The Difference a phone call makes!

Today I was taking care of some stuff that has been lingering on my desk for a while. One of the bigger items was a $178 medical bill from Feb 2011 that showed up in December. Something seemed a bit off but I put off calling about it. Until today!

I called the doctor's office and was about to pay the balance myself until she said the claim was denied by my insurance because they requested information. I hung up and called my insurance. Sure enough I did send the information they wanted but it never made its way to my claim. They re-opened the claim and said they have what they need and will pay the amount due.

I called back the doctor to inform them of the new case. They said they would handle it from there! While I am not 100% out of it yet I am pretty sure I won't have to worry about it any more. This is good news after a couple of rough months financially. I can breathe a little easier now.

Car got hit while parked at work

Sometimes people surprise me. I came to work today just like any other. Parked my car and went into the office. I had to run to the company storage unit for some things and found a note under my wiper blade. Someone hit my car.

There was no major damage just a scrape on the rear bumper. I called the person that left the note and we agreed to work something out without involving insurance. Works for me since it is less paperwork and hassle for both of us. I like easy!

Now I have to get an estimate and actually collect. We'll see if she pulls through on her promise!

Shortened Weekend!

I have to work all day tomorrow since we are having a quarterly meeting at work. That means I get a 1 day weekend. Granted I was given a swap day that I used for New Orleans on Monday that doesn't give me enough time to rest as I would like before the next work week.

I will be spending my Sunday getting caught up on various errands and things I need to do around the house. I will be getting a bonus so I have a little planning to do once I get it. That will be the one highlight of my working Saturday. Other than that I have boring meetings and planning sessions to do.

Fortunately this is only 4 times per year.

Work Travel Confirmed: Boston in Feb 2012

I finally have my first booked flight this year. I am headed to Boston for 2 days in Feb for an on site installation for a client. While I am tired of Boston I will take the miles and time out of the office as welcome change of pace. It will take a lot of work flights this year to hit 50,000 miles!

I am aiming high for Delta miles this year since I want to have enough banked for a trip to the world cup in 2014. Business class award tickets to Brazil do not come cheap so I need to beef up my Delta balance. I also have 2013 travel to think about but I need to get through 2012 first :). The trip to Brazil will be great for the beach as well as checking the world cup off my life bucket list.

I now know for sure that I will go to Baltimore at least 2 or 3 times this year, West Virginia/Virginia/North Carolina once, and northern Maine once. If the pace keeps up I will certainly hit my 50,000+ goal. Work travel is a major source of my free flying so I want to maximize it any way I can!

New Spending Psychology: Focus on what matters to me

I did a quick skim on my spending over the last year and I seemed to have phases. For a while I would eat out a lot. Then spend a fair bit on travel. Then I would buy a few gadgets or things for the house. It was based on whatever "mood" I was in at the time. This, in the end, but a damper on getting closer to my goals.

I now vow to be more focused.

Overall my major personal interests are travel, food, and finding excellent deals on the first two. I am going to follow this school of thought: spend on what you are passionate about and skimp on everything else. Easier said than done as I learned from last year's spending data. The good news is I am much better than 2010 at it.

My budget has now evolved where I save money for travel specifically. I use that money not only to have while I am on the road but also pay for taxes for award tickets, annual fees for points earning credit cards, and the odd long weekend away on a cheap airfare domestically. This part of my budget will certainly grow with my income. Travel is top priority in my life!

I have a larger than average food budget for a few meals out and so I can cook less boring stuff at home. Cooking is something I am doing a lot more of as of late and intend to continue. It is a skill that is never bad to have and from what others tell me I am pretty good at it! A friend and I are always experimenting and sharing cooking ideas. It works well for me.

Finding deals on travel and food spawned from the first two. The biggest being credit card churning. I sign up for cards with large initial bonuses, use them, and then cancel the cards and repeat. This has gotten me a lot of points and as a result some awesome trips. For food I mostly look for the best price/quality ratio for my cooking ingredients. I also keep an eye out for discount coupons for my favorite places around town. They are rare but do come up now and then!

I find that when I spend on things I truly care about I feel better about it. If I spend $100 on airline taxes for a flight to Bangkok I have no problems. If I spend $100 on a night out with friends I most certainly regret it for the rest of the month and beyond. Breaking the bad habits so I can keep the good ones is my key to success. Now let's see if I can actually pull this off...

