Saving to $10K

[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.

I totally believe in the value of practice! It's just a matter of when at the moment. Monday in the early morning is a lower-traffic time to "practice" my route than Saturday during the day, actually, or I would have already done it that way. I could do early on Saturday, but I have my group long runs for the next couple of weeks. And I'm not committing to anything on Sunday right now, since it's the one day of the week I don't have to be up early.

I see Monday as more of a data-gathering exercise than a true attempt at bike-commuting. I'm also going for a ride after work today on quiet streets I'm very familiar with, but at a slightly higher-traffic time than usual, which should be a good practice run for the practice run Monday. If either are catastrophes I can always hop off after 5 minutes and walk the rest of the way.

[Moonwaves]

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.

I’m with you on this to a certain extent JJ, I am extremely risk averse and although I’ve known the basics around stocks and shares for years (I did business organisation in school and studied business in college!!! – let’s just say I got more out of the language part of my studies)), it has never clicked well for me. I always feel so stupid to have to keep going and looking things up over and over. It usually makes sense when someone is explaining it to me but half an hour later if I were to try to explain any part of what I’d just heard, I wouldn’t be able to. I found MMM a few years ago and it was only a few months ago that I actually started to buy index funds. And even then, it’s at a very low rate of 50/month using an automatic savings plan. I checked one or two things (like that the TER everyone talks about was among the lowest of what was on offer) and then, once the decision was made and I’d set it up, I tried to stop second-guessing myself. Anyway, I found Dr. Doom’s blog posts kind of useful and I remember reading the one on having an investment policy and it really making a lot of sense to me. Not sure if you’ve read it already but it might be useful. Living a Fi - Investment Policy Statement. And just in general keep reading stuff. At some stage you will read something that will just click for you on that day.

[Manchester]

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

 23/10/2017:

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

TOTAL - -£179.53

Payday today!  My overtime and tax breaks have come in so I've paid off my credit card.

Guys I'm officially debt free and have a positive net worth for the first time in months! Everything is looking on track for my target of £3k net worth in Feb.

[Imma]

I'm going to say something very heritic around here: if you're not comfortable with investing, don't do it.

I grew up learning about investing, my parents invested as well (although not always succesfully, with small amounts of money and they follow a totally different strategy from me) so I'm comfortable with having money in the market. My s/o wasn't raised like that and doesn't really feel comfortable with it - also due to lack of knowledge.

If having money in the market is going to stress you out, then don't do it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it ever, but take some time to get used to the idea, read up on it, play around a bit by investing smaller amounts, decide what kind of risk you're comfortable with. How bad do you want to FIRE? The rule of thumb is very simple: the more money you make, the more risk you are taking. I know people on here will say that having money in a savings account is risky because of inflation, and while that's true, it's still a lot less risky than a lot of other products available.

If you want to keep a lot of money in a savings account rather than in the market, there's also the option of the time deposit. It's still a savings account, but you get a higher interest % than on a regular account. I see you're saving up to buy a tiny house / RV a couple of years into the future. You could put that money in a 1 or even 5 year time deposit and get a lot more interest. You can still access the money in case of emergency, but you will normally lose a part of the interest.

Personally, I don't put money in the market I can't afford to lose. I remember 10 years ago I was in high school and my parents advised me to put my savings from my parttime job into the market. I put in €700, a year later it was only worth €350. I was lucky enough to be able to keep that money in the market for a while, I didn't have to sell it until it was back to €500, but it was a valuable lesson for me. Markets fluctuate and it can take a long time to recover. That's ok for your long-term retirement savings, but not OK if you're saving up to buy a tiny home within 5 years. Only yesterday was my country's stock exchange index back to the level of 2007. The market recovered, but it took a full decade.

[JanetJackson]

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.

