My company just increased everyone’s salaries a bit more in an effort to get us back to our original salary levels before the reduction in February 2009.
My salary reduction was 10% last year and my company, through incremental increases, has raised it back 7.5%. So, I just have 2.5% to go before I’m back to my salary level before the reduction. Great news!
My wife received a $3,308.00 gross ($1,217.53 net) quarterly bonus today! 15% of the gross, or $496.25, was automatically deposited into her 401(k). We plan to tithe 10% of the gross and deposit the balance into savings. What a blessing!
My wife found out yesterday at 30% of her company received an email that morning explaining they were laid off. We feel terrible for her coworkers that were laid off, especially right before Christmas.
Thankfully, my wife kept her job, but it was certainly a wake up call. So, I ran through the numbers to see how we would have been affected if she would have been part of the lay off.
The 1st negative impact would have been losing the $2,770/month income she takes home and her quarterly bonuses. Next, would be her company car and $110/month in cell phone and internet reimbursements. Finally, she’d lose her insurance and 401(k) plan (which she contributes 15% to).
We took a look back at what unemployment paid her before she found her current job. I was surprised it was a little over $400/week after taxes. That more than I remembered and supplements ~60% of her regular paychecks. Cutting back a bit on our retirement contributions and unnecessary spending would make up the difference. Losing the company car would be tough, but since we just paid off our $450/month auto loan, we’re in a better position that ever to take on another (small) auto loan, if necessary. Health isurance is very important, and since my wife is young and healthy, she easily qualifies for good health insurance that only costs $80/month.
Working through this drill was reassuring. Should her company do another lay off in a few months, and if she is let go, we should be fine. One possible wrench is my job. Sales are starting to soften a bit at my company, but we’re introducing innovative new products in February that should increase sales. Worst case scenario, I believe I’d be keep on until at least May. In the meantime, we’ll start socking away cash for added security. And of course, say our prayers.
My wife received her quarterly bonus today. She was 5th in the region in sales and received a $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) bonus! In addition, she received a special Teamwork award.
$730.80 of the $4,872 was deposited into her 401(k). The $2,255.97 check will be spent as follows:
$487.20 to tithe
$1175.74 to our auto loan
$593.03 to savings
My wife is doing awesome in her job and, at this rate, our goal of early retirement is all the more possible.
The Owner of my company just announced he will be increasing everyone’s salary again. I’ll be getting a 3.5% increase, or ~$2,100/year. This brings me to a total of 6.5% in increases over the past couple of months. That leaves only another 3.5% till I’m back to $70,460/year, where I was in February before the 10% salary reduction.
My company has been doing much better lately, but I’m surprised our salaries have been increased so rapidly. I was happy just having a job in this economy, but am very thankful for the extra money. I plan to increase my 401(k) contribution from 8% to 15% in January (my wife just increased her’s to15%). These salary increases will help make that doable.
Once again, my company increased everyone’s salary by 10% of the amount they were reduced back in February.
My salary was reduced 10%, so it will go back up 1%, or ~$700/year. This is the third increase since the reduction for a total of ~$2,100. My company is working hard to get everyone back up to their original salaries.
You can’t ask for much more in this tough economy.
More good news! My company again is increasing everyone’s salary by 10% of the amount they were reduced back in February.
My salary was reduced 10%, so it will go back up 1%, or ~$700/year. My company did the same thing last month, meaning I’ve earned back ~$1,400 of my ~$7,000 salary reduction.
This is a great trend and a blessing in these tough times.
I posted yesterday regarding my wife’s quarterly bonus, which was great news. It turns out we received more positive news today.
My company has strung together a few good months and, as a result, has decided to give everyone a small bump up from our February salary reduction. They increase everyone’s pay by 10% of the amount it was reduced. My salary was reduced 10%, so my pay will go up 1%, not big money, but a good sign that my job is getting more secure.
My wife received her quarterly bonus this month, a month earlier than we expected. Her quarterly bonus was $896 gross ($480.84 net). This money falls into the “gravy” category, since we don’t plan for it.
This next quarter should be even better. My wife’s been selling like crazy and in the first 3 weeks of the new quarter already has earned ~$2,156 gross towards her bonus check in December. Sweet!
Early retirement here we come.
Since short selling our condo, my wife and I have taken a few steps to help reduce our tax bill for next year, since we won’t have the large mortgage interest write off.
We’ll still have some mortgage interest we can write off since we just sold the condo, but hopefully these extra steps will help minimize what we owe next April 15th.