Happy 2021! I haven't posted here in ages, but I am going to try to be more active. Anyone have any MM related recent successes to share?
Here's mine: I maxed out my Roth IRA for 2021 today and am about a third of the way there for my husband. We should have his maxed out in a month or two. (barring any unforeseen disasters)
The only credit card debt we have left are two 0% credit cards that will be paid off well before the promotion expires - one for a new mattress and the other is a Lowe's card that we used to buy the rest of the supplies we needed to finish renovating my brothers' house (I have predated checks from my mother to deposit each month to pay it off).
It's hard to believe we were thisclose four years ago in participating in one of the debt consolidation programs that screws your credit but then decided we could overcome it all on our own. Four years later we have paid off over $50k in consumer debt and built a new house. 2021 will be focused on increasing our savings.
ETA: Also, my student loans will be paid off in March after 17 years.
This is kind of funny...DH bought me crazy expensive sheets for Christmas and they were the wrong size. I was shocked when he gave me the receipt to return them. He should know I get great joy from getting good deals and would not enjoy expensive full price sheets. Anyways, I returned them. I then used 1/3 of the money to buy stuff for our new house from this awesome local auction. You bid online and pick up in person, it’s mostly overstock or shipping mistake household goods. I got an amazing headboard, decorative wall mirror, a shelf and a big wooden outdoor planter for less than $100 total. Also a neighbor who was moving gave us a mattress for free and I found a bed frame someone left in our garage attic, so I feel like I saved at least $500 by not buying a bed elsewhere.
We have locked in our home refinance rate. We will drop 5 years off our loan and basically be making the exact same payment due to the interest rate drop. Woohoo!
Post by maudefindlay on Jan 8, 2021 9:02:28 GMT -5
We had stock that DH started buying about 18 yrs ago that was bought out at the end of 2020 and we made 7 figures off of it. It has been exciting and also at times paralyzing trying to figure out how to manage it.
I refi'd last year. I cut 2 years off and the payment is about the same. I had 22 left on a 30 and now I am in a 20.
I just upped H's retirement contribution by $75/pay period, so $150 more per month. We're nowhere near maxing him out or anything but this feels good anyway.
Post by Velar Fricative on Jan 8, 2021 9:12:46 GMT -5
I've been using YNAB for a while but DH never got into it and it's very clear that when there are two adults in a household bringing money in and spending money, one person sticking with a budget is basically useless (but obviously better than no one paying attention). Well, we had a CTJ talk a few weeks ago and he is finally on board. And it's clear he's finally actually thinking about what he buys, how much he spends, etc. I think he assumed using YNAB meant he'd never be able to buy, like, soap when he needs it and he realized that was ridiculous for him to think. So this is a big win!
We also are in the middle of a refinance that will save us a lot and plan to use that savings to pay off our remaining SLs quicker.
We had stock that DH started buying about 18 yrs ago that was bought out at the end of 2020 and we made 7 figures off of it. It has been exciting and also at times paralyzing trying to figure out how to manage it.
Wow, congrats! Are you willing to share how you've decided to manage it - I guess I mean if you are investing it vs doing something else, are you investing it yourselves or do you have an advisor etc? That does sound scary.
I checked our vanguard account and we have over $1 million! I almost fell out of my chair. That sounds like so much money and if you told me 15 years ago we’d have that much saved I would have laughed you out of the room. With our student loans and low salaries just starting out any saving seemed out of reach. I also haven’t worked consistently bc we move so often. To hit that before we are 40 (just barely - my bday is in a month haha) is huge for us.
Refi'ing our house with same payment but shaving about 5 years off the term. No leftover credit card balances after Christmas Approved to WAH until July so saving 10 hours of commute time/week plus gasoline and childcare expenses that equal 30% of our household take home pay!
We've hit a decent amount in the 529s we have for BB because of ridiculous rates of return in 2020 - so we are thinking we can scale back on savings for her in those accounts earlier than we thought.
And I finally rolled over a 401k from a previous employer that I was dragging my feet on getting done. It was super simple and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner.
We didn't have many landmark milestones in 2020, but recent things we've achieved: - Paid off an SL in 6/2020 - Paid off a car in 10/2020 - Dropped from 2 kids in daycare to 1 kid in daycare, with my older child starting K in public school. That brought an end to the 13 month reign of financial terror that was two in daycare. - Combined remaining student loan balance = $91,382.73. That's down from $220,657.46 when I first started my spreadsheet in August 2012, and around $260k in 2007. - We got our e-fund up over 6 months worth of income (it's actually about 7.5 months' income now).
Retirement has kind of been on autopilot, but I'd like to look at increasing that.
We're house hunting, somewhat unexpectedly. We'd been planning and saving to renovate, but we're now starting to lean away from that idea, due to costs and limitations of what we can achieve even after ideal renos. I'm sad about the change in plans, excited about the possibility, and stressed about the idea of listing our house, selling during covid, and all that. I also don't do "limbo" well. A gorgeous house spurred this decision, and it went in 48 hours on the market, with 6 offers. Now we're just sitting tight with the knowledge that we're probably living in somebody else's future house. This is going to psychologically itch.
We had stock that DH started buying about 18 yrs ago that was bought out at the end of 2020 and we made 7 figures off of it. It has been exciting and also at times paralyzing trying to figure out how to manage it.
Wow, congrats! Are you willing to share how you've decided to manage it - I guess I mean if you are investing it vs doing something else, are you investing it yourselves or do you have an advisor etc? That does sound scary.
