I blogged here a couple years ago, but never got more than a handful of entries in before I stopped. Basically I stopped blogging because I felt that some people’s comments were super critical/disrespectful of my choices. I understand that people come here for advice, but I was not looking to be torn down. That being said, I am putting it out there now:
My husband and I do not mix finances and that is the way it is going to stay for the foreseeable future.
We are married but file our taxes separately.
The house is in his name because he bought it before we were married. The mortgage is $2250/mo
I make 42k/yr and he makes 155k/yr
I contribute $1100/mo towards household bill and he covers the rest, which is a lot.
I have no credit card debt, but I do have 90k in student loans.
I am not willing to discuss my relationship with my husband and why we handle the things we do. It is what it is.
Obviously my student loans are a big deal. I just landed this job after finishing my degree and I am optimistic that this starting point will lead to a higher salary. I don’t have any money saved. Not even a retirement account. Now that I am actually earning money I hope to start saving, even though a need to put a lot of my money towards student loan repayment. Ideally I am going to try and put aside $400 month, but that will be hard. My company does not offer a 401k plan so I will need to look into a ROTH and funding that on my own. I don’t know anything about ROTHs so I will need to research that to learn how to get started.
I take home about $2500/mo and these are my financial obligations:
Household $1100
Student Loans $525 (income based)
Phone $68/mo
Gas for car $140-160/mo
Car insurance $75/mo
Those are my bare bones expenses. Of course something always comes up, like needing new tires, or an expensive prescription. I try not to eat out, but I know that a lot of my money goes to grabbing lunch. I need to work on that. My car is paid for, but at 6 years old I worry that I am overdue for some pricey repairs. I need to start a car repair savings.
I really enjoy reading all of your blogs, which is why I wanted to get back into it. I am hoping things go better this time. I learn a lot from you guys. I read them all and am fascinated by the complexities of all your lives. I don’t have “favorites”, but I love reading updates from PatientSaver, ToiletPaper Tracker, Keeping it Frugal, CeeJay, and several others!
Trying this again
September 27th, 2016 at 06:26 pm
September 27th, 2016 at 07:23 pm 1475004216
September 27th, 2016 at 07:50 pm 1475005816
September 27th, 2016 at 08:11 pm 1475007098
I expect that you won't be able to contribute to a ROTH given household income. (I looked up quickly and you wouldn't be able to contribute to an IRA with MFS tax filing, unless your income was less than $10k? I wasn't sure on the MFS so I looked it up). This might be a reason to consider a work retirement plan to be an important option (even if changing jobs to do so) or you may just need to start a regular investment account for retirement purposes.
September 27th, 2016 at 08:32 pm 1475008360
September 28th, 2016 at 12:30 am 1475022651
September 28th, 2016 at 04:32 pm 1475080354
I graduated with 40k in student loans and actually had to take a 50 percent pay cut to work in my chosen field (busy tourist bar bartender= $50k a year, beginning magazine editor = $23k a year!). I accelerated the pay off on my loans substantially by taking on extra freelance work-- as much as I could handle. I used my regular income to pay the minimum monthly payment (plus all bills), then every cent of freelance went as an extra payment to the student loan. Sometimes, it was $1000 a month.
I had it paid off way faster than I ever thought I could. I don't know what field you work in, but is freelancing or an extra part time job an option for you to speed up debt payoff? It really is a big weight lifted off of you when it's gone.
September 28th, 2016 at 10:43 pm 1475102614
One idea about the student loans...don't know what your interest rate is, or when you got them, but you might be able to save money by refinancing them. I think some people don't consider that you can refinance student loans just like a mortgage. Not every bank does it, but Citizens Bank does, for one. I believe you can plug in your numbers on their site and see what your monthly savings could be.
September 28th, 2016 at 10:45 pm 1475102711
https://www.citizensbank.com/student-loans/education-refinance-loan-overview.aspx
September 29th, 2016 at 02:01 am 1475114504
September 29th, 2016 at 08:37 pm 1475181454
Hope you can try to save some for retirement, even a little bit.