thanks for your service and thanks for your input here as well! it seems like the obvious right decision is to max out both, and I think I can manage to do so comfortably with my budget.

thanks for your service and thanks for your input here as well! it seems like the obviously right decision is to max out both, and I think I can manage to do so comfortably with my budget.

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I believe it...my timing chain went 50 miles over the extended warranty and I new something was off before that point but waited until I could barely make it to the dealer! Live and learn...never going back to that dealer again as the price to fix was over 2X what my go to auto repair guy would have charged!

I hate shopping and haggling for cars. I used Costco Auto last time and the process was pretty easy.

This was very helpful, thank you! I think you are right, it never feels like enough. We took our first family vacation this year a 1.5 hour drive away for 3 days, we budgeted for it but it was still more than I planned on! We have savings goals in Mint to get to a 6mo emergency fund, retirement, house renovations and saving for college for all 3 kids. It just never feels like enough. And our food budget has increased with inflation this year.

Can I just ask what you and your wife do that you make so much and are fully remote?

> Is it a bad idea for me to rent a home for approximately ≈$1,500/month?

Yes, that's too much to spend on housing while you're earning $50k.

The general rule of thumb is to keep your housing costs (including utilities) under a third of your gross (pre-tax) income. That means you'll want to find a place to rent where your monthly rent and expected utilities are no more than $1,388.

I didn't think about this.. that would be terrible. Thanks for your insight!

Even then I’ve been reading that dealers finesse their way out of covering alot of things while the warranty is still good

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Correct

So let me make sure I'm understanding the question.... You're asking if you don't pay this bill of it it'll effect your credit score? If it will then you'll opt to pay it but if it won't you'll just ignore it?

I would guess that if you don't pay, the dermatologist would be within their rights to undo the $950 decrease in the amount you owe. Then the $1300 bill will be reported to the credit agencies and will ruin your credit.

How much money have you saved for the car purchase?

If you buy a used car take it to a mechanic for a pre-purchase once-over. Even if you are buying from a dealer. Make sure you compare what you are buying to other cars of the same year, model, mileage. Test drive the cars you are interested in. This includes driving slow, fast, on the freeway, making turns, going in reverse. If you have to take along a salesperson have then be quiet so you can listen to the car. Don't let them blather about how wonderful the car is. Notice whether the car pulls to the left or right (with hands barely on the steering wheel). Brake hard. accelerate hard.

Do not buy extras. That's where dealers make their money. No extra warranty, no extra coatings, no rust proofing. You will be pressured and have to say no about 50 times. If they get too annoying start to leave. They hate losing a sale.

Did all of my haggling through email. Knew exactly the type of car I wanted and that I wanted to pay all up front and no financing.

Emailed a few nearby dealerships, they all asked me to come in and I refused. Asked them for the price for the car I wanted. I would send the offer to other dealerships and ask if they can beat the price. Did this a few times until dealerships would not go any lower. Arranged to pick up the car and got it with no problem.

This was about five years ago though and I know the market is different now.

Number one, a reminder that there will never be enough money, period. Even when you are making more money, you’ll always want more on top of that.

Everyone’s situation is different, but you have to balance your current flexibility with your current pay. You’ve pointed that out clearly and that flexibility at your children’s ages are priceless. But again, it comes back to, there is never enough money.

I think we all benefit when there is an end game in sight. For example, you want to retire at age 60 with ~$100k a year, you’ll need ~$2.5m. What do you need between now and then to get there? You want to remodel your home in 3-5 years, how much is that, and what do you need to do to get there? You want to have a college fund, how much and how?

Once you have these buckets, you can assign your income these tasks and, based on your budget, you can see whether you are on track or come up short. That will determine how much more income you’ll need and thus look for a higher paying job, etc.

But until there is a vision, you’ll never land on “when is enough?”.

Say no and no and no and eventually the extended warranty will only be$1000 and almost worth it but still say no as almost 99..9% of the time shit will go wrong just after the extended warranty is up....and then you'll be pissed off like I was!!!

All those details are unnecessary. Just pay the bill. $350 is not a ton of money. And if you break it down into $30 payments you'll have it taken care of in 10 months and change.

Thank you for your service, from a Navy vet. IF you are comfortable with your monthly budget, this is the best time to max out both your Roth TSP and Roth IRA. Take advantage of this bear market since you're buying discounted shares. Your Roth earnings will appreciate tax free as the the market recovers. When the economy recovers back to its all time highs you can opt to return to the traditional Tsp.

If you buy new issues, you are indeed participating in an auction. You'll enter your price ceiling (limit order). At the end of the auction, you'll get the number of units you've won, or none at all if you're outbid by everyone else.

Each auction has highs, lows, and averages.. Some people win at a lower price (higher yield). Some people win at a higher price (lower yield).

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If you’re buying new then research what you want.
Search for dealers with that product that are not doing the dick move of added dealer profit or like some of my local dealers, adding a bullshit $6k package to a 35k rav 4 hybrids, of nitrogen in the tires, paint sealant and fabric protector. Hopefully they have a unit you can test drive also

There are dealers only selling for msrp

Then you are most likely going to have to negotiate how much of a refundable deposit you will need to put down and wait six months or so for delivery

Pay OP's Dad (AKA a savvy haggler friend or family member) $50 and some lunch to spend the afternoon with you shopping.

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