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Financial Goals for Fall 2009 Revisited
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December 29th, 2009Budget, Great Recession, Health, Income, health insurance
Financial Goals for Fall 2009 – Update I had several personal finance goals for this fall semester and here’s how I fared on them.
Goals:
- Goal #1: Correct my social security earnings statement
- Goal #2: Open a Health Savings Account
- Goal #3: Start a personal finance blog
- Goal #4: Get a holiday job for my winter break
- Goal #5: Set a budget
Goal #1: Correct my social security earnings statement
Issue: What I saw on my paystubs and income tax statements did not correlate with what I was seeing in my social security earnings statement.
Status: Done but…
Comments: I went to the social security office and they went through the paperwork with me and they determined that my earnings statements were correct. Turns out that my undergraduate college, my previous employer, did not pay take social security out of my paycheck. Following the social security administration’s suggestion, I emailed the university. I will have to wait until they open up in spring to follow up on this matter more. While I was reviewing my records in the office I also came across a short term job I didn’t have any information on. It was taking notes for a student with disabilities for one semester. For some reason in my mind I came to believe this was volunteer work but it was paid work. I need to get some kind of record from the institution for this work as well.
Goal #2: Open a Health Savings Account
Issue: A few months ago I became ineligible to be on my parent’s insurance because of my age. I get a one size fits all and covers virtually nothing insurance through my university. I needed an alternate way to save for health care expenditures. The Health Savings Account would be a perfect way to meet the gap.
Status: Ineligible for the HSA
Comments: I knew that one problem with opening a Health Savings Account would be the fact my university student insurance wouldn’t really qualify as a high deductible insurance. But, still I went to my bank to see if there was any way my university student insurance which has many of the characteristics of a high deductible health insurance would allow me to open up a HSA. The answer was no.
Goal #3: Start a personal finance blog
Issue: I was expecting to land a job with the law firm that I was working for this summer but that did not happen. With the disappearance of the six figure job I realized that I need to take charge of my finances right now to ensure the kind of financial security I wanted to have.
Status: Started online blog and I am continually posting to it. This has made me more accountable about my personal finance decisions. It has also exposed me to 500 and counting spam comments per day.
Goal #4: Get a holiday job for my winter break
Issue: I need money because (1) this year I do not have any parental support for my living expenses and (2) I have a huge spring tuition bill looming because all my outside scholarships were used for my fall tuition bill.
Status: In the process of completeing.
Comments: I am currently working a holiday job. The earnings will be just under $1K. This is really tiny when compared to my living expenses and my tuition bill, however, I am glad that I was able to make some money during the break.
Goal #5: Set a budget
Issue: I am spending much more money than I think I am because there is no monthly budget or record keeping going on.
Status: Struggling.
Comments: I am currently revisiting several ways to find a budgeting method I would like to try for 2010. I think using all cash would be the easiest but then I worry about building a credit history. I will provide an update later on about my budgeting adventures.
Tags: blogging, Budget, Buget, Financial goals, health savings account, High Deductible Health Insurance, holiday job, Monthly Budget, Personal Finance Blog, personal finance blogs, Social Security Administration, Social Security Earnings Statement
7 responses to “Financial Goals for Fall 2009 Revisited” 
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I’d say that you were successful this fall~ you’ve at least made attempts at all of the goals!
For me, the best way to keep track of my spending is to put it all on my bank credit card and check the online reports each week or so. It helps knowing that if my monthly grocery budget is x, my weekly total should be around x/4.
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A budget…, my weakness… I am doing a spot budget, but not a full blown budget…
I do have an HSA, but I don’t contribute enough to it. I only have a little over $3,500 in it.
Side work…, I was able to sell a Mind Flex game on eBay, but I only made $25.00 on it, not really worth it.
Start a personal finance blog… Me too!!
*2009 was a hard year, I initially lost a lot in the stock market (my portfolio was too agressive) I’m still down 6% but at least it’s bearable!
Wishing you a Happy New Year!!!
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@Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog
Thanks! I am still in the process of figuring out the best way to balance the regular recurring expenses versus the unexpected and one time things that creep up.
@Don at Money Reasons
I have never conquered ebay and I am considering if its worth all the fees. I wish I could start a HSA because if you don’t use the money then it effectively functions like a Roth IRA after 59 1/2. -
Howdy Jane – Glad you and Don are linking up. Saw Don’s post giving you a shoutout, which is great!
How about this novelty idea….. create a presentation that is a business plan of why your parents should fund your last year of law school! You can propose a payback schedule after you hit a certain milestone ie 5 years after graduating, or after saving $50,000 etc.
I think they will be impressed with your business initiative and proposal! Sell your parents, they are your best resource
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@Jane,
Yeah, the ebay fees destroyed the profit that I would have had, the $25 net profit is after subtracting the ebay, paypal, shipping and packaging fees.I didn’t realize that a HSA could be used as a Roth after 59 1/2 years of age! That’s pretty cool!
@FinancialSamurai,
Yeah, Jane’s great! I think I found my way over to your site from her site initially. Jane’s a very clever young woman, and I enjoy reading her perspective on issues, and how she’s coming along in her life. -
@Financial Samurai
An interesting idea but it won’t work in my case for reasons to be discussed in my upcoming posts.@Don
Thanks again for the shout out on your blog!@MeinMillions
The spam is driving me crazy! I used to have a comment submission form that would let anyone post without approval and I think that I why I get so much!
Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog December 29th, 2009 at 14:50