- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2024 18:31
|
|
- KS
- Jun 10, 2003
-
-
Outrageous Lumpwad
|
2) Contribute $250/month each to both Roth IRAs.
5) Start automatic transfer to son's 529.
7) Decide on strategy for holding shares of my company’s stock.
10) Decide on action on pension
You asked for advice on a few of these.
Biggest callout is to always max out your IRA before doing a 529. It's just massively more advantageous. In general you want to fully fund your retirement and pay off your primary residence before prioritizing college savings, as these are invisible to most need-based financial aid determinations. You're also better prepared to contribute to college at time of attendance with a paid off house. Get that Roth contribution increased to $458.33/mo ASAP.
Your ESPP strategy's entirely correct -- just buy the max at a discount and sell immediately to capture the profit from the discount. When your RSUs start vesting, the key question is, if you had an additional $x, would you use it to invest in shares of the company stock? If not, sell all at vesting.
Re: your pension, you can calculate the present value of the future annuity to compare. The two big wildcards are your life expectancy and the returns if you'd invest the lump sum. If you assume a 7.5% discount rate and life expectancy of 85, the present value of the $500 at 70 annuity is $4600ish. You may be better off taking the lump sum and investing it, assuming you can match historic stock market returns and the tax implications are reasonable.
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2018 20:09
|
|
- DJCobol
- May 16, 2003
-
CALL OF DUTY! 
-
Grimey Drawer
|
End of April update:
1) Max out Roth IRA contributions of $5,500 - Won't be 5,500 since I found out what the phase out limits are, but I'll still max out what I can.
2) Max out HSA contributions of $3,450 - On pace with payroll deduction.
3) For the first time, max out 401(k) contributions of $18,500 - I've had to adjust my contribution rate a few times, but on pace.
4) Use tax return and/or annual bonus to remodel my bathroom by the end of April - still on the list of things to do, but will probably wait until fall now.
5) Pay down current 5 year $21k car loan - I haven't paid off anything extra, just the normal repayment schedule.
6) Vacation somewhere not in North America (Iceland maybe?) - booked an impromptu trip to Hawaii since I can stay with a friend for free, and I'm still planning on Munich this Christmas.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 13:00
|
|
- drainpipe
- May 17, 2004
-
AAHHHHHHH!!!!
|
Missed last month, but everything's on autopilot now so nothing really exciting.
Almost all on autopilot now:
1. Max 457 On track
2. Contribute ~1116k to 403b On track
3. Max Roth IRA Done
4. Max Wife's Roth IRA Done
5. Look at possibly buying a house this year (20-30% likely) Renewed our apartment lease so nope. Probably won't buy a house for the next 4 years actually.
Stretch if there is free money left over: add another 5k to house downpayment. Nope
Personal:
Work on a project in a completely different field that what I've done so far. I contacted someone in a different field, but he was a bit busy. I did a little thing, but it's not good enough to publish yet. Been busy with work in my usual field the last two months, but I hope to return to this now that it's summer.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 13:20
|
|
- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
-
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
|
April update inline. TL;DR: I got a promotion, NW is volatile due to market, but savings rate is on track, ankle is still bothering me, and everything else is on autopilot.
2018 Goals
1) NO NEW DEBT - On track
2) If company situation continues to deteriorate, switch career from Software QA to Software Dev - Short term (Sr QA promotion): Got promoted. Came with an extremely pitiful 3.7% raise. I will attempt to negotiate, but the person who gives the promotion is not the person who sets comp, so I haven't been able to yet, and I don't have a lot of confidence that it'll change. Very dysfunctional company, and I am planning on leaving once I finish the..... Mid-term (dev transition): Doing some React and Advanced JS learning. Brought up taking on some dev work in the near future in my review and was received favorably.
3) Bring emergency fund up to $19k - On track, at $14.9k now.
4) Max out Roth IRAs - Autopilot
5) Max both our 401(k)s - With this promotion, this is now on autopilot too
6) Increase NW to $215k/~50% savings rate - NW is around $166k. A little behind projection due to volatility in the market. But, most importantly, savings rate is on track.
7) Lose 10 pounds and keep it off - Ankle is still bothering me (I have a PT appointment scheduled this month), which got me a bit down emotionally, so I backslid a little. Still down 6 pounds this year and I've been back on track lately.
Misc goals
Stay current on YNAB, stay current on birth control (i.e. no kids please), keep learning in and out of my career (emphasis on house maintenance this year). On track. Career learning took up most of my productive free time this month.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 14:10
|
|
- metallicaeg
- Nov 28, 2005
-
Evil Red Wings Owner Wario Lemieux Steals Stanley Cup
|
December '17: $31,981 in credit card debt, spread across 11 accounts.
End of January: $30,607.
