baselle's Financial Diary

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $4 coffee (2 drip coffees bought within 2 hrs of each other) + $10 lunch

The busy season for pledges hit and hit hard this week. Lots of work! That part is similar to previous years; the truly tiring part is that our boss is on family leave so all the deflections and meetings she went to so we didn't have to ... now we have to and suddenly its tiring. Not to mention that sometimes more than one of us is going and then some of us get our undies in a bunch because there was more than one of us. Sigh. Its not the meeting that gets me tired; its expending energy easing the snit of other people in our department. I have to save a little bit of energy and time to smooth feathers.

But back to the meeting issue. I'm shaking my head here. Have a meeting and you don't want to go, look at Outlook calendars. Maybe you're lucky and there's a dup. No sense in emailing blah, blah.

Also the low level tension due to the rain, the mood of Seattle during recession, daylight saving going away, no chance to workout this week. Sigh. I have a saying on my white board: No one dies if it doesn't get done today. I wrote on the side in response: It only feels like it.

Another recession sign is that the campaign questions I'm getting are far more pointed. Not a surprise really. The off the wall flaky ones we get from possible donors during a boom year aren't bothering to give anything this year, so no questions from them.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $11 coffee beans for french press + $1.29 1/2 & 1/2 for the coffee + $6 lunch + $10 groceries

Sing it like the song in Cats. Maybe I should christen my laptop Grizabella.

Got the new memory in the mail this evening, so I took out the old, cooked memory, and put in the fresh, new memory, then let the cooler run for a minute or two to chill things down, then I turned it on. So far, so good. But the last time I said that, then boom. So I hesitate. Can't really declare a victory for a few days, but I will say that I luv Memory Suppliers. Paying 70$ for 2 512M (1Gig) of memory has got to be far cheaper than buying a whole new laptop.

Not that I haven't priced the laptops. I flipped through the Dell flyer. (My current laptop is a Dell and I've had it for 4 years. Its a tank and its holding up well.) 700$ for a 160G hard drive and 2G of RAM. And I can have it in red ... whoowhee.

Scored decent chanterelle mushrooms for $5.98/lb. DH hates mushrooms, so I have to hide them if I make a lot of this soup (I can't eat it alone)

Squash mushroom soup

1 butternut squash
1 yellow acorn squash
3/4 lb chanterelle mushroom, wiped of dirt w/paper towel
2 c chicken stock
1 onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 sprigs rosemary
olive oil/butter
water

Optional: whipping cream

Squash-
Preheat oven to 350F. Cut squashes in half, remove seeds, add a pat of butter or bit of olive oil. Roast squashes until soft. Let cool, then reserve squash flesh.

Soup-
Chop mushrooms. Saute mushroom and onion in butter or olive oil until soft. Add garlic, rosemary, saute until soft. Add chicken stock and squash. Simmer until heated through, then take an immersion blender and blend until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, add a tablespoon of whipping cream into the bowl.

Someday, when DH can tolerate mushrooms, I will reserve some of the sauteed mushroom mixture to add back after pureeing. A bit of heat is nice here, also. I love adding a bit of Japanese pepper (chili powder, sesame seed, and dried orange peel).

Squash seeds -
Clean the threads and squash bits away from the seeds. Soak seeds in a salt and water brine for 30 minutes, then drain seeds completely, spread seeds out on a pan, dry roast at 350F for 30 minutes.

I'm still waiting for my new memory to come via US Mail (cheapee me, US Mail had no shipping), but yesterday DH and I shopped at Fry's Computer.

The two signs of recession at Fry was slightly fewer people shopping around, and shopping baskets of cheap stocking stuffers. Hard to believe that 2Gig flash drives are now $9.99. A couple of years ago a Gig was up around 100$ or so.

Anyway, Friday night I tested out my old external cooler (fan and a chiller). No sound and no cooling. I suspect that the memory got cooked by the high temps that a souped-up laptop generates, so the cooler needed to be replaced before the new memory shows up. At Fry's I picked out the cooler that has a separate AC adapter. The coolers that use the USB port exclusively have one fatal flaw - but if the cooler bombs out, not only does it bomb out the memory, it also injures the USB ports. So not only could a non-working cooler kill parts of your laptop, it could prevent the next cooler from working properly.

It was pricey for a cooler - $49, but it had a 20$ rebate, so I filled it out and sent it off.

