Owner: SingleGuyMoney URL:www.singleguymoney.com Join Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:22:25 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Personal finance blog of a 30 yr single male trying to get out of debt. Site statistics:Click here
Cash on the Way! 2007-12-09 08:48:00 Working on my budget for the next few months, I realized I have a bit of extra cash coming my way. December-February are historically very good months for my finances. Where is the cash coming from and what do I plan to do with it?Bonus - My bonus from my employer is paid in December. I've gotten a bonus every year but the amount changes based on company profitability. The bonus is paid out in 2 payments with 75% being paid in December and 25% being paid in late January or early February. I've calculated that my bonus payment coming next week should be roughly $3200 after taxes. The February payment will be about $1000. About $2000 of this money will go to my Freedom account and Rental Property Savings account.Freedom Account funds will be allocated towards making sure I have money for all my upcoming insurance payments in 2008 (1yr of auto ins, 1 yr of homeowners ins, Umbrella policy) and my vehicle tag fees. Rental Property Accounts funds will cover my home maintenance plan policy
The Breakup 2007-12-08 06:47:00 I've been so busy during the last 2 weeks, I forgot to tell you guys that Starbucks and I have decided to go our separate ways. It wasn't easy for me to say goodbye. In fact, I think there may have been a few tears involved...LOL. I decided that the relationship was not good for me or my financial future and I needed to make a change. Actually, there was another person involved that helped me with my decision. My mother was tired hearing about me spending my hard earned money at Starbucks for something I could do at home for alot less money. She decided to give me my Christmas gift a couple of weeks early. I got a brand new coffee maker, coffee filters, a big container of coffee and coffee creamer. She was even thoughtful enough to buy me a nice new coffee cup. For the past two weeks, I've been brewing my own coffee at home. I use the Vanilla Caramel creamer from CoffeeMate and I have a tasty drink for much less that I would have spent at Starbucks. I figure by making my coffee at h
Hump Day Carnival 2007-12-05 19:31:00 It's almost Friday!!! I don't know about you guys but this has been a long week for me. For your reading enjoyment, be sure to check out the 1st Carnival
of Financial Goals - 2008 Financial Resolutions Edition hosted by Patrick over at Cash Money Life. My article, 2008 Financial Goals, was included in the roundup. I didn't make the editors pick but I'm still glad to have been included. Some of my favorites:Randall from Credit Withdrawal wants to earn enough alternative income to pay his mortgage. I will definitely have to follow his progress.Mighty Bargain Hunter wants to track and categorize all money coming in and out of his household. I need to do a better job at tracking all my pennies too. Gather Little by Little plans to pay a minimum of $1000 a month towards his debt. Paid Twice wants to wipe out all of her family's credit card debt in 2008. Clean Simple Finance wants to consolidate and simplify financial accounts in 2008. I need to reduce the amount of paper I get from f Read more:Hump Day
Big Changes in a Short Time 2007-12-05 06:38:00 I just happened to realize today that my 6 month blogaversary is coming up real soon. Technically, my six month anniversary is December 23rd but due to the holidays, I'll probably be too busy to celebrate. I've made some big changes to my finances in only a short time. It will be interesting to see how things look a year from now. Here are some of my prior posts with an update. I'm starting to do it right.... - I posted about starting to save for those irregular expenses instead of paying for them with a credit card. I've saved enough to cover about 75% of my irregular expenses for a year. I should be able to fully fund that account over the next 2-3 months. Official Debt Tracker - I posted a debt tracker on the sidebar to keep track of my debt reduction progress. I started the year with over $66k in debt. I've since reduced this to a little over $47k. SingleGuyMoney is Mad - My cousin called me to "borrow" a thousand dollars and got very upset when I didn't loan it to him. He s Read more:Short
Sincere Thanks 2007-12-02 20:04:00 I'd like to take a moment to thank all my readers, RSS subsribers and email subscribers for reading my blog. I hope my blog has helped you with your personal finances and/or inspired you to take the steps toward getting out of debt and improving your financial health. I'd also like to thank the following websites (in no particular order) for sending the most traffic my way:Cash Money LifeMy Open WalletHustler Money BlogDimples Divine DomainNo Credit Needed NetworkOnline Savings BlogBeachgirl's Budget BlogAnd for the most traffic sent from my friends at the M-Network (again, in no particular order):Being FrugalDebt Free RevolutionGather Little by LittlePaid TwiceMoolanomyThe Dough RollerMy Two DollarsIf you haven't already done so, be sure to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney to get notified of the latest posts.
