Money Journey: Spending a Bonus

Spending a bonus

I was able to secure about a $2500 bonus that I wasn’t budgeting for over the month. This is going to be huge to use throughout the month as I try to crawl towards my other goals for the year and for life I suppose. Getting a new house and having newly found hobbies that an apartment never let me enjoy. I have a new dog which expanded my expenses some more. There have been a lot of moving parts that most goals that I had for the year have been pushed back as far as possible. Maybe with this money I could start to improve my goals and use this new money in a positive way.

What are my goals? Well, I have quite a few so sit down, grab a lemonade and get ready for all of my blue-sky projects. I guess most are wants, not many goals.

Let’s start with goals.

I want to fill out my Roth IRA. I am still about $5,500 away from maxing out and I need some huge final pushes to fill this out in its entirety. I have decided to go on vacation, vacation, and vacation instead of working hard towards the Roth IRA which has left me really far behind. I still have an HSA, and 401(k) on automatic contributions out of my paycheck, but the Roth IRA has not been maximized. Even a light contribution could make a huge difference in the final days where I am trying to make a push to maximize it. Last year it was so much easier. I was able to max it out and use an old traditional 401(k) to charge it up even more. I am also about to hit $30,000 in retirement savings between my three accounts with an extra $5,000 in my brokerage. Currently I feel strong in that area.

I have been with my girlfriend for over three years now, and we share a life together. The next steps are engagement rings, weddings, and honeymoons. It could be a pricey couple of years and without any pay raises, it could be hard for me to afford it immediately. Using this money to turbocharge these plans would make me happy. I have a few tricks up my sleeve for a “cheaper” honeymoon but even “cheaper” means a little over a couple thousand dollars.

A new vehicle is also on the horizon as my current car is about to hit 100,000 miles. It has been hit with more problems and is not as pretty as it once was. The gas mileage is poor and the space available is poor. I am looking to get a gently used 2025 vehicle in two to three years, or before my car hits 100,000 which is 15,000 miles away. I have already started saving for these some, as I have a brokerage for these short-term goals but unfortunately my stocks have not been performing well. My car is also losing value quickly, so I am in a tough situation. Not enough money to get a new car, my car is losing value, a hard place to be.

Those conclude my goals for right now, moving onto my wants. I feel like a little kid writing down my wants and needs.

Living in a new home enters a new world of wants. Some wants that I never even realized I wanted but now, I could use one.

First is a nice grill, something where I can smoke a slab of ribs, grill a steak, cook hamburgers/hotdogs, and even grilled chicken. This enters into a whole new world where I have several new buying decisions just to keep this online. I need propane, I need meats to smoke, I need to find a place to grill. Where do I put it in my backyard? A place with no rain cover? I don’t know any of these decisions. Here is the price. Cheap one could be under $200, should I splurge more and get one around $500 which also adds more buying decisions. Probably not a good idea. Maybe one day I can get one but I just don’t want to buy something that starts a whole landslide of buying decisions.

Second is a paddleboard or a kayak. I enjoy being outside much more than being inside. During the summer months in Florida, I wouldn’t be able to get out in the afternoon with how many thunderstorms we get. This also is an issue with buying one thing enters a can of worms to get more and more stuff. How will I store it at home? I would need to hang it in my garage, right? All the edges and corners to lean stuff up against are in use. I would also need to get a rack to carry the kayak to the lake. We are a half mile away but being one person carrying a kayak doesn’t seem ideal. Also, the water is small, so it makes me a little hesitant on getting out there and floating. Maybe this one is put on the back burner. And immediately after saying that I found an almost brand new two-person kayak on Facebook marketplace that is an inflatable kayak. No need for racks, no need for edges and corners to lean on and store. I can pack it into my car and drive off. No issues with car size. I think what I am looking forward to the most. It unlocks lots of trails. A paddleboard could also be fun to get but at the moment, we should start with the inflatable kayak. Relatively low investment for a low-medium priced inflatable.

