2017 Money Moves: Setting up for the new year
December 25, 2017
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, Happy nearly end of the year to everyone else!
I’m feeling pretty good about all the work I’ve put into getting our money wrapped up in 2017 and ready for 2018.
This series has been monumentally helpful to keeping me on track because my other constant feeling is being on edge with our current administration. Politics aside, the people we have in office are utterly abhorrent human beings who only believe women exist in a binary state of “would have sex with her / wouldn’t have sex with her” and it’s appalling. Then there’s all the egregiousness of Naziism and white supremacy gaining a public facing foothold, revelations of abuse of women and children over the years … it’s way too much for …
Wait. I was talking about money, wasn’t I? Sorry, got a bit off track there. Oh right, that’s because I started thinking about the tax code and all of THOSE implications. Right, back to my original train of thought here:
- My portfolio was simplified,
- Our monthly mortgage payment was reduced by recasting,
- Our IRAs and the 529 were maxed out and automated payments for 2018 are set up,
- We evaluated our tax strategy
After deciding to bunch our property tax bills, which will only be good for us this year as it turns out, I tackled the actual (literal, physical) mess. We had or have 4 tax bills, and 7 installments, to manage for the year. I had to code them to keep track! After figuring out how much to send to each address, because our tax collector requires payments to go to different locations, cash was transferred to cover the payments and checks were scheduled to go out. Then I added it all to our tax spreadsheet that I fill out during the year every time we have something tax-related so that I’m not scrambling to get our paperwork ready, come tax time.
Whew, what a load off my mind.
Of course, saying good bye to 2017 means a new budget for the new year!
Well, not a new budget, just a fresh spreadsheet for tracking monthly expenditures. Our 2018 spreadsheet was ready, so I tossed in some basic assumptions for our spending and our savings rate. With that set up, we have automated:
- His 2018 401(k) contributions
- Our FSA contributions
- The new mortgage payment
- My 2018 IRA contributions
- JB’s 529 contributions
- Our fake escrow payments (large annual expenses like all our insurance policies and property taxes)
Preparing for 2018 means a new projections spreadsheet for our taxes since we’re likely going to see a lot of changes there, where I will attempt to figure out how badly we’ll be impacted. As a friend commented, “we’re not among the Great Unwashed (/sarcasm), but we certainly aren’t 1%ers so this is going to hurt.” I’m guessing that’s going to be true for us as well, but I’m more uncomfortable with the fact that it’s going to hurt so many more people who are less well off than we are.
So far, we’ve all mainly survived 2017, and I’m glad to be closing out another year with y’all. I hope you have a peaceful end of the year season and are able to get some rest before we open 2018, whatever it is you’re choosing to do.
Our presents are wrapped, our bills are paid through the start of the new year, we’ll be traveling to see family and friends, and I’ll be trying my darnedest to keep my blood pressure low when I deal with my dad over the holidays. I’m obliged to see him at at least one family dinner, and one encounter at the house when I go collect my things, so I’m armoring myself against the inevitable feelings of anger and resentment when I do run into him. I will strive to emulate the swan: serene on top, paddling like hell under the water!
Good luck with your dad! Christmas tends to bring up a lot of emotions and feelings amongst families š Happy holidays!
Sorry to hear about your sexist-objectifying-women coworkers!
Thanks – the holidays are KIND OF the worst for me.