Late February was a wake up call for me, in regards to my personal employment. I received word that my job as I know it will be going away in approximately 1 year. I also received word that I basically got screwed in this years performance reviews, and will not be receiving a raise, and had to lose half of my bonus. I was told this was not a result of poor performance, but losing out on $12,000+ hurts no matter how they spin it. At any rate, that caused me to re-evaluate my relationship with money and how comfortable I was at my job. This year is going to be all about saving as much money as possible, which means also spending as little as I can.
I really need to get past my Spendaholic ways, now!!!
To that end, I did reduce my spending quite a bit this month, and I upped my automatic savings contribution from $500.00 to $1,000.00 every 2 weeks. On top of that, I’m hoping I can save a bit more even from the paycheck I bring home in my main account. March should be a good month, as I’ll get my yearly bonus (what they didn’t take away from me, that is!)
My Net Worth increased just over $3,100 this month. My 401k and HSA investments did horrible, the entirely of the gain come from increased savings and my federal tax refund for 2017.
February 2018 Financial Statement
| Account Name | Previous Balance | Balance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $0.00 | $8.00 | $8.00 |
| Savings - Personal | $4,000.03 | $4,000.12 | $0.09 |
| Savings - Personal (CU) | $1,135.93 | $3,005.86 | $1,869.93 |
| Checking - Personal | $771.06 | $3,492.15 | $2,721.09 |
| Checking - Business | $2,475.89 | $2,823.54 | $347.65 |
| Retirement - 401k | $181,250.85 | $178,051.99 | -$3,198.86 |
| Credit Cards | -$14,644.47 | -$14,300.00 | $344.47 |
| Retirement - Pension | $24,265.52 | $24,265.52 | $0.00 |
| Retirement - HSA (Investements) | $5,910.30 | $7,595.83 | $1,685.53 |
| Retirement - HSA (Cash) | $3,862.36 | $2,048.29 | -$1,814.07 |
| Asset - Vehicle 1 | $14,525.00 | $14,225.00 | -$300.00 |
| Auto Loan 1 | -$15,734.54 | -$15,373.00 | $361.54 |
| Asset - Vehicle 2 | $6,500.00 | $6,500.00 | $0.00 |
| Asset - Precious Metals | $500.00 | $500.00 | $0.00 |
| Asset - Home | $142,495.00 | $143,068.00 | $573.00 |
| Mortgage - Home | -$140,207.00 | -$139,658.84 | $548.16 |
| Net Worth | $217,105.93 | $220,252.46 | $3,146.53 |
A few things to note this month:
- My 401k and HSA investments lost almost $5,000 this month after you account for regular contributions I made.
- I did much better keeping my spending under control this month and was able to save a bit more than I had previously been doing!
- I had a bit of a scare at work which gave me the extra kick I needed to get my ass in gear on better savings / reduced spending!
- My tax refund was approximately $3,400.
Side Business Income
For February, my side business did $1,500 in revenue. The new website design is finally complete, but the coding of that design is going to take a bit longer. My designer / project manager will be on vacation much of March, so it will have to wait!
Retirement
February’s market was really not good to me, or anyone, for that matter. It happens, you cannot expect it to go up, up, up, all of the time! I just keep chugging along with my contributions.
I did reduce my contributions for the next few months, I really need to focus on getting my emergency fund where I want it, so I cut it back to meet my employer’s match until I get a proper 6 month emergency fund ready to go. Afterwards, I’ll bump it back up to meet the average contribution to hit the yearly max.
With retirement accounts totaling $202,31716.51 and using a 3.5% safe withdrawal rate (SWR), that would allow me to take $590.09 as income each month. Not enough to live on, and a small step backwards from last month due to the market. That’s how it goes, I guess!
Safe Withdrawal Rate (3.5%) monthly income: $590.09
I think I would need at minimum $1,500 a month to live comfortably in Ukraine with my lady right now, so we’re not there yet. Even if we were, I’m not planning on being lean-fire, and will continue the march forward.
Spendaholic Ways
Not counting debt repayment and savings, in February I spent about $6950. Ugh. I thought I did so much better.
While I did cut my restaurant spending back, it wasn’t as much as I thought it was. I took my family out, and bought for some friends a couple times and thus it was higher than I’d like. Also, let’s be honest… I just ate out fast food way too many times because I was lazy! I’m fat, and lazy! Eating at home more would both save me money AND help my waistline!
I did spend about $1,500 on household goods in February. Most of those items are items I’ve had on a list a long time that I wanted to buy before my fiancee and her daughter move in, and thus they were going to get purchased at some point. I figured getting my tax refund was as good of a time as any to buy them.
One positive is that I finally cancelled my gym! They still made me pay for February, but at least I wasn’t charged again going into March!
My entertainment budget also did much better, though I did have one large purchase I’m kind of regretting (raspberry pi gaming system).
My Pets again cost me about $600 for a month…. I love them and won’t get rid of them, but financially it can be a strain!
My fiancee living abroad adds up, along with her getting a lot of medical stuff done before she moves here. Supporting her cost me $933 this month. I love her, though I can’t help but notice i will actually save money when she moves here!
Emergency Fund
My personal and credit union savings is hovering about $7,000. I was thinking a good 6 month emergency fund would be $24,000 but in looking at my expenses now my real expenses are about $4,500 a month so I might need to increase that to $27,000. I should have it done by the end of 2018. It will be my major focus this year!
Looking Ahead
Over the coming months, I will continue working on the personal finance aspects of my journey, but there are some key points I must consider going forward:
- I need a proper 6 month emergency fund, stat!
- Fiance and step-daughter will move to the USA in August 2018 (pushed back from June)
- I’m returning to Ukraine in March to visit my fiancee and step-daughter. That will be a fairly large expense.
- My side business is holding steady, but I really need to get the website redesign done.
- I will continue paying down my mortgage faster than normal by doubling my ‘principle’ part of the payment
- March 23rd, I should receive about $8,000 post tax in my work bonus which will go straight to savings.
- My primary car is slightly underwater, but I’m going to hold off on paying it down until my emergency fund is set
- I’m still cosigned on $29,000 debt from an ex’s student loans that I will try to get her to refinance this year
- My employer is swapping the pension, for additional 401k deposits come 2019