End of February: $29,854
End of March: $29,050 or nearabouts
A buyer or company liquidation will come out by mid-April, if I'm reading the notice in the mail correctly from the bankruptcy court.
Company is being liquidated, so job hunt is on in full force. If I'm lucky to find a spot, I'll move up my path in management and land somewhere with a big pay raise, but with about a month left until my final day I'm certainly not being that picky.
End of April: $28,520
Car also died on me, but I found a nice condition Civic for a low price with low miles getting good mileage with a solid service history.
Thanks to the car loan, I got in at a credit union which offers some pretty ridiculous rates - I just got approved for a $10k card that has 2.9% balance transfers until the end of 2019, 9.9% otherwise, no annual fee and no balance transfer fees. Dumping debt from my highest rate cards onto that 2.9% is going to save me nearly $200 a month in interest.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 16:36
|
|
- EAT FASTER!!!!!!
- Sep 21, 2002
-
Legendary.
|
End of April update!
By end of Q1:
- Pay remainder MBA tuition in full. Tuition paid in full middle of February. I was the first to pay for it, but it feels good to have it off my list.
- Begin a taxable investment account. Begun and funded to the amount I was hoping.
- Document approval and payment status for student loan forgiveness. Both my wife and I have been approved for PSLF with 6 years of qualifying payments made, less than 52 payments until my loans are forgiven!
By end of Q2:
- Breach zero net worth. Contributions are on track, it's up to the market now! We'll see where we shake out!
- Acquire MBA. All the work is done, I'm graduating with distinction!!!
Our emergency fund is fully repleted following our tax hit, my car trouble is behind me and it ended up costing no more than the deductible on my repair.
By end of Q3:
- Pursue baby 2. We've started talking about this one a lot more, and I think this is the right timeline.
By end of Q4:
- Our 403 (b)s fully funded. This happens automatically.
- Under 80% value remaining on the mortgage so we can refinance if we have to.
Yearly Stretch Professional Goals:
- Acquire second medical directorship in process, commensurate pay increase pending and administrative time benefit done.
- Leave and found a startup. On hiatus for now.
Things we will not try to do:
- Acquire any new debt. So far, so good!
Stretch Goals
- 457 plan launched at work. University president has agreed, uncertain of the timeline.
Stretch Personal Goals
- One muscle up. This project continues on pace.
- Thirty (30) new books read. 21 new books read already this year, I'm going to obliterate this goal.
- Rower used 100 times I have been going to my gym more than working out at home, and while I'm overall happy with the level of fitness I'm accomplishing, I would still like to do this more.
- Cook 48 meals. I have kept pace on this goal through April.
- Clean basement to where I would be comfortable hosting a World Cup viewing party. This project has stalled in a big way. I am treating this goal as top priority at this time.
- Write a book to self-publish. I got a couple chapters into this and realized I need to finish my MBA before I can give this the time it deserves. On hiatus for now.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2018 16:23
|
|
- BEHOLD: MY CAPE
- Jan 11, 2004
-
|
End of Q1 Update:
Long time reader, first year poster. Editing a little bit to clarify and operationalize some items. Thank you to all posters in these annual threads as well as the rest of this sub for sharing your goals and successes. I have in many ways patterned my goals and financial life off of the advice and plans set forth in these threads.
State of the Union January 2018:
-Married, no kids
-Two professional incomes as of last year
-Student loans for both, mine refinanced to 3.5% and hers currently eligible for PSLF and an underserved repayment program
Interest rate on loans went way up due to increases in LIBOR. Good news is I was able to re-refinance to 3.0% on a shorter term for >$3k interest savings this year
-New house in late 2017, own three properties with three total rental units. Mortgages at 5.0%, 2.6% and 2.9%.
-Almost maxed 2017 403b/401k/solo 401k despite job change and both being ineligible for employer sponsored plans for part of the year
-Boring old US/intl/bond portfolio spread around between taxable and non taxable spaces
2018 Financial Goals:
1. Hit $500k household income, stretch goal $550k. Income here defined as active professional income exclusive of rental income, loan repayment checks, and passive sources such as investment dividends.
Still running good. I found out A Thing isn't going to come through which will make me miss out on about $25k but there might be other opportunities coming.
2. Increase NW $250k, stretch $300k. NW here defined as mint account NW inclusive of net real estate and vehicle equity.
+$62k, behind goal pace for now
3. Reaccumulate $50k cash after house purchase and 12/31 tax prepayments (thanks Trump)
Done, then spent a bunch more cash on taxes, end of tax year deadline retirement account contributions, and vacation. Now to reaccumulate.
