So I want to preface this post by saying that I know how fortunate I am and that this is not meant to be a flex.

That being said, I recently changed jobs and my income more than doubled to over 600k/year. I’m curious to know what others would do once all their bases were covered.

• 6 month emergency fund - check

• Maxed out pre-tax 401k - check

• Mega backdoor Roth - check

• Maxed out HSA - check

• I Bonds - check

• Funding Kid’s 529 - check

So where would you put your money next?

For context, I’m married with a small child. I live in a HCOL area and my mortgage is 4k/month with 730k left, but the interest rate is 2.75% and I have no intention of paying that off extra early.

I also have two mortgages on two condos at rates of 2.5% and 2.875% with loans totaling roughly 500k. Both of those are rented out and cash flowing decently, so like my primary, I have no intention of paying them off extra early. If anything, I’m thinking of flipping them for larger rental properties since there's roughly 600k total in equity on them. But the existing cheap loans have me questioning that decision.

Outside of that, I have no other debt and my monthly expenses are about 2.5k.

Where would you put your money if you were in my shoes? VTSAX and chill? More real estate? Alternative assets? Private equity? Exotic frog statues? 

Again, no intention of flexing here. Genuinely interested in seeing where others would put their money if all their bases were covered. 

Exactly what the title says. No rich parents or trust funds. The only bills I pay are regarding my car (insurance, gas, etc). I live with my dad who allows me to stack and encourages me for as long as I need. I have recently opened up a HYSA with Sofi for the 4.0 % and plan to open a Roth IRA and max it out immediately. Is there anything else that I should be doing or that you recommend? I am on the road to a million and would love some insight on how some have done it.

Edit: I am not knowledgeable with stocks or most financial terms, so please explain!

So title is pretty simple, I just started a job that pays more than I’ve made up to this point. Car is a paid off 2005 Camry, I want to upgrade this as it drives but with a blown gasket it’s not a forever car. Rent is $850 for however long I want to live at this place, and insurance is $200. Got 25k in loans and I put 11% into retirement, my job matches 100% of up to 3% contribution, then 50% of up to 6% contribution.

Don’t have any real advice to go on and I probably have too much contribution into my Roth.

Don’t have any savings or inheritance and I don’t have a degree. I want to finish my degree and get an mba. Public university and private mba is the goal.

Credit is meh, 640 but very little credit history too, everything up to this point has been cash, I have a credit card thru chase so that’s good.

My husband and I are a couple years away from retirement. We had kids later in life and had three in college at the same time and it almost wiped us out. The plan is to go at 65 but perhaps wait until 67 providing our health holds out. I have a pension that will run about $4000/mo. Each of us will have about $2,700/mo in SS. We have $300K in a 401k and 100,000 in a 457 account. Small mortgage on the house. I have zero credit card debt, husband has about $10k. My husband also admitted that he stopped paying on our life insurance years ago so none of that. Is it worth it for us to try and meet with a financial planner to see if there is any way for us to maximize the time we have left while working? I fear we will be living out of a cardboard box. lol. Any suggestions from you smart people? Thanks for listening.

Hey All,

I will be receiving a year-end bonus of $100k and would like to know how much to comfortably save/spend on myself. I live in a state with no state taxes, so to be conservative I assume I will be taxed 40% and receive $60k net.

As some background info: I am currently a single 28 year old male, salary is $110k, with no student loans and a bachelors and masters degree so I have no plans on going back to school. I purchased a condo around 2 years ago, so my only debt is my mortgage which is at 3.5% (I do not plan on making any additional payments on the mortgage due to the current rate environment… i do not have PMI either). My car is fully paid off with ~91k miles and is 10 years old…

I plan to finish maxing out my 401k for calendar year 2023 (roughly $11k) and my individual 401k for 2024 ($6k and my 2023 is already maxed). I plan on increasing my emergency fund from $16k up to around $25k so that’s an additional $9k savings.

Also, i currently have a roommate who splits half my bills so my monthly rent expense is around $1600, $3200 if he were to move out, however I think he will be staying with me for at least an additional 6 months.

I think $5 - 10k for personal spending would be appropriate, however i do think maybe getting a new car would be in the picture, I just do not know if that’s financially okay.

Thanks in advance for all of the tips/advice… happy holidays to all that it applies to!

Hi guys.

I am 26 and migrated to the US with my first job (as graduating college took a lot of time due to family reasons). Where I grew up, the medium salary has not changed for about 15 to 20 years and right out of college you can expect to save about 500 (minimum) to 1k (rare, only if you live with parents).

