My March net worth is up at NetWorthIQ. It's up 3.69%, to $22,561, which is not too shabby. And in the vein of this previous post on my retirement accounts, it's worth noting the progress of my 401(k), in terms of shares:
Fidelity Freedom 2050 Fund: 351.2 shares (last month: 317.15 shares)
Fidelity Total Stock Market Index Fund: 32.2 shares (last month: 29.06 shares)
I've weathered the last few months' downturn pretty well (haven't yet seen a reduction in my net worth), but I'm definitely not on track to hit $35,000 if things keep up this way. I probably shouldn't factor a continually climbing stock market into my goals, huh? A more realistic goal for this year is probably $30,000. We'll see.
That said, how are my other goals going?
Earn the full match in my 401(k)
I've earned 39.9% of it. Nice! If I really am going to switch jobs, though, this goal is going to have to be reworked.
Save $4,000 in the Freedom Fund, for an end balance of $10,000.
I saved a mere $200 of income this month, but I'm still on track to hit my year-end goal (I think...again, a job change may rearrange this, because I'm currently planning on big savings spikes in "extra paycheck" months). My freedom fund is just north of the $7,000 mark now.
Give $1,200 to good causes.
A post on this is forthcoming, but let's just say for now: no. This is not going according to plan this year, for reasons to be discussed later.
Earn $1,500 of non-salary income, earmarked for graduate school application expenses.
Very little activity on this front this month: just a couple of Pinecone Research checks I haven't deposited yet. I'm due a bunch of blog stuff this month, though, so this should see a big bump for the next monthly update.
Buy a friend a drink at least once a month.
This is by far my favorite monthly goal! I'm pretty sure I bumped it off early this month (I remember thinking, "Hey, two in February! ...Wait, no, it's March."), but I don't remember exactly how.
Monday, April 07, 2008
March Goals Update
Thursday, April 03, 2008
I Am Stupid, ETS is Evil, Or Possibly Both
So, I paid $130 for the privilege of a four-hour torture session also known as "the GRE in Literature in English." Then I did not study. No problem, sez I, I'll move my test date. I tried, a couple of weeks ago, was foiled by ETS's non-functional website, and stowed the idea away in the back of my brain.
Today, nine days before the test for which I am registered, I finally get around to thinking about it again. I find contact information and call. I get a recorded message saying that in order to get half your test fee back, you have to
1) find the correct form on ETS's non-functional website (which I can't, actually, even now)
2) download it, print it, and
3) send it to ETS,
4) and it must be received by ten days before the test date.
And then, when all of these hoops are jumped through, they still keep $65. Except in my case, they will be keeping all $130, because I am dumb, dumb, dumb.
Seriously, ETS, bite me so hard.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Non-Salary Income: $145.35
I'm going to continue running the Prosper referral ad, at $150 per quarter. I've received the first payment via PayPal: $142.35 ($150, after PayPal fees; in future I will request payment by check). If I could get this kind of money on a monthly basis, I'd have no problem meeting the goal; as it is, I'm going to do a little more research on blog advertising options, which may be my best bet, and also call the coffee shop woman back.
I also got a Pinecone Research check: $3.
That's a total of $145.35 of non-salary income, or 9.7% of my goal for the year. The timing is good, too: I just registered for the GRE in Literature in English, which cost me $130. (Only $130 for a brutal standardized test that will consume my life, send my anxiety levels skyrocketing, make me feel bad about my education, and require me to get up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday--what a great deal!) The extra $15.35 will be shuttled into the Electric Orange checking account I maintain just for grad school stuff (I used it on Friday, to buy a big fat pack of 4x6 index cards to begin studying for aforementioned brutal standardized test).
Friday, January 04, 2008
Financial Goals for 2008
I've been thinking seriously about these--apologies for the delay. But without further ado, here are my 2008 financial goals.
Earn the full match in my 401(k)
I'm going to be switching over to the Roth 401(k), and my company's match has been bumped up to $2,000 (dollar-for-dollar!), so this will be a more challenging goal than it was this year.
Save $4,000 in the Freedom Fund, for an end balance of $10,000
This figure will just about cover six months' worth of frugal living, so it's a nice stash to have in case of life change or emergency. This means regular monthly contributions of about $250, plus saving the slack in my extra paychecks. Quite doable. If it's looking too doable as the year progresses, I may revise this goal upwards a touch, but since I may have to adjust my 401(k) contributions up, this one may be harder than it looks.
