Keep Your Cash: October 2006

Have You Crossed The Frugal Line into Cheapness

For the past few weeks I have been trying to save like a madman. I am getting married on March 31, 2007 and need all the money I can get. Well, I am eating in at work four days a week. Last Wednesday I brought in a hamburger patty and chopped it up to make two Burritos. One of my friends at work was very critical of me and told me not to be too cheap. He said that I was not frugal but cheap. He said that my salary was a sign that I was not poor and that I should not be skimping on a good meal. In my opinion I was making the most of the 8-pack of patties I had bought and thought that I was being "creative". His comments made me think of other things I have been doing lately that made me think I was not being frugal anymore but just cheap. Have you crossed the line without even knowing?

Found a $130 Check in my unopened mail stash

Yesterday I went going through my old mail and to my surprise I had received a check for $130 from the IRS a few weeks ago. Apparently I was due a refund back in 2000, but never got it because I had moved. I will but this money in my Wedding Savings account which I recently opened with Amtrust Bank. I have missed on class action lawsuits and other small refunds just because I do not open my mail on a regular basis. I quit opening my mail regularly due to the fact that I pay all my bills online and keep in touch with friends through the phone and e-mails. Remember to open all your mail at least once a week.

Trading Fees Going Down. Thanks BofA

This is good news to small investors like me. Bloomberg has a article on how BofA free trades will lower discount brokerages costs.

Can you save 32.2 % of your pay for Retirement?

In order to max out my 401K and Roth IRA (15K+4K), I need to save about 32.2% of my pay. My employer only matches if we had a profitable quarter, thus I cannot count on that contribution to lessen my burden. I have never been able to max my 401K, but I am confident that as I grow my financial foundation and salary, it will become easier to max out both of my accounts. What is your percentage?

How much should a Wedding cost?

My Fiancee and I are planning a wedding next April or May. We will not have a lot of outside help due to the financial situation of our parents. Her mother and her will contribute about 1 to 1.5K towards the wedding. I do not want to go much into debt for the wedding. I think that the cash I have would be better used for a downpayment on a house, but she wants a "beautiful" wedding. I plan to contribute about $5K total. My family and friends will probably come up with an extra 1K. Out total budget is going to be about 7-7.5K. We plan to cut cost by doing a daytime wedding and inviting about 150people. I heard that the average is about 20K. Do you guys think I am being cheap?

Are you the Family Money Expert?

Most of my friends and family consider me the money expert eventhough some of them make more money than I do. My friends often call me or ask me what I think before they invest or apply for loans. I manage my mother's and sister's 401K. Some people at work have also asked me to take a look at their 401K plan and make some suggestions. The thing that makes me a little angry is that their plans seem to be doing as well as mine in the period of 3 years but with a lot less risk. I am a lot more conservative with other's people's money. I currently have about 10 holdings in my 401K account which I think its diluting my returns. I plan to drop my holdings to 7-8 before the end of the year.

CITI Rewards Increased Gift Card Point Price

Today I checked my rewards points through Citi. I noticed that I had accumulated 5K points. I usually get a $50 Target gift card at this point. I went to a ask for it and to my surprise I saw that that you have to redeem 6K for the card. I check for other retailers and the change was for all of them. They did not change the $100 cards, they are still 10K.

Increased my 401K contribution to 17%

I did it; it was a hard decision, but it was the right choice. I will see the difference in my check in a couple of weeks. I will not notice it a lot due to the fact that I stopped eating out everyday. This one action saves me about $35 a week plus about $5-7 in gas. I also figured that I will not be spending as much in electricity during the winter so the extra $20-$30 will go there too. I also plan to do all my Christmas shopping early and online to save on taxes, get reward points, use promo codes and to get cashback from Fatwallet or E-bates.

$7 TDAMERITRADE Trades

I have been a customer of Ameritrade for a few years now. A few days ago I got the following e-mail. This was great news as I had planned to sell a few positions.

Thank you for choosing TD AMERITRADE. We appreciate your business!

We'd like to show our thanks by giving you $7 commissions on your Internet equity and options trades (contract fees still apply) for the next 60 days!¹ But that's not all...

Now is a great time to consolidate your investments at TD AMERITRADE
When you transfer an account to TD AMERITRADE, you'll also get $50 cash to cover the transfer fee. Plus, your accounts will be easier to manage with the new combined accounts screen, which gives you an integrated view of the balances and positions for all your linked TD AMERITRADE^® accounts. To see the combined view of your linked TD AMERITRADE accounts, visit the Balance and Positions page.

401K Return : 4.8% YTD Emigrant Account:5.05%

How man yof you look at your 401K at least 3 times a week. I know I am in it for the long haul, and that short term fluctuations are not important but I am tempted to look at my progress. So far this year I am up only 4.8%. I am 100% in stock mutual funds. My combined ROI for the past two years is 32%. I have to say that my aggresiveness hurt me this year with my Fidelity Select Technology and Fidelity Select Natural Resources funds. Like my grandmother says, if you dont risk you will not win. I plan to keep my allocation until I have my first child(2 or 3 years).

Doing the right thing is very hard

Do you guys ever get the feeling that we as a group are missing out? Sometimes I feel that I am forgoing my present to hopefully live a carefree future. I get the feeling that I am not enjoying life as much as I should. Sometimes I get discouraged when I read that you need about 2 million to retire. I guess I am just a little discouraged today because I saw a few articles about some people my age that have about 300K in their retirement accounts. I guess I need to step up my savings eventhough I feel that I am already saving more than most of my friends.

How I saved 16.1% on my Fiancee's Engagement ring

I know what you are going to say, but the cash I saved I can use for the wedding. I saved a total of $269. The ring is .70 carat and its appraisal was for $3250. My fiancee and her friends were amazed at the quality and size of the diamond. I payed a total of $1674 after the discount and cashback. To save on Taxes I bought the ring online through Bluenile.com. Then I asked a friend to sign up with them and reffer me. Bluenile sent me an e-mail with a $100 coupon code for purchases over $1000. I bought the ring with the Citi Dividend Card. The tax savings was approx $152 and the cashback was 17. I could have saved more if I had bought giftcertificates through Citi Merchant Network. They give you 4% cashback or reward points, but they take up to three weeks to process.