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Home > Working on being a grown-up.

Working on being a grown-up.

July 29th, 2008 at 03:24 pm

Well, we're getting moved into the apartment just fine. I'm loving the extra space and all the natural light. I never noticed just how dungeon-like the old place was until I had windows in every room!

I've resolved to not move again for at least another 2 years. This whole moving every year thing has gotten quite old...

There is no internet in the new place yet, so I've been doing a lot more reading at home. It's probably a blessing in disguise, considering the hours I waste away on the computer usually. I finished Suze Orman's YF&B, and it has definitely given me some things to think about. I'm going to start really planning out for my financial goals. Not just the small, short-term things, but also the longer-term things, such as retirement, buying a house, eventually owning my own business, etc.

I'm going to talk to my mom (my insurance agent) about different options on my life insurance policy. It's a variable policy, which means it does have an investment element to it, but I realize it's probably too expensive. All of the mail I recieve about the financial advisors and such makes me think I'm probably paying too much. So I'll get quotes on term life, and I'm going to look into opening a Roth IRA sometime in the next year or so. I'm going to do some shopping around for a while first. I'm assuming that a term life plan for someone as young as me isn't going to be very pricey, and I can put the difference into a Roth and probably fare better.

I'm also going to sit down and go over joint financial hooplah with BF. I like Suze's idea of having a joint bank account for living expenses. I think it'll be good for sorting through things together. Besides, I want to get out of that "his money, her money" mindset. We go out and I "let him pay" quite a bit, knowing full-well that his and my money will one day be the same, and he shouldn't be "paying for me," he should be sticking that money to something a little more useful (and we should just not go out to eat at all out of convenience).

Started my new shift at work yesterday, and I think it's going to be very successful. I'm pretty excited. I'm definitely ready to start making the big bucks.

I'm trying to get things in order for school this week. I have to call my university in PA and have them mail this university my transcript. I'm going to do the part-time thing in the fall, try and pay down my CC (that will be racked up to pay off these summer classes), and make up for it next summer by taking a few classes (that I will save up the money to pay for so I dont get stuck like I did this year).

It's almost time to do my July totals and budget for August! I cant believe how fast this summer is going by! Less than a month before school starts again... jeez. I'm looking forward to it, though I'm not going to get all hyped for fall until these summer classes are paid for. With my luck things will go awry and I'll have to put it all off. I'm hoping this is not the case, but in the event that it is, I dont want to let myself down.

Other than that, I dont think I have any real news. I'm just trying to get my mind-set in order to make the most money and get the most out of my job I can, while at the same time get my life in order and come up with a plan. It's strange to me trying to be a grown-up now. I'm trying to balance the things I love with paying off my debt, and planning for the future. It's a lot of work and most certainly a huge thing to tackle. But I'm enjoying tackling it, which is the nice part. I feel so much more responsible.

Either way, I should get going. I have more fun to have at the library before walking over to work.

Everyone have a wonderful day!

5 Responses to “Working on being a grown-up.”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1217347102

    I'd love to see a blog entry one day about how and why you got into the life insurance you have. With your Mom as your agent, I would have thought she'd have been really looking out for you. Maybe Mom could benefit from reading the Orman book, too.

  2. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1217350499

    Good for you for looking at your options and making sure you do what's best for you.

    My parent's worked for New York Life for awhile, and I bought a whole life policy from them. They thought it was a great investment, and I did too at the time. Then I started reading more financial planning books, etc., and realized there were better options out there. When I cashed out of my plan, I had a value of $26.

  3. merch Says:
    1217365259

    At this point in your life, you probaly don't need life insurance. All you really need is an estate to pay your liabilities and to bury you.

    I have a 20 year term, but I havea stay at home wife and 2 kids. My insurance has to pay for a house, education, taxes, and just plain living.

    But before kids, my insurance policy was via work and was 1x my salary. That was enough to pay everything off, bury me, and leave something to my parents.

    And if you start saving at a young age and are frugal, you might be able to self insure yourself. My wife doesn't currently have life insurance. If she were to die, I could absorb the extra cost of day care and other things on my income.

    Just my thoughts.

  4. sillyoleme Says:
    1217382315

    I guess I kind of disagree with everyone on the life insurance. I have a universal variable policy, it costs me about $30/month, and about half of that goes to the cash value. A 5-year-term policy was going to be about $15, with no cash value, and no guarantee that you HAVE life insurance after 5 years.

    To me, it's important to make sure that when I get married and have kids, they are protected if something should happen to me. You never know if you may get diagnosed with something, or have one test come back the wrong way, even if it turns out to be okay, that kind of stuff makes life insurance very pricey and hard to qualify for.

    I don't want to end up 35 and can't get life insurance because I had a bad gyno exam or something. Plus, that $30 that I'm paying is locked in for life, and when I check the cash value, it's always about half of what I've paid in. And to me - that's a good deal.

    You get guaranteed life insurance for as long as you keep paying the $30, you get current life insurance, you gain cash value with whatever extra you pay, and if you get wealthy enough to self-insure, you can always cash the policy out later.

    I worked in insurance, and you would not believe the amount of spouses or single parents (even young ones) that we could not get a policy for because they had some kind of fairly routine medical problem come up. That is one of the most depressing conversations to have to have with someone.

  5. boomeyers Says:
    1217399067

    I hate to say it, but I agree with Merch. You are too young to need insurance. When you are married and have a mortgage, yes, kids, yes, but not now. Use that money for school. Have your mom buy her own policy for you as her student child for $5000 so she could have some money to pay for funeral expenses. Maybe when you turn 30, but not now.

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