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remembermemorablememories · 5 years

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Monday, February 11, 2019

post #399

main points:

- visit starbucks reserve roastery again

- get dim sum at din tai fung / stop by barneys

- walk to pike place market to get some cherries

- walk to gameworks and play left 4 dead

- walk over to underground tour

- thai dinner with andrea, toby and jwoos

- pack up

writing this on wednesday february 13

today i:

- woke up at 10am and chilled in bed for a bit before jwoos woke up at 10:30am. then we both got ready and left the airbnb around 11am. we walked over to starbucks reserve roastery again

i got my mom some coffee beans, sun brazil, which is supposed to be a lighter coffee with citrus-y flavors. it’s the one we tried a few days ago at the bar the first time we went. jwoos got an affogato type thing, then took some pics of the baristas

we left and then walked through the convention center area to din tai fung in the pacific place shopping center. before we went up to the fourth floor for dim sum, we stopped by barneys new york. jwoos wanted to see what size shoe he’d need for a shoe he was interested in, it was like a white leather type shoe that cost $400 retail. it was in european size so he needed to find his equivalent. he’s gonna buy it for resale cause retail way too much

- ate lunch at dim sum. we split xiao long bao (they were tiny o_o), fired noodles, and a pork rice wrap appetizer. it was pretty good overall, but the soup dumplings were soooo tiny

- walked down to pike place market again to get some cherries. jwoos got some chocolate cherries as souvenirs to bring home. then we walked around the basement area again, looking at some shops. we looked at a japanese store and an artists’ shop. just browsing around trying to figure out what to do. it started snowing again outside... T.T and the flakes were actually like huge... adding to the already existing pain of walking in the snow

- we walked back to the convention center to check it out but there was a microsoft event going on, called microsoft ready (?). it was closed off to public so we were like... now what?? it was 3:30pm and we planned to go to the underground tour with andrea for 6pm. we saw gameworks was right across the street so we went there. we browsed around looking at arcade games and saw an esports section with PCs and consoles. we signed up for an hour for left 4 dead 2 and played from 4:15-5:15pm ish. it was pretty fun, though i sucked LOL. jwoos carried pretty hard. and also i think the mode we played may have been on easy or something, cause i remember playing with dimitri and martin in singapore and it was hella hard then. idk what campaign we played but it was in a circus area and the last part was fighting in a concert area

- walked over to the underground tour in pioneer square. that walk was like 20 minutes but it was suuuuuper rough. it was like light flurries, sort of rainy. the sidewalks were covered in snowy slush as a result from the snow earlier today and then the subsequent rain ish. my shoes got super soaked... feels bad man. super uncomfy and it was fairly cold, like 30 degrees. i just wanted to be at home and warm and dry

- we got to the underground tour, around 5:50pm, just before it started, bought our tix. then we were brought upstairs for a history talk/lesson. andrea and toby were a bit late (like 5 minutes) but were fortunately able to make it in and sat down with us :D

we learned about crappers and the seattle spirit (being stubborn about potentially terrible ideas), the first mayor, and other stuff. the tour guide was interesting... toby described her as deadpan and i think that’s a good description. her jokes were funny at times but also kinda weird LOL. after the history talk, we walked around the surrounding areas being brought underground. there were 12 of us total (including the tour guide). she told us about the history of why there is an underground. there were actually stores down there during that time before they built over it to the main sidewalk, we saw some cool purple glass tiles above us that were on the sidewalk. they were purple because of the material that they were made of. after enough sunlight they change color. there was apparently a ghost hunter episode or something done here in 2007 where they were inconclusive about the results after living down here for 3 nights. also it was really moggy, like mold growing above us on the ceiling, water seeping through from the rain/snow above :s

we finished like an hour and a half later and ended up in the gift shop around 7pm

- then we took the link back to capitol hill. first time riding the public transit, yay :) it was interesting cause they only had one line but pretty smooth. they have a caltrain like card tapping system where you tap in and tap out which is neat

- we got thai food dinner at manao thai street eats. i got pineapple fried rice and we just hung out talking. it was nice, we got to learn more about toby and his work life. we also talked about the trance music played in cal anderson park a few days ago, seattle vs NYC, joking about april fools pranks/instagram followers, and other stuff. lots of laughter and fun :)

we said good bye to andrea and toby and then jwoos and i walked back to our airbnb. ugh it was so bad out :( my feet were so cold and soaked, we’d done a lot of walking today in the snow. since seattle doesn’t have infra to handle snow, most uber/lyfts weren’t driving around much

- we got back home, each took a shower, then packed up all of our stuff. i packed up all my dirty clothes, laptop and stuff, figured out how to get the two shoes in there, and then called it a night. we decided to wake up at 4:30am tomorrow to catch our flights, so i went to sleep around 11:30pm/12am

the end!

