November 11 was my 1-year anniversary of writing a blog at Savings Advice. The date snuck up on me, so I decided to take a peak back in Quicken to see how my financial state had changed since joining this community.
Wait, is that for real?
You’d think that because I keep track of things in Quicken I would be watching my progress over the past year- but I wasn’t. I diligently added in everything spent and everything earned, but I wasn’t watching the change in net worth. In part this was due to opening a Roth and high yield CDs causing the money to be spread across a number of accounts. Plus, my old (2004) version of Quicken no longer supports automatic downloads so I it had been some time since my ROTH and 401(k) were updated.
Drumroll, please: From 11/11/06 to 11/11/07 I increased my net worth by $12,346.85.
My take home pay from the University during this period was $20,760.19 (this includes by stipend plus the additional pay I received for teaching courses in the summer). Like most people, I pay rent, utilities, and a small car payment. When I started on this adventure, I never would have guessed I could increase my net worth by so much in a year. My objective was truly just to try to spend less and save some money.
So, how did I do it? Here’s my retrospective analysis:
1.) I looked for additional income streams (+ $3675.77)
For those of you that have been following my Challenge, you’ll notice that I’ve earned just shy of $2700 in the challenge. My Challenge includes only new income streams since 1/1/07, but I have other income streams that were not new in the New Year that you'll see represented here. The bulk of the non-Challenge income came from my personal chef gig where I delivered homemade meals to a professional couple. That job ended in Spring when they had a baby and the woman stayed at home.
Personal Chef: $950.00
Ride Share: $90.00
Babysitting: $1731.00
eBay sales: $507.91
Half .com sales: $294.91
Garage Sale / Classified sales: $262.00
MINUS -160.05 for eBay fees and shipping for eBay and Half.com
TOTAL ADDITIONAL INCOME: $3675.77
Looking back at this makes me realize how lucrative the personal chef gig was. On the flip side, I feel like I baby sit all the time and the amount is still relatively small. Cooking was exhausting, babysitting is generally pretty relaxing and fun. I plan to keep on doing it. I was also able to earn a respectable amount by selling stuff I didn't use and didn't value through eBay, Half.com and a garage sale. When I move in 6 months, I'm sure I will appreciate the head start on de-cluttering.
2.) I re-balanced my 401(k) (+ $1,148.00)
I had a 401(K) from a job I worked at between 2000-2002. Shortly after leaving that employer, the employer switched wealth management companies. They moved all my investments into a money market account and told me I needed to re-balance. I did nothing for three years. This is something I kick myself for now. Anyway, around December of this year I re-balanced have seen $1,148 in growth. This was probably the single easiest thing I did that helped increase my net worth over the past year.
3.) I opened high yield savings accounts and CDs. ($495.82)
One of the first pieces of advice I acted on from the Savings Advice community was to open high yield savings account. In late November of last year, I opened accounts at both ING and Emigrant Direct. Although ING doesn’t have the highest interest rate out there, its rates are competitive and the $25 new account bonus plus $10 referral bonus for new accounts more than made up the differential for me. In the past year, I’ve earned $360.82 in interest in all my accounts, $110 in referral bonuses at ING Direct, and $25 for a new account bonus. In other words, I earned $500 just for letting the right banks hold my money.
When I think back to my financial life prior to November 2006, I feel frustrated with myself for letting my money sitting in a checking account earning squat in interest. If you’re reading this and don’t have a high interest checking, get one today! If you leave me your email, I’ll email you an ING referral and we’ll both benefit: you’ll get $25 if you open an account with $250 and I’ll get another $10 referral bonus.
After I opened my high yield checking accounts, I diligently transferred any odd job money I earned immediately from my checking account to my high yield account so I could earn as much interest as possible. As my savings accounts grew, I started moving the money into CDs. Currently, I have savings account at ING and Emigrant Direct (at 4.2% and 4.75% APR, respectively) and CDs at Emigrant Direct at 5.2% and 5.1% APR)
4.) I started a ROTH IRA (+$306.87)
In January 2007, I moved money from my high yield savings account to open and max out a Roth contribution for tax year 2006. I also started regularly contributing to a Roth for 2007. By July 2007, I had the 2007 Roth maxed out. I achieved this by contributing $150 monthly plus the income I earned over the University for teaching summer school. My Roth is currently in the Vanguard 2045 Target Retirement fund. It’s a topsy turvey market lately, but as of 11/11/07, I had earned 306.07 on my $8000 contribution.
5.) I embraced frugality and tracked my spending.
How many times have you been at the grocery store and looked at receipt afterward and thought, ‘How did all those $1-$2 items add up to so much?”
