Author Topic: Saving to $10K  (Read 462532 times)

fluffmuffin

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #400 on: October 10, 2017, 02:12:12 PM »
Hopping on the band wagon late, but better than never.

October Savings: $453.64
Invested: $225.00
Total: $678.64

Welcome!

CaptJacks

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #401 on: October 12, 2017, 12:10:18 PM »
Hey Mustachians.  I am so glad I stumbled on you guys.  I was hurting bad and I figured "that's it time to take care of this".  Found you and holy crap does it work.
I started out with nothing and behind on everything and figured I would try this.

Turned a negative savings balance around in a month by slashing spending.
Floating at $675 in savings right now.  $10K would be unreal to me.  So I am totally in the challenge.

Tass

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #402 on: October 12, 2017, 01:37:11 PM »
Hey Mustachians.  I am so glad I stumbled on you guys.  I was hurting bad and I figured "that's it time to take care of this".  Found you and holy crap does it work.
I started out with nothing and behind on everything and figured I would try this.

Turned a negative savings balance around in a month by slashing spending.
Floating at $675 in savings right now.  $10K would be unreal to me.  So I am totally in the challenge.

You're well on your way, then! I started out slightly negative and hit zero four separate times before actually sitting down with a spreadsheet and working out my cashflow, and now I'm only a few months shy of 5 digits. You're closer than you think. :)

fluffmuffin

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #403 on: October 13, 2017, 08:28:02 AM »
Hey Mustachians.  I am so glad I stumbled on you guys.  I was hurting bad and I figured "that's it time to take care of this".  Found you and holy crap does it work.
I started out with nothing and behind on everything and figured I would try this.

Turned a negative savings balance around in a month by slashing spending.
Floating at $675 in savings right now.  $10K would be unreal to me.  So I am totally in the challenge.

Welcome, Capt! It's amazing that you've been able to get from negative to $675 in a month. You can do this!

haypug16

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #404 on: October 13, 2017, 09:04:28 AM »
Welcome CaptJacks and nice job!


My mid-month update is awesome! I got my severance pay last week and got some travel reimbursements this week. I don't want to jinx it but I may be able to skip right over the neg $30Ks


3/31/2017 (52,848.85)
4/30/2017 (48,076.67)
5/31/2017 (47,110.22)
6/30/2017 (46,540.28)
7/31/2017 (44,354.10)
8/31/2017 (47,236.39)
9/30/2017 (42,436.10)
10/13/2017 = $(31,355.62) +$11,080.48

$10K of this went right to Credit Card debt. God I can't wait to be done with that. I got another $12K to go. My interest should go way down next month with all these payments I'm making, so that'll help.

According to my budget I should be able to knock out another $1500 with my end of the month check. Then I'll go back to my "normal" $2K a month increase.

I hope everyone else is having a good October.


TheDuder

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #405 on: October 13, 2017, 10:05:07 AM »
Right now I am focused on saving $$ for a down payment for a house, so I will jump in the saving to $10K in liquid monies. Need more than that, but I'll take any victory I can get.

1 Jan 2017 - $4,890.59
13 Oct 2017 - $7,125.00
« Last Edit: October 13, 2017, 10:07:38 AM by TheDuder »

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #406 on: October 13, 2017, 12:04:50 PM »
Hey Mustachians.  I am so glad I stumbled on you guys.  I was hurting bad and I figured "that's it time to take care of this".  Found you and holy crap does it work.
I started out with nothing and behind on everything and figured I would try this.

Turned a negative savings balance around in a month by slashing spending.
Floating at $675 in savings right now.  $10K would be unreal to me.  So I am totally in the challenge.

That's exactly how I felt!  And somehow, my wife are now closing in on $12,000 on our investments, keep it up, man, you will get there!

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #407 on: October 13, 2017, 12:11:59 PM »
Hi Everyone, thanks for the positive feedback! 

Die Hard - well done!!  In a way it's both positive and also a shame that you won't be posting as much on this particular topic.  Hopefully all of us will get to catch up in the race to 100k! :D

I'm still around for a little bit ;)
Next goal is for our networth to consistently be over $10,000.  Inching up there.
Meanwhile, getting my personal investments over $10,000.

CaptJacks

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #408 on: October 15, 2017, 10:50:20 AM »
Hey Mustachians.  I am so glad I stumbled on you guys.  I was hurting bad and I figured "that's it time to take care of this".  Found you and holy crap does it work.
I started out with nothing and behind on everything and figured I would try this.

Turned a negative savings balance around in a month by slashing spending.
Floating at $675 in savings right now.  $10K would be unreal to me.  So I am totally in the challenge.

Welcome, Capt! It's amazing that you've been able to get from negative to $675 in a month. You can do this!

Thank you.  Yeah I was so broke and thought "there is no way".  So I just started with $5 a day.  I just tried to see where I could save 5 bucks a day....turns out I was dropping $10 in the morning for breakfast and another $15 for lunch.  All I had to do was brown bag it for a month and boom.  $600+ in savings.

fluffmuffin

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #409 on: October 16, 2017, 06:49:20 AM »
Thank you.  Yeah I was so broke and thought "there is no way".  So I just started with $5 a day.  I just tried to see where I could save 5 bucks a day....turns out I was dropping $10 in the morning for breakfast and another $15 for lunch.  All I had to do was brown bag it for a month and boom.  $600+ in savings.

Yes! Replacing regular meals out with brown bags is one of the easiest ways to save money. Way to be aware of those spending habits, and make a simple change that will pay you dividends down the road :)

Mid-month update:

7/13/2017: $2,238.41
8/1/2017: $2,771.40
8/16/2017: $3,071.40
9/1/2017: $3,202.61
9/15/2017: $3,502.63
10/2/2017: $3,807.67
10/16/2017: $4,021.00

It's pretty great to see a number over $4,000 on that budget line! I got a lot closer to $300 out of the last paycheck than I thought I would. The sinking fund for my car is lower than I'd like right now, but it's not as if I can't move that $213 back over if something catastrophic happens in the next 15 days. Weirdly, this was one of those magic paychecks where I budgeted out all of my necessities, and then still had what I would consider stupid money sitting in the "to be budgeted" line. Of course it all went straight into various sinking funds--hardly thrilling but it's SO worth it to not have to stress.

Manchester

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #410 on: October 16, 2017, 09:07:25 AM »
Welcome CaptJacks and nice job!


My mid-month update is awesome! I got my severance pay last week and got some travel reimbursements this week. I don't want to jinx it but I may be able to skip right over the neg $30Ks


3/31/2017 (52,848.85)
4/30/2017 (48,076.67)
5/31/2017 (47,110.22)
6/30/2017 (46,540.28)
7/31/2017 (44,354.10)
8/31/2017 (47,236.39)
9/30/2017 (42,436.10)
10/13/2017 = $(31,355.62) +$11,080.48

$10K of this went right to Credit Card debt. God I can't wait to be done with that. I got another $12K to go. My interest should go way down next month with all these payments I'm making, so that'll help.

According to my budget I should be able to knock out another $1500 with my end of the month check. Then I'll go back to my "normal" $2K a month increase.

I hope everyone else is having a good October.

Wow what a month that is!  You're smashing it.

You've added over $20k to your net worth in what, 7 months?  That's more than a lot of people earn in a year!!!

haypug16

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #411 on: October 16, 2017, 12:24:28 PM »

Wow what a month that is!  You're smashing it.

