July 2015 Budget

Whirlwind July. Basically, I just worked. And worked. And worked. Life is boring and way too awful to even discuss. Silver lining? I spend less when busy and/or stressed out.

Rent	$900.00	$900.00	$0.00
Groceries	$220.00	$425.00	$205.00
Internet	$29.33	$29.33	$0.00
Electricity	$76.93	$50.00	-$26.93
Eating Out and Alcohol	$212.79	$125.00	-$87.79
Charity	$0.00	$25.00	$25.00
Cell phone	$6.00	$40.00	$34.00
Medical	$0.00	$65.00	$65.00
Misc	$475.67	$600.00	$124.33
Savings	$500.00	$500.00	$0.00
Total	$2,420.72	$2,759.33	$338.61
Remainder	$719.81

Income: $3,140.53

Rent has increased by $5 a month. It's now $900...when my parking lease is up, I'm upping it from $60 pw to $65 to negate the extra cost!
Groceries: Way below budget. I'm so busy that I forget to eat a lot or just get takeaway.
Internet: 1/3 of the usual $88.
Electricity: Yowza! $76 was my third of the total. And that was WITH a $100 sign on bonus this month. Lots of heating.
Eating Out: $213. Overbudget. Yep. See groceries for an explanation.
Charity: I really need to get on this. Any recommendations?
Cell: $6 Way below budget.
Medical: $0 I should be seeing a therapist. And a dentist. And the eye doc. But with what time???
Misc: $475. Under budget.

Of the remainder, $719.81, half ($359.91) will go towards my August budget and half will go to savings (House Down Payment). Although--I'll be gone for half of August and then all of September in other countries, so who knows what my actual spending will look like! Some will be covered by work, and some will be out of savings. Gotta get packing and book my tours! :)

A Small Raise To Boost Spirits! (And my bank account)

My boss for the work half of my job gave me a small raise for the next year, starting August 1. That is...whew! I wasn't expecting it because I knew the budget was tight this year, and because I did not receive a raise last year.

The raise is tiny--I go from $56K to $59K, and considering I'm half-time, the raise is actually only $1.5K for the year. Nevertheless, the small boost is enough to tell me that I'm doing a good job. That means a lot, possibly more than the extra <$100 a month it will give me to play with. I'll have fun figuring out what I can do with the extra funds. Probably a split between fun and savings, no doubt!

So many times I've wished I could quit the PhD and go back to my fun life without it constantly hanging over my head! It's fun and I like the challenge, but I have NO TIME to enjoy anything else in my life.

Project: Spend $4K USD

I have a new cc, and a new mission: spend $4K in the next 3 months to gain 45K points towards next year's travel. I of course used Brad's link through RichmondSavers.com, because he was a HUGE help to me and coached me for free after J$'s post inspired me to contact him.


These 45K points plus what I have already (16K) will add up to 65K points by the time all my spending is done. I need 80K to travel to/from NZ for (almost) free next year.

Spend should be met through my $3K USD saved up to spend in the US. I also help out with a research project that my friend manages--he doesn't have a credit card, so he gives me $$ from his own pocket, I charge my card that amount and deposit $$ into his research project fund account, and he gets reimbursed later through his grant. So this will help me reach my min. $4K spend. I'm just waiting to hear how much he wants to charge now--crossed fingers it is > $1K USD! [ETA: I was in luck! He charged $4K NZD, or $2.6K USD. Now I just have $1.4K to spend in the US to make my min. spend. Easy! :)]

I should have that if I'm approved for a United Explorer card. That one is a $1K spend during the first 3 months for 30K points. OR if I'm feeling spendy, I could go for this one for 50K points for a $2K spend. The former would be easier to meet, but the latter is a MUCH better deal in terms of points per spend.

Next up is an app for a LANpass visa, because I really want free travel within several S. American countries when I visit next year for a friend's wedding. 20K points, no min. spend (just a purchase)! That one is a no-brainer. Yay!

Since Chase has some god-awful new rule about applying for more than 5 cards every 2 years, I have to be careful now. I need to figure out how many I've applied for and keep track of my apps:

2015
Chase Sapphire Preferred
potential: Chase United Explorer Biz
potential: LANpass Visa Signature

2014
AMEX Delta SkyMiles
Citibank AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard
Barclays US Airways Premier World
AMEX Delta SkyMiles Business

2013
Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer Business
Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer


2012
Chase British Airways

2011
Chase United Mileage Plus
Chase Sapphire Preferred

I may have room for just one more app this year as Biz cc's applied for through other banks probably do not count as they do not show up on your cc report. Also--if branded cards through airlines also do not count, I am free to apply for the LANpass card.

