Resolution Re-cap- 6 Months In

It's time for a RESOLUTION RECAP.

Sorry to shout- but it's officially well into the 'new' year. That makes it time to find out how well those well-intentioned New Year's Resolutions are holding up. According to Psychology Today most New Year's Resolutions fall to the wayside pretty quickly. Specifically over time, 22% fail after one week, 40% after one month, 50% after three months, 60% after six months, and 81% after twenty-four months. Ouch! So if you made a resolution to exercise more or eat less, chances are you (and the rest of America) stuck with that for maybe a few weeks!

Don't let that bring you down though because the same research on why resolutions fail gives us good insight in how to be successful. The research shows that people who had solid concrete goals- with measurable and trackable outcomes were more likely to be successful. When personal motivation is lacking, the use of a support system for personal accountability also comes into play!

So how'd Ms. Frugal Rock do on those resolutions? Here's a status report:

1. Do something with that old 401K account.

I'm embarrassed to start with this one, because until I started this post- I had completely forgotten about this resolution. Whoops. Probably the easiest out of the 5 resolution goals there is nothing sexy about exploring your 401k roll-over options. That being said, it should be a pretty simple way to condense my portfolio and get all of my accounts in the same place. I'm adding it to my list for this next week and will report back!

2. Find a way to reduce my commute by biking 1 day a week.

Sweet, sweet progress. I had initially mentioned my hope of purchasing an electric bike, but super-savy, Mr. Frugal Rock managed to find a pretty reasonable kit online to outfit my current bike into an electric. As of about two monhs ago, I can be found zooming along the bike trails knocking over pedestrians with my speed...well not quite, but I'm able to cruise at about 13mph without pedaling, and with pedaling am able to make a pretty nice clip. I have been buzzing back and forth to work now 10+ times and have stuck with my goal of biking at least once a week. Now that it's truly summer (with less damp weather going around hopefully!) I'll be able to bike in more often.  Finger's crossed!

As someone who has never been a confident street biker- being able to bike downtown fairly confidently feels like a huge milestone for me, as I could not have imagined myself biking to work even a year ago! Life is funny sometimes!

3. Aggressively save to pay off our mortgage early

I posted in January on our goals for our mortgage, and am proud to announce that we have knocked our mortgage down to 5 figures, instead of 6. It's satisfying to see one less digit at the end of our loan amount. In addition, there is a super-saving-scheme (alliteration makes saving more fun, I promise) in the works that if followed will keep us on track to knock even more off this year. One potential set-back in our saving is a new roof, which is needed for the Frugal Rock home this year. While an expected expense, anytime you have to spend thousands of dollars on a home improvement project it hurts a bit!

4. Continue to explore side jobs or 'side hustles'

No new updates on this for Ms. Frugal Rock yet to share. BUT, I hope to have news to share soon about a potential side hustle. Mr. Frugal Rock has been leaving me in the dust and has developed his own Etsy Store to sell Nintendo Themed Wood Block Sets- no joke, they are the best!

5. Embrace budget travel.

This one has been thoroughly embraced. As I shared in a previous Frugal Road Trip post, I loved going on a cross-country road trip, and the fact that also didn't deplete our bank accounts was another huge bonus. Last month brought on a last minute road trip to the corn-loving state of Iowa, to see a friend in on business. While no means the most exciting vacation destination I've ever been to- it was a great time anyway! Frugal trips have been planned for this summer including some camping and backpacking, so stay tuned for posts on those, as well as other Frugal Travel features.

How have your resolutions been going? Any frugal resolution you have made and stuck with?



Investment Basics: 'Bear'ly Making Sense of a Bull Market

As a beginning investor, sometimes you can listen to the news or hear market re-caps, and be utterly confused by the lingo. You may have heard reference in the past to the concept of a 'bear' or a 'bull' market. Even outside the New York Stock Exchange, they have a statue of this lovely beauty:

 

Looks friendly.

So what is the difference between a bull market and a bear market and how did they get those names?

Interestingly, the difference between the two boils down to their method of aggression or attack. A bear when poised to attack takes it's paw and swipes downward. For bulls, it's exactly the opposite. Think Pamplona and the running of the bulls for a minute. Bulls will move their heads low and thrust quickly upwards, hoping to skewer unsuspecting runners with their horns. So what does this have to do with the market? Both animals' attacks are supposed to symbolize the movement of the market and investor confidence (more about that in a moment). In a bear market, you would expect to see market prices decline, while in a bull market, the opposite would be seen. Some investment experts cite a 20% decrease in value from the peak of the bull stock market as the sign of the bear market. 