You've added over $20k to your net worth in what, 7 months?  That's more than a lot of people earn in a year!!!

Thanks Manchester, this was a great month! Though the $11K here was due to extenuating circumstances I did set myself up to get that severance pay while working 1 1/2 jobs which didn't happen for most of my other co-workers. Plus the other $9K was all from watching my spending, determination, and the motivation I got from this group. I should "easily" hit my year end goal of ($28K) Next year I am thinking of increasing my monthly goal from $2k to $2.5K I just increased my 401K contribution to 10% (from 4%) Once I get my next paycheck and see how the increase changed my net income I'll see about upping it even more. I hope to be maxing it out by the end of the year.

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #412 on: October 16, 2017, 01:25:11 PM »
I looked at my Personal Capital on Saturday morning and for the first time ever, my portfolio (including my IRAs and our HSA, not including my wife's SEP-Ira)
was over $10k...

$10,007 to be exact.

Boo yeah

« Last Edit: October 16, 2017, 01:36:14 PM by DieHard_772 »

fluffmuffin

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #413 on: October 16, 2017, 02:22:21 PM »
I looked at my Personal Capital on Saturday morning and for the first time ever, my portfolio (including my IRAs and our HSA, not including my wife's SEP-Ira)
was over $10k...

$10,007 to be exact.

Boo yeah



YAY! Way to go!

Morphy

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #414 on: October 16, 2017, 04:20:26 PM »
Joining the party.

Sept 30, 2017

Assets: $2756.11
Liabilities: $2168.72 (2k of which is a student loan)
Net Worth: $587.39

Oct 16, 2017

Assets: $3378.62
Liabilities: $2270.80
Net Worth: $1107.82

Nothing special to note.

Trifle

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #415 on: October 16, 2017, 05:29:16 PM »

Oct 16, 2017

Assets: $3378.62
Liabilities: $2270.80
Net Worth: $1107.82

Nothing special to note.

I beg to differ Morphy. +$500 in two weeks?  Great job!   
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 03:35:08 AM by Trifele »

Manchester

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #416 on: October 17, 2017, 03:14:50 AM »
Joining the party.

Sept 30, 2017

Assets: $2756.11
Liabilities: $2168.72 (2k of which is a student loan)
Net Worth: $587.39

Oct 16, 2017

Assets: $3378.62
Liabilities: $2270.80
Net Worth: $1107.82

Nothing special to note.

Nothing special to note?!  You've nearly doubled your net worth in a couple of weeks... if that's nothing special I'm excited to see what you've got in store for the coming weeks/months.  ;)

SecondBreakfast

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #417 on: October 17, 2017, 05:14:11 AM »
I think I'll get in on this whilst I still can! Discovered MMM around June/July and have reprioritized my life since. Used to spend a lot of money in the pub, now I homebrew. Used to bus to work and eat at the cafeteria, now I walk and bring my own lunch. Used to eat takeaways twice a week, now if I can't be bothered to cook I microwave a potato. I might never be totally FIRE but I'm building that beautiful FU money stash.

Assets:
£4143.61 in Vanguard
£3132.78 in cash account (equivalent of a couple of months expenses. Inefficient to leave it here but I don't know where else to put it that gets some return but can be drawn on in an emergency.

Liability:
About ~£1000 in student loans. Gone by this time next year.

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #418 on: October 17, 2017, 10:16:25 AM »
I think I'll get in on this whilst I still can! Discovered MMM around June/July and have reprioritized my life since. Used to spend a lot of money in the pub, now I homebrew. Used to bus to work and eat at the cafeteria, now I walk and bring my own lunch. Used to eat takeaways twice a week, now if I can't be bothered to cook I microwave a potato. I might never be totally FIRE but I'm building that beautiful FU money stash.

Assets:
£4143.61 in Vanguard
£3132.78 in cash account (equivalent of a couple of months expenses. Inefficient to leave it here but I don't know where else to put it that gets some return but can be drawn on in an emergency.

Liability:
About ~£1000 in student loans. Gone by this time next year.

Welcome aboard

lemonverbena

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #419 on: October 18, 2017, 08:56:43 PM »
Jan 2017:
SEP IRA: $225
Car loan: -$7825

Total: -$7600


Late Jan 2017:
SEP IRA: $225
tIRA: $1590
Car loan: -$7825

Total: -$6010


Mid Feb 2017:
SEP IRA: $226
tIRA: $1604
Car loan: -$5593

Total: -$3763

Mar 2017:
SEP IRA: $227
tIRA: $1630
Car loan: -$5593
Roof loan: -$8864

Total: -$12,600

Numbers going way in the wrong direction, but a roof replacement is so overdue and it feels good to be taking care of it. Should have half of it paid off by the end of the month.

Actually, make that by the end of June.

Mid-Apr 2017:
SEP IRA: $231
tIRA: $1624
Car loan: -$5120
Roof loan: -$8864
Emergency fund: $1000

Total: -$11,129

Late-Jun 2017:
SEP IRA: $245
tIRA: $1702
Car loan: -$4645
Roof loan: -$3864
Emergency fund: $1000

Total: -$5,562

Not even close to zero yet, but moving in the right direction again!

Mid-Sep:
SEP IRA: $581
tIRA: $1777
Car loan: $3931
Roof loan: $3649
Emergency fund: $0

Total: -$5,222

My number is basically the same as before, but life happened and now I need to replenish the emergency fund after a trip my spouse took to urgent care turned into an ambulance ride to the ER and a three day stay in the hospital. He now has an incurable autoimmune disease that will require lots of pharmaceuticals for the rest of his life. It has been an adjustment, for sure. So thankful he has good health insurance and we were able to deal with this with our meager emergency fund, but we also really wish we would have signed up for life insurance while he was still healthy!

Mid-Oct:
SEP IRA: $590
tIRA: $1809
Car loan: $3692
Roof loan: $3578
Emergency fund: $505
Hospital bill: $2024

Total: -$6390

Ah ha ha! Silly me. I thought we had paid off the last of the hospital bills. Nope. Another one rolled in. Always something.

Manchester

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #420 on: October 20, 2017, 02:51:24 AM »
Jan 2017:
SEP IRA: $225
Car loan: -$7825

Total: -$7600


Late Jan 2017:
SEP IRA: $225
tIRA: $1590
Car loan: -$7825

Total: -$6010


Mid Feb 2017:
SEP IRA: $226
tIRA: $1604
Car loan: -$5593

Total: -$3763

Mar 2017:
SEP IRA: $227
tIRA: $1630
Car loan: -$5593
Roof loan: -$8864

Total: -$12,600

Numbers going way in the wrong direction, but a roof replacement is so overdue and it feels good to be taking care of it. Should have half of it paid off by the end of the month.

Actually, make that by the end of June.

Mid-Apr 2017:
SEP IRA: $231
tIRA: $1624
Car loan: -$5120
Roof loan: -$8864
Emergency fund: $1000

Total: -$11,129

Late-Jun 2017:
SEP IRA: $245
tIRA: $1702
Car loan: -$4645
Roof loan: -$3864
Emergency fund: $1000

Total: -$5,562

Not even close to zero yet, but moving in the right direction again!

