Pot of Possibilities - August 2021 - Final

This will be my last Pot of Possibilities post, at least for awhile! We are buying a home, which is what much of these funds were meant to support. The original goal was $200,000 by end of 2023. Not sure we would have made it, but we really might have been close. Let's see where we ended up!

Paycheck 8/1 $1,022.77

Paycheck 8/15 $1000.77

USAA Rewards $3.20

Amex Rewards $88.73

FNBO Interest $12.87

NFCU Interest $42.76

August Total $2,167.90

YTD Total $20,427.46

POP Total $112,487.84

I really wanted to reach the original goal, but it's time to put down roots. It's time to spend and invest in our home. These years of savings and tucking funds away have allowed us to get to this point. And it's quite gratifying honestly. After the move I will be back with new goals, new plans. Keep saving! It's all worth it. 

A College Savings Windfall

Our youngest daughter is about to start her final three semesters of college this month, so it's been time to evaluate how to pay the bills! As planned we are beginning to use her Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits she received from her dad. 

For at least the next two semesters tuition and fees will be paid in full by the VA, each semester is equal to about $6365. 

Her housing cost and meal plan is $4,066 per semester. The VA will provide housing allowance and a book stipend for each of these semesters. Each semester should net $6,517. Clearly more than the cost of housing we pay! 

I found out yesterday that her scholarships with are $2,250 per semester can be applied to the housing costs! This means that the actual housing cost owed will be $1,816 each semester, after scholarships are applied. Her sister had a scholarship at another university that didn't benefit us in this way when the VA paid. I think this has to do with type of scholarship and that one university was out of state tuition, while this current university is in state tuition. So we are pleasantly surprised to have this $4,500 benefit and windfall in our favor.

I have been saving $500 a month since the end of last year and have set aside $4500 in anticipation of paying the housing cost out of pocket, knowing we will eventually get the housing allowance (it's paid out monthly). I basically don't need this savings at all to handle the upcoming bill, because on top of these benefits she still has nearly $7,500 in her Educational Savings Account. I have already made a transfer out of her ESA to cover the housing we owe after scholarships are applied. 

Now remember I said she has three semesters left? The final semester her scholarships will have ended and depending on her housing choice, cost may increase, to as high as $6K. And we know how universities love to increase costs. I expect we will owe between $10,500 and $12,000 for her that final semester, but we have plenty of funds between the VA payments (and they may pay a small portion in the last semester) and her ESA.

Funds currently available

Cash $4300

ESA $7504

Expected VA payments

$13,034

Total Funds

$24,838

Expected Costs

Fall 21 $1,816

Spring 22 $1,816

Fall 22 $10,500 (min) 

Total $14,132

We have more funds available than expenses!

$24,838-$14132 = $10,706

The next two semesters will come from ESA funds and I will shift the $4,300 I saved this year to other priorities! We will stockpile the VA payments as they come in, drain the ESA the final semester, pay the difference with VA funds and keep the remaining amount, which appears to be $6400! Interestingly enough the VA does not require that housing and book payments be used for these costs. If you don't have books to buy or housing to pay (say you are living at home) than you are allowed to keep the funds for any other use. 

So yes, a $10K+ windfall!! Whohoo! 

Because we over saved for our youngest daughter and our oldest daughter took out a small student loan her final semesters of college in the amount of $5,500, we are going to pay her loan off which is about $3100 remaining. She hasn't paid any money to the loan yet because of the deferment currently allowed. She is sitting on a housing reimbursement since the college closed early in March 2020 and a small VA payment that total $2400. 

I'm almost shell shocked that we did it, or are nearly there. With our college savings efforts, cash flow and VA benefits we paid in full for our two daughters to attend college (19 semesters). 

Pot of Possibilities - July 2021

Another month of 2021 in the books and we have saved money once again in our Pot of Possibilities!

