I've decided to be pro-active with our monthly income. Since paying off cc's and car payments, I want to make sure I direct the extra money to the right places.
I'm sending $1000.00 to our emergency fund (ING) every month. I just applied for two 529 accounts for my younger two children and will automatically be sending 4% of our salary to those funds. AND I set up 4% to go to our Roth 401K (I'll upgrade to 10% as soon as our emergency fund is complete). I'm also sending an extra $230.00 to our HELOC each month so that it will be paid for in 5 years. The rest of the money will go to my older daughter's education, medical expenses, all of our monthly bills and any other expenses that may pop up. Automating the process will make it easier, I hope. Whatever is left is "fun" money. (Let's hope there's something left! :))
I'm not sure we'll fully fund the 529's by the time they go to college in 8 years, but it will at least be something. We were supposed to start something earlier, but we never got around to it. I don't want them to have large student loan debts when they get out of school, and with the way student loans are headed, they would easily be saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt...
As long as we are diligently putting away $$$ for retirement, I feel we will be able to do this for our children.
9 comments:
Wow, very impressive!! I think automating everything is the way to go, when you are sure about your paycheck every payday. Those accounts are going to grow super fast!!
I agree- automation makes it mindless and painless. I pay most of my bills automatically as well. How did people ever write all those checks every month?!
Lisa
CS,
I hope they grow quickly!
Lisa,
I'm hoping it's painless! :) I very rarely write out checks now!
I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to reply to your note! It's been crazy hectic at work...that's my only excuse. And it's not a good one.
We're trying REALLY hard to do cash-only. It's difficult. We are really good at justifying all kinds of expenses...but I have to say, it's better than it was.
So the last paycheck (March 20 - April 18) was our first real month using cash for everything except gas (just easier to use the debit card at the pump).
But- I'm so glad you stopped by! Yay you for having all the credit cards paid off - I can't wait to join you in that happy place! lol
Good for you! We're automated, too - we only write checks for riding lessons, church offering, and the lawn guys. Makes life a lot easier and we use a lot fewer stamps.
You're doing great!
I'm automated and I love it. However you have to be careful because on one occasion my student loan payment hit a day before my paycheck did and I ended up having to pay a fee.
That is great! You are doing so well! I like the idea of making sure you are putting your money in retirement first, then helping out where you can. Good work!
Wow! You are doing really well!
Thanks everyone!!
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