#post #february #2019 #normal #travel

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kangaroomoney · 7 years

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Top Financial Mistakes Under 25

These are a combination of the biggest financial mistakes that I have my myself and that a lot of young adults have made and some tips on how to fix them.

1. Not Saving or INVESTING This is kind of obvious and definitely easier said than done, but so vital to adulting. Up until this past year, my saving account has always been extremely turbulent. I would save a little then deplete time, save a little then deplete it.

About a year ago, I got serious about saving because I had goals I wanted to reach and soon. I saved 60% of my net income (after-taxes) and put it in a high yield online savings account. Online savings accounts can provide higher interest rates because they have lower overhead (cost associated with operation) due to not having to pay rent for the building, employee salaries, electricity, and other associated costs. Also, having an online savings account prevents you from constantly moving money back and forth between accounts which is a lot easier when your checking and savings are at the same bank.

Onto investing. It sounds like a scary and complicated notion and it kinda is because you’re betting and gambling with a lot of your money which could fluctuate a lot. It’s not actually that scary. Since the market has rebounded it has been a really good time to invest. I have always had a 401K set up with the jobs i’ve had and the tip is to save the same percentage that your company matches to optimize the amount that is going in. Since I get taxed a lot, I decided to save 10% and my company matched up to 6% so I could pay slightly less in taxes (we pay more of our paycheck in taxes than other age groups generally.) Putting money into your 401k adds up. Just check on it periodically and if you want to put more in CDs or more in the money market, you can adjust the percentage that is invested in each category.

One option that is really popular now is low cost index funds. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for Vanguard who started this. These index funds are diversified (invested in varies categories) and you can get in with as low as $300. I invested in a fund with $6000 and in the first quarter this year I yielded 7% growth which is greater than the market. The idea was that bankers who charge fees and get commission from managing your portfolio does not do any better than if you randomly picked stocks to invest in and they RARELY do better than the market. I should check my account more frequently than i care to admit. Investing in many individual stocks is a lot riskier because together they may not be diversified into different industries and you’d constantly have to watch it all day, every day and do so much more research, which I kind of do anyway because Im a great and on top of my life (kidding). But index funds are a great way to enter the investing realm.

2. Upgrading Too Soon (depreciating assets) A lot of people get a new job or get promotion and decide to #treatyoself by upgrading their car, buying a new gadget or upgrading their current tech items. If you buy a car without a heavy down payment, you’ll be sucked into this monthly debt you may not be able to afford. Just because you got approved for the loan, doesn’t mean you can afford it. I know a lot of people like to trade in cars but if you own a car that does not have a good resale value, don’t trade it in. Drive it until it dies. Growing up, my parents always said, “if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.” They hated the idea of pay interest, so they would not buy a new car unless: it crashed, or died. My mom actually still drives her 1998 Toyota Sienna which my brother and I dubbed “Bertha”. They also paid for all their cars in cash. This idea is nice but, this isn’t as realistic these days. I would put in 35%-50% and finance the rest. I also love tech and gadgets. When I saw Brookstone had begun commercialize drones, I wanted one, bad. I read a million reviews on different drones and to be honest in like 2013 the drones at $400, sucked. They were flimsy, faulty and did not have a great camera, great dodge there. Going back on topic, wait out on large purchases like Laptops and tech toys. The general advise is if you have one that is functioning, dont get sucked in by marketing ploys of the new and flashy.

3. Budgeting- Not being realistic or not having one at all. Budgeting is so important because a lot of us don’t even know how much we spend or need to spend each month. In order to save, invest, and create fluidity, you have to budget. I don’t follow the 40, 30, 20, 10 rule that most financial blogs and institutions suggest. This is because we all live differently. I love food and cannot cook to save my life therefore, my food expenditure would be significantly higher than someone who is competent in the kitchen. I am a little crazy because initially I put all my expenses each month in an excel spread sheet and use that to adjust my spending and plan for future events like wedding and trips. My credit card also does this but i have multiple ones for different purposes and this spreadsheet just allows me to make graphs and see trends a lot better. I am not saying people need to do this because it is an extreme measure and I love spreadsheets but some sort of tracking is important. There are so many apps out there like Mint, Wallaby, Wally that you can input CC info and are able to track your spending.

I put in my core and fixed expenses that don’t change: rent, student loans, car payments, electric, gym memberships, etc. Then I personally put aside how much I wanted to save. Whatever was left over was what i had to to work with for leisure because at the time, my main focus was saving. This did not allot me with much because I’m young and working in the city making, not a ton of money. I soon realized i didn’t need to spend $500 on clothing each month or rationalize going to NY every weekend or even small things like grabbing Starbucks everyday even though my office has a Starbucks machine #notsoychaithough...

