Assets:
NT's UK pensions: 7,250 pounds ($14,500)
14,721 pounds ($29,442)
NT's 401(k): $6,620
AS's 403(b): $2,888
AS's CD: $516
AS retirement savings: $845
CJ's 401(k): $30,273
NT's flat: 130,000 pounds ($260,000)
CJ & AS's condo: $160,000
Baby/emergency fund (shared asset): $6,731
---
Total Assets: $511,815

Total Debt: $384,144

Current Estimated Net Worth: $127,671

October 2009 estimate: $116,484

Change in net worth: +$11,187

Summary: OK, we made a HUGE leap in net worth, but let me explain. I don't get regular info on NT's UK pensions, but I happened to look at a piece of mail we got, rather than just filing it away uncomprehendingly, and realized that one of his pensions had jumped quite a bit in the 3+ years since he gave me the initial balance. So that gradual increase is recorded as a big leap here.

I also paid off a healthy chunk of debt, and all our other retirement accounts increased modestly, so that all contributed to the change.

After Creditcardfree's post about getting close to six figures on their retirement funds, I got curious about ours. Turns out we're at $85,084, so quite a ways to go before we hit six figures. But it's better than nothing!

I will update my "Individual Net Worth" page shortly so you can see how it breaks out.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are conservative. I don't have a way to check NT's UK pensions or flat value, so their values stay static for the purpose of this update (unless I happen to get some info by chance). UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $2 for every British pound, which was the exchange rate when I started keeping track. I maintain that ratio for the purpose of tracking progress, even though the exchange rate is now closer to $1.60 per British pound.

Ack, this has been a busy and eventful week, both financially and otherwise! Anyway, yesterday I would have transferred the remaining $400 of Xmas money into our savings account--except we're ready to start Xmas shopping! So it stayed in checking, but I did technically reach my savings goal, with $770 saved, $50 over my November goal.

Time to go check out net worth now. Where has the month gone??

Not as much as I'd hoped, though! One of AS's student loans hit, and only $75 went to principal, not the usual $80-something. Maybe it was because the bill was technically due the 14th (a Saturday), but didn't hit the account until today. So $2190 down, $10 to go on the November debt goal.

I know I've said this before and it's never happened, but I'm really not sure I'll make my monthly goal this time. My next payment is scheduled for Thanksgiving day, so as long as it goes out the Friday after, should hit the following Monday, which is the 30th. Should I take that chance or do a little extra payment on the personal loan? I have plenty of fluff money in the checking account. Hmmm...

OK, one non-money bit of news: My NaNoWriMo novel is up to 8099 words! I managed about 3300 words last night, my most prolific night to date. Now if I could keep up that pace for the rest of the month, I could actually achieve this! I had nearly a week of writer's block and lack of motivation, but hopefully that's over. If you divvy the month up evenly, I should have reached 25,000 words last night, but I'm trying not to think about that.

The other day NT asked if we'd have any money to give my dad for the personal loan when we see him at Thanksgiving. We won't, but it got me thinking. My dad doesn't trust the mail carrier they have due to recurring delivery problems, so he won't just let me send him checks for payment. I'll have to do a wire transfer from my bank account to his, which will incur a fee each time. I thought, maybe I should write out 6 checks for $1000 each, and leave the dates blank, and give them to my dad at Thanksgiving. I can e-mail him whenever I have $1000 ready for him so he can date and cash one of the checks. This way, I'll save money on transaction fees, and he'll have a concrete piece of evidence that I do intend to pay him the rest of the money, and soon. He's a very organized guy, so I know I can trust him to hold onto those checks and not lose them. Still considering it, but it seems like a good idea so far.

Got a surprise check in the mail this weekend, nearly $70 from our organic grocery co-op. AS and I bought a membership years ago, and we get special discounts, two $2.50 coupons per quarter, plus this profit-sharing check once a year. I always forget about the check so it's always a nice surprise! We're going to put half toward paying off my dad and half toward the laptop fund.

