Markemmanuel

Financial Triage and Assessment

February 5th, 2010

Although the Federal government went out of their way to bail out large banking institutions in 2009, they decided to leave individual Americans at the mercy of high interest rates that continued to get higher. I can’t wait for the government to bail me out so I’m taking the initiative to do it on my own. I need to know where I am financially so I can formulate an action plan to get out of debt. I begin with a financial triage and assessment.

I grab all my credit card statements and other loan documents and write down who I owe and at what percentage rate. It gives me realistic picture of where I am right now. It doesn’t look pretty but it is better that I expected it to be, especially after calculating my blended rate. The blended rate is a calculation to better understand how each interest rate of each balance affects the total obligation. Below is a chart of what credit card is a percentage of my debt and what rate it’s at. I originally had the total amount of debt but I didn’t want to share that on the interwebs. Suffice to say, it’s weighing me down.

Card	Balance	Rate
Credit Card #1	24.9%	15.22%
Credit Card #2	21.2%	13.24%
Credit Card #3	30%	16.99%
Credit Card #3	9.1%	6.99%
Credit Card #4	.06%	29.99%
Credit Card #4	14.5%	0.99%
Total Balance	~100%
Blended Rate		11.20%

How did I get into this mess?! The bad debt I’ve accumulated over the years is just a symptom of the actual cause of my poor financial health. My parents taught me how to save. I saved and invested in high school and during my first year of college. When it was possible to contribute to a 401(k) retirement plan, I did so. The only real debt I had was my student loans. I believe it started there.

College became an endless journey. I burned out, turned apathetic, and felt like a listless boat at sea. I then saw people around me living it up while I lived at home, worked, and went to school. I kept my nose to the grindstone until I became fed up. I slowly picked up bad habits from people around me. Then suddenly, I got laid off during a few summers ago. I burned through my emergency fund, lived off my credit card, and decided to go back to school. I started accumulating debt again. Between college and today, I bought stuff. I bought petty materialistic stuff. It was stuff to make me feel better. I kept up appearances. It masked hurtful things. It made me feel better for a brief moment of time.

A lack of self confidence, a reliance people’s opinions for my self worth, and not being genuine caused this debt. The debt lowers self confidence and affects other parts of my life. It confines me into a small box. I closes the door of opportunity. It is a vicious cycle I need to break today.

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Mark’s 2010 Running Calendar

February 3rd, 2010

I finally put together my running calendar for 2010. Something about it makes me quite happy.

Bunny Dash 5k

Date: April 03, 2010 Place: Palatine, IL Website: http://bunnydash.com/

I decided not to register for the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle because I started to feel more and more like a corporate billboard. Each year greeted runners with a new Shuffle logo when LaSalle Bank was the title sponsor. LaSalle integrated their name and logo tastefully on shirt. This year the organizers turned the shamrock and kept the title sponsors logo in bold red, white, and blue. They crossed the line. I want a race shirt, not an advertising shirt. So, I’m replacing it with the Bunny Dash 5k.

The Bunny Dash is sponsored by Whole Foods and is a green race. I like green. Green is good. The have a list of what their doing to be environmentally friendly.

Illinois Marathon

Date: May 01, 2010 Place: Champaign, IL Website: http://www.illinoismarathon.com/

I searched for a spring marathon to run this year so my body remembers how it feels to run one. It gives me a goal to aim for. Without a big goal, I tend to slack off in my running to do other things in my life. I put it off. I feel yucky. I start to forget how much I enjoy running. I have a friend going to school there and she promised to take me in. I’ll owe her a few drinks after the race.

Anelise’s Run

Date: May 08, 2010 Place: Park Ridge, IL Website: http://www.anelisesrun.com/

I ran this 5k after my coworker Ruth told me about it. The 5k is named after the daughter of Ruth’s friend. Anelise was struck by a car while attempting to cross an intersection in Cumberland. All the proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I enjoyed the atmosphere of this run and I can ride my bike or car pool from home.

Soldier Field 10

Date: May 29, 2010 Place: Chicago, IL Website: http://www.soldierfield10.com

My supervisor made me do it! At the company holiday party, BM asked my brother if he and I would be interested in doing the SF10 with her and her husband. Pre-occupied with feeding my hungry belly, I agreed to running the race without thinking about it. I don’t think they all expected me to say yes because the other three put off registering for it until someone pulled the trigger. I registered within a week and pestered everyone to follow through. I said I’ll do it.

