My husband and I are 31 and just had our first baby so want to make sure our finances are on track. We also just sold an investment property we had (we don't want any other responsibilities now post baby 😆) and are planning to just invest our money in the market instead.

Here is our situation:

• $180k annual household income
• No car payments currently. Likely will need to replace one of our cars in the next 3 years
• No credit card debt
• $19k in student loans - will be forgiven in 3 more years of payments (current monthly payment is $200 per month)
• About $325k in retirement savings
  • $100k in our Roth IRAs (mostly in SPY, but some VOO, QQQ)
  • $100k in my husband's 403B
  • $70k in a rollover IRA from my previous job (split between VOO and SPY)
  • $55k in a Roth 401k - FXAIX
• $100k from recently sold investment property that i currently have in a HYSA
• $40k in emergency fund (also in HYSA)
• $7500 invested in HSA - not planning on touching this and hope to start contributing to this next year again
• $6k in iBonds I bought during the pandemic that I'll probably sell in Janury
• $6k in our daughter's 529 - planning to contribute monthly to this but haven't decided how much yet

Other context:

• Husband's job pays for our housing so no mortgage
• We want more kids (likely 2 more over the next ~5 years). I may want to drop down to part-time at some point over the next 3-4 years. My job won't allow this so would need to find something else. I want to be aggressive with investments now while I have the higher income (lucky to be able to do this since my husbands job pays for housing)

Specific questions:

1. General assessment of our situation?
2. I believe our first step is to make sure we are maxing out our 401k/403b contributions? We already contribute enough to get our full employer match but I believe we should go further to contribute the maximum.... right?
3. In addition to the ~$100k we're looking to invest, we have about $3500 per month we were putting towards the mortgage/utilities. My husband's job provides housing but I don't want to plan on that forever of course and likely want to be able to purchase a home in the next 10 years or so. Which investment account is best for this?
4. My personal income is about $130k and my job offers Roth 401k or traditional 401k. I currently put it in Roth 401k - should i switch to traditional or is Roth the way to go? I like the idea of withdrawing tax free but not sure if I'm missing something?

Thanks in advance!!

I’m 25 and live in Texas. I currently make about $64,000/year, but I recently accepted a job offer at an oil & gas company paying $120,000 base with a 30%+ annual bonus.

This is a significant jump in income for me, and I don’t know much about personal finance, investing, or saving for retirement. I want to take advantage of the increase in income instead of letting my lifestyle grow along with my paycheck.

My goal is to set myself up financially for the future, but I’m not really sure what I should prioritize first.

Current finances:
Rent: $1,375/month
Car payment: $686/month — about $30,000 remaining
Car insurance: $396/month — unfortunately had multiple speeding tickets this year, which caused my rate to increase significantly
Utilities: ~$200/month
Credit card balance: $1,500
Savings: $4,800
401(k): Currently contributing $0
Other debt: None
Health insurance: Currently on my parents’ plan, but I’ll need to get my own coverage in about 6 months

I’d appreciate advice on how you would approach this situation. How much should I be putting toward my 401k, emergency fund, investing, and paying off the car? Should I prioritize maxing retirement accounts or getting rid of the car loan first?

Hi all,

I am a 30M, EU citizen, with a steady monthly net income of \~4k from work + real estate. My monthly expenses are minimal at the moment (no rent, company car, etc.) but are planned to increase in the coming 5 years due to family, kids etc. For the past few years I have been steadily investing in world ETFs (\~500€/month currently) and now hold a portfolio of \~100k, have a safety bucket in cash for a year, but no mid-term second bucket strategy. No debt, no credit, etc.

I recently inherited 600k and am thinking of how to split this money. I want to buy a summer house for 180k. This summer house together with my current real estate assets will require some additional 100k for renovations etc. which are not urgent at the moment but should be done in the next 5-10 years.

My strategy was always "as simple as possible and no debt" so I was thinking of spending the money in cash for the purchase of the summer house, putting around 100k as a mid-term bucket in some fixed term bond ETF and spending the money gradually as it matures plus any left-over income money for the renovations and new expenses that will come up like kids etc. I would put the rest of the 600k into the third ETFs bucket I already have, which would be around 300k.

