Wife's quarterly bonus $12,490

My wife has been doing absolutely amazing at her job.  She just closed another successful quarter, earning a bonus of $12,490.00 gross ($7,664.17 net).  This brings her 2014 bonus total to $110,280.00!

I am so proud of her well-deserved success.  In addition to her bonuses, she also receives a $97,000/year salary, $800/month auto reimbursement (and gas card), and $100/month internet reimbursement.  I knew she was extremely talented, but this is beyond what I ever could have hoped for.

I am so bless to have a beautiful, smart, and successful wife!

Bonus Time Baby

My wife received her Q2 bonus (first bonus) at her new company! He earned a $1,006.83 bonus (gross). We plan to deposit this money into savings until our son is born and then it will be seed money for his 529 Plan. Go wifey!

Wife's Q3 Bonus Arrived

My wife's Q3 bonus arrived a little early and is a larger amount than we expected: $1,680 gross ($941.14 net). She also has another $500 gross bonus that should come in next month. Go wife!

Salary Back To Even

Great news! My company announced today that they are returning us to our full salaries.

In February 2009, everyone in the company received a salary reduction to help us get through the tough economic times - my salary redution was 10%. My company has been slowly increasing our salaries in an effort to get us back to even. This last 2.5% increase represents $1,750/year and returns me to my annual salary of 70,460.

I feel very blessed to have kept my job while others in my company were let go. Hopefully the economy keeps getting stronger.

Offer Letter

My wife just received her offer letter and it’s a good one.

They offered her a $60,000 base, $4,500 more than her last job. Also included in the offer is a bonus structure for up to 25% of her base pay. She also gets a company car and a complete home office.

That is WAY more than I made when I was 26 years old. Come to think of it, with her bonus and company car, it’s more than I make now. Good thing I’m man enough to admit it.

Wife Laid Off

My wife’s company has been struggling and finally decided on Friday to layoff the entire sales force off.

It’s unfortunate, but not a total surprise. She had already survived 2 rounds of layoffs with this company and there were rumors and signs things were coming to a head.

Where does that leave us? Not in too bad of shape, actually.

• She will receive 2 weeks severance
• Her vacation will be cashed out
• She’ll be bonused on any sales until 4/2
• She gets to keep her company car for 2 more weeks

With $475/week of unemployment and reducing some of our expenses, we shouldn't even have to dip into savings. Speaking of savings, with our tax return, our savings jumped from $4,327.37 to $9,320.43. We’ll likely need to use some of this to buy a used car, but the rest can act as a cushion. Plus, we should be able to continue to add a little bit into savings each month.

My wife is so on the ball, she’s already lined up a phone interview for tomorrow.

2010 Taxes

We paid a total of $2,025 in federal and state taxes last year. This year, we wanted to get help with our taxes because we had to account for our condo short sale. Thanks to a referral from a trusted friend, we met with our new tax accountant today and, boy, was it was worth it.

While we had less mortgage interest to deduct this year, he helped us find other deductions that we didn't realize we were eligible for. We paid him $275 and he helped us receive a total refund (federal & state) of $4,111!

We should get the $4,111 refund via direct deposit in ~2 weeks. We plan to deposit the money into our savings account to build our emergency fund back up.

Getting Back To Even

My company just increased everyone's salaries a bit more in an effort to get us back to our original salary levels before the reduction in February 2009.

My salary reduction was 10% last year and my company, through incremental increases, has raised it back 7.5%. So, I just have 2.5% to go before I'm back to my salary level before the reduction. Great news!

More Bonus Money

My wife received a $3,308.00 gross ($1,217.53 net) quarterly bonus today! 15% of the gross, or $496.25, was automatically deposited into her 401(k). We plan to tithe 10% of the gross and deposit the balance into savings. What a blessing!

This Is Only Drill (at least for now)

My wife found out yesterday at 30% of her company received an email that morning explaining they were laid off. We feel terrible for her coworkers that were laid off, especially right before Christmas.

Thankfully, my wife kept her job, but it was certainly a wake up call. So, I ran through the numbers to see how we would have been affected if she would have been part of the lay off.

The 1st negative impact would have been losing the $2,770/month income she takes home and her quarterly bonuses. Next, would be her company car and $110/month in cell phone and internet reimbursements. Finally, she'd lose her insurance and 401(k) plan (which she contributes 15% to).

We took a look back at what unemployment paid her before she found her current job. I was surprised it was a little over $400/week after taxes. That more than I remembered and supplements ~60% of her regular paychecks. Cutting back a bit on our retirement contributions and unnecessary spending would make up the difference. Losing the company car would be tough, but since we just paid off our $450/month auto loan, we're in a better position that ever to take on another (small) auto loan, if necessary. Health isurance is very important, and since my wife is young and healthy, she easily qualifies for good health insurance that only costs $80/month.

