The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Throw Down the Gauntlet => Topic started by: Rosy on June 05, 2017, 02:37:49 PM
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Can you imagine seeing 50K on your own statement? I can't quite yet, but I just figured out a plan on how to get there - in 30 months (less than a 3 yr car loan:)
This is a challenge to reach 50K - devise your own plan, state your deadline and go for it!
To be clear, this is not a Net Worth challenge - this is a savings/investment challenge. Doesn't matter if you presently have zero NW or 100K+ already.
Here is my plan:
$50K by December 31, 2019
$1666.66 mo x 30 mo = $50,000 - I can do this!:) says she, fiercely wishing it to be true.
So here we go:
June 2017
$ $1533 - still need $133 by the end of the month - wish me luck.
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I wish you lots of luck, strength, wisdom and determination, and as few obstacles as possible. Have you decided how you're going to apportion the money as you save it?
(I have a similar challenge, with a slightly different time frame and target, and a sketched-out plan of how I'm going to make it happen and how the savings are going to be divided in order to meet my requirements at different points in time as efficiently as possible. It feels a bit like spending money and still having it.)
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I wish you lots of luck, strength, wisdom and determination, and as few obstacles as possible. Have you decided how you're going to apportion the money as you save it?
(I have a similar challenge, with a slightly different time frame and target, and a sketched-out plan of how I'm going to make it happen and how the savings are going to be divided in order to meet my requirements at different points in time as efficiently as possible. It feels a bit like spending money and still having it.)
No concrete plan on how I will ultimately apportion it - other than that I'm leaning toward 50% investment and 50% savings
right now, I'm thinking 6 months ahead - Jun-Dec = 10K if all goes to plan:)
I am pondering if I should place it in Vanguard Admiral shares once it hits 10K.
Or - after three months I'd have enough to open a regular Vanguard account and then simply add the monthly savings until I reached 25K
Or - possibly stop at 10K investments and put the next 10K into a CD or similar vehicle
I wish I were smart enough to figure out a way to make the 25K cash savings work for me too, other than interest. A super secret stock tip? a hot new company?
@TartanTallulah - I'm curious - So what were you thinking of doing that would be a bit like spending money and still having it?
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@TartanTallulah - I'm curious - So what were you thinking of doing that would be a bit like spending money and still having it?
It's just a psychological thing, I haven't found the Holy Grail! Being focused on saving and investing with a definite endpoint means that every time I plan and make a deposit in my interest-bearing cash account, after-tax investment account, or freestanding pension fund it feels like I'm spending money and getting something I value for it, even though that something is as intangible as making measurable progress towards my goal, rather than letting it dissipate into household expenditure.
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Yes, makes perfect sense to me. ^^^ If every dollar has a purpose it is much easier to stay on track. Automatic savings is the best invention ever - I don't ever really "have" the money, it goes to a different account and it is fun to see your stash grow.
I just looked up to read the inscription on the coin of the Mustachian logo (banner) - Financial Freedom through Badassity - so true.
Be back to post at the end of June - to record whether I made my first monthly goal of $1666.66
In the meantime, maybe I can find a new bank that pays both a bonus and offers at least 1% or better APY.
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Hi Rosy! I think I will join you! I really need to have a 50k balance in my TSP in the next 30 months.
My balance is depressing low at 29k. I am currently adding only $440 a month (minimum I can do to still get the max match) as I stash cash for a rental property down payment. I really need to give the retirement account some attention. My average returns on this account are 8%, and at this rate (440 a month deposit with 8% returns) the online calculator I used says I will reach 50k in exactly 30 months. So while this doesn't seem like much of a challenge for me, it means if my returns are not actually 8%, I will have to increase my deposits to hit that 50k. Not as exciting a plan as yours for sure!
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Automatic savings is the best invention ever - I don't ever really "have" the money, it goes to a different account and it is fun to see your stash grow.
Very true. The main reason I'm close to being able to claim a meagre sort of FI is that over the years I've had a payroll deduction with employer contributions which has meant that I've saved money without ever seeing it, and that has protected me through years of financial carelessness. That, and a phobia of debt which has meant that I've never had actual money troubles.
I've been selling off the remaining stock from an online shop that was my husband's "job" while he was a SAHP, but which was really just a hobby and was never profitable. He closed the business a few years ago and the stock has just stayed in the cupboard, neatly organised and in as-new condition. I've priced it to sell and cut our losses rather than to break even. So far, deducting the cost of postage and eBay and PayPal fees, I've made enough for my husband to double his monthly pension contribution for 12 months and almost covered the cost of a piece of workshop equipment that needed replacing - our "jam today" portion. Anything above that will be mine to invest, and I've earmarked it for my after-tax investments which I intend to leave for as long as possible but will be able to access any time if I need it. The actual numbers are small, but when you've got a target it all counts.
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Hi Rosy! I think I will join you! I really need to have a 50k balance in my TSP in the next 30 months.
My balance is depressing low at 29k. I am currently adding only $440 a month (minimum I can do to still get the max match) as I stash cash for a rental property down payment. I really need to give the retirement account some attention. My average returns on this account are 8%, and at this rate (440 a month deposit with 8% returns) the online calculator I used says I will reach 50k in exactly 30 months. So while this doesn't seem like much of a challenge for me, it means if my returns are not actually 8%, I will have to increase my deposits to hit that 50k. Not as exciting a plan as yours for sure!
@mommycake - Welcome to the challenge and thanks for joining me - I am thrilled to have some company on this long journey.
I'm holding you to it:) $440 x30 months for you to reach your goal of 50K.
Oh, I don't know about yours not being as exciting as my goal - $50K is plenty exciting no matter how you look at it.
So tell me, how will you make up the difference - if it plummets below 8%? Quarterly? Spare change - side gig?
@TartanTallulah That sounds like a lot of work to me - yay you for pulling it off. You know, I think it is always the small stuff that adds up or sinks us. Those are some impressive results either way.
I've decided to work a bit more on my own side gigs, an area that I totally neglected this year. Mostly, because for three months I couldn't see - eye surgery related. Then we had company for weeks and indulged in a nice long vacation - so it is time to examine our financial lives and work on long term goals.
My plan is among other things to update my long neglected photography website. Just signed up for some classes to improve my skills, partly because I hope to improve my sales, but even more so, because I really enjoy it and now that we replaced the old computer and monitor, I'm ready to roll with edits and uploads. It was a real pain before.
Who knows, you and I may well exceed our goals and timelines - good luck!
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Hi Rosy,
If I have to increase my retirement deposits, I will have to spend less on groceries and baby stuff. I have a tendency to spend more than necessary on these areas. Right now I know my daughter needs a new swimsuit/sun hat/ sunglasses. There is a perfectly nice second hand store I can go to for these items to save money. Also I can temporarily cut my food budget by buying less meat and shopping at Aldi's more instead of the closer grocery store. Actually I should probably do these things anyway! and not just if my market returns decrease :)
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Hi, I'd love to join! I put myself in the race to 100k challenge but that's so far off that I find myself ignoring the thread.
Here's where I am:
$7100 in Emergency Fund
$9,400 in Roth & 457 investment accounts
$9,500 in pension (post-tax)... not sure if I should count this but chances are high I'll withdraw it prior to vesting.
Total w/o pension: $16,500
Total w/ pension: $26,000
I also have a few thousand in a short terms savings account for travel and stuff-- I won't count that.
My plan: I'm a teacher so my numbers look funny in summer.
June: $500 --> EF
July: $1200 of summer school salary --> EF
Sept-June: $1300 --> 457; $200 --> EF (per month)
I'm in a high cost area and I'm aggressively paying student loan down so these numbers are as high as I can!
Goals: (w/o pension)
June 2018: 33,000
June 2019: 50,000
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Hi Rosy,
If I have to increase my retirement deposits, I will have to spend less on groceries and baby stuff. I have a tendency to spend more than necessary on these areas. Right now I know my daughter needs a new swimsuit/sun hat/ sunglasses. There is a perfectly nice second hand store I can go to for these items to save money. Also I can temporarily cut my food budget by buying less meat and shopping at Aldi's more instead of the closer grocery store. Actually I should probably do these things anyway! and not just if my market returns decrease :)
Exactly! Once it becomes a habit, you'll automatically do it - almost as good as having automatic savings withdrawals. You can do it!:)
I'm so tight this month, even the $134 extra savings is going to be tougher than I thought it would be. Not the best start, but hey, what's life without a little challenge? I just need to come up with some ideas to generate some extra cash - $134 would be a nice start:)
Hi, I'd love to join! I put myself in the race to 100k challenge but that's so far off that I find myself ignoring the thread.
Goals: (w/o pension)
June 2018: 33,000
June 2019: 50,000
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Welcome to the challenge westtoeast! Glad to have you join our journey to 50K.
I know, I was thinking the same thing, that 100K is way too far off and honestly may or may not ever happen for me. For now, I am very happy to have figured out how to get to 50K in 30 months - so I am sticking to my plan - although, this first month is proving tricky already.
Good luck with your summer teaching job!
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Here is my plan:
$50K by December 31, 2019
$1666.66 mo x 30 mo = $50,000 - I can do this!:) says she, fiercely wishing it to be true.
So here we go:
June 2017
$ $1533 - still need $133 by the end of the month - wish me luck.
Whoa:) - Update:
June 2017
New balance: $ 4,588.92 - "only" $45,411.08 more to go:)
Mindgames:) I only counted the $1.5K that I was due on the 21st of June, this month.
I was so focused on the process in my head about how to reach 50K within 30 mo that I forgot to count what I already had saved as of May, because I originally thought I needed that money to cover June expenses, but then figured out ways to hang onto it all - by my fingernails.
So June is indeed an uber frugal month for me, but with these results I don't mind.
I am obsessed with reaching that 50K goal, the sooner the better:)
I plan to stay uber focused and hope that throwing a little extra at it each month will speed up the process along the way.
Outlook for July 2017:
As long as I make the $1,666 happen in July then I'm golden, because that is the last month with (larger than comfortable for me, if I also want to save) cc pmts.
I definitely need a side gig to make it through July unscathed.
(Reminder math games for myself: $45,411.08 new bal divided by 29 months to go = $1,565.90 mo - reduced mo sav would still get me to my goal of 50K by Dec 2018 as planned.) Right now I am almost two months ahead of schedule - I like that.
Thanks guys for hanging out with me as I try to make it all happen as planned - or sooner:)
Good luck with your goals!
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It's always a good feeling to be ahead. Well done Rosy!
I have scope to get ahead too. My husband worked lots of overtime last month, and it looks as if he'll have similar working hours for at least the next month though I don't think he could sustain it forever (bless him, he's worked around 50% of the number of hour each week that I usually work - but he does work hard during those hours). And the next three months look like being brutal months at work for me too because we're short-handed. I'd rather work three days a week and have more time to go out to play, but if I work four or five days a week I'll earn more, and our expenses are dropping, so each extra session brings me closer to my target.
8% of my before-tax income gets skimmed off into my pension fund before I see it, I've swept 35% of our total income into our joint linked savings account and another 12% into my ISA, and over the month another 6% gets debited to my husband's pension and my ISA, so if we manage to live on what's left in the checking account (and we should) we'll be saving two-thirds of our joint income this month.
I got round to writing down what I want all our little pots to do at various stages of retirement too. It was a reality check - we're not there yet unless we're prepared to live on grass and roadkill and will have to be focused about saving if I want to retire rather than just having a career break at 55.
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Great job Rosy! That's a nice jump ahead :)
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June 2017 - $4,588.92
July 2017 begins with $6,221.92 - only $43,779.08 more dollars to go
Outlook for July is not as bad as I feared, so I set up trsf of $100, plus my already dedicated $1533. Not a bad start:)
For now, I am getting 0.75% APY with my regular Capital One 360 savings account. But, I noticed that their Money Market account pays 1.10% APY for balances over $10K - that means an extra, free $110 annually, if I transfer once it hits $10K.
Current plan
Right now I am leaning toward a split of $20K Vanguard and $30K liquid savings for my $50K total.
1. The current plan is to stash $10K, hope to be there by Sep? - immediately open Money Market @1.10% APY.
2. Then save up 3K by Nov 2017? - open Vanguard account and fill up to $10K - by Apr 2018?
3. Next, I'll switch to 50% save and 50% invest each month, until Vanguard hits $20K, by Apr 2019?
4. Finish line - add another $10K to Money Market by Oct 2019?
I guess a lot depends on whether I can ramp up the process by saving a bit more along the way, so far I am two months ahead of the original target date of Dec 2019.
How about you?
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Nicely done, Rosy!
Late June/early July might be a leaner savings month in my household. We have two car services to pay for, my husband needed to buy a new smartphone, and we've had a vacation which, though not intrinsically expensive, involved buying an extra three or four tanks of fuel. Some of the money I swept into the linked savings account may be getting swept back into the checking account. I'm hoping that signing up to reducing my grocery spending in July will help retrieve the situation.
My husband had a message from work asking him to continue to work additional hours (24 hours instead of 9 hours a week) for longer than expected. This will provide additional income for saving for the next two months. With both of us working so much overtime, though, we are going to treat ourselves to a fortnight in the sun during the winter.
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With both of us working so much overtime, though, we are going to treat ourselves to a fortnight in the sun during the winter.
Tartan - I wish to get away from the heat in Florida:), but the 4th of July weekend is upon us, so we may indulge as well:)
Looking good for your income - $$$ are a good thing.
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update - 29 months to go...
up 500 from last month to 29,500 in retirement account. Returns dropped this month so I went ahead and increased my monthly deposits from 440 to 535, set to start next pay period.
Hope everyone had a good 4th of July! We had a very low-key holiday but saved money by staying home and hanging in the backyard.
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Looking good Mommy Cake - we're really doing it!
I am obsessed with this 50K goal. Decided to add an extra $2K by redirecting money originally allocated for my Travel stash.
Added small side gig monies to the travel fund instead.
UPDATE:
July 2017
$8,221.92 - only $41,779.08 to go to reach my goal of 50K
YAY - the new ticker worked - I love visuals:)
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Rosy you are crushing this !!!!!
I hit 30k, yay! 28.5 months left to go, and with my increased deposits I should hit 50k just in time.
Westtoeast, how are you doing?
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Yay, everyone's making great progress :-)
I'm doing OK too. My main target is to have a year's projected and researched expenditure in cash by the end of March 2019. My secondary, good-to-have, target is to have a year's expenditure plus the cost of a frivolous midlife crisis set of (two) wheels in cash by the end of March 2019 and not let my husband talk me into the frivolous midlife crisis purchase before I've got time to play on it. If I can keep working until then, everything will fall into place.
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Rosy you are crushing this !!!!!
I hit 30k, yay! 28.5 months left to go, and with my increased deposits I should hit 50k just in time.
Westtoeast, how are you doing?
I was just coming to update-- thanks for asking!
My investments just crossed $10,000. My Emergency Fund just crossed $9,000. So my number is now $19,000... feeling pretty excited! It will be $20,000 after my next summer school paycheck. I'm on track to exceed my goal, actually. I should be at $36,000 by this time next year (assuming I don't have to touch my emergency fund).
Nice work everyone, some solid gains!
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Rosy you are crushing this !!!!!
I hit 30k, yay! 28.5 months left to go, and with my increased deposits I should hit 50k just in time.
Westtoeast, how are you doing?
I was just coming to update-- thanks for asking!
My investments just crossed $10,000. My Emergency Fund just crossed $9,000. So my number is now $19,000... feeling pretty excited! It will be $20,000 after my next summer school paycheck. I'm on track to exceed my goal, actually. I should be at $36,000 by this time next year (assuming I don't have to touch my emergency fund).
Nice work everyone, some solid gains!
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We are all crushing this:) - yay! You go guys! We got this!
Update:
July ended with $8,221.92
August starts with:
$1,533 auto trsf
$ 100 auto trsf
$ 200 one time trsf Reg
TOTAL $1833
Looking into finding another $200 this month to reach a cool two thou. My goal is to come up with an even $2K each month from now on, except for Dec.
To keep it real and to keep me motivated, I broke up my 50K goal into five steps - each step is $10K!
PLAN - SUCCESS - reached step one of my five step plan to reach 50K!!!
1. Aug 2017 - $ 10,054 - opening a Money Market account at Capital One - APY 1.10%
- comes with a $200 bank bonus if I qualify, which would sweeten the pot even more.
Next step - open VC by Oct 2017:)
2. Sep 2017 to Feb/Mar 2018 - $10K total. The plan is to open VG acct in Oct 2017 w $3K+ and contribute ea mo until it hits $10K+ (Admiral shares)
3. Apr 2018? - skip savings send to vacation account instead - May 2018 to Oct 2018 - save up to the next $10K online at 1.5% APY
4. Nov 2018 to May 2019 - $1K ea mo to MM and $1K ea mo to VG - total $5K ea = $10K
5. Jun 2019 to Nov 2019 ??? - total $10K - sav/inv?
I can't believe this is really happening. Anticipation - it will be so cool to hit each step, can't wait for the halfway mark.
How are things looking for August for everyone?
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Great job Everyone!!!!!! Glad we're all on track :)
My last July deposit has me at 30,500 to start out the new month. July brought great returns, and Mint thinks I will hit 50k by November 2018.
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Just reporting in because of a slight detour.
Aug is now a straight up total of $10K in a CD at 3% APY
Step one completed. $40K more to go:)
GO MOMMYCAKE GO! I'm so jealous:) - love your August numbers.
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Well it's a new month everyone! Great job on the 10k Rosy!
My retirement account didn't do very well in August; I'm only at 31,000 to start out September. I'm still on track to hit 50k sometime in November 2019 though.
I've been saving for another rental property but after months of no luck am considering putting this on hold. If I stop the down payment savings, I can really up the contributions to the retirement account. I'm gonna take some time to mull this over....
How did everyone else's August go?
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I'll have to come back at the end of Sept for a real update, since I didn't get paid in August (it was sad seeing all my accounts stay basically the same, especially since my investments didn't do that well). My first 457 deduction did get taken out of my first Sept check though, and I moved some of my first paycheck to my EF, so I'm now at $21,035. Every thousand counts!
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Checking in for September....
Retirement account is at 32,000 this morning. Investments did well this month, and Mint bumped up my date to meet 50K goal from Nov to Oct 2018.
I had been considering forgetting about saving for another rental property, but I think I may have found one. May put in an offer this weekend.
Rosy are you out there?
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Good job everyone!:)
Checking in - and it's not all good - I'm struggling a bit at present. Instead of adding another 10K total for Sep Oct Nov, which I was gearing up to do, I spent that 10K plus I'm now in debt for another 11K. My budget is shot right now and most of my cash emergency savings is gone.
Let's just say, these were necessary and satisfying expenses, but I had hoped to put them off for another year. There is a possibility of getting back $7K and I will strive to come up with a few extra bucks and savings in November - we'll see how it all goes.
So - sigh - total saved as of Oct 9, 2017 $10, 042.
Bottomline - October looks very iffy at the moment - with luck I might manage to put away $500 in savings, but I'm not holding my breath. Will update at the end of the month.
I'm still here @mommycakes - and I'm not going anywhere until I reached my goal - just reeling from a major setback right now. Struggling to get back on track, but I'll get there:) - can't let a little thing like 25K expenditures in one month get in the way of my goals, especially since these were (partially) planned expenses.
Right now I can only dream of your $32K:) - good luck with your real estate hunt!
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I'm joining in. Currently I'm in the race to $10K where I am tracking my Net worth but I'm going to join this race to $50K to track my retirement accounts.
Goal - Hit $50K by June 2019
10/9/2017
401K $23,828.55
Capital One IRA 2,232.00
Fidelity IRA 322.27
Total Retirement $26,382.82
Remaining to reach goal = $23,617.18 in 21 months is roughly $1,124 a month. This will not be my number in the beginning. I'm working on paying down some debt so my monthly contributions will be close to $500 at least for the next 6-8 months. After that I can start throwing more money towards retirement.
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October Update!
Investments = $14,585
Emergency Fund = $8,000 (I moved some of this over to my Roth IRA)
Total = $22,585
So about $1,000 increase since my last post. It should have been a little higher, but I did dip into savings a bit to cover a few unexpected expenses (necessary). On the bright side I'm now on track to hit 50k in January 2019 IF I stick to some pretty darn rigorous goals. I've also been side hustling and while some of that is funding travel, I should be able to divert a little bit to savings. It would be so amazing to hit the goal before 2018 ends, but that would be tough.
Glad to see folks still active here-- it can be really hard to stay motivated on these long term goals!
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Good job everyone!:)
I'm still here @mommycakes - and I'm not going anywhere until I reached my goal - just reeling from a major setback right now. Struggling to get back on track, but I'll get there:) - can't let a little thing like 25K expenditures in one month get in the way of my goals, especially since these were (partially) planned expenses.
Right now I can only dream of your $32K:) - good luck with your real estate hunt!
Setbacks can be so frustrating! Although it sounds like this spending was going to happen either now or later-- hopefully the fact that the spending happened now doesn't change your overall date too much. You'll get there one way or another :)
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Remaining to reach goal = $23,617.18 in 21 months is roughly $1,124 a month. This will not be my number in the beginning. I'm working on paying down some debt so my monthly contributions will be close to $500 at least for the next 6-8 months. After that I can start throwing more money towards retirement.
Well I increased my 401K contribution so it should be around $775 for just 401K. I then plan to save whatever else I can into a separate savings account until I reach $3K after which I'll put that into an IRA and set up some auto-deductions. I looked at my FIRE goal and I'm gonna need to hit $50K by end of 2018 to stay on track so I'm shortening my time-frame to 14 1/2 months! Yikes. Here's hoping the market helps me out with this. :)
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Hi there! I just saw this thread for the first time.
I have been updating on the Race to 10k thread all year.
Looking forward to using this thread
Will update soon
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@haypug - welcome to the challenge!:) I see you are as driven as I am on this particular challenge. Motivation is key, but it helps to see others adjust and re-adjust their plans on how to get there - good going so far!
FOCUS - like those steel bars they put into concrete buildings, they can move if need be, but they are rock solid.
@westtoeast - I hear ya, it is hard to stay motivated for a long time - because life and setbacks happen - but, so do windfalls and unexpected blessings and opportunities. Nice to see you on track.
I'm looking forward to all of us reaching our goals - blips an' all:)
@DieHard - Yay - welcome to the club - looking forward to seeing your goals and your plans on how to make it all happen:)!
Update for October - looks like there will be just a little bit of incoming funds for saving - wayyy better than zero:)
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@DieHard - Yay - welcome to the club - looking forward to seeing your goals and your plans on how to make it all happen:)!
Update for October - looks like there will be just a little bit of incoming funds for saving - wayyy better than zero:)
Thanks Rosy. The Race to 10K thread was really helpful and encouraging, and I'm sure this will be too.
As for me, here are our current numbers (I am including money that will be spent in the next few months for simplicity... and maybe to pad the numbers a bit, but hey! Also, to be fair,
this only includes money in my bank account, not my wife's, and there are other things that are technically assets like some silver coins and of course things we own. Maybe in the future
I will add some of those to help with the numbers a bit on our race to $20K networth, we'll see)
OUR ASSETS: $15654
Money for spending: $1952
Savings: $2125
Our Investments (my IRAs, my wife's Sep-IRA, and our HSA): $11,576
OUR LIABILITIES: -7305
Credit card: -$2925
Student loan: -$4380
TOTAL NETWORTH:
$8349
Considering that, by my calculation, our networth was nearly -$15k two years, I would say we are making great progress!
Onward to the next milestone: $20k!
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Thanks Rosy.
Nice to see you in this challenge DieHard
I'm thinking that once I see my paycheck after the updated 401K deductions that if I have extra money to save I will just increase my contribution to 401K again. With the tax savings and the company match (I think it's 33% but I'm not sure how high they match) it probably makes more sense to work on getting my 401K up to the max first before saving in an IRA. So that is the new plan. Like you said Rosy, plans can change and I think being flexible to switching things up in order to make the best financial decisions will be the best thing I can do.
