Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Paper trails

Seriously, I have a room mate who complains that the record keeping isn't accurate and keeps insisting on doing business in cash. He keeps refusing to write cheques. I think there's something incredibly odd there. Why avoid an external transaction record if your going to accuse someone of lieing to you about how much you've paid? Wouldn't you to have something to be able to back up your story if you were doing this? This has to end.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Freezing

I suppose I'll mark one week of being miserably cold. I think of moving some place warmer first. Reducing my exposure to the cold would also help. If I lived closer to work, it would make a big difference. Likewise, if I started driving, that would also keep me warmer. Though maybe the idea of moving is just stuck in my head, which is why I think of that first.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Setting a few goals

As much as the traditional time for setting goals is still yet to come, there isn't really a bad time to think about goals, evaluate old ones or set new ones. My big goal is still to getting back into school and getting my life moving again. I still feel like very little in my life is permanent. It's hard to feel rooted when your big goal is to get away.
With living expenses falling due to new room mates, and having built up investment income to what I have, I'm going to make a goal of spending less than my investment income. I'll exclude my student loan payments for now. I'll see if I can add those in later on we'll see when. On a side note, I still view the alternative uses of money as the most important criteria for consideration when making purchasing decisions.
Another goal that I'm thinking of is either starting a website up. It would be about photography. I'm certainly not great at it, but maybe my closer to a beginner perspective will help. Right now, I'm seeing it as partially about getting out and exploring the community through the lens and technique. I know a lot about using a point and shoot camera to get very nice results and I'm hoping to get a DSLR soon. Eyeing the Pentax K-X right now.
If I don't do that, I'd like to enter a contest of some sort. Something involved, that'll take some work to enter.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

On emergency funds

Came across this post http://www.punchdebtintheface.com/2010/11/emergency-fun.html and wrote up a nice long comment, but in the end decided to be a little more modest. Seemed like a shame to throw it away though, so here it is.
I was just browsing around for blogs to read and came across this. I must say, I love that first commenter's style. Similarly:
1) I don't exactly have an emergency fund, but I do have a general consolidated car/house/wedding/emergency/retirement/small-business-startup/baby/education fund. I've been keeping my costs down to a bare minimum and once I position the latest piece that I want, investment income will be larger than living expenses. Then it becomes a toss up between volatility, security, growth and inflation.
2) About four years ago. I was able to save up so much because I was foolish/lucky/brave/stupid enough to be dumping virtually all my earnings into the stock market when it was pretty close to the bottom
3) Haven't had an "emergency" yet. My life depends on very little and I wouldn't have been able to do the above if I didn't feel remarkably comfortable in terms of job security. While looking into insurance options, I realised that my place could burn down and counting lost work time and security deposits on a new place, I could be going again for about $2k. Usually, I have that much money or more sitting around waiting to get into my general fund. Maybe I can cross the word emergency off that list. Though maybe it would be a good idea to cross baby off the list till there is a wedding and now that I think of it perhaps a wedding doesn't make sense without a partner.
4) Where does it start? Where does it end? Money moves fluidly to me. It's just there. I have a central hub that everything passes through, a savings account, a back-up hub, two investment accounts, and two retirement accounts, which I started before I realised that I could retire a few decades before I'll be able to touch that money. None of these are particularly set aside for emergencies. I run my hubs down to the dollar, the savings account just runs up and down. Flow into the investment accounts have been strictly one way. I guess that would be a no.

Things working out?

I'm not sure how long this arrangement will last, but I have some new room mates. There's now two cats in the house and they're getting acquainted rather quickly, but not fast enough to save my couch from being used as a scratching post. This drops my cost of living by quite a bit. Rent is now $300, which is quite sweet. My immediate surroundings, being the basement doesn't change. Though I don't think the tension has really been addressed, so we'll see how long this lasts.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Vacation worth it?

