Awesome, welcome to the challenge and the forum!
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Ok, month one here we come!
This month, I put £1000 into my ISA, and £851 (not including employer contribution) into my pension.
Monthly: £1851
Total: £1851
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I’m in. Didn’t get to report that I almost reached my goal in 2020 despite being careless in my takeout spending (it was bad). So it’s doable. My goal is to save €21K and this include:
- Mortgage principal
- Savings accounts (mine and the kids)
- Tax advantage accounts (mine and the kids)
I won’t include MrGeek’s portion of the mortgage and his savings and retirement accounts. The stretch goal would be to reach the goal without the kids accounts.
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I don’t know what we will have this month but I’m all set up in the new YNAB for theoretically better cashflow management…
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let’s do this! between planned moving and medical expenses I’ll not sure I’ll make the goal, but that’s what I thought last year, and it turned out I ended up saving a lot more money and doing a lot fewer activities than I’d intended 
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Already hitting things that might help us and things that might hurt us:
Home repairs that may end up being massively expensive
Raises unfrozen, plus possibly ANOTHER promotion for husband.
We’ll probably see how this all shakes out by the end of the next week?
Another aspect is I’ll be vaccinated against covid soon, and might take a shift or two per week after if the right case comes along.
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Well January is as always, some big payments (car insurance for the year, other insurances) plus a technical splurge. Let’s wait and see how it will look like at the end of the first month.
I have set up a automated payment to another account beginning February, 1000 Euro at the beginning of the month. I am curious about myself 
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January numbers are in –
$797.22 - 401k *
$500 - emergency fund
$500 - student loans **
= $1797.22
*this doesn’t include employer match as i don’t even partially vest until the summer
**no interest now extended until the fall - YESSS!
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I’m digging the pie chart!
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I really like your chart. It’s the doughnut shaped version of those thermometer bulb diagrams. :3 And therefore makes me think about doughnuts instead of being sick, WAY better.
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i hate those thermometer visualizations so much!!
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January numbers:
- Voluntary Super: $500.52
- Mortgage Paydown**: $1418
- Regular savings: $1000
Total $2918.52
**this is extra money into mortgage above minimum amounts, not the equity built
@timeforustogo I like your pie chart, and now I want a pie chart but I dont think I can be bothered making a chart
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Lol I’m dropping to the 21% challenge because… I’m quitting and we’re gonna have no income in a couple weeks?
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I am so excited for you for the reasons you’re dropping out! Yay!
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yay for quitting!
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We saved a couple of hundred this month. I won’t know until Saturday when I do my budget. I expected saving to be low for these first few months anyway, and increase once we don’t have so many medical costs of keeping me pregnant.
ETA: $450 saved this month.
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So…due to unforeseen impending marriage, I need to shift from having a traditional IRA to having a solo 401K or SEP IRA. Trying to decide which I want to go for. I enjoy having the IRA as my place to throw some tax-advantaged money in on days that the stock market dips and I generally stock it up.
Solo 401K
- more work to administer
- Can contribute up to $19,500 as an individual + 25% of net profit. So my max would be much higher
SEP IRA:
- less of a headache to admin
- the lesser of 25% of adjusted net earnings or $57,000 for 2020 - this will likely be in the ~$2000-$5000 range for OMD this year
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What’s the difference in admin effort?
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January savings:
$290.74 to 401k
$550 to IRA
$750 to savings
Total: $1590.74
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Well, direct deposit isn’t in yet (and shouldn’t be since there are two more days in the month), but payroll has run so I can see what things will look like the day after tomorrow. Takehome is down by $608 from December, partly due to not having an overload course and party due to paying out 7/5 of benefits premiums in the spring months to cover the summer when faculty are off payroll.
So, savings through my withholdings:
- Pension: $353.75
- HSA: $645.00*
- 457B: $1,800.00
Total $2,798.75
This puts us a little ahead of the goal, but not as much as it might look like because I get paid only 10 months of the year.
*Matched this month because my employer matches $750/year, but not counting that in my total saved.
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