Punch Debt In The Face

Im richer than I was a month ago!

by Ninja on June 3, 2009 · 3 comments

It’s that time of the month again, no I’m not menstruating. I get to update my networth and daddy likes what he sees…positive growth. I usually don’t break down my worth in as much detail as other PF bloggers, mainly because I post my expenses each month and that tracks all the money that comes in and goes out. I figure I’ll do a little networth break down this go around

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First off, My NW is pretty easy to calculate because I don’t own very many things. I have a savings/checking account and a couple retirement accounts . I chose not to include things like personal belongings (laptop, camera, etc) or my car (which would add probably $5K to my worth) because I figure those are things I will always need and wouldn’t really want to go with out.

My debt comes from my nasty student loan currently at $23,000 (It used to be 28K). I have been making at least $1,000 monthly payments on this bizznatch after some words of wisdom from my wonderful readers. My minimum obligation is $178, so throwing another $900 on top of that goes a long way It’s one of the hardest things I have had to do (I would prefer to see my savings account grow), but I know in the end it’s a smart financial decision.

Checking Account: $3,172, +$740. This just depends on the time of the month. It’s pretty stacked right now because my credit card payment hasn’t gone through yet. I use my CC for all my purchases and pay off one big sum when the bill comes due. $1,400 will be departing my checking account in the next couple days.

Savings Account: $12,162, +$12.72. Heck yea…haha. I didn’t have an opportunity to contribute to my savings account in May because I focused all my cash on paying down debt ($1000), donating to charity ($1000) and contributing to my Roth IRA ($1500). I’m hoping this month I can scrounge enough together to throw in another G by months end.

Roth IRA: $10,075, +$2,368. $1500 of this was a contribution I made about a week ago. And then the remaining $868 was gain from the awesomeness of the stock market lately. I love watching that Dow Jones soar in to positive territory

401K: $6,281, +$832. Pretty standard investing going on here, 8% of each paycheck. My 401K investments nearly mirror my Roth IRA so they should always gain (or lose) relatively close to the same amount.

So what does this bring my total net worth too??? $7,251. Last time I updated, I was worth $754. Ill take a near $7,000 dollar gain. A large contributing factor was a GREAT tutoring month as well as an extra paycheck. I don’t think it will go up too much between now and next time, but considering my net worth was negative $2K two months ago I am rather excited

Take care ya’ll.

Making love with money is my favorite kind of romance.

by Ninja on June 2, 2009

Call me a lyrical genius, or call me a pathetic white boy making his best attempt at hip-hop, but I enjoy throwing down an occassional song or two on garage band. I have a whopping two tracks on my “Debt Punchers” CD the first track is over at Budgets Are Sexy and the other song is on my page found right HERE . Every once and a while the creative juices flow out of me and I end up with a pretty solid lyric like “The name of the game is Personal Finance, Making love with money is my favorite kind of romance.” While money may not be your first thought for a romantic relationship, I bet it’s pretty high up there for most of us.

I learned in one of my psychology courses that there are three phases to a typical relationship: The “I need you. I want you. Oh baby. Oh baby” phase, the “I just need some ‘me time’” phase, and the “Wow, we work together quite nicely” phase.

I need you. I want you. Oh baby. Oh baby:

Human to Human:
You know this stage, sometimes referred to as the “lust” phase. It’s when you first meet that special someone and you fall head over heels for them. You focus all of your attention on that person and sometimes other friendships, or other aspects of your life, suffer as a result.

Human to Money:
You get that first paycheck and you realize you have the power to spend, so spend you must. You are in love with the concept of being able to buy things. You see something you want so you buy it. You may make an irrational decision or two (buying a new car, or a second flat screen tv), but you don’t care ’cause you ~~love~~ lust money.

I just need some ‘me time’:

Human to Human:
After about six months of dating, you begin to realize the rest of your life has been on hold. You kind of miss having poker parties (guys) or knitting parties (girls?). You tell your significant other you need some “me time” and that’s when all hell breaks loose. This is when the fights begin to occur and we question whether or not this relationship is worth enduring. Sadly, this is the phase in which the majority of breakups occur.

Human to Money:
You finally start to realize all your careless spending is biting you in the booty. It’s the first time you face a conflict with your poor spending habits. The creditors start calling and you get in fights. You are faced with a decision , push through and fight for a healthy relationship or throw in the towel and give up. Unfortunately, many people don’t care enough to persevere the bad to get to the good.

Wow, we work together quite nicely:

Human to Human:
You have survived some pretty serious fights and at the end of the day you realize your life is better with that person than without. Things get easier. You’re not creepishly obsessed with each other anymore. You have learned the proper balance between the two of you as a couple and the two of you as individuals. Wedding bells are in your future.

Human to Money:
Congratulations! You made a smart choice in deciding to wrestle past the credit card bills and car loans. You have established a game plan and realized money has feelings too and it demands respect. You are in a continual courtship with cash (take that alliteration!). For the rest of your life, you appreciate and respect how money can change your life for the better. Loaded Roth IRA’s and ballin’ 401k’s are in your future.

Maybe it’s a stretch to compare a relationship with your significant other to your relationship with money, but I bet if you look closely you’ll find some shocking similarities. Making sweet love to your money (not to be taken literally you sicko) can impact your life in ways you never imagined.

