So, we just got notice that his company is going to stop doing this. The company has been struggling financially lately which puts a little extra stress on us because job security is something we’ve taken for granted. But there have been many changes at the company in the past few months that gave us the impression that they were finally getting things under control. To drop this program, out of the blue, implies to me that the situation is more serious than we assumed. The company has been laying off lots of folks lately — mostly a corrective action since they really hired too many people last year — the cuts have been to more overhead type positions (one was their first Chief Financial/Operating Officer that they hired just 6 months prior). We’re still pretty confident that cuts to the engineering department are highly unlikely since they need them to get and fill new contracts and bring in the money. I think the partner will be updating his resume, just in case.

Last night the partner asked if he should pull back his contributions for a while to give us a bit more cash on hand. It seems like a easy solution to help with our financial crunch, but we also both agreed that we’re too behind in retirement contributions to consider reducing them at this time. So, we’re losing “free” money from the company, but will still keep contributing anyways and hope to increase those contributions later this year. Having a few extra dollars today isn’t going to offset the pain we’ll feel if retirement is not a possibility.

Of course, playing the stock market in this sense, is very much a game and a poor indication of actual real investing. For me, investing is putting money in and expecting it to grow. There is jump, hip, hopping around to get the best short-term returns and following all the up and downs of the day to day market. It’ll be a fun adventure for a few weeks — hopefully it’ll hold my attention for the span of the contest — if not, there I’ll be making a 10-week long-term investment and seeing how it plays out.

If you wanna give it a try, go to the Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge website or email me for a referral and I’ll even “earn” extra “cash” from it. Game starts March 5th.

For some background, my TIAA-CREF account is not large as I started contributions in it just a few months ago. I liked some of the options TIAA-CREF offered but felt they were also very limited. I know nothing about Fidelity, other than brand-name recognition, and am hopping down that bunny trail this moment.

Feedback and personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Now, maybe we should just spend the next few month kicking some serious debt behind — more than what is already being accomplished. Maybe I’ll just pick a few stocks and play the hypothetical stock market game of tracking how they do — however, their success or failure in the short-term is of little interest because it is the long term value that I am interested in. The partner currently pays about $1,000 above the min. payment required on credit cards and we’re making some honest progress. I would like to see that number wiped out along with my student loans, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with starting retirement/investment planning until they (credit cards, student loans are not high on my list right now) are.

Warning: Tangent

In other news, due to housing progress I had to pull almost everything out of my savings account for paying closing costs and down payment. While I knew this was going to happen, I’m all out of sorts realizing that the money I’ve been saving for the last few months is now gone. And, to make it worse, I had to write a gift money check to the partner and actually put it in his account (ack!).

His credit qualifies us for a good mortgage and so he is getting the financing on his own (my credit is shot right now) and so he needs funds to make it happen. It really freaks me out to (1) taken it out of savings, and (2) have given over and beyond my control. So, I think we need to get cracking on the joint finances thing because I’m going to be a wreck at the idea that my money is no long in my control. For the record, we’re not married yet and I still feel like it is my money.

I’ve suggested that we walk over to the courthouse and just file the legal paperwork stating we’re married and I’ll feel much better — which makes me think I’ve got some unexpected issues cropping up about this combination of love and money. I think we’ll talk about it this weekend and go ahead and merge finances since he now has a large chunk of mine — the “we” thing isn’t an issue, I just don’t feel that we’ve got join custody of our finances and, because of that, letting go of some of my cash feels very scary all of a sudden (plus the “oh my god, we’re signing on for a huge debt” freaking out that happens with buying a house).