My raise for the year was $1.02 per hour or $2,121.60 annually. My TSP contribution increased $500 and I'm increasing my contribution to my FSA by $700. That is $1,200 for the year before taxes. I don't see where I can contribute or save more at this time. My savings & checking account are at their lowest point and I'm hoping to build them back up, but I also have a lot of fun planned for the year. Expensive fun, too. 

I took one trip to Maryland last month when my sister had surgery. Not fun, but I did at least one fun thing while I was there - dancing! 💃🏾 

This month I'm going to Italy: Venice, Bologna, and Florence. 🇮🇹 

In March I head to Boston. 🦞 

In April I will have an elective procedure which will keep me home for only a week. 🤕

In June I head to England. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇬🇧 

In the fall I am hoping to take a cruise to Canada. 🇨🇦 

And in between that all I hope to keep dancing & maybe travel to some dance events. 💃🏾 

TSP $1,146,260

IRA $337,601

Brokerage $4,305

Total Investments  $1,487,166

Savings $137,238

May 2024 Net Worth $1,624,404

April 2024 Net Worth $1,549,558

Monthly Gain/Loss $74,846

Checking $13,490

Car Value $10,000-16,000

Today is Good Friday and the markets are closed. I can update my investments, but will have to wait until Monday to add my savings & cash, and calculate my total monthly gain.

TSP $1,141,985

IRA $333,541

Brokerage $102,440

Investments $1,577,966

Savings $34,816

March 2024 Net Worth $1,612,782

Monthly Gain Loss $53,939

Checking $19,155

My brokerage account is earmarked for my downpayment on my home, which is scheduled to be completed 6 months from now. I'm glad to have 6 more months to accumulate savings. I know they say that a downpayment shouldn't be invested aggressively, but I don't want to pull the money prematurely.

Investments $1,438,561

Savings $31,458

December Total $1,470,019

November Total $1,388,506

Monthly Gain/Loss $81,513

Not included, but worth mentioning. Checking accounts were $19,208 total & car value at lowest estimate is $11k. This puts me at $1.5 million net worth for the first time.

2023 Q4 is done for the year:

TSP $1,040,872

IRA $306,280

Brokerage $91,409

Total Investments $1,438,561

For comparison, 2022 Q4:

TSP $810,864

IRA $243,949

Brokerage $79,994

Total Investments $1,134,888

ANNUAL Gain/Loss $303,673

A few this and that as the year comes to a close.

I upped my monthly IRA contribution to $575 per month, which would bring my annual contribution to $6,900 annually. I'll put in an order for $100 on January 1st to get me to $7,000.

I increased my biweekly TSP contribution to $900 which will max me out for the year at $23,000. They reduce the last paycheck's contribution automatically.

Based on tax efficiency I got out of the high dividend yield fund at Vanguard and exchanged to the tax managed capital appreciation fund. VTCLX return was much better than VHYX this year. I could kick myself for not making this change earlier, but c'est la vie, non?

My last paycheck was about $800 higher than usual so I must have been paid for my performance award. My other paycheck was higher as well after working extra hours on my last weekend.

I'm excited & ready for 2024, but enjoying time spent with family this Christmas.

Yesterday my Thrift Savings Plan balance crossed $1 million for the first time. $1,001,824.87 to be exact. 

My Roth IRA balance is $295,011.92. If this holds steady I can expect to cross $300k next year. 

Contribute $23,000 to my Thrift Savings Plan. My match will be a little over $6,000. 💰

Contribute $7,000 to my Roth IRA. 💰

Contribute $2,600 to my Flexible Spending Account. 💰

Save $6,000 in my brokerage account. 💰

Save $6,000 in my savings account. 💰

Buy or build a new home with $100,000 down. 🏡 

Keep dancing! 💃🏾 

Cherish every moment & memory made. 💗

One of my CDs pays the monthly dividend on the 1st so I'm always a day late.

