I have access to Financial Engines through my company. I like to check in with them every 6 months or so. I feel like this year’s economy is really in upheaval, what with Greek debt, a weak job market and overhyped government bonds.

Unfortunately, I never blanket move out of a mutual fund for another one. There are frequently trading penalties for buying and selling fund shares within 1 or 2 months between purchase and sale. Therefore, I usually stop buying something for 60 days before moving money out of the entire fund.

At this time, I really don’t know what to do, but I didn’t like the recommendation of their moves this time. The fund moves recommended were a European and a Pacific stock funds, neither of which I found impressive, so I moved money back into some international funds I had purchased before and feel comfortable holding long term. I cut back on my government bond allocations instead.

We shall see if these were bad moves. I should probably ask Moom to review my portfolio like he did for Madame Z.

Rebalancing My Portfolio is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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Last week I heard a story about NPR’s Planet Money buying $1000 in a toxic asset. It was a fascinating story, one that’s going to evolve over time.

You can name the asset since they haven’t yet. (Today is the last day to enter their contest!)

Interesting stuff. It’s all about the risk.

Planet Money’s Toxic Asset is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I’m a lapsed Catholic, so I don’t actually take Lent very seriously from a religious standpoint. I do like Lent because it’s a nice chance to restart goals from New Year’s that need to be jump-started.

For the most part, I know that saving money a few years ago in a piggy bank worked out pretty well for me. But I can’t think of a good 40-day goal for 2010. The best thing I can think of is to knit a few minutes every day. I have two projects that I’d really like to finish and that’s the best thing I can think of.

Instead I’m going to make personal financial to do list.

1. File Federal tax return.
2. File VA part year return.
3. File DC part year return.
4. Cancel Altima insurance (I am waiting for DC DMV to tell me they got my old tags.)

If I can get all four things done this year before Lent ends, I’d be happy. Sometimes I’m so lazy that I don’t file till the very last minute but this year, I’d really like to wipe out as much of my credit card debt as possible that I want the money now, NOW, NOW!

Lent 2010 is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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That’s not a reference to the record snowfall in DC this winter. But if it was, yes, I herded a lot of snowflakes with a shovel the past 2 weeks. (Can you say 3 weeks of trash piling up in the alley?)

I don’t participate in any special snowflaking or debt snowball sites, but I do like the idea of snowflaking. (Sending little bits of money to pay down debt quicker, go look at Snowflake Revolution for more info.)

I rounded up my little snowflakes this week. I don’t sweep all my accounts regularly. I just try to do it once a quarter from my Prosper, Paypal and random brick and mortar accounts.

Good stuff. I think I’ll be able to send a small payment off to finish paying off my evil Citicard account.

Gathering My Snowflakes is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I know this article at SmartMoney is probably old hat by now. (It’s from January.) I ran across it in a waiting room the other day and it occurred to me that I’ve never really explained what’s going on between me and my boyfriend and living together.

I have a huge personal issue divulging stuff about my boyfriend in this blog because this blog is mine. If he wanted the world to know about himself, he’d start his own blog, therefore I don’t feel it’s up to me to tell everyone his business, even though he’s told me that it’s ok if I do.

After reading the SmartMoney article and realizing that Singles Awareness Day has just passed, I thought it might be a good time to explain a few things about our situation.

1. Salary Parity: My boyfriend and I make about $10K apart in salary. One really well-negotiated salary bump, or super-duper bonus, and I just might make more than he does. What does this mean? It means we are within spitting distance of being a $200K couple which is weird for both of us, having grown up without a whole lot of money.

2. Real Estate: We decided to live together partly because it made sense for our relationship, but partly because it made sense financially. My condo was empty and a cash flow drain, so I filled it up with a tenant and moved into a home my boyfriend owns. After some discussion, we decided to move into a rental home in a different part of town. (Rowdy neighbors drove us away.) My boyfriend owns two homes and now he rents them out. We own three properties between us, but don’t live in any of them. This also means we own properties in all three of DC’s regional jurisdictions. (Hey, I just noticed that!)

