Monthly Archives: May 2007
ProBlogger is currently organizing another group writing project and the theme this time around is a *Top 5* list. With regard to personal finance and debt management, there are numerous topics that lend themselves well to a *Top 5* list. As an example, FreeMoneyFinance has written a post on the The Top Five Steps to… continue reading
Do you ever get tired of the day-to-day routine at the office? Do you have the desire to be an entrepreneur? As much as I enjoy my current job, the days where I ponder the possibility of venturing out on my own seem to be more frequent. Lately I’ve been spending quite a bit of… continue reading
As the gas prices continue to rise around the country, you are likely looking for ways to reduce your fuel costs and Cynthia Brodrick has delivered with an article on 15 ways to save money on gas. The very first tip is one that I have mentioned a few times here myself. Properly Inflated Tires… continue reading
When I wrote about the need to watch out for little fees with your bank, I noted that my bank had incorrectly charged me a non-network ATM fee but that it was reversed. Another Fee Today I received my end-of-month statement from my bank and noticed that there was another $1.75 charge on my account… continue reading
As a means of tracking my progress towards my 2007 goals, I am going to be running this as an on-going series of posts. As a bit of background, here are the opening posts in the series: March 2007 Update February 2007 Update January 2007 Update 2007 Financial Goals Non-Mortgage Debt With the start of… continue reading
Non-Mortgage Debt
With the start of the 2nd quarter, I’m still sticking with my plan to pay a fixed amount towards my 0% balance transfer from American Express each month.
While I’ve been planning to continue with the gradual repayment on the 0% balance transfer, I’ve resumed thinking about paying it off early. Over the next month or two, we will be undertaking a handful of home improvement projects and we need to replace our clothes dryer. I’m thinking it might be convenient to eliminate the 0% balance transfer to avoid any potential oversights on the monthly payment, although it is really on auto-pilot so I am not sure there is much to really worry about.
For the month of April, I reduced the outstanding non-mortgage debt by 2.33% which brings the total reduction to 44.02% since the beginning of the year. Since the funds are currently parked at HSBCdirect awaiting repayment, this goal is still on-track for completion but unfortunately the 6.00% APY promotion from HSBCdirect has ended, meaning these funds will now be earning a little bit less each month.
Increase Net Worth
Even though I have not yet received a payout on an expected bonus, April was a solid month towards reaching the net worth goal. After the disappointing numbers from February, I’ve now had two months with solid gains.
For the month of April, my net worth has increased by 5.66% and that brings my annual increase to 17.39% since the beginning of 2007. This puts me right around the half-way point towards reaching my stated goal of a 35% increase in my net worth.
There is no doubt that I still have a hard road ahead of me, particularly since we have scheduled a few home improvement projects that will dip into our savings. However, I still feel confident that this goal will be met and will continue to work towards not only meeting the goal but surpassing it as well.
Plans for May
Similar to the month of April, we’re continuing to funnel money into savings to offset the cost of the new windows. We’ve made the initial payment towards the windows and will be making the 2nd payment in about 4-5 weeks. I’d like to see if I can save enough new funds to cover the entire cost but that might be a little too unrealistic.
Other than the home improvement projects, we don’t have much of anything taking place in May. The days are beginning to feel more like summer and school is beginning to wind down for my wife and kids. Our oldest son is beginning to consume more time with baseball season and our youngest son will be doing a lot of practice for his hip-hop recital that is quickly approaching. While May looks to be a pretty busy month, I’m not expecting too many surprises.
The 2nd quarter has started off on a good note and I’m still on the path to reaching my goals. But as I often mention here, I’m now setting my sights on surpassing my goals so I’ve still got quite a bit of work ahead of me. Hopefully you are still on the right course for your own financial goals so please feel free to share your progress!
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