Reply to Max out on 401k or pay off student loans?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Max out on 401k or pay off student loans?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]HHI approx $220k (me: about $95k)
Student loans (mine only): $53k (currently paying $1000 per month)
Mortgage: $2250
Childcare: $1000 monthly, soon to be $2000 monthly upon arrival of second child in fall
Car payment (DH): $300ish per month, 2 years left. I drive old paid off car
401k: (DH): approx $150k; (me): approx $60k
Cash on hand (each): about $15k, total about $30k
no credit card debt

Back story (in case relevant)- I went to grad school 10 years ago and ended up in low paying jobs in international development from 2006-2009.  A contract job I worked on ended during the recession (mid-2009), and I spent 3 years trying to find stable work. During that time, I worked a lot of odd jobs, and saved a lot, relative to what I was making by living very simply. Paid health insurance on my own, etc. In 2012, landed my current job and have been maxing out on 401k contributions ever since.

DH bought a house in 2009 before we met. I had enough saved that I encouraged purchase of a rental house (mostly my cash) which we bought early 2015. The down payment (approx $80k) might have better gone directly to my student loans, but we made the decision we made. We found out 2 weeks ago, there is a proposal put in for a development across the street from our rental house so there is incredible potential for appreciation there..mentioning this for the folks who are going to criticize me for buying a rental before paying off my loans.

I know I could be throwing myself to the wolves by asking advice here. We live very very simply- rarely eat out, always pack lunches, I drive a 17 y/o car, etc, in order to save. Cash on hand not incredibly high due to frequent smaller maintenance tasks in our current house and putting 20% down on rental house.

We pay jointly on childcare, mortgage, groceries, etc, but each pay our own transportation, I pay my loans independently etc.

I want to be done with my student debt. Should I lower 401k contributions to make progress? If I continue to pay at current rate ($1000k per month), if I am ABLE (ie no unforeseen huge expenses that cut into my extra contributions), it will still take me 4 more years to pay, but it means stagnant cash on hand and little extra savings on my end.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics