Hello my title pretty much says it all but wanted to get people's thoughts on my situation.
My particulars - mid-30s, single, US west coast HCOL city renter. I was recently laid-off from a 95k (gross) job that wrapped at the end of the year. Upon notice, I decided to finish out my term, travel in Q1 2016, and return to cube life in late March/early April. I had planned to make my 2016 Roth IRA contribution post-travel once I had secured a job but with VTHRX being down I’m contemplating doing it now. I hate shopping but love a sale!
Let’s do the numbers-
2015 average monthly take home pay - $4,755
2015 average monthly expenses - $2,400 (cringe! down from 2014 average, continuing to trim)
Jan 2016 income - $2250 take home (unemployment +a couple hundred missed on final paycheck)
Jan 2016 expenses –$1,900 (projected)
Cash on hand $21.9k (started hoarding cash a few months back in preparation)
Retirement accounts - $126.5k
Debt- $0
I am about to start traveling for 6 weeks during which I will not file for unemployment so income will be $0. My projected expenses for those 6 weeks are $3,600.
Funding my Roth now would drop my cash on hand to $16.4k and then post-trip cash would be ~$12.8k. However once I’m back, I’ll have a (small) surplus since job searching means I’ll be receiving unemployment payments. They would end in August so I shouldn’t need to touch my cash until then.
Typing this all out I think I’ve convinced myself to buy now, should I reconsider? Maybe stocks will be even cheaper in 6-7 weeks?
Thanks for reading!