Student Loan Progress December 2020!

What a year!  I admit I hadn't thought about my student loans much for a while as I'm down to just the federal loans with a relatively manageable automatic payment and interest rate.  The news that the incoming President may forgive student loan debt, however, has prompted me to check on my current total so I came back to the blog to see where I was at the time of my last post.

At my last update in November, 2017 I estimated by my next check in I would be below the $50k mark.  As of today the new total is $55,202.14!

The breakdown is $30,178.25 in the Subsidized Stafford and $30,178.25 in the Unsubsidized Stafford.

Sigh.  I wish it were below $50k but it's still much better than the days of 6 figure debt.  I won't weigh in on the politics/policy of forgiving student loan debt....but I can't lie it wouldn't be a weight off my shoulders.

In other news, my kiddos are 7 and 5 and both in public school five days a week IN PERSON this year for which I am thanking my lucky stars.  Child care costs are way down this year, partly due to the pandemic and partly due to their ages.  We are only paying $300 a month now for one child in aftercare.

I have been working from home for the past ten months and my family has been healthy and well for which we are enormously thankful.

Still in the home we purchased in 2013 and in the process of potentially selling the condo we purchased in 2008.

Child Care Costs and 2018 Tax Changes

It's only four days into the year and I am crunching the numbers because we just got another daycare bill.




Two years ago with an infant and a two year old in full time daycare our expenses were insane!  We were paying nearly $2,000 a month.  Luckily our school district has a free preschool program which we started at age three so our costs dropped significantly. 




Now I have my two year old at a great daycare center which costs $245 a week.  And my 4 year old is in pre-k so I pay $400 a month for after-care.  My total monthly childcare costs are currently $1380.  (Side note: we were at another cheaper daycare center for a while and trust me we're so much happier paying a little more to know our kiddos are in great hands.)




So it's a lot.  It's funny because I frequently hear people encouraging couples to have more kids regardless of financial concerns, saying "oh, you'll figure it out!"  Please.  Even if I were to figure out squeezing another $250 car seat plus two years of diapers into my budget I'm confident another $1,000 would not just fall from the sky.




But just this week I got a note saying it's almost time to register my eldest for kindergarten!  I can't even believe it.  In just eight short months our child care costs should go down!  Assuming we will pay $400 a month for my youngest child's aftercare and $220 a month at an aftercare program at the elementary school our costs will be just $620 a month, a savings of $760 a month!


Before the passage of the Tax Bill we put $5000 into a Dependent Care account like we've done for the past several years, but that money doesn't even total half of our annual child care expenses.  Now I see, however, that we are able to save up to $10,000 pre-tax money in a 529 and use that towards childcare.  We already have a 529 set up for the kids and, at first, it seemed insane to touch that money for day care since it's for college savings but we could set up a separate one just for day care so the funds don't get co-mingled.




First, I need to figure out what my total 2018 child care expenses will be, anticipating the awesome savings come September.




January - June - $1,380 a month = $8,200


July - August - $1,780 a month = $3,560


September - December - $620 a month = $2,480


Total 2018 Child Care Expenses (projected) = $14,240.




Okay, time to open another 529....and maybe a beer.


Edit: I was wrong and you can't use a 529 to pay for daycare.  You can use it to pay for private school but that doesn't apply to us.  I know only a few people still read this blog but I didn't want to give out bad information!

Student Loans Versus My 457 Retirement Plan

Inspired by the New Year and a recent retirement milestone, I decided it would be fun to document my shrinking student loan balance as my retirement balance soars.




Over the holidays I noticed that my 457 Retirement Account had finally reached $50,000!  I shared in this very space how I created this account nine years ago so I wanted to update on the progress. Over the years I saved as much as I could in the account but it was only recently that I was able to really increase my contribution.  I now contribute 4% pre-tax and 8% post-tax of my paycheck to this account.  At the beginning of 2017 I only had $32,000, up from $25,000 in the beginning of 2016. 




If I contribute another 12% of my salary in 2018 (and see modest investment returns) I should have a retirement account that exceeds my student loan debt ($61,576.87) by the end of 2018. That's my goal anyway.




According to the amortization schedule it should take me until May 2023 to only owe $50,000 in student loans, so I'm hoping that the retirement balance climbs faster than the debt is scheduled to fall.