7/1 Paycheck $962.77

7/15 Paycheck $1000.77    

Ebay Sale $8.65

FNBO Interest $12.87

NFCU Interest $37.48

USAA Interest $0.15

Amex Rewards $72.19

Chase Rewards  $4.89

USAA Premium Refund $538.48

July Total $2,638.25

YTD Total $18,259.56

POP Total $110,319.94

I'm calling that another milestone! Over $110,000! 

The original goal of this big savings goal was to reach $200K, by the time my husband retires. With the idea that we could put a large down payment on a home. At the time I thought we might buy a home worth about $200K! Of course home prices are rising rapidly since that time. We are likely still on track to meet that goal with about 2.5 years to retire. But things are changing. We have orders to move to our final assignment. We are likely going to buy a home there since it's in the Midwest and closer to our girls. So it will be time to dip into the Pot of Possibilities. The amount we have saved is plenty to put at least 20% down on our next home. 

It's been a fun ride building up the cash, but it will feel good to have it work for us in another way soon. And it's time, since interest rates are not in favor with savers once again. 

I expect there to be another month, or two of POP contributions. The savings never really stops, but I will likely stop reporting it in this way. 

Thanks for following our journey! Oh, and check back tomorrow I have news on another bit of a windfall!  

Pantry Eat Up and More

Hello friends! Yes, I actually have a post that is not a Pot of Possibilities update!

Our oldest daughter came for a week long visit last week. That causes extra spending. Groceries and some expenses to enjoy the town. As a result of that and just a few days left before my husband's paycheck, I decided to keep the grocery shopping on Sunday lean and use up what we already had on hand!

This week we have used up:

2 buns

frozen corn and edamame

fresh blueberries

cilantro 

hummus

green onions

2 apples

shredded carrots

tomato

can of black beans

steak fries

tomato sauce 

half a can of refried beans

three frozen everything bagels

3/4 lb ground beef

skirt steak

I meal planned around these items and made several of them into my lunches this week. I did have to supplement at the grocery store for a few things and to stock up on some normal needs. I spent less than $50 on Sunday and will go back for a full grocery run again on Thursday! It does feel good to use up things already purchased as well as to shop from the pantry. 

In other news, we received a check from USAA for $538.48. This is apparently a refund for a extended vehicle protection plan we purchased on our used truck. We made the purchase of that in 2011. USAA did a quality review and found their EVP products did not meet member expectations. I don't believe we ever made a claim with them and the vehicle was paid off a long time ago. Interesting business decision on their part. We are grateful for any money we weren't expecting. 

We should probably put this money into the Pot of Possibilities, but we are traveling by car next month and don't have a lot set aside for gas, food and hotels specifically, so just might use this money! Once the trip is over any extra we didn't use could go into the Pot! 

Have you received any unexpected cash recently or eaten down your pantry stores? 

Pot of Possibilities - June 2021

First half of the year of savings complete! We are looking to roughly save $30,000 towards our Pot of Possibilities this year. We are on target and slightly ahead at this point. 

6/1 Paycheck $858.82

6/15 Paycheck $1029.84

NFCU Interest $55.08

FNBO Interest $12.45    

USAA Rewards $6.13

Chase Freedom $4.28

Amex Rewards $76.80

June Total $2043.40    

YTD Total $15,621.31

POP Total $107,681.69

I usually have a US Bank reward of $3.50. The bank now requires a minimum of $25 in rewards before redemption. I'm currently only using for our AT&T internet bill for 5% off. The small amounts add up, but I'm getting less interested in keeping this card. 

Interest is declining as two of our CDs matured this month and we cannot get anything close to what we had for interest now. It really isn't the best time to be holding cash. I plan to open a money market at Navy Federal rather than having the proceeds from the CDs in regular savings account. That will help a little. 

How did you do with your savings this month?

Pot of Possibilities - May 2021

Five months of the year already complete?! Time is moving fast in our world. Time once again to report the contribution to our Pot of Possibilities. I failed to redeem some Amex Rewards some time back and only realized it at the end of April, which is why the amount is so large in comparison to other months. I'm not sure exactly how that happened, but we will take it. 

