2025 Financial Goals

Welcome to 2025!! Let's talk about the financial plan for the year. My husband will retire officially from the military on February 28, 2026. We have 14 months to prepare for this change. We have been planning for this in many ways for years, sending more to our retirement fund than many and keeping our expenses low. 

Our main goal is to stockpile cash to assist with the transition. Worst case scenario it's money will live on to supplement my husband's retirement pay (which is less than half of what we receive now). Best case scenario, he will find another job (which he wants to do) and we can use the cash towards buying a new vehicle to replace his 2007 Honda Ridgeline. 

We are shifting our retirement contributions. He will continue to contribute 17% of his Basic Pay to the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan). We will stop automatic contributions to our Roth IRA's and put that money into a CD paying over 4.5%. If he has a job before the 2025 contribution deadline (April 15, 2026) will send this money in for investment. We do max out both of our Roth IRAs (we are over 50), so this will result in $16,000 by year end and $18,666.66 by the retirement date. 

I am estimating on the high side that we can save an additional $45,000 by year end. On the low end maybe closer to $40,000. It's a fine line this year of stockpiling cash, but also enjoying the higher income while we have it. This cash will get funneled to CDs or money markets where we can be earning some interest. I think we are around 4% APR on our main savings account. I will keep my eye out for good offers! 

I will continue to save all interest earned and deposit credit card rewards money into our savings account. We do use credit cards and pay them off in full every two weeks, we do not pay interest on our credit cards. 

I will note mostly for myself that we ended 2024 with $51,826.53 in cash. We will approach or exceed $100,000 in cash by year end or when my husband retires. 

I have no doubt, based on years of experience, that we will make great progress on our goal. Just having a goal and working towards it means we will get close, meet it, or even exceed it. 

The Payback: October Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

October Progress

10/1 Income $425

10/15 Income $515

Total $940

YTD $11,000

Left to Goal $0

This goal for 2024 is DONE!! Make a plan, work the plan and you will see the results you are working towards. 

The Payback: September Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

September Progress

9/1 Income $425

9/15 Income $515

Total $940

YTD $10,060.00

Left to Goal $940

Next month we can cross this goal off as complete! 

The Payback: July Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

July Progress

7/1 Income $425

7/15 Income $515

Total $940    

YTD $8,180.00

Left to Goal $2,820.00

Three more months of payments equal to $940 and we can cross this goal off as complete! Previously we had been adding $915 a month. The additional $25/month will help get us to the final payment to ourselves on October 15. 

The Payback: June Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

June Progress

6/1 Income $415

6/15 Income $500

Top off $16.68

Total $931.68

YTD $7,240.00

Left to Goal $3,760.00

I topped off the amount paid year to day to even it up, with $16.68. Four more months of payments equal to $940 and we can cross this goal off as complete! Previously we had been adding $915 a month. The additional $25/month will help get us to the final payment to ourselves on October 15. 

The Payback: May Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

May Progress

Income 5/1   $415

Income 5/15 $500

Total $915

YTD $6,308.32

Left to Goal $4,691.68

More than halfway on this goal! Expected to complete this goal in October of this year. 

The Payback: February Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

February additions

Gap Refund $932

Income 2/1 $415

Income 2/15 $500 

Total $1847.00    

YTD $2,619.32

Left To Goal $8,380.68

Quite happy with the progress this month. Stuck to the planned contributions from income and added a significant refund to the goal, which cuts one month off the time to goal. We will keep pushing on!

The Payback: January Progress

We are paying ourselves back for the car we helped our daughter purchase. The goal is to return $11,000 back to our savings account by the end of 2024 or sooner! These payback posts are to track that progress.

January additions

$735.94 Income

$36.38 Ebay Sale

Total  $772.32

Total YTD $772.32

Amount left to goal $10,227.68  

Setting Goals for 2024

I made two savings goals, beyond retirement, for 2024. 

1)Return $11,000 to savings for the car debt we recently paid off. I have a plan that will use regular income, $917/month. I will also send found money here as well. Always good to fatten the cash reserves!

2)Save $400 a month towards a vacation. The where and when are still to be determined and my hope is that we won't spend that much, but I'd rather oversave then under save. If we take a vacation before fully funded with current income, I will use current savings, but then keep filling in monthly to pay ourselves back.

We also have some debt to pay.

We have a loan on our 2023 Honda Odyssey. We have been paying it faster than required. I believe it was a four year loan, which we are 16 months into. The goal is to pay it off by June of 2025 half a year before my husband retires. I have the payments set as $600 twice per month. 

I'd like to sweep extra funds into both the savings repayment and the car. I might have to do a little of both depending on what I have to work with. I guess after thinking about it a little. I will consider credit card rewards towards van loan. I will keep interest earned in savings, but not necessarily counted towards my two goals above. 

The other thing that I'd like to buy is a new sofa and loveseat for our family room. Our 'fake' leather is peeling and the cushions aren't as firm and comfortable. If I buy in 2024, without specifically saving for it (we already have a good savings account) I will probably pay ourselves back for that in 2025. 

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.