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quote:2015 Goals: (In order of priority, highest to lowest) End of 2Q2015 Update #1 - No progress, thank God. We might get a puppy, though.  #2 - Well ahead of schedule. I just wrote a check for $10,000 on the student loan. I'm on pace to kill the entire loan before 2016. #3 - Still amazing, but rough waters ahead. I just turned a $40,000 quarter on the side business, but my primary distributor (Amazon) just hosed with the entire industry. TBD what'll happen in 3Q2015. #4 - On pace. Pottery painting and a three-day weekend out of town were my anti-stress activities for June. Woo. All in all, not a bad quarter. I still feel like I'm in a never-ending holding pattern, but I'm getting closer! 
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Jun 29, 2015 17:30
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Baja Mofufu posted:Background: End of Q2 update. 1. Making good progress. 2. BWM incoming. I had my baby and I've decided to stay home with her for a year. I was planning to put her in day care and go back to work but every instinct I have is screaming not to leave her. Hopefully that doesn't sound like my uterus is aching... On the plus side we are completely prepared for this financially. We were only living off my husband's income, our rent is less than a quarter of his take home, etc. 3. Opened a 529 at Vanguard with cash baby gifts and some of our own money. Still need to open the ESA with TD Ameritrade; that requires a phone call so who knows when that will get done.  4. As I said in my Q1 update we will probably not make this goal since we've only done about $5K. ETA: this was due to a $12K tax bill, not baby spending. We've actually done pretty well on that and haven't spent over the budget yet. Not going out anymore helps.  I also have a 3-year net worth goal just for fun, and we hit our mark for this year already. So that felt pretty good (until a big downturn of course). Baja Mofufu fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Jun 29, 2015 |
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Jun 29, 2015 18:35
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Reduce dining out spending to $150 every paycheck (two weeks). Based on my Quicken categories for last year, this will reduce my dining out expenses by about $1300 for the year, depending on how much I travel for work.* Of course, my actual savings will be somewhat less than that since my grocery bills should rise. Still doing good.  P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Finish paying off my student loan by the end of June. I owe about $5K (down from $89K!), and I've been throwing about $1000 per month at it (after maxing out my employer 5% 401(k) match and my Roth IRA) for the past few years, so this wouldn't be too challenging -- except that my old paid-off truck got to the point where I'd had it in the shop six times in two months, so I ended up buying a car last October, and I have a car payment again. Fortunately, literally doubling my fuel efficiency has offset the car payment somewhat, but it's brought down what I can contribute to the loan a little. At least both the student loan and car payment are under 3% interest, and I have no other debt.  Success!  My student loans are completely paid off as of this month. P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Save up enough for an overseas vacation by the end of the year. My sister just moved to Germany last month, and I'd like to take her up on her invitation to come stay with her for a couple weeks. Given the schedule of the project I'm on at work, I probably won't be able to actually take two weeks off until early 2016, but I'd like to have the money saved up by the end of this year. Back of the envelope calculations tell me I'll need to save about $3250 (no lodging expense, but a lot of margin for error built in for the other expenses). Hopefully I'll be able to cut that down by cashing in some frequent flier miles, but I'd rather save too much and be pleasantly surprised, so $3250 seems a reasonable goal. If I can get the student loan paid off by June, I figure I can immediately start throwing the amount I was putting toward it into a savings account; anything left over will likely go to extra payments on the car. So I suppose I have no excuse for starting this next month.
