1. Life - Life is good. We are very blessed overall. I have been sick for about a week which has been a major downer, but I am finally starting to feel better. It is just me, H and our dog and our families are OOS so it is easy to keep things simple. Last year, we found out our dog has stomach cancer. We put her on a Rx food an she is doing amazingly well. We don't know how long she has but each extra month just seems like bonus time now (after coming to grips with the situation).
2. Job - can't complain
3. Family - our families are great with very little/no drama. I fit in fine with H's family and H likes my family too. Everyone is in relatively good health. We enjoyed time with them over the holidays and just got back from a long weekend visiting my family. My dad turned 70 and we had a party for him so I got to see all my aunts and uncles too. And my niece and nephew taught me how to whip and nay nay (sp?)
4. Money - H is now unemployed for 2 years. We are making it work since we can live off of my salary but the early retirement age I had in mind may be affected. Now that it is January he is at least getting some leads on temp jobs so hopefully he will have something soon. I'm trying to decide when to fund 2015 Roth IRA given the market conditions.
Not trying to be a jerk, but it's been nagging me for a long time... Where do you live or what circumstances have made it impossible for your husband to find work in two years? You are a saint, truly. I'd only give my H a few short months before unemployment would become unacceptable in our marriage.
We live in Pittsburgh which has great cost of living and good job market. I was unemployed once and found a job after 1 month, so yeah, I am really not happy about his 2 years. But he has stepped up with household chores and trying to contribute to the household in non monetary kind of ways so that keeps my irritation to a lower level. I think his problems are: 1. He is not enough of a go getter. This probably shows up in interviews. 2. He worked at one place in one field before losing his job in his early 40's. He started at a worker bee level and then became manager of the group. He is only qualified for only the one type of work and nothing else. Let's call this type A work. 3. There are a decent number of worker bee jobs that start in the $40s. Some companies will have a manager and they can make $60-80K. He started interviewing for the manager jobs when he lost his job. There are only so many companies that have managers and only so many companies that have job openings. He has gotten interviews when these come up but no offers. Sometimes the manager needs to do Type A work + Type B or Type C work. H only knows A work and isn't qualified for these more expanded jobs. 4. After a certain amount of time of not getting a manager job he expanded his search to worker bee jobs at half the salary. It is very hard to get this kind of job when you are in your 40's and overqualified for it. Someone out of college will be seen as qualified, cheap and the better way to go.
His severance lasted over a year. After that ran out I tore him a new one about getting a J-O-B. He really should have done this earlier but see #1, and I can only nag (and only want to nag) so much.
Once he started applying for temp jobs he found one quickly and then another one when that ran out. Those lasted through Dec but nothing happening in Dec so now he is interviewing for new temp jobs. He should be able to get something in the worker bee field for around $20/hr. Ideally something that lasts several months. And even more ideally something that has potential to turn to permanent. His first temp job was heading in that direction but the permanent job offer took a weird turn and didn't work out...probably for the best since that company was kind of wack but at this point it would have been at least something.
Now that he has his rear in gear I don't know that there is much more he can do. During my job search process I was turned down for a lot of jobs. I have seriously probably applied and/or interviewed with around a quarter of the major companies in my city. You only need 1 to make the offer but who knows when that will come? He was close to getting a dream job in his field. He actually interviewed well and was great for the job, but it came down to him and one other person and the other person (an internal candidate) got the job. That was really depressing.
He isn't actively searching for jobs in other cities but if a good one comes his way via a recruiter or something he looks into it. None of these have gotten very far but they are worth investigating. We really don't want to move and since I am the higher income he would have to get a $$$ job for us to consider it, but we definitely consider it on a job by job basis....but once again no offers so not much to consider.
1. Life - Life is good. We are very blessed overall. I have been sick for about a week which has been a major downer, but I am finally starting to feel better. It is just me, H and our dog and our families are OOS so it is easy to keep things simple. Last year, we found out our dog has stomach cancer. We put her on a Rx food an she is doing amazingly well. We don't know how long she has but each extra month just seems like bonus time now (after coming to grips with the situation).
