Search found 12 matches

by bogleburger
Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New Baby - Wife stay at home for 1 year?
Replies: 48
Views: 7814

Re: New Baby - Wife stay at home for 1 year?

I appreciate everyone's commentary.

My wife and I spoke last night, one of the big drivers of her wanting to go back to work is to not lose her seniority as far as what school site(s) she is placed at. She has been patiently waiting for 3 years for an assignment to open up, and now she's finally got it. If she takes a year off, that assignment won't be guaranteed when she comes back, but she'll have her same job and salary.

We will see what happens!
by bogleburger
Thu Jun 22, 2017 6:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New Baby - Wife stay at home for 1 year?
Replies: 48
Views: 7814

New Baby - Wife stay at home for 1 year?

Hi Fellow Bogleheads, I am 31, my wife 30, with a four month old, healthy baby girl in California. My wife has the option to stay at home and take 1 full year of work off (unpaid leave) and I want to see if anyone can share their own personal experience with a similar situation and what you did. Her position would be guaranteed when she came back, and her annual salary is ~$75,000. She works for a school district in special ed. I make approximately $100,000+ per year, so we can live off of my income and be very comfortable. My income has only been this high for about the past year, and is stable. EDIT: My wife would come onto my health insurance, which would be free to add her. The baby is on my health insurance already at no cost. Here is ...
by bogleburger
Wed Nov 25, 2015 8:10 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Young Couple - Debt Paid Off, Emergency Fund done, Now what?
Replies: 12
Views: 2499

Young Couple - Debt Paid Off, Emergency Fund done, Now what?

Good morning! My wife and I are in our late 20's with no children. This year we have paid off our consumer debt (approximately $20,000 CCs and car), and funded a $20,000 Emergency Fund (6 mo. necessary expenses) and I am looking for advice on where to put our savings now. Our only debt is a ~$300,000 mortgage at ~$1,500 per month, 3.75%. We have about ~$100,000 of equity in the home. This year we have saved about $4,000 per month. This should continue and grow into next year. My thought is to build up a large second layer of savings in a Brokerage Account of maybe $50-$100k (or more) and put the money into a Bond Index fund or some other investment vehicle better than cash. At this same time, start putting money into retirement accounts aga...
by bogleburger
Sun Sep 27, 2015 3:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Housing Question - What would you do?
Replies: 12
Views: 1310

Housing Question - What would you do?

Hi Everyone, If you were in my shoes, what would you be thinking about or considering? The Cliff Notes: My wife is asking me if I forsee us staying in our current home "forever" or if I think we'll move into another home and rent out our first home. My gut tells me to stay put in this home as long as possible and to save as much as possible over time. I realize the odds of staying in your first home are very low. The Details: My wife and I are in our late 20's and purchased a home for $345,000 in 2012, using the FHA program. In early 2015, we re-financed into a conventional 30 year fixed mortgage at 3.75%, and our mortgage balance is about $320,000. Yay for no PMI! Monthly payment is about $1,500 and $4,000 per year in property ta...
by bogleburger
Sun Jul 19, 2015 9:18 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What 2008/09 has done to me
Replies: 158
Views: 26648

Re: What 2008/09 has done to me

I graduated from college in 2009.

In my 2nd year of classes (2006) I started going to our career fairs on campus. I was incredibly nervous in the spring of 2009 when I went to the career fair and about 50% of the companies were no longer attending. The stock market was beyond my reach at that time as I was a poor college student, but that was my experience.

I ended up in a management program with one of the companies and just felt so relieved.
by bogleburger
Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Financial Review - 29 & 28 Year Old Married Couple
Replies: 14
Views: 2598

Re: Financial Review - 29 & 28 Year Old Married Couple

Our Simple IRA is with a local independent advisor through Vanguard. Our firm matches up to 3% of my salary, so that is a no brainer option. We have been waiting to get our emergency fund up to $20k before increasing or starting any new retirement contributions. I would love to have a $35k or $50k emergency fund. That would be so awesome! The question is do we keep piling cash and forego any increased retirement contributions until we hit the bigger emergency fund? Or do both at the same time? We could do a little of both of course. We also have about $10,000 of household improvements that are on the list for the next two years. Given our ages, we want to capitalize on compound interest but also reduce our risk of an financial 911 if we hav...
by bogleburger
Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:37 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Financial Review - 29 & 28 Year Old Married Couple
Replies: 14
Views: 2598

Re: Financial Review - 29 & 28 Year Old Married Couple

@compound - Didn't even think of that. Great idea.
@novine - We are only contributing $300 / month to my wife's 403B and $50 / month to her HSA. We're pretty much starting our investments from scratch again since we stopped investing to pay off debt.
by bogleburger
Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Financial Review - 29 & 28 Year Old Married Couple
Replies: 14
Views: 2598

Financial Review - 29 & 28 Year Old Married Couple

Hello Bogleheads: My wife and I are 28 and 29 years old, respectively, living in California. We are in a very good financial position now that we are out of debt. We live a relatively simple life and plan on staying in our home for the foreseeable future. Our long term goals are: - Become financially independent. We'd like to be able to choose to work, not have to work. - Save for retirement. Desired retirement age 65. I'd like to have our retirement over funded (is there ever enough?) - Make improvements to our home (flooring, remodel kitchen and baths, etc). - Pay cash for future kid's college. - Stay out of debt and be able to give to our favorite organizations. Financial Overview Assets: - $10,000 Cash (building to $20,000 emergency fun...
by bogleburger
Thu May 28, 2015 8:39 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Let's hear your Dave Ramsey success stories
Replies: 79
Views: 37727

Re: Let's hear your Dave Ramsey success stories

DR is great at motivating to get rid of your debt. My wife and I were in $27,000 of debt (car loan, credit card, medical) about 18 months ago. Now we have $0 debt except our mortgage ($326,000 on a $480,000 house - we're in California). Thank you Dave!

Getting into debt is easy but getting out takes focus and Dave brings attention to that. We got pissed at the debt and our stupid decisions.
by bogleburger
Fri Mar 06, 2015 8:09 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Does My Daughter Need A Prenup?
Replies: 175
Views: 15499

Re: Does My Daughter Need A Prenup?

I think you would risk ruining your relationship with her fiance, and put a wedge between them. If it's a billion dollars or something crazy, then that would be another story.

If my in-laws did that to us, I'd consider moving away and never seeing them.

Edit: When you get married, you become one entity. Finances should be tied together (just my opinion). If one partner has issues, then you work together to fix them.

Is he a kind person? Does he treat your daughter well? If yes, then why sour things over money? Clearly you've done a good job of raising your daughter and I think you need to let go to some extent.
by bogleburger
Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:16 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much did you have saved up for retirement at age 30?
Replies: 173
Views: 27871

Re: How much did you have saved up for retirement at age 30?

I am 29, my DH 27. I've made some dumb mistakes which I will note below, but we've started on our path. I guess I'm happy I made them at this age versus later on. Traditional IRA: $36,253 Roth: $885.85 - Schwab 403b: $4,500 - Vanguard Old 401k: $3,000 - Paychex still Total: $44,638 Biggest mistakes: Rolling my company 401k to a traditional IRA from Fidelity to Primerica (the FA put me into 5% load American Funds and I went with it, unfortunately) Later that year, I moved away from Primerica to another bank and now have my Traditional IRA managed at a 1% fee. The FA has the bulk of the money in SPY. I should be managing this myself. The FA is my client and I earn more from him through his business and the referrals he sends me, so I'm somewh...