- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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First time financial goals poster here, although I almost did last year. Starting a bit late, but I've already completed a major one!
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - on track to have all money saved by the wedding (May). Paying cash, mostly by ourselves.
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015)
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..."
6) Don't buy a house this year
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight)
We'd been paying down our student loans for the last year or so (started with $71k between us, down to $41k now) until summer when I proposed. Budget for the wedding is ~$25k (we both have huge families) paid cash, 90% by us. We've dropped all extra payments of the student loans to pay for that, but we're on track to have the money in time without touching our emergency fund. After that, we're going back to the student loans. Paying the remaining $29k of >3% interest loans should be doable. If we end up with some extra money from the wedding fund or cash wedding gifts, we might be able to pay off all $41k this year and get debt free.
Threats to meeting the goals:
I'm just starting a new job. It's a big pay increase, but the benefits aren't as good as my current job. It seems like a good culture fit, but there's always a risk when switching that it doesn't work out. I also might have to buy a car after not having one for 5 years or so. If I do, I will be tempted to buy a hot hatch or something, even though a basic transportation box will be more than adequate for the tiny amount of driving I do. We almost bought a house last year. We've agreed to wait 2 years or so to pay off the loans and get a better down payment, but that's a risk. No kids please.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Aug 2, 2016
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Jan 23, 2016 04:32
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May 3, 2024 13:14
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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February update inline.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - on track to have all money saved by the wedding (May). Paying cash, mostly by ourselves. - On track: $17793.26/25k with an additional ~$3k going in 3/1
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - Sort of on track. This won't start going down quickly until 6/1 (after the wedding)
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - (Soon to be) wife is doing great, which was our biggest challenge. I did it myself from 1/2015-10/2015, so I'm confident I can keep it up, but she's new. Doing great!
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track (knocks on wood)
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - Great news, new job doesn't require a car. I was pretty sure it would.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - I'm not eligible for 2 months, but her's is going well.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - No real progress here, but the new job is directly on the way to my gym, so I've been tracking food and working out for the last week. Expecting progress soon.
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Feb 27, 2016 01:49
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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March update inline.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - on track to have all money saved by the wedding (May). Paying cash, mostly by ourselves. - On track: $24800/25k with May's pay period to pay for overages
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - Sort of on track. This won't start going down quickly until 6/1 (after the wedding). The stretch goal is looking unrealistic, but we'll see
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - Some minor speedbumps here, (slow recording and such), but we stayed on budget, and everything is caught up now.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track (knocks on wood)
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track, but we've looked at houses. This one is going to get harder.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - On track, new job doesn't require a car.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - My new 401k is horrible. Very expensive and a terrible match that takes 6 years to vest. For now, we'll just contribute more to her excellent 401k.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - 4 pounds down. Definitely could be doing better here
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Apr 2, 2016 18:47
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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Boring April update inline.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - $25k fully funded, with $4k for overages. We won't need all 4k, but we are probably going to hit ~$26k. Close enough to the budget that I'm fine with it.
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - The remainder of the 4k above, plus any cash from the wedding if we're so fortunate will go to this. Stretch goal is unlikely, and probably dependent on outside factors, but $29k should happen.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - Uneventful
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track (knocks on wood)
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track, too busy with wedding stuff to think about it.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - On track.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - 5 pounds down. 2nd month in a row where I could be doing better here. Still very possible to hit the goal by the end of the year, but more effort is required. Wedding+honeymoon this month doesn't bode well for that, but if I can hold steady this month, I should be able to make progress next month.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 21:30 on May 6, 2016
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May 6, 2016 21:11
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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May update inline.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Total ended up at $27970.29. A bit more than the $25k we planned for, but everything went great. Paid in all cash, emergency fund still fully funded, so goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - I've got $6500 burning a hole in my pocket to send to the loans tomorrow. Stretch is all but impossible now, barring unexpected windfall, but we're on track for the main goal, and on track to be completely debt free in Q1 2017.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - Uneventful
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track, too busy with wedding stuff to think about it.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - On track.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - Wedding and wedding planning knocked me off track here. Hoping this drops like my student loan balance now. Goal is still possible (I made it knowing the first half of the year would be sketchy), but I can't afford any more bad months.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 13:47 on May 31, 2016
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May 31, 2016 13:45
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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See my student loan rage! (Blue is assets, red is debt. Assets dropped in May to pay for the wedding, student loan payments are in June)
Only registered members can see post attachments!