I’m with you on this to a certain extent JJ, I am extremely risk averse and although I’ve known the basics around stocks and shares for years (I did business organisation in school and studied business in college!!! – let’s just say I got more out of the language part of my studies)), it has never clicked well for me. I always feel so stupid to have to keep going and looking things up over and over. It usually makes sense when someone is explaining it to me but half an hour later if I were to try to explain any part of what I’d just heard, I wouldn’t be able to. I found MMM a few years ago and it was only a few months ago that I actually started to buy index funds. And even then, it’s at a very low rate of 50/month using an automatic savings plan. I checked one or two things (like that the TER everyone talks about was among the lowest of what was on offer) and then, once the decision was made and I’d set it up, I tried to stop second-guessing myself. Anyway, I found Dr. Doom’s blog posts kind of useful and I remember reading the one on having an investment policy and it really making a lot of sense to me. Not sure if you’ve read it already but it might be useful. Living a Fi - Investment Policy Statement. And just in general keep reading stuff. At some stage you will read something that will just click for you on that day.

Thank you, I will check that out.  You're right, someday something will click.  I'm perhaps a different type of learner than most, and I see how this has transpired even in my lifetime of sports.  I've been competing in the same sport for ten years now (and a ton before that) and it's only when I hear the RIGHT person explain something, or demonstrate it in the RIGHT way that I learn it.  There have been things that I've struggled with for YEARS, only to have a drop-in out of state visitor come to practice and quickly show me and POOF, I'm excellent at it. 
I know this can happen with investing.
Thanks for your support.

[JanetJackson]

I'm going to say something very heritic around here: if you're not comfortable with investing, don't do it.

I grew up learning about investing, my parents invested as well (although not always succesfully, with small amounts of money and they follow a totally different strategy from me) so I'm comfortable with having money in the market. My s/o wasn't raised like that and doesn't really feel comfortable with it - also due to lack of knowledge.

If having money in the market is going to stress you out, then don't do it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it ever, but take some time to get used to the idea, read up on it, play around a bit by investing smaller amounts, decide what kind of risk you're comfortable with. How bad do you want to FIRE? The rule of thumb is very simple: the more money you make, the more risk you are taking. I know people on here will say that having money in a savings account is risky because of inflation, and while that's true, it's still a lot less risky than a lot of other products available.

If you want to keep a lot of money in a savings account rather than in the market, there's also the option of the time deposit. It's still a savings account, but you get a higher interest % than on a regular account. I see you're saving up to buy a tiny house / RV a couple of years into the future. You could put that money in a 1 or even 5 year time deposit and get a lot more interest. You can still access the money in case of emergency, but you will normally lose a part of the interest.

Personally, I don't put money in the market I can't afford to lose. I remember 10 years ago I was in high school and my parents advised me to put my savings from my parttime job into the market. I put in €700, a year later it was only worth €350. I was lucky enough to be able to keep that money in the market for a while, I didn't have to sell it until it was back to €500, but it was a valuable lesson for me. Markets fluctuate and it can take a long time to recover. That's ok for your long-term retirement savings, but not OK if you're saving up to buy a tiny home within 5 years. Only yesterday was my country's stock exchange index back to the level of 2007. The market recovered, but it took a full decade.

Thanks for the advice, and for allowing me not to feel *crazy* for being so scared of the market.
Quick question, is a Time Deposit the same thing as a CD?

[JanetJackson]

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

 23/10/2017:

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

TOTAL - -£179.53

Payday today!  My overtime and tax breaks have come in so I've paid off my credit card.

Guys I'm officially debt free and have a positive net worth for the first time in months! Everything is looking on track for my target of £3k net worth in Feb.

GREAT JOB!  CONGRATS!

[JanetJackson]

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?

Thanks TASS!  It'll take me a hot sec to read through all of that, but I really appreciate the time it took you to spell those things out.
I have read the Stock Series, at least one... maybe twice if I remember correctly.  Perhaps I sound a bit like a slug, but I found it SO hard to read and get through... like chewing on cardboard.  But I do know it's necessary.
Once I get out of work this afternoon I'm going to sit down and read your full response, as your writing seems to flow easier for my stubborn brain :)
Thanks again!

[fluffmuffin]

Thanks TASS!  It'll take me a hot sec to read through all of that, but I really appreciate the time it took you to spell those things out.
I have read the Stock Series, at least one... maybe twice if I remember correctly.  Perhaps I sound a bit like a slug, but I found it SO hard to read and get through... like chewing on cardboard.  But I do know it's necessary.
Once I get out of work this afternoon I'm going to sit down and read your full response, as your writing seems to flow easier for my stubborn brain :)
Thanks again!

