Is your husband by chance a Dave Ramsey fan? Sounds like he’s following DR to a tee. If you search around here, you’ll find the consensus that DR’s advice isn’t so much Bad as it is Sub-optimal, very sub-optimal.
Which of these better describes you and your husband:
Couple A
We save some but usually completely spend whatever is left.
We want to continue working in our high income careers as long as possible even if we don’t really need the money.
If we were totally debt free, we would probably spend a windfall on stuff.
We don’t really think about taxes very often. (Bonus if you usually get a hefty refund.)
Taking the long-view of money is really hard and we really just need quick and simple guidelines to follow.
Couple B
We only spend on our needs and carefully considered wants each month regardless of how much income is available.
We intend to retire with little to know income from our jobs. We will live off our appreciated investments.
We would use a windfall to shore up our retirement accounts.
We are very mindful about the amounts we pay in taxes and want to optimize as much as possible. (Bonus if you write a small check to the government at tax time.)
We are willing to constantly educate ourselves through the years about which long-term money strategies are best for us.
If you’re closer to couple A, just stick with DR and you’ll be fine, less optimum, but fine. If you’re closer to couple B, you can do so much better with the help you’ll find here.