Who am I? What is one of my Greatest Financial Achievements?

My name is Natalie.

I am 28 years old, going on 25. I find with every year forward, I regress one year back emotionally. In my off time, I read, write and play sports: volleyball, basketball, tennis and the latest…. Golf, thanks to my boyfriend! I love trying new things. I’m one of those adrenaline junkies, so to speak. I’ve bungee jumped, white water rafted and my next goal is to sky dive. Add to the list – traveling.

My main goal in life is to travel the world. In 2005 I went on my first transatlantic trip to Sydney, Australia and last year, 2006, I headed to various cities in Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla and Granada.

The past three years, I have worked for Clark Construction company. NEVER saw myself in Construction, but never say never, right? I started out as a Temporary Administrative support person, moved up to an Office Engineer type role, then a Change Order Management position. Working with dollars definitely made me more conscious about mine. In December of 2006 I was hired on to the company for a Software Support role for our Western Region. I’ve been having fun traveling for my initial training (Bethesda, MD and Alpharetta, GA), and will be able to travel to our various Construction projects to train staff and offer technical support. I feel I will finally have the opportunity to help people and travel on some level for my job, which is what I’ve always wanted.

My greatest financial achievement was managing my finances this past year as an Independent Contractor. I had to invoice, do my bookkeeping, set aside funds for estimated taxes, and try to pay off debt and save money on top of all of that. I used ING Direct to help me accomplish that feat; it allowed me the ability to separate myself from my money before I had a chance to spend it all. I managed to put aside money for my taxes by instantaneously transferring money received for my invoice to my ING savings account. I also set up another ING account for my travel savings, which automatically withdraws a small amount every week from my checking account.

Lastly, I opened a Roth IRA account at the end of the year and put in the maximum allowed for Tax Exemption purposes, to help me lower my Taxable income and jump start my retirement savings plan. This past year brought me closer than ever to realizing my financial goals. The reduction of my debt also allowed me to begin saving towards a down payment for a home. Although this year I am back to Permanent Employee status, that 12 month period of having to be involved with all aspects of my finances taught me invaluable lessons that will carry forward in to the future.