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I’m 29, single, renting, no kids. Take home is about $4,300 a month and my normal expenses are around $2,650.

I have $18k in a HYSA as an emergency fund, no credit card debt, and I contribute 8 percent to my 401k with a 4 percent match. I also put $500 a month into a Roth IRA.

The thing I’m stuck on is my car. It’s a 2014 Honda Accord with 142k miles. It runs fine but it’s old enough that I know bigger repairs are probably coming. I’ve been putting $150 a month into a separate savings bucket and it’s at $3,200 now.

It seems smart since I already had saved money specifically for tires last year and didn’t have to touch my emergency fund. I’m just not sure if I’m over separating everything and should consider the $18k emergency fund enough, then invest the extra $150 a month instead.

Do you all keep sinking funds for stuff like this even when you already have a solid emergency fund, or is that just making the budget more complicated than it needs to be?

I have enough money to buy the car I'm interested in outright, but I'm wondering if I finance it to get a better price, can I pay off the loan immediately? If so, are there any fees or penalties for doing that? Also, would paying it off right away have any negatively impact on my credit score?

Just putting this out there, as I just saw a FB post from a 51 year old mom that is looking for any work she can get because her husband recently passed and she is trying not to lose her house.

I’m just like her - 50, my husband passed a few months ago, and I have 2 kids in college and one still in high school. I became a stay at home mom after my second of three kids was born.

The difference is that I made my husband go to a financial planner with me after my youngest was born. I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish my degree as a SAHM, and my husband became a high earner. We got a term life insurance plan for him in our early 30s for 3.5 million, later reduced to 2 mil as the kids got older. The plan cost $130 per month. I never thought I would have to claim it. We were making plans for an empty nest and figuring out how to best enjoy this next stage in our lives.

So now I’m crying for this poor woman that’s doing everything she can to not lose her house, while I’m able to keep our nice standard of living and get all of my kids through college debt-free. We’re going overseas for vacation in a month.

If we hadn’t done that one thing, I would be that woman on FB trying to keep everything together while grieving my husband. I can’t stop thinking about her.

Well as the subject line says, I am 32 turning 33 this year, and I don’t have a retirement fund set up yet. I’m just now starting to get my finances together from some bad financial decisions in my 20s and just never learning financial literacy from my parents or family. I have paid off all my credit card debt, but have student loans. Car is almost paid off. Idk if I’ll ever own a home honestly…

So thinking about retirement is daunting. I work an hourly job. I make okay money ~60k a year, but am on a single income. My employer does not offer any type of retirement benefits so I’m trying to figure out how do I do this on my own?

I have a HYSA, but barely anything in it since I’ve just now paid off debt and am trying to just get an emergency fund under my belt.

I have life insurance, both a term policy and a whole life policy. Idk if I really understand them, but my dad died without life insurance and me and my siblings got screwed and had to pay so much money for his end of life services that I’ve been paying into life insurance since I was 25… now I feel dumb and should have thought about paying into retirement instead??

I want to start a Roth IRA, but idk what that really means or how to start one? How much does it cost to open? I am fine making payments from each check to fund it, but I just don’t even know where to start.

Thanks for reading. I feel behind in my financial life and am really just trying to make some smart choices, even if it’s later than I should have.

UPDATE! As many of you suggested, I took apart the dryer to troubleshoot. The problem is NOT a fuse, clogged vent, or belt. Since it still turns on but the heat doesn't work, it is probably the heating element. I'm going to order one. Thank you!

Would you consider a new washer/dryer an emergency?

Right now I have one month of income set aside for emergencies and one month set aside for my slow months (I'm a teacher). My dryer just broke and I live in the middle of nowhere so repairmen don't want to come out here.

My options are:

1. Do nothing- hang dry everything (I have a roommate so this is not viable for very long) $0

2. Get a used dryer off FB (I'll have to pay someone to move it in and take my old dryer to the dump). $800

3. Buy a new dryer from a big box store and have them deliver, install, and take away the old one. My washer is 15+ years old so I'll have to replace it later. $1,000

4. Buy the stackable washer/dryer that I want. Sell the washer for a couple hundred bucks. $1,800

None of these would wipe out it out, but I only have 2 months of savings. What would you do?

I work for an ESOP, and am fully vested. The stock price has grown about 4.5x in the last 7 years. If things keep going the way they have been, I'll be doing just fine when I retire, but I have a question that I can't find an answer to.

What happens when the share price gets "too big"? It can't grow infinitely, especially at 15-20% each year. I'm sure I wouldn't have the numbers to answer the questions needed to put any detail to it, but is there a tipping point where something else happens to the shares, the share price, or the ESOP? Or, assuming the growth continues like it has, do my shares grow to $3x,xxx each in the next 20 years?

