Layout:
Home > Undecided

Undecided

January 4th, 2017 at 12:34 pm

I'm a bit undecided on our financial goals this year. I know we will continue to invest for retirement. I'm looking into how and if I want to adjust anything. Part of this includes running through our taxes. The free online tax software I used last year for the military won't be available until Monday, January 16th.

I will also continue our youngest daughter's college savings. We started investing earlier for her, so she has a bit more accumulated. She turns 17 in 2017 so I will no longer get the child tax credit for her. Another part of my planning.

I want to continue to avoid student loans for my daughter in college. The bill in February will be the biggest outlay this year. I'm using some of her Educational Savings Account. The remainder, over $5K, will come from our bank account. We have savings, so will use that, but I'm trying to get most of it from current income before it is due. Right now I only have a little over $1K accumulated. I think I can get close to another $2K by the end of January. I also will put any tax refund towards the bill. I just may not have that in time to make the payment on February 12.

I was thinking this would be the year we would get a family vacation in, but it is starting to look like my husband will be at some out of town classes this summer. I do think we plan to visit colleges in the spring, and that will involve airfare and a hotel night or two. As soon as I save for tuition, I will save and pay for airfare. Honestly, I expect airfare for daughter's spring break in March and then again to come home in May. That will add up!

Once we are to summer, I may be looking at some tuition for my daughter to take a couple online courses. I can use her ESA funds for these or part of these. Once we get to Fall we are finally going to start using the Post 911 GI Bill benefits. The tuition and fees are covered in full. There is also payment for books, $500 a semester, and housing ($1062/mo, prorated). The housing payment doesn't cover our entire costs, we will likely need to pay about $1500 out of pocket. This is something I can easily pay from current cash flow at the time.

So I'm thinking about what we need to accomplish, I just don't have it nailed down specifically yet. I will get there though!

10 Responses to “Undecided”

  1. Debt-free by Thir-ty Says:
    1483536518

    If you don't mind sharing, could you explain more about the free software for taxes from the military? I usually do my own taxes on Turbotax and DH has a friend do his, but since we'll be filing jointly this year, I'll do them. I was going to use TurboTax which does offer a military discount, but if there is a free option, that may be better. Does it walk you through everything like TurboTax does?

  2. scottish girl Says:
    1483537182

    You've got lots going on. Is your youngest daughter in her final year of high school?

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1483540989

    Debt free by Thirty, there will be a link to HR Block on the
    Text is MiliatryOneSource and Link is http://www.militaryonesource.mil/
    MiliatryOneSource site. I don't see it yet as it is not live until January 16. Yes, it does walk you through like TurboTax, at least that is how I remember it. I've used lots of different sites. There are probably other sites that give free filing or use of software for military too.

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    1483541034

    @scottishgirl, our youngest daughter had another full year of high school after this year. So just 1.5 years to go!

  5. livingalmostlarge Says:
    1483553193

    Why can't you use the GI bill now? Does it make sense?

  6. My English Castle Says:
    1483555349

    I salute (pun intended) your desire to keep the girls student-loan free. I see so many grads start out with crippling loans that keep them from buying homes or traveling.

  7. creditcardfree Says:
    1483557375

    We can use the GI Bill now, LAL. My husband has 36 months of eligibility. We have given each of our girls 18 months. Each semester is four months. That gives our daughter use for 4.5 semesters. Including this semester she has 6 semesters, and two summers left. Tuition goes up, so we are covering the lower cost semesters. I'm sure it could be done differently, but this is what we are doing.

  8. Debt-free by Thir-ty Says:
    1483557515

    Thanks for the info!

  9. MonkeyMama Says:
    1483563830

    I am in a similar boat. I am not making any 2017 plans for a couple of more weeks. I just don't have any specifics to make it worthwhile at this point.

  10. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1483589027

    Would you and your DDs be able to join your DH for any of his classes? As in, going there to visit him towards the end of a class, and have a mini-family vacation?

    It does sound like you have a lot of financial things going on this year - just accomplishing all of those will take some planning. Smile Something you are definitely good at.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]