End of year assessment

[riverwed070707]

In 2014 we became a 2 income household again for the first time in 4 years. I also worked more hours and traveled for work more than I ever have before while taking on 2 part time jobs (one running a side business planning events and the other virtual assisting 20 hours a month - neither because I have to but because I enjoy them both and they help fund our hobbies with minimal impact to the budget). The combination of these things resulted in us loosening the reigns on our spending. A lot. We didn't need to watch every penny and we were still saving a decent amount and I didn't have time to run the numbers every month like I'd done before. With the new year, I'd like to ramp up our savings even more so I'm comparing my budget I made last January to actual spending by looking at monthly averages from Mint. Just thought I'd share some of my findings.

-We netted about $40,000 more this year between DH starting work pt in Jan and FT in May, my increased OT and bonuses and increased rental income
-I had to purchase a new (to me) car in May due to my 2001 civic blowing the engine. We paid cash. DH had one major repair on his truck and purchased new tires in December. Despite not having a car payment (and not including what we paid for the car) I was surprised to see we spent $330/mo on maintenance for our 2 vehicles. That combined with $280/mo in gas and $105 for auto resulted in almost $730/mo going toward 2 paid off vehicles. This seems high to me. Going to see what we can do to reduce maintenance spending going forward. Auto and transport was our highest spending category for the year, even more than mortgage payments.
-Groceries were about the same at $600/mo but dining out did go up a lot from $125/mo to $255
-We splurged on several things this year that we wouldn't have in the past - we bought a boat @$4500 (used of course), I enrolled in a 9 month yoga teacher training program @$2800 and for the second year in a row we took a nice vacation @$4k (this year was Puerto Rico and Vieques and it was heavenly!).
-Our net worth in 2014 climbed from $124k in January to $170.5k in December For further comparison, in January 2013 it was right around $75k so in 2 years its more than doubled.

Overall, despite our higher spending, I feel pretty great about our situation and I attribute a great amount of our success to this board. When I came here we had a mountain of debt, 2 car payments, and a house we could barely afford. We financed everything and thought of money in monthly payments. We had a lot of stress over money. Now it feels natural to save and I'm often surprised by how much we're putting away each month and how quickly its adding up, especially in retirement accounts. Our spending is definitely not increasing at the rate of our income and I feel really good about that. I check our bank account once or twice a month rather than daily which is also a nice feeling. Anyway, I wanted to share for those who have helped us and for those who are just getting started up the mountain. Happy New Year all!

[97guns]

-Our net worth in 2014 climbed from $124k in January to $170.5k in December For further comparison, in January 2013 it was right around $75k so in 2 years its more than doubled.

it is amazing what compounding earnings with compounding saving can accomplish, you should see gains even faster than what you realized last year if you keep compounding

[Tabs]

I had a good year overall, despite my some pricey purchases.

Net worth exceeded my target goal, mostly because I completely forgot about my 401(k) until near the end of the year.

Besides the 401(k), all of my personal finances have been streamlined to where I want it to be, which includes my credit cards as well.

Sooo things are good actually. I hope to have many more years like this.

[TBH]

Sounds like you had a great year, River!

I've been looking back over the year too.

A few things changed in 2014. I worked A LOT more, so our income was up quite a bit. Most of that work was temporary but a few months ago I did get a new permanent job, so our income should be more stable going forward. We also bought a rental property in April, and started collecting rent in July. So that's been a new experience for us.

This year I'd like to do better with retirement savings, and I'd like to save towards buying a second rental property early in 2016. The usual goals apply--keeping spending down, looking for ways to grow income, and chipping away at our mortgage.

[riverwed070707]

Sounds like you had a great year, River!

I've been looking back over the year too.

A few things changed in 2014. I worked A LOT more, so our income was up quite a bit. Most of that work was temporary but a few months ago I did get a new permanent job, so our income should be more stable going forward. We also bought a rental property in April, and started collecting rent in July. So that's been a new experience for us.

This year I'd like to do better with retirement savings, and I'd like to save towards buying a second rental property early in 2016. The usual goals apply--keeping spending down, looking for ways to grow income, and chipping away at our mortgage.

