Hi all,

I've made a start on getting my personal finances on track and would appreciate any advice on what I should work on next.

So far I have:
- tracked all my family expenses for 12 months
- created a budget within my means and trying to stick to it
- arranged life and critical illness insurance
- started investing for my 2 kids with a view they will become involved and start investing themselves
- paid off all debt except for the mortgage

I am forty, married with two kids under 10. I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks

Congrats! How about an emergency fund?

What is "critical illness" insurance? Catastrophic health, disability, or LTC?

How are your retirement savings coming along? If you have no pension or annuity from an employer, are you saving at least 15% in an IRA or 401k?

Thanks for the replies.

I have a modest emergency fund, which is currently offset against the mortgage.

Critical Illness covers things like heart attack/cancer, terminal illness etc.

I'm in Australia, so we have compulsory superannuation at 9% of salary. The government keeps tinkering with the pension rules so I'm not sure I want to put any more in as I can't get it until probably 70 by the time I get to retirement.

I was thinking of putting some into an ETF that tracks the market index. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks