Credit Card Debt

Home Depot: $0 (100% paid off).

Went ahead and paid this off, didn't want to end the year with business debt.

Debt Free

CNNMoney highlights 5 families/individuals living debt free or working towards being debt free. We used many of the techniques highlighted in this slide show to pay off our unsecured debt of $55,500.

• Like William we tracked our spending using Quicken.


• Like Brooke we still found funds for travel during our debt paydown program, but we saved up and paid cash for all vacations.


• John bummed me out, deciding not to pay off credit card debt if one has the means is wrong in my book and I could care less that he has trouble making travel arrangements. However, while we have a credit card that we use for travel expenses we never had any trouble making travel reservations with our debit cards. The only problem is some hotels and rental car companies put a larger hold on a debit card which, if you only maintain a small balance in your checking account, can be a problem.


• Alex is a fan of multiple ING accounts since he is goal oriented and saves up for specific goals. We do the same, we have ING savings accounts for our emergency fund, but we also have accounts for holiday gifts, travel/vacation and fun.

2010 Planning Continued

First two goals for 2010 will likely remain the same:
(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
Subtotal - $43,000

And since we likely will not complete our other three 2009 goals, by the end of 2009, we likely will carry them over to 2010.
(3) House project and furniture - @$4600
(4) Add to baby fund - @$3500
(5) Add to emergency fund - @$7300
Subtotal - $58,400

New goal:
(6) Pay down mortgage on primary home- $2400
Total - $60,800

We have been talking about wanting to pay off our mortgage and I have asked Mr. Sam to whip up some handy Excel charts to document various scenarios. If we paid an extra $200 a month (going forward) we would have our mortgage paid off in 20 years vs. 24 years. An extra $500 a month would allow us to pay off our mortgage in 15 and a half years. An extra $1350 a month would allow us to pay off our mortgage in 10 years (wowzer!).

Credit Card Debt

Home Depot: $721 (51% paid off).

I could pay this off this month, but with the holiday and holiday reltated expenses I'm probably going to hold off just so we have enough cash available for our holiday expenses.

It was fun while it lasted!

I am in the process of updating our real estate values, which are based on the assessed values assigned by the local property appraiser, and since the bulk of our real estate investments are in Florida the values are coming down, down, down.

So, while it has been fun to call ourselves millionaires these past few weeks the party is just about over.

December 1st Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $28,970 (88%) (I've maxed out my 401k, Mr. Sam is still working on his.)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $1,218 (20%)
(4) $1,308 (22%) ($6,308 in our ING baby account)
(5) $2,227 (22%) ($24,092 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $43,826 (68%)

Coming down the home stretch for 2009 and it seems highly unlikely that we will complete our 2009 goals in full. With a 10% salary cut for me, expenses related to our REFI,* expenses related to the car accident (insurance companies are still fighting), and spotty real estate rentals this year we just have not done as well as we would have liked.

But, the upside during this recession, is that we both are still gainfully employed and making good money, we currently have all properties rented out and we have avoided taking on debt (except for that @$720 in 0% Home Depot debt for our real estate business).

The other upside is that our non real estate investments are doing very well, buying stocks in January, Feburary and March of this year has paid off, we have about 5 stocks that we bought early this year that are up over 100%.

*REFI cost us money but we paid down our mortgage by a few thousand dollars, we cut a year off our mortgage term and we got a great rate.

11/15 Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $27,769 (84%)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $1,269 (21%)
(4) $1,202 (24%) ($6,202 in our ING baby account)
(5) $1,962 (20%) ($23,843 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $42,202 (66%)

Getting close to maxing out my 401k, as of next pay check my 401k will be fully funded.

IRS Audit Update

Rather than set up an appointment with the IRS examiner, we were given the option of sending in documents for his review. I gathered the necessary documents (both from our records and from our accountant) and faxed them to the examiner this past week. I also had two telephone conversations with the examiner which included explaining the documents to him.

Not surprisingly, I had been warned, once the examiner started reviewing our tax return he expanded his questions to other issues (beyond what we had been asked to provide in the original written document request).

I was friendly and cooperative, but I did my best to limit the information and the documents I provided to the original requests.

The examiner indicated that he plans to complete his report this week. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Early Morning Banking

When you have tenants you have to go to the bank to deposit rent monies, and I do my best to get those rent monies into our accounts ASAP so we can pay the mortgages with rent monies and not with our monies.

So this week, I have stopped by my local Wachovia branch three times in a row (before work, at like 6:30 in the morning). The first time, no issue. Yesterday, a Wednesday, there were no envelopes. This morning, the ATM was out of order.

At 6:30 a.m. I am grumpy, I've had no coffee and I just want to get to work - because that's where I get my coffee. Ugh! Not sure what is going on with my local Wachovia branch.

Running Goals

It has been a while since I posted on our marathon training. We took a major break from training in July, August and part of September, just too hot in South Florida to be outside running.

Anyways, we are back on track and I'm back to running a full mile without stopping. We are presently training for a December 5k. The only present problem is the time change, it is not dark by the time I get home, so I'm trying to figure out how to deal with darkness.

NetWorth Numbers

While I try not to get too tied up in our NetWorth IQ numbers, I love, love, love the data. I find it super exciting to look back three years or five years or more and see where we or I (combined our numbers in January 2007) were.

