Looking Up

As I mentioned in previous posts, Paul and I are working with Rich Dad Coaching -- which has been helpful. This past week's assignment has been learning about different financing methods for mortgages. Each week is surprising in this course, as it is better than the last.

At this point, we feel like we have a good grasp on these concepts, and there is another homework assignment coming in 2 weeks which will also focus on this. I am excited to tackle that, and our phone call with our coach tomorrow evening.

I have been reading Suze Orman's "The Courage to be Rich", which thus far, has been great. One of the items she keeps mentioning in this book (and others) is the idea of being financially organized. This is something that I am working on becoming much better at.

The part of the book that I stopped on today was when she talked about having order in your life, and eliminating clutter. Once I read that, I put down the book and started working on cleaning up all of the clutter that has built up over time.

The shoe collection is still in tact, but that will be addressed tomorrow. For today, I weeded through boxes that I had from college, filled with pictures and old papers. I tossed what needed to go, and (finally) put the pictures in albums, which felt great. I cleaned out all underneath the bed, which also felt wonderful. Paul's mom, Nora, is really into fung shei and she always talks about the importance of not storing anything under the bed. Great theory, harder in practice. For the time being, there are things under the bed, but they are very neat. I have never figured out where slippers fit into this theory :)

So -- more progress. I am down to 3 credit cards -- which feels GREAT. I am so excited to get all of that Bad Debt eliminated. My savings continues to rise and I am more and more excited about the future.

Next Step

The whole engaged situation has been a lot of fun. I am really enjoying celebrating with everyone and telling and retelling the story.

I am looking forward to continuing to savor these months (years!) as a fiancee -- now I am refocusing on the real estate pursuit.

We are moving to New Haven, CT this summer. My goal is to close on a multi-family property by 7/1/08 in New Haven. Specifically, I am interested in an owner-financed, 3 unit building on the "good" side of the tracks. We want to rent to students in the area for the time being.

There are a few areas that I will be looking at more closely in the upcoming days. Paul has been at home relaxing, now that he is off from work until law school. After he enjoys that time to his fill, I am looking forward to analyzing the properties together that he and I find separately, while I am at work.

In terms of achieving goals, I will be taking classes at FIT this summer, before we move, on shoes. This is completely a side-venture, but I would love to design shoes.

I will be working on monetizing this blog, as per Clifford's suggestion, and starting more websites that are income producing.

Finally, after brain-storming for a while, I have decided that the next job that I take will correlate with my life goals...so.... *drum roll* I will be looking for a job as a projects manager. I would prefer to work with a small rehab company in the area, but will also consider jobs with larger construction firms.

After working with contractors at my current job, and reading about other's doing full scale work with them, I have decided that it would make the most sense with my goals to become better at herding cats :)

Engaged!

Paul proposed last night -- it was lovely, lovely, lovely.

He took me to the place of our first unofficial date, which is a gorgeous place that overlooks NYC and proposed.

We then went out for dinner at Tavern on the Green, following with a carriage ride through Central Park.

When I woke up this morning, he had 3 beautiful bouquets of flowers waiting for me.

We will be going away to a bed and breakfast in upstate New York next weekend to celebrate (I had really, really wanted a quiet weekend this weekend after all the traveling we have been doing).

I am so very, very lucky!

The ring is gorgeous, but much more importantly, Paul is amazing. I feel so lucky to have found such a wonderful, thoughtful, love.

I am so excited to build a life together.

Creating Wealth

Yesterday's post about ING made me want to buy shoes. I pride myself on not been into material things (too much!) but shoes are another story. Each time I wander into my closet to throw a pair out, I start to admire how beautiful they are.

That being said, most of my shoes are purchased at Payless.

When I had that feeling creep up on me yesterday as I left work, I thought about the recent advice I heard on the radio on a long drive. It was on a great radio station that we do not get in the NYC area and in addition to 50's-6o's and 70's music, they also dispensed advice on how to be happier.

Suggestion #1: People who exercise outside are 70% more happier after doing so. People exercising inside are 40% happier after.
Suggestion #2: Eat spinach.
Suggestion #3: Think of a funny movie, a funny experience, or funny people. Doing so will make you happier.

