Umm, that’s amazing and also I need to get to designing those stickers soon!
You need to join 2020 Challenge: Race to the max! if you haven’t yet!
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Thanks! I am torn on saying it’s amazing. We are very aware that it is amazing that we have ended up through a combination of good luck, hard work, and timing to be in a position that we can do this. But it’s like entrepreneurs who say that they had success because they worked hard. Working hard & smart was required for their success, but it was not the only thing that contributed to it.
So I don’t think we’re amazing for being able to do this. (Not least because some of it is because the Shadowy One’s former employer acted in an unexpected way). There are many more amazing folks on this forum who don’t have this level of cash flow or lower ongoing expenses because late stage capitalism hasn’t valued their contribution as much as it should, or they have had bad luck on timing or order of events, or have prioritized critical caregiving for themselves or others.
And alas, due to the shadowy one’s uncertain job situation and their anticipated salary and my annoying tax situation, the tax advantaged max is actually less than the target I’ve set for our household here, and most of our contributions will be going to taxable accounts.
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Savings check-in for January:
- $391.67 (employer contribution to retirement account)
- $1300 (employer contribution to HSA, which, so far, I’ve rarely needed to use)
- $319.65 (added to my emergency fund)
Total: $1939.30
The $1300 contribution to the HSA is only once a year but since I already have a large buffer in that account, I doubt I’ll eat into what was deposited at the end of January. If I do, I’ll subtract as necessary from my overall total.
I moved in December, so my emergency fund contribution was a lot lower than normal. I’m trying to get $10,000 into that account by September, then I’ll start saving more for retirement and for a down payment on a house.
Saving $20K this year might be a bigger challenge than I anticipated but I’m still going to try. It may be time for a side hustle - I might be the only millenial without one, at this point.
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I can’t even remember what challenges I’m doing, haha. I’ll post on this one!
Yesterday we put $6k in each of our IRAs (went roth this year) and filed our taxes. Since we’re expecting $8k back, we’ll only be “out” $4k of liquid cash which uh… we have a lot of around and since deciding we’re not buying a house soon, is a very good idea to shift. (Turns out you get a big tax return when you pay off your student loans, have a kid, take the medical exemption, and were making a ton more at the start of the year than the end, and your primary breadwinner takes 6 weeks between jobs, lol).
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My first 2020 check-in was a bit delayed, but here goes. My goals were to max my 457 and Roth (approx $25,500).
- 457 plan is set up to max at the end of the year. (I’ve actually got to check and see what happens if I accidentally contribute too much. Depending on if the contribution from my last paycheck of the year hits in 2020 or 2021, I might go over. It seems to take anywhere from 1-10 days to get deposited. If it would cause a big mixup I’ll adjust my contributions toward the end of the year. I’m still counting it as maxing if the money doesn’t hit quite right due to timing. Sadly I can’t log in and change my contributions myself. It involves submitting paper forms and waiting.)
- 2019 Roth is maxed as of today!
- I’ve contributed $1000 to 2020 Roth as of today as well, so I’m right on track to max that out over the course of the year.
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We are definitely going to max out both traditional IRA accounts, since I told the feds we would do that by tax day when I filed. 
I have an appointment with a fiduciary advisor from a company hired by our university system on Tuesday, so I’ve been putting all the numbers together. Definitely still maxing the health savings account, and right now putting in 790 monthly in my 457. But we may be spending just a little bit more than I bring home every month – it’s hard to say what the average is going to look like since December was both property taxes and extra gift and travel expenses. We have enough of a buffer to let it go another couple of months to see, but we may have to adjust something somewhere.
On those potential adjustments: the reduction in my student loan payment will help, and we might be able to cut out a little bit of eating out, but we’ve almost quit doing that since he came home (December again being an exception). Veterinary expenses seem to be our current largest, and those are not changing, so it’s possible I may have to cut back 457 contributions slightly.
