DHP Financial topic of the week: Success stories?

[imported_Gman]

It is important for us to help motivate one another in our pursuit of getting a better handle on our finances. Lets hear some success stories. What have you done in the last year to improve your finances ? [img]graemlins/OLA.gif[/img]

Here's mine:

1. Refinanced by mortgage again. My current rate is 5.325%

2. Increased the extra principle payment on the mortgage so that we pay the mortgage off in 8.5 years.

3. Got a great deal on a new used car (Honda Accord 2001) and paid cash for it.

4. Stayed the course on putting money in my retirement funds. Took the attitude that since I am investing this money for more than 10 years I can afford to ride out the flutuations in the market. One thing I can say is that I put a lot of money in when the market was down so that when it goes back up..

5. We cut back on the amount we spend on eating out

6. Eliminated unnecessary options on telephone and cable TV services.

[ September 03, 2003, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Gman ]

[GROOVE VICTIM]

Good topic for this week GMAN.


My car is FINALLY payed off. After three years of hell, I no longer have a car payment. This will now allow me to knock off the three small credit cards that I ran up and pay them off within the year.

WORK TO LIVE!!!!

[nev m]

Originally posted by GROOVE VICTIM:
Good topic for this week GMAN.


My car is FINALLY payed off. After three years of hell, I no longer have a car payment. This will now allow me to knock off the three small credit cards that I ran up and pay them off within the year.

WORK TO LIVE!!!!

Bang the credit card companys to rights! They're good at lending money to those that can least afford it. But guess what? That insecured borrowing is what it is. Insecured borrowing.

So if you rip up your credit cards (whilst making the decision to never have one again) then prove to them that you can no longer afford to pay them back due to thr astronomical interest you are now paying they have accept whatever you can afford. not only that all interest is frozen so you are now merely chipping away at your sins.

Didn't know this? then ACT NOW! Once sorted treat yourself, and/or your partner to something, and never go there again.

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by GROOVE VICTIM:
Good topic for this week GMAN.


My car is FINALLY payed off. After three years of hell, I no longer have a car payment. This will now allow me to knock off the three small credit cards that I ran up and pay them off within the year.

WORK TO LIVE!!!!

Congratulations Groove !!! It feels good don't it. :D

[GROOVE VICTIM]

Like a rather large monkey off of my back. I have to discipline myself now that I have extra cash on hand.


Peace

[DeesKo]

1. Paid my truck off finally.
2. Bought my bike cash.
3. Paid off my only credit card and cut it up.
4. Paid my insurance up front for the whole year.
5. Knocked off all the extra stuff on phone/cell phone (internet access on my cell, caller ID, voice mail, long distance etc on my home phone).
6. Still maxing out my 401k every year.

To come in the next few months :

1. Have my fathers morgage paid off
2. Start putting approx $500 a month into either a Roth IRA or a standard savings account.

Here's a question for those in the know...

Is there anything more profitable interest-wise than a savings account that would still allow you penalty free access to that money at your whim ?

Peace

Rob

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by DeesKo:
1. Paid my truck off finally.
2. Bought my bike cash.
3. Paid off my only credit card and cut it up.
4. Paid my insurance up front for the whole year.
5. Knocked off all the extra stuff on phone/cell phone (internet access on my cell, caller ID, voice mail, long distance etc on my home phone).
6. Still maxing out my 401k every year.

To come in the next few months :

1. Have my fathers morgage paid off
2. Start putting approx $500 a month into either a Roth IRA or a standard savings account.

Here's a question for those in the know...

Is there anything more profitable interest-wise than a savings account that would still allow you penalty free access to that money at your whim ?

Peace

Rob

Way to go Rob [img]hail.gif[/img]


I would do the ROth IRA before a standard savings account assuming you already have a emergency fund set up. I don't know of a another penalty free safe investment that you can take the money out anytime you want and pays good interest. All the Money Market funds are paying pretty low interest rates right now as well.

-G

[mhd]

maxing out the 401k is a very very good move, especially if your employer matches the contribution, you might want to review your distribution and stay abreast of the market, its starting to heat up consistently.
it depends on your philosophy, the two biggest problems is fear of risk and aversion to delayed gratification. you could look at annuities as an instrument, or even tax liens. the more liquid you want to be the less return you can expect, in other words if you can invest it and forget about it you can let the magic of compound interest allow your money to work for you

[music]

continue to save $1,500.00 a month in savings, purchase a $500.00 bond @ 250.00 every month since jan. 03 for the next 10 years, $500.00 monthly in my roth i.r.a. use discount tickets for movies.

things are very tight but i will march on.

