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Archive for November, 2005

Response to comment

November 3rd, 2005 at 12:37 am

In response to SharylIMB's comment on my journal:

"So you opened your Roth IRA with Vanguard? What was the process like? I'm looking into cutting back my 403b contributions just a bit (I'm currently contributing 20% of my income) and opening a Roth IRA as well."

I can't completely speak for the ease of opening an account with Vanguard, since I actually had a UTMA (Universal Transfers to Minors Act) account there that my mom had set up for me years ago to pay for college. So, because that account had my name and social security number on it, I didn't have to open up a new account with Vanguard, I just had to start up a Roth. However, I can tell you that doing that was very easy. It took about 20-30 minutes... Easy as pie. I did the whole thing online, no need to mail anything in, no need to call them or anything. They deducted the $1000 I chose to put in from my checking account electronically, and 2 days later the funds were in there.

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Nothing really to report today. Worked a bit late at work. Only spent $1 today, for a snack. Oh yeah, I got paid. A couple days late, but I don't mind too much. Getting paid=awesome.

November Goals

November 2nd, 2005 at 02:40 am

Yeah, I didn't really watch my money too well in October. I didn't spend like crazy, but I know I spent more than I needed to.

Here's the goals for November:

1. Stay on budget!
2. $1000 into my emergency fund (either ING or Emigrant, I'll see what happens to rates after this latest hike. I've had problems with my Emigrant account-- I keep forgetting to call them during business hours.)
3. $100 into my Roth IRA! (I just now set it up to be done automatically- $100 every month until I set it to stop.

Well, I don't know what caused me to go ahead and open my IRA last Thursday, but boy, am I glad I did! Vanguard just raised the minimum investment on IRA accounts from $1000 (which I have, and have plenty left in my emergency fund) to $3000 (to keep my emergency fund where I want it, I would have had to wait till February!).

I don't think this is a smart move on Vanguard's part. There are too many other places you can invest that let you set up an automatic, every-month investment plan, without you needing a huge investment. I know it's in Vanguard's customers' interests, ultimately, for Vanguard to keep costs down, and I have heard that Vanguard loses money on accounts less than $7000... But $1000 accounts grow into $7000 accounts, and $70,000 accounts, and I have a feeling Vanguard's going to be losing a lot of those accounts.