Up until now, I've always considered myself what I consider poor, or just above poor. I'm only now able to afford a townhome, car payment, and have money to buy things without sweating. And even that is more due to having dual income.
My goal is to be able to buy a house. I've always lived in an apartment, even growing up, so this would be new to me. Houses in my area start in the $150-200K range for anything in a decent neighborhood.
I was looking to start investing, but from everything I can see, you need to put in a few thousand to start if you want to see any meaningful gains. I would only be able to put in a couple of hundred, maybe.
I wonder if there is any hope for me to get a house in the near future? My hope is that I can give my daughter (1-year-old) a better start to life than I had.
Main questions in the TL;DR at the bottom.
Income
$40,690. Every 2 weeks, my gross is $1560, but with deductions, my net pay is only $888 (though really closer $953 since my SO pays half of the additional insurance cost for having our daughter on there).
Expenses
Largest Recurring monthly payments include
-$550-$600 for rent and utilities (my share)
-$200 for child care (my share)
-$135.55 for my car
-$70 for student loans (currently suspended)
-$75 IPTV, Adobe CC
-Rest of my money goes to food, gas, stuff for the kid, items for the house, etc.
Debt
-Student Loans of $30K at 5.600%
-Car Loan of $2,800 at 6.990%
-Monthly Rent and utilities comes out to about $550 for my share.
-Will likely be getting much needed braces this year for $3,000 (Long story, born without 6 teeth in the front, need braces before I can get partials. I feel like it's necessary for business purposes).
-No credit card debt. Just one card with a $500 limit Rest of the money goes towards food, gas, and the kid.
Retirement Plan
I'm in the FERS program, which seems to be pretty good. I have a TSP instead of a 401(k).
-I put 3% of my gross towards retirement,
-Job contributes 1% automatically. In addition my job matches that 3%. Totaling 4%
-If I wanted to, I could go up to 5%, in which they would match an additional 1% (0.50 for every dollar after 3%, up to 5%), meaning my employer would also match 5%. [We also invest $1.00 for every $1.00 you invest for the first 3 percent of your basic salary, and 50 cents for each $1.00 you invest for the next 2 percent of your basic salary.]
-I would also get a pension of 1.1% of my 3 highest grossing years.
-I do have about $5,900 in my TSP using the L Funds which is a diversified mix of G, F, C, S, and I that changes based on how far out from retirement you are. (In the L 2050 Fund).
Advice Needed/TL;DR
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How to best plan and save for a house. Is this possible in the next 5 years?
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Would investing be a good use of money rather than straight saving? Maybe put my savings into the stocks each month?
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I only was able to really put money towards retirement starting 2 years ago. I've gotten such a late start, I feel like I'm kind of screwed at this point. Is my retirement plan okay so far?
Any advice appreciated!
Submitted January 30, 2021 at 05:40PM by danimalforlife https://ift.tt/2Ys69tB