Everyday I am on this thread and also reading the blog posts I am grateful. I have been able to start turning my financial situation around much faster than I thought possible and I am still learning.
Once I see the October numbers I'll be able to set up some monthly goals. Main focus right now is still paying down some debt but Retirement savings is obviously a close second. My FIRE goal is 2030 so I have a long way to go but staying on track for the long haul will be key and having these races along the way is super helpful.
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Everyday I am on this thread and also reading the blog posts I am grateful. I have been able to start turning my financial situation around much faster than I thought possible and I am still learning.
I completely agree. The excitement of making progress is awesome.
Occasionally I need to rein in my head from being impatient, and realize that my effort will pay off... I expect that over time I will be able to save even more, it's a matter keeping my mind in the positive: The Glass is Half Full!
At the end of the day, our networth grew by well over $20k from two years ago, and I promise you, that is the most networth growth I personally have experienced... so far
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Our networth, according to the numbers I have been tracking (which doesn't include my wife's bank accounts or the estimated value of other possessions)
has temporarily peaked at over $11,000 (for the first time ever)... with monthly expenses, this will decrease again, yet the mountain top keeps rising.
The next benchmark is to get our networth over $20k. I am giving myself until next September, and I would like it to happen a lot faster :)
In reality, it could be well over this already, yet like I said, it's according to the numbers I am tracking
(which mostly are investments).
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I'm so happy to see two more people joined us this month! Welcome Haypug and Diehard!
Sorry to hear about your setbacks Rosy, that is never fun or easy to handle. We're all here cheering you on - you will get past it! There are always ups and downs in life.
My TSP retirement account, which is the only thing I'm tracking here, is doing fine and at 33,100 at the end of October.
My real estate deal is just about fallen through. Home inspection was this weekend and I found out the house needs extensive work, and do not think the price will be negotiable to make up for it. So it looks like a no go. I'm still considering re-prioritizing retirement account above real estate if this does not work out.
Happy Halloween tomorrow, and hope we all have a good November....
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10/9/2017 10/31/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 change of +636.27
$22,980.91 left to save by December 2018
My short term goal is to reach $28,000 by the end of November. Currently I am putting $590 into my 401K with an employee match of ~$250 I think. So that gets me to around $27,860 I'll just need to put in another $140 for the month to hit it. I'll probably increase my 401K from 10 to 12% and that should take care of it. Of course assuming the market stays the same or goes up. :)
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10/9/2017 10/31/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 change of +636.27
$22,980.91 left to save by December 2018
My short term goal is to reach $28,000 by the end of November. Currently I am putting $590 into my 401K with an employee match of ~$250 I think. So that gets me to around $27,860 I'll just need to put in another $140 for the month to hit it. I'll probably increase my 401K from 10 to 12% and that should take care of it. Of course assuming the market stays the same or goes up. :)
Nice job!
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I'm so happy to see two more people joined us this month! Welcome Haypug and Diehard!
Sorry to hear about your setbacks Rosy, that is never fun or easy to handle. We're all here cheering you on - you will get past it! There are always ups and downs in life.
My TSP retirement account, which is the only thing I'm tracking here, is doing fine and at 33,100 at the end of October.
My real estate deal is just about fallen through. Home inspection was this weekend and I found out the house needs extensive work, and do not think the price will be negotiable to make up for it. So it looks like a no go. I'm still considering re-prioritizing retirement account above real estate if this does not work out.
Happy Halloween tomorrow, and hope we all have a good November....
Thanks MommyCake.
Haypug and I have frequented the Race to 10K thread, which has been really cool because it's so supportive.
This one is the next logical step, I'm glad this thread exists.
It's a bit more appealing at this point to me than the Race to 100k thread.
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I'm happy to see everyone is on track:) It does take commitment and time to reach our next lofty goals:)!
@haypug - I agree with you 100% about coming here often to stay motivated and focused. None of this comes naturally to me, although I am a planner and that is my one ace in the hole - besides I do like a challenge:)
I'm competitive, so all those gauntlets help me stay on track and do more than I might otherwise consider doing on my own.
1. Update for October: No progress, partially due to more expenses than usual. Instead, I decided to shore up my various accounts which all took a beating, and the travel and emergency account plus the X-mas account, before I add any more to my $50K goal.
2. November outlook: $500 max - zero at worst. We'll see.
3. December may be zero, because I am padding the travel account to up it to $3K. I also plan to pay off everything - no more cc debt, so I will start out 2018 with no debt, except a car loan.
4. By January 2018 - I plan to be totally back on track -lord willin' and the river don't rise:). I actually feel "relatively" confident in this plan and starting the New Year off with zero cc debt is certainly a great incentive, not to say relief.
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Nice planning Rosy, I too am working on being debt free and there are times when I want to just not save anything and put all my money into debt pay off but I know especially with the 401K match that it's probably not a great idea. So I will stick with mostly paying off debt while putting a lower percentage away for FIRE.
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Only 4,802 days until retirement ;)
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Only 4,802 days until retirement ;)
Wow... I can almost taste it ;)
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Whoops I meant to post this in the FIRE 2030 thread. ;)
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Mid month update. I love paydays :)
10/9/2017 10/31/17 11/15/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73 25,051.95
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61 2,248.65
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75 300.27
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 $27,600.87 (increase of $581.78)
$22,399.13 left to save by December 2018
My short term goal is to reach $28,000 by the end of November I'm ~$400 away from that goal and with about $475 going into my 401K per check I will definitely hit this goal this month. That will leave me $22K to save over 13 months which is about $1,700 a month. I'll be increasing my 401K contribution from 12% to 14% in January followed by quarterly increases of 2-3% all year. With an end goal of 25% (maxed out) by year end. If I can I'll increase a little faster but I still need to keep my Debt Payoff as top priority.
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Woo, I reached the halfway point! EF & investments now equal $25,000. Could have been higher but November was a spendypants month for me. I did also move some more of my EF over to my Roth. I think this was the right call, but I should leave my EF alone now. On track for $40,000 by end of summer 2018. $50,000 in early 2019. Gotta stay focused!
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November Update
10/9/2017 10/31/17 11/30/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73 $25,798.78
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61 2,298.01
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75 304.79
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 $28,401.58 (Increase from Oct of $1,382.49)
Left to save by December 2018 is $21,598.42. That's $1,661.42 per month over 13 months. I did end up increasing my 401k to 12% this month and will increase to 14% around January. Reaching $50K by the end of next year is feeling more and more possible.
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November Update
10/9/2017 10/31/17 11/30/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73 $25,798.78
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61 2,298.01
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75 304.79
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 $28,401.58 (Increase from Oct of $1,382.49)
Left to save by December 2018 is $21,598.42. That's $1,661.42 per month over 13 months. I did end up increasing my 401k to 12% this month and will increase to 14% around January. Reaching $50K by the end of next year is feeling more and more possible.
@Haypug, may I ask, why the Capital One IRA? I don't know much about their retirement products, although I do have a bank account with them. How much are the fees?
I've heard good things about Fidelity, those fees are low, yes?
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November Update
10/9/2017 10/31/17 11/30/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73 $25,798.78
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61 2,298.01
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75 304.79
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 $28,401.58 (Increase from Oct of $1,382.49)
Left to save by December 2018 is $21,598.42. That's $1,661.42 per month over 13 months. I did end up increasing my 401k to 12% this month and will increase to 14% around January. Reaching $50K by the end of next year is feeling more and more possible.
@Haypug, may I ask, why the Capital One IRA? I don't know much about their retirement products, although I do have a bank account with them. How much are the fees?
I've heard good things about Fidelity, those fees are low, yes?
I honestly would have to look. I have the Capital One because I used to have Sharebuilder (a million years ago) and they were acquired by Capital One. Fidelity is where I want to start putting more of my money eventually I just have been focusing on debt payment and not retirement savings lately so the balance is very low on that one.
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Hi Everybody!
Checking in to update...
TSP balance is up to 34,300. Mint thinks I will hit 50k in Sept 2019. Yay progress!
I canceled my contract on the house I was going to buy, so I think in 2018 I can bump up my retirement contributions significantly. Baby # 2 is due to arrive in January, and this may affect both income and expenses, so don't want to shake things up too much just yet.
About the IRA's..... Should I bother with these yet? I haven't been able to max out TSP yet, so I haven't been contributing to my IRA that I opened years ago. Theres only a few thousand in there. I don't know that much about IRA's honestly, but I know MMM recommends maxing 401k first. Any thoughts?
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Hi Everybody!
Checking in to update...
TSP balance is up to 34,300. Mint thinks I will hit 50k in Sept 2019. Yay progress!
I canceled my contract on the house I was going to buy, so I think in 2018 I can bump up my retirement contributions significantly. Baby # 2 is due to arrive in January, and this may affect both income and expenses, so don't want to shake things up too much just yet.
About the IRA's..... Should I bother with these yet? I haven't been able to max out TSP yet, so I haven't been contributing to my IRA that I opened years ago. Theres only a few thousand in there. I don't know that much about IRA's honestly, but I know MMM recommends maxing 401k first. Any thoughts?
Congrats on the Balances up and on the upcoming arrival of Baby #2!
I have heard the same regarding maxing out 401k before contributing to an IRA. That is my goal. I'm new to all this but the tax benefits of contributing to a 401k are great also the money comes right out of the paycheck so there's no temptation to spend it. That's at least the reasoning I have for putting the 401K first. My IRA balances are all pre MMM so I was just kind of throwing my money around with no real idea of what I was doing. Now I at least have "some" idea of what's going on. My goal is to max out 401K by the end of 2018 and then start adding to the Fidelity IRA.
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Woo, I reached the halfway point! EF & investments now equal $25,000. Could have been higher but November was a spendypants month for me. I did also move some more of my EF over to my Roth. I think this was the right call, but I should leave my EF alone now. On track for $40,000 by end of summer 2018. $50,000 in early 2019. Gotta stay focused!
Woohoo - halfway there is sweet victory:) CONGRATS to you westtoeast! I'm practically green with envy:)...
Update: Ending the year 2017 with $10,117.
OUTLOOK: 2018 - no debt except car loan (grrr) and I'm back in the game - which means I can contribute a solid $1K in January. Things are looking up again.
All other goals and financial surprises are sorted out and I think January may turn out to be a good month.
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Woo, I reached the halfway point! EF & investments now equal $25,000. Could have been higher but November was a spendypants month for me. I did also move some more of my EF over to my Roth. I think this was the right call, but I should leave my EF alone now. On track for $40,000 by end of summer 2018. $50,000 in early 2019. Gotta stay focused!
Woohoo - halfway there is sweet victory:) CONGRATS to you westtoeast! I'm practically green with envy:)...
Update: Ending the year 2017 with $10,117.
OUTLOOK: 2018 - no debt except car loan (grrr) and I'm back in the game - which means I can contribute a solid $1K in January. Things are looking up again.
All other goals and financial surprises are sorted out and I think January may turn out to be a good month.
REVISED UPDATE FOR DECEMBER and it is oh so much better:) instead of $10,117 I'm ending the year 2017 with $11,642. I'm ecstatic and quite proud of myself that I pulled this off after so much financial upheaval - both planned and unplanned.
Hope y'all are doing well going into 2018 - slow and steady wins the race!
Current status and plans for 2018:
1. To re-state my original goal of saving $1,666 mo x 30 mo = $50K by Dec 2019. Did not happen that way - lots of wild swings throughout the year.
Current status: $11,642 as of Dec 2017
2. Seven months in, I am at $11,642 with 23 months and $38,358 to go to my ultimate goal of $50K.
If I continue to manage to save $1667.74 a month - on average - I will be right on track.
3. 2018 will be harder since I now have a $256.05 car payment that I didn't have when I started this challenge in June (car loan happened in late Aug). Plus, I added a second goal of saving $200 to bolster my travel fund - Jan to July.
So I need to become a badass MMMer at least until July and I definitely need to find a bit of side income to make it all happen.
Trouble is both plans are equally important to me - the travel fund is a sort of bucket list, let's do this while I still can and I plan to have a lot of fun doing it, so I do not want to skimp on my trip with my longtime girlfriends, if I can help it.
Perhaps I could find a zero percent credit card to help with the travel fund? - not too fond of that route, I prefer to have enough money for all of my travel expenses before I leave. I've just never been able to justify going on a trip when you don't have the money to do so - but this is also my mom's 90th birthday and will be my last trip just to see her (alongside spending time and money on a trip throughout Europe with my old friends while I am there).
Maybe I could figure out how to travel hack - all I need is the ticket for one person, the rest is cake, I've already saved $3,258.
However, I realize that I really do not want to give up my retirement fund goal either - so wish me luck and tenacity:) - I will find a way - god willing and the river don't rise:)
Happy Holidays everyone and the best of luck with your own goals!:) 2018 here we come - we can do this!
I really want to see $50K in my statement by Dec 2019!
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December Update
10/9/2017 10/31/17 11/30/17 12/31/17
401K $23,828.55 $24,456.73 $25,798.78 $26,792.07
Capital One IRA 2,232.00 2,250.61 2,298.01 2,351.73
Fidelity IRA 322.27 311.75 304.79 304.79
Total Retirement $26,382.82 $27,019.09 $28,401.58 $29,448.59
$20,551.41 left to save by the end of next year. It'll be close but hopefully the market will hold, though I have a good 10+ years before I FIRE so I could handle a crash. I'm just going to stick to my plan of increasing my 401K to 14% in January and again every 2-3 months until I max it out.
End of January goal is to hit $31K
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A couple of days ago our networth hit $15,000 for the first time since I've tracked it.
It's not EVERYTHING, and it will fluctuate again with expenses, yet still, feels good
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2017 revised - Final December Balance $10,5K
The goal posts keep moving on this goal it seems - so frustrating - ultimate goal: $50K by Dec 2019
2018 here we come!
New Plan:
$1533 mo - from Jan to Jun = $ 9,198 plus $200 bonus, plus $650 transfer/close acct.
Projected results - $20,548 total by June 2018
Re-evaluate in September 2018
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Happy New Year!
End of Dec 2017 update - $35,700 in the TSP account
Well I bit the bullet and upped my contributions to $1200 a month to the retirement account, mostly because I got a step increase and COL increase. If I run out of paid time off and and have to take leave without pay to stay home with baby, I can always re-evaluate the budget. But at least this way I'm starting off 2018 on the right foot. My leave started this week at the doctors advise since he says baby can come any time now.
I'm really glad everyone is doing well, and Rosy it seems like you're able to save a lot each month so I'm sure you will reach the goal, maybe even before Dec 2019.
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Get some rest and sleep while you can MommyCake - babies have a way of draining your energy the first six months for sure.
Looks like everyone is doing rather well.
January 2018 - Planned $1539 and $ 250 - I'll report back with final numbers later this month after it shows up in my account.
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I have made the decision to decrease my 401K contributions from 12 to 3% (the company match is 3%) This is so I can put the ~$500 into paying down debt. I have about $6K left in Credit Card debt and then $60K in Student loans that range from 3.4-5.5% so once the Credit Cards and the higher interest rate Student loans are paid down I'll go back to putting 12% or more into 401K. This means I will most likely not hit my goal of $50K by the end of this year but it should mean that I will be in a better position and able to save more later. Everything I've read says this is the right move to make but it's hard to not save for retirement (or at least not as much as I'd like)
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Correction - Jan 1, 2018 final numbers were $10,117.
UPDATE - January 12, 2018 - lots of good changes to report.
1. CD matured Jan 9 - rolled it over into:
CD 1 - at $3,000 @ 3% for 12 months
CD 2 - at $7,174.84 @ 2.25% for 15 months - I can add additional funds anytime up to $50K
2. Changed DD to go to the same bank so I can manually do an instant transfer of funds from checking into CD 2. (Jan-June = $1541x6mo= $9,246)
3. The plan is that I will stop adding funds in July-Aug-Sep while I am on vacation. Start up savings again in Oct-Nov $1541x2=$3082. December may be zero savings again.
Trying to be as realistic as I can. The ultimate goal for 2018 is to reach a min of $23K - stretch goal $25K.
3. New totals for January:
$ 3,000 CD1
$ 7,174.84 CD2
$ 1,541.- Jan Savings - scheduled to transfer into CD2 on Jan 17, 2018
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$ 11,715.84 plus interest at the EOM
I'm relieved to have the CD's in place and I am looking forward to seeing around $ 19,4 or so by Jun 2018. What makes this a real challenge for me at present is that I need to be bada$$ enough to also save an additional 200 mo for my travel fund and since I added $256.05 car pmt to my budget - it is indeed tight.
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I have made the decision to decrease my 401K contributions from 12 to 3% (the company match is 3%) This is so I can put the ~$500 into paying down debt. I have about $6K left in Credit Card debt and then $60K in Student loans that range from 3.4-5.5% so once the Credit Cards and the higher interest rate Student loans are paid down I'll go back to putting 12% or more into 401K. This means I will most likely not hit my goal of $50K by the end of this year but it should mean that I will be in a better position and able to save more later. Everything I've read says this is the right move to make but it's hard to not save for retirement (or at least not as much as I'd like)
Tough decision @haypug16 I can see why you'd want to hit the cc's hard enough to eliminate that debt so you have more cash on hand and avoid interest. I'm not certain about the Student Loans - if the math supports it then I agree that the higher interest student loans should go next. The student loans at 3.4% can be dealt with once you have reached your 50K goals.
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The student loans at 3.4% can be dealt with once you have reached your 50K goals.
Yup that's the plan. I'm tackling the CCs and the SL with interest of 5.5 and 5.375% which is the bulk of the loans ($41K) once that is taken care of I will resume my climb to maxing out my 401K and just paying the min on the SL that's left (~$20K)
I haven't done all the calculations yet but I think this pushes my $50K goal back a lot but we'll see how it goes.
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Correction - Jan 1, 2018 final numbers were $10,117.
UPDATE - January 12, 2018 - lots of good changes to report.
1. CD matured Jan 9 - rolled it over into:
CD 1 - at $3,000 @ 3% for 12 months
CD 2 - at $7,174.84 @ 2.25% for 15 months - I can add additional funds anytime up to $50K
2. Changed DD to go to the same bank so I can manually do an instant transfer of funds from checking into CD 2. (Jan-June = $1541x6mo= $9,246)
3. The plan is that I will stop adding funds in July-Aug-Sep while I am on vacation. Start up savings again in Oct-Nov $1541x2=$3082. December may be zero savings again.
Trying to be as realistic as I can. The ultimate goal for 2018 is to reach a min of $23K - stretch goal $25K.
3. New totals for January:
$ 3,000 CD1
$ 7,174.84 CD2
$ 1,541.- Jan Savings - scheduled to transfer into CD2 on Jan 17, 2018
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$ 11,715.84 plus interest at the EOM
I'm relieved to have the CD's in place and I am looking forward to seeing around $ 19,4 or so by Jun 2018. What makes this a real challenge for me at present is that I need to be bada$$ enough to also save an additional 200 mo for my travel fund and since I added $256.05 car pmt to my budget - it is indeed tight.
Wow, where did you go to get 3% cd for only 12 months?
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This seems like a great goal for me to jump in on.
Years back, I have been utterly frugal (paid off $31,000 in student loans quickly by working double and spending half) but then have spent the past few years putting any extra cash I have made towards big trips and art workshops.
In December I recommitted to saving and will update at the end of January with numbers from the last two months (it's helping that my partner and I committed to a 'no-shopping' year for 2018~
Good work everyone!
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Hi all. I’m still at a little over $25,000 because I ended up transferring $3000 to my student loans. I had an urge to just get that number down. I’m still on track for goals though! Keep it up everyone!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Correction - Jan 1, 2018 final numbers were $10,117.
UPDATE - January 12, 2018 - lots of good changes to report.
1. CD matured Jan 9 - rolled it over into:
CD 1 - at $3,000 @ 3% for 12 months
CD 2 - at $7,174.84 @ 2.25% for 15 months - I can add additional funds anytime up to $50K
2. Changed DD to go to the same bank so I can manually do an instant transfer of funds from checking into CD 2. (Jan-June = $1541x6mo= $9,246)
3. The plan is that I will stop adding funds in July-Aug-Sep while I am on vacation. Start up savings again in Oct-Nov $1541x2=$3082. December may be zero savings again.
Trying to be as realistic as I can. The ultimate goal for 2018 is to reach a min of $23K - stretch goal $25K.
3. New totals for January:
$ 3,000 CD1
$ 7,174.84 CD2
$ 1,541.- Jan Savings - scheduled to transfer into CD2 on Jan 17, 2018
---------------------------
$ 11,715.84 plus interest at the EOM
I'm relieved to have the CD's in place and I am looking forward to seeing around $ 19,4 or so by Jun 2018. What makes this a real challenge for me at present is that I need to be bada$$ enough to also save an additional 200 mo for my travel fund and since I added $256.05 car pmt to my budget - it is indeed tight.
Wow, where did you go to get 3% cd for only 12 months?
@DieHard_772 - Navy Federal Credit Union - offers a one time deal for all new members - it is 3% APR with a max of $3K for 12 months. They've had this offer for a long time, but I didn't have an extra 3K when I joined in Aug 2017 - so I took advantage this January.
Membership requirement is a military connection or active military - I'm a widow and my husband was military and I have a military ID for base - comes in handy with a 10% discount at Lowes and Home Depot too:)
... and your household members and your family members can open their own account (based on your membership.)
I like them all around - especially for overseas travel
I was actually surprised to find that their other CD offer - current promo - may go dead anytime:) for 2.25% APR is pretty much better than anything out there incl Ally and cohorts - because it starts at $50 and you can continue to add up to $50K.
UPDATE - just saw this post from the Money Blog in my inbox
3% CD - $5K min and he did an interesting comparison of the early withdrawal penalty between Ally's CD at only 2.35%
Here is the link http://www.mymoneyblog.com/connexus-credit-union-5-year-cd-penalty.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mymoneyblog+%28My+Money+Blog%29
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Hi all. Im still at a little over $25,000 because I ended up transferring $3000 to my student loans. I had an urge to just get that number down. Im still on track for goals though! Keep it up everyone!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@westtoeast - Yeah - I'm happy to see you are still on track for goals - completely understand that urge - sometimes one has to veer off the path - briefly - to keep the faith and keep on plugging:)
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This seems like a great goal for me to jump in on.
Years back, I have been utterly frugal (paid off $31,000 in student loans quickly by working double and spending half) but then have spent the past few years putting any extra cash I have made towards big trips and art workshops.
In December I recommitted to saving and will update at the end of January with numbers from the last two months (it's helping that my partner and I committed to a 'no-shopping' year for 2018~
Good work everyone!
Welcome to the challenge @Serendip ! Have you set a target date for your goal yet?
A no shopping year sounds bada$$:)
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[
In December I recommitted to saving and will update at the end of January with numbers from the last two months (it's helping that my partner and I committed to a 'no-shopping' year for 2018~
Good work everyone!
Welcome to the challenge @Serendip ! Have you set a target date for your goal yet?
A no shopping year sounds bada$$:)
[/quote]
Thanks Rosy,
I haven't set a target date since my income varies between year to year. I am self-employed and while there is generally always more work available I have given myself repetitive stress injuries before so need to just reduce spending, increase saving.
I will plug away as quickly as I can. The no-shopping year is surprisingly relieving..buying just isn't an option (we still could cut down on groceries, but for my SO it isn't about money as much as challenging our consumerism attitude!) We still can pay for 'experiences'..so have to be careful not to pursue that line too much.
Here's my progress, will be a bit slower in the future--some of this was due to repayments made to me
I would have to contribute around $2500/m to make $50,000 this year..and some months that is my income, other months it is half of it-- I am interested to see how close I can get!!
