Women in Red SAVERS 2020

[seriousthistime]

WANT TO JOIN THE WOMEN IN RED SAVERS (WIRS)?

Hello and welcome to the Women in Red Savers (WIRS) group! We are a supportive community group that celebrates reaching the personal savings goals of the WIRS members, whether we are women or men, currently “in the red” or “in the black.” This thread will give you basic information what our group is about, so please read all of the information provided below and then start posting!

The purpose of the Savers group is to empower our members to take financial control of their lives by setting, tracking and achieving savings goals. If you're interested in a community of support, motivation, and inspiration, then this is the place for you.

As one part of the Women In Red, the Savers focus on encouraging members to save, no matter what your level of savings knowledge is. You may be starting on your first Emergency Fund or maxing out your retirement. It doesn’t matter to us, as long as you keep doing it. We feel that positive encouragement and motivation will help all of us to learn better savings habits, and accomplish those savings goals.

A key part of saving is learning to incorporate savings into your daily routine – many of our members are also members of the No Spend threads or the Women In Red Racers. Savings is an integral part of paying off debt and changing your lifestyle, so no matter where you are in the process, this is the right place for you to be!

The WIRS - Women in Red Savers group is a SMALL sub-group of the larger Women in Red community because we are seeking the common WIR goal: Taking Total Financial Control! The same support, encouragement, motivation…and yes, sometimes “tough love” provided by the WIR is applied towards savings goals as well! And because the support and encouragement from a group with similar goals also serves to provide a sense of accountability in meeting our individual goals, what better way to approach this than promoting our own Savers group!!

PLEASE use a tag line. In order to be able to keep track and post updates please make sure and include the start & goal such as:

Username / Update date / Current amount saved/you may follow that with your goal in parenthesis in any manner you wish-Some suggestions are:

UserName 5/3/20 $8,500 ($0 1/1/17 / Goal=$16,000)

UserName 5/3/20 $8,500 (Start=$0 / Goal=$16,000)

There are some Savers that prefer to have massive multi-year goals that don't have an annual goal in mind so they could just do the basics like this, if they wanted to (not logging ★ progress).

UserName 5/3/20 $38,572 (Start=$24,369)

We are hoping everyone has a prosperous 2020. Please feel free to invite others to join us!

[seriousthistime]

HOW TO JOIN THE WOMEN IN RED SAVERS (and work to increase your Savings):

Read this entire page of info!!!!!
Sign in with the username you created.
Post a message in the RESPONSE BOX AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE and a list of the savings categories and goals you want to track (more info about this below).

After you post your list of accounts, you are officially a member of the Women in Red Savers! The list of members is updated approximately once a month, so if your name doesn't show up right away, please be patient! ALL the people working on this board are volunteers and they will get you added to the list as soon as possible.

UPDATING
So, now that you know a little about the group, here are the "rules" that we have adapted so that it's easy to keep track of everyone.

The list shows the date of each person's most recent update, her/his current savings balance, her/his starting date, her/his starting savings balance, page number is optional.

Like this: UserName: 5/1/20 $4,978 (1/1/19 $0, WIRS2)

The original starting amount and date is listed in parenthesis. The WIRS# is the page number the original post was listed on - it will be different for everyone. The current date and savings amount are listed next to your name. You choose which accounts you want to list and can add accounts later.

You can do the (parentheses) part how you want, goal amount, starting debt its ok to already have money "saved" See above post

To join, post your list of accounts, goals and any previous amounts saved. (Please do not list any debts here; you can get motivation on that by joining the WIRRacers.)

A few instructions on posting and working with your table: To update, you can quote your most recent past post, update the numbers, and repost. To remove the info so you don't have quote within quote within quote, you will see that at the bottom of the white box as you are posting, there are two buttons: Visual and BBCode. Click on BBCode. You will see the code for your post. At the very bottom, you will see the word quote, in brackets. Delete that, brackets and all. At the very top, you will see something similar, but it's a long line starting with a bracket, the word quote, and other stuff, ending with another bracket. Delete that whole line. If you have a heading on the first line (I have Update, for example) it will run together with your heading. If you hit Enter on your keyboard a few times to move your heading down a line or two, you can easily distinguish between the code and your heading. Just delete the brackets and the text within them.

