Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[UnleashHell]

Problem - having got a pay raise and a larger bonus than last year I now have to work out in which pay schedule  I should reduce my 401k contributions so that I don't go over the max....


sigh....

So I believe most systems are set up to stop your contributions once you reach the $18k limit. However, you may still need to adjust your contributions anyway simply because some companies don't give you your full match if you max out your contributions before the year's end.

my company don;t match unless you contribute - on a pay period basis so I can't front load. plus they don't stop adding the amounts - they roll it into a roth run by them - I don;t want that to happen either..

[Paul der Krake]

Problem - having got a pay raise and a larger bonus than last year I now have to work out in which pay schedule  I should reduce my 401k contributions so that I don't go over the max....


sigh....

So I believe most systems are set up to stop your contributions once you reach the $18k limit. However, you may still need to adjust your contributions anyway simply because some companies don't give you your full match if you max out your contributions before the year's end.

Many are, but I recommend getting confirmation from the payroll people that the system will indeed cut you off rather than face a paperwork nightmare. Many times it will cut you off at some arbitrary amount just shy of the IRS limit. In any case it's well worth the time to double check that everything checks out on the last paycheck of the year. There are some truly awful system out there.

[2527]

Thought I would add one of several thousand random posts to this thread.  Who is a woman?  What is retirement?  What if you work BUT it is fun?  How to handle imputed rent?  Inquiring minds want to know and DISCUSS!!!!!!!!!

[Dollar Slice]

MPP: When you're obsessively checking your bank account to see when a check clears, not because you need the money, but because you don't want to have to deal with a budget anomaly in Mint if it doesn't clear by the last day of the month in order to show up in your February savings rate.

[Bracken_Joy]

Came up on a different thread but fits here: I keep the house at 64 degrees, but it slows down my kombucha fermentation too much!

[Zaga]

Came up on a different thread but fits here: I keep the house at 64 degrees, but it slows down my kombucha fermentation too much!

If you need to ferment and have heat at all, wrap a towel or blanket 3/4 the way around your fermentation vessel, and face the other 1/4 of it towards your heat source.  That's how we ferment mead in the winter, keeps it nice and toasty.

[Bracken_Joy]

Came up on a different thread but fits here: I keep the house at 64 degrees, but it slows down my kombucha fermentation too much!

If you need to ferment and have heat at all, wrap a towel or blanket 3/4 the way around your fermentation vessel, and face the other 1/4 of it towards your heat source.  That's how we ferment mead in the winter, keeps it nice and toasty.

Do you set it near the heat source? We only have floor registers, so I think my dog would get a tasty dough treat if I tried to do that =P

[Piwakawaka]

Well how about that. My first Mustachian person problem!
One of my security holdings has suspended its dividend reinvestment program, meaning I have to accept an interim cash dividend. Sigh. Now I have to send in a form with many a detail, wait X amount of time for Y amount of money which will be invested ASAP anyway.

[Taran Wanderer]

Received my annual bonus today.  It was much bigger than expected.  Two problems:

1.  We (DW and I) have to decide how to save it all.
2.  I have to recalculate my 401k contributions for the rest of the year so I don't max out until the end of the year and still get all of the company's 3% max.

Mustachian problems....

[YogiKitti]

DH's pay didn't go through over the weekend and I was worried it wouldn't get into our account by the end of the month. I wasn't worried about being paid late, I was worried about it messing with my monthly savings rate.

[RWD]

DH's pay didn't go through over the weekend and I was worried it wouldn't get into our account by the end of the month. I wasn't worried about being paid late, I was worried about it messing with my monthly savings rate.

Just think of how great the next month's savings rate will be though!

[dragoncar]

DH's pay didn't go through over the weekend and I was worried it wouldn't get into our account by the end of the month. I wasn't worried about being paid late, I was worried about it messing with my monthly savings rate.

Just think of how great the next month's savings rate will be though!

I'd just record it as February anyways.  It's an amount owed to you as of February, count it the same way you would money you loaned someone or a bond

[johnny847]

DH's pay didn't go through over the weekend and I was worried it wouldn't get into our account by the end of the month. I wasn't worried about being paid late, I was worried about it messing with my monthly savings rate.

Just think of how great the next month's savings rate will be though!

I'd just record it as February anyways.  It's an amount owed to you as of February, count it the same way you would money you loaned someone or a bond

Whatever you do, I'd just keep it consistent. Cash accounting and accrual accounting are both fine, but it gets weird if you mix them together.

