Hello!
I’ve been reading through all the great info on the site for several weeks now, and wanted to introduce myself, ask for help, and seek encouragement to keep going (growing?).
I’m a 26 year old with a BSME, currently in a Sales Engineering position. My lovely wife, also 26, has a psychology degree, and works for a non-profit. I’ve always been smart with my money for the most part, and under normal circumstances, I like to think we’d be well on our way, but for a large amount of student debt. In my struggle to stay afloat, I’ve scoured ‘net, and now i’m here.
Current Salaries: 46,800 (his) / 28,600 (hers) = 75,400
Student Loan Debt: 32,000 (his) @ 2.93% / 97,000 (hers) @ avg. of 5.5% = 129,000
This is the part that really kills me. 4 years at separate private universities, and here we are; headed nowhere fast. The thought of still paying off our loans in 20 years sickens me.
Savings: ~$11,000 cash. No investments.
Our monthly take-home is ~$4,300
Rent: $924
Student Loans: $875 — 300/mo. to mine, and the remainder is interest only for my wife’s loans.
Grocery: $550 — we eat as cleanly as possible; mostly paleo (fresh product/meat/nuts/fruit only)
Fuel: $450 — we both drive ~30 min. to work in opposite directions each day.
Gym: $233 — i’m prepared to be scolded for this one. We both go to a CrossFit box 6 days a week, and take advantage of discounts for both being a couple, and paying 3 months in advance. (233 = $700/3). Between eating cleanly and training hard, I am strong, lean, and extremely healthy. This is a tough one to put a price tag on … but we’ll see. I’m open to suggestions!
Auto Payment: $220/mo. on my wife’s Jeep.
Mobile: $190 — 3 smartphones on a shared date plan + discount through work (wife, myself, family member)
Utilities: $110/mo. average — electric for cooking; heating
Vehicle Service: $70 — i build this in each month, and roll over the balance to cover oil changes, etc.
Insurance: $75 for 2 cars
Internet: $65 covers both high speed internet and basic cable. Cancelling cable only would cause this to go up. (thanks, Comcast).
Alcohol: ~40/month. I brew my own beer, and we will occasionally buy a bottle of wine once a month or so
Tithe, personal care, eating out once a month (@ ~40 for sanity), cat food/litter, hair cuts, etc. brings the total to ~$4,000 in expenses each month.
My wife drives a 2007 Jeep Liberty. [We owe $4,300 @ 7.38%]
I drive a 1992 BMW 325is. [this one owes me nothing at all]
I currently have a new job on the horizon that would potentially give me a 15% bump in pay, in addition to better benefits. The downside is it’s ~75 miles from our current apartment, as opposed to the ~25 miles that I drive now. Moving closer to the new job would obviously be better, but i’ll never be within biking/walking/close distance without my wife leaving her current job.
I estimate that the commute from our current location would cost me at least 150/wk., and would eventually require that the Bimmer be replaced. She’s at 218k, and would need some work to keep going for longer than another year or so. I can handle the labor, but the repairs would soon be nearing the total value of the car.
I feel very trapped, and somewhat at a loss. I have no qualms with biking, but there are no foreseeable jobs in a field worth pursuing in my area that are close enough to bike to. Moving would also require that both my wife and I get new jobs at the same time, which is difficult to orchestrate. I yearn to have a house, where I can flex my engineering mind, and diy skills to their fullest, but given the current size of our student loans, I just don’t understand how a down-payment can ever happen. Clearly, the only way to get out of this debt is to either earn more, and/or spend less. I’m working on spending less, but it seems as though earning more creates more problems when you factor in a commute, or move to a higher cost-of-living area.
Any thoughts, words of encouragement, and help is greatly appreciated!
thanks!
switch2richnow 