Financial Challenges Support Group
This community is for people who are struggling to meet financial obligations of any kind. Financial challenges include everything from the day-to-day challenges of making ends meet to managing credit card debt to bankruptcy. Get support from others who are going through similar obstacles on the road back to financial stability.
Entering the final week of the first month of the year and I have a pretty good idea of where my goals will stand, at least for this early in the year...
The major goal that I want to achieve is to save 50% of my gross pay. I'm done receiving paychecks for this month and have saved 49.911% of my gross. I can't get much closer then that. In fact, I will pass 50% on Friday, the 31st. Every Friday, I remove $20-$25 from my checking and put it in an emergency fund. That little amount will put me over 50%.
The other side of the coin, in January I have saved 61.34% of my take home pay.
February might be close to this goal as well. I should get a decent tax return and all of that will go into savings.
When things start falling into a routine I can see saving 30-35% of my gross and 40-45% of my take home.
The reason for the drop is because this month I didn't have to pay a light bill or rent. I paid both of them in December before I went to England.
I will still try for that 50% of gross, but I'm being a realist... just not sure if I can do it. If I can stay close to 40-45% of my take home pay, then when July comes around I'll increase my contribution to a 401-K.
January 2013, I was contributing 2% of my check. By July, I increased it to 5%. This January I increased it again to 10%. This July, I am hoping to increase it again to 15%. Ultimate goal with this is 25%.
One other good piece of news was my credit card. I purchased my mattress at a perfect time. Payment isn't due till March. So, I paid 34% of it already and by the time the actual bill rolls around I won't need to dip into savings to pay it.
At work, I created a new cake a maple nut apricot combo everyone loves it. Which means sales, marketing, and CEO. It will now be sent to a disturber for a hopeful sale. And to the University to have tests done on it for shelf life. I am hoping for 9 months to a year.
Anyway, a pretty good start to the new year...
The major goal that I want to achieve is to save 50% of my gross pay. I'm done receiving paychecks for this month and have saved 49.911% of my gross. I can't get much closer then that. In fact, I will pass 50% on Friday, the 31st. Every Friday, I remove $20-$25 from my checking and put it in an emergency fund. That little amount will put me over 50%.
The other side of the coin, in January I have saved 61.34% of my take home pay.
February might be close to this goal as well. I should get a decent tax return and all of that will go into savings.
When things start falling into a routine I can see saving 30-35% of my gross and 40-45% of my take home.
The reason for the drop is because this month I didn't have to pay a light bill or rent. I paid both of them in December before I went to England.
I will still try for that 50% of gross, but I'm being a realist... just not sure if I can do it. If I can stay close to 40-45% of my take home pay, then when July comes around I'll increase my contribution to a 401-K.
January 2013, I was contributing 2% of my check. By July, I increased it to 5%. This January I increased it again to 10%. This July, I am hoping to increase it again to 15%. Ultimate goal with this is 25%.
One other good piece of news was my credit card. I purchased my mattress at a perfect time. Payment isn't due till March. So, I paid 34% of it already and by the time the actual bill rolls around I won't need to dip into savings to pay it.
At work, I created a new cake a maple nut apricot combo everyone loves it. Which means sales, marketing, and CEO. It will now be sent to a disturber for a hopeful sale. And to the University to have tests done on it for shelf life. I am hoping for 9 months to a year.
Anyway, a pretty good start to the new year...
I'm still commiting to 10% of my intake into my prudent reserve. However, my savings is taking a nosedive. However that is really because the past week was where I received my smallest weekly income.
My bill was $60 and I still have a $35 credit for March... so next month, if I stay the way I am, my electric bill will be about $25...
I'm working on my new year financial goals too - I am not a frugal person and I know that - so I choose to work two jobs so that it does not affect my financial future negatively. I am now working on a 10 year retirement plan.......along with my short and medium term plans - savings, and being mortgage free. in 10 years time I will be 55 and hope to be semi retired - ie working 3 days a week.
the only debt I currently have is my mortgage - and it will be gone in about 3 years.
Long term? My goal is to move to England. And semi-retire there. I hope to have enough savings in place to meet the UKs immigration laws and then find part-time work.
The reason Im trying to save so much now is two fold. First Im 56 and got a very late start at saving for retirement. Second is because of Social Security. This program was designed to help supplement retirement. For me, its going to be a majority of my retirement.
So what I am doing now is trying to live on what I would be getting today if I was on Social Security. A simple example using simple numbers. Lets say I make $100 a month and social security at age 62 is $58 a month. Im trying to live on less then $58 a month now. So out of that $100 that I earn Im saving $50 and living on $50 so in theory I could live entirely on Social Security and still save some too.
I hope to make up any shortages, like for medical insurance or prescriptions with my 401-K and the savings for my first couple of years in England
By semi-retired I mean no more then 30 hours a week at one job. Preferably, Id rather have two part time jobs of 16 hours each. Just simple jobs, like stacking shelves in a grocery store. So at the end of the day I could forgot about work and enjoy my freedom
For the month I saved 51.8% of my gross pay and 64.2% of my take home pay ended up being saved.
Also filed my taxes tonight... it's the first time in five years I don't owe money. I do owe the federal a bit but my state is a pretty good refund... when that arrives, that too will go into savings...
A good start to 2014...