My progress over the past few months

[AmbitiousSaver]

I almost forgot the message boards were here. I think my last post was in June - things have been going better financially for us the more I visit the website overall and I've kept up a blog.

When I joined in May, we had 13K in CC debt, 13K on one car, 35K on the other, 25K on a HELOC, and 14K in student loans.

We aren't that much out of the hole since May, but primarily because I'm back in school for my master's degree so some of that CC debt is tuition. Right now we have $9000 on the original CC, $8500 on another, $9K on one car, $33K on the other car, $24500 on the HELOC, and $15K in student loans... but we have $2000 in EF and the one car should be paid off in February. If I find any extra money I usually put it to paying down the car (the CCs are at low rates and the car payment is 2x the amount for a similar interest rate so we decided to pay that off first)

So things have been going really well. The economy doesn't have me down either cause I had reallocated them to treasury funds when the Dow was 11K and am just now starting to buy back in.

But anyhow, just wanted to say Hi and all in all the advice I have received here has been tremendously valuable. My husband has also joined in on managing the finances with me so even though I took a pay cut last month, we are still ending the month underbudget & its nice to no longer be the only one doing the finances. Although I will admit asking him for permission has been a challenge for me, its not for him since he's been used to it, but I'm still not used to it

[kork13]

When I joined in May, we had 13K in CC debt, 13K on one car, 35K on the other, 25K on a HELOC, and 14K in student loans.

Right now we have $9000 on the original CC, $8500 on another, $9K on one car, $33K on the other car, $24500 on the HELOC, and $15K in student loans... but we have $2000 in EF and the one car should be paid off in February.

(this one's from another thread)

No change here, in fact after meeting with a financial advisor we are still on track to retire in 20 years at 47 & 50

This second quote seems interesting to me... In May, you had $100k in debts. Currently (5 months later), you have $99k in debt, with $2k saved.

I'm sorry I don't remember any of your original posts, but I suppose it's a bit perplexing how you plan to not simply to be out of debt, but that you plan to retire 20 years from now, and support yourselves in retirement for up to 30+ years? wow..... I guess I'm just curious what you have up your sleeve to make that a reality?

[AmbitiousSaver]

We should be 100% out of debt (well, except mortgage) in 3-4 years. DH's pay is going up (military) and the pension is a BIG contributor to all this

I'd have to go back into the whole 82 page financial plan that was drawn up for us, but our advisor said that after the initial debt is tackled, we are really on a good path and on track for retirement. He even said that with what we are currently saving we don't need to save any more for retirement but our needs are more immediate 1) get out of debt and 2) build up EF

Now, if we ACTUALLY retire at 47 & 50 will be another story. I might still work part-time or something, I really enjoy my career field and DH wants to fly helicopters after getting out of the military.

[MiikeB]

Makes sense. Assuming your husband is an officer and you own your home by then, it seems very reasonable to expect to retire at those ages if you are willing to accept living on a tighter budget that the pention would provide.

I personally have goals to retire younger (50ish) but I feel like most people who are capable of a retirement at these ages start to look at quality of life, and decide they would rather work the same or atleast part-time to enjoy nicer things in life during there later years.

[anonymous_saver]

What is your monthly household income? If you have around 100k in debt, what is your plan on paying it off in 3-4 years? Paying off the high interest debt (you CC) is a great start, but have you considered getting rid of that 35k car? Considering cutting costs elsewhere?

I'll be interested in hearing about what your plan is.

[AmbitiousSaver]

The CCs are not high interest (6.75% and 0% till July then 8.49% after that). The GTI is at 6.24% with twice the payment that'll get paid off in February. Process is simple, as we get extra money we just pay it towards that, and in the process I've been amazed at the extra money that I find along the way. In 12 months both CC should be paid off in addition to the GTI. So we'll only owe on the student loans, HELOC, and van (the $35K car which will be paid down to $25K then)

Nope not getting rid of the cars.

DH gets regular pay raises (He is enlisted), annual bonuses, and occasionaly he gets extra pay from trips but I'm not counting that. Yet, in 12 months even if he doesn't pick up the next rank and BAH doesn't go up we'll be making $300/mo more than what we are now.

I work from home, we have a rental property in addition to our current home

Even if we just stuck to the usual payments and not paying any extra, we can knock out $25K-$30K a year in debt, thats where the 3-4 year timeframe comes from. Being an accounting major I've already done the amortization tables for all our loans and in 12 months we should have between $70-$75K in total debt.

But we do cut costs in a variety of ways, since I'm in school (going for my masters so I can take the CPA exam) we don't go out a lot cause Monday and Thursdays I'm in school, Tuesdays is Girl Scouts for the kids... then on weekends we clean the house and do errands. We have an 8, 7, 4, and 9 month old... so between making sure homework is done, taking care of the kids... after it all we are tired.

Plus I've got a ton of homework... so it saves us on trying to go out and do things when I have to write 2 twenty page papers, a group project, and midterms.

We cloth diaper, use coupons, always check gasbuddy.com before filling up... nothing fabulous, its simple really and we still have some money left over after all is said and done to put towards the EF & retirement

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Do you live in a low cost of living? That must also help.

[Johansen8]

I think lifestyle has to do with it

[cptacek]

What kind of work do you do at home?

[AmbitiousSaver]

My title is loosely "Business Analyst". I'm responsible for all of the reporting for the department I'm in and conveying that information to senior mgmt. Thats all I do, which I'm happy with because I work in the marketing department and I have no interest whatsoever in marketing or figuring out what "ad deals" to tweak to get better performance. My job is to point out trends, whats working based off of the numbers, reporting our expenses to accounting, and making sure our contracts are in compliance.

[kork13]

My title is loosely "Business Analyst". I'm responsible for all of the reporting for the department I'm in and conveying that information to senior mgmt. Thats all I do, which I'm happy with because I work in the marketing department and I have no interest whatsoever in marketing or figuring out what "ad deals" to tweak to get better performance. My job is to point out trends, whats working based off of the numbers, reporting our expenses to accounting, and making sure our contracts are in compliance.

Every company needs a good number-cruncher, and you'll find alot of people who hate it. So if it's something you enjoy/prefer, that's a great deal.

haha I can see myself enjoying a setup like that too.... spreadsheets are a close friend