Financial Check-Up

Last week, I FINALLY set up both mine and hubby's Roth IRA, with automatic funding of $50 each monthly.  Why in the holy hell did I not do this before? Well, to be honest, I was in the "I know I should do it but don't know what to do, so do nothing" phase. Which, when I think about it, is very interesting, considering I set up the 401Ks and set them with lifecycle funds so that it at least could grow while I/we figured out what we should do with it, but for some reason that same logic didn't carry over to setting up the IRA account.

But the important thing is that it is at least set up NOW, and that it will be (with $50/month) an extra $600/year for each of us ($1200 total) that will go towards investment and savings. Of course, every little bit adds up, and we'll be looking for ways to add even more to it as we go on. But now we have to figure out what we'll do with the accumulated funds. I guess that will be my next reading material or quest.

I figured since that is finally set up, now is as good a time as any to do a progress report and see where I stand, at least financially. So, here we go:

Savings (between all accounts): ~$2500
401k: Mine is about $1100, but was transferred by previous employer to a rollover IRA. (And I need to set up 401k with current employer, even though it doesn't offer a match, but need to call because they had trouble finding my info in the online verification system.) Hubby's is about the same, but has not yet been rolled over that we are aware of.
Car Payment: $0 as I mentioned recently in the end of year check in, here. Woohoo!
Roth Ira: $50 start in mine, $50 start in hubby's.
Credit Card: $150ish. Wait...what? I thought that was taken care of already. (Small charge of buying tickets to a play and needing to transfer the funds from the fun account.) Looks like I'll be shifting funds from one savings account this week. Ooops.
Net Worth: $3650 if counting only mine/$4800 total including Husband's. Minus $150 for that Credit card, means $3500/$4650. This is about $1700 more than the total in the Starting Numbers, and that included the money in checking (which I intentionally didn't include in this one since it is so fluid in and out). So while progress may be somewhat slow so far, the important fact is, progress is definitely being made. Now to find some ways to add even more to savings and investments.....

So that's where I currently stand. Not too bad, but can definitely be improved upon. We've been thinking of ways we can cut costs and get rid of wastefulness, but things can be hard when it's only me working right now (and making just about $23,000). So since husband is still unemployed, and all things considered, we're doing really well. So I just know that when Shaun is employed, we will be socking away even more and doing even better, and I am excited to see things grow and can't wait to see where the journey takes me.