Greetings Mustachian Muchachas/os! I discovered this community last week and I just finished plowing through all of MMM's posts since the beginning of time. I have loosely followed Dave Ramsey for a number of years until discovering that his methods lack badassitude, so I came looking for more. I have had a number of setbacks that I'm digging out of (divorce, prolonged unemployment, a failed solo law firm), but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's time to start mainlining Mustachian badassity in high doses through an IV, so I come to you for your collective wisdom and insight. Here are my details. Sorry in advance for the poor formatting. This is my first post.
INCOME: I'm a 37-year-old lawyer, working for a government agency (I actually love my job). I gross $70,000 per year, about $53,300 after taxes and non-taxable withdrawals (401(k), $52/month--this is the limit of employer match).
MONTHLY EXPENSES:
Child Support $1,400 (3 kids)
Rent $600 (this is my half of the rent, my partner pays her half. She has no interest in mustachianism, but she also has no interest in interfering with my efforts).
Electricity $25
Gas $40
Phone $52 (this is an unlimited talk/data/text plan from Cricket)
Water/Sewage/Trash $15
Internet/Cable $35
Grocery $300 (I personally live on a lot less, but when the kiddos come it spikes)
Gas & Oil $50 (I bought a commuter bike a few weeks ago and I'm cycling to work several days a week. I don't know if I have the badassity for consistent winter commuting, but I hope so. The next few months will tell. Also, this amount represents primarily the gas I use driving to see my kids at their mom's place 30 miles away a couple times a week. Can't go much lower here I think. As it is, I drive a 1998 Honda Civic, 215,000 miles, and it gets about 38 mpg on the freeway).
Life Insurance $40 (term life, $800,000. I have read a lot of the opinions on here about this, but I don't think this is negotiable. I will eliminate this expense as soon as I have sufficient net worth to provide for my children in the event of my death. Since I have a negative net worth right now, that could be a while)
Hair Care $20 (have to look decent for court. Trying to talk my partner into cutting my hair, and she's thinking about it0
Piano Lessons $60 (All three kids are in piano lessons, and the divorce decree requires me to pay half. All things considered, this is not hugely expensive for what it is.
Bank personal loan $242 (balance is $2,900, 6.5% interest rate. I'm currrently tackling this, making extra payments. As of next month, I will be paying at least $675 per month. My current plan is to put all extra money here until it is paid off, then start building my Stash).
Student Loan $304 (Interest rate is 3.24%, balance is $25,000)
Parent Time $48 (this is the cost of feeding the kids on my weekly night with them)
Annual Expenses $378 (auto insurance, Christmas/birthday presents, bar dues, etc. This represents every non-monthly periodic expense, broken down into monthly savings.)
Dog food $65
Work Coffee Club $10
Entertainment $8 (Netflix)
Monthly Income $4,440
Total Expenses $3,692
Expected ER expenses: This is where you guys come in. I want to minimize this more than I have. The biggest expense, of course, is child support. That will start to phase out in 4 years, and will be completely gone in 10 years when my youngest turns 18.
Assets: 401(k) is fairly new, about $2,000.
Roth IRA has $4,500 (not currently contributing)
$1,000 cash in money market account
Non-contributory pension from government, value TBD when I'm ancient
QUESTIONS:
What can I do better?
Are my debt payment vs. investment priorities correct?
Once I get my personal loan paid in a couple of months, what then? Attack student loans? 401(k)? Taxable investment account?
I really don't have many tax deductions (don't own a house, won't be able to afford one for a while), so my taxes tend to be infuriatingly high. I'm considering beefing up my 401(k) at work so as to reduce my taxable income. But the perfomance of that fund has been pretty crappy, and I'm worried about putting too much of my stash into an account I can't reach until years after I'm retired.
Your turn. Go.