All posts by 1MansMoney

I am a guy pushing 40 that is married to a beautiful woman in her 30's. If I can only have as much luck with our finances.
Career, Income

Transitioning to the New Career

My wife starts her new career on the 16th, and gave her two week notice at her current job on Monday. Although her boss fought her a bit, she was able to negotiate keeping all of the commissions that she has earned, but not been paid on yet. This includes a large ~$4,000 commission that should come in around August, once the company has been paid by their customer. This is such a blessing. We were worried that they might try not to pay her the commissions and/or let her go immediately rather than pay her for the final two weeks.

My wife receives her new company car before her start date, so we plan to put her car up for sale this week and hope to sell it within the next few weeks. This will save us $450/month in car payments and $150-$200/month in gas.

Her first paycheck from the new job will be deposited on July 4th. With the increased income combined with the money we will be saving on the car, we want to restart our 2nd mortgage accelerated payment plan by paying an extra $400/month to principle. In addition, we will apply ~$12,000 of her $20,000 annual bonuses towards the 2nd mortgage. We’re hope to have the 2nd mortgage paid off by July 2010 and begin saving for a down payment with a goal of purchasing a home by July 2012. We also plan to increase our tithe, contribute 6% of her salary to the company 401(k) that includes a 25% match up to 6%, and deposit $200/month into our savings account. The only deliberate increase in lifestyle will be an extra $20/month each for fun money.

This new career is such a blessing in so many ways. My wife will be working in a field she is passionate about, earning greater pay, working out of our home, and receiving amazing benefits/perks. I am very impressed and proud of her success, especially at such a young age. Because of this opportunity, we will be able to go after multiple goals (increasing our tithe, paying off our 2nd mortgage, increasing our savings, and adding to our retirement savings) much sooner than expected.

Income Statement

May 2008 Income Statement

I wish we could have kept our expenses at the same level as last month, but it didn’t happen. We spent a good amount of money in May, but thankfully, we earned much more (click on spreadsheet below).

In addition to our regular saleries, my wife received an “extra” paycheck, a $943.92 commission check, and a $89.10 mileage reimbursement check.

Outside of our jobs, we earned a $50 Chase credit card cash back reward, $25 HSBC credit card reward, and our $1,200 economic stimulus check. Our E*TRADE savings account brought in $14.98 in interest income.

Next month should be a interesting. My wife will be leaving her current job and starting her new career. We’re still not sure of the paycheck timing at her new job so we may end up with a bit less money coming in in June. We also have to pay for our $1019.81 vacation that we took at the end of May.

Career, Income

My Wife Is Beginning a New Career

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My wife has enjoyed working at her current job, but has always wanted to have a career in a health related sales field. Since college, she has focused on learning about this competitive industry and what it takes to get into it. Long story short, over the past four weeks, she has been in a series of interviews with a company and yesterday, received an offer. . . and accepted!

This is such a blessing and something we have been praying for for quite awhile. I am very happy that my wife will be able to work in the industry she is passionate about. Her hard work and persistence paid off.

This new job will also greatly increase our household income. Check it out:

  • $52,500 base salary
  • $20,000+ annual bonus
  • $20,000 annually for entertaining clients
  • Company car and gas card
  • Computer
  • Matching 401(K) plan
  • Excellent health and dental insurance
  • 3 weeks vacation

She starts next month and already really likes her future co-workers.

Net Worth

May 2008 Net Worth Update (+$4,247.51)

NOTE: This net worth update is a week early because my wife and I are going on vacation.

What worked:
May was an awesome month for our net worth. It increased $4,247.51 from last month to $35,685.46. This puts us at 74.66% of our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800.What worked: Our retirement accounts lead the way. We invested a total of $1,771 in our retirement accounts and saw an overall increase of $2,296.99. We also were able to increase our savings by $1,358.10, primarily because of my wife’s “extra” check this month.

What did not work:
Our taxable accounts total went down a whopping $14.45.

Next month:
June may end up being a mild month for our net worth. It is likely that we will have to pull some cash out of savings to pay off the vacation we will be on next week.

Roth IRA

Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate Check

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In anticipation of receiving our Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate Check on the May 16, we made a $1,200 contribution to our Roth IRAs. We’ve contributed $3,400 total so far this year, leaving us with $6,600 more to go to reach the 2008 max of $10,000 ($5K each) .

During a BBQ with our neighbors over the weekend, we discussed what we were going to do with our stimulus checks. One of my neighbors said he has already spent his on various items, including $400 shoes. When I mentioned that we planned to deposit ours into our Roth IRAs, he asked why we bother to at such a young age. My response was, “Because I do not want to work after age 52”. He said he did not want to work past 50 either. More power to him.

Income

Does She Not Stop?

My wife scored a $944 commission this check from her company this month!

Her commission checks are great because they are “extra” money that we can put towards savings and/or retirement investments since our regular saleries cover our month-to-month expenses. What a blessing.

May is turning into a very good net worth increase month for us. I can’t wait to update our numbers at the end of the month.

Income

Closing The Deal

Great news! My wife has been working on a large business deal and last week obtained the signed contract. It’s great to see her hard work pay off. She will receive a $3,800+ commission from the sale when the invoice is paid in a couple of months.

In addition to the awesome initial commission, there is a good likelihood that this account will produce additional commissions for her down the road thru maintenance of the system she sold and other work this customer needs done.

My wife is a CLOSER.

Income Statement

April 2008 Income Statement

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We did a great job of staying within our budget this month (click on spreadsheet below). In fact, this is the least amount of money we have spent in quite awhile, which is great after last month.

One of the few areas we went over budget was $222.30 in our Entertainment category because we had a couple of nights out with friends celebrating their birthdays. Incomewise, I received a 2.07% raise. My wife earned $466.91 in commissions and $40.80 in reimbursements. We also received a $66.65 cash back reward from our Citi credit card and a $50 gift card to a restaurant from our American Express. We earned interest income of $12.10.

May should be a another great income month. My wife gets 3 paychecks next month (extra one going to savings) and hopefully a ~$700 commission check. We possibly should also receive our $1,200 tax rebate which will be apllied to our Roth IRAs. Our expenses will be a bit higher because we have a week long vacation up the coast planned.

Net Worth

April 2008 Net Worth Update (+3,661.34)

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April has been a great month. Our net worth increased $3,661.34 over last month, bring us to a total net worth of $31,437.95 (click on spreadsheet below). This puts us at 65.77% of our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800.

What worked:
We increased my 401(k) contribution by 1% to a total contribution of 5%. We invested $638.95 in retirement accounts (401(k) and Roth IRAs) this month and, with the recent market upswing, saw a total increase in our retirement accounts of $2,416.09! We also increased our savings by $662.38, primarily due to my wife’s commission check.

What did not work:
I can’t think of anything that went against us this month. Thank God.

Next month:
May should be another solid month. We plan to do a large contribution to our Roth IRAs and bump up our savings a bit.

Goals

Net Worth Milestone – $30,000

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I’m not sure if it’s going to stick, but we hit our net worth milestone of $30,000 yesterday. Our last net worth milestone was in September, 2007.

After the great market upswing today, our currently net worth is $30,350.57, putting us at 63.49% of our $47,800 net worth goal for the year. Note: Our current net worth status bar will not be updated until the end of the month, as usual.

God willing, we should hit our $40,000 net worth milestone by October this year.