The Journal of Spartan_Warrior

[Spartan_Warrior]

Guess I may as well start a journal.
About me: I am a 25-year-old male living in a suburb of Baltimore, MD. Almost since the day I entered the work force, I've dreamed of one day leaving it.
I have always wanted to be a fiction writer, but I was brought up to believe, probably accurately, that I would be unable to "make a living" doing this. So I'll make the money first and then do what I want.
To start things off, some numbers:
Monthly Budget:
(note: I use the simple equation of two paychecks = one month's pay as it's simpler and safer to budget this way, although I am paid biweekly; as a consequence, I make 1.5x the budgeted income two months of the year.)
(note2: Spending varies in each category but is limited by the budgeted amount; meaning I frequently save more than is shown, but almost never less.)
Annual Salary: 62,467
Gross Monthly Income: 4788

Net Monthly Income: 3402
Expenses: $2352

1470 : Housing (mortgage)

.. 1205 : P&I

.. 0220 : Taxes

.. 0045 : Insurance

0340 : Transportation*

.. 0265 : Car Loan

.. 0075 : Gas

.. 0000 : Insurance*

0150 : Groceries

0100 : Electricity/Water/Sewer/Trash

0042 : Phone/Internet

0250 : Miscellaneous
* Car insurance is not included in the monthly budget because it comes in

six month intervals and I pay it from those extra two paychecks a year; therefore I don't need to budget for it.
Savings (Pre-tax): $478

- 401k contribution: 239

- Employer matching: 239
Savings (Post-tax): $1050

- Roth IRA: 417

- Mortgage principal payment: 633
Saving 30% of net income, ~32% of gross income
Net Worth
Assets: $302,023

- House: ~241,100 per Zillow

- Car (2010 Honda Civic Hybrid): ~18,500 per Kelley Blue Book

- 401k: 20,678

- Roth: 8656

- Savings: 6037

- Checking: 1500

- Resale value of all material possessions: ~5500
Liabilities: $235,864

- Mortgage (223.5k of 227.7k @ 4.875%)

- Car Loan (10.5k of 15k @ 0.9%)

- Revolving credit card debt (~1.2k, balance paid off monthly)
Net Worth:

- Total (Assets minus Liabilities): 65,896

- Total for Retirement (including tax-sheltered): 36,878

- Total for ERE (taxable accounts without early withdrawal penalties): 7,543
So there I am. Just another over-leveraged debt slave with little liquid assets. The car and house purchases were both necessitated by the location of my job. Unfortunately, I work in a shady area of Baltimore city (where bulletholes literally appear in houses overnight--anyone seen The Wire?) and while I could've rented somewhere cheaper and closer to work, I simply did not want to be in that area. I found a location as close to work as I could tolerate (unfortunately still no public transport available to and from, so I get to keep my car and all its wonderful expenses) and financed a house purchase last summer. I sort of regret this, and sort of don't, but it's undeniably lengthened my retirement timeframe.
My current timeframe is about 10 years. That's how long it will take to pay off the house in full and simultaneously accrue about $250k in savings. I estimate my annual cost to live in retirement (minus mortgage P&I and car loan but plus health insurance) in today's dollars at about 13,000. I will need a very good real annual return (>6%) and/or other income supplements, but that doesn't concern me. I may also convert my house into a rental whenever I feel like leaving and escaping Maryland's ridiculous cost of living.
I've dropped my 401k contributions to the minimum needed for employer matching and am even debating whether or not to continue making Roth contributions or simply start investing into taxable accounts, which I have to do soon.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[LiquidSapphire]

For what reason wouldn't you consider maxing out your Roth? So you can sell your losses to save on taxes?
I max out my Roth since all gains are tax free and you can take out the contributions any time. I keep my REIT holding in there since their dividends are taxed as ordinary income. I also keep my Small Cap fund as it has more turnover than normal, again, tax purposes.
Otherwise it all sounds good!

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[jezter6]

Not that I have anything intelligent to say, but wanted to welcome you from just outside Baltimore (Abingdon).

[swathorne]

Hey Spartan i'm from Baltimore as well. I'm also 25. Where in the Baltimore area are you? Ever considered renting a room to someone like minded to knock down your monthly mortgage payments? My living arrangement will be ending soon and i'll be looking for a new one. Just a thought.

[LiquidSapphire]

Man the internet is awesome. Forget CL, ERE Classifieds for all!

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Spartan_Warrior]

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[George the original one]

The most effective weedkiller I've found is heavy-duty black plastic or a sheet of plywood, left in place for 3-6 months.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[FI Fighter]

congrats on the new job! Hope it works out well for you.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[Spartan_Warrior]

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[LiquidSapphire]

plansmartchoice.com is a good resource for comparing health plans; not sure how well they handle the HSA component but it beats OPM by a mile. Mine is Colorado only but it passes through 62.50/mo and only cost me $43.44 every two weeks so basically once you max out the HSA they were paying me to carry it (due to the tax savings).

[Spartan_Warrior]

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[altoid]

Hi Spartan,
Happy birthday in advance ! It doesn't go downhill since 26. I feel pretty good at 31.
Keep up the good work !

[secretwealth]

Just wait until you hit 32.

[Spartan_Warrior]

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