Let’s Throw Some Money at Our Problems: August 2018 Monthly Check-In
Photo credit: jesiehart, CC BY 2.0.
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.
My savings account balance is lower this month because I took out some money to buy a piano. I also got a couple of new freelance gigs (and a lot of freelance payments) so my checking account balance is well over the $3K buffer. I’m probably going to stick some of that back in savings in September.
July 2018 Savings Balance: $8,090.27
August 2018 Savings Balance: $7,264.14
July 2018 Brokerage Account Balance: $3,922.89
August 2018 Brokerage Account Balance: $4,282.15
July 2018 Checking Balance: $2,387.88
August 2018 Checking Balance: $4,318.63
Mike
I paid off my private student loan from Discover last month. I would be in the mood to celebrate a little bit more if not for this one last federal student loan I have left. One last loan! And it’s serviced from everyone’s favorite institution, Navient. I don’t recall what the original balance on this loan is, but the minimum monthly payment is $266.70. I’m paying at least double, if not triple the minimum monthly payment in an effort to see this loan disappear faster.
July 2018 Balance: $22,283.46
August 2018 Balance: $21,892.43
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