My big net worth jumps show up when (1) I/we buy real estate and (2) when we got married and combined forces. See August 2003 and December 2005 for real estate spikes and January 2007 for marriage spike. Between January 2003 and August 2003 I basically doubled my net worth by saving up and buying my first real estate investment property. I paid $180,000 for the property in 2003 and it is now valued at $392,000.

Otherwise most of our progress is slow and steady. In January 2007 we had $735,054 in liabilities, at the start of our Total Money Makeover baby steps, just after marriage and combination of finances, and now we have $637,504 in liabilities. In almost three years we have reduced our liabilities by $97,550. Similarly, on the asset side, we have increased our assets by $110,637 between January 2007 and now.

In six years my individual net worth has grown from $50,000 to $1 Million combined net worth with my husband.

2010 Planning

While we are still working away on our 2009 goals, it is time to start thinking about our savings plan for 2010.

The maximum we can contribute to our 401ks remains the same - $16,500 each or $33,000 for both of us. Second, the maximum we can contribute to our IRAs also remains the same - $5,000 each or $10,000 for both of us.

So our 2010 savings goal will include two of the same goals that we are working on for 2009:
(1) Max out our 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out our IRAs - $10,000

I have also been researching how to and whether it makes sense for us to convert all of/or part of our present IRA monies to Roth IRAs in 2010 (the income limits are to disappear in 2010). So that is also an item on our personal finance planning for 2010.

Mr. Sam's IRA conversion should be pretty easy because all of the money in his IRA was after tax money for which he took no deductions. So, said another way, he already paid taxes on all of the money in his IRA so he will only need to pay taxes on any gains.

I took tax deductions for about a quarter of my IRA money, however that money is still easily identifiable as its all in one index fund. So my tentative plan is to convert the other three quarters of my IRA money, all after tax money no deductions, to Roth IRA and therefore I'll only need to pay taxes on any gains.

The other issue is timing, we can convert our regular IRA to Roth IRA at any time next year and the value of the IRA on the actual date of conversion is the value used to calculate taxes. So, one wants to convert from regular IRA to Roth IRA when the value is at its lowest.

Pumpkin Day

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $26,226 (79%)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $1,218 (20%)
(4) $1,095 (22%) ($6,095 in our ING baby account)
(5) $1,962 (20%) ($23,843 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $40,501 (63%)

We have hit the $40,500 mark!! Whoo-hoo!

IRS Audit, Now What?

We received notification that we are being audited by the IRS. Yikes!

Details regarding the audit: (1) we are required to appear for a face to face interview; (2) the issues to be reviewed are (a) interest income and (b) investment interest; (3) time period 2006-2008.

I will be calling my accountant this morning to discuss response plan and I am trying not to freak out too much.

Credit Card Debt

Home Depot: $921 (37% paid off).

$1 Million

Well, as you can see from our Net Worth IQ chart, we have hit the $1,000,000 mark. Whoo-hoo!!!!

As I mentioned earlier this week, this will be our first time hitting the $1 Million net worth level and it will be short lived. Come November, when we receive our final Florida property values, we expect our net worth to drop by about $200,000.

So, we will enjoy calling ourselves Millionaires for the next few weeks.

Getting Close

There is a good chance, unless we have an October surprise in the stock market, that our net worth will hit (for the first time) $1,000,000 some time in the next couple of weeks. Right now, we are about $6,200 away from the $1 Million mark.

But, when we get our final property values for our Florida real estate (we will receive same in November) I expect our net worth to promptly drop at least $200,000 so the fun of saying we are millionaires will be short lived.

Turtle Pace

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $25,249 (77%)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $1,168 (19%)
(4) $995 (20%) ($5,995 in our ING baby account)
(5) $1,246 (12%) ($23,127 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $38,658 (60%)

Our savings pace continues along, that's the good news, at the pace of a turtle, that's the bad news. We have increased Mr. Sam's 401k withholding in an effort to close out the year strong. I am on pace to max out my 401k in the next couple of pay checks (before the end of the year).

Back Again

In May of 2008, our net worth totaled $987,376, then the stock market fell apart in the summer and early fall of 2008 and our net worth dropped to $897,080 in October of 2008.

Now in September of 2009, our net worth is back to $987,749. The celebration will be short lived, come November of 2009 I will plug in our Florida real estate values (once we receive final values from the County property appraiser) and I expect our net worth to drop by $200,000-$300,000.

It is easy to get caught up in our NetworthIQ numbers each month, and while I recommend paying attention to the numbers, it is important to remember that the rise and fall of the 401K and the IRA and real estate values are some what illusory. The fact is that there is no profit or loss on the stocks, funds or real estate until we sell same.

Wishful Thinking

One of my spending weaknesses is real Art. I love Art and I don't mind spending money on real Art (no prints for me).

One of my favorite artists is deceased and his work goes up for auction now and again. I keep track of the auction schedule and I was determined to bid on one of his pieces this weekend. I registered for the on-line auction and I set a budget for myself ($5,000.00) the item was listed as worth $3,000.00 - $6,000.00. But this morning I was at work and I realized that I could not download the on-line auction software on my work computer. Cue disappointment. But I told myself, Sam if you cannot bid then take it as Fate or the Gods telling you that this item is out of your price range or that this item is not meant for you, etc.

