Keeping The Reins Tight….

As of late, I’ve been supplementing my tutoring income by being an online tutor through Tutor.com.

The pay is peanuts compared to my in-person rate but the convenience of tutoring from home (in my pj’s) can’t be beat. However, I’m having a hard time deciding what to do with the extra money I’ve been earning.

The ‘future focused A’ wants to send every penny to his Roth IRA. The ‘not-so-future future A’ wants to save half and spend the rest on much needed / wanted items that aren’t essential to A’s survival. The ‘in the moment A’ wants to spend it all on having fun; it’s been a long time since he’s spent any money on non-essential or budgeted items.

Which one will win out?

The ‘not-so-future future A’.

I’ll use half the money to buy things such as more memory for my MacBook, decorations for my apartment, flowers for my porch or to lady friends out on dates. Half of each monthly check will be sent to my Roth IRA so it can compound nicely for the next 30+ years.

I can say with 99.7% certainty, I’ve enough self-discipline to limit my spending to only half of my fourth source of income.

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You’ve been great but MyPortfolio from Bank of America cleans your clock.

It’s powered by Yodlee, integrates flawlessly into their existing website creating a one-shop stop that manages my money. MyPortfolio keeps track of everything; bank accounts, credit cards, retirement accounts, even frequent flyer accounts. Frequent flyer accounts!

Unfortunately, I can’t link to my student loans; but, if your with Sallie Mae or AES, BoA will include your outstanding balance in the real-time net worth calculations. MyPortfolio automatically updates each linked account, calculates your net worth, sends alerts that bills are due and creates a myriad tracking the flow of your money.

If you bank with BoA, login in and check it out. There’s a great review of MyPortfolio at NetBanker if you don’t have BoA access.

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The Series I Bond bug just bit me on the butt.

If I invest half of my emergency fund in iBonds before the end of April (and leave them there for at least 14 months), the money will compound at a rate of ~4.04%. The other half, left in my HSBC account, will 3.05% until the Fed decides to cut it’s rates again.

Assuming no rate cut, my emergency fund will have an average interest of ~3.45% for the next year. I could raise my net interest rate by laddering the non-bonded in CD’s. But alas, I don’t have that big of an emergency fund and I’d like to keep some of the money liquid.

Update: For an excellent primer on Series I Bonds, check out I bonds take off with Interest @ The Financial Engineer or Series I Savings Bonds @ My Money Blog.
Both are excellent primers / explanations of Series I Bonds and interest calculations.

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Four weekends of being in on the road speaking, consulting, and attending conferences has been rough.

I love the travel aspect but I’m doing these presentations / conferences / speaking engagements on top of teaching during the week. The last month has made me a miserable fool as I’ve had all of five hours to myself. I am eagerly awaiting next weekend when I can sleep in, relax, and have ZERO commitments.

My bank accounts / credit card balances are a mess as I had the brilliant idea of using a specific card / account for each organization that I can expense air fare, hotels, food, and registrations to. At some point in Salt Lake City, I started putting charges on the wrong card so my receipts, statements and expense reports have become a mess.

The last time I updated my budget spreadsheet?

March 15th.

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My water bill for February broke the bank at $33.54; way too much for a single guy in a tiny apartment. Because I have a profound hate for ITSA, I decided to see how much I could cut down my water consumption during March.

Every morning, I went to work early and then went for my run or lifted weights. I was able to get my workout in as well as a long hot shower in before heading off to shape the minds of America’s future. Most weeks, I took 5 showers at school and 5 showers at home. Your hard earned tax dollars made my extra long, extra hot showers at work possible.

The net result?

A March water bill of $22.56

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