The personal finance blog for Life Balance

College funding is a priority for our family. I hate student loans so much – it seems like they hold young adults back right at a time in their lives that they should be future-focused and optimistic. We communicated to the boys early that we would do everything possible to pay for college so they didn’t need to start their adult lives fighting debt. In order to do that, there are things we sacrifice but we’re okay with it because our priorities are in line with our values. So we don’t have cable, car notes, cleaning services, or annual vacations for example, and we don’t routinely eat out beyond celebrations. (though if you read an earlier post, you know we don’t execute this flawlessly) We don’t buy cars or cell phones for kids and we don’t intend to help pay for weddings or houses.

With that stated though, there is a requirement for the boy. He must provide a return on investment for the college spending in order for us to continue funding college. DS1 didn’t do that and I cut him off after his second year of college. This was a serious ‘tough love’ move on my part. So you don’t think I’m heartless, I should say that DS1 is an extremely capable intelligent kid. He could make straight As if he busted his rump to do it. Had he been putting forth his best effort and come up short, I’d have been more compassionate – I promise. Instead it was his social life that he unfortunately prioritized. He’s an extrovert (my opposite!) and he enjoyed parties and didn’t regularly attend all his classes. Of course he didn’t volunteer this info, but I figured it out. I told him that I hoped he finished up his degree but that he’d be doing it on his own nickel. And I told him that if he succeeded, no one would be prouder than me because I’d understand what it took for him to do it.

To his credit, DS1 didn’t debate and he didn’t play the victim. He knew he’d messed up. So for a year or so, he sat out while he worked full-time. He discovered then that the jobs available to him without a college degree were limited and didn’t pay well. Then he re-enrolled at the college and he got student loans. He hit an issue at that point. Even though he was no longer a dependent for our taxes, applications for loans beyond $7500 (I think that was the amount.) required that a parent either co-sign or take them out. So he came to me. I’ll be damned before I co-sign a student loan! But because I did support DS1’s effort to finish school, I offered to be the lender instead. Today he owes me $14k. One of the stipulations of my loans was that they have to be repaid in 3 years – not 10 or more like the government allows. I want him to bite the bullet and get the debt behind him.

DS1 graduated in December and just accepted a job offer. He has two roommates in a similar position that he’s known for years. Both have entry-level jobs and are paying off student loans. (They jointly celebrated sometime last year when one of them got his balance below $100k!) So now I’m reminding him about his payment obligations and offering to help him budget his new pay. Because of the precedent I set with DS2 on splitting scholarship money, I am giving a credit to DS1 for the small athletic scholarship he received one semester.

The payments I receive from DS1 will go to house debt.

I am very proud of DS1. He finished two years of college while working full-time to support himself. In my mind, his super expensive lesson had a happy ending.

Now you know why I’ll never state that all my boys graduated without student loan debt despite it being important to me.

My 2020 goal #4 is “Pay no CC interest or fees”.

Since I have a balance on a 0% card that expires in May, I’ve decided to do a combination of paying it off and transferring to another 0% card with no fee involved. I applied for a Bank of America card (I mentioned it on Amber’s blog earlier.) that has a 0% rate with no fees for balance transfers before mid-March. It was approved and they just completed the balance transfer.

The original total amount parked on the 0% CC was $19k. I transferred $10 of that, leaving me to pay $9 right away. I used the federal refund toward the balance; I will use the smaller state refund toward it; I used a portion of my quarterly bonus; Now I am diverting amounts from regular pay between now and May. I should get ‘er done.

I will likely just pay the minimums to BoA each month while I focus on other goals. My next focus is the EF. Then later in the year I’ll make a plan for what’s remaining on the BoA card. Its 0% special expires in April 2021.

I can see that our federal tax refund is expected to be direct-deposited in two days. We’re getting $2606 back this year which means I had too much withheld, but next year we’ll lose $3500 in child/dependent tax credits so I’ll need to adjust withholding to prevent owing a thousand bucks, assuming all other things are equal this year. I’ll take a closer look at that during the summer after I know whether there is any increase in income and after I take some time to research any tax code changes that could impact us.

