Ok, false-alarm, lil guy went back to sleep in his crib.
I’m so glad I posted this because your responses confirmed what my husband and I were thinking. We are currently using Mint.com and what I’ve noticed is that our spending (things that would be used in a “slush” fund) is really way too high.
Currently, we autopay EVERYTHING! Everything else, I pay with plastic but we pay the full balance monthly.
Our combined income is fairly high but we have considerable debts. Our mortgage is $650K at 6.25% and our education debt combined is about $250K at 3%. We don’t have car payments or credit card debts, we have a small healthcare loan that will be paid off in a couple months at 3%. My husband contributes 12% into his retirement fund and I contribute 10%. Our other largest expense is hiring help, we have daycare, landscaper (2x monthly), and housekeeper (2x monthly).
We’re not struggling by any means, but I just know that with our income level we should be able to save more for my son’s educational fund than we have been.
After reading your posts, I agree paying an advisor to tell us what is already obvious is pointless. It seems that the consensus is that without considerable amount of money for investing, a PF person isn’t worth the cost.
So, here is my remaining question. Once my husband and I have our spending habits reined in and we have more money to save. Should we just continue to contribute to our employee retirement accounts and my son’s educational fund or would it be wise to use a PF to invest any savings we generate?