Disqus - Latest Comments for Dus10

Re: Do You Need 80% of Your Current Income in Retirement?

Dus10 — Mon, 07 May 2007 11:39:27 -0000

I have no idea how much I am going to need in retirement. If I am healthy, I surely don't want to be sitting around my house watching TV all day long; I will want to be traveling. I would imagine taking a few nice international trips each year would be expensive (just a wild guess)... so I don't think I would want less money, but more money.

If I am not healthy, then I will likely have more expenses.

Either way, it looks like more money is necessary unless you want to veg out in front of the stupid box.

Re: Governor Jon Corzine Voluntarily Pays Ticket

Dus10 — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:24:23 -0000

Dan,

They were on their way to a meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers Women's Basketball team over Imus's poor choice of words. How ridiculous. It wasn't important at all. Heck, I don't know why everyone didn't just laugh at Don Imus. I mean, who the heck is he to call someone nappy-headed? Has he looked in a mirror lately?

Re: Governor Jon Corzine Voluntarily Pays Ticket

Dus10 — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:22:15 -0000

I wear a belt 99.9% of the time... not because it is the law (it certainly is the law, here), but because it is smart. He should be forced to do more than pay a silly ticket. He had the police officer speeding. They hit another vehicle! And they were "merciful" by not giving the other guy a citation for a hit and run when they were the one that hit him!

He certainly is a hypocrite, like most politicians. Paying a silly $46 fine is the absolute least he could have done... what if they would have injured or killed the other motorist?

Re: Extreme Frugality: Living Out of Your Car

Dus10 — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:40:04 -0000

He could probably afford to upgrade now. Maybe someone could sign him up for Pimp My Ride. They could hook him up with a stereo that has an LCD display and plays DVD and an XBox, and maybe a refrigerator and a nice swivel chair.

If he got this setup, he could probably go on like that for a few more years and have a huge nest-egg saved up.

Re: Advice Needed: Newly Found Debt and Debt Collectors

Dus10 — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 09:35:00 -0000

Keep in mind that, in most states, the collectors cannot sue her so long as she is making some sort of regular payment. They will say whatever they think that they can get away with, which often includes "payments are not an option," or something like that. If that is the case, she needs to start sending in at least the amount that a credit card payment on that balance would be, which would be $240/month at a 4% balance. Considering that she is paycheck-to-paycheck, something has got to give. I would move toward increasing income at this point, so that the debt can be paid off more quickly. Once it is paid off, then she could work on paying off pre-existing debts and building up an emergency fund so that she is more removed from this sort of problem, in the future.

Re: 5 Tips for a Frugal Valentine’s Day

Dus10 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:09:08 -0000

The easiest way I have found to be frugal is listen to Valentine's Day trivia questions on a talkshow and call in to answer. I won a rose dipped in 24K gold.

Re: Personal Income Statement, January 2007 (Net Income: $5,415)

Dus10 — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 13:30:22 -0000

Well, if you don't start addressing the dining out issue, the least you could do is try to maximize your perks for dining out. Rewards Network has a great list of restaurants that give you some rewards. The two programs that utilize it, for which I am aware, are UPromise and AAdvantage. I have used both, but I now use the AAdvantage program exclusively (aa.rewardsnetwork.com), because I have a goal to get 25K miles accumulated this year. I reached elite status this month, so I get 10 frequent flyer miles per dollar that I spend. They also have bonuses from time to time (like right now). For January and February, I will have about 10K miles, so I won't have much of a problem reaching my annual goal.

In addition, the card I use already has its own rewards, so I double dip there. And, I try to go to establishments that have some sort of other benefit (like a frequent patrons card or an online coupon).

I used to eat Subway very often, but I now frequent a Quiznos for the same price, thanks to my coupons, and get a lot of rewards.

Re: Yet Another TIAA-CREF Problem With My SEP IRA

Dus10 — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:42:52 -0000

That's unfortunate. I am looking into opening an Independent 529 Plan account, and they administer it. Hopefully they can get their act together.