2. Job - can't complain
3. Family - our families are great with very little/no drama. I fit in fine with H's family and H likes my family too. Everyone is in relatively good health. We enjoyed time with them over the holidays and just got back from a long weekend visiting my family. My dad turned 70 and we had a party for him so I got to see all my aunts and uncles too. And my niece and nephew taught me how to whip and nay nay (sp?)
4. Money - H is now unemployed for 2 years. We are making it work since we can live off of my salary but the early retirement age I had in mind may be affected. Now that it is January he is at least getting some leads on temp jobs so hopefully he will have something soon. I'm trying to decide when to fund 2015 Roth IRA given the market conditions.
Not trying to be a jerk, but it's been nagging me for a long time... Where do you live or what circumstances have made it impossible for your husband to find work in two years? You are a saint, truly. I'd only give my H a few short months before unemployment would become unacceptable in our marriage.
We live in Pittsburgh which has great cost of living and good job market. I was unemployed once and found a job after 1 month, so yeah, I am really not happy about his 2 years. But he has stepped up with household chores and trying to contribute to the household in non monetary kind of ways so that keeps my irritation to a lower level. I think his problems are: 1. He is not enough of a go getter. This probably shows up in interviews. 2. He worked at one place in one field before losing his job in his early 40's. He started at a worker bee level and then became manager of the group. He is only qualified for only the one type of work and nothing else. Let's call this type A work. 3. There are a decent number of worker bee jobs that start in the $40s. Some companies will have a manager and they can make $60-80K. He started interviewing for the manager jobs when he lost his job. There are only so many companies that have managers and only so many companies that have job openings. He has gotten interviews when these come up but no offers. Sometimes the manager needs to do Type A work + Type B or Type C work. H only knows A work and isn't qualified for these more expanded jobs. 4. After a certain amount of time of not getting a manager job he expanded his search to worker bee jobs at half the salary. It is very hard to get this kind of job when you are in your 40's and overqualified for it. Someone out of college will be seen as qualified, cheap and the better way to go.
His severance lasted over a year. After that ran out I tore him a new one about getting a J-O-B. He really should have done this earlier but see #1, and I can only nag (and only want to nag) so much.
Once he started applying for temp jobs he found one quickly and then another one when that ran out. Those lasted through Dec but nothing happening in Dec so now he is interviewing for new temp jobs. He should be able to get something in the worker bee field for around $20/hr. Ideally something that lasts several months. And even more ideally something that has potential to turn to permanent. His first temp job was heading in that direction but the permanent job offer took a weird turn and didn't work out...probably for the best since that company was kind of wack but at this point it would have been at least something.
Now that he has his rear in gear I don't know that there is much more he can do. During my job search process I was turned down for a lot of jobs. I have seriously probably applied and/or interviewed with around a quarter of the major companies in my city. You only need 1 to make the offer but who knows when that will come? He was close to getting a dream job in his field. He actually interviewed well and was great for the job, but it came down to him and one other person and the other person (an internal candidate) got the job. That was really depressing.
He isn't actively searching for jobs in other cities but if a good one comes his way via a recruiter or something he looks into it. None of these have gotten very far but they are worth investigating. We really don't want to move and since I am the higher income he would have to get a $$$ job for us to consider it, but we definitely consider it on a job by job basis....but once again no offers so not much to consider.
What a hard situation. Hope he lands something soon!
Hi All. Maybe this is a good time to say hello & officially introduce myself. I’ve lurked for a long time & signed up with a username last week. I love reading about what other ladies (I think its mostly ladies?) are up to.
LIFE Life is good & I can’t complain. Except I just turned 40, I try to look at it as a blessing…. but 40, yikes.
