DaveJ
Confused about dryer sheets
Hello all!
I suppose I should finally post here and introduce myself. I've apparently been lurking here for quite a long while... I forgot my exact join date, but it looks like it was over 5 years ago. How time flies.
I'm Dave, and I'll be 35 in a few weeks. I'm not sure exactly how I found this board, but I lurk around here because you all have views on finance and saving that largely mirror my own. Suffice it to say that unlike most of you I am here more for FI than RE, primarily due to some ongoing medical issues which preclude me from obtaining reasonably-priced individual health insurance, if it's even possible at all. Perhaps that will change in the future, but even if not I am extremely fortunate to have an uber-stable job as an IT systems administrator at a university. On the whole I love what I do and I work with some really fantastic people, so it's an awesome job.
I have a twin sister, and we were both fortunate in that our parents emphasized saving and investing at an early age. By the time we were 18 we both had IRAs and a small college fund. I've made some mistakes along the way, but I think I'm in pretty good shape. I have a 403b with my employer to which they contribute 11.5% of my gross income, and I'm also saving additional funds in an SRA such that my total retirement savings is currently 14% of my yearly gross. I've got about 100K saved so far, which is not too bad considering I just broke the $50k/yr income mark two years ago.
With that said, currently the bulk of my savings (30% of my net income), outside of a 6 month e-fund, is currently earmarked for debt reduction. I don't have a ton of debt - no CCs and a small mortgage (~73k), but I have a fair amount of student loan debt (18k) remaining. I'm within two months of paying that off (woohoo!) and after that I have nothing but the house loan left.
By my calculations I have about 7 years until the house is paid off, sometime in 2018. Once my final student loan is done I'll be able to sock away more cash to build up a "new car" fund, and to pay off the house. By 2015 I should be able to replace my current 2005 Elantra with a new one, and hopefully pay cash. I'll also be gradually increasing my retirement savings so I can at least match my employer's contribution.
Over the last few years I've developed something of a debt "phobia". It sounds great for LBYM, but it annoys me because I'm constantly agonizing over numbers, and I track every single penny. As best as I can anticipate, every large purchase decision gets researched, planned and budgeted for, and I pay cash for everything. This has earned me the reputation of "tightwad" among my friends, because if I decide to buy something it usually won't happen for at least 6 months.
I've only been doing serious short-term budgeting for 3 years (where short term is anything below 3 years), but it's definitely paid off. By my calculations I've paid off 30K of debt in 3 years including the remainder of my car loan, my student loans, and some house repairs (new roof, new HVAC, new dishwasher), and I've also built up a 6 month e-fund. I think once I have the house debt paid off I can relax a bit. I know it sounds paranoid, but I really don't have a choice not to be debt free ASAP. While I am very fortunate that my medical issues have not greatly impacted my life (perhaps the understatement of the century!), I've still had a fair number of issues to deal with. As a result I value stability above all else and being debt-free is part of that. At the very least when things go south again I'll be in a much better mental position to deal with issues as they arise.
Since this is getting long I'll cut it short and just say I look forward to chatting with you all!
Cheers!
Dave
I suppose I should finally post here and introduce myself. I've apparently been lurking here for quite a long while... I forgot my exact join date, but it looks like it was over 5 years ago. How time flies.
I'm Dave, and I'll be 35 in a few weeks. I'm not sure exactly how I found this board, but I lurk around here because you all have views on finance and saving that largely mirror my own. Suffice it to say that unlike most of you I am here more for FI than RE, primarily due to some ongoing medical issues which preclude me from obtaining reasonably-priced individual health insurance, if it's even possible at all. Perhaps that will change in the future, but even if not I am extremely fortunate to have an uber-stable job as an IT systems administrator at a university. On the whole I love what I do and I work with some really fantastic people, so it's an awesome job.
I have a twin sister, and we were both fortunate in that our parents emphasized saving and investing at an early age. By the time we were 18 we both had IRAs and a small college fund. I've made some mistakes along the way, but I think I'm in pretty good shape. I have a 403b with my employer to which they contribute 11.5% of my gross income, and I'm also saving additional funds in an SRA such that my total retirement savings is currently 14% of my yearly gross. I've got about 100K saved so far, which is not too bad considering I just broke the $50k/yr income mark two years ago.
With that said, currently the bulk of my savings (30% of my net income), outside of a 6 month e-fund, is currently earmarked for debt reduction. I don't have a ton of debt - no CCs and a small mortgage (~73k), but I have a fair amount of student loan debt (18k) remaining. I'm within two months of paying that off (woohoo!) and after that I have nothing but the house loan left.
By my calculations I have about 7 years until the house is paid off, sometime in 2018. Once my final student loan is done I'll be able to sock away more cash to build up a "new car" fund, and to pay off the house. By 2015 I should be able to replace my current 2005 Elantra with a new one, and hopefully pay cash. I'll also be gradually increasing my retirement savings so I can at least match my employer's contribution.
Over the last few years I've developed something of a debt "phobia". It sounds great for LBYM, but it annoys me because I'm constantly agonizing over numbers, and I track every single penny. As best as I can anticipate, every large purchase decision gets researched, planned and budgeted for, and I pay cash for everything. This has earned me the reputation of "tightwad" among my friends, because if I decide to buy something it usually won't happen for at least 6 months.
I've only been doing serious short-term budgeting for 3 years (where short term is anything below 3 years), but it's definitely paid off. By my calculations I've paid off 30K of debt in 3 years including the remainder of my car loan, my student loans, and some house repairs (new roof, new HVAC, new dishwasher), and I've also built up a 6 month e-fund. I think once I have the house debt paid off I can relax a bit.
I know it sounds paranoid, but I really don't have a choice not to be debt free ASAP. While I am very fortunate that my medical issues have not greatly impacted my life (perhaps the understatement of the century!), I've still had a fair number of issues to deal with. As a result I value stability above all else and being debt-free is part of that. At the very least when things go south again I'll be in a much better mental position to deal with issues as they arise.Since this is getting long I'll cut it short and just say I look forward to chatting with you all!
Cheers!
Dave
