I am looking for advice about whether to start investing towards retirement now or wait until loan debt is paid off. I am a new grad and my husband will graduate in May 2013. We have a large amount of student debt from pharmacy school, but we will have nice incomes.
Student Loans remaining:
Me: $62,000 at 6.55% (currently paying $750/mth, about $30 more than the minimum)
Husband: $66,000 at 6.8% (not in repayment yet - planning to start paying in September)
Car Loans remaining:
Me: $25,000 at 2.9% (paying minimum $409/mth)
Husband: $14,000 at 5.9% (recently starting throwing extra money at this - paying $1620/mth, minimum is $370)
My take home pay has been $6300/mth since I started my job in August. My husband is working some while he is still in school, making $500/mth. He has received a job offer to start in August that will provide approximately the same pay as I am receiving now.
Our plan is to pay off the higher interest car in about 9 months, then when my husband starts working we should be able to put $7000 total/mth towards student loans (paying them off in about 2.5 years), then finish off what's left on the lower interest car at the end. After all this, we are planning to start looking to buy a house. We realize now that getting new cars was foolish so it'll be a while before we change vehicles.
Should we start Roth IRAs now for $3000/year and pay $500/mth less than we were planning towards our loans (assuming we can't scrape up this money from lowering other expenses or extra income)? Or wait 1 year or wait until all our student loans are paid off? I am 24 and my husband is 25. My employer does not match 401K contributions, so I haven't started that either. Right now we have $3000 in savings as our limited EF until we get loans paid off.
Student Loans remaining:
Me: $62,000 at 6.55% (currently paying $750/mth, about $30 more than the minimum)
Husband: $66,000 at 6.8% (not in repayment yet - planning to start paying in September)
Car Loans remaining:
Me: $25,000 at 2.9% (paying minimum $409/mth)
Husband: $14,000 at 5.9% (recently starting throwing extra money at this - paying $1620/mth, minimum is $370)
My take home pay has been $6300/mth since I started my job in August. My husband is working some while he is still in school, making $500/mth. He has received a job offer to start in August that will provide approximately the same pay as I am receiving now.
Our plan is to pay off the higher interest car in about 9 months, then when my husband starts working we should be able to put $7000 total/mth towards student loans (paying them off in about 2.5 years), then finish off what's left on the lower interest car at the end. After all this, we are planning to start looking to buy a house. We realize now that getting new cars was foolish so it'll be a while before we change vehicles.
Should we start Roth IRAs now for $3000/year and pay $500/mth less than we were planning towards our loans (assuming we can't scrape up this money from lowering other expenses or extra income)? Or wait 1 year or wait until all our student loans are paid off? I am 24 and my husband is 25. My employer does not match 401K contributions, so I haven't started that either. Right now we have $3000 in savings as our limited EF until we get loans paid off.
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