After reflecting on this, instead of shoe shopping, I drove home and then enjoyed the beautiful weather outside with a walk to the library. I am very friendly with most of the library staff, and seeing them really brightened up my day. I picked up books that were waiting for me and Paul, and then checked out the financial section as promised in yesterday's blog post.

While I am still not 100% sure about balancing a checkbook, I am armed with the books to learn how to.

I was reading the Millionaire Mommy Next Door today, and she has a great post of overcoming difficult circumstances to live the life she loves so much. It was inspiring to read that as things come up and ING shuts my bank account down, that lessons will be learned, move on from, and new doors will open.

I just signed up for a BoA account for which I get $75 for opening up the account; I found this deal on My Money Blog which is a great website.

So what have I done today to change my life? I opened the BoA account and am looking forward to playing Cashflow with Paul tonight. I will also be reading some of the books that were picked up from the library, which should be great. First on my list, Suze Orman, "The Courage to be Rich".

Oh no! Not another learning experience!

That was my favorite mentor's bumper sticker in college. It was boldly displayed as the first thing you would see when you walked into his office. Many times after making mistakes, I would walk into his office and grimace.

So...ING Direct. I have been a very loyal customer for years now, and am sad to say goodbye. Today they closed my bank accounts, and will be transferring all the money back to Wachovia. It seems with all of this Bad Debt paying off, I have still not learned how to balance a checkbook.

This is something that will change today. I have never learned, but I know that I will.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had multiple accounts with ING with saving accounts for each item (car payment, car insurance, cell phone bill). Apparently, you are not supposed to do this. Oops. So anyway, with that being my first "offense" I then had some mishaps with the funds in each account.

For example, on Friday I made the last payment on my Chase credit card (which felt great!). I then went up to New Haven and bought some spiffy Yale clothing with my ING card. The money was crossed, I did not deposit enough to cover all of this (although it did exist in the individual accounts that were ear-marked for such things) and alas, no more ING.

I considered going crazy on them, after all, they said they wrote me unrequited letters (which I did not receive) and they told me that they sent one again, just yesterday!

The whole process has given me a bit of a headache. There are always growing pains, and if I am to be as financially intelligent and have the knowledge to be financially independent, this is something that I will master.

It sounds so silly, but at 24, I have no idea how to do this. I am looking forward to browsing my library along with the internet tonight.

I am searching for better ways to organize and keep track of this (I love mint.com). In addition, I will be looking for a new on-line bank. I appreciate this very much, as a lesson to learn now, as opposed to 5 years from now and messing around with more substantial figures.

"work" vs. Work

I was reading Clifford's blog when I remembered one of his earlier posts about working at his 9-5 and multi-tasking with real estate deals.

I graduated from Rutgers in 2005, and worked in politics for 2 grueling years. I took 4 months off and figured out what I wanted to do. I had read Rich Dad, Poor Dad but had been too busy with politics and trying to survive to think about it too much.

During those 4 months off, I read Rich Woman, by Kim Kiyosaki which re-motivated me to make my life happen on terms I was happy with. On a whim, I looked at the management section of Craig's List and was lucky enough to find a great job with a management company, managing condo buildings.

This has been a great situation since March of 2007. I work with plumbers, electricians, engineers, supers -- everyone involved in keeping a building running and standing. I wanted to do this so I could get a crash course in "what does a good roof look like; 101" or "how you know a boiler is fried; 202". I have been very lucky.

So often people can get caught up in running so fast, but running no where. I see this all the time with friends and family, who are so worried about keeping up that they keep running in circles and accomplishing for others, but not building long term wealth.

My sister, Emily, just started working as an accountant part time, and a real estate agent part time. She is loving the flexibility to do with her time what she sees as more important than being a desk monkey (spending time with her adorable son, yoga, personal real estate deals).

It seems that the objective "What do you want to do when you grow up" consumes so many, that they forget about the "What would you like to accomplish in your life" question.

When I think about the next step in my life, I do not know exactly what I will be doing, but I do know what I will accomplish.