Dec 18/17 18,146.77
Jan 03/18 20,624.84
Jan 19/18 23,607.84
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@DieHard_772 - Navy Federal Credit Union - offers a one time deal for all new members - it is 3% APR with a max of $3K for 12 months. They've had this offer for a long time, but I didn't have an extra 3K when I joined in Aug 2017 - so I took advantage this January.
Membership requirement is a military connection or active military - I'm a widow and my husband was military and I have a military ID for base - comes in handy with a 10% discount at Lowes and Home Depot too:)
... and your household members and your family members can open their own account (based on your membership.)
I like them all around - especially for overseas travel
I was actually surprised to find that their other CD offer - current promo - may go dead anytime:) for 2.25% APR is pretty much better than anything out there incl Ally and cohorts - because it starts at $50 and you can continue to add up to $50K.
UPDATE - just saw this post from the Money Blog in my inbox
3% CD - $5K min and he did an interesting comparison of the early withdrawal penalty between Ally's CD at only 2.35%
Here is the link http://www.mymoneyblog.com/connexus-credit-union-5-year-cd-penalty.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mymoneyblog+%28My+Money+Blog%29
@Rosy
Interesting,
Thanks for the info
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Spreadsheet shows our networth at nearly $17k for first time ever. Money is about to come out for expenses, yet still that is awesome progress.
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Hi all. Im still at a little over $25,000 because I ended up transferring $3000 to my student loans. I had an urge to just get that number down. Im still on track for goals though! Keep it up everyone!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@westtoeast - Yeah - I'm happy to see you are still on track for goals - completely understand that urge - sometimes one has to veer off the path - briefly - to keep the faith and keep on plugging:)
Thanks Rosy! Yeah, I feel OK about it. It is really nice to see a lower debt number on my Mint account!
Just reached 27,000 (24,800 investments, $2200 emergency fund).
I've been debating my EF amount lately. I also have read along with the thread discussing the amount folks keep. I've decided it is more important for me right now to divert more into investments and loan repayment. $2200 would only cover 1.4 months of basic expenses, but I'm in a secure job (knock on wood, but I've got tenure) and could tap my Roth or use my large open credit in a really dire situation. Hopefully this is an OK choice. Obviously, I'll get the EF higher if I can but investments will stay the priority.
New Goals:
August 2018--> $34,000 investments + $2000 EF = NW $36,000
August 2019--> $55,000 investments + $4000 EF = NW $59,000 (hopefully I'll cross the $50k line in spring 2019)
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3. New totals for January:
$ 3,000 CD1
$ 7,174.84 CD2
$ 1,541.- Jan Savings - scheduled to transfer into CD2 on Jan 17, 2018
---------------------------
$ 11,715.84 plus interest at the EOM
Starting out February with
$11,715.84
FEBRUARY
$11,715.84
$ 1,541.- Feb 21 - auto transfer
$ 600. - xtra savings trsf Feb 1
$ 10.90 Int
$ 5.36 Int
_________________________________
$13,873.10 TOTAL - updated Feb 1, 2018
Whew - I'm back on track:)
@westtoeast
You know it is hard to resist investing while the market is up. As long as you have enough to pull from if something bad happens, I think I'd opt for investing too. But, like you said, I'd try to shore up the EF whenever possible.
Ultimately I'd like to have one year worth of expenses $36K in an EF - one-third cash - two-thirds CD. I'm not there yet, by a long shot. We are benefitting from the market via Mr. R's 401K and other investments, but that can change tomorrow. It is scary to know he's only about six years away from retirement, who knows how the market will fare in that time?
I think it is smart to build in a margin for safety and consider worst-case scenarios - like a 10-15 year downturn of the market or a forced early retirement before we are ready.
Note: Updated figures Feb 1, 2018 instead of a new post.
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January Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
Increase of $1,902.66 this is pretty much all due to the market. I only contributed about $350 between myself and my employer match.
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January Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
Increase of $1,902.66 this is pretty much all due to the market. I only contributed about $350 between myself and my employer match.
Awesome
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January Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
Increase of $1,902.66 this is pretty much all due to the market. I only contributed about $350 between myself and my employer match.
Awesome
Oh, Haypug I wish I could say that - color me green with envy for the next five minutes:)
Those are truly awesome results!
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Update as of 2/1....
What a month! My retirement account jumped from 35,700 to 38,500! Only about $1200 of that was from contributions, the rest was the market
In other news.... Rosy, I should have taken your advice about getting extra sleep while I could... Baby boy was born on Jan 10th, and I unexpectedly needed a c-section, and we came home from the hospital to my 22-month old daughter, who had gotten the flu! It was a rough couple of weeks keeping the two separated and caring for both plus myself... but now I have two beautiful, healthy babies!
Also, haypug, just my two cents, I agree with your decision to decrease 401k contributions while paying off debt, especially the 6k of credit cards. Relatively soon your debt will be gone! and you can bump up retirement contributions then.
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Update as of 2/1....
What a month! My retirement account jumped from 35,700 to 38,500! Only about $1200 of that was from contributions, the rest was the market
In other news.... Rosy, I should have taken your advice about getting extra sleep while I could... Baby boy was born on Jan 10th, and I unexpectedly needed a c-section, and we came home from the hospital to my 22-month old daughter, who had gotten the flu! It was a rough couple of weeks keeping the two separated and caring for both plus myself... but now I have two beautiful, healthy babies!
Also, haypug, just my two cents, I agree with your decision to decrease 401k contributions while paying off debt, especially the 6k of credit cards. Relatively soon your debt will be gone! and you can bump up retirement contributions then.
You guys are killing it!
Wow - Mommy Cake - that was no walk in the park. Glad you and the babies are fine! I hope baby boy is an easy baby:)
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Update as of 2/1....
What a month! My retirement account jumped from 35,700 to 38,500! Only about $1200 of that was from contributions, the rest was the market
In other news.... Rosy, I should have taken your advice about getting extra sleep while I could... Baby boy was born on Jan 10th, and I unexpectedly needed a c-section, and we came home from the hospital to my 22-month old daughter, who had gotten the flu! It was a rough couple of weeks keeping the two separated and caring for both plus myself... but now I have two beautiful, healthy babies!
Also, haypug, just my two cents, I agree with your decision to decrease 401k contributions while paying off debt, especially the 6k of credit cards. Relatively soon your debt will be gone! and you can bump up retirement contributions then.
Congrats on your baby boy! and for the increase in your retirement account.
Thanks to decreasing my 401K contribution my CC debt is now down to $4,800 and should be completely gone by April. :)
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Congrats to Mommycakes!!
Made it to the halfway point..so glad I rediscovered my wits, I had been waffling away my money for the past 2 years :)
What a difference a few months makes!
Dec 18/17 18,146
Jan 03/18 20,624
Jan 19/18 23,607
Feb 06/18 25,073
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Yay, halfway point for Serendip!
Agreed, focus is everything. My mantra is, I am re-directing my money.
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Whelp, I'm back below the 1/2 mark.
- The market correction knocked me down about $2000
- Needed $500 from my EF because I had a medical expense that used up my deductible
- Owed taxes!
I'm side hustling a lot this month so I'll be able to restore the EF pretty quickly.
This is my first market correction since I've only been investing for a few years. I'm probably not the only one here in that boat. I'm trying to relax about it and stay the course by contributing every paycheck no matter what. It was just so satisfying to see that "25,000" investment number on my Mint account! Of course, it could go right back up again. Who knows.
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@westtoeastcoast - ouch!
This is probably a good time to not look at your statement until the market stabilizes a bit more. Easier said than done.
I don't have to deal with Market Volatility at present since my goal is strictly a CD stash but I gasp when I look at Mr. R's investments. In the long run, the market always beats savings - so you may well be way up again, by the time I reach my halfway point.
Of course, if unexpected big bills hit, I'll have to stop saving and deal with those instead. There is not enough money to do both, although I have a small EF, my slush fund is depleted and my EF is lower than it has been in two years.
I hear you on the side hustles. I'm not doing so well in that arena either, but plan to rev it up a bit, my goal is a min of $1K extra this year - I'd like to see more, we'll see.
I am waiting on $200 and hope to make another $50 online by March 1st.
Thinking of selling a couple of gemstones and adding the money to the stash. Originally, I wanted to hold onto them for ten years, but now I think I will at least find out for sure what I could sell them for now.
I really struggled last year to get back on track with the stash so I am a bit spooked about how well this year will go. I even contemplated giving up altogether, so staying the course was a win in a way.
Besides, if you are the one who crowed and started this thread you can't just go hide under a rock - you find a way to make it happen anyway.
There are times when I think this goal is way too ambitious considering my income and I'm only fooling myself thinking that I will ever get there - like today:).
It helps to see that I'm not the only one having issues and I appreciate all the support and input from all of you. We're mustachians we can do this!:)
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How is everyone doing?
$13,873.10 Feb 24, 2018
$ 1,541.- Mar savings (SS)
$ 300.- bank bonus (Feb)
$ 150.- extra savings from discretionary funds (Mar)
$ 60.- B-day cash
Projected Total $ 15,924 ~ EOM March 2018
So happy to be back on track.
Hoping to hit a min of $25K by Dec 2018, stretch goal of $28K plus:). Even that $25K seems a long way away right now!
$34,076 ~ to go!
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So far, so good @Rosy ..just plugging away bit by bit!
I have been picking up extra shifts but also am going home for a week so it will just cover my losses *but worth it of course
Dec 18/17 18,146
Jan 03/18 20,624
Jan 19/18 23,607
Feb 06/18 25,073
Feb 24/18 27,000
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@Serendip - good for you on the extra shifts, that helps! Just look at your numbers from Dec to Feb almost $10K - you are golden:)
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@Serendip - good for you on the extra shifts, that helps! Just look at your numbers from Dec to Feb almost $10K - you are golden:)
Thank you @Rosy ...it's amazing to me as well! Hoping I don't have to pull from this stash for taxes but if I do, I'll just keep at it.
We still have 10 months to go!
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I'll post a formal update on Wednesday but really happy to see my 401K recovering from the market correction.
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February Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69 decrease of $669.56
Market has not fully recovered but it's getting there, I was down over $2K earlier in the month. My contributions were $177.34 so I guess I'm really down about $850 for the month. I should be able to up my contribution by April or May to 6% once my Credit Card Debt is gone! Only $2,200 left to pay off. :)
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@westtoeastcoast - ouch!
This is probably a good time to not look at your statement until the market stabilizes a bit more. Easier said than done.
...
I really struggled last year to get back on track with the stash so I am a bit spooked about how well this year will go. I even contemplated giving up altogether, so staying the course was a win in a way.
Besides, if you are the one who crowed and started this thread you can't just go hide under a rock - you find a way to make it happen anyway.
There are times when I think this goal is way too ambitious considering my income and I'm only fooling myself thinking that I will ever get there - like today:).
It helps to see that I'm not the only one having issues and I appreciate all the support and input from all of you. We're mustachians we can do this!:)
Thanks Rosy-- I want to be strong enough not to look when dips happen! Luckily things have recovered a bit in the market and I made a few more paycheck contributions so I'm now up to $26,500. This is only a little shy of my plan. Obviously the lesson here is not to get emotionally invested in market ups and downs because they are part of the process.
And this goal is not too ambitious for you. You WILL get there! Sounds like everyone on this thread has had setbacks at some point but we are also all making progress-- imagine how much worse setbacks would be if we didn't have this savings goal driving us, or if we didn't use MMM strategies in our lives.
Finally, I'm so glad you started this thread! It is so nice to see a goal on this forum that feels actually attainable, and to hear from other folks that I can relate to. So thank you, and keep going! We need ya!
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THANK YOU @westtoeastcoast
Thanks for the reminder that I am in good company - we all have had setbacks, but we keep on trucking:)
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Good work everyone!
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Jan 19/18 $ 23,607
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 03/18 $ 28,477
Here is my update..savings for the next month & half will most likely be used up to pay taxes (I made over what was estimated & am self-employed)..but hoping my increased RRSP contributions will balance it all out. Would love to hit $30,000 and stay there (not dip below post taxes) by the end of April.
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Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the well wishes on the baby :)
My last check in was on 2/1, and my TSP was at 38,500. My loss from market correction was minimal, somehow. Today my account is at about 39,600. I've put in (my contributions + match) about $1720 this month but see only an $1100 increase in balance. It could definitely be worse.
Next month the balance should increase, but minimally. I think I am making only one deposit instead of two due to running out of paid time off. I'm taking about 5 weeks unpaid, so I may be at a standstill for the next couple of months.
Serendip, you're doing great! Your increases are tremendous! No doubt you will hit $30k soon. Hopefully taxes won't be too much and you can cash flow it instead of taking from savings. Or even better, maybe you won't owe at all!
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Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the well wishes on the baby :)
My last check in was on 2/1, and my TSP was at 38,500. My loss from market correction was minimal, somehow. Today my account is at about 39,600. I've put in (my contributions + match) about $1720 this month but see only an $1100 increase in balance. It could definitely be worse.
Next month the balance should increase, but minimally. I think I am making only one deposit instead of two due to running out of paid time off. I'm taking about 5 weeks unpaid, so I may be at a standstill for the next couple of months.
Serendip, you're doing great! Your increases are tremendous! No doubt you will hit $30k soon. Hopefully taxes won't be too much and you can cash flow it instead of taking from savings. Or even better, maybe you won't owe at all!
Thanks @MommyCake--good work for you as well!
:) I have been able to save a high percentage of my paycheques..it is very satisfying but I am sure will fluctuate throughout the year. These challenges are keeping me inspired
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Update as of Mar 21, 2018
$15, 437.56
I had hopes of hitting $16K this month ... we shall see. Good going everyone!:)
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How are y'all ending the month of March - going out like a lamb or roaring like a lion?:)
I swear every dollar counts:) - I reached my secretly lusted after goal of $16K for this month after all, whew:)
But only thanks to my tax refund of $246.
Lots of little $ changes throughout the month, but somehow I made it happen:)
So, new balance as of Mar 27, 2018 = $16,007.
$33,993 to go until $50K
Target date: Dec 2019.
April 2018
$16,007 Bal
+ 1,541 sav - Apr
+ 25 int - Apr
__________
$ 17,573 expected total end of April.
I do wish I could save more, but for now, this is the best I can do. Too many other irons in the fire:)
Continuing this course should bring me to about $20,715 by June 2018.
July - Aug - Sep will be zero savings - I'll be out of the country on a bucket list vacay.
The plan is to pick up savings again Oct to Dec - 3 mo sav $4623. plus $1K in x-tra sav/int. = $ 26,338 by EOY 2018 estimated total.
May the odds be in your favor!
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Great JOB @Rosy!! That's fantastic that you reached your goal :)
I am still 'stuck' at 28,000 due to my need to pay taxes (made more than expected last year). Still don't know exactly what I owe, but am not squirreling away any more cash until I have that sorted--then back to it.
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Thanks @Serendip - you're still way ahead of me:). I hope the taxes will not impact your goal too much or for too long.
Finally hitting $16K this month will pretty much ensure that I hit $20K by June 2018 and that is a huge milestone for me.
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Great job Rosy!
March is looking OK for me. My number is going to pretty flat due to the market correction and slow recover/savings on my end. I did finally pay of the last of my credit card debt this past week! So that means I can increase my contribution in April from 3% to 6%. After that I hope to increase by 1% a month (at least) until I get to the max.
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^^^ Congrats on paying off the last of your credit card debt @haypug16.
Flat or not it is still progress for your stash.
Fingers crossed for April - 3% is a fine increase, let's hope the markets cooperate.
The good news is we are all still hanging in there and plugging along ... toward sweet victory!
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Congrats Haypug!!!! No more credit card debt is Fantastic news!!!!!
I haven't made any contributions to my retirement account since my last update, since I haven't been working. But I go back tomorrow, so soon enough I'll be increasing again. I only made $100 in market returns since 3/6. My balance is right around 39,700. Honestly I'm just happy that I didn't lose anything.
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Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 03/18 $ 28,477
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
*I've stashed away $3000 so far for extra tax costs and will keep doing so until I see my book-keeper, hopefully soon so I know what the damage is :)
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Our net worth shot up to 22,000 briefly for the first time. :)
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March Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51- $(289.18) decrease
Increased my contribution to 6% from 3% for April. Should hopefully start to see this number go up. I need to save close to $20K by the end of the year to hit my goal.
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I'm starting April with 27,400 invested & 2,000 in EF! Will be over 31,000 assuming no market gains or losses.
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We are all getting there - one month at a time!
Update to March EOM - $16, 026.77 (every dollar counts, right?:)
$33,974 to go until $50K
Target date: Dec 2019.
Projected:
April 2018
$16,026 Bal - April 1, 2018
+ 1,541 savings - April 18, 2018, plus interest.
Fingers crossed that I will hit $20K+ by the end of June 2018.
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@DieHard - Yay - welcome to the club - looking forward to seeing your goals and your plans on how to make it all happen:)!
Update for October - looks like there will be just a little bit of incoming funds for saving - wayyy better than zero:)
Thanks Rosy. The Race to 10K thread was really helpful and encouraging, and I'm sure this will be too.
As for me, here are our current numbers (I am including money that will be spent in the next few months for simplicity... and maybe to pad the numbers a bit, but hey! Also, to be fair,
this only includes money in my bank account, not my wife's, and there are other things that are technically assets like some silver coins and of course things we own. Maybe in the future
I will add some of those to help with the numbers a bit on our race to $20K networth, we'll see)
OUR ASSETS: $15654
Money for spending: $1952
Savings: $2125
Our Investments (my IRAs, my wife's Sep-IRA, and our HSA): $11,576
OUR LIABILITIES: -7305
Credit card: -$2925
Student loan: -$4380
TOTAL NETWORTH:
$8349
Considering that, by my calculation, our networth was nearly -$15k two years, I would say we are making great progress!
Onward to the next milestone: $20k!
It's been awhile since I updated, so I will compare where we were six months ago to now:
COMPARISON (OCTOBER 2017 TO APRIL 2018)
OUR ASSETS: THEN: $15654 NOW: $26,000 (+$10,000)
Money for spending: THEN: $1952 NOW: $4500 (+$2500)
Savings: THEN: $2125 NOW: $6500 (+$4375)
Our Investments (my IRAs, my wife's Sep-IRA, and our HSA): THEN: $11,576 NOW: $15,100 (+$3500)
OUR LIABILITIES: THEN: -7305 NOW: -5733 (+$1575)
Credit card: THEN: -$2925 NOW: -$1750 (+$1175)
Student loan: THEN: -$4380 NOW: -$3980 (+$400)
TOTAL NETWORTH:
THEN: $8349 NOW: $20,000 (+$11,500)
I definitely simplified and averaged out things a little bit here, so numbers are not exact. Also, there's about $2700 about to come out for taxes, so that will impact the networth. But this is a decent snapshot, and much progress is being made!
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Wow - @DieHard_772 that is indeed some serious progress. I like that you not only saved a good chunk and also paid down your debt further, but you now have more money available to spend as well. Triple win!
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Very nice DieHard!
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Wow - @DieHard_772 that is indeed some serious progress. I like that you not only saved a good chunk and also paid down your debt further, but you now have more money available to spend as well. Triple win!
Thanks Rosy. the "Spending money" really is the account that tracks monthly expenses, so it fluctuates all the time. The fact that it was lower back in October might have been coincidental. but the overall progress in all areas (savings, investments, and debt) is really cool!
Looking back on it, it really wasn't that hard because we are so focused on increasing our stash: we increased our HSA contributions, my wife and I both continue to contribute to IRAs, I'm widdling down the credit card balance (to be completely paid off by September). I also got more aggressive about putting aside money "for a rainy day" (what I like to call a "Contingency Fund," some people call it an "Emergency Fund"). This has been really comforting to have.
I'm looking forward to continuing the progress..
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Very nice DieHard!
Thank you!
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Projected:
April 2018
$16,026 Bal - April 1, 2018
+ 1,541 savings - April 18, 2018, plus interest.
Fingers crossed that I will hit $20K+ by the end of June 2018.
Well hell, I decided on a different tactic for reaching that coveted $20K, because it is driving me crazy. So instead of waiting for June, I'm swapping this goal out with my travel fund goal and sent $2400 to my CD this morning.
That means that I will reach my interim goal of $20K by Apr 18.
$16,026 Bal - Apr 1
2,400 savings - Apr 16
1,541 savings - Apr 18 + interest $30? = Total $20K~
The plan is to focus on other goals from May to Sep, mostly travel. I think it will be simpler and easier to focus on one goal at a time.
Ultimately, I want to end 2018 at the halfway mark or better - so I am shooting for $25K min, but will work on finding another $3K in savings to make it $28K total.
For now I am just relieved I hit $20K - I'm ready to turn my happy thoughts toward my one and only bucket list trip. "Only" $30K more to go:)
Do you all get as impatient about reaching your goals as I do? I just want it all and I want it now:)
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Do you all get as impatient about reaching your goals as I do? I just want it all and I want it now:)
Nope, I've never been impatient... haha... as if, it used to be the bane of my existence! haha...
What helped me was to start really appreciating the progress we are making. When I realized that our networth has grown by $25k in the past two years (never happened before), this started to change my default attitude from impatience to appreciation :)
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Do you all get as impatient about reaching your goals as I do? I just want it all and I want it now:)
Nope, I've never been impatient... haha... as if, it used to be the bane of my existence! haha...
What helped me was to start really appreciating the progress we are making. When I realized that our networth has grown by $25k in the past two years (never happened before), this started to change my default attitude from impatience to appreciation :)
Now that is downright profound DieHard! ... and goes a long way toward reducing self-created stress over arbitrary financial goals.
Love that - ... from patience to appreciation!
I may stick that on my bathroom mirror:)
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Do you all get as impatient about reaching your goals as I do? I just want it all and I want it now:)
Nope, I've never been impatient... haha... as if, it used to be the bane of my existence! haha...
What helped me was to start really appreciating the progress we are making. When I realized that our networth has grown by $25k in the past two years (never happened before), this started to change my default attitude from impatience to appreciation :)
Now that is downright profound DieHard! ... and goes a long way toward reducing self-created stress over arbitrary financial goals.
Love that - ... from patience to appreciation!
I may stick that on my bathroom mirror:)
Glad it helped @Rosy.
So what has your progress been over say the past 1, 2, or 5 years? :)
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Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 03/18 $ 28,477
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
Was right that I owed more for taxes...thankfully, I had stashed almost exactly the right amount (an extra $3400). The perils of self-employment!
Still heading in the right direction and low-spending means I even saved a bit extra.
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Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 03/18 $ 28,477
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
Was right that I owed more for taxes...thankfully, I had stashed almost exactly the right amount (an extra $3400). The perils of self-employment!
Still heading in the right direction and low-spending means I even saved a bit extra.
Congrats, that is awesome... that you had the extra money for taxes, and that your stash grew by $12k since December.
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I think I'll join you all..
The threads I saw earlier were all like racing from 100k to 200k or something like 1M to 2M and I felt so disheartened. I'm glad I found this thread.
I'm just starting on my mustachian journey even though I'm 35 yrs old. Better late than never!!
So here are my investment numbers -
Vanguard - 14000
Betterment - 4400
Savings - 10000
I'm putting about 1500$ monthly towards investment. Not bumping up the savings as I feel $10000 is sufficient.
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Welcome QuillScroll!
@Rosy I get impatient as well but the monthly and sometimes semi-monthly updates help with that.
It's looking like April will be a much better month than March for me. So I'm impatient to post an update but I'll hold off until the end of the month :)
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I think I'll join you all..
The threads I saw earlier were all like racing from 100k to 200k or something like 1M to 2M and I felt so disheartened. I'm glad I found this thread.
I'm just starting on my mustachian journey even though I'm 35 yrs old. Better late than never!!
