Career Change

July 11, 2007 1MansMoney

My wife has been eager to leave her current company because her new sales manager is difficult to work with and doesn’t know anything about their industry. She also has seen indications that the company’s profitability is way down and there may be major problems ahead.

My wife has been interviewing with a great company for the past 1-1/2, and completed her 3rd and last interview with them today. The final interview was with a panel composed company upper management. As part of the interview, she was required to give a detailed sales presentation to the group. She nailed it. The group told her that she was one of the strongest candidates they have ever had. Needless to say, they offered her the job and she gratefully accepted. She starts with the company in 2-1/2 weeks, just enough time to tie up loose ends with her current company and give them proper notice.

The new job offers a much greater commission/bonus potential and better benefits than her current company. She should know more about the benefits next Tuesday, when she completes new hire paperwork. However, she has already learned that the health insurance is great and they offer a company matched 401(k).

I’m so proud of her. Not only did she get the job, she is joining the company as one of their top candidates, having already caught the eye of upper management.

Budget

So Far, So Good

July 6, 2007 1MansMoney 1 Comment

We’re about 1/4 of the way thru July and my wife and I have done a good job thus far in keeping our expenses down. Our goal is for July to be our lightest expense month yet. That shouldn’t be too hard since we’ve spent an average of $7,110/month in the last four months. I’m hoping we can keep our July expenses in the vicinity of $6,500.

My wife and I are treating ourselves to a dinner date tonight, but to keep true to our goal, we’re taking advantage of a buy one, get one free coupon at an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood that we haven’t been to. We ordinarily spilt a meal when we go out, since the servings sizes in restaurants are usually huge. So, with a buy one, get one free deal, we’ll have a nice meal tonight and leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Got to love a deal.

Vacation

Let Freedom Ring

July 3, 2007 1MansMoney

Happy (early) Independence Day! My wife and I are spending tomorrow on the lake with her father and step-mother. We’ll be enjoying lots of sunshine, boating, and BBQ.

As I get older, I realize more and more how blessed I am to live in America. This country offers priceless freedoms, amazing opportunities, and unending inspiration.

Have a safe 4th of July.

Income Statement

June 2007 Income Statement

July 2, 2007 1MansMoney

We had a lot of money flowing out in June, going over our budget in almost all categories (click on spreadsheet below). I’m beginning to sound like a broken record when it comes to our budget.

My wife and I have committed to doing a better job of watching expenses in July. In fact, we have already declined a couple of social events to help us get July off to a solid start.

Working on it.

Net Worth

June 2007 Net Worth Update (+$3,979.67)

June 30, 2007 1MansMoney

We had a lot of financial action in June. Our investments ended on a down note, but we still increased our net worth by $3,979.67, to $13,022.20 (click on the spreadsheet below).

My wife received an extra $1,161.67 paycheck this month.
I cashed in 6 days of vacation time for an extra $1,219.11.
We sold Car 1 and bought a new (used) Car 1. $1,000 was withdrawn from savings to transact the deal, and we spent another $321.94 getting the new vehicle outfitted with an alarm and a few other things.
Also related to cars, my wife got a flat tire, resulting in a $159.25 replacement tire.
We withdrew $2,000 from savings and used a $1,000 business reimbursement check to open a Roth for me, and fund it with $3,000. The $1,000 business expense will not hit my credit card until July or August, at which time we will pay it off from savings. In the meantime, we are earning stock market returns on the money.
My wife graduated (great job sugar!) this month, so we spent $219.08 on a nice party for her.
June was a heavier than usual month for gifts to family/friends ($216).

We’re tracking nicely to meet our 2007 net worth goal of $22,000. It’s just over half way thru the year and we’re currently at 59.19% of our annual goal.

Budget

Double-Edged Sword

June 29, 2007 1MansMoney

I’m excited to close out June and post our numbers. Even with the market fluctuations, we have made some good headway.

Unfortunately, July looks like it will be a very weak month for our net worth. We went so far over budget in June that we will have to use money that would have been deposited into savings in July to cover our June expenses. We also used a $1,000 reimbursement check from my company to get my Roth funded a bit earlier. If the business charges post to the credit card next month, we’ll have to use most of our savings to pay it back. I’m hoping the charges will hit after our July statement, as I receive 3 paychecks in August and will be in a much better position to pay.

Debt

Financial Education

June 28, 2007 1MansMoney

My wife and I started attending a bible study on Wednesday nights a couple of months ago. It runs just under 2 hours, and attracts a large group of people. We’ve enjoyed attending immensely, but I have to say, last nights class was my favorite discussion yet.