[riverffashion]

Came up on a different thread but fits here: I keep the house at 64 degrees, but it slows down my kombucha fermentation too much!

If you need to ferment and have heat at all, wrap a towel or blanket 3/4 the way around your fermentation vessel, and face the other 1/4 of it towards your heat source.  That's how we ferment mead in the winter, keeps it nice and toasty.

This is what I do when making yogurt, wrap a towel around it.

[NoraLenderbee]

Came up on a different thread but fits here: I keep the house at 64 degrees, but it slows down my kombucha fermentation too much!

If you need to ferment and have heat at all, wrap a towel or blanket 3/4 the way around your fermentation vessel, and face the other 1/4 of it towards your heat source.  That's how we ferment mead in the winter, keeps it nice and toasty.

Do you set it near the heat source? We only have floor registers, so I think my dog would get a tasty dough treat if I tried to do that =P

LOL. Have you tried on top of the refrigerator?

[Bracken_Joy]

Came up on a different thread but fits here: I keep the house at 64 degrees, but it slows down my kombucha fermentation too much!

If you need to ferment and have heat at all, wrap a towel or blanket 3/4 the way around your fermentation vessel, and face the other 1/4 of it towards your heat source.  That's how we ferment mead in the winter, keeps it nice and toasty.

Do you set it near the heat source? We only have floor registers, so I think my dog would get a tasty dough treat if I tried to do that =P

LOL. Have you tried on top of the refrigerator?

Now that would be entirely too sensible =D

Thank you for the suggestion. A bit ashamed I didn't think of it!

[givemesunshine]

I'm off on holiday in a month's time and asked payroll today if I can utilise the 'pay leave in advance' process so my two fortnightly payments get paid together at the beginning of my holiday. I was asked in an embarrassed whisper if this was to pay my credit card bill (as I assume they think I can't pay it) - um, no. I did pay for it all on my card (for the points) but it's been paid off long ago. Oh, then is it so you can have spending money for your trip? Um, no, I have spending money all sorted and everything paid for or budgetted for. This was met with frowns of consternation so I just said I wouldn't have access to internet banking overseas (lie) and wanted to sort out my payments for while I was away. Was congratulated on my foresight and logic.

Truth is I'll be investing every cent of the payment and want it in my account ASAP. Better in my pocket earning $$ than waiting to receive it! I then had to fill out 4 forms and ask my senior manager to approve it - he was very concerned and asked if everything was ok. Sigh.

It's so concerning that this is the finance department and it's an extremely unusual request due to the lack of money management skills in my highly educated and high earning office/business.

[aetherie]

Everyone at my company has to fill out a financial disclosure form (gov't contractor - they want to make sure you're not taking money from the Russians). My form got singled out for a "quality check" and they sent it back for me to correct. The reason? They thought I forgot to fill out the Mortgages & Loans section. I just don't have anything to put there.

[Primm]

I'm off on holiday in a month's time and asked payroll today if I can utilise the 'pay leave in advance' process so my two fortnightly payments get paid together at the beginning of my holiday. I was asked in an embarrassed whisper if this was to pay my credit card bill (as I assume they think I can't pay it) - um, no. I did pay for it all on my card (for the points) but it's been paid off long ago. Oh, then is it so you can have spending money for your trip? Um, no, I have spending money all sorted and everything paid for or budgetted for. This was met with frowns of consternation so I just said I wouldn't have access to internet banking overseas (lie) and wanted to sort out my payments for while I was away. Was congratulated on my foresight and logic.

Truth is I'll be investing every cent of the payment and want it in my account ASAP. Better in my pocket earning $$ than waiting to receive it! I then had to fill out 4 forms and ask my senior manager to approve it - he was very concerned and asked if everything was ok. Sigh.

It's so concerning that this is the finance department and it's an extremely unusual request due to the lack of money management skills in my highly educated and high earning office/business.

Wow, is this really that uncommon where you're from? Our leave application form has two boxes. Paid up front or paid on regular schedule. Tick one, they process as requested. Simple.

[Spiffsome]

I found out yesterday that I could have salary sacrificed my house mortgage payments through my employer (paid with pre-tax money taken straight from my pay). That would have been helpful to know back when I had a mortgage!

