I Won A $50 Smartypig Gift Card!

For such an errant personal finance blogger, I've certainly had a nice streak of luck the last couple of weeks. First the press in Spain, and now I won a $50 Smartypig card from 2million over at 2 Million's Personal Finance Blog. 2million hosted a comment contest last week--to win, you had to subscribe to his blog (I already was) and write what your financial goals were. I was a little flippant (now my face is red!) and wrote:

I read you via my Google reader. My financial goals? To take over the world! But first I'll settle for paying off the rest of my credit card debt (just $1800 to go!) and using my Smartypig account to get an emergency savings in place.

In other news, my GF and I are moving in with each other in July! Big steps! We've been dating for three years now, and we're happy. It will be a nice financial relief for me, because I'll pay about $200-$300 less in rent/month, and can carpool with a friend who lives in the area I'm moving to.

That's all! I'm off to write.

International Press!

I glanced at my site statistics and saw an unusual bump in readership about two weeks ago. It turns out I was mentioned in a widely circulated Spanish newspaper, La Vanguardia! Isn't this a strange world?! I laughed and told my friends that I've skipped right to international news.

What did La Vanguardia say about me? I used Google's handy translator to read the article (here's a link to the translated article--it's not perfect, but you get the drift). Essentially, it relates the monetary woes of the US citizenry and talks about the resulting proliferation of PFBs. It highlights my blog as an example of a success story! Awesome. It also talks about Tricia over at Blogging Away Debt. Thanks to the author, Eva Gonzalez Cervera!

Per Wikipedia's article, La Vanguardia has been around since 1881 and has a readership of over 200K.

Hey Stranger...

This weekend was my grandmother's 90th birthday. She's been a benevolent matriarch to her very large family, and is loved by so many people. We hosted a party in the community center in her small town, and over 200 people showed! How great is it to be so appreciated?

My grandmother is frugal, something she learned in the depression. It's a gift, even though it's a gift she'd rather not have learned. She had a rough life, but she made the most of it. Too many stories to tell--I spent the weekend with around 80 relatives!

Just a quick financial update before I work on my novel--I just paid off my Discover card*! I'm on track to having all my cards paid off by end of July!

That's all for today, folks. I know that I don't update my blog that often, but I needed to get my finances in order to work on other portions of my life, and now that I'm more financially stable, it's important that I keep my eye on the ball! I'll keep blogging, of course, and I'm sure I'll occasionally increase the rate, but I just wanted to say (to all 56 of you who have this on their feed!) that I really appreciate the chance that this blog has given me, in life. It's really gotten me back on track, and every reader and commenter has been a great moral support! Thanks!


* In honor of all the credit card "small print" I've read the last few years, I'll just note that I "paid off" everything except some school loans I float on the card, but that amount (about $3000) is at 0% and my work will reimburse me after I get my grades, so I don't count it. I feel this is a "proper" use of my card.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Thanks to The Happy Rock for hosting this week's Carnival of Personal Finance!

Freelance and Contract Technical Writing Rates

I've always let people pay me less than I'm worth. I was recently given a raise, but it only came after I sat my supervisor down and told him I'd quit if they didn't promote me and pay me more. Despite 12% in pay increases this last four months, I'm STILL $6K a year under market value. I've decided to start looking for another job. I don't think I can dig myself out of this monetary hole--they've got me by the numbers, literally. Once you get behind your pay, it's hard to get back on your feet without a radical change.

Because I want to get the right salary this time around, I've done some research to figure out what I'm worth to the market. Here's some of my mistakes, experiences, and numbers to go with both.

MY TIME AS AN INTRO WRITER, AND WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN

When I first started technical writing (six years ago), I came to the market with no knowledge of what I should ask, and I was seriously taken advantage of. I was paid $17/hour by a contract house, but as a intro contract technical writer in my area (the medical device industry), I should have gotten $25-$30/hour. I was fresh out of college and didn't know my earning potential. After getting $9/hour at the movie store, $17/hour sounded great... until I realized how much the guy next to me was making, with less-relevant educational background. Because I've been around for a while, I know that six years ago, most of the contract houses in my area got $50/hour for an intro writer--that was a negotiated rate. Keep this number in mind if you're negotiating for a contract with a technical writing house.