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Jul 1, 2015 01:28
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spwrozek posted:My goals really took a turn the last couple weeks for next year. I hope to have some time to revisit them in a few weeks but generally here they are: 1) All filed and in progress 2) Probably screwed myself a little bit here but oh well. Life is too short to argue and bitch and get lawyers. 3) Got an awesome roommate who is paying half my mortgage and half my utilities so staying put until at least July 16. 4) Yay awesome roommate. 5) Well things got sticky here. I am paying quite a bit of the ex's student loans now in exchange for not splitting up our retirements. I guess in the end it will work out. Now this goal is pretty much not going to happen. I am going to try my best to pay it all off in a year. 6) Welp 
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Jul 1, 2015 14:13
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2015 Goals - Half year checkup - Save $10k towards new house fund. On target. We're house-hunting now and have decided to keep our old property to rent out. We'll be able to put the full 20% down on the new home, and can always sell the old home if we have a financial crisis. - Max out Roth IRA for wife and self. Mine is maxed out. She's been dragging her feet on getting the transfer stuff set up. Need to bug her about it again soon. - Take advantage of matching contributions for 401k. Done! 50% match up to 12% from me, so I'm saving 18% of my salary in a 401k.  - Stick to new budget Doing great overall, but my wife has had some lapses. She expressed resentment at my new job affording me so much more free time while she's busier than ever, so she's been stress-spending. - Reduce stress levels and amount of clutter in the house. Stress on my end is great, but the stress between us came to a head a few weeks ago. As this is BFC and not E/N I will spare the details. More work needed on this front.
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Jul 1, 2015 17:02
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:
Congrats! Bet it feels great!!
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Jul 1, 2015 17:45
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Thanks! It does, though my first paycheck without having to put anything aside for the student loan felt really weird, like something was missing.
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Jul 1, 2015 23:50
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app posted:2015 Goals: Wow - well I don't know what to say other than 2015 has been a fantastic year. I don't talk about money with people in real life so I'm going to do it here instead... Maxed to the federal limit See the very last point point - $20k into eventual house down payment fund Boom - $25 k Contributed the max through payroll to reduce tax burden Well somehow we blew this away and ended at $701k. The market was slightly negative so it was almost all pure savings. On a gross income of $245k we spent $70k in taxes, $50k on all spending, and saved the remaining $125k  Changed jobs and ended up at $245!. app fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Dec 28, 2015 |
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Jul 2, 2015 02:39
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Holy crap, that is awesome!
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Jul 2, 2015 03:29
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app posted:Changed jobs and now at $245k. Just curious what you do for work?
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Jul 2, 2015 06:26
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I do work really hard, but I feel unbelievably lucky...
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Technology (software engineering). I should also say I live in NYC so the numbers aren't as crazy when adjusted for cost of living.
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Jul 2, 2015 07:13
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2015 update, HALF YEAR EDITION 2015 Goals: Increase my gross income to $75k. DONE. Add at least $15k to my 401k and max my Roth IRA. On track, Roth is maxed and 401k is set to reach just below the limit of $18k. Somehow decrease my housing expenses, either by moving or otherwise compensating my current landlord in some way. Getting a bit off track here. My housing expenses have stayed the same, and I've actually been spending more than I expected on medical bills, summertime fun, and weddings. Going to have to tighten the drawstrings. Maintain a girlfriend without driving her nuts with frugality. So far, so good Maintain good grades in school; B or higher gets me back 100% of tuition costs! DONE! This is a stretch goal, but add $10k or more to savings. I'll be mentally and financially ready for a house purchase by 2017, I think. On track. On a side note, my net worth crossed over into 6 figgies today, so I must be doing something right
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Jul 2, 2015 14:35
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MrKatharsis posted:2015 goals: Still employed, have not moved. On track. No progress. Will probably end up spending the whole thing first. On track. Might still happen.
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Jul 2, 2015 15:01
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Veskit posted:Very late to the party but here goes MY rear end in a top hat FRIEND WENT AND DECIDED TO GET MARRIED AFTER I PAID FOR THIS WHOLE DUMB TRIP SO BLEH I might not make 1 1) I'm at 4500 dollars now, which is insanely impressive all things considered with the big one being having paid over half of expenses for an additional wedding in september 2) DONE 3) gently caress THAT 4) Hotels, tickets, airfare are all paid for 5) On track Honestly at this point if I get debt down to 2k by the end of the year I'll be ecstatic.