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Jun 2, 2016 13:42
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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June update inline, posted a bit late. Good month on the student loan and weight loss fronts.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - Another $5k+ payment sent to the loans. Very on track for the main goal. ~13k left to go, planning on paying ~4k a month.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - Went a bit over budget, which was hurt by me being slow to enter stuff. Still mostly on track though.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - On track, but my wife's car is coming to the end of its life. We're hoping to keep it going for another year or so, but no guarantees.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - Great month for this, which unfortunately just reverses the last few bad months, but still, better than nothing. I'm now back to being down about 5 pounds. 15 more to goal, stretch to 25 is possible.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jul 11, 2016
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Jul 11, 2016 01:19
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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July update inline. Some car trouble (which is becoming a theme..), but otherwise a good month. Paid off our last >5% student loan!!
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - We paid off our last >5% loan today! We have 1 at 5% (~$3000) which will be paid off next month, then it's all 4.25% or 3.15%. Very on track for main goal - $9200/$29000 remaining to be paid off. Stretch remains unlikely, but we'll make a dent in it before the end of the year.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - Looking good. Wife's car had some repairs over and above our set aside YNAB balance for repairs, but apart from that, things are good.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - I still don't have a car, and the desire for one has gone down greatly. I'm not worried about completing this goal. The wife's car will need to be replaced fairly soon though.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - Another very solid month here. 10 more pounds to goal. Stretch is still very possible.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Aug 2, 2016
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Aug 2, 2016 16:32
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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August update inline. It wasn't a great month, but the fact that a not great month still means paying big chunks of the loan and losing some weight is really encouraging. Paid off our last =5% student loan, now everything is 4.25 or 3.15!! Bought a car also, details inline.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - "Only" ~$3k to the loans this month. $6200/$29000 remaining to be paid off. We did find out that the wife's last student loan group, which consists of a 4.25 and a 3.15 loan are able to be paid separately, despite many employees telling us that wasn't the case. Since the stretch goal of $41k is very unlikely, paying the additional ~$2.5k 4.25% loan would be a good mini-stretch, and should be very doable.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - On track. Increased wife's spending money a bit, but still well within what we can afford.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - Sort of failed? We bought a car, but it is a replacement for the wife's car. This goal was aimed at not becoming a 2 car family. We currently have 2 cars, but I am prepping the old car to sell. Should get ~$1000-$1500 for it. The new car is a 2008 Nissan Versa with 88k miles for $3300, so not exactly breaking the bank. The other costs (registration, insurance, etc) were what held us down on our loan payments.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - Not a great month. Lost 1-2 pounds. I am encouraged that a bad month is a small loss rather than a gain, like in the past.
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Aug 31, 2016 18:39
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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September update inline. Boring month. Wife got a small raise, we stayed in line in all categories.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - In line to put $4.3k to the loans this month thanks to low spending and the wife's raise. That would put us at roughly $2000/$29000 remaining to be paid off.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - On track.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*. I like other people's babies though!
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - As mentioned last month, we did buy a car, but it was a cheap replacement for my wife's car, not one for me. I'm probably going to change this goal to sell the other car before the end of the year. It needs some work first, and a friend is borrowing it at the moment though, so no movement yet.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - I'm better at budgeting than I am at weight loss, but I'm now 6 pounds away from my goal weight. It hasn't been clean or straightforward, but the trend line has been mostly down since late May.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Oct 1, 2016
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Oct 1, 2016 14:47
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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October update inline. Great progress on the loans, pretty much no progress on my non-monetary goals.
