Meet The Blogger Mondays is featuring ME!

Lulu at How I Save Money has an ongoing weekly feature where she profiles a different PF blogger. This week it is yours truly! Surf on over to check it out!


Cheers,
TMac

President Bush in NYC, An Observation in Government Spending

I work on the 27th floor of an office building on Lower Manhattan right off the River and the FDR Drive.

Well I saw a bunch of people looking out the window and went over to see what all the fuss was about. President Bush was arriving in the city for a talk in Midtown. Simple observation of the scene that was unfolding below me showed hundreds of people (press, police, secret service, snipers, etc.) were all stationed in their carefully orchestrated places.

I got to thinking about the financial commitment that the county undertakes every time that the President leaves Washington DC. I am sure that there are hundreds of people that need to scope out the venue, travel routes, background checks on the people that will be in attendance. The government has to move several presidential limos in advance. I spied 4 chinook helicopters from my office window.

A four hour trip to NY from DC must cost the government and consequesntly the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

I understand that this is not a lot of money in the grand scope of the annual federal budget, but it just struck me as I stared out the window as Marine One approached from JFK airport.
Apparently President Bush was arriving for a talk with the Economic Club of New York to discuss how the economy is not in a recession.

Cheers,
TMac

[This is a stock photo from Google Images from a presidential visit in January 2008. ]

Tiger on Life...Apply it to Everything

"I view my life in a way … I'll explain it to you, OK?" he told his small audience in Florida. "The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today [emphasis mine]. And that's how I look at my life. I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend. That's the beauty of tomorrow. There is no such thing as a setback. The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better."

That's from this article on ESPN.com about Tiger.

I think the trick it having the discipline to learn from your mistakes. I know there has been plenty of times in the past that I have made a mistake, known fully well that it was a mistake, was presented an opportunity to make that mistake again in the future and done so.

Happy Friday.

Cheers,
TMac

2008 Goals

Well we are well into March and I haven't updated My Financial Odyssey with my 2008 goals. Can you blame me? With so much uncertainty in my job situation and moving to one of the most expensive cities in the country, I felt like any goal I set in January without my living and job situation nailed down would have been in vain.

With that said I have thought long and hard about this year's financial goals. Due to extenuating circumstances I was not able to achieve any of the goals I set out in January. However, this year I am employing the SMART Goal system.

For those of you who don't know SMART stands for...

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time Based

On that note here are my 2008 Financial Goals:

Goal #1

What: Establish a $1,000 E-Fund

How: Based on the $325 currently in the account (I took some money out to help pay for the move to NY) with $100 monthly contributions I should easily achieve this goal.

When: By 2008 Year End

Goal #2
What: Repay parents the $2,500 loan that was taken from them in November.
How: Pay $500/month which will be matched by my girlfriend.
When: May 2008

Goal #3
What: Save $5000 for engagement ring and proposal.
How: Save $500/month till May (when parents are paid back). Then increase saving to $1000/month.
When: September 2008

Goal #4
What: Save 6% of salary in my company's 401K.
How: Starting in July (when I am eligible to enroll) set up automatic paycheck deductions of 6% of my biweekly pay. By year end contributions should total $2,250.
When: By 2008 Year End

And now for the STRETCH GOAL!

What: Pay down $8,000 in Credit Card Debt! This will more than but my credit card debt in half!
How: Pay $500/month till September (totalling $5,000). Then contribute the cash I was contributing to the engagement ring towards the credit card debt for the remainder of the year (totalling $3,000).

When: By 2008 Year End

I think that the first four goals are very attainable assuming no major expenses arise during the year.


Cheers,
TMac

[Photo Credit]

Quick and Dirty Rule of Thumb - Calculating Your Hourly Rate

Knowing what your time is worth is crucial when you are strapped for time and you are trying to determine if an activity is worth your effort. As they say in the working world...Time is Money.

According to Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week there is a quick and easy way to calculate what your time is worth. I will use myself as an example.

1. Take your annual salary ($75,000)

2. Remove the last three zeros ($75).

3. Divide that number in half ($37.50).

Unless you are "making" or "saving" that much with the given activity then it may not be worth your time.

If you are interested in drilling down deeper to get a more detailed look at what your "true hourly rate" is, then take a look at Trent's post (here) on the subject.

Don't get me wrong, doing things simply because they aren't financially worth your time isn't the only consideration. I know the time that I spend consuming media like MSNBC.com, ABC News in the morning before work, and the 50+ blogs I read on a daily basis (about 1.5 hours) may not be the best financial use of my time. However, I accept this because I subscribe to a maxim that people should learn something new everyday. As such, I see this as time well spent.

Cheers,
TMac

[Photo Credit]

My Move to the Big Apple in a New York Minute!

Professionally Speaking...

It was a long time coming.

I had been unhappy in DC and at my company for a while. I started looking for an apartment and job in NY right after the Thanksgiving holiday. I just wasn't happy with all the BS that I had to put up with in the old job. I was stressed out with the crappy assignments I was put on. I was on my out of the consulting world.
In January, I interviewed with one of the largest financial services firms on Wall Street. I received a very good offer ($19K more than I was making in DC) and I accepted for a mid February start date.

All said and done I am happy that I made the move (sans the moving expenses). I like the people I now work with and the pace isn't breakneck like at the previous job. Normally I am in the office by 8:15 and out by 4:50pm. The one thing I am having a hard time getting used to is waking up early in the morning. Normally I wake up between 5:00 and 5:30am to be at work by 8:30. I am beginning to notice that most people in NY have very long commutes - normally 1.5 - 2 hours. I am usually pretty wiped out at the end of the day (sometimes I have a hard time staying up to watch LOST!).

Financially Speaking...

On the financial front I am in a good situation in living with my girlfriend. We live in a basement apartment outside the city. We got a 3 bedroom apartment with all utilities included for $1100. Not bad considering I was in Virginia paying $1065/month PLUS utilities. I will outline our saving and spending arrangement in a later post.

Luckily I got a large pay increase when I moved to the new position. I was being paid $56,500 in DC. If I were making an equivalent in the NY Metro I would be at $62,000. However the offer came in at $75,000. That means that I garnered a $13,000 pay increase by switching jobs. Not bad for a few stressful months!

It is amazing to look back and compare my earnings level to where I was after graduating from college ($32,000) to where I am now ($75,000).

Cheers,
TMac

[Photo Credit]

February 2008 Networth Update: Assets: -19%; Liabilities: -1%; Networth: -11%

Well February was a rough month. I practically gave back all my gains that I have made over the past year. Alot happened in February to make it a tumultuous month. Namely - I quit my job in DC, bought myself out of my lease and moved to NY and in with my girlfriend and took a job at a one of the largest financial services firms on Wall Street.

Now that the GF and I are sharing expenses, I suspect my numbers to rebound quickly as compared to past dips in networth. Unfortunately I borrowed $2500 from my parents, liquidated $2500 from my Roth and tapped the E-FUND to fund the lease break and the move. Paying those funds back are of utmost importance to me at this point. Once I start getting a regular paycheck from the new job I will be calculating my annual goals. I haven't done this yet since so much was up in the air.

Anyway, check out the numbers for yourself:

Cheers,

TMac

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