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[quote=Anonymous]You seem to be doing okay-ish.  You don't have a mortgage but you have some unusual family obligations.  I do wonder about items not listed in budget (e.g., car repairs/other maintenance, other insurances).  It would be more helpful if you included your take home pay and specify how much you are currently saving for retirement pre-tax --and if there's any match.

529 contributions seem very high for your situation.  College financial aid forms will consider your age and income level when awarding aid so you're more likely to qualify than a 40 year old with the same income.  You'll be close to retirement age when the time comes.   That said, there's new ruling that you can use 529 for K-12 private school tuition so you might want to do that for the state income tax break (just contribute to 529 and withdraw for tuition, not exhaust savings).  Also remember you won't be paying the 2K/month tuition in college so you've essentially got 24K for college in cash flow already. You'll probably have an expected family contribution of (in today's dollars) $30-40K/yr so the gap isn't that large.

I would cut to $25-50/mo donations for the time period your child is in school and your spouse doesn't have outside paid work and volunteer for the remainder.  Once she's working part-time you can reassess your situation. Do you have emergency savings built up?  I would redirect any savings to that because while you're doing okay you seem to be in a somewhat vulnerable position with a lot of people you love counting on you for their well-being.

If you haven't, I would assess your overall net worth and see where you stand with regard to retirement, college savings etc..  It may be that you need to reduce your pre-tax savings to give you a bit more buffer in the moment.  [/quote]

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