# advice needed for our plan



## newtoquebec (Oct 3, 2010)

early 30s, live/work in Canada and my fiancee lives/works in the US, we plan to settle either in Canada or the States in a few years.

Assets:
emergency fund: 30k in high interest rate saving acct
Investment accounts in the US: ~120k in trading & IRA accounts
Investment accounts in Canada: ~15k TFSA doing research on others
RRSP: just started

On the L side:
100k school loan @ 4.5-6% (eye popping number, as we just both finished professional school respectively)
8k car loan @ 4%
no credit card debt

We have a fairly frugal lifestyle, after all loan payments and expenses can save about 150k a year, for near term, would like to focus on the following goals:

- refinance/paying back the student loan, not sure if theres anyway to refin @ a lower rate but even there's not, its not a top concern
- maximize the growth of our investment accounts. As long as return is > our debt we are not in a huge rush to pay off the loan
- save another 20-30k for wedding
- build up 30-40k second tier saving account (considering diversify a bit with a different currency other than CADorUSD)
- save enough to buy a home once we decide to pull the trigger + invest in real estates when we see opportunity

any advices and suggestions?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Wow that's impressive! $30K in cash? I LOVE it.

When I look at your goals, I don't think there is much I can add. I would personally pay off that car loan now, just to clear it off the books. You'll still have $22K in emergency savings, should be sufficient for now. As long as you follow the plan you have outlined I think you'll be in marvelous shape. I am really happy to see you saving money in advance for the goals you have setup for yourself. The only thing that you will slow you down will be the student loan repayment. I would also defer the wedding (if you can) until you've advanced along a bit. Weddings often lead to babies which are another expense that you would need to save for. From the plan you have outlined I think you will be busy for quite some time trying to achieve it. You'll probably need two years (saving $150K a year?? Are you a doctor or politician?) to achieve your goals outlined above but if you stick to it and don't start wasting money you should be off to the races.

A1!


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

Reality is that with today's kids, Babies lead to weddings.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

_- save another 20-30k for wedding_

I wouldn't defer the wedding, so much as rethink why you need to blow that kind of money on one. But that's just my opinion.

PS: With your cross-border romance, and prospect of settling in one country or the other, it would probably be worth your while to pay for a consultation with a tax accountant who is familiar with Canada/US income tax laws.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

newtoquebec said:


> ...
> 
> We have a fairly frugal lifestyle, after all loan payments and expenses can save about *150k *a year, for near term, would like to focus on the following goals:


Was this a misprint? If you can really save 150k per year you don't need our advice. You can clear all your debts in less than a year.


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## newtoquebec (Oct 3, 2010)

Thanks guys for your reply.

One thing we are not sure is if we should accelerate our school loan payments or save to buy real estate. With the way the market is now, besides very few places in the US, I don't really see many attractive buying opportunities.

With a frugal mindset and not much debt obligations now, we are able to manage to save most of our earnings yet still maintain a quality life after careful planning. But the debt part could change soon as we plan to buy our first home and maybe a second to invest. With the potential baby coming into our way, we just want to make sure that we save enough for the uncertainties. Of course, both of us making relatively high income obviously helps to begin with.  As you can see, our issue is not really paying back the debt but how to allocate our extra saving in a smart way to achieve our goals.

Regarding the wedding, since we have relatives/friends in both North America and Asia where we both originally from, two weddings are unavoidable and we don't really have much option here - 20-30k is still a fairly conservative budget including hm and all misc. expenses. The net expenses will be lower as we will get some back from the wedding in Asia 

Thanks for bringing up the cross border tax issue. I have started doing some research on my own and would be great if you guys can point out some great resources (books, websites, referrals (pls pm me). I am also wondering if you are aware of any ways to refinance our school loans.

Thanks all,


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