[ September 03, 2003, 04:32 PM: Message edited by: music ]

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by mhd:
maxing out the 401k is a very very good move, especially if your employer matches the contribution, you might want to review your distribution and stay abreast of the market, its starting to heat up consistently.
it depends on your philosophy, the two biggest problems is fear of risk and aversion to delayed gratification. you could look at annuities as an instrument, or even tax liens. the more liquid you want to be the less return you can expect, in other words if you can invest it and forget about it you can let the magic of compound interest allow your money to work for you

Mark, whats up with real estate lately ? have you made any moves ? Come on now, stop holding out.

-G

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by music:
continue to save $1,500.00 a month in savings, purchase a $500.00 bond @ 250.00 every month since jan. 03 for the next 10 years, $500.00 in my roth i.r.a.

things are very tight but i will march on.

Tight ? You are able to save almost $2000.oo a month. I guess its all relative [img]graemlins/grinyes.gif[/img] Do you own a condo? or house ?

-G

[mhd]

Originally posted by Gman:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by mhd:
maxing out the 401k is a very very good move, especially if your employer matches the contribution, you might want to review your distribution and stay abreast of the market, its starting to heat up consistently.
it depends on your philosophy, the two biggest problems is fear of risk and aversion to delayed gratification. you could look at annuities as an instrument, or even tax liens. the more liquid you want to be the less return you can expect, in other words if you can invest it and forget about it you can let the magic of compound interest allow your money to work for you

Mark, whats up with real estate lately ? have you made any moves ? Come on now, stop holding out.

-G </font>[/QUOTE]always making those moves, but its all underground, we gonna make you a slumlord any day now

[mhd]

Originally posted by music:
continue to save $1,500.00 a month in savings, purchase a $500.00 bond @ 250.00 every month since jan. 03 for the next 10 years, $500.00 monthly in my roth i.r.a. use discount tickets for movies.

things are very tight but i will march on.

you might want to consider maxing out on the ira, consider the relative benefits between the very low earning bonds versus the ira, the ira lowers your taxable income now which increases your ability to save and will pay out at a time when you are in a lower (theoretically) tax bracket as a retiree.

[DeesKo]

Just saw this, thought I'd share ....


The Basics
How rich should you be?

Money 2004.
Smarter, faster and easier
than ever.



A formula in "The Millionaire Next Door" says your net worth should equal your income times your age, divided by 10. But one size doesn't fit all. What's the right formula for you?

By Liz Pulliam Weston

When Ed Koch was mayor of New York City, he almost always greeted his constituents with the same question: “How’m I doin’?”

People rarely ask themselves this question when it comes to their financial lives, but it’s a good one. Given your age, your income and your spending habits, are you rich enough?

One way to answer that question was spelled out in a best-selling book by researchers Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, called “The Millionaire Next Door.” It’s a simple little formula, really. It says that your net worth (i.e. the value of all your assets minus the value of all your debts) should equal your age times your annual income, divided by 10.

*If you’re 30 and make $50,000, for example, your net worth should be $150,000.
*If you’re 45 and make $75,000, your net worth should be $337,500.
*If you’re 50 and make $150,000, your net worth should be $750,000.

People with half or less than the expected net worth were deemed “Under Accumulators of Wealth” or UAWs. Those whose holdings totaled twice or more the benchmark were deemed “Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth” or PAWs. The rest are just AAWs -- “Average Accumulators of Wealth.”

The real measure of financial success
Over the years, this formula has popped up on Web sites and in discussion boards as a way people can take their own financial temperatures. Like most financial rules of thumb, however, the Stanley-Danko formula has limited usefulness and the potential to cause some harm. Here’s why:
The formula focuses on income, rather than spending.

The formula ignores individual goals in favor of a one-size-fits-all approach.

The formula overestimates wealth goals for many young people and underestimates them for many older folks.
What really determines success in meeting financial goals, planners say, is not necessarily how much you make, but how much of it goes out the door. Not only will that govern the amount you’re able to save during your working years, but it dictates how big a kitty you’ll need to sustain you after retirement.