We've nearly decided to get a new oven! One of the big burners (the back one I used all the time for boiling pasta, grains and beans) went out a couple months ago. We've made some attempts to fix it and to find someone who can repair it, but the stove is 25+ years old so we're now leaning toward replacing it. Cleaning under the coils is a pain, so we'd want one of those flat-surface electric stoves. There are good ones to be had for $400-$700 at Sears, and we can do the no payments, no interest for 12 months thing. I'm confident we'd easily save up that much just with extra income streams once we finish saving for our laptop. We've bought a fridge and a dishwasher this way and didn't pay a cent in interest because we paid them off in plenty of time.

Speaking of extra income streams, the woman who wants me to do a little freelance proofreading asked my hourly rate. I'm stalling getting back to her because I have no idea! I know I get paid about $24 per hour (plus benefits) and that my company bills clients $150 per hour for my time, so I feel like it should be somewhere in between those. Not sure what to do. AS will help me come up with a price later if I haven't decided.

Had a delightful dinner at the home of some friends we see far too seldom this weekend. They have two small children and we really enjoyed seeing how happy and engaged the kids were, and how much the parents clearly liked having them around. At the end of the night, they gave us some baby equipment including a bouncy seat for infants, a breastfeeding pillow that helps support the baby, and a brand new copy of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. I know we have lots still to get, but our front closet is filling up with loads of useful (and free!) supplies.

I was bummed on Friday because I didn't find any change on 5th St. But this morning on the way to work I found a penny, so my lucky streak is back as far as I'm concerned!

While trying to pick the health care coverage with the best pricing, I'm trying to factor in the worst-case scenario. So I'm ignoring the deductible, which only tells you the most you could pay for one medical event. Instead I'm adding the monthly premium and the out-of-pocket maximum for each option. That will tell me which plan would cost the least should I have expensive medical issues. (And judging from the past few years, and the fact I have the final trimester plus labor and delivery to get through in 2010, I should definitely plan to be reaching my out-of-pocket maximum.)

I have two options for medical, plus optional additional dental and vision plans. What I've done is tried to figure out the highest possible cost for each plan for me as an individual; for me and the baby; and for me, NT and the baby. Then when NT gets details of his job's options, I will figure out the highest possible cost for each option for just him; for him and the baby; and for him, me and the baby.

I'll then pair up the different ways that all three of us can be covered, adding together the maximum costs, for instance, of having just me on my work plan while NT and the baby are on his work plan. Then I'll compare, and the combination that results in the lowest maximum annual cost will be the option that I go with.

Sounds fail-safe, right? Although have you seen the movie or read the book Fail Safe? They think there's no way they could make a mistake, and next thing you know New York and Moscow are getting blown up. So we're watching the documentary "Sicko," and there are all these stories of people who had coverage, but when they were diagnosed with a serious condition, the insurance company found a way to disqualify treatment, such as calling a proven method "experimental," or to kick the person out of their coverage altogether, as they did with a woman by pointing out that she hadn't disclosed the "serious" condition of once having had a yeast infection on her application, so therefore she should never have been covered. I think she had cancer.

So I do realize that under the current conditions in the U.S., all this scrupulous planning to make sure I have enough money for the maximum out-of-pocket could be for naught if one of us were diagnosed with something serious, because there's a good chance the insurance company could find a way to deny payment for the treatment.

But what else can I do? I still have to make the best plans I can, and find the best deal, and try to have enough money in the bank to cover what the insurance companies say would be the most I'd have to pay.

And bide my time till we can move to England...hoping no health disaster befalls any of us between now and then.

Two paychecks in the checking account (mine and NT's) was a pleasant little surprise. Even though I've been at this job for 3+ years, I still tend to think that if the 15th hits on a Sunday, payday isn't till Monday, as it was at my old job. Maybe this time I'll remember, since I'm writing about it!

