followyourarrow, I'm sorry you've had a rough time. I hope you and arrow are both doing well now.
raangoli, You've certainly had a year!! I wish BB and your family a wonderful 2017 If you ever feel up to sharing a PIP, we'd love to see her! Congrats on the new job and keeping your dad in my prayers too.
@bellakitty, Congrats on your raise and all your house and career adventures ahead!
Post by carrotsmakemefat on Dec 16, 2016 7:46:29 GMT -5
Oh financially it was shit. Ha ha. But I'm doing yoga instructor training and that's worth it for my mental and emotional self. Way more so than $ - Suzie orman would not have approved. Ha ha. Don't care. I have some medical CC debt I'm working through but whatever. Health is important, insurance doesn't cover everything for me and I live this life once. I'm going to really work on it in 2017
(also if anyone wants to recommend a good zero % interest card so I can chug away at this for the next 18-24 months I'd appreciate it).
In every other way - well....yoga was the only positive for me this year. Everything else sucks. Husband issues. Money. Sister has cancer and I moved her in with me (another reason I bleed money). Still have Lyme. This was by far the worst year of my life.
Post by FishChicks on Dec 16, 2016 11:38:06 GMT -5
Personally and emotionally, it was the worst year of my life. Financially it was one of the best we've had.
+ DH got a 30% raise and didn't have to forgo any paychecks for the first year ever. (He co-owns a small business.) + I got a small raise and a good bonus. +/- I had budgeted for 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave, but miscarried and didn't need to forgo the income. - We paid out of pocket for fertility treatments as I don't have insurance coverage for it. I also hit the out of pocket max on my HDHP. + My insurance covered over $100k of medical bills from the January miscarriage and November stillbirth. + We avoided or postponed some major home repairs and renos to save for IVF, but haven't yet spent that money so the bank account looks pretty.
We weathered the storm that was 2016. We knew it was going to be a tough year both emotionally and financially. We had a big move across the country to a much more expensive city (though DH got a big raise in the move). We sold our old house for a good price and bought the next house for a fair price (although it was a lot more expensive, due to our location change, so that was painful). Our second child was born (medical + more daycare bills!) and we managed to stay afloat through my period of unemployment while I had a baby and then looked for a job in my new city. I'm working now, we seem to be through with the post-move into a new home period of spending money like it's going out of style, and our emergency fund is up to normal. Our older child is finally in H's employee daycare center, which saves us a lot of money, and we hope that they'll get a spot for our youngest there soon, which will save us $400+ a month in daycare bills. So, we managed 2016 and I hope 2017 will help us get back to a more comfortable/predictable position.
Positives: -Between raises and higher bonuses, DH and I are set to make $40k or so more in 2016 than 2015 -I received my highest bonus ever over the summer and, like farmvillelover, my bonuses and profit sharing this year are now more than my first year lawyer salary -Following receipt of that bonus, I finally bit the bullet and moved a big chunk of cash into the market -We worked on plugging away at our home improvement list and accomplished a bunch of them and were able to cash flow all of them. Only one big item is left, which is a kitchen reno some years down the line!
Negatives: -Thanks to Trump and the changes upcoming, I am definitely not going to hit those bonus numbers next year, and I am actually now potentially facing a layoff depending on exactly what does get passed. This would basically negate all of the good from 2016.
Post by bostonmichelle on Dec 16, 2016 19:20:46 GMT -5
Pretty good.
We bought a new house and put about $9k into it between roof, fence, floors, and paint. This is on top of the seller's paying for half the roof and for a new upstairs hvac system, which is an additional $8k.
We saved 15% of our gross pay into 401k's/Roth IRAs plus my mandatory 4% into my pension.
Our net worth is up about 20% plus I have some bonds that are not listed in quicken.
We hit the $250k mark for net worth!
Our retirement accounts are probably a little behind but catching up. We should be close to 1x salary by the time I turn 30 in 13 months. It depends on if I get a new job or not which may make it challenging since I'm looking to get a decent pay raise with a new job.
We've saved almost 4 months of my salary into an account for maternity leave, but I'm hoping we don't touch it or if we do it is minimal.
Next year probably won't be as good with the birth of our baby girl, daycare expenses, and a mostly unpaid maternity leave but that's okay since we've been doing really well the last few years.
