Article written about me and my family

[figuringmoneyout]

Great article and thanks for sharing it! It's nice to see a family that is living within their means and doing things differently than most people out there. Keep it up!

[QuarterMillionMan]

Good stuff! But wait, no mention of any of the occasional casino trips (lol).

[disneysteve]

Good stuff! But wait, no mention of any of the occasional casino trips (lol).

That actually came later. We weren't doing the casino thing back then.

[kyoko]

Thank you, Steve, for sharing this.

Listing out incomes and expenses annually is something I always neglect to do... I guess the majority reason is because I get caught up monthly budget too much, monitoring my expenses daily basis. But knowing the big picture (annual figure) will perhaps give me a different perspective about spending... since each month is different.

Do you also have an annual budget and compare it to the one you just provided us? Do you keep track on your expenses as "year-to-date"?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How will college shake out for your daughter?

[KTP]

How will college shake out for your daughter?

In addition to the $60K DS has for her, she also has that monthly annuity, which could help with books/spending money.

[disneysteve]

How will college shake out for your daughter?

In addition to the $60K DS has for her, she also has that monthly annuity, which could help with books/spending money.

Tuition and fees will be $48,170/year plus books and supplies.
She's getting a $19,000/year scholarship bringing it down to $29,170/year.
KTP is correct and we've agreed that she will contribute $400/month from her annuity toward college costs. That's $4,800/year taking us down to $24,370.
We have been contributing $300/mo. to her 529 and will continue to allot that money to college so that's $3,600/year getting us to $20,770.

We will have about $60,000 in her 529 so that pretty much covers 3 years. The remaining 20K or so will get cobbled together with additional out of pocket from us, summer jobs and possibly during school jobs from her, some savings on the home front from her not being here (lower grocery and dining out bills, not spending on current extracurricular activities, etc.) and so on. I don't anticipate any trouble getting the end result to zero. I'm not expecting her to have to borrow any money for undergrad. Now grad school may be a different story but hopefully she'll be able to work and earn money toward that.

In case you're wondering about tuition increases, that's already covered as long as she stays on top of things. Her university has a scholarship program that covers 100% of any tuition increase as long as she maintains a 3.2 GPA.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Great job. I like the fact that $60k is enough to cover college. Did you do a lump sum to get to $60k or just save more?

[disneysteve]

Great job. I like the fact that $60k is enough to cover college.

That's not quite right if you read my post again. DD is going to contribute another $19,200. We are going to put in another $14,400 plus another $20,000 or so. So our total out of pocket is going to be at least $95,000. And that doesn't count books and stuff.

Did you do a lump sum to get to $60k or just save more?

We've been making a monthly deposit to her 529 since she was 10 or 11.

[creditcardfree]

Thanks for sharing Steve!

[Joe Moore]

This story is a good example of how to live within your budget. There is a classic case accountant bankruptcies. When the times are good they spend beyond their means. Keeping appearances is to be blamed for this partly. Other accountants have good houses, cars and send their children to expensive private schools. So, they want to keep up with their circle of friends.

You would think that an accountant would manage personal finances better. But, a few of them goes down when the tides turn. No matter how much you make you have to keep your spending in check if you want to save money for the future.