I am confused about the $5K in tuition a month while there is $300K in the 529. I am also confused about $500 a month for health insurance when one of you is a federal employee.

The clear answer is that you need to seek financial aid for college and have kids take out loans. If you are in a better financial position once they graduate, you can pay some/all of it off.

Anonymous wrote:I need to stop reading this site! My husband and I do not have kids but only have about $70K liquid…and people on here are saying $100K is nothing…

When you don’t have kids you don’t need a lot of money. You can pack up and rent an apartment anywhere. Worse comes to worst, live in the wild and hunt for food.

Kids change everything.

I need to stop reading this site! My husband and I do not have kids but only have about $70K liquid…and people on here are saying $100K is nothing…

Anonymous wrote:Someone has been bad with money for years. See what happens when you upgrade your life too soon.
Back to basics: Sell or rent the house. Kid goes to CC and gets a job to max out their Roth.
Whoever lost the job, can get two jobs working 60+ hours a week. No time to spend if busy all the time.
I don't work for money anymore. I made it happen on minimum wage. Imagine the experience I got making it through 2001, 2008, 2020 on low wage. I do have mad personal finance tips and trick though and I'm willing to do them.
I have three ex bosses calling me to come to work day and night, while others can't seem to find a job.How did you get it all backwards?

Are you the restaurant worker who is always posting about being asked to come back to work? Honestly, good for you.

“Only $100K liquid’ my god some people on this site are so out of touch with how the vast majority of this country, hell, THIS AREA lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your monthly burn rate? That is the amount you must spend every month on mortgage and other fixed bills, minimum groceries, etc. but does not include any discretionary spending or dining out?

What is the net take home per month for each adult, after taxes, retirement and insurance are taken out? What is the net take home for the non-riffed adult?

Without knowing these numbers we can't really help you. You should know these numbers off the top of your head, and if you don't, that's part of the issue right there.

Mortgage : $5k
Health insurance: $500 (this will jump when RIF)
Car payment: $700
College tuition:$5000

After tax
Earner 1: $8k
Earner 2: $7k

So the college tuition is a huge red flag. You don't even really have enough money with 2 incomes to be forking over $5k a month in college tuition. That's 60k per year alone. A family making $300k with 3 kids and $100k in a 529 has NO BUSINESS signing a kid up for a $60k/year college. NONE. What are your utilities? Cell phone bills? Grocery bills? I honestly don't see how you aren't in the red already every month.

Let's say the $8k earner keeps their job. $5k/mortgage. $700 car payment, $500 utilities (?), $1k groceries. That's $7200 right there and doesn't include an increase in health insurance or a single activity or unexpected expense. And certainly doesn't cover $5k in college expenses. No sane person earth would advise you to withdraw retirement funds to pay for college. Nobody.

You and your spouse (and probably your college aged child) need to have a "come to Jesus" meeting. You need to make MAJOR changes and now.

You will be okay OP. Can you tell us how long fed has been working?

In a RIF the fed will get one week of pay for each year worked. In the meantime live on the other salary and save the other paycheck. Both of you should reduce your TSP/401K contributions to the match until you know what is happening. When/if the RIF happens, the working spouse will adjust withholdings and that spouse will take home more money. At that point you can dip into the 100+K if needed. Kid may be eligible for financial aid, you have $300K saved. Youngest may need to take loans, but don't borrow from your nestegg for your kids' college.

Anonymous wrote:What is your monthly burn rate? That is the amount you must spend every month on mortgage and other fixed bills, minimum groceries, etc. but does not include any discretionary spending or dining out?

What is the net take home per month for each adult, after taxes, retirement and insurance are taken out? What is the net take home for the non-riffed adult?

Without knowing these numbers we can't really help you. You should know these numbers off the top of your head, and if you don't, that's part of the issue right there.

Mortgage : $5k
Health insurance: $500 (this will jump when RIF)
Car payment: $700
College tuition:$5000

After tax
Earner 1: $8k
Earner 2: $7k

What is your monthly burn rate? That is the amount you must spend every month on mortgage and other fixed bills, minimum groceries, etc. but does not include any discretionary spending or dining out?

