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Financial Goals in 2025


StassneyHorn

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7 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

Here's to hoping everyone paid themself first for paycheck #2 of the year, and got closer to their goals.
-Knocked another $500 off the loan, going to have around $2700 left and will knock that out in 2 weeks to cross first item off the list.

 

Still in the Early Year Dead Zone here. Two shows coming up next weekend. Still laying on supplies and gear. Probably get in the black by May, which isn't bad if it happens. Took til November in 2024.

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8 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

Here's to hoping everyone paid themself first for paycheck #2 of the year, and got closer to their goals.
-Knocked another $500 off the loan, going to have around $2700 left and will knock that out in 2 weeks to cross first item off the list.

 

Broke my mountain bike and it costed a few hundred dollars to get it fixed.  Not happy.

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1 hour ago, StassneyHorn said:

Chocolate inspired art for Valentine’s?

3 years in of making special Valentine's art for Valentine's, there is no real reason to.

Oh, I'll sell some. Say I make a couple dozen prints. I'll sell 2 or 3 on the holiday. Then if I sling the rest in the mix of unsold art, I might sell one or two every month after, or a random person might buy 12 in August. So they do sell, but there's barely any connection to the holiday.

Same thing goes with most other holidays. I don't think my customers get my work for greeting card reasons. Probably for the best, as I swan through the year completely detached from whatever my non-existent marketing department would tell me to do.

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Finish home remodel somewhat in budget (fucking tariffs may fuck me)

Reduce expenses, particularly discretionary spending and food. We used to have a very strict budget.  Money isn't a huge concern anymore, so the spending has gotten a bit out of control. Also, turns out, 3 kids over 4 is significantly more expensive than 1. 

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Never, never, never good to get divorced and lose half your shit late in life.  As an old guy working longer than I envisioned post-full Social Security retirement age, my goals are to continue to not have a single dime in credit card or auto loan debt, keep pumping at less 50 K in my solo 401(k), every year (separate from savings and investments) and to keep reminding myself there is no reason to pay off my small mortgage when the interest rate begins with a “2”.     

One small benefit at keeping working is that Social Security takes your 30 best earnings years every year and re-calculates the figures.  it ain’t much, but I’m making about $600 a month more than I would have had I retired at 66.     I have the perfect old guy job right now, making six figures but not having any real responsibility - which means I don’t have any stress or anything I can fuck up.   I’m trying to make myself as invaluable as possible, because my goal next year is to either retire or preferably tell my employer I will work Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and have a four days weekend every week, in return for 60% of my current compensation.   That arrangement would keep me busy and my mind still intellectually stimulated, while allowing me four days a week to woo the wommins du jure  on mini Vacays.  

And I like the idea of continuing to add to my assets before I have to dig into them to live.   Plus, I want to have a bigger estate to leave to my two sons.   They are gonna have to live in this shit show world after I pass, and I don’t think it’s gonna be as enjoyable as my 30s and 40s were for them.

 

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4 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

Never, never, never good to get divorced and lose half your shit late in life.  As an old guy working longer than I envisioned post-full Social Security retirement age, my goals are to continue to not have a single dime in credit card or auto loan debt, keep pumping at less 50 K in my solo 401(k), every year (separate from savings and investments) and to keep reminding myself there is no reason to pay off my small mortgage when the interest rate begins with a “2”.     

One small benefit at keeping working is that Social Security takes your 30 best earnings years every year and re-calculates the figures.  it ain’t much, but I’m making about $600 a month more than I would have had I retired at 66.     I have the perfect old guy job right now, making six figures but not having any real responsibility - which means I don’t have any stress or anything I can fuck up.   I’m trying to make myself as invaluable as possible, because my goal next year is to either retire or preferably tell my employer I will work Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and have a four days weekend every week, in return for 60% of my current compensation.   That arrangement would keep me busy and my mind still intellectually stimulated, while allowing me four days a week to woo the wommins du jure  on mini Vacays.  