Working through this drill was reassuring. Should her company do another lay off in a few months, and if she is let go, we should be fine. One possible wrench is my job. Sales are starting to soften a bit at my company, but we're introducing innovative new products in February that should increase sales. Worst case scenario, I believe I'd be keep on until at least May. In the meantime, we'll start socking away cash for added security. And of course, say our prayers.

Bonus Time!

My wife received her quarterly bonus today. She was 5th in the region in sales and received a $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) bonus! In addition, she received a special Teamwork award.

$730.80 of the $4,872 was deposited into her 401(k). The $2,255.97 check will be spent as follows:
$487.20 to tithe
$1175.74 to our auto loan
$593.03 to savings

My wife is doing awesome in her job and, at this rate, our goal of early retirement is all the more possible.

3.5% Salary Increase

The Owner of my company just announced he will be increasing everyone's salary again. I'll be getting a 3.5% increase, or ~$2,100/year. This brings me to a total of 6.5% in increases over the past couple of months. That leaves only another 3.5% till I'm back to $70,460/year, where I was in February before the 10% salary reduction.

My company has been doing much better lately, but I'm surprised our salaries have been increased so rapidly. I was happy just having a job in this economy, but am very thankful for the extra money. I plan to increase my 401(k) contribution from 8% to 15% in January (my wife just increased her's to15%). These salary increases will help make that doable.

Another 1% Increase

Once again, my company increased everyone’s salary by 10% of the amount they were reduced back in February.

My salary was reduced 10%, so it will go back up 1%, or ~$700/year. This is the third increase since the reduction for a total of ~$2,100. My company is working hard to get everyone back up to their original salaries.

You can't ask for much more in this tough economy.

Another Bump Up

More good news! My company again is increasing everyone’s salary by 10% of the amount they were reduced back in February.

My salary was reduced 10%, so it will go back up 1%, or ~$700/year. My company did the same thing last month, meaning I've earned back ~$1,400 of my ~$7,000 salary reduction.

This is a great trend and a blessing in these tough times.

Another Income Post

I posted yesterday regarding my wife's quarterly bonus, which was great news. It turns out we received more positive news today.

My company has strung together a few good months and, as a result, has decided to give everyone a small bump up from our February salary reduction. They increase everyone's pay by 10% of the amount it was reduced. My salary was reduced 10%, so my pay will go up 1%, not big money, but a good sign that my job is getting more secure.

Bonus Time!

My wife received her quarterly bonus this month, a month earlier than we expected. Her quarterly bonus was $896 gross ($480.84 net). This money falls into the “gravy” category, since we don’t plan for it.

This next quarter should be even better. My wife’s been selling like crazy and in the first 3 weeks of the new quarter already has earned ~$2,156 gross towards her bonus check in December. Sweet!

Early retirement here we come.

Already Thinking About Next Years Taxes

Since short selling our condo, my wife and I have taken a few steps to help reduce our tax bill for next year, since we won't have the large mortgage interest write off.

• When my wife started her new job a couple of months ago, she only claimed 1 dependent to have more taxes withheld (she usually claims 2).
  
• We just increased my 401(k) contribution from 5% to 8% to reduce our AGI. This will go into effect beginning my July 1st paycheck.
  
• When my wife's company has their 401(k) open enrollment, she will increase her contribution from 5% to 8% to reduce our AGI.

We'll still have some mortgage interest we can write off since we just sold the condo, but hopefully these extra steps will help minimize what we owe next April 15th.

$1,000 Unexpected Bonus

My wife was informed by her company yesterday that she will be receiving a $1,000 bonus this weekend. This is in addition to regular bonus that she should receive in July.

Her company has exceeded their sales targets and, therefore, they are hooking up all of the sales reps. This is a huge blessing. We're going to use the money to buy a bedroom set that we were planning to pull money out of savings for.

My wife has been doing such an awesome job with her new company. She’s working hand-in-hand with the VP to secure a huge account. They have a meeting with the account next week that will include both the VP and CEO of her company. Talk about great face time!

Quarterly bonus

My wife just received her quarterly bonus from her old company. She earned a $862.00 bonus that came to $490.91 after taxes. While it wasn't as large as her last quarterly bonus ($2,028.95 net), it's "extra" money that we weren't planning on receiving. After tithing a portion of the bonus, the rest will go into savings.

A Few Extra Bucks In Our Pockets

I received my paycheck today and noticed it was ~$30 more than usual. The controller of my company said that our checks will all be a bit higher than usual because of the Economic Stimulus Act. Rather than issue rebate checks as in the past, the government is adjusting downwards the withholding tables and putting a little more money in our hands thru bigger paychecks. Mines going in the bank.