Author Topic: 2016 Financial Goals  (Read 30613 times)

spud1987

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #100 on: August 17, 2016, 05:42:11 PM »
1)   Max 401ks (36k + roughly 20k in match)
2)   Max aftertax 401k for mega Roth (20k)
3)   Max HSA and childcare FSA if necessary (11k)
4)   Save 3k/month in taxable acct (36k)
5)   Have child(!)
6)   Continue making home improvements, mainly in the yard
7)   Run 20-30 miles per week
8)   Continue lifting 3-4x per week
9)   Narrow down choice of FIRE city (we know the general area where we want to FIRE)
10)   Keep non-mortgage non-childcare expenses around 40k/year (ie roughly our FIRE budget with a paid off house)
11)   NW increase to 1M
12)   Investable asset increase to 700k

The last two are somewhat out of my control, but I’m posting them anyway.

Nice! I've met all of these except for 7 and 8. I've only ran 15-20 miles/week. I've only lifted 2-3 times per week. Of course, the market could reverse goals 11-12 by the end of the year.

JimLahey

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #101 on: August 21, 2016, 11:36:15 PM »
-Pay off remaining student loans above 4%, which is about $8K worth. Ideally I will pay all of them off, which is around $12K.
-Max out Roth IRA.
-Save towards a down payment on a house.
-I could still trim some expenses to help with my goals.

-I would say by Fall I would like to have only my one student loan at 3% remaining and between $10K-20K saved towards a house. I will have to pick up some OT and watch my spending to make this happen sooner rather than later.

-Down to one student loan that has an interest rate of 3.0%.
-On track to max out my IRA.
-I'm in the process of buying a house. I didn't have as much saved as I would have liked for the down payment but my fiancee is contributing a nice chunk. We are only able to put 10% down. It isn't ideal but we got a good rate of 3.5%. Also the cost is only a little over twice our current combined salaries.
-I'm doing okay expense wise. But there's still room for improvement. I shopped around for homeowner's insurance and think I got a pretty decent deal through State Farm. I expect to have more recurring expenses as a homeowner but my fiancee will be contributing towards the mortgage and other expenses. So that will help balance things out.

Cookie78

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #102 on: August 22, 2016, 09:18:49 AM »

Max RRSP - $8k to go
Max TFSA - completed
Save 15k camper fund (my home for post-FIRE plan phase 1) - completed
70% savings rate - on track, currently at 72%
300k NW plus equity in houses - on track, but might be close

If all goes well I should be able to hit each of my goals. :D

Zikoris

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #103 on: August 22, 2016, 10:25:55 AM »
1. Keep following the path we've been on for the last several years of dumping money into investments and keeping spending low
2. Spend less on travel than 2015. We hit an all-time record of $9400. Time to go to some cheap places.

1. Our non-travel spending is within $100 of last year so far, so that's good.

2. Our travel spending is down about $1100 from last year, $7452 vs $8572. This is really interesting, so I thought I'd get a bit more into detail - the difference is mostly flights, because I'm getting better at that.

Air travel booking is done for the year now, at $3924 ($5732 in 2015). Both years were for the same number of flights and people, two international trips and one North American getaway. This year's flights were Ireland, Las Vegas (package deal actually, so hotel included), and our upcoming winter trip to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Shanghai. 2015's were Iceland, Montreal, and a winter trip to Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

I'll be really interested to see what our travel comes in at this year. There will only be three more things added to the list - spending money in Vegas, a sleeper train ticket between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and our Asia accommodations (between $30-$50/night).

cats

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #104 on: August 22, 2016, 01:39:16 PM »
We are having a baby so there's a big unpredictable element (still don't know exactly how much childcare will cost, as we haven't got a place locked down yet, and we have a general idea of how it will impact our tax situation but again, not 100% clear yet).  Still, in theory I should be at the point where the potential "income" from my investments will be equivalent or greater than 50% of childcare costs (husband is in a similar boat but we keep our investment accounts separate for now).  So, my goal for 2016 is going to be to increase net worth by the same amount as in 2015.  I think this should be doable as long as non-childcare baby expenses are kept within reason (fortunately we have awesome health insurance so I anticipate very little in terms of costs for the actual birth) and the stock market behaves semi-normally (e.g., if it takes a major nosedive my goal is obviously going out the window...but hey, great opportunity to buy low!).

