Husband-less day #1

With TJ visiting Wisconsin for the next 10 days, I no longer return home from work to a bustling home filled with the sound of Metroid being played on the Wii. Although I do miss him, I did notice a certain quietness and lack of distraction in the air. I decided to take advantage of this and figure out my finances.

I am now a registered Dental Hygienist at a practice on a high-end street in downtown Boston. It's nice to finally have income and be rid of the studying for endless tests. Along with the lack of school and gain in income come A: student loan repayments, and B: the thought that I should start investing for retirement.

I pursued objective A by calling the loan company to set up my repayment schedule for when that fun part starts in November. After speaking with the friendly person in India fielding my call, I came to the horrible realization that my private loans (the ones with the ginormous amounts of money borrowed) are not the nice, fixed rate I thought they were when I casually checked them a few months ago; they are variable. Oh Sh*t. Fortunately, the economy sucks in my favor right now and is keeping the rate cheaper than my fixed stafford loan interest. This will become interesting in the next few months as Bush tries to F--- with our corporate and financial systems.

Objective B left me nearly cross-eyed. I called TJ's dad (who used to be an economics professor) to ask him his opinion on things. It's all a blur from there, something about different types of funds and other little details that I've never cared enough to look in to. All I know is that I want to invest in a Roth IRA.
I didn't realize there were funds within that fund that need to be picked, or what they mean or stand for, or that different companies charge different fees and have different specific funds within those funds, etc. etc. I thought it was as simple as opening up a savings account. "I'd like to open up a Roth IRA, thanks!" In, out, and done, check the balance in 40 years and notice that it grew enough to sustain me 'til death.

I have now decided to leave both objectives alone until I can gain my sanity back. Day 1 has been quite a downer, and I need to spend this alone time doing positive activities & being a little more selfish around the house, such as having the TV remote all to myself, to watch my worthless sitcoms without hearing "why do you watch this crap?" commentary coming from my other half (who I ask the same question when he then proceeds to watch sports every waking hour). I'll also be able to make & eat what I want for supper (such as a large bowl of cereal, or a giant salad) without feeling the pressure to actually cook something. I need to focus on the half-full part of the glass, and maybe add a little rum to it...