Hi. I am new poster frequent lurker and would like some opinions on my budget.
Income: 9100 on months with 4 weeks.
Mortgage: 2200 Student Loan: 451 (balance is 33k at 6.55) Car Payment: 365 (balance is 19.5k at 4.4) Groceries: 500 Elec & Gas: 150 Cable& Int& Phone: 140 DH Union Dues: 69 Water: 20 (60 every 3 months) Eating out: 200 EZ pass: 80 DH bus ticket: 280 Gas: 225 Gym: 40 Citibank CC: 100 (3500 int free until dec)
Total=4750
This month DH got a 5th paycheck so we paid off house insurance 576/year and we pay 507/6 months for car insurance which I will pay in August with his 5th check. We also have my mom's car on our EZ pass so we pay her bill and she pays the cell phone to even out since we are on a family plan.
Retirement DH: 140k annuity 10k IRA Me: 20K 401k 20k IRA
What should we do with the extra money? More Info We are 26 and 29 and will TTC starting in Sept. This month I sent and extra 2200 to the student loan and extra 200 to the car. I want to be a SAHM so we want to aggressively pay down the car loan and student loan. DH also receives a 6700 bonus on March 30, August 30, and Nov. 30 after taxes. Of the 9100 I make 2400. We have 75k in savings and 30k in investments. We want to buy a new house next April/May around 500k VHCOL and need approx. 27k just for closing costs. We have about 80k equity in our current house and will savings DH's next 3 bonus checks in a separate account to help with closing costs.
Post by dr.girlfriend on May 16, 2012 14:17:07 GMT -5
Hmmm, I don't know much about annuity, so I'm not sure about the retirement stuff. Are you eligible for Roths?
There's no way to refinance the student loan stuff, is there? That rate seems really high. Also, is your husband eligible for any pre-tax transit benefit? That can make a difference.
I think that debt is pretty high-rate so I would want to be paying it down, but also having a pretty significant e-fund if you are going down to a single-income high-earner family situation. I know some union jobs can be stable, but at the very least I would want enough to handle a period of unemployment, paying for the next car in cash, etc.
How much are you saving for retirement? Are you still elligible for Roth IRAs? If so I would fully fund a Roth for both of you and then start paying off the SL and then the car, with the goal to have both of those paid off before you have a baby.
I am saving 13% for retirement. DH's retirement is calculated by hours worked. It is approx. $500/week and added by employer and not taken out of his check. He also is eligible for a pension. He is vested and is in his 6th year. Each year is work 1 credit which is approximately $110. I am not sure if this post tax or pre tax.
We just made eligibility for Roth IRA this past year and don't know if we are eligible for 2012.
I would beef up your 401k contributions and then throw the rest of the money at the car first and then the SL.
Why would you pay down the car loan as opposed to student loan? Just trying to see if I should be allocating the money somewhere else. I know you can deduct 2500 on your taxes but last year we paid almost 4k in interest on the student loans.
I am waiting to pay off the interest free credit card until Nov. to save the interest.
I am pretty sure that the interest rate on the student loan can't be refinanced. It a fed loan for grad school. It is 6.8 but 6.55 because I auto deduct.
We are moving out of state. It is only about 45 miles but we want to move closer to family and to our home state. We will cut out DH's bus pass because he works on a project building tunnels for the trains so he gets free subway passes. Our EZ Pass bill would also go down to $20/month so we would save some money that way.