So naturally being able to save 1.5k to 2k a month is huge for me, but given my age I would say its a slow start. On the other hand I see my relatives and friends who are already living here getting paid like 100k+ a year say that 2k saving at my age in the US is decent or below average and I need to switch jobs for more.

For context I have student debt of 10k (paying 100 a month, for another 9 years), I only send money to family on special occassions (birthdays, etc.) and don't have a car, live in a shared community. I don't have much friends so little to no social spendings, I play games on weekends and eat out once to thrice a week.

If I were to live alone and get a car, then my savings would be below 1k. Not really ideal but my company has helped me reduce my spendings by a lot (pays half my rent, and I have access to company car with no gas fees).

So basically without the benefits, I would have not being able to save 2k but still I get told this isn't much and I should aim for more quickly.

What are your thoughts?

Theyre expenses are less then 1500 a month, they are worried about buying stocks and losing their initial capital, this way theres a 0% chance they lose their money, and its guaranteed income.

How dumb/smart is this?

I (28m) have 103.5k in a hysa. This is emergency fund and down payment for house (lcol) in near future. 29k in 401k. 2.9k in Roth IRA 3.6k in individual brokerage accounts

Total net worth is about 140k

Is this a good financial position for a 28 year old? I just don’t really have any idea where a 28 year should be at and if I am in a good spot or not.

TL;DR I've got savings and 401k, financial planner says to roll over 401k, but the rates of return are ~25% and they are safe investments, should I do it?

I'm 37 and have been saving for a down payment for a house for years, life situation has changed and I've given up on buying my own home, meaning I now have a large nest egg.

I've also been paying into my 401ks since I started working as a teen, which has now also gotten to the safe, recommended amount for my age.

Instead of my money sitting in a bank account I decided to go to a financial planner so they can handle my investments.

They told me I need to roll over my 401k before we start, but since I worked in a field that invests well (big pharma) my 401k investments are healthy and pretty safe so I'm unsure if pulling it out is a good idea if it's okay where it's at.

I'm still a little iffy on the company I'm meeting with, I'll have to look into their fees and such before I commit my life savings, while the stocks I've bought myself are also generally seen as safe, I like the idea of not having to check and figure out next steps if they drop, so a fin planner feels like a good move, less stress.

What does the reddit collective think?

Getting this out of the way first, there is not a "keep seperate accounts incase of divorce" answer. I think that mentality is ridiculous. With that said...

We just were married and have our own Brokerage accounts and Roth IRA. We have combined everything (banks, credit cards, etc.) except these. It isn't as easy as calling and wanting to add my partner. Vangaurd and her group want to close my accounts and create a joint account. Which is ehat we wanted, until they scared us.

With the brokerage account, they said there was a way to move it without tax penalty. With the IRA's, they told me to consult my tax agent... ugh, which why would I have one of those currently in my situation.

Anyways, now we are contemplating just making each other beneficiaries. Me to her IRA/Brokerage and her to my IRA/Brokerage. Then we share passwords for each login.

Anyone who is married have any thoughts on the situation?

I currently only have a 401k with 60k in it. I started it 2 and a half years ago and will be opening up a Roth IRA that I will be maxing out every year soon. If I where to get married how do I go about protecting my retirement accounts and not be forced to split what was accumulated after the marriage date. I’m am not willing to risk losing part of my retirement if a divorce where to happen. I don’t care what else the state (Indiana) hits me with. Is there even a way to go about this?

So I’m at a dead end job. I’ve basically have a useless business administration degree. I’ve been at the save job for the past 7 years. My job kinda trapped me by giving me a comfortable salary but doesn’t offer room for growth.

On top of that I only make 90k off overtime. I’m based at 60k so that just gives you an idea on how much I work.

I feel soo lost, like I’m 10 years behind my peers. I’ve tried applying to other jobs but I don’t really have any tangible assets.

I’d assume I have to change careers but I’d have to take out a loan for schooling after just finishing paying off college.

How can I live a better happier life ?

I (25F) recently bought my first car and dropped 50k as a down payment for a brand new Lexus. (a really dumb decision, I know.) I feel super regretful because I let myself succumb to the pressure from my mom and friends to finally buy a car since I landed a higher paying job. I hope to have a family and buy a house one day but I cannot help but feel like I put myself in a poor financial position where I will probably never achieve that. Am I still doing okay financially? I live in CA (another sad realization, lol.)

