Bill's Personal Finance Blog

$3275.99 AUGUST

(Bill M.) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:12:18 PST

Well, here goes another month and i finally finished reconciling the month of August and the results was a little under of what i expected, I was going for $5000.00 as this was a busy month for business wise. Lets hope september gets to be a great month and i am almost where i was...

$3978.91 PAID IN JULY

(Bill M.) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:54:05 PST

Hello Everyone,

July has been an outstanding month Spending wise. Monthly expenses was down because of alot of cutting back due to wife's surgery. August & September will be good months also spending wise because not alot of time to go do grocery shopping and buying extra stuff....

DERAILED!

(Bill M.) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:03:30 PST

My debt reduction plan had a slight de-railment, $10,635.00 in Medical Bills for Wife's Surgery.

My Debt has increased to $55,516.79 but i still continue attacking....

$3385.02 PAID IN JUNE

(Bill M.) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:42:18 PST

I'm picking up momentum in this debt thing and have surpassed $10,000.00 in debt paid off this year. My next bench mark is $20k and hope to have that in another few months.

My Chase Freedom is on a Use/Pay system. I am using to purchase groceries as i receive 3% back in form of...

$2954.06 towards Debt

(Bill M.) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:48:10 PST

This was a month that i tried to save as much as I can and not let temptation lead my way.

For the first time in a long time, i am now under $50k in debt. Hopefully if i can continue this track i'll be somewhere around $30k at the end of the year.

I am now attacking my American...

Roth Ira Update

(Bill M.) — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:50:55 PST

My 2008 is now fully funded to take advantage of this down market. My new allocation is as follows.

Large Cap - 21%
Mid/Small Cap - 35%
Fixed Income - 10%
International - 34%

So far so good.

The end of this month, my Lowes will be completely paid and my next target attack is AMEX...

I Saved $2004.00

(Bill M.) — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:30:25 PST

I saved $2004.00 by switching to progressive insurance. I made the switch on their first day here in Massachusetts and when the rep read my quote, i could not believe it.

I'm going to be paying $588 for every 6 months of policy which is about $1176.00 a year.

I was with commerce...

Free $250.00

(Bill M.) — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:26:19 PST

I have accumulated an enough points to cash in my $250.00 check from my Chase FreeDOM card.

Its going right back into paying it off.

My next target is the Lowe's CC that i used to do some bath remodelling.

People usually say go with the highest interest first. the truth is,...

Two More CC's paid

(Bill M.) — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:20:25 PST

I have manage to pay another two credit cards.

I have paid the Juniper and Best Buy.

I have another $1000 to receive from my rent payment will will probably send that to the Lowe's with this weeks salary to pay off the lowe's.

I have also taken the emergency fund to pay off...

Roth Ira 2k8

(Bill M.) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:43:11 PST

My first year with an IRA and i am pushing on all cylinders...

2007, Fully Funded $4000
2008, 65% at $3241

I have diversified my portfolio more. thanks to some advice from SA readers.

U.S. Stocks 29.82%
International Stocks 38.80%
Fixed Income 26.93%
Cash 3.85%
Other...

EF Funds Update/Real Estate

(Bill M.) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:36:35 PST

Funds
----------
I have started to streamline my financial life.

I have combined my Funds to one big EF/LT Fund. I have transfered all the balances into an EmigrantDirect acct that is paying a misly 2.75% APR.

The total amount I have in the account is $909.01

Real Estate
------------
I...

Fully Funded 2k7 IRA

(Bill M.) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:37:33 PST

God is good.

I was able to fully fund my 2k7 IRA with 4k. I am now working on a goal for the 2k8 for 5k

My portfolio breakdown as follows.

U.S. Stocks 0.12%
International Stocks 87.62%
Fixed Income 11.72%
Cash 0.47%
Other 0.06%
Not Classified 0.00%

Regional...

March Contribution to Funds

(Bill M.) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:44:40 PST

Income was a little bit less then February, i was able to allocate $93.16

Emergency Fund got $14.94
Short Term Fund got $17.49
Long Term Fund got $60.73

I am still on track for my 36 month dead line on having everything fully funded.

IRA Contrib 2007

(Bill M.) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:46:07 PST

I was able to fund my IRA $2k today for 2007. hopefully next year i can do $4k.

Investing very heavily in Emerging Markets.

2k7 Tax Update

(Bill M.) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:31:12 PST

I am almost finnaly through doing my taxes. I been using TurboTax for the past 5-6 years and i simply love the interface. It took me about 3 hours to gather everything and put it and make sure everything is correct. I am go over once more just to make sure i didn't miss any deductions...

One More DOWN!!!!!

(Bill M.) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:16:26 PST

CC#1 is completely paid off. 1527.34 with fin charges... Next Target is CC#7...

I am so proud...

End Of Month for February

(Bill M.) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:27:04 PST

This month ended very well for me. I had about 28% of my total income left for me to do whatever which equaled about $3356.23

I contributed
$15.79 to my Emergency Fund (0.170%)
$18.78 to my Short Term Fund(0.199%)
$64.18 to my Long Term Fund (0.691%)
for a total of (1.060%)....

Lost $23.78

(Bill M.) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:22:25 PST

After reviewing old bank statements, i found this in an old acct. I immediately initiated an ACH transfer to my Household acct. Going towards lowering CC debt.

Every since i started writing things down, like CC balances, I have seen my self question things a little bit more now..

Rebate Check

(Bill M.) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:52:26 PST

Yesterday I received a rebate check i had forgotten about, a whole 10 dollars. will go into ST fund.

Cell Phone Plan

(Bill M.) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:51:45 PST

I love my cell phone company, since i use my cell phone primarily for business, i usually go through about 5000-7000 minutes a month. I had their best plan which was 5000 minutes plus free weekends/nights/mobile2mobile for 160.00, i just received a letter that a new better plan was...