Money Matters
smh55
newb
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
EOY NUMBERS
Hey nesties, i am a newbie and i wanted to share our end of year numbers.
last year december 31, we had 1500.00 saved going into 2015.
this year going into 2016- we have 8000.00 in savings!
would you all share your eoy numbers!
we only have one savings and one checking account! i like to be a minimalist, so checking of course fluctuates but at the end of the month, our cushion will be 200.00 in checking! i am a cash person and really don't like using the debit card!
last year december 31, we had 1500.00 saved going into 2015.
this year going into 2016- we have 8000.00 in savings!
would you all share your eoy numbers!
we only have one savings and one checking account! i like to be a minimalist, so checking of course fluctuates but at the end of the month, our cushion will be 200.00 in checking! i am a cash person and really don't like using the debit card!
Re: EOY NUMBERS
We are pretty cash poor at the moment, because we have taken all of our savings and put it in the porch fund.
SAVINGS:
Gift/shopping savings: $3. We use this for birthday/Christmas gifts for family and friends, so it is meant to be empty by the end of the year. $40/month goes in automatically.
Vacation savings: $300. Emptied this to pay towards our porch, now we are in refill mode. $100/month goes into this automatically.
Car maintenance savings: $55. I just started this account; $70/month will go in automatically.
Home improvement savings: $26K; this is to pay for our porch whenever it is finally finished. $100/month goes in automatically.
HSA: $1000. $100/month goes in automatically.
Liquid e-fund: $700. We just started this account; $20/month goes in automatically. We are not worried about having a huge e-fund, but want this available for large items we normally cash flow, such as unexpected vet bills, A/C repairs, deductibles, etc.
E-fund CD: $2000.
RETIREMENT:
My Roth IRA: $7k. $20/month goes in automatically, but I'm bumping this up to $100/month starting in January.
My 401K: $24K. 12% contribution with a 5% employer match.
H's IRAs: $6K. Rollover IRAs from former jobs.
H's 401K: $10K? Not sure on this. Just increased to 14% contribution from 5%, I can't wait to see how much it grows in 2016.
H's ESOP: $70K
DEBTS:
House: Balance of $77K at 3.375 on a 15-yr loan, valued at $140K. Will be paid off in about 10 years.
My car: $2800 at 1.99%; value $14K. Will be paid off by end of 2016.
Line of credit: $19K at 4%, borrowed for front porch project. We are only required to pay interest only but our plan is to pay this off in two years or less. Don't want to pay that interest!
CC: $3500 at 0% for 18 months. Borrowed to pay for unexpected addition to porch project; this will be paid off by end of 2016.
H's student loan: $10Kish? Automatic payments, I don't know when this is scheduled to pay off. We are not in a hurry on this.
CHECKING: varies day to day, but try to keep minimum of $500 in both
SAVINGS across all accounts: $63,000
529 Plans for both girls: $14,894
RETIREMENT across all accounts (does not include our pensions): $141,000
DEBTS (mortgage- 15 yr at 4% and DH's car loan- 48 months at 0.9%): $115,500
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EDITED: Wanted to throw in another number for fun!
Daycare and After School: $17,963.92, bringing our 5 year total to $64,720.32... ouch.
We bought our first house in May with 20% down, and have had a LOT of expenses this year associated with owning a home for the first time. We bought quite a few big ticket items (all with cash), like a riding lawn mower for our giant yard and a dehumidifier and shelves for storage in the basement. We also went on a 7 day cruise with my husband's family in September. So overall, we are very happy with what we accomplished financially given those huge changes and expenses we have had.
Our only debt is our mortgage (less than 99k to go), which we are paying extra on. We both have Roth 401ks and are saving 9%, including the employer match. We will have that increased to 15% within the next couple of years. We are also planning on buying whole life policies for each of us before the end of 2016.
I am a newbie here too. We just got serious about budgeting in November. I have learned so much from just reading this board and am excited for what we want to accomplish financially in the year to come.
Wow, lots of kudos and congratulations to the posters on this thread. Some great accomplishments up there.
I am excited about hitting some of my MM goals this year. Paid off all my credit cards. Paid off my car. Now I just have my two mortgages and my Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC).
My HELOC started the year in the $18K balance range...now it is at $53K. Which, on the surface sounds terrible haha, but I used the money to help buy my first duplex rental investment. Including repairs needed, I'm all in for $87K...with a $50K loan and the rest cash flowed or taken out of the HELOC. Now the house I just bought 4 months ago is worth $125K and I'll be renting it out soon for around $2K/month. So worth it!
I also maxed out my HSA this year...plan to do the same next year. Currently have a balance of around $4K but, alas, I do have to use about half of my contribution throughout the year.
For my primary home, my loan balance finally fell below $60K. Woo hoo! It also gained about $10K in value.
Paid $40,000 on our student loans (started the year at about $70,000, now down to $30,000).
Put $30,000 away toward retirement.
Saved $14,000 to gut and remodel our bathroom paying in cash.
Took two vacations, the first to London/Paris/Norway and the second to Disney/Caribbean, both using points for free flights plus a few nights free hotel, the rest paid in cash.
Refinanced from a 30 year mortgage at 5.25% to a 15 year at 3.3%.
In reflecting this way, it seems like a pretty darn good year!!
At that point we will put the $100,000 that is in savings, into a mutual fund for retirement.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com