Well I've been reading quite a bit of stuff in here since I discovered this place yesterday. Really have been enjoying it.
I'm 28 years old (29 this year). I'm very new to everything investing/money wise. In May of 2011 I was laid off from my job and discovered financially, was no where near living the way I should have been. I was desperate for a new job with benefits for my daughter. I took on one that paid around 60% less and ended up sending my fairly new pickup back to the bank that my loan was threw. I had bought a home in 2009 and was in constant talk with them on trying to figure something out that I could be doing. The only bill I was paying was my daughters child support and even went without power for a spell of time. The mortgage loan bank were not helping at all(even though they said they were working on it and were swamped) and out of no where I received a notice of foreclosure. This was a big surprise to me being as I was constantly calling/emailing them trying to get updates without any luck. We had been hit by a big hail storm a few months before I received the notice and had just received a check from the home insurance company to repair roof and a bunch of other things. I ended up using that check to escape being foreclosed. On top of all this I was in the middle of settling a visitation schedule threw the court system because I wasn't happy with being only able to see my daughter when it was convenient for her mother(and she didn't want it any other way). I had put most of the lawyer fees associated with this on a credit card. My girlfriend(same as now) and I were expecting and found out it had Anencephaly. This was not only a financially hard time in my life but also very emotional. We decided to carry out the pregnancy and had a stillborn boy. We received quite a bit of support and the funeral home didn't charge us for their services. I found a better paying job and by this point in time have begun studying personal finances, reading everything I could get my hands on and setting up a mint.com account. I knew the first step was to start paying off my debts. First I paid off the remainder of the pickup loan. Next I paid off the credit cards. I vowed to never use that credit card again(which they closed the account themselves beforehand). I still owe my lawyer money post credit card but she just charges me $100 a month with no interest. I forgot to mention at my previous job that I was laid off from they didn't match any 401k contributions and I didn't put a single penny in. The job I have now(the better paying job I mentioned) I started out contributing 5% last year(what they match), and raised it to 10% this year. The only debt I have is my mortgage loan( it is at 5.25% but with everything that happened my credit took a pretty good hit and can't refinance for awhile). My girlfriend and I are expecting again now and everything is healthy so far. We both have saved 5k in cash for our emergency fund. I have a money market saving account set-up threw Sallie Mae(1.05%). I was going to put the 10k in there but have recently come up with a new plan per reading up on it a bit. Here's my plan and let me know what you think. 5k into that Sallie Mae account and put 2.5k into a Roth IRA for her and another with same amount for me. The 5k for fast cash emergencies and if more is needed we can withdraw any Roth IRA contributions penalty and tax free. I also started a betterment.com account I haven't read of anyone talking about it on here so I'm not sure if it is well known about on here. They had a deal to put in $250 get a free $25 and I only have to put in $100 a month. They invest in ETFs and I only have to set my stocks to bonds allocation(they charge .35% for anything under 10k). I started this account basically just to invest into something(possibly my own business venture.. Who knows just wanted to have the money as an option for anything). It's currently set at a 65/35 allocation and have it set as a goal for 6 years and 10k but I could change that to be longer maybe. I just know I wanted to get it started. I am worried I have all this money spread out too much but I'm not sure.
That all might be a bit confusing to read, sorry. Writing off my phone. If anyone has any questions or advice feel free to ask and it's nice cyber meeting all of you!
I'm 28 years old (29 this year). I'm very new to everything investing/money wise. In May of 2011 I was laid off from my job and discovered financially, was no where near living the way I should have been. I was desperate for a new job with benefits for my daughter. I took on one that paid around 60% less and ended up sending my fairly new pickup back to the bank that my loan was threw. I had bought a home in 2009 and was in constant talk with them on trying to figure something out that I could be doing. The only bill I was paying was my daughters child support and even went without power for a spell of time. The mortgage loan bank were not helping at all(even though they said they were working on it and were swamped) and out of no where I received a notice of foreclosure. This was a big surprise to me being as I was constantly calling/emailing them trying to get updates without any luck. We had been hit by a big hail storm a few months before I received the notice and had just received a check from the home insurance company to repair roof and a bunch of other things. I ended up using that check to escape being foreclosed. On top of all this I was in the middle of settling a visitation schedule threw the court system because I wasn't happy with being only able to see my daughter when it was convenient for her mother(and she didn't want it any other way). I had put most of the lawyer fees associated with this on a credit card. My girlfriend(same as now) and I were expecting and found out it had Anencephaly. This was not only a financially hard time in my life but also very emotional. We decided to carry out the pregnancy and had a stillborn boy. We received quite a bit of support and the funeral home didn't charge us for their services. I found a better paying job and by this point in time have begun studying personal finances, reading everything I could get my hands on and setting up a mint.com account. I knew the first step was to start paying off my debts. First I paid off the remainder of the pickup loan. Next I paid off the credit cards. I vowed to never use that credit card again(which they closed the account themselves beforehand). I still owe my lawyer money post credit card but she just charges me $100 a month with no interest. I forgot to mention at my previous job that I was laid off from they didn't match any 401k contributions and I didn't put a single penny in. The job I have now(the better paying job I mentioned) I started out contributing 5% last year(what they match), and raised it to 10% this year. The only debt I have is my mortgage loan( it is at 5.25% but with everything that happened my credit took a pretty good hit and can't refinance for awhile). My girlfriend and I are expecting again now and everything is healthy so far. We both have saved 5k in cash for our emergency fund. I have a money market saving account set-up threw Sallie Mae(1.05%). I was going to put the 10k in there but have recently come up with a new plan per reading up on it a bit. Here's my plan and let me know what you think. 5k into that Sallie Mae account and put 2.5k into a Roth IRA for her and another with same amount for me. The 5k for fast cash emergencies and if more is needed we can withdraw any Roth IRA contributions penalty and tax free. I also started a betterment.com account I haven't read of anyone talking about it on here so I'm not sure if it is well known about on here. They had a deal to put in $250 get a free $25 and I only have to put in $100 a month. They invest in ETFs and I only have to set my stocks to bonds allocation(they charge .35% for anything under 10k). I started this account basically just to invest into something(possibly my own business venture.. Who knows just wanted to have the money as an option for anything). It's currently set at a 65/35 allocation and have it set as a goal for 6 years and 10k but I could change that to be longer maybe. I just know I wanted to get it started. I am worried I have all this money spread out too much but I'm not sure.
That all might be a bit confusing to read, sorry. Writing off my phone. If anyone has any questions or advice feel free to ask and it's nice cyber meeting all of you!