4. 75% of take home, post estimated tax payments to debt reduction, savings, or investments
Doing really bad at present due to lump sum payment for fall vacation, hopefully it will even out
5. Debt reduction strategy dictated by loan interest and tax considerations, will divide monthly savings after mortgages and car payments between student loan and cash investments at present
As above, re-refinanced student loans back down to 3.0% so will be back to splitting extra money between taxable brokerage and loans
6. Max backdoor Roth IRAs
Done
7. Max combination of Solo 401k, 401k, 403b, and mega backdoor Roth
On track
8. Work credit card sign up bonuses and 0% APR periods to maximum advantage, 2017 was a great year for points
Another 0% APR intro rolling for 15 months
9. Attempt to do all travel this year on points or expensed, spend less than $5k cash on travel
Booked and paid for family vacation - budget terminated by a couple thousand. About to book memorial day plans on points. Upcoming conference on expense acct.
10. Investigate establishing LLCs for rentals and retitling for tax benefits
Verdict: not worth it at this point but may acquire future properties in LLC going forward
11. Investigate converting some or all of my wage income to 1099 income for tax benefits
Probably not possible due to group insurance underwriting
12. Try to increase professional side hustles e.g. consulting, maybe expert witness?
Got two small jobs for a few hundred $$$ but nothing substantial.
13. Consider adding a rental property, cash situation and opportunity providing
Didn't buy anything. Eyes still out.
13a. Consider consolidating IRAs/403b/Solo 401k to purchase rental property in self directed plan
See above
14. Make appointment with my lawyer to do actual estate planning
Called him but still haven't set a date for a real sit down
15. Consider trading toy car for less expensive toy car if I can walk away with cash.
Keeping it, really enjoying having it garaged again and easy to keep clean etc
Non-financial Goals:
16. Work out six days a week consistently
Didn't do great this month but it was planned around a race and a recovery week. Getting back into the swing of things.
16a. Build a cheap gym in my basement to facilitate this goal.
Still activity but would like to have something ready for the fall, specifically when daylight savings time changes back over in the fall and ruins my outdoor life for 6 months
17. Run two races after a fat sad zero in 2017
Race #1 done, good job, still off my PRs but fine for getting back into racing. Race #2 planned for the fall!
18. Make friends in the new neighborhood
Still planning to host a housewarming party, still no solid dates but did start a game night with some new friends
19. Do some improvements to the house and yard, possibly revamp the deck, do some gardening and landscaping
Driveway finished, maybe onto deck or gardening now?
20. Try to cook more regularly
Still cooking and enjoying meal kit, money well spent and decreasing weekday eating out
21. Lose 10 lbs as a result of 16 and 20
No change, minus 3 lbs as of this morning
22. Fun splurge for anniversary or birthday at a Michelin star restaurant, location TBD
Kaiseki was really cool and wife really enjoyed it. No plans for my own birthday coming up
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 14:07
|
|
- BEHOLD: MY CAPE
- Jan 11, 2004
-
|
Great progress. You missed a great restaurant at Alinea, we had a blast - it's probably a close second best meal I've ever had. Is there an actual restaurant called Kaiseki? I've heard of n/naka obviously but I didn't know anyone had the audacity to call themselves Kaiseki yet.
I'll post our updates later today.
I will get there sometime, probably this fall. There is no actual restaurant I know of called Kaiseki, the place we went to is just a mom and pop place in a strip mall where we live that takes two reservations per night and serves a 9 course kaiseki only. We had to get reservations 2.5 months in advance.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 14:10
|
|
- EPICAC
- Mar 23, 2001
-
|
End of April update.
1) Max my 401k.
-On track, $7963 as of today.
2) Contribute $250/month each to both Roth IRAs.Revised to max both IRAs.
- $1900 contributed to each so far.
- I threw an extra $600 each at 2018 contributions from excess cash accumulation in checking account last month.
- I upped the monthly contributions to $300 each.
- The $1500/Roth shortfall should be made up with 3 paycheck months (June, December) and excess cash accumulation.
3) Contribute $250/month to both savings accounts.
-On track. Auto-transfers set up. Funds above 6 months of expenses are earmarked for downpayment.
4) Save $50,0000 in retirement/downpayment accounts (including 401k employer match).
-On track-ish $25,843. With current automatic transfers/assumption of maxing both Roths we'll fall short by $1900. This will be made up by excess cash acumulation and three paycheck months.
5) Start automatic transfer to son's 529.
- Reduced from $200 to $100 to focus on maxing Roths. May reduce further.
6) Open 529 and start automatic transfers for 529 #2
-Pending
7) Decide on strategy for holding shares of my company’s stock.
-My plan is to contribute the max to the ESPP (10%), and sell shares as soon as I get them. The one risk here is a significant price drop in the 2-3 days when the price is set and the shares appear in my account. The proceeds from the previous quarter’s sale will be used to float any budget shortfalls from the decrease in net paycheck. I’m locked into 3% for Q2, and will switch over to 10% for Q3.
8) Transfer CD Roth to Vanguard Roth.
