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IllegallySober posted:February has been a frustrating month. Cash flow problems for my boss (not unheard of in real estate, but not ideal) combined with my unemployment running out and removing my safety net has not led to much progress. Throw in my father being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and being in the hospital all month, making it difficult for me to get work done, and yeah That's really rough. I'm very impressed with the positives you've managed to secure for yourself and I hope things turn around soon.
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Feb 26, 2016 04:41
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February update inline.Grumpwagon posted:
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Feb 27, 2016 01:49
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Well my wife who is the primary earner lost her job and is probably switching gears to work for a startup for like $20K a year + equity. So our household income has gone down by over 100K and our goals have radically changed.Tyro posted:
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Feb 27, 2016 15:15
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Tyro posted:Well my wife who is the primary earner lost her job and is probably switching gears to work for a startup for like $20K a year + equity. So our household income has gone down by over 100K and our goals have radically changed. Exciting and terrifying. Good luck!
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Feb 27, 2016 16:09
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That seems like a pretty raw deal, especially if she's not getting founder-level equity. Please tell her work for 20k + 0.33% to be diluted over time. I don't know what she does but plenty of startups will pay 6 figures for someone they want. Sorry if I'm reading into this too much but please at least consider alternatives, including other startups. (I once fell pretty hard for a startup sales pitch and was going to make some pretty sub-optimal career decisions because of it and a friend helped talk me down, I've been there.) If one think they're any good at predicting which startups will succeed, they should join a VC fund rather than any individual startup. If they don't think that, equity should be treated and priced like lottery tickets.
Jeffrey of YOSPOS fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 27, 2016 16:26
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:That seems like a pretty raw deal, especially if she's not getting founder-level equity. She is. 
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Feb 27, 2016 16:58
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Tyro posted:She is. 
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Feb 27, 2016 17:59
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Progress: 1. Raise my net worth to $70k. (Currently @ $55k.) It will be a bit of a stretch, but that's the point! $59.5k. Will see a big drop next month when I pay for tuition! Part of the plan. 2. Pay off $5.4k of my car loan, which has $6.6k remaining. $1380/$5400. Threw a lot of money at it the last two months. Looking like a payoff date of February 2017, which will be 22 months early. 3. Do something vacation-y this summer without taking on debt. I haven't been on a vacation in 4 years and I need one desperately! $1k in the vacay fund. 5. No credit card debt. On track. 6. Stretch Goal: Start saving for a house. A nominal amount, say $1500, just to get my morale going while I finish paying off the car. $100/$1500. My (5 year old) laptop is starting to act interesting, so this money may get rerouted if it completely craps out. spinst fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 27, 2016 18:09
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spinst posted:My (5 year old) laptop is starting to act interesting, so this money may get rerouted if it completely craps out.[/b] Consider replacing the hard drive instead! Oftentimes when old computers start acting crappy it's just a failing HD. Unless you really just want a new laptop (which is fine). alnilam fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 27, 2016 19:23
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pig slut lisa posted:Exciting and terrifying. Good luck! I'd say extremely terrifying to gamble my sweat into startup equity while earning just north of minimum wage but that's just me
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Feb 27, 2016 21:34
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CaptainRat posted:1) Grow my emergency fund to $3,000 On track I'm still on target and executing the plan I set out, with one small adjustment: instead of letting unspent remainders of variable budgets (bills, groceries, entertainment, etc.) accrue into my checking account I'm pouring that into an additional student loan payment at the end of the month. I've been going to the library on a weekly basis and reading a lot more, which helps with not going out so much and keeps entertainment budget expenditures low.
