My situation

[Roupey03]

Ok. So here I am recently engaged, moved into an apartment with my fiance. We both are working full time. She is a medical assistant and I am in IT. We have been living on our own for about 3 months now and have furnished a nice apartment all on our own. It is just to the point where we have everything we need minus a few things here and there.

Now we can start to focus on saving for the future.

ING Savings account
Mine - $10,000
Hers - $ 1,300

I am contrubiting 50 a week and she is currently contributing 40 a week.

I have a retirement fund from when I worked for the state as a college intern the balance is currently at $5,300.

I just started a T. Rowe Price Target 2045 fund. Initial balance was $0. I will be contributing $100 dollars a month to.

My car 99 Acura CL - paid for
Her car 99 Honda Civic - $3000 left

My Student Loans - $19,000 government
Her Student Loans - $10,000 private

Our goals
Get married by next spring
Purchase a home - when our lease to the apartment is up in sept next year.

My question
Is there anymore we can do?
Should we max out my Roth? Or should we try to shovel as much money as we can into ING to save for a house and a wedding?

[InDebtInDC]

My car 99 Acura CL - paid for
Her car 99 Honda Civic - $3000 left

If you don't mind downsizing your car, you may want to consider selling your CL and getting yourself a 96-00 Civic CX/DX/LX. The Civic is slightly smaller but you should be able to save some money on maintenance as compared with the CL.

[zetta]

Congrats on taking the most important step -- defining where you are now and where you want to be, and committing to saving. $10,000 in savings and $5,000 in retirement, and a plan to put away $460/month is a start.

It would help to know the following:
1. your income after taxes
2. how much a small home or condo costs in your area
3. your current rent
4. amount of credit card debt, if any
5. how much you plan to spend on the wedding
6. your age

I would make it a goal to save 20% of your take-home pay each month. Put half of that figure into retirement (either 401k or ROTH IRA), and split the other half between building an emergency fund (3 months expenses), a wedding fund, and a home downpayment fund.

I suspect you may need a couple of years to save up for the downpayment on a house. Ideally you should put 20% down, but if you are young and the mortgage is less than you are paying in rent, 10% might be an acceptable risk.

As you plan your wedding, remember the less you spend on it the more you will have for your house downpayment.

[Roupey03]

1. 900 a week combined after taxes.
2. Condo costs between 90k to 120k, Houses cost between 115k to 155k
3. Current rent is $680
4. no credit card debt.
5. we have not decided about how much we are spending on a wedding. we have considered eloping.
6. Age 22 and 23.

[Ima saver]

I eloped and it certainly was a lot cheaper!!

[zetta]

I hope you don't mind if I cut and paste from my response in another thread, fixing it up for your situation.

My favorite book for people without credit card debt is All Your Worth -- here are some guidelines from it.

According to the guidelines in this book, your take-home pay should be allocated no more than 50% to needs, at least 20% to savings, and no more than 30% to wants.

Your monthly take-home is $3600. If you aim to keep your needs below $1800, your wants below $1080, and save $720 or more per month, you'll end up very well off.


So add the following numbers:

• • House mortgage or rent
  • Minimum student loan payment
  • Car loans
  • Health, home, car, and life insurance
  • Property taxes
  • Utilities, phone, internet
  • Food
  • Car fuel

------------

Total Monthly Needs <= $1800

Next, every month you should set aside at least $720. You can divide it among the following however you choose:

• • Emergency fund ($10k - $20k)
  • 401k
  • ROTH IRA
  • House downpayment fund
  • College fund for future kids
  • Extra payments to car loan
  • Extra payments to mortgage
  • Stocks and mutual funds

---------------------------------

Total monthly savings >= $720

Finally, you can spend the remaining $1080 on anything you choose:

• • Clothing
  • Restaurants
  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Electronic Gadgets
  • Furniture
  • Fun money
  • Cash
  • Cleaning and garden supplies
  • Etc., Etc. Etc.

