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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.
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Jan 6, 2016 11:10
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Feb is the month I discovered what happens if I don't walk/bike to the bus in the morning. Spent $100 on bridge tolls this month. Fuuuuuck that noise. Next month I'm only driving to work five times max.
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Feb 26, 2016 02:33
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Couple weeks late but whatever.Dessert Rose posted:
Well, last year topped out at 379k, so thanks to the market I did pretty well. I even made a bad decision and sucked out: when the market dipped in Jan I moved all my bonds to taxable and my total market funds to my IRA, harvesting the loss in the process. Now I have significantly more tax advantaged space in my IRA, since the bounce back happened there, and I get to claim a not-insignificant loss on my taxes. I also got married just before the end of the year and did so with no spending on a wedding so now my taxes will be much lighter. I didn't do so well staying within 36k for the year; I think I ended up somewhere around 42. I have to work on my tendency to go crazy at end of year when I've maxed out my 401k and my paychecks double in size. Still, even with discovering quadcopters I didn't ruin my budget too terribly much. Same with not eating out: good start, sloppy finish. Gotta get back on that this year. I don't think I bought a console last year, I think I got my PS4 the year before that, and I didn't buy a new computer or phone. So I won on that score! A pretty good year. I'm over halfway to FI (or at least to the point where I start figuring out the logistics there). My gains from existing investments are starting to catch up to my spending... I've got good momentum now.
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Jan 9, 2017 19:48
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greasyhands posted:That is a wash sale, bud... I mean, the odds of ever getting caught by the IRS are very close to 0, but what you did is technically a wash sale and strictly speaking does not generate a tax loss.... unless you waited 30 days, I guess. I bought different indexes in the other accounts, so it wasn't substantially identical. I went from S&P 500 to total market funds, or from long-term corporate bonds to short-term. Thanks for the heads up though 
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Mar 11, 2017 10:28
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