Re: Repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)

Dus10 — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:54:21 -0000

Tom and Stingy,

Sales tax is inherently flat, but the Fair Tax is different. There is a "prebate" for the taxes that you pay on the basic costs of living. Essentially, EVERY tax payer will get a prebate for the amount of taxes that they will pay in the next month. This would be determined based on the cost of living in areas. From what I understand, it may be down to the zip code. Anyhow, this makes it progressive, because up to a certain limit there be absolutely zero federal taxes (and this includes FICA, etc). That is a better deal for the poor than all of the breaks we currently have.

Re: Beginning Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Dus10 — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 20:51:54 -0000

Toby and all,

We must consider that purchasing at a 15% discount is not a 15% gain, but a 17.59% gain, because 15 is 17.59% of 85 (since the purchase would be at 85% of the cost).

Also, you can calculate that as 17.59% x 4 for a 70.36% return, but remember that it is a 70.36% on only 25% of your deferment, if it is purchased quarterly. In any event, though, it is only 17.59% of your total annual deferment. And then again, you hopefully purchase it at a lower amount than it is currently trading, plus the 15% discount.

For an easy equation, consider that your purchase is based on a quarterly entrance/exit low of $100 per share. So, you purchase one share for 85$. However, let's assume that it is trading at $103, when your purchase is exercised. That is an $18 gain, or 18/85, or a 21.18% immediate gain!

This makes it even better!

Re: Beginning Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Dus10 — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:48:15 -0000

I have the a preliminary interview today for a position. If I am correct about the company (this is through a headhunter, and I will be able to verify after the interview), it will be a large publicly traded company that offers a ESPP with a 15% discount, like yours. I will also be getting about a $10K raise. I am pretty sure I will get the job, as the headhunter had been trying to reach me for about a month about this job, and I did not solicit his assistance. Unfortunately, I rarely ever check my home voicemail, though my wife does; she forgot to tell me about it. One day, I decided I was going to update my resume and fire it off to a few headhunters. When I came home, I looked at the phone, and then it rang a couple of seconds later, and it was this headhunter.

I am not familiar with the workings of ESPP other than the general idea that they give you a discount off of the price from the beginning or the end of the quarter, and how they are taxed. I was unaware that it could be done through outside brokerages, though. Obviously, you probably have to use the brokerage firm that they work with, though.

Could you share a little more about how it works? I definitely plan on participating, and I am definitely looking into a buy and sell immediately mindset. While the company is decent, the stock is pretty stagnant, and I don't need a bunch of their stock sitting around. Though, I may build up a few shares here and there just because I like to have stocks of local companies, and they are headquartered here in Indy.

Re: Suze Orman’s 5 Tips for 2007

Dus10 — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:48:19 -0000

These are good tips. I am very interested in fostering financial awareness in my children. I am establishing a 529, early in January, for them. I am also looking to get started on some of the Sharebuilder promotions for them, and to get them involved in some of my side work, where they can be paid and earn some funds to sock away in a Roth IRA, at a very early age.

Re: Fund 2007 Roth IRA in One Lump Sum?

Dus10 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:39:31 -0000

Does TIAA-CREF offer a no fee money market fund? You could dump it all in there and then do DCA purchases of the funds from there. That way, you get the money in, get some sort of return, and you can do DCA. Seems like a win-win.

Re: Jonathan Saved Me 17%

Dus10 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:43:38 -0000

Beyond companies, many large universities offer this for students. My wife attended a larger university for three courses, and then transferred. The good thing about universities is that they don't deactivate you very quickly, because many students will take a semester off, here and there. So, it was verified through her university email that was still active, even though she had not attended it for nearly two years.

Re: The Bank Deposits $1,000,000 Into Your Savings Account…

Dus10 — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:17:29 -0000

I would certainly be honest, but I would pray that they would let me keep the interest.

