2016 Financial Goals - Peach fuzz (noob) edition

[Warlord1986]

1. Sell off excess clothes.

2. Sell off excess stuff lying around that I have collected.

3. Learn more recipes.

4. Fully fund my Roth IRA.

5. Be more entrepreneurial. I've started selling short stories online, and I'm going to start selling handmade washcloths in a bit.

6. Save up cushion and move to a larger city in another state.

[frugalfanny]

A check in is a good idea. Here goes:

Total noob here.

My 2016 goals:

-Reduce student loan balance from $35,000 to $25,000 (this is really my main goal... I wish I could pay the whole thing this year.) Down to $33,682.
-Use my budgeting spreadsheet to track expenses This is now an established habit.
-Switch to cheaper car insurance (currently $82/month) No action on this.
-Switch to cheaper phone plan (currently $60/month) No action on this.
-Reach a total of $50,000 in my retirement accounts I'm really hoping for better return this year, although it's not looking great. Down from $46,000 to $43,000

Additional goals:

-Hike 2x a month
-Take a walking break (~15 minutes) 5 times a week
-Keep snacks stocked in the car and at work to prevent fast food binges
-Bring lunch everyday (no fast food) (save $70/month)
-Cancel gym membership in February (save $12/month)
-Put extra money to student loan payment ($70+$12+$50 raise=$132)
-Step back in other budget categories to bring total student loan payment from $1100 to $1300

Student loan is down to $32,747 with aim for $25,000 by end of year
Retirement account back up to $46,000 with the aim for $50,000 by end of year
Still haven't done anything with car insurance, phone or gym membership
I have only eaten fast food for lunch once this month, which is a huge improvement. Every other day I have brought food from home.
Haven't hiked at all this month so that sucks.
In March I have taken an average of 3.8 walks per week, which is not great but much better than before so I am going to keep trying!
I have not been able to add any more to my student loan payments because I am taking a trip to Denver, CO in April. Waiting for refund from work for travel expenses. And tax refund.
And I'm out of car snacks!!

Also I need to get items ready to sell in a flea market in July.

[andy85]

1) Pay off CC
2) 10% 401k minimum
3) Get E.Fund up to 4500-5000
4) Spend no more than $32k for the year
5) NW increase to $50k+ (currently right at $40k)

(6. switch departments and get a raise)

edit: also, thanks for this thread. I always feel silly posting in the ones where every single member is just maxing everything out. I am a few years out from being able to do that (in terms of salary). Guess I'm still a noob. Maybe after a NW of 100k i'll move on to those threads :)

1) Pay off CC - Done
2) 10% 401k minimum - Done
3) Get E.Fund up to 4500-5000 - Done
4) Spend no more than $32k for the year - On pace
5) NW increase to $50k+ - Will easily do by May.

(6. switch departments and get a raise - Promotion coming in June-sih, same dept unfortunately, but a title and pay bump)

Additional Goals:
7) Pay off car (was at 5700 at the beginning of the year, around 4400 now)
8) Get E.Fund up to $7500
9) Contribute $2000 to my IRA (then max out 2016 and 2017 early next year)
10) NW increase to $65k (currently right at $48k)

Its only the end of March and I've pretty much already hit my goals i set at the beginning of the year.

[beantown]

Q1 down and I'm still chugging along.

Goal 1: Pay off $4k in credit card debt (will do so with my tax refund) - Done in Feb
Goal 2: Pay off $18k in federal student loans - Loan balance is at $14,200 now. Down another $1300 in March
Goal 3: Max out 401k for the year ($18k) -Contributed $6,708 total to my 401k so far in 2016. Just signed up for ESPP starting in May so will decrease the contributions to hit 18K for the year and then fund the ESPP
Goal 4: Save $6k in emergency fund -Added $500 in March. Now have $3.5k in E Fund
New goal for end of 2016: get to $0 networth. I owe my parents $48K of student loans that they graciously helped me pay for grad school with 0% interest, but would like to start paying them back once my federal loans are done. Right now my networth is -$33k including these loans.

This thread is so motivating. I love seeing people CRUSH their goals in Q1.

[afuera]

Goals for the remainder of the year:
Help husband find a job (laid off 1/25/16).  He's a Mechanical Engineer in Houston so if y'all know of anything... ;)
Spend less than 40K in 2016.
Increase online savings from 50K to 63K (max down payment we could need)
Max out Roth IRA for 2016.
Save 4K in HSA for Lasik (self).  My hubby will have to wait till 2017 for Lasik.
Save 5K for a trip to Madrid in the Fall.
Increase NW to 200K (currently ~125K)

Help husband find a job (laid off 1/25/16).  Mr. trappedinmyoffice has an interview this week! (cross your fingers!!)
Spend less than 40K in 2016. Our avg spending right now will put us at 45K.  Time to refocus and kick butt for the rest of the year.
Increase online savings from 50K to 63K. Currently at 57K.
Max out Roth IRA for 2016. On track.
Save 4K in HSA for Lasik (self).  at 2K
Save 5K for a trip to Madrid in the Fall. Not started :(
Increase NW to 200K (currently ~125K) Currently at 137K

I second what beantown said, this thread is much more motivating then I thought it would be!

[OmahaSteph]

I second what beantown said, this thread is much more motivating then I thought it would be!

Lol, I'm so glad!

Here's my end of the quarter check-in:

*Pay off other credit card [UPDATE: making good progress on this] [UPDATE: Starting to throw even more at this, see below]
*Start throwing massive payments at auto loan [UPDATE: not so worried about this since the interest rate is low]
*Pay back parents for loan (for relocation and crooked divorce attorney) [UPDATE: haven't made a payment yet, but tax return will go to parents] [UPDATE: Sent $5,000 to parents. Still have a sizeable balance.]
*Move to more Mustachian apartment when current lease is up [UPDATE: Still researching areas and tracking offerings. Lease is up in July. Also savings so I can pay cash for deposit and moving expenses] [UPDATE: Got a quote from the movers and have started saving this amount. Also looked at my lease it's actually not up until August. Ugh.]
*Take work clothes to a tailor to be tweaked instead of buying new [UPDATE: Haven't bought anything new and have taken two pairs of shoes to be repaired] [UPDATE: Still haven't bought anything, but did dig through boxes I never unpacked and found some more decent work clothes.]
*Buy a bike and trailer for me and begin doing errands [UPDATE: Still saving up for a bike and have been browsing Craigslist religiously] [UPDATE: I have a bike, an adapter bar, the hitch is being delivered today, and I got a 4-bike hitch rack on CL, practically brand new]

*Cut gas consumption in half [UPDATE: SO moved to 2nd shift so he now bike commutes. This cut my gas consumption in half. BOOM.]

