My cc debt is under the $1k mark. I actually owe $950 now. I hope to have it paid off by the end of March.


I set my mom's 2012 budget up. She has been begging me since the 1st of Dec. I have her set up to pay her HELOC off by Nov '12. Last year we focused on her CC. She paid them off in full and according to her budget. I have to give her credit that if I put the plan on paper she will follow it. I am going too really cheer her on to pay her HELOC this year. Then she will be left with her mortgage which I know she can pay off by 2015 (at age 58). Afterwards, hopefully she can spend the next 5 years aggressively saving for retirement.


Even though my mom has always had good credit and has always paid her bills on time, she has never been much of a saver. The past couple of years I have been talking to her more and more about retirement so she had been more interested in her finances. I am so happy to help her get ready for retirement.

A few weeks ago when I started this blog I had right at $4k in cc debt. I am currently at $2600 and if all go as planned I will down to $2150 tomorrow. I transferred the remaining cc debt at 7.99% to my 0% cc so I could have 1 monthly payment. The balance transfer fee was $15, which wasn't too bad. I am trying to continue to simplify my life as much as possible. Even though I have made great progress, I still have a ways to go with a car loan and student loan. I also feel like I am behind on retirement. I have less than $5k saved and I am almost 30yo. In January, I plan to start putting $200 a month into my company 401k. The only problem is my company doesn't match. I don't qualify for a Roth IRA because me and my husband file separate because my student loans are on a income sensitive repayment right now. I plan to tackle my student loans aggressively once my car is paid off.


Do you think I would be better off with a Roth Traditional IRA?