Slowly Building Wealth

Discover email about cashing out reward at any amount came at a most opportune time. It reminded me that most CCs have some sort of program with Amazon that allows for purchases with reward points. So in preparation for closing down several cards, that had a few points here and there, I linked them all to Amazon and bought gift cards for the same amount as the rewards. Managed to clear out $16.54 that I would have lost had I closed them as planned.

Citi sucked as usual with an exchange rate of 125 pts for $1.00. So instead of converting an existing card to the double cash back card, I've decided to wait for a sign up bonus to apply. In the mean time, I planned to make use of the quicksilver 0% APR until August 2015. This would actually be a better deal than paying up front and getting 2%.

My third card also came in, no credit score though. The card itself certainly felt more luxurious than the other two, however, it came in a flimsy envelope with the card numbers printed on the front page, right above the delivery address. Any one could simply tilt the envelope and look though the address window to see it. My envelope was torn...I wonder if any post office employee thought there might be stacks of bills in there.

Two of the cards I applied for came in recently along with my credit scores. They used different type of scores but to see a difference of 86 points as well as a drop from the top to the third group was quite shocking. Especially as they came from the same source.

The card with the lower score offered free credit tracking so I decided to take advantage of it. It pulled data from another source and showed a higher number, right in between the 2 I received and still in the excellent zone.

I'm interested in what score the third card will show.

Tring to make use of credit card sign on bonuses to help out with the dental bill, but it’s slim picking out there. Hopefully more deals would show up closer to Black Friday. For now though, I’m limited to Discover, possibly converting a Citi card to Citi Double Cash, and maybe two bank bonuses. I’m not particularly thrill about the Citi card given their reward reduction in recent years, annoying separation between card and reward accounts, and worst no one has reported receiving the second percent on the Double Cash. Maybe I should just close all my Citi cards as initially planned and go for the Quick Silver. Decision, decision…

Too many costly mistakes this month.

I got the estimate for some dental work today, to the tune of $11k. Ouch! This totally throws my saving plan out the window. The only consolation is that it will be spread out between 2 years and 45% will be tax deductible. I can’t even complain about price gouging consider that it’s at the low end of the market price for top of the line service.

Best Case Scenario



Worst Case Scenario



Most Likely - Low Expectation



Regardless of how it turns out, the result is still the same. No Spending Money.

One of the reason I don't like to carry cash around.

Last games of the summer tourney



Best season out of the three years we played. Got free swag too



Buying gift for a young boy who has everything and only wants time to play was surprisingly difficult.



The scenery was so nice I forgot I was there for some exercise.



Spectacular comeback in the bottom of the fifth and went on to win by a large margin.



I looked ridiculous wearing tennis shoe with a floaty dress but after walking briskly for 4 hours and still couldn't cover the entire place, I was glad I ditched the sandals. Seeing women tottering on 4 inches heels there made me shudder.



The circus came to town. I gave in and bought a ticket after seeing their performers standing around practicing, shirtless, for several days in a row while they set up their tents.

Increased pretax saving and stopped extra payment to the mortgage.

Meet my latest time vacuum machine.

Busy month.



Cash flow looks really bad right now. Had to juggle funds quite a bit to make sure none of the accounts get ding with some sort of fee.

Spendy month. Changed the categories around a bit.



Thrift store find



Burberry Trench

International Women Day



Free chocolate...free extra weight

Hiking







5K














Target Practice

Lost old file so I had to start from scratch. Mortgage balance was taken out from list of accounts and mortgage payment added. I paid an extra $300 to principle every month as well as prepaid HOA for the entire year.

Time keeps zooming by too quickly for my taste. A few updates:

1. Big change in living arrangement which resulted in zero food bill but increased utility bill.

2. Working on cutting down my wardrobe to around 30 pieces or so and replacing synthetic fabric with natural ones. I've increase the price point to around $80 for now and will increase it to around $200 once I can stabilize my weight. This year budget is $2,000 for replacing wardrobe.

3. Got a hefty raise and decent bonus, but no promotion. I suppose 2 promotions in less than 2 years with zero initial experience is a bit too much to ask for.

4. Spent a lot of time crunching the numbers to see if I can retire by 60 with 600k in the banks and 3 paid off townhouses. It's do able with steady employment and a 3% annual raise, but then what? Would I have enough time and energy left to take things easy and simply enjoy? So the numbers have been revised to retire at 45 to 50 with 1 paid off townhouse and 450k to 700k in the bank.

5. Embracing the minimalist movement.

Coffee
Ritz Crackers
Chayote & Shrimp Stir Fry w/ Rice
Asparagus & Crab soup
Beef, Chayote & Shrimp Stir Fry w/ Rice
Onion Chips
Yogurt



Coffee
Chayote & Shrimp Stir Fry with Rice
Apple & Banana
Tea
Chocolate Truffles
Pickled Veggie with Noodle
Broccoli & Beef Stir Fry with Rice
Pork Dumplings



Vegan Burger & Veggie Fried Rice with Turmeric & Curry (ooops)
Coffee
Apple & Ritz Crackers
Broccoli & Beef Stir Fry with Rice
Rice Congee with Chicken & Onion Salad
Roasted Seaweed
Luffa Noodle Soup



Coffee
Broccoli & Beef Stir Fry with Rice
Yogurt
Tilapia, Rice, Pickled Long Squash & Shrimp Stir Fry
Chicken & Onion Salad w/ Rice
Luffa Noodle Soup
Fruit Cocktail
Berries Pineapple Smoothie
Rice Congee with Chicken & Onion Salad

With the migration of all things financial to the net, I've come to realize the danger of using a free email account. So it's time to pay up for an obscure domain and a monthly website hosting fee for that extra layer of protection.

