Do I Really Need an iPad?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about giving myself a graduation present. That present would be the iPad. However, the following week I decided to focus on getting my student loan down to four figures before the end of the year.

Even though I really want an iPad, since I made the decision to focus on paying down my loan I've started to change my mind. The iPad is a toy, and though I'm sure I would love it, I definitely do not need it. Also, it is likely that the iPad would end up costing me more money. While I only plan on getting the wifi one, I'm sure I would end up purchasing some apps. I know myself too well to say I would only get the free ones. I also already have an iPhone, which I love and works fine for the majority of things I would use an iPad for.

As much as I want an iPad I think it can wait. I want to get student loans down to four figures more, and that would be an even better graduation present to myself.

Sometimes it is worth waiting before making a big purchase.

Photo by Our Lady of Disgrace 

My Comeback

Warning - I'm about to blog about blogging.

I'm slowly getting back into blogging and tweeting on a regular basis. It wasn't as easy as I thought. When I was blogging regularly, something would happen and immediately I would think I have to blog about that. Now when I sit down to blog I have to think for a while about what I want to write. I can't wait to get back to the former mindset.

It also feels good to write something other than an academic paper. Honestly say writing for my blog is so much more fun than writing a paper.

When I stopped blogging I also stopped reading blogs. It has been great to catch up on what my blogger friends are doing and what they have been up to. It is amazing how much I missed the pf blog community.

I feel like I'm slowly recreating my life now that I'm almost done with this degree. I got my previous masters full-time, while working part-time and so never really felt like I gave up having a life. This time around I'm basically finishing up this masters on a full-time schedule (with an extra summer thrown in), while working full-time. While I have enjoyed the process and everything I've learned, I'm so happy to be able to do other things. I miss running a lot, and I know the process of getting back in shape is a slow one, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to seeing my friends more often, and doing fun things on the weekends. Granted I still have to get through one more class, but it already feels like my life is coming back. 

Enjoy your Money

Debt Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face recently wrote a post about how he surprised his wife with a vacation. In the post he mentions how it is "important to enjoy our money". I completely agree!

Once you get into the swing of saving, paying off debt and living frugally it can be hard to enjoy your money. I'm not advocating that you go out and spend like crazy and call it "enjoyment". But, if you are being smart financially (paying off debt, saving for retirement, having an emergency fund) then you should also enjoy your hard earned money.

Traveling, a nice dinner, a new fun toy - these are all enjoyable and an important part of life. Being wise with your money doesn't mean that you never get to do anything fun anymore. It just means that you should pick and choose what is most important. For me, travel is big on that list. Fun new toys tend to also pop up every once in a while. It also depends on what you enjoy. Just because I like to spend my money on travel, doesn't mean it should be on the top of your list.

I think Debt Ninja made a good point that is worth repeating. In the midst of all the saving and planning that we call personal finance, don't forget to also enjoy your money!

Photo by Pablo Leautaud.

Graduation Time

It is graduation season and many speeches are being delivered filled with hope and excitement for the future, but the facts paint a different picture. Arianna Huffington recently wrote a letter to the class of 2011. In it she states:

For many of the graduates spilling into the job market throughout the nation, there isn't going to be much to commence. Economically at least, this is an especially rough time to be graduating from college.

For starters, just getting to Graduation Day has become historically burdensome. For the first time, total outstanding student loan debt will be higher than total credit card debt -- going over $1 trillion. In 2000, the figure was under $200 billion.

It is amazing how quickly the cost of college has gone up. There are many things that factor into this (including withdrawal of state support for public colleges). But what matters for the graduates are the loans they carry, not the reasons why they carry them, as we all know well. 

She goes on to point out:

And the job market won't be doing the Class of 2011 any favors in helping to repay that debt. According to EPI, the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 in 2010 was 18.4 percent, the highest it's been since the number has been tracked, going back 60 years. From April of last year until March of this year, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates hovered around 9.7 percent. In 2007, it was just over 5 percent. And while the fact that we're still clawing our way out of a recession affects those figures, at roughly the same point in the last two recessions -- 1992 and 2003 -- the unemployment rate for new grads was 6.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively. 

...And according to Carl Van Horn, of the Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, the effects of graduating into a recession go beyond dollars and cents. "They tend to be less risk-oriented," Van Horn said of recession-era grads. "They're risk-averse. If you can get that job in communications, then you're less likely to look over your shoulder and say maybe there's a better job down the road. You say, well, I better stick with this one."

