Family Finance Starting Points
So, I’ve seen a popular way to hold yourself accountable, as well as to inspire others, is to share your family finance goals and financial situation with the world. I’ve loved following networth updates from some of my favorite bloggers like J.D Roth at Get Rich Slowly and Mr.Money Mustache from Mr.Money Mustache. Therefore, we figured it was time to start sharing out our personal financial situation.
We will start with our debts, then expenses and finally finish up with our income and assets. Family finance has always been a passion of mine (ask my mother), talking about our situation is not new to me, Â just the sharing it online part. So, here it goes!
Debts
Mrs. P
Student loans- $68,000 left @ 5% (avg) 23 years left ($475/mo)
Mr. P
Student loans- $29,000 left @ 4.5% (avg) 23 years ($225/mo)
Car loan- $8,500 left @ 4.5% 3 years left ($350/mo)
Together
Mortgage- $171,000 @ 3.4% 29 years left ($1,345/mo with taxes, insurance, PMI)
Expenses
Fixed
Mortgage- $1,345/mo
Mrs. P Student loan- $475/mo
Mr. P Student loan- $225/mo
Car loan- $350/mo
Car insurance- $150/mo
Life insurance- $45/mo
Cell phones- $95/mo
Internet- $70/mo
Daycare- $600/mo
Blog services- $10/mo (prepaid for 3 years)
Total: $3,365/mo
Variable (what we average)
Groceries- $500/mo
Utilities (electric/gas)- $150/mo
Gas- $150/mo
Shopping/Eating out, etc. $100/mo
Total: $900/mo
Income
Mr. P- Teaching- $2,200/mo after taxes, insurance and pension
Mr. P- Second job- $400-600/mo after taxes
Mrs. P- Social work- $2,200/mo after taxes
Blog- $0/mo
Total: $4,800-5,000/mo
After expenses: $535+ per month left (11% savings rate)
Assets
House (3bd/3bath .5acre 1,900sq.ft) $174,000
Cars $10,000 (financed) & $7,000 (no financing)
Bonds $4,000
Emergency fund $6,000
401(k) $100 (don’t contribute anymore)
I don’t count possessions as assets as we don’t have plans to sell them unless necessary. I prefer not to count cars either as they depreciate and are more of a tool for us than anything.
Conclusion
Currently debt eats a very large portion of our monthly income and restricts our ability to save money. However, we are paying more than the minimum on all of our debt (except the mortgage). The plan is to pay off the car in ten months (24 months early) and then snowball the student loan debt until it is gone. As a teacher, Mr. P will not be paying down his student loan debt early as he is eligible for loan forgiveness.
So this is just stage one for us and we are just getting used to what new expenses having our son will bring. Hoping to trim even more fat from this budget soon!