personal finance

[svelte]

True, true, rayburns.

My wife goes to the gym but she works out doubly hard when she has me or a trainer cracking the whip. If she goes on her own, she slacks off and she knows it.

Me, I’m the other way around. If I had someone standing over me saying work harder, I’d tell’em to go eff themselves.

Different strokes for different folks. The original post sounded like Nicole is already doing well at containing spending, that’s why I focused on how to tell if a FP is needed.

[Nicole]

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the feedback. I just wanted to drop a post letting you know that I’m still here 🙂

I had a late night at work and my lil’ one is a not-so-good sleeper, so I’ll get back to everyone tomorrow regarding responses to good points/questions.

n

[Nicole]

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the feedback. I just wanted to drop a post letting you know that I’m still here 🙂

I had a late night at work and my lil’ one is a not-so-good sleeper, so I’ll get back to everyone tomorrow regarding responses to good points/questions.

n

[Nicole]

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the feedback. I just wanted to drop a post letting you know that I’m still here 🙂

I had a late night at work and my lil’ one is a not-so-good sleeper, so I’ll get back to everyone tomorrow regarding responses to good points/questions.

n

[Nicole]

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the feedback. I just wanted to drop a post letting you know that I’m still here 🙂

I had a late night at work and my lil’ one is a not-so-good sleeper, so I’ll get back to everyone tomorrow regarding responses to good points/questions.

n

[Nicole]

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the feedback. I just wanted to drop a post letting you know that I’m still here 🙂

I had a late night at work and my lil’ one is a not-so-good sleeper, so I’ll get back to everyone tomorrow regarding responses to good points/questions.

n

[Nicole]

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?

[Nicole]

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?

[Nicole]

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?

[Nicole]

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?

[Nicole]

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?

[Raybyrnes]

Nicole.
Couple things I pick up on. Student Loans at 3% must be federal stafford loans Hopefully they have been consolidated and are now fixed rate.. They have up to 6 years of deferment and forbearance. Why not utilize this option and take the saved payments and apply them to the 6.25 mortgage. Seems like that is an easy way of picking up 3.25 % without adding any risk. I would also think that if a CD were paying 6.25 % you would be all over it. You may want to rethink the percentage contribution to the retirement plan. Obviously take up to the company match but the rest you may want to start using it to pound down that mortgage. Remember , when the kids go to school they will have loans available to them.

JMTC

[Raybyrnes]

Nicole.
Couple things I pick up on. Student Loans at 3% must be federal stafford loans Hopefully they have been consolidated and are now fixed rate.. They have up to 6 years of deferment and forbearance. Why not utilize this option and take the saved payments and apply them to the 6.25 mortgage. Seems like that is an easy way of picking up 3.25 % without adding any risk. I would also think that if a CD were paying 6.25 % you would be all over it. You may want to rethink the percentage contribution to the retirement plan. Obviously take up to the company match but the rest you may want to start using it to pound down that mortgage. Remember , when the kids go to school they will have loans available to them.

JMTC

[Raybyrnes]

Nicole.
Couple things I pick up on. Student Loans at 3% must be federal stafford loans Hopefully they have been consolidated and are now fixed rate.. They have up to 6 years of deferment and forbearance. Why not utilize this option and take the saved payments and apply them to the 6.25 mortgage. Seems like that is an easy way of picking up 3.25 % without adding any risk. I would also think that if a CD were paying 6.25 % you would be all over it. You may want to rethink the percentage contribution to the retirement plan. Obviously take up to the company match but the rest you may want to start using it to pound down that mortgage. Remember , when the kids go to school they will have loans available to them.

JMTC

[Raybyrnes]

Nicole.
Couple things I pick up on. Student Loans at 3% must be federal stafford loans Hopefully they have been consolidated and are now fixed rate.. They have up to 6 years of deferment and forbearance. Why not utilize this option and take the saved payments and apply them to the 6.25 mortgage. Seems like that is an easy way of picking up 3.25 % without adding any risk. I would also think that if a CD were paying 6.25 % you would be all over it. You may want to rethink the percentage contribution to the retirement plan. Obviously take up to the company match but the rest you may want to start using it to pound down that mortgage. Remember , when the kids go to school they will have loans available to them.

JMTC

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