*Slowly and gently convince SO to forgo hedonistic purchases in favor of paying off his debt UPDATE: It's slow-going but he's theoretically on board.] [UPDATE: He is still supportive, but not really on board for himself yet. He's coming with me to a meet-up later this month, so hopefully he'll start to get more excited about it. I've also been able to get him out of denial a little bit and tackle some of his financial issues instead of just burying his head in the sand. Baby steps.]

*Publish another novel and pimp others to increase royalties (second income) [UPDATE: Haven't written a word. :( ] [UPDATE: Meeeeeeh.]

*Research investment options for when high-interest debt is paid off and become more financially literate in general [UPDATE: Reading "The Millionaire Next Door" and have decided that index funds are fine. Very little research needed and it's not fun for me. Causes stress. I'm still learning financial literary, but not so concerned about the investing aspect yet.]



Added/amended the following:

*Limit restaurant spending to <$50 / month [UPDATE: Have mostly been able to stick to this, or close.] [UPDATE: Still sticking to this.]
*Take shoes/boots to a repair place instead of buying new [Yep, did it twice now - no new purchases]
*Meal prep [UPDATE: This is hit or miss, but I always pack a lunch.]
*Get net worth out of the red and into the black (*cue Neil Young*) [UPDATE: It's moving in the right direction.]
*Use gift cards from bank/phone/"relationship" rewards to fund Christmas 2016 [UPDATE: Right now I only have $10 worth of free reward gift cards.]
*earn [certain amount] in royalties [UPDATE: This is not looking good.]
*start an emergency fund [UPDATE: This is going very well! I've been able to put more aside than I thought!] [UPDATE: I hit my goal ahead of schedule!!!]
*pay cash for moving expenses [UPDATE: Saving for this. I have until July-ish.] [UPDATE: Because I was able to save my goal amount for my e-savings, I can now focus on saving for this and throwing money at the credit card debt.]

Non-financial:

*bench press > 150 lbs; squat >100 lbs; deadlift >160 lbs. [I was diagnosed with mono and doctor said no gym/lifting for 6 weeks. I have 2 more to go.]
*read 10 books (used to do this in one month, but ... life) [UPDATE: I think I've read half a book? Maybe?] [UPDATE: Got a library card and a couple books. Currenly reading "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter.

*sort out some personal baggage [UPDATE: HA! I found a therapist I'd like to talk to, but there's little time or money.][UPDATE: Meh, again.]

Things are moving along. Also, Current and I agreed to be Permanent in about three years (gulp). This gives us time to get our respective shit together. Not planning on a big affair, probably just a courthouse ceremony with announcements. By then, hopefully work stuff will be stable, I'll have enough saved up to buy a house, and he'll have his debts paid off and possibly be moving into the saving/investing phase.

[AmandaS1989]

Fingers crossed for him!

[ringer707]

Love this! Our focus is really on paying down debt this year. We hope to start funding IRAs (we have retirement through both of our jobs) and really saving more next year.

Goals for this year:

1) Pay off husband's car. $7300 left to pay, started at $13000 on 1/1/16. This should be gone once we get husband's tax return and bonus in May/June at the latest.
2) Roll over car payment into husband's student loan- $7200. Currently paying $108/month on that. Hope to pay off by the end of 2016.
3) Roll over car payment/H's student loan payment into my student loan- $7000. Currently paying $100 a month. Hope to start the rollover process by the end of the year and have it paid off mid-2017 at the latest.
4) Continue making $922/month payments towards my massive student loan bill of $140,000.

Edited: Actually had $7300 left on DH's car, not $7600.

[neo von retorch]

Because I want to type this out so it's in my brain (and a moment ago, I thought I had no financial goals this year)

* Maximize 401k contributions (increasing contributions to 25% in two weeks, for the rest of the year)
* Prepay on mortgage until we reach 78% LTV; contact credit union to drop PMI
* Move all investments to self-managed Vanguard; determine personal asset allocation and start balancing periodically

[MumRoars]

What we've done so far:

• Increased my 401K contributions from 18% to 25% (max)
• Increased my DH's 401K contributions from 5% to 10%
• Transferred $ in HSBC online account to a Vanguard non-retirement brokerage account

Remaining goals for 2016:

• Fund both our traditional IRA's up to the deduction limit and fund both our Roth IRA's with the remainder
• Finish our basement - mostly DIY.
• Eat out less to bring down our dining out expenses
• Most important of all, we will be first time parents so we will need to figure out how best to provide for our child while keeping up with our financial goals

[coolistdude]

2016 goals

1. Start 403(b) contribution and up to 20% of my income (not company match). STARTED!
2. Save $6k for house. ON TRACK ($2K SAVED)
3. Up saving percent to 35%. DONE.
4. Change to cheaper phone carrier. DONE
5. Get promoted and a raise. NOT DONE.
6. Get garden to reduce grocery budget $25/month. GARDEN DONE. NEED TO CONVINCE WIFE.
7. Push out board game for beta testing (not likely to sell like a super start, but is just for fun). NO PROGRESS
8. Rough draft half of novel. NO PROGRESS

[chaskavitch]

I'm joining, super late!

My goals for 2016

1   Pay off 0% interest credit card by Oct (~$1500 left, putting $250/mo toward it)
2   Get e-fund total to $10,000 (need $1600)
3   Increase our net worth (without house) to $100,000 (currently at ~$85,000, but a LOT of this is dependent on how our retirement accounts do this year)
4   Max out my and DH's IRAs
5   Figure out how to roll over DH's PERA account into Roth or tIRA - at least get access to online account for management
6   Pay down mortgage by at least $50 extra/mo - I'd love to get rid of the PMI, but we are ~$17,000 away from that right now.  E-fund is more important with baby on the way.
7   Only semi-financial - convince boss to let me work 32hrs/week once I come back to work after maternity leave, so I can have an extra day every week with baby :) 
8   Stick to our budget

Sticking to our budget is an obvious one, but March was BAD.  DH did a lot of stuff in our "home improvement" category - got a hitch for the Outback to pull a trailer for yard and construction waste, built a greenhouse, got a stump removed from our backyard, etc., but didn't REALLY account for how much it was adding up, and we ended up almost $1200 over budget.  We pulled money from our home improvement savings as well as our snowboarding pass fund to cover it, but ouch.  April will be better!

The pending baby will really put a cramp in our savings due to childcare costs, but we'll also be eliminating about $450/mo of outflow by paying off our 0% credit card and getting rid of one more financial obligation right about when he is born.  Also, way lower taxes will be somewhat helpful due to dependent care FSA and increased health care premiums.  Also also, worth it, because baby!

[halyahs]

No dept (except an interest free student loan so I dont count that)
so...

