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I got fed up with our dying refrigerator where the freezer is about half covered in ice, the filter doesn't work, and the ice maker doesn't work. So I impulse bought this when it came up for sale today. It wasn't budgeted for because we have an cubic freezer and we've been putting up with this fridge (which, tbf, came with the house) for 2 years now. I just got tired of walking into our kitchen and immediately thinking, our drawer still isn't fixed and our fridge doesn't work. At least now it'll just be the drawer. We have $2k in extra savings (on top of our budgeted savings that's squirreled away in investment accounts and emergency fund) that we'll use to cover it. But, yeah. Impulse buys happen a lot, when you're starting out it's easy to be blindsided by it often. You just need to budget the cushion. Rurutia fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jun 19, 2015 |
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Jun 19, 2015 18:07
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dreesemonkey posted:Do you mean after the fact or "plan better the next month"? Yes, after the fact. One of the "steps" YNAB lists is "rolling with the punches", i.e. if you have an expense that causes a given category to go over, pull from other categories to cover it. In the end, a budget should be a flexible thing that adapts to your actual needs, not a carved-in-stone document that can't be adjusted. If you're already over in one category you should stop spending in it, sure, but where is the money that you went "over" actually coming from? It has to come from somewhere. Otherwise you're just throwing up your hands and saying "well I guess we'll try harder next month", which is unsustainable. Budgeting is about making actual decisions about where your money goes. Money doesn't magically appear to cover your overages; not adjusting your budget to account for the overages is essentially pretending that it does.
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Jun 19, 2015 19:12
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dreesemonkey posted:Do you mean after the fact or "plan better the next month"? In what universe would I mean go adjust the numbers so there's no red in the month that already passed? You need to look at your historic spending in these problem categories and either a) adjust the budget based on that or b) stop spending money in those categories. Having a budget and not following it in the same, predictable manner is really useless.
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Jun 19, 2015 19:40
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No Butt Stuff posted:In what universe would I mean go adjust the numbers so there's no red in the month that already passed? I do this sometimes, depending on the situation. I take money out where I have extra stashed up, or stop spending in other areas to make up for going in the red in that particular category. As far as I'm concerned, the goal of budgeting is to ensure a) you stay out of debt and b) you save at least X amount. So those are the only parts which are fixed. Everything else is flexible and fluid and broken down for ease in finding inefficiencies and figuring out how much you really want to spend.
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Jun 19, 2015 19:57
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Sundae posted:How do you guys handle the never-ending stream of "one time" expenses? My wife and I do great on the general budgeting, eating out, groceries / shopping / whatevers. What inevitably murders us, or has for the last two years, is travel associated with one-time events like weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc. It's only June and we've attended six weddings out of state already, with three more later this year and several more we know are coming next year but haven't RSVP'd for yet. It seriously adds up in a hurry. Go to an airlines webpage that you like/know will fly to the area and do their cc bonus offer. This is usually a free round trip, or two if you luck out. Then go to a hotel chain website and get one of their cards. With this you get 3-7 nights free, and usually one free night anywhere once a year (thinking IHG specifically). Your wife can do this as well. With this you can pretty much weather season and spend nearly nothing.
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Jun 20, 2015 00:31
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So I'm at a training with a couple colleagues today when one of the ladies I work with begins a conversation with me Toriori, I have a copy of your project that [our boss] gave me Which, [document one, which was completed last year] or [new project that final revisions had just been sent to graphic designer]? *pulls new project out, it's covered through and through with sticky notes* yeah, none of this is going to flyThen she begins to criticize this project I have been working for eight months on personally, with my boss, in front of several individuals I had been networking with over lunch. I was incredibly frustrated and plan on asking her in the future to conduct that kind of conversation in private, you know, like a professional would. I realize my boss, who is also her boss, gave it to her to review but why the hell would she do it now? I have been sending her updates constantly, revising her edits and doing everything as I've been instructed, now she's gone and messed it allll the gently caress up. Furthermore, I report to a primary supervisor who also reports to all of our collective bosses and that person is going to be furious when they find out someone other than themselves has been included in this process. This colleague is a bit of a control freak, but she's also relatively close with my boss, I feel like I'm going to lose my mind from stress lately with my job. Why must full time, permanent employment be so elusive? Okay I'm sorry, rant over.
