Debt Dumpers - 2018

[FQLover]

[. It is still a 6+ hour drive from my house to theirs, so I think at that point, they should just buy something smaller in Michigan if they want to be close.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that sounds like a really good idea. They are going to want to be closer than Texas or Chicago to see their grandkid(s) grow, and since they have the money for more than one home, one house should be near you, I would think!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Yes, that sounds like a really good idea. They are going to want to be closer than Texas or Chicago to see their grandkid(s) grow, and since they have the money for more than one home, one house should be near you, I would think!

My brother lives just 45 minutes from the house they are building in Texas, so I am sure they will see my brother and SIL plenty. But they don't have any kids and have no plans to have kids. My sister has no plans to get married or ever have kids. DD and any future siblings are likely the only grandkids my parents will have. We will see what happens.

 

[jen7233]

My brother lives just 45 minutes from the house they are building in Texas, so I am sure they will see my brother and SIL plenty. But they don't have any kids and have no plans to have kids. My sister has no plans to get married or ever have kids. DD and any future siblings are likely the only grandkids my parents will have. We will see what happens.

That's like me, I'm the only one of four kids to have children and my siblings never will have kids. I have a friend who is from Michigan and the weather just got to her medical condition and she moved to Georgia permanently.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

And I want to hear from you on what you think of Beach Club! We have one night at BCV booked for our November trip!

We love the BC! We have stayed there a few times, sometimes renting points at BCV and sometimes just booking through Disney. YC also shares that pool so either is good for us. Really, any of the hotels around the lake is good for us but BWI doesn't share the awesome pool at BC so that's good for when we're doing more park touring. We love that you can easily walk to Epcot and HS so that's 2 more buses we don't have to deal with. Also entering Epcot through IG is sooo much calmer, less crowded than going through the front door. Maybe that will change once all the gondola construction at CBR is complete.
Dh loves Cape May Café and even though BC and YC are sort of like one big connected hotel, walking from YC is slightly further. We stayed at YC last Sept and were given our first Disney resort upgrade ever: from standard view CL, to a huuuuge, 2 BR/3 bath suite. Omg, double door entry to a large LR. Wow! Usually it's too chilly for the pool when we go but Sept was perfect. We spent the last day just relaxing at the pool and I mixed up our pick up time (very unlike me) and ended up missing the ME bus back to MCO. We had to pay for a cab but it was so worth it.

After our 1st stay at BC, we tried Poly just to get the monorail experience then returned to BC. Dh and both kids said hands down they like BC atmosphere better than Poly.
We kind of fell in love with BC so now it's hard to stay anywhere else.

 

[jen7233]

My kids LOVED the BC. Our only comment was the very long hallway where our room was to get out to the elevators. We've only been once. Loved how close it is to Epcot! The ice cream place was great Beaches and Cream. The bus service there we thought was good, and we loved the store downstairs where we'd get a breakfast.

 

[Dentam]

Filed my taxes yesterday and also continued to pack. I'm also posting some items on our next-door neighborhood site for free today. Other large items that aren't in as good of condition or just need to be tossed will go out in the alley tomorrow after work since Monday is our monthly large item pickup day. Getting there. Slowly but surely. By this time next week I'll be moving furniture into the new place.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

As for my snowball, it's been hijacked lately to cover my lack of FT hours at work but Monday I return to FT so I'm looking forward to my usual paychecks. Dh had OT pay so that paid off the balance of our BC stay. Next on our snowball list is camp for ds. It's a skateboarding/BMX camp in PA which he loves (Camp Woodward) and this is the last year he can attend as a camper. His BFF is driving now and they go to camp together so it will be nice to not have to drive 4.5 hours, register and move his stuff to his bunk, then drive back another 4.5 hours. That is just exhausting.

After camp I'm attempting to start New Car fund 2.0 lol Hopefully this time it doesn't get hijacked for some other need.
In July and August I always hijack the snowball to save $5k for Christmas then in Sept I'll return back to the car fund. If Murphy stays away, (and if I can resist more vacation booking) that should be funded by the end of the year. I was planning to start attacking our mortgage then but just remembered we booked the Norwegian cruise for 2019. We both love the idea but we're on the fence about saving vs. spending. Big trips like that always leave us racked with guilt, even if we save for the whole thing in advance. Maybe I'll save for the cruise and if we end up canceling, I'll put the vacation $ toward the mortgage.

