The Hustle of Sistah Ant

November was good to me.  I hit my My Own Home savings goal (it seems like that took forever).  My IRA recovered a little bit.  I also escaped November credit card debt free (only to put Cyber Monday Christmas presents on my credit card on December 1st, but I digress).  It’s nice to see the line in my NetWorthIQ bar graph definitively pointing upward!  Last month was so discouraging in comparison.  One cool thing I noticed this month - I am at the point where the total of my assets is greater than my net worth deficit.  This doesn’t mean much, but psychologically it tells me that I’m closer to the light at the end of the tunnel than to the darkness at its beginning.  I have amassed assets worth more than my net worth hole.  I’m thankful for that.

I took a nice little vacation for Thanksgiving, hanging out with Mister Ant and his family.  It was pretty low cost, considering the lower gas prices and that staying with family means that you spend less on lodging and food than you otherwise would when traveling.  I did not go Black Friday shopping - I haven’t given up on Christmas presents completely, but it just isn’t my first priority right now.  I think I’m going to be a last minute shopper this year.

When we got home, there was a pile of mail waiting for me.  I got my annual Social Security statement.  Good news - I finally have enough credits to receive less than 80% of the retirement benefits that I’m entitled to one day if the program isn’t already legislated out of existence completely.  That was good for a hearty laugh.  That reminds me, I’ve already started on my goals list for what I need to accomplish next year financially, and muscling up my IRA and starting a Roth are my greatest priorities along with tackling debt… I’ll get more into this at the end of the month.

But speaking of debt, I got two of those "Direct Loan" envelopes in the mail.  Each letter just extended the courtesy of telling me that in accordance with the repayment plan I chose, Uncle Sam will be deducting $13 more dollars a month for my student loan payments, starting this month, so I’d better adjust my idea of what to deduct in my check register.  Sigh.  I know it’s only $13, but no one wants that kind of news.  Y’all just don’t know how happy I’ll be when I get to tell Uncle Sam to get out of my money.  I hope that the next time I get one of these letters, two years from now, that I’m already paying more than twice the minimums every month just to get rid of the loan altogether.

Oh yeah!  And - I hit my revised goal for the My Own Home fund!  Yay!  I’ll calculate my Net Worth for you guys tomorrow.

I initially planned to take my car in to the shop after my next paycheck.  Instead, I set up an appointment for this morning.  Of course, because I saved and invested the remainder of my last check, I don’t have the cash to pay.  So, I’m going to put the expense on one of my credit cards and then pay the card back from this week’s paycheck.  I hate having credit card balances, so I’m tempted to send the payment in as soon as I have the money.  However, because I’ll be in the market for a mortgage, I still want to keep a good record of payment with my credit cards.  Instead of sending the payment directly in, I will use my online bill pay to schedule the payment so that my credit card lender receives it AFTER I’m billed for the balance.  That way, my record shows that I actually was billed that amount and that the amount was paid in full.  I’ve done this once before with good results.  It’s my new credit card payment policy.  The key here is to treat the scheduled payment just like a check - count the money gone as soon as you schedule the payment, so that you don’t accidentally spend the money you’ve promised to your credit card company before the scheduled payment goes through.  If not, chances are you’ll overcharge your checking account.

I was trying to be proactive and take advantage of as many things as I can over the weekend.  I finally got my purse and wallet straightened out.  Then I checked on my bills, which was good, because although I took care of all existing charges last week, there was an automatic charge for my EZPass on my AMEX that I had to pay, which I did.  I reconciled my check register balance with my receipts.  Then the easy part was over.

My priorities started fighting with each other.  I have to get the engine light fixed on my car before I get it inspected next month, and I want to make sure that I have the money to pay for it without using a credit card.  My car insurance premium is also due next month, and I am considering paying the entire balance instead of splitting it up over the next six months.  Since I know there’s a chance I won’t be working, this is a way to get my future monthly expenses lowered.  In addition, I have to chip in on the household expenses for the month and next month’s rent.  But the goals that meant the most to me emotionally were contributing to my IRA and to my My Own Home fund.  Oh yeah, and getting holiday gifts and affording holiday road trips.

After some consideration, I decided to take care of household and car expenses on my next paycheck because of the limited amount of money I had to work with this week.  I’m still undecided about my car insurance premium.  I will have the opportunity to pay it in full for at least the next several weeks either way, so I didn’t put a high priority on making my decision right now.  That left two priorities, my IRA and my savings.  I made the minimum allowable contribution to the IRA and then after leaving myself $100.00 for random day-to-day expenses in my checking account, I deposited the remainder in the My Own Home fund.  But I know I left some plans undone, so I’ll have to make some difficult decisions with my next check, even though my bills are paid through the middle of next month.

Oh yeah.  This is a recession.  It’s getting ugly out there, folks. Governments are feeling crunches.  I read one article that said a few states only have enough in their unemployment funds to last for a finite amount of time.   This is what I’m telling myself in order to be proactive about any hard times to come:

Keep Investing
And the stock market averages are constantly in the red.  I already know what I want to do with my next paycheck - buy more mutual fund shares for my IRA!  The price per share is as low now as it’s ever been, so I can get more for my money.  