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Jul 2, 2015 17:39
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I've recently started to get a handle on my finances so I'd like to start setting and making some goals. I just finished a Masters program, and moved to Boston for a 3 month co-op, of which 2 are left. After the co-op I'll have my Masters. The bad: Significant debt, public and private, credit card debt, and no savings. Plus uncertainty about what I'll be doing in a couple of months. The good: I'll have my Masters in two months, I have a paying job, and good career prospects, with the possibility of my co-op turning into a real job. My goals for the next 6 months: 1. Pay off all CC debt. $4125 2. Save up 3 months of expenses. ~$4000 3. Save for a move to wherever for a job/trip back home during the holidays depending on what happens with my job. Not sure will do more research when the time comes.
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Jul 3, 2015 01:08
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Original post February Update April Update 1) Max 401k, Roth IRA, HSA this year -- all still on track, including backtaxes I owed from 2011-2013 and an refund/correction I was owed from 2014. I've also increased my withholding so that ESPP and RSU tax burdens are already accounted for by my regular paycheck being diminished, and now I don't have to worry about filing quarterly estimated taxes (Form 1040-ES) to try and account for them or be penalized at the end of the year. The Roth IRA was fully funded Jan 1, 401(k) and HSA will max out at end of the year through level paycheck deductions. The 401k does not do matching "true up", so I would lose out if I tried to max it out early. 2) Maintain existing cash/savings emergency fund of 9 months current expenses -- still good there across checking + savings accounts 3) Drop monthly food spending from $430 to $380 -- despite some close calls toward the end of both May and June, I rallied my frugality to stay at an average of $363 Jan-Jun if Mint's trend tracking is accurate (it was all borked earlier in the year). That DOES include $140 in restaurant gift cards I bought that I'll use later throughout the year but not count them in the month they're used. 4)[Switch insurance companies for car/house/umbrella -- did this in January. A close friend of mine just got into the insurance agent biz, and now I'm looking at possible saving even more by switching over with him next year. He sent me a quote this morning but I haven't reviewed it. Anyway, I have to wait until I'm up for renewal with my new provider before I can switch without incurring a fee. 5) Update resume by April, shop myself around if I don't get an April raise [UPDATED April: Finish resume update and half of PMP cert training by end of May] -- an interesting position opened up at work, so I polished up my internal resume for that in April by coincidence. I didn't get an out-of-cycle April raise  , but I did get some groupon deal on online training for a professional cert in project management (PMP). It probably won't be useful at my current company but could give me a boost if I look externally for a job, or even as leverage for my annual salary review in a few months. Unfortunately I haven't done any of the training I said I'd do by May... or any at all because of June deadlines. I need to pick this up.6) ESPP: Use 1 & 2 to cover Roth IRA and ESPP tax burden, use 3 & 4 to put in an extra mortgage payment and increase charitable giving -- 2 ESPP lots bought and sold, E-fund/Roth IRA are set as per above (see goals 1 & 2) Due to a funding campaign my brother was on, I'm already almost maxed at corporate matching for charity this year, but I'll still use ESPP to give way more than usual this year. I keep getting the bug to sell extra taxable investments and pay down a big chunk of my house, but the numbers at Pay Down Calc show that it just doesn't make sense unless I sell a huuuuuge portion of it. I might forego the extra mortage payment completely and use that money for P2P lending now that Lending Club just opened up for business in Texas last week. 7) Stretch goal: Establish side business for martial arts consulting -- Now that his spring grad school is done, I've been able to work with my friend/trainer a little bit, but right now my assignment is all self-training and I've put absolutely no effort into this since we met in late May.  8) Buy new computer parts for a full rebuild ($800-1300) -- spent 9) Make a budget by April [UPDATED April to be canceled] - nah, I like what I'm doing well enough. Edit 2: The more I think about it, the more I do want to aggressively pay down the mortgage. If I do it over a 24-36 month period vs. the 10.5 years I have left, it doesn't put me out too badly in terms of cash flow and selling off taxable investments. SpelledBackwards fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Jul 15, 2015 |
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Jul 10, 2015 10:13
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Christ Pseudoscientist posted:1st quarter update: Still on track for maxing my Roth for 2015. I did use my bonus from Q1 to max my 2014 Roth as well so this will be back to back years for me. I just wish I could get my fiancé to do the same. Everything else will be done by December. On the job front I've had loads of interviews but no offers. My current job may be paying for me to get my CFP which will increase my salary and future job prospects once completed. I might even have my student loans paid off this year depending on how a few things shake out.
