Savings - screened porch v college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way. You have a car loan and student loans.

OK but the reason I have a car loan is because I am making more money in the HYS than paying it off.

m

That is super recent

True - but I am talking about what is happening currently.

[Anonymous]

OP here - one other thing to note about the deck. We currently have a back deck - and when we moved in 10 years ago it was in need of repairs. We had a choice to do the cheap / shorter term fix or the expensive / longer term fix - and we did the cheap fix at the time - so the deck is in need of some repairs in some fashion in the next 3-5 years regardless of whether I choose to do the screened in porch, for what it's worth.

[Anonymous]

You have three kids with the oldest entering college in 3.5 years and you’re trying to justify a screened in porch after years of underfunding their 529s?

Both you and your husband need a basic finance class given the mental gymnastics you are going through to justify your wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way. You have a car loan and student loans.

OK but the reason I have a car loan is because I am making more money in the HYS than paying it off.

m

That is super recent

True - but I am talking about what is happening currently.

But you have lots of debt and barely any college savings. This has been going on for a long time. Yay that the interest rates are up, but that doesn’t erase the past

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have three kids with the oldest entering college in 3.5 years and you’re trying to justify a screened in porch after years of underfunding their 529s?

Both you and your husband need a basic finance class given the mental gymnastics you are going through to justify your wants.

This. Nobody thinks all this through when popping out 3 kids.

[Anonymous]

OP, why did you post if you don’t want to accept any feedback? As others have said, stop paying extra on the mortgage and funnel any extra funds to your student loans. After that, save as much as possible in 529s and don’t stop until the second child has finished college. With a HHI of $300k, you won’t receive any financial aid. Also, please start speaking with your children to let them know they have limited funds for college.

We never broke $300k in HHI until last year and have $400k saved for three kids and a NW of $3.5. What have you been spending your money on?

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, why on earth would you pay off the lower interest loans and not pay off your student loans? WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK I take the point that you are all aligned on college over porch. So I will take that into extreme consideration going forward.

On the mortgage vs. student loan thing - I think my DH and DCUM are going to have to agree to disagree. I get what you are saying about 6% being higher than 3.6%. But his feeling on the loans is the total amount of interest paid on $150K at 3.6% is more actual money than what you pay on $28K at 6% and then he also feels secure in where we have to live. Without being able to do the actual math on the interest myself - I think it's a close enough call to be a wash.

HHI is $300K. I don't know the actual amounts currently in the 529s - I will find that out ASAP.

Why are you incapable of doing the math? Also your husband is a complete moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way. You have a car loan and student loans.

OK but the reason I have a car loan is because I am making more money in the HYS than paying it off.

You are doing the same for your mortgage too dummy but you're still paying it off?

[Anonymous]

Without knowing how much of your mortgage payment is property tax and insurance, I can’t say exactly, but seems to me you will have some thing around $45,000 a year for college tuition. Assuming your children are three grades apart, they will overlap one year each. so if you choose a college that costs less than $45,000 per year and have them take out one year of student loans to pay for the overlap year then you can cover 75% of their tuition bill with your current mortgage payment. If that sounds acceptable to everyone, then that is one approach. Personally I think I might try to get a side job to pay for a screened in porch. Three kids is no joke.

[Anonymous]

Also, sit down with the grandparents and find out exactly what they’re willing to contribute. Where do you think the money will come from for the porch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, why on earth would you pay off the lower interest loans and not pay off your student loans? WTF?

That was my reaction as well. It makes zero sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have three kids with the oldest entering college in 3.5 years and you’re trying to justify a screened in porch after years of underfunding their 529s?

Both you and your husband need a basic finance class given the mental gymnastics you are going through to justify your wants.

With a $300k HHI!!! Where's the money going?!

[Anonymous]

No Op. You should not be treating yourself to a screened porch. You have not funded college. Funding college means you take the money your kids will need for college and set it aside. And it's not used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK I take the point that you are all aligned on college over porch. So I will take that into extreme consideration going forward.

On the mortgage vs. student loan thing - I think my DH and DCUM are going to have to agree to disagree. I get what you are saying about 6% being higher than 3.6%. But his feeling on the loans is the total amount of interest paid on $150K at 3.6% is more actual money than what you pay on $28K at 6% and then he also feels secure in where we have to live. Without being able to do the actual math on the interest myself - I think it's a close enough call to be a wash.

HHI is $300K. I don't know the actual amounts currently in the 529s - I will find that out ASAP.

Omg. No. The actual math does not work like that. If you believed in math, it is always more advantageous to pay off the higher interest rate, regardless of principal amount. Then once that is gone, you pay off the next highest rate. And this doesn’t factor in the mortgage deduction. Omg.