JJ, this is maybe an unpopular opinion around here, and I would definitely suggest that you spend some time getting acquainted with the basics of investment terminology as outlined in Tass's excellent post...but if I were you, I would hop over to the Investment Alley subforum, share your goals (RE? savings vehicle for your RV fund? something else?), and ask people where they think you should stick your money. Not necessarily general info like "oh, maybe a Roth IRA or a Vanguard fund," but specific vehicles like VTSAX/VTSWX/whatever else (those are the names of specific investment funds). This isn't information that you need to figure out on your own! There are so many folks here who have been there/done that with investing--you don't need to reinvent the wheel, you need to draw on others' experiences and give yourself the tools to evaluate the advice that you're getting.

I also find the technical details of investing boring. I have a baseline level of competency so I know whether or not someone is trying to take me for a ride, but I'm content with crowd-sourced wisdom for the specifics of Investment Option 1 vs. Investment Option 2.

[DieHard_772]

I also find the technical details of investing boring. I have a baseline level of competency so I know whether or not someone is trying to take me for a ride, but I'm content with crowd-sourced wisdom for the specifics of Investment Option 1 vs. Investment Option 2.

Hey guys,
I just want to remind you that this thread is supposed to be about us checking in about our increasing networth.  There's lots of threads for discussing investment options in depth, or you
can start a new one.
Let's try to keep the focus on track here  :)

Thanks,
On behalf of all our future Humungous Networths

[martyconlonontherun]

Background:
Age: 29
"Switched" Careers at 25.
Started taking personal finances 'seriously' around 27 (aka actually saving money, 401k, etc).
Started taking personal finances seriously around 29
Salary gradually up to 65k
Married but don't include house (equity/mortgage) or joint savings in these calculations since she's the boss, it gets messy with house equity/sweat equity ($40k total on a $170k house in May), and it will just be cherry on the top.
-Paid off car but not adding value of that in the calculation since its not worth more than a few Gs and requires maintenance
-4.5 years left of student loan payments I'm aggressively paying off/refinanced in January 17
-15 year mortgage in May
-Not including 529 accounts-Only a few hundred now, but it will be going to Godchildren/my future children so not my money in my eyes.

January 2016-
($45k) Student Debt
($2k) Personal CC Debt
$8k 401k
NW: ($38k)

NW April 2016: ($34K)
July 2016: ($28.4k)
October 2016: ($22.6k)
January 2017: ($20.8k) (Refinanced loan and intransit payments not reflected)
April 2017: ($10.9k)
July 2017: ($5.7k)
August 2017: ($2.5k)
September 2017:(~$1.7k)
October 2017: $1.8k - $32k investments

Stretch goal is to be $10k by 30 (Early January).
Hoping to increase 401k/IRA when the Sloans are paid off and hopefully some more salary. Realistic goal is to retire by 55 unless I really climb the corporate ladder.

Current  Beginning Nov 2017: $4.5K - Investments ~$33.8k.

Making progress every month. Just need to stay focused as the number gets higher.

[Tasse]

I'll wait to post an October sum-up until the actual end of October. Right now I just need somewhere to be excited that I think I could be both debt-free and at $10k by the end of the year! So close I can taste it...

[Imma]

I'm going to say something very heritic around here: if you're not comfortable with investing, don't do it.

I grew up learning about investing, my parents invested as well (although not always succesfully, with small amounts of money and they follow a totally different strategy from me) so I'm comfortable with having money in the market. My s/o wasn't raised like that and doesn't really feel comfortable with it - also due to lack of knowledge.

If having money in the market is going to stress you out, then don't do it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it ever, but take some time to get used to the idea, read up on it, play around a bit by investing smaller amounts, decide what kind of risk you're comfortable with. How bad do you want to FIRE? The rule of thumb is very simple: the more money you make, the more risk you are taking. I know people on here will say that having money in a savings account is risky because of inflation, and while that's true, it's still a lot less risky than a lot of other products available.