2016 Goals
1) Monitor fortnightly grocery budget/ start effective meal planning sort of
2) Put 1k per month towards home deposit (already at 37k) 41k so far so good :) (+4k)
3) Open up index fund account(s) and add 1k per month procrastinated a month but +2K
4) Increase saving rate from ~60% up to ~70%
5) Always pay CC in full at end of the month (almost always manage but do miss it due to inattention sometimes)so far so good
6) Learn how to sew on old machine DH gave me for Xmasgot sent for servicing and hasn't come back yet... :\

[AmandaS1989]

I've already posted on the other thread but I'll post here too as I am also a noob at this.

1. Build savings account up to $1500

2. Up 401k contribution to 6%

3. Pay off PLUS loan

4. Pay off phone and change to cheaper carrier

5. Pay off the couple hundred I charged for Christmas gifts (one of those gifts being a new box spring and mattress for my folks)

6. Pay off personal loan

7. Maybe work on writing an ebook for publication (If I don't wimp out)

8. Put back $500 for wisdom teeth surgery in May

UPDATE TIME!

1. Savings account is at $930 so still $570 to go

2. Waiting to see if I get a raise before I do this. If not, 401K stays where its at

3. Done!

4. Still $404 left. Might get this done by the end of the year

5. Done!

6. $2300 to go

7. Haven't started yet. I do have some ideas though.

8. Have $350 set aside so far. Will be $400 with tomorrow's paycheck

9. Added goal: Refinance unsubsidized SLs at 6.8% in June or so

[arpies]

Not sure if I qualify as a noob, but I don't think I'm quite worthy of some of the more advanced categories yet either.

So my goals of 2016:
Full student loan repayment. (~24.6k estimated June) Down to 6.2 but now behind schedule due to some distance ed courses
Reduce monthly expenditures to 1500/mo (not sure I can do much better than that, it's a relatively high COL area) Still @ 2k
Catch up on my back RRSP contribution room ~18,000 (think 401k for Canadians) Haven't started yet, might be starting a small business instead but that will still wait until after the SLs
Finish watching Renegade, the series. Lorenzo Llamas might not have a mustache, but damn does he have fabulous hair. Still in season 3/5!

[dogboyslim]

Update through April.

1. Stay employed So far so good.
2. Maximize contribution to roth 401k (~18k) ~$11,091 through Apr
3. Pay off Mortgage (~34k) DONE!
4. Not buy a new(or used) car So far so good.  Old cars starting to break more...we did look at a replacement car, but did not fail on the goal
5. Only purchase wear items for bikes/fitness no slip ups since Feb.
6. Get down to 1 gym membership (Choosing the Y since kids swim there) (will be done by End of Jan) DONE!
7. Add $18k to Savings emergency cash fund (currently at 6 months, want to get this to 12, then begin more investment) $5,500/$18k
8. Investigate ways to put more tax deferred money away (No roth due to income, no backdoor roth due to pro-rata rule and $900k in traditional IRA from 401k rollover, no HSA since my health plan doesn't qualify me)

[beantown]

End of April check in. Work has been super stressful and busy so my spending has unfortunately ticked upwards. mostly from eating out more or spending to soothe myself (like $230 worth of spring/summer clothes... ugh so not Mustachian). I'm mentally joining the spend less in May thread.

April's stats:
Goal 1: Pay off $4k in credit card debt (will do so with my tax refund) - Done in Feb
Goal 2: Pay off $18k in federal student loans - Loan balance is at $12,770 now. Down $1430 in April
Goal 3: Max out 401k for the year ($18k) - Contributed $9,040 total to my 401k so far in 2016. Just signed up for ESPP starting in May so will decrease the contributions to hit 18K for the year and then fund the ESPP
Goal 4: Save $6k in emergency fund -Added $500 in March. Now have $4k in E Fund
Goal 5: Hit $0 net worth- Right now my net worth is -$29.9k including loans to parents. Net worth increased $4.5k in April

[wtrfre]

I would like to follow.
I have a boring first goal of paying off the third student loan, of four.

Ugh. I am no good at this. I can't settle on goals. I have too many directions I would like to send too few dollars. I had dropped down to minimums on this payment. What to do, what to do? Which choice will leave me the least unhappy?
I should probably go see what it will take to pay this stated loan off.  It is what I originally settled on to start with.

Ok got a total, I could do that. Should I? I think I have a commitment problem.

[onecoolcat]

1.  Contribute 18k to my 401k.  12k to go.
2.  Contribute 5.5k to my tIRA.  1k to go.
3.  Contribute 3.35k to my HSA.  Done!
4.  Pay off my car note of $7,583.  $5,249.97 to go.
5.  Invest 10k into a taxable account.  9k to go
6.  Obtain a job in a firm that will provide me with a better career path.  Actively searching but as a young attorney this is proving more difficult than I had imagined. 
7.  Take advantage of more bonuses for opening credit cards/checking accounts/CD accounts. 
8.  Compile enough money for a down payment on another house.  My spouse has most of this already.
9.  Buy another house closer to the new job wherever that may be (South or Central Florida).  I will be working a lot so I really want to move closer to where I will work.

[overwhelmed]

Also late to the party but would love to join.

2016:

• Track spending (long phase of not paying attention)
• Pay off CC - March CC was at $14,208 - now at $4,136
• Pay off store card (home improvement) was 5,444 - now $3,444 (put 2k at it before deciding to focus on the CC first, this has lower interest so going to wait until cc is done)
• Pay off Car
• Open Vanguard account and decide on type of IRA that makes the most sense for me

I 'was' a big tax refund person (working on that too) which is a big part of the reason I was able to pay down that much on the CC.
I was a little frustrated to still have the CC balance until I looked at the huge change I did make in a short period of time.
The debt is highest to lowest.
I am in grad school so Student loan is deferred (choosing to ignore that right now but paying for summer classes instead of adding it to the loan)
I am not maxed yet in my 401k but am good where it is right now.
I have an efund and am trying to decide what balance makes me comfortable and if I want to move some to debt re-pay (did shift some but haven't found the amount that I am comfortable with yet)

[OmahaSteph]

1.  Contribute 18k to my 401k.  12k to go.
2.  Contribute 5.5k to my tIRA.  1k to go.
3.  Contribute 3.35k to my HSA.  Done!
4.  Pay off my car note of $7,583.  $5,249.97 to go.
5.  Invest 10k into a taxable account.  9k to go
6.  Obtain a job in a firm that will provide me with a better career path.  Actively searching but as a young attorney this is proving more difficult than I had imagined. 
7.  Take advantage of more bonuses for opening credit cards/checking accounts/CD accounts. 
8.  Compile enough money for a down payment on another house.  My spouse has most of this already.
9.  Buy another house closer to the new job wherever that may be (South or Central Florida).  I will be working a lot so I really want to move closer to where I will work.

And are you dead-set on Florida? What type of law do you practice?

