I have two jobs, but I budget my spending around my primary job only. With an annual salary of $49,600, I make about $1908 gross each week. Because my employer offers 50% matching on the first 6% contribution to my 401(k), I contribute 6% to gain the full employer match. I also contribute 15% of my pay to the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). I set up my Flexible Spending Account for an annual $250 contribution, which is deducted bi-weekly from my paycheck. After contributions and taxes, I receive a direct deposit of $1055 every other week. Sometimes it is higher if I work overtime, but I count overtime as surplus.
$1055 is directly deposited to my Citi E-Savings account on Friday. It eventually gets divided two ways. On Saturday, $540 is automatically transferred to my Citi Ultimate Savings account, which offers a higher interest rate than my E-Savings account. On Sunday, $515 is automatically transferred to my checking account.
The $515 from my checking account gets transferred to other savings accounts on Monday. $15 is automatically sent to ING Direct, and $500 is automatically sent to EmigrantDirect. EmigrantDirect offers a higher interest rate than all my other savings accounts. That $500 funds my house deposit fund. $15 funds my emergency fund.
The Citi Ultimate Savings account, which receives $540 from every paycheck, is my payment account. On the 15th of every month, it will automatically transfer $200 to my checking, because I automatically purchase $100 of FIGRX and $100 of FCVSX on the 15th. On about the 20th of the month, I will manually transfer the exact amount of money to pay the entire statement balance for my Merrill+ Visa credit card. On about the 30th of the month, I will manually transfer the exact amount of money to pay the entire statement balance for my Charles Schwab Visa credit card.
But what about my other bills? You may ask how I pay for them. Well for accounts that accept credit cards, I will pay by credit card (not just using the Merrill+ Visa or Charles Schwab Visa) and have those accounts setup to be paid automatically. See my previous post how I determine which credit card to use. For accounts that do not accept credit cards directly such as electricity, gas, sewage, and water, I can use the BillPay feature of either the Merrill+ Visa or the Charles Schwab Visa. Lastly, I can use the BillPay feature to pay other credit cards. This allows me to extend the period in which I pay off a purchase, and consolidate all my payments from my checking account to just the Merrill+ Visa and the Charles Schwab Visa.
After payments, any extra money in my Ultimate Savings account just sits there for months in which I have larger payments to make. Basically, the spending money is still spending money. If I get overtime and my direct deposit is larger than $1055, the extra money sits in the E-Savings account. I choose what to do with this money, and it varies when and how. Sometimes I save it (any account) and sometimes I'll contribute it to my Roth IRA.
Because I have a second job, I allocate that paycheck too. Because the job is per-diem, I may not get shifts to work from time to time. Sometimes it would be months between paychecks. I never counted on my second job as a second income so I don't allocate it the same way I do as my primary job. After taxes, 100% of the net wages are deposited to my checking account. I immediately contribute 100% of the deposit into my Roth IRA account. If I reach the yearly limit for IRA contributions, I start to send it over to my EmigrantDirect savings account.
It may seem like a complicated setup, but I configured almost everything to be automatic. I have only to manual payments to make. This configuration allows me to maximize interest by letting the money used for payments sit in my savings account up until the payment due date. And automatic saving for a goal is easier than trying to budget around spending. My spending revolves on what I have leftover after the automatic savings and investing. I automatically save 6% towards my 401(k), 15% towards ESPP, $515 bi-weekly towards house deposit and emergency fund, and $200 monthly for mutual fund contributions. Because this budget revolves around 2 paychecks per month, I end up with two months out of the year with 3 paychecks per month. An extra paycheck means I can do whatever I want with it, but in most cases I won't spend it.
Showing posts with label income. Show all posts
Showing posts with label income. Show all posts
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Extra income
At my previous job, working 10-12 hours per day was the norm, and it wouldn't feel like a long day until after the 12th hour. It was not uncommon to work for 6 or 7 days in a 7 day work week. My shift was scheduled for 1pm to 10pm, but I got a 5% differential for working that shift.
