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About Me:

Dido

Former academic turned CPA/Financial Planner (CFP(r))

My philosophy
Invest wisely and for the long term. Invest in yourself and not just in the market. While sometimes you need to be frugal to save funds to invest, at other times, spending more money in the short term will yield more valuable long-term results. Think about major decisions, THEN make saving for them automatic. Creating good financial habits and systems is key to success. The goal is not to die with the most money, but to live a full, meaningful, and satisfying life!

Goals for 2024
Word of the year = Simplify and key areas of focus = health, wealth, and systems, habits, & routines.

1. Health: Maintain/improve on health gains from 2021-2023. 150-300 "zone minutes" per week. Keep up the running and run the Turkey Trot next November in under an hour. Add in "micro workout" resistance training weekdays. Take kayaking lessons over the summer and possibly try stand-up paddle boarding.

2. Wealth: Continue to save, and to pay down total debt to 60k by January 2025.

3. Systems, habits, and routines: Improve workflow to get tasks completed earlier. At home, add some time weekly and monthly to maintain my filing system, and bring in some professional help to declutter the guest room.

Home Improvement Projects for the next several years..not sure about order
2018: landscaping (some)
2019: decluttering (some); main roof coated (10-year warrenty)
2020: replaced front & rear porch roofs
2021: replaced water heater; washing machine, A/C, bed; plumbing upgrades; decluttering;
2022: nada
2023: replaced refrigerator
2024: decluttering; possibly replace oven and dryer, but first take care of hopefully minor electrical and plumbing issues.

2024-28: replace dryer & oven (last of the original appliances that came with the house in 2005); external painting; front steps; door/window updates; update kitchen & bath; replace current car

2029-2031: consider selling & moving to a home more suitable for retirement.

First Day of School

August 29th, 2006 at 12:36 am

and that means that a paycheck, at long last, will not be far behind. My full-time teaching job pays monthly and I won't get that check until Sept. 20th--but the good news there is that they gave me a 3.6% raise (as a temporary faculty member, one is never sure what the raises will be). I have a part-time one-night-a-week evening job as well, and that one pays biweekly. I'm hoping the first check comes Sept. 8th--if not, it will arrive the 15th. There's just over $1000 sitting on the credit card bill right now, and groceries still to be bought, so I'm looking forward to getting cash in, paying off debts, and starting to save again after draining my liquid funds this summer.

Oh, today was a no-spend day, too.

Posted in Struggles, No Spend Day | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “First Day of School”

LuxLiving Says:
August 29th, 2006 at 12:38 am 1156811933
1156811933

WOW a raise! Congratulations!!
DivaJen Says:
August 29th, 2006 at 03:10 am 1156821051
1156821051

Does your bank/credit union offer some sort of summer saver program? I used this when I only got ten checks a year, and it helped make sure I had money over the summer. You could do the same thing with automatic transfers to a savings account. Just a thought.

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Fiscal Fitness

On a journey to improve health and wealth!

First Day of School

2 Responses to “First Day of School”

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