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, Thanks
November Net Worth Review 2007-12-02 09:06:00 Assets:Rental Property - $137,000Primary Residence - $193,000Car - $29,500Retirement - $41,775.28Cash (checking, savings) - $32,818.54Brokerage - $3,319.66Total Assets: $444,992.98 Liabilities: Rental Property Mortgage - $150,162.23Primary Home Mortgage - $183,295.25Car Loan - $25,248.69Student Loan - $22,223.81Credit Cards - $ 0Total Liabilities: $380,929. 98 Net Worth
: $64,063, increase from prior month is 0.95%Monthly Recap: Paid off the remainder of my credit card debt this month!!The market correction this month affected my net worth increase this month. This is the lowest net worth increase I've had this year. However, it was still an increase. I set a goal to have a net worth of $65,000 by the end of the year. I should be able to easily meet this goal unless we have another month of "market corrections". December should be a great month financially. I've already saved up for Christmas gifts and I should be receiving 75% of my yearly bonus. (The other 25% is paid late January o Read more:November
E*trade Complete Savings 2007-12-01 19:57:00 It was a nice surprise when I logged into my E*Trade account today to find that the rate for their Complete Savings
Account has been increased to 5.05% APY. The rate had previously been lowered following the series of rate cuts by the Feds. I am a big fan of E*trade despite the recent news of them having financial problems and the recent $2.5 billion dollar infusion of cash from Citadel Investment Group. Best features of the Complete Savings Account are: No minimum balanceJust $1 to open the accountYields more than 8x the national averageEasy access to your money with the Quick Transfer featureSecure online statementsFDIC insured up to $100,000In addition to a Complete Savings Account, I also have an E*Trade Brokerage account so it is very easy to transfer money back and forth between accounts. TIP: If you need immediate access to funds from your savings account, transfer the money to your brokerage account and write a check from the cash portion of your brokerage account. I do it all
2008 Financial Goals 2007-11-30 20:01:00 Patrick over at Cash Money Life has started a new carnival, titled the Carnival of FinancialGoals
. Patrick is filling a niche as there is no other carnival currently dedicated to setting or sharing financial goals. I think this is an excellent idea. Share your 2008 financial goals for a chance to win an Ipod or 3 personal finance books. Make sure you visit Cash Money Life to submit your 2008 financial resolution and review the rules of the contest. My 2008 financial resolution is to: get the balance of my car loan under $20k. Per Patrick's requirements, I will use the S.M.A.R.T goal format. Specific - I want to decrease the balance of my car loan to less that $20,000 by December 2008. I will do this by applying an additional $200 per month to my car payment. Measurable - Once the payment posts, I can determine how much of my payment was applied to principal and how much went to interest. Actionable - This is 100% reasonable considering I decreased my monthly expenditures by over $400
Free Money Friday 2007-11-30 06:48:00 It's finally the end of another work week and time for relaxing or having fun on the weekend. Need to add a few bucks to your Emergency Fund, House Fund, Car Repair Fund, etc instead? Below, you will find a couple of easy signup bonuses that will help you get closer to your goal.Open a free checking account and get a $25 signup bonus. Open a regular savings account and get an additional $10 bonus. Open a regular savings with at least $1000 and you get a $25 bonus. All I need is your email address to send you the referral. Your email address will not be saved or sold. Email me here. New customers only!Open an Electric Orange checking account or a Orange Savings account with at least $250 and you will get a $25. Open both and get $50. Email me here. New customers only!Want to shop, save money and get a referral bonus? Click, HERE, to visit Ebates.