Re: Personal Balance Sheet, November 2006 ($67,377, +5.54%)

Dus10 — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 08:53:11 -0000

What all do you do for UPromise? I have been a member for nearly three years, and my balance is only $60; I have not withdrawn any funds, to date. Granted, I only use the grocery loyalty cards, and I have my wife's parents doing the same and contributing to us. I did have SBC contributing $2/month, but they stopped contributing to UPromise, all together, two months after I finally got them in the program.

I am thinking of asking random people at the store for their loyalty cards to jot down the number, and then I would just open a UPromise account and have those funds contribute to mine.

I am planning on buying a new washer and dryer combo in the year, or so, and the models I was already eying are some front-loading Whirpools, and they contribute a nice chunk to UPromise. Also, I am refinancing my mortgage on 01FEB07, so if there is a mortgage company that contributes to UPromise, and can still meet my terms, then I will go with them.

Re: Extreme Savers Greg and Tara: We Have Some Things in Common

Dus10 — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 07:28:42 -0000

Mrs. L,

Maybe you should buy 2-liter bottles instead, and make sure you still limit yourself to about the same amount of soda a day. You will probably be able to double your savings, again.

Re: My Company’s Stock Purchase Plan, Take 2

Dus10 — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 10:17:02 -0000

Is there some benefit that you receive from having your company stock in your 401(k)? Is it a requirement to have a certain minimum? If so, I would go with the minimum. As for the SPP, I would dump most of it, and maybe limit any of it that you keep to 2-4% of my portfolio. If you look at the best mutual funds, they tend to not let any one stock have more than 4% of the allocation, so that is why I use that number. You aren't going to get any benefit from holding on to it unless you are setup with an incentive stock purchase plan, which gets taxed only when you sell your stock, not on execution and sale (however, that is usually only available to executives, as it has some tax increases for the company). If you are on an incentive plan, then you could hold it for a year or more and only be taxed at the capital gains rate for the discount and gains.

Re: Personal Balance Sheet, October 2006 ($63,922, +8.13%)

Dus10 — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:09:08 -0000

Congrats, Flexo! It looks like your side business is really helping you along. It looks like you sell stuff on eBay and Amazon Marketplace, but is that your "business," or do you do anything else. I do understand that you do some web stuff, but is that the actual business?

Re: Money Magazine: 25 Rules to Grow Rich By, Part 4

Dus10 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:18:47 -0000

Okay, now that this series has been posted, I want to comment on item 16.

While it is generally good to go with a higher deductible to reap a nice monthly savings, it is not always worthwhile. There certainly is the higher deductible that you need to be aware of (and hopefully saving for), but sometimes the savings is all that significant.

For my auto insurance there are three levels of deductibles: $250, $500, and $1000; I chose the $500 deductible. I saved $45 a month by choosing the $500 deductible over the $250 deductible; this was definitely worth it to me. I called to see how much I would save by switching to the $1000 deductible, and it was a mere $8 per month; that is definitely not worth it to me. So, to save $8 a month, I am in jeopardy of losing an addition $500 until I have done saved the $8 for 62.5 months... no thanks. If I need to save an additional $8 a month that bad, there are plenty of other things I could do, like drop my Internet service to the next slowest speed, pass up two pay-per-view movies, clip more coupons, or do one more mystery shop.

Re: Money Magazine: 25 Rules to Grow Rich By, Part 3

Dus10 — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:19:34 -0000

These are great tips. I am waiting for the next set of tips before I comment, because I find one that is a gross blanket statement that may not be very accurate for most people.

Re: Wall Street Salaries are Through the Roof!

Dus10 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:34:06 -0000

Congrats on the good interview... hopefully it becomes congrats on the good job offer... and acceptance.