Mid-Sep:
SEP IRA: $581
tIRA: $1777
Car loan: $3931
Roof loan: $3649
Emergency fund: $0

Total: -$5,222

My number is basically the same as before, but life happened and now I need to replenish the emergency fund after a trip my spouse took to urgent care turned into an ambulance ride to the ER and a three day stay in the hospital. He now has an incurable autoimmune disease that will require lots of pharmaceuticals for the rest of his life. It has been an adjustment, for sure. So thankful he has good health insurance and we were able to deal with this with our meager emergency fund, but we also really wish we would have signed up for life insurance while he was still healthy!

Mid-Oct:
SEP IRA: $590
tIRA: $1809
Car loan: $3692
Roof loan: $3578
Emergency fund: $505
Hospital bill: $2024

Total: -$6390

Ah ha ha! Silly me. I thought we had paid off the last of the hospital bills. Nope. Another one rolled in. Always something.

Keep going mate.  If you hadn't been trying over the past few months your finances would have been significantly worse!  You'll achieve your goal as long as you keep focussed.

Zamboni

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #421 on: October 20, 2017, 03:49:44 PM »
This is a very inspiring thread. Keep up the good work, everyone!

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #422 on: October 20, 2017, 04:08:56 PM »
This is a very inspiring thread. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Definitely is!

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #423 on: October 20, 2017, 04:42:52 PM »
My wife and I are starting to kill it on savings and investing...

Our networth has grown by over $23,000 in the past two years!

Not too long ago that was about what I was making per year as a free-lance musician (no kidding).

In fact, in 2011 and 2012 both, I earned less than that (admittedly, this was because in 2011 I only
worked 11 months of the year due to a family trip that was paid for by a relative, and 2012 was my
first year married and living in a brand new area where I was starting my business from scratch).

The other cool thing is that our income didn't change all that much in the last few years...
we just got smarter and more deliberate about our money.

Thanks to everyone on this thread, which has certainly helped keep me motivated and positive
« Last Edit: October 20, 2017, 04:44:42 PM by DieHard_772 »

recklesslysober

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #424 on: October 20, 2017, 06:01:36 PM »
Added almost $7,000 to my net worth this month with my regular salary, a raise, and some back pay.

Sitting at -$72,700 right now.
I'd like to be in the -$60ks next month or really close to it.
End of the year goal is -$64k.
Should hit the big ZERO in 2019 and hopefully be debt free by the end of that year. 

runbikerun

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #425 on: October 21, 2017, 08:23:24 AM »
Up to 5,820. I was a little concerned that this month would be a challenge, as I bought my wife's birthday presents and am currently in Lisbon on a stag weekend, but I made it to payday without touching my savings accounts or putting anything on my credit card.

haypug16

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #426 on: October 21, 2017, 12:56:29 PM »
So not doing quite as well as I thought. Turns out I had not been adding in the monthly interest from my student loans (for a while)! Yikes. I am about $3,450 more in debt than I thought. :*( I'm still better off than I was at the beginning of the year so I can't be too upset. Just need to remind myself to keep checking ALL of my balances. I was so focused on my Credit Cards that I wasn't even thinking of my Student Loans, though I should since they are really high (~$60K) Anyway I start having to repay them this month so they'll be going down.

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #427 on: October 22, 2017, 12:23:48 PM »
So not doing quite as well as I thought. Turns out I had not been adding in the monthly interest from my student loans (for a while)! Yikes. I am about $3,450 more in debt than I thought. :*( I'm still better off than I was at the beginning of the year so I can't be too upset. Just need to remind myself to keep checking ALL of my balances. I was so focused on my Credit Cards that I wasn't even thinking of my Student Loans, though I should since they are really high (~$60K) Anyway I start having to repay them this month so they'll be going down.

Good job haypug, you are paying attention and that matters probably most.  Keep up the good work, you are on your way

haypug16

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #428 on: October 22, 2017, 12:48:25 PM »
Thanks DieHard. I'll be so nice when the only interest I'm looking at is interest that I'm earning! :)

DieHard_772

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #429 on: October 22, 2017, 06:07:57 PM »
Thanks DieHard. I'll be so nice when the only interest I'm looking at is interest that I'm earning! :)

Yeeeeeeeees,  well said

Manchester

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #430 on: October 23, 2017, 03:20:18 AM »

22/09/2017: 
Current account - £927.07
Emergency fund - £1.58
Investments - £0
Credit Card debt - -£1,288.72
Payments Due this month - -£1022

Total - -£1,382.07


Strange month for me financially.  Wasn't able to get rid of as much CC debt as I'd have liked, but found out I've been paying into a work place pension for the past two years (very negligible amounts) which has bumped up my 'total'.  Kind of cheating, but I'll take it!

 23/10/2017:

Current Account - £113.95
Emergency fund - £1.58
Investments - £527.21
Credit Card - -£822.27

TOTAL - -£179.53

So it's an increase of £1,202.54  (which is somewhat inflated by my pension discovery).  Payday comes on the 27th...  I'm meant to be getting a tax break + a refund from HMRC, I've also done around £400 of overtime at work so I'm excited to see what I can do...  Can't see any reason why I shouldn't have a positive net worth this time next month.


fluffmuffin

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #431 on: October 23, 2017, 09:29:02 AM »
Strange month for me financially.  Wasn't able to get rid of as much CC debt as I'd have liked, but found out I've been paying into a work place pension for the past two years (very negligible amounts) which has bumped up my 'total'.  Kind of cheating, but I'll take it!

Uhm I don't think it's cheating that past you automated some savings! It looks like you were able to knock out a big chunk of debt in the last month, too, which is really fantastic.  You are SO CLOSE to that positive net worth!

NoLongerCollegeRaven

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #432 on: October 24, 2017, 04:36:38 AM »
My stats for April 2017:

Current Debt (CC mostly)= $400
Savings (All)                   = $3400
Net Worth                      =  $3000

6 months later

Current Debt (CC mostly)= $0 (Yay!)
Savings (All)                   = $3620
Net Worth                      =  $3620

I predicted that I would reach ~5000 in savings so I really need to cut back stupid expenses (Alcohol. Cigarettes...)

Hopefully, that allows me to reach $6000 by 2018.

Next update in another 6 months!
« Last Edit: October 24, 2017, 06:57:59 AM by CollegeRaven »

JanetJackson

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #433 on: October 24, 2017, 06:03:50 AM »
UPDATE!
I bought a car... and paid $1000 toward the principle of my student loans.... AND my dog has a huge surgery coming up (about $700-1k), BUT I also continued my "say yes" (to anything moral that will make me extra money) experiment to make extra money, and have been working my butt off doing all kinds of odd jobs and picking up extra hours at work.

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 3250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271
Pet Emergency Fund = 730
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236
IRA = 645
Vanguard = 1100.00

TOTAL: 14207   

Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 3,200 at 2.3%
TOTAL: 14200


Net worth: $7 - WHOA, I'm out of the negative (for now....)!!!

Any tips or comments?  Should I trim down somewhere to pay more of the loans off?  Lower my Emergency savings to 2k?  The "house" money will hopefully be going to purchase an RV soon- which will be my primary living space.  If I do not end up doing that, I will trim from there to pay my rent at the next place I rent.  I'm looking into moving options right now, overall. 
I do have to pay cash for my upcoming semester (about 1k) as well as the other upcoming expenses I mentioned (about 2k total before the end of the year).



