Buck$ome Boomer's Journey to Retirement

Time to Make A Change

Bucksome — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:36 +0000

Knowing that I covet electronic gadgets you would think the iPad is in my sights. Not really as I’ve never been an Apple person. My MP3 player is a Zune and I am a PC (actually we have three PCs). My phone and netbook can do all that the iPad does and even multi-task.

That works out because I’m going on a spending hiatus for the rest of 2010. Obviously we have to spend some money, but no big ticket items (nothing over $50) unless it is to replace or repair an unusable existing item. The only exceptions are two planned vacations.

Why the hiatus? I don’t believe in total deprivation when in the debt elimination mode. My mode could be compared to the slow and steady turtle versus the intense sprints of the gazelle. But the intensity has gotten too lax the past couple of months even though I love my new acquisitions (same phone and netbook mentioned above) and use them regularly. The turtle lost its direction.

That money could have gone towards the debt snowball. Maybe it doesn’t make much of a difference but even one month closer to the rest of my life would have been nice.

What’s the hurry? I’m anxious to get to the point where I can focus on retirement savings, mortgage pay-off and giving. I have a ways to go thanks to credit card balances and student loans, but it’s less than 24 months.

You and this public forum are my accountability. Starting with the February monthly update spending status will be reported. Thanks for listening and helping me get back on track for the journey.

photo credit: turtlemom4bacon

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Week in Review: Super Bowl Edition

Bucksome — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:30:58 +0000

Today’s the annual event that bring people together to share food and entertainment. Americans love to love the underdog so I will be rooting for the Saints. It would be an emotional lift for a city that has endured so much the past few years.

For all those that have been experiencing snowpocalypse, I hope you have power to enjoy the game. Stay warm!

Editor’s Picks

1. Tips On How to Obey “Thou Shalt Not Covet”. For someone who wrote about electronics she drools over you wouldn’t expect this pick from @ Bible Money Matters. However, wanting “stuff” is a personal constant battle.

2. What’s Coming Next? @ The Simple Dollar points out that change in your life is constant and to get the best outcome be financially prepared.

3. Are You Better Off than a Decade Ago? My answer is yes to this question from @ Free Money Finance. What about you?

4. The Best Deal Sites Online. Everybody wants a deal, right? Check out these sites from @ Obsessed Analytic. You might find some you didn’t know about.

5. How to Save Money Moving.I hope not to move for quite a number of years, but in case you have a move coming up read these great tips from @ Money Ning.

Valentine’s Day Articles

It’s time to start thinking about plans for VD (no, not that VD). Read these articles for ideas and thoughts on the romantic holiday.

Five Awesome Online Valentines Day Gifts for Her and Five Great Online Valentines Day Gifts for Him @ Engaged Marriage
10 Budget-Friendly Ways to Get it Right this Valentine’s Day and Beyond @ Wise Bread
10 Unique, Personalized, and Cheap Valentines Day Gifts @ Money Help for Christians
5 Frugal Valentines Day Tips @ Sounds Money Matters
Frugal Valentines Day Gift Ideas @ Financial Highway
Breaking Up is Easy To Do: 21 Terrible Valentine’s Gifts @ Coupon Sherpa

Carnivals

Festival of Frugality #215 @ Pragmatic Environmentalism
Money Hacks Carnival #102: Build a New Blog Edition @ Passive Income Now

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Are Luggage Fees the Tipping Point?

Bucksome — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:08:27 +0000

Over the past decade airlines have cut back on included items and begun charging for most extras including pillows, blankets, and food. They even tried to charge for non-alcoholic beverages (which flopped thankfully). With the decline of the economy came a new fee – one for checked baggage.

Luggage Fees – the Beginning

The luggage fee was supposedly to offset skyrocketing fuel prices a couple of years ago. Fuel prices have dropped a significant percentage from the all-time high but the charges have remained. They have not only remained but increased with the most recent round just going into effect raising many from $20 for the first bag to $25.

AS this chart shows this seems to be primarily a domestic airline trend. Only Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines check any free bags and even Jet Blue charges for the second.