Of course the $2606 is allocated. I budgeted $900 for our annual CSA membership and the rest to the 0% CC. I over-budgeted slightly for the CSA and I also got a discount for paying it early and in full instead of using a payment plan. It was $815. That’s a ‘full share’ size box of organic veggies every week from April 22nd week to the week before Christmas.

The local delivery site is easily walkable from my house so on veggie day I block an hour in my work schedule to leave my desk and go pick them up. I like having the commitment because it insures that I get exercise and fresh air that day. I bought a used stroller at a garage sale last year just for this purpose because the bag of veggies gets heavy in the middle of the summer.

Now that I have the juicer, I may try juicing some things this year. And by the way, I’m loving the juicer! My favorite so far is carrot-apple with a little raw ginger.

This week included payment of my quarterly bonus from the company. I used it to pay the remainder of DS2’s apartment rent for the 1-year lease period. The only remaining college costs for him now are food and electricity – about a thousand total, and I have most of that set aside. So DS2’s college costs are essentially done.

His apartment lease is an odd one to me because it is one contract for all the boys and requires every parent to be a cosigner. Apparently housing is scarce enough around this major campus that the property management companies can make these unreasonable requirements. That was not the case at DS1’s college where each roommate had his own contract with the property management company. DS2’s roommates are good kids from our town that he had already befriended before college. It’s been an education for him though to see how differently they approach money. One waits until he sees the rent is past-due before paying it. The notice is his reminder. And there is a charge – something like $5/day for each day it’s late. Because we pay ahead that’s actually helped him avoid late payments but he has told DS2 that he wishes we wouldn’t do that because it messes him up not to get the late notice.

Also this week DS3 signed his NLI (National Letter of Intent) for his college that included some scholarship money. It feels so nice to have the college decision official and behind us.

The only thing financial about this post is that it’s something for FREE.

Chris Wark from the Chris Beat Cancer website has the first of ten modules of his Square One program (which costs around $100 I think) available for 24 hours for free. So if you’re interested, the link to the video is here: https://squareone.chrisbeatcancer.com/first-things-first/ He only does this a couple of times a year.

My mom died of cancer at age 61 so I am all about prevention.

I know the media makes more money when they sensationalize, but I still get concerned when I see articles like this one posted yesterday on Yahoo Finance: U.S. Household Debt Exceeds $14 Trillion for the First Time

This chart of household debt from the article is interesting. It looks like CC debt is actually declining but student loan debt is multiplying. And auto loans haven’t wavered in popularity.



Link to article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-household-debt-exceeds-14-160303784.html

This week I purchased dog food and entered it as part of our grocery expenses. It was a first – up until this point I’ve transferred money from DS3’s account to mine to cover the cost any time I purchased dog food.

About a year and a half ago DS3 had a GF and the two decided to get a puppy together. Well, it was not vetted with us and I was more than a little annoyed when the dog arrived. I love dogs (but not as much as cats!). And DH really loves dogs. I think DS3 knew that once we saw the puppy that we wouldn’t have the heart to tell him to get rid of it. He was right.



As typical of kids, even older ones, after the first week or so, DS3 was not the one tending to the puppy. DH did and still does the brunt of the work to take care of her and she’s high maintenance. We don’t have a fenced yard so she has to be walked and it gets COLD here on winter mornings. I was determined though that DS3 would take on the entire cost for this unplanned pet and I stuck to that. He didn’t debate it at first. He paid hundreds of dollars (some with help from the GF) for vet visits and vaccinations and then either bought himself or refunded me for dog food. I insisted that she be spayed, and that cost him over $600. He told me I should have shopped around. I told him HE should have shopped around.

Unsurprisingly, the relationship with the dog outlived the relationship with the girl. There wasn’t a custody battle – the dog became ours and stayed here. And to be honest, there’s no way DH would allow that dog to live anywhere else. The two have bonded.

