My 2020 Money Goals

With the new year fast approaching I’m finally taking the time to flesh out some of my 2020 goals.

Financial Goals

• Average 60% yearly savings rate

• Max out Roth IRA, 401K, and tax advantaged savings accounts

  • Traditional IRA

  • HSA (if applicable)

  • 401K (if applicable)

• NO BUY 2020

  • No clothes or any material goods that aren’t a necessity

  • Can replenish items as they run out, but not in excess

  • Can accept donations/gifts

  • Can buy gifts for others

  • Can use gift cards to make purchases

  • Can spend on experiences, e.g. food and activities

• Open a travel rewards CC

  • Probably going with the Chase Sapphire Reserve because of these reviews by Wirecutter and Nerdwallet)

Career Goals

This includes goals for MMH too!

• Get a 3-6 month contract up in the Bay area

• Continue working in tech design roles

• Always negotiate salary/hourly wage

• Start Money Honey Podcast

• Blog bi-weekly

Personal Goals

• Stop caring about dating

  • Not sure how actionable this one is, but I always care too much.

• Call long distance friends regularly

Health + Wellness Goals

• Workout 2x/wk

• Drink 64oz of water a day

• Take a daily probiotic

• Read 18 books

• Meditate as much as possible

  • Reflect on self, priorities, and goals

November 2019 Savings Rate

WAHOO!!!!! November numbers are in and my savings rate is still in the ⚠️ 70% zone ⚠️ This is great considering my savings rate will be probably be negative in December since I’m not working. ✌️

For now, I’m enjoying time off with my sweet Bachan 👵🏻 and fam today!

Savings: $7,586.33

As I discussed previously this is my last contribution to my 401K for the year, so I won’t be able to max it out. :( Ah well. Instead I upped contributions to my taxable brokerage accounts

Here’s my November savings breakdown:

401k: $1,715.35

HSA: $1,000.00

Roth IRA: $0 – Maxed for 2019

Checking: $4,486.33

Emergency HYSA: $100.00

Travel HYSA: $100.00

Big Event HYSA: $400.00

Brokerage: $1,200.00

Income: $8,960.46

Another high income month, which is a nice last padding since I’m taking ALL of December off! Can’t wait to get a little taste of FIRE life. 💵

💰 Paycheck: $8,073.98

👕 Resale: $0.00

👩‍💻Freelance: $80.00

💵 Cash back: $0.00

📈Interest: $31.48

🎁 Gifts: $775.00

📈Dividends: $0.00

Expenses: $2,374.13

This month I took a trip back to my hometown to for my best friend’s engagement! It was a last minute surprise but spent about $412.36 in total.

Christmas shopping began this month so gifts category is high ($217.10) and I anticipate it will only be higher next month!

🏡 House: $950.00

💡 Utilities: $227.42

🚕 Transportation: $20.13

🥦Groceries: $0.00

🍽 Food: $23.47

🍹Drinks: $105.71

🛍 Shopping: $70.00

💻 Work: $84.00

🎥 Entertainment: $50.94

✈️ Travel: $412.36

🚙 Car: $0.00

🏥 Health: $213.00

🎁 Gifts.: $217.10

Misc.: $0.00

No spend November didn’t go as well as planned. I caved thrifted a dress while in Texas and I ended up getting a $40 Christmas tree. I’ll be able to use the Christmas tree for years to come though so I view it more as an investment haha.

Can’t wait for No Work December!!!

xo, Catie

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Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

October 2019 Savings Rate

I’m SHOOK. 😲 This month I was hoping to save approximately 50% since I knew I’d be spending more this month for my birthday party 🎉. Instead, I ended up 0.53% higher than my 77.13% savings rate last month!

There are 2 big factors that played into it, one good and one bad. The good thing is that since I’m on a biweekly paycheck, this month I got 3 paychecks. 🤑 The bad thing is I did not anticipate my company merging and shutting down their 401k plans. 👎 This means I got more cash out of my gross paycheck than usual, but also mean I probably won’t be able to max out my 401k this year. 😔

Savings

In major savings events, I opened up a 3rd savings account this month specifically for “Big Events” after reading I Will Teach You to Be Rich. I’m saving for my wedding or if I’m not married, a very big 35th birthday party.

Here’s my full October savings breakdown:

401k: $1,715.35

HSA: $150.00 – Upped my contributions to max out by 2019 since my 401k is temporarily discontinued. I have $2,588.70 left!

Roth IRA: $0 – Maxed for 2019

Savings - Emergency: $100.00

Savings - Travel: $400.00

Savings - Big Event: $1,500.00

Brokerage: $2,500.00

Checking: $3,936.08

Income

This is the most monthly income I’ve ever made in my life EVER. Partly due to the fact that my paycheck came 3x this month, but also because I’ve been hustling hard!

I took on a big freelance design project 🎨 and resold a few items of clothes on Depop & Facebook Marketplace. It was also my birthday, so I received a little bit of extra cash from family and friends. 💵

💰 Paycheck: $9,722.97

👕 Resale: $91.61

👩‍💻Freelance: $500.00

💵 Cash back: $3.79

📈Interest: $30.34

🎁 Gifts: $513.00

Expenses

My entertainment expenses were WILD this month, but I definitely planned for that and still came out at a high savings rate!

The total cost of my Halloween costume was $47.07 🎃, the food/beverages for my birthday party was $471.52, and I had my friends over for Thai food 🥘 on my actual birthday which cost $102.09, bringing my final birthday festivity expenses to $620.68.

Another BIG ticket 🎫 item from this month is Taylor Swift Lover’s Fest West concert tix. I was able to buy them at face value from my sister’s friend for $198.60. Confession: I’m not much into music, with the exception of T. Swift. 💕 I’m SO excited for this.

