I am a 37 (almost 38) single female. I am currently in a long-distance relationship with someone who is 1200 miles away, but am planning on moving to his state in June. I am a school librarian at a mission school for Native Americans and it is my third year here. I have been reading MMMs blog for about six months (I think.)
Income: $22,340/yr
Variable income from various rewards sites (all of which I use to purchase books for the library - this is my compromise from spending actual income)
Pd every two weeks - approx. $725
Expenses:
Rent/Utilities - $0 (housing/utilities part of compensation)
Phone: $74/mo *
Internet: $34/mo
Car Insurance: $320/6 months
Groceries: $200/mo
Pet care: $50/mo (food and vet savings)
Gas: $60-90/mo
Car payment: $300/mo*
Tithe/Offering: $170/mo
ROTH: $200/mo
Netflix: $8.32/mo
Fun Money/Entertainment: $40/mo
Clothing fund: $10/mo
Gift fund: $10/mo
Medical: $50/mo ($24 monthly prescription, rest savings towards co-pays)
Household/Misc.: $30/mo
Remainder - general savings (car replacement, LDR expenses, eventual funding of taxable Vanguard account, etc.)
Assets:
Emergency Fund:$5,000
Fluid savings: $3200 (money set aside for bi-annual expenses, vet, etc.)
Target Retirement 2045 ROTH 1 - $8,977 (this is where the $200/mo goes to)
ROTH 2 - $19,689.26 (this is comprised of one stock which I inherited)
Traditional IRA - $3,000 (Money I had originally put into a bank IRA back in 1998, and finally rolled over into a Vanguard acct a few months ago.)
Traditional Brokerage IRA: 8,789.26 (all invested in one stock - rolled over from former employer)
403(b) - $22,000 (from a previous job)
Stock Acct 1: $5,047 (from my own money invested in stock)
Stock Acct 2: 45,343.30 (stock from inheritance)
No retirement options are available from my current employer.
Liabilities:
Car loan: $1,900 at 1.99% - 2010 Toyota Yaris - bought Nov, 2012 when my fully paid for 97 Honda Civic died. Base payment is $156.
I fully intended on having this loan paid off by December of this year. However, in March I reconnected with a previous boyfriend. So instead of third paycheck months and summer school income going towards this loan, it has either gone into the liquid savings or it has paid for travel expenses. We are taking turns seeing each other, but whether it's me going out there, or him coming out here, it is expensive. For me it is a worthwhile cost to see if this is going to be long-term. Plus I know it has an end in sight. I will be moving as near as I can find a job in June. The area where he lives I like, so whether or not he and I work out long term, it is still a move I would consider making.
Car Insurance/Stocks - Nine months ago the stock I'm invested in (mainly inherited stock) was worth 20% of where it is now. Two months ago when it was time to renew my car insurance, I decided to up my car insurance limits as high as I could. My thoughts being that if I were to get into an accident (at fault) that I now actually have real assets that could be gone after.
Why I opted for a newer model car -- I live in the middle of the desert. While it is only a mile to where I work, it is 45 miles to the church I attend and 40 miles to the nearest reasonably priced grocery store. Between most exits it is ten miles of desolate desert. When my Honda died, I was extremely fortunate that it happened in the daytime and I was able to make it off the highway onto an exit ramp.
The stock - 90% of the one stock I own was inherited from my dad. When he passed, my younger brother without hesitation told me to take it - he'd take the motorcycle. The one request he had of me was that I not sell it without discussing it with him/our uncle (who's the one that got us all into this one particular stock.)
My cell phone - I have an iPhone 4S and am with ATT. I just upgraded my phone from a 3GS in February. Where I live now is in the middle of nowhere in a town of about 1,500 people. I have looked at Ting, but could not stand the Android phone I tested with it. I use the GPS function on it constantly for running/walking in the area. Otherwise I maybe use 200 minutes/mo and 200 texts +however many iMessages (most of my family also have iPhones.) In June when I move I'll be in an area with much better choices as to coverage companies and plan to switch to a cheaper plan pronto.
My future plan: I hope to be able to find a school librarian job within a few hours or less of where my bf is (preferably in the same city - I really like where he lives.) Any job at a public school with my degrees/experience (MA in Library Science, 11+ yrs teaching) should easily double my current income. The state/city I'd be moving to has a fairly low cost of living. So my plan is for at least the first year to rent the smallest apartment I can (hopefully less than $400/mo - for reference, my bf lives in a 2br for $475/mo) and then sock as much as I can to my ROTH and the 403(b) offered by my employer. After that, if things are still going well, then I may be getting married.
If we do get married, then the plan is to purchase a home/land in the country (he's priced it out, and found ones that fit what he's wanting for $30k and less.) I'm perfectly happy with the idea of country living. If however, things don't go well and we don't get married, then I plan to continue living as simply as possible and retire by 50. (I don't think I'd want to live in the country by myself, but I could be happy in a small apartment in the city near the awesome park.) (I've lived all over the US, this state would make my 11th state.)
Okay, so to my questions:
Car Insurance - I'm questioning whether or not it really is necessary for me to have my car insurance limits maxed out or not. Do my assets really warrant that?
Stocks - Of the money I personally invested in this one stock, I sold enough to recoup that amount four months ago. Seeing so much of my networth based on one stock makes me really, really nervous. A part of me really wants to sell some of it at least and put it into something more .. secure. I don't want to cause any issues with my brother, especially since he rightfully could've asked for half of the stock (he's heavily invested in this stock himself - in fact my dad's whole extended family pretty much is.) I'm just not sure that there ARE other investment vehicles that would be more secure AND still offer good growth value. I'd really hate to sell it and see the stock go up another $20 or $100... (Of course the reverse is true too... if I keep it and it goes down $100 ..) Since it is inherited stock I think I feel a bit of an obligation to my dad - this is what he wanted to use his money for ... I guess I am just really conflicted on where to go with it - if anywhere.
LDR expenses - It is a 16 hour one-way roadtrip, which for me includes a night at a hotel because I just can't drive more than 9 hours in a day. So in pricing out other options, traveling by plane for short trips (3 day weekend), or by Greyhound for a week+ trip are my next best options. We talk 3x a week on Skype and stay in contact via email and text the remainder of the week. We've done the thing where we met half-way and stayed at a hotel and split expenses. None of these options are very inexpensive. My question in all of this is, if you have been in a long-distance relationship, how did you make it work? Especially with the expense? (For what it's worth, I've known this person for ten years.)
Groceries - I know this is a lot for a single person. I used to be able to keep it to $120/mo but it's gotten more and more difficult. This does include some fast food, which is a habit I'm working on eliminating - it was a nice treat whenever I'd go into "town.")
Thank you in advance for any ideas/advice/suggestions.