Firefly's Personal Finance Blog

I hope that a Christmas was especially merry & bright this year!

My Christmas vacation has started a day early. Since Trump declared Christmas Eve a holiday I had an additional day of use or lose leave to use before the end of the year. So I’m off today & procrastinating on getting to the gym. Yesterday after work I did a little shopping for myself & returned a purchase. Then I came home & did some laundry and started prepping my guest room for my sister. My family arrives Monday. Gifts are all wrapped. I only have a gift card to buy for my brother-in-law. I will get that on Christmas Eve on our usual trip to the mall.

It looks like federal employees will get a 3.1% raise next year. Not bad at all. Four years of pay freezes hurt, but I know that the entire country was hurting at the time.

2019 has been a good year & I’m looking forward to 2020. A year from now I’ll be even further along my plan for financial independence.

A pic of my shopping finds attached so you understand how much I love sparkle. ❇️ 💖🤩

How is your Christmas shopping coming? I think I’ve mentioned before that I shop throughout the year. Kids I shop for at Christmas time. They grow so fast & change so much that I can’t buy for the littles in advance. I am done with the adult shopping & actually have a surplus for next year as is my usual. I need to not buy throughout this year...if I can help it.

Rumors are that bonuses won’t arrive until the new year. Not the best time of year, but it’s happened before. I’m thankful for anything.

I joined some FIRE groups on FB this week, with an emphasis on the FI. I’m interested in maximizing my income & am looking into some WFH opportunities.

How is your Christmas shopping coming? I think I’ve mentioned before that I shop throughout the year. Kids I shop for at Christmas time. They grow so fast & change so much that I can’t buy for the littles in advance. I am done with the adult shopping & actually have a surplus for next year as is my usual. I need to not buy throughout this year...if I can help it.

Rumors are that bonuses won’t arrive until the new year. Not the best time of year, but it’s happened before. I’m thankful for anything.

I joined some FIRE groups on FB this week, with an emphasis on the FI. I’m interested in maximizing my income & am looking into some WFH opportunities.

I am keeping my same health plans as last year. The only thing that I have ever changed is to add the vision plan a few years ago. It is difficult to gauge what to elect for my FSA. I am electing half the amount that I elected last year as I am rolling over more than $400 of the max $500 rollover. Plus I won’t be paying for any lab work next year. I have until tomorrow to make a change.

My birthday was Thursday. I took Wed-Fri off from work. I am in use-or-lose with my leave as usual so I am getting my time down. I will also be off the week of Christmas. Monday will be rough after 5 days off!

I took the day off yesterday & was fairly productive. I got a late start to my day as it was storming & I decided to wait out the rain. I hit the gym & did 5.36 miles on the treadmill. Then after showering I went shopping for Thanksgiving. It took 3 stores before I found fresh green beans & 2 stores before I found fresh cranberries, but I got both. Also picked up some other needed menu items & sushi for lunch. We have several wine options & of course the egg nog is essential. I wanted Evan Williams egg nog, but had to settle for Pennsylvania Dutch.

Two years ago my laptop died on me. Well, actually just the screen. I knew it was coming & took steps to back up my work too late. Anyway, yesterday I decided to rebuild my financial spreadsheets that I lost, this time with some changes. I will update quarterly instead of monthly from here on out. I went all the way back to the 1999 when I bought my first mutual fund in college. Yes, I never throw anything financial away. I’m kind of ridiculous that way. It was super fun tracking my net worth growth over 20 years. I’m a nerd that way. And yes, this time I will back-up my info!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones. 🦃🍁🍂

I went ahead & updated my TSP contribution to $750 a pay period to reflect the 2020 limit increase. Sometimes the TSP can be slow with updating contribution amounts. It’s okay if it kicks in before the end of the year as the plan won’t allow you to contribute over the limit.

I went ahead & updated my TSP contribution to $750 a pay period to reflect the 2020 limit increase. Sometimes the TSP can be slow with updating contribution amounts. It’s okay if it kicks in before the end of the year as the plan won’t allow you to contribute over the limit.

