|
Late to the game but may as well throw some stuff up here. I'm much better at accomplishing things when I write them down, so... 1. Getting married in October - Spend less than $3,000 on wedding. 2. Spend less than $4,000 on 3 week honeymoon 3. Max out 2015, 2016, and have cash on hand Dec.31 for 2017 Roth IRA (mine and hers). Neither of us have had an IRA before. Maxed my 2015 in February, and hers in March. 4. Build emergency fund up to $10k. ($15k stretch goal) 5. Actually start her business and generate $3,000 in revenue ($10k stretch goal) 6. Get my PMP cert. Need to increase my studying rate. Loan Dusty Road fucked around with this message at 08:06 on May 5, 2016 |
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 03:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:31 |
|
|
spwrozek posted:Well after an interesting 2015 I am ready to get back into some really good financial goals. 1) Knocking it down, paid $8023 so far 2) Just the minimums right now 3) Done 4) Still want to do this but maybe a slight change of plans with a different trip for the year 5) Should be bought out, just waiting on it playing out. No rush though for me right now. 1) Will hit abut $12K, might push it up, we will see 2) Depends on the house 1) Still planning on it
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 04:04
|
|
|
Original Post | First Quarter Update | Second Quarter Update | Third Quarter Update | End of Year Update Retirement Savings Goals
House Savings Goals Goal $9,000 | Stretch goal $15,000 | To-date $1,500 Again, this should pick up now that my wife will be starting full time work in a couple months. Resolve family partnership issues and improve tax withholding situation Goal: Be on track to exit partnership in 2017 | Stretch goal: Exit partnership by the end of 2016 | To-date: Holy poo poo I may be out of this thing by the end of May. I won't be getting what my share is worth, none of us will, but gently caress it my aunt can have the money we're going to be free of her wooooo  Get my parents to update their will No progress, but I wasn't going to worry about this til summer anyway No gambling in my home state All good on this so far. Haven't been elsewhere either. Stop applying for credit cards after July It's not August yet. In the meantime my wife and I have grabbed five cards so far this year and are planning a 2017 trip to Korea and Thailand with first class award flights on Singapore, Korean, and Emirates.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 06:09
|
|
|
March Update: #1 - No kids, no house, all's great. #2 - Side biz income was horrible in Month 3, about $1,000 approximately. I expected this, but I also didn't expect to make as little progress as I did toward the next book. Bad me. Other stuff took over. #3 - Secondary side biz has a new web developer who is working hard on the new systems I need. Should be done in a week or two. #4 - Stress reduction: I put this off until April because I have big plans for a very low-stress April.  (See #6)#5 - $50K/$100K Stretch: March savings: $20K. #6 -- Goal: Keep or lose my current day job as best fits monetary and life balance goals. Almost certainly accepting a job offer with ~50-75% raise involved for less work. Awaiting final details from HR.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 15:54
|
|
|
Q1 Update (I need to get better at doing these): 1) No credit card debt or other new debts. On track. I may get to go to Germany in May for work but I have enough in my checking account to cover the extra expenses to be able to take a short vacation. Coachella was also completely paid for when I bought the tickets. This is huge for me. 2) Continue contributing 6% (w/ full match) to 401k for every pay period. On track. My 401k is now >$13k after starting it about a year ago. I'll be fully vested in July. 3) Increase net worth to positive by the February, then to $25K at a minimum by the end of the year (currently -$1,400). I should hit $18K only paying the minimums on my loans, w/ 401k contributions, and not incurring CC debt. Stretch goal: $30K. Feb goal met... barely. I hit $16.90 net worth on 2/29. However I am definitely on track for my FY goal and probably my stretch goal too. Net worth today is over $10k thanks to goal #4, and a better than expected bonus. It feels weird but great to finally have a positive net worth. 4) DONE! On track to hit stretch goal. I used part of my bonus to pay off $3600 in student loans, 2 of my 3 loans at the highest interest rates. On track to hit my stretch goal of an additional $1400 paid down by the end of the year. 5) Emergency savings of at least $4,000 (currently $0). No measurable progress here, still at $0/$4,000, but I am still committed to doing this. I actually now have some buffer in my checking account that is continuing to grow, so I'll stick some of that in an Ally bank account within the next month or two. This will probably be the hardest part of my 2016 goals. I've never really had an emergency savings account. 6) Continue living at home to save money. On track and everything is going well. Helped renovate the bathroom in lieu of rent and upgraded the modem/router (though if I'm being honest the latter was mostly for selfish reasons, to go from 60 Mbps to 300 Mbps).
