The post whore thread.

[HoneyBadger]

Any thoughts on my finance posts, Irving?

[Irving]

Well, as you know I've been reading the MrMoneyMustache blog from front to back, and this is the entry I landed on today. It is about increasing your charitable giving, so may be of interest to you. I haven't read it all, so I hope it's not garbage. I actually just came back here to tell you about it.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/...-you-can-save/

As to your plan, I don't see anything that can be utilized by you right now. I like the idea of 401k's and IRA's, but since they aren't available to you (without heavy penalties) until you are old, I don't get very excited about them. You already have a rental, and while rentals can make great money, they aren't for everyone. While I'd like to turn my current house into a rental, I'm more excited about the income than the prospect of actually dealing with a rental. Especially since in my neighborhood, I can't set the price high enough to keep out riff raff (but I'll certainly try). You have more experience in the stock market than I do, but I've been very interested in index funds and stocks that pay dividends. The guest posting on MMM about the aristocrat stocks is interesting (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/...d-aristocrats/).

You're way ahead of me when it comes to financial independence, so I don't feel all that comfortable commenting on any of your decisions. I like the college for the kids idea, and we also have had about $2,500 sitting around for a few years waiting to take a trip to Harry Potter land. We just finished the books a few months ago and need to actually book the trip, but I'd really like to do so once that remaining debt is paid off.

[Irving]

On the MMM note, I have to read something every day to maintain motivation long enough to make serious changes. I say this so it doesn't sound like I'm bragging about wasting my time reading, instead of doing. That said, I've just counted and I've read 272 blog entries, and have 192 left to go. He writes a lot less often now. He seems to have a bit of a liberal streak in him and for the most part does a pretty good job not trumpeting it. As I'm getting closer to current day, I'm waiting to see if he'll write about something that really pisses me off.

Here is a list of all entries, so you can browse for interesting topics. Lots of book reviews and other similar blog reviews early on.
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/all-t...nning-of-time/

[Great-Kazoo]

You got out sniped by a dude half out of his mind on scripts.

there's more than 1???

[Great-Kazoo]

Plans for the extra $1800/mo: (in order, for typical months)

Increase charitable giving outside of church by $100
Increase church giving by $100 (specifically to fund the school)
$458.33 goes to my Roth IRA (divided evenly between Growth, Growth and Income, Aggressive Growth, and International Mutual Funds)
$200 to a 529 for each baby HB (to be increased over time)
$200 to traditional IRA (divided same way as above)
The rest will be put toward saving for shorter term goals: Disneyland trip this spring, A Vacation next year just for mom-and dad (kiddos will likely be staying with my in-laws) a few basic home improvements, fixing the broken windshield in both our vehicles, etc.,

That $1800 per, consider a portion towards paying on the principle

Increase charitable giving by $50
$150 each for the kids
$150 for traditional IRA. This frees up $250ish (math's tough after the sun goes down) per you might set aside for "that rainy day" This surgery is the last, one would think. Realistically with 2 kids, you and the wife. That extra set aside might keep a roof over your head and food on the table. OR stashed away, being able to retire earlier.

[HoneyBadger]

Well, as you know I've been reading the MrMoneyMustache blog from front to back, and this is the entry I landed on today. It is about increasing your charitable giving, so may be of interest to you. I haven't read it all, so I hope it's not garbage. I actually just came back here to tell you about it.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/...-you-can-save/

Luckily he reconciles the viewpoint at the end of the book by suggesting a simple scale: allocate only 1% of your first $105,000 of income to charity, 10% of your next 100,000, and so on.

I think this is an interesting idea and the general idea matches our plans for increasing our giving with our ability to give over time. Obviously giving away 50% of a $50k/yr income is going to make it very difficult to build wealth. Our current level of charitable giving is somewhere between 2-3% of my income, and being out of debt allows us to help people in immediate need, like my high school friend who just had very rare mono/mono twins (more info here, if you're feeling charitable http://www.plumfund.com/medical-fund...-gilbert-twins)

As to your plan, I don't see anything that can be utilized by you right now. I like the idea of 401k's and IRA's, but since they aren't available to you (without heavy penalties) until you are old, I don't get very excited about them.

This is just a part of the strategy. The $1800/mo is not all of our surplus, just the additional from paying off this debt. Tucking away money for later and letting it grow with (and hopefully much better than) the market. It's a pretty tried and true plan, but there is a reason I won't be putting EVERYTHING extra into IRAs. As my income grows, I plan to invest in real estate (without borrowing money to do so!) and some other business ideas. Ensure that if you do start putting into an IRA that you max out the contributions for a ROTH IRA before putting anything in a traditional IRA. With a Roth, all the growth is 100% tax free. If a Roth IRA grows up to $1M over time, that $1M is $1M. A traditional IRA at $1M is worth considerably less because you have a pay taxes on anything you take out. Another thing to consider: I plan on being in a much higher tax bracket when I turn 60 than I am right now, and hopefully you will be too.

