Thursday, January 29, 2009

Monthly Interest for January 2009

Making ends meet on minimum wage, currently at $6.55 per hour is tough. As the numbers for a basic wage, tax and net pay breakdown show, there is not a whole lot left over after the “Tax Man” gets his cut. Just the tax on the wages earned come to just over 22% of gross wages and that’s not including the medical deduction if you’re lucky enough to have an employer who offers it. I distinctly remember working for minimum wage when my wife and I were starting out.

This month includes an extra deposit of $30.00 dollars. I earned this money from completing online survey’s from Pinecone Research. Each survey pays $3.00 per completion and I saved the checks up and sent them in all at once. This took roughly 10 weeks and the survey’s can usually be done in 5 to 10 minutes or so.

As the month of January draws to a close, it’s time to see how much interest I’ve earned toward my goal of ‘A Dollar A Day”. As the downloaded information below shows, I’ve earned 94 cents this month toward my goal of a dollar a day in interest.

Unfortunately, with the Federal Reserve reducing the overnight funds rate to 0 to .25%, the banks are reducing the meager interest they’re paying on savings in lock step. This process will take longer than anticipated if I stick to an all savings vehicle. So, I plan to transfer these funds to Scottrade when the amount reaches roughly $700.00 to buy dividend paying stocks to offset the drop in interest rate. More about the stock selection process later as the funds in saving grow closer to $700.00.


ONLINE SAVINGS: ######### (Acct number hidden)
Bank Balance: $457.98 Available Balance: $457.98
Last Statement: 01/27/2009 Interest Earned Year To Date: $0.94
Information as of: 01/28/09

Date Transaction Description Debit(-) Credit(+)
01/27/2009 INTEREST PAID FROM 12/28/08 THROUGH 01/27/09 $0.94
INCLUSIVE AVERAGE DAILY AVAILABLE BALANCE
$414.52
01/26/2009 DEPOSIT FROM HSBC ONLINE-TRANSFER $30.00
01/20/2009 DEPOSIT FROM HSBC ONLINE-TRANSFER $14.00
01/06/2009 DEPOSIT FROM HSBC ONLINE-TRANSFER $14.00

Friday, January 2, 2009

Monthly Interest for December 2008

Making ends meet on minimum wage, currently at $6.55 per hour is tough. As the numbers for a basic wage, tax and net pay breakdown show, there is not a whole lot left over after the “Tax Man” gets his cut. Just the tax on the wages earned come to just over 22% of gross wages and that’s not including the medical deduction if you’re lucky enough to have an employer who offers it. I distinctly remember working for minimum wage when my wife and I were starting out.

As I write this 2009 has rolled in and 2008 has departed. I’m not one to place too much stock into New Years resolutions, mainly because I never keep them. I have promised myself to try to be more physically active without a specific weight goal. According to the medical professionals, I’m about 20 pounds over weight for my height. I told my wife we need to go out and find me some platform shoes. Lol

2008 will be known in my household as the “Year of the Repair”. It seemed like everything I owned needed some kind of expensive repair from lawnmower (3 times) to house (more times than I remember) to car (4 times). My wife and I came home from a Christmas visit to New Hampshire to see my daughter and son-in-law and found part of the ceiling caved in from a steady drip of water from an upstairs shower. ::sigh:: Goodbye 2008.

2008 was an interesting year for me financially as I’m sure it was for most folks. I’m down about 35% in my 401(k) and about 40% in my taxable stock account. I have continued to invest as much as I can in both and I’ve tried to encourage others to do the same. Keep in mind, there is two sides to the portfolio equation, the share price and the number of shares. These two when multiplied together equal the overall value. If the share price is down, take advantage of the situation and add more to the number of shares side. I like to be “paid while I wait”, so a lot of my taxable accounts stocks are dividend payers. My average return from this account is about 5.5%. Not too bad considering the Fed. has dropped interest rates for any kind of savings account right into the toilet. Thanks “Uncle Ben”!

As the month of December draws to a close, it’s time to see how much interest I’ve earned toward my goal of ‘A Dollar A Day”. As the downloaded information below shows, I’ve earned 93 cents this month toward my goal of a dollar a day in interest. Yeah! Only $361.96 left to go.


ONLINE SAVINGS: ######### (Acct number hidden)
Bank Balance: $399.04 Available Balance: $399.04
Last Statement: 12/26/2008 Interest Earned Year To Date: $3.04
Information as of: 12/28/08

Date Transaction Description Debit(-) Credit(+) 12/26/2008 INTEREST PAID FROM 11/28/08 THROUGH 12/27/08 $0.93
INCLUSIVE AVERAGE DAILY AVAILABLE BALANCE
$381.31
12/22/2008 DEPOSIT FROM HSBC ONLINE-TRANSFER $14.00
12/10/2008 DEPOSIT FROM HSBC ONLINE-TRANSFER $14.00