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Jun 24, 2015 01:01
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That's pretty lovely. It's amazing how brazen some people can be openly throwing people under the bus, whether you deserve it or not.
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Jun 24, 2015 01:24
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Toriori posted:So I'm at a training with a couple colleagues today when one of the ladies I work with begins a conversation with me The correct response, right then, would have been "if you had these issues, you should have replied to the edits I've been sending you constantly. We can schedule time to go over what you think about the project later." And then ignore her, because gently caress that.
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Jun 24, 2015 13:57
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tuyop posted:dreesemonkey, we had a similar situation with different category biases. I'm more likely to propose spontaneous dates, so I push our family fun into the red, she's more likely to spend on outings and personal fun stuff so her stuff is in the red. It like, magically corrected itself when we traded roles for a few months and she handled all the budgeting and planning for a few months. Maybe try that? I suggested this, but wifey shot it down. She cares about our finances, but not like I care. Similarly, she's basically the keeper of the schedule of what we're doing and when. Me, I couldn't care less really, just tell me where to be and when. Unfortunately for me, what we're doing really effects our budget so some of the problems we were having were because I wasn't looking at the big enough picture (traveling/trips etc). The silver lining is that we did a much more comprehensive plan for next month's budget and I think we're both feeling pretty good about it. She admitted her faults and I admitted mine, and for the last week or so things have been good spending wise. I fixed and sold an extra riding mower I had for $450 and we haven't decided where to allocate that money yet. Next up is a go kart that needs the same fixing and selling treatment. Yay getting rid of crap and making money!
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Jun 24, 2015 14:02
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Sundae posted:How do you guys handle the never-ending stream of "one time" expenses? My wife and I do great on the general budgeting, eating out, groceries / shopping / whatevers. What inevitably murders us, or has for the last two years, is travel associated with one-time events like weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc. It's only June and we've attended six weddings out of state already, with three more later this year and several more we know are coming next year but haven't RSVP'd for yet. It seriously adds up in a hurry. Just be like my fiancee and me and don't get invited to weddings, we're 27 now and haven't been to a wedding since 2010 It's been great on the wallet ignoring the fact that I've had several close friends get married in that timespan and never further away than five hours of driving. And two of them were in my hometown, so I would have had free lodging with my parents  Changing from E/N to YLLS, do any of you have a go-to outfit for when you have an interview, presentation, or other important work thing that you need to nail? I've worn this one light purple shirt of mine with charcoal pants and this purple/navy striped tie to exactly two interviews, and both times I've been offered a job. I also wore the same outfit to a big presentation I gave at my last job on a project I was leading, and got rave reviews on said project. I know correlation doesn't equal causation but I'm not replacing any of those items anytime soon.
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Jun 24, 2015 15:15
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I have a dark charcoal suit, a freshly-pressed white shirt and a red silk tie. That's what I always wear. It's worked pretty well for me. One time I tried to wear a new blue tie my wife got me, but when I was about to interview, I went and put it on and it was way too short so I had to tie it really goofy like. Always go with the red tie.
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Jun 24, 2015 15:34
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C-Euro posted:Changing from E/N to YLLS, do any of you have a go-to outfit for when you have an interview, presentation, or other important work thing that you need to nail? I've worn this one light purple shirt of mine with charcoal pants and this purple/navy striped tie to exactly two interviews, and both times I've been offered a job. I also wore the same outfit to a big presentation I gave at my last job on a project I was leading, and got rave reviews on said project. I know correlation doesn't equal causation but I'm not replacing any of those items anytime soon. For some reason* I generally experience success in whatever presentations or evaluations come up in my professional life when dressed appropriately. *is an attractive, confident, tall, fit white male with average or above-average relevant skills. But let me tell you about these Clarks I wear!