When I was hired-on full time to my company, I started at $40K a year. This was a reasonable salary, but I probably should have tried for $45K a year. The next mistake I made was not pushing for a promotion sooner, but that's another story.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I ASK FOR AS AN INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED LEVEL WRITER?

I have six years of experience under my belt, a science background from a top-notch college, and a ton of project management experience. I'm in a different league. My job description has me at a Level II Technical Writer. If I were to apply as that, the median is about $57K a year, and the 75th percentile is at around $64K. However, I do work that requires a specialized knowledge--it's some of the most complicated technical writing out there. If I stay in this area, and apply for Level III jobs, which I think is fair, the median salary is $68K.

Here's my problem: because I'm getting paid below market value right now, if I walk into another HR office and tell them how much I'm getting, they'll try to pay me below market value again. My thought, then, is to work with a contract house for a while, and try to wipe the record clean. I had some trouble finding out how much I should ask if I'm working for a contract house. And remember, this is where I got screwed the first time.

Freelancers with my level of experience ask between $50-$80/hour (the median seems closer to $70), but (to me) this seems different than working through a contract house, as the contract house theoretically does a lot of footwork finding you a job. Because I wasn't certain, I located a writing contract house in a different city with a similar pay-range, posed as a company looking for someone with my level of experience, and asked for a quote. Ethical? Well, they're going to try and underbid me, and what's ethical about that? They said I would cost $85-$95 an hour. That, then, gives me a real number to work with. I think my rate should be $50/hour (if they're getting me work), and starting negotiations at $65/hour seems appropriate.

This information is based off my own casual research and isn't meant to be a definitive guide--feel free to leave comments if you think I'm off, or I'm missing some information.

SOME HANDY LINKS I USED IN MY SEARCH

I can't seem to retrace all the articles I originally took notes from--if anyone has a page to add, email me or throw the link in the comments.

• - Monster's Salary Search


• - The Society For Technical Communicators (membership required, however you get access to their annual salary survey)


• - Peter Kent's Article: Making Money In Technical Writing (outdated, but helpful)


• - Writing Assistance's FAQ Page

I hope people find this helpful!

Housing Woes Force An Impulse Buy

At 7 o’clock tonight, the road was busy. Much busier than I remembered when I went by this weekend. The house was small and cramped, although it was nicely painted. Or what we could see with the flashlight seemed nice. There was no power, so some of the shades were hard to make out. It smelled of cigarette smoke, but my real estate agent was mumbling something about an ozone machine that would get the stench out. Every time a car drove passed, the rumble echoed through the empty rooms, and there were a lot of cars. My girlfriend was trying to look enthused, but it was depressing, and cold, and far away from where we wanted to live.

“I don’t think this one’s going to work, Nancy,” I told my real estate agent, who I had dragged out at 7 o’clock to see a place that I now realized had no potential.

After a long drive in which my girlfriend tried to put a positive spin on things, I dropped her off and went to a coffee shop to think. I started to feel really bad for myself. This sucked. I couldn’t afford anything.

So that’s how I found myself wandering Target at 9 o’clock. Not just wandering. For the first time in my life, I really wanted to buy something to make myself feel better. I stood there, knowing that I had enough cash on hand (or in my reserve account) to pay for anything in the store. I could afford anything. Bose stereo system? No problem. For six months, I wanted the one that hooked to my iPod. The biggest TV they had? I don’t watch TV, but what the hell. I perused the aisles and sat in the leather chair. I could do better, but this one would work. $400? A steal.

Then I made a purchase. Absolute top of the line. Total impulse buy, and I feel great about it. Not a speck of buyer’s remorse. Oak handles, stainless steel fittings, and almost three yards of braided nylon.

After an invigorating 100 lap test drive of this $5.37 work of art, breathing hard from excitement and flushed with adrenaline, I frivolously threw another $100 at a credit card bill. Oh, I might have to cut back for a week, I may have to pack a few lunches to work, but you know what?

I’m worth it.