The other financial goal will be not to let becoming car owners turn into a huge money sink with frivolous driving around town.  I would like to use the car exclusively for out of town trips or things where we need to take the baby more than 2 miles and there is no public transit option (normally we would bike to these places but most recommendations for biking with babies seem to be that you need to wait 6 months to a year).

I see other folks are posting mid-year updates so I will too, especially since a few people were kind enough to offer advice on keeping the baby from becoming a big money sink.

Short update: we are doing really well!  We did have a bit of an income hit with my maternity leave, but have still been plugging money into our various investment accounts.  And the stock market has not crashed, so overall our net worth is looking pretty good and I think we are on track to have a similar rise in networth in 2016 as in 2015.  We've been successful in trimming some of our household expenses and I think our non-baby 2016 spending will be a little less than 2015.  A big win for this year is that our rent has not increased--our rent went up in both 2014 and 2015, but in 2015 we moved into an apartment with rent control. This means that increases in salary are no longer getting swallowed by increased housing costs.  If we can hang onto this place for a few more years I think that will really help us keep costs in check.

We also have not (I think) been using the car too mindlessly.  Haven't used it for groceries or other local errands, those are all still happening by foot/bike. We did use it to get to the hospital when baby was born, and also for his very early doctor's appointments.  We have also done a nice out of town weekend and gone hiking at a few regional parks.  So overall we are using it as planned.  I also have some work travel most months and get mileage reimbursement so the actual cost of car ownership to us is so far quite low.

Aside from childcare, our baby expenses have been very low--our insurance did cover all the costs associated with the birth, and we have been successful in getting most of our baby supplies via hand-me-downs, local swaps, and craigslist.  A previous poster had suggested cloth diapers and we have been making good use of those, we've spent around $150 on supplies and at this point I don't see us spending any more.  So at this point our big recurring cost is childcare.  We've had not-so-great results there, the spot we thought we had secured at a local daycare fell through and we wound up doing a few months in two different nannyshares, one of the months wound up being about 50% more than what we had initially thought our upper limit on childcare expenses would be.  However, we did eventually get a daycare spot and our average on childcare for the year is going to be within our original expected range, so I guess we're doing okay there.  We are making use of a dependent care FSA so some of the childcare expenses are at least pre-tax.

Jtrey17

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #105 on: August 22, 2016, 04:42:20 PM »
1) Save $15,000 for college accounts - $10,000 (this is also my emergency fund so hmmm)
2) Save $6,000 for April RV trip to Disney - we had an awesome trip!
3) Review expenses and decrease the total by 10%. I did this in 2015 and it was easier than I thought it would be! - forgot about this one. I still plan on doing this but probably not until the kids are back to school.
4) Get 5% raise - got a 2% earlier in the year (snore) am planning on asking for a 9% raise as I just completed a major project and am underpaid for my role.
5) Approach the owner of the b&b and offer to buy it and finish it when she's ready. This will save all real estate realtor costs. Find out how the city will help me make this business viable. I've decided to put the B&B on hold for now. Instead I want to volunteer at an animal santuary and learn more about becoming began.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #106 on: August 22, 2016, 04:59:47 PM »
This is still in the works for me, so I'm posting here partially to get ideas from people.

1. Meet our downpayment goal of $40k. (We're already at $22k).  Deadline: June 2016
2. Buy house with at least 20% down.  Aim: late summer/early fall
3. Keep a 50% savings rate for the whole year. (We've been at ~63% the past few months, so hopefully attainable even with move/house).
4. 15% into my 401(k). I don't make a ton, so that's probably like $4k, but that's something! (Plus employer match, but I'm not vested yet, and don't know if I can stay with the company when I move- not sure how this will all work out).
5. Pay off all loans above 5% (we have student loans above this- I need to run updated #s on how much. I think about $8k).

Oooh, mid year check in! We did indeed end up buying a house. 10% down, not 20%, but work factors meant buying NOW was the best choice. And we got a 3.5% rate, which I'm pretty happy with.

I need to figure out how to re-calculate SR for the year, since we had some "instant equity" in the house when we bought- it appraised for $5k more than the purchase price (and that doesn't count the $6k of closing the seller covered), so that was cool.

I did indeed stay with the same company, and in fact got a massive raise. Already have $2300 this year into the 401(k), and have it set at (I think) 10% right now.

We paid off all loans above 5% a couple months ago.

So goals 1-4 are kinda met? And goals 5 is definitely checked off the list!

SwordGuy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #107 on: August 23, 2016, 02:43:25 PM »

  • Sell house we inherited from my mother.  Net $180k+ in cash. Pay off new house.
  • Move out of current house, fix up current house, sell it.  Net $110k+
  • Fix Rental #3 and rent it out.  $10-15k to repair, net worth increase of $32-37k, annual profit of $4800.
  • Install solar system in new house if it makes financial sense. (Still researching.)
  • Purchase Rental #4 and rent it out by end of year.  Increase net worth by $30-40k, annual profit if $4800.
  • Max 401ks for both (circa $52k)
  • Add $46800 to Vanguard index funds.

This is why it's important to have a goal and a plan to reach that goal. 

That way, when the plan falls to pieces, you still have a goal to aim for... :)

Sell Mom's House.  Done.  Netted about $170k. 
Did NOT pay off new house.   Decided to invest.
Moved out of Current (now old) House.
Have not finished fixing up old House.  (Getting close.)
Have not fixed up Rental #3.  (Getting closer.)
Did not rent Rental #3.
Solar System did not make financial sense. :(
Did not Purchase Rental #4.  And a darn good thing, too.  We have enough on our plate.
Max both 401ks.  (On track, will do this.)
On track to add $46,800 to Vanguard from salaries from day jobs.
Added $125k to Vanguard from Mom's house sale.
Replaced 3 HVAC units (2 in our new house, one in a rental.)
About to replace 4th HVAC unit in old house.
Replaced wife's beat up car with newer used car, $14k, 4k miles.

We're going to try to rent out our old house, which will get us to Rental #4 by a different path.

Forgot to mention we fully funded two Roth IRAs for 2015 and 2016, also.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2016, 04:28:16 PM by SwordGuy »

monstermonster

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #108 on: August 23, 2016, 04:45:18 PM »
Just a month to go

1) Live off less than $16,000 - I'm $100 over IF I include health insurance premiums. If we exclude them since they're tax-deductible as an expense since I became self-employed, then I'm going to hit this goal!
2) Max out my Roth IRA - Done
3) Save 50% of my income - well....I quit my job. So no. But did more that the whole time I had a job!
4) Make $2,000 net from my side hustle - done
5) Continue to live off last month's income - still doing
6) Reach $10,000 in FU money liquid fund - done
7) Successfully accrue enough miles to fly business class to Asia through churning - done
8) No new clothes - still have bought none
« Last Edit: November 28, 2016, 12:37:12 PM by monstermonster »

SwordGuy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #109 on: September 16, 2016, 06:55:36 PM »

  • Add $46800 to Vanguard index funds.

Oddly specific? any reason why?

Sorry, just saw your question!

I get paid twice a month, my wife gets paid once a month.   We take out $1,400 from the one paycheck cycle and $2,500 on the two paycheck cycle.   So, 12 * ($1,400 + $2,500) = $46,800.   Nothing really fancy.


Money Badger

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #110 on: September 17, 2016, 03:44:16 AM »
This thread helped back early in the year to get us motivated so here's the latest:
Total 2016 plan to stache income: $82K
Where we should be as of Sept 30th: $62K
Progress as of 9/15: $54K  (will be about $56K by month end.   College and home maintenance expenses are the major head winds)

Total 2016 plan for the stache:  Grow by $50K
Progress as of 9/15: $43K  (on track we hope!   Depends on Mr. Market the next 3 wacky months)

FIRE 2021 (or sooner if we can downsize in 2017!)

2Birds1Stone

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #111 on: September 17, 2016, 06:01:27 AM »
1. Make more money
2. Spend less money
3. Invest the delta

I've failed at 1 of these 3, #2 to be precise.


My spending went from $19k in 2015, to a projected $25-26k in 2016.

However, income is up from $79k in 2015, to a projected $112k in 2016.

Savings rate is up from 76.2% in 2015, to a projected 77.7% in 2016.

Overall......I would say things are going pretty well this year!

Blahhhh456

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #112 on: October 12, 2016, 04:40:54 PM »
1. Cut food expenses by 10%. About $30 per month savings Negative - averaging $367 per month
2. Keep Travel Budget to under $3K for the whole year - this is a big one, as we really blew the budget this year. I am embarassed to even say how much we spent, but we did pay for two trips this year that are for next year. Ugh. Also, negative. Spent $5,200 this year. Less than last year - by more than half!!
3. Max Husband's 401(k) - $18K Yay! Done!
4. Drop ADT once contract is up in June. Savings $50 per month. Done!
5. Cut Electric expenses by 10% (was able to do 9% for 2015). I still have not turned the heat on this year. Holding out until at least Dec 10.  Averaging 8.7% for the year so far. I think we can still do 10% for the year.
6. No mindless spending in Target/Wal-Mart. I am trying to shop online more with jet.com to only buy what we need. Shopping online also saves us 7.25% sales tax. meh. Down by about 12% year over year spending. 

