It doesn't look good. I made up a 2005 budget in Excell today. yuck.
We're not in dire straits, far from it. We don't really have alot of debt. We certainly have sufficient means to discharge the debt we do have in a timely manner. But when you look at it in black and white we still look broke.
Our actual bills not including the mortgage, credit cards and Line of Credit are about 40% of Dh's take home pay. The rest of take home pay goes to mortgage, CCs, Line of Credit, and car payment. YUCK! That's all bad!
I cannot wait until the debt is gone. I cannot wait until we can actually save that other 60% of take home pay. There is motivation to keep a lid on the spending, that's for sure!
I've been trying to figure out exactly how much we need to be putting into retirement savings. I'm hoping to find a balance between saving for the kids' futures and saving for our own futures. If we only really live on 40% of take home income now and we won't have any debts when we retire, then we don't actually need to save for retirement at all. DH's pension is 60% of Gross pay and the tax bracket will be lower. Our living expenses are pretty well covered right there. Plus, we will both get the CPP that we have paid in. And we have a nice little nest egg already secured. So, why are the financial advisors telling us to invest every spare penny we have lest we not have enough money to last us until we die? I guess it's all about money- the money they earn off of our money. Their commission.
Okay, I'm not anti retirement planning. I enjoy watching our RRSPs and mutual Fund accounts grow. We will be saving for the future still. But boy, when one is stressing over finding enough money to do it all and then you find out that you've been led somewhat astray by people you trust, it comes as a HUGE wakeup call. Things are going to change in our financial planning procedure for sure. And I'm relieved to be able to say that.