This is why when I see people advocate focus on paying off student loan debt before saving for retirement I cringe.  I have seen my account and my husband's account gain so much more steadily than the 4% interest rate (actually my husband's student loans are 2%) we pay.  And yes, being in debt sucks, but so does getting older without a plan for retirement.


Stay tuned as we try for both.  Bring it on, 2018!

Student Loan Progress

It's been over a year since my last post and I'm mostly posting this update for my own record-keeping. I know when I started this blog the idea of getting out of debt seemed so far off and unobtainable that I want to provide periodic updates to keep me motivated. With a broken laptop this is taking long to type so straight to the point:

                                                2/29/2016                   11/2/2017

Subsidized Stafford                $35,609.57                  $33,848 @4.625%
Unsubsidized Stafford            $29,565.75                  $28,068 @4.625%
Private Undergrad Loan         $5,697                         $0
Defaulted Private Loan          $4,398.84                     $0

Total                                       $75,271.16                   $61,916 ($13,355.16)

I guess at this rate I'll be below $50k by next post!

 My kids are 4 and 2!

What happens when you get a baby, a new house and a new job...

and you can't check your email at the new job?


You sort of stop blogging.


And then you get a second baby!


But I wanted to post an update, if only for my own records, just to see how I am plugging along at the good old student loan debt.


Last time I updated the totals was October of 2012 and it was $106,091.70. So, you know, a whole ton of money but down from $137, 779.31 when I started blogging in July of 2009.


So now three and a half years later I'm happy to report the new total is:

$75,271.16!

Wow.  It's still a huge sum of money, don't get me wrong but it is now finally less than one year's salary and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Here is the breakdown:

Subsidized Stafford - $35,609.57 @4.625%

Unsubsidized Stafford - $29,565.75 @4.625%

Private Undergrad Loan* - $5,697 @variable less than 3% but I can't see exact number currently

Defaulted Private Loan - $4,398.84 @0%

*My parents pay this loan but it's under my name so I include it in the total debt in case that arrangement were to cease.

I keep getting a robocall saying I am eligible for consolidation which is crazy considering I consolidated most of these loans nearly a decade ago but I may call the number back just in case it's possibly true.  At 26 years old having my payments capped at the low monthly payment of $406 no matter how much my income increased was appealing.  At 36 I'm realizing I still have TWENTY YEARS of paying these stupid loans and I may want to make some changes.

Anyway just getting my feet wet in blogging again.  Money has been on my mind a bunch lately so hopefully I can assemble some thoughts into a few new posts soon.

On the life front: my oldest son is turning 3 in a few months and I got a little guy who is eight months old.

Our House....In The Middle of Our Street

It's been a while since my last post but things are going very well!  I recently completed six months at my "new" job and I am flourishing there.  There are challenges, of course, mostly in learning to manage a whole new body of work, but at least I'm not bored!  My boss is great and I have my own office once again.

We bought a house in December and moved the week after Christmas.

My son turns A YEAR OLD this week!

Financially, we are doing okay.  Sometimes I think about our much higher salary (I think our gross is about $220k currently, up from $120 just a few years ago) and think we have ALL THE MONEY, but, in reality, a high income doesn't mean you don't have to budget.  Moving into a new house was expensive.  We have done very minimal decorating or furniture buying but little stuff adds up.  Plus an enormous heating bill in the cold winter.  Plus property taxes!  Plus we had to pay to get our condo painted so we could rent it out.  Then we went on vacation!

We are trying to reign things in.  I hope I can post a bit more about the process to keep myself accountable.

I'm a Working Mom!

So much has changed since my last post.  My world changed forever in late May when my son was born.  He is healthy, wonderful and we are so so happy to be his parents.

I had an amazing four month maternity leave with mostly time I had accrued through my years of saving up my PTO, plus a generous six weeks from my employer (though a bit too little too late at that point). I came back to work two weeks ago and last Wednesday turned in my two weeks notice.

I GOT A MUCH BETTER JOB!!

After years and years of making around $50,000 I will be jumping up to a salary of nearly $75,000. The job is still in public service so it will have many of the same benefits that made my current job appealing but at a pay rate that is more commiserate with my years of experience.  I'm sure it will be challenging in other ways but, after tackling parenthood, I think I can manage.

