Andy Hough

Halfway Through the Semester

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I’ve made it halfway through the semester. I have two half-semester classes.  I took the final for one on Friday and the other one will be on Tuesday.  Having my half-semester classes completed means I’ll now only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That should save me a little gas and I hope to increase my productivity with the extra time.

I’m dreading the rest of the semester though.  Since I transferred they’re making me take a class where I have to oral arguments-two of them to make it even worse.  Public speaking is almost my least favorite thing in the world.

For my clinic class I have now been assigned two real cases.  I’m not looking forward to calling the clients and setting up appointments and then interviewing them to collect the information necessary for the case.  This all stuff I’ll have to do if I become a lawyer but not stuff I like.  People skills aren’t really an asset of mine.  Of course, I knew this is what I’d have to do when I started law school but didn’t worry about it when it seemed far off.

Sometimes I feel like quitting law school but it would be stupid to do so this late in the game.  Anyway, I’m halfway through the semester now so I might as well finish.  And if I finish this semester I’ll only have one part-time semester left so I might as well do that and get my degree.  I’ll probably be more positive about this once it is all over.

September Investment Income- $32.01

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My September investment income dropped to $32.01 from $34.87 the month before due to decline in the stock market at the end of the month.  This is the first time my investment income has dropped since I began tracking it and I hope it is the last. That makes my potential early retirement a little farther away.

I’ll be almost maxing out my Roth IRA this month.  That combined with my mutual fund hopefully at least partially rebounding should bring my monthly investment income back up to where it used to be.  I’m not going to be able to fund my Roth IRA for the $5,000 allowable amount because I haven’t had $5,000 in employment income this year.  I’ve only had a little less than $3,000 in income.  I waiting to fund my Roth with the full amount of my employment income though because I’m thinking my former job might force me to cash out my 401k.

I suppose I could set up a Solo 401k or SEP IRA to put some of my business income in retirement savings.  I don’t plan on doing that because I don’t have much more money to put in retirement savings this year.  I’ll probably do a post sometime weighing the pros and cons of opening a Solo 401k or SEP IRA or neither sometime soon.

September Expenses- $756.50

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

Household

$382.98

Utilities

$89.40

Transportation

$80.70

Food

$28.69

Entertainment

$72.12

Student Loan Debt/Education

$102.61

Total

$756.50

I was quite happy with how low my expenses were last month.  I was lucky in that none of my irregular expenses were due and no unusual expenses popped up.  I won’t be able to repeat such a low amount this month because my $200 quarterly health insurance payment is due.  Most other expenses should remain roughly the same.  This is the first month I won’t be paying rent on my own apartment but rather contributing a similar amount to my GF as my contribution towards our household expenses.  This shouldn’t make much difference in my finances but we’ll see what happens.

September Income- $887.81

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Here is a breakdown of my income for September.

Online Income $657.02
Bonuses $210
Interest $11.25
Surveys/Ebay/Cashback $9.54
Total $887.81

My income was decent considering I didn’t have any job related income. I won’t likely be able to repeat the amount of online income this month though. My income was higher than my expenses for September but it still needs to be higher for me to continue not having a job.

Save Money by Living in a Small Town

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We visited my mother this weekend.  My sister, who is in the Navy and stationed in California, was also there visiting.  My sister plans to retire from the Navy in three years after twenty years of service.  When she retires she will move to the small town where my mother lives.  There are several advantages of retiring to a small town and I might do the same myself.

The biggest advantage is that real estate is cheap.  My mom bought a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath house a few years ago for only $70,000.  Houses are still cheap there and rent is very low as well.  You also save money on transportation because everything is within a ten minute drive.  If something you want to do isn’t within a ten minute drive you’ll be saving money by doing that activity less often.  Car insurance is generally cheaper than in the city too.  That is just a few of the ways you can save money by living in a small town.

The biggest drawback to living in a small town is that most local jobs don’t pay very well.  If you’re retired then that isn’t a big deal.  Another drawback is the lack of diversity and exposure to other cultures.  I plan to travel often when I retire so I’ll get my culture and diversity during my travels.

Even with the financial advantages of living in a small town I probably wouldn’t live in one if I didn’t have family there.  If I do end up retiring to a small town it will probably be more of a pit stop between hiking and travels than  a permanent residence.