Did You Get a Bonus Last Year?

Now that 2012 is completely over and businesses/organizations all across the country have had the chance to calculate annual bonuses, I wanted to ask you all:

Did you get a bonus from work for your efforts last year? And if so, what did you do with it?

I received a bonus and did two things with it:

1. We gave away a portion of it to a couple of our favorite charities.

2. Saved/invested the rest of it. Specifically I put it into my real estate LLC's account to cover some expenses as well as prepare for the next purchase.

How about you? Did you happen to get a bonus (or do you expect to get one) and what did (will) you do with it?

Comments

[Mike Hunt]

Yes- I got a bonus worth 1.25 months of salary. Besides paying taxes on it, we gave some to charity and just banked the rest...

-Mike

[Matt]

Nope. Our L.A. office lost 3.2 million.

I use to get excited about 50 cent raises. After 30 years it is an insult.

[NoTrustFund]

Mr. NTF and I both got bonuses last year (although not all at year end). We gave to charity, put money in each of our kids college funds, and then put the rest towards our mortgage.

We budget as if we are not going to get bonuses, even though they are part of both of our comp. I've always done this and it's really helped us ramp up our savings and mortgage payoff.

Happy New Year!

[Ron]

My wife and I both received bonuses last year. We did the following things with it.

1. Paid off the remainder of her student loans
2. Funded our emergency fund for 4 months
3. Each got 100 dollars from it to spend on whatever we want it.

Later in the year my wife got a sign on bonus when taking a new job and with that money we just added it to the emergency fund.

[HP]

Yes, almost 7% of my salary. Put most in a wedding fund, some in my IRA and banked the rest.

[Pat M]

Absolutely nothing, per usual.

[AndrewB]

nope, I am happy to have a regular paycheck.

[Bob]

Luckily my employer pays a bonus every year. A small part went towards Christmas (presents, dinner out with some friends, etc.) some went into my investments and the rest is being put into savings in case of an unexpected bill.

[Marc B]

Bonuses? What are those? (Need I say more?)

[Kay]

Is it just me or is that those of us who work for large corporations are the ones who never get a bonus?

I can't think of any bonus I'd ever get working in Corp America other than maybe a $250 gift card to somewhere, maybe. You guys are all lucky for the bonuses you get!!!

[FMF]

Kay --

When I worked for large, Fortune 500 companies, I still received bonuses. They weren't that large since I was at the beginning of my career, but they existed.

That said, that was 15 years ago, so perhaps things have changed.

FYI, I have worked at smaller companies for the past 15 years and have gotten a bonus roughly half of that time. My current employer has paid one every year I've been here, but I went a string of several years without getting a dime because my former employer wasn't doing well.

[Jeff]

Yes, my wife and I were blessed with bonuses last year. My company regularly awards bonuses twice a year, but this year (by far their best sales year ever) they added a year-end bonus. This was exceedingly gracious because one of the stated reasons for the year-end bonus was to save us from having to pay higher 2013 taxes.

[Jeff]

Oh, I forgot to say that we're donating some to charity and saving/investing the rest.

[jdgjdg]

No bonuses in academia.

[Lance at Money Life and More]

I am not elligible for a bonus which makes me sad but I make my own bonuses with my side gig. Definitely.itely the best way to increase my income.

[Tvo]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I got my end of the year bonus early in November and then got our bonus for 2013 in December to avoid the 'fiscal cliff' fiasco.

Used it on Jan 2 to max out my IRA for 2013.

[RichUncle EL]

I will get one hopefully soon, I will be using 70% of it to pad my emergency savings account, also take a weekend getaway and pay off a good chunk of student loans with the rest of it.

[AN]

I received a bonus of ~5% annual salary, and my husband will receive an approximately 2.5% bonus for taking on extra responsibilities last quarter. Data point: we both work at private companies. After taxes, we will:

1. Save 20% in taxable, earmarked for retirement (tax-deferred space is maxed)
2. Use 10% for something fun
3. Put the remainder towards our savings goals, which currently is focused on a house purchase 3-4 years in the future (down-payment, closing costs, and a little extra for potential renovations, if needed).

We try to apply the above to all bonus/windfall income.

[KJ]

We received the 2nd installment on my husband's re-enlistment bonus. It allowed us to fully fund his tsp retirement account.

[MechE31]

I got a yearly profit sharing bonus of about 3% of my income last year before switching companies. I put the money in saving earmarked to by a new car, which we did about 2 months later.

[Jonathan]

I got a bonus and profit sharing in March (fiscal year end) of about 12% of my previous salary and along with that got raise of approximately the same amount. I'm expecting something similar in a few months. My wife also just got a bonus of about 20% of her salary. The money all goes into the pot just like any other income. Eventually it will be invested when we find something worthwhile (real estate).