My TSP loan balance is now lower than my auto loan balance. The original amount of the TSP loan was more than the auto loan, but I am paying $250 every two weeks for the TSP loan & only $150 for the auto loan. The TSP loan will be paid off in approximately 20 pay checks. Once I'm no long paying $250 every two weeks towards my TSP loan I can add that $250 to the auto loan. Both interest rates are very low, so it may make more sense to put it towards the credit card debt, though I like the idea of owning my car outright sooner rather than later.

As I mentioned in my now deleted blog entry due to the hacking, the IRS will/has announced higher retirement plan limits in 2020. You will now be able to contribute $19,500 to your 401k and catch-up contributions for those 50 & older has increased to $6,500. No change to the IRA limit.

Multiple articles linked below for your reading pleasure:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/irs-raises-retirement-account-limits-for-2020/ar-AAJXoWD?ocid=spartandhp

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2019/nov/irs-inflation-adjustments-2020-retirement-plans-201922407.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2019/11/06/irs-announces-higher-2020-retirement-plan-contribution-limits-for-401ks-and-more/#1f285dc533bb

https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/iras/articles/ira-contribution-limits

https://401kspecialistmag.com/irs-bumps-2020-401k-contribution-limit-to-19500/

ETA:

Biweekly contribution for the 401k:$750
Biweekly contribution for catch-up:$250

I wondered what was wrong when I couldn’t access the blogs. I’m so sporadic with my posting, but I actually had a few good entires that got lost. Maybe I can somewhat replicate them later on.

I love readings money diaries from Refinery 29. Check them out at:

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/money-diary

The GAO has released a report on the rate of retirement savings at the request of Bernie Sanders. It's still shocking to me no matter how many times I read pretty much the same thing.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/697898.pdf

The numbers don't quite match up, I calculated 101% with the percentage breakdown. Savings rates have slightly improved, but still, what is to be done? More personal finance education for children? Is it a lack of education or a lack of income? Probably both. When you consider that this survey is for Americans 55 and older, the picture gets even scarier.

Apparently I’ve landed myself in retired blog status due to not posting for 3 months. So an update is in order.

It’s that time of year again: tax season. A time of year that I don’t particularly look forward to as i’m Sure to owe taxes again this year. Thankfully, this year will be in the hundreds instead of the thousands. The much hyped middle class tax breaks netted me little & I will miss some of the lost deductions. Oh well, there are worse things to happen than to be gainfully employed (two jobs even!) and to owe a little in taxes.

The IRS announced new retirement plan limits on November 1st. The 401k limit increases to $19,000 and the IRA limit increases to $6,000. For those under 50, you can contribute $1000 more to your retirement accounts next year. Both plans were projected to increase & it's nice to know that it's official. For those of you that contribute biweekly you'll be contributing $731 per period for your 401k(if you choose even distributions) and $500 a month to your IRA.

Im looking forward to meeting my max once again next year. Although the market has had a rough year, I am still committed to contributing up to the IRS limits.

I'd really like to get back to building up my savings again. My savings accounts were depleted in an effort to pay down debt, but I'd like to have that assurance of having something set aside again. Also, after more than 12 years of owning my own home it has belatedly dawned on me that I really need to have an account for those unexpected, yet expected, home repairs & maintenance costs.

I have already started to work on my 2019 budget with estimates of an increase in my retirement plans as well as an increase in pay. My pay should go up in January even if an annual raise isn't approved, because I am due for an increase due to my pay schedule. Retirement plans may increase $1k in contribution limits, but my pay should increase at least another $2k, hopefully $3k if an across the board increase is approved.

I have read predictions that both the 401k and IRA limits will increase by $500 next year. It will be nice to be able to save an extra $1k next year. I will make the adjusts accordingly in December, when the changes are signed into law.