Starting companies
Buying investment real estate
Financial independence by 30 (2013)
Having kiddies and kitties (more long term -- in my 30's)
Philanthropic work

The big question now is, do I get another job when we move for Paul to go to law school, or do I go in a different direction? This will be a question that I will continue to come back to over the next few months as it is figured out.

Just Over Broke

With law school on the horizon for Paul, the question becomes, what will I do when we move? I have been working in property management for over a year now, after leaving politics.

My strongest inclination is to not get another job. However, I have no idea what I would do for cashflow in the new town. It looks like we will be moving to New Haven, CT.

I have thought about writing, event planning, real estate, working with a property development company.

At this point, I know that I am looking at the forest and am having trouble seeing the trees. This huge move is a little overwhelming and I am a little intimidated, though I long for the change.

Paul and I have talked about buying a 3 family by the school to rent out to other students. This is something I would love to do.

At this point, I am very open to suggestions. Let me know!

Delicious Celebration!

After 4 months of working at it, this morning the remaining $542 was paid off of my Chase credit card. I have been aggressively paying it off since January 8th, when the starting balance was $3661.54. The only way I can describe meeting these goals is delicious. A moment to revel. Now that's done, I have 3 credit cards left (all at 0%) to pay off. The next one to pay off is an easy-breezy GM card which has a balance of $405.50. That will be paid off May 2nd.


Next? I mentioned yesterday that I would write about saving for my Roth, but not contributing for 2007. As of April 11, 2008 I had the 4K limit saved up. However, when Paul was working on law school finances, he spoke with a real estate investor/financial adviser on planning for law school. He brought up the idea that the 4K we could put away now in a Roth would be more beneficial put into real estate. I thought about this long and hard, and while I do not think it is the right decision every time, it seems to be the right one for us, this time around.

Yesterday was the spouse dinner for those who with the accepted students. I went and there was 1 couple who bought a condo -- everyone else rented. We are set on buying (great time, great area to invest in terms of always having renters with high rents) but need to dig more to see if it would be a condo we would buy or a multi-fam.

The other issue is proximity to the school. The closer we are to the school, the better the rents, but also the higher the sticker price.

Paul and I have been working with Rich Dad Coaching. We have a coach named Barbara who is very sweet and very knowledgeable. Paul and I always talk about how the information receiving from the coaching is good, but it is being held accountable each week in your 30 minute phone call with your coach that keeps us motivated and moving forward.

We spoke with Barbara yesterday, but had not completed our assignments, due to a death in the family. She was very understanding but I think that understanding inspired us more to get our stuff together and do this. Paul is leaving his job to have some time off before law school on April 25th. Luckily, my job is both close to home and flexible, so I am looking forward to spending more and more time on this project.

Happy Weekend!

Planning the Future

Last night was a date with myself. My live-in boyfriend, Paul, was away visiting a law school so I decided to take that time and do things that I normally would not do.

I went to Marshall's and spent $64.14 on things I didn't really need (teapot! hat to protect me from the sun! sunglasses!). I then went to Home Depot where I picked up some potting soil and seeds for basil, thyme, and parsley. A bit more reasonable at just over $10.00. I really considered getting some Indian for dinner, but decided instead to have a quiet night with the cat (Pixie) and have some cheese, crackers, meats and wine.

The whole shopping expedition made me realize one fund that I do not have. I have been so focused on my "Bad Debt Free" account, my "Senator Roth" account for my Roth IRA (which I chose not to fund even though I saved the $4000 limit -- tomorrow's post on this), or the "Dominican Republic Wedding" fund (a lovely wedding in February for a family member that I needed to save $1200 for). I never established a "Friday Night Date" fund, or "Because I want to go shopping" fund.

At this point, I have my weekly paycheck being automatically deposited into my ING. From there, I have 13 "sub" accounts that money is withdrawn from my primary account each week. So by the end of the month, I have the money for my car payment, car insurance, student loans, gas money, cell phone bill and on and on and on.

This means, when it is all said and done, that I have $6.59 in my bank account to use each week. I realize that this is not sustainable forever, as right now I am living rent free and I rarely shop for groceries.

At this point, it looks like the money I have coming in each week is allotted for each of its slots. There isn't play money for dates or shopping. This is something that, once the Bad Debt is eliminated, I will have an account for.