My dad’s mom did a pre-inheritance thing for people in the family several years ago by maxing Roth IRAs for 4 years. Luckily this before I’d opened a Roth at Vanguard. My grandparents came out of the depression with an aversion to the stock market, so the money ($23K) has been sitting in a CD. My grandmother is a bit of a control freak, so I didn’t know, or have account info until a couple of years ago. I should just think of this as a 23k inheritance, and not think about the lost gains in the market.
- No progress. I've been putting this off because of the hassle.
9) Think about reducing my cash position (related to #8)
- Will probably keep cash for now earmarked for downpayment.
10) Decide on action on pension
I have a small pension through the university where I was a post-doc. This would be ~$300/month at 67, or ~$500/month at 70. About a year ago I got a letter saying that I was eligible to withdraw. The balance is ~$14K. I don’t really have any worries about the pension fund going broke. I’m not sure what the best action is.
- No action yet
11) Contribute up to OoP Max for HSA
-First year contributing to an HSA. On track. $1000 contributed by employer, and paycheck deductions to get me to the $5000 cap.
12) Consider car purchase.
- I think we'll try to put off a car purchase for now. Need to move son's carseat behind driver's side, and put in the second carseat to get a sense of the space we're dealing with.
13) Perform at my job, learn new skills, be recognized. Work towards promotion.
-On track. I got good feedback on some work I did from the Director above my boss, and the VP above her.
Personal Goals:
1) Get healthy, start running again, get back my cancer patient running physique.
- Going to PT regularly, got a cortisone injection. Need to follow up wth orthopedist.
2) Enjoy my paternity leave.
We get 4 weeks of fully paid paternity leave. Wrap up all of the projects that can be wrapped up before leave, plan with an associate scientist to ensure longer term projects that need attention will be taken care of, organize long-term project plans to facilitate an easy transition back to work. No computational analyses, Check work email at most once a week.
-Pending
3) Work/Life balance. Use all 20 vacation days. These are use it or lose it.
- 0 so far. 5 scheduled for June. Maybe another 2 around July 4th to visit a friend if that works out.
4) Limit my splurge purchases to a used DSLR.
My 7D broke, and Canon wants more than it's worth to fix it. Look into upgrading to a used better performing model.
-Pending have the body narrowed down to two options. Need to look around to see the price range for used models.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2018 22:29
|
|
- Referee
- Aug 25, 2004
-
"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday."
(Wilma Rudolph)
|
4 1/2 months in...
I'm a couple days late on starting my 2018 goals but no less motivated.  I'm going to post the overall goals as a first draft for now and will edit in more detailed plans to accomplish them later this week.
2018 Goals
1. Pay off $11,144.12 in credit card debt which will make me debt-free. This is a returning goal from 2017; I didn't have a very good year income-wise in 2017 and lost my roommates as well in November which tripled my rent so there's some work to do just to stay afloat in the short-term. I don't want new roommates right now so I need to increase income to match as well as pay off the last of my debt from years ago (this credit card).
2. Related to the above, do not add any new consumer debt. I want to stay debt-free, so no new car purchases, credit cards, etc. The only possible exception would be if every other goal is hit and I wind up in position to purchase a home somehow in 2018. I do not expect this to happen.
3. Max out IRA contributions. I have both a traditional and a Roth but have never come close to maxing either and need to start. 34 is too old to not be doing this every year.
4. Lose 20 pounds and maintain a weight of 170 pounds and body fat percentage of 18% or less.
5. Related to #4, no alcohol in 2018 until I reach 170 pounds.
6. Spend less than $3,000 total between restaurants and bar expenses for 2018.
7. Increase officiating income (income stream #2) to $4,000 in 2018. This would be an increase of around $750 over 2017 and just requires me to work a few more games this year.
8. Create a third income stream that provides a minimum of $10,000 in 2018. Details to follow here.
Stretch Goals
9. Save a minimum of $10,000 towards a down payment on a house.
10. Increase total combined income to $100,000 via a main job change. I make far less than I deserve and I need to look into what groundwork I need to lay to drastically increase my income and prepare for a career change.
1. The windfall from April made me debt-free. Still holding steady to this.
2. No new debt added, per the previous goal.
3. No progress here yet; I've decided that in the short-term I want to increase my emergency fund a bit over increasing the IRA. I still intend to get back to this later in the year; this might be a great thing to throw my lump-sum officiating income at in December.
4. Have been back in the gym but have not seen a lot of movement in the right direction yet. Planning a diet change to take effect in June.
5. Fell off the wagon a bit but have not drank any alcohol in over a month, so that's good.
6. May has been okay for this goal so far but I have some work to do to even out March and April.
7. Working on setting myself up for a busy fall. My girlfriend isn't exactly thrilled but she understands.
8. I'm taking my old job back as Ops Manager for one of our teams in my office in addition to keeping my full-time job, as well as interviewing for a replacement full-time gig, so this is looking promising.
