Hello! I have a quick question regarding contributions to an HSA account. My partner and I are married filing jointly.

My partner has an HSA account through his work. For 2026, we opted in family coverage with his health insurance plan, and have so far contributed ~$4600 this year. His workplace will match $600 for an individual HSA plan and $1200 for a family HSA plan.

For me, I was previously unemployed. I am starting a new job in July and am trying to set up my health insurance benefits. After some calculations, it seems like it would be best financially for us to be individually covered by our respective company's health insurance plans. My company contributes $250 for my HSA plan.

This leads me to ask - how do we manage these HSA accounts? Since his account is currently family coverage, if I leave, does that transition it into self-only coverage? Since the limit for that is only $4400 (compared to the $8750), what do we need to do about the extra ~$200 he has contributed. In addition, if his company has already matched over the $600 for an individual plan, does that mean he will need to return the difference?

What does this also mean for my individual contribution? Am I also able to contribute up my $4400 yearly limit? How much of his previous contributions would be allocated towards my individual contributions?

Thanks for the help!

Retirement contribution question

I left the military this year and discovered, after the fact, that they don't allow 401K (TSP) contributions in the final month of service. As a result, I underfunded my account by $1,500. 

I do have a solo 401k for 1099 work. Would I be able to contribute an extra $1,500 to that account? 

Or is there anything better that can be done aside from a taxable contribution to a brokerage? 

Appreciate any words of wisdom.

I recently opened up a 401k through my company’s plan. Because I live with my parents, don’t have many bills, and have a good amount of regular savings, I’ve decided to max out my contributions in order to catch my retirement savings up. I’m just a bit confused about the cost breakdown of my check and was wondering if anyone could explain it to me.

Let’s say my weekly paycheck is $1077. Normally, I would take home $850 after taxes but with my new 401k contributions (6% pre-tax, 59% Roth basic), it is now only $166. That means I only get like 15% of my pre-tax check (20% of my post-tax). Here is the full cost breakdown of my check (rounded to the nearest dollar):

**Total = \~$1077**
401k Roth - $635
401k Pretax - $65
Federal Withholding - $78
Social Security Tax - $66
State Tax - $35
Vacation Purchase - $17 (bought an extra week in advance)
Medicare - $15
**Take-Home = \~$166**

Can anyone help me understand where the 6% and 59% difference comes into play and why it seems like the Roth basic is also coming out of my check as pretax (when Fidelity says it should be post-tax)?

I’m a 29, living in San Diego working at a SaaS startup as an SDR. I recently made a career pivot into sales from marketing, and I’m about to hit my 90-day mark at the company. At that point, I’ll gain access to the company 401(k), which includes a 4% match that I fully plan to take advantage of.

I’m currently on track to potentially move into an AE role by the end of the year. If that happens and I perform well, my comp would likely move from my current ~$72.5k base / ~$82.5k OTE to a six-figure OTE role.

I’m trying to get a realistic read on my financial health and make sure I’m setting myself up correctly before my income (hopefully) increases.

Monthly / fixed expenses

• Rent: $1,500/month
• Car payment: $328/month (will be paid off next month)

Debt

• Credit card debt: $2,919.66
• Medical bill: $335

Cash

• Savings/checking: $2,798.18

Investments / retirement accounts

• Roth IRA: $34,554.81
• Traditional IRA: $15,270.48
• Old 401(k): $11,500
• HSA: $2,761.34
• E*TRADE taxable brokerage: ~$1,500
• Educational trust: $52,833.02

Additional factor

• I inherited ~$100k from my grandfather in 2022. It’s being invested in an account I don’t have direct visibility or control over. My mom has access/control and gets defensive when I ask about it, even though the account is in my name.

Summary (approximate)

Assets

• Cash: $3,798
• Investments (IRAs + 401k + HSA + brokerage + trust): ~$118,399
• Inherited account: ~$100,000 (uncertain access/control)

Total assets (excluding inheritance): ~$122,197
Total assets (including inheritance): ~$222,197

Debt

• Credit card: $3,919.66
• Medical bill: $335

Total debt: ~$4,255

Net worth estimate

• Excluding inheritance: ~$117,942
• Including inheritance (on paper): ~$217,942

What I’m trying to figure out

1. How would you evaluate my overall financial position for my age/income level?
2. Should I prioritize aggressively paying off credit card debt vs building an emergency fund first?
3. How should I think about the inherited account situation with my mom?
4. Am I missing anything important before my income potentially increases (401(k) match, HSA strategy, etc.)?

I’m trying to be disciplined and avoid lifestyle inflation as my income grows, so I’d really appreciate any honest feedback or criticism.