Keep Saving
I also want to shovel as much as I can into the My Own Home fund. You don’t know this yet, but I’ve been in touch with a realtor, and Mister Ant and I have gone to look at a house.  I know, I know - I’ve been grousing about how I shouldn’t buy with my unstable income.  But I couldn’t resist.  The picture pulled me in.  And don’t worry, we didn’t put in an offer.  I just wanted to experience viewing a home as a prospective buyer.  It was fun!  When the time comes, we are going to be so ready.  In any case, the more money there is in the My Own Home fund, the better, both as a backup emergency fund and as a nest egg should the need not arise to use it in place of lost income.

Keep Controlling the Spending
I’m being extra conscientious about energy use, since our gas bill goes up in the winter, and the nights are cold again now.  I’ve read suggestions to have the heat on during the day and turn it way down at night.  I find that stupid and I do it the other way around.  We turn the heat way down and let the sunlight in when we leave for work, and then turn the heat back up to about 68-70 when we get home.  We both like it hot, so that’s a real sacrifice.  We keep plenty of blankets around.  I’m also buying lunch, and ordering delivery and take-out much less often.  It’s a two-for-one deal to cook at home, because you save money on food, and you warm up the place while you’re cooking.  I’d gotten lax when I started making more money, but I’m using more discipline lately.  I want a new waist-length peacoat, but I’m not in a rush to get one - the 3/4 length wool coat I have is good enough for now.  By saving in these ways, I don’t feel so guilty about the things I do spend money for, like the new Toni Morrison book I ordered online the other day.

Keep out of Debt.  Period.

I don’t have credit card balances, and I aim to keep it that way.  I don’t put anything on my cards that I can’t pay off in one billing period.  If I don’t have the money, I can’t buy it - cash or credit.  Not having balances means less monthly bills.  I can definitely get with that.

That’s about it.  Keep investing.  Keep saving.  Keep controlling the spending.  And, keep out of debt.  Period.

Well, according to this month’s net worth chart, I made less than $1,000 improvement this month, despite my saving over $1,500 and getting rid of over $500 of debt. My car is getting old. I mainly track its net worth because I want to keep track of how much I owe on it compared to its value. This month, car depreciation, combined with stock and IRA value losses, really dragged down my progress on paper. I’ll just think about it this way: look how much worse it would have been if I hadn’t paid off so much debt and saved so much money.  My IRA balance would also be worse if I hadn’t made a "rescue" contribution late this month to pull it up from being down by 30%.  I knew my progress this month would not have been as good as other months, because of some of the car maintenance and other expenses I wanted to face before getting laid off again.  Hey, I did what I had to do - what I was supposed to do.  I invested.  I saved.  I paid off debt.  And even though my car depreciated, it’s running very well, it’s in excellent condition, it’s as beautiful as the day I picked it off the lot, and perhaps most importantly, it’ll take me to any interview I need to get to with no problem.  The last thing you want when facing unemployment is an unreliable car - been there, done that - it wasn’t cool at all.  So goes the month of October 2008.

One more thing.  This is the two year anniversary of my wake up call to get my finances in order.  Since October 2006:

• I have improved my net worth by $36,415.  That’s a 51% improvement.
• I have totally eliminated my credit card debt.
• I have credit scores that are consistently near 800.
• I have saved over three months’ living expenses in an emergency fund.
• I have saved almost $14,000 for my dream of home ownership.
• I pulled my car loan balance down to less than the worth of my car.
• I finally started investing in stocks and retirement mutual funds.
• I changed my earning potential by getting certified in my profession.
• I have prioritized charitable giving on a regular basis.
• I finally got my student loan balances down into the principal amount borrowed.

People, let me tell you what happened over the weekend.  I checked my IRA balance again.  Why did I do that?  It was down 30%.  THIRTY PERCENT!!!  I figured I would finally put a few hundred dollars in the account as I’ve been planning to do, since I’m ahead on all of my bills.  I clicked on the button to order more shares.  But then I found out that there is a $250 minimum amount to buy more of the fund that I’ve been investing in.  Darn it!  Okay, fine.  I added enough to make my purchase the minimum amount.  Then I found out that there is a $12 low-balance fee charged to my account if it’s under a certain dollar amount.  What!?!  It’s not even my fault that the dollar value of my account is down!  I’d be doggone if I was going to give them $12 that wasn’t going to go directly towards breathing some life into my ailing account.  So then I added enough to my order to both have a $250 minimum purchase and make my account go higher ($3 higher) than the low-balance threshhold.  Of course then I was only left with enough money to get groceries and wait for my next paycheck.  I feel like I just got robbed.  You know the dollar value of my account is just going to go back under the low-balance threshhold, right? 

I gave in to temptation and looked at my balance over the weekend.  My IRA is down 27% because of the bear market.  That’s over a quarter.  That’s almost a third.  My initial reaction was anger.

