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My situation:
- No kids, dual income (soon to be single income), well over six figures
- 3bed/1ba 1k sq ft house on 8k Sq ft lot in Lemon Grove
- Mortgage is under $1200/mo (over 20% down @4.25%, 30 yr). Taxes are ~4k/yr and Insurance ~$600/yr
- Utilities for gas and electric average ~$55/mo (winters can get chilly for some days!), avg water bill ~$100ish every two months (lots of landscaping detail in front and backyard), Trash ~$60 every two months
- $200/mo towards any possible housing emergency maintenance or fixes
Outside of house primary residence
- 2nd property in Murietta 2k sq ft 4 bed/2ba (@$900/mo mortgage 30% down @4% 30 yr), part of a family trust and relative paying into it
- $4000/mo into various investment funds/retirement accounts
- $4000/mo Liquid savings
- 5k annual IRA limit contribution
Last edited by shmoov_groovzsd; 06-15-2012 at 01:01 PM..
Everyone has different ideas on comfortable and compromise.
There are many paths to reach your goal...
Bought my first home while still in school... it was scheduled for condemnation... my buying it set the whole notification process back several months... in that time, I was able to make enough repairs/improvements to end the condemnation process...
Only found out about it because I was searching the MLS for the least expensive home in the area... and this was it... went to look at it and found out why... about a week later the Real Estate lady called me asking me to make an offer... I told her I was not interested... she kept probing for a price... finally, I told her I would buy it for about 40% of asking... she said OK.
I was thinking what did I just do... the next day she called to congratulate me on being a homeowner... basically, I bought the home for the price of a lot and it already had water, power and gas... so I avoided the high cost to bring in utilities.
It was really a 1910 shack with with 700 square feet on a postage a 25 x 100 lot and it was bad... could stand in the bathroom and see the dirt crawl space because the floor had rotted way from decades with a bad sink trap...
My Step Grandfather didn't have the heart to tell me that I should just walk away because I was so excited at being a homeowner without debt... I had saved money for a down payment working since age 12... just couldn't qualify for a loan because all of my employment was part time.
So... in my case... I was able to build equity and move up over the years to my forever home and I still have my first home... it has had a total of two renters since I moved...
The point is some need lots of money to be comfortable and others not so much... being single at the time helped because not many spouses would have wanted to live in a property set for condemnation.
- Married with 2 young kids
- Income - well over 6 figures
- Only one income; Wife is stay at home mom
- 2 Kids in Pre School ($900/month per kid)
- 5 bedroom / 5 bathroom house
- No Mortgage (Although if we did have a mortgage with 20% down payment it would be $3,950 per month on a 30 year mortgage or on a 15 year mortgage it would be $6,000 per month at today's interest rates).
- Property taxes with Mello Roos = $15,000+ / year
- Utilities for gas and electric during the winter the most expensive bill was $400/month and cheapest bill where we used NO AC/heat was only $90 (May to June 2012 bill). Monthly water bill averages around $150/month with summer months usually more as we water the yard more then.
- HOA is $440/month
- Self insure medical insurance for the family with Kaiser Permanente and it's about $1,400 per month
- Grocery budget per month (including household supplies) we spend $2,000/month which admittedly is high... we spend on average $500 per week on total groceries (including fruits/veggies at farmers markets)
- Landscaper/gardener - $180/month
- Country Club dues : $205/month
- Kids future college fund: $2,000 per month ($1,000 a month per child)
- Babysitters - $275/month (we try to have a "date night" once a week if possible).
- Gas for 2 cars (including one SUV) is average of about $600/month
- Dining out at restaurants (which includes a weekly guy's night out at a nice restaurant as well as dining out on weekends and a few lunch and dinners during the week) is at least $1,000 per month
Last edited by earlyretirement; 06-15-2012 at 12:59 PM..
- Married with 2 young kids
- Income - well over 6 figures
- Only one income; Wife is stay at home mom
- 2 Kids in Pre School ($900/month per kid)
- 5 bedroom / 5 bathroom house
- No Mortgage (Although if we did have a mortgage with 20% down payment it would be $3,950 per month on a 30 year mortgage or on a 15 year mortgage it would be $6,000 per month at today's interest rates).
- Property taxes with Mello Roos = $15,000+ / year
- Utilities for gas and electric during the winter the most expensive bill was $400/month and cheapest bill where we used NO AC/heat was only $90 (May to June 2012 bill). Monthly water bill averages around $150/month with summer months usually more as we water the yard more then.
- HOA is $440/month
- Self insure medical insurance for the family with Kaiser Permanente and it's about $1,400 per month
- Grocery budget per month (including household supplies) we spend $2,000/month which admittedly is high... we spend on average $500 per week on total groceries (including fruits/veggies at farmers markets)
- Landscaper/gardener - $180/month
- Country Club dues : $205/month
- Kids future college fund: $2,000 per month ($1,000 a month per child)
- Babysitters - $275/month (we try to have a "date night" once a week if possible).
- Gas for 2 cars (including one SUV) is average of about $600/month
- Dining out at restaurants (which includes a weekly guy's night out at a nice restaurant as well as dining out on weekends and a few lunch and dinners during the week) is at least $1,000 per month
Sounds like a hard life in regard to No Mortgage and a guys night out but I certainly don't envy the 1,400 dollar health insurance payment I'm surprised Kaiser is that much
Keep up at that college fund- wish my parents would have- I have a four figure student loan payment each month. Everyone gets bailed out these days beside students and grads with debt.