TSP $980,827

IRA $290,549

Brokerage $86,295

Total Investments $1,357,671

Cash Savings $30,835

Total Net Worth $1,388,506

Monthly Gain/Loss +$117,446

Checking $16,841 (included this month just to give an idea of what I usually have for cash flow, not included in my net worth calculation)

Car $15,062 (checked Kelley Blue Book value this morning, also not included in my net worth calculation)

My investments gained another $14,000 just one day later. I'm less than $9,000 away from reaching one million in my TSP. So close!

I had an alert set on my phone to open another CD at Capital One today, but have been thinking that I would just keep it liquid while looking for a house. I have two CDs maturing on January 2nd and February 1st and those are both set to transfer to savings rather than renew. That will give me a nice cushion for the new home purchase. Also, I checked rates this morning and the 5.30% 10 month CD is now 4.30%, which is what their savings account is paying. I can go to 12 months for 5.00%, but I think it's better to hold on to cash.

Net worth looks great for November. I'll post final numbers today or tomorrow. Investments are almost to July 2023 numbers. I have exceeded the high of 2021 Q4, but only because of added contributions. I am on track to max out my retirement plans.

Yesterday I got my paystub for my biweekly check. We got our raise as well as backpay. It was a nice little bonus. 

The market is up this week & I'm inching towards $1 million in my TSP. My high this week (before my biweekly contribution Thursday) was $979k. I am at $1.35 million in all investments.

I also hit a liquid cash high of $50k. I don't keep that much in cash as I always look to have my money invested. Even when I was saving for my first home I didn't have that much saved.

I was wondering last night if the Finance Buff had released their 2024 predictions on contribution limits for various retirement & tax advantaged plans. It is usually released in June. Sure enough when I looked this morning they had released them last week. Again, these are just projections.

There is a lot to look at, but for me being under 50 with no HSA, I focus on the 401k & IRA contribution limits. The FB projects that both will rise by $500 next year for $23,000 and $7,000. I did glance & see that they did not predict an increase in the catch-up contribution limits. 

https://thefinancebuff.com/401k-403b-ira-contribution-limits.html#:~:text=in%20these%20limits.-,2023%202024%20Traditional%20and%20Roth%20IRA%20Contribution%20Limit,same%20at%20%241%2C000%20in%202024.

I really can't believe it, but we had another raise announced this week. It was 5% this time. I never would have expected another raise after the 16% raise we received last year & the 4% annual raise we got in January. I think we are also going to get retroactive pay for the raise back to April. What makes this better than the 10% retention is that it goes toward your pension calculation & your match calculation.

I have no plans to increase savings. If I end up with a lot of cash in my checking account - like I did last year - I will make a contribution to my brokerage account, but otherwise I just plan to enjoy the money for once. I max out my TSP & IRA every year. I contribute monthly to my brokerage & savings. This time I'm going to learn to relax & enjoy the present rather than save for the future.

I enjoy following your budgets so much that I thought I'd give it a go at sharing mine. I know that I put more on credit cards than this budget accounts for, so I really need to get better at actually accounting for my expenses. Now that I write that, I realize that I had nothing in my budget for travel or shopping, which is definitely not correct. In fact I just spend $800 on booking ballet & plane tickets for NYC in July. 🩰 ✈️ 🚖 

rent $1712

utilities $100

auto insurance $143

cell phone & internet $143

food $400

travel $300

shopping $300

church $100

charities $100

Apple $1

IRA $500

savings $500

brokerage $500

Expenses $3399

Savings $1500

Total $4899

I now realize that in posting a budget how vulnerable you feel opening yourself up to others' scrutiny.

Since I don't know if I'll be able to recover my lost entries, let's try this for a third time. Third time's the charm, right?

Retirement investments $1,156,452

Brokerage investments $81,542 

Savings $26,551

Total $1,264,545

My brokerage account is set aside for a future home purchase and my cash savings is earmarked for future car purchases. I put $500 into each every month.