For my future ref, here is my previous post on the plan.

Disaster

Just a post to say sorry for not posting! Work life is a disaster. I mean, one of the worst things that could happen in a PhD--it's now happened. Dealing with trying to fix it plus get everything together for a major international conference--my debut into the academic stratosphere in which all of my future peers, supervisors, mentors, job-givers live--is in 3 weeks. I'm drowning in work for my day job, too. Life is a series of days where I wake, shower, go to my computer, work, sneak in takeout somewhere in there, and sleep for 4 hours, trying not to worry about how much I still have left to do. My birthday came and went, unnoticed, in there somewhere already.

More in September when my life actually should calm down--I have a month long vacation and am going to INSIST that I do not work during it. My email auto-reply is going to say that I'm completely unreachable, in the Amazon, with no access to anything in my normal world.

South America Fund Expanded and Completed

I mentioned before about an opportunity to travel to South America next year. That'd be really awesome, and I started saving up for it. I don't know if $1.5K is enough, so I've expanded the goal to $3K.

I pulled the money from my PhD fund, since it is obvious that it will be the break from the PhD that I sorely need. There is still nearly $5K in there for "PhD emergencies" (indulgences or conveniences for my sanity).

Payment for my insurances are confusingly pulled out of my automatic Kiwisaver retirement contributions from my paycheck. So I guess I don't need a fund for that anymore? Oh, it is all so odd here. I guess that is another $2K that could go towards something else.

Half Way Point 2015

Whoo boy. This year thus far has gone by in a flash! I guess that is what happens when you are working long hours most days. Nothing significant happens to mark the time, really.

On track and on budget, even though my individual lines are not balanced. I feel generally satisfied with my income and savings. I feel like I have more than enough money to feel secure, meet my current needs, as well as look in the near and far long-term and save for those needs and wants, also. That is a very nice feeling.

The one note I do have for future spending is that I would like to focus on charity and my health a bit more. I am not spending to budget on medical, and it looks like I have room to invest in myself a bit more. I can think of a few uses for that money, including seeing a counselor, getting a dental and eye check up, and a few appointments that may help with my mental (meditation) and physical health (physio).

	Jan - Jun 2015
Category	Spent	Budgeted Amount	Balance
Rent	$5,740.00	$5,740.00	$0.00
Groceries	$2,969.41	$2,550.00	-$419.41
Internet	$173.99	$176.00	$2.01
Electricity	$152.07	$300.00	$147.93
Eating Out and Alcohol	$903.80	$750.00	-$153.80
Charity	$67.50	$150.00	$82.50
Cell phone	$196.38	$240.00	$43.63
Medical	$97.50	$390.00	$292.50
Misc	$3,589.08	$3,600.00	$10.92
Savings	$3,000.00	$3,000.00	$0.00
Total	$16,889.72	$16,896.00	$6.28
Remainder	$1,563.82
Income:	$18,453.54

I can already see that I won't make several of my planned goals for the year--work has me too busy when I'm in NZ, and I'll be gone for a month and a half overseas starting next month, so nothing will really progress during that time, either. I've highlighted the ones that I think may not be achieved this year.

2015 Goals

1. Get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Update: I'm doing OK on this one, but it needs to be more regular in terms of time to bed/rise. I'm tracking my time to figure this out a bit more. For the second half of the year, I not only need to get 8 hours, I will have a set time to go to bed and wake up.
   

Stretch goals:

Financial (73% complete) Update: On track for this one!

1. Increase Kiwisaver contribution to 8%. Paper work DONE December 2014
2. Revise budget according to PhD salary and lifestyle.
3. Review my NZ retirement allocations.
4. Move $8,740 USD from HSBC to NZ savings account, where it will earn $32 NZD per month MORE than it does in the US.  done Dec 2014
5. Review my US retirement allocations. DONE Jan 2015
6. Choose an NZ stock vehicle for medium-to-long term goal $$ (House Downpayment Funds). UPDATE: Possibly the D fund. Still deciding! Jan 2015 UPDATE 2: Not gonna do this. Just will keep it liquid in my savings account.
7. File US taxes in April.
8. File state taxes by May 1.
9. Contribute $205 to Kiwisaver by June 30 to meet the $521 member tax credit. DONE! May 
10. Review insurances, will, and Master Financial documents. [September]
11. Save $500/mo to long-term goals: House DP and Retirement, $250 each.
12. Track every penny and stay out of debt.

