Life Situation: Single, but living with girlfriend, have not combined income or tax situation yet. Arlington VA.
Situation notes: I have a cruddy 2000 jeep that has repairs every 6 months or so for about 500$. I have $25k in student loans, $12k at 4.29% variable and 13k at 3.5% fixed. I would like to contribute the max to a roth ira too, but seem to not be able to fit it in. I also have no clue how to factor in saving for things like car/home down payments while paying everything else. I have $12.5k emergency fund. I like to be healthy, active, and I am a foodie thus money spent on food and gym.
Gross Salary/Wages: I am mainly concerned with my situation and will handle my girlfriend's separately. We will split expenses proportional to income mostly. I make $80k and she makes $50k. With overtime I make $100k, but as I said this will come to an end.
Individual amounts of each Pre-tax deductions: I contribute 5% to my pre tax retirement with a 6% match. This match is also applied to my roth 401k which I am in at 10%, so I guess a total of 21%.
Qualified Dividends & Long Term Capital Gains: I have roughly $1500 invested in individual stock from when I was experimenting with investing, and also 1500$ in bitcoin bought at a time in the past. I contribute 10% to an employee share purchase program that gives me a 15% discount on stock which i sell immediately.
Taxes: I believe that I pay approximately 31% in taxes. It is tough to figure out because of my variable income.
Expenses: After move in in June with girlfriend: (keep in mind these are my expenses and my girlfriend will match or pay ~35% of total. listed numbers are what I pay, for instance girlfriend might pay $800 of rent for a total of $2100.)
Rent - 1300
Utilities - 80
Cable - 50
Health - 40
Car Insurance - 64
Food (grocery and eating out) - 500
Transportation (gas, repairs, parking pass) : 300
Savings - 200
Loans - 500 (238 to higher interest loan)
Leisure - 200
Gym - 126
I would like to know such things as how much is smart to contribute to my retirement plans, how much to pay in rent, how much to save, how much to pay to loans and how to make sure I can afford life expenses! If there is anything I forgot just tell me. I am not usually one to ask for this kind of help, but I am passionate about making a better future for myself and family, but need the guidance to start this journey.
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This was from my first post before being corrected:
Hi everyone, from time to time I have visited this website to read up on some personal finance topics. I like to combine my information from multiple sources, but I find myself here frequently. I am 24 years old and live and work in the Arlington, Virginia area near Washington D.C, making it a relatively expensive area. I am driven by the idea that one day I will be able to financially support my girlfriend and I, but also give back to both of our families.
Being 24 and having been in the workforce for 1.5 years, I have become much more comfortable with allocating money and budgeting. My main issue though, is that I am having a hard time making decisions in my own life because I never know if I am doing enough or too much. I would really appreciate some seasoned advice on how I can better set myself up later in life, and make my life/spending easier now. I having feelings of being overwhelmed sometimes that I am not going to be set up later in life or that I cannot afford things in the present.
I am fully ready to post my budget and other parts of my financial plan, just need to know what pieces are needed. For starters, I am making $80k salary with and my girlfriend makes $50k. There are other complexities to my situation that I can layout depending on what information people need. There are so many variables when saving, putting away for retirement, paying loans etc. that I am very flustered. I am mostly in a bind because right now I am blessed with overtime and thus make much more than my salary. I will be promoted soon (possible new salary of $87k) and will lose overtime, resulting in a loss of $13k per year. The life I am used to will cease to exist and I want to make sure I am ready. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I am excited to figure this out with all of you!