Friday, January 13, 2017

A Raise

So today is payday in the living rich on the cheap household.  We officially gave ourselves a $1000 a month raise today so that more funds are paid out by the company and less corporate tax is paid.  After tax that equates to about $750 more per month in our household.  Our expenses are pretty much the same so where is the money going?  Based on our 2017 budget more into the medical fund and more into the travel fund.  Those are two areas where I truly expect to pay a few thousand more each year from here on out.  I am 47 and hubby turns 55 in June and our medical expenses including dental and vision care seem to creep up each year.  We pay $150 per month for basic healthcare and pay out of pocket for all vision, dental and pharmaceuticals.  Last year I ended up getting a crown and hubby had day surgery for something that was not covered by basic medical (we wanted a specific test) so covered those out of pocket.  As we age I expect that bill to rise.  I have done the math and no, at this point in time due to pre-existing medical conditions it would not pay to buy a premium healthcare plan as they exclude or limit most pre-existing medical conditions.


As for the travel fund, well, we expect to be spending at least $5000-$7000 a year for the next 15 years of our lives traveling.  We are taking  each of my 4 step kids on one European trip in the next 5-6 years based on their schedules plus we hope to cover as many countries as possible in our personal travels.   We have also talked about down the road spending 3 months or so every winter in another country once we shut down the business.  That is unlikely to happen for 10 years or so but in the mean time we are not giving up our love of travel - we just have to schedule it a long way in advance.  This year is Greece, next year Italy,  after that who knows?

All these plans must be saved for.  We believe in credit cards but only as a means to an end which means paying zero interest.  Yes, we pay annual credit card fees of $70 each but last year on hubby's credit card we earned one air ticket to Europe and mine 3 air tickets to Alberta where the kids are.  For us, those fees are worth it.  If we didn't travel we wouldn't hold these type of credit cards.

Everyone has different dreams.  For us, that means travel.  If we didn't own our own business we would likely be like Kevin and Ruth, traveling the world. If you haven't yet checked out their blog you should do so as they live the gypsy life, a dream of mine.

18 comments:

  1. We have similar dreams you and me travel travel and more travel. I am in a state of excitement tinged with anxiety at the mo as we embark on our Australasia trip in a couple of weeks for three months. We are doing this with a carry on only so a challenge lol. I also dream about selling up and travelling the world but not sure about selling the house so we may rent our house out next year to afford it. Have you read Home Sweet Anywhere from Lynne and Tim Martin they sold up and off they went both of them in their sixties. I'm gonna have a look at that blog now lol

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    1. Australia! Make sure to do some blogging when you get home!

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  2. I haven't swung by Kevin and Ruth's site for a while. I have the travel bug so sounds like time.

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    1. They are RVing across Spain right now and Portugal is to come

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  3. Ha! Quick, sell the business and the house! You could be just like us... :-)

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    1. I am not sure hubby would go along with it - he always wanted his own business and I am afraid that would be hard to give up at this point. Plus an aging parent and a dog :) Down the road though...

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  4. You are hardworking folks and deserve a raise. I would choose exactly the same allocation of funds.

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    1. We do deserve a raise, didn't want to do it until we had a good reserve of 6 months worth of cashflow.

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  5. Giving yourself a raise when you have your own business is one of the hardest things to do. Hats off to you for doing it!

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    1. You are right about that. We have contemplated it since September and did forecasts to ensure we wouldn't have an issue keeping up with the new amount. Fortunately business is booming right now

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  6. I can see us doing to minor changes for 2017 in our budget.
    Which I have posted.
    Not sure how taxes works in Canada.
    Coffee is on

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    1. We tend to get taxed higher but we get a lot for our taxes. The more you make the higher the tax bracket. In the corporation if we make 50,000 and pay out 50,000 in expenses including payroll we pay no tax, that is why it is better to pay ourselves more

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  7. We have always worked for someone else. Having a business of your own sounds kind of scary. But I guess being your own boss does have some advantages. - Margy

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    1. It is scary but we never started the business until the house was paid off so we had no debt at all when it started and we loaned the company $20,000 to get it started. The company has been paying it back slowly (debt repayment is not an expense so we don't want to pay it off too quickly or we are taxed on those funds in the company). We tend to work 7 days a week in some capacity but in summer we try and take some time for us so often take mid afternoons off. There are other financial advantages like we charge rent for our home office to the company (1/5 of the house heat/light/internet)

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  8. It is nice to learn that you got $1000 extra to enjoy. Great news. Happy for you. It will be nice to have a winter vacation to escape the Canadian cold. I am just wondering what business you have.
    Wishing you a great 2017!

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    1. We own a sales training/consulting business :) Happy 2017 to you too!

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  9. We see eye to eye :) Am keeping busy with plans for Scotland. Any extra money coming my way would definitely go for travel. Congrats on the raise!

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    1. Thanks! We had hoped/planned for it after a couple of flat line years (bare to the bone).

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