I already max my 401(k) and HSA, so we are fine there. Due to a windfall Sept/Oct 2016, we will be paying off the last of the student loans ($26K) and my car loan ($9K). We will also be able to max both tIRAs with the windfall ($11K). Paid off Student Loans in March. Paid off car in September (there was about $3K left). Roth IRAs are fully funded - our incomes are too high to contribute to a tIRA.

Cookie78

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #113 on: November 28, 2016, 09:16:17 AM »
Max RRSP -completed
Max TFSA - completed
Save 15k camper fund (my home for post-FIRE plan phase 1) -completed
70% savings rate - not going to happen, but I'll be over 60%. Bought a truck as per FIRE plan which set me back.
300k NW plus equity in houses - completed, should be close to $315k by the end of the year


Yay goals! Now I need to start thinking of what I want to achieve in 2017. :)

arebelspy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #114 on: November 28, 2016, 09:41:27 AM »
Checking in a month early but:

Being the first full year of being retired and basing data on 8 months. Now almost year and a half into FIRE.  Still FIRE'd.

Meet or beat our budget. No idea.  Probably won't know what my spending is like until I update it a few months into 2017.  Don't really even have a budget, but would like to see what the number is

Maintain as much networth if market tanks or have significant growth if market rises. Easy pass.  Net worth up 16.1% YOY (S&P up ~6% YOY as of this posting).

Continue to find ways to increase/improve living a healthy lifestyle. Treaded water. Not a fail, but not a pass.  Needs improvement.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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Bracken_Joy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #115 on: November 28, 2016, 10:19:08 AM »
This is still in the works for me, so I'm posting here partially to get ideas from people.

1. Meet our downpayment goal of $40k. (We're already at $22k).  Deadline: June 2016
2. Buy house with at least 20% down.  Aim: late summer/early fall
3. Keep a 50% savings rate for the whole year. (We've been at ~63% the past few months, so hopefully attainable even with move/house).
4. 15% into my 401(k). I don't make a ton, so that's probably like $4k, but that's something! (Plus employer match, but I'm not vested yet, and don't know if I can stay with the company when I move- not sure how this will all work out).
5. Pay off all loans above 5% (we have student loans above this- I need to run updated #s on how much. I think about $8k).

Oooh, mid year check in! We did indeed end up buying a house. 10% down, not 20%, but work factors meant buying NOW was the best choice. And we got a 3.5% rate, which I'm pretty happy with.

I need to figure out how to re-calculate SR for the year, since we had some "instant equity" in the house when we bought- it appraised for $5k more than the purchase price (and that doesn't count the $6k of closing the seller covered), so that was cool.

I did indeed stay with the same company, and in fact got a massive raise. Already have $2300 this year into the 401(k), and have it set at (I think) 10% right now.

We paid off all loans above 5% a couple months ago.

So goals 1-4 are kinda met? And goals 5 is definitely checked off the list!

The only goal on here that was really still "active" was #3, keep a 50% SR. As of the end of October, we are at 62.9% for the year. And that is with buying a house and moving and me not working the last 2 months. This is a way better number than I expected, and that is very exciting! Also, so far this year our NW has increased from $15k to $65k (without house equity), $96k with house equity.

2016 has been a good financial year!

Money Badger

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #116 on: December 11, 2016, 05:50:54 AM »
1. Max my 401K from payroll  - YEP
2. Pay off car loan for my youngest's wheels (we financed it to motivate the dealer to drop the price the final $500).  Have a plan to pay it off. - YEP
3. Replenish $20K in our after tax stache after paying out recent mortgage reduction. - NOPE.  made it half-way to reduced 10K goal.
4. Pay cash on year 1 college for our oldest.  YEP
5. Liquidate $5K in antiques and furniture from various deceased relatives (the non-emotionally attached items) - NOPE.  $1K worth.
6. New roof is looming next year...  :-(  - YEP - saved $5K (payroll + clutter sales from #5)
7. Find another $300 a month in savings (likely on food, eating out, auto insurance coverages, reduced travel, challenge property tax assessment that skyrocketed last year).   We already cut cable, have cheap cell, gas efficient cars, LED-bulbed the house, etc. - YEP.   Many detailed changes... interestingly, fixing an underground water main leak has been the biggest win on utilities ~$75 per month!
8. Save $5K in 529 toward college for youngest. - YEP (actually going to exceed on this one at $6500 in total college savings)

