2016 summary of finances

[Outdoorsygal]

No. It's fire resistant to a specified temperature and for a specified time.

I did not know that!

Given how many floods there are every year, you have GOT to be joking.

I thought I added the to the end of that. But anyhow, that has NEVER happened here that I am aware of.

WOW....even now with the invent of computers, you STILL believe history cannot repeat itself? Those are some darn thick sunglasses

And you live in California. Not too wise.

LOL ain't that the truth. I need to move but our 25 yr old son won't consider it. He's all we have

[Nutria]

1. Fire- Safe is fireproof

No. It's fire resistant to a specified temperature and for a specified time.

2. Flood- God promised Noah that wouldn't happen again. Remember the rainbow as our sign??

Given how many floods there are every year, you have GOT to be joking.

4. Safe is in the wall. Almost impossible to know it is there unless you have intricate information prior

Famous last words.

5. If the banks go bust, then it will not depreciate at all. Got to diversify

6. <---I'll add #6. EARTHQUAKE!! Now with this natural disaster, I could certainly be screwed!

And you live in California. Not too wise.

[AJ444]

I really had two overall goals for the year:

1. Goal was to save 130k, we ended up saving 132k.

2. Goal is to be on track to have 5 million net worth by 55 in today's dollars, currently on track for 7.6 million in today's dollars.

[Outdoorsygal]

Well... it's not the wisest choice for storing cash.

1. Fire.
2. Flood.
3. Tornado.
4. Robbery. (When you're out, they take 30 minutes to break it open.)
5. Depreciates even faster than 1.25% CDs.

1. Fire- Safe is fireproof
2. Flood- God promised Noah that wouldn't happen again. Remember the rainbow as our sign??
3. Tornado- I live in California
4. Safe is in the wall. Almost impossible to know it is there unless you have intricate information prior
5. If the banks go bust, then it will not depreciate at all. Got to diversify


6. <---I'll add #6. EARTHQUAKE!! Now with this natural disaster, I could certainly be screwed!

[Outdoorsygal]

The competition?

Yes. I'd like to have comradery with another couple who lives about an hour away so we aren't both fishing in the same small pond

[msomnipotent]

Some concerning statements there, for sure. Do you think he was intentionally lying about the balance or did he just really not know what he had?

It's so important for couples to sit down regularly and go over the finances. Now that I have the 2016 numbers, I'll sit down with my wife and show them to her so she sees how we're doing and knows what has changed, good and bad, during the year. And we don't only do that once a year. We have "financial dates" periodically.

I don't think he was lying. He just thinks he knows more about money than he actually does and then tries to ignore his mistakes, which has so far got us into quite a bit of trouble. Every time I think he has finally learned his lesson, he manages to pull something else. Dare I say that I think at least his eyes have been opened after this retirement fund drama, but who knows. Now that I have his account logins, the only thing left for him to damage is the employee stock grants. I'm just not counting them as income.

I have also tried to do quarterly updates, but it took a very long time to get his log-in info. I had to ask periodically for about 2 years, and then nag the hell out of him daily for 3 months straight. He is just one of those people that if it isn't important to him, he isn't going to do anything about it. And why should it be important when he thinks we are doing great?

You will see me on the news if he changes his passwords.

[Nutria]

This isn't popular here but it's likely the money would go into a bank acct then be withdrawn slowly in cash and the cash stored in the safe.

Well... it's not the wisest choice for storing cash.

1. Fire.
2. Flood.
3. Tornado.
4. Robbery. (When you're out, they take 30 minutes to break it open.)
5. Depreciates even faster than 1.25% CDs.

We will make at least 30-50K on the property we bought a few months ago.

My goal is to meet others who are doing the same but aren't bigtime into it.

The competition?

[Outdoorsygal]

Do you put the proceeds in a separate account and then feed -- for example, and assuming a flip every three years -- 1/36th of the proceeds into your checking account each month?

This isn't popular here but it's likely the money would go into a bank acct then be withdrawn slowly in cash and the cash stored in the safe.

I've been watching the MLS listings and about every 12-14 months a real a deal comes up. But I cannot count on that.
I think we'd need to jump on it quickly and use the sellers real estate agent.
We will make at least 30-50K on the property we bought a few months ago.
My goal is to meet others who are doing the same but aren't bigtime into it. Just want to move every few years to make a little money

[Nutria]

Yes I just cannot guesstimate how much it could possibly be. It's like a new under the table business.
Hopefully we can do $500-$1000 a mo. making $10K-$12K just moving aka flipping houses every few years.
$500 more per month at the very least would make it worth it

Do you put the proceeds in a separate account and then feed -- for example, and assuming a flip every three years -- 1/36th of the proceeds into your checking account each month?