3. Accounting & Household Expenses: I was watching Suze Orman’s show the other night and her method of reducing money woes for couples is to jointly contribute to household expenses based on your percentage of total household income. Therefore if I make 40% and my boyfriend makes 60%, we should split our expenses via the same ratio. We, however, do not believe in that. My boyfriend and I have a philosophical difference between us, like yin and yang, we are opposites. He is a big-picture kind of person and is not bothered with small details. I have been trained to account down to the penny on a professional basis from reconciling accounts at work. Therefore we blend household expense splitting between my desire to do things to the penny and his desire not to think about trivialities. For our major expenses at home (rent + utilities), we split them 50-50. I try to get him to fill out our spreadsheet with exact bill amounts, but he rounds it down usually. I tolerate this because it’s not like he’s rounding it down to the nearest $100.00. It’s more like the nearest $5.00. For things like groceries, we just try to alternate between trips. For small household furnishings, who pays is decided by who wants it. I bought a mixer for the kitchen (~$120), whereas he bought the exercise bike (~$800).

But take that with a grain of salt. Since we make very close to parity in salary, it is easy to do things 50-50. Who knows what we’ll do if I ever got laid off.

4. Debt: Along with our diametrically opposing views on accounting, he also disagrees with me on savings and debt. This was highlighted by an episode of Til Debt Do Us Part. Gail Vaz-Oxlade had on a couple, two teachers in Canada, and I thought the husband was a d-bag. (A properly ’80’s term that boyfriend uses all the time, but it is quite the bon mot for this guy.) The husband’s philosophy was that the time to live is now and he wasn’t interested in having a weekend job to pay off debt faster since that was his time to be with his baby daughter and family. My boyfriend agrees that it’s important to balance life out between work and leisure and he’d make that same choice. I pointed out the reason that he wasn’t a d-bag like the guy on the program was that he doesn’t gamble *coughthrowaway* money. (It was for $9K!!! *choke*) I’ve had second jobs before so I understand the position. It’s just that I know my boyfriend is totally different than the guy on TV because he’s very careful about how he spends his money. He does a lot of research on products he wants to buy before purchasing, or else he’s ok with generic brands way more than I am. (I *must* have my premium brand orange juice or go without.)

5. Saving: Boyfriend doesn’t save as much as I think he should, but the flipside is that he has tenants buying his properties for him, which is sort of like saving. Sort of. We differ on the idea of an emergency fund too, but he’s not going to stand in the way of me getting a good sleep at night with a full Save-O-Meter. He was really patient watching me agonize over buying a car, how much to spend and how much to finance. He also knows good blog fodder when he sees it and helps me run financial models/numbers and checks my math.

6. Retirement: My boyfriend works for the government so he’s going to get a decent pension when he retires. Because there’s no pension waiting for me, I think that’s why he is nonchalant about retirement saving and I am freaking out.

The main thing is that we communicate out differences of opinion and where we are at. We also maintain control over the majority of our own finances and try to take care of our own business with minimal impact on the other person. Later on this may all change, a conversation we’ve had before, but it works for us. We have a sense of one another’s debts and assets. One day we may align our financial goals together but we’re not in any kind of rush for that.

His, Mine, Ours is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I’m sure by now everyone’s seen Mrs. Micah’s totally awesome Mammoth 2009 Tax Credit & Deduction List. You can also get your tax refund split between multiple bank accounts, which has been available for a few years now.

But as of 2010, your tax refund can now be split and routed to the US Treasury Department to buy I-Series savings bonds.

In any single calendar year, you can purchase up to $5,000 of I bonds under this program. If you purchase bonds with your tax refund, the amount you request must be divisible by 50. If you don’t buy I bonds with 100 percent of your refund, you will need to have another account in which to deposit the remaining amount of your refund. For example, if your refund is $280; you can direct $250 to I bonds and the $30 balance to your savings account.

