Spending Time, Spending Money

I haven't done a post recently because of all my non-progress in my finances and my weight. Let me explain.

We are still in the process of buying furnishings for the new apartment, so my savings rate is flat. It's really sad, because I had planned to get my emergency fund back up to $6k by now. I'm losing $100 here, $400 there, and with my large rent bill every month, it's hard to gain footing. Luckily, August is a 3-paycheck month, so I can do a little catching up with some careful planning.

Speaking of careful planning, I am contributing like mad to my Roth IRA, but only because I've been attempting to time the market. I know it's stupid, but I see a low price, and say to myself, "even though I've already made my purchase for this month, I'm sure this is the lowest the price will go, so I better get while the gettin's good." Then, I invest $250, and the price drops $0.30. Rinse, repeat! Thank goodness there's a ceiling to how much you can invest in one year, or I might play this game until my bank account is empty!

My other large expense, as I've discussed before, is my weight-loss program. However, in recent weeks, I have not been doing well. 2 weeks ago, I only lost 1 pound. Last week, I gained 0.5 lbs. Not a big deal, I know, but it stresses me out and only exacerbates the problem. Obviously I've hit a plateau for a couple reasons: (i) I haven't been getting in much physical activity, and (ii) I've become more comfortable and much less compliant with the diet. At this point, I can't afford any allowances. I've come so far, and I can't stop now. I think I'll take a walk at lunch today...

ING referrals

If you somehow managed to make it this long without opening an account with ING Direct, I have no idea how you did it, but I'm here to tell you that you should get off your duff and open one.

Before I opened my account last year, I had one large mass of money in my brick-and-mortar money market account. I really didn't have any goals for it except to see it grow, which it did at a sluggish pace of about 1% APY.

When one of my friends referred me to ING, I was kind of uncomfortable with the thought of opening an online account... but then I realized that I wasn't a dinosaur and I should stop being such an old person. I opened a savings account, and the rest is history.

Currently the interest rate is at 3%, which is infinitely better than you'll find at most banks. So here's the deal: if you use one of the links below to open a savings account at ING and make an initial deposit of at least $250.00, ING will immediately credit your account with $25.00, I'll get $10.00 for referring you, and you'll have your own referral links to hand out. These links are single-use only and expire on August 2nd, so please leave a comment letting me know which link you've used, and I'll replace it with a fresh one. Thanks!

Referral Link #1
Referral Link #2
Referral Link #3
Referral Link #4

As I've said before, I recently set up some "sub-accounts" with ING, and it's been a wonderful way to track my savings while planning for the future. ING is the most user-friendly online bank that I've ever used (I also tried Capital One), it's secure, and I trust them, which is probably the most important factor when money's involved.

Grow Up and Blow Away

Along with my new budgeting plans, I've decided to take the advice of many bloggers out there and finally open some ING subaccounts. So far, my separate funds are as follows:

Student Loan Fund
Future Fund
Roth IRA
Medical/Dental
Gifts

I am planning to move sometime in either June or September (don't ask), so my "Future Fund" will cover some moving expenses, plus deposit and first month's rent... unless I end up having to move in June, in which case, there won't be much money in there. I'm also planning to start saving for a wedding in case I want to get married in the next 10 years. A house would also presumably fall into this category.

I have a "Medical/Dental" category because of an awful, mostly unexpected $850 dental bill I got this year. It's never fun to take that big of a chunk from your savings. While I do plan to save $50/paycheck into this account, I think next time I'll use CareCredit. I've never used it before, but my mom works in the dental field, and recommended it. It's normally interest-free for 3-18 months. If I knew for sure that I had money set aside to pay for it, why would I use it? Well, I guess I wouldn't if I had the money set aside, but I would use it to avoid dipping into my savings.

"Gifts" is its own category, because, now that I'm a fully-functioning adult person, I'll have friends getting married any day now. That's a lot of gifts.

I thought about adding a "Clothes" fund, but I buy clothes infrequently enough not even to bother.

What are your categories?

If you still haven't opened an ING account yet and you'd like to, leave a comment for a referral. You get $25.00 for free for signing up and depositing at least $250.00, and I get $10.00 for spreading the word.

Straight up, now, tell me...

I have a confession to make.

I have yet to open a Roth IRA.

For the past year, I've yammered on to anyone who would listen about my grand retirement plans, but I've neglected to actually do anything. Now, with the economy downturn, I'm in need of some sound advice (and a push).

I am willing to contribute all or part of the 2007 max before April 15th, but keeping the current state of the economy in mind, what is the best move I can make right now?

Other factors to consider:

1. I saved 7 to 8 months worth of living expenses, the balance of which is sitting in a money market account, gaining only about the price of a movie ticket each month (because of plummeting interest rates).
2. My student loans > my savings account balance. The loans are quietly accumulating interest at a rate of 4.75%.

My original plan involved straight up index funds. Now, my options are as follows: a) do nothing, b) divert 3k+ from my savings into a new Roth IRA, or c) divert all but 3 months of living expenses to my student loan balance. This would still leave me about 9k in the hole.

Thoughts?