And bankergurl has told us of any easy way to add or delete columns or rows on our tables:
"if you have your chart, and then you right click on it with your mouse, it will give you options to add, move, delete columns or rows."


We earn smileys to represent how much we've saved and roses in celebration of meeting annual goals! It may seem silly, but once you start getting smileys and roses, you will see how great they are!
The smiley list is as follows:
$50= , $100= , $500= , $1,000= , $5,000=  , $10,000= , $ 25,000=  , $50,000=
Roses:  per goal reached,
Stars: 1 for each 25% goal = ; at 100% =

We do not give out negative smileys if your savings goes down instead of up. This is for two reasons: 1) this board is all about being positive and supportive of each other, and 2) the whole point of savings is to use the money when it's needed. You may save for a year to pay for an expense but once paid, that money is gone. However, saving that money ahead of time kept you from going into debt, panicking over the payment or stealing from other accounts. That is a major accomplishment! Because we are a community and we talk about these kinds of savings issues, we want you to give us the update about using your savings but it's your choice how to present your totals. (Some of us find it easier to just track our contributions here and keep track of expenditures on our own.)

We hope that your participation in the WIR Savers group brings you the same feelings of empowerment and success that each of us has found. So? What are you waiting for? Join us!

[seriousthistime]

Round-up of savings ideas:

In the past, we have kicked around some ideas for ways to save. Some people are very methodical, and others need tricks and motivation. Some of us like both.

See replies #339, #348, #353, #358, and $360 in the Savers 2014 thread.

First, there is the weekly savings challenge. The idea is that for the first week of the year, you save $1, second week you save $2, then the third week you save $3, and so on up to $52 on the last week of the year. You end up with $1,378. This is a great way to build up an EF.

Variations:
Reverse weekly challenge: Start with $52 on the first week, $51 on the second week, $50 on the third week, and so on. You end up with the same $1,378, but it builds more quickly.

Bump-up weekly challenge: Instead of starting with $1 on the first week, start with a few dollars more than that, and increase by $1 each week. So maybe start with $5 the first week, $6 the second week, $7 the third week, and so on.

Maximum-tackle weekly challenge (forwardwego 's idea): Make a list of weeks from 1 to 52. Each week, select an amount from $1 to $52 that you can manage that week. If it's $1, cross that off the list, and put it in savings. If it's $52, cross that off and put it in savings. Once it's crossed off, it's done and you have to select from the other amounts in future weeks. This gives you more flexibility during the more challenging weeks of the year.

Another idea (chiver78 's idea) was to use a deck of cards of which there are 52 (how convenient!). Pull a card out of the deck, and put that amount in weekly savings. An ace can be $1 or $11. Kings, Queens, and Jacks can be $10, or any other amount you assign to them. Thanks, chiver, for this idea.

Plateau weekly challenge: Start with the straight weekly challenge ($1, $2, $3...) and if it becomes too much to put in an ever-increasing amount, STOP increasing but continue to put in the last amount you were able to make. So if you had to stop at week 20, with $20, continue to put in $20 for the rest of the year.

There are a few non-weekly challenges we've been discussing.

Random cash challenge: If you find cash in pockets, floating around in your purse, in your laundry room, and basically any place other than your wallet, it goes into a pot to be added to your savings.

Specific denomination challenge: Choose a denomination that you want to save. It could be $10, $5, $1, quarters, dimes, all coins, etc. You get the idea. At the end of each day, if you have any of that denomination in your purse, wallet, backpack, or wherever you keep your money, it goes into a pot to be added to your savings.

[seriousthistime]

And here's another helpful post from the 2014 thread, courtesy of bankergurl (hoping she doesn't mind my reposting it here ...) [Note: she didn't mind last year, so let's hope she doesn't mind this year either...!]


Hi Ladies! Hope everyone on the savings board is doing well!

