Long Term Care Planning, Already?

This week, I attended two of three classes provided by a financial planner who specializes in retirement and estate planning. I've learned A LOT!!! And "A LOT" doesn't do justice to the wealth of information I've gained. In this post, I'll share a few of my favorite bits of information from the long term care insurance presentation:

• Long term care (LTC) insurance is purchased to cover expenses related to care in home, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living and nursing homes.
• The majority of long term care is paid for from Medicaid,  followed by out of pocket expenses from the customer and/or their family.
• Medicare and Medigap (health care for people age 65+ (and younger, in some cases, ex. disabled persons)) does NOT cover long-term care expenses.
• Medicaid (health insurance for the impoverished) does cover LTC expenses. For a single person (1-person household) aged 65+ years (someone who is considered to be "aged"), to be eligible in my state of residence, you cannot have assets valued at more than $2,500 and a monthly income no greater than $350.
• Policies can be purchased based on the amount of money a person's care would be on a daily basis and for how many years such care would. Additional features -such as inflation protection, age and health at time of purchase, individual and shared plans, restoration of benefits- impact the cost of a policy.
• The Federal government will enact the CLASS Act (beginning late 2012 or early 2013) to help Americans prepare for the expense of long term care. Here's a summary of the the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act from AARP.
• Some states have "partnership programs" that incentivize the purchase of long term care policies.

I'm so fired up about this topic! I'm interested in learning more about this product so I can discuss it with my parents as they prepare for full retirement.

Have you heard about long-term care insurance? 

Have you talked about it with your parents/loved ones?

Do you know someone who has purchased a LTC policy? 

What was the experience like?

Hello....Again

Sandy X

Hey there! Remember me? Sandy X?

I know, I know.... I haven't been around since August 19th (almost exactly a month ago). So what have I been up to? Weekend trips out of town, a major project at work, and developing my skills and approach to making more money. Sounds exciting, right? This blog hasn't been the only thing I've neglected in the past few weeks. I haven't been exercising regularly, I've slacked on my "daily" readings (local news and my favorite blogs), and staying in touch with family and friends. Fortunately for me, my failure to maintain these routines have not been life threatening. Additionally, I have a chance to "pick the ball back up" and keep moving forward. So, I' back....again =)

About that "New Toy"....

On July 26th, I shared how excited I was to be the proud new owner of a Keurig coffee maker. My reasoning behind the purchase was largely because I was spending quite a bit of my food budget at Panera Bread on coffee and bagels.

Well whaddya know. Just two days ago, my colleague bought a Keurig coffee maker!!!

I'm seriously reflecting on my $120+ investment. I've thought about selling it on CraigsList or Ebay....that way I won't have to keep up with the occasional $13 purchase of fancy K-cups and I can freeload off of use the ones at work.

What do you think? Should I sell my new toy and indulge in the one at work? 

Or Should I keep it?

We Stole Your Stuff

If you've ever paid attention to the time of day that I publish my blog posts, you'll notice that it's usually during regular business hours (i.e. when I should be focusing on the work for which I receive compensation).

Well, today is a special exception....because my work laptop was stolen.....once again.....while people were in the office (thank goodness no one was hurt!).

The last time this happened was about 10 months ago (on October 28, 2010, to be exact). Nevertheless, when I get into a better frame of mind and can focus, I'll be sure to share my most recent financial experiences.

I apologize for shortchanging you today.

A Post Full of Pictures: Ups and Downs

A quick update before I get started...

In the August net worth update, I wasn't sure if I had had a recent contribution. I didn't. As promised, I double checked, and my most recent contributions were on 08/05 and 07/20. I wrote the August update on 08/02 and the July net worth update was posted on 07/20 ;)

Now on to today's post...(in pictures screenshots)

The past few days have looked like this....

Am I stressed? Nope. Why? Mostly because I don't intend to access the money in my investment accounts for another handful of decades. Additionally, in that time, I plan to allocate my assets (and diversify within asset classes) to reduce my exposure to equities (I'm thinking pet rocks might be a good bet in my older age, but that business sounds vaguely familiar...). It also doesn't hurt that my investments (outside of my 403b) outperformed the S&P 500 and DJIA =)

August Net Worth Update

My assets decreased by $579.62 and my liabilities decreased by $587.71. This is the first time since reporting my net worth updates that my assets decreased! Here's the summary explanation:

Assets

403(b): (+33.06) I'm rather sad about the pathetic performance of this account. I haven't double checked, but considering that my last net worth update was so late, I think this simply reflects an increase in my investments. Otherwise, this number includes my matched contribution(s) and simply shows how the market took it's toll on my investments....and that $33.06 is all I have to show for it. I'll get around to checking on the details and will update you.