Net equity & short term savings plan goals: ~$80K
Net result: ~$71K   (still stressful as hell to stay focused to even get this close though)

TheInsuranceMan

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #117 on: December 14, 2016, 12:46:54 PM »
2016 goals...
1) Fund e-fund at $7,500 Didn't happen
2) Increase my 401k contributions Done!
3) Set up an HSA - Done - set to open 1/1/16, with my employer putting in $600 a year Done!
4) Set up a dependant care account - Done, fully funding in 2016. Done!
5) Sell some more damn insurance Done!  Had a pretty solid year, my highest income earning year ever...(I'm only 28)
6) Sell our house! Done!  Bought for $83,500, sold for 119k.  Used the equity as a downpayment on a new house, and to pay off a large chunk of my student loans

Mathew675

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #118 on: December 16, 2016, 12:17:28 PM »
I think it time I finally go back and review. It's been an odd year, I was laid off in June and have been looking for a new position since then. Despite that, I think we did a pretty good job with our goals. The growth in investments outside of additional purchases we've seen is pretty fantastic. We jumped up around $115K as of today and I think around 70 is just through growth. Really is amazing what happens when you just let index funds do their thing.

1. Max out my 401K and wife maxes her 457B
We were close, my wife did but I left about 3K on the table

2. Max out both of our Roth IRAs
Accomplished!

3. Finish my deposits for the 529 plan for our second child.  I did some math to determine how much I thought would be a good number to put in and just leave alone for 16-18 years and think about 20K is right.  I was a little lower than a recent Go Curry Cracker article, but would rather go too low than too high.  www.gocurrycracker.com/tag/college/
Accomplished!

4. Increase emergency fund by 5K
Opposite, we've been living off the emergency fund for a few months. Now that I have another position laid on we will need to re-fill which will slow down on the start for next year's goals.

5. Contribute towards taxable investments (5K)
No change, I was thinking of making this into my full time emergency fund, but am glad we did not. I did not have to sell any stocks or bonds at sub-optimal times.

6. Finalize transfer of all non-active investment accounts to Vanguard except my old TSP.
Accomplished!

7. Adjust our asset allocation mid April to better coincide with things I have learned this past year.
Accomplished!

arebelspy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #119 on: December 16, 2016, 03:13:07 PM »
I think it time I finally go back and review. It's been an odd year, I was laid off in June and have been looking for a new position since then. Despite that, I think we did a pretty good job with our goals. The growth in investments outside of additional purchases we've seen is pretty fantastic. We jumped up around $115K as of today and I think around 70 is just through growth. Really is amazing what happens when you just let index funds do their thing.

1. Max out my 401K and wife maxes her 457B
We were close, my wife did but I left about 3K on the table

2. Max out both of our Roth IRAs
Accomplished!

3. Finish my deposits for the 529 plan for our second child.  I did some math to determine how much I thought would be a good number to put in and just leave alone for 16-18 years and think about 20K is right.  I was a little lower than a recent Go Curry Cracker article, but would rather go too low than too high.  www.gocurrycracker.com/tag/college/
Accomplished!

4. Increase emergency fund by 5K
Opposite, we've been living off the emergency fund for a few months. Now that I have another position laid on we will need to re-fill which will slow down on the start for next year's goals.

5. Contribute towards taxable investments (5K)
No change, I was thinking of making this into my full time emergency fund, but am glad we did not. I did not have to sell any stocks or bonds at sub-optimal times.

6. Finalize transfer of all non-active investment accounts to Vanguard except my old TSP.
Accomplished!

7. Adjust our asset allocation mid April to better coincide with things I have learned this past year.
Accomplished!

Wow, that's a pretty darn good year, especially considering you were out of work for approximately HALF(!) of it.  You guys must be pretty frugal, to live on on one income and a little bit of emergency fund, despite having two kids.