New Orleans Roundup

I had a great time in New Orleans. I couldn't ask for better weather as it was an average of 75 degrees, partly cloudy, and breezy in January! It was also nice to not have to worry about work for a few days and spend a good 30th birthday weekend with my girlfriend.

We spent a lot of our time eating the awesome food the city has to offer and hitting a few sites around the French Quarter. It is a fun place to wander around and people watch. It is some of my favorite architecture in the USA as well. We spent our evenings in the local dive bar in the French Quarter having cheap drinks and relaxing. A tough life!

Our flights were good for the most part. No upgrades cleared but what can I really expect as the lowest tier elite and $35 each way airfares? We had access to my company's GoGo wifi and it was a short flight. We did have a sudden dip in turbulence on approach to Atlanta but it was storming. Just another part of flying!

I have to say New Orleans is a city I don't tire of. I love the people, culture, and nightlife it has to offer. It is a relatively cheap city for the US also. I sometimes daydream about having a condo in the French Quarter as a place to get away. Maybe one day!

Long Weekend in New Orleans Tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning the girlfriend and I are flying down to New Orleans. Today is her 30th birthday. I booked this trip a while back when there was a fire sale on airfares. Delta matched and we got round trip tickets for $91 all-in per person. A great deal!

The weather down there looks great and should be in the mid-70's all weekend. I am looking forward to wandering the french quarter, eating their awesome food, and generally not thinking about work. It has been very busy here since returning from Asia and a quick break will help me out a lot.

It should also be a relatively cheap trip since most things in New Orleans are very reasonable. We are staying in a private room at the local hostel which I have stayed at several times before. It's a combination of 2 old houses and very well run. It's also a short trolley ride to downtown/french quarter and not far from a supermarket.

This will also my first flights of the year. I am aiming for Gold Medallion so I can get some more benefits and more miles. I have to save a lot of miles now since I am planning to go to the world cup in 2014 in business class. Getting a 100% flying bonus as Gold flyer will help that a lot!

New Points Churn complete!

Today I applied for a few attractive points offers. In total I should get 30,000 Chase points, $500 from citibank, and 40,000 Hilton points (waiting approval on this one). They all have low spending requirements so it should be easy to meet. Only one of them has an annual fee which I will cancel before it is due next year.

This is certainly not as impressive as 2011 but it is a good start. I am trying to let my new account activity cool down so I don't get flagged by the various banks as being a greedy churner. I have read stories of people losing all of their points and relationship with the bank for doing it too much. Moderation is a key aspect of this game. Pick your battles and don't get carried away.

I also already have all the points I need this year to cover all of my travel until 2013. I of course will keep and eye out for great offers on certain cards. My goal this year is to learn more about hotel points and their programs so I can use those to my advantage also. Always learning new tricks is the key to maximizing points value!

Tax Filing Time!

I have my W2 forms from work and the others are slowly coming in. I have already run a quick and dirty estimate of my refund and it should be around $1700-1800. That will certainly put a dent in a couple of goals! I had some bonuses last year that were taxed heavily so this larger refund reflects that.

I also bought the latest version of H&R Block tax software. It was only $20 and I was able to download it immediately from amazon.com. It is a huge time and money saver and I can file electronically. It also catches a few weird deductions and rules that I am not familiar with so it essentially pays for itself and then some. It also imports last year's data to help save time.

I can't wait to get this done and over with so I can get my refunds from federal and state and stop giving them free loans. My plans for the refunds are to pay a couple of bills, beef up savings, and possibly a new printer. I will make the decision once I actually have the money in hand.

Annual Portfolio Rebalance

It is mid January and it is time to rebalance my investments. It was a wild year in the markets and my portfolio reflects that fact. I always like to rebalance in January after the year end sell off that people do for tax reasons in December. I personally believe it is a good time to make adjustments while markets are quiet.

I can't trade today since it is Martin Luther King day and the markets are closed. I have my spreadsheet ready and placed the trades which will go through tomorrow. I was better off than I thought and only have to make a couple of adjustments this year.

Re-balancing is very important since it forces you to sell your winners and buy some of your under performing positions. This is basically selling high and buying low to an extent. You are bringing your portfolio back to your target percentage of stocks and bonds. I like to do this once per year to stay on the right track. Doing this also hedges you (to an extent) against big loses like in 2000-2001.