M$D: 10/29/2026

Meet Travis

Age: 33

Travis’s main concerns, in his words:

Here’s the lowdown. We’ve been married for 11 years and 2014 & 2015 brought lots of significant changes to our lives. To this point we’d made significant progress in our financial lives. We paid off all student loan debt including bachelors & masters degrees for each of us and we worked as dorm parents giving us free housing and food for 7 years. In 2014 my grandpa passed away and left an inheritance to us. Later that year my wife started a 4 year PhD program in Higher Education Administration. She’s currently 2 years in. Later that year our son entered the world. In 2015 my wife’s mother passed away unexpectedly at age 63. Her father had passed away 10 years prior. Before 2014 we were already in a positive cash flow scenario but the inheritances significantly changed things. I’d also like to point out that the inheritance was accumulated by our family members who were simple people (farmers, teachers, day-care instructors) who continually budgeted and made wise financial decisions.

Issues we’re now facing:

1 – We’ve always been good at budgeting. Now its just about applying those same principles on a larger scale.

2 – Paying for 2 more years for my wife’s degree ($30K)

3 – Do we keep the $90K in taxable accounts or do we transfer it over to 401K’s & IRA’s by maxing the accounts over the course of 3-5 years

4 – What should/could we do to aim for an early retirement at 50?