How was your 2006 financially speaking?

[tabbycat31]

I cut out shopping for pleasure which was HUGE for me. My savings rate would have been a lot higher if I was not out of work for 5 months. That was a huge setback for me.

Hopefully 2007 will be much better.

[Bookie]

Satisfactory.

1. Close to completing a lot of very expensive dental work, all done on a cash basis over the last three years.

2. On target to complete all debt payoff by April 2007.

3. Transferred my emergency fund to an on-line bank.

4. Am saving 25% of net monthly.

.

[yellow heel]

I say is was pretty good so far.

1. I got a 12% increase in pay.
2. Savings account grew 44%
3. Retirement account grew 38%
4. I got married

I only got 10% return on my 401k though...
The only fund that beat the S&P was the REIT and the International. Does my 401k suck?

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

We started out with about $300,000 in cash for building. As soon as we close on the house, we should have about $400,000 in cash for 2007. That is not all that much profit, but I have really saved quite a bit this year.

Wow, so 33% return isn't much in that business? I'd hate to see what would qualify as "much profit".

Originally Posted by yellow heel

The only fund that beat the S&P was the REIT and the International. Does my 401k suck?

I don't think it sucks. You're looking at the year to date performance, right? If you look at it with a short time frame, the numbers will tend to fluctuate more (and it's been looking rather rosy for the past few years). I often find it useful to look at the performance for the past 10 years. I think it can give a better picture of what to expect.

Regardless, your employer matching means at least a guaranteed 10% return on your investments, and that's nothing to sneeze at.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by yellow heel

I only got 10% return on my 401k though...
The only fund that beat the S&P was the REIT and the International. Does my 401k suck?

You've got to keep in mind that the S&P 500 index is up over 15% YTD. The fact that 2 of your funds did even better than that isn't a bad thing at all. Over the long haul, very few funds beat the broad indexes. That's why index investing is so popular.

You should be looking at why your 401k only gained 10%, though. That means you've actually underperformed the S&P by 5%.

[vishenda]

Better spending habits and ambitious goals made my year better than yesteryears.

Hope my motivation level retains!

[Ima saver]

Broken arrow, we did not make $100,000 profit on the house. The profit will be more like $40,000 on the house sale and is based on 14 months of hard work with about 8 days off the entire time. I saved another $20,000 for the challenge. We have probably earned well over $10,000 in interest at 5.25%. The rest, I have been doing some serious saving out of my husband's pay and I am shocked to see how much are accounts have grown. My husband has two other jobs going and I have saved all of that pay.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

You've got to keep in mind that the S&P 500 index is up over 15% YTD. The fact that 2 of your funds did even better than that isn't a bad thing at all. Over the long haul, very few funds beat the broad indexes. That's why index investing is so popular.

You should be looking at why your 401k only gained 10%, though. That means you've actually underperformed the S&P by 5%.

Not if your 401k has only really sucky 9 funds with loads in them. And they all underperform the market. With 1.5% expense fees typically. It's easy to underperform the market. DH's 401k only has 1 index fund (s & p) and bad funds.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

Not if your 401k has only really sucky 9 funds with loads in them. And they all underperform the market. With 1.5% expense fees typically. It's easy to underperform the market. DH's 401k only has 1 index fund (s & p) and bad funds.

That's lousy. Why do they have load funds? I'd sure be complaining to human resources about that.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

DH did talk to HR and she said she was trying to get a better 401k for next year. Funny, how even the HR lady thinks it's bad, yet there is nothing done. Even the index fund is expensive, it's PEOPX I think. Sigh. Whatever at least it helps us taxwise until we leave the company and there is an immediate vested match. They also have fidelity funds with A shares, um it's bad. Plus the limited choices.

[Ima saver]

Those are bad choices when there are so many good funds with no load and low expenses.

[PRICEPLUS]

2006 saw some rocky places. I hope to be debt free this year and if nothing else that is a major accomplishment. I continue to save and I hope things go well for me!

[jriessel]

2006 was not good for me... (which is why I needed to find this site).

At the beginning of the year I had just over $5,000 in my savings account. I realize that is not a lot for most people, but it made me comfortable just "in case".

My hubby decides at the beginning of the year to open a photography business. He has had people asking him to take their pictures so he decided to go for it. (we have seperate bank accounts...). He doesn't have much money in his savings acct. So over the next few months - needing a little of this and a little of that my savings dwindles down to $2,000.

So now I am in panic mode - I need to build the savings back up. We have two kids in daycare and not a lot of 'extra' money to build up the savings.

I know 2007 will be better - I am cutting down expenses and will work on building the savings back up.

