Starting Money

2006-05-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Here comes the long post...

I'll be leaving for Australia next week as part of a study abroad program (I've mentioned this briefly in some older posts.) I've been very busy preparing for the trip, but one of the things I've made sure to do is to read up on www.flyertalk.com, www.freefrequentflyermiles.com, and www.webflyer.com. These are great sites with some terrific discussions and ideas about making the most of travel in every way (but especially financially.)

I've never been into frequent flyer miles, but my interest has definitely peaked as the anticipation for my trip builds. (Reading the above sites may also have something to do with it.) I'm considering extending my ever-growing credit portfolio into some frequent-flyer based cards. Most intriguing is the Citi AAdvantage Mastercard and its 15,000-20,000 signup miles with the first year's fee waived. I wouldn't pay to have this card, but I would get the bonus miles, use it for a year, then cancel ;).

American Airlines is my preferred airline. I will be flying with them domestically and to Australia (and within Australia) I will be travelling with Qantas, a partner of AA. Because I booked my flights through the school, I may or may not receive mileage credit for my flights. And because I'm flying deep, deep discount economy class on Qantas, I will (at best) qualify for only 50% of the actual miles I fly. Still, I'll be flying about 25,000 miles total, so hopefully I'll get some miles credited.

Of course, the AMEX Starwood card also looks great. I signed up for the SPG program through Starwood and got an email offering 6,000 bonus Starpoints upon applying. This card offers an exciting 5,000 point bonus upon converting 20,000 points into airline miles (including AA at an excellent 1:1 ratio,) but it would take me a long time to reach 20,000 miles, even with the 6,000 mile bonus. "If" I do decide to go for this card, it will be a few months into the future. I recently accepted an invitation for an AMEX Gold Rewards Plus card with the first year free, and I don't want to jeopardize my relationship with American Express by going for too much credit too fast. They're picky.

All of this applying will have to wait until after I return from Australia, so as to let a couple credit inquiries pass the important 6 month mark.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments about frequent flyer programs, please post: I'm all ears. They are my new fascination.

2006-05-16T00:17:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the comments of my last post, my T-bill purchase did go through 5/04/2006.

Unfortunately, my identity was not adequately identified by my bank. Actually, the bank didn't use the correct stamp/seal. The ID verification form has to have the bank's official seal on it; apparently the stamp my bank provided wasn't enough. A CSR emailed me and politely requested another copy be mailed in with the seal. This isn't a big deal because this T-bill will be rolled over into a new 28-day bill upon maturity. Remember, TD securities can be purchased while the identity verification is pending, but they cannot be redeemed.

The CSR did attach another blank form for me to fill out and take to the bank. Surprisingly polite service, especially for a government employee.

2006-05-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

Recently, I began exploring investment opportunities through the US Treasury at www.treasurydirect.gov. This week, I:

Set up an account at TreasuryDirect
Scheduled an ACH debit to occur on the May 2 auction
Ordered a $1000 28-day T-bill

For whatever reason, TreasuryDirect has asked me to go to a bank and have them verify my identity. In the mean time, I can purchase T-bills, but I can't redeem them, so instead of rolling my first purchase over into another T-bill, it will just go back into my HSBC account.

I chose the 28-day term and $1000 amount mainly because I am doing this to "test the waters" and get the hang of how it all works before I commit (if I commit) to a longer term bill. So far, the process has been really smooth.

2006-05-02T00:33:00.000-07:00

This week, I received the $100 check from the Charles Schwab credit card promotion. I also received my check for $61.46 from cashing out the rewards on my Citi Dividend card. To top it off, I got a gift certificate from Amazon.com courtesy of Citi's ThankYou Network.

I love getting free money from my credit cards. :)

In preparation for my trip to Australia, I have purchased a new digital camera and a number of accesories to go with it. I'm looking forward to taking some nice shots once I get down under.

2006-04-10T01:04:00.000-07:00

As an update to a previous post, I have been successful in finding a new job. I've actually had it for a few weeks now (I'm bad at updating.) I make more money than I did at my previous job, which is good, and the work is related to my field of study.