Along with a cooler, I got a bit sick of the USB mouse, so I treated myself and stimulated the economy by picking up a 39$ optical wireless mouse. And I picked up a lid that prevents dinner splatter in the microwave - 2.50$.

All told = 95$.

Today, I'm the process of trying out my new cooler. Frosty! I've checked to see how much I can do with half baked memory. Only one of the two memory cards got cooked, the other seems to be holding up. I'm living right - the 256K got cooked, rather than the 512K.

...just under the wire; today was the last day. Found a dime on the curb this morning.

I had a "joke" goal to find more spare change than what my T-bill would earn that month.

T-bill interest = .31 cents

This month, I found = .39 cents
(.05 + .11 + .01 + .02 + .10 + .10)

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.92 coffee + $10 lunch

After that little bit of election history last night I had a shot of bourbon, flipped through the news channels (the FOX affiliate was wonderfully apocalyptic), listened to McCain's wonderful speech (why wasn't he running?), then I took a bath and went to bed.

Today I loosened up by buying a coffee at Seattle's Best and had lunch with the gang. We assume that Sarah Palin will assume Ted Stevens's senate seat (he will have to step down because he is a convicted felon), making it pretty interesting for her and McCain in a couple of months.

Not much fiscal happened, although just when I've given up finding my .12, I find a dime on the floor of the bus near my feet.
.12 - .10 = .02 to go before I find .31 to match the T-bill interest. I have two days to do it. This next 4-week T-bill happens not to be any great shakes either: .99 this time.

Its dang hard finding change on the sidewalk when you have a goal to meet. Why is that?

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $.60 apple + $70 laptop memory

Yeah, I know, blogging from work. Ay yi yi! I'm doing it only because the memory on my laptop completely gave up the ghost after I posted last night...maybe the memory did it in memory of the jumper. I bought 2 of my memory (has two slots) for $70.

Voted today. I got there at 7 am, and gutsy me, voted using an electronic ballot. I'm very lucky with electronic devices, and I was when I finally got on, but a word to the wise, if you see the person in front of you poring over the voters guide while you are waiting to vote electronically, do not hesitate but go back and get a paper ballot. Voter guides and electronic ballots DO NOT mix. Electronic balloting works best if you have your list and go boom, boom, boom.

But the 20 minute wait had its charms. It was, supposedly the last time we will have polls in King County. This, and then vote by mail like nearly every other county in Wa state. Of course they said that two years ago. We'll see. I like to go to the polls, it breaks up the routine.

The charm was people watching, especially the provisional ballot meltdown line. There's always someone crying, "it always happens every time, you miss me from the voter rolls, you hate me and my kind and..." I stopped listening after a bit. My advice to the crier is to vote more often than every four years. Every year in September & November there seems to be something to vote for. Do it often enough and you work bugs out - you get your voter card, you know your precinct, and best of all, you know all the usual suspects who work the polls.

Oh yeah, got my free coffee afterward.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch

All that walking around north Seattle heading from house to downtown, all while noting bus stops paid off today.

I live in North Seattle, my usual morning bus crosses into downtown via the Aurora Bridge. I caught the bus while lugging about 15 pounds of canned goods (food drive), and congratulated myself on my luck. The intercom on the bus was on, the dispatcher mentioned delays on Aurora. I settled in because that's fairly usual.

We got to Fremont Ave (the very pretty leaf-strewn street in the post below). Traffic was backed up, we didn't move, and the dispatch estimated a hour to hour & half to get to downtown.

Time to get off, even lugging the cans. The aisle seat woman and I chatted as we walked along Fremont from 42nd to across the Fremont Bridge. We saw at least three large police vans and fire trucks on Aurora. The aisle seat woman crossed headed on Dexter. I had cans, so I waited on Nickerson to catch the 17. Everything was late, but I caught it, stood in the aisle, did the penguin-chick thing with the bag of canned goods. Got into work at 9:45. I was sooo happy to dump those cans!

Turned out it was a jumper on the Aurora Bridge. You know, its so odd to want to off yourself in such a public way as jumping off a bridge during rush hour. Suicide is not really an extrovert's activity; its not entertaining so what's the audience for? Talking you down? Cheering you on?

The odyssey this morning was useful. I found two pennies while I was walking.

.14 - .02 = .12 to get to .31. I now have this week to find 12 cents on the street.

Found out that our floor won the Halloween decorating contest. I chatted a bit with the organizer - if we weren't so politically correct, our floor would have swept all the categories, so we got Best Overall.