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Jul 19, 2015 18:34
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Reduce dining out spending to $150 every paycheck (two weeks).  Still doing good on this. Had one pay period's spend slightly over, but the average for the year is still $121.16 spent per two weeks. P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Finish paying off my student loan by the end of June. Finished in June. P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Save up enough for an overseas vacation by the end of the year. My sister just moved to Germany last month, and I'd like to take her up on her invitation to come stay with her for a couple weeks. Given the schedule of the project I'm on at work, I probably won't be able to actually take two weeks off until early 2016, but I'd like to have the money saved up by the end of this year. Back of the envelope calculations tell me I'll need to save about $3250 (no lodging expense, but a lot of margin for error built in for the other expenses). Hopefully I'll be able to cut that down by cashing in some frequent flier miles, but I'd rather save too much and be pleasantly surprised, so $3250 seems a reasonable goal. If I can get the student loan paid off by June, I figure I can immediately start throwing the amount I was putting toward it into a savings account; anything left over will likely go to extra payments on the car. And here's where I didn't do well. I don't remember if I posted about it yet in this thread, but I actually had a smaller summer vacation planned this month (half a week in Tucson and half a week in Vancouver) -- I already had saved for it, so I wasn't including it in my statistics. But there must have been some sort of euphoria from having the student loan paid off, because I blew the budget on that trip, mostly by booking an unbudgeted rental car in Vancouver a couple weeks before the trip. I'd just been planning on transit, my girlfriend didn't want to and asked if we could get a rental car instead, and since I was feeling good about my finances and the exchange rate, I said yes. So, long story short, what I was planning to put into vacation savings ended up going to covering overspending on a previously planned trip. I was fortunately able to about break even, but I was not able to contribute anything to my Germany vacation. No excuses, though. Lesson learned: just because I don't have an enormous student loan payment anymore doesn't mean I don't have to be careful with money.
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Jul 31, 2015 16:00
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Goals in progress: July: $325 on car loan. August - September: $300/mo. October: $400. November & December: $550. This would bring my average back up to $400/mo for the year. (Min. payment is $299.)Progress: $325 paid in July, and $325 scheduled to come out for August tomorrow. So, a little better than the goal! $8,300 to go on the car. Ugh! Get my $6k of student loans forgiven. Progress: Application submitted on July 13th. Should hear in the next few weeks. Have a positive net worth for each month in 2015. Progress: Yes, so far! Just realized this will be impossible in October when I pay tuition for grad school out of my savings. Oh well! No credit card debt! Progress: So far, so good. Take on no student loans! Progress: I have $2,850 saved as of today. Will pay out roughly $3k in October and $3k in April. Hard few months of saving coming up, but I should be able to do this. I am expecting a nice tax return next year as well, due to the Lifetime Learning Credit! Completed Goals: Save up enough for a couch and bed frame, as I don't want to take mine.
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Jul 31, 2015 18:04
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Veskit posted:Very late to the party but here goes Windfall killed it all for me. Good enough to call it done later thread!
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Jul 31, 2015 18:33
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Sundae posted:2015 Goals: (In order of priority, highest to lowest) July 2015 Update: #1 - Still no kids. Also, no puppy. Landlord refused.#2 - Just wrote a check for $7,500 on the loan. We're on pace for the stretch goal and have already COMPLETED the primary goal. #3 - $54,200 YTD on side business. This is not on pace, though, because of the huge KU2.0 slump. I need to develop a new business strategy to keep myself afloat on this or I won't hit my primary goal. #4 - Failed for July. July required that I work multiple extra night and weekend shifts every week, blocking me from taking any fun time for myself. No stress reduction activities were performed and it shows. #5 - Indenture Clause complete! My resume is out looking for other jobs, and I'm still trying to build the writing income to make it all irrelevant.
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Jul 31, 2015 22:42
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pig slut lisa posted:It's mid-month, but I'm a couple updates behind so here we go: July 2015 update: -Max out both Roth IRAs and my 457(b) Status: On pace. It was inaccurate to call this done in my last update; the Roth IRAs are maxed but the 457(b) is only on pace to be maxed. I'm at $12,000 for the year and should hit $18,000 on the 24th pay period of 26 in total. -Have wife begin contributions to 403(b) at new postdoc in the fall Status: This goal is alive again due to a change my wife's post-graduation plan. Instead of a postdoc, she's going to take a job with the USGS. This will start as a part-time job and transition to full-time some time in early 2016. So she'll have access to the TSP (jealous...) and the matching that entails. The job starts in late August, so maybe I'll have a hard number for her contributions by next update. -Increase frequency of grocery shopping trips made by bicycle instead of car, especially between April and October Status: Still doing OK with this, not great. Having the CSA every week definitely helps though. -Keep home alcohol purchases below $50/month January total $17.99 February total $43.47 March total: $46.28 April total: $35.50 May total: $42.66 June total: $45.79 July total: $73.45 Monthly average: $43.59 First month we've gone over this year July is hot! Running average is still under $50/month though. And most importantly we haven't bought a bottle of liquor for the house all year. No $20 whiskey, no $60 scotch, no nothing. So I'm proud of us for putting that expensive hobby to bed.-Designate a purpose for the few thousand we should be getting back in our federal tax refund. Leading contenders here are starting a 529 or holding the money in savings for a lump sum boost for the 2016 IRA cycle. I will be starting the 529 sometime this month (hopefully), since removing that $2,000 from our reserves has not been an issue at all. As for the 2016 IRA lump sum boost, I have a couple taxable funds totaling roughly $2,000 I want to use for the purpose. These are the last remnants of my college/grad school fund (graduated in 2013) so all I need to do is get my dad to sell them. He's still the designated custodian so I can't do anything with them on my own. -Devise a plan for earning enough points/miles for free international business class airfare and at least 4 free hotel nights for a 2016 international vacation. This is going swell. We don't have firm plans yet, but mileage accrual continues apace. I'm gunning for enough Alaska Airlines miles to book first class on the Emirates A380 so I can shower in the sky  I need to set up my wife's next round of credit card applications in a couple weeks.Still feeling very positive. Great to see how others are succeeding as well.
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Aug 1, 2015 04:41
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Household Income: 85000 before taxes CC Debt: $5,866.06 @14.9 !!!!!!! $1,122.01 @8.9 $2,038.29 @7.24 $4,091.48 @0 Goal For 2015: Reduce my total CC debt by 5000 dollars Goal for August: Do not transfer any money for my spending account
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Aug 1, 2015 14:52
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The Experiment posted:In 2014, my net worth jumped from $85,000 to $125,000. I made a more conscious effort to save money this year than in previous years. I also started investing money. In the past, I usually hoarded the money in my checking account. 1) LOL. Not going to make this one. I booked an appointment for LASIK in three weeks. I should make $150,000 though, barring some kind of stock market crash. 2) Still doing all of these. The 401k options are poor and my nominal YTD returns are just over 3%. Not sure what the current inflation rate is so my real returns are 1% at best. 3) Done 4) Didn't hit this goal. I decided to move $1,000 a month into taxable investments. Due to various expenses that have popped up, my current bank account balance is $44,000. I get about $4,000 in educational reimbursement in a couple of weeks. I've pretty much tightened my belt on expenses all around. I find that I have $2,500 in disposable income a month after all of the bills and investments. I'm going to start rebuilding my emergency fund but not at the expense of the $1,000 a month I put in the taxable investments. Also I get a 15% bonus in December and my policy with bonus spending is that I just add it to savings or investments. I can get back to this goal if I focus for the rest of the year. 5) I just graduated with my MBA. The next month or two will be spent on thinking about just that. 6) See #4. I did it. I hated using YNAB because everything was all manual. I find that I was better off just looking at my bank statements, looking at my credit card statements, and going from there in an Excel spreadsheet.
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Aug 1, 2015 20:22
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District Selectman posted:$165k to $170k in June, the struggle is real $170k to $173k in July, the struggle keeps it 100, but I am actually only $2k away from my original goal, so OK!
