s/o Save for kids' college or pay off student loans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's our rough budget -- I don't have it here at work, but they are rough numbers.

car loans 575
credit cards 350
529s 400
savings 250
gas 300
groceries 1000
medical OOP (Rxs and therapy) 450
mortgage 3350
student loans 1000
utilities 300
internet 250

We have health/dental insurance from FEHB and vision through my wife's employer.


(She has about $300K in her employer's 401k and a pension plan.)

Why is internet $250? Does that include cable / phones?

verizon FIOS -- wife works from home and we have to pay for our own internet

That still doesn't make sense. The only plans I can even find on the fios website that are that high are business plans where you need to have lots of people accessing the internet simultaneously. I work from home several days a week and have been just fine with my regular old internet service.

Given the high out of pocket medical costs, I hope you do a health care FSA. I would also be seriously looking at different plan coverages to see if there's one that's a better fit for the Rx or offers some reimbursement for out-of network therapy.

maybe it includes cell phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's our rough budget -- I don't have it here at work, but they are rough numbers.

car loans 575
credit cards 350
529s 400
savings 250
gas 300
groceries 1000
medical OOP (Rxs and therapy) 450
mortgage 3350
student loans 1000
utilities 300
internet 250

We have health/dental insurance from FEHB and vision through my wife's employer.


(She has about $300K in her employer's 401k and a pension plan.)

Why is internet $250? Does that include cable / phones?

verizon FIOS -- wife works from home and we have to pay for our own internet

That still doesn't make sense. The only plans I can even find on the fios website that are that high are business plans where you need to have lots of people accessing the internet simultaneously. I work from home several days a week and have been just fine with my regular old internet service.

Given the high out of pocket medical costs, I hope you do a health care FSA. I would also be seriously looking at different plan coverages to see if there's one that's a better fit for the Rx or offers some reimbursement for out-of network therapy.

Spouse does IT work and needs business quality internet. Yes, we do flexible spending account for Rxs and therapy, and those are our portion of the in-network co-pays. (I think those numbers may be low, too.)

[Anonymous]

Do you not have any life insurance OP? I don't see a line item in your budget for that. Also, what are you spending on kids activities, car insurance, clothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you not have any life insurance OP? I don't see a line item in your budget for that. Also, what are you spending on kids activities, car insurance, clothing?

Life insurance is through wife's employer (not sure on the cost; deducted from paycheck)

Kids activities -- about $100-$150/month

Car insurance -- not sure, but will be going up when we add DS as a driver this year

Clothing -- spent about $500 on clothes at Christmas

(All these #s are in an Excel spreadsheet at home.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you not have any life insurance OP? I don't see a line item in your budget for that. Also, what are you spending on kids activities, car insurance, clothing?

Life insurance is through wife's employer (not sure on the cost; deducted from paycheck)

Kids activities -- about $100-$150/month

Car insurance -- not sure, but will be going up when we add DS as a driver this year

Clothing -- spent about $500 on clothes at Christmas

(All these #s are in an Excel spreadsheet at home.)

So, what do you net per month? Sounds like a lot of deductions coming out of payroll, which is fine, but do you all know what your total net per year is?

[Anonymous]

to pay down these loans you HAVE to be able to live off of only one income. That is key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You claim you live in a shitshack, but with that mortgage, it's tough. Honestly, I'd sell your place and rent something for awhile. After all, your kids are moving out within a couple of years anyway. Throw every cent of anything you make from the sale of the house at your student loan debt. Then trim EVERYTHING from that budget and start chunking it at your debt.

Dave Ramsey would tell you to stop all savings -- of all types-- and throw everything at your cc debt until that's gone, then attack your car debt (or sell your nice cars and buy beaters), then go for your student loan debt.

It's going to take you years to pay all of this off and if your wife already has $300k in her 401k, you may just need to let that sit and churn while you get rid of this crazy noose around your necks.

I disagree because of the transaction costs of moving. They will probably spend 80k just to move. It's not worth spending 80k to pay down 100k or so in loans.

I would definitely consider moving after the kids are gone though. I'd think about renting a small 2 bedroom in a location where you can walk/transit to work. Cars are expensive and a huge waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You claim you live in a shitshack, but with that mortgage, it's tough. Honestly, I'd sell your place and rent something for awhile. After all, your kids are moving out within a couple of years anyway. Throw every cent of anything you make from the sale of the house at your student loan debt. Then trim EVERYTHING from that budget and start chunking it at your debt.

