Financial Assvice Courtesy of The Sun

I made the mistake this weekend of actually reading the paper's business section (yes, we still get the newspaper. I wouldn't be able to feel good about recycling it with only digital media now, would I?). As it's January, albeit the end, and we are approaching tax season (I'm even kinda sorta organized! Now if my company would just send me my W-2...) there is of course a plethora of articles on what you should be doing, you dumb hick who is destined to live in your children's basement, subsisting on a diet of mixed grill and salmon surprise cat food if you don't get financially healthy this minute!

Yes, savings rates have fallen off in this country. Yes, I'm betting a large number of my peers have little to no retirement savings. Yes, this is a massive implosion waiting to happen.

HOWEVER

Articles telling you that if you aren't socking away the maximum allowable in your 401(k) ($17,500 a year I believe) then you are beyond screwed are not helpful. You get the virtual sigh and 'well, if you can't do that, then at LEAST get the company match' runner-up tone. This is of course assuming that your company offers any sort of a match. Listen, I've been with my company for over 16 years now and I do okay but there is not a chance in HELL I could afford to put away over 25% of my salary for retirement. Maybe someday but not with a mortgage and kids in daycare/aftercare. I mean, I guess I could if we gave up the little things like a house or eating.

You're putting away the maximum into your 401(k)? Great! But you aren't done yet. You are a fool if you aren't maxing out personal IRA contributions of $5000! YOU WILL DIE BROKE AND ALONE, YOU WORTHLESS CONSUMER WHORE.

Consults budget - Let's see...well, we have clothing and we don't have a house anymore so don't have to worry about heat or electricity. Layers are in this year after all.

Got your $22,500 squirreled away? Good work but you aren't done yet. Do you have six months of expenses saved up in an easily liquefied account? You know, what, it's so hard to find a job, better make it a year's worth. Hm, that's another $48,000 to put away which may be overkill seeing as we don't have mortgage, food, or heating bills anymore as you don't need them in a cardboard box. Oh! No electric, no need for TV so we can cancel that too. Still need cell phone service and car insurance so those have to stay...good news! We can drop the amount needed to save to $28,800. Well that's certainly a lot more doable. I'm feeling pretty good about this plan.

To hit these numbers, we would have to save $5900 a month. This...is a lot more than what we bring home. So thanks guys for pointing out in 12-pt type what miserable failures we are.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a wine rack to polish off. Might as well enjoy it while I still have a house to drink it in.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Y'all, I can see a LIGHT. The past 12 to 15 months have been very very dark for us. There was simply not enough money to go around and we had to play the choices game: which bills would get paid this month, which could we delay, put off preventive maintenance for the house and car, run up credit card balances to keep food on the table. No matter how we ran the numbers, what should have been able to cover expenses just didn't. It was maddening. It was frustrating. And it beat us down. To have to tell your kids that they can't attend a friend's birthday party because you couldn't afford to buy a present? That may have been the lowest I ever felt. We made sure that the kids had what they needed and we did without; my wonderful mother in law may have helped us with groceries a time or two, a gesture that nearly drove me to tears because I AM AN ADULT. I am supposed to be able to handle this. The juggling act became frantic and by November we were desperate. There was no way out that either of us could see...until we saved our sanity and our marriage by opening the mail.

It was a simple flyer from Quicken Loans but it planted the seed of an idea in both of our heads; the mortgage on our 3-bedroom townhouse was killing us. We had bought at practically the height of the housing boom when a scant 2 years later, the bottom fell out and we were left owing more than the house was worth like so many people. Then came the kids and once Noah was in full time day care, our outlay was more than $3500 for those two things alone. Dyl's a hard worker but I make double his salary which isn't saying a whole lot. The situation quickly went from uncomfortable to strained to completely untenable. So after the kids were in bed one night, I broached the idea of trying to refinance the mortgage. Rates were incredibly low, we should be able to lower our payment and gain some breathing room and he had come to the same conclusion. We were no worse off if we didn't try. The very next day I initiated contact with Quicken Loans and within a week had a team of great people working to help us. They set us up with a personalized website that would be the primary communication tool making it easy to send required documentation. Sure, there were some setbacks like the needing to take on PMI as the home appraisal didn't come back high enough to cover 80% of the value of the loan but that was okay, it was still less than what we were already paying. Other roadblocks appeared such as confusion over a certain Note from the previous refinancing and how much we needed to bring to closing but those were dealt with and last night, we signed the papers (and signed and signed and signed) that will be the key to our salvation. 

Things are looking up: we have a lower mortgage payment now, I received a nice bonus and we've been able to aggressively pay down one of our credit cards. The breathing room from the not having another payment due until April will help us attack the others and build up our savings again. Our property tax will go down July 1st as we lost another $45,000 in our property value (and you can be certain I will be watching that number like a hawk) and we should get a decent tax refund. I am determined that we will never go through this hell again. The stress nearly destroyed us and would have if we didn't finally own up to needing help and then going to find it. Good things can happen if you are willing to ask.

Next weekend, Noelle will be going to her first friend's birthday party since starting kindergarten. That may be the piece of all this that makes me happiest.