--------------------------------

Total montly wants <= $1080

[anonymous_saver]

Your monthly take-home is $3600. If you aim to keep your needs below $1800, your wants below $1080, and save $720 or more per month, you'll end up very well off.
[/INDENT]

Actually if their income is $900/week, then they actually take-home approx. $3,900/month. I'm using 4.3333 weeks a month as an average, which would add up to 51.99 weeks a year. That $300 is a big deal, it could at least throw off the calculations a bit.

[anonymous_saver]

Ok. So here I am recently engaged, moved into an apartment with my fiance. We both are working full time. She is a medical assistant and I am in IT. We have been living on our own for about 3 months now and have furnished a nice apartment all on our own. It is just to the point where we have everything we need minus a few things here and there.

Now we can start to focus on saving for the future.

ING Savings account
Mine - $10,000
Hers - $ 1,300

I am contrubiting 50 a week and she is currently contributing 40 a week.

I have a retirement fund from when I worked for the state as a college intern the balance is currently at $5,300.

I just started a T. Rowe Price Target 2045 fund. Initial balance was $0. I will be contributing $100 dollars a month to.

My car 99 Acura CL - paid for
Her car 99 Honda Civic - $3000 left

My Student Loans - $19,000 government
Her Student Loans - $10,000 private

Our goals
Get married by next spring
Purchase a home - when our lease to the apartment is up in sept next year.

My question
Is there anymore we can do?
Should we max out my Roth? Or should we try to shovel as much money as we can into ING to save for a house and a wedding?

First, I would roll over your previous retirement plan into an IRA so that you have your money out of your employers plan. Additionally, I would think about selling your Acura as well, get a cheaper car, use the extra money towards your various goals.

Since you have a combined $11,300 in savings, what about an emergency fund as well? Using all of this money to help pay for housing and wedding costs scare the heck out of me, you would have nothing in case of an emergency! I agree we need to know more specifics about your monthly bills in order to give you better advice.

I would also think of keeping your money seperate at least until you get married.

How much additional money each month can each of you save?

[jIM_Ohio]

Ok. So here I am recently engaged, moved into an apartment with my fiance. We both are working full time. She is a medical assistant and I am in IT. We have been living on our own for about 3 months now and have furnished a nice apartment all on our own. It is just to the point where we have everything we need minus a few things here and there.

Now we can start to focus on saving for the future.

ING Savings account
Mine - $10,000
Hers - $ 1,300

I am contrubiting 50 a week and she is currently contributing 40 a week.

I have a retirement fund from when I worked for the state as a college intern the balance is currently at $5,300.

I just started a T. Rowe Price Target 2045 fund. Initial balance was $0. I will be contributing $100 dollars a month to.

My car 99 Acura CL - paid for
Her car 99 Honda Civic - $3000 left

My Student Loans - $19,000 government
Her Student Loans - $10,000 private

Our goals
Get married by next spring
Purchase a home - when our lease to the apartment is up in sept next year.

My question
Is there anymore we can do?
Should we max out my Roth? Or should we try to shovel as much money as we can into ING to save for a house and a wedding?

I would make some short term decisions prior to finalizing much of the advice

1) marriage- wedding or elope
2) house/property ownership- when

making those two decisions would change how you approach many other financial planning decisions.

Yopu are not in a bad spot financially or investing wise. Just make good decisions going forward and you will be successful financially.

I would pay down private student loans while also contributing to retirement, then pay down cars once private loans are paid off. I am guessing the private loans have a higher interest rate (mine did) than ther car loan. Because there is little "bad debt", I see a mult tiered approach to investing and money management as the best solution.

I would make it a point to pay down the debt prior to moving into the house or condo. This will help the loan applications and probably improve the credit scores. If you are thinking about home ownership, you need to think about credit scores.

I would make it a point to save at least 10% of income to retirement, then increase this percentage as you get raises and other debt retired. 401k plans and Roth IRAs would both appear beneficial.

[InDebtInDC]

I think you need to look into different cultures for wedding.

For example, in some Asian cultures, the guests are expected to bring cash as present. A typical wedding could net the couple, after expenses, $10k+ depending on how generous the guests are.

If you figured that it costs about $30 per head, then if each person gave $50 you would profit $20 per guest. If you invited 500 guests that would be $10k

I always tell people not to invite American or Americanized folks to weddings. They never bring cash