Dave Ramsay’s Financial Peace University (FPU) helped my husband and I to create a 3+ months emergency fund. We are completely debt free and had a really kewl budget going, when he got laid off and we’d just got in a new home. Thankfully, because of the emergency fund, we as not as stressed as we would’ve been. Nevertheless, we need to have something coming in before long.

Again, congrats!

One other note on COBRA, based on personal experience. Everyone talks about COBRA almost casually (not so much on this thread, but every where in general)–but COBRA ain’t cheap!

You’re paying the entire premium your employer paid (no match here!) plus the plan administrator can (and usually does) tack on an admin fee of up to 15% (don’t quote me on that, it does vary).

So the plan that cost you $400/month out of your paycheck for your portion, adds a $400 employer match (assuming he paid 50%), plus another 15%, so you end up at $920/month–the cost of a small mortgage payment.

It’s best to take care of your Plan B as soon as possible.

Jim, double check your COBRA paperwork. It’s my understanding you have 60 days to enroll and than another 30 or 45 days to actually pay the premium…You can essentially hold off for at least 3 months. It’s pretty common for people to do this when switching jobs and they are waiting to get through a 3 month probationary period. At the 60 day mark you send in your forms saying you would like to enroll in COBRA. Wait the additinoal days and see if you have any major claims. If you do, than pay the back premium, otherwise notify the employer you changed your mind and they will terminate the insurance with no monies due.

I’m not positive if it’s 30 or 45 days to pay so I would double check your forms. Also note this is only if the company you are leaving is indeed COBRA eligible and has at least 20 employees. In NJ they have a program that mirrors COBRA for business with under 20 employees. The insurance is the same but the timeframes for enrollment are different.

It made me laugh. Oh my we’re finance nerds.

IMHO, I think grad school should be treated like a job and if you manage your time and energy right there’s no reason you can’t have free time and do the things you want to do outside of school/work. Most full-time grad students just get so wrapped up in their studies and caught up in the “grad student lifestyle” that they forget about the rest of life. I think Martha’s got a good head on her shoulders and will balance the load well so I think you’ll still see her plenty. You both having flexible schedules will be pretty sweet too.

Since you said you are already maxed out, you may want to check your income at year end to see if you can contribute more. I believe solo 401(k) plans allow you to contribute 100% of your profits, up to $16,500 and then 25% of profits thereafter until $46,000 or somewhere close to that number. Maybe by year end, you can add a little more to your 401(k) plan, assuming you haven’t already put in $40k+ for yourself and $16.5k for your wife!