Meet Jack
Age: 29
Salary: $73,000
Jack’s main concerns, in his own words:
I work in the healthcare and I make $73k/year. I save $1000/mon for retirement with $35k total, but most ($26k) aren’t actually invested. I started saving with a mutual company and they gave some bad/illegal advice. I moved the accounts to a robo-advisor because I couldn’t find any financial planner who would take me on as a client. I haven’t reinvested the funds since because of my inexperience/fear and the market is at an all-time high. Am I making a mistake? Should I just pick a target date fund and slowly start investing? My second concern is I got engaged and we are starting to merge finances and habits. My fiancé makes $33k and has $50k in student loan debt. I want to pay it off now and she wants to take advantage of “Public Service Loan Forgiveness”. Is this a good idea? I would prefer to just live off my salary and put all of her earnings towards these loans. Yes, we would be sacrificing now, but our lives will only get more complicated/difficult because after marriage will come the house and kids. Who is right?
What we cover on the episode:
- Consolidating student loans
- Understanding Target Date Funds (TDFs)
- How to not repeat the mistakes of our parents
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Peter Dunn a.k.a. Pete the Planner® is an award-winning financial mind and a former comedian. He’s a USA TODAY columnist, author of ten books, and is the host of the popular radio show and podcast, The Pete the Planner Show. Pete is considered one of the foremost experts on financial wellness in the world, but he’s just as likely to talk your ear off about bass fishing.