Good day, mustachians! I, in September, borrowed money for a house, and a new car, and several other things for which I have only marginal use. About a month later, I started reading this website, and wait, what? - people retire early? Can I actually DO that? Is this legal?
Unfortunately, the damage is already done and I'm afraid I'm in for several face punches, so here's the down and dirty.
Income: I and my wife both work full-time, I as an electrical engineer intern, her as a schoolteacher. We've been married one year. I am two years out of college, and she is in her first year of full-time work. No children yet, though we're working on that.
Total net monthly income: $5,500
Current expenses: Auto insurance - $178 monthly. I have a mark on my record, 3 cars, and one requires full coverage.
Auto payment - $209
Gasoline - ~$300. We get 36 mpg in the car that gets most of the miles, and still spend this much. I live 5 miles from work, and the wife lives 10 miles from work.
Auto Parts- ~$200 (Varies wildly. I DIY on most of this.)
Internet (DSL): $30
Phones: $76. I use Ting, but my wife refuses to use either it or Republic Wireless due to poor Sprint coverage in rural areas. She pays $40 monthly to be on her parents plan. I'm working on it.
Television (Satellite): $59. I am practically addicted to NBA basketball, or else we would ditch it. Not sure what to do about this.
Utilities: $200 monthly. Natural gas and electric.
Student loan: $72. (deferred another 12 months)
Life insurance: $12. This gets us a 5% discount on homeowners insurance, which makes it break about even.
Homebrewing beer: $50. We make a lot of beer.
Fast food & restaurants: $100
Groceries: $400. This varies so much it is difficult to come up with a typical amount. It has been as low as $250, and as high as $450.
Health: $100
Home improvement/maintenance: $500. This house has been an incredible money-pit. Seems like something breaks every day. Hopefully I'm just breaking it in?
Lawn and garden: $56. Did I mention that I also borrowed money to buy a $2000 lawn mower? For a mere .88 acres.
Mortgage: $1445 (includes tax and insurance)
Payment for money owed to my family: $125
Personal Care: $50. This is for whatever it is my wife does to her hair and such.
Clothing: $60
Pets: $150. We've had some wretched luck with cats. I hope to lower this to around $50 a month for dog food and cat litter.
General shopping: $150. This is for cleaning products and whatever doesn't fit into the other categories.
HOA: $25.
Personal: $400. The real kicker. We each take $200 and do what we like with it. For me, this has amounted to about $70 a month of cash in my wallet, with the rest going to either investing or shoring up other things in the budget.
All of this comes up to $4,809, which is roughly consistent with my current target budget. I attempt to save $500 in the vanguard funds and $500 in my 401K each month, though the vanguard saving has been hit-and-miss.
Assets: $6800 in checking account. $17500 in vanguard index funds and REIT. ~$20,000 in a traditional 401K. The house cost $160,000. Knowing what I know now, I doubt I'd get that much for it. Have a new 6-speed car (doh), an early 90's 5-speed pickup I use for work, and an old car I built from a junkyard. Not sure I'd call those assets, really, so adding up the other things comes to $204,300. Without the house which is owned mostly by the bank at this point, $44,300.
Liabilities: Student loans - $5270 @ 0.9%
Car loan - $12,500 @ 2.2%
Loan from family - $17,500 @ 3%
Home loan - $149,000 @ 3.75% (15 years)
Lawn mower - $2000 @ 0%
Total - $186,270 ($37,270 without house)
Specific Question(s): I guess want general advice and thoughts on my costs. I feel like I made major mistakes buying too much home, a new car, the lawn mower, etc. If I could take it all back I would, but I'm not sure where to go from my actual position! I feel like it's too early to sell the house for a loss, or sell my wifes car that she just bought. So maybe I just need a few face-punches. I'm honestly not sure what the correct questions would be. Oh, and how do I change my 401K to a Roth IRA? My employer matches 25% of what I put in up to 12% of my salary, which I do put in 12%, but how do I get that into a Roth?
This is pretty long, and it's pretty dry. If you would like any more information, you're a glutton for punishment, but I will happily provide more detail.