I hope to not have to buy another car until 2032, which is when all cars are projected to be electric. I know a hybrid CR-V today will cost approximately $35k with the trimmings I desire, which are nothing extravagant.

Not included in my net worth is my cash in checking accounts and car value, which amount to approximately $35k.

I expect that I'll keep coming back with year end blogs so I'm calling this part 1. I forgot to bring home my paycheck information yesterday evening, but I made approximately $119,500 gross last year from my two jobs. 

I checked my checking account yesterday & I had a balance of $15,740. Well over the $5,000 balance I need to maintain to avoid fees. I transferred $5,000 to make an end of year buy to my brokerage account to bring up my savings for the year to $39,500. With the market down yesterday it turned out to be a good day to buy.

The goal was to save $32,500 for 2022: $20,500 to my TSP, $6,000 to my IRA, and $6,000 to savings. I accomplished all that & added $7,000 to my brokerage account. This was the account I had opened to invest the profits from the sell of my condo.

I saved 33% of my gross income for the year. Pretty good even with a high rent of $1,632. I used to pay $617 a month for my mortgage. And honestly, it didn't even hurt to save that much. It's amazing how you can go from scrimping & saving to feeling such a generous income flow. I am very blessed.

My savings goal for 2023 is a little more ambitious: $41,000 for the year. I have allocated $22,500 to my TSP, $6,500 to my IRA, $6,000 to my savings, and $6,000 to my brokerage account. My parents gave me a check for $500 for Christmas so I will start the year off by contributing $500 to my IRA. I already have automated monthly contributions of $500 to meet the limit.

Now I'm off to have my first pedicure since sometime in 2021! I've been taking care of that myself, but lately I haven't been able to keep up so I'm treating myself today. I might even have my eyebrows done. I've avoided that in the pandemic but since I finally got Covid in November, I'll be happy that I have the antibodies to fight it for now.

I don't know if I'll post again before z Christmas, so I'm wishing you all a Merry Christmas today. My sisters both flew in Wednesday. One to New Orleans and my other sister & her family to Baton Roufe. Currently in the car writing this as my sister drives us to BR for the day.

I think I'm all done with shoppibn. I may pick up a restaurant gift gift card for my parents. I always try to give those to save them some cooking. I used to get a great Black Friday deal at an upscale Italian restaurant, but my dad let slip that my mom doesn't like much on the menu so I didn't get it this year. The deal was good, but a $100 gift card and get a bonus card for $50, but it's not a great deal if they don't find much they like on the menu.

I also want to confess that I have spent way too much at the Kate Spade sale site. In addition to the first 4 purses, I bought a couple more purses, wallets, card holders, and wristlets. My New Year resolution is to stay away! I am gifting the wallets that I bought this year to my mom, sisters, and niece. My niece will be 13 in March so she is getting to the age that I can gift her things like wallets. I used to carry around a purse when I was much younger than her & my relatives would be so tickled by it. She is much more into soccer than purses, but everyone needs a wallet, right?

Today I got my last paychecks of the year. With a $500 contribution to my TSP I have maxed it out for the year. This is the 15th year in my 15 years of federal service that I have maxed my TSP. I hope to keep it up until I retire. I have 12-15 more years before I can retire.  I have not seen anything about President Biden signing the budget which sets our pay raise for next year. Last year he signed it on the 23rd.

Not surprisingly, I did not switch anything with my health insurance. When I tend to waffle with a decision I usually just stick with the known. I did up my FSA to $1300 for the year. If I stay on Ozempic I'll have no issue using the money.

