I am working on my net worth numbers for July and it is not looking pretty. I had hoped to do better that last month but due to the market "adjustment", things went a little backwards. I will post the actual numbers tomorrow once everything has cleared. Feeling a little discouraged right now so I won't write too much.

P.S. Don't worry, that is not an "actual" picture of me.

I was reading the Business section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today and one of the main stories was on how banks are making about $17.5 billion in overdraft fees. The main reason, based on the article, debit cards. Banks used to decline debit card transactions if there wasn't enough money in the account. Banks are now allowing those charges to go through and then charge overdraft fees. The average overdraft fee is $27.40 according to the article. The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonpartisan consumer group that focuses on what it terms abusive financial practices feels that due to the lack of revenue from debit cards, banks are allowing customers to overdraft their account. Abusive practices, allowing customers to overdraft ?????

It seems to me that if you use your card or write a check when you know you don't have the money, I think you should be responsible for the consequences that occur. I think it all comes down to RESPONSIBILITY. I think so many people want to "pass the buck" these days. I can understand the occasional mistake in thinking you have $100.00 when you only have $10. I know this happens, we are all human.

I am not perfect and have bounced checks myself. Luckily, it's been over 10 yrs since I bounced a check. It happened when I opened my first checking account at my hometown bank when I was 18. I failed to balance my account and bounced a check to the local deli for $4.55. My bank charged me $10 and the deli let me come pick up the check and pay cash without any additional charges. (This was a real small town and I was VERY embarrassed). They still allowed me to write checks and there was never another bounced check.

I know some people view this issue differently but I just want to write my opinion on overdraft fees.

Tips to avoid overdraft fees:

• Link your checking account to a savings account or credit card (if they are with the same bank) Some banks charge if they have to transfer money from your overdraft acct.
• Open an overdraft line of credit
• BALANCE YOUR ACCOUNTS! Online banking makes this so easy!
• Don't try to "float" checks. The Check 21 law which changed how banks process checks, allows checks to clear must faster. This hurts those people hoping to make a deposit before a check clears.

Don't forget to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney because I would not want you to miss a minute of what's going on here at SingleGuyMoney. You can subscribe via email or in your favorite feed reader so you can be updated every time a new post comes out. Look over on the right side of the page under the "About Me" section to sign up.

I have been a customer of ING Direct for about 5 years. I had actually forgotten about the account until I received a letter from them advising me that if I did not use the account, it would be closed. I used to have most of my money in this account until I found better rates elsewhere. I'd read a few blogs talking about their new checking account and figured I would check it out.

I really liked the account offerings and it was with a bank where I already had an account so opening the account was really easy. Head on over to ING Direct and check it out. The benefits of the account are as follows:

• Mastercard Debit Card


• Free ATM access at more than 32,000 locations


• Send money for free with "Electric Checks"


• Overdraft protection


• Safe, Secure and Smart


• Great Rates


• No Fees

My debit card should be here in about 5-7 business days. I have initiated a link from my current checking account to the ING Direct account and once everything is setup, I will transfer my cash from my current bank to ING Direct. I will keep my local account open with a small balance because my they have my mortgages. That way, I can continue to E-Pay my mortgage payments by just transferring money from ING to SunTrust. I will also use my local account to deposit my monthly rent checks and then transfer to ING.

I've sent a referral email to all my friends. They get $25 for opening the account with a minimum of $250 and I get $10 for the referral. If you would like a referral, click here to email me. I will not sale your email address.

I blogged a few weeks ago about "My 401k is kicking butt" in which I discussed rebalancing my account and my current YTD return being 12.2% which is alot better than the 3% in 2006. After the market slump of this past week, about $2k has "disappeared" from my account. My 12.2% YTD return is more like 8.5%; still not a bad return but I don't think the fallout is over yet in the market. I wish I was able to avoid looking at my account ever so often and not worry about the occasional ups and downs of the market. Oh well, as they say, this is money you will not need for a long time.....blah, blah, blah. Can you tell I am a little frustrated?

