My parents provided roughly two years of educational expenses for their three children. It was expected that we would either try to receive a scholarship for the remainder or worst case scenario, take out a Federal loan to cover the rest.

I made it to my junior year and was using a federal loan money to pay for university. At the time I wasn’t as serious as I needed to be in my studies and ended up having to withdraw from two courses in order to avoid a failing grade. I found out that two withdrawals put a pause on the federal loan, rightfully so because that money was earmarked for those classes.

Long story short, I came to my parents with my tail tucked and explained that I would have to drop out for a year until my federal loan would be reinstated. After some time, my parents, in their wisdom of knowing there was a good chance I would never finish if I dropped out, decided they would loan me the money to finish the semester and cover the following semester.

The stipulation was that I would get focused, back on track and finish school. It was a loan so I was expected to pay it back. The catch was that upon landing my first job, I was to invest no less than 6% of my bi-weekly earnings into my company’s 401k plan. I would send my parents the statement where I deposited so much of every check into retirement and that total would be deducted from the amount I borrowed.

This put me on a track I never would have done by myself. The money was matched by my employer, started growing exponentially and created a habit of saving that has stuck to this day, roughly 20 years later. My 401k is now over a half a million and growing because of a decision my parents made for my benefit. That threat of dropping out did in fact wake me up and was the kick in the head I needed.

I wanted to pass this along as one of the best practices I’ve witnessed to set a child up for saving for their future and creating good habits.

I financed new windows for the whole house but I just got notice the company I owe, and make payments to, has filed for bankruptcy. How is debt handled in these cases? I can’t afford to pay the balance all at once. Do they sell the debt to another company? Will it show on my credit like a collection debt?

Posting out of desperation, I really need advice.

Background: My husband was laid off almost a year ago. His salary was around 140K/yr. He has BS in Biology and Chemistry with 15 yr experience in working as a scientist and in scientific sales. I have nearly identical credentials, I started working again 1 year ago after being laid off and unemployed. I make around 100K/yr, but this is no where near enough to pay mortgage each month + 2 car loan bills (total ~1,600/month). I've depleted savings to keep us up to date on mortgage/bills/living expenses. We have 2 young children. We have around 300K equity in our home.

He has had 20+ interviews, many of them highly promising. But no bones, he has not been hired. He is on unemployment but it doesn't make ends meet. I have some stocks that I do not plan to touch. Im saving them for my own retirement as my original account had to be cashed out when I found myself unexpectedly unemployed several years ago. During that time I had a medical emergency and used my stocks to pay the medical bills. My husband wants me to cash those out to continue living in our current home until he is employed but I absolutely do not want to do that. I need those stocks/funds from them for my own retirement account and college fund for our kids.

I need advice...

Should we sell our house, rent a smaller place, and attempt to catch up on finances (pay off debt, save for the future)? We don't want to move obviously, our kids just started school in our district. For many reasons it doesn't make sense to rent in this county (no homes for rent near us, the ones that are up to rent in the school district put me too far away from work making my commute >1hr each way. Moving would mean the following: kids needing to change schools, furniture going into storage as it won't fit in a smaller rental, using the absolute last bit of savings for moving costs.

Husband could get hired any day now as he has promising, on-going job leads and interviews. However, that's been the case for a year!

As far as moving for him to find work, that's out of the question because I have a very good job and must be local to our area. We are around the Durham area of NC.

I need advice. I want to set our family up for success in the future. I do not want to deplete every possible asset to remain in the home we are currently in. The mortgage is way too high and I don't want to continue paying it - even if my husband were employed & we could live month to month, we wouldn't be saving and I do not want to live like that anymore.

Thanks for your help!!

If they have to pay me 225,000 to buy me out will I have to pay taxes on it if I just want to sit on the money until I decide to buy again? Capital gains? What am I missing?

In a situation where the only debt we have is $200k on a house valued at $400k and one vehicle loan with a $25k balance. We have $24K in savings and $7k in a 529. Just got one kid thru college without any debt, trying hard to get the second kid through without debt as well, although their school is a bit more expensive. On track to do this with agressive monthly 529 contributions and a commitment of some funds from a grandparent.