[onecoolcat]

9.  Buy another house closer to the new job wherever that may be (South or Central Florida).  I will be working a lot so I really want to move closer to where I will work.

Where in central Florida are you looking?

Tampa & Orlando.

[onecoolcat]

1.  Contribute 18k to my 401k.  12k to go.
2.  Contribute 5.5k to my tIRA.  1k to go.
3.  Contribute 3.35k to my HSA.  Done!
4.  Pay off my car note of $7,583.  $5,249.97 to go.
5.  Invest 10k into a taxable account.  9k to go
6.  Obtain a job in a firm that will provide me with a better career path.  Actively searching but as a young attorney this is proving more difficult than I had imagined. 
7.  Take advantage of more bonuses for opening credit cards/checking accounts/CD accounts. 
8.  Compile enough money for a down payment on another house.  My spouse has most of this already.
9.  Buy another house closer to the new job wherever that may be (South or Central Florida).  I will be working a lot so I really want to move closer to where I will work.

And are you dead-set on Florida? What type of law do you practice?

I would prefer to stay in Florida but I would be open to relocating for the right position.  However, I don't bother applying outside of Florida because its the only state I'm barred in.  It take a while to get a bar license in another state and most employers understandably aren't too keen on waiting around for their new associate to become eligible to practice in their state.  I represent loan servicers in state and federal litigation.  Mostly bankruptcy's and non-routine foreclosures.  I want to find another field to practice in.  Preferably real estate or corporate transactions.

[chaskavitch]

I'm joining, super late!

My goals for 2016

1   Pay off 0% interest credit card by Oct (~$1500 left, putting $250/mo toward it) - On track - now $1345.57
2   Get e-fund total to $10,000 (need $1600) - We had a slight windfall, and now we're up to $9345, aka $655 remaining :)
3   Increase our net worth (without house) to $100,000 (currently at ~$85,000) - Now at $87,006.
4   Max out my and DH's IRAs - On track
5   Figure out how to roll over DH's PERA account into Roth or tIRA - at least get access to online account for management - Still no clue about this one, the paperwork is being used as a bookmark...
6   Pay down mortgage by at least $50 extra/mo - Again, with the slight windfall last month, we put an extra $400 in.  Yay!
7   Only semi-financial - convince boss to let me work 32hrs/week once I come back to work after maternity leave, so I can have an extra day every week with baby :) - This is in-works.  We've had two discussions about it, and it has come down to "we'll see what the department needs once you're about 4 weeks from coming back."  I think I'll probably get about a month out of it, which is better than nothing.
8   Stick to our budget - Check!

Sticking to our budget is an obvious one, but March was BAD.  DH did a lot of stuff in our "home improvement" category - got a hitch for the Outback to pull a trailer for yard and construction waste, built a greenhouse, got a stump removed from our backyard, etc., but didn't REALLY account for how much it was adding up, and we ended up almost $1200 over budget.  We pulled money from our home improvement savings as well as our snowboarding pass fund to cover it, but ouch.  April will be better!Turns out that we forgot to account for a $500 charge that we budgeted for.  So, we were still over-budget, but not by nearly as much.

In other news, we got into the daycare that I wanted, which is closer to home and will save us money.  Their tuition is slightly cheaper than the other place we liked, they offer a 4-day rate instead of just 5- or 3-day, they have "vacation days" you can take which prorate the next month's rate, and they reimburse you for snow days if they close unexpectedly.  I'm pretty excited :)

[Kaybee]

*waves* Hi Everyone!!

I'm super happy I found the noob edition thread.  I feel like I shouldn't even be *lurking* on some of the other threads because I'm in such a different spot!

So the things I'm going to focus on for the rest of 2016:
-paying down my car loan (around $11,329)
-increasing my income. 
-figure out and recoup $ from erroneous tax filings because apparently, my accountant *wasn't* doing his job
-increase my savings percentage.  I'm only saving 14% of my net income (RSP/EF/short-term savings).  I think a super reasonable goal would be to bring that to 18% which means I just have to squeeze $149 out of other categories.  Once contracts/plans are up for renewal I'll be able to find even more $$.
-be hyper-critical of my monthly budget and tighten up where I can/have a plan in place for when improvement IS possible (ie, when phone contract is up, when insurance is up for renewal, etc)

I'm emotionally-stuck on my choice of car.  Its a Rav4 (purchased used) which is more car than I need to get to work but perfect for camping/boarding/road trips etc.  I have major excusitis going on.  I really need to work on that or acknowledge that this vehicle is keeping me from better things.

[druth]

Updates:

* Max 401k - on track, currently have about 7k for the year
* Max Roth - finished as of 3/23
* Put an extra 8k towards the house (trying to get out of PMI) - no progress, started an HSA instead
* Stretch goal: make the 8k to the house into 15k!

Somewhat aggressive goals, but there they are.

I didn't start with much debt, so I don't have goals around that.  I want to pay off my SL, but that is going to wait until I'm out of PMI, which is not going to be this year.  Started working out of college a little over a year ago and my NW is up to about 20k from -10k, so I mostly just need to keep on keepin' on.  I didn't manage to max my retirement accounts this year though, because I put so much into the house.

I think the only way I might make myself get more into the house is if I up the 401k contribution so that it maxes early.  i.e. pay myself first more aggressively.  I'll have to do some math to see what I can manage, unfortunately I may have some medical bills coming up so I'll have to wait on that, but overall I'm happy with my progress.

[Astreja]

Update:

Pay off mortgage:  I have only 5 payments to go, on a weekly schedule, and the last payment should be coming out on June 20.

Savings are currently stalled at about $1000 due to a renovation project (new front stairs).  I've been keeping a higher balance in the chequing account so that when I need building materials I can use my debit card instead of a credit card.

Investing is underway, with semi-monthly transfers into a self-directed trading account.  I now have about $120 in Exchange-traded funds and a few unallocated dollars, and am awaiting a transfer of my RRSP to the account so that I can get a better return on the money.

[MsPeacock]

I feel like I am still gettting started, about a year into this now though.