JOB Just celebrated 10 years w/ my company. It’s a good place to work, walking distance to our house, great people & very flexible. I’m happy & don’t see myself leaving any time soon.
FAMILY I live in Boston with my SO of 5+ years & “our” dog (I had the dog before the guy). She’s 11, the sweetest mutt ever. We are not married, after a sticky divorce, he’s in no hurry. We're older & don't want kids, it works for us. We bought a house in the city a few years ago & love it. I’m also really tight with my mom, sister & nieces – they’re all local.
MONEY I found this site & was amazed at how disciplined some of you are with money, I need discipline. I don’t have a budget, but we both earn decent salaries*, we don’t have kids, & we have "disposable" income. We dispose most of it on trips, eating out & I buy too many clothes.
I'd say we are in decent financial shape w/out trying very hard. I put 15% into my 401k. My e-fund is $15k + $30k in investments. I’m also a landlady & earn $500/monthly (after fees/taxes) & put that money into a separate account for the apartment (about $7k). Other then the mortgages & my car – we do not have any debt.
*after writing this, I should mention, BF is out of work. He lost his job in November. He's smart, motivated, and there is a lot of demand for his type of work. he got a generous severance + bonus + he's collecting unemployment. we haven't had to adjust our spending yet (although we eat in more & haven't booked the vacation we hoped to take this winter). I'm optimistic about the situation.
Welcome to the board neighbor! I'm in CT, married with no plans for kids, just a pup. Sounds like your in pretty good shape financially, but there's always room for improvement
thanks @jessica490 -- i think your post was directed to me:-) I'm doing ok, i definitely spend frivolously b/c i can but I need to be more responsible. I want to focus on retirement. I'm hearing i need $1M in my 401K -- I'm nowhere near that, not even close. I wish i socked more money in there during my 20s...
thanks @jessica490 -- i think your post was directed to me:-) I'm doing ok, i definitely spend frivolously b/c i can but I need to be more responsible. I want to focus on retirement. I'm hearing i need $1M in my 401K -- I'm nowhere near that, not even close. I wish i socked more money in there during my 20s...
@csuave, I just wanted to shout out my sympathies and let you know you aren't the only one. I've mentioned it here and there, but my H has been out of work for 2 1/2 years also. It's ridiculous it's been that long but, there ya go.
He is super extremely qualified with just about anything computer related. Has worked since the mid 80s in computers and done everything from programming to database management to managing entire companies information systems and networks. Yet he can't find work.
Part of it is, there are slim pickings for those kind of jobs in NOLA. But (I think) a bigger part is he gets frustrated and gives up looking for long periods of time. He doesn't motivate himself very well, but then I don't want to be a nag and make him feel worse about himself.
He's had a number of interviews over this time, but none of them have stuck. That does make me concerned that maybe he doesn't interview well. I also worry that his age (early 50s) and long gap since his last job are huge detriments. Of course, age discrimination is against the law...but let's be real. It happens all the time.
About one year ago, it was EXTRA frustrating!!! He was given a job offer as a contractor at a Naval base. Because of the sensitive nature of the work, it takes 1-2 weeks of background checks before he could really start working. He started the process so, technically started the job. But then, the person he was going to be replacing changed their mind and stayed. I cannot even tell you how crushing that was for both of us, but especially for him.
With all that said, over the last few months, he has been working his tail off doing construction at the duplex we bought that needed to be rehabbed. I also have a flexible p/t job that I'm allowed to "sub-contract" out so to speak, and he has taken over the majority of that for me.
Yes, the age "discrimination" is real. I've worked with guys that lost their jobs in their 50's and then did temp work until they could get to their chosen retirement age. A strategy that works much better when planning for retirement, building up HSA accounts, etc. are done earlier in life....something that is the back of my mind as I try to plan for a healthy financial security in my 50's.