Well, I went back to my work and checked the auction outcome just recently, the item that I had planned to bid on, went for $18,000.00+. Yikes, who says we are in a recession!

Cash vs. Debit

I am a big fan of my debit card, by switching from credit to debit card back in 2007 I was able to slash my discretionary spending almost in half. Using debit also allows me to keep track of my spending (we use Quicken and download the bank statements into the program) and get a good picture of where the money is going. Also using debit requires me to pay attention to my finances, I only keep a certain amount of money in my checking account (my allowance) so I have to check my on-line balance once a day and I balance my checking account with a check registrar (just like Mom used to use) by writing down each transaction.

But all that tracking and monitoring takes time and effort and I am starting to wonder whether I ought to adjust my habits a bit. This week, a short work week due to Labor Day, I took $60 out of my checking account and I used that money for my day to day spending and I still have $10 left and I did not have any debit card transactions from Tuesday to today. The upside, I did not have to keep such close tabs on my account this week and I generally know where that money went (gas, eating out [lunch and coffee], and picking up a few items at the drug store). The down side, those purchases will not make it into Quicken.

Let's Do the Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $22, 586 (68%)
(2) $10,000 (100%) (this goal is completed)
(3) $1017 (17%)
(4) $689 (14%) ($5,689 in our ING baby account)
(5) $1,008 (17%) ($22,889 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $35,300 (55%)

3/50 Program

This past weekend, I spent $53.00 and $57.00, respectively, at two of my local "Mom and Pop" or independent retail shops in my local down town shopping district.

The $57.00 was for dog food (a very large bag) and dog treats for Mr. Snarfle. We normally spend about $100.00 a month for Snarfle, @$40 in dog food and @$60 for the dog walker.

The $53.00 was spent on two birthday gifts.

And on Friday night we went our with friends (again in our local down town area) and spent $40.00 or so on drinks and snackeroos.

So, without diverting any money from our budget we participated in the 3/50 Program.

The point of the 3/50 Program:

Think about which three independently owned businesses you’d miss most if they were gone. Stop in and say hello. Pick up a little something that will make someone smile. Your contribution is what keeps those businesses around.

If just half the employed U.S. population spent $50 each month in independently owned businesses, their purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. Imagine the positive impact if 3/4 of the employed population did that.

Now, I am not suggesting or encouraging mindless spending by mentioning this program. In fact the money we spent last weekend was money we were going to spend regardless of where we spent it. The point is, if you are spending budgeted money, consider diverting that money to support your local independent retailers.

Someone Has Questions - Part III

FC said - I just read your entire blog backwards ... in sequence from newest to oldest. I would love to hear more about your background as far as being able to attain such a high net worth ... it seems like you both earn a relatively high income from your jobs/careers but also what else goes into it. I'm hoping that you can provide advice on landlording ... including how long you've owned the properties, how far apart you bought them, how did financing investment properties differ from financing primary home, what were some positive things that you've done versus some things that you would have done differently now that you are wiser, is it ever overwhelming having so much mortgage debt as a liability, how is the actual cash flow now versus a year or two ago versus what you initially planned/expected?

Wrapping this up -

The negatives of investing in real estate. Yes our cash flow is down a bit from last year but the real problem is that the value of our properties is down significantly. We hope to sell these properties to fund the construction of our vacation/retirement home. While we had planned to hold these properties for a longer period of time than the typical "flipper," we had plans, which are now on hold, to sell at a certain point.

What would I have done differently - I would have sold Rental #1 in 2007 and we would have made a super profit. I would not have bought Rental #3 in 2005. Basically, I would have been scared when others were greedy and as such, during the run up of real estate values in South Florida, I would have sold when everyone was buying (Rental #1) and I certainly would not have bought when everyone was buying (Rental #3). Of course hind-sight is 20/20 and if we had sold Rental #1 in 2007 we would have likely plowed that profit into another real estate investment.

Is it overwhelming having so much mortgage debt - sometimes. The real estate debt was more overwhelming when we were also carrying $50,000+ in other non-secured debt. But, on the other hand, when our property values were higher the real estate debt felt better on a psychological level.

Most of the time, I believe the positive of investing in real estate outweigh the negatives. As far as I know, real estate is the only investment in which someone else pays the monthly costs. The other positive for us relate to taxes and the tax benefits we receive from our real estate investments (although I am not one to invest in something to get a tax benefit, but I do appreciate the perk).

Credit Card Debt

We are not a credit card family, at least not for the last two years since we paid off all our non-mortgage debt via Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and therefore we do not use credit cards except for travel (car rental and airplane tickets) or for business expenses.

Our real estate investments are a business and, accordingly, we sometimes, as much as it pains us, use credit to finance repairs and or upgrades and then we pay off that debt with rental income. I am sure you can see where this is going . . .

We presently have $1472 sitting on our Home Depot credit card incurred during this past month as Mr. Sam did some upgrades on Rental #1. The good news, this debt is interest free assuming we pay it off by July 20, 2010 and that we keep up with the 0% rules (we make our minimum payments of $10 a month on time). I hate, hate, hate having credit card debt but it made sense to finance these upgrades using Home Depot's 0% credit card deal.

So now I will also be tracking our credit card debt on this site until it is paid off:
Home Depot: $1472 (0%).