OK UPDATE TIME!  I made a Deal/Challenge with myself for August to say "YES" to any offer to make extra money that A. Fit into my Schedule, and B. Paid enough to be at least reasonable (as in, not crap like driving 40 miles to help a friend clean her garage for $9/hr)... and I'm hoping it'll pay off! 
Not everything I said "Yes" to has paid out yet, but should by the end of the month.... so off we go with an update!

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 5695
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1184
Pet Emergency Fund = 589
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 113 (just paid this in July)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 2360
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 900
IRA = 22.06
Vanguard = 1100.00

TOTAL: 11,963.06   

Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 4,200 at 2.3%
TOTAL: 15,200.00


Net worth: -3236.94

*I get paid tomorrow via Job #1, so $200 will go to my E. Savings, and ~$550 will go to checking and then be dispersed after bills come out the 1-5th of the month.... Takes me to ~12,713.06 and Net Worth -2,486.94

I am at about $775 additional via side-hustle only from my "Say Yes" experiment, minus the cost of all of the extra coffee/energy drinks that have been necessary to sustain the experiment, and the extra gas money... (Maybe $25 extra in caffeine and $50 extra gas..?).  Two more dog walks (tomorrow) and one deep cleaning of a kitchen (Thursday) to go for this month... PHEW!

I may try to do this every other, or every third month... it's not sustainable every single month though... but very glad I did it to test my capacity.  I also worked extra hours at Job #2 (about 28 hours @~23/hr tutoring) this month- the majority of which haven't been invoiced yet.... ONWARD AND UPWARD

** I have not yet re-joined a new gym.  While the weather is good I have been taking part in the November Project in my area, taking long walks, going to Derby practices as usual (but with a little extra oomph knowing I am also now using it as "fitness") and weightlifting on my front stoop... I don't love the set up- I love Crossfit, but this'll do for now.

END

Sooooooo...
Since I made my 6mo car insurance payment, I am not showing as much progress, even though the other accounts went up. 
I am still enrolled and in classes, so I have not made any student loan payments, so those remain the same. 
I did adjust the income of my day job to split $200/mo from each check to go directly into savings- that starts this payday (Friday) so I am hoping it works out and I can survive within my budget (this tightens things up a bit more, where it's already pretty pretty tight).  I live only on the income from the day job and save everything from Job #2 and all side hustles (pet sitting, house cleaning, etc). 

I also quit my gym last week (sad face) so I won't have those payments for a few months until I find another gym home.  I am incomplete and miserable without a gym, and it's something I have to give myself and my health, but the atmosphere/situation at my gym was not improving the quality of my life in relation to the expense- so it was time to go!  Hopefully I can find something just a pinch cheaper, but fulfilling. 
I also pulled out $1100 from General Savings this month to open my Vanguard account!! 
I guess I'm not "technically" in the hole more, but it sure feels like it right now with this minimal progress.
I do have three $200-$400 pet-sitting gigs upcoming on my books, so that'll help!

Keep chugging along!  Choo Choo!

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 5274
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1183
Pet Emergency Fund = 539
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 101 (just paid this)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 1703
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 200
IRA = 22.06
Vanguard = 1100.00 :/

TOTAL: 8939.06

*It also makes me feel better to list these assets:
Car value: ~5000
Value if I sold literally everything else I own: maybe 600?



Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 5,200 at 2.3%

TOTAL: 16200


Net worth: -7260.94

I'm jumping in!
Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 4716
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1183
Pet Emergency Fund = 523
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 297
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 1627
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 200
IRA = 4.10 :/

TOTAL: 8550.10

*It also makes me feel better to list these assets:
Car value: ~5000
Value if I sold literally everything else I own: maybe 600?



Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 5,200 at 2.3%

TOTAL: 16200


Net worth: -7649.90
(gosh, almost makes me want to sell my car and walk the 30 miles to work....)

LittleWanderer

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #434 on: October 24, 2017, 09:04:05 AM »
Woo hoo, positive net worth!!!  Congrats, JanetJackson!  I wouldn't be in a hurry to pay off those student loans at those interest rates. 

LittleWanderer

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #435 on: October 24, 2017, 09:11:14 AM »
I went and got my tooth pulled yesterday.  I'm completely and utterly lost on WTF my insurance even does for me.  They needed both my health and dental insurance info.  I paid $200 for the yank + prescriptions.  I have a check up appointment in a few weeks, then an appt to get the implant in February, then I have to schedule another appt with my dentist for the crown.  Jeez. 

So, anyway, I am keeping track of how much this thing costs as someone with decent insurance.  Total tooth money spent to date: $200.  (FYI - I had hip surgery a few years ago and it cost me almost nothing...just a few co-pays.  Riddle me that.)

Considering how spaced out all this tooth drama is, I should still hit my $10K goal at the end of November.  (Fingers crossed.)  Will update with more concrete numbers at month end!

JanetJackson

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #436 on: October 24, 2017, 09:43:59 AM »
I went and got my tooth pulled yesterday.  I'm completely and utterly lost on WTF my insurance even does for me.  They needed both my health and dental insurance info.  I paid $200 for the yank + prescriptions.  I have a check up appointment in a few weeks, then an appt to get the implant in February, then I have to schedule another appt with my dentist for the crown.  Jeez. 

So, anyway, I am keeping track of how much this thing costs as someone with decent insurance.  Total tooth money spent to date: $200.  (FYI - I had hip surgery a few years ago and it cost me almost nothing...just a few co-pays.  Riddle me that.)

Considering how spaced out all this tooth drama is, I should still hit my $10K goal at the end of November.  (Fingers crossed.)  Will update with more concrete numbers at month end!

OH my gosh, I am teetering on some dental work myself (about 1k worth of weird/hard to fill cavities, 3 ones that definitely need filled and 3 that are "ehhhh") and am trying to figure out what to do.  I bought a groupon to go see the dentist for a cleaning.... First time in 16 years, since I was 18...  So I should have known.  I guess I should have mentioned that in my "coming up" costs.  Good luck!

Tass

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #437 on: October 25, 2017, 08:23:28 PM »
This is only sort of related to the forum topic, but I'm following up on earlier posts: as of today I can bike the round trip to the grocery store without breaks! (Previously I had been stopping at the top of the hill about halfway there and then walking up the hill the store is on.) I had kind of expected to do poorly because I have been ill recently and haven't practiced much, but whether I'm getting better than I thought, or the swimming I also recently took up is helping, or it was just that I adjusted my seat height today, it's really exciting to see progress.

How do other new biking efforts fare? Fluffmuffin?

Manchester

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #438 on: October 26, 2017, 05:09:01 AM »
UPDATE!
I bought a car... and paid $1000 toward the principle of my student loans.... AND my dog has a huge surgery coming up (about $700-1k), BUT I also continued my "say yes" (to anything moral that will make me extra money) experiment to make extra money, and have been working my butt off doing all kinds of odd jobs and picking up extra hours at work.

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 3250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271
Pet Emergency Fund = 730
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236
IRA = 645
Vanguard = 1100.00

TOTAL: 14207   

Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 3,200 at 2.3%
TOTAL: 14200


Net worth: $7 - WHOA, I'm out of the negative (for now....)!!!

