Hi Everyone - just want to start off by saying "hi" and that this is the first time I've ever posted anything in any forum, so forgive any breaches of etiquette.
Basically, I'm looking for some advice on what to do with some savings bonds and/or my emergency fund, and how I should start allocating some extra cash. Before asking the actual question(s), let me give you all the rundown:
I'm currently 29 yrs old (wish I had discovered the Mustachian way earlier than I did, but better now than never).
My savings are as follows:
401k: ~$27,000 (currently contributing 9% of salary + 3% employer match)
Newly opened Vanguard Roth: ~$1,300 their "Target Retirement 2050 Fund" - started w/ this because of it's $1,000 buy-in price
Savings: 0.94% CD $9,500 (maturing 7/1/2014), 1.33% CD $5,150 (maturing 4/29/2015), $1,000 in savings account
Individual Savings Bonds: ~$7,400 in EE bonds, ~$9,600 in I bonds
My debts are as follows:
Student Loans: ~$10,400 w/ interest rates between 2.5% and 6.5%
Car Loan: ~$3,500 at 2.1% <-----very anti-mustache, I know
Mortgage: ~$73,000 at 5.125% <-----getting ready to sell due to a work relocation. House was bought for $98,000, should be able to sell for about $120,000
So, I had a few ideas but was curious to here what other like-minded people might think.
Here's my thoughts:
- Keep the bonds as my new emergency fund (this makes the $$ more difficult to get to, which truly makes it an emergency fund and allows me to invest pretty much totally in stocks since I already have this conservative 'stache)
- Since the CD's aren't doing a whole lot for me, cash them both out (will lose about $20 interest between both of them).
- Use the $$ from the CD's to max out my 2013 and 2014 Roth contributions, and pay off ~$4,400 in my student/car loans
- this leaves about $9,500 in debt - which I could pay off in about 8 months
So, that's basically what I was thinking - just seemed silly to have the cash sitting around doing nothing.
Thanks in advance for your help! And happy holidays!