Reply to Money Goals for Exiting Big Law

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Money Goals for Exiting Big Law"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, 401K is $18K per year.  I had 401K savings from prior jobs though and my DH has some too (maybe $250K for him?  Maybe a total of $150K for me?) We do some additional savings, but I agree retirement can be bumped up.

I estimate when we move we would move to a house that is about $1.2M to $1.3M.  (current house would likely sell for $1 to $1.1)

I have about $50K left in student loans but the interest is 2.75% so I am in no hurry to pay it off.  We have a small car loan at 2.78%.   No other debt.

As to why we don't have more savings, I paid off all of my higher interest school debt my first  year at the firm, saved up for a house the second, and my DH had a job loss and then a business venture that failed over 18months.  We also had two kids in the last 4 years, so our childcare expenses were high.  We will still need a nanny for the next year or two, but I am hopeful that we can move to more part-time care or an au pair in 2 years.  [/quote]

I would pay off both of those loans (student loans and car loan) before leaving biglaw. The fewer fixed expenses you have, the more flexibility you will have (both mentally and actually) in your next steps.[/quote]

OP is looking to stay what another 2-3 yrs? I know people say - reduce your fixed cost as much as possible before leaving. But honestly if it were a choice between paying down another 50k of 2.75% loans OR taking that 50k and investing it, I'd invest it and make my regular payments (or maybe regular + a bit extra monthly but not enough to pay off before leaving). Same with the car. Assuming you're still looking to stay in the law, you very likely will have no issue making the same loan/car payments you're making now. If you're looking to go non profit or HR or something like that were the salary will be sub-100k -- then I can see why the 'get rid of fixed costs' argument works.[/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