Passenger Impact

Does this change passenger behavior? It changed ours. Mr. Boomer and I decided to cruise locally for our Spring vacation primarily to avoid flying. A 10 day cruise requires more than one carry-on a piece and would add up to $240 for four bags round trip.

During my emergency trip due to mom’s hospitalization last month the cheapest option was American Airlines. I refused to pay $50 in luggage fee and carried on. Yes, it was inconvenient to drag my suitcase around the Dallas airport but it was more important to have that money for other things.

Alternatives

Normally, I will choose other airlines over Southwest for longer flights due to the entertainment options and assigned seating. Not anymore; these perks aren’t worth $120 per person (they need to update their price in the video below). This limits destinations to those cities seved by SWA.

Are other passengers making the same decisions? Time will tell but I wonder if the airlines have gone too far this time.

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How I Save Money and Plan My Vacations with Credit Cards

Bucksome — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:00:27 +0000

Mr Credit Card from www.askmrcreditcard.com is writing a guest post for me today. He is going talk about making use of your credit cards for vacation planning and saving money. If you are looking for a credit card, please check out his best credit card deals and offers list

Firstly, thanks to Mrs Boomer for letting me guest post here. Today, I just want to reiterate some of the points Mrs Boomer has made about her use of credit cards and how I have used them to save money on things I spend and save on my vacation. But first, as a background. Years ago when I started working, the company I worked for gave me a business credit card. It allowed me to earn reward points and over the years, I’ve gotten a number free business class international airline tickets simply from spending on my corporate card, especially on business travel. A few years ago, I stopped traveling for a while and I switched to using a cash back credit card instead. I found out that I could earn lots of cash rebates as well. So here are some tips on using your credit cards to get the best bang for the buck.

Charge everything to your card – Mrs Boomer might disagree with me on this point as she pointed in this post here. She advocates charging large expenses on the card and perhaps pay cash with the smaller expenses because it could prevent you from impulse purchases. My solution to impulse purchases is to always plan ahead what you are going to buy. Savvy moms who shop in supermarkets use coupons and make sure they write down their shopping list before they buy. Supermarkets are simply designed to get you to make impulse purchases by making you walk through all the aisles, putting more expensive stuff at eye levels etc. You can ignore that by using a list – not just at the supermarket, but with any other shopping trips.

By the way, I charge even small stuff at the supermarket and because my card pays me more than 1% on supermarket shopping!

Online Shopping Portal – Many credit cards these days have online shopping portals. This is how it works. They form partnerships with online shopping merchants and when you shop at these online stores from your credit card account login, you will earn cash rebates. An example example of this is the Discover Card. You can shop at over 100 online retailers and earn anywhere from 5% to 20% cash rebates. Other credit card companies are also beginning to incorporate and offer such features to their customers.

Shopping Comparison Tool – Some credit card companies have shopping comparison tools as well. For example, certain American Express cardholders can access this tool called shopamex.com, which allows you to do online comparison for products being sold on the internet. This is an invaluable tool to save money. It also allows you to use rewards points when you use the site (though I do not recommend that).

Advanced Event Booking – Another way I use my credit card (which does not really save money) is to book tickets for events I want to go in advance. For example, Amex sponsors a lot of musicals and performing arts etc. Very often, the would allow Amex cardholders to have advance booking before tickets are made available to the public. I have taken advantage of this numerous times.

Plan your vacation in advance – Mrs Boomer mentioned that Mr Boomer is a retiree and I would assume that they would both take annual vacations. One way I save money on your vacation is to plan way ahead. That means deciding on what flights makes the most sense, which hotels you want to stay at. It could mean planning a year ahead. Once I have that all planned out, the next task would be to check and see which frequent flyer program will get you there with the least points. Check out the credit cards that will allow you to earn those points, figure out much you put on your credit card a year, and work backwards how long it takes to get a free airline ticket or hotel stay or airline ticket upgrade. Such advance planning saves you a lot and it should be in your budgeting process.

