Money on the Brain
Lately I've fallen into a bit of a troubling habit. I'm nuts about my money.
A good friend of mine once opined, "Why worry about what you don't have?" Truer words are rarely spoken. I got paid somewhere around 12:01am today, and no more than ten hours later I had written four checks, made two online payments, made a transfer to savings (God be praised), and bought a tankful of gas to bring my checking account balance down to 35% of what it had been when the almighty direct deposit took hold.
I'm doing things right. I contribute to my retirement plan. I stow away 10% of my take-home pay. I pay my bills on time, and my credit score shows it. In the past twelve months my score has skyrocketed solidly into the "Good" range, having ascended 11 points in 12 months.
However, it's the fact that I can readily rattle off these financial statistics that's a tad scary.
Want to know how much my retirement plan will return this year? Just over 12%. Not bad, but it was over 17% the day before. I've paid an average of $32.23 for cellular phone coverage over the past twelve months, and don't even get me started on my student loan.
Being "in-touch" with one's money is essential, especially in this world of debit cards and automatic payments. However, being consumed with one's money and updating one spreadsheet, Microsoft Money, and checking the bank's website at least once a day might be excessive. In life I'm the farthest from type-A you can find this side of hippie, yet with money I'm Gordon Gekko.
In the shower, money pops into my head. Driving to work, the same. Luckily I'm not actually worrying about money. My wife and I are quite lucky in that we are able to save money, pay our bills on time, and enjoy a fine lifestyle. I just know that deep in my heart I'm thinking about money too often. I'm not even thinking about exciting things. Rather I'm just going over the things I've already done and working through the same formulas I already enjoy.
Now, I'm faced with new connundrum: I'm thinking about thinking about money. What am I to do?
A good friend of mine once opined, "Why worry about what you don't have?" Truer words are rarely spoken. I got paid somewhere around 12:01am today, and no more than ten hours later I had written four checks, made two online payments, made a transfer to savings (God be praised), and bought a tankful of gas to bring my checking account balance down to 35% of what it had been when the almighty direct deposit took hold.
I'm doing things right. I contribute to my retirement plan. I stow away 10% of my take-home pay. I pay my bills on time, and my credit score shows it. In the past twelve months my score has skyrocketed solidly into the "Good" range, having ascended 11 points in 12 months.
However, it's the fact that I can readily rattle off these financial statistics that's a tad scary.
Want to know how much my retirement plan will return this year? Just over 12%. Not bad, but it was over 17% the day before. I've paid an average of $32.23 for cellular phone coverage over the past twelve months, and don't even get me started on my student loan.
Being "in-touch" with one's money is essential, especially in this world of debit cards and automatic payments. However, being consumed with one's money and updating one spreadsheet, Microsoft Money, and checking the bank's website at least once a day might be excessive. In life I'm the farthest from type-A you can find this side of hippie, yet with money I'm Gordon Gekko.
In the shower, money pops into my head. Driving to work, the same. Luckily I'm not actually worrying about money. My wife and I are quite lucky in that we are able to save money, pay our bills on time, and enjoy a fine lifestyle. I just know that deep in my heart I'm thinking about money too often. I'm not even thinking about exciting things. Rather I'm just going over the things I've already done and working through the same formulas I already enjoy.
Now, I'm faced with new connundrum: I'm thinking about thinking about money. What am I to do?
posted by Ross McLochness at 6:51 PM
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