Kronk
Full time employment: Posting here.
I've been reading these forums for a couple of weeks. Lots of interesting stories and situations.
I'm 31, my wife of nine years turns 31 next month. I'm a computer programmer who has been fortunate enough to be an hourly consultant at the same gig for six years. We are in our third month of business ownership (bought an existing women's exercise franchise), which she runs. 4 cats, no kids yet (still haven't decided), live in the suburbs west of Philadelphia.
Our "portfolio" looks like:
$325,000 house (bought seven years ago), debt free
$100,000 business equity ($300k value, $200k business debt)
$140,000 in retirement accounts (401k, 403b, SIMPLE IRA, Roth IRA)
---
$575,000
Our income is kind of up in the air. The business may end up being a huge mistake unless (as we expect) membership picks up at the end of summer/beginning of the school year. If it doesn't, the business value will decrease. Regardless, our combine income will probably be at least $165k per year.
I've spent a fair amount of time recently figuring out our expenses, and it looks like we are spending around $4500/month. We're frugal for the most part, though I am driving a 2005 BMW 330i. Last year we saved (invested, reduced debt) around $68k. My retirement goal is $1.8 mil in liquid assets.
I'm also mulling over buying a business for myself in a couple years. The idea of that would be to find something that I could eventually phase myself out of and get into a 10-hour/week or so semi-retirement. Or possibly a seasonal business. I don't like full work weeks.
Our investment strategy is:
1) Take advantage of tax-advantaged accounts (max 401k, Roth IRA, Health Savings Account)
2) Debt reduction
3) Vanguard Index funds
So, our short-term goal is eliminating the business loan (which, for convenience is a HELOC). It might be a bit conservative to work at eliminating debt before dropping money in the stock market, but my wife and I are both much more comfortable when we are debt-free. As a result, asset allocation is not really a priority for me.
I think that's about it. I'm looking to retire/semi-retire ASAP, though due to the business and personal preference we won't move from this area to speed that up. I realized very early on (high school) that I was not interested in wasting my time working my whole life, though I've worked regularly (except college school year) since I was 10 (family dairy farm, I was treated as a normal employee).
I look forward to discussing strategies and ideas, and I'm fairly sure I'll never write a longer post than this one.
I'm 31, my wife of nine years turns 31 next month. I'm a computer programmer who has been fortunate enough to be an hourly consultant at the same gig for six years. We are in our third month of business ownership (bought an existing women's exercise franchise), which she runs. 4 cats, no kids yet (still haven't decided), live in the suburbs west of Philadelphia.
Our "portfolio" looks like:
$325,000 house (bought seven years ago), debt free
$100,000 business equity ($300k value, $200k business debt)
$140,000 in retirement accounts (401k, 403b, SIMPLE IRA, Roth IRA)
---
$575,000
Our income is kind of up in the air. The business may end up being a huge mistake unless (as we expect) membership picks up at the end of summer/beginning of the school year. If it doesn't, the business value will decrease. Regardless, our combine income will probably be at least $165k per year.
I've spent a fair amount of time recently figuring out our expenses, and it looks like we are spending around $4500/month. We're frugal for the most part, though I am driving a 2005 BMW 330i. Last year we saved (invested, reduced debt) around $68k. My retirement goal is $1.8 mil in liquid assets.
I'm also mulling over buying a business for myself in a couple years. The idea of that would be to find something that I could eventually phase myself out of and get into a 10-hour/week or so semi-retirement. Or possibly a seasonal business. I don't like full work weeks.
Our investment strategy is:
1) Take advantage of tax-advantaged accounts (max 401k, Roth IRA, Health Savings Account)
2) Debt reduction
3) Vanguard Index funds
So, our short-term goal is eliminating the business loan (which, for convenience is a HELOC). It might be a bit conservative to work at eliminating debt before dropping money in the stock market, but my wife and I are both much more comfortable when we are debt-free. As a result, asset allocation is not really a priority for me.
I think that's about it. I'm looking to retire/semi-retire ASAP, though due to the business and personal preference we won't move from this area to speed that up. I realized very early on (high school) that I was not interested in wasting my time working my whole life, though I've worked regularly (except college school year) since I was 10 (family dairy farm, I was treated as a normal employee).
I look forward to discussing strategies and ideas, and I'm fairly sure I'll never write a longer post than this one.