Thursday, July 31, 2014

Mr. Sam's 401K

After more than a year, Mr. Sam is finally eligible for his 401k.  And it even comes with a match.  Hooray!

To start, since we are having a year of financial set backs and struggles we have set the contribution amount at a reasonable number.  We will, hopefully increase it as we work it into our budget.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Fidelity Faux Paux

So, yesterday I spent some time on our finances, paying bills, updating our savings chart, updating our net worth numbers, etc.

I was on the Fidelity site to determine if some of my recent limit orders had gone through (trying not to let my IRA money sit idle in cash).  I'm a big fan of Fidelity and, in fact, I've been a Fidelity customer for many years.  I generally have nothing but good to say about them.

But, of course you knew a but was coming, I'm puzzled by something that I just noticed.  When I pull up a statement online (and same for paper, because I checked), my name is nowhere on the statement.  The statement is addressed to my husband (alone).  It lists our various accounts, mine are listed first, I assume because they are older accounts but it doesn't reference ownership.  These are not joint accounts, these are accounts that are individually owned by each of us (we do have a joint trading account) and in fact were established prior to marriage.

Am I bothered by this, yes.  And, I'll tell you why.  While I very much agree that the money on this statement is "ours", if you look at the numbers, I own, individually, the bulk of the money in these accounts.  And that is simply because I've been saving for retirement for a longer period of time.  The statement should be addressed to both of us and the accounts ought to be listed by ownership.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

July Update - 2014 Savings Goals

(1) Max out 401k(s) -        $9,436    27%  (goal is $35,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) -         $9,343    85% (goal is $11,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund -          $5,600    56% (goal is $10,000)
(4) Roof project -              $5,000    100%  (goal is $5,000)
(5) Vehicle replacement -  $5,000     100%  (goal is $5,000)
(6) House projects -          $200          7% (goal is $3,000)

Total:  $34,579  50%  (Goal is $69,000)

At present, we are about $3900 behind on our goals.