My First Attempt At Blogging

Okay. I'm a complete idiot when it comes to computers. I've never blogged before and this is my first attempt. I'm sorry if my blog looks very amateurish.

I think the only other topic on which I am a bigger idiot is my personal finance. I'm 36, female and single. As of 7/31/08, I'm $127,373.95 in debt. I don't own my own home. I only have a little over $3,000 in an emergency fund. Since I have no kids, I really have no one to blame but myself for my predicament.

My sole source of pride is my 401(k). Although it's taken a beating in the market recently, I currently have approx. $95,000 saved up. I really can't take full credit for this, though, since I'm having my contributions automatically taken out of my paycheck. According to this article, I'm pretty much where I need to be, maybe even better.

Speaking of automatic contributions, I'm also pretty happy with my taxable investment account too. I enrolled in my company's ESOP plan and so far I have approx. $8,000 in my account because of it.

All told, my net worth is negative $3,000. (See, Shtinkykat's Net Worth.) I know I shouldn't let this affect my self-worth but it does. I guess I'm blogging to purge my financial demons and create a path of debt-free prosperity. If anyone is reading this, wish me luck!