I'm also in the process of securing a second job for myself this summer, working for a professor in the department. The summer job pays as a stipend, and will probably work out to just less than minimum wage. But- it's only 10 hrs/week, so I'll still have time for my other job and the two classes I'll be taking. Even though the pay sucks, the experience will be worth it.

As an update to my last post about the Schwab credit card, I see I have 10,000 bonus points "pending" in my Schwab account. Looks like the $2.65 charge qualified for the $100 bonus.

2006-03-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

$100 bonus for Schwab Credit Card

Charles Schwab is offering a $100 bonus for signing up for their credit card and making a purchase. The card is through MBNA, and is essentially a 1% back card (1 pt / $1 spent.) Nothing special in that regard, but $100 is $100!

The bonus comes in the form of 10,000 bonus points, which can be redeemed for $100. Note that even though the points are called WorldPoints, they are different from other MBNA WorldPoints, in that they can be redeemed for cash at a straight 1% value with just 5,000 points (details here.)

I won't use this card much, but the card seems to have no foreign transaction fees. I'm not sure if this means no additional fees on top of Visa's standard 1%, or no fees at all. The T&C say no fees on foreign transactions. 1% or 0%, I'll still use the card abroad.

I just got my card a few days ago and made a $3 purchase, so let's see if that qualifies as a purchase for the $100 bonus. :)

Almost forgot, here is the link for the 10,000 point signup bonus.

2006-03-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Citi 5 ThankYou points for Home Improvement purchases

For anyone with a Citi account, be sure to regularly check the "Special Offers" tab on your online account for promotional deals.

Currently, Citi is offering a promotion for 5 ThankYou points on Home Improvement purchases (Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.) until 5/31/06. One of my cards was eligible for this, so be sure to check it out.

I don't ever shop at these stores, but I know a lot of people do (especially homeowners,) so it's worth a shot.

2006-03-13T21:13:00.000-08:00

Today I helped my mom fund the Fidelity IRA account she began opening almost a month ago. We maxed out her 2005 contribution, but since the funds aren't there yet we haven't picked a place to put it. My mom's not so much a hands-on person when it comes to these kind of things, so I think she'll probably go with one of the target retirement date funds.

I've made plans for the money sitting in a Savings & Loan CD. It should be around $4800, so when it matures (February 2007) I think I'll open a Roth IRA at Fidelity and max out my 2006 contribution. Of course, I'll have to first make at least $4500 in 2006 (only earned income can be used to fund a Roth, and last year I only made $4000 (!!)) And I'll try to throw whatever spare cash I can afford into the account for the next few years.

Assuming I retire at age 65, I'll have 44 years of tax-free growth in the Roth. Start early!

2006-03-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

In other news, about a month ago I got a killer deal on an iPod. Amazon had white 30 GB iPod videos on sale for $264 (they go for $299 at most places.) Take off ~$36 I had leftover from an Amazon gift certificate I got from Citi and the $30 I got for applying for the Amazon.com Visa, and my total came to about $200 shipped. Not bad.

The iPod is definitely a "leisure item," and something that I normally wouldn't buy, but my current MP3 player was on the way out and I more or less live for portable music players. Makes walking to class much more fun. I planned to buy an iPod, just not for a few more weeks. But who can pass up such a deal? ;)

2006-03-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Again, sorry for the lack of an update. I know I've been slacking on this whole thing. I'm home for Spring Break now so I'll take some time to give an update.

I'm slowly recovering from a rash of unexpected expenses from earlier this year. Not quite there yet, but working on it. I did get my tuition reimbursement check from my employer for my book expenses back in January. Books cost about $400 this semester, so now that I finally have that money back it's going straight into my HSBC account at 4.80%. Also got a small tax refund from my state and am awaiting a slightly larger refund from the IRS.

In other news, I'm currently looking for a new job. Hopefully I'll find something soon that pays more than what I've been making. It's hard to find a decent part time job that will fit around my school schedule.

2006-02-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have Citi credit cards, you might try asking for a credit line increase. They seem to be getting a little more liberal with the preapproved CLIs. Here's a FatWallet thread about it.

Login to your account online, move your mouse over "Manage My Account" and click "Credit Line Increase Request." Previously, Citi required having the card for 6 months before being eligible for an increase, but I got an increase on a card I've had for 5 months.