Dog Days of August

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $21,433 (63%)
(2) $10,000 (100%) [completed]
(3) $966 (15%)
(4) $576 (12%) ($5576 in our ING baby account)
(5) $1,770 (18%) ($23,651 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $34,745 (54%)

Slow progress, but happy to actually have some forward progress this month.

Rental Questions

FG asked: Just curious... do you prefer "groups" because they have more than one breadwinner (so there's always backup in case someone loses their job) and/or because it's more "stable" (where they're likely to treat the place better and/or ultimately stay longer) and/or some other reason(s)? Although obviously it is illegal to discriminate, I am personally more wary of renting to a group because I'm afraid of what might happen if they have a falling out... although I only have a 1/1 condo so it isn't really an issue in my situation.
How will the decision be made between the two good applicants? What criteria and method will you use to evaluate? How do you then break it to the applicant that wasn't chosen, and do you let them know that you will be in touch if something doesn't pan out with the applicant you did choose? Do you immediately sign a rental agreement and obtain a deposit etc with the chosen applicant to firm up the commitment?

First, no we do not discriminate. We take applications from everyone who wants to fill out an application. We only consider potential tenants that give us a full application. We run credit and background checks (which costs us money and we pay for it, we do not ask the applicants to pay) on the first group (roommate group or family group) and if the first group has the ability to pay we generally rent to that group. Besides ability to pay we have a point system that looks at the number of persons in the rental group, number of cars, number of pets, kind of pets. Our goal is to rent to a group that will pay us on time, keep the wear and tear to a minimum and not cause any problems with the neighbors.

We keep taking applications until we have a signed lease and a deposit and the deposit is not refundable (the deposit goes directly to pay for the classified listing in our local paper if the tenants decide not to move in for some reason). As soon as we have a signed lease we will communicate to the other groups, that have given us a full application, and we let them know that we will keep their application and will contact them if the property quickly comes available for some reason.

Regarding the perfect tenants, Mr. Sam (who generally gets the last say on tenants since he acts as landlord) prefers roommate groups because if one roommate decides to move out the other can keep renting the property and get new roommates. Rental #1 has been passed down for the last five years in this manner from roommate group to roommate group. As a result, this is the first time we have had to go out to the market and find new tenants. I prefer families with school age children because once a family has their children settled into a school they are less likely to want to move.

Good News

Good news to report, we have a signed 12 month lease and a $500 deposit for Rental #1. Hooray, hooray!

The new tenants will be moving in September 1, 2009 which means we only lost one month of rent turning around this property. Of course we also spent money on cleaning, painting and upgrades to the property. Cleaning and painting are the cost of doing business, the upgrades that we do each time a property is empty will, hopefully, help us when we eventually sell these homes.

Mr. Sam is very happy that he will have a mostly free weekend to recover from the non-stop couple of weeks of work.

Working Hard for the Money

Mr. Sam worked all weekend on Rental #1 and the results are great.

First, the house looks wonderful with clean, bright, spacious rooms. The yard and landscaping are also looking good (as they should be since we pay a yard service).

Second, we had two good applications submitted this weekend. A good application, in our opinion, is a group (family or roommates or couple) with income that is well in line with the guidelines on housing expenses (30-35% of net income). Both applicant groups are very interested, as they should be since Rental #1 is a great bargain, and both communicated to Mr. Sam that Rental #1 is the best rental property they have seen in their price range (Mr. Sam was happy to hear that after all is hard work).

So today we will be running credit and background checks on both applicants and we hope to make a decision and get a deposit this week. Wish us luck.

Looking for Good News

Since our financial house is in disorder this month with departure of our tenants from Rental #1 and the costs associated with repairs, improvements and re-rental I have been enjoying watching my 401k and other investments improve.

My year to date 401k performance is a healthy +24% which, of course, ignores the fact that for the prior 12 months the return was -19%. We have stocks, that we hold in our IRA accounts, that are up 90% and 100%+ since we purchased them.

To Vacation or Not To Vacation

To go on vacation or not go on vacation, that is the question.

We both work very hard. We both regularly clock 60-70 hours in the office per week and we also spend time working on and managing our rental investments each week or month. The fact is that we need time away from work and projects (at our home or the rentals) which means that we need to get away from Florida. A staycation does not really allow us to recharge as we will keep working on home repair or other projects.

So, we have plans to take an out of state vacation this month but now the debate is whether we ought to move forward with vacation because (1) I just took a 10% pay cut (2) we have one rental empty that we plan to list this week and would probably need to be showing over the next few weeks (3) we likely will have another empty rental next month (4) we have been spending money on upgrades and repairs and rental #1 and we probably should not be spending money to travel. I have already blocked the week at work and it will be hard, but not impossible, to change my vacation plans to a later time. Mr. Sam has also already had the week approved.

What to do? What would you do?

Someone Has Questions Part II - Continued

FC said - I just read your entire blog backwards ... in sequence from newest to oldest. I would love to hear more about your background as far as being able to attain such a high net worth ... it seems like you both earn a relatively high income from your jobs/careers but also what else goes into it. I'm hoping that you can provide advice on landlording ... including how long you've owned the properties, how far apart you bought them, how did financing investment properties differ from financing primary home, what were some positive things that you've done versus some things that you would have done differently now that you are wiser, is it ever overwhelming having so much mortgage debt as a liability, how is the actual cash flow now versus a year or two ago versus what you initially planned/expected?

