Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Fiscal Responsibility
Yesterday morning the house I entered into contract on officially went into escrow. The process is underway and I have housing inspections to attend to tomorrow afternoon. On Thursday I am meeting up with my mortgage broker to finalize everything I need to actually complete the purchase. The entire process is kind of unreal at the moment... Regardless, I am totally stoked to have a house to move in to. If something screws the process up at this point I am going to be seriously upset.
I feel that I am going to need to step up on my financial responsibility at this point. In all honesty I think I do a pretty good job of managing my money, especially contrary to what my parents may think. To date I have opened savings accounts, money market accounts, a stock portfolio, and I have started a small handful of businesses. At the end of this month I am going to have a mortgage added into the mix, which is only going to make calculating tax deductions and withholdings that much more interesting. By "interesting" I mean "complicated".
Enter Quicken. For the first time in my life I am using financial management software. I have to admit, thus far I am fairly impressed. It's taken a while, but I finally entered all my bank accounts, paychecks, stocks, and various other miscellany. Several clicks and a few wizard steps later it has correctly calculated my taxes for 2006 and informed me that I have a fairly large refund heading my way (suh-weet!). It can tell me how my portfolio is doing in real-time as well as reflect my balance sheet to reflect market trends. It can let me know when I have paid an excessive amount for the Thai iced tea with boba that I love so dearly.
All this together should hopefully help me manage my money a little bit better as well as enforce the savings plans I have put in place. Part of me is really excited to be able to manage this stuff so effectively, and part of me is concerned that the little banker within me that I thought I killed might somehow still be alive. I guess only time will tell.
I feel that I am going to need to step up on my financial responsibility at this point. In all honesty I think I do a pretty good job of managing my money, especially contrary to what my parents may think. To date I have opened savings accounts, money market accounts, a stock portfolio, and I have started a small handful of businesses. At the end of this month I am going to have a mortgage added into the mix, which is only going to make calculating tax deductions and withholdings that much more interesting. By "interesting" I mean "complicated".Enter Quicken. For the first time in my life I am using financial management software. I have to admit, thus far I am fairly impressed. It's taken a while, but I finally entered all my bank accounts, paychecks, stocks, and various other miscellany. Several clicks and a few wizard steps later it has correctly calculated my taxes for 2006 and informed me that I have a fairly large refund heading my way (suh-weet!). It can tell me how my portfolio is doing in real-time as well as reflect my balance sheet to reflect market trends. It can let me know when I have paid an excessive amount for the Thai iced tea with boba that I love so dearly.
All this together should hopefully help me manage my money a little bit better as well as enforce the savings plans I have put in place. Part of me is really excited to be able to manage this stuff so effectively, and part of me is concerned that the little banker within me that I thought I killed might somehow still be alive. I guess only time will tell.
Labels: money
# posted by Chris/Stewy @ Tuesday, January 09, 2007 