I got an $800 CLI on my Driver's Edge card, and a $1000 CLI on my mtvU card. Last month I got a $500 increase on my Dividend card.

I also received another increase on my AMEX Blue, this time to $4600. In 1 month with AMEX I've gone from $2000 > $2400 > $4600.

So give the Citi thing a shot. Be warned, if you're not preapproved for a CLI, you'll be shown a form to fill out. If you fill out this form, you'll probably get a hard inquiry on your credit report.

2006-02-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Almost forgot:

From about 2 months of following my strategy during the holidays, I earned enough ThankYou Points for a $50 gift certificate. I chose one from Amazon.com. So far I've purchased a CD, but I've got about $36 left. I'll save that for a future purchase (it's good until May 2007.)

A positive aspect to all the expenses I've listed in my previous post is that I've been able to charge them all to my Dividend card. So at least I'm getting 1% back (better than nothing.) I think after this statement I'll have $25-$30 in my Dividend Dollars account.

So in about 5 months of CC usage, I've accumulated a $50 GC and over $20 in cash. I'm not a big spender by any means, so I don't think that's too bad. It pays to pay for everything on credit and pay in full.

2006-02-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of an update in quite awhile.

Unfortunately, I've had a few expected and unexpected expenses come up in the last month (to the tune of $700+.) I'm also down right now since I purchased my books at the beginning of the semester and haven't been reimbursed yet (a little over $400.) So things kind of suck right now in that regard.

I moved about all of my money from ING to HSBC a couple weeks ago. Right now I've got about $30 in ING and about $1200 in HSBC, and that's it for savings.

So I'm off track, due to some "emergencies," but that's what the savings are there for right?

Oh, I also replied to a preapproved offer for AMEX Blue. Got it with a $2400 limit.

I'll try to keep this updated, but things are busy with school right now. Sorry again for being absent for so long.

2006-01-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Credit Card for My Mother

I've long been singing the praises of rewards credit cards to my mom. She has a number of credit cards, but none of which really have any rewards benefits. She uses her debit card or writes checks for most purchases. For some reason, she doesn't want to use a Dividend card for gas and groceries. I think heavy credit use makes her anxious.

However, I have talked her into putting tuition payments on a credit card. My school takes all 4 major cards. My father is also in school part-time year-round, working on a BS in Mathematics. Unfortunately, his school takes everything but AMEX. My parents help me out a lot with my tuition, but don't pay for all of it. My dad's tuition and my tuition total out to about $20,000/year.

So, I'm asking for advice from my readers. Which card should my mom get? To recap, AMEX is out of the question, and this card will see about $20,000 in yearly charges.

I've recommended the MBNA 1.5% Fidelity Visa. Unforuntately, it looks like this program now only pays in $25 increments (it used to credit any amount at the end of every quarter.)

The Fidelity 2% 529 card is another option, but I'm not sure if my mom fully understands how the money can be used.

(Oh yeah, my mom will be opening a Fidelity account within the next month.)

So if anyone else has any suggestions, my mom and I are all ears.

2006-01-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

I received the routing number for my HSBC Direct account. Still waiting on the ATM card. I think all the mail holidays this season are to blame for this.

Here's the December 31 summary:

Assets:

Checking: $765.78
ING: $1850.31
HSBC: $125
Sharebuilder: $329
CTR: $3000

Liabilities:

Credit Cards: $837.59

Net worth: $5232.50

My parents still owe me $100 for our last dinner outing (I'm still following my strategy) I should have enough ThankYou points for a $50 giftcard in the next couple of of months.

2005-12-26T18:58:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had/is having a Happy Holidays.

My grades for the past semester came out this week. I ended up with a 3.17 GPA for the term. I'm satisfied with that, but I need to improve it. This semester I took 17 credit hours, worked 20-25 hours/week, and was involved in a couple social work projects. Next semester I'm only taking 15 hours, and I plan to work the same amount. I have no extracurriculars lined up, so hopefully I can do better next term.

I still have about another week before I have to go back to school.

I've been continuing my system to try to maximize my rewards points from my mtvU card. I'm set to get another 1000+ points this month.

I also made a trip to the local bank to check on my CD. It's set to mature in 2007 with a 3.50% APY. Currently the balance is $4793.29. I probably won't include that number in my updates, since it will distort my progress reports so far.