As I was on my way to a meeting today at work, I started thinking about the things I possibly want to do when I get out of debt. I came up with quite a list and thought I would share a few with my readers. My goal is to be rid of my non-mortgage debt by May 2009. This gives me 2 yrs to knock out over $60k in debt. It can be done. I've seen it done. So, without further ado, here is my list:

• Get lasik surgery - Cost: about $6k
• Take a cruise - Cost: about $3k (flight, cruise cost and food)
• Buy new furniture - Cost: about $3k
• Remodel my kitchen and bath - Cost: $10k???
• Pay off my Mom's debt - Cost: $5k
• Invest in an additional Investment Property - cost unknown
• Pay more towards my Mortgages to pay off my Primary home and Rental Property

Of course, I would not do all of the above at one time and it would be paid for in CASH! I think having these goals in mind will keep my focused on my goal of paying off debt so I can do more of what I want to do with my money.

If you are in debt, what do you want to do when you pay off the last dime? If you recently paid off debt, what did you do?

I have been contemplating taking the plunge and paying off my car loan. For simplicity, let's say I owe $27,000 (it is actually a little less). The interest rate on this loan is 8.43% and the monthly payment is $555.91. I have been thinking about taking the $27k from my savings and paying off the loan. This will free up a huge amount of money each month to use for paying off my remaining credit cards and increasing my savings and investments. I have about $39k in cash in a checking/savings account paying 5.05%. I know purely looking at the numbers, it makes sense to pay off the car loan as the rate is higher than my savings rate. But for me, there is a psychological aspect. I am so scared of running out of money and having to live paycheck to paycheck or even worse, losing my job and not having money to pay my bills that I am willing to keep this debt for a little longer (no more than 2 yrs). I feel I need to have at least $35k in cash at all times to feel somewhat secure should something major happen. I also have an investment property which adds to the need to have more liquid cash.

If you were me, what would you do?????

Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due.
~Author Unknown

The "Official Debt Tracker" on the right side of the page has been updated. I've knocked almost $1k off my total debt tally since last month. I've added a goal for my total debt to be less than $56,000 by the end of December.

p.s. Keep in mind, my official debt tally includes car loans, student loans and credit cards. This does not include my mortgage balances.

I was reading Money magazine today and one of the articles featured was a key benchmark on accumulated retirement savings ranked by age and income. Based on my age and income, looks like I am a little bit above average. This is definitely good news considering I am wayyyy above average on the debt side of my balance sheet.

For the under 35 age bracket:

• Top Earners average income is $246,236, average 401k balance is $131,791
• Upper Income average income is $103,658, average 401k balance is $40,855
• Upper Middle average income is $67,750, average 401k balance is $22,627

My income falls in the upper middle category. My 2006 earnings were about $66k. My 401k balance at last check was a little over $40k. I may be making an upper middle class income but I am saving like an upper income earner....This is great news and makes me very happy!

Now if I can just get below average on my debt...............

I am a big fan of the Yodlee MoneyCenter program. I use it to view what I have and what I owe and quickly update my net worth report. The program does have an option to email you with a reminder of bill due dates. I do not use this feature as I have a small calendar that I use to track my bill due dates. It's a great feature to use but I have noticed that on one of my credit cards, it always has the incorrect due date. This could cause you to pay a credit card or other bill late and trigger late fees, higher interest rates, lower credit scores, etc....

I am not advising you not to use Yodlee MoneyCenter but if you do, I would advise you to be sure the due date it gives you is correct.

I just finished paying a few bills and completing my midyear debt review. I thought I would share the findings.

Total Debt including Mortgages

December 31, 2006 - $405,141.71

July 18, 2007 - $396,408.56
Change - $8733.15 or -2.16%

Total Debt not including Mortgages
December 31, 2007 - $66,178.97
July 18, 2007 - $61,222.78
Change - $5056.19 or -7.64%

Total Credit Card Debt only
December 31, 2007 - $14,776.22
July 18, 2007 - $12,205.49
Change - $2,570.73 or 17.40%

This is not as impressive as I would hope but at least everything is decreasing. I will be deducting an additional $600 from the credit card totals as I still have 2 more cards to pay next week.