I was with the WIRS waaaaay back in 2005 and off and on since then. I put small amounts in savings very frequently and ended up feeling like I was either "over-updating" or not tracking accurately on here, which prompted me to start my own savings blog in 2009. If you would like to read my blog, the link is on the bottom of my post. If there one thing I am good at in life....it is saving money. I don't make much (about $35K a year), but I can pinch a penny (or coupon...or rebate) as hard as anyone I know! I (sadly) got divorced this year. After the divorce my savings was down to $17K. That was just about 4 months ago...since then I went up to $27K! And that is on one income! I have had some major bills since then (car repairs, insurance bills etc.) and am now at $24K, but still pretty darn good if you ask me, for a single 30 y/o with no debt other then mortgage. Some people take the word "cheap" as as insult, but you can call me cheap all day long and I will accept it proudly!

I am a HUGE believer in nickel and diming your savings. You do no need a $100 to save money, you don't need $10, you don't even need $1. All you need is 1 red cent to start. Through it in a jar. You started!

Here are my personal favorite ways to save:

Save all of your change, once a month take it to the bank and deposit it into savings. Do not use a Coin Star or anything else that charges you to turn in your change, nearly
all banks have a coin machine and will process it for free if you have an account there.

When you get your monthly or quarterly interest in your savings accounts, add a deposit to get that amount to at least the next $5 amount, or even try for the next even $100 amount if it's not too far away. So if after your interest goes in your new balance is $379.18, deposit another $20.82 to get to that $400 mark. It might not seem like much, but I am sure I have saved at least another $1000 by doing this every month.

When you make a savings deposit, do the same thing as with the interest, round it up to the next $5, or even $100 mark (depending on what the amount is). So if I got a rebate for $12.00, I deposit $15 or $20 into saving.

Put all rebates, bonuses, tax returns, gift money (unless for a specific gift), found money (on the ground, in your car, in the washer, etc.), rummage sale or online selling, recycling money, and any and all other "extra/surprise/not standard" funds into savings. You survived without them before, you don't need them now!

This is an oldie, but a goodie. Set up an automatic savings plan. It doesn't have to be a lot. If you can only start with $5, then start with $5. Then next month try to move it to $10, whatever amount you start with, just try to keep moving it up, no matter how slowly or gradually. Try to set it up for every paycheck, that way you know the money will be in your account on payday, and it will already be transferred and gone before you even have a chance to miss it!

There will (of course) when you have to take money out of savings. Sometimes this will be for a planned purchase. Sometimes this will be for an emergency or an unexpected expense. That is ok! That is what your savings is for! Do not get discouraged. If you have to take $100 out of savings today for a car repair, but tomorrow you find $5 in an old Christmas card...you still put that $5 in savings. The old notion of "slow and steady wins the race" is completely true of savings. Just keep making those deposits no matter how big or small and they WILL add up!

[seriousthistime]

PLEASE NOTE:

This thread is now open for you to start posting goals and ideas for 2020.

The 2019 Savers thread is still open for you to post your final updates for 2019. Please post your final year-end updates in the 2019 Savers thread.

When the smilies and shoutouts for 2019 are done, that thread will be locked. So please hurry and get your 2019 updates done by the afternoon of January 5, and post them in the 2019 thread. forwardwego will post the shoutouts after the smilies are done. And after forwardwego posts the shoutouts, that thread will be locked.

Successful saving in 2020, Savers! Let the savings begin!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Rukh O'Rorke 01/01/2020 $0 (Start=$0 / Goal=$43,600)


Saving Goals for 2020

Account	Goal	Saved	Percent
401k	$26,000	~0~	~0~
HSA	$7,600	~0~	~0~
EF:MM	$5,000	~0~	~0~
EF:ETFs	$5,000	~0~	~0~
Total	$43,600	~0~	0%

I was able to copy and paste my table from the 2019 thread!!


I feel that these goals are far too aggressive/never going to be able to meet them, but I am determined to try!!

In one year, we will see how far I get, right?


I want to add on some additional tracking here:

EF Multiyear Goals

Emergency Fund	Goal	Amount	Percent
Money Market and ETFs	$20,000	$2,000	10%

Spending Targets

Spending  Categories	Goal	Amount	Percent
Vacation	$3,000	0	0%
Holiday/Gifts	$2,000	0	0%
Rukh Discretionary	$1,000	0	0%
Total	$6,000	0	0%

Wishing all our savers much prosperity and good fortune in 2020 - and may all your goals be achieved!!!    Let's all party like 2019!!! Cuz it is!! And it's going fast!!

