Owner: Laws of Finance URL:http://lawsoffinance.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:14:58 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The tale of a law student trying to navigate his way through school without declaring bankruptcy. The personal finance stories, ideas, and suggestions should be interesting. Site statistics:Click here
Quarterly Statement of Financial Assets 2007-04-14 03:49:00 As promised, I have decided to start posting a more detailed statement of my financial assets (and liabilities). My assets are rather spread out. Thankfully, though, the only real liabilities that I have are my student loans. I plan to do this at the end of every quarter from here on out. Hopefully I can stick to that. Additionally, I might add some analysis in subsequent quarters. Maybe an asset allocation breakdown or something along those lines. Anyway, here it is. This is accurate through the end of the first quarter (3/31). I would be happy to hear your thoughts.Also, thanks to Chitown for her help in getting this spreadsheet to display proper in Blogger. Let me know if you have any trouble with either the picture or the formatting.
Read more:Quarterly
, Financial
, Assets
They Sent Me the Wrong Item 2007-04-18 02:34:00 I ordered something on Amazon a couple weeks ago and it finally arrived today. Unfortunately, when I opened the package, I found that it was not the item that I had ordered. It is similar, but still wrong.To be fair, I didn't order this from Amazon itself. I actually ordered it on the Amazon Marketplace, but it was still through Amazon.Anyway, I found the email confirmation to check that I had not made a mistake. Thankfully, I purchased the right thing. They just sent me the wrong one. So, I logged into my Amazon account, pulled up the order, and followed the "problem" links. I eventually got to a screen where I could send a message to the seller (through Amazon). I courteously expressed my displeasure and asked what could be done. I haven't received a response, but I will let you know when I do.While I really don't know what is going to happen for sure, I do know two things. First, I will eventually get the right item out of this deal. And second, I am NOT going to pay r Read more:Wrong
All is Well - Except Me 2007-04-19 03:34:00 My problem with the Amazon vendor seems to be resolved. I received a reply stating that the vendor would promptly ship the correct item and would credit my Amazon account generously for the return shipping (more than they originally charged me for shipping). I am satisfied with that. All it will cost me is a little extra time and a stop at the post office. I am fairly confident that all will turn out well.Sadly, I have become sick over the course of the past couple days. I have a sore throat, runny nose, the whole works. It seems like everyone at school is sick now too. I am blaming the erratic weather around here recently. Well, either that or this campus is one of the first targets of some kind of biological terrorism attack. Hopefully it is just the weather.
Don't Forget to Budget for Gifts 2007-04-20 17:39:00 I have been looking at budgeting tools recently and there is a line item that remains conspicuously (at least to me) absent from most of them - gifts. While gifts are rather "all or nothing" in nature, I think it still makes sense to account for them monthly. Take birthdays as an example. Each person's birthday comes only once per year. Say you have six people for whom you purchase $50 birthday gifts each year. That means an expenditure of $300 on birthday gifts. To have an accurate budget picture, just take the average and plug it into the budget each month. So, the monthly budget should have a line item for birthday gifts in the amount of $25 ($300/12).This is just one example, though. Rest assured that there are many more categories of gifts: anniversaries, religious holidays, family holidays (Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, Grandparents' Day, etc), and even professional holidays like Secretaries' Day (or whatever politically correct term you choose to use for it). In othe Read more:Gifts
Multi-State Tax Issues 2007-04-23 05:31:00 As I have said a few times before, I am working at a law firm in Ohio for the summer. I recently filled out the necessary tax forms for my employment and it made me realize that I could potentially have tax liability in three separate states.1 - the state where my parents live, my "permanent residence" state2 - the state where I go to law school and maintain a part time job3 - Ohio, where I will work this summerUpon looking into the matter further, I discovered that my "permanent residence" state and Ohio have a reciprocal tax agreement. That means that I can avoid paying Ohio state taxes altogether by claiming a full exemption. But I will have to pay my "permanent residence" state taxes instead. I decided to go with this option (mainly because Ohio has higher tax rates).The problem is that The Firm does not have the ability to withhold state payroll taxes for a different state. This means that I would be responsible for making estimated tax payments to my "permanent residence" st Read more:Multi
, State
, Issues
Credit Cards Online 2007-04-25 19:23:00 If you are still stuck in the old days of receiving paper credit card statements in the mail and sending a check to pay the bill, it is time to catch up with the rest of society. In addition to making you feel better about yourself for being more tech-savvy, moving your credit card activities to the internet will save you money and time.First, checks and stamps cost money. Unless you have a "totally free" checking account (which I suggest you get), your checks cost you something. That could either be through check fees from the bank or just the cost of reordering new checks when your supply runs out. Either way, that's money that you don't need to be spending. Stamps, on the other hand, have no "unless" clause attached to their cost. If you buy stamps and use them to send in your credit card payments, you are wasting money. Granted, it's not a ton of money, but it can certainly start to add up.Second, doing everything by hand wastes time. In today's world of "time is money, Read more:Cards