Positives - Sold a rental property that was underwater for a long time. We got a little cash profit, broke even on the purchase price, and have a loss for tax purposes. All in all a win-win. - Investment accounts are doing great -I've been doing freelance work and am enjoying the flexibility. I think I just picked up another client. -Our medical premiums didn't go up this year! Talking to other people I feel grateful about this
Negatives - We do not have a good handle on our tax situation at all. DH just asked if I thought we would get a huge refund due to the property sale. And I'm like - maybe? With my freelance work we could totally owe. It's a crapshoot every year. -My car died. We were planning to trade in DH's truck and get me an SUV. But the transmission on my 2006 sedan (that DH was going to take) died. We only got $2K for it since it wasn't running and bought a CPO SUV. Our payment isn't huge, but the int is so low we aren't throwing anything else at it. Insurance will go up too. -DH's salary has been pretty stagnant and went slightly down this year due to his bonus (his work is tied to O&G). Hoping something will change next year, either a job change/promotion or a change in the industry - We had several unexpected medical bills toward the end of the year. -I think we've really been overspending the last few months.
Goals for next year - better handle on spending/budget and better tax planning. I also have a plethora of open store credit cards I would like to either close or figure out if we should be using them. We do have a fabulous credit score though.
Good: Met our house savings goal early in the year
Good and Bad: Bought a house and remodeled it Got a great new job closer to home that is a wash overall when accounting for benefits and great potential for higher income, but a substantial cut in take home to start
Bad: Have had to pay for some large ticket items that broke
DH and I each saved 17% to our 401k, plus we should each get a 5.25% match (sometime in the 1Q 2017).
I'm 35 and DH is 40, and we hit about 4 times our annual income in our combined retirement accounts.
DD was born in August, and I was able to take off 13 weeks with her. Now we've got more than double the daycare payment we did have until DS starts Kindergarten next fall, which isn't fun.
I was promoted in July, which should come with larger bonuses (not a huge increase in salary). That didn't translate so well this year due to the company not meeting the overall profit goals, but I'm hoping next year is better.
Next year we're hoping to pay off our house, max both 401ks and maybe ROth IRAs, and increase the kiddos' 529 contributions.
H graduated with his PhD and got a job in May. This increased our income significantly. We were able to move to an ideal neighborhood and a great apartment building.
We paid off our car 1.5 years early and other than my SLs have no debt. We are now in a position to start saving for a DP and maybe buy in 1.5-2 years.
We hit our savings goal of a 3 month e-fund.
I reached my salary goal for my age.
I am now contributing 15% to retirement.
We continued to give 10% to our churches and additional funds to charities important to us.
Post by sarapocalypse on Dec 17, 2016 14:12:41 GMT -5
We've just kind of drifted along financially in 2016. Haven't really gotten too much further ahead in savings but haven't taken on any additional debt (we just have our mortgage and cars) so that's good! I feel like we now have a little bit better of an idea of the expenses that come with owning a home so hopefully we can plan a bit better!
Goals for 2017 are to get DH's 401K contributions going again and possibly increase mine, get serious about saving and building a better e-fund, and be more intentional with charitable giving.
The good: No student loans for grad school that I recently completed because of tuition reimbursement. Only 3K left on H's.
Just peeked at my 401K and it has had a 5% return vs last year was in the red.
Our trip to Boston was paid in CC rewards. We never carry CC debt, just pay off for reward points.
We cut cable. PS Vue is like $35, we have Netflix for $10/month. H's work reimburses our $55 for internet.
The bad: H traded in his 1.5 yr old Subaru for a Lincoln MKZ. Worst financial move, but honestly the thing that made him the happiest. His Crosstrek was not comfortable and I could not drive it due to manual, I love riding in his new vehicle.
We spent 4.5K on a California Closet. Was not planned but H got a little crazy and ripped out our wire closet.
Fresh IVF cycle and 2 FETs... all failures and money sucks. I contributed 5K into our HSA, at least that was pre-tax. Floated another 5K at least. Honestly, probably more than this, but I don't even want to tally it. So depressing and nothing to show for it.
Trip to Croatia to visit H's family- free stay, so just 3K in plane tickets.
Should have socked away more liquid, I think we land +8500. I have a certain goal in mind before I'll allow myself to remodel some things on our house.
I went on a crazy Anthro kick in Oct and Nov, dropping probably $500 total.
I feel like I am back on my feet financially after my divorce. My parents loaned me the cash to pay xh off in a lump sum for his half of a small side business we owned, etc. I got them paid back so I am now debt free again.
A lot of great accomplishments on thos thread. Way to go
Not a bad yr for us. We each upped our 401k pct from 6 to 9. Paid off dhs truck. Payimg extra on mortgage and saved a decent amount for some future goals as well as vaca fund. And started saving each month for the kids. Its only a few bucks but its something. A long way to go but feeling optimistic for 17
Post by closertofine on Dec 18, 2016 10:55:09 GMT -5
Legal fees hit me hard. But my parents told me in October that they will be covering them from here on out. They paid $3k then, and it's a huge comfort to know I don't have to worry about them any more.
