Sixty-Two Sixty-Two

Things are starting to get a little more exciting. The remaining balance totals are smaller and the light at the end of the tunnel brighter. Currently sitting at 74.6% payoff completed. 0% balances due to be gone mid October. 4 digit student loan balance the only thing left after that. I'll be honest, I'm not completely sure whether I'll aggressively pay off the student loans or aggressively add to savings. In the month of July I opened up a Traditonal IRA to go with my Roth IRA. I've started a small monthly deposit into that, which provides another tax deferring account to go along with my 401k and HSA. It also provides a landing spot to roll over that 401k eventually. Win. My thought is for the remaining 2 1/2 months of the year, max out my HSA and traditional IRA to lower my taxable income for 2019. Then pay off the student loans early next year. I see more of a benefit in doing that. The increased tax return would go directly to the student loans. The

Wow - I'm riding an incredible high after just completing 21.9 miles of trail on/near the AT this past weekend. What an awesome experience. Life changing. June is in the books. Quarter 6 is in the books. The final chapters are closer to be written. Progress is staying steady. 68.2% of the debt is paid in full at the completion of the 6th quarter; 18 months in. How much I'm completing each quarter is increasing as funds continue to funnel and as I'm getting better at sticking to a regular budget. Also, playing less golf...far less golf. In addition to the debt ass kicking......savings in my positive accounts has increased 47.1% in the same time period. Here's the chart: I think that's all that needs to be written. I weighed in at 209.6 this morning...flirting with new lows and inspired to push harder after this past weekend's experience. Minimal fitness - 162.1 miles on the stationary bike, 30.6 miles hiking, 20.7 running/walking miles outdoors, 17.

Another month in the books, progress moving forward. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, and still enjoying the journey. Still knocking down the debt wall and building a little savings on the side. Here's a 2019 progress chart: Looking forward, the health savings account will take a hit as our oldest has her consultation with an orthodontist. When the red line gets wiped out (thinking around October), some of those funds will go towards maxing out my HSA contributions for the year to build that account back up. Looking at this - I want the red accounts gone by Oct, and the orange student loans will be gone by mid February next year at the latest. The light filaments will be burning bright at that point. I ran my 15k and it went well. I wanted to run at least 9 minute miles worst case scenario, thought I could run 8:45 miles, and came in at 8:41 miles. I'll be signing up for a half marathon in October...that will cap off my long distance runnin

Month 4 of year 2019 in the books. Things are continuing in a positive direction. I chiseled away another 4% off of the total debt mountain in April. That brings the total up to 60.3% accomplished in roughly 15 months.  I'll add that I also increased my savings (HSA and 401k) by 20% in the same time frame. Since my last update I opened up a Roth IRA account and started contributing 60% of a cost of living raise I received this spring. While paying down debt is the ultimate goal, I haven't sacrificed saving to a certain level. With my 401k, I save enough to get the match from my employer. With the HSA, I plan on maxing out it's potential this year to lower my taxable income.  I can do this while still dedicating a good amount to the debt payoff goal, and it will help build momentum to eventually shift a lot of attention to building savings once the consumer debt is gone. Progress graph: Minimal fitness: 60.84 miles moved, 33.8 cycled, 5 stren

Quarter #5 is in the books. 15 months total invested, and I couldn't be more pleased. Things are going really well, and I'm a little bit ahead of pace to finish by Christmas (knock on wood, leave me alone Mr. Murphy). Quarter 5 had two main things happening - income tax return and the announcement of our 2018 ESOP stock price at my employer. Both brought a solid benefit, in both directions (debt down, savings up). To comment on the income tax return - I've changed my withholding's a bit in an attempt to get more of that money throughout the year (as well as make sure I don't owe the state of Maine again). Here's the progress chart: That red line is trending down at an exciting pace. We've paid off 56% of our original goal - non mortgage debt. I have received a little extra motivation and want to let a close friend know I'm stoked that he and his family have hit their debt free goal - I look forward to our family joining those ranks late 2

If you have time, check out this article (click). I read this article, and I'm typing this post, with headphones in my ears at my office. This is the most personally haunting aspect of our society today, in my opinion. I was just having this discussion with my wife. For 50 hours a week, at least when I'm at my desk, I am constantly listening to podcasts. Yes, they're entertaining. The hosts are comedians, often, so it gives me a good laugh. However, I listen to podcasts because it gives me a false sense of human connection. Podcasts allow me to control my experience by controlling the content. More specifically, the person delivering it. I dare say I'm often socially isolated at work. I promote wellness for a construction company. With most of the management and employees here, I may as well be teaching the company ballet. While I've created some great connections (mostly with guys working miles away from me on site that I'll see 2-3 times per year), whi