megcrispin
Dryer sheet wannabe
Good morning.
I am new to the board and interested in retiring early (of course!).
My husband and I were married 2 1/2 years ago, and have quite a bit of debt to get rid of. We are on schedule with the help of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover to pay off our debts (except the mortgage) by December 2010.
Currently, my husband and I bring home a combined income of $68,000/year. We live in a modest house that we are fixing up little by little. We bought it at auction for $35,000; however, took out a mortgage for $60,000 (20 year) because we had to put in a new septic and pay for a new roof among other things. We owe $56,000 on the house, and according to Mint.com, it is worth over $90,000. We are very frugal. Hubby does it all from car repairs to plumbing. We enjoy going to the dollar theater to watch movies versus $7/matinee ticket. We also like to go out to eat once ever two weeks with coupons we get from restaurant.com or from our Entertainment book.
I do not necessarily want to have millions in the bank before retiring. I dont think either of us really wants to completely retire. We have dreams of opening a wine business one day as it is our hobby and passion. But even if that never comes to fruition, I would like for us to be able to find jobs that we love and enjoy...even if they dont pay much. I would like to be comfortable enough with how much money we have saved to be able to make this move in the next few years.
Currently, we have the following debts:
Mortgage ($55,921)
Hubby's Credit Card from before we were married ($9800)
Personal Loan ($7085)
Hubby's Vehicle Loan ($8651)
I have a 401K at work with just over $20,000 in it and contributing 6% of my income of $38,000 with a company contribution of 2.5 - 3% of my income in a profit-sharing plan.
I just enrolled for hubby's 401k from work a few months ago contributing 5% of his income. He has a little over $1,000 in the account.
Hubby is 38 years old, so I think it is really important for him to get on track with retirement savings. Right now, with our debt payment plan, it is hard to put away any more money toward his retirement right now. As of 2011 when all our debts SHOULD be paid off, I would like to start putting $5,000/year into Roth IRA's for the both of us and up our contributions to 401k to 15-20%.
I would really like for us to be able to find jobs we enjoy by 2015 with $250,000 in the bank and the mortgage nearly paid off. Hopefully, hubby will be able to find a job he enjoys sooner than that and hopefully we could live off of our income as well as still save up for our dreams to own a wine business in the meantime.
So, there is my novel.
I would love to hear any suggestions/comments anyone has for us to meet our goals.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. We have no children and no plans on having children.
~M
I am new to the board and interested in retiring early (of course!).
My husband and I were married 2 1/2 years ago, and have quite a bit of debt to get rid of. We are on schedule with the help of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover to pay off our debts (except the mortgage) by December 2010.
Currently, my husband and I bring home a combined income of $68,000/year. We live in a modest house that we are fixing up little by little. We bought it at auction for $35,000; however, took out a mortgage for $60,000 (20 year) because we had to put in a new septic and pay for a new roof among other things. We owe $56,000 on the house, and according to Mint.com, it is worth over $90,000. We are very frugal. Hubby does it all from car repairs to plumbing. We enjoy going to the dollar theater to watch movies versus $7/matinee ticket. We also like to go out to eat once ever two weeks with coupons we get from restaurant.com or from our Entertainment book.
I do not necessarily want to have millions in the bank before retiring. I dont think either of us really wants to completely retire. We have dreams of opening a wine business one day as it is our hobby and passion. But even if that never comes to fruition, I would like for us to be able to find jobs that we love and enjoy...even if they dont pay much. I would like to be comfortable enough with how much money we have saved to be able to make this move in the next few years.
Currently, we have the following debts:
Mortgage ($55,921)
Hubby's Credit Card from before we were married ($9800)
Personal Loan ($7085)
Hubby's Vehicle Loan ($8651)
I have a 401K at work with just over $20,000 in it and contributing 6% of my income of $38,000 with a company contribution of 2.5 - 3% of my income in a profit-sharing plan.
I just enrolled for hubby's 401k from work a few months ago contributing 5% of his income. He has a little over $1,000 in the account.
Hubby is 38 years old, so I think it is really important for him to get on track with retirement savings. Right now, with our debt payment plan, it is hard to put away any more money toward his retirement right now. As of 2011 when all our debts SHOULD be paid off, I would like to start putting $5,000/year into Roth IRA's for the both of us and up our contributions to 401k to 15-20%.
I would really like for us to be able to find jobs we enjoy by 2015 with $250,000 in the bank and the mortgage nearly paid off. Hopefully, hubby will be able to find a job he enjoys sooner than that and hopefully we could live off of our income as well as still save up for our dreams to own a wine business in the meantime.
So, there is my novel.
I would love to hear any suggestions/comments anyone has for us to meet our goals.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. We have no children and no plans on having children.
~M