Browsing tag: money

This quarter, I redeemed $35 in credit card rewards, as well as using $22 to pay for the six monthly Visa and True Rewards fees. ($57 in three months is a pretty good haul, right?)

Right now, I’m left with about $8 in rewards dollars.

But the thing is, I don’t know how long it took me to earn all that. I make $1 for every $150 spent, and given that I try to put everything on CC that I can, it adds up at a respectable pace. I know I’m coming out ahead, but I don’t know if it’s by $2 or $20 or $50. I guess I should have saved those quarterly statements…

Every so often I contemplate opening a credit card elsewhere instead. But the convenience of having it linked to my main accounts and making real-time transactions is too hard to give up. After all, the ASB Visa still has one of the lowest annual fees. I can use my reward dollars at the cinema, supermarket or a range of other stores or just apply them to the Visa as free cashback, essentially. It looks like this is about as good as it gets for a personal card.

Do you have your credit card/s with your main bank?

Via PhillipC on Flickr

Ah, those mythical $1 airfares. I thought it was my lucky day when I received a Jetstar email about their $1 Christchurch and Wellington fares; the sale started at 4pm, so you can bet that when the time rolled around, I was there refreshing like a madwoman.

First, the sale was limited to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So we could have a week long trip…or an overnight. I figured a one-night stay would be enough to get a quick taste of the city, without wasting too much precious leave.

The times were also pretty limited – two flights a day, one mid-afternoon, one at night.

Then it came time to wade through the extra shite they try to pawn you: allied hotels, rental cars and whatnot.

Then I filled out all the details: my legal name, his legal name, my contact details, blahdeblah. And then my booking timed out. I had to start from scratch, but thanks to the magic of autosave, I didn’t have to type everything out in full again.

Only THEN did we get down to the serious business of seat selection. And this is where it got good. Each standard seat came at a cost of $3! Extra legroom and other special seats incurred even larger fees. My $4 flights ($1, return for two) was ballooning to $16. And I knew I’d have to pay another $5 or so for a booking fee at the end, plus who knows WHAT else before then.

At this point, I was not too happy with their sneaky calculations, and clicked out of the site. Perhaps other airlines’ $1 fares work in a similar way, but with all the bad Jetstar publicity, and the very limited travel dates, I’d rather hedge my bets elsewhere.

Who’s ever snagged a $1 fare? Is this normal and how much should I actually expect to pay once all is said and done?

one of my Goals (with a capital G) that is.

I’m officially on NetworthIQ and have begun keeping tally of my net worth.

I don’t anticipate updating it all that frequently, mainly because, er, it takes work. I have some money locked away with RaboPlus, and the sheer process of logging in is quite a mission. It requires me to be at home, to go over to my top drawer, dig out the DigiPass and the letter bearing my customer number, then endure the charade that is their supersecure sign-in. Hence why many people turn to Rabo – it’s hard to get at the money, so it’s ideal for bonafide saving.

But it’s going to be a good way of keeping myself on track. Sometimes it’s hard to see yourself making progress, and net worth is a great thing for calculating that.

I guess the big challenge will be not freaking out at ups and downs in the market!

Well, well, aren’t we the Spendy McSpenderson couple.

First up: We now own an Xbox 360. A red one, no less.

Here’s how it happened: EB Games were having a firesale on pre-owned consoles. T mentioned he’d like to save for one. I said that this was a really good deal, and he had enough to buy one now…but I made sure to stress to him that he’d really need to be stringent about saving from now.

And it seems to have been a turning point for him – rather than saving for the worst, I think I need to couch it in terms of saving for opportunities. Funnily enough, I’d been fretting that he wasn’t saving nearly enough. I wanted him to feel like he was in control of his money, so I’d been asking him to decide how much he wanted to save/spend once the bills were paid. Most of the time, he opted for roughly a 50/50 split.

Unfortunately, the 20GB ones were all out ($220). There were 120GB versions for $367 *choke* but seeing as it was technically HIS money to spend, I refrained from telling him he should wait. I did drop bellyaching hints about the large price difference, but in the end, we walked out with the 120GB. And he seems to be making good use of it, having already downloaded one or two games. And it’s still cheaper than a brand new one. And did I mention it’s red?

I think we now know what he’ll be spending a lot of play money on. Xbox Live membership, for one. The first month is free, but after that you gotta cough up. They have a deal going for new members – 50 per cent off, so $15 for three months – which I suppose isn’t bad, but it’s still a bit of a rort. And games.

My phone charger also died this month. By died, I mean warped-its-tines-while-being-shunted-around-in-my-handbag-far-beyond-repair. Instead of buying a new charger online – which I did, albeit a week later – we bought a new phone.

Granted, I hated my cellphone. I wanted a new one. And we happened to have free tickets to the Home Show that weekend, and PB Tech had a stall there with some sweet deals. T is now using a touchscreen Acer smartphone, and I may or may not take over it at some point. It gets Google Maps, which cools my lust for a GPS.

We also picked up a hard drive there for his mother’s birthday. That all came to nearly $340, of which he paid $200. My share came from one of his friends paying me for one of my extra Metallica tickets.