I also plan on moving most of my money from ING to HSBC. I'll keep the ING account open, just in case their rates become attractive again.

2005-12-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

I received the second letter (containing my password) from HSBC today, after receiving the first letter containing my user ID # on Monday. I opened the account early morning Wednesday, December 14. Funds from my checking account were transferred Dec 19, and my $25 account bonus was deposited Dec 20. Eight days from account opening to $25 bonus. A little quicker than other people have reported.

Although it does take a little longer to open than ING, I'm very pleased with the account opening process and HSBC in general thus far.

2005-12-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

Today I cleaned up the room (at home) a little bit. Emphasis on a little bit. But I did manage to sort through the last few months of mail and get all my paper bank and CC statements in order. I also rounded up all my pay stubs and filed them away. I had about a large box full of mail that had built up over the course of just 4 months. 90% of it was "pre-approved" credit offers.

While cleaning, I also found some pieces of paper I had scribbled on while at work over the summer. Looks like I formulated two plans for saving on the back of receipts. One plan had me saving $50/month; the other plan was a bit more ambitious with me saving $75/month. It's nice to look back on those now, when I'm saving $200+ every month.

I almost forgot- I found the old passbook for my CD at a local savings & loan. I found out the CD was opened for a 2-year term in 1993 with an initial deposit of $2500 at 5.65% (a much higher amount than I originally thought.) Nice. My parents took the initiative to take the $2500 out of my regular savings and put it in a CD while the rates were high. Thanks Mom & Dad. :) It's been renewed every year or two years since then, with obvious fluctuations in the rate. I'm sure now I could get a higher rate with more liquidity with an online savings account. There's now some doubt that this CD will actually mature in February 2006. I might have to wait until 2007. There is some good news, however:

I believe I can meet my $3000 savings goal without the money from this CD
I found out my bank now has online account access. I registered and they're sending me my login info in the mail. Hopefully I can verify how much is in there and when it matures.

So if/when I find out more info, I'll update everything.

2005-12-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

Back at home for Winter Break now. I'll probably be writing more up until Christmas since classes are over and I'm not working this week.

I started planning out my 2006 goals today. Sort of a New Year's Resolution type thing. So far I've come up with 5 goals, not all of them finance-related. In order of importance:

2006 Goals:

Go to Australia.

I have the opportunity to study abroad in Australia for about 4 weeks May-June. The program includes travelling all over the country, from Sydney, to the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest, to the Outback. I only have to take 2 classes while I'm there too, so I'll have plenty of time to enjoy my stay. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and one that I need to make happen.

2. Maintain a 3.5 GPA for all semester of 2006.

Currently my overall GPA is a 3.416. I think I managed a B average this semester, so that should drop a little :(. I'd like to maintain a 3.5 for all of 2006. That includes next semester (Jan-May 2006,) the Australia semester (May-June 2006) and the fall semester (Aug-Dec 2006.) If I can achieve an overall 3.5 in each of these semesters, I will consider my goal met.

3. $3000 in liquid savings by May 1, 2006.

I'd like to have $3000 in my liquid savings accounts (ING, HSBC) by May 1. I'm sure some of this money will be spent in Australia, but I'm not sweating it-Australia is a worthy expense to me. At least HSBC has low (0?) currency exhange fees for their ATM and debit cards.

4. Open a Fidelity account by Dec 31, 2006.

I'd like to open an account at Fidelity. Mainly for the ability to consolidate my finances, since they offer checking with ATM access, credit cards through MBNA, and investment accounts. I plan to start investing larger amounts of money once I raise up enough in my liquid savings accounts to feel comfortable with long-term investing. I believe Fidelity offers free dividend reimbursement, which is right up my alley. I'm also considering opening a Roth IRA either in 2006 or 2007. Even just socking $1000/year into a Roth IRA would make a huge difference 45 years from now. Plus, if I ever absolutely needed the money, my understanding is I could withdraw my contributions with no penalty.

5. Work out more.

I use to run pretty regularly, just 2-4 miles every couple days. But now between school work and the cold weather, I haven't run in months. My school is opening a new recreational facility with all kinds of new equipment and indoor tracks, so now I have no excuse not to exercise. Best of all, membership is free to students.