So now DS3 no longer receives an allowance and he’s preparing to leave for college. My original intent was to make him take financial responsibility of the dog forever – even expecting him to find a place to live that accepts dogs after he graduates. Now, I’m rethinking because for one thing – DH considers the dog his now, and for another - I don’t want DS3 to feel pressured to get a job while he’s in college to support the dog. So after I grabbed that big bag of food this week, I didn’t transfer any money. I also haven’t said anything yet so I could change my mind. But perhaps this is a point we can agree that the dog changed owners. Now that my anger has subsided and she’s become part of the family.

I’ve just completed our 2019 taxes. I use an online service called TaxAct to create the returns and file them electronically. It cost $72 for the federal and state filings this year. Then I did the local taxes myself on their website. Those are easy because there are no credits or deductions. I used to do our taxes manually because I didn’t trust a forms-based wizard to care as much about my numbers as me, but after TaxAct found deductions/credits that I didn’t know about resulting in hundreds of dollars for us the first time I used it, I was hooked. It also stores all our data – personal and employment – so it’s defaulted for the next year’s tax form. That saves time and reduces the risk for inaccuracy for sure.

For several years now I’ve been running a couple of calculations after the income tax forms are submitted to see how much those taxes impact our finances. I calculate our real tax rate – the actual percentage of our gross income that went toward income taxes instead of the LB household. This year our total income tax burden – federal + state +local – was 10.9% of our gross income. Last year it was 11.2% so I did improve on reducing our tax liability because our income was slightly higher this year. The best we’ve ever done was in 2015 when it was only 8.1%, and it’s impressive because that was a time when our income was lower. But the boys were younger so we probably had more exemptions and credits. I may have been maxing the 401k then too. I couldn’t keep that up once I had to begin cash-flowing some college expenses.

Another way I look at it is to calculate the percentage based on net worth instead of gross income. My thinking is that if the annual income tax burden became a fraction of a percentage point of net worth, it would be insignificant. So in 2015 – our best year for reducing taxes – our total tax burden was 2.2% of our net worth at that time. In 2018, it was 2.1%. Now, for 2019, it’s 1.8%. That’s our best result yet for the ‘how much does it hurt us’ evaluation.

Next year may be a doozy for taxes as we’ll lose the child tax credit x2 since the twins turn 17 this year. And DS2 will no longer be a dependent. I’ll need to change withholding to prevent owing money but that will wait for another time, maybe in the summer.

My 2020 goal #2 is to adopt a permanent health-enhancing habit each month. I’ve decided that my new health habit for February will be to consume fresh organic juice at least 3 times each week.
We used to have a Jack Lalanne juicer but it bit the dust a few years ago. I’ve just purchased a juicer that’s a step up and recommended by some of the health gurus that I follow – the Champion juicer. It’s pricey so it’s only going to be a smart purchase if I really do make frequent use of it.

NEW HEALTH HABIT #2:
Consume fresh organic juice at least 3 times a week

BENEFIT:
Easily boosts absorption of vitamins, minerals, & antioxidants to provide energy and detoxification. Hydrates the body, improves digestion, keeps body in an alkaline state, promotes longevity.

COST:
Upfront – $350
Ongoing – $50/month

The ongoing cost is a guess. I already buy organic fruits & veggies but I do recall being surprised before at how much produce it takes to make a glass of juice. But on the other hand the juice will be a replacement for calories I’m currently getting elsewhere. I’ll update this number once I see the actual change in our grocery bill.

This new habit is an expensive one, probably the most expensive one I’ll acquire this year because it has both an upfront cost and an ongoing cost that are substantial. I was going to wait until later in the year to pull the trigger on this one since I have financial goals too, but I want the health benefits now. Expensive, but still cheaper than medical bills!

2020 health habits so far:
(1) Fast one day per month
(2) Consume fresh organic juice at least 3 times a week

Mostly out of fear for our upcoming college expenses over the next half dozen years, I made a plan over a year ago to get our house debt paid. Our house debt is a combination of a mortgage and a HELOC. The mortgage interest rate is 3.49%. The HELOC rate, which can change, is 5.64%. So every extra principal payment I make goes to the HELOC.