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 17:22
|
|
|
Sundae posted:#6 -- Goal: Keep or lose my current day job as best fits monetary and life balance goals. Almost certainly accepting a job offer with ~50-75% raise involved for less work. Awaiting final details from HR.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 21:27
|
|
|
Q1 update: -Max 401k. On pace! -Max my and my wife's IRAs. On pace! -Max my HSA. On pace! -Pay off personal loan I took out to sell the underwater condo(we'd be 100% debt-free after this!). $12,000 out of 26,000 paid off. On pace!! -Add 2,000 to emergency fund. Not started. stretch goal: -Add 5,000 to house down payment fund (this would be the start of said fund, at the very end of the year).Not started. In light of how ahead of the game we are with the loan repayment, I'm changing the house down payment fund stretch goal to $10,000.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 21:56
|
|
|
March! Not a lot to update, managed to keep on track with all my payment goals despite a hefty vet bill that, while we knew was coming, was way more than we anticipated. If you have a dog, loving start brushing its teeth if you aren't already. Original post. 1. Completely pay off all miscellaneous debt ($1800 at start of year). - Halfway there. 2. Finally move my 401k from my previous employer over to my new one. 3. Pay 25% of my current student loan debt back into it. Stretch goal of 30%. - On track. 4. Cut the money owed to my parents in half. - On track. 5. Save up $2000 by next fall for planned overseas trip Christmas 2016. - On track. 7. Hit at least $650/mo in my current side job. - Had a big push this past week to squeak in just over$1000, which is pretty good for my current duties and pay rate. Things that would be nice to do: 8. Merge back accounts with my wife. 10. Set up actual budgets for both myself and my wife. 12. Get my wife a job. Looking ahead to Q2, April is going to be pretty pivotal. My new boss starts in the middle of the month, which will help me determine whether or not I should stick with this job another year, and could also impact the time I have for my side job. Speaking of which, the company I work for on the side also asked if I wanted to do some more advanced assignments with better payout starting sometime in April, but last time they asked me this I never heard about it again so I'm not holding my breath. If it does pan out though, I stand to make quite a bit more money which will be huge. Lastly, we have to renew our lease by the end of May and might end up moving if our rent goes up enough, which then affects my decision tree re: a new job. Sundae posted:#6 -- Goal: Keep or lose my current day job as best fits monetary and life balance goals. Almost certainly accepting a job offer with ~50-75% raise involved for less work. Awaiting final details from HR. Nice one! 
C-Euro fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Mar 31, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 23:37
|
|
|
moana posted:EEK! So glad to hear this!!! Thanks! If you still live out west, I may have to come visit you later this year. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 00:25
|
|
|
2016 Goals 2) Max 401k contribution - On track 3) Get mortgage under 130k (Currently 160k) - Currently at 133k 4) Remodel kitchen & front yard (Budget ~30k for both in Ally savings) - Been creepily taking pictures of other people's front yards that I like, nothing else done yet 5) Research local charities/causes and make a meaningful donation - Nothing so far 6) Take a vacation that is a week or longer - Cruise scheduled for the end of April, used some of my Southwest points to pay for it  Stretch Goals 1) Get mortgage under 100k - On track 2) Generate side income - Nothing so far Head down, keep working...
