Update on February Goals

Maybe my problem is that I have no "Degaree."

If you haven't noticed, February has ended.  I guess I didn't notice, because I haven't updated you all on the goals that I set for myself in February.  Let's rectify that, shall we?

1)  T-Shirts - Pass! - I'm on a strict no more than two t-shirts a month diet.  In February, I purchased three; this is okay, though, because in January, I only purchased one (so the extra shirt rolled over into February).  Frankly, I'm fairly happy just pinning t-shirt designs that I like on Pinterest (as I discussed in a comment over at So Over Debt), so my t-shirt quota may go down even further in coming months.

2)  Books - Pass...ish! - I was to purchase no more than two physical books and five ebooks (both for money reasons and for my-condo-is-the-size-of-a-shoe-box reasons).  For my part, I succeeded (though I did buy an extra book for my wife that I don't think counts for the purposes of this challenge).  Also, I realized that even though I thought this goal was very specific, there was actually a good amount of gray area (should magazines be considered books?  How about scholarly journals?).  In short, I got more printed words than I probably should have, but I was technically correct in following the challenge (technically correct being, of course, the best kind of correct).

3)  25 Item Challenge - Crash and Burn FAIL - In between prepping for my grad school interview, rehearsing/learning lines for two plays, and auditioning for another show, I didn't have/make a lot of free time to get rid of 25 items from my house in the way I intended (read: selling them on eBay).

With that said, all three of the above personal challenges are being rolled over to March.  Let's see if I can keep my spending down!

Photo by Sean MacEntee.

2012 Financial Goals

Just as Couple Money and others have done, I think it's an excellent idea to spend some time thinking about what our financial goals are and should be in the new year.  Below are some of my own.

1)  Max Out my 401(k) - As I've mentioned before, the company that I work for has a very generous 401(k) plan: they match every dollar up to the federal limit (in 2011 it was $16,500, and in 2012 it will be $17,000).  Unfortunately, I have been unable to contribute to the plan thus far as the company knows that the retirement plan is very generous, and so they only offer it to employees that have been with the company for at least six months.  Luckily for me, since my position started in July, I will be able to enroll in the 401(k) retirement plan in the middle of January. 

If and when I max out my contributions in 2012 (market forces notwithstanding), I will have a cool $34,000 to show for it.  If I stay for three years, I'll have $102,000, and, if I stay my entire career full-time at this company, by the end of 2041, I'll have $1,020,000.  That's not too shabby.  It's also worth noting that $34,000 is more than 50% of my personal gross income (not counting whatever bonus I receive).

2)  Pay Off my Student Loans - As I can't seem to shut up about, I graduated in May with an M.A. in Drama.  I was able to pay most of my tuition with money I had saved from working, but during my time at school, I took out some federal loans (approximately $3,700).  For what it's worth, it's kind of amazing that I ONLY took out that much as my grad school experience was characterized by me commuting back and forth from San Diego to San Francisco (to my readers not in California, these cities are not close). 

Anyways, if I were some sort of amazing personal finance blogger, I would have already paid off my loans during the grace period.  Nevertheless, I didn't, and the grace period for my student loans ended last month.  While I don't hate student loans as much as some in the personal finance community, I think the amount that I have due will be manageable to pay off in the upcoming year, and I will be glad to be rid of them.  Plus, if I really do get into a Ph.D. program in the fall, I'd like to have all the education that I've received up to that point already paid off.*

3)  Continue to Invest in Lending Club - I've basically only dipped my toes in the waters of Lending Club so far (that is, I've only put in a couple of hundred dollars), but the calm, pleasant currents of rates of return above 7% feel awfully nice between my tootsies.**  As I invest more, I will undoubtedly write a review of the site here to talk about what I've learned.

How about you?  What are your money plans in the new year?  Let me know in the comments.

*I realize that if I do go back to school, I could defer the loans, but that's not a route I want to take.

**7% is based on my choosing pretty conservative notes, but I wanted to choose people with the "safest" credit to start out with.

Photo by lululemon athletica.

A Personal Update

This came up in an image search for "Theatre."
I guess I'd pay to watch this happen,
though maybe not for 90 minutes.

Last month I made a commitment to myself with the end goal of writing a full-length play during the month of November.  I did not achieve that goal by a long shot.

However, I did make some progress on the playwrighting front.  Spurred on by Cordelia, I joined the Impossible League.  While I haven't been super active over there as of yet, one of the other members happened to know somebody who happened to be running a short play competition (the due date for which was, unfortunately, only a couple of days away).  I hurriedly wrote a short play, and I submitted it.  I found out today that it was not accepted for the festival, and I'm pretty much at peace with that.  While I think the idea I had was a good one, I think that I found out about the contest too late in the game to really flesh out the script and iron out the wrinkles, so to speak.

