Now that we are back from our trip to Hawai‘i, I figure it’s time to do my monthly update on our finances. I originally wrote down goals back in July, but I only started looking at it monthly in October when I realized I had completely ignored the goals after I wrote them. In order to be successful, I need to keep track more regularly, so here’s where we are at compared to last month:
Short term goals:
1. Call USAA to see if we can get better insurance rates. I still need to get on this. Any suggestions for somewhere we might get a better rate? USAA does our home, car, and life insurance currently so we get a group discount on them.
2. Open up a separate credit card for work purchases. After I wrote about choosing to use our emergency fund, we had a few more unexpected expenses, and I got cold feet and decided to open a new credit card instead for 15 months zero interest (and a free balance transfer). I decided I would rather have more cash on hand and spread the high bills from the last few months out over a year or so. We will pay this off 100% before the interest charge kicks in.
I plan on paying $500 a month for 10 months, which will pay off the new card 5 months before it would start accruing interest. This wasn’t my favorite choice I’ve ever made, but I would rather keep that $5000 additional in cash in case we ever truly needed it.
I still do plan on opening a travel rewards card, but I still need to do a bit more research before I pick one. Our Alaska Airlines card has treated us very well so far, and thanks to those miles, we paid just $98 out of pocket for 4 round trip tickets to Hawai‘i. That said, we would like to take another plane trip in the next year for sure, and even work expenses won’t be enough to cover another round trip flight for all of us with just the existing card, hence the plan for a new travel card with lots of bonus miles.
3. Move my husband’s TSP and my old job’s 401k to a new account. I thought this was taken care of, but my side hustle had a very strange retirement account set up, so it was only partially transferred to my new Vanguard IRA. The rest I received as a check and will need to be deposited into a new Roth IRA (which has now been set up but I still need to transfer the money). Frustrating, but I will be glad when it’s taken care of and earning more than the 2% it’s been at in the old plan.
4. Finish out “No” Spend November within my budget of $1500. We did a great job keeping things reasonable while we were in Hawai‘i and shouldn’t spend much this week since it’s a Thanksgiving and we don’t host. I’m planning to keep this up in December as well. As we get better at this, I’d love to shrink this number even more. Cooking low cost meals will continue to be key here.
5. Hand make the rest of our Christmas presents. While I started making Christmas presents back in July and have continued working on them since then, I still have some amount left to do. I may have a little but left to spend out of pocket, but I’d really like to stick to 100% home made / cooked / grown presents this year (plus a few experience gifts – like the movie theater tickets I got through credit card rewards).
Long term goals:
1. Determine FI milestones for our own life. I decided I need to first track our expenses 100% to determine an exact FI number and then I can set up milestones from there. We’ve always just worked from a “spend less than you make” mentality (and “pay yourself first” when I was paying off my student loans), but I think we will be able to save more next year with more structure.
2. Pay off remaining $4,782 on our real estate investment. We paid off $646.09 this month, so we now owe $4,135.91.
3. Be intentional about charitable giving. I’ve slowed down on this one for now while we pay off the 0% vet bills etc.
4. Save half our income. This one is pretty self explanatory. We saved about 22% last year, so it will be a really big goal to get to 50%, but not impossible. I will be very very proud of us if we reach this goal.
What are your big financial goals heading into 2018?
Hi there! Enjoying your blog so much!! Is your 50% savings goal based on gross income or net? Does that take into account any pre tax retirement contributions? Curious as I was thinking about how those numbers would shake out for us as well. Thanks!
At this point, gross income, and no pretax contributions because neither of us have an option at work. I don’t think it necessarily matters HOW you track as long as you keep it the same across the board – only thing that really matters is beating yourself 😉
Great goals! Writing everything down is great way to hold yourself accountable. I’m going to do a vision board next month and focus on having a prosperous year!
Thank you! And I agree – writing things down is key to making sure they happen.
I love reading about your financial goals and progress. It has been eye-opening and inspiring! I was especially impressed with how you kept your Hawaii vacation affordable. Keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing (and learning from) your continued progress!
Thank you! It’s honestly been eye opening for me as well writing things down so exactly. We’ve always been “good” with our money but I’m shooting for “great” this coming year!
Wow, it looks like you’re really making progress towards your goals. I wish I could be this motivated. My hubby and I keep making goals, but taking care of a special-needs toddler has this eating out and spending a little more than anticipated!
Thank you! I’m finding writing it down is key – just finishing up a “no” Spend November and it’s amazing how much more we have at the end of the month! So much spending is mindless and NOT worth it. Special needs toddler is a whole ‘nother ballgame though, I’m sure.
My goals are to book more speaking gigs or a training job that allows me to work from home. Save half my income. We have lived on one income for 6 years now (I don’t include inconsistent gigs) so I think we can do it. I would also like to beef up our emergency fund.
Those are some fantastic goals! My suggestion would be to revisit them at least once a month to make sure they stay fresh in your mind 🙂
Great tip! Thank you!
Saving 50% is an awesome goal!! Make sure you are paying yourself first and setting this aside in retirement accounts automatically or in a separate account you can’t touch. I can’t wait for the post all about how you did it 🙂
We managed 52% in November, so I’m hopeful! We have some different investment options other than just retirement accounts so things look a little different than most.