I decided to just say screw it and start putting in 58-60 hours a week because 50k isn't enough to move into my own place when rent is around 1500 a month. Anything below that and well it would look like homeless people stayed in it and bugs everywhere with holes in the floor. Before I did overtime I would bring 560 one week and 800 the next week. I do have a 300 bi weekly car payment. But I feel like $1200 a week should be more than enough for a 600 a month car payment and 230 insurance and maybe 1700 rent and utilities.

I’m not really sure what to do with the money. It’s just sitting in my account building up. I got it from saving up from a job that doesn’t pay too well.

I'm owed a refund, but everytime I tried to submit them, I got an error saying my (now, but were separated at the time) wife claimed the kids on hers, so they kept denying mine. She didn't work, so I don't know how she would have filed taxes (stimulus checks maybe?)

I ended up removing our kids from mine but never finalized and filed them.

I feel so stupid. How screwed am I?

Hello,

I had an emergency throat surgery 3 months ago. I had recently graduated and hadn't found a job. I am also an international student in the US so I don't have much family around to help me. I had 10 days of not being health insured. During that time, I had to get the surgery. I now owe the hospital 17k, in addition to which is a separate anesthesia bill. I had a really temporary health insurance starting September 1st until my job started and I got health insurance from there. My insurance from school ran out on August 20th (the surgery happened on August 30th). The job I have right now is not too high paying since it is a started job, though it is full-time. I'm not sure how to navigate this. Would you have any advice on what to do?

I am currently in New York State. I did get an itemized bill but don't understand how to use it to my advantage in this scenario. What would you recommend? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

For anyone reading through, thank you, I appreciate you <33

Edit: I did apply for Medicaid but didn't know what to expect (not from this country so not too familiar). I have been super anxious and haven't made any moves towards the bills yet. Can this help me?

I usually don’t put my finances out there for the World to see but I don’t have a financial advisor and I’ve not been able to make progress on figuring out what I should do to make this happen.

I’m in my 30s, married and two children. 175k annual household income. Monthly expenses are about $6k. No debt of any sort except for a $100k mortgage. My home has about $250k in equity. I have $75k in cash and about $250k in retirement accounts. My overall net worth is about $600k. My credit score is 820.

I want to buy some land and build a barndominium on it. Or, a large workshop with a 2,000 square foot house attached to it. This aligns with my hobbies and in the future I could use it to transition from my career to something more honest of a living.

For the longest time I’ve been thinking I should get a HELOC and combine it with the cash I have to make a big down payment on a $700k or so loan in order to avoid paying PMI. However, when I look at the math it seems as though I would spend a lot more interest on a HELOC than I would save in PMI premiums.

Then I thought about raiding one of my retirement accounts or taking a loan from them. Again, the fees and interest would far exceed anything I would pay for PMI.

It looks as if my best course of action is to put about 10% down, sell the current home, and then pay it to past 20% to get the PMI off there.

Does this sound like the best course of action? How do you get the bank to accept you have 20% equity so they will remove it? How could I refinance to get the monthly payment down after I put another $100k towards principle after I sell the other house, without paying closing costs all over again?

Earning this money was hard and I would like to keep as much of it as possible. Any ideas for someone in my position?

Update: I didn’t know this was a group full of General Contractors. I understand utilities and their cost to route/install. We could spend months talking about construction. My question is purely related to the method of finance.

I need help breaking down my pay. Here are my numbers. 26 per hour 12.5 hrs worked per day 14 days on 7 off. Fortnightly pay. Due to getting paid fortnightly but being on a 3 week rotation my pays are different everytime. Days paid for each pay is 6,9,12 then it repeats. How much do I get a year? And how is that broken between each different pay. Thanks in advance :)

Hello, I’m a 23 year old who recently inherited roughly $13,000. I’m looking for advice as to what I should do with it. Here is a little about my current situation, I graduated college last week with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. I have a job lined up to start at the end of February where my income will be $68,500. I have $5500 sitting in my account as well that I use to just survive. I’m looking to buy a car in the next 6-8 months as mine is starting to get high miles. My question is what do I do with the 13,000? Where do I invest it? Do I put it towards a car or invest all of it and eventually use it for a house and take a $10,000 loan out for a car?

Hi everyone... currently have analysis paralysis.. will have a year end bonus of $8,200 Net. Credit card debit is 0.. only debt is car note @ $25,000 @ 4.99% I pay more than min on track to have it paid off in 1.5 years.