[bobosensei]

Saving Goals for 2020 - This is still a work in progress, but I think this is close to where I'll settle for next year's goals.

Account	Goal	Saved	Percent
401k	8430	0	0%
HSA	3500	0	0%
Roth	6000	0	0%
House Projects	3000	0	0%
Sinking Funds	2400	0	0%
Christmas	2000	0	0%
Total	25430	0	0%

I'll be spending out of the house projects fund throughout the year.  I've done most of my small upgrades, and have a few more things like tiling small bathrooms and updating a few lighting fixtures.  But as I save/spend I'll record the percentage to know when I hit the target of 3k.

ETA the Roth will be new starting back up this year.  I stopped fully contributing in 2016 when going through my divorce.  Sinking funds is also a new account.  I'm a new homeowner with a 20 year old home.  

[Saving4Norway]

To re-introduce myself... I have enjoyed so much success at planning and executing significant savings here on the Savers thread over the years that I want to be on board for this year, as well.

A little about me, I'm a 28-year veteran teacher in the Pacific NorthWet. DH and I are DINKs. The only debt that we have is our mortgage which will be paid off in less than 2 years. I first started with the Savers to save $1000 for a basic Emergency Fund. Once I got that rose, I raised it to $7,500 (3 months expenses). That's been so long ago that that fund's value is now over $25,000! I automatically fund my retirement, investments, and maximize my Roth contributions so I don't track them here.

New for 2020 is my burning desire to save up enough money that I could quit teaching at the age of 55. (In 4 years.)

Happy Savings to all, new and old friends!

[Saving4Norway]

Month	2020 Goals	Saved	% Met
B of Jan	1000	0	0%
E of Jan	1	0	0%
B of Feb	1000	0	0%
E of Feb	1	0	0%
B of March	1000	0	0%
E of March	1	0	0%
TOTAL	3003	0	0%

Saving4Norway 1/1/20 $0 (Goal $3,003)

[debthaven]

seriousthistime or forwardwego , this is what I'm thinking. Please tell me if it works for your tracking.

I currently have 8500 of "saved savings", but I know I'll be spending some on airfare soon (to attend DS1's graduation).

So I'm thinking of keeping 8000 of "saved savings", and working with a more modest savings goal of 2000, to be spent as needed.

Would that work?

Debthaven 01/01/2020 500 E (Savings goal=2000E)

Debthaven 01/01/2020 8000 E (Saved savings, goal met)

I'm still kicking myself for giving up those 16 hours in Sem 2. I just had WAY too much marking, and I'm doing another play, and I don't cope well when I'm overwhelmed. If all goes well, I should get 30 extra hours in the summer term, which would more than make up for it (but not as good as having both, I know).

[seriousthistime]

2020 Savings

Account Name	Goal	Start	Amt. Saved 1/1/20	Amt. Saved %	Roses
Gifts	$2,600	$2,300	$2,300	88.5%
Property Tax	$5,500	$0	$0	0.0%
Travel	$4,000	$5	$5	0.0%
Car	$3,000	$17	$17	0.0%
Survival Fund	$6,000	$16	$16	0.0%
Weekly Savings	$1,378	$13	$13	0.0%
Household/EF	$2,000	$5	$5	0.0%
Mortgage	$6,000	$695	$695	11.6%
Total	$30,478	$3,051	$3,051	10.0%

Fortunately I was able to cash flow my holiday spending so my gift account made it through the season intact.  I'd like to have a little more in that account (I may have a wedding or two to go to in 2020), so I left those funds in there and will add a few hundred dollars to it.  On all the other accounts, I took out the amount I saved in 2019  and put it all into a higher interest bearing account, starting 2020 with just the random interest that accrued in those accounts in 2019 (just a few dollars above $0).  

I'm starting a whole new budgeting/financial plan in 2020.  In past years I've set automatic transfers of roughly equal amounts to go into the various accounts every pay period, tweaking it as I go along.  This year only a few of the accounts will have set automatic transfers each pay period (including some I don't track here).   I'll just decide what to transfer as I go along, and hopefully gather a few roses earlier in the year than otherwise. 

The overall game plan is to try and meet all goals by the end of August. 

