Author Archives: 1step

Personal Finance take on Life Satisfaction and High Achievement

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In a topic that’s a little bit away from the usual personal finance blogosphere, but highly relevant is having life satisfaction and a high degree of achievement.

Having recently read the New York Times article on this topic, “What if the Secret to Success is failure?”, it made me wonder and reflect on my own life. The article summarizes educators’ mission to improve the graduation rates and predictors of success in life of their students. It was observed that those students that succeeded in college, were not necessarily those with the highest placement test, but in fact they had other characteristics that allowed them to persevere in college. This is rated in what they call a Character Grade. Among the top characteristics were: zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism and curiosity. These characteristics, taught and impressed on young children would then help them build the necessary tool set to deal with stresses later on in life.

It’s a radical way of thinking, and I like it. I think these characteristics apply to life in general, and certainly to personal finance. This is my take on how each of these characteristics would apply:

  • Zest – meaning great enthusiasm and energy
    • keeping up the energy to deal with the bills and to keep on track for debt freedom. nothing helps more than a good attitude.
  • Grit – courage and resolve
    • having the strength to deal with your issues head on and not giving up. the start is a little daunting, but gets easier as you move on.
  • Self-control – The ability to control oneself
    • pretty explanatory, developing the skill to control our desires and wants can help us achieve our true goals.
  • Social Intelligence - the ability to use one’s brain to navigate and negotiate complex social relationships
    • it helps with careers tremendously. being able to relate to others, or understand when it is appropriate to bring up issues is crucial.
  • Gratitude - the quality of being thankful
    • i can’t tell you the number of times saying thank you has helped me somewhere down the road. it’s the polite thing to do, but it also helps lift someone’s spirits, thereby improving your social intelligence. Being thankful for what we have currently is a great way to take stock of your life and analyzing what your goals truly mean to you.
  • Optimism - hopefulness and confidence about the future
    • When you’re in debt, you have to have this optimism to get you through the days. It’s a tough road, as great debt doesn’t easily disappear, but you have to be confident that better days will come.
  • Curiosity - a strong desire to know or learn something
    • Start with knowing your debts, but continue by learning about the topics you’re most afraid of. I was afraid of personal finance and retirement at the beginning, but the more I learned and read, the more comfortable I got. That’s how I got started with this blog, with just a strong curiosity to learn and improve myself.

Do you apply these charteristics to your life?

If you don’t use it, you lose it

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The maxim holds true in so many forms. Whether it’s exercise or financial control, it is so relevant. As one example, the other day I received travel rewards for a flight I took all the way in January but forgot to put my rewards number for.

Apparently, I was right on the line of not being able to count that trip towards my miles as they have a 9-month after travel expiration date. So check your recent trips and rewards plans. If you don’t have it applied, you might be out of luck.

This applies to purchases made at specific stores with rewards programs as well. A little known fact, at least at the store I frequent, is if you keep your receipt you can later call in to have that reward applied to your card.

Networth Update: 9-10-2011

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-Updated Networth-

Total Assets: $77,951.80
Total Liabilities: $108,742.01
Networth: -$30,790.21

The more recent economic downturn has led to a lower retirement account and stocks. In addition, the deposit from my previous apartment  (about 3000 due) + moving costs (600) have added up to remove from my current asset base. Starting this month, I’m also contributing more towards my home downpayment fund rather the emergency savings, with the option to use the downpayment fund as backup as well.

Cheers!

-1step

Why it pays to check your credit card statement

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I just wanted to share this with you all as I was just the victim of a wrongful charge. I wouldn’t have been privy to it had I not looked at my bank statement.

In this automated world that we live in, often times we tend to ignore our bank statements. But I think it’s good to review them to keep ourselves grounded and to determine if any errors have been made.

For me, it was a large error made by the dental office who made a mistake and charged another $720 for work I had already paid for in December of last year. I called them up and they confirmed they will remove the charge.

This concept applies to everything from bank statements, to apartment leases, to gas bills. Computers and people make mistakes and we have to be on top of it when they occur.

Resume Tips – Dos and Don’ts

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Recently in my job search I had to redo my resume and make it more relevant. Along the way I gathered quite a few tips that I wanted to share here. I will keep updating this list from time to time, and will tack on any additional tips if you have to share :)

[Last Update: 9/8/2011]

Do

  • Keep things consistent, such as how you display dates, and where.
  • Highlight through examples and numbers where possible.
  • Bold numbers where you’ve earned a company money or improved operational efficiency. Any other accomplishments that you can think of with impact.
  • Try and limit it to one page, font size min 10 pt. But 2 pages are ok if you have relevant experiences you want to share.
  • Use an action verb to start off every bullet point for a job description. It’s what professional resumes have.
  • Use past tense action verbs when starting to describe your experiences ( i.e. led, authored). Use a current tense action verb to describe your current job (i.e. lead, manage)
  • Take out all the fluff and include relevant experience to the job you’re applying to.
  • Take a look at the job description and try to customize and highlight what the employer is looking for.
  • Keep things chronological, usually from current job to last. But it depends if you want a chronological resume or not. Most are.