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Aug 1, 2015 22:34
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This thread has been great to keep me on track, and it’s inspiring to read of everyone else’s successes. quote:1. Rebuild cash reserves to include: Update 2: Emergency fund has been my focus through Spring and early Summer, that total is now just under 13k! On the flip side, summer travel and fun will slow growth on this for a bit. quote:2. Max Roth IRA and HSA again. Update 2: In an interesting plot twist, my company partnered with Wells Fargo to now allow pre-tax payroll deduction for the HSA. To date, my HSA has been with Alliant earning ~0.8% interest, and Wells Fargo will offer investment accounts with the company picking up the $2.50 /month expense fee. I was able to find a (relatively) low fee index fund there. Roth IRA contributions are still on track. quote:3. Increase net worth to 110k (currently 80.1k). Update 2: Net worth $103,112
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Aug 3, 2015 17:08
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Congratulations on a six figure net worth! It felt really good to pass that threshold.
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Aug 4, 2015 12:54
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Nail Rat posted:-sell the condo and move to the city Some of this will be realistic, some of this will not be. -Sold the condo, now living (renting!) where I want to live until I have 30%+ saved for a down payment in five years or so. (edit: my calculations actually say this will be in about 3.5 years) -Should be able to add 3k to emergency fund. I had added it, but then had to dig into it for wedding and closing costs. -Just got a big raise and increased my 401k back to on pace to max. I won't max it this year because I had dialed it back earlier due to wedding/closing costs, but I should put at least 11k in(perhaps as much as 13k), with my employer pitching in about another 2500. So this is one I'll be blowing out of the water. -Will definitely hit my IRA goal. -Will definitely hit my HSA goal. -Will probably not be able to pay off the personal loan that let me move this year, but we'll see. It depends on wedding gifts, end of year bonus, etc. Either way, starting in a month we'll be paying more than $2k extra on that loan per month, so it will be gone fast. After that, we'll have more than $3k a month to save towards a home down payment in the somewhat distant future. Probably won't end up at 71k net worth, but should at least end up at 57k. Net worth is about 36k right now, so still up from 29k at the start of the year, and wedding poo poo's already paid for. All uphill from here! Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 4, 2015 15:16
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District Selectman posted:$170k to $173k in July, the struggle keeps it 100, but I am actually only $2k away from my original goal, so OK! Well I lost money this month. $173k to $164! Thanks China! The crazy thing is I "saved" $10k in cash this month, but I lost $19 in investments. Deep down I know this is cool and good but it's making my posts ITT less cool and good.
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Aug 29, 2015 16:41
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Goals in progress: July: $325 on car loan. August and September: $300/mo. October: $400. November & December: $550. This would bring my average back up to $400/mo for the year. (Min. payment = $299.) Progress: $325 paid in July, August, and a $325 payment for September scheduled. $50 more (total) than the goal so far. Get my $6k of student loans forgiven. Progress: Application submitted on July 13th. Denied for a stupid reason, again. Resubmitted this morning... There is a chance I will have to pay this back based on some apparently unpublished rule. My budget strategies will completely change if that's the case. Bummed. Have a positive net worth for each month in 2015. Progress: Yep, total of +9k so far this year. Not much, but with everything going on I'll take it. No credit card debt! Progress: So far, so good. Take on no student loans! Progress: $3k for October saved, now working on $3k for April. Completed Goals: Save up enough for a couch and bed frame, as I don't want to take mine.