In order to make it doable when I started, and also to use a method where one bad month couldn’t blow it for me, I created a schedule with defined percentages instead of dollar amounts. The percentages increase over the course of time as I should be able to find additional money to throw at the debt. As you can see (I have to get the photos to work for this post!), I need to come up with $1779 worth of principal payments this month including my regular scheduled payment. That shouldn’t be a problem. But next month, I have another percentage increase.

Only people on sites like this would understand these games that motivate me to do the right thing!

As I said earlier, I was proud of him no matter what because he took initiative and prepared himself for this opportunity. I’m glad it paid off. He’s going to be a lifeguard at a local fancy-pants hotel.

The vet bill finally cleared on the Ally CC, so I redeemed my last rewards – 80 bucks to the Ally savings account. Ka-ching.

CB's recent blog entry (January Recap) made me think about restaurant expenses.

Sometimes we eat out because it's convenient or because I didn't plan well. For those occasions of course I'd like to minimize our restaurant spending. But as CB points out in her blog entry, sometimes restaurant meals are important times spent with those close to us. We wouldn’t want to stop or reduce the frequency of those occasions. Or replace them with the dollar menu at a fast food place. But the two situations are both captured in that one budget category - at least for us. Since I keep a spreadsheet of our actual spending, I went back to 2019 to see how much of our restaurant spending was quality time spent with family.

So last year we spent a total of $3172 for meals out. [It’s okay to gasp if you need to…it is indeed a lot of money.] Of that total, $1300 (even) was spent on family celebrations at restaurants. We have a tradition of eating out on each boy’s birthday and the birthday boy gets to select the place. [The twins have to agree though because we only do one meal out in their honor.] In 2019 we also went out for Father’s Day. The most expensive meal out was in honor of DS1’s college graduation and it included 3 people beyond our immediate family. It was the nicest restaurant our kids have ever experienced. So no regrets on the $1300 total spent here.

DS3 is a competitive athlete and we travel to tournaments for him. Sometimes the tournaments are close enough to drive back and forth but usually they aren’t. So it involves a hotel and meals out when we go. It’s just the two of us and I do select hotels that have breakfast included and a kitchen with the room so we can do minor cooking. In 2019, we spent $682 on restaurant food during tournaments. I include the hotel expenses in my ‘kids activities’ budget category, so this amount is just the food. This is a grey area. On one hand I don’t want to overspend on meals out when we travel, but I do want to support DS3’s talent and passion. Maybe $682 is okay.

That leaves $1190 worth of meals that were not family celebrations or travel-related. A grand of that is probably Subway – we keep that place in business. This is where it’d be best to scrutinize. In addition to just planning better maybe I could choose a couple of healthy and inexpensive go-to meals in the Instapot cookbook that the boys like and keep the ingredients on-hand. Then the meal would be just as quick to make as a trip to the too-nearby Subway.

For our family January ended on a sad note: FIL died yesterday. He was in hospice so it wasn’t unexpected but still tough to accept.

Yesterday was my fast day too (new habit – one of my 2020 goals) and I survived. Going for two days to get my February day in too was not an option though – 24 hours was as much as I could take. So I’ll plan for another day in February. And I’ve got to decide what my second new health-enhancing habit will be beginning this month.

On the financial front (since that’s the focus of the blog!), DS4 had an interview today for a summer job. He feels good about it. He was nervous but prepared. I’m really proud of him, no matter what happens. Hopefully he’ll get an offer after they check his references.

I’ve stopped using the Ally CC and I’ll redeem my points for cash to the online savings account once my last purchase moves from ‘pending’ – a nearly $300 vet bill for our feline’s annual check-up. Then I’ll be done with that account.

I’ve started doing taxes and hope to finish them within a few days. And I’ve sent principal payments to the 0% CC with a balance and to house debt. I’ve also just been reimbursed for my business trip earlier in the month so I need to send that to the CC before it’s due.

HR hosted a Medicare webinar this week that all colleagues were invited to attend. Though I’m a decade away from Medicare, I’m not knowledgeable about it and it’s an aspect of retirement planning I should consider. So I attended. I was surprised at how few people attended and I think I was the youngest one. The person presenting the information was not from the company but from an organization that offers Medicare consulting services. The positive aspect of that is that she knew the topic inside & out. The negative aspect is that she was presenting an informational seminar to sell their services, so it was clearly in her best interest to make the topic complex and to be biased toward over-insuring.