That's all I can think of for now. I'll update this as I think of new goals.

2005-12-15T21:37:00.001-08:00

Sold the last of my books back to the bookstore today. I paid about $430 total for my books, (most of them purchased new thanks to course requirements for updated editions,) and received a whopping $109. Figured I'd post that in case anyone is curious about how much of a ripoff the textbook resale industry is for most students.

Fortunately for me, my employer reimburses me for my textbook expenses. So basically, that was $109 of pure profit this week. I actually make money by buying (and reselling) my text books. If only my mtvU card gave me 5 pts/dollar spent at my campus bookstore... :)

I've also paid off 2 of my credit cards for the month. The statement for the third card will post tomorrow, and it's only $21.27, so I'm almost liability-free for a month or so.

I scheduled an extra $50 to be sent to ING tomorrow, in addition to the $50 that is automatically transferred every Thursday. Because of HSBC's relatively strict (but secure) account opening procedures, I may not have access to my online account for a couple of weeks while I wait for my information to arrive in the mail. In the mean time, I'll continue to throw money into the ING account. This puts me at about $1750 in ING, and $100 in HSBC. Hopefully I'll make some money over Christmas break and receive some nice cash gifts and get my savings above the coveted $2000 mark.

Sadly, $2000 is a big deal to me. We all have to start somewhere I suppose.

2005-12-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

Looks like HSBC upped their rate to 4.25%. Good timing on my behalf since I just opened an account there. Here's a locked FatWallet thread about the rate increase and a new $25 promo code.

I opened my account with $100, and hopefully I'll get the $25 bonus I signed up for. I also signed up for the ATM card. Not a bad deal. If I like it enough I may consider moving my money there from ING.

2005-12-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

Opened an HSBC Direct account tonight. I found a thread on FatWallet with a link for a $25 sign up bonus. It currently pays 4.00% compared to ING's 3.75%. Should be interesting to see how both banks react to the Fed's interest hike today.

I mainly opened the account for the $25, but if I like it, I'll put more money into it. I plan on keeping ING just because I like them and I still have referals left. (If anyone wants one, email me at StartingMoney [at] Gmail [dot] com. Must have $250 opening deposit.) My initial HSBC deposit is just $100.

I haven't gotten the email to confirm my application yet... hopefully they don't "deny" me ;)

2005-12-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

This week is exam week, so throughout the week I'll be trying to sell back my textbooks at the campus bookstore like every other college student this time of year. Since I'm reimbursed for my textbook purchases by my employer, I actually make a profit by selling my books back to the bookstore.

Today I sold back three books for a total of $65. Not too bad.

Quick update before I pay off my CCs this week:

Assets:

Checking: $1008.73
ING Direct: $1695.12
Investments: $331.14
Tuition reimbursement: ~$3000

Liabilities:

Credit cards: $576.27

Net worth: $5458.72

2005-12-12T02:06:00.000-08:00

Two posts in one day? I'm starting to like this blogging thing.

Today I began considering transferring an extra $50 to my ING account this week. Usually, I have $50 each week automatically transfered from my checking to my savings account. The goal is to effortlessly save $200/month with this system.

Up until now I wanted to keep about $300 in my checking account - "just in case" - and have the rest transferred into savings at the end of each month. Realistically, I think I could get away with just $200 in my checking account. The benefit of being a college student is I have very few large expenses and there aren't any realistic emergencies that would come up that I couldn't put on a CC. With a 25 day grace period, I'd have plenty of time to transfer money from ING and pay off the CC.

So I feel I could be pretty comfortable with $200 in my checking account and transferring the rest over to ING. Every little bit of saving helps, especially since my checking account effectively pays 0%.

Well, back to studying. Wish me luck (I'll need it.)

2005-12-12T01:37:00.000-08:00

It's late, and I should be studying for my exams tomorrow, but instead I'm looking over my bank accounts and credit card statements. This week two of my CCs posted statements, so I'll take the time to give a brief progress update here.

