My 403b has heading in the right direction and after a tough 2008 I am very happy about it. I have been keeping an eye on my DCP and been thinking of making some changes but I think that I am going to let it be for the time being. A note before I continue, I forgot to update the rate of return in the last report, sorry about that. Now, lets check the good stuff.

In yesterday’s post I wrote about my current debt and about a recent buy that I made this past weekend. I am very happy with what I bought but a few days later I have to admit that I was kicking myself just for being my complacent self. You see, I was checking the Discover site checking my balance and when I was done with that I clicked on the Shop Discover tab and lo and behold if I had used one of the retailers listed I would have earned a nice 5% cash back bonus for buying the exact same thing. I used another retailer and although I earned points, I used my American Express, cash back would have been a lot better the way things are right now. I am over it now because lets face it, it’s over and done with so I am moving on knowing full well that next time I have to buy something I am going to shop around.

My personal debt stands at about $1,055.00 dollars as I write this and I don’t like it one bit. Every month I deposit $200 dollars into my checking account to pay off my bills but that it’s not making a dent on my debt at all. After having an extra paycheck in April I decided to have my very own stimulus package, I quickly deposited some of that check and paid a big chunk of my debt and at the beginning of this month my debt was less than $400 dollars. My usual bills came due and then a I bought something this past weekend, you’ll know what I bought and the reason why I bought it on my other blog this coming Friday and you will also know why I am kicking myself now in a coming post here as well, and that pushed it past the thousand dollar mark. Now it’s pretty obvious that I have to do a bit more if I want to pay it off fast, I could just pay it all off with my savings but I am not going to because that money is for emergencies only. I then put my brain to work on a new plan and I think that I finally found one, I will tell you more about it in a future post but in the meantime let me go and enjoy my debt.

The rally slowed down last week but my account was up $176.50 anyway and I am ok with that. The market is closed today because of Memorial Day but hopefully things will pick up again this week so we can keep the rally going. I would love to make a prediction here but I am going to keep my mouth shut again this week.

I had no trades last week trades.

My investments, 50 Dow Chemical Co (DOW) shares, 100 Allied Irish Banks PLC (AIB) shares, 400 Citigroup (C) shares, 500 Fannie Mae (FNM) shares and 1500 American International Group Inc (AIG) shares.

If you are not sure about jumping into the stock market because you just don’t want to endanger your hard earned money but at the same time you wonder about how you can make some bucks while you make up your mind then have no fear because I have some news that you may already have heard. Most banks pay you peanuts, crumbs in some cases, in interest for your money. Well, if you have a few dollars and want to have the most bang for your buck then check out Ally Bank, which is offering rates as high as 2.80% APY with no minimum deposit on a one year CD. They also offer Online Savings Account, Money Market Accounts and No Penalty CD’s, all with very good rates, lets hope they stay that way, that beat your local brick and mortar banks. I recommend that you do your own research and if you like what you read then by all means make your money work hard for you.