Money Matters
hoffse
member
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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.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
2017 resolutions/goals/plans
Re: 2017 resolutions/goals/plans
-Pay of H's undergrad loan
-$100K net worth by year-end (stretch with our other plans for next year)
-$200K in retirement by year-end (not a stretch, but the market has to not collapse for this to happen)
-Get a raise/advance going into 2018
-Sell my car/get a new one (in process)
Personal
-Finish personal property inventory for insurance
-Get caught up on my scrapbooking & photo books
-Move all photos from Snapfish to another platform
-Get wills set up and a safe deposit box opened (have never done this due to laziness)
Plans
-Cheap/DIY spruce up of our basement space
-Potentially remodel our master bathroom - and this is why the $100K net worth may be a stretch, because that will kill some savings.
-9-day trip to Spain in March
-3-day trip to Prague in May
-Hopefully pregnant in the next few months... and if not, we will go to China or Japan over Thanksgiving. I nearly have enough points for biz class seats.
-Start up my 401k contributions again. When I moved to this new company, they had put them on hold due to switching companies, supposedly they'll be back up by February. The company doesn't match, so I haven't decided how much I want to do just yet... do I put more to get the tax benefit, or put less and then put the extra money towards something else like student loans? Thinking the latter.
-Along the lines of the first, get my other 401k rolled over.
-Start contributing to new HSA, just got it set up.
-Otherwise stay the course, work on savings and debt paydown (just have our 0% interest bed, student loans, and my car, which I already pay extra on).
Personal:
-First thing, need to find a doctor. We're going to start TTC so I need a doctor
-Organize our life. All our paperwork and important stuff is just shoved in boxes in the office closet. I put together a file cabinet, now we just need to use it.
-Spruce up the inside of the house a bit, we've only focused on the outside really since moving in. It's not very decorated, so I'd like to work on making it feel more homey. I also want to buy new end tables and a coffee table. The ones we have now are fine, but they're black and attract dust and dog hair like nobody's business, so I want new ones to help save my sanity.
Plans:
-I'm taking a road trip in April by myself out to my mom's house. She's listing the house after I go so I'm going to bring back a bunch of my stuff that's still there (like my dollhouses), and also bringing back her dog, who is 16 years old, with me. It'll be a bit of a hard trip emotionally I think... I grew up there and probably won't be going back again anytime soon after they move.
-Other summer vacation is up in the air a bit. We have tickets to a country music festival in June, but are trying to sell them. If we can't, we will go. If we do, then we will go for a week in July to the Flaming Gorge with H's family to camp and celebrate the 4th.
-I'd like to do some other shorter weekend camping trips. We have a camper, we need to use it more now that the large house projects are done.
-As mentioned above TTC... we'll see how that goes.
- have $40k liquid savings without touching the investments or our retirement contributions by the time Baby V shows up in mid-July so that I can take a 6 month maternity leave (assuming my firm approves it) without decimating our savings account. We're on track to meet this goal assuming he/she doesn't decide to make an early appearance!
- shop for auto insurance (it just went up to $1,300 for one car! and we both have safe driver discounts! it's ridiculous...)
- purchase life insurance and set up our wills
- start 529 plan and fund it to at least the state tax deduction ($2k here in MA)
Personal
- declutter the house and give away/sell at least 25% of the useless junk we have
- set up nursery by the beginning of June
Plans
- replace front stairs since they are a safety hazard
- refinish inside stairs as they are almost a safety hazard
- everything is really about nesting mode! We have a few winter weekend trips to Vermont planned but that's it.
- Max out IRA contributions for 2017 for myself and DH.
- Max out 401k contributions for 2017 for both of us.
- Hit $200k in joint retirement savings. I think this will happen easily, unless like @hoffse said, the market crashes. Then it could be a bit more tough.
- Save $21k for our secondary e-fund.
Personal
- Buy a gun safe because my DH is apparently a complete nut and bought three antique rifles recently. I personally feel like they need a better home than under our bed.
