We did it 1k phew1/11/2024 Food costs are just being carved out of our grocery budget (no new spending.) & we will pull tuition from MM's college funds. We agreed to cash flow MM(19)'s rent this year. Have been waiting for that to sort out.īut now it is time. & then all this financial aid delay during this school year. Wanting to rely more on saved money when we have two kids in college at the same time. We've been kicking the can down the road as much as possible. But for MM(19), it's just not going to be *all* of it. We both want to leave some of this money for the kids, as long as they are choosing affordable degrees. But for this school year, I do appreciate the load off my shoulders. It would have cost him the same to live at home the first year. I am 100% on the same page.įor MM(19)'s freshman year I did not agree this was entirely fair, because MM received a (one-time) scholarship at this other college. The "Far away college" was not necessary to get him the same quality degree. He told me he is not interested in saving MM(19)'s college fund while we pay for completely unnecessary luxury costs like housing 300 miles away. MH had the free ride but he also just lived at home during college years. They will pay less (than we did) for their college degrees. ![]() In the end, this is even more true for my kids. We preferred to keep any "college money" for after their college years. Completely absurd post college housing costs. We expected the economics to be the same for our kids as it was for us. This is in line with prior goal, saving 100% of our expenses every year. This is my "financial independence" goal. Net Worth: Increase net worth by $600,000 in the next 10 years. Took on a $230k mortgage in 2001 and have not added to that. Ongoing goal is to *never borrow money again.* Let the investments do the hard work for you. I share because it's infinitely easier to save for retirement if you start early. If we can't achieve at least 10%, then something else has to give. NOTE: WE HAVE NEVER CONTRIBUTED LESS THAN 10% TO RETIREMENT. Things we will take 1-2 years to figure out. Maybe we set a less aggressive retirement goal while we pay cash for college and get our mortgage paid off. This had been a very aggressive goal and so now we feel a little bit retirement heavy. Still on track to double this in another 5-ish years, but the breather is about stepping back, deciding how aggressive we want to be with our next round of goals, what our priorities are, etc. Taking a breather, with a plan to formulate new goal in another 1-2 years. $500,000 in retirement accounts by age 45. In addition to that, can make a more informed decision based on our financial and tax situation for the entire year. I won't know what mix of Traditional/ROTH IRA we literally can contribute until we do our 2023 taxes. Goal savings rate = 25% of gross salary, plus funding IRAs from other sources. Note: Total retirement savings rate is 20% (with IRAs) This is the minimum for the match I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs. Keeps us on track with $10K principal paydown per yearĩ% of household income to work retirement plans ![]() Topping off with snowballs and/or excess cash Will also sweep some of MH's income into investments (amounts over $1K per month) (Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends) (The brief explanation of why we will never entertain 'student loans'). Seems moot because so many better options to borrow money. Seriously, wouldn't touch these student loan servicers with a ten foot pole. #2 The student loan system is a scammy and corrupt mess. But I realize not everyone can read my mind, and so will memorialize in my goal list. With age and means, the latter (hassle) is our biggest debt avoidance motivation. Just not interested in high-interest debt, using debt to buy beyond means, and not interested in the hassle that comes with loans and payments. **Caveat: I have no problem whatsoever with credit cards paid off monthly, or low-risk credit arbitrage (for example, 0%-interest debt while earning 5% on FDIC-insured cash). Likewise, we have never had debt aside from our mortgage.** My blog is a testament to how much simpler life is without debt how we have that much more money to both save and enjoy! We still live in California though (in one of the most expensive regions of the U.S.). We saved a lot while we were very young and also moved to a lower cost-of-living area, to make life much simpler. As always, we are saving 100% of his income. The main benefit of this job is that he just works while the kids are in school. Something recent on his resume just buys us more options for the long run. In late 2015 my spouse returned to work (minimum wage/part-time/seasonal). We were a one-income family for 13 years. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). Just a 45-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California.
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