I've told myself ever since that New Year's Eve day in 2002 when I purchased an '03 Liberty brand new that I would run that puppy into the ground. The original terms of the SUV were 66 months at 5.9%. I got out of that pretty quick, switching it to a CC with 3.9% BT for life terms, then 0% for life, which is what it's been at for a few years now. Well, I continued making original payment amounts for a long time even though with the reduced rate, I didn't need to. Lo and behold, 66 months have just flown by and the Jeep is technically and financially all mine, even though the 0% card has other large purchases on it mixed in with the two car payments. One thing I regret doing about a year ago was losing the actual payoff figure on the two cars. I'm paying about $400 a month since that is the minimum payment, but the cards are 0% for Life and I'm not in any rush to lose that cushion by paying more than I have to. One day I am going to have to figure that out, but the cars are in good shape and not going anywhere.
Well, the other day I was talking to my father, another Liberty owner, who trades in his Jeeps every other year, pays it off completely, and then uses the barely two year old, great condition Liberty Limited to offset the new Jeep's price. I got to thinking that maybe this next time around, in February, I can get in on this somehow and come out with a two year old Limited with 30K miles. I know he takes care of his cars (oil change, washes, drives easy) too. Something to think about - he could take my car and trade it in, and whatever the difference between the two trade-in values I would owe him. I'm mulling it over.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Another Day, Another Deal...
I got my first bit of income in August today. PNC Bank was running a promotion that gave you $100 for opening up a checking account, and it finally paid today, one day after my direct deposit went through. One of the fastest payoffs I've seen, although it did take awhile for the account to open and to get the paperwork. The hundred went to the Summer Savings, which stands at $3938, not bad for August 2.
Another opportunity I took advantage of today was a Discover Card promotion with Fandango. Any movie ticket you buy at Fandango with a Discover Card is buy one, get one free. I used it a couple weeks ago to see the IMAX Dark Knight with a friend. I got two tickets for $12. Pretty sweet, and I got the popcorn free too. Anyway, that deal ended pretty quickly, but I got word on Fatwallet that the promotion was back up and running. Today my daughter and I went to see Wall-E for $7. Again, can't beat that.
Just started contributing to my Roth again. Took some time off because I was getting behind in some bills. So far in 2008, I'm at $800 and putting in $300 a month. I'm planning on putting a grand in from the Countrywide CD maturing this month. Keeping up $300/month, that will put me at $4200 for tax year 2008 of the limit of $5000. Hopefully, another $800 will make its way in there to max out the contribution, and I can work out a plan for my wife's as well.
Another opportunity I took advantage of today was a Discover Card promotion with Fandango. Any movie ticket you buy at Fandango with a Discover Card is buy one, get one free. I used it a couple weeks ago to see the IMAX Dark Knight with a friend. I got two tickets for $12. Pretty sweet, and I got the popcorn free too. Anyway, that deal ended pretty quickly, but I got word on Fatwallet that the promotion was back up and running. Today my daughter and I went to see Wall-E for $7. Again, can't beat that.
Just started contributing to my Roth again. Took some time off because I was getting behind in some bills. So far in 2008, I'm at $800 and putting in $300 a month. I'm planning on putting a grand in from the Countrywide CD maturing this month. Keeping up $300/month, that will put me at $4200 for tax year 2008 of the limit of $5000. Hopefully, another $800 will make its way in there to max out the contribution, and I can work out a plan for my wife's as well.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Summer Lovin'
Yes, I know. February to August is like half a year. So what? We've been living just like everybody else. Time passes.
With our summer vacation half gone and the year more than halfway through, I figured a financial update was due. My summer savings goal of 7K was almost reached; I squirreled away roughly $6200, of which $3800 is left. I have a mortgage payment and big credit card bill due in the next two weeks, which will eat up all but $1000 of that so the belt tightening has begun.
I'm not quite as worried this summer as in year's past, which is curious because I'm not even working! Usually, I would have gotten my first summer school paycheck today and that cash would help get me through to our first paychecks in September. This year, however, I didn't get the summer school gig and didn't care all that much. My aces in the hole were two CDs maturing in mid-late August, earning me roughly $4000. Knowing I have that money to fall back on has really eased the annual financial pressure as school just starts. Next year, though, I'm going to try a bit harder for that summer school job.