Investment property #4 is not a rental property as it is just land. The property was purchased by me in 2003, individually, and it is still titled just in my name. I put down 13% and the mortgage is a fixed 15 year mortgage.

This is a property that we plan to build on in the future. We would like to build a home in the next 10 years, use it as a vacation home for us/family/friends in the off season and a vacation rental during season. This would be our retirement home in 20-25 years.

The hope is that our rental properties, which would all be sold before we build, will finance a good chunk of the cost to design and build the home. This is the primary reason we invested in real estate.

Someone Has Questions - Part II

FC said - I just read your entire blog backwards ... in sequence from newest to oldest. I would love to hear more about your background as far as being able to attain such a high net worth ... it seems like you both earn a relatively high income from your jobs/careers but also what else goes into it. I'm hoping that you can provide advice on landlording ... including how long you've owned the properties, how far apart you bought them, how did financing investment properties differ from financing primary home, what were some positive things that you've done versus some things that you would have done differently now that you are wiser, is it ever overwhelming having so much mortgage debt as a liability, how is the actual cash flow now versus a year or two ago versus what you initially planned/expected?

Rental properties:
Rental #1 was purchased in 2002 as Mr. Sam's primary home. This was Mr. Sam's first home and he purchased it with 20% down, 30 year conventional mortgage. Mr. Sam lived there from 2002-2004 when we purchased our current home together. We have been renting out this home ever since and its been our best rental property, as it has always been rented and we have always made a profit.

Rental #2 was purchased in 2004. Again we put down 20%, 30 year conventional mortgage. Rental #2 is our second best rental property. Rental #2 rents very easily but it is a tiny property so our profit is small as it is really a one person rental.

Rental #3 was purchased in 2005. Again we put down 20%, the mortgage is in my name only as Mr. Sam did not qualify to take on a third mortgage (this was before we got married and before we paid off all our non-mortgage debt in 2007). Rental #3 is our worst investment property as we bought at the height of the South Florida real estate bubble in what was an up and coming neighborhood and is now a stagnated neighborhood in disrepair (we have a foreclosure to the south and we had a foreclosure to the north which recently sold for almost nothing). Right now we are losing money on rental #3 by about $100 a month.

If I had it to do over again, I would not have bought Rental #3. We totally got sucked into the So.Fla. real estate bubble and we were greedy when we should have been scared ("Be greedy when people are scared, be scared when people are greedy").

Mid-year Adjustments

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $6,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $64,000

(1) $20,900 (63%)
(2) $10,000 (100%) [this goal is completed]
(3) $865 (9%) [this goal has been reduced]
(4) $376 (8%) ($5376 in our ING baby account)
(5) $1333 (17%) ($23,614 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $33,874 (53%)

With a 10% pay cut for me, everyone in my company took the cut - ouch, we have decided to scale back our 2009 savings goal by $9,000. We reduced our house project and furniture to really just furniture of $6,000 (I've already picked out and priced the new furniture) and we cut out the lasik surgery for Mr. Sam.

Empty Rental Property

Question from FC regarding our tenants:

What are the reasons the tenants are leaving? Were they able to find a better deal somewhere else, were they unhappy for some reason that is potentially fixable (or not), or for some other personal reason? What kind of incentives will you offer to try to convince them to stay? Lower rent, one-time credit, different terms, home improvements?

Rental #1 they have decided to move on because the two roommates have made the choice to go their separate ways. Why? We don't know, as we can only ask so many questions. We did offer a concession on rent of $150 a month and also offered to make some improvements.

Rental #1 has been rented for the last five years without ever having to advertise it and the tenants that just moved out had been there two years.

Rental #3 has always been our worst rental, the neighborhood is in disrepair, we have a foreclosure to the south and a recently sold foreclosure to the north of this rental. As an aside, now that the foreclosure to the north has sold I will be filing code complaints since the new owners (an investment company) have done nothing to rehab the property. The folks in rental #3 have decided to stay another month but we did not make any concessions as they are not the greatest tenants and I'd almost rather have the property empty at this point.

Upset Tummy

Today is the first paycheck for me with a 10% reduction in salary. Everyone in my company took that cut so we are all sharing in the pain.

And we have two tenants who are on their way out, which means two additional mortgages that we are responsible for paying next month (unless we can convince them to stay, which we are working on).

As a result, my tummy hurts thinking about how we are going to manage for the next few months while also trying to reach our savings goals. Ugh!

Mortgage Liabilities

I have updated our NetWorth IQ numbers for our investment property mortgages. It had been a while since I updated our numbers for one of our investment properties, so our total debt load has

Someone Has Questions

Frugalcoconut stopped by and had some questions for me. How exciting, I write this journal mostly for myself and Mr. Sam (and a few other friends and family that like to keep up to date) so I'm thrilled that someone else had found something of interest here.

FC said - I just read your entire blog backwards ... in sequence from newest to oldest. I would love to hear more about your background as far as being able to attain such a high net worth ... it seems like you both earn a relatively high income from your jobs/careers but also what else goes into it. I'm hoping that you can provide advice on landlording ... including how long you've owned the properties, how far apart you bought them, how did financing investment properties differ from financing primary home, what were some positive things that you've done versus some things that you would have done differently now that you are wiser, is it ever overwhelming having so much mortgage debt as a liability, how is the actual cash flow now versus a year or two ago versus what you initially planned/expected?

