Retirement Progress - May 07

June 6, 2007

Since this is my first post on my journey, wanted to give a blueprint of my finances.

Checkings and Savings (Short term)

I have a Checkings Account where I have Direct Deposit Setup. This is where I manage my daily finances, together with my Credit Cards.

I’ve just opened an ING Direct Savings (4.5%). Yeah, it’s not the best, but it’s good enough and I like their other services, so I decided to open with them to keep my accounts as centralized as possible.

Retirment (Long Term)

My main retirement accounts are a 401k sponsored by my company and also just opened a Traditional IRA at Vanguard.

Investment (Long and Medium)

I also have 2 brokerage accounts. One is supposed to be more of a long term account while the other short/medium term. But in reality, I guess I could just combine them.

Credit Cards

I always pay my credit cards in full. I might have way too many credit cards, but bear with me… I’ll try to justify them.

My Visa Card is my oldest, and while I don’t use it as much anymore, I keep it around for my credit history. I’ve had this card for 10 years now.
Two Amex cards. One is my Costco membership card, and the other I keep it for rewards and to buy stuff online. I do buy stuff online quite a lot (I love Amazon), and I like to have a good Credit Card company in case there is any problem with my purchase or even fraud.
I also have a Upromise Citi card, which helps me save for my kids’ 529 plan. If you have kids, I suggest you take a look at Upromise and this card sponsored by Citi.

Mortgage

Currently paying roughly $1950.00/mo on my mortgage, which is a 30yr fixed at 5.75%. I still owe them a fortune… 300K +

Car payments

Got car payments on 2 cars. Still owe roughly 17k on one and 7k on the second one.

And I think that’s pretty much it. That’s a good overview of my finances. Below is a snapshot of my current retirement piggy bank. The high balance on my checkings was because I was planning on paying off one of my cars, but decided instead to open an ING Direct and fund my IRA plan. It’s currently down to 4k where I like to keep it for my daily expenses.

May 07