Hello All,

You may know from my wife’s earlier posting that I’m back from Switzerland. After getting home last night and taking care of getting our apartment back in shape I find that I’m taking a brief look at our financial situation. Traveling is terrific, but I’m more of a homebody than my globetrotting wife so its good to take a breather and check the status of our accounts.

1) Second Mortgage Payoff:

We’ve both decided to make this our highest priority. So far, its going okay. We’re down to $16,700 from $17,730 at the start of this year. Thats not a while lot. It may make sense to think about some way to reduce the interest rate so we can attack the principle more quickly. We discussed this back in late January, but we haven’t acted on it yet. The most likely plan will be either a) call Washington Mutual and demand a rate reduction or b) transfer part of the debt to a zero balance credit card.

2) Stocks:

Things with our portfolio are just okay. We’ve got a fair amount in Canadian energy trusts (PVX, AAV) and the southern copper corporation (PCU). The prices for shares of these three companies have been fluctuating a fair amount recently. For the time being, their values seem to have stopped declining, so our account values have improved a bit recently. While there isn’t much to be gained from watching the daily fluctuations of stock prices, it’s a psychological boost when our accounts increase in value.

Best,

James

MANAGE YOUR MONEY TOGETHER

Here are some simple guidelines for DINKS to build wealth:

1) Collaborate: Meet regularly to talk about money, set goals together, track and monitor them.

2) Understand and respect your partner. Take time to understand your partners values about money.

3) Watch the numbers. Get a budget, monitor your spending and track your net worth.

4) Max your retirement. Maximize contributions to your tax deferred retirement accounts.

5) Invest in stock. Stocks perform better than bonds or cash.

6) Avoid high interest debt. Credit cards and title loans are financial cancer.

7) Diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

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