I always assume these questions mean “successfully”.

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I started automating my savings withdrawals from my paycheck. I have my job deposit $500/month into my HYSA so I never see it. I've never made a ton of money (and I still don't) so the idea of doing this was a little scary, but two things I've discovered: a) it really helped curb lifestyle creep because less money was hitting my checking. And b) boy did it feel good to log into my savings account at the end of the year and go "holy shit where did all that come from???"

If all goes well I'm going to try to up it next year.

If you make enough it's easy to do both. Not everyone is fortunate enough to do both.

I mean the person can ask but there is no chance in hell the company will agree to it. I guess there's a difference between asking and actually voiding a contract and signing a new one.

OP I'm sorry it's not going to happen. You can see if they'll throw any extras in to make you happy but you need to think about if you want to break your lease and what the penalty is for that.

> and I lost 3k in investment.

And you realized the loss by selling, right? Unrealized losses don't count.

> The 3k I lost will be deducted from the 10k income I made this year, and I will only be taxed on 7k of income. Which means I only get 300 back from my loss.

Correct. Low tax bracket means less effect on tax deduction.

Investment losses reduce taxable income.

You can also move some of your emergency fund into I Bonds, which are guaranteed to match inflation, but you cannot touch those for a year. You will want to make sure you do not lock up your entire fund for that period. It’s common to do something like move 10% of your fund into I Bonds each year. I would keep some in a HYSA too just since that’s easier to cash out in an emergency.

Totally misread. Thx

Store your emergency fund in a HYSA, yes. You can pull money out of the Roth IRA any time, but earnings are subject to taxes and penalties if you withdraw before you’re 59.5 years old. There are some exceptions to that, such as first time house purchases, but generally it’s just a tax-advantaged retirement savings account.

I haven’t looked too hard into why the roth ira is recommended before increasing 401k contributions, since I’m not there myself yet.

no penalty. just regular taxes on gains during tax season

How far off is the wedding? It may be best to wait until afterwards.

If you plan to buy it beforehand, make sure it's a home each of you could afford on your own in case one of you loses your job or gets injured or you break up before you're legally married. Also if you're both getting the mortgage, get your credit scores and see if one or both of you has to work improving that in the months to come. No large purchases (new car, etc) in the months before and pay down any debt you or your partner has.

TLDR due to many things, people assume that software engineers / computer scientists all make $200k and due to other things, this isn’t true

Look at the PTBSR (Pay to BS Ratio). Making less in a great situation can mean a happier you, and isn't that what it's all about?

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I'm with you on this.
$100 discount for something you replace every...five years? Not at all worth it. Just Uber for one weekend and there you go.

What's the cost to break the lease and leave early? If it's something cheap ($1,000 or one month's rent or something) then you might want to talk to them and say it's worth the cost to you to move if they can't come to a better agreement. If you're on the hook for the full 15 months no matter what... well why would they lower the price for you?

You can ask, but your landlord has absolutely zero obligation or reason to do anything since you are on the hook for 10 more months under the lease terms you have.

> Can I negotiate my lease terms? I

No. Contracts are binding on both parties

I’m always curious why people feel like you can either save aggressively OR live life in the now. It’s absolutely possible to do both. You don’t have to pick between frugal and fun.

Applying for jobs isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I do think you have a great situation right now, but it doesn’t hurt to keep your interview skills sharp, or even just make the connections with recruiters in case something did ever happen with your niche small business job you’d have an easier time finding a new one since you’ll know what’s actually available. Even if you get offered a job you interview for, you can always decline.

That said you do have a pretty good sounding situation right now, and your combined income is pretty high, it may be easier to review your budget again and see if there’s anywhere you can cut down on. If there really isn’t, then maybe just wait until your kids are a few years older and childcare costs are less, then you’ll have a lot more to save.

Thank you for breaking everything down.

I held it for a few years now. I will keep that in mind!

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Whatever gains you pull out will be taxed as income if you held the stocks for less than a year. This is only money you made in the market, not your initial investment. It will b subject to the same income tax brackets for you paycheck. It will essentially add to your taxable income.

If you held the stocks for more than a year, then the tax rate is a flat 20% for all your earnings.

So save some aside for the tax bill upcoming.

Also as we are approaching the end of the year, it may be relevant for you to realize that your withdraw(on short term gains) will tax earnings onto your 2023 income and you wont owe the bill until April 2024. So keep that money around to pay the tax until then..

I echo the true up feature. My company had it then got rid of it.

So now have to contribute every paycheck to not miss any match