Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the absence of a large increase in your income your DD will likely qualify for need based financial aid.

Alternatively you could put money in a Roth IRA and use it for either college or retirement, depending on your circumstances at the time.

It depends on what the other parent makes, too.

My father was not in the picture and it was very, very, very hard to get the financial aid office of my college to accept this.

My understanding is that they now look at the household where the student primarily resides. So for my sister, they looked at her and her husband's income but not her ex husband who is the father of the student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people really struggle with basic math, huh?

in what way?

Sorry, my kids are grown. The days of explaining fundamental arithmetic are over.

OP, the 401k max for 2018 is $18,500.

I make $75k but I am married (DH makes $104k), so take this with a huge grain or salt. This is the first year I am maxing out my 403b at $18,500, plus maxing out my Roth IRA at $5500, plus adding @$6k to my 457, all while also doing a dependent care flex spending account ($5k), a little to the health FSA ($260), the transportation FSA (@1440), pension (@$3k), and taxes. It leaves me with about @$1100/paycheck. I'm doing this because I am way behind in my retirement savings. It's incredibly tight but I can only do this because most of the regular bills are handled by DH and we budget to the nth degree. (He is maxing out his Roth IRA at $5500 and aiming to up his pretax retirement to 18% before the end of the year for the very first time.) We are in NYC.

It might be possible to max out your 401k but you might need to get extreme with your budget. And it might feel uncomfortably tight. I like to advice of increasing your contributions one percent at a time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people really struggle with basic math, huh?

that's why there salaries are so low

their. To poster with high salary

Anonymous wrote:You people really struggle with basic math, huh?

that's why there salaries are so low

Anonymous wrote:You people really struggle with basic math, huh?

in what way?

You people really struggle with basic math, huh?

Anonymous wrote:In the absence of a large increase in your income your DD will likely qualify for need based financial aid.

Alternatively you could put money in a Roth IRA and use it for either college or retirement, depending on your circumstances at the time.

It depends on what the other parent makes, too.

My father was not in the picture and it was very, very, very hard to get the financial aid office of my college to accept this.

In the absence of a large increase in your income your DD will likely qualify for need based financial aid.

Alternatively you could put money in a Roth IRA and use it for either college or retirement, depending on your circumstances at the time.

Anonymous wrote:I’m another single mom and have never been able to do this and save for college for my DD. I was always putting in 7% with a 3% match. Now that I make a whopping $90,000 I started putting in 9% last year. We have high health care costs as my company does not pay anything at all for dependents. Now at age 50, of course I wish I had been able to save more, but it’s the best I can do.

You can borrow for college. You cannot borrow for your retirement. You should fully fund retirement first. Kids can figure out college if need be, or you can borrow if need be then and pay back but you need to pay yourself first.

Anonymous wrote:Single mom, 1 child
$70k annual salary
File Head of Household

I’m inspired by the posters who say they “max” their 401k. I contribute to the employer match currently, and am considering maxing it out.

What is the max I can contribute?
Any estimate of what my take home (after taxes) will be if I do this? (Exclude health ins, etc)

I’m trying to determine if this would be feasible for me to attempt.

I appreciate your help and suggestions.

What are your fixed expenses for housing, debt repayment, transportation and child care?

When I make $70k, I maxed my 401k, and contributed to an FSA, but no health insurance. My takehome was about $1350 per paycheck.

Paycheckcity.com and put in the numbers for your health insurance, etc. Use your paystub for the numbers for insurance, FSA, HSA, etc.

Anonymous wrote:DH makes around 70k and maxes. His take home is about $1500 every two weeks, so about $39k/yr or $3250/mo.

This sounds about right. I was making that much about a year and maxing out my 401k a couple of years ago.

I’m another single mom and have never been able to do this and save for college for my DD. I was always putting in 7% with a 3% match. Now that I make a whopping $90,000 I started putting in 9% last year. We have high health care costs as my company does not pay anything at all for dependents. Now at age 50, of course I wish I had been able to save more, but it’s the best I can do.