Any tips or comments?  Should I trim down somewhere to pay more of the loans off?  Lower my Emergency savings to 2k?  The "house" money will hopefully be going to purchase an RV soon- which will be my primary living space.  If I do not end up doing that, I will trim from there to pay my rent at the next place I rent.  I'm looking into moving options right now, overall. 
I do have to pay cash for my upcoming semester (about 1k) as well as the other upcoming expenses I mentioned (about 2k total before the end of the year).




Thought I'd give you my advice.  Bare in mind I'm no expert!!

First things first, your student loans are dirt cheap.  Leave them as they are for now.

Do you have a 401k or anything similar where you work?

It seems to me as though you have loads of savings/emergency funds.  What type of accounts are these in?  Are you earning any returns at all?  Do you need all these various funds or could you put them all together in one emergency fund?  My plan for my emergency fund is 3 months costs (But I'm in England where we have the NHS and a brilliant Welfare system which means there is less risk to losing everything).

You have $5,700 in savings for a camper home.  Could you not invest this and enable it to grow more quickly? If that was in Vanguard you'd probably be earning another $400 per year whilst it sits there.


My point is, in your $14,207 worth of assets, it looks to me like only $1,745 is actually working for you.  Do you really need $12k+ for emergencies?

I'd love to have 14k in assets right now, keep up the good work!

Moonwaves

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #439 on: October 26, 2017, 06:10:22 AM »
So, some bills finally got paid so I actually feel like I'm almost making progress. Still waiting for one very big bill to be paid and once that comes in I will pay back my sister and then just need to concentrate on saving to pay the tax man when that bill comes in.

And apparently I skipped August. Have been very, very busy with side gig AND moving (far quicker than expected) to working full-time again (up from 30 to 40hrs/wk). I am pretty annoyed though that it happened so fast accounting has apparently not caught up yet so I didn't get paid for the additional 10 hrs I worked the last two weeks. It'll get paid out at the end of October. Not a huge amount but annoying to not get it. And almost all of the side-gig income is still outstanding. Finishing up another huge job this weekend and next week and once I've issued that invoice, I'll start chasing the others. I may actually be able to pay my sister back and have enough to put aside to cover my tax bill and still be making progress on saving.

As at 30 September 2017, here's how savings stand:
BoI savings a/c: 12.62
DiBa ETF: 294.72
CmzBank savings a/c: 100.00
Total:  407.34

As at 26 October 2017, here's how savings stand:
BoI savings a/c: 18.87
DiBa ETF: 349.91
CmzBank savings a/c: 200.00
Total:  568.78

JanetJackson

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #440 on: October 26, 2017, 06:12:19 AM »
UPDATE!
I bought a car... and paid $1000 toward the principle of my student loans.... AND my dog has a huge surgery coming up (about $700-1k), BUT I also continued my "say yes" (to anything moral that will make me extra money) experiment to make extra money, and have been working my butt off doing all kinds of odd jobs and picking up extra hours at work.

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 3250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271
Pet Emergency Fund = 730
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236
IRA = 645
Vanguard = 1100.00

TOTAL: 14207   

Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 3,200 at 2.3%
TOTAL: 14200


Net worth: $7 - WHOA, I'm out of the negative (for now....)!!!

Any tips or comments?  Should I trim down somewhere to pay more of the loans off?  Lower my Emergency savings to 2k?  The "house" money will hopefully be going to purchase an RV soon- which will be my primary living space.  If I do not end up doing that, I will trim from there to pay my rent at the next place I rent.  I'm looking into moving options right now, overall. 
I do have to pay cash for my upcoming semester (about 1k) as well as the other upcoming expenses I mentioned (about 2k total before the end of the year).




Thought I'd give you my advice.  Bare in mind I'm no expert!!

First things first, your student loans are dirt cheap.  Leave them as they are for now.

Do you have a 401k or anything similar where you work?

It seems to me as though you have loads of savings/emergency funds.  What type of accounts are these in?  Are you earning any returns at all?  Do you need all these various funds or could you put them all together in one emergency fund?  My plan for my emergency fund is 3 months costs (But I'm in England where we have the NHS and a brilliant Welfare system which means there is less risk to losing everything).

You have $5,700 in savings for a camper home.  Could you not invest this and enable it to grow more quickly? If that was in Vanguard you'd probably be earning another $400 per year whilst it sits there.


My point is, in your $14,207 worth of assets, it looks to me like only $1,745 is actually working for you.  Do you really need $12k+ for emergencies?

I'd love to have 14k in assets right now, keep up the good work!


Hey Manchester- I appreciate the advice!
For me, I've found that the assigned savings accounts help.  If I just have one lump "emergency savings" I'm apt not to touch it.  3k covers my basic living for three months.  Most of this is in a regular savings account earning about 1%.  I do have a vanguard account.  I must admit, my eyes glaze over any time I try to deeply understand index funds, all of the different vanguard accounts, withdraw strategies, etc.  I'm kind of a basic homesteading type-bootstrapping my savings- person... who is very open to learning smarter ways.
If I put that house savings into vanguard, I could always take it out in 3-5 years when I am ready to purchase a home, right?  I am saving to about 30k to purchase a RVIA Certified Tiny Home on wheels from a builder outright. 

Two facts about me:

  • I am so risk averse it isn't even funny... the idea that I *could* lose money in index funds is terrifying to me... it actually turns my stomach every time I send money to Vanguard.
  • I am morally very debt averse and want those student loans off of my shoulders AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  I think about them when I lay in bed at night.  I know that sounds like a euphemism, but I actually do that.  Ha

Bearing all of that in mind- do you think I'd do best to pull the car emergency savings and the house savings and invest them elsewhere (as in, Vanguard)?  And just deal with my nervousness about it? 
I could LIKELY keep the Pet and the Emergency funds (as well as the estimated taxes and the car insurance - I do like keeping them separated in this way) how they are, since those are the ones I'd need to access immediately in an actual emergency... but I have two credit cards that I keep zero balance on that have 3k limits, so you're probably right... I don't need 14k at my fingertips.
I have been working on keeping less in my checking account and getting it closer to exactly what I need in there (saving/investing the rest).

Any advice is great and I'm ready to listen!  Thanks!

fluffmuffin

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #441 on: October 26, 2017, 07:39:59 AM »
This is only sort of related to the forum topic, but I'm following up on earlier posts: as of today I can bike the round trip to the grocery store without breaks! (Previously I had been stopping at the top of the hill about halfway there and then walking up the hill the store is on.) I had kind of expected to do poorly because I have been ill recently and haven't practiced much, but whether I'm getting better than I thought, or the swimming I also recently took up is helping, or it was just that I adjusted my seat height today, it's really exciting to see progress.

How do other new biking efforts fare? Fluffmuffin?

Way to go Tass! I'm sure more practice + additional conditioning through swimming is helping :) I'm still in the same place I was last month...struggling to find time to practice and feeling like I've plateaued. BUT my race is in 2.5 weeks, so my life will open up a lot more after that. With that said, I'm going to (gulp) try biking to work Monday morning. There's almost no traffic, I have a bike lane virtually the whole way, and I can ride on the sidewalk in a few tight places if I really need to. I'm wayyy too scared to ride in the afternoon traffic, so I'm going to either walk the bike home, or leave it locked and pick it up on Tuesday or Wednesday when I have to drive anyway. It's a 35 minute walk and should be ~15 minutes on the bike, so even if I only ride one way that will take my total non-car commute time down from an hour and 10 minutes to 45 minutes.