The animal choices are also not completely random. Some of the first commodity traders were bear skin sellers. After selling orders of bear skins, the traders would hope that the price would go down on the skins before they purchased them. They would still charge their customers the same cost, thus making a larger profit. They would actually hope for a 'bear' market and would use that to turn a profit.

Investor Confidence

 

As seasoned stock market watchers know, much of the stock market movement is tied to what is referred to as Investor Confidence. Investor Confidence can make or break a stock. The stock market often has normal shifts up and down, as individual stocks also move up and down. Certain stock groupings, such as the NASDAQ or the S&P500 are groupings of stock that are than measured in their market increases and decreases. These indices are generally thought to be good representations of tracking the market as whole. If overall, investors are less hopeful about the future of the US economy the stock market tends to take a hit. If a company projects positive earnings or makes a change in leadership, this may increase investor confidence and cause a rise in pricing.

 

Larger impacts, like consumer spending, reports from the Federal Reserve or the unemployment rate are all items closely watched by investment firms and factor into decisions to buy or sell. CNN Money has a different way of talking about Investor Confidence. They have a model related to Fear V. Greed. On the Greed side, investors are purchasing rapidly and the overall stock market sees a rise (bull market). The Fear side, is when many investors question the values of their stocks and sell rapidly (bear market). For many of us, the sell-offs of the Great Recession are not yet distant memories, where many portfolios lost tens of thousands of dollars in short periods of time- a reminder that fear and lack of confidence has large repercussions. 

 

  What a load of bull...

  

Does the idea of investor confidence and the rise and fall of the market seem arbitrary to you?? I'm with you! You can go crazy watching the major indices, like the NASDAQ or the S&P. Most agree that the US Stock market has been in a long-stretch of bull market, without a 20% decline that has been seen in the global markets. While global stock markets have entered the bear market- US markets seem to still be in bull territory. Watch any Market Watch though and there are predictions of doom and gloom on the horizon. But would a bear market be so bad?

 

Think of a weak stock market as a 'sale' rack - with deals to be found for the savvy investor. I am always thrilled when I purchase something half-off or on clearance so why shouldn't I also be stoked by the idea of paying less for a stock that one year ago was twice the price? This is where that weak stock market- or a bear market, can be good for you! You have the chance to build your portfolio without spending as much, if you are making good investment decisions. For me- we have a monthly amount that we put into a ROTH investment account- we put the same amount in each month, but our money stretches farther in a bear market, than a bull market. When eventually the market turns from Fear to Greed again, the hope is that those investments will increase dramatically!

 

How Confident are YOU in the Market? Do You Think A Bear or Bull Market is in the Future?



Gardening Update 1: Need for Seeds

First gardening update: the seeds are bought and in the ground!

And by ground, I mean in individual garden soil pellets, positioned under heat lamps in my warm house cuz it's too freaking cold outside still to actually plant them in the ground!

As some of you may remember from this recent post- I am asking the question this summer "Can veggie gardening save you money??". As part of that, I decided to start seeds indoors prior to planting outside. There are a few good money saving reasons for this:

1. It saves me from having to purchase plants later at the garden store, which can get expensive. Seed packets are generally about $1-$2 and can grow 10+ plants while garden stores often charge $5-$10 for starter veggie plants.

2. It allows you to grow different varieties than are commonly sold. Last year I grew these fantastic mini-watermelons, that I grew from seeds. They took off in my yard, but I never would have found them at a Home Depot!

So far my grand total of costs has been $33, which includes seed purchases. I did have the grow lights left over from previous years so I repurposed those. Search on Amazon and you can find some reasonable set up for less than $50 depending on the size of the light that you are looking for. While it will have some cost for you at first if you use them year by year, it can be worth it. If you have a lot of windows, you may not need them, but the window placement in our house doesn't lend itself to good seedling growing so plants lights were the best solution.

So about a week or two after planting, here is how my seedlings are doing:

This tray is primarily tomato varieties- beefsteak, and vine tomatoes, but also has a little okra and cantaloupe thrown in. YUM.

Hope it's beginning to feel like spring wherever you are!!