The seminar was informative and I did glean some information for my planning purposes.

As to the components and their costs, I took these notes:
Part A – covers inpatient hospital & hospice care. $0 premium. $1408/occurrence deductible + co-pays after 60 days
Part B – covers doctors & medical services. $145 - $492/mo/pp premium depending upon income (rolling 2-year look-back). $198 deductible, then 20% coinsurance. Covers Part A deductible.
Part C – supplemental medical insurance. 2 types & various choices. ~$160/mo/pp premium.
Part D – prescription drugs. ~$33/mo/pp premium. $435 deductible.

Enrollment is not automatic and the initial enrollment period is 7 months long – 3 months before the birthday month, the birthday month, and 3 months afterward. After that there are forever-penalties that are tacked on to the premium if you enroll late in a component that has a premium.

It’s not a high deductible plan so you can’t contribute to an HSA any longer but you can use funds from an existing one to pay expenses including the costs of the premiums for Part B or D and some Part Cs.

Based on my knowledge of Medicare now and my personal values, I plan to take these actions:
(1) Enroll in Medicare just before my 65th birthday
(2) Make sure our income keeps us at the base premium level for Part B, beginning the year DH turns 63.
(3) Skip parts C, D and plan to spend that money on health-promoting activities instead.

Is there anyone using Medicare now that has tips or gotchas for the rest of us to know for planning?

I noticed something financially wonderful today – the company’s stock value increased by $2 / share!

This helps me in two ways:
(1) I have company stock within my 401k account so the account's overall value took a jump in the right direction, crossing the next $100k milestone.
(2) I have some company stock options that are now worth more - on paper at least because most of them aren’t yet vested. But it has the potential to be a chunk of change in a few years.

I'm glad I'm blogging now. I'll revisit this entry next time I have a rough day at work!

A few days ago I went to make a cash deposit in person at a PNC branch. The teller behind the counter made the deposit as typical but then began asking me about credit cards. Do I use rewards credit cards for everyday purchases? Was I aware that PNC had a rewards card? Etc. “We want to make sure we’re meeting your needs.” Yeah right.

I don’t know if I’m just a grouch, but I don’t like being treated like a sales prospect while I’m conducting business. Sam’s Club has gotten this way too. You can’t just check-out anymore without getting a sales pitch for something else.

Yesterday DS3 bought a truck and a 4-wheeler! I was surprised since he hadn’t discussed it with me, but he’s 18 now and he used his own money.

When our DS1 was very young I read several articles about teaching kids money management skills. I was interested because I felt like WE were just learning money management skills at that time and I didn’t want to repeat the cycle of learning about money ‘the hard way’. [I ought to blog sometime about our ignorance and some of our terrible decisions during those days…] One thing struck me as I read the articles: kids can only learn to manage money if they have money to manage. So based on that premise, I created our family’s money program for kids and though I would tweak some things if I were to start again, overall it has been effective. My boys know so much more than I did at their ages – all of them.

We started an allowance at age 5. The DS received one quarter per year of age each Sunday. Then beginning at age 10, he received 50 cents per year of age each Sunday. At age 13, it bumped to $1. At age 15, it bumped up again to $2. At age 18, it stopped.

It wasn’t just the amount that was progressive – the financial responsibility was too. So at age 5 he just paid for candy and extra toys. I never had to say “no” to a kid whining for candy in a check-out aisle. Instead I said “Of course you may have those M&Ms – did you bring your money?” Or “Do you have enough?” By age 15, the boy was expected to pay his own entertainment expenses including gas, movies, dates, and also buy his own clothes. I didn’t have to debate about what clothes brand was ‘cool’ and acceptable – he could buy whatever he wanted. Also at age 15, I opened a checking account at the credit union and began direct depositing the allowance instead of using cash. That’s when he received his first debit card.

