1, 2, Home.

 This weekend we got to set the house hunting aside and get on a plane to Arkansas.  We left Friday night and came back Monday afternoon.  So, it was an uber quick trip home, but... I got the flights for $59 so it was hard to pass up.

We went to celebrate my sister, Kirstie's birthday, my dad's birthday, and see Kirstie and Travis do their thing out on the track.  Ironically enough, we didn't get to see Kirstie's birthday.  She jumped Friday at 4 PM and our flight didn't even leave on Friday until 7 PM.  So, we missed her.  But she did place 6th which is pretty good.

We did get to see Travis run his races on Saturday though.  He did very well, too.  I know not his personal best, but nothing to be ashamed about that's for sure.  We spent all day Saturday at the track.  Kirstie down loaded this app on Kate's iPad (she got one for Christmas, too) so that we could record videos and then watch them back in slow motion.  So, picture us holding up the iPad and then replaying it back in slow motion. I'm sure we were a hoot to our surrounding spectators.  

Here is a picture of us spectators.  (The lady on the far left is Travis' mom, Gretchen).

 

We also went to PF Changs at night to celebrate Kirstie's birthday. Way too good of food, I tell ya.  Sunday, I had breakfast with my Michelle where we got to catch up after not seeing each other for probably like 6 months or something like that.  We also got to see Kathleen, Robert's grandparents' the Maguires, and Grandma Joan and Jordan.  We also went bowling where Travis bowled a 200.  It was definitely a great game.

Kate even managed to set the pace for the Ladies on the second game where she got her own PR (personal record)! I think she bowled like a 150 or something like that.  Trust me when I say, she freaking rocked.  The rest of us bowled so-so.  Dad and Rob also did a good job with each of them coming close to the 200 mark.  I can't remember who it was that got 4 strikes in a row!  Mega-stars, I tell ya.

Me, Trav, Kirk and Rob also played a few games of ping pong in my parent's garage (nice weather).  It was an intense game.. kirstie even almost busted it on the garage floor.  We played two people where you would pop in and pop out.  It was intense (at least for me)!  It turns out Rob, I think, was the weakest link because he liked to do the "fancy" stuff and the ball usually never hit the table.  (P.S. Should also never play on teams with your significant other... it never turns out well).

Our Sunday night ended with a fajita dinner, watching Shaun White win the X-games, and playing a game of Logo.  If you're really into brand names, you need to check this game out.  It won't disappoint you and keep you entertained for hours.  

Rob and I came home Monday with no real exciting news to report.  My only comment is, I guess my apartment is dirty because one of the first things Rob did was grab the swiffer and begin dusting.  He's so anal retentive!  So, I guess I'll be cleaning the apartment this weekend as you know its bad when Rob gets the swiffer... not to mention he got the swiffer when he was tired from traveling. See what I have to deal with?

Anyways, hope you have a great week.  I'll be cleaning this upcoming weekend (oh, what fun!) and maybe some house hunting and then watching the super bowl (of which I have no favorite).

 

The Capital Gains Tax Explained (In Simple Terms)

I've been seeing a lot on capital gains here in the news lately and wanted to educate myself.  I knew what they were in theory, but there seems to be a lot of arguments going around about them and their related taxes.  After doing my research I thought it might be beneficial to you as well.  So here goes...

Capital gains defined on Wikipedia:

The profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a lower price. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property.

Real world example: On January 1, 2011 you buy Apple stock for $100.  On December 31, 2011 you sell your Apple stock for $200.  Profit of $100 ($200 sale price less $100 cost).  

Currently, USA has a 15% tax on capital gains.  Therefore, you would pay tax on your $100 profit.  You would pay $15 in tax and be able to bring home $75.

Generally, the 15% tax rate is lower than your ordinary income taxable rate.  Robert and I pay around 25% in income tax.  Why is this rate lower?

Well, to continue the example above:  I bought a $100 of Apple stock.  For me to buy that stock, I would have to pay 25% already on my income.  So, to have a $100 to buy Apple stock, I would have needed $125 in income.  So, I've already been taxed at my ordinary income rate on this money that I'm putting into the stock market.  Then, I get taxed again when I sell my $100 stock for a profit.  You are also only allowed a $3,000 deduction for your losses a year, too so while you can be taxed on your winnings... you don't get much of a benefit for your losses.