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Feb 27, 2016 23:21
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February! Original post below, with updates highlighted where relevant- Standings approximated off the top of my head (1/1/16): -- $7250 in student loan debt (graduated 2010, two combined loans at 5.6 and 6.8% interest, 25:75 distribution between the two) -- $16700 in an auto loan (purchased 2014, 3.1% interest) -- $5000 owed to parents from wedding payments (married this past summer) -- $1800 in miscellaneous debts (credit cards but also an old dental bill?) -- $56k pre-tax salary; also earning essentially an extra paycheck each month from freelance work Goals for the end of 2016, in no particular order: 1. Completely pay off that miscellaneous category. - The good news is that everything except on credit card is paid off. The bad news is that my debit card number got stolen, and without any branches for my bank in the area I had to put a bunch of stuff on said credit card. But now that all my credit card debt in on one card, I only have one payment to keep track of. 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. New plan is keep putting the money in savings and pay them off in a few big lump sums, instead of monthly. 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. - Made less than January but still more than the $650. Next month at my day job will probably be really busy so this might take a hit, wish me luck! Things that would be nice to do: 8. Merge back accounts with my wife. 9. Save up for a new computer. - Found a sweet deal on a pretty nice laptop, and even had enough money to trick it out with extra RAM and an SSD and stay under budget. COMPLETE. 10. Set up actual budgets for both myself and my wife. 12. Get my wife a job.
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Feb 28, 2016 04:13
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DESIRED ACCOMPLISHMENTS: - Increase gross income to $[redacted]k ($[redacted+10]k with reimbursements). I'll know next month! - Put $10,000 in 401k (edited down from $15,000 12/30, I'm looking for new, more expensive, but more tenable living arrangements) On track. Could potentially match depending on my living situation. - Max ROTH IRA. $3000 in. Gonna wait til my tuition reimbursement to put the other $2500 in - Move to a place closer to work while keeping my total housing expenses under $1.3k/mo. Still looking! - Take a dang vacation without feeling guilty. Planning a trip to Miami this summer! - Stay the hell outta debt. Very yes. - Finish 4 more classes with Bs or better for that sweet sweet free education  On track.ONGOING GOALS: - Date without breaking the bank (subjective). Success. - Limit alcohol spending to $30/month. Success. - Limit video game spending to $25/month. Success. - Limit Fast Food to 1 Purchase per month. Went over, because I ended up working 2 straight weeks of night shift and coffee/lovely food distracted from that. The shame! - Keep constant on YNAB -- 18 months and counting! Done. STRETCH GOALS: - Max out 401k Maybe - Put another $10,000 towards general savings (house in 2017? We shall see) On track - Reach $[redacted]k net worth On track - Keep my 4.0 GPA On track, may let one class slip to a B if the professor continues to be awful and nonresponsive. Not a Children fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Jun 2, 2016 |
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Feb 28, 2016 05:27
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2016 Goals 2) Max 401k contribution - On track 3) Get mortgage under 130k (Currently 160k) - Currently at 142k 4) Remodel kitchen & front yard (Budget ~30k for both in Ally savings) - Been thinking about landscaping designs, but nothing tangible so far 5) Research local charities/causes and make a meaningful donation - Nothing so far 6) Take a vacation that is a week or longer - Nothing so far Stretch Goals 1) Get mortgage under 100k - On track 2) Generate side income - Nothing so far My contract ends in June, so I should be able to meet my main goals and have time to do the remodeling and take a vacation. If I choose to extend past June and go until the end of the year, then I'll have the cash to meet the financial stretch goals and beyond, but I won't have the time/attention for anything else. Money is good, but I'm close to burnout already and I might keel over from stress... 
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Feb 28, 2016 17:34
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I did one of these last year, and somehow life kept throwing curveballs at me where I could not complete some of my stated goals (like getting extra work in the summer) but did complete other goals ahead of schedule (buying new used car in cash), so I guess it all worked out in the end My 2016 goals are all over the place because I'm trying something new and scary. Definite goals: -Start a side business: in progress, on track -Max out Roth IRA: on track -Raise primary income by at least 5% Secondary goals: -Contribute to niece's college fund: on track -Figure out a better place to stash my savings now that I have a robust emergency fund, because see Pipe Dream Pipe Dream: -Grow side business enough to quit day job in 2 years (not a 2016 goal but I'm putting it here anyway dammit)
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Feb 28, 2016 21:15
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overdesigned posted:1) Get emergency fund up to 10k (adding 6500) End-Of-February-ish monthly-ish update: Emergency fund +2100 (up to 8k now, hopefully hit the 10k goal by end of March and move on) TSP n/c Loan payoff -450 Wedding savings +500 (up to 1k now) I road-warriored the hell out of this month (26 of 29 days on the road) so I lived mostly on per diem, not my salary, which was a nice boost to my savings. Also had heart surgery paid for in full: thanks, military health care.
