Finance Work

It’s the Eve before Christmas Eve and I’m working feverishly on finance. Not my job, but personal finance.

Budget
– We have no budget. This is a bad thing.
– Dean and I have been reveling in our extra savings from living in a studio and the income from my condo, that we don’t really manage our money. We go out to eat. We drink every night. We spend freely.
– No more. Starting now I’ve sorta put us on a budget. Every paycheck, a certain amount of money will be transferred into our designated savings account.

Savings
– I think it’s important to have specific savings accounts. Otherwise, there’s no incentive to save.
– The savings account for our wedding was completely funded after the current tenant paid for December rent. A total of $20,000 for our desert wedding. Done and done.
– I have a new set of tenants (two doctors) moving into my place in January. Their checks will be deposited into our new savings account for a home. In two years, we should have enough for 20% down on another home.
– My 401K is growing. I max it out every year. I’m looking to open up a Roth IRA soon, too.

Insurance
– Geico is the best for auto.
– Traveler’s for home.
– We don’t have renter’s insurance. That’s on my to-do list.

The Gacad-Barbella Legacy
– One kid is enough.
– I have no plans to save for my one child’s education. He or she can pay for college like I did. I believe in the best up-front education possible to ground children for continued success in college and beyond.
– I’ve always wanted my kid to go to Catholic school. If my immigrant parents could afford it, I can too.
– The best Catholic elementary schools in San Francisco are Convent and Stuart Hall at a whopping $20,000+ per year. That starts at kindergarten! Way beyond our means, but strong potential for a scholarship. Throw us a bone: two Catholic parents with one of us (me) who went to Catholic school for 12 years. I’ll ask the Bishop for a recommendation. That said, I have concerns with any kid of mine going to a richy school. Just not our style.
– So I’ve scoped out Notre Dame des Victoires not too far down from where we live and not too far up from where I work. At $700 a month for our kid to have a Catholic elementary school education, then on to Saint Ignatius for high school at $1300 a month, we can definitely afford to have our little kid sporting a plaid uniform.