Halfway through 2015! How do your savings look?

[Bert The Turtle]

Six months down, six more to go!  According to my spreadsheet I've banked about $27k to the 'stache so far and am on track to hit somewhere between $50k and $55k by the end of the year.  I think I might even be able to hit a 70% savings rate this year assuming I don't get hit with any major unexpected expenses.  DW has saved even more than that and is probably also on track for a +70% savings year.  I gotta say, Mustachianism has been great to us.  Although it can take some focus to stay on track and do so well at this game, we're also really lucky to work for such a generous company (salaries, benefits, and work/life balance for us are all pretty good).  Without that, we probably wouldn't be able to live the life of luxury that we do while banking so much extra dough.

How is everyone else doing so far against their 2015 savings goals?

On-track? Ahead of the game? A little behind?  Post some numbers!

[Gone Fishing]

Good work Bert! 

On track to hit 70%+ here as well!  Just wish I had some more tax deferred space...

[Bert The Turtle]

Yeah, the lack of extra tax deferred space is unfortunate.  401k, Roth, and HSA are all on track to be maxed out, so I guess I'll just have to dump the extra cash into my brokerage account (I'm not about to look for tax dodging schemes of dubious legality).  Mustachian People problems...

[mskyle]

Although I suppose it's only so-so to some of you, I am very proud to be on track to save 50% of my income this year. It's by far the most I've ever saved - this is the first year I've even maxed out my retirement accounts. The change is about half due to a big increase in my income over the past couple of years and the other half due to increased badassity/mustachianism.

[Frugal_NYC]

Pretty decent...Maxed Roth, will max 401K and have extra for taxable account...not sure I will hit 50% though

Will be tracking more closely rest of year

[Cougar]

 i'm very much ahead.

 amusing story to me, i have a lot in scottrade and have been adding more this year; so a scottrade rep calls me and says if i'll put in at least $50,000 this year; they'll give me $100; what an idiot to think i'd be motivated by that.

 $100 is 2 hundredths of 50,000. i lose or gain much more than that every day depending on the market.

[forummm]

We're on pace to have another record savings year. We just keep moving the number up.

[zephyr911]

Only stashed about $12K Jan-Jun with delays to my side income (coming this summer), my biggest/best rental suffering 6 months of vacancy (just rectified) and deadbeat tenants in another that we had to send packing. Should double this or slightly more in the 2nd half, for a total of $40K or more.

My new contributions and reinvested earnings within my rental LLC (I'm 1/3) should exceed $10K, going toward a new multifamily this fall.

On top of that, I'm forecasting an accumulation of $18K in free cash by Jan for a down payment on another singly owned rental, which won't get counted this year. Rental profits are all going to improvements (big reinvestment phase) and wages are under $100K, so looks like I've finally crossed 50% SR... but I still see lots of room to cut costs.

Oh: I almost forgot that I also paid the majority of DW's IRA contribution for 2014 back in April, so she could keep paying our mortgage. I don't count her stash numbers, but she's doing pretty damn well too.

[MVal]

Although I suppose it's only so-so to some of you, I am very proud to be on track to save 50% of my income this year. It's by far the most I've ever saved - this is the first year I've even maxed out my retirement accounts. The change is about half due to a big increase in my income over the past couple of years and the other half due to increased badassity/mustachianism.

I'm with you, I'm on track to save 50% of my income this year as well. I just changed my HSA to be maxed out by year's end and I have enough to fully fund my Roth for the year as of two months ago. I won't be maxing out my 401K this year, only up to employer match of 5%, but with profit sharing and everything else, I should be over $21,000 balance in that soon. My plan this year was to create a big after-tax nest egg for emergencies/FU money and I'm really happy to have almost $8000 in that so far this year. My goal is to have $10,000 by my birthday in August and hopefully close to $15K by the end of the year.

Next year I want to focus more on maxing out the 401K and hope to front load in the first months of 2016. Will also be looking to expand side hustles in the hopes of making enough to cover rent so I can more easily max out my pre-tax accounts.

[ivyhedge]

63% of the way to $65,000 this year, but I will increase that to $70,000 and lump sum the remaining taxable this week following paid bonuses/salary increases since the FY begins today.


For those of you decrying the limits of tax deferred options, recall you can each purchase $10,000+$5,000 of iBonds each year (and defer taxes on appreciation), with the supplements dependent on your tax returns.

[zephyr911]

Although I suppose it's only so-so to some of you, I am very proud to be on track to save 50% of my income this year. It's by far the most I've ever saved - this is the first year I've even maxed out my retirement accounts. The change is about half due to a big increase in my income over the past couple of years and the other half due to increased badassity/mustachianism.

