Get Rich!! Play the Lottery!! Somebody has to win!!

Get Rich!! Play the Lottery!! Somebody has to win!!

Comments 18 comments

I don’t go to casinos, I don’t buy scratch offs, and I don’t play the powerball no matter how high the jackpot. That is until tonight, I was just informed that my wife threw in $10 with her family to buy lottery tickets. Now before I go off portraying my wife as a know nothing moron who plays the lottery I can see the occasional “fun” money being spent on what-if scenarios and by all other accounts I don’t think there are two many women in this world that can handle expenses as well as my wife. Me however I feel almost sick that some of our hard-earned money was voluntarily paid into the stupidity tax. I would rather have heard her say that she had just lit a $10 bill on fire to see what would happen.

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What kind of car do you drive and why?

What kind of car do you drive and why?

Comments 14 comments

I am curious to see what kind of vehicles my readers drive and why they drive the vehicles that they do. Purchasing a vehicle is usually a pretty major decision/expense and depending upon what kind vehicle you buy, how you pay for it (cash, credit), and how you maintain your vehicle can really affect your overall financial picture.

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Cheaper Health Insurance on your own?

Cheaper Health Insurance on your own?

Comments 1 comment

I have pretty good health insurance now that I switched jobs, but my previous employer’s health insurance benefits were degrading pretty rapidly and because they are such a small company I can see them continuing down that road.  While talking to one of my buddies at the old company he showed me this site where you can go out and get quotes on various health insurance plans on your own.  For those wondering the site is www.ehealthinsurance.com

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Retirement Nestegg – Tax Liability Percentage

Retirement Nestegg – Tax Liability Percentage

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I just thought of something that I think would be fun to track as it will make sure I don’t overestimate how big my retirement nest egg really is. I currently have a mix of Roth IRA, Roth 401k, and Traditional 401k retirement accounts that combined together give me that number at the top right corner of my blog. One thing that people often forget when saving for retirement is taxes (the other is inflation). You see any money that is stored in traditional 401k or traditional IRAs you need to pay taxes on when you withdraw it. This means that the government actually owns part of my retirement nestegg.

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401k contribution limits (2006-2009)

401k contribution limits (2006-2009)

Comments 12 comments

I always find myself looking for these limits so I figured I’d just put them on my site for a point of reference. Below are the maximum contribution limits for 401k plans each year from now through 2009.

Year Maximum contribution limit
2006 $15,000
2007 $15,500
2008 $15,500
2009 $?????
I resigned

I resigned

Comments 6 comments

Well I went into my HR department yesterday and asked them if I had ever signed a non-compete agreement. She looked through my file and said yes you signed this. I got a copy of what she gave me and turns out it was just a confidentiality agreement that basically said I would not divulge our and our customer’s trade secrets. To make matters even better the agreement is suppose to have my name on the front page and it is just left blank. It does have my signature on the last page, but seeing as how it is suppose to be an agreement between me and the company it requires the owner’s signature also – which happens to be blank.

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Job Dilema – Update 2

Job Dilema – Update 2

Comments 1 comment

Sorry for spending too much time on my job search, but I think this will be of value to me down the road to evaluate this decision and well it very much effects my financial situation and retirement goals.  In fact it may somewhat ruin my goals as they may become too easy…again not worst problem in the world.

Well if you have been following my blog lately you know that I have quite a few options available to me.  I have actually turned down Company 1 and a few other opportunities have presented me since my previous posts.  One of those opportunities is with a client that I have been consulting at for the last 1.5 years and while base salary wise it is not the highest of the bunch, the total compensation bonuses/401k matching/pension/health insurance takes it pretty much to the top.  Add in the fact that it is 18 minutes from my home, has very flexible and light hours, and I would be able to use the latest and greatest technology and it is pretty much by far the place I want to work at.

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