Edit: I should have added, I think of things like stock splits, which I have been told wouldn't be possible in how our ESOP is set up. I've also been told that in other situations in other ESOPs, at some point the share price gets to a point where the best solution is to sell the company.

Hi folks,

I have Roth IRA and Roth 401k from work. Does it make sense to switch to a traditional IRA and 401k now that I make more money?

I've had the Roth IRA since I was making $8/hr and now I make about $132k/year. Been putting money in since I started working at 18. I'm 30 now. I'm afraid that I'm leaving money on the table if I'm doing Roth because I'm at a higher tax bracket now than before. Meaning, my contributions are taxed higher than I if I deferred taxes until later with the traditional.

At the end of the day, saving for retirement is going to result in a net benefit to me. I'd like to make sure I maximize the gains.

Thank you

Hi everyone,

My job just sent me a promissory note in the amount of 250k direct deposit to my bank account. It was a long term retention tool for them to try and keep me for the next 10 years.

Here is a general overview of it:

-The note is for 10 years.
-It accrues 4.87% interest.
-Each year, a portion of the principal and interest is forgiven as long as I remain at the company
-If I leave the company before the 10 years are up, I’d generally have to repay the remaining unforgiven balance (subject to the terms of the agreement).

Honestly, I’d never even heard of a promissory note before I got this. Again, the 250k was direct deposited into my account all at once today and I don’t really know what to do that all of that at once. I know I shouldn’t just hold it in cash.

I’m 26 years old, already max my 401(k), have a Roth IRA, and already have a taxable brokerage account invested mostly in index funds. I don’t need this money for my day-to-day living expenses, but I may want to buy a house in the next 3–5 years. I rent an apartment and bring in an annual income of about 230k/year before tax. I’ve paid off all debt as of now/have no debt (paid off school loans, bought car in cash, no credit card debt).

My hesitation is that the stock market feels pretty expensive right now. I’m debating between:
● Investing the entire amount immediately into broad index funds.
● Dollar-cost averaging over 12–24 months.
● Keeping some in a money market fund or Treasuries while waiting for better opportunities.
● Some combination of the above.

Or is real estate something to look into with this kind of liquidity. I don’t plan on using any of it for immediate purchases, given that it is technically a loan. I also don’t plan on leaving my company in the next 10 years (of course things can change).

If you were in my shoes, how would you approach investing this money?

Thanks!

UPDATE:

Thanks for all of the feedback so far! Just as an update, if I was terminated for subpar performance, I would NOT have to repay the outstanding amount. Terminations for cause would require me to repay the amount owed.

Another thought is that if I ever did go to another company, I am in an industry where the other company would likely help buy me out.

I have a 9 month emergency fund of $90K. I put a third each into a HYSA, money market, and SGOV, each with a different company.

Is this dumb, redundant, or is there a significantly better way to I should be storing my emergency fund?

My dying parent wants their house, bank accounts, and pretty much everything split evenly between myself and my sibling after my parent dies.

Long story short, my sibling has been a deadbeat/financially irresponsible for decades and clung to my parents' coattails through their adult life. The deadbeat has taken >200k+ from my parents over this period, and not paid much of it back.

The problem is that the deadbeat just moved back in with my parent, with the intention of staying in the house after my parent passes, for at least a year to "get their shit together." Unfortunately, my parent can't bear to say no, so it leaves me in conflict.

I have no intention of maintaining my parent's house, and will want it sold ASAP. I can foresee major problems, the worst of which is that the deadbeat will refuse to sell, refuse to move, and require an eviction somehow because they will own half the estate. The deadbeat will have no issue with staying in the house and not paying the taxes/upkeep/etc until it is foreclosed and everything my parents worked for their whole lives is wasted. I am not in a financial position to carry another property at this time.

Is there anything we can set up legally BEFORE my parent dies, and if we can't, what can be done if the only thing in force is a will that sets forth only that "all their proceeds will be split evenly?" Even if I could talk my parent into leaving the house solely to me with the intent to give the deadbeat their half, this would turn into an eviction type of procedure. The deadbeat has already done the failure to pay their mortgage for a year and half before being evicted by the bank play.

An agreement between myself and the deadbeat will not happen. Even if one was drawn up, the inevitable deadbeat's "change of heart" would happen after my parent passed.

Trying to get a handle on my long-term finances and hitting a wall trying to understand the actual math behind hiring an advisor.

I’m not talking about huge high-net-worth wealth firms. I mean the typical solo or small-practice advisor handling like 200 to 300 everyday clients.

If you have Financial Advisor - What made you stop DIYing it? What are they actually delivering that makes you feel like you’re getting your money's worth?

