On line Income Earned/Received for February

End of month summary of what I have acquired this month via my Get-Paid-To programs:

• $5 Amazon e-card
• $1.78 from my paid-to programs

Every little bit helps!!

Yet to be received (cashed-out but not in hand):

• $1.35 from paid-to programs
• $10 from surveys +
• $10 from Jan still waiting for estimated delivery 3/10/09

So for this month I have earned $18.13 (received $6.78)!! Two month total: earned $35.88 received $14.53 pending $21.35

Mid-Month Progress--February

At the beginning of the month I had the following balances in various monetary accounts:

• Sharebuilders--$197.84
• PayPal--$2.95
• Savings--$3
• 401k--$250 (approximately)

Income for the month:

• Paycheck--$145-not received yet, late; deduct $60 for meat order
• Paycheck--$608
• Paycheck--$160
• Paycheck--$608
• TOTAL--$1521

Money Spent & Bills Paid:

• Sharebuilders Commission--$12
• Meat Order--$60
• Phone & DSL--$48
• Satellite TV--$77
• Heat--$136
• Water--$114
• Sharebuilders--$20 (ACH on the 24th, money set aside)
• Dial-up Internet--$22 (ACH on the 15th, money set aside)
• Grocery--$45
• TOTAL--$534

For the remainder of the month I have the following:

• Paychecks totaling $768 + $111 (savings account) = $879
• Rent--$100
• Student Loan Payment-$405
• Personal Loan--$50 + $60
• Old Checking Account--$25
• Garbage Bill--$15
• Sewer Bill--$32
• Sharebuilders Commission--$12
• TOTAL BILLS--$699

Portfolio Changes in the Works

Back in January (the 21st to be exact) I mentioned my small portfolio that I have with Sharebuilders. Under normal circumstances I usually review my holdings on a quarterly basis but there were some changes I wanted to make, so I thought I would give a mid-month update.

A note of interest: I am addicted to Clark Howard!! I would like to incorporate some of his ideas in to my investment/retirement planning. More on him in a later post!

Previous:

"top 5 individual holdings should not be in the same industry." They suggest investing in the following way--local company-oil stock--a brand name blue chip--financial--and a speculative stock.

I am in the process of making these possible changes--starting another account/portfolio or taking current portfolio up to the next level (from $12/6 trades to $20/20 trades):

• LOCAL--Northwest Savings Bank [NWSB-$17.75-DIV] or...
• OIL STOCK--unknown, possible United Refining
• BLUE CHIP--Honda Motor Corp [HMC-$24.02-DIV]
• FINANCIAL--ING or...
• SPEC--unknown, possible a wind energy company Trinity [TRN--]

As for my current holdings:

• MON--MONSANTO CO//Shares 0.5704//Market Value $45.30
1. CHANGE--Shares +.0399//Market Value +$3.07
• NRG--NRG ENERGY INC//Shares 1.0548//Market Value $23.54
1. CHANGE--Shares +.1288//Market Value +$1.49
• RSG--REPUBLIC SVCS INC//Shares 1.4040//Market Value $33.84
1. CHANGE--Shares 0//Market Value -$2.02
• RTK--RENTECH INC//Shares 52.4691//Market Value $40.40
1. CHANGE--Shares +7.8739//Market Value +$9.08
• SO--SOUTHERN CO//Shares 0.8990//Market Value $26.65
1. CHANGE--Shares +.0859//Market Value -$.08
• VVC--VECTREN CORP//Shares 1.0058//Market Value $26.03
1. CHANGE--Shares +.1149//Market Value +$1.49
• Total Account Value $197.25
1. CHANGE--$197.25 - $184.16 (1/19/09) = $13.09

Some changes I was considering and still in the works depending on my decision from above:

• Eliminate one of my utility holdings, replace with a local stock and/or a blue chip--still deciding
• RSG merged with Allied Waste (AW) currently not actively investing, need to change that--
• Reconsider my holding(s) in MON, ethics/morals in business may be a problem--if I do decide to drop must find another blue chip or financial to replace

If I decide to add another portfolio or up my level, and return to my 401k, I may drop my 401k contribution down to 1% ($15.60/mth). My current investment percent is 4% I would then use the remaining 3% to up my Sharebuilders and explore a Roth IRA and a Money Market Mutual Fund, and I just found that ING/Sharebuilders has the Roth so I am excited--YEA!! Have to look to see if they have the MMMF. [This is the Clark Howard effect, he talks a lot about Roths, 401k's, MMMF, and saving for retirement in general.]

All told, depending on how this plays out I will be investing $62.40/mth or 4%. I also need to look at my allocations within my 401k and make changes if needed.

Hopefully this post isn't too disjointed as my mind was racing with ideas as I wrote it. I will be updating it soon as I make my decisions and finish my research.

