Financial Goals 2015 - Well done, everybody!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Financial Goals 2015 - Well done, everybody!

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

2015 will be one of the most expensive years for us. We have a newborn and in February we'll have two kids in daycare to the tune of $1200/mo. Our daughter is already on some pretty expensive formula, diapers for two kids, etc. adds up really quick. My main goal is to mostly just stay afloat and not spend more money than we make.

2015 Financial Goals

Continue contributing to retirement accounts and kids 529 plans
Pay off our car ($9500 owed)

I'm also hoping to work less in 2015, it's been a very busy year for me and not bringing my work home with me will be a wonderful change of pace.

dreesemonkey fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Mar 3, 2015

# ¿ Dec 15, 2014 14:43

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 05:31

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

spwrozek posted:

Not what I would have wrote at all about a month ago...oh well.

Are you the one who's wife moved to another city for a job or something?

Either way, sorry to hear that dude. I hope you all come out alright.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2014 18:31

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

dreesemonkey posted:

2015 will be one of the most expensive years for us. We have a newborn and in February we'll have two kids in daycare to the tune of $1200/mo. Our daughter is already on some pretty expensive formula, diapers for two kids, etc. adds up really quick. My main goal is to mostly just stay afloat and not spend more money than we make.

2015 Financial Goals

Continue contributing to retirement accounts and kids 529 plans

~~Pay off our car ($9500 owed)~~

I'm also hoping to work less in 2015, it's been a very busy year for me and not bringing my work home with me will be a wonderful change of pace.

I have about the most halfassed goals, and I even cheated because we paid off our car prior to 2015. But progress is progress!

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 19:22

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

pig slut lisa posted:

Don't look at it that way. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if you didn't meet even the goals you view as easy! By that measure you're a smashing success so far.

I'd like to set something a bit more challenging, but it's such a giant question mark with a newborn and adjusting to spending $1200/mo on daycare.

We started using YNAB this month so we're at least making headway in the right direction.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 20:06

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

OneWhoKnows posted:

My boss' boss asked me if I planned on being in the office this week (I mostly work from home) and said to stop on by any time. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but during the chat he asked me if I had been approached by any of our competitors lately. I said no (and I hadn't), but apparently a higher-up for a competitor was talking to a higher-up at my company during some event where too many drinks were had and said that he hoped I (specifically by name) was being paid well because my name had popped up at the top of the "poach list". The conversation ended with a healthy raise much to my surprise!

So, to make a long story short, I went ahead and increased the contribution to 10%, next goal is going to be 15% by mid-year.

That's great, congrats.

I wish I was on someone's poach list

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 21:31

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

2015 Financial Goals Update

Continue contributing to retirement accounts and kids 529 plans - Pretty lame goal but we're on track
~~Pay off our car ($9500 owed)~~ - Paid off in December
(New addition) Start using YNAB to effectively plan/budget our money - This has been going quite well, we're still overspending in some areas but overall thumbs up. Feels great to have a plan and (mostly) stick to it.

Non-financial goal(s) Update

I'm hoping to work less in 2015, it's been a very busy year for me and not bringing my work home with me will be a wonderful change of pace - This one is going great. Still have a lot to do, but it's much less of a "get it done immediately" type thing.
(New addition) Lose some weight and keep it off - Also going well, I'm down 10-12lbs (I'm at my goal weight more or less) and have almost a 60 day streak of logging in myfitnesspal.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 20:23

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

Really not much of an update from previous.

2015 Financial Goals Update

Continue contributing to retirement accounts and kids 529 plans - So far so good. I also moved my Roth to Vanguard and it finally went through this week. I think I might move my wife's there as well.
~~Pay off our car ($9500 owed)~~ - Paid off in December
(New addition) Start using YNAB to effectively plan/budget our money - If we hadn't started a proper budget this year I think we would have been in trouble. On the whole we're doing fine, but it seems like a couple of categories we just end up draining every month and I'm starting to get frustrated.

Non-financial goal(s) Update

I'm hoping to work less in 2015, it's been a very busy year for me and not bringing my work home with me will be a wonderful change of pace - Still going excellent - Work has been a lot slower lately and I've been taking advantage by burning some vacation time. So much better than last year.
(New addition) Lose some weight and keep it off - I lost about 15+lbs total and then went way off the wagon. I've put on about 5-6lbs again and I need to get back to dieting.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2015 15:26

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

Same as my previous update, more or less

2015 Financial Goals Update

Continue contributing to retirement accounts and kids 529 plans - Still going well. Hopefully considering upping our contributions next year.
~~Pay off our car ($9500 owed)~~ - Paid off in December '14
Start using YNAB to effectively plan/budget our money - Over the summer there was some off-the-wagon behavoir, but we've since turned the corner and have been doing really well planning. We still go over on food budgets now and then, but everywhere else we've been doing great. It's pretty rad, we have a 3 pay period month and we don't really have anything we want to buy with that money, so that extra ~$3500 is pretty much all going to short and long term saving categories
Not much of a goal, but we met with a lawyer to draw up wills / trust in case both of us die. Feels good to get that handled.

Non-financial goal(s) Update

I'm hoping to work less in 2015 - Going good. An infinite amount of less stress than last year at this time.
Lose some weight and keep it off - I suck. I gained back pretty much all of what I lost earlier in the year. I'm not like obese, but I am overweight.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2015 18:13

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 05:31

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

2015 Financial Goals - Final

~~Continue contributing to retirement accounts and kids 529 plans~~ - Success. Planning on incrementally upping our contributions next year.
~~Pay off our car ($9500 owed)~~ - Success. Paid off in December '14
~~Start using YNAB to effectively plan/budget our money~~ - Success. Thanks to YNAB/planning and despite our daycare costs dramatically increasing, we still manage to increase our net worth ~$7500 in liquid accounts alone (not including retirement / 529 plans). I consider that a huge achievement since my whole goal for the year was to "tread water".

Assuming our stupid loving state gets off it's rear end and passes a budget (only 5.5 months overdue) and I receive my raise for next year, we should have about ~$300/mo extra to put towards savings goals so fingers crossed on that.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2015 16:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Financial Goals 2015 - Well done, everybody!