The summer started pretty well financially. I keep forgetting my wife gets an extra paycheck at the end of the year, which was pleasant like always. Also, I earned some extra professional development hours through a special opportunity at work and the $800 stipend I was expecting turned into $1400. Some financial deals happened to work out right at that time as well like a BOA Keep the Change award ($250), two Chase rebate checks ($200), Chase checking account promotion ($125), Discover Card promotion ($100), and an AMEX error in my favor ($200)*. This all happened over a 10-14 day period of time - made me feel like we were rolling in iti for awhile. I have regularly been getting about $200 a month in interest from a couple accounts as well, which I have been putting to unexpected bills like tires for my wife's car and expected ones like the next 6 months car insurance.
The AMEX error thing was pretty cool. Late last year I got an offer from AMEX stating that if I opened up one of their Business Gold Rewards Cards and spent a thousand, I would receive $200 back as a statement credit. Sweet deal, too good to pass up. Technically, I didn't apply for it quickly enough though in my conversation with the CSR, he assured me the timeframe wouldn't come into play. Fast forward a couple months. It took me awhile to put the grand on it. I was right in the middle of using the Citi CashReturns cards that gave 5% rebate on everything, and it bothered me that I would waste $50 of rebate money to do this deal. So I waited until those 5% deals ended.
My spending was still within the allotted time so I felt pretty good. But when statements kept going by with no credit, I started getting antsy. The paperwork (which I kept thankfully) did say the credit would take 6-8 weeks, but when 8 weeks came and went I started contacting them. It took a couple phone calls and they brought up my late application time. I argued a bit, sounded upset. They took pity on me and credited me the $200 as a "courtesy". Happy day. Well, guess what? A couple weeks ago, I just happened to look at this account, which I don't use, and I see a $200 negative balance. Seems like the promotion got fulfilled anyway. Should I give the other $200 back? What would you do?
With our summer vacation half gone and the year more than halfway through, I figured a financial update was due. My summer savings goal of 7K was almost reached; I squirreled away roughly $6200, of which $3800 is left. I have a mortgage payment and big credit card bill due in the next two weeks, which will eat up all but $1000 of that so the belt tightening has begun.
I'm not quite as worried this summer as in year's past, which is curious because I'm not even working! Usually, I would have gotten my first summer school paycheck today and that cash would help get me through to our first paychecks in September. This year, however, I didn't get the summer school gig and didn't care all that much. My aces in the hole were two CDs maturing in mid-late August, earning me roughly $4000. Knowing I have that money to fall back on has really eased the annual financial pressure as school just starts. Next year, though, I'm going to try a bit harder for that summer school job.
The summer started pretty well financially. I keep forgetting my wife gets an extra paycheck at the end of the year, which was pleasant like always. Also, I earned some extra professional development hours through a special opportunity at work and the $800 stipend I was expecting turned into $1400. Some financial deals happened to work out right at that time as well like a BOA Keep the Change award ($250), two Chase rebate checks ($200), Chase checking account promotion ($125), Discover Card promotion ($100), and an AMEX error in my favor ($200)*. This all happened over a 10-14 day period of time - made me feel like we were rolling in iti for awhile. I have regularly been getting about $200 a month in interest from a couple accounts as well, which I have been putting to unexpected bills like tires for my wife's car and expected ones like the next 6 months car insurance.
The AMEX error thing was pretty cool. Late last year I got an offer from AMEX stating that if I opened up one of their Business Gold Rewards Cards and spent a thousand, I would receive $200 back as a statement credit. Sweet deal, too good to pass up. Technically, I didn't apply for it quickly enough though in my conversation with the CSR, he assured me the timeframe wouldn't come into play. Fast forward a couple months. It took me awhile to put the grand on it. I was right in the middle of using the Citi CashReturns cards that gave 5% rebate on everything, and it bothered me that I would waste $50 of rebate money to do this deal. So I waited until those 5% deals ended.