Use Your Auto Rental Insurance – Whenever I rent a car, I never pay for auto rental collision whenever I rent a car. That is because my credit card automatically provides auto rental collision insurance if you charge your auto rental to the card. Most credit cards offer this feature as well.

Ending Thoughts

I’m sure there are more ways to save money with your credit cards (whether it be for a vacation or for anything). In the right hands, it becomes an extremely useful tool. You must pay off your balance every month to get the full use and benefits that credit cards offer. Be diligent, do some research and you’ll be surprised how much you can save. Here are some other interesting related posts on this site.

5 ways to use airline miles without flying

Why I don’t use automatic payments

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Adios Sam’s Club

Bucksome — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:00:15 +0000

photo credit: RodBegbie

San Diego County (for those not living in the West counties are really big here) lost one of its two Sam’s Club this month. It closed last week as one of ten non-profitable stores the company shut down. Yep, out of the 3 million residents here only one store can be profitable.

Four of the ten stores were in California. Interesting yes, surprising no. There are two reasons I think Sam’s Club never caught on here. One is because of the parent corporation and other is due to its competitor.

Walmart

California managed to stave off Walmart for years until suddenly they seemed to pop up everyone in the past decade. This happened after a lot of NIMBYism. Lately the fight has been mostly against the Walmart Supercenters. The company’s reputation surrounding employee pay and treatment was not good.

According to a NBC San Diego story, “One of the most common criticisms against Wal-Mart is that its new and expanded stores undercut local wages and pressure competitors to scale back their employees’ health care and other benefits.”

Warehouse clubs attract a different demographic than the Walmart stores and that demographic didn’t need Sam’s Club to get good warehouse buys.

Competition

A San Diegan, Sol Price, opened the first warehouse store in 1976. Price Club grew and expanded to several locations in the county. Then they merged with Costco in 1993 which had been founded by a protege of Sol Price. Costco now has a dozen stores deeply ingrained in the local culture.

People generally aren’t going to pay for two warehouse memberships. We only went to Sam’s Club when they had a one-day shopping pass promotion or with out-of-towners who had a card. The main benefit was that I could buy a piece of clothing there and know I wouldn’t see others wearing the same thing wherever I went (yes, that’s common in this Costco culture).

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So, adios to Sam’s Club. You really didn’t stand a chance, but sorry to see you go.

photo credit: RodBegbie

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Week in Review: Micah Edition

Bucksome — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:00:27 +0000

Congratulations to my niece and her husband on the birth of their son, Micah, on Friday evening. He was a healthy 8 lb. 11 oz. My sister now has three grandsons under the age of 18 months!

Not quite as life-changing was my second guest post published at Sweating the Big Stuff this past week. Please visit and read my thoughts on measuring financial success.

Editor’s Picks

The Rich and Poor: My Interview with the Poor People of PNG Craig @ Money Help for Christians is a pastor in Papua New Guinea. This thought-provoking article will give you a new-found understanding of your wealth.

Great Lessons from Great Men JD @ Get Rich Slowly reminds us of the lessons we can learn from twelve smart men. I’m looking forward to the female version.

Should Married Couples Have Joint or Separate Bank Accounts? from Dustin @ Engaged Marriage and Separate Bank Accounts @ Money Funk both have good discussions going on the pros and cons of couples having separate accounts. What do you think?

Supermarket Shopping: Generics verus “Name” Brands Don’t overlook the savings of selecting generic foods over brand names. Learn from Michael Haltman @ Money Crashers experience.

Mythbusters: Myths about Frugality Ray @ Financial Highways dispels popular misunderstandings about frugality. My favorite is that Frugality means Cheap; nope it’s not the same thing.

My Top 7 Reasons to Store Receipts I need a system besides just throwing them in my purse for all the reasons mentioned by Mrs. Accountability @ Out of Debt Again I have an item I need to return to Walmart and haven’t because I don’t have a receipt.

How to Organize Your Tax Documents Use this handy list of items you’ll need to prepare taxes from Patrick @ Cash Money Life.

Is your Google Account Secure?… FB @ Fabulously Broke provides great tips on how to protect your google accounts as well as recovering from a hacking.