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Feb 29, 2016 14:31
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Monthly Update: Not a lot has happened. Stock markets continue to suck. -20% YTD  New job is starting "as soon as possible", but current employer has yet to publish an ad for my replacement, so I doubt I can get away before my 3 mths notice runs out which is may 1:st.
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Feb 29, 2016 15:05
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Potrzebie posted:Monthly Update: Not a lot has happened. Stock markets continue to suck. -20% YTD Yikes...S&P 500 is only down 5% or so in the same period. Same with VTSAX. Are you playing the commodities game or something?
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Feb 29, 2016 16:09
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district 12 posted:My goals are somewhat small because it's my last semester of school and I'm living at home so I am aiming to just make a big leap back into the world (I'm an adult student who is very lucky to have such a generous support system that I can live at home for free). 1) working on it. Still not great, a few medical expenses have come up that are supposed to be covered by insurance, but I'm keeping cash on standby in case I lose the battle. 2) Getting there! 3) Almost done! 4) Failed... but not by a lot. I don't know what it is about clothes but I just love them so much. I managed to really curb my shopping though, and have sold a few older pieces on eBay to recoup spending.
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Feb 29, 2016 17:01
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pig slut lisa posted:Yikes...S&P 500 is only down 5% or so in the same period. Same with VTSAX. Are you playing the commodities game or something? Nah, it's because I gamble in micro cap bio-/meditec.
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Feb 29, 2016 17:37
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2016 Goals (Feb update) - - Create a will - - - Move most of the funds in our checking account to appropriate interest-accruing vehicles (20k just sitting there) Likely going to max out our 2016 IRA contributions with the excess - Re-evaluate emergency fund (30k might be a bit much and a small part of that could be used better elsewhere) - - - Make one extra mortgage payment This might be more do-able after my refi goes through. Will lower my monthly payment by about $150 - Fix up our living room and get actual furniture (a decade on junky "college kid" furniture is enough) Purchased a sectional $600 under budget, so we have more wiggle room for an entertainment center - Take a vacation - - Release two iPhone apps I swear I'll release my first app next month. I'm just nervous about features that I know people will want, but I don't have time to implement Stretches - Max out both IRAs Maxed out 2015 contributions prior to filing my tax return - - 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)
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Feb 29, 2016 19:13
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quote:Goals: This is turning out harder than I thought, and it's only February...
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Mar 2, 2016 00:13
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qmark posted:This is turning out harder than I thought, and it's only February... All good mate; at least you have goals and plans. "A man with no goal can get there on any road"
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Mar 2, 2016 02:23
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Update through two months 1. Incrementally increase Roth / 529 savings Still waiting to see what my paychecks will be like with the raise / cost of living. Next pay will have "retroactive" pay, the following pay will be the new "normal". 2. Save for a bathroom remodel (approximately $4000) - Almost halfway there. We're in no rush to do this right now. 3. Contribute more to our HSA (currently $50/pay) - Similar to #1 5. Stretch goal: Make additional $1200 principal-only payments on our mortgage - $350 paid so far.
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Mar 2, 2016 16:54
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February Update...quote:2016 Financial Goals: I have a job interview coming up in two weeks, too, so I'm going to add #6 from last year back again: #6 -- Keep or lose my current day job as best fits monetary and life balance goals.
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Mar 3, 2016 02:32
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March update.Baja Mofufu posted:2016 goals I think my goals were too easy. I'll try to set some additional ones this month.
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Mar 3, 2016 16:07
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Two Months Update:Zuph posted:Alright, Financial Goals 2016: No real progress on number 5, but a plan of attack everywhere else. I'm starting to feel like I've made my goals too easy, but this year hasn't thrown any curveballs at us yet, so I'm gonna keep rolling with it.
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Mar 4, 2016 14:07
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Update two days later. My goals are pretty lame to be honest, but I think that's a good indication of doing a fairly good job with what we have to work with. 2. Save for a bathroom remodel (approximately $4000) - Almost halfway there. We're in no rush to do this right now. 5. Stretch goal: Make additional $1200 principal-only payments on our mortgage - $350 paid so far.