• 32k invested into Roth IRA

• 30k invested into 401K 

• 62k in high yield savings account

• 24k in CD account

• 30k in debt (car loan)

• 110k salary

• Rent 1,200, Phone 100, Groceries 200

I've working for non-profits for several years protest modest incomes ($80K-$110K). I've switched jobs multiple times and have a ton of retirement accounts just floating. I just got a new job about a year ago and I need to start planning for retirement. Candidly, I got too caught up in doing non-profit work and didn't pay enough attention to wealth building. I feel a bit foolish.

Questions:
(1) Do I have enough retirement assets that would allow my to contact an financial advisor? I don't know if this is enough. I kind'a thought FPs only work for really rich people.

(2) I'm in my early 50s and single. I recently heard that I need $2M-$3M in retirement savings to retire comfortably. Is this true? I have about $541K (see below) and do not own any property.

• IRA/ARP--$2,342.19

• 401K-A(current new job)--$22,656.86

• 401K-B--$262,688

• 401K-C--$160,559

• Mutual Fund/IRA--$92,567

(3) Is there a way to get this $541K to $2M over the next 15 years?

(4) Is there a way to increase my net worth without having to buy a house? I don't want to buy a house. I love renting and would rather just stay renting. Is there a way around building retirement wealth without owning a home? I got burned badly in the 2008 crash.

(5) Am I totally screwed. I feel stuck. I'm looking at all these numbers and don't know what to do.

I'm open to any suggestions!

23 M, just quit my job, $45k savings, but just found out she’s pregnant.

Hello,

I just put in my 2 weeks in after I had my first $50k profit month in my new business.

Girlfriend calls me today and tells me she might be pregnant.

I just want some tips/pointers on what I should do given this situation. ——————————————————————————————

Debt:

$12k personal loan (22% interest) $35,000 student loan (2%) $3k credit card debt (20%)

My current expenses are

Rent: $1696 ( after everything) Car: 574 Insurance:584 Full self driving: 200 Food: 300 Gas: 150 Personal loan: 475 Student loan: 275 Hair cut: 80 Gym: 20 Medication/therapy: $50-100

($4-5k) total a month

——————————————————————————————

Savings: $45,000 in a high yield account (4% interest)

——————————————————————————————

Credit lines:

$11k credit available

-$3k in debt

—————————————————————————————— Explanation/plan:

My income is dependent on how my business performs… In short I manage trading capital at a couple of institutions.

Over the past 3 months I’ve averaged $20-50k a month.

It’s relativity new, and cost to run the business is very low, but it’s high risk.

Figured that’s why I should build an emergency fund (1 year of savings) before I embark on the journey of quitting my job and going full time.

I’ve also realized any month I’m not performing up to par, I can doordash/Uber eats to offset the $4k cost. —————————————————————————————— FYI

“How did you make $110k in 3 months but only have $45k savings” -

Most of my money went to paying down my debts/expenses…

Oh yeah and a new car- I know it wasn’t smart but makes me happy

Also to note:

The job I left was paying me $2600/ mo.

In short I want a good idea of my financial situation, and how to balance it considering girlfriend w/ no income (school/pregnant) and that I just quit my job.

Just really stressing right now and have a meeting w/ a financial advisor and accountant later in the week

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Update:

You downvoters hate honesty. It does the opposite of the intention of this post, which is to have a discourse to get on the right path. That’s all I’m doing. Trying to see what’s the best thing to do for my new family.

Some people are literally downvoting me even when I say I agree with the prior commenter, but then give my initial rationale behind my decision.

I’m 23 now and have made so many mistakes, I’m not perfect, and am self aware enough to see I have a lot to prepare myself for… hence why I made this post in the first place.

Just trying to make sure I’m sane here. I’m in North Carolina for state tax details. No debt.

Today, I spoke with a recruiter from Primerica and I was initially sold on the company, I made an account with the recruiter and everything (but I haven't paid the $124, yet). Then I did some research and it gave me some second thoughts. I decided to give the recruiter a call expressing my concerns and then he and, whom I assume to be a senior member or something spent 10 minutes trying to convince me to stay, saying stuff like I'll make a ton of money in 10 years otherwise I'll be at the same place I am, now because I wasn't saving my money. The experience was immensely frustrating. I'm currently in a Zoom seminar and sizing them up, so I can verify their legitimacy for myself. I'm already hearing some suspicious stuff and kicking myself for initially buying into their schtick.