Emergency Savings: (-394.74) In the last net worth update, I mentioned that I'd take $400 out to cover my car registration expenses. Well. This is the effect of it: $57.14 in my "emergency savings" account. I'm not losing any sleep over it. In the event I have a major unexpected expense, I'll put it on my credit card and will pay the balance with "car payment" money. Sounds familiar, hunh?

Regular Brokerage Account and Roth IRA: (-98.75 and -169.19) I really don't want to talk about this. But, a part of investing means that your equities are at risk of losing its value. That totally happened here.

Savings Account: (+50) I transferred $50 to this account in preparation for a trip to New England. Only a day or two later, plans for such a trip were scrapped (at least for this year). I think I'll re-transfer the money and use it to cover my massive credit card debt. A bit on that later...

Liabilities

Car Loan: (0) Despite having money transferred to my credit union account, I have not gotten around to transferring the funds to my car loan account. I'll receive a direct deposit this week, and thought that I would wait until new car payment funds cleared so I could make a larger payment. I know, it doesn't make much of a difference and I should probably stop being lazy.

Credit Card: (-6.00) Since receiving my new rewards credit card, I've been treating my old one like a bald-headed-stepchild (or however the saying goes). The $6 balance on the card is a recurring service I pay for. Since it's related to work, I should probably get around to submitting a reimbursement for it. I know, laziness is rearing its ugly head again...

Rewards Credit Card (-703.49) So far I've racked up 11,674 points (put another way, I can redeem it for travel worth $116.74). I've also racked up a bunch of debt. In fact, my balance is $1,115.65 (as of 08/04). Airfare, gasoline, food, car parts, and other stuff. I need to reconfigure my expense tracker to better capture how much I'm spending in these various categories. Currently, they're all filed under my "CC Rewards" column.

Student Loan: (+121.73) As I indicated in my last update, my student loan payment decreased (I still don't know why). Anywho, I am $121.73 closer to a zero balance.

Spending Fast

No, I'm not spending money quickly; instead, I am not spending money. Like one of these fasts. It wasn't until today that I had a sort of epiphany. (Warning: it's not as major as it seems.) I haven't spent money for the past two days [GASP!]. Three days ago, I paid my phone bill and applied a few bucks towards my credit card balance (that hardly counts as "spending" as it's more of an obligation, rather than something that's discretionary. "Spending" sounds much more fun to me and, although it's the same thing, I set aside "bill paying" in my head. But I digress...)

My mini-revelation surprised me in two ways. First, I realized - aside from looking at my expense tracker- that I spend quite a bit of money on food. I still long for Panera (it hasn't been a week yet and I'm already dreaming about the next time I'll treat myself to their goodies), I haven't eaten any cheesy goodness from a fast food restaurant (ex. Subway's meatball sub, an organic cheeseburger from Elevation Burger), and no random snacks from my local CVS (I've been thinking a lot about sour gummy worms). I tried the meal planning thing; actually, it wasn't much of a plan. I made a crock-pot meal on Saturday and have been eating it for lunch and dinner all week long. I'm so sick of chicken stew! Chicken stew and rice. Chicken stew on a flour tortilla. Chicken stew and toast. Plain ol' chicken stew. I finished what was left of it tonight for dinner. Luckily, I changed things up a bit with a bowl of imitation Fruit Loops and pizza (that was on sale this past weekend) for dinner last night and lunch today.

My second surprise was that I didn't feel bad for not spending money. There was a bit of awkwardness because I haven't been too many places outside of home and work. As weird as it may seem, spending money has almost become an automatic thing (yikes!). I've always been aware of my spending (as evidenced by my near obsession with expense tracking), but I haven't been so conscious about my non-spending. We'll see if it matters.

Update: I tried bottled water for my coffee and it tasted better! Then again, it was a different type of coffee (Caribou's K-cup vs. the Gloria's Hazelnut that I tried at first). Frankly, the brand of hazelnut is unimpressive (which sucks, because it's my favorite flavor of coffee!). Nevertheless, I will continue to experiment in order to find the perfect cup o' joe. And if things don't work out, I'll sell my new toy for half of what I paid for it on Craigslist and head straight to Panera. Okay, okay, I'm joking....but only a little ;)

My New Toy

In my last post, I talked about using meal planning as a way to adhere to my food budget of $50 per week. I did okay on a trip to the grocery store (I spent $50.60, but $10 of it was for non-grocery items<<paper towel and toilet paper). However, I did not purchase breakfast items. I knew that breakfast is was best at Panera Bread. But when I did the math (at least $3.02/day for at least twenty days each month), I knew that I might be better off (at least a little bit), by putting $60.40/month elsewhere (savings account maybe?). 

