Well another positive month. A good chunk of the gain was due to deposits again, but all of my accounts except my Roth IRA had positive investment gains also. One thing to note is that I missed for the first time in my life my planned deposit to my Roth IRA account. I really got it in me for whatever reason to pay off my HELOC entirely and put a good $5000+ of my resources in the last month to paying off my HELOC entirely. This drained my cash reserves quite a bit so I did not feel safe making my monthly Roth IRA deposit because it might get my checking account too low and I get really nervous if it ever dips below $3,000. I also have a 0% credit card that I have been carrying a balance on that comes due in July and has about $5500 on it (primarily due to me putting all cash towards HELOC, paid over $10,000 in HELOC within the last year). Note- I have never left a balance on a non 0% credit card and never will. I don’t see the extra $5,500 being a challenge to pay off before July, but I may forgo another Roth IRA deposit this month just to be sure. Anyway here are the numbers.
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March 2007
Sat 31 Mar 2007
Thu 29 Mar 2007
My Financial Journey’s pimp ride version 2
Posted by MFJ under General , Frugality , Cars[5] Comments
A couple months ago I talked about my pimp ride. Well I’m sure some people might call me a hypocrite, but I actually went ahead and replaced that car last weekend. Now before you go ahead and start saying “I told you so” you can’t buy crappy cars like that and expect them to be a reliable vehicle that you need to drive every day, I’ve got a couple things to point out.
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Tue 27 Mar 2007
This post was written by Matthew Paulson from Getting Green. If you enjoy this post, consider reading some of his other articles.
I’m a rather young individual, and the lowest price that I can remember for stamps is 29 cents. In just over a decade, the price of stamps has increased nearly 25%. The price of postage appears to be ready for its next increase. In February, the Independent Postal Regulatory Commission recommended that the price of stamps increase to 41 cents. Last week the post office governing board agreed with the IPRC’s recommendation and starting in May, the price of stamps will be increasing once again.
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Fri 23 Mar 2007
Just wanted to give you a heads up as to why I didn’t post the last two mornings. This has been a pretty exciting week for me and I’ve probably beaten the odds on a couple of things. First my article on How to cure a sore throat almost instantly was picked up by Digg and Reddit early this week and ended up as the #1 story on both sites for a good day or so on Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday my house got struck by lightening, which in turn fried our television, my wireless router, and all the internal phone lines, which means I don’t have access to internet at home which makes it tough to blog.
Edit: 3/26/2007 - still no internet at home - will play electrician tonight and have something for tomorrow on my thoughts on helping our kids out on their college education.
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Wed 21 Mar 2007
I just got a call the other night from a friend of mine. We were talking and the conversation ended as he and his wife were going to go pick up their taxes from their tax accountant. One hour later I got a phone call from the same individual asking me questions about the best computer and digital camera to buy. Turns out his accountant told them that they would be getting a refund and they were busy spending the money before they even officially filed their taxes. They were going to buy a new computer, digital camera, PDA, and possibly a new tv. I have no idea what they got for a refund, but my guess is that their expenditures are probably going to outweigh their tax refund.
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Tue 20 Mar 2007
This week I participated in two carnivals and still have one post in the Personal Finance March Madness contest.
The Carnival of Personal Finance #92 was hosted at LazyManAndMoney this week. My article on million dollar kids - give me a break!
made the Honorable Mentions Category right below the Editors choice. As usual many good articles. Below are some of my favorites
- Consumerism Commentary’s The true cost of owning a home (I agree and have written a similar article)
- FIRE Finance’s - why market timing doesn’t work (day traders are fools. Might as well be buying scratch offs)
The Festival of Frugality #66 was hosted today at The Frugal Duchess. My now famous article on the Frugal cure for a sore throat is found at the very bottom (must have saved the best for last). Here are some articles that caught my eye.
- Stop the Ride!’s A Frugal Balance (frugality is a fine line and I think she has the right attitude. Frugality is all about spending your money on what is important to you)
- MoneySmartLife’s 10 Ways College Students can Save Money on Spring Break (Ahh spring break, the memories, but yeah if you are smart spring break can be dirt cheap and a blast)
Finally somehow through some stroke of luck, one my articles(The True Cost of Owning a Home) made it to the Elite 8 over at FreeMoneyFinance’s March Madness and looks like it is on it’s way to the Final Four.
Mon 19 Mar 2007
My article on How to cure a sore throat has been finding it’s way onto the sites of Reddit, Del.icio.us, and others, which means I’ve got a bunch of new people visiting my site. For those of you who are new to MyFinancialJourney.com here are some of my more popular articles to give you a feel of the content you might run across this site if you stick around.
- Reasons why you should not save for Retirement
- Get Rich!! Play the Lottery!! Somebody has to win
- The True Cost of Owning a Home
- My Financial Journey’s Pimp Ride
- I just don’t get it - what is the big deal about gas prices
- The fine line of Frugality
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