AZKid's Financial Journal

Recovery

2008-02-18T00:35:00.000-08:00

After paying down the holiday credit debt...I ramped it right back up with birthdays and valentines day...I just received my tax return which came in around 4k this year combined. I took that and applied it to this credit card and through the rest into my money market. Now the only debt I have outside of my house is my furniture bill from wells fargo which started at $2200 and is now down to $1000. After I pay this off I will be back to my comfortable zone of $0 debt and $$$ in the bank...and then I can get a dog! Something I have always wanted.

The AZKid

Continued Success

2007-12-01T04:41:00.000-08:00

As I said in my last post if it's been a while since I've posted thats a good thing and it has seriously been a while this time!

First the good news. The good news is I have managed to lose 60lbs (my goal) and keep it off. I continue to jog on my treadmill everyday, but got off NTRI (NutriSystems) a few months ago. No more $300 a month. I also continue to buy groceries and eat responsibly it has been a life change that is sticking, which is great.

Now the not so good. My spending is higher though my focus is still there. It's my will power that is weak. Focus is nothing without will power! But I don't dwell or let this affect me as I said it happens and I must cheat! So....

I've been a good boy patient and mostly focused and the time has come for a reward! Welcome to November my first set of stock from my purchased ESPP shares a year ago are now sell-able at the reduced tax rate...I am scheduled to sell off the shares next week for around $5000. Roughly half of this will go to purchasing new musical equipment (Christmas present to me). The rest will be used to pay off my car which is now at ~$3000. I am doing this because I am tired of paying $700 a month for my car! I would rather pay it off early and save $3000 back to re-pay myself so to speak. But there is more to it then that as I have been a busy boy. I also sunk myself into an additional ~$2200 dollars worth of debt for a pimp new couch and new dining room table set. Well worth it, but perhaps not the best timing. After paying off the car with this stock I will be able to pay off the balance on the Room Store bill in just a few short months.

Thats all the updates for now though I'm sure I'm missing something. But it is way to late for me to be up and I need to crash. I will update soon I hope with my continued progress and how things are turning out.

AZKid

Been A While Since My Last Post

2007-06-29T19:26:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since my last post and that is always a good thing. Because life is busy and a busy life is a happy one. Not much has changed financially, which is why no need for a post. I have however since late April lost 30lbs and continue to motivated in my efforts to lose weight and save money. I do admit though in both a diet and saving money it is important to cheat. Basically every once in a while you must reward yourself. Why? Because for me, it is the only way I will stick to it. I consider myself strong willed, but everything in life is a compromise...extremes in either direction only lead to failure to commit long term. Saving and health are something you and I should have long term commitments to, hence the importance of cheating which makes it all possible. I try to limit cheating on my diet to once a week. And I try to limit my cheating on spending to whenever I have to. Recently I went back through my finances and evaluated myself. For a long time now it feels like I have been financially focused and yet I didn't feel like I had much to show for it, not that this would stop me cause I am about small gains, but I was motivated to spend a little for a new music keyboard for my hobby of music production. So I began to look further into my finances. Turns out if I had to, and I mean had to get money inside a week I would have roughly 22k available to me, and that is cash no any loans, home equity, cc's or otherwise. It's just that I have spread it between different investment's with not a lot in each place. So in my head I wasn't saving much, but when it adds up, it does just that.

I used to think because I was having 350 a check removed from my check every 2 weeks I was saving 9k a year. However, I discovered this to be wrong as well in my investigation because I have been investing in my companies ESPP for so long I tend to forget it's there (a good thing). So long behold every check roughly 10% of my income goes to buying into the ESPP. These shares eventually are sold off after a year to avoid capital gains and if all goes well I make an immediate 15% or more off what I pay'd for them. So really I am saving 350 + 300(roughly and error on the lower side) a check (every 2 weeks) = 650 a month. Say it with me now $16,900 dollars. WOA. On top of that I have been paying $700 a month on my car note to pay it off in 1 year as promised. Focused!

But it's not all great, I am paying $300 a month to NTRI aka NutriSystems for my diet + whatever groceries needed and $58 dollars a month on my old personal cellular until August when the contract expires. Believe me, come july 20th im calling to cancel asap. Cant stand the fact they took an extra few hundreds bucks out of me cause of a contract, especially since its my 3-4 consecutive contract I completed with verizon, damn new phones. Had them for roughly 9 years. Anyway, so after I calculated my savings I rewarded myself with the new musical keyboard toy a mere $350. Money well spent, it will keep me occupied for months while I continue to save!