Read more:Money
, Friday
, Free Money
Stealing from Kids 2007-11-29 06:40:00 I'm a little upset this morning. Why am I upset this time? The warehouse of one of my favorite charities, The Empty Stocking Fund, was robbed a couple of days ago. The Empty Stocking Fund provides toys for underprivileged children in the Metro Atlanta area during the holiday season. They have been one of my favorite charities for about 5 years. Apparently, when you are a thief, it does not matter who you steal from. The thieves broke in thru a small window and made off with over $50,000 in toys meant to be distributed to needy children during holiday season. What makes this story even crazier? The warehouse is in the same building as Atlanta City Hall and the Atlanta Police headquarters!I will be donating a little extra this year to help them out. If you want to know more about the charity or donate, you can check them out here. If you've enjoyed this post or reading about my personal finance journey, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here. Be sure to visit SingleGuyMoney to leave a Read more:Stealing
Credit Scores on the Rise! 2007-11-27 18:26:00 After paying off the remainder of my credit card debt two weeks ago, I have been watching my credit scores to see the affect of reducing my debt by over $10,000. I use TrueCredit to monitor my credit reports and usually pull a new report every 2-3 days to check on any changes. Here is a summary of how my scores have changed since 11/14/07. Transunion (11-14-07) = 707 Transunion (11-27-07) = 701 Not real sure why the score dropped by 6 points since my total debt load did not increase and there were no new inquiries. Equifax (11-14-07) = 694 Equifax (11-27-07) = 709 My score with Equifax went up 15 points and there are have been no major changes besides 2 old inquires dropped off my report. They are still reporting the balances on my credit cards that have been paid off. The balances should update on the first week in December and I expect a huge jump in my score.
Cyber Monday and Visiting the Carnivals 2007-11-26 06:15:00 I have to admit I do not know anything about CyberMonday
until this year. I kept hearing about it on the news so I wanted to do a little checking into it. For those unfamiliar with Cyber Monday, Wikipedia describes it as the Monday immediately following Black Friday where the online retailers offer the best deals like the brick and mortar stores offered on the previous Friday. Planning to do a little online shopping today? Make sure you sign up for Ebates.com. If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I am a big fan of Ebates. Not only do they offer signup bonuses and cash back on your purchases, they have all the major stores. TODAY ONLY (Monday), you get DOUBLE CASH BACK! SIGN UP HERE. Not interested in shopping? Be sure to check out the 115th Edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction hosted by fellow M-Network member, beingfrugal.net. My article was included: Paying off debt makes you feel.... so be sure to head over and read all the great stories.
Read more:Carnivals
Sunday Roundup - Lazy Sunday Edition 2007-11-25 08:07:00 It's the perfect day to be stay at home and be lazy. It's windy, cold and rainy outside and I will be staying home all day to do a few things I've needed to do around the house. I need to put a couple of items on Ebay, balance my checkbook, do laundry and catch up on a few shows I've recorded but haven't had a chance to watch yet. It was nice to have my family in town for a few days but they are all gone back home now. Here are some great posts I've read around the blogosphere. From the M-Network:How Blogging Changed Me from beingfrugal.net. I totally agree with Lynae and I feel most people have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. I too will be having a frugal Christmas.Why do I always find a better deal AFTER I buy it? from Gather Little by Little. I hate when that happens. Thanks for Everything from Paid Twice. Paid Twice gives a hearty thanks to the readers for keeping her accountable to improving her family's financial situation. I too am very thankful to my readers for Read more:Sunday
, Edition
Thanksgiving Leftovers Post 2007-11-24 07:40:00 Thanksgiving has come and gone and now I am munching on the delicious leftovers. I made sure I packed enough food to last me for at least a couple of days. First, I would like to give THANKS to my readers. I just realized I hit over 10,000 readers on yesterday. I know this is a small number compared to some of the personal finance blogs out there, but this is huge for me. Thank you so much for reading and following my blog. I hope by following my personal finance journey, it will help you with your own personal finances. I also thank you for all the comments and emails with words of encouragement. If you have not signed up for the RSS feed, you can do so here. It's totally free and you will be notified of the newest posts here at SingleGuyMoney.I am also starting a new regular feature for the blog. Every Friday, I will have a "Free Money Friday" post highlighting a few of the best bank or credit card bonuses. Even though it's Saturday, here's a sample of what you will find. Chase Ba Read more:Thanksgiving
Being Thankful... 2007-11-21 17:54:00 Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have alot of things to be thankful for. I will be spending all day tomorrow with my family and eating alot of food. I wish all of you a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving and I should be back to blogging by the weekend. Skip the crowds on Friday, shop online and save money using Ebates.com. Sign up for an account, shop at your favorite stores and get money back on your purchases. Right now, they are offering a $10 signup bonus just for opening an account and making at least 1 purchase. You can signup HERE. If you've enjoyed this post or reading about my personal finance journey, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here. Be sure to visit SingleGuyMoney for more great articles.
