Advice on savings allocation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't a 25 to 30% savings rate reasonable?

Fair point, I think I’d overlooked how much they are currently contributing to retirement. Agree with an earlier poster that they should dial this back and up their college savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the student loan. Zero reason to have it.
Where are your Roths?
Isn't Hysa for very limited use? We inherited one and it was more pain than it was worth.
Up the 529s a little and continue.
It's time to start investing in regular investment account. You don't want all you money is special accounts with rules and fees.
Once you get the investments to long term cg, the taxes are not too bad if you have to use the money.

Not OP, but I think you're confusing HYSA (high yield savings account) with HSA (health savings account).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early 40s family with two elementary school kids making an HHI of $300 to $350k (3 years ago we were at 150k). We are saving reasonably well but seeking input on whether we need to recalibrate as I am worried about college...

Mortgage $600k @3.7%
529s - $25k and saving $700 per month
HYSA - $30k and saving $1000 per month
Retirement - $70-75k per year with balances around $700k
Student debt - 10k and paying $325 per month

I don't really have room to save too much more as our mortgage takes a big chunk of net pay. Should we keep going with retirement or divert some of that to college?

How? 600k at 3.7% is about $2750. Even with another $1000 for taxes and insurance it shouldn't be a "big chunk" of your net.

+1

The OP also missed the opportunity to save as income increase, without playing "keep up with the joneses". You had a $150-200K increase in income in last 3 years. What have you been doing with all of it? If anything, your kids are now in school FT so daycare costs should be lower (not 0 but definately lower). You need to find where all the extra $$ is going and stop "wasting" it if you want to fund retirement and college properly.

given the interest rate, it's likely that OP bought a house. That's not a bad decision as a first financial move.

They have an extra $10K/month after taxes from 3 years ago. They didn't need to spend it all on a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early 40s family with two elementary school kids making an HHI of $300 to $350k (3 years ago we were at 150k). We are saving reasonably well but seeking input on whether we need to recalibrate as I am worried about college...

Mortgage $600k @3.7%
529s - $25k and saving $700 per month
HYSA - $30k and saving $1000 per month
Retirement - $70-75k per year with balances around $700k
Student debt - 10k and paying $325 per month

I don't really have room to save too much more as our mortgage takes a big chunk of net pay. Should we keep going with retirement or divert some of that to college?

How? 600k at 3.7% is about $2750. Even with another $1000 for taxes and insurance it shouldn't be a "big chunk" of your net.

+1

The OP also missed the opportunity to save as income increase, without playing "keep up with the joneses". You had a $150-200K increase in income in last 3 years. What have you been doing with all of it? If anything, your kids are now in school FT so daycare costs should be lower (not 0 but definately lower). You need to find where all the extra $$ is going and stop "wasting" it if you want to fund retirement and college properly.

given the interest rate, it's likely that OP bought a house. That's not a bad decision as a first financial move.

They have an extra $10K/month after taxes from 3 years ago. They didn't need to spend it all on a house.

There's also likely increased savings. You're pretty fixated on the house.

[Anonymous]

OP here- Thanks for the advice. Some more context:
1. We didn't double the HHI in one fell swoop. A big step up and then some incremental increases. Base pay is $305k. Plan going forward is to allocate most of bonus to college funds (likely an additional 10-12k per year)
2. We did buy a house so definitely allocated savings there. With PITI + HOA is $3925 per month. We did have additional expenses associated with move-in (appliances, tree removal, deck repair, some new furniture, etc.)
3. We did significantly increase savings overall
4. Replaced a 15 year old car with a Honda
5. HYSA is our emergency fund and I'd like to get that to $50-60k
6. Retirement includes Roth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- Thanks for the advice. Some more context:
1. We didn't double the HHI in one fell swoop. A big step up and then some incremental increases. Base pay is $305k. Plan going forward is to allocate most of bonus to college funds (likely an additional 10-12k per year)
2. We did buy a house so definitely allocated savings there. With PITI + HOA is $3925 per month. We did have additional expenses associated with move-in (appliances, tree removal, deck repair, some new furniture, etc.)
3. We did significantly increase savings overall
4. Replaced a 15 year old car with a Honda
5. HYSA is our emergency fund and I'd like to get that to $50-60k
6. Retirement includes Roth

I think you’re doing great (if that matters from a random internet stranger!)