So here are my investment numbers -
Vanguard - 14000
Betterment - 4400
Savings - 10000
I'm putting about 1500$ monthly towards investment. Not bumping up the savings as I feel $10000 is sufficient.
Welcome to the club @QuillScroll ! We are happy that you found us - good luck with your goals going forward!
I know, it can be slightly discouraging to look into the other threads.
The good news is that you are obviously on your way. That $10K savings is looking good, better yet, you moved past EF territory into investment territory.
So now there is nothing to stop you from reaching FI ...:) eventually.
What timeframe have you set for yourself?
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Welcome QuillScroll!
@Rosy I get impatient as well but the monthly and sometimes semi-monthly updates help with that.
It's looking like April will be a much better month than March for me. So I'm impatient to post an update but I'll hold off until the end of the month :)
Yay, @ haypug - we all need a little boost once in a while! It is gratifying to see we are all getting somewhere.
Agreed, the updates are good motivation and as long as I have a deadline it will keep calling my name and I'll incessantly play around with numbers and possibilities - not that I have that much at my disposal, but I'm getting there, slow and steady - $50K here I come.
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Thanks Rosy and haypug16
@Rosy, I have not set any timeline. Frankly, I'm very very new to investing. I just feel so dumb that I had not invested for so long. So I'm trying to take all this in and just reading through others progress and journey.
My goal is to make atleast 1500$ towards investment monthly.
As much as I rue the opportunities missed all these years, I cannot crib much because I'm in a better position than many others thanks to my Job. I don;t have any debt other than primary home mortgage and two car loans. There are times I beat myself up for all the extravagant spending I had done in the past when I could have stashed them away as savings or investment but I also feel gratitude that I don't have ant bad debts (read CC ).
I'm glad I woke up now. As they say, better late than never!!
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@QuillScroll we're here now and we'll make it count:)
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Thanks Rosy and haypug16
@Rosy, I have not set any timeline. Frankly, I'm very very new to investing. I just feel so dumb that I had not invested for so long. So I'm trying to take all this in and just reading through others progress and journey.
My goal is to make atleast 1500$ towards investment monthly.
As much as I rue the opportunities missed all these years, I cannot crib much because I'm in a better position than many others thanks to my Job. I don;t have any debt other than primary home mortgage and two car loans. There are times I beat myself up for all the extravagant spending I had done in the past when I could have stashed them away as savings or investment but I also feel gratitude that I don't have ant bad debts (read CC ).
I'm glad I woke up now. As they say, better late than never!!
@QuillScroll
Don't I know the feeling! The key is to make the best of it.
Our wife and I have steadily increased our networth by an average of over $1000 per month over the last 3 years... this is more progress than we have ever made. Do I hope to improve upon this? Absolutely. Yet I'm learning to appreciate the progress, rather than feeling bad that it wasn't sooner blah blah blah.
Here's a really cool statement that I have been using personally:
"I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will have MORE money because of my saving efforts than I would have otherwise!"
As I tell my piano students, it's about progress, not perfection!
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Numbers at the end of this month -
04/18 - $37900
I bumped up my vanguard investments from whatever I had left over in my checkings account, that's why you see a considerable jump in the numbers.
I also made a $500 additional payment towards mortgage principal. But I did not include that in this calculation. It may not be a regular monthly thing. I'll only do it if anything is left over at the end of month.
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So looks like I should hit the target of $50000 in 8-9 months (around new year 2019!! YAY!!) if I continue to contribute $1500 per month. But that's the challenge, I should keep my focus and not return to being spendypants.
Counting on you all to hold me accountable.
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So looks like I should hit the target of $50000 in 8-9 months (around new year 2019!! YAY!!) if I continue to contribute $1500 per month. But that's the challenge, I should keep my focus and not return to being spendypants.
Counting on you all to hold me accountable.
There's also the unpredictability of the market to consider... You don't know where it will be in 9 months... Yet your efforts will pay off either way
-
Good job everyone!
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 03/18 $ 28,477
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
Apr 30/18 $31,290
***slowly but surely, heading in the right direction :)
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^^^ now those are some sweet numbers, Serendip!:)
Update - final numbers for April:
$ 17,026.93 - CD 1 @ 2.25%
$ 3,027.13 - CD 2 @ 3%
___________________________
TOTAL: $ 20,054.06
I'll be taking a break from this goal this month, while I work on my travel fund and related expenses - probably until Sep or Oct.
Meanwhile, I'll be posting only the interest earned ~ $31 ~ ea mo.
I don't know if I can stand seeing this goal put on ice:) wish I had a fairy godmother or a lottery win or something to come to the rescue in the interim.
THE current PLAN - subject to change:
Oct-Nov-Dec will be normal savings months.
My plan says those three months will add a min of $4,620, plus interest.
Realistically that will put me at ~ $25,000 min - the halfway mark by EOY 2018. I'd love to see $27K since my ultimate goal is $50K by Dec 2019. So the more I save this year, the easier it will be to meet my goal at the end of next year.
$29,945.94 to go!
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Welcome QuillScroll! Looks like you and I will be hitting our goals around the same time :)
This month I was feeling a bit down about my progress over the past year, so I looked through all my posts to see my progression. I likedhow Serendip's posts look showing the monthly increases. Turns out, I am making progress every month even though sometimes it feels dreadfully slow. I feel much better seeing it in black and white. Heres my TSP account progress so far, with the update of finally hitting 40k in April!
6/9/17 29,000
7/7/17 29,500
7/19/17 30,000
8/2/17 30,500
9/5/17 31,000
9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
Now that I'm back to work collecting paychecks and know the new daycare expenses, I was able to bump up my TSP contributions again. So the next update should show some decent progress hopefully!
Good luck everyone!
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April Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20 +935.69 Increase
$18,671.80 left to reach my year end goal of $50K. This will be tough but I have increased my 401K contribution again for this month. Up to 8% from 6%. Will increase again next month if all goes well. My monthly increase needs to be more like $2k and over but nearly $1k this month is not bad. I'll take it.
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Woo, I crossed the $30,000 mark due to the markets the past few days! I won't hold my breath for it to stay that way, but it is a rather fulfilling number to see showing up on my Mint account.
Hoping for $35,000 by the end of August.
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April Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20 +935.69 Increase
$18,671.80 left to reach my year end goal of $50K. This will be tough but I have increased my 401K contribution again for this month. Up to 8% from 6%. Will increase again next month if all goes well. My monthly increase needs to be more like $2k and over but nearly $1k this month is not bad. I'll take it.
Awesome @haypug16 , keep it up
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Woo, I crossed the $30,000 mark due to the markets the past few days! I won't hold my breath for it to stay that way, but it is a rather fulfilling number to see showing up on my Mint account.
Hoping for $35,000 by the end of August.
That is awesome, congrats @westtoeast
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This month I was feeling a bit down about my progress over the past year, so I looked through all my posts to see my progression. I likedhow Serendip's posts look showing the monthly increases. Turns out, I am making progress every month even though sometimes it feels dreadfully slow. I feel much better seeing it in black and white.
I often feel like progress has stalled and the list helps show me the reality @MommyCake ! It's true, we are moving in the right direction, some months more quickly than others but that's okay too.
I am about to have two weeks off of work, so may not save as much this upcoming month but that's incentive to see if I can pick up a few shifts when I return feeling refreshed.
Great work everyone :)
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
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Welcome QuillScroll! Looks like you and I will be hitting our goals around the same time :)
This month I was feeling a bit down about my progress over the past year, so I looked through all my posts to see my progression. I likedhow Serendip's posts look showing the monthly increases. Turns out, I am making progress every month even though sometimes it feels dreadfully slow. I feel much better seeing it in black and white. Heres my TSP account progress so far, with the update of finally hitting 40k in April!
6/9/17 29,000
7/7/17 29,500
7/19/17 30,000
8/2/17 30,500
9/5/17 31,000
9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
Now that I'm back to work collecting paychecks and know the new daycare expenses, I was able to bump up my TSP contributions again. So the next update should show some decent progress hopefully!
Good luck everyone!
You are doing incredible @MommyCake don't think otherwise. I wish my retirement account had grown by almost $12k in the past 11 months!
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@DieHard_772 - I think you are right, I need to go back and pull my monthly numbers and list them so that I can see and appreciate my progress better. I'll do that for the June progress report.
You also asked about progress over a one, three and five year period, that will be an interesting exercise:).
Here you go:
FIVE years ago: $8,5K debt - no savings, slush fund $500.
THREE years ago: $6,7K debt - no savings, EF $500, slush fund $500 = the year I found MMM.
*************************************************************************************************
ONE year ago - 2017:
ZERO debt - $22K savings - $3K EF and $1K slush fund.
*********************************************
1. Purchased a new/used car $10K - paid cash
2. Purchased a new/used car $12K - paid $2K down, took out car loan
3. Vacation - $3K cash
4. Eye surgery - $14K - paid cash
Ended the year 2017 with $10K savings - zero debt except for car loan - $2K travel fund - $3K EF/slush fund.
**********************************************************************************************
2018 - current as of May
$3K - family obligations - cash
$1K - ticket - cash - (my upcoming bucket list trip)
$600. - computer/printer - cash
As of today: $20K savings - zero debt except that damn car loan - $3,8K travel fund - $3K EF/slush fund.
********************************************************************************************
Thanks to MMM and all you lovely people in this forum:) - could not have done it without your constant motivation.
1. As far as NW for the two of us:
***************************
Currently $500K plus a paid for house and no debt from Mr. R. either, except for a zero percent interest rate car loan down to below $5K.
Mr. R. plans to work until 62 to increase the stash and because he likes his job. He plans to draw SS when he turns 66.
2. I'm already retired with a $37K income (after medical insurance).
*******************************************************
This $50K is my last MMM inspired stash - cash cushion/EF goal.
The plan is to reach $25K plus by Dec 2018 and $50K by NLT Dec 2019.
We are FI, enjoying a paid for house in a vacation/beach paradise area - just doing what we can to improve the stash until Mr. R. is ready to pull the trigger.
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We are all making progress! Good going, everyone!
OK then - I pulled my data by month, finally! It is really weird to see I started out with 4K and how I got stuck at $10K when the finances went all to hell in August 2017. Took me until Dec 2017 to recover and then I doubled it all in four months.
May-Jun-July-Aug will not see any savings either, but Sep might - then it's full throttle again in Oct-Nov-Dec.
I'd really like to see $25K plus by Dec 2018 - the halfway point would be a great Christmas gift:)
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 29,945.94 to go
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Joining the race!
2,500 E-fund (down from 3,593 from medical expense this month)
3,908 Taxable brokerage
3,884 Roth IRA
12,336 401K
10,475 Savings (discover online)
Total : 33,103
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Joining the race!
2,500 E-fund (down from 3,593 from medical expense this month)
3,908 Taxable brokerage
3,884 Roth IRA
12,336 401K
10,475 Savings (discover online)
Total : 33,103
@ vae Welcome to the club - I mean challenge:)
Looks like you've already got a great start - sorry about the medical expenses, but at least you had the E Fund in place already.
What is your savings MO - do you save X $ in all areas or an overall percentage?, or are you working on one item on your list at a time?
Specific goals or time deadlines?
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Rosy, your numbers for 2018 are looking amazing! Almost 10k already :)
I have a question about FI, and if I'm being nosy just say so! Are you FI because your retirement income is more than expenses? The reason I ask is because i go back and forth on whether I could be considered FI. I have minimal savings and small net worth, but my "passive" income is more than my expenses minus daycare. But that income could decrease, my expenses could increase, etc. etc. At what point exactly is someone considered FI? Sorry I know this is a bit off-topic.
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Joining the race!
2,500 E-fund (down from 3,593 from medical expense this month)
3,908 Taxable brokerage
3,884 Roth IRA
12,336 401K
10,475 Savings (discover online)
Total : 33,103
@ vae Welcome to the club - I mean challenge:)
Looks like you've already got a great start - sorry about the medical expenses, but at least you had the E Fund in place already.
What is your savings MO - do you save X $ in all areas or an overall percentage?, or are you working on one item on your list at a time?
Specific goals or time deadlines?
Those are great questions! My savings strategy currently is pretty disorganized and will need to be updated to a Pay yourself first strategy once my expenses are higher to make sure savings comes out first thing. I budget based on pay period, so once my second paycheck of the month comes in, whatever is left over from the first is added to the small emergency fund to keep 3,500 then to Discover savings and sometimes to the Roth. The same thing is done once the first paycheck of the month hits my account.
Im currently projected to hit 50,000 February 2019 based on dollars to be saved and invested in my 401k but hopefully the market helps out as well! Again, expenses will be higher since I will be moving, but I hope to stick to this timeline!
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Rosy, your numbers for 2018 are looking amazing! Almost 10k already :)
I have a question about FI, and if I'm being nosy just say so! Are you FI because your retirement income is more than expenses? The reason I ask is because i go back and forth on whether I could be considered FI. I have minimal savings and small net worth, but my "passive" income is more than my expenses minus daycare. But that income could decrease, my expenses could increase, etc. etc. At what point exactly is someone considered FI? Sorry I know this is a bit off-topic.
Ha, 2018 was sheer savings grit so far, so yes I'm proud I made it to almost ten. Dang, now that you put it that way:) I feel compelled to come up with another $117 just to move past that 10K number.
@MommyCake - about the FI
FI can be a rather squirly number since everyone's sense of security, skill set and resources are different. It's not that easy to trust the numbers IRL:)
I think you are right to be wary of barebones FI, knowing there is still a certain amount of risk in relying on your current income stream to say I am FI without reservation.
At its simplest FI is nothing but an income replacement for the amount of money you need to be comfortable each month. If you did fine with X and had only X in savings/EF - why do you think that would change significantly? and if it did, what options do you have?
Fear of miscalculation is normal - so put it to the test say for six months to a year and then you know:)
I suppose you could apply the 25 times your annual income formula as the barebones starting point for permanent FI (without ongoing income streams), same as for fire/fu money. Maybe I'm confused too, but if your passive income stream(s) cover your expenses and you have (enough) savings and can continue to work on your NW to increase your stash along the way - then - other than shoring up your savings to one year of living expenses (I like to be cautious) I'd say congrats - you are FI:)
There were some big FI discussion threads last year on the Welcome thread, a fair number said they wanted at least 500K to 750K to consider themselves barebones FI - towards retirement.
I consider myself FI, because I now have four sources of income for life, plus health insurance for life. I found MMM around the same time that I applied for SS. By then I had already decided that since I lived without that SS income all along, I'd make it count and use it to fix my financial life.
For me SS turned out to be a gamechanger.
SS gave me the opportunity for a last-ditch effort to become FI again for the second time in my life - I already was FI way back in my early forties with a paid for house and rentals and a much better income than I have today.
I lost it all and came back to the states with nothing but two suitcases, starting over at 48 - so you know I don't really believe in financial security, it is an illusion - too easily destroyed.
For me, my $37K income means FI. It is the total after all deductions like taxes and medical insurance premiums. If one day they cut SS or it disappears altogether it still wouldn't kill my budget since I don't plan to fully integrate it into my living expenses ever.
Once this $50K savings goal is reached I'll be relieved - as far as I am concerned it can stay on ice forever or be used if Mr. R. is laid off before he is ready to retire.
His income with bonus is around $40-42K so the $50K represents well over one year of his income. Mr. R. is FI as well at $500K it is barebones, but with his $10K cash savings and a paid off annuity that he can start drawing from at any time - it will work just fine.
The other investments and 401K would not need to be touched until we want to.
So not riches, but it is FI for us - if he got laid off tomorrow we have $40K between the two of us right now in sludge funds, EF and savings. He can collect unemployment and draw from his annuity and take his time looking for something suitable.
Having a paid off house and being debt free (even our two car loans will be gone in a year) is a huge plus.
For now, this is our plan and I'm sticking to it. Always STC:)
It also helps that we are 20 min from the best white sand beaches in the country - any evening we choose can become a walk into the sunset, holding hands - sipping whatever ... just look for the big orange hat and sparkly flip-flops.
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Joining the race!
2,500 E-fund (down from 3,593 from medical expense this month)
3,908 Taxable brokerage
3,884 Roth IRA
12,336 401K
10,475 Savings (discover online)
Total : 33,103
@ vae Welcome to the club - I mean challenge:)
Looks like you've already got a great start - sorry about the medical expenses, but at least you had the E Fund in place already.
What is your savings MO - do you save X $ in all areas or an overall percentage?, or are you working on one item on your list at a time?
Specific goals or time deadlines?
Those are great questions! My savings strategy currently is pretty disorganized and will need to be updated to a Pay yourself first strategy once my expenses are higher to make sure savings comes out first thing. I budget based on pay period, so once my second paycheck of the month comes in, whatever is left over from the first is added to the small emergency fund to keep 3,500 then to Discover savings and sometimes to the Roth. The same thing is done once the first paycheck of the month hits my account.
Im currently projected to hit 50,000 February 2019 based on dollars to be saved and invested in my 401k but hopefully the market helps out as well! Again, expenses will be higher since I will be moving, but I hope to stick to this timeline!
@vae Sounds like a plan:)
Have you seen the sticky about the order of investments yet? It may help you decide and also answer some questions about the reasoning behind it all and taxes involved etc.
You'll find it under the Investor Alley thread
- see the sticky threads up top - https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/investment-order/
That and the JL Collins blog, book, stock series is an excellent starting point for reading up on - as you navigate the investment waters. I love that he keeps it simple.
Just thought I'd mention those two since you appear to be still a newbie. Glad to have you join us:)
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Thanks for the response Rosy. I guess basically it is a very personalized thing. I know I can stop working and make ends meet. I think my problem is 50% fear, and 50% the fact that I don't have a ton of savings. Maybe once I hit the 50k in the retirement account I'll do a case study.
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Thanks for the response Rosy. I guess basically it is a very personalized thing. I know I can stop working and make ends meet. I think my problem is 50% fear, and 50% the fact that I don't have a ton of savings. Maybe once I hit the 50k in the retirement account I'll do a case study.
@MommyCake - I know I am a bit of an outlier due to my age, but it doesn't really change the numbers we absolutely have to have to be FI - regardless if we were 35 or 65. You are right the numbers and the process will be different for each one of us, because it is ultimately based on the lifestyle we want.
Yes to the case study once you reach $50K - hearing different perspectives and input is immensely helpful.
Besides at your age you have time to make a correction.
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Update time -
30-Apr-18 $37941
24-May-18 $40069
40K milestone reached. YAY !!!
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Update time -
30-Apr-18 $37941
24-May-18 $40069
40K milestone reached. YAY !!!
You are killing it @QuillScroll - Milestone celebration time:).
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Nice Job @QuillScroll ! You'll be at 50K in no time.
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Great work @QuillScroll, always nice to hit a milestone!
I also feel good after a big push to keep spending low, even though we went on a vacation (but camped, hiked, booked 2 nights at a cabin and had pre-paid ferry cards so costs were reasonably low)
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
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May Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97 +872.77 increase
Had another nice month. Will be increasing my 401K contribution for June up to 10% (from 8%) these 2% increases have been good as I don't really notice much of a change per paycheck. At least not yet. :)
I have $17,799.03 left to save in my Retirement accounts to hit my goal by the end of the year. That's about $2,500 a month! We'll see. I am throwing most "extra" money at Student Loans since I have a big one with a rate of 5.25%. If it was under 5% I might consider shifting any "extra" cash to retirement but 5.25% is still a little too high for me.
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Congrats Quillscroll for hitting 40K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's my update, I increased my account by 2k this month! Cheers Rosy to a full year of working on this goal! Thanks for getting this started or I'd probably still be mostly ignoring my retirement account. I have my contributions set to a percentage that I will about max for the year.
6/9/17 29,000
7/7/17 29,500
7/19/17 30,000
8/2/17 30,500
9/5/17 31,000
9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
5/31/18 42,800
Getting closer!
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You are all absolutely rocking it!!!:)
MommyCake - thank you for the kind words - we can all use a bit of motivation from time to time and it is fun to see yourself moving forward even if it is as slow as molasses in the wintertime - in my case anyway:)
All things considered, I am just happy to be here - I am inspired when I see that others stick to their goals too - persistence pays off in the end!:)
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 29,906.05 to go to reach $50K - projected timeline Dec 2019
2018
Taking time out from goal#1 to finish goal #2 for this year - $10K save for travel fund.
Total $8,740 Jan-May
$1,260 to go by July 2018.
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Had a nice little jump in my account the first half of the month, $811.45 to be exactly. That's nearly the same amount it increased in all of May so I have hope yet that I can reach my $50K goal by the end of the year. Just keep plugging away and increasing my contributions. :)
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Here's my update -
30-Apr-18 $37941
24-May-18 $40069
18-Jun-18 $41679
Lots of planned expenses this month as well as lots of eating out, so progress will be less.
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Good work everyone!
I have had a bit of a slower spring but c'est la vie--- I haven't spent a lot just haven't been working so much.
Would like to be at $40,000 savings by the end of summer if possible
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
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We are all hanging in there - yay!
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 29,906.05 to go to reach $50K - projected timeline Dec 2019
UPDATE
2018
Taking time out from goal#1 to finish goal #2 for this year - $10K save for travel fund.
Total $8,740 Jan-May
$1,260 to go by July 2018. - GOAL #2 reached - I made it to $10K
Re-engaging GOAL #1 - $50K
Although, goal #1 will remain on ice - except for interest, until I return in Sep. Active savings will re-commence in October.
Min $5K projected but I'd prefer to see $7K or $8K total added by EOY instead.
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UPDATE:
Final numbers for June 2018: $20,132.64
A bit of good news: I may have gone a bit overboard in my projections for my upcoming trip expenses, so there is a fair possibility that I'll be able to contribute around $1500+ to my stash when I return in Sep. Too early to tell.
How are you progressing with your stash goals? Any hiccups or triumphs to report?
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6/9/17 29,000
7/7/17 29,500
7/19/17 30,000
8/2/17 30,500
9/5/17 31,000
9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
5/31/18 42,800
7/5/18 45,665
It's getting so close! Glad to see everyone is staying on track :)
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June Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02 +$803.05 increase
I ended up with a similar increase from last month. I set my 401k contribution to 12% (up from 10%) to take place this month. I will also get a small raise this month which will cause my contribution to be higher and my employers match to be higher :) I still have roughly $17K to save by the end of the year with only 6 months left to do it in. In August I'll have some money free'd up so I can throw more at this but not sure If I'll hit $50K but I'm gonna keep pluggin' away the best I can.
nice job MommyCake!
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July Update
I have been not tracking expenses as tightly this month due to a very tight work schedule resulting in high stress, less time and a lot of eating out. Nevertheless, am on track with the savings/investment part as it's automated.
Big gain this month due to unexpected bonus which went straight to my retirement fund.
30-Apr-18 $37941
24-May-18 $40069
18-Jun-18 $41679
19-Jul-18 $46413
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QuillScroll you are doing great! Love that you put your bonus into your retirement instead of spending it!
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Thanks Mommycake. I have more bonus which will be disbursed in little amounts through out the rest of the year, I'm hoping to atleast save 80% of it.
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I haven't updated in a while-- I just crossed the 34,000 mark, which was my goal by the end of summer! I finally have enough invested that I am seeing the number grow even though I don't contribute anything to investment accounts during the summer. Yay!
Assuming I follow my savings plan perfectly next year, I should reach 50K in May. That's assuming no growth, so hopefully it happens even faster than that!
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Just crossed over $39,000--was hoping to make it to 40, 000 by the end of summer but that might be delayed as I need to quickly save up for a 2 week September trip. Still..happy with the progress :)
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July Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73 +$1,335.71 increase
Not a bad increase this month. Just over $15,000 to save by the end of the year so I need to pretty much double this for the next 5 months! For August I'm going to increase my 401K to 15%. That will give me an extra couple hundred for now. In September I hope to be able to go up to 20%.