Chase has an amortization calculator. If I throw just $20 extra per month at our mortgage, now 10 yrs remaining, it shaves another 2 months off the end. Doesn't sound like much but that's $2600! Imagine if we started doing that from day 1!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So I was playing with this loan calculator. If we held off on getting me a car, pulled the $10k back out of our Vanguard that I put in when I cancelled our summer cruise, and take dh’s final disbursement of his inheritance (prob $12k) put it all toward our mortgage, along with throwing the full snowball at it too, it would be paid off in Dec 2020!


That is so tempting. The plan for the inheritance $ was originally to go into Vanguard as part of the 3-6 months of expenses that is recommended people save. Our safety net in life.

But wow, to be mortgage free in less than 3 years sure would make it easy to save without that payment!


Then here’s the hard part. No vacations for 3 years. Sure I could give up clothes shopping and any other spending. I could live with old coats, towels and sheets for 3 years. Heck I’d even keep these same sneakers that long just so we can get it done sooner but could I not go ANYWHERE that long?



I’d have to honestly say no. That is where I draw the line and say Look, I have to LIVE. I feel like I should be able to be stronger but travel is my kryptonite. It gives me a reason to go to work every day and have something to look forward to.


I think I’ll still hold off on the car until I really need to and start pounding out the mortgage asap though. Just putting the inheritance $ down knocks a year off, from 10 yrs to 9, but darn I’m annoyed at myself though we all have our vices.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

So I was playing with this loan calculator. If we held off on getting me a car, pulled the $10k back out of our Vanguard that I put in when I cancelled our summer cruise, and take dh’s final disbursement of his inheritance (prob $12k) put it all toward our mortgage, along with throwing the full snowball at it too, it would be paid off in Dec 2020!


That is so tempting. The plan for the inheritance $ was originally to go into Vanguard as part of the 3-6 months of expenses that is recommended people save. Our safety net in life.

But wow, to be mortgage free in less than 3 years sure would make it easy to save without that payment!


Then here’s the hard part. No vacations for 3 years. Sure I could give up clothes shopping and any other spending. I could live with old coats, towels and sheets for 3 years. Heck I’d even keep these same sneakers that long just so we can get it done sooner but could I not go ANYWHERE that long?



I’d have to honestly say no. That is where I draw the line and say Look, I have to LIVE. I feel like I should be able to be stronger but travel is my kryptonite. It gives me a reason to go to work every day and have something to look forward to.


I think I’ll still hold off on the car until I really need to and start pounding out the mortgage asap though. Just putting the inheritance $ down knocks a year off, from 10 yrs to 9, but darn I’m annoyed at myself though we all have our vices.

Mortgage free would be amazing, but I think a 3-6 month emergency fund is more important to have before focusing on eliminating the mortgage. We have been working on our 6 month emergency fund and I am so glad to see that fund increasing every month. Knowing that we have some money for a real emergency makes me feel much more at ease while we continue to work on our debt dumping goals.

 

[jen7233]

So I was playing with this loan calculator. If we held off on getting me a car, pulled the $10k back out of our Vanguard that I put in when I cancelled our summer cruise, and take dh’s final disbursement of his inheritance (prob $12k) put it all toward our mortgage, along with throwing the full snowball at it too, it would be paid off in Dec 2020!


That is so tempting. The plan for the inheritance $ was originally to go into Vanguard as part of the 3-6 months of expenses that is recommended people save. Our safety net in life.

But wow, to be mortgage free in less than 3 years sure would make it easy to save without that payment!

Well, right now I'm experiencing a little of how it feels to have a depleted emergency fund after helping DD. My goal is to get it back up ASAP. I am feeling in a scary place without one. We already have a cruise planned this year but it's been paid for already, and we aren't cancelling. We had this all paid including plane tickets way before the car emergency. Hopefully all will go well on the vacation and won't need any emergency plane trip out of a port, lol. We do have two credit cards that are still with a 0% interest sign up bonus for the next year, and will knock on wood not need to use them.

I think having the emergency fund just feels so much better. Once that's at a number you feel good with turn on the mortgage focus.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Mortgage free would be amazing, but I think a 3-6 month emergency fund is more important to have before focusing on eliminating the mortgage. We have been working on our 6 month emergency fund and I am so glad to see that fund increasing every month. Knowing that we have some money for a real emergency makes me feel much more at ease while we continue to work on our debt dumping goals.

