Need advice on personal finance

[TBH]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

Amber,
I'm coming late to the discussion, but I just wanted to say you are a superhero for tackling these intimidating numbers. You are going to succeed--doesn't that feel great?!

I agree about the cell phone. I have only one small kid but it is an absolute necessity. I got it when he was 1.5 and I will never go back. I can now leave him at preschool and if he splits his head open or something they can reach me. What a concept.

I am also a devotee of used Japanese cars. AAA plus helps a lot with peace of mind, as does having a cell phone. I'm glad your DH is coming around.

I think everybody has covered the main points, but just one more word of encouragement for cutting back on whole life policies for your kids and on 529 contributions. I am a parent too, and I hear you when you say you want to pay for their weddings, help with house downpayments, pay for college, etc. You want to give them a good start in life. Well, what good will a good start do them if they have to support you and your DH just when they're trying to support a family of their own? The best thing you can do for your kids is take care of yourself first.

I've been really panicked and sad about not being able to save much for college. We really, really need to focus on retirement savings. (I'm 29 and in good shape. Spouse is 43 and playing catch-up). But I decided that I can't realistically pay for all of college. However, I CAN pay for half of it, if I save hard and invest wisely. So this is my goal. If I have more than enough to pay for half, I will be thrilled. But I also don't want to write those tuition checks, hug him at graduation, and then call him the next week to say "honey, now that you have a job, we need a little help...."

One more thing: You don't have health premiums in your budget. That's probably one of the things that's coming out pre-tax and keeping your take-home pay low.

And I agree, the major goal is to be debt free, and then the goal is to have a sustainable lifestyle that relies ONLY on your DH's biweekly pay, leaving the bonus untouched for savings.

Okay, I'm done, sorry for the loooong post.

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

I'm coming late to the discussion, but I just wanted to say you are a superhero for tackling these intimidating numbers. You are going to succeed--doesn't that feel great?!

Yes it absolutely does!

I think everybody has covered the main points, but just one more word of encouragement for cutting back on whole life policies for your kids and on 529 contributions. I am a parent too, and I hear you when you say you want to pay for their weddings, help with house downpayments, pay for college, etc. You want to give them a good start in life. Well, what good will a good start do them if they have to support you and your DH just when they're trying to support a family of their own? The best thing you can do for your kids is take care of yourself first.

I agree...we are starting on the 7 baby steps of DR's and I'm starting to realize that also.

One more thing: You don't have health premiums in your budget. That's probably one of the things that's coming out pre-tax and keeping your take-home pay low.

Yes, my DH pays for them out of his paycheck pre-tax

And I agree, the major goal is to be debt free, and then the goal is to have a sustainable lifestyle that relies ONLY on your DH's biweekly pay, leaving the bonus untouched for savings.

I see this now. Hopefully soon, the bonus will be able to do that for us!

[debtfreeme]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

can you tell us exactly what you spend money on? How much do you pay for you car gas each month? for the Food? for your mortgage? what area of the country do you live in?

[TinyFish]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

I would stop paying the payment on the truck until it comes due again and apply that extra money to either the debt with the highest interest rate (best financial move) or to the lowest balance (if you need the psychological boost of an early 'win'). If you are still having to add to the CCard balances, I'd use the extra money towards your groceries or whatever is putting you over.

Yes, you don't want to get complacent and forget that big bill is coming back soon, but you should have an idea of how you will budget for it and mark your calendar so you don't forget it.

Sounds like you are moving along, taking steps and making plans and that's great!

For the car thing, we have two certified used Toyotas. I'm pretty sure the Corolla was less than 10K, though this was a few years back. Still runs like a charm, hasn't needed anything but oil. My certified used truck from the same place was a little more and has only needed an alternator replaced and that wasn't so expensive (we had problems with a third-party alarm system on it that was draining the battery and might have been responsible for some of the wear and tear). These are both 98 model years, so that gives you an idea.

Remember, the sticker price isn't necessarily what you will pay! I'd try calling up some dealerships and telling them "I'm looking for a certified used Toyota for under 10K, what can you do for me?". This might be a good move towards the end of the year when they are trying to make room for the new stuff. Wouldn't hurt to try anyhow. I'd drop lots of hints about how you will be buying a nice, NEW Toyota sometime in the future from the nice dealership that can help you out now. I think they like to build brand loyalty with the certified used vehicles.

Here is another thought. Sometimes dealerships might be more amenable to let you out of a lease if you are buying a new car from them. Of course, it would have to be an inexpensive car for this to work and you would have to be careful not to get into trouble with them rolling the least into the car, but again, worth a phone call maybe. Financing a car maybe isn't the best thing, but an inexpensive car with reasonable financing would be better than that killer lease.

Of course, a final thought is to buy a used car from someone you trust who has taken good care of the car. I sold my old Corolla (10-12 years or so, and it was used when I got it) to my brother-in-law and it ran fine for him for years until he had a series of accidents, culminating in wrapping it around a bridge support.

-E!