Every generation makes their mark on the world, and their experiences when they are young highly influence them. It is hard to look into the future and predict what will happen. It is also hard to look at the statistics and not be depressed. However, many great things are born out of hardship. In a way, I think it creates a strong desire for positive change within people. As many pf bloggers and blog readers know. Being in debt is what often causes you change and grow and learn. 

Huffington does end her article on a positive note:

The road ahead is definitely rockier than the Class of 2011 imagined it would be. But while this may be the most debt-burdened graduating class in history, it's also the most tech-savvy, the most connected, and the most engaged.

This year's graduates need to embrace this, and build on it, looking for innovative ways to do well for themselves while doing good for others. And, while they're at it, they should use these attributes to help hold our leaders accountable, and keep them from turning away from the mess they've made -- with so many missed opportunities and perverted priorities.

It is a good message that applies not to just 2011 graduates, but to all of us living through this recession. We have to be innovative and connected to what is going around us. Decisions made in the government do influence our daily lives. We should also be aware of what is going on in our communities. In personal finance we often talk about the individual, but isn't the point of blogging not only to help yourself, but also to help others who may be going through the same things? If anything comes out of this recession I hope it is a greater understanding of the need to be connected to others and help create good in our communities. 

Getting out of my Funk

I've been in a total funk lately. I can't quite put my finger on what has gotten me in such a negative mood. It could be that I'm questioning the opportunities available to me in my chosen career path. Since my days are no longer as busy as they were, my mind is free to wander and think about my career. It could be that it is graduation season. It always tends to depress me a little bit. All the lofty graduation speeches remind me that I'm a year older and I still have not accomplished a lot (or at least as much as the graduation speeches lead you to believe you will accomplish). Does anyone else ever feel this way? It could also be that I'm finishing up my masters, and soon I will have to decide what is next. Or perhaps it is just the rain.

Whatever is causing this extended bad mood, I need to get out of it. I have a professor who constantly reminds the class that it is impossible to focus on more than five big goals at a time. If you really think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you are distracted by too many things it is impossible to get anything done.

Therefore, in an attempt to get out of my funk I'm going to spend the next few months focusing on the following:

1. Finish school. While my semester ends on the 24th, I have one more class until I can officially call it done. I'm pretty tired of class and homework and papers, so I need to focus on finishing this last class.
2. Get back in shape. I haven't really been exercising lately and as a result I just feel gross. I find regular exercise helps me in all aspects of my life. I feel better about my body, my mind is clearer and I find that I can focus better at work. 
3. Volunteer again. Before I started working on my masters I volunteering consistently. However, that dropped off completely as I was trying to balance work and school. Now that I'm about to have more free time I would like to make this a priority in my life again. 
4. Upgrade my job. By this I mean more responsibility and more money. If I can I'm happy to do it in my current position, but if I can't I will be looking elsewhere. 

My job is definitely going to be the hardest goal as I have to consider what direction I want my career to take. However, all the goals require motivation, something I have seriously been lacking lately. I'm really hoping that focusing on the above four will help me get back into a better mood. Let's just call them the four priorities that will shape my life in the new few months. I'll let you know how it goes.

Photo by solidether

Retirement Savings

Every once in a while I like to punch my retirement savings numbers into a retirement calculator. These calculators are far from being accurate, as they can't forsee all the ups and downs your future will take. However, I do find them helpful in the sense they give me a picture of how I am doing at the moment.

I also struggle with how much I should save for retirement. I'm naturally inclined to over save. However, I also have a current standard of living that I would like to maintain (it is not that high I just live in an expensive city). In that sense I often find the retirement calculators reassuring as they help me answer the questions: Am I saving enough? Do I need to cut back further?

Retirement is a long time away and I can't really plan for what I'll want to be doing at that point. What I can plan for is having enough retirement savings to have choices when I get there. Overall I feel good about my retirement savings at the moment. However, I hope to eventually save 20% of my income towards retirement (through a combination of employer and my contributions). It might be an overly high goal, but at least it is something to work towards.

Photo by Stephen Edgar - Netweb

My Financial Plan

A financial plan is more than just planning how to budget your money. It is about what you want out of life and what you deem to be important. As such, one plan is never better than another and as life evolves and priorities change it is important to revisit your plan. While, I try to revisit my plan and goals once a year it doesn’t always happen. But I don’t feel bad about it. The point is to be aware and review it, not hold yourself to a strict schedule.