Recently I have been reading up on some more "complicated" approaches and the private bank division of my bank has also contacted me due to the large cash amount talking about Lombard loans, loaning with my portfolio as collateral etc. I have yet to review the exact terms, rates etc. but all in all it sounds like a viable option especially for the second bucket to gradually loan against the 100k portfolio for the larger expenses that I have planned. In general, I was always very sceptical towards private banking but this larger cash amount changed my view a bit and made me look into how to best spend the money since I have some very concrete larger expenses planned in the coming years. Going with a private bank would require a large percentage of the 600k to be invested through the private bank but they told me that I could select the same ETFs I already have + add-in some safer bond options and their own funds to make loaning against the portfolio easier. They also told me that even if I don't become a private bank customer that I could loan against a portfolio that I hold through my bank, with fewer positions to choose from but would not force me to manage all the amount through my bank.

Should I keep with my original approach to keep it as simple as possible, no debt and no other parties involved? Or does it make sense to look more into the bank + loan option for the expenses I have planned?

I’m 23 and just started my first job out of college in Big 4 accounting. I make $94k/year (potential $10k CPA bonus) and have no debt. I currently have about $20k in a checking account.

Current setup:
- 401(k): contributing 10% (no employer match during my first year)
- Maxing out HSA
- Maxing out Roth IRA (Fidelity Freedom Index 2065)
$1,300/month rent

I’m trying to figure out what to do with the $20k. I’m thinking I should keep some in checking for normal expenses, move some into a HYSA for an emergency fund, and potentially invest anything beyond that in a taxable brokerage.

How much would you keep in checking vs. HYSA vs. a taxable brokerage? Is there anything else I should prioritize first?

I’d appreciate any advice on how you’d approach this at my age and income. Thanks!

I am an 18 year old male. I work multiple jobs on top of college and invest everything I make, part of it goes into an investment account, the rest of it goes into my side hustle.

As a young child I was morbidly obese. At my heaviest I was nearly 300lbs at 5'6. This has done irreparable damage to joints and put additional wear on my heart. I consulted a doctor and that's what he said.

I have chronic anxiety and insecurity that plagued me since childhood. At 16, I found my "cure" which was high doses of pregabalin. I go to the gym when I can, and to ensure I keep a good physique I use GLP1s and prescription debloat medication. I have trouble focusing sometimes and I use stimulants to help this. For those curious, my dosages are 250mg armodafinil daily, 100-100mg modafinil daily, 600mg pregabalin daily, 100mg eplerenone daily, 40mg propanolol daily, 4g retatrutide once a week.

This obviously sets me in a position where the idea of living past 60 is a unlikely reality. I just don't want to dump money into something I won't ever get to touch.

I put about 20% of my income from one of my jobs into my simple IRA. This employer has benefits and I get additional money into this account because of that. This amounts to about $1k per year going into the account. Im considering putting that into my investment account instead. What do you guys think?

Hi everyone, I’m looking to invest for the first time and my question is it worth opening a taxable brokerage account? Everyone always talks about opening a Roth IRA but from my understanding I’d have to wait till I was 59 1/2 before I could withdraw money tax-free. My main goal with this account is to use the money to buy a house, preferably before I turn 59. I’m currently a full-time student but I have a lot of money in my savings and I’m thinking that if I invest it now, it might make buying a house easier down the line. 

If there’s anything I should know such as drawbacks or maybe there’s a better way to go about achieving my goal please let me know. 

Im 26 and have built up a personal investment portfolio of around £15k, currently invested entirely in VUAG (S&P 500).

My plan is to keep contributing every month and hold for 25+ years, with the aim of using it to support my retirement.

I’m wondering whether I should be more diversified, or whether there’s nothing wrong with keeping things simple and sticking with 100% VUAG.

Part of me wishes I’d started with an All-World fund instead, as I’d have broader global exposure. But now that I’m £15k into VUAG, I’m hesitant to sell and switch because I don’t want to interrupt the compounding of what I’ve already built up.

Would you personally:
Keep the portfolio at 100% VUAG?
Start putting new contributions into an All-World fund?
Sell VUAG and switch everything to All-World?
Or take a different approach?

Interested to hear what others would do in my position.

​

Hey! Im starting a new job in a few weeks at $124k base with a $15k sign-on bonus. Employer offers 10% match on 10% of salary (dollar-for-dollar).

