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C-Euro
Mar 20, 2010

:science:
Soiled Meat

Dead Pressed posted:

Budget set up in everydollar. Cash put into envelopes, and all credit cards stashed away. Here we go!



Housing includes all utilities and Netflix, ETC.

Oooh that looks fancy, I tried doing some budget stuff a few years back with Mint.com but never really bothered to keep it updated. Do you use the mobile part of this at all? It had an iPhone app but not an Android one :(

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Dead Pressed
Nov 11, 2009

C-Euro posted:

Oooh that looks fancy, I tried doing some budget stuff a few years back with Mint.com but never really bothered to keep it updated. Do you use the mobile part of this at all? It had an iPhone app but not an Android one :(

Yes. It's very similar to ynab in its mobile functionality. Desktop functionality is a fair bit weaker, but it's also free. Even though I own ynab, we are going with everydollar because it's a little easier to start with, and we needed to gain some traction with regards to record keeping.

I know the everydollar team is working on an android version, haven't heard an eta. While I'm not using it now, I do wholly endorse [old] ynab if that type of setup looks to be something you're interested in. There's a thread in this sub forum for more information.

I will state that old ynab doesn't connect to bank accounts, but everydollar has premium upgrade that will connect, but I haven't tested it for functionality yet. I think it's $50 a year for that, maybe.

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

pig slut lisa posted:

Start saving now for the kid's first SA account
I'll be posting in the BWM thread with a bunch of ridiculous overpriced baby poo poo, I'm sure.

Deadpressed, be careful about your due dates if you care about that sort of thing. My husband's birthday is right around Christmas, and he's scarred from a lifetime of "oh this is your christmas present and your birthday present, and no we can't have a party for you, everyone is on vacation".

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

moana posted:

I'll be posting in the BWM thread with a bunch of ridiculous overpriced baby poo poo, I'm sure.

Deadpressed, be careful about your due dates if you care about that sort of thing. My husband's birthday is right around Christmas, and he's scarred from a lifetime of "oh this is your christmas present and your birthday present, and no we can't have a party for you, everyone is on vacation".

I swear, if you buy infant clothing from some overpriced poo poo like Buggaboo instead of a low-cost store or (even better) an infant consignment , I'm going to hunt you down and slap you with the Spatula of BWM.

Jon Von Anchovi
Sep 5, 2014

:australia:
First time Financial Goals poster so here goes:
All dollars are Australian. Historically terrible managing money but just got a big payrise so here I am. If I am disciplined this can be a huge swing year for my financial stability and stress levels.

Current

Age: 28
Salary: $110,000 + 9.5% Retirement account (superannuation)
Commission: Aiming for $70,000
Emergency Fund: $0
Unsecured Loan: $11,858 at 16.8%
Credit Card Balance: $4,351 at 13.49%
Student Loan:$13,428 at ~1.5%-2% (indexed annually at inflation in Australia, no actual interest charged)
Shares: $11,767 at last listing (I have shares in a company that has a reverse takeover currently underway - relisting in February and I have to keep till Dec 2016 to pay half capital gains tax)
Mortgage: $187,716 at 5.37% variable on a ~$650,000 property. I own 34% and am responsible for %50 of Loan.
Retirement Account: $31,802 (In Australia this is paid into by employer at 9.5% of salary automatically with no input from me with pre-tax dollars)

2016 Goals

These are in order, but minimum payments for 2,3&4 happening the whole time anyway.

Goal 1: Emergency Fund to $5,000
Goal 2: Pay off Unsecured Loan
Goal 3: Pay off credit card
Goal 4: Pay off Student Loan - Pay is automatically docked each fortnight by the tax department on a sliding scale for this; they are taking $500 or so a fortnight automatically but a small lump sum payment will be needed to finish it off. At such a low interest rate it is low priority.
Goal 5: Emergency Fund to $10,000
Goal 6: Don't sell shares until December when I get to pay half tax. The Venture Capitalist and Executive Director of the company is a former client and i know the business model is sound. Just hold them and be patient.
Big Hairy Stretch Goal: $30,000 towards a deposit on a second property. This will be entirely dependent on how well I do with commission at work, although selling some shares in December may contribute.

