It just occurred to me that I haven’t made much money at ALL on any of my savings or money market accounts I have… Or even checking accts for that matter, though that one is *always* in the $hitter. In fact, I haven’t really blogged about the Fed or its affects on the interest rates since June of ’08!  When we were deciding on whether or not to lock in a fixed rate for our mortgage (thank goodness we didn’t!), and the economy was in full melt down mode… jeesh…

But here we are, 3 and 1/2 years later, and our rates are still frozen at the incredibly low amounts in hopes our economy will once again start looking picking up steam.  And with the Fed announcing the other week that they’re KEEPING it that way for ANOTHER couple years or so (at least ’till the end of 2014), it looks like we won’t be getting back to the hay days of interest-making for quite some time.

But not all is bad, either.  In fact, selfishly speaking I actually PREFER to have these stay super low like that for a few more years!  Because if the interest rates on our savings/checking accounts are super low, it means our DEBT interest rates remain lower too!  At least in the general scheme of things.  And right now, that  means two things for me, personally:

1. Our 2nd mortgage (a maxed out HELOC) remains at only 2.8%!!!  My 2nd one!  That’s almost 3 percentage points lower than my 1st mortgage which is not supposed to happen! :)  So obviously I’m gonna be a fan of lower rates just purely based on me saving money on interest debt here for the next few years until I pay that bad boy off (25 months to go! Jeesh…).
2. The second reason I like this a lot is that my credit card rates are insanely low too, stuck at a crazy 6%.  Which is pretty good if I ever wanted to leave any debt on there for an extended amount of time. I won’t be, of course, since I always pay off our credit cards in full each month, but it’s nice to know I won’t be slammed if I make any stupid mistakes down the road or anything ;)

So pros and cons to lower interest rates for sure. (And I’d be singing a different tune too if I had absolutely NO debt and hundreds of thousands stashed away in cds or savings accounts). The scariest part here, though, with all this stuff, is the fact that the Fed STILL doesn’t trust our economy enough to start pumping up the rates at all!  If they’ve just renewed their stance for another 2+ years of non-raising, it means they know a LOT more about what’s going on with our futures than they probably let on (and rightfully so – you don’t want mad mayhem going around if they say the world is falling a part!).  Who knows for sure how drastic, or not, the future economies we live in are deteriorating or anything, but right now it doesn’t look pretty.  Going on only the interest rates, of course ;)

But getting back to our *specific* situations today – how does this non-rate change affect YOU at this moment?  Has it been a GOOD thing for y’all these past few years, or is it really more annoying – personally speaking – since you can’t EARN much money on usual assets like you used to? There’s always pros and cons to all of these kinda things, but I’m hoping you’re taking as much advantage as you can so it all goes MORE into your favor as time goes on  here:)  It’s a damn good time to be financing/re-financing stuff, that’s for sure!

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(Photo by  Clearly Ambiguous)

I was dozing off to Money magazine last night (cuz it was 3 a.m., not cuz it was boring! haha…) and one of the blurbs was on the their readers’ most hated fees and price bumps – which of course snapped me right back up ;)  Who doesn’t love to complain with their fellow man every now and then?

Here’s what their 7 most annoying fees were – from worst to least-worst:

1. Airline baggage fees  — Hands down my most hated one too. Without a doubt.
2. Premium increases on employer health insurance — True true… but you know what’s worse than that?  Having to pay ALL of your health insurance! You entrepreneurs know what I’m talkin’ about…
3. Fees on debit cards — Oh yeah, wtf?  My wife used to get charged 50 CENTS every time she swiped her M&T card. Isn’t that insane?  To access HER OWN money??  She switched to pushing “credit” at gas stations, and saying “Debit” whenever asked for that or credit, and using her EXACT SAME CARD the fees magically disappeared.  Just for saying a different word, ridiculous.  Double check that YOUR bank isn’t charging you for this too!!  At least Bank of America TOLD their customers about their $5.00 debacle, unfortunately not all banks do (or I should say, their representatives. Every bank is *supposed* to tell you all the rules and fees/etc when you sign up, but when put in practice not all customer reps care to divulge every last dirty dirty – it’s up to YOU to pay attention.)
4. College tuition hikes — Haven’t been involved in anything college-related lately, but I can only imagine how loony these are getting over the years.
5. Netflix price change — Haha… I think I’m one of the only 3 people left in the world NOT signed up w/ Netflix, so this one didn’t phase me at all ;)  Not that I see the big whooptie-doo anyways.  It still seems like a helluva good bargain to me!  And actually we’re considering finally giving it a shot this month… the DVD portion, not the streaming one or whatever.
6. New or higher annual fees on credit cards — Yeah new fees suck on everything really, that’s a given.  Never affected by “yearly fee” credit cards though since I always make a point NOT to sign up to them in the first place.  That make me either an idiot for losing out on all the extra rewards they give (??), or crazy smart cuz I never pay a penny for any of ‘em!  I like borrowing all that money for free ;) They make my budgeting life much much easier.
7. Bank overdraft protection fees — Hmm… isn’t this service usually free?  You just link your savings or credit card with your checking account, right? If you’re paying for it, I think you need to change banks.