I will take a few of these at a time over the next few days.

Background - FC is correct, together Mr. Sam and I earn a good income from our careers. We both have advanced degrees. I think education can be a great way to increase one's earning potential, but education is also expensive. Mr. Sam completed his MBA part time so he was not away from his job and did not lose out on his salary during that time. But, Mr. Sam's MBA student loan debt, $27,000, was our biggest debt when we worked our 2007 Dave Ramsey Debt Snowball. I also incurred student loan debt for my advanced degree and I was out of the work force, attended full time, so I lost out on salary during those years. I had my student loans paid off in five years (the term was 10 years) by not upgrading my lifestyle to professional grade. While I did buy a house right out of professional school I did not make any other large purchases or change my lifestyle.

Fourth of July Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $17,684 (54%)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $815 (8%)
(4) $276 (6%) ($5,276 in our ING baby account)
(5) $0
(6) $1,333 (13%) ($23,214 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $30,109 (41%)

Happy Fourth of July!! We are at the half way point for our 2009 savings goals and we are about $6,300 behind. I would chalk the slower progress to (1) refinancing costs for our primary home (yay 4.7 interest rate) (2) costs related to car accident (boo!) and (3) failure to focus by both me and Mr. Sam (we are just not trying hard enough). Regarding our failure to focus, we have not had one financial family meeting in the last 5 months and our spending plan needs to be updated. I have resolved to update our spending plan and revisit our 2009 saving goals this month (they might need to be tweaked, stay tuned) and Mr. Sam and I have agreed to a family finance meeting and to refocus once we have the numbers in front of us.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Looking back at out NetworthIQ numbers its painful to see, that even though we hae been doing everything right with our finances, we are down $70,000 from our high number of $987,000 net worth.

A year ago, I figured we would hit the One Million net worth number by the close of 2008 but then the economy fell apart, my 401K dropped by $70,000, our South Florida real estate holdings are worth less, Mr. Sam's 401K dropped as well.

Presently our 401K numbers have stabalized and we continue to invest both in our 401Ks and our IRAs. Our South Florida real estate investments will likely drop some more in value ( we will know more in the fall) with the hope that our real estate taxes will also come down at least a bit. We continue to put money aside in our emergency fund and save for other goals. We are debt free except for our mortgage(s).

30 Day Rule

Yesterday evening, I arrived home after 7:00 p.m. after putting in 12 hours at the office. Mr. Sam and I were scheduled to head out for a run (our goal is to train Sunday-Thursday), but he was working on another project and declined to go running with me. I sat down on the sofa, clicked on Seinfeld and relaxed for a couple of minutes. Snarfle the Dog hovered near me as he had not yet been fed by Mr. Sam. I easily could have just continued sitting on the sofa or made myself a spot to eat or finished laundry; but I got myself up, changed into my running clothes, fed the dog and headed out for a two mile session.

I am a big believer in the 30 day rule - it takes 30 days (why do you think rehab is 28 days) or a month for a new habit to become just a habit. We are five weeks into our training program and I credit the 30 day rule for getting me up and going yesterday. Training has become a habit.

Think about using the 30 day rule for a goal that you are working on, financial, fitness or otherwise.

June Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $14,467 (44%)
(2) $10,000 (100%) Completed
(3) $714 (7%)
(4) $170 (3%)
(5) $0
(6) $0 ($21,177 in our ING e/r account)**
Total - $25,353 (35%)

As we close in on the mid-year mark, we are still behind on our 2009 savings goals by about $7,600. But, we are just $700 away from refunding our emergency fund which will help us as any money above $21,881 will count towards our 2009 saving goal. We are also pleased that we refinanced our primary home mortgage when we did, as those rates have moved higher since we completed our REFI.

** At the close of 2008, we had $21,881 in our emergency fund. We continue to add to our emergency fund but we are not counting the progress until it hits $21,881.

Snarfle

Snarfle was back at the vet this morning for a second round of treatment for a skin infection. We have also started him on arthritis medication as he has been favoring his back right hip the last month or so.

Our old dog is starting to show signs of being an old dog.

Training Progress

We were out of town visiting relatives the week of Memorial Day. We tried to train every day during our week of vacation and as a result I am now up to a mile and a half of jogging with no walk breaks.

Foreclosure Firesale

One of the foreclosed homes (to the north, there is another foreclosed home to the south) bordering one of our rental properties sold. Our hope is that the new owners, an investment company, will repair and rehab the house, landscaping and the pool and sell it to some new folks. All of which would be good news as the property has gone into serious disrepair an Mr. Sam has had to board up the home more than once to keep trouble makers out of it.

The bad news, the house sold for $21,000 which is, not surprisingly, considerably less than what we paid for our rental property. Clearly the foreclosed home needs some significant work and repairs so I expect the investment company will need to put $30,000 into the property. However, even with the repair costs the total investment of $50,000-$60,000 is still considerably less than what we paid for our rental property. It is just depressing to think that at present our investment property is probably worth half of what we paid for it (if we are lucky).