Busy doesn't even begin to describe it. Been working 60+ hour weeks and I had the genius idea to return to grad school this semester and enroll in two classes. Need to muster up the energy and motivation to do my homework tomorrow. Otherwise, everyone is healthy and things are generally good. I cannot really complain too much because I love what I do and I am fortunate to have the life we have created together.
2. Your job
As stated above it's busy. I spent 2 1/2 days this week in "strategic planning" sessions. That essentially ate up half my week and put me really far behind. So answering emails is how I am spending my Friday night. 3. Your family
DH is good and so is extended family. Our dog is fat. Yep, fat. That's what the vet told us. We thought she had a thyroid issue, but we did the tests (yay, $130!) and she is just fat. She gained 18 pounds in the last year with no major changes in diet or exercise. She is getting older (8 year old lab) so it's possible it's her metabolism. I have been waking up early and taking her for runs, hopefully it helps. 4. Your money
Great! After our home re-finance, we have changed up our debt repayment strategy. It freed up $300 a month to go toward debt and we get to "skip" our mortgage payments for 2 months, so we threw half at debt and half in savings. I still need to spend time understanding specific investment options and re-think our retirement savings options.
I just started a post after not being on this board for months, so I hope it's ok I join in on this.
1. Life - My life seems very hard to balance right now, very stressful. I have 2 kids, a husband, a full-time job, and a to-do list that only gets longer every day. My mind has been completely focused on whether or not we should have another baby, and then on my best friend who just had her baby yesterday (and her husband can be such an a$$, so I've been constantly thinking about how long it's going to be until they get divorced--could be 6 months, could be 10 years, but I wish she never went off birth control in the first place).
2. Job - A huge part of me hates my job. Another part of me is feeling more comfortable (I don't think that's the right word) in it, because people are coming to me for advice. This is my 9th year at the same place/same position, so I've now been there long enough that people see me as an expert. I don't like the constant never-caught-up feeling and always having work to take home, plus the stress that my students aren't making as many gains as I wish they would (I work with the most-struggling students). I'm starting to look at what's out there in our area--since I married a farmer who has their own family farm, so we're most likely not leaving here ever.
3. Family - My daughter just turned 4, my son is 14 months, and it's been on my mind every day whether I should have another baby or not. If we're going to, we would start trying this summer, b/c I'd like to be done having kids before I'm 35. My son is at the stage where he grabs everything, puts it in his mouth or rips it apart, and I can get almost nothing done on my own when he's awake. He's exhausting. My daughter has been getting more and more argumentative every day. She's exhausting, too, sometimes.
4. Money - I felt very comfortable with the money we had in our checking account, plus the money we already have in our retirement, college savings plans, etc. But then, it seems like everything happened all at once. We had to buy a new washer and dryer, we finally bought a new couch, property taxes, homeowners and car insurance, Christmas gifts, etc. Our checking account is now lower than it's been in at least 7-8 years, so I'm now starting to worry about money, too. We have money elsewhere (in mutual funds, for example), and we're trying to sell our rental property (for almost 3 months), so I'll feel much better when it's sold so we can have money to save and build up our checking/savings account again (our emergency fund). But for now, I'm worried something else is going to come up and we won't have enough available funds. Add to that that I'm thinking about switching careers, yet I'm the breadwinner in our house and am the only one of us that can get health insurance and retirement (my DH is a farmer on his dad's farmer that we'll probably take over someday). It makes me feel trapped in my career. I think teachers make decent pay, plus we have amazing benefits, at least compared to a job I would switch to, so I feel like I can't switch now--for sure until we sell the rental house.
Overall, I must say that I'm very fortunate and lucky to have everything I have--my husband, kids, full-time job, house, food to eat and feed my kids, our health. It feels good to be able to share what's going on, though, to this board. Thanks for letting me vent a little about what's going on!
Welcome,@takmjs, and stick around! I hear you on the baby obsession. We're TTC #1, but I spent about a year obsessing about the right time before taking that step. It's such a big decision!