, Credit Cards
Do Digital Cameras Save Money? 2007-04-28 02:23:00 The initial reaction to the question, "Do digital cameras save money?" might be an off-the-cuff negative response, but that might not be the case.It is true that digital cameras cost money, generally a fair amount more than a traditional film camera. Fortunately for digital camera owners, that is only the tip of this iceberg. Let's start by just naming the costs associated with traditional film camera ownership and use:1 - cost of the camera2 - cost of the film3 - cost to have pictures developed4 - cost to store the photosNow let's compare each of these costs for a traditional film camera with those of a digital camera.Cost of the Camera - Digital
cameras generally do cost more than traditional film cameras. In some cases, especially depending on the quality of the digital camera, digital cameras can cost far more. There is very little to say in this area. So this is one strike against the digital camera. As we will see, though, it is the only strike.Cost of the Film - There is Read more:Cameras
, Money
, Digital Cameras
Total Student Loan Debt 2007-05-02 07:10:00 In an effort to avoid studying for the remainder of my exams, I decided to refigure my expected student loan debt at graduation. This will include my deferred undergraduate loans as well. This is not exact because I estimated some of the interest compounding for the sake of simplicity (mainly because only a portion of my consolidated loan is accruing interest while deferred). In any case, I expect to have roughly $102,500 in student loan debt at graduation. I had been expecting around $100,000 all along, so this number does not come as a terrible shock. It is still a large number, but when I consider that I currently expect my starting salary to be higher than that, I feel much better.
Read more:Total
, Student
Net Worth Plus 2007-05-02 01:22:00 -$15472! For the most recent net worth breakdown, check out the graph at the right. Click for details. It was a positive month thanks to the recent stock market trend, although I can't help but feeling that we may be in the midst of some stock market irrational exuberance here. One never knows for sure and don't blame me if there is a "correction" sometime soon.Secondly, I have another article in a carnival! Well, it's actually a festival, but really, what's the difference? My article, Do Digital Cameras Save Money?, is in the May Day edition of Festival of Frugality #72.
Read more:Worth
, Net Worth
Carnival Season 2007-04-30 19:22:00 My recent article, Credit Cards Online, is in the 98th Carnival
of Personal Finance this week. Head on over and check it out for lots of interesting reading.
Read more:Season
Amazon Marketplace Problem 2007-05-07 22:40:00 As I said in a post a few weeks ago, I received the wrong item when I placed an order through Amazon
's marketplace. I contacted the seller through Amazon and received a prompt response. My account was credited $10 to pay for the return shipping of the wrong item and they promised to send the correct item ASAP.Well, fast forward about three weeks and I have still received nothing. I sent an email about a week ago that went unanswered and I just sent another one through Amazon informing this seller that I would be filing a claim through Amazon if I didn't receive the item or at least hear from them by the end of the week. I am assuming it is a lost cause, but I decided to give them another chance. Incidentally, I haven't yet shipped back the incorrect item. I have been holding onto it as my little insurance policy. I told the seller about that in my email as well, so everything is kosher there.In any case, it has been well over a month since I placed the order and I still haven't rec Read more:Marketplace
, Problem
2007 Kentucky Derby 2007-05-06 01:08:00 If you are anything like me, you pay absolutely no attention to horse racing until the Kentucky
Derby rolls around. Then you pay no attention until it's Preakness time. After the Preakness, if the same horse has won both races and has a Triple Crown shot, then you are mildly excited while waiting for the Belmont Stakes. After that, though, no matter the outcome, you stop paying attention again until the next year's Kentucky Derby.Well, this year I decided to make some Kentucky Derby picks. I didn't do any real betting, but I pretended that I made a boxed trifecta bet. So, for my boxed trifecta in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, I chose: Hard Spun, Curlin, and Nobiz Like Shobiz.Well, as it turns out, the actual Kentucky Derby results were:1 - Street Sense2 - Hard Spun3 - CurlinSo, I correctly picked two of the three. Unfortunately, I missed the most important one. I would have lost. Oh well.I guess this means I can now forget about horse racing until the Preakness, when I, along with the re
My First Sunburn of the Year 2007-05-14 15:47:00 Don't forget your sunscreen! As part of our Mother's Day festivities this year, I spent quite a bit of time outside yesterday. Ironically, it wasn't even all that warm. I actually wore a jacket for a fair portion of the day. Even so, my face is now slightly red and painful.Yes, sunscreen is an expense. But it is a necessary expense. Maybe after your first few times outside you won't need it anymore because the darkening of your skin will help to protect it from burns. Until then, though, treat sunscreen like the credit card in those old American Express commercials. Don't leave home without it!