Happily,
The AZ Kid

The TV Experience

2007-05-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

During my recent reflection on my life and it's direction I also made other personal goals I may not have mentioned related to personal fitness. I believe personal fitness and saving money have a lot of the same requirements like discpline and long term dedication. Really they are life changing decisions.

Anyway, I have a treadmill and workout bench in my home and until recently I had been using my ipod shuffle I got a few years ago as a gift to entertain me. As of late I decided I would ultimately burn more calories and find it easer to work out if I could watch tv while I did. Not a novel concept, but definately the right one. So I took some cash I had from a secret stash of cash I had from some lucrative small business engagements. Of course being a tight wad I didn't want to spend it all so of the 5 to 600 in the secret stash I limited myself to only spending 300.

I called up my father and told him I wanted to go shopping for a TV (he is cheap too, my mother is not) so it was a perfect choice. We went to the normal places, best buy, circuit city, cost co, sam's club and of course Wal Mart. Skipped target this time just cause of the deal we ended up finding. Anyway, as we browsed Best Buy, Circuit City, and Cost Co we found that they were geared toward high end plasma or dlp tv's. In fact Cost Co didn't even carry regular TV's! Checking Sam's Club with little faith my father and I were delighted to find a Magnovox 24 inch TV with DVD and VHS(Not that I have any) with a great volume max (needed to hear over treadmill). It was 269 + tax and we thought it was a pretty solid deal especially since my limit was 300, it was named brand and did everything I wanted. I purchased then TV then we went over to wal mart to obtain the wall mount rack kit runs about 30-40 bucks.

Now naturally the wall mount kit happened to be in the TV section of Wal Mart. So as we were on our way back we noticed that the very same TV was at Wal Mart. I turned and said "hey Dad look its the TV I just bought" he said oh yea it is. This is not all that surprising because Sam's Club and Wal Mart are the same company ultimately with different internal business models. Obviously intrigued I checked the price. I'll be damned. $175 dollars nearly $100 dollars less then the cost of the TV on Sam's Club. That just didn't seem right, Wal Mart beating the store you gotta pay to be a member of to get the (false?) idea that you are getting a good deal. I am still a fan of Sam's Club, but what a disturbance in the force so to speak. Anyway, obviously I wanted to pay $175, but "oh no, dad it looks like they don't have any more". We spent about 30 minutes hounding an associate, she called around to different stores etc, but ultimately was having no luck. Finally she asked another colleague and she ran into the back and ended up finding 1. Thats right 1 TV they said it was hidden behind some 20 inch TV's. My mother (who we had called on the phone to do internet price checks) quickly reminded me that when she worked in retail stores she would commonly hide good deals for herself until the end of the day. I thought that was a pretty cute possibility, but ultimately MY DEAL BUDDY! hehe. Very exciting so I ended out the door with the wall mount TV and tax for 233. The TV alone at Sam's Club was 293, would have been over 300 with the wall mount.

Can you say LUCKY? Nah I don't believe in luck just hard work. We spent total about 3 hours TV shopping. May not sound like a lot to the ladies, but to a couple of guys who knew exactly what they wanted we were exhausted on the shopping bit. I have had my TV a little over a week now and have been very happen with it's quality, features and of course price!

AZKid

Eating Out

2007-05-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Just quickly before I forget because I didn't note this on my previous blogs. I save a huge amount of money by eating at home! I used to LIVE on fast food ever since I moved out of my parents house about 5 years ago. It just took me about 5 years and 65 pounds later to realize I needed to not only cut the fat (diet and exercise), but really stop eating out so much. When I calculated how much money I was spending on food. I was shocked that it could sometimes end up being 30% of my take home. ON EATING OUT!

Save money. Eat at home. It's healthier physically and financially like a lot of things I have discovered.

Seems to be physical fitness and financial fitness go hand in hand. They take a lot of discipline and long commitments.

AZKid

Cutting The Fat

2007-05-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

In order to make more, you really need to spend less. That is one thing I have become wise beyond my years on. I used to constantly want that raise and constantly think well if I just made six figures I would be doing great!

Well like with everything in life I have found, you make a goal, you reach it, and if your ambitious that just isn't good enough for you. You want to be better. I don't think this is greed, but rather self reflection and a drive to want to be the best man or woman you can be.

For me personally I just feel I won't always be as fortunate as I am right now. I fear I will not always have an above average income and job security. So ultimately my definition of financial free and ultimate end goal is to be able to semi-retire if I would like. Full retirement would be to boring for a guy in his 30's don't ya think?

So enough goal talk! What have I done so far? Cut out of the fat of course.

