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Adding to the challenge

March 5th, 2007 at 01:11 am

At the rate I am going I should have atleast $10,000 by the end of the year in my challenge account for a new house. I figure if I can hang in there with my mom for about 3 years and include all raises and bonuses I should have about $36,000 for a down payment. That is a nice chunk of change. So let the count down begin.

I just added my bi-weekly deposit brining my new total from $1416.05 to $1563.90 Smile I will definately meet my $2000 mark for the month

So far for the year I have contributed $1281.51 to the challenge

I have really surprised myself the last few years. I mean I always talked about getting serious when it comes to savings and debt but never really did and last year I paid off debt started saving and now there is a real possibility that I may be a home owner in the next few years Smile it is an exciting process

5 Responses to “Adding to the challenge”

  1. JanH Says:
    1173057808

    Wow, you are doing so great! What an inspiration!

  2. baselle Says:
    1173057812

    That's fantastic! Now the next step - where are you putting your savings and what interest rate are you getting?

  3. Amber Says:
    1173060960

    baselle,
    I am using INg right now but I figured once I get to $5000 I may open an account with Vangaurd or a CD with ING. What do you think?

  4. baselle Says:
    1173065120

    Amber- Right now you are saving for a short to mid-term goal (3-5 yrs). It means fixed income techniques and rules out stocks in general, because they can go down. Imagine if you had your down payment in stocks and you wanted to withdraw it last week! It eliminates Vanguard, unless you are interested in starting a Roth IRA. You can use your Roth to buy a house, FYI.

    ING savings at 4.5% is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but once I've gotten about $2000 that I know I won't need for emergencies, I'd seriously look around for other things (CDs, T-bills) that have a higher interest rate, say around 5%. The difference between 4.5% and 5% doesn't seem like much, but its means you earn 11% more interest. And who wouldn't want that? I've used the ING 6 month CD, which is nice because you already have an ING account. I like 4-week t-bills - the interest rate is variable, between 4.8% - 5.2% . And don't discount any CDs from any brick and mortar banks in your area, just keep your eyes open.

    Check out www.bankrate.com for other ideas, research banks, get your feet wet on other fixed income instruments.

  5. Amber Says:
    1173065499

    Thanks a bunch

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