Weekly Savings Tracker:

$1	$2	$3	$4	$5	$6
$7	$8	$9	$10	$11	$12
$13	$14	$15	$16	$17	$18
$19	$20	$21	$22	$23	$24
$25	$26	$27	$28	$29	$30
$31	$32	$33	$34	$35	$36
$37	$38	$39	$40	$41	$42
$43	$44	$45	$46	$47	$48
$49	$50	$51	$52

[shanendoah]

I know I want to track by quarters again this year. Life should be pretty stable, but I feel more in control if I allow for changes I don't control in my plan.
The other thing to note is that my savings goals feel really aggressive. At the same time, the budget for the year is based entirely on actual spending from this last year, and for the first time, I remembered to build in a line item for charity donations. I guess this is what happens when you've been operating on one income for over a decade and suddenly, there's a second income again. I just haven't really wrapped my head around it.
I have pots of money I am tracking, but the truth is, until one needs to get paid out, they are all fungible, with the exception of the ROTH for C. So while I may share progress on the pots every once in a while, the main goal is just going to be total put into savings.

shanendoah [Q1]: $0 1/1/2020 (Goal: $5,040 3/31/2020)
ROTH [Q1]: $0 1/1/2020 (Goal: $1,500 3/31/2020)
Savings [Q1]: $0 1/1/2020 (Goal: $3,540 3/31/2020)

[steph08]

Here are my 2020 goals. Well, these are just my goals in general. I don't think I will hit them all in 2020, especially since we are planning to build a house, but I'm going to do my best!

I added in my 401k just to feel good about myself.  


2020 GOALS

UPDATE: steph08

Savings	Current	Goal	Percentage Saved
Emergency Fund	$5,490.45	$10,000.00	54.90%
DD1 529 Payback	$0.00	$2,700.00	0.00%
DD2 529 Payback	$0.00	$2,700.00	0.00%
DD1 Savings	$1,828.91	$3,000.00	60.96%
DD2 Savings	$1,254.78	$2,000.00	62.74%
401K Savings	$0.00	$7,000.00	0.00%
401k Employer Match	$0.00	$2,800.00	0.00%
DD1 529 2020	$0.00	$1,200.00	0.00%
DD2 529 2020	$0.00	$1,200.00	0.00%
TOTAL	$8,574.14	$32,600.00	19.85%

[bobosensei]

I thought about this too, my HSA and 401k never touch my hands,  but I decided at least this year to track them because I do have the ability to update my contributions on my own via an HR portal so it is easy enough for me to change it on a whim.  Also if I lost my job these would be in jeopardy.

Roth is going to be a stretch for me this year, but I am trying to reframe this as another backup emergency fund so instead of contributing to my overflow emergency fund brokerage account I'll do the roth.  I'm struggling with this a little to be honest.  Best case (and most likely) scenario is I don't touch money and it is there to supplement or allow earlier retirement.  Worst case I can pull the contributions.

Dec 23, 2019 23:31:22 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

I automatically fund my retirement, investments, and maximize my Roth contributions so I don't track them here.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Dec 28, 2019 9:41:37 GMT -5 bobosensei said:

I thought about this too, my HSA and 401k never touch my hands,  but I decided at least this year to track them because I do have the ability to update my contributions on my own via an HR portal so it is easy enough for me to change it on a whim.  Also if I lost my job these would be in jeopardy.

Roth is going to be a stretch for me this year, but I am trying to reframe this as another backup emergency fund so instead of contributing to my overflow emergency fund brokerage account I'll do the roth.  I'm struggling with this a little to be honest.  Best case (and most likely) scenario is I don't touch money and it is there to supplement or allow earlier retirement.  Worst case I can pull the contributions.

Dec 23, 2019 23:31:22 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

I automatically fund my retirement, investments, and maximize my Roth contributions so I don't track them here.

How would they be in jeopardy?

[chiver78]

no problem, seriousthistime! if not for the train wreck I created, I'd still be "playing cards" this last week of 2019. I will be picking it up again for 2020. 

I'm not entirely sure of my savings goals for 2020 just yet. I intend to see through the full deck of cards, for sure. my house is currently on the market, and I should expect to be able to clear $75-80k, if not more. I intend to use a lot of that to pay off some high interest rates, and then put the rest into various savings accounts to collect interest on that EF while I aggressively pay down the rest of my debt. I'm not sure what the best balance for that is just yet, I'm sure that will become more clear to me once I know what I will be getting back for this house. I'll be posting here more regularly, though, since I will still be keeping up with the cards. here's to a prosperous 2020! 

