Financial questions

I found this over at the lovely Carla's blog and thought I would answer it too!

1. What is your income?

About $43K (pre-deductions), plus whatever I make at the p/t job. That varies as I work maybe twice a month or so, depending on whether I’m available or not.

2. What are your (fixed) monthly expenses?

                1. Rent

                2. Hydro

                3. Phone/Internet

                4. RRSP deduction

                5. EFund deduction

                6.

3. What would happen if you died tomorrow?

It would all end up intestate at this point. I have the will information all filled out, but have not yet filed it. It’s hard to get your mind around preparing for your death. There’s a little subconscious action going on that prevents immediate action. But we know that not everything goes according to our plans, accidents happen, etc.  So. Time to move on that, particularly as I’ve had the money saved for that for, oh, two years?

4. Where could you get $500 in an emergency?

My emergency fund or from various savings accounts.

5. What would you do if you got fired from your job?

I panic easily, so that would happen for sure. Then once that was out of my system, I would just have to deal with it and start looking for something else, in the meantime filing for EI. I have too many responsibilities and can’t afford to not work for more than a week or so (NB: a good reason to continue funding the EFund!).

**edit: Would not be eligible for EI if I was fired! And working in a unionized environment you have to do something REALLY awful to get fired.

6. How will you live in retirement?

Comfortably I hope. Meaning that all my needs are accounted for, plus I have enough for a few wants as well. Not worrying about where my next meal will come from and that will allow me to care for animals, although perhaps not my own (I’m too afraid of dying before they do at some point and would be overly-concerned about their welfare after that), so more realistically through a charity of some sort or other.

7. What could you sell to make extra cash if needed?

                1. Computer & accoutrements

                2. Car

                3. DVDs

                4. Groovy furniture

                5. Books galore

                6. Camera & lens

                7. KitchenAid mixer

                8. TV & DVD player

                9. Art

                10. Probably lots of other stuff…

               

8. Does your spending align with your values?

Hmm. Not entirely. I buy “things” and then feel put out because I don’t have any cash to do fun stuff or go places. My priorities need to shift to the experiential, rather than just filling my life with stuff that I really don’t need.

9. What are you teaching (or will you teach) your kids about money?

No kids!

10. What steps can you take today to improve your financial situation?

Stop spending mindlessly. Be more mindful of what I want (i.e. listen to my heart, rather than my head) and work harder at being less impulsive. Keep track of what I spend my money on and work harder to shave costs where I can.