Hi folks,
We started following the MMM advice a couple of months ago and have made some pretty decent progress so far, in my opinion. We have canceled cable, replacing it with streaming services and an antenna. We have also killed our ridiculous $40 / mo. landline and replaced it with a VOIP solution. I'm tracking everything through Mint.
Short term plans include replacing the Verizon payment with something cheaper (probably Republic if they ever get new phones almost certainly Republic since they just got the new Moto X) and buying a treadmill off Craigslist so we can stop paying for the gym. We have also accelerated payment on the student loans, and are saving for a more efficient car (probably a 2005 - 2007 Prius) for my wife. It's just the two of us currently.
We'd appreciate your advice on where we should go from here.
Income
Me: $75,500
Wife (Job #1): $20,000
Wife (Job #2): ~$14,000
Total Annual Income (before tax): $109,500
Approximate Annual After-Tax Income: $74,400
Monthly: $6,200
Expenses
Grocery: ~$620 // we're trying to reduce this by going to less expensive grocery stores
Restaurants and Fast Food: ~$90 // mostly our weekly Chipotle habit
Cell Phones: $195 // Verizon is currently our biggest bill, and is our current #1 target
Internet: $43 // Negotiated a 50% discount for a year on a one year contract when I canceled cable!
Natural Gas: ~$40 // we bought a programmable thermostat off Craigslist and set it to 55 when we're not home, 62 when we are home
Electricity / Water / Sewer: ~$130 // bought a low flow showerhead, this is slowly going down
Waste Disposal: ~$20
Netflix: $9
Hulu Plus: $8
Amazon Prime: $8
Gasoline: $585 // two one hour commutes in opposite directions... Wife's is non-negotiable since it's her dream job, I like the company I work for
Auto Parts / Repairs: $444 // trying to lower this by learning to change my own oil etc.
Auto Insurance: $104 // full comprehensive, may try to lower this
YMCA Membership: $74 // trying to kill this as mentioned above, facepunches expected, we started this before we knew about MMM
Local Taxes: $58 // quarterly estimated payments, our municipality charges us on worldwide income; we get a credit for local payments to work municipalities but it's not enough to zero it out
Weight Watchers: $15 // wife, e-tools only
Miscellaneous: $500 // currently projects like the antenna, reinsulating the attic, Christmas shopping
Mortgage: $879
Student Loan #1: $300 // accelerated from $165
Student Loan #2: $138
Total Expenses: $4,260
Net Monthly Income: $1,940
Savings Rate: ~31%
Assets
Home: ~$96,000 // slightly underwater vs. the mortgage
Car #1 (2003 Chevrolet Impala): $1,980 // according to Mint
Car #2 (2005 Mercury Sable): $500 // at best, severe body and structural damage from multiple accidents
401K #1: $19,331 // 6% of my paychecks for maximum employer match
401K #2: $8,918
Roth IRA: $1,062 // Charles Schwab, losing value year to year, would like to move these to Vanguard eventually
Money Market: $386 // ditto
Cash (Savings Account): $4,708 // this is currently going toward my wife's new (used) car before anything else
Total Assets: $132,885
Liabilities
Mortgage: $97,448 // original mortgage value was $104,000
Student Loan #1: $7,016 // at 5.5% interest, we are accelerating this one
Student Loan #2: $8,991 // at 5.375% interest
Credit Cards: $0
Total Liabilities: $113,455
Specific Questions
We live in a suburb of Cleveland. Should I get over my attachment to my current job to find a new, closer one? I have "phantom stock options" worth 0.75% of the company that only pay out if the company is acquired. These vanish if I quit my current startup job (even vested ones). I work as a web developer and would like to work with a team rather than work from home if at all possible.
My wife is approaching full 401K employer match vesting at Job #2 and we have been considering getting her to quit that for some time. Is this reasonable? She currently is out for at least 13 hours every day. Job #2 is almost as far as Job #1 so quitting would not reduce the commute distance / cost. Job #1 is the dream job that is non-negotiable.
Should we take our current savings to Vanguard? I want to invest in VTSMX (probably balanced with VBMFX at something like 90% stock, 10% bond, will research allocation more when the time comes). The problem is that the investor shares have a $3,000 minimum, and my research shows that if I withdraw to a point that the account dips below the minimum, Vanguard will cash out the account and send a check. Our savings are currently targeted toward a used car for my wife (to replace the one with next to no resale value), so we would need to save $3,000 more than that to be safe.
(I'm posting this through a different account than I normally use because the internet doesn't need to know my finances.)