Over the past couple of weeks I have met many goals on the path to debt repayment. My mortgage is now under $65k and I have 50% equity in my home. My auto loan is now under $10k so I now owe 4 figures rather than 5 figures. My TSP loan is now under $13k. In July I paid off my federal taxes owed. I'm most relieved to have paid off the federal taxes owed. Hopefully, the adjustments that I have made to my exemptions were sufficient for this year.

This week I sent off the final payment for my federal taxes (including the late fees & penalties). This year I owed over $4k, which is a much larger amount than I've ever owed. Last year was an unusual year with income that I didn't anticipate. This year will be less income, but I still decreased my exemptions to 0 at both jobs. I don't anticipate another 6 figure year for 2018.

I have been working a lot of extra hours at my full-time job, but there is no overtime pay involved. I earn hours to take off later. I don't have strong feelings about not getting overtime, but it would be nice if I did. I've raided what little cash I had to pay off the IRS. However, I will enjoy the extra time off later when we get past our inspection.


No other new news on the personal finance front. Things are the same, but I'm happy to see some bounce-back in the stock market, for however long it holds.

A few weeks ago I wrote a pretty long blog summing up my past few months & it appears it was never posted. Don't you hate when they happens?

My last entry was in February & since then the following things have happened:

Took a trip to Greece & New York in March. It was a wonderful experience, perfect weather in Greece. I got to experience my first St. Patrick's Dqy parade in New York & take in some great Broadway shows including the preview shows of Mean Girls & My Fair Lady. Also saw, Chicago which never gets old.

I filed my taxes and owed over $4k. Ouch. I'm on a 120 day payment plan & have to pay it off by the end of July. I knew I would owe, but wasn't planning on paying nearly that much.

April was fairly quiet. Last month I had two deaths in the family, one expected as my grandmother was in the final stages of dementia, and the other unexpected as my younger cousin died suddenly. It was a rough couple of weeks there.

I'm hoping that June will be better.I am not planning on taking any trips this summer. I am preparing for my biannual lab inspection & planning some fun in between working my two jobs.

I have a couple of trips planned for the fall, to Seattle & Vancouver, and possibly a winter trip to NYC.

So after some back & forth with Vanguard (mostly on my part) they finally responded to my latest inquiry that I have received all the monies from them that I am eligible to receive. The remaining balance I will transfer to my TSP as I 1) like to keep my money consolidated in my 2 retirement accounts, and 2) I was not eligible to keep my money in my employer's plan. It is only about $600 and i have already initiated the direct ransfer of funds. Hopefully it will be completed by the end of the 1st quarter next month.

Btw, if you are a Vanguard customer they are giving away these really cool #investinglikeaboss mugs. You need only request one from the Facebook page & they will send it in a few weeks. I am looking forward to getting mine.

It's crazy how much money we have lost in the market in the last month, but I consider it an opportunity to buy at not sky-high prices.

I have a had a few phone consultations with a representative from Personal Capital. Of course they want me to sign up to have them manage my investments. The percentage is small, only 0.89% for up to $1 million then it goes down. Their asset allocation calls for some REIT's & gold, neither of which I'm sold on. Has anyone worked with them?

I got home late last night. Still recovering as I came home with a little cough & sore throat. I had a wonderful time. I left on December 27th for London, then traveled to Edinburgh January 2nd. I had such a great time. The original purpose for the trip was to attend the musical Hamilton that opened at Victoria Palace last month. Other things I did included touring Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh Castle, Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Whiskey Experience, & Mary King's Close. We also attended an abbreviated changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. This was my second trip to London and also my second trip to Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace (I still have not been there during the short period to tour the inside of BHP yet). In two months were are traveling to Greece!

In financial news, Vanguard refunded me most, but not all of the money in my 401k. Strange, as all monies were to be returned to me. When I contacted them they said that the money remaining was from a 2016 contribution. Problem with this is that the balance appears to be over double what that contribution was, I had already received the withdrawals on 2016 contributions in early 2017, and there should be no money remaining in this account since both years contributions were to be withdrawn. So we will see what they do next. I'm starting to be less than impressed with Vanguard lately. I might need to start looking elsewhere.