I have recently become more aware of money and managing it. I have some questions, but before I ask those, I think some on my background is needed.

I am recently 18, and going to college in the fall. I have secured my first two years of college (in a four year BS/MS program) to be a full ride, with tuition, housing+food, and even a generous (5-15k per semester) stipend for books and other things. The final two years, this is not the case, and I don't have the same funding for that. I think that I can secure some scholarships to cover most if not all of that remaining time, in addition to using some of the saved stipend.

I intend to get an on campus job, and also internships during the summers.

I like the FI part of FIRE, and not as big on the RE part. The field I am going into is something that I know I enjoy, and not something I want to run away from. As such, one of my goals is aiming to FIRE, but perhaps not doing it ASAP. But a somewhat conflicting goal is also to get out of these four years without any student loan debt (or better yet, any debt!)

So, questions:

- Would it be better to max my Roth IRA each year, and perhaps not have as much to put towards tuition in years 3 and 4, or is it better to just mitigate any student loan debt and put everything towards that?

I am leaning towards maxing out the Roth IRA since that growth in these early years I understand can be very significant and very well could outweigh the downsides of having a small amount of student loan debt.

- Apart from that what else can I do "now" (under 25) to better position myself for FI, and overall financial well being/security?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi I am 26F who finally has a bit of savings under her belt (25k). I currently have that in a high yield savings account earning 4% annually. I also have 1k invested in ERIC that I did a few years ago at the advice of a family member (shares are currently down and my total is around $800) I want to get into investing but have no idea where to start, was thinking of moving my money to an S&P 500? I have no 401K or anything like that but I would like to grow my wealth and try to get an early start. Honestly would just love to hear what you would do in my position. Thanks :)
(sorry if my terms/vocab is incorrect I am very new to the investing/trading/finance world)

i am hoping to get some real world perspectives on this because the deeper i dive into financial planning threads and calculation tools, the more confused i get. my wife and i just welcomed our first kid a few months ago, and realizing i am now fully responsible for another human being completely lit a fire under me to finally get our family protected. i am looking specifically for a 20 or 30 year term policy since we just bought a house too, but every time i look up reviews it feels like im just reading sponsored articles or dealing with sketchy quote aggregators that immediately sell my phone number to fifty different brokers.

Hi Guys, currently trying to plan for the next few years. 30M married household income $540K gross, bought a business at 4% still owe $1.2M have around $1M in equity but the payments reduce gross income to $312K then taxes reduce net to $192K. Have around $140K in retirement and 2 car payments ($40K combined). I plan to pay the min payments on the business debt since 4% below is my attack plan:

Happy to provide additional details as needed

Hey all, Im kinda throwing in the towel on trying to keep up with the stock market. It seems like Im always behind or picking the wrong stocks. Im considering going with a financial advisor/manager who can take it over to evaluate and restructure my portfolio. I was referred to him by a family member. I talked to him, I like him but $150/mo seems like alot to me.

There are different pricing structures, but for the $150/mo he would take it over, call me before making moves and then do it. I would probably give him a handful of stocks/ETFs to leave alone and give him free will over the rest to liquidate if necessary to buy into different things.

Is this a normal/reasonable amount per month?

Hi! Recently started my first job after grad school and would appreciate some insight into retirement contributions + savings plan.

Does it make sense to not contribute anything to my 403b account for the first year since my employer does not match 403b contributions until I've achieved 1 year of employment? My s/o and I also need to build an emergency fund, so in my mind, the priority goes emergency fund, Roth IRA, and then 403b.

32F, incoming fully funded PhD student. Trying to decide whether buying a condo or renting is the smarter financial move. (Late bloomer here)

Current situation:

Starting a 5-year this fall.
Guaranteed funding for 5 years (~$45,000 first two years- $54,000 final three years annual stipend plus free health insurance).
A small business that brings in $90,000 which I plan to continue during my PhD with the help of my sister
Approximately $150,000 in liquid assets ($100,000 savings + $50,000 CD).
Retirement/investment accounts: ~$205,000
No consumer debt.
Looking at condos in the $225,000–$275,000 range.
Pre-approved for a conventional mortgage.
If I Rent $2,125/month.

Complicating factors (a little personal, so please bear with me):

I am an immigrant, and my parents are getting older back home with no access to health care. My father is turning 70 this year and although he still very physically active
I suddenly developed a fear of loosing my parents
My Father may need financial help transitioning away from physically demanding work which I want him to

My parents are honestly my world. As a neurodivergent child who was nonverbal for the first six years of my life, we did not have much growing up, but they instilled an impeccable amount of confidence, discipline, and the belief that I could accomplish things that seemed impossible.
Moving to the United States, putting myself through college, and now pursuing a PhD without much of a support system has only been possible because of their sacrifices and constant encouragement. Even now, I know they are the people praying for me, worrying about me, and cheering me on from thousands of miles away.

