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Jul 29, 2014    |       12 comments

Interview Update

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I feel kind of weird talking about this before decisions have been made – don’t want to “jinx” myself – but I feel like I’m gushing to a friend, so here are the deets on my interview from this morning (interviewing for a managing editor position at an academic publication):

First, I think the interview went really well!!! The conversation flowed naturally, and it felt like I was chatting with old friends (remember – I have met the editor-in-chief a handful of times and was networking with him a couple weeks ago – reminding him who I was and inquiring about the position).

I feel like I impressed them with some of my answers to questions and about my qualifications. Ultimately, I also genuinely believe I would be a great “fit” for the position (and it for me). I love the content area of the journal and the mission of the company. I think my skills provide a unique fit with their needs and that the relationship would truly be a mutually beneficial and fulfilling one.

So the whole interview was great!

And then…..at the very end of the 30 minute conversation (yes, felt more like a conversation than an “interview”), they asked if I was willing to be considered for either of the positions they had posted. They were soliciting applicants for a managing editor (which I applied for), and a “coordinator” (basically an assistant). I don’t really want to do the coordinator role – its less money still, and I think I’m a little overqualified for it. I didn’t want to immediately say “no,” so I told them that I thought I had skills that overlapped both of the job descriptions and I would be great in either role.

Sigh.

Since the interview went so well, I’m almost thinking they may have already had someone in-mind for the editor role, but that the interview was so great that they don’t want to loose me entirely.  I’m not sure.

I’ll keep you updated. I have to say, I’ve applied for a lot of jobs over the course of the last year but this was by far the best interview I’ve had. So I’ve got my fingers crossed (and yet, trying to not get my hopes up).

Thanks for all the warm wishes and encouragement!

Jul 28, 2014    |       11 comments

Ashley’s Financial Goals

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With all my making and changing goals, I wanted to give a quick re-cap of my current financial plan of action (see last full plan of action post here, and an update with details about my race to 20K here).

So here are my current goals, in order of priority:

  1. License fees. We still owe approximately $4,000. The original goal was to try to have it paid off by August 2014. I’m still holding onto hope that this could happen, particularly if we reduce our checking account buffer. (Goal date = August 2014)
  2. Car loan. This is my officially named “Race to 20K” since we owe a little over $20,000 on the car still. My goal is to pay approximately $3,000/month toward the car after the license is paid in full, which would take about 7 months after it becomes the focus (Goal date = March 2015)
  3. Sallie Mae 8.5% and 8.25% student loans. About $5,000 is owed toward each of these loans. Since I’m starting to make payments toward my student loans now (the ACS student loans started this month and Sallie Mae repayments start in August), I’m hoping I can actually have these loan paid off while I’m working on my race to 20K. I don’t know what the “rules” are with income-based-repayment, in terms of if I can choose where the money goes (e.g., focus it on one loan, or if its equally dispersed across all loans). My guess is the latter (equal dispersement), but I’m still hoping to add a little extra money here and there and chip away at these higher interest rate loans concurrently with my race to 20K goal. (Goal date = ???)
  4. ACS and remaining Sallie Mae student loans. These loans have a lower APR than the above loans, and they also have much higher balances (ACS was a single loan for over $20,000 for example). So they get prioritized slightly below the higher interest/lower balance loans above. (Goal date = ???)
  5. Remaining medical bills. I have diligently been making our monthly payments (remember, I have monthly payments to 3 different entities), and have realized that 2 out of the 3 will be paid off in just a matter of months. Once paid in full, I plan to snowball those funds toward whatever debt I’m focusing on at the time (likely the Race to 20K). My guess is that by the time we get down to paying off the remaining medical bills, only a single bill will remain and it will hopefully have shrunk down to only a few thousand by that point. (Goal date = ???)

So that’s my thinking.

One question – what would you do about the higher-interest student loans (item #3)? Would you put any extra toward those loans while still working on the Race to 20K or do you think I should focus exclusively on the car loan race? I know Ramsey suggests one thing at a time (focused attention), but those interest rates are pretty high for student loans and the balances are low enough that I’d like to still chip away at them here and there….still putting the majority of our funds toward the car, but maybe an extra $50 or $100/month toward the student loans, if we have extra funds available???

Thoughts? Opinions?

Also – a quick update…. I got notice that my Skype interview is going to be TOMORROW! Eeek!!! I’ll probably peek in tomorrow afternoon to let you know how it went. In the mean time, fingers crossed!!!

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