My spending was still within the allotted time so I felt pretty good. But when statements kept going by with no credit, I started getting antsy. The paperwork (which I kept thankfully) did say the credit would take 6-8 weeks, but when 8 weeks came and went I started contacting them. It took a couple phone calls and they brought up my late application time. I argued a bit, sounded upset. They took pity on me and credited me the $200 as a "courtesy". Happy day. Well, guess what? A couple weeks ago, I just happened to look at this account, which I don't use, and I see a $200 negative balance. Seems like the promotion got fulfilled anyway. Should I give the other $200 back? What would you do?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Updates on AOR, Taxes, and Debts
I have been more than pleasantly surprised at how well my AOR went. At final tally, the totals look like this:
Citibank - $27,000 for me, $22,000 for my wife
Chase - $35,000 for me, $35,000 for my wife, $40,000 for my father (thanks Dad!)
Bank of America - $40,000 for me, $60,000 for my wife
Above money, except for my Chase's $35,000 which ends in July, is all at 0% for 12 months. That's a total of $260,000! I never would have expected it, especially since I only paid off the last of my previous AOR a couple months ago. I figured my credit score would have to recover for awhile, but I grew impatient and some attractive offers presented themselves.
I've already purchased a CD at Countrywide for 6 months at 4.75%, which will earn $2375 when it matures in August. I have $25,000 in a 6% Rewards Checking account at Northern Federal Credit Union in Watertown. I have the rest earning 4.5% in an online savings account at Countrywide, but with rates falling fast, I am shopping for another 6-9 month CD approaching 5%. I don't know if I'll find anything.
I completed my taxes a couple weeks ago, and our refund this year will be $7,500. A little less than last year and a little less than we thought for a couple reasons: first, our interest income was $8800 and, combined with our increased salary, just made a larger refund difficult. Another issue was a $200 credit I thought we qualified for (energy efficient windows) and it turns out we didn't because we took the credit in '06. One thing that did help us was what we paid in child care since September. We plan on putting $4000 to our Summer Savings goal, $3000 to our year's debt, and $500 into my Roth. For the next few months, I've decided to put any interest income directly into our Roths as well with the hopes of maxing out our contributions for 2007.
Citibank - $27,000 for me, $22,000 for my wife
Chase - $35,000 for me, $35,000 for my wife, $40,000 for my father (thanks Dad!)
Bank of America - $40,000 for me, $60,000 for my wife
Above money, except for my Chase's $35,000 which ends in July, is all at 0% for 12 months. That's a total of $260,000! I never would have expected it, especially since I only paid off the last of my previous AOR a couple months ago. I figured my credit score would have to recover for awhile, but I grew impatient and some attractive offers presented themselves.
I've already purchased a CD at Countrywide for 6 months at 4.75%, which will earn $2375 when it matures in August. I have $25,000 in a 6% Rewards Checking account at Northern Federal Credit Union in Watertown. I have the rest earning 4.5% in an online savings account at Countrywide, but with rates falling fast, I am shopping for another 6-9 month CD approaching 5%. I don't know if I'll find anything.
I completed my taxes a couple weeks ago, and our refund this year will be $7,500. A little less than last year and a little less than we thought for a couple reasons: first, our interest income was $8800 and, combined with our increased salary, just made a larger refund difficult. Another issue was a $200 credit I thought we qualified for (energy efficient windows) and it turns out we didn't because we took the credit in '06. One thing that did help us was what we paid in child care since September. We plan on putting $4000 to our Summer Savings goal, $3000 to our year's debt, and $500 into my Roth. For the next few months, I've decided to put any interest income directly into our Roths as well with the hopes of maxing out our contributions for 2007.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The month starts well...
February, my only 3-paycheck month this year, has begun and already it feels good. If only every month had 3 paychecks...? Or that I made significantly more money?
Anyway, our finances had been eased a little from the numerous times in January we didn't send our kids to the nanny. Those days added up because after our first payday on 2/1 we had a good amount of money left over, something that doesn't happen often. We immediately put it to Summer Savings (up to $700) and our CC debt account (up to $1200). With 5 months left to go before the summer, we've saved 10% of our goal. And with around $10,000 being our year long goal ending on 12/31/08, $1200 is a great first month start.