I think these above are a good start, but there are a few more the wifey and I would like to add to the list too.  Though mainly her, since I try not to break the law as much she does ;)  Maybe you’ve got some good ones to add too?

1. Speeding tickets — They always get you when you least expect it! Or you’re late to something! ;)
2. Parking tickets — But if there’s anything we hate more than speeding tickets, it’s PARKING tickets.. arghh… and usually because we’re more mad at ourselves for getting caught than anything else (Am I right?). Though the wife once got a $250 hit cuz she didn’t want to walk home late at  night and all our spots were taken outside our house… she ended parking on a yellow line at 3 a.m., and when she came back at 6 a.m. to move it she’d already been ticketed!  Don’t think she remembered that cop that lived around the corner from us ;)
3. Tolls — I don’t mind these *as* much as all the others, but the only time it really gets you is when you either end up in the WRONG lane and you can’t get to the cash one in time, OR it’s 100% electronic and no coins or dollars are accepted at all!  If you’re  not paying attention, or you’re not from around there, it’s super easy to get caught before you can do anything about it, and next thing you know you have a nice fat bill at your home 3 weeks later.  Who can ever like that?
4. Coat checks that cost money  — I feel like if you’re running a restaurant/bar/club/whatever in the middle of the winter, then you should be able to provide this simple service charge free if we just shlepped through it all to get there. It’s not like you can go around w/out a jacket or anything,  unless you want your wife/mother yelling at you for it (Hi mom!))

What did we miss?  Any of these bring up any sore memories for you too?  Nothing like a nice bitch-fest on a cold Monday morning !;) Haha… Happy Holidays!!

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(Photo by zappowbang)

I hit up my friend, Mr. Coin Monster, last night, and I wanna play a quick game with you.  How many coins do you think I fed him this time around?? ;) I can’t remember the last time I paid him a visit (or, rather he paid ME! *bah dum ching*) but I can tell you that I’ve blogged about it twice in the past 3 years: Once in 2008 when I saved $101.62 before the commission, and once in 2010 when I got back $76.48 – so that should give you some sort of idea to go on other than that pic up there.

And I’ll tell you this much – you better believe I didn’t use Coinstar again!  Yeah it’s convenient if there aren’t any other banks within a 10 mile radius, but they take a whopper out of that change — 9% last time I checked.  I think it’s smarter of banks these days to get their own, not only to entice customers to bank with them more (I’ll admit, it’s kinda sexy knowing you can use it anytime you want for FREE!), but also then the tellers don’t have to count it all!

Can you imagine how annoying that must have been back in the day? Like when we had all those paper rolls to put dimes and nickels in and all? Haha… oh man, I remember tearing those things up!  (not literally). I used to BEG for those on birthdays and Christmases more so than money sometimes :) I guess I was a huge nerd even back then?  I think I’m actually gonna add that back to my list of toys for kids again… that’s a habit I’d love to pass on to those little tykes growing up in the world, haha… do they still even make them anymore?

