Just missed the edit window of the post above. Wanted to add: We took two term life policies for the same person, starting at the same time. One for 10 years, another for 15 years, each with different amount. There was some elaborate math into calculating this, but main idea was that by the ten year mark, the kids' education would be done or the 529 would have grown enough. ====== @mangaii thank you for starting this thread. I am embarrassed to say that I didn't remember that we had taken two policies. But glad that I know now after looking it up thanks to this thread. Also, just stopping Ross shopping has saved me a bundle. Some lovely memories though -- my friend and I used to call it Rossini to give a 'luxury' sounding feel. Where did you buy it? Rossini sounds better as answer than Ross. Looking back, I think except for kids' stuff, most other things I bought there were avoidable expenses. ========== You mentioned 529 plan in this thread or the frugal in India trip thread. @DDream had started a thread recently, and that got many useful responses: College Savings Plan -529
Most popular fund providers are Fidelity and vanguard. It's very easy to set up account, can be done online. If you want to go for least risky portfolio, you can choose investing in us treasury / municipal bonds(mostly tax exempt too!) etc but returns will be less. Or can do combinations with equity and bonds. Many stocks in the portfolio would pay dividends and bonds pay interest. These can be reinvested. But keep in mind, actively managed portfolio would charge fees for the amount invested. It's better to go for funds with lower expense ratio(fees denoted in ratio for each fund) in case of smaller investments. Also market volatility is another aspect which would affect the portfolio but mostly short term.
I read you were not a US citizen somewhere. Please check if a non-US citizen can open a state 529 in your state. One of our friends could not open one for his child in his state.
I got a sense that you are panicking. Are you? Moving up in your profession is the best decision. However, relax and work on it. You are only 40. You have another two+ decades to think of retirement and therefore enough time. Do not look back on time wasted. Also check your 401 retirement funds and see where your funds are distributed - how much in conservative and how much in aggressive. For now get an idea of this. If you have worked in more than one company see if you can consolidate your retirement funds. Set a goal and go step by step; you will reach financial stability. 1. Budget 2. Identify excess spending areas 3. Reduce excess spending. 4. save the money that might have been spent in excess 5. Explore and implement ways to earn refunds - credit cards, sales, etc. 6. Identify small savings strategies and implement one or two that work for you. 7. Identify goals towards savings - college fund for children, travel, 6 month/1 year emergency funding, etc. 8. Shop for best kind of savings for each need. 9. Explore investment opportunities. 10. Begin investing in stocks and bonds. ( These are just my steps. you can add/delete/modify them to suit your ultimate goal) Set a time goal to achieve some milestones. Parallel to this take steps to move up in your career. This is a good time to do it. My only intention of posting this is to alleviate any panic that I sensed. If I sensed wrong, please pardon me. You have time. I am confident that in March 2021 you will be able to write a book on your success story. Best wishes.
@kkrish thanks for your kind words. I hope your wishes come true. I do think I had a minor panic attack. I'm feeling better now. I always carry this guilt that I'm not doing well in my career because of my laziness . Saturday - I woke up at 7am . Spent an hour cleaning up all bathrooms. Now Cooking Bf/lunch/Dinner +cleanup kitchen (2 hours) Walk(1hour) Study(4 hours) These are major goals for today. I will provide update . I feel this place is motivating me to do better.
Way to go, girl!! Thank you for taking my post in the spirit it was given @mangaii My support for you will there be always. I laud you for not just identifying and addressing a problem, but mainly for not blaming anyone or any situation, and not wallowing in self-pity. This takes a lot of courage and shows great strength in character. You have my utmost admiration.
Brokerage account are easy to open. I like Vanguard and Fidelity. No one beats the expense ratio of Vanguard ETFs. Once you open an account, there are tools to research. Think of it that it should be easy to invest, just like John Oliver says. Read up on FIRE early retirement. It tells you on how to spend less. Like if you shop Kirkland brand at Costco, it will be the best deal- the same one way you can buy any brand of ETF from your Vanguard brokerage account- but the V ETF will be the cheapest. You see that bonds are less risky and within bonds govn bonds, the least. Now there are corporate bonds, and long term, short term etc. The emerging market bonds.. And then some ETFs that follow the exchange. If you spend 2 hr one day and another 2 hrs another day- you should have an idea of what you want to buy. I like the thrill of buying 'emerging markets' (bonds)- but you see I am a bond person (ETFs based on bonds). There is Vanguard Admirable shares- check that out. Also, there are retirement funds that have retirement year - try that for roth ira, max out your roth iras
I could do only 2 hours on Saturday and Sunday. I was working with my kids for their upcoming competition and weekend chores. Looks like stock market halted today. Good time to buy stocks.
Also companies like e-trade and chase brokerage has options where you tell the financial planner about your risk appetite and the amount of time you want to invest the money for and they invest on your behalf and monitor performance for a very nominal fee (much less if you get any offer from them) or for limited number of trades. It lets me learn on my own in parallel to watching them invest and asking them questions on how they decide on this or that funds/bonds/stocks etc.
Thanks for this post Op, great tips are already contributed in here. Just adding my 2 cents If you are thinking saving for retirement 1) Check the 401k match offered by your employer and grab that and you can contribute upto 19500/annum which is great way of saving pre-tax money. 2) Explore if your employer medical benefits offer HSA savings- this is also a pre-tax savings 3) Then explore Roth IRA (if you are married and filing jointly check for the limits) - these are after tax savings and can contribute till 6k/annum, can be invested in index funds through vanguard/fidelity. If your combined household income is above the limit, check about "Back door Roth IRA" which you can convert traditional IRA into Roth IRA. 4) Taxable brokerage account - again these are after tax money, can do unlimited contributions. 5) Open High-yield savings account where you can keep your emergency funds, sinking funds or any planned expenses which are coming up in short period. This way you make your money work for you in the back-end without much effort...
