archives of The Diane Rehm Show or the Kojo Nnamdi Show.

A horrifying article about health care policyholders being dropped in the name of bonuses. A sensationalized one-sentence summary, but it’s not that far off. The original post is called “Greedy Enough to Make You Sick”. Thanks Financial Armageddon!

SingleMa shares her awesome news. I am so proud of her. She’s an inspiration!

Madame X, ah, reveals TMI.

If you can stomach another article after that (I’m still shuddering), try reading about The Ethicist and the adviced doled out to a child who thinks they should get a bigger share of their parents’ assets because their sibling gets more now. Is your family as complicated as this? Is a perception of equity a big deal to you? It is to me, but at the same time, I don’t think there will be anything left to divide. What matters more? Being loved equally by your parents or economically subsidized? Are they the same thing to you?

As a lapsed Catholic, I’m all about true confessions. CleverDude encourages you to stop hiding your secret! Two weeks ago I went to the PostSecret book signing in Bethesda and I had an opportunity to meet the artist and facilitator. (Thanks ~Dawn! I found the event through your repost.) He mentioned several times that debt is a big crippling secret people keep.

Alrighty. That’s enough for now. I’ve been working hard on a programming project and I have to thank Commenter Dean a lot for the tip he offered yesterday. I flat out told him I was stumped and he served up something on the fly.

And no, I didn’t write them. *sticks tongue out*

Aside: I am not so grouchy anymore today. Halloween was slightly more than I wished to spend, but still coming to about $38.00 including appetizer, dinner, beers, safe metro and bus rides, and then someone else buying some more cider and a shot. The conversation ended up being key as my friend was also a grouch and boy, did we need the drinks. (Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring is highly recommended. Service is still a tad slow, but the bartenders are excellent and the kitschy pirate decor is fun. Get the cod fritters and the bison burger!)

Anyhow, onto the articles:

The first is from Free Money Finance and how he’s sick of hearing about burdensome student loan debts. I agree that I’m sick of hearing about it as well. I agree with FMF taking on student loan debt is foreseeable and preventable. There are a great many ways to make undergrad and graduate studies more affordable. But if you read my comment, you’ll also see that I agree with some of these former students and I would like to know why the heck college is getting so expensive. Even in-state tuition is getting expensive, thus taking away an affordable option for many students for a first-rate education.

The second is from Justin McHenry at The Personal Finance Weblog and how he’s sick of hearing about ARM sob stories. Again, I agree with him because I’m a Ranty McRant Pants, but also because he has a point. Why isn’t his rate getting lowered for being a good borrower and paying his loan promptly? Why are we rewarding bad behavior? So what if Countrywide renegotiates the terms of the ARM? What if they extend favorable rates for 24 months? Does that mean the borrower will still be able to cope with a mortgage that readjusts in 2 years? Probably not. If they were foolish enough to take on the mortgage they couldn’t afford in the first place, who is say they have learned their lesson and will be able to pay an ARM with rising rates in the future?

Now I understand why on a macro market level why we need to do something about lots of defaulting mortgages. But very few people have said that we need to ensure that borrowers truly understand what they are getting through sound education.

Very few people have said we need to crackdown on liar loans and shady mortgage brokers. Fraud charges need to get filed against people who have knowingly duped the banks. Having been part of a federal fraud investigation by a flipper, I believe there isn’t enough oversight to catch collusive business practices between borrower, broker, appraiser and settlement attorney.

I think the banks are idiots for not reviewing their risk models more closely. Is everyone an effing Yes Man there? It’s a known fact that in real dollars, wages are falling, so why on earth would a bank think that making extremely risky loans to people who will be earning less in the future is a good idea?

I’ll right. I’m done.

Ramit and the savvy beggar. The beggar story is fascinating, but Ramit’s point about time-tested analysis of our actions and not just muttering about them. I suppose that’s the reason why I blog and put up little bar graphs on my progress and setbacks.

Grocery shopping tips learned the hard way at Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials.

Jonathan at My Money Blog on spending and saving and being comfortable in your choices. The discussion in the comments is interesting.

Penny Nickel at Money and Values offers us a wallet resource to consult before we purchase. I love it because the list of questions on it are some of the same things I ask myself, especially “Do I really need this?”

