I'm one half of a very happy, very boring ordinary married couple and I'm worried that we're not using our money like we potentially could. I've gotten great at saving, but I don't know what to do next!
Here's a quick rundown of my financial situation: Married with 2 kids. Bought a house about 2 years ago, mortgage $1200/month, total owed approx. $165k 2 vehicles total $480/month, total owed approx. $16.5k Private student loan $145/month, total owed approx. $10.5k Gov't student loan $60/month, total owed approx. $2.5k No other debt
Our estimated monthly take-home income is anywhere from $5600 to $6000, sometimes higher with bonuses, commission, childcare reimbursement, etc. Including every dime we spend monthly, we budget to spend $5250 on all monthly expenses (spending, food, bills, etc)
We're able to contribute at least $300/month to savings, and we currently have approx. $10k in our savings account.
Current financial goal: save up approx. $20k so we can remodel our kitchen. I currently have a few thousand in stock grants from my company, and I anticipate getting $6k-$7k soon when my probate attorney settles my deceased parents' finances.
My big concern right now is my private student loan. The interest rate is 9.24% and stupidly, I didn't realize how much that meant I was paying in interest! Last year alone my tax documents indicated that I paid $935 in interest. On my current repayment schedule my last payment will be Feb 2027.
My question is: what should I do with my money? Would it be stupid to remodel our kitchen once we save up enough? We want to sell in the next 5 years or so, and I know a remodel would add value, plus our current kitchen drives me crazy. It's old and ugly and not functional for us. But then I think about how much interest I'm paying on my student loans and it makes me want to empty my savings to pay them off.
Also, the money I have in stock due to grants from my company: should I sell them to pay my student loans? I can't imagine that they would increase enough to compensate for how much interest is accruing on my loans.
This Christmas all I want is for someone to pay for a session with a financial advisor... Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Submitted July 19, 2018 at 10:34AM by caseywharris https://ift.tt/2uNTq5j