So what did I do? I bought one of these...

The machine, additional pods of hazelnut coffee and skim milk set me back $120.22. The cost per cup (excluding the depreciation of the machine) is $0.67 compared to the $1.75 I pay paid at my lovely bakery chain restaurant.

I tried it last night with tea (nothing special there), and this morning with coffee (it doesn't taste like Panera :/). I even made a second cup because I thought the first was a mistake.

The next time I use this machine, I'll use purified water (as recommended). I'll let you know how it turns out.

By the way, why did I purchase an "expensive" single brewer coffee maker? I've had coffee from Keurig (machine and pods) before and it's always delicious. Like, addictive delicious. I figured, why not have the same deliciousness in my home?

I'll do my best to make breakfast at home as pleasurable as breakfast on the go (I'll miss you cinnamon swirl and raisin bagel!). I should remind myself that there was life before carrying out breakfast every morning. But the smell of freshly brewed coffee for a few months has easily overshadowed such memories. At any rate, I'll do my best to "get back to the basics."

P.S. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. You would be too, if your coffee wasn't on point!

Is Meal Planning My Ticket?

I've been ashamed of my food spending for the past few months. I budget $50/week for food and have easily blown through more than a quarter of that budget with my work day breakfast purchases, alone.

Shout out to Panera Bread. I love your hazelnut coffee (w/skim milk) and cinnamon swirl and raisin bagels, toasted with no cream cheese or butter.

Any who, I've laid out my spending through the end of the year using my new budget template, noting that I'll be using my new rewards credit card (and maintaining the tradition of paying the balance in full), and trying to plan for upcoming expenses, such as a weekend trip to the Big Apple.

In an effort to restore my ability to "respect the budget", I know I have to do a better job of sticking to my $50/week food budget. And I'm wondering if meal planning is the way to go. Frankly, I have not been a model for eating meals that are nourishing or financially responsible. I won't go into any great detail about the $20+ I spent for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory a week or two ago...or about the beer and banana chips I ate for "dinner" last night, but I know I have to spend a reasonable amount (i.e. not $20+/meal) and it should be good for me (ex. add veggies, protein, and maybe better carbs to my beer).

This is where meal planning comes in. I've heard about it here and there, I know that it involves me making a list of stuff I want to eat for the next week, and making sure that my grocery list allows for some flexibility around core items, but frankly, I've never done it. The closest I've come to meal planning is whipping out a grocery store circular and buying only what's on sale. I wouldn't say that peanut butter, cantaloupe and pork chops constitutes a meal, but at least I spent less on such purchases =)

Have you successfully used meal planning to manage your finances and to ensure you eat balanced meals? What has worked best for you? I appreciate your insight!

Too Much Time...

At the beginning of July, I shared a new budget template that I plan to begin using in August. Since then, I've adopted a template from my boyfriend that allows me to view my expenses on an annual basis (with a month to month snapshot).

I've spent an inordinate amount of time trying to reconcile my monthly expense tracker tabs with this new "annual budget" tab. At times, I tell myself that I will only use the annual tab for the upcoming months. Then, I find myself toiling away at the workbook to get the numbers just right. I've spent at least 5 hours in the evening and at work trying to achieve an accurate reflection of my budget for the past six months.

Just a few notes: January, March, April, May, and June are all works in progress; those months with orange backgrounds are really screwed up (at least there's hope for getting May straight by moving around a few things); the plus signs (+) indicate that the information associated with that column/row is correct (as such, you'll see that my REAL problem is figuring out how to track my credit card expenses).

What do you think? 

Should I keep going until I get the past months right or move on?

Surprise! You Have a New Student Loan Payment Amount!

By no means is my new student loan payment epic. In fact, it's only $0.95 less than what I've been paying. Hardly enough to pay for a cup of coffee. At any rate, I was a little surprised to find a message in my Direct Loan Servicing inbox notifying me that starting July 28th, my electronic debit will be $228.26. 