Here are a few other tips to keep in mind before using the closest coin monster in your hood:

1. Don’t go during peak hours (start of work, lunch time, or right after work).  Those machines are LOUD!  And everyone stares at you like you’ve got those big blue slurpees from Glee all over your face!  It’s def. not for the self-conscious.
2. Don’t try and trick the machine and put in any shady-ass coins (or from Canada for that matter – they don’t work, I’ve tried (no offense, Canadians)).  These machines are slick.  They’ll even spit the coins right back at you! Also, you know how people old people always warn you to never pick up any of those wooden nickels?  Well, I think I finally figured out why — it’s because these machines won’t take ‘em ;)
3. Don’t accidentally drop warm gum in your stash… (or anything else sticky and/or un-coin like) I spent more time trying to un-glue those little bastards than I did in the entire round trip to the bank and back! Haha…. I also had to throw away some pennies – I almost cried.
4. And lastly, whatever you do, never EVER stop saving your coins!  I know it takes a crap ton of time for anything significant to add up, but I swear the joy you get when you walk outta that place is incredibly exhilarating!  So much so that all your worries for the next 15 mins go right out the window.  Like, when I dropped my iPhone right into a puddle of water 5 seconds after leaving the bank (!!!!).  The first thing that came to my mind?  “Shit.  At least I’m $____ richer!”  (ACK! Almost told you how much I made right there!!!  haha… You gotta guess, remember?)

So it was a good time yesterday, my friends.  Even though I had all that money sitting around in antique wine glasses the whole time (no joke — I do my best to make our room look like a king’s palace), it felt like I came away with a handful of free money :)  And there’s not too many experiences better than that, I’ll tell you what… so if you don’t have any of your OWN buckets or jars going on yet, make sure to start one tonight before you hit the bed!  It’s not as sexy as, well, having sex – to put it bluntly – but luckily it only takes a few seconds to get it going! (and also, to have the sex? Oooooohh!)

Now hurry up and tell me your guesses :)

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**UPDATE: The winning # is……. $84.76! Jeff @ My Multiple Streams got the closest with his $85.32 guess! Great job guys, this was hella fun ;) Have a beautiful weekend!

How many times have you received “free” money in your account, knowing it was someone else’s mistake? Raise your hand. (Higher – I can’t see them! Haha…). Okay, now how many of you went ahead and SPENT this money thinking you were being sneaky and could get away with it? Anybody? Anybody? Would you tell me even if you did? ;)

Either way, the only money in your account that is truly YOURS is whatever YOU’VE put into it or earned. If someone else, or another company, accidentally xfered money in for whatever reason – it is legally NOT yours. I don’t know how much trouble (legally) you could get into, esp if you play the “I didn’t know” card, but either way I could tell you it would be a pretty stupid risk to take. Eventually, 99% of the times at least, it always comes back and they figure out whatever mistake it was they made. And when they go to pull back all that money, you better hope it’s still in there!!

The best way to avoid it all is to CALL YOUR BANK right away and get them working on it so it doesn’t turn into a mess down the road. You always hear stories about how people got all this free money and went out and blew it on cars or houses or whatever, and then 6 months or a year later they’re all of a sudden in a pile of debt. As if they thought no one would notice $300 grand missing somewhere?! It’s not even worth *thinking* about spending the money – however small or large it is. Money that is NOT yours cannot magically become yours no matter how you spin it, so don’t even take the risk.

The reason I bring this all up is cuz the Mrs. just saw a sexy new $1,500 credit hit her account randomly and had no idea what it was for. So she dug a little deeper (wasting a good hour, while in the middle of studying for some huge exams coming up) and realized her University had thought she had overpaid her health insurance, and was thus crediting back her “2nd payment.” She quickly told them that it was a mistake, and that she had only paid it ONCE, and 40 mins later it was all cleared up and finally resolved. At which they thanked her profusely as it saved them a few weeks, if not months, of headache trying to track their mistake when the numbers wouldn’t have balanced.

I mention all the time it took her to figure it out and bring it to their attention because even though it’s the *right* thing to do, it can still be annoying as hell ;) Especially when you’re in the middle of something so important. But when it all comes down to it, it’s much better to be proactive about it and get it straightened out SOONER than later so it doesn’t turn into something bigger than it ever needed to be. Eventually everyone finds out when they’ve misplaced money, so you might as well just bring it to their attention and be done with it. That money was never yours to begin with, and will never turn into yours unless something crazy happens and you’re that .001% odds that get away with it. But could you even be comfortable with that, anyways?

Actually, that’s a great question for y’all: How many of you would be fine w/ receiving money knowing it shouldn’t be yours? And how many of you would return it before even being asked? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on it. Especially if this has happened to any of you recently! I promise not to judge, okay? :)

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(Photo by istolethetv)

None of you know this yet, but I’ve been keeping a rather salacious secret from you when it comes to my financials ;)  I don’t know why I did it at first, other than seeing how long I can keep something hidden for, haha… (and here you thought I spilled *everything!*) but after a while I guess I just kinda got used to it and didn’t realize how much time had been passing. Only yesterday, I suddenly wake up and realize that, Holy $hit!, I’m about to be a free man!

