i put another $300 into my savings account and am now at $1000/$1200 savings for the year!
10 Likes
I no wanna make lectures. Update time!
I did manage to make part time daycare work, at least for now. Baby is two days at a center, one day with a friend, two days at home with me. Plus the center started doing a discount early in the pandemic for essential workers and I guess I am one? By virtue of needing childcare for my job during a pandemic I am essential? IDK, but I’m not going to question a further 20% reduction in costs. Now if I can just switch her to generic baby formula and get cloth diapers to work…
529 still TBD. If I get through tenure and stick around through the college years she can go here on a tuition waiver, so maybe I can pay for my own retirement after all. Anyway.
August: (I almost typed July again. What is time?)
Salary: $4,382
Total Income: $4,382
Loan: $150
Reserve: $600
403b: $219
IRA: $500
Total Savings: $1,469
August Savings: 34%
2020 Savings: 37%
2020 Total: $15,053
75% of the way to $20,000 at 67% of the year. Next month salary increase and maybe still retirement match? I might make it after all.
7 Likes
August
YTD post-tax income including stimulus : $31,979.22
August post-tax income: $3,235 (Day Job + Business)
Cash Savings YTD: $16,213
Traditional IRA: $2,231.84
YTD Total: $18,444.84 /$20,000 (92% Total of goal at 66% of the way through the year)
August Percentage: 59.8% of post tax income
YTD Percentage With Stimulus: 57.6% of post tax income
YTD Percentage Without Stimulus: 59.9% of post tax income
??? of pre-tax income; will calculate end of year
4 Likes
Apparently it is now September?
August pre-tax income $2400
August all saved $648.90
26.5%!
9 Likes
I just looked at August numbers and realized I’m in the black for the year. I’ve been monitoring spending but not income until now. It turns out that so far I’ve saved just over 20% of my income? I’m still not sure how this is possible, but my reduced spending in pandemic times has certainly helped.
Through the first 8 months of the year I’ve spent $19k of $25k income (24% savings). My regular monthly income dropped by $900 (From $2500 to $1600) in August, though, and will stay at the lower level through the end of the year. I think whether I can end 2020 with 20% savings will all come down to December dividend payouts. For the first time, though, I think it is possible.
12 Likes
Awesome job!!!
Oh wow. This is totally doable for me! It feels like I’m cheating because 80% of it is debt payments. Still getting used to the idea that paying on debt is sort of like saving and not just punishment for Past Rhubarb’s bad decisions. But wow, feeling a little blown away. I never thought saving 10% of my income, let alone 20% is something I would be able to do. Diving in and tracking and calculating things instead of just feeling bad about the general state of my finances is eye-opening.
August
YTD pre-tax income Job # 1
$35,154.58
YTD pre-tax income Job # 2
$1,168.02
Stimulus
$1,200
Fellowship
$3,000
YTD income at August 31, 2020: $40,522.60
Expected/estimated total 2020 pre-tax income: $56,000
Goal: $11,200
YTD debt payments (principle only): $8659.57
YTD cash savings (most of this is from July and August): $1,326.71
Roth IRA contributions: $150
YTD savings: 10,136.28
90.5% of goal at 66% of year
15 Likes
I am early for this one, but nothing will change in the next few days.
I did finally count both my stimulus check and a commission check that I received back in May this month, both as income and as savings since it worked in both categories. I had just been letting them float until I figured out what I was going to do with them.
September pre-tax income $9772
September all saved $7209.81
73.8%!!!
This will never happen again, LOL. I paid off my house which was mostly principal payment, therefore counted as “savings.”
At this point, I am at 48.9% of pre-tax income saved this year. I will take it!
Huh. I could just possibly squeak out $20,000 saved for the year depending on my commission check at the end of the year. I am at $15,273 now. I did not join that challenge because I thought there would be zero chance of it happening. Crazy. I will have to keep track of that too!
8 Likes
It’s never too late to join!
3 Likes
End of September!
I somehow missed August. Whoops. I could go back and attempt to combine the two months, but eh. I’m just going to simplify things and report in with the annual running totals and get back to normal reporting next month.
2020 annual savings running totals:
$6,311 - 401K
$180 - Roth IRA
$1,670 - Emergency fund
$600 - Car fund
Total: $8,761 / $11,250 = 78% of the way there.
Pretty much right on schedule now. I changed my Roth contributions to $30/month instead of $20 starting in October. I know it’s not much, but I suppose it’s better than nothing!