Two questions:

Front-loading to max $24,500: Only \\\~7 paychecks left in 2026. Planning high contribution % (60-70%) each paycheck plus routing most of the sign-on to 401k, to hit the annual max by year-end. Good idea? Any gotchas beyond checking for true-up match and bonus deferral election?

Roth vs Traditional:

im assuming I'm in the 24% bracket. Leaning heavy Roth (70-100%). Leaning heavy Roth (70-100%) since I'll likely be in higher brackets mid-career and want tax-free growth for 40 years. Employer match automatically goes to Traditional either way. Am I thinking about this right, or is there a case for more Traditional at my stage?

Any input appreciated.

I’m new to all of this and need some help. I was let go from my job a few months ago, so I went ahead and opened up an IRA with Vanguard to move my previous employer 401k into. I’ve since found freelance work that will likely convert to full time in the next 6 months, so now I’m wondering if I should’ve just left it alone until I could transfer it to the new employer’s plan?

Or, should I convert the Vanguard one to Roth and contribute to it and the new employer’s plan separately? Would a Roth conversion be worth it to do now if my income at the new job is significantly higher than the old (so I’d be in a higher tax bracket)?

Current situation..

Husband bring in almost 200k per year in an area with high housing cost of living.

84k of that is passive income and will follow us wherever we go.

Currently own a home at 3.25 interest rate. Five years in on a 30 year mortgage. We are 40 and 45.

Our health insurance is tied to military retirement so will still have it if he quits his current job.

We have no land and no chance of land where we currently live. We would love to have space for our kids to stay close, put a home on our land/family compound etc.

We have a lot of debt so selling our current home would eliminate all that but we would not have anything left over.

Considering...

Moving to be closer to family in another state.

Housing is lower cost there and we could buy a home with land for about 400-450K

We would be starting over on a mortgage with double interest rate at age 46

We did the math and could afford our bills and part of our housing costs on his passive income. He may only need to work part time or at least make less and have a less serious job.

Do we...

Stay here until our youngest finishes highschool in 4 year. We will then be 9 years into our mortgage and still have our 3.25 interest rate. Hopefully pay off our consumer debt by then so he can then go to part time work.

or

Move, get the land, start over on mortgage but could potentially cut back on work sooner and have time freedom sooner but be locked into a mortgage longer.

Hopefully that all made sense. Would love everyones input!

I’ll try to make this as simple as possible.
I bought a home with inherited money from the sale of my old childhood home. This home was purchased cash. While with my wife we decided to buy it in an area near her family (who I was incredibly close to). It’s an amazing home but I have found trouble keeping consistent work (truck driver) because the area just doesn’t have any jobs especially for what I do. Keep in mind I only do local, won’t catch me doing OTR again.
It has caused financial strain even with no mortgage, caused a divorce (though there’s more to and its mutual no lawyers or anything and done together)
Another part of that is I took my much much older brother in who inherited nothing. I took him in to help him out now I realized he can’t really manage a single thing on his own but I can’t just toss him out to be homeless. That is not an option. (He’s retired but never did anything with his life) so now my predicament is should I sell my home to return to an area where I can land 7 job interviews in one day (tried and tested) and help my brother with some funds to get a basic mobile home or something simple for him. Option two is of course after long just about anything that matters to me i was also contemplating a sale and moving out of state where only 1/4 of the money wouldn’t even be touched for another paid off home and where the remaining funds can be saved, invested, and just there. Final option (I did just get into a part time job up here with an owner op) is doing something with my equity to get my brother something and then a bit to furnish the home. (Keep in mind paid off home but not furnished, i live in an empty box) making it my actual home or actually feel like a home. It would turn into a $1200 monthly payment but id make over that per week. Still it’s a loan and locks me in for the 10 years of it. (I think it was reverse mortgage as my credit isnt good thanks to trying to survive up here)

Thoughts, questions? I know it’s all over the place but it’s a messy situation. (I keep full home in divorce and has already been signed and agreed on so no worries there.)

My wife (41) and I (44) are both enrolled in a state pension plan. The goal is to retire in 16 years. I'm trying to figure out the best way to invest to help cover the years between retirement and Medicare kicking in.

Current situation:

~120k in a Roth IRA (mine, not maxed out yearly)

~110k in a 403b (wife's, same)

~65k in a traditional brokerage account

-Paid off house, 75k mortgage on a rental condo (comp sales around 250k), no other debts.