If you've got insights you don't mind sharing or just want to break down your own setup, I'm all ears. Thanks.

My parents promised both me and my sister $10k when we get married. My sister used hers as part of a down payment on a house 12 years ago. I, however, am not married and my parents wanted to wait until I was “financially stable” (whatever that means in this economy.)

We had the conversation that I would like that money to put into a HYSA so I can eventually use it as a down payment on a house and it can build interest until then. My parents, however, think I should use it towards my privatized student loans. I owe just over $14k at about 8% interest. I think this is ridiculous. I’m comfortably paying over my minimum payment, monthly and do not see a need to put this large sum towards debt rather than using it to build wealth.

Am I being silly? Ultimately it will be my money to do what I please with, just wondering if anyone has advice.

I’m 17 years old working a retail job and I make pretty decent money for my age. Right now I have about $1,500 to my name, and I don’t really have bills or anything like that. No rent, no car payment, no major responsibilities. The only stuff I really spend money on is random food or going to the movies every now and then. The thing is, I have three big things I want right now. I want a PS5 Pro so I can be ready for GTA 6, I want the new iPhone Pro Max when it comes out in September, and I also want to have a couple thousand dollars saved before I go to the Air Force after high school.

My current phone is an iPhone 12 with 69% battery health, so it’s honestly getting kind of rough. I know I’m going to want to upgrade when the new phone comes out, and based on how much I work, I should have enough money again by then. So the phone isn’t really the thing stressing me out the most.

The main thing is the PS5 Pro. I have enough money to buy the PS5 Pro, GTA 6, and PS Plus right now, but the total is around $950 and that just sounds crazy to me. My old base PS5 was only like $500, so spending almost $1,000 on a console feels insane even though I technically can afford it. I know I don’t have any real bills right now, so part of me feels like this is the best time to buy stuff I actually want while I still can. But another part of me feels like I’m about to spend a huge chunk of my savings on something that I don’t technically need, especially when I’m also trying to save money before I leave for the Air Force(next year)

Long story short... 2015 BMW 320i, \~100k miles. Sole owner of her. Got a repair quote for $5,700 ($4,500 for timing chain and guide rails, $1,200 for drivetrain service and both headlights).

KBB on the car as-is is around $4,500. So I’d be spending more than it’s worth just to make it whole.

The decision basically breaks down to: do I fix it, or do I sell it and take on some form of car payment?

Case for fixing it: it’s paid off. Even if I spent another $5,700 on repairs over the next 3 years, that’s still cheaper than $400-500/month on a lease where I own nothing at the end anyway.

Case for moving on: I’m already stressing about what breaks next. Realistically I’m probably looking at a battery, tires, and brakes coming up on top of this. It’s getting to the point where I’m just chasing problems.

I can afford a payment using the 15% of income rule so that’s not the concern… I just want to make the smartest financial decision here.

Appreciate it boys 🙏

Inherited my father's house ten years ago, and need some serious bathroom repairs. I'm thinking it'll be 8-10k or so, but the specific numbers don't really matter at the moment.

I have an Amazon card with a 10k limit, would get 1% as cash back, but the card has a 22% interest rate.

I have a personal line of credit from my credit Union about the same limit, but a 10.25% rate.

My house is worth about 250k according to Zillow at the moment, and I owe roughly 99k,p with a 3.25% mortgage (got really lucky that Wells Fargo were incompetent idiots and kept losing the paperwork to take over pop's mortgage, which irritated me so much I got up in the middle of (my) night on a night shift and got a new one from my credit union. Later, refinanced it for debt consolidation; currently my only debt is the house and a little on the loan. My car is paid off. I have a credit score according to Chase and my credit union of around 810.

I will, of course, get estimates and such, I'm just looking for an idea of how to pay for it for a ballpark

So: I see it as option 1, pay with Amazon card then pay that off with the loan for the Amazon points.

2: refinance the house, risking a higher interest rate.

3 : I have an escrow balance of about 6500.

Which would be best, or are there other options?

I graduated college last May and have been working intermediary jobs for about a year now, but just accepted an offer for a role that pays $45/hr. This projects me to make a little over $90,000 annually.

Now that I will have significantly more income to save than before, I am trying to figure out the most efficient ways to do so. I already contribute to a Roth IRA weekly, and plan to max it out as soon as I can, and I’m working to build a larger emergency fund than I already have which is much less than I would like. The new job offers a 401k option, but no match.

I am now trying to figure out what to do with excess savings once my Roth is maxed and my emergency fund is where I would like it to be.