[Outdoorsygal]

Then why contribute 1/2 of your paycheck?

Good question
Seriously I might not do it. The specifics for this secure choice plan hasn't been complied yet, only the law was passed. So we'll see.

Since profits from property flipping are part of your income stream, you should count it.

Yes I just cannot guesstimate how much it could possibly be. It's like a new under the table business.
Hopefully we can do $500-$1000 a mo. making $10K-$12K just moving aka flipping houses every few years.
$500 more per month at the very least would make it worth it

[Nutria]

-I grossed a little over twice as much as I did last year. Count Ebay & Amazon sales and it's more than that.

I'll donate 50% of my paycheck. This plan doesn't adhere to ERISA rules like all other retirement plans so I'm not overly confident w/it.

Then why contribute 1/2 of your paycheck?

We will be very poor but I am not counting the property/house flipping which we will live off of to some extent.

Since profits from property flipping are part of your income stream, you should count it.

[Outdoorsygal]

-I grossed a little over twice as much as I did last year. Count Ebay & Amazon sales and it's more than that.

-Nothing yet but my company said by the 1st we'd have info about the new 401K plan.

-Planned the future for investing 17K for 5-6 years (depending upon how fast inheritance comes in). So 100K inheritance for our son with some left-over for us.

-California passed their own retirement plan for all employees who have 5+ co-workers. http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/scib/ Unvailable for1+yrs but from ages 52-56,
I'll donate 50% of my paycheck. This plan doesn't adhere to ERISA rules like all other retirement plans so I'm not overly confident w/it.

We will be very poor but I am not counting the property/house flipping which we will live off of to some extent.
So who knows...but that isn't taxable income so we will still qualify for a medicare savings program at age 65+
Not saying we'll take it but it's a nice safety net if needed.

We'll start taking distributions based on life expectancy at age 70 1/2 assuming we coverted part of the 401k.
The other part of the 401k (100K) our son will inherit. It appears converting that portion to a ROTH IRA will only screw him over bigtime tax wise.
It appears inheriting a ROTH IRA is NOT a good thing unless you are very poor.
It's only usually or often good, tax wise, for the person who owns it. But bad for the beneficiary of the inherited retirement acct.

.

[disneysteve]

My husband has been telling me that we had about $500,000 in his retirement accounts, only to find out that we actually have less than half of that.

Now that I have control of his retirement account

Some concerning statements there, for sure. Do you think he was intentionally lying about the balance or did he just really not know what he had?

It's so important for couples to sit down regularly and go over the finances. Now that I have the 2016 numbers, I'll sit down with my wife and show them to her so she sees how we're doing and knows what has changed, good and bad, during the year. And we don't only do that once a year. We have "financial dates" periodically.

[msomnipotent]

I stayed up late last night trying to figure this out. Two of my husband's retirement accounts will not let me see anything other than the current balance, so I can't have a definite number on how well we did. Out of 7 accounts, one lost money and one only made 2%, but the rest did pretty well. I'm still disappointed in the balances. My husband has been telling me that we had about $500,000 in his retirement accounts, only to find out that we actually have less than half of that. Including everything except our cash, coins, and the money I have hidden that my husband doesn't know about , our net worth is just shy of $500,000. I was expecting a negative balance once I saw his retirement balances, so I guess this is a good surprise. Not really, though.

Now that I have control of his retirement account, I expect 2017 to be much better than this year.

[rennigade]

We were able to crunch the numbers this morning. These are both of our accounts combined...

Retirement: $492,536.65
Index Funds: $71,565.47
Cash: $76,968.97

Total: $641,071.09


We maxed our roth/401/tsp, with contributions it went up $97,145...so we contributed 47,000...in gains it went up $50,145. Our retirement accounts were up around 11%.

We did buy a house this year at $220,000. We put $100,000 down in cash...so our cash account took a major hit.

Even with that $100,000 expense...all around we were up $17,400 between contributions and growth.

Net worth

$641,071 (retirement/cash/taxable)
- $120,000 (mortgage)(I dont include house in NW but this is debt)
----------------------------
$521,071 (net worth)