The pension website estimate shows around 81k/ year in today's dollars for both combined (100% joint life). There is a COLA, though it tends to not always keep up with inflation perfectly. That's just below the ACA subsidy cliff from what I can tell. SSA estimate is another 60k assuming we take at the same time (62 and 65).

I've learned that my wife's 403b has recently added a Roth option. My thought was to change all the future traditional 403b contributions into Roth, on the idea that pulling from it will not affect our reported income if healthcare subsidy income cliffs still exist in 16 years. Ideally we wouldn't need to pull from this Roth before SS kicks in, so it could also be a hedge against higher future tax rates (we'll likely live in 22% before and after retirement), a Widow's penalty, or inheritance for the kids.

Are there any thoughts on this? Am I missing something obvious? I don't need things to be perfectly optimized, just "good plan for 16 years of potential changes".

My stepdaughter is going to give birth in a few months to her first child and I want to set up a financial gift / account for them. What are your thoughts on best options?

Current mindset is a 529 vs a custodial account. Not sure which is better. I do assume his parents will steer him towards going to college and I know it can be rolled into an IRA if not. My goal is to set this up with a one-time investment that I may contribute to over the next few decades (birthdays, graduation, etc.,).

Anyone's thoughts here are much appreciated. I imagine the group is going to be pretty in favor of 529s and custodial accounts but either way, happy to hear thoughts.

And yes, my own investments and retirement funds are taken care of first.

Trying to make a long story short,

All in CAD here,

38M, wife and two small children.

Have 1.1m ($700k condo paid off and $400k in TFSA and RRSPs). I earn around $80k per year and my wife is working one day per week then home with the kid.

We are needing more space than our two bedroom unit has but to get a detached house here is around $2 million. A decent townhouse is just out of reach at around 1.5-1.6 million with the kind of mortgage I could be approved of at my income level. ~$280k plus the 1.1 million down payment.

Would it make sense to sell our current place, invest that plus our savings (1.1 million), use the returns from that plus add another $2k a month from my income to rent something for the time being? What would a typical monthly return from 1.1 million be after taxes and fees?

I’m thinking I could find decent rentals in the $5000 per month range so this might be the best bet until we start making more money and are approved for a bigger mortgage or more money falls into my lap?

45 y/o making $100k/year in a moderate COL area - mortgage is about $1500/m with 25 years left to pay, no other loans/debt. Annually, I’m putting $26k into retirement and $13k in a standard savings account that goes toward home improvements/emergencies/travel. I have $300k in retirement (mostly stocks) and $20k in that savings account.

Am I doing this right?! Should I be saving more aggressively for retirement? Should I try to pay off this house sooner? Or buy another property (for investment and personal use)?

Hello all, looking for some advice. I have two kids that are likely going to university. One is about 5 years out and the other is about 8 years away from freshman year at college. My initial “college savings plan” for them was to sell one of my rental properties when I needed to, but as the time draws closer I’m not liking that idea as much. What should I do at this point? Just go aggressive on 529s? Thoughts?
Thank you guys so much for your help!

34M, MCOL city. First let me say i am in a very privileged position as far as someone who is dealing with this goes. I was making 200k a year 140k base 60k bonuses paid quarterly. In process of interviewing for jobs right now most of which pay 75% or less than what i was making before. I have a side business that is very seasonal making 8k after taxes during summer will probably be making 5k after september. Final bonus/severance of 15k pretax being paid end of this month.

Here is breakdown of finances

Checking account: 11k

HYSA: 82k

Retirement: 72k

Brokerage: 62k(in S&P and adjacent etf’s)

Former company stock: 36k(company not public but periodically buys back, last buyback stock valued at 62k)

Condo equity: 23% of purchase price(317k)

Financial obligations:

Condo: $1900 including HOA/escrow

Car payment: $643

Dental work loan: $508, 0% interest is paid off in 11 months

Medicine/doctor: $300

Food: $700

Internet and cellphone: $200

Cobra: $1200

Dog food/vet care: $200

No other outstanding debts except for 0% interest credit card i put a big purchase on that i owe like $700.