Week 3 Training

We are one day into our third week of training for the half marathon. At present I am jogging three blocks, walking one block, jogging, two blocks, walking one block and repeat for about half an hour (the Run - Walk - Run training method). Mr. Sam is just jogging for the entire half hour.

Our goal is to train Sunday-Thursday (every day) but work commitments and South Florida summer weather (rain and thunder storms) generally cancels at least a day.

5/15 - Inch-worm Progress

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $11,920 (36%)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $663 (7%)
(4) $163 (3%)
(5) $0
(6) $0 ($19,642 in our ING e/r account)**
Total - $22,748 (31%)

Ugh, we are now about $6000 behind of where we ought to be. Our forward progress has slowed to the pace of an inchworm. The car accident bills are behind us, the REFI costs are behind us and yet we seem to be spinning our wheels. We have both been very busy at work and therefore probably spending more than we should eating out during the week. We are overdue for a family finance meeting, but I'm not sure it would be particularly fruitful as I don't presently have a clear idea on why we seem to have a money gap.

** At the end of 2008 we had $21,881 in our emergency fund. We continue to add to our emergency fund, but we are not counting the progress until it hits $21,881.

Week 2 Training

I continue with interval training (the Run - Walk - Run training method) and this week I am jogging two blocks, walking one block, jogging two, repeat.

A New Topic

Today is the first day of training for Mr. Sam and me. We have decided to sign up for a September half marathon and we start interval training today. Neither of us are runners and while we are not out of shape our fitness regimen is pretty basic. I figure, like a debt or saving snowball, we will work on a physical fitness snowball. We will start out slow, jogging every other block or jogging every other minute, and each day out we will work on adding a few more steps or a few more seconds/minutes.

Our plan is to train Sunday - Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

NetWorth IQ

I finally updated our 401k numbers on our NetWorth IQ chart. I ignored those accounts for a good six months as our investments decreased by about 45%. As you will see, at present we are down about 6% for those six months which makes sense as we have continued to add principal and the market has somewhat stabilized.

Happy May Day!

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $10,313 (31%)
(2) $10,000 (100%)
(3) $613 (6%)
(4) $163 (3%)
(5) $0
(6) $0 ($19,142 in our ING e/r account)**
Total - $21,091 (29%)

We are about $3600 behind of where we ought to be. I finally have my car back, hooray, $12,000 in repairs covered by insurance and @$2700 in rental car costs and my deductible. Those car costs have been a major ding to the last two monthly spending plans (our form of a budget). Looking to get back on track this and next month.

** At the close of last we had about $21,881 in our emergency fund. We continue to add to our emergency fund, but we are not counting the progress until it hits $21,881.

A Glimmer

I know that I'm not supposed to check in on my long term investments, My 401K, on a regular basis. But after checking on my 401K, I'm happy to report a slight swing to the positive side (the first gains this year).

Let's do the numbers

1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $8704 (26%)
(2) $10000 (100%)
(3) $563 (6%)
(4) $157 (3%)
(5) $0
(6) $0 ($18,576 in our ING e/r account)
Total - $19,426 (27%)

Hooray for one goal completed, five to go. We are also on target for goal #1.

Life of a Product

How long should a particular product last? Companion question, how long should one wait to replace a particular product?

This past weekend I finally replaced my 19 year old Sony alarm clock radio with a new Sony alarm clock radio. My old alarm clock, which was at least 19 years old, still kept time but the radio tuner no longer worked and I didn't care for being awoken by the buzzer. So we stopped by the local Best Buy and I picked up an almost identical style Sony alarm clock radio (after reviewing all the new fangled options - CD alarm clock, IPod docking station alarm clocks, etc.). I was pleased that I was able to pick up a similar alarm clock and pleased that my old alarm clock lasted so long.

2009 IRAs

We can now cross off 2009 IRAs from our 2009 savings goal list. As of yesterday, tax day, we have fully funded both our 2009 IRAs for a total of $10,000.

We use our IRA monies to buy individual stocks and we have been picking up some great stocks that are on super sale (basically 50% off).

Cost of Doing Business?

Today, while paying my monthly bills I noticed that two of my recurring costs are creeping up by a total of about $8 a month. Not a whole lot of money but that creep upwards can be dramatic over the course of a few years.

First, DirecTV has gone up @ $4.50 a month and is now costing us $88.25 (includes two receivers and we pay for HBO, we get free Showtime for being loyal customers). I called to find out why and was told that they had a "rate increase." I complained, nicely, and the DirecTV representative gave me a $5 off coupon for the next 6 months.

Second, ADT is going up @ $9 a quarter and is now costing us $136.94 for three months. I called ADT to inquire as to the increase and they explained the increase as "cost of doing business." I explained that raising rates on good customers during gloomy economic times is a sure fire way to motivate them to find another provider. The ADT representative was very friendly and took the increase off and we will be receiving a credit.

I'm wondering if businesses are increasing costs to cover the loss of business from other customers. But as demonstrated above, it pays to call and inquire about a reduction. I was two for two today and it only took me about 15 minutes of time to save $66.00 and stop the creep upward.

Let's do the numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $5318 (16%)
(2) $9000 (90%)
(3) $462 (5%)
(4) $150 (3%)
(5) $0
(6) $0
Total - $14,932 (20%)

With our tax refund, we have done some catch up work but we are still about $3000 behind on our 2009 saving goals.