I bet that got your attention huh?? But really, I did find $75,000 in my wallet. The only thing that sucks about it is that it is all plastic and belongs to someone else. I just cleaned out my wallet and I had several cards in there that I no longer use.
My wallet contained the following cards:

• Amex $45,000 limit; $115 balance - This is the card I use as my everyday card. Paid in full every month although Amex will let me carry a balance.
• Citibank $15,000 limit; $0 balance - I used to use this card alot when I got 5% on grocery, gas and pharmacy. Now that they have dropped that to 2%, I no longer use it.
• 2 Chase cards $10,000 limit; $0 balance - Hardly ever use these.
• Visa $5000 limit; $0 balance - Can't remember last time I used this one.

My wallet is much lighter now and only contains my drivers license, debit card, my insurance card, my Amex and my company corporate card. This will allow me to carry a much lighter wallet, keep me from spending on impulse ( I am more likely to impulse spend with a card that has no balance), and make alot fewer phone calls in case my wallet is ever lost or stolen.

For anyone considering the $100 bonus for opening the Ultimate Savings Account with Citibank, I just wanted to verify how easy it is. I just received my $100 bonus this past Saturday. I opened the account on 5/17/2007 with $5 from my personal checking account. The terms and conditions stated it would take up to 90 days to receive the bonus but as you can see, I received my bonus in about 60 days. I would love to post a screenshot but I am not exactly sure how to do that.
I checked and the offer is good until 7/31/2007. Here is the link if you wish to take advantage of an easy $100 bucks. For the readers who have Citibank branches near you, it looks like this offer is only available online or by phone. I do not get any referrals for this but I just wanted to share a free $100 bucks with anyone who has not heard about this offer yet. If you want, you can click on a couple of my Adsense ads....LOL.

I logged into my 401k account to check and see how things are doing. In the first few months of the year, my average return was about 2-3 % year to date. I went in and rebalanced my account about 2 months ago to make sure I had my funds distributed among multiple asset classes. For about 3 years, the majority of my account (approximately 60%) of my account was invested in my company stock. I read several reviews where this was a bad idea for a number of reasons so I decided to do a little switcheroo. My account is currently divided as follows:

• Domestic Equities - 36.42%
• Foreign Equities - 52.99%
• Bonds - 4.58%
• Short Term - 4.86%
• Other - 1.15%

I have not checked the return on my account since I redistributed my account among multiple asset classes. When I logged on today my return YTD is 12.2%. I know alot of this is due to the recent surge in the market but if I can continue to get at least a 9-10% return, I will be very happy.

BTW: Right now, I am only contributing 6% to my 401k in order to get the full company match. I don't want to leave any money on the table. Once I get my debt out of the way, I plan to up my contribution to at least 10%.

I was contemplating cancelling my Blockbuster Online account due to the $17.99 monthly fee. I went online to cancel the service and they offered to lower my monthly fee from $17.99 to $13.99 for the same program. I decided to stay on a little while longer and will then try to cancel again in a few months to see if I can get an even lower rate.

I know most of us have habits. Some are free while some can be costly. I sat down and reviewed my costly habits. The biggest two...caffeine and nicotine. I love Starbucks and usually go there at least 4 times a week. My favorite drink costs exactly $4.13 with tax. I am also a smoker and usually smoke about 1/2 pack a day. For those of you that don't know, there are 20 cigarettes in a pack. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in this area cost about $3 on average.

The monthly totals look like this:

20 visits to Starbucks - $82.60
15 packs of cigarettes - $45.00 (not taking into account the health costs)

Monthly bad habit total: $127.60
Yearly total: $1531.20

Wow, that is a reality check! I am literally drinking and smoking my future. What a buzz kill...

What are your bad habits and how much are they costing you?

