Should You Pay Extra For a Speedier Commute?

I could be saving a lot of money on my daily commute.

Last month, I spent $534 for 34 ferry trips between my hometown and my job in New York. Taking the train would cost me $273 a month, including parking at the train station — a savings of $261 a month, or $3,132 a year.

That’s a decent chunk of change — enough to pay for about half of the deck project we recently completed, or take care of most of our son Gerald’s summer-camp tuition. If my husband Gerry and I invested that $261 a month in a tax-deferred account over the next 15 years, we’d wind up with an additional $83,223 in retirement savings, assuming a conservative 6% annual return. That would go a long way toward helping us achieve our goal of retiring at 55.

By Terri Cullen

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Full Story: http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/officelife/20061110-cullen.html?cjcontent=mail