[zephyr911]

I found out yesterday that I could have salary sacrificed my house mortgage payments through my employer (paid with pre-tax money taken straight from my pay). That would have been helpful to know back when I had a mortgage!

Wait... how? Where do you live?

[Primm]

I found out yesterday that I could have salary sacrificed my house mortgage payments through my employer (paid with pre-tax money taken straight from my pay). That would have been helpful to know back when I had a mortgage!

I already do.

Wait... how? Where do you live?

It's not so much "where do you live?" as "who is your employer?" Salary sacrificing arrangements are available to people employed by public benevolent institutions (not-for-profit hospitals, health departments, charitable institutions) and the arrangements depend on what package the employer has set up.

I pay my mortgage and part of my credit card bill with pre-tax money.

ETA: Australia. Home of the tax rort and land of the socialised health care system. It's not perfect, but it has its perks. With the added bonus of Donald Trump not being from here...

[zephyr911]

It's not so much "where do you live?" as "who is your employer?" Salary sacrificing arrangements are available to people employed by public benevolent institutions (not-for-profit hospitals, health departments, charitable institutions) and the arrangements depend on what package the employer has set up.

I pay my mortgage and part of my credit card bill with pre-tax money.

In Australia, though?
I'm pretty sure that's not a thing here.

[merula]

ETA: Australia. Home of the tax rort and land of the socialised health care system. It's not perfect, but it has its perks. With the added bonus of Donald Trump not being from here...

Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch is.

[Primm]

ETA: Australia. Home of the tax rort and land of the socialised health care system. It's not perfect, but it has its perks. With the added bonus of Donald Trump not being from here...

Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch is.

Meh. From here, but not here any more. Not our problem. Plus he's not an Australian citizen any more, he's a US citizen (naturalised). :D

[Pooperman]

ETA: Australia. Home of the tax rort and land of the socialised health care system. It's not perfect, but it has its perks. With the added bonus of Donald Trump not being from here...

Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch is.

Meh. From here, but not here any more. Not our problem. Plus he's not an Australian citizen any more, he's a US citizen (naturalised). :D

Where is trumps plan for a wall to keep the crazy Australians out?

[mrcheese]

It's not so much "where do you live?" as "who is your employer?" Salary sacrificing arrangements are available to people employed by public benevolent institutions (not-for-profit hospitals, health departments, charitable institutions) and the arrangements depend on what package the employer has set up.

I pay my mortgage and part of my credit card bill with pre-tax money.

In Australia, though?
I'm pretty sure that's not a thing here.

And it also depends on your field of work - nurses get some of the best payroll perks going - as a not-nurse I can only go up to $9,010AUD of pretax payments per (FBT) year. Still saves me around 3k in tax per annum so I ain't complaining. But for other personal financial situations it just doesn't work because that $9,010 gets grossed up to $17,000 for tax assessment purposes. If you have a HECS/HELP debt or Child Support Arrangement, salary packaging is not a good idea.

[nnls]

I found out yesterday that I could have salary sacrificed my house mortgage payments through my employer (paid with pre-tax money taken straight from my pay). That would have been helpful to know back when I had a mortgage!

I wish I could do this.... all we can do is cars

[Primm]

It's not so much "where do you live?" as "who is your employer?" Salary sacrificing arrangements are available to people employed by public benevolent institutions (not-for-profit hospitals, health departments, charitable institutions) and the arrangements depend on what package the employer has set up.

I pay my mortgage and part of my credit card bill with pre-tax money.

In Australia, though?
I'm pretty sure that's not a thing here.

And it also depends on your field of work - nurses get some of the best payroll perks going - as a not-nurse I can only go up to $9,010AUD of pretax payments per (FBT) year. Still saves me around 3k in tax per annum so I ain't complaining. But for other personal financial situations it just doesn't work because that $9,010 gets grossed up to $17,000 for tax assessment purposes. If you have a HECS/HELP debt or Child Support Arrangement, salary packaging is not a good idea.

I'm a nurse and I can only SP up to $17k grossed up as well.

[jordanread]

ETA: Australia. Home of the tax rort and land of the socialised health care system. It's not perfect, but it has its perks. With the added bonus of Donald Trump not being from here...

Yeah, but Rupert Murdoch is.

Meh. From here, but not here any more. Not our problem. Plus he's not an Australian citizen any more, he's a US citizen (naturalised). :D

Where is trumps plan for a wall to keep the crazy Australians out?

