The Sun's Financial Diary » General

8 Random Things about Me

Sun — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:50:06 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

I was tagged by Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge last week to list 8 random things about myself. Actually, both Jeremy at Generation X Finance and Super Saver at My Wealth Builder a couple months ago for five obsessions, but I didn’t reply last time as I thought I already have the 5 things you may not know about me. Well, looks like I can’t pretend it never happened this time, so here it goes:

When I open a bank account, I always ask for debit card. However, I have never charged a penny on any debit card. I don’t like spending money without getting some in return. Therefore,
I charge almost everything with credit cards, even if the purchase is only several dollars. If they accept credit cards, why not?
I don’t have “no-spending day” or “no-spending week” because I almost don’t spend any money during the week. Thus, it makes sense
To have only $40 in my pocket and they can stay there for a long time;
I don’t read any book with “Millionaire” in the title and I don’t read articles from the so-called “money gurus”;
I collect stamps and coins and my collection includes coins from more 100 countries and every Chinese stamp issued in the past 25 years;
Like many Chinese, I play table tennis and play quite well;
I love soccer and used to stay throughout the night to watch world cup games, but not now as I am getting *old* .

That’s it. No more tagging from me

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My First Day at New Job

Sun — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:31:56 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

My First Day at New Job

was quite boring actually.

I showed up at 9:00 am this morning (that was quite early according to my standard) and spent the whole day doing nothing but sitting there and reading some document that doesn’t require much time to finish. No computer, no internet. It’s a big company and, as expected, everything is slow. I was told that I can expect to get my account ready within a week. Tomorrow, I will have to bring my own computer so I can do something else (like write a post, for instance ).

My real feeling on this first day isn’t about lack of things to do, but what they are doing isn’t really for me. From what I saw today, most of the time they are on the phone doing customer support like issuing/resolving a ticket and fixing a bug. It could be that I underestimated the job, but I don’t think they need a PhD to perform that kind of daily duty. Yes, they develop some software and could use some wireless technologies (I was recruited as a software engineer, though I am not a pure software person), but most of the work were outsourced and the people I talked to today said they are doing some “enhancements.”

What I am worried is that if I stick with this job, I could lose touch with what I have been working on all these years since my graduate study, the wireless communication technology, and that’s not what I want to see happening.

Today, the second company confirmed the interview next month. I will wait till then to see how that one works out for me. If nothing happens, I could see myself back in the job market in a couple of months, despite the 6-figure salary (and why?). But then there will be no pressure on me. I cant wait till I find one that I really like. For now, I will just stay because, yes, I need the money :).

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New Week, New Job

Sun — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:49:06 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

New Week, New Job

Tomorrow, after two weeks of lay off, I will start a new job at a company that’s not really in my area.

The start up company that I worked for in the past two years last month decided to significantly reduce man power as the product we developed failed to win any customer (at least till now) and I was let go. The result was kind of expected since there were signs late last year that the company could be in trouble, but I didn’t prepare myself for the outcome until it happened. The main reason for me to stick around is that the company is very close to home and I like what I was doing.

Well, despite the “unexpected” event, the job hunting was really a short one. There were two interviews scheduled last week, and the first one I went to last Monday decided to make an offer right after the interview. Seriously, that was the fastest job offer I ever got and I was totally unprepared for the quick action. Between the two interviews, the second one is from another telecom company and what they are doing marches my background perfectly and the location is even closer to my home. Naturally, I am hoping to land a job over there. So after the first company made the offer, I told them I need some time to think about it. I want to see how the second interview goes before making a decision.

However, one day after the first interview, I was told the second interview, which as initially scheduled for late last week, has to be postponed till the second half of next month. The news really forced me to make a quick decision as the first company is expecting me to start right away. I don’t know if they are willing to wait for me for more than a month, plus there’s no guarantee I will get an offer from the second company. So I told the first company that I accept the offer and can start to work next Monday.

Because of the short lay off, I didn’t have time to come up with a plan to cope with the *emergency* situation though we have the emergency fund in place. Last week, I called to apply for the unemployment benefit, but was cut off before the application was completed. I also thought about getting a few credit cards with 0% balance transfer offers so I can borrow some money without touching anything we currently have. Fortunately, I don’t have to do any of these .

Tomorrow, when the new week begins, I will have a new job.

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Top 5 Reasons I Started and Continue A Personal Finance Blog

Sun — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:07:14 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

Top 5 Reasons I Started and Continue A Personal Finance Blog

Early last week, Lazy Man at Lazy Man and Money shared 10 ways personal finance blogging has helped him to get better financially. Looking back at the short history of this blog, I found myself also a beneficiary of blogging. So what are the reasons to get me into blogging in the first place?

