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Goals: Put at least $10,000 into savings before the end of the year ($4,000 so far) Max out ROTH IRA (DONE! Hopefully the market keeps playing nice) Put at least $10,000 into my 401k (3,000 so far, currently putting in $650 a month and will be upping my contributions after I move) Move by the end of the summer! Hunting out rentals never seemed so hard until I started looking for a place that I'd definitely be interested in staying for 3-4 years! The doubt and second-guessing myself will slowly kill me!
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Jun 26, 2014 14:57
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2Q2014 Update: -Side-job growth is doing well, not quite on pace for doubling yet. Projected forward, I'm looking at $66K compared to last year's $41K. I have several projects still outstanding this year. -CHALLENGE COMPLETE: My student loans are all dead. -Wife's student loans have just taken a huge hit. I've written $7,000 in checks this month, and I plan to hit it with $3K-4K in overpayments per month through the end of the year. Realistic goal: Pay down the full $75.5K remaining by December 2015. -GOAL COMPLETE: The job question has settled itself thanks to consultation with a lawyer in my state. At-will employment or not, in my state, I am stuck at my current employer until July 2015 because the terms of my indenture clause are legal. So, that goal to either keep or lose my job as most suitable is now complete. I must keep my job, because paying a fuckload of money to have less income is not justified no matter how much I hate the job. I'll just pay the loan down quicker. -No kids, no house, no problem. Life remains good.
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Jun 26, 2014 22:00
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Sundae posted:2Q2014 Update: What side job is that, if you don't mind me asking?
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Jun 27, 2014 03:17
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Self-publishing. Scientist by day, romance author by night. 
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Jun 27, 2014 03:25
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Sundae posted:Self-publishing. Scientist by day, romance author by night. Goddamn, man. Are your stories about gay werewolves who cure AIDS?
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Jun 27, 2014 04:15
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Not a Children posted:Goals: Fixed that for you! Doesn't matter if the market dips over the next few years...
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Jun 27, 2014 05:13
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kansas posted:Fixed that for you! Doesn't matter if the market dips over the next few years... Hahaha, thanks! It does get a little bit difficult to keep that in mind when the balance is staring me in the face every time I log into Mint. Maybe I'll unlink that account...
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Jun 27, 2014 13:17
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spwrozek posted:1)Pay $35,000 in student loans. This is a bit tricky and will depend on my bonus and maybe my wife's bonus. (Ultimate goal of all paid off before I am 30, in 27 months, which is $70k currently) Goal number 1 has become the only real goal. We decided that we have enough savings and that all our money should go into the loan repayment. So student loans... We have paid $26,476 which results in a principle deduction of $24,599. Only $47,234 and 18 months on my goal and 22 months to the big ole 30.
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Jul 1, 2014 02:05
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moana posted:Goals for 2014: 1. GOAL COMPLETED! I'm at $105k and change as of mid-year, which leads me to: 2. GOAL FAILED, KINDA! I decided to quit my job at the end of this year to focus on writing full-time. 3. GOAL CHANGED! Since I'm moving and people berated me in that other thread about keeping my house, I'm planning to sell my house sometime in the next year and continue scouting for property in the new place. I'm not going to stress over doing it this year though.
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Jul 2, 2014 01:15
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spwrozek posted:Goal number 1 has become the only real goal. We decided that we have enough savings and that all our money should go into the loan repayment. Been a pretty interesting quarter. My wife is now on a job location for the next 2 years (started June 1st) so we don't live together which makes things kind of crazy. She gets paid a bunch for living expenses but trying to break from our plans together to the plans apart makes it tough. Long story short probably spending too much money but making some good progress at getting back on track. So working on the loan repayments we have brought our principle down $8,690 this quarter. Year to date debt principle reduction of $23,165*. On the big ole student loan goal we have paid $32,323 which is a principle reduction of $29,816. Based on minimum that we pay a month we will end up $1,500 over our goal of $35,000. drat do I hate student loans. *bought a car earlier this year and financed about $15,000 at 2%. We really couldn't be a one car family anymore with the new work setup.
