|
Purpose of thread: Figure out what the heck I'm supposed to be doing. Currently have no "plan" on what I should be doing, or even any goals in sight. Viewer participation strongly encouraged and welcome. Current Budget: http://preview.tinyurl.com/pwfr66a Net Monthly Income: $4,849 Total Debt: Currently debt free Total Assets Start of Thread:
Potential Liabilities: 2003 Mazda, 160k miles Current Net Worth $43,854.44 Goals:
Background: I've been working after college for 5 years now and it feels like I've been treading water the last 2 not making any changes with personal finances and basically lacking any direction at all. Renting an apartment and have 2 dogs, and while a house would be nice it looks like I will be changing locations often enough that it doesn't make sense to invest in a house. No family planning in my future, can't/won't have to worry about kids so the most trouble I can get myself in is with an SO, but currently single. 401k 1 is from a previous job, 401k 2 is from my current employment. As of right now I am not actively contributing to it anymore, dealing with some personal health issues and depending on how that all plays out I may not have to worry about making it to retirement age. So what do I do goons? I've been stagnant for years and am looking to change. Do I pump up my 401k to employer matching and just treat it as an emergency fund and deal with early withdrawal penalties? Start actively investing my money in stocks/bonds/bitcoin/dogecoin/unicorn farts? I will update the OP as I get beyond this nebulous sense of "I need to do something" to "I'm actively going for x" and track progress as I go. 10/25/15 Edit: Added link to budget spreadsheet for anyone wanting sweet sweet numbers. Slightly modified goals. Hoping to have hard financial targets and goals by end of year. Update 11/6/15 Saved $2,400 out of my $4,900 take home in October Started a new car savings account with a goal of 10k in 14 months. After than small contributions until my current car dies. Updated budget link for October. I have NO idea how I spent so much on "groceries" which apparently I'm hiding all my blow money in. I shop at Walmart so I can get a lot of other stuff there. Started out this month at Food Lion for a real grocery trip. Going to try and be more honest with that category this month. Set my 401k contributions to 6%, employer matching max, no real interest in going above that for now. Haven't seen my utilities bill for October? Really need to call about that. VanguardFelix fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Nov 6, 2015 |
# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 18:15 |
|
|
# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:52 |
|
Cicero posted:Have you looked at the OPs of the newbie finance and long-term/retirement savings threads? I have skimmed through them, but most of it all seems targeted to starting from square 1. I don't have any debt to pay off, and my savings plan isn't exactly long term. I use humor when talking about it, like in the OP, but legitimately I will likely not make it to retirement age and even if I could I could never afford my current medical costs sans an employer subsidized health insurance. I will work until I drop dead. n8r posted:Make a budget. I'm planning on posting a budget end of month to see how it all shakes out. I believe I could roll my 401k over as both are managed by Vanguard, but I will have to check with my employer to see. Active investing in general is something I'm interested in, but I'm in a bit of analysis paralysis right now as I learn about it. DJCobol posted:I've been in your position. I'm still kind of in your position. Making good money, not a lot of obligations for said money, no clue what to do beyond "hey, save some of that money!" I know we have FSAs but I do not know about HSA, thanks for the tip I will definitely look into that. I always set my FSA to my maximum yearly out of pocket since I always blow by that so at least I know what portion will get spent and what could be saved if that is an option. I guess I'll take a longer look at Roth as an option. Mainly what I'm struggling with is doing work with my savings/future earnings in a way that is somewhat liquid. I don't want to have everything tied up for age 60+ when that doesn't serve a purpose. No family to speak of either so anything left over will just be donated anyways. Basically I'm struggling against the nearly universal save as much as you can until you retire wisdom. What's the advice in the case that there isn't a retirement end-game? Need to get back to reading some of the recommended books, Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, etc. I also need to catch up with some of my friends who worked trading futures in Chicago 15 years ago. By no means am I trying to be dismissive of the advice given. I will be looking into what options I have at work, but will have to figure out what fits best.
|
# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 00:24 |
|
Minor update to the OP, have a budget roughed up and hosted on google drive, not sure if that is the appropriate means of delivery. Fast food was bad this month since I've been working 12 hours a day. Going to be worse before the end of the month as I go on nights Monday. Also unexpectedly had my car battery die so that's where I got tagged on maintenance. Also Metal Gear Solid 5, who can resist? Books is going to stay 200 budgeted a month for awhile as I'm getting books together for my PE exam next year.Droo posted:**snip** Droo you are quite on the money with the why and that's something that I really am struggling with. I really have no clue. A wedding is always possible I suppose, kids very much not. Either in desire or capability. Does a house really make sense given I change geographic areas wildly every 3-5 years? Seems like the costs associated with purchasing, moving, closing etc. doesn't really get covered until well after 5 years in one house. #7 has always been interesting to me. But you're right that I need to work out what I want this to be for. Devian666 posted:One of the things that often comes up is that people live longer than they expect. I am assuming your medical condition is pretty serious but I have a number of friends who have major medical problems and have lived substantially longer than their doctors believed possible. In the event that you live a longer life than expected then being able to fund medical expenses would be a huge benefit. I try to remain open to the possibility of changes in my prognosis but things have been heading the wrong direction. I know the smart thing to do is plan on needing to pay for a long retirement. However the though of temporizing my life away in the hopes of retirement only to miss the mark is irritating. That said I do need to dig up my investing books and get into it again. I'm going to generally leave my 401k managed by Vanguard (unless that is a terrible terrible idea?) and actively invest with excess cashflow from work. Again thanks to everyone offering advice, hopefully things will get more interesting when it turns into a rollercoaster ride of shoddy active investing.
|
# ¿ Oct 25, 2015 20:43 |
|
Devian666 posted:The Vanguard account will be fine. The reason why I recommended The Four Pillars of Investing is to steer you away from active investing. It takes the effort and stress out along with making mistakes. If you active invest only use 5-10% of your total investing capital. I'll have to check it out. Just found the other books I had gotten last year so I have a lot to read. And yeah I'd definitely keep the active portion small, something that I wouldn't notice going up in smoke.
|
# ¿ Oct 26, 2015 18:25 |
|
November 2 and my monthly budget is completely out the window. Double vet visit for the two dogs on short notice, $600 all said and done I had planned on getting a carpet cleaner this month because the dogs make them godawful, but that will have to wait until some other month. I am looking to follow most everyone's advice on investing. That is once I stop signing over significant portions of my check to the vet! edit: Updated OP. End of month budget is up. And I actually started contributing to my 401k per everyone's advice! I possess at the very least some basic listening skills! edit 2: Up to $900 in personal medical expenses and $1,100 for the dogs this month. My budget is the Titanic getting hit by the Challenger at this point. VanguardFelix fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Nov 17, 2015 |
# ¿ Nov 3, 2015 01:22 |