Congrats on having a new job lined up!  Enjoy the holidays with the family.  :)
« Last Edit: December 16, 2016, 03:15:13 PM by arebelspy »
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

monstermonster

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #120 on: December 17, 2016, 09:57:12 AM »
Just a month to go

1) Live off less than $16,000 -Nope, with unexpected moving expenses and paying for my own medical premiums for 5 months, I'm coming in closer to $18,000.
2) Max out my Roth IRA - Yay! I did it!
3) Save 50% of my income - I accomplished this the whole time i had a full-time job. Once I quit, I went down to saving anything above living expenses (~$200-$400 month on a $1400 income).
4) Make $2,000 net from my side hustle -Yes, though next year I'm trying to make it my main source of income
5) Continue to live off last month's income - I got to 2 months ahead, and then fell backwards once I quit my job. Still one month ahead though.
6) Reach $10,000 in FU money liquid fund - Yay! I did this. still at it, though may need to do some rebuilding next year depending on January income.
7) Successfully accrue enough miles to fly business class to Asia through churning - I DID IT!
8) No new clothes - I bought none!

2Birds1Stone

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #121 on: December 17, 2016, 10:03:13 AM »
1. Make more money
2. Spend less money
3. Invest the delta

Success

edmundblackadder

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #122 on: December 17, 2016, 03:49:07 PM »
Max 401k.
Max tIRA.
Break 12K in emergency fund.
Stay on-budget for planned travel.

....so I found a savings account I'd forgotten about, and with an unexpected insurance reimbursement, I suddenly HAVE 12K in the emergency fund. Make that 14K, which is almost exactly six months of budgeted expenses (2300/month), in the emergency fund by December 2016.

And thank goodness for that, because my landlord decided to turn my apartment into condos, and gave me and my roommate a month's notice. While I was out of the country. It was GREAT. /sarcasm

So my rent's gone up and there were surprise moving expenses, but I maxed out my 401k in October, am on-track to finish the tIRA with my next two paychecks, the emergency fund is almost 15K, and travel was solidly on-budget. I'm calling that a pretty successful financial year.

bye-bye Ms. FancyPants

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #123 on: December 31, 2016, 03:57:17 PM »
1. max out 401K for both my husband and myself
2. increase home equity by $12000.00
3. increase ER savings by $6000
4. decease food budget
5. increase net-worth by 100,000.

1. Maxed out my 401K, added $11400 to husbands
2. success
3. increased ER savings by $4000
4. uuggghhhhh, NOPE
5. increased net-worth by 125,000

Didn't meet all our goals but made progress!

FIRE me

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #124 on: December 31, 2016, 09:11:28 PM »
My 2016 goal is simple: increase my net worth by $27,000. Then I will FIRE in January 2017.

I made it, with $4,000 to spare. Now I have one more working day, January 3, then I FIRE.

arebelspy

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #125 on: January 01, 2017, 01:05:58 AM »
My 2016 goal is simple: increase my net worth by $27,000. Then I will FIRE in January 2017.

I made it, with $4,000 to spare. Now I have one more working day, January 3, then I FIRE.
Congrats!  That's cause for celebration! :D
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

mr_orange

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #126 on: January 01, 2017, 03:44:36 PM »
1.  Keep W2 jobs and pull down about $215k from my wife and I - Achieved
2.  Sell 28 residential real estate units we currently own interests in for about $500k in profits  Sold 20
3.  Fund Roth 401(k) fully for my wife and I  Achieved
4.  Maintain loan covenants of $150k for $3M line of credit  About $50k shy of this
5.  Contribute at least $10k to our new debt fund  Achieved
6.  Fund backdoor Roth IRAs for my wife and I  Achieved
7.  Pay off remaining 2nds on rentals of about $48k  Achieved
8.  Pay down personal mortgage $100/month in additional principal  Did $300/month....More than achieved
9.  Contribute $14k/kid * 3 kids to 529 plans.  Possibly superfund the plans to get each kid to $100k for college sooner  Did $700/month/kid
10. Fund HSA to $5,750  Achieved
11. Fund FSA with $500  Achieved
12. Purchase more rentals and/or development projects  Couldn't find anything worth buying.  Shifting to paying down debt aggressively

2016 will certainly be a busy year.  Hopefully it will be as lucrative as expected.

For 2017 we have many of the same goals. 