[bobosensei]

Dec 28, 2019 10:39:35 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Dec 28, 2019 9:41:37 GMT -5 bobosensei said:

I thought about this too, my HSA and 401k never touch my hands,  but I decided at least this year to track them because I do have the ability to update my contributions on my own via an HR portal so it is easy enough for me to change it on a whim.  Also if I lost my job these would be in jeopardy.

Roth is going to be a stretch for me this year, but I am trying to reframe this as another backup emergency fund so instead of contributing to my overflow emergency fund brokerage account I'll do the roth.  I'm struggling with this a little to be honest.  Best case (and most likely) scenario is I don't touch money and it is there to supplement or allow earlier retirement.  Worst case I can pull the contributions.

How would they be in jeopardy?

Bad sentence.  I meant the goals would be in jeopardy.  The money is all still mine, but if I am out of work for a few months in order to meet these goals I'd have to up the contributions.  I wonder if I wasn't tracking them if I would be inclined to just set up new contributions at the same percentage level or dollar amount as I currently have and not think about "catching up" to hit the target I have set.

[bobosensei]

Dec 28, 2019 10:45:27 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

no problem, seriousthistime ! if not for the train wreck I created, I'd still be "playing cards" this last week of 2019. I will be picking it up again for 2020. 

I'm not entirely sure of my savings goals for 2020 just yet. I intend to see through the full deck of cards, for sure. my house is currently on the market, and I should expect to be able to clear $75-80k, if not more. I intend to use a lot of that to pay off some high interest rates, and then put the rest into various savings accounts to collect interest on that EF while I aggressively pay down the rest of my debt. I'm not sure what the best balance for that is just yet, I'm sure that will become more clear to me once I know what I will be getting back for this house. I'll be posting here more regularly, though, since I will still be keeping up with the cards. here's to a prosperous 2020! 

Will you be purchasing another home?

[chiver78]

Dec 28, 2019 11:53:54 GMT -5 bobosensei said:

Dec 28, 2019 10:45:27 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

no problem, seriousthistime ! if not for the train wreck I created, I'd still be "playing cards" this last week of 2019. I will be picking it up again for 2020. 

I'm not entirely sure of my savings goals for 2020 just yet. I intend to see through the full deck of cards, for sure. my house is currently on the market, and I should expect to be able to clear $75-80k, if not more. I intend to use a lot of that to pay off some high interest rates, and then put the rest into various savings accounts to collect interest on that EF while I aggressively pay down the rest of my debt. I'm not sure what the best balance for that is just yet, I'm sure that will become more clear to me once I know what I will be getting back for this house. I'll be posting here more regularly, though, since I will still be keeping up with the cards. here's to a prosperous 2020! 

Will you be purchasing another home?

not immediately, no. there are a number of variables for me right now, enough that I'm not even sure what state I will be living in, by 2021. so next will be an apartment, for something around a 1yr lease.

[speechchick71]

Speechchick71, 1/1/2020, $0 (start: $0/goal: $28500)



                            Goal                 end of Jan 2020

403b                    17000

Roth IRA              5500

car expenses         4000

general savings     2000



total 28500

I'm back! My number one goal is to fund that Roth. And even try to get some into 2019s. That is the area I've really been neglecting. I'm going to try to cut my expenses for even more saving. Luckily, I don't carry credit card debt. I have less than $1k left on my windows for my house and I'm not even including that in my plan. I have to remember how to use all the codes to make everything look good!  Good to see so many familiar names. seriousthistime: I was hoping to the weekly savings like that too....but x10.  Don't think I can swing it.  Happy New Year everyone!