I bonds got their new interest rates today. 0.70% fixed rate 4.92% cpi for a total rate of 5.64%. Still not fantastic, but better than the last batch with a fixed rate of 0.0%.

Saving log - $0 tip box + $40 DRP1 + $100 DRP2
Spending log - $17 brunch (for 2)

We finished a brunch card, so we got a free entree this morning. Top of the month we paid the rent, and I figured out how much to put into DRPs. Funny how when I send a bit of money to the transfer agents I get bummed if their stock prices go up.

Seattle is wearing its November soggy togs, but the leaves are much better this year than usual. Hard to find small change through the leaves.


But along my walk, I've been noticing the signs of the times. Exhibit 1: a bit of paranoia. He's had this sign for years, but the sign itself is a fresh version.


There's that word "layaway" again, this time out in front of a hip Seattle boutique.


Not a funny or a repent sign in front of this church, more of a "we've all lost money together" vibe.


This condo was for sale for the longest time with no bites. Now its time for a different tack.

A different sign had "only 3 left". There were 6 "townhomes" (why can't anyone say house anymore?). A 50% closing rate is decent, but belies the urgency of the "only". It always pays to do the math.

The lack of a sign is the sign here, yet the sign post remains. A bit of schaudenfruede here - the sign had a price of the princely sum of "$750,000". If I'm asking for 3/4 of mil, the least I could get is a perfect picture window (note the plastic). Back to the picture. No sign, so did the house get sold? Unlikely - why keep the sign post? Rented out - perhaps, because there were fresh items in the window. Owners give up for the selling season? Probably. See ya next spring.


Our final exhibit. It made me laugh. I'm fairly sure, based on the placement and expression of the various characters, the bar is advertising to Democrats. Alcohol is the universal solvent - equally useful in both celebration and condolence. Can get them coming and going, as grandpa used to say.

A little bit of fun from the Halloween decorating contest...


Don't be alarmed. $4 buys a big bottle of red tempera paint. Cut it a bit with water to get to blood consistency (as opposed to paint consistency), lay out your butcher paper sheets on concrete, and flick gobs of paint with a spoon. Its all in the wrist. I thought of Jackson Pollock rather than Freddie Krueger. Tape up when the paint kinda dries. The effect is even better when the paint is a little bit wet and gravity helps out.


Our auditor's headstone, in progress...


And a puking pumpkin.

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $12 lunch

Friday
Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $9 groceries

We put the finishing touches on our "Vault of Eternity", did a little work, set up for the potluck, toured and took snaps of the other floors (the fear floor was very good - each cubicle had a fear), ate at the potluck, did a little work, voted for the favorites (of course it was us), cleaned up and broke down the decorations, did what I really wanted to get done that day.

Not a bad day until I found out that Studs Terkel died. RIP, Studs. Even twenty five years ago in Chicago, when I saw him perform in the red-checked shirt, he seemed old to my then teenage eyes. I learned from him that if you really embrace what you are, the name can't hurt you. One of the young college Republicans at the time called him a socialist. "Of course I'm a pinko socialist," he roared. "What's your point?"

Substitute "frugal" "cheap" or "thrifty" for socialist. Of course I am...what's your point?

Tuesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $3 snack + $2 donation

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $10 art supplies

Busy, busy, busy.

Work is heating up a bit, and for the internal giving campaign, one of our contests is a Halloween floor decorating contest. Down in our basement, we have so much - corridors where we can dim the lighting, an old vault, elevator out with a caution partition, all the cardboard we can possibly want. Our concept is a graveyard. We are busy making headstones, banners, brought out our fall and Halloween items. My headstone is particularly lovely.

Picked up some red tempura paint - I plan on decorating the vault with a hanging white paper curtain splattered with tempura "blood". Reverted to childhood by drawing my hands and arms on paper, cutting them out of the paper, splattering them with red stamp ink (this was before the red tempura), then sticking the hands under the elevator caution partition.

So in the other parts we discussed a bit about learning about the mechanics of your 403B (aka 401K), research into what individual funds comprise your 403B, general macro considerations - how much should you want in equities, how much in non-equities like bonds and ready-asset. The rest of the parts are in category 403B doings.

Now we come to the heart of the question - what equities funds do you want in your equities part, and what bond/ready asset funds do you want on your non-equities side?