Travel/Experiences/Social

1. Do Coast-to-Coast hike.
2. Beat Stranger Danger: go to one meetup event where I know no one every quarter (Jan - Mar; April - June; July - Sept; Oct - Dec). Q1 Q2: meet up with dance class;  
3. Camp and hike as much as possible: Whatipu Cave hike, SMAT hike, 
4. Go to Snowplanet.
5. Hit balls in the batting cage.
6. Visit home at least once to/from my travels for work. Scheduled!!!
7. Host and organise a theme night. Preferably during winter. [BL]
8. Host and organise another theme night. [FF]
9. Plan out Europe trip with destinations and cost estimates. Need to: update accommodation in CR to 3 and pay extra fees--pay $80 USD in Euros in cash, get SIM card--can I use T Mobile?--yes but I have to switch to a post-paid account at $50/month and get a credit check in August, must request changeover a few days in advance (credit check/switchover takes hours, You can call Activations by dialing 611 from your handset or calling 1-800-9378997.), book trains in Germany, book flight to UK, make short list of attractions to see in CR, Germany, UK between work engagements.
10. See the cherry blossoms in bloom in AKL finally (November).
11. Find something to do for Xmas and New Year's Eve 2015.
12. Go on one date. DONE! April

Learning/Projects

1. Buy a nice camera and thoroughly read its manual ($650 for Sony DSC-RX100M II). 
2. Take a photography course (once I get a DSLR or manual camera)
3. Read manual for smartphone camera. Done but it didn't improve my photos. :(
4. Learn rules of bridge. Practice; Study
5. Learn how to drive stick.
6. Take public speaking workshop.
7. Take an Artstation course.
8. Learn to speed read.
9. Take a German class. (OR: complete free online Duolingo and Memrise courses!)
10. Learn how to identify at least 5 constellations/heavenly bodies in each hemisphere. This site is neat for that. Went to Stardome June 2015, learned how to find south using the Southern Cross (use pointer stars). Finding the RIGHT Southern Cross is another story. :) Also learned that you can only see Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus with the naked eye--no other planets, and the planets sometimes 'set,' meaning, for example, Jupiter is about to go away, beyond the horizon, and won't be visible for about 6 months. Mars is currently not visible. Orion is hidden from our view right now, too. The Scorpion is visible in the Milky Way, however.
1. Orion/Betelguese
2. Big Dipper
3. Polaris
4. Cassiopeia

Career

1. Update my CV, LinkedIn, Twitter, staff page, and Researchgate profiles for work in January, April, July, and October.
2. Collaborate with educators to improve curricula/public outreach. Meeting done. Lots of opportunities! Just need to find time.
3. Give one public talk.
4. Organise three large public outreach events: March June October
5. Contribute research to government policy.
6. Guide one field trip. Done May 2015: artists
7. Present research at international conference. Scheduled: August
8. Get awarded at least one grant. DONE
9. Start writing first paper for PhD.

Medical/Physical/Mental Health

1. Get medical check up (by March). Get thyroid levels checked. April: DONE; JUNE: results to come
2. Follow up on medical check up in May. ASK about thyroid results. RESCHEDULE 2nd appt. (now june 3). (Now 28 July.)
3. Get eye check up (by May).
4. Get dental check up (by November).
5. Meditate a few minutes every day.
6. Treat yo'self! Every month, get a massage or other deal via grabone to have some luxury me-time in the midst of super stressful PhD life. 
1. January: spa pedicure DONE
2. February: Hair wash, cut, style, and head massage 
3. March: 1 hour massage 
4. April: did nothing--too busy at work!
5. May: scheduled a mani-pedi
6. June: massage done
7. July: Pilates/stretch class
8. August: pampering scheduled for the day before I leave NZ for my trip
9. September: none; trip home
10. October: 
11. November: 
12. December:
7. Take up Pilates again 1 x week.
8. Start tennis lessons 1x week again.
9. Take weight/strength training class.
10. Train for a Half Marathon.
11. Learn how to do the splits.
12. Get DTaP booster shot. 
13. Get flu shot.