Mini update 2/15/09: I started doing some basic research into Roth's and MMMF's. I definitely need to do more. SO Until I am comfortable with my decision, I am going to go with plan C: decrease 401k to 1% increase Sharebuilders to 3% and add new holdings once determined. If and when I build up enough funds in my Sharebuilders I will then take those funds to do a Roth ($1000-$3000 initial minimum investment); MMMF undetermined at this point. Changes will most likely take place in March.

End of Month Progress

At the beginning of the month 1/1/09 I had the following balances in various monetary accounts:
[balance(s) as of 1/31/09 in purple]

• Sharebuilders--$177.17--> $197.84 (+ $20.67)
• PayPal--$.20--> $2.95 (+ $2.75)
• Savings Account--$87.12--> $3 (-84.12)
• 401k--$248.04--> $248.74 (+$ .70)

Not including my savings account balance a + $24.12

Income so far for the month:

• Paycheck--$98
• Paycheck--$171 (earmarked for meat order received in December & January not included in this months budget)
• UEC--$175
• Paycheck--$350
• TOTAL--$794
• Paycheck--$195
• Paycheck--$636
• TOTAL--$831

Money Spent & Bills Paid:

• Sharebuilders Commission--$12
• Rent (current)--$100
• Meat Order--$133
• Phone & DSL--$103 (will receive $50 rebate--$46 normal bill)
• Satellite TV--$73
• Dial-up Internet--$22 (temporary till I upgrade my puter)
• Heat--$136
• Loan--$95--Paid in Full
• TOTAL--$674
• Unplanned Dr. Appt (for shoulder)--$20 + $5 toward old balance
• Unplanned Rx's (for shoulder)--$2.65
• TOTAL--$702

For the remainder of the month I have the following:

• Paychecks totaling $858 (Actual $831) + $120 (from above) = $978 ($951)
• Water Bill--$120 payment arrangement made
• Sharebuilders--$17 pd
• Student Loan Payment-$405 pd
• Personal Loan--$50 pd
• Old Checking Account--$330
• Garbage Bill--$15 pd
• Sewer Bill--$32 pd
• Sharebuilders Commission--$12 to be pd 2/2/09 money set aside
• TOTAL BILLS--$981

Overall not too bad. It is an improvement but I'm not happy. Two bills were not paid and will carry over into next month. It's my own fault, I allowed my hours to be reduced at my second job which affected my income a bit. Also I took a "voluntary" lay-off (last week of December) from my primary job which now I am second guessing; tho it did allow me to visit my family in Buffalo. There is room for improvement!!

February soon to come.

Mid-Month Progress

This year my main goal(s) is/are geared toward making some progress in my spending and debt reduction. Primarily I am keying on making sure my current necessities (ie. rent, utilities, and defaulted student loan) are paid. As for reducing debt the only one I will focus on at this point in time is the rent I am past due on. My other debts (except for 2 medical bills which arrangements have been made) are past the 7 yr SOL, therefore I will not focus on them as of yet.

I'm not doing well with tracking my daily spending, but having only a savings account without a debit card has helped immensely. In order to get money I have to physically go to the bank and make a withdrawal. The benefit of this, no NSF fees, better documentation of what funds are available in my handy-dandy register, thinking about why I want to withdrawal money, and actually seeing a positive balance in my account. I would like to try and track daily spending but am finding it a bit "difficult". My days are very hectic with 2 jobs and the daily tasks in running our household. I will re-evaluate as the month progresses and see how close I stay on budget.

At the beginning of the month I had the following balances in various monetary accounts:

• Sharebuilders--$177.17
• PayPal--$.20
• Savings--$87.12
• 401k--$250 (approximately)

Income so far for the month:

• Paycheck--$98
• Paycheck--$171 (earmarked for meat order received in December & January not included in this months budget)
• UEC--$175
• Paycheck--$350
• TOTAL--$794

Money Spent & Bills Paid:

• Sharebuilders Commission--$12
• Rent (current)--$100
• Meat Order--$133
• Phone & DSL--$103 (will receive $50 rebate--$46 normal bill)
• Satellite TV--$73
• Dial-up Internet--$22 (temporary till I upgrade my puter)
• Heat--$136
• Loan--$95--Paid in Full
• TOTAL--$674

So far so good A-B should equal approximately $120, my savings account balance is $224.

For the remainder of the month I have the following:

• Paychecks totaling $858 + $120 (from above) = $978
• Water Bill--$120
• Sharebuilders--$17
• Student Loan Payment-$405
• Personal Loan--$50
• Old Checking Account--$330
• Garbage Bill--$15
• Sewer Bill--$32
• Sharebuilders Commission--$12
• TOTAL BILLS--$981

Dag nab-bit I'm $3 short. Hopefully my partner will make an attempt to give me money for the utilities (not counting on it tho). If by chance she does I will then have spending money. Groceries are not an issue other than bread, milk , and cereal.

Overall not too shabby--all bills will be paid!!