| Great news: I PAID OFF THE BANK OF AMERICA LOAN!!!!!!!!!
It's been a long haul and I know I paid substantial dividends on the $30K that I borrowed over 3 years ago. But 2008 has been a remarkable year for me financially. I thought I was going to be in debt forever and I'm so amazed to think back in March when I made the commitment to knock this out; I never thought I would get it paid off so soon. Sadly, the experience was rather anti-climactic when I sent the final $8.09 in (they nailed me with a final finance charge after I had initially paid off the balance). Either way I need to close out the account and end that chapter in my life. Let the snowball take down my Student Loan and mortgage next.
Wasn't able to get the repairs completed on my car due to a crazy work schedule lately. Don't know if I'll be able to get the work done before I leave on another 2 month deployment here in a few weeks. Gonna keep trying though.
With the end of the year my concerns are now stemming from my lack of noteworthy contributions to my IRA account. I had hoped to max it out before the tax day cutoff. Plus I'll soon have 2009 to worry about. My TSP (military 401K without matching contributions) has not weathered the timultuous financial crisis as well as I would've liked. Granted, I limited my deposits into the account in an effort to focus on my debt elimination, but now I'm concerned that I'm missing out on prime buying opportunities. There's still plenty of time for compounding to work in my favor prior to my retirement, and I'm confident that things will work out in the end.
Christmas season is upon us, and for the second year in a row I'm trying to ensure that I budget my spending and buy gifts smartly.
Until next month... |