For chart/table lovers, my 2020 $ report - new info added

[yupthisismyae]

Twice before I posted my year-end household financial report and it generated some discussion. I thought I'd post again -- I think my last post was 2018. I'm open to answering any questions even though I don't feel good about what all this shows. My thoughts are at the bottom. 

This is a summary that I do annually so H and I can see what's what. But really I'm the only one who cares, lol. He's like, "huh nice" but only looks at it b/c I make him. 

First, here are some demographics. We are in our early/mid 40s with 2 children in a MCOL area. We both have defined benefit pensions, and H's work also has a 401k match that doesn't really show up well here. Including that match and what we are required to contribute to the pension, we are contributing 15% of gross income to retirement. We have stopped contributing to college per se b/c I didn't want to put more into the 529s. But our advisor's modeling for us includes us taking a slug out of the "retirement" bucket in the college years to support college costs. I do not anticipate our children will be eligible for any financial aid, nor should they be. I just refinanced to a 20 year but H wants it paid off in 18, which is random but whatever H, so we're doing that I guess.

We don't generally contribute to our investments outside of retirement. 


1) Our gross and net pay.




2) Where our take home pay went. I pulled out some examples in each line to give a sense of what that category entails in my mind. The categories probably wouldn't make sense to anyone but me but in my weird head they work.





3) * The Short Term Reserve

This is basically a way that I budget and plan for irregular large expenses. I budget this account separately and have a model budgeting it out annually for about the next 15 years.




4) ** Charitable Giving

This doesn't really show up comprehensively in the charts, but I do our charitable giving primarily out of our investment accounts. I bunch deductions, meaning that I try to do most deductible things every other year including giving. So one year I take the standard deduction, the alternate year I itemize. My goal is $10,000 annually; 2019 was an off year and giving was $4000, so in 2020 totaled about $16,000. Looking at where our money goes, I'm uncomfortable with this number. I think I will aim for $30k over the next two years (again, the bulk would be in 2022 unless there are tax code changes). 


5) Multi-year net worth analysis:

One question that has been asked before is about the big jump in 2016. I lost a parent and received an inheritance - you can see this both in the retirement, investments, and college lines).




Conclusions:

Looking over this the other night with H, I will tell you honestly that I felt a bit icky, particularly about the increase in net worth. I know someone on this board is doing the $100k charitable donation goal for the year and she commented that even with all her giving, all she managed to do was keep her net worth increasing for the year. I .. feel gross about our net worth increase in a year when so many people were struggling, and I have a call with my financial planner in February where I want to talk about increasing our giving to $30k. But also, I wonder about the gains that I'm getting, and if they're from being invested in unethical companies. That's not something I've looked into much before, so that's a good goal for me for this coming year. Finally, I feel a bit icky about how much we are spending on fun/optional stuff, when again, that money could be used better for others or even for us. Or even just saved to allow more giving in our later years. I don't like what I see here. So there's that. 

I don't plan to DD this, but might b/c even under an AE I feel exposed. But here you go. 


ETA: That would be "Warren Buffett", not "buffet." ha.


ETA 2: 

I realized I had one more thing I could share. In some ways it's not super interesting, but maybe useful as part of the larger picture. This is a summary of our primary spending account. This spreadsheet is actually how I balance the checkbook and have for years (there are hidden month columns).

I see a few things here. 1) Take home pay has fluctuated in the past several years due to benefits, withholding, retirement (which is almost completely payroll deductions), etc. Gross pay hasn't fluctuated like this.  2) The big increase in "utilities and bills" is mainly from getting life insurance, which falls in there. 3) Discretionary spending (credit card/checks line) has doubled from $30 to $60k in this time, which doesn't surprise me. 4) We used to do "allowances" and eventually stopped. The 2020 should line up with what I posed upthread, but I did do a little recategorizing as I found errors the other day, so there may be some differences. 

[shortstax]

Thanks for sharing. It's always fascinating to see how others manage and review their financial picture and set future goals.

Do you have a template you've used for your multiyear net worth analysis? I only have rough mock-ups that I've done, but I think seeing that % change year over year would be very motivating for my H. Thanks for the inspiration

[yupthisismyae]

Jan 5, 2021 17:23:30 GMT -5 shortstax said:

Thanks for sharing. It's always fascinating to see how others manage and review their financial picture and set future goals.

Do you have a template you've used for your multiyear net worth analysis? I only have rough mock-ups that I've done, but I think seeing that % change year over year would be very motivating for my H. Thanks for the inspiration

Thanks. I really like seeing this stuff from other people and always hope that posting this will prompt more similar posts.

I have a spreadsheet that is linked to a backup sheet. The backup sheet has a row for each account that we have, so it's really easy to update. Let me see if maybe I can put a clean version of it in my dropbox and you could download it. Stay tuned. 