Frankly, I wasn't expecting my student loan payment amount to change until I actively switched to the regular payment schedule. I've written before that switching to the regular payment schedule would boost my monthly payments to $265. I don't know what it would be if I switched today (and since www.dl.ed.gov is acting super-duper slow today, I won't bother finding out in time to publish this post!).

UPDATE: If I switch to the regular payment schedule beginning August 28, 2011, my monthly amount will be $368.74.

Nevertheless, I'm sure the retirement of my car loan will usher in yet another change for my monthly student loan payments, as I hope to extend my accelerated debt elimination plan to the federal government once my disposable income increases =)

By the way, there was no specific explanation as to why my payment amount changed. However, the website offered that the change might have occurred because of loans being added to my account and some other unlikely actions that I can't remember :)

July 2011 Net Worth Update

I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long (I've officially missed 4 on time posts). Here's where I left off....

 

My assets increased by $960.35 and my liabilities decreased by $1132.14. Here's the summary explanation:

Assets

403(b): (+739.34) This includes three bi-weekly contributions of $205 (total of $615). The rest reflects the growth of the underlying investments (two mutual funds). 

Emergency Savings: (+15.26) $15 of this amount reflects my deposits of $5 into the account every two weeks. I've earned $0.26 in interest on the balance. This amount will soon dwindle to $51.88 as I've set up a transfer of $400 to cover my new credit card balance.

Regular Brokerage Account and Roth IRA: (+$56.37 and +$158.92) Nothing new here: recurring deposits of $25 into the regular brokerage account every two weeks and no deposits into the Roth. You won't notice it, but I deposited $75 into my regular brokerage account since the June 1st update; however, the growth noted here is $56.37. Even though the balance for the regular brokerage account is higher than last month, I actually have an unrealized loss.

Savings Account: (-$9.54) This account is still suffering from motion sickness. Despite my deposits via "Keep the Change" and monthly deposits of $25 ($50 deposited since my last net worth update), the change in the balance is lower than it was in June. It doesn't help that I recently transferred $100 to cover part of my credit card balance. 

Liabilities

Car Loan: (+1027.53) I can hardly believe I put over one thousand bucks towards this account since my last update. Nevertheless, I am officially under a $5k balance! The end of this loan is fast approaching! Maybe then I can make up with my dwindling savings accounts balances :)

Credit Card: (+$397.27) I paid off my balance and have since had a number of transactions. However, the balance for this account is $0, thanks to the $280.41 payment I made. Going forward, this account will only have a recurring expense of $6 every week for a virtual assistant I pay. Most of my expenses will now go to my shiny new rewards card...

 

*NEW*Rewards Credit Card (-368.98) ...And it really is shiny. Like "bling-bling-gold" shiny. Anywho, I've been swiping away with my new friend: I reserved a hotel room for a family gathering later this month, purchased airfare to Florida for September (I jumped on a fare sale, a round-trip ticket for $95.40 ain't too shabby), and food. Going forward, I plan to use this account for all food, gasoline (and other vehicle maintenance) and miscellaneous expenses; furthermore, I will pay the balance in full every billing cycle (over at least two payments per cycle to keep the balance low).

Student Loan: (+$76.33) Every month, $229.21 diligently goes towards my student loan. I'm looking forward to increasing this amount, soon!

Updated Budget Template

This week was all about budget templates! (Sounds kind of corny, but whatever). My boyfriend and I discussed our respective expense trackers and a friend of mine asked about the budget template I use. My convo and special request got me to thinking about how I could improve my budget template. Here's the new and improved template with notes on how to use it: http://tinyurl.com/budget4sandyx.

Here are a few tips I shared with my friend:

• The first tab (annual budget) offers a monthly and annual snapshot of your expenses. If you get paid every two weeks and have two "extra" paychecks per year, you can update the formulas accordingly.

• I prefer to track my expenses based on when I receive my paycheck (every two weeks). You can track based on what's easiest for you (by week, every two weeks, or monthly).

• The orange categories capture transactions from my checking account, since this is where the bulk of my expenses come from. The green category captures credit card spending. It's a bit subtle, but you'll notice that this tracker assumes that you pay your credit card balance in full (credit card transactions are combined with checking account transactions; both are deducted from your total income).

• If you use your credit card to make the majority of your transactions (and to earn points, rewards, miles, etc.), you can categorize your credit card spending and change the "credit card transactions" column to "checking account transactions".

• If it's more helpful, you can move the credit card transactions column next to the "cash transactions" column and exclude it from your "total income - total expenses" category. Doing so will make it easier to reconcile your bank statements with your expense tracker (this is the way I use my tracker). See the third tab for an example of this.