I’ve always wanted to do this race but I found it closed every time I tried to register. I registered early this time. I’d be fun to be back on the 50 yard line of Soldier Field.

June 5-10k TBA

End of June 2010

I want to do an organized run but I haven’t found a local race to run.

July 5-10k TBA

Mid July 2010

There are a few options available. However, they’re all in the city of Chicago. I am hoping to find a race much closer to home.

Rock ‘n Roll Chicago

Date: August 01, 2010 Place: Chicago, IL Website: http://chicago.competitor.com/

It brought life to the Chicago Distance Classic. The bands were great along the course. It was well organized. I’m doing it again IF I don’t get the support and funding for my cross country trip. There is only two things I’d improve on this race. I wish they stuck with the Chicago Distance Classic name and PF Chang hooked me up with some free food without a wristband.

Chicago Marathon

Date: October 10, 2010 Place: Chicago, IL Website: http://www.chicagomarathon.com/

I was close to not registering for the Chicago Marathon this year. The race shirt looks more like a billboard than a race shirt just like the Shamrock Shuffle. After registering for the Illinois Marathon and running the Philadelphia Marathon, I question why a race with a big name title sponsor and ginormous expo has their runners pay $135.00. Other marathon charge around $70-$80 and are well organized. It’s my home region’s major running event in the fall and I want to see if I can cut my time further on this course.

Frozen Turkey

Date: Thanksgiving Day Place: Buffalo Grove, IL Website: http://www.frozenturkey5k.com/

They have a kick butt shirt. It’s a small field with local runners of all levels. It was their first year last Thanksgiving and I’d love to see where the organizers take it for the run’s second season.

I loved going to Philadelphia to visit and running a marathon. I loved how the raced focused on the runner, Philadelphia, and the spirit of running. It is reasonably priced, well managed, and painfully enjoyable. Sadly, my budget won’t allow me to do that race this year. It will return on my schedule one day.

This is going to be a good year of running for me. I can feel it in my bones. What races are you registering for?

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Twenty Ten Travel Plans

February 2nd, 2010

Just because I’m penny pinching to get out of debt doesn’t mean I can’t live my life authentically and with passion. I love to experience, explore, and learn new thing. I need to recharge my batteries especially, when I’m operating at a level of zeal. Traveling provides all of the above. Downsizing trips, adding more local flavor, careful planning, and staying fluid allows me to do more on less time and money.

More local. More frugal. There is so much to do within a three hour drive from the Chicago area that is super low cost or free. So many tourists come from all over the world visit the Chicago area on their holiday. Why waste this opportunity to explore my backyard? Instead of longing to go to London, Mexico City, Tokyo, Beijing. Warsaw, or Lagos, I begin my travels at home. No hotel rooms to reserve. No flights to book. I don’t have to worry about a rental car. Food could be packed in. I get to do more and spend less!

A semi-epic bike tour is planned for the end of May and beginning of June. I scaled back my transcontinental bike trip because I can’t afford taking three consecutive months off this year. This semi-epic bike tour offers me a chance to explore Northern Illinois while I train on different segments of the Grand Illinois Trail. I will begin my four day ride from Chicago to St. Louis on the route 66 trail on May 30th. Matthew wants to come along and ride four centuries. Once we arrive in St. Louis, we’ll spend a day being tourists and drive back to Chicago. Maybe we’ll see a Cards game while we’re there. We’ll be carrying our food to save money and possibly plurge halfway through the trail. I want to sleep under the stars each night but we might have to stay at a hotel along the way. Who know what will happen. The primary goal is to enjoy the ride and experience America at a slower pace. A lot of questions will be answered for my transcontinental bike trip (in 2011 hopefully?). This trip is a wallet saver. I own a bike and most of the gear involved for this trip.

Road trip perhaps? It’s in the works. I’ve been dreaming about driving down the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco and drive back to Chicago on Route 66. I’m young and single. I don’t want to postpone it and watch that dream whither away. I haven’t been to Yosemite National Park since I was 12 years old. I want to enjoy Las Vegas as an adult. There’s so much to see and experience on this trip. I started asking around to see who wants to go with me. The more, the merrier (and cheaper!) I’m going to start planning this trip. Who wants in?

The annual camping trip occurs on Labor Day weekend at North Manitou Island, Michigan. My brothers seem to be getting a bit tired of the island so we’re considering driving to South Dakota for a long weekend. I love these trips because it’s just the three of us just chilling and future responsibilities will prevent may prevent of from doing it in the future. I hope we can finalize our plans with it so I can plan my gear purchase and save up for this trip.