Funny with our daughter we were only married 9 months when I got pregnant. No doubt on my mind to not wait but we've calculated the 2nd ttc time much more mainly on my part. I'm pretty nervous on how hard or hopefully easy pregnancy will be on me but I do love babies so the temporary 9 months of not owning my body is worth it.
Hi all! I know this post is a few days old! I've posted on The Nest once or twice before...mostly on the gardening board and my local board. Someone on TK talked about how active Money Matters was so I came by to check it out. I would say money is thing H and I really struggle with in our relationship. He's a saver and incredibly thrifty and I am anything but. We've been working really hard on communicating about money and adjusting how we spend and save in order to better suit our needs. I'd say we have the same financial goals and we want the same things in life, but we have wildly different perspectives on how to do it. Anyway! I hope it's cool if I try to join in here!
1. Your life - Life is good. We're starting to plan some late winter/early spring projects we'd like to accomplish outside the house. As usual, I struggle with work-life balance. My job has gotten more and more demanding and I wish I had more time to keep up with regular chores, exercise, and live the spontaneous life I feel like H and I used to have even just a couple years ago. 2. Your job - I think I stated it mostly above. My job is ridiculously demanding. On the plus side, I received an excellent performance review and maxed out my bonus percentage based on my role level. I received the bonus today and it's soooo sad looking after taxes and 401k but seeing that extra money is still nice. 3. Your family - H and I are DINKs, so we're the only family to speak of other than our dog, Cinders. No kids on the horizon for now, we're just living the life. 4. Your money - We made the decision this year to start maxing out our 401ks while we can. It's been somewhat of a struggle to make an adjustment. We have a monthly budget that we track in YNAB but H is still complaining about the credit card bill and various regular charges. I think we need to revisit our old budget that we made prior to the 401k percentage change and see where we can make reductions. Going to back to what I said earlier about our spending habits - I work really hard to stick to the budget so it's a huge downer when H starts to stress and complain over expenses even when we're both sticking to the budget. Hopefully revisiting the budget and making some adjustments will help us both to feel happier (me because I don't feel like I'm being griped at and him for seeing a smaller monthly credit card bill).
If you are comfortable posting your budget we are all willing to help you look at areas where you might be able to cut back or reallocate. Just start a new thread asking for help!
@AprilZ81 I remember you as AprilH on TK! We'll have to see! I need to make some major updates...our budget still has allocations for student loans...which we're done paying for, and it doesn't have a car loan line item which we're now paying for. Obviously LONG overdue for a budget revisit.
Re: GTKY: Your life, your money.
I think his problems are:
1. He is not enough of a go getter. This probably shows up in interviews.
2. He worked at one place in one field before losing his job in his early 40's. He started at a worker bee level and then became manager of the group. He is only qualified for only the one type of work and nothing else. Let's call this type A work.
3. There are a decent number of worker bee jobs that start in the $40s. Some companies will have a manager and they can make $60-80K. He started interviewing for the manager jobs when he lost his job. There are only so many companies that have managers and only so many companies that have job openings. He has gotten interviews when these come up but no offers. Sometimes the manager needs to do Type A work + Type B or Type C work. H only knows A work and isn't qualified for these more expanded jobs.
4. After a certain amount of time of not getting a manager job he expanded his search to worker bee jobs at half the salary. It is very hard to get this kind of job when you are in your 40's and overqualified for it. Someone out of college will be seen as qualified, cheap and the better way to go.
His severance lasted over a year. After that ran out I tore him a new one about getting a J-O-B. He really should have done this earlier but see #1, and I can only nag (and only want to nag) so much.
Once he started applying for temp jobs he found one quickly and then another one when that ran out. Those lasted through Dec but nothing happening in Dec so now he is interviewing for new temp jobs. He should be able to get something in the worker bee field for around $20/hr. Ideally something that lasts several months. And even more ideally something that has potential to turn to permanent. His first temp job was heading in that direction but the permanent job offer took a weird turn and didn't work out...probably for the best since that company was kind of wack but at this point it would have been at least something.