1. Nothing is possible without passion

If you ask me what’s the one single reason I start this blog, my answer will be: I LOVE finance. I care about our financial well-being and like to discuss with other about investing. When I stumbled upon a personal finance blog for the first time last June, it was like a window to the new world of finance to me. I have heard about weblogs and have been tracking my money from day one, but I never thought about combining these two together with my own blog. After reading personal finance blogs for a month, I just couldn’t resist the temptation of setting up one for myself. Back then, I had two objectives on my mind: Share what I know and learn what I don’t know. Nine months into blogging, this blog is now my biggest hobby and I am enjoying it every day.

2. Holding myself accountable for all financial decisions

If you go through the archives of this blog, you will find that most of the posts are about what I do on saving and investing. It’s more about my personal (yes, that’s the personal part of this blog) experience than telling other people that I don’t know what to do (I don’t qualify for giving advice anyway). Since I know I will expose all my financial decisions to the public through this blog, I now think more thoroughly before making a move, weighing the pros and cons and evaluating possible consequences. This helps me make better judgement on my own investments.

3. Enriching myself by reading more

One limit of being very personal with a blog is that sometimes it seems there aren’t a lot exciting things to write about. In order to come up with fresh ideas when the personal part runs low, I force myself to read more books and articles on finance to gain insights on what other people are thinking on the same topic and how they are doing. Besides, I don’t want to sound I don’t know what I am talking about when writing a post on investing, though I still make this and that mistakes. Without this blog, I can use all kinds of excuses to not to pickup a book.

4. Interactive with people, another learning process

I am a long time visitor of Morningstar’s Diehard forum and what I like about the forum is that there are many knowledgeable people in real life who are willing to share their experience and answer your questions now matter how simple they seem to be. This blog gives me the exact platform I want to be interactive with people on various issues in personal finance. I consider this a mutually beneficial learning process. Yes, I can always read books from gurus, but the personal touch from this blog making the learning even more valuable and rewarding.

5. A little side income for the long run

When I started this blog, the idea of making money from it didn’t occurred to me. As the site grows, it started to bring in a little extra cash every month. If I spend the money, it probably won’t make any difference in our life right now. Considering the time I spent on this site, I want to make the money, though a very small amount, special. So instead of treating it just as a number in our checking account, I used the income from this site to fund our daughter’s 529 plan since the beginning of this year. By the time our daughter goes to college, I want to tell her that her Dad supports her education by staying late every night when she was only two years old, :)).

Of course, networking with people and developing writing and analyzing skills are also handy reasons for me to continue blogging, but since Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.net has limited it to only top five to participate in his latest Top 5 Group Writing Project, I will just stop here.

Now, do you feel you want to have your own personal finance blog as well?

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Welcome Readers from AllFinancialMatters and All Other Places

Sun — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 04:24:14 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

Welcome Readers from AllFinancialMatters and All Other Places

JLP at AllFinancialMatters today named this Diary the Blog of the Week. It's nice to be recognized by a successful blogger in the personal finance arena.

If you are a new reader coming from AllFinancialMatters (as well as all other places), I welcome you to the Diary and hope you enjoy your stay. A good place to learn more about me and the reason I started this Diary is the About Me page. To share with me your thoughts, click Contact and send me an email, or simply leave a comment. And don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed before you leave if you find the information on this Dairy helpful.

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Neither Will I

Sun — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 03:56:07 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

Neither Will I

Not just that I love my ears. I don't want my hair look like as if it was ganwed by a dog.

Actually, my wife used to cut my hair for me until late 2004, several months before our daughter was born. Since I bought the hair cut kit from BJ's in 1998, every two to three months, I asked my wife to be my barber. Over the past six years, we probably have saved hundreds with the kit which cost us 19 bucks. Not a bad investment.

Now I got my hair cut at my neighbor barber shop and last Saturday I paid $20 ($17 hair cut and $3 tip) to get it done. Definitely, there are other shops that charge less $17, but I like that shop the first time I was there. To make sure that I don't have to visit the shop in the next three months, I asked for a short one. It was so short compared to what I had before the cut that when I showed up at work this Monday, one of my colleagues ask me what happened with my hair and if I want to join the Marine or something.

Well, since I can't totally avoid going to the barber shop now, at least I can reduce the frequency.

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Marquis Who’s Who Really Wants Me

Sun — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 21:59:12 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

Marquis Who’s Who Really Wants Me

Late last month, I was informed by Marquis Who's Who that my biography will be included in the 2007 edition of Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Science and Engineering. Prior to these inclusions, I was also selected for the 2006 edition of Who's Who in America, but the Science and Engineering inclusion is new. It all started in 2004 when I was contacted by Marquis and asked to submit my biography for consideration. At that time, I was teaching in a university.

I have known Marquis Who's Who for some time. Back to those years when I was a student, I used the books in the school library for some research and my advisors (I had two) had all appeared in various Marquis' publications. I didn't know how they were selected, but it must be an honor. So when I first learned that I will join many famous names in Who's Who, I felt overwhelmed. Frankly, even as of today, I am not very clear why my biographical information is considered as valuable and useful. I am just an ordinary person with an ordinary life. But I take the honor.

However, things kind of went beyond my expection when I received two letters from Marquis yesterday: I will be included in the coming Who's Who in the World and a new publication called Who's Who in Emerging Leaders. Sure they are all good news, but me? In the World? And Emerging Leaders? I don't know and don't understand.

I was very happy when I was first selected, but now my feeling is just like a Chinese idiom: Things will go to the opposite when they are extreme. This's just too much.

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How Do You Fund Your Domain?

Sun — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 05:37:21 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

How Do You Fund Your Domain?

Do you have a budget for your own domain?

It really took me some time to make up my mind to switch from free blog at Blogger.com, which I started in June, to this domain. First of all, I am not sure if it’s worth it. Secondly, where does the money come from to pay for the hosting? After taking a look at the paid survies I have completed since June, I knew at least I found the answer for the second question.

My diary is hosted at Bluehost.com and I signed up for a two-year subscription with $6.95 per month. That’s $166.80 and how much have I earned from paid surveis and posts? $175, though I received only $14 so far. If at the current rate (about $50 per month), I could raise enough funds to keep this diary domain for a couple of more years before 2007 starts!

Now I can concentrate on addressing my first concern: whether or not it’s worth it. Well, time will tell!

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Up and Running

Sun — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:47:20 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

Up and Running

After several days of hard habor, my new site is finanlly up and running. I have been switching back and forth in the past couple of days between different templates WordPress offered, trying to find one suitable for me yet not too difficult to make modifications (I am a newbie of CSS and php programming, so I don't push myself too hard). Eventually, I settled with the one developed by Isnaini and made some small changes here and there. Well, if you ask me, I think it's pretty neat. What do you think? Though I can start blogging in my site, which is very exciting, there is problem of porting my old post at Blogger.com to here. As I was trying to log in my Blogger account for the importing, I got an error message saying my logging was incorrect. The only reason I can think of for this error was I switched to the beta version of Blogger.com when it became available last month and used my Gmail account to login instead of the original login name and password. I guess I have to wait till the current beta version becomes a full release to do the transfer. For now, I'm just gonna enjoy the fresh smell of my new site!

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Hello world!

Sun — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:48:52 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

Hello world!

Finally, I got my own home! Isn't that exciting? Well, considering that I have to move my blog posts on Blogger to this new home and set all the functions and tools, it probably will take a while before it finally gets into shape. But I look forward to the challenges ahead. Again, welcome and stay tuned!

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My First Post

Sun — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 18:53:00 +0000

Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary

My First Post

OK, now I have setup my Blog and am ready to write my diary. Before I move on, it’s probably a good idea to introduce myself a little bit.

I am in the middle-thirties, married, and have a daughter. I have been living in New Jersey in the past nine years (long enough but doesn’t mean I know every place in New Jersey), moved several times but never left. Now I am working for a wireless company as an engineer after several job changes in the past five years.

I started investing in 2001 (which many of you may consider quite late if not too late) and have been making regular contributions to my retirement accounts, as well as my taxable accounts. While trying to avoid impulsive buying, I however don’t have a monthly budget and my spending sometimes seems out of control (I know that’s bad, but it just seems difficult to plan ahead what you are going to do every month).

In terms of saving or investing, I don’t have a target number (this may just give me an excuse of not hitting it), but I do have three goals I want to accomplish at three different stages. In short-term, we are considering getting a bigger house as the baby grows fast (maybe another one is coming), so we want to save for the down payment. In mid-term, we should be able to provide the necessary financial means to our children so that they can go to the colleges at their choices. In long-term, we want to be worry-free when it comes to enjoy our golden years.

Hope this Blog will help me achieve me goals.

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