My Money Blog

Affluenza: On the Epidemic of Overconsumption

Posted on December 24, 2004 // 2 Comments

As the holiday blitz starts coming to an end, my family and I watched an interesting PBS program called Affluenza (there is also a book of the same name). As stated on the site, it talks about the high social and environmental costs of materialism … [Read the rest]

Holiday Shopping Done! How much did we spend?

Posted on December 20, 2004 // 2 Comments

Ok, all the gifts are bought and sent. Everyone talks about how Christmas isn't about buying stuff for people, but I don't mind exchanging gifts with people (I do hate crowded mall parking and shopping, though). As since this is the first year … [Read the rest]

Mid-Term Goal: $100,000 Non-Retirement by mid-2007

Posted on December 19, 2004 // 4 Comments

After setting my Short-Term Goal for this month, I am now setting my Mid-Term Goal. As I have mentioned, I plan to buy a house in an area with insane real estate prices for the long term for family reasons. As we are planning to move in mid-2007, … [Read the rest]

Learning about Worthless Securities

Posted on December 18, 2004 // Leave a Comment

While filling out my form to process my worthless Enron stock, I came across these two choices: 1) Relinquish the security, or 2) Sell the security for $0.01 ?For the Lot.?. They sounded pretty similar to me, so I consulted Google and came across … [Read the rest]

E*Trade update

Posted on December 18, 2004 // Leave a Comment

Well, E*Trade finally responded to my e-mail inquiry, ten days after it was submitted: Dear Mr. [MyMoneyBlog]: Thank you for your inquiry, Enron Corp. is currently being held in your account as a worthless security. In order to remove it from … [Read the rest]

Monthly Goal due 12/31: Asset Allocation

Posted on December 17, 2004 // Leave a Comment

Whew, I am glad this week is over. And I just lost my whole entry just now, so here goes retyping it: As in work, it's good to have a target to work towards. First, I will assign myself short-term monthly goals, due at the end of each month. … [Read the rest]

E-Trade lost a customer today…

Posted on December 15, 2004 // 5 Comments

Me. I bought some Enron stock a bit after the crash, thinking it might go up again in the future (wrong.), but now it seems to be completely cancelled, as it is no longer even listed in the pink sheets. However, according to an article I found, it … [Read the rest]

Book Review: A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Posted on December 14, 2004 // 15 Comments

I just finished up A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel. This book became famous in 1973 for suggesting that a bunch of monkeys throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal could beat out most professional managers. And that theme, … [Read the rest]

Which Broker for my Roth IRA?

Posted on December 13, 2004 // 23 Comments

I have decided upon Vanguard for my Roth IRA Brokerage. My decision was based upon the following: 1) I want to invest solely in mutual funds, specifically index mutual funds. 2) I want a large selection of no-transaction fee, no-load mutual funds … [Read the rest]

Where to park my money for the next couple of years…

Posted on December 12, 2004 // Leave a Comment

As you may have noticed, my portfolio is defintely cash-heavy. There are two mains reasons for this: 1) I am currently renting and am saving up for a downpayment for a house in the next 2-3 years, and would like to keep the money somewhat … [Read the rest]

December 2004 Financial Status

Posted on December 9, 2004 // 4 Comments

Ok, my planned "grand opening" for this site is January 1, 2005, since 1/1/05 looked like a nice number, and I just don't have time to make things nice-lookin' right now. But I did want to make a quick snapshot of my current status for historical … [Read the rest]

Yodlee – Keeping track your net worth (and passwords)

Posted on December 8, 2004 // 23 Comments

Now that I have a rough goal to achieve of $1,500,000, I need a way to chart my progress. My favorite tool for this is Yodlee OnCenter. It is a site that aggregates all of your logins and passwords for different accounts, such as bank accounts, … [Read the rest]