He's going to build a barrier...a great barrier. :) Language NSFW: https://youtu.be/zF_1hVYGaJw

[JLR]

Yeah, we do the Salary Packaging here, too. We used to do our mortgage, but since we've sold our house we pay our rent using pre-tax dollars.

Apparently you can also SP your credit card payments?? We already max out through other means, but it could be an option for those who have paid off their mortgage. Pay for food etc on your CC, pay it off each month, then send in your statements to get the tax back.

[Primm]

That's what I did before I bought the house.

[steviesterno]

on the phone with my HR guy yesterday at work, and wa having trouble with the computer system. so I said I wanted to to $500/paycheck into my 403 and some more into a ROTH. he's like, are you sure you mean each check? really? ok, just making sure...


sounds like not  a lot of people hit that maximum amount. hoping to have it figured out correctly with the company match...

[mlejw6]

Our company gives out an automatic 2% contribution into everyone's 401k at the beginning of the year for everyone that was employed last year. (This is in addition to a 50% match up to 6% throughout the year.) For the previous year, this 2% was deposited at the end of January. I kept looking at my account to see when they would deposit it, but they haven't yet. When I asked, they said it will be deposited by the end of the first quarter (end of this month).

If they had deposited it at the end of January, I would have gotten a lot more bang for my buck, as the stock market was down. Now, it looks as if I will not get such a good deal.

[rantk81]

A few days ago, I put together a spreadsheet to figure out which package of toilet paper to order online from Target, to get the best deal of price per sheet...... only to be thwarted because the page online said each roll contained 330 2-ply sheets, but when it arrived, on the outer wrap it said it was only 308 sheets per roll.  I emailed Target to tell them about the discrepancy on their website, and they gave me a $2 credit to my RedCard. 

But they still haven't corrected the website.

[Larabeth]

Picked up enough free bricks for two garden beds. Fighting the temptation to put in a second one even though this is my first year of gardening solo...

[pdxmonkey]

A few days ago, I put together a spreadsheet to figure out which package of toilet paper to order online from Target, to get the best deal of price per sheet...... only to be thwarted because the page online said each roll contained 330 2-ply sheets, but when it arrived, on the outer wrap it said it was only 308 sheets per roll.  I emailed Target to tell them about the discrepancy on their website, and they gave me a $2 credit to my RedCard. 

But they still haven't corrected the website.

Which toilet paper is it we shouldn't order?????

[Dictionary Time]

A few days ago, I put together a spreadsheet to figure out which package of toilet paper to order online from Target, to get the best deal of price per sheet...... only to be thwarted because the page online said each roll contained 330 2-ply sheets, but when it arrived, on the outer wrap it said it was only 308 sheets per roll.  I emailed Target to tell them about the discrepancy on their website, and they gave me a $2 credit to my RedCard. 

But they still haven't corrected the website.

Which toilet paper is it we shouldn't order?????

The rest of us still need to adjust our spreadsheets!

[Hedge_87]

well this is just horrible....

The 20th of every month is "bill day" in our household. We have every reoccurring bill on auto draft so it only takes about twenty minutes to look everything over, put everything into its appropriate category in excel, pay off the balance on the credit card, and send the remaining "excess" to where ever it needs to go on that particular month.
 This month however we have a pretty big medical bill coming in (had a baby) and I am not sure how much it is going to be. So I have to hold off on maxing out mine and possibly my wife's IRA until I know how much I need to send to the hospital.
Now I have way too many little green workers sitting idle in the checking account playing little games on their little green Iphones instead of putting in a good days worth of work for me. Hopefully the bill comes in soon so I can get them all to work soon and avoid further anxiety induced medical cost on my part.

[Bracken_Joy]

well this is just horrible....

The 20th of every month is "bill day" in our household. We have every reoccurring bill on auto draft so it only takes about twenty minutes to look everything over, put everything into its appropriate category in excel, pay off the balance on the credit card, and send the remaining "excess" to where ever it needs to go on that particular month.
 This month however we have a pretty big medical bill coming in (had a baby) and I am not sure how much it is going to be. So I have to hold off on maxing out mine and possibly my wife's IRA until I know how much I need to send to the hospital.
Now I have way too many little green workers sitting idle in the checking account playing little games on their little green Iphones instead of putting in a good days worth of work for me. Hopefully the bill comes in soon so I can get them all to work soon and avoid further anxiety induced medical cost on my part.