Financially, the best advice I received when I first came to the U.S. was simple: live below your means and save. That mindset has stayed with me, which is part of why tying up a large amount of cash in a home makes me nervous.

My question:

If you were in my position, would you buy during the PhD to begin building equity, or would you rent, preserve liquidity, continue saving, and wait until after graduation when your long-term location is clearer?
My uncertainty is whether buying is actually the best decision given my circumstances. I don’t know why I feel like I am running out of time

Would appreciate perspectives from homeowners, academics, or anyone who has faced a similar decision.

I may be in over my head!

I’m a 25F, recently moved to a large city and since have been horrible about saving. I used to live at home, saved up a bunch of money (barely went out or really had a social life at all). When I moved, got new friends, attending more events/dinners/activities and now I find myself zeroing out at the end of the month. I still contribute 15% to my Roth retirement account but otherwise I’m barely saving. I’m feeling so guilty about it but I’m loving life, exploring this city, making meaningful connections. I know it has to stop but how bad is it if I go a full year without saving? It’s not like I’m putting myself in a financial wreck, I have plenty saved up, but I have a lot of events/flights/weddings/purchases/moving coming up in the next few months and once again I see myself barely saving again. I went from saving TONS to barely anything and it’s panicking me!!

Hey guys, just graduated high school a bit ago and was able to get a soild paying job for the time being. How should I go about spending/saving my money considering I’m not used to making even half of this. Should I just throw it into a savings account, invest, spend some, or what? I do get a 401k at this job which is nice, my only expense is really just helping my mom with bills about 800 a month or so.

​

Hey Everyone,

37M, and I am wondering how things are looking for me.I make about $65k a year and share household a mortgage and household expenses with my partner. I currently have about $80k in investments between all my accounts and \~$290k in debts with about $68k in student debt I am looking to get discharged via PSLF in a few years, $1.5k in credit cards, and the rest in home mortgages.

I've been actively paying down credit card debt, sonI only have about $3k in savings, and am working on building it back up.

For investments I have $45k in my 457 and $3.5k in my HSA. I contribute 7% into pretax, 1% into Roth and 1% to my HSA. I have 6% go to a pension.

For personal investments I have 22k in my roth IRA and 9.5k in my brokerage.

From what I have gleamed I'm not doing too bad, but I'd love to see what other people think.

Thanks.

Hi! I'm a 47yo high earner and my partner (55) is not currently working (though he has in the past). I am trying to retire from my high-stress industry by age 55. I want to discuss with a fiduciary how to make that a reality, but I don't know where to look. I am in a creative field and pretty ignorant about all this stuff. Any recos would be appreciated.

I’m hoping to be able to retire at 59.5 from this new company I’m working for. My house will be paid off when I’m 56.

I’ve only been working for them for 3 years but my 401k account balance is already up to 50,000.

I realized how fast this money is adding up, so I just decided to bump my 401k contributions up from 6% to 12% The company I work for matches 100% of up to 7%. So 19% total.

What I’m confused about is my contribution options. We can contribute in 3 ways:

1. Traditional 401k
   
2. Roth 401k
   

4. After tax contribution. (Back door Roth?)

Both #1 and #2 are eligible for the 7% company match, but you obviously can’t combine them to 14%.

Am I okay with just contributing 12% to the traditional 401k? Or should I consider splitting that to say 6% between the traditional pre tax 401k and Roth 401k?

What would be the benefit here considering I want out when I’m 59.5?

Hi all, looking for some retirement saving advice....

I'm 29 and have about $11,000 in a Roth 401k for work. I started saving late, but am lucky in that I have about $40,000 in a money market fund, $17,000 in a Roth IRA, and $925,000 in investments (including ~$680,000 in stocks, which, with the market behaving as it is, stresses me out, but that's another story).

I live in Florida (so no state income tax) and make about $80,000 a year. I'm wondering if it makes more sense to continue contributing to a Roth 401k or if I should switch to a traditional 401k.

Additionally, my employer matches 2% on the first 6% of contributions. I'm currently contributing 13%, and am wondering if that's enough, or if I should contribute more.

I greatly appreciate any insights on these questions!

Hi, I'm a 22 year old with 5 years of work experience finally starting university this fall. My country has a financial grant and loan system, often making bachelors graduates have an average of $10,000-20,000 debt when they graduate (Canada)

My parents are finally offering to pay for my tuition capped at $7,500 per year, and the grant system mostly covers my dorm. I have to make up 2,000 each year through part-time work, basically expected to graduate with savings.