Opening up opportunities isn’t such a hard thing with careful planning and persistence. My Philadelphia trip last November taught me that I can have a quality vacation on very little money. Even though I have very few resources, I will be a well traveled this year. Do you have any travel plans and how will you be saving cash on your trip?

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Seeking Simplicity

January 31st, 2010

Clutter is creating white noise. It masks the beauty of life. It distracts me from my goals. It overwhelms the mind and builds anxiety inside. The essential and necessary things I need in life get lost in the mess. I lose time looking for it and frustrate myself with the time wasted. Complexity creates clutter by moving basics and core skills that keeps me grounded. So what am I doing to pare down? I keep what is essential and one or two things that has significant importance in my life. I sell and donate what I can. I recycle or dispose of the rest.

Since last summer, many things have left me. I sold an office chair, a Pioneer car receiver, Pioneer speakers, a set of tires, lightly used Five Ten climbing shoes, a pair of original 1992 Air Jordans, and a text book. I’ve given away a Barack Obama poster (never been much of a fan), candles, a toy car, and Play-Doh. I donated a lot of ill fitting clothing. There’s so much more to sift through and sell. I have a box of stuff to process. All the money I collected from selling my stuff went towards paying down my debt.

I’ve run into some difficulty. Books written about my interests haven’t been read them because always distracted by something else. I continue to hold on to these books hoping to find time to read them. I need to convince myself to let go of these books. I can always buy them in the future or borrow them at the library. Another problem I have is selling things as quick as cool molasses. Point isn’t holding out for top dollar. It should be finding good homes for my belongings for a good price. I’m not using many of the things that I own. As my brother said, “The worse kind of gear is gear not used.”

I also need to address the information clutter. It’s everywhere. It resides in my computer’s hard disk drive. It hides in notebooks from school. My filing cabinet keeps information long forgotten. My habits create and swim in clutter. It is something I needs to clear out. I believe clearing out this clutter will take much longer. They are small bits of information that needs to be cataloged, used, or discarded.

I’ll have a ton of time in February to finish this process. I receive very little hours in during retail’s slowest month of the year. I should make a lot of progress. I am using the two for one rule. For every item that comes in, I must get rid of two things in my life until I reach the bare minimum necessary to get my goals accomplished. Creating homes for my stuff helps keep things simple. I spend less time looking for what I need. It prevents me from buying something I already have. As a runner, shoe boxes multiply quickly because I need new shoes after 300-500 miles. I reuse these boxes as homes for my things. I write the category on the box so I know what’s inside. The best thing to do is keep a good steady pace so I do not overwhelm myself. In a few short weeks, the simplicity I’ll find will appear.

There are a lot of good websites out there to help declutter and seek simplicity. My favorite site has been FlyLady.net. I love this site because she has short ‘flying lessons’ to get a person started and she has a schedule! I enjoy schedules because it helps me keep track of what I’m doing and tells me where I should be. Following schedules help create good habits through repetition and continuous practice.

This week I start Day 1 (again) by shining my kitchen sink (well, clearing my desk). All this week, I’ll be processing all the stuff that I already tossed in my sell box. Is there anything in your life that needs to be simplified? If you have done it already, do you have any tips?

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Eliminating Bad Debt

January 29th, 2010

Debt is controlling my life like many Americans and other individuals around the world. Instead of being a tool to help be live better, it has become burden that weighs me down and slows my progress in life. This bad debt creates anxiety, worry, and fear. It’s time to free myself. It is a basic process that takes time, patience, and some effort. After doing some research and studying the matter, I’ve found that it’s much like curing a disease. Here are the four steps I will be taking to eliminate bad debt.
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Tags: Debt Reduction
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Wednesday Weigh In and Measurements

January 27th, 2010

You can call me Mr. Borderline A. Everything. When I last had my physical, most of my lab work came back borderline. My blood pressure is shows I have borderline hypertension and my BMI was borderline obese. That’s not good for guy with a family history of cancer, high blood pressure, and heart ailments. Since my last checkup, I kept up with my exercise but didn’t eat as well as I should. It’s exactly the same result from my weigh in way back in October. In addition to all these measurements, I stripped down to my running shorts to took a few photographs last Thursday to track my progress.

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Action Plan for 2010 Running

January 21st, 2010

Qualifying for Boston by running under three hours will take time and baby steps. This year I want to lose much of my unhealthy weight by creating a healthy foundation and start learning how to run faster.