Time to Buy Citi?

Fortune says it might be time to buy Citi stock.

Other smart money has recently been speculating on the stock. Hedge fund legend George Soros bought nearly 100 million shares in the fourth quarter of 2009; John Paulson of Paulson & Co. added more than 200 million shares; and Daniel Loeb's Third Point bought shares worth $83 million.

But Berkowitz says investors can't ignore the Treasury's move to allow Citi to repay its Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. "The only way the government was going to allow repayment was if they thought the bank was recapitalized," he says.

We bought some Citi stock a few weeks ago, in our IRA, when it was trading in the high $2 range. We'll see if it pays off.

More Good News!

More good news. I am receiving a 14% increase in my compensation which should be reflected in my March 31 pay check.

Half of that increase is compensation that was cut back in July (everyone in my company took a pay cut). I got back some of that compensation in January 2010 and at the end of March will receive the rest (of course, I lost 6 months of receiving that money, but I'm happy to have it back 9 months later).

The other half of that increase is pay increase that should have kicked in as of January (i.e. step increase).

The last little bit of good news, is that the company is re-instituting the bonus plan, so there is a bonus opportunity at the end of 2010 (there were no bonuses in 2009). Although, I'm not going to hold my breath that anyone, including me, will actually receive bonuses.

Expect that any and all extra compensation will go towards our 2010 savings goals.

Retirement Calculator

Interesting article on the Money Magazine site regarding the fact that 43% of American workers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings. I'm hoping that the bulk of those folks are very young and have time to save.

While reading the article I ran my numbers through the retirement calculator and was told that I needed to be saving @$25,000 a year. [I'm not sold on the rules they use but I gave it a go.]. Right now, I'm doing my best to max out my 401k at $16,500 and my IRA at $5,000. So, at present, I am short $3,500 for retirement savings although we are saving other monies for other goals so perhaps we could divert more of our savings to retirement.

On the other hand, Mr. Sam only needs to save @$11,300 according to the calculator so he is saving $10,000 more per year than he "needs" to. Maybe he'll be kind enough to lend me some cash when we are 65.

Good News

More good news, Mr. Sam received a 3% raise at work and a $10,000 bonus.

Most likely, we will add the bonus money to our emergency fund until we get a final determination from the IRS. If we get a positive result from the IRS audit, most likely, we will use the bonus money to finish funding our 2010 IRAs.

Biggest Loser

Over on NetWorth IQ, our $200,000 loss in November 2009 put us top loser, by amount, in December 2009.

Updated 2/28 Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000
(3) Prepay mortgage - $1200
(4) Add to baby fund - $3500
(5) Add to emergency fund - $7000
(6) House/Furniture fund - $3000 (Completed
Total - $57,700

(1) - $4554 (14%)
(2) - $2200 (22%)
(3) - $200 (17%)
(4) - $450 (13%)($6972 in our baby fund, goal is $10,000)
(5) - $800 (11%)($25,963 in our emergency fund, goal is $32,000)
(6) - $3000 (100%) (Completed)
Total - $11,204 (19%)

About 1 week ahead on our savings schedule.

Rental Update

Rental #1 - tenants are behaving themselves, paying rent on time, don't hear from them at all except rent checks.

Rental #2 - Mr. Sam spent February turning this property, did some upgrades, replaced the carpet, updated the landscaping. Place looks good and it is rented as of March 1, 12 month lease.

Rental #3 - will be occupied by a family member (from the cold and snowy north) for the next two months. We won't be collecting any rent for the next two months but that is okay and worth it to us to be able to host our family for a long visit.

February 28th Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000
(3) Prepay mortgage - $1200
(4) Add to baby fund - $3500
(5) Add to emergency fund - $7000
(6) House/Furniture fund - $3000
Total - $57,700

(1) - $3954 (12%)
(2) - $1200 (12%)
(3) - $200 (17%)
(4) - $450 (13%)($6972 in our baby fund, goal is $10,000)
(5) - $800 (11%)($25,963 in our emergency fund, goal is $32,000)
(6) - $3000 (100%) (Completed)
Total - $9604 (17%)

Slightly ahead of schedule on savings. Since we completed our house goal, we have increased baby fund savings from $100 per pay period to $150 ($300 per month).