If you want to keep a lot of money in a savings account rather than in the market, there's also the option of the time deposit. It's still a savings account, but you get a higher interest % than on a regular account. I see you're saving up to buy a tiny house / RV a couple of years into the future. You could put that money in a 1 or even 5 year time deposit and get a lot more interest. You can still access the money in case of emergency, but you will normally lose a part of the interest.

Personally, I don't put money in the market I can't afford to lose. I remember 10 years ago I was in high school and my parents advised me to put my savings from my parttime job into the market. I put in €700, a year later it was only worth €350. I was lucky enough to be able to keep that money in the market for a while, I didn't have to sell it until it was back to €500, but it was a valuable lesson for me. Markets fluctuate and it can take a long time to recover. That's ok for your long-term retirement savings, but not OK if you're saving up to buy a tiny home within 5 years. Only yesterday was my country's stock exchange index back to the level of 2007. The market recovered, but it took a full decade.

Thanks for the advice, and for allowing me not to feel *crazy* for being so scared of the market.
Quick question, is a Time Deposit the same thing as a CD?

According to wiki, yes, it's called a CD in the US. I'm not sure if it's 100% the same, but it looks the same to me.

I haven't been paid yet, but this month wasn't a good month for my savings. We did some (necessary) bathroom renovations and we booked a short trip to England in a few months. It's a cheap trip (€225 each) but it's still a lot of money. Luckily I will get some overtime from last month.

[Slanhirn]

Hey Everyone! Always inspiring to see the progress everyone's making :)

July 2017 = (£2,877)
August 2017 = (£1,852)  = +£1,025
September 2017 = (£650) = +£1,202
October 2017 = £1,238 = + £1,888
November 2017 = £3,066 = + £1,178

Assets = £17,890
Debts = (£15,109) -> student loans

I'm so happy I'm over the £0 net worth mark, I feel like I'm starting to make progress beyond the student loans!

My stretch goal for £10K NW is March 2018.

[DieHard_772]

Hey Everyone! Always inspiring to see the progress everyone's making :)

July 2017 = (£2,877)
August 2017 = (£1,852)  = +£1,025
September 2017 = (£650) = +£1,202
October 2017 = £1,238 = + £1,888
November 2017 = £3,066 = + £1,178

Assets = £17,890
Debts = (£15,109) -> student loans

I'm so happy I'm over the £0 net worth mark, I feel like I'm starting to make progress beyond the student loans!

My stretch goal for £10K NW is March 2018.

Way to go, keep it up!

[LittleWanderer]

End of October update:

Emergency fund: $5902
401k: $3081
TOTAL: $8983

Inching my way closer.  I might even hit the elusive goal next month.  It's going to be very close.  Since my mega dental bills won't come until Feb/March, I'm thinking I'll even stay above $10K through those.  So...this may be my last month here with you guys! 

[Imma]

Payday today!

Savings:
July 31: €2400
August 30: €2000

Investments:
July 31:  €1985.37
August 30: €2095.00

Total:
July 31:  €4385.37
August 30: €4095.00

Savings:
August 30:       €2000
September 27: €1300

Investments:
August 30:       €2095
September 27: €2253

Total:
August 30:       €4095
September 27: €3553

Savings:
September 27: €1300
October 30: €1400

Investments:
September 27: €2253
October 30: €2461

Total:
September 27: €3553
October 30: €3861

Small steps back up after a minor setback this fall due to lots of mostly unavoidable costs. I could have saved more if we hadn't paid off a small tax debt. The upside is that we're done with our montly payments now. We will instead put that payment (€94/month) towards our mortgage.

I don't track debts here, only my emergency fund and my investments, but outside of mortgage and student loans we currently only have 1 small tax debt left and the balance is only €340,20 now. As it's an interest free debt with a minimum payment of €70 I'll be done in March. We have never had any consumer debt, but for a few years our income went up and down and that left us with pretty big tax debts. We would get monthly tax returns that we knew weren't entitled to because our income was lower than expected, but we figured being in debt to the tax man was better than consumer debt or not paying bills. We knew we were working ourselves out of a tight spot and our tax office offers a 24-month pay back term on taxes owed. This small 'loan' from the tax man got us through hard times. We're glad it's paid off now, the montly payment reminded us of some pretty bad times.