Usually, vacations are quite enjoyable and gives you time to focus on things that matter in life. I left at a time when there was fighting in the house and I'm told that there's new room mates or something. Not knowing what would be there when I got back was a concern for me given the amount of tension that was there the week prior. I suppose there's still some mystery there.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Room mates

I'm getting sick of my current room mates. We just renewed the lease and they're fighting and threatening to leave. They can't agree on the amount owing and refuse to share numbers or even agree on a receipt format. This is very stressful.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Play fort update

I was digging through old blog posts today looking for something and came across this:
Thursday, October 16, 2008
I want a play fort!
A silly post today. Maybe it's the temperature, or maybe I seek more security in this time of economic uncertainty but right now, I have this strange desire to build a play fort to curl up in when I sleep. It gets harder to find appropriate fort building items as you get bigger. Maybe I should rectify that when I get my own place.

As a small update on my play fort situation, I took my old childhood building materials with me when I moved out two chairs that fold out to form beds, but you can roll the sections into a fort. It's a little tight, a tad hard and a bit short. I do like my fort though.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

A more average life

As a hypothetical, what would my life be like if I was more average and spent most of my income instead of what I do now? This leaves me with about another thousand dollars to spend each month. How much of this would be broken down in consumer durables and more on going expenses.
Maybe I'd take up driving, $300-$400 a month (car, insurance, maintenance, fuel, parking) it's a stab in the dark guess
or living in a nicer place, ~$200/month
Film photography ~$40/month
Eating out a bit more $100
The Odd Movie $20
snacks $40
That leaves about $200-$300 for replacing durable goods. Most of it disappeared in a few large categories. Maybe I'm just not being imaginative enough. I'm sure my place would look a lot different. Maybe it would actually be an unshared space, though that would have to cost more than $200 more a month. Well, maybe I could find a basement suite.
I don't think it'll make me any happier though. I'm facing the larger purpose of life issues and the biggest deficiency in my life isn't material, it's sleep.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Waterloo info session

So it turns out that one of the schools that I want to go to is holding an information session and it is also within comfortable walking distance to my place.. How convenient isn't it? I'm looking forward to this and hopefully getting some of my questions answered. It's disappointing that the website says that I'll only be considered if there is room left after considering all the other candidates. Though does that mean before or after people accept the offer of admission. It is generally recommended that people apply to several schools. Several of those offers get turned down. How they allocate that pool of spots is of interest to me. I need some honest information about my chances of getting back into school for what I want.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Growing Job Disastisfaction

I'm starting to get increasingly dissatisfied with my job to the point where if I'm late, I get very tempted to just turn around and go back home. I'm constantly tired and sore and feeling rather unfulfilled. I don't know how others feel about the concept of easy money, but showing up, going through the motions and getting paid is getting old for me. I don't feel like I've accomplished anything at the end of the day.
Somehow, a year ago, I never thought that I'd be seeking income from the sort of small time self employment sources, but I'm seriously considering it now so that I can feel that I've done something to deserve something.
On another note, I should really get something pinned down for what comes next in my life and when that is. I was wanting to go back to school, though now that I'm told that I'll be at the end of the list of candidates. I'm not sure I want to count on that happening.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Very Bad Sign

After a week of working, I slept an extra four hours on the first day of my weekend. Didn't know my sleeping pattern was that bad. I've really got to do something about that.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Outcast

I'm feeling like an outcast. Defying the norm does kind of distance you from people. Reading some other blogs right now talking about emergency funds and trying to control spending. I don't have an emergency fund and can justify my not having one. I have enough in investments to cover a good portion of my expenses and usually have enough cash on hand to not have to worry about jobloss. Also there's a stunning lack of high end stuff in my life. Most of what I have is fairly basic, granted I have a lot of things that other people don't. A blog for one, a computer, a camera, granted not high-end ones. I'm contemplating a digital SLR though. For now my high end luxury item is my fork. There is just about enough metal in that fork to make a regular quality knife-fork-spoon place setting. The things that actually affect my livelihood though are few.
Also, trying to control spending... I don't have trouble with that. Stuff was just simply hard to replace and I've had to learn that I don't need to stress over little things, I can simply replace them.
So, do I comment on those blog posts, or do I come across as bragging?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Setting Big Goals