- Sign up for a safe deposit box at the bank for our personal documents. We get one for free but we've been pretty terrible about getting our butts to the bank to set it up.
Plans
- Travel to Norway in August for 2 1/2 weeks.
- Hopefully attend DH's mother's graduation, or visit them for a short weekend close to the event.
- Maybe, possibly, TTC in the second half of the year.
- Mix of financial, but we're back on the "thinking of selling our house" train. Unless we see a major economic crash in the first half of the year, we'll probably try to sell and move up into a bigger place closer to our jobs. Home values in our area are exploding and we still have an inventory shortage for starter homes, especially ones like ours, and I think we have good chances of making a decent amount of money on the sale. In many ways, I'd love to stay in our current place, spend $60k on some major renovations (total kitchen gut, build an addition, tear out some interior walls, etc.) and pay off the mortgage, but there's a lot of other crap that would go along with staying and I'm not sure if it's worth it for us.
All of the above hinges on DH staying with his current company. I just feel like a ton of things are really up in the air right now. He's been interviewing with a company in So. Cal. and there's the possibility for an internal job move to Chicago as well. He'll have his formal review sometime next month with his boss and I think he's going to push for trying to figure out what they think his future with the company looks like and we'll be able to decide on a real path forward at that time. 2017 is definitely going to be a year of changes for us.
And if we DO get pregnant in the next few cycles we are going to use those points for post-baby visits to great grandparents in California and Wisconsin. Also, I am one of those people who fully intends to leave baby with the grandparents once a year for an adult-only vacation. We'll see if I can actually go through with it, but if so then we are thinking Peru as our first after-baby trip. It's a place we have always wanted to visit, and it's a lot closer for us than Europe. We were going to do it over Christmas this year, but then Zika happened.
Regardless, the points will be spent.
We don't regret this for one second. DD wasn't even a year old yet and we flew 9 hours away for a 10 day vacation in Hawaii. She stayed home with grandparents the entire time. She'll be almost 2 in February and we're going again without her. No regrets.
We've also done some long weekends away as well. We feel like better parents when we get a break from kid responsibility every now and then.
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
-Find a financial advisor
-Purchase life insurance for H
-Drastically pay down our new car loan
-Dive deeper into investing
-Keep extraneous spending in check, be more conscious about our purchases
-Improve at monthly budget planning
Personal:
-Eat healthier, drink less alcohol, and exercise. I know, I know these are stereotypical, however we have extra motivation this year because of...
-Hopefully getting pregnant
-Purchase a 2-in-1 laptop and organize the files/photos on our other computers, back up files, etc.
-Create a travel photo wall in our bedroom hallway
Plans:
-Last year we went on a February trip to a B&B 2 hrs away and we loved it so much that we're looking forward to going again in 2017.
-Smaller updates to the house - turning the extra room in the basement into an office, kitchen organization, maybe some kitchen painting?
-H and I decided that if we're not pregnant by next Christmas, we're leaving the family craziness and going on vacation over the holiday.
Personal - We just found out I am pregnant last week. Totally surprised because I had my period. My goal is to continue with my yoga. Its a lifestyle for me so I hope this pregnancy isn't too hard like DDs and I can still kick butt in it. I already live a healthy and fit lifestyle so I don't want to give it up. It helps keep me sane and centered. Goal would also be able to have a VBAC and avoid another c/s but I know you don't have control sometimes of those things.
Plans - in the spring build that rock wall in the front of our house that we put off this year. A vacation would be nice since we didn't do one this year. Honestly haven't thought too much about 2017 yet.
Personal - Just keep on keeping on. 2017 is still next year to me at this point. Yes, I know it's next week.
Plans - A trip to Thailand mid to late next year so the wife can go home and we can show off the kiddo.
To drop a digit on our mortgage balance. Right now we owe about $145,000, so that will mean paying off more than $45,000. It's agressive but doable.
