We contributed $4,968.94 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained $11,616.97 in investment value this month.

I’ve been remiss in posting, but between Girl Scouts and working on our deck, I haven’t had much time in the evenings to make posts.  We have our concrete poured and almost ready to accept posts.  We need to wait at least 2 weeks, preferably 3 before putting the weight of the wood on the concrete, so we’re taking a short break over the holidays.  Girl Scouts have started the “behind the scenes” stuff that happens for cookie sales, so that’s been taking a lot of my time.  Even though the girls can’t sell until January 6!

We’re on track for putting our 70k in “retirement” accounts this year, and setting up to do so next year as well.  Dad’s company has (finally) announced their health plans for next year, and for $60/mth we get a family HDHP with a $1500 individual/$3000 family deductible plus $1500 into our HSA.  I was wavering on whether to go with he HSA again in 2017, but with the changes, we’re *definitely* doing it.   It’s nice working for a (primarily) European company!

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $59,251.63 (84.65% of our goal of 70k), and gained $35,963.17 in investment value. (the $6500 set aside for Roths isn’t counted in this total)

We contributed $4,964.78 this month to our retirement accounts, and we lost $12,774.09 in investment value this month.

October was not a good time to be in the markets – but a great time to add money!  We added a lot this month, and we’re at a relatively stable situation.  The only variance in our contributions now is how much cash back we get on our Fidelity card as that goes straight into our taxable investment account.  And I plan on getting quite a bit in the next month or so as I pay for wood and materials with my cash back credit card.

We’re on track to contribute our 70k this year.  We have $6500 sitting in a savings account waiting on whether we put it into our Roths (the desired place) or our taxable account if we can’t contribute to our Roths.  This year had a few too many changes in income and deductions that I’m not positive what our AGI will be (my back of the envelope calculation says we’ll be able to contribute to our Roths).

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $54,282.69 (77.55% of our goal of 70k), and gained $24,346.24 in investment value.

We contributed $4,958.33 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained $1240.00 in investment value this month.

September was a very busy month for us.  We tried to start the deck (and failed miserably), I got a killer sinus infection that had me down for two weeks, and Girl Scouts started.

The markets were relatively flat, and most of our increase was from contributions.  We have 4k set aside for possibly a Roth contribution (depending on if we can contribute), and that money is not being “counted” as it’s not in a specific account yet, just hanging out in our checking/savings until I decide if it’s going to the Roth or to the taxable account.  Ideally, I put 5.5k of it in Dad’s Roth so that we can get out of ETFs and into a mutual fund in his account.  The rest (planned 1.5k) will top off my Roth, which already has over 10k in it.

Other than saving money, I haven’t really done any progress on the deck.  We tried to drill holes, but the auger we rented wasn’t powerful enough and we were told (after the fact) that homeowners can’t rent the equipment we’d need – so I called a few places for quotes, but it’s such a small job, a lot of companies just don’t want to take it on.  Now that I’m not sick or catching up from being sick, I need to make more phone calls to find someone to dig said holes.

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $49,317.91 (70.45% of our goal of 70k), and gained $37,120.33 in investment value.

We contributed $4,965.54 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained all of $373.99 in investment value this month.

Can you believe it’s September already!

We’re well on-track to hopefully invest our full 70k this year.  I have 3k sitting in a checking account waiting to see if it’s going to go into a Roth or into our taxable account, and I’m not counting that in our values until it ends up in whichever account is appropriate.  I also have about $1500 in Dad’s “new” HSA sitting just earning interest because the investment options are so bad (an S&P 500 index for .45%).  I’m going to do a rollover at the end of the year to our “old” HSA, which offers Vanguard funds for .05% fees.  It’s still up in the air whether we’re going to continue with the HSA account or move back to a more traditional PPO next year (the PPO is not significantly more expensive than the HDHP option at least this year, but I need to investigate more).

I have a permit for our deck, and we’re breaking ground on Saturday – we’re renting a two-person auger to “dig” the 14 holes necessary (10 big ones – 2″ diameter, 36″ deep – for the deck, 4 12″ diameter, 36″ deep ones for the landing).  I’m putting together the final “bill of materials” for the wood and going to call around for the best price (including delivery).  I also have to get 8000 lbs of concrete delivered to fill those holes with (once they’re inspected) – this is really happening, and the expensive parts are starting.

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $44,359.58 (63.37% of our goal of 70k), and gained $35,880.33 in investment value.

We contributed $4,977.23 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained $18952.98 in investment value this month.