Measuring up to the formula -- or not
“I’ve seen people with less than $1 million (in assets) but who spend quite modestly, so that’s enough,” said Seattle financial planner Karen Ramsey, author of “Everything You Know About Money Is Wrong.” “I also see people with $3 million to $4 million who don’t have enough because they spend like crazy.”

Worse, the formula could discourage some folks who are actually doing fine financially, but who don’t measure up to the level Stanley and Danko consider “average.”

A 35-year-old with a $50,000 income and a $130,000 net worth, for example, would be considered a bit of an underachiever by this formula. Yet according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances, however, she would be in the top 25% of her age group in terms of accumulated wealth.

“If a goal looks unrealistic, it might discourage people,” said Gary Foreman, a former Certified Financial Planner who publishes The Dollar Stretcher, a newsletter and Web site for the frugal called www.stretcher.com. (See link at left.) “Instead of doing what they can to meet their goals, they freeze and don’t do anything.”

Goals of saving for retirement and slashing debt
Foreman actually liked “Millionaire” quite a bit, because the book emphasized that most millionaires got that way by living well below their means and valuing financial independence over status symbols. But he believes people can help themselves more by planning and saving for retirement, and striving to get out of debt, than by setting an artificial wealth goal for themselves.

“If they wanted to set goals, the goal really should be to be mortgage-free by the time they’re 50 or 55,” Foreman said. “If they’re able to pay off that mortgage (before retirement), they’d be doing really well.”

The final problem with the Stanley-Danko formula is that it really falls apart when applied to the young and to the old.

Stanley and Danko wrote that the formula applied to “most people in America with realized annual incomes of $50,000 or more” who were between 25 and 65. The younger or older you are, however, the less helpful the formula seems to be.

The two ends of the spectrum
Imagine you were a 25-year-old lucky enough to nab a job paying $50,000 a year. By the formula’s reckoning, you should have $125,000 accumulated -- and this just four years out of college. That would require saving about 60% of your gross income, which is not a feat most of us are likely to pull off.

Consider the other end of the spectrum, as well. A 65-year-old who makes $100,000 should be fine with $650,000 in assets -- at least according to the formula.

This might be true if he has a generous pension. But otherwise that amount of savings likely wouldn’t be enough to get him through a 20-year retirement, let alone anything longer, unless he’s willing to cut his spending to something under $40,000 a year. The T. Rowe Price retirement income calculator, which uses probability analysis, says that our man would most likely outlive his funds unless he withdrew just $3,185 a month from a diversified portfolio.

So when is this formula useful? The book’s authors hoped it would prod people to realize that a good income doesn’t mean much if you’re not growing your wealth through saving and investing. The formula also underscores that your net worth should be growing over time -- at least until you hit retirement age. If your net worth is slipping -- thanks to lower investment returns, for example -- you may need to save more to reach financial independence.

Mostly, however, the formula is too general to be of much help to most people. Planners suggest the following as better ways to determine if you’re on track financially:

Are you saving at least 10% of your income? Consistently saving 10% to 20% of your income is the best way to make sure you don’t come up short later in life, planners said. If you got a late start, you may need to put away even more. Saving helps in two ways -- by building your assets and by getting you accustomed to living on less, which can help you make your retirement assets last longer.

Are you staying out of debt? Net worth consists of two parts: assets and liabilities. Running up credit-card debt, tapping your home equity or borrowing against your retirement funds whittles away the wealth you can accumulate for tomorrow. Again, paying off debt helps in two ways -- by removing the liability and freeing up the money that used to go for interest payments.

Do you have a plan? Financial success comes from setting goals, making choices and taking action. Someone who wants to retire at 50 will need to make different choices than someone who’s comfortable working longer. Likewise, those who have expensive hobbies -- travel, for example -- will probably need to save more than homebodies.

Setting up a plan requires a little time and effort, but the Web is bursting with retirement planners, including MSN Money’s version.

Personal-finance software such as Quicken and Money also have planners that can help you integrate multiple goals, such as saving for college, buying a new home and investing for retirement. A good financial adviser can guide you through this task as well.

So forget formulas and benchmarks -- set your own course, then judge your financial success by the progress you’re making toward those goals.