How to Save Time & Money at the Post Office (By Avoiding It!)Jim @ Bargaineering reminds of many ways we can take care of our mailing needs without visiting the post office.

Carnivals

Festival of Frugality @ Ultimate Money Blog
Carnival of Money Stories 2 @ My Journey to Millions

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Customer Service Story: Lee Jeans

Bucksome — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:42 +0000

In the Fall I noticed a tear at the inner side of one of one of the batch pockets on one of my favorite pairs of jeans. Perplexed, I looked closer and saw that there was a matching tear at the other pocket. Contrary to Mr. Boomer’s jokes, my pants were not too tight in the rear.

This shouldn’t happen to pants only a few months old so I got to work on not losing out on my purchase. I had bought the jeans at Kohl’s but no longer had the receipt and didn’t want to deal with trying to return it at the store if at all possible. I found Lee’s website and submitted an email inquiry asking how I could get them replaced.

Now, I didn’t have much hope so was pleasantly surprised to get an email response back within a day asking for my name and address so they could send a return form and prepaid mailing label. I sent that off and within a week had the promised documents.

Because I’m a procrastinator (did I ever tell you that before) the forms sat and sat. Finally a few weeks ago the jeans got boxed up with completed forms and dropped off at the post office.

Again, I wondered if anything would happen. I was a little skeptical because the form stated they would decide if it was normal wear and tear or defective. Happily my fears were unfounded.

This past week a package arrived with a brand new pair of Lee jeans, same size and what looks like the same style. I’m happy to have my jeans replaced and know Lee is a company that values customers and knows how to provide good service.

Do you have any good customer service stories?

photo credit: bsdfm

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Do Baby Boomers Know How to Find A Job?

Bucksome — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:00:24 +0000

Unemployment is holding steady or starting to nudge downward depending where you live. My company happens to have a few openings this quarter due to growth and turnover. When recently discussing internal recruitment efforts I learned that we typically advertise on one venue…Craigslist.

This may not be news to some (or even most) of you, but to me I think of ads for personal escorts not a job opportunity when I hear craigslist. I think of myself as being a technologically savvy baby boomer so what does this mean to the rest of my generation?

Finding Openings

Remember when the classifieds were a lot bigger section of the newspaper? They no longer are because that’s not the way to reach the most people. Companies are posting open positions on Craigslist, Monster and their own websites.

Baby boomers need to use Facebook and Twitter as venues for finding openings. Not only by networking with other users, but following propsective employers. Last week Southwest Airlines posted on Facebook that they are looking for a Director of Technology. That sounds like a pretty good job with the most successful domestic airline.

Of course, online networking does help. Connect with your online friends and followers and let them know you’re looking. Connect with people you know professionally past and present using LinkedIn.

Interview and After

Yes, I concede that age is a disadvantage when job-hunting. But there’s a flip side. With that age is a whole lot of experience.

Once baby boomers get the interview they most likely have soft skills that can make the difference when it comes down to the hire. You know what they say about first impressions? It doesn’t matter if the company’s typical dress is casual (as mine is) the hiring manager still wants to know that you have good judgement regarding business wear.

Twenty years ago thank you notes post-interview were standard. It’s rare when a written note (received via email or snail mail) is received today. If I had to choose between two equally qualified candidates and one had written to thank me for my time and tell me why it’s a good match, they have the edge.

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Ignoring age bias, I have no doubt older job hunters can get jobs; they just have to know where to find them.

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Selling on Ebay

4 Steps to A Faster PC

Bucksome — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:00:33 +0000

photo credit: The Rocketeer

Mr. Boomer’s Christmas gift list had only one thing on it — making his computer faster. It’s several years old and at one time was the family machine meaning it survived a teenager who probably wasn’t as discerning as us in selecting download sites. The computer had become unbearably slow.

I mentioned to my brother, a Network Engineer, that I was going to call the Geek Squad for a PC cleaning. He told me to save my money and sent email directions on how to get the same results for free. I ran four programs in the exact order listed below.