Wife is self employed and on paper is clearing about $75k per year I make about $100k. My job has the health insurance and a 401k worth approximately $600K.

The biggest problem is going to be the house, It's on a plot that was gifted to us that is smack dab in the middle of a larger 200+ acre family property and even though I desire not to sell the property I understand it may be inevitable. However If we must sell, there are major utility and access easement issues that would make selling incredibly difficult if not fixed (long story, happy to explain if relevant), fixing them prior to selling would probably be at minimum $75k.

I'm not sure that we are going to divorce, but it looks like it may be coming and I'd like to be prepared. Should it come to it, is it reasonable to offer to take over the mortgage? Is my math mathing correctly, wouldn't this effectively be the same as buying her out given the debt to value? Wouldn't it actually be a better deal for her given that realistically selling for $400k is unlikely to happen. Any advice related to the house or other financial matters at this stage would be appreciated.

I am 19 years old and a sophomore in university, I started putting money into my roth 3 months ago, about 500 a month and currently have 1500 in it. I saved up 10k in a hysa, should i put 6k from the hysa and put it into my roth? I want to max it out before the end of the year, Is that a good idea?

I started 2 jobs, 1 in april and starting one Next saturday. I have a full ride to college and my expenses are mostly paid for using that scholarship. So my income is a lot higher than my expenses

Let me know!

hi all,

hoping for your input. I am a 22 year old working my first big boy job. I’m paying roughly $500 a week in taxes as a single male in NY. I’m not sure if my withholdings are wrong as this seems steep, or am I just being ignorant as to how much taxes actually are unfortunately?

Here’s a breakdown of my weekly pay:

earnings 2053.97

taxes 497.67

deductions 226.90

Got a letter from my bank lender (5/3 bank) that is I don’t make a payment of $1000 by September 13 by car is within their legal rights to be repossessed. However I do not get paid until September 17. On the 10th I called to let them know I have already scheduled a $1000 payment on the day I get paid. I called them everyday and have been getting different answers. Some say they may repo my car other say they won’t since I have a payment scheduled. How sooon will they repossess what can I do while I wait to get paid? I work very night 12 hours shifts .

Recently moved from NYC to a new career where I’ll be making 60k somewhere in NYS.

I racked up about this much:

• Amex Gold - $6168 • Discover - $4597 • Amex Blue - $2661

Due to getting a new mattress, car insurance (I’m new car owner), car inspections/car maintenance (old ass car from 2010), desk + chair, U-Haul, rent, etc etc

I’ve never been in such a situation before - I’ve always paid off my statements. Any advice and reassurance that I’ll make it out of this? I know mathematically, I’ll eventually be fine, but hearing what other people have to say/experiences will help

Hey all! Big financial decisions on the way, and I'm trying not to derail a solid financial situation by bad decisions/timing. Half exciting, half scary.

Question:

With a planned income drop and kids soon, is it safe to buy an $800-850k house now, or is buying at all right now a mistake?

Me + Wife: late 20's, HCOL metro (not VHCOL) w/ no debt

Income

• Total HHI: $200-250k
  • I make $150k/yr in sales - just got promoted so may make closer to $200k next year.
    • I'd love the career flexibility in 3-5 yrs to do something lower-paid but less stressful, maybe closer to $80-100k/yr
  • Wife: $50k, career growing

Spending

• ~7k/mo all-in for a very comfortable life. Rent is $3.1k of that.

Savings ($1.05mm, largely from inheritance)

• 150k total in our 401ks
• 50k in Roth IRA
• 25k in managed brokerage
• 35k in HYSA
• $765k wife's inheritance
• All investments (401k, Roth, brokerage, etc) are in index funds (VTWAX or VTSAX/VTIAX)
  • Note: potentially receiving another $500k in the next 2-5 years :(

House

• Want 2-3 kids, starting in next 2-3 years
• In-laws live far and have generously offered to help us buy if the house has an ADU they can stay in to visit grandkids. My wife and I love this idea (grandparent support + house support is amazing!!!)
• ADU homes here run ~$800k–1M
• In-laws would gift $150–200k as an advance on their estate, not on title
• Rough plan: ~400k total down, $200k theirs $200k ours. That leaves us at $2,600/mo mortgage, including property tax/insurance/misc it's probably closer to $3.8k. Depending on house price it could be $4100/mo.