But in other environmentally-conscious Mustachian news, I've been consistently walking 1-2 days each week. After the race is over I'm going to try to convince my Wednesday night running group to switch to Tuesday or Thursday, so I can walk/bike MWF.

Tass

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #442 on: October 26, 2017, 09:17:38 AM »
JanetJackson - I feel you on the risk aversion. The way I got past it was to remind myself that there IS no risk-free savings. Cash gets lost or stolen, banks fold, either of those is eaten slowly by inflation. Also, the stock market is much less risky over a very long period of time; I don't care if the money I put in it drops right now, because I don't need it for years. As MMM says, a stock market fall just means you can buy shares for cheap.

That said, if you're very risk averse I don't know that I would put short-term savings in stocks for that reason.

Fluffmuffin - Sounds like a great plan! I'm thinking of starting biking to work and back on Saturdays just for the practice.

LittleWanderer

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #443 on: October 26, 2017, 09:56:53 AM »
This is only sort of related to the forum topic, but I'm following up on earlier posts: as of today I can bike the round trip to the grocery store without breaks! (Previously I had been stopping at the top of the hill about halfway there and then walking up the hill the store is on.) I had kind of expected to do poorly because I have been ill recently and haven't practiced much, but whether I'm getting better than I thought, or the swimming I also recently took up is helping, or it was just that I adjusted my seat height today, it's really exciting to see progress.

How do other new biking efforts fare? Fluffmuffin?

I like hearing about the biking.  Certainly more exciting than hearing about my teeth!

Your strategy of practicing biking to work on a Saturday is exactly what I would suggest to fluffmuffin.  And keep remembering that riding in traffic gets easier the more you get used to it.  Practice might seem silly, but it works.

Manchester

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #444 on: October 26, 2017, 10:53:29 AM »
UPDATE!
I bought a car... and paid $1000 toward the principle of my student loans.... AND my dog has a huge surgery coming up (about $700-1k), BUT I also continued my "say yes" (to anything moral that will make me extra money) experiment to make extra money, and have been working my butt off doing all kinds of odd jobs and picking up extra hours at work.

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 3250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271
Pet Emergency Fund = 730
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236
IRA = 645
Vanguard = 1100.00

TOTAL: 14207   

Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 3,200 at 2.3%
TOTAL: 14200


Net worth: $7 - WHOA, I'm out of the negative (for now....)!!!

Any tips or comments?  Should I trim down somewhere to pay more of the loans off?  Lower my Emergency savings to 2k?  The "house" money will hopefully be going to purchase an RV soon- which will be my primary living space.  If I do not end up doing that, I will trim from there to pay my rent at the next place I rent.  I'm looking into moving options right now, overall. 
I do have to pay cash for my upcoming semester (about 1k) as well as the other upcoming expenses I mentioned (about 2k total before the end of the year).




Thought I'd give you my advice.  Bare in mind I'm no expert!!

First things first, your student loans are dirt cheap.  Leave them as they are for now.

Do you have a 401k or anything similar where you work?

It seems to me as though you have loads of savings/emergency funds.  What type of accounts are these in?  Are you earning any returns at all?  Do you need all these various funds or could you put them all together in one emergency fund?  My plan for my emergency fund is 3 months costs (But I'm in England where we have the NHS and a brilliant Welfare system which means there is less risk to losing everything).

You have $5,700 in savings for a camper home.  Could you not invest this and enable it to grow more quickly? If that was in Vanguard you'd probably be earning another $400 per year whilst it sits there.


My point is, in your $14,207 worth of assets, it looks to me like only $1,745 is actually working for you.  Do you really need $12k+ for emergencies?

I'd love to have 14k in assets right now, keep up the good work!


Hey Manchester- I appreciate the advice!
For me, I've found that the assigned savings accounts help.  If I just have one lump "emergency savings" I'm apt not to touch it.  3k covers my basic living for three months.  Most of this is in a regular savings account earning about 1%.  I do have a vanguard account.  I must admit, my eyes glaze over any time I try to deeply understand index funds, all of the different vanguard accounts, withdraw strategies, etc.  I'm kind of a basic homesteading type-bootstrapping my savings- person... who is very open to learning smarter ways.
If I put that house savings into vanguard, I could always take it out in 3-5 years when I am ready to purchase a home, right?  I am saving to about 30k to purchase a RVIA Certified Tiny Home on wheels from a builder outright. 

Two facts about me:

  • I am so risk averse it isn't even funny... the idea that I *could* lose money in index funds is terrifying to me... it actually turns my stomach every time I send money to Vanguard.
  • I am morally very debt averse and want those student loans off of my shoulders AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  I think about them when I lay in bed at night.  I know that sounds like a euphemism, but I actually do that.  Ha

Bearing all of that in mind- do you think I'd do best to pull the car emergency savings and the house savings and invest them elsewhere (as in, Vanguard)?  And just deal with my nervousness about it? 
I could LIKELY keep the Pet and the Emergency funds (as well as the estimated taxes and the car insurance - I do like keeping them separated in this way) how they are, since those are the ones I'd need to access immediately in an actual emergency... but I have two credit cards that I keep zero balance on that have 3k limits, so you're probably right... I don't need 14k at my fingertips.
I have been working on keeping less in my checking account and getting it closer to exactly what I need in there (saving/investing the rest).

Any advice is great and I'm ready to listen!  Thanks!

I suppose the question is how bad do you want to FIRE and how much are you willing to risk to get there?  I hope this doesn't sound rude/blunt, but your fear of losing money is costing you money. 


Stocks and shares ARE confusing!  Especially to people like myself who're just starting out.  That why there are so many people making serious money to advise people on the subject.  Have you read J L Colin's stock series?  It's bloody brilliant if you haven't and was written as instructions for his daughter to teach her about investing.

Here's what I'd do if I were in your shoes...

Emergency fund + General savings = 3250 Remove 250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271 Close this account, add money to your investment 'pot'
Pet Emergency Fund = 730 Add 250 you removed from Emergency fund
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July) Leave as is
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700 Close this account and add money into investment pot
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140 Leave as is
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236 Remove 736 which should be put in investment pot


That leaves you with the following:

Savings/Emergency $4,755
Available credit to hand through cc's $3,000
Money available to invest $7,707

That leaves you with the best part of 8 months living time if SHTF.  Any emergency that costs more than that is going to be such a nightmare that I doubt any money at your disposal is going to help.  You don't need more than that! 

You can then invest nearly $8k how you see fit - here is where your risk tolerance comes into the equation.  You need to decide your asset allocation.  You could invest 10% of that in high risk funds, 50% in a safer, medium to low risk, index funds and allocate the last 40% into bonds (these are much lower risk - but also lower returns). 

Debt worries aren't nice, but there are people in much worse positions than yourself.  Your student loans are so cheap it wouldn't make sense to pay them off in a hurry.  Every $10 you owe on your more expensive loan is costing you 10 cents.  Every $10 you invest in Vanguard will most likely earn you over 70 cents.  The more money you have, the less you will worry about money, right?


If your employer offers a 401k contribution you HAVE to take them up on it.  It's basically free money - what other investment would earn you !00% returns year on year?
 


