These financial updates are as much for you as they are for me. I track my budget and net worth but writing about it keeps me on task.

This past week I was able to subtract another $1000 from my debt and add another $500 to my retirement accounts. I also moved some additional money over to my investment account, although I did lose a bit of money with the volatile market this week.

We did have another medical bill that came up for my spouse’s physical from last month. It is important that you are talking with your doctor during the physical on what is covered and what will be billed later.

The Affordable Care Act made routine physicals free, however there are quite a few things that are not included. Unfortunately as we age these things become necessary and therefore we had to pay out of pocket.

This is a great plug for having an emergency account or being nearly debt free. I did not even blink an eye when I saw the bill. Normally a $500 bill would cause quite a bit of stress.

Having several credit cards at a zero balance allowed us to pay it off with next months budget.

Currently my debt is:

Card 1: $7939.38
Auto Loan: $22,934

This makes my net worth: $55,015.60

We do have to do a bit of adjusting as we have some expenses related to the holidays coming up, but it still should not change my long term goals.

Increasing My Retirement Contributions

In October I plan on increasing my contributions to my retirement another percentage point. As soon as I am debt from on my revolving debts I will try to maximize my retirement accounts.

I do need to revisit my withholding so that I can make sure that I am not taking too much out of my paycheck. However, I owed quite a bit this year and do not want to repeat that mistake.

We are also holding out hope that the government will send another stimulus check in the next few months. If we do receive this money we will put that right back into our savings account. I will receive another reimbursement for my education expenses in December, but this will be put aside for when I have to pay tuition the next semester.

Goal Planning

My office does not plan on having us back until January so I am taking advantage of the savings from not commuting. There are a few long term plans that we are working on, but everything is on hold at the moment.

I am still focused on my short-term goals of getting out of debt and my long-term goals of trying to retire with a good savings. I do not think that I will be able to retire early, but I am okay with that. What I am not okay with is having to work through my retirement.

I have set my medium goals at having $500k in my retirement accounts by the time I am 55. Obviously based on my current contributions that will be difficult, but since I started this journey merely six months ago and I am already at a positive net worth of $55k I should be able to keep raising my contribution limits.

My spouse jokes with me about setting goals. She mentioned that once I become focused I won’t feel accomplished if I do not meet these goals. I have done this with my fitness, my job and now my finances. I am not worried about building wealth, but I do become impatient with how long it does take.

I am okay with the slow growth and seeing results. I just need to take my time and continue the journey without getting sidetracked.