Congrats on your tax deduction bundle of joy! =)

[johnny847]

well this is just horrible....

The 20th of every month is "bill day" in our household. We have every reoccurring bill on auto draft so it only takes about twenty minutes to look everything over, put everything into its appropriate category in excel, pay off the balance on the credit card, and send the remaining "excess" to where ever it needs to go on that particular month.
 This month however we have a pretty big medical bill coming in (had a baby) and I am not sure how much it is going to be. So I have to hold off on maxing out mine and possibly my wife's IRA until I know how much I need to send to the hospital.
Now I have way too many little green workers sitting idle in the checking account playing little games on their little green Iphones instead of putting in a good days worth of work for me. Hopefully the bill comes in soon so I can get them all to work soon and avoid further anxiety induced medical cost on my part.

Congrats on your tax deduction bundle of joy! =)

From the Root of Good blog (I believe he's on this forum?)

[jordanread]

well this is just horrible....

The 20th of every month is "bill day" in our household. We have every reoccurring bill on auto draft so it only takes about twenty minutes to look everything over, put everything into its appropriate category in excel, pay off the balance on the credit card, and send the remaining "excess" to where ever it needs to go on that particular month.
 This month however we have a pretty big medical bill coming in (had a baby) and I am not sure how much it is going to be. So I have to hold off on maxing out mine and possibly my wife's IRA until I know how much I need to send to the hospital.
Now I have way too many little green workers sitting idle in the checking account playing little games on their little green Iphones instead of putting in a good days worth of work for me. Hopefully the bill comes in soon so I can get them all to work soon and avoid further anxiety induced medical cost on my part.

Congrats on your tax deduction bundle of joy! =)

From the Root of Good blog (I believe he's on this forum?)

He most certainly is!!

[slipslop]

...getting "spoken to" by a coworker about how I'm being irresponsible towards my future when I mentioned that I have to remember to lower the percent of my salary invested into the 401k after annual raises went into effect...

[FrugalShrew]

...getting "spoken to" by a coworker about how I'm being irresponsible towards my future when I mentioned that I have to remember to lower the percent of my salary invested into the 401k after annual raises went into effect...

Haha amazing! (and also pretty sad). How did you respond?

[naners]

on the phone with my HR guy yesterday at work, and wa having trouble with the computer system. so I said I wanted to to $500/paycheck into my 403 and some more into a ROTH. he's like, are you sure you mean each check? really? ok, just making sure...
B

sounds like not  a lot of people hit that maximum amount. hoping to have it figured out correctly with the company match...

You know company match doesn't count toward the 18k limit, right?

[Taran Wanderer]

You know company match doesn't count toward the 18k limit, right?

And thank goodness for that!  With a decent company match, that allows you to potentially contribute a lot more than the $18k limit on your personal contribution.

[Apples]

on the phone with my HR guy yesterday at work, and wa having trouble with the computer system. so I said I wanted to to $500/paycheck into my 403 and some more into a ROTH. he's like, are you sure you mean each check? really? ok, just making sure...
B

sounds like not  a lot of people hit that maximum amount. hoping to have it figured out correctly with the company match...

You know company match doesn't count toward the 18k limit, right?

I'm guessing he means the employer matches per paycheck so he needs to be sure it's spread though the whole year.  It's up for interpretation.  Though if he doesn't know that, then it's really good someone pointed it out for him!

[Lucky Girl]

Got a letter from my bank threatening to cancel my ATM card because I haven't used it in a year!  I guess I have been pretty good about reducing my cash spending in the past year.  :)

[rantk81]

Got a letter from my bank threatening to cancel my ATM card because I haven't used it in a year!  I guess I have been pretty good about reducing my cash spending in the past year.  :)

Similar problem for me happened last year.  Chase sent me a letter that they were closing one of my credit cards, because I hadn't been using it.  It was my oldest open credit line, so closing it would have a slightly negative impact on my credit score.  (I had been using other cards because the rewards programs were superior.)

I had to call Chase to ask them to leave the line open.   The CSR on the phone recommended that I use the card at least once a quarter in order to keep it open.  Another recurring task/reminder to put onto my Google Calendar :)

[Jeremy E.]

Getting an 8% raise and having to go update excel spreadsheets because you only planned for a 3% raise