5/1 Paycheck $979.28

5/15 Paycheck $941.12
AmEx Rewards $202.24

USAA Rewards $9.95

US Bank Reward $3.50

Chase Rewards $20.07

USAA Interest $0.14

NFCU Interest $72.29

FNBO Interest $12.86

May Total $2,241.45

YTD Total $13,577.91

POP Total $105,638.28

May was a spendy month, but we did manage to put the full amount we originally allocated each pay period into the pot. We have another line item of $250 per pay period towards unallocated expenses. We spent it all this month and dipped into what we saved previously. Mentally I don't like to dip into savings, but I set this up for that very reason! It's just something I have to remind myself when it happens. 

We are still making progress on our Pot of Possibilities! After five months we have done very well, and may possibly be on track to save at least $30K in 2021. Good luck with your June savings goals!

Pot of Possibilities - April 2021

A new month! Time to report the progress on adding to our Pot of Possibilities! This is the least amount we have added in awhile. April was full of spending! We flew out of town to help our daughter move from one state to another. We also had a repair to my van that we didn't have fully funded. Remember when I took our sinking fund down to zero at the end of last year? It's all the same money in the end. 

4/1 Paycheck $979.34
Amex Reward $5.00
USAA Interest $0.10

US Bank Reward $3.50

Anniversary Gift $50

Chase Reward $5.71    

NFCU Interest $69.89

FNBO Interest $14.04

Chase Freedom $5.74

April Total $1,133.32

YTD Total $11,336.46

POP Total $103,396.83

I have another trip back to help our daughter move out of her college dorm room for the summer. Hotel expenses and restaurants will add up. We have a little set aside, but will mostly come from current income. I am grateful we could still move the meter on the balance to the positive! It all counts.  

While doing this update, I realized I forgot to redeem American Express rewards in April. Another $50, but will add in May since it has not yet hit our bank account. 

Good luck with YOUR savings goals!

Pot of Possibilities - March 2021 (MILESTONE!!)

Time once again for the Pot of Possibilities progress report!

3/1 Paycheck $979.36

3/1 Extra funds $26.16

3/15 Paychek $971.95

3/15 Extra funds $172.29

USAA $3.08

US Bank $3.50

Found cash $20

Amex rewards $50

XRay refund ('18) $27.99

Stimulus $1400.00

NFCU Interest $72.15

FNBO Interest $14.68

March Total $3,714.16

YTD Total $10,203.14

POP Total $102,263.51

As predicted, we exceeded the $100K mark this month!! Last year our total contribution to the Pot was just over $20K, after three months we are halfway to meeting that same goal. A raise does help the finances. 

We did received $4,200 in stimulus money for myself, my husband and our college daughter. The $1,400 above is my portion. We saved $1,400 towards college tuition this fall. My husband contributed his portion to causes close to his heart. 

Two other unusual contributions are the $20 found cash and the x ray refund. I found a $20 bill in a Walmart parking lot. No one was around, it wasn't windy. Someone was just unfortunate and I was the lucky finder. I have never found paper money on the ground before! The x ray refund was a surprise. Apparently our insurance finally processed for an x ray my daughter had in the fall of 2018. We had paid the clinic and they refunded us the amount the insurance paid. 

I'm am proud that we underspent during each pay period this month. April has us traveling, helping our daughter move and some repairs to my van are expected. We will see if we can maintain that next month!  

For now, I'm celebrating our HUGE milestone of passing the $100,000 mark! Yippee!! Who hoo!! Happy Dancin'!! 

Closing Credit Cards

I mentioned months back, that I wanted to simplify our open credit cards. I've procrastinated...possibly an entire year! Recently, American Express notified us that one our accounts hasn't been used and as a result they will be closing it if we don't make a purchase by the end of this month. This was my reminder to take on this task.

