My 2013 Resolutions

First let me say that this is posted across all of my blogs so if you're following my blogs (especially my blogger blogs), you'll see the same exact posting.
My goals are :

• Increase my liquid savings by $2,500-3,000.
• Add 1 $250 CD bringing me to 6 CD's. After I get my liquid account to $3,000 all additional savings will go into the cd's.
• Add $300 to my stock account.
• Save up at least half of the amount for my bedroom suite. With 24 months same as cash I'll be able to pay it over time.
• Close on my house no later than July. It should be sooner but I could push it back a few months.
• Lose 1 pants size. Sure why not! It never happens but whatever. 
• Save $1,000 for moving expenses and trips home. I have to go home at least 3 times this year including getting my stuff out of storage.

Nice and short. Hopefully I'll meet most of them.

Where did my money go?

I just got paid today. I only balance my checkbook on payday, making a 2 week gap between updates. My slush fund in my checking account is gone! I have no idea where it went. It was $100 in December and now in February it's $0. The really sad part is that I can't even begin to tell you where the money went.

I'll have to start watching my spending. And I need to rebuild my slush fund ASAP.

Women get your money right

First let me say that I understand that men want to get their money right. But it's often assumed that men are better investors than women. While I know that's not always true, most financial planners seem to believe that as well. When couples or women alone go, they often get spoken to in a condescending manner. They usually asked questions like "Did you ask your husband?" or "Maybe we should wait for your husband and see what he thinks". Truth be told, women are just as good as investing as men are.

That's why I'm happy that I've found a woman who is not only a financial planner but she also specializes in helping women reach their financial goals. Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is a independent fee-only Certified Financial planner and the owner of TheWealthSpa.com. On her site you can find tips such as the types of people that should work with her (people that want to learn more about money) and people that should not work with her (people that want get-rich quick schemes.

You can visit her site to get her free weekly e-zine. There's also a free teleclass each month focus on various topics. If you want to learn how to "Stop Procrastinating About Your Finances", stop on by and sign up.

Venture Alliance Partners

Looking out for the interest of entrepreneurs is not on the mind of most venture capitalists. They want to invest their money, get a quick flip on it and get out. ButVenture Alliance Partners wants to work with entreprenuers to look out for each others best interests.

Venpar is one of the leading providers of private equity. Starting a business can be daunting, and sometimes gettting that all important venture capital can be next to impossible. It's great to see a company like Venpar working to provide support and confidence to a start-up team.

My raise was supposed to take effect today

But I didn't get my pay stub. For whatever reason, my mail gets redirected to another person with my first name. Now mind you, our last names are not even close. Add to that the fact that she works in Kentucky, and I don't understand that at all.

I could just go on-line and look up my pay but I haven't yet. I'm weird like that. I had a bad experience once with a raise that didn't go through, so I only look at my pay stub. I don't think it will be all that different, it wasn't like a got a fantabulous raise. My bills increased so much over the last year that I didn't even raise my 401k percentage like I was supposed to. I need all of that money and then some.

Blog news

There are several reasons why I started my other two blogs. One is because my blog is starting to lose its focus. It's supposed to focus on my finances. My finances include everything from what I spend to my investments. I don't give exact numbers or names of my investments, but I do give a general description of what I'm doing.

My blog is moving away from that because I write about anything and everything. So I put this blog on it's own domain and started another blogger blog. That way, one can focus on finances and the other will be be a very general blog. I'll eventually phase this one out, but that's a while away.

Gold as an investment vehicle

I've been looking at plenty of alternative investments. After all, most financial planners will tell you not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Meaning spread your assets around different asset classes. These classes can include cash, stocks, fixed instruments (bonds) and precious metals like gold.

I've been thinking about investing in gold for some time now. Getting involved with a company like General Metals Corporation will let me invest without having to actually keep the physical gold itself. Have you ever held gold? It's heavy. If you wanted to invest a significant amount, where would you keep it?

At this point, I'm not able to make a significant investment. But that's ok. Because a company like this is just the right place for the small to mid-sized investor. After all, shouldn't everyone have the ability to make money?

Taxes taxes taxes

Ugh. I hate doing my taxes. They're really bad this year because I cashed in my 401k from my old job. I already paid the taxes on the money, now I have to pay the penalty. I usually get a small refund of a couple of hundred dollars. This year I'll owe at least $1500.

It's not just the 401k that's bad. I have 3 w-2, interest and dividends. Even though it's not a lot (interest and dividends), I still have to pay taxes on it. Maybe I'll do them this weekend. After I study of course.

I finally balanced my checkbook

The number aren't pretty. I have some slack/extra money, but not enough. My savings is tied up so I try to keep a little extra just in case. I always try to imagine an emergency popping up to motivate me to keep liquid savings. I'll be transferring money into my account next week. Right now, it seems the only emergency I can afford is to need $5 extra for lunch!

Stay On Top Of Your Finances

Do you keep up with your finances? I've blogged about not balancing my checkbook for a while now. But I do know that there is money in the accounts. Keeping track of your finances is important. Today you can't get a mortgage, credit card, or even car insurance if your finances aren't in shape.

One of the first things you should do is make sure you have money in your savings accounts. You never know when an emergency will hit and you need to tap that money. You could always go for secured loans. But in the case of a true emergency, would you really be able to add another debt payment on top of all of your other bills?

Take some time this weekend to make sure your financial house is in order. If you don't know where to start, check out Nations Finance for some great articles. They will help you get on track. I can't promise it will be fun, but you will be glad that you did it.

Checkbooks And Balances

I still haven't balanced my checkbook. The good news is that I did go to my banks website and make sure I had money. I also transferred money from my paypal account into my checking account.

The bad news is that I have no idea exactly how much money is in my account. Balancing my checkbook is a nightmare. I usually do it at work but I was tired today so I just concentrated on staying woke and getting work done. But mostly on staying woke. I don't think my boss would have appreciated me falling asleep at my desk. Especially since I snore when I'm tired.

Tomorrow is my busy day at work then I have school. So I won't be balancing my checkbook until at least Wednesday.

Tax Time And Ebay Headaches

Now that tax season is upon us, I have started pulling together my shoe boxes full of business related expenses. It is a nightmare! I thought my personal taxes were bad. These are even worse.

Small businesses have such a hard time keeping track of everything. Things like: whether you can deduct home office expenses or internet and phone usage. Don't forget postage and employee wages. Yup, I have a small business with 1 other employee. I was dreading doing my taxes. So I started an internet search to get help and found Accounting Paradise. They specialize in bookkeeping for small business. I read through their materials and they have very reasonable rates and great customer support. They don't have you sign contracts and even do payroll. Maybe if my business grows, I can look to them for payroll support as well.

Can I Catch A Break?

My financial aid never came through for school. So even though I knew I needed money, I grossly under-estimated the amount that I would need. I now owe another $600 on top of the rest of my bills. I thought I had everything under control buy now I'm not so sure. I might have to take another Payday Cash Advance Loans to get by. My mom has already said that she would help me pay it off. But she doesn't have the money right now either.

There are a number of offices in my area and some of them are affiliated with a local bank. That gives me a little more piece of mind.

I would feel a whole lot better if my financial aid would come through though. I sure do miss my old job and all of the overtime. I sure could use it right now. But I'm sure I'll find a way to make it. I always do.