Don’t

  • Use larger font sizes because you don’t have enough experience. I wouldn’t go over 14 pt. 12 pt is probably the max I would use for any of the body text and 14 for the heading (your name).
  • Use different fonts. It’s distracting.
  • Make grammatical mistakes. It shows you’re not prepared. Have someone with good English grammar command proofread.
  • Go over 2 pages if you’re just out of college, you don’t really have that much experience.. and if you do, you should highlight the important stuff – no babysitting duties need remain at that point.
  • Use your gmail/yahoo email account when you have a school account you can use. (i.e. a graduate school account is much more professional.) It’s ok if you don’t have one, but if you do, use it.
  • Include extraneous information (i.e. hula hoop champion.. j/k but you get my drift.)
  • Make false statements about the work that you do, these are grounds to get you fired if anyone figures out you’ve falsified anything.

Face-off: Moving Tape – Cheap vs. Premium

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You get what you pay for, or so the saying goes. Well, I recently moved and certainly got what I paid for when it came to packaging tape.

At the beginning of the move, I bought the premium name brand tape, then when I ran out, I bought the cheaper (no-name) refill for the tape dispenser. Little did I know just how much more inferior the cheaper tape was, even though it was half the price.

The premium tape, I used 1-2 pieces per the bottom and top of box correspondingly – and they stayed on strong. The cheap tape, I used 4-5 pieces – and it still did not stick properly!

To the numbers:
Premium Tape: 133 ft for $5.94 @ $0.045/ft
Cheap Tape: 327 ft for $3.97 @ $0.012/ft

Comparison – assuming each piece is 1 ft:

  • At a ratio(1:4) of 1 piece premium to 4 pieces cheap
    • I paid $0.045 (premium) < $0.048 (cheap)
  • At a ratio(2:5) of 2 pieces premium to 5 pieces cheap
    • I paid $0.09 (premium) > $0.06 (cheap)

Depending of how many pieces of tape I used, the prices fluctuated as to which tape was most efficient. However, when comparing the quality and trust that I had in the premium tape versus the cheap tape, hands down the premium tape won. I had a cheap box open up and a bunch of books fell out. Next time I will be more careful, and pay a little more for less headaches.

Face-off winner: Premium Brand.

Is your emergency fund big enough?

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My emergency fund is by definition an account to be used in the interim should an “emergency” arise. What constitutes an emergency is really dependent on the user of the fund – I left it to medical expenses, being laid off, and unforeseen family issues. Currently the fund is at $16,000, and that should more than cover expenses for 6-8 months in NYC.

One question I’ve been toying with for the past couple of weeks is whether or not I should stop contributing to my emergency fund and switch to other investments or saving goals. In addition, I have my student loan payments to start worrying about.

I think i’ll give the funding other savings goals a shot (i.e. my home downpayment fund). That way, I can at least rely on it as well should the emergency be even bigger than what I currently have saved. Once I feel comfortable with the size of the home downpayment fund, then I’ll lower that contribution and switch to start either paying down the loan faster or making some Roth IRA investments.

My question to you is, is your emergency fund big enough?

Negotiating a better offer

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I have a story to share with you today about my experience with getting internet service. I am currently in the process of moving and in need of internet at the next place.  I looked at the first place I thought would give me the best deal, online.

I found a few packages that seemed to meet my needs, and I had a price in mind when I called to order. Finally, after about 30 minutes of bouncing around (resources are scarce due to a strike at the unmentioned company :x ) I was able to talk with someone. I knew the deal I wanted, but I didn’t act like I did. I asked many questions and acted unsure about what to get. I also asked for any discounts, and if these are the only packages available. I waffled around for about 15 minutes, when out of the blue the service rep said may i put you on hold for a minute and see what I can do?..  Ok..

5 minutes later. “Sir, I can offer you $40 dollars off the service + $5 more for having your wireless account with us. Bringing your total to $74.99 (triple play), on top of that it’s for the higher connection speed internet package” … Deal! I not only received a deal that was not posted, but I got the higher connection speed package thrown in, which was what I wanted anyway. Hooray!

Now if I can only get a firm date on installation. Due to the strike they put a tentative date of December for installation and they will call me before to schedule it.

Things I’ve learned from this experience:

  • a little questioning can make someone feel like they are loosing the battle to sell you a product
  • always be nice on the phone
  • and try to get HBO thrown in for free next time :0

What should you do?

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Seth Godin is one of my favorite reads, he often hits the nail on the head on topics I’m interested in. His latest post on what you can and should be doing really struck a chord with me.

We’ve become bombarded by so many choices nowadays that we often look at the whole platter and just choose from it. Instead, we need to ask ourselves what do I truly want to do - what makes me happy?

The obvious answer is to do what makes you happy :) Circumstances certainly shape decisions, but there’s no reason to not go through the exercise and find out what makes you happy. If you find that place, even if current circumstances don’t allow it, you will always be thinking about it and finding ways to subconsciously have it become part of your life.

For me it’s user interface design (how one interacts with a website for example). I’ve always loved how things work, and when they work well I am in awe. It’s definitely not the field that I studied in college, and not what I’m currently doing, but I’ve always had this in mind and it’s led me to work on side projects for friends that allowed me to do interaction design.

That’s just my example, but hey, if you don’t know what to look for – how do you get there?

A great exercise that I used to help me get at this point is finding what I have in common with what I do in my work, with friends, with family, and with strangers. I found that just writing down something under each column sparked a connection, amazing what paper and pen can do. My commonality was that I loved to help people to find solutions to problems. This is the overall subject that I love to do, and user interaction design is a way of doing it in the “real” world that really connected with my love of drawing.

I’m not giving up on this dream, it’s always there in my mind, and someday it might become a more real part of my life.

Do you know what you should do?