Hey all y'all!
I was finally getting around to crunching my numbers for 2022 to find out my new yearly spend and thought I would update my case study with some pretty good news (imo!) and also....things that will be frowned upon in this crowd.....
Highlights:
Things you all will approve of:have not had any cc balances I didn't pay off monthly since clearing that debt.
refied the mortgage when rates were still really good (thank goodness!) My rate is 2.75% and payment down about 200/month.....
Had a few raises, started a side hustle so income is up. Epected side biz income is 13k this year with 4k to be billed in the fall, day job is at 141k
Have maxed out 401k (including catch up) last 2 years - while stock market has been a seesaw, overall gains since last update have been nice!
maxed out HSA since switching to HDHP, and have not draw from it for any medical expenses thus far.
the offspring are both employed, and enrolled in their own 401ks
side hustle money mainly used to treat myself and to buy ibonds
Things you all will not approve of:bought a car, have a car payment, and....it's a lot.....got a tesla, slightly used.....but unfortunately got it before the big prices drops
discontinued prepaying on student loans once I got the car
continue to pay for offspring cell phones, bought some new phones....seems a small gift to keep paying for them now that they are working
acquired numerous cats found on the streets <insert tracy chapman "someone's got to take care of them.....">
where I started in the OP....
Assets
401k 675k
Roth 70k
HSA 6k
company stock 12k
Debts
Mortgage 260k (redfin value 500k)
student loans 115k
CC 16k
pers loan 2k
income/outgo
Income 128k
Monthly bills ~5k
Now....
Assets
401k 1193k
Roth 89k
HSA 21k
EF 15k
Ibonds 20
total 1,338k
Debts
Mortgage 248k (redfin value 521k)
student loans 98k
car loan 44k
income/outgo
Income 141k + side gig income of 10-15k/year
Monthly bills ~6k
Where I started
Based on yearly average and rounded to nearest $5 increment:
2290 mort
310 gas/heat
95 electric
150 cell
105 internet
550 healthcare
190 car ins
100 other transport
545 SLs
650 food
4985
Now
Based on last year averages:
2015 mort
825 car
287 gas/heat***
185 electric
200 cell
84 internet
300 healthcare
250 misty money - clothes, extras, discretionary, etc.
75 car ins
100 other transport
750 food
62 water*
700 pets**
5833 (rounding to 6k in my head)
* forgot this bill last time?
** aquired several more, so breaking this into a separate category, shipments from chewy.com easy to slit out
about 500 food and litter, estimating 200/month towards vet bills
*** no idea how this is lower?? Maybe all these cats keeping the house warm in winter....><
net pay from day job is 2984 so bills all covered on that, plus I have some extra taxes taken out of day job check to cover the taxes I need to pay on the side hustle income (extra for both fed and state).
So there are 2 extra paychecks and the side gig money for other things....has been going into Ibonds and fun stuff but those pesky student loans are going to come into payment again, so that will change things a bit and I'll need to rethink.
Just giving an update, not looking for any advise. I know I'm not a poster child for these here parts. I'm here to provide...contrast
My path forward
*get EF from 15 to 18k to cover 3 months now that I see my monthly is 6 rather than 5k - which I kind of knew but now I've gone through a more thorough investigation.
*Start a slush fund for student loan payments as I plan to pay those from more irregular income. Not sure what my payment will be when they restart, but I think about 1k/month. Might be hard to do both at at once.....
*continue to max my 401k (I'm relatively optimistic that I can, but if for some reason I need to dial back on that I can do it and still keep a pretty high contribution).
I'm 56 this year - so getting closer to things like early social security and medicare. If I call my monthly spend 7k, round up to yearly of 90k to include health insurance, I think I will keep my goal at 1500k to retire. This would be an initial WR of about 6%. Currently have ~1,255k in the market, so with ongoing contributions and a little bullish action, should get there in a year or two. Of course! if a big bear/recession/hyperinflation comes along, will rethink that!
I think I can go with 6% as car loan and mortage are going to get paid off at some point, social security income will come into play (current benefit at 62 if I have 0 earnings between now and then is 1928 month) and if my current side projects keep coming to me I will keep that up until social security kicks in, and maybe after(?). Whenever I decide to retire from the day job, will go to income based repayment on the student loans and that should lower the monthly payment. Maybe they will be like luggage and I just keep them forever? Will see how it goes
As I said, just an update from me, not looking for any face punches, although I know you want to!
This is about the most precision I can come up with around this stuff, and think that whatever I do at this point, I'm ok. I've done a really good job of deescalating the day job situation, so I can keep plugging away for a bit longer. If pressed I could make retirement work tomorrow, would just need to make some changes and some choices.
So I am far from perfect, got a late start, and not a good accountant.
but I'm still doing it.