Tight Fisted Miser

What Should You Do With Your Money Now?

May 19, 2022September 19, 2008 by Andy Hough

With the turmoil in the financial markets many people are wondering what they should do with their money. I don’t know what you should do with your money but I can tell you what I am doing. I just invested a little more in my Roth IRA which is 100% invested in a value stock mutual fund. I figure if the stocks were undervalued before they should really be undervalued now. It is a bit disconcerting to see my balance go down but I have faith that the market will eventually rebound. On the theory that stocks are cheap right now I hope to max out my IRA before the end of the month if I have enough cash flow.

If you’re worried about safety than putting your money in an online savings account is a safe way to go. As long as you put your money in an FDIC insured account you’re protected up to $100,000. This is a case where less risk doesn’t lead to less return when you compare them to money market mutual funds. The Reserve money market mutual fund recently broke a buck causing investors to lose part of their principal and the fund is paying less than 2%. In an online savings account such as FNBO Direct you don’t have to worry about losing your principal and it pays 3.50% APY. Why would you invest in a money market mutual fund?

I’ll end with the standard disclaimer. I’m not a financial professional and I’m not advising you how to invest your money. I’m just telling you what I am doing with my money.

September Credit Score

September 18, 2008 by Andy Hough

My credit score for this month went up to 731 from 725 last month. My credit score has been going up steadily the past few months after it went down earlier this year when I used a balance transfer from a credit card to pay down one of my student loans. I don’t plan on using my credit any time soon but having a high credit score can also affect how much you pay for insurance and other things and if I do decide to apply for more credit having a high credit score should make it cheaper . I get my credit score for free with my credit card from WaMu.

Getting Cash Back On My Tuition

May 19, 2022September 17, 2008 by Andy Hough

For reasons that are still unbeknownst to me not all of my tuition was automatically paid out of my financial aid. This created an inconvenience for me since I now had to pay the remaining balance by cash or check. Since I have several checking accounts but no checks this left me with the option of paying by cash.

I decided to get a little cash back for my inconvenience. I ordered $500 in dollar coins from the U.S. Mint. These coins sell at face value with free shipping. I used my credit card to pay for them earning myself $15 cash back.

The university cashier didn’t seem real pleased to be paid with dollar coins but he accepted them without complaint. The few minutes I spent ordering the coins were well worth the $15 return to me. I’m not sure how long the U.S. Mint is going to be offering this free shipping deal but I’ll probably take advantage of it again.

Living on $700 a Month

September 16, 2008 by Andy Hough

Back in January I posted my sample $1000 a month budget. I don’t stay strictly on this budget but it is a fairly accurate representation of my monthly expenses. Frugal Freedom lives on even less and posted her $700 a month budget. Below is her monthly budget. I combined some expenses into categories to make it easier to compare to my monthly budget.

Food $150
Transportation $256
Utilities $149 (electric,internet, and phone)
Life Insurance $47
Everything Else $98 (trash,Christmas, property tax)

The main difference in our budgets is that she doesn’t have a rent or mortgage payment in her budget because she lives in an RV. She does have a house with a mortgage but I’m guessing she doesn’t include it here because her renters cover the mortgage payments(?). Other than that our budgets are pretty similar. One difference is that she doesn’t have any money budgeted for entertainment or health insurance. She also spends money on life insurance which I don’t have because I have no need for it.

This does show that you can live on very little money if you plan for it. If anyone else has a low monthly budget they’d like to share I’d like to see it.

I Passed the MPRE

September 13, 2008 by Andy Hough

I got some good new this week. When I took the MPRE last month I thought I hadn’t passed it. I got my score report this week though and I received a scaled score of 91 and I only needed an 80 to pass. I must have been doing really good at guessing that day. I know the 80 and 91 numbers don’t represent percentages but I’m not sure what they represent exactly. It doesn’t really matter because the only thing I need to know is that I passed.

I already received my approval letter for my Rule 13 application. This means I can practice law under a supervising attorney. I needed this for the Child & Family services clinic I’m taking at school. I assumed I’d be approved for it but it is still nice to receive. It makes it seem like I’m getting a little closer to actually being an attorney.