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Mar 4, 2016 21:32
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End of February update:moana posted:Before EOY On top of the business expenses. Adding more goals to the list for wrapping up my business stuff this year before I go babby crazy.
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Mar 5, 2016 02:49
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balancedbias posted:2016! YES! A Year for optimism. Updates: 1-on schedule 2-on schedule 3-I'm basically letting wifey dear handle this one; she is putting "a little extra each payment." When it comes to finances she lets me handle so much, she wanted be in charge of it as a sign of good faith. That extra was $100 in January and $112 in February. 4-Steady as she goes. 5-Ugh...So far I have ~2100 earmarked as house payment bonus accumulated, but some home-related repairs mean I may not come close to this by the end of the year.
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Mar 5, 2016 15:38
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I'm looking to get rid of the whole shebang as quick as possible, but the rate is 2.69% so I'm not trying to liquidate the taxable fund.
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End of Feb 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. Once the house-buying headache is done, I will open a Vanguard taxable account for the rest of my savings, and I may revisit my allocation strategy at that point. 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 about  She said yes  Goal 3: I'm still excited about the house itself, and we're supposed to close on Apr 5th, and I have 24k (includes some extra just in case) set aside for closing cash. But ughh gently caress the house-buying process. We're going to get work done on it (re-wiring because it's got old-rear end wiring that is fire hazard as gently caress, new roof) and the work is rolled into the mortgage, which means we have to have a contractor work plan before closing, and I am having a hell of a time getting contractors organized on this. The first contractor flaked on me 3 times for a simple walk-through before I fired him. Like, do you want this $15k job or not?? 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. Still sort of on hold for a few months until i finish buying a house. Probably on track to save 40%, because of buying the house the stretch goal probably won't happen.
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Mar 5, 2016 20:06
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El Mero Mero posted:2016 - 1/2 employed in a well paying gig. So that's something - Celebrated! - Still working on getting her to go to her cpa for this - Car is gone! - We put together our budget and we're going to monitor this month and then see where we're falling short or can do better next based on this month's results. Additions: - Max out IRA - Get the other 1/2 of the job.
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Mar 17, 2016 06:57
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froglet posted:Last year my goal was to have a years gross salary in non-retirement investments.. I made it. Barely. So let's get ambitious again! Last month I was worried I couldn't make it, this month... - increase non-retirement investments from 60k to 80k Was running the numbers last week and found I'm already halfway there. Not celebrating too early, though, because for all I know the stock market could tank in the next 9 months. - stretch goal: increase non-retirement savings to 1.5x my gross salary. Tried to quit my job, the boss gave me a 10k pay rise, which is nice. However, this goal is now technically possible, extremely unlikely (given my new salary). If I'm going by the number I was on at the beginning of the year, though, it's very possible! - continue salary sacrificing $150 a month into superannuation Still chugging along. Going to bump this up to $250 a month as a hedge against lifestyle inflation. - stretch goal: increase net worth to $130k (including super) About 20k shy of that goal. - do one online course relevant to my industry Did an hour-long online course, so I'm done with that, but part of my agreement with work was getting some time off to do another course. Aiming to get it done before EoFY in July. - read three finance books relevant to Australia Done! I get the impression the people writing these books want to be entombed in a pyramid made of gold or something.
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Mar 21, 2016 13:49
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froglet posted:- read three finance books relevant to Australia Book report! Book report! (or just titles)
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Mar 22, 2016 05:16
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pig slut lisa posted:Book report! Book report! (or just titles) $1 Million for Life: How to Make It, Manage It, Maximise It by Ashley Ormond. How to Give Your Kids $1 Million Each! (And It Won't Cost You a Cent), Updated Edition by Ashley Ormond ^ both of these were more intended for an older generation than myself, I think. The first book heavily promoted superannuation as a means of avoiding tax and investing for the future, but unless you're already on a high income this hamstrings you if you need the money outside of super (for a house/marriage/travel/kids/etc) Definitely worth a read as both contain Australia-specific information, but some of it was really optimistic and built around the idea of home ownership. Lastly: The One Page Financial Plan - Everything You Need to Successfully Manage Your Money and Invest for Wealth Creation by Sam Henderson Again, I found some of it not particularly applicable to my situation, because it's about legal tax minimisation and sort of assumes you're not 40+ years away from retirement, but still had lots of good Australia-specific information.