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Sep 29, 2014 03:23
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3Q2014 Update: -Side-job growth is doing well, not quite on pace for doubling yet. Projected forward, I'm looking at $71K compared to last year's $41K. I have several projects still outstanding this year, but due to some major health issues, I'm not going to get them done this year. Odds are that I will fall short of this goal. -I wrote another $12,000 of student loan overpayments on my wife's loan (on top of the $578 minimums), bringing the balance down to $63K. That being said, missing one of my projects for the winter due to illness is probably going to impact my ability to make those kinds of overpayments. Additionally, a new job opening that has popped up may change the payout timeframe entirely due to potential salary increases plus bonus forfeitures, law suits from previous employer, etc etc. TBD. Realistic goal: Pay down the full $63K remaining by June 2016. I had to bump this back 6 months in light of general circumstances. -No kids, no house, no problem. Life remains good. -GOAL COMPLETE: My student loans are all dead. -GOAL COMPLETE??: A company just came forward offering to pay the indenture fee if I agree to leave my employer and come work for them. We're currently in discussion. The outcome of this could heavily impact the loan repayment goal, depending on salaries, ability to fit in my side job, whether or not my current employer sues me for training costs, etc.
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Sep 30, 2014 17:27
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I am so rooting for you to get a better employer, good luck!!
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Sep 30, 2014 22:09
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semicolonsrock posted:* Save 50% of my pre-tax income, working towards a goal of partial retirement/allowing periods of long travel within a few years Update! So I had a super aggressive savings regime in the hopes that if I build up a lot of liquid capital I'll be better able to take advantage of cool opportunities in the future. I have begun full time work. After all my expenses for last month were tallied, I saved ~55% of my income. This month it looks like I'm going to be on track for the same. I have Mint tracking my bank account, and am working on refining the exact categories as I get a better idea of my spending habits. As far as investments go, I'm keeping most of it pretty liquid but putting 4% = 4% employer match into some very low fee funds via an IRA. Cultivating better financial habits may not have happened, but moving somewhere with a way lower cost of living and working enough that I have way less free time to spend money has sort of solved this. Airline and hotel reward programs set up! Credit cards less so. I have no credit history, so I'm waiting until I have a few months of direct deposits with my current bank to apply. Things to improve on: *I think that I can still work on figuring out better financial habits. The current plan of just doing what I would normally and then having that magically work out isn't necessarily the best long term. So I'd like to cultivate some specific good habits, namely: -learn how to use all public transit options so I can cut down on uber/taxi -figure out how to make food cheaply, bring it to work more often *get a clearer idea of what I actually need the money I"m saving for so it feels a little bit more directed. Consider thinking about how to link it to tangible things so that each savings goal feels more useful. semicolonsrock fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Oct 13, 2014 |
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Oct 13, 2014 04:38
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Butt Wizard posted:Checking in because I need some measurable poo poo to work towards: Well this is all going to poo poo. I'm on the verge of walking away from my job.
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Oct 22, 2014 07:18
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Butt Wizard posted:Well this is all going to poo poo. I'm on the verge of walking away from my job. Think of it as a bump in an otherwise smooth road.
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Oct 22, 2014 12:35
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Sundae posted:3Q2014 Update: No such luck. The role they wanted me for didn't fit my career intentions and involved a $30,000 pay reduction. I remain in my current lovely job. I just had a $9,000 month for my side business, though, so I'm closing in on doubling my side-job income again. 
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Oct 22, 2014 13:43
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Butt Wizard posted:Well this is all going to poo poo. I'm on the verge of walking away from my job. Is anything else specifically going to poo poo, or is it just the job? Are you keeping up with good financial habits? Have you been saving for retirement? staying fit?
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Oct 22, 2014 18:03
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I know it's late in the year, but I have come up with a goal to complete by year end. For backstory, I graduated from college in May, and start a job in two weeks, I have a part time job, but it only covers bare minimums. So, I plan to pay off the $1,500 in credit card debt before year end, with a little saving I can do it. Next year I plan to tackle the 6k student loan debt, but that is at half the interest rate, so I will make the minimum payment through year end and pay extra once the credit card is payed off.
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Oct 22, 2014 22:12
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Inverse Icarus posted:Is anything else specifically going to poo poo, or is it just the job? On most parts, no, but I am close to having paid off the car though, which means that all I have hanging over me will be interest-free student loans. I did make some smart moves regarding moving all my APs off credit cars and onto debit cards so now I have a net cash position and only something like $2 outstanding on CC. It makes spending decisions better/easier because I'm not forward-booking money from next month's pay-cheque to square up my CC any more. And I'm eating better, so that's something, but still not actively doing enough fitness stuff to keep me sane though.
