<< Back to all Blogs

About Me:

terri77

I am 46, single, no kids. I am a health care professional. I feel that I'm generally a very good saver and a not so good budgeter - hence the credit card debt payoff I worked through in 2020.

My personal finance goals for 2024:

1. Contribute maximum to Thrift Savings Plan. This is a recurring goal that I’ve accomplished every year since 2008.

2. Contribute maximum to Roth IRA. This is a recurring goal that I’ve accomplished every year since 2001.

3. Pay off credit cards. Completed January 2021. Now the strategy is to pay off my credit cards monthly with no balance carryover.

4. Build up emergency & long-term savings. I completed my initial goal in April 2021. I have 3-6 months of expenses saved at this time & I continue to save for my next car purchase, which is hopefully many years away. I use high yield savings and CDs.

5. Invest in brokerage account. I started with the proceeds from selling my condo & have added monthly. This account is for a future down payment when I purchase a home again.

6. Give to church monthly. I attend two churches right now so I alternate my monthly offerings.

7. Give to charity monthly. Food banks are my preferred charity to give to. I have automated my charitable donations at work to give with my biweekly paychecks.

8. Apply for promotions as they become available. Right now I’m very happy in my current position, so this isn’t much of a goal currently. I have received several raises, I enjoy the work I do, & the people I work with…I’m very happy to stay where I am.

9. New goal for 2024! Build new home with $100k down. This will be funded from my brokerage account & cash savings. 🏡

IRA Contributions & Budget

January 6th, 2020 at 08:07 pm

I forgot to turn off my automatic contributions to my IRA, so I sent my first contribution for 2020 even though I still haven’t fully funded 2019. Whoops. Needless to say, I turned off the automatic funding. I will finish paying my mom back for the AC loan this month & should have the funds to max my 2019 IRA by April 15.

I have decided that 2020 will be the year I learn to live on budget. Honestly, I never tried before. Just spent as I pleased & my credit card debt reflects that. I want to start this decade off being mindful with spending money.

Posted in Investing ideas, Retirement readings, Savings stories, Debt diet, Spending stuff, Budgeting, Debt, Investing, Personal Finance, Retirement, Saving Money | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “IRA Contributions & Budget”

Petunia 100 Says:
January 6th, 2020 at 10:50 pm 1578351053
1578351053

Your custodian will probably count your 2020 contribution as a 2019 if you give them a call.

Best of luck with your budgeting.
rob62521 Says:
January 7th, 2020 at 09:10 pm 1578431444
1578431444

Good luck with your budgeting. Writing down everything you spend will help you realize where your money is going. Some credit cards will also give you a report on categories. That might help you as you create your budget.
terri77 Says:
January 7th, 2020 at 09:23 pm 1578432212
1578432212

Yes, I've contacted Vanguard twice now about the contribution. Hopefully I'll get a response & it will be in my favor.
creditcardfree Says:
January 11th, 2020 at 09:17 pm 1578777474
1578777474

Good luck with the budget! I decided to use YNAB again this year even though I have to pay for it. I may try to double my efforts later in the year and try a free budget app. What is your plan for budgeting?

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)

Name:	*
Email:	Will not be published.
	Subscribe: Notify me of additional comments to this entry.
URL:
Verification:	* Please spell out the number 4. [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]

Firefly's Personal Finance Blog

Working out my spending impulses.

IRA Contributions & Budget

4 Responses to “IRA Contributions & Budget”

Leave a Reply