Making my loan payment early worked out well; I had plenty of float money in the checking account and my balance never got below $1200, even though my Number Crunch worksheet showed some red for awhile (because theoretically, if I'd had to withdraw all of my medical-expense money and all the money saved for the laptop fund before this payday, I would've overdrawn). Now my balance sheet is lovely and black all the way down for the next three months again!

The only trouble is, now it's over a month before my next loan payment (which will be my payoff)! Oh well, maybe I can float again next month. I'm very impatient to pay this off so I can start paying my dad off. (The back story on that: He gave me $12,000 for down payment on my & AS's condo. So far I've paid back $6,000 in six years; that's progress, but not nearly enough, so ideally, I'll pay back the other $6,000 before baby comes in early March.)

I think I'm going to update the Big-Picture Goal in my sidebar...it's eminently clear I won't be CC-free by the end of this year. Soo, I'm just going to move it out a year and try to reach the goal by the end of 2010! I'm going to list a couple other goals I have for debt, such as getting rid of one of AS's student loans by the end of 2011. Could happen! Anyway, it's something to shoot for. (I'm sure my baby is laughing maniacally and tenting its little fingers because it has other plans for my money, but oh well.)

I probably have a bit of freelance proofreading headed my way next week. Woo hoo! I haven't negotiated a price, because just between me and all of you, I'd do it for any amount of money! If it's just a little sum, I'll put it toward the laptop fund. If by chance it ends up being more, or if I get more work as a result of doing a good job, I'll put some toward the laptop fund and some toward paying my dad.

It's now a little over a week until AS finds out whether she'll get the job at the publishing house! We think her chances are good because she's worked there before; the head editor trusts her taste and instincts; and she left on good terms last time, has kept in touch ever since, and also has gotten a lot of impressive education and job experience in the meantime. However, she knows a little bit about the other person who's in the running for the job, and they also have an extremely impressive resume. So there is some chance she won't get it. But we're realistically optimistic.

While admiring Thriftorama's forethought in getting her new baby-to-be's college fund ready to go, I was struck once again with how clueless I am as to how to proceed financially once I'm ready to start saving and investing more than paying extra debt. I feel like our debt load is still outsized, so I'll be focusing on that for at least another two years. But at some point, we're going to have to get serious about retirement and college savings, and we'll have quite a bit of catchup to play since we're not doing much on those fronts in the meantime. But it's an extremely complex problem, since we'll be drawing U.S. income for several more years but plan on ultimately retiring in the UK (and raising our kids in the UK, which means they may want to go to college there). I'm ignorant of tax laws and haven't found any Web sites for dummies to figure out the best way to somewhat protect our assets so that when we withdraw in the UK, we won't be subject to taxation that we wouldn't in the U.S. I think this is a job for a financial planner. But how to find one with the areas of expertise we need? And how to find one whose judgment we trust? And when should I start forking over money for said expertise--should I wait until we're ready to get serious about retirement/education contributions, or should I start preparing now? I've been running in circles on this question regarding retirement for years now, and now that I've added college fund to the mix I'm more at a loss than ever!

Oh, and I found a nickel on the ground yesterday. And that concludes this edition of my financial news! LOL

I'm in creditcardfree's situation right now...my finances are pretty dull. Looking at my "Number Crunch" spreadsheet, which shows me all known activity for the next three months, all we have this week is to withdraw spending money on Friday, and on Sunday I get to move some line items down to the next month (money that I set aside for quarterly & yearly bills). Whoopee. The problem with trying to make an exciting game out of my finances is that I miss the action when nothing much is happening!

Learning from ccf's posting, I won't open up for questions. I'm trying to think what little financial things have happened recently that I haven't blogged about...

Well, I've done some tiny bits of philanthropy this past month; I donated $5 here and there to help promote the health care reform bills, I gave some money at work to buy treats for my boss (a newlywed whose husband has just been diagnosed with lymphoma), and today (in honor of Veterans Day) I donated $5 to an organization that helps homeless Minnesota veterans. I'm feeling the urge to give more, but hoping just $5 will help them a tiny bit (they can at least add me to the number of donors) and satisfy that itch. I don't want to put off philanthropy forever, but right now I feel like our money mostly needs to be doing other things.