My husband also started a new job a month ago with a decent salary increase so the $1,000 a month we are spending on day care hasn't affected our budget thankfully.  Now more than ever our eyes are on the goal of buying a house and we hope to achieve this goal by Spring 2014.

Student loans?  Yup, still paying them.  I need to log into my accounts and make sure, but I'm almost positive I've hit the "Under $100k" goal recently so hurray!

Changes Abound

Thanks to all who checked in with me during my recent blogging hiatus.  I confess that I prefer blogging from my work computer (on my lunch break!) because it's much easier to pull up financial data at a desk with a pen and paper and a real mouse.  Laptops are great for web browsing but not much typing or research.  Unfortunately my work group of thirteen attorneys has dwindled down to a measly eight in the past few months and, as a result, my work load has tripled (yes tripled!).

But, have no fear, they recently gave me a three percent cost of living adjustment - my first since 2009 - remember how excited I was back then?  Factoring in the Social Security reduction sunset, it's like $20 more a paycheck.  Thanks a lot!

While my coworkers have wised up and abandoned ship, I have no immediate plans to look for another job because of the great work/life balance..which is more important now that I have a baby on the way.  Yes, a baby, finally!  It's been almost exactly a year since I wrote about our fertility struggles and how they were putting our plans on hold.  I'm happy to announce that after a successful IVF cycle I am now five months pregnant.  Our SON will arrive hopefully mid June. And, while achieving pregnancy was a herculean feat, the actual pregnancy so far has been pretty easy.  I'm healthy, baby is measuring big and healthy and I feel great.

We are still living in the condo and are here until we can scrape up enough funds to put at least ten percent down on a house.  Originally we thought we could pull it off by the time the baby gets here but that won't be happening save some sort of financial miracle.  Our modified plan puts us moving shortly before the end of 2013.  Technically we have almost half the money saved already...but most of that is in our Emergency Fund and I will resist the temptation to drain that with a baby on the way just for the convenience of a few more months with an eat in kitchen.  Non-shared laundry would be nice though.  Sigh.

In other news, this was the first year we've been married that we didn't greatly miscalculate our tax burden.  Instead of owing we ended getting back over $3k so that was a nice addition to our savings plan.  DH is still interviewing for a better job and hopefully between his forthcoming bonus in March and any salary increase he may see, we will exceed our goals by the end of the year.

I hope to write more about our plans for the baby and hopefully moving soon.  It's a very exciting time.

Occasional Student Loan Debt Roundup

So, what happens when you go six months without counting up your student loan debt?

A. You totally forget to pay your bills and spend $5,000 at the mall; or

B.  "Suddenly" you look and you've paid off over $5,000 in debt!

Don't despair, dear readers, the answer is happily B.  I actually did forget to pay one of my student loans a few months back.  The Perkins loan is the only one not on automatic withdrawal because I am snowballing it and the web site isn't smart enough to let me do that automatically.  Luckily I wasn't "late" with my payment since they consider me paying ahead already.  Phew.

Without further ado, here is the roundup:





For the first time I realized that since my parents technically are responsible for the Private Undergrad Loan (it's just on my credit score so I keep it on the list) that I've actually been in the Five Figure Debt Club for quite some time.  Not counting that loan, I *only* have about $89k in outstanding student loan debt.

But, of course, I do count that loan and maybe someday, if circumstances change, I will have to make payments on it so the official Under $100k Student Loan Debt Party is postponed probably until April/May of 2013 which is right around the corner if you think about it.

A lot can happen in the next six months and we are eagerly awaiting news on multiple different fronts.  Hopefully by the day five figure debt becomes a reality we will have some answers on moving, new jobs, family building, etc.  Stay tuned.

Operation: Buying a House

Four years and one month ago my (then) boyfriend bought our home. 

Five months later, we got engaged.

Eighteen months after that we got married.

We've been married for two years and two months.

We've had many great times in our home but I feel it's (nearly) time to move on.  Why?  Let me count the ways.

Our condo is 798 square feet.  There is no storage.  If you put one thing out of place an entire room can look cluttered.  Five things out of place and you may as well be living in a hovel.  I feel like I'm constantly trying to jam things in the closet or in a drawer.  I dread friends coming over because our only space for entertaining is also where we do most of our daily living and eating.