9. Probably not happening this year but we'll see. That's why it was a stretch.
10. As mentioned above, this is in progress.
It's been a good year so far- now I just need to keep it up!
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2018 06:12
|
|
- Referee
- Aug 25, 2004
-
"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday."
(Wilma Rudolph)
|
Congratulations on erasing your debt IS!! What a huge accomplishment, now stay debt free!
Thanks! I'm looking at it a lot like an addiction...one day, one week, one month at a time
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2018 16:53
|
|
- Spokes
- Jan 9, 2010
-
Thanks for a MONSTER of an avatar, Awful Survivor Mods!
|
Alright, let's get this show on the road.
very, very simple end of the year money goal:
No credit card debt (current balance is ~$5200 on a ~$45000 salary)
non-money goals:
Lose 24 pounds (current weight is 240).
Keep my home office tidy
Month-by-month actionable bricks in this plan:
Added a $500/month cc payment to my budget and cut out a ton of stupid food/gaming expenses.
Go out to eat once a week max, fast food three times a week max. I have every variety of grill and slow cooker and kitchen gadget there ever was, might as well use them.
Gym at least once a week, use rowing machine at home three times a week. (Gym Saturday, rowing M/T/R)
Should be able to lose ~2 pounds a month by making these changes, because my starting point is a hell of a lot worse.
Looking back and laughing at "fast food three times a week max" in addition to sit-down restaurants. who is this man.
I'm at once a week right now (I go for a walk down to the chinese food place at the strip mall and get myself a lunch special after work on fridays) and that even seems like an unnecessary indulgence.
Credit card will be paid off by the end of the month.
Haven't been able to get much weight off, but I know that's due to not exercising or eating great. Now that I don't spend every waking minute worrying about money I'll start browsing YLLS and see if I can get half the benefit I've received from posting my lovely situation in BFC.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2018 17:26
|
|
- moana
- Jun 18, 2005
-
one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
|
Haven't been able to get much weight off, but I know that's due to not exercising or eating great. Now that I don't spend every waking minute worrying about money I'll start browsing YLLS and see if I can get half the benefit I've received from posting my lovely situation in BFC.
My goal that I haven't accomplished yet is taking a road trip up the Pacific Northwest to see if there are any places that we want to move to with a lower COL. Really just need to nail down a date and force myself to get the planning done by that date. I think I'm going to ask for it to be a birthday trip in June. So far our short list: Eugene, Corvallis, Bend, Hood River. Anyone else have any other recommendations for nice places to raise a family? Santa Cruz is nice but expensive, and the druggie problem is seriously bad (like, people doing heroin and meth in public parks so that nobody ever wants to go to the public parks level of bad).
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2018 01:22
|
|
- EAT FASTER!!!!!!
- Sep 21, 2002
-
Legendary.
|
Congrats on getting that credit card paid off! Not sure what your kind of personality is (cold turkey vs. weaning) but when I wanted to lose weight, I stopped drinking anything that wasn't water or coffee and cut out my top two calorie dense snacks (Oreos and microwave popcorn) completely. It was way easier to do when the super bad for me stuff wasn't even in the house, and it was a hard and fast rule so I never had to think about it. When I hit my goal weight, I eased up a bit and let myself indulge every once in a while, but it's a lot easier to exercise and maintain a weight once you get there.
My goal that I haven't accomplished yet is taking a road trip up the Pacific Northwest to see if there are any places that we want to move to with a lower COL. Really just need to nail down a date and force myself to get the planning done by that date. I think I'm going to ask for it to be a birthday trip in June. So far our short list: Eugene, Corvallis, Bend, Hood River. Anyone else have any other recommendations for nice places to raise a family? Santa Cruz is nice but expensive, and the druggie problem is seriously bad (like, people doing heroin and meth in public parks so that nobody ever wants to go to the public parks level of bad).
McMinnville? It's not crazy expensive, it's near the best wine country in the PNW, it's close to the coast and close to Portland?
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2018 13:26
|
|
- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
-
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
|
May update inline. TL;DR: Mostly a good month, but vacation messed up my weight. Raise wasn't negotiable, so will be looking elsewhere once the situation is right (I'm close to being qualified for looking at dev roles, not leaving until then).
2018 Goals
1) NO NEW DEBT - On track
2) If company situation continues to deteriorate, switch career from Software QA to Software Dev - Rebuffed completely on negotiating my 3.7% raise. Further seals my leaving once I finish this dev learning I'm doing and fix my portfolio.
3) Bring emergency fund up to $19k - Autopilot, at $15.5k now.
4) Max out Roth IRAs - Autopilot
5) Max both our 401(k)s - Autopilot
6) Increase NW to $215k/~50% savings rate - NW is around $171k. Still a little behind projection. Savings rate appears lower this month, since there was several thousand in vacation spending, but it was budgeted, and will even out. Kinda on track.
