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Archive for December, 2008

Our 2009 Goal - Pay off car loan

December 22nd, 2008 at 09:13 pm

El-Erian of Pimco said on CNBC market bounce for 2009 "will be a prolong U shape because govt bailouts. In the good ole days, government was a referee. Now the government is both referee and the player. Government involvment changes the rules and regulation which makes things unpredictable and creates distortion." This doesn't bode well for our investment outlook, so we decided to change our contributions to maximize the highest benefit.

We're not completely pulling out from the market. We are long term investor while still putting contributions towards our pension and DW's 403(b). But we won't be putting extra towards ROTH and IRA this year. Instead we are going to apply those contributions in paying off our family van (06 honda odsyssey) anywhere from $300 to $400 a month extra on top $700 monthly payment. Our car balance as of today $13,291.00. We plan to pay it off by Dec 2009.

In January 2010 we should have an extra $700 a month to do whatever we want. It most likely going to towards EF until we figure it out.

I can't believe it!

December 10th, 2008 at 04:35 pm

I'm still in the state of shocked after being told this morning that one of our manager and who I personally worked for was murdered yesterday along with her husband. It's being called double homocide.

She was a very kind person and cared for people. We're just stunned and still can't believed this happened. We don't know who would do such a thing.

I just thought i'd share my emotions....i'm bummed

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1462237.html

Marking - 1st Year Anniversary

December 1st, 2008 at 10:31 pm

Before becoming a regular member on this site last year, we didn't have a solid financial planning. We went about our business as usual. After many adviced on this site, we began to pay closer attention to our family budget. We began tracking our spending; lunch, dinner, groceries, and all the little things we hardly paid attention. We began funding our emergency funds and improved our overall financial picture while reducing our debts significantly.

So here's the things we've accomplished in 2008.

-Saved $12K in EF
-Reduced our overall debt by at least 35%
-Reduced Unnecessary spending
-Term Insurance
-Used mainly "cash" over credit
-ZERO credit card balance

This time last year we owed about $46K in total debt combined (car loan and home equity loan). Our balance as of today in mid $28K. That's $18K debt reduction from last year. More importantly, we were able to budget expenses like christmas gifts and birthdays without resorting to credit cards.

2008 is only the beginning not the end.