A while back I read an article on money.cnn.com about FREE online tools for tracking personal finances and tracking network. The article identified the following websites as good and secure locations to track your finances.
Taking a step back, in the past I’ve used Microsoft Money to track my personal finances. However, I just never liked the user interface, the connection with other websites, or the purchase of the tool. Most recently, I’ve just resorted to using excel (my guess is most people do as well). After reading this article, I decided to give Yodlee a chance. It was surprisingly easy to use. In a matter of an hour or two, I had all of my accounts linked in a initial calculation of my network. I’ve only been using for about a month, but I would highly recommend this tool to anyone. As anyone else using Yodlee or any other online tools for tracking personal finance?
I purchased a few shares of Qualcomm stock on Friday at the opening bell for $45. I bought it for a number of reason, which I will explain later. First, I want to share with you the good timing. The QCOM stock just happened to get upgraded that same morning by Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Ittai Kidron. He raised his price target to $56 from $52 and kept and “Outperform” rating. The new target implies he expects the stock to rise about 24 percent above Thursday’s $45 close. The stock jumped 4.22% or $1.90 that same day. Not bad for owning the stock one day.
I felt it was the right time to buy the stock because:
Their mobile video play. They are driving a standard called MediaFLO, through a wholly owned subsidiary called MediaFLO USA. The MediaFLO system transmits data on a frequency separate from the frequencies used by current cellular networks. In the USA, the MediaFLO system will use frequency spectrum 716-722MHz, which was previously allocated to UHF TVChannel 55. It is a competitor to the Korean T-DMB standard and the European DVB-H standard. However they are not being too arrogant. Qualcomm is making chips that runs both MediaFLO as well as other standards such as ISDB-T On Single Chip.
Stand to benefit from the strong growth in the Smartphone market where they sell chips. But they are looking to create their own smartphones, at least in India.
They have a solid balance sheet with plenty of growth potential.
These are just a few of the reasons I bought Qualcomm.
I’m happy to announce that my employee 401k has turned positive for the first time this year! I was very surprised when I saw the data (see image).
To be exact, it is now up 1.2% for year. At one point it was down over 6%. I’ve been pretty pleased in its performance, considering the broad market was down over 20% at some points during the same time period.
I’m hope this is not just a short run up. I’m hoping that my 401k will survive in a bear market in 2008 and still grow ~8%. How is your 401k doing?
I’m not a professional stock picker, I follow it more than anything because I don’t have much money to invest in individual stock (Most of my assets are in mutual funds in my 401k). Plus, I have a poor track record. Usually when I buy a stock it goes down. For example, I finally get around to investing in the market in Oct 2007. Right before everything crashed.
With that said, I still decided jump back in today.
Apple(AAPL) - I think their is no sign of the iPhone sells slowing, iTunes movies is just getting started, there brand is unstoppable.
Nucor(NUE) - Solid business with growth potential. One of the largest steel companies in the world and America’s largest recycler.
I bought these with a 5yr horizon. The odds are these stocks will crash.
Based on the doctors visit yesterday, we are going to have a Christmas baby! That’s right, the due date is 12/25/2008. Now the odds of us having it on Christmas day are slim. I don’t think our doctor wants to work on Christmas day and neither do we. Our hope is she will induce a week or so early. Either way, I’m definitely going to have an additional $1,000 tax credit based on 2 children for 2008 :-) The extra $1,000 will totally offset the additional costs of the new baby. NOT!! So, I’m now in finance mode, trying to figure out the additional costs.
We were planning on having a 2nd child, but not until early next year. We didn’t expect to get pregnant the very first month (even though it did for our first child). I guess you could say we are both very fertile. I’m not complaining, we have both have siblings that have had a very difficult time getting pregnant. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
My wife is only 7 weeks, so we have the long 40 week trek ahead of us. We are extremely excited about our new little blessing.
Well, I’m back in the saddle. I’ve been out of town for 3 out of the last 4 weeks. To get me going again, I’m going to right a quick post about Craigslist. If you’ve never used it before, I highly recommend it. Over the last few years, I’ve purchased a few things on Craigslist (Typically furniture). One item I purchased was a green couch (see image). It was listed for $240, but I was able to get it for $220. We’ve used it over the last 2.5 yrs and were pretty happy with it.
My wife’s aunt recently purchased a new living room suite and she was nice enough to donate her old furniture to us, free of charge. My first thought was, “I wonder if someone will buy the couch from me on craigslist.” So, I posted it on Monday of this week. Got an email the next day. I sold it two days later to the first responder. I was able to get $200 for it. So, it kept its value pretty good. Overall, I’m very pleased with the outcome.