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Second check-in for 2020:
$391.67 (employer contribution to retirement)
$819.14 (added to emergency fund)
Monthly total: $1210.81
Overall total: $3150.11 (15.75%)
I’m rethinking which goal I can hit this year. I’m putting nearly $1200 in savings each month right now (not including retirement and including some sinking funds I don’t count toward this challenge) which is nearly 40% of my take home. I could probably do more but not $300-400 more. And, after living super-frugally for years to pay off debt, I’m okay with not maxing out every possible penny of savings for a little while. Heading over to join the 20% crew!
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Cash Savings YTD: $4,787.21
Traditional IRA: $434
YTD Total: $5,218/$20,000 (26% Total of goal at 16% of the way through the year)
Savings will probably slow down significantly in a month- this month was buoyed by tax refund and my unreasonable work schedule that will end ?? April
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- $1,500 Roth IRA 2020
- $380.76 457 plan
- $142.78 mandatory employee contribution
- $414.54 employer contribution
- $0 403(b)
Total YTD: $6,294.06
31.47% to 20k!
Numbers are a bit lower due to my contribution amount to the 457 plan still stuck on their recommended 8% initial contribution amount instead of the $840 that I had planned on doing to max out. Now I’m going to have to do math again to get it right to max by the end of the year.
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This is me too. It took me a very very long time to feel in control of my finances and right now I’m just letting that sink in!
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100%! I’m a frugal person, anyway, but it’s nice not to be so concerned about every single cent now. LIfestyle inflation is real but I think I’m keeping it mostly in check.
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Got most of the way to this challenge plus some mostly-inadvertent market timing today; $12,000 into two traditional IRAs for 2019. Incidental advantage of keeping me out of prison as we’d already filed a tax return saying we were gonna.
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I’m at $3,200/$20k in my savings spot in YNAB for this challenge. According to YNAB’s Income minus Expenses, though, I’ve only added $1,300 to our cash this year. We had a lot of expenses I’d saved for over the previous year. I expect these two number to line up as we go over the year.
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I’m trying to front load my challenge due to planned mat leave from July so I’ve been shovelling $$ into my sinking fund for shares. Jan and Feb I put $3896.64 in each month. I’ll hopefully chunk this into shares over the year. I’m 38.96 % out of 20k, if I can be super frugal until July we might make it!
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As of Feb 29, it looks like we are ~83% towards our goal (not counting contributions at work, which are difficult to disentangle when I’m not on the network).
And thanks to that level of contribution, we only dropped down to where we were in November with this week’s market adjustment…
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First update for me. Last month we took a surprise last minute trip which involved hefty airfares and we ate savings so I avoided posting…
At the end of February we are $2700/AU$29 425.
It doesn’t look great but already this year we’ve paid our annual home insurance premium ($1700), paid all the medical bills for my first trimester of pregnancy ($?), and spent $1700 on flights. I have another $2500-ish in medical bills coming over the next 6 months and otherwise our expenses will hopefully be low. We will cut it close at this rate but it’s still doable.
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Well, depending on how you count it we’re already there. We put the $12k for our IRAs in for 2019, and $12k in for 2020. (We have reliable income numbers for the first time ever this year lol, between me not working and SirB on salary. Huge change from both of us being hourly and having wildly variable incomes year to year that meant it was so much easier to wait to contribute!) So that’s $24k locked away already, on top of 401k and HSA contributions. But, it was cash we already had (sold our house, I’ve been in denial about our inability to buy in Portland where we want LOL) so it doesn’t really count? I dunno. Tracking cash flow is hard when it comes and goes from a large cushion.
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February’s update:
Retirement savings: $900
Savings account: $2740, about half of which was my federal tax refund. Maybe I should raise my W-4 allowances? But I’ve done that in previous years and ended up with a large tax bill, so I’d rather be on the safe side.
That comes to a total of $7500 saved YTD, 37% of my goal saved at 17% of the year gone by.
I’m planning an out-of-pocket surgery that’s probably going to prevent me from being able to save 20k this year; but I’m going to try my best, aim to meet monthly goals, and not beat myself up if I don’t make the goal at the end of the year. This is what I save money for, so I can spend it when I need to!
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As of today I have only saved $4112, which is a bit below where I should be.
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But still a lot!