Read more:First
Coupons 2007-05-17 15:16:00 Some people use coupons for everything while others wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. My parents are "coupon people" and try to find coupons for everything. In fact, they often go places (generally to eat) just BECAUSE they have a coupon. So, from the marketing perspective, I guess those coupons are working.Using coupons makes good sense to me. If you can get a discount on something that you were going to do anyway, then why not take advantage of it.The difficulty comes where you go somewhere different or do something new just because you have a coupon. In those cases, there may not be much of a benefit to the coupon at all. It might just be a situation of the coupon user falling prey to the marketing techniques and believing that they are "saving money" by using a coupon to purchase something the person really doesn't need and never wanted in the first place.So, my coupon rule is this. If you wouldn't be willing to do or buy something without a coupon, then you proba Read more:Coupons
My Interview 2007-05-22 02:43:00 I was interviewed recently. The interview consisted of eight questions. I responded to them via email and my responses, along with some highlighted phrases, are available here at The Frugal Law Student.
Amazon Fiasco Finally Finished 2007-05-20 17:59:00 Yes, I know that alliteration may be a bit much. But there is good news! I FINALLY received the correct item through the Amazon
marketplace. And only a bit under two months after my original order. In the end, I did end up filing a claim with Amazon for reimbursement. They paid it, but only in the amount that I wasn't already reimbursed to ship the incorrect item back to the seller. So, as it stands right now, I am in possession of:1: The incorrect item2: The correct item3: The total price I paid for the correct itemIf I were to keep things the way they are now, I would make out like a bandit. But, as I promised, I will send the incorrect item back to the seller. Unfortunately, that will cost me some money. I don't really have a way to repay the seller for the correct item, so I'm just going to keep that money as payment for all my trouble. In the end, all it will really cost me for the correct item is the return shipping for the incorrect item. I'm happy to finally be f Read more:Fiasco
, Finally
Shaving 2007-05-24 21:15:00 I have always shaved using an electric shaver. This is presumably because my father uses an electric shaver and little boys do as their father does.Recently, though, I decided to try using a real razor (shaving cream and all). I did this for one day - ONE. It is a pain in the neck (literally) and I don't really notice that much of a difference. The whole point of trying the real razor was to reduce or eliminate my five o'clock (actually more like 11am) shadow. Unfortunately, using the razor did not really have much effect on my facial hair or its tendency to become very conspicuous far too early in the workday.So, I have gone back to my electric shaver. It's easier and it does (almost) as good a job. Plus, it is cheaper. Razors and shaving cream would probably get expensive over time. All my electric shaver costs me is the electricity to charge the thing. Well, that is the only cost until I need a new electric shaver. How much do those run, anyway?
