delsolkm14
Dryer sheet aficionado
Hello everyone, I will try not to make this terribly long, but it is the intro page, so going to try to post as much info here as I can.
I am 30 years old (31 next month), married (DW is 30 also) and have three children ages 18 months to 12 years in the house. I am in the U.S. Army, have almost nine years on Active Duty and four years National Guard before that. My goal is to retire at 20 years, but that is still a far off place, so trying not to count my chickens before they hatch, but all plans are based off that assumption.
Last year I purchased a three bedroom houses on 6 plus acres in Tennessee on a VA loan. I plan on staying in the area for another 3-5 years at a minimum, but the possibility of longer is an option as well. I will probably rent it out if I do get moved instead of selling.
This is me and my wife’s first house, we rented for a year prior and neither of us had much when we moved into that one, so a lot of the CC debt and credit lines are from furnishing and outfitting the house for us and the kids.
Here are our current debts:
Credit cards: $15,000
Other charge accounts: $15,000
Student loans: $7,000
Car loan: $11,000
Mortgage: $160,000
And our current assets;
TSP (Lifecycle 2040): $9,000
USAA Roth IRA: $650
ShareBuilder account (stocks): $4,500
2004 Nissan 350Z and 1966 Mustang project: $16,000
Currently I contribute $330 a month to my TSP and $50 a month to the IRA. I am also putting an additional $180 a month into my TSP as part of a loan repayment that I took out last year to attempt to catch up on some debts when I was getting behind. That has four more years to go, so in essence you could say its $510 a month into it until 2013.
The ShareBuilder account is a temporary thing, $3500 of it is to remodel our bathrooms this winter, so whatever is over that is my extra money I have made and can do with what I want.
I make roughly $5000 a month bring home, but after my mortgage, TSP Loan, Family Dental Insurance, Charity and a $400 a month payment to my mom, I have roughly $2500 a month in spendable income. I have to pay my car note, student loans, and all the credit/charge cards out of that and then have some left for gas and food and other living expenses. It is tight right now, but we manage. My wife does not work a real job, she is a Scentsy Consultant, but as of right now that is just a part-time thing that basically pays for itself, so no income from it. I get a 2.9%-3.4% yearly raise and a 2% raise every other year as well. I will probably not get another promotion (4%-5%) for 4-6 years.
Our goal is to be debt free within two years (minus the mortgage) and live on the cash only system and minimize our dependency on credit cards. If we don’t have the cash for it, we are not getting it. I am selling my 350Z and my motorcycle when I get home. The money from the 350Z is going to pay off the other car note. The motorcycle proceeds will remove a monthly payment on it. I will be purchasing another vehicle, but plan on under $5000 and paying mostly cash.
At tax time, we got back $10,000 last year (went to mostly debt) and should get similar due to my deployment and low taxable income and three children. Not counting on it until we file in five months or so, but it should be another large stone to throw at the debt.
The $400 a month payment to my mom will end in two years, and I will transition that into mutual fund/CD/investment account type of account to start drawing from at age 45-47.
My goal is to retire completely from any job in 15 years. I plan on retiring from the Army at 42, and maybe working a contracting job or something like that until 45-47. As of right now, my goals are to move to Belize or somewhere similar at age 45-47 and not work again. With my retirement from the U.S. Army and money I am planning on putting away, I think it is doable. I have figured up that I could get roughly $3000-$3500 a month from my Army Pension and additional investments until age 59 ½ and then my TSP/IRA payments will kick in and cover me once the other investments run out.
Again, sorry for the long post but I just wanted to get all the info out there and get advice on my situation. I know I could have done better these last few years, but live and learn. I am trying to adjust my habits from living above my means to at my means and then to below my means. My wife is on board with it as living paycheck to paycheck is no fun for any of us in the house.
I am 30 years old (31 next month), married (DW is 30 also) and have three children ages 18 months to 12 years in the house. I am in the U.S. Army, have almost nine years on Active Duty and four years National Guard before that. My goal is to retire at 20 years, but that is still a far off place, so trying not to count my chickens before they hatch, but all plans are based off that assumption.
Last year I purchased a three bedroom houses on 6 plus acres in Tennessee on a VA loan. I plan on staying in the area for another 3-5 years at a minimum, but the possibility of longer is an option as well. I will probably rent it out if I do get moved instead of selling.
This is me and my wife’s first house, we rented for a year prior and neither of us had much when we moved into that one, so a lot of the CC debt and credit lines are from furnishing and outfitting the house for us and the kids.
Here are our current debts:
Credit cards: $15,000
Other charge accounts: $15,000
Student loans: $7,000
Car loan: $11,000
Mortgage: $160,000
And our current assets;
TSP (Lifecycle 2040): $9,000
USAA Roth IRA: $650
ShareBuilder account (stocks): $4,500
2004 Nissan 350Z and 1966 Mustang project: $16,000
Currently I contribute $330 a month to my TSP and $50 a month to the IRA. I am also putting an additional $180 a month into my TSP as part of a loan repayment that I took out last year to attempt to catch up on some debts when I was getting behind. That has four more years to go, so in essence you could say its $510 a month into it until 2013.
The ShareBuilder account is a temporary thing, $3500 of it is to remodel our bathrooms this winter, so whatever is over that is my extra money I have made and can do with what I want.
I make roughly $5000 a month bring home, but after my mortgage, TSP Loan, Family Dental Insurance, Charity and a $400 a month payment to my mom, I have roughly $2500 a month in spendable income. I have to pay my car note, student loans, and all the credit/charge cards out of that and then have some left for gas and food and other living expenses. It is tight right now, but we manage. My wife does not work a real job, she is a Scentsy Consultant, but as of right now that is just a part-time thing that basically pays for itself, so no income from it. I get a 2.9%-3.4% yearly raise and a 2% raise every other year as well. I will probably not get another promotion (4%-5%) for 4-6 years.
Our goal is to be debt free within two years (minus the mortgage) and live on the cash only system and minimize our dependency on credit cards. If we don’t have the cash for it, we are not getting it. I am selling my 350Z and my motorcycle when I get home. The money from the 350Z is going to pay off the other car note. The motorcycle proceeds will remove a monthly payment on it. I will be purchasing another vehicle, but plan on under $5000 and paying mostly cash.
At tax time, we got back $10,000 last year (went to mostly debt) and should get similar due to my deployment and low taxable income and three children. Not counting on it until we file in five months or so, but it should be another large stone to throw at the debt.
The $400 a month payment to my mom will end in two years, and I will transition that into mutual fund/CD/investment account type of account to start drawing from at age 45-47.
My goal is to retire completely from any job in 15 years. I plan on retiring from the Army at 42, and maybe working a contracting job or something like that until 45-47. As of right now, my goals are to move to Belize or somewhere similar at age 45-47 and not work again. With my retirement from the U.S. Army and money I am planning on putting away, I think it is doable. I have figured up that I could get roughly $3000-$3500 a month from my Army Pension and additional investments until age 59 ½ and then my TSP/IRA payments will kick in and cover me once the other investments run out.
Again, sorry for the long post but I just wanted to get all the info out there and get advice on my situation. I know I could have done better these last few years, but live and learn. I am trying to adjust my habits from living above my means to at my means and then to below my means. My wife is on board with it as living paycheck to paycheck is no fun for any of us in the house.