Monthly Archives: August 2007

Time Travel :: August 2006

August 31, 2007

Posted by derek under General

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Last August marked the beginning of this site and was a time when I spent a good deal of time writing to myself as there were not many visitors. Therefore I would like to take you back in time to a few posts that I feel are worth re-reading from one year ago this month:… continue reading

No Contractor Tip :: Hold That Thought

August 30, 2007

Posted by derek under General

4 Comments

Yesterday I had posted about the fact that we would not be tipping the painters that were currently working on our home. However, I now have to tell you that we have altered our course. Earning a Tip When trying to answer the question of who do you tip, my wife and I had decided… continue reading

Another Contractor Going Home With No Tip

August 29, 2007

Posted by derek under General

4 Comments

Last month I asked all of you the question: Do you tip contractors? The outcome of the poll was that 88% of you said that you do not tip contractors. At first I felt somewhat guilty about not tipping the crew that installed our windows but after the job was completed I did not regret… continue reading

Resist The Temptation

August 22, 2007

Posted by derek under Live Below Your Means

8 Comments

Today I had the opportunity to practice what I preach to my wife and kids about how to avoid impulse buying and truly evaluating if something is a need versus a want. This morning I was reading the newspaper and noticed a sale ad for Fry’s Electronics that was advertising a 50″ Sony Grand Wega… continue reading

List Of The Best Financial Advice

August 20, 2007

Posted by derek under General

7 Comments

Brian over at FinancialDominance.com has tagged me to participate in the My One Money Advice meme. This meme was started by Pinoyo over at Moolanomy in an effort to help promote financial responsibility and awareness. The Question: If you can give one advice, tip, or story related to money, what would you share? Always Pay… continue reading

Discover Your Money Personality

August 17, 2007

Posted by derek under General

1 Comment

In the discussion on the post about how to setup laddered certificates, Mark Anderesen made a comment that touched on the money personalities of people. When you evaluate a financial product or service, you need to take into account your own money personality to determine if the product or service is appropriate for you. While… continue reading

How to Setup Laddered Certificates

August 16, 2007

Posted by Mark under Retirement & Investing

5 Comments

Mark Andersen from Financingyourfamily.com is a banking professional who loves what he does and shares his insight into a little-known banking strategy. A common situation that befalls the members I work with goes like this: A close relative passes away Said relative leaves a substantial inheritance A receiver of the inheritance doesn’t want to blow… continue reading

More Invites To The Motley Fool

August 9, 2007

Posted by derek under General

4 Comments

Still looking for an invite to The Motley Fool? The 20 invitations that I had available disappeared quickly but one of the people that I invited is offering his invitations as well. The last time I checked there were still 11 invitations available. If you’re still looking for an invite, head on over to Financial… continue reading

Feeling Out of Touch with Finances

August 6, 2007

Posted by derek under General

11 Comments

How often do you balance your checkbook and check on bills? The routine that I typically use is to call our “bank-by-phone” number or log into our online account once per week to do a checkup on all of the debits that have been made and the checks that have cleared. When our monthly banking… continue reading

Net Worth Update: July 2007

August 1, 2007

Posted by derek under Retirement & Investing

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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: June 2007 Update May 2007 Update April 2007 Update March 2007 Update February 2007 Update January 2007 Update… continue reading

As I mentioned last month, I have been receiving some attractive offers for new 0% balance transfers and one offer is extended through February of 2009.

Unfortunately, I have called each of the companies regarding their offer and none of them are willing to deposit funds directly to my checking account.

Initially I had planned to just forget about the additional balance transfers due to that limitation but now I am thinking of just transferring the balance at American Express over to one of the new offers. I’m still not decided on this approach but it is under consideration.

In 2007 we have reduced our non-mortgage debt by 47.92% as we had paid off a previous balance transfer and have been making consistent payments on the AmEx balance transfer. The 0% balance transfer at American Express only has a few months remaining so we will either pay it off completely or roll that over to one of the new offers. If we select to roll it over, we will not be meeting this goal as the funds would remain at HSBC until the teaser rate expires.

Increase Net Worth
Ugh! Things were looking okay until the last week of July when the S&P 500 dropped by nearly 5% after July 23rd. For the first time this year I have had a decline in my net worth.

For the month of July, our net worth declined by 0.32% and much of that took place in the last week of the month. It’s disappointing to see but given the overall decline of the market I think we did fairly well. This brings the growth of our net worth to 20.15% since the beginning of the year.

The last few months have given me cause for concern as to whether or not we will reach our goal of increasing our net worth by 35% but I believe we can still do it.

Plans for August
Last month I had mentioned that we were going to be making the final payments on our windows and we did, although I discovered that I could use my rewards credit card to make the payment. Therefore the payment will not officially be made until our August statement is due for that credit card, which we pay off in full every month.

August will bring a close to the summer as our kids head back to school. In addition, my wife will be resuming her job once the kids are back to school so there will soon be an additional source of income. We’re still looking to get away for an extended weekend before school resumes but our schedule is so full that it may be difficult.

While I am a little bummed to have taken a step backwards in July, I realize that there are times when you need to take a step backwards before you can resume moving forward. The year has been flying by and I hope that everyone else is doing well on the progress towards their goals!

My New Choice

Monthly Archives: August 2007

Time Travel :: August 2006

No Contractor Tip :: Hold That Thought

Another Contractor Going Home With No Tip

Resist The Temptation

List Of The Best Financial Advice

Discover Your Money Personality

How to Setup Laddered Certificates

More Invites To The Motley Fool

Feeling Out of Touch with Finances

Net Worth Update: July 2007

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