Very recently I: used savings to pay off lingering cc debt (about 22k remaining from legal bills for the last custody go-around), traded in my car's equity for a paid off car. This year has been really a major shift for me in many ways: cut way way back of clothing purchases and shifted to a "uniform" for work, cut out cable, cut cell phone to Ting, paid off cc debt with snowball and finally chunk from savings. No winter vacation this year. Trying to decide about summer that will be economical for 2 weeks time w/ my kids. Also recently:

1. Max 401K contributions. I adjusted my withholdings last week. done and continues
2. Increased payment to equity on my mortgage for an additional $200 per month (more than 1 extra payment per year) to hopefully reach payoff by retirement done

Goals:
1. Track monthly spending more effectively still working on this one.... Have tried a variety of methods but having trouble sticking to anything
2. Find new job - with either increased pay or increased opportunity for promotion (or, hopefully both). I have my lines in the water, just waiting for a bite. continues. Had a job offer for 15k less than my current job, which I turned down. Putting out applications and networking. Fishing in a small pond given my specialty so this one is going to take time. I have been talking to my bosses about opportunities at work.
3. By years end be set up to take a few private practice patients at home (included remodeling one room slightly to accommodate a private office space).getting closer to the state license. Putting off the room remodel because estimates were more Thani want to put into it right now.
4. Figure out monthly budget (tied to number 1, obviously) and set amount for standard contribution to IRA, savings, college savings for the kids as monthly allocations from pay by years end. done. Ira regular contributions set, college contributions set, savings contributions set, all on auto-pilot.
5. Continue low-buy on clothing (currently no-buy). Purchase new clothes only if work wardrobe needs to be upgraded for new job. done. Have been wearing the same standard uniform for about a year now. No complaints. It works well and cuts way down on clothing spending.
6. Emotionally work on if I can tolerate renting out the extra bedroom in my basement... I am not there yet, but I am working on physical preparation of the room. done. I have a tenant and $750 a month income through the end of December. It has been fine and I plan to continue to rent out the room.

Coming back to check in for accountability purposes. Looking back I have really done pretty well, if I do say so myself. Now I a, considering what my next moves will be, along with finishing up the incomplete goals above.

[Rimu05]

A Mustachian noob who joined today but for a year, I have been lurking on a lot of financial websites. I am finally at a place where I can really go for it. I am a 24 year old who got a job late last year which has been my saving grace. I had accrued 3k in credit card debt from moving to a different state, buying a car and moving yet again.

I've already met one Mustachian goal before joining, I cleared the 3K debt by not saving. I despise debt, I've never really had CC debt that accrued so that was a first for me. I normally use my CC on groceries and pay it off the same day which maintains my Credit score.

My 2016 money Goals
1.) Save up $3000 by August as an emergency fund as I don't have one.
2.) Keep paying car loan (currently putting $350 a month), Keep paying student loan ($300 a month)
4.) Really stop eating out. This is my money killing expense, I live very frugally (living with roommates at $480 a month including utilities). I've always been a minimalist, I don't really shop or go out. I must admit, I find it hard to cook when you have roommates but I've got to curb this down. Pretty sure I could save $20 a week just by not eating out.
5.) Maintain 6% towards IRA. <--- This really grows, It's been about five months since I enrolled and it's at $900 even though I contribute a measly like 60 bucks every paycheck.


Future goals:

I'd really like to save just $10,000 by April next year and then devote 2017 to completely erasing my car loan so I can put the $300 that would open up towards my 30K student loan. (Long term goal is to pay it off by 2019).

Realistically, I wish I made more so I could hurl everything at that student loan. It's a pain in the butt, that I only started paying last month but it could be worse. Gosh, though the day I pay it off, the world will know.

[OmahaSteph]

Wow. Y'all continue to be so inspiring. I feel like I've stalled lately, so an update would be good:

*Pay off other credit card [UPDATE: making good progress on this] [UPDATE: Starting to throw even more at this, see below]
Still working on this

*Start throwing massive payments at auto loan [UPDATE: not so worried about this since the interest rate is low]

*Pay back parents for loan (for relocation and crooked divorce attorney) [UPDATE: haven't made a payment yet, but tax return will go to parents] [UPDATE: Sent $5,000 to parents. Still have a sizeable balance.]

*Move to more Mustachian apartment when current lease is up [UPDATE: Still researching areas and tracking offerings. Lease is up in July. Also savings so I can pay cash for deposit and moving expenses] [UPDATE: Got a quote from the movers and have started saving this amount. Also looked at my lease it's actually not up until August. Ugh.]

I have the deposit money saved up, just watching ads for an appropriate place available in August.

*Take work clothes to a tailor to be tweaked instead of buying new  [UPDATE: Haven't bought anything new and have taken two pairs of shoes to be repaired] [UPDATE: Still haven't bought anything, but did dig through boxes I never unpacked and found some more decent work clothes.]

I splurged a little lately, but it was on very necessary things. Been cleaning out boxes, deciding what to sell, what to donate, etc.

 *Buy a bike and trailer for me and begin doing errands  [UPDATE: Still saving up for a bike and have been browsing Craigslist religiously] [UPDATE: I have a bike, an adapter bar, the hitch is being delivered today, and I got a 4-bike hitch rack on CL, practically brand new]

Hitch and adaptor are still sitting on my living room floor ...
 
*Cut gas consumption in half [UPDATE: SO moved to 2nd shift so he now bike commutes. This cut my gas consumption in half. BOOM.]

*Slowly and gently convince SO to forgo hedonistic purchases in favor of paying off his debt UPDATE: It's slow-going but he's theoretically on board.] [UPDATE: He is still supportive, but not really on board for himself yet. He's coming with me to a meet-up later this month, so hopefully he'll start to get more excited about it. I've also been able to get him out of denial a little bit and tackle some of his financial issues instead of just burying his head in the sand. Baby steps.]

He's getting on board more and more as time goes by. He agreed to a generous budget I made for him, now just need him to follow through.

*Publish another novel and pimp others to increase royalties (second income) [UPDATE: Haven't written a word. :( ] [UPDATE: Meeeeeeh.]

Nada.

*Research investment options for when high-interest debt is paid off and become more financially literate in general [UPDATE: Reading "The Millionaire Next Door" and have decided that index funds are fine. Very little research needed and it's not fun for me. Causes stress. I'm still learning financial literary, but not so concerned about the investing aspect yet.]



Added/amended the following:

*Limit restaurant spending to <$50 / month [UPDATE: Have mostly been able to stick to this, or close.] [UPDATE: Still sticking to this.]

Had a few slip-ups lately.

*Take shoes/boots to a repair place instead of buying new [Yep, did it twice now - no new purchases]

*Meal prep [UPDATE: This is hit or miss, but I always pack a lunch.]

We're getting better at large-batch, frugal cooking.

*Get net worth out of the red and into the black (*cue Neil Young*) [UPDATE: It's moving in the right direction.]

*Use gift cards from bank/phone/"relationship" rewards to fund Christmas 2016 [UPDATE: Right now I only have $10 worth of free reward gift cards.]

*Earn [certain amount] in royalties [UPDATE: This is not looking good.]

*start an emergency fund [UPDATE: This is going very well! I've been able to put more aside than I thought!] [UPDATE: I hit my goal ahead of schedule!!!]

*pay cash for moving expenses [UPDATE: Saving for this. I have until July-ish.] [UPDATE: Because I was able to save my goal amount for my e-savings, I can now focus on saving for this and throwing money at the credit card debt.]