Dave Ramsey would tell you to stop all savings -- of all types-- and throw everything at your cc debt until that's gone, then attack your car debt (or sell your nice cars and buy beaters), then go for your student loan debt.

It's going to take you years to pay all of this off and if your wife already has $300k in her 401k, you may just need to let that sit and churn while you get rid of this crazy noose around your necks.

I disagree because of the transaction costs of moving. They will probably spend 80k just to move. It's not worth spending 80k to pay down 100k or so in loans.

I would definitely consider moving after the kids are gone though. I'd think about renting a small 2 bedroom in a location where you can walk/transit to work. Cars are expensive and a huge waste.

Who in the hell pays 80k to move? Who do you hire to move your things? Mr. Carson and the Downton Abbey crew?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You claim you live in a shitshack, but with that mortgage, it's tough. Honestly, I'd sell your place and rent something for awhile. After all, your kids are moving out within a couple of years anyway. Throw every cent of anything you make from the sale of the house at your student loan debt. Then trim EVERYTHING from that budget and start chunking it at your debt.

Dave Ramsey would tell you to stop all savings -- of all types-- and throw everything at your cc debt until that's gone, then attack your car debt (or sell your nice cars and buy beaters), then go for your student loan debt.

It's going to take you years to pay all of this off and if your wife already has $300k in her 401k, you may just need to let that sit and churn while you get rid of this crazy noose around your necks.

I disagree because of the transaction costs of moving. They will probably spend 80k just to move. It's not worth spending 80k to pay down 100k or so in loans.

I would definitely consider moving after the kids are gone though. I'd think about renting a small 2 bedroom in a location where you can walk/transit to work. Cars are expensive and a huge waste.

Who in the hell pays 80k to move? Who do you hire to move your things? Mr. Carson and the Downton Abbey crew?

I'm sure pp is talking about the fat fees you pay to realtors to sell your house. Considering OP has a really big mortgage payment, they have at least an 800k house. 800x.06=48k just in realtor fees.

[Anonymous]

Pay off. Always.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You claim you live in a shitshack, but with that mortgage, it's tough. Honestly, I'd sell your place and rent something for awhile. After all, your kids are moving out within a couple of years anyway. Throw every cent of anything you make from the sale of the house at your student loan debt. Then trim EVERYTHING from that budget and start chunking it at your debt.

Dave Ramsey would tell you to stop all savings -- of all types-- and throw everything at your cc debt until that's gone, then attack your car debt (or sell your nice cars and buy beaters), then go for your student loan debt.

It's going to take you years to pay all of this off and if your wife already has $300k in her 401k, you may just need to let that sit and churn while you get rid of this crazy noose around your necks.

I disagree because of the transaction costs of moving. They will probably spend 80k just to move. It's not worth spending 80k to pay down 100k or so in loans.

I would definitely consider moving after the kids are gone though. I'd think about renting a small 2 bedroom in a location where you can walk/transit to work. Cars are expensive and a huge waste.

Who in the hell pays 80k to move? Who do you hire to move your things? Mr. Carson and the Downton Abbey crew?

Clearly I was talking about the realtor fees!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:started a new thread:


NP here -- what do you suggest with $250K in student loans, only contributing to retirement to company match (5%), and two kids in high school with $10K saved for each for college. (DW and I are in our mid-50s.)

(And no, we do not live in a $1mm plus house, have nice cars and have iPhones. We live in a $hitshack, have 12 yo cars and company-provided phones.)

Jesus!

Forget the kids. Advise them to go to community college and then transfer to a 4yr school. Advise them to do the dead opposite as yourself.

How the fuck you can get such an expensive useless education is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At first glance, your car loans seem high for your situation. How close are you to getting those paid off?

How much money do you have in savings currently? in 529's? In retirement accounts?

car loans will be paid off in 2017

Have 3K in savings, 10K in 529s, and my 401K is about 250K

You are hopeless. Your mortgage is higher than your cash savings? What is your degree in? Badketweaving?

[Anonymous]

Who are all these people commenting on this thread? Since when does one need "cash savings" in excess of a mortgage? Only in HHI-is-500+-DCUM-land is OP's situation concerning. People are so out of touch.

[Anonymous]

OP, is that 3k in savings your only cash savings or do you also have a separate emergency fund that you're not counting?

As for the comments regarding selling the house and the realtor fees, I think some of those decisions would be based on how much equity/appreciation OP has in his home. If he paid $600k (assuming little to no down payment) for it 10 years ago and it's now worth $800k, there is a chance he could net quite a profit even with the associated fees.