New Year New Me

Quick update on where I am after my announcement of being debt-free in late November. I have been debt-free for a little over a month now. In that time, I have purchased long-term disability insurance through my employer, upped my 401k contribution to our company’s match of 6%, and am 3 months away from having my $10k emergency fund fully stocked.

I jumped the gun a little by upping my 401k contribution before having my emergency fund fully stocked, but due to recent deduction changes at my work, my paychecks are exactly the same in 2017 at 6% as they were last year when I was only contributing 1-2%. That being said, there was no harm inflicted on my saving schedule by jumping on the increase a few months early.

As for my emergency fund placement, I have decided on Capital One’s 360 Money Market Account. The runner up was Synchrony Bank’s MMA. Although Synchrony bank gives you the debit card access that Capital One does not, they both allow you to access your money fairly quickly should you need it. And if I remember correctly in my research, the both allow you to tie the MMA to your personal bank’s savings account where you can make the transfer if need be; Capital One’s processing time being a day or two quicker than Synchrony’s. What the decision ultimately came down to? Interest rates. For a sum of $10k or more, Synchrony offers 0.85% and Capital One offers 1.00%.

After my emergency fund is fully stocked (hopefully March/April), I will open a Roth IRA. Since my goal is to allocate 15% of my gross income into retirement accounts, I need to contribute the remaining 9% (after my 6% 401k contribution) to this Roth IRA. Why not just 3% into Roth since my company is matching my 6% giving me an overall of 12%? Glad you asked. Because I have learned that you do not count matches as a part of your 15% contribution; I will be thinking of the 6% match as simply gravy.

So this is where I am. I feel behind in comparison to some friends my age, but I feel ahead in comparison to others. At the end of the day, I am 29, and am thinking I’m right where I need to be in order to set up the rest of my financial life for success. Should I have picked another college where I needed very little to no loans? Maybe. Should I have started a Roth IRA at 16 when I got my first job? Maybe. Should I beat myself up for what I did/didn’t do in the past, and succumb to a life full of minimum payments in addition to paycheck to paycheck living? No. 29 might not be the ideal age to finally be debt-free and start building a net worth, but it beats the pants off of 39 or 49 or 59. That is what I have to remind myself when I start comparing to those around me. This is not to say there is anything wrong with becoming debt-free and building a net worth at 39, 49 or 59, because that also beats the pants off of never doing it. I am merely allowing myself the grace to be okay with where I am.

In my studying, I have read that a lot of folks state the time in-between debt pay-off and wealth building is where the momentum starts to die. The two main scenarios around losing momentum are:

1. People fall into the “normal” trap of buying the things they couldn’t afford while in debt. They tend to get excited about becoming debt-free from student loans, medical bills, and credit cards all to have the “money” for a new car, new wardrobe, or new home, and the debt slowly but surely begins to exist again.

2. People continue to live a debt-free lifestyle (yay), but never invest which leaves them with absolutely no wealth (boo).

I still have SO much to learn about the financial world, and am so excited for you all to be on this journey with me! Cheers to not losing momentum in 2017!!