This was a pretty “normal” month for us with Dad’s new paycheck and deductions.  They’ve finally worked out the issues with the HSA, and the FSA, and the retirement money.  The HSA has enough to invest now, but with the lowest cost index fund being .45% expense ratio, I’m going to do an annual rollover into our old HSA, which offers Vanguard funds at .05% expense ratio.  But, the money going into the HSA is not being taxed by the Feds, the state of PA or Social Security and Medicare, so it’ll continue going into the “new” HSA and I’ll just rollover every year (if we continue the HDHP plan).

This month was a better month for investment gains, almost as good as March was.  Of course, as I look at the markets today, August might be painful.

I’m cooking up big things at home, which is taking up all my time – I’m designing a (large 22’x14′) deck for our new house, and wow, can it be complicated – especially when you add a roof to the project!  I’ve got the basic design down and drawn, but now I have to draw the elevation drawings and the little details about code compliance (like how the beams will be fastened to the posts…, and stair rises and runs).  Then I can finally get our permit, and pour the concrete footers.  Realistically, we won’t be using the full deck until next spring, but if we have good fall weather, it might get done before winter!

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $39394.04 (56.28% of our goal of 70k), and gained $35,506.34 in investment value.

We contributed $4,922.1 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained $1,922.77 in investment value this month.

This was a “low” contribution month for us (relative to previously, but it’s our new monthly contribution.  Dad’s company’s HSA contribution gets contributed on a twice monthly basis (41.66/paycheck) rather than a large contribution like at his old company.  We’re also reaping the benefits of not paying Medicare or Social Security taxes on our contribution.  We had some problems with them getting the right contribution, but we think that it’s been worked out going forward. We’ll be 4 cents below the federal maximum for the year, then we’ll have to make a decision on whether to continue with the HSA next year or move to a PPO plan ($75/mth premium for the HDHP and $130/mth for the PPO plan).

We are seeing about 2k more per month in our budget, and that will be used to save for a possible Roth contribution.  If the money isn’t able to go to our Roths, it’ll go towards our taxable account – but won’t actually get deposited until March/April of 2017 when we know if we can do a Roth or not.  Based on a back of the envelope calculation (gross salaries – 401k limits – standard deduction), we’ll be barely under the threshhold (by $500), so when I actually calculate it using itemized deductions, we should be good.

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $34,416.81 (49.17% of our goal of 70k), and gained $16,553.36 in investment value.

We contributed $6,165.44 this month to our retirement accounts, and we gained $3,302.53 in investment value this month.

This is likely our last high contribution month for a while. Dad’s new company doesn’t contribute as much, and we are losing his 3% mandatory contribution going forward.  We’re expecting to get another large-ish contribution into our HSA ($666.66 into a different one) from his new company.  On the plus side, his new company supports payroll deductions for the HSA.  On the downside, the investment options in his HSA kinda suck.  I’ll probably do a rollover to our existing HSA (or a brand new one!) before the end of the year to keep all the money together.

Dad’s new 401(k) is with MassMutual, and the cheapest investment option has a .97% fee – it’s at least an S&P500 index fund.  Because of taxes, we’re contributing our 18k (or as close to it as we can this year), but it’s going to hurt us going forward.  Needless to say, none of his IRA or old 403(b) money is getting rolled into that account.  The tax savings more than makes up for the fee, and Dad is going to forward a strongly worded letter that I write to their HR person to look at a different 401(k) option with less fees (like Vanguard or Fidelity).  The funny thing is, the company acts like they’ve got the best investment options available to their employees – I just laughed…  The match is OK for the area, but the investment options are *horrible*!  They’re also pulling the same stunt that I had with ADP in my old company. ERISA only requires that contributions be deposited by the 15th of the following month, so they get to make money off half of our contribution for a whole month, and half for a half month.  I don’t know the exact amount of Dad’s company contribution (although I have a good guess), so these numbers may be updated.

Without contributing 3% mandatory pre-tax *and* cheaper healthcare *and* a higher salary, we’re going to be even closer to the Roth IRA income limits than previously – possibly over 🙁  I’m going to save 7k for the year with the “extra” money we’ll be getting because of these differences, but it may or may not go into a Roth (we have too much in IRAs to do a backdoor). If we make too much, I’ll just put it into our taxable account, if not, it’ll go into our Roths.

2016 Totals

In 2016 we contributed $23,303.67 (33.29% of our goal of 70k), and gained $9,148.74 in investment value.