May update

The official monthly update.

Items:

• Union contract voted yesterday. We'll see what happens.
  
• School is actually going forward, but slowly.
  
• Decreased 401(k) to 3% match to favor my IRA

Goals Update

• Review
• Financial
• Credit card debt totaling $0 (No change) ("deadbeat" credit card balance isn't counted. That card is paid off every month) (goal $0)
• Loan debt totaling $0 *GOAL REACHED*
  
• Loan debt totaling $0 *GOAL REACHED*
  
• Car loan totaling $17,410.44 (down 1,038.02)
  
• Emergency fund totaling $7,500 (up $236.24) (goal $7,500) *GOAL REACHED*
  
• Roth IRA contributions to date: In savings, $1,527.58 (down $2,063.16), invested in Roth IRAs, $3,450 (up $3,150)(goal $10,000)
• Charitable
• Total hours volunteered: 39 (goal: 100)
  

Our emergency fund is now fully funded, and the money that was going from my paycheck into that fund is now directed towards our IRAs, meaning that I'm now allocating $668 per month into our IRAs. That extra cash means I will very easily make my goal of half funding our IRAs this year, so I've raised the bar. I want to max our IRAs this year. It would make a great start, and it would be a worthy investment. To that end, I've decided that we should make the minimum payments to our car loan. The interest rate on that loan is low, and the expected tax-free return on the Roths is much higher.

I'm still continuing to review my asset allocation plan before it's fully implemented. I'm considering taking 5% from each of the actively managed international funds (PRIDX, TIVFX), and getting 10% into an investment grade bond fund as well, probably VBLTX. It will increase my stability with a low chance of decreasing my return.

So, now we're just focusing on cutting costs where we can, and spending our money smartly. If we keep this up, I have high hopes for our futures.