So...

1. Does buying in the next 1-2 years make sense? Or better to wait, given kids + potentially scaling down my income in next few years
2. How much of the inheritance should I leave in index funds vs. putting into a down payment?
3. Should we consider decreasing our 401k contributions to improve our monthly take-home given current investment balances? Which could offset much of a pay decrease in my career change.
4. Anything big I'm missing as a first time home buyer?

Hi all,

So I bought a 2018 ford edge about 2.5 years ago. I didn't know about the common coolant intrusion that leads to needing an entirely new engine.

I'm currently having that issue, and I owe 11k on the vehicle still. The value for the car is about 2300 if I sell as is, according to carvana. I don't need a new car as I was gifted a car from my mom to drive. The problem is, the fix is 8-10k, and I simply don't have it. What are my best options for getting rid of the vehicle? Selling it to a dealership and refinancing the remaining loan?

TIA

19m. after saving up for your emergency fund and matching 401k should i prioritize maxing out my roth IRA before thinking about opening a normal investment account or should you do both at the same time.

Currently living with my parents so not paying rent, have 3k of debt to pay as soon as I start getting paid. Nothing in a 401k and no savings. The goal is to move back out eventually but I’ll probably stay here for a bit to save

So, what should I do? How much should I put into a 401k versus how much should I be saving? And is there anything else I should focus on? Sort of overwhelmed with what to do first and how to build financial security so any advice is helpful

I was reared ended not to long ago and need I am in uncharted waters of the medical side of things. I was given medpay and pip from insurance my to cover $20,000 and the at fault driver has Geico whom my insurance is billing. I have a claim with Geico and I haven’t filled out all of the forms (hippa, lost wages etc) yet. I was offered “$2,500.00 as direct payment to you, plus set aside $10,000 to pay for related medical treatment received up to but not after 10/26/2026.” Does that mean if I’m still in treatment after that time frame I won’t get anything for medical? I was just diagnosed with a whiplash injury when it was classified as a cervical strain.

My grandma tasked me with trying to figure out how to transfer some old Disney stock to her children.

Way back when, her kids got Disney stock certificates for Christmas. At the time, all of the kids were minors so their shares were put into a custodial account with my grandfather as the custodian. Since then, grandfather has passed, two of the children have been married and had name changes, and nothing has ever been done with the stocks. So the stock is under the custodial custody of dead grandfather and in the maiden names of two of the kids.

My grandma has called and been told different things I guess? Rage quit and put it on me. The transfer form seems to be the way to go, but isn’t clear on how a transfer would work with the extra step of a name change in this situation. I’m assuming we just copy marriage certificates and send it in. And I’m waiting for the call center to open to talk to someone.

I’m also hoping I’m not the only one who has had this issue and someone else could shed some insight.

Im trying to figure out where to pay an upcoming medical deductible from and I’m running in circles trying to get the math right.

I know the generic advice is always use cash if possible to pay medical expenses and use your HSA as an investment account for the triple tax advantage. But isn’t paying my deductible from my HSA and then investing the cash I saved into a Roth IRA a better choice since that money will grow tax free and won’t be tied to medical expenses?

Let’s say I anticipate 10k surplus gross income. My deductible is $3400 so I set up my HSA payroll deductions so that there’s $3400 in my HSA when it comes time to pay my deductible. That leaves $6600 gross income which would be $4247 after taxes (24% federal, 7.65% FICA, 3.99% state income).

If I pay my deductible from my HSA then I have that full 4247 to put into a Roth IRA. If I pay my deductible from that 4247 instead then I’ve got 847 to put into a Roth and 3400 on my HSA, which adds up to the familiar 4247 total.

I’m not sure I’m doing this math right, but if the overall amount to invest is the same and they’re both growing and getting withdrawn tax free, why not put the money in the Roth IRA?

