15 Nov, 2006
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I’m not sure how long this has been the case, as I check into my savings accounts very infrequently unless I happen to be transferring funds out, but I see that HSBC has joined in with their particular iteration of the pointless-hoops-to-jump-through login that has become so popular with online banking. Now instead of a single screen with two simple fields to fill - ID and password - I get the new-and-improved two page with three field, dual password one. And to top it off, one of the passwords must be entered by clicking on a ‘virtual keyboard’ with the mouse: 
I can see how strong authentication is something to strive for, and with all the phishing attempts out there these steps are probably a decent safeguard for those less tech savvy than, quite honestly, myself. I just wish there was an option (even a hard to find one) that would let me go back to the very basic login. I’m comfortable with the risk I was apparently taking prior to this change, and these new steps are nothing but an annoyance.
Tagged:
» HSBC, security, customer service, annoyances
31 Oct, 2006
Apparently stuck on the extra-special super-extended hold line (when and how did customer service get so incredibly bad that 10 15 20+ minutes waiting on hold isn’t anything but outrageous anymore?) and thought I’d take a little initiative and get this done before a week of November has passed! How about taking a quick peek and see how that ol’ balance sheet did this month. Of course followed by a few notes if interest, to me at least… 
|
Sept31′06 |
Oct31′06 |
Change |
| Assets |
| Liquid Assets |
| Checking |
$51.59 |
$78.34 |
$26.75 |
| Cash |
10.00 |
15.00 |
5.00 |
| ING Orange Savings |
10.00 |
10.88 |
0.88 |
| HSBC Savings |
2,982.06 |
3,245.69 |
263.63 |
| Total Liquid |
$3,053.65 |
$3,349.91 |
$296.26 |
| Semi-Liquid Assets |
| Firstrade ROTH |
$159.68 |
$172.58 |
$12.90 |
| Firstrade SIMPLE |
5,335.89 |
5,558.96 |
223.07 |
| Wife’s Rollover IRA |
42,239.65 |
43,982.45 |
1,742.80 |
| Total Semi-Liquid |
$47,735.22 |
$49,713.99 |
$1,978.77 |
| Illiquid Assets |
| Our Home |
$54,000.00 |
$54,000.00 |
$0.00 |
| Our Vehicles |
5,750.00 |
5,250.00 |
(500.00) |
| Gifted Property |
45,000.00 |
45,000.00 |
0.00 |
| Total Illiquid |
$104,750.00 |
$104,250.00 |
($500.00) |
| TOTAL Assets |
$155,538.87 |
$157,313.90 |
$1,775.03 |
| Liabilities |
| Credit Card Debts |
| Chase |
$6,834.83 |
$6,534.83 |
($300.00) |
| American Express |
26.00 |
0.00 |
(26.00) |
| Total Credit Cards |
$6,860.83 |
$6,534.83 |
($326.00) |
| Other Debts |
| Home Mortgage |
$39,614.08 |
$39,570.00 |
($44.08) |
| Low Energy Loan |
17,042.39 |
16,928.75 |
(113.64) |
| Line of Credit |
4,695.01 |
8,543.65 |
3,848.64 |
| Total Other Debts |
$61,351.48 |
$65,042.40 |
$3,690.92 |
| TOTAL Liabilities |
$68,212.31 |
$71,577.23 |
$3,364.92 |
| NET WORTH |
$87,326.56 |
$85,736.67 |
($1,589.89) |
a little random commentary
- Must say that a 4% gain on the retirement investments for the month was a pleasant surprise. A couple of our fund allocations are enough out of line to probably need a little rebalancing, but I’m going to continue our plan and wait until the beginning of next year to do so. (mental note to myself: our investment strategy might make a good post!)
- Well, I was enjoying seeing our assets increase and our liabilities decrease. At least until we hit that line of credit. No surprise at all, but I wouldn’t have complained if my mental calcalutions weren’t quite as accurate as the one on screen! And just going to get larger, I’m afraid. Ah, well, someday I’ll have to assess what our home value actually is and not feel so bad about taking on all of this extra debt…
- Not directly PF-related, but our migraine-inducing contractors (plumbers, if you were interested) did actually show up over an entire weekend - including a Sunday - following my warning and the parade of interested parties I mentioned earlier. We’re not done with them quite yet - they still have to attach a few faucets and other minutae after a bit of drywall work is done. No bill of any type from them yet, and I expect I’ll see a few charges on there that I’m going to refuse to pay - i.e. any non-regular working hours charges, seeing as the only reason they had to work those hours is because they blew our job off so long that I had to threaten to fire them. But the vast majority of their job is done and we will soon be rid of them forever.
- So, obviously we’re still renovating away, and progress on the total debt is still going the wrong way for the time being. But for the first time in a while, I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Here’s hoping it’s not a train…
Tagged:
» debt, renovations, report card, balance sheet, credit card, investments
24 Oct, 2006
Want a really simple, painful way to save lots of money? Pick up a really nasty fall cold, and stick with it for ten days or so…
- Nothing stops you from wasting money on pointless purchases quite like feeling too ill to do anything but lie around and stare into space. Even normally dangerous places like a book store don’t appeal to me when I can’t concentrate.
- When you can’t really breath, nothing has a taste. So that filet mignon or lobster tail probably won’t be trying to make an appearance in your menu planning. As a positive side effect, if you’re trying to lose weight, not being able to taste will certainly help you along!
- A diet of cough drops and chicken noodle soup is dirt cheap.
Tagged:
» cold, illness, blah, chicken noodle soup
