2010 financial goals

January 5th, 2010 § 1

With the new year and new decade, I would like to renew my focuses on my wife and I’s finances. We made significant progress for most of last year with my Subaru Forester car loan, but having to buy a new car in the summer also stopped my accelerated plan to repay the Subaru loan and stopped by debt snowball. This is how we are going to fix that this year.

Financial Goal #1 – Pay off Subaru Forester loan

With my next payment halfway through this month, the Subaru Forester loan will drop below $2,000. Being this close to paying it off, I really want to get this done. Thanks to some job related money coming in sometime in January and my tax return that usually comes in mid-February since I file my taxes as soon as I get the relevant paperwork, I think there is a very good chance I could have it paid off by March. Maybe even sooner.

With that, $225 a month becomes available and is a significant victory in my budget.

Financial Goal #2 – Look into credit unions

Within short walking distance of my work, there is a credit union branch that I am going to look into. Not only are credit unions well-known for their customer service and great rates, but this one also has an awesome feature of letting me scan checks and depositing them online. Combined with many ATM’s in gas stations and stores being free and it is very tempting to switch from Bank of America to them. I am also going to see if there is any chance of refinancing my new car loan with them.

Financial Goal #3 – Saving for a new house

With the Subaru Forester loan being paid off in the next 3-4 months, I plan on doing a debt snowball into a savings account with the idea of selling our condo towards the end of 2010 and moving into a house. We are ready to own a house. Given that houses will probably not be any cheaper than they are now, this is a good time to take advantage of the market.

Financial Goal #4 – Double the emergency fund

Even though the economy is slowly showing signs of turning around, it is clear that we need a better emergency fund as we now have a bare minimum $1000 tucked away. I would like to at least double my current emergency fund, just to give us a little more cushion to work from.

How could I get rid of cable TV?

January 3rd, 2010 § 0

My earlier post on using Netflix on my cable TV has gotten me thinking. Realistically, how could I realistically ditch my Cable TV bill and use just Internet streaming, over-the-air TV signals, and DVD rentals? A move that could easily save me $60 a month.

After some careful consideration, I think the following would need to happen:

  1. Access to live streaming video of sporting events. There is some moment in this direction with ESPN360.com, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, NHL GameCenter Live, etc. In fact, outside of NFL Network broadcasts, I do not think any NFL games are available online. In order to cut the cable bill, I would need to be able to access live streaming of my team’s games, no matter where I am located. I am willing to pay for it too.
  2. A well designed and reasonably priced HD device that allows for streaming feeds from multiple providers while also allowing me to use my local content. What I envision is a meld between a Roku player, Boxee, and AppleTV.
  3. Live news feeds when needed. Obviously watching the 24-hour news networks is like asking for your brain to turn to mush, but for live breaking stories or even as general background noise for an hour, they cannot be beat. While some occasionally offer live feeds on their sites, I do not see any permanent live feeds available…yet.

How are we doing so far?

#2 you can argue is pretty close to being accomplished. If Apple were to come out with AppleTV version 4 with “app” support that allowed Netflix, Pandora, MLB.TV, etc. to create apps that run on the AppleTV, that would clinch that part for me.

That would also open the door for #3 to occur and potentially, #1 once a big enough market can be generated for someone (my money is on MLB.TV) to remove blackout restrictions. In fact, MLB appears to be moving in that direction already with deals with the Yankees and Padres to stream in-market games.

Netflix on PS3 a sign of things to come

December 30th, 2009 § 2

Over the weekend my wife and I decided to start our Netflix subscription again. During the spring, summer, and fall we are just too busy to watch movies and much TV, outside of Red Sox games that are on practically every night. We usually just place a hold on our Netflix subscription until winter comes, when the bad weather forces us to stay inside and we have lots of time for movies, TV shows, etc.

Yesterday we received our Netflix streaming disc for my PS3 and a DVD. The DVD remains in its envelope, unopened, thanks to how fantastic the Netflix streaming works on the PS3.

Last night my wife and I watched the first 6 episodes of The Office over the Internet, in HD, on my PS3 for just our $8.99 Netflix subscription. The quality was stunning for internet streaming and it started up within a minute after some quick buffering. In fact, I couldn’t tell the difference between watching a HD episode of the office streaming or on our regular Comcast HD channels. It seriously looked like a HD show, no pauses for buffering, no moments of digital blocks appearing on the screen, nothing.

I am seriously impressed and love the direction Netflix is going with Internet streaming. I hope this means in the near future I can get my live sports in HD via streaming of my local teams. MLB.TV works, but still has blackout restrictions so I can’t watch the Red Sox via streaming. Fix that and I cancel cable TV.

This week is going to be a good week

December 21st, 2009 § 0

Not often that you get a three-day week and Christmas together. I am really looking forward to this week for the potential of relaxation and enjoying time with my family.

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