Three down, three to go

The Travel Fund goal has been met, now it's time to tackle the largest, and possibly the last, financial goal I can accomplish this year.

My mother has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I'm still in a bit of shock. It was just last year that my father died of pancreatic cancer. Isn't there a limit or time spacing thing about dealing with death? No? Well there should be. Anyway, understandably so, mom doesn't want to spend whatever time she has left working, so she wants to sell the house, move in with her sister, and enjoy her life. I totally agree and understand where she's coming from. Of course, I have a few concerns. At the risk of sounding like a morbid ass, they are the following:

• I'm concerned that whatever she'd make from the sale of the house (which would be minimal considering the current market and the fact she owes a considerable amount on it) would not be enough to cover whatever she'd like to do. It's kind of hard to say because we don't know her prognosis.

• I'm not all that convinced my mom will sit down and look at her finances and reasonably think about how she plans to fund all the things she wants to do. I'm not convinced it can happen. Some, but certainly not all.

She asked if I'd take over the mortgage. I flatly responded that I can't afford it. She seemed unhappy about that. Truth be told, I'll barely be able to afford rent for a lame studio in the city (I live in a HCOL area. Factor that with having to save a decent amount for retirement, and yeah...bolonga sandwiches for the next 30 years).

I think the most important thing we can do right now is figure her financial/legal situation and options.

Legal

• We need to set up powers of attorney for her health care and financial affairs as well as a will. I've reached out to a lawyer that helped us with my dad.

Financial

• While everything my dad needed was covered under Medicare, I'm concerned that it may be different for mom. It was 4 months from diagnosis to death for my dad. I'm hoping the time for my mother will be much longer. Also, her illness is different from my dad's. I'm wondering if there may be things with her treatment that may not be covered under medicare.

• I know she doesn't want to work, however it may be beneficial to go down to part-time work instead of full-time. It will be less trying for her physically and still keep some income.

• We'll need to sit down and discuss her financial life. If she has any debt, types of insurance, other possible sources of income, etc. We'll keep to keep track of everything submitted to Medicare and her supplemental insurance so we know what's covered and what isn't.

Then of course, there's the whole deal of where I'm going to go, where I can afford to live and still get to my mom, how long I'll have to live there, wondering if the BF will ever move here...I'm just kinda in "stop-the-damn-world-cuz-i-need-some-answers"mode.

February 2010 Credit Scores

Because Experian is on that garbage, I could only pull my FICO scores for TransUnion and Equifax. In January 2009 my scores for them were 812 and 817 respectively. I ran my scores a month ago and got the following:


I'm really puzzled as to why my score went down. The most I had on any credit card at the time would have been $150. I don't have any other debt. My bills are paid on time. I check my Experian credit report for free and there was nothing there that would explain a dip in score (assuming my Experian score even went down). I'll have to wait until next month when I'll be able to check the other credit reports for free.

I have more cash this year, a trace amount of debt (at the most $150 at a time that gets paid off at the end of the month), so what gives? I'm hoping this isn't a trend and that my credit reports are ok with no wacky activity. I'm not one to worship credit scores, however I know it's going to come in handy for me in the future when I want to make a big purchase.

Meh. Guess I'll have to wait and see. *shrug*

On Being a Road Warrior and My Stupid Ass Boyfriend

Hold up! Dude! Did you know I was a genius! Check it: Last night I had a late flight to see the BF. I didn't want to pay a bajillion dollars for some lettuce and a bottle of water at the airport so I did the following instead I bought a sandwich, chips, and a cookie from Panera (lurve Panera!) and tucked them along with an empty water bottle in my carry-on. Once I get passed security I filled my bottle at a water fountain. All that deliciousness for $8.50. Yay me! So this will be the drill every time I visit the BF.