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What are you buying? 2007-11-20 06:34:00 If you are like me, you've probably been keeping an eye out for all the "deals" to be had on Black Friday. The two things on my list, a brand new flat screen tv and possibly a new laptop. After paying off the last of my credit card debt, I decided to put the money to better use. The 50" TV I have now works just fine and my laptop, although some of the keys have to be pressed really hard in order for them to work, is ok for now. With that in mind, I will not be shopping on Friday. I do plan to make one small purchase though. I want a ShopVac. They have them for sale at Wal-Mart for $20. They usually run about $40-60. Be sure to check out CleverDude's post - Black Friday and Buying out of Budget. CleverDude gives some excellent reasons for putting off those unneeded purchases. What are you buying? How much are you planning to spend?If you've enjoyed this post or reading about my personal finance journey, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here. Be sure to visit SingleGuyMoney for more
Monday Carnivals 2007-11-19 17:46:00 The 127th Carnival of Personal Finance-Wonders of the World was hosted my fellow M-Network member, Moolanomy. Be sure to visit the carnival for some great reads. Thanks to Moolanomy for hosting!Some of my favorite articles: A Penny Saved is Worth More than a Penny Earned from Cash Money Life. Prepare Your Mindset to Achieve Financial Freedom from Journey to Financial Freedom. Why I Use Credit Cards from Broke Grad Student.3 Reasons Why Personal Finance Should Not Be Personal from The Financial BloggerI posted my article, Slipping back into bad habits - ALMOST.
Read more:Monday
, Carnivals
Link Exchange 2007-11-18 20:41:00 If you are looking to do a link exchange, please feel free to contact me. I would prefer that it be a blog related to personal finance and be at least 3 months old. Please check out my blog, SingleGuyMoney, and let me know if you are interested.
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, Link Exchange
Paying off debt makes you feel..... 2007-11-18 14:03:00 GREAT! Every since I paid off the remainder of my credit card debt, I feel alot better about my finances. It seems as if a huge burden has been lifted. I advise anyone that if you pay off your debt, you will feel much better about your finances and life in general. If you need more reasons to pay off debt, consider this:Better Cash Flow. Working on my budget for December, I had to figure out what to do with the extra $400 I am not sending to the credit card company. This is great problem to have.Better Financial Flexibility. It's nice not having to try and figure out how to stretch your paycheck to cover all of your monthly obligations.Higher Interest Rates. Your lenders will charge you higher rates because they will see you as a greater credit risk. Interest Savings. Don't let the credit card companies get rich off you. Save the interest you would be paying to a credit card company! Invest and make it work for you. Better Credit Score. One of the major components of your credit scor Read more:makes
It's Raining Money.... 2007-11-15 17:38:00 Well, it's not really raining money, it is more like a slight drizzle. When I opened my email inbox and my postal mailbox, it wasn't filled with the usual junkmail. Today, they were filled with money. How much money you ask? Well just keep reading.Ebates: I received my "Big Fat Check" of $43.90 via email from Ebates. As I posted before, this website allows you to shop at all your favorite stores online AND you get a rebate for purchasing thru the Ebates website. The rebate percentage is clearly listed on the website. I hate going to the mall so all my holiday shopping will be done thru Ebates. They are offering a $10 signup bonus thru the end of today (11/15/07) and then it goes back to the normal $5 signup bonus. You must make at least one purchase to get the bonus. With the holiday season approaching, that shouldn't be a problem. Signup HERE. PineCone Research: I completed a survey yesterday and received my $5 payment today. The surveys are pretty easy and take about 5-10 minutes Read more:Money
, Raining
