Detailed Financial Picture – June 2014

May’s Numbers

As of June 4, 2014, we are $432,197.60 in debt (that includes the mortgage).  Without the mortgage, we’re at $17,110 in debt.  That’s our auto loan.  We currently have $1,040,786.32 in assets (including our house).  Our retirement accounts are at $380,035.80 Our Net Worth is $608,588.72  (includes house and mortgage), up from $591,725.97 last month (2.85% increase).

My student loans are paid off! – just less than 5 years after I finished my degrees  (graduated in Dec 2009).   Now, the only consumer debt we have left (besides the mortgage) is our car loan, and it’s at 0%, so there’s not really a fire lit under us to pay it off.  I “borrowed” from June’s budget to pay off the student loans on May 30, so technically, the loans are in our budget for this month.

My 401(k) contribution hasn’t made its way into my account yet – just waiting so I can roll it over into Fidelity and take advantage of *much* lower fees.

I no longer have a tax-deferred savings account available to me, and I increased my federal tax withheld to not have a surprise next April.  Based on some paycheck calculators online, I’ll be getting about the same amount every month.  Dad’s paycheck will be about $250 less every paycheck (bi-weekly) because we’ll be using his health/vision/dental insurance.  So, we end up with a bit less in after-tax income according to my estimates.  I may need to adjust our tax withholding in the future, but I’d rather have a pleasant surprise next year than owing a lot of money – which has happened 4 of the last 5 years.  We just both selected “married, but withhold at single rate” on our W4 forms – even though we have a kiddo and about $24,000 in itemized deductions.

The extra ~6,500 (estimated) I’ll get from accrued paid time off will be used to refill our emergency fund back to $5k plus some.

Our focus will be 3 months of minimum living expenses in the emergency fund – without contributing to an investment account, and then contributing 20% of my gross salary to a taxable investment account, *then* paying off the car loan.  If we do get a 401(k) by the end of the year, I’ll have them take up to 100% of my salary for Nov/Dec and we’ll live off the emergency fund through the beginning of the year – depends on when they get it as to what percentage I’ll contribute.

We’ve moved into “no spend” mode – and our goal this month is to not spend more than $200 on food/eating out/beer/wine.  We have some wine at the house already, and we’ve agreed to only drink some on weekends, and we’re just not going to go out this month at all.  It’s been 6 whole days and I haven’t stopped anywhere to get a snack or a soda, or eat my lunch out (and pay for it).  Yes, this is an accomplishment for me, and where most of my “fun money” goes 🙂  Hopefully, this will break me of that habit by doing this for 2-3 months.  Then I just won’t care.

Debt (in the order we’re paying it down):

  • Line of credit (8.75%): $0.00
  • Chase (4.99% for life): $ 0.00 
  • Student loans (aggregated 4.21%):  $0.00 (-4944.49)
  • Car loan (0%): $17,110 (-490.00)
  • Mortgage (4.125%): $ 415,087.60 (-707.43)

Total paid off in May: $6,141.92

8 thoughts on “Detailed Financial Picture – June 2014

  1. Done by Forty

    Hooray for paying off the student loans! That’s rad. Eating out and drinking out are often where my fun money goes, too. It’s tough because I think that’s actually not a terrible use of our money, as it’s satisfying a social need. But it can get out of hand.

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    1. Mom Post author

      I have a few things I want to save for – like a new desktop computer, and a new iPhone (my home button is getting flaky). So, I need to buckle down and save for those things instead of eating out at McDs for lunch – not too much social interaction going on there, just pure laziness on my part. I’ve been taking my lunch all week and doing pretty well at it. We even entertained a friend for dinner tonight – without spending any extra!

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    1. Mom Post author

      We still have some debt not counting our mortgage – but it’s at 0%, and not setting anything on fire at the moment. Unfortunately, our mortgage is huge, but the value of the house makes up for it. I believe that we own about 27% of the house at the moment, maybe as much as 30%. We’re hoping to translate that equity into a smaller “forever” home when we retire – and it will go far in many places.

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    1. Mom Post author

      We’re not actively trying to pay off the mortgage early at this time. We just “round up” our payment to the nearest hundred. We’re pretty sure that this will not be our “forever” house, so we don’t see a need to pay it off any quicker. We may not even be in this house at the end of the year. If things change, we may pay it off quicker, but it’ll be a last priority.

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