Hello, I just completed reading all of the blog posts and was even inspired to begin my own blog. However, in order to get are financial ship to smoother water and to learn I wanted to open are finances to the mustachians to see where we can improve.
Gross Income $115,000 My and I are 27. We have a son who is 1 and would like to have 0-2 more children (depends who you ask!)
Loans:
$312,970 @ 4.25% mortgage loan
$17,000 @ 0.0% car loan on 2012 CRV exl
Expenses
House/per month
$1,556 mortgage principal and interest.
$600 property taxes
$155 PMI
$86 home insurance
$150 gas and electric
$40 water/sewage/trash
$83 HOA
Cars
$450 car payment on CRV (37 months remain)
$87 car insurance on 2 cars
Misc/month
$200 gasoline
$75 for 2 cell phones.
$27 internet
$550 groceries (includes diapers and formula)
$125 charity
$125-200 vacation/entertainment/eating out/all gifts
$100-250 unforeseen costs...vet visits, vacuum belts light bulbs and other such items
Savings/month
$850 wife's 401k
$650 Extra on Mortgage
$100 for sons college fund. (1 year old)
We usually have an extra $700+ at months end to move where we see fit. (Up until November this was going towards higher phone bills and life style inflation for the most part).
Assets
$20,000 home equity
$47,000 wife's 401k
$36,000 wife's profit sharing
$28,000 my 401k
$14,700 2011 honda accord (paid off)
$15,000 to invest or save
$6,000 (6ish weeks expenses saved)
$1,000-$5000 in checking to cover current months expenses.
$1,500 college fund
$1,500 brokerage account
My questions
Do we minimize my wife's 401k contribution, sons college fund to pay off debt?
Do we keep debt and invest?
Where do we put the $15,000 we have to "spend" ... PMI, rainy day account (where it is now), invest it?
What expenses can we cut....in December we downgraded phones and cut cable. We have began to walk everywhere we can and the bikes w/ a trailer will be up an running soon.
My current plan is to put the $15k on the house and any additional savings (tax return/cutting expenses/gift money) on the house. If we are able to pay it off in 2 years it will save us almost $12k in PMI premium alone. However, this would require is to pay off $46,500 principle in that time frame
Other than PMI I think we are in a pretty good spot. I am looking for some different perspectives or strategies. Thanks
Mr. Grump