I'm at a point in my life where I'm looking for something to strive toward. Been going through several personal finance blogs lately now that I'm getting back in the swing of things. I've seen the goal of becoming a millionaire pop up more than a few times. To me though, those are numbers on a page. I have a small list of things that I value that I wrote in a note book a few years ago.
-Protecting friends
-Spreading positive influence
-Honesty
-Knowledge
-Defending beliefs
-Environment
-Rights
-Fairness
-Adventure
I'm surprised justice didn't make the list. I've always been the one to document and report crimes that I see and return lost property. Maybe it's time to revise my list a bit.
That aside, I'd like to go on a big adventure every now and then. Addressing the other things on my list, I'm tempted to set another big goal. The one that's been floating my mind is to give a dollar to charity for every dollar I have to work for. It's a rather lofty goal considering that I also have to live and pay taxes. Realistically though saving up over 30 years might generate enough investment income to pull this off. This really is one of those lunatic chases and I'm not sure I want to commit to this, but why strive for the things you know you can do when you can explore new possibilities of potential? I suppose I'll start keeping a tally and revisit this idea every now and then.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Money vs Happiness

I'm listening to a very fascinating discussion right now on money vs happiness? Would you give up money to get happiness? These are definitely not mutually exclusive by any stretch of the imagination and someone raised an interesting point that I'd love to share with the world. You can only ask this question if you have money to start with. People in the lower or middle class never discuss how much better life would be if they only had less money.
This question is really more a release from obligations and a rebalancing of life. I'm over due for one. Where to from here though?

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Walk in the park

Last night, I went out on a photography walk and there was a part where I was completely surrounded by deer. That made me feel so connected to the world. The sunset was also amazing. Trying to decide what sort of lighting I like better, when the sun is high in the sky, the lighting is far more even. Is it more interesting though? Either way, I had fun in the hours leading up to sunset.
I'm now eyeing a digital SLR now that I'm thinking of putting a few large prints on my wall. Also considering a new point and shoot to complement that, but going to put that off for a while. While I wasn't blogging, I actually picked up a film camera, which I'm learning to use now. It's a good camera, with good lenses that can be used on newer digital cameras.
I'm still learning to use my film camera and I've been running under the philosophy that my 50mm prime was one of the only lens I needed. Next time, I'm going with my zoom.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Survived another week

Work has grown incredibly dull. Last weekend, I did a 12 hour overtime shift, the money was good. Other than it isn't mentally taxing, I don't know what I'm doing there any more. The hours are hard on me, and it would be nice to get some temperature control. Dust is also annoying. I feel that I'm over due for a change. My best skills are by far my thinking ones and I've not had a chance to use them in some time. We'll see what happens.
I suppose as general catch up, I've stopped tracking things as closely as I used to and I've also started spending more. Last week, I spent about $11 on a hobby, film and batteries for an old camera. I'm hunting for a digital SLR, though shooting film in the mean time. My cousin is getting married next month, so I'm running a roll or two through this camera to get used to it.
In the short term, my goal is to put up a picture or two in my room.
In the slightly longer term, my goal is to apply to go back to school.
My main worry right now is not being able to get back into engineering.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Back after a year

A lot of things can change over the course of a year and a lot of things have. Rather than ramble on about those though, I figured I'd comment on another blog post I recently read. It was about ING Streetwise funds. http://www.steadyhand.com/industry/2010/09/23/ing_streetwise_crossing_the_line/
She also talks about fees,

“Say you invest $10,000. You can save $170 per year.”

Her math here would imply that investors are paying 2.7% elsewhere for balanced fund management. While I have sympathy with this theme (balanced funds are the most overpriced fund category), the numbers don’t add up. There are few balanced funds that charge that much.


I for some reason am reminded of car insurance advertisements. All the major companies out there advertise how much the average person who switched saved. They can all do that because there is no insurance company out there able to draw in an abundance of new customers who want to pay more for the same coverage. In fact, most people aren't going to switch for a small amount, they'll only switch for a relatively large amount. Since all the ads discuss the average savings of the people who do switch, this is a relatively high figure. They don't actually assert that they have the potential to save everyone hundreds of dollars, they merely want to make it sound like that.

Not everyone can save $170 per year, and ING doesn't assert that everyone will, they merely want to make it sound like that.

Hmm, what sort of stuff do I usually talk about on this blog? A mix of money and philosophy of life? I need a bit of a refresher.