And herein lies the secret ;)  I, J. Money – king of all things money and blogging – had snuck in a $18,000 (!!!) loan from the Bank of Mom & Dad!  And no one knew but the wife!  (oooooooohhh… ahhhhhhhh… crowd gets shocked!) Haha… It sounds pretty crazy w/out the details, but I assure you it was a calculated play based on whole bunch of variables (and potential) from the get go.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

• 18 months ago I get approached by a friend to invest in a project.
• It’s an income-producing deal, but I needed a whopping $18,000 to own it outright (and really, that was the best way to play it.  As shady as that sounds (no it’s not illegal or anything, haha…)
• I considered borrowing against my own money, but at the time I was in the process of saving up for my goal of blogging full-time, and it didn’t make sense for me to pull out all of the money I had in there (which was around $20k at that point) – even IF it would help me reach my goal a little faster (it did).  Looking back it was a good thing too considering I got laid off just a few months later ;)
• So at that point, it was either borrow the money from somewhere else, or pass on the opportunity and continue trucking forward w/ my $50k savings goal. I chose borrowing from mom and dad instead.
• After talking with my parents, and researching other personal loans out there (including a cash advance from my USAA credit card which would have only come out to about 6%! (they’re pretty good about that if you call and lock in a deal before using one of those c/c checks), I decided to take them up on their offer of 0% interest.
• At first it felt pretty weird/wrong – esp since I HAD the money and I just didn’t wanna tap it yet – but like with all parents, they really wanted to help out their kid and were just as excited to loan me the money, as I was for the business venture and to prove myself ;)  I tried offering them at least 2-3% for their time and what not, but they wouldn’t have any of it and declared it was gonna be 0% or nothing.
• So I took it :)  And then we wrote up an agreement, had everyone sign it, and decided that for the next 18 months straight I’d cut them a check for $1,000 until it was entirely paid off in full.

Which leads us to today!  The day I send in my very last check and become $1,000 richer each month! Woohoo! (I actually made the last check $1001 just to force them to take an extra dollar from me in the end! haha…) I figured I’d have to tell y’all some time since my future Net Worths were about to look a heck of a lot better! And I had no explanations on where the heck that extra money would be coming from ;) Kinda hard to hide $1,000 every month when you list out all your financials for everyone to see! Haha…

So that’s the news!  What do all think?  Would you have done the same in my shoes, or just gone ahead and dipped into your savings and/or passed up on the deal entirely?  I can’t divulge what, exactly, the project WAS that I took on a year and a half ago (I promised I’d keep it on the hush)  but I can tell you that it has, indeed, been generating well over the $1,000/mo I was paying for it each month… which was the #1 factor in making this decision to begin with: The fact that I could use this generated income to PAY OFF the entire loan this way.  Provided it continued on the right path the whole time, of course ;)  This woulda been a completely different post had things gone awry! Haha… And it may or may not have been hidden from y’all even longer in that case ;)

Any of you taking calculated risks these days?  Or bet yet – have some juicy secrets to tell ME?!
I wanna know!!

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(Photo by Zawezome)

Yup, already opened up a new IRA so my 401(k) will have a home! Sprinted right over to USAA and opened up my 16th account with them ;) You know I don’t waste any time with my money! Haha… It’s gonna be a crazy one too when all that $180,000 gets transferred over like that… gonna be the BIGGEST one of my life! (That’s what she said!)

But for the first time in a while, I actually paused for a good hour or so before deciding on going with USAA again. Not that I don’t trust them or anything (obviously) but because there are a ton of OTHER great institutions out there that are known for handling big amounts like this too – especially when it comes to retirement funds (Vanguard and Fidelity being the best from what I hear – at least from the financial blogging community ;)). And for the past 5-6 years or so, I thought I WOULD actually go with one of those guys when it finally came down to it.

But something else was growing in importance too this whole time – the main desire for SIMPLICITY. While I appreciate high interest rates and growing my money as much as the next guy, I’m starting to have a MUCH more appreciation for simple, streamlined operations these days. Even if it means not having the “best of the best” accounts spread across town (I liken it to rate chasers -  there’s always a better deal around the corner, but the idea of switching and moving your funds every other week is just exhausting).

