The best advice my dad gave me was to start contributing to my 401k the day I started working. I've done that and at 57 I've got about $900k in my 401k, we have no debt and about $80k in an emergency fund.

Honestly I've not put much thought into a retirement plan until recently, I enjoy working and enjoy my job and expect I'll work another 10 years. Through continued contributions I can see a path to a $2,000,000 401k and maintaining zero debt at 67.

My thought is at 67 move my 401k into funds that allow for a guaranteed 5% growth netting me $100,000 a year, this in addition to SS could be $150,000 per year which would be more than enough income for us, less than we spend now. I would leave the $2,000,000 to my next generation to give them a leg up.

I understand there are some variables but as a basic plan is this too simple?

title says it all.

no rent as I still live with my parents, only "bills" i have is about $120 monthly for insurance, as well as gas and food ($200 each paycheck roughly).

I made a fidelity account but have yet to do anything with it. I have 5.5k so far in my HYSA but nothing in investments.

any recommendations, tips of overall advice?

EDIT: company offers 457b (like CALPERS) for retirement, I have an HDHP with HSA as well. I plan to get married and hopefully buy a house in the next 5 years hopefully.

My wife and I (both 30) have a goal of retiring by 45. We are on track with that plan since we are both high income earners, have very little student debt, are not planning on having kids, and already have a sizeable savings. The wrench in this plan is that my mom (60) has almost no savings. She works in a cash industry and has mostly stopped filing her taxes. Both of my siblings struggle financially so her care as she ages will most likely fall on us. My wife and I have talked about moving her in with us so she can be setting aside her normal rent payment and saving it. What are some strategies for saving for parents as they age?

Hi, I'm 26 and trying to figure the best course of action for my 401k. I currently make around 250k a year and will steadily climb in yearly income. My company contributes 17 percent of my gross annual income and I contribute 10. As of now I have my contributions as a Roth however I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should change my contributions to a traditional Roth. I cannot change the company contributions. What would yall advise?

I work for a company that gives 3% of our salaries into 401k whether I contribute to 401k or not. I am in my late 30’s and I have been maxing out for most last 5 yrs. The investments in 401k are not cheap. The cheapest and only option we have is Fidelity Total stock market fund. The rest are target funds which i have no interest in it. Does it make sense to just put that savings into brokerage account and use ETF like SCHG and save there instead of contributing to 401k? I understand the tax benefits of 401k but thinking getting better returns and better options to invest might offset the tax benefits.

I have a regular checking and savings with my main bank, a separate low yield savings with a credit union, and then a brokerage account with Fidelity that I am currently using mainly in place of a HYSA, because I didn’t realize Fidelity didn’t offer HYSA when I opened the account (oops). I also use it to invest a little bit but I’m working on that.

I’m curious if I should also open a separate HYSA, or if that’s too many accounts?

Edit: oh, and my 401k/roth IRA are in a separate account as well.

Since the new year is coming up, I have started planning for the next year and I feel like my budgeting strategy might need some changes since my finances are already at a different place now compared to the start of this year.

In 2024, after my necessary expenses I had $3800 leftover for the month. For the entirety of 2024 I have been putting 2k into the market, 1.5k into a hysa, and $300 into a fun spend account. In 2025 I’ll be getting a raise so I should have $4300 leftover. I plan on increasing my fun spend to $500, but not to sure how to allocate the rest.

I currently have 25k sitting in a HYSA and I’m unsure if I should continue adding to it or increase how much I put into the market.

For context I’m only 22, don’t see myself needing a new car in the next 5 years and don’t see myself buying a house until I’m married or like until I’m 30. I have not debt, and already maxing out my Roth IRA, and 401k.

So yeah essentially I don’t know where I should be putting my money.

I am 21 and have never been taught the best ways to invest and use my money. I have been working full time for the last three years and make around $44,000 a year. I currently have 50,000 saved up but I have no clue what to do with it. I have no current debts to pay off and the only thing I plan to buy in the near future is a car. Any suggestions?

If a woman in her late 20s wants to learn about how to invest, best financial practices, retirement, and how to build wealth AND generational wealth, where could she start?

I'm not proud of the fact that I don't know too much about these topics and am determined to learn more. I made a promise to myself to do better for myself and my future kids.

I've also done well with keeping myself out of debt and making good financial decisions but not much goes towards saving, etc. I was never taught about these things and I really despise not being educated in terms of wealth, investing, and saving so l'd love any advice!

Any books, podcasts with specific episodes, YouTube videos, courses, etc that you can recommend? Digestible education is preferred as I get started. Thanks!

For some background I’m a 21 yo college student and I have a co-op/internship from Jan-June.

I’ll be making 30/hr along with $1500 per month for housing and a 4200 signing bonus (pre tax).