[kittenponypony]

Thanks for sharing! Interesting to see your breakdown

[bdubs419]

Thank you for sharing!!! Our net worth is very similar so it’s interesting to see all your details. I have been tracking our annual changes for the past maybe 5 years or so. Wish I had started earlier because I love to see changes over time. It makes me feel great to see our hard work paying off!

[Accountingcat]

Thank you for sharing! I've been lurking for years and I copied your net worth chart a few years ago. Best thing I've ever done. I'm always surprised by the numbers even in years that I feel like I've slid backward. I also have a similar take-home pay so it's interesting to see where your money goes vs mine.

[scsarah]

Very interesting! I would also be really interested in a clean version of your template, if you can figure out a way to share it that's comfortable for you.

[minzy]

Cool, thanks for sharing. Yay for thoughts of increasing charitable giving!

[sadlebred]

Thank you for sharing!

[yupthisismyae]

Update: there was a problem with the link so I deleted it; trying to figure out what's wrong so I can repost. Thanks.



I made a mostly-blank version of the net worth template in excel and I think you should be able to download the excel file from here. Someone try it out and let me know if the download works. The link just shows what the file looks like, but then over on the right, there's a down-pointing arrow that will let you download.



ETA: shortstax

[yupthisismyae]

Jan 5, 2021 20:11:43 GMT -5 Accountingcat said:

Thank you for sharing! I've been lurking for years and I copied your net worth chart a few years ago. Best thing I've ever done. I'm always surprised by the numbers even in years that I feel like I've slid backward. I also have a similar take-home pay so it's interesting to see where your money goes vs mine.

Oh yay -that's great. I agree, some years I'm surprised - most years actually. Unforch, this was the first year where it didn't feel like a good surprise. But, onward. Would love to see details from you or anyone else in this thread if anyone else is willing to share. 

[scsarah]

Jan 6, 2021 9:24:35 GMT -5 yupthisismyae said:

I made a mostly-blank version of the net worth template in excel and I think you should be able to download the excel file from here. Someone try it out and let me know if the download works. The link just shows what the file looks like, but then over on the right, there's a down-pointing arrow that will let you download.

www.dropbox.com/s/q9qb8407brmsorc/Net%20Worth%20Template%20GBCN.xlsx?dl=0

Thank you for sharing - I was able to download it easily!

I feel like I've finally gotten to a point that I can devote time to this, and am really interested to see how I can track it. I wish I'd been doing it for a while - I think it would be really interesting to see how the numbers have changed.

[yupthisismyae]

Jan 6, 2021 13:43:58 GMT -5 scsarah said:

Jan 6, 2021 9:24:35 GMT -5 yupthisismyae said:

I made a mostly-blank version of the net worth template in excel and I think you should be able to download the excel file from here. Someone try it out and let me know if the download works. The link just shows what the file looks like, but then over on the right, there's a down-pointing arrow that will let you download.

www.dropbox.com/s/q9qb8407brmsorc/Net%20Worth%20Template%20GBCN.xlsx?dl=0

Thank you for sharing - I was able to download it easily!

I feel like I've finally gotten to a point that I can devote time to this, and am really interested to see how I can track it. I wish I'd been doing it for a while - I think it would be really interesting to see how the numbers have changed.

Thanks for letting me know. FWIW, if you can find your prior year statements, you may be able to pull together a few prior years more easily than you expect. Most places issue a statement as of 12/31. But, there's always more to do than time to do it, so oh well if you can't.

[yupthisismyae]

Jan 6, 2021 10:26:50 GMT -5 spearmintleaf said:

I don’t think you need to feel icky. Look at the numbers, see what you want to change, and move forward. Looks like you have room for some more charitable giving- that’s good news! And hey, lots of people have need right now, so the timing is good.

Thanks for a healthy way for me to frame this. <3 

[gt7301b]

Thanks for sharing.  I always enjoy getting a chance to look at these when people share them.

As a side note, we have been to Omaha for the Berkshire annual meeting a couple of times and you will really enjoy it when you get a chance to go.

[yupthisismyae]

I added one more table at the end of the OP in case it interests anyone.

[yupthisismyae]

Jan 7, 2021 13:47:33 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Thanks for sharing.  I always enjoy getting a chance to look at these when people share them.

As a side note, we have been to Omaha for the Berkshire annual meeting a couple of times and you will really enjoy it when you get a chance to go.

Oh this is good to hear. I was kind of on the fence, but hope to go when/if it next happens. 

[chpmnk1015]

Thanks for sharing. Always like to see how people categorize things and where they spend, etc. So interesting... makes me realize where i eed to priotitize more and stuff.

[flatlan]

I always enjoy these posts. Thank you for taking the time to share and explain.

[shortstax]

Jan 6, 2021 9:24:35 GMT -5 yupthisismyae said:

ETA: shortstax

I'm going to populate it with 2019 and 2020 data this weekend.  Thanks again for sharing your resources!

[kittenponypony]

yupthisismyae sending you a PM