Speaking of the BF, he's not stupid. :) We just had a "money talk," saw that I was going to make a blog post and said, "Oh, you gonna blog about your stupid-ass boyfriend?" I wasn't, but since he provided me with the inspiration, why not? Long story short, we had a discussion about money, how he can pay down his debt faster, expectations, how the debt impacts our future, etc. It wasn't a comfortable conversation, but necessary. Every once in a while we have to touch base to find out where the other person is at and make sure we're on the same page. Love is great, it's just not easy. :)

As SingleMa Used to Say, "My Money Is Boring"

Well. Kinda.

My money and I have been a little busy, but I could never really come up with a way to chat about it so I'm just gonna spew words and see what happens. Actually, like I usually do. *shrug*

I lent/gave my best friend $1,000. About a month ago my BFF called telling me about a situation she's in that I wouldn't wish on anyone. She makes light-years more money than me, however as is typical with a lot of women I know, a lot of it ends up taking care of other people instead of herself. She's current on her bills, with very little debt, however all extra that should be going to her savings ends up saving other people in her family. For years I've tried to convince her to stop letting these people rob her of her financial future but...you know... Anyway, she found herself in a sitch and the same people she'd been helping all these years are in absolutely no position to help her when she needs it most. She called me up asking for a grand and I happily sent it to her. She asked to borrow it, and I hope to get it back. However I've made peace that I won't and have checked it off in my head as a gift. I only wish I were in a position where I could comfortably give her more without hesitation.

I'm thinking it might make more sense to buy plane tickets to see the BF rather than using flier miles. I've noticed that the carrier I typically use have been seeing last-minute flights to where I visit the BF for about $110. In my opinion, it makes more sense to spend the cash rather than use the flier miles. I'll take this on a month-by-month basis.

Damn ING Direct. Really?

ING Direct lowered the interest rate on their savings AGAIN, this time to 1.15% APY. Dude. Seriously. Damn. I'm seriously considered moving my money to another bank where I could earn a higher interest rate, however I know this is really going on everywhere. But still, seems ING Direct is quick to decrease their rates before anyone else. This is giving me a lot to consider, especially the idea of starting a CD ladder.

I actually OWE the government money

$189 to be exact. I'm pretty sure it has to do with changing my deductions because I always got money back (about $300), however I changed that a while ago. I'm not sure what could have caused it to be that I actually owe money this year. Especially since I made more money in 2008 than in 2009. Oh well, it's not a lot, so no big deal. I just wasn't expecting it. Still though, I want to look into why this happened.

Anyway, I'll actually file my taxes this weekend along with the payment.

Estimating 2010 Paid Time Off

I have a fairly decent Paid Time Off (PTO) deal. My employer gives me four weeks off every year, including 8 holidays (6 calendar, 2 floating). If I don't use all my time then I'm allowed to transfer up to 15 days to the following year. Early on I recognized this benefit and made a point to carry over at least a week when I first started. Now I carry over the full 3 weeks and have been doing so for the past few years.

Why am I telling you all this? Because in my head, it pays to be as thoughtful about your PTO as your cash. Time, as they say, is money. Those three weeks I carry over not only could come in handy if I need a big chunk of time off, but also as a bit of a financial cushion should I get laid off (which could come in handy, as severance at my company is minimal).

Keeping an eye on my PTO is even more important since I'm in a long-distance relationship. For our situation, since I have more time off than he does, I'll go visit him more often this year. This allows him to bank his PTO and use money saved from travel costs to put towards debt and/or emergency savings. Below is quickie calendar I came up with to help visualize my PTO time, and for us to use to coordinate our visits.

*Please note that the PTO days left in 2010 does not reflect the 3 weeks I have that will get carried over into 2011.

So this is what I've drafted so far, which leaves me 5 days to play around with if I get sick, an emergency,etc. However since I already have 3 weeks that I'll be carrying over, these 5 days must be taken before the end of the year or be forfeited.

I realize that as a single person with no children or other dependents, hoarding PTO time is easier for me to do than others. Even so, I believe that if at all possible, like with having a cushion of emergency cash, we should all have at least a day or two of PTO to be flexible with.