Need a lot of advice

[Gailete]

Bless your heart, you are doing great! I especially commend you for tithing which is not often seen in budgets. I can understand why your wife has faith in you, but on the safe side she does need to be in on what is happening in case the unexpected happens. Also do you have a decent insurance policy for both of you? Having a wife die, she can't be replaced but finding someone to help care for 5 kids can be expensive and since you are the only bread winner it is obvious why you need insured.

I too would suggest paying off your mortage and save that interest. You might want to also study up on investing so that you can do that with some safety. Nothing in life is guaranteed, but there are also some long term solutions depending on what you need to be saving for.

[UnknownXV]

You're doing very good, however, 5 kids already?

That's the only part that concerns me, as raising kids is very expensive, especially if you plan to pay for their college tuitions (which will only get more expensive). I'd say pump a good deal more money into the college fund for them.

[Gailete]

Raising kids doesn't have to b as expensive as some make it out to be. Trying to be sure your kids have the best and latest clothes, get to participate in every activity, a free range kitchen (when hungry they can eat anything they find when grazing including high priced snacks) etc. is the real killer. You can raise happy, healthy, well educated children on a budget.

[snafu]

Good on you, you've done an ace job. I too like the idea of your paying off the mortgage since interest rates are exceptionally low for savings. Depending on your risk tolerance, you could look at a portfolio that includes dividend, international low fee Mutual Funds or ETFs.

I believe it's very important for your wife to understand how you make spending decisions and manage finances. My DH's eyes glaze over every quarter when I go over the figures but he is slowly catching on to our personal, household economy.

[jpg7n16]

Seems like you've been doing a great job on the savings front. Low debt burden, low tax burden. If there's room to improve it'd prob be in estate issues, and protecting what you have. Or in your investing strategy.

I see you have life coverage, but how much? Given how many people rely on you, I'd prob have you around $1mil in term coverage. The estate issue could also be a way to get your wife involved. ie. What will happen with the finances if you're not around? Or propose some sort of trade off, "you learn about the budget, and I'll learn about (insert her idea here)." I agree with you that she does need to be at least aware of what's going on.

Do you have disability coverage too?


And I'll chime in with some others that 12 months in cash is too much. I'd keep 6 months in cash, and either invest the remaining 6 months, or pay off the mortgage, depending on your risk tolerance. How comfortable are you with financial risk?


And also, how are you invested? If you're saving 23% and it's all going to say... money markets/bonds, that's prob not enough. I'd like to make sure you're properly invested for all that savings you're doing. Hopefully you are.