Read more:Shaving
A Free Lunch 2007-05-23 17:20:00 Is there such a thing as a free lunch? While tradition says there is no such thing, I beg to differ.I was taken out to lunch today by my esteemed colleagues at The Firm. In fact, this has happened about half of my working days so far. It cost me nothing and I ate well each time. So, from my standpoint, it was a "free" lunch.Of course, it could also be argued that The Firm paid for my lunch with money it could otherwise use to pay me. In other words, my salary was reduced to pay for my lunch. But I really don't think they would pay me more money if they weren't taking me to lunch. Honestly, they are paying me well enough as it is. Of course, there is always the possibility that my esteemed colleagues at The Firm will try to take it out of my hide when/if I become an associate after I graduate.The lunches aren't terribly expensive, but a free lunch is a free lunch. It is money I don't have to spend. So, while there are still free lunches, I will continue to accept them. Ho Read more:Lunch
I Saved Something! 2007-05-26 11:27:00 Actually, the fact that I saved something should come as no surprise. I'm usually quite good at saving things. Well, I'm good at saving money. But other things? I'm not as good about saving other things.Some people might consider this to be a positive thing. Nobody likes a pack rat who saves every little thing they ever touch. I have some relatives like this. They save EVERYTHING. Not me, though. I only keep what I feel is important. From a cost standpoint, that is probably a good idea. Storage space is expensive, especially if you live in a high rent area or happen to be a large law firm with a monstrous document management system.Getting to my point here, I saved something today that I know is important. It is only two pieces of paper, but those two pieces have the potential to bring back a very emotional memory at some point in the future. Just how emotional the memory depends on the course of the rest of my life.Those are the kinds of things I like to save. So, a p
Law Firm Insider Trading 2007-05-28 13:40:00 Lawyers, especially corporate lawyers, could make a boatload of money by trading on the information they obtain from their clients. I saw this just the other day when I worked on an M&A deal. This was just a small deal, but I have heard about some large deals going on at The Firm. In those cases, I am sure that the lawyers involved could have made a fortune with some well timed options.The problem is those pesky laws that make such trading illegal. The penalties are stiff and involve jail time. That doesn't sound like much fun. So, lawyers have this information, but can't do anything with it. The temptation must be tremendous, though.The Firm seems well aware of the possibility of insider trading and made all the summer associates read up on The Firm's policy, watch a video on insider trading, and sign off that they understand and will abide by The Firm's policy and all relevant securities laws. In other words, The Firm is doing everything it can to protect both itself and its lawy Read more:Insider
, Trading
, Law Firm
June Net Worth 2007-06-05 20:14:00 Thanks to a great month in the markets and the receipt of my first paycheck from The Firm, my net worth has climbed rather substantially to -$11,500 this month. Yes, I realize that it is still negative, so it isn't all that great. But when I consider that I only have one more year of school left and my net worth is near zero, I don't think it is so bad. I know plenty of students who are a lot worse off than I am, (financially).I hope to get my net worth back into the positives before my tuition payment comes due this summer. We shall see whether I can do it. Probably not, but I think it's a noble goal.
Read more:Worth
Summer Food Costs #1 2007-06-04 19:06:00 I don't eat breakfast everyday. I know, I'm bad. I have been eating it "most" days so far this summer, though.I tend not to eat lunch on the weekends, but I do eat it at work. It is never anything spectacular unless The Firm takes me out somewhere. Today, for example, I had a slice of pizza. Even if The Firm does take me out, it's not always spectacular. I had a salad the other day. Don't get me wrong, salad is good - but it's no prime rib.I have dinner everyday. Without fail. The only caveat here is that the dinners I don't eat at home will not be factored into my math. So, if The Firm has an evening event with food, that will likely be my dinner for the day. Or if I go out with friends, I won't count myself as having eaten dinner at home.What am I building up to with all this? Well, I have calculated the first installment of my Summer
Food Costs
series. Keep in mind that this only deals with food, not things like toothpaste and shampoo.For the relevant period, I h
Food Costs 2007-06-03 20:26:00 Since I am living away from home and away from school, in other words, totally on my own, I am fending for myself when it comes to food. I have decided to track my food cost for all the meals I eat here in my apartment. So far, I have kept all my grocery receipts and I will continue to do so. I will then compute the cost for each meal according to type (breakfast, dinner, etc). I look forward to the numbers. Honestly, I'm rather curious.Preliminary numbers coming soon, as well as my monthly net worth update.
Read more:Costs
Where to Live? 2007-06-09 14:51:00 By this question, I don't mean to ask what city, state, or country. Instead, it is simply a "downtown" versus "the suburbs" question. Now, keep in mind, I am in Ohio, so this is not New York or some other mega metropolis.I currently live downtown for the summer, but I did venture out to the suburbs today. I could really see myself living either place. Presumably the suburbs are "safer" and there is more "room" because most people own single family detached homes in the suburbs. Downtown, on the other hand, there is certainly more crime and most people have apartments, condominiums, townhouses, or the like, and thus live closer together. Privacy is certainly much harder to obtain living downtown. But the commute is much better than living in the suburbs and driving to work everyday. I currently walk to work and it is wonderful.The trend I have seen at The Firm seems to be for most newer associates, especially those who don't have family considerations, to live downtown or in the neare
Summer School? 2007-06-07 20:27:00 I recently received the information regarding the work I have to do for the journal over the summer. I get the distinct privilege of reading and grading a bunch of student writing pieces. Very exciting, indeed.I have about three weeks to complete the task and send them back. I'm not really looking forward to doing it. This will certainly keep me busy this weekend and perhaps the next couple. Although the idea has popped into my mind, I currently have no intention to try to do any of this work while physically at The Firm.I guess it could be worse. I mean, I remember having to write that paper last year in addition to starting my first position as a summer associate. That first week really sucked while I was trying to do both. I just can't believe that the 1L's are all finished writing their papers so soon. Apparently time flies when you're having fun. Oh well, I guess I had better get to work on grading them.