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Mar 23, 2016 12:17
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Quarterly check-in: - Secure some credit (2 cards + HELOC or better) as a safety net for possible job loss Got my first credit card at age 40. $10k limit is plenty for my needs, but not much cushion if I have to be without work for 3 months. Will get another by summer. Waffling on HELOC but might go for it just so I have that line available in worst case scenario. - Save first $2k (have been lousy at saving, currently at $400) Already have $1k saved. Will aim higher, but wife also wants to squeeze in a vacation. - Be employed for 10 months of 2016 This is on-track but not totally stable. Working to hedge my bets a bit. - Implement a more reliable system for paying all bills on-time (has not been a problem, but is a risk) All bills which can be automated have been setup as such. There are about 3 which cannot be so I've setup reminders and seem to be pretty good at paying first week of the month. I've actually flipped my budget to having cash on hand to pay everything off at once rather than living paycheck to paycheck so it's easier to just sit down 1 night a month and do it. - Fund a trip somewhere without dipping into credit TBD - trying to fund this without dipping into my real savings either. - Pay off car early ($5,300 remaining) I made 1 extra payment but haven't been able to do much more. Will see where we're at after the vacation. - Home upgrades (sky light, solar) Nothing yet. - Increase retirement savings to above the match level (I'm way behind) Forgot about this one. Should be easy to do this weekend. - Get a bachelor's degree (so I can advance at work) I keep missing the registration deadline for each term. Need to create reminders and get at least the last few classes of my associates done.
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Mar 23, 2016 17:13
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froglet posted:Book Thanks ausgoon. Just picked up all 3 on Kindle; give myself something productive to do on the long weekend during fits of sobriety
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Mar 24, 2016 05:15
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January post:Moneyball posted:2016 goal: Be worthless* 1st quarter: One more paycheck remaining for March, and I won't be spending much this week, so I'll go ahead and do my quarterly update. Net worth as of December 14th: ($24,500) or so. Net worth by next paycheck: about ($13,000). +$3,800 a month. Not bad! 1. Actually abandoned this goal for 2015, because reasons. Will have such low debt in 2017 that I can definitely max out 2016 2. PAID, BITCHES.  3. Balance is now up to $6,200. Obviously going in the wrong direction, but 0% APR until 2017. Will eliminate the balance late 2016. 4. Contributed $285 last paycheck, will do so for the next 9 paychecks. On track 5. Paid down about $4,500. Decided to pay down interest accruing debt instead of contributing to the IRA So looking forward to be completely debt free in a year and a few months. Thanks, BFC! Moneyball fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Mar 25, 2016 18:03
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sweet_jones posted:
Begin: 114.9 / Q1: 128.7 Wow, we're already almost a quarter of the way into 2016! sweet_jones posted:
Begin: 0 / Q1: 1,800 sweet_jones posted:
Begin: 17.7 / Q1: 19.5 sweet_jones posted:
Love the new suit. I've also started a separate savings account that I'll use for vacations. I'm going to try and get 2400 in it by summer. We're going to Belize for two weeks. Stoked.
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Mar 25, 2016 21:26
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End of Quarter 1 Progress: 1. Raise my net worth from $55k to $70k. $58k. Drop due to tuition paid in cash! I never thought I'd be able to pay for tuition in cash. Amazing! 2. Pay off $5.4k of my car loan, which has $6.6k remaining. $1780/$5400. Aw yeah. 3. Do something vacation-y this summer without taking on debt. I haven't been on a vacation in 4 years and I need one desperately! $1.6k in the vacay fund. 5. No credit card debt. On track. 6. Stretch Goal: Start saving for a house. A nominal amount, say $1500, just to get my morale going while I finish paying off the car. $535/$1500. Likely becoming a laptop fund. Battery is shot and graphics card is going! Since I'm killing the goal right now, I may be able to pay for the laptop and still hit this goal.  Killin' it.
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Mar 30, 2016 03:16
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