Now that he has his rear in gear I don't know that there is much more he can do. During my job search process I was turned down for a lot of jobs. I have seriously probably applied and/or interviewed with around a quarter of the major companies in my city. You only need 1 to make the offer but who knows when that will come? He was close to getting a dream job in his field. He actually interviewed well and was great for the job, but it came down to him and one other person and the other person (an internal candidate) got the job. That was really depressing.
He isn't actively searching for jobs in other cities but if a good one comes his way via a recruiter or something he looks into it. None of these have gotten very far but they are worth investigating. We really don't want to move and since I am the higher income he would have to get a $$$ job for us to consider it, but we definitely consider it on a job by job basis....but once again no offers so not much to consider.
I think his problems are:
1. He is not enough of a go getter. This probably shows up in interviews.
2. He worked at one place in one field before losing his job in his early 40's. He started at a worker bee level and then became manager of the group. He is only qualified for only the one type of work and nothing else. Let's call this type A work.
3. There are a decent number of worker bee jobs that start in the $40s. Some companies will have a manager and they can make $60-80K. He started interviewing for the manager jobs when he lost his job. There are only so many companies that have managers and only so many companies that have job openings. He has gotten interviews when these come up but no offers. Sometimes the manager needs to do Type A work + Type B or Type C work. H only knows A work and isn't qualified for these more expanded jobs.
4. After a certain amount of time of not getting a manager job he expanded his search to worker bee jobs at half the salary. It is very hard to get this kind of job when you are in your 40's and overqualified for it. Someone out of college will be seen as qualified, cheap and the better way to go.
His severance lasted over a year. After that ran out I tore him a new one about getting a J-O-B. He really should have done this earlier but see #1, and I can only nag (and only want to nag) so much.
Once he started applying for temp jobs he found one quickly and then another one when that ran out. Those lasted through Dec but nothing happening in Dec so now he is interviewing for new temp jobs. He should be able to get something in the worker bee field for around $20/hr. Ideally something that lasts several months. And even more ideally something that has potential to turn to permanent. His first temp job was heading in that direction but the permanent job offer took a weird turn and didn't work out...probably for the best since that company was kind of wack but at this point it would have been at least something.
Now that he has his rear in gear I don't know that there is much more he can do. During my job search process I was turned down for a lot of jobs. I have seriously probably applied and/or interviewed with around a quarter of the major companies in my city. You only need 1 to make the offer but who knows when that will come? He was close to getting a dream job in his field. He actually interviewed well and was great for the job, but it came down to him and one other person and the other person (an internal candidate) got the job. That was really depressing.
He isn't actively searching for jobs in other cities but if a good one comes his way via a recruiter or something he looks into it. None of these have gotten very far but they are worth investigating. We really don't want to move and since I am the higher income he would have to get a $$$ job for us to consider it, but we definitely consider it on a job by job basis....but once again no offers so not much to consider.
What a hard situation. Hope he lands something soon!
Hi All. Maybe this is a good time to say hello & officially introduce myself. I’ve lurked for a long time & signed up with a username last week. I love reading about what other ladies (I think its mostly ladies?) are up to.
LIFE
Life is good & I can’t complain. Except I just turned 40, I try to look at it as a blessing…. but 40, yikes.
JOB
Just celebrated 10 years w/ my company. It’s a good place to work, walking distance to our house, great people & very flexible. I’m happy & don’t see myself leaving any time soon.
FAMILY
I live in Boston with my SO of 5+ years & “our” dog (I had the dog before the guy). She’s 11, the sweetest mutt ever. We are not married, after a sticky divorce, he’s in no hurry. We're older & don't want kids, it works for us. We bought a house in the city a few years ago & love it. I’m also really tight with my mom, sister & nieces – they’re all local.
