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BaseballPCHiker posted:Werent you the person who went part time remote to work on an online business? I remember thinking it was really cool that you did that. How did everything turn out with the online business and what made you want to go back to a regular full time job? I am! It was a really cool experience and I am really happy I did it. It was a combination of things that took me down that path. Initially I asked for the part time arrangement to: maximize my efficiency, allow for more time for side work, spend more time with my wife. I ended up getting a good hourly raise with the arrangement, but my income was reduced overall. I was able to maintain benefits, which was great. That arrangement lasted over a year, and things slowly came into perspective over that time. Probably the largest issue being timing and availability based demands. I was a little too wishy washy in the beginning when it came to defining my availability. So even though I was only meant to work 24 hours a week, I was on a morning phone call every day; I was putting out those early morning fires where needed; I was meant to be available from 1:30-6 every day as stable hours. Many weeks I worked 30-40hrs. My free time I was meant to be expanding my career horizons with usually ended up with me taking a long drive, getting lunch, and reading the forums. The other perspective that came into focus is that I may not be the right personality to drive my own work day. Most progress I made on side gigs was made at night and on weekends, and wouldn't have caused had I worked 40hrs still. I am not actually a self starter, it appears. Also this year's Q1 ended up being a really slow for my wife project wise, and our margins started getting uncomfortably thin. My company I was working for started going through some major shifts in scope and direction and they ended up acquiring another firm. This brought in another skilled web dev and all of the sudden my leaving wouldn't pose an immense threat to their operations. This was a huge relief, as all of these factors were weighing heavy on me and I was thinking more and more every day that 28 is too young to just subsist on part time income. It was a great year and I'd never take it back. But moving on to a new more challenging job with better mentorship has already done more for my drive and hope for the future than I could have imagined. I'm amped up to dig back into my career beyond just clocking in and out and that's a great place to be. Also, this week marked the point in income/bank balances that my income can cover all budgeted expenses and my wife's irregular income can super charge debt repayment and savings. We are both more relaxed and I feel like our time together feels more quality now. I will say that if we ever decide to have kids I would like to save up hard for the 9 months of pregnancy and try to work out a part time deal again if my job at the time allows. Thanks for asking 
root of all eval fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Jun 13, 2015 |
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Jun 13, 2015 22:17
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 I just submitted my payoff payment for my student loans! In one month, I will have the letter that shows that I am officially 100% student loan debt-free!  Of course, as soon as I get it, I am going to keep the debt snowball rolling by upping my car payments by the same amount I had been paying toward my student loans every month.  I wouldn't have known about that strategy if it hadn't been for this forum. Thanks, BFC!
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Jun 14, 2015 22:52
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I can understand having trouble getting self-motivated. I know the few times I've had money saved up and a few weeks between jobs that I seem to sit around and waste a week doing nothing before I can really get going. It's strange to, I would struggle doing anything for a couple of days and then have a burst of productivity and work 12 hours straight and get more done that day then I did in the past few days. That's one of the perks to self employment I think, that you can work in bursts when you feel like it. Good news on your income increasing and being able to cover all of your expenses and savings, good work. For myself I'm down to two months of medical payments left from a hospital bill that I've been paying for over 3 years. Thankfully they put me on an interest free monthly payment plan. That extra $200 a month will really add up fast. Can't wait to start putting that extra money towards paying off my car early and my savings.
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Jun 15, 2015 14:19
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It's difficult to squeeze many more improvements out. After switching to a far cheaper power provider that gives me access to off-peak power prices and is paid by credit card (to collect points and save on interest on my revolving credit account). Today I found out my monthly train ticket can be paid via AMEX, so again more credit card points and less interest payments. I don't think there's any more improvements left to make with my finances.
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Jun 30, 2015 00:26
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The Summer of WinŽ has culminated with my wife finding a $55k a year job doing 3D technical animations 20m from our house. I'm so loving floored right now it isn't even funny. Gross income is going from $52k in 2014 to $115k this year. DINKs in our mid 20s with 20% home equity on a $211k house. All debt except the home will be eliminated by December omg omg omg
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Jun 30, 2015 05:11
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BossRighteous posted:The Summer of WinŽ has culminated with my wife finding a $55k a year job doing 3D technical animations 20m from our house. I'm so loving floored right now it isn't even funny. Gross income is going from $52k in 2014 to $115k this year. DINKs in our mid 20s with 20% home equity on a $211k house. All debt except the home will be eliminated by December omg omg omg Hell yeah go buy a truuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!!
