So about a year ago I posted about how to invest and received a ton of useful advice from everyone. I also read through JL Collins Stock Series and had a baby since 😊 which was an adjustment financially.
I’m outlining my gameplan so to speak to see if I’ve got everything right.
Current
• Single income family of 3 (Teacher)
• Total Expenses about $3000 a month
• Income post-tax about $4000
• I have a 6-month Emergency fund in a checking/savings account @ $18,000
• Student loan of $15,000 @ ~6% interest rate. (should qualify for loan forgiveness next year or 2)
Plan
I believe I can max out my 403b yearly. I will be using Fidelity’s Total Market Index Premium with a 0.02% Expense Ratio listed here
https://www.403bcompare.com/subProducts/672Question 1
I currently have $2000 in what I believe is an annuity from an insurance company that works with our district. From the little I know, I’ve read that annuities have something crazy like 5% annual fees. Can this be rolled over into my Fidelity account when I start it?
Question 2
The plan is to go 100% stocks understanding that the stock market always goes up over time and offers the highest returns. I am a “math guy” so the rationale totally makes sense to me and don’t make decisions based on emotions/psychology. Is this mathematically the best way?
Question 3
I also plan to be doing extra tutoring, clubs, sports, and activities afterschool. After I max out my 403b, our district offers a 457, would I attempt to fund that or should I do a Roth IRA? Would the answer to this question depend on what funds are offered in the 457? From the little I have seen, it seems to be limited.
Question 4
The $18,000 is just sitting in a savings account in our local credit union. Pretty sure inflation is eating it up, should I move it to a high yields online savings account? I don’t know any so recommendations would be nice, I am also super wary of sales-based commission things such as insurance, credit cards, etc. I can also use suggestions for life-insurance companies or criteria’s to sort them out and plan to look into term-insurance.
Question 5
Our FI number is 1,000,000. 4% of that is 40,000. Divided by 12 months is 3,333.33
Using these numbers, is this 3333.33 our pre-tax or post-tax monthly income? If pre-tax, how much would be taxed out? 25%?
Question 6
I still don’t have a credit card under my name, is this bad? Almost 30 y/o. I’ve read a little about credit card travel hacking somewhat but I’m sure that’s another research topic I’d need to do.
Question 7
I’m a worst-case scenario guy so just prepping for the worst. Say I die, does my 403(b), 457(b), and whatever else I have transfer over to my DW? What if DW and I both die, does it transfer to our baby who would clearly be under the age of 18?
Miscellaneous
DW is currently stay-at-home with our baby and will also be a teacher in 2 years. Our savings rate would increase significantly once she starts working since we would be living on the same income as we don’t have plans to have lifestyle inflation. Although we both come from collectivists culture and will help out our family members as needed.
I don’t have any ambitions to own a home (less than 5%), If I had to put a large sum of money down into something, I’d much rather own a business or something that produces additional income (which I keep thinking about a laundromat for some reason) but I’d have to do tons of research and this would also be down the road. But then again, I’m not motivated by money so it’s probably not a good move. Anyone that owns/runs a business can provide some commentary on this?
DW and I are simple, mostly outdoor people. In FI, we would like to travel, volunteer, and build schools, etc. in 3rd world countries that kind of thing.