Give $1,200 to good causes
Yes, indeed, this is less than I gave this year. But a hundred bucks a month is a nice round number, and I really don't think it's ideal for me to be resenting my giving plan (and I did feel that way a couple of times this year), so I'm going to take this one in baby steps. The figure is still a chunk of money for someone of my age and income. I also need to devote some thought to creating a giving plan that makes my donations meaningful--I felt a little haphazard this year.
Earn $1,500 of non-salary income, earmarked for graduate school application expenses
This is going to be a big challenge, especially since I'm going to give up the freelance work I do through my employer. But I'm going to try to earn some money through the blog (you'll note I'm continuing to run the Prosper referral ad), and I'm going to talk to a local coffee shop about maybe doing some contract baking. And all those tiny Pinecone Research checks count, too! I'll get a goal meter up on my sidebar for this one.
Buy a friend a drink at least once a month
And not in the "I'll get this round, you get the next round" way, either. This seems like a strange goal, I know. But I want to be careful that I don't get tight-fisted, and I want to prioritize my friendships. I'm not going to be too picky about what it is I'm buying--coffee or a snack counts just as much as a beer, as long as it's bought during social time together and not reimbursed.
Achieve a $35,000 net worth
This one seems the likely result of achieving all of the above goals. I'll revisit it at the six-month mark.
You'll note that there's no goal pertaining to the Travel Fund. That's because it's not a priority right now. I'll keep up my $50/month automatic transfers, but I'm not going to be pushing this one this year, partially because it's not as urgent if I'm not taking my trip until summer of '09 and partially just because I'm going to have other things on my mind.
So onwards and upwards. May we all enjoy success in 2008.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Just a Thought
I've been saying for awhile now that if my job doesn't change in this year-end shakeup, I'll start looking for something else. I've followed up my talk with my boss, and frankly, wasn't particularly overwhelmed with warm-and-fuzzies about the results. It made me think that perhaps, even if I do get the promotion, this company may not be the place for me for much longer.
Now, I can do this one way: I can look for something else in publishing, where my skills are good and the turnover is high. I'd rather pull out all my fingernails than apply for another editorial assistant job, though, so if I can't find anything in editorial proper, I'd hit up idealist.org & start calling my parents' friends.
Or, I could do it another way, and apply for teaching fellowships. There's the renowned Teach For America, of course, but there's also the New York City Teaching Fellows--less of a resume boost, but you earn a subsidized master's degree in education. Which would be pretty helpful on the resume when I apply for my PhD. And though they're selective programs, especially TFA, I'm pretty confident that I'd be accepted into either. On the downside, though, both programs require a two-year commitment, and that's longer than I wanted to put off grad school.
On the upside, though, I wouldn't be so goddamn bored all day. My work would mean something. I've really enjoyed the tutoring & teaching I've done in my volunteer work. And, oh yeah, fellows in those programs make a teacher's starting salary: in NYC, that's close to $45K. That's way more than I make now.
Just how much am I willing to change my life?
Friday, July 27, 2007
Freelance Income Follow-Up
So much like in my last post, all the good advice I received here ended up being moot—my employer added my freelance income to my regular paycheck and withheld 401(k) contribution and taxes from it. I guess I'm glad to have the extra 401(k) contribution, but to see my $335-ish check dwindle to $205 (for a month and a half's work) is a little...well, pathetic. It's enough to make a girl want to pad her invoice!
And doesn't that withholding seem a little excessive? If you subtract the 401(k) (less than $25), it ends up looking like I'm in a 33+% tax bracket, which, I assure you, I am not. Maybe they're doing this to cover the self-employment tax? Or maybe I'm just going to get a big fat tax refund...which is fine, I mean, I'm not opposed to that (interest-free loan blah blah notwithstanding) but I do actually need the money to cover my grad school applications, so I'm sort of thinking of taking an extra exemption.
Anyway, I'm opening an Electric Orange checking account for this money, which seems the best of both worlds—interest and easy access. I don't want to have to scoot this money around too much (it's too slow and annoying), and since I know I'm going to be spending it, it seems expedient to slap it into an account with a debit card, so I can charge related expenses directly to it. I've already spent $140 of the $200 on the GRE registration fee, anyway.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Further Thoughts on Monetization
Yesterday, I received the first advertising solicitation that has ever piqued my interest. It was from a student loan consolidation group. I've previously received solicitations for ads and paid content from payday lenders, weird social networking sites, and seminar gurus. I've turned them all down without a second thought. This one, on the other hand, comes from a service that seems to operate in an aboveboard fashion (I searched for negative reviews six ways from Sunday before responding to the email) and be a viable option for people who are looking to consolidate their loans...so I don't really see any reason to turn it down. This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I wrote about monetization back in January. So I wrote back, and we'll talk terms, and maybe an ad for a student loan consolidation company will pop up on my sidebar.