I made this post to feel out opinions on this company. (Also to vent my frustrations with myself). Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

My friend and I wanted to go to the gym together today to hit abs, but when we went to check in, and she held the QR Code to the scanner to do so, the clerk told her that she couldn't work out that day until she paid an overdue balance. My friend inquired how much the overdue balance was, and the clerk told her that the balance was $194 dollars. Yes, that's right. My friend ended up $200 in debt to Planet Fitness.

Not only that, but I learned today that her credit score is harmed as well as a result of this, even though we're both teenagers and she doesn't have a credit card yet. I didn't know your credit score could be harmed if you didn't even have a credit card yet. But apparently, all you need to have a credit score is a bank account. And now her credit score is damaged before she even got her first credit card.

What's crazy to me is the fact that, once you have an overdue balance to any extent, even if it's only by one payment, you can no longer use the services you acquired the subscription to use. Yet, if you continue to not pay the overdue balance, the company will continue charging you more and more debt, even though you're already unable to use the service due to having an overdue balance at all. It seems almost predatory. Over time, a person could hypothetically end up being thousands of dollars in debt to some company without even realizing. It's crazy to think about.

Hi everyone,

After many years of school/training, I am finally starting my first “real” job.

Background:

• I am a 35yo single M living in a HCOL city in California. I will be making about $600k+ a year (medicine) which, after taxes and maxing out retirement, comes out to around $25k/take home a month.

• I could probably add another $100k+ a year if I take extra call

• Rent is $3k/month

• Credit cards are paid off every month and run about $7k/month

• No car payment (driving a 10+ year old car that should last another couple years)

• Have around $150k in cash sitting in a high yield savings account (5% interest)

• $400k in student loans, all currently federal with high interest rate (6.5% average)

I’m not sure what I should do with my savings and disposable income. Should I consolidate with a private lender once the student loan pause ends in a month? Should I pay off my student loans aggressively now? Invest? Buying a house isn’t huge on my goal list and no plans for kids in the immediate future.

Thank you!

Edit: Thanks for all the replies so far everyone. Seems like the consensus is to aggressively pay down my loans. Wondering if this would be true even if I were to consolidate into a lower interest with a private lender? Looking around 4-4.5% right now.

To answer everyone’s question about what I spend $7k/month on - this is just an average of what is usually somewhere between $5-10k a month.

• Majority of it goes to food (I don’t cook, it takes too much time and I am usually exhausted after work so I have every meal I don’t have at work delivered)

• Traveling is a big expense. I get 8-12 weeks off (unpaid) a year so I have a trip planned probably once a month. It costs a lot but it makes me happy and I didn’t get to do a lot in med school or residency

• Dating. Very expensive lol

I (26, F) have no kids, no debt (I may have student loans soon, but a small amount), renting a cheap apartment, and I make 60k annually. After speaking to a financial advisor (Liberty Mutual), he suggested that I invest less into my 401k Roth, and traditional Roth IRA (currently investing 7% of my income) and instead invest 5% into Whole Life Insurance and 5% into my 401k Roth.

The total monthly for my 5% Whole Life Insurance policy was about $260 monthly premium for $500,000 coverage. Is this a smart idea, or should I instead just up my Roth investments to 10% and purchase TERM life insurance and disability insurance (both together would cost me about $65 a month)?

Question is basically the title.

We have no debt, other than our current mortgage. Two newer cars. One of us makes $120k a year, the other $70k, all before bonuses.

After deductions, our monthly income is $9500.

The $120k person has only been in their job for less than 6 months at this point, but feels stable and secure; but definitely is the bulk of the income.

We have our heart set on new construction house that would be about $625 all said and done. At this price, with a downpayment of $140k, the mortgage (with taxes, insurance, etc) is estimated to be $4400 a month.

Our monthly spending is about $3300-$3500, but this number doesn’t include utilities for our current home.

I mean, we would expect it to be a little tight, at least for a few years until my husband is able to get promoted at work (currently self-limited because his hours work for our childcare schedule) which would obviously open things up a bit more, but we’re also looking at having a third baby potentially in the next 2 years which would prolong that by 3-5 more years after the birth of the baby.

So, do we think this would be disastrous, or could this cautiously be doable?

Thoughts?

hello, I am close to graduating I have little to no debt My expected year salary would be 80k to 100k yearly, how realistic is to save up 150k in 2 to 3 years? I’m young and I have been checking ways to invest like stocks but I am wondering if there are more secure ways to do it.

Seems like the market is ready to tumble anytime.

I'm not going to stop maxing out my employer 401k match and will put in my $500 a month for the Roth IRA, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the savings these days. Previously I just put any additional savings in VOO and called it a day.