Good Money Blog

• Cash Savings
  Currently, we have more cash than I’d like ($47K). We have $10K worth of I-Bonds bought at the end of April with a guaranteed interest rate of 4.28% until September. The majority of my cash is now sitting at high-yield savings accounts such as HSBC Direct (3.50% APY) and E*Trade Bank (3.15% APY). I’ve been planning to buy some stocks in my taxable portfolio, however, given the current market condition, I’m still watching from the sideline. On the other hand, as my wife’s looking for a new job, we may need some reserved cash to buy a second car in the near future.
• House
  That’s not a Zillow estimate but the price we paid two years ago. The housing market in the Midwest has gone down somewhat but my neighborhood’s been doing just fine - Just a couple months ago, an almost identical house down the street was sold within a month around our buying price.
• CD and Retirement Funds
  I put most of the borrowed money ($18K) from a 0% APR credit card balance transfer offer in a 9-month CD from Countrywide Bank (5.45% APY). We have a total of $78K in 401(k) and Roth IRAs. All our retirement accounts are expected to be maximized this year.
• Credit Card Debt
  $22K is the money borrowed free from a 0% APR balance transfer offer that will soon expire at the end of July. The rest is just my regular expenses paid with cash rebate credit cards like Chase Freedom (up to 3.75% cash back) that will be paid off at the end of the billing cycle.
• Mortgage
  The only loan we have is the mortgage for our primary residence.

• Food
  We spent a lot on dining out since our parents came for a visit. 
• Vacation
  We also had a short road trip with them.