Our tax return is done for the most part. I've been told to expect around an $8000 refund this year, and I will post when I know for certain and how we will earmark that money. With that post, I'll go into some of the issues surrounding our return this year.
I've also had a chance to put $250 towards each of our Roths, pushing our totals for 2007 up to around $2000 each with two and a half months to go to keep funding.
Anyway, our finances had been eased a little from the numerous times in January we didn't send our kids to the nanny. Those days added up because after our first payday on 2/1 we had a good amount of money left over, something that doesn't happen often. We immediately put it to Summer Savings (up to $700) and our CC debt account (up to $1200). With 5 months left to go before the summer, we've saved 10% of our goal. And with around $10,000 being our year long goal ending on 12/31/08, $1200 is a great first month start.
Our tax return is done for the most part. I've been told to expect around an $8000 refund this year, and I will post when I know for certain and how we will earmark that money. With that post, I'll go into some of the issues surrounding our return this year.
I've also had a chance to put $250 towards each of our Roths, pushing our totals for 2007 up to around $2000 each with two and a half months to go to keep funding.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Another approval...
Today we received our new Bank of America card. I wasn't sure if we had been approved, but it turns out we received another 5K in credit. This account has a great promotional balance transfer offer - 0% for 12 months with BT fee capped at $30. Within 15 minutes we had activated the card and brought over $62,000 in credit from another card, and began the process of transfering $60,000 into our checking account. It couldn't have been easier.
To date, we have taken advantage of $162,000 in 0% BT offers, with one more possibly on the way for $30K. Almost $200,000 earning 5% interest is over $800 a month. I may not earn $800 every month because of balances shifting around and having to pay the minimums on each credit card, but my plan is to put a third of this money to paying down debt, a third to saving for the summer, and a third to our Roths.
My employer's W2 came today as well. I'll get my wife's this week directly from her work, and I can get this return done. Refund by mid-March would be great!
And I decided to go with Countrywide. The accounts already being linked was a huge plus for me...
To date, we have taken advantage of $162,000 in 0% BT offers, with one more possibly on the way for $30K. Almost $200,000 earning 5% interest is over $800 a month. I may not earn $800 every month because of balances shifting around and having to pay the minimums on each credit card, but my plan is to put a third of this money to paying down debt, a third to saving for the summer, and a third to our Roths.
My employer's W2 came today as well. I'll get my wife's this week directly from her work, and I can get this return done. Refund by mid-March would be great!
And I decided to go with Countrywide. The accounts already being linked was a huge plus for me...
Who wants my cash?
With interest rates falling like prospective presidential candidates, I've been in a quandary about what to do with my 0% money. Since early in the summer I've had it parked at FNBO Savings, where a long 6% promotion got me in the door. They've kept my business with a competitive 5% rate even when other banks like Emigrant, GMAC, and HSBC were falling. Well, FNBO sent me an email yesterday notifying me that they too were following the trend, all the way down to 4.3%. That can't be the best I can do.
I spent most of last night rate hunting, and I've found some candidates: OneUnited Bank, the country's first black-owned internet bank, is still offering a 5.3% rate for accounts greater thatn $1,000 and a $50 bonus for making a couple months worth of direct deposits. I'd like to see if they hold onto this rate before I jump, although they have held steady since May.
Another option is Countrywide Savings, holding firm at 5%. I know all the negative issues surrounding this company, but it's FDIC insured and I already have an account with them. I even have FNBO already linked so an account transfer initiated today can be earning 5% in 2-3 business days. Hard to pass this up.
I spent most of last night rate hunting, and I've found some candidates: OneUnited Bank, the country's first black-owned internet bank, is still offering a 5.3% rate for accounts greater thatn $1,000 and a $50 bonus for making a couple months worth of direct deposits. I'd like to see if they hold onto this rate before I jump, although they have held steady since May.
Another option is Countrywide Savings, holding firm at 5%. I know all the negative issues surrounding this company, but it's FDIC insured and I already have an account with them. I even have FNBO already linked so an account transfer initiated today can be earning 5% in 2-3 business days. Hard to pass this up.
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