Well, right now I'm experiencing a little of how it feels to have a depleted emergency fund after helping DD. My goal is to get it back up ASAP. I am feeling in a scary place without one. We already have a cruise planned this year but it's been paid for already, and we aren't cancelling. We had this all paid including plane tickets way before the car emergency. Hopefully all will go well on the vacation and won't need any emergency plane trip out of a port, lol. We do have two credit cards that are still with a 0% interest sign up bonus for the next year, and will knock on wood not need to use them.

I think having the emergency fund just feels so much better. Once that's at a number you feel good with turn on the mortgage focus.

You both are right and my rational half knows this. Life is too unpredictable and a lot can happen in 3 yrs.
My dreamy half got to thinking out loud with “Wouldn’t it be nice...”

If it were 6 months or a year I would totally go for it.

 

[amalone1013]

I spent some of the weekend daydreaming about a new job... When we went to BILs wedding last weekend, his friend in the area mentioned a job he's hiring for...

At my current place, we had a change in management recently. I knew the transition would be a bit bumpy, but was hopeful that some of the issues with previous leadership would be fixed... so far, we've just traded out those issues for new ones so it's just as bad, or even worse. And there are some other things cropping up that have me less excited with the direction things are going. And I'm getting worn out from the scheduling... last year I averaged 60 hours a week. It should really be 40-48 unless someone is on vacation, but we've had high turnover and poor coworkers... also a leadership issue. Someone was out this past week, which meant coming in at 3am for several days including Saturday morning... So I had already resigned myself to getting just Sunday off, and I got called and asked to come in. Yesterday was a one-off thing, but after coming in to help because I'm a nice person, and then getting told they'd try to keep me to only 8 hours of work, left a sour taste in my mouth. Less appreciated I guess... like I know to upper levels in the company I'm a number, and unfortunately that's how it is at a lot of places now, but it would be nice if my direct report didn't treat me like that. And to just assume I came in for a full day... but I'm a pushover and didn't say anything and just worked the 8 hours.

So I'm going to get in contact with BILs friend today to find out more. It seems like it would be more what I'd like to do, so I'd like to find out what kind of work it is. One of the hard things is it'd be a pay cut, most likely. On one hand, my base pay would be slightly lower than my current base pay but it'd be 40 hour weeks. On the other hand, it would be quite a bit lower than my overall pay, because again, it'd be 40 hour weeks... instead of 60. But they have benefits like PTO, insurance costs, and retirement listed online - similar PTO, 10% retirement match (currently I get 4%), and insurance is even cheaper than I pay now (which I really didn't think was possible, but it's about $1500 less for the year)... But first things first, to find out more about the job itself. 40 hours sounds awfully nice right now.

 

[Dentam]

Rescheduled my moving day due to the weather. Rain all day on Friday and snow showers Saturday morning. Luckily my job is flexible so I will go into work on Friday so I can take Sunday off to move. I just want to have it done with already. I'm at the point where I go to grab something and realize that crap, I already packed it and who knows where the box is at this point.

@amalone1013 - A new job sounds great! I would never be able to handle the hours you work. 3am!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Rescheduled my moving day due to the weather. Rain all day on Friday and snow showers Saturday morning. Luckily my job is flexible so I will go into work on Friday so I can take Sunday off to move. I just want to have it done with already. I'm at the point where I go to grab something and realize that crap, I already packed it and who knows where the box is at this point.

@amalone1013 - A new job sounds great! I would never be able to handle the hours you work. 3am!

Oh that’s an awful feeling. Like you’re in limbo. I hope your move goes smoothly and you get settled soon.

I spent some of the weekend daydreaming about a new job... When we went to BILs wedding last weekend, his friend in the area mentioned a job he's hiring for...

At my current place, we had a change in management recently. I knew the transition would be a bit bumpy, but was hopeful that some of the issues with previous leadership would be fixed... so far, we've just traded out those issues for new ones so it's just as bad, or even worse. And there are some other things cropping up that have me less excited with the direction things are going. And I'm getting worn out from the scheduling... last year I averaged 60 hours a week. It should really be 40-48 unless someone is on vacation, but we've had high turnover and poor coworkers... also a leadership issue. Someone was out this past week, which meant coming in at 3am for several days including Saturday morning... So I had already resigned myself to getting just Sunday off, and I got called and asked to come in. Yesterday was a one-off thing, but after coming in to help because I'm a nice person, and then getting told they'd try to keep me to only 8 hours of work, left a sour taste in my mouth. Less appreciated I guess... like I know to upper levels in the company I'm a number, and unfortunately that's how it is at a lot of places now, but it would be nice if my direct report didn't treat me like that. And to just assume I came in for a full day... but I'm a pushover and didn't say anything and just worked the 8 hours.