I DID IT!!!! 2007-11-13 14:03:00 If you have been following my blog, you know that I was trying to purchase an additional investment property. I found a property, put in an offer and had the home inspection completed only to find out that there are huge problems with the homeowners association. I did not want to buy someone else's problems so I rescinded my offer. I was really bummed last night and today so to make myself feel better, I PAID OFF ALL MY CREDIT CARD DEBT. That's right guys. I finally pulled the trigger and paid off the debt. It was all at a low interest rate but I was still paying interest that I could be saving and investing. One card had a balance of $3,150.00 and the other had a balance of $7,566.48 for a total payoff of $10,716.48.Here is how paying off this debt will affect my future finances:Cash on hand - $31,498.28. Still alot of cash but as I have posted before, I have a mental need to have alot of cash on hand because I am scared of a major financial emergency.Extra cash - I will have roughl
Investment Property: Deal or No Deal 2007-11-12 17:33:00 I had a home inspection completed this morning on the investment property I am considering purchasing. The inspector was very detailed and took time to explain any current and potential problems.There were 4 major items that needed to be addressed.TERMITES. The property shows evidence of termites. The inspector found several areas with rotten wood and termite mounds. His opinion is that the problem was not severe and could be addressed by a termite profession. The termite inspected was scheduled for the afternoon.Furnace is at the end of its useful life. The furnace appears the be the original one put in when the property was built. A/C is at the end of its useful life. Also appears to have been put in when property was built.Water heater at the end of its useful like. Again, appears to be original.I'd prepared for the mechanical issues and had money aside to handle these things. I was NOT prepared for the termite issue. Thankfully,the termite inspection revealed the problem was not n
Investment Property Update 2007-11-11 17:29:00 Finally, after a long wait, I was able to hear that the offer I put in on an investment property was accepted. I put the offer in on October 22 and finally heard that the offer was accepted on Nov 8th. I could have rescinded my offer since they did not respond in time but I really wanted this property. Tomorrow, I will have the home inspection and termite inspection completed. The home inspection will cost $240 and the termite inspection and termite bond will cost about $399. I will take my camera to document what repairs need to be done to the property and will try to post them here tomorrow. I am working on a budget for the repairs and will post it once it is completed.
Read more:Update
Business Trip Spending 2007-11-10 15:18:00 My business trip has been completed and I am back home. For me, I am always excited about leaving for a trip but I am even more excited about coming home. I posted the other day about "Temptation is ALL around me" and I had a temporary moment of weakness. I appreciate all the emails and words of encouragement helping me to remember what is important. I did do a little bit of shopping but the result wasn't too bad. The were a couple of stores that had really good clearance sales so I was able to pickup a few items I needed. Here is what I ended up spending:Old Navy Outlet - 1 pair of pants $21.59Haggar Outlet - 4 shirts $42.27 (they had most of the shirts marked down to $10 each)Eddie Bauer Outlet - Airplane travel bag $14.99 (has wheels and a handle). Total Spending
: $78.85I was actually able to save a little money because the company paid for all my expenses. The hotel provided breakfast so I did not have to spend any money for that. Lunch and dinner were all paid for by my company. Read more:Business
I have another property! 2007-11-08 07:51:00 My realtor called me last night to let me know my offer has been accepted! Now, I need to setup a property
inspection and termite inspection. I am out of town on business until Monday and we are scheduled to close on next Friday so things will be moving pretty quickly. I'm off to my meeting, I'll post more details as they happen. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney by clicking here.
