This year, we contributed $70997.76 (101.43% of planned) to our retirement accounts, and have gained $108,709.34 (298.25% of planned) in investment value.   11k of that is still waiting to be invested – we’re on the cusp of whether we can contribute to a Roth and if so, how much. As of right now (using preliminary numbers from final paychecks), we won’t be able to contribute the full 11k.  Anything we can’t contribute to a Roth will go into our taxable account.  I just need to wait until we do our taxes.

2017 was a good year financially.  We made several large purchases, deck materials, a piano, tonsils and adenoids out, and still managed to contribute more than 50% of our take home pay towards retirement – I can’t say it hasn’t been tight at times though.  I got a slightly higher than standard raise this year, and Dad got a raise (apparently, at his new company, that’s less frequent than “regularly”).  We’re moving more and more into the Roth phase out income bracket.  There are worse things than raises though.

I’m not looking forward to the new tax laws restricting state, local, and property taxes, as we pay a *lot* of those, well more than the 10k limit (heck, our property taxes alone are higher than 10k).  There’s not much we can do about that other than move, and that’s not a move we’re ready to make yet. Depending on the implementation, we may also have a much higher MAGI under the new tax code and will push us even further into the Roth phase out bracket – or even into the not able to contribute range.  We’re still going to save the 11k, but probably put more of it into our taxable account next year.

This quarter, we contributed $15,780.11 to our retirement accounts, and have gained $21,516.55 in investment value.  That averages out to just under $5,300 per month on the contributions, and just over $7,100 per month on investment value.

We’ve survived Daughter Person’s tonsillectomy and adenoid removal, and she’s doing great now – she can breathe at night so much easier.  The total cost there was about $2900, and we met our deductible, so our health care for the rest of the year is 10% of the insurance cost unless we meet our out of pocket amount (I doubt we would).  We’re taking advantage of that for any delayed/elective visits for the next six months.

We’ve made the almost final purchases on our deck materials – the railing and the decking at least.  I suspect we may need to buy some smaller items like more screws or a lag bolt or two, but the major purchases are done – and we’ve gotten the cash back from some of it (one of the charges cleared after the closing date of our credit card, so we haven’t seen the cash back from it yet.

We’re also on track to contribute 11k to our Roths at the beginning of next year if we’re able.  I’m putting aside $917/mth in a cash account for now, and it will either go to our Roths or to our taxable account once I know if we can contribute to the Roths.  I’m not counting that money in our contributions yet however.

Things are looking good for fully retiring in 2025/2026!

2017 Totals

In 2017 we contributed $31,346.44 (44.78% of our goal of 70k), and we gained $51,246.68 in investment value (81.57% of our planned total).

Let’s make this easier, a quarterly report (although I’m still recording it monthly for my own records).

This quarter, we contributed $15,566.33 to our retirement accounts, and have gained $29,730.13 in investment value.  That averages out to just over $5,100 per month.

Next month will see an uptick in contributions, all because of cash back from our recent spending, and I suspect the following two months will as well.  We spent quite a bit on the deck wood – the framing is almost complete.  We should finish the joists this weekend.  Then we get to build the stairs.

We also made another large purchase.  Not completely unexpected, but not 100% planned for, but the opportunity arose, and we took it.  $6300 for a baby grand piano.  It’s a 1982 Sojin (Daewoo), reconditioned, and beautiful.  And, yes that is the easy piano edition of the Hamilton Soundtrack.  It was an anniversary gift from Dad.  We had been looking at “real” pianos to replace our digital piano, as it was starting to get in the way of our progress.  Unfortunately, the way our house is designed, an upright will literally not fit anywhere without blocking a door, window, (built-in) bookcase or fireplace.  So, I demanded that we get a baby grand, and it couldn’t be shiny ebony (black).  We visited Rick Jones Pianos in the DC area while we were visiting, and they had this beauty.  Met all of my aesthetic requirements, and met all of Dad’s playability requirements.  So, we bought it.  The price we paid included the piano, bench, a humidity system to protect it and delivery to our house near Pittsburgh.  It also came with one free tuning, and as long as we maintain it, we can trade it in for what we paid for it towards another piano – that’s likely to be a very long time away.

At the end of this month, Daughter Person is getting her tonsils and adenoids out, and we’re paying for that – definitely meeting our deductible this year, but taking advantage of the cash back!

2017 Totals

In 2017 we contributed $15,566.33 (22.24% of our goal of 70k), and we gained $29,730.13 in investment value (81.57% of our planned total).

We contributed $10,864.10 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained $11,645.82 in investment value this month.  $6500 of that is still in a savings account waiting to see if we can contribute it to a Roth or our taxable account (I’m picking up TurboTax on my way home from work today to get started).

2016 was a lot nicer to us in investment gains, but doesn’t quite make up for 2015’s losses, although we’re only about 10k lower than our planned account balance at the end of the year.

We made our goals this year, thanks to a lot of cash back on our Fidelity card.  We lost Dad’s awesome match and HSA contribution in May, and are down to a 4% match, and $500 HSA contribution (last year).  This year, his company is contributing $1500 to our HSA, spaced out over 12 months.  And our insurance is even better ($30/mth to cover all three of us with a HDHP!), with a lower deductible.

We’re planning on fully funding our Roths this year, or putting that money in our taxable account.  I’m putting aside $917/mth in our budget for that, which will get me to 11k by next December.  We’re also upping our base contribution to our taxable account to $300/mth (which will then be supplemented by our cash back), and we’re coming out about even given the loss of Dad’s matching from his old company.

We’re still shooting for a contribution of 70k, and an increase of about 6% over the year, and if we continue to make it, we can retire in 2026.

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $70,115.73 (100.17% of our goal of 70k), and we gained $47,608.99 in investment value (156.59% of our planned total).