I can’t quantify how much I saved through watching the small purchases, but the little things do add up. Furthermore, if your income isn’t very high to begin with, (like mine), the total percent of those little things can easily become overwhelming. By using Quicken, I was able to watch my monthly expenses and make sure a few dollars here and there wasn’t usurping by paycheck. In addition, as I become more involved with my money, I found myself far less tempted by impulse purchases. I did a lot of
In sum, I feel happier and more empowered. Prior to joining Savings Advice I felt nervous anytime I saw an article in the newspaper about money and personal finance. Now, I know where I stand. I have more work to do before I can achieve some of my financial dreams like buying a house, but I do know I can have a rich life without a lot of money. This gives me freedom and confidence
November 17th, 2007 at 04:48 pm 1195318116
November 17th, 2007 at 05:25 pm 1195320314
November 17th, 2007 at 05:56 pm 1195322183
November 17th, 2007 at 06:07 pm 1195322831
I love to see that all these little things DO add up and while I use coupons all the time and tend to buy only resale I should probably be tracking my savings!
November 17th, 2007 at 11:23 pm 1195341795
November 18th, 2007 at 12:45 am 1195346757
Its not what you make, its what you keep.
November 18th, 2007 at 01:34 am 1195349661
Also i love what you said about the 'odd jobs', that income can add up. Craigslist + garage sales can certainly bring in 1k a year extra
November 18th, 2007 at 02:42 am 1195353736
I had a similar transformation this year. We have always been big savers, but we weren't investing it well. I have been proud that our net worth has fared so well this year, but you blow us out of the water - percentage-wise - for sure). Way to go!!!!
November 18th, 2007 at 08:05 pm 1195416327
It would not surprise me in the least to see this as the makings of a book on personal finance some time in the future.
November 18th, 2007 at 10:56 pm 1195426600
November 20th, 2007 at 10:41 am 1195555301
November 21st, 2007 at 03:26 pm 1195658773
November 21st, 2007 at 04:38 pm 1195663105
I've been looking at high yield savings, where did you read to make your decision? Any idea about Washington Mutual?
Can you track your saving/spending with Peach Tree or Quick Books?
Thankyou, I look forward to any and all responses =)
November 21st, 2007 at 06:30 pm 1195669855
http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/
it's awesome.
November 21st, 2007 at 06:49 pm 1195670977
As I stated in my post, ING doesn't have the highest rates, but the $10 referral bonuses plus the $25 new account bonus more than made up the difference for me. ING has a great interface, too. If you decide to go with ING, I'd love to give you one of my referrals :-)
November 22nd, 2007 at 01:45 am 1195695951
I'm going to look at both sites =)
Have a happy holiday all~
November 22nd, 2007 at 02:01 am 1195696905
November 29th, 2007 at 11:21 pm 1196378470
I just lived on mac-and-cheese, rice, beans, and pasta for several weeks. I think I'm hard to beat on frugality.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:52 pm 1196380364
The big difference is that she has taken steps to increase her net worth where you are still living paycheck to paycheck. She did things beyond her normal job to earn more so she could put some away. Something that you seem unwanting to do. Being frugal is useless unless you take the steps to make that frugalness help you.
November 30th, 2007 at 02:50 am 1196391049
Personal chef? I have no skills there, but I'd like to take some cooking classes (but lack the money) in order to teach others to cook. (I believe cooking skills are essential for anyone young and broke, not to mention anyone old and broke.) Also, I know someone with a commercial kitchen (one of the vendors where I work) and am interested in professional food preparation.
Ride share? I don't even have a car (or license) myself.
Babysitting? Virtually none of my local friends have kids, and I think there's a general distrust of middle-aged men you don't know as babysitters.
Online sales? I've started making a small amt of money, but I'd need a digital camera or source of cheap books to make anything more than trivial money. Hard to sell online successfully without the ability to provide pictures of what you're selling.
So I do have some ideas but not all the resources.
November 30th, 2007 at 04:17 am 1196396248
I would also suggest you "put on your happy face" when you are out and about in public and try to hid the gloom and doom you circulate on blogs. People pay me very well to babysit and house/pet sit--to be honest, I think sometimes I'm overpaid for relatively simple jobs. In part, people want me to continue to be available to them, but also I think they like the image of the cheerful, happy student. I don't always feel so happy and chipper, but you better believe I smile and keep whatever is going on in my personal life OUT of my working life. I've got issues, too (including a spouse who lives over 200 miles away and my own health issues), but I show up pleasant and eager.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:40 pm 1196426417
There are an awful lot of "foodies" in this area, including a cooking school and all sorts of cooking classes (some of which are pretty pricey) if you have the money.
I don't think I ever really wanted to make a living as a lowly employee. I've had various ideas for a business, but never the money to really do anything about them.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:43 am 1213141401