Hi MMM land!
I've been obsessing over this forum for a bit, but been less than successful in implementing these systems into our own family.
A little about me (us): I'm late thirties, an engineer working in a middle management role at a fortune 500 company. DH is a SAHD who has a small business he runs out of our home. We have two kids, the youngest is starting 1/2 day kindy in the fall.
We've been bobbing around, semi randomly throwing money into investment accounts, but not really seriously looking at our budget / finances until this year. Developing a budget has been an iterative process, but this is representative of the actual spend as of now:
Category Monthly amt. Comments Annual
Salary/Wages $14,069 Salary + vacation + PTO + Parking allowance $168,830
Pretax Health Ins. $968 Flex benefit credits $11,619
Pretax Vision/Dental Ins. $50 $600
HSA $50 $600
Pretax Commuter costs $0 $0
FICA base salary/wages $13,001 $156,011
RRSP (pre-tax) $1,296 RRSP $15,550
TRRSP (pre-tax) $1,584 (company stock, employer match 3%) $19,006
Income subject to IRS tax $10,121 $121,455
Healthcare deductions $668 Includes $158/paycheck to HAS $8,013
Long Term Disability Insurance $170 $2,040
Paycheck income before tax $9,283 $111,401
Other income (int., div., etc.) $1,500 DH's home business (minimum monthly) $18,000
$100 Child allowance $1,200
Rental income $2,400 $28,800
Rental real expenses $1,422 Mortgage + est. $500/mo utilities + ins + prop tax. $17,058
Rental depreciation expense $0 not claimed $0
Rental taxable income $979 $11,742
Federal Adj. Gross Inc. $12,600 $151,197
Canadian Income Tax $3,438 $41,250
Provincial tax part of above $0 n/a $0
Canada Pension Plan $202 capped at 2425 $2,425
Medicare $76 capped at 913.68 $914
Total income taxes $3,716 $44,589
Add Daycare reimb. $0 $0
Add Health care reimb. $0 $0
Income before other expenses $8,046 $96,554
Monthly Expenses:
Post-Tax Payroll Deductions
Insurance 103 Life/Critical illness on self, spouse, life on kids
Tax free Savings 867
United Way donation 122
Mortgage $1,333 $15,990
Rent $0
HOA $0
Property Tax $167 $2,000
Home/Rent Insurance $161 home insurance on both properties is $211, 50 allocated to rental $1,932
PMI $0 $0
Personal care $33 haircuts 4x/year for me + 2 kids $396
Bicycle Maintenance $0 annual mtce comes out of miscellaneous $0
Cable TV $100 $1,200
Car Insurance $150 2 vehicles $1,800
Car Maintenance, Registration, etc. $168 0 $2,016
Charitable contributions $600 Monthly + miscellaneous charitable $7,200
Child activities $100 $1,200
Childcare SAHD = Priceless $0
Christmas/Holidays/Birthdays $150 $1,800
Clothing/Shoes $70 $840
Computer (paper/software/etc.) $0 n/a $0
Credit card fees $0
Dental Insurance $0 under employer plan $0
Dentist $0 under employer plan $0
Dining (Pizza, Restaurant, etc.) $400 $4,800
Donations/Gifts $50 $600
Electricity $180 average $2,160
Emergency Fund $0 $0
Entertainment $50 $600
Financial Planning $0
Fuel/Public Transport $300 $3,600
Natural gas / water $247 average $2,964
Groceries $1,000 punch me now. $12,000
Hair Care $0 included under personal care $0
Home Alarm System $0 not applicable $0
Household; Maintenance $200 $2,400
Internet $118 average $1,416
Landscaping/Yard work $0 included in Household/Mtce $0
Life Insurance $150 whole life plan $1,800
Lunches under restaurants $0
Medical (Doctor, Hospital, etc.) $0 not applicable $0
Medical Insurance $0 covered by employer/Canadian healthcare $0
Medicine (OTC + Prescription) $0 covered by employer/Canadian healthcare $0
Miscellaneous $250 $3,000
Pets $50 $600
Phone (cell) $118 average $1,416
Phone (landline) $0 $0
Recycling/Trash $0 not applicable $0
School Tutition/Books/Etc. $0 included under miscellaneous $0
Sports/Recreation $0 kid stuff is under kid activities. $0
Subscriptions (paper/magazines/etc.) $29 newpaper - need to cancel $348
Travel/Vacation $366 $4,392
Water/Sewer $80 $960
Wine/Beer $0 under groceries $0
Work/Professional fees $0 paid by employer $0
Non-housing total $4,959 $59,508
Loans:
car loan $644 $7,728 Balance - not sure. rate is 1.9%, 3.5 years remaining, original balance was approx. $26k
Secured HELOC $108 *** $10,500 I think this is a minimum payment, we're currently throwing about $1k/month on this. Interest is about 3.0% (variable), $50k limit
Unsecured HELOC $0 $0 interest is 3.5%, $20k limit
Credit Card #1 $0 $0 interest is ugly, $15k limit
Credit Card #2 $0 $0 interest is ugly, $12k limit
Private RRSP $150 $1,800
RESP $200 educational savings plans $2,400
Total Expense $7,722 $92,659
Total to invest $325 $3,895
Additional Mortgage Principal $0 $0
Additional Loan payments $0 $0
Other investments $325 $3,895
"Gross" income $16,548 $198,572
Income taxes $3,716 $44,589
FSA add-backs $0 $0
After-tax income $12,832 $153,983
Savings $3,897 $46,770
Living expenses $7,857 $94,290
Non-mortgage loans $752 $9,029
After-tax investable $325 $3,895
Investments / Assets
Private RRSP - Mine 96,185
Private RRSP - Spouse 45,000
Group Plan RRSP - Mine 34,971
Group Plan TRRSP - Mine 43,743
Group Plan TFSA - Mine 18,024
Education Savings 34,000
Rental Property 395,000 conservative, city assessed value. Currently $130k owing on mortgage.
Primary Residence 387,500 conservative, city assessed value. Currently $155k owing on mortgage.
Defined Benefit pension plan Based on current service, payout is 5680/annum at age 65, if I continue working until 65 it's 65k/year.
My questions:
- Where do I start? I'm currently investing just over 20% of my pre-tax salary, but I'm sure I can do better than that. I know I have significant room to claw back the budget, although COL is high in our neck of the woods, particularly for food. I'm also negotiating with DH, who agrees with me when I bring up the need to claw back our budget, but pretty consistently falls off the wagon when he decides he and the kids 'need' to go out for burgers mid day. Areas for major facepunching and thoughts on how to motivate DH are very welcome.
- I have bonuses that are payable in April (short term incentive - usually ~$25k) and December (long term incentive - estimated at ~$30k). Looking for advice on where best to put that money to work. The April bonus for this year was sunk into our kitchen reno, and I'd like to be more strategic with the upcoming bonuses.