Hi all. I've been lurking here a while and decided to post. Sorry for the long winded post in advance.
My chief concern for my own retirement at this time is that I am in the middle of a career change. When my wife and I planned out this move, we calculated to the best of our ability, the risks and rewards Primarily due to the economic meltdown, many of our assumptions turned out to be way too optimistic.
Before returning to school, I had a small business in another country. I was saving ~$15,000 a year. While I expected to grow the business more, doing so would have involved risking a large investment in a very competitive market. Because of this, and other reasons, we decided to sell and pursue a different path.
I am now half way through a professional degree in the U.S. The entire educational process, for me, will take a total of 5 years and I currently have 2 years left. New graduates in my field make $95-$110k per year. (The most recent information I have.)
I will also, however, have roughly $210,000 in federal student loan debt at a variety of interest rates. This is taking into account the fact that my wife and I are working hard to minimize our loans. (In addition to the program, we are both working and raising a new baby.) We will be 33 years old when I graduate.
My wife plans on pursuing a career here in the U.S. but she is not a native English speaker and she will also have to return to school as well. We figure she is currently 5-6 years away from working because of the fact we are focusing on getting me through school first.
I still feel that I made the right move financially. However, I am starting to worry more and more about my ballooning student loan debt and the ~$28,000 dollars a year it will take to pay it off in a semi-reasonable time frame.
I'd really like to retire between the age of 58 and 60, giving me only 25-27 years to save for retirement as well as deal with the student loan albatross.
Is there a way to see if we've made the right move? I know there are some calculators frequently touted on this forum, but I haven't made the time to play around with them yet.
My chief concern for my own retirement at this time is that I am in the middle of a career change. When my wife and I planned out this move, we calculated to the best of our ability, the risks and rewards Primarily due to the economic meltdown, many of our assumptions turned out to be way too optimistic.
Before returning to school, I had a small business in another country. I was saving ~$15,000 a year. While I expected to grow the business more, doing so would have involved risking a large investment in a very competitive market. Because of this, and other reasons, we decided to sell and pursue a different path.
I am now half way through a professional degree in the U.S. The entire educational process, for me, will take a total of 5 years and I currently have 2 years left. New graduates in my field make $95-$110k per year. (The most recent information I have.)
I will also, however, have roughly $210,000 in federal student loan debt at a variety of interest rates. This is taking into account the fact that my wife and I are working hard to minimize our loans. (In addition to the program, we are both working and raising a new baby.) We will be 33 years old when I graduate.
My wife plans on pursuing a career here in the U.S. but she is not a native English speaker and she will also have to return to school as well. We figure she is currently 5-6 years away from working because of the fact we are focusing on getting me through school first.
I still feel that I made the right move financially. However, I am starting to worry more and more about my ballooning student loan debt and the ~$28,000 dollars a year it will take to pay it off in a semi-reasonable time frame.
I'd really like to retire between the age of 58 and 60, giving me only 25-27 years to save for retirement as well as deal with the student loan albatross.
Is there a way to see if we've made the right move? I know there are some calculators frequently touted on this forum, but I haven't made the time to play around with them yet.