So my Bad Debt will be gone by 7/4 and there is a chance that we will be moving this summer. By May 1st I will know if we are moving (for law school) or if Paul will go to a school that is more local. If we move, my last day of work would be 7/11. I will have a comfortable savings account of about 9K that I have been saving while paying off debt to get resettled with (and buy either a multi-family or condo, depending on where we end up).

New Goal: Keep my hands away from my mouth. I recently overcame biting my nails, now I have just been playing with my braces all the time. Not only is this unattractive, but it makes my nails more brittle. I will keep you updated on that ;) As a reference point, Paul's aunt (Madrina) is a psychologist. I asked her about this habit, and basically it comes down to being insecure and self destructive. I want positive habits, so this is one I will change.

Until tomorrow...

Journey of a Thousand Steps

I was so scared when I finally sat down to look at all of my credit card debt. I knew I had a lot, and honestly, I had a good idea that it was bad. I had started supporting myself at 16 and moved on to college knowing that I would put myself through. Once in college though, I met a bad influence who started bemoaning all their credit card debt, and as silly as it seems now, it looked to glamorous. To have "real" problems -- to have moved on from the little woes of college, onto the adult thoughts of debt and minimum payments. And so, I started to dig myself into debt.

Out to dinner with friends? No worries, guys -- I'll get it, plus an extra generous tip. New bikini? Of course! With a bag, sunglasses and a towel to match. Nothing was too much, and I didn't quite get the memo that I was living dangerously beyond my means. I remember one night, when I was rushing to an ATM, so I could withdraw cash on a credit card, to deposit in my bank account to pay a credit card that I thought maybe this was not the only way.

My sister gave me a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad when I graduated college in May of 2005. I gobbled it up, but it wasn't enough -- I wasn't ready. First I went through 2 difficult years working in politics and earning next to nothing. At that point, I wasn't thinking of gorgeous dinners, only about how to pay for basic groceries and my gas bill.

Then finally, a break through. It was the summer of 2007 and I decided I didn't want to continue on this path of self destruction. I'm not sure what it was that pushed me over, but I had decided that I was done.

I sat down with my lovely boyfriend and weeded through all the credit cards. I devised a plan to put the entire balance on 0% credit cards (lucky me, my credit was still good enough to do this) and pay them off, in order of when the 0% promotion would run out. I was putting more than half of my salary to accomplish this, but I was also beginning to sleep better. This process started in July of 2007. I will have everything paid off, along with comfy savings, as of July 4, 2008 -- my own Independence Day. Promise, I did not plan for the 7/4 date, it just has worked out that way with the aggressive pay-down approach I have taken.

The 1st credit card was easy -- I paid off $2,500 and felt proud. The next one, my Discover card, had $1,600 but I was getting my holiday bonus which made that one easy too. When I looked at my Chase card, the one with the largest balance, my reserve quaked. I had started off at $4,200 and just by paying the minimums each month while aggressively attacking the credit card whose 0% was going to run out next, I had reduced it to $3,600.

Still, I was terrified. It was at this point that I really thought I could not do it, could not pay it down and might as well go back to my old ways. But I hung tough and decided to just make the payments that I had planned for myself and would see how it went. That was a few months ago, and on Friday, April 18th, I will have paid off the Chase card. I have 3 more cards to go.

There have been slip-ups too. Days that I will wander into Target and buy things I don't need; but those days have decreased rapidly. And I get a kick out of being able to go into a store, look, and not buy one thing. The days when I run over my budget, I write down how much I owe myself, and I take it out of extra bonuses or other unexpected money. Currently, I owe myself $12.15.

I am working to put together my future, and it feels so good. My sweet boyfriend will be starting law school in the fall, and we are planning on buying our first piece of real estate so we can live close to the law school. My mom would always say, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Growing up, that saying drove me crazy. But with a few more years under my belt and a bit more experience, I now believe that the only way you will succeed with anything is by planning goals. And the only way to accomplish your planned goals, is by taking the first step.

I have let the faith in myself guide me, it has been scary and hard at times, but it is well, well worth the reward.