Achieving my Net Worth Goal 2007-12-18 18:25:00 Today is the day that I usually do my weekly budget and Networth updates. Sometimes, I get a little obsessive and update it 2-3 times a week. While updating the numbers tonight, I realized that I have hit my 2007 Networth goal of $65,000. Right now, the number is actually sitting at $65,334.43 to be exact. I'm happy about it but I will not celebrate until the end of the month. With the wild swings in the market, I could exceed my goal or fall way short. Right now, it's just too close to call. IncomeI've received my last paycheck of the year (will go into my account on Thursday). I've received my bonus (more on the distribution in another post), the payment from the insurance company of the party that rear-ended my car last month and the December rent from my tenant. I am not expecting any more income this month. ExpensesAll the major expenses have been paid for the month (mortgages, car payment). I still have a few utility bills left and my homeowners association fees. This will be Read more:Worth
, Net Worth
Monday Carnivals 2007-12-17 19:09:00 If you haven't already, be sure to check out all the great articles at the Naughty or Nice Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Get Rich Slowly. My article: "The Breakup", was featured in the "Tinsel Lined Tree" (budgeting) section. Be sure to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here to get notified of all the latest posts. Don't be shy and feel free to leave a comment.
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, Carnivals
Sunday Links - Holiday Cards Edition 2007-12-16 10:48:00 I have been putting off filling out and sending off my holiday cards. I must do it today or I will have to save them for next year. All of my friends and I have agreed to have a frugal Christmas and will exchange holiday cards instead of giving gifts. Before I start doing my cards, I'd like to highlight some of my favorite posts from this week. From the M-Network:Moolanomy signed up as a Prosper Lender. Pinyo has been busy with his new son. Congrats Pinyo!Lynnae over at beingfrugal.net wants to know Do you have a will?ChristianPF talks about dividing large bills int smaller chunks to make them more manageable. I started doing this myself and it works SO much better. Gather Little by Little's neighbor Thanked God for Credit Cards
. And this is from a ministers wife!Paid Twice has taken on the title of "Shopping Queen". It looks like she'll still come in under budget for the month. My Two Dollars saved $7 on his electricity bill without spending a dime. $7 may seem like a small amount Read more:Sunday
, Holiday
, Edition
How I got my Nintendo Wii for FREE! 2007-12-15 07:00:00 I'm not really into playing video games but after hearing alot of talk about the NintendoWii
, I checked it out and decided I really wanted one too. I'd heard about how hard they were to get and how much people were paying to get them but I refused to pay an inflated price. My neighbor works at Wal-Mart so I asked her if they had any available. They had none at that time but they were getting in a shipment soon. She said she would keep and eye out and let me know when they came in. I was able to get 3 Nintendo Wii
's for about $240 each. I only needed one so I decided to put the other 2 on Ebay after reading HustlerMoney's post on Side Income: Learn to Ebay Hot Items. I listed the item for 7 days with a starting price of $100. For the first 5 days, I only had 1 bid on each of them for $100. I've used Ebay for over 5 years so I knew that the bidding would pickup as the auction came to a close. I wasn't real worried that I would get less than I paid for them because everyone wanted
Applying for a Business Credit Card 2007-12-12 18:16:00 I have been looking for a good business credit card to use for all my rental property expenses. I'd narrowed it down to 3 and I finally decided on the Discover Business
Card. I have a Discover personal card and I have been really happy with it. The Discover Business Card offers the following benefits: 0% Intro APR. Balance Transfer fee is 3% with a $75 maximum fee5% Cashback Bonus on office supplies2% Cashback Bonus on gas1% Cashback on all other purchasesEarn 10% Cashback Bonus on first $2000 on restaurant and electronic purchases.Note: I am a Discover Card affiliate and would greatly appreciate it if you apply through this link. You do not need to "own" a business to apply for a business credit card. You can apply with your social security number where it asks for a Tax ID number and you can put your name as the business name. I would not recommend "making up" a business.
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