I can't believe how well we're doing now, only a few years later. We both have steady jobs, I got a big pay rise recently, our income has nearly doubled, we bought a house with a mortgage payment less than half of what our rent used to be. The problems were mainly caused by my fragile health, which will always be a concern, but in my current job I get paid when I'm sick and our monthly costs are much lower, which means we could survive on one income of we had to.

I also expect to be able to add a couple hundred EUR to my emergency fund in January because my health care costs will probably be lower than expected in 2018. I set aside €200 every month for my health insurance, deductible and physical therapy costs. I don't expect to need any more physical therapy (yay!) so assuming my insurance payment stays roughly the same, from January I'll only set aside €140. I pay my premium on 1 Jan and any remaining balance in that account goes straight to the emergency fund (health costs account is just a separate savings account, no tax advantage).

[Rimu05]

Time to join this seriously and post my finances to the direct number. I have all my accounts on Mint so despite not posting here. I pretty much can see what a poor net worth I have on mint.

I think I should define this by net worth, but my first savings to 10K will be trying to get my savings account and 401K there. I save about $1000 each month, so my monthly expenses tend to be around 1400

Age - 25

Total net worth = -$30,768

Car loan = -$9,331
Student loan = $-28,503
Credit card = -$ 4,313 (about 4,000 is medical debt, but lazy paying this as it is on 0% until next year)

Positives

401K - $7785
Checking - 1287.60 (Haven't paid all my bills yet, will have about $200 left after bills.)
Savings - $2300.11

Short term goal - Get savings account to $5,000. Pay of credit card debt and cancel credit card. I ripped up this card after putting all my medical bills on it. Once, I pay it off. going to cancel it.

On that note, my 401K is the most impressive. I have contributed only about 6% of my income last year and bumped it up to 10% this year and amazed that it somehow managed to reach $7,000. Once, my credit card debt is gone, really going to get on a Roth IRA.

[Morphy]

Oct 16, 2017

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

Nothing special to note.

Oct 30, 2017

Assets: $4253.35
Liabilities: $2652.60
Net Worth: $1600.75

Chugging along, slow and steady.

[Imma]

Oct 16, 2017

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

Nothing special to note.

A 45% increase in net worth in 2 weeks, I wouldn't call that slow! Well done!

Oct 30, 2017

Assets: $4253.35
Liabilities: $2652.60
Net Worth: $1600.75

Chugging along, slow and steady.

[haypug16]

Happy Halloween everyone! :)

Here's my October update:
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 = $(33,346.78) +9,089.42 increase (7 month average of +$2,786.01)

Very happy with my numbers this month. My credit card debt has gone way down in the last 7 months, from $28,041.11 to $11,645! Because of this my monthly interest has gone down from $412 to $215, and should be even lower next month due to the timing of my payments. I think I set my year end goal as $28K which I think is still doable even though I "discovered" a couple grand in Student Loan interest which increased my total debt. I am still working part-time to earn some extra money and that will go to the end of the year (maybe longer) and all that extra money is going to debt. Not only am I earning more but I am spending less which is really helpful in paying down debt. October was my lowest spend month of the year and that included $500 in dental fees. Looking forward to an even better November :)

How is everyone else doing?

[cazio]

Awesome work, haypug!!

May I ask how you managed to contribute so much in the past few months? 9k in one month is pretty insane!

Either way, great job! Inspiring numbers.

[Tasse]

July:    8918.00 / (2648.00) = $6270.00
Aug:    9285.52 / (2397.11) = $6888.41
Sep: 10,964.06 / (1897.11) = $9066.95 (rent now paid on the 1st - this is inflated)

Oct: 11,152.69 / (1343.44) = $9809.25

Emergency + travel fund: $6500.00
Misc cash: $906.55 (rent due tomorrow)
Roth: $3746.14
Debt: ($1343.44)

Change: +$742.30

So close! I should hit $10k next month, drop back barely below when rent is paid, and then hit it permanently in Dec - when I hopefully will also have that debt at $0!