Stbx lost his job in June. My child support got cut by $800/month. As a result, I'm in over my head in my house. And he won't let me move to where I want (and would be a much better school for the kids and better financial situation for me).
Oh, and in January, I refinanced my house in order to by him out. Went from a 15 (down to 11 at that point) back to a 30 year loan, and raised a percentage point. That was to make the payment more manageable. Had to give him $22k.
Stbx's unemployment ran out this week. He's already petitioned the court to get his child support adjusted to zero. I don't know what I am going to do.
My fp tells me my Roth and school retirement program are doing well.
Emotional highlights: FIL passed (technically 2015, but damn close) Ectopic pregnancy Miscarriage Talks of divorce
Financially speaking, we've spent a ton of money. Bought a boat and inherited a lofty tax bill, both courtesy of FIL. Got a couple of big house projects done (new windows, wood shed), and probably some other things I don't remember. We stopped contributing to our IRA's a few months ago to try and reduce our vehicle debt. Car should be paid off in six months at our current rate.
My request to move full time was approved. I'll negotiate my start date to be 1/1/17. I'm regretting losing my freedom, but I'm kicking ass at my job and it's one of the few things that brings me joy right now (whoda thunk?). It's also the right choice in the event of emotional highlight number 4.
I'd like to tell you I'm optimistic about 2017, but I'm just not. I do plan on starting to do a lot more for myself. Going full time allows me to join a gym and do group classes at a schedule that is convenient. I've been working on making new friends. I'm thinking about where I might want to volunteer some of my time. I've got a pretty packed event schedule for work next year, but I'm cool with that.
closertofine, why can't you move? I would think your attorney could argue given he's providing no financial support he should have no say given you can't afford to stay in your house.
closertofine, why can't you move? I would think your attorney could argue given he's providing no financial support he should have no say given you can't afford to stay in your house.
The issue is that I want to move school districts. Our order says I need his or court permission to move more than 25 miles OR if the district changes. I can (and probably will) fight it in court, but there's a lot more expense (which while my parents will pay, makes me feel badly) and my attorney says my county's family court judge (there's only one) is tough to convince in this area. She said it won't be a slam dunk.
I could move anywhere I want in my current district. But I'm 30 minutes from work (I'm a lifer. I will retire from my school), I pay $7/day in Tolls (non toll route adds 20 minutes each way to my commute, which I'd have to pay for in daycare), and the school district is currently in shambles (but being in education, I know these things ebb and flow). I just want out and to return to the area in which I teach. It's 23 miles/25 minutes away. The condo I found is literally perfect and $90k less than my current home. Sigh.
Post by ellipses84 on Dec 18, 2016 14:21:12 GMT -5
Add me to list of people who have a terrible horrible no good very bad year. It's not just this board. I feel like so many people I know had an awful 2016. My run of bad luck started in late 2015.
Five loved ones passed away. My dad's death from cancer was inevitable, but the other four were really unexpected and three of them were way too young to die. Absolutely tragic and none of them were connected. Needless to say there were a lot of unplanned travel expenses and my siblings and I paid for my father's final expenses and memorial.
I was in two car accidents. Neither were my fault and no injuries, but I did have a hospital trip for one as a precaution while pregnant.
Our house flooded and 95% of our belongings and both of our cars were destroyed. Rental insurance covered nothing. Luckily, our cars were covered with insurance and since it was a rental, we could just walk away from the house. This is the number one reason 2016 was not MM. Everyone was so generous with donations, which I am forever grateful for, but our finances are quite a disaster in the aftermath. I feel like life is finally back to normal and we've replaced the necessities, so I think we can get back on track and work on getting out of debt we incurred in 2016 starting in January.
Our monthly expenses are way higher now because we moved into a more expensive rental to be in a good school zone(and desperate for housing after the flood, our current rental is a crappier and more expensive house than the flooded house). Our daycare expenses doubled, with an infant and an aftercare kid, vs. one toddler.
Having a baby is not MM. Our medical expenses were higher and my maternity leave benefits were 1/8th of my pay which basically covered my insurance premium.
I tested positive for a gene mutation that causes cancer and I'm going to need at least 3 major surgeries in the next 5 years, so that will not be MM.
Despite the terrible year, I know it could have been much worse. There were some bright spots, like the birth of my youngest son, who is healthy, and such a happy baby. It sucked dealing with so much while pregnant and on ML, but I don't even know how I would have handled it all if I had been working all year.