[shadon]

Okay, from 1 January 2006 until now:

Income +$8000 (before tax)

Mortgage -$5773 (Updated from -$5300)

Retirement Fund +$18000

EF +$965

Other debt +$8500

I pledge a promise for all and sundry to bear witness that 2007 will be better esp. in the other debt and EF areas

[zabbkoff]

2006 was a great year (non-financially) for my wife and I, which means that it was a little shaky financially, but overall I'm fairly happy with where we are. We moved, bought our first house (put $10,000 down), a new car (paid $15,000 and had a decent trade-in), furniture, a refridgerator, a gym quality elliptical machine, and a whole bunch of other needed miscellaneous items ranging from inexpensive to about $500! And to top it all off we had our first child, a daughter, in July. Also, since our move in April, I haven't worked. As planned, I've been staying home with the little one, but hope to rejoin the workforce at some point (sooner if I can work at home, a bit later if I need to go out and about to make some money).

At last count, we were down about $7,000 for the year.

I expect that by years end we'll have a negative cashflow for the year of about $5,000. Really, the main reason we kept our losses to a minimum is my wife's yearly bonus, an incredibly generous relocation package and a deal worked out with a relative to help "right a wrong" of sorts (car issue). And when I was still working we were pretty much able to save most of my paycheck.

But through it all we kept my wife's 401K contribution at 15% with a 2.5% match (well, I guess free money is free money, but I wish it were one of those 10%'ers I've seen mentioned)

Here's to 2007! May it bring less debt and more happiness to all! And a special pat on the back for BA on his perserverance through a tough year!

[Homebody]

After a new roof costing $11,000 and YD's wedding we are down to $5000.00 in savings.

The good news is that we are starting 2007 child free! Our freezer is stuffed full of meat/food and we are excited about this phase of our life.

I am going to be working on bulking up savings, paying off debt and maxing out retirement accounts.

[Hez]

2006 was a good year for me. I worked part time during the school year, and although I thought my grades would suffer for it I made the dean's list for the first time ever!

I took on more student loans, unfortunately, but I also received enough bursaries to pay my tuition. So I'll be able to funnel that money back into paying off the student loans when the time comes.

I'll be graduating this spring, so hopefully 2007 will prove to be my best financial year ever! (Even though it's going to hurt paying back those student loans!)

This was my first "wire to wire" debt free year (I was still cleaning up in the first part of '05)

My investments in total (including new money) are up 30% and that includes the current negative impact from the fund in my 401(k) that covers my small-mid exposure.

I've gathered some momentum towards the purchase of a home but not as much as I'd hoped, little disappointed in that but hey, it will come.


On the downside, my weight is freakin' up about 15%! That's gotta go. Cubicle life I tell ya! (I'm working on that now though)

=========================

Without her, it feels... empty somehow. I don't think I'm articulating this correctly. Perhaps, these things take time?

Broken Arrow...I was never married but was with a person for over 4 years, much of that time we lived together. She left 3 years ago (an event which was the impetus for my financial transformation) and to this day I find myself on occasion quietly wishing I'd hear her call me from the other side of the place to kill a spider or something.

So yes, it does take time but apparently more than 3 years.

Just hang in there.

[lrjohnson]

I hadn't realized it but my salary is 15% higher than it was at the beginning of the year. I had a promotion on paper-Analyst I to Analyst II-but since I have the same duties and don't spend much (My Challenge) I hadn't realized how cool that was. It's a 12% increase on my net check.

I nearly tripled my net worth. It was easier to do because I started small. I won't be able to do nearly that next year!

I went from getting all my savings getting 1% or so to getting 4% and 5%, plus got a couple opening bonuses.

I opened a Roth IRA and fully funded it for $4,000.

I took an $1800 vacation (two weeks Europe) all out of checking without reducing contributions to savings.

Including pension, deferred comp, and regular savings I'm putting $1200 a month away with automatic deducutions....that doesn't count additional transfers to savings.

I had not realized until typing it out how good the year has been to me.

Goals for next year include looking at what my deferred comp 457 plan money is in, increasing the 457 contributions, adding another $4k to the Roth, and looking at the possibiulity of -gasp-investing.

Grateful here in Northern CA!

[richinspirits]

This is the year that I really got serious about my finances, and started managing everything more aggressively.

I am a few years out of school, and I wasn't making a ton of money in those first couple of years out, so I am not as far along as I wish I were on those student loans. I am also paying off my car. I was able to pay off over $8000 in credit cards this year. I hope to never have to depend on them again!

I started the year off with a 33% increase in pay, which has been great. However, my first paycheck was Feb. 15, so I had to live off savings until then, and I didn't really get moving until March.

In March my total debt was $50,958, and I have gotten it down to $40,877. When I look at it, $10,000+ is not bad progress from March - November, but the number is still big enough to make me antsy. I'll feel a lot better once I've gotten it halfway down, I think.

I hope to have my car paid off by June, and then I will work on the loans. I forecast being debt-free in early 2009. Meanwhile, I am also trying to beef up my meager EF and think about starting an IRA (I have nothing through my job). I am thinking about going with the Vanguard Target 2045. I wish I had a spare $3000 to open one right now, but I just don't. I really appreciate all the help from this board, though, in helping me realize that focusing solely on debt reduction is not a good thing - I need to plan for the future at the simultaneously, while time is on my side!