[Money Beagle]

Nothing for me. It's been so long that I had to go look up the word in the dictionary to ensure it still meant the same thing as the last time I got one :)

[Jo]

I got a pay raise (cost of living) mid-year, and then got a "bonus"/Christmas gift, in the form of a Visa giftcard. Not much but it will go a long way towards a double-stroller next month.

My hubby also got a significant pay raise at the end of the year...and we are hoping a bonus in early/mid-year.

[jim]

Yes I get a bonus every year since its part of our company pay system. We actually get 3 different bonuses, 2 are profit sharing and one is goal based. The amount varies around 10-25% of base pay and this last year it was about 20%.

Kay,
Actually larger companies are a bit more likely to get some form of bonus.
BLS has stats on who gets bonuses:
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2012/ownership/civilian/table27a.htm

36% of people at companies with under 50 employees get bonuses and 44% of companies with 500 or more people give them.

Overall 40% of companies get non-production bonuses of some form. This doesn't mean 40% of people get bonuses but that 40% of companies have some form of bonus program. The bonuses include various things like profit, employee recognition, end of year, referalls, etc

[John S @ Frugal Rules]

Nothing for us as we now run our own business. At my last job we could qualify for quarterly bonuses, but they were highly political and generally did not amount to much.

[JimL]

I work for a large corporation and many of us (depending on job grade) have a significant portion of our income tied to an annual bonus as well as a long term incentive program. Target bonus at my level is 35% of my base compensation and you can make anywhere between 0 and 70% depending on company and individual performance. In most years, it will come within 5% of the target.

With last year's bonus, most went into savings, with a portion going to giving and another portion spent on vacation.

With this year, I am putting a significant amount into the deferred comp program, some giving and a portion into home improvements.

[Elizabeth]

I paid off debt with mine since I had earmarked 2012 for debt reduction and did not want to start 2013 with any debt.

[JK]

I get a sizable bonus each year (so far). I work for a large company and being grade X makes your target bonus y% of salary(mine is 35%). I also have stock awards that vest around the same time, which I sell immediately.

We use the money for a "double tithe" - 10% to the church general fund and 10% to the building/capital fund. Then we give gifts to a few other ministries and charities. I put some 10% in my 401k and 20% in deferred comp, then contribute to medium-term savings (saving for a vacation home). Of course the IRS and state dept. of revenue get a healty chunk as well. . .

[Jetgirl]

I have been lucky enough to get profit sharing bonuses for the 4 years I've been with my current company. In 2012, after taxes, I donated 50% of the bonus to my 2 favorite charitable causes. The remainder went split into long term savings and vacation fund.

[Jon]

I work in the oil & gas industry which can be very generous... so I actually got two bonuses last year!

- 10% was tithed
- A portion of it went to a vacation fund
- The rest of the first bonus was used to finish paying off a credit card debt from my wife.
- The rest of the second bonus was used to save up for a down payment on a future house!

[Jared]

I did receive a bonus and used most of it for holiday gifts. I am saving a small amount for future luxuries as my savings are in good shape right now.

[Jane Savers @ The Money Puzzle]

Only management get Christmas bonuses at my work. The rest of us received a free turkey.

I added some money to my retirement savings account to maximize my tax return (I am Canadian so the rules are different for us). I expect to receive $2000.00 in a tax return and will divide that money between debt repayment and retirement savings with the first $100.00 taken for fun. Not much money for treats, restaurants or pretty things around here so taking $5.00 to buy grocery store tulips is a real treat.

[TL]

My wife and I both got bonuses this year that were 21% of our base pay. All of it was used to buy stocks/ETFs.

[billyjobob]

100 buck "bonus" No raise this year. They came up with some magic formula that says I'm overpaid compared to others in our area. I'm on the verge of retirement, so I'm taking it well.

[Pam]

I paid off my last credit card debt, added to my property tax fund, did a lot of medical stuff and bought a new computer for home.

[Jon @ MoneySmartGuides]

I received my entire bonus for the year, which came to 20% of my salary. I used it to max out my Roth, and then used most of it to pay off some small credit card debt I had then invested the rest.

[Jenny]

My husband got a bonus equal to a week's salary. We put it aside in case we have to pay taxes this year. (Since we added a baby and I didn't work for three months, I'm hoping we won't.)

I don't get cash bonuses, my boss gave me a $300 gift certificate to Nordstrom. We work in a small office - only three other people and her, and we all got one. She likes to give us things that we'll use for ourselves since none of us splurge much. I'm not going to say no to some new clothes :)

[Tommy Z]

Yes, I got a bonus in 2012. It was a tube filled with truffles. I dumped it in the candy pile.