Money Management

So for those who know me, I'm really good with money. And when I say good, I mean great, phenomenal, wonderful, and amazing. I save money well and don't splurge on useless crap. Being a tomboy helps because I'm not into brand name clothing or make-up and stuff... sure I buy cosmetic stuff once in awhile, but not as much as the average "girl."

I think my parents had something to do with it even though they never really told me to save money. However, they did help by getting me a piggy bank and then my aunt helped by getting me an apple bank (it's in the shape of an apple). I actually remember the first days I got each of them. I was maybe 3 when my parents gave me the piggy bank. I remember asking them for coins to put in it. As for the apple bank story, I was maybe 3 as well (but I got the piggy bank first) and I remember my aunt telling me that she had something for me. I followed her and she led to to a chair. Under the chair was the apple bank. I was so excited!

Ever since I was 3, I had been putting money into those two piggy banks: coins, $1, $5, $10, $20, and even $100 bills. Anytime anyone gave me money, I would put it into those two piggy banks. My dad even told me that sometimes he'd put money in them periodically for me. You can imagine how heavy the piggy and apple bank were. So for the next 15 years, I would put money into them and never took any money out because I think they were made of porcelain and there was no hole to cheat myself to get money out. So all the money that I acquired throughout those 15 years were held within the piggy and the apple.

So fast forward to 2003. I was about to graduate from high school, I had my first real paycheck-giving job (working during the Stanley Cup playoffs), I just opened my first bank account at Washington Mutual, and I was about to go to college. It was an exciting time. I felt like an adult... but I still had the piggy and apple bank. Since I had opened a real bank account, I decided that I should break the piggy and the apple. Yes, it was a little emotional breaking the piggy and the apple, but I had to do it. My parents helped me count the cash and I took the coins to Ralphs to use their CoinStar machine. In all and for a kid, I made a pretty decent amount of money during those 15 years.

After using Washington Mutual for 4 years now, I've been saving money consistently and rarely bought things on impulse. That isn't to say that I never did... I did buy little gifts for myself on occasion.

I got my first credit card at 19. Until a month ago, it was my only credit card. I used it maybe once or twice a month to build my credit. I always paid off the balance at every month. I shudder at the thought of having to pay an interest rate. Almost all the times I use my credit card, I could have used my ATM card because I always had enough money in my bank account, but I used the credit card to help build my credit. Then a month ago, I got a second credit card which I never ever plan on using unless it is an emergency.

Also at the age of 19, I opened an IRA account with Oppenheimer Funds. My aunt introduced me to her financial advisor, Claude, at a Denny's (the meal was on him) and he talked to me about investing. Now, I had been thinking about investing in the stock market, mutual funds, bonds, CD's, money market accounts, etc. for awhile (or at least once I graduated high school), but I never knew how to start. Should I get a broker? Which company should I go with? Luckily, I got someone my aunt trusted with her money so I learned to trust him too. My aunt knows how good I am with money so that is why she figured I'd be interested. Claude was a very nice man and since I was young and thinking very long term, he put me in a technology fund. I own a teeny, tiny percentage of technological companies like Google, Apple, and Ebay. Sure it's volatile, but in the long run (if you start out early and are patient) you will have a considerable gain (think 20-30 years down the line). When filling out my paperwork, there was an age bracket field and Claude said, "You're so young you're age isn't even on here!" I looked and the youngest age bracket for him to choose from was "21-29." The technology fund has merged with another fund so not only do I own stocks in technologies, but I also own stocks in health care, Costco, petroleum companies, etc. Recently, I've been making money with my new job... more money than I need since I don't spend THAT much money. I talked to Claude and he told me that I should open a few fund, an international fund. I'm really excited about doing this, but I gotta remember that instead of $50 coming out of my bank account for Oppenheimer, it will not be $100 a month. I tend not to put too much money in my checking account so that I'll have a lot of money in my savings to earn more interest. I need to be aware of when money is being electronically withdrawn from my account (Oppenheimer is around the 20th of the month, my gym membership the 15th, my student loans the 5th, and my automatic saving plan [where $25 from my checking is put into savings to remind me to save money] is around the 1st). So on Monday I will call Oppenheimer and tell them to move $500 from my fund into the International Diversified Fund and to increase my monthly payment from $50 to $100, and to split that $50/$50 among both funds.

When I was 20, I decided to open a CD because I had all this extra money lying around. I might as well put it into a CD since I don't plan on using it and earn a little interest. It was a one year CD, but it's been renewed twice so far. I think I'm getting 5% APY on it.

Today, I did a few things...

1. I signed up for a few websites to keep track of my money. I want to see visually where my money is going. I like looking at charts and graphs, especially when those charts and graphs deal with me! www.wesabe.com, www.geezeo.com, and www.mint.com are three sites that I signed up with. I uploaded my bank accounts and credit accounts so that I can keep track of my transactions better. Sure, I can look at my bank and credit card websites, but it's all gibberish. With these site, I can change "MCSUBWAY 23432 RIDGE ROUTE-LAKE FOREST" to "Subway." Then, I can tag each transaction depending on what it is. I can tag my Subway transaction as "food," "lunch," "restaurant." I can then look at how much I spend per month, per year, etc. on "lunch." Let's say I go grocery shopping... that transaction will be labeled "food" and "groceries." Then I can see how much I spend on "food" overall (both Subway and grocery shopping) and then I can see individually how much I spend at restaurants vs. how much I spend on groceries. I signed up and uploaded my bank transactions and credit cards onto all three of those sites because I wanted to test all three out.

Each one has pros and cons. Mint is the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but the tagging isn't very great. Wesabe is my favorite one because of it's advanced tagging and ease of use, but Geezeo is the only one of the three that lets me add my Oppenheimer account so it let's me know that I have a lot more money than what's just in my bank account! Geezeo is also going to let me add my student loans onto there as well, but it is coming soon.

I think this will definitely help me keep track of my money and save more. If I know how much I need for gas and if I know I'm spending way too much on lunch (and should find cheaper lunch or bring my own lunch), I'll be able to spend my money wisely.

2. The second thing I did today was open a new savings account. Washington Mutual has an Online Savings account that gives you 4.75 APY... that is a lot better than my current Statement Savings which gives me 0.25% APY. Both savings accounts are pretty much the same except that with the Online Savings account, I have to open it online. This saves the bank money on printing application forms and not having to pay bank tellers to talk to me about it. I can still withdraw money from an ATM or any bank, and deposit money at a branch if I want. It took me about 5 minutes to fill out the online form, tell them how much money to take from my bank account to put into this new account, and I was done. Because I linked it to my checking account, I don't have to pay a $4 fee if my account goes below a certain amount (I think it's $10,000). I'm going to think about this for awhile because I don't know if I want to keep my Statement Savings account or whether I want to close it and just use the new Online Savings account. Maybe I'll save it so that I can use it as an emergency/rainy day fund while my Online Savings is for long-term goals (like buying a house, retirement, money for my future newborn babies, college money for my future children, etc.).