It isn't your responsibility to do any of this, or take care of them when they waste all their money. It's great if you try to help and they are receptive, but please don't feel responsible for them.

Ultimately what they do, or don't do, is their choice and theirs alone. Sounds as if your dad may ruin things no matter what anyway. With that kind of income, they should have no concern, so, if they're unwise enough to squander their fortune, they must manage the consequences.

I hope you can get them to speak with someone that can help guide them, tho.

A 401k by itself doesn't lose, or make you, money. That depends on what you invest in with money inside the 401k. It's effectively the same as an IRA but through work. Working to max out an IRA while hesitant about a 401k is contradictory.

There it is: your goal was based on consumption.

Come up with bigger goals than some items you want to buy, and seek to let those drive your decisions.

I used to live near Montgomery, AL. If it were me I would buy a much smaller house. I made a little less than you and found a beautiful remodeled house 1200 sq ft house which I sold in October 2021 for 150k. It was plenty for just a couple of people with much lower utility and maintanance bills. ie power to heat and cool, roofing, plumbing, and electrical. Interest rates are at 6% so you are paying 15k in interest a year on a 250k house.

Just my two cents.

Just re-read your statement on the savings part - I recently started getting into personal finance, so now I understand to look at my finances from a business/net worth perspective. Thank you once again, I will use this information going forward.

“Asking on behalf of friend” 🙄 Pretty easy to see through that lie based off the rest of your post.

I’d recommend taking this post down since you are just asking how to steal your own child’s money.

When you tip a waitress, she's not suddenly your employee. But the tip is still income, not a gift from you to the waitress. The tip is considered a "transfer for the benefit of an employee" from the quote in my previous reply.

I’m so lost here.

Can you be very specific with what you are asking?

You say that you and your sister own the home. (The bank owns the deed) How much do you owe to the bank vs equity?

Are you asking if you should move out because you don’t have your own personal space and freedoms?

Also, are you asking if you should move out AND keep the house in your name and let your family pay your mortgage?

Or are you asking if you should move out AND sell the house since you won’t be living there anymore?

Got enough saved up that I'm starting to pay attention when I see an ad for an online savings account paying 4%. I was thinking of opening several of them at different places so I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket. In case I forget to read SketchBank's fine print that says I can only withdraw funds on a Tuesday by flying in person to their call center in India.

I guess my first question is, is this a good idea? Is there something I'm missing? If a savings account pays more than a CD, what's the catch?

My second question is, if you open multiple savings accounts at once, do you get on some list? I worked at a bank many years ago and I remember they flagged people for all kinds of stupid reasons based on computer models and third party reporting bureaus I wouldn't trust to hold my sandwich.

Amazon is unique the way they work because they sell so much stuff and anyone can go and list something for sale.

Labeled as "FSA Eligible" is really just within the vendor's internal system. If you tried to buy that item with FSA debit card it would not go through. For reimbursement it doesn't matter

All that matters is if the item really is FSA. Your FSA is going to check if the item is eligible per the IRS rules, they are not going to check if the seller marked the item as FSA or not. In fact the seller could make an error and your claim would be denied because the item does not qualify as FSA item.

For example I bought a BMW first aid kit for my car from a car parts store and then submitted reimbursement from my FSA without any problem.

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Correct. The standard deduction reduces your taxable income.

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I should’ve mentioned this. I currently have 21k sitting in the bank ready to invest roughly 11k keep 10k as an emergency fund when I settle which funds I want to invest in. My income is $1,666 and hope to invest around $1300 a month. This will obviously max out my Roth but I