Let’s Throw Some Money at Our Problems: March 2018 Monthly Check-In

If you’re joining us for the first time, we like to report a specific balance at the end of each month to have a public record of our efforts to pay down our debt or reach our savings goals. You can read about our decision to publicly keep track of our debt here.

Pull up those balances!

Nicole
I’ve paid off all my debts, so let’s see how I’m doing on my savings goals. Right now I’m putting 6 percent of each freelance paycheck (pretax) towards savings, investing another 6 percent (pretax) in an individual brokerage account, and working to maintain a $3K checking account buffer.

February 2018 Savings Balance: $5,142.64
March 2018 Savings Balance: $6,926.59 (part of the increase is due to my tax refund)

February 2018 Brokerage Account Balance: $626.63
March 2018 Brokerage Account Balance: $2,756.51 (that huge increase is due to my tax refund)

February 2018 Checking Balance: $3,516.50
March 2018 Checking Balance: $2,482.48 (I’m a little low because two of the freelance payments I thought would hit before April 1 are now scheduled to arrive next week)

Mike
I’m paying off a private graduate student loan currently serviced by Discover. The interest rate on this loan is 2.5 percent, and the minimum monthly payment is $147. The original balance on this student loan was $22,377.

February 2018 Balance: $491.50
March 2018 Balance: $236.95

Previously.

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