I’ve realized that I am much more happier having everything in one spot than I am when I have multiple accounts opened all over. Even if financially, or rationally it’s smarter (like the rate chasing again).  So while the old me would have gone over to Fidelity or Vanguard in this same situation, I decided to keep it easy and continue going with the one place that’s been the best to me over the years.  Adding to my previous 15 accounts and making me USAA’s biggest Super Fan yet! :)

It sounds insane, I know (and you’re right! Haha…) but it’s seriously the sexiest thing ever. I’ve knocked away yet another website out there and now have almost *everything* under one roof. With the only exception of my 1st mortgage (arghhh…. the biggest one!).

In case you’re wondering how it’s possible, here’s how it breaks down:

• I have a total of 8 “personal” accounts: Checking, savings, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, my new Traditional IRA (woo!), my credit card, auto insurance, and life insurance ;)
• And then a total of 8 “joint” accounts:  Our “house” checking account, “house” savings account, “house” credit card, money market fund, personal property insurance, homeowners insurance, another life insurance policy (for the wifey, which is under my account), and then lastly our stupid 2nd mortgage loan (a maxed out HELOC).

Wild, huh?  I kinda wanted to keep USAA outta the picture on today’s post since we’re concentrating on multiple accounts in *ANY* financial institution, but then it occurred to me that I don’t even KNOW of any other institutions that allows for this? Do you? A place that has banking and credit and insurance all under one roof?  I’ve never heard of one myself, but I’m curious to know. Though we have yet to determine whether this whole thing is still a good idea or not, haha… ;)

So let’s list out some pros and cons here, shall we? Make this one my longest post ever?

Pros to banking all at one spot:

• That everything’s under one spot! Which means I don’t have to log into 10 billion websites to check my balances every single day (which is what I do cuz I’m addicted!), and I can get a snapshot view in one sitting. Errr.. screen opening.
• It’s SUPER easy to xfer funds back and forth!
• I have only ONE number I ever need to call no matter what area I need help with. (Making customer service KEY in this department)
• I have both SAVINGS and DEBT related accounts there! So if anything goes KABOOM! and all that is USAA disappears into thin air (Ack!), wouldn’t all my debt do the same?? ;)
• UPDATE: I also have more leverage! Hard to not help someone when they have 16 accounts with you ;) (Good one No Debt MBA)
• UPDATE: Roger came up with another awesome pro – If something should happen to me, it’ll makes it easier for Mrs. BudgetsAreSexy to access and manage everything!  Very very true!

Scary Cons to banking in one spot:

• If our relationship turns bad, so does my relationship with my entire finances (until I xfered everything out — which would be a PAIN)
• If I get hacked, well, I’d be F’d. Unless someone went in to pay off my loans? ;) (Though No Debt MBA brought up a good point that even with separate accounts they’d all be tied through ACH anyways. So this threat still remains either way unfortunately…)
• I don’t get the best of the best rates in each department.  Sure USAA rocks and has some pretty killer deals (particularly w/ insurance), but are they the best in *every* category?  No way. The “smart” route to take is to open up accounts where all the strengths are in each institution.  Keeping everything in one spot def. limits your choices, which is probably the biggest con here. Besides being hacked, of course ;)
• If I had more than $250,000 in an account, it wouldn’t be FDIC insured. Nothing to worry about now, but one day I’ll have to!
• If the site goes down, I have no access to ANY of my accounts.  Not the worst thing in the world, but def. frustrating.

I think that hits most of the areas? Am I missing anything glaring? Would YOU put everything into one place if you could? Sometimes I get so stuck into my own little world that I forget to come up and look around ;)

But yup, that’s the new word over here in BudgetVille. Closing accounts and taking names! It’ll be weird not having a 401(k) any more after all these years, but perhaps we’ll meet again!

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UPDATE: I totally forgot about my business accounts! Those are not at USAA either, but through no fault of my own (*ahem*). Last time I checked, they said they can’t offer them due to the way they’re set up… and they get asked every single day. Though it’s probably for the best – you most def. want to separate business with pleasure! Errr…. personal!

I came across this SUPER simple budget the other day in Money Mag, and I’m not gonna lie – it’s kinda sexy! Especially if you’re just starting out and looking for a beginner’s budget.