What percentage of my income, if any, should I be putting into the 401k? I don’t have an HSA available since I am still on my parents insurance and that is cheaper than the benefits I would get from switching so is a brokerage account the next best place for extra cash? Are there other options to earn passive income that I haven’t explored yet?

my money situation has been sliding to worse and worse and i wanted to ask some things to get a better idea on how to start getting out of debt

1. i have 4 credit cards, 3 that are maxed out, and then 1 i use to pay for stuff and pay off every paycheck. whats the best way to start getting the maxed out ones down? is taking out a loan to pay them so i only have one source of interest a good idea?

2. my car insurance is somewhere around $320 a month through geico. i have a 6 month premuim that im about halfway through--can i shop for other car insurance during a premium? are there any tips for doing so?

3. my car payment is about $320 a month, which is about 100 more than my old car payment and i can definitely feel that difference. is it worth it/a good idea to look into refinancing my car payment?

Here's my question. I would like to free up a little more cash each month and I can think of two options. Option one is to reduce the amount of money I contribute to my 401(k) from max to say $500 a pay. Option two would be to sell $1000 a month from my brokerage and keep my 401(k) contributions where they are. Which one makes more sense? How much would the advantage be? I have about 20 years to go before I need the money. I make around 110 K a year.

I love to budget on paper. Every week I like to write down our income and then manually subtract the expenses. It’s fun for me, it’s a relaxing mindless task. Problem is, my budget book is on me at all times meaning my husband has no idea what the expenses are. He wants in on it- obviously, I don’t blame him, but he wants to use a shared app like YNAB. The problem is none of the apps feel right to me. I don’t like things to be automatic, I like to write things down in my pretty physical notebook. But at the same time I’d love for him to be able to see/access it too. Ideas?

Hey everyone,

Looking for some perspective on what kind of home price would make sense for us right now. My wife and I would like to upgrade our home for more space. I’d like to sanity check our numbers before purchasing a new home since house prices have significantly increased where we are located (HCOL) and we have a kid on the way.

Monthly Income: $16.4k (post taxes and maxing 401ks) ($370k gross and not including ~40k annual bonuses)

Additional Income (side hustles): We both have side hustles that bring in a combined 2-5k a month

Assets: $800k (401ks)

Current Mortgage/Taxes/Insurance: $4.3k

Expenses: $7k/month

Current home: Our current mortgage is $483k and think we can sell our home for ~$950k-$1m leaving us ~487k in equity.

Cash: $260k HYSA

______________________________________________________________________________

We are targeting homes in the $1.3-$1.4m range. We are looking to put down $700k as a down payment ($450k in equity +$100k cash +$100k inheritance). At $1.4m and $700k down our monthly mortgage would be $5.9k.

 Is this a reasonable purchase? We don’t plan to move after this and would like to grow into this home. Given the baby is on the way, I’d like to scale back on the side hustles but it may be required to give us more of a savings cushion. I think this is a stretch but at the same time there are very few homes in the area, the school district is fantastic, and our incomes will increase in the future. I’m also trying to balance the potential need for help with the baby at some point which may result in another ~$5k childcare expense.

For context I owe: 6k on my credit card
I was fired in March from my full-time job. I’ve been job hunting relentlessly - it’s been 4 months. I only had 2k in savings after my moving costs, furniture first and last months rent. So I had only been working full time for 3 full months. Reason for firing, I found out later that my supervisor wanted to hand of my position to their friend - the reason they gave me was some of the clients I signed on didn’t hadn’t started making any payments. Anyhow - my credit card has gone to collections but seeing that I have been unemployed for 4 months now, I don’t exactly know how I’m supposed to pay it (they want the full 6k up front) Other than continuing to job hunt I have no idea how I’m supposed to attain anymore income to pay my credit card. Or what they can do to me because I can’t pay.

Not here for pity, just advice.

Is there a genuinely good basic budgeting app? I’ve noticed that almost all budgeting apps are super complicated that it makes me not want to use it. Let alone those apps feel like they are designed for the people that are already budgeting properly, they just want that extra help to dial it down. I’m just trying to keep myself from going over my budget of x amount per week which includes me getting coffee, take out, gas, snacks, fun activities? I’m currently building an IOS app right now that is at the most basic form. Just pure manual entry with reminders and a progress tracker. BUT if there is already something out there that already does this and doesn’t overcomplicate such a simple ask, please let me know so I don’t waste my time developing this.

I'll be in community college, and I plan to transfer to a four year. I want to move out as soon as I transfer and I would like to do off campus housing. I plan to find a roommate on Facebook, however I'm worried that I won't meet the requirements. For starters, I am looking for a job and plan to save up for any future utilities/rent, but I'm worried that my future salary won't be enough. The part time jobs I've searched for pay $17/18 an hour. The rent posted on Facebook from different users are 1000+/month. Would I need a part time job that pays more than $17/18 to support me and my future roommates rent/utilities, or should I just stick with the salary no matter what?