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). Stretch: pay off all $41k for 0 debt. - Done! I have paid off the original $29k, plus all $2.5k of the mini-stretch. That leaves 8.5k for the full $41k debt free stretch goal with 2 pay periods to go. I think I'm going to get close enough to just pay it off with the e-fund on Jan 1st. I had written the stretch goal off, but some good (monetary) discipline, a raise, and marriage tax withholding adjustments have brought it back into the realm of possible.
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - On track.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*.
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - No movement on selling the car.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - ugh. No movement. backwards if anything.
Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Nov 3, 2016
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Nov 1, 2016 21:29
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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November update inline. 1 month away from paying off nearly $75k student loans between me and my wife (including about half of that this year), as well as a debt free wedding. I'm super excited about becoming debt free (only to buy a house and start it all over again soon...).
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). - Done! All of the original $29k, plus all of the $2.5k mini-stretch!
Stretch) Pay off the remaining $8.5k student loan for 0 debt. - $4.25k/$8.5k paid. On track to make the last payment January 1st! Debt free in sight!
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - On track.
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - On track *knocks on wood*.
6) Don't buy a house this year - On track.
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - I think I'm going to fail the modified version of this (sell the wife's old car). It's winter, and the repairs that would make the car worth something are easy, but not when it's freezing. Probably going to put this off until Spring.
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - On track.
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - I'm at -12-15. I'm not pleased with that, but given I gained about 10 pounds before the wedding, I'll live with it. Still, this is goal #1 for next year.
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Dec 2, 2016 00:06
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May 3, 2024 13:14
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- Grumpwagon
- May 6, 2007
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I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.
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December update inline. We will be officially debt free as of Jan 2nd. That's the last major/stretch goal completed. I'm super excited about that. Writing down my goals has helped a lot (at least for monetary goals.. lets not talk about weight goals), so I'm definitely going to post 2017 goals in a week or two, after I've had some time to think about them, and discuss them with my wife.
Despite outside forces conspiring otherwise, 2016 has been pretty great for me. I got a huge raise at a new job, got married, paying for 90% of the expenses ourselves in cash (with the parents paying the remaining ~10%), paid off close to $40k of student loans and raised our NW by nearly $50k. This year has set us up really well for the future. We now have a firm foundation to save for a house down payment, and possible early retirement. Thanks thread!
Major goals
1) Increase income 20% - Accepted a job starting 2/15 for a 33% increase (thanks negotiation thread!)
2) No wedding debt - Wedding 5/15, paid in all cash, goal successful!
3) Pay off $29k of student loans (all but the ~3% interest loans). - Done! All of the original $29k, plus all of the $2.5k mini-stretch!
Stretch) Pay off the remaining $8.5k student loan for 0 debt. - Making my final payment 1/2/2017. It's a huge weight off my shoulders
"Keep good habits" goals
4) Keep constant on YNAB (started 1/1/2015) - Done!
5) "never have a baby, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever... ever..." - So far so good, as far as I know *knocks on wood*.
6) Don't buy a house this year - Didn't buy a house this year!
7) Don't buy a car unless the new job requires it, and if it does, buy something sensible and inexpensive. - We replaced the wife's car, and haven't sold her old one yet. I do intend to sell it, but for now it's our winter beater. Sort of failed here, but the spirit of the goal was for me not to buy a car for myself, so it wasn't a complete failure. I'll say 50% complete
8) Keep 401(k) contributions to at least 10% each. - Done!
9) Lose 20 pounds and keep it off. Stretch: 30 pounds (goal weight) - Failed miserably. Final year total is down about 10 pounds (leaving me roughly 20 pounds overweight). I'd be fine with that if it was a steady loss, but it was total yo-yo between up 10 pounds and down 20. That's not healthy for my body or my mind.
Final tally is 3/3 major goals + 1 stretch goal. 4 1/2 out of 6 minor goals. Apart from the miserable weight failure, a very successful year!
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Dec 28, 2016 23:20
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Jan 23, 2016 04:32
