Financial plan feedback

[Jon991]

Ok, ok point taken on the car. So what can I afford for a car? What's the formula for that? Can I afford a $27,000 car when SL and HELOC are paid off and I have a $9,000 or more down payment?

Green- Where is it all going? Well it's only been pretty recently that income is what it is now, and as I mentioned I was being sued for a year and a half so it was going to my lawyer. I also paid off another student loan in full which was a higher interest rate. I did only have a few grand in savings, I've bumped that up quickly.

Monkey- tax rate is 25% and I pay IL state taxes. I'm not sure how to figure out which is better: hubby's 401k, my 403b or Roth. What are the criteria? I just checked my fidelity account for my 403b and it says that my personal rate of return is 14.9% for last 2 year period. I can def cash out the ETFs and put elsewhere- it's only about $400 that I've used as a way to get familiar with investing in ETFs (has actually done pretty well, I'm up about 14%).

Also what takes priority, paying HELOC or funding retirement or combo of both?

Thanks, everyone- this is much appreciated.

You are saving good money each month and it looks like you are going to increase your savings % as well. You are doing a whole lot better than some other people, so do not misinterpret this advice you are getting.

That being said, paying $27,000 for a car is going to put you right back in debt again. Yes, you probably CAN afford to send $27,000 on a car but what you are hearing from everyone is that you simply SHOULD NOT do it given that you still have debt to pay off. You are in a good position to pay off your debts quickly and build larger savings and retirement accounts. People here just don't want to see you to go further in debt for a car when you should be using that money to pay off debt and build savings/retirement first.

Once you built up your savings and retirement accounts (which sounds like you should be able to do rather quickly), only then should you revisit your car purchase. When you do purchase your next car (or any purchase for that matter), keep this in mind:

A wise man once said NEVER make payments (finance) anything that depreciates in value. (your home should be the only exception given the state of the real estate market).

[bethasaver]

I got right on this stuff and here's what I've done so far:

Set up some transfers so I'll have SL and Car paid off in August.

After that I'll fully fund Roth IRAs and also consider that part of my 22k emergency fund so instead of funding more into online savings accounts (ING direct and Smartypig) I'll fund the Roths.

Once hubby is able to get matching on his employer's 401k we'll contribute to the max in order to get matching.

I plan to sell the ETFs within the next week and transfer to the Roth.

I'm browsing much lower price tag used vehicles and am still going to hold off on getting anything until beginning of winter since there won't be any snow til then anyway

SUPER helpful! You know, I listen to Suze Orman podcasts, read her books, listen to MoneyGirl etc and try really hard to make a sound financial plan but sometimes you just need some advice. I def got that and feel much better about my new plan moving forward.

[Alessandro8100]

You are saving good money each month and it looks like you are going to increase your savings % as well. You are doing a whole lot better than some other people, so do not misinterpret this advice you are getting.

That being said, paying $27,000 for a car is going to put you right back in debt again. Yes, you probably CAN afford to send $27,000 on a car but what you are hearing from everyone is that you simply SHOULD NOT do it given that you still have debt to pay off. You are in a good position to pay off your debts quickly and build larger savings and retirement accounts. People here just don't want to see you to go further in debt for a car when you should be using that money to pay off debt and build savings/retirement first.

Once you built up your savings and retirement accounts (which sounds like you should be able to do rather quickly), only then should you revisit your car purchase. When you do purchase your next car (or any purchase for that matter), keep this in mind:

A wise man once said NEVER make payments (finance) anything that depreciates in value. (your home should be the only exception given the state of the real estate market).

I'm totally agree with you man.You'r 100% good here that paying $27,000 for a car is going to put you right back in debt again.Your's savings not bad.By this,you can sure easily pay off yours debt.