2016 failed goals or problems

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Did you fail to meet any financial goals? Did anything happen that you regret?

Right now I'm wavering on having bought my kids hatchimals for $60 each. That seems like an outrageous amount. We don't exchange with people/friends because we already get a lot and I feel like it's too materialistic. So we really have tried to scale back even giving from family (and trust me boxes have arrived from aunts, uncles, and my parents). So we were doing 3 from santa and 3 from us.

Our big compromise was DH's car lease. Sigh. That and how expensive car insurance is for us right now.

[StormRichards]

Although I didn't establish it as a goal, I failed to realize I had the opportunity to max out my 401k for the first time ever. We got rid of a car payment this fall freeing up $500/month. The money didn't get wasted or anything, but we focused on stashing away the extra post-tax money.

Maxing out my 401k was never an option before due to that debt. Had I thought about it soon enough, I would have increased my contribution percentage and maxed out the 401k. I will probably be about $1,000 short this year.

[rennigade]

Right now I'm wavering on having bought my kids hatchimals for $60 each. That seems like an outrageous amount.

You know you can sell those things for a couple hundred bucks right now. You bought them at retail...you were lucky.

To answer your question...I was lucky and didnt fail to meet any financial goals although I only had one. My goal was to up my index fund game so I contributed $10k between those two accounts...last year I only contributed around $4k.

Both of our goals is to retire early...so we have to have a surplus of money somewhere to bridge the gap until 59.5. Wife did open an index fund with vanguard and contributed $3.5k...I still need to work on her to DCA throughout the year and to think long term with that account.

[rennigade]

Maxing out my 401k was never an option before due to that debt. Had I thought about it soon enough, I would have increased my contribution percentage and maxed out the 401k. I will probably be about $1,000 short this year.

Dont feel bad...you're still in the less than 1% of americans who put $17,000 into a 401k/year. At that point its more of a mental thing knowing you maxed rather than coming up $1k short.

[msomnipotent]

I pre-ordered a Hatchimal for retail price and my daughter didn't want it. I traded it for a decent lawn mower since I hit our's with my car.

Our goals were all house related, and we failed on all of them. We didn't move, and we are $500 short of the $12,000 I wanted to save towards a down payment. Plus, all the guys we hired to do work on the house were middling at best. Quite a bit will have to be redone.

I had to ride my husband's ass like a witch on a broom for months to get his retirement passwords. I finally got them on Friday, and my jaw actually dropped when I saw the statements. Not only were they much lower than he told me they were (because he was guessing and assuming instead of actually looking), but one company was charging almost $200 a month in fees for 2.8% yearly performance. Another account only had $55 in it. I think I scared the hell out of him with my screaming, because he had his current employer's 401K provider working on transferring the old accounts to them on Monday morning. Now that I know how to get into his benefits account, I will raise our contribution a percent every month or so until we max. I have already raised it one percent more than what we agreed on for January, and I doubt he will notice.

I feel like we will be back on track in 2017, and ahead of the game if we stick to my plan and downsize the house. Three people do not need a McMansion.

[snafu]

msomnipotent, if you or any SA participants can offer ideas of how to interest DH in our financial progress I'd appreciate suggestions. My printout financial statement shows progress and any sticking point. DH's eyes glaze over and all he asks is if it's OK. I asked if he wanted to buy a newer car [he knows I had an offer on my ancient PT cruiser] and that didn't elicit a smile. True, it's cold and snowy but I have discounts bouncing in my head.

[msomnipotent]

msomnipotent, if you or any SA participants can offer ideas of how to interest DH in our financial progress I'd appreciate suggestions. My printout financial statement shows progress and any sticking point. DH's eyes glaze over and all he asks is if it's OK. I asked if he wanted to buy a newer car [he knows I had an offer on my ancient PT cruiser] and that didn't elicit a smile. True, it's cold and snowy but I have discounts bouncing in my head.

Well, I"m at the end of my rope with my husband when it comes to finances, so I'm probably not the one you want advice from. I start with the classic, "Do you know how old you are??? Do you want to work until you drop dead??", and then build into a crescendo of, "You never listen to anything I say! Do you have any idea of how much money we would have if you did what I tell you to do!!!???". But there is a huge backstory to this, so I have a very good reason to nag him into submission and he knows it.

The good news is that I think he finally wised up. I have said that before, but I think it finally sank in. I showed him my 403B account, which hasn't had any money added to it since I quit 17 years ago. And the most I ever made was just under $13 an hour. It has almost as much money as his account from his old employer, where he was making well over $150,000 a year, when they were able to pay him. I think that is what pushed him over the top and got on the phone first thing to change his accounts.

Maybe your husband would get interested more if you showed him some projections?

[disneysteve]

My biggest problem of the year was the cash flow problem we ran into this month. It was caused by a number of things that all ran together. I failed to adequately account for the money going into our new HSA not being available for general spending. I totally blanked on how much we needed to come up with for spring tuition. And a couple of other smaller things that all snowballed together.

Going forward, our HSA contributions will be smaller so my monthly take home will be about $830 higher. When we sit down to figure out the 2017-18 tuition needs, I'll be sure to calculate things more accurately knowing where I went wrong this year. And I'll be more realistic in the extra loan payments I make. I overdid it a bit this fall which contributed to a shortfall in cash when a couple of big bills came.

[kork13]

Our biggest problem (on-going) is trying to get a tenant for our home-turned-rental. I've posted about this a couple times already, and it's continuing to be difficult. At least in Oklahoma, winter is just a very slow time in the rental market. We've had 3 very promising potentials who were eager to rent the house, yet each time, they didn't get the job in the city that they were expecting... So they each, in turn, fell through. gratefully, another goal of ours was to set aside enough cash to be able to cover 6 months of the rental's expenses, which is now carrying us through this period without a tenant.

We moved from Oklahoma to Alaska and bought our new house with a 20% DP, but that was relatively smooth (gratefully). Our other goals were mostly just ongoing goals like maxing retirement accounts (just got our pay stubs today saying that both TSPs are maxed, and last week the final Roth IRA contributions maxed us out there!). Another goal was to buy a new-to-us car for my wife in cash -- we ended up using a loan for half of it, to save the cash for replacing my car as well in the spring (VW Golf Diesel, so I'm doing the buyback). We haven't completely built up our EF yet to account for our newly-higher expenses with moving to Alaska (very HCOLA), but it's still a work in progress.

[rennigade]

We moved from Oklahoma to Alaska and bought our new house with a 20% DP, but that was relatively smooth (gratefully).

We haven't completely built up our EF yet to account for our newly-higher expenses with moving to Alaska (very HCOLA), but it's still a work in progress.

Alaska is awesome...it isnt cheap though...you're right. Which part of AK did you move?

[kork13]

Alaska is awesome...it isnt cheap though...you're right. Which part of AK did you move?

Anchorage. Grateful to have the winter solstice the other day, we'll finally start getting more sunlight as the days go by. But yeah, Alaska is gorgeous, and we're really happy to be living up here.

[Nutria]

We met all of our goals, but that's only because the only goal was to stay on budget, and we've managed that.

Paid off the van, and that money now goes into the Car Fund (repairs and eventual DP on new one). Kids last high school tuition bills have just been paid, so we're able to boost 401k contributions and House Fund contributions.