Paper bonds will be issued in your name
When you purchase savings bonds with your tax refund, you will receive paper bonds, issued in your name. If you are married and filed a joint return, the bonds will be issued in your’s and your spouse’s name. You cannot designate a beneficiary under this option.

Your request will be processed in two parts
Part 1: Generally, you will receive the bonds after you receive the remainder of your tax refund from the IRS. The IRS will process the portion of your refund that you are not using to buy savings bonds. This amount will be deposited into the account you designate. Go to Where’s My Refund? or call 1-800-829-1954 to see if Part 1 is complete.

Part 2: The IRS will forward your request for Savings Bonds to the Treasury Retail Securities Site. It will take them up to three weeks to issue and send your bonds to you at the address on your tax return. You can call the Treasury Retail Securities Site at 1-800-245-2804 to check on the status of your bond issuance.

More about savings bonds
Series I bonds pay interest based on a combination of a fixed rate (currently .30%), which remains the same throughout the life of the Savings Bond, plus a semiannual inflation rate – currently 3.06%, which is updated each May and November.

The interest earned by purchasing and holding savings bonds is subject to federal tax at the time the bonds are redeemed. However, interest earned on savings bonds is not taxable at the state or local level.

Use Form 8888 for Direct Deposit Refunds and follow the special instructions to route a portion of your refund to be issued as bonds.

More information from the Treasury Department is available on I-Series bonds.

Nifty Way to Spend Your Tax Refund is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I’m having some professional difficulty right now and I feel like quitting and finding a new job. Unfortunately, I don’t have an emergency fund to float me during a period of unemployment. I have the windfall from the sale of my car and my tax refund which won’t be coming for a while since I haven’t filed for them yet.

This will teach me to keep a razor thin savings account.

Because I am consulting, I can hop to another project. Therefore I don’t really have to walk away from my job. But it does sharpen the heck out of my mind and motivate saving.

A few weeks ago people asked me what I was going to do with the money from selling the car. I really thought I was going to use it to pay off my credit cards, but I’m happier to save it now that I realize where I’m at. It may cost me more money in interest, but I feel like the smarter move is to build that emergency fund up.

I’m already meeting my Save-O-Meter goal then so it feels good to cross that one off this year.

Strategizing the Future is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I think I’ve had at least 4 since last Friday. In a good or bad way, I’ve been able to get out of the house and spend money because my boyfriend has a 4×4 vehicle. We were able to re-stock on groceries before getting slammed again with snow last night. So that’s 3 days in a row where I haven’t spent a dime.

As it is, I would really like to get out of the house and do more stuff. I’ve baked bread, cookies, made another pot of braised chicken, started knitting some hand/wrist warmers and shoveled snow. I’ve also done all the laundry and now the house is leaking. (Thank God it’s a rental and our 2 of our 3 rental units are doing OK. It’s too dangerous to find out if the 3rd one is alright.)

I know I made boyfriend buy me a juice the other day from the corner store when it was open because I really wanted a different beverage from the water, wine and orange juice in the house.

I’ve been able to chat up the neighbors and take a bunch of conference calls so I’m not suffering from cabin fever, but I haven’t seen my regular knitting club in 2 weeks and that’s very unusual for me. I’ve been uploading pics to my Ravelry account in desperation to stay in touch.

Snoverkill No Spend Days is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I’m not a fan of Dave Ramsey, but he’s spot-on about having ‘gazelle-like intensity’ when it comes to debt repayment.

This year, despite whatever financial crisis my parents are having or whatever they want (like a new-ish car for their 40th wedding anniversary), I need to pay down my debt. I have flat out told my mother that if she keeps asking me for money, I will never have a kid. I just cannot afford one with all of her whines and wants. Either she wants me to have a kid or she deals with her financial problems herself. I’ll always be here for what she needs, but she cannot expect me to keep finding money I don’t have. (Sell the business. Retire. Take Social Security early. Sorry, but I don’t have any better solutions for you. Your other kid agrees with me, but you’re not listening.)

