Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Thanks, Sam. Week 5 down, 1 more to go before I can drive again. Yay!

Sandi

In March, we'll know the max of DH's SEP-IRA contribution, and we'll make that deposit.

I established an ING Direct account in September - now I have $1100 in it, and $1300 in the Credit Union and $400 in WFB savings.

We are currently in the process of refinancing our home mortgage - from a 20 year mortgage at 5.75% to a 15 year at 4.25% fixed. We're locked in, and compiling the docs now.

Progress since August, for sure! Credit card free in 5 months, refi'd, increased savings, and a PLAN. Go, me!

Sandi

Go you!

Thanks, Daedala!

Yeah, by Feb. 14th, all debt other than car and mortgage is paid OFF, and we'll have completed the refinance to the the 15 year fixed, 4.25% loan. That makes me very happy.

And, we'll have a chunk of change set aside for our possible lakeview lot property purchase too. Enough for a 30% downpayment, all due to our end-of-year principal repayment from our business. (We loaned a lot of $$ to our business as startup money in 2001, and we pay it back in chunks at the end of each calendar year. This year, the payout was more than double last year's).

And with no CCd debt, I'm planning to start pre-paying the car loans, and get them DONE. Maybe by the end of 2009, although I haven't talked it over with DH yet.

Sandi

Just to finish out the goals I listed:

Both the joint and individual CCds are scheduled to be PAID IN FULL next week. That means, for those who follow the Ramsey steps:

Baby Step 1: $1K in savings - DONE
Baby Step 2: Pay off all consumer debt - DONE, except for our two car loans. No SLs, no credit cards, no store cards, no other loans to pay. Yay!
Baby Step 3: A fully funded emergency Fund of 3-6 months of expenses: DONE
Baby Step 4: Contribute 15% towards retirement. Currently at 12.6% gross.
Baby Step 5: Kids' college: N/A, although we do send $$ to my nieces and nephew for their 529 funds.
Baby Step 6: Pay off the house. Currently re-fi'd to a 15 year fixed mortgage, at 4.25%.
Baby Step 7: Live like no one else. Getting there!

Lookin' good!

Sandi

Just wanted to congratulate you on being on your way. I am so envious of your emergency fund. I can't wait to have that kind of security. I hope to be there this time next year, along with no credit card debts and only one car loan (my DH does not follow my line of thinking with buying a car for cash). Enjoy starting to live like no one else! Are you putting extra on your mortgage to get rid of it?

Tara:

We were able to fund the e-fund through a couple of lump-sum payments. Having to accrue it on a monthly basis would be do-able, just more painful. We did set aside $10K on a monthly basis, but our latest lump sum has put us over the top for 6 months of expenses, which makes me happy.

I am ambivalent about the car loan issue; I've had used cars (paid cash), I've had new cars, and I usually put at least 30% down on a car if I am taking out a loan. My last three cars have been new, and kept for years, as it seems a reasonable compromise between reliability (critical in my urban area!) and ownership cost. I've never been upside down on a car loan, I take care of my car(s), and can usually sell them and recoup my downpayment. For example, I bought a new Toyota FJ Cruiser 3 years ago, and put down $7K on a $28K car. Blue Book on it now is $20K, and I owe under $12K. Since I have paid a small amount of interest, I've essentially broken even if I choose to sell the car now. I also make sure that a car loan payment isn't crazy-burdensome. For me, that usually means under $400 per month.

I am NOT pre-paying on the mortgage just yet. It seems to me that a 15 year fixed at 4.25% is just like pre-paying on it, without the cash flow compromises. I'm much more likely to start putting away more $$ for DH's retirement. With the CCd paid off, and the house re-fi'd, it makes more sense to save more for retirement right now. Effective March 1, I will be maxxing out my 403(b) for the year. However, DH saves about half that for his retirement investing, and I want to bump it up.

If we have extra funds available after that, we're putting them away to build up a fund to buy a lakeview property.

Sandi