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 05:11
|
|
|
overdesigned posted:1) Get emergency fund up to 10k (adding 6500) END OF MARCH Q1 UPDATE-STRAVAGANZA 1) Added 2k, hit 10k, goal achieved! That plus a month's float in checking has me in a really nice position. 2) Still nothing new here (been at 1% base all year), but I'll make a contribution adjustment this month, so it'll take effect in two months' reporting time. 3) Regular paydowns so far, but now that I have the E-fund, this will accelerate. Currently sitting at $7500 to go. 4) Got the wedding fund up to $1500. March was a busy month; I moved up to live with my fiance for 3 months, which had some associated costs. Also hitting up a wedding this coming month, so that's a lot of money. But I've budgeted for it while hitting my goals so I'm pretty happy about that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 13:05
|
|
|
Omne posted:
1. So far, so good. However, I was just informed that my mom won't actually be able to pay for the rehearsal dinner, so that's now on us and we hadn't budgeted for it. This is gonna be very tight. 2. No new debt! 3. Balance is down to $1500+ and on track 4. Haven't started, though I consolidated some straggler accounts and it's now $8200 5. Haven't started yet.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 15:46
|
|
|
2016 Goals (Mar. update) - - Create a will - - - Move most of the funds in our checking account to appropriate interest-accruing vehicles (20k just sitting there) With maxing IRA's and paying off my student loan, it's down to 15k, but that's still much more than necessary - Re-evaluate emergency fund (30k might be a bit much and a small part of that could be used better elsewhere) - - - - Fix up our living room and get actual furniture (a decade on junky "college kid" furniture is enough) Sectional delivered and is wonderful. Now for an entertainment center - Take a vacation - - Release two iPhone apps App 1 is launched Stretches - - Make 3 extra mortgage payments - - 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 -
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 18:07
|
|
|
tumblr hype man posted:Gone back and forth on these, but here goes. Q1 Update. 1. Down to $47XX, Paid off about $6500 so far, which is about $1100 ahead of schedule so far. 2. Up to just shy of $14,500. May hit $40k by the end of the year. 3. Haven't done this so far, but boy is getting more tempting. 4. Outright/GoDaddy Bookkeeping tells me I've done about $14k so far this year, so on target.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 18:08
|
|
|
district 12 posted:1) Save up a nest egg for moving wherever my post-grad life takes me, aiming for $6k but will likely have plenty more March update: 1) Not anywhere near where I wanted to be. I've almost hit the goal for #3 at which point I'm going to go nuts working on this one... but I need more money. I graduate in May and then return from abroad in July at which point I'll be looking at something major. 2) I input my bills and stuff into unbury.us and when I move onto a higher-paying job I'll be able to knock this out by EOY. In the meantime I'm paying minimums on zero interest stuff and paying lots more on higher-interest stuff. I have a plan, it's just moving slowly. 3) See above. 4) I give up lol. I'm not spending that much on clothes right now, but I think going cold turkey is impossible. I'm going to change this to only making four purchases per month, which is about the rate I'm going at right now. I have a shopping habit which probably doesn't help the three above goals. I just gotta slow it down, which I am doing. All in all I've been putting together my post-grad plans which will ultimately make things a lot easier for me. I've already started a job search to little luck, I think I'm a little early. We'll see what happens.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 14:47
|
|
|
Omne posted:1. So far, so good. However, I was just informed that my mom won't actually be able to pay for the rehearsal dinner, so that's now on us and we hadn't budgeted for it. This is gonna be very tight. Oof. Did she pull a switcheroo on you or run into some genuine financial issue?
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 16:00
|
|
|
qmark posted:
I honestly never thought I'd be capable of this kind of planning/execution.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 18:44
|
|
|
SaltLick posted:2016
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 19:57
|
|
|
Quarterly update.Cicero posted:Financial: quote:2. Max out regular 401k contributions, after-tax 401k contributions (26k), IRAs for myself and wife for 2015 and 2016. quote:3. Go over spending consistently (right now this is scheduled for weekly, but even once a month I'd consider a success). quote:4. Tamp down on eating out by making it part of "personal spending" (this also involves an increase to the personal spending allocation, but we should still come out ahead savings-wise). This is the biggest waste of money we have right now, I think.  quote:5. Get some points from credit card rewards from regular, not manufactured, spending. quote:Not strictly financial: quote:2. Develop something meaningful career-wise aside from my job, like an Android side project, or learning a new tech stack. quote:3. Get in better muscle shape.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 01:41
|
|
|
Not much has changed since last update. Starting next month at the new job, this will in turn make a lot of goals possible/happening. Baby ETA <6 months.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 11:59
|
|
|
