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Whatever happened to the Money Experiment?

That is the question I have been asked by several of my blog readers in the past 6 months or so that I have not spoken about the Money Experiment. Did it work? Did it bomb? Did you scrap it altogether? Today, after a long hiatus from the blogosphere, I’m here to put all those questions that I got flooded with, by those ‘four’ die-hard fans of my blog, to rest. To be honest, I myself cannot tell whether the experiment was a grand success or an utter failure. All I can say is that it did change quite a few things in my life (hear the music playing?). In this post, I am gonna spit out all the details and let you decide how the experiment fared. In fact, many of the changes that came about were not related to money at all. If you’re going through the original post right now, please do ignore the post-script, the daily update never came about (I was busy dude!)

If you look back at the original post I wrote almost a year and a half ago, when I started the experiment, you can easily tell that I had no clear idea where I was going or what I was trying to achieve. It is not that hard to figure that from the way the post was put out right? All I knew was there were a lot of things that were wrong with my finances and I felt I had absolutely no control over them (they were controlling me rather). I was almost broke, with only a few dollars in my bank account and hoards of debt piling on constantly. I was living the American dream! As an immigrant, that was certainly not acceptable, at least by Indian standards.

If you recall, I had organized my experiment into three broad categories with very intelligent names – categories A, B and C! Category A was all about the stuff that I was buying by paying above-sticker price. The sticker price in this case would be the best possible price for a particular product considering all sources available. In short, I was buying things without doing enough research or giving considerable thought. Did that change? It did, to a certain extent at least. I do a reasonable amount of research now before I buy anything. I have several tools now that help me get the best available price for a particular product. I do have to confess that I haven’t stuck to the rule 100 percent of the time. For instance, my mobile phone bill for 2009 was $1340 for the year. That is about $112 per month, just for cell phone service. For that kind of money, I can hire a guy in India who will run over to the other party and deliver my message every time I have something to say. I’m not kidding! Well this has been partly due to my inabilities to keep an eye on my minute usage in addition to ATT’s incompetence. Mostly, ATT’s incompetence I would say.

Another pain-point for me has been the use of cash. As weird as it may sound, but I have used too much cash last year, almost $200 every month. Now I know what you must be thinking; isn’t cash better over credit cards and did you say $200 (loser!)? Yes, cash is better than a credit card! That is, only if you are living on welfare or have a gambling problem and in that case, you wouldn’t have any credit cards anyway. Why is cash bad you ask? Well, first of all it is a pain to go to the ATM to get cash and secondly it is a bigger hassle to keep track of where it went. I, for one, haven’t tracked any of my cash expenses in the past year (or ever). Was it spent on food or was it spent on gas? I’d be happy if it went into the former. On the other hand, if you use a credit card, you can easily import all your transactions into your monthly budget. I don’t get it when people get really worked up when they hear about credit cards. There are no bad credit cards, only bad spenders (and then there is Citibank, of course!). I’d rather use a credit card to get the free points ($$$) and help track my budget online than get slapped with a $39 ‘insufficient funds’ charge by the bank by using a debit card without knowing my balance.

As you can see, there is still some work to be done but I’m ‘working’ on it. However, the biggest change has arrived in my buying habits, which brings us to Category B. Category B items were everything that were turning me into a borderline, compulsive hoarder. Buying craploads of stuff that I did not need in the first place had become my evening job. I’d come home from work and go shopping because I had nothing better to do. A bike that I rode only once, shoes that I wore once (or maybe twice), magazines that went directly to the trash were just a few among a zillion other things that were being bought without thought. Did that change? Oh yeah baby, big time. Now I buy stuff that pays me back. It could be in the form of health, information, entertainment, travel or plain, simple fun. In other words, I seek value now, the way Tom seeks Jerry. No more going to the movies just because it is a Friday and you have no other way to kill time. I’d rather stream a movie over Netflix and stay home cozied up on the couch *wink* *wink*. Instead of going to expensive restaurants just because the wife’s friend posted some crazy pix of her gouging on a 5000 calorie meal on Facebook, I’m happy with my five-dollar-footlong while I watch the birds in the park. See the lifestyle changes that I was talking about earlier?

If you have read so far, then I really admire your patience and I think I just added my fifth reader. *High five!* By now, the question that might be lingering in your mind is ‘what about Cat C?’ or ‘you don’t wanna talk about that debt, do you?’ right? Of course! Who likes to talk about debt anyway? Toadly kiddin! Yes, let’s talk about Cat C! While at it, let’s run the numbers too.

Credit Card: ~$3200 @ 0pc until 2012. This was primarily spent on appliances that we bought recently. About $1000 from the previous balances is included in this. So yeah most of the CC balances were paid off from 2008. I did get a lot of flak from friends/family for buying appliances using a credit card. I will get to that in a bit.

Bad News: I do have some bad news to report too. It’s not bad bad but I did get an auto loan. Please let me explain before you jump to any conclusions and expunge me from your feed. Remember, I had bought a used Mitsu Montero in 08 that was using more gas than a mini 747 and was breaking more times in a week than a fresh Windows Vista install? Thousands of dollars and a gazillion gallons of petrol later, I decided it was time to bid adieu to the sucker. After months of permutations, combinations and several calculations, I arrived at the Toyota Prius. I was trying to zero-in on something that had the lowest ‘Total Cost to Own‘ and no matter how many models I compared it with, the Prius always came out to be the winner. I had spent about $4000 on the Montero in the first half of 09 compared to $2500 on the Prius in the second half (that includes everything from gas to depreciation mind ya!). Whatever said and done, I do have an auto loan and it is not my best friend. Aah, the bliss of American life. I did get a great deal on the loan though; 3.69%. That way, I could pay off the rest of my loans. I promise you will love me more once you read the following section.

Housing loans: We completely paid off balances on our Bangalore home. Yay! This was a major win financially. If we decide to go back to India in the next few years, we have a dwelling to call home. The other night, I had a dream that we were stuck on a rainy day in Bangalore and we had to spend the night on a sidewalk. Guess that’s not gonna happen now.

Just in case you were getting happy that the post was getting over, I have some news for you; it’s not. We are only half way through. I also have some breaking news for you: just a sec, waiting for the triumphant music to get over….

About three months ago, we closed on a home here in Austin, TX. Double yay! Yes, no kidding. After years of living in flats, apartments, tents and under bridges, we are extremely excited to be first-time homeowners. I’m yet to receive the infamous 8k credit from Uncle Sam which I’m going to diligently apply towards the mortgage. After getting burned in other instruments over the past couple years, my mantra for the next few years (or the rest of my life) is: you buy it only if you can touch it. Since late 08, I have solely concentrated on real estate and gold. Sorry, no intangible assets for me please. The above CC expenses were solely towards appliances like Washer, Dryer and basic move-in expenses like paint, furniture etc.

And the credit card ire from friends and family I was talking about earlier, it was just a matter of choice. Whether I wanted to spend the cash upfront or would I rather pay it off slowly and take care of other expenses first. I had to buy the appliances anyways coz it sucks to lug your laundry to a laundromat in the middle of the night if you do not have a working W/D (believe me, I have done it before). It sucks even more if your wife makes you use your hands to clean those dirty dishes. So my advice, if someone is not charging you interest for something you need badly, take it. Pay off your other high-interest loans or if you’re one of those lucky ones who doesn’t have any, put the cash in a CD or a savings account.

Takeaway: This is all that I have ‘accomplished’ with the Money Experiment in the past 16 months. There have been some major lifestyle changes along the way and there are many that are still in the works. All in all, I have become a little more aware of my overall finances, be it income, spending, investing or saving. Wastage has almost come down to zero which I’m really proud of. Even though income levels have pretty much remained stagnant, I do feel we are leading a better life. All said and done, I’m yet to see the day where I can comfortably say ‘I’m well off’. Hopefully, I will get to see that day. Some day…