Happy Holidays to all! My family is flying in today. I am looking forward to spending the next several days with them. We both fly out on the 27th. Them back home, me to London then Edinburgh.

My gym is going up $1 in January. I decided to cancel my membership. It will be $50 a month & I can get a membership at a 24 hour fitness club for much cheaper. I am also looking to cut my cable next year. I guess my New Year's resolution is to be more vigilant about my spending. I don't plan on cutting out vacations so I will look elsewhere. I barely watch television anyway.

My goal was to have $500k by age 40. It seemed a very lofty goal at the time, but I have not only accomplished that goal,I have surpassed it. Now for the next goal. Is $1 million by age 45 out of the question? Maybe not, but it will require some dedication to cutting expenses, getting rid of debt, and continuing to save a good percentage of my income. $750k seems too conservative, but if we run into a bear market it may be an optimistic goal.

I'm excited for what the future holds in many ways.

My 40th birthday was Tuesday & I took the day off. It's pretty much my only day off in a 4 week span so I was looking forward to it. I slept in a little later than usual, went to the gym, then the spa (massage, facial, and pedicure) followed by dinner, then drinks. It was a very good day. My friend made me a beautiful scrapbook. I can't wait to fill it with new adventures & experiences in this next year of life.

On Thursday I attended the dinner thrown by the law firm that handled the union's class action settlement. My check turned out to be significantly bigger than expected. The amount that I thought was before taxes, was actually after taxes. So I ended up with a check for $10k.

I also got a check from my parents for my birthday and my insurance dividend from USAA. In addition to what I've already received, I'm also expecting to have my 401k contributions returned to me as I'm over the contribution limits, plus my performance bonus before the end of the year. Rumors are that we will get a percentage amount rather than a cash reward. Percentage awards are usually preferable.

This month has been very financially prosperous!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My year has been full of blessings and I have much to be thankful for this year. We had our usual small Thanksgiving with just me & my parents. I invited a co-worker over, but he didn't come. Lunch was delicious as always.

Now that I have contributed in excess of the $18k limit for my retirement plan, I have contacted Vanguard to get a distribution of funds. Despite what they implied at the beginning on the year, it seems they are willing to give me the distribution now rather than waiting until I receive my W-2. That would be much easier & give me some extra money for debt repayment.

There's less than 2 weeks until I turn 40 & I am making plans. I am taking the day off as usual. I have booked some time at the spa for a stone massage, facial, & pedicure. This will be my first massage. I'm looking forward to it.

I am also planning on having dinner at a French restaurant that I've always wanted to try. They have a 4 course early bird special which will make it a little less pricey. I'm not having a big party as that not me. There are plenty of holiday parties going on as well. I have always said that it's nice having a birthday in December as it's such a festive month that you feel you get to celebrate all month long with everyone without having to be the center of attention.

For now Congress has decided to leave the 401k limits alone. Next year the limit will increase $500 as planned. And as I have since 2008, I plan to meet the maximum allowable contribution amount. This will be roughly $712 a paycheck, though I usually round up to a higher amount for my deduction & have a larger paycheck on the 26th paycheck.

I mentioned a while back that I am expecting a settlement from a class action lawsuit that I wasn't even aware of. It looks like it is going forward. They plan to have an even distributing the checks next month. If I am able to make the drive that day I will. I'd rather have a check that large in hand, rather than mailed to me. I am still planning to pay down credit card debt with the check.

The maximum contribution limit for 401k's will increase to $18,500 in 2018. The IRA limit is unchanged. I am happy that we will get an increase.

In other news, I read in the NYT & other sources that Republicans are looking at limiting the 401k contribution to $2,400 in future years in order to finance their tax cut plan. This is insanity. The last thing we need along with the tax increase on the middle class and cuts to Medicare & Medicaid, is for them to limit what Americans save for retirement. I hope that all proposing this are voted out during the midterm elections next year.