I'm doing 14 things
3 figures
1 month ago
I’m down to three figures on this. It’s very annoying, but it is almost over.
Johnrap's Life List
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1. Pay off my Sears Charge Plus Card
3 entries . 14 cheers1 person -
2. Attain $196,418 in assets
4 entries . 10 cheers1 person -
3. Write a book
2 entries . 32 cheers26,013 people -
4. Produce an educational video game
2 entries . 32 cheers1 person -
5. Write an Article for Cracked.com
6 cheers1 person -
6. Attain $317,811 in assets
1 cheer1 person -
7. Attain $514,229 in assets
1 cheer1 person -
8. Attain $832,040 in assets
1 cheer1 person -
9. Attain $1,346,269 in assets
1 person -
10. Attain $2,178,309 in assets
1 person -
11. Attain $2,496,000 in assets
1 entry . 2 cheers1 person -
12. Retire to a life of public service in my immediate community.
2 entries . 38 cheers1 person -
13. Run 400 meters at the sites of all modern Olympic tracks
1 entry . 22 cheers1 person -
14. Pay off Ion
1 entry1 person
How I did it
It made me
Relieved. 
How I did it: Sent in whatever I could every month. Which, most months, was nothing, because I always paid gas, electric, water, phone ahead of debts. However, months where I had money I sent in every dime. LAst check was about $210 and came out of my tax refund money. Read how I did it…
Recent entries
My 401K is up $8,000 from this time last year
3 months ago
My 401K is up $8,000 from August 2008. Now, I put in about $12,000 since then, so in a sense there’s nothing impressive about this. However, considering how bad all of our 401Ks got hit in September 2008 and again in March 2009 to be up significantly by August 2009 is great news. Today is the first time I checked my spreadsheet since the first crash, because I never want to record negative numbers. I was looking to see how much longer I have to wait until I can enjoy looking at my 401K statements again. I was shocked to find I’m actually up… and by thousands of dollars!
Fund :: 8/28/2008 :: 8/5/2009
LT Fund :: $24,289.29 :: $23,469.48
Gr Fund :: $24,565.80 :: $26,095.12
Vl Fund :: $21,391.03 :: $26,120.43
Csh Resrv :: $673.89 :: $2,916.68
Total :: $70,920.01 :: $78,601.71
How did I do it? I don’t automatically put my money into the funds. I put it automatically into the reserves then wait for the market to crash before I move it into the funds. This may seem dirty, like I’m rooting for the market to fall. But I’m not. Believe me, I’d love for the market to just return 5% per year no questions asked. However, since it does keep crashing, because “investors” keep pumping up prices, I have to play defense. I have to avoid their pumped up prices and wait for my chances to buy at reality prices, which is all my strategy does.
This evidence also makes me think this is the not the “worst recession since the great depression” as has been so often said. There’s just no way that the “worst recession since the great depression” equals peoples’ 401Ks recovering in less than a year.
Just sent in a check for 20% of the balance
4 months ago
You know I had planned on selling this for a $1,500 loss. But two days after I sent in the check it got repossed. It’s like they just didn’t care that I was up to date. Anyway, the repo balance doesn’t have interest and a sales balance would have. This might explain why GM was in such financial trouble. OK, maybe I bought a car I couldn’t afford. But at least I was keeping up with the payments when I could. But GM decided they’d rather right off a small loss quickly then make a large profit over time. I’m glad it was their decision not mine. That way I don’t feel guilty about it.
But I do feel bad for the GM shareholders. I wonder if they realize their company intentionally turning off profit streams so they could declare them as losses. I don’t have an MBA and I guess it shows, because I can’t understand how that makes business sense.
