Inspired by this PF Blogger , I am going to Track My Expenses in Feburary. Also I am going to follow the categories he suggests to use:

 

Regular Expenses - Housing, Phone, Cable, Internet, Garbage, Insurance

Variable Expenses - Gasoline, Electricity/Gas, Groceries, Dining out, Household, Personal Care, Pet Care, Recreation, Everything Else

Irregular Expenses - Car Repair, Travel, Gifts, Healthcare, Water/Sewer

But I need add a very important item:

Baby Care- Babysitting, classes, baby food, diapers, baby care

 

Check back in a month to see how I do in this month.

i.e. answer to Amy's question.

 

I have been contributing to IRA for the last couple of years. The primary reason is to force myself to save some money. Of course, since traditional IRA is tax-deductible, I also put some money in IRA to maximize my tax return.

 

I contributed $3000 for the Tax Year 2004. I opened an IRA account and bought mutual fund. As of last check, the market value of this account is 3200.81. In 2005, both Marc and I opened IRA account at HSBC, each contributing $3000. This time we bought one-year CD. Actually, we just renewed it for another year-term. I forgot last year's rate, but approximately our money grew to $3070. Our new CD rate is 4.50APY. We just did our tax this past weekend, Marc is going to contribute another $2000. I may contribute $1000 (, I do not have money).

 

As for 401K, I did not consider it because my employer does not match my contribution, not even a penny. If your employer has a 401K plan, I suggest you go with it. Personally, I do not like to buy mutual fund any more, because the one your banker recommends to you normally is the one he/she gets the best commission. I would rather pick my own stocks. If you do not want to take too many risks, you can diversify across different sectors, large-cap vs. small-cap, growth stocks vs. value stocks, you know, all those strategies you can easily figure out. 

I have been following a few Personal Finance blogs. I found lots of these bloggers are really into saving, maybe they are conscious of their money situation is exactly how they started blogging.  

Well, I used to think I am good at saving up, you know, very typical Chinese. I went to college in China in the early 1990s, meaning I paid negligible tuition.  

Then I worked for a big media company, which besides giving me a relative fat salary and bonus, covered almost all of my expenses, like cell phone, transportation, even personal hygiene stuff.  

Then I attended Columbia on full scholarship, so my wallet was not dented at all.  

Then I started working and living in New York, the most expensive place on earth. But somehow I have managed to save a little bit every month. I never spent more than I made.  

Last year, I had my first debt ever. I bought a bedroom set for $4,800. I had a deferred payment plan with no interest for six month. During that six month, I was very careful about how much I spent on other stuff. Except groceries, I did not do much shopping. Of course, this period coincided with Hannah’s first few months. By early February, I paid off the debt. I was so relieved that for the past couple of months, I have been shopping like crazy, mostly for clothes. I also bought a new digital camera for $310. 

Today after reading this particular blog, I decide it is about time for me to go back to my good old habits---saving. OK, maybe I need set up a few goals: like save for Hannah’s college; save for a house, save for a vacation.  SIGH.

  The government mandates that everyone gets 1 free credit report every year from each of the 3 credit bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com.  So I tried to get one from TransUnion today. You have to answer a few questions so the credit tracking company can verify your identity. Unfortunately, I failed at the first question. Tthey asked me was my Macy's card number, I swear I gave them correct information. But after I tried three different ways of the combination---no space between the numbers, space them exactly the way shown on my card and hyphenate them---I was told sorry, your information does not match. sh@t!!!

 

Actually, I could have tried to get all three at once. Now I am glad I did not.  

 

Not music CDs, but Certificate of Deposit.

My HSBC CD account just matured. I did some research on where to invest the money. Since Marc does not like me invest more than 5000 in stocks, I decide to put it in another termed CD. Here is the best deals I find so far:

1. Citibank: 6-month CD Interest Rate: 4.65%
2. Chase:    7-month CD Interest Rate: 4.50%
3. HSBC:  9-12 month CD Interest Rate: 4.25%

4.Washington Mutual 6-8month Interest Rate:4.41%

If you are comfortable with online banking, HSBC also has a promotion for online savings account. The interest rate is 4.80%, good until April 30.

Just read an article “follow my money” on Business Week about how young bloggers talk about their personal finance or even give financial advice in their blogs. Very interesting! Here are some of the blogs the article mentioned:

 

 

I do not want to devote my blog totally to finance, but I do want to update on my stock more often. From today on, I will add a new category-Finance.