I’ll be paying 2000/month for rent but only about 200-300 out of pocket because of stipend and bonus. I have about 5k in savings and total 8k invested (4 in brokerage account and 4 in Roth).

What should I do with the money I’m making after living expenses? Thanks in advance

I'm a public sector (gov) employee in a fairly stable career/role. For the last year or two, I've maxed out my contributions to my 457B deferred compensation plan; my employer doesn't offer any match, so it's purely for the tax advantages. As I max this out, it's definitely causing a decrease in my other investments.

My 457B is locked into several investments managed by our retirement org; on balance, the portfolio's percentage growth has been roughly half that of my post-tax personal investments (mostly US ETFs). Roughly, 15% annual growth of the 457b vs 30% other investments.

Setting aside the uncertainty of the future and what that means for markets, assuming the returns stay roughly proportional: are the tax advantages of a 457B sufficient to justify contributing so heavily to an underperforming portfolio?

I have received a significant amount of money. Not life changing necessarily but I now have about $75k in the bank and an additional $25-50k should be arriving in the next 6 months. I don't know how to make the most of this.

For context I'm easily able to afford my bills. I'm debt free. I have great credit.

I plan on contributing to my Roth IRA yearly, saving a little for a rainy day/ fun money but the majority I just don't know what to do with. I'm hesitant to shove it all in a brokerage. My ex husband and I are already contributing to the kids educational funds. I'm just kinda sitting on tens of thousands of dollars and don't know how to make the most of this.

I'd love some advice.

I am 40 and not the most financially savvy person. I'm conservative in my spending, but don't really understand the landscape of using money to make money.

I currently have about $100k in savings, above what I need for an emergency fund.

It's enough to cover the remainder of my mortgage, but the interest rate on the loan is 2.25%, so I think I'm better off earning interest on or investing the money.

Until now I've had it in a CD earning 5%, but that just matured and the rates have dropped significantly.

I'm already maxing out my 401k and Roth IRA.

My thought is the best option is a taxable brokerage account and stick it all in index funds for several years. But I'm looking for additional opinions/confirmation/options. Are there pitfalls to this plan I'm not aware of?

I changed jobs last year and left some money in a retirement account - would it be better to roll that money over into my current employers 401k or put it into a roth IRA or a traditional IRA? I'm 28 and my salary is around 92k/yr - unsure what other details are needed so just ask lol.

So I turned 18 and I’m getting my first credit card and wanted to build good practices, my credit line is set to 200$ so I did research and I understand I have to stay under 60$.My plan was using my credit card to pay a streaming service that will be 16$ every month and I would pay the credit card off when I had to, but my friend said I should use 25$ every week towards gas or whatever and pay it off every week so I don’t know which one would work best

Looking for some advice on what to direction to go in.

Recently, my father died and left 1/4 of his estate to each of his two daughters (rest went to stepmom). My sister died shortly after that and now her 1/4 is my 1/4, so I have the other half of estate which is a little over 2.5 million in a trust fund. My dad set up rules for the fund, which mainly is I can request up to 3.5% of the trust each year until I am 60, when the trust is absolved and the money in the trust is mine. The taxes on whatever I take out come out from trust fund though so I believe its possible to go over the 3.5% and potentially have negative growth.

The issue. I am a social worker, I have an emotionally challenging job- I work out in the community with veterans with schizophrenia and are not doing well/not engaging with VA. This job was my dream job and it has become a nightmare. I hate going to work when I use to love it. I feel like my clients are sucking the last bit of energy I have from me and leaving me empty and unable to deal with my depression since losing my two family members (I grew up with my dad and sister, they were my people- all my people). I feel like I am letting everyone down and feel like I am not in the right frame of mind to be assisting anyone, especially since I can't even help myself right now.

Is there a way I can use this new money to assist myself in taking time off? Again, social worker here so math and money are not my strong suit. I don't think from what I have read that my fund is nearly enough to "retire" or even work part time. I make around 85k a year, my partner makes about 100k a year and right now the trust gives us 1200 a month. I own my car, I have a house payment of 900 which my partner pays 600 of in rent. So, I feel like I am doing okay but only if we both keep working.

I am 36 years old by the way. I hold a professional license, so I could also work online like on HeadSpace or other remote jobs, could work part-time online...lots of options but I have no idea what to do.

I want to find a way to give myself the time I need to do some soul searching/get this depression and grief in order so that I can move on and get back to a better place. How can I use this gift from my father to buy myself more freedom?

Looking for an account that is easy access but will also grow safely. I already have a college account so nothing like that! Just something I can give them when I see fit

Within the next year, me and my fiancée will be married. Does anyone have any advice for us to become a successful, prepared, financially secure couple.