Um, and add to that a large amount spent this last week on food (our weekend away) and T’s birthday (again, food, and Halo: Wars) and my clothes shopping. I haven’t spent like this all year, or, quite possibly, ever. Two pairs of shoes plus runners, two skirts, two tops and a handbag. Eek!

Balance…balance…it’s a tricky one! Living for today while saving for tomorrow.

Image by kiki99 via Flickr

For me, $10,000 is the magic number. When I see five digits in my savings account, I’ll have achieved my main financial goal for the year.

Handily enough, I also settled on $10k for my rainy day fund. A nice round amount.

And then today I started wondering just how far that would really go. Yes, we live in a welfare state, but the rules on cash assets are pretty strict. Plus if you have a working partner, that basically seems to rule you out for assistance.

$10,000 would cover about four months at our current expenditures (obviously, without saving anything during that time). That’s not a very long time.

Then again, I would save about $100 a month in transport. We’d trim the grocery budget, maybe our internet package, and we could cut Sky TV. T could step up and shoulder more of our costs – I’m talking everything household, from rent to insurance to car maintenance.

But if he was laid off again – incidentally, his ex-employer that made him redundant after virtually promising him an apprenticeship has gone into voluntary receivership – things would really have to change.

How many months would your EF cover, and how stable is your employment? If you’re in a couple, how does that affect your E-fund?

It’s a given that making a living in the arts isn’t easy. The Big Idea, a hub for those in the creative industries, is doing a series on money, designed to “jostle your understanding and perception around money” and enabling us to take control and improve cashflow.

Of course, one of the first things advised is to start tracking expenses – a money diary. But much more interesting is the Your Money Story, a series of questions which explore your views on finances based on your past. I’ve always tended to shy away from these things, but I was so pumped about the whole project I thought I might just delve in. And if you’d like to fill them out, I’ve pasted the questions below.

Answer the following questions as a way of revealing your real relationship to money:
• What was your family’s money situation, when you were young?
• Did you learn about money?  How did you learn about money?  What did you learn?
• What did your mother tell you verbally or non-verbally about money?
• What did your father tell you verbally or non-verbally about money?
• Was money talked about in your family when you were growing up?  Were you included in money conversations?
• Did you get pocket money as a child?  In this respect were you the same or different to your friends?  How did you feel about this?
• Were you trusted with money as you were growing up?
• Can you remember your first purchase with money of your own?  What was it?  How old were you?  How did it feel?
• Can you remember the first time you got paid in an employment situation?  How much did you get?  What did you do with it?  How did you feel?
• Have you ever achieved something big with money?  If so, what was it and how did it make you feel?
• What have you done with money that makes you feel bad?
• What have you done with money that makes you feel good?
• What is your attitude towards people who have a lot of money?
• What is your attitude towards people with very little money?
• If money were a person, how would you describe your relationship with them?
• Have you ever given money away?  How did you feel about it?
• Has anyone ever given you money?  How did you feel about that?
• Do you have any money secrets?  What are they?
• What position do you want to be in with money in ten years time?
• What do you tell yourself about money?  Do you feel guilt or regrets when you spend?
• How do you imagine others describe your relationship to money?
• How do you feel when you are paying bills?
• What is the most amazing thing you have done with money?
• Do you share the same attitudes to money as others close to you?

* * * The Next Step * * *
When you have finished look at your money story and see what patterns and themes exist. For example, themes of scarcity, recklessness, frugalness, hoarding, easy come easy go, money magnet etc.
What is the overall emotional tone?
Are you repeating your parents relationship with money?

Yep, there’s a lot.

Here’s how I answered:

• What was your family’s money situation, when you were young? Tight when we first moved to NZ. Then comfortably frugal. Middle class but with no frills at all.

• Did you learn about money? How did you learn about money? What did you learn? I don’t ever recall learning about money or sex from my family.

• What did your mother tell you verbally or non-verbally about money?  What did your father tell you verbally or non-verbally about money? I knew they saved money on my behalf, and that they used some (most?) of it to pay for building our house when we moved here. It’s not like I really knew I had it, or how much; after all, I hadn’t earned it myself. It meant no mortgage for us.

Mum hardly ever bought things unless they were on special. Not just at the supermarket, but literally anything you can name – clothes, electronics, etc. She’s the queen of bargains and also of opshopping. Also, she taught me to stock up on things.

• Was money talked about in your family when you were growing up? Were you included in money conversations? No and no.

• Did you get pocket money as a child? In this respect were you the same or different to your friends? How did you feel about this? For a while I got 50c a day (so $3.50 a week). That didn’t last long. I don’t really remember when that started/ended, or why. A lot of my friends also got allowances of similar amounts. I vaguely recall my parents giving me brother money…I seem to remember “selling” him some toys at one stage. Mum then said to Dad ‘We have to stop giving him money.”

• Were you trusted with money as you were growing up? I used to be entrusted with going down the road to the dairy to buy milk. I did that for quite a while, until one day I managed to drop and lose those precious coins as I skipped through the park. I don’t think I ever got sent on a milk run again.

• Can you remember your first purchase with money of your own? What was it? How old were you? How did it feel? It was probably something like food. I never bought lunch at school, although almost everyone else did at least occasionally. I always had packed lunches.