Other

1. Become a New Zealand citizen (expected by April 2015).
2. Get NZ passport.
3. Back up computer 4 times a year: March/June/September/December.
4. Identify staple pieces for wardrobe: Blog 1
5. Make a physical recipe book so that I no longer have to reference my laptop for recipes while cooking.
6. Log general mood and correlating habits (sleep, food, hormones) for 3 months.
7. Time log for 1 week. [In progress]
8. Food diary for 1 week.

While in the US:

1. Port US number to Google Voice to not lose it. Get new US SIM. Figure out how to layer/forward calls.
2. Back up computer on US external HD--which will require me to transfer certain files (photos, docs, desktop) that I do not want to lose to my tablet for transfer in the US. Need to do this in July.
3. Update CV, LinkedIn, Academia, Twitter, blog, and staff pages.
4. Research ancestry.
5. Make family ancestry book, adding photos, records, family tree, and Mom's written accounts.
6. Learn how to use Scrivener and other writing tools (Qiqqa).
7. Review/update insurances, will, and Master Financial documents.
8. Work out a plan with family members to get enough airmiles to visit home for free again. UPDATE May 2015: I thought this was becoming hopeless, but Brad from Richmondsavers.com cleared up some things and I am now hopeful that I can gather enough points to travel home on airmiles in 2016 and possibly beyond! Will get 45K points from a chase cc this year, hopefully 50K more points next year, and use current points for next year's travel.

Net Worth (June 2015)

NW since tracking began (DEC 2014)
	NW Dec 2014	This month	Difference ($)	Difference (%)
NET WORTH (same)	104128.75	111522.48	7393.73	7.10
NZ Net Worth	82442.59	89528.67	7086.08	8.60
US Net Worth	21219.15	21742.81	523.66	2.47
Change from last month:	Last Month	This Month	Difference ($)	Difference (%)
NET WORTH (same)	110570.08	111522.48	952.4	0.86
NZ Net Worth	87991.37	89528.67	1537.3	1.75
US Net Worth	22327.71	21742.81	-584.9	-2.62

Hot Water

Investigating my options for investment vehicles outside of my Kiwisaver in NZ opened up a huge wormhole of craziness, so crazy that I'm now seriously wondering if I should renounce my US citizenship.

Basically, I'm questioning if my Kiwisaver is subject to the PFIC rules, which would make my US taxes each year a) insanely complicated to do--to the point of listing every mutual fund on a form that some say takes ~30 hours to complete correctly and b) very expensive for a retirement account for which, by definition, contains money I cannot touch without penalties--I'd have to pay taxes on the gains, even though I cannot realize them! The tax on the gains can reach up to 70% by some estimations, and would nearly wipe out any profits I've seen.

It is also looking quite likely that I'll have to back calculate all of my US taxes since opening up my Kiwisaver, and pay the US back taxes and penalties. I will probably pull all of my $$ out of my Kiwisaver if I have to do that, in order to avoid that process going forward.

Ridiculous, you say? Very.

And clearly a ploy by the US G. to discourage people from investing money outside of US brokerages.

Honestly, I'm up a creek. I am JUST an honest citizen trying to do my best to save, so I can be independent and take care of myself now AND later, so the government doesn't have to. It turns out, I am not eligible for US retirement vehicles (as I do not earn USD) AND I'm severely penalised if I invest money for retirement (or otherwise) in NZ.

It is JUST. SO. UNFAIR. I want to cry. I'm trying so hard on a small salary to be smart about everything...and then this.

My only hope is that Kiwisavers containing mutual funds are considered pensions and are also excluded from PFIC rules by the US-NZ tax treaty (article 18. p1(b); like the UK example in this article), but of the two tax professionals I've asked, one says yes, they are, and the other says no, they're not. I went and actually read all of the tax treaties: 1982, 2008 updates, plus the new FATCA laws myself. I don't know legalese, but it sounds like the 2008 updates include Kiwisavers as pensions, and the new FATCA recognizes NZ pensions as "not reportable" (section V, clause b). So if they are not reportable, does that mean that they are not a Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC)?? Apparently some tax treaties do not have the right 'language' to exempt foreign pensions, while others do. These documents seem to indicate that Kiwisavers are not exempt, no matter what the treaty and FATCA says. In any case, no one knows WTF is happening, least of all the financial experts! My financial institutions refuse to answer my questions and the IRD (NZ IRS) says they shouldn't be, but also that they really don't know the US tax laws for sure. Time to go to the big boys--the IRS, I suppose. I'm just...so frustrated!