So I'm going to get in contact with BILs friend today to find out more. It seems like it would be more what I'd like to do, so I'd like to find out what kind of work it is. One of the hard things is it'd be a pay cut, most likely. On one hand, my base pay would be slightly lower than my current base pay but it'd be 40 hour weeks. On the other hand, it would be quite a bit lower than my overall pay, because again, it'd be 40 hour weeks... instead of 60. But they have benefits like PTO, insurance costs, and retirement listed online - similar PTO, 10% retirement match (currently I get 4%), and insurance is even cheaper than I pay now (which I really didn't think was possible, but it's about $1500 less for the year)... But first things first, to find out more about the job itself. 40 hours sounds awfully nice right now.

Sometimes your sanity is worth more than the extra money but only you know if it’s worth it. It certainly can’t hurt to look at a new offer.

 

[DLgal]

So I was playing with this loan calculator. If we held off on getting me a car, pulled the $10k back out of our Vanguard that I put in when I cancelled our summer cruise, and take dh’s final disbursement of his inheritance (prob $12k) put it all toward our mortgage, along with throwing the full snowball at it too, it would be paid off in Dec 2020!


That is so tempting. The plan for the inheritance $ was originally to go into Vanguard as part of the 3-6 months of expenses that is recommended people save. Our safety net in life.

But wow, to be mortgage free in less than 3 years sure would make it easy to save without that payment!


Then here’s the hard part. No vacations for 3 years. Sure I could give up clothes shopping and any other spending. I could live with old coats, towels and sheets for 3 years. Heck I’d even keep these same sneakers that long just so we can get it done sooner but could I not go ANYWHERE that long?



I’d have to honestly say no. That is where I draw the line and say Look, I have to LIVE. I feel like I should be able to be stronger but travel is my kryptonite. It gives me a reason to go to work every day and have something to look forward to.


I think I’ll still hold off on the car until I really need to and start pounding out the mortgage asap though. Just putting the inheritance $ down knocks a year off, from 10 yrs to 9, but darn I’m annoyed at myself though we all have our vices.

Which Vanguard fund do you use for this purpose? I have a Vanguard IRA but am looking for a place to stash our long term savings where it can grow a bit...okay with risk. Wondering what type of account you are using? Need something where I can withdraw at will.

 

[Ngwira]

Purchased our 6 day base tickets from Undercover Tourist today for our August trip. Not cheap at all, but we will upgrade them to AP's in August and plan to go in August, November, April and finally, August 2019 on one set of AP's.

Our June trip has a separate set of 2 day base tickets attached which was paid for via UR points. Based on our travel plans for 2018 and 2019, it would be best to upgrade to the AP in August and not June, so we could also fit in our annual August trip for next year using one AP. Now I am stalking flights for November so we can do MVMCP. We have tickets already for MNSSHP (August).

We make fastpasses on Wednesday for our June trip !

Took my car to the dealer for routine maintenance and ended up spending only $50 OOP due to my service contract, which was nice. Other than that, just chugging along.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Which Vanguard fund do you use for this purpose? I have a Vanguard IRA but am looking for a place to stash our long term savings where it can grow a bit...okay with risk. Wondering what type of account you are using? Need something where I can withdraw at will.

We have a joint investment account. Read more here:
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/account-types
Scroll down til you see "Saving for something other than retirement?"


We chose from their list of mutual funds. see link below They have different minimum amounts. IIRC most were $3000. It was doing great in Jan when we first opened it and some days that $10k had total earnings over $200 in a few weeks but the market is not so rosy lately but usually it's like a rollercoaster. Eventually it will go back up. Not a problem unless we need to withdraw it.

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/list#/mutual-funds/asset-class/month-end-returns

 

[DLgal]

We have a joint investment account. Read more here:
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/account-types
Scroll down til you see "Saving for something other than retirement?"


We chose from their list of mutual funds. see link below They have different minimum amounts. IIRC most were $3000. It was doing great in Jan when we first opened it and some days that $10k had total earnings over $200 in a few weeks but the market is not so rosy lately but usually it's like a rollercoaster. Eventually it will go back up. Not a problem unless we need to withdraw it.

