Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do either of your companies let you withdraw up to $5,000/year pre-tax for a Dependent Care FSA? If so, that would free up some money. Also, don't forget that there will be tax benefits to having another dependent.

Becareful with this one. You don't really free up any money because you lose your dependent care deduction. What you do is basically take the deduction now rather than during your filing. I wish you could do both but the AHOLES at the irs disallow it.

For me, the tax deduction is LOWER than the $5000 oop.

Anonymous wrote:I want to vote for cutting other spending before touching your retirement as well. You wouldn't believe how much money we spend when we are not in a pinch. A movie here, eaitng out there, a day trip here, new clothes there, groceries are a big money dump as well. There are sooo many areas where spending can be cut back, phone, internet, TV are one of the biggest, groceries would be the next biggest probably. I honestly don't think you need a financial planner for that. Just sit down and make a list of all the spending you have regularly and see where you might be able to cut back. It's a lot easier to live without cable TV for a few years, than being poor when you're old for example. Lots of things might feel like you can't live without them now, but once you get used to it you might not even want to go back to spending money for THAT

I could not agree more, don't give Comcast your hard earned money that you will need when you're old.

Anonymous wrote:I am one of the PPs who stopped retirement contributions for a while. However, we both had secure jobs, so I was confident that we could get back to where we needed to be. I would feel nervous about your plan because it sounds like it's built on hope that your husband's business is going to do better. Along with the mountain mortgage, it sounds like one or both of you is doing too much speculation.

Honestly, on your income with your liabilities, I never would have gotten pregnant at this time. Especially with the insecurity of knowing what will happen with your husband's business. In fact, we only had one child in part because of money. I would cut to the bone and make a really good back-up plan. Maybe your husband can work part-time doing something else? Good luck.

You can't be serious.

Anonymous wrote:If I were you, OP, I would not consult a financial planner. It is a waste of money and you can find out everything they would tell you yourself.

I would just refinance my primary residence into a 30-yr mortgage. I would also consider moving to a smaller place.

While halting retirement savings for a year or two is not the end of the world, the risk is that it may end up being five or ten years - the costs of kids go down less than you expect after they start school...

Exactly. Just refinance. Lower your mortgage payments, continue contributing to your retirement fund, and have your houses paid off by the time you retire. You don't need a financial planner nor do you need to take the extreme measures people have been advising you to do on this board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, if only have 9 years left on the mountain property, how underwater could you be?

Sell the home you are living in, then buy something much cheaper. It sounds like DH's income could be unstable for some time. It would be crazy to keep on like this - downsize, downsize! Your child care costs are cheap for the area, I don't think that's the problem. Sorry, OP but you really do need to make major sacrifices here.

excellent advice! change homes, move, spend all the commuting, cancel cable, live on ramen noodles, but never ever ever ever stop contributing to retirement, even for a month! because everyone retiring on less than 2 mil is homeless or something.

this is the wrong forum to ask any retirement questions, ever.

This is true. (not the OP) I appreciate some of the advice here, but this forum is skewed dramatically towards people who think $100K a year is near poverty, and expect to maintain the exact same quality of life in retirement as their fairly lavish current lifestyles.

I do think that retirement income is very important, and this OP may have some other options available to her that she should consider. But to say that you can't have any kind of normal life -- even to the point of not having a CHILD (such a mean, pointless thing to say when the child is already here or on the way) -- because of some dream retirement decades down the road…it's a bit ridiculous.

+1
"how dare you have a child without first making sure you can max out your 401k from now till eternity"

If I were you, OP, I would not consult a financial planner. It is a waste of money and you can find out everything they would tell you yourself.

I would just refinance my primary residence into a 30-yr mortgage. I would also consider moving to a smaller place.

While halting retirement savings for a year or two is not the end of the world, the risk is that it may end up being five or ten years - the costs of kids go down less than you expect after they start school...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, if only have 9 years left on the mountain property, how underwater could you be?

Sell the home you are living in, then buy something much cheaper. It sounds like DH's income could be unstable for some time. It would be crazy to keep on like this - downsize, downsize! Your child care costs are cheap for the area, I don't think that's the problem. Sorry, OP but you really do need to make major sacrifices here.

excellent advice! change homes, move, spend all the commuting, cancel cable, live on ramen noodles, but never ever ever ever stop contributing to retirement, even for a month! because everyone retiring on less than 2 mil is homeless or something.

this is the wrong forum to ask any retirement questions, ever.

