Thursday, September 4, 2008

You Know You're an Accounting Dork When...

...you spend your downtime at work scheming an elaborate plan as to how you can more quickly pay off your car loan all the while being able to maximize savings over the course of time it originally should have taken you to pay it off. Yep. *raises hand* That'd be me, the nerdy girl sitting at her desk with a newly calculated amortization schedule, excel spreadsheet and hand on the ten-key. I still can't be sure of where I got these tendencies, but I keep promising Justin they'll pay off in the long run.

I'm not really concerned about paying off my car in the sense of money being tight. I originally financed it for a period of five years (as most do) because there's no penalty in an early payoff and why stretch yourself thin when you don't have to? My goal, nay-obsession, at this point in time in paying it off early is in the sense of saving money by knocking off interest. I had originally planned to have the balance to zero by around June of 2010, two years ahead of time. Then today, an epiphany hit and I've spent the last hour coming up with different figures as to how money would balance out should I move that date up to December 2009. So far, so good.

Of course, this sudden inspiration came from a little game I like to play against myself called "See How Much Under the Budget You Can Get in the Month", or as I'm sure Justin would term it "How Big of a Jew Can I Be?". I always want to be covered in case something unexpected were to happen. And of course I want to be covered when the expected shows up all too quickly (don't you hate it when those days and weeks fly right past you?). So my main concern in accelerating payments would be having the money put back for the future things I know I'll need it for. Future vacations, maybe my masters, a wedding somewhere off in the distance, a house that maybe we'll get to build in the next decade, starting my nest egg for retirement. And of course once the first set of worries are taken care of, the second round will start: future children, said future childrens' first cars, college educations, food expenses and general well being. And still piling on to that nest egg for retirement. All things that I worry way too much about to only be where I am right now in life. *shrugs* Eh, well. I'll just be well prepared.

If anyone ever needs a budget in a pinch, just let me know- I'll do it just for fun :)

1 comment:

Flo said...

You are my financial sensei :) Wax on, wax off. It's so refreshing to see someone my age who puts so much thought into the future while keeping such a pragmatic outlook on current expenses and needs. You're inspiring, and I know that regardless of what comes up - MBA, a wedding, Joeys....that you'll be able to handle it all with financial grace and ease :)