I have been meaning to call Comcast Cable for a couple of weeks now. Paying my bill last month, I realized for the services I receive, my bill is way too expensive. My usual bill for Internet, Phone and Cable TV comes out to about $185 a month. Granted, I do have the DVR with HD service. They have been running their advertisement for $99 a month for all 3 services. I decide to call them up...why do I have to pay twice what other people pay?
I called Comcast and the conversation went something like this:

Comcast: Thanks for calling Comcast Mr. SingleGuyMoney, how can I help you?
Me: I was looking through my bill and I was trying to see if there was a more cost effective option for the services I receive. I keep hearing about your $99 deal for telephone, cable and Internet.
Comcast: Let me look at your account and see what I can do for you. Can you please hold?
Me: Sure.
- After about a 3 minute hold, she comes back:
Comcast: Mr. SingleGuyMoney, I do not see where I can do anything to lower your bill while allowing you to retain the services.
Me: I would really like to keep my service as I your company offers everything I need along with GREAT customer service. (ok, so I fibbed a little)
Comcast: Again, I am really sorry Mr. SingleGuyMoney but there is nothing I can do.
Me: Thank you for taking the time to look, I like what your company offers but I do have options. Please transfer me to your cancellation department.
Comcast: Sure, please hold.
- After about a minute, a cheerful young lady comes on the phone.
Comcast: I hear you want to cancel your account. May I ask why?
Me: I basically go through the whole thing about I have options and I like the company, blah, blah, blah.
Comcast: Please hold just a moment for me.
- I was on hold for about 4 minutes this time.
Comcast: Mr. SingleGuyMoney, thanks for your patience. Here's what I can do for you. I can offer you 3 services and an additional digital converter box for $129 a month for 1 year.
Me: That sound awhole lot better. Thank you so much for your help.

Well, it took me about 15-20 minutes but being patient and persistent allowed me to be able to save approx $50 a month. That's an additional $600 a year I can throw towards debt reduction.

Most of my friends know I really like electronics and I usually have the latest and greatest toy. One of them asked my today when I was getting the Iphone. I advised I would not be getting one for numerous reasons:

1. It's too expensive!


2. I don't have AT&T cell phone service.


3. It's new and probably has alot of problems.


4. I refuse to stand in line to get one.


5. IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE!!!

I am pretty proud of myself for resisting temptation. Had it been 2-3 years ago, I probably would have been one of the first people in line.

A reader emailed me today and advised if you are not a member of Google, you are not able to leave comments on my blog. I went through and did a little tinkering and I think I fixed it.

I have been tagged by Dimple's Divine Domain to share 8 random things about myself. Like Dimps, this is my first tag so I am pretty excited too. Here goes:

1. I am very scared of snakes.
2. I've never been out of the United States. I plan to change that soon.
3. I'm addicted to cop reality shows.
4. I'm not a big sports fan.
5. My grandfather is my hero.
6. I got my first credit card at 16. It was a Sears card.
7. I love most kinds of music. I can't deal with old country music or hard rock.
8. I love Starbucks. My favorite drink is an Iced Caramel Macchiato.

Well there you have it. I am still pretty new at blogging so I will not tag anyone but if you wish to list 8 things about yourself, feel free to do so.

I was out at my neighborhood pool this afternoon and was talking with one of my neighbors. I noticed he had a brand new shiny Acura TL (my favorite car). I commented on how nice the car was and how much I wanted one but it was too expensive for my situation right now. My neighbor stated...my payment is only $750 a month. Needless to say, I was totally blown away and it took me a minute to recover. My car payment is $555 and I am still kicking myself for signing that contract. He stated he decided to treat himself and went out and bought one on a whim. He states his interest rate is only 1.9%. I asked why the payment was so high and he advised he thinks he may have been upside down on his trade-in. He had a 2 yr old SUV before so I can only imagine how upside down he was. I know he has a good job and makes pretty good money but for my situation, that is wayyyyyy to much for a car payment. My $555 is wayyyy to much for a car payment. As stated in my post regarding Mistakes and Corrections, this is one of the mistakes I made and am working to correct it.

I know my site is pretty new but I am trying to increase my traffic and share my experience with as many people as I can. I hope I can encourage someone to reduce their debt and obtain encouragement from my readers. That being said, if you have a website and want to do a link exchange, feel free to email me or leave a comment. My email address is: wannabefree30(at)gmail(dot)com.