I'm letting the American Express mentioned above fall off on it's own. Today, I called Discover and closed our account that we have had for seven years. We rarely use it. I think I made one purchase last year, and gained just under $23 in rewards. I'm just done playing the game of switching cards for small amounts of cash. It served its purpose for a time, but I'm not keeping this account open for that. 

When I called Discover they did offer me a new rewards deal of an additional 3% cash back for six months on up to $1500, in addition to the 1% rewards already given. That would be another $60. But then in six months I would need to call again. I declined, I'm ready to simplify and be done chasing rewards. The account is now closed. 

In other news, I found a $20 bill in the parking lot of Walmart about two weeks ago. No one was around. Someone clearly lost some of their cash, but I was the winner of that reward! Abundance comes around in many forms. 

We still have many other credit cards and many of them are up for review. It feels good to be taking another step toward simplification! 

Pot Of Possibilities - February 2021

February was a fast month! I feel like I just did a POP report. ☺

Since last month, I have changed how I drop cash into our YNAB (You Need A Budget). I have a post on that here. As a result, I have an nearly fixed amount that I drop into the Pot of Possibilities on each pay period. The extra funds noted below come at the end of each pay period. We spent less in our variable expenses budget during both pay periods! I'm not sure this will always be the case, but it's worth celebrating this month!

2/1 Pay $1,031.23

Extra funds $339.85

2/15 Pay $916.97

Extra funds $57.26    

FNBO Interest $12.04

NFCU Interest $65.10

American Express rewards $47.82

US Bank rewards $3.50

USAA rewards $3.11

eBay sale $21.62

February Total $2,498.50

YTD POP Total $6,461.98

POP Total $98,549.35

Getting close to the first $100K! I expect next month we will meet and exceed this milestone. 

On February 16, I transferred the POP balance of cash in our checking account to an interest bearing savings account. The balance was $6220.20. I plan to move money every month usually after the 15th, so it can earn some interest, even if a very little. 

Another great savings month! 

7 Figure Net Worth

A quick report.

Our net worth crossed into seven figure territory this week!! Our assets consist of retirement accounts and cash invested in money market and certificates of deposits. 

We do own three paid in full vehicles, while they do have value it is not included in our net worth. We currently rent, so there is no home value to include right now.  We also have no debt! My husband is 51 and I am 48, so we are doing pretty well. 

The rate at which the stock market is rising seems abnormal to me.  The S&P 500 index is up over 4% since the beginning of the year! I'm thankful to see the balances of our accounts rise, but I am concerned at the pace. 

I do trust the process of investing, as it has served us well thus far! 

Have you reached a milestone in your net worth (assets - debts)? 

P.S. I learned while filing our taxes today that even if you took the standard deduction for 2020, you can still claim up to $150 in charitable cash donations ($300 if married). These are then an adjustment to income. This appears to be only for 2020. 

A Budget Change

Cha, cha, cha, changes!

I use YNAB to manage our budget. I've decided to make some changes. A new paycheck, a new plan to manage the funds and the goals. 

YNAB for us is broken down into fixed expenses, variable expenses, rainy day funds (which I should change to short term savings) and savings goals. 

Fixed expenses are rent, allowance for one daughter, vision insurance, internet and streaming services (all budgeted for the first of the month), life insurance, Roth IRA investment contributions, and our cell phone service (the latter budgeted on the 15th). The big switch for this budget is that we are paying our full rent on the 3rd. In the past we have budgeted half the rent out of each paycheck, paying it on the 16th. Our rent is actually due in arrears, so one month after it is posted. I've never liked this! We were always paying ahead, by a couple weeks. Now we are paying on time, at least in my world! 