Last month, I began a new strategy to maximize any rebate points and cashback bonuses I can earn with my credit cards. One of my goals was to use my Citi mtvU card solely for purchases that earn 5 pts for every dollar spent (restaurants, movie theaters, bookstores, video rental stores.) I spent $411.56 this month on my mtvU card, and all but $63.13 qualified for 5 point/$1 purhcases. The $63.13 only earned me 1pt/dollar because the campus bookstore is coded as an organization, not a bookstore. Overall I consider the method successful. In 30 days of relatively "normal" spending, I racked up 1800 ThankYou points on one card. I could get a $10 giftcard for just one month of spending, but I'm holding out for a $50 giftcard.

In about 2 weeks of using the Dividend card, I've racked up 6.14 Dividend Dollars. I've been surprised how fast the rebates have added up for this card.

Next month, all my purchases on the mtvU card will be 5pts/dollar. One purchase per month will go to my Driver's Edge card, earning 1% back, just to keep the card current and reporting. Every other purchase will go on the Dividend card, earning 5%/1% cashback.

2005-12-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update. My birthday is this week, so I've received some money as gifts. So far I've collected about $75 in cash gifts, and some alcohol and a free dinner on top of that. Not too shabby. ;)

Quick net worth update as of Dec 8 2005:

Assets:

Checking: $850.67
ING: $1645.12
Sharebuilder: $325.40
Tuition reimbursement: ~$3000

Liabilities: (measured by current amounts on my CC, PIF each month)

$576.27

Total net worth: $5244.92

More updates later

2005-12-02T01:45:00.000-08:00

For the last week or two I've been getting into the habit of paying for everything I can on my credit cards to take advantage of my rewards programs. For example, I put the entire bill at a restaurant on my credit card, and have my friends reimburse me for their share in cash. I don't spend anymore than I would otherwise, but I get the ThankYou points for the whole amount. So far this billing period I think I've earned somewhere close to 1000 ThankYou Points just through Citi mtvU card. The 5 pts for every $1 spent at restaurants and movie theaters is responsible for most of these points. I now have three credit cards, which I use strategically to maximize rewards programs.

Here's my system:

Citi Platinum Select mtvU card for all purchases at movie theaters, restaurants, bookstores, and video rental stores. (5 pts for every dollar spent)
Citi Platinum Select Dividend card for all gas, groceries, and drugstore purchases (5% cashback)
Citi Driver's Edge card for all other purchases (1% back on non-gas/grocery/drugstore purchases)

I'll redeem my ThankYou Points for a $50 giftcard, probably to Shell, but possibly BestBuy if there's a particular gadget I want to buy when I redeem my points. My Driver's Edge points actually go to a rebate on the purchase of a car or a rebate for repairs made to my car. Currently I have about $12.00 in Driver's Edge points, which I may end up converting to ThankYou Points. I believe they're offering 100 ThankYou Points for every $1 in Driver's Edge points. By redeeming my points I could gain an additional 1200 ThankYou Points. Still have to think about that though.

That's all for now. I'll update my account holdings either this weekend or next week.

2005-11-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

Just a quick recap after the dust has settled. I've paid off my credit cards since my 0% APR deal is up in January. They'll be paid-in-full from here on out. I've decided to transfer $300 into my ING account after my last paycheck and tuition reimbursement check cleared. This is in addition to my automatic $50 contribution.

So on Monday 11/21 (when my transfers will go through) I'll have the following in my accounts:

USBank: $344.34
INGDirect: $1491.70

In addition to the Sharebuilder account and CD.

As far as liabilities, I've already spent $91 on my mtvU card so far this month. I attribute this to bar visits. It'll be PIF again next month.

From here on out we'll focus on my ING account's progress. I hope to have near $1600 in my ING account by the end of this month. If all goes well, I'll hit my goal of over $3000 by the end of this school year. Much of this depends on the amount locked up in my B&M CD, which should mature in February. I don't think it's a lot of money, but who knows. It could range anywhere from <$1000-$5000+. I think it's between $1000-$1500. We'll find out in February. I've considered other investment vehicles, such as I-Bonds and short-term CDs. The problem with I-bonds is I'll need the money in about 6 months. I haven't found a short term CD (<6>4% APY) and doesn't have a large minimum deposit. I'm also leary of CDs since the Fed is expected to raise rates again in December.