Simmered Down The Social Life (homebody)
For one thing I know it sounds horrible, but I cut out a lot of friends. Let's face it, we all grow up at different rates in our lives and timing is everything. If you are around people that aren't on the same level as you and that aren't passionate about bettering themselves. Odds are they are holding you back, so I figure take them out of the phone book! If they call me no worries they are my friend, but I stay home now. Ultimately the older I get, the more time I like to spend alone reading or reflecting on myself. And also I know myself better everyday I spend on this planet. And I know that I am easily influenced by negativity. If someone is negative I have cut them, you should do the same! I thrive off positivity and try to spread it to others.

Pay Off That Car!
I have increased my payment on my car from around $300 to $700 at this rate I will pay off my car in 1 year. April to be exact, but Im gonna try to use some of my bonus's to help as well. (~$8,000 owed).

401k
I have increased my 401k from the 3% to 6% immediately and have automatically set it up to automatically increase on August first each year by 2% until I reach 10%. I also re-balanced my 401k to go into a mutual fund that will maximize my return. It is a less diverse setup, but ultimately because of my age this will probably end up doing better for me for now.

DODFX Mutual Fund
I put $2500 into DODFX a high risk high yield (20% past few years) mutual fund. I plan to get this to $5000 over the next year or so and watch it grow. (I plan to invest my ESPP shares from 1 year ago on November 07 to avoid capital gains).

Saving More
Increased normal savings from $300 per check to $350 per check or $8400 (from $7200) by lowering my cox bill (~$40) and canceling my personal cellular phone(~$90). Note: I still have a cell phone, but work pays for it.

Lastly I signed up for networthiq.com here is my chart:

AZKid

10 year Financial Goals

2007-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

I hope to achieve these a lot faster then 10 years.

The Goals
1. Continue to put $350 dollars or more per check into my Money Market.
2. Focus on my job & Getting Things Done At Work! (it directly affects my finances!)
3. Pay off car ($8,100) by paying $700 per month over the next year. (April 08)
4. Try to save as much as possible and while upgrading my home (tv, couch, floors)
5. Refinance the house (pending interest rates at that time)
6. Pay Off My House ($119,000 left)

Goal Details:

Money Market
After tax money not used for bills goes into this and is then either saved or transferred to other investments.

Car
My car is already about 2 years old, the original loan was around 15k so I am just now making it a goal to pay this off in the next year. This ultimately allows me to conquer a short term goal and free up an extra $293 a month to put towards paying off the house in 6 years. Which is going to take some muscle.

Pay Off My House
The Plan for this would be to take the balance at that time, since I don't know it for sure, right now I will calculate it as is.
12 * 6 = 72 ( months * years = months)
$119,000 / 72 (months) = $1,652.78 a month.
I bought my house in 2002 before prices sky rocketed in Arizona. The original mortgage amount is $128,000 at 6.25% I have no refinanced yet.

Goal #4 - Try to save as much as possible
To elaborate my current way of thinking is I would like to become a millionaire conservatively. As opposed to David Bach and others way of thinking which is go in debt increase risk and make more. Don't get me wrong David's way will work, in fact it will work better then the route I have chosen. But I have chosen my route because it is the healthier choice for me and the type of person I am. I am the type of person who does not enjoy risk and prefers stability.

So the key is after I pay off ALL my debts as recommended by Dave Ramsey, that is when Goal #4 truly takes effect. I believe our income is our greatest wealth builder, greater then any investment. So my plan is to free up my income. I have already started doing this as you will see in my next post that shows what I have done already to really start saving money.

So how much do I want to save? 1 million dollars in the next 10 years. I think it is very do-able if I commit to it and I continue to only have to support myself. To give you an idea of my age, yes I would be in my 30's.

Remember a million dollars isn't a crazy amount of money these days. However, we all know the more money we have the more we can make so with the stock market average 10% returns. If I had a million dollars, well I would be just fine don't ya think?

AZKid

My First Entry!

2007-05-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the AZKid's Financial Journal.

The purpose of this journal is to allow me to track my own progress, trials and tribulations of investing as I learn each day! I am starting at a pretty young age, hence the "kid" heading in my blog. This blog is a long-term project of mine and I don't expect it to be too verbose or helpful at first to others as I am just starting out in investing. But in the years to come I plan on being financially free and if I achieve this goal you all will be able to see how I did it step by step!

For starters here are some quotes I found to be highly motivational:
"Champions spend a lot of time alone"
"Most people over estimate what they can do in a year and under estimate what they can do in a decade"

Here are the books I have already read:
The Automatic Millionaire - by David Bach - 5 stars
The Total Money Makeover - by Dave Ramsey - 5 stars
Start Late, Finish Rich - by David Bach - 5 stars

In the future as I post about books I read I will review them, but for now just take my word for it those are great books that changed my life.

AZKid