Thanks, good input.
the motorcycle that has the loan against it is for sale. It's worth about 5K and I owe 4400 on it, I'm considering taking a loss on the thing just to free up the cashflow. ($175/month!) The other one - I won't sell that. Whatever the delay in FI it causes is worth it. It's pretty cheap entertainment - load up a small tent, sleeping bag and some MRE's, ride out to the wilderness, camp\fish\hike for the weekend on trails few people know exist... )
The car... I need it, since I drive for work all the time (Reembursed) and use it to haul the bike to the woods all the time. It's a 2000 civic, so it's fairly mustachian anyway, and I owe nothing on it, it costs 75 a month to insure. Perhaps I ought to lose full coverage, but at this point, I don't have enough cash on hand to replace it if I were to wreck it. I think it only made a 10 a month difference anyway.
The utilities thing is a good idea. I wrapped it into one fixed cost since I didn't want to deal with it, but they aren't exactly utility consumption conscious. I'll do the numbers on it.
I contribute 10% of my gross to the stock purchase program, but they take after-tax dollars. Given the almost-gauranteed 15% return, I'd rather keep this maxed (10% is the limit), and sell the stock immediately after getting control of it... then invest that money in a Vangaurd account. So far I've been 'investing' it in student loans. (which were 7%) I know past results are no gaurantee of future earnings, but the stock purchase program has earned me 35% or more each year, partially due to the discount, partially due to stock price appreciation. It's hard not to max that out!
So, I'm trying to decide if I get the best returns by maxing the 401K or the ESPP. Here's my assumptions and here's what I found.
I have 1434 pre-tax dollars availble to allocate between the 401K and ESPP. (once my student loans and motorcycle are paid off.) This does not include bonuses.
My marginal tax rate is 25%.
My time horizon is one year out. The reason for this is as follows: If I invest in the 401k, one year from now it will be in an index fund or something like that. If I invest in the ESPP program, at the end of 1 year, I'll sell the stock and put it into a similar investment vehicle as the 401K, but likely through vangard. Therefore, after year one, the two will behave somewhat equally.
To determine the most profitable outcome, I assumed a 28% return after one year from the ESPP investment, (this is based on a 5 year performance of the particular stock, less capital gains taxes, plus the discount I get to buy the stock at.). For the 401K, I assumed a 12% return after the year. This is estimated based on a 7% average return for stocks as a whole, and a 5% reduction in marginal tax rate when I withdraw the money at retirement. I'm not sure this is a good model, that's why I'm posting the details. Please pick it apart :)
It appears that, at the end of year 1, I'll be $700 richer if I max out my 401K and contribute what's left to the ESPP.