I get pretty distracted throughout the year. I had no idea that this past year would bring a 70th birthday party in Monterey for my father. (A really boring trip I really would rather have not taken. Monterey is not that exciting. It was just convenient for family in Carmel and a day at the aquarium for the kids.) I hope to God no one gets married in 2010. (I know that my old pal from the knitshop has invited me to her wedding. Thankfully it’s local.)

No Gazelle-Like Intensity Here is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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5 New Rules for Credit Cards – I am taking these to heart. No messing around in 2010. (Can you believe it’s February already?)

This article pretty much sums up my answer to Ted about why I didn’t consider a Hyundai Accent. As much as I have a lot of K-pride, I do not drive K-cars. My GTI rocks.

Everybody Loves Your Money on walking away from a mortgage. I have some choice words about this subject, but I’m not sure I’ve finished formulating all my thoughts. Like him, I think my mind is changing about it.

Articles I Liked This Week 2/1-2/7 is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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Thanks everyone for entering the TurboTax Giveaway.

All entries are closed now and comments on the contest post are turned off.

All winners were selected via random number generator at Random.org. All winners have been notified.

They are:
Emily
Flora
Andrew
Kathleen
AllThatISeek

Thanks everyone for entering and I hope everyone gets lucky and wins a copy from other giveaways.

Mrs. Micah at Finance for a Freelance Life has just started hers.

I’m so happy today giving things away. I got a reply back from a winner and it’s the first time they’ve ever won a blog contest. It feels pretty good to make someone happy today.

Full disclosure: The kind people at TurboTax have given me personally a SIGG bottle that I left in NY, and lots of free food. All the good stuff I give to you in the form of a contest giveaway. While I am not personally a huge fan of TurboTax, I have used it before to prepare my taxes and it’s ok. I am a huge fan of Quicken though, even if I’ve bumped up against its limitations and am in denial about buying an upgraded version. And finally a guy who went to high school with me apparently works for them. (I found out through the Physics Team rumor mill.)

If anything, Intuit is doing the social media thing right. They really get corporate blogging and using Twitter to build relationships. (How do you think we DC bloggers got them to come host a happy hour?)

Winners of 2009 TurboTax Giveaway! is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I made some trades last week in my IRA account and found out that trade commissions have been slashed. They’re now $7.95 instead of $19.95. YAY!

I thought my fees were lowered because I was buying a foreign stock, but I thought that was weird because I’ve bought this stock before and paid a higher fee. I was worried I’d hit some upper trading tier that gets me a discount (a sign of too much active trading), but nope, it’s just their new fee structure kicking in.

I’m very glad about this since you can write off your investment costs, like trading fees and research materials you buy for investing (newsletters, subscriptions to Morningstar, etc.). But it also makes my thresholds for selling much lower than before.

Yippee!

PS – Winners of the TurboTax Giveaway will be notified and announced later today. No more entries please. Thanks.

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Here’s a list of online resources for new car owners. And when I say ‘new’ I mean, ‘new to you’. It’s been on my mind a lot as I move from a Nissan to a Volkswagen. There’s a lot to know going from 87 to 91 octane gas. As I familiarize myself with my new car, these are sites I’ve been visiting recently with some input from Twitter pals.

1. Consumer Reports – If you haven’t already used them to research your car, then read up on which tires to buy when you have to replace them.

2. Gasbuddy.com for finding cheap gas near you!

3. Fuelly.com for tracking your fuel efficiency and how your vehicle rates against others of the same make or in general. If you decide to join Fuelly, go ahead and friend me! (or Flexo!) (Any other PF bloggers on Fuelly?)

4. Haynes for an auto manual. They tear apart cars, photograph them and explain how to fix stuff yourself. It’s a must if you are doing your own oil changes or need to know what the heck the dealer’s service shop is talking about. Oddly, it was cheaper for me to buy it at Advance Auto Parts for about 19 bucks than directly from Haynes. But get one wherever you can find it cheapest. Another friend (via Twitter @corprew) recommends Chilton. I’ve never used them, but I trust this guy’s endorsement. He keeps a really old truck running for interstate road trips.