I’ve been flying around the world the last few weeks, so I’m just now getting a chance to finally write a blog post. Last week during my travels I was reminded of a need to increase my emergency fund because crazy and unexpected things can and do happen.
I was chatting with a co-worker during my latest trip. He said he was pretty tired because he had a late night. He then went on to tell me that he and his wife were awakened to tires peeling out of their driveway at 3:30am. He looked out their window and realized that his car had just been stolen. This of course is very rare in their small little neighborhood located in Cedar Park, TX. They quickly called the police and who arrived at their house in minutes. They were chatting with the cops in the front yard, when my buddy noticed a car driving by that looked just like his (the brilliant thief decided to do a quick drive by the house to see if anyone had noticed the car was gone).
The cop quickly jumped in his car to chase down the thief. The robber (a neighbor kid from 2 blocks over) panicked and crashed and totaled the car. It just so happened that his car was a late model Honda that was paid in full and was not planning on replacing anytime soon. So, he is now in a situation where he has to come up with some money to purchase a replacement vehicle.
Putting myself in his shoes, this event would have definitely put my finances in an emergency situation. I have an old 1998 Dodge Avenger that I own out right. I have only liability insurance on it because it is worth just $3k. If I had to replace this vehicle for some reason in the near future would put some serious strain on my finances. I would either have to sell some stock (that I had slated for something else) or takeout a new car loan. On my quest to be debt free, I definitely don’t want to do the latter. So, my co-workers story has definitely taught me a lesson about the value of an emergency fund and will serve as a reminder to boost our emergency fund. contributions.
Has anyone had an unplanned event screw up their financial plan?
I’ve been remodeling my 1/2 bath the last few weeks (I plan on blogging about it later). A remodeled bathroom wouldn’t be complete without a new toilet. New toilets can range range can range from $100-$400. The frugal person that I am, I’m always looking for a handout :-). Well, in Austin Texas, we have a free toilet replacement program. The primary reason for the program is to replace older toilets with high-performance HETs (high-efficiency toilets) that use only 1.28 gallons with each flush.
Here are the stipulations.
Toilet(s) must be installed in a property that receives water from Austin Water Utility, Anderson Mill MUD, Rollingwood, WCID #10, Lost Creek, Shady Hollow, or Wells Branch MUD.
There is a limit of three toilets per property (if there are three bathrooms) through any combination of programs.
Free toilets must replace existing toilets installed before January 1, 1996
Conveniently, my house was built in 1995, so I just squeaked by on that requirement. I submitted my paperwork for the free toilets and received a voucher about 3 weeks later. I’ve picked up my toilets and have already installed one of them. It works great. This HET toilet has put the finishing touch on my remodeled bathroom without busting my budget!
Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s face has been splashed all over the web and TV these days. I’ve read a few articles about his predicament. The more I think about him, the more I think he is a prime example of the type of person I was thinking about when I created this blog (read my “about” page).
Until this latest sleaze fest, he has had what many would call a very successful life.
A few of the articles, stated that many have considered him a potential VP or future presidential candidate. All of that speculation is now gone. To me, he is a clear example of someone that put himself above his family. In that case, I consider him to be a failure and an unsuccessful man. I understand people make mistakes, but this was no mistake; Spitzer had planned this to the tee. Ex-Gov Eliot Spitzer will now have to live with this the rest of his life.
This situation will serve as a reminder to me to stay focused and to not let anything distract me from my goal of being success in everything I do.
I read this article on yahoo.com that talked about gas prices rising to $4 a gallon in some places by summer. The rising gas to date really haven’t effected our plan budgeted activities because YTD its only gone up ~6-10%. Over the weekend, I saw prices at $3.12/gallon here in Austin. However, if prices continue to rise and we do hit $4, we might have to start cutting back on our consumption. My guess is we aren’t alone, which will put a damper on the economy for sure.
Here is the data. We currently spend about ~$250 on gas/month (assuming no trips). If prices go up 33% (from $3 to $4), then we are talking about a monthly gas bill of about $333. That’s an increase $83/month which translates to ~$800+ in my gas budget. That will definitely eat into any fudge that I have in my budget. I guess next year, assuming similar conditions, I will need to budget more for gas to absorb the price increases.
This is definitely a lesson learned in inflation and budgeting.