I am ready for another $10K jump myself, but I would like to stay at my current employer for another year, at least, to become fully-vested in the match that is 10% my annual salary. Honestly, though, unless some company is out there that does something similar on the 401(k), they are going to have to do better than a $10K bump for it to really be worthwhile. With the match and profit sharing, my employer contributes 14% of my annual salary if I contribute 5% or more. It is a tough one. And in a year, they will cover 100% of my insurance premiums, as well. This is a tough one... because I want a position like my boss has, and he is not going to be departing from his position until he retires, methinks, which would be about another 14-17 years. He has a great job, and they are not going to get rid of him because he is good at his job... and I wouldn't want that either, because I think he is good at his job and he is pretty good to work for... I just want a job like his. Otherwise, I would stay where I am... but I cannot stay somewhere all that long. Once two years comes up, I am always open to new offers.

Re: My Company’s Stock Purchase Plan

Dus10 — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:13:50 -0000

Andy,

I hate it when I get into situations like that. Too often I get into a situation where it seems like a carrot is being placed in front of me when I am already in a position where I am not pleased. If basically becomes a nearly worthless benefit, because I will not be there long enough. Currently, I get a 10% profit sharing contribution to my 401(k), but it is not vested, and I don't think I am going to stick around for it to get vested... which is a pity. Fortunately, they match my first 5% with 4%, and it is vested. I just bumped my contributions to 6% so that I am getting an even 10% of my pay placed into my 401(k).

The job I am interviewing for looks to offer a 6% match on my first 6%, so that will be great. And with the nice salary increase I will be getting, it won't be too much smaller than the dollar figure I was getting with the total of 19% that I was getting contributed (5% by me, 4% match, and 10% profit sharing). Plus, I get ESPP with the new company, which will be awesome.

Re: THIRD ShareBuilder Bonus Received, the Free Money Rolls In

Dus10 — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:06:59 -0000

Well, I faxed off the form to merge my accounts last Friday, and I got a message indicating that the two accounts have been consolidated, this afternoon. It worked like a charm. I would move on to promo number three, but there is a holiday time "Gift of Stock" promo that is available where you can setup a custodial or Coverdell ESA for one child, and you get a $50 promo for it. However, I found four different promo codes, so I guess you could do a seperate one for each child, for up to four children (I have three). I will run my third one after these clear, as I wouldn't want to mess them up, along with mine.

Promo codes for Gift of Stock:
NCGIFT06EMA (Expires 1/15/07)
ENTHOLIDAY (Expires 1/15/07)
BBTGIFT06 (Expires 1/15/07)
GIFTSTOCK06 (Expires 1/31/07)

Re: THIRD ShareBuilder Bonus Received, the Free Money Rolls In

Dus10 — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:03:53 -0000

I emailed eBates after my last comment, and they took care of it by this morning. $75 worth of stock, and the only thing it cost me was the interest I would have gained if I let the $75 sit in my account for a month... and I will more than make up for that with the stock I purchased.

Re: THIRD ShareBuilder Bonus Received, the Free Money Rolls In

Dus10 — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:30:09 -0000

Thanks Flexo! My second ShareBuilder account promo was deposited today. I still haven't received the $5 or $20 from eBates.com yet. Hopefully there is no problem since I used a different email address with eBates than I did with ShareBuilder. Anyhow, I purchased the same stock that I did with my first promo, and I will be faxing in the form to merge the accounts after I get a confirmation that my money is on its way to my savings account. I was reading on FatWallet where Sharebuilder went to the trouble selling the stock and closing the account, and then keeping whatever they could up to the $50 promo for people that opened too many accounts. On of these people had opened 22 accounts, apparently, before they were "caught". So, I definitely want to merge them, as it will probably lessen the suspicion, and truth be told, I doubt I am going to open 22 accounts, unless the Sharebuilder money keeps going on for years. I may try to open one account per quarter, as long as it keeps up.

Re: THIRD ShareBuilder Bonus Received, the Free Money Rolls In

Dus10 — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 07:52:52 -0000

Cool, flexo. Do you know if there is any way to combine the accounts?

