My first transaction with Sharebuilder went through this week. I decided on investing in the S&P 500. I actually didn't give much thought to what investment to go with. I contemplated doing hours of research but didn't think that I would be too savvy any time soon. I vaguely remember reading something that the S&P 500 has consistently outperformed actively managed funds and thought that it would be a overall safe choice for this testing period. Also, I heard somewhere that if you really over analyze your decisions, you are more likely to make a bad decision than if you go with your gut. No serious. Read about it here.
The problem is now I find myself wanting to check it all the time. Definitely not good for someone with OCD, like me. :) But what is great is that I qualify for the $65 ($55?) account promotion since I have now completed my first transaction.
Thinking about stocks and how relatively uneducated I am with the lingo, I decided I would add a new feature called "Definition of the Week" to encourage me to learn about the technical aspects of investing and finance. Hopefully, it will prove to be useful.
Today was another Friday payday. All of my additional money after making minimum payments on the credit card are going directly to my savings account instead of straight to the credit card. This way, I will be earning interest on the money instead of it paying down a balance I am not paying interest on. You'll continue to see the debt balance go down on the sidebar but I am calculating the total based off of the balance owed on the credit card minus the amount I have in my savings. I have it down to $6,488 which feels so big and so small at the same time. Sometimes I feel like I'm am trying to move mountains paying down this debt!
Friday, February 17, 2006
First trades on the stock market - yay!
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7 comments:
Congrats on opening the stock account. I did that after I paid down my debt also. Although, I went with Scottrade.
hi
I this rose from sydney australia.
i've been reading about your progress and i really like your posts and tips. good work.
i also have credit card debt.
it stands at 2001.00 as of today.
i now it doesn't seem like much but it should have been paid off by end of 2005.
anyway i'm not going to spend the rest of my days regreting stuff so im trying to put as much as i can on it.
like you if eating was an option i wouldn't bother and put the extra money on the cc.
i spend about 150/wk on food and petrol, how you do manage on just 150/month ?
I've been to the USA about 3 times in my life and I know stuff there is cheaper generally so that must be it
Just for your info ING in australia offers 5.40% for an online savings a/c esanda is 5.55%
and Bank west offers 6.00%
I wonder why you guys don't get as much.
I also have an old cheapy cinema up the road and it only charges $5 on tuesday nights for a movie.
Pretty good, considering you pay about $15 at the big theatres.
Just a few more comments.
My original debt was 6500.00
I was almost at the end of my tether. owing that much on a part time wage was just not healthy.
You've done really really well.
$13000k in less than a year.
Pretty impressive.
At the moment I'm paying about $240 /wk on rent for a 2 bedroom unit . Did you know that Sydney is apprentley more expensive to live in than London.
Like you I don't know if I'll ever afford a home.
My husband's studying for and accounting related postion and we have a daughter that's 7.
I'm working as a customer service officer at a bank part-time but we also get good welfare payments.
The welfare system in Aust. is really good.
I'm 28 and haven't saved a cent.
I swear if I could travel back in time and start again at 20 I would save like, probably obsessively!!!
Sorry! I' m in purge mode.
There's a few good things about working at a bank.
There's huge potential to get a better positon and the advertise postions all the time internally.
I feel pretty lucky, I'm going to do a online degree in accounting and the bank's going to pay for that.
Overall my debts include the cc
plus no interst finance for furniture for two years.
I' m planning to pay that of before the interset rate kicks in.
Their so sneaky. they charge a $3 monthly fee for every month you have debt. From what you have posted the cc companies in the USA are total bastards. I have never encountered interest rates being raised if you miss a payment.
They are such scum. And what about those checks you can write to your self. Talk about irresposible!
People just end not being able to pay it back and declare bankruptcy
What's the point to that!
The bank's and cc companies are i fierce competiton with each other here so at least the consumer dosen't get too ripped off.
I feel bad for all those young kids who get cc. They won't realise until it's too late.
rose - good luck on getting out of debt! thats crazy that you can get 5.4% at ING in Australia. I wonder if they would let me sign up for an account through their australian website???
Interest rates are higher in Aus - but then you need to invest in Australian Dollars and change back some time to US - on the money transfer you''l pay fees and the exchange rate spread. Then there is the risk that the AUD goes up or down against the USD. I am an Australian living in the US and have accoutns, mutual funds, stocks etc. in both countries.
Thanks for sharingg this
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