Archive for April, 2011|Monthly archive page
It has me thinking…
Filed under: Quality of Life, State of the economy, Student Loans | Tags: Quality of Life, State of the economy, Student Loans
Comments (1) Today, on the way to work, I was listening to a report on my local public radio station and it caught my attention when I heard that,
“In the coming years, a lot of people will still be paying off their student loans when it’s time for their kids to go to college,” said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org and Fastweb.com, who has compiled the estimates of student debt, including federal and private loans.
The article from the NYT/msnbc.com talks about how Student Loan Debt is now outpacing Credit Card Debt in the US economy. I can attest to this, as we currently have more SLD than we do consumer debt.
And after working for non-profits for the last 9 years, with no plans to move back into the private sector, I know that it will be a long road toward paying my loans off, even as I continue to take my classes in the evenings.
But I’m starting to think that we should be move vocal about disputing the idea that SLD is “good” debt…I think if we are honest, we can admit that it is a form of indentured servitude that keeps us striving for better paying jobs (let’s ignore the fact that adjusting for inflation there have been no increase of earnings for the lower 90% of US earners in the last 30 years) instead of working for organizations and companies that may contribute more to society and the development of culture. Sure, they say that degree earners make more money than those without, but they don’t say that they are happier and that doesn’t mean that every field that requires advanced degrees will pay more.
I’m sure there is MUCH more to say about this, but I’m still just mulling it over at the moment, so I’ll end it here…
But I’d love to hear what YOU think.
February 2011 :: Report
Filed under: accountability, Budget, Cash Flow, Credit Cards, Debt, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings | Tags: accountability, Budget, Cash Flow, Credit Cards, Debt, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings
Leave a Comment Debt Reduction
Our goals for February were:
Credit Card Debt :: $ 20,472.35
Taxes Owed :: $ 00.00
Car Loan :: $ 15,690.11
Personal Loans :: $ 00.00
Total Debt* :: $ 36,162.46
And here is where we were after 2.28.2011:
Credit Card Debt :: $20,467.93
Taxes Owed :: $ 00.00
Car Loan :: $ 15,689.60
Personal Loans :: $ 00.00
Total Debt* :: $36,157.53
*does not include school loans
Budget
Since I moved over to Quicken, I’m still trying to figure out the budget reporting – it isn’t working the same way as I was used to with MSMoney. But, from what I could tell, things went really well – we will see!
Savings
Savings Goals for February:
Regular Savings :: $ 120
Family Leave :: $ 600
Emergency :: $ 717
Total Savings :: $ 1,437
Where we landed at the end of February:
Regular Savings :: $ 26
Family Leave :: $ 520
Emergency :: $ 702
Total Savings :: $ 1,248
Not as much as we wanted, but, still, we’ll continue to work on it.
April 2011 :: Goals
Filed under: accountability, Credit Cards, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings | Tags: accountability, Credit Cards, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings
Leave a Comment Our goal for April is to pay $2,099 toward our debt. Taking into account the interest that will be charged ($164) , the net will be $1,935.
So our totals at the end of April should be:
Credit Card Debt :: $ 17,208.20
Taxes Owed :: $ 00.00
Car Loan :: $ 15,177.88
Personal Loans :: $ 00.00
Total Debt* :: $ 32,386.08
*does not include school loans
And now for the Savings Goals – at the end of April, we aim to have:
Regular Savings :: $ 100
Family Leave :: $ 600
Emergency :: $ 1,107
Total Savings :: $ 1,807
According to Quicken, our debt-free date is :: March 24, 2013.
March 2011 :: Report
Filed under: accountability, Budget, Cash Flow, Credit Cards, Debt, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings | Tags: accountability, Budget, Cash Flow, Credit Cards, Debt, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings
Leave a Comment Debt Reduction
Our goals for March were:
Credit Card Debt :: $ 18,889.20
Taxes Owed :: $ 00.00
Car Loan :: $ 15,432.19
Personal Loans :: $ 00.00
Total Debt* :: $ 34,321.39
And here is where we were after 3.31.2011:
Credit Card Debt :: $ 18,889.20
Taxes Owed :: $ 00.00
Car Loan :: $ 15,432.19
Personal Loans :: $ 00.00
Total Debt* :: $ 34,321.39
*does not include school loans
Look at that! We hit our target! And, we are getting closer and closer to our goal!
Budget
I’m sad to report that I still don’t have a great handle on how I should be tracking the budget with Quicken (some things aren’t recording correctly, which is very frustrating), so I’m going to take some more time before I start to report on this section.
Savings
Savings Goals for March:
Regular Savings :: $ 35
Family Leave :: $ 520
Emergency :: $ 730
Total Savings :: $ 1,285
Where we landed at the end of March:
Regular Savings :: $ 86
Family Leave :: $ 520
Emergency :: $ 1,102
Total Savings :: $ 1,708
We got a good chunk into our Emergency Savings (yay!), so we’ll be able to use that instead of credit cards when we do have emergencies!
March 2011 :: Goals
Filed under: accountability, Credit Cards, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings | Tags: accountability, Credit Cards, Debt Reduction, debt-free, Goals, savings
Leave a Comment Our goal for March is to pay $2,000 toward our debt. Taking into account the interest that will be charged ($164) , the net will be $1,836.
So our totals at the end of March should be:
Credit Card Debt :: $ 18,889.20
Taxes Owed :: $ 00.00
Car Loan :: $ 15,432.19
Personal Loans :: $ 00.00
Total Debt* :: $ 34,321.39
*does not include school loans
And now for the Savings Goals – at the end of March, we aim to have:
Regular Savings :: $ 35
Family Leave :: $ 520
Emergency :: $ 730
Total Savings :: $ 1,285
According to Quicken, our debt-free date is :: March 24, 2013.
