I mean, yeah, some totals are fine, but what the hell is in those buckets anyway? Well, I’ll tell you. Not enough! But, while I’m working on that (full buckets are fun buckets – cheeeeeeeesy) I’ll break out a bit more what my components are composed of, so you know. For the purposes of this post I’m also going to assume you care.
Anyway – here we go. I’ll describe each category.
Gross/Net monthly W2 pay: this is my jobby-job income. The majority of this is my regular pay at $58,000 per year, but there’s also a short-time increase of $1,000 per month for an extra 10 hours per month because we’re very short-staffed. That extra will expire at the end of my August pay period. We’re paid monthly on the 15th, so my salary requires more cash management than any previous job I’ve had. Luckily, it also pays significantly more than any previous job too. My net is lower because I contribute 8% with an employer match of 7.6% into retirement and I also contribute 20% to a supplemental retirement account. I’ll outline that below. Just as a word of explanation for why there’s such a big gap between gross and net.
Total credit card debt: this is composed of (and I’m rounding here) $3,700 on Chase at 0% through 11/2018; $5,500 on BofA at 0% through 09/2019; and $1,200 on Alaska Air which is my monthly purchase account (so 0% as long as I pay it off, with the potential for a 24.49% rate if I whoopsie all over myself). Throughout this year I’ve been paying these off as the 0% promo rates expire using increases in side-hustle income (more on that in a future post) and my HELOC (more on that in a future paragraph – HA!). Most of this is oooooold debt that I’ve been kicking down the road with promo rates – from old profligate spending, a long history of making a pittance, and some startup expenses on my real estate business (more on that in a future post too).
Total other non-mortgage debt: this is $2,550 on a 6% loan against a whole life insurance policy that my parents opened for me when I was a kid; and $15,670 balance on my HELOC on my former primary residence. That’s 6.75% currently interest only. I can draw on that through 2024 up to a total amount of $20,000. I use the HELOC as a drawing account throughout the month (there’s a mathy-math benefit to doing that, which I might research and explain in the future) so I transfer everything except $200 out of my checking to my HELOC as soon as my direct deposit hits. I’ve also been paying this down with my side-hustle income. Each time I make a payment I treat that portion as permanently paid off (in my head) so my ‘available’ on that is currently $17,000. That’s a way I’m trying to trick myself into not overspending – we’ll see if it works. (Narrator: it already hasn’t. I needed to tap into this to cover the AC mentioned last month.)
Total mortgage debt: I have four mortgages (more on this when I discuss income next time). All are 15 year term and include escrow for taxes and insurance. These are $19,777 (with a monthly payment of $290 and a rate of 3.375%); $44,083 (payment $609, rate 3.25%); $32,523 (payment $350, 2.75%); and $22,648 (payment $299, rate 3.75%). Rental property was my original retirement plan, and remains a strong component of my current FI plan (such as it is). The mortgages mature beginning 09/2028, so there’s still some time left and they are cash flow positive (kinda – more on that in future posts).
Cash/cash equivalents: this is $303 in savings (at a pittance percentage – I end up transferring this when it gets up over $1,000 into the HELOC to claw that balance dow; $5,341 in my Vanguard brokerage account; and $11,277 in a former employer’s ESPP which I need to figure out what to do with. My concern is that there would be a big tax hit and the cost basis of this would be a bear to figure out. It’s on my list for my convo with my accountant. Also, $616 in Disney stock that I bought on a whim a few years ago and keeps growing – so I keep keeping it.
Total retirement savings: this is $107,450 in a Vanguard rollover IRA; $6,828 in a rollover Roth; $11,9491 in my current employer retirement account (all I add here is my contributions because the employer portion doesn’t vest until I’ve worked here 5 years); $2,164 in a current supplemental pretax retirement account (403b); and $735 in an old HSA. The Roth is entirely growth at this point – I hit the 5 years and pulled out the principal to pay off debt earlier in the year. I know this isn’t really optimal, but that debt has been really bugging me and I didn’t/don’t want to roll my balances over to new 0% offers any more than is strictly necessary. Besides, the contribution at that point was a minority of the account, so I wasn’t pulling out much of the balance. The supplemental account I just opened in June, and the HSA I don’t qualify for any longer. It’s in an investable account, though, so I just leave it there and pay the yearly fee in cash and leave it to grow (hopefully).
So there you have it – my entire financial picture in one long boring post. Now you’ll know where all those fiddly little numbers come from when I post them. Next time – income!!!! (Just wish there were more of it.)