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Oct 23, 2014 07:14
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Rudager posted:Buy a block of land to build on, or even go all out with a house and land package. Well gently caress, I couldn't remember if I posted here earlier or not, but here we are on the verge of putting in an offer on a brand new house as soon as the bank gets back to us in the next few days. One thing I didn't foresee was the possibility of going to work for myself, in the last 12 month I've made a lot of contacts in the industry who have come here to visit and check out something I had a lot of input in setting up and maintaining. It's got to the point now where, as a lowly IT worker, my current employer has contracted me out to a NZ company (I'm from Australia) to setup the same for them in the Christmas shutdown period. That was 2 weeks ago and word seems to have gotten out and I've directly had 2 more requests for the same thing since then, and what I'm doing isn't something that's cheap or easy to do, but is something that's becoming vital in the industry. What really set the spark to go into business for myself was that one of those 2 requests was from the company that has the rights to sell the machine that the entire thing revolves around. I dunno, my head is just spinning with possibilities these days. Rudager fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Oct 23, 2014 |
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Oct 23, 2014 09:40
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Totally TWISTED posted:+ 33% CC reduction, now at $2400. One month to go and we are at $630 left on the credit card. - I haven't done a good job with this or tracking my(our) budget for months now. We've been coasting along and I've put some money into emergency fund/savings. I'm posting right now as I really dig into tracking this stuff again. edit: Student Loans have ended up at $22400 from the spring semester's final wrap up but as all the loans are now requiring payment and schooling is over it's time to pay the "can't discharge in bankruptcy" piper!  Other positives: Some money and lots of time has been spent mainly by my wife on a photography hobby that is turning into a business. Looking forward to the first few months of the new year when we make it official. Starting to track those expenses this month in preparation. Paid off $1000 towards money that I owe my Dad. tangy yet delightful fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 04:02
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Continue to save ~60% of income to hit 100k cash by my 30th or at least in that year. Will be well past that in net worth by that time but all the poo poo I own does not equal a down payment on a house. Also hoarding cash because my company doesn't do any 401k matching (although the pay is good) and I think I can do better with individual picks for quick cash on hand even considering the tax hit(s). Haven't carried a dime of debt in 5 years and god willing it will stay that way.
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Dec 2, 2014 16:54
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I didn't have a goal this year, but my wife had a baby, stopped working which saw us lose 55,000 a year. And yet we end the year with 0 debt and in a better financial position than this time last year so I'm pretty happy with that.
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Dec 2, 2014 21:00
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Nail Rat posted:-Put 2k more into emergency fund I put 5k into emergency fund  I put 13500 into 401k I put 5500 into IRA. Check! I put nothing extra on the mortgage  I put 2k into HSA. Check! I gained no debt. Net 4k over goal. With the principal I *did* pay on the mortgage and my 401k match, my net worth went up by 30k in 2014. Not bad, except that puts my net worth at only around 29k thanks to my hilariously underwater condo. Still, it's progress, right? Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Dec 13, 2014 |
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Dec 13, 2014 15:52
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Claverjoe posted:Well, a simple set of vague goals: Got 2 of 3, sort of. Got a position in one of the National Labs this past October were they pay pretty decent $$$, and already my boss has a guy interested in spinning out some of my work, he flew down here already and there is a 6 month agreement in place for early stage scale up work.
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Dec 13, 2014 20:29
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 MOD ALERT Congratulations to everyone who has set a goal and achieved it this year! (Or at least kept us abreast of your progress!) That's ZentraediElite, Claverjoe, OneWhoKnows, Cicero, 100 HOGS AGREE, moana, Sundae, spinst, spwrozek, Immanentized, Nail Rat, GAYS FOR DAYS, semicolonsrock, Totally TWISTED, Rudager. Warning to those others of you slackers who posted goals in this thread and then dropped off the face of the earth! You are expected to update us on your progress by December 31, 2014, at midnight GMT! Awards and punishments may or may not be meted out completely at my whim! slap me silly fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Dec 13, 2014 |
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Dec 13, 2014 21:50
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Wish I got it in on this in 2014. Looking forward to the 2015 thread!
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Dec 13, 2014 22:46
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tuyop posted:- Pay off debt (achieved). His RRSP is maxed out, hers hasn't been started  TFSAs sit at 10%, not 50. It would be closer to 30% but my family needed help with something. Paying tuition complicated things as well, and a loving wedding that cost tons in air fare.
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Dec 13, 2014 23:02
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One step at a time! Are you still out of debt? Because that would be awesome.
