28-year-old Newbie

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amyj05

Dryer sheet aficionado
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Jun 12, 2015
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Hello everyone! :greetings10:

My name is Amy and I'm from southern Virginia. I am new to the FIRE community. I found this site after reading every single post on Mr. Money Mustache's blog. That blog really did change my life! I only wish I had found it sooner. I do not plan on retiring "early" by most people's standards. My goal is simply to be able to comfortably retire at age 60.

I work as a nurse and DH is a cook. We make a combined income of ~68k annually. Though this isn't a lot of money, we live in a very low COL area. We have no student loan or credit card debt. The only things we owe money on are our house and DH's car. My car is already paid off. I have an IRA which I opened several years ago and don't really contribute much to it right now, since my ultimate goal is to have DH's car and our house paid off in the next 5 years. :dance:

I also have a 401K through my employer, which I am contributing 8% to and my company matches 4%. After the car and house are paid off, I plan on increasing our savings to 40% of our income.

I look forward to learning about FIRE, investing, real estate, and anything else I can from this site. I've enjoyed what I've read so far!
 
At any rate welcome to the forum and congratulations on making a goal and a plan to get there.

Best of luck.
 
Welcome! While it's too early to make detailed plans for transition jobs, one nice thing about both your careers is that they lend themselves to part time jobs more easily than many.

But you're young and have lots of time to let your good habits pay off with a secure future!
 
Welcome aboard. Lots of knowledge and experience around these parts. Soak it up and learn as much as you can and you'll be in great shape.
 
My name is Amy and I'm from southern Virginia. I am new to the FIRE community. I found this site after reading every single post on Mr. Money Mustache's blog. That blog really did change my life! I only wish I had found it sooner. I do not plan on retiring "early" by most people's standards. My goal is simply to be able to comfortably retire at age 60.
Click to expand...


Welcome Amy! At age 28 you have found the secrets to success and happiness quite early in life. FWIW I didn't start until age 25 and was happily out of the work force in just over 20 years.

-gauss
 
amyj05 said:
Hello everyone! :greetings10:

My name is Amy... The only things we owe money on are our house and DH's car. My car is already paid off. I have an IRA which I opened several years ago and don't really contribute much to it right now, since my ultimate goal is to have DH's car and our house paid off in the next 5 years. :dance:

I also have a 401K through my employer, which I am contributing 8% to and my company matches 4%. After the car and house are paid off, I plan on increasing our savings to 40% of our income.
Click to expand...

Hi Amy! Welcome! You're doing really well to be saving as you are and be relatively debt free!

If I may make one suggestion to look at: consider/compare your interest rates, especially on your mortgage, to expected/average returns on your investments. Based on your statement that you'll raise savings up to 40% of income after those loans are paid off, and that you intend to pay them off in five years, I am guessing you would have additional capacity to save to those accounts after your regular monthly payments are made (without additional principle payments). (If that's not the case, I'll shut up!!) By not maxing out your 401K and IRA every year, you're losing forever the opportunity to save money in those accounts and in the case of your Roth IRA, let it grow tax-free. If you're paying 2-4% on your car/mortgage, you can probably expect better growth on stock funds over the long haul, and I'd suggest you would be better served maxing out your IRA/401K as much as possible before making additional payments to your car loan and mortgage.

Otherwise, simply by looking at all of this, you're way better off than the vast majority of people your age! Well done, and welcome!
 
I would second Nash's position. If your company gives you a 4% match on your 401k, that's an immediate 4% gain on your investment. You probably don't want to turn that down if you can avoid it, and so maxing out that and your Roth's is very important. Welcome!


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
amyj05 said:
Hello everyone! :greetings10:

My name is Amy and I'm from southern Virginia. I am new to the FIRE community. I found this site after reading every single post on Mr. Money Mustache's blog. That blog really did change my life! I only wish I had found it sooner. I do not plan on retiring "early" by most people's standards. My goal is simply to be able to comfortably retire at age 60.

I work as a nurse and DH is a cook. We make a combined income of ~68k annually. Though this isn't a lot of money, we live in a very low COL area. We have no student loan or credit card debt. The only things we owe money on are our house and DH's car. My car is already paid off. I have an IRA which I opened several years ago and don't really contribute much to it right now, since my ultimate goal is to have DH's car and our house paid off in the next 5 years. :dance:

I also have a 401K through my employer, which I am contributing 8% to and my company matches 4%. After the car and house are paid off, I plan on increasing our savings to 40% of our income.

I look forward to learning about FIRE, investing, real estate, and anything else I can from this site. I've enjoyed what I've read so far!
Click to expand...

No student loan or credit card debt and contributing a total of 12% (including match) to your 401K. Very impressive at 28! I didn't have one-half your good sense when I was as much as 10 years older than you. This site and the Bogleheads site will do much to support your journey on your path to a secure future. Well done and welcome.
 
I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do or not, but I'll use this post as a journal of sorts and post updates here. (If I should not do this, please let me know.)

My husband lost his job two weeks ago. He wasn't happy there and has decided that he wants to try something else. He did start a new job yesterday in a different field - in a warehouse position for a local beverage distribution company. The hours are better, but the pay is less. Needless to say, this has thrown a slight wrench in my plans, but everything will work out.

Until next time :greetings10:
 
I have good news since my last post.

1.DH likes his new job :D
2.Even though the hourly rate is lower than what he made at his last job, he gets anywhere from 4-12 hours of overtime weekly, so he will be bringing home almost the same amount of $.
3. He went almost 2 full weeks without a paycheck and I only had to take $60 out of our savings to cover October's expenses.

Not trying to toot my own horn, but October wasn't such a bad month, after all! :):)
 
amyj05 said:
3. He went almost 2 full weeks without a paycheck and I only had to take $60 out of our savings to cover October's expenses.
Click to expand...


Tiny blip on the radar. If only everybody were that responsible! Good job, keep up with the updates!



Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
November and December were both good months for me. I reached my savings goals for both months. DH is still enjoying his job. I'm going to New Orleans in February for Mardi Gras, so my goal for January is to save enough money to pay for that trip. I've picked up some extra hours at my part-time job, so that shouldn't be hard to do. :)
 
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