Generally speaking, the reason the 15% rate was assigned to capital gains was because its under the belief that people would invest less if those capital gains were taxed at their ordinary income rate.  The lower rate spurs more investing and the 15% rate would generate more income to the government than say a 30% tax rate would because there would be less money out in the market earning gains.

Final example: 

Annual Income: $1,000,000

Tax Rate: 30%

Taxes Paid: $300,000

Take home pay: $700,000

Assuming current 15% tax:

Invest $500,000 in the stock market.  Earn $30,000 on stocks (6% return).  Pay 15% on that profit: $4,500.  Total take home profit: $25,500

Assuming 30% tax:

Invest $500,000 in the stock market.  Earn $30,000 on stocks (6% return).  Pay 30% on that profit: $9,000.  Total take home profit $21,000.  

With the higher capital gains tax rate, its the belief that the investor would invest less to pay less in taxes since the investor is being taxed on that money once already.  Instead of paying more taxes here, the investor would likely move his money to other countries where capital gains taxes are lower or non-existent (USA has one of the highest capital gains tax rates in the World).

Anyways, that's pretty much the jist of it.  There's really a lot more to it in that these calculations don't take in the rate of inflation.  If you have a 2% rate of inflation, that 6% actual return you earned above is really more like a 4% realized return, but you're going to pay tax on the full 6% even though inflation just ate up 2% of your return.  Sad day.

Here's a great article explaining capital gains and taxes to further your knowledge.  Hope this has helped!

What's Shakin'?

 Been a bit delayed here lately, sorry about that.  You haven’t missed too much.  We’re still being frugal and still driving around looking at homes.  Over the past two weeks we have spent about 5 hours in the car on Saturday.  We just drive, drive around.  We’ll start on one side of town and end up in the other.

 

Two Saturdays ago, we forgot to bring a cooler with us (I know, I’m my father’s daughter and I forgot a cooler!) so we had to actually stop for a potty break and get something to drink and snack on.  I also might have convinced Rob to buy a scratch-off ticket, too.  I mean… you never know!  That $3,000 I could win would get me this much closer to my 20%!  Alas, it was not meant to be.  On our second Saturday out we brought a cooler and some goldfish for snacking.

 

So far, we are really liking Sienna Plantation:  http://www.siennaplantation.com/ Make sure you check it out.  This master planned community is in Missouri City, just down the road from Sugar Land.  We can get a pretty large house in this area and its well developed.  It’s more of an established neighborhood but all of the schools are located in that neighborhood as well as a Library, Community College and three daycares.  The only downside is it’s a 35 mile trip each way for Robert to get to work.  On the bright side, it shouldn’t be too laden with traffic.  That is a bright side, right?  It’s about a 20-25 mile trip for me as well.  Toll expense would be around $4,250/yr.  So, that’s technically cheaper than living in Katy.

 

Sienna also has a lot of pocket parks, equestrian center (too bad horses scare me, or this would be pretty cool), and full-blown water park, and a whole area devoted to baseball fields and soccer fields.  I know, I know.. it’s not in the city.  But I don’t seem to find anything I can really (comfortably) afford in the city.  Certainly don’t want to end up house poor.  But maybe we would be time poor???  I don’t know.

 

It’s just a thought right now, but definitely a cool place.  It’s 10 minutes from the Sugar Land mall and about 15 minutes from Highway 59.  There’s an HEB at the entrance of the community as well as a multitude of restaurants and home improvement stores (I mean, you never know when you need to fix something with a house, right?!).

 

Anyways… just wanted to keep you up to date with our house journey.  Not much to tell, we’re still just browsing as we’ll be for awhile.  Rob and I are headed to Arkansas this weekend for my dad & sister’s birthday as well as the track meet.  Ironically, I’m going to miss seeing Kirstie jump since she jumps at 4 PM on a Friday and I don’t get in until 8:30 PM or so on Friday.  I know, I know… crazy.  But, I bought my tickets on a special sale and I didn’t know what time she jumped with I bought them.  So, it looks like we’ll be watching her All-American boyfriend run his races on Saturday only… which is still pretty fun.