I'd like to look at getting another rental property as well. Currently we have a small property that brings in about $2700/year (has a 15 year mortgage that will be paid off in less than 10 though at which point profit will be up to about $7500) and we also rent a basement apartment in our main residence which nets us $9k/year. It seems like a no brainer to have another I think because we've always had good renters and an easy time filling them. I'd really like to look at a 3 or 4 plex option I think. Were also talking about moving to an acreage though and if that happens we will probably need to hold off on the next rental. I'm not ready to make a decision yet but I will say despite the general consensus here that being a landlord is nothing but trouble, I find the small amount of hassle is worth the reward for us so far.

[kork13]

I did a "final tally" of my 2014 finances yesterday, at least at a macro level. For a year with alot of chaos, we have done very well. I returned from an overseas deployment in Feb, then rolled immediately into planning my wedding, which gratefully went off without a hitch in May. We both have had a laundry list of 1-6 week trips both for work and vacations, and to top things off, we found out in October that my wife is pregnant!

In spite of the crazy, my/our net worth has grown by $60k over the year, a 25% increase to $305k. Combining our individual accounts is an ongoing adventure, but making steady progress -- currently in the process of finally moving my wife's Roth IRA from an expensive, advisor-sold, front-loaded mutual fund/company over to Vanguard. We were both already maxing Roth IRAs, but shortly before our wedding, we also started toward maxing our TSP accounts (401k equivalent) as well. Didn't max this year, since we started late in April-ish, but 2015 will see 4 maxed retirement accounts!

We were also thrilled to pay off the last of my wife's student & car loans in November -- at our wedding in May, they amounted to nearly $28k! But I had amassed about $15k in savings for our wedding, of which we spent ~$9k, so with the remainder of that, plus some other savings & aggressive use of our strong cashflow, we were able to make payments in excess of $2k/mo to knock everything out with a finishing shot from our various savings accounts in just 6 months. We both figured it was a great way to start our marriage.

Expenses were wildly in flux for months, but we're starting to settle into a regular and reasonable level of spending... Gratefully, my wife mostly agrees with my strong saving streak, so we're saving over 45% of our combined gross income. Because we both purchased houses before meeting & getting married, we have begun renting her house to her sister & a couple other friends, which is also boosting our savings.

Overall, very happy with our financial accomplishments this year, and looking forward to a great 2015!

[bjl584]

-Our net worth in 2014 climbed from $124k in January to $170.5k in December For further comparison, in January 2013 it was right around $75k so in 2 years its more than doubled.

The power of compounding is incredible. Just don't expect those types of returns every year. The markets have been on an incredible run. Expect things to start to normalize.

[riverwed070707]

I did a "final tally" of my 2014 finances yesterday, at least at a macro level. For a year with alot of chaos, we have done very well. I returned from an overseas deployment in Feb, then rolled immediately into planning my wedding, which gratefully went off without a hitch in May. We both have had a laundry list of 1-6 week trips both for work and vacations, and to top things off, we found out in October that my wife is pregnant!

In spite of the crazy, my/our net worth has grown by $60k over the year, a 25% increase to $305k. Combining our individual accounts is an ongoing adventure, but making steady progress -- currently in the process of finally moving my wife's Roth IRA from an expensive, advisor-sold, front-loaded mutual fund/company over to Vanguard. We were both already maxing Roth IRAs, but shortly before our wedding, we also started toward maxing our TSP accounts (401k equivalent) as well. Didn't max this year, since we started late in April-ish, but 2015 will see 4 maxed retirement accounts!

We were also thrilled to pay off the last of my wife's student & car loans in November -- at our wedding in May, they amounted to nearly $28k! But I had amassed about $15k in savings for our wedding, of which we spent ~$9k, so with the remainder of that, plus some other savings & aggressive use of our strong cashflow, we were able to make payments in excess of $2k/mo to knock everything out with a finishing shot from our various savings accounts in just 6 months. We both figured it was a great way to start our marriage.

Expenses were wildly in flux for months, but we're starting to settle into a regular and reasonable level of spending... Gratefully, my wife mostly agrees with my strong saving streak, so we're saving over 45% of our combined gross income. Because we both purchased houses before meeting & getting married, we have begun renting her house to her sister & a couple other friends, which is also boosting our savings.

Overall, very happy with our financial accomplishments this year, and looking forward to a great 2015!

Wow sounds like a great year! Good for you!

[rennigade]

We have more money than we did last year at this time. Cant complain.