Tass

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #445 on: October 26, 2017, 11:17:35 AM »
P.S. On feeling overwhelmed by starting out in investing: Fidelity has Target Year Index Funds. It's an index fund whose asset allocation changes automatically as you get closer to your retirement year (i.e. it owns a stocks index fund and a bonds index fund and balances its investment in each). They're very slightly more expensive than bare bones index funds where you have to do the asset allocation yourself, but much cheaper than the general Target Year funds which are managed. (Make sure it has "index" in the fund name! They will try to sell you on the managed funds instead.)

I'm pretty sure Vanguard offers something similar, and either company will charge you extra for buying the other company's fund through them, so stay in-house - if you already have a Vanguard account, use Vanguard. But having the automatic asset allocation also helped soothe my nerves - one less thing for me to somehow mess up.

(I do use a target year as though I will retire at 65; this ensures it will be set up for more aggressive growth for longer, and I can move it into a different target year fund whenever I actually want it to start being more conservative.)

cazio

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #446 on: October 26, 2017, 11:44:47 AM »
A great month for me - my new savings tactic for my spending money earned me an extra $245, and I worked 12 hours of time and a half overtime and 12 hours of double time for an extra $300+

SO close to meeting my EF goal of $13,500

Current Stats
EF: $12,041 (+1,974)
Student Loans: -$11,361 (+116)
Net Worth:  $2,180  (+2,091)

EF: $10,067
Student Loans: -$11,478
Net Worth:  $89

JanetJackson

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #447 on: October 26, 2017, 11:47:52 AM »
UPDATE!
I bought a car... and paid $1000 toward the principle of my student loans.... AND my dog has a huge surgery coming up (about $700-1k), BUT I also continued my "say yes" (to anything moral that will make me extra money) experiment to make extra money, and have been working my butt off doing all kinds of odd jobs and picking up extra hours at work.

Assets:
Emergency fund + General savings = 3250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271
Pet Emergency Fund = 730
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July)
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236
IRA = 645
Vanguard = 1100.00

TOTAL: 14207   

Liabilities
Student Loan #1 = 11,000 at 1.9%
Student Loan #2 = 3,200 at 2.3%
TOTAL: 14200


Net worth: $7 - WHOA, I'm out of the negative (for now....)!!!

Any tips or comments?  Should I trim down somewhere to pay more of the loans off?  Lower my Emergency savings to 2k?  The "house" money will hopefully be going to purchase an RV soon- which will be my primary living space.  If I do not end up doing that, I will trim from there to pay my rent at the next place I rent.  I'm looking into moving options right now, overall. 
I do have to pay cash for my upcoming semester (about 1k) as well as the other upcoming expenses I mentioned (about 2k total before the end of the year).




Thought I'd give you my advice.  Bare in mind I'm no expert!!

First things first, your student loans are dirt cheap.  Leave them as they are for now.

Do you have a 401k or anything similar where you work?

It seems to me as though you have loads of savings/emergency funds.  What type of accounts are these in?  Are you earning any returns at all?  Do you need all these various funds or could you put them all together in one emergency fund?  My plan for my emergency fund is 3 months costs (But I'm in England where we have the NHS and a brilliant Welfare system which means there is less risk to losing everything).

You have $5,700 in savings for a camper home.  Could you not invest this and enable it to grow more quickly? If that was in Vanguard you'd probably be earning another $400 per year whilst it sits there.


My point is, in your $14,207 worth of assets, it looks to me like only $1,745 is actually working for you.  Do you really need $12k+ for emergencies?

I'd love to have 14k in assets right now, keep up the good work!


Hey Manchester- I appreciate the advice!
For me, I've found that the assigned savings accounts help.  If I just have one lump "emergency savings" I'm apt not to touch it.  3k covers my basic living for three months.  Most of this is in a regular savings account earning about 1%.  I do have a vanguard account.  I must admit, my eyes glaze over any time I try to deeply understand index funds, all of the different vanguard accounts, withdraw strategies, etc.  I'm kind of a basic homesteading type-bootstrapping my savings- person... who is very open to learning smarter ways.
If I put that house savings into vanguard, I could always take it out in 3-5 years when I am ready to purchase a home, right?  I am saving to about 30k to purchase a RVIA Certified Tiny Home on wheels from a builder outright. 

Two facts about me:

  • I am so risk averse it isn't even funny... the idea that I *could* lose money in index funds is terrifying to me... it actually turns my stomach every time I send money to Vanguard.
  • I am morally very debt averse and want those student loans off of my shoulders AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  I think about them when I lay in bed at night.  I know that sounds like a euphemism, but I actually do that.  Ha

Bearing all of that in mind- do you think I'd do best to pull the car emergency savings and the house savings and invest them elsewhere (as in, Vanguard)?  And just deal with my nervousness about it? 
I could LIKELY keep the Pet and the Emergency funds (as well as the estimated taxes and the car insurance - I do like keeping them separated in this way) how they are, since those are the ones I'd need to access immediately in an actual emergency... but I have two credit cards that I keep zero balance on that have 3k limits, so you're probably right... I don't need 14k at my fingertips.
I have been working on keeping less in my checking account and getting it closer to exactly what I need in there (saving/investing the rest).

Any advice is great and I'm ready to listen!  Thanks!

I suppose the question is how bad do you want to FIRE and how much are you willing to risk to get there?  I hope this doesn't sound rude/blunt, but your fear of losing money is costing you money. 


Stocks and shares ARE confusing!  Especially to people like myself who're just starting out.  That why there are so many people making serious money to advise people on the subject.  Have you read J L Colin's stock series?  It's bloody brilliant if you haven't and was written as instructions for his daughter to teach her about investing.

Here's what I'd do if I were in your shoes...

Emergency fund + General savings = 3250 Remove 250
Vehicle Emergency Fund = 1271 Close this account, add money to your investment 'pot'
Pet Emergency Fund = 730 Add 250 you removed from Emergency fund
Car Insurance collection (paid from yearly) = 135 (just paid this in July) Leave as is
Camper/Tiny home Savings = 5700 Close this account and add money into investment pot
Estimated Taxes Set Aside = 140 Leave as is
Consistent Checking Surplus for immediate emergencies = 1236 Remove 736 which should be put in investment pot


That leaves you with the following:

Savings/Emergency $4,755
Available credit to hand through cc's $3,000
Money available to invest $7,707

That leaves you with the best part of 8 months living time if SHTF.  Any emergency that costs more than that is going to be such a nightmare that I doubt any money at your disposal is going to help.  You don't need more than that! 

Thanks for all of the ideas!  SO to be clear, the money that I invest can be withdrawn anytime anyways for an emergency- it just takes a bit longer for it to hit a bank account where I could actually use it?

You can then invest nearly $8k how you see fit - here is where your risk tolerance comes into the equation.  You need to decide your asset allocation.  You could invest 10% of that in high risk funds, 50% in a safer, medium to low risk, index funds and allocate the last 40% into bonds (these are much lower risk - but also lower returns). 
Again, here I think my question is... will I be able to pull out 30k from these when I need to purchase the house in 3-5 years?  I "have" a vanguard account, but as I mentioned before... I really really don't understand it.  I've ready everything I can get my hands on, and all of it still seems above my level of understanding.  I should hit up Reddit for one of those "explain it like I'm 5" threads on investing....