6 Likes
Oops forgot about August. Honestly August and September blurred together for me. I had an unexpected gift in August, as well as income from a bike sale in September, so was able to pay off the rest of my debt entirely, and also add to my savings substantially. I changed my goal to save 40% of gross income+stimulus+windfall money.
Net Income- August and September
Paychecks- $4716 (includes employer 401k contribution)
Gift - $2000
Bike sale- $6000
Total- $12716
Savings:
$308- 401K
$300- Car Fund
$5853.00- E Fund
$2000- Debt repayment (medical and CC)
Total- $8461.00
Savings rate for August/Sept combined= 67%. This was an extremely unusual two months, and will probably never be repeated again!
2020 annual savings running totals:
$1984 401K
$400 Traditional IRA
$6908 E Fund
$600 Car fund
$7176.84 Debt Repayment
Total: $17068.84 / $20320.00 (40% of gross income+401k Match+stimulus+windfall)
8 Likes
September
Debt payments (principal only): $218.63
Cash savings: $562.74
Roth IRA contribution: $50
Expected/estimated total 2020 pre-tax income: $56,000
Goal: $11,200
YTD debt payments (principal only): $8,878.20
YTD cash savings: $1,889.45
YTD Roth IRA contributions: $200
YTD Savings: $10,967.65
97.9% of goal at 75% of year
So close!
7 Likes
Hey, they paid me! Also, I am teaching two overload classes, for which they did not pay me a penny in August, so the supplemental pay will be distributed over only four months. Thus I learn they recalculate annual pay for our “compensation tracker” each month by the simple expedient of taking that month’s gross pay and multiplying by 10, then comparing to the previous month’s payX10 and reporting an “event” if anything is different. Thus I thought very briefly that they’d screwed up and given me a giant raise, which sadly they have not.
So, if we count the IRAs we funded in March (from at least partially last year’s money, but we have plenty saved now to fund next year’s IRAs, so…
Saved in retirement funds (pension, HSA, 457b, and IRAs): 63.4% of gross to date.
Without the IRAs: 32.4% of gross.
Now, that’s my gross. He makes money, too, so this is less exciting than it could be. But the 32.4% figure is straight off my paystub.
10 Likes
Considering the multiple financial hits my little family has had this year, I was astonished to sit down and figure out that I’ve saved $10,555.94 this year so far.
This might actually be close to 20% of my 2020 income? I’d have to sit down and figure out how many paychecks had the partial furlough in them and do math. $12k-something is 20% at full pay.
7 Likes
Does this quell your anxiety brain at all!? because this is awesome and you managed to do it in a sh*tshow of a year where you had less income!
2 Likes
Part time gets even cheaper when the baby can only go one day due to COVID precautions. That isn’t really a win, because it makes everything else more stressful, but at least I’m not paying for something I can’t use. Generic formula is a success! And I can buy four containers at once for even more savings, so now the cost per month is less than half what it was before.
Got a salary increase and retirement match, which both appear for the first time in September. Retirement match goes in income and savings, salary increase only goes in income, so overall a slight decrease in savings percentage.
September:
Salary: $4,515
Match: $113
Total Income: $4,628
Loan: $150
Reserve: $500
403b: $339
IRA: $500
Total Savings: $1,489
September Savings: 32%
2020 Savings: 36%
2020 Total: $16,541
$3,459 to go to $20,000. Barring emergencies, I should make it. This was an expensive vet month, though. Not enough to dip into reserve savings, but there isn’t much wiggle room left for more expensive months.
4 Likes
Maybe? Honestly I’m totally flabbergasted. I knew I was saving, largely because I completely stopped shopping, going out, attending events, and traveling. But I had no idea I’d managed that much. I can’t quite get my head around this figure.
3 Likes
Yeah, but some expense probably went up (grocery delivery, buying more “treats”?, electricity).
1 Like
October
Debt payments (principal only): $255.57
Cash savings: $400
Roth IRA contribution: $150
Expected/estimated total 2020 pre-tax income: $56,000
Goal: $11,200
YTD debt payments (principal only): $9133.77
YTD cash savings: $2,289.45
YTD Roth IRA contributions: $350
YTD Savings: $11,773.22
105% of goal at 83 1/3% of year
21% of expected pretax income saved!
I did it!!!
11 Likes
Congrats!! I delivered your badge!
1 Like