Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you think you can afford? Are you planning to have kids? That debt is crazy high.

Law school is expensive. That’s why our debt is so high. Yes, we have 2 kids under 5.

Yet somehow we paid ours off in 10 years. Maybe you should get a job instead of mooching off your lawyer husband.

Op here: for your information, I am the wife and the lawyer, not my husband. And good for you for paying off your debt in 10 years I haven’t even been out of law school for 5 years yet.

what is the income split between you and your DH? What is your current rent plus utilities?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - $300k
Student debt - $250k
Car debt and other debt -$50k
Retirement fund, IRAs and 401k balance- $170k
Monthly fixed expenses: $4k

How much of the $4k goes to student debt, how much for car and how much to 401k/IRA?
How much are you putting toward college costs for children?
What is the “and other debt”?

How is the $300k income split between each spouse?

The $4k expenses doesn’t include any payments for the student debt (it’s on a freeze for now) and it doesn’t include retirement (we put $30k/annually in retirement funds). $722 for the car which is included in the $4k expense figure. We haven’t started saving for college yet.

why are you not paying them off anyway. It was a great time to get ahead on them. You are gainfully employed. That doesn’t make sense to me.

I would not buy yet. You need to get that debt down and save more. Plus, you need to start saving for college now.

Anonymous wrote:I would advise that you rent a cheaper place and save up for a DP. Aim to get a job not in an expensive city center (Tysons, Columbia, Baltimore). Save save save and in a few years, have a sizable DP on a nice house that is 900K as opposed to 1.5M.

In what world is Tyson’s not expensive? Some of you are really out of touch. Rents are very high. There is no cheap rental. I own a few rentals and they are small older townhouses. Rent for those is 3k/mo on average. Only a few hundred bucks cheaper than if you purchased the same house with 20% down.

I would advise that you rent a cheaper place and save up for a DP. Aim to get a job not in an expensive city center (Tysons, Columbia, Baltimore). Save save save and in a few years, have a sizable DP on a nice house that is 900K as opposed to 1.5M.

Op, we are two PhDs who have 180k in student debt. Our HHI is 280. We bought a 3 bedroom townhouse for 450k in 2016 and it is now worth almost 600k. Even a townhouse is an investment instead of throwing money away on rent. We do have childcare costs and our 401k is at 700k but we have a few years on you. Our plan in the next few years is to buy a house but keep the townhouse as a rental property. Sit down and talk to your DH about his career plans. He probably won't want to stay home forever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - $300k
Student debt - $250k
Car debt and other debt -$50k
Retirement fund, IRAs and 401k balance- $170k
Monthly fixed expenses: $4k

How much of the $4k goes to student debt, how much for car and how much to 401k/IRA?
How much are you putting toward college costs for children?
What is the “and other debt”?

How is the $300k income split between each spouse?

The $4k expenses doesn’t include any payments for the student debt (it’s on a freeze for now) and it doesn’t include retirement (we put $30k/annually in retirement funds). $722 for the car which is included in the $4k expense figure. We haven’t started saving for college yet.

Sell your car and get a good used one for $20k. You need a low cost rental somewhere.

No college savings for the kids. Abysmal retirement savings. Suffocating debt. I’m sorry to say, but you are a mess. In your case I wouldn’t take on a penny more PITI than 3k/mo. You say you have 100lbs I put down, so I’m guessing a purchase price of no more than 575k.

How does someone end up with so much debt and only a combined hhi of 300k 5 years out of school? Terrible ROI.

You have way too much debt to not be working. I know you’re going to come up with excuses why you can’t work, but you seriously need a job asap. If anything for the retirement contributions and match.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - $300k
Student debt - $250k
Car debt and other debt -$50k
Retirement fund, IRAs and 401k balance- $170k
Monthly fixed expenses: $4k

How old are you and how much do you THINK you can afford given the stats you provided? Happy to answer your question and tell you my story if you share that info! I'm guessing I am about 10 years older than you.

Op here: we are 33 and 36. I think $750k mortgage should be OK. Please do share. TIA!

DH here who did a very different path than you, but I can help you our. I need to know your long term goals, financial and otherwise.

Barring that, no, a $750k mortgage is nuts. Especially at 6%. You will forever be a wage slave.

Most people don’t care about this. There is only a tiny portion of the population trying to save as much as possible to quit working and/or live off investments.

Why? Work is easy. I find it fascinating someone pays me $250k to perform work on a computer. I’d be a fool to give this up. Most people have no problem working until retirement age.

You need a job!!!!!

Op, our income is similar at $300k. However we have no debt and we’re putting down $250k. We looked at houses up to $850k because we didn’t want to be cash strapped. You need to get rid of the debt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - $300k
Student debt - $250k
Car debt and other debt -$50k
Retirement fund, IRAs and 401k balance- $170k
Monthly fixed expenses: $4k

How old are you and how much do you THINK you can afford given the stats you provided? Happy to answer your question and tell you my story if you share that info! I'm guessing I am about 10 years older than you.

Op here: we are 33 and 36. I think $750k mortgage should be OK. Please do share. TIA!

DH here who did a very different path than you, but I can help you our. I need to know your long term goals, financial and otherwise.

Barring that, no, a $750k mortgage is nuts. Especially at 6%. You will forever be a wage slave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - $300k
Student debt - $250k
Car debt and other debt -$50k
Retirement fund, IRAs and 401k balance- $170k
Monthly fixed expenses: $4k

How much of the $4k goes to student debt, how much for car and how much to 401k/IRA?
How much are you putting toward college costs for children?
What is the “and other debt”?

How is the $300k income split between each spouse?

The $4k expenses doesn’t include any payments for the student debt (it’s on a freeze for now) and it doesn’t include retirement (we put $30k/annually in retirement funds). $722 for the car which is included in the $4k expense figure. We haven’t started saving for college yet.

Where is all your money going if you aren't paying student debt and what is your plan to pay that off. How is your carpayment so much. Sounds like you have a spending issue that you need to get under control.

You cannot afford much. Your income is low and you have way too much debt.
A $350k mortgage should be your limit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - $300k
Student debt - $250k
Car debt and other debt -$50k
Retirement fund, IRAs and 401k balance- $170k
Monthly fixed expenses: $4k

How much of the $4k goes to student debt, how much for car and how much to 401k/IRA?
How much are you putting toward college costs for children?
What is the “and other debt”?

How is the $300k income split between each spouse?

The $4k expenses doesn’t include any payments for the student debt (it’s on a freeze for now) and it doesn’t include retirement (we put $30k/annually in retirement funds). $722 for the car which is included in the $4k expense figure. We haven’t started saving for college yet.