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Aug 29, 2015 18:24
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Quit my job and got a new one, less money but a pension that'll be matched by the company at 200%. They're gonna force me to save by taking 7% out before taxes for the pension whether I like it or not (I do). So the budget will need rejiggering but in the long run I'm going to benefit
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Aug 30, 2015 21:56
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quote:2015 Goals: (In order of priority, highest to lowest) August 2015 update: #1 - Same old. Everything is swell. How about I just talk about this if things go horribly wrong?  #2 - PRIMARY GOAL COMPLETE: Wrote a check for $3,500 on the loan this month, bringing the remaining balance to ~$10K, so we're on pace to completing it all by the end of December. #3 - OFF PACE. The change in Amazon royalty structure completely threw off my business plan. I'm still trying to regroup and am flailing right now. Income from side job has dropped to approximately $3K a month. #4 - Failed for August. My scheduled vacation time for August was rescinded, and due to the reduction in royalties under #3, I redirected my stress-reduction money to medical bills from last year that my insurance retroactively charged me for. #5 - Shopping for jobs, still in my current one. August was a 'holding pattern' month. Progress made, but nothing special or spectacular. Just another month closer to death and/or being free of debt. The big surprise was being retroactively charged when my insurance company decided that no, they think they won't cover that charge they already paid well over a year ago. My stress-reduction money, instead of going to something like massage or pottery painting, went to a $961 medical bill from May 2014.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:10
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2015 Goals - 2/3 year checkup No longer needed, we closed on the house last week! We actually didn't even spend the full amount saved on the down payment (while still putting 20% down). New house payment is lower than anticipated, as well. - Max out Roth IRA for wife Mine is maxed out. She's still dragging her feet on getting the transfer stuff set up. I bugged her about it while she was on vacation, but she still has not completed this item. Done! - Stick to new budget We will need to re-evaluate the budget with the new house. We are keeping the old house and renting it out, so this should be a net positive to our expenses. The wife has gotten back on board with keeping her discretionary spending under control. - Reduce stress levels and amount of clutter in the house. We have reduced a bunch of junk, and have started moving non-essential items to the new house already. We have some work to do on the new kitchen, and lots of paint/minor repairs. We have hired contractors to do the big jobs, and there will be plenty of stuff to keep me busy for the rest of the year.
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Sep 1, 2015 19:59
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Original post | February Update | April Update | July Update 3) Drop monthly food spending from $430 to $380 -- I went way overbudget last month to $432 because of a tradeshow at the beginning of the month where I was eating out downtown 3 days for lunch (including at a Churrascaria/Brazilian steakhouse one day) and then another trip to a Churrascaria this past weekend for my friend's 40th birthday. Maintained a $363 average Jan-Aug though since July was way lean (~284). Cooked and froze a lot over the last week that should help reduce the strain in September, but it's also Sept 1 and I bought food in the work cafeteria today.  5) Update resume by April, shop myself around if I don't get an April raise [UPDATED April: Didn't get an out of cycle raise in April. Plan now is to finish resume update and half of PMP cert training by end of May] -- still haven't even glanced at the PMP cert courses. I am a failure. 6) ESPP: Use 1 & 2 to cover Roth IRA and ESPP tax burden, use 3 & 4 to put in an extra mortgage payment and increase charitable giving [UPDATED July: Look at P2P now that Lending Club is in TX, and accelerate mortgage payments] -- I have transferred some money to LC but haven't looked at how to really pick and invest in notes wisely yet. I had made 1 big extra payment to my mortgage in June or so, but the recent volatility has made me shy from doing that again vs. putting more money into a down stock market where I stand to gain more on the eventual rise vs. my fixed-interest-rate mortgage. 7) Stretch goal: Establish side business for martial arts consulting -- Still haven't pursued this any further since May 8) Buy new computer parts for a full rebuild ($800-1300) -- spent
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Sep 1, 2015 21:45
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Reduce dining out spending to $150 every paycheck (two weeks).  Restaurant spend went slightly over last pay period, mostly due to an anniversary dinner. The average is still $125, so I'm still well on track for the year. P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Finish paying off my student loan by the end of June. Goal met. P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:Save up enough for an overseas vacation by the end of the year.  I'm started, though we'll see if I can maintain this pace.
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Sep 2, 2015 04:06
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Zuph posted:2015: 1. Credit Card Debt down to $2200 (from $4700) 2. Car loan down to $600 (down from $2500) 3. No progress 4. Done! 5. No progress, but I was able to turn a work trip to the Bay Area into a 10 day long stay with some friends, which was some much needed R&R, and really cheap. Honestly, I've been budgeting money as though I've had another unexpressed goal, in trying to build up a monthly expense buffer. The effect has been pushing out all these yearly goals a few months into 2016, as if the goals stated here aren't enough. I'm going to use October's 3 paycheck month to get back on track, and make sure goals 1 and 2 are finished up by the end of the year (#2 should be knocked out by 10/31, #1 will be a squeaker). Unfortunately, #3 won't get done, but I'm going to hit 60% of the max roth contribution, and have a total retirement savings rate of 12.5% gross income for 2015. #5 probably won't get done either-- still hoping to maybe manage a long weekend trip somewhere, but no vacations in our near future.
