Age: 38 & 40 (married 10 years, similar incomes)
Kids: 2
Fixed Income: 320K (pre-tax salaries)
Assets:
Wife Retirement Accounts: 262K (includes Roth, Rollover and 401K, always contribute max to 401K however company does not match)
Husband Retirement Accounts: 287K (includes Roth, Rollover and 401K)
CASH: $300K (sitting at 0.9%, we were hoping to buy some investment property in Las Vegas, however it did not work out)
Trading Account: 333K (VTSAX and about 10 stocks)
Condo: 220K (principal paid to date, probably won't make money selling when we factor in renovations, comissions, etc, so let's keep it simple here)
Cars: 2 (4 and 6 years old, fully paid for)
Total Assets: $1,402K + paid for newish cars
Liabilities
Outstanding Mortgage: 400K @ 3.5%
NetWorth: $1,002K
Monthly Expenses:
Condo: $3,000 (Mortgage+ HOA+ Property Taxes+ Condo Insurance)
Home Maintenance: $30 (renovations completed 3 years ago, so now just minor maintenance, no cleaning lady or anything)
Food: $1,200 (mostly organic groceries, farmers market and eating out once a week)
Auto Gasoline + Maintenance $300 (work is actually close, gas money covers almost every weekend at the beach or visiting relatives/friends)
Auto Insurance: $130
Childcare: $1,600 (preschool+after-school care)
Health: $400 (includes our portion of dental+medical insurance)
Charity: $400
Gifts: $200 (x-mas, b-days, etc)
Cellphones: $20
Internet: $0 (paid for by employer)
Gas: $30
Electricity: $175
Personal Care: $100
Gym: $200 (Crossfit)
Clothing: $200
Entertainment $100
Vacation fund: $500
Husband Life Insurance: $50 (for $1 million)
Total Monthly Expenses: $8,435
x12= Total Yearly Expense=$101,220 per year
Considering a move to the Bay Area and based on offers we received, our income can increase by almost 20%. The company my hb would go for had a recent IPO and is stable and I would go to a 3 year old start-up. The condo could be rented out for about $2,700, which does not make much financial sense, but it would be around in case we don't like living in the Bay area. If we were to sell it, realtor comissions, closing costs, etc... we will barely break even counting the renovations. Not sure how to decide whether to rent our condo or sell it, or whether to even consider moving to the Bay Area for that amount of income increase. We currently live in SoCal, which is not as expensive as the Bay Area. There is almost no chance of increasing our income with our current employers, as we have topped out for what we want to do. We do not want to enter management as we cannot deal with being on international calls at night. Work-life balance is very important to us and we greatly value family time. 9-7 is enough time spent at work. Other employers in the area seem to offer similar pay, so no 20% increase possible. There is also the lure of the ISOs with the start-up company that has been courting me. I know that probably 8 out of 10 startups fail, but I keep on hoping for FU money and this company has good management and great product. ISOs are my version of the lottery...
We do not have student loans as we worked through university/grad school (CS degrees). No cable, watch free TV. Our goal is to retire in 11 years or earlier. At least one of us needs to retire in 11 years as the first kid reaches high school and we want to help with homework, sports, etc.. We are not opposed to having one parent home and the other still working for a few more years just to tuck more money away. Given our high expenses, we need a plan to make this work. We want to retire near family and friends, thus either stay or come back to SoCal. Should we move to Bay Area for 20% income increase? Will we just wasting it on the cost of living increase there? Are those of you living with kids in the Bay Area spending less than us? I gather rents are even higher than SoCal and we would be almost priced out of buying in many areas. If the move makes sense, should we rent or sell the condo given that we might come back early or just come to retire here?
What to do with the CASH? We are conflicted about putting it all in the market as the market seems high, however there's no magic ball. The market can keep on going up and can just keep on missing out...like we have for almost 2 years that we were hoping to buy property in. Should we dump it all in VTSAX or do it at the rate of 20k a month?
Any obvious places to cut expenses? We are going to tackle the Food category, probably just stick to organic meat, dairy and buy organic whatever's on the dirty dozen list. This will probably save us about $300. Any other suggestions on where to cut? Vacation fund seems obvious, but we do spend that much since we tend to travel to Europe and give cash gifts to relatives there. We have felt that charity begins at home and we have helped less fortunate relatives pay for surgeries, medications, etc... We do not stand to inherit anything, so this is not the motivation, nor would it factor into our retirement plan.
Sorry if the post is a bit on the rambling side. We would be very grateful to any insight/advice you can offer.
Thank you in advance! Cheers!