Cicero posted:Yup, basically did this with an Alaska Airlines card, and now with a Chase Sapphire Preferred. Will probably get in one or two more Alaska Airlines cards in before we move since they're churnable. What's your plan for the Alaska miles? We were doing this to fly Emirates first but that redemption rate got blown up a couple days ago, just a couple months out from when the calendar would have opened for us to book. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 13:01
|
|
|
March update inline.Grumpwagon posted:Major goals
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 18:47
|
|
|
pig slut lisa posted:Oof. Did she pull a switcheroo on you or run into some genuine financial issue? Genuine issue(s). She had been trying to get it together but a few surprises came up. She'll pay me back, it's just not something we had planned for
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 20:13
|
|
|
Semi-late Q1 updatesChipNDip posted:2016 Goals quote:1. Absolutely no debt quote:2. Max Roth IRA quote:3. Contribute 30% to 401k On track (Haven't started my big boy job yet, so 0 is technically 30% of zero  )quote:4. Increase taxable savings by at least $5k Spent under budget so far, savings up so this is also On track quote:5. Make at least $1,000 from side work  Falling behind. Only $150 so far for the year. Time to kick this into gear now that school is slowing downquote:Stretch
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2016 00:59
|
|
|
quote:- Celebrated! No Change quote:- Car is gone! Active budgeting is awesome. We saw our expenses plummet over last month and we also discovered that we'd had a couple of passive subscriptions we weren't using that we could cancel. 1st month of budgeting = $300 in yearly accidental expenses avoided. quote:
IRA maxed. Next Goals: - Still working on the getting the lady to her cpa. I'd also like to see her budgeting her personal finances or consider putting them under all one budget. - Still looking at getting the other 1/2 of the job. That's looking promising though. - Contribute 30% to retirement account. - Improve how we use YNAB. Hopefully we feel more comfortable with it over the next month or so, but there's still a lot of confusion with how it sets some things up. - Now that we've got the first month down, we're going to start socking away money towards vacation goals. We need to put ~3K away for that by June.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2016 07:18
|
|
|
qmark posted:I honestly never thought I'd be capable of this kind of planning/execution. Congrats
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2016 08:50
|
|
|
Christ Pseudoscientist posted:I was able to complete almost all of my 2015 goals. The one I wasn't able to do was to get to step 4 of YNAB. I will be trying again this year for that. I didn't get a new job at a new company but I was able to transfer departments and get a much larger salary than I was making before. For sanity reasons and monetary reasons that was by far the most successful thing I did in 2015. Q1 Update: -Roth IRA still on pace to be maxed. I may have to reconfigure this goal so that I can immediately max my Roth in January 2017. Not sure if possible without getting a raise but not having to save for a wedding in a few months will help. -I have not increased my 401k % but due to a raise late last year my monthly contribution shot up about $100 a paycheck. I need to submit the paperwork to at least throw another 1 or 2% towards my 401k. -Done. Thankfully my non-index fund investments are doing very well so far. I know I got lucky with getting in at the low earlier this year so I am not planning on increasing any non-index fund investments for the time being. -Still on track to stay on budget. -I have not done this one at all. Stretch Goals: -Done but sort of cheating because I got a large stock gift from my dad as a wedding gift. -I convinced her to sign up for automatically increasing her 401k each year but no dice on a Roth so far.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2016 17:27
|
|
|
I put this update off so that I could officially say that I bought a house. Well, I bought a house!! Q1 update: Goal 1: All etrade accounts totally closed. Vanguard Roth IRA opened, and my new asset allocation is 10% total bond fund, 51% US stocks, 30% intl stocks, and 9% REIT. I was avoiding moving lots of money until I bought the house, so now that that's done, I believe next month I should be in a position to open a taxable account at Vanguard too. Goal 2:  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 aboutStill engaged  Goal 3: I bought a friggin house! It's wonderful and I can't wait to tear up the big ol backyard and make a huge veggie garden and get some hens. The monthly payment is affordable enough that I'll be able to make extra payments pretty regularly. House re-wiring, some roof work, and bathroom work begin tomorrow. The cost of these was rolled into the loan which I highly recommend if you ever see a house that looks almost perfect but e.g. the original 1920s wiring is a huge liability and you don't want to put up $10k cash up front to re-wire it. Many banks seem to offer renovation/construction mortgages where you buy + renovate/build. I get the impression that they're usually geared towards much bigger projects than the $15k one I'm doing, but nobody had a problem with it and here I am getting some nice work done while only marginally increasing my monthly payment. Goal 4: 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 was holding off on moving much money until after the house was bought, but I'm maxing my 2016 Roth IRA contribution today. Other than that, I'm going to re-figure out my savings plan this month, now that the house is done.