If you are a new hire, you think you have to rush this decision. So many decisions - aurgh! Don't rush it. Pick a couple of funds or the retirement target fund, then do the research, and PROMISE yourself to research and revisit your 403b/401K and change it around if necessary. Frankly the most important task for a new hire is to set the account up and get the bucks out. Usually you can monitor and rebalance your account from the web. Check to see if you have to wait 30/60/90 days between changing your funds around. Those restrictions happen to prevent you from mock day trading.

So what funds should you pick? Here's where the research and the narratives about each of your funds comes in. If you see several funds that look alike and seem to invest in the same funds, don't invest in all of them ... invest in 1. Preferably the one that has the lowest fees, or has the largest number of Morningstar stars...which is also based on the fee structure.

In my case, MDLOX and THVRX are international. In picking one I'd lean to the MDLOX because of its lower fees, and since it has a strong position of bonds, I can drop the bond fund holding a bit.

MASRX, MDBAX, MDLRX are similiar. Again, I'd consider the funds with the lower fees first.

Can't stress checking the fees strongly enough, especially times like these where you want the lowest fees. Aim for under 1%. After all, when the stock market goes down in the dumps its not as if the fee administrator will give you a break on the fees. Hah hah. Nope, they plan on figuring out the fees the one hour that the stock market rallied and charge that. And in the 403B/401K land, often the fees are hidden - no line item that says: Fee! It means that your results are not going to be quite as good as the fund claims.

You also want to consider what funds seem to complement each other. Morningstar has a chart that shows where 75% of a fund stocks are in its "style" box. Often it shades a corner or an edge. Does another fund shade a different corner or edge?

In my case, RGACX and RIDCX seem to be such a pair. Between the two, they cover the upper half of the style box. The fees seem reasonable, and they are 4 & 5 star funds to boot.

Final piece of advice is to pick a fund or pair of funds that will serve as a "core holding", then juice up that core holding with specialties. A decent core holding is often an index mimicking S&P 500 or total stock. Again it is valuable to know what particular stocks are inside - just because GM is big, doesn't mean you should have a ton of it.

Specialities are just that - growth, or midcap or small cap or real estate or international or...whatever. How much you want as core and how much specialty is really up to you. Word of advice: specialties add up. 10% international, 10% mid cap, 10% small cap, 10% international, 10% growth, 10% value means that you suddenly have 40% core and 60% specialty in a portfolio that should be 70% stock. (so a final would be a percent of a percent - 7%, 7%, 7%, 7%, 7%, 7%, 24%).

Here's another case where the

Morningstar x-ray feature comes in handy. Not only can you pump in what you have, try making a mock portfolio and see how you do.

For the record I went extreme - in the 40% equities I had (1/4 core, 1/4 small, 1/4 mid, 1/4 international).

In the non-asset 60% I had (1/6 gov bond, 1/2 bond, 1/3 cash)

After you make your picks & set your 403B/401K, that's not the end. Maintenence strategies next. Whatever you do, don't forget it!

Thank you all for the ideas for a cheap Halloween costume. I got inspired last night by a photo of ... candy corn!

So white sneaks, long white socks, orange pants, light yellow long sleeved top, yellow hair dye. I saw a pair of orange pants at Value Village for $20... too rich for my blood. I got a pair of white jeans for $7, and two packs of tangerine Rit dye for $3/pk. I used both packs - I want the pants brick orange, because the dye always dries lighter. The pants are soaking now.

Festive, warm, non-slutty, funny, simple.

Oh yes, found a penny in the QFC parking lot.
.15 -.01 =.14 to go to equal my T-bill interest.

Saturday
Saving log - $.11
Spending log - $14 brunch + $7 groceries

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch + $50 dinner for 2

Yesterday DH and I hit a just opened brewpub right next to our coffeehouse. Not bad for a beer, but it was very busy, proving, in part, that beer is nearly recession proof. After the beer (the pub really didn't have a lot of food choices), we walked past a 5 table Greek restaurant, and got the very last table. DH had the lamb, I had the chicken, and the price above included a glass of wine and tip.

Today I worked off a bit of the beer and Greek chicken by walking from work to home - about 7 miles.

During the walk, I found a dime and a penny. I am challenging myself to find .31 in change in 4 weeks ... therefore doubling what I earned in interest on my T-bill that month. With the nickel from last week -
.26 - .11 = .15 left to go.

