| Currently in my ninth month of deployment to Iraq. Working to aggressively pay down most of my debt prior to redeployment.
My main focus continues to be paying off my car in its entirety before I redeploy back to the U.S. To be able to complete something like that will be such a motivating experience that will push me to continue towards fully identifying and completing my financial goals.
The "other asset" column is my total contribution to the Army Savings Deposit Program thus far. I won?t be able to attain the full 10% interest rate provided by the program, however, making the contribution for the next three months will allow me to save $9100 + interest and direct it all into my emergency savings account. Goal is to have at least $10,000 by the end of the deployment.
I am proud to report that I did finish reading "Guide to Investing -What the Rich Invest In That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!" by my favorite financial author, Robert Kiyosaki. Overall, I would say that it is a good read. Based on Robert Kiyosaki?s book, I do plan on spending the bulk of my earning years working in the ?E? quadrant, but I will also be heavily involved in the ?I? quadrant. Additionally, it has spurred me to continue to push myself to be educated financially so that I can guide myself towards a comfortable retirement.
That is right....I did type comfortable. I am truly not interested in being rich. Given my career in the military, I think that I will be able to work in such a way that I will be able to attain a very comfortable retirement via a military pension. Despite what the reports currently say, I do not believe that military benefits will be reduced anytime soon. If pensions are going to be cut, it should only affect those individuals who join the service after the law is passed. Additionally, I plan to have the military pension as a supplement to my TSP (equivalent to 401K) and my personal Roth account. I will also pursue an additional job after the military. Not sure what it will be just yet, but it will be something that will definitely be a lot more relaxing so that I can spend more time at home. With all of these things put together, I believe that I will have the money that I need to be able to retire and enjoy a comfortable life.
I am currently reading a book that my sister gave me by T. Harv Eker called ?Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.? It is a fairly quick book to read, and my initial impression is that I am reading a continuous advertisement to attend one of his $2,000+ seminars. More to follow next month?.
As for Investopedia, I found a great series of articles that teaches one how to use one of their worksheets to review and analyze mutual funds. By looking at nine different categories, such as returns and manager tenure, and following Investopedia?s guidance on how to rate the different categories, one will be able to come up with good assessment on a particular mutual fund. I tried it out with one of my funds, Vanguard Global Equity, and found some pretty interesting information about the fund. The biggest shocker for me was that it has assets in excess of $4 billion. I will continue to use this product to compare some other mutual funds as well and make some financially decisions in the next several months.
Still plan on saving, but holding on to the money for the 2011 IRA contribution until I figure out what I should invest in next.
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