Let’s Throw Some Money at Our Problems: October 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.
I finally got a bunch of freelance payments I’d been waiting on, which meant that I ended the month with a checking account balance of $3,748.70. However, I told myself that any money over $3,000 would go into savings so I could pay myself back for the cost of the piano I bought earlier this summer (which, honestly, I don’t care about “paying myself back” as much as I like the idea of incentivizing myself to save more) so I made that transfer before calculating my balances.
September 2018 Savings Balance: $6,247.87
October 2018 Savings Balance: $8,720.39
September 2018 Brokerage Account Balance: $4,510.02
October 2018 Brokerage Account Balance: $4,628.00 (it was not a great month for the market)
September 2018 Checking Balance: $2,390.06
October 2018 Checking Balance: $3,000.00
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.
September 2018 Balance: $21,570.98
October 2018 Balance: $21,067.81
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