Budget questions

Ok so a few questions. How much percentage-wise should I be putting towards savings? Currently I am putting about 20% of my gross income towards saving (including retirement). In February I have a loan which comes due. It will be about $6.5k and I am hoping to pay about $2k up front. What kind of length should I decide on to pay it off (1 year, 2 year, etc)?

Next two questions deal with dogs. I am wondering what kind of money I am going to budget towards a dog both an upfront cost. The Huntsville Animal Control Center says there is a $82 charge up front for adapting a pet and they say to budget about $1115 for a medium sized dog to $1500 for a large dog for the first year. Does that seem a reasonable cost?

Can't help with the dogs, but I'd try to knock out the loan as quickly as possible. If you look at it from a return on investment perspective you probably get "more" by doing that compared to putting money in a CD or savings account.

I don't know how much of your overall savings the $2k are but I wouldn't dip too deeply into them and leaving yourself without a cushion. What I would probably do is keep up the retirement contributions but stop putting money into the rest of your savings (ie, the non-tax deferred part). Use that money to pay down the loan as quickly as you can instead, then resume saving.

I'm putting 13% in savings and 4% in 401k (4% match from company) so effectively getting 21% now.

Once I pay off my last credit card, I'll bump my savings up and start a 2nd post-tax retirement account with 7-10%.

Can't tell you on the dog.

I don't think of savings as a percentage. I think of it as a period of time.

Savings is money on the shelf not working for you. It's important, but over saving is hoarding.

I once felt good about having 3 months worth of living expenses in savings. I am now trying to step it up to 6 months.

After that, I want my money to work for me, so I would consider it investment, not savings.

Good job on the match to your 401K. It's free money. You'd be a fool to turn it down.

Also a great plan to pay off the credit cards. They will be the highest interest rates. Get rid of them as quickly as you can.

After that, I'd pay off the loan(s). They aren't as enormous a rate as the credit cards, but payng inot them will earn you more than putting money in savings, and probably more than investing.

So, after you've got a safety net of a few months, 401K matched, credit cards paid, then loans paid off, THEN its time to increase the investments. Start with the longest tax deferred opportunities. I suggest a Roth.

After that, you have a LOT of flexibility in how you invest. Learn everything you can about each investing opportunity, diversify well, and consider foreign investments and start ups.

Great start! Good luck!!

I have no credit card debt. It is money I borrowed for my Civic/ school. $2k should if I do a good job with my money over the next few months be about half to a third of my savings. I may just do a thousand to start. I am working on building up a three month emergancy fund. I have a credit card but I only use it for online purchases and pay it off as soon as I get the bill.

I'm putting away $175 each pay check ( towards my $6k roth payment at end of the yr) + 15% to my 401k... wanted to retire at 62.... the market crash took care of that and now the price of ins means I'll probably have to stay on the job 'till I'm at least 64 ... could probably swing some kind of coverage for a yr ... along with the help of the VA... so somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yrs to get back up over $300k

wbjones wrote: so somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yrs to get back up over $300k

See, at 29, I have no illusion the SS will still be there. So anything less than $1 million for my wife and I seems like not enough.

At least we should have our house paid off by the time I'm 50.

93EXCivic wrote: Ok so a few questions. How much percentage-wise should I be putting towards savings? Currently I am putting about 20% of my gross income towards saving (including retirement). In February I have a loan which comes due. It will be about $6.5k and I am hoping to pay about $2k up front. What kind of length should I decide on to pay it off (1 year, 2 year, etc)? Next two questions deal with dogs. I am wondering what kind of money I am going to budget towards a dog both an upfront cost. The Huntsville Animal Control Center says there is a $82 charge up front for adapting a pet and they say to budget about $1115 for a medium sized dog to $1500 for a large dog for the first year. Does that seem a reasonable cost?

Let's check Mint here real quick...$1,449.78 since April on two Greyhounds (first year of ownership).

The list food at $250-$350, medical at $175-$200, toys at $60-$70, license $15, collar at $30-$35, carrier at $50-$80, crate at $90-$160, grooming at $300-$400, spay/ neuter at $100-$125 and misc at $45-$65.

So as far as helping my credit score, the length of that loan won't matter will it?

I've got two dogs. Lucy a 3 year old 40lb SharPei Mix and Tucker a 4 year old 60lb Am Staff/Chow Mix. Both are from the pound and we got them around a year old each.