Total Debt to pay off: $29,637 + interest (~$2,000)
Total Emergency Fund to build: $10,000

Jon Von Anchovi fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Jan 6, 2016

TouchyMcFeely
Aug 21, 2006

High five! Hell yeah!

moana posted:

welp, look who's getting started early with her new year goals :toot: :suicide:

Welcome to the party, pal!

Now we can commiserate on how preparing for a drunk midget to invade our home is completely destroying our other financial goals together!

(we just bought a recliner yesterday. Fuuuuuck)
((it was with cash out of the baby fund. Leave me alone))
(((it was $650 that we could have used to pay down the credit card. Baby is going to have a lot of explaining to do on why it's so financially inept before it even gets here)))

TouchyMcFeely fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Jan 4, 2016

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
Ok let's play good idea / bad idea for slap me silly in 2016. I'm thinking about selling my house ($XXX/mo mortgage payment) and moving into a one bedroom apartment ($XXX + 30% in rent). Two points in favor: the apartment would be walking distance from work, whereas the house is a 20-30 minute drive that's getting worse and worse every year. And, I'm tired of being responsible for a house that has way more space than I need and incessant yard work and maintenance demands. Points against: the house is in a cooler area than the apartment would be, and apartments have, you know, shared walls and poo poo. Financially, the apartment may cost a bit more over time but probably not by much - I can certainly afford it. Anybody else has done this poo poo?

Dead Pressed
Nov 11, 2009

slap me silly posted:

Ok let's play good idea / bad idea for slap me silly in 2016. I'm thinking about selling my house ($XXX/mo mortgage payment) and moving into a one bedroom apartment ($XXX + 30% in rent). Two points in favor: the apartment would be walking distance from work, whereas the house is a 20-30 minute drive that's getting worse and worse every year. And, I'm tired of being responsible for a house that has way more space than I need and incessant yard work and maintenance demands. Points against: the house is in a cooler area than the apartment would be, and apartments have, you know, shared walls and poo poo. Financially, the apartment may cost a bit more over time but probably not by much - I can certainly afford it. Anybody else has done this poo poo?

I've thought about it myself, but my wife and I decided against it due to lifestyle and we get about 60% of our monthly mortgage paid via Airbnb.

How much time do you burn maintaining the house? At what rate are you willing to "pay yourself" for more downtime? Would you have more amenities in an apartment like a pool, sports courts, or a gym that might replace a current membership? Is home ownership a long term goal? Do you have equity or will you be paying the 6%+ in fees out of pocket? Will you be able to sell your car? 20-minutes a day can add up in gas. My guess is that's about 30 miles round trip (similar drive for me). At 30 miles/gallon, you're saving roughly 20 gallons of gas a month, which would be about $40 depending on where you are in the country. Then you're saving depreciation on your vehicle even if you don't sell. Are you closer to friends or recreation, especially free recreation like a community park? Are you prone to picking up a bad habit like eating out excessively?

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
I'll throw some of that info out there:

Maintenance I've mostly been outsourcing already. But it's still effortful - I have this constant mental accounting going on, "Ok the bathroom tile re-do will cost maybe 3 grand and it's more important than the roof but less urgent and plus I'd better be sure to save up for repainting and blag blargh gently caress"

Home ownership was a goal of mine when I bought the place, so I'm not sorry I did it. But now it's 6 years later, I'm single again, and it has become more of a pain in the rear end than a pleasure. I'm not really attached to this house, if I keep some savings around I can always buy another one here or somewhere else in a few years if the mood takes me.

Got enough equity to pay the sales costs plus re-roof the place if I have to, and still have a couple bucks left over.