[JanetJackson]

July:    8918.00 / (2648.00) = $6270.00
Aug:    9285.52 / (2397.11) = $6888.41
Sep: 10,964.06 / (1897.11) = $9066.95 (rent now paid on the 1st - this is inflated)

Oct: 11,152.69 / (1343.44) = $9809.25

Emergency + travel fund: $6500.00
Misc cash: $906.55 (rent due tomorrow)
Roth: $3746.14
Debt: ($1343.44)

Change: +$742.30

So close! I should hit $10k next month, drop back barely below when rent is paid, and then hit it permanently in Dec - when I hopefully will also have that debt at $0!

Great job!  Sorry I derailed the thread a bit there earlier, very glad to see numbers again- Y'all's progress is inspiring!

[haypug16]

Awesome work, haypug!!

May I ask how you managed to contribute so much in the past few months? 9k in one month is pretty insane!

Either way, great job! Inspiring numbers.

Thanks Cazio. In June the company I worked for announced it was closing. I managed to stay on board till the end of my agreement and got a severance package on Oct 1st of 2 months salary. I have also been working part-time for that company while working full-time at my new job (they needed me longer than they realized, which makes me feel good) So all that extra money went to paying down debt and increasing my Net-Worth.

[Imma]

July:    8918.00 / (2648.00) = $6270.00
Aug:    9285.52 / (2397.11) = $6888.41
Sep: 10,964.06 / (1897.11) = $9066.95 (rent now paid on the 1st - this is inflated)

Oct: 11,152.69 / (1343.44) = $9809.25

Emergency + travel fund: $6500.00
Misc cash: $906.55 (rent due tomorrow)
Roth: $3746.14
Debt: ($1343.44)

Change: +$742.30

So close! I should hit $10k next month, drop back barely below when rent is paid, and then hit it permanently in Dec - when I hopefully will also have that debt at $0!

Very well done! Seems many of you guys won't be returning to this thread in the new year!

[fluffmuffin]

Love the progress that everyone is making! Graduation is coming SO soon for so many people!

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
11/1/2017: $4,121.00

My dog is a moneypit. That's all I'm going to say on only adding $100 to the house fund this paycheck. Looks like my plans for a no-fun-that-costs-money-November were well-timed. (The pup is fine. I just got spoiled by my very low-maintenance, frugality-friendly previous dog, and am still trying to figure out exactly how much I should be budgeting for the new one. Obviously more than I am right now.)

Big picture, ramping up my savings to the level I'm trying to hit has been an interesting exercise. It works fine if I don't have to pull money out of my sinking funds for anything (dental bill in October, dog stuff now, etc.). If I have to top up my sinking funds, everything gets a whole lot tighter. Obviously I'm very, very privileged to get to sit around thinking about the allocation of my theoretical buckets of money.

Oh, biking update: I successfully biked to work on Monday morning! I walked through two intersections, but I made it. I even biked a chunk of the way home in the afternoon. Trying again on Friday.

[cazio]

Thanks Cazio. In June the company I worked for announced it was closing. I managed to stay on board till the end of my agreement and got a severance package on Oct 1st of 2 months salary. I have also been working part-time for that company while working full-time at my new job (they needed me longer than they realized, which makes me feel good) So all that extra money went to paying down debt and increasing my Net-Worth.

That's awesome!! Sounds like that worked out perfectly for you. keep up the good work!

[twocatsinaflat]

OCT:
Savings: $453.64
Investments: $225.00
NET WORTH: $678.64

NOV:
Savings: $566.81
Investments: $428.18
NET WORTH: 994.99

That's a $316.35 increase from last month despite adding a phone bill to my expenses now. And I've almost reached $1k!

[fluffmuffin]

Way to go twocats! Getting those four digits is gonna be an awesome feeling :)

[Imma]

Well done, twocatsinaflat! You're soooooo close.