I won't list all of our variable categories, but imagine fuel, household, groceries, ect. I have often gone off of what we spent in the previous month to fill in the budget. I was often moving money from one category to another because I wasn't exactly accurate with the budget. Using last years spending data, I found variable expenses to be on average $1060 every two weeks. Now, I drop the full budget amount into the top category of groceries at each pay period. As we spend and categorize other variable spending during the pay period, I simply move money from groceries to cover that expense. I have only done this for one month, but we had an excess of funds in the variable category at the end of each pay period. We put that amount in to the Pot of Possibilities (POP)

In order to change our rent payment to the beginning of the month, I will budget our short term savings goals from the paycheck that arrives on the 15th of the month. Short term savings, are sinking funds for things like college tuition, auto/renters insurance, vacation, and car maintenance.  I made myself notes, it was often not clear which categories I should fund with each paycheck. I did make it work, but this is easier. I love simplicity! I drop about $1400 worth of cash into these sinking funds, that generally deplete themselves in a years time. 

And finally, our savings goals. The two categories are the emergency fund and the Pot of Possibilities. We do have a specific emergency fund, but in this budget I drop $250 per paycheck to act a bit as a slush fund or buffer if needed. It is not often needed, but mentally I like having this money here to pull from rather than dipping into the POP or other emergency savings in other accounts. And basically anything that isn't allocated to the other categories each paycheck go to the Pot of Possibilities! Last month we saved over $3900. As of February 1, we dropped another $1031 into the pot. 

A lot of words to explain what feels like a simplified way to budget. I'm no longer dividing the rent and the sinking funds over two pay periods. They each get their own. I'm using an average amount to budget for variable expenses each pay period, and putting the extra in the POP at the end of the pay period. I have a clear plan on how to manage savings, which prioritizes contributing the maximum amount to the POP! 

It's only February, but I'll let you know how it works as the months continue! Have you made changes to how you budget?

POP Contributions - January 2021

Welcome 2021! Time to add more funds to our Pot of Possibilities. This month is a bit of a trial as we adjust to a new income and what to do with it all. My initial report below was my plan at the beginning of the month knowing full well we likely had additional income that could be added. Just needed a month or so to get clear on what we are adding to the pot. The paycheck amounts shown are just bare minimums contributions. 

Paycheck 1/1 $424

Paycheck 1/15 $424

Army Travel $63.37

FB Sale $38    

Ebay Sale $15.99   

US Bank $3.50

USAA $3.14

Chase Freedom $4.83

FNBO interest $12.09

NFCU interest $72.02

Total $1060.94

Let's add more! There was extra income from December back pay, less January spending by about $600, and just more income in general. Might as well save it! 

Extra income $2,902.54

January Total $3,963.48

YTD $3,963.48

POP Total $96,050.85

We are getting closer to the 100K mark! We would need another great month like January to meet that in February, but we will get closer next month. I bet we will see the mark met in March 2021. 

Paying off A Loan

We are cosigners on our daughter's car that we bought in May 2019. We paid about half in cash and took out a small loan for $5,700. If memory serves our daughter put about half of the cash down on the car. We honestly didn't have a great plan after that. We had some thought she would take over payments after graduating in May 2020. 

It took her about six months to secure a full time job and here we are two months later. The balance on the loan was under $3,500. We decided to pay it off in full. We know it will help her to not have a car payment, even though small at $133.50 per month. We knew that we had also received $3,600 from the Federal government this year. Money we really didn't need or want. We have always used windfalls to pay off/down debt, so that is what we have done again. 

If you pay close attention to my POP reports, yes, we did save the first stimulus cash ($2,400) towards our savings goal. We will not be reducing that number!

During the last four months of the year all federal employees were exempt from social security deductions. We saved all of these funds, which was eight payments of $258.06, amounting to $2,064.48. With the stimulus money we were pretty close to the payoff amount. There's always some extra cash in various places.

The main point is that we sent a check to pay off this car loan in full today for the amount of $3,497.81. One less payment for me or her to think about! Now we hope she can keep this car for a few years as she gets her financial life on track. 

Pay Has Been Corrected

My husband was promoted on December 1, but they didn't pay the new raise at all in December. It seems his notification to the pay office was received. We now expect that back pay to arrive later this week. 