We have two cats and one litter box.  And please, I know this is bad but there is literally no other place to put a second one.  I'm thisclose to just buying one and putting it against a door to a closet that we never open.  When we had one cat I felt like cleaning the box was no big deal.  Now I think my cats are engaged in an Olympic sport of competitive pooping.  They poop all the time.  I need another solution to this problem and the only thing I can think of is to move.  We already have the fancy thing that makes your litter box look like furniture so that's not the issue.  The issue is floor space.  We don't have any.

Our income has dramatically increased.  When he bought the condo, my husband was making $80k a year.  My income wasn't factored into the equation because we were unmarried and I was also paying rent at my apartment - and continued to do so for nearly a year.  Now we have a household income of $170k and it may rise some more in the next few months (fingers crossed).

We always agreed that our current office would serve as a nursery for our first child until they were one years old and then we would move.  Well, we've been trying to get pregnant for over a year and I feel like we've waited long enough. My husband needs his office and the idea of trying to fit baby stuff in that room in addition to all the stuff that needs to be in there makes me not want to have a baby at all.

I'm sick of condo living.  I want a yard!  I want to be able to run the blender at 10 o'clock at night (don't ask) and not worry I am disturbing someone.  A neighbor in a nearby building has a dog who has taken to barking after midnight all of a sudden.  I can't pinpoint who it is and why they allow barking but I'm sick of it.  I also feel our condo fees are way too high (even though my husband is the building treasurer and assures me there is no misappropriation).

So we have decided we will aim to move by early next summer.  Our budget will be between $300 and $350k.  Right now the main priority will be saving the $17,500 we will need for a down payment.

I am going to look into alternative income and hopefully my husband will get the raise he has been promised.  Now I need to start researching locations, needs, wants, etc.

When should I talk to a realtor?  We didn't use one last time around (FSBO) so that part is all new to me.  I would attempt FSBO again but I think I need a little handholding this time.

Wish us luck!

Hello From Limboland

There have been some great things happening financially for us.  My husband has seen a salary increase of over $40,000 in the past three years.  I'm immensely proud of him, of course, even if my salary has been stagnant.

We have also been faced with the prospect of relocating for the past four months or so but have no idea how serious we should be taking the idea.  It would mean leaving my job and moving to a high cost of living area.  Part of it sound great but other parts freak me out.  I'm not sure if I even found a job in the new location if I would make enough money to be able to afford daycare.

Which brings us to this: we're still not pregnant.  We've been trying for so long and have been undergoing fertility treatments for the past five months now with no luck.  We are very grateful that our insurance has covered most of our treatment but the medication and the copayments have added up.  I just can't wait to be done with this chapter of my life but I will keep going until I have my baby.

My second niece/nephew is due in a few weeks.  It's hard to deal with my mixed emotions on this subject.  I hope to have a better update soon.

It's That Time Of The Year Again

It's Christmas for pensioned employees!  Okay, maybe not Christmas but it's the day that the Sears Christmas catalog arrives at your house showcasing all the toys you could possibly ask for that year.  I got my first pension statement after finally vesting in Tier 4 of the New York State and Local Retirement System.  You may remember me expressing excitement over being tier four because the State has gone on to create two new tiers (5 and 6) since I joined, with less benefits.

So now that I'm vested I'm entitled to a pension and my early retirement dream may become a reality.  Because 24 years from now I am guaranteed an annual income of $25k (assuming a final average salary of $48k).

And yes, I know nothing in life is really guaranteed but in order to snatch away my benefits the state would need to hold a constitutional convention and since the last one was in 1976 and was a total disaster I'm doubting they would try it again anytime soon.  Actually, they did try it in 1997, asking the voters like they are required to do every twenty years if they wanted to hold a convention.  It turns out the people said no.  But enough history for today!

I've said before that I would like to stay in my current position right up to the end of my career because I like it and the benefits are great, but there are some things in flux right now that would change my mind.  On the one hand, change can be exciting, on the other hand you have the Devil You Know and did I mention the pension?

If I leave before my ten year mark I get my contributions back if I don't want to collect a small pension instead.  As of today they total $8,397.