I wouldn't sell the car, but I'd save some money on gas and insurance. Not a lot though - it's actually about 12 miles round trip. Which tells you something about the traffic here...

In the apartment I'd be farther from some friends, closer to others, it's probably a wash. I don't hang out with my immediate neighbors where I am now. The house is next to an awesome nature-y park, the apartment would be next to an awesome event-y park, if that makes sense. Both are close to the same cross-city bicycle route. Anyway both have different but legit benefits from location.

I thought about renting an apartment for myself and keeping the house to rent out to other people, but then I realized I'd just be retaining the upkeep responsibilities that I already don't like, plus adding a shitlot of extra bookkeeping and management crap on top. So yeah, gently caress that I guess.

pig slut lisa
Mar 5, 2012

irl is good


slap me silly posted:

Ok let's play good idea / bad idea for slap me silly in 2016. I'm thinking about selling my house ($XXX/mo mortgage payment) and moving into a one bedroom apartment ($XXX + 30% in rent). Two points in favor: the apartment would be walking distance from work, whereas the house is a 20-30 minute drive that's getting worse and worse every year. And, I'm tired of being responsible for a house that has way more space than I need and incessant yard work and maintenance demands. Points against: the house is in a cooler area than the apartment would be, and apartments have, you know, shared walls and poo poo. Financially, the apartment may cost a bit more over time but probably not by much - I can certainly afford it. Anybody else has done this poo poo?

Being 8 minutes away from work by foot, and 2.5 minutes away by bike, is one of my favorite things about my life. I love that my evening starts pretty much at 5:00 PM, rather than at 5:45 or 6:00 if I had a long commute. I love that I put about 6,000 miles on my car a year and can put the gas money savings to a better use. Living close to work owns.

One thing I'd recommend thinking about is what your move would be if you go the apartment route and hate it. Same neighborhood, different apartment complex? Back to your current neighborhood and rent a house? Stay Back to your current neighborhood and buy again?

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
Yeah, I used to live about a mile from work and it was loving great. Which is what I'd be targeting this time too. My schedule is flexible but afternoon rush hour is getting longer and longer and I get caught up in it more and more often.

If I hate the apartment, well, a year isn't very long. There are about 8 complexes at the same general distance from work that I could try. There are a bunch of "top floor of an old house" type apartments too. There are also condos that are about the same price range as my current house, and houses that are more expensive but could still be in my budget. All in walking distance from work.

Or, I could move back to my current side of town which has the annoying commute but has apartments, condos, and houses all a little cheaper.

Housing has been kind of nuts here lately, but there has been a lot of development and at my current salary there are a lot of reasonable options.

TouchyMcFeely
Aug 21, 2006

High five! Hell yeah!

I know you mentioned not wanting to keep the house as a rental but did you consider using a property management company so you don't need to deal with operating it yourself?

Depending on what you pay on the mortgage vs what rentals in that market go for you could do pretty well without a ton of effort.

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
I did think about that, actually. I even know a reliable company in the area. Assuming they would take 8-10% cut, and knowing that rents are nuts around here, I think I would have just about enough left after the mortgage payment to cover most of the maintenance probably? Renting it should turn a small profit in the short term, but the place is older and the roof, HVAC, water heater, washer, dryer, kitchen finishings are all in "nurse it along" mode at this point. The longer I rent it out, the harder it will be to sell without pumping money into that stuff. But, that's just me eyeballing it. Has anybody done the property manager thing? How did it go?

GoGoGadgetChris
Mar 18, 2010

i powder a
granite monument
in a soundless flash

showering the grass
with molten drops of
its gold inlay

sending smoking
chips of stone
skipping into the fog

slap me silly posted:

I did think about that, actually. I even know a reliable company in the area. Assuming they would take 8-10% cut, and knowing that rents are nuts around here, I think I would have just about enough left after the mortgage payment to cover most of the maintenance probably? Renting it should turn a small profit in the short term, but the place is older and the roof, HVAC, water heater, washer, dryer, kitchen finishings are all in "nurse it along" mode at this point. The longer I rent it out, the harder it will be to sell without pumping money into that stuff. But, that's just me eyeballing it. Has anybody done the property manager thing? How did it go?

