Details

So back to the Plan. To get all this crap paid off. The deal is: throw as much as possible at it, then save that much going forward so we can quit this working thing as soon as possible. Rounding my salary down to the nearest thousand and putting the amount rounded off toward loans every 2 weeks will allow us to pay $360 toward my loans every month. Following that plan, then rolling over minimum payments toward the outstanding balances will allow us to pay everything off in about 8.5 years. Sounds like a long time, doesn't it? It is.

So phase 2: I'm getting a new job. And a raise. so we'll throw $600 per month at the loans and it will take about 6.5 years, not counting any additional money like bonuses, or gifts, or whatever toward the loans. Then, the good news begins. Having to be disciplined should allow us to roll over the amount we're paying toward loans into a savings plan on top of the retirement accounts we already maintain. And I figure that by 2017 we'll have saved at least $500,000. By 2027 that amount grows to something just north of $2 million.

All for $600 per month. Add to that the fact that our income will likely increase as the years go by (I'm an optimist), and we'll have our house substantially paid off by then, and that makes today a sunny day.

Thoughts? Does anyone actually ever look at this blog?

I'm excited to track progress and have the years check my math.

An occasion to mark

We track our finances at the beginning of every month. Although we still carry a significant debt load, we are concentrating much of our resources toward saving for retirement. This month we crossed the 100,000 dollar mark for the first time. It's a small signpost, but on this long journey it is important to recognize the smallest achievements as progress toward the goal.

Which begs the question: what, exactly is the goal? 1 million, like www.pfblog.com? or will it take more? These questions are all wrapped up in the existential questions - what do you want to do? What do you want to be? How do you want to be? And it's too late to answer those questions tonight.

Our 2 year old started preschool today. Which begs a whole other slew of questions.

night night.