Search found 16 matches

by jms7
Thu Jan 22, 2015 1:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What age did you hit $100,000?
Replies: 136
Views: 28585

Re: What age did you hit $100,000?

A week ago at 30. (Not sure if this is correct, but it counts both me and my wife's retirement accounts and student loan debt.) I started keeping track in September 2012. We were -$225,000; $275,000 in law school/undergrad debt + $50,000 in retirement accounts. Now its $50,000 in student loans + $160,000 in retirement accounts. Candidly, I felt pretty good last week when I realized it.
by jms7
Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dealing with pressure for "social donations" at work
Replies: 181
Views: 23735

Re: Dealing with pressure for "social donations" at work

The "don't give" and "find a new job" responses seem awfully naive. Does this suck? Yes. But so do a lot of other things about work. You can choose not to give, but you'll wear that choice like a scarlet letter. I wouldn't recommend it unless, like many here seem to suggest, you can just snap your fingers and get a new job.

I would also try to get over the resent. $300 is not much on a $200K salary. Again, it's BS, but so are a lot of things in life.

Finally, out of curiosity, what laws do people think are being violated?
by jms7
Fri Oct 17, 2014 3:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: When can I afford to buy a home?
Replies: 21
Views: 3744

Re: When can I afford to buy a home?

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're not going to be able to buy a home anytime soon unless you contribute less to your retirement accounts or make more money. You obviously have a good handle on your expenses; putting $23,000 into your 401k and IRA on a $50,000 salary is very impressive. But at the end of the day, math is math and everyone has to make trade offs.

If I were you, I'd contribute up to the employer match on your 401k and focus on paying the student loans down. A risk-free return over 5% is tough to beat. Plus you're 22. Who know what you'll want to do five years from now. If you're dead set on the home, then you need to stop contributing so much to your retirement accounts.
by jms7
Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loans
Replies: 32
Views: 4741

Re: Student Loans

2stepsbehind wrote:You seem to have wildly unrealistic expectations of what a career as a lawyer entails--there is perhaps no greater occupation where the fantasy fails to meet up with the reality.
This is 100% true. In a sense, it's probably true for most jobs (that's why they call it work!), but most jobs don't require you to forgo three years of earnings and incur six figures of debt. Law may be somewhat unique in that often, arguably always, the outcome is out of your hands. The client ultimately decides what to do. The judge decides whether your argument wins or loses. Couple that with the fact that it often takes years for cases to resolve themselves, and the intrinsic rewards can be few and far between.
by jms7
Tue Aug 12, 2014 1:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loans
Replies: 32
Views: 4741

Re: Student Loans

I'm a lawyer. 2009 grad from a top 10 law school. So is my wife. We graduated with about $300,000 in debt collectively. This was before my boglehead days, but neither of us lived lavishly, we both received decent but not substantial scholarships, and we both worked at high paying big law firms in the summer. You will absolutely graduate with more than $150,000 in debt, and probably closer to $200,000. Your assumption that you can get by on $12,000/year for living expenses in LA suggests you haven't thought about the cost carefully. You need to. The debt will be crushing, particularly if you're making $50,000-60,000/year. You don't and can't understand it until you have it. My wife and I got serious about repayment, meaning we switched from ...
by jms7
Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Student Loans (100k+ with Sallie Mae) & Retirement
Replies: 16
Views: 3324

Re: Student Loans (100k+ with Sallie Mae) & Retirement

You've got a good plan and are getting good advice. Pay the smaller 9.25% loan, then attack the big 9.25% loan. Contribute up to match, but not more, while doing so. Once the 9.25% loans are done, I'd split the freed up money between loans and retirement savings. The rates on your remaining loans aren't terrible.

Make a spreadsheet and chart to document your payments. Watching the balance go down monthly will give you some satisfaction (though if you're like me, you'll agonize over ways to make it happen faster).

If possible, and this will make the biggest difference, try to get a job that pays more. I know it's easier said than done. But you're in a big hole, and you need a big shovel to fill it with.
by jms7
Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loans - Take More than Needed for this Year?
Replies: 9
Views: 995

Re: Student Loans - Take More than Needed?