How about a Student Loan Debt Recap?

What happens when a blogger has other crap on her mind and doesn't post a monthly student loan debt roundup for eight months?

If you were guessing she goes back to school and saddles on another $50,000 in student loans you would be wrong!

Thank God!

But, no, I assure you, the loans have still been getting paid. And today I decided it was time to see where I'm at. So here goes nothing:



Yes, that's right. Since my last update, I have knocked out close to $7k in student loan debt! The magical less-than-six-figures mark is within my grasp.

NB: The total amount paid off is showing an error right now. If it doesn't update soon I'll fix this later. Rest assured the real number is $6,655.49.

At this rate, I'll be under $105k by the end of the year and will reach the wonderful land of $99k by June, 2013. That's assuming I don't make any adjustments to the payment schedule.

DH and I hope to raise the amount we're paying as soon as we meet other financial goals but it's good to know we're on track. That's all for now!

Confessions of a Biological Clock

Hi all. I'm sorry. I have been meaning to write an entry forever. Frankly, other than the student loan debt roundups which I've forgotten to do for a few months, not much is new with me. It wasn't until today that I realized the ONE THING that has been going on in my life I've been reluctant to write about.

Because you're not supposed to talk about it.

It's awkward, personal and bordering on rude in some people's opinions. But I've decided to say it anyway because I thought at least some of my readers would like to know. And because after several years of writing about my life I didn't want to let this blog just die off as I enter a new phase of my life.

I want a baby.

Not just me. My husband does too. We want to create a new person. I told you this would be awkward to talk about. I am trying to get pregnant. Phew, there I said it.

I remember a couple years back, when I was planning my wedding, a commenter remarked on my blog that I was going to "get married, get pregnant and quit my job." As you can imagine I was offended by his remarks. Not only because he was implying I was some sort of Gold Digger, but because he was trying to fit me into a box. The Predictable Female box. Even though I always thought I wanted kids, for someone else to assume I would be having them just because I was getting married hurt.

I was never the type of woman that was anxious to get married. I made my education and then my career a priority. And I am so happy I had an independent life, over a decade of living on my own before marrying DH.

Then during the 18 month engagement we talked a lot about the future. We wanted to have some time as a married couple before starting a family. We wanted to travel, enjoy each other's company and become financially secure. We set a date that we would start to try.

And then we started trying. And it was exciting and scary all at the same time. I toured a day care (take that rude commenter!) and picked out baby names. Quickly, however, it seemed that something was wrong. Without getting into too many details, it just wasn't happening.

Months go by and I invest in books, a thermometer, over the counter medical supplies, fertility yoga, fertility tea, herbs and vitamins. I drink 96 ounces of water a day. I turn 32. I try acupuncture. I'm still not pregnant.

So that's what's new with me. I wish I had better news. I just wanted to say I always thought the whole concept of a biological clock was silly. I thought women were being pressured by societal norms to reproduce, not nature. Sadly now, I know the truth. There is something going on now that even common sense cannot suppress. I could have anything in the world right now and it wouldn't matter because it's not a baby. Sometimes it's a dark place.

The good news is I have excellent insurance and an appointment to see a specialist in less than a month. I'll keep you posted and I promise to try and resume a more frequent blogging schedule from here on out.

I'm Still Here!

So it's been far too long since I've posted an update. I got stuck in a tree! No, not really. I have lots to say and lots and lots of emails and blog posts to catch up on. Sorry about the hiatus. I just wanted to let you know to look out for new posts from me coming soon!

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

Hello all! Work has finally quieted down and I'm on my way to a week long vacation tomorrow to celebrate a wedding and the anniversary of my own wedding. Can you believe it's been a year already? I can't!

But first, time to update the student loan numbers! I am getting excited to see the numbers slide down closer to the five figure mark. I predict I will owe under $100k in student loans by February 2014. Yay! Maybe I'll do something crazy to celebrate at that point like go back to school (boo!) or have a baby (yikes!).

As of today, I owe $118,180 for my fabulous education, over $800 less than last month.

Here are the details:




Hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July Weekend celebrating America: where anyone can get a higher education. :-)

I'm Never Leaving My Job!

Mark my words Internet, I am here to stay. Today I got my annual pension statement and it's just awesome.