 

P.S.  I’m still Zumba-ing.  Don’t think I had forgotten about my last post on Zumba-ing.  I can generally get 5 starts now and my highest % achieved 96%.  I can do three dances, haha.  I still look hilarious, I’m sure…. But I can at least do the steps.  Tonight, I think I’m going to teach myself a new routine.  

Oh, Where to Live. Small Case of Anxiety

Yeesh.  I'm starting to get anxiety already.  That's probably a bad thing.  As published in my previous post, Robert and I will spend 2012 finding us a nice house to live in.  And as you know, we live in Houston.. filled with long commute times and thousands of places to live as well as thousands of school districts.

It's not like back home where you know the school districts are good, where all the roads take you, and how long it takes you to get from point A to point B.  

Houston doesn't have zoning laws, either.  Meaning, there can be something fantastic next to something not so fantastic.  You can find really cool townhomes next to the "ghetto."  Additionally, no one goes to school is Houston ISD.  If you live in the city you pay to go to private schools.  It's just a given.  Well, that's like $15K a year per child.  Uh... no thank you!

Now, I don't want all this school talk to sound like we're planning on having babies really soon or anything.. but it does help resale value to make sure that you are living in a sought after school district.  Plus, I guess, you never know what will happen.

Robert and I have been driving around Katy, TX which is west and found some really nice neighborhoods that we like.  However, Katy is AT LEAST 25 miles one way for each of us to get to to work.  Katy ISD also has a really great school district.  We started doing toll calculations and time calculations and kind of gone blown out of the water.  If we live in Katy and both take toll roads its going to cost about $6,250 a year in toll expense.  That's like an additional $500 a month.  That's a lot!  Not to mention that tolls don't guarantee a faster commute time.  Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't.

So, we realized that every time we were researching neighborhoods we were having to look at a map and run the amount of miles to/from work.  So, being the anal-retentive person I am, I created this map. (Don't judge me)

 

 Now, this map has where I work, where Robert works and various routes to work.  The routes are color coded down below.  In the boxes below lists out roundtrip mileage, roundtrip toll expense, and approximate amount of time it will take each way.  I'm not done with the map because I hope to incorporate school districts into it as well as ideal neighborhoods, but I'm getting there.  One only has so much time during the day, you know.

On the map, Katy is out west (left), Sugar Land is South West.  These areas are our ideal location areas.  The black lines are highways that I refuse to live off of because traffic is AWFUL.  It's not even worth it.  You won't convince me of it.

The yellow star is where we are currently renting our apartment.  Now you can see why we chose our apartment where we did.  Rather central location.  The first loop you see around downtown is known as 610 or the inner loop.  The second loop that you see is known as the Beltway or the Sam Houston Tollway.  This entire loop is a toll road.  No getting around not paying the toll, there.  You also see the Westpark Tollway which runs almost parallel to I-10 and also costs money every time you drive on it.  This is where all the great neighborhoods are in the purple bubble.

Sugar Land is also another great option that we didn't really count on.  I thought it would be too far away, but it is actually closer than living in Katy.  DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS.  I think what we are starting to realize is that while we thought our rent was high, living in a house isn't going to be any cheaper.  Robert has yet to grasp this concept and as of now refuses to drive on a toll road and pay money.  This means he'll be driving like 2 hours to/from work.  He can't accept it that paying money to drive on a road here is a way of life.  Having a house in Houston is not always cheaper than renting.  It's the price you pay to have a place to call home.

So, I'm still working on him.  You can probably tell we tend to get in a few arguments over this (all in good fun I assure you). Again, we're in no major rush... we won't have the money we need until  AT LEAST May, but we'd like to kind of focus on an area and monitor the houses that go up for sale there.

Alas, that's where we are now.  Today we're going to head to Sugar Land and drive around and see what we think.  I'll keep you posted. :-)  It always promises to be interesting.