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August Update:
Thanks to my bonuses, happy to say that I have reached the 50K mark :)
30-Apr-18 37941
24-May-18 40069
18-Jun-18 41679
16-Jul-18 46413
13-Aug-18 52974
Even though this is great, I just got news that my contract will be ending soon. Which means no bonus, and may be no salary till I find another. And what I'm really worried about is I may need to take a pay cut. This job was really paying well.
I have to start the job hunting process after a period of almost three years which is a bit scary. We'll see how it goes, I'll keep you all posted.
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Good luck @QuillScroll
You never know. You might end up earning more than you are at your current job. Let us all know how you're getting on with it!
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Sorry about your contract QuillScroll but congrats on hitting 50k! Hopefully they gave you plenty of notice to find something else even better.
6/9/17 29,000
7/7/17 29,500
7/19/17 30,000
8/2/17 30,500
9/5/17 31,000
9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
5/31/18 42,800
7/5/18 45,665
8/16/18 49,000!!!!
I hope to hit 50k in the next 2-4 weeks.
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8/16/18 49,000!!!!
I hope to hit 50k in the next 2-4 weeks.
Wow, amazing @MommyCake --great work!
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Since I recently set a goal for myself to reach 50k by the end of this calendar year I figured it's time to post in this thread.
Looking at my NW and doing some figuring I realized I should be able to do this without much issue (assuming a flat or better market, that is). So here goes:
07/29/18 - $37,782.07
August will be a low savings month because we went on a trip beginning of the month, but I'll be adding another 9k by year's end once I max my 401k and I should be able to save an extra 4k on top of that.
Next year I'm really going to try to push it to save 50k and hit 6 figures by 12/31/19! It'll probably be a little bit of a stretch, but I'm going to give it a go.
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The 0-$50k threads are one of my favorite threads. It's where people that most likely thought retiring early was impossible, start taking the first step. Where having $50k seemed intimidating, but then you start taking little steps and soon your money is growing and you can feel the excitement in everyone's posts. Once they hit $50k, and move up a thread they all seem confident that they will be getting to the $500k thread eventually. From baby steps to confident in their future. Keep up the good work.
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The 0-$50k threads are one of my favorite threads. It's where people that most likely thought retiring early was impossible, start taking the first step. Where having $50k seemed intimidating, but then you start taking little steps and soon your money is growing and you can feel the excitement in everyone's posts. Once they hit $50k, and move up a thread they all seem confident that they will be getting to the $500k thread eventually. From baby steps to confident in their future. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the encouragement @Happily Irrelevant !
It's true-- 10 months ago I had less than $17,000 saved and now I am almost at $40,000 ($250 short currently) --can't wait to cross $50,000 (by the end of the year would be amazing). I didn't believe I could do it on my own so quickly but it's taught me so much about what's possible.
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August Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32 +1,503.59 Increase
Happy to see my increase from this month is higher than my increase from July :) about $14k left to save for this challenge. I will most likely hit somewhere around $42K at the end of the year and then hit $50K by spring 2019.
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07/29/18 - $37,782.07
08/31/18 - $40,708.61
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Good work everyone---we ARE getting there!!
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
July 27/18 $ 39,000
Aug 31/18 $ 40,150
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August Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32 +1,503.59 Increase
Happy to see my increase from this month is higher than my increase from July :) about $14k left to save for this challenge. I will most likely hit somewhere around $42K at the end of the year and then hit $50K by spring 2019.
Bravo bravo @haypug16
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6/9/17 29,000
7/7/17 29,500
7/19/17 30,000
8/2/17 30,500
9/5/17 31,000
I finally hit the goal!
9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
5/31/18 42,800
7/5/18 45,665
8/16/18 49,000
9/4/18 50,800
It took over a year but very happy I have a bit saved in the TSP now. I'm 37 and had always mostly ignored retirement saving. I should max this year. I'm gonna head to the 10k to 100k challenge! Good luck All!
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9/29/17 32,000
10/30/17 33,100
12/1/17 34,300
1/2/18 35,700
2/1/18 38,500
3/6/18 39,600
3/30/18 39,700
5/2/18 40,800
5/31/18 42,800
7/5/18 45,665
8/16/18 49,000
9/4/18 50,800
It took over a year but very happy I have a bit saved in the TSP now. I'm 37 and had always mostly ignored retirement saving. I should max this year. I'm gonna head to the 10k to 100k challenge! Good luck All!
Congratulations @MommyCake ! Very encouraging.
See you in the next challenge (I am actually already over there..have been doubling up!)
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An earlier update since I won't be adding too much more before the end of month (just had over 2 weeks off of work so no upcoming payday!) Would be a dream to get to 50,000 by the end of the year but not quite sure if its possible. A big stretch goal!
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
July 27/18 $ 39,000
Aug 31/18 $ 40,150
Sept 19/18 $ 41,780
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Oh WOW - two graduates from this thread already - YEAH!!!
CONGRATS TO @MommyCake and @QuillScroll
I'm back from my trip and happy to report I added to the stash today:
UPDATE:
$20,355.36 CD1
$ 3,057.47 CD2
TOTAL: $ 23, 412.83
According to my projections, there is a possibility that I may hit $30K this year, which would mean I may hit my target date of sometime in 2019 to reach $50K.
WELCOME to the thread @SeaKayEl and @Penn42 - we're happy to have company on our way to $50K. I still find it hard to believe that I am actually even pursuing such a number - it seems surreal.
I'll be ecstatic if I really hit $30K this year - we shall see.
GOOD LUCK everyone - we'll get there!
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Congrats graduates, and welcome new folks!
I am now at $42,200. The end is in sight. Should cross over at some point in Feb.
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Cruising right along.
07/29/18 - $37,782.07
08/31/18 - $40,708.61
09/28/18 - $44,223.21
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Few of us in the 40,000+, exciting times..Good work everybody!
I didn't think I'd add more by the end of the month but was able to
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
July 27/18 $ 39,000
Aug 31/18 $ 40,150
Sept 19/18 $ 41,780
Sept 28/18 $ 42,500
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UPDATE - it looks like I'll hit the halfway mark by Oct 31, 2018, really looking forward to that:) Milestones always make the goal so much more real. Sometimes I still doubt that I'll ever see that $50K balance in my account.
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
Projected: $25K by Oct 31, 2018 - we'll see:)
NOTE: I took time out from saving for $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July. Returned from trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
@Serendip @Penn42 @westtoeast - THE END IS IN SIGHT for all of you:)
I'm still in snail pace territory, cheering you on, along with the newbies - we'll get there, eventually.
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Day 0 (0%)
27 Jul 2018
0/50,000
Day 5 (3.8%)
01 Aug 2018
1,885.86
Day 39 (9.1%)
03 Sep 2018
4,550.63
Update: I decided not to count my travel fund moving forward (only retirement, investments, EF)
@SeaKayEl - You are doing so well! You are already nearing the $5K mark, 10% down - rinse and repeat four more times and you are there:) It takes time to sort out your various goals - we all shift things around a lot - optimizing:).
I also showed my travel fund as a second goal, because for me $10K has a huge impact on my time frame and I wanted to remind myself that I am still saving hard even though I took a break from one goal and worked on another to make it "all" happen.
Actually, I have a mini goal of $1K - saving $50 a month (takes forever) up to $800 and I'll get a $200 bonus from the bank, which I plan to roll over into the $50K goal - which will give me a little extra boost in January of 2019.
For 2018 my main goal is to get as close as possible to $30K, but that is still a very shaky proposition at this time.
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Congratulations Rosy. Nice to "see" you again!
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September Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34 +557.02 increase
Not as big of an increase this month due to my company changing 401K providers and us not having a 401K plan in place for the end of Sept payroll. Still an increase though. Once the new plan is set up I'll be increasing my contribution to 17%.
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@haypug16 - your numbers are looking good, glad to see you are still hanging in there. Congrats on increasing your 401K contribution to 17% - quite the accomplishment:)
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
NOTE: I took time out from saving for $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July. Returned from trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
UPDATE:
$24,994.00 OCTOBER
I'm super excited - adding on interest on Oct 31 - will bring me to that coveted halfway mark:) - $25K by the end of this month - Yeah!
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Congrats @Rosy ! Half-way!
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Thanks Serendip:) - the next goal is to hit $30K by Dec 31, 2018.
My ultimate goal is to have a 50K cash cushion by the EOY 2019 - I'm beginning to believe it.
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UPDATE
November is getting a $1K boost from a "slow as molasses in the wintertime" savings project I started two years ago.
Plus the usual $1541. and $113.75, plus interest appr. $40 Oct and $40 Nov.
Projected by EOM Nov 27,735.
(I'll post the final October numbers after the interest posted on Oct 31.) Meanwhile, I'll see what I can scrounge up to make that $30K happen by EOY 2018. I can almost taste success:)
If all goes well and I manage to stay on track - $40K will happen by June 2019. Surreal.
How did everyone do this month? You are all getting so very close...
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Just stumbled on this forum and this perfectly fits what I am in the process of trying to accomplish. The timing is perfect as well, I've already incurred more expenses than expected for upcoming travel over the holidays, so I'm hoping this race will help curb any additional unnecessary holiday spending.
Started my journey to save $50k a while back and am just past the halfway point. "Extra" money to stash away will be tight over the holidays and I am looking to increase my retirement contributions (not including retirement funds in this race) early 2019. Looks like this is a great motivation space to keep on track so I am very excited to join!
(1st) Goal: $50k saved by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
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Well I saved over $2500 this month, which just barely kept me above last month's net worth despite the little market hiccup.
07/29/18 - $37,782.07
08/31/18 - $40,708.61
09/28/18 - $44,223.21
10/31/18 - $44,231.89
Stocks on sale!
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Stocks on sale!
+1 to that
October Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26 ($2,082.08) decrease, despite the fact that I invested ~$600 (my companies 401K plan is still being set up so i only got in one contribution this month.
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
NOTE: I took time out from saving for $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July. Returned from trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
November is looking good so far, projected savings $4,041.
(just got a surprise $1.5K loan payback, $1K from a matured sav acct, plus $1541. reg save = $4,041. tot sav, plus int, projected for Nov - $29,120).
Damn, I may actually be over $30K by EOY 2018.
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Just stumbled on this forum and this perfectly fits what I am in the process of trying to accomplish. The timing is perfect as well, I've already incurred more expenses than expected for upcoming travel over the holidays, so I'm hoping this race will help curb any additional unnecessary holiday spending.
Started my journey to save $50k a while back and am just past the halfway point. "Extra" money to stash away will be tight over the holidays and I am looking to increase my retirement contributions (not including retirement funds in this race) early 2019. Looks like this is a great motivation space to keep on track so I am very excited to join!
(1st) Goal: $50k saved by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
Welcome @Anchored Adrift - you're already halfway there! Yeah well, the holidays are always a challenge, but having a firm goal and deadline keeps me from blowing it all - I might cave a bit, depending:)
It will be nice to race or drift alongside someone who has the same time deadline.
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It's been a little while since I updated this particular thread. Good work everyone!
This is a slow time of year for me savings-wise, I tend to have a lot of professional fees/insurance to pay and it's the slow time of year so I tend to take more vacation time off..had over a month off of work between Sept & Oct.
Still..slowly ticking upwards.
Had a stretch goal of being as close to $50,000 by the end of 2018 as possible but more likely I'll reach it somewhere in the first 6 months of 2019.
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
July 27/18 $ 39,000
Aug 31/18 $ 40,150
Sept 28/18 $ 42,500
Nov 12/18 $ 43,808
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No worries Serendip - it's consistency that pays off - you'll still beat me to the finish line by a mile:)
November is looking good so far, projected savings $4,041.
(just got a surprise $1.5K loan payback, $1K from a matured sav acct, plus $1541. reg save = $4,041. tot sav, plus int, projected for Nov - $29,120).
Damn, I may actually be over $30K by EOY 2018.
One more update for November - as of Nov 15, got $300 bonus earlier than expected, so total projected savings $4,341 this month.
Best savings month all year. Hope everyone else is doing great this month too.
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@Rosy Congrats--that's amazing! You are doing great.
It's looking like November will be another slower savings month for me but will pick up hopefully next month & January.
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Updating after a hiatus! I moved and was not very focused on my finances over the summer due to an intense job search. But somehow I've made the progress I did. I've recently decided to actually use the "pay yourself first" method. I'm hoping to hit 50k by my birthday in February if I try hard enough and no crazy expenses come up. We shall see!
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
Can't wait to get to 50k!
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So this thread is probably where I should start.
Im negative net worth at-$47500 roughly. A household that makes $90000 should be able to do that in year if adopting a moustachian approach. I joke that we should just sell the house and it would be taken care of. But I like our modest dewelling. Im just not sure how smart we were to use the Ho e buyer option for half our down payment.
So here goes. Starting November 23rd 2018. Goal: November 2019 race to 50000 starts today.
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Updating after a hiatus! I moved and was not very focused on my finances over the summer due to an intense job search. But somehow I've made the progress I did. I've recently decided to actually use the "pay yourself first" method. I'm hoping to hit 50k by my birthday in February if I try hard enough and no crazy expenses come up. We shall see!
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
Can't wait to get to 50k!
Agreed, @eav - paying yourself first is an amazingly effective strategy. Welcome back!:)
So this thread is probably where I should start.
Im negative net worth at-$47500 roughly. A household that makes $90000 should be able to do that in year if adopting a moustachian approach. I joke that we should just sell the house and it would be taken care of. But I like our modest dewelling. Im just not sure how smart we were to use the Ho e buyer option for half our down payment.
So here goes. Starting November 23rd 2018. Goal: November 2019 race to 50000 starts today.
Welcome to the club, @Gail2000
Yeah, well - if you sell the house you still have to live somewhere, make rent payments and you no longer own your own place:) Persnickety...
Good Luck - just curious what is your new strategy?
Most of us started with the small stuff - questioning anything and everything from regular heretofore unquestioned cable and phone bills to scrutinizing the food and entertainment budget - you know, the low hanging fruit. Or are you already way past that? Just working on hammering away at debt?
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November update:
It is that time again - and we are close to the annual reckoning too.
We'll know for sure in about 34 more days but I can report that I hit my target for 2018 already and then some. I started out the year hoping for $25K then $28K and then upped my expectations to $30K by Dec 2018.
It is still November and there is a good chance I'll end the year with $31K - unreal.
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
NOTE: I took time out from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
Here's to hoping that our December savings are not wiped out by our holiday expenditures - good luck and happy saving everyone!
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October 7, 2018 = $600
October 18, 2018 = $2500
November 1, 2018 = $5,995
November 15, 2018 = $9,273
November 29, 2018 = $11,340
This thread deserves more posts for motivation.
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October 7, 2018 = $600
October 18, 2018 = $2500
November 1, 2018 = $5,995
November 15, 2018 = $9,273
November 29, 2018 = $11,340
This thread deserves more posts for motivation. - Indeed:)
@jojoguy - Congrats! you are killing it!
Now I'm dying to know - how in the world does one go from $600 in October to $11,340 by November?
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October 7, 2018 = $600
October 18, 2018 = $2500
November 1, 2018 = $5,995
November 15, 2018 = $9,273
November 29, 2018 = $11,340
This thread deserves more posts for motivation. - Indeed:)
@jojoguy - Congrats! you are killing it!
Now I'm dying to know - how in the world does one go from $600 in October to $11,340 by November?
I second this intrigue!!
-
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
July 27/18 $ 39,000
Aug 31/18 $ 40,150
Sept 28/18 $ 42,500
Nov 12/18 $ 43,808
Nov 29/18 $ 44,500
Looks like I will reach the target sometime in the next six months, depending on how much I can save while still paying my major tax installments.
Exciting!--then I will reset this challenge and solely build one of the accounts to $50,000 (right now these are combined accounts)
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Updating after a hiatus! I moved and was not very focused on my finances over the summer due to an intense job search. But somehow I've made the progress I did. I've recently decided to actually use the "pay yourself first" method. I'm hoping to hit 50k by my birthday in February if I try hard enough and no crazy expenses come up. We shall see!
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
Can't wait to get to 50k!
Agreed, @eav - paying yourself first is an amazingly effective strategy. Welcome back!:)
So this thread is probably where I should start.
Im negative net worth at-$47500 roughly. A household that makes $90000 should be able to do that in year if adopting a moustachian approach. I joke that we should just sell the house and it would be taken care of. But I like our modest dewelling. Im just not sure how smart we were to use the Ho e buyer option for half our down payment.
So here goes. Starting November 23rd 2018. Goal: November 2019 race to 50000 starts today.
Welcome to the club, @Gail2000
Yeah, well - if you sell the house you still have to live somewhere, make rent payments and you no longer own your own place:) Persnickety...
Good Luck - just curious what is your new strategy?
Most of us started with the small stuff - questioning anything and everything from regular heretofore unquestioned cable and phone bills to scrutinizing the food and entertainment budget - you know, the low hanging fruit. Or are you already way past that? Just working on hammering away at debt?
My plan, Rose, is in the works. It will be slow. So for the boyfriend and I are putting $700 away I. Savings ( $350 in rrsps, and 250 in Tfsa) Included in my race is the payment on the mortgage that at the moment is paying at 183$ on the capital in the $304/ biweekly payment. I. Not sure if this should be included in my savings rate but I have seen it in the comments. My hope is that with a tax refund, (last year was 6k) I will boost the over all savings.
You are right I do need to look at the budget. The struggle I have is a partner that is not fully on board. This above all needs to be discussed. I am hoping to have more headway by January.
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October 7, 2018 = $600
October 18, 2018 = $2500
November 1, 2018 = $5,995
November 15, 2018 = $9,273
November 29, 2018 = $11,340
This thread deserves more posts for motivation. - Indeed:)
@jojoguy - Congrats! you are killing it!
Now I'm dying to know - how in the world does one go from $600 in October to $11,340 by November?
I second this intrigue!!
Sorry for a late reply, guys. Mainly much of it came from being unsure how much I could save bleeding in from September. Basically, I had to get the approval of my wife to drastically save more. So really the intial first 2500 came from the middle of September. The rest came from budgeting only 1800 a month for our expenses from each month since September. We accumulated a lot of overtime also. We have been able to save roughly 4,500-5,000 monthly of our take home pay since early October. January is interesting since we`ll be out of season for easily acquired overtime. Hopefully, I am able to keep getting at least some of it.
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November Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70 +$1,741.44 increase
Much better than last month! Hoping to do about the same next month. I was hoping to kick up my 401K savings even more but right now I really need to focus on paying down my Student Loans that are over 5% (~$30K) once I get that chunk paid off I'll feel better about putting more money into the 401K and maxing it out.
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07/29/18 - $37,782.07
08/31/18 - $40,708.61
09/28/18 - $44,223.21
10/31/18 - $44,231.89
11/30/18 - 49,751.72
I had A LOT of OT this past month. Was able to put $2,252 into taxable on top of $2,665 of 401(k) contributions. I'll max my 401(k) for the first time around two Fridays from now. Next year I'm going to try to save 50K.
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^^^^^
Congrats @Penn 42 - you are about to graduate!:)
Amazing to see what a difference OT can make - you and jojo both hit it out of the park in no time!
The next 50K will bring you to that sweet spot of $100K ... the first 100,000 is the hardest - it steamrolls from there to $1Mil or so everyone says.
The math supports it - https://fourpillarfreedom.com/the-math-behind-why-net-worth-goes-crazy-after-the-first-100k/
How the poor get there - https://www.montanamoneyadventures.com/why-saving-the-first-100000-is-so-hard/
What the bogleheads have to say about it - https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=159377
How the money blog views it - https://www.mymoneyblog.com/charlie-munger-the-first-100000-is-the-most-difficult.html
Reading "the math behind why networth goes crazy after the first 100K" - convinced me to stay in the game for this first fifty and do what I can to speed it all up.
It is also where I found the inspiration and conviction I needed to change my perspective. Instead of quitting after this first $50K, I think I'll keep adding to the stash.
We'll see:)
The plan for 2019 is to hit $40K by June and $50K by Dec 2019. A year is a very long time - anything can happen.
@haypug16 and @Serendip - you are in the homestretch - goal in sight!:) Keep on keeping on .....
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Update:
Goal: $50k by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
12/03/18: $26,633.07
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Thanks for those links @Rosy, so interesting and inspiring!
(I noticed that the 2nd & 3rd ones are the same one however, the bogleheads one seems to be missing :) )
Loved this statement in the last article about setting smaller goals than 1M--
"But if you are in the phase of your life where you love watching your account balances grow every day, even by a few dollars (been there, done that), $100k is the biggest goal you need."
I feel like I could continually work on the 50K goal..
Currently it's for my NW (I'm late to the game) but most of that is specialty retirement savings, so maybe the next step could be investing since that account is only at $3600 right now! eek!)
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Thanks for those links @Rosy, so interesting and inspiring!
(I noticed that the 2nd & 3rd ones are the same one however, the bogleheads one seems to be missing :) )
Sorry, fixed that for ya:) changed the link to the bogleheads discussion @Serendip
I can appreciate the comment on watching your account balance, especially when I'm close to ratching it up another 1K or another 10K.
My favorite link was the first one - the math behind it all, it was a long article, but comforting to see and understand - if you do X it will result in Y.
Just one step to follow, with a guaranteed end result.
Serendip, we may be late to the game, but it doesn't impact the effect - if you do X you will have Y - the math doesn't lie.
Perseverance is key.
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Thanks for sharing the links Rosy. I just read through https://fourpillarfreedom.com/the-math-behind-why-net-worth-goes-crazy-after-the-first-100k/ It's nice to see that my assumptions about how long it will take me to FIRE are not crazy!
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COMPARISON (OCTOBER 2017 TO APRIL 2018)
OUR ASSETS: THEN: $15654 NOW: $26,000 (+$10,000)
Money for spending: THEN: $1952 NOW: $4500 (+$2500)
Savings: THEN: $2125 NOW: $6500 (+$4375)
Our Investments (my IRAs, my wife's Sep-IRA, and our HSA): THEN: $11,576 NOW: $15,100 (+$3500)
OUR LIABILITIES: THEN: -7305 NOW: -5733 (+$1575)
Credit card: THEN: -$2925 NOW: -$1750 (+$1175)
Student loan: THEN: -$4380 NOW: -$3980 (+$400)
TOTAL NETWORTH:
THEN: $8349 NOW: $20,000 (+$11,500)
I definitely simplified and averaged out things a little bit here, so numbers are not exact. Also, there's about $2700 about to come out for taxes, so that will impact the networth. But this is a decent snapshot, and much progress is being made!
Hey All,
It's been awhile, I wanted to check in.
We have been making steady progress with our networth.
Current networth hovering at around $26,000 NOT including our checking accounts (which I'm pretty sure were covered in my last summary above from April 2018). Here's the breakdown:
Investment Accounts: $19,697 (+$4,597)
Savings Accounts: $9,243 (+2,743)
Debt: -$3083 (+2,650)
TOTAL: $25,857
So our progress in these three areas: (+$9,990)
Not bad for 8 months!
My goal has been for us to pass $50k networth by the end of 2020. But recently we have adopted a new plan to save 25% of our income (nearly double what we have saved in the past), so this will hopefully get us there much faster).
Feels good to make progress!
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Thanks for those links @Rosy, so interesting and inspiring!
(I noticed that the 2nd & 3rd ones are the same one however, the bogleheads one seems to be missing :) )
Sorry, fixed that for ya:) changed the link to the bogleheads discussion @Serendip
I can appreciate the comment on watching your account balance, especially when I'm close to ratching it up another 1K or another 10K.
My favorite link was the first one - the math behind it all, it was a long article, but comforting to see and understand - if you do X it will result in Y.
Just one step to follow, with a guaranteed end result.
Serendip, we may be late to the game, but it doesn't impact the effect - if you do X you will have Y - the math doesn't lie.