Lay-away. Wow. I actually heard this on a TV ad this evening. In Seattle. Or maybe I'm just more attuned to 70s thinking.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $11 lunch, paper + $2 donation + $11 groceries

Did a good money deed late in the day. I was at the neighborhood WaMu ATM, when I saw the ATM frantically pushing in and pushing out a card. The receipt (for $13) jut out of the slot. I figured that he (name was on the card) left the card in a fit of pique. Still, not good. I pulled it out, put my card in, got my money, then took the card and receipt, put it in a deposit envelope, then stuck it in the deposit slot.

I figure that the bank will open it and set the card aside. The bank might call the guy, they might not, but at least the card is not an attractive nuisance.

After lunch I walked back and saw that the Seattle Fire Dept had a little exhibit open. Free, but I put in $2. and who wouldn't, seeing these beauties:


And the fantastic ancient hook and ladders:


And the spinner rims of 1890:

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $15 lunch

Put my $44 in tip box earnings into the downtown bank (WaMu Tower) this month. Still WaMu in name, on the slips, & the teller uniform and in the color scheme, but the colors of the banners are changing, with a few items called "Chase". The ATM - the electronic face - is now branded Chase. Digestion is at a plateau.

Looking forward to a NSD. Tomorrow is coffee from the French press at work and a lunch party.

Our boss, out on family leave, announced the birth of her daughter by her partner. Pwhew - she went on family leave and for two weeks we heard nothing about birth and delivery.

Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch + $1.70 cream cheese

This month I made .31 in T-bill interest. For laughs, I'm going to see if I can find at least .31 cents in the next three weeks. I found a nickel in our driveway and in the dark.

.31 - .05 = .26 to go.

I walked past the little pocket park and discovered that the city had bought two more parcels next to the park and were interested in turning them into P-patches.

I'd be very interested in a bed in a P-patch... it would be 1 1/2 blocks away.

So in part 1, we studied the mechanics of the 403B; in part 2, we did a little bit of research into the funds of my 403B; in part 3, we'll go through the macro aspects of constructing a portfolio.

Constructing a basic portfolio is bit like making a stew or a curry - the idea is to make it rich (hah hah) and interesting. You need diverse ingredients, but you have to hit the basics, and the proportion of ingredients give you vastly different results.

All those funds that you can pick for a portfolio generally boil down to three types, two if you are unlucky, a rare four if you are lucky.

1. equities - individual stocks, mutual funds, index funds. (invest in the profit)
2. bonds - government, muni, currency, corporate, even a bond fund. (invest in the debt)
3. cash or ready asset
4. commodities (precious metals usually, other commodities tend to be very volatile).

A portfolio comprised of 100% of any of these 4 ingredients is a bad idea. This last month has taught many people why all in into equities (100%) is very risky. And 100% in company stock (often a company matches is in company stock) is geometrically more risky. A WaMu-er got triply hit: stocks are low, WaMu stock is 0, WaMu-er might not have a job. But 100% in bonds is bad - generally a bond is more stable than stock, but often the return isn't juicy enough and with this current credit crisis, investing in debt doesn't seem like a hot idea. 100% in cash and ready asset feels familiar, but again, its an electronic mattress - only a 1-2% return.

You tend to need at least two pieces: bonds and equities. You can make even finer adjustments with bonds, equities, and cash. Bonds stabilize returns, stocks juice your returns up (not this month), cash gives you a baseline and gives you flexibility to buy additional funds.

An old-style rule is that the % of bonds/cash should be about your age, rest in equities. I'm 46, so using the rule would be about 40-45% bond/cash and 55-60% stock. This is for an average to slight risk-adverse person. How much stock and bond is right for you is something that you have to establish on your own.

My current holdings are 60% bond/cash, 40% stock. I am a tinkerer, a watcher, and not that adverse to risk. So I'm investing like a 60-70 yr old woman and my portfolio could use a shot of Botox!

Another good strategy is to look inside your target year fund (eg Vanguard 2045 fund) by getting the ticker symbol, then putting it into Morningstar and seeing how much they put into equities and how much into bond.

Once you set the general proportion of bond vs. equities, its time to establish what kinds of specific funds you want to invest in. Next time.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3.62 bagel, coffee + $3.70 decaf, scone

Bummer - the MEHVA fall leaf tour is today, and we made it in time to join the line. The bummer came when we were turned away - they needed one more historic bus and one more driver. First time in 15 years they turned people away. Ah well, the joys of popularity. At least they got a great turnout and paid for their gas.