If you need a quick background, I am mostly out of financially debt (I only have my mortgage) and around $30,000 in the bank. My fiancée still have students loans, car loan, and in debt to her parents (she had credit card debt that her parents bailed her out on). We talked about our finances and we agreed she should focus on paying her higher interest loans before we start having kids; while I use my paycheck to support the family.

I’ve heard of plans where you have 4 bank accounts (2 for each person for their wants, 1 for bills, and 1 for large purchases/savings that we both agree on). I’ve also heard of the 50, 30, 20 rule (50% Needs, 30% Wants, 20% Savings) which could fit into the previously mentioned 4 bank accounts. I also know how my parents did things which was just one shared account and they both were careful spenders.

What financial strategy have worked for you or that you’ve seen to be successful to help a newly married couple to become financially secure and prepared/growing for a future family?

Opening a 529 for both my kids 3 and 1.

Do I make myself the benefiarcy and the kids the successor until they become of age and I give it to them or do I make them the beneficiary and my wife the successor?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

So as the title states, I’m stuck in a crossroad between putting more of my money away into a HYSA or putting some towards my brokerage account.

I have an employer account (TSP) where I contribute 10% into the C Fund (S&P) to Roth IRA. And then receive the 5% employer match into traditional.

Currently I am just north of 10k in my HYSA. What I’m trying to do by end of 2025 is save up for a car, likely trying to purchase it right off the lot.

So I have just about $2,500 leftover at the end of each month that I can place to either my HYSA or to my private brokerage account. Or to both.

I know I’ll get a better return on investment in my brokerage vs HYSA but I like knowing I can pull from my HYSA when I need it to purchase my car.

A few plans I’m thinking of: Put 2k into HYSA and put 500 into brokerage, That’s 24k by end of year towards my car and 6k for the year into my brokerage, and likely would put a little more in closer to the end of the year towards the brokerage account to meet the cap.

Or all into the HYSA and once I’ve reached my goal, all into brokerage.

I don’t intend to use all of my HYSA to cover the cost of the car, but a good chunk will be used so that’s the crossroad, beef up HYSA for impending purchase or beef up HYSA and retirement at the same time.

My wife (25f) and I (25m) just got a lump sum check, about 30k.

I want to put some of that money into different locations but could use some help. I want to put some money towards our mortgage, retirement/investments, travel, and home updates.

We are both working able to pay all of our bills and we even put a little bit extra each month towards our mortgage. We have been using YNAB and have enough spending money to do the things we want.

What are your thoughts? Thanks all!!

I have about $30k in stocks & ETFs. I’ve had the account for 10+ years. I’d like to sell most of it to pay off debts that have 20%+ interest rates. Will I have to pay taxes on what I sell? Another option could be to move the money into a Roth IRA or max out my 457 retirement plan.

I’d like to lower my AGI but since debt interest rates are higher than retirement returns, I think it makes more sense to pay off debt. Please let me know what you think or if there is another option.

Hello All,

I would really appreciate any advise right now. I applied for a debt review and my application was rejected with a status saying " Client is not too-indebted". I do not understand why I received this as I am a state where I cannot afford to pay my debts as I should as I support my family and my salary is not enough.

I would love to pay my debts as I should, that's all I think about most days. I've been also trying to apply for better paying jobs, I really hope I make it through this difficult time.

Buying a car

I have about $25,000 I've saved and have my eye on a car, and I'm wondering what the the most financially prudent thing to do would be.

I have a couple options when it comes to financing. I could put down a large down-payment for 60 months and 5% apr. Payments would be between 300-450 a month depending on the amount down.

Another option would be to finance almost all of that same car, except for 36 months at 0% apr, so no charge to borrow the money. I'd keep a lot more money in my savings for larger emergencies, and would be able to invest a good chunk of it, possibly yielding a return. However the payment would end up being much larger.

After bills and taxes, each month from my income I typically have around $2000 leftover, sometimes a bit less from other expenses that pop up and especially around the holidays, but still manage to have extra money to put away.

This all considered, what's the best way to handle this?

Currently 24 with 3k in checking, $2500 in E-fund, 1400$ invested in index funds in my acorns and 600$ in my taxable brokerage account with chase. 0 debt high interest debt with about 5k remaining for my car loan at 5% interest rate.

This is my current budget and spending every month can use any tips or things I should change or work on. I’m trying to maximize my money this year for the first time it’s been a rough couple years and finally have a good income and good foundation want to take full advantage.

6000$ monthly income after taxes

Bills/Needs

300$ Truist Car Loan 300$ T-Mobile bill 600$ Health insurance 100$ subscriptions 500$ food and gas Rent 900$

Total 2700$

Savings / Investments

400$ chase investing account 100$ acorns 1200 $ Emergency fund (until I have 6 months of expenses ) 600$ Roth IRA

Total $2300

Total Spend all together 5000$

Disposable income 1000$.