Sounds like a hard life in regard to No Mortgage and a guys night out but I certainly don't envy the 1,400 dollar health insurance payment I'm surprised Kaiser is that much
Keep up at that college fund- wish my parents would have- I have a four figure student loan payment each month. Everyone gets bailed out these days beside students and grads with debt.
The guy's night out is just with one of my buddies. We always try to hit a new restaurant we've never been to and heard good things about. So that's something I look forward to each week.
Individual health insurance isn't cheap with Kaiser for a good plan. For some reason, they don't have family coverage with Kaiser for Southern California so we have to get 4 separate individual plans even though my kids are only 4 and 2.5 years old. I do have to say I'm really happy with Kaiser. So far we've had excellent doctors, excellent service and been quite pleased but it's not cheap. Through it's a small world.... my doctor lives a few blocks down from me in the same community.
Absolutely spot on target about the college funds. I graduated college with a 6 figure tab. I doubt it's so easy to rack up a huge bill now as lenders aren't so quick to loan out but back in the day you could borrow tons of money!
It's getting sickening what a 4 year degree with books, housing, tuition, etc. goes for at a good University these days and with inflation by the time the kids graduate it will probably be over $250,000 for each of them at a top school for only a 4 year degree. So I'm trying to figure worst case scenario (or best case depending how you look at it) that they will go to Harvard or Yale or MIT or something...
Sounds like a hard life in regard to No Mortgage and a guys night out but I certainly don't envy the 1,400 dollar health insurance payment I'm surprised Kaiser is that much
Keep up at that college fund- wish my parents would have- I have a four figure student loan payment each month. Everyone gets bailed out these days beside students and grads with debt.
I was looking at how much school is now and it blows my mind.
Hopefully there are still relatively low interest rates still for those loans.
Doesn't anyone work their way through school... with 2 years at community and then transfer?
Most I knew had very little in the way of debt when they graduated... several went through the Nursing Program and had jobs lined up at Graduation...
One friend, a Doctor, had a lot of student debt... she went to work at Kaiser and they agreed to retire a portion of her debt each year for 5 years... now she has one more year to go.
A couple of other nurses I know got their training and education through the military...
There are options for those without a trust fund with the desire and aptitude that don't involve a mountain of debt.
Doesn't anyone work their way through school... with 2 years at community and then transfer?
Most I knew had very little in the way of debt when they graduated... several went through the Nursing Program and had jobs lined up at Graduation...
One friend, a Doctor, had a lot of student debt... she went to work at Kaiser and they agreed to retire a portion of her debt each year for 5 years... now she has one more year to go.
A couple of other nurses I know got their training and education through the military...
There are options for those without a trust fund with the desire and aptitude that don't involve a mountain of debt.
Sure, I'm sure that there are plenty of people that do that but there are also plenty that start working and either not finish college or it takes a lot longer. I figure a college education is the best gift I could give my kids.
You speak about your friend the Doctor. I know quite a bit about how much debt most physicians have when they graduate. My first job out of college I was a physician recruiter and almost all physicians coming out of their programs have massive massive debt. There are very few employers that will forgive debt and most of those are only if you agree to go to a very underserved rural area in the middle of no where.
Saving money and paying for your kid's college education I figure is the absolute best life gift you can ever give your kids. Contrary to what some people say how a college education isn't worth it these days. That is plain wrong. It's basically a necessity these days to get any decent job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd
I was looking at how much school is now and it blows my mind.
Hopefully there are still relatively low interest rates still for those loans.
Yes, Shmoov. It's getting obscene what these Universities are charging and the % increases every year. Who knows how high by the time our kids get there. And it looks like more States are withdrawing or stopping taking on new applicants into the prepaid programs where you lock in the rates of today if you prepay. They are doing so horrible investing those funds that it looks like several of them will be underfunded.
Last edited by earlyretirement; 06-16-2012 at 12:02 AM..
Sure, I'm sure that there are plenty of people that do that but there are also plenty that start working and either not finish college or it takes a lot longer. I figure a college education is the best gift I could give my kids.
You speak about your friend the Doctor. I know quite a bit about how much debt most physicians have when they graduate. My first job out of college I was a physician recruiter and almost all physicians coming out of their programs have massive massive debt. There are very few employers that will forgive debt and most of those are only if you agree to go to a very underserved rural area in the middle of no where.
Saving money and paying for your kid's college education I figure is the absolute best life gift you can ever give your kids. Contrary to what some people say how a college education isn't worth it these days. That is plain wrong. It's basically a necessity these days to get any decent job.
You may be right about having to work in an under served area... she was offered the SF Bay Area and no med school debt reduction or Fresno where Kaiser would retire over 200k in 5 years... not exactly in the middle of no where or rural.
She originally didn't even consider Fresno... Kaiser set her up with a Realtor that showed her what her housing dollars would buy and that sealed the deal.
As for college education... I'm not all that sold on it for everyone. Of course, some professions demand it.
Have friends that are doing quite well running their own small businesses... no college at all... a couple make darn good money doing roto-rooter type work, another owns a tree biz and another has a body shop...
Thinking it over... a college degree might be best if you plan to work for someone else...
One of my older friends... a man that I learned a lot from came from Ireland with an 8th grade education... got into the carpenters union and pooled resources with 3 other guys in the union and started to build one spec home at a time... after a while... it was two guys building and eventually my friend built his homes alone... not a contractor or any formal secondary education and extremely successful... he had to be because he could never get bank financing so everything he builds is with his own money... really a remarkable guy...
His son is part owner of a Brokerage Firm with only high school... has done extremely well leaning the fundamentals for business from his father combined with his ability as a natural salesman.
its not how much u make, its how big are the holes in the bottom of your money bag.
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