MONEY
I found this site & was amazed at how disciplined some of you are with money, I need discipline. I don’t have a budget, but we both earn decent salaries*, we don’t have kids, & we have "disposable" income. We dispose most of it on trips, eating out & I buy too many clothes.
I'd say we are in decent financial shape w/out trying very hard. I put 15% into my 401k. My e-fund is $15k + $30k in investments. I’m also a landlady & earn $500/monthly (after fees/taxes) & put that money into a separate account for the apartment (about $7k). Other then the mortgages & my car – we do not have any debt.
*after writing this, I should mention, BF is out of work. He lost his job in November. He's smart, motivated, and there is a lot of demand for his type of work. he got a generous severance + bonus + he's collecting unemployment. we haven't had to adjust our spending yet (although we eat in more & haven't booked the vacation we hoped to take this winter). I'm optimistic about the situation.
@csuave, I just wanted to shout out my sympathies and let you know you aren't the only one. I've mentioned it here and there, but my H has been out of work for 2 1/2 years also. It's ridiculous it's been that long but, there ya go.
He is super extremely qualified with just about anything computer related. Has worked since the mid 80s in computers and done everything from programming to database management to managing entire companies information systems and networks. Yet he can't find work.
Part of it is, there are slim pickings for those kind of jobs in NOLA. But (I think) a bigger part is he gets frustrated and gives up looking for long periods of time. He doesn't motivate himself very well, but then I don't want to be a nag and make him feel worse about himself.
He's had a number of interviews over this time, but none of them have stuck. That does make me concerned that maybe he doesn't interview well. I also worry that his age (early 50s) and long gap since his last job are huge detriments. Of course, age discrimination is against the law...but let's be real. It happens all the time.
About one year ago, it was EXTRA frustrating!!! He was given a job offer as a contractor at a Naval base. Because of the sensitive nature of the work, it takes 1-2 weeks of background checks before he could really start working. He started the process so, technically started the job. But then, the person he was going to be replacing changed their mind and stayed. I cannot even tell you how crushing that was for both of us, but especially for him.
With all that said, over the last few months, he has been working his tail off doing construction at the duplex we bought that needed to be rehabbed. I also have a flexible p/t job that I'm allowed to "sub-contract" out so to speak, and he has taken over the majority of that for me.
Yes, the age "discrimination" is real. I've worked with guys that lost their jobs in their 50's and then did temp work until they could get to their chosen retirement age. A strategy that works much better when planning for retirement, building up HSA accounts, etc. are done earlier in life....something that is the back of my mind as I try to plan for a healthy financial security in my 50's.
3. Your family
4. Your money
Great! After our home re-finance, we have changed up our debt repayment strategy. It freed up $300 a month to go toward debt and we get to "skip" our mortgage payments for 2 months, so we threw half at debt and half in savings. I still need to spend time understanding specific investment options and re-think our retirement savings options.
2. Your job - I think I stated it mostly above. My job is ridiculously demanding. On the plus side, I received an excellent performance review and maxed out my bonus percentage based on my role level. I received the bonus today and it's soooo sad looking after taxes and 401k but seeing that extra money is still nice.
3. Your family - H and I are DINKs, so we're the only family to speak of other than our dog, Cinders. No kids on the horizon for now, we're just living the life.
4. Your money - We made the decision this year to start maxing out our 401ks while we can. It's been somewhat of a struggle to make an adjustment. We have a monthly budget that we track in YNAB but H is still complaining about the credit card bill and various regular charges. I think we need to revisit our old budget that we made prior to the 401k percentage change and see where we can make reductions. Going to back to what I said earlier about our spending habits - I work really hard to stick to the budget so it's a huge downer when H starts to stress and complain over expenses even when we're both sticking to the budget. Hopefully revisiting the budget and making some adjustments will help us both to feel happier (me because I don't feel like I'm being griped at and him for seeing a smaller monthly credit card bill).