Financial Life Coach needed
Hi,
I need a mentor. I am at a loss as to what to invest in first.
House
Kids Education
RRSP's
Accumualted DEBT
Some background: I am 41. My wife is 40. We both had a late start in life with careers and have since come to realize that we have no savings, and reality is going to come fast. I work for the gov't so I am pretty stable. I make a 73K base and have cleared 85K the last 3 years with overtime and on call pay. She's a contractor for a high tech company and makes decent money as well $30/hour. Combined we make about 125-130K/year.
HOUSE: We've owned a house for 7 years that I feel is to far from our jobs now. I called the mortgage company and know what I owe as of this week, and what the homes around our area have sold for lately. I'm confident we could have between $60-70K in equity. I am trying to make my wife realize we have to move closer. But the house needs work and this seems like a terrible time to sell. I spend roughly $60/week in gas and she spends $110 every 10 days. An area I am looking at she would spend $50 a month and I would spend $100. Roughly $400 a month in gas savings...let alone wear and tear, oil changes etc. I was thinking that if I fix up the house and sell it in the spring I will get more money. Which in turn will help me buy a more expensive home and hopefully have the gas money going into the equity of the home instead of to the gas company's profits. I am thinking that instead of buying RRSP's that I would sink that money into my home. Say the $450-500 a month into a mortgage on a larger home....then gaining the profits as the home rises in value over the next 25 years. Does this sound reasonable?
Kids Education: We have just started an RESP for our 2 kids. 1 of our kids is turning 16 this december and will no longer be eligible for the gov't grant that is offered with the RESP as of that time. Our other daughter is turning 6. So we have lots of time to invest in her. Unfortunatley I think we have to get the eldest child to get OSAP or some sort of student line of credit and help her pay it back when we can.
RRSP's: I have a mistrust for RRSP's. Everything I ever read is that they are underperforming and really you don't know what your going to have at the end of it as it could all disappear. I don't really trust a lot of financial advisors as they are usually just trying to sell me what ever they offer. No one has been able to give me some solid advice on what the benefits/pitfalls are to all sides of investing. I don't have the time in my life to learn to invest in stocks, and will probably lose it. Especially at our age.
Accumulated DEBT: We had $20K in debt on a line of credit from the last few years getting her educated and have been trying to pay that down. We are down to about $10K now.
Can anyone help me out with some advice?
I need a mentor. I am at a loss as to what to invest in first.
House
Kids Education
RRSP's
Accumualted DEBT
Some background: I am 41. My wife is 40. We both had a late start in life with careers and have since come to realize that we have no savings, and reality is going to come fast. I work for the gov't so I am pretty stable. I make a 73K base and have cleared 85K the last 3 years with overtime and on call pay. She's a contractor for a high tech company and makes decent money as well $30/hour. Combined we make about 125-130K/year.
HOUSE: We've owned a house for 7 years that I feel is to far from our jobs now. I called the mortgage company and know what I owe as of this week, and what the homes around our area have sold for lately. I'm confident we could have between $60-70K in equity. I am trying to make my wife realize we have to move closer. But the house needs work and this seems like a terrible time to sell. I spend roughly $60/week in gas and she spends $110 every 10 days. An area I am looking at she would spend $50 a month and I would spend $100. Roughly $400 a month in gas savings...let alone wear and tear, oil changes etc. I was thinking that if I fix up the house and sell it in the spring I will get more money. Which in turn will help me buy a more expensive home and hopefully have the gas money going into the equity of the home instead of to the gas company's profits. I am thinking that instead of buying RRSP's that I would sink that money into my home. Say the $450-500 a month into a mortgage on a larger home....then gaining the profits as the home rises in value over the next 25 years. Does this sound reasonable?
Kids Education: We have just started an RESP for our 2 kids. 1 of our kids is turning 16 this december and will no longer be eligible for the gov't grant that is offered with the RESP as of that time. Our other daughter is turning 6. So we have lots of time to invest in her. Unfortunatley I think we have to get the eldest child to get OSAP or some sort of student line of credit and help her pay it back when we can.
RRSP's: I have a mistrust for RRSP's. Everything I ever read is that they are underperforming and really you don't know what your going to have at the end of it as it could all disappear. I don't really trust a lot of financial advisors as they are usually just trying to sell me what ever they offer. No one has been able to give me some solid advice on what the benefits/pitfalls are to all sides of investing. I don't have the time in my life to learn to invest in stocks, and will probably lose it. Especially at our age.
Accumulated DEBT: We had $20K in debt on a line of credit from the last few years getting her educated and have been trying to pay that down. We are down to about $10K now.
Can anyone help me out with some advice?