It has been a busy month.

I'm growing extremely frustrated at my dad's insistent at last minute trip planning. Normally, I would be quite understanding that air fare would be high for these type of trips, but when one already has a time frame, destination, airport, and type of flight in mind, there really isn't any reason to delay it.

My dad keeps saying that his health may turn for the worst and we might end up canceling the flight anyway, so booking later at a higher price is still the same loss of money. But I would rather lose the $100 canceling fee for a $300 flight rather paying $800 for the last available seat.

Barely in the black this month. Budget busters include food and a last minute transcontinental flight. On the up side, my fridge is fully stock and it will probably take me a year to eat everything in the freezer.

Reward is calculated per transaction upon posting. Reward redemption is a general credit to the statement and doesn't reduce future reward earning. Amazon is considered a bookstore and super Walmart a grocery store. Yup, this one is definitely a keeper.

Been reading up on making

Recently bought some coconut oil for hair, skin, general health and stumbled upon the weight loss side of it. I didn't think it would be effective but what do you know, it actually worked.

I took a spoonful of coconut oil along with 2 drumsticks, some kimchi and an apple. That was 6 hours ago and I'm still not hungry. Also feeling too energetic, which is nice since the fatigue that has been plaguing me is gone, but I really need to go to sleep early....

Diving head first into a 4am to 8pm schedule has been a really bad idea, especially since I'm a natural night owl. Got to learn to take things slow and ease into it.

It won't kill me if I need to take several months before I can start on the goals, much less accomplish them consistently.

Well, technically I don't have a budget. I spend whatever I want, record them all, and at the end of the month go, holy moly...did I spend that much?...no more on that category. But since I've written down some of the goals I want to accomplish, I'm more conscious of this particular expense.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of walking into a Costco this week. I have a love and hate relationship with 3 places, Whole Food, Trader Joe and Costco. Love their products, hate always walking out with $100 to $200 gone from my wallet.

I intended to pick up some eggs, shrimps and beef and ended up walking out with a $171.51 receipt, without the beef. Still need to go back for the pork loin they have on sale too.

Started my new year by getting my free annual credit reports and applying for the Sallie Mae Reward Card. The bonus is nothing to speak off and the APR is extremely high, but 5% cash back for groceries, gas and book is pretty nice to have. Also found out I made it in the nick of time for the last bit of Discover 5% cash back for online shopping. Sweet! I buy frozen food and household supplies at Costco, so getting this 5% on top of the 2% executive cash back is a pretty good deal.

Speaking of which, I've decided to switch to mostly frozen veggie. Even though I don't buy organic, my veggie still turn out to be non-mutants or maybe just really old mutants. They get spoiled so fast. I keep buying them, thinking I'll eat them, but when it's cold like this, they don't look very appetizing. So after sitting in the fridge for a few weeks, they go in the trash. I read that vegetables frozen at the peak of ripeness retain more nutrients than old non-frozen ones. Here's hoping that's true, because they're incredibly convenient.

This is why the veggie were forgotten.





Also started on some light couponing.

1 - Redeemed $20 cash back from Discover for a $25 Staple gift card.
2 - Bought 4 reams of paper
3 - Received $2.29 back in reward, a rebate check for $23.96 and left with $0.89 on the gift card.
4 - Felt a little bad for taking advantage of this when news broke that Staple is closing some stores.

Both negative months, in term of cash flow, and I expect more negative months for a while. Moving into a new place with nothing but the clothes on my back has been extremely expensive.

Luckily the area I'm in is very safe so I can buy used furnitures on Craigslist without worrying too much, but it's still costly.

Keep in mind, I don't have mortgage principle included in here. It was a one time charge in July so I now have a very large negative account on my book for it. Payment to this account is a transfer of fund and doesn't count as an expense.

December



November

I know CalPers has a lot of financial issues, but refusing to disburse money to people who left their system is a bit much.

They kept insisting that I'm still an active public employee despite the fact that I've handed in my resignation and gone private almost a year ago. So, to get them to update their system, I need to contact my former employers and ask them to inform CalPers that I'm terminated.

Here's the kicker. My former employers told me they sent the info over on the day I left and the last time they tried to contact CalPers, they were put on hold for over 2 hours and then got hung up on. They don't know how to make me more terminated than I already am.

Also, by law, CalPers was supposed to contact me regarding the handling of the fund within 60 days of my termination. Refusing to acknowledge that I'm a former employee certainly is a good way to circumvent that law. I was hoping to tie up all the loose ends within this year, but this is going to take much longer than I expected.

Too much chicken noodle soup. Must remember to keep the soup and the noodle separate next time.



Beef & Veggie



Bamboo Shoot with Pork and Shrimp



This will keep me fed for the next 4 days.

Last week

Bean Sprout with Shrimp



Green bean, Cabbage and beef

Just found out that year end bonus is heavily dependent on special assignments performed throughout the year, on top of regular workload.

The problem is I can't differentiate between regular and special assignments. Everything my boss had asked me to do is within the scope of my job and my ability. On top of that, my workload get re-balanced once in a while resulting in my taking on new responsibilities and letting go of some old ones. What is once considered not part of my daily work is now part of it.

I really like it because I get to learn new things, but it makes writing this list really difficult now. To me, they're all regular assignments.