• The blue/green column (cash) captures transactions you make using cash. In the [orange] ATM/Cash Back column, you're tracking money that has been withdrawn from your checking account. In the separate blue/green column, you're tracking the use of the aforementioned funds after they've been withdrawn.

• You insert your income (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) in the formula for total income minus total expenses. If you have any funds that carried over from the previous pay period, you can add it to this formula (second tab) or as a line item (third tab).

Quick Update

Howdy! Just a quick update today (I've been crazy busy/disorganized/distracted).

• I finally got that crack fixed in my windshield. Except, it didn't go down as planned. A couple of days ago, I noticed a new, longer, unrelated crack that REALLY needed fixing. A repair wasn't an option, so I had the windshield replaced. When I made the appointment, I passed along my insurance information to file a claim, but when I got to the place, the insurance company had not contacted the repair shop. Since I'm travelling this weekend and felt super uncomfortable with the damage, I spent $265.63. That's about twice as much as I originally planned for. At least it's all safe and nice-looking =)
• I've spent about 85% of my food budget already and I have another week to go before I get paid again. I've also managed to go over my gas budget. Thank goodness for savings. I guess I better think long and hard about my recently acquired eating out habits (Goodbye Panera?)
• Speaking of Panera Bread, they're running a survey through June. For every entry (i.e. completed survey), a person gets a chance to win $2,000 cash. I've been completing surveys religiously. Keep your fingers crossed!
• I might be in the market for a new oil change shop. I went yesterday and I "didn't pay at the register". The guy "fit me in" and shared that I could tip the car fixer-upper dude. I was only half way paying attention when this went down because I was working on a presentation for work and watching the clock for an important phone call. Nevertheless, when I went to pay (walking towards the counter as I have in the past), the staff person on duty said that they'd taken care of me and that I should have a nice day.  Talk about weird!!! Hook ups are nice and whatnot, but I don't know buddy "like that"; frankly, I'd feel more comfortable paying as agreed and being confident that my car was serviced correctly (there's no way to guarantee that one way or another, but at least I'd get peace of mind). Anywho, I'm thinking I might need to find another shop or learn how to change my own oil!

That's all for now. 

But before I go, would you take a "hook up" as I've described up here?

Also, enjoy your Fourth of July weekend!

Making it Easy

Not too long ago, I let on to a bit of worry I had about abandoning the "Keep the Change" program for points on a new rewards card. It wasn't until this morning that the light bulb went off...I can continue to save the same amount, just in a different way. 

Bank of America knew what the heck they were doing. They were smart enough to hire some psychologists, maybe behavioral economists, to construct this savings plan. When a few cents here and there are added to our ordinary purchases, it's easy. On the other hand, setting aside a "big chunk of money", even automatically, is a little more difficult.

What I've learned is that I can set aside more than $25 a month to the Bank of America savings account. If I take a close look at my savings from the "Keep the Change" program alone, I know that I can comfortably increase my savings by $23.09 (this is an average of my KTC savings between April 1st and today). 

Doing this, I don't have to worry about my savings decreasing, and I can focus on accumulating rewards with my new credit card making purchases that, ordinarily, would otherwise be made with my debit card. So, what's next? When I get my new card (I can't believe I'm excited about this....I really need to "get a life" LOL!), I will change my automatic savings from $25 to $50. Since I won't be making many purchases with my debit card, I can rest easy knowing that I will continue saving as much money as I have these past few months.

Mini-crisis averted!

I Got A Rewards Card!

I finally got around to getting a rewards card. Yesterday, on a whim, I called my credit card company and told them I'd like to upgrade my card to a rewards card. I had a sense that the time was right, because they recently upped my credit limit. I'm also pretty sure it had something to do with my paying my balance in full every month for the past six months (and keeping the balance relatively low, prior to that).

Nevertheless, I made the call, was advised that an "upgrade" would not suffice and that I'd have to open a new account, so I did. I answered questions about my income, bank account balances, and rent payments. All in all, it took about 12 minutes.

In the coming weeks, I should receive a shiny new credit card with a $15,000 limit. I don't care what the APR is because, like I've done for the past several months, I'll be paying the balance in full. Additionally, there is no annual fee. I will earn 1.25 miles for every dollar spent, miles do not expire and there's no limit on the miles I can earn. Additionally, I can redeem my miles for airfare, hotel, and more (I'm most interested in airfare purchases). If I spend $1400 a month on my new card, I can rack up 1,750 points a month (21,000 a year). I'm already thinking about what expenses to charge (phone bill, groceries, gas, miscellaneous expenses). Sadly, this will impact my "Keep the Change" savings; however, I'm hopeful that the purchases I'll be able to make with my miles will offset the change. I'll keep you posted!

