How do I look so far? Suggestions?

[Good_Guy23]

Hey guys,

I am new on this board and am glad to find it. I wanted to get some input from you guys in regards to my financial position.

- 26 years old
- car paid off (car value is about $10,000 right now), paying $173 a month to insurance and $120 to gas
- no student loan
- $12,000 in savings
- contributing $300 a month at home
- net income each month after tax is $3000
- saving about $1200 a month

I would like to add that my dad took a line of credit for $12,000 to pay off my student loan and wants me to pay him back in a year.....so I will be paying him about $1,000 a month. He saved me about $1,000 of interest and my credit looks good too with no loans at all. How am I looking? Should I sell my car (Honda Civic) for $10,000 and get a cheaper car so I will have more in savings? My goal is to buy a house in about 4 - 5 years. Thanks.

[Tree0164]

I am assuming that you are still living at home with your parents.

I would continung adding to the saving account-make sure you are getting a good rate.
I would make sure you are participating in your company's retirement plan as well as contributing to a Roth IRA- you could fund it with your 12K savings.
I wouldn't sell the car- just drive the Honda Civic until it no longer runs!

[Fern]

I would keep the car and run it into the ground.

Your accumulated savings, savings rate and income look good, tho i don't know what part of the country you live in. How long did it take you to accumulate the $12K, and what's the real estate market like in your neck of the woods? How much do you plan to put down? Condo or home?

Yeah, what about your 401k and IRA? Hope you have both. Paying your dad back $1,000 a month will put your house savings plan on hold for a full year. Guess you're aware of that unless you can squeeze out more savings from somewhere.

[buzz]

You may want to get some insurance quotes.

[project15]

Originally Posted by buzz

You may want to get some insurance quotes.

agreed, for a 26 yr old with a paid off "older" honda civic, you should be at around $100 a month unless you have a ton of tickets.

Also, I suggest the Roth IRA as well as 401k contributions. You should keep that 12k as an emergency fund and don't count it toward your house down payment and start saving without including that.

4-5 years is definitely do-able to get you into a house since you're living at home. Just make sure you don't focus on the now and tomorrow so much that you forget about the "next week" (retirement).

[Ima saver]

I agree with the above posters. Keep the car til it quits on you. Keep your $12,000 in a high paying (5% or more) savings or money market account. Start a roth IRA and contribute $333 a month to it, if you possible can.

[jIM_Ohio]

Roth IRA and 401k are needed before significant after tax savings, IMO.

[anonymous_saver]

I agree with all of the other posters that you should have your savings in 5%+ savings, participate in your employers retirement plan and contribute the full amount to a Roth IRA. Also, if you already have a 5%+ savings account I would create sub accounts. One for "Emergency Fund" and one for a "Down payment" to start with.

However, I wanted to look at some of your #'s.
If you take home $3,000/month, and you spend a total of ($173+$120+$300+$1,200) $1,793 a month, where does the other $1,207/month go?!?!?!? I'm not saying saving $1,200 a month is bad, it's not! I'm just curious where this money is going. Even if you buy all your own food, entertainment, necessities, I wouldn't think it could be this much! Even if you start paying your dad $1,000/month, that only leaves you with $207/month for all of thsose extras. Is that enough? It sounds like it very well could be a decent amount. I'm just curious.

Oh, and you should try to have at least some loans and CC in your name, so that you can start getting a great FICO score.

[loanstar]

its not a bad idea to sell your car, its costing you too much in insurance, a cheaper car will cost less.

[jasonfuller]

im surprised that's all of the actuall bills you have.

[Plassky]

You're off to a pretty good start, I'd say.

[autoxer]

Looks pretty good, except no mention of investing? High interest savings account? 401k? Roth IRA?

I evaluate my own financial position by looking at my net worth, a list of assets minus a list of debts.

[Good_Guy23]

Originally Posted by anonymous_saver

I agree with all of the other posters that you should have your savings in 5%+ savings, participate in your employers retirement plan and contribute the full amount to a Roth IRA. Also, if you already have a 5%+ savings account I would create sub accounts. One for "Emergency Fund" and one for a "Down payment" to start with.

However, I wanted to look at some of your #'s.
If you take home $3,000/month, and you spend a total of ($173+$120+$300+$1,200) $1,793 a month, where does the other $1,207/month go?!?!?!? I'm not saying saving $1,200 a month is bad, it's not! I'm just curious where this money is going. Even if you buy all your own food, entertainment, necessities, I wouldn't think it could be this much! Even if you start paying your dad $1,000/month, that only leaves you with $207/month for all of thsose extras. Is that enough? It sounds like it very well could be a decent amount. I'm just curious.

Oh, and you should try to have at least some loans and CC in your name, so that you can start getting a great FICO score.

Hey, thanks for responding! $207 is enough for me each month.....I don't really spend a lot on myself. I want to pay off my dad back in less than a year so I can save more.......i now owe him about $10,500 as I already payed him $1500 (he helped me pay my student loans off) in the last 1.5 month.

[Good_Guy23]

Originally Posted by Fern

I would keep the car and run it into the ground.

Your accumulated savings, savings rate and income look good, tho i don't know what part of the country you live in. How long did it take you to accumulate the $12K, and what's the real estate market like in your neck of the woods? How much do you plan to put down? Condo or home?

Yeah, what about your 401k and IRA? Hope you have both. Paying your dad back $1,000 a month will put your house savings plan on hold for a full year. Guess you're aware of that unless you can squeeze out more savings from somewhere.

Hey, I saved up the $12k in about a year......my goal is to get a home in the next 3 years or so. It will be a lot easier to make that happen after i pay my dad off for helping my pay of my student loan. I plan to put down 25% and would be leaning towards anything decent ......i think home is a long shot, probably condo.

[seo2020]

Very good start... Stay away from credit cards because that is how I messed up early on.