Found this tidbit in the NYT to send to sister. In Germany, they have

'hay hotels'. Wacky and alternative, but something to consider - I'm sure we'd get a couple of cheap Germans during EAA, which occurs in July. If you are going to sleep in hay in a barn, might just as well do it in the summer. And, we still have the barn and the hay!

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $10 brunch + $60 groceries

Food is starting to become a bit cheaper again - I picked up canned tomatoes and canned chickpeas for .50/can. Pretty reasonable for Seattle.

Did the 6 mi mega-walk today, ending up at Goodwill. I pored through the costumes and Halloween whatnot, and as I did so, I thought, "why am I shopping for a costume that I'm going to wear once, don't want to store, and am spending money for the privilege? Clearly, I'm not feeling any inspiration or love. I remember feeling as a kid that Halloween was a kid pleasure, and the lack of Halloween must be an adult pleasure. No candy, maybe, but you didn't have to think about what you wanted to be - because as an adult you were it - and you didn't have to wear cheesy stuff in the snow (this was Wisconsin) and put on a mask.

Maybe its too early for me. I get into holiday spirits a couple of days before - when necessary.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $10 lunch

My $4000 in this week's monthly T-bill has earned me a grand total of 31 cents. I don't know whether, again, everyone's fleeing to safety from stocks from last week, or will be fleeing stocks next week. All I know is that this month I can do better by sticking the money in my mattress and hunt for sidewalk change. There's only one flaw in the plan - its fall, and its dark during my walk. Hard to spot those little metal circles in the dark.

I opened up the envelope containing my 403B results. As of Sept 30, I lost 6.5%. Well done, baselle.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch

So in the last episode of 403B doings, I wrote out the basic rules of my 403 - when money gets put in, match mechanism, and what funds I can choose from.

Now comes the research. There are several reasonable places that I like to look at:

Morningstar
Value Line

And for a little bit of fun, useful for the larger stocks and funds -
Map of the Market (Stocks)
Map of the Market (Mutual Funds)

For all of these tools, I type in the ticker, and collect as much info as I can. I especially like the Data Interpreter tab in Morningstar, which talks about a fund in relatively plain English. I also pay a visit to the Top 25 holdings, because that is very instructive. Often you will find that large cap (capitalization) funds have similar blends of companies, so then you want to decide on other criteria - lower fees, or a higher fund rating...if you believe in ratings.

Right now, during my fact finding mission, I construct a note narrative...tell a story so I can tell the difference between my funds. And that can sometimes be depressing.

GCMAX - mid cap, above 1% fees, mostly utilities, gas, and chemicals
GSGOX - gov bond, 1% fees, 50% of the fund short bond positions
MASRX - S&P 500 Index, .35% fees, 3 star, many dividend stocks w/decent yield
MDBAX - value, .8% fees, similar to MASRX, P/Es lower
MDHQX - bond fund, .91% fees, top 2 holdings are long euros at 2010, short euros at 2009 (kiddies, long and short pairs like this are known as a hedge)
MDLOX - international, 4 star, 1.18% fees, multi-national, large position in US bonds
MDLRX - large cap core, 1.17% fees, 2 star, similar to MASRX, P/Es higher
MRAXX - cash, yield 2.21%, fees .65%, so really 1.55%
OPMSX - small cap, above 1% fees, 2 star, lots of little companies in energy consumer. Big Lots at top.
RGACX - growth, .93% fees, 5 star, google near the top along w/other software
RIDCX - income, .93% fees, 4 star, seems like a good pair w/RGACX more value-y
SPEGX - social choice, 2.93% fees, 4 star, but BP, Walmart, and Coke in a social choice fund???!!!
THVRX - international, 1.7% fees, similar to MDLOX

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $3 coffee, muffin + $7 lunch + $8 groceries

Had a meeting before work, so I bought a coffee and muffin. Had lunch at Uwajimaya, where everything was 10% off, in honor of their 80th anniversary. Bought yogurt at the grocery store on the way home, talked with the woman who was selling Real Change out front, bought the Real Change, then also bought a chicken salad sandwich for her on the way out. We'll be buying sandwiches for each other before this recession is through.

Speaking of that, with all that is going on and with the new and returning folks reading the blogs, I want to reprise a post from March. I don't know whether it bothers folks or comforts folks to know that all the things they are seeing with the slowdown and the stock crash are really well-worn paths. Its basic, sure, because we've trod on this road before.