What stage are you in?

What’s worse than having to talk to a used car salesman?

by Ninja on June 1, 2009 · 1 comment

Having to buy hundreds of thousands of cars that you didn’t want in the first place. Who would do such a thing? You and me baby. Today is the day GM files, or filed depending on when you read this, for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy, for those that don’t know, basically means GM still remains in control of it’s business, but is ultimately at the mercy of the courts…AkA…the government. As of today, fellow taxpayers, we took ownership of America’s largest car manufacturer. I read this little article that gives the low down on what’s going on. Here’s some excerpts…

“It didn’t have to be this painful. By the time this is over the government will have spent $100 billion of taxpayer money and to what end? Is there any guarantee of a viable or competitive company? No.

“The only winner in this that I can see is the union. The taxpayer is not a winner. Bondholder rights have been trampled. And our system is a loser because we have reconfirmed — as we did in the Chrysler bankruptcy — that this administration will rewrite the rules of bankruptcy when it sees fit.”

So, I’m thinking I’m gonna cruise on over to my local dealership, use the bathroom, write my next blog from one of the employee’s computer terminals, maybe take a Hummer or two for a joy ride. Afterall, I now own part of that toilet, I’m paying for their internet, and I own a piece of that Hummer. I’m not necessarily claiming to have an ingenious idea that can cure the economic woes of the US, but I do not think taking control of GM is in our best interest. I mean, I don’t know how to cure world hunger, but I sure as heck know that world hunger is bad.

It’s gonna be interesting to see how this whole thing pans out. Maybe I’ll eat my words a couple years down the road and all will have worked out for the better…maybe. What do you think? Oh and, who wants to join me on my afternoon joyride in an H2?

Confessions of a PF whore

by Ninja on May 29, 2009 · 1 comment

Don’t judge me. We are all PF whores. Chances are if you are on my site, you got here via another PF blog. I love reading other peoples blogs. Most of them do some kind of “Link Love” posting once a week, pointing people to some of the best PF articles of the week. It’s time I jump on this band wagon and spread the love around. These articles “tickled my fancy” this week (I have always wondered what that phrase actually means).

Adam at Your Money Relationship kickstarted the Financial Genie that has made a bunch of appearances this week.

Baker at Man vs Debt writes about 3 Habits Of Highly-Responsible Credit Card Users. I love my credit card and make sure I follow these rules!

Frugal Dad reminds us of 10 Reasons Why Being In Debt Sucks. I hate debt, so I love this post

J. Money at Budgets Are Sexy writes his 500th blog post . It’s inspirational to us little bloggers. Congrats Mr. Money.

I’m loving all you PF bloggers out there. Keep on posting some great stuff. Drop me an email or comment so that I can get to your website and check out what you got too. I’m always down to discover new blogs!

And don’t forget to check out my other post today directly below this one

I’m feeling freaky this Friday

by Ninja on May 29, 2009 · 6 comments

I dedicate this blog post to Friday. Here’s to you Friday! You’re my favorite workday of the week

We’ve all seen this movie before. Two people wake up one day and have mysteriously switched places. Freaky Friday, The Hot Chick, and my personal favorite…It Takes Two (gotta love them pre-anorexic Olsen twins) are just a few of the movies that I can recall where this phenomenon is depicted. How creepy would it be to wake up one day and think all is good until you look in the mirror and see you are trapped in you mother’s body?! Pretty stinkin’ weird if you ask me. This naturally lead me to ponder “Who would I want to wake up as on this lovely friday morning?”

The answer: The President. Clinton, Bush, Obama, I don’t care which president, but how freakin’ interesting would it be to spend one day in their shoes? It’s gotta be the hardest job in the world…except possibly being a pig sperm collector (no really, it’s an actual profession). How weird would it be to wake up and have your entire day planned out for you. Furthermore, not only is your day already scheduled, but most of what comes out of your mouth that day is also prepared for you. Could you imagine having an entire entourage telling you where to be, what to say, what to eat, and when you can take a bathroom break?

I think if I woke up in the President’s shoes (but still had my brain and thought process) I would spend all day trying to outrun/hide from Secret Service. I’ve always wondered what it would be like knowing there are 30+ guys watching your every move. I would probably spend my entire day messing with them. I’d be like “Hey I’m just gonna go to the bathroom” and then I would try to sneak out the ventilation system. Could you imagine the poor agent that would have to make the phone call “Uh, we lost the president.”

My first order of business, outside of playing hide and seek with the secret service, would be to institute an American Debt Free policy; essentially mandating that our country be able to operate without borrowing money by the year 2015. It probably wouldn’t logistically work, but I would make darn sure that I spent my one day trying to instill the idea of living within your means to the American people. Wait, I would be The Freakin’ President of the United States of America, I wouldn’t have to instill it, I would just mandate it and sign it in to law…. failure to operate debt free would be punishable by death, or at least a slap across the face. Ahh, to think what it would be like to be the most powerful person in the country for just one day.

How bout it debt punchers, who would you want to wake up as on this lovely friday morning. Rosie O’donnel? Brad Pitt? The guy that invented underwear? Drop me a comment ’cause I’m dying to know where your curiosity lies.