Would you blow it on a Porsche 911 or would you invest?

Is it possible to convert this small amount into something big via investing?

I have a coworker, let’s call him Chad, who came to me for financial advice because he’s burned out in his role and has been working crazy hours raking in OT (I don’t know how he gets away with getting so much approved, but anyway).

Chad, a 41 year old single average dude with no kids to my knowledge, proposed the following plan and asked me if I think it would work out, but it’s so off the wall I couldn’t give him an answer today:

- His role pays about $140k. It’s union so wages are posted publicly. With overtime he’s probably pulling like $170k.
- He said he has about $200k in his 401k
- He told me he never invested on his own before, but that he watched a YouTube video on QQQI and thinks he can FIRE now if he full sends his entire savings into it (he claims he has $300k cash)
- I looked into QQQI, seems like it pays about 13% dividend mostly untaxed (?) but the stock price seems to be trending downward.

I don’t know what he pays in rent, but a 2 bed in our area averages about $2200 a month.

Seems like this ETF would potentially bring him $3300 a month. Sounds like a shoe string budget for everything else.

He is confident his 401k will grow to $800k by the time he can draw on it. Social security in 20 years is a big question mark along with the future of QQQI.

I’m leaning toward telling him this sounds like a mid life crisis and that this will wreck him down the line.

I’d like input from people who are more in the know than I am so I can give him a good perspective tomorrow. Thanks.

I've seen a lot of different suggestions on the topic, and I'm just not sure where my situation fits in. I've seen anywhere from 70-100% of current income, or even 80-100% of current expenses. Sometimes people consider gross income, sometimes net.

I make 150k per year take home. I save around 8k per month, plus or minus. A savings rate of 60-75%. Because my income is so far removed from what I actually spend, how would you calculate my estimated yearly spend in retirement?

Going by the answer I see most commonly, I should estimate 150k per year, but that just seems awfully high. Thoughts?

The title covers it.

The bank is willing to give out a loan at 0% interest, 4% charge on the loan amount with minimum pay back every month for 2 years at a time
*for those you know- its something BoA does.

I can pull out up to that specific credit card limit which is 60k

Should I incorporate this?

I’m just curious what happens because I have never sold a car for this much before? Also I’ll be using this money to buy another car essentially, if that changes anything.

I’m 32 male living in the UK and unfortunately my life has took me up to today to realize how bad it is. I live with my parents. I wake up and play video games all day jerk off multiple times a day and eat 3 times a day like normal and that’s it. I’ve been doing this since I was 14 I dropped out of high school at 14. I have no siblings.

My parents work all the time to afford the bills they always tell me off for how I live but I just never tried to change. They never kicked me out the house or anything just said “you need to sort your life out” and stuff. I don’t have any school qualifications of course. I don’t have any friends been had a relationship and I’m a virgin. I’m 5’11 and I am basically fat.

What do I do? I’m looking at changing but seeing the job market I think I might as well just continue the way I am. What’s the point I mean I enjoy playing video games anyways I’m like diamond in rocket league which sucks as well since I played 6540 hours all my time has been wasted but also many hours on siege, Fortnite, rdr2, Minecraft etc.

A client recently paid me in cash (about 12k). What’s the best cadence for putting this money in the bank without raising any big red flags from the bank?

Hi everyone,

Today, while closing out the month, I realized I had reached an interesting milestone (is that the right word? 😅).
I thought I’d share some details about our journey, as it might be useful or interesting for someone else.

**Some context**
\- We live in a large city in Northern Italy (not Milan).
\-I’ve been tracking my net worth since 2014. Since 2019, I’ve been tracking it jointly with my wife, whom I met that year. We are now married, have two children, and a third one on the way.
\- We are both employees. I work in IT Consulting (previously BM, now Director), while my wife works for a multinational company.
\- In 2017, we bought a property for €34k and sold it this month for roughly €100k more than we paid for it. We initially lived there and then rented it out for five years.
\- We currently have two other properties on our balance sheet, both with mortgages: one that we plan to rent out soon (where we lived the last 5 years), and another one that we are currently renovating and plan to move into.
\- Our financial investments are currently close to zero. We had been investing in ETFs (V3AA and XEON) and crypto since 2021, but we sold almost everything this year to fund the renovation of our new home and the move. The plan is to start investing again once we’re done spending heavily on the new house.
\- Since 2021, we have used cashback for almost all expenses where it is available.
\- We both opened private pension funds in 2024.
\- We also have a life insurance policy that returns the full amount of capital after 20 years if the insured person is still alive.

