Looking to start saving

Yeah, that's great and all... except nobody is willing to lend to a couple with student loans

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One helluva burden.
If you borrow for a house, you can always sell it.
A student loan on the other hand ..........................

 

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@ Kitt

It must seem overwhelmin to you... but wit all the facts an figures bein made available to 'em... the "adviser" Sarkus suggested will grately put the odds of success in you'r favor.!!!

 

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stock investments are only truly useful starting 10,000$ initial

 

Fair enough: student loans are an odd duck I fortunately didn't have to deal with.

I recommend this book: simple, sound, non-crazy advice for normal people:
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256

 

Not true. One of the first places a person should start with is an IRA. The minimum contribution varies by bank, but it can be as little as zero to start and $50 a month.

 

On average, stocks are a much better investment/savings instrument than savings accounts, bonds, or cds.
You can buy as little as one stock at a time(pick a sturdy company that has a good dividend), put it in a dividend reinvestment account, and watch it outperform the economy.

 

APL/JHU, where I worked had very generous matching plan 150% of what you put in towards your retirement up to 10K then only equally matched up to a limit I forget. I did that limit almost as soon as I was hired (had no student debts as was always full needs scholarship student and / or working for university too.) even thought had to live in a small apartment and watch every penny I spent. (11 year old VW bug was my car.) One day at lunch a co-worker who had marred again as had his new wife complained that even with our good salaries, fact that together they had 9 kids, made it impossible to get any of the 150% matching - they were living "pay-check to pay check" - and even doing that was hard as end of the month approached.

I told him with your good/ steady job you can get a small "personal loan." Use it to at least get some of the 150% matching, then borrow the money 2/3 of the money back and pay off the loan. - That will improve your credit rating. Next month borrow more, and repeat every month until you get to the 10K limit. Soon you will have an extra 3,333 dollars more income each month that will easily cover your interest charges and let you start to retire the debt. Then the end of the months will not be so tough. You will not even need to borrow so much to get the 150% matching.

If any employer has that still you or wife might want to work for them.

 

Heh, getting any kind of personal loan right now would be counter-intuitive for us - most in our area would be at 25% or higher interest rate, if they'd loan to us at all due to our debt to income ratio

 

Yes... a dead end at ever turn... unless you hand it over to a financial planner... who will show you exactly whare you'r at an a plan to best get you whare you want to go... then you will see light at the end of the tunnel that will get brighter an brighter as you foller the plan.!!!

So how about it Kitt... gonna see a financial planner soon (like "now")... or do you have a diferent plan.???

 

Problem is, unless I'm mistaken, seeing a financial planner generally costs money

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Right now our big focus is paying a few key bills down/off... that and, well... I just aced my SCSC tests, so we'll see - I could land a job bringing in an extra 50 grand a year, who knows

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Hay... payin bills down/off ant a bad plan... an when you start to have some extra money... $400 dollars to a fee-only financial planner coud easily make a $400 thousand dollar diference by retirement age

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