I've been chasing it for the last year-plus (since finding MMM) but I just got there - also due to a combination of those two things.

[fb132]

I make low income (about 35K$), but I am happy with my progress so far. In november '14, I purchased YNAB, because I wasn't happy with my savings rate (it wasn't bad, but I know I could do better) and my excel budget wasn't helping me. Back in January '15, I started to get interested in MMM website and by combining both YNAB budgeting software with MMM teachings, I broke every personal record.

This year, I have saved 53,26% of my income. A personal best for me in that area. My goal is to hit 55-60% by the end of the year. It will be tough, but I know it can be done. The only thing that can stop me is some emergency situation...so I am crossing my fingers that nothing bad happens.

Also, my net worth today is 17,5K$ higher than last year on the same date. That is much more than any other year. :)

[J.Milly]

Hit my savings goal for the year already, a bigger bonus than I planned for helped, trying to add another 6k by the end of the year. Working part time doesn't make it easy but planning to save 50% of income from here to the end of the year.

[JLee]

I increased my 401k up to 30% of my salary and also managed to max my tIRA this year - if I can make the rest of the year without having to drop my 401k contributions, then I should be able to make it next year as well - which means I'll max my 401k for 2016! :)

[MishMash]

It's officially our 1 year mark of tracking net worth.  I did the math this morning and between stocks, cash, and principle on the two houses we are up 149k YoY (would have been about 10k higher were it not for Greece on Monday).  We've maxed both Roths and my 401k for the year, we're working on his and shoveling 5k or so a month into taxable accounts.

[NotJen]

Doing excellent so far!

Here are the goals I put forth when I started my journal this year, and my progress towards them:
$18k to 401k (+$10k employer) ----> On track, $16,580 invested so far ($9k me, $7.5k employer)
$5,500 in Roth ----> Done!  Maxed in March
$5,000 in vacation fund  ----> Done!  Met goal in May
$10,000 in taxable account  ----> $3,720 invested so far, should exceed this goal

Of my pre-tax income, 51% has gone to savings, 25% has been spent, and 24% has gone to payroll taxes. (After tax, that's 67/32 saved/spent.)

[themagicman]

We are at 72% now! Expecting that to be a little bit higher the second half of the year (Wife got a raise!). Should be around 78% on the year!

[2Birds1Stone]

So far so good!

Saved ~65% of my pay in the first half of the year.

Looking to get to 70% for 2015 if all goes well now that I have started earning commission.

[mbk]

While I am not actively keeping track, by rough estimates, it is around $4k+ per month or 50-55%. This is higher than my last years average savings rate. So I am happy. However my income is going to take a massive hit come September.

[Candace]

I'm with a lot of people on here; I calculated recently a 51% rate of investments toward FI. That includes 401k and all other automatic investments, both pre-tax and post-tax.

I calculate the rate after taxes, and include the principal portion of my mortgage, but do not include an additional $400 of savings every month that's earmarked for spending on house repairs/improvements and toward a replacement car when that need arises.

I credit reading MMM for improving my rate about 5-10% from what it was before. I cut out some of the unnecessary expenses and increased my automatic investing after reading a bunch of his articles and this forum.

[pka222]

Great Question,$ 43,000 as of June 23rd- that's a wopping 81% of my normal take home.  Its actually a bit less since I'm using excess per diem and side income to cover some expenses.  I'm still 14% under my stretch goal for 2015, .. I just need one more consultancy or a big bump in side income to reach 100K for the year.  Good job all

[johnny847]

I'm at 47.4% for the year. My monthly savings rates are a little bit weird because I pay about $3300 in school fees three times a year - January, May, and August.

My target is 50%. I'm hoping to exceed that but we shall see how it goes.

[Jon_Snow]

We are going to have our worst savings year in a long time...cuz I FIRE'd. ;)

Still gonna bank close to 50k though...thanks to still working DW and those tasty stock dividends and REIT distributions....

And yes, when we were both working were we saving close to 100k annually...heady times those were.:D

[tonysemail]

I've saved 66% so far this year.  2% better than expected, woo hoo!

[ender]

We're a bit more than a 50% savings rate and look to be on pace to get that by year end.

Didn't realize we were saving that high of a percentage....

[arebelspy]

Thanks for the reminder, need to update that spreadsheet (used to do it monthly..now.. looks like February was the last month with data--eventually you stop caring too much).

I do count managing our properties as income, I don't count rental income as income (they're return on investment).  I don't count other side gigs.

I don't do YTD savings rate, cause if a bunch of big bills (auto insurance, for example) is in the first six months it will skew your rate lower, if it's in the last 6 months, it'll skew it higher.