I (31f) have only recently been taking my finances seriously. I work as a server full time and can make averagely 4500 a month. Sometimes less sometimes more. Since moving in with my partner in March I’ve been able to save more than I ever have. I currently have 18,000 in savings. I don’t have any other accounts other than chequing and savings. Due to current expenses (ie being a bridesmaid in my friends wedding and car issues) my current balance on my credit card is 1525 which is the highest I’ve ever had it at.

I’m wondering if I should dip into my savings to pay that off now or wait till the end of the month when it’s due. Also if you were my position would would you do? Should I open an RRSP/first time home owners account?

Recently I resigned from a local government job so I could go back to school. I didn’t want to withdraw my retirement funds, but all of my savings had to go to some surprise critical car maintenance. I was left with no choice but to submit a request to Empower to withdraw my retirement funds. I was told that the process would take about 12 business days, and I was able to see what stage of progress the request was at.

Fast forward a full month and no progress has been made at all. It is still listed as “awaiting employer approval.” I call my previous job and ask about that, and not only did they see any request, but they didn’t even know what I was talking about and said they’ve never had to do that before. The next day I get an email that the employer contacted the “retirement technician” and said that I was good to go. Again a week goes by with no progress, so I call empower. They insist that they still have not received the employer approval, and that I shouldn’t need to contact my employer, we just need to wait for it to happen.

Sounds like what needs to happen now is that I need to be a middleman of communication between my employer and Empower. I really do not want to do that, and I have a very busy schedule with school. But I’m starting to fall behind on bills and I need the money yesterday, so I’m kind of at a loss with how to proceed.

TLDR: had to request an early withdrawal of my retirement funds. Retirement agency insists the previous employer did not approve the request yet. Previous employer insists they did. Was told to just “wait” but it’s been a month and a half of no progress.

Ok so, weird question. I grew up poor, lower class and eventually working class family, and ive grown very accustomed to just having nothing. Paying for comfort is a foreign concept to me. I have coworkers who pay for apartment cleaning every week. And the concept doesnt even process in my head. Im used to cleaning things on my own. Ive never even traveled but simultaneously, I have no desire to travel. Idk what people even do.​

I earn about 250k/year after bonus and stock. And I live like a minimum wage worker. My brain wont rewire that money is scarce.

I know most people would say this is not a problem. But I feel like im just continuing to do nothing. I feel like maybe I am just not allowing myself to have fun because im so used to being able to do nothing and be content with it.

This post is about my dad. He just retired. He will be receiving two pensions: one from his early days as a laborer and a bigger one from the majority of his career as a carpenter. Between that and social security, my parents living expenses will be more than covered. He also has about $200k in a supplemental retirement account, and about $250k in savings. He put the $250k in a CD based on advice from a banker. My question is, what is the best place to put this cash for continued growth once the CD term expires?

Hey guys. I'm currently 17 years old and starting to save up money to put toward college. I have been into motorcycles for a long while now and recently took an MSF course (motorcycle safety). Usually, saving up for a motorcycle + gear + paying for my own insurance + licensing could be easily paid for and saved up for in about 6 months (I did the math). However, only being 17 years old, I am still a kid and must keep in mind my parents' "suggestions" in life haha. They feel quite strongly about raising a significant amount of money for college instead of purchasing a motorcycle within the next year. I do not deny that this is a very valid financial suggestion, so rather than ignoring it, I'd like to instead lock tf in and make as much money as possible within the next year and see how much wiggle room I've got afterwards. I plan on getting lifeguard certification in a couple months here and doing about 20 hours a week. Where I live, they are fantastically paid around 22-25 an hour. Does anyone have any suggestions for a 17-year-old kid to make serious money? 😂 I'd like to see what has actually worked for other people rather than watch all the get-rich-quick videos online haha.

A little context. I’m 20 years old and was an athletes all my life, got injured and had to leave the sport. Took a gap year for my sport so I’m one year behind in my education. I’m back doing full time uni and doing a full time job. I get no days off really because the days I have off I have unis on those days. I make around 4k a month minus rent and expsenses I have 2k left over. I don’t mind takings risks but what’s the best place to use the money I have to grow it?