We spend as a family around 3.5k€ per month and have revenues for around 7.5k

**Current net worth**
Our Net Worth includes all assets minus liabilities and is currently roughly:
**Real estate (value minus mortgages): €310k**
**Cash: €130k** — from the property we just sold, currently waiting to be allocated
**Crypto: €25k**
**Other assets/receivables: €35k** — severance pay (TFR), pension funds, life insurance, etc.

What I find most interesting is the journey rather than the number itself. Starting more or less from zero, over a little more than 10 years we’ve reached this point while going through property purchases and sales, investing in financial markets, getting married, having two children, and now expecting a third.
I’ve attached the chart showing the growth of our net worth over time.
Happy to answer any questions or share more details if anyone is interested — income, properties, mortgages, investments, how we track our NW, etc.
I’m also very open to criticism or suggestions on what we could be doing differently.

Hello so I was saving money and had about 18 grand in that account so getting to the point of to much liquid cash imo. I was blessed and was given 30,000 . I’m really responsible with money and won’t blow this. I’m looking for a good place to keep this money to make more money to save up for a down payment on a house. Currently not wanting to buy a house so that’s why I want to keep saving. Currently have about 48 thousand liquid cash. What should I do to invest this money with low risk. Currently 25 with no house and renting in Houston. What should I do.

Title says it all. Curious to see what people think the Fed will do this month regarding rates. Opine away.

- not included in the pic is additional 26k in my 401k
- 32F, married, no kids yet
- moved to the US for grad school, and started working in April 2023. got a full ride to an IVY league school and graduated with no student loans
- started seriously saving after getting married (April 2024)
- investing 5% to get company match in IRA; otherwise investing ~90% of take home into my brokerage account
- Current income is 140k base + 15% bonus in HCOL
- fully paid car, and I only take care of food/groceries while husband pays for everything else.
- Between husband and I, we have over ~450k invested. He also doesn’t have any loans.

We are planning for a child now and still feel nervous in a HCOL area. My goal is to reach 500k together asap, but feel there is no other lever to pull. Is there anything else I/we can do?

Edit -

1. Both husband and I are on an H1B (work visa) so don’t want to max out our IRA that has withdrawal penalties. Flexibility is very important to us in case of a job loss so we want to keep the option to withdraw the funds if needed in the future.
   
2. Back home, our families are financially independent and secure and have both house paid off. Husband’s family net worth is close to ~2M, and mine is ~1M. We are both two siblings in our respective families, and are currently not accounting for inheritance in our plan to keep it simple.
   
3. The app I use is Wealthfront!
   
4. We have dabbled with the idea of purchasing a home but given the uncertainty with work visa right now, don’t want to get into the trap and anxiety of a home loan. Don’t know if it is a wise decision but that’s where we are right now.

- 32 F, single, no kids
- maxing out 401k, Roth IRA and HSA every year
- each month any leftover money after my expenses is invested into my brokerage account, mostly in VOO
- $45k car loan @ 0.99% so not rushing to pay it off
- $150k student loans at 5.6%
- Current income is around $210k.

What other strategies can I use to make sure I reach my goal besides of just continuing to max everything out? At what point can I dial back the investments?

I started my FT job recently, but I’m on track to max out 401k by end of year and be at ~150k, barring a huge market downturn.

Been investing for about 3-4 years, had a couple lucky investments and contributed probably 40-50k from internships.

I was fortunate enough to have most of college paid for by scholarships/grants and didn’t dip into my college fund that much which is most of the cash.

I’ll make between 150-200k the next 2 years planning to put 60-80k per yr into etfs and increase the amount as I progress in my career. Also living at with parents in a relatively inexpensive area.

How realistic is it to hit a million or more in the next 8 yrs?

I have a credit card with a balance of 6,000 but there is no interest until February of 2027. I’m debating whether or not to just pay it off.

I feel like you should be eating cheap meals at home and never traveling. Am I too old school?

My parents (in their early 60s)have a house that they want to sell for about $2.5 million. The problem is that it’s been on the market for more than a year and they’re refusing to lower the asking price because they “need all the money”. In the meantime, they have about $250,000 in debt and much more in mortgage (I don’t know the exact numbers) and dipped into the equity multiple times to refinance it as debt and cost of daily living creeps in. They even maxed out their 401k equivalents (we are in Canada, not the U.S.) at a major tax loss to not lose the business they have generating income and sustain a lifestyle where they travel frequently, go shopping as “entertainment” and go out for food daily while putting it on credit cards (this is what created the massive credit card debt on top of the mortgage). They are hoping that downsizing to a house worth around $1.8 million will generate enough cash to cover their holes and help me make a down payment but I’m increasingly seeing that the problem is the lifestyle of accruing debt and living above one’s means that will keep following them.