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Jun 30, 2015 05:32
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pig slut lisa posted:Hell yeah go buy a truuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!! What do you mean? Should get a loan to buy a horse.
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Jun 30, 2015 05:48
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Start a horse transportation business.
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Jun 30, 2015 18:05
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BossRighteous posted:The Summer of WinŽ has culminated with my wife finding a $55k a year job doing 3D technical animations 20m from our house. I'm so loving floored right now it isn't even funny. Gross income is going from $52k in 2014 to $115k this year. DINKs in our mid 20s with 20% home equity on a $211k house. All debt except the home will be eliminated by December omg omg omg Congrats! Agreed you may need a truck to pull horses.
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Jun 30, 2015 18:09
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Knyteguy posted:Congrats! If I remember the Viagra commercial correctly, you use the horses to pull the truck.
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Jul 1, 2015 00:29
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I'm taking a two-hour roadtrip to visit places that are free this weekend instead of a 30-hour round trip roadtrip! And I've kept a $1000 emergency fund for at least several months! This seems really small, but it's a really important improvement over last year. I reduced my 401k deposit to 12% so I'm going to focus on increasing my emergency fund for the rest of this year.
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Jul 2, 2015 00:33
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About to make the last payemnt on a credit card that has had a 6500-7000 balance for the past 7 years (@23% APR!) to bring it's balance to 0 tomorrow. FICO's gone up about 50 points since then too
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Jul 2, 2015 02:48
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Hit a personal milestone today. Not bad for 3 years in the workforce, I think. Next milestone is to add another 0 to that within 10 years....
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Jul 2, 2015 14:20
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The SituAsian posted:About to make the last payemnt on a credit card that has had a 6500-7000 balance for the past 7 years (@23% APR!) to bring it's balance to 0 tomorrow. FICO's gone up about 50 points since then too As someone who was in the same position as you not too long ago, congratulations!
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Jul 2, 2015 16:02
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So a weird improvement I guess. My new wife and I went to the bank today to get all of our accounts combined, get her on my CC account, etc. Turns out I've somehow managed to get a 812 credit score. Was a bit of a surprise since I only thought it went up to 800 but it let them drop my CC rate by 2% which is always a good thing.
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Jul 3, 2015 23:40
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  I have a positive net worth for the first time in my adult life!!
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Jul 15, 2015 15:20
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:
Awesome! I hope to be there by about this time next year 
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Jul 15, 2015 15:35
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:
heck yes, congrats!
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Jul 15, 2015 17:54
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Not a Children posted:Hit a personal milestone today. It'll be easier than you think. Money makes money. Just keep tabs on your spending. Congrats!
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Jul 15, 2015 18:18
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When I got hired, bi-yearly bonuses were casually mentioned. Today I learned more and got a bonus that was 10% of my salary for the period. I just started in Q2, had I been here for the full Q1/2 I would have gotten a 20% bonus. Hell yes.
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Jul 15, 2015 20:23
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The Berzerker posted:I started paying off about $25k in student loan debt (and $8.5k credit card debt) almost 4 years ago. I think I posted about the credit card debt when I paid it off, which was a couple of years ago, and since then I've really been hammering my student loan to destroy it. I am happy to report that I will be 100% debt-free by the end of August at the very latest. End of August my rear end. Student loan balance: $0 as of five minutes ago.
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Jul 16, 2015 20:23
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The Berzerker posted:End of August my rear end. Congratulations!
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Jul 16, 2015 20:25
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The Berzerker posted:End of August my rear end. Way to go!
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Jul 16, 2015 22:12
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Should paying off an auto loan count as spending or saving? I'm calling it saving so I can say that I'm saving 57% of my income for Jan through June.
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Jul 20, 2015 16:10
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:Should paying off an auto loan count as spending or saving? I'd count it as saving, because you're paying off your loan. But since I'm a cynical car-hating urbanist-millennial-yuppie, I will also say you shouldn't forget to subtract your car's depreciation from your monthly savings. If you have a new, expensive car, the depreciation could be almost as much as your loan payment.
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Jul 20, 2015 17:45
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Spending...
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Jul 20, 2015 18:13
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You aren't saving the money so ...
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Jul 20, 2015 18:53
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Yeah, I could see counting the principal part of a house payment as savings because over long periods of time your house value will generally appreciate with inflation. Your car is a hugely depreciating asset that you are devaluing as you use it though. It would be like calling a fancy vacuum cleaner that you bought "savings".