I've been finding money nearly every day on the street that I walk to and from the bus stop and work, and to and from meeting NT for lunch. I've found 3 dimes in the past month, plus a bunch of pennies: 2 today (plus one at Target), 2 yesterday, plus several more, usually at least one a day.

I found out that one of NT's pensions has gained quite a bit of value since he gave me his info when I first took over his finances, so my next net worth update will be pretty. He also got a letter that he needs to cash out of this lottery thing that he'd bought into, because he can't be in it unless he's resident in the UK. I think he still has to find some info for it, but that will be nice once we get it; we'll have it deposited into his UK savings account, so it will add to the baby/emergency fund.

AS had a good interview on Monday, and should find out within two weeks whether she gets the dream job. We don't know how much it pays, but anything more than unemployment will feel like a big raise! (She nets $348 per week on unemployment, so I think that would be equivalent to $18K-$20K per year.) I've already figured our budget for January and February assuming no income for her, because I'd laid it out before the unemployment bill was signed, and I'm just going to keep it that way until I find out whether she'll be getting a salary or just more unemployment. This is great too in case she does get a job but there's a lag in receiving the first paycheck; we won't be hurting for that money because I've already made a workable budget without it. Anything AS does bring in for January and February will go directly to paying off my dad; we hope to have that debt settled before baby comes.

I've still been keeping track of baby expenses, and we're at $1089.23. I also factor in what I'm saving on birth control, but not what I'm saving on wine and booze. I'm counting medical bills at face value, even though so far I'm able to pay them with my health savings account, which is pretax money.

Speaking of healthcare, I'm anxiously awaiting the reveal of our 2010 options at work. I've gotten several hints that lead me to believe costs will be going up again, but who knows how much. Knowing how much well-baby visits are costing on the high-deductible plan, and knowing I have a labor & delivery coming up in 2010, I doubt I'll be doing the high-deductible again. I've decided what I'm going to do: figure out the max out-of-pocket for every plan offered by my and NT's employers and go with the lowest worst-case scenario. I'm not going to worry about whether it comes with HSA, FSA or nothing; I'm just going to look at the potential dollar amounts I would pay at worst under each plan. (NT is generally healthy as a horse, so for him I'm just going to pick the lowest premium, which will probably be at his own employer.) The only other thing that could possibly sway me is if my current doctor wouldn't be in NT's network, but I doubt that would be the case.

I'm also going to do the math on the max out-of-pocket that could happen from putting the baby on each plan, and make the decision ahead of time so there's no scrambling to decide when it enters the world.

I've returned to my old conundrum about the best places to invest for retirement considering we'll probably be retiring in England. Would a Roth IRA really benefit us, or would the UK be able to tax the portion that's untaxable in the U.S.? When exactly should I hire a financial adviser to help me make those decisions, and how will I find one who's an expert on expat retirement? We're nowhere near ready to accelerate our retirement contributions, but I have some dribs and drabs of retirement money for AS that I'm not sure what to do with: about $4000 in her old employer's 403(b), $515 in a CD that's coming due this month, $850 or so just in a very low-earning savings account. If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to them!

Yay, they DO process payments on Saturdays! $1382 went to principal. So we're at $2115 of debt paid, $85 to go on the November goal.

The personal loan is down to $1732. It's going bye-bye next month no matter what! I'm super fired up to burn off as much debt as I can before baby comes. I hope this is the right way to go versus padding the EF more. Getting rid of this $623 monthly payment certainly can't hurt our post-birth budget, and paying off my dad like a grownup before I become a mommy will just be a big psychological boost.

Yesterday was my biweekly savings day, and I put $200 into the Xmas fund. (We put aside $600 each year, $200 going to buy presents for each of us. All extended-family and friend gifts come from our own spending money.)

