>healthcare marketplace

If you live in a state that has expanded Medicaid, you should be able to get on income-based Medicaid -- i.e. free health care.

> being able to contribute to a deductible traditional IRA again…. What else?!

Earned income is required to be able to contribute to an IRA. So if you literally have $0 income in 2023, there's no IRA contributions.

However consider doing Roth conversions, provided you have money saved up to pay the taxes.

You may find these links helpful:

• 401(k) Fund Selection Guide
• 401(k) FAQs
• "How to handle $"

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Thank you.

Though you are getting 100k+ on paper, you might be looking at significantly lower pay based on your tax slab and deductions. Regardless, go for max retirement by using all options you have - 401, Roth; emergency savings based on your current cost of living and possible future expenses (renovations, new house, new city); 529 for the kiddo(s); life insurance and disability insurance for you - this is a must if you haven’t had one. Sure, you are here and getting a huge pay check, but if something unfortunate were to happen to you and reduce or completely stop your pay, then you family needs to be taken care of.

You don’t have to move your investments to get the help you’re seeking. There are “advice only” financial planners who charge either hourly or a one time fee for a plan. Some focus on DIY investors. So you can get the answers/education you need without a long term commitment. Check out Napfa.com or XY Planning Network have search tools to help find one.

Here's a link to the PF Wiki for helpful guides and information.

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Honestly? Follow the flowchart. And then with the extra disposable income, buy a mix of both fun and practical things.

One of the larger mental shifts you may have to make is being able to buy premium brands. In some cases it doesn’t matter (cereal). In some cases, it does (vacuum cleaner, dishwasher). You’ll need to do some research of course, but in a lot of cases the premium appliances, tools, and whatnot will save you money long term. It’s just not an obvious thing people think of when they have more income.

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1. Update the monthly net worth and expense tracking spreadsheet
2. Build a Sankey and evaluate spend for budget adjustments
3. Reset passwords for all financial sites, plus a few other misc. sites
4. Export statement history for the year for tax advantaged accounts

Your house is already stupid cheap monthly and you're barely getting by being the sole income source...and you're asking if you can afford a new home?

If you are happy with the pay, then don’t waste your current opportunity to spend time with family and enjoy that flexible schedule. Unless your situation changes to a paycheck-to-paycheck anxiety raising level, you should hold on to the current job as long as possible.

People that don’t have flexibility are (likely not going to get it in their current job) looking for jobs that offer some modicum of flexibility. Think this through, have a heart to heart and keep your options open.

Yes please I’m also curious

This sub is always going favor aggressive savings and debt payoff over living life in the now, but I agree. If OP has been otherwise able to save and they aren't very behind, it's okay to live a little.

That doesn't mean go buy designer clothes and $100k cars, but if OP wants to upgrade how they vacation, buy higher quality groceries, donate more to their favorite causes, etc they totally have the income to do that.

I mean, there are entire books for doctors (white coat investor) who are presumably intelligent individuals and generally horrible with money. He has the intelligence to filter bad replies.

Ask for a promotion to that last persons position, if the won’t promote you (title as well) leave. If they do promote you, but don’t offer a raise that is inline with market rate for that position, polish the resume with the new title and start looking.

This is a problem with the software field as a whole. You hear a lot about salaries like this, so you start to assume that’s what everyone makes. In reality, the average salary might very well be $200k, but I’d guess that the median is more or less around $75k. Basically, while there are jobs that pay an insane amount, the vast majority of people aren’t getting them. In fact, I assume the average person with a CS degree or a bootcamp certificate is working an IT style job making $75k give or take

The second problem is that things like Glassdoor seem to struggle with differentiating titles. So many people who graduate with a CS degree or get a certificate end up as “Information Technology Analysts” or some title other than “Software Engineer”, so when Glassdoor says Software Engineers make $XYZ, keep in mind that there’s a very good chance you get some other title that’s paid less

Add to this that it’s actually hard and some people just aren’t good at it, combined with people pursuing it blindly bc money AND with the fact that technical interviews are a thing (ie your interviews aren’t behavioral alone, they test your programming / security skills extensively) ~ we end up with a relatively low median salary & a giant misconception that all “qualified” people have $200k tech jobs

The point is that while you can get a job like OP’s, unless you’re truly good at it and work very hard, you likely won’t get that. Your salary may still be super good compared to other fields ($75k isn’t bad), but you may be sad to find that you left something you loved just to plateau out and never break into that super-mega-high-paying sector

THAT BEING SAID, if you do have the mind for it & you don’t mind working hard ~ you can get a job like OP’s! Because if you work very hard, you’ll show your worth in technical interviews

This is all coming from me, a CS grad with a good software engineering job. I would say that of the ~200-300 people I knew (to varying extents) from my major, maybe like 50 of us have those good jobs and the rest are all working IT stuff or even something totally different. And 50/200 or 300 may seem like a ton but I went to a pretty good university, so the percentage will be higher than bootcamp programs

Just to stress one more time ~ if you have the brain for it and you work hard, you can get the nicer jobs. Tech interviews majorly benefit people who know their stuff. So if you become super skilled, you won’t struggle to find a great job (like OP)

Thanks for the help!

Something to remember: investing is a great way to store and slowly grow your money. It takes 40+ years of constant contribution and growth to get rich through investing. At your age I would focus on the best/your favorite way to be actively making money. And live beneath your means as much as you can suffice

Thank you

There’s always room in the budget for that

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Thank you! I have edited my post. Is the general consensus mid-thirties to start thinking about bonds? Maybe 10% bonds?

Thank you! I have edited my post.

What he got was a cost of living pay raise not a promotion