It's Saturday. Woke up withe blahs and had a hint of goodness when I realized my life is great. It is. I just forget...almost all the time.
This is mostly by design.
My house
- I've been so busy trying to hack my equity that I forgot to realize...um, I got the best deal. The new townhouses blocking my view are TWICE what I paid for my cheap house! TWICE. Best deal ever! Yeah, I'd probably still be able to afford them, but not at this low, low price I paid. So that's awesome.
What helped me realize this was a Realtor search. Yeah I was clicking around last night because it was too balmy to sleep and some spicy food was kicking up my throat. Apparently, now you can do a state search. So I put in parameters for new construction and condo/townhouse. I checked at least 5 or 6 states, and the cheapest place with those parameters was Peoria, Illinois.
I would get a chance to live my condo-dream, but at a harsher winter with actual snow, more in HOA fees, and a smaller town with likely less to do and even farther away from airport (I'm talking Chicago). So while I would potentially get to have a half-free house (the dream!), I think I would quite tangibly be in a worse position for everything else.
Anyway, seeing the cost of new properties in even cheap states be out of my range and also seeing the new townhouses in my neighborhood being priced what they were made me think...whoa, I really got a good deal.
But also, it reminded me that places like Peoria, IL exist, ie, I can always find cheaper (less desirable) places to live is cost is the primary issue.
$60k Budget
So I ran my numbers again...as I do when I'm wondering just how much I could spend. Based on my base pay, this is how much I have to spend this year after a $36k savings goal. So I could potentially spend up to $2500/mon on housing. But the fact remains - I'm open to opportunity...literally anything to spice up my life a bit. But what I'm doing now is trying not to let Urgency/FOMO/YOLO dictate my spending. So open, but not compelled to spend. Admittedly, after I retire, it's unlikely I'll ever have a $60k budget again. So it's an interesting dilemma. Saving that extra $20k this year is hardly going to do anything to my portfolio when I retire. In fact, it adds $800/yr to my early retirement budget. Womp, womp.
The numbers don't lie. So yeah, for once it makes more sense to spend it now than to save it. I hadn't done that calculation until now, so we'll see if that ratchets up the urgency/fomo/yolo trifecta. And I thought I had just conquered that.
Well, I at least feel better about any lingering feelings about last year's extravagant travel expenses (yay, an actually good retrospective decision - that never happens!); and gives me extra permission to buy the $600 pilates package; and I feel good about therapy costs this year. And any future mishaps. Yeah, it's never better to waste money, but I at least have this hard fact that it's not doing unnecessary damage to any future savings objectives. Yay.
But I will just take it a year at a time.
So for this year, I have $60k to spend. Yay. That's pretty cool. What I'm trying not to think about is if I save $60k times 5 years, I'll have $300k. Wait, that doesn't work because that's not EXTRA money, that's ALL the money I have to spend this year.
Ok, so really only like an extra $20k each year, so over 5 years, like $100k. Which again is refreshing because that might maybe upgrade my house to like a $200k house. But I already decided, in 5 years, I should have a million dollars and if I want to break off some of that for a nicer house, I can make it happen. So that's covered.
And for completion, if I were to go super restrictive (which I refuse to do), and say it's an extra $40k..over 5 years...that's $200k. Which would let me buy a new $200k house in cash. Not bad. But that's not really a priority for me. I have a house. And again, if I needed or so desired to buy a nice house in 5 years, I should have plenty of money to do so. Notably, a $200k stash would throw off $8k/yr at 4% withdrawal. Not bad. Not enough to change my budget in a meaningful way....at least not when you compare that to aggressively saving for the next 5 years...which I'm not doing.
So it's a sweet spot of having $60k to spend this year with no real plans to spend all of it. And no real benefit to saving it - other than for the sake of savings.
The new blogger I'm bingeing seems to have hit that realization....actually them and another late 20s blogger. Of just basking in the glow of a set financial future. And figuring out how to spend the Now Money.
It's a good spot to be in. And even after 1 year of being in this great spot, still challenging to navigate. But if you zoom out, it's 1 year of being in this position versus 38 years of not being in this position. Sheesh. Grace is needed.
