We are now making a decent income, but have questions

Submitted by SleekFilet t3_zzwqsi in personalfinance

My wife and I (both early 30's) are finally in a place where we're making decent money (gross $120,000). We do not own a house, nor have kids. There are a few things I want to start doing, but am not sure where to start. I've gone through the wiki and have a couple ideas, but wanted more specifics.

  • My wife has little credit, most things have been in my name. She doesn't have bad credit or anything negative about her credit, she just has a small credit history. I want to help her build up her credit score. I was looking at a credit card that we could pay off every month and earn travel points (we can afford vacations now!), but very little cards have co-signers or joint accounts and authorized users don't benefit as much as they used to. Advice?

  • We both have Roth's/401k, but I'd like to do more investing. I was thinking about a mutual fund or investing on my own into an index, but would like some more specific advice or maybe a book(s) I could get.

  • I've heard a lot about how the standard "get a job, IRA and investment portfolio" won't be enough for us to retire. What else should we be doing to prepare?

  • Finally, I'd like to maximize my money for today, be able to make big purchases, go on vacations etc. What else can I do to make my dollars work harder for me or maximize my financial usage?

Thanks

2

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Werewolfdad t1_j2dzwfy wrote

>My wife has little credit, most things have been in my name. She doesn't have bad credit or anything negative about her credit, she just has a small credit history. I want to help her build up her credit score. I was looking at a credit card that we could pay off every month and earn travel points (we can afford vacations now!), but very little cards have co-signers or joint accounts and authorized users don't benefit as much as they used to. Advice?

Add as an AU and read the credit building entry in the wiki

>We both have Roth's/401k, but I'd like to do more investing. I was thinking about a mutual fund or investing on my own into an index, but would like some more specific advice or maybe a book(s) I could get.

https://www.reddit.com//r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_investing

>I've heard a lot about how the standard "get a job, IRA and investment portfolio" won't be enough for us to retire. What else should we be doing to prepare?

From where? Saving 15-20% of your income is generally sufficient

>Finally, I'd like to maximize my money for today, be able to make big purchases, go on vacations etc. What else can I do to make my dollars work harder for me or maximize my financial usage?

Increase your income

4

yoshah t1_j2e4rnd wrote

This is an excellent PF 101 response.

3

SleekFilet OP t1_j2e88pn wrote

I can't tell if you're serious or sarcastic.

0

AdditionalAttorney t1_j2ec194 wrote

Serious imo

I agree w werewolfdad too. That account is one of the best advice givers on this sub!

4

yoshah t1_j2exb1i wrote

Yep. Serious; it’s good advice.

2

AdditionalAttorney t1_j2ecbjl wrote

Agree w werewolfdad

I’d add - just have your wife get a credit card. Maybe start w a secure one, or maybe she can get one w high interest, just make sure you always pay it off in full. After a year her credit should be good enough to get better cards.

Why do you want to invest more and outside your 401k/Roth? The answer to this is important for us to give you better advice

2

PetraLoseIt t1_j2f964q wrote

Your wife should get her own credit card, a starter card or a secured credit card, and build her credit with little day-to-day purchases on the card and always paying the full credit statement amount before the due date. That will build her credit score.

Meanwhile, of course put any bigger payments on the credit card that earns travel points.

As for investing, I'd open an account with Vanguard (or Fidelity or Charles Schwab) and go for their low-fee diversified index funds or ETFs. A book you could read (perhaps before doing this) is "The simple path to wealth" by JL Collins.

> I've heard a lot about how the standard "get a job, IRA and investment portfolio" won't be enough for us to retire.

Well... depends on the size of the investment portfolio, I'd say. Other things you could do is 1. keep your expenses low, don't give into lifestyle inflation 2. don't have (a lot of) kids and 3. try to take care of your health (to reduce healthcare costs in older age).

With number 1 would also come not living in a very fancy house and not driving the fanciest cars.

> Finally, I'd like to maximize my money for today, be able to make big purchases, go on vacations etc.

As Paula Pant, financial podcaster, says: You can afford anything, but not everything. Making a big purchase now means retiring later, later. So you've got to ask yourself what you really want to do and achieve on your always-limited income.

1