[seriousthistime]

Speechchick,

By codes, do you mean this?  If that's what you want, quote this reply. Then under the bottom left of the new white box that opens up, you'll see two tabs that say Visual and BB Code. You will be in Visual. Click the tab that says BBCode. Don't worry about the actual lines of code. Just find and delete everything above "Update" (and I've added extra space lines so you should be able to find it easily). Then go all the way down and remove everything below Speechchick, 1/1/2020, $0 (Goal $28,500). Then click back to the tab that says Visual. You should be back to a clean chart with no indication you have quoted anything. You can update the chart as you go along, just by quoting your most recent update, putting in your new numbers and hopefully some thoughts on where you are and what you hope to do, and then go back into BBCode and delete everything above Update and below your thoughts.




Update

	Goal	Amount Saved 1/1/2020	% Saved	Roses
403b	17,000	0	0%
Roth IRA	5,500	0	0%
Car expenses	4,000	0	0%
General Savings	2,000	0	0%
Total	28,500	0	0%

Speechchick, 1/1/2020, $0 (Goal $28,500)

[seriousthistime]

It's good to see some new faces here at the Savers. Welcome!

A little about me... I first started out as a WIR Racer. I think I had six races altogether, and raced everything but my mortgage. It took me about 10 years to get it all paid off and totaled over $100,000 paid. It was a long haul. For everyone who is carrying credit card debt, student loans, etc., don't lose heart. Your day will come. Just keep chipping away.

Savings and debt payoff go hand in hand. There are some Dave Ramsey fans here, and you know his first baby step is to saving $1,000. Why? Because having that amount saved prevents you from using your credit card when you have a small emergency that you can't manage to cash flow. I still have a car payment. The interest rate is 0.9% and it's a "Rule of 78s" loan, meaning the interest is heavily front-loaded to the early payments and at the end you're hardly paying any interest at all. I have a little less than 2 years left and at this point I pay a few dollars a month that goes to interest. There's not much interest to be saved by paying it off early. So I'm in the process of saving money so that at some point I will have enough to pay off the loan . I think that point will happen sometime this spring., where the savings equals the payoff balance. Then I'll just let the savings sit there and continue making payments, and if I ever feel like paying it off to be done with that monthly $500 payment, that's what I'll do.

A few months ago on the 2019 Savers thread, a few of us (Saving4Norway Rukh O'Rorke debthaven and others) were chatting about retirement, when to do it, how to do it, how much saved, whether we were on track or not, etc. I have had a big retirement date in mind, August 2021. After reading that thread and really thinking about it, and reading a few articles here and there, I decided to move up that date. Current thinking is August of 2020. That's why I hope to make my savings goals by the end of August.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

woohoo Serious!!

Good luck!!!

[jenpen]

I've been "away" (i.e., reading, rarely posting) for a couple/few years, and really need to join this thread as I am also one who is hoping to retire in the next couple of years. 


Update

	Goal	Amount Saved 1/1/2020	% Saved	Roses
403b	24,000	0	0%
457b	12,000	0	0%
Roth IRA	7,000	0	0%
Taxable investments	2,400	0	0%
Long-term savings	2,400	0	0%
Sinking funds	4,800	895.11	18.6%
Total	52,600	895.11	1.7%

Jenpen, 1/1/2020, $895 (Goal $52,600)

The 403b/457b are on automatic, of course, but it takes only 5 minutes to change the amount.  I did that back in February, decreasing my monthly contribution to $200 from $1500 so I could build up my long-term savings (which I got to $36k, but then spent $6k, and last week transferred another $6k to fund my 2019 Roth).  In November I opened the 457b account and re-upped my retirement contributions to $3k/month.  Now, on each ~$3800 paycheck I'm bringing home only about $1400 so the other savings goals are definitely going to be a challenge! 

Best to you all in the new year!

[seriousthistime]

Welcome, jenpen!  I'm envious.  You have a lot of tax deferred savings options.  All I've got is my 401(k) (which I max out, with catch-up contributions, plus a 5% match).  As a single person, my income is too high to contribute to a Roth.  

[debthaven]

seriousthistime that is so exciting!!!

Welcome back speechchick71 ! Did you get into the PA program?

[speechchick71]

Dec 30, 2019 3:38:22 GMT -5 debthaven said:

seriousthistime that is so exciting!!!

Welcome back speechchick71 ! Did you get into the PA program?