I've been a public employee for almost five years but I didn't officially join the retirement system until April, 2007. I am currently in the process of buying back the service credit from the period in which I wasn't a member. I will be done paying that off in a couple of months. This means in April of next year I will be vested in my pension since it will have been five years since I joined but I will have 5.6 years of service credit.

Vesting in HUGE since, in the five short years since I've been a public employee, the state has created one new tier and is about to create another one with a lot less benefits than the tier I am eligible to vest in. Two major things the new tiers won't have that I currently have are the ability to retire at 55 without penalty and the fact that after ten years I will no longer have to make any contributions to my pension.

Thus, I get out so much more than I put in. Here are some numbers:

As of April 1 of this year my pension contributions total $5,999.95. Assuming I make the same salary for the next six years I will have contributed about $14,000 to my pension. Then I stop contributing but keep working for at least ten more years. How much do I get?

Using a final average salary of $49,312, when I am 57 years old I will have 30 years of service credit. I will thus be eligible for a Single Life Allowance of $29,587 a year. That's 60% of my final average salary. All for contributing just $14,000! This is totally morbid but even if I only collect for one year I am getting 2x my money back! Note that I'll probably elect one of the Joint Allowances because I'm married and then it's a little less ($24,900).

Will I make it to thirty years of service? I don't know. I hope so. We're still child free so I assume I will work until my hypothetical kid is in college. Being that they're not born yet that's another 24 years or thereabout. Even if I only worked twenty years I am still eligible for a sizeable pension as well (just not sure how sizeable).

So....twenty six more years to go!

Net Worth May 2011

The market was really crappy this month. My 457 actually decreased $30 despite my contributions. I think that's the first time that's ever happened to me. Oh well. I guess I have more shares or something.

But at least my student loans also continue to decrease. And my DH's new job definitely increased our prospective networth so all in all it was an okay month.

My new net worth is -$103,579! Have I mentioned I CAN'T WAIT until I'm not in the negative six figures anymore? It's so close I can taste it! I'm not even the poorest person on Networth IQ in my age bracket anymore. There are 17 people poorer than me! NB: Most of them are also lawyers.

Here are the stats:

Cash: Not tracking as all our cash is joint right now.

Retirement: My 457 account balance stands at $9,861. I have approximately $5859 in my pension (refundable until vested). And finally I have approximately $1000 in my Roth I.R.A. but the statement only comes quarterly so who knows if that's gone up. This makes for a grand total of $16,720 saved for retirement.

Student Loans: These are at the LOWEST THEY'VE EVER BEEN at a whopping $119,009!

Credit Card: All of our debts are joint debts now so this number is misleading but they will all be paid off within 4-5 months now that we are working together.

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

Another month, another reduction in student loan debt.

I want to start throwing more money at the Perkins loan but we're still adjusting to our new budget and paying off some other debt so we're currently just paying $200 a month. I still think I can knock it out in 2011 somehow. It will feel awesome to only have two payments to make each month instead of three.

My husband is enjoying his new job. His travel schedule is a little crazy right now so we're adjusting to that as well. Just got back from an excellent Memorial Day weekend camping.

Here are the stats for this month:

Net Worth April 2011

My net worth is rising slowly but surely month to month. As of today, I am worth negative $104,529! This means I will hit negative five figures in 2011 if all goes well. :-)

Now that I've combined accounts with DH I could technically count all of his assets and liabilities too but for now I'm going to just track mine. It wouldn't put me in the black to do so, however, as his networth is around negative $15,000 (still much better than mine!).




Here are the details:

Cash: This category is pretty useless now that my cash is combined with DH's. If I ever acquire some of my "own" cash from saving my fun money, here is where I will track it I guess.

Retirement: My 457 account balance stands at $9,892. I have approximately $5659 in my pension (refundable until vested). And finally I have contributed $1000 in my Roth I.R.A. and for some reason that makes sense when my financial advisor explains it, it's only in a Money Market account now. This makes for a grand total of $16,551 saved for retirement.

Student Loans: These are at the LOWEST THEY'VE EVER BEEN at a whopping $119,790!

Credit Card: All of our debts are joint debts now so this number is misleading but they will all be paid off within 4-5 months now that we are working together and DH got a new job!