New Year.. New Goals

I certainly can't believe that 2012 has rolled around.  Being an accountant, I seem to work a lot in the prior year (this case 2011) and, therefore, will never remember that I'm currently living in the current year (2012) and all my checks will be dated 2011.  Alas, it seems to be a recurring problem.  You know, not long ago, I actually wrote my birthday on a check as the date.  There, solves that problem... can't remember what year you're in? Just write what year you were born.  Done.

Okay, for real now... since its being a new year the Meier's have some new goals.  Of course, we have the usual goals such as working out more and eating more healthy.  So, far we seem to have been doing a pretty good job... I've been either riding my bike (mostly using the bike trainer so I can ride inside) and doing Zumba.  Rob has also been running.  I've also been cooking, too.  So, we're doing good there (so far).

Our really big goal for 2012 is... BUYING A HOUSE!!  That's going to be a really huge goal for us and is going to take some time.  I'm not usually just overly patient, but I'm going to have to be this for one.  As you've read in my previous blogs, Robert and I are going to put 20% down.  We're over halfway there... if we're lucky we will be there by May.  If we're not so lucky... it will be August.  Either way, we ARE BUYING HOUSE.  I'm not allowing any negative thoughts (no, "we're trying to buy a house" or "we think we're going to buy a house" allowed here).  We speak in only affirmative words when referring to buying a house.

Heck, the day after Christmas, Robert and I went Christmas light shopping for the house that we don't currently own yet!  Bought all LED lights for 50% off!!  Beat that, yo.  $3.24 cents a box for LED lights (pretty much the same price for mini and C9's).  I win!

Personally, I'm very excited about this whole buying a house thing.  Robert and I are definitely homebodies, so it will be nice to have a "home."  I look forward to having projects to work on around the house and planting some flowers.  Granted, I know there will be some things that I don't love (i.e. the commute for sure)... but overall, I know the move will be right for us.  

We've already been jolted by what we can afford and not afford in the city.  Bottom line, we can't afford to live in the city.  We're going to have to move out of the city.  We're leaning towards moving west, outside of the outer loop towards Katy.  This map below pretty much shows you the general area of where we're looking to buy.  (The red dots are elementary schools, but you don't need to worry about those).

So, anyways.. that's going to be our major goal for 2012.  Ideally, I guess we're looking for 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths and around 2,000 square feet.  We'll get a better feel for the size once we get an actual realtor.  Right now, all my research involves Robert and I getting in the car and driving around neighborhoods using the HAR (Houston Area Real Estate) app on my iPad or iPhone and seeing how much homes cost where.  This weekend, we even picked a neighborhood and went riding our bikes around it looking at houses.  It was pretty fun, not going to lie. 

To help make sure our financial plan is there I've been working on the Meier 2012 budget.  Got to start budgeting for "house" expenses now, even though we don't have one so that when moving day comes... we will have some wiggle room to buy some things that we don't currently need for the apartment (i.e. lawn mower, weed eater, and furniture) as well as moving expenses.  And remember, we're debt free people and won't go into debt again except for our mortgage, so it took me almost 4 hours to get our budget to equal zero at the end of each month for the next year.

Yeah, I know... who does an annual budget? I do.  And it gets updated monthly for actual results and then I re-project as necessary.  But, for example, I know Robert's car needs new brake pads and rotors.  That's going to cost me approximately $800.  Well, I don't have $800 in February just for Robert's car, but I do have $400 in January & February.  Same goes for a vacation and moving expenses.. I don't have $1,000 for a vacation and another $1,000 for moving this summer in just one month, but if I start budgeting for it now, I will by summer.  You know the saying, "A fail to plan, is a plan to fail."  Dave Ramsey has taught me well!  :-)  

Okay, probably definitely boring you by now, but this is what gets me excited!!  Total nerd, I'm not afraid to admit.  If we plan accordingly, buying a house should just fall into our lap and be less stressful (we hope!).  So, that's whats going to be on our agenda for 2012.  Get excited... we definitely are! Woo!

P.S. (How about them Hogs this weekend at the Cotton Bowl?!  Woo Pig Sooie!)

