I’ve been through many changes in the past few months. As you might have read below, I stopped working at my former corporate job and began working as a high school teacher, hence the pause in my 401(k) increases. During the summer, I am working part time at my old job and considering whether I will be teaching again in the fall. When I started teaching, I needed a car to get around, since no public transportation is available. I purchased a 1997 Honda Civic at that time. In June, after having some problems with that car, I decided to purchase a 2004 Honda Civic.
Yes, I know I’ve talked about buying new cars in mostly negative terms. I considered many things, and I decided that buying a 2004 Honda Civic for a good price was the best way for me to go. The car will last me as close to forever as possible, and was not much more expensive than a slightly used version. Included in my “home inventory” is the old Civic which I am still trying to sell.
Additionally, I recently spent a week in California. I managed to limit my expenses there by staying with relatives. The stock market has also not been kind over the past few months. So, on with the financial update:
| July 17 | February 17 | |
| Cash and Savings: | $ 13,200 | $ 13,408 |
| Taxable Investments: | $ 3,129 | $ 3,242 |
| 401k (Pre-Tax): | $ 9,989 | $ 9,660 |
| Roth IRA: | $ 3,179 | $ 2,041 |
| Credit Cards: | ($ 1,709) | ($ 2,165) |
| Student Loan 3.97%: | $ – | ($ 1,720) |
| Student Loan 2.82%: | ($ 6,323) | ($ 9,250) |
| Home Inventory: | $ 13,059 | $ 9,454 |
| Equity in Car: | $ – | $ – |
| TOTAL | $ 34,524 | $ 24,575 |
Updated March 27, 2006 and originally published July 23, 2004. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
{ 1 comment }
I don’t wish to sound pedantic, buy you go guy. My wife and I both basically pissed away our 20s, financially speaking. The only things we had going for us were that we both finished school debt free, and I maxed out my 401(k) from day one. We got married at 27, and at 35 we’ve made up some lost time. Our house will be paid off within the next 7 months.
We often say if we’d *only* been better with money back then, we’d really be well off now.