Hi guys,
I recently inherited about $43,000 from my grandparents. I still have $56000 in student loans at 5.07% interest with monthly payments of $700-800. My husband and I have an emergency fund with $14000. We are planning on starting a family soon so will use some of the money to bump up the emergency fund to $20,000, pay off some medical bills that we are expecting to hit this month, and also cover maternity leave. I have a $2500 FSA (not an HSA) but it won't cover costs incurred before January 2019 and my husband's procedures will be in December.
That still leaves about $35,000. My husband and I have 2 retirement accounts through work that we are contributing 10% of each paycheck to. We are currently contributing more than the employer match to both accounts. They only match up to 5%. We also have 2 Roth iras that are invested in index funds. Our total retirement savings between all four accounts so far is about $25,000. We have already paid off about $50,000 in student loans so we haven't been saving aggressively yet. Our combined annual income pre-tax is about $100,000 per year.
Here are four options I am considering:
1. Put all of the remaining money towards the student loans
2. Max out my Roth IRA for this year/next year and/or open a taxable investment account or a traditional IRA for the rest of the money and invest it all in index funds
3. Save for a down payment on a house (we still aren't sure where we want to live and our lease isn't up until 7/2019. Currently paying $1300/month for a 2 bedroom apartment.)
4. Some combination of the above
What do you all think? I really appreciate my grandparents generosity and want to use the money wisely! Advice is appreciated!
