Ages: Aris 38, Maria 36
Occupations: Pricing manager and bank manager
Salary: $115,000 combined
401(k): $180,000
IRA: $23,000
529 plan: $14,000
Home equity: $81,000
Emergency Fund: $3,000

Money isn’t just a means for Aris Magtibay of San Antonio, Texas – it’s a full-time obsession.

Since getting his degree in finance in 1991 from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., he’s putting abstract concepts from his education - like asset allocation and the importance of compounding money - to work in the real world.

Aris has documented all of his spending in Microsoft Money since graduation. If he buys a $3.99 value meal on his debit card at McDonald’s, it goes into the books. He says he takes no offense to the teasing he gets from coworkers and friends about his obsession.

“Although I must admit: if I spent as much time trying to make money as tracking the money I have, I’d be a rich man,” he jokes.

Aris’s big indulgence is the lottery - $7 in tickets each week. He calls it his investment that hasn’t paid off just yet.

He and his wife, Maria, were both born in the Philippines, although his family moved to Virginia when he was 3 years old. Maria spent most of her life in the island nation before the couple married in 1993. Aris met Maria while vacationing there, and she moved to the U.S. just three weeks before their marriage.

They have a son, Jared, who’s 13. The couple has built up $14,000 in a 529 college savings plan. They’re adding $100 a month, hoping to reach $20,000 by the time Jared is ready for school.

Aris and Maria earn a combined $115,000 a year before taxes. He works as a pricing manager for a telecom company, and she’s a manager at a bank. They each sock away 10 percent of their salaries in 401(k)s, putting in a total of $1,150 a month. Their employers match add an additional $500. They also put $50 per month into their Roth IRA.

The Magtibays bought a new home in San Antonio early this year for $315,000 with 20 percent down, spending some of their emergency savings to make the down payment. They pay $1,500 a month towards a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.25 percent, and expect to pay it off in 21 years.

“The goal is to pay the mortgage off before we begin dipping into our 401(k)s and IRAs,” said Aris.

After buying the house, their emergency savings are down to $3,000 in cash. They also have $1,200 in a bond exchange traded fund (ETF).

Aris handles his own investments wherever possible and says he prefers ETFs and individual stocks over mutual funds. Maria’s Roth IRA is also in the aggressive growth Janus Orion Fund.

Aris is trying learn more about investing and has recently started to trade options. They can take years to learn and can be risky.

The couple owns a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder and a 2006 Nissan Altima, both of which they lease for a total of $850 a month.

“I think that’s our Achilles heel,” said Aris. “We’re the type who wants to drive something brand new every five years.”

Each month, they spend $600 on food, $500 on utilities, and $700 on taxes. They’re also paying $700 a month on $11,000 in credit-card debt.

For security, they have two term life insurance policies for $500,000 each, plus homeowner’s insurance for 120 percent replacement value.

The couple’s goal is to have $1 million in assets, including home equity, by the time that Aris reaches age 50. After their retirement, they’d like to have $100,000 a year in income to live on.

Our Expert’s Take: The Magtibays are in pretty good shape, and on track to be millionaires by age 50 - but they could do better, said Greg Gardner, Certified Financial Planner with Gardner Group wealth management.

“They need to really beef up their savings account so they have six months worth of emergency liquid savings,” he said.

In addition, Gardner estimated that they are currently saving enough to withdraw only $93,000 annually in retirement - short of their $100,000 goal - assuming they live to 95.

In order to make up the budget gap in retirement, he listed three options. “They can buckle down and work one year beyond the typical retirement age of 65, or they could choose to save $850 more per month now, or adjust their spending down at retirement,” he said.

“But they’re definitely going to be able to save a lot more money once Jared leaves the house,” said Gardner.

For their emergency fund, they should have $20,000 to $30,000 – essentially six months worth of expenses – at the minimum. It should be completely liquid, in an interest-earning account like a money-market fund, says Gardner.

Finally, they should purchase larger life insurance packages, he said. “They’re a little bit underinsured at the moment,” said Gardner. “If one gets laid off, there’s not enough money in the emergency savings or the taxable investment accounts to draw on. If you were forced to liquidate money from the 401(k)s and IRAs, you’re talking taxes and penalties to get to those funds.”

Are you a millionaire in the making? Tell us why at millionaire@cnnmoney.com.

Ages: Amy 38, Jesse 41
Occupations: Technical Writer and Crossing Guard
Salary: $86,000 combined

401(k): $100,000
IRA: $50,000
Home equity: $143,000

Fixed rate home equity loan: $41,000 owed

Amy and Jesse Dickinson love their games. At their San Leandro, Calif. home, they challenge friends to Warhammer, a fantasy role-playing contest of knights and warlocks. But when it comes to financial planning, Amy doesn’t play around.