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Dec 13, 2014 23:07
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Pay off the entirety of my remaining four and a half grand on my 9.75% interest (!!!) student loan debt, and start working on the next largest one. 100 HOGS AGREE posted:I didn't get a raise. But I got a new job that's a 27% pay increase! Total net income this year was $33,500, total expenses was $24,800, $13,600 of which was debt servicing. I had a huge windfall when I quit that job in July, as management set it up so I got severance so I ended up pulling in like four months extra income from that job despite not working there anymore and already having a new job. Pretty much all of that went toward buying a new car and student loan debt. Quitting that job was the best decision I've made in the last decade, I swear it could not have worked out better. Here's my net worth graph for the year:  My net worth went up $18,900 in 2014! The debt bars get a little wonky cause of some nonsense I had to work out with my loans and since I'm no longer paying the full balance on my credit cards, just the statement balance and letting them autopay because it's functionally the same and I got sick of micromanaging it and being all  .Notably, of the $13,600 I sent towards debt this year between my student loans and my auto loan, 80% of it was extra payments over the minimums. I could also conceivably pay off my private student loans right this minute and still have a good chunk of savings left. My savings is up just over $9,000, $6,600 of which is emergency fund and the rest is various savings and money for annual bills. Considering my average expenses every month (including all the extra payments I make and those big purchases I did) is around $2,000, this is more than three months. It ends up being more like 5-6 months if I cut out the debt extra payments and cut out other poo poo I've indulged in. I am calling every one of my goals achieved. Thanks a lot BFC! This forum is a huge help 100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Dec 13, 2014 |
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Dec 13, 2014 23:27
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slap me silly posted:One step at a time! Are you still out of debt? Because that would be awesome. Of course! All of our budget categories are buffered and we have a very positive, stress free cash flow each month. I don't think it's going to last though, because we have some career transitions coming and we're going to stop investing except for minimum retirement savings until it settles down. Our expenses have stayed at nearly the same level (we have a nicer place and phone bill and stuff at this point) as when we were full tilt into debt reduction and we're perfectly happy. Nothing financial or material upsets our tranquility.
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Dec 13, 2014 23:32
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Lovin it!
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Dec 13, 2014 23:36
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tuyop posted:Of course! All of our budget categories are buffered and we have a very positive, stress free cash flow each month. I don't think it's going to last though, because we have some career transitions coming and we're going to stop investing except for minimum retirement savings until it settles down. Oh, and graphs are always good, thanks for the reminder, 100 HOGS AGREE. 
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Dec 13, 2014 23:39
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I wish I got $30.000 in June
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Dec 13, 2014 23:43
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slap me silly posted:I wish I got $30.000 in June Pension payout, 18k of it is locked in for 40 years so I'm not sure it should count. Should it count?
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Dec 13, 2014 23:51
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Yes. And that's the best kind of counting too, because you have it but you can't blow it on crap!
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Dec 13, 2014 23:55
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OneWhoKnows posted:Just a small update, if anyone cares: we hit our goal, put in an offer over the weekend for the farm and it has been accepted! Closing date is going to be July 16th. As somebody who has only ever worked in the tech field, this is very exciting. Thanks for the mod alert, I completely forgot to update! We closed July 16th as scheduled. As expected for this time of year, everything is covered in a bit of snow but we were able to get some pasture mix of various grasses, cloves, and wildflowers planted in a fenced 5 acre area early enough to support 2-3 head of cattle for the first two or three years while the rest of the pasture matures (it was previously in soy/corn). There are 30 chickens in the coop-fenced area with around half of them being roosters that will be ready for slaughter in a month and then fresh eggs from at least a dozen hens in ~2 months. That's it for now! We're considering talking to the lady who owns an adjacent 40 acres to see if there'd be lease/buy options for more pasture land and perhaps turning part of our parcel into an apple orchard. edit: Oh, I forgot to mention, the previous owners run a vet hospital and the basement of this house has 3 fenced kennels with dog-door exits to fenced areas out back (interconnected with gates so you can open them all up or separate the dogs as you see fit), all with in-floor heating. My wife actually started a Rover.com account and has been getting consistent bookings, so she's using that side income to help fund farm ventures, which is pretty cool. OneWhoKnows fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Dec 14, 2014 |
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Dec 14, 2014 00:10
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moana posted:Goals for 2014: - $153k side income, woop woop - total fail, I quit in November. - Still looking for a place outside Santa Cruz that fits what we want (lots of acreage, not a lot of house). Hoping to sell my current house next summer.
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Dec 14, 2014 01:43
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moana posted:- $153k side income, woop woop OneWhoKnows posted:There are 30 chickens in the coop-fenced area with around half of them being roosters that will be ready for slaughter in a month and then fresh eggs from at least a dozen hens in ~2 months. slap me silly fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 14, 2014 |
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Dec 14, 2014 01:45
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Butt Wizard posted:Checking in because I need some measurable poo poo to work towards: Wow. So this hasn't worked out at all. Currently unemployed. Still haven't paid off car. There's a lot of not great stuff going on at the moment and I have bigger fish to fry. I haven't blown much on stupid poo poo, so I'm going to be afloat for a little while. But pretty much none of this stuff really panned out, despite how relatively straight-forward it should been.
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Dec 14, 2014 02:51
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