Hello everyone,
I just recently joined the forums however I am a longtime reddit personal finance and MMM lurker,
I'd like some suggestions, and some analysis on my position to see if I can improve my situation.
Here goes:
Client Services Manager with a financial planning firm based in Hobart, Salary $52,000 (AUD) per annum.
Savings $1,000
Superannuation (Retirement Account) $12,000 invested in Vanguard's Aus Share Fund and International Fund 50/50
Personal Loan @ 9% $3,500 ($6,500 available)
Credit Card @ 0% (8 months to go until it changes to 19%) $3,750
HECS (Student Loans) @ 2.5% $50,000 deferred until 2017/2018.
Breakdown of fortnightly pay check but stated monthly:
Gross $4,000
Tax -$660
Salary Sacrifice -$200 (Will explain)
Superannuation $380 (In addition to salary and is added to my retirement account which I cannot withdraw until aged 65)
Net Pay $3,140
Expenses
Rent $400
Public Transport $50
Utilities $100-120 (Including a phone on an optus $80 plan, locked in contract until 2017.)
Gym/Martial Arts $106
Fuel $50
Car Insurance and Registration costs $150
Groceries $400-$600
Entertainment/Eating Out $200 - $400 (Varies if I meal prep)
Health Insurance $100
Credit Card Repayment $100
Personal Loan Repayment $800
Savings $450
Life/TPD/Trauma/Income Protection Insurance provided by my superannuation at a cost of $150 per month. (For those that are interested Level premiums) I salary sacrifice some before tax income into superannuation to cover this and change to prevent my balance from deteriorating.
- That's about the average breakdown, some variance as I pay some costs annually and budget for the next year.
Identified Issues:
Not always adhering to my savings/debt repayment schedule but I more or less try hard to stick to it. My goal is to zing the personal loan and then crush the credit card before it gets to the interest rate increase.
Probably overspending on entertainment and eating out, I get lazy sometimes and just buy lunch - although I often meal prep. Finding it difficult to find good meals to prep. Suggestions?
Concerned that I am not building an emergency fund at a reasonable rate, 3-6 months for me is about ~$15,000
I use public transport to and from work as much as possible to cut down on transport costs, I have a Toyota Corolla '92 that has nearly 400,000 kms on the ticker. Probably spent about 5k over the past 4 years on repairs and expecting that this may need replacing in a year maybe 2 if I am lucky.
Points, suggestions, criticism all welcome. Cheers!
(Update)
Thanks for all the suggestions; in the two months since I've done the following:
Reduced insurance premiums from $150 to $88 a month
Discontinued salary sacrificing freeing up $200 a month
Cracked down on the eating out and food budget, groceries are now about $200 a month and eating out is probably about the same.
Was gifted a years worth of rego (Woo!)
Paid off $1700 on the personal loan and $1425 on the credit card
Increased the amount of tax taken from my fortnightly pay check as I calculated that I was going to be short $800 or so by EOFY
I've about $4000 debt remaining and I intend to use the next 3 paycheques and tax return to clear that entirely.
I've decided to set aside $600 a month for my emergency fund and $1000 a month for the next 5 months to start a non-super investment with Vanguard (High Growth Fund).
After which I will increase E fund savings to $1.5k a month and put $100 a month into the Vanguard account. I'll reach 6 months approx. $20k E fund at the end of 2017 and then it's straight on to pumping all excess into my investments.
Thanks again :)