Money and stuff

First things first…for Ella W, the number is now 8…it was a VERY good night.

I feel really important today. The executive committee called me from their meeting yesterday where they were figuring out bonuses. They were trying to get a finger on what the people in the firm were “expecting” and felt like I would have a good idea of it. Which I do…everyone tells me everything for some reason.

So I was sort of let in on the basic numbers (which I think also bodes well for me…I doubt they would let me listen in on the discussion of what the range would be if I was going to be at the bottom of the range.) It was very good news…I would say that most people figure that the payouts will be in the neighborhood of 20% of their base salary. The bosses seemed to settle on a range of anywhere from about 15%-30%. Two people are getting a huge number based on a specific thing they did, but I am not one of them:-P

Anyway, with this forthcoming windfall, along with my raise from last month, I am feeling kind of flush these days. Needless to say, this is not really a feeling I have ever had before in my life…Lol. It also gets me to some questions…

First of all, there can be absolutely no doubt that I live very much under the goodwill of Smoking Hot Roommate and Papa Bear. I pay SHR rent, but it is way, way, way less than would be considered a “market” based rent. Ballpark, I think a fair rent for me and Munchkin would probably be in the order of $5,000 a month….yes, you read that right. It is a really nice place… I pay her a very, very small portion of that.

And that doesn’t even get to tuition that they pay for Munchkin, which is another massive sum every year. Or the free use of the beach house (I know I keep promising…someday I will tell you about it in detail). Anyway, you get the picture, they give me a lot…

All of which makes me feel a little guilty when I get raises or bonuses. I feel like I should pay them back for the stuff they have given me. But, that almost implies that I ever could pay them back, which I doubt I ever could in real dollars. Nor would they let me…I usually have to yell at SHR to cash my rent checks, and if I try to give Papa Bear any money, he won’t take it.

So, most likely I will offer and he will refuse and tell me that he would rather I saved it. Which I can do…I have a financial advisor (again, someone who deals with some of their money and works with me almost solely as a favor to Papa Bear). My advisor is also really, really cute…hee hee…but that is a whole other story. I will also offer to pay SHR more rent, and could use all of your help in convincing her to take it:-P

I also kind of like saving money…I got really excited because I got my 401k statement a while back and there was like $20,000 in it. I think I am typically a little less excited about impulse purchases than most girls are; not that I don’t like useless and hyper-wasteful handbags, just maybe less than average. But I really like the idea of saving and building wealth for the future. Obviously I would like to buy a house someday, and maybe I will need to help Munchkin through college…I just don’t know.

I am kind of rambling, I guess. I also wonder why people are so hesitant to talk about money…it is like the ultimate taboo subject… I guess that is a longer subject for another day.