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Jul 20, 2015 19:06
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The car will depreciate at a rate similar to the principal so the whole payment is an expense. Building that truck equity.
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Jul 20, 2015 20:52
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Guys, I'm saving so much money paying off that Porsche I bought, fully leveraged out because I couldn't afford it in the first place.
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Jul 21, 2015 00:22
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Alright I will stop counting it as savings. Drops my savings rate to 30%. I'm still gonna keep the car as an asset in Mint though.
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Jul 21, 2015 17:46
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:I'm still gonna keep the car as an asset in Mint though. Just don't forget to regularly reduce its value based on the Blue Book Value. Doing just that was one of the things that led me down the path of living a car-less lifestyle. Glorious 70% savings rate (with roommates).
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Jul 21, 2015 19:54
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It's my first anniversary of using YNAB! Some statistics revealed in my last year of spending: - My monthly spending on food was an average of $160. $300 if I include dates and alcohol. - I'd be almost exactly $1000 richer if I gave up alcohol. In the past year, I spent about 40% of that at a single store, and nearly 50% of the rest it between just 4 bars. - I've spent about $1600 between 5 vacations. - Not counting the vacations, I spent about $3,100 on entertainment in the past year. That's a combination of dates, video games, going to events, and plain old drinking. - I spent over $6,600 on transportation, my single biggest categorical expense besides housing. $6,500 of it was on my car, between monthly payments, insurance, maintenance, and fuel. It's true that cars are enormous money pits. Ride a bike, people. - I gave about $750 in gifts, the bulk of that for birthdays and holidays. - If I had continued to live with my parents instead of moving out, I'd have saved over $10k in wages in the past year. Independence is great, but knowing the cost figure still makes me wince a bit. - My total net worth has increased by nearly $35,000 -- a savings rate of over 50% of my pretax income! The data definitely makes a good case for getting rid of my car payment and finding cheaper housing. I'm pretty comfortable with my entertainment/food expenses, but I'm still going to try to reduce the big spending categories and raise that savings rate even higher. I can't overstate how much the combination of YNAB and Mint has helped me in accomplishing my savings goals, and definitely recommend them to anyone trying to get a grip on their finances.
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Jul 21, 2015 20:13
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A few years ago I was living cheaply and not sure if I'd ever have a chance to own a property. Now, on a server's wages in California, I just bought my first rental property and got a tenant in there with 2 year lease within in 2 weeks of closing. I can thank YNAB, and learning to live and do more with less to get me to this point.
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Jul 22, 2015 21:17
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OmNom posted:A few years ago I was living cheaply and not sure if I'd ever have a chance to own a property. Now, on a server's wages in California, I just bought my first rental property and got a tenant in there with 2 year lease within in 2 weeks of closing. I can thank YNAB, and learning to live and do more with less to get me to this point. Wow, could you do a write up/post your budget of what you did? I'd be interested in hearing this story.
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Jul 22, 2015 22:57
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Business cash flow is always variable but I've just paid some of the largest bills for the year and my balance is almost $10k better off than the start of the month. I usually feel poor during July. Provided these improvements keep going I can get more money into investments.
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Jul 28, 2015 01:14
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The summer of win keeps rolling on... Wife just got a 20% raise in the first 2 months of work. We are now officially over $125K. What in the gently caress is going on here?!?! Just made the first of our now weekly $600 credit card / $250 savings payments 
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Jul 29, 2015 03:22
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Just got a 15% raise after getting an 11% raise last year (that had put me at low-six figures). Maxing all retirement accounts, here I come 
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Aug 3, 2015 19:50
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The SituAsian posted:About to make the last payemnt on a credit card that has had a 6500-7000 balance for the past 7 years (@23% APR!) to bring it's balance to 0 tomorrow. FICO's gone up about 50 points since then too Beginning 2015 credit card balances: $10,793 Credit card balances as of 8/1: $17.96
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Aug 4, 2015 02:01
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Nail Rat posted:Just got a 15% raise after getting an 11% raise last year (that had put me at low-six figures). Maxing all retirement accounts, here I come Very cool! My incremental improvement is paying a lawyer to setup our will / living will / trust / blah blah stuff so if my wife and I were killed we have our poo poo in order. Basically paying them so we can casually mention in conversation our "kid's trust fund" as if we had money.
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Aug 4, 2015 15:46
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