Monthly Archives: December 2009

Why You Should Treat Your Girlfriend Like A Child

Written by in Spending
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I often hear that men are like children, but for a change, it’s time to turn things around. With a personal finance perspective, of course.

Right now, my girlfriend has one year of school left while I graduated this past May and have started working. I’m startled by the amount of money I’m able to save after saving for retirement, paying student loans, rent, etc. So what am I doing with my money? A little bit of everything. But I also know that I can pay for some memorable experiences with Lauren. Or I can buy her fantastic presents that she’ll love for a little bit.

Recently I got her earmuffs and a new camera after she left hers on an airplane. For me, it seems like since I can easily afford to pay for the things she needs, why shouldn’t I? Am I really able to say to myself that she should take care of it herself even though she’s still in school and is only racking up more debt? Of course it’s not my responsibility, but why not make her happy?

Well, if I continue down this path, I will be no better than the parent that spoils their child. And it could spell disaster later on.

I’ve been struggling with this question quite a bit. But I know that the more I spoil her, the more she will be entitled, and the less she’ll rely on herself. Then, instead of me being nice and buying her things, it will become a pattern, it will lose it’s specialness, and it will feel more like a burden than a gift.

Do you think I’ll be able to control my urge to spend? Or will I get smart and realize that the occasional gift will be more meaningful?

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Companies I Hate: Comcast

Written by in Negotiating
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I love negotiating and getting what I deserve, especially when it’s from a bank or the cable company. I hate when they steal your money or provide you with sub-par service without some time of reimbursement. So you can imagine my thoughts when Lauren’s cable went out for a few days.

The Internet went out on Friday, and Comcast promised they would come within a few days. On Monday they set up an appointment for between 9am and 1pm on Monday (they couldn’t pinpoint it any more than that??) and at 2:30 still weren’t there. In fact, they never came. They didn’t set up another appointment until Wednesday, when they said they would come on Friday. Nope, they didn’t show up. They didn’t even call. They finally came on Tuesday to fix the Internet. A week and a half without Internet. Can you imagine??

So of course, we called up to get what was rightfully ours. She should be reimbursed not only for the time that the Internet was out, but also for the time she had to spend waiting for them, the disrespect she was shown when they didn’t call to say they would be late (not to mention when Lauren called to ask about their status and was told, “we’re coming soon” the day they never showed up).

The conversation was pretty typical, and started off with Lauren explaining the situation and the woman on the other end saying she’d help any way she could. She offered $9 to make up for the week and a half the service was out. No way was that good enough. So Lauren requested to talk to a supervisor. After 20 minutes, the supervisor finally came on the line, heard the story, and offered $15 to make up for the inconvenience. I thought that was still too low, but the truth is that out of the $24 bill, $15 is over 60% of a month’s service, which is pretty good. And after being on hold and talking for over an hour, we decided it wasn’t worth wasting any more of our day.

I’m adding Comcast to my list of companies I hate. 33% of America has no choice but to use Comcast, so they continue to take advantage of their customers and completely disregard the fact that people have lives. I wonder what they would say if they arrived, called, and told them that I would let them in anywhere from one minute to 3 hours from now.

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Why I Don’t Go Shopping

Written by in Saving, Spending
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I’ve never been much of a shopper. I hate the idea of spending an entire day at the mall looking for one or two items. I don’t shop until I know exactly what I need. My underwear is disintegrating? OK, I’ll get exactly what I need, nothing more. I’m the king of not buying on impulse.

Last year, I wanted to get a book and a shirt. The book was Will Schwalbe’s “Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home.” The shirt was just a polo to replace an old one in my closet. I set out for the mall, which had a Barnes and Noble and an Old Navy next to each other. I set out and found the book, but it was $17. It’s a tiny book. A great book, but tiny. There was no way I was going to spend $17 on something I would read in 2 hours. So I went next door and found the polo shirts. O wait, I didn’t because they were all out of my size. I drove home, disappointed that my shopping trip had been a disaster.

I went online, and found the book on $8. And the polo shirt was easy to find for a great price. In the color and size that I wanted. Oh, and the Internet was not sold out of my size. So I had to wait a few extra days, but I learned an important lesson: It rarely pays to leave the house.

OK, so that’s not quite true. For clothing, it’s always nice to try something on before you buy it. But in this situation, I thought it was nice to know that I could always find stuff for cheaper online and never have to deal with the hassle of driving, parking, and navigating my way through a bunch of middle-aged moms. The advantage of getting my book and shirt that day was greatly outweighed by the extra cost I would have to pay to buy it from the store.

Before you run off to the mall, decide how important it is that you get that item immediately and whether maybe you’d be better off waiting a few extra days to save yourself both the money and the hassle of having get yourself to and from the store.

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How Should I Spend My Money?

Written by in Investing, Saving, Spending, Student Loans
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I found a few sites that I really like to answer financial questions that I wanted to share with everyone. Cash Commons and Basically Money both allow you to ask and answer any financial question you like, vote for answers you life, and earn points and awards which mean nothing but gives you a better reputation on the site. I’ve asked several questions and answered a few others and I’ve gotten a lot out of the site so far.

The question I’ve been most interested in lately is what to do with the money I’m saving. I’m able to save over 50% of my paycheck, but I’m not entirely sure how to spend that money. I narrowed it down to several choices:

  • Aggressively pay off my student loans, which stand at around $23,000.
  • Invest the money knowing that I can probably beat the low rates of my student loans (~2.8%).
  • Save it in an online savings account earning only 1.40% APY but allows me to have some flexibility later.

I’ve gotten a lot of excellent feedback, some that I agree with and some that I know may be helpful in someways but ultimately don’t feel comfortable with.

Here are a few of the various responses I’ve gotten and afterward I details what I ultimately decide to do.

Dr. Dean: Pay off the student loans aggressively after building up a 6 month emergency fund.

Mighty Bargain Hunter: Pay only the minimums on the student loans and throw the rest of the money into an emergency fund so that I’ll have added flexibility later.

MrChrister: Pay off the bills, invest a little for fun, save up for a big purchase, and enjoy the extra money.

ScottW: Save and travel. Create memories

Thanks for your advice guys, and I’ve taken a combination of your answers and decided to do this:

Save an additional $500 a month and building up a nice savings account. I will be sure to treat myself well and enjoy experiences and create memories rather than buying toys and gadgets I will likely forget about. I am increasing my “fun” budget by $100 a month for this, and I will not hold back if that needs to increase for special occasions. I’ll also be investing $200 a month, and I will save the other $200 in a savings account targeted for student loans (but I’ll take Mighty Bargain Hunter’s advice and retain some flexibility, even if it means losing 1%.)

What do you think, am I being smart or should I be more risky or conservative?

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