Buy term life insurance. I have a $400,000 policy through work, but would like to get something independent of my employer should I decide to leave.
Keep maxing out all available retirement accounts.
Increase emergency fund to six months of expenses. I'll be getting a small inheritance next month, which should cover this.
Personal:
Increase traffic and begin monetizing my blog.
Get more organized at work and home.
Increase confidence and start spending more time, money and attention on self care.
Plans:
Thanks to points and miles, H is setting up a book and speaking tour for the first half of 2017. Scheduled stops include Omaha, Milwaukee, Chicago, Boston and Orlando.
@jtmh2012 I'm having the same analysis paralysis over college savings strategies. That's why I decided to at least start with a small 529 so I don't completely fail to act.
Maintain current autopilot savings "buckets" strategy which has been working so well for us
Continue not using credit cards, which has also been working very well for us
Pay off remaining Care Credit charges and pay cash for birth expenses
Start 529 for LO and set up modest automatic contributions
Resume travel savings
Refinance if it still makes sense come April
Personal-
Be kind to myself and cut myself some slack on adjusting to working mom-hood, and recognize that all other goals may not pan out once I see what it's really like
Prioritize family time over work
Run a HM in July
Run a marathon in the fall or winter
Dive monthly during nice weather months
Plans-
We will go to Solid Sound, the bi-annual concert festival that we always go to, in June. This is a family friendly event, so we may bring the baby if I'm not ready to leave him yet. Family trip to H's dad in FL at some point, which we can do with all points from our CC days. Then, if all goes well financially, we will begin some travel savings and would like to go back to Bonaire in December or January. We would happily make this an adults-only trip like @hoffse @brij2006 and @LillibetteV mentioned, but since our parents are helping with weekday childcare they may not be hankering to take the baby for a full week too. My parents are on the older side and H's mom has some health challenges. If need be, we will simply bring him and make it a fun family trip. Either way will be great! Just give me that island breeze and some tropical fish
Congrats @vlagrl35!
Financial:
-I just figured out we have $83K in net worth so I'm happy about that! I though we'd be in the negatives!
- Keep adding to our ROTH accounts and increase 401K contributions once we get our raises in Jan/June
- Keep selling stuff on Craigslist
- Pay cash for most things and continue little use of credit cards
-Pay off our trip for May
- Keeping adding to our e-fund
-H's lease is up this year so save up for a down payment and decide if we will lease or purchase
Personal:
- H and I will be getting our pistol permits at some point
- catch up on scrapbooking
- Many house projects to do!
- Purchase new furniture for house
- Continue exercising and try to eat better
Plans:
- Our trip to the Caribbean is the only things planned so far
- Florida would be nice in the fall if we can afford it after all the projects we want to do
I could setup a brokerage account through my financial advisor, but she suggested doing it outside as it would be cheaper. Not going to argue with her...:)
-Get HELOC. We were pre-approved by the bank on Tuesday. Now we're waiting to see if we'll get the full amount we are asking for. Otherwise we'll pull the balance from our savings account.
-$200K in retirement by year-end (market has to not collapse for this to happen). Fully fund Roths again and up my 401K by 1% in April.
-Finish up day care payments- June 2017!
-Continue to fund 529 plans- we're still on track for 4 years at a state university covered in full (thumbs up!)
-Small COL raisies: Me in April, DH in September
Personal
-Family first always (despite new boss' odd objection to that which is not aligned with our corporate view... I'm struggling with this transition, but I'll pull through).
-Keep up with eating better, no food after 7pm. Down 8 lbs since I committed to that small change. Try to get in some "gym" time in the morning (our basement has an elliptical, TV for yoga/30 day shred) to go down another 5-8 lbs.
-Keep sewing/quilting- start to move through current fabric (and not buy more). Think about starting an etsy shop for small quilts/pillows.