So for now I'll just collect the money in my ING account. Futher complicating matters a possible chance to study abroad in Australia next May. That will eat up quite a bit of my funds, but obviously it will be worth it since it's pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can postpone my plans to make time for Australia :)

2005-11-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:

Finally received my tuition reimbursement check for this semester. At the beginning of each semester I purchase all of my books, then file a claim form with a receipt and wait for my reimbursement check. Well today I finally got my check in the mail, a nice $417. I've also paid my 2 credit cards off completely. After my payments post and my deposits clear, I'll update my status. In the meantime, I have a balance of $985.77 in my checking account. Usually the balance is never this high, so I'll enjoy it while I can. :)

Until then, I'll share the current holdings in my portfolio. I admit, most of these investments (or, more accurately, the paltry amounts held) were mistakes. Oh well. Selling after paying commissions many times the amount invested would be an even bigger mistake. I'll hold onto them for awhile. It should go without saying I'm not an investment professional. I don't recommend my style of investing to anyone.

So now that that's out of the way, onto the portfolio:

Ticker Symbol: Quantity: Value as of close 11/15/2005:
KO 2.317 98.38
PG 2.011 112.59
DIS 1.069 27.87
WEN 1.033 48.68
INTC 0.497 12.46
GVT 0.248 2.16
SVU 0.066 2.13
CIN 0.058 2.28
QQQQ 0.057 2.29
IJR 0.044 2.49
IYY 0.039 2.31
IJH 0.034 2.47
IWV 0.032 2.30
DIA 0.020 2.16
SPY 0.018 2.26

No, those aren't typos, I actually own many fractional shares of stock. All of those $2.xx started as $2 investments in the summer of 2004, to give you an idea of my gains.

Currently, my plans are to hold off on investing until I reach my $3000 goal. At that point, I will open an account with Fidelity in an effort to consolidate my finances. Eventually, I'd like to get the Fidelity Mastercard (1.5% cashback on all purchases.) With Fidelity, I plan on mainly buying index ETFs. I probably won't transfer my existing funds at Sharebuilder over to Fidelity, but I haven't decided for sure yet. From here on out, I will only invest in increments of ~$500, to limit the effect of commissions on my holdings.

More to come later.

2005-11-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

This is my first post in the blog. This post will simply serve to get everything started. It'll get better, eventually.

Some basic info:

This is a personal finance blog inspired by other, better known blogs, such as MyMoneyBlog and NevBlog. It is written by a 19 year old college student (me.) At least for the time being, I will post somewhat anonymously.

My personal goals with this blog are to help track my progress in my goal to increase my net worth. More on this later.

Basic background: I'm a 19 year old in my 2nd year at an expensive private university. In high school, I made some poor financial decisions that have left me with very little saved. In other words, I carelessly spent paycheck after paycheck on modifying my car without saving much.

Entering college in 2004, this was the sum of my assets:

~$200 in a 1% APY brick-and-mortar savings account
~$300 in a USBank checking account
$??? an unknown amount in a brick-and-mortar CD
~$50 in a Sharebuilder account
$3300 in a tax-free, non interest-bearing tuition reimbursement account c/o my high school employer

And that was pretty much it. I had no debt to speak of, except student loans which I won't count just yet. Since this past summer, I have been heavily focused on increasing my net worth. I made some mistakes on the way, but now I have a decent plan I think I can stick to without issue.

As of 11/15/2005, my net worth is as follows:

Assets

$1141.70 in a 3.5% APY INGDirect account

$429.18 in the USBank account

$??? an unknown amount in a brick-and-mortar CD

$324.49 in the Sharebuilder account
~$3000 in tuition reimbursement account

Liabilities

$90.90 CC #1, Citi Student Driver's Edge 0% APR
$155.01 CC#2, Citi mtvU 0% APR

Total: $4649.46

Currently, I am attempting to increase my savings by automatically debiting $50 each week from my checking account into the ING account. I work 15-25 hours/week at only $6.50/hr, so $50 is generally about 50% of my weekly post-tax income.

So $200/month directly into ING. At the end of each month, any amount over $300 in my checking account is transferred to ING. I only use my checking account to pay my CC bills, so only having $300 in the account doesn't bother me much.

I'll update more later, but that was definitely more than enough info for a first post.