The boys also had chores but they weren’t linked to the allowance. The chores are mandatory because they live here – only some special jobs qualify for payment and they’re optional. Over the years I sometimes gave advice, even unsolicited advice, but I never made rules about how money was spent or saved. They decided for themselves whether some expensive things were worth it and they learned fairly young how to calculate sales tax. They’ve learned what banks do when your account gets even a teensy bit negative. Recently they’ve learned that when you sign up for a deal online sometimes there’s VERY small print that indicates that you’ve really purchased a subscription and the company will hit your account every month.

At age 12, I established a savings account for the DS and I agreed to match contributions, BUT the savings could not be touched until age 18.

When he turned 18, DS1 had a princely sum of $350 in that savings account. For six years all his savings efforts plus matching contributions: $350. He even had a job for the last few months of that time. DS2 decided when he turned 15 that he didn’t really need $30/week so he requested to have $10/week put into his savings. With matching, that was $20/week. (Yes, it did hurt a little…) At age 18 he had $4000 saved up. He asked me then to show him about investments so I helped him set up a Roth IRA. He could only put about $1200 in it that year because it’s all he earned. So now DS3 just turned 18 last month. He also had parts of his allowance directed to the savings like DS2 plus he would occasionally hand me money earned from a job. I once had to double $900! He also heard from DS2 how much more investments earn than savings so when he was 16 he asked if he could put some of his savings in a brokerage account so long as he still didn’t touch it until 18. I agreed to that. He had just over $7000 in the two accounts combined when he turned 18. I think he’s probably just spent the savings money and left the $2000 in the brokerage account. As for DS4 and DS5, it appears that they’ll be somewhere in the middle. One has between $1k and $2k and the other between $2k and $3k. The one with more requested a brokerage account too. They’ve still got a year and half before they turn 18.

What’s interesting is they all learn from one another. In some ways DS1 was at a disadvantage because he was first. But even so, it’s about learning lessons while the stakes are low. He was recently eligible to sign-up for a company’s 401k for his student job while in college and he did make that choice because he’d learned the value of automatic savings from his brothers.

My 2020 goal #2 is to adopt a permanent health-enhancing habit each month. I’ve decided that my new health habit for January will be to fast one day each month. This is an uncomfortable change for me but I’m convinced that it’ll be an improvement.
For January, I am going to have the 31st be the fast day. Then if I can make it 2 days, I’ll knock out February’s day too. I’ve read that 3 days is optimal, but I just don’t know that I can do it.

NEW HEALTH HABIT #1:
Fast 1 day per month

BENEFIT:
Improves cardiovascular health, improves insulin sensitivity, promotes longevity, decreases inflammation, improves cell recycling, protects brain

COST:
Upfront – zero
Ongoing – zero

It could be that there is a cost-savings, but I’m not counting on it. I’ll probably drink herbal teas during the day so that may cost about the same as food. (Coffee is allowed but I don’t like mine black.)

We just received our gas bill and it’s $208.53 this month. Ouch!! I see from the usage chart that it’s about the same as last year so I really shouldn’t have been surprised. What’s more scary is looking at February and March – if this year is like last year, we’ll have another sharp increase next month.

In addition to the central air, we have a gas fireplace, which I love. It heats up the family room and makes it cozy and inviting. So I’m not willing to shut it off, but I’ll monitor the thermostat, open the curtains on south-facing windows, make sure the garage is closed, … what else?

Since I’ve gotten my first paycheck of the year, I’m checking the accuracy of my deductions. The company where I work had an enrollment period for our 2020 benefits during November. As typical, health insurance premiums increased some. Most other benefits remained the same. But there was one odd change – the company’s contribution to our HSA accounts DECREASED by 500 bucks. No explanation. That’s like a small pay cut. I don’t like when negative changes are implemented quietly – it seems sneaky. In fact, I wonder how many of my colleagues noticed. As an aside, this reminds me of my experience with banks. PNC and Ally both have fluctuating interest rates, but Ally sends a notification every time the rate changes, regardless of the direction. PNC never has sent a notification. Guess which bank I trust more?