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Sep 2, 2015 13:15
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Rick Rickshaw posted:I just calculated how much my net worth would increase next year if my spending matches my budget and there is no real estate or stock market crash: $46k. Progress #2 1. Passed $100,000 today! Barring a stock market collapse I should be well over $100k on New Years. 2. Limit for this year will actually be $6500~, as I forgot that my re-contributions for the amount I took out under the Home Buyer's Plan do not count toward my limit. $3,000 contributed so far. 3. $19k~ contributed so far. I may not hit my $27k goal...it'll be close though. The extra RRSP room took away from this. 4. Gearing up for winter #2. 
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Sep 17, 2015 17:12
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I've delayed this progress post because I honestly feel pretty embarassed by my spending habits. Progress post! Background: - 27 y/o child-free woman, very few bills since I live at home/stay with my boyfriend during the week. - Income: $42,800 1) The only thing I pay on my credit card now is my phone bill. I'm considering switching to lower data on my phone--I have a 5GB data plan because I figured I would watch a movie or stream audio books on the bus to work every now and then, but I tend to rarely go over 3GB. It's always super close though, which makes me hesitant. 2) Savings goals: - 401k: Total $26,972.39, vested in ~$24,878.39 after my second year anniversary! - Roth IRA: $5,149.99. It took a hit from the market, I guess. - Savings: $250. Extremely embarassing. And depressingly, even this amount is still a huge improvement over where I was last year, especially since I had to replace my laptop. I also talked to my boyfriend about how often we eat at restaurants, and I now keep fresh fruit and vegetables for myself in his fridge so I'm less tempted to take him up when he wants to eat out with me.
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Sep 17, 2015 18:35
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Omne said at the beginning of the year posted:So, for 215, my goals are: Omne posted:Well, things have gotten interesting. In late May, the little lady and I got engaged, so now there's a wedding to plan. We'll be paying for it ourselves, which makes my goals dificult... BFC, don't be mad at me...in late August, the fiancee and I bought a house! I know, I know... 1) Haha nope, not gonna happen now! 1a) Thankfully I didn't hit this too much, so it's still at $7k. It's just not growing much anymore 2) Not necessarily double payments, but I've been trying to throw an extra $50 or $20 here and there 3) Nope. This became the wedding fund instead 4) Accomplished! I made $25 on Elance by writing product descriptions. Sure, it's no Sundae-level of side income, but it's a start 5) Successful still. 401k contributions are at 9% and the card is paid off every two weeks. On track for a 3% bump in pay in mid-October, 1% to 401k and 2% to debt.
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Sep 17, 2015 18:48
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2015 Goals: 1) Pay off 2 credit cards @ $4.4k and an additional $2k in the final card (remainder of 8k) Both small cards were paid off! But our remaining balance changed on the remaining (death in the family and other weak excuses..) New totals: High Balance / Remainder $1,853 / $0 $3,812 / $0 $11,864 / $11,257 Total Paid: $6,272 2) Save an additional $5.8k for a $7k savings total We are holding a consistent 1k in savings and $3k in checking, this should be an easy thing to accomplish in December. 3) Release (now partially) completed Android game ---If successful, release iOS version I lost my vision and moved on to another project which I am procrastinating on. I did complete a game jam entry so that's something :/ 4) Take on $7k in additional freelance web development clients Not freelance, but I am making an additional 30k and my wife is up about 45k this year. Considered done. 5) Don't spend any money in a casino unless it's on drinks with free music We failed this, not hard, but failed. We've spent about 500 total on gambling this year which is a massive reduction and sustainable long term. Glo-stick Bingo is just a fun Saturday night and is cost controlled. I'm okay with it.
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Sep 17, 2015 20:35
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