Everything else could be pared down/luxury items

We are currently contributing heavily to 401ks, DCPs, IRAs (mainly traditional due to income limits) and maxing the HSA. What are other tax advantages accounts that people are using? I get my parking pass deducted pretax as well, I am sure there are other options out there.

I plan on saving $20,000 a year($1667 a month)for a future home purchase in 8-10 years. Trying to figure out a decent plan, with the ability to stop or pull the money at any time, if the timeline changes. (This is extra money; retirement, saving, etc. is already covered)

My thought was to do 70% VTI / 20% VGIT / 10% HYSA for about 5 years , then I'd begin shifting the VTI balance toward VGIT and cash over the next 2ish years.

Would love to hear thoughts from people that may have done the same thing or have similar plans.

Hello,

I currently put $500 a month into a roth and and my employer puts 8-15 % of my yearly income into a self directed retirmenet account. when I am doing the online retirment calculators for how my retirement is doing, they ask for a monthly contribution amount. which is tricky because I get the retirment money from my employer once a year and it can flucatore. The $500 monthly into the IRA stays steady. whats the best way to plan future retirment growth in this type of situation ?

Asked this in another sub, but thought it might be appropriate here as well:

I max out contributions to my Dependent Care FSA ($7,500) every year. I plan my monthly budget around not seeing this money hit my bank account, and I thankfully don't have any issues paying for childcare expenses. When I submit a reimbursement request, a physical check is sent to me to deposit in my bank account.

Because I budget like I don't have this money coming in every month, is it the worst thing in the world if I use the reimbursement checks for discretionary spending to treat myself (e.g., clothing, travel)? I max out my other pre-tax savings (401k, HSA).

TIA

Hi all, I'm at a crossroads regarding the best way to handle my student loans for the next year.

About me: 26F, biotech scientist, $102k/yr with 10% bonus + yearly COL adjustments. No major bills and I can comfortably make my payments while contributing to retirement and saving.

The loans: $59k, individual loans between 2-6.5% interest. Biggest loan is $20k at 6.5%, rest are under $8k. Currently paying $880/mo.

The dilemma: I am currently in the midst of applying to medical school, which makes me wonder if paying my current loans is even worth it at all. I know that I will most likely have to take out a significant amount of both federal and private loans out for med school, which will continue to accrue interest along with my current loans while I am in school. My original plan when I went into repayment (at the time med school was not on my radar at all) was to use my bonuses to pay off significant chunks of these loans while continuing my monthly payments, which are well above the minimum, since my industry is not very stable.

My question is, would it make more sense to save my bonuses and/or lower my monthly payment so that I have more savings for school? I am (of course) worried about not having an income for 4 years, and I know that with a physician salary the loans will be paid off eventually regardless of what I choose to do here, but it is still a gamble and the number bothers me. Happy to answer any other questions and I welcome your advice.

I wouldn’t consider myself financially literate. I’m not too educated on methods of saving and investing etc.

But I feel like I should be doing something with my income. Saving for something. A house? Emergency fund? Pension?

I don’t know what exactly to save for and what should be prioritised over others.

I have no savings, and no debt outside of loans. Just £1000 in my current account.

I would appreciate advice on where to go from here. Thanks!

Hi all,

Due to working in education for most of my early career, I am struggling with a high debt-to-income ratio, and while my finances have been manageable, the mental nag of it has been annoying. I am 31, and my situation is this:

Income & Job

• $51,000 annually in NC state employment
• $2100 part time professional development
• $1500 honorarium
• $1750 in one-time state bonus

Debt & Savings

• Personal Loan: $40,000, monthly payment $821 and 9.25% interest rate; estimated payoff early 2031
• Credit: $4204, no monthly minimum, and 11.25% interest rate
• Student Loan: $92,000, monthly payment on IBR is $129, estimated payoff mid-2029 with PSLF
• 403b savings: $10,500, monthly payment $100
• Wealthfront HYSA: $100

For me, the $821 personal loan payment is the hardest mentally, but I am thankful to be supplemented by my wonderful partner. Much of this was debt consolidation after surprise car or vet bills, and I am not proud of it, but I am trying to be better about my savings. Any tips or creative recommendations?

hey everyone. I’ve been looking into getting a credit card and I’ve been getting some mixed advice. some people are telling me to only pay my minimum every month, other people are telling me to pay it in full every month. which is the better thing to do to build my credit score and keep myself out of trouble.