Another help me prioritize question

[Anonymous]

We are in a slightly different position than the poster of the other thread so I didn't want to hijack that thread or have my post get lost. But I could use some advice from the DCUM community.

We currently have about 4 months or so of living expenses in an emergency fund (about 50k). We also max out our retirement savings and have a small amount (about 9K in a brokerage account).

Our fixed debts are as follows:

Mortgage -- $3800 per month (4.125 apr)
Student loans -- about $750 per month (about $120K, 30K is at about 2.85% (floating), the rest is at 1.56% (fixed)).

We are trying to decide what to do with approximately $4K we have available each month. My thought is put $1K into emergency fund, $2.5K to the 30K in student loans and $500 into a fund for vacations, furnishing the house, etc.

Should we instead be investing more in the brokerage account? Opening a 529 (don't have one yet and have two small children 4.5 and 1.5)?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

This is a tough one given the floating interest rate on the 30k loan... 2.85% is a great rate for a loan, so I don't think you should necessarily prioritize it right now. If you could know with certain when interest rates are going to go up, this question would be a lot easier!!

I think, in your shoes, I would put $2.5 - 3K in the emergency fund every month to build it up, with some money going to a brokerage account, and some into your vacation/house fund. I would use the money in the brokerage acct to pay off some of the $30k student loan in the future when interest rates begin to rise.

Curious to hear others' responses to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a tough one given the floating interest rate on the 30k loan... 2.85% is a great rate for a loan, so I don't think you should necessarily prioritize it right now. If you could know with certain when interest rates are going to go up, this question would be a lot easier!!

I think, in your shoes, I would put $2.5 - 3K in the emergency fund every month to build it up, with some money going to a brokerage account, and some into your vacation/house fund. I would use the money in the brokerage acct to pay off some of the $30k student loan in the future when interest rates begin to rise.

Curious to hear others' responses to this.

This makes a lot of sense. It still is probably a good idea to be making a dent in that loan, so I think I'd put at least $1000 to that, then the $2.5K into the emergency fund, and then let yourself enjoy $500 a month for house stuff, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a tough one given the floating interest rate on the 30k loan... 2.85% is a great rate for a loan, so I don't think you should necessarily prioritize it right now. If you could know with certain when interest rates are going to go up, this question would be a lot easier!!

I think, in your shoes, I would put $2.5 - 3K in the emergency fund every month to build it up, with some money going to a brokerage account, and some into your vacation/house fund. I would use the money in the brokerage acct to pay off some of the $30k student loan in the future when interest rates begin to rise.

Curious to hear others' responses to this.

This makes a lot of sense. It still is probably a good idea to be making a dent in that loan, so I think I'd put at least $1000 to that, then the $2.5K into the emergency fund, and then let yourself enjoy $500 a month for house stuff, etc.[/quote]\

I agree with this advice, except the last part. I'd put most of that $500 into a college account. With the kids still so young, now is the time to save!

[Anonymous]

How old are you and do you have any kids?

[Anonymous]

Start by building up your emergency fund to the 6-8 month level. Once you've done that, put $1K/mo or so aside for vacation/house furnishings and devote the rest to repaying your student loans. Even though they are at a low interest rate, they are dangerous b/c non-dischargeable in bankruptcy and can grow if you have to defer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start by building up your emergency fund to the 6-8 month level. Once you've done that, put $1K/mo or so aside for vacation/house furnishings and devote the rest to repaying your student loans. Even though they are at a low interest rate, they are dangerous b/c non-dischargeable in bankruptcy and can grow if you have to defer.

+1

[Anonymous]

+2 -- all debt is bad debt