Re: The 400 Richest Americans

Dus10 — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:36:17 -0000

Flexo, I cannot say that the wealthy being wealthy is wealth REdistribution; it is just wealth distribution, the natural way it is distributed based on the free markets. Government actions, however, are wealth redistribution, in that they are actually REdistributing something that was already distributed.

Re: The 400 Richest Americans

Dus10 — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 14:31:24 -0000

Joe, is that $20K for just yourself, or a family? If it is just yourself, I would hardly call it poor (just I certainly wouldn't call it wealthy). I could make $100K a year, but per capita in my home it would be $20K.

I must also say that I pay less in taxes now, even though I make twice as much, than I did in 2000 and 1999.

It is all about perspective. If you feel that the poor pay too much in taxes, then relative to that, the wealthy pay way too much. And I do agree, we ALL pay too much in taxes. Our federal government does WAY MORE than it was designed to do. The Founding Fathers envisioned that state and local governments would handle about 95% of the workload and that the federal government would only deal with 5%.

Re: The 400 Richest Americans

Dus10 — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 08:00:54 -0000

I have to agree... that sounds pretty much like class warfare. If you look at it, it is very likely that it is only on paper, and they did not grow by a mere 11% in liquid assets.

Further, you have to realize that about only half of the money that circulates in the economy has physicial currency backing it. We have went from the Gold/Silver standard that backed our money to having faith in the currency. Now, we are living in a world of electronic transactions where currency is backing the electronic funds, and that is slowly going away. Really, it was only a matter of time. People are creating all of these assets (be it real estate, consumer goods, capital goods) that are worth more in value. Why should we be subject to the Fed to dictate the economy? That doesn't seem like it is very Free Market...

Foobarista: You are exactly right. The French hold the mentality that the economic pie is a fixed size... and look at their economy; it is sucking wind. They have implemented a lot of new employment laws in the past few years, and their economy has not improved one bit. Before the laws, unemployment was 10%... and now, after the laws have been in place a few years, unemployment is still 10%. I am glad I am not a French citizen, for many reasons.

Re: Increased My 401(k) Contributions

Dus10 — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 18:34:13 -0000

I only put 5% into my 401(k), but my employer matches it with 4% that is fully vested on day one. Then, they have a profit sharing plan that is 8%, and there is an annual contribution of 2%, both of which will be fully vested in about a year.

I put $45/pay (semi-monthly pay, so $90/month) in HSBC, as well as some extra money from eBay and mystery shopping.

Re: My Third ShareBuilder Account Gets Funded Today

Dus10 — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:12:46 -0000

How does this work out? Do you have the seperate accounts all under one login?

Re: Does This Number Impress You?

Dus10 — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:51:44 -0000

What is really crazy about this is that you can amortize the $8,250 annually at a rate of 8% and get to nearly $1M in 30 years. And, even considering inflation, if you do not increase the $8,250 annual contribution, you can still get to $2.5M with little change.

First, amortize the $8,250 annual contribution with the same rate of 8%, but instead of 30 years, do 35 years. You will find it is more than $1.5M. Next, amortize the $8,250 annual contribution, but change the rate to 10% for 25 years. Voila! $2.5M!

The one thing that this does not take into account is that you should be increasing your annual contribution with each passing year. Maybe you should step it up based on a rate of 3%, similar to inflation. That alone will make a huge dent in the original amortization of 30 years at 8%.

Re: How I saved hundreds per month (Part 1)

Dus10 — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:38:44 -0000

I have a tip for gas/oil related to drying... if you load your dryer immedately after another load, it is still warm. In addition, if you are in the market for a new washer/dryer combo, get a front load washer. It uses less water which saves on hot water, or just water in general, which means it uses less electricity to tumble the clothes through the water, since it weighs less. Also, they get more water out of the clothes through the spin cycle, which means faster drying times... which means, you need to get a dryer that has a moisture sensor, as it will shut off when it detects that the clothes are dry.