[Finances] A Conversation

Moi: We get paid on Friday!
Coworker: Yay!
Moi: Hot damn!
Coworker: You’re not happy?
Moi: No, hot damn is a good thing. *beat* I’m not sure why, but it is!

[Finances] Note to Self–

Dear Self:

Christmas budget is for buying gifts for OTHER PEOPLE.

NOT YOURSELF.

(Even though that necklace is absolutely exactly my style, subtle, yet ridiculous.)

Love,
Mee

[Finances] Bidding War for Your Money

HT to Joe who pointed out this nifty little site: MoneyAisle.com. You tell them how much you want to put in a high-interest savings or a CD, and they have small and mid-sized banks all over the country tussle it out to offer you the best interest rate.

As most of you know, I use INGDirect for most of my banking. I have 14 seperate high-interest savings accounts, each one earmarked for a specific budget line (my Sonic Screwdriver Random Acts of Fangirl account is currently at $0.08, but my Travel account is really ridiculously close to $500– Florida, here I come!). I also open a new short-term CD every pay period and I’m using that money as my emergency fund. I’ve got 17 of them.

I fooled around with the numbers a bit, and for like, way higher dollar values than my measly $50, the interest rates sometimes come back better than INGDirect.

Any way you slice it, it’s worth a look.

[Finances] 5 Scams To Watch Out For

From the Consumerist, they list five scams to watch out for during a recession.

The five scams are:

• Credit Repair
• Foreclosure Rescue
• Hidden Bankruptcy
• Free Lunch
• Home-based Businesses

Wanna know why? <a href=”http://consumerist.com/5059417/5-scams-to-watch-out-for-during-a-recession”>read the article</a>.

 

And just say no to that <a href=”http://www.pinktruth.com/”>Mary Kay lady</a>. Trust me. I got suckered into that one a few years back.

[Finances] Why I Don’t Talk About The Stock Market in the Fangirl Financial Plan

First of all, if you’re looking for stock tips and investing advice, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TRUSTING TOTAL RANDOM STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET?!? Get a licensed financial planner, yo.

The reason I don’t talk about investments as part of the Fangirl Financial Plan is because investing, at this stage of my life, is not part of the Fangirl Financial Plan.

Why? Because I’m focusing on paying down my crippling student loan debt first.

And there’s another reason: I learned to count playing blackjack and poker with my family for pennies. My dad always told me, “Do not gamble money you can’t afford to lose.”

I also grew up watching the Nightly Business Report on PBS, every night at 5pm. My dad told me, “The stock market is just another form of gambling.”

Oh, I go to Vegas. I love Vegas. I think I might try to go back next year (well, either Vegas or end once and for all my fascination with Utah and actually, you know, visit Salt Lake City). When I’m in Vegas, I’m watching all the free shows and going to buffets with ziploc baggies in my purse. Yes, I’m one of those people. No, I’m not ashamed of it.

My financial goals for the next five years focus primarily on paying off debt. After that’s done, I’m going to be reevaluating my entire life, including whether or not I want to be chained to a desk and working for a salary. Until then, I need every dime working for me by paying off my debt.

[Finances] Hindsight is 20/20

Economic Update…….

If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago, you would have $49 left.

With Fannie Mae, you would have $2.50 left of the original $1,000.

With AIG, you would have less than $15 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214 cash.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. Just Sayin’.

This post is provided for hilarity purposes only and is not suggested as an investment strategy. If you do follow this investment program, I volunteer to help you empty some of those beer cans. My dear friend sent it to me via email.

[Finances] Lies My Guidance Counselor Told Me

It doesn’t matter what your undergraduate degree is in, recruiters just want to see you got one.

Uh huh. Suuuuure. Accountants want your degree to have something to do with accounting, not 17th century literature. And let me tell you, there are a lot more jobs in accounting than in 17th century literature. I suggest that no matter what your degree is (go ahead and study art history, pumpkin), you minor in business.

Learning a foreign language will get you lots of jobs!

Not entirely a lie. And I do not regret studying Spanish and Japanese and Mandarin and Russian and Modern Hebrew. Ancient Egyptian, yeah, that one I regret a little. There are thousands of jobs out there if you speak a foreign language… if you want to spend your time in Customer Service. You haven’t ever worked in Customer Service? Lucky. Here’s a selection of what you’ll deal with as a Customer Service Specialist. Imagine that kind of stuff, 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year.

