Record Monthly Surplus

SRC54

For some reason, my monthly surplus was up a whopping 50% this month. I have been fortunate in that I always have had one since I started with Simplifi. I think this increase was a combination of my wife's retirement (no gasoline, spending money as much), no insurance bill, and just serendipity on spending less on extras such as wine and coffee.

My bad months are usually October and May (Two Big Insurance Payments), but even then I manage a surplus. I don't set savings goals and just try to be frugal. I set a target for every major category. I consider what is leftover to be savings.

I realize this is hard for many people to do but as I used to say to my students, even if you can only save a little bit each month, practice helps in the long run.

Best wishes for everyone's success at savings.

UrsulaA

Congratulations on your savings. I try to be frugal myself and shoot for a surplus in most months. I have a watchlist with all expenses tracked and I keep below a target amount. I check the watchlist to see how I am doing against the target during the month, which is a quick overview when I do not want to look at the spending plan details.

RobWilk

Surprisingly with under a $2500/month income (and Quicken Simplifi's help) I'm sometimes able to have a Surplus, to the point where I have thousands in a savings account now (when I started in 2022, from memory, I had like $12,000 in debt and no savings). Admittedly, I don't pay rent or mortgage, I live with family which usually works out well because we all get along. Longer term, if i have to house myself, I may be in more trouble though (or will just have to get a better source of income then, at the sacrifice of the free time i have now). If I have to, though, Quicken Simplifi will probably help me budget better.

-Rob

SRC54

Yep, I don't have a mortgage or debt either. I was able to free myself from both 25 years ago. It helps a lot even when one doesn't have a big income.

DannyB

@SRC54

Way to go, Steve! It's nice having a surplus for sure.

One question. Do you save up for your May and October insurance premiums month-by-month or just rely on that monthly surplus to cover these expenses when they come due?

SRC54

Thanks @DannyB I don't save for it per se, but since I save some every month and have a combined checking/savings account, it is no problem. I would like to pay monthly since it works out better for expenses (My auto expenses are off the chart in October and May.) but I hate paying $3-5 per month to do that.

That said I am looking for another company this fall as ALFA has gotten ridiculous.

DannyB

@SRC54 Yeah, I'm the same… pay my premiums annually to save the service charge. But this year when my property insurance came around Hartford doubled the premium! The rep said it was because the cost of labor and materials to rebuild was so much higher they needed to make adjustments. I pointed out that even though the premium was doubling they didn't double my coverage, but that didn't seem to make it through the to the rep. Anywho, their premium is still a better deal than other insures so I'll stick with them. I did switch to making monthly payments this year for my property insurance and will look into my options next year, including dropping property insurance. I'm (educated) guessing the increase has to do with the high level of loss in recent years here in California for all insurers. We don't live in a high-risk area, but I figure I'm helping pay back the losses.

Our county just put into place for this fiscal year a way to pay property taxes monthly with NO service charge. I'm going to take advantage of that system this year.