Perseverance is key.
Three cheers for that @Rosy !
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October 7, 2018 = $600
October 18, 2018 = $2500
November 1, 2018 = $5,995
November 15, 2018 = $9,273
November 29, 2018 = $11,340
December 13, 2018 = $13,155
Trying to hit 15K by the end of the month.
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Congrats to everyone for hanging in there - I hope you fared well in 2018 and that 2019 will treat you even better!
Cheers to a wonderful 2019 for us all!
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,027. + projected for December - will adjust final numbers in Jan.
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
1. There is a chance that I might magically come up with an extra $1K in January - depends entirely on my total holiday spending.
2. I adjusted my budget for 2019 as I do every year to take my new goals into account.
3. However, I am not ratcheting up my savings efforts for this $50K goal to the extremes I did in 2018.
The new savings plan for 2019:
Continue to save all of my SS in 2019 (which may or may not get a slight bump starting in January - depending on how much they raise the Medicare Part B health insurance premiums). Min 1541 - max 1584, likely around 1560 - we'll see.
With luck, a small increase in income along with some small bonus monies my budget will have some breathing room in 2019. A welcome relief.
Goal # 1 - strengthen, build-up my financial base, i.e. various slush funds (that may take three to six months).
Goal # 2 - I already set up auto pay to a new holiday $50 and travel acct $50 - monthly.
It would be nice, if I could manage to reach $50K by Oct or Nov instead of the Dec 2019 deadline I set for myself, but you know a year is a long time, anything can happen.
Wishing you all - Good Luck and Good Health - may you reach all your goals and then some:) in 2019!
Cheers to a wonderful 2019 for us all!
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Great job @Rosy and everyone else along on this challenge!
Year in review, I blew past my goals and saved a big portion of my income. Not as diligent as others on this forum to calculate the exact percentage but I know it's the highest it has ever been.
Dec 18/17 $ 18,146
Jan 03/18 $ 20,624
Feb 06/18 $ 25,073
Mar 30/18 $ 29,008
Apr 16/18 $ 30,000
May 14/18 $ 33,005
May 26/18 $ 35,013
June 22/18 $ 36,535
July 27/18 $ 39,000
Aug 31/18 $ 40,150
Sept 28/18 $ 42,500
Nov 12/18 $ 43,808
Dec 14/18 $ 46,040
So satisfying to reach another milestone.
Once I hit $50,000 (likely in the next few months as my work slows considerably in January) I will re-evaluate what my goal is for 2019 but for now, I am happy to keep ticking along here & on the race to $100,000 (since that one will likely take quite a few more years!)
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07/29/18 - $37,782.07
08/31/18 - $40,708.61
09/28/18 - $44,223.21
10/31/18 - $44,231.89
11/30/18 - $49,751.72
12/31/18 - $51,240.83
I'm going to attempt to get my expenses under $10,000 dollars for 2019 and simultaneously try to save 50k for the year. I might have to pick up some weekend work to make that second part happen. We'll see.
Everybody keep up the great work!
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Now that's just awesome @Penn42 - CONGRATS!
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HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!:)
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 32,630. January 2019 - projected
So there we go again - GOAL 50K by Dec 2019 - sooner if possible:) GAME ON!
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Love to see that progress Rosy! Happy New Year!
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Second year teacher here. Started to jump start my savings the moment I started getting a Paycheque in September 2017. I only started meticulously tracking my wealth across all my accounts in January 2018. My goal is to get to $50,000 by the summer!
January 2018: $18,944.35
February 2018: $22,047.46
March 2018: $23,463.61
April 2018: $24,224.19
May 2018: $26,173
Jun 2018: $29,519.62
Didn't bring in much money over the summer, and knew my savings were dropping, so wasn't encouraged to keep tracking. This year I work in a higher paid district (+ $20,000), but they withhold 2 months worth of pay over the course of the year, and pay it out over the summer. Should be a better summer this year :)
October 2018: $29,676.50
November 2018: $32,923.90
December 2018: $34,394.85
My overall figure would be significantly higher if it weren't for poor performing markets (I have about half of the money in index funds and a few hand-selected stocks).
Hoping to have enough for at least a 20% down payment on a home when I'm awarded a continuing contract (September 2020 at the soonest). Homes in my area start at about $300,000, so $60,000 is needed, but I don't want to completely drain my savings so I'm hoping to have around $100,000 at that time... hopefully...
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Good work everyone!
I just broke the $49,000 mark! Currently at $49,011
Wuhoo :)
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......SNIP.....
October 2018: $29,676.50
November 2018: $32,923.90
December 2018: $34,394.85
Hoping to have enough for at least a 20% down payment on a home when I'm awarded a continuing contract (September 2020 at the soonest). Homes in my area start at about $300,000, so $60,000 is needed, but I don't want to completely drain my savings so I'm hoping to have around $100,000 at that time... hopefully...
[/b]
Welcome to the challenge!
Sounds like a fabulous plan @CanadianTeacher - you'll see $50K in no time!
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Good work everyone!
I just broke the $49,000 mark! Currently at $49,011
Wuhoo :)
WOOHOO @Serendip - sweet success - almost there:)!
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Currently sitting at -43500.
I bought back a life insurance policy that was given to me by my parents that made the difference this month.
Dec 2018 : -47000 roughly
Goal of replacing the car this year with cash and achieving a -30000k. The only debt is the mortgage and homebuyers plan we used to borrow interest and penalty free from retirement saving for the house. Finally feeling like we have some traction. Thank you for your support.
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Currently sitting at -43500.
I bought back a life insurance policy that was given to me by my parents that made the difference this month.
Dec 2018 : -47000 roughly
Goal of replacing the car this year with cash and achieving a -30000k. The only debt is the mortgage and homebuyers plan we used to borrow interest and penalty free from retirement saving for the house. Finally feeling like we have some traction. Thank you for your support.
You are moving right along:) @Gail2000 and you definitely have traction now. Persistence is key.
I may have to stop or slow down my savings contributions in order to help family with a dental bill. We'll see how it goes with surgery in February.
Strangely I don't mind re-directing my funds away from savings for that.
It feels good to do good things with your money, but I have become cautious. I learned my lesson years ago about helping yourself first so you can help others. Never weaken your own position and leave yourself open to financial destruction because you had good intentions.
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Currently sitting at -43500.
I bought back a life insurance policy that was given to me by my parents that made the difference this month.
Dec 2018 : -47000 roughly
Goal of replacing the car this year with cash and achieving a -30000k. The only debt is the mortgage and homebuyers plan we used to borrow interest and penalty free from retirement saving for the house. Finally feeling like we have some traction. Thank you for your support.
You are moving right along:) @Gail2000 and you definitely have traction now. Persistence is key.
I may have to stop or slow down my savings contributions in order to help family with a dental bill. We'll see how it goes with surgery in February.
Strangely I don't mind re-directing my funds away from savings for that.
It feels good to do good things with your money, but I have become cautious. I learned my lesson years ago about helping yourself first so you can help others. Never weaken your own position and leave yourself open to financial destruction because you had good intentions.
Dental surgery is an investment in self and preventive of some of the most interest pain. All well worth for yourself or family. Month to month advancement to wards our goals whether bog or small is advancement still.
I maintain life insurance in a term policy to help but this one was so small and quite frankly just annoying to send the check. Off to make the funds more productive. I am looking forward to be worth nothing. Two years is the goal. Im feeling fortunate to have found this wonderful group. I am learning so much.
Different perspectives on rick management and beyond. Im perhaps too conservative for my age but it has helped keeping me from debt at the very least.
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Jumping jehosaphat--I made it!
Helped that we had no extra Christmas bills due a no-shopping year.. happy Friday!
$50,040
now I might stay in this gauntlet and adjust so so my goal is to get my RRSP to $50K, currently at $33,765
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Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43 -($709.27) decrease
1/15/2019 - $37,107.37 -$1,756.94 increase
I guess I didn't post a year end update, I bet it was my subconscious not wanting to post a decrease in my account but the first half of January more than made up for that. The market seems to be heading back up which is nice.
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Jumping jehosaphat--I made it!
Helped that we had no extra Christmas bills due a no-shopping year.. happy Friday!
$50,040
now I might stay in this gauntlet and adjust so so my goal is to get my RRSP to $50K, currently at $33,765
Yay for @Serendip - one goal down - one more to go! We're glad to have you hang around to hit your next goal.
@haypug16 - that is a nice $1100 or so increase - sweet! Certainly a better increase than my CD. I'm tempted to jump into the market, but I really need to have a stable $50K with no downward fluctuations. I'm looking at renewing at 3.25% APY and just renewed my smallest CD at 3.5% APY
Which fund are you in? Vanguard - VTAX? or something else entirely? (if you don't mind my asking?:)
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I'm just in a target year 2040 fund. I have been thinking about getting into more specific funds but haven't gotten around to making any changes yet.
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Jumping jehosaphat--I made it!
Helped that we had no extra Christmas bills due a no-shopping year.. happy Friday!
$50,040
now I might stay in this gauntlet and adjust so so my goal is to get my RRSP to $50K, currently at $33,765
Yay for @Serendip - one goal down - one more to go! We're glad to have you hang around to hit your next goal.
Yes--new goal! RRSP growth
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
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Congrats to those achieving their 50k goal!
I am back in business. Got my first paycheck mid-month after a job switching pay drought. Got through Christmas without way overspending, so that was a triumph.
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
January 2019 total: 42,705
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 32,562. January
NOTE: CHANGE OF PLAN
February and March may see no savings at all. Instead, I'm working on saving up $5K to help pay for dental work my son urgently needs.
Currently at $1800, adding $1587 in Feb and $1613 in March - voila $5K.
By April I should be back to saving $1587 each month minimum, but probably more like $1700 going forward due to increased income. Yeah for COLA. Plus I'm hoping for an extra $369 for 4 months - the end of a car loan (for Mr. R.). I temporarily want to divert those funds to make sure I do reach my end goal of $50K by Dec 2019.
The year is young - we shall see how it all progresses.
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Congrats to those achieving their 50k goal!
I am back in business. Got my first paycheck mid-month after a job switching pay drought. Got through Christmas without way overspending, so that was a triumph.
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
January 2019 total: 42,705
Well done @eav you are moving right along!
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Good month for investments and a bit less taken off in taxes in the new year.
January 2019: $39,825.43
10k to go. Hope to reach 50k by April 🤞
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Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90 +$3,459.47 increase
Thanks Market! I think this is possibly my biggest monthly increase to date. In February I'm increasing my 401K by $700 so I'm hoping to have a repeat of this months increase but that is kind of out of my hands, all I can do it keep on contributing. With any luck I'll hit $50K by the fall.
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Quote by Gail2000
I am looking forward to be worth nothing.
LOL - best quote of the day!
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Quote by Gail2000
I am looking forward to be worth nothing.
LOL - best quote of the day!
Thank you!!
Currently -42500 ish Slow and steady!
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Well, this is the month where I may drop down to $29,516 and stay there until the 1st of June.
Current balance is up to $34,461.99 and I'll be adding $1,587. savings in March. HOWEVER ...
...the savings totals might well stay at $29,516 until all medical bills and outdoor projects have been completed - probably April.
So no movement to report - extra income is being allocated elsewhere, perhaps even into May.
Then in June it is back into savings mode.
I have no plans to touch any of the $29,516 - the other projects I have in mind will have to wait until I've saved up at least $36K.
This is a major deviation from the savings plan, but I'm happy with my decision - sometimes life, family and personal contentment have to come first. I've no doubt I'll reach the $36K and take care of some of my projects - the rest will be cake - I mean extra savings.
There will be no killing myself to reach that elusive $50K by Dec this year - it may well not happen until June or even September of next year or with luck I may hit $50K by April of next year - pushing back my goal by a full four months.
I decided it is time to complete all outstanding projects. They have been put off too long already.
How are you all doing? Are you on track or speeding ahead or making a temporary U-turn?
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Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58 +3,167.68 increase
Big increase this month. Total contributions were $1,600 so the market basically did a match of my contribution, how nice of the market :)
$8K more to go to finish this race! If the market keeps this up then I may be done by summer time.
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Well, this is the month where I may drop down to $29,516 and stay there until the 1st of June.
Current balance is up to $34,461.99 and I'll be adding $1,587. savings in March. HOWEVER ...
...the savings totals might well stay at $29,516 until all medical bills and outdoor projects have been completed - probably April.
So no movement to report - extra income is being allocated elsewhere, perhaps even into May.
Then in June it is back into savings mode.
I have no plans to touch any of the $29,516 - the other projects I have in mind will have to wait until I've saved up at least $36K.
This is a major deviation from the savings plan, but I'm happy with my decision - sometimes life, family and personal contentment have to come first. I've no doubt I'll reach the $36K and take care of some of my projects - the rest will be cake - I mean extra savings.
There will be no killing myself to reach that elusive $50K by Dec this year - it may well not happen until June or even September of next year or with luck I may hit $50K by April of next year - pushing back my goal by a full four months.
I decided it is time to complete all outstanding projects. They have been put off too long already.
How are you all doing? Are you on track or speeding ahead or making a temporary U-turn?
Hey Rosy!
Sorry to hear of your hardship but what an attitude! Nothing will deter you and thats nice to see. Keep on truckin
Over here we are managing to save. I still have a balance on my card that is stubborn, something keeps happening. The cat got out and got pregnant. So two cats to get fixed (yes reposible would hav gotten it done a while ago but the s the breaks)
The needle is still moving though. At -39600 at the moment. That is averaging 850 a month.1200 if you count the capital payment on the mortgage.
Still figuring 2 1/4 years before we hi that 0.
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End of February update:
January 2018: $18,944.35
February 2018: $22,047.46
March 2018: $23,463.61
April 2018: $24,224.19
May 2018: $26,173
Jun 2018: $29,519.62
October 2018: $29,676.50
November 2018: $32,923.90
December 2018: $34,394.85
January 2019: $39,825.43
February 2019" $43,508.66 (+$3683.23)
Not a bad month. I have a $2600 tax refund on its way (just want to have a final look over before I file, so probably not until Spring Break at the end of March), and I also have $4500 (after taxes) in unpaid earned income. I'm on a temporary contract, so that unpaid income is paid out at the end of the contract which is Mid April (at that point the unpaid wages will have grown to $5600 after taxes). If my contact is extended, which is looking likely, I won't be paid the unpaid wages until July but by that time it will have grown to $7500 after taxes, which will be a nice lump sum payment :) Reason why I have so much in unpaid wages is because the school board holds back a percentage of my pay so that I have money in the summer. On temp contracts, this money is paid out all at once at the end of the contract period.
So that being said, I've just surpassed the $50,000 mark if I count the $2600 tax refund and $4500 held-back wages. But I'll stay in this thread until those are in the bank account :) I guess my next goal is $100,000. Will be hard to part with this cash when it comes time to pay the down payment :(
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This is a great thread, an in-between step, as the 100k one seems a bit far off for me at the moment.
I am hoping to get to 50k (GBP) in one more tax year (April 2020). I have some money in foreign accounts, but it's not invested so I'm not counting it for now. We'll see, I might transfer some of it over to speed up the process.
Current assets:
£5042 in emergency fund (the 42 is from interest, I'll invest it once it hits £100)
£500 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1908 in lower rate savings account
£1117 extra money, ready to be invested next month
£16 083 in investment account
TOTAL:
£24 650
Almost halfway! Hopefully next month.
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This is a great thread, an in-between step, as the 100k one seems a bit far off for me at the moment. - Thank you, agreed:)
I am hoping to get to 50k (GBP) in one more tax year (April 2020). I have some money in foreign accounts, but it's not invested so I'm not counting it for now. We'll see, I might transfer some of it over to speed up the process.
Current assets:
£5042 in emergency fund (the 42 is from interest, I'll invest it once it hits £100)
£500 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1908 in lower rate savings account
£1117 extra money, ready to be invested next month
£16 083 in investment account
TOTAL:
£24 650
Almost halfway! Hopefully next month.
@KathrinS Yeah for (almost:) reaching the halfway point! Good going Kathrin!
Based on my recently revised figures I'll graduate together with you in April of 2020 - $50K here we come:).....
I like all your little savings buckets - looks like a great plan to me. I'm down to basically two categories - the $50K goal, which I don't intend to drag out past May of 2020. I keep hoping something wonderful will happen and I'll be able to end 2019 with the final $50K. One can dream:)
The other savings are for improving the slush fund for future travel and/or home/garden improvements, depends entirely on which buckets I deem more important at the time.
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Well, this is the month where I may drop down to $29,516 and stay there until the 1st of June.
Current balance is up to $34,461.99 and I'll be adding $1,587. savings in March. HOWEVER ...
...the savings totals might well stay at $29,516 until all medical bills and outdoor projects have been completed - probably April.
So no movement to report - extra income is being allocated elsewhere, perhaps even into May.
Then in June it is back into savings mode.
I have no plans to touch any of the $29,516 - the other projects I have in mind will have to wait until I've saved up at least $36K.
This is a major deviation from the savings plan, but I'm happy with my decision - sometimes life, family and personal contentment have to come first. I've no doubt I'll reach the $36K and take care of some of my projects - the rest will be cake - I mean extra savings.
There will be no killing myself to reach that elusive $50K by Dec this year - it may well not happen until June or even September of next year or with luck I may hit $50K by April of next year - pushing back my goal by a full four months.
I decided it is time to complete all outstanding projects. They have been put off too long already.
How are you all doing? Are you on track or speeding ahead or making a temporary U-turn?
Hey Rosy!
Sorry to hear of your hardship but what an attitude! Nothing will deter you and thats nice to see. Keep on truckin
Over here we are managing to save. I still have a balance on my card that is stubborn, something keeps happening. The cat got out and got pregnant. So two cats to get fixed (yes reposible would hav gotten it done a while ago but the s the breaks)
The needle is still moving though. At -39600 at the moment. That is averaging 850 a month.1200 if you count the capital payment on the mortgage.
Still figuring 2 1/4 years before we hi that 0.
It is the progress at the end of the year that gives me motivation. Just looking back, I see, wow - I'm really making this happen:)
Perseverance is key - you are doing great, @Gail2000.
I'm just wondering, are you paying yourself first? each month?, you know setting up a small emergency fund with $100 savings each month - just for those annoying mini-emergencies that keep cropping up for all of us?
It helps tremendously with keeping the credit card balance in check, so you can afford to stop using the credit card when the kitty gets amorous and just pay the vet out of your emergency fund.
Psychologically speaking that is a big win - no whipping out the card and cringing internally:) - and feeling defeated all over again, sigh.
When I was paying off my cc it was the same game - up and down, until I finally had enough in my EF to deal with the usual emergencies. In the beginning, I would have just $150 saved for emergencies - only to need it that month and start all over the next. GRRR
But, eventually, persistence paid off and $500 went a long way to deal with just about any of my little emergencies and then it was fun to see the credit card balance shrinking each month.
Besides, there is no law that says that once every six months you can't declare yourself an emergency and dip into your fund just a little bit:) That also went a long way toward keeping me on the straight and narrow.
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@Rosy Thanks! Would be awesome to 'graduate' together.
Yes, I don't count any money saved up for special things like travel, taxes etc., as I know that will be going out again and is not really 'mine'. I'm a bit limited in terms of savings as we have a £20k annual tax-free savings allowance here in the UK. But I probably wouldn't be able to save more than that a year, anyway!
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Achieving being the most sporadic forum poster of all time! Hope to achieve the 50k milestone in April/May based on how the stock market behaves.
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
January 2019 total: 42,705
March 2019 total: 48,458
Love seeing everyone's progress!
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@Rosy I have set up my auto pmatic payments.it is bad budgeting. Not buying all thats on the list at the grocery store and letting items magically appear that dont belong. Hubby buys lunch when we have lunch fixings. That sort of thing. So discipline is the key. We are making progress so I. Going to let it slide for a month and come back hard. Our tax return is going to buy us a nice vacation for reward of 6 years of scrimping then back to it. We paid off the cards and are ready to put hard earned money where it should go.
The buffer was a great idea. I think I can manage it and Ill let you know if its the game changer I suspect it will be.
Thank you!
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End of February update:
January 2018: $18,944.35
February 2018: $22,047.46
March 2018: $23,463.61
April 2018: $24,224.19
May 2018: $26,173
Jun 2018: $29,519.62
October 2018: $29,676.50
November 2018: $32,923.90
December 2018: $34,394.85
January 2019: $39,825.43
February 2019" $43,508.66 (+$3683.23)
Not a bad month. I have a $2600 tax refund on its way (just want to have a final look over before I file, so probably not until Spring Break at the end of March), and I also have $4500 (after taxes) in unpaid earned income. I'm on a temporary contract, so that unpaid income is paid out at the end of the contract which is Mid April (at that point the unpaid wages will have grown to $5600 after taxes). If my contact is extended, which is looking likely, I won't be paid the unpaid wages until July but by that time it will have grown to $7500 after taxes, which will be a nice lump sum payment :) Reason why I have so much in unpaid wages is because the school board holds back a percentage of my pay so that I have money in the summer. On temp contracts, this money is paid out all at once at the end of the contract period.
So that being said, I've just surpassed the $50,000 mark if I count the $2600 tax refund and $4500 held-back wages. But I'll stay in this thread until those are in the bank account :) I guess my next goal is $100,000. Will be hard to part with this cash when it comes time to pay the down payment :(
Paycheque came early this month, so Im currently sitting at $48,394.91. I still have a few bills to pay at the end of the month, but I also have a $2000 tax return Ill be filing at the end of the month. Markets have been good over the past month and as long as my investments dont tank, I should
be able to secure 50k by the end of April :)
Bought myself a toy to celebrate: a vacuum chamber for the kitchen so that I can easily Sous vide my meals :)
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Skewed RRSP growth as it wasn't all new savings which caused this big leap but a re-shuffling of other funds (worth $4000) with $2000 of new savings on top of that..however my goal is to get it to 50,000 so I suppose it's legit!
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
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MADE IT TO 50K!
Being intentional with my savings - Roth IRA, high yield savings, and some taxable investing has made a huge difference!
May 2018 Total : 33,103
November 2018 Total: 41,530
January 2019 total: 42,705
March 2019 total: 48,458
April 2019: 50,308
Looking forward to seeing you all in the next thread!
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Congrats @eav
Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52 +$1,898.94 increase
Not as big of an increase as last month but still higher than my contribution amount of $1,600 so the market was still working for me.
$6,123.48 to go! I'll be heading out on Maternity leave mid month so there will be 3 months of no contributions until I return mid July at which point I plan to kick up my contributions to $2,300 a month to make up for the break. Hopefully the market continues to do well while I'm not adding to it and maybe I can still finish up by the summer if not the fall.
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 31,094. January (revised)
$ 26,600. February (revised)
$ 29,650. March (revised and updated)
$ 31,262. April - current total (plus interest at EOM should by about $60 extra)
NOTE: CHANGE OF PLAN due to medical procedures and
PROJECT DETOURS
1. I already set aside $5000 for medical procedures for a family member - check! I'm happy and relieved I can help out - no misgivings there:)
2. Spent another $1K on home improvements and garden - over what I generally spend once a year for this purpose.
3. Also, in March, I saved $1590 toward this $50K goal!:) Yay - totally surprising myself there. This should go a long way toward realizing my updated goal of a min of $40K total savings by Dec 2019.
That means my new timeline for reaching my $50K goal will be around June of 2020 instead of Dec 2019 as planned. I'm good with that, because I'm happy to be able to live a good life and accomplish things besides just stashing money that I can't ever touch for fun or for projects or for travel anyway.
These are all planned projects that I prefer to tackle this year instead of next year while both our health is still good enough to tackle a renovation project or two or three:)
The next expenditures are:
$3K for necessary tree removal and site improvement. April and May savings will pay for that.
