How much do you have saved/plan to save before school? Forum

[monkeygirl]

I've been working FOREVER, but my salary has been super low until the last couple of years. Add that to the high COL in New York and you get a recipe for not very much saved.

Still, I will have managed to sock away about $25K by August. No debt, and I have a very supportive SO, which takes lots of pressure off.

I did my taxes and FAFSA yesterday, and am now faced with the prospect of asking my dad to give NYU and Chicago his financial information. Not to gripe, but I will be 40 years old this year!!! I mean, really--he hasn't supported me since the 1980s, and things aren't about to change any time soon.

Oh well, I guess we have to give the people what they want

[07ggfa5]

Anyone tapping into their 401k for law school? I'm going to try my hardest to not touch it. But if an emergency situation depletes my meager savings of $5k, I won't have a choice.

[monkeygirl]

Anyone tapping into their 401k for law school? I'm going to try my hardest to not touch it. But if an emergency situation depletes my meager savings of $5k, I won't have a choice.

What is this "401k" of which you speak?

I just hide my money inside the mattress until I have enough to leave the country for a year or so.

[07ggfa5]

Anyone tapping into their 401k for law school? I'm going to try my hardest to not touch it. But if an emergency situation depletes my meager savings of $5k, I won't have a choice.

What is this "401k" of which you speak?

I just hide my money inside the mattress until I have enough to leave the country for a year or so.

It's a tax-deferred retirement savings account, usually with employer sponsored contribution. You basically have money deducted from your paycheck pre-tax into your account and your employer usually matches a certain percentage of it (free money for you).

Hiding money inside the mattress would've been a better choice of investment for me over the past 2 years when my mostly equity based funds took a dive to the gutter.

[js87]

I hope to put somewhere in the neighborhood of $12-15,000 in a CD before I start school. I'll hopefully leave it there during school and for the first couple years after and not touch it. It's my "law-firm-start-up-seed-money-fund". Anyone else planning to try and save some money for AFTER school?

[Dignan]

Anyone tapping into their 401k for law school? I'm going to try my hardest to not touch it. But if an emergency situation depletes my meager savings of $5k, I won't have a choice.

I've wondered if it might be a good idea to roll over some (or all) of my 401K into an IRA that I would use to help pay for my tuition. I wouldn't roll it over all at once; I'd break it up over three years so as to keep the taxes low.

I share your instinct; I also don't want to touch my 401k. But if the rate of return on the 401K during law school won't outpace the interest that piles up on my law school loans, then it probably makes more financial sense to use the 401K money instead of taking out the loans.

[Panther7]

i have a couple grand that i've saved, but i still owe more than that in student loans from undergrad... I'll probably be breaking even on my total net worth right around the time I start school.