But I do have an all time savings rate from when I started tracking it in April 2010: 73.37%
And a rolling 12-month savings rate: 73.34%

This is the first time they've been that close, so I guess that's right around our stabilized savings rate.  I feel like we spent a lot recently (buying tons of gear and electronics and stuff for our upcoming trip), but apparently it's in line with what we always spend (and/or our income rose to cover it).

(Okay, I went ahead and calculated YTD: 69.77--about 3% lower.  I don't know--or care--what it'll do the rest of the year, as we have no income past August, having quit our jobs, and high expenses as we travel.)

I've never set savings rate goals, I just track it out of interest (and not all that much anymore).  I suppose it could be a fun challenge to try and hit 95% savings rate or something, but otherwise I don't get much motivation around it.

I do enjoy cheering for others though. The 50% mark is awesome, especially if you have two incomes--the psychological idea of living off of one and saving the other is huge! :)

[ascZend]

I've saved a little over $27,000 so far this year (including dividends, interest, 401(k) company match).  I'm not sure what percentage that is as my savings rates can vary month-to-month, but I've been at a 70% minimum savings rate for most of the year and well over 80% the past 3 months.

[Hummer]

At approximately 71% net savings rate, 52% gross savings rate. There are just way too many taxes up here in Canada. I successfully documented and updated a spreadsheet with all our numbers finally. We've invested about $25k so far this year, hoping to easily hit $50k by the end of the year.

[Pooplips]

The goal is 50% savings rate. We are averaging so far 42%, so we are off a little bit. Considering I just got a raise that will all be going to the 457 we will be damn close by the end of the year!

[samburger]

Although I suppose it's only so-so to some of you, I am very proud to be on track to save 50% of my income this year. It's by far the most I've ever saved - this is the first year I've even maxed out my retirement accounts. The change is about half due to a big increase in my income over the past couple of years and the other half due to increased badassity/mustachianism.

I've been chasing it for the last year-plus (since finding MMM) but I just got there - also due to a combination of those two things.

Only here does someone say "I know it's not much but..." before they mention their 50% savings rate!

I'm up $23k this year, which is an average 55% savings rate before taxes. I figure I'll sock away ~$40k this year.

[Bert The Turtle]

I don't do YTD savings rate, cause if a bunch of big bills (auto insurance, for example) is in the first six months it will skew your rate lower, if it's in the last 6 months, it'll skew it higher.

[...]

I've never set savings rate goals, I just track it out of interest (and not all that much anymore).  I suppose it could be a fun challenge to try and hit 95% savings rate or something, but otherwise I don't get much motivation around it.

I do enjoy cheering for others though. The 50% mark is awesome, especially if you have two incomes--the psychological idea of living off of one and saving the other is huge! :)

:) I actually agree with you fully.  Day to day tracking of an annual figure is too noisy to be useful.  But since we're six months into the year I figured we could step back and take a look at how we're doing.  DW and I also don't set budgets or savings targets other than "save as much as we can."  For us it's more of a mindfulness thing where we try to assess whether or not we're spending money on things we truly value.

But whereas a part of mindfulness is observing areas where you're falling short and then trying to fix those shortcomings, it's also important to recognize your triumphs and celebrate the wins.

So congratulations everyone!  Let's stay motivated!

[zephyr911]

I do enjoy cheering for others though. The 50% mark is awesome, especially if you have two incomes--the psychological idea of living off of one and saving the other is huge! :)

Assuming equal incomes, that is.
Between disparate incomes and largely separate finances, hitting 50% was no salient point for us.
If we were even halfway badass we'd live off DW's 40k and bank my ~100... but alas, we are shamefully spoiled brats.

[TheContinentalOp]

I had planned for a 53.4% savings rate for the year, but I am under budget and if I keep spending at the current rate I will come in at 58.1%

[the_gastropod]

I'm at 66% saving rate so far! Unfortunately, I've already maxed my 401k for the year, so the savings rate will likely dip a bit by end of year. Still, I'm pretty proud of how much I've been able to stash away.

[gillstone]

Despite 4k in unexpected medical bills and a new roof at 5k we still netted 6k so far.

[teadirt]

I haven't "saved" much this year, but after getting my first decent-paying job in January, I've knocked $10,100 off my student loans. That's about 40% of the balance, and I will hopefully have them all paid off by feb/march next year!

It's funny, I've overpaid by about 3 years according to their repayment plan. My next bill is due on 5/16/2018. It's like "no, just wait a few years, let's have some of that sweet, sweet interest." Yeah, no thanks.

[Cookie78]

Just over 50%. I need to sit down this weekend and figure out the exact number.

