Drop, Drop, Drop...

My interest rates at Ally keep on dropping since I transferred a majority of my money there this summer. It started at 1.29%, then 1.25%, now 1.24%.  Oh well, its still among the highest in the nation, and I love the user-friendly interface that comes with it.

Tentative Budget

Based on a calculation from paycheckcity.com, my net pay will be approximately $2,950 a month for the first two months until I am eligible to participate in my company's 401k plan, at which my net pay will decrease to approximately $2,550 per month assuming I contribute 13% of my salary to the plan as I intend - which would mean a contribution of just over $500 per month to the 401k.

I've created a tentative budget assuming $2,550 in income. The first two months I will use the same budget, hoping to save most of that $400 extra each month, but realizing my costs might exceed the budget a bit as I will still have some initial purchases that go along with a new job.

Rent                   $775 - inclusive of garbage/water/electricity/gas/parking
Cable/Internet    $80  
Parking              $75  ** see below
Grocery             $120
Entertainment     $200
Gas/Auto           $80 
Household         $60
Other                $50
TOTAL         $1470

*I live a couple miles from my office, but because of harsh winters and many late nights walking/biking is not a good option. I hate to leave my parking garage and drive further downtown to another parking garage and pay $75 a month, but I may have to - I am looking at the bus as an option as well, a monthly pass is a bit under $50.

SAVINGS BUDGET
IRA                $400
401k       - aiming for 13% contribution after 2 month probationary period
General          $100
Emergency     $125
House            $130
Car                $145
Early Retire    $100

Savings goal - $1000 a month + 401k
Spending  -     $1470
Total              $2470

As you can see, the total of $2470 does not equal the net pay of $2550 - the additional money is what I'll consider flex spending/saving, and allow me to make some adjustments as the first couple of months pass.

I plan to deposit the total amount of spending money into a separate checking account at the beginning of the month  - which will have a few hundred bucks to start with, whatever is left of the money I set aside to get me from graduation to the start of my job (quickly dwindling - good thing work is just two weeks away). At the end of the month, if I have not spent all of the money I plan to throw half the remainder into savings, and leave the other half for buffer spending and to allow for a small cushion to build up for unexpted expenses, gifts, splurges, etc.

October will be the first true test of the budget, though I dont start working until the second week of the month, so I'll be monitoring everything closely for awhile.

I PASSED

Finally, after hundreds of hours and much worry, I got my final score for the last part of the CPA exam and passed. This brings much, much relief - but also some nice reward :)   My firm will reimburse my examination costs - nearly $1,000, and pay a $5k bonus for passing. I start in a couple of weeks, and am not sure exactly how long it takes to receive the payment once I submit my paperwork, so when I know a bit more I will figure out what to do with the money, but the plan will be to save a vast majority of it for now and take a little bit for a night out :)

So relieved to have this done before I start - I cannot imagine having to study all those hours AFTER having worked a long day at the office.

Waiting Game

Supposedly my final score for the CPA exam was released today, which has lead to me constantly refreshing the score page, waiting in agony.   Typically, scores are uploaded around 10pm, but that hasnt stopped my from compulsively checking.....

5.5 more hours.... I hope.

September Stock Surge

Well, even after a wobbly day today, the DOW was up a few points, and it appears that this September is on track to be the best in decades. Is there solid ground for this increase? Unemployment remains steady, everyone still says the economy sucks - whats going on?   Perhaps surprising to the average American who is facing continuing economic troubles, companies are posting record profits and holding onto record amounts of cash.   Somehow, we've got to get these companies to begin spending some of this money - we need some stability, and perhaps that will come once the silly season ends with the November elections, and things can keep moving.

IRA

Beginning my sophomore year in college, I began stashing away a little bit of money into an IRA I set up through Etrade. Its balance is about $4800, and is invested in two target date retirement funds, which I am very happy with. However, due to my job in the field of public accounting, I am very limited in my investing options, as the independence laws and firm rules require that I not invest in any company that the firm does work for - and that includes mutual funds. The firm is one of the Big 4, meaning that almost every majoy company in the world is a client of ours in one way or another. Despite the fact that I may never work on these clients, or that these clients may not even be serviced through our local office, or the US for that matter, I must remain independent.

So I am going to have to quickly figure out what to do here. There is a list of approved funds that the firm provides upon my start, and I will have to take a close look at that before making a decision. Kind of a pain.

The Job

So my career begins in just a few weeks. Details?

• I will be working in tax for one of the Big 4 accounting firms, where I interned last summer
• Salary of approx. $50,000 plus a 5k bonus assuming I pass the CPA exam within a year (I've taken all 4 parts, passed 3, and am waiting on the results of the 4th)
• I will begin with about a week and half of training in Chicago - and then shortly thereafter busy season will be upon us.
• I am very interested in seeing which clients I have been assigned to - assuming my schedule has been filled up some.
• Also excited to submit the reimbursements for the CPA exam - cost me almost $1,000. Thankfully the firm reimburses that and also pays for a review course, which would've cost me nearly 3k.
• I'll be working long hours, but the pay is decent, the perks and benefits and better, and the experience is one of the best for building a career right out of college. I am looking forward to it.

