Lisa99
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,441
Hi everyone, I'm so THANKFUL to have found this site. I'm 48, my husband is 44 and until a couple of days ago (before finding this site) I was pretty happy with our progress to date on retirement.
The disgust comes from learning just how stupid I really am about investments. We have an account with Ameriprise that includes a VUL and a range of mutual funds. The funds that we're in have a "max front load %" ranging between 3.00 and 5.75 and net expense ratios of .99 to 1.96! Until starting to read this site I had no idea that was BAD!
Our current situation at a high level:
1. $250k in Ameriprise
2. $310k in two 401k accts (we max out each 401k every year)
3. 3 rental houses (with mortgages) that have positive cashflow and about $200k in equity
4. $100k in a real estate private partnership (2016 distribution)
4. Mortgage on personal home @ 5.3% - payoff in 2040 (just moved to Las Vegas so this is a new mortgage)
5. Annual investments (automatic) - maxed out 401k ($31k) + $24k/year into Ameriprise account - Total $55k/annually
6. ESPP - husband puts 15% of his income into company ESPP. Current balance is $24k
7. $70k in vested options
8. $40k cash in credit union acct (6 months living expenses)
9. No kids other than the furry kind
Expenses:
1. Use Quicken to budget and track income/expenses. Budgeted expenses are $84k/year (includes hefty travel, entertainment and dining categories).
Debt:
Four mortgages (3 investment properties, one personal home). No other debt. We pay cash for our cars and drive them for years and don't use credit cards.
We both work for megacorps and don't dislike our jobs. We are both in IT and work full-time from home so we have a lot of freedom to plan our days as we wish (salaries are about $250k combined). However, we hope to retire no later than when I'm 59 and DH is 55 so we have 11 years or less of investing.
At this time I don't have questions, but wanted to introduce myself. I've been using Firecalc for several years to run scenarios but the huge eye-opener was that our 'hands-off' approach to trusting Ameriprise is costing us a ton of money. Now that I've found you wonderful people I am going to methodically educate myself starting with the books recommendation. I'm sure in the coming days I'll have a ton of questions but I promise to use the Search engine to see if you've answered the question first.
....so, my brain already hurts thinking about the elephant I've chosen to eat, but dang it, it's our money and I WILL eat that elephant!!
The disgust comes from learning just how stupid I really am about investments. We have an account with Ameriprise that includes a VUL and a range of mutual funds. The funds that we're in have a "max front load %" ranging between 3.00 and 5.75 and net expense ratios of .99 to 1.96! Until starting to read this site I had no idea that was BAD!
Our current situation at a high level:
1. $250k in Ameriprise
2. $310k in two 401k accts (we max out each 401k every year)
3. 3 rental houses (with mortgages) that have positive cashflow and about $200k in equity
4. $100k in a real estate private partnership (2016 distribution)
4. Mortgage on personal home @ 5.3% - payoff in 2040 (just moved to Las Vegas so this is a new mortgage)
5. Annual investments (automatic) - maxed out 401k ($31k) + $24k/year into Ameriprise account - Total $55k/annually
6. ESPP - husband puts 15% of his income into company ESPP. Current balance is $24k
7. $70k in vested options
8. $40k cash in credit union acct (6 months living expenses)
9. No kids other than the furry kind
Expenses:
1. Use Quicken to budget and track income/expenses. Budgeted expenses are $84k/year (includes hefty travel, entertainment and dining categories).
Debt:
Four mortgages (3 investment properties, one personal home). No other debt. We pay cash for our cars and drive them for years and don't use credit cards.
We both work for megacorps and don't dislike our jobs. We are both in IT and work full-time from home so we have a lot of freedom to plan our days as we wish (salaries are about $250k combined). However, we hope to retire no later than when I'm 59 and DH is 55 so we have 11 years or less of investing.
At this time I don't have questions, but wanted to introduce myself. I've been using Firecalc for several years to run scenarios but the huge eye-opener was that our 'hands-off' approach to trusting Ameriprise is costing us a ton of money. Now that I've found you wonderful people I am going to methodically educate myself starting with the books recommendation. I'm sure in the coming days I'll have a ton of questions but I promise to use the Search engine to see if you've answered the question first.
....so, my brain already hurts thinking about the elephant I've chosen to eat, but dang it, it's our money and I WILL eat that elephant!!