Amy, a technical writer, began investing during the dot-com bubble, putting her money in hot stocks. But she found the market too volatile, and decided to shift her savings over to mutual funds.

“I got the need to gamble out of my life early on,” said Amy, who still enjoys penny-ante poker games with Jesse and friends.

Her work provides the couple $71,000 a year, and Jesse’s part-time job as a crossing guard brings in around $15,000. The couple also gets $600 in monthly rental income from a boarder.

Amy uses auto-deductions, which do a lot of the heavy lifting in her weekly budget and savings. She puts $10,000 into her 401(k) every year, and her company puts in another $3,000. She deposits $230 a month into a bond fund that’s intended for emergencies and puts $2,150 a month into a money market fund to earn interest on the money she pays toward her mortgage.

Much of her savings are in stock funds. Amy says she prefers an aggressive investing strategy. “I know I have a good 20 or 30 years to recoup losses,” she says. The only individual stock she owns is that of her employer, Integrated Device Technology.

When the couple found their home in April 2002, she sold some mutual funds in order to put a $54,000 down payment on the $360,000 home. They now make payments of $2,150 per month toward their mortgage and home equity loan and expect to pay off the home in 13 years. The house was recently appraised at $490,000.

“I feel very, very fortunate,” said Amy. “Any stock can crash, any market can have a problem - but you can always live in the house.”

The couple keeps their budget balanced with real dedication to thriftiness – Amy has declared Jesse “a professional scrounger.” He’s learned to make his own shirts after buying the fabric, and she says the couple tries to prolong the life of all their belongings.

Amy budgets $400 a month for food and saves money by shopping at Costco and taking advantage of sales at grocery stores. The couple’s gaming hobby is a moderate expense. The miniature battles that incorporate tiny painted figurines are games of “fantasy as opposed to recreation.” House payments aside, their expenses total roughly $1600 a month.

As far as insurance goes, Amy has taken out a $300,000 life insurance policy in addition to the $120,000 policy she has through work. Jesse also has a small life insurance policy.

Looking ahead, Amy says she’d like to retire a little later than most people and be sure to have the house completely paid off.

Down the line when they’re close to paying off their mortgage, the Dickinsons would like to add solar panels and an additional room for gaming to their home.

They’re considering adopting a child in the future, but aren’t making the decision just yet.

“I don’t consider my budget strict, but others would,” she said. “I think of money as a tool to help you get everything else you need.”

Our Expert’s Take: The Dickinsons have gotten a good start on retirement savings but need to take further steps to protect themselves against possible outcomes, said Lee Pence, a Certified Financial Planner at Pence Financial Advisors.

“Protect yourself first, and then invest in further opportunities,” he said. “I’m concerned that because so much of their wealth is in their home, they’re underdiversified. All it would take is for the real estate market to go south, and they’d be in a difficult situation.”

Also, based on their monthly expenditures, said Pence, they’re spending over 50 percent of their monthly income on their daily expenses, mortgage and home equity loan combined – above the recommended level.

“Banks recommend that you spend less than 36 percent of your monthly income on expenses,” he said. If they need to take out a bank loan, they’re going to face higher rates because of that. They should work to either increase income or cut down further on expenses, he said.

They need to come up with a specific estimate of what they’ll need each year when they retire, he said. He projected that, with an average 8 percent growth in the stock market, the Dickinsons’ savings will reach $4.2 million in 26 years, when they are at retirement age.

He emphasized that they need to consider the potential costs of long-term care, which average over $75,000 a year.

“People are retiring earlier and living longer. What happens if they live to be 100? The house will be paid off, but you can’t eat a house,” he said.

He also said they should have an umbrella insurance policy of at least $2 million in order to supplement their other policies.

He said they need to keep their emergency money in a bank, not a bond fund.

“Bond funds can kill you if interest rates rise,” he wrote in an email. “The cash emergency fund is critical. I have seen people lose their homes because of unforeseen medical expenses.”

They need a minimum of six months’ worth of income in a secure cash account, he said.

–By Rob Kelley, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Are you a millionaire in the making? Tell us why at millionaire@cnnmoney.com

Note:

A number of changes needed to be made to this story:

Amy Dickinson does have a life insurance policy outside of work. It’s for $300,000.

The Dickinsons have a fixed rate home equity loan, not a home equity line of credit as previously stated.

The couple makes a total of $2,150 in mortgage and fixed rate home equity loan payments, not mortgage payments of $2,100 per month and home equity line of credit payments of $400 per month as previously stated.

The Dickinsons do not have a cash emergency fund of $7,000. They do have $7,000 in a bond fund.

The couple plans to hold off on installing solar panels or adding a gaming room until after they pay their mortgage.

The Dickinsons’ monthly expenses total $1,600, not $1,200 as previously stated.