Do you have a rewards card? 

What's your favorite feature of the card?

What do you use your points/miles for?

Summer Spending

Tis' the season for barbeques, festivals, fun in the sun and friends! Undoubtedly, all of these things mean mo' money, mo' money, mo' money....that you'll be spending "mo' money" of course =)

As I have done in the past, I've failed to plan for my upcoming summer expenses. Namely, expenses for and round-trip travel for two family reunions. Both will take place states away and fortunately, my sister and I will drive. It's fortunate that we're driving because 1) it's much cheaper than flying and 2) since two of us are driving, the travel expense will be split in half.

At any rate, I'll be looking at a couple hundred dollars of "unusual" expenses. I better start figuring out how to make the most of what I'm working with. So far, all I've come up with is to be diligent about preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner at home (something I should have been doing over the last 8 weeks, instead of being Carefree Carrie!).

What summer-specific expenses do you have this year? If you have a regular income (and regular expenses to go along with them), how are you preparing for your seasonal transactions? Did you save for these upcoming expenses?

Trouble Staying Focused

I'm still sick and continue to struggle with my spelling, as I shared earlier this week. Nevertheless, I will do my best to think through my drug/sick-induced brain to share with you what has been going on.

My spending for the last two months has been kind of "free spirited". I've purchased breakfast nearly every day (Monday through Friday), eaten out almost as much for lunch, and had more take out for dinner than usual. Additionally, I've spent quite a bit of time entertaining friends from out of town or going out of town to be entertained by friends (yeah, yeah, I know, gasoline is extra stupid expensive). These things don't pay for themselves and unfortunately, many of these expenses were not part of my regular budget. So what did I do? I used money I set aside for my super duper car payments. Or, I used my credit card....and then used money from my super duper car payment to pay off the credit card balance.

I'm all for the "life is short, so you gotta have fun." Yet, sometimes, I find myself struggling to balance it all. Surely, additional income would help me "have it all", so to speak. What's most important, however, is that I develop a firmer sense of discipline to remain on track with my goals, while having a little bit of fun, as well :)

My boyfriend has a similar goal of paying off a debt sooner than later. He has diligently set aside $2,000 a month to get rid of a second mortgage on his first property. He has faced similar temptations of spending money in other places (heck, I'm likely the source for half of such temptations); in spite of them, he's on track to get rid of his loan by the end of August (congrats in advance, babe ;>).

Me? I'm repeating the same old sorry song about pushing back "the date". I haven't thought at length about what it means to pay off this debt ASAP. "I know" that it will mean I can save a super amount every month (for my $10K goal). "I know" that it will mean that I can have a chunk of disposable income to do whatever I want with (shopping and weekend trips to California have been among my latest obsessions). However, I'm not connecting what "I know" with what I should be doing. Side note: I love to see how behavioral economics shows itself in my life :).

Nevertheless, I will continue reminding myself of why I set out on this particular journey and continue to work towards my goals....in spite of many "distractions."

What do you do when you lose focus? What helps you get back on track?

Out Sick

In the midst of my Nyquil, orange juice, grapefruit juice (I ran out of orange juice), hot tea, and naps, I genuinely thought that I'd get around to writing today. No such luck. My brain has been foggy since Sunday afternoon, and if it weren't for spell check, this post would have eleven trillion misspellings (I know, that's impossible, but bear with me and the drama). 

A quick summary of my spending over the past week or so: I bought a new phone (and got a plan upgrade...i.e. more money each month); I'm expecting a few reimbursements (they're all going to my credit card balance); and my car note balance is finally under $5,000 (that's all I have to say about that).

I hope to have something a little more intriguing by Thursday. By then, I should be well enough to focus on what's going on and to give you a relevant update.

Until next time....

Hello From Out of Town

My apologies for not posting yesterday. I've been so wrapped up in work. I've been out of town since Monday night for a conference. I'll work on a post for tomorrow (Thursday, June 9th). In the mean time, here are a couple of things that I learned about, like and want to share.

• Putnam Investments makes an "impulse savings" app for its customers, Business Wire 

• Taxing the Poor: Doing Damage to the Truly Disadvantaged A look at how, historically, state and local tax policies have affected poor people, University of California Press

Take care!