I was promoted a year ago. Then a few month later, my office did a re-org and I was promoted again. Then, while on ML, I got a great bonus and raise, related to the promotions. We won a dream project. DH got a major promotion and raise, too, although IMO he is working way too hard for what they are paying him. He needs to focus on a professional goal that will get him a larger raise. I had a big professional goal, which was sidelined due to all the bad things, but I made great progress. I'm *this* close to finishing it. I could have done it this month, but the national org. and state org. are being slow with my records, so it will likely not be done until January.
Next year, if everything goes as planned, a bunch of my student loans will be forgiven. FX, it would be like winning the lottery for us.
We were saving a lot of money monthly leading up to our third child being born in April. We've managed to continue saving at our "normal" level post-baby and the extra now goes to daycare; in total we spend $30k/year on childcare. Ouch.
We survived unpaid maternity leave without touching existing savings and only slowing contributions while I was unpaid, which was a major win considering we didn't pull the older two out of childcare. (We had stockpiled money in savings to cover it and I was glad we didn't have to touch it in the end.)
I returned to work and 3 months later my estranged father passed away, leaving a giant mess (physically and financially). The upshot of this is that he had rolled over a 401(k) to an IRA and while the investment broker had him losing money annually, she did get him to update beneficiaries so my brother and I are inheriting a lot (to me) of money from it outside of the estate. This has allowed me to:
1. Pay off my student loans 2. Pay off my car 3. Go part time at work 4. Will provide significant funds in the next 1-4 years to use to pay down our mortgage and have a larger down payment on a future house.
The part time thing, I am currently struggling with. I'm working 60% but my take home pay is 40% of what it was, and is no where close to covering childcare and commuting costs. I've had so much to do with cleaning out my father's condo and trying to figure out the financial crap that there was really no other option. But I think by February things will be calm enough that I can get back to a 4 day schedule to hopefully get my take home up enough to cover daycare, or at least close to it.
DH has been added to the bonus program at work (although it was prorated and paid out very little this year despite stellar performance) and got a decent (5.5%) raise. He's still underpaid so he's brushing up his resume to start looking. He finally had the hard conversation with his boss about it so at least he's not just silently fuming any longer.
I've applied to a job that is close enough that DH can keep his job if he wants, but is far enough from my current job that we may qualify for relocation money that would move us in the direction we prefer and there are good schools and affordable housing. I think I have a really good shot at it, but it's a gov't position so who knows how quickly things will move. The announcement closed last week and with the holidays, I'm not expecting to hear anything until Jan or Feb. Also good as it's a FT position and I'll need to get my ducks in a row if we're going to go back to 2 full time jobs.
Pros: - roughly 35% increase in net worth - retirement portfolios doing quite well - we invest in a friend’s restaurant chain and they had a good year - our job incomes increased by 14% - fully paid off our car loan
Cons: - started DD in part-time daycare which costs $1300/mo - bad year for my job: found out I am getting laid off in 2 yrs, lost my telecommute perk, moved from cubicle to open floorplan, and moved to a new building which increased my commute
Post by hurricanedrunk on Dec 19, 2016 13:25:31 GMT -5
Overall it's been a decent year for us financially.
The good Net worth is up 25% and we've increased retirement contributions. H got a 10% raise and should get another 20% in 2017. We finalized new 30yr life insurance policies for better premiums since H is no longer a smoker. Hit 1x our salary in retirement accounts (we're early 30's)
The good/bad Spent a lot on travel this year. Two of the three bigger trips were budgeted and saved for. The third was a won trip to HI that we extended and splurged on. There is about $3,000 on a 0% card that needs to get paid off before Spring. Put off a large house project to Spring 2017
The bad Unexpected health issues/medical bills We've been over spending and not sticking to a monthly budget.
I would say mostly positive. 2013 was huge because we had a baby, both switched jobs and bought a house. 2014 was house stuff and pregnancy #2. 2015 was baby #2. So comparatively 2016 was boring.
Pros
After ten years of service, I vested in my pension! That means (among other things) that the 3% I had been contributing ceased so I diverted it straight to my 457. I also switched up most of my contributions to a new Roth plan so I am saving post-tax money instead of pre-tax money in that account.
I got a COLA! Plus a years of service credit salary bump.
My inlaws paid for our roof to be repaved! This was a major relief because it was overdue and $$$.
In September our three year old started a free city preschool! That means we went from paying $225 a week for him to just about $80 a week for wrap around care.
Cons
From October 2015 to September 2016 we paid two full time daycare bills. Ouch.
Plumbing repairs were unplanned and costly. It also looks like our basement tenant is going to break his lease over them. Good riddance because he's terrible. Landlording is stressful.
2017 should be a big year. We are on track to have TWO more of my student loans paid off. <)