I second u/usmcwrangler That is too much money pouring out of your pocket and into a corpo’s coffers.

It would be better to use that money to build your savings: retirement 15-20 % of your salary, emergency medical/dental fund aim for several thousand at least, and make a “car payment” to yourself for car maintenance, repairs, and replacement, and a job loss emergency fund of at least 6 months but aim for 1.5 years of expenses.

Then start a general savings account for life goals, like a down payment on a house. Even if you have no intention to buy a house -if you ever needed to you’d have the money to do it but also, it may be money for you to move overseas or start a business,go back to school-regardless start putting money aside and stop giving it to other people.

The peace of mind is amazing.

Then, when you realize you have options in life, mentally it is so wonderful to look forward to the future

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With a roommate, yes. On your own, no.

You target, based on your base income, should be 1,650 or less

A sucky HOA is because the actual homeowners do not take interest in it. I suggest to get involved, join the board, volunteering, becoming treasurer, help with budgeting.

So, get on it.

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Thank you! Since I only have a few hundred invested right now, the fees don't seem that high but I know it will add up over time. This helps! Plus, I'm still not clear on how those fees are calculated, the frequency, etc. But that's a question for later, when I know more about all of this stuff.

Yeah this. They say they don’t see it? So provide the screenshot of it to show them which page has it, then see what they say. Chances are you are not the only home owner getting overcharged. Or in the end they might just update the website to say 3.25% in the future and say the $3.25 was wrong.

Nothing wrong with making a small push to clarify but certainly not a hill worth dying on in my option.

Can you explain how you calculated that? (Like the actual formula.) I'm not sure I understand how that works. I'm familiar with compound interest, but I don't know how often something like that would compound, or if that's even the right formula to use.

I rolled over a small bit of a savings IRA from a previous employer's brokerage into my main, central brokerage. It's fairly small (<$10k) since I wasn't at the company for very long. Any general ideas on how to invest it? I kind of want to use it to play around with, but am not sure if there are any restrictions with rollover IRAs.

Don’t try to time the market. Just buy when you have your $50 available.

Some times you get a “good” price per share with that $50, others not so good. Good price means your $50 will buy more shares compared to a bad price.

But either a good or bad price on each $50 purchase you make will result in more or less the same outcome - you’ll own a lot of shares that accumulate over time. Especially if you’re diligently buying shares each time you have extra cash, with little regard to the price you pay.

That’s the secret - amass shares and don’t sell them for decades.

(Ps - Don’t buy individual stocks- stick to broadly diversified mutual funds or ETFs)

Thanks for replying

Thanks for replying. Great advice

I'm not sure you should change anything. The age-based portfolios will continue to move you into bonds, and while bond prices may continue to fall short-term, bond yields are up. In a way you should be glad bond prices have fallen while you continue to buy them. If your risk tolerance had you allocated somewhere between aggressive and moderate all this time, why change now? Are you now unwilling to risk any decline in the balance in the next 2-6 years?

personally I wouldn't change the current funds, i would just change where future funds go.

Thank you for replying. That's my fear as well, if I move to Fidelity whether the contributions will get affected

Contribute $500 per month or max $6000 per year to a Roth IRA. You can still contribute for 2022 until April 15, 2023. You can contribute to a Roth IRA under your husbands income. You cannot contribute to a traditional IRA because you yourself have no earned income. You can do this at a bank or online or at a financial advisement company. Rates will vary but are generally very low for this. You can also make an appt w a fiduciary advisor at a bank or elsewhere. This will be free.

Depends on the amount generally. Small amounts (<100k) not gonna make a difference. At my bank if you have 150k+ (deposits or investments) there’s discounts available.

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Generally taking the money out over 10yrs is the most efficient tax wise as it’s less likely to push you into higher brackets. You could play around with some tax software to see how much you can push it without going into another bracket.

Remember, our tax system is a progressive one, you only pay the higher percentage of a bracket on the amount that goes into that bracket, not your entire taxable income (hugely misunderstood fundamental of our tax system in the US)

If you are under the income limits for deductible IRA contributions, you can offset some of that income by contributing. Be careful not to go over the income limits if that is your plan.

Also, a couple years ago when mortgage rates were 2-2.5% I’d say get a mortgage but with current rates you should compare the cost of interest on say a 15yr loan to the taxes paid

Either way you need to get the IRA money out in 10yrs, so do some calcs to figure out the most tax efficient way. Sorry there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, we all have different tax situations.

Shop around, you don’t have to commit to a new job.

Debt consolidation (through a reputable program) might help, but it doesn't solve the underlying lifestyle issue. She is living a lifestyle she can't afford, period. The car is contributing to that for sure. Has she gone over her spending with a fine toothed comb to see where else she can cut back? How much equity does she have in the car?

Regardless, she needs to pursue child support - it is grotesquely unfair to her child not to do so. That money is to ensure their needs are met. I would do this before selling the car or considering bankruptcy.

Yes, you can still open one for this year and you can contribute for 2022 until April 15th 2023.

I recommend one of the big brokerages (fidelity, vanguard, Schwab) or the same that your husband uses.

You can open and contribute for 2022 until tax day (4/18/2023). This is true for every year - you always have 3.5 extra months to contribute after the year is over. Read the IRA wiki.

I just went on Amazon and looks like it shows if it's FSA or HSA eligible directly under the product picture.

Kind of dumb they put products on the HSA /FSA section that aren't eligible. I'm sure it benefits Amazon in some way.

Stop paying online. Mail a physical check for the HOA fees. An HOA cannot force you to pay a specific way (i.e. online by a certain method), and then charge a processing fee.