It’s been quite some time since I last posted on the site; I hope you haven’t missed me that much! I’m not too sure why I took an extended break, there’s a part of me that feels like I’m slowing down a bit on the blog, life definitely feels busier with TresMoneyFinance in the picture and both Mrs Money and I back to work!
Brief financial update
I set a few financial goals earlier in the year: maxing out my 401(k), contributing to my after tax 401(k), and saving for the kiddos college funds. To date I’ve maxed out my 401(k) at $23,000 and I’ve also saved more than my goal of $1,000 into my after tax which I’ve also learned is called a mega back door Roth. It’s going to be close for the college savings goal but it looks like I’ll make it. It’s definitely not a science my contribution amount, more of a back of the napkin calculation on if I contribute $x annually then the kiddos in theory with normal growth should have enough for instate tuition when they go. You may have seen but the rules around college plans (529s) recently changed for the better and money your kid doesn’t use for college you can roll into an IRA for them!Â
I continue to be gainfully employed and I’m grateful for a job that keeps me learning, doing stuff I enjoy and getting paid for it! Its been a fun ride getting into restricted stock units (RSUs) and getting a promotion here and there.
What I’ve not been doing a great job of cash flow and there have been a few months where cash on hand got low to the point that I had to dip into my emergency fund – just for a few days until I got paid again. I think this mostly stems from daycare and healthcare costs which I pull out of my paycheck but not at a fast enough rate!
We had our rental house tenant move out although we got a new tenant, it was a 2 month period of not having one and paying the mortgage out of pocket. I’m reminding myself that this is long term investment for us and that we’ll have some good years then some not so good ones.
Thinking about what next
I’ve been very fortunate in my young professional life to be in a position of being closer to financial independence and not living paycheck to paycheck. I have worked hard during my working time to earn raises and promotions. I’m thankful for where we’re at financially but I’m always trying to think about how I keep my progress up. It has been cool over the last few years to see quicker growth – I think I’m seeing the benefit of compounding interest finally start to kick in!Â
There are definitely a few things that I am thinking about either doing more of or doing for the first time as I continue to grow in my personal finance journey. I would love to build my non-retirement investing account. I would love to continue contributing more to my after tax 401(k). I would also love doing a better job of managing my cash flow to the point I’m not stressed each month! Hopefully next year I can get ahead of some of the big purchases!
If I’m being honest I’ll also thinking about the future of this blog. 11 years and 1,000+ articles it’s a mix of finding new topics but also managing my time. My other side hustle – Airfare Butler is going well – I’ve saved customers over $7000 and over 100,000 miles. It’s been really cool watching this project take off and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s super cool being able to email a customer with some good news that the place has dropped and then allowing them to get a flight credit back. If you have upcoming flights, I would highly recommend that you let Airfare Butler track your flight for you, we’re seeing 40% of flights fall after people book them. However personal finance is my first love and it’s hard to stop posting here on this blog!
A running joke amongst my friends around this blog is the fact that I am not as much of a young professional as I once was and that maybe I should consider changing the name from Young Money, finance to Middle-Age Money Finance. Also, just given the stage of life that I am managing and thinking about our parents. Finances is also some thing I’m getting more and more thought too.
Thank you for your continued support of this blog and continuing to listen to me talk about personal finance topics!Â
The post YMF Financial Update Winter 2025 first appeared on YoungMoneyFinance.
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