What I Would Do If I Won The Lottery

I did not win the Mega Millions Jackpot.  I did spend the $2 to purchase a ticket.  If I did win I would have paid off my house. I also would have opened a series of savings accounts with $100,000 balances.  I would have put a few million into investments.  I would have purchased some long term  CDs.  I would do everything in my power to ensure that I have enough money to last for the rest of my life.

I think I would also build a custom home with lots of security features so that I would not have to worry that someone would break in and try to steal my lottery winnings.  I don't want a big house, but I would like an acre or 2 of land. 


I would give some money to my mother and sisters.  I would also donate money to charity (disaster relief, St. Jude's, my law school, legal services, etc).

I would quit my job and set up a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.  I think I would devote it to provide assistance to struggling families.  This would be for people who struggled due to no fault of their own.  For example, people who were struggling because of a medical condition or medical bills.  You know, like a child that had a serious illness and health insurance did not cover all of the bills.  Or a parent who had a medical condition and could not work.  Running my 501(c)(3) charity would become my new job.  I would also like to help young people who were struggling to get through college because of financial issues.  I would also like to help young professionals who were struggling after graduating from college due to their student loan payments.  Believe me I know law school is expensive!!

Anyways, that's what I would have done if I had won the lottery.  It's fun to dream. 

Boring Updates

Just a quick update.  We are still recovering from Hurricane Michael, but everyday the roads get clearer and less people are suffering from the power outages.  There are more and more donations centers for the less fortunate.  I need to buy some supplies to donate and find a convenient donation center.  I have a bag of clothes that I can donate too. Additionally, I only spent about $200 for the hurricane preparation (some bags of ice, bottled water, snacks and gas for the generator,etc.). 

I did manage to add another $60 to my retirement account, that means I am $160 over my goal for the year! I hope I am able to add even more money next month. I can't wait until I am saving $15,000 a year without batting an eye. 

I was able to add $450 to my emergency fund.  I m getting closer to my goal of $18,500 for the year.

I was able to add $750 to my furniture fund.  I can't wait to replace this 15 year old mattress and frame!!

Work has been tough lately. I really need some help with all of the cases and projects I am working on.   My boss has not even been working on his cases.  I'm too tired to rant this morning, so I will just leave it there. 

I did buy a mega-millions lottery ticket on Tuesday and I did not win.  I hate wasting money on lottery tickets, but I figured what the heck- I'll take a chance.  It is a super huge jackpot right now. Maybe I will waste another $2 and try again.

Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael was a major hurricane, but I am happy to report that my family and friends seem to have come through the storm without any loss of life or major damage.

There are power lines and trees down all over town.  There are still many without power in my small town.  Our electricity went out about 2:00p.m. on Wednesday afternoon and did not come back in until about 2:00a.m Friday morning. The winds and rain were so bad that we did not get the generator started until Thursday morning.  It was nice to have ice and cold water from the fridge.  We charged our devices and rain a fan.  We did have some bottled water, beer and wine in an iced down cooler, so we had access to cold drinks.  We also had several bags of ice in the freezer to keep the food cold until we could get the generator up and running.  We grilled out for dinner and it was fun, but by Thursday it was pretty hot out.  We were ecstatic to have the power come on early Friday morning.  We were definitely one of the lucky ones.

During the storm we listened to music from our phones (we had those portable charging bricks) and podcasts.  We danced, played card games and read books.  We also had downloaded tv shows and movies from netflix to our kindles.  We were thoroughly entertained. 

We slept in Friday morning because it was nice and cool.  Then we drove over to my mother's house to make sure she had power, clean up debris and make sure there was no damage to the house. Her home was fine, there were just a few downed limbs.  Her electricity was on and no problems were found.

I checked in on my friends and everyone was fine other than having some fallen trees and no electricity.  I feel so blessed and I am very happy to have survived another hurricane. 

Third Quarter Update

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals for myself.  Let's see how I am doing.

1. Add $10,500 to retirement savings with the goal of having $35,000 saved for retirement by the end of the year.  $5,500 will go into my roth ira and $5,000 will go into a taxable account. Come on stock market growth and no recession! Last year I contributed $9,500 so this will be an  increase of $1,000.  PASS.  I am done with this goal!  I have contributed $10,600 to retirement this year.  I plan to continue contributing throughout the year.

2.Increase EF to $18,500. I am slowly adding money to this goal.  My total emergency savings are about $16,800.  I hope to increase this over the next 3 months to meet this goal.  However, that might change based on what happens with hurricane Michael.

3. Pay an extra $290/month toward principal on the mortgage.  My easily reachable goal is to have the mortgage paid down to $200,000 by the end of the year.  The ultimate goal is to have the balance paid down to $197,500 by the end of the year so that the PMI will drop off the mortgage. PASS!  I have been adding an extra $400 a month to the mortgage.  I am definitely on track to have this under $200,000 by the end of the year. I might have it under $200,000 by the end of the month.  However, again, that might change based on what happens with this hurricane.