• Can you remember the first time you got paid in an employment situation? How much did you get? What did you do with it? How did you feel? I got a paper run when I was in third form. It was a princely sum at the time – maybe $80-100 a month. I didn’t do anything with it. It went into some sort of savings account – I was 12 or 13 and didn’t have access to any money of my own at the time. It felt good, although since I never saw it, I felt a bit removed from it all. I knew I was saving it though and it would be earning interest so I was happy with that.

• Have you ever achieved something big with money? If so, what was it and how did it make you feel? I bought my own electric guitar and amp. I think, off the top of my head, the grand total was $650 (might have been 750 even). IT FELT AMAZING. I did have a momentary twinge when it came to swiping my card, but it was the sole reason I’d been working two jobs, almost every day after school, and on the weekends too.

• What have you done with money that makes you feel bad? I’ve done some silly things in the past. But I don’t think my financial mistakes made me feel “bad” as such – I just didn’t see them in that light. I suppose I feel bad about that first year T and I lived together. He worked so much and made decent money, but we didn’t save any of it. That’s definitely a regret, not being wiser that year and not being in control of our money.

• What have you done with money that makes you feel good? Save enough so I hopefully will never need to rely on others. Give to charity. Treat my best friends.

• What is your attitude towards people who have a lot of money? I guess I’m envious, and aspire to be more like them. I have two friends with very well-off families, but you’d never know it. I hope I’d be the same.

• What is your attitude towards people with very little money? Depends. If it’s because they don’t know how to manage money and have a pattern of making poor decisions then I see it as nobody’s fault but their own. If it’s because they’re down on their luck (ie laid off), I’m sympathetic. If it’s because they’ve just spent it all travelling the world, I’m awed by them and start thinking about when I can do the same (but more responsibly/boringly).

• If money were a person, how would you describe your relationship with them? Volatile. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. It’s all to do with how well I manage my finances though, and the relationship is a lot healthier now.

• Have you ever given money away? How did you feel about it? Yes, I try to donate money every month. I give regularly because I can – not huge amounts, and I could give more, I’m certainly not giving away 10 per cent or anything – it’s the right thing to do. So many people are less fortunate than me. And I believe in reaping what you sow.

• Has anyone ever given you money? How did you feel about that? My family. A mixture of grateful, and, er, reluctance to take it? I used to swing between bouts of feeling sorry for myself because so many of my friends got so much from their parents, and wanting to stand only on my own two feet. Now I try to accept gifts gratefully.

• Do you have any money secrets? What are they? Money nearly broke my relationship. Although maybe that’s not such a big secret. And it was due to joblessness, not money directly.

• What position do you want to be in with money in ten years time? Age 32. Hoooboy. Okay. I want to be settled in a house with a comfortable mortgage repayment. Contributing fully to Kiwisaver. Able to travel on the odd weekend, and an overseas trip at least once a year. Would be great if we could live off one salary and save the other.

• What do you tell yourself about money? Do you feel guilt or regrets when you spend? That I am in control of it and only I can prioritise what I spend on. I hardly ever buy on impulse…rather, I plan my purchases and stalk sales, so regret is rare. While T was unemployed I did feel guilty if I bought anything for myself, and would try to smuggle them into the house and hide them away.

• How do you imagine others describe your relationship to money? I was once told by friends I was “sensible” with money. They’d probably still say the same thing. Either that or reckless because I use my credit card for almost everything, and that’s what they see. They don’t see me paying it off every week.

• How do you feel when you are paying bills? Indifferent. It’s gotta be done. I do it so often it’s just an automatic thing.

• What is the most amazing thing you have done with money? Depends how you define amazing. I am amazed at how much I’ve been able to save, and especially how quickly it accumulates once I made it an almost unconscious thing, not to mention once T got a job again. And I have been able to give (aka buy) some generous gifts for others. And lend money to others as needed.

• Do you share the same attitudes to money as others close to you? I’d say a lot of my friends are more carefree with money and more likely to blow bigger amounts on anything from alcohol to clothes. T is not much of a planner while I can’t help but look ahead, but I think  we both believe in spending money on experiences – food, travel to new places. I’m naturally frugal and will deny myself things – delayed gratification – to achieve my goals. He’s more likely to spend and deal with the consequences tomorrow.

When you have finished look at your money story and see what patterns and themes exist. For example, themes of scarcity, recklessness, frugalness, hoarding, easy come easy go, money magnet etc. It’s not obvious from these answers, but I’ll answer them taking into account everything that’s not here. Scarcity. Uncertainty. Control (or lack of). Frugality, definitely.

What is the overall emotional tone? A desire for independence and stability? To be able to give back and to share my fortune (not literal) with others?

Are you repeating your parents relationship with money? I hope so. I definitely loosen the purse strings a little more – they seem to be enjoying money a bit more lately, but growing up, we never went on holidays and we only ever bought huge bottles of Coke (never cans) which always went flat before you even got halfway through them. I’d like to think I could own my house free and clear well before retirement. I’d like to one day switch gears from just ‘saving’ to ‘investing.