I have been a member of Equifax Credit Watch and Score Power since 2004. They charge $7.95/month for the Score Watch and $9.95/month for Credit Watch Gold. The service works like this: if there is a change in my credit file or credit score, I get an text message on my cell phone and an email within 24 hours. I can also pull my Equifax credit report at any time. I'd been hearing alot about TrueCredit so I checked them out. I signed up thru Wal-Mart Financial Services which offered the service for $11.21/month. I saved over $5 a month and am able to get all 3 reports and scores instead of just Equifax.
My credit scores were as follows: TransUnion 690, Experian 698, Equifax 657. My goal is to get all three over 700.

I needed to pickup some items from Target the other day and happened to run into one of my friends at the store. We finished about the same time and went through the checkout together. I made it to the checkout first and while putting up my items to be checked, I pulled out a stack of coupons. My purchased totaled $109.77. After my stack of coupons, the total came to $99.44. As we were walking out to the parking lot my friend could not stop laughing. I thought I missed the joke so I asked what was so funny. His response? You pulled out a stack of coupons like a soccer mom. I failed to see the humor and asked why it was so funny. He said that only mom's and old ladies used coupons. I responded by saying, "why pay more than you have to?" His response was that he did not have time to cut coupons and that using coupons was very uncool. I did not continue the debate but as I got in my car, I thought about the $10 savings I could use to reduce my debt and I had to smile. Had I thought like him, I would have $10 less to add to my debt reduction.

I don't know if any of you out there cut coupons but I do it religiously. I takes me about 30 minutes every Sunday. I get my Sunday paper and pull out my scissors. I pull out all the coupons for items I purchase all the time. I cut them out and put them in an envelope. Before I go shopping, I make out my list and pull out the coupon envelope and see how much I can save.

One tip though...Don't cut coupons for things you were not planning to purchase in the first place. This will totally negate the savings on the other items and could possibly result in you spending more than you would have without the coupons.

I've added an official debt tracker to the sidebar to help track my debt reduction progress. Watch as this number drops (hopefully) like a rock!

I hope everyone has a SAFE and Happy 4th. It sucks that it falls on a Wednesday but it is one less day in the work week. I cant wait to declare my independence from my debt.
That will be a HUGE celebration.

Assets

• Rental Property - $137000
• Primary Residence - $193000
• Car - $29500
• Retirement - $39089.85
• Cash (checking, sav) - $39208.10
• Brokerage - $3777.67

Total Assets: $449075.62

Liabilities

• Rental Property Mortgage - $151382.82
• Primary Home 1st Mortgage - $149448.06
• Primary Home 2nd Mortgage - $34925.00 (ttl owed on primary home $184373.06)
• Car Loan - $27101.95
• Student Loan - $22223.81
• Credit Cards - $12335.79

Total Liabilities: $397417.63

Net Worth: $51658.19 Increase from May: + 3.10% YTD Increase: +60.77%

Year to date, this has been the worse month as far as Net Worth increases. I'm not exactly sure what caused this month to be so low. From January - May, my net worth had been increasing about 8-9% on average. I actually spent about $300 less than the budget for the month. I do not see any major expenses coming up this month so July should be a pretty profitable month.

My credit card debt is broken down as follows: $8160.23 @ 2.99% for life, $3975.00 @ 0% and $163.56 in charges from June that will be paid in full in July.

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I am a 32 year old single college graduate. I'm happily single and plan to stay that way for the forseeable future...unless someone knocks me off my feet.

Since I've been blogging, I've managed to pay off over $40,000 in debt - including my car loan and credit cards.

I write from the perspective of a single guy but most of the posts can apply to the finances of individuals and/or couples.

Subscribe to SingleGuyMoney and follow along on my journey of debt reduction and increasing assets.

Thanks for reading my blog and I welcome your comments.

Honorable Mentions:

Top 100 Personal Finance blogs by Wisebread

The Best Finance Blogs by FinanceDaily

Top 100 Blogs to Help You Live Debt Free

101 Useful Tools For Recent College Grads

100 Best Personal Finance Blogs for Recent College Grads

I've been interviewed by several media sources such as:

MSN Smart Money

Debt Consolidation Care

Interview with SingleGuyMoney by My Two Dollars

Kiplingers Personal Finance