Well. The economy’s a fun little roller coaster now, isn’t it? I have to admit, I find myself wanting to pull all of my money out of my accounts and stash it in my mattress. Might make for a comfy little bed too, except that who knows where all of those dollar bills have been.
Seriously though, I’m just not worrying about it. I’m putting some money into CD ladders and just trying to get a good interest rate at a bank I trust (rather than hunt for the “best” rate, I’m sticking with ING CDs – they might be a little lower, but it’s one less thing I worry about – and that’s worth something). I’m not worrying about my investment accounts. I’ve hit my limit for 2008 for my Roth IRA, so I’m starting to set aside money for my 2009 contribution. I’m continuing to contribute to my 401(k). And I’m forcing myself to not look at the balances.
What am i doing instead? Why, I’m going to write a novel!
NaNoWriMo is a ridiculous venture, where people agree to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. 50,000 words in 30 days. I’ve done it twice in the past (had to give it up during law school), but I’m going to participate again this year. I can’t say I’ll be writing the next Great American Novel, or even something that I want people to read, but it’s a great, creative way to spend a cold, dreary month. Plus, if you’re spending time writing your 1667 words per day, you’ll be spending less time worrying about your investments or spending money that you should be saving. Everyone wins! Anyone else in?
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
Holy crap that’s impressive! I wish i could join ya, but to be honest i couldn’t finish READING a 50,000 word novel in that time frame (ADD and all).
I suppose if i just type anything that comes to my mind that day, without edits or anything, i could do it. but would that defeat the point? If you challenge me, i might be convinced 😉
and either way, i support you doing it!
Consider yourself challenged!
And writing whatever comes to mind that day without edits is exactly the purpose! Turn off the internal editor, and start a story. The only rule is that it’s supposed to be one story, not a bunch of short stories – though it’s all in good fun, so if that sounds good to you, go for it.
Besides, I’d much rather stress over my word count and whether or not I’ll make 50k than worry about the stock market. At least I can control my word count!
That’s awesome, I’m going to have to look into that! Anything to get my mind off the economy – and I guess if I’m writing I can’t be shoe shopping, can I??
crap. now i’m gonna have to do it! haha…at least it starts next month 😉
Wow… I’ve always wanted to sit down and write something. I’ve got small stories started and not finished all over the place. You’re on! I’ve decided to hunker down and give this a try.