5. Internet forums about your car. It can be helpful to read up in the forums on topics like accessories, repair costs, dealer reviews. Via Twitter @bashen recommends two brand neutral sites, Repair Pal and DriverSide. I’m already on a GTI forum asking newbie questions.

6. And finally, even though your mom rolls your eyes when she hears their names, Click and Clack, the Tappert Brothers at CarTalk. I like Ray and Tom and they certainly do offer decent advice with a hearty belly laugh.

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I had a rough day at work the other day. Because of a snowstorm, I decided to bail out on my regular knitting night. Unfortunately, I didn’t have many groceries at home for dinner and I wasn’t in the mood to shop for any either. I was counting on going out to dinner that night, but I decide I will figure something out. When I get home, I find a baguette and some cold leftover white bean & garlic spread I made 2 days before.

I cut up the baguette into rounds. I look at the bean dip and it’s almost all gone. Oh dear. Boyfriend’s been snacking on it, which is ok. I had no idea he liked it that much. That actually makes me happy, but left with nothing to eat. I stare at the empty fridge and remember that there is half a Mayan Sweet onion in a tupperware container. YIPPEE! I have an idea!

I slice the onion very thinly and melt some butter in a small pot with a lid. I get the butter nice and hot and bubbly. After the butter stops foaming, I throw in the onions, give a stir and stick the lid. I set the timer on and the doorbell rings. It’s my neighbor returning boyfriend’s tools. We chit chat a little bit about my new car and the timer rings. I turn the heat off and finish talking with the neighbor. OOPS. The onion has started to burn just slightly. I stir things up and let it cook just a wee bit longer. I pull it off the stove, toss in some salt and pepper. They are perfectly caramelized.

The baguette rounds get toasty in the oven and away we go! I eat the last of the bean dip and tasty caramelized onions on crostini. Delicious.

ps- Another winter storm is coming so it’s Braised Chicken again this weekend!

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I bought a 5-qt cast iron Dutch oven sometime last summer, but never got around to using it. However, with the crazy cold winter snow this weekend, I got around to making something really tasty.

I braised some chicken thighs with carrots and potatoes, very similar to coq au vin without an old rooster and long cooking time. I forgot a bunch of ingredients because I was distracted, but it was still really good.

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
1/4c cider vinegar
1/4c olive oil
1tsp all purpose seasoning
1tsp thyme
salt
pepper
1c red wine
3 medium carrots
4 medium red potatoes
3 cloves garlic
olive oil for cooking

1. Prepare marinade by adding the vinegar, oil, all-purpose seasoning, thyme. Whisk lightly and put in a non-reactive bowl. (Glass or stoneware is fine.)

2. Skin the chicken thighs. This is easier if the meat is slightly frozen. No need to trim off all the visible fat since it’s good to have a little left for flavor.

3. Salt and pepper the chicken and put into the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

4. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

5. Peel the carrots, and gouge out the eyes on the potatoes. Cut up carrots and potatoes in to appealing chunks. (The potatoes should be about 3/4 thick slices, rather chunky. I made my carrots smaller, as long as they were wide.)

6. Peel and mince the garlic.

7. Take your Dutch oven (or any covered pot you can put in the oven) and put a very small amount of oil in the bottom. Sear your chicken till it has a nice brown on it.

8. Add in your wine and deglaze the bottom of the pot. Add your potatoes, carrots, and garlic to the pot. Do not turn the heat off. Do not stir anymore.

9. Bring it to a simmer on the stove and cover and toss in to the oven for 45 minutes.

10. Check the pot and stir. If you have used red wine, the chicken will have turned dark. Now stir the vegetables a bit so they can soak up the rest of the cooking liquid. Bake for another 10-15 minutes. In that time, you can make a salad course or another vegetable.

Optional ingredients:
Onions (chop and add with garlic)
Mushrooms (add with the potatoes)
Parsnips (treat like carrots)
Bacon lardons

Recipe: Braised Chicken With Potatoes is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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