Adjust your budget frequently. I adjust each quarter. I had a speadsheet for the year with a planned budget then at the beginning and end of each quarter go in an see how i’ve done and change things for the next quarter to see what i can improve on. Things change and events come up. My friends and i like traveling so when we plan a trip I incorporate it into my budget.

Be flexible. I can never understand people who don’t like change, as it is the only thing that is constant, (haha so cliche). It true though, you have to be able to say “ok, this month, I cannot got to Starbucks at all because I have a trip coming up or because I had to replace my brakes the previous month.”

Get rid of non-utilized memberships and expenses. A friend of mine was paying for 3 different gyms at one time. Take a look at everything you pay for and get rid of non-core expenses. Some people have issues parting with things but if there is no value greater than its cost, get rid of it. I had a similar kerfuffle when I thought, oh i can get rid of my gym membership because my job has a gym in the basement, easy expense to nix. I then visited my company gym, and it just wasn’t for me. It didn’t motivate me to work out, it was cramped and I had to workout with my coworkers next to me, ugh, kidding. So i decided to keep my gym membership but i did nix my yoga membership because I just cannot wake up at 5AM and Chaturanga at 6. I also combined a lot of my memberships with my brother and parents to reduce monthly costs like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Tidal, and AmazonPrime and pay annually so there isnt that monthly conversation of. “Hey, you havent paid me the $5 for Netflix” and think well it’s only $5, i’ll let it go. These expenses add up. The people you choose have to be reliable or you have to be reliable. Cancellation can be a bitch if communication is not clear.

One big problem I used to have with budgeting was that I was not realistic. I would say I would save $1000 a month with only $2000 coming in monthly, but I would do it by running up my credit card on things i did not need and pretend like those expenses did not exist. I just was not strict enough on myself. If you create a budget take it month by month or week by week and keep yourself on track.

4. Yes Man - Social life & Overspending This ties into budgeting but more of the social aspect. Living in a city, there are so many things to do. There are events every weekend or even during the week. You gotta stick to your budget and know how much leg room you have to for fun. I am one who always says yes, because I don’t like disappointing and i like doing things. As one of my coworkers, Elliott had described as an “activities based” person. I am definitely one of those. DC is conveniently located where less an hour out in any direction, you will get a completely different but very capitalistic environments. Happy Hours and company events were the bane of my existence. I have to say, a lot of people I know go out drinking 3 days a week. This adds up and no one is paying me enough to be drunk 3 days a week. You can’t say yes, when your bank account is screaming “NO.”

5. Credit Cards

At last, these evil little things can be so easily misused and you can get yourself into a lot of trouble. I have a couple but only use 2 of them. There are so many articles I used to read about the best ones or the credit cards with the best perks but they’re all quite comparative. I’ve had a line of credit since I was 16 because my parents mistakenly decided to allow me to have one under their account. My first real credit card was a travel card from the bank i have my accounts in, which was not terrible because If i spend $3000, i got 40,000 points which equated to a free flight to Cali which I was planning for anyway. This card, got in into a lot of trouble and took way too long to eventually pay off. I then got a Discover card, which was my trojan horse. The limit was $500 and this really allowed me to control my spending. I actually still use this card for most of my purchases because there is no reason for my to spend more than $500 each month on miscellaneous purchases. They also had better cash back offers which I enjoyed the quarterly divisions. It is a great card for college students and young adults. I still use my travel card solely and immediately pay it off. I still live by the rule of putting everything on credit first then paying it off because i now have that control and not overspend for the most part. If you dont have that self control i would say just, pay everything in cash. You cannot go down a hole by overspending and think, “well i’ll get 5% or 2% back.” I also have not been interested in cards that have an annual fee though they have slightly better cash back offers or perks. Find one that suits your needs. If you drive a lot, get one with better cash back offer for gas purchases. If you travel often, getting a card with an airline has better perks than the generic travel cards for the most part. Its hard if you fly all over the place and don’t stick with one specific airline. But a travel card would be beneficial in that aspect. The rule of thumb is pay it off immediately. Don’t just pay the minimum because after your initial promotional no interest period, those rates are upward of 20% usually. If you put off full payments, you’ll balloon up your monthly payments after that introductory period. Having credit card will build up your credit but mismanaging will also ruin you. If you have plans for a big purchase like a car or home in the future, it may not be an option if you dig yourself a hole in debt.

This was a long post but, hopefully you got something out of it. I definitely have made many money mistakes but I’m here learning and trying to help at the same time. Happy adulting!

#money #finance #personal finance #youngmoney #millennials #help #moneymistakes #saving #youngandbroke #young and broke #young money mistakes #adulting #kangaroomoney

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