An E-bike. A WANT with all capitals. I already have a bike. Just put a new tire pad and is rolling great for being ten years old. The way that these bikes put you over hills and zoom through the trails are very desirable. One of the best parts of the E-bike I want is that it is foldable which would mean I would be able to take it anywhere and start my trail all while keeping the same car. That makes it very desirable. It opens up a whole new world of trails. I love the mobility and the freedom it would allow me but for the $700 price point for a used one. I’m not sure.

Upgrading my golf bag is something that I have been looking forward to for a long time. I purchased my starter retail clubs four or five years ago and now that I have started playing more, I want newer clubs. I have also started playing more and more with a goal of one day being able to play in a tournament. It has given me that goal in my brain to strive for. Even though I live much further away from my typical golf course, I have been able to create a cheap mockup of a hitting net with pads in my garage. Because of how BAD I am, I have a funny video where I almost hit myself after missing my net. One of the largest factors in trying to improve with lessons, fittings, clubs, and more ball upgrades is that I played the best game I ever had a couple weeks ago. On top of the ease of garage play, it has led me to really enjoy the game. Having something to push for is a feeling I haven’t had physically since marathon training. Unfortunately for me, it is an expensive sport. There are so many things where you can spend money, and places where I do want some upgrades. I think I am going from the retail club set, into the world of secondhand golf clubs, from a quality brand. The only golf clubs from quality brands that I have are my grandpas hand me downs that are OLD. I’m trying my best to keep it cheap but also get better at the same time. This is just the beginning too. I also want to get fitted with the club I use best, I want to get lessons, I want to get rangefinders, quality balls, fun head covers so I can maintain my quality clubs, a quality bag that actually zips, more and more quality. Also, some comforts for my home golf game, an actual net, actual mat, maybe a putting green in the backyard that I have seen. Driving range balls, rounds of golf. So many buying decisions. The costs just keep rising. To start with, I want a lesson to start dialing my swing into a repeatable process, then a fitting for my best club, and a secondhand quality branded club with some quality branded balls to pair with it. I’m hoping this can keep me in the $200-$250 range. A huge boost all while maintaining budget. If I continue to play and continue the desire to get better, I will start to change out the bag little by little. I just think it is a little delusional in using more money for a game where I still don’t have a consistent swing. Dropping a $1000 on some new upgraded secondhand clubs just to continue shooting 40 over par seems silly of me. A lesson, a fitting, and a secondhand club with balls seems to be a must-do. A $200 investment for a game that I have come back to over and over again is extremely cheap and something that I would love to have some fun with.

THE GAME PLAN

I love budgeting out my different income amounts, but a BONUS is my FAVORITE. $2,450 to be used in several categories to unlock new fun stuff, hit relationship goals, and still save for the future.

The first thing I did was add $500 to my Roth IRA. Simple. Easy. It can be done in five seconds. 20% gone. I am happy that I get to boost up the investments. $50 extra added to the mortgage as well. Boom. Just a little extra to knock off the principal. Not much but helps the future.

$200 goes back into the business. I want to work on marketing tools, and a new microphone so I can walk and talk at the same time. My phone microphone is incredibly bad, so an upgrade was needed. Improving the quality of my marketing materials is all a good thing. $130 for the microphone and hopefully $70 for marketing tools.

$1200 going into the engagement ring fund. I have a few thousand growing already in a brokerage. Adding hundreds of dollars will be a very good boost. Instead of the single stock boosts I will be doing strictly mutual funds. Not being greedy. An issue that has happened several times in the past and I am tired of it happening to me. I keep falling into the same trap.

$1950 in total allocation. Now what? Now…. It’s fun time. I want to hit on all my wants. I put close to 10% towards business expenses, 20% towards future savings, and almost 50% to my relationship goal. I have $500 to spend on wants.

$100 of it is going to an inflatable kayak from Facebook Marketplace.

The next few wants are still up in the air. I do want to take more golf lessons and club upgrades. That is what I am looking at now to upgrade.

A grill, electric bike, and other wants have been placed on the back burner.  

Thank you for coming along on this budgeting ride, and watch a little bit how my brain works through personal finance. I feel like I am in a good place. I have $6500 cooking in a short term investment account filled with Tesla, Nvidia, and a S&P 500 mutual fund. $30,000 in my investments. A new kayak and $400 more wants.