May 2018 bring us all health, wealth and joy!
Slowly getting back on this wagon...and realizing there is a lot that I need to update on the site. Bear with me if you are following along this journey. I may try to simplify some of the information that I am providing just to make it easier on myself :-) because I am already expecting 2018 to be a very busy year. Also, I've decided to turn off reader comments while I am updating the site since I really do not have much time to respond to them. They will be turned back on though because I did so much enjoy commenting with the readers.
Now getting down to some business (I can be so wordy at times!)... While I stopped blogging last year, I continued to make my deposits to savings and investments and overpay my mortgage.
My Brokerage Acct Portfolio page is updated and you will notice that I added a new mutual fund and a new ETF.
Ultimate Goals and KILL My Mortgage!!! are updated as best I can. I will eventually go back and fill in the mortgage payments and overpayments plus I need to calculate how much cash I invested this year. (It is over $10K since that was the minimum purchase price for the new mutual fund I selected.) But it involves going through some paperwork (online but still...) so that will not be happening today.
On to goals for 2018! Not all of them will be tracked on this blog but this will give you an idea of where my head is. Firstly, I want to say that I am still somewhat uncomfortable about where the stock market is and where it is going. It simply cannot keep going up up and up. While I have continued to send money to Vanguard, I am not buying much with that money. Instead it is sitting in the money market fund (I have now added that line item to the brokerage accounts page). I would like to have a good amount of cash sitting there for when the inevitable happens and I can purchase some shares on sale! However, I am going to be buying more of the bond ETF this year.
2018 Financial Goals (Cash is Queen!)
1) Start tracking spending again. It got a bit tiresome in 2017 with everything else going on. Haven't been spending crazily but I'd like to know where the pennies are going.
2) 183 No Spend Days. Yup these are back and definitely needed for a bit of mental calm.
3) Earn $$$ in a side hustle. Time to start one!
4) Rewire savings - $75/month (unchanged)
5) G2H-FU savings - $75/month (unchanged)
6) 2nd Home savings - $250/month (unchanged)
7) Send $10K to Vanguard (may or may not purchase shares)
What is not on this list is to overpay the mortgage. With the new tax bill I'm not sure if I should be overpaying. Instead a lot of my money will just be sitting in savings for most of the year. (I expect to be significantly impacted by the tax bill and not in a good way. I am basically in a wait and see period and will just be holding on to cash until the dust settles.)
I am also hoping to switch jobs so hanging on to some cash due to the uncertainty of my job situation is important.
That's it! It's more of the same but with a focus on saving as much cash as possible and tracking expenses more closely. Not fun but it is my reality. No use in not facing it.
Hope everyone is looking forward to this year and making their own financial goals!
Pru