You already have a rental, and while rentals can make great money, they aren't for everyone. While I'd like to turn my current house into a rental, I'm more excited about the income than the prospect of actually dealing with a rental.

It can be lucrative, but it can also bring a ton of headaches and if you get really unlucky or don't manage it well, it can turn into a money-pit. Also, don't ever own a rental property more than about an hour away from where you live. (Yes I broke this rule badly, but I had somewhat unique circumstances under which I moved and every day I pray that it doesn't bite me in the butt.) Also, I hope you already know this, but don't try to borrow your way out of debt - Don't buy a rental property unless you can pay cash for it. Right now, I would be in trouble pretty quickly if something happened to my CO house and the renters stopped paying, left, or badly damaged the property. A very disproportionate amount of my income is tied up in mortgages right now... and that's never a good thing. Our 5-year plan includes selling one or both of our houses and buying something substantially cheaper on a 15yr fixed rate mortgage in which the monthly payment is less than 25% of my take-home pay.

You're way ahead of me when it comes to financial independence, so I don't feel all that comfortable commenting on any of your decisions. I like the college for the kids idea, and we also have had about $2,500 sitting around for a few years waiting to take a trip to Harry Potter land. We just finished the books a few months ago and need to actually book the trip, but I'd really like to do so once that remaining debt is paid off.

I probably am not "way ahead" of you, if at all. In total I owe a huge amount of money that I really have no intention of paying off (As I said above, I plan to sell one or both houses before the term of the loan is up). Realistically, I don't think I've done that well. I did well securing a reliable income, but it's also reliably not going to pay as much as I'd like. I've made some really bad financial decisions and done some bad investing (maybe I should call it "out"vesting since the money was going out instead of in). I have a lot of plans and I like charting things out in excel, but personal finance is 80% behavior and only 20% knowledge. Living below your means, etc... And I know you know that.

[HoneyBadger]

On the MMM note, I have to read something every day to maintain motivation long enough to make serious changes. I say this so it doesn't sound like I'm bragging about wasting my time reading, instead of doing. That said, I've just counted and I've read 272 blog entries, and have 192 left to go.

Yeah, I've done a lot of reading on higher-level economic philosophy (Mises, Hayek, Friedman, Sowell) and only a little reading on modern personal finance (O'Rourke, Ramsey, Thomas E Woods Jr., a little bit of MMM). I'm well on my way to being a millionaire someday, but instead of at 60, I'd really like to have that kind of money when I'm 35 or 40 (apart from my retirement accounts, which should hit $1M when I'm 39, but I won't be able to touch that money for another 20 years). I need a better plan to raise my income, which is pretty hard to do while in the military because there are specific limitations on having a traditional 2nd job. With that in mind, I need to find a way to independently create a second source of income on my own. i.e.: not working for someone else.

[HoneyBadger]

That $1800 per, consider a portion towards paying on the principle

Increase charitable giving by $50
$150 each for the kids
$150 for traditional IRA. This frees up $250ish (math's tough after the sun goes down) per you might set aside for "that rainy day" This surgery is the last, one would think. Realistically with 2 kids, you and the wife. That extra set aside might keep a roof over your head and food on the table. OR stashed away, being able to retire earlier.

I'm not paying any extra in principle for either house right now, because they are one or both likely going to be gone in a few short years. I was paying a considerable amount extra on our Colorado Springs house for about 2 years, but stopped when we moved away. I paid enough to take about 2 years off the 30yr mortgage term. I really am not planning on keeping this house in CA. It's simply not a place where I want to own property.

As I said in post 73624 (which was after your post) the $1800 is not the only surplus we have in the budget, just the additional surplus from paying off the rest of our consumer debt. We are stashing away an emergency fund to cover about 6 months of our living expenses, in addition to a separate emergency fund for our house in Colorado Springs.

[HoneyBadger]

Okay, nap time for me. And time for more Percocet. zzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[Monky]

Plans for the extra $1800/mo: (in order, for typical months)

Increase charitable giving outside of church by $100
Increase church giving by $100 (specifically to fund the school)
$458.33 goes to my Roth IRA (divided evenly between Growth, Growth and Income, Aggressive Growth, and International Mutual Funds)
$200 to a 529 for each baby HB (to be increased over time)
$200 to traditional IRA (divided same way as above)
The rest will be put toward saving for shorter term goals: Disneyland trip this spring, A Vacation next year just for mom-and dad (kiddos will likely be staying with my in-laws) a few basic home improvements, fixing the broken windshield in both our vehicles, etc.,

Wait your car is $1800/month? You're kidding right?