You can expect to spend about $250 in flea/tick/heartworm stuff per dog per year.

There are two checkups per year ( I think once a year is good enough but the wife prefers to error on the side of caution). With blood work and vacinations/boosters I never seem to get out of the vet for less than $300 but that is usually for both dogs.

Food for us is about $80 per month. We don't really do toys. Rawhide once in a while. If you plan to crate them expect to spend roughly $75 on a new crate. We don't groom so no cost there.

Those are the knowns. The unknows hurt. In his first year Tucker broke his leg and ate a fire ant hill to the tune of about $3000. He also likes to eat clothes and after not eating for two days had to go to the vet once for that. Fourtunately we avoided surgery but it was still another $300.

When we got Lucy she had heartworms which was not inexpensive to get rid of. Both had to be fixed so that was another cost. The Humane Society usually has something set up with local vets on these costs.

Greg Voth wrote: Those are the knowns. The unknows hurt. In his first year Tucker broke his leg and ate a fire ant hill to the tune of about $3000. He also likes to eat clothes and after not eating for two days had to go to the vet once for that. Fourtunately we avoided surgery but it was still another $300.

Quoted for truth.

We've had a lot of dogs and you just never know. Our German Sheppard had a disease called EPI which required a supplement to his food to the tune of $300 a month (plus all the tests to figure that out) for the rest of his life (which was 8 more years after diagnosis)

Our Min Pin turned out to be diabetic, insulin 2x a day and it was a special formula so it cost more than human insulin.

Our Chihuahua has Addison's disease, either $100 a month for the pills or $50 a month for the shots if you don't mind giving intramuscular injections to your dog (or paying for a vet visit every 2 weeks for them to do it)

Our bulldog has Myasthina Gravis. One operation to insert feeding tube ($2000) 6 months of tube feeding special food ($40 a week) and countless xrays, blood tests, etc later and she's healthy for now.

We're not saints, we never said "lets adopt the ones with problems" this all came up after they had been with us. So its good to have a budget, but have an emergency fund as well, pets aren't cheap, and if you aren't prepared to commit to their care at those potential expense levels then please get a fish.

^Thanks for the insight. The wife keeps begging to get a dog and I refuse because of the cost associated with it.

93EXCivic wrote: The list food at $250-$350, medical at $175-$200, toys at $60-$70, license $15, collar at $30-$35, carrier at $50-$80, crate at $90-$160, grooming at $300-$400, spay/ neuter at $100-$125 and misc at $45-$65.

First off, straight out of the gate, clean your own berkeleying dog!

Secondly, yes the first year is expensive, but it will likely get cheaper. Up the misc section because flea and tick prevention isn't cheap.

FYI, my dog is about 100 lbs. Cheaper than you may expect unless there is an emergency.

I have seen health insurance for pets. Has anyone used it or are they just scams?

z31maniac wrote: ^Thanks for the insight. The wife keeps begging to get a dog and I refuse because of the cost associated with it.

I wouldn't trade them for the world. We have 5 (just rescued another this week). If I eliminated my vet bills I could drive a brand new BMW instead of a 11 year old used one. I'd rather have all the joy they bring me than the fun I have with cars (and I can still have fun with cheap cars)

Please understand we are seriously a worst case scenario. Our vet jokes with us that when we want to get another dog tell him and he'll tell us what rare disease he wants to study next and recommend which dog will most likely have it. We just seem to be a magnet for the issues sometimes. One of the new vets at the office used to work as a tech there, he sent us a thank you card from veterinary school because they were studying things which the teachers said they may never actually see in practice because they are so rare and yet he had seen them with our dogs.

We also have our Shar Pei Lucy who aside from an eye surgery when young (which we were aware was a strong potential due to the breed) is never sick and has been with us 10 years now with nothing more than annual checkups. Our new Min Pin has been with us 2 years and same deal. Just don't let my wife pick your dog and you'll be fine. And mutts always seem to be healthier and stronger than pure breeds.

93EXCivic wrote: I have seen health insurance for pets. Has anyone used it or are they just scams?

Not scams but don't cover everything. Good for things like broken bones and such but alot of the long term illnesses (like diabetes) they weren't covering last time we looked at it. So they are more of an emergency care policy than a health insurance like people would have.