The problem with 2nd shifts is that the timing of your day gets messed up. For example, I would work from 1 to 10pm, go home, stay up late until 2 am or later, then sleep for about 8 hours. By the time I get up, it would be about 10 am or so. That would leave about 3 hours to get things before work, but after getting dressed and eating a late breakfast or early lunch would leave only 2 hours before work. That wasn't usually enough time to go out and do other things so I just sit around before work or show up to work early because there was so much to get done. Basically 2nd shifts take away a lot of free time to do for other things so I would personally not do it again as a full time position.
The job that I started in 2004 was a standard 40 hours per week job. Very rare was there overtime. Overtime would only happen if something had gone wrong, and we had to start over. To this day, I've never had to come in on the weekend.
I started my job in 2004, and I got a regular day shift, which I worked from 7am to 3:30pm. Since my shift was done in the afternoon, I had more free time in the late afternoon and evening hours. I also had weekends free to do as I please.
Having free time was nice, but I also thought I was unproductive. Hours doing nothing could have been spent working and making extra income, so I began searching for a part-time job. I tried working at a concession stand at PETCO Park for Padres games, but I quit after the first day. Making $9/hr for 6 hours, with almost non-stop action is not worth $54.
I found something in May 2005. The position wasn't some minimum wage position. It was for a per-diem research assistant in a clinical research setting. The hours and days were flexible. Originally I had set weekday hours from 5-11pm and weekends anytime, but I later switched it to just weekend hours. Because it was per-diem and not part-time, hours were not guaranteed week to week. Sometimes it would be months between shifts. However with per-diem, the employee does not have to fulfill any hours that were scheduled, if advance notice was given to cancel. Since the employer can't guarantee hours like part-time staff, they can't expect per-diem staff to give them availability when needed.
The best part about weekend shifts was an extra 15% differential. In 2005, I made about $1580. In 2006, I made about $5250. In 2007, I made about $12500. 2007 was an exceptional year, but I had to really work for it. There were lots of staff shortages on the weekends, and I always volunteered for double shifts. Eventually, they began to schedule double-shifts for me because they knew I would accept.
Working double-shifts on the weekends had lots of benefits. For the first 8 hours of work, I made regular wage + 15% differential. For the first 4 hours of over-time, I would make regular wage times 1.5 times + 15% differential. And for any hours after that, I would make regular wage times 2 + 15% differential.
Doing that for twice a week (Saturday and Sunday), I would make more money than someone who worked Monday through Friday, 8 hours a week. Not only more money per week, but with less hours worked. In essence, I made 58% more per hour than the weekday person or 27% more per week.
Since I relied primarily on my weekday job for budgeting, all of this extra money is just extra savings. I felt my savings were enough at the time, so it went straight to investing.
The problem with 2nd shifts is that the timing of your day gets messed up. For example, I would work from 1 to 10pm, go home, stay up late until 2 am or later, then sleep for about 8 hours. By the time I get up, it would be about 10 am or so. That would leave about 3 hours to get things before work, but after getting dressed and eating a late breakfast or early lunch would leave only 2 hours before work. That wasn't usually enough time to go out and do other things so I just sit around before work or show up to work early because there was so much to get done. Basically 2nd shifts take away a lot of free time to do for other things so I would personally not do it again as a full time position.
The job that I started in 2004 was a standard 40 hours per week job. Very rare was there overtime. Overtime would only happen if something had gone wrong, and we had to start over. To this day, I've never had to come in on the weekend.
I started my job in 2004, and I got a regular day shift, which I worked from 7am to 3:30pm. Since my shift was done in the afternoon, I had more free time in the late afternoon and evening hours. I also had weekends free to do as I please.
Having free time was nice, but I also thought I was unproductive. Hours doing nothing could have been spent working and making extra income, so I began searching for a part-time job. I tried working at a concession stand at PETCO Park for Padres games, but I quit after the first day. Making $9/hr for 6 hours, with almost non-stop action is not worth $54.
