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bay area? damn
I have a friend back home (small town Midwest) - makes 150k a year - owns a 1600 sqft 3 bedroom ranch - paid 85k for it. I wouldn't want to live there, but he loves it
House buying tips for new grads
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I have a friend back home (small town Midwest) - makes 150k a year - owns a 1600 sqft 3 bedroom ranch - paid 85k for it. I wouldn't want to live there, but he loves it
well - you paid higher interest instead of PMI - I have done that - so basically you did pay more.
I meant you could buy a townhome where ever you were moving to -instead of the high dollar place - like I said - to each their own - I did something similar when I was in my 20's I could easily make the payments, but long story short, I got burnt with the housing market crash -
that surprises me - I have owned 4 house (well, kind a fifth - loooong story) and had probably 12 mortgages (refinanced when rates were steadily dropping) and never ran into that option, and I have had every combo of loand 80/15/5, 95/5, HELOC, fixed rates, arms, etc - anyway, I did some stupid things financially in my 20's - luckily back then overtime was plentiful and I could overcome the dumb things by just working a crap load. I just like to try to give advice that hopefully someone will take and learn a bit from - now I am very financially savy (I like to think)
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Last feb. I managed a 30 y fixed loan at 3.65% w/ 10% down and no pmi. It was from our credit union. They also has a 3% down with pmi. The 10% came from the sale of our previous house, couldn't have swung 20%
After budgeting and all expenses covered, what would you guys say is a good $ figure or percent of income to put into savings? I'm not including 401k/403b in this category, I've already set aside funds for that.
And has your tax % been reduced since Trump took office (srs question)? From what I've read, my bracket would be ~25% iirc. What should I actually expect to be taxed come May/June/July?
And has your tax % been reduced since Trump took office (srs question)? From what I've read, my bracket would be ~25% iirc. What should I actually expect to be taxed come May/June/July?
Depending on if your joint gross income is less than ~190k, you could contribute some money to Roth IRA. Here's a website with a chart showing the contribution limits: Roth IRA Contribution Limits | Charles Schwab
But at this point, your next highest priority would probably be to knock down your student loans if you have them. They're probably a higher priority than the money you put in stocks.
I think you need to balance saving with paying off debt, and you can also play around with the order in which you do things depending on what stage in life you are at. Don't fall into the 'poor man's' mentality that you will always have a mortgage payment, student loan payment, car payment, etc for the rest of your life. For example, I chose to go hard and paid off all my student loans and mortgage in 8 years after graduating. For the first couple of years I only put in enough to get the match in my 401k, had maybe 5-10k in savings as an emergency fund that I didn't really have to add to or subtract from, and put the rest towards my loans. Now that everything is paid off, I max out 18k 401k, 5.5k Roth and save and invest another 50-70k/yr with ease.
As for Trump reducing taxes, nothing has changed yet. The tax brackets are the same with a slight increase for inflation.
Sounds like you're in a good spot then. Everything else is discretionary money. Only thing I'd suggest is that you make yourself aware of all the tax deductions you're entitled to as a homeowner. Things like real estate tax deductions, home improvement deductions, home mortgage interest deductions, and capital gains in regards to real estate.
It is a sweet deal, but you have to hold md or do physician license to qualify.
You can exclude 250k single/500k married in capital gains on your primary residence when you sell it.
There were tax credits ending in 2016 for things like insulation, $300 for a 16+ SEER AC which I got. See here: 2016 Federal Tax Credits
For 2017 there's only the 30% on solar panels: Federal Income Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency
Hah. Right on time for Tesla's solar roof to come out.
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My point exactly. You could probably cover the mortgage on 1600 Sqft pretty easy. Put away a pretty good chuck of cash to either use as a down payment on your new house, pay off your little house or invest. Of course all depends on the cost of living in your location.
So, is 10% of paycheck a good place to start saving? Should I even be saving much at this point in my life (just put it towards debt instead)? Again, this is after contributing to 403b, additional savings on top of that.
When do you guys think trumps tax bracket changes will occur?
^Definetely interested in these.
Save EVERY SINGLE RECEIPT of $$ you poured into the house (scan/PDF and archive). If for some odd reason down the line you make a >$500k profit selling your house, you can add the cost of improvements to your basis.
I saved everything from our $10,000 patio cover to my $30 shower head purchase.
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What state do you live in? Meanwhile, ~300k can get 3500 sq ft 5bed/3bath mansion in the south. Mind blown
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fairly sure profit - which I will never have - well not unless my house triples in value - which would be AWESOME!!!
Saving for what? I try to focus on only a few financial goals, so don't try to do too many things at once. You could focus on paying off student loans. Or you could save for a 20% downpayment on a house. But if you try to do those at the same time plus max out your 403b, and save 10% for something, your money will be spread very thinly or you may not even have enough.
I think a good place to start is setting up a monthly budget, there are lots of excel spreadsheets to track income, fixed costs, variable costs and debt. I find it very helpful for my wife and I to look at this to project future cash flow as debts are paid and see where our money is going.
After you know how much surplus is left to allocate into savings vehicles, travel fund, emergency fund, etc
Just saving in general, covering an emergency fund and so forth.
You're right though, I'm spreading my resources too thin if I try to do everything I want to right off the bat.
Budgeting sucks. I am in the camp of never budgetting. Just keep expenses to absolute minimum, automate everything, saving and paying bills, and save the rest to pay down debt or invest the rest. It will take care of itself as long as you put some thought on your spending. Who can be bothered tracking purchase of a latte, a candy bar and lunch meal and put it on a spreadsheet on every single transaction, that's a nightmare. There are people who do this, I don't know how they even have the time for that chit.
I don't budget to that degree (it would drive me nuts/be OCD), but I do have an overall spending category for "fun" that includes that type of thing (eating out, impulse buys, going to see a movie with wife, etc). I don't eat candy (very rarely) or buy starbucks though, sure as hell ain't paying $3-5 for a single coffee. Folgers ftmfw.