Still plugging away at this. Have set a goal on Mint.

Non-financial:

*bench press > 150 lbs; squat >100 lbs; deadlift >160 lbs. [I was diagnosed with mono and doctor said no gym/lifting for 6 weeks. I have 2 more to go.]

Yeah, still not back in the gym, but adding cardio in everyday activities

*read 10 books (used to do this in one month, but ... life) [UPDATE: I think I've read half a book? Maybe?] [UPDATE: Got a library card and a couple books. Currenly reading "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter.

Read a couple books lately. Using my lunch hour, mostly.

*sort out some personal baggage [UPDATE: HA! I found a therapist I'd like to talk to, but there's little time or money.][UPDATE: Meh, again.]

Have been reading some helpful books lately. Making progress and already seeing results. Woo!

[Rhoon]

6 month update, let's see how we're doing.

- Max out 401K ($18K): On track. 7.6K
- Max out tIRA for both my wife and I ($11k), DW: On Track, Mine: $0.
- Increased payments to DWs student loans to $600 month, payoff is roughly 5 years ($34K): On track for the last 4 months, but scaling back as commission plan took a hit. Also want to improve my tIRA contributions first; I need to pay myself for the long term!
- Pay off truck ($45K), yeah, we bought a new one; I used my escrow overage check to make a couple of extra payments and reduced the payoff to 5 years from 6.: Still on track.
- Get solar panels installed to eliminate power bill ($24K -$8k federal tax credit). Payoff in 5 years by making larger payments, which don't exceed my current power bill. Free power in 5 years. : Installed and producing power. Found some serious inefficiencies in my house after these were installed and improved my power consumption so now I'm over producing.
- Spend more time outside with my son: Back yard pool and parks have been utilized sufficiently!
- lose 20 lbs: Stalled, but still down 5lbs. 15 to go. Back on track this month and roped DW into the plan!
- increase e fund by 5% (currently at $19K): Definite fail here, found mold in our master bath and kitchen, complete gut, still working with insurance company, but the e-fund is going down, not up.
- Shop for lower costing house insurance: Stuck with current insurance carrier until the Master bath and Kitchen issues are resolved!
- New Goal: Take a vacation with the wife (Kid optional) away from family so we can get some alone time. See below.

In short, in 5 years we'll be debt free other than our mortgage. Looking to be FI in 10 years.

5 years may be 6 or 7. Will continue to fight towards the goal line!

Edit: New milestone achieved as well: Taking the Wife to Aruba for a week (First real vacation in 6 years), flight was nearly free via Southwest Airline miles. I chose not to use my Marriott points for the hotel and paid cash since the Marriott was a rip off. I'll use the Marriott points next year and the points I'm churning on my Chase Sapphire Preferred card (I travel for work, so it gets paid off each month) for the airfare and continue to rotate each year!

[Mongoose]

I've been avoiding this thread due to extreme anxiety about constantly changing finances.  But, we seem to have some progress to report!  Finally!

Major goal for 2016: Increase income (promotion for DH and/or add part time job) to stop negative cash flow. We have done this, I think? (not because the numbers don't work out...the ? is because it seems unreal after so long)

Secondary goals:
1. Pay off credit card (last debt except mortgage. I want it gone!) In progress! 35% reduction!
2. Restart retirement savings. Still on hold
3. Finish repairs on our "handyman special". In progress (when we can afford to do so)
4. Minor car repairs to see if we can keep them running another couple of years at least. Done some. Hopefully won't need more.

DH got the promotion. I got a 6 month part-time contract to help tide us over while we were waiting on that to come through and growing the business. Our business has enough stocked up (as of this month) to cover its expenses plus a little extra, and pay us a bit (including all the payroll taxes etc) for the next 12 months.  With those improvements, we'll be over what we need to cover our basic bills, including minimum debt repayments and my happier grocery budget.  We can optimize from here but don't have to eat up the emergency fund (we can just use it to pay down the credit card faster). We'll have a bit left over to cover incidental expenses as well (car registration, kids clothes, a couple of small presents for the kids' birthdays).

Our net worth, excluding retirement funds and the house, is POSITIVE $3600. Hahahahahahahahaha! I haven't seen that since before the cascading series of disasters started.

We still have our 6 months of emergency fund money plus all of our retirement funds intact! DH said last night that he is adamant that I do not need to go find another job and he intends that to be the case in the future, with the exception of working as I want on our own business. He said that I've worked enough since I was responsible for 80+% of our income for 20 years and 100% of our retirement savings. His opinion is that I should be RE right now and he'll figure out how to cover us to keep that the case.  He just needs to cover a 25 year gap from now until we are at the new retirement age...when social security and my current retirement funds should be able to take over. Of course, we'd rather end up FI and with more in retirement...but those things are possible with our business picking up. I'm not sure this counts as ER since we're nowhere near FI. I'm trying to wrap my head around it.*

Edited to add: and I'd like DH to join me in ER.

*Note, some money anxiety will keep plugging along for awhile until I see if this actually holds up over time (DH's attitude/follow-through plus the adequate income).

[beantown]

End of May check in. Work is still stupidly stressful, so haven't been able to cut back the spending by as much as I would like.

May's stats:
Goal 1: Pay off $4k in credit card debt (will do so with my tax refund) - Done in Feb
Goal 2: Pay off $18k in federal student loans - Loan balance is at $11,520 now. Down $1250 in May
Goal 3: Max out 401k for the year ($18k) - Contributed $10,020 total to my 401k so far in 2016
Goal 4: Save $6k in emergency fund - Added $500 in March. Now have $4.5k in E Fund
Goal 5: Hit $0 net worth - Right now my net worth is -$25.3k including loans to parents. Net worth increased $4.6k in May

[chaskavitch]

May update: My goals for 2016

1   Pay off 0% interest credit card by Oct (~$1500 left, putting $250/mo toward it) - On track - now $1095.57.  The hardest part is putting our extra money into our e-fund or into savings for other things instead of paying this off.  I have to remind myself weekly that we're not paying any interest on this.
2   Get e-fund total to $10,000 (need $1600) - We had to use a little of this for replacing the plumbing under our sink, but DH did it himself so it only cost us $100, and now we know how to use PVC for plumbing.  We're up to $9,743.91, $256.09remaining :)
3   Increase our net worth (without house) to $100,000 (currently at ~$85,000) - We're up to approximately $91,000, thanks to the stock market going up.  I'd really be ok with a sale on stocks, but it is nice to see the NW number go up.
4   Max out my and DH's IRAs - On track
5   Figure out how to roll over DH's PERA account into Roth or tIRA - at least get access to online account for management - Still no clue about this one, the paperwork is being used as a bookmark...
6   Pay down mortgage by at least $50 extra/mo - Extra $200 in May
7   Only semi-financial - convince boss to let me work 32hrs/week once I come back to work after maternity leave, so I can have an extra day every week with baby :) - Again, this is still in-process.  I don't think I'll know for sure until about 4 weeks before I come back to work.
8   Stick to our budget - Check! Under budget by about $100 for May, even with over-spending on food.