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Jun 24, 2015 15:57
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No Butt Stuff posted:The correct response, right then, would have been "if you had these issues, you should have replied to the edits I've been sending you constantly. We can schedule time to go over what you think about the project later." That's the thing, she hasn't been involved with this whatsoever this whole time, it has been correspondence with our boss and myself. I guess on Monday our boss gave her the document and asked her to look at it. That said, I'm going to send the following email to her tomorrow when we are back in the office "As per our discussion on Tuesday, could you kindly create a list of changes you would like to see in the [document]? I would like to have a list to reference. Perhaps it would also be beneficial for you and I to meet with [boss] so we can discuss these potential changes. In the future, I would appreciate if discussions pertaining this are conducted in a private setting, rather than in front of network contacts to help maintain concentration and professional conduct. Thanks! Talk soon Toriori" Too mean? So now I got an email at 5:15 this morning from my boss saying she asked the coworker and her admin to look at the document and that we need to "include everyone" to get their input. Don't get me wrong, she is actually an excellent person to work for, but you may gather that she's incredibly...eclectic and sometimes scatterbrained, for want of a better word. She scooped me up into this brand-spanking new position just as I was finishing grad school, and has taught me so much but this kind of stuff is pretty testing. We were working on a different project and she asked where I was with it, when I told her she had been sent the most recent version a few weeks prior, she told me that I need to make sure I'm reminding her that she needs to get it done. Very smart, experienced person, not at all the typical understanding of 'traditional' work environments/orders of operations. I just try and see things as learning experiences. As for my immediate supervisor, they do not really get along well with the boss. Very, very different personalities and my supervisor often feels like they're left out, so when they find out our colleague was given my project rather than them, I'm definitely going to be caught in the middle. Again. Sorry I've written quite the tangent but pretty well all my friends are not in any kind of professional setting so it's nice to be able to just put it out there. 54 40 or fuck fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Jun 24, 2015 |
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Jun 24, 2015 16:03
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Toriori posted:That's the thing, she hasn't been involved with this whatsoever this whole time, it has been correspondence with our boss and myself. I guess on Monday our boss gave her the document and asked her to look at it. That said, I'm going to send the following email to her tomorrow when we are back in the office
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Jun 24, 2015 16:06
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I would call them recommendations, so as not to seem like you're soliciting advice for changes that you will definitely make. I'd also CC your boss on the e-mail. And then I'd address it in the meeting with you, her and [boss], because what you wrote definitely isn't mean and is definitely something that someone like that won't even let register in their brain before they get mad you asked them to write down their changes in a list.
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Jun 24, 2015 16:07
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tuyop posted:For some reason* I generally experience success in whatever presentations or evaluations come up in my professional life when dressed appropriately. Well yeah no duh, I was asking more if anyone here has a lucky shirt/tie/cumberbund they wear when they need to be successful at work. E: Do salaried positions usually pay you for a week's work that same week, or one a one-week delay? The offer letter for my new job said they were going to pay me $X weekly, would it be normal for them to take a week to "process" the payment or can they do it more quickly since it's the same amount each time? This is my first salaried position so I don't know if it's hourly (where at my last job it was on a week delay) C-Euro fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Jun 25, 2015 |
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Jun 24, 2015 16:32
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The plot thickens.... Sent the email exactly as posted up thread with the only exception being I subbed in the word "recommendations" in the place of "changes" as advised. Got this today: " Dear Toriori, Thank you for your email, if you have a concern in future with how I speak to you or who I speak to you in front of please let me know in person as an email is impersonal. I spoke to you in front of [Colleague] and [not colleague] not a 'network' as you refers to you in your email. What I spoke to was not secretive and it was to let you know that [Boss] and I reviewed the [document] and there was some feedback to be provided and suggestions about how you could proceed with obtaining feedback in future. I would be happy to meet with both yourself and [Boss] to discuss the recommendations in person, I have an excessive amount of work on my plate at this time with two summer camps, [Other duties] and reports due, I will not write this out in a word document, I will provide you with the notes already written. I will look at both your calendars and see when the three of us can meet to discuss." Middle. Aged. Women. A) there was one colleague and three non colleagues at the table when she pulled out the document, which I def would consider a network. B)Taking it out and telling me it is not "going to fly" and how it needs drastic changes is NOT just telling me she reviewed it. Am I crazy? This is getting ridiculous. After I received the email I called her and informed her the request was because I wanted to pay my full attention to the conversation but she took great offense (her words) to the fact I CCed our boss, for the exact reason that she said she wanted to meet with the both of us. For the record, this woman is not my superior in any professional sense. We have a meeting to discuss the changes on Monday with the boss, I'm going to go in eager beaver and look like a good person as far as I'm concerned. The job hunt continues.
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Jun 25, 2015 23:40
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At this point she already looks crazy and she said she would send you some stuff and set up a meeting, so if I were you I would just ignore her forever because you will probably not ever hear about this again. If anyone bitches at you about it, you are still waiting for her to send you notes as per her last email. It's only going to end badly for you if you keep engaging with her.
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Jun 25, 2015 23:49
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Don't mess with crazy.
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Jun 25, 2015 23:58
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Seriously don't escalate. You're dealing with crazy.
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Jun 26, 2015 02:02
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Yeah, that's the plan. I'm not planning on responding, and during the meeting on Monday I'm just going to pretend the conversation never happened. This isn't exactly my long term forever career so I don't think it's at all worth the extra stress.
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Jun 26, 2015 02:24
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Toriori posted:Yeah, that's the plan. I'm not planning on responding, and during the meeting on Monday I'm just going to pretend the conversation never happened. This isn't exactly my long term forever career so I don't think it's at all worth the extra stress. The best way, imho, to deal with people like that is just smile and nod, then go ahead and do whatever you were going to do anyway.
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Jun 27, 2015 15:47
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I need job advice. I am in the Bay area, graduating in December with a ba in economics. I have 4 years general office experience, working with excel, etc. I don't know what jobs to apply for. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I was thinking financial analyst, but how do I enter that field, all jobs I see need experience. My college job office is useless same with temp agencies.
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Jun 27, 2015 17:49
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An old roommate of mine made a living working for a company that compiled market share and penetration reports for specific things like contact lens makers, microphones, and other very specific product markets. His company compiled a report that was sold back to all the companies who submitted information on a quarterly basis. It seemed to work for him. Financial analysts don't have to work directly with money, there's a need for people who can break down and compile trend reports.
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Jun 27, 2015 18:32
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Bad Mr Frosty posted:I need job advice. I don't have any advice for the econ/financial specific question, but you if you see a posting that you think you'd be interested in but you don't meet all the criteria/experience, apply anyway. You have work experience and (will have) a degree, just apply like crazy. I've been underqualified on paper for every job I've ever had because job posting "requirements" can be very soft.
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Jun 27, 2015 19:08
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Bad Mr Frosty posted:I need job advice.
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Jun 28, 2015 03:11
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Also keep in mind that often what companies list as requirements are really for their dream candidate that doesn't exist. If you only meet say 3 out of 5 it doesn't necessarily mean you are out. You'll have to guess the relative importance yourself. If something requires an engineering degree and you don't have one, that's probably a non starter. But, if its asking for X years experience with some obscure industry specific program they probably don't get many entry level candidates with that.
