My Financial Obsessions

My Financial Obsessions

This should be a fun little blog, as you get to hear what this oddball does on a regular basis with his finances.  Much like all of you, I, too, have my own idiosyncrasies when it comes to my personal finances.  I figured it has worked for me thus far, plus candidly, I’ve come to rely on my quirks to help me feel balanced. 

Beginning of the month:

I’ll start with, well, the beginning, which is the first of the month.  I can’t wait for 9 am to hit so my mortgages update to reflect my most recent payments.  I watch with glee as that mortgage balance comes ticking down.  I even go on an exercise for many months of seeing the difference in principal paid from one month to the next (always seems to be $5 more) and calculating how many more months I have left until that sucker is paid off. 

Throughout the month:

There are many regular items I tend to check throughout the month, and so I’ll list them below:

• Check my investment balances, but truthfully, really only on up days.  I, much like you, find no enjoyment or pleasure in checking my investment accounts when I know they are down.  When markets are cruising along, I’ll log in a few times a month to see where I am as far as balances.  That is all.  I don’t judge them, I don’t freak out or get excited, I simply check the balances to see if I have hit a new threshold or not.
• The investment balance exception is that I make a monthly contribution to my investment accounts.  I like to check the balances after each contribution to make sure my little buddy made it home safely and into the proper accounts.  Plus, it serves as a little ego boost as I know I am that much closer to hitting my financial goals. 
• Credit card points are a thing I’ll check each month.  I basically have three cards I use with some form of regularity.  I have my main cash back card, which I love checking how much queued cash I have building up.  Candidly, I let the number get high enough, then I use it for one month to knock down an unusually high credit bill.  I check my travel card to see how much accrued travel dollars I have, which is oddly enough, something I rarely use, thus it is getting up there.  Finally, I check my American Airlines card to see how many points I earned (more on that in a minute).
• Other points I care about checking are my American Airlines mile points, as I am an anal when it comes to flying so I want to make sure I get just enough points to get a preferred boarding number, currently I’m at a 2!  I also check my Marriott points sporadically during the month to see if I have added a few more hotel points.  These are fun little games I play with myself to keep the fun in my finances.
• Credit card balances are something I keep a watchful eye over.  I want to make sure the balances are correct to ensure that there are no erroneous charges, and that the balances aren’t getting too high in any given month.  Sometimes I’ll have to, or want to, make a mid-month payment just to keep the overall balance down. 
• Money market interest is something I love seeing.  Have my balances gone up in my savings accounts or down?  Let me see, and even try to guess, how much I’ll earn in free savings account interest this month.  Usually, the second half of the month is when the monthly figure posts, and what a joyous day as daddy can go get a new pair of shoes (just kidding).
• House values are something I didn’t use to do regularly, but my awesome mortgage guy and friend Matt Lieberman has this cool program he uses for all his customers.  It gives you a monthly email about how much your home is estimated to be worth and rough values around your area.  Not top of my list, since I’m not going anywhere, but fun to look at, and if something changes, update my net worth amounts.
• Checking account balances is something I literally check every morning.  This is perhaps the most useful thing I do.  It allows me to make sure I am not being hacked, or that no surprise dollars are coming out.  Also, it serves as a great gut check to see where my cash position stands.  Is it an expensive month, and do I need to transfer dollars from my savings accounts?  Or the opposite, have we behaved this month, and I can throw a few extra dollars into my savings accounts.

End of the month:

This brings us sadly to the end of each month, before we rinse and repeat again (I mean, those mortgages are only a day or two away until I get to enjoy that next little dopamine rush).  I like to take stock of all my cash accounts and cross-reference that on any existing big expenses I have remaining this year.  You see, I try to take a bonus each year and put all large expenditures into an account.  As the year goes on and I pay those expenses, like my family’s spring break we just took, I deduct it from my outstanding expenditure list I keep and try to maintain each year.  This keeps me accountable and lets me know if we need to dial anything back, which we usually don’t. 

There you have it, my oddities and what keeps my head straight financially each month.  Curious about your take and if there is anything you do regularly, I am missing, I know I don’t check my credit, guess I don’t really care to.

As always, stay wealthy, healthy, and happy!