I also sent a $1400 personal loan payment yesterday and it left my bank account today, 10 days earlier than usual. I have all this money for various line items in the checking account, and it will get replenished on payday (the 16th, which is when I was originally going to send this payment). I figure it saves me about $5-$10 interest and does no harm. The payment should hit Monday, but I'll check tomorrow just to see if they process payments on Saturdays!

Today Obama signed the law to extend unemployment benefits. That's very good news for several of my friends, who've been out of work and looking for ages with no success. It also takes the pressure off AS, whose original stimulus unemployment extension would run out at about the end of the year. However, hopefully she won't need it. The job she's been hoping for is showing some promise--she's got an interview with the boss (also her friend and a mentor) on Monday morning. Fingers crossed!

We had a second ultrasound today--they got the pictures they couldn't get last time, confirming the spine, lip and nose are all looking perfect. Baby looked even cuter than last time! It was putting its hands together, making faces, kicking its feet...we got some great pictures again. Now we won't see our little guy for about 4 months, when it comes out. The technician at one point said "Oh, I know what you're having! You sure you don't want to know?" LOL. It about drove AS crazy, but we said yes, we're sure. Then the tech said, "Oh, and remember that I know how to spot girl parts as well as boy parts, so don't assume it's a boy just because I saw something!" Hee hee, that's exactly what AS had been thinking.

I completely forgot I did this, but when I went online to check the UK mortgage balances yesterday, I noticed we did clear 25 pounds of profit from renting the UK flat this month, despite having to pay management fees. So I transferred it into UK savings and it gets counted toward the baby/emergency fund. (We would dip into the UK money as a last resort because of the currency-conversion and account-transfer fees, but it's there if we need it.)

So that counts as $50 in savings for the baby/EF. $170 saved in November so far.

My new, lower (but more to principal) mortgage payment hit, and $372 went to principal. Love it! That's $733 down, $1467 to go on the November debt goal.

Also, wrote about 450 more words on my NaNoWriMo novel last night. I need to go a lot faster if I'm going to hit 50,000 by the end of the month, but at least I've written SOMETHING two days in a row!

NT's three UK mortgages hit:
#1 $253 to principal
#2 $53 to principal
#3 $55 to principal

All told, $361 down, $1839 to go on my November goal.

Also, I wrote 685 words on my NaNoWriMo novel last night! I've managed about one more sentence so far today, but I'm hoping to get some done when I get home tonight.

I transferred $120 into savings for AS's retirement, so just $600 to go on my November savings goal.

AS's $500 CD is coming up in mid-November, so I have to decide what to do next. Maybe with the money I've been putting into savings (I have about $850), plus that $500, it would be enough to start a Roth IRA for her.

Debt: Pay off at least $2200 of debt.
Balance as of 11/1: $386,334
Goal balance: $384,134
I hope to make my next-to-last payment on the personal loan this month.

Savings: Save at least $720 ($120 for AS's retirement; $600 for Xmas fund)
Progress: DONE! $776 saved
We have to pay the management company of NT's UK rental flat, so there will be little, if any, leftover money to put aside for the baby/EF.

Creative/crafts: 1. Participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). 50,000 words in 30 days; wish me luck! I've started, but never finished, about 4 times.

Other: Help AS with couch reupholstery. Her mom sent us the fabric, so now it's up to us to save our bedraggled couch!

Other #2: Begin to contact daycare options we've collected. We need to start getting a sense of prices and availability for next year.

OCTOBER 2009 GOALS:

1. Debt: Pay off at least $2600 of debt.
Results: DONE! $2865 paid

2. Savings: Save at least $775
Results: DONE! $776 saved

5. Creative/crafts: Begin to brainstorm and plot novel idea.
Results: Uh, kinda. I lazily thought about ideas all month, and this morning before I got out of bed, I settled on a general plot and think I'll be able to write the opening scene today.

Overall, pretty much a success!

Now on to my November goals.