Taxes are done!

Our taxes are done

The bad news, we took a pretty big loss on our real estate investments this year. While all of our units are rented we have had to reduce our rent and we continue to put money into the properties.

The good news, we get a great tax benefit from the real estate investment losses. We are able to greatly reduce our tax burden and I'm happy to report we are receiving a $5000 refund.

Our tentative plan is to put $4000 of the refund monies stratight towards our 2009 savings goal, most likely Mr. Sam's IRA, and $1000 for whatever spending (which we don't do very much of). So we will each get $500 to spend as we like on whatever we like.

Lucky Friday the 13th

Between the expense of the mortgage refi and the car accident (rental car for a month), we've made little progress on our goals.

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $5318 (16%)
(2) $5000 (50%)
(3) $412 (4%)
(4) $150 (3%)
(5) $0
(6) $0 ($17,475 currently in ING e/r fund)**
Total - $10,932 (15%)

**Yes, we are going backwards on the e/r fund. If you followed my 2008 goal fiscal fitness journal, you'll note that when we closed out our 2008 goals we had $4098 more in our e/r fund than we do now. I won't count additions to our e/r fund until we are back up to $21,881.

2009 IRA

One down and one to go. We have fully funded my 2009 IRA, we will now turn our attention to Mr. Sam's 2009 IRA.

REFI done!

We closed on our refinance today!! We have locked in a great rate and gone from a 30 year fixed loan to a 25 year fixed loan and in the process knocked off a year from our mortgage (we were 4 years into the 30 year mortgage). We also paid down our mortgage balance so we now have 30% equity.

We have gone back and forth on what to do with the extra cash available each month from our reduced mortgage payment. I want to throw the extra money at the mortgage, just keep paying the same payment, and Mr. Sam wants to throw the extra money toward our emergency fund until we replenish it (we took a chunk out during the REFI).

Stock

You may have seen the article in CNN.Money.com that according to Warren Buffet's magic metric, now is a good time to buy stock.

Buffet, himself, announced back in October 2008 that he was personally buying stocks.

Not that I make my investing decisions based on what Buffet or his magic metric say or don't say, we bought more stock today when the market dipped.

REFI appraisal

We had the property inspection part of the appraisal completed yesterday. This is probably the 5th appraisal I have been present for and it was certainly the most in depth (likely a result of the down mortgage market). The appraiser measured and photographed each room in our home and our carriage house (we have two structures that make up our primary home). She also inspected each and every closet.

We are in a tough valuation area because (1) our house is historic and unique and therefore hard to compare to other properties (2) our neighborhood is made up of other historic and unique properties so its hard to find recent sales of similar homes to use as comps (3) South Florida is full of short sales and foreclosures which push the values down even if the appraiser can't use those sales in her valuation.

REFI

We have our appraisal on Monday which is the last step to qualify for our refinance on our primary home. We have a great low interest rate locked in, but we have to get past the appraisal.

I'm nervous about whether our house will appraise for what we paid for it in 2004. Reasons, we bought our house in 2004 (not at the top of the market but on the way up), we live in South Florida (ground 0 for mortgage/foreclosure mess) and our house is hard to value because its (1) historic, (2) unusual, (3) located in an eclectic neighborhood.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. A new lower interest rate will help us to pay off our house in less than 25 years (because we will keep paying our current payment each month, about $200 more than the new payment) and save us $70,000+ in interest.

1/30/09 numbers

We are kind of off to a slow start in 2009.

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

(1) $1881
(2) $3000
(3) $312
(4) $141
(5) $0
(6) $0 ($20,129 currently in ING e/r fund)**
Total - $5334

** If you followed our 2008 savings adventure, you'll note that when we closed out our 2008 goals we had $1752 more in our e/r fund than we do now. We put $1000 towards our mortgage principal at the end of 2008 and Mr. Sam bought an expensive toy. I won't count additions to our e/r fund until we are back up to $21,881.

2009 Saving/Investing goals

It is that time of year again, time to plan out our saving/investing goals for 2009. We sat down and talked about what we want to accomplish this year, what we accomplished last year, our long term plans, spending plan, etc.

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000 (we have not tracked this goal in the past, but I think its important to keep track of it and to include it in our yearly savings goals.)
(2) Max out 2009 IRAs - $10,000
(3) House project and furniture - $10,000
(4) Add to baby fund - $5,000
(5) Lasik surgery for Mr. Sam - $5,000
(6) Add to emergency fund - $10,000
Total - $73,000

The total seems super high for us, but that is due to the fact that we are counting our 401k contributions.

Mortgage Refi

We have locked in a REFI for our home (the one we live in). We locked in a 4.78% fixed rate, no points on a 25 year loan (we are currently 4 years into a 30 year mortgage).

Now we've got to get the paper work done and hope the house appraises (here in So. Fla. there is a risk that our appraisal will derail the REFI).

Our plan is to continue to pay the same amount we currently pay each month (about $200 more than the new payment) in addition to paying an extra $250 a month to total $450 a month ($5400 a year) extra towards principal. Without paying anything extra towards principal, the REFI will save us @$75,000 in interest over the life of the new loan.

Happy New Year

Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy and successful 2009.

Have you made any interesting New Year's resolutions??