Quarterly Financial Update:June 2012

A lot of financial things have changed the last few months.  Though we do not have a joint account yet (it’ll eventually get done, I promise), my husband and I have pooled our money together.  Here is a snapshot of what our current finances are like.

Net Worth

Total Cash: $36,672.60

• Credit Union checking account #1: $17,188.43
• Credit Union checking account #2: $2,094.26
• Credit Union saving cccount #1: $404.26
• Credit Union savings account #2: $25.05
• Discover Bank savings account: $17,060.55

Total Investment Accounts: $3,525.93

• Roth IRA: $3,525.93

Other Assets: $7500.00

• Car #1: $5000.00
• Car #2: $2500.00

Total Net Worth: $47,698.53

Right now we have a pretty large cash reserve.  At least half of it will be gone by the end of the summer once the tuition bill comes in.  In my last update, I had an additional investment account with Vanguard, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to use the money for.  I’ve decided that I wanted to use the money in that account to pay for my graduate school tuition.  I orginally planned on just taking out how much money I needed for the semester, but I would not have enough money to meet the minimum balance, so I cashed it all out.  It won’t pay for more than a couple semesters, but it’s better than taking out loans right away.

Targeted Savings

• Dental School Fund: $22,939.65
• Graduate School Fund: $3683.47
• Emergency Fund: $5496.04
• Vacation Fund: $414.71
• Christmas Fund: $75.00

We ended up using most our honeymoon fund for something else, and we cancelled the mini-vacation to St. Louis we were going take this month.  Instead, we used the vacation money to pay for our wedding night hotel (it was a pretty big splurge).  The remaining money in the vacation fund will be for our delayed honeymoon next summer.  Other than that, we are about half-way to our goal of having $6000 in our emergency fund by the end of the year.

Extra Paycheck!

I currenly work two jobs, but for the same boss.  My boss is a professor at a university here in Louisville, and she’s also started a small bio-tech company.  The two share the same space, so it’s easy to go back and forth between working for the company and the university.

The pay schedule for the two are different.  The company pays monthly, and I get a paycheck the third Friday every month.  On the other hand, the university pays bi-weekly. Typically, for every monthly paycheck I get, I receive two bi-weekly paychecks, and I create my budget base on those premises.  Well, this month I got an unexpected surprise, an extra paycheck!

Now I don’t create monthly budgets based on the calender month.  Instead I begin a new budget on the day I receive my monthly paycheck.  So, my current “fiscal” month began on March 16 since that was when I received my paycheck from the company.  It’ll end on April 19th, the day before my next one.  So far, during this month, I have already received two bi-weekly paycheck, one on March 16 and one on March 30.  Yesterday, I just realized that I will get an extra paycheck before the fiscal month closes.

Since I didn’t budget for the extra paycheck, I’m debating on how I should best use it.  It won’t be much; it’ll be about $325.  Still, I want to use that money wisely.  Should I save it in one of my targeted savings accounts, put in in my Roth IRA, or use the money to buy a more professional looking wardrobe (Note: I’ve slowly realized that I dress too much like a high schooler, since I bought most of the clothes I wear in high school.  I definitely think it’s a good time to re-evalutate my closet and some professional attire more fitting to my age)?  What would you all do with an “extra” paycheck?

 

Current State of Finances Part 2: Targeted Savings

From part 1, you may have noticed that I have a lot more money in my checking account than my two saving accounts combined, which is unusual.   Let me explain.   I have a rewards checking account with my credit  union, which as an  interest rate of 3% on a $20,000 average monthly balance if you meet certain requirements: have a direct deposit and use the debit card on ten purchases totalling at least $200 every month.  I easily meet those requirements, so  put as much of my cash into my checking account as possible.  Since the interest rate on the total balance drops to 0.25% on balances over $20,000, I park the rest of my cash with an online banking account.  I keep a little bit of money in my credit union savings account just to meet the minimum requirements of keeping it open.  With that said, the majority of the money currently in my checking account isn’t for day-to-day spending.    I keep track of the “hands off” money in an excel spreadsheet.  Here is what I have:

• Dental School Tuition: $16,797.67  My fiance saved up a ton of money during undergrad and was able to pay his first year of dental school without borrowing a penny.  This is how much he has left, which will hopefully cover one more semester (I’m hoping and praying that tuition won’t increase too much).  He put the money in my account since 1)  He doesn’t meet the requirements to get the 3% interest rate on his checking account and 2) I use my rewards credit card to pay his tuition so get points.
• Wedding Fund: $2383.44  I already saved $7500, and this is how much I have left  to  spend
• Honeymoon Fund: $869.63 We’re taking a delayed honeymoon, so we still have more time to save
• Vacation Fund: $400.00  This is for a weekend trip to St. Louis in June.  I am a huge gymnastics fan and the National Championships this year is located within a reasonable driving distance from home. Whatever is left over from the trip will be stashed  in the honeymoon fund
• Christmas Fund: $50.00
• Emergency Fund: $5321.04 The goal is to save $6000 by the end of the year, should be very do-able

Total Targeted Savings: $24,952.15
Total Day-to-Day Cash: $1940.28

Right now my finances look pretty good because I am sitting on a ton of cash, but as soon as my fiance’s tuition bill comes, a large chunk will be wiped out, and we will have to start taking out loans.