My birthday was on the 5th and I had a very low-key day. I accompanied my mom to a doctor's appointment, we had a nice brunch, went grocery shopping, then my dad & I decorated their Christmas tree. 🎄

That weekend I also had attended a sweets Christmas event at church as well as saw the musical Six, which I loved. It's an interesting musical as it is only 80 minutes with no intermission. But it was entertaining & fun, with great songs & costumes. 👑 

I ended up not changing anything with my health insurance. I stuck to the same plan & increased my FSA contribution. I also didn't opt back in to vision coverage which I had thought about doing since I am considering getting LASIKS again.I'm not a fan of glasses, especially when I have to wear them all the time now. 🤓 

I did increase my TSP contribution to $875 per paycheck for the new year. I really wanted to go to $900, but that would have me top off at paycheck 25 and I would miss out on my match for the last paycheck. Maybe the following year I can move to $900 per paycheck. 

I will resume monthly IRA contributions as well. Doing a lump sum contribution felt like a bad move this year what with the market falling afterwards. I'll contribute $500 monthly then another $500 to max out.

I almost forgot! I got notification of my performance award which is $1,050 this year. A nice little year end bonus. Plus we can expect a raise of around 4% in the New Year.

I'm looking forward to family being home for the holidays. Even without having kids of my own gift-giving & the holidays can feel stressful, so I'm just trying to focus on time spent together. 🎁 

I gained $83,955 over September's net work to finish the month at $1,129,958. $22,000 of that was cash while the rest is investments. 

Pardon me, if I already posted about this. I've thought of it often but can't recall if I ever did. My former co-worker FIRED! By that, I mean she & husband retired early. She was my first lead tech when I got out of school at 22. She was about 5 years older & pregnant at the time. She never spoke much about money, but I recall her mentioning that she & her husband were paying off their home early. I never knew anyone so young talking about paying off a home. Fast forward 22 years later and she has officially retired! They were both state workers so retired with a pension. Their boys are both in college I believe. I wouldn't be surprised if they both had scholarships. She has been posting pictures of their travels on Facebook since they retired. They seem to go non-stop. I'm so excited to know someone who actually FIRED in real life. It's so inspiring. 

Read more at the WSJ: https://apple.news/AtzbVF-0tRNS9FbyJo3e75A

401k $22,500

401k catch-up $7,500

IRA $6,500

I'm excited to be able to save $2,500 more next year in my retirement accounts. It will make good use of my recent raise.

I walked into my office Friday morning & the first thing my co-worker said was that we got our salary increase. It turned out to be a little over 16% which is better than I expected. I had hoped for at least 10% to make our current (temporary) retention pay of 10% a permanent increase. Once we start being able to fill vacancies due to the increased pay, we'll lose the retention pay. The increase to salary is more important as it impacts your retirement pay, matching for retirement contributions, and more. I am very excited & so thankful. 

I had made some stretch savings goals when I started looking at my budget for next year. I am going to be able to meet that & more. People that were looking to retire are also reconsidering as their retirement pay is based on their high 3 years of salary. We'll be able to retain employees when we've been losing them. Everyone seemed to be in a jolly mood all day.

We federal employees should get a 4.6% increase in January. It will be slightly less for us as we are on this special salary scale, but that is another added bonus. I'm glad that retirement contribution limits are increasing so I can take advantage of this increased income to save for my future.

The Finance Buff has released his annual predictions for contribution limits for retirement plans. As he mentions, so far he has predicted these with 100% accuracy. I enjoy reading his posts every year. 

He is predicting an increase to the 401k contribution limit of $2,000, not the $1,500 I posted recently from another source. And an increase to the IRA congribution limit of $500. That would be an annual increase of $2,500 or a little more than $200 a month. 

https://thefinancebuff.com/401k-403b-ira-contribution-limits.html

I can't recall if I've been using my car value in my net worth as does Mint, but when I calculate it myself I never do.

Investments $1,271,591

Cash $14,888 

Total $1,286,479

Net Gain from February $29,318

My gains include my contributions which are $800 to my TSP every two weeks & $1,000 to my cash savings monthly. The TSP is going to open up an investment window this summer, but I am planning on sticking with their low cost options. I am big on low cost index funds & I don't plan on changing that strategy anytime soon.