Could you rent your property for at least 1% of its value (gross rent)?

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

Could you rent your property for at least 1% of its value (gross rent)?

No, not a chance, if I understand you right. I don't know the markets super well, but I'm quite confident that monthly rent would be somewhere between 0.5% to 0.9% of the obtainable sales price. How are you thinking about this number?

GoGoGadgetChris
Mar 18, 2010

i powder a
granite monument
in a soundless flash

showering the grass
with molten drops of
its gold inlay

sending smoking
chips of stone
skipping into the fog

slap me silly posted:

No, not a chance, if I understand you right. I don't know the markets super well, but I'm quite confident that monthly rent would be somewhere between 0.5% to 0.9% of the obtainable sales price. How are you thinking about this number?

I'm a real estate appraiser, and a VERY rough rule of thumb for "sell or rent" is whether the achievable rent is greater or less than 1% of what you could sell it for.

Obviously not something I'd ever put in an appraisal report though because my profession is a joke and people can't know how easy it is

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
Gotcha. Potentially it's close to that line - I'd have to get a couple of professional opinions to know for sure. And there's an intangible aspect also, which is that I'd get to keep a property owner's foothold in a part of town I like. But, even if the dollars work out I'm not sure it would make up for the mental effort costs I'd be looking at.

E: Are you the guy who appraised my house $25k too low at my last refinance thereby costing me a few years of PMI? fuuuuuck :v:

slap me silly fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Jan 4, 2016

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
It sounds like you just want to sell it and be done with it. I absolutely LOVED having a job I could walk to every day, that was the best thing ever. I say sell it, forget being a landlord and spend the time you would have landlorded on developing your skills to get a promotion/raise/side gig.

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer

moana posted:

It sounds like you just want to sell it and be done with it.
It does, doesn't it. Six months ago I was sure I didn't want to sell it because I like this part of town a lot and what if I moved away and then changed my mind? Now I guess I'm feeling less clingy about it.

Although, extra time is more likely to get spent on musicianship hobbies than income-producing activities :D

TouchyMcFeely
Aug 21, 2006

High five! Hell yeah!

slap me silly posted:

Although, extra time is more likely to get spent on musicianship hobbies than income-producing activities :D

Nothing wrong with that at all. A lot of financial driven people minimize the importance of play time and the impact it has on mental health.

There's nothing wrong with selling your house and walking away from the hassle and responsibilities of ownership. For a great number of people, the idea of buying a house is no longer a necessity of life.

My position is more that real estate ownership is a get rich slow process. Anyone who has owned property for more than a few years has started down that path whether they realized it or not. Time plays such an important role when it comes to real estate that walking away could potentially cost them quite a bit of money further down the line.

One thing to think about is that what you would put into a rental is not necessarily what you would be into a owner/occupier house. The roof is obviously very important but something like the water heater doesn't need to be the biggest, nicest one out there. Get a decent middle of the road one and pay a handyman to install it. Kitchen is outdated? Go get premade counter tops from Ikea or your local home repair store. Cabinets still functional but outdated? Paint them white or grey. It's surprising how far that little effort goes. Washer and dryer going out? Pay a repair company to come out and fix them, replace them with used units off Craigslist, or you can even remove them, offer washer and dryer hookups and if the tenants want you to provide a washer and dryer tack an extra $50 on the lease and have them pay for you to provide them.

That said, there's nothing wrong with selling and getting out. It certainly isn't something that you would want to walk into waffling on whether you wanted to do it or not.

Also keep in mind that I'm the guy who started the Landlording thread and just recently purchased his first rental home so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

pig slut lisa
Mar 5, 2012

irl is good


Alright, I'm ready.