I haven’t seen a system this simple in quite some time, or at least one I thought was good enough to share. If you haven’t found anything that works for you yet, this may be a good place to start!

All it requires is a few accounts, and a visit to your HR department to set up direct deposits (or if you don’t have one or work solo, you can just automate it yourself by going online through your bank.  Or just keeping it manual each month, though that kinda takes away from the simplicity, haha…). Here’s what Money Mag, and now J$, recommends:

The Bucket Budget:

1. Savings Account — Throw all the money you want to save every paycheck right into this bad boy.  We start here because it’s all about paying YOU first before paying everyone else. One of the fundamental rules of personal finance (and one of the hardest to stick by! Haha…)
2. Checking Account #1 — This is for all your daily expenses, and everything you need to pretty much survive (housing, food, utilities, etc etc.)  This will be the largest account for most people, and the one you’ll have to keep your eye on the most to make sure you’re not going over (and if you do, you dip into the next account)
3. Checking Account #2 — The place for all leftovers!  If you should be so lucky to have them, haha… this is where all the money goes after your set savings % (or dollar amount), and your regular daily expenses.  Consider this as your “back up” account before having to hit up your savings.  You can do whatever you want with this money.

And that’s it!  Crazy simple, right?  Now obviously when you get THAT slimmed down there’s a lot of things you’re gonna have to watch out for to make sure it’s a good fit for you and all that, BUT it’s certainly a great starting point.

Just keep in mind that you’ll still need to *know* how much to put in, and where. It’s not a magical budget – It’s not gonna track your money for you and then tell you what % to divvy everything up into ;) If you don’t have an estimate of where all your money’s going, or how much your daily expenses come out to, take an hour or so and go back through your last 3 months worth of statements to calculate some averages. Once you have some good numbers in mind, pad it by $100 or two and then jump in and get started!

The cool thing about budgets or any other systems in life, really, is that you can run with one and then TWEAK IT as you go!  Nothing’s ever permanent or set in their ways.  YOU determine what’s best for you and you get out there and improve on ‘em.  Whether it’s this budget or another one out there though, you better be staying on top of it and making your friend J. Money happy! :)

Oh yeah, good ol’ Bank of Mom and Dad! Freakin’ love that place ;)  A commenter last week reminded me that I’ve been wanting to blog about this again, and what she shared about HER parents really sounded pretty cool.  I think I’ll even do the same one day! Here’s what Mrs.”O” said:

“As long as you keep your credit good (paying them back as agreed, or even better, faster than agreed) it is a 0% loan… They set up a “lend money to the kids account” for each child with a certain amount in it. If you don’t pay it back, there is no money left in the account to borrow…”

Brilliant!  It let’s you know there’s always money there for you if you need it for whatever, but if you don’t play by the rules you get cut off! Absolutely awesome. Had never heard of this concept before, but I think it really sets you up to learn and manage your money better.  Even if you F up and don’t pay it back for a few years, you can always wise-up and pay it off later to re-activate your credit line! haha… I wonder if $2,000 is a good limit?

So in the spirit of all moms (ow ow!) and dads out there, let’s rock out another 5 For Friday.  Drop your answers below:

1. Is the Bank of Mom & Dad still open to you? (If no, skip to #4)
2. When was your last loan from them?
3. What are your payback terms? Or do you secretly hope NOT to pay ‘em back? :)
4. Would you ever loan money to THEM?
5. What do you love most about your parents?

I shall go first:

1. Still open? Yup!  If I need ‘em.  I don’t think it’ll ever be closed, and there’s something comforting in that. Not that I really use their services much anymore. Back in the day though I’d always ask them for loans, and then usually never pay them back :( I still feel horrible about that… I’d start and then they’d feel bad or wipe them clean for good behavior or something.  I did get straight A’s growing up! Haha… obviously not in money management.
2. Last loan — Damn! I was about to say it was like 10 years ago, but then I remembered I took out a loan for a project I was working on a cple years back. Oh well… just shows how awesome they are! (and this time I paid ‘em back in full, I’m all grownz up!)
3. Payback terms — Anytime they lent me money, we’d go over all the terms up front so we were all on the same page.  Whatever amount I needed, we’d divide it by 12 months and I’d pay it off throughout the year, interest-free.  This last one was a few G’s, and I paid it off early.
4. Loan to them? Of course!!!!  Because of them I was born (and you get to read this blog every day! haha….) so I’d do anything in the world for them :)  Whether I was financially stable or not – they’ve done so much for us!
5. Love most — Their complete & utter LOVE for us.  They have never once let us down or allowed us to feel uncared for.  It sounds crazy, but there’s honestly not ONE thing I’d change about them at all.  I told a teacher that one day, and she was like “Oh come one, there’s gotta be something??” – Nope.  Even when I got in trouble growing up or yelled at them for being the “worst parents ever alive” I still knew I was being a little brat ;)  They’re incredible parents, and I pray I’m even a fraction of them when it’s my turn.

