I'm not sure if Grabass is the best place to post this, but it's a belt and suspenders choice. I am beginning a new degree program which will take me in a different, much more lucrative career path. I am looking just a little more than two years down the road when I will be making almost triple the salary of what my wife and I bring home combined right now. I should make a disclaimer that I am already in school and would be for the next three to five years anyway if I went ahead with my plans to get a Ph.D. in my current field. The new degree will effectively take less time (two years full time and a third year of nine total hours while working full time) and be more profitable. Anyway, I am trying to make financial plans for the family for this change. I have planned out 2008 (I'll start working full time in May) like this: wife continues to work through end of year; pay off credit cards; begin repayment on (my) student loans in November; continue making payments on wife's student loans. At the end of 2008, we will be free of all our consumer debt and 2009 is when we will be able to start focusing on saving and investing. My difficulty has been in ascertaining what our expenses will be at that time, how to begin planning for having kids, and how best to diversify our investments in order to achieve our goals. (We are pretty sure we will invest a good deal in real estate.)

The purpose of all this is being able to plot where/when milestones will occur to keep us focused and optimistic. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? I suspect that it is a bit premature to talk to (and pay) a financial planner. What do you all say?