We still haven't received the 10% retention incentive on our checks, but I've been training on my PRN job steadily, which means most Saturdays. So there's still some extra income coming in.

I see the website has been upgraded in my absence. I like what I see so far!

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. Ours was quiet as usual. We continued our new tradition from last year of Rock Cornish game hens instead of turkey, along with ham, cornbread dressing, carrot soufflé, and my homemade cranberry sauce. I usually do the fresh snap beans with potatoes & bacon, but my dad said to just cooked the stir-fry veggies we had in the freezer. Fine by me! Everything was delish & I'm eating my leftovers today. 🍗🍖🥕

My last two paychecks have had OT on them & that adds up quick. I'm always surprised by how much of an impact it has, but at a rate of 1.5 pay plus the shift differentials, it is significant. Much better than my pay when I had two PRN jobs. Work is about to get busier as my lab manager retires at the end of the year & I am the assistant lab manager. 

I traveled for the first time since 2019! My friends & I met up with my sister in New York. We had a great time. We saw 4 shows, ate great food, & did a ton of walking. 🍎🚖🗽

I have two more trips booked: Nashville in January & Maine next fall. 🎸🪕🦞⛵️ It is also my parents' 50th anniversary this summer so we may do a family trip.

I thought I might hit a million dollars by the end of the year in my TSP, but then the market pulled back due to Omicron. It still may hit those elusive 7 figures in 2021, we shall see. 

Yesterday I went to Hobby Lobby & Michael's looking for a Christmas tree. I had thrown my tree out last year as it had seen better days. I got a 7.5 ft pencil tree at Michael's and a tree skirt at Hobby Lobby. Michael's was much less crowded than Hobby Lobby. The pencil tree will take some getting used to, but it's decked out in rose gold, gold, & silver this year. It's a very pretty color combination, if I do say so myself. 🎄

My birthday is next week & I will probably have a quiet dinner with my parents. 🎂

Last week the IRS announced new limits for remitrement plans. The increase to $20,500 was already anticipated. I will increase my deduction in December to $800. That will give me 25 paychecks contributing $800, then my last paycheck will be a $500 deduction. I can also contribute $789 to get me to the max, but I always like a nice round number to contribute. Plus, it gives me a little extra cash around the holidays.

For 2022 I am planning to contribute the full amount to my IRA in January. My plans is to save $500 monthly in order to contribute the full amount again in January of 2023, and so on.

I've been working OT this past week again. It's good to have a little extra cash around the holidays, whether to spend or to save. I've continued to put money in my brokerage account from the sale of my condo & that has been doing well. All of my investments are doing well, actually. Knock on wood, I may get to $1 million in my TSP by the end of the year if this continues.

It's amazing what you can accumulate in a home after 15 years. I moved into this home with only the bedroom set I had in my parents' home. I have accumulated so much stuff, some that I didn't buy myself & never used. Such as a silver gravy boat. I don't even make gravy & if I did, I wouldn't serve it in silver! So that has been my life the past 3 weeks. If anything will cure me of my love of shopping it's weeks of having to give things away. 🛍 

I hope to get repairs done soon so I can list my condo soon after I move out. It's so hard to find reliable people that follow up. 

My rent will be more than double my mortgage, which I can afford & am okay with. Since I applied 3 weeks ago they have already raised the rent by a few hundred dollars. (On another note I hope I don't regret passing up on the 3rd floor unit with the vaulted ceilings & skylight.)

My 401k rollover has been deposited in my TSP. It was only a little over $1k, but I'm glad to have the money consolidated in my TSP. I was being charged a $1.25 fee for what I'm not sure. It's not much, but I try to avoid any fees.

Stocks were up & down this week, but ended up at a high. My accounts are at an all-time high. 