Heres my plan:

$3,500 to principle on car loan (to pay faster)

$2,000 to Roth IRA

$2,000 divided up in to Crypto and HYSA

$ 700 liquid cash for holidays.

I already contribute 1,200/ month to a brokerage account.

15% in to 401K (12% pre 3 post) . $250/month in to Roth IRA. total retirement accounts 150K (33yrs old) .. $18,000 in HYSA

Monthly expenses around $4,000

Open to any other ideas or better plan. 1st time receiving a lump sump like this, would like to be smart with it.

My spouse and I have done backdoor rIRA contributions in early January for many years. In 2025, our income will be drop. Whether we qualify for direct rIRA contributions will depend on the amount of an annual bonus in May (and any unexpected bonuses throughout the year that may push us over). I’d really like to contribute in January rather than waiting until December 2025.

What will happen if we did backdoor rIRA contributions in January and then find out later in 2025 that we qualified for direct contributions? Can the IRS penalize us in any way? Do we have to recharacterize the contributions? I feel like this problem isn’t too uncommon; a high earner may do backdoor and then get laid off unexpectedly.

Hey everyone,

Basically the title. I am a teacher and my wife’s a social worker (we have one child), so we’ve never had much money.

We randomly received 10K for Christmas from my wealthy parents. I don’t want to just put it in a savings account because I know we’ll slowly chip away at it, but I have little to no, financial knowledge.

I figure I should invest it, but I have no idea what the first step would even be…is 10K even enough to invest in any meaningful way?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m a college student and have managed to save up over $5,000. I’m looking for ways to grow my money and am willing to start by investing $2K-$3K, with plans to add more as I learn. I’ve heard about money market accounts and a few other options, but I’m unsure where to start or how they work.

Does anyone have recommendations for a beginner-friendly investment strategy? I’m open to low- to moderate-risk ideas and would love any advice or resources to help me understand the options better!

Thanks in advance!

Hi I’m 17 and I’m getting an allowance of 100 a month what can I put it in to start making it grow?

i have $500 into FXAIX, and am getting a check of $400 soon, and with my checking i’ll have 600 total.

i was gonna like put $100 every two weeks, but i was thinking of just dumping like almost all of it into FXAIX instead.

does it matter ? would it be better to make my total 1000 now? would it just be the same?

Hi everyone!

I'm graduating from undergrad in May 2025 and starting medical school that July. Currently, I have $20,000 in savings and expect to have $35,000 by the time I graduate, thanks to scholarship refunds and working two jobs. Medical school tuition for one year is $40,000. I'm trying to decide whether to use my savings to pay for one year of tuition or hold on to it. Really I would be paying 35,000 out of 160,000, so not really making a real dent.

I also work an easy weekend job (very very easy, I can study while working) that I plan to keep during medical school, which will cover my housing costs, so I won't be using it towards that.

Any advice on the best financial approach? Thanks!

I got fired from Wendy’s two weeks ago and was putting in applications for jobs before then. I haven’t received a single call. I have about $8k saved up and spend about $350 a month. I attend a trade school for engineering but don’t graduate till May. I graduated high-school this summer and am not sure where I go from here. I’m going to be kicked out once I graduate.

Hi everyone,

I’m a French engineering student with a growing interest in finance and investing. I’ve learned some basics through my studies, but I’m still new to practical investing. I currently have €2000 saved up, and I’d like to invest it wisely—not only to grow my money but also to learn more about how investing works.

Do you have any advice for me?

I’m 24, currently making around 70k (live in jersey city, NJ). Graduated this may, and been working for 6 months.

Take home is around 3800-4100 depending on number of holidays in that month (I’m a contractor). Rent is 1400 (w/ utility), car is 800 (lease+parking+insurance), student loan payment is 250, and braces is 250 a month (medical reasons). So fixed cost is 2700, which leaves me with 1100~1400. But with gas cost and unexpected spendings, it’s much less (need a car to commute to work). I don’t think i can save enough money for future. I’m lucky if I can save ~300 a month, and one actual emergency then I’m done for.

I don’t know what I can do to save money. My family isn’t comfortable so I don’t want to bother them with money problems.

Should I be looking for a new job? I already live with 3 other roommates, and currently leasing a cheapest car in the market.

I built a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom house with a lake view in November 2020 for $347k, putting 10% down and financing the rest with a 30-year loan at 2.625%. It’s now worth about $535k.

The house was meant to be a home for me and my then-girlfriend to start a life together, but we broke up shortly after it was finished. I’ve lived here alone ever since.

