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I’m Baaaaaaaack!!

February 14th, 2020 at 08:25 pm

I am not sure any of you will remember me, but I blogged here 2007-2011 as a single mom of two kiddos (in high school and middle school). I had declared bankruptcy and when I started my blog I was working a job that paid me less than what my rent was each month (thankfully I did receive child support). I also had over $13,000 in credit card debt when I started the blog (incurred after the bankruptcy, so the APRs were astronomical). In the 3.5 years I blogged, I secured a new job with excellent benefits and regular salary increases, and I paid down about 70% of my debt; I went on to pay off all of it during the time I was away from blogging. I also learned so much about spending, saving, and budgeting! This forum changed my life.

Since my last post in 2011, a lot of things are different. I met and began dating a man during the time I was blogging (in 2009), but I’m not sure I ever mentioned him. We ended up continuing to date, then lived together, then got married in 2016. My kiddos are both adults now, living in their own homes. My son graduated college in 2012, and my daughter graduated in 2018. My son got married in 2015, and on July 4, 2019 he made me a grandmother to twin boys … being a Gigi is THE BEST THING EVER!!! So, yes, life is BEYOND good! One thing has stayed the same since my last post … I still work at the same company I became employed with in October 2007. I have moved up over the years, and I am now executive assistant to the CEO of the company. It was truly one of the best things to ever happen in my life, being offered that job 12 years ago!

Financially, my husband (MH) and I are beginning to look forward to retirement. Since I didn’t start my retirement savings until the age of 46 I won’t have a whole lot built up, but MH has significantly more than I do. Honestly, when I started working at my current job (and for many years after that, until fairly recently) I just made up my mind that I would work as long as the company would have me. I knew that I’d never be able to afford retirement on what I could save alone, and I wasn’t totally clear on what MH had saved. You see, we just combined our finances this month; up until now he’s paid the bulk of the house bills and we didn’t even have a joint account of any kind. But now we have our joint checking account that most everything is paid from, and we each have our own checking account for things like clothing, haircuts, lunches with friends, etc. We also have a joint savings account. So, it will be interesting to see how it all works out as time passes, and how much we can save when we work at it together. Since I’ve known him, he’s proven himself to be a rather free spender at times; I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to share finances with him, LOL! He seems to have become more mindful of his spending in the short time we’ve been doing this, though, and his resolve seems strong; he REALLY wants to be able to retire by the time he’s 62, so that’s a pretty strong motivator at the age of 58!

That’s more than enough for now, I just wanted to get an update posted. Oh, and I have to say I never really “left” the blogs … I have been reading all of yours several times a week during my “blog hiatus”! I am glad to be back.

Retirement Plan is now set up!

February 21st, 2008 at 12:12 am

Finally!! One more step in the right direction, woo-hoo!! Smile

Oh, I guess I should add that I went with the 100% target allocation for now. Maybe one day later on down the road I will feel like I know enough to play around with it, but that day is a ways off just yet. Thanks to all of you for your input, you helped me out a LOT!!

Time to set up my 401k -- HELP!!

February 14th, 2008 at 04:00 am

I have decided it's time to start building a retirement account. I know I need to concentrate on paying off debt, but I really feel like I need to get started on retirement at the same time. I really should have started long ago, but that wasn't possible with the way I'd ruined my finances. Now I work for a company who will match 50 cents for each dollar I contribute, up to 6% of my base pay. I think I'd be crazy not to get started!

Where I stand right now: I got my tax refund, and immediately put $1,500 into an emergency fund. I paid the remainder of my February bills today, and I still had over $1,000 left. I received half of my Feb. child support today and deposited that, and the other half will come at the end of the month. I also have one more paycheck still coming this month. So I am in a great position to set up my monthly budget so that I can put away set amounts monthly in categories such as gifts, car repairs, things that always totally knocked me off course in the past. At the same time, I have started my debt snowball! I paid off my first (smallest) debt, and I am getting close to paying off the next one!

I spent some time today reading all the 401k literature I was given when I started my job last October, and I am SO confused! All this financial stuff seems like Greek to me. I thought I would turn to all of you to get some advice and input. I know there are some real financial wizards in this group!

I have decided to contribute 6% of my salary. There are 10 different core funds in which I can invest: Fixed Fund, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, Vanguard Wellington Fund, Vanguard Windsor II Fund, Vanguard 500 Index Fund, Vanguard Growth Index Fund, Pacific Capital Small Cap Fund - Class Y, Wells Fargo Advantage Small Company Growth Fund - Administrator Shares, Vanguard International Growth Fund, and our company stock. I do have fact sheets on each of these funds, including their overall risk level rating (1-5), so I can answer questions (but reading them all just confuses me further)! Big Grin

All suggestions welcome!!