Debt worries aren't nice, but there are people in much worse positions than yourself.  Your student loans are so cheap it wouldn't make sense to pay them off in a hurry.  Every $10 you owe on your more expensive loan is costing you 10 cents.  Every $10 you invest in Vanguard will most likely earn you over 70 cents.  The more money you have, the less you will worry about money, right?
I hope!  Stress management isn't my best skill, but I am working on it.  I'm still as stressed about money as I was when I was living in govt. housing and on food stamps.

If your employer offers a 401k contribution you HAVE to take them up on it.  It's basically free money - what other investment would earn you !00% returns year on year?

I WISH!  I am offered no benefits of any kind besides a cell phone reimbursement and a company car should I wish (I did the calculations and it's not worth it).  I'm up for a review soon, so I am hoping to at least get a substantial and fair raise to make up for that.

Thanks again!  I'll look into the possibility of all you've mentioned.

JanetJackson

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #448 on: October 26, 2017, 11:52:26 AM »
P.S. On feeling overwhelmed by starting out in investing: Fidelity has Target Year Index Funds. It's an index fund whose asset allocation changes automatically as you get closer to your retirement year (i.e. it owns a stocks index fund and a bonds index fund and balances its investment in each). They're very slightly more expensive than bare bones index funds where you have to do the asset allocation yourself, but much cheaper than the general Target Year funds which are managed. (Make sure it has "index" in the fund name! They will try to sell you on the managed funds instead.)

I'm pretty sure Vanguard offers something similar, and either company will charge you extra for buying the other company's fund through them, so stay in-house - if you already have a Vanguard account, use Vanguard. But having the automatic asset allocation also helped soothe my nerves - one less thing for me to somehow mess up.

(I do use a target year as though I will retire at 65; this ensures it will be set up for more aggressive growth for longer, and I can move it into a different target year fund whenever I actually want it to start being more conservative.)

HI Tass!  Thanks for the notes.  I will be honest... there are even some terms in your post I don't quite understand.  I appreciate the help and have highlighted the terms I do not understand to see if you have time to clarify-- if you don't, I totally understand- it's not your job to educate me!  I've just read what feels like EVERYTHING regarding investing and I really don't understand it any better.... even the most basic is over my head.  It's embarrassing compared to the level of knowledge everyone here has.

Tass

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Re: Saving to $10K
« Reply #449 on: October 26, 2017, 01:10:24 PM »
P.S. On feeling overwhelmed by starting out in investing: Fidelity has Target Year Index Funds. It's an index fund whose asset allocation changes automatically as you get closer to your retirement year (i.e. it owns a stocks index fund and a bonds index fund and balances its investment in each). They're very slightly more expensive than bare bones index funds where you have to do the asset allocation yourself, but much cheaper than the general Target Year funds which are managed. (Make sure it has "index" in the fund name! They will try to sell you on the managed funds instead.)

I'm pretty sure Vanguard offers something similar, and either company will charge you extra for buying the other company's fund through them, so stay in-house - if you already have a Vanguard account, use Vanguard. But having the automatic asset allocation also helped soothe my nerves - one less thing for me to somehow mess up.

(I do use a target year as though I will retire at 65; this ensures it will be set up for more aggressive growth for longer, and I can move it into a different target year fund whenever I actually want it to start being more conservative.)

HI Tass!  Thanks for the notes.  I will be honest... there are even some terms in your post I don't quite understand.  I appreciate the help and have highlighted the terms I do not understand to see if you have time to clarify-- if you don't, I totally understand- it's not your job to educate me!  I've just read what feels like EVERYTHING regarding investing and I really don't understand it any better.... even the most basic is over my head.  It's embarrassing compared to the level of knowledge everyone here has.

Here is the stock series overview which will teach you the basics. It's pretty long but if you start at the beginning you can get a good overview even if you don't finish. And it's basically where I learned all of this. http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

Here's the basics. (And please correct me if I'm wrong, because I am no expert.)

Stocks are when you loan money to a company buy buying a piece of it; the company repays you by paying you a portion of their profit called a dividend, and you can make money if you sell the stock later at a higher price. Stocks grow quickly but also might drop quickly in the short term; they're not very stable.

Bonds are when you loan money to a government or company and they pay you back with interest, but there's no ownership or dividend involved. Bonds don't grow very fast but they are considered very stable.

A mutual fund or just a "fund" is a collection of stocks and bonds that you can invest in as a group - you invest in the fund, and the fund invests in other stuff. It's kind of like a shell for your investments where somebody else has to figure out the details for you.

Index funds are when you buy a little piece of everything on a particular market. There are stock index funds and bond index funds. They are a good investment especially over long periods of time, but you need to decide how much of each (stocks vs bonds) you want. That's called asset allocation. 100% stocks is extremely aggressive - very risky but lots of growth potential - 100% bonds has minimal growth potential but also minimal loss potential (unless the government collapses, but in that case your savings are probably screwed either way). For people just starting out with a lot of time to grow, an 80% stocks/20% bonds allocation is commonly recommended.

Managed funds are those where there's a person in charge of deciding what stocks and bonds the fund invests in. This costs extra - not a cost you will see, but an expense ratio, which is a cost that is taken out of the gains that the fund makes. You can see the expense ratio on pages that describe the features of various funds. Companies that run managed funds will swear they do better than index funds (aka the market), and a small minority do, but we here at MMM don't believe in stock picking. In a cheaper index fund, you get to keep more of your money. (The managed fund I started out in had an expense ratio of 0.75%; the index fund I'm in now has one of 0.15%. Plain index funds are even cheaper. These numbers sound small but they make a big difference.)

Fidelity and Vanguard both run a variety of mutual funds. They will charge you fees to buy a fund from the other company, and they're all very similar anyway, so it's not worth it; just buy funds run by the company your account is with. That's in-house trading.

A target date fund like the one I mentioned owns several other index funds, and will change its asset allocation between them over time. In general, this means that as you get closer to retiring, you'll to have fewer stocks and more bonds, so your savings become more stable. When you're just starting out, you can handle more risk, because you'll have more time to recover from it.

If you want to retire quickly, you also need to be willing to pursue higher growth. If I plan to retire in 10 years, and I invest in a target date fund for 10 years from now, the growth will be very slow - because it's designed for 55-year-olds who don't want to see their lifelong investment disappear. But I'll never make it to my ambitious goal in only 10 years with that strategy. Instead, I'm in a fund with a target date of 2055 - this one is actually for people my age, designed to grow quickly. It's riskier, but if it crashes, I can recover - I just might have to work 12 years instead of 10. (Pulling these timelines out of nowhere, ftr.) Once I DO retire and it's important to maintain the money I have, since I won't be accumulating more, I can switch that money into a fund meant for retirees.

It's important to remember that the fluctuations in the market between when you buy and when you sell don't matter. Only the prices when you make those transactions matter. I have $3k in an index fund right now, and I won't be retiring for a long time, so I won't be touching that money for years and years. If the stock market crashes tomorrow and suddenly my $3k investment is only worth $500, it doesn't matter to me, because it has plenty of time to recover; if anything, I should be making sure I invest extra while the prices are so cheap. If you read the stock series I linked to, he'll describe how the worst thing you can possibly do is to sell your stock during a crash - but people panic and do it all the time.

How was that explanation?
« Last Edit: October 26, 2017, 04:18:07 PM by Tass »

 

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