Recently I’ve begun to worry about whether I’ve saved enough (probably but I can always save more!) and whether I’ve accumulated enough to retire later at this age.  It’s a minor obsession of mine to see how others in a similar situation are doing just so I can gauge how I’m doing myself.  That of course puts me into dangerous territory where I may be completely satisfied with just being average rather than doing the best I can.  Some folks are even worse than average given their station in life due to a variety of personal situations.  Everyone understands that.  But I think it’s important to do these check up once in a while just to see how you’re doing generally.

So where am I?  I’m just about average.  I suppose it could be worse.  It’s good to know that at least I’m not behind my peers.  I always have the nagging feeling I should save more but it’s just so hard with all of the expenses of ordinary life.  It does take true discipline to be able to consistently sock away as much as you can.  I do admire those few folks who can do it and strive to do better myself.  But I suppose being average is not a bad place to start from.  There are worse places to begin for sure!

Have you done a check up of where you stand financially?  If not, just do a Google search and get a rough idea.  It’ll get you started on thinking about your finances at the least.  If you’re lazy, here’s a very general formula to get you started:

NET WORTH = [ (Your average income over the past 10 years) – ($15,000 + $5,000 for each person in your household) ] x Your Age / 8

So for example, if you’re age 35 and your last 10 years of income averages to $75,000, your net worth should be in the neighborhood of $262,500 if you’re single.  (That’s $75,000 minus $15,000 times 35 divided by 8).  If you’re a family of 4 in the same situation, your net worth would be less: $196,875.

Finally.  That’s all I can say.  I probably should have done this about 1 1/2 years ago but I’m refinancing my house.  It all started with a visit to Zillow where I thought they did such a poor job of estimating my house value with their so called “Zestimate”.  What a load of crap that is.  They were a full 15% off, which is huge.  Unless you’re in a completely homogeneous neighborhood, this estimate will provide absolutely no value.  Two houses next to each other with everything exactly the same can have wildly different values according to Zillow.

But what did intrigue me as I was fuming about this was the ad to refinance.  I figured why the hell not? Rates are still very low.  It’s not as low as it was a year ago but they’re still at a level that we won’t see for decades.  And I’m convinced they’re about to rise. Part of the refinancing process includes an appraisal.  The professional appraiser came out and pretty much confirmed my suspicions about Zillow – that they’re full of crap.  In any case, now I’m on my way!

I’m working entirely online and through the phone on this one with National Bank of Kansas City.  I’ll admit I’ve never heard of this bank before and save for this transaction, I’ll probably won’t see them again.  But what do I care if they sell my mortgage or not?  They are an FDIC bank and so far it’s been a total pleasure dealing with them.  The loan office maintains regular contact throughout the process and keeps me updated.  They’ve been responsive and more than fair with their rate and costs.  I should know; I shopped around after reaching out to them.  I would heartily recommend these guys if you’re in the market to refinance before rates jump.  So far so good with this one.  🙂

I just filed my taxes and both Federal & state returns were accepted.  The online filing process was even easier this year compared to last year.  The government accepted the returns within minutes of my submission.  It’s pretty crazy how far home tax preparation has gone.  I used TurboTax but I would think any modern package would get the job done for most people.  I only picked it by virtue of being able to import my information from previous tax years.  I’m glad I got done (relatively) early.  This year I had to wait bit since some tax forms that I needed weren’t released by the IRS until late into the new year.

Many people are intimidated by taxes and doing it by themselves would not even enter their mind.  However, there’s really nothing to be concerned about with these modern software packages and really no need to pay anyone to prepare them for you.  The key is to have all your documents ready (W-2, 1099’s, charitable donation receipts, etc.).  The rest of the process is straight forward with the software walking you through every category.

So what are you waiting for?  Get going and cross filing your taxes off your list!