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

can you tell us exactly what you spend money on? How much do you pay for you car gas each month? for the Food? for your mortgage? what area of the country do you live in?

Automobile gas is between 200-250 a month. Food is around 350.
We live in the South East- North Carolina.

[lillyb]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

South East- North Carolina.

hehe... that made me giggle this morning... only missing west.

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

Well, here's an update. I received my cash out payment from my whole life insurance today. It was 2097.and change. I am applying that to my CC tomorrow so I will have a balance of 1641.43. My Dh is working an extra job on Sunday, hopefully he'll make around $150 and we can add that to the CC also. We have set some goals for ourselves. 1 goal is to have this CC paid off by November of this year.

Hopefully soon, I will receive the cash out from my Dh's and our two kids whole life policies.

Also, we've already got our term life insurance set up. I got $100,000.00 and my Dh now has $500,000.00 Overall our savings are around $175.00 a month just in the life insurance. Plus we stopped contributing to the kids 529 plans also, so that will give us another $100.00 each month. I am excited at the prospect of seeing this CC disappear!!!!

[creditcardfree]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

That is so exciting!! Good job making those things happen. Sounds like you are being very focused on what you need to do.

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

That is so exciting!! Good job making those things happen. Sounds like you are being very focused on what you need to do.

Thanks! I paid the bill online today- and it was extremely exciting! I'm doing my happy dance

[greedy4chips]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

Well, here's an update. I received my cash out payment from my whole life insurance today. It was 2097.and change. I am applying that to my CC tomorrow so I will have a balance of 1641.43.

Also, we've already got our term life insurance set up. I got $100,000.00 and my Dh now has $500,000.00 Overall our savings are around $175.00 a month just in the life insurance. Plus we stopped contributing to the kids 529 plans also, so that will give us another $100.00 each month. I am excited at the prospect of seeing this CC disappear!!!!

CONGRATS

Cashing out our Universal Life Investment (scam, very similar to whole life) is what helped us get a super fast start on debt reduction.

At a future date you may want to up your term insurance another 100 or 200 thousand. It is cheaper for females and if something were to happen to you your DH would either have to quit working or find someone to take care of the kids.

By the time your DH gets his bonus you should have a pretty good start on budgeting and paying off some of those pesky debts.

Are you still planning on selling the house?

What are your options with the leased van?

I still think you have a shot at being debt free in 12 months if your DH gets his bonus, you sell the house, and the lease goes bye-bye! Selling the house gets you 15-18k profit after realtor fees plus the monthly savings on payment vs rent. Bonus will pay off several debts and you won't have to set aside this money for the next year to make your monthly payments as you have in the past.

If you still can't get out of the van lease some how some way you will have $800 rent + lease payment + $800 monthly bills in expenses which does not leave you a whole lot for food and debt reduction.

The van, while reliable and safe is my deal breaker for me personally. There is no way a vehicle choice would win out over selling our house where we have so many memories of raising our kids. Is our house perfect...not hardly! Will we move someday...perhaps. But we want that choice and not let our bills decide that for us. That is just my opinion and thoughts on the importance of home vs vehicle.

Around here there are some superb SUVs for under $10k and have lots of life in them! You may have a repair bill or two, but the huge difference in payments will easily fund any repairs. If you are totally worried about the repair expenses you can buy those insane extended warranty policies.

Congrats again on your progress

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

Yes, we plan to put our house up for sale by the end of this month. We've set some short term goals and some long term goals. Hopefully with luck and planning everything will go our way.

I have given up the van agrument for now. Honestly it's wasting too much of my time arguing with him about it. And for now, I will let it go. Note: I said FOR NOW! Because I am not giving up, just setting it aside for now.

I was thinking, I don't get a chance to visit this board every day. It would be awesome if someone set up some kind of system that sent out an email a day with a little tidbit of information in it. To keep me going. I find if I don't visit this board enough I start to slack and find myself thinking of things I shouldn't be!! I need a daily push!

[greedy4chips]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

I find if I don't visit this board enough I start to slack and find myself thinking of things I shouldn't be!! I need a daily push!

Make the forum your homepage or better yet make this thread your homepage!

I don't have a blog, but perhaps you should. Each day you could post your progress. Many here have blogs and could discuss their success/failure of having one.

Give us your phone number and you will get 100 calls a day pushing you...I highly discourage this option.

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

Make the forum your homepage or better yet make this thread your homepage!

I don't have a blog, but perhaps you should. Each day you could post your progress. Many here have blogs and could discuss their success/failure of having one.

Give us your phone number and you will get 100 calls a day pushing you...I highly discourage this option.

I do have a blog, but I don't post on it regularly. I'll think about making it my homepage... Probably would be the easiest thing to do!!!

[disneysteve]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

amber - Just wanted to congratulate you on your progress so far. Keep it up and you'll be debt free in no time.

[amberbamber]

Re: Need advice on personal finance

amber - Just wanted to congratulate you on your progress so far. Keep it up and you'll be debt free in no time.

Thank you!