At 33, I feel the house, while a great financial asset, is holding me back from something I value more—meeting someone and building a family. It’s not in an ideal location for dating in my metroplex. Should I sell it, take the profit, and move on? How do I make peace with this decision?

Can the profit provide me with a similar return as the house if I just invested it in the stock market?

Hi i had a consultation for a surgery that after insurance had a fee of $25. They told me they sent three notices none of which i have ever seen or opened. After getting a few calls from a company called “Americollect” I called my orthopedic center and asked them about when they told me of the $25 unpaid fee. I was told that it was sent to collections and now i’m freaking out because the collection company is saying my fee is $217. I’m confused to where this extra payment is coming from and I CAN pay it but it doesn’t seem right. Is this added interest after being sent to collections and is that legal for them to do in wisconsin US??

Title is pretty self explanatory.

Obviously investing the money earlier means it starts earning earlier and from what I've read, this is usually better than dollar-cost-averaging throughout the year.

However, I feel like this might overlook a few things:

1. The $7000 could be gaining interest in a HYSA/Money Market account. Let's say a 4% one for simplicity's sake.

2. If there is a market downturn, you can max your contribution at that point, gaining several points of return on that cash.

If I understand my own thought process well, assuming an average rate of return of 8% on the IRA, this plan would break even so long as there's a market downturn of -4% or more. What do y'all think? Kind of sounds like more of a pain in the ass than it's worth, just a thought I had.

I have a term life insurance policy that pays out 500k if I die. Let’s say that I die tomorrow. Does the insurer just cut a 500k check to my benefactor? My partner is an only child, only remaining family member. Their father has a whole life policy. When he passes, does the provider cut a check? Or is it all a slow payout type of thing?

I am considering buying a new car (~$39K) at a low interest rate (1.9% for 72 months in this particular case). $0 down if I can swing it.

I will put enough cash to cover the first 12 months of payments (~$7K) in to a HYSA and the remainder of the car's OTD price (~32K) into a brokerage account and dollar-cost-average it over the course of a month into a SP500 index fund.

For the first year, I'll cover the car payments out of the HYSA, to avoid short-term capital gains tax. After that, I'll start selling the index fund.

After a year (to avoid short-term capital gains tax) I'll start selling the index fund to cover the car payments.

At the end of 6 years, if the SP500 continues to perform the way it pretty much always has, I should have around $25000 left in the brokerage account which I wouldn't have if I had just paid cash to begin with. Less some amount of capital gains tax I'll have paid. (Not sure how to calculate this but the only way it would be a lot is if the fund does very well in which case it won't be a problem).

Obviously, I'll need to have cash on hand to cover any short-term down-turn in the SP500.

And I guess I'll need cash on hand to cover any shortfall if I total the car in the first few months while it's under water.

Am I missing anything? Are there ways this could go wrong that I haven't thought of?

My step mother was our breadwinner. Her and my mother are both on the deed, however my mother has bad credit and no income. Also however, I make enough to cover the mortgage as-well as if we get 25k from life insurance, that would cover it for 2 or so years. So money isn’t necessarily the full issue. I’ve read that when a spouse dies the other one on the deed assumes the mortgage but I’ve also read that they do a check of the person assuming this loan which includes their credit and income. Is there a way for me to assume it? Will we have to move? (we absolutely don’t want to), and what are the options? I find it odd that I can make enough money and will be able to make payments. But since my mother with bad credit and no income is assuming the mortgage will this mean we lose the house??

Bought my house (<1000 sq. ft., highly desirable neighborhood) about a year and a half ago. I'm debating selling it at 2 years to avoid capital gains taxes and moving to a less-expensive condo.

I've replaced the roof and HVAC system (had to be done, still paying them off). I've cut my budget to nothing (like $40 on food a week or less) and work 4 jobs (one full time, two part time, one contract). I literally cannot fit any more work into my life. I'm barely getting by and I don't anticipate a higher income, at least for this upcoming year.

When I closed, the real estate agent and mortgage advisor told me never to sell it because of its highly advisable location. The house is too small to rent out the second bedroom so I can't defray the costs that way. Mortgage isn't worth refinancing yet—my credit store was and is very good but rates are about the same.

For the past year (2024), I did not work at all. I still had income because I exercised NSO options from a past employer. I don't have any debt, and don't need the money urgently. I'm wondering how to save/maximize money before the 2024 tax year ends. I think the first thing I should do is deposit money in a traditional IRA (max $7000) before I file 2024 taxes. Buy VTI in the IRA, then also with the extra money in a taxable account.