Wealthy Personality Traits

Do you have the personality to get rich? According to an article today on Yahoo! Finance, the key to getting rich is your attitude toward money.

The key traits include (see which ones apply to you)
1) patience to wait to buy something until you get a good deal;
2) satisfaction with your life, cushioning you from buying to make yourself feel better;
3) organization in your finances, so you don't pay late fees, buy two of an item, etc.;
4) discipline to save for longterm goals;
5) reflectiveness, to learn from your financial mistakes;
6) creativity in juggling money to stay out of debt, finding a cheaper alternative, making something last longer, etc.;
7) curiosity to learn and improve yourself;
8) taking calculated risks;
9) setting and working toward goals;
10) hard work and nourishing the traits in this list that you have and working towards obtaining the ones you don't have.

I definitely have curiosity and work to improve myself, I can take calculated risks, and I am good at setting and working towards goals. I can be pretty good at juggling money--but I think I need to work on the rest!

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/104385/Ten-Traits-That-Make-You-Filthy-Rich;_ylt=Aoj7jzmBzFRMKzvTBpcRQ9q7YWsA

Glad I Have Long Term Care Insurance

I may not be the best at money management, but one thing I did right was buy long term care insurance at a young age. My previous employer offered it, and I signed up for it, and I could take it with me when I left. It is with a great company. My premiums are very cheap, but they will go up over time with inflation.

Dave Ramsey would tell me I did the wrong thing in buying it when I did--that I should have waited until I was older to sign on for the insurance. But I don't agree. Yes, I could have not bought the insurance and invested the premiums, yadda, yadda, yadda. But my annual premium is only about $350, and I don't think that money, divided by 12, would have made that much difference to me. I probably would have used it on another evening out. But that same $350 a year gives me peace of mind.

I guess I am just hyper about being able to control my own destiny. I have a strong fear of someone being able to tell me what to do or how to live, or taking care of me in a way that I don't like.

LTC insurance lets me feel like I will stay in control of what I want. After all, I could have a wreck tomorrow and need that care now, not when I am elderly.

$1 Starbucks

I heard that Starbucks may start offering $1 coffees and free refills to keep up with some new coffee competition. I think it is a great idea! I study a lot at Starbucks and go at least twice a month, but sometimes I go 4 or more times a month. Sometimes I even go to different Starbucks on the same day! I'll be meeting a friend at a Starbucks tomorrow to study for an upcoming test.

It would only be a small step, but if they did this, it would save me between $2 and $8 a month, maybe more. Not enough to build my fortune on, but it is a start.

One thing I wish Starbucks would do is offer real food. Their desserts are great, but sometimes when there, I want a sandwich or some fruit or something. Then I have have to decide whether to stay despite the fact that I am hungry or go home or go somewhere else. And sometimes I am not ready to pack up and leave right then.

$5 Saved My Butt

I am proud of the fact that this time, I paid attention to my bank balance yesterday and noticed that I was in danger of overdrawing if I didn't deposit at least $5 to cover an electronic check that was coming through last night. If I hadn't deposited that, I might have ended up with $133 in nonsufficient funds fees this morning. That is because the bank pulls that funny little trick on you where they clear the largest check first. That would have meant that my electronic check would not have cleared, also making several pending electronic debits not clear. And walla! I would have been $133 in the hole.

I can't afford to do that anymore. I have to pay for my BarBri course by May, as well as some other things, and that $133 could make the difference in being able to pay everything or not. I have made that mistake so many times. Glad I did not make it last night.

Security Breach at Election Commission in Nashville

Many of us have been hearing the horrors of identity theft for sometime and how prevalent it has become. We in Nashville now have an additional concern: There was a security breach recently at the Davidson County Election Commission when a couple of laptops were stolen. More than 300,000 of us have been affected. They think our names, addresses, and full social security numbers have been stolen by an unauthorized person.

My first reaction was one of helplessness. What in the world can I do about this? My second reaction was, well if they got 300,000 files, with my mixed up finances, I don't think identity thieves would pick me out of the pile--that there would be riper plums to pick! But you can never be sure of that--thieves might be able to make hay with anyone's ID.

Of course, there is also concern about voter fraud, particularly in this election season.

But Nashville has stepped up and is taking measures to help us. The gov. has alerted the credit bureaus about the situation and is providing free identity theft protection. We can renew for a second year at a big discount from the regular rate.

I am sorry this happened but I am glad that Nashville responded so well so quickly.

Impulse Control

There was a great article today on MSN.com called "Middle Class Reality Check: The 'Essential ' Indulgences." (Link at bottom of post)

It talks about how a lot of us consider nonessential items to be essential now. I am bad about this. Nonessential items for me that have become essential are eating out, buying wine, going to school when I can't afford it, buying skincare products I can't afford, etc., etc.

Someone in the article commented that she knows she shouldn't do this, but it makes her feel better.

I commiserate with her. I do a lot of things too that I can't afford to make myself feel better. I am single and sometimes I have to treat myself. Sometimes buying something is the only way to make yourself feel better. I know that sounds lame, but if you need a new piece of clothing so you won't look fat, you just have to get it!

The problem for me is that my splurges would not be a big deal if I were not in debt. I don't spend that much on things--it's just that I don't have much wiggle room with my money.

As soon as I get out of school in August, I am going to damp down my debt and save my emergency fund. I actually can't wait.

I guess the good thing for me is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. At least when school is out, I will free up a huge piece of cash each month to pay off bills. And I won't have taken out more debt for school. That is probably different from those who have debt, continue to overspend, and will not have a break like that coming up.

I will get out of debt and save. I will get out of debt and save. I will! I will!
The article talks about how so many Americans live on the edge with debt now and I have been one of them. But not for much longer.

http//articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/HomeMortgageSavings/MiddleClassRealityEssentials.aspx#pageTopAchor

I did it again, arrgh!

I did it again--I wasn't paying attention and got some nonsufficient funds fees. I couldn't believe it--if I had just thought to check my pending transactions, I would have seen that I only needed to deposit about $10 to keep that from happening. But I didn't, and I wound up with over $100 of NSF fees. Ouch. Double ouch. Triple ouch.

One of these days I won't do this again. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

On another subject, I did think to look up a drug I am taking on the Internet. The prescription is expensive, and I was delighted to find a $10 rebate coupon. And yes, I had kept the paperwork I need to send in.

A small step in the right direction.......