International business? Yep, foreign language mastery will help– but you’ll also need some experience in business, which leads right back to actually, you know, taking classes in the Business Administration department.

The Baby Boomers are all retiring, which means you’ll have your pick of jobs.

If you’ll just excuse me a moment… HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! *snerk* *wipes tears from eyes*

Even before the latest round of economic woes, Baby Boomers noticed they really didn’t have enough money saved to live. That problem has only increased in the last 12 months, causing many to either postpone retirement, remain in their positions part-time, or even leave retirement and attempt to reenter the workforce. That means sometimes you have Baby Boomers competing for the same jobs as recent college graduates. Let me tell you recent college graduates something– Boomers have more experience and bigger networks than you.

How do you get around this? Two suggestions:

First, do some pre-graduation networking of your own, or as we like to call it– INTERNSHIPS. Do not leave an internship without a recommendation letter. If internships are thin on the ground in your area of expertise (17th century literature), sign up with a temp agency during the breaks and SHOW YOUR LAZY ASS UP ON TIME AND DON’T BE A JACKASS AND DO WHAT YOU’RE ASKED. Remember, I was a temp for five years (that’s like, 15 semesters), and I’ve seen a lot of you little ones try to play with the big boys. For every gig you’re at for more than a month, don’t leave without a recommendation letter.

Secondly: The careers that are expanding beyond all belief are those that the Boomers are going to need as they age. The two biggies are healthcare and financial planning. If you want job security and a broad choice of gigs right out of school, maybe you want to do a minor in 17th century literature and major in a healthcare or financial study.

[Finances] Walt Disney Financial Quote of the Day

I suppose my formula might be: dream, diversify and never miss an angle.

–”Walt’s Profit Formula: Dream, Diversity, and Never Miss an Angle” in Wall Street Journal (4 February 1958) from Wikiquote, accessed 26 September 2008

[Finances] Bad News, Good News, Even Better News

Bad News: ShopGoodwill.com is crack. It’s the best of the best from Goodwills all over the country, set up a la eBay.

Good News: I’ve got a really awesome vintage freshwater pearl necklace for the wedding! Sterling silver clasp, individually knotted, and it only cost me $20! Other places such a necklace would cost about $40.

Even Better News: I was outbid for the accordion! (Don’t ask why I even bid on the accordion, I’m not sure myself.)

[Finances] Why I’m Not Freaking Out About The Economy

Y’all, I think we as a blogosphere need to take a big ol’ step back from the keyboard and do a couple of cleansing breaths.

Okay, stop screaming “The Economy Is Failing!” already, please. That’s not a deep breathing exercise. Sheesh. It’s like none of y’all studied history and economics at a graduate level…

Oh. You probably didn’t.

Okay. Let me distill five years* of my education into little words for you:

This has happened before.
This will happen again.
Freaking out will not help.

Even thin people die. Oh, wait, that’s for my HAES rant.

Wanna see a historical chart of the last 108 years of Dow Jones final bell prices? here you go. Notice how the general, long-term trend is solely in one direction (for those who aren’t visual people, that direction is UP). The big dips are almost always in ten-year increments, but they always bounce back higher. Now, let’s look at what’s pretty much my lifetime, right here, 1980-2000.

Okay, breathing easier? No?

Why not?

What can you do better, today, to make you worry less?

If every time you read on the Internet or hear on the news the OMGFINANCIALPANICATTHEDISCO! you start freaking out a little, you know what you should do?

TURN OFF THE TEEVEE AND THE COMPUTER.

I know, I know, radical notion. I actually didn’t know about the latest stock market drop until a few days after it had happened. It doesn’t affect me. I have a financial plan, and right now it’s focused on building my savings slowly and decreasing my student loan debt aggressively. I do not maintain consumer debt, and I have worked hard to get into an industry that is fairly recession-proof. I have a backup career that I maintain licensing in that is also recession proof, and I’m not too proud to don a uniform and perform menial tasks if neccesary.

My goals are concise and clear, and I am meeting them. My financial outlook is good.

How’s yours? Not good? Then what are you doing to make it good?

*AP US History and AP European History REPRESENT!