Our standard monthly expenses are:
- Gas - $10-20 - Atmos - Automatic withdrawal
- Internet - $25 - AT&T DSL - Automatic withdrawal
- Electricity - $80-150 - Champion Energy Services (whom I recommend highly-- we went from $0.16/kWh to $0.09/kWh. I have highlighted kWhs in the past.) - Automatic withdrawal
- Water/Sewer - $25-35 - City of Farmers Branch - Automatic withdrawal
- Mortgage principle, interest, taxes and insurance - $828.58 - Automatic withdrawal
- Car insurance - $119.33 - Travelers Insurance - Automatic withdrawal
- Keep $1000-$2000 minimum in checking at all times, so we're not blindsided by any payments coming out. (check!)
- Keep 6 months expenses in savings (we are at about 5 months since we were paying off the second mortgage)
- Invest ~15% of income automatically, probably into index funds Roth IRAs.
- Have a bit of fun with money. We'll be putting a few thousand into home improvement in the next year or so.
- Put remainder of income into the mortgage until payoff (approximately 4 years)
- After mortgage payoff, bump up investments to 20% or so
- Begin automatic college savings, probably around 10% of income
- Replenish emergency fund as needed
- Give money away. Never think about money ever again. Move on to better things.
2 comments:
1. Wing it!
2. See step 1.
haha, actually, i'll probably review your list. i like lists of goals, probably vital for accomplishing long term goals. i'd looove to do auto-payments.
I like all of the things on your money list, but #9 is my favorite. The thing with #9, though, is that you have to go through 1-8 to get there. Give or take some steps based on where you are in life. Right now my plan is:
1) Save 10%
2) Give 10%
3) Work 10% harder.
I don't know much about investments.
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