September 2016 Plan Update

September has come and gone. Instead of attending FinCon, I headed to the Midwest for work and then to celebrate a birthday weekend with my sister! It was great fun (and, as a bonus, I even found a pair of skinny jeans that don’t make me look like a chicken!).

The Numbers:

You guys… if you haven’t signed up for Personal Capital, I think you’re nuts! It’s free! I look forward each month to logging in and seeing all of my accounts in one place. It shows all of my credit card accounts, my mortgage, my investment accounts, analyzes my fees, and is very visually compelling. I mean, it’s a geeked-out way to see it all in one glance without spending too much time. Sign up here to help yours truly speed toward financial independence! It has cut down my end-of-the month reckoning significantly since I can see all my accounts together (with graphs!).

Our investments climbed to $116,150! I do feel like we’re clawing our way to $500,000 and the market has been extremely good to us, so I am not sure what my confidence level will be when market conditions change. For my own sake, I ran numbers on how simple it is to save $1,000,000 as well as an aggregated chart of people who have done it much faster. I’m thinking of changing my official goal to $1,000,000 by 2022 and do this whole “Retire Early” thing all the way. Right now that plan, even with high market returns, seems impossible. But goals should be impossible, right?

The mortgage balance is now $63,550. It was the first month paying less than $200 for interest! Yay for progress! Next month is a big month with the PFD coming ($5,110 for our family of 5), so I think we can get this below $60,000 next month!

For our savings percentage, we track the percentage of our pre-tax (or gross) income and the extra payments put toward the mortgage are included in the amount saved. Savings percentage for September – 46%. With my trip to the office, it was a high income month for me. Yay!

2016 Financial Goal Update:

With just $19,550, we could realize all of our goals for the year!

I’ve prioritized the mortgage goal because the markets are high and not a great deal right now. Ideally, we pay off the mortgage when the market is high, and then when it goes down, we have lots of extra money from not having a mortgage to put in the market at a discount! But even if that doesn’t happen, I’m SICK of the mortgage. I don’t like how tied down it makes me feel. Also, it happens to be at a big evil bank. So, I’d like to end that relationship as well.

• $125,000 in investments by the end of the year ($116,150/$125,000) – We’re only $8,850 away! Even if the markets stay flat, I think we can hit this one… but if they go down at all, it won’t happen.
• Max out my Roth IRA for 2015 by April ($5500/$5500) – Done!
• Max out my Roth IRA for 2016 by December ($0/$5500) – I think we’ll be able to add $3000 next month and hopefully max out by December.
• Max out Mr. T’s Roth IRA for 2016 by December ($0/$5500) – Haven’t started… This one may have to wait until next year. But I haven’t entirely given up yet.
• Mortgage balance below $55,000 by the end of December ($63,550 – $8,550 left to go!)

Notable Expenses This Month: The Story Our Money Tells:

These are expenses that tell an interesting story. A peek into our lives through our pocketbook:

• $9.99 – Thrift store non-chicken skinny jeans (this was very exciting because the thrift stores in Alaska are TERRIBLE! I had to go in the Midwest).
• $358 – Super early bird tickets to FinCon17 for Mr. T and I (I still have to talk him into coming… but I have 13 months).
• $6.00 – Airplane internet when I realized I forgot my phone.
• $11.50 – BLT bagel in the Seattle airport. As Seinfeld would say: “Bagels are rare here.”

EXTRA INCOME:

$0.90 from my Bookscouter Affiliate Link

$675 from SEO work – my most lucrative side hustle that you can do too!

$100 – Birthday money from my Grandma. Thanks Grandma!

Financial Phrases:

These are things said by actual people that were either talking to me or near me enough that I could hear them:

• “I had all of my Magic Cards in my car and it got broken into. They went through everything and didn’t take anything, so I don’t know what they’re looking for!” Ten minutes later he said: “I literally had all of my little decks in all their boxes and everything. Nothing!”
• “It was fun being young and dumb.”
• “My role has shifted now. They say people change companies five times in their career, and this might be my time to do that. I’m keeping my eye open for other opportunities, but for now, I’m interested to see where this goes.”
• “90% of the people at his funeral were wearing sneakers. Tells you a lot.”