Retirement Savings Goals
At some point this year, my wife will transition from being a low-paid, overworked PhD student to a well-paid Federal employee putting in 8 hours a day. Progress! Unfortunately we don't know when exactly she'll finish (hoping for May, could be as late as August) and what exactly her salary will be (anywhere from $59K to $74K). So it's a little difficult to set precise savings goals at the moment.

Nevertheless, I'm going to attempt to set some retirement savings goals for the year:
  • My Roth IRA: $3,500 (stretch goal: $5,500)
  • Her Roth IRA: $3,500 (stretch goal: $5,500)
  • My 457(b): $10,000 (stretch goal: $12,500)
  • Her TSP: $6,000 (stretch goal: $10,000)
It's my hope that we should be able to reach the base goals even if my wife's new job doesn't start til late summer.

House Savings Goals
This year we want to start saving towards a house down payment. We'd be looking at properties in the $150,000-$200,000 range. I already have $15,000 in unpurposed funds that we've decided to dedicate towards the down payment. This year my base savings goal for this purpose is $9,000, with a stretch goal of $15,000. Again, a lot depends on my wife's timing.

Resolve family partnership issues and improve tax withholding situation

Without getting into too much detail, I am entangled in a family partnership that holds some substantial land and other assets. This partnership structure arose upon the passing of my grandmother two years ago and represents the bulk of her estate. So far, things have gone...poorly. The partnership is essentially split between my dad's family and my aunt's family. My aunt has engaged in all sorts of fun things like making unspecified cash withdrawals in the low six figures, refusing to share documents, etc. She also has a long history of credit card debt and collections, profligate spending, and generally being supported by the Bank of Mom and Dad. Long story short, we are trying to get out of this partnership with at least some of the value we were supposed to receive.

Additionally, because the tax situation is complicated and often a total black box, I employ an abundance of caution and overwithhold. Combine that with my wife's TBD 2015 income situation and that overwithholding will likely continue through much of this year.

The base goal for this area is chart a path for our family's exit from the partnership in 2017. This may be difficult but it seems achievable, if for no other reason than that my aunt's mismanagement may well force the need for a dissolution and involuntary sale of land. Hopefully we can do better though! The stretch goal for this area is to be out of the partnership, whether through dissolution or buyout, and fix my withholding going into 2017 to reflect my simpler tax situation.

I'm not going to reach the stretch goal :smithicide:

Get my parents to update their will

My folks are in great shape, thank goodness. Nevertheless, they are approaching 60. They have not updated their wills since before my brother--a sophomore in college (!)--was born. The goal for this area is to get my parents to update their will.

No gambling in my home state

In past years I've gone to a casino 2-3 times in my state in addition to an annual Vegas trip. The Vegas trip is fine but there's no reason to do this here at home. The base goal for this area is to not visit a casino until my wife's conference in Nevada in September. The stretch goal is to not visit a casino on the trip. It's Reno, so there's plenty of outdoorsy stuff to explore that I've never seen before.

Stop applying for credit cards after July

This year was a good year for us CC-wise. Between the two of us we were approved for nearly 20 credit cards and gained nearly 1 million hotel/airline/CC points. We'd like to keep that train rolling this year, although likely at a slower pace. Additionally, word around the credit card community is that you shouldn't be applying for anything for at least 6 months before you apply for a mortgage. The earliest I see us doing that is February 2017, so I'm cutting us off after July. A sub-goal of this is to get our MileagePlan balances up to 100,000 each so we can book a flight on an Emirates A380 to Asia.

Harry
Jun 13, 2003

I do solemnly swear that in the year 2015 I will theorycraft my wallet as well as my WoW
2015 was a great year. Unfortunately/fortunately things are going to most likely slow down for 2016.

2016 Goals
  • Don't get completely screwed over on a real estate deal. Unlikely to happen, but we'll see.
  • Figure out if I want to fully max out the new 401k that just started. Contributing 10% now and getting a 4% match. Will have to figure it out by mid-year or so.
  • Furnish the condo and get the repairs made for around $3,000
  • To add to that though, be more mindful of spending. Blew $500 last week so I could have dual monitors for my home PC

Non-monetary goals include getting out of this side job gracefully before it blows up in my face.

