I know that we can save more money, based on our income and expenses. Also, I know that there are certain things that we absolutely need to save for , but trying to figure out how much to put where is escaping me right now.
As of right now we have: (oh and we are 27 and 30)
-a decent retirement started, which will definitely exceed 1x dh's annual salary by the end of the year, currently we contribute 10% to a 401 k
- a $1000 cushion in the checking acct.
- 6 months of expenses in various short term cd's (with staggered dates of maturity)
- a fund to replace my car when it goes kaput- will be complete with tax returns (it is 10 y.o. and in great shape so far, however we wanted to be prepared for when either it gets too expensive to maintain, or we have to many kids to fit in there- it is a civic)
What else I think we need to save for:
- to replace dh's truck (his is 12 y.o., again this will not be replaced for any reason other than not working, or being too expensive to maintain- dh hopes to get at least 5 more yrs out of it- it is not used that often and has only had 2 owners, dh and his dad- who have both taken good care providing reg. oil changes and tune ups)
- a Roth acct. I have been looking at Vanguard after hearing great things about them and would like to get the $3000 saved this year to start one, I would like to start doing this yearly in addition to our 401k savings
- I would like to have about 1 yr's worth of living expenses, rather than just the 6 months
-also 2k for medical expenses, to cover deductibles, we switched to a high deductible plan this year and this is the difference in premium costs over the year, which I want to start socking away each yr, although any small expenses ie a few hundred dollars would just be paid out of pocket, for our birth this year with the midwife, we are also paying for that separately
I think the plan is to put the money into the Emigrant savings acct (earning 5.05%) for the time being and then deciding. I hate to have a lot of money not earning well though, so that is where I am conflicted. Also, I am torn about how much to save for the truck per year. I guess perhaps we should just take the amount we are willing to pay for one (we will be buying used) and put back that much divided by 5 per year? Perhaps that won't get started until next year, with us funding everything else, which seems to be higher priority.
If anyone has different ideas/thoughts on where to invest money in the short term for such things, I am all ears.
As of right now we have: (oh and we are 27 and 30)
-a decent retirement started, which will definitely exceed 1x dh's annual salary by the end of the year, currently we contribute 10% to a 401 k
- a $1000 cushion in the checking acct.
- 6 months of expenses in various short term cd's (with staggered dates of maturity)
- a fund to replace my car when it goes kaput- will be complete with tax returns (it is 10 y.o. and in great shape so far, however we wanted to be prepared for when either it gets too expensive to maintain, or we have to many kids to fit in there- it is a civic)
What else I think we need to save for:
- to replace dh's truck (his is 12 y.o., again this will not be replaced for any reason other than not working, or being too expensive to maintain- dh hopes to get at least 5 more yrs out of it- it is not used that often and has only had 2 owners, dh and his dad- who have both taken good care providing reg. oil changes and tune ups)
- a Roth acct. I have been looking at Vanguard after hearing great things about them and would like to get the $3000 saved this year to start one, I would like to start doing this yearly in addition to our 401k savings
- I would like to have about 1 yr's worth of living expenses, rather than just the 6 months
-also 2k for medical expenses, to cover deductibles, we switched to a high deductible plan this year and this is the difference in premium costs over the year, which I want to start socking away each yr, although any small expenses ie a few hundred dollars would just be paid out of pocket, for our birth this year with the midwife, we are also paying for that separately
I think the plan is to put the money into the Emigrant savings acct (earning 5.05%) for the time being and then deciding. I hate to have a lot of money not earning well though, so that is where I am conflicted. Also, I am torn about how much to save for the truck per year. I guess perhaps we should just take the amount we are willing to pay for one (we will be buying used) and put back that much divided by 5 per year? Perhaps that won't get started until next year, with us funding everything else, which seems to be higher priority.
If anyone has different ideas/thoughts on where to invest money in the short term for such things, I am all ears.