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2016 15:25
|
|
|
congrats my dude  
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2016 01:02
|
|
|
So awesome! Congrats
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 11:53
|
|
|
Jon Von Anchovi posted:2016 Goals Jon Von Anchovi posted:First 6 weeks of the year progress: First quarter and a bit of the year progress: interesting happenings; my brother and I bought my father hearing aids. he desperately needed them and i had 3 grand in my emergency fund so we did it. makes me a bit further back on my goals but felt pretty drat nice to have it there due to budgeting. 1) Emergency Fund: $476. Still on auto transfer but depleted 2) Unsecured Loan: $11,858 -> $5,698 3) Credit Card: $4,351 -> $3,280 4) Paid $3,880 off student loans Total debt paid in 15 weeks: $11,111 Total Emergency fund built: $476 Including the 3k for hearing aids, i'm still tracking at roughly $1,000 a week off debt which will get me to target but there is a lot of frivolous spending i need to keep in check. Lifestyle creep is real
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2016 08:31
|
|
|
Jon Von Anchovi posted:
Despite other events that's a pretty good debt reduction so far. If you can keep it up the next 15 weeks will be pretty good.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 00:50
|
|
|
overdesigned posted:1) Get emergency fund up to 10k (adding 6500) Kind of early April update, since I'm bored and know what my next paycheck will be on Friday: 1) Hit this goal last month, haven't had to use it, still sitting at 10k. 2) Now contributing $950/month! So, kinda achieved--I won't hit the 18k/year limit at this rate though. Probably should redefine that as a stretch goal. 3) Debt paydown increased, now paying down at $1500/month. Should be paid off in September at this rate. Balance after this payment will be $5600. 4) Sent $1k to the photographer, savings now sitting at $500. Basically adjusting this to "have $4k sitting around by end of year" since I sent off that $1k.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2016 14:45
|
|
|
Omne posted:Hopefully I do a better job in 2016 of sticking to goals than I did in 2015, though I don't imagine another engagement and house purchase. Just want to say....goal #1 is complete! We were able to cover the entire wedding with money we had saved up, including the rehearsal dinner expense that we hadn't originally planned for. Additionally, we no longer need to cover the honeymoon, as that has been given to us as a a VERY generous gift!
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2016 16:36
|
|
|
overdesigned posted:Kind of early April update, since I'm bored and know what my next paycheck will be on Friday: Unsolicited advice but IMO it is a mistake on several levels to pay off a 3% loan faster than required if you are not maxing out your 401k contributions.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2016 01:10
|
|
|
Omne posted:Just want to say....goal #1 is complete! We were able to cover the entire wedding with money we had saved up, including the rehearsal dinner expense that we hadn't originally planned for. Additionally, we no longer need to cover the honeymoon, as that has been given to us as a a VERY generous gift! Congratulations
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2016 03:44
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Unsolicited advice but IMO it is a mistake on several levels to pay off a 3% loan faster than required if you are not maxing out your 401k contributions. I may or may not be losing my job in the next 3-9 months and I'd like to be out from under that debt if it happens. But yeah good point that I hadn't considered fully.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2016 14:52
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Unsolicited advice but IMO it is a mistake on several levels to pay off a 3% loan faster than required if you are not maxing out your 401k contributions. I wouldn't say it's that drastic. It's certainly a less efficient thing to do with your money, but the security or even relief of not having debt anymore can be huge. It's like the snowball vs avalanche debt repayment. Sure, a hypothetical $5,000 at 7% is a bigger problem than $500 at %4, but being able to obliterate the entire second debt is a psychological motivator. overdesigned posted:I may or may not be losing my job in the next 3-9 months and I'd like to be out from under that debt if it happens. But yeah good point that I hadn't considered fully. This is a good example. I'm currently paying my 6.8% student loans rather than funding my IRA and 401k and I'm not that concerned about missing out on tax advantaged space. Although I might be a complete hypocrite and start funding those once I'm left with just loans at 3.5% Moneyball fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Apr 27, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2016 16:38
|
|
|
It'd be materially different if you were talking taxable investments in liquid instruments but yeah, in this case I agree with debt repayment instead of 401k contributions.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2016 16:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:31 |
|
|
Moneyball posted:I wouldn't say it's that drastic. It's certainly a less efficient thing to do with your money, but the security or even relief of not having debt anymore can be huge. Losing your job with outstanding debt is actually a good example of why saving money with strong legal protections against creditors is usually better than paying off low interest debt. While you cannot eat paid off loans, you may be able to take loans against or withdraw principal from 401k and IRAs to fund your living expenses if you lose your job and exhaust your emergency fund, have a medical emergency, become disabled, have a disastrous expense at your home, are sued, etc etc. If the poo poo really hit the fan and you had to declare bankruptcy or creditors sought judgements against you, retirement accounts are heavily protected. This is entirely ignoring the enormous tax, estate planning, and of course investment return advantages of holding a diversified portfolio in a retirement accounts versus paying off a 3% loan.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2016 21:10
|
|