I'm an Heiress

Remember Great Aunt Minnie? She died peacefully a few weeks ago. I had a chance to see her one last time in May, and spoke to her on the phone a few days before her death. I couldn't go to her memorial service, so it still seems almost surreal that she's gone, after her being such a constant, steady figure in my family's life all these years.

So it was even more weird to find a thick envelope in my mail the other night, which turned out to be from Minnie's lawyer, because I'll inherit a share of her estate.

Minnie had no children-- she left everything to my father and his 5 sisters, to be divided equally. Since my father died before her, his share now goes to my sister and me. At first, I thought this was weird-- my father's estate was all in some kind of trust going to my mother, and I thought as his surviving spouse she'd be entitled to a share in whatever Minnie had left. This gave me an icky feeling when I saw that her name wasn't included on the papers-- it's not that I want my mother to have more money to burn in irresponsible things, but I didn't want to think she was somehow being shut out. On the other hand, I didn't want to rock the boat, so I asked my sister about it, and she reassured me that my mother was well aware that the will specified that the kids of any of the siblings who were deceased were to be the heirs, not the spouses. (Perhaps because of my family's many divorces and other relationship issues!)

So now I just have to see what happens once the estate is settled and divided up. It's very odd-- I've never been named in a will before. I mean, I was named in my Dad's, but because I was so involved in his estate planning, and it was all about my mom being provided for, I never thought of it as anything actually being left to me. And although Minnie didn't single out me or anyone in my generation, and I'm only getting anything because my dad is dead, which was certainly not a happy matter-- despite all this, I feel weirdly pleased that Minnie is passing something on to me, because I think she would be happy to give it.
After her death, one of my aunts emailed to say that all Minnie's stuff had to be out of the assisted living apartment by the end of the month, and that I should come and claim any items I might want. All I could think to ask for was a book I'd given her about a year ago that I know she had really enjoyed. Other than that, I have other mementos of her-- an old stool that was hers (and made by my great-grandfather), a cracker tin that was in her old kitchen, and a few other small items she'd given me over the years. More importantly I have audio and video recordings of parts of our conversations from the last time we saw each other. And most importantly of all, I have a lifetime of good memories.

But now, I guess I'll also have some money. Weird, weird, weird. I have no idea how much money it will be. I certainly don't expect much, given I'll only get one twelfth of her estate. Though she had a good career and was very frugal, the assisted living place was expensive and I know she worried about being able to afford it. And she was paying for extra nursing care towards the end. So it's not like this will be some great windfall. But it's nice to know I'll get some small amount, whatever it is. We shall see.

2010's Highest Paid Authors

Here's a juicy little tidbit for anyone who's ever hoped to write a bestseller! Forbes has posted a list of the authors who made the most money over the past 12 months:

James Patterson ($70 million)
Stephenie Meyer ($40 million)
Stephen King ($34 million)
Danielle Steel ($32 million)
Ken Follett ($20 million)
Dean Koontz ($18 million)
Janet Evanovich ($16 million)
John Grisham ($15 million)
Nicholas Sparks ($14 million)
JK Rowling ($10 million)

Of course, this is just an isolated 12-month period, so it's not a good indicator of how much these authors might make on average over a few years. And though James Patterson is by far the highest-paid author, he freely admits that he doesn't do that much writing of his own books any more-- he basically outlines them and has other people write them, so you'd have to deduct what he pays his staff! But still, he's doing just fine.

What I'd love to see would be broader stats about how much writers make, sliced and diced by fiction/non-fiction, and showing income deciles. There are only a tiny handful of authors who make the big bucks, and many more who make pretty much nothing... but I wonder how many in between are making a pretty good living?

"The First Shoppable Children's Storybook"

Ugh! This ad popped up when I looked at the NY Times web page this morning and I was so shocked and horrified, I had to share it:



Ok, people are going to advertise products, and ads include more and more elaborate entertainment content. And plenty of movies for adults and teens include product placements, and it's happening more and more in books too. But what tin-eared advertising genius had the bright idea to create "the first shoppable children's storybook?" And actually be proud of it! Is this really what the world needs now?

Some of the proceeds are being donated to charity, at least...

Money Art

I stumbled across this and thought it was quite cool: Scott Campbell's laser-etched dollar bill art.