7) Lose 10 pounds and keep it off - Good news and bad news: Good news, I've been going to PT and my ankle finally seems to be turning the corner. Bad news, vacation did bad things to my weight. This is (one of) the problems I was trying to solve with this goal. Not great.
Misc goals
Stay current on YNAB, stay current on birth control (i.e. no kids please), keep learning in and out of my career (emphasis on house maintenance this year). On track.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Jun 6, 2018
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2018 12:59
|
|
- Referee
- Aug 25, 2004
-
"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday."
(Wilma Rudolph)
|
End of May (only been a couple of weeks since my last update but want to get back on schedule):
I'm a couple days late on starting my 2018 goals but no less motivated. I'm going to post the overall goals as a first draft for now and will edit in more detailed plans to accomplish them later this week.
2018 Goals
1. Pay off $11,144.12 in credit card debt which will make me debt-free. This is a returning goal from 2017; I didn't have a very good year income-wise in 2017 and lost my roommates as well in November which tripled my rent so there's some work to do just to stay afloat in the short-term. I don't want new roommates right now so I need to increase income to match as well as pay off the last of my debt from years ago (this credit card).
2. Related to the above, do not add any new consumer debt. I want to stay debt-free, so no new car purchases, credit cards, etc. The only possible exception would be if every other goal is hit and I wind up in position to purchase a home somehow in 2018. I do not expect this to happen.
3. Max out IRA contributions. I have both a traditional and a Roth but have never come close to maxing either and need to start. 34 is too old to not be doing this every year.
4. Lose 20 pounds and maintain a weight of 170 pounds and body fat percentage of 18% or less.
5. Related to #4, no alcohol in 2018 until I reach 170 pounds.
6. Spend less than $3,000 total between restaurants and bar expenses for 2018.
7. Increase officiating income (income stream #2) to $4,000 in 2018. This would be an increase of around $750 over 2017 and just requires me to work a few more games this year.
8. Create a third income stream that provides a minimum of $10,000 in 2018. Details to follow here.
Stretch Goals
9. Save a minimum of $10,000 towards a down payment on a house.
10. Increase total combined income to $100,000 via a main job change. I make far less than I deserve and I need to look into what groundwork I need to lay to drastically increase my income and prepare for a career change.
1. Achieved!
2. On track- still debt-free!
3. As mentioned in my last update, putting money into my emergency fund first, so this is on hold for a bit.
4. This still needs work. Have my new diet ready to launch tomorrow morning.
5. Holding strong here. Coming up on two months with no booze.
6. May was a decent month. Hoping to continue the momentum in June.
7. On pace.
8. Looking good. Ramping up my side work- should be billing around $1K+ a month moving forward.
9. We'll see how the side work goes.
10. Nothing new to report here, but we'll see!
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 06:20
|
|
- BAE OF PIGS
- Nov 28, 2016
-
Tup
|
End of Q1 Updates:
Pay off remaining student loans: Done in February
Max Roth IRA Contributions: Still putting in for 2017, so no progress
Get emergency fund to $10k from $8k: Up to $9k
Up 401k Contributions to 5% from 3%: Reading Zaurg thread made me up it to 10%
Start house downpayment fund: Got a whopping $750 set aside
No CC debt: Still going strong
Non Financial goals:
Take a nice vacation somewhere tropical: Just got back from a long weekend in Minneapolis, gf is from Washington state and some friends are going to the PNW in the summer and want us to go with, so we'll probably be doing that, tropical will most likely not happen
get weight back down to 143: Went up a pound this month to 154, need to go to the gym more and eat less (duh)
Mostly happy with my progress. GF and I are thinking of moving to another apartment complex with nicer/new amenities, but everything with similar square footage is like a 25% increase in price at least, and we are looking for more room if anything. I'm now trying to convince GF we should stay here to continue saving, since we pay a pretty low rate for a reasonably sized place with a very short commute for both of us. I think she's starting to get on board
Skipped a month, but time to post:
End of May:
Pay off student loans: Still done
Max Roth IRA contributions: Got a late start d/t continuing to contribute to 2017 through April. Going to make a large contribution this month, should be on track to max by the end of the year.
Get Emergency fund to 10k: Up to $10,050. Going to continue throwing a little money at it each month.
Up 401k contributions to 5%: Still at 10%, thinking about upping again.
Start house downpayment fund: Back tracked, have no money in fund. Sort of more focused on retirement now I guess.
No CC debt: On track.
Non-financial goals:
Take a nice vacation: Have a local camping trip planned, and a trip to Seattle/Spokane (GFs hometown) planned for this summer. Nothing tropical happening this year it appears.
Get weight down to 143: Up to 156 this morning. Need to focus more.