Read more:Summer
, School
, Summer School
Grades! 2007-06-12 19:01:00 I had to wait forever to get my grades because the school doesn't post them online. Instead, they go through the hassle of sending a letter with your grades. Basically, all it really means is that it takes longer to get your grades. But, after all that waiting, I finally learned today that I kicked law school's butt this semester! Take that! Finally... This past semester was my best by a wide margin. According to the averages the school posts, my grades put me somewhere around the top 15%. I'm very satisfied with that.Happily, my grades have been increasing just about every semester, with an especially large jump between my first and second year. Hopefully this tradition continues and I am perfect all 3L year. Yea, right.Honestly, though, I can't quite figure out the reason for my increase in grades. I haven't been doing anything drastically differently than I did last year. In fact, I might care a bit less about my grades this year than I did last year. So maybe that
Debt Consolidation Loans 2007-06-14 21:44:00 I just received my financial aid offer for my final year of law school. It got me thinking about loans, interest rates, and all those kinds of things. I remember how I consolidated my undergraduate student loans as well as those from my first year of law school in order to take advantage of the low fixed interest rate that was available to me at the time.It struck me that many people don’t take advantage of the debt consolidation option. High interest debt, especially credit card debt, is absolutely ridiculous to keep on your balance sheet. Get it off with a consolidation loan at a lower rate. I recently came across an unsecured debt consolidation loan website called ChoicePersonalLoans
.com. At the very least, they offer some useful information about debt consolidation options and the debt consolidation process.Let me go through just a few of the reasons that they offer to show why debt consolidation can be a good idea. First, if you have a variety of loan accounts open, you could sa Read more:Consolidation
, Debt Consolidation
Wasteful Appliances 2007-06-16 09:12:00 I was doing some driving this morning and I heard a statistic on the radio that got me thinking. The statistic is that 40% of the electricity used in the average home is used by appliances that aren't even turned on.I'm not entirely sure, but I think that means something like your computer, which may still continue to draw electricity, even while it is turned "off" as long as it is still plugged in. I don't know all the mechanics of this process, I must admit. Hey, I'm a law student - not a science guy.It seems to me that if you want to save a good deal of electricity, you might consider unplugging some of your appliances, especially the seldom used ones, instead of just "turning them off."Food for thought.
Summer Food Costs #2 2007-06-20 19:21:00 I decided to stop breaking my food costs down into breakfast and dinner categories. This is especially helpful since I have essentially stopped eating breakfast (it has been about a week). I just can't bring myself to get up earlier than I would otherwise have to get up in order to force myself to eat when I am not even hungry.So, my new plan is to do a simple "cost per day." I also added lunches I pay for into the mix.According to this new cost scheme, my original cost for Period #1 was $3.41/day. My cost for Period #2 is $5.02/day. So, my food costs have been rising, but I don't think $5.02/day is so terrible. I wonder what the trend will be after the next update...Average summer food cost so far: $4.27/day.I am learning one thing other than my food costs from this little project - it is very easy to manipulate the accounting. No wonder there are accounting scandals left and right. It is so easy and the temptation is so great. This is not to say that I condone cooking the Read more:Summer
, Costs
No Name Stuff 2007-06-25 20:57:00 Very interesting title - I know. Anyway, I went grocery shopping a couple days ago. While I was there, I did some price comparisons. I checked the price of the "name brand" food against the "no name" food. In most cases, I was absolutely shocked at the difference. It can be double the price (or more)! So, if it generally tastes just as good, the nutrition information is nearly identical, and it costs half the price, then the question becomes... What in the world could be name brand be charging so much for? Advertising? Maybe. Monopoly rent? I just don't know.In any case, I tended to go with the no name stuff. There were a few exceptions, though. There were some cases where I just couldn't part with the name brand (maybe the advertising works). One example was frozen waffles. There was a generic brand that was about 10 cents cheaper than the Eggo waffles, so I splurged and got the name brand. GASP!!
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