I'm thinking I might give a little monetization a try. My eventual hope would be to monetize to the level of $500 per month with individually-negotiated ads for companies that provide services that aren't detrimental to my readership (even Dave Ramsey approves of student-loan consolidation!). Why is my goal $500/month? Well, because it would just about cover my Roth contribution (remember, the maximum is going up!) plus taxes while I'm in grad school, assuming I continue to blog. I was very much affected by the commenters who generously shared their experiences with me, and the consensus that indeed, taking on additional work is liable to negatively influence one's academics. But this blog doesn't feel like "work" to me--it mostly feels like something I do for fun, like something that provides the benefit of kicking back and watching a movie. If I could manage to cover my Roth contribution (and thus, keep investing while in grad school) out of money I get for working on a hobby...well, that would be pretty great.
Of course, I would never, ever sell content, I'd never advertise a product that would be harmful to my readers, and if any of my readers could show me that one of my advertisers was shady, I'd drop the ad immediately.
So...how does that sound, as a policy?
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Bookswap a Go!
My boss just asked me to swap for a book for a colleague's personal use in a course she's taking. That means my compunctions about swapping for the Oxford Companion are out the window, and I won't have to pay for it.
Score.
[By the way, I realize that I haven't explained this: "book swaps" are the methods used by publishing companies to obtain competitors' books. I email an editorial assistant at whatever company and tell them what I want, and they either request something in exchange or bank the favor for later. The point is, the book I get will cost me no money, but it will cost my employer money. Of course, so do the books that my employer offers as a perk.]
Living on Living Stipends?
Most of the graduate departments I've looked at guarantee financial aid to PhD students that includes a stipend for living expenses as well as full coverage of tuition and fees. That's great--it makes the PhD a relatively inexpensive degree (except, perhaps, for opportunity costs). Problem is, the living stipend figures I've seen are very small, generally in the $14K to $18K range. Before taxes. That doesn't look to me like enough to live on, let alone enough to save on.
Can any of my readers who are or have been grad students (especially in the humanities) tell me a little about income as a grad student? Does the living expenses stipend actually cover the cost of living? Does the department offer additional work, or do you look elsewhere for employment above and beyond your stipend?
I'm hoping to figure out how much I can expect to make per year. My expectations on that point will help shape the financial steps I take in 2008--yes, I know that's a long ways away, but, like the Scouts, I'm a big fan of being prepared.
Monday, May 28, 2007
June Goals
Following Krystal's lead, I thought I'd lay out some specific goals for June.
Finances:
1. Add $175 to my Freedom Fund balance. This is $75 over my autodrafts, and would bring the balance of the Freedom Fund ING account to over $2,200, which would set me up to hit $2,500 by the end of August.
2. Add $50 to my Travel Fund balance, to bring it to over $1,150. This is just my autodrafts, so it's a pretty low bar.
3. Cashflow purchase of the Oxford Companion to English Literature. I'd like to find this book, a resource for the Lit GRE, on one of the discount sites for a price that I can manage to cashflow from June's pay.
4. Buy sandals and Feist's new album. Planned spending is something I need to work on—I tend to nickel and dime myself out of things I want.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Grad School Admissions Process Cost Projections
So, I'm getting pretty serious about applying to grad school this cycle, which means I need to get pretty serious about paying for applying to grad school.
A quick breakdown of some estimated costs follows.
-Princeton Review Literature subject test study guide: $20 (bought it two days ago, from my "unexpected expenses" line item)
-Kaplan prep course for GRE general: $1,149 (parentally subsidized or no go--if the latter, there will be general GRE prep materials at a cost of about $100)
-GRE general registration: $130
Other study materials for the subject test: some are free through work (because we publish them), but some I'll need to either buy (eBay, half.com) or swap for through work (it's an established procedure, but I'm a little dubious about the ethics involved in swapping company books for books I want personally, even though others seem to do it). I'm estimating $50.
