Hello. New here and

**JanH** · 03-14-2007, 11:48 AM

Just a thought...you might want to set up a budget and see how much money you are able to put into the IRAs and investments. Since you don't know how much you are spending, it might help you plan the investments better. I know that since I've been on here, my budget has really helped me plan for all kinds of things. The others here are better at the IRAs and investment info. Good luck! And welcome!

**creditcardfree** · 03-14-2007, 01:43 PM

Welcome! We have our Roths at Vanguard. Others here on the forums like Fidelity and T Rowe Price among others.

JanH makes a good point, but now is the time to start saving as well as paying off the debt. A budget will help you plan for all of these.

**Aleta** · 03-14-2007, 03:07 PM

Do you have any children? How did you find out about the credit card? Did he tell you or did you just happen to find it? Do you think that he would be open to sit down with you and talk about a budget.

Usually, one in the family is the saver and the other one is a spender. Where are both of you in that?

Keeping track of your money in a notebook for a month would help you tremendously to see where your money is going and it will help stop the bleeding. It is important that you keep track of it for at least a month.

**MoneyTard** · 03-14-2007, 03:52 PM

Thanks for the suggestions for openning a roth ira. I read a bunch of old posts here today and I think I'd like to open it before tax day if possible.

We can definitely afford to start a roth ira and college fund for the kids. We have two. 3.5 yrs and 11 months old.

Aleta, I'll try to answer your questions. It wasn't a matter that he's a spender while i'm a saver or a matter of deceit. We have both been just as guilty with spending and not paying attention although I would never have kept a balance that high for that long. I always pay my own in full. There's no reason he couldn't have as well each month and kept it from growing so big and the needless $200/mth interest charges. He was just negligent and rediculous for letting that happen.

He had told me about 'a' balance on the card and I thought it was about 6 grand including a business trip to Germany he has expensed with the company and is still waiting for refund. So I figured 2 or 3k of that was real debt but I thought he was paying it every month. I payed it in full today as well the other cards so right now, our credit card dept is zero. .

We both want to draw up some budget and we have talked about it in the past. Now we actually need to DO it.

And I don't want to spend too much time researching investment companies for roth ira or college funds. I just want to do it. Tired of putting it off like I said. I guess today's 10k surprise was the straw that broke my back.

as for college funds. i want us to have complete control of the money (not in our kid's names) and be able to use the money for something else should one or both decide college is not for them.

**PRICEPLUS** · 03-14-2007, 09:34 PM

Set up a budget. It is hard to make a plan without an idea of where your money is going. For one whole month you and hubby write down where your money is going and that includes buying bubble gum!

Set up a budget and stick to it! Get rid of your CC bills as soon as is reasonably possible! Remember: Out of Debt, Out of Danger!!!

Look to see where you can cut expenses! If you go through this site and use the links here as well you'll find thousands of ways to cut spending! Make a game of it!

Don't use CCs unless in an emergency! That is my opinion!

Max out the Roths and the 401ks! Save whenever and wherever possible!

You need a plan so make one and stick with it! Patience and discipline will get you to the land of financial success! Good luck! You have already taken the biggest step! You have seen a problem and you are taking steps to address it!

**Aleta** · 03-15-2007, 06:24 AM

There are retirement Target accounts. You said that you didn't want to do alot of researching for companies. There are some like Vanguard, T.Rowe Price, Fedility, to name a few, who have low fees. A targer retirement account is set up closest to the year that you retire. They normally have stocks and bonds. Some are index funds and some are balanced and are managed. It's a pretty good way to go if you're not sure where you want to invest. Also, some people don't use the year (for instance 2025 Retirement year). They may want their funds to be a little more aggressive so they will choose the next fund which would be around 2030. By, the same token, you can pick a year of 2015 even though it wouldn't be your retirement age. They have the balances for you and tend to be more conservative as your retirement age nears.

**autoxer** · 03-15-2007, 06:52 AM

Originally posted by MoneyTard View Post

And I don't want to spend too much time researching investment companies for roth ira or college funds. I just want to do it. Tired of putting it off like I said. I guess today's 10k surprise was the straw that broke my back.

You can't go wrong with any of the brokerages listed. T.Rowe.Price, Vanguard & Fidelity are all good choices. Just flip a coin & pick one. And the target retirement funds make it very easy to be diversified. You only need one fund.

If you really want to curb your spending, then take all of the credit cards out of your wallet.

The best way to budget is based off of the previous months spending. If you draw up a budget without knowing how your money is really being spent, then you won't be able to stick to it. But if you analyze the previous months spending, then you know where you want to make changes & that will help you think about it when you are spending money.

Good luck.

**th_tan** · 03-15-2007, 06:59 AM

Originally posted by PRICEPLUS View Post

Set up a budget. It is hard to make a plan without an idea of where your money is going. For one whole month you and hubby write down where your money is going and that includes buying bubble gum!

Set up a budget and stick to it! Get rid of your CC bills as soon as is reasonably possible! Remember: Out of Debt, Out of Danger!!!

Look to see where you can cut expenses! If you go through this site and use the links here as well you'll find thousands of ways to cut spending! Make a game of it!

Don't use CCs unless in an emergency! That is my opinion!

Max out the Roths and the 401ks! Save whenever and wherever possible!

You need a plan so make one and stick with it! Patience and discipline will get you to the land of financial success! Good luck! You have already taken the biggest step! You have seen a problem and you are taking steps to address it!

Just what PRICEPLUS said, set up a budget and cut expenses, I'm sure theres plenty of expenses you can cut. Also try cutting you utilities a little bit, maybe a few less channels on tv, no cell phone insurance/aaa, etc. All the little things add up quick.

**MoneyTard** · 03-15-2007, 07:37 PM

thanks for all the help. You've all certainly given me a great place to start!

**Scanner** · 03-16-2007, 09:51 AM

For starters, I think you need to contain your credit cards:

1. 1 joint credit card for personal use. We set up a "Resource Management Account" (RMA) through UBS/Painewebber. We send our paychecks to them and use our credit card for most purchases. Then at the end of the month, the balance is automatically "swept" out of our checking/money market.

Thus - never a late fee. I't's impossible.

Plus, the "checking account" that the RMA is out of earns a money market rate (around 3-4%).

This is a non-FDIC insured account though.

2. A business credit card if your husband is going to be doing a lot of segregated business purchases. However, if it's really not a lot, then there's no reason to even have that. I mean, he's kind of already shown some lack of disipline in this area so why tempt fate? If a couple times per year he needs to document a large expense and is reimbursed, there's no reason that it can't be on one personal c/c.

Frankly, there's no reason to have seperate dept. store credit cards - close those accounts.

Finally, I would refer you to yahoo's website for financial basics - you can research fundamentals of investing there (gosh, maybe there is a place here but I don't know about it - the moderator could chime in).

Yes, T.Rowe Price, Vanguard, Fidelity, American/Century, Janus are all good "no-load" mutual funds to get started with investing. You'll want to go with "no-loads" and decent management fees (.5-1.5%) to start with.

Good luck.

Hello. New here and