3.) I will save at least 15%.

3.) I will save at least 15%. | brokeGIRLrich

When I first started blogging, I wrote a Money Manifesto, with a pile of goals/ways I wanted to live. And then… I kind of forgot about it. So I’ve been going back and reviewing how life has gone regarding each of these points over the last 9 years. Today I’m looking at goal #3 – I will save 15%.

I am just realizing that this is not a metric I’ve tracked over all these years, so I don’t really know.

I have maxed out my Roth IRA every year since I’ve been a personal finance blogger.

That means that every year I made less than $40,000, I made definitely it.

A few years ago, I wrote a post analyzing the pay scale of a totally average stage manager, which broke down the different amounts I’ve made over the years in stage management jobs.

In 2013, I made $38k as a circus stage manager, so I made my 15% goal that year – which was a pretty big deal because I was still paying off a lot of debt. I also contributed about $1500 to my 401k through the company I was working at!

In 2014, I was an associate production manager in NYC and made a little over $53k. I needed to save an additional $2034 to hit that 15% beyond maxing out my IRA.

Thanks to my endlessly dorky Accountability posts, which include a goals section at the bottom, I can say I definitely managed to squirrel away at least an extra $1400 in emergency funds during the year. I also recall that I contributed to a 401k at that job and made one of my crucial #PF blogger fail moments when I just cashed the sucker out because I didn’t know I had to do any kind of paperwork and my old job just did it when I didn’t answer any of the letters they sent me while I was on tour.

I’d say it’s likely I managed this in 2014, but not certain.

In 2015 I worked for a children’s theatre company for $700 a week, but didn’t work in June, July or August. I don’t recall how many weeks I worked, but I made somewhere around $28,000 on that job and probably an additional $5k or so from side hustles. The Roth IRA covered that.

In 2016, I worked for that same company for half the year, then did two small theatre shows in the summer, and then I worked on tour with a musical for the fall and winter. I probably made something like $33,000. Again, in the clear with the Roth IRA.

In 2017, I finished up that musical tour, was unemployed for several months, worked on an experimental show in NYC, and then joined Big Apple Circus. I made about $39,000 that year and my Roth IRA would’ve covered this goal.

In 2018, it was all BAC and I made $70k. I would’ve been aiming to save or invest $10,500 and managed to max out my Roth IRA and my 401k, so I wound up saving at least $23,500.

In 2019, I did a small show in Milwaukee, a small gig for BAC, random stagehand work, and another circus tour. I made $62,000, so I would have aimed to save $9,300. I maxed out my Roth IRA and saved about $16,000 in my SEP 401k.

In 2020, I finished that circus tour, taught stage management at a university, and then worked in corporate digital events. I made $38,000. I maxed out my Roth IRA. Goal achieved.

In 2021, I came in around $61,000, so I needed to save $9,150 for reach my goal. Maxed out the Roth IRA again and contributed $18,000 to my SEP 401k.

To me, it’s super interesting to realize that as a not always high income earner, being in the habit of maxing out my Roth IRA really does make a difference.

Throughout this time too, I managed to get my emergency fund over $10,000 from its starting point in 2013 around $3,000. There were also many years that I managed to contribute $1-3k to buy stocks.

A massive reason why I could do this was because many of those jobs provided housing and when they didn’t, I often lived at home with my parents.

In 2014, half of 2017, and half of 2020, I rented apartments and paid rent. Other than that, I was living on trains or in hotels – or in my childhood bedroom. I point this out in case you’re wondering how I managed that on some of the lower income years and it’s absolutely a key factor.

So overall, it looks like I did manage to achieve this, but I’m a bit surprised I forgot it was even a goal. I’m a pretty good tracker and I was totally ignoring that metric.

If you’re interested in seeing how the other goals on my Money Manifesto are going, you can read those posts here: