The good:
-I don't have a spending problem. Hurray~
-I don't have any more credit card debt
-I am paying debt pretty aggressively
The bad:
-I do have student loans with high balances
-Ding in my credit from over 5 years ago. Suck-y.
-I fear automatizing my finances as I don't trust things to go as planned. I guess I micromanage my own money too much.
What I learned that is useful to me:
-You can switch credit cards within the same company without it affecting your credit score instead of closing/opening credit cards, which does. (I may switch my regular BoA card for their Cash Rewards card)
-If a company sponsored 401k plan doesn't do matching contributions, don't contribute and pay debt instead.
-Open a Roth IRA. Contribute to the Roth IRA instead of non-matching 401k.
-Value vs cost (frugal vs cheap). As always, continue to look at purchases not in terms of cost but in terms of what's it worth to you.
Unsure about:
-Ask for much higher credit card limits. I am scared of more credit, as I'm not sure if I may be tempted to mess up. And if I were to mess up, I'd be completely mortified and would vanquish myself from society in shame. Risks > Rewards.
Things to do:
-Switch BoA card to a rewards oriented card
-Call both credit cards and lower APRs, increase limit on BoA (would they need to check my credit score again for that?)
-Increase tax withholding on both jobs
-Decrease 401k contribution at FT job to ___? (currently at 7%)
-Decrease 401k contribution at PT job to just matching limit (5%, from 13%)
-Open Roth IRA and set up automatic transfers
-Automatize my budget... sometime before December. It's a huge, huge project, but I think I can pull it off.
And that's all for now! Once again, thanks for the recommendations. I'll be looking at some of the other books as my budget allows. Have a wonderful Saturday!
I have pretty much everything automated now, except for my savings transfers which I do myself because if my paycheque changes then I have to alter my savings amount as other payments are pretty much all fixed. I like it as I can forget about most of my banking. The hard part was when I closed my accounts with one bank to open in another and it took months to get all of my payments transferred to the new bank. I had to carry a balance in both chequing accounts for awhile as I never knew when the payment would switch to the new account. That part was a pain in the patootie!
ReplyDeleteThat sure sounds like a pain. I'm not even 100% on my current bank account (ex-ING Direct, now Capital One), as I'm sure they'll start messing up and implementing their own agenda. Definitely sounds like I should research a more stable bank for starters!
DeleteWe have most of the stuff automated too. Hubby's company only contributes 1% to our 401K, so we opened Roth IRA last year too. We only contribute a little every month but it's a start.
ReplyDeleteThat's where I want to be. I know I can't contribute a whole lot, but every bit counts, especially this early.
DeleteI have almost everything automated(unless it is close by and we can walk in and pay it or something I want a receipt for like daughters school fees). But I do not pay through the companies, I pay through my credit union which sends me an email the morning the bills are due to be paid to make sure nothing has changed. This way no fear of overdraft and beside that I do not want any of the credit companies to have freedom to enter my account.
ReplyDeleteI hate BOA so I wont go there. I agree that if your company doesnt match your contributions then a Roth is the best option but if they match then it is free money!! Also my goal is to only have one card when all this is done but I will keep it at the 10,000.00 it is at. I dont want any increases but thats just me.
Anything you contribute to a roth or a 401 is a start....so keep going your doing great
I wonder if ING/CO360 offers that same kind of service. I wouldn't want any credit card company accessing my account either if I can help it.
DeleteSounds like some great tips! I need to focus on automating M's stuff (we have different accounts, but our recent budgeting mixups have reminded me that I should just combine & automate everything for ease of use).
ReplyDelete