A New Plan but Probably a New Tax

Oh, I so love thinking about my savings, how it is partitioned, and what to do next!

A little shake up to my routine: it is possible to make recurring deposits to my SuperLife investment account, so I was planning on diverting my $500/month savings from my Rabobank to the investment account, instead of just transferring nearly $40K in one go.

It turns out I couldn't pull the trigger on that because:

1. the market immediately started to dip as soon as I decided that. I know, I know: "Sale on Stocks!" but I balked, favouring seeing what the market would do for a while.
2. My interest rate of 4% p.a. per month only applies if my balance increases by at least $50 each month, e.g., I contribute that much. My interest rate goes down to 1% if I break this rule. This technique is surprisingly effective to get me to not touch that money unless it is absolutely necessary--I get nearly $300 in interest per month this way!

So I'd have to give up nearly $300 in interest for a month, and transfer a huge sum of money ($40K) to invest in a market that is dipping. Erm. If I wanted to transfer it slowly, say, $4K a month or something, I'd lose all that interest that could be accrued on that sum each month that the $50 increase rule was broken. I could transfer it to my normal savings account to hold the excess after breaking the $50 rule one month, which makes 2.85% p.a., though.

So I'm probably being dumb with this, but I decided to just divert my monthly savings to the investment account for a little while and see how it goes. This gives me the security of that $300/mo interest while also getting my feet wet in non-retirement investing in NZ. But then, a monkey wrench...

What a nightmare my US taxes will be!! Before I commit to this plan, I need to figure out some things, because it looks like as an NZ resident/US citizen, I can't:

• contribute to US retirement accounts (I have no US income)
• invest in mutual funds in NZ without being subject to up to 50% extra tax in the US (on top of NZ's tax???)

Seriously? I am screwed. How am I supposed to invest?

June spending

Yikes!! The year is half over now. I'll have to do a half-year check in with my budget and goals soon.

	June 2015 Budget
Category	Spent	Budgeted Amount	Balance
Rent	$900.00	$900.00	$0.00
Groceries	$379.16	$425.00	$45.84
Internet	$29.33	$29.33	$0.00
Electricity	$16.28	$50.00	$33.72
Eating Out and Alcohol	$215.30	$125.00	-$90.30
Charity	$0.00	$25.00	$25.00
Cell phone	$40.00	$40.00	$0.00
Medical	$0.00	$65.00	$65.00
Misc	$494.30	$600.00	$105.70
Savings	$500.00	$500.00	$0.00
Total	$2,574.37	$2,759.33	$184.96

Income: $3,633.69
Remainder: $1,059.32

Obviously, this was an awesome month for income. My tax credit added up to $673.91, and I had an overage from May to the tune of $172.36. I didn't spend as much as I usually do because I was in the lab working for many 16 hour days. Yuck. But those factors, combined, mean that I have some cash to decide what to do with now. Maybe: 1/3 PhD fund, 1/3 July overage, and 1/3 S America fund? ...sounds good to me! My interest income this month (usually $200) will also go to my S. America fund, making me about a third of the way toward achieving that goal. :)


Rent: This went up by $5 a week. It is now $165 effectively per week for me ($225 pw without my garage rented). 

Groceries: $379 Yay! Under budget, miraculously.

Eating out: $215 Over budget. (explains the grocery bill)

Internet: $29 as usual (1/3 of $88)

Electricity: $16. Wowza. This is because I got a $100 credit at my last company, and when I switched over the bills got messed up. Next month's will be huge, but I also have a $100 credit next month for switching, so hopefully that helps a bit.

Charity: $0 need to find something...

Phone: $40. New telco

Misc: $494.

MISC
alcohol	$          94.00
entertainment	$          72.70
exercise	$          10.00
fees	$            6.58
gifts	$          23.00
goods and wants	$        160.86
transportation	$        127.16
travel	$               -