And I like the idea of continuing to add to my assets before I have to dig into them to live.   Plus, I want to have a bigger estate to leave to my two sons.   They are gonna have to live in this shit show world after I pass, and I don’t think it’s gonna be as enjoyable as my 30s and 40s were for them.

 

I agree about not paying off a <3% mortgage except when moving into retirement. Even if manageable in retirement, I can see it better that someone’s primary home is paid off. 

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2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I agree about not paying off a <3% mortgage except when moving into retirement. Even if manageable in retirement, I can see it better that someone’s primary home is paid off. 

Well, my five bedroom home’s monthly mortgage is less than the cost of the average apartment in New Orleans. 

As long as I can make more than 2.7% on my money, I can see no reason to pay my mortgage off.  By not doing that (paying off home) I was able to grab some juicy fed i-bonds at almost 7%.   

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14 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

Well, my five bedroom home’s monthly mortgage is less than the cost of the average apartment in New Orleans. 

As long as I can make more than 2.7% on my money, I can see no reason to pay my mortgage off.  By not doing that (paying off home) I was able to grab some juicy fed i-bonds at almost 7%.   

I hear you. I'm getting to the point that my mortgage balance is ~$100,000, and it's at 2.6%.  The spread between what I can earn from that 100K versus what I pay in mortgage interest is becoming less and less material. Focusing on the small amounts can distract you from the larger amounts. Now if someone has a 800K mortgage @ 2.6% that is different. I'm rapidly saving to pay it off but not making early payments yet.

Some personal finance videos have shown me that worrying about the small amounts isn't worth it. For example someone who earns >$250K and they talk about financing their new $2K sofa because the furniture store offers them 18 months no interest. Even assuming they make all of their payments on time, why deal with the hassle. In that scenario who cares about what you can earn from that $2K.

To be clear, I'm not some Dave Ramsey anti-debt person but I can understand that as you get older, there are fewer reasons to carry debt. But I understand reasons others do, and I have zero problem with that.

 

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Just now, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I hear you. I'm getting to the point that my mortgage balance is ~$100,000, and it's at 2.6%.  The spread between what I can earn from that 100K versus what I pay in mortgage interest is becoming less and less material. Focusing on the small amounts can distract you from the larger amounts. Now if someone has a 800K mortgage @ 2.6% that is different. I'm rapidly saving to pay it off but not making early payments yet.

Some personal finance videos have shown me that worrying about the small amounts isn't worth it. For example someone who earns >$250K and they talk about financing their new $2K sofa because the furniture store offers them 18 months no interest. Even assuming they make all of their payments on time, why deal with the hassle. In that scenario who cares about what you can earn from that $2K.

To be clear, I'm not some Dave Ramsey anti-debt person but I can understand that as you get older, there are fewer reasons to carry debt. But I understand reasons others do, and I have zero problem with that.

 

And then there is this:  if my current State Farm homeowners insurer ever pulls out of the state or drops me, I will pay the house off just so I won’t have to have some ridiculously overpriced homeowners insurance of last resort to placate my mortgage lender. 

I will look around and buy some relatively cheap fire insurance.  I have fixed my attic to Miami Dade code and put on a new roof with cat 3 shingles and extra nails per shingle.  I paid surprisingly little to have them put that waterproof membrane across the entirety of the roof and not just the valleys. So if I no longer have insurance for hurricanes, I can put 3 or 4K in CDs every year so that if I do get hit by a hurricane that causes some damage, I will pay for it myself.    i’m willing to risk the tornado threat, which is not nonexistent, but pretty damn close.

i’m not sure how bad it is in Texas, but getting affordable homeowners insurance is an extreme problem in Louisiana now that the last legislature repealed the law that said your insurer could not drop you after three years.

mine is up for renewal in July, and as I sued them over hurricane Ida, and recovered far more than State Farm said I owed, I am expecting to be dropped.  

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