N Sperlo wrote:

93EXCivic wrote: The list food at $250-$350, medical at $175-$200, toys at $60-$70, license $15, collar at $30-$35, carrier at $50-$80, crate at $90-$160, grooming at $300-$400, spay/ neuter at $100-$125 and misc at $45-$65.

First off, straight out of the gate, clean your own berkeleying dog! Secondly, yes the first year is expensive, but it will likely get cheaper. Up the misc section because flea and tick prevention isn't cheap. FYI, my dog is about 100 lbs. Cheaper than you may expect unless there is an emergency.

I was kind of confused by that. I was wondering who didn't clean their dog.

My poor pup came down with Addison's Disease at a very young age. So, I am pretty much committed to $50 or so monthly for the next 10-15 years. And she just had kidney stone surgery for another $1200. And now she requires ridiculously expensive dog food. Add that to all the other crap people have mentioned.

Heartless as it may be, I used to think of a dog like a car- you have to have some sort of expense cutoff point regardless of how much you love them. But you don't always get the estimate of expenses all up front. You ease into it until you are thinking "Holy E36 M3! I spent how much on my pooch last year?"

JThw8 wrote:

93EXCivic wrote: I have seen health insurance for pets. Has anyone used it or are they just scams?

Not scams but don't cover everything. Good for things like broken bones and such but alot of the long term illnesses (like diabetes) they weren't covering last time we looked at it. So they are more of an emergency care policy than a health insurance like people would have.

So I guess the question is are the policies worth it?

Otto Maddox wrote: My poor pup came down with Addison's Disease at a very young age. So, I am pretty much committed to $50 or so monthly for the next 10-15 years. And she just had kidney stone surgery for another $1200. And now she requires ridiculously expensive dog food. Add that to all the other crap people have mentioned.

[threadjack] are you using the pills or percortin shots? We did the pills for 2 years but have been doing the shots for the last 4 now, no fun to give the shot but otherwise much easier maintenance [/threadjack]

Otto Maddox wrote: Heartless as it may be, I used to think of a dog like a car- you have to have some sort of expense cutoff point regardless of how much you love them. But you don't always get the estimate of expenses all up front. You ease into it until you are thinking "Holy E36 M3! I spent how much on my pooch last year?"

I think we all unknowingly have that thought in our minds, when the vet told me $300 a month for my Sheppard's meds I thought to myself "that's more than my car payment" but when the time to step up has come we've never debated the cost, they are our family. We base all their decisions on quality of life not cost. We also do our own research on alternatives. I was able to get a comparable treatment for the Sheppard for $100 for a 6 month supply after doing some research. We order medications through places that "offshore" the prescriptions for cheap. Our vet normally wouldn't support those places but he'll write our scripts for us because he knows we have to save money wherever we can.

93EXCivic wrote:

JThw8 wrote:

93EXCivic wrote: I have seen health insurance for pets. Has anyone used it or are they just scams?

Not scams but don't cover everything. Good for things like broken bones and such but alot of the long term illnesses (like diabetes) they weren't covering last time we looked at it. So they are more of an emergency care policy than a health insurance like people would have.

So I guess the question is are the policies worth it?

Well I have the 5 dogs and I don't have one, to me they aren't worth it. But again I have a skewed vision because I know most of the issues we've dealt with wouldn't have been covered. But they are good for a lot of issues and its just one of those things you have to weigh for yourself. Also my knowledge on what the policies cover is a bit dated so it may be best to research what is available these days as I believe they have improved.

In reply to JThw8:

Monthly shots and daily pills. But nobody told us we could do the shots ourselves. That would have to be cheaper.

Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to JThw8: Monthly shots and daily pills. But nobody told us we could do the shots ourselves. That would have to be cheaper.

Shots and pills? Eeep. We've been able to get regulated on one or the other but I know some dogs are tough to regulate. It killed me when we were on the pills because the prescription was actually produced by the company I worked for. Company policy was any drug an employee had a script for that was company product was free, but sadly they did not extend that to my dog.

Because it's an intramuscular shot most vets won't let you do the shots yourself. Because we had experience with sub cutaneous shots from the diabetic dog (and allergy shots for another dog) they took the time to train us on the intramuscular. Like I said our vet has been good about helping us cut costs where we can. Its still a 2 person job to give a shot to a 7lb dog, its a fight.

What kind of dog are you looking for?

N Sperlo wrote: What kind of dog are you looking for?

Whatever I find at the pound.