I'm mostly happy with my progress. Talked my way up to an 8% raise last month, and just got my first paycheck with the new pay this week. Might up my 401k contributions to get my pay back to what I was making before, so my whole raise goes to that.
Ended up re-signing our current apartment. Rent went up a little, but it's still by far the cheapest for this size/quality of place. Anything that's even remotely an upgrade would be several hundred dollars a month more. We're not thrilled with this place, but it makes sense for us now.
Was also told by my boss that she feels like I'm the strongest in my position in her region (which is the biggest in the company) and she's choosing me get some additional training on some new software (whether the company goes through with it is another question). She also told me that she wants me to try and find a back up for my position, freeing me up for a promotion if the position arises. So I guess I just need to keep on keeping on at work. Plus I just got moved into the bigger office with a window. Woo!
BAE OF PIGS fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Jun 1, 2018
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 13:27
|
|
- Referee
- Aug 25, 2004
-
"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday."
(Wilma Rudolph)
|
So this is probably basic stuff to most of you but having recently paid off all my debt and gotten a month ahead again, I was struck by something this morning:
Usually I look forward to an hour or two in front of my computer on the first day of the month because I'd adjust my previous month's budget to cover any categories I went over, budget my first paycheck in YNAB, plan how much I could put toward my credit card, figure out what bills needed to wait until the 15th, stare at my savings account sadly, etc.
This morning I woke up and:
- Assigned all of June's budgeted amounts
- Paid my rent
- Paid my phone bill
...and that was all there was to do. No car payment, no credit card payment, no student loan payment, nothing.
It's so much less STRESSFUL doing things this way!
This wasn't intended to be a humble brag, please don't probate me! I was just excited and didn't know where else to share 
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 16:03
|
|
- Hoodwinker
- Nov 7, 2005
-
|
So this is probably basic stuff to most of you but having recently paid off all my debt and gotten a month ahead again, I was struck by something this morning:
Usually I look forward to an hour or two in front of my computer on the first day of the month because I'd adjust my previous month's budget to cover any categories I went over, budget my first paycheck in YNAB, plan how much I could put toward my credit card, figure out what bills needed to wait until the 15th, stare at my savings account sadly, etc.
This morning I woke up and:
- Assigned all of June's budgeted amounts
- Paid my rent
- Paid my phone bill
...and that was all there was to do. No car payment, no credit card payment, no student loan payment, nothing.
It's so much less STRESSFUL doing things this way!
This wasn't intended to be a humble brag, please don't probate me! I was just excited and didn't know where else to share
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 16:07
|
|
- EAT FASTER!!!!!!
- Sep 21, 2002
-
Legendary.
|
Oh man, exciting stuff!
Current Liabilities -
- Approximately $380 of student loans all at usurious rates, but ALL eligible for forgiveness through public service and qualifying payments in 3 to 5 years. We are both approved for loan repayment provided we stay in not-for-profit employment!
- Approximately 20 months into a ($240 remaining) mortgage @ 3.2% on a 5/1 ARM. Rates are rising, might just end up paying this off in the next 40 months.
- Approximately $44 remaining in car loan at 2%.
- Approximately $24 remaining on car 2 loan at 1%.
Current Assets -
- Home assessed at $280
- Cars worth $30 and $20 a piece
- Retirement savings worth $300 (it was a very good year)
- Emergency fund of $50 and advanced budgeted spending on-hand
Net worth -
- Somewhere to the tune of ZERO. I don't know if you remember where we started (somewhere around six hundred k in the shitter) but we've made some progress.
By end of Q1:
- Pay remainder MBA tuition in full. Signed, sealed and delivered.
- Begin a taxable investment account. Done, we hold some naked stock in a taxable brokerage, having maxed out our protected room this in an ongoing basis.
- Document approval and payment status for student loan forgiveness. Done, both my spouse and I are on track to be approved for repayment under current PSLF guidelines.
By end of Q2:
- Breach zero net worth. This one is a little unclear because I don't have access to my wife's loan accounts but we're somewhere in the neighborhood of zero.
- Acquire MBA. Done, graduated with academic distinction near the top of my class. It's already earned me a promotion but I'm hungry for more.
By end of Q3:
- Pursue baby 2. Working on it 
By end of Q4:
- Our 403 (b)s fully funded. Automatic.
- Under 80% value remaining on the mortgage so we can refinance if we have to. We're here, just have to make the decision whether to just pay it off or not.
Yearly Goals:
- Acquire second medical directorship, commensurate pay increase and administrative time benefit. I don't know that another one will be headed my way this year.
or
- Leave and found a startup. I'm trying to stay and get my employer to allow me to do this within the umbrella of the place I'm working currently.
Things we will not try to do:
- Acquire any new debt. Ayyy, lmao, so far so good! Froze our credit with the Experian thing and haven't been tempted once since.
