Comments on: Financial Profiling & Optimization

By: Eric Faller

Eric Faller — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:17:58 +0000

Cool! I’ll check it out

By: Serena

Serena — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:06:09 +0000

Thought you might want to know…I’m blogging!

By: Serena

Serena — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:58:21 +0000

Eric -
I don’t invest that much time in coupon cutting, believe me – I can’t! I live in two cities (one during the week and one on the weekends), have a full time job and have a LOT going on during the week, plus all the fun stuff I like to do. Coupon cutting is not that difficult! It’s as simple as getting the Sunday paper and clipping the coupons you know you’ll need! I stick them in an envelope and quickly purge any old ones I know I won’t use before expiration. I make my grocery list and put a “c” next to the items for which I know I have a coupon. I make sure the envelope is either in my car or my work bag and boom! Savings! I probably spend a half hour total. It’s worth it to see dollars and dollars falling from my total at the end of my checkout.

By: Eric Faller

Eric Faller — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:37:09 +0000

Yep in in that sense it is sort of nice to to own a house and have a high mortgage or any maintenance costs . I guess I have my high savings rate right now in order to save up for a down payment someday.
When/if I do eventually buy a house, I will have a massive negative savings rate that year from the down payment.
I definitely need to get a new credit card like you have. Currently I don’t get much at all. I’m trying to decide whether to get one with cashback/retail points at Amazon/Target/etc, or get one that builds up frequent flyer miles instead..

I’ll check if Money can generate charts of portfolio spreads. That might be an interesting post.

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:08:40 +0000

Your savings rate is fantastic – I am particularly impressed by that. I’d be interested to compare notes on your portfolio spread if you discuss that kind of thing.

I would guess I normally save about $50 a month on purchases, but I don’t clip coupons. I use a credit card for my monthly purchases (groceries, entertainment, etc) and pay it off in full every month. It’s a Target Visa, so I collect points towards 10% off each month, which I usually get most months. That alone saves a lot as I am a Target whore.

I also price check wherever possible. Go to Circuit City and instead of going to the checkout, go to the customer service desk and price check the item. Target, Best Buy and Walmart nearly always have any item for cheaper, and they will then match the price and give you a little more off. Once I asked to price check a DVD box set, and they asked where I wanted to match it to. I said “I don’t know… Target?” and a guy walked past and said “Walmart have it for $10 less”, so I asked them to price match it there! On two occasions they have given me the reduction twice (once after it was automatically applied). I refuse to pay full price for any major purchase and will delay the purchase until the price I want comes along.

By: Eric Faller

Eric Faller — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:16:54 +0000

Hmm $50 per month? That’s actually pretty good, and more than I thought. I should definitely look into whether I could save that much too.

It might also come down to how much time it takes to do this. For example if it takes 25 hours a month to save $50, then you’re only getting “paid” $2 per hour for that “work”. Of course I doubt it would take that much time..

By: Serena

Serena — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:20:55 +0000

I think it’s GREAT that education is your second biggest category! A great investment…

It doesn’t look like there is a lot of room to cut back anywhere so that you can save more or use more for travel, unless you get a roomie…

Have to say this on the coupon cutting. While it might make me a nerd to do so, I save about $50 per month on coupons…I pay that much less to buy the same things for which many others pay full price. And I’m not a freak about it – I only cut coupons for brands/items I already use. That $50 is a little wiggle room to throw in the piggy bank, treat a friend to lunch or tuck away for vacation. Just a thought!