4. Save an additional $5,000 for my car replacement fund with the goal of having $10,000 in my car replacement fund by the end of the year.  I will be aiming to purchase a new car in 2019.  I hope with a trade in and any money saved in 2019 to have $20,000 to put down for a new car. My car replacement fund is sitting at $7,617 as of the time of this entry. Again, I hope to focus on this more after you know, hurricane michael.


5.  Read 15 books. I have completed at least 3 books this year.  I have been starting books, but  not finishing them.  Hopefully I'll do better for the next report.  

6. Lose 20lbs. I plan to try to lose about 3lbs a month which should place me at 36lbs for the year.  However, I know I struggle with weight loss so I think 20lbs is a good goal.  I also want to commit to exercising 30 minutes a day for 4 days a week and eating more vegetables.  I haven't weighed myself, but I have been getting in 4 days a week of exercise most weeks (Except when traveling). 

7. Donate $300 to charity.  This is up $100 from last year, I hope to be able to donate more than $300, but let's see how the year rolls.  I plan to increase this amount each year. I have contributed $278 to charity so far this year.  I'm actually ahead of schedule for where I should be at this time of year! I can't wait to see how much I actually end up donating by the end of the year.

8. Build medical fund up to $1,000. This is sitting at $0, but I have been using this for various medical appointments.  I need to add to this to cover my dentist appointment at the end of the year and the one I just had. 

9. Continue to build car repair fund up to $1,000. This is currently at $173, but I will need an oil change before the end of the year. 

10. Get more life insurance. No progress here.

11.  Try to figure out a happy medium for the travel reimbursement fight.  I want them reimbursed in 30 days and the firm will wait 60 -90 days to reimburse me.  I think I will argue for 45 day reimbursement and all outstanding travel vouchers to be paid at year end.   I haven't had a chance to even begin to address this.  However, there are a lot of changes coming at work and this might be a bargaining tool for me. 

12. Find a new primary care doctor and receive treatment for anxiety and depression. I have been researching doctors, but I have not selected one yet. 

13. Make a decision about my career and job. No progress.

14. Try something new (or outside of my comfort zone) each month (restaurant, activity or social event). I did pretty good at this for the first quarter, but not so great for the second quarter.  I did try a new restaurant, opened a new savings account for a higher interest rate and continued to tip cleaning staff at hotels. I'm did not do super well with this for the third quarter either.  I HAVE to do better this last quarter. 

15. Increase net worth by $25,000. I failed to do a net worth post at the beginning of the year. I have been adding to my retirement savings and paying extra on the mortgage so I am definitely making progress on this goal.  I am up almost $20,000 since my March net worth update.  


How are you guys doing on your yearly goals?  Are you on track or falling behind?  I feel like tracking my yearly goals helps me make progress.

October Goals

I have a few October goals, but first, let's see how I did on my September Goals.  My September goals were as follows:

1.  Finish out retirement contributions. Only $1,332 to go!--PASS.  I actually added an additional $100 to that amount.

2. Exercise 4 days a week, for at least 60 minutes. - DONE ISH.  I did this for about 2.5 weeks out of the month.

3. Get rid of 20 items. DONE- ISH.  I have a bag full of clothing items to donate.  They are sitting in my room and I need to take them to Goodwill.

4. Get the Fall Decorations down and put up around the house. FAIL- I did get the fall wreath out of the front closet.  The other decorations are still in the attic.

5. Finish 2 books. - FAIL. I did not finish any.

6. Donate money to charity. PASS- I did donate $25 to my law school.




My October goals are as follows:

1. Contribute another $50 to retirement. This is just because I can and I need to pump as much money as possible into my retirement accounts.
2. Exercise 4 days a week for at least 60 minutes.
3. Get rid of 20 items.
4. Get out the Fall/Halloween decorations.
5. Finish one book.
6. Donate money to charity.
7. Attend at least one social event or activity.

Net Worth Update

Here's where the numbers stand.

Savings-
$11,816 Emergency Fund
 $12,838 Online Savings Account/$7,617 of that amount is for my Car Replacement Fund
 $27,095 Retirement- Roth IRA
  $7,369 Taxable Brokerage (Retirement)


$1,221 Travel Fund (Work)
$753 pet fund 
$5 medical fund
$2,291 furniture fund
$80 Slush fund


Home-
$298,990-per zillow

              Total (not including home): $63,468
              Total (including home): $362,458

Liabilities-
Mortgage $201,262

             
                   Total (not including mortgage): 0
                    Total (including mortgage): -$201,262
 


        Total Net Worth(not including mortgage): $63,468                                             
        Total Net Worth(including mortgage): $161,196

Net worth, not including mortgage, increased by $7,747 from July (last net worth update)
Net worth, including mortgage, increased by $9,967 from July (last net worth update)


Still going the right direction so that is great! This is despite of some recent drops in my retirement account due to the market and a slightly lower value for my home.   Can't wait to see how much things grow by the end of the year.