The Hustle of Sistah Ant

It’s been a big weekend for my wallet.  This is long, so if you want to read the short version, just read my blue text.

If your bank starts acting up, switch and take his friend your credit union

First, I took some time Friday night and Saturday morning to do a little housekeeping.  First, I took care of my transition from my bank account, which I plan on closing, to my credit union account.  A quick review: my bank requires a $200 minimum balance if I want to avoid $19 of fees, yet they offer only nominal interest payments on my deposits.  That’s hot garbage - I’ve decided to go to the credit union.  Thing is, I had to switch some automatic debiting from my bank to the credit union before closing the account, so I did that Friday night.  Then Monday morning, I changed my direct deposit to the credit union account as well.  The bank account will stay open until I see that everything is going where it ought to go, from my paychecks to my auto insurance payments.

Will you my check still love me tomorrow? 

Next on the agenda was navigating 401K land.  First, I decided to figure out how a 6% bi-weekly contribution would affect my net pay and spending/saving ability.  I took a check stub and calculated my withholding, first by calculating the percentages withheld on my current check stub, and then by subtracting 6% of my gross pay out before using the same percentages to figure out and estimate  what my withholding would be with the retirement contributions.  Total damage per bi-weekly check - $39.  Not scary at all.  But then I went a step further and figured out how much I’d have to deduct in order to automatically divert 4% of my gross pay to my savings account, and made this change Monday morning.  That came to about a $60 per check difference between now and when my 401K contributions start.  I can live with that, knowing I’m saving/investing 10% of my gross pay on every check without even thinking about it.  I can still afford my bills and massive debt repayment with the changes.

Get ready… for the big payback 

Then I went to the IRS’ withholding calculator to make sure that I wasn’t giving the government too much of my money that I can be using now.  Since the 401K and some educational expenses are reducing my tax liability, I am now overpaying the government by an estimated $500.  However, since it’s just about October, I decided not to change my withholding again.  (That’s part pragmatic laziness, and part not wanting our accountant to get sick of seeing me in her office.) 

They jinglin’ baby… go ‘head baby

My favorite part of Saturday morning was signing up for my very first 401K and picking out a portfolio.  In one or two pay cycles, I will officially be an investor!  Yay!  My portfolio includes 80% stocks and 20% bonds, mostly in index funds with holdings ranging from government bonds to international stock to domestic stock of different sized companies.  It may be a little conservative, given my age, but this depends on who you ask.  I’m still weighing aggressiveness against risk, and I’m still trying to have confidence in my own decisions.  I didn’t ask a financial advisor for help (that’s part not finding his number, and part wanting to get this show on the road without setting up an appointment, etc.), but I’m not totally against deciding to ask for help - if I decide to do so, I can change my portfolio when I want.  I also set it to rebalance my asset allocation automatically every 6 months.  I think maybe I should change that to once a year.  Not sure yet.  Explaining how I did this will have to be another post entirely.

After that, I just smiled for about five minutes straight and basked in the happiness of having completed an important task (well not exactly completed - I have to fill out my beneficiary form).  Then I balanced my checkbook and checked in on my credit card spending to make sure it doesn’t exceed my checking account balance (it didn’t).

Got me workin’ workin’ day and night 

Last thing, I promise (I told you this was a big weekend).  I did a no-no that I think will be OK.  My honey and I went furniture shopping (all. freakin’. day.) to help us with storage so we can both fit in his our apartment.  I spent money on my credit card that I don’t currently have in my checking account.  I did it based on the fact that my landlord is prorating my last month’s rent, so the money for this furniture is to come from that savings.  So I should still have a zero balance at the end of the month on my card.  I also bought gas, food, and did laundry this weekend.  I’m tired of spending money.  Tired!  And I hate shopping (for furniture or anything else).  So, I’m glad that’s done.

I don’t want to think about money ever again.  (At least until I get paid later this week, ha ha!)