Dessert Rose
May 17, 2004

awoken in control of a lucid deep dream...
2015 was the year I took a good look at my financial situation and realized just how easy it would be for me to hit financial independence.

Since last January my net worth went from ~150k to over 250k. I got there by cutting a ton of my frivolous spending and just generally paying attention. Moving out of a ridiculously expensive house and in with my girlfriend helped a lot too, though half of those savings really just went to increased spending (I was spending something like 60% of my budget on housing. I let myself take a 20% raise once that wasn't the case anymore)

I sort of let it slide in Nov-Dec but now it's time to get back in the driver's seat.

2016:

- 350k net worth. I think this is achievable but it will require some doing (and of course the market cooperating a bit)
- Stay within my self-imposed income of 36k this year.
- Don't eat out today.

For me it's simple. I just have to not buy a new computer. A new game console. A bunch of games. And so on. I've formed the habits, I'm used to living well below my means. Over half my paycheck goes into savings every month before I even see it; now to see how much more I can squeeze out of the money I do see.

root of all eval
Dec 28, 2002

Lovely.

I'm going to have to update my yearly goals in the OP and it's barely a week into the year.

I discovered that my employer intends to transition away from active web development and focus on AdWords. That means there is a 12-18mo timeline in which my position will be eliminated. I like the job and will have plenty of fore warning before a pink slip but knowing that we are going to put the retirement on hold and contribute that amount toward the emergency fund. Bummer. It will be cool to know that we have a solid 5 months of expenses covered when the time does come.

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS
It shouldn't be too hard to have a web development gig lined up for when it ends, depending on how much warning you get. I'd be pretty tempted to leave early - great job or not, going to work at what feels like a "dead end" takes a toll on one's mental well-being. (I'm doing it now at a place I had to give 4 months notice to upon quitting.) I agree on having a bigger emergency fund - 12k seems low to me.

Good-Natured Filth
Jun 8, 2008

Do you think I've got the goods Bubblegum? Cuz I am INTO this stuff!

Let's give this a shot.

2016 Goals

- Adjust my W4 now that I have a kid
- Create a will
- Migrate to a budgeting tool (YNAB or Every Dollar) and away from my half-assed Excel sheet that tracks spending but doesn't budget
- Open a Roth IRA for myself (have one for the wife, but only using my 401k at work for me)
- Move most of the funds in our checking account to appropriate interest-accruing vehicles (20k just sitting there)
- Re-evaluate emergency fund (30k might be a bit much and a small part of that could be used better elsewhere)
- Put 50/month into my daughter's 529
- Put 2k into our HSA
- Make one extra mortgage payment
- Fix up our living room and get actual furniture (a decade on junky "college kid" furniture is enough)
- Take a vacation
- Create a financial plan to allow my wife to quit her miserable, dead-end, low-wage job. Allowing her to focus on her creative passions and to give her the freedom to finally open that Etsy shop she's been wanting to
- Release two iPhone apps


Stretches

- Max out both IRAs
- Up my 401k contribution to 10% from 6%
- Make 3 extra mortgage payments
- Pay off my student loans (~5000 @ 3%)
- Pay off my car (~12000 @ 2%)
- Prep to sell my wife's car in 2017 and plan to purchase a mini-van or other appropriate "family" vehicle
- Position myself at work for a promotion to manager (only a stretch because this would likely require more working hours, and I don't know if I want to do that yet)

Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Jan 6, 2016

root of all eval
Dec 28, 2002

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

It shouldn't be too hard to have a web development gig lined up for when it ends, depending on how much warning you get. I'd be pretty tempted to leave early - great job or not, going to work at what feels like a "dead end" takes a toll on one's mental well-being. (I'm doing it now at a place I had to give 4 months notice to upon quitting.) I agree on having a bigger emergency fund - 12k seems low to me.

