Yesterday was the day I finally got a chance to deposit my rental check. (Has been sitting around the house for a week and a half since I was out of town.) Anyway, the result is that the last $580 was transferred yesterday and I am now officially complete with my $4000 into my Roth IRA for 2007. I will be updating the sidebar momentarily! Man this feels good!Next up will be my credit card expenses. I’m trying to come up with a modified goal (maybe on a per card basis?) for the progress bars on the right to keep me motivated. But before I do that, I need to get my expense report in so that I can get my refund check for almost $1800 of business expenses for my last trip. After all, I want to portray myself in the best light right?And just so you guys know, I’ve been contributing money in equal installments every paycheck to my 2008 Roth so that this doesn’t happen again. With my Roth taken care of for the year and saving in advance for Christmas… what will I spend my Income Tax Refund on in 2009? If my witholdings are right, I won’t really get one. But if they’re wrong, I get to use it on paying off more debt?? House? Car? More credit cards? Yeah…. I like that!
Archive for category Roth IRAs
2007 Roth IRA Paid in Full!
Feb 17
My tax rebate is coming! My tax rebate is coming!According to the IRS, they should be depositing my “chunk-o-change” refund directly into my bank account on Friday! Yahoo! And the best part – there’s a SALE going on!!!New Apple iPhone? Costco shopping spree? There’s always Victoria’s Secret for Valentine’s Day!(d) NONE OF THE ABOVE Stocks are on sale right now and I’m taking 100% of my (almost) $2000 and contributing to my 2007 Roth IRA. I’ve been contributing like mad lately and my balance isn’t getting any higher. Oh well, I’m buying at a cheap price! The good news is – after this Tax Refund comes in (and February’s rent check) I will be almost 100% done with my Roth IRA Contributions for 2007. And I’ve already started on 2008. Did I mention I paid off my American Express Gold Card too? Balance ZERO! Nada! Zip!Can’t wait to cut the card up and tell Amex to “shove it where the sun don’t shine” when my renewal comes up this July. Next up is my new USAA Amex (not much on there) and then off to tackle Citibank. Snowballing here I come!I love the power of the Tax Rebate! It’s so exhilarating!
And the usual $208 twice a month to my 2008 Roth.That brings me up to 37% and climbing! $268 of it was from my State Income Tax Refund (just filed this weekend. Man they are quick!) I will put another $500 in once my rent check comes in – and another $1900 (the balance of my Federal Income Tax Refund) as soon as it arrives.After that – I will be almost entirely finished with my 2007 Roth contribution. And that should be completed by the 1st of March.I am also doing another $100 per month to my Savings – for at least my Christmas fund. That will give me $1200 for Christmas presents.After my Roth is done by the end of February I will be tackling the credit card debt. I feel broke, but I also feel very good that I’m making so much progress. Living in an apartment isn’t the same as my warm and spacious house, but it’s certainly given me the opportunity to play catch up.Stay tuned! Should have updates on my Car Loan Payoff numbers tomorrow.
So as most of you know, I have been trying to sell my car. Well, today I finally did it! After almost 3 months of sitting there, I have gotten rid of it for the bargain price of $5300 – CASH. I have already called my car insurance company – effectively dropping my premium by $41/month.
So there are multiple things I can do with this and of course a combination thereof:
1) Pay off credit card debt. See my recent post for balances. I will definately be getting rid of the $942 I owe to stupid BOA.
2) Pay down my car loan - not the best option because it is not my priority but it is sitting at 9.25% right now.
3) Max out my Roth – haven’t even contributed a penny to it this year yet, but I have until April 15 to “fill up”.
4) E-Fund. As most of you know, I want to have $10,000 in a high yield savings account for emergencies. Seeing that I’ve been jobless for 3 months now, I would say this qualifies as an Emergency.
I’m quite partial to the Credit Card Debt. The Costco Amex doesn’t show up on my credit score, but the rest sure do. I could pay those down, boost my credit score and effectively change the APR for my car loan too. Still, I want your advice. If I was an expert, I wouldn’t have gotten myself into this Sh!% in the first place.
So with my newfound knowlege about Emergency Funds since being laid off, I’ve already come up with a new plan on what to do with my next paycheck (as soon as I figure out where that is.)
First of all, let’s talk about what I was doing wrong. As I said earlier this year, my goals were Roth contributions, debt reduction, credit score increase, and bill consolidation.
As of the last post before I lost my job I was putting in 10% to my 401(K), contributing nothing to my Roth or Emergency Fund, paying extra on my mortgage, being agressive on my car payment, and putting the remaining $150 I had toward paying down a credit card that had a 0% APR.
HELLO!
- I was fighting wars on too many fronts at the same time. (401K, credit cards, car payment, mortgage)
- I wasn’t even being smart as to what I was fighting on.
So with my next paycheck – here is how I am setting it up.
- Claim 7 on my W-4s. I was only claiming 3 last time. According to the Kiplinger’s calculator, this was way too low.
- $192 a paycheck into my Vanguard Roth IRA. This will be the same amount I put in for 2008. 26 equal payments equals maxing out the Roth. (Will need to make some catch up contributions for 2007, but I have until April 15th, 2008 to do that.)
- $250 per paycheck into my E-fund. This will take me roughly 20 months to complete to get to the $10,000 I need for 3 months living expenses, but I really need to do it.
- Car payment: now $377 spread over 48 months. This I will pay the minimum for now.
- House payment: pay the minimum.
- Credit Cards: pay minimum on Citi Diamond and Costco Amex. Agressively pay down Gold Amex. (Dell is now at $0)
This program will all be accelerated once I sell the Civic (wiping out the Gold Amex.) It will also get a big kick start when we get rid of the apartment at the end of September, probably freeing up over $600 of my monthly income. This would be a nice extra MONTHLY kick into the Emergency Fund.
Amex Gold Debt. E-fund. Roth. In that order. Everything else is secondary.
Ready, set, GO!