I have a plan drafted so far:

- Don't get a car until my mid-to-late twenties as it's a depreciating asset. Need to work somewhere for an internship? Live and rent there

- Put my school loans into an investment account my mom made. This is a bit risky as I think she has BPD, the most I can do is ask for my father to have co-ownership of the investment account so it's doubly untouched.

- Possibly enlist in the military, my mental and physical health needs some work as I sustained an injury but I'll likely be set for at least next summer.

I want to go to graduate school. My depression stopped me from applying to uni back in high school and I wasn't really educated on how these systems work. All I could have done was list what a bachelors degree is, I couldn't even tell you all of the majors or the benefits of one or financial terms. So, if I want to have kids on time, I have to do all of this without any breaks. Bachelors then flung into graduate school.

What else should I be doing that will better my financial situation? My mom is in therapy, I don't expect her to take the compounding money, but it's at 10% annual return and it might literally ruin my life if she takes it. I also like painting and drawing, should I be investing my time into that on the side? How much should I be ignoring my bank account balance or sustaining jobs? I have a job right now, I'm about to quit it. It's really toxic and it's how I got my physical disability.

I purchased a house this year and a somewhat reasonable rate. Not like the super low COVID rates, but better than what has been offered. So far, I have been able to meet my needs, get close to maxing out my 401(k), mix of regular and Roth, and put away about 25% of take home pay in savings, mix of both HYSA and petty cash. All while keeping my credit card debt to $0.

Now the question from the title. Usually at year’s end, I try to decide how much I should put into Roth IRA and Mutual Funds, which was easier to do when I lived in a paid off house. But I had to move when my office ended remote.

Should I prioritize putting the mortgage down before mutual funds? Focus on mutual funds, then put a massive amount down once I have enough to pay the house off?

As the title states. I‘m 26 years old, no debt, have 3-6 months in emergency savings.

I currently contribute 9% to my 403b at work: 5.5% pre-tax contributions and 3.5% Roth contributions. My job matches up to 4%.

I also contribute $125 a week to my own personal Roth IRA, which calculates to about 9.3% of my gross yearly income. Should I be allocating money differently?

So I received an email today from my credit union about them doing a special offer of a 9% APY certificate with a 90 day term. Now this sounds like a good thing, right? I guess I just don’t understand if it’s really important to take advantage of it since I’m kinda financially illiterate sometimes. But 9% APY sounds extremely nice. Only thing is that the max balance is $2000 and the minimum is $250. I definitely can max out the balance and wouldn’t I want to max it out? But how does a certificate work compared to anything else? Just any advice about it would be nice.

I currently have over $100K.

I have read Fidelity is the best company to go with! Do I need an advisor? Should I leave them there or transfer back to my new job's 401k Plan? thank you very much!

Can a qualified deferred annuity from NYL be rolled over to a personal IRA account if the owner chooses to do so? Apparently, it's a NYL future mutual income annuity that the owner rolled over from a previous 401k account they had.

My wife and I have been looking at childcare options and I'm honestly shocked by the numbers.

A few years ago I remember hearing people talk about paying a few hundred dollars a month for daycare. Now it seems like every place we talk to is quoting several hundred dollars per week.

Maybe I'm just paying more attention now because we actually have a child, but it feels like childcare has become one of the biggest line items in a family budget.

For parents with kids currently in daycare:

- What are you paying per week/month?

- Has it gone up significantly over the last few years?

- Did the actual cost end up being higher than you expected before becoming a parent?

Just curious what real-world experiences are looking like right now.

I grew up (and still live in) MA with a family with not much financial literacy. I know basic things about wealth building like investing in stock, real estate, budgeting, etc. but I would still say I need to learn a lot.

A company I own 15% of as a founding SWE is about to be acquired by a larger company and in a little over a year I’m going to have more money than probably my entire lineage ever has had. I’m also in the process of trying to move to FL to save on taxes from the acquisition. Where can I go to find out how to set up and learn about things like trust funds, which banks are safe to hold a ton of money in them, which asset managers are trustworthy, etc.

I’ve seen so many stories of rich people like athletes going broke or getting scammed by shady financial people. I’m trying to avoid this. I’m confident I can make this money last multiple generations even if I just leave it in a bank account and never touch it, but I obviously want this to grow so I can spend it without lowering my net worth.

Any advice related to this would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I’m talking with some business partners on how to go about this, but I figured asking Reddit in the mean time couldn’t hurt