Looking Back to Thanksgiving and Forward to Christmas

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and we can actually say with confidence that we are in the Christmas season and everyone knows what that mean! That's right - Egg Nog! You either love it or you hate it, and ohh how do I love it (kicked up with some soul warming Rum)! But I digress...

So traditionally in my family over our turkey feast we recap the past year and how circumstances have changed or stayed pretty much the same. Followed by this the kids normally select names out of a hat for Secret Santa style gift giving (there are five siblings). Well Mom and Dad preempted our usual tradition with a disclaimer of their own. This Christmas there will be no gifts given. This year has been an unbelievably tight year for them money wise. Currently they have three girls in private university, one boy in private high school, the business is not doing as well as has in recent past and the pool needs a new liner.

At first this notice to all of us over dinner came as a major surprise to me since I can't remember anytime that my parents shared the details of their personal financial situation with us in such an open way. Though, taken aback by the lack of presents initially, I reflected on the situation and decided that this was indeed a good thing.

How many times over Christmas do we receive things that we truly do not want or need. We just say, "Ohh, Thank You!" and give them that trademark smile. I think that the coming Christmas will be enhanced by the lack of material gifts. I will try to get back to the basics of the holiday season and try to make/create gifts with meaning that come from the heart. I will keep myself out of the malls and my family and friends in mind since they are what make the holidays special.

I can't remember any instance of me standing in a crowded mall with the perfect gift being reminded of how important the person I was buying for was to me in my life. I feel like it has just become automatic to default to the malls where they part with your money and time. Time you should have been spending with the people closest to you.

While I am not saying I am going to buy ZERO gifts this winter, nor am I proclaiming this approach is right for everybody. I recommend that you take time to think why the person you are buying for is important to you and if you are just buying for the sake of getting SOMETHING for the person. If so consider doing something together or a heartfelt card. Those go a long way!

Editors Note: I have specifically not gone back and edited this post as it is mostly stream of consciousness and I feel like something would have been lost in the editing process.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there. I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I have a good job with a good salary, a wonderful woman that loves me and some of the best family and friends a guy could ever have. I love you all.

I will keep from getting too sappy and let one of our founding fathers do the talking as he reminds us of the importance of giving thanks with a humble heart.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:

"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

"And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

"Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October, A.D. 1789."

George Washington

I especially love the third paragraph. Why don't people talk like this anymore? It gives me chills just reading stuff like this from the founding fathers. It is jut spoken with such conviction and passion. I think it is something we may have lost over the ages.

Happy Thanksgiving,
TMac


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Evaluating the 2007 Goals

Well with one month left in the year I think I can say with utter certainty that I will reach none of my financial goals that I set out to achieve in March. As of right now I am 43% of the way towards my goal of paying down $5,000 in credit card debt; I am 20% of the way to saving a $2,000 emergency fund; and I am still 100% of the way from saving $3,000 towards my 401K.

Why will I not even reach one of my goals? Well, simply put....$hit happens!

1. When I drafted those goals last March most of my circumstances were different. I had a roommate that I was splitting rent and utilities with. At the time the plan was to live together with him, ma boo, and his wife in a larger yet more cost effective apartment. I am currently footing the bill for an apartment on my own as well as all utilities. Things change.
   
2. They were aggressive stretch goals to begin with. These goals would have required me to really hone in on my spending and trim alot of unnecessary spending.
3. The annual raise wasn't as high as I was expecting. I was expecting 10% and got only 8.5%. While only amounting to couple thousand dollars, this still helps!
4. I failed to regularly review my progress towards the yearly goals. Also once the underlying assumptions changed, I failed to update my assumptions and expectations.
   

Am I disappointed about not hitting my goals? Hell yeah I am. Am I going to throw in the towel because I failed to reach them? Hell No!

I have a few goals in store for next year that are even more aggressive than those I had for 2007. Will I hit them? Who knows but I promise I will learn alot in the meantime.

Tune in next time - same time, same station!

Cheers,
TMac

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Cashflow for Dummies

Golbguru over at Money, Matter, and More Musings has a great sequence of potential cashflow diagrams that are easy to understand and quite funny. Which one are you!?!?!

Check it out (click here).


Cheers,
TMac


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October 2007 Networth - Assets -1.57 %, Liabilities -1.07 %, Networth +0.82 %

Well the month of October has come and gone and now it is time for the low down dirty details as to where I stand compared to September.


Actually it looks like I am standing in almost the exact same place as I was in at the beginning of the month. About halfway though the month I changed around my direct deposit accounts which in turn resulted in me logging into my debt accounts to change the accounts from which they were drawing their funds. When doing this I was noticing accrued interest on the accounts that my Quicken didn't pick up. As a result I "trued-up" the account balances in Quicken to reflect the accrued interest charges.


Assets:
My assets went down about 1.5% this past month mainly due to a lower than normal account balance in my checking account and a small loss in my Roth IRA account.

Liabilities:
On the liabilities front I was able to retire $731 of my debt. Most of that came from paying down student loans and the loan on the Passat. Unfortunately I was only able to reduce my outstanding debt on my credit cards by $53. This is due to an unexpected mid-month balance transfer. I missed a payment on my Citi card that was sitting at 0% while I was at work in Richmond. Once I got the statement I noticed a huge charge for accrued interest which instantly set off my alarms. I called Citi to see if they would reenact my 0% if I cut them a check immediately - they denied the request. As a result I had to Xfer the debt to another card. After the Citi fees and the balanace Xfer fees I only netted a negative $53 towards my credit cards.

Looking Forward:
November does not look like a good month for making positive gains in my Networth. I have all my regular expenditures that I will need to pay plus I have a few things that will negatively impact my networth.

1. Car Insurance - my car insurance is due in November. That will be about $420 out of pocket that I will need to pay. When I was with ING I had an account specifically for the accrual of money for car insurance, however, I inadvertently liquidated this account when I left ING and I used some of the proceeds towards paying for other things. BAD TMAC! :-(
2. Auto Service - Also related to my car I have come up to my 30,000 mile service. This is one of the big scheduled service events for my car. Unfortunately the local VW dealer will bend me over for this one. I am expecting it to be in the neighborhood of $300.
3. Decreased Car Value - Related to #2, I am going to adjust down the value of my car in my Quicken account based on the new mileage which will further reduce my assets.
   
4. Thanksgiving - throw in a trip to Boston to see family and friends that I haven't seen in about a year and that will make for a quasi-expensive weekend. Luckily I was able to talk dad into footing the bill for the flight home to Boston (arguably the most expensive part) if I promised to drive up for Christmas. Now I just need to find a way to save some money on drinks and getting around!
   

November is going to be killer.

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