Hopefully the second half of the year is better. I should get more income (ditched property management company who was bleeding me dry and they've been withholding all funds the past 3 months to cover any lingering expenses) and have less expenses in the second half (no more overseas travel planned).

:)

[StacheInAFlash]

I haven't "saved" much this year, but after getting my first decent-paying job in January, I've knocked $10,100 off my student loans. That's about 40% of the balance, and I will hopefully have them all paid off by feb/march next year!

It's funny, I've overpaid by about 3 years according to their repayment plan. My next bill is due on 5/16/2018. It's like "no, just wait a few years, let's have some of that sweet, sweet interest." Yeah, no thanks.

I got you beat! My next payment is due March 17th, 2022! I'm paid ahead $28,000. Hoping to have them knocked out by the end of the year. That beats the scheduled November 17th, 2035!

[Cycling Stache]

Going surprisingly well here!  My goal was to repay the remaining $48k on my TSP loan by the end of 2015.  Paid it off in May.  Extra now going to Vanguard and sum total is a 65% savings rate.

Not insanely good like some of the numbers here, but a HUGE improvement over where I started last September.

Oh, and my wife hasn't divorced me as a result.  Sweet!

[Late_Bloomer]

I just started my investment plan this year but am happily on track. My wife's 401k and my tsp are both allotted to reach the 18k cap each year. I wish we could do more, such as a Roth or hsa, but our retirement goals will be met with these two accounts.

[Wads]

Not as well as I'd like. Currently have a savings rate around 35% but am still on pace for my FIRE goal by 35. I'm hoping to cut down eating out and some shopping for the remainder of this year and try to hit the 50% range.

[kpd905]

My savings and student loan payments are looking pretty sad right now, because we are getting married in 3 weeks.  I wasn't sure how much cash I'd need, so I erred on the side of caution and probably have 3x as much as I need.

After the wedding I think I'm gonna max out both IRAs, then decide whether I should up our 401k contributions or pay a chunk of student loans.

[FIRE me]

How is everyone else doing so far against their 2015 savings goals?

On-track? Ahead of the game? A little behind?  Post some numbers!

From January 1st to July 1st I have saved $26,500. Hopefully much less forced overtime the rest of the year, so the next six months might only produce another $15,000. I will max out my 401k (18k), plus max out the over 50 catch up (6k), plus max out a traditional IRA (6.5k). This is on a gross of around $60,000.

[Bardo]

About 58% YTD, but I expect to do better in the second half of the year and meet my 65% target.

[Wads]

What do you consider savings rate? Personally I only count the money saved based on my net take home. I do not include the 30% taken out of my paychecks for my employer 401K plan.

[fb132]

What do you consider savings rate? Personally I only count the money saved based on my net take home. I do not include the 30% taken out of my paychecks for my employer 401K plan.

I disagree, the fact that your money is taken out of your paycheck for retirement is saving, afterall that money is going towards you in the future. You are SAVING that money for the future you. On the other hand, you can calculate your savings with whatever formula you want, I am just saying that saving is saving.

[Cycling Stache]

What do you consider savings rate? Personally I only count the money saved based on my net take home. I do not include the 30% taken out of my paychecks for my employer 401K plan.

I think MMM would include that amount in both your income and your savings, then calculate savings rate.   

[fb132]

What do you consider savings rate? Personally I only count the money saved based on my net take home. I do not include the 30% taken out of my paychecks for my employer 401K plan.

I think MMM would include that amount in both your income and your savings, then calculate savings rate.   

I agree, lets say I have a gross income of 1500$ = net income of 1000$ and 100$ is taken away automatically from every paycheck towards my retirement, that is basically like having 1100$ in income, 100$ invested for a savings percentage of 9%, the reason I added the 100$ into my net income is because the 100$ was part of your gross income, not the net income.

[johnny847]

What do you consider savings rate? Personally I only count the money saved based on my net take home. I do not include the 30% taken out of my paychecks for my employer 401K plan.

I think MMM would include that amount in both your income and your savings, then calculate savings rate.   

If I had a 401k that is how I would do it. Furthermore, if I had a 401k match, I would also include that as income and savings. 

But as voiced above, it really doesn't matter what formula you use, so long as it is consistent.

[Cookie78]

What do you consider savings rate? Personally I only count the money saved based on my net take home. I do not include the 30% taken out of my paychecks for my employer 401K plan.

I think MMM would include that amount in both your income and your savings, then calculate savings rate.   

Dammit! I knew this, but I forgot all about my pre-tax deductions. I was just using the numbers going in and out of my bank account. I just did a really rough calculation and it looks like my savings rate is currently 60-65%, not 50%. Not sure if I should go back and recalculate everything now, or just stick with what I was doing.