Debteronomy
It’s been around for a couple weeks now, but it’s worth mentioning that I put up a website that shows all of my money. Specifically, it shows my checking account, savings account, credit card balance, and my total remaining student loan balance. That’s all I have; I don’t own stock, or have a 401K (by choice). The bank accounts and credit card are updated automatically each night, and I update the student loan myself monthly, since it only changes monthly anyway. There’s an RSS feed, so you can get daily updates, and I made it so I can embed it in the sidebar over there to the right.
As the site’s footer says, many of my loved ones saw no point to it and thought it would only bring me harm, no matter what I said to them. As far as I know they still all feel that way. But I did it anyway, cause I’m convinced that for the vast majority of people, money has no reason to be taboo, and I would like to see what happens if I violate that taboo in a very public way. So far, all that’s happened is I’ve received a few admiring emails, a couple emails of lengthy financial advice, and given a bunch of people some lol’s. I do, admittedly, still find it jarring to get an email from someone who somehow knows my financial state—my instincts tell me that no one should know these things about me. I’m pretty sure that the death of those instincts is imminent.
A few people have suggested that I put a PayPal donation link on the site. On almost any site I could think of making, like Isitchristmas, I’d consider that “selling out”, but there’s an argument to be made that it’s interesting and appropriate for Ohnomymoney. There’s also an argument to be made that people will then see it as a money making gimmick and lose interest. I don’t know. At the least, people would have to trust that I’m actually trying to make it into the black and that their money would be put to use doing so. Maybe I could accept donations specifically for my student loans, since that’s one debt which can only go down. I’ll keep thinking about it.
I do have one major planned feature remaining, which is to make available the history of an account, or of my whole worth, over time, and plot the data on simple chartz or graphz. I’ll use the Google Charts API. If you’re wondering how the site works under the hood, it’s written in Ruby and Haml, on the Camping framework, and works with the Wesabe API to fetch my balances each night. I make the source code available, so go take a look—it’s dirt simple.
I’m not trying to overhype this site, here; it’s a tiny little thing that just shows a few numbers, that’s all. Unlike Isitchristmas, it will draw probably no more traffic than my blog (which is about 30 visits per day, if you were wondering). I’ll be thrilled even if the only thing it does is inspire someone else to post their finances on their blog or something. Down with the taboo!
Gutsy move man. But then I’ve always admired your independent sense of self. Not that I plan on imitating you, but for reasons which I suspect may not be the same as other people’s.
On the one hand, I question your decision to not start saving for retirement with a 401k plan. On the other hand, if you are using that money to pay off your debt then that’s probably a good plan.
But in any case, it’s your money.
Ian
Jun 13, 6:20am
Wow man, what an interesting idea. I hope you don’t mind I immediately blogged about this.
Marty
Jun 13, 8:49am
martyholman.com
Ian – I may regret my 401K decision, or change my mind in the next few years, but my feeling is still that $50 now, for my debts and whatever other ventures that may get me out of debt, is worth more than $5000 when I’m old. We’ll see what happens!
Marty – I don’t mind at all! :)
Eric
Jun 13, 9:29am
mill-industries.com
I think it’s actually smarter to pay off your credit card debt before you invest in a 401(k) (not the student debt though) because your expected returns from the 401(k) aren’t gonna be nearly as high as the ground you’re losing by carrying a credit card balance month-to-month.
However, once that’s out of the way, I agree with Ian—you absolutely should put as much into your 401(k) as your employer is willing to match.
Joe Grossberg
Jun 13, 11:27am
joegrossberg.com
Another very hip idea.
Trapper
Jun 13, 11:57am
Joe, I get the strong financial reasons to have a 401K. I just don’t prioritize my retirement as much as most people. So, it’s not worth it to me to have it, for right now.
Eric
Jun 13, 1:00pm
mill-industries.com
Yes, with matching the numbers crunch gets a lot more fascinating as far as 401(k) is concerned. You can start factoring in how, even if you withdraw before your 67 or whatever insane age you have to be to avoid penalty, the demerits are less than what you earned by having that employer chip in. BOOYA.
But with no matching/weak vesting, it’s a bit more damning. There’s a whole sea of financial risk and reward out there for young tycoon types who are ON THE EDGE. SURFS UP GENTLEMEN.
fxbx
Jun 13, 1:54pm
My company did recently (December) start doing some matching, so I could get in on that if I wanted. I didn’t know that it came out to less of a penalty that way. Perhaps I’ll reconsider.
I’ve tended to have a kneejerk emotional reaction against the drum beat to plan for when you’re too old to work anymore. Like I’m gonna be desperately poor all of a sudden when I stop working. If I do my job right in this life, I’ll either have more money or social goodwill than I’ll know what to do with, or I’ll be assassinated before it’s a problem.
Eric
Jun 13, 1:57pm
mill-industries.com
Joe is right about the credit card debt; you shouldn’t even save much money before paying off the CC, even if it’s low APR (if it’s a 0% bonus APR, then no worries). You should look into Roth 401(k)s or Roth IRAs… they let you draw your money out well before you retire (though you still have to keep the money in there for a while).
Edgesmash
Jun 13, 3:06pm
funnyonceaday.blogspot.com
i’m a little concerned about your lack of exposure to emerging markets and asia.
anthony
Jun 13, 3:19pm
Well, I didn’t mean penalty would be less for that reason, what I meant is (Blurring some details):
Choice is deciding whether to let X dollars be paid in ca$h, then taxable rate on average of Y percent, invested in something that yields Z percent in some amount of years n. Or let X dollars go into a fund, where Q percent is matched by employer, and R is the yield of the fund in some amount of years n. If pulled early, after so many years n, penalty of S percent is assessed (yes I know it’s not flat, I’m simplifying for example).
So! If ((X * (100%-Y)) * (100% + Z)) > ((X * (100% + Q)) * (100% + R)) * (100% – S), you take the money, otherwise you let it ride.
Hokey Example:
X = 5000$
Y = 10% for government man
Z = 100% -> I double my money in n years
Q = 10% employee matching
R = 50% growth for 401(k) in n years
S = 20% -> I keep 80% of funds if I withdraw early
((5000 * (90%)) * (200%)) ? ((5000 * (110%) * (150%)) * (80%)
9000 > 8800
Root problem: who ever is going to know what Z and R are going to be. Further, either Z is a lot better than your R for this to be even considered, or you have to kill debts that would negate the gains of R in the long run if you don’t stave them now and for good. To answer your question I don’t know.
fxbx
Jun 14, 3:07am
I think it’s a cool idea. I may do it at some point. I like to wear my life on my sleeve, saves me time in explaining it.
Kyle Del Bonis
Jun 26, 3:38am
kdelbonis.blogspot.com