$5K for a bathroom upgrade - June, July and Aug savings will pay for that.
On a side note, Mr. R. will handle the expenditure of a new fence about $3K and an upcoming tiling project, a guesstimate of another $3K, plus any overages on the bathroom renovation.
That means we are done with all projects - except - for a dream back yard project we keep discussing now and then - I'm beginning to think we can make that happen too.
But, the dream project will have to wait until the $50K goal is reached.
By Sep 2019 I will be back to focusing solely on this $50K goal. In the interim, there will be only interest and small savings amounts here and there whenever I can.
Meanwhile, it is exciting to get things done and not touch my savings - a good feeling:)
Sorry about the long post, I was thinking out loud and put my plan on paper for future reference.
Goal #1 - $ 5K - medical EF - in the bank, ready for use
Goal #2 - $31K - saving $50K - saved $1590 in March - no other savings this year so far - goal is to start again in Sep 2019.
Goal # 3 - $ 1K - garden in Feb/Mar - paid
*************************************
TOTAL $37K of savings allocated.
Two more goals and $8000 to go and I'm back to this goal:)
Goal # 4 - $ 3K - tree removal, site improvements - allocating April and May savings to pay.
Goal # 5 - $ 5K - small bathroom upgrade (my portion) - allocating June, July and Aug savings to pay.
Had I stuck with savings only I'd be at $37K savings now and totally on track, alas this is a satisfying change of plan. Next update will be easier since it will be numbers only. Progress:)
So there you have it - so how does your money grow?:)
(Modified for my edification and overall clarification:).
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@Rosy I have set up my auto pmatic payments.it is bad budgeting. Not buying all thats on the list at the grocery store and letting items magically appear that dont belong. Hubby buys lunch when we have lunch fixings. That sort of thing. So discipline is the key. We are making progress so I. Going to let it slide for a month and come back hard. Our tax return is going to buy us a nice vacation for reward of 6 years of scrimping then back to it. We paid off the cards and are ready to put hard earned money where it should go.
The buffer was a great idea. I think I can manage it and Ill let you know if its the game changer I suspect it will be.
Thank you!
@Gail2000 Yeah for a well-deserved vacation - we all need a respite now and then, so we have renewed energy and strength tackling our next goals:)!
I see more congrats are in order: YAY!
1. CONGRATS to @eav !!! SWEET SUCCESS!
You are all on a roll! I am slightly envious...
2. Oh, @Serendip I wish I was already where you are now - nice jump and good going!:) You have been working so diligently on reaching so many different goals.
Your hard work and diligence paid off.
3.
January 2018: $18,944.35
February 2019" $43,508.66 (+$3683.23)
... SNIP ...
So that being said, I've just surpassed the $50,000 mark if I count the $2600 tax refund and $4500 held-back wages. But I'll stay in this thread until those are in the bank account :) I guess my next goal is $100,000. Will be hard to part with this cash when it comes time to pay the down payment :(
... SNIP ...
I should be able to secure 50k by the end of April :)
Bought myself a toy to celebrate: a vacuum chamber for the kitchen so that I can easily Sous vide my meals :)
Sweet toy, @CanadianTeacher and CONGRATS on reaching $50K! Happy to see you made it!!!
[/color]
@KathrinS - just wondering - more of your excellent progress or a temporary screeching halt while you re-arrange your goals like me?:)
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Hi @Rosy thanks for checking!
Here's my current situation:
£5083 in emergency fund
£750 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1959 in lower rate savings account
£3028 extra money, ready to be invested next month
£18650 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
Looks like it's been a really good month!! And also, my investments have gone up a bit. Next month's goal will be to get over £30k!
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April 11th, 2019 -$ - 33100.00
Dec 28th, 2018- $-50300
Im proud of the progress. @Rosy thanks for checking in.
The attitude change seems to be paying off. More money in the bank to cover up coming expenses and even a bank account with a buffer of not the level we discussed. Now to get that net 0!
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RRSP account slowly moving towards this goal--
I've been putting funds into another account since I'll owe a lot for taxes this year and don't want to get caught shorthanded!
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
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Hey All,
It's been awhile, I wanted to check in.
We have been making steady progress with our networth.
Current networth hovering at around $26,000 NOT including our checking accounts (which I'm pretty sure were covered in my last summary above from April 2018). Here's the breakdown:
Investment Accounts: $19,697 (+$4,597)
Savings Accounts: $9,243 (+2,743)
Debt: -$3083 (+2,650)
TOTAL: $25,857
So our progress in these three areas: (+$9,990)
Not bad for 8 months!
My goal has been for us to pass $50k networth by the end of 2020. But recently we have adopted a new plan to save 25% of our income (nearly double what we have saved in the past), so this will hopefully get us there much faster).
Feels good to make progress!
Hey All,
I haven't been posting here a lot over the past year or so. Truthfully, it hasn't been very fun to come on here, because I have often compared myself with other people on here saving so much more money, and my own pain at saving "enough" has sucked.
However, we are continuing to save, and our networth is steadily growing. Despite my admission, I am quite pleased, and would like to share:
Investment Accounts: $24,699 (+$5,002)
Savings Accounts: $9,309 (+66)
Debt: -$2794 (+289)
TOTAL: $31,214
So our progress in these three areas: (+$5357)
Not bad for 4 months!
Obviously most of the growth is in our investments. This has been helped by aggressively bolstering up our HSA and gains in the market.
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Don't fall into the trap in keeping up with the mustache joneses. There will always be someone who spends less, saves more, makes more money, has more assets or is retiring at a younger age than you are. It's all about your own journey and how you can leverage learnings from those other folks to optimize within your own unique situation.
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Don't fall into the trap in keeping up with the mustache joneses. There will always be someone who spends less, saves more, makes more money, has more assets or is retiring at a younger age than you are. It's all about your own journey and how you can leverage learnings from those other folks to optimize within your own unique situation.
Lol, excellent point about keeping up with the mustache joneses.
There was probably some of that going on.
Yet I also I would love to be more "Mustachian" if I could. As much as it has inspired me to see people saving 1/2 or more of their income,
it pained me to have my own struggles in that area (currently still aiming to set aside 1/4 of our income). So the pain of MMM was really my own pain of not aligning with what I actually want.... hopefully that will someday ease up, in the meantime, you are right, it is about my own journey,
and we all have our own journey.
Thanks for your words.
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Mid-April Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/15/2019 - $46,788.63 +$2,912.11 increase
I got my bonus today along with my regular paycheck so there were two 401K contributions made totaling $1,600 plus a nice increase from the market of $1,300. About $3k to go to finish this race. If the market continues in this way I can be done in a couple months :)
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25-6-2018 29.879,12 ------> Started Tracking
25-7-2018 30.749,12
25-8-2018 31.993,17
25-9-2018 33.185,00 ------> Found MMM
25-10-2018 34.433,66
25-11-2018 35.556,00
25-12-2015 41.939,62
25-1-2019 42.082,47
25-2-2019 44.338,00
25-3-2019 46.218,65
Longtime lurker joining in! I always enjoyed reading these threads, so if I don't forget it I'll update here semi-regularly.
The amount tracked here is my personal net worth, mostly consisting of savings for a down payment on a house, and only about 8k in the stock market. Once I also hit 50k in savings, I'm going to increase my monthly investments. EU national, so govt. & private pension not included. Partner & myself keep finances seperated.
Happy stashing to all!
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Update:
Goal: $50k by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
12/03/18: $26,633.07
04/22/19: $32,948.25
It's been a while since I've checked in, but I'm still working on making progress. Glad to see everybody is still doing wonderful!
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I made it! My investments just crossed the threshold where, combined with my modest EF, they equal $50K. Woo! Thanks to all for the support of this thread!
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I made it! My investments just crossed the threshold where, combined with my modest EF, they equal $50K. Woo! Thanks to all for the support of this thread!
Great job!
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
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I made it! My investments just crossed the threshold where, combined with my modest EF, they equal $50K. Woo! Thanks to all for the support of this thread!
Awesome! See you in the next thread!
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I made it! My investments just crossed the threshold where, combined with my modest EF, they equal $50K. Woo! Thanks to all for the support of this thread!
CONGRATS @westtoeast ....... sweet success!!!
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Update:
Goal: $50k by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
12/03/18: $26,633.07
04/22/19: $32,948.25
It's been a while since I've checked in, but I'm still working on making progress. Glad to see everybody is still doing wonderful!
@Anchored Adrift - yes, you made good progress!!!
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Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/30/2019 - $47,958.12 +$4,081.60 increase
Super close to $50k but I'm now on maternity leave so no contributions for 3 months. Any increase will be fro the market so we'll see how it goes.
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 31,094. January (revised)
$ 26,600. February (revised)
$ 29,650. March (revised and updated)
$ 31,342. April
MAY - temporarily on hold - allocating funds towards other planned projects - so no real savings except for interest - approx $83.
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25-6-2018 29.879,12 ------> Started Tracking
25-7-2018 30.749,12
25-8-2018 31.993,17
25-9-2018 33.185,00 ------> Found MMM
25-10-2018 34.433,66
25-11-2018 35.556,00
25-12-2018 41.939,62
25-1-2019 42.082,47
25-2-2019 44.338,00
25-3-2019 46.218,65
25-4-2019 47.829,00
Update: had a decent month! Income tax was nicely balanced out with some extra pay from a side gig. In my regular job, the hope for a bonus is slowly fading, but this year's budget will be approved by the board in june, so we'll see. For next month, a financial storm is incoming: two-week roadtrip in Iceland. I'm hoping to keep it's costs at the same level my extra vacation pay is at - fingers crossed!
Congratz to everyone making progress and reaching goals, really nice to read your updates!
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Any progress is progress!
Great to see how everyone is doing!
May 2019 -29500.00
April 11th, 2019 -$ - 33100.00
Dec 28th, 2018- $-50300
Its going to slow down while we pay some up coming expenses but the jump is due to tax refunds. Ill take it.
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Update:
£5000 in emergency fund
£1000 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1960 in lower rate savings account
£2778 extra money, ready to be invested next month
£21092 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830 ---- £2420 increase!
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PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 31,094. January (revised)
$ 26,600. February (revised)
$ 29,650. March (revised and updated)
$ 31,342. April
$ 33,422 May
Changed plans once again.
I think I found a better way to optimize my financial goals and overall plans for this year.
We'll see:)
-
Hi everyone,
good work on ticking upward @Rosy !
Here's my update
RRSP
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584 TRAVEL FUND May 17/19 $390
Wasn't able to save much into this RRSP account--owed quite a lot for taxes and had almost two weeks off of work.
Will aim be more consistent at savings for the rest of spring/summer (as well as starting this travel fund for the autumn!)
-
Update for June 2019
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 31,094. January (revised)
$ 26,600. February (revised)
$ 29,650. March (revised and updated)
NOTE: I took time out to separately save up $7600 for an upcoming procedure
$ 31,342. April
$ 33,422. May
$ 38,518. June projected - updated total on June 4, 2019
2019 is proving to be squirly to navigate, it seems like I am changing my plans every month, but I decided to stay committed to my goal.
Once again, it looks like there is a possibility that I may hit my $50K goal by the target date of Dec 2019.
It is motivating to see how we all have our ups and downs and yet, we persevere. Good going, everyone!
-
Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/30/2019 - $47,958.12
5/31/2019 - $45,763.42 -$2,194.70 decrease :(
I was hoping the market would make up for the fact that I'm not making any contributions until I return to work mid July but I guess that didn't happen.
-
Update
I was hoping the market would make up for the fact that I'm not making any contributions until I return to work mid July but I guess that didn't happen.
Youre so close!
Myself,
June 2019 $-25,500.00
May 2019 $-29,500.00
April 11th, 2019 -$ - 33100.00
Dec 28th, 2018- $-50300
Whittling away. I have a goal of $-10,000.00 for December. Well see if its realistic. I am going in for a review with my employer this week.
-
haypug - sorry about the markets not cooperating. I feel your frustration, it is worse when you are closer to retirement like Mr. R. is and you watch helplessly as your portfolio is flapping in the breeze.
Gail - you are doing absolutely amazing, you may be worth zero sooner than you think:)!
-
25-6-2018 29.879,12 ------> Started Tracking
25-7-2018 30.749,12
25-8-2018 31.993,17
25-9-2018 33.185,00 ------> Found MMM
25-10-2018 34.433,66
25-11-2018 35.556,00
25-12-2018 41.939,62
25-1-2019 42.082,47
25-2-2019 44.338,00
25-3-2019 46.218,65
25-4-2019 47.829,00
03-6-2019 49.478,00
Holiday was more than extra vacation pay, however it was very much worth it on its own αnd I had a minor windfall: paid too much for heath and electricity last year, so got a significant sum back! Apart from that, some holiday costs were paid already spread out over the previous months, stuff like plaintickets, a few reservations on accomodation and the rentalcar. *Everything went better than expected*
Bad month for the markets, but I have a rather small exposure (saving for a downpayment), would never have almost reached my goal otherwise. Best of luck to you all the coming month & happy stashing!
-
25-4-2019 47.829,00
03-6-2019 49.478,00
Holiday was more than extra vacation pay, however it was very much worth it on its own αnd I had a minor windfall: paid too much for heath and electricity last year, so got a significant sum back! Apart from that, some holiday costs were paid already spread out over the previous months, stuff like plaintickets, a few reservations on accomodation and the rentalcar. *Everything went better than expected*
Bad month for the markets, but I have a rather small exposure (saving for a downpayment), would never have almost reached my goal otherwise. Best of luck to you all the coming month & happy stashing!
@Dave15 - you are practically there:)! Yay! Fingers crossed...
Mine is presently all in CDs so I know I'd somehow find a few hundred$ just to see that $50K number smiling back at me.
I do so hope to be done by EOY even if I have to wait for the interest to post on Dec 31 to make it so:)
-
Update:
£5000 in emergency fund
£1250 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1961 in lower rate savings account (to be transferred to investments this month)
£2778 extra money, ready to be invested next month
£22766 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755 ----- £1925 increase. I actually saved almost £2500, including small tax windfall, but investments went down.
-
25-4-2019 47.829,00
03-6-2019 49.478,00
Holiday was more than extra vacation pay, however it was very much worth it on its own αnd I had a minor windfall: paid too much for heath and electricity last year, so got a significant sum back! Apart from that, some holiday costs were paid already spread out over the previous months, stuff like plaintickets, a few reservations on accomodation and the rentalcar. *Everything went better than expected*
Bad month for the markets, but I have a rather small exposure (saving for a downpayment), would never have almost reached my goal otherwise. Best of luck to you all the coming month & happy stashing!
@Dave15 - you are practically there:)! Yay! Fingers crossed...
Mine is presently all in CDs so I know I'd somehow find a few hundred$ just to see that $50K number smiling back at me.
I do so hope to be done by EOY even if I have to wait for the interest to post on Dec 31 to make it so:)
Thanks Rosy, this year has been a string of windfalls! Hopefully you'll make your goal as well - certainly looks like it :)
-
haypug - sorry about the markets not cooperating. I feel your frustration, it is worse when you are closer to retirement like Mr. R. is and you watch helplessly as your portfolio is flapping in the breeze.
I'll bet! I have several years left (10+) so it's not too big a deal when my investments go down. In fact it's usually a good thing, at least when I'm able to make contributions and buy "on sale".
-
Good work everyone--nice to see the progress!
My accounts are moving in the right direction-
I have rebuilt my accessible EF of $1000 (after needing to use it this spring)
RRSP
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584 TRAVEL FUND May 17/19 $390
June11/19 $43,150 June11/19 $640
-
As of this morning, I made it to $39,430.85 - now all that's left for this month is the interest, so maybe another hundred bucks by June 30, 2019.
It's pretty damn exciting to reach a point where just the interest is $100 in your favor.
"Only" another $10,5K to go - fingers crossed I'll get there by Dec 31, 2019 just as planned from the beginning.
When I opened this thread two years ago I had no idea what a long and arduous journey this would turn out to be. I thought it would be easier.
I think that without this goal in place every penny of this $40K would simply have disappeared.
Final update for June and July projection coming up in July.
Stay focused everyone - we can do this!
-
Some new developments in my life will change my numbers. Being in a couple makes savings a lot easier to be sure. Progress will be slower now.
Currently at -23500. We will see what happens in the coming months.
-
Investment Accounts: $24,699 (+$5,002)
Savings Accounts: $9,309 (+66)
Debt: -$2794 (+289)
TOTAL: $31,214
So our progress in these three areas: (+$5357)
Not bad for 4 months!
Obviously most of the growth is in our investments. This has been helped by aggressively bolstering up our HSA and gains in the market.
Hi All,
My last update was from April 13th. Things are moving on. It feels great to see the progress:
Our Networth (since April 13th, 2019)
Our Investment Accounts: Was $24,699, Is $26,773 (Gain: +$2,074)
Savings Accounts: Was $9,309, Is $11,666 (Gain: +$2,357)
Debt: Was -$2794, Is -$2,099 (Gain: +$605)
TOTAL: Was $31,214 , Is $35,839 (Total Gain: +$4,625)
Up over $4600 in 2 1/2 months... not bad! And much of that has nothing to do with the
market. We have been stocking up on our savings, and I am paying down my student loan,
planning to have that gone ASAP.
Feels really good for my wife and I to be working together on this. Our partnership around
our money is stronger than ever.
:) Progress feels nice.
-
While possibly not optimal I'd have to just pay off the loan from savings. It would barely make a dent.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
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@ItsALongStory
I don't know your situation but in general, it has always played out better for me when I kept up the loan/debt payments right alongside my savings.
To me, savings represented security through a nice EF and made me feel better psychologically because I could see my stash grow over time.
I wasn't just a loser with nothing but debt to my name:) - I had savings and that gives one options in everyday life.
The thing is that the loan will be paid off at some point as long as you make payments, the timeframe and the amount essentially do not really matter. Set it on auto pay and forget it.
Having cash in the bank gives you choices when things go haywire in your life, you can live off your savings for a couple of months while you look for a new job or pay for replacing your AC or car repair.
I like security.
Not having enough cash to do and purchase what I wanted is what got me into trouble in the first place.
So I am definitely staying out of debt - not even cc debt, it will be paid off each month, period.
Not adding debt and even just paying the min on your loan is sometimes the best choice you can make.
One other thing I have done in the past when the interest on a loan was rather high or it neared a "doable" loan amount is to take out a new credit card with at least 15 month of zero APR - then transfer over a portion or all of the debt and divide it by 15 months of payments - to bring it down faster and save some interest.
If currently, your savings will not even make a dent in your loan - then why plow it into the loan and lose the little bit of extra security you've built up so far?
Just sayin' - I know it is hard to keep your perspective when you have a loan that feels crushing to you - do whatever is in your best interest now, even if that means living with that loan a while longer.
Pat yourself on the back for sticking it out and saving at the same time - you will be fine:)
-
@DieHard_772
Yay for progress!!!
-
Update for July 2019
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 31,094. January (revised)
$ 26,600. February (revised)
$ 29,650. March (revised and updated)
NOTE: I took time out to separately save up $7600 for an upcoming procedure
$ 31,342. April
$ 33,422. May
$ 39,531. June
$ $47,168. PROJECTED for JULY - updated July 14, 2019
I'm so impatient to finally hit this goal I find myself wishing my life away just to finally get to that coveted $50K.
That will not do at all:).
Greetings:) fellow savers! I hope you fare well this month!
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Great work @Rosy!
Yes, no wishing away of this fleeting life..the savings will get there and you are doing FABULOUSLY :)
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WOW Rosy. Youre doing fabulously! Maby time to treat yourself or a pat on the back. I had ice cream for the first time in a while. Felt like a million bucks.
-
Thanks, @Gail2000 and @Serendip - I needed to hear that. I'm rarely rational when it comes to money - it takes effort for me to see financial truths.
It is like my brain short circuits.
As far as treating myself - goodness gracious, I've been positively spoiled in June with a wonderful trip to see family and sing and dance with them and a fun vacation to see Niagara Falls - a breathtaking once in a lifetime boat trip. There were more dinners out in June than we've had in three or four months:) - foodie heaven.
Ice Cream - umm:) - I actually picked up an entire big carton at Coldstone Creamery on Saturday - three delicious flavors crammed into one carton:).
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Great work everybody! Keep making progress! And Happy 4th!!
Update:
Goal: $50k by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
12/03/18: $26,633.07
04/22/19: $32,948.25
07/01/19: $36,179.49
-
Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/30/2019 - $47,958.12
5/31/2019 - $45,763.42
6/30/2019 - $48,738.01 +$2,974.59
So very close to $50K! I hope to finish this race by August.
-
Update:
£5000 in emergency fund
£1500 in 5% interest rate savings account
£0 in lower rate savings account - transferred this to Stocks and Shares.
£3528 extra money, ready to be invested - this includes a small windfall this month :)
£28246 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38274 -- £4519 increase - wow! Only about £3000 is from saving/ windfall, the rest must be the market.
-
25-6-2018 29.879,12 ------> Started Tracking
25-7-2018 30.749,12
25-8-2018 31.993,17
25-9-2018 33.185,00 ------> Found MMM
25-10-2018 34.433,66
25-11-2018 35.556,00
25-12-2018 41.939,62
25-1-2019 42.082,47
25-2-2019 44.338,00
25-3-2019 46.218,65
25-4-2019 47.829,00
03-6-2019 49.478,00
05-7-2019 52.722,00
Goal reached, wow... I expected it to happen, but was extremely lucky seeing such a high increase: got a bonus amounting to almost an extra monthly paycheck (before taxes)! Knew that was coming too, but still amazed that it actually happened haha. 2019 is so far my most easy stashing year ever: some small windfalls; a raise at work; two lavish holidays which costed less than expected...all I had to do was throw it all in savings and the market and here I am.
I found this thread pretty late in my 'race to 50k', but can honestly say that it was an extra motivating factor, and fun to read all the updates from the savers in here. I'll probably check into the 10-100 NW race thread next month, but will definetly keep reading this one!
Thanks a lot & the best of luck to all contributors here!
-
YAY - so many graduates from this thread this month!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
to @Dave15 - so glad you found us. Stay focused and good luck in the next thread - hope to see ya there in a few months!
@haypug16 - you are killing it. You've been so motivating to me in your encouragement to keep plugging at it:) Almost there!
I will miss you when you move on:)
@KathrinS - yay, huge - steady progress. The stars are aligning for you:)
-
**still haven't touched this I have rebuilt my accessible EF of $1000 (after needing to use it this spring)
RRSP
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584 TRAVEL FUND May 17/19 $390
June11/19 $43,150 June11/19 $640
July 5/19 $44,747 July 5/19 $1742 (Just bought an $1100 plane ticket..so technically will be back to $640)
-
Thanks Rosy!
-
YAY - so many graduates from this thread this month!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
to @Dave15 - so glad you found us. Stay focused and good luck in the next thread - hope to see ya there in a few months!
@haypug16 - you are killing it. You've been so motivating to me in your encouragement to keep plugging at it:) Almost there!
I will miss you when you move on:)
@KathrinS - yay, huge - steady progress. The stars are aligning for you:)
`
Thanks @Rosy! And don't worry, I'll be there for years (if not forever :D)
-
Changed my savings strategy this month - again:), so now I have the divine pleasure to adjust my projections for July:
$ 39,531. June
$ 41,218. PROJECTED for JULY
as of today, I am at real-life $44,474.
Keep up the great work everybody!:)
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It's been a while as my job has been keeping me busy. My summer pay and tax returns are in, and I've surpassed my goal by far!
