Whining
February 04, 2007
Well, Saturday was a productive day. It was very productive in making me want to kill myself.
I did my taxes using TurboTax, and instead of getting thousands of dollars like I usually do, I realized that I owe $400. Meaning I get to make the delightful decision of either stubbornly sticking to my number crunching and paying $400 or paying those heathen devils at H&R Block to "check" my work and possibly find an error, then charging me the amount I probably would be paying to the government anyway.
THEN, I had been saving up for an IRA, which requires a minimum of $3,000 to start up, but this pretty chunk of change has put me behind, and now I don't know when I will be in a position to maybe start one up again.
It doesn't help that I am also currently reading a book on personal finance that is absolutely making me insane and consider going Howard Hughes and locking myself in my room and only drinking bottled urine. Wait, that's what he did, right?
It just pisses me off. I don't spend lavishly. I almost never buy things for myself, and when I do, they're from Target. I've paid off my car and my student loans. I have a marginally good job, and I live in the cheapest town in Los Angeles. And I live paycheck to paycheck.
How do jerks out there own houses? How do they go out to fancy dinners and clubs 4, 5 times a week? How do they pay for trendy clothing, makeup, shoes, cigarettes, tanning, manicures?
YES, I HAVE A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT, but who doesn't? There's a reason I'm pale, have no sense of fashion, and eat spaghetti for dinner 6 nights a week. I always thought I would be better off financially at the end of the day if I didn't tan, wore the same damn clothing I owned in high school, and didn't eat out if at all possible.
This post doesn't have a point, unless you know someone who would pay me for a kidney or something. I just needed to complain a little.
Posted by Kitsune at February 4, 2007 05:45 PM | digg this
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Read "The richest man in babylon". If there is one thing you can ever trust me on, it's that this book will change your perspective on finances.But hey. I'm just from the internet.
Posted by:
Graham
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You can afford spaghetti?
Posted by:
Joe Cool
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It's because you paid off your car really early, paid off your student loans, again really early, that you have no money. Most of the people with the fancy cars, fancy clothes and all the other high flying things are living on credit. Out here on LI, you constantly see crappy houses mortgaged to the overpriced hilt (LI real estate market is screwed up due to zoning and magnifying effect of NYC) with 2 Mercedes and a Lexus SUV. Kids drive to school in BMW's and they aren't even athletes, and girls wear $500 sets of "Juicy" sweats to class. Most are trying to keep up with the few people who are rich, by pretending and living on the edge. All it would take would be for the economy to slow and BOOM all of the cars get repo'd, houses get foreclosed and they are living in public housing with a couple of grand worth of shoes....
Posted by:
Shawn
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I agree with whoever Shawn is. Your student loans are paid off, your car is paid off, you haven't lost your taste for spaghetti... yet. Being debt free is fantastic, isn't it?
Posted by:
Valrik
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You shouldn't need $3000 to open an IRA. That's just a limit set by whatever bank/brokerage company you are looking at. Try looking into a different company to open the IRA with, one with a lower starting balance.
Posted by:
Peter
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I have an E*Trade account, where I have a Roth IRA. I am not sure if there's a minimum to open the Roth, but I opened mine with $25.00. So if there's a minimum it is very low. I have $25.00 per week deducted from my checking account right into it. I will bump it up higher once I pay off some remaining short term debts (credit cards).
Another tip to save money and eventually buy a house (like those other jerks) is to pay yourself first. I have just started doing this, and it is going well so far. Basically, before you pay any bills, pay yourself 5-10% (or whatever you can afford, just be consistent) of your paycheck, right into a savings account. I use HSBCdirect.com, since they pay 5.05% interest APR, which is more than any normal bank.
I have been reading a bunch of PF blogsover the past few months, especially http://www.getrichslowly.com/blog/ . I am not affiliated with that site, I just read it daily, because I find it useful. OK, enough personal finance stuff from me. I hope it helps. Good luck with your finances!
Posted by:
Kevin Worthington
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Read "The richest man in babylon". If there is one thing you can ever trust me on, it's that this book will change your perspective on finances.But hey. I'm just from the internet.
Posted by: Graham- - - - - - - - - - - - -
You can afford spaghetti?
Posted by: Joe Cool- - - - - - - - - - - - -
It's because you paid off your car really early, paid off your student loans, again really early, that you have no money. Most of the people with the fancy cars, fancy clothes and all the other high flying things are living on credit. Out here on LI, you constantly see crappy houses mortgaged to the overpriced hilt (LI real estate market is screwed up due to zoning and magnifying effect of NYC) with 2 Mercedes and a Lexus SUV. Kids drive to school in BMW's and they aren't even athletes, and girls wear $500 sets of "Juicy" sweats to class. Most are trying to keep up with the few people who are rich, by pretending and living on the edge. All it would take would be for the economy to slow and BOOM all of the cars get repo'd, houses get foreclosed and they are living in public housing with a couple of grand worth of shoes....
Posted by: Shawn- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I agree with whoever Shawn is. Your student loans are paid off, your car is paid off, you haven't lost your taste for spaghetti... yet. Being debt free is fantastic, isn't it?
Posted by: Valrik- - - - - - - - - - - - -
You shouldn't need $3000 to open an IRA. That's just a limit set by whatever bank/brokerage company you are looking at. Try looking into a different company to open the IRA with, one with a lower starting balance.
Posted by: Peter- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I have an E*Trade account, where I have a Roth IRA. I am not sure if there's a minimum to open the Roth, but I opened mine with $25.00. So if there's a minimum it is very low. I have $25.00 per week deducted from my checking account right into it. I will bump it up higher once I pay off some remaining short term debts (credit cards).
Posted by: Kevin WorthingtonAnother tip to save money and eventually buy a house (like those other jerks) is to pay yourself first. I have just started doing this, and it is going well so far. Basically, before you pay any bills, pay yourself 5-10% (or whatever you can afford, just be consistent) of your paycheck, right into a savings account. I use HSBCdirect.com, since they pay 5.05% interest APR, which is more than any normal bank.
I have been reading a bunch of PF blogsover the past few months, especially http://www.getrichslowly.com/blog/ . I am not affiliated with that site, I just read it daily, because I find it useful. OK, enough personal finance stuff from me. I hope it helps. Good luck with your finances!
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