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/list#/mutual-funds/asset-class/month-end-returns

Yeah, this is what I am considering (a mutual fund). I was wondering HOW did you decide WHICH mutual fund to use? There are over 100! I don't know how to pick. My IRA is in a Vanguard "Target Retirement 2045" fund. Our other retirement money is my husband's TSP at work (military version of 401K). That one has a LOT of money in it, but we can't withdraw it, obviously. So, looking for a fund for our "savings" that we might need eventually, but might not. Don't want it just sitting in our bank's saving's account.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yeah, this is what I am considering (a mutual fund). I was wondering HOW did you decide WHICH mutual fund to use? There are over 100! I don't know how to pick. My IRA is in a Vanguard "Target Retirement 2045" fund. Our other retirement money is my husband's TSP at work (military version of 401K). That one has a LOT of money in it, but we can't withdraw it, obviously. So, looking for a fund for our "savings" that we might need eventually, but might not. Don't want it just sitting in our bank's saving's account.

jmho so take this all with a grain of salt.

For each fund, I look at the average annual returns for the 1 yr(past 12 mos, not calendar yr) the 5 yr, and 10 yrs and since inception. Some of these funds date back to the 1950s, the 20s. Amazing.


The tax exempt funds earn really crappy returns so those were out immediately.


In Jan, there were a few that were earning more than 30% (for 12 mos.) and of course that's rare but even the 10 yr outlook was still over 10%. This includes the timeframe of the ‘08/09 recession when everyone's investments were circling the drain so I think 10% is pretty good then.

I've had Primecap Admiral shares through work for 15+ years and it consistently outperforms most others but sadly it’s not open to new accounts. I can only add to my work account.


We ended up choosing US Growth fund (VWUSX) and Morgan Growth fund (VMRGX). Both have >10% avg annual return since inception from the 1950s & 60s so that’s a pretty long track record. Back in Jan they were both >30% avg annual return for 1 yr.

I was afraid to put it all into one fund. The Windsor looks good too and also has a decent rate since inception.


Vanguard offers a simple online quiz to help people gauge their level of risk tolerance.
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/help-advice
Scroll down to where it says Do Your Own Research - Set your asset allocation with our investor questionnaire.

Nothing is carved in stone but generally those that earn more are also more volatile (subject to greater swings high and low). Stock funds are generally more volatile than bonds. Mutual funds are a collection of multiple stocks or bonds so that it's inherently more diversified than buying 1 stock.
We chose a higher earning fund thinking No guts, no glory. Do what your comfortable with. You can always change funds. We initially had a 3rd fund that was more conservative but the other 2 were doing so well it seems silly to keep it. I don't even remember the name of it since we only had it a few weeks.

 

[DLgal]

jmho so take this all with a grain of salt.

For each fund, I look at the average annual returns for the 1 yr(past 12 mos, not calendar yr) the 5 yr, and 10 yrs and since inception. Some of these funds date back to the 1950s, the 20s. Amazing.


The tax exempt funds earn really crappy returns so those were out immediately.


In Jan, there were a few that were earning more than 30% (for 12 mos.) and of course that's rare but even the 10 yr outlook was still over 10%. This includes the timeframe of the ‘08/09 recession when everyone's investments were circling the drain so I think 10% is pretty good then.

I've had Primecap Admiral shares through work for 15+ years and it consistently outperforms most others but sadly it’s not open to new accounts. I can only add to my work account.


We ended up choosing US Growth fund (VWUSX) and Morgan Growth fund (VMRGX). Both have >10% avg annual return since inception from the 1950s & 60s so that’s a pretty long track record. Back in Jan they were both >30% avg annual return for 1 yr.

I was afraid to put it all into one fund. The Windsor looks good too and also has a decent rate since inception.


Vanguard offers a simple online quiz to help people gauge their level of risk tolerance.
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/help-advice
Scroll down to where it says Do Your Own Research - Set your asset allocation with our investor questionnaire.

Nothing is carved in stone but generally those that earn more are also more volatile (subject to greater swings high and low). Stock funds are generally more volatile than bonds. Mutual funds are a collection of multiple stocks and bonds so that it's inherently more diversified than buying 1 stock.
We chose a higher earning fund thinking No guts, no glory. Do what your comfortable with. You can always change funds. We initially had a 3rd fund that was more conservative but the other 2 were doing so well it seems silly to keep it. I don't even remember the name of it since we only had it a few weeks.

Thanks! Very helpful. We are super high risk tolerant, to be honest. Income (current and future) is all but guaranteed so this is just extra money that we are okay with losing some of short term. Actually, I kind of feel like we should sit on it for awhile and wait for the markets to fall some more, and then buy in low.