I’ve had a financial plan since I started blogging in 2008 and so I’ve learned some things about myself. I’ve found that if I have too many goals I end up failing at them and that there is nothing wrong with just holding steady.

You really never know what life is going to throw at you so trying to plan for everything is impossible. Instead, you just have to be aware of where your money is going, make some decisions and hope for the best.

So without further ado here is my financial plan:

2011-12 Goals
Focus on funding to my joint savings account with my husband. We started this account with the generosity of our friends and family’s wedding gifts and we both been contribute a certain amount each month. I don’t know what our future holds, it could be a down payment or it could be something else. But whatever it is having a substantial amount of joint savings will be helpful.

Paying down my student loan. My loan has been in deferment for the past two years. So while I haven’t been paying the full amount I have been paying $50 a month to cover interest and pay down a small bit of the total. Now that I’m going to have to start paying this again I’d like to be more aggressive in paying it off. Right now I owe $11,649. I would like to get that number to 4 figures by 2012 (and yes $9,999 counts). I’m going to start paying it down in July so I only have half a year to do this.

Building back up my emergency fund (new addition as of 8/11/11). My emergency fund took a big hit this year so my new goal is to build it back up to $4,000 by 2012 and then continue to build it back up slowly after that.

Holding Steady Goals
Retirement - Continue to put away 17% of my salary into my 403b.
Mortgage - Continue to pay my mortgage every month on time.

Professional Goal
More Responsibility/More Money - I’ve had a very busy, productive and great year at work. I’m also about to finish up my degree. And so, I’m ready for more responsibility. I hope to find this at my current position, but if not I’ll be looking for a new challenge. In either scenario I would also like to make more money. After the year I just had I feel undervalued when it comes to my compensation.

Personal Goals
Enjoyment -  After two years of working full-time and being in school part-time, DH and I are looking forward to enjoying all the NYC can offer. I’m looking forward to taking a break from a crazy busy schedule and relaxing.

Running/Health - Unfortunately my running dropped off these past two years and since I’ve gotten married I’ve gained five pounds. It is not a lot of weight, but it is enough to make me fees gross. So I want to focus on getting myself healthy and back in shape. Plus I miss how it feels to run five miles without feeling completely wiped out.

Words

I just put my blog feed into wordle.net. Not exactly what I would have expected. I guess I write a lot about housing! Click on it to see a bigger picture.

Moving

My DH and I are moving at the end of this month. We are moving to a smaller, but nicer apartment with more amenities in a better location. We are paying more, not for space, but for location and the building itself. I can't tell you how excited we are for our new apartment.

Since we are moving to a smaller space the first thing we are trying to do is get rid of a bunch of furniture. We are trying to sell what we can, but we will donate whatever we can't sell. For the really nice items we don't have space for and that we are unwilling to give up we are going to store them at my parents house. Luckily there are not too many of these items.

We are also taking this opportunity to go through some stuff and purge. There is nothing better than moving to turn you into a minimalist.

Moving always costs money, we are hiring movers, putting a wall up and purchasing some furniture. Hopefully, by selling some of our current furniture we will be able to help offset the cost. We will also be able to pay back our savings for the deposit, when we get our current one returned.

Still I'm excited for a new and better apartment and a new year without having to juggle work and school!

Picture by TheMuuj

A Graduation Present to Myself

I officially finish up with my degree in late July (woohoo!) and I'm so ready to be done. As it is I have managed to finish all my work for this semester, so now I all I have to do is attend class for the next three weeks. That's right, I will have no school work to do for the next four weekends! It is amazing, I can actually have a life. Then I just have to get through summer course and I'm done!

So I love technology and I love apple products. So it comes at no surprise that I'm currently drooling over the iPad. Two months ago I decided that I'm going to purchase one for myself once I graduate. I'm calling it a graduation gift to myself, but in all honestly it is just an excuse to buy one!

I decided that I would purchase an iPad in July back in March. This means I have been able to save part of my budget every month towards this purchase. Considering it a graduation gift has made it easier to wait as I build up the funds.

I always think it is good idea to wait to make any big unnecessary purchases. Not only does it allow you to save up money, but is also allows you to figure out if you really want that item. I really want an iPad, but at least now by the time I purchase it I'll have the money saved and ready to be spent!

Photo by Ben Atkin