Goals

I begin my job (and career) in mid-October. I'll be making approximately $50,000 a year salary, and have several goals in mind.

1. Getting to mid-October
I still have another month before I start the job, and have just moved to a new apartment near the office. This has, of course, been expensive. On top of that, I will also be spending a few hundred dollars on adding to my business wardrobe, and am still purchasing things here and there for the apartment. I saved up a lot of cash before ending my summer job - cash which is not included in my finances below - and I've got about $1000 remaining to get me to mid-October. That should be enough.

2. Once I begin earning a steady paycheck, I have several priorities:

• I cant begin contributing to my 401k at work until after 60 days of employment - which means it is even more important for me to max out my Roth IRA contribution for 2010. To date, I've contributed about $1500, and so I plan to do everything I can to max this out.
• My car. Currently driving a 10 year old, basic Chevy, which has 120,000 miles on it, and several problems. I live and work downtown so driving isnt an issue to work - but I still will be doing some considerable driving - some driving to clients, around town (Detroit doesnt have much in the way of mass transit), and the biggest chunk of driving will be to see my girlfriend, who is still in school 90 miles away. I've put aside about $1,000 of that Ally money towards a new car, and want to ramp that savings up so that I can buy a new car whenever the next thing goes on the current car - if it makes it another year - awesome. I also have the advantage of being able to qualify for the employee discount of Ford and GM products due to family relations - so this will help.
• Finally, my remaining goal, in terms of the broad view for the short term, is beefing up my emergency fund, which currently stands at about $3,500. I have no set goal for this fund, but want to consistently contribute to it.

I am working on a budget for when I begin working, and I will share that when it is complete - which will give me a dollar amount for each savings category I have.

Current Finances

Now the fun part - discussing my current finances, and some goals.

First, I've been fortunate enough to have my tuition and room and board for college covered by my parents, and so I was able to graduate without any student loans or any other debts, for which I am extremely grateful. I also worked all throughout college, and so I was able to save up a little bit of money.

Here's the breakdown,

Ally Bank		$9,463.75
MSUFCU		$3,627.72
PNC		$69.19
Etrade IRA		$4,728.73
Savings Bonds		$10,174.92
TOTAL		$28,064.31

Analysis: I have recently opened up an account with Ally Bank, for two main reasons. One, the interest rate (currently 1.25%) far surpassed anything my traditional bank or credit union could offer, and second, because I loved the ability to split up accounts for different savings goals - in fact I have that money in Ally split into several categories - a general savings, emergency fund, house, car, travel, retirement, and rent.

My IRA is funded through a target date retirement fund, for which I use Etrade to manage  - more on this later.

Why so many savings bonds? A couple of reasons -1 - my grandma always includes a savings bond with each birthday and Christmas present, so a tidy sum has been built up over time from that.  2 - The majority of the savings bonds - a bit over $9k, was a graduation gift from my parents when I graduated from college.  My parents had been investing in these through the years to pay for my college, but when I actually got to college my Dad was fortunate enough (fortunate for me - hard work for him) to have a very successful job and therefore didnt need the bonds to pay for my tuition. So, upon my graduation, I was given them. I'll have another post on this later...

Catching Up

So, what have I been doing for the past year? It is hard to believe it has been that long, but there have been lots of changes. To better understand my goals, you gotta know whats going on:

• In May I graduated from University with two bachelor degrees
• I worked part time for most of the summer for a local accountant - my "real" job with a Big 4 accounting firm begins in 3 weeks
• I spent countless hours studying for the CPA exam, and took all 4 parts this summer - I passed 3 and am waiting for the results of the fourth... (should be out by next week)
• Moved out of my college town to a spot in Downtown Detroit - close to work - and am loving it - I will have another post on my move later.

Thats the quick rundown of what I have been up to - I'll have more detailed posts about the job, the new home, and my current money situation soon.

Ok, one more try...

OK, I am back, and this time I mean it. Of course, at this point, I am talking to myself, as I surely lost the huge following of 3 or 4 people I had before after a hiatus of more than a year :)

Lots of changes have occurred in that year - many of which I will discuss here, and I have also revamped my goals for this blog to includes primarily my personal finances, but also to document the beginning of my career (which should fit in nicely...it is a financial position), and other random things I deem important enough to discuss.

While the primary purpose of the blog is for my own sanity, and to help hold myself accountable, I would like to attract a small following, so that I can lean on their advice and continue to learn, as I have done with many of the blogs I follow. So, I will attempt to become a little more connected via social networking - I plan to set up a twitter for this purpose sometime soon, and also to make design changes to the blog over the next few weeks.

Ok, thats it for the basics - next post I will update where I've been and where I am going.

Its good to be back.