Civex

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #127 on: January 02, 2017, 09:08:21 AM »
"Must do" Goals
1.) Contribute remaining $2.5k to 2015 Roth early in year-Completed
2.) Contribute $18k to 401k-pretty much completed, changed jobs and new job wouldn't allow a fixed amount, so I missed the max by about $90, didn't want to go over
3.) Contribute $5.5k to 2016 Roth IRA-Completed
4.) Increase cash savings by $5k-Failed-$2.5k increase
5.) Pay an additional $18k towards student loan principal- Big fail-only managed an extra $5k to principal
6.) Cross $100k in investments- Completed-sitting around $120k :)

"May do" Goals
1.) Pay a total of $24k to student loan principal-Failed as above
2.) Continue to drive my beater for the entirety of 2016- Failed; drove it for half the year

If I (hopefully) take a lower paying job early in the year, I will likely not be completing the second set of goals due to a pay decrease. This would greatly reduce my overall savings, but make life so much better

2016 ended up being a fairly expensive, but also really great year, so I'm okay with not making all my goals. Got engaged, changed jobs without taking a pay cut, cut my commute by 80 minutes/day....should be face punched because I bought a new car, took a fancy pants vacation, and installed a home theater, but life is good and as a household we managed to increase our net worth by $100k!

jorjor

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #128 on: January 04, 2017, 11:34:29 AM »
1. Contribute at least $60,000 in invested assets, between 401k, IRA, HSA, employer matches, and taxable account.
2. Pay off our piggyback HELOC.
3. Bike more miles than I drive over the course of the year.
4. Obtain Southwest Companion Pass.

Looks like I never checked in.

1. Contribute at least $60,000 in invested assets, between 401k, IRA, HSA, employer matches, and taxable account. - Check. Actually hit over $100k.
2. Pay off our piggyback HELOC. - Got this done right away back in January.
3. Bike more miles than I drive over the course of the year. - Nope. :(
4. Obtain Southwest Companion Pass. - Yep! I went back and looked, and we got about $3,500 in value out of it, with about 95k points (replenished through work travel) and a whole year of the CP to spare.

Travis

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #129 on: January 10, 2017, 11:10:36 AM »
1. Help DW maintain steady employment (4-month temp job in 2015 that ran its course a couple weeks ago)
2. Clear out rest of Craigslist inventory (only $350 worth, but just enough volume to keep both cars from fitting in the garage)
3. No growth in expenses compared to 2015
4. Credit card churn at least enough to earn 3 round trip tickets each on Southwest and United
5. Keep energy bill at manageable level ($50 in fall, $100 so far for winter)
6. Accumulate more historical data to pin down FIRE requirements.

1. They hired her back and she's stayed with them part time throughout the year.
2. I'm down to about $50 of stuff that at this point I'm will to just recycle.
3. Expenses were almost identical from '15 to '16.
4. I churned the SW Companion Pass with 110,000 points and earned 200,000 points towards United.
5. Energy bill has stayed within those limits and dropped to $80 in winter.
6. My steady state annual spending appears to be around $48k/year putting me about 7 years from FIRE.

ToughMother

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #130 on: January 14, 2017, 07:57:09 AM »
HERE'S THE FINAL TALLY/UPDATE
2016 goals.

Gross is $93K (same as last year, no COLAs).
Hope to get about 8K in side gigs.
yup, did exactly this

~$10K is mandatory employee contribution to retirement pension fund
[NB: if you don't vest (10 yrs needed and I'm 5 years in), get $ back less 20% for taxes]
just a few bucks under $10k, check

$24K to my 457.
yup

$6.5K to my Roth.
have it, in process of whether it should go to Roth or regular IRA

$10K to my dividend stock investment account.
we ended up remodeling the house, so 7K here and plenty-K to other accounts

$keep 5K in my travel account.
check.  will get added to in 2017 and then used in 2018 for honeymoon

any extras (reduced spending, side gigs) go to investment account and/or saving-to-build-a-house fund.
did this and put into house remodeling

$51K total
**exploring other employment options that would be a big decrease in $$$ but big increase in :-D for 2017
so I got the gig with the big decrease in $$$ but then the new guy came to work, talked me into keeping my current gig and on Jan 1, got promoted.  So hoping that 2017 ends up as both increase in :-D AND increase in $$$

Nangirl17

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Re: 2016 Financial Goals
« Reply #131 on: January 19, 2017, 07:24:21 PM »
One goal: Pay bills and continue to Max out RRSP and TFSA while decreasing to part-time work (will be 5/8 of current pay).
<deep breath>

Success! (and I may have a few thousand extra when the profit sharing comes in!)