Man, I’m getting all sappy up in here! I’m just so freakin’ blessed… you never stop and really think about it sometimes, but it feels so good when you do.  I really gotta get better about calling/visiting them… actually….isn’t Father’s Day coming up soon??? Haha… anyways, it’s your turn now :)  Is YOUR Bank of Mom & Dad still open?

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PS: Remember that show Bank of Mom and Dad?  I miss it… it’s where I “met” my girl Farnoosh!!  She’s awesome, you should say hi to her on Twitter :)

I got a pretty cool email the other week from USAA. They asked me if I wanted to check out their new iPad app before the rest of the world saw it (woo!).

I really really did, but I really really also didn’t have an iPad :) Nor have I ever touched one in my entire life, haha… So they sent me one! And that’s where my jealousy starts…

For one thing, I now want one. It’s like a supersized iPhone just waiting to be played with. And for another, that app is CRAZY. As in crazy AWESOME. And I’m not just staying that, or getting paid for that matter (although I totally should… they might as well name me their official Mascot! Haha…) I’d actually never have to log in on a computer again w/ one of those things. Not that that’s totally horrible or anything, but the idea of it is incredibly sexy. Using your fingers to do some online banking? Shooooooot. Any day! And apparently this is the first app for the iPad that allows people to manage their insurance, banking, AND investments all in one place. But of course, you have to be a USAA member to rock it ;)

Sooooooooo for all my USAA readers out there, this is for you! If you’ve got an iPad, check it out and let us know what you think (it’s now live to everyone… I slacked on blogging about it earlier. Oops.):

More info (and video): USAA iPad app
Apple store (it’s free): Download app

PS: For those wondering, I had to return the iPad. I considered stealing it but of course USAA knows where I live and would then cut me off from all my accounts! Instead, I just cried for 2 hours.)

It’s okay, you can be honest here — it’s a safe zone. I won’t make fun of you :) Do you check ‘em 5 times a day?  A week?  Once a month? I like to check mine at LEAST once a day.  Every single morning to start the day off right.  And then followed by my blog stats ;)

But unlike your blog stats (which are just as addictive, mind you), there are actually two REALLY good reasons why checking on your accounts regularly is a smart thing to do:

1) You catch errors! And sometimes they’re pretty stupid ones too.  But if you’re not in your account poking around that often, you can pass them up pretty easily.  It’s actually kinda annoying too — that you always have to be looking your stuff over in case some jackal made a mistake that’s costing you money.  And unfortunately it’s not like you can predict it cuz people make mistakes randomly all the time! But the sooner you catch them, the sooner you can get ‘em fixed up and back on track again.  (And the more you review your accounts, the less transactions you have to monitor that day cuz you’re always up to speed.)

2) You aquire MOTIVATION. And this, to me, is by FAR the most important reason to be watchin’ those accounts all the time.  Whether it’s debt, savings, 401(k) – when you see those numbers moving in a direction you’re proud of,  it really gets you pumped up man.  Seeing those amounts go up little by little every week, or your debt go down down down, is some powerful stuff.

In fact, that’s what finally got it all to “sink in” with me.  The day I logged into my 401(k) and saw over $5,000 sitting in there.  It was crazy.  All those little amounts over the years adding up behind my back and reaching into the thousands.  I was in awe.  And then, as you know, I kicked it up a notch ;)  Cuz the thing I realized was that if you NEVER touch that money you’re saving, it only moves in one direction:  UP! It’s obvious as $hit, I know, but until you *really* grasp that and actually DO IT, it never hits you the right way.

So that’s why I check my accounts every single day.  I want to know that my money is safe from all those jokers out there, and I want as much motivation as I can get.  I’d gladly trade 30 seconds of my time for that. Plus, it’s just straight up fun ;)  Is that why you guys check it so much too?