I adjusted his contributions to his retirement out his pay from 11% to 17% last week. That change is not showing up yet, but the confirmation said it would be complete for the February 1 paycheck. I will be able to see the monthly pay stub a week before. With all the changes, I won't have a handle on the pay amount until February 8. After that, the paycheck amounts will stabilize, which is always very helpful for working on the budget!

The goal is to save, save, save! 

Wrapping Up 2020, Planning and Working 2021

It's the time of the year where I do some year end record keeping. 

As you may have seen from previous posts, I recorded year end retirement balances and our final Pot of Possibilities contributions. 2020 was a great year financially. I know it wasn't for everyone, which is very, very unfortunate particularly if caused by government overreach in response to the virus. 

I also make a point to download any of my husband's monthly pay stubs I may have missed for the year and the year end statements of all of our investment accounts. As of today, I have been able to do all but one account, my husband's Thrift Savings Account statement. 

I did some college financial planning a couple months ago for our daughter. We needed to make a determination on when to start using her Post 911/GI Bill benefits. She has four semesters left. We will pay out of pocket for Spring 2021. We will use the benefits for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. The final semester, Fall 2022, will be cash out of pocket and a small amount from her the Post 911/GI Bill benefits. I have my plan all mapped out and just need to work the plan at this point. 

The spring 2021 tuition and housing are due January 20. A few months ago I moved her ESA money out of a mutual fund and into a cash account. Today, I transferred the money we needed to our bank account so we have it ready to pay next week. Another semester student loan free for our youngest daughter! (Our older daughter did five years of college for two degrees and only ended up with $5,500 in loans) 

The planning continues with figuring out my husband's new paycheck. He was promoted in December, and we are waiting for the pay to show up. It's one thing to have a new pay to adjust to and work with, but it feels much more complicated when you know there is back pay coming. Overall, more cash is coming our way!

I have decided to lower our tax liability further this year by increasing my husband's deferred retirement contributions from 11% to 17% of his basic pay. For now, I am putting his Roth contributions on hold until the pay situation corrects itself. I expect we will ultimately max out both of our Roth IRAs again in 2021. 

What record keeping are you competing for 2020? Are you making adjustments with your finances for 2021? 

2020 Retirement Report

I track our retirement account balance on a basic spreadsheet that I started in May 2003! Nearly 17 years later I am still tracking. I don't track with any specificity. Sometimes I skip a whole month or two of recording, often when I know the market is down. In some months, I have five or six days of balances recorded. I do prefer to record when the balance is higher then the previous time I recorded. 

In May 2003, our retirement balance was $25,741.51. My husband had already been saving for many years at this point, and I think I had a little from when I worked as well. 

We wrapped up 2020 with a retirement balance of $834,124.84!! 

I'm nearly speechless by that number. 

The work and effort all of these years is working!

The balance of those accounts was $660,822.27 at the end of 2019. We contributed the maximum to our Roth IRA accounts, $6000 for me, and $7,000 for my husband since he is now over 50. We also contributed to his TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) in the amount of $10,987.80. 

The increase for the year was $173,302.57. The contributions were $23,987.80, the growth portion was $149,314.77. Amazing!!

Our contributions are 18.3% of our gross income. We also saved another $20K towards our Pot of Possibilities this year, for a total savings rate of 33.6% of income. 

When calculating our gross income I did include our housing allowance from the military. The full housing allowance goes to pay our rent on base housing. It's tempting to leave it out, but everyone has some type of housing expense to pay or cover out of income. 

My husband was promoted in December. We are still waiting for the increased pay to hit our bank account. At this point we are owed money for December, which we will save! We have plans to increase retirement and other savings significantly in 2021. Because we can live on 2/3 of 2020 income, there is no reason to not save all of my husbands raise. I will write more on that once we are actually getting paid! 

Did you successfully meet your retirement goals? Do you save automatically? (Hint, that is what helps make it so easy to do!)