ralph phillips .com

Creating Your Own Financial Misery

So, I’m reading this article in the Bulletin based off the original NY Times article about unemployment trauma and I cannot believe how the family portrayed in the article creates their own misery and “trauma”.

“Mrs. Newby and her husband were forced to walk away from their home in suburban Detroit and are now living here [South Carolina] in a rented house with their three children.”

• Mrs. Newby makes a six-figure salary.
• The mortgage for the house they had to leave was $1,300, but the house they’re now renting is $1,600. WTF! They’re spending more now because they “fell in love with the house”.
• They’re worried about getting a new car in June when the lease on their current car expires. Who hasn’t learned that leasing cars is stupid?

So, you’ve got a family that was living beyond their means and apparently is continuing that pattern. Instead of renting a house for $1,600/month, get a 3-bedroom apartment for $900/month. The smaller space should encourage the selling/purging of the unnecessary crap we chain ourselves to. With the extra $700 month, save for a used car. Then, start paying off the debt.

Online Banking with ING Direct

I was enjoying another great blog post from Get Rich Slowly: 10 Steps to Financial Success in 2010 and there is a tip in there about using sub-accounts at ING Direct.

I’ve been using ING Direct for a couple of years now and it is a great service for keeping track of your accounts. In fact, I’ve made the switch to only online banking.

• Good rates on their savings accounts.
• Easy to set up different sub-accounts with nicknames that are for specific purposes like vacation fund, or emergency fund.
• It’s easy to transfer money back and forth between the accounts.
• Their online checking account is great. Easy to send check electronically (free) and via mail (also free).
• They provide the routing/account/cancelled check if you need to set up direct deposit.
• You get an ATM/Debit/Credit card attached to your checking account which makes access to cash very easy.

Using ING, I’ve set up unique accounts for different purposes and it’s easy for me to keep track of when these accounts are fully funded or are still needing more. For example, I’ve got a summer fund to take care of summer-time expenses when I don’t get a normal pay check. I transfer a bit of money into my summer fund each pay period (automatic transfer is set up in ING) and when summer rolls around I can just transfer what I need from my summer fund into checking. These transfers within accounts takes just a second and the money is instantly available.

Position on Google Search Results

So I just Googled myself and I’m #2 behind the Ralph Phillips cartoon character. This is still better than a couple of years ago when “Bucky”, the murderer from America’s Most Wanted, was #1.

Of course, basic SEO dictates that you need to use your keywords several times throughout your content. That’s where the cartoon character has the distinct advantage. Would it be unusual if I started talking about myself in the third person? It probably helps that my competition is on Wikipedia.