-GRE subject test registration: $130
-GRE score reports: $17 per school (God, BITE me, ETS), with four reports included in the test fee. If I estimate I'm applying to 8 schools, and that I know what 4 of them are by the time I take my GREs, that'll come out to $64. There's also a $6 fee for getting your subject test scores early by phone, and I predict I won't be able to resist that. Bring it up to $70. Note, too, that I'm not sure whether or not I'll have to double that number to include the subject test reports or if they're included. My guess, informed by prior experience with ETS, would be the former, so bring it on up to $140.
-Application fees: around $50-$80 per school. Estimating high, I come up with an appalling number: $640.
-Transcript requests: my undergrad charges $3 per transcript. Again using the eight-schools estimate: $24.
-Postage. There are a lot of pre-stamped envelopes here. For example, each of my three recommenders will get stamped envelopes to send their recommendations to each of my 8 schools. That's about $10 right there. I'll spend money on sending things to schools, too, and then consider that there'll probably be a disaster or two requiring Fed-Ex. I'll say $40.
The grand total? A whopping $1,174. Not including the prep course.
Yuck.
Okay, so say we estimate I bring an extra $200 a month (after taxes) on my freelance job. If I do that every month between now and December, I should make enough to cover the whole grad school process without touching my savings. Nevertheless, I am not going to enjoy shelling out all that money I could have saved, and I kind of think ETS should be indicted for racketeering.
(Princeton Review has a page on the cost breakdowns of applications processes here if you're trying to predict costs on an application process that's not a PhD in English.)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Stasis
So, the money thing is just kind of puttering along. I'm on track to meet my Freedom Fund savings goal for the end of August ($2,000) by the beginning of June, which is nice. I may or may not have an extra $25 or $50 to save at the end of this pay period, but it'll be fine either way. One thing I am noticing is that with summer's advent comes increasing difficulty with keeping myself within the bounds of my budget. There are a couple of things I need--like a pair of sandals--but mostly there are suddenly just more things I want than ever: cold drinks and summer-blockbuster movie tickets (I recommend Black Book, which is not being marketed as a summer blockbuster because it is subtitled, but is basically a big, thrilling war melodrama) and lots and lots of fresh berries and iced coffees and restaurant dinners at the tables set up on the sidewalks and all sorts of things. The problem with a lot of these things is that they are that most insidious of money drains, the Little Things That Add Up, so I am going to have to remain vigilant.
The real-life thing is in a bit of flux. If I'm applying to grad school this time around for real, I probably want to stick it out in my current job until then, just so as not to add the stress of a job change. Problem is, though, that while I work here I rely on my current income (plus the freelance gig) to get me through the grad school application process, which is an expensive one. I may have to ask my parents to help out with that a bit, much as I hate that prospect.
In a way, this is a nice place to be. I feel like I don't have to work too hard at money right now--I still have to put in the effort at not spending too much of it and saving enough of it, but mostly, it's sort of on autopilot: 401(k) contributions and savings autodrafts and accounting systems are all humming along nicely, which leaves me free energy to deal with the more important questions in my actual, as opposed to financial, life.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
When It Rains, It Pours
...except, in a good way.
I got an email today from my alma mater's Director of Career Services, explaining that an alumnus who's a successful author is looking for a few people to work three days at the end of the month at a book event he's doing in New York. And he's offering $25/hour. Am I interested?
Of course I'm interested--problematically, though, I have this "job" thing. The woman who contacted me (I don't know why she picked me, but I'm not looking any gift horses in the mouth) provided the alumnus's email address, so I shot him a quick note explaining my interest and the restrictions on my time. Hopefully, he'll need someone in the evenings and on Saturday, and won't mind that I can't work days.
Even better, the alum is a career & grad school admissions coach, and would be a great contact. (I snuck a reference to my own grad school ambitions into the email I sent.)
With this extra cash (this potential inflow, and also the freelance job through work) I plan to cashflow my grad school application expenses (study guides, test fees, transcript fees, application fees, and postage six ways from Sunday). That way, I won't have to ask my parents for money and I won't have to dip into my savings.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Expenses Ahoy!
Tucking $3 in an envelope with a form just to see my own undergrad transcript (for the first time) makes me realize how expensive the grad school application process is going to be. Application fees are $50-$80 per school, and that doesn't count all the shipping expenses (like all those self-addressed stamped envelopes for my professors' recommendations), let alone the GRE prep course tuition.
Eesh.
Anyway, I'm going to chill out for the next week a little. I could push really hard and squeeze an extra $50 or so out to put in the Freedom Fund...but frankly, I'd rather have a little leeway and a social life.