Credit Cards
So to remind us, I had this great credit card plan for my 3 planned domestic trips this year.
- Get an AA card for free checked bags (needed for 6 week stays)
- Get a 0% intro card (for the sign-up bonus, but mostly to be able to pay how I want; and just to track the expenses separately from regular expenses)
I ended up applying for at least half a dozen cards between Dec and Jan and was spectacularly declined for all. Tried a few reconsideration lines and didn't get very far. Mind you, this was not part of the plan but some committee member got me hyped for travel hacking and I thought the travel hacking plan could run in parallel. I'd never had a problem getting credit cards before (in general), so didn't see this coming.
Well now, I'm a bit gun shy about whether the basic plan will work, as I'm down to just my back-up card that I've had for a number of years now. I don't want to use it...because it's for back-up. I like pretending it doesn't exist.
Anyway, earlier I'd convinced myself that the surefire way to guarantee my credit worthiness was to get a secured card. Then I thought, why take the hit, just get one that doesn't require a credit check. But the couple I looked up had such weird reviews about payments not posting and barriers to paying balances that I'm not trying to worsen a problem. I've backed off that idea a bit.
I still might get a secured card...but maybe after I get declined for what's stated above and definitely with a big bank.
I ran 2 pre-approval tools and it looks like I can get a regular card from Capital One but no 0% intro APR. And with Citi, it was unclear. There weren't any offers but they kept pushing two of their 0% intro cards.
With literally no confidence in my ability to get even a 0% intro card, I'm not sure what to do.
I didn't want to apply for a Citi card and forfeit my ability to get the AA/Citi card within a short time frame.
So if I had to pick the priority of the AA card or a basic 0% intro Card with Citi, I think the 0% intro card is probably the better bet.
Traveling on miles is kind of tricky. While I wanted to use the miles I have already this year, they technically don't expire (I think).
Plus this aligns with saving any more travel/ credit card hacking for 2024. No more variables this year.
So right now, I'm thinking:
- Apply for Citi Custom Cash (for 0% intro, cashback, and sign-up bonus)
.... think of the sign-up bonus as paying for the checked bags that I'm not getting for free
.... strategically probably apply on old name since it has more credit history and a similar score
--- ideally figure out how to freeze the credit report that has too many hits (thinking Transunion)
This works out because as mentioned I could still get $200 bonus, accumulate some cashback, and hopefully have at least $5k limit to use on travel expenses that I can pay back in a way that makes sense to my financial plans.
BUT...if I don't get approved for that....
Thinking I might have to just go straight for a secured card (likely with Capital One and probably in my old name)? Maybe try with Capital One for one of their 'good credit' cards...which currently offer no real promos of interest to me.
And last option depending on how this all goes down is trying for a 0% card with an institution I currently bank with, but kind of want to keep out of my regular day to day expenses.
Hmmm....I might reverse the order knowing me...
So strategy
1) Apply for Citi Custom Cash 0% intro card (Old name)
2) If rejected, apply for broker's 0% intro card (New name)
3) If rejected, apply for Capital One's secured card (Old Name)
Maybe wait 3 to 6 months or until 2024 to try again.
As for when to initiate this updated strategy....thinking mid April to make sure at least 3 months have passed since last round of hard inquiries.
Looking at places
A big move is probably not going to happen this year. I was thinking of extending my time in Seattle to get there a little earlier than late May and stay until the Fall, but that felt like too much. While I'm trying to loosen the purse strings, this thought isn't jiving with what I want right now (fleeting as that may be).
But I was thinking, after the kickoff meeting this week, if it looks like April will be another slow month, I may try to do an escape in driveable distance from here. It seems like there are some nice short term rentals with a bit of a deal in April. I'm looking at South Carolina, Philadelphia, Savannah, and Montreal (if it stops being cold). It would just be a getaway to break-up the monotony. I would get some meal kits and kick back a bit. I'd love to be close to nature to pretend to take some nature walks or just even a view, but there is not really any inventory with the companies I use in mountain towns.
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