Hello!

[huskie92]

Hello all! Newbie here...My wife is a physician and I am a teacher. We just dodged a major whole life insurance policy bullet when we went out researching some of our questions and found this site. Literally she had done the medical test and everything! We almost signed the papers completely ignorant of our situation. So a big thanks goes out already! Whew!

This ignorance has scared us straight. So here we are. We are both 39, have two kids, own our own home and have been maxing out her 401k since she became partner a couple years ago. I also have a 403b but that is not nearly being maxed yet. Based on my little reading so far I assume that should really be where we start huh?

Anyways, glad to be aboard this train. Thanks for this great service you all provide. Hopefully someday I will be able to offer advice like I have received already.

[jfoxcpacfp]

A big fat welcome to you, @huskie92!

[hnnguyen3]

Welcome.  I'm new here too.  I agree with you on maxing out your pre-tax 401k or 403b contributions.   My wife and I did that last year.  This year we started two traditional IRA to convert to Roth IRAs (aka backdoor Roth IRAs).  Happy investing.

[Hank]

Max out 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and backdoor Roths.  Contribute to 529s at least to capture state credits or deductions in full.  Looks at NY or Utah if your own state 529 doesn't get state tax credits or deductions.

Any student loans not yet paid off?  Any debt other than the mortgage?

[MnSaver]

My wife is a high school teacher. I recommend becoming a student of your contract, your pension, and your 403/457 options offered through your district. For example, your district may offer multiple 403b providers. You may also be ble to contribute to both 403 and 457 if your district offers that option. Finally, your pension may be an important “anchor” in your plan. In our case, it will produce the same cash flow as drawing 4% off 1.5MM.

 

[huskie92]

I am a bit embarrassed to say that the loans aren’t paid off yet. We are looking into refinancing and getting those paid down soon. We know that’s an issue. We live within our means on our our combined base salaries. She does get bonuses quarterly that we don’t account for in our budget. Our house is in dire need of some upgrades so we were saving for that but we could also look into a home equity loan perhaps. We have roughly 100k equity.

[Hank]

If you’re a public school teacher, you could be eligible for public service loan forgiveness (PSLF).

[jfoxcpacfp]

hnnguyen3 wrote:

Welcome.  I’m new here too.  I agree with you on maxing out your pre-tax 401k or 403b contributions.   My wife and I did that last year.  This year we started two traditional IRA to convert to Roth IRAs (aka backdoor Roth IRAs).  Happy investing.

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Welcome to the gang!

[The White Coat Investor]

huskie92 wrote:

Hello all! Newbie here…My wife is a physician and I am a teacher. We just dodged a major whole life insurance policy bullet when we went out researching some of our questions and found this site. Literally she had done the medical test and everything! We almost signed the papers completely ignorant of our situation. So a big thanks goes out already! Whew!

This ignorance has scared us straight. So here we are. We are both 39, have two kids, own our own home and have been maxing out her 401k since she became partner a couple years ago. I also have a 403b but that is not nearly being maxed yet. Based on my little reading so far I assume that should really be where we start huh?

Anyways, glad to be aboard this train. Thanks for this great service you all provide. Hopefully someday I will be able to offer advice like I have received already.

Click to expand...

That was a close one. You're already ahead of at least half of us!

Yes, your next best place to invest is your 403b, no matter who makes most of the money. It's all fungible. It doesn't make sense for her to save in taxable when there is a 403b available to the two of you.