I'm with you in not being too worried. The last time I looked for a job I had 3 interviews in the first 2 days. The transition is very goal based so until they get some of their paid media numbers up I have security. Also we have a $750k contract through July with a client so ~June is when I intend to dial up the search. I'm not going to wait for a lay off by any means.

T. J. Eckleburg
Apr 10, 2007
sorry about the clock.

1. Spend less than $28 000, including everything except my husband's tuition.

2. Figure out a part-time, flexible-hours way to get a second income (have a few ideas). Husband is also trying to get a work-study type thing. Save 100% of this money.

cheese eats mouse
Jul 6, 2007

A real Portlander now
2016 goals on $45K net

Get emergency moving fund: $5,000
Look into 401(k)
Roth IRA: $3,500 (stretch is $5,500)
Pay off the small loan I took out to buy my couch: $790 left
Save for a trip to London: $3K estimated cost with the poo poo currency rate. A friend is letting me stay in his house.
Continue to pay down consumer debt of $6,000 (most of it is on 0% APR cards)

Limit eating out to 1x per month

Not buying any new clothes or shoes or jewelry

Personal goals
Lose 10lbs
Stay sober for 80% of the year. I quit smoking weed last year and time to work on limiting to practically quitting alcohol. Craft beer is my weakness.

dreesemonkey
May 14, 2008
Pillbug
Late to the game, I'm back with my equally uninteresting 2016 goals:

1. Incrementally increase Roth / 529 savings (awaiting the state to approve a 7-month-past-due-budget before we're allowed any merit raises / cost of living adjustments)
2. Save for a bathroom remodel (approximately $4000)
3. Contribute more to our HSA (currently $50/pay)
4. Settle our "surprise" $2400 medical bill from 2014 that we just received.
5. Stretch goal: Make additional $1200 principal-only payments on our mortgage.

opposable thumbs.db
Jan 7, 2008
It's hard to say that it's wrong that my life revolves around my dog when she is cuter and more interesting than me
Pillbug
Goals for 2016:

Financial:
1. Max out 401k.
2. Max out Roth IRA in the next week.
3. Maintain 0 balance on credit cards
4. Increase emergency fund by $2,500, just in case.
5. Purchase around $17,000 worth of my vested employee stock options, using at least $10,000 from money saved this year, with the remainder coming from previous years’ savings.
6. Move the remainder of my investments away from a managed brokerage account that I had when I didn’t know better. I’ve done this for the most part, but I need to finish it off. Also move some existing non-managed investments to lower-cost funds.
7. Keep non-investment expenses at <50% of take-home salary.

Non-financial:
1. Move out of my current house. It’s cheap but it’s super messy and has accumulated a ton of crap from previous residents, which means that none of us are particularly motivated to clean.
2. Try to move to a more interesting location, likely either San Francisco (close) or New York (far).
3. Make sure that my current position is one I desire for the long term, figuring out what I want from my career.
4. Take a nice trip! I don’t take enough vacations.
5. Lose 8-10 pounds.
6. Read all of a list of books I’ve found related to my profession.

opposable thumbs.db fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Jan 8, 2016

Happiness Commando
Feb 1, 2002
$$ joy at gunpoint $$

I'm not really sure what my 2016 goals are. I have no debt and a healthy e-fund, so the only financial goals I can think of are:

1. Max out IRA (complete once the buy order goes through)
2. Put ~3-5K in a 529 plan
3. Keep saving and putting money in taxable investment accounts
4. New job with > 10% salary bump

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS
Do you mean buy stock? I don't really think anyone at home investing should be purchasing options. Maybe I misunderstand?

Dead Pressed
Nov 11, 2009
:jerkbag: I started a website [blog] to track our financial habits throughout the year and to put our decision criteria on paper [web] before we do anything special. A new goal of mine is to average a post a week, including a focus on my eating out habits and how a cash budget positively impacts my weight. Hope that this online journal drives me to stick to my other goals. :homebrew: Really like to drive it into a financial independence tracker as it develops.

opposable thumbs.db
Jan 7, 2008
It's hard to say that it's wrong that my life revolves around my dog when she is cuter and more interesting than me
Pillbug

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Do you mean buy stock? I don't really think anyone at home investing should be purchasing options. Maybe I misunderstand?

Is this addressed to me? I meant exercising some vested employee stock options from a few years ago.

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

opposable thumbs.db posted:

Is this addressed to me? I meant exercising some vested employee stock options from a few years ago.
Ahh okay, that makes more sense, and I guess I should have quoted you.

alnilam
Nov 10, 2009

First time financial goals poster :) A major change happened this past year, and another major change is coming up in the next year or two, so my main strategy is save save save so that I'm ready for anything.

Current/background:
28, Pittsburgh, scientist
I finished my PhD in August 2015.
I am very very lucky to have zero debt. I also live very cheaply. No car, cheap 5-person shared house in a cheap city, cook most of my own food. As a result, I managed to save about half of my stipend consistently. So as a result I have 4 years of full contributions to my Roth IRA plus plenty of cash savings
Now I have a job as a postdoc and I'm making a lot more now, and I haven't changed my living costs, so all the extra is going into savings :toot:
I make between 50 and 70k at this new job (I don't feel comfortable giving an exact amount). My current savings from my PhD and the first few months of this job are in the neighborhood of 30k, + 20k in the roth IRA.

:siren: Upcoming Life Change :siren: In exactly 3 days I find out where my girlfriend matches for residency. She's definitely taking me with her (we talk about it). So that's a big life change coming up. However, because of the program she's in, she has 1 extra year that will probably be here in Pittsburgh, so we won't be going to wherever until summer 2017.

Goals 2016:
Goal 1: Migrate my etrade roth IRA and taxable brokerage to Vanguard (already underway), and figure out a good allocation for me to stick with for retirement investment + low-risk assets for the money needed for goal 3

Goal 2: Buy an engagement ring :ssh: It's going to cost a little less than my current monthly salary. Luckily I have the cash for it without dipping into my long-term savings, but it's worth listing as a financial goal because it's a significant, unusual expense. Lucky for us, she and I both prefer a city hall wedding, so there's no wedding savings to worry about :peanut:

Goal 3: Put aside $20k in low-risk assets for a housing/moving fund. If my gf matches here in Pittsburgh, we might buy a house and it'll go towards a down payment. If she matches in a different place, a little bit will go towards moving, and if I don't have a job lined up when we move there, it'll go towards our housing/living expenses wherever we move to, for the possibly several months it takes to find a job. Especially because if we get sent somewhere pricey like San Francisco (which is a strong possibility), her resident salary might not be enough for both of our housing :ohdear:
I guess think of this as an emergency fund, but where the emergency is kind of anticipated as happening in summer 2017.

Goal 4: Save 40% of my salary and put it in whatever asset allocation I figure out in goal 1, including maxing my 2016 Roth contribution.
Stretch goal: save 60% of my salary. Given what my living costs were during my PhD, and considering what taxes will cost me, I think this is the max I could save.
The ring is going to eat into this a little though. The housing/moving fund can come out of my existing cash savings.


I think my goals seems a little un-focused. But I have no debt and I'm saving a lot so maybe a lack of focus is okay while I figure out post-PhD life for the first time?

pig slut lisa
Mar 5, 2012

irl is good



:toot:

p.s. owned :twisted:

pig slut lisa fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jan 10, 2016

alnilam
Nov 10, 2009


I've been owned... :negative:

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Potrzebie
Apr 6, 2010

I may not know what I'm talking about, but I sure love cops! ^^ Boy, but that boot is just yummy!
Lipstick Apathy

moana posted:

welp, look who's getting started early with her new year goals :toot: :suicide:

:toot:

It's an epidemic!

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