Stretch Goals
- 457 plan launched at work. University president has agreed, uncertain of the timeline.
Stretch Personal Goals
- One muscle up I am making some good progress in this direction, but it's been hard going. I am comfortable saying I'm in nearly the best shape of my life.
- Thirty (30) new books read I've done 27 already YTD so I am going to push on toward 52 for the year.
- Rower used 100 times I've only done like 20 times this year so I'm really lagging behind but that's okay I've been aggressive about getting to the gym.
- Cook 48 meals I'm keeping pace with this, chiefly because I have to because I've started eating vegetarian.
- Clean basement to where I would be comfortable hosting a World Cup viewing party I should be finishing the basement cleanup project this weekend. I don't think I'm going to host this party, ultimately, but I would be comfortable doing so in our space. I might push ahead with more major basement renovations over the next year.
- Write a book to self-publish On hold for the time being. Side hustles ended up getting pushed out by just working as hard as I can this year.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 19:21
|
|
- Hoodwinker
- Nov 7, 2005
-
|
2018 plan:
- Max 401k + 403b - On track as long as I keep working at this company until the end of the year.
- Max Roth IRAs near the beginning of the year. - Done.
- Break $100k personal net worth. - I broke $100k in assets  I'll be breaking $100k personal net worth probably on my next paycheck.
- Get another $20k put together towards house down payment. - Savings are on track to have $20k saved up by the end of year. It'll be ~$24k in fact.
- Pay ~$5-7k for some optional surgery. - Not sure if this is happening this year or next, but it's affordable.
- Change apartments to reduce rent from $14,400 a year to something closer to $12,000. - We did end up changing apartments, and our rent went up to $16,200 but we cut my wife's commute down to like 10 minutes.
- Try to convince wife to start looking at jobs that don't suddenly stop providing 403b matches, do improve her professional skillset a bit more, and aren't a hellish commute. - She's starting to get real sick of her work environment so we'll see.
- Possibly reevaluate our monthly budget and costs after we change apartments to see if shifting some of our e-fund towards either taxable investments or into the down payment pool makes sense given our risk comfort. - Shifted a little bit of e-fund money and excess down payment money into taxable and started investing in a brokerage account. This was money that was well beyond the savings timeline so if this goes down it won't set our down payment back at all.
Non-finance:
- Finish working on this programming curriculum and mentorship by end of Q1 to feel more confident as a high journeyman/budding master instead of highly competent junior/fresh journeyman. - Did this and now I'm hopefully getting promoted in 2-4 weeks.
- Get all the major design work done on my board game so I can begin the process of marketing and release before we start having kids in the next couple of years. - Made a ton of progress on this and things are looking good!
- Maybe start learning Unity so I can tool around with making that Metroidvania I've been wanting to make. - Gotta finish the board game first.
- Oh yeah, do a gently caress ton of reading on everything I need to know about home ownership and purchase so I hate myself less (or maybe just make my hate more refined?) - Still reading, learning to love the hate.
All in all, it feels really amazing to have so much money saved up and to see so many money goals being so easily hit. It's looking like by the end of next year my wife and I should have about a quarter million saved up, which is such a weird feeling to realize.
Edit: Looking through my financial projections (based on saved amount, not on market growth), it's looking like the single most important contributing factor to my household's continued success is staying gainfully employed. We're saving such an insane amount of money right now that we'll reach our coast number by the end of 2020 at this rate. It's such a satisfying feeling knowing that for the most part our financial future is so much in our control. I know staying employed isn't always a lever we have access to (sometimes the faceless megacorp you work for just axes your job), but getting employed is something we can manage. That's a level of financial security I never knew I'd possess. It feels great and I can't shout it from the rooftops so I'll just leave it here with goons who get it 
Hoodwinker fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Jun 1, 2018
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 19:52
|
|
- Referee
- Aug 25, 2004
-
"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday."
(Wilma Rudolph)
|
All in all, it feels really amazing to have so much money saved up and to see so many money goals being so easily hit. It's looking like by the end of next year my wife and I should have about a quarter million saved up, which is such a weird feeling to realize.
Edit: Looking through my financial projections (based on saved amount, not on market growth), it's looking like the single most important contributing factor to my household's continued success is staying gainfully employed. We're saving such an insane amount of money right now that we'll reach our coast number by the end of 2020 at this rate. It's such a satisfying feeling knowing that for the most part our financial future is so much in our control. I know staying employed isn't always a lever we have access to (sometimes the faceless megacorp you work for just axes your job), but getting employed is something we can manage. That's a level of financial security I never knew I'd possess. It feels great and I can't shout it from the rooftops so I'll just leave it here with goons who get it
Dude, same  (feeling anyway...not quite situation yet!)
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 23:39
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2024 18:31
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2018 08:32