I did also make a submission to another playwrighting contest, but this one did not require a script.  For this one, all I needed to do was to submit a sample of previous work and to write a page or two on what sort of play I would write were I chosen.  While I don't want to give any ideas away, I think I have a good shot at this one.  I haven't heard back from them yet, but I expect to in the next week.

Finally, as part of another set of goals I set out for myself a few months ago, I am in the midst of applying to a Ph.D. program in theatre.  I am applying to a well-regarded, albeit local, school.  I've already contacted former professors for references, and my big issue now is writing my statement of intent (fortunately, I already took the GRE a few years back, so I'm good on that front - 1400, what what! [for what it's worth, that score is already out of date as they retooled the scoring system for the GRE a few months ago]).  In any case, continuing my education is something that I'd really like to happen, so I hope that my passion and propensity for the material will shine through in my essay.

Photo by Rob Boudon.

Professional Goals: A Theatre Update

I got word back a few days ago that I had received an understudy part at a local (though very well-regarded regional) theatre.  While I was, admittedly, hoping to get an onstage role, I'm pretty happy to be able to get my foot in the door with this company since I think they do great work.

As a side perk, this is a straight play (as opposed to a musical).  While I love doing musicals,* my resume is fairly lacking in terms of non-singing roles, so I hope that I will be a more attractive candidate in future auditions due to this part.  There's also the small matter of the fact that I'll be getting paid for my involvement, and it's just gee-golly-gee-whiz-super-whiz-bang-terrific to get paid for doing something that you love.

I'm glad to back making money from a side-hustle that I love doing.  Here's hoping this is a good next step towards making theatre a full-time hustle.

*If you're interested, you can see/hear me singing here in a production of Godspell a few years back.**
**That's right, it's on Myspace, AND I totes misspelled/used a wrong word in the description.  Want to fight about it?

Mid-Year Resolutions

Yesterday was my wife and I's third anniversary. This seems to be a recurring theme among those looking back on periods in their lives, but it is very true for me as well that those days, weeks, months, and years have just flown by.

On a not-immediately-obviously-related note, in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town, one of the main characters passes away between the second and third acts. As she sits among a group of ghosts and looks upon those who have come to her funeral, the idea that the living don't realize how wonderful and amazing life is occurs to her. Only from her vantage point of being beyond the grave does she truly realize how much she has missed, both in terms of opportunities and in terms of details that didn't seem important at the time.

So, I guess a combination of me recently seeing that play and the occasion of my anniversary have put me in something of a thoughtful mood. If life flies by, what marks am I leaving? To paraphrase a quote that I heard frequently as I went to a Christian school as a boy, how exactly am I redeeming my time?

Those questions are what prompted this list. Many people make new year's resolutions, but I have not really seen mid-year resolutions. Some of these are directly in regards to money, while others are more indirectly related, but I think all of them affect my financial situation.

1) Losing weight: if life is short, than I ought not do things that will hasten its end. I carry a significant amount more weight than I should. My concrete goal is to lose thirty pounds by December 31.

2) Writing a play: one of my goals in life is to have another play that I've written professionally produced. My first play met with some success last year, and I am tremendously thankful for that experience. That taste of success, however, has whetted my appetite for more. One promising opportunity is a playwriting contest that is run through UC Santa Barbara. The contest's deadline is December 1, and my concrete goal is to have a play submitted.

3) Fully funding my Roth. This should be a relatively easy goal as I will be unable to put money into a 401(k) for the rest of the year (so contributing should not be too much of a hardship). The company that I am starting my new job with doesn't allow employees to join the 401(k) program until the employees have worked for the company for six months. While that is disappointing news, once I have reached the six month mark, my company fully matches, dollar for dollar, all contributions up to the federal limit. So, my goal for next year will be to also fund my 401(k) fully, but for this year, it's just a matter of finishing off my Roth IRA. I'm better than halfway there already.

4) Start paying back a personal loan. A few years ago, a family member loaned me some money, interest free, in order to pay off some credit card debt. There were no strings attached, and that family member has even said that I don't need to pay the money back, but I still feel that it is important to do so.

5) Applying to a Ph.D. program. I still have some research to do, but I'm planning on applying to at least the Ph.D. program at the UC close to where I live. I believe that I would be able to do the classwork part time, while simultaneously continuing my day job. Earning a Ph.D. is something that is important to me, and, even if I'm not accepted, at least I won't be not going to school because I didn't try.

Looking back on the list, I've realized that those are five very high-minded goals. Now I've got them listed, however, and now that I know the finish line, I just need to plot how I'll get there.

I'll redeem my time yet.