Hi all....a little update from me and a little about me to those who don't know. I was part of the Women in Red, initially, to get out of debt. I got rid of over $20k in debt 3 different times in my life. This last time it was for good because I still pay my credit card fully each month. I am a speech pathologist and, like debthaven asked about, was trying to get into a Physicians Assistant program. Unfortunately, after taking classes and getting As, taking the GRE and getting above the 50th percentile (when I've been out working for well over 20 years and away from all that college-y stuff), and having a lot of work experience, all the schools said "no" to me over two application cycles. One of the schools provided feedback and had the gall to tell me to consider getting a different job to get more patient care experience. It was a huge blow to my ego and I just wanted to crawl under a rock and cry. Instead, I quit my home health job because the stress was just getting to be too much, and I went to Hawaii for 3 weeks to see my friends and just let the Kauai magic happen. I am still taking a class here-and-there to hopefully transition into something else, possibly looking at the IT end of healthcare. I'm too old to take the time and to take on the debt of PA school to try again. As a single girl, the retirement all falls on me!


I'm back to working in a hospital now. I recently cut my hours from Sun-Thurs 40hrs to Sun-Wed 36 hours. I get one more day in my week to myself and over the course of my 2 week paycheck I only am missing 8 hours. It hasn't made too much of a dent on my total paycheck and it really has made me enjoy going to work a little more. It's all a psychological game but I'd rather end up the winner in my head and only lose just a little in my pocket. 

I'm glad to be back on here to focus on my goals! This a such a supportive group. I was checking out the Net Worth board too. I feel like I'm so far behind compared to some of you and I'm really jealous of all of you who are setting retirement dates. I figure I have 20-22 years of work ahead of me (I'm 48) so unless a bundle of cash falls out of the sky, I need to still plan!

[paynointerest]

2020 Goals

Hello fellow racers! It is inspiring to read all of the goals that have been posted so far. This is such a wonderful supportive group. I love the fact that on this page that it is about racing "our own" race and we celebrate everyone's successes.

My goal for 2020 is to continue to aggressively save for my retirement. As I mentioned in a post on the 2019 thread, the recession hit my accounts hard and instead of keeping my money in the my investment accounts and riding out the storm (I was only 36 at the time of the recession) I pulled a lot out and took losses. Plus, I was afraid to invest a lot of money in the market and did not take advantage of my tax advantage accounts with the extra money I was making during this previous 10 year stock market recovery. I finally clued in to add more money to those accounts in 2017, which helped but I could have done more.

So, now I'm playing catch up and maxing out everything we can, while still allowing room to pay all bills and to have fun with the extra money we have after bills, contributions, etc.

Here are my 2020 goals:

Pay-no-interest: $0.00 (Goal: $59,000)

	Goal	Saved	% of Goal	Amt Spent
My 403b	$19,500
My 457b	$19,000
Tax Invest Acct	$6,000
Property taxes	$4,500
DH 403b	$10,000
Total	$59,000

[plugginaway22]

I've been feeling disorganized and scattered throughout the holidays, but I will say what I know.  DH and I maxed our 401ks the past 2 years (25k each), and are scheduled to do that this year (26k each).  DH maxes the HSA account which I view as a bridge to Medicare if we need it.  Any medical bills we cash flow.  Our home is paid off and we have no debt, except for 3k on my car at 0%.  

We are both working full-time for employers who are paying us well but don't seem too stable right now.  My company is ripe for a buy-out and DH's is just a crazy company that makes knee jerk reactions, but pays him very well.  Hence the STASH mode.  We will both be turning 60 in 2020.

[flamingo]

Hello WIRS! I’ve never participated before, but I really want to increase my savings, so I’m going to try to jump in here. I want to build back up my savings/efund account as well as build up my vacation fund. I bought a new car earlier this year and even though I got a 0% financing deal, I put some cash down. Which is fine, that’s why I had saved the money, but I really want to get that total back up.

Info as of 1/1/20
                                     Current       Goal              Change
Savings/Efund.             $7,400        $10,000.        N/a
Vacation Fund.              $0.              $3,000.           N/a
Total.                           $7,400.       $13,000.         N/a

I’m not tracking my 401k stuff here, b/c that’s on track and the only way I can really change it is to pay off my student loans. Which isn’t happening in 2020. So I’m just going to focus on what I can do with these two things.

Flamingo, 1/1/20, $7,400 (Goal $13,000)