I found something in May 2005. The position wasn't some minimum wage position. It was for a per-diem research assistant in a clinical research setting. The hours and days were flexible. Originally I had set weekday hours from 5-11pm and weekends anytime, but I later switched it to just weekend hours. Because it was per-diem and not part-time, hours were not guaranteed week to week. Sometimes it would be months between shifts. However with per-diem, the employee does not have to fulfill any hours that were scheduled, if advance notice was given to cancel. Since the employer can't guarantee hours like part-time staff, they can't expect per-diem staff to give them availability when needed.
The best part about weekend shifts was an extra 15% differential. In 2005, I made about $1580. In 2006, I made about $5250. In 2007, I made about $12500. 2007 was an exceptional year, but I had to really work for it. There were lots of staff shortages on the weekends, and I always volunteered for double shifts. Eventually, they began to schedule double-shifts for me because they knew I would accept.
Working double-shifts on the weekends had lots of benefits. For the first 8 hours of work, I made regular wage + 15% differential. For the first 4 hours of over-time, I would make regular wage times 1.5 times + 15% differential. And for any hours after that, I would make regular wage times 2 + 15% differential.
Doing that for twice a week (Saturday and Sunday), I would make more money than someone who worked Monday through Friday, 8 hours a week. Not only more money per week, but with less hours worked. In essence, I made 58% more per hour than the weekday person or 27% more per week.
Since I relied primarily on my weekday job for budgeting, all of this extra money is just extra savings. I felt my savings were enough at the time, so it went straight to investing.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Income and how I got here
Yesterday I posted my net worth, but out of context, the number is worthless. My career is in chemistry, and my current salary for being a chemist is $49.6k yearly or about $23.87/hour. I am eligible for over-time pay. My salary is a result of my career advancement.
Here's a breakdown of my salary history:
Jun 2003: $13.50/hr ($28k/yearly) - first job post-graduation
Jan 2004: $15/hr ($31.2k/yearly) - moved to San Diego, accepted temp-to-hire position
May 2004: $17/hr ($35.3k/yearly) - converted to permanent position
Oct 2004: $17.85/hr ($37.1k/yearly) - promoted, 5% increase
Jan 2005: $18.77/hr ($39k/yearly) - effective 5.18% yearly increase
Jan 2006: $19.92/hr ($41.4k/yearly) - effective 6.08% yearly increase
Mar 2006: $20.58/hr ($42.8k/yearly) - 3% position adjustment to industry standards
Jun 2006: $22.64/hr ($47.1k/yearly) - promoted, 10% increase
Apr 2007: $23.87/hr ($49.6k/yearly) - effective 5.5% yearly increase
I did not include bonuses but will save that for another time. From January 2004 to present time, I have been working the same position in the same department, just with increasing responsibilities. I would like to move to another department or another position, but there hasn't been one available for me. I will always continue to look as I could advance my career and hopefully increase my salary in the process.
Here's a breakdown of my salary history:
Jun 2003: $13.50/hr ($28k/yearly) - first job post-graduation
Jan 2004: $15/hr ($31.2k/yearly) - moved to San Diego, accepted temp-to-hire position
May 2004: $17/hr ($35.3k/yearly) - converted to permanent position
Oct 2004: $17.85/hr ($37.1k/yearly) - promoted, 5% increase
Jan 2005: $18.77/hr ($39k/yearly) - effective 5.18% yearly increase
Jan 2006: $19.92/hr ($41.4k/yearly) - effective 6.08% yearly increase
Mar 2006: $20.58/hr ($42.8k/yearly) - 3% position adjustment to industry standards
Jun 2006: $22.64/hr ($47.1k/yearly) - promoted, 10% increase
Apr 2007: $23.87/hr ($49.6k/yearly) - effective 5.5% yearly increase
I did not include bonuses but will save that for another time. From January 2004 to present time, I have been working the same position in the same department, just with increasing responsibilities. I would like to move to another department or another position, but there hasn't been one available for me. I will always continue to look as I could advance my career and hopefully increase my salary in the process.
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