No. Take out only what you need. The interest rate jumps you've cited are not worth taking on $22,000 in unnecessary debt.
by jms7
Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loan Strategy - Future Public Service Job
Replies: 14
Views: 1954

Re: Student Loan Strategy - Future Public Service Job

Tough decision. Sounds like you're likely to be invited to and join the foreign service. What you should really think about (and I say this recognizing there's no way to know for sure) is if you're likely to stay in the foreign service for ten years. If you are, then it's a no-brainer to stop the aggressive repayment strategy; you're effectively throwing money away if everything will be forgiven after ten years. I'd use those funds to max your 401k (sounds like you have decent choices) and do a backdoor Roth. Alternately, you could build up the emergency fund. On the other hand, if you don't think you'll last for ten years, I'd continue with the aggressive repayments. Having moved from BigLaw to MidLaw in January (beginning of my fifth year...
by jms7
Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Gawker Article Linking to Bogleheads
Replies: 3
Views: 998

Gawker Article Linking to Bogleheads

Based on my sense of the demographics of the board, I'll bet most here don't read Gawker. Nonetheless, I thought the board might be interested in the link below, in which Hamilton Nolan sums up the financial industry's opposition to proposed DOL rules that would make more investment advisors fiduciaries as "Financial Advisors Fight For Their Right to Rip You Off." Well put, and Nolan includes a link to Bogleheads as a place to find "better advice for free."

http://gawker.com/financial-advisors-fi ... 1590420692
by jms7
Wed May 28, 2014 5:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay off huge student loan vs Investing
Replies: 49
Views: 8000

Re: Pay off huge student loan vs Investing

At 2%, I vote for paying the loan off on term. If your rates were higher, my answer would be different.

It sounds like you're maxing your tax-advantaged space and still have a lot left over ($50,000/quarter). The key is ensuring that the left overs are put to good use rather than wasted on things that provide you with no value. Since your new to this, I strongly recommend spending some time reading the board, the wikis, and some of the suggested books before doing anything.
by jms7
Tue May 27, 2014 9:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Need Advice on Where to Put Money
Replies: 12
Views: 2080

Re: Need Advice on Where to Put Money

Given that you only plan to live in the house 3-4 years, plan to put less than 20% down, and that the rate on the loans is 5.5%, I'd keep renting and pay the loans off now. You could do that tomorrow and have more than 20% saved by the time you're (possibly) actually ready to settle down three to four years from now. We faced a similar decision on paying loans versus saving for a down payment (granted, you've already saved it). We decided to attack the loans, though once we clear everything above 5%, we'll start saving for the down payment. Calculating how much we'd pay over the life of the loans was an eye opener. Your rates are right around our admittedly arbitrary cutoff, but the fact that you only plan to stay in the house for three or ...
by jms7
Wed May 14, 2014 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Share your net worth progression
Replies: 4288
Views: 1082141

Re: Share your networth progression

2006: Graduated college with about $18,000 in debt. No assets. 2009: Graduated law school with about $150,000 in law school debt; approximately $168,000 in total. No assets, but started saving in 401k. Started paying law school loans according to 10 year repayment plan (approximately $2,000 per month). 2010: Started maxing 401k. 2012: Married wife, who also graduated law school with about $150,000 in debt. September 2012: Wife and I have a come-to-Jesus moment looking at loans, which had a weighted interest rate of about 6.5%. About $210,000 worth of the loans are at rates between 8.25% and 5% (disturbingly, these are all either Stafford, Perkins, or Grad Plus loans). We decide that instead of saving for a down payment, we'll direct all ava...
by jms7
Tue May 13, 2014 12:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Start an Investment Company
Replies: 33
Views: 3454

Re: Start an Investment Company

livesoft wrote:Some real advice: Go read Michael Lewis's "The Big Short" which showed how Michael Burry started his own hedge fund investment company. I'm sure you can do something like that, too. You just have to get people to send you money somehow.

You can see how Burry and other like him did it and you can emulate them. Most folks on this forum have not started an investment company, so you need to go to those places populated by folks who have for good advice.
More specifically, figure out a way to short those student loans that you and many other students have been taking out for the past 15-20 years. Then you'll be on to something. That was my first reaction after reading The Big Short, but I still haven't figured out how to do it.
by jms7
Sat May 10, 2014 4:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: First post/Check up/Sanity check
Replies: 6
Views: 1111

Re: First post/Check up/Sanity check

Thanks. Anyone else have ideas?
by jms7
Fri May 09, 2014 10:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: First post/Check up/Sanity check
Replies: 6
Views: 1111

Re: First post/Check up/Sanity check

Darrel, beat you to it: we've got a monthly spreadsheet on the issue. Thanks for the feedback, any thoughts on next steps?
by jms7
Fri May 09, 2014 9:37 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: First post/Check up/Sanity check
Replies: 6
Views: 1111

First post/Check up/Sanity check

Long time (two year plus) lurker. Quite obviously, I appreciate the insight of the forum. This isn't an investment advice post, but more of a general check-in. Wife and I graduated law school in 2009 with total debt of about $300,000 (we both had loans for more or less all of it; not sure on the exact figure because I really started paying attention in 2012 when we got married). Weighted interest rate on the loans was over 7%. Since, we've paid them down to less than $90,000 to date; current weighted interest is 4.8%. We're about to have our first kid and currently rent in a HCOL. Relocation isn't an option due to our jobs and family. We have about $140,000 put away for retirement. I max my 401k, wife does hers to maximize match, and we do ...