Zumba, Zumba, Zumba!

Well, hello there.  This time, I really am blogging from my iPad!  I downloaded this Blogsy app for $4.99.  So, if this post pretty much appears crazy, it's because I'm learning how to work this app.  We'll see what it does!

So, I bought Zumba Fitness 2 for the Wii late last week (or well, I had Robert pick it up for me at the store because I was working).  Let me tell you, the first time I did this... it was a complete disaster. (P.S. In the picture below, I really wish my stomach would look like that.... how many Zumba classes does it requite to get my body to look like that?!)

I waited to try it out when Robert wasn't home.  I moved all my furniture, strapped on the fitness belt, and started the game.  I set up my profile and when I got to types of programs I wanted to do: "Single Song," "Short Class," "Mid-length Class," and "Long Class."  Well, what the heck are you supposed to choose?  I went with what I thought would be a safe option: Mid-length class.

That was a big mistake.  And let's get real here... I'm not overly coordinated.  I can do things, but it takes me a long time to learn a routine.  What's I do it enough, I'll get it.. but by no means can I just pick up a dance and start doing it.  Just ask my old gym coaches... they hated teaching me new choreography for my floor and beam routines.  I still have memories of memorizing steps and having to do them over and over again.  Something that should take like 4 hours to memorize would take me like 8 hours.

Anyways, getting off of the beaten path... I knew going into this Zumba routine that I would struggle a little bit. But, hey.. mid-length class, I should be able to work through it.  Well, first of all... mid-length class is like 50 minutes long with no breaks.  It's one routine after the other.  And my only options to choose from were from high or medium intensity.  Wisely, I did choose medium intensity... but I really needed low.

Also, for this to work, you have to strap your Wii Remote into this fitness belt.  Nowhere did it say which way the remote should face.  I just took the remote like I held it in my hand and shoved it in the hole where it belonged.  (This was a bad idea I later find out-- there is a certain way to put this remote in the hole!)

Moving forward, I start this mid-length class. I realize with the first song, this is way too advanced for me.  They aren't giving me enough time to get into a pattern and recognize the steps and the little side bar that comes up and tells you what's next didn't come up near often enough.  I'm shaking my lower half and upper half in what I know is a completely unrhythmic way.  My legs and arms are flying all over the place and I'm about 2 seconds behind the dancer on the screen.

If someone had seen me, they would have been like... hurry "get her some water" because I can tell you, I looked like a fish out of water.  It's how I felt, even!  Much less, once I made it through like the SEVEN songs it made the go through, I got a ZERO percent in technique.  Though, I knew my score would be low.. I didn't quite imagine it would be zero.  To be honest, I put the game away and thought....Lord, help me... I don't know if I'll ever do it again.

So... today.. I decided to give it round 2 (of course, timed so that Rob couldn't see me).  This time, I selected a single song and decided to just repeat it over and over again to make sure that I got the steps.  I also selected a song with LOW intensity to make sure that I could keep up with the dancers and not always be two dance steps behind.  So, after my first pass at my song of choice, I still got a ZERO percent.  I'm like seriously?!  I can halfway do this dance.  Then it occurs to me, maybe my remote is the problem.  Sure enough, I turned it right-side up (sensor facing up) and on my second song I got all these "ZUMBA," "HOT," "NICE" phrases thrown on the screen.  While those words are probably a bit ambitious, I'm going to admit its a bit encouraging when words pop up on the screen that tell you you are doing a good job.  I'll take whatever I can get here people when sweat is pouring down my face.

After about the 3rd go around, I even got 5 stars and my best technique was 86%.  At the end, it says to increase your technique... do the moves with more energy?  I've got a smile on my face here people!  Where does that get recorded??  Anyways, I did master the dance (more than 86% in my opinion, but I can't seem to convince the Wii of that).  So, I reckon I'll keep the game around.  

So, my lesson learned is to take it one dance at a time and then I'll start with a class.  I'm never just going in blind to seven songs in a row again.  That was a bad idea.  I reckon Zumba is going to my workout of choice for 2012... we'll see how long it lasts.  :-)

Here's a link if you are interested in buying the game