Home  Finance Articles  Discussion  Our Blog / Member Blogs           
SavingAdvice.com Logo Grocery Coupon Money Saving Guide
A guide that shows you how to save money on groceries
Teaching you to Save Money

Go Back   Personal Finance Forums > Financial Chit Chat > Personal Finance

Personal Finance Credit cards, home loans, retirement plans and taxes. The place for all your personal finance questions.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
  #41 (permalink)  
Old 01-16-2009, 06:13 AM
Like2Plan Like2Plan is offline
$ Saving College Freshman
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 510
Points: 2735.00
Donate
Default

You should look into every tax advantage that you can.
Jim mentioned an HSA. You should price that out and see if you would do better with that than a traditional health ins. (Oddly enough, sometimes the traditional health ins is a better bargin if you are not paying very high premiums in the first place and if you have some health issues).

If you do go with the traditional health ins, there still may be some tax savings. Some employers offer flexible spending accounts for health care costs. They have different rules from the HSA. But, this will save you federal, state, local, medicare and ss taxes on these contributions. The only downside is you must elect how much you are going to spend beforehand and then if you don't spend the money in the year, you lose it. But, you can use the money for many over the counter medications, eye glasses, braces, contact lenses, copays, mileage to Dr. visits, first aid kits, et'c. If you have these expenses anyway, you might as well take advantage.
Reply With Quote
  #42 (permalink)  
Old 01-16-2009, 08:47 AM
Like2Plan Like2Plan is offline
$ Saving College Freshman
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 510
Points: 2735.00
Donate
Default

Retirement Accounts:
As others have mentioned, you are going to need a more robust retirement savings plan. If I had to give a general guideline, it would be a goal of at least 15-20% of your income. Your DH starting out is making a very good income, but I would say his lifetime earning potential is probably pretty doggone good and your goal is to replace income at the end of your income earning stream. That could be quite a bit more than what he is making just starting out.

Some questions: Will your DH be eligible for any kind of pension through his place of work?

You should have your own retirement account. Actually both you and your DH could contribute to a non-deductible IRA. In 2010, you could even convert those IRA's into a Roth because they are removing the income limits on conversions. You would have to pay taxes on the earnings only, so it probably wouldn't be a big amount on the taxes.
Article on Ask the Expert: Demystifying IRA Conversion Rules

income phase out chart for traditional and roths

Last edited by Like2Plan : 01-16-2009 at 09:07 AM. Reason: spelling
Reply With Quote
  #43 (permalink)  
Old 01-16-2009, 09:06 AM
Like2Plan Like2Plan is offline
$ Saving College Freshman
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 510
Points: 2735.00
Donate
Default

After you have maxed out on the other types of retirement accounts, you are mostly likely going to need to invest in taxable type savings.

No load mutual funds are generally a good starting point until you've built up some assets (there are lots of different types of mutual funds). The primary reason is it is hard to diversify stocks if you can only buy a couple to start with. And, that ties in with risk. If you have 1 or 2 stocks and they tank, your portfolio value plummits. If only those two stocks as part of a larger mutual fund go down, the loss will be more attenuated.

Maybe down the line you might want to consider indivdual stocks. One of the things that I like about owning indivdual stocks is you control when they are bought and sold (for the most part) and you control the taxable events associated with that. You can pick stocks which provide dividends. For some, this is a strategy for replacing income in retirement. The value of the stock can fluctuate, but you still get that quarterly dividend check. On the other hand, you could pick stocks that don't earn a dividend, but are growth stocks.

I am sure the folks on this board will have more investment recommendations, but the biggest obstacle to overcome is just getting into a pattern of regular saving...

Last edited by Like2Plan : 01-16-2009 at 09:14 AM. Reason: spelling
Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:40 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 RC6 © 2006, Crawlability, Inc.
More Links Finance Options

About Us | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Link To Us | Resources | Webmasters | Media | Jobs | Site Map | Contact Us

Copyright ©2002-2010 SavingAdvice.com. All rights reserved.

Please read our Disclaimer

 

Other Resources
Bad Credit Loans
Private Student Loans
Payday Loans
Student Loans
Online Shopping
Dell Coupons
Credit Card Processing
Back to School
Credit Score
Payday Loan
IVA
Free Credit Report
uk health insurance online
CD Interest Rates
IVA Advice

Partners
Debt Reduction
Blogging Away Debt
Budget Stretcher
DivaTribe
Thrifty Fun
Money Talk
Online Personal Budgeting
Budget Dial