August Recap…

This is my August Recap. It’s not pretty thanks to the payoff of my vacation that I never took, overspending, and approximately $10k in tuition and books. My net worth declined even further into the Red to ($77,871) from ($63,368), a $14.5k difference. Ouch!!!

For September, I moved to an all cash/debit system. We’ll see how that works out.

Snapshot:

• 401k performed better.
• Increase in cash balances are financial aid funds that I need to move over to ING.
• Opened an ING and Sharebuilder account.
• New student loans are all federal. No private loans. I went with the new Federal Grad Plus loan so that my interest rate will be maxed out at 8.5%.
• Next month should be a lot better. I am contributing $25/month to my savings account to avoid account fees and $100/month to ING and Sharebuilder (S&P 500). At the end of the month, I will be transferring all savings from the Keep the Change program to ING which should be in excess of $40 with the $25 savings deposit as well.