Not much to report

Not the most exciting title for an update, but it's the truth! I could have sworn though that I posted in August. Anyway, the market is on fire, which is good and bad. I have a bunch of cash that I want to invest, but I don't want to invest now, for fear I will be investing at the high. I know October is usually a not very promising month for the market, so I'll be on the watch for any downturn, no matter how slight, to invest. I saw my Learnvest adviser (or talked to her) recently and we mostly talked about a strategy for investing the cash.  We'll see.  Overall, I"m about 40% in cash, which would be fine if I were 80, but since I am not, I need to put my money to work so it will grow.

The real estate market in my hood is also on fire. There's a place similar to mine on the market for $150K more than I bought mine for a little more than a year ago. So in theory if I could sell my place for that amount, I'd have to bring about 100K less to the closing to give to the bank to pay off the mortgage. Which is nice, but irrelevant because I have no plans to sell.

I've been pretty good on my expenses lately. I haven't bought a stitch of clothing, any electronics, any furnishings or any sporting goods this month, and there's only 10 days left. Would kind of like to keep it that way. My food budget is somewhat under control. Took lunch all but one day this week.

Yawn, sorry for the boring update! But I guess slow and steady wins the race.

Spending Reduction Success

I'm so happy I've finally gotten my restaurant/out of home dining budget down! For the last two months I've spent about half of what I normally spend.

March = $642
April = $787
May = $478
June = $380

I did it by making my lunch and making a big pot of something that I can eat all week for dinner. I also cut back on going out to dinner as much. In June, I was traveling so much for work that a lot of my food expense was covered, so I was able to have a nice sushi night out ($100). If I hadn't done that, I would have spent barely anything at all on eating out.

It feels so good to get my spending in this category under control.

I also did my net worth update for the quarter. Even with the recent market dip I'm pretty much on track for where I want to be. I like to increase my net worth by $25K a quarter. Of course that's not always possible, but that's the goal.

One thing I do not do is include any price appreciation from my apt. in my net worth. Although I paid $450,000 for my apartment one year ago, the same unit in a different building just sold for $600,000!!!! Which I think is the sign that we're in a bubble, but the good news is I don't care I'm just going to keep my head down and keep paying off my mortgage.

Does More Money Make Us Fat?

One thing I never expected to miss when I moved from my 4th floor walkup was the stairs. Or the weekly trip to the laundromat. Or hauling heavy things up the stairs. Or all the stairs I had to walk in my old commute.  Or not having a dishwasher. I joke that moving to my condo was akin to the industrial revolution, my own personal industrial revolution. But now that I've left the pre-modern world behind and have all the "mod cons" of a dishwasher, a washer dryer in my house and a short flight of stairs to climb, I find I miss the old "inconveniences" because I get a lot less exercise. I thought when I moved I would use the time I gained to work out more, but that hasn't happened. I don't know where the time went. But I have definitely gained a few pounds since moving and I really miss having to work as hard physically to do my daily tasks. I was reminded of that when reading this special report on obesity in the Economist. A really interesting read: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21568065-world-getting-wider-says-charlotte-howard-what-can-be-done-about-it-big

Moving to the darkside

For my whole (adult) life, I've been a renter. Basically, for 15 years. For the last 10 years I've looked at buying an apt. in the NYC area. I've focused on different boroughs (Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn) states (NJ) and types of places (a place in the Catskills or somewhere rural, or somewhere in the city?). As of last Sunday, I think my loooong search is just about over!

Most of my friends and family are shocked, as they think this came "out of the blue" and while I haven't actively been looking recently, I feel confident in my decision because this apartment has most of the things I've been searching for: a one bedroom plus a little more space in the form of an alcove, low monthly maintenance, no fancy amenities, in a safe, quiet neighborhood with a cool vibe, on a great subway line and close to the subway stop, beautiful hardwood floors and a price that is totally affordable. I am planning to put down a 25% deposit. With the tax abatement, my total monthly spend should be comparable to my rent -- maybe a few hundred more depending on my interest rate on my mortgage, but if I get any kind of mortgage interest deduction, it might be even less than I pay now!

I actually feel relief. Having all that cash just sitting around and not invested was stressful. Now I certainly won't have that problem: I am currently shaking out the couch cushions to try to come up with more $! Actually, I am going to Coinstar today to cash in my change. Buying a condo in Brooklyn/NYC is not for the weak or the poor, that's for sure. The closing costs will probably be about $20K! Oy vey.

House hunting

Today I'm off to look at a new condo in my neighborhood. The asking price is $569,000. Ouch. That got me thinking about how to gauge whether or not I can afford an apartment. I'd love to be conservative and spend 2x my annual income. I remember reading that that's a trait that rich people have in common. At 569, this place would be a little more than 3.5x annual income (not including bonus). However, I will most likely have to put 20% down, so the monthly payments seem doable. I calculated that if I pay an extra $10,000 a year on the mortgage I could pay it down in 17 years. That would be awesome. Of course paying $329,000 for a 2 bedroom apartment in a less desirable neighborhood that's farther away would allow me to pay down the apartment really fast. However that place is a Co-op and there are definite disadvantages to living in a coop versus a condo.

I loved this post about the Paradox of Choice on Get Rich Slowly this week. It's exactly how I feel about real estate -- paralyzed by too many choices.

My Obsession

Last time I wrote, I had lined up an appointment with a financial adviser to help me sort out an asset allocation for my portfolio -- the taxable and tax-deferred accounts.

Well, the purpose of the taxable account has always been in theory to use as a downpayment for an apartment. However, I've been looking for said apartment since 2003. I flip flop all the time about what I think I want. I've looked at co-ops in Queens for $255,000 and more recently 1 bedrooms in Brooklyn for $540,000 and 2 families for $800,000. And in between pondered buying a place in the country (having looked in the Catskills once and online constantly).

So, combined with my belief that there are no fundamentals underlying this recent market rally, I've started to feel like maybe I should just cash out the taxable account and keep it in cash. Someday hopefully within the next year I might actually decide on buying a place and might need that $ to supplement my cash savings. So I'm starting to think going to see the financial adviser might be pointless since a good chunk of my portfolio could be converted into cash.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has problems pulling the trigger on the real estate gun. My hemming and hawing has actually served me well. I missed the whole crazy bubble.

For now I have to decide if I have the courage of my convictions and can actually liquidate my whole taxable account.