Anyway, since the HSA maximum contribution increased by 100 bucks (to $7100) in 2020, my company’s contribution decreased by $500 in 2020 (to $1000), and I’m eligible to contribute an extra ‘catch-up’ $1000 because I turn 55 this year, that leaves me with an extra $1600 to fund or $133 more each month than last year. About $592 total each month.

When the company moved to a high deductible plan years ago, it was a scary change. But in hindsight, it was a good move for our family. We’re a healthy bunch overall. Last year was pricey with two using braces-alternatives and the DH getting an MRI for knee pain, as well as typical doctor visits for bumps & bruises. (Boys and sports…) But we still didn’t come close to using the year’s contributions. So the HSA account has been building up. I’d like for it to reach a ‘safety net threshold’ of being able to cover 18 months of COBRA premiums in the event that the company and I part ways. Based on the company’s year-end statement, the total monthly premium for our family coverage is just over 2 grand. [I pay about $450 of that currently which admittedly is a good deal for a family of 7.] So my safety-net value for the HSA would be $36k. I’m about $10k shy of that now. Maybe within the next two years though? It would just be for peace of mind – my planned exit is not that soon.

Well for DS2 it’s the final bill. He expects to graduate this May. The tuition & fees bill from the university is just under $11,000. Each semester we cobble together funds to pay for college so for this bill the funding looks like this:

$6200 funds from 529 account
$4200 half of scholarships received
$600 cash set aside


529: This is our last withdrawal. The account for DS2 is now closed. I like closing accounts – it makes me feel like I’m simplifying my financial life.

Scholarships: I made a deal with DS2 that if he brought scholarship money in, we’d split it. As a result, he brought in $2500 his junior year and $16,000 his senior year. I wish I’d made the deal sooner – we paid full price for his freshman and sophomore years. I’m pleased to know that he used his share to fund his Roth IRA for 2019. [Not all my boys are so responsible – this one gets it.]

Once I pay for the remainder of his rent ($500 x 6 months), food ($200 x 5 months), and electricity ($20 x 7 months), then I can say that I’m DONE with DS2’s college costs. There will probably be some graduation fees too – hopefully they are minor. Then I’ll focus attention on DS3’s upcoming costs.

I’ve just returned home from a week-long business trip. Now in addition to catching up with my personal tasks, I need to sort receipts and submit my expense report. Traveling for work does provide some opportunity for personal financial benefits, but there are drawbacks too. To take a look at the personal financial impact to me for this trip:

(1) FOOD – gain. The company paid to feed me for a week that I would have spent had I not been traveling. This saves me 1 week’s worth of food costs. (but I’m still paying to feed the rest of the family while I’m gone of course)

(2) CAR MILEAGE – gain. Not much mileage on this trip – just transport to the airport, but with the reimbursement set at over 50 cents per mile, our Honda Fit is doing her share to contribute!

(3) CAR GAS – break-even. I think our car got just as much use at home as it would have if I’d been here. [My commute is from the bedroom to my home office on a normal day.]

(4) UTILITIES – break-even, maybe a loss. Since the family was still here, we still had gas, electricity, and water usage. Maybe fewer flushes & baths, but on the other hand, I doubt they monitored the thermostat like I do. I did turn off the heat in my home office (separate system) while I was out. So for this one, I’ll have to check our bills when they arrive.

(5) CREDIT CARD POINTS – gain. The company pays the airfare directly and I didn’t have hotel costs (explanation to follow) so I didn’t spend a substantial amount. But the rental car, groceries, meals, and luggage fees were all paid with my card. And for the last time, it was my Ally Cashback credit card.

(6) AIRLINE POINTS – gain. I don’t travel as frequently as I did years ago so this isn’t a big benefit, but it does eventually add up. About every 2-3 years I redeem my airline points for some purchase. (I don’t want more travel.) Last time it was a men’s bike for DS5, worth $200+.

(7) MAKE-UP – loss. I don’t wear much make-up when working virtually, but when I’m on-site it’s a ‘full face’ every day. This cost is minor because I still tend to replace make-up before I use it up because it’s old.