FINANCES! I would have never expected that this would be one of the topics we would cover. I expected it to focus on tithing, but it was equally, or more, focused on getting out of debt.

Did you know in the bible:

Faith is mentioned under 500 times
Prayer is mentioned about 500 times
Money is mentioned more than 2000 times

So, I guess it’s an appropriate subject for bible study.

The pastor explained how he and his wife were in debt $250,000 at one point, living in a rental home, with creditors calling daily. Here’s how it happened:

He landed a great graphic design job right out of high school (he went to a vocational school) and a couple of years later, he and his new wife moved into their first home. He began to fill that home with expensive toys. He took pride in these material objects, enjoying being the guy on the block with all of the cool stuff. He got in the habit of spending more than he earned, ended up getting over his head, and losing everything. He lost the house, the cars, the boat, etc. He said it was the lowest point of his life, and that he could understand why people consider suicide. He began working two additional jobs so they could pay down their debt. During this time, he also began praying, going to church, and even tithing. In fact, the week he began tithing, he was called into his boss’ office and fired. He couldn’t believe it, he felt like he should be getting blessing that week, not fired.

The owner explained that they hadn’t made money in 3 years and he was sick of losing money because of the company. Not sure what to do, he pleaded for his job and explained to the owner numerous ways that he thought he the business could be improved and made profitable. After hearing him out, the owner said, “if you think you can do such a great job, why don’t you take over the company’? He told the owner that he didn’t have any money, and the owner’s response was, ‘I didn’t ask you for money’. He ended up making more that first month he was running the company than he made in all three of his jobs the previous month. That allowed him to quit his two other jobs, and spend more time fixing his relationship with his wife, and getting involved in the church.

They focused their income on paying off all of their debts, and succeeded in paying everything off, including their mortgage, in 7 years. They then bought a new house, and began renting their other house. The $1,200 of monthly rental income was added to their mortgage payment, and they paid the new house off in 8 years. They used that same technique with another house, and now have 3 homes paid for. Now financially independent, he became a full time pastor.

He didn’t give us his testimony to brag. He wanted to show that having even a basic understanding of finances can improve your life dramatically.

I could see that he was getting people in the room excited to pay off their debt. He even provided a debt reduction worksheet to help people get on a plan. This was a real world financial education being taught in bible study. He was careful to explain that where your treasure lies, your heart will follow. And that you don’t want to be in love with money, but to be a good steward with what God has provided you.

Career

My Wife Graduated!

June 27, 2007 1MansMoney

I should have posted this sooner. The commencement ceremony was last weekend, and we had a nice party afterwards to celebrate the special occasion.

My wife received a psychology degree from a UC school; graduating with a 3.5GPA. She currently has a good paying, flexible outside sales position, but wants to get into pharmaceutical sales. I have no doubt that with her education background, leadership skills, and personable disposition, that she will be successful in any endeavor she wishes to pursue. Plus, she’s gorgeous, so that helps too.

Great job sweetheart!

Money Musings

Fool Me Once, Shame On You. . .

June 26, 2007 1MansMoney 2 Comments

I was reading about scams the other day and it got me thinking.

I don’ t believe I have been duped many times, but a story that immediately came to mind was a time I was took for $20, and gave it to the guy with a smile. A few years back, when I was living in an apartment, my roommates and I were kicking back in front of our place when a guy walked up looking sweaty and tired. He explained to us that he was our new neighbor in a unit just across the pool, and had run into some bad luck. His moving van ran out of gas down the hill, and he was trying to get everything moved in to his new place before he had to work that evening. He asked if he could borrow $20, and repay it the next day. Wanting to be a helpful neighbor, I gave him $20 and wished him luck. After a couple of days of not hearing back from the guy, I began knocking on the doors of the apartments across the pool. No one had heard of a new neighbor moving in, or had seen the guy. I couldn’t believe how gullible I was. It wasn’t so much the $20, but the fact that someone would take advantage of another person that was trying to help.

Another story that came to mind was the time my buddy bought a VCR (before DVD’s) from a guy selling them out of the back of his trunk in a parking lot. My friend gave the guys $50 for a new, unopened VCR. He raced home, excited to test his new purchase. Upon opening the shrink wrapped box, he realized that instead of buying a VCR, he bought a VCR box filled with bricks. Granted, he deserved what he got for buying what would likely have been stolen merchandise.

Do you have a good story of a time you have been coned?

Carnivals