[mhd]

gotta add something before the last line of the article above: first learn how to set financial goals "the millionaire next door" is a must read for doing that, along with "rich dad, poor dad"

the numbers really are relative to your situation, personally, i'm more interested in investing in the future of my children and my nieces and nephews, if i'm flush and they are broke and dumb then it was all a waste. if i have less but we are all progressing together - that is my ultimate goal

[ September 03, 2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: mhd ]

[Erob the One]

My wife and I combine our money each month. It is truly a partnership now, and our money seems to go farther. We just built our first home this year, and I plan to use my tax returns to pay my city taxes instead of having the mortage holder pay it. I also raised my home owners insurance deductible to $1000.00. Dropped the payment by about $150. Still paying off some debt (got a big tax bill last year), but our plan is rock solid and we are discipline. Those of us with SUVs may be able to change the status of your vechile from private to recreational, which will also give you an insurance discount. Still checking on that one.

Erob

[Erob the One]

Oh, I forgot. I have sent money to some charities too this year. That is the best way to ensure money will continue to come your way - I even put a few bucks on my friend's books who is locked up.

Erob

[mhd]

Originally posted by Erob the One:
Oh, I forgot. I have sent money to some charities too this year. That is the best way to ensure money will continue to come your way - I even put a few bucks on my friend's books who is locked up.

Erob

charitable contributions are also deductible, save up those old clothes and shoes and donate to goodwill, they will give up a blank receipt, you declare the value and submit with your tax return. as far as your homeowner's insurance, you might want to consider raising the deductible even higher. i have heard, but have done no research, that homeowner policies are being dropped at an alarming rate lately, sometimes for making one claim.

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by DeesKo:
Just saw this, thought I'd share ....


The Basics
How rich should you be?

Money 2004.
Smarter, faster and easier
than ever.

Thanks for the article. Good read.

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by Erob the One:
I also raised my home owners insurance deductible to $1000.00. Dropped the payment by about $150.
Erob

Insure myself for the first $1000 save $150

[imported_Gman]

These 20 keys says it all :D




[ September 03, 2003, 08:24 PM: Message edited by: Gman ]

[julian_kelly]

First, congrats on being able to have an extra $1,500 per month. That shows alot of discipline - which is very admirable

Have you considered any other alternative strategies for investing the extra $1,500 other than a savings account, bonds and an ira?

Originally posted by music:
continue to save $1,500.00 a month in savings, purchase a $500.00 bond @ 250.00 every month since jan. 03 for the next 10 years, $500.00 monthly in my roth i.r.a. use discount tickets for movies.

things are very tight but i will march on.

[beemoe44]

Your question is a good one Julian. It sounds like the difference between somebody who is financially literate versus someone who isn`t.

[music]

to g man, no i don't own a house , don't want the headaches. though it's a great investment. my lady who i have been with since 1988 does. we both have exchanged rights and privileges to each other's castle.

my rent is only $600.00 monthly. the house has been paid for and monthly bill for the house is 600.00 . and that includes state taxes.

a budget and a goal helps as we all know.

yes, i did not include the money invested in deferred compensation account i have w/ my nyc employer,cds,money markets,and etc.

i support 3 charites a month. citymeals on wheels for senior citizens,osborne society for ex-offenders(education and jobs) and protestant society for poor people who need help w/ rent paymente and food.

i have thought about having too much money in savings but i also want little risk.

we must help support our chariies like na.a.c.p,urban league, legal defense fund and etc.

[ September 03, 2003, 09:07 PM: Message edited by: music ]

[julian_kelly]

I dont really pay attention to net worth too much. My formula for determining how I'm doing financially is very simple.

1. How many years can I go without working?

2. If I never work another day in my life, will I still have enough checks coming in my mailbox or deposited in my bank account monthly or weekly to live the lifestyle I desire?

In a sense, net worth is insignificant. You can have a high net worth and still struggle financially -- given your assets arent liquid. Now, net worth is important if you want to become an accredited investor or if you are trying to have good relationships with lending institutions. Banks like to lend to people and businesses with strong assets and the right type of liabilities; otherwise net worth its merely a number. Liquididy and cash flow are more important factors.

"If you can count yo money, you aint got no money" -- Don King

julian kelly

Originally posted by DeesKo:
... “How’m I doin’?” ...