And then, surprisingly, I was calm.

I just finished increasing my Emergency Fund to another landmark.  So now that that task its done, I am inspired by my IRA balance to start contributing again.  I had stopped contributing because I had met the minimum amount necessary to get the money out of a money market fund and into a mutual fund.  I then turned my attention to working on the Emergency Fund, but now I’m done with that for now.  I need to get back to building my IRA.  I am nowhere near this year’s contribution limit, anyway.  Now I haven’t given up the idea of continuing to increase the My Own Home fund. But with my Emergency Fund task completed for now, I feel more comfortable with splitting up my non-expense money between both goals of savings and retirement.  The thought of buying more shares while I still can and the getting is cheaper has been nagging me for at least a week now.  I’m going to do it!

It’s gonna be alright.  I’m going to own more shares.  I’m going to have more savings.  I’m going to get a job.  I’m going to get a home of my own, which is a retirement goal in and of itself.  And Everything Is Going To Be Alright.

I am willfully not looking at my IRA balance, especially on days like yesterday, when the market goes down almost 700 points.  I just don’t want to look.  I keep telling myself that I’m young, and I’ve got many years between now and retirement.  That the market will eventually go back up once this correction/crisis/whatever-they’re-calling-it-this-week is over.  That my shares have a long way to fall before they’re worth absolutely nothing.  I keep trying not to think about how hard I worked to finally get up the minimum amount required to finally get my money out of a money market fund and into a stock-heavy mutual fund.  I keep trying not to kick myself for not leaving my money in the money market fund, because I really did have no way of knowing that the nervousness in the market at the time was going to develop into an all-out global panic.  This is where the rubber hits the road when it comes to the concept of "risk tolerance."  When you’re a beginning investor, as I am, and you’re learning about how all this investing works, you’re advised to consider your risk tolerance as it relates to how long the time horizon is between when you invest and when you think you’ll be able to stop working.  And when investors like me are young, you are virtually told that your risk tolerance is high if for no other reason than that your time horizon is long.  "You have plenty of time" to absorb the fluctuations in the market and still make gains by the time you retire.  So goes the conventional wisdom.

You know what scares me? According to the news and the markets, conventional wisdom doesn’t seem to be working lately. 

And I don’t want to log on to look at my balance.

And maybe I should just put my little bit of IRA money into bonds, but wouldn’t that be "locking in" my losses?  And isn’t that against the conventional wisdom?    You know, the same conventional wisdom that isn’t working lately…

I think that the interview went well.  I always think my interviews went well, though.  LOL!  But I’ll say this: near the end, the two people who were interviewing me exchanged glances and smiled.  That can’t be bad, can it?

But here’s the rub: not long before that, the interviewer who would be my boss apologized for not telling me sooner, but they will most likely NOT be able to meet my salary requirement.  I played it well, I think - I have a decent poker face.  But inwardly I was a little taken aback.  Why didn’t they tell me this before?

I saw the position in an email from a listserve I belong to.  I sent in my resume, which I tailored to the position, a good cover letter, and my salary requirement.  Now actually, I don’t have a set salary requirement.  In most cases, I don’t send a salary requirement, I wait for an offer as a starting point for negotiations.  In this case, however, a salary requirement was explicitly required with the submission of your resume.  I did research to come up with a fair salary range.  The amount of money I asked for was specifically tailored to the position, my strengths and shortcomings, and the average of what people in my area in similar positions with similar companies are making.  When submitting my range, I told the employer that I consider the entire package, including benefits, the work environment, and other aspects of the position.  I was pleased to be called in for an interview!

When they told me that they couldn’t meet my salary requirement during the interview, I didn’t have a temper tantrum.  I am still genuinely interested in the job.  The interviewer told me to take a few days to think about whether or not I am willing to make less than my requirement, and I said that it would depend on how far apart their offer might be from my range.  Their offer would be in one $10,000 range less than my $10,000 range.  I told the interviewers what I really want out of my next position - I believe that I can get it from the position I was interviewing for - and that I would still consider an offer from them.  The interview ended well, but I left feeling deflated.

I’ve been mulling it over all weekend.  The job market for people with my level of experience is so dry, it’s like the Grapes of Wrath out there.  I really need to stop temping, and get a steady job with some benefits. I’d get great professional visibility and experience with this position, which makes it a great stepping stone to a better, more lucrative position in a few years.  And I’d love the work.  But the lower end of my suggested range really was as low as I was emotionally prepared to go.  I have so many goals - homeownership, catching up on retirement contributions, motherhood, travel… All of that would be so much harder on the salary they would offer me.  The reason I took the bar exam was to finally make more money than I did as a paralegal.  If I take this job, I will have gotten nowhere on that front.  I’m torn.

Of course, none of this matters if they don’t give me an offer.  In the meantime, I’m sending out those unsolicited resumes and cover letters.  I don’t know who’d want to hire in this economy, but I’ve got to do something.  I’m facing an unemployed holiday season.