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Jun 28, 2015 04:28
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Xenoborg posted:Also keep in mind that often what companies list as requirements are really for their dream candidate that doesn't exist. If you only meet say 3 out of 5 it doesn't necessarily mean you are out. You'll have to guess the relative importance yourself. If something requires an engineering degree and you don't have one, that's probably a non starter. But, if its asking for X years experience with some obscure industry specific program they probably don't get many entry level candidates with that. I can get behind this. For my new job (starting tomorrow  ), after I sent in my application the hiring manager straight-up said to me "you don't have the regulatory experience we're looking for, but I think your advanced degree could give you a pretty good starting point for learning the role"; they wanted 1-3 years regulatory experience and a Bachelor's in Chemistry, I had 0 years experience but a Master's in Chemistry and some experience with document control & generation at my last job (unrelated to Regulatory paperwork, but they never bothered to ask  ). They still invited me in for an interview and hired me anyway, even though I ignored the hiring manager's interview invite for almost a week because I didn't want the job at first.It's all about how you frame the facts you have about your career. You should always tell the truth but you should, to the best of your ability, also tell your prospective employer what they want to hear. Dik Hz posted:Even if it's a lovely job, "Successfully completed a contract with XXXX" is a great line to put on your resume, and moves you to the front of the line with temp agency. Does this actually work? I hadn't really thought of that, but I spoke to dozens of recruiters during my last job search and not one of them asked if I had any experience in completing a contract position. All they said was "this is a contract/temp-to-hire position, are you comfortable with that?" and I would tell them "Yeah that's fine, my last position started as a temp role and I nailed that". And then the job I took turned out to be a direct hire position, and all that posturing to/by recruiters meant nothing. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Jun 28, 2015 |
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Jun 28, 2015 17:36
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I am just frustrated with temp agencies. So far they have said to me, "you have four years working back office in a bank? Great, here is a job as a receptionist at a car dealer." Maybe that will change when I finish my degree, I hope.
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Jun 28, 2015 19:45
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Has there ever been a thread (or does anyone have any advice) on gathering market research for a new product? Or a general entrepreneurship discussion thread? I'm working on an app to help executors manage estates (I've been an executor for 2 estates in the past 2 years and I've found (a) it's exhausting (b) there don't seem to be any great resources for this work short of hiring a lawyer/accountant/trust company (c) as a well educated english speaker w/ a background in finance I am probably more well equipped than most to do this work and even I found it difficult), and have some basic ideas on what I'd like to build. But I'd love to be able to see if I could find any info on: 1) How big a market there might be for this 2) What other products other executors have used in the past to support their work 3) if there are key features former executors would have wanted 4) what form would users want this software in (app, website, other...) And similar questions. I don't know that I'll get great insights- in part since I think the market is people who are/will be executors and most people who haven't been an executor yet haven't thought much about how annoying it is...but maybe from the data I could get some insights. Anyways- I'm assuming one way to go on this is to post a survey on one or more of those "get paid to take survey" type websites, but I'd like to know if people have had success using those or have horror stories? Or if there are other routes people have taken to get a sense of whether their idea(s) have a market for the.
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Jun 29, 2015 00:47
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Slime Bro Helpdesk posted:I'm working on an app to help executors manage estates (I've been an executor for 2 estates in the past 2 years and I've found (a) it's exhausting (b) there don't seem to be any great resources for this work short of hiring a lawyer/accountant/trust company (c) as a well educated english speaker w/ a background in finance I am probably more well equipped than most to do this work and even I found it difficult), and have some basic ideas on what I'd like to build. I just went through this an I think a basic TurboTax style help guide to go over first steps, probate court considerations, and things like claims would have been amazing, even just organizationally. Obviously I had I lawyer, but there were still a lot of roadmap sort of overview questions that he didn't bother to really humanize.
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Jun 29, 2015 00:54
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BossRighteous posted:I just went through this an I think a basic TurboTax style help guide to go over first steps, probate court considerations, and things like claims would have been amazing, even just organizationally. Obviously I had I lawyer, but there were still a lot of roadmap sort of overview questions that he didn't bother to really humanize. Yeah that's what I'm mostly aiming for- I don't have the knowledge (or willing to take the risk) to replace a lawyer or accountant in terms of getting legal documents through probate or speaking with 100% authority on the estate's tax status or capital gains, but something to help manage/report budgets, project plan, and some basic help tips to explain how to keep yourself sane while doing all of it.