1. ComboFix.This cleaning utility removes spyware and malware that is not found by your antivirus program (you do use an antivirus program, right?).

2. Malwarebytes. This program is designed to quickly find and remove malicious code from your computer.

3. CCleaner.To remove unnessary files and free up space run this program. It cleans the following files up in internet explorer: temporary files, history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, and index.dat.

4. Defraggler.Made by the same company as Ccleaner, this one defragments the hard drive and according to my brother is “much better than the standard windows version”.

Results

After a couple of hours work I was ready for Mr. Boomer to take a test run. He was so happy that I wished it was done years ago. With those results I took these steps on my laptop. These programs are now part of our annual maintenance.

Not only did I make my spouse happy but saved at leat $50 and gained some knowledge. It was a win-win-win!

Bonus

Jim @ Bargaineering had a similar post a couple of weeks ago and listed some of his favorite programs for optimization. Comments include other recommendations so be sure to read those as well.

Tired of shelling out for anti-virus software? I’m switching our three computers over to AVG (free version) as the current programs expire. How do you keep your PC optimized?

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No related posts.

Week in Review: Winter Storms Edition

Bucksome — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:00:07 +0000

It’s been so long since we had a lot of rain (is the drought over yet?) that six days in a row of rain, wind, and cold has been a shock. The good news is that it kept San Diegans from complaining all week about the Chargers loss (and we need the water).

Who am I kidding! There was a lot of talk all week about who to blame for the Chargers’ terrible play. The leading contenders are: the head coach, the kicker or the offense. Sorry to digress, but it’s an open wound here.

Free Retirement Advice

Kiplinger’s and National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) are offering free retirement advice on Tuesday, January 26th. You can either submit your question online or call (888) 919-2345 between 9:00 am – 6:00 pm Eastern time.

Editor’s Picks

1. Gourmet Coffee Recipes: Make Your Own Starbucks Coffee Drink. Silicon Valley Blogger @ The Digerati Life includes a recipe for my favorite Starbucks drink. Now I can save even more on those cinnamon dolce lattes!

2. Tax Refund: Will You Save It, Pay Off Debt, Invest It, Or Waste It? Brad (aka Enemy of Debt) continues to challenge us to think outside the box regarding money. You’ll make the most of your tax refund by planning how to use it in advance.

3. Request Your Clue Report. Did you know about Clue reports? Jim @ Bargaineering reminds us to check it and includes a link to a post on seven free reports you should be checking.

4. Money Saving Monday: The Internets. Stew @ Gather Little by Little provides a blast to the past. I remember staying up all night the day I first forayed onto the world wide web.

5. Financial IQ Test: How Healthy Are Your Bank Accounts? The test really is about how well you keep on top of your bank accounts. I scored Excellent based on the criteria by Nora Dunn @ Wise Bread.

6. What is frugal living? Jenn @ Frugal Upstate discusses her views on what being frugal means. Her thoughts are similar to my own discussion on what frugality means to me.

7. How to Choose a Certified Financial Planner – Pick a CFP Like You Pick A Tattoo Artist. How could you not want to read this article mixing financial planners and tattoo artists? Plus Hank @ Own the Dollar has good information on how to select a CFP.

8. Boomer Travel and Airline Bag Fees. Dragging my suitcase through DFW earlier this month to avoid a $20 checked bag fee got my creative juices flowing but in the meantime, GoTo @ Go To Retirement provides his thoughts on airline luggage fees.

9. Women and Retirement. There is a lot of comment discussion on this post by Robert Brokamp @ Get Rich Slowly. He points out that women face unique challenges in retirement planning. I think it’s true historically but things are a changing!

10. The 10 Toughest Jobs. Craig @ Bible Money Matters lists jobs that are not physically tough, but rather mentally stressful. Your list might be different, but I wouldn’t want to work at any of these jobs.

Carnivals

Money Hacks Carnival #100 @ Ultimate Money Blog
Carnival of Money Stories: Springtime in Arizona Edition @ Funny About Money
Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #125 – January 22, 2010 @ The Skilled Investor

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