Author Topic: Financial check up  (Read 1928 times)

noviceatinvesting

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Financial check up
« on: August 01, 2016, 01:45:51 PM »
Hi,

I would love some feedback on our financial situation.

HHI-$160k (only one income but job is unstable right now)

Savings-$100k (this is all in a savings acct earning 1.05%)

taxable accts-$210k, about 68% in stock, the rest in bonds (is this a good allocation?)

combined IRAs/401ks-$300k

Remaining mortgage loan -$171k (we put down $180k for down payment)

No debt besides the above mortgage.

We are in our mid to late 30s with young children and as I mentioned above job is unstable so we are anxious about the future. Should I leave 6 months of expenses in savings acct and invest the rest in taxable accts? Originally I was thinking about doing a CD ladder for the money in our savings account but now wonder if our money is working hard enough for us. I am considering paying down our mortgage but that might be a bad move because we might move due to job change, right? Any thoughts on our allocations or how we can be smarter with our money?

Thank you so much.


Choices

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Re: Financial check up
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2016, 03:53:38 PM »
You've done a great job of saving!

Your emergency fund is a bit rich. If you lost your job, how long do you think it would take to find a new one? If you suspect a short turnaround, you only need a few months of expenses and they should be fairly liquid, so your savings account is good.

You mention your stock/bond allocation, which seems high in bonds, but everyone has a different comfort level with this. Do you have individual stocks? Most here would recommend low cost total market index funds instead.

How are your retirement accounts invested? These should also be in low expense ratio index funds.

Paying off the mortgage is controversial here. We paid ours off and don't regret it for a second. Others will say to keep the mortgage and invest the money. Not having a payment is really nice if your income drops.

Even if you do pay down your mortgage, you'll get the money back when you sell your house, so I wouldn't worry on that end. Even if your house sells for less than you bought it for, the amount remaining on your mortgage doesn't change the sale price.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Financial check up
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2016, 04:01:12 PM »
I think the Case Study spreadsheet will help a lot: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-to-write-a-'case-study'-topic/  If you share numbers and answer the questions on there, it will also give forum members more to go on for answering your questions. For example, it's very hard to answer about a mortgage without knowing the interest rate and your other expenses, and your goals.