🏡 House: $850.00

💡 Utilities: $76.11

🚕 Transportation: $3.00

🥦Groceries: $162.38

🍽 Food: $31.88

🍹Drinks: $22.80

🛍 Shopping: $20.00

💻 Work: $26.33

🎥 Entertainment: $841.51

✈️ Travel: $0

🚙 Car: $44.77

🏥 Health: $213.00

🎁 Gifts.: $123.86

Misc.: $9.99

I added in a few new categories, Gifts 🎁 and Shopping 🛍 to this list since the last two months they’ve been at $0, but I’m probably going to need them going forward, especially with Christmas 🎄coming up.

I’m also doing a No Spend November in anticipation of the holidays. 🎅 This means NO shopping or buying anything that needs unless it needs replenishing. 🙅‍♀️ I’m not counting food/experience type stuff OR getting gifts for people. I’m hoping to actually do a bit of gift shopping on Black Friday/Cyber Monday since those have the best deals! 🖤

xo, Catie

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Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

Goal$: Birthday Edition!

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. –Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

Here we are! Spooky szn. Pumpkin spice lattes. Q4. Birthday month. ALL THE THINGS!

I always have an ongoing list of things I’d like to accomplish. But these are my goals I’m working towards this October.

1. Save 50% of income 💰

I’m anticipating a higher rate of spending in October, which is okay! My last month’s savings rate of +70% is really high probably due to my gazelle focus and my first month on FIRE. Realistically if I can save 50% month over month, i’ll still be on track for my 10 year goal.

2. Go on 2 dates before 28 💗

I’ve been focused on my career and finances for the last few months. I haven’t swiped on the apps since April. Finally ready to get back on the dating train. One of my best friends recently got into a relationship so that’s kind of been inspiring me to put myself back out there.

I think generally I am bad at swiping. I always tend to pick the “same” type of man. Good school, great career, slightly nerdy, BUT I also never have any chemistry with them. I know sparks don’t have to FLY ✨ but I do think there is a bit of excitement and intrigue that needs to happen.

3. Read 2 books 📚

I’m currently taking a break from personal finance books, and reading The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s beautifully written but mildly depressing given its correlations with today’s political circumstances. I watched the first season on Hulu and loved it. Still looking for another good read, but I’m also kind of busy this month on freelance projects so hoping to have a little down time for more books. 📖

4. Open a high yield savings account for big events 🏦

After reading I Will Teach You to Be Rich, I was inspired by Ramit to open a savings account for a wedding, even though I’m not engaged. 💍 In fact, I’m dead single. But I know that when the times come, I (and my husband) will be so thankful to not have to worry about where we will find the thousands of dollars to throw a party! 👰💒 And I LOVE a good party, which brings me to my next goal…

5. Have a bomb-a$$ 28th birthday party 🥳

Counterintuitively one of my goals is to spend as much as I want (okay fine, realistically up to $500) for my Halloween birthday party. 👻🎃 Ramit from I Will Teach You to Be Rich also says, “Spend extravagantly on what you love, cut mercilessly on what you don’t.” For me, my Rich Life includes throwing a party 🎉 for all the people I love and having them come drink 🥂 and celebrate together! Also Domino’s pizza 🍕 and chicken nuggz 🍟included, because what’s a party without those?

xo, Catie

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Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

September 2019 Savings Rate

Wow, wow, wow! 77.13%?! 😯 This has gotta be THE MOST I’ve saved in one month. It’s my first month into my F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retire Early) journey, which I think has been a huge motivating factor to get me to save way more than I normally do. 🔥

For reference, my August savings was only at 14.49%—mainly due to starting a new job so had a lapse in paychecks coupled with some big expenses (like $500 on a haircut and color.)

Savings

I have ~$9,000 left to contribute for the rest of the year. I’m only on this contract job, in which I have a 401k, until the end of November, so I’ve upped my contributions to a whopping 29% to max it out in the next 5 paychecks. 😮 I need to be careful to not over contribute since my balance is been split up between my old 401k account.

I also opened an HSA that comes with my HDHP and need to crunch the numbers to see if I can max out this triple tax-advantaged account for 2019.

Here’s my full September savings breakdown:

Savings - Travel: $500.00

Savings - Big Event: $0.00

Brokerage: $1,300.00

Checking: $908.56

401k: $926.10

HSA: $0.00

Roth IRA: $1,600.00

Savings - Emergency: $400.00

Income

The majority of my high savings rate was a result of starting a new job. My new hourly rate right now is at $70/hr plus overtime, up from $41/hr, no OT. 

In support of pay transparency and closing the gender wage gap, here’s a breakdown of all my income (gross pay, after taxes)

Paycheck: $6,545.09

Resale: $43.00

Freelance: $20.00

Cash back: $77.22

Expenses

The majority of my expenses went to housing and utilities (18.59%). But I also spent quite a bit on going out, which is my Drinks category. 🍻 I lump the cost of transportation (Uber/Lyft) into this category too so I can see my true cost of going out.

Right now in my life, socializing is a HUGE priority and something I don’t skimp out on. Saving for retirement 👵 vs. living with my friends in the moment 💃 is a trade-off worth spending on for me.

House: $960.00

Utilities: $283.35

Transportation: $15.56

Groceries: $90.75

Food: $53.29

Drinks: $102.88

Work: $45.00

Entertainment: $8.00

Travel: $93.49

Car: $79.60

Health: $213.00

Misc.: $31.84

October is gonna be a BIG month for me. I turn 28 and have lots of friends whose birthdays are this month too.

According to Wealthfront, which has been monitoring all of my accounts for the last few years, I save more consistently at a 53% rate. Hoping to be about that level when it’s all said and done, even with upping my 401k contributions!

xo, Catie

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Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)