Trent at The Simple Dollar has an excellent deconstruction of comments on the Yahoo Finance article by Anya Kamenetz about living frugally in the Age of the iPhone. What I find vastly interesting is that some of my coolest friends in San Francisco were some of my poorest. They were really good about saving their money. I learned a lot from them about how to shop thrift, go clubbing on the cheap, and figure out the free and fun stuff around town. We rarely took cabs there. The bus and our feet were our best travel companions.

English Major Money asks, “Where do our money personalities come from?” Great question. You’ll have to read all over my blog to find that one, but try clicking the Personal Memory category on the right. I’m sure it’s buried all in there.

Hazzard at Everybody Loves Your Money has created a chart to tell you what you have should have saved by now. It’s got a number for every age between 21 and 65. Even though I’m in my early 30’s, I’ve got what a 29 year old has got. Fortunately, I am trying to save more than $2.5K a year and do way better than only 8%. However, 8% is a very achievable average rate of return that I use in most of my long term forecasting spreadsheets.

Ask Dong has some tips on TIPS.

Savvy Saver’s strategy for zero balance transfer arbitrage. I’ll be honest, this sounds too risky for me. I don’t know that I’m interested in trying out since I have lots of debt at the moment. On one hand, I don’t need new credit lines for anything whatsoever in my life right now. Maybe in 3 years I’ll need car, so this could be a good time to do it. But on the other hand, interest rates are falling so perhaps the time for the greatest interest rate spread has passed us by?

Pinyo of Moolanomy guest blogging for J.D. of Get Rich Slowly. Get it? Ok, the post is actually on Pinyo’s 12 Investing Mistakes. A really excellent list. Please learn from it. Even now, it still has lessons for me.

Work is on the upswing again, so today I leave you with a round up post. But stay tuned for some IRA information later this week.

Share and Enjoy!

One Million and Beyond. A kick in the pants for me. Accepting my responsibility.

James is spot on about inheritance not being the surest way to wealth. Stick to your knitting and build on what you’ve got.

Freakonomics Blog reports the departing lecture of Professor Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon. I had dinner this week with a friend who studied with Dr. Pausch. He told my friend to get rid of his TV and video games so he’d have more time in his life to do really important things. My friend has done that and instead of watching TV and eating dinner on the couch with his roommates, we went on a long walk around my neighborhood after getting value menu food at Wendy’s. (Junior bacon cheesburger, baked potato and mandarin oranges for me.) I dare you not to be moved by his story. Godbless and godspeed Dr. Pausch.

Single Ma reflects on her Social Security statement. It’s a good post about work history and life changes. Makes me wonder what mine says about me.

Hat tip to Rob for pointing this article out. It’s been a work-focused week for me and I’m not generating enough story ideas on my own.

The Wall Street Journal Online has a short story about American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. and Freddie Mac.

In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Freddie Mac said it seized $7 million that homeowners sent to American Home to cover principal and interest payments, property taxes and insurance just before the company’s Aug. 6 collapse. American Home quit making payments to tax authorities and insurance companies Aug. 24….In an interview last week, Ginnie Mae’s senior vice president, Theodore B. Foster, said Ginnie Mae had seized from American Home some of the insurance and tax payments collected from homeowners. “What’s occurred is that we have the money, but AHM hasn’t been able to or willing to pay the taxes and insurance, and they have the loan records,” Mr. Foster said. “Therefore, we don’t know who to pay, and we don’t know how much.”

This is very bad.

1) If you are a borrower of AHM, you may be delinquent on your property taxes because they aren’t paying them through your escrow account. Try to find out what you owe the county by going directly to your Tax Assessor’s office and paying the bill. Same goes for your home insurance or PMI. (I couldn’t figure out what kind of ‘insurance’ was meant by the article.)

2) If you don’t, your local government may seize your property and auction it off at a tax foreclosure sale, even if you are paying your mortgage on time. It’s better here to actually over pay your taxes because at least the county can’t come and get you.

When Rob first sent me this, all I could think was that this doesn’t effect me directly. I don’t have AHM. I don’t own stock in Freddie Mac. (I digress for a deep irony, my friend works for Freddie and he lives out of his van! He’s literally homeless! LOL! By choice. “Strictly by choice.” - Say Anything)

However, the greater implications really frighten me. County governments could have short falls in revenue. It could be a sign of a recession coming. Rising homelessness. Not fun. I have vague memories of the recession of the early ’80’s and I don’t relish the thought of tough times ahead.