Plans
-Exterior renovation project Summer 2017
-4 trip to NYC: Hamilton!
-3 weeks off in August for anniversary, DD#1's birthday, my birthday, day trips with the girls, NYC, getting DD#2 ready for kindergarten.
It's going to be quite the transition with me coming home in June.
- Save up the rest of what we need for birth of baby and gear needed (mostly double jogging stroller).
- Sell at least 1 of our extra vehicles to save on insurance and maintenance
- Shop our home and farm insurance to find a cheaper option.
Personal
- Figure out a good transition from working mom to SAHM of 2.
- Run a couple 5k's
- Lose the baby weight
Plans
- Hawaii next month!!!!
- We also might be remodeling our kitchen in 2017. Need to figure out all the logistics and price, but thankfully we have it in savings for a full remodel. Just need to decide if that's what we want to do or if we want to just paint the cabinets and install new counter tops.
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
@vlagrl35, I'm so sorry to hear that!
@cbee817, Amazon opened an Etsy-like site a few months ago. I think it's called Amazon Homemade.
Personal: Take a nice long trip for our anniversary and try to take a few smaller weekend-type trips (we always say we will, but it rarely pans out for one reason or another). Finish full marathon, potentially another half.
Plans: Not much other than what I said for personal stuff. Try to keep on track with life as it is, I guess.
~Max out 403(b) for me
~Max out Roth/traditional IRAs for H and me
~I need to check our investments and probably get lower-fee funds for most of them. I didn't pay attention to that when I invested and am now seeing that I can possibly move them to very similar funds for a fraction of the fees.
Personal:
~We've been TTC (baby #3) for 7-8 months now, so we hope that happens fairly soon, so baby will be due sometime in late 2017.
~I would love to change jobs, but with TTC, I need the health insurance, FMLA, and disability insurance of my current job....so I will be looking this summer/fall, but will likely not do anything this year unless something perfect comes up (not even sure what that would be). I'm really in limbo about switching careers altogether and possibly going back to do some schooling. I'd love to stay at home, but with my H being a farmer, I'm the health insurance carrier.
~I need to do some major de-cluttering and getting rid of so much extra "stuff." Ugh, it drives me crazy. I need to do what @brij2006 and @hoffse mentioned--grandparents take the kids for several days, so I can get something accomplished at home!
~Get a will.
Plans:
~No vacations planned, mostly because of TTC and/or pregnancy. (I'm high-risk and don't want to plan anything.)
~No house plans or renovation plans either. I would like to get part of our basement finished in the next few years, but no major rush on that.
~Just keep on keepin' on, trying not to stress too much about the mom-work-wife balance.
The only goal I can think of right now is to have 2017 and long term budgets put together by the end of January.
I'm late to the party because I've been off work for 11 days and haven't had time to check in!
Financial:
1. Pay off student loans in March! (On track and so excited)
2. Increase monthly boat loan payment by $150 to pay off quicker (once my SL is paid off)
3. Save more, spend less. Would love to fully fund our e-fund this year.
4. Save up for our bathroom remodel and start prepping for selling our house in a few years
5. Up retirement contributions (on track to up to 15% in April from 10% currently)
Personal:
1. I'd love to accomplish our bathroom remodel this year and would also love to put the second full bath in the basement but not sure if time/money will work out for that
2. Lose weight (cliché I know), but I'd like to lose about 15 pounds.
3. Spend more time with family/friends. I need to unplug from my phone and spend more quality with H
4. De-clutter our house and get better at organizing. I have a really hard time getting rid of stuff people gift us because I just feel bad about it. So instead of just donating the stuff it piles up in the basement, never touched. It's a bad habit and one I need to work on.
Plans:
1. Planning two staycations this summer one in June and one in August to enjoy time on the boat, possibly spend a few days at the beach, and get some stuff done around the house
2. Bathroom remodel and possible bathroom build in the basement (this is a long shot, but I'm throwing it out there because I want it so bad)