Andy Hough

Frugality and Location

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I thought about including this in my post on housing but decided this topic deserves its own post since it concerns more than just housing.

Where you live greatly influences your living expenses. Some areas are simply more expensive to live in than others. I’m lucky to live in one of the lowest cost areas of the U.S. One of the drawbacks of living in an area with a low cost of living is that wages are usually lower than average also. If you can manage to make an above average salary in an area with a low cost of living than you are doing well. If you live in a high cost of living area and you are not making an above average salary you should consider moving.

Of course the cost of living isn’t the only thing to consider when determining when to live. You don’t want to move to a low cost of living area if you wouldn’t enjoy living there. Or you might have obligations that require you to live in a high cost of living area. If this is the case your location can still save you money. If you are able to find a location close to your work and other places you regularly visit you should save money. If you are renting you can use a tool such as Rentometer to make sure you are paying a fair price for your neighborhood.

Whatever your location if you put a little thought into where you choose to live you can save a lot of money.

Sitting for the Bar

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Yesterday, I finally got around to starting the application process to sit for the February bar exam. I already missed the October 1 deadline to avoid paying late fees and if I don’t have my application submitted before November 1 the fee is going to go up again. The fee is already over $1000 so I really don’t want to pay any more than that. If I had completed my character and fitness application when I was a 1L or 2L the cost would have been about half as much. Oh well, it is too late to worry about that now.

I’m not sure if I will be able to get this application completed by the end of the month. I need to get my fingerprints taken, go to the DMV and have a copy of my driving record sent to the office of the bar examiners, and get a certified copy of my birth certificate sent to them as well. This is on top of completing the actual application. I spent a little over an hour on the application yesterday and I think I still have a long way to go to complete it. Some of the questions, such as listing every place you have lived since you were 18, are probably not that big of a deal for a 25 year old but for a peripatetic 42 year old like me this is an extremely complicated question. Using my credit report and my tax returns I should be able to give a reasonably correct accounting of where I have lived but it will be difficult. There are some other questions as well that are going to much more complicated for me to answer than the average person.

After the exam fee, bar prep fees, and all of the other fees I will incur in preparation for the bar I expect to be out over $5,000. I’m not sure if taking the exam is worth it since I do not especially want to be a lawyer. However, since I have spent so much money and time on law school it seems like I should become an attorney rather than let all of my schooling go to waste.

Changes

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Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  I have some major changes going on.  I am now single again and in the process of buying a vehicle and finding a place to live.  I don’t wish to share the details of my breakup but I will say that it was 100% my fault.

I should have a new vehicle tomorrow.  With this vehicle purchase I plan to keep detailed records of every expense associated with it so that I will be able to determine the total cost of ownership.  This is something I have planning to do for a couple of years and it will be interesting to see the results.  At least I think it will.

I will share more details of upcoming changes as they happen, provided I still have internet access.

September Investment Income – $83.28

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My September investment income rose to $83.28 from $82.51 the month before.  This isn’t much of a rise but at least my income is going in the right direction.  I didn’t add any money to my investments in September so the rise was from investment portfolio increasing in value.  I plan to add a little money to my portfolio this month so I should have another rise in my investment income unless my stocks tank.

Disclaimer: This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement savings, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income.

September Income – $385.07

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Here is a breakdown of my income for September.

Online Income

$215.10

Interest

$77.86

Stock Dividends

$86.11

Survey

$6

Total

$385.07

September was not a good month for income.  This isn’t too surprising since I was traveling for most of the month.  On the positive side $385.07 isn’t bad income since most of it was passive income.  I’ve already passed September’s income this month so October should be a much better month for income.