We are still deciding somewhat. We put it in a brokerage account and started investing from there. DH started an investment club (see my posts on that on ML). We are going to pay off our mortgage (which is our only debt) and pay cash for everything moving forward. I bought a new car last week. We are looking for a lot to build on or an existing house on a larger lot to renovate. We looked at several investment advisors who came highly recommended, but their portfolios showed they don't do much more than what we have been doing on our own, not enough to warrant paying them 50k a year. I'm a SAHM currently, but we are maxed out on DH's 401k. So we are looking for advice at the moment and reading lots of articles and asking tons of questions. We also got an inheritance in 2020 as well. So when the world is safe for travel again we will be doing that.
Wow, congrats! Are you willing to share how you've decided to manage it - I guess I mean if you are investing it vs doing something else, are you investing it yourselves or do you have an advisor etc? That does sound scary.
We are still deciding somewhat. We put it in a brokerage account and started investing from there. DH started an investment club (see my posts on that on ML). We are going to pay off our mortgage (which is our only debt) and pay cash for everything moving forward. I bought a new car last week. We are looking for a lot to build on or an existing house on a larger lot to renovate. We looked at several investment advisors who came highly recommended, but their portfolios showed they don't do much more than what we have been doing on our own, not enough to warrant paying them 50k a year. I'm a SAHM currently, but we are maxed out on DH's 401k. So we are looking for advice at the moment and reading lots of articles and asking tons of questions. We also got an inheritance in 2020 as well. So when the world is safe for travel again we will be doing that.
Holy crap. Vanguard's fee is .3%, which is approx $3000/year on $1 million. Yeah, no way I'd pay what you were quoted either.
Thanks for sharing. I was just curious. I did see your investment club posts but hadn't connected them to you. I tried to find a local club several years ago and struck out. I'd love to do one and when my kids get older, may have the mental bandwidth to create one for several women I know.
Post by covergirl82 on Jan 8, 2021 10:58:51 GMT -5
Our e-fund is at $11,000 (we started it in March 2018), which is higher than the goal of $10,000 by the end of 2020; that provides 3-4 months of income replacement if one of us loses our job.
Our HHI increased when I got a new job in Feb 2020. Higher base pay (around $7K annually) and 10% (target) annual incentive. I was not eligible for an incentive with my previous job.
I increased my 2020 retirement contributions (employee + employer) by around 50% over 2019. When I started my new job, I increased my contributions from 6% to 8% (which equals about $90 more per pay period (almost a 50% increase)); I get a 3% employer match (old employer was 2%) and profit sharing contribution (target is 3%; old employer had a flat 2% annual contribution).
We did a cash-out refi to combine our mortgage (30 year) and home equity loan we had on our vacant land (intended to be where we'll eventually build a retirement home) to a single 15 year mortgage at a 3.25% interest rate. (The old mortgage had a 3.5% interest rate and HEL had a 4.625% interest rate.) We received about $9,100 cash at closing, and immediately paid it to the new mortgage principal. We didn't owe a payment in November (due to the refi), but made a payment slightly higher than the current principal payment amount. As of December, the principal balance was back to where we were pre-refi (in total between the mortgage and HEL). With paying more in principal each month and a lower overall interest rate, plus additional principal payments monthly and from annual bonuses, we should be able to pay the mortgage off by the time DS starts college in 2028.
DH and I are both continuing to WFH; we haven't heard of an end date. We're saving hundreds of dollars each month in gas and not buying meals at work, as well as keep miles off our vehicles (both are paid off). I may be able to continue to WFH (or maybe only have to go into the office max 1 day per week) indefinitely.
Our net worth reached 7 figures last year. It's weird because we still have massive debt from a home renovation and barely any true liquid savings, so it doesn't really *feel* like we are doing better off. But we've been doing good on retirement and putting money away for the kids.
We are investors in a fast casual restaurant that has been doing well during the pandemic (lower labor cost, high amount of take-out orders). We netted about $46k profit over the past year (best year by far).
Post by sometimesrunner on Jan 8, 2021 13:50:17 GMT -5
These are so fun to read! We didn't achieve any big milestones this year, but we did have some good things happen--we paid off my car, continued to max out our 401ks and roth iras, and refinanced to 2.5%. This year DD will go to kindergarten, so we'll be done with daycare!!!! We'll also pay off our windows in April, so by mid-year we'll have an extra $2k/month. I'm hoping to save 1/2 to our vacation fund and invest the other 1/2. I should probably up the kids college funds since we're woefully behind on that. I'm also making it my goal to use YNAB for the entire year. I usually get burned out sometime during tax season and give up.
Post by imojoebunny on Jan 8, 2021 20:09:02 GMT -5
We are officially retired, as of this week! We are looking forward to spending time with each other and our kids, who will be home for another 7 years. It is strange, to actually achieve the goal we set out to achieve.
I got a promotion in December that came with a 15% raise and an extra 10% of salary in bonus pay.
We have not been financially smart for the past several years. Finally this year we will pay off all CC debt and fully fund the emergency fund. My 401k will be just shy of maxed out. I may decide to put an extra $1K in there in December to reach that goal.
Next year we will be able to cash flow some major home projects and finally put significantly more in the boys’ savings accounts.
In 2020 we were the most financially stable since about 2013 when we started having financial trouble. Heading into the pandemic, we had paid off all our CC debt, moved to a house with a MUCH smaller mortgage, and built up savings.
So when DH got furloughed in April, we didn’t panic. Unemployment ran out long ago but thanks to our savings (and the federal UI supplement that allowed us to add to our savings) we are still doing okay. His company did a 5 figure lay off but he survived AND he is still getting his annual (small) raise when he goes back.
It’s been an emotional year, but several times I have been brought to tears thinking how lucky we are. It could have been so much worse for us this year.
My 401k hit 4x my salary this week. Granted I’m a couple months past the 45 year mark, but it’s close enough! I feel like I’m finally seeing progress after years of contributing at least 10% even when I was making peanuts.