January 2018: $18,944.35
February 2018: $22,047.46
March 2018: $23,463.61
April 2018: $24,224.19
May 2018: $26,173
Jun 2018: $29,519.62
October 2018: $29,676.50
November 2018: $32,923.90
December 2018: $34,394.85
January 2019: $39,825.43
February 2019" $43,508.66
April 2019: $48,394.91
July 2019: $65,536.55 (+$17,141.64)
Now keep in mind that as a teacher I will not see another paycheque from my employer until the end of September. So this number will surely go down. My estimate is about $58,000 just before my next paycheque. I'm going to England next month to visit my sister and will do a small side trip, on the cheap (using Aeroplan miles, lol), to Italy to reward myself. I have small amounts of money coming in over the summer, but it's not much. Luckily I got a new contract at my school and have another year worth of employment secured.
Next goal: $100,000 by summer 2020 :D
End of February update:
January 2018: $18,944.35
February 2018: $22,047.46
March 2018: $23,463.61
April 2018: $24,224.19
May 2018: $26,173
Jun 2018: $29,519.62
October 2018: $29,676.50
November 2018: $32,923.90
December 2018: $34,394.85
January 2019: $39,825.43
February 2019" $43,508.66
Not a bad month. I have a $2600 tax refund on its way (just want to have a final look over before I file, so probably not until Spring Break at the end of March), and I also have $4500 (after taxes) in unpaid earned income. I'm on a temporary contract, so that unpaid income is paid out at the end of the contract which is Mid April (at that point the unpaid wages will have grown to $5600 after taxes). If my contact is extended, which is looking likely, I won't be paid the unpaid wages until July but by that time it will have grown to $7500 after taxes, which will be a nice lump sum payment :) Reason why I have so much in unpaid wages is because the school board holds back a percentage of my pay so that I have money in the summer. On temp contracts, this money is paid out all at once at the end of the contract period.
So that being said, I've just surpassed the $50,000 mark if I count the $2600 tax refund and $4500 held-back wages. But I'll stay in this thread until those are in the bank account :) I guess my next goal is $100,000. Will be hard to part with this cash when it comes time to pay the down payment :(
Paycheque came early this month, so Im currently sitting at $48,394.91. I still have a few bills to pay at the end of the month, but I also have a $2000 tax return Ill be filing at the end of the month. Markets have been good over the past month and as long as my investments dont tank, I should
be able to secure 50k by the end of April :)
Bought myself a toy to celebrate: a vacuum chamber for the kitchen so that I can easily Sous vide my meals :)
-
So this thread is probably where I should start.
Im negative net worth at-$47500 roughly. A household that makes $90000 should be able to do that in year if adopting a moustachian approach. I joke that we should just sell the house and it would be taken care of. But I like our modest dewelling. Im just not sure how smart we were to use the Ho e buyer option for half our down payment.
So here goes. Starting November 23rd 2018. Goal: November 2019 race to 50000 starts today.
As of tomorrow, -$22,300.00. Im not certain we will make it too 0 like I wanted in November but I would say we will get close.
-
Keep the faith @Gail2000 - you are still at the stage where every step forward is hard-won.
The needle is moving in a positive direction so you are doing well!:)
@CanadianTeacher - wow - CONGRATS you graduated from the thread!
Sweet rewards - have fun in England and Italy:)
UPDATE
As of today - I am looking at $47,168 - I'll update the final numbers on July 31, 2019.
Looks like I will finish this race next month, in August.
-
PROGRESS REPORT BY MONTH
*** 2017 ***
$ 4,588.92 June
$ 8,221.92 July
$ 10,000.00 Aug
$ 10,042.00 Sep
$ 10,064.00 Oct
$ 10,092.00 Nov
$ 10,117.00 Dec
NOTE: Finished saving up an additional $15K in 2017 for two new (used) cars. Tough year!
*** 2018 ***
$ 10,715.84 Jan
$ 13,873.10 Feb
$ 16,026.77 Mar
$ 20,054.06 Apr
$ 20,093.95 May
$ 20,132.64 June
July-Aug continued with no savings - interest only
$ 23,412.83 Sep
$ 25,041.58 Oct
$ 29,385.62 Nov
$ 31,034.86 Dec - Yay - I'm so happy I broke the halfway mark and finally made it past $30K to boot:)
NOTE: I took time out (in 2018) from saving for this $50K to finish saving $10K for my travel fund - goal reached in July 2018. Returned from the trip in Sep with $3,2K left to plow back into goal #1 - to reach $50K in 2019.
*** 2019 ***
$ 31,094. January (revised)
$ 26,600. February (revised)
$ 29,650. March (revised and updated)
NOTE: Saved up an extra $5K for dental work for my son.
$ 31,342. April
$ 33,422. May
$ 39,531. June
$ $47,168. PROJECTED for JULY - updated July 14, 2019
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! - $50K in 26 months - four months earlier than planned.
FINAL NUMBERS:
EOM July - $47,268.
EOM Aug - $48,765.
My funds are in two separate CD's. Between now and maturity the monthly interest will bring the total up to ~~ $50,100 ~~
The END GAME is near - I am so excited, I wish I could just wave my magic wand and poof it is January 1, 2020.
1. Add another $3K by Oct 2019, so that my two CDs will be comprised of $3K and $50K
2. Pay off the rem bal on my car loan, $4,8K by Dec 31, 2019. (Mr. R. paid off his car in March of 2019).
I am ready for a Mojito at sunset, at the beach. I'm oh so done.
Looking forward to finally actually be able to spend and enjoy my retirement income as I wish.
Life is good - I now get to blow my SS if I want:).
... best of all, we can now coast and still save up to $100K - just in time for Mr. R.'s retirement in three years.
For the NW people: We hope to be at $750K plus a paid-for house and no debt. ~~ Combined retirement income $85K or so.
THANK YOU all for your encouragement along the way, this challenge turned out to be more difficult than I expected, mostly because there were other goals to meet or emergencies to deal with.
Keep up the good work everybody - you can do this!:)
-
Wow, everyone's doing so well!
Here's my end-of-July update:
Update:
£5000 in emergency fund
£1750 in 5% interest rate savings account
£5128 extra money, ready to be invested
£28741 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38 274
July 29th 2019: £40 619 -- £2345 increase.
I'm so pleased with this increase, finally 40k!
-
Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/30/2019 - $47,958.12
5/31/2019 - $45,763.42
6/30/2019 - $48,738.01
7/31/2019 - $50,069.83
I've made it to $50k in my retirement account! Woohoo!
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Snuck that update in right before the drop :-)
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
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Drop? What drop? I actually just went down by about $500 so before the end of the month I should be back up over $50k.
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@Rosy and @haypug16. Amazingly done! See you in the next thread!
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! - $50K in 26 months - four months earlier than planned.
Great job Rosy!
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Thank you all:) and congrats to everyone who is finishing up with me this month!
Since I finished early with this 50K goal - I paid off my last debt, a car loan - $4514 balance - yesterday! YAY!
The banker said, "Congrats, you are a Zero now".
Taking a break until November, dealing with upcoming expenditures like dental work ...
About the $100K thread
I'll join you there for Nov-Dec. I hope to add another $3K by Dec 31, 2019 - we'll see.
I plan on coasting, no more racing from here on out.
That means $1200 mo sav/inv starting in Jan 2020 - ending with $100K by Dec 31, 2022.
Great job everyone - good luck!
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I've been inspired by some of the posters who have done a list showing progress over many months. Here is the progress of our total investments and savings over the past ten months, not including one month I skipped:
9/28/18 - $22,949
10/28/18 - $23,952
11/28/18 - $27,878
1/28/19 - $28,853
2/28/19 - $31,682
3/28/19 - $32,684
4/28/19 - $35,011
5/28/19 - $35,838
6/28/19 - $38,276
7/28/19 - $40,607
We hit $40k for the first time!
Next up: $50k!!
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Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/30/2019 - $47,958.12
5/31/2019 - $45,763.42
6/30/2019 - $48,738.01
7/31/2019 - $50,069.83
I've made it to $50k in my retirement account! Woohoo!
Way to go, @haypug16 !!
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Thanks Diehard, congrats on hitting $40k
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Update:
Goal: $50k by 12/31/2019
Current Balance:
10/30/18: $25,098.54
12/03/18: $26,633.07
04/22/19: $32,948.25
07/01/19: $36,179.49
08/15/19: $38,044.23
I won't be hitting my goal on time but sometime in 2020 I'll cross the $50k mark. Congrats @Rosy and @haypug16 Great Job!!
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Good work everyone and congrats on all the landmarks!
RRSP account
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584
June11/19 $43,150
July 5/19 $44,747
Aug 19/19 $46,055
*going on a trip this fall so money has been moving in that direction but am happy to have been able to stash away a bit more in this account. Would love to hit $50k in this account before the end of the year but it might be a bit of a stretch for me.
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Hello all,
Thank you Rosy for starting this thread and reaching your goal. I've been lurking for a while; time to join.
I'm in the 10 to 100K NW thread but I thought I'll join this one because I want to increase my investments. So my goal is to have 50K invested, I'm currently at 16.3 K and while I've been paying the mortgage and increasing my EF, I haven't invested a lot (less than 2K). I brought some land so I'm heavily invested in RE and it's time to balance that.
Investements (Cash + Stocks):
Aug 20 2019: 16,302
Stretch Goal is to have 20K by the end of the year though I'll be happy if I'm at 19K.
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RRSP account
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584
June11/19 $43,150
July 5/19 $44,747
Aug 19/19 $46,055
Sept 2/19 $47,100
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Hello all,
Thank you Rosy for starting this thread and reaching your goal. I've been lurking for a while; time to join.
I'm in the 10 to 100K NW thread but I thought I'll join this one because I want to increase my investments. So my goal is to have 50K invested, I'm currently at 16.3 K and while I've been paying the mortgage and increasing my EF, I haven't invested a lot (less than 2K). I brought some land so I'm heavily invested in RE and it's time to balance that.
Investements (Cash + Stocks):
Aug 20 2019: 16,302
Stretch Goal is to have 20K by the end of the year though I'll be happy if I'm at 19K.
Welcome to the challenge @GeekyGirl !
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Congrats to those who completed the challenge this month :)
Update:
£5012 in emergency fund
£2000 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1227 extra money, ready to be invested
£33863 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38 274
July 29th 2019: £40 619
September 3rd 2019: £42 102 --> £1483 increase, despite market difficulties this month and working less than usual.
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So this thread is probably where I should start.
Im negative net worth at-$47500 roughly. A household that makes $90000 should be able to do that in year if adopting a moustachian approach. I joke that we should just sell the house and it would be taken care of. But I like our modest dewelling. Im just not sure how smart we were to use the Ho e buyer option for half our down payment.
So here goes. Starting November 23rd 2018. Goal: November 2019 race to 50000 starts today.
As of tomorrow, -$22,300.00. Im not certain we will make it too 0 like I wanted in November but I would say we will get close.
-18700.00 As of tomorrow. No more big jumps until tax time next year. Heres hoping for market jumps instead.
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I've been inspired by some of the posters who have done a list showing progress over many months. Here is the progress of our total investments and savings over the past ten months, not including one month I skipped:
9/28/18 - $22,949
10/28/18 - $23,952
11/28/18 - $27,878
1/28/19 - $28,853
2/28/19 - $31,682
3/28/19 - $32,684
4/28/19 - $35,011
5/28/19 - $35,838
6/28/19 - $38,276
7/28/19 - $40,607
We hit $40k for the first time!
Next up: $50k!!
Today I reviewed our progress in the last four years (around the time I discovered MMM), and I found myself looking at things more from the perspective of how far we have come.
Namely:
--Our networth has grown by MORE in the last four years than my yearly income in almost every year (except one).
--Our networth has grown by MORE than my income in any two consecutive years before 2014, including the first two years we were married :)
I needed this reminder to keep our financial progress into perspective :)
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End of September Update
£5012 in emergency fund
£2250 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1177 extra money, ready to be invested
£35382 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38 274
July 29th 2019: £40 619
September 3rd 2019: £42 102
October 4th 2019: £43 821 --> £1719 increase, less than I invested because of a big market dip in the last 2 days.
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RRSP account
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584
June11/19 $43,150
July 5/19 $44,747
Aug 19/19 $46,055
Sept 2/19 $47,100
Oct 6/19 $48,058
slowly but surely..had a bigger spending month as I was traveling but still managed to stay in budget (mostly!)
Good perspective @DieHard_772!
Today I reviewed our progress in the last four years (around the time I discovered MMM), and I found myself looking at things more from the perspective of how far we have come.
Namely:
--Our networth has grown by MORE in the last four years than my yearly income in almost every year (except one).
--Our networth has grown by MORE than my income in any two consecutive years before 2014, including the first two years we were married :)
I needed this reminder to keep our financial progress into perspective :)
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Hello,
Congrats Rosy!!
I'm in the 10 to 100K NW thread but I thought I'll join this one because I want to increase my investments. So my goal is to have 50K invested,....
Investements (Cash + Stocks):
Aug 20 2019: 16,302
Stretch Goal is to have 20K by the end of the year though I'll be happy if I'm at 19K.
Investements (Cash + Stocks):
Aug 20 2019: 16,302
Oct 07 2019: 17,281
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Hello,
Stretch Goal is to have 20K by the end of the year though I'll be happy if I'm at 19K.
Investements (Cash + Stocks):
Aug 20 2019: 16,302
Oct 07 2019: 17,281
Oct 27 2019: 18,257
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Great job @GeekyGirl !
RRSP account
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584
June11/19 $43,150
July 5/19 $44,747
Aug 19/19 $46,055
Sept 2/19 $47,100
Oct 6/19 $48,058
Oct 28/19 $50,058
**moved savings from another account as well as adding new savings to help top up to the 50k goal.
I really wanted to reach this target quickly so I can concentrate the next two months on saving and paying a big tax installment.
Feels good!
Good luck to everyone still in this thread :)
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Well done @Serendip
End of October Update
£5012 in emergency fund
£2500 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1472 extra money, ready to be invested
£37970 in investment account
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38 274
July 29th 2019: £40 619
September 3rd 2019: £42 102
October 4th 2019: £43 821
November 1st 2019: £46 954 --> £3133 increase, due to very strong earnings and a slight market upswing.
So close now!!
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RRSP account
Jan 11/19 $33,765
Jan 21/19 $34,065
Mar 23/19 $40,190
Apr 12/19 $41,140
May 17/19 $41,584
June11/19 $43,150
July 5/19 $44,747
Aug 19/19 $46,055
Sept 2/19 $47,100
Oct 6/19 $48,058
slowly but surely..had a bigger spending month as I was traveling but still managed to stay in budget (mostly!)
Good perspective @DieHard_772!
Today I reviewed our progress in the last four years (around the time I discovered MMM), and I found myself looking at things more from the perspective of how far we have come.
Namely:
--Our networth has grown by MORE in the last four years than my yearly income in almost every year (except one).
--Our networth has grown by MORE than my income in any two consecutive years before 2014, including the first two years we were married :)
I needed this reminder to keep our financial progress into perspective :)
Thank you @Serendip !
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Today for the first time ever our total assets on my tracking sheet passed $50,000 :)
TOTAL ASSETS:
Checking Related Accounts: $7,501
Savings: $12,387
Investing: $30,904
TOTAL=$50,792
!!
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Yay @DieHard_772 - I'm so glad to see you hit your target!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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Yay @DieHard_772 - I'm so glad to see you hit your target!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
thank you, @Rosy !
The next target in this category will be to hit $50,000 when subtracting liabilities... about $1000 from my student loan.
Following that, will be to hit $50,000 purely in savings and investing :)
Onward and upward!
How's it going for you?
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I'm still debating what to do @DieHard_772 I'm taking a break from saving and spending frivolously instead:).
I really pushed hard to reach my first $50K goal this year and I am still amazed that I actually made it.
It seemed so very outlandish and downright impossible at one time:).
The plan is to save another $50K to reach $100K in another three years - but -I don't want to push as hard this time.
I'll see how it goes - starting in Jan I will save $1K a month with another 200/300 from Mr. R since both of us paid off our cars last year, we have no excuse not to save.
Since I am retired and ready to enjoy some of my FI, I am giving myself permission to spend my remaining monthly funds on home improvement, garden projects, and travel - I hope:).
No more killing it on the savings train for me - I'm fine with where I am at - fired.
Still, I am happy to put away $1K a month to reach $100K by the time Mr. R. is ready for RE at 62.
We'll compare notes again in three years:) - you've made some great strides - good luck in keeping the momentum going!:)
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I'm still debating what to do @DieHard_772 I'm taking a break from saving and spending frivolously instead:).
I really pushed hard to reach my first $50K goal this year and I am still amazed that I actually made it.
It seemed so very outlandish and downright impossible at one time:).
The plan is to save another $50K to reach $100K in another three years - but -I don't want to push as hard this time.
I'll see how it goes - starting in Jan I will save $1K a month with another 200/300 from Mr. R since both of us paid off our cars last year, we have no excuse not to save.
Since I am retired and ready to enjoy some of my FI, I am giving myself permission to spend my remaining monthly funds on home improvement, garden projects, and travel - I hope:).
No more killing it on the savings train for me - I'm fine with where I am at - fired.
Still, I am happy to put away $1K a month to reach $100K by the time Mr. R. is ready for RE at 62.
We'll compare notes again in three years:) - you've made some great strides - good luck in keeping the momentum going!:)
I did not know you were already... retired, @Rosy. Congrats! How long has this been?
And if I may, since you already are FI, when you are saving... what is the goal?
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Update
10/9/2017 - $26,382.82
10/31/2017 - $27,019.09
11/30/2017 - $28,401.58
12/31/2017 - $29,448.59
1/31/2018 - $31,351.25
2/28/2018 - $30,681.69
3/31/2018 - $30,392.51
4/30/2018 - $31,328.20
5/31/2018 - $32,200.97
6/30/2018 - $33,004.02
7/30/2018 - $34,339.73
8/31/2018 - $35,843.32
9/30/2018 - $36,400.34
10/31/2018 - $34,318.26
11/30/2018 - $36,059.70
12/31/2018 -$35,350.43
1/31/2019 - $38,809.90
2/28/2019 - $41,977.58
3/31/2019 - $43,876.52
4/30/2019 - $47,958.12
5/31/2019 - $45,763.42
6/30/2019 - $48,738.01
7/31/2019 - $50,069.83
I've made it to $50k in my retirement account! Woohoo!
Great job, @haypug16 . It's been cool seeing your progress, and having you around on the thread.
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! - $50K in 26 months - four months earlier than planned.
FINAL NUMBERS:
EOM July - $47,268.
EOM Aug - $48,765.
My funds are in two separate CD's. Between now and maturity the monthly interest will bring the total up to ~~ $50,100 ~~
The END GAME is near - I am so excited, I wish I could just wave my magic wand and poof it is January 1, 2020.
1. Add another $3K by Oct 2019, so that my two CDs will be comprised of $3K and $50K
2. Pay off the rem bal on my car loan, $4,8K by Dec 31, 2019. (Mr. R. paid off his car in March of 2019).
I am ready for a Mojito at sunset, at the beach. I'm oh so done.
Looking forward to finally actually be able to spend and enjoy my retirement income as I wish.
Life is good - I now get to blow my SS if I want:).
... best of all, we can now coast and still save up to $100K - just in time for Mr. R.'s retirement in three years.
For the NW people: We hope to be at $750K plus a paid-for house and no debt. ~~ Combined retirement income $85K or so.
THANK YOU all for your encouragement along the way, this challenge turned out to be more difficult than I expected, mostly because there were other goals to meet or emergencies to deal with.
Keep up the good work everybody - you can do this!:)
I got a little more up-to date on your situation, @Rosy. Congrats!
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End of November Update
£5012 in emergency fund
£2750 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1352 extra money, ready to be invested
£39020 in investment account
£2000 in new LISA (hopefully it will be topped up 25% by the government by mid-December)
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38 274
July 29th 2019: £40 619
September 3rd 2019: £42 102
October 4th 2019: £43 821
November 1st 2019: £46 954
November 30th 2019: £50 134 ---> £3180 gain, over £1000 due to the continued market upswing.
I can't believe it, this is amazing - so many months ahead of schedule!! Thanks for this thread, it has been a very helpful way for me to start tracking my net worth.
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End of November Update
£5012 in emergency fund
£2750 in 5% interest rate savings account
£1352 extra money, ready to be invested
£39020 in investment account
£2000 in new LISA (hopefully it will be topped up 25% by the government by mid-December)
March 3rd 2019: £24 650
April 11th 2019: £29 470
May 5th 2019: £31 830
June 6th 2019: £33 755
July 4th 2019: £38 274
July 29th 2019: £40 619
September 3rd 2019: £42 102
October 4th 2019: £43 821
November 1st 2019: £46 954
November 30th 2019: £50 134 ---> £3180 gain, over £1000 due to the continued market upswing.
I can't believe it, this is amazing - so many months ahead of schedule!! Thanks for this thread, it has been a very helpful way for me to start tracking my net worth.
Incredible @KathrinS
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Progress in our total investments and savings has been steady, nearing the $50k mark:
9/28/18 - $22,949
10/28/18 - $23,952
11/28/18 - $27,878
1/28/19 - $28,853
2/28/19 - $31,682
3/28/19 - $32,684
4/28/19 - $35,011
5/28/19 - $35,838
6/28/19 - $38,276
7/28/19 - $40,607
8/28/19 - $40,508
9/28/19 - $42,168
10/28/19 -$42,209
11/28/19 - $44,478
12/28/19 -$46,408
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Hey, wonderful people! I'm incredibly late to the party, but I'd love to be held publicly accountable for what goes on in our lives in the upcoming months! While DH and I REALLY want to reach that $50k goal, we're planning on possibly buying a condo in the near future, which would shoot us down by about $15k. The hidden sub-goal, then, is to recover as quickly as possible and keep chugging away!
Current 'stash as of 1/15/20: $43,783
When we stay in budget, we usually stash about $1,500/month. Hopefully we'll be able to increase that in the coming months with some restructuring and lifestyle changes. Onward!!
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Hey, wonderful people! I'm incredibly late to the party, but I'd love to be held publicly accountable for what goes on in our lives in the upcoming months! While DH and I REALLY want to reach that $50k goal, we're planning on possibly buying a condo in the near future, which would shoot us down by about $15k. The hidden sub-goal, then, is to recover as quickly as possible and keep chugging away!
Current 'stash as of 1/15/20: $43,783
When we stay in budget, we usually stash about $1,500/month. Hopefully we'll be able to increase that in the coming months with some restructuring and lifestyle changes. Onward!!
Keep it up @lv2glrfy
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Almost there!
Our Investments and Savings (not including checking accounts)
9/28/18 - $22,949
10/28/18 - $23,952
11/28/18 - $27,878
1/28/19 - $28,853
2/28/19 - $31,682
3/28/19 - $32,684
4/28/19 - $35,011
5/28/19 - $35,838
6/28/19 - $38,276
7/28/19 - $40,607
8/28/19 - $40,508
9/28/19 - $42,168
10/28/19 -$42,209
11/28/19 - $44,478
12/28/19 -$46,408
1/28/19 - $49,115
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It's been awhile since I updated here.
We had surpassed $50k back in February, but then the crash happened. However, we have since climbed back:
Our Investments and Savings (not including checking accounts)
9/28/18 - $22,949
10/28/18 - $23,952
11/28/18 - $27,878
1/28/19 - $28,853
2/28/19 - $31,682
3/28/19 - $32,684
4/28/19 - $35,011
5/28/19 - $35,838
6/28/19 - $38,276
7/28/19 - $40,607
8/28/19 - $40,508
9/28/19 - $42,168
10/28/19 -$42,209
11/28/19 - $44,478
12/28/19 -$46,408
1/28/20 - $49,115
2/28/20 - $50,466
3/28/20 - $48,609
4/15/20 - $51,095
We are about to add to our savings and investments, thanks to the government stimulus.
Namely, $1000 will go into savings, and $500 more into investments.
All in all, it feels good to see our pile progressing through recent circumstances.
Time for me to check out the Race to $100k thread :)