Baby Chaskavitch is still not here :(  I'm only 2 days overdue, but I'm still super impatient.  Boo.  I finished everything at work on Friday just in case he came on his due date, but now I don't have anything to do, thus the update during work hours. 

[afuera]

Goals for the remainder of the year:
Help husband find a job (laid off 1/25/16).  He's a Mechanical Engineer in Houston so if y'all know of anything... ;)
Spend less than 40K in 2016.
Increase online savings from 50K to 63K (max down payment we could need)
Max out Roth IRA for 2016.
Save 4K in HSA for Lasik (self).  My hubby will have to wait till 2017 for Lasik.
Save 5K for a trip to Madrid in the Fall.
Increase NW to 200K (currently ~125K)

Help husband find a job (laid off 1/25/16).  Mr. trappedinmyoffice has an interview this week! (cross your fingers!!)
Spend less than 40K in 2016. Our avg spending right now will put us at 45K.  Time to refocus and kick butt for the rest of the year.
Increase online savings from 50K to 63K. Currently at 57K.
Max out Roth IRA for 2016. On track.
Save 4K in HSA for Lasik (self).  at 2K
Save 5K for a trip to Madrid in the Fall. Not started :(
Increase NW to 200K (currently ~125K) Currently at 137K

Mid-Year Update:

Help husband find a job (laid off 1/25/16).  An internal employee got the job hubby was interviewing for.  He was feeling very confident (they took him on a "ride along" type of interview) so this was a hard pill to swallow.  Back to the drawing board.
Spend less than 40K in 2016. Avg is around 44k. Still need to bring this down.
Increase online savings from 50K to 63K70K. Currently at 62K. New goal for the year is 70K
Max out Roth IRA for 2016. On track. Rolled husband's old 401k into a tIRA and on track to max that as well.
Save 4K in HSA for Lasik (self).  Still at 2K after spending $1000 on wisdom teeth removal.
[/b]Save 5K for a trip to Madrid in the Fall. STILL not started :(
Increase NW to 200K (currently ~125K) Currently at 158K

[Mongoose]

I'm also toying with working 6 days a week for a few months. It would boost my finances, but at what cost?

Potentially your free time, social life, sleep and sanity. If you decide to go this route, can you try it with no obligation to continue for a couple of weeks?

[arpies]

June Update:
Full student loan repayment. (~24.6k estimated June) Down to 441 and going to be paid in July
Reduce monthly expenditures to 1500/mo (not sure I can do much better than that, it's a relatively high COL area) Still @ 2k
Catch up on my back RRSP contribution room ~18,000 (think 401k for Canadians) Still haven't started yet
Finish watching Renegade, the series. Lorenzo Llamas might not have a mustache, but damn does he have fabulous hair. Still in season 3/5!

New goal: Start working out consistently. Life in the lab is hard on my poor body.

[neo von retorch]

* Maximize 401k contributions (increasing contributions to 25% in two weeks, for the rest of the year)
* Prepay on mortgage until we reach 78% LTV; contact credit union to drop PMI By the end of this month, we'll be under 80% - will contact CU; might need 78%
* Move all investments to self-managed Vanguard; determine personal asset allocation and start balancing periodically Still haven't sent in forms to transfer assets  - slacker!

[FausseBourgeoise]

my goal is to set aside $15k this year. A stretch goal is to set aside an amount that matches my available RRSP deductions (regardless of whether it ends up in RRSP).

15k reached. Will not earn enough money to catch up on RRSPs this year, but now targeting 25k.

[Logichronox]

I just found this thread, but it's great to read through these and realize how far I've come since finding the MMM blog and starting the financial overhaul this year.

So far I've:
-paid off $8,000 credit card debt
-changed auto and home insurance to save approx. $600 this year
-bumped up my 401k to try to hit the cap (but not too early, my employer match kinda sucks that way)
-opened a Roth IRA and contributed $5,500 for 2015 before the cut off
-started gathering an emergency fund, $6,000 in there so far
-tore apart my budget and cancelled several unnecessary services
-sold about 1/4 of the possessions I haven't used in the last year

Remaining goals for 2016:
-maxing 401k and IRA
-build up the full 6 months of savings for my emergency fund, $8,000 left
-establish a taxable investment account, and put *some* money in there
-check out refinancing my house to a conventional loan, since I got a USDA loan when I purchased in 2012, that PMI's on there forever
-finish selling or donating the items I don't need

I don't know if I'm on track with my goals (but maybe I'm on track to get on track?), or even what my goals should be...I'm really just trying to cut spending as much as possible so I have a more reliable baseline going into next year.  It's just nice to feel like even if I'm nowhere near where I want to be, and am getting a late start, there're still so many possibilities.  =)

[AmandaS1989]

I've already posted on the other thread but I'll post here too as I am also a noob at this.

1. Build savings account up to $1500

2. Up 401k contribution to 6%

3. Pay off PLUS loan

4. Pay off phone and change to cheaper carrier

5. Pay off the couple hundred I charged for Christmas gifts (one of those gifts being a new box spring and mattress for my folks)

6. Pay off personal loan

7. Maybe work on writing an ebook for publication (If I don't wimp out)

8. Put back $500 for wisdom teeth surgery in May

Quick update:

Savings account is down to $690 after some home repairs. Hoping to still reach my goal. Decided not to up 401K contribution and focus on paying off debt. Did pay off the plus loan. As for the phone, haven't paid it off but I dropped the $11/mo insurance on it. Paid off Christmas stuff I charged on the cc. Should have the personal loan paid off by Oct or Nov. I started on writing the ebook but decided to work on studying for the cpa exam instead. I did put back $500 for my wisdom teeth surgery. Just waiting on my reimbursement check for the insurance company's part. Then I can work on paying off the remaining part of it.

[Mongoose]

I'm also toying with working 6 days a week for a few months. It would boost my finances, but at what cost?

Potentially your free time, social life, sleep and sanity. If you decide to go this route, can you try it with no obligation to continue for a couple of weeks?

I'm an independent contractor. I officially need to give 4 weeks advance notice of schedule changes, but to preserve relationships, 6 is better. There's also a strong chance that if I add extra days they won't fill immediately. If I test it out, I may book some vacation days in the latter part of the test so that my hours balance.

That sounds reasonable. You have a way to test it and, if you ever want to drop back, you can within 6 weeks. I'd go for that (disclaimer: I've been known to work some pretty insane hours).