What is the net take home per month for each adult, after taxes, retirement and insurance are taken out? What is the net take home for the non-riffed adult?

Without knowing these numbers we can't really help you. You should know these numbers off the top of your head, and if you don't, that's part of the issue right there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No empathy to someone with a $5k mortgage. Go into savings, get second jobs, figure it out.

We had two stable govt jobs and wanted a sane commute and good schools. It’s a complete sht shack. We bought after pandemic because of family obligations and paying off student loans first.

A couple with two stable government jobs in their 50's should not be in such dire financial straights. How do you only have $100k beyond your retirement plan? How much did you save in 529's? Do you have no other savings or investments?

Yes, being laid off stinks and yes of course you can start burning your retirement savings early but you'll just be back here in 10 years complaining you have no money.

How on earth did this happen? You just way overspent on a house? I don't understand.

Can we stop the shaming for not having mounds of cash. We invest very conservatively so savings haven’t grown since our families are poor and we worry about losing principal. Between that and waiting to buy a house until our careers were established (we had long lost grad fellowships after PhD) just meant our timing sucked. Sure wish we could have bought in the 90s!

Trying to focus on the now

$100k cash
$300k 529
$1.2M TSP

Up till today, we had two GS15 jobs so our monthly was $26k gross ($150k) so a $5k mortgage is 19% DTI, well within recommendations.

But how do we pay mortgage and health insurance when all money is TSP and 529?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No empathy to someone with a $5k mortgage. Go into savings, get second jobs, figure it out.

We had two stable govt jobs and wanted a sane commute and good schools. It’s a complete sht shack. We bought after pandemic because of family obligations and paying off student loans first.

A couple with two stable government jobs in their 50's should not be in such dire financial straights. How do you only have $100k beyond your retirement plan? How much did you save in 529's? Do you have no other savings or investments?

Yes, being laid off stinks and yes of course you can start burning your retirement savings early but you'll just be back here in 10 years complaining you have no money.

How on earth did this happen? You just way overspent on a house? I don't understand.

Oh yeah we have $300k in 529, that’s true. But we have 3 kids, so won’t go far.

I agree we wish we could have bought earlier, but family of origin and student loans meant we waited until we had a down payment and fund, and by then they were really really expensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No empathy to someone with a $5k mortgage. Go into savings, get second jobs, figure it out.

We had two stable govt jobs and wanted a sane commute and good schools. It’s a complete sht shack. We bought after pandemic because of family obligations and paying off student loans first.

A couple with two stable government jobs in their 50's should not be in such dire financial straights. How do you only have $100k beyond your retirement plan? How much did you save in 529's? Do you have no other savings or investments?

Yes, being laid off stinks and yes of course you can start burning your retirement savings early but you'll just be back here in 10 years complaining you have no money.

How on earth did this happen? You just way overspent on a house? I don't understand.

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Anonymous wrote:Someone has been bad with money for years. See what happens when you upgrade your life too soon.
Back to basics: Sell or rent the house. Kid goes to CC and gets a job to max out their Roth.
Whoever lost the job, can get two jobs working 60+ hours a week. No time to spend if busy all the time.
I don't work for money anymore. I made it happen on minimum wage. Imagine the experience I got making it through 2001, 2008, 2020 on low wage. I do have mad personal finance tips and trick though and I'm willing to do them.
I have three ex bosses calling me to come to work day and night, while others can't seem to find a job.How did you get it all backwards?

Thanks for the laugh!

Someone has been bad with money for years. See what happens when you upgrade your life too soon.
Back to basics: Sell or rent the house. Kid goes to CC and gets a job to max out their Roth.
Whoever lost the job, can get two jobs working 60+ hours a week. No time to spend if busy all the time.
I don't work for money anymore. I made it happen on minimum wage. Imagine the experience I got making it through 2001, 2008, 2020 on low wage. I do have mad personal finance tips and trick though and I'm willing to do them.
I have three ex bosses calling me to come to work day and night, while others can't seem to find a job.How did you get it all backwards?