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HomePersonal SituationEvan By The Numbers March 2010

Evan By The Numbers March 2010

One of the main reasons that I started this blog was to hold myself accountable, since I truly believe that Accountability Leads to Success when dealing with personal finance and me..  Oh so you want to question my belief? Check out my FIRST post from August 2008 it is right there in the first sentence of published work on this blog!  I did this pretty often when I was working off my credit card debt, but I stopped once that was finished.  So if I believe accountability is necessary, why don’t I have my numbers out there for everyone? I have no real excuse so here we go!

Before I get into giving out the numbers, I don’t plan on putting everything out there, and the reason is pretty simple.  I am pretty sure that I will slip up and this site will eventually become known to my friends and family, and I am just way too private  when it comes to money issues for everything to be out there.  So what do I want to share? Those topics which I have covered on my blog already.

My Debt Items

In addition to my house I have a few other debt items.  I don’t highlight the house, because it is secondary right now as compared to following debts:

  • Currently, I have my Auto Loan that I am in the midst of refinancing.  That is at $11,352, currently at 8.9% but this should get lowered within the next week or so.
  • One Law School Loan at $57,648.44 at 4.5%
  • Another Law School Loan at $7,527.60 at 5%

My Multiple Income Streams and Qualified Investments

My Prosper Account

I have previously provided really detailed information about my Prosper.com Account a few weeks ago.  Since is just an update I’ll give the hard facts:

  • 28 Active Notes Worth $633.78
  • $28.37 in Cash (will be reinvested in the next day or two)
  • $70.14 in Gain (at least according to Prosper)
  • 3 Charge offs, 1 Late and 8 paid in Full
  • Average Yield at acquisition 11.30%

I will continue to reinvest the payments and put $25/month into the account.  This leads to about 1.5 loans per month.

My Perpetual Income Machine

I researched dividend paying stocks to create an eventual perpetual income machine.  The account is tiny, and will just be a slow growth sort of thing until my cash reserves are where I want them, I am talking about $100 or so a month – so really slow.

  1. SDY SPDR S&P DIVIDEND ETF $20.31 14.7 %
  2. LLY LILLY(ELI) & CO $20.30 14.7 %
  3. CB CHUBB CORP $20.06 14.5 %
  4. SWK STANLEY WORKS THE $20.01 14.5 %
  5. CTL CENTURYTEL INC $19.14 13.8 %

The numbers don’t add up to 100 because there is also a cash position receiving weekly contributions to invest next month (I am using Sharebuilder to minimize trading costs).  After all my research I really liked those 4 stocks and I figured why not pick up the ETF this way I have some exposure to everything else.

My 401(k)

I have talked about re-allocating my 401(k) after analyzing the positions.   But, I never provided the actual hard numbers.  As of today the account has about $11,500 in it.  I will continue to allow that to grow with bi-monthly contributions from myself and generous employer.

My Cash Account

I am not comfortable providing my cash account details, but lets say I am at about 32% of what I’d like in a liquid account.  So as I make inroads on this as the months pass by I will use the % of my end number.  So Right now I am at

  • 32% of my Future Goal of Liquid Dollars

Am I missing anything that you would want to know?  Do you care when Bloggers put everything out there?

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29 COMMENTS

  1. Who doesn’t enjoy a little financial voyeurism?

    Could you tell us a little bit about Prosper and what you like about it?

    • I like prosper because it provides me with the opportunity to be in the bank’s shoes in terms of lending and interest. I also like the diversification and low entry needed to get involved – $25/bid.

      I have never used LendingClub so I can’t compare the two.

  2. You make a good point about holding yourself accountable and publishing your progress should be a real motivator. I’m hesitant to do the same for privacy reasons.

      • It is NUTS what people will put on social sites. I really think people forget how quick information disseminates out there on the internet.

        I remember when The Wife got pregnant (we eventually lost the baby) and we told both our mothers PLEASE do not put this on the internet – it was way ealry. What did the Mother in law do? She put as her status something about being a Grandma…then what did my mom do? Because the Mom in Law did it, she thought she could doit. This meant when we lost the child EVERYONE that was in anyway connected to our parents knew, it made it that much harder.

        That being said, if you make your status that you hate your job, or you are cheating on your taxes you are just an idiot.

        http://myjourneytomillions.com/articles/wrong-generation-hints-job/

        • The issue I have is get audited by say
          the government. They will love to use anything
          details you give on your web site.

          What you thought was innocent and maybe helped others get you in trouble.

          Food for thought.

          Again I’m all for going after someone doing something illegal.

          • It is very good food for thought, and something I thought about when I first started blogging.

            That being said, I declare EVERYTHING even my small earnings from prosper, so I am not too worried. I am more worried about problems with my employment since I putting all this out here without compliance approving anything. That is the reason I stay anonymous and not one friend or family member (beyond The Wife) knows my domain.

            Also, my whois is private – best $7 I ever spent lol

        • Sites like Facebook give people the false impression of privacy because only their “friends” can see what they post. But I think most people share way too much personal information. Plus they also don’t realize that once something is on the internet it’s there for good.

        • By the way I just watched a scary video at The Frugalista showing how Classmates.com is selling people’s credit card numbers to third partys. They get you to “approve” it by burying it in a lengthy TOS when you take a free trial of something. Keep a close eye on your credit card statements everyone.

    • You have to be comfortable and after being that voyuer for 18 months I said what the hell lets put some stuff out there! I don’t put everything out there because that is where my comfort level is

    • Why you and the girls want to come over for dinner? lol Joking!

      Main Residence:
      Currently, The Wife and I live in a nice townhouse in an area of Long Island that we wouldn’t be able to afford a house in nor would we want to if we could lol. Our plan is to stay here as long as possible and just keep chipping away at the mortgage, while the propery increases in value. As long as possible means something along the lines of a little after we have our first child, however long that takes. It is a 2 bedroom and The Wife works from home and her parents live out of town so it wouldn’t be that fair to stay put that much longer. We have a good amount of equity in the home which is far cry from other people who are underwater.

      Real Estate Investing:
      My parents own 2 homes, and watching their headaches and struggles I flip flop on this issue OFTEN. On the one hand one property is a cash cow, and doesnt’ cause many issues in their life, on the other hand, the other property is probably going to put my father into an early grave. So at this point in my life I am not ready to make any real decisions when it comes to this topic.

      • LOL….yes…as a matter of fact, I was hoping we’d get invited over… (that was a good one)

        Sounds like you DO have a plan — which of course is great. I was just wondering since I didn’t notice any mention.

        I have recently paid off my mortgage and as a result I see my cash flow improve tremendously. I see now that it was a kind of forced savings. Are you able to sock away a higher amount than the required amounts? If yes, do you think it’s smart?

  3. I also like reading when financial bloggers put some of their financial details out there. Like you say, it does help in holding yourself accountable to what you say you’re going to do.

    However, like some other commenters noted, I’m also hesitant to share my own details for privacy and security reasons.

    Evan, how do you decide what you feel comfortable with putting out there on your blog? BTW sorry to hear about the loss of your baby.

  4. I’m interested in the reasoning behind the Prosper account vs. just paying down the car note – seems like after taxes it’s about a wash according to the interest rates posted above. Sorry if you covered it in a previous post.

    BTW – I’m going to feel guilty if Stanley Works tanks since I tossed that out as a suggestion 🙂

    • The amount being contributed to the prosper account is only $25/month while I am pre-paying the auto loan at a much more aggressive rate. I don’t believe the extra $25, is that big of a deal (I have done the amortization tables cause I am tool lol).

      So for $25/month I’d like to get started with the notes.

      BTW – You better feel guilty and send me a check!

  5. I like when bloggers put this info out there. I am just nosey! 🙂

    I think it’s good because it helps keep you accountable.

    • You aren’t blind at all. I am just not cool with sharing all that much. Think of this as one of those cloudy glass shower doors vs the clear cool ones – you’ve seen pics of me you don’t REALLY want to see the clear glass lol

  6. A’ight, thanks for letting me know I’m not blind!

    It’s interesting though isn’t it… why you or others are comfortable with sharing how much debt they have, but not how much they make.

    Why is that???

    • I think it is a cultural thing. To ask how much a person makes in America is like talking about religion at a party.

      Or

      It may have to do with what Investor Junkie was talking about…big brother is always lurking.

      • Sam,

        It’s an age thing.

        I’ll plan on discussing specifics (like my Lending Club account) since it’s not a lot of money.

        I’ve thought about one way around all of this is discuss in just percentages. Isn’t that what really matters anyways? After all, if you have it down for $1000.00, shouldn’t it apply to $10,000,000? I know there are some differences, but it’s still pretty much the same.

  7. Great focus on income generating assets and investments. I think many people focus on buying stocks or real estate “because they appreciate.” But I think generating income that can be reinvested or used for other purposes is a great (and oft overlooked) idea.

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