[Tasse]

Biking update: I did a 10 mile round trip to work today! (I took a different route there and back for a big loop; it's about 3.5 miles there uphill and 6.5 miles back downhill, due to a construction oddity making the bike path difficult to access from the other direction. But the long route is right along the cliffs, then the ocean, then the lagoon, so it's hard to complain.) Also I did technically walk a the steepest bit in the middle, but I TRAVELED 10 miles either way.

Do y'all think there would be interest in a beginner-bikers TDTG thread? That way I don't have to keep posting off-topic in this one. ;)

In more money-related updates, I'm waiting for my second-to-last debt payment to go through. It's a bit early in the month to judge budget progress but so far so good. For the first time in ages, most of my carry-over budgets aren't starting out in the red - I've actually saved up some leftovers in gifts and entertainment. (The perpetual exception is restaurants.)

[fluffmuffin]

Tass, I'd love a beginners' biking thread if you wanted to get one started! Glad to hear that you're starting to build a cushion in your budget, too :)

[Tasse]

Boom.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/start-biking-to-work-cycling-newbies-chat/

[Jesus]

Current savings: 130$

Going to ramp this up asap.

[Tasse]

July:    8918.00 / (2648.00) = $6270.00
Aug:    9285.52 / (2397.11) = $6888.41
Sep: 10,964.06 / (1897.11) = $9066.95 (rent now paid on the 1st - this is inflated)
Oct: 11,152.69 / (1343.44) = $9809.25

11/9/17: 10,742.36 / (693.44) = $10,048.92 !!!

I have no idea why I got my paycheck on Thursday instead of Friday, but it pushed me over the top! I have more than $48 of expenses before my next paycheck, and I'll be paying rent out of that one, so I expect to hit 10k twice more, with a final success date of 12/8/17.

[LittleWanderer]

Yay Tass!  5 digits!!!

[Moonwaves]

Way to go Tass! That'll be a great early christmas present to yourself.

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.

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

Big bill got paid! So exciting to check my bank account and see such a huge amount of money in it. But also a really good feeling to phone the bank immediately to get the bulk of it transferred to my Irish bank account so that I can transfer it to my sister tomorrow. And then I was pondering what to do with the other 200, thinking that it might be a good idea to keep 100 as a bit of a buffer for the three weekends I'll be away in the next month or so. I finally decided to just transfer 50 of it to my savings and another 50 to my annual expenses account. And then messed up the transfer, didn't pay attention, and ended up transferring 150 to savings. Sigh. Oh well. I could transfer it back but I'm going to leave it now and tell myself it was the universe pushing me to not ease up on saving/not spending efforts.

So now my savings are at:
BoI savings a/c: 18.87
DiBa ETF: 355.70
CmzBank savings a/c: 350.00
Total:  724.57

[Tasse]

And welcome to Jesus. Your first post is in the right place to start building from the ground up!

[fluffmuffin]

Awesome job, Tass! December 8 is so close that you can almost taste it :)

And another welcome to Jesus!

[lemonverbena]

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.

Mid-Nov:
SEP IRA: $1395
tIRA: $1826
Car loan: $3452
Roof loan: $3578
Emergency fund: $1000
Hospital bill: $2024, maybe. It's under review.

Total: -$4833

[Trifle]

Hi Lemonverbena
I work in healthcare, and there are usually ways to negotiate hospital bills down.  Are you dealing with the billing department itself?  If the billing department is reviewing it, they usually will only check to see that the bill is correct, that your insurance (if any) paid correctly, etc.  They often will not take that extra step to work with you to reduce the amount.
Many hospitals have a separate department for "Patient Financial Services", "Financial Assistance", or some similar name.  Those are the folks that have the authority to reduce bill amounts based on your circumstances.  That might take the form of an income-based discount, a prompt-pay discount, or a zero-interest pay-over-time deal.
So if you don't get anywhere with the billing department, you could tell them "Look, I am struggling to pay this bill. Could I talk to someone about either getting it reduced, or different payment terms?"  That could get you to someone who can make a difference.
Don't be afraid to be a pushy pain in the ass either, if that is called for.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease.  Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions!

