Good Afternoon MMM Community!!!
I Hope everyone is having a great day. I’m a newbie here and still catching up on post. My fiancée and I would love to join young retirees and I here to seek opinions and suggestion. We are both 30, residing in NJ and are planning to retire before 50. I’m hoping with your help and knowledge we can try to speed up the process to retiring around 40-45. We are still on a learning curve guys and gals so I apologize if anything isn’t clear.
Situation(Family):
I have a house that I bought 10 years ago to house a disabled mother, younger brother and myself. We are currently splitting the bills for the house and those figures are under “Exclude.” We do plan on selling that home, but at the moment they need a place to live, the housing market (New Jersey) isn’t in our favor and its working out for everyone.
Situation: My fiancée and I
The retirement, combined income, debt and expense is the case study I would love your knowledge and assistance on. We would love to make the best of our income and pay down her school loan so we can invest aggressively. We plan on investing 100% in VTSAX/VTSMX/VTI (wherever the money permits). Here are the questions I have.
1. Given our expenses. What would you suggest regarding maxing out our employer 401k’s?
2. I consider my TD Ameritrade account our emergency funds. Any suggestion on better ways to use that money?
3. Any suggestions on building our financial independence money? Should the money we will live off of be in a taxable account or Roth?
4. School loans!!! Why???? Lol… How can we put that $63k to rest?
Exclude:
My Mortgage/House Bills: $2,700 (balance on mortgage is 248k @ 3.70%) – Added to show where additional funds are going.
- this monthly equal total bills that my family and I split monthly.
Retirement:
His Income: $74k
Her Income: $82k
His 401k Contribution/Match: 6% - Current balance 70k
Her 401k Contribution/Match: 6% - Current balance 11k
His TD Ameritrade (taxable): $25k - $26k
Combined Income:$5,700
Debt:
Her school loan: $63k – Originally was $75k. Made a push to pay some down.
Credit card: $2,000
Expense:
Rent: $1,200
School loans: $1,100
Groceries: $350
EZpass/tolls: $250
Gas/Electric: $120 - $200 summer/winter
Car Maint: $100
Fuel: $450
Household items: $100
Internet/Phone: $75
Mobile: $150
Personal care: $125
Dining out: $200
Credit: $200
Cars:
2003 Honda accord - paid
2009 Honda accord - paid
On average that leaves about $1,200 - $1,280 monthly
Again….. Thanks in advance for time, cooperation and assistance.
Fred