Cogitating on Cohabitating

Here's a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately-- how do you decide whether or not to move in with your sweetie? As I write this, mine is recovering from a knee surgery, and I'm playing nurse, maid, chef, and chauffeur. I haven't been home in a week, and I keep wondering if it's silly for us to live in two separate apartments, as this kind of situation highlights the need and desire to be together.
A while back, I tallied up the amount of space we occupy between the two of us-- 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, close to 1800 sq feet... in NYC, this is not necessarily palatial, but still rather luxurious for a childless couple. And yet, though we are a couple, we are also two individuals. We can each afford our individual lifestyle and we each have our preferences and desire for our own space. If two individuals are each living financially responsible lives on their own, does the fact of their being a couple change that and mean that they are financially irresponsible?
We'd easily save almost $2000 a month when you consider my rent and utilities. (Though I personally might not save all that much depending on how we split the bills-- Sweetie's expenses are somewhat higher than mine, and include things like basic cable TV, which I don't pay for at all right now.) We'd save on groceries. My plants wouldn't keep dying of neglect. And we'd save lots of time in not having to go back and forth. But how do you decide what the right balance is?
I feel rather self-indulgent thinking about how I need "MY SPACE." How many millions of people around the world don't even have a square inch to call their own, let alone a small New York apartment? But it's not really about a measured amount of physical space for me-- there is some consideration of that, of course, when you calculate how many books will fit on the shelves and how many hangers will fit in the closet. But for me, it's more about the mental space, and the feeling of control, or perhaps assertion of identity. I like having some sort of space, even if it's just a corner, where I am surrounded by my own things, chosen and arranged by me. Maybe it's books, objects, posters, or a combination of these things. And maybe I can find a way to have this in Sweetie's apartment, but I'm not sure. It's a bigger apartment than mine, but not that much bigger. And I don't want my moving in to mean that Sweetie has to completely turn the place upside down.
Ideally we'd just move to a different, bigger apartment together but there are a lot of good reasons not to give up Sweetie's place. So another thing I've thought about is renting the tiniest studio I can find within a block or two of Sweetie. I could use it as a sort of extra room, and if I had my sister's family visiting, it could function as an extra guest room. If I rented out my place, I could probably get a bit more for it than I pay in mortgage and maintenance charges. But a studio in the location I'd want would cost me anywhere between 2/3 to 3/4 of what I pay now for a two bedroom. That's a bit depressing, but would it be worth it for my own peace of mind? Would I actually have that peace of mind? Would I use the studio enough for it to be worth the expense? Maybe it would just be a transitional thing as we adjusted to occupying the same apartment and finding ways to fit in all our stuff without each sacrificing our preferences and habits.
New York is somewhat famous, I think, for being a place where couples move in together sooner than they normally would, and continue to live together long after breaking up, just because it's financially impossible to do otherwise. I don't want to make this decision based on money. But it's hard not to think about it...

Monthly Recap: June 2010

Finally getting around to another "monthly" net worth update! June was not a great month in many ways-- my investments lost some value, and I also decided to lower my home value by another $10,000 based on some comparable sales. (I had lowered it by $10,000 in September 2009 also.) My cash on hand increased nicely, but I had a bigger than usual credit card bill to pay off at the end of the month. Here's the details from NetWorthIQ:

Assets		$ Diff	% Diff
Cash	$64,186	$3,115	5.1%
Stocks	$20,237	-$502	-2.4%
Bonds	$5,091	$0	0.0%
Retirement	$240,608	-$10,221	-4.1%
Home	$80,404	-$9,641	-10.7%
Total Assets	$410,526	-$17,249	-4.0%
Debts		$ Diff	% Diff
Credit Card	$3,347	$1,676	100.3%
Total Debts	$3,347	$1,676	100.3%
Net Worth	$407,179	-$18,925	-4.4%

Whenever I look at this chart lately, I'm struck by the jagged ups and downs starting in 2007-- there's a huge dip, as you'd expect with a worldwide economic meltdown, but even aside from that, it's been pretty bumpy month to month when you compare it to the earlier dates. Part of the reason is the frequency of updates-- in 2005 I did about 6 entries, and went to almost monthly in 2006 and later. Years prior to 2005 are represented in annual entries. But when I look at Quicken, where my data has been updated religiously every month since 2002, I see the same pattern-- a nice, gradual upward slope until I bought my condo, then a giant spike in my assets and liabilities, then a series of monthly ups and downs. You'd think having a big chunk of net worth tied up in a home would stabilize those ups and downs... but not in today's world!

Deposit a Check With Your iPhone

I saw this article today and my inner tech geek went "WOW! I have to try that!"
I just happened to have a check in my wallet that I needed to deposit (for a miserable $141 reimbursement of a $2,000 root canal, but that's another story), so I went right to it!

First of all, not all banks offer this, as the Consumerism Commentary article notes. I do my local banking with Chase, and had already downloaded the iPhone app, but I'd never noticed that at the bottom of the screen, there's an icon for "Deposit." The first time you click it, you'll be asked to sign up for online depositing, which is free. The sign up took no time at all, just a few clicks.
When you're ready to actually deposit a check, you have to select which account (i.e. savings or checking) you want the deposit to go to, and enter the amount. Then you have to photograph the front and back of the check. They say it's best to do it in good light, against a dark background. I had had the check folded in my wallet, so I had to flatten it out. The camera frames the check and reminds you to hold still. You take a photo of the front and then the back-- you can zoom in to make sure your photo isn't blurry before you finalize the deposit. Some kind of processing then takes place, and you get a confirmation back, which includes the routing and account numbers from the check-- I assume that if the camera hasn't read the info properly, you'd get some kind of rejection at this point, but they do caution you to hang onto the check until the deposit has cleared, just in case.
I just did this 5 minutes ago, and immediately got an email from Chase confirming the deposit (though it still notes that it's "pending" and not "cleared.") We'll see if it all goes through properly in a day or two, I guess, but it looks like it will save me a trip to the bank. I have to say, I'm kind of amazed that this is possible!