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Jun 29, 2015 00:59
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Why did some jerk drag their key along the driver's side of my car  I don't want to pay for that. That jerk should have to pay for it!
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Jun 29, 2015 02:13
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pig slut lisa posted:Why did some jerk drag their key along the driver's side of my car 
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Jun 29, 2015 18:15
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Bad Mr Frosty posted:I am just frustrated with temp agencies. So far they have said to me, "you have four years working back office in a bank? Great, here is a job as a receptionist at a car dealer." If you're interested in moving, a Bachelor's in Economics and American citizenship makes you eligible for a Canadian work permit under the NAFTA professional category, in either Economics or Accounting type roles. You have to have a job offer, but the Canadian finance (and insurance) industry is strong and a lot of roles look for experience with back office banking stuff, for what its worth.
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Jun 29, 2015 18:59
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Bad Mr Frosty posted:I need job advice. I'm an econ major, graduated 3 years ago, and have been working as a financial analyst for large publicly traded companies on the west coast since I graduated. Look for openings that require a degree in "Finance, Accounting, or related major". Or even if they don't say that, apply anyways. Also, when they ask for X years of experience, it does not mean direct finance experience, they are just looking for experience using any of the skills they are asking for, like presentation/people/Excel skills. Leverage your degree (which gives you knowledge of P&Ls, financial statements, etc. even if you didn't study these directly) combined with your office experience and you can totally get a fin analyst job. They're usually looking for people who understand very basic financial/economic logic with alright Excel skills. You might need to take an entry-level Analyst job to start but it's usually still decent money even at that level. I've also found a lot of places are willing to take a Sr. Analyst role down to an Analyst role if you're a little less experienced than the job posting originally said they wanted. I wasn't sure if I wanted a career in finance when I started out but I'm very happy with it and plan to stick with it for at least another 5-10 years before moving onto something else. Feel free to PM me if you have more specific questions.
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Jun 29, 2015 19:58
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Slime Bro Helpdesk posted:Has there ever been a thread (or does anyone have any advice) on gathering market research for a new product? Or a general entrepreneurship discussion thread? Kinda sorta: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3709067 Maybe check out Pine Cone Research for surveys, but I'd guess they're expensive.
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Jun 29, 2015 20:08
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Stressing out about money today. 9 more months of saving for grad school... I can do this. Things will be so much better after that is paid for... I have too many goals and not enough income to make them all. Sigh! Having my Master's will help so much, though. It will be +$500/mo in pay next fall. Then I can pay my car off even faster... 10 months ahead on payments right now. It is really comforting to know that if some poo poo went down I could skip a payment. And then? I have no idea! But I can actually choose, which seems really awesome. (P.S.: Thanks state legislature for giving teachers the first Cost of Living Adjustment we've had in EIGHT years! 4.8% over two years. Jerks.) (P.P.S.: Of course, the legislatures themselves get 11% over those same two years. Of course!)
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Jul 2, 2015 20:15
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Are all Toastmasters groups kind of awkward and weird? I've been to a few because I'm trying to ease into professional networking groups and I also need to improve my presentation skills.
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Jul 8, 2015 14:25
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Man, I should be stoked about our earnings increase last month but we got our dicks knocked in the dirt bad In one month: $1600 for flights for emergency funeral services $1200 in vet bills after dog ran into traffic $500 to remove broken trees before monsoon season $1400 in car repairs Since we didn't have to dig much deeper into debt, I guess that's worth celebrating. But god drat we are poor all of the sudden. I can't wait for next payday to just start dumping 2k+ at debt barring more of this bullshit. Fingers crossed.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:15
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