Investments $1.193 million

Net Worth $1.335 million

I follow the FIRE community a lot. There are so many different FIRE communities, but one I follow is the Coast FIRE community. It's basically when you save a certain amount that allows you to no longer have to save anymore to be able to retire when you want. My age is 57. It's the earliest I can retire & get my health insurance benefits. If I retire earlier I don't get the health care benefits. I also get a social security supplement until I reach 62.

I found this Coast FI calculator that says that I am at about twice my Coast FI number. It doesn't take into account my pension or social security. I put in $40k as my annual expenses & that's generous. I spend approximately $3k a month now. That includes $1k to savings (Roth IRA & emergency fund) & my mortgage.

I should no longer have a mortgage when I retire or have to contribute to savings. My TSP comes out of my paycheck so I don't included that in my expenses which I budget based off of my take home pay from just my full-time job, not my additional income from my two other jobs. I want to make sure when I quit my other two jobs (in the next month or two) that I don't start racking up credit card debt again. I even have money budgeted for travel on just that income. I can't live without travel!

I hear some people say that they still save in retirement. I would probably be able to do that as well, but it wouldn't be intentional for me unless there was a tax advantage.

Here's a link to the calculator:

https://walletburst.com/tools/coast-fire-calc/

I'm going to spend some time this week changing my candles for sale by delivery only to offer shipping. A potential buyer mentioned that you can ship 4 large candles for $22 flat rate shipping. I think it would help me move my inventory a lot quicker. I went to the post office & picked up a large priority shipping box. I packed 4 large candles to make sure that they would fit well with plenty of packing material to minimize breakage. They are insulated pretty well.

I have been paid 6 times already this month. Two paychecks to go. Income surplus is nearly $4,000 now. That will be a nice deposit to savings. $500 to my IRA on Thursday & $750 to my TSP yesterday. 

Investments $1,142,785

I was just reading this article:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/biden-tax-plan-may-spur-boost-in-roth-retirement-accounts.html?fbclid=IwAR3ktxa8YcXrwoDfM9XMdZ-z-bEmV97gHHwJvnFbSoR5dlbUel-ldHLqqZE

Some of these changes would negatively affect me. The change in tax deductions  on the retirement accounts as well as the estate tax.

I could easily see myself leaving having more than $3.5 million in my estate. Maybe that will just inspire me to spend it down in my old age! Hopefully they will meet somewhere in the middle of $3.5 and $11.7 million.

I also am in the 22% (probably more like 24% - I need to check my 2020 tax year H&R Block documents) marginal tax bracket so only getting a 20.5% credit would lower the tax advatange for contributing to my TSP. In a sense it violates Biden's promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $400k.

I definitely support making saving more advantageous for those in lower income tax brackets, but also know the reality of Americans' savings rates. Will that many more people contribute based on the change? So few contributed to Obama's MyRA program that they had to close it down due to costs.

I'll be keeping an eye out for other proposed changes.

Not only have I paid off my credit cards, for a short while I actually had a negative balance as I paid more than my balance. I just did my own Dave Ramsey yell at home.

LivingAlmostLarge had another great survey post. I am resharing my answers below for posterity.

My parents retired with 2 pensions. One for 20 years active duty military. They were able to pay all bills with his military income while earning another pension of 20+ years working with the state. They didn’t need that much money in the bank, but working 20+ years without touching their salaries certainly allowed for it. My mom mostly stayed at home until all of us girls graduated high school.

I don’t envision myself retiring early even though I could. I have enjoyed my career & am looking forward to achieving more. I have the age of 60 in mind, which is still plenty young. I will have 30 years with the federal government so a good pension, SS supplement until age 62, and SS after that if it’s still available. I will probably wait until full SS age to withdraw depending on my health. I should have several million in my own retirement accounts as well. I am on track to be mortgage free many years prior to retirement, but I am planning to sell soon. 

Net Worth: $1,180,104