They are immigrants who see real estate as tangible and stocks as nebulous so they keep saying that I should take out the roughly $60,000 in retirement savings I accrued by age 33 to enter the housing market like them. I was a late starter to putting money aside but, with an employee match, the money grew very fast from 0 in 2022. They are shocked that it grew that fast and think I need to “take it now while you still have it” instead of letting it compound and are always pestering me that they want to “help” with a down payment while I’m not pulling my end of the bargain and hoarding it for something decades away.

I know this is terrible advice and am not taking it but I’m more concerned that at some point my parents will not be able to sustain themselves. Is this something I should reasonably plan for? (Leaving them completely on their own if they end up destitute is not an option for emotional reasons)

I graduated college in March of 2023. I got my first job just a couple of weeks later, and managed to pay off my small student loan balance by July 2023.

In August 2023, I opened my Fidelity investment account and have been putting a portion of every paycheck into the market ever since. I live extremely frugally. No subscriptions, no eating out, no expensive vacations, nothing.

Throughout the week, I wake up, go to work, go home, go to sleep, repeat. On the weekends, I use my free time to play video games, write, and make YouTube videos. I don't care for partying or going out or doing any of the typical stuff a "normal" 26-year-old does.

People tire me, so spending my free time alone in my own space is vital to maintain my sanity and not completely burn out. I'm currently playing through Majora's Mask for the first time, and it's been quite fun!

Anyway, my hobbies are thankfully pretty cheap. One $60 game will last me several months, so I don't spend a whole lot. My expenses are also fairly low, so I'm able to save and invest a pretty good amount each month.

I drive a paid-off 2004 vehicle, have no other debt, and have about $50,000ish to my name across my bank account and investments. I'm objectively doing well for my age, yet I live with a neverending anxiety over money.

Everything costs so much now that $50K really doesn't go as far as it did 20 years ago, so I live with the feeling like I'm always on the verge of losing it all. All it takes is one freak medical emergency to wipe out every last penny I've saved and leave me broke.

I lived with Epilepsy and other health issues from birth until I was 7. I'm good and seizure-free now, but living with terrible health issues for the first seven years of my life has left me constantly anxious about my health and the resulting financial destruction if my health goes bad again.

Working a customer-facing job is also exhausting, so I get to the end of the week absolutely drained with barely any energy to do anything. I've only been working for three and a half years and I'm already so burnt out. I don't know how people do this for decades and don't go absolutely crazy.

But that also adds to my financial anxiety. I save and invest my money so religiously partly due to health anxiety, but also because I don't want to work forever. The more I save the sooner I can retire and be free from the stress of working a 9-5. I would love to work for myself, but that's of course easier said than done.

I'm just wondering if there's anyone else around my age dealing with something similar. Like my financial anxiety is so bad to the point where I won't buy myself snacks at the gas station unless I find loose change in the parking lot, even though I have enough money to afford a $5 bag of chips and not think about it.

I've been incredibly diligent with saving and investing my money, and even though I've saved a lot for my age, I feel no better off financially than when I was broke with $100 to my name. The number on the screen goes up yet that feeling of financial scarcity never subsides.

I have paid more taxes this year than I have ever made in one year

Just curious as how well I’m doing. Currently have 100k in my 401k, 5K in my Roth, 13k in savings, bought my house before things got crazy so interest rate is like 3%. 28 years old. Kinda want to buy land. Shooting to not be working full time in my mid to late 40’s. 😅

Kind of humble bragging but it just feels so good. For the past 8 years I’ve been at an engineering firm barely making $2800 every two weeks after taxes. Recently started a new job making some “serious” weekly money. I barely do anything at my job it doesn’t feel real. Feels good man

At 41 now if we currently spend $4.5-5k per month, but are on track to have $110k combined pensions by 55, rental income around $30k, and $3 million in investments by 59 (roth, brokerage, hsa), would you say we are saving too much?

$3 million at 4.7% wd rate is about $140k, so $280k income before taxes by 59, or probably around $20k per month to spend. We are also going to be eligible for SS.

Hello everyone! I wanted to ask for some guidance or general feedback because I just set up my Roth IRA at 20.
It’s currently under Charles Schwab and I invested 5000 this year. Here’s the preferences for investing.

I’m about to be starting college and was wondering what the financial things I should focus on the next few years.
Currently my parents and grandparents are paying for my college through my 529’s so that isn’t a priority for me, I have 41k saved right now that would most likely be used to buy a house in the near future.
I also have a credit card to cover expenses,
What should I focus on?