[DieHard_772]

Hi Lemonverbena
I work in healthcare, and there are usually ways to negotiate hospital bills down.  Are you dealing with the billing department itself?  If the billing department is reviewing it, they usually will only check to see that the bill is correct, that your insurance (if any) paid correctly, etc.  They often will not take that extra step to work with you to reduce the amount.
Many hospitals have a separate department for "Patient Financial Services", "Financial Assistance", or some similar name.  Those are the folks that have the authority to reduce bill amounts based on your circumstances.  That might take the form of an income-based discount, a prompt-pay discount, or a zero-interest pay-over-time deal.
So if you don't get anywhere with the billing department, you could tell them "Look, I am struggling to pay this bill. Could I talk to someone about either getting it reduced, or different payment terms?"  That could get you to someone who can make a difference.
Don't be afraid to be a pushy pain in the ass either, if that is called for.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease.  Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions!

Very interesting.  Thanks for sharing

[lemonverbena]

Hi Lemonverbena
I work in healthcare, and there are usually ways to negotiate hospital bills down.  Are you dealing with the billing department itself?  If the billing department is reviewing it, they usually will only check to see that the bill is correct, that your insurance (if any) paid correctly, etc.  They often will not take that extra step to work with you to reduce the amount.
Many hospitals have a separate department for "Patient Financial Services", "Financial Assistance", or some similar name.  Those are the folks that have the authority to reduce bill amounts based on your circumstances.  That might take the form of an income-based discount, a prompt-pay discount, or a zero-interest pay-over-time deal.
So if you don't get anywhere with the billing department, you could tell them "Look, I am struggling to pay this bill. Could I talk to someone about either getting it reduced, or different payment terms?"  That could get you to someone who can make a difference.
Don't be afraid to be a pushy pain in the ass either, if that is called for.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease.  Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions!

Thanks for the tip! I'm not sure what department my spouse talked to when he called, but he called to set up a payment plan, see if any of the items listed hadn't already been paid for (I swear they intentionally name line items in the most confusing way possible so no one even knows what they're paying for or if they've been charged twice for the same thing), and to ask, hey, is this the last bill? Not surprisingly, they said, hmmm, something looks strange with the processing of your bill (whatever that means) and they'll review it. So who knows. I'll let you guys know what happens when I find out!

[haypug16]

Mid-November Update
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)
10/31/2017 $(33,346.78)
11/15/2017 $(31,098.73) Increase of $2,248.05 for the first half of November.

I should be out of the neg $30ks by the end of this month.

My monthly goal when starting this challenge was a net worth increase of $2K a month, since getting really serious about MMM and my finances I have been surpassing that goal, partly due to my severance pay and my additional income from my part-time job, but also from watching my spending and sticking to my budget. Therefore I am increasing my monthly goal to a net worth increase of $2,500.

Year end goal is ($28K)

Net Zero goal is November 2018 (1 Year!)

$10K Net Worth goal is February 2019 then I get to graduate to the next race :)

[Manchester]

Well done Haypug, another month in the right direction. 

[fluffmuffin]

Haypug, you are really crushing it. Serious kudos.

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
11/1/2017: $4,121.00
11/16/2017: $4,208.73

Not a lot of progress this paycheck towards the $10k, but I'm feeling a lot less anxious about my sinking funds. It seems like my $10k in a year goal is shot at this point, but I've saved almost $2,000 in five months. I only added like $800 all of last year, so that's still a huge improvement. Thanks for the support and accountability, everybody :)

[LittleWanderer]

I just want to echo all the kudos for happypug!  You've made SO MUCH progress.  (And $2500/month is more than my take home pay.  Haha.) 

[haypug16]

Thanks everyone. "I feel Happy of myself" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PzoxTgfRO0

I do wish I had started on this journey years ago but I will not hang on to "what ifs" I can only move forward from today.

[fluffmuffin]

Thanks everyone. "I feel Happy of myself" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PzoxTgfRO0

I do wish I had started on this journey years ago but I will not hang on to "what ifs" I can only move forward from today.

I think we all have financial decisions we would have made differently with the benefit of hindsight, but that’s life for ya. All anyone can do is resolve to make changes going forward based on that experience, and put the framework in place to make it possible.