[21runner]

1) Develop a plan for groceries to cut money spent as much as possible while still being (at least semi) healthy

2) Max Roth IRA with the help of bonus

3) Contribute enough to my 401K to get the full match

3) Pay extra down on my home loan's principal amount each month

4) Learn as many DIY skills as possible

5) Invest a bit of my emergency fund (holding too much in cash)

6) Attempt to reduce electric bill in the summer/winter months

7) Install a sump pump in my basement 


Not necessarily in that order. Enjoying reading all of these posts!

[Mongoose]

Major goal for 2016: Increase income (promotion for DH and/or add part time job) to stop negative cash flow. We have done this, sorta. (Income is somewhat variable so we aren't sure yet that it will be above what we need.)

Secondary goals:
1. Pay off credit card (last debt except mortgage. I want it gone!) Done!
2. Restart retirement savings. Still on hold
3. Finish repairs on our "handyman special". In progress (when we can afford to do so)
4. Minor car repairs to see if we can keep them running another couple of years at least. Done some. Hopefully won't need more.

Paid off the credit card today using some of our emergency fund. A bunch of folks have convinced me that paying it off while keeping a $5k emergency fund made more sense than holding onto the debt to keep more liquid cash. I'm nervous about it but it does make sense. And we're debt free except for our mortgage.

[beantown]

6 Month Check In!

June's stats:
Goal 2: Pay off $18k in federal student loans - Loan balance is at $8,827 now. Down $2700 in June! Didn't have to pay rent this month so threw some extra money there
Goal 3: Max out 401k for the year ($18k) - On Track. Contributed $11,395 total to my 401k so far in 2016
Goal 4: Save $6k in emergency fund - Did not add anything in June. Still at $4.5k in E Fund
Goal 5: Hit $0 net worth - Right now my net worth is -$20.9k including loans to parents. Net worth increased $4.3k in June

I did some calculations on the first half of the year. Had roughly a 45% savings rate the first half of the year. I want to increase that to over 50% for the second half (not counting windfalls like bonuses and tax returns). It's exciting because without MMM, I'd probably be saving the usual 15-20%, and I've also been able to learn a lot about my money weaknesses. For example, right now a lot of expenses are co-mingled with work expenses and shared expenses with a boyfriend, and it's really hard for me to watch exactly what I'm spending. I realize that I need a lot more visibility and control in order to do better with spending.

[Lanthiriel]

I'm considering myself peach fuzz because we still have non-mortgage debt and our net worth is low. Our goals:

1. Max out both 401ks
2. Max out HSA
3. Pay off student loan debt (about 12k)
4. Pay for new driveway and gutters in cash (est. $5k)
5. Funnel any remaining money into a vacation fund for Ireland in 2017

So many people on here making great progress on their goals! I figured I'd do a mid-year check in. 2016 has been rough for us with a layoff for my husband, so our goals have changed. He's working a seasonal job through October, and we're getting set up for a potential winter of unemployment. Here's where we're at:

1. Max out 401ks. We were in track through May (so far have saved about $16k) but dropped this down to 10% of our pay in favor of pulling together a more robust emergency fund. So this goal is now save an additional $10k for the efund (preferably $15k) to bring that fund to $15k (preferably $20k, which is 6 months of expenses).
2. Max out HSA. Still on track.
3. Pay off student loan debt. On track to be done by August 5. Current balance is $5252.
4. Pay for new driveway and gutters in cash. We did the gutters in February, which has stopped the issue we had with water getting in the garage. We decided to hold off on the driveway until next year.
5. Funnel any remaining money into a vacation fund for Ireland 2017. This is all now going to the unemployment emergency fund.

[Rosy]

July 4, 2016 - is not quite midway through 2016 and OMG it looks like it is really happening.

1. Early retirement strategies for Mr. R. - working on it.

2. Save 3K for vacation - plans changed, but still saved the money. ***
3. I will not purchase any jewelry for the next three months - Yay:), did that Jan to March and it was hard! - but then, bought a set in April, sort of a reward for myself, new jewelry for Easter - nothing expensive. Already paid for. No new purchases since April and I am not really tempted any more. Glad to have that out of my system.***
4. Consider getting YNAB - changed my mind - using spreadsheets instead for now. ***
5. Double the income from sidehustles - Yay! - done:) was approx $1100 in 2015 - will probably triple in 2016 ***
6. Save 100% of my SS plus $500 every month - On track!
7. Pay off credit cards each month - On track!
8.  Keep looking for opportunities to slash the budget and keep reading up on finance. Keep coming here for motivation and challenges.
- On track!

Goal reached *** - but, ahem, I have been slacking a bit on reading finance books.

Good luck with all your goals everyone!

[StiffUpperLip]

OK, I'm jumping in a little late in the year, but as I still tend to think in academic years that's about typical for me!

So goals:
1. Pay off car loan - currently at £4500
2. Get emergency fund back up to £12k which is 6 months bare bones expenses.
3. Sell about half of my stuff (and convince hubby to do the same)  so we can get rid of the storage unit (at £100 every 4 weeks!)
4. Don't quit making side income from matched betting (I find it sooooo boring but it's my only established side hustle)
5. Increase pension contributions via a SIPP such that my taxable income comes in under £50k for the year, saving tax and gaining full Child Benefit.
6. Develop one additional side hustle this year - likely an ebook or blog/online course.

My hubby would rather talk about anything but money, and relies on me to just manage it, which is all good for us until I need someone to keep me on track. So hoping this'll do the trick :)

[Mongoose]

I feel like I should set some new mid-year goals since we quite unexpectedly actually accomplished 100% of this year's goals. (I'm still dazed...what happened?)

New Goals
1. Stay out of debt. It's been 19 days so far. I have emergency fund money in place. I want to keep my debt-free-except-for-mortgage status this time.
2. Build business to pay one of us half time. As soon as our contract money comes in, we're halfway there.
3. Restart savings. Right now we are breaking even with spending and earnings. It is nice to not be watching the accounts dwindle but I'd like them to grow instead.
4. Stretch goal: start funding a "move away from this horrible town" account. :-)

[neo von retorch]

Down Payment for house:
$41,258. Wondering if I should keep throwing as much money at this as I have been. Would it be better served in my Vanguard account since we're now debating renting one more year (lease would end August 2018)? Decisions, decisions.

So, I tried putting some of our house down payment into Betterment - and then we bought a house in April (had to take money out before then for the bank to be happy) and some of it had lost some value. I personally do not recommend moving house down payment funds into volatile equities on a timeline shorter than about 6 years :) as you have no way of predicting what will happen over a short-term horizon such as 13 months. If you get to a point where you're pretty certain you'll rent rather than buy for quite a few years, then it probably makes sense to move it into (mildly) less conservative investments.