What a recession can teach you about money

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $4 grapes and apple

Today I got my *free* flu shot. I'd have to look but I swear that it was early by a couple of weeks.

I mentioned that I was getting the shot in our staff meeting (minus our director, who is now out on leave), and I got a couple of hoots. Why are you getting the shot? Don't you know that either (a) not going to work, or (b) you will get the flu?

Pardon my french but that's chicken s%^t. I rarely get sick. I get the shot, I wash my hands very regularly. I usually have to call in for a day or two for a "mental health" day. My PTO is up to 200 hours ... which I have to prune. Everyone else? Aaaak aaaak, I can't make it.

Please. Time to start taking names and teasing when the inevitable happens in February.

In other health news, I signed up for the new health insurance plan.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $11 (lunch, soda, Financial Times)

As threatened, since the financial climate has changed, I'm going to take another look at my 403B holdings. I'm not interested in "timing" per se, but I have to note that with a new macro-economic/financial wind, I have to trim my sails again. Buy and hold doesn't mean buy and forget.

So the first task in any job is to arrange your tools, figure out what you have and what sort of rules you have. One of the basic tenets of frugality is to use what you have. I'm just applying this to the 403B. YMMV.

We can contribute any amount up to the limit of $15.5K. Employee contributions go in monthly, we are matched .50:1 with a cap of 4%. (Means I have to contribute 8% to max out the match)

Actually, even if we do not contribute anything, our place of work will give the employee at least 1%. Those contributions are put in a second account (retirement fund), which go in yearly in March. Those are the monies that are fully vested after 6 years.

Like many small-ish workplaces, we are limited in the mutual funds that we can invest in in our 403B. Not really a surprise - the more choices, the fewer dollars in each choice. The more dollars that are in the total plan, the lower the fees are (R-type funds).

Our funds are, in a word, ... meh. The only advantage is that I don't have to research zillions of funds, I just have to research 12. (One is cash)

They are (ticker symbol):
American Fund Growth (RGACX)
American Fund Income (RIDCX)
Alger Green A (SPEGX)
Black Rock Basic Value (MDBAX)
Black Rock International (MDLOX)
Black Rock S&P 500 (MASRX)
Black Rock Lg Cap Core (MDLRX)
Black Rock Total Return (MDHQX)
Goldman Sachs Mid Cap Value (GCMAX)
Goldman Sachs Government Bond (GSGOX)
Oppenheimer Small Cap (OPMSX)
Merrill Lynch Ready Asset (MRAXX) - cash.
Thornberg International Fund (THVRX)

Important to know that mutual funds have a ticker symbol for the further research.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $18 brunch (for 2) + $2.25 cookie

Perhaps your 401K, 403B, or IRA was like the little orange car in the mural. (upper right, above the live shrub)


First comes the crash, then the end-is-near-folks. Can the soup line be far behind?

Oh yes, and remember, He invests too.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch

I opened up my Ameriprise quarterly report this evening. This was the account that grandma's inheritance was put into. In April I moved the money into Vanguard. More precisely, I cleaned out all but $1.96. Hence the quarterly report.

It turns out that the Ameriprise cash sweep account was administered by The Reserve, one of whose funds "broke the buck" by 3 cents in mid-September. (In other words, a 3% loss, unheard of in an MMA). The Ameriprise newsletter says they will be using 33M of their own money (?! - I suspect its OPM) to "mitigate losses".

Well, I'm pretty sure that my 6 cents will be mitigated, but I don't think my sister moved her money anywhere, so I suspect that her mitigation will be less of a no-brainer.

I feel a little like the combat soldier who, when taking off his helmet, finds that little circle of daylight near the top.

In other news, my electric bill is only $47 (for two months). We've used less juice than the August - October before.

KO is now less than $42/share, so I will write a check out for that DRP. Will also be disciplined and add $40 to MMM. $50 already went to IP.

And I'm not kidding when I say that I am freakishly lucky also with ... fortune cookies. Everyone else gets the weird one or the klinker that you need the "in bed" for, not me. Today's fortune: "Prosperity is in your future."

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $6 lunch

both Ben Stein and Jim Cramer make it on Dr. Phil. That's what greeted me above the elliptical machine as I warmed up.

We had the super duper exciting explain-the-new-medical-insurance meeting. It was, in a word, baroque. There's the network, the non-network, and the really non-network. We also have less than a week to fill in our paperwork. Sheesh. Can you say railroad?