Life Situation: Single, no other deductions. 28 year old male. Bought house summer '15.
Gross Salary/Wages: $55,000
Pre-tax deductions: N/A
Other Ordinary Income: N/A
Qualified Dividends & Long Term Capital Gains: <$100
Rental Income, Actual Expenses, and Depreciation: N/A
Adjusted Gross Income: $55,000
Taxes:
Federal- $7,000
state/local- $2,150
FICA- $4,200 (?)
Current monthly expenses: (percentage is of take home pay of $3,600)
Mortgage- $580 ($280 in P&Int, $300 in T&Ins) - 16%
Groceries- $310 - 9%
Restaurants- $225 – 6%
Deferred Comp. - $200 – 5%
Utilities - $200 - 5%
Automotive- $180 - 5%
“other”- $125 – 3%
Travel/Entertainment- $100 - 3%
Auto Insurance- $80 – 2%
Shopping- $70 – 2%
Life Insurance- $15 - 0%
Expected ER expenses: (?)
Assets:
Emergency Funds:
Online Savings Account (1% APY) - $7,000
5-year CD (2% APY) - $15,100 (actually split into 3 CD)
Checking Account (negligible interest) - $6,000
Home (still paying off) – (hopefully worth at least...) $160,000
Cars - (hopefully worth at least...) $8,000
Roth IRA - $10,300
Deferred Comp. - $6,000
Misc. stocks given in childhood - $1,000
Liabilities:
Mortgage - $46,000 left, minimum monthly payment of $580 ($280 in P&Int, $300 in T&Ins). 30 year loan (matures 6-1-15), i= 3.75%.
Specific Question(s):
-I would like to get suggestions from fresh sets of eyes. While I would consider myself moderately frugal, I lack the mustache that some of you possess. I bet there are areas I could improve. I'm leaving this intentionally vague, but would like to ensure comfortable retirement and then focus on the present.
-My employer's retirement benefit is a “pension” calculated as: 0.017*years of service*highest salary. If I retire when first eligible, I'll be 52 and collect $1,800 monthly (assuming I get no raises/COLA in the next 23 years)
-I averaged credit card statements from the last two years for the monthly expenses section. In the middle of last year I started the mortgage, so some of those values are a little inflated. The “other” column is primarily hockey costs, which I will not be cutting =)
-As the stock market has fluctuated I have gone through the common dilemma of mortgage payoff vs investments. Now that a good portion of the house is paid off, I'm starting to lean toward increasing my deferred comp. contributions instead of doubling the minimum mortgage (as I've been doing).
I'm open to any suggestions you may have. If I've missed anything please let me know, thanks!