Counting My Pennies » $1

Getting Risky

Megan — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:00:58 +0000

The other day, J. Money posted about how he’s planning to start buying stocks again. I commented that buying stocks scared me a bit, but it got me to thinking. I’m not in a position to start heavily investing in the stock market, but I think it might be a good idea to take a little bit of money, do some research, and start buying stocks.

I didn’t put much thought into it, and then I was reading Smart Money magazine on the way to work (got a free subscription, so I thought I’d try it out), and I started thinking about stocks again. But I didn’t know how much money I wanted to invest.

Turns out I planned this without thinking about it. When budgeting for my Dollar a Day plan in YNAB, I put the funds into the “Investing” category. I’m not sure why I didn’t re-name this category, as all my other categories are personalized, but for some reason, this money was termed “investments.” I was pondering earlier this year what the best use of this money would be, and I think I have the answer. I’m going to take about $350 of that money and put it into stocks. What stocks? Not sure yet. There will be much research to be done.

I won’t get rich on this plan, and I’m sure I’ll lose some money, but if nothing else, it’s a good learning experience. It seems like a good time to buy, with the market low, and I’m not looking for a get rich quick scheme, but rather a long-term investment plan, so here goes nothing!

2008 Dollar a Day Results!

Megan — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:00:07 +0000

Throughout 2008, I put $1 a day into a high yield savings account. Well, in theory. In practice, I transferred the funds once a month. In 366 days, my account is now at…

$371.22!

Okay, so it’s only an extra $5.22 in interest. But it was an easy way to put away close to $400. I barely missed that $1 a day. I’ve decided to keep it up for 2009 and keep the money in HSBC, though I seriously considered moving it to ING Direct, where I have my other online accounts. For now, however, nothing changes. I’m still going to save an easy $1 a day.

Anyone want to join me in this saving plan?

July Net Worth Update (-0.03%)

Megan — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:00:29 +0000

Barely any change in my net worth this month. Of course, I’d prefer some upward movement, but we’re really not talking much difference at all. I suppose that’s a good thing – it was an expensive month, with car insurance and renters insurance coming due. Of course, August won’t be better with the annual vet visits for the cats.

My investments didn’t seem to do a lot of moving around. Up 1% here, down 1% there.

As for the Dollar a Day plan, as of the end of the month, it has reached $214.62. Not bad for some very painless savings!

A Dollar a Day April Update

Megan — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:43:00 +0000

After four months, my Dollar a Day account is up to $121.46. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s not felt like much while I was putting it away either – so it’s been a pretty easy way to build up a little savings account.

Still debating what, if anything, is going to happen to the funds at the end of the year.

Dollar a Day – February Update

Megan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:49:00 +0000

After two months, my Dollar a Day account currently contains $60.08. $60 in contributions and $.08 in interest income. Just over $60 saved, painlessly, in two months. Sure, it might not seem like much. And putting just $1 away really isn’t all that much. But it really adds up quickly.

January $1 Plan Update

Megan — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Well, this is fairly anti-climactic, but at the end of January, my $1 a day account has reached a grand total of…. $31!

I’ve done some re-thinking of this plan, and I think what I’m going to do is simply sock away $1 a day all year for a total of $366, and see what kind of interest I can earn. I was initially planning to also calculate savings made by smart spending choices, but well, that turned out to be a very difficult task. So instead, I will save $1 a day all year and show you just how easy it can be to build up a savings account. Next year, perhaps I’ll try for $2 a day. And so on.

Rate Chasing

Megan — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:48:00 +0000

I have always said that I wouldn’t chase rates when it came to high yield online savings accounts. I have an account with ING that I use for both my long-term savings and my day to day account, as well as bill-pay and I (luckily) opened a CD with them just before the rates dropped. I signed up thanks to the lure of the $25 bonus, and I’ve not been disappointed.

But ING’s interest rates have dropped severely over the past few months. Most banks have dropped their rates as the Fed has dropped rates, but ING’s last drop seemed fairly extreme. From 4.1% all the way down to 3.65%. As a comparison, HSBC Direct is currently at 4.25%. Thanks to Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary, you can check out the interest rates at a number of banks.

As part of my Dollar a Day savings plan, I decided to open up an HSBC Direct account, and planned to only use it for the money I’m depositing for the dollar a day plan. Now that I see the discrepancy in the accounts, I’m tempted to move my long-term savings account there instead. I love the fact that I can have sub-accounts with ING, and I wish that HSBC had the same features.

I’m still waiting on my username and password from HSBC Direct, so no final decision has been made yet. I may just use HSBC Direct for the Dollar a Day plan to begin with and then make my decision after spending some time with them first.

$1 a day? Why not $10?

Megan — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:46:00 +0000

Over at No Credit Needed, there is a great post about what you can accomplish if you save just $1 a day and what you can accomplish if you can manage to put away $10 a day.

Kind of makes you re-think that trip to the vending machine, doesn’t it?

What is this site about, anyway?

Megan — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:44:00 +0000

A Dollar a Day is a new saving plan that I have put in place for 2008. The goal is to see just how much money I can save in a year by taking little tiny steps.

There are two components to this plan.

1. As you can probably tell from the title, the first step is to save one dollar a day. That means in 2008, I will save a minimum of $366 with this plan (2008 is a leap year).

2. The second part of the plan is a bit more complicated. I plan to save all the money that I otherwise would have spent. Well, duh, you say. Whatever you don’t spend, you save. Obviously. No, here, the plan is to start making good choices. Normally when I go to the mall, for example, I get a bubble tea on my way home. So every time I go to the mall and don’t get the bubble tea? The cost of that tea goes into savings. Also, any time I buy something that is cheaper than what I normally buy, I will put whatever I save into savings. To continue with the beverage example, if I go for coffee and I would normally get a large coffee, and instead I get a medium or a small, I also will save the difference between the two costs. Other rules will be added as I go along. Follow along and see!

What am I going to do with all of this money? I don’t actually know. I’ll see where it is at the end of the year. Maybe it will go into savings or into a vacation fund or maybe it will be part of my Roth IRA contribution for 2008. Who knows!

How will I keep track of everything? That was actually something I struggled with. I’m planning to open a separate ING Direct Savings Account for $1 a day part. For the other savings, I have not decided whether or not this will involve a physical move of money. Once a month, I will transfer the savings from that month into the savings account. I will track everything in a spreadsheet. Why not transfer on a daily basis? Primarily because most savings account have a limit on the number of times you can withdraw from your savings account per month.

So there you have it. The basic plan. Anyone want to join me in this adventure?