(8) CLOTHES – loss. Dry cleaning: the clothes I wear at home are wash & wear, and while the blouses I wear for customer-facing engagements are laundered at home, the trousers and skirts are dry-clean only. I have them cleaned after about half a dozen uses, I’d estimate.

(9) RELATIONSHIPS – non-financial personal gain. This trip was to the city where my brother lives so I stayed with him. Getting a company-paid trip to see family is a plus for sure! I can’t count it as ‘savings’ because I wouldn’t have made the trip regardless – maybe it’s like one of those Mastercard commercials. “Priceless”. With agreement with my company, when I stay with my brother I expense groceries or a dinner out for him and his wife. Cheaper for the company than a hotel and a bonus for my brother. This trip I bought them about $200 of groceries. Good quality too – organic, wild-caught, etc. And, we got to watch our team win the national championship. More priceless.

I can see how business travel could be more lucrative for a person who lives alone. Then for the time on the road, you could eliminate some expense categories altogether!

Did I forget anything?

I don’t know why but I didn’t feel as eager as I usually do to draft my goals this year. But I know how powerful it is to have them so I am doing it now.

(1) Get EF back to 3 months’ basic expenses
(2) Adopt a permanent health-enhancing habit each month
(3) Renew my professional certification by the September due date
(4) Pay no CC interest or fees
(5) Spend time with each kid to encourage his current area of growth
(6) Complete identified home maintenance

It will be a big year for us – two graduations! (fingers crossed)

Notes:
(4) sounds easy, but I have a balance on a 0% card that expires this year. So it’ll need to be paid off and/or transferred to another 0% card with no fee involved

(5) Areas of focus:
DS1 – career planning
DS2 – housing of his own
DS3 – college transition
DS4 – Scout rank advancement
DS5 – Confidence, schoolwork

(6) Next maintenance:
Replace half-bath light/fan
Pressure-wash house
Painting: living room, family room, & downstairs ceilings

For a year or so I've carried an Ally cashback CC. It had a $100 bonus for spending $500 when I got it but best of all the cashback rewards could be deposited directly in my Ally online savings account (in amounts of $25 or more) with a 10% bonus on those rewards added. It was a good arrangement for me - the rewards were free, the bonus on the rewards was free, and then it earned interest once it hit my savings account. Win-win-win.

Well, nothing good last forever does it? Now TD Bank has informed me that the Ally cards will be discontinued and replaced with a card of their own with more standard rewards. The last day to redeem Ally rewards is February 13th.

Today I redeemed all but $25 of the rewards (since that's the minimum to redeem). I'll stop using the card at the end of the month and then redeem the rest. I don't know if I'll even take the new card - I have others with similar reward structures.

It was nice while it lasted.

Now that I have a blog of my own, I can do this. I'm worried about Nhgirl1970 (one of the Lauras). Does anyone know her in real life? She last shared that she was going through a health crisis and I've had her on my mind since then. I hope she's okay.

I figure that it’s probably good to give an overview of our family situation and my values so you can understand why I spend on the things I do. And also hold me accountable when my spending patterns do not appear to support my stated priorities.

DH and I married young but didn’t have kids until later. For most of our marriage I have been the primary breadwinner, and since 2007 when he suffered brain damage from a bicycle accident, I have been the only breadwinner. It’s been interesting to read MM’s blog because her situation has some similarities. We have 5 boys ranging in age from 16 to almost-25.

I plan to retire the year I turn 60. Much of my financial strategizing is done with that in mind, but there are things that I will spend on even when it takes me further from that overall goal:
++ Family, especially preparing the boys for their adulthood
++ Health, mostly preventive things that are not medical services
++ Home environment, because it has such an impact on my mood and outlook

I’m probably forgetting something, but those are the biggees.

First-time blogger, but frequent commenter! I feel like I know many of you already.

After a few suggestions by CCF, I'm starting this blog to share and to capture my activities.

Hopefully I've set this up properly. After numerous attempts to change the blog settings, I gave up. The changes just don't 'take' when I update. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but perhaps I'll correct it later.

Happy new year to all!