This is true. (not the OP) I appreciate some of the advice here, but this forum is skewed dramatically towards people who think $100K a year is near poverty, and expect to maintain the exact same quality of life in retirement as their fairly lavish current lifestyles.

I do think that retirement income is very important, and this OP may have some other options available to her that she should consider. But to say that you can't have any kind of normal life -- even to the point of not having a CHILD (such a mean, pointless thing to say when the child is already here or on the way) -- because of some dream retirement decades down the road…it's a bit ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, if only have 9 years left on the mountain property, how underwater could you be?

Sell the home you are living in, then buy something much cheaper. It sounds like DH's income could be unstable for some time. It would be crazy to keep on like this - downsize, downsize! Your child care costs are cheap for the area, I don't think that's the problem. Sorry, OP but you really do need to make major sacrifices here.

excellent advice! change homes, move, spend all the commuting, cancel cable, live on ramen noodles, but never ever ever ever stop contributing to retirement, even for a month! because everyone retiring on less than 2 mil is homeless or something.

this is the wrong forum to ask any retirement questions, ever.

Anonymous wrote:I am one of the PPs who stopped retirement contributions for a while. However, we both had secure jobs, so I was confident that we could get back to where we needed to be. I would feel nervous about your plan because it sounds like it's built on hope that your husband's business is going to do better. Along with the mountain mortgage, it sounds like one or both of you is doing too much speculation.

Honestly, on your income with your liabilities, I never would have gotten pregnant at this time. Especially with the insecurity of knowing what will happen with your husband's business. In fact, we only had one child in part because of money. I would cut to the bone and make a really good back-up plan. Maybe your husband can work part-time doing something else? Good luck.

That's harsh. And sad, in your case. I wonder what HHI you would deem high enough to have a second child. Plenty of people have babies in less-than-perfect financial situations (I sure did!) but make it work.

Wait, if only have 9 years left on the mountain property, how underwater could you be?

Sell the home you are living in, then buy something much cheaper. It sounds like DH's income could be unstable for some time. It would be crazy to keep on like this - downsize, downsize! Your child care costs are cheap for the area, I don't think that's the problem. Sorry, OP but you really do need to make major sacrifices here.

There are a lot of things you are doing right! For example, in 9 years when you are done paying your mortgage you will have $4K a month cash flow. Imagine if you put that into retirement. It is a lot more than what people here are advising you to do.

I know people who stopped contributing to 401Ks, and borrowed money from family to pay for daycare. It was short term and they had a plan that worked for them.

With 2 young children time is more important than saving $25 a month is parking costs. Having your car with you to pick up your child in an emergency - or in the rain makes a huge difference.

The cost to refinance the loan may be more than the net savings costs.

But a financial advisor can help you look at the complete picture - what is the tax inplications? Are there things that your husband should be expensing as a part of his business? (Should he lease a car and fully expense the lease payments? as well as the gas?)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Because instead of robbing herself of possible high gains and compounding interest while she is young, she'll be leveraging her money in the best possible way.

If her husband's business improves again in the future, she can just make extra payments on the 30-year and pay it off as quickly as she wants.

There is literally no reason to forgo retirement savings when OP has so many other options, refinancing being chief among them.

I want to vote for cutting other spending before touching your retirement as well. You wouldn't believe how much money we spend when we are not in a pinch. A movie here, eaitng out there, a day trip here, new clothes there, groceries are a big money dump as well. There are sooo many areas where spending can be cut back, phone, internet, TV are one of the biggest, groceries would be the next biggest probably. I honestly don't think you need a financial planner for that. Just sit down and make a list of all the spending you have regularly and see where you might be able to cut back. It's a lot easier to live without cable TV for a few years, than being poor when you're old for example. Lots of things might feel like you can't live without them now, but once you get used to it you might not even want to go back to spending money for THAT

You could refinance to another 15 year mortgage or a 20 year mortgage on your house, which should drop your payments if you don't want to do a 30 year mortgage. Mortgage nterest rates are really low, and you'll be better off putting that money into retirement accounts and having mortgage payments for a little longer. As a PP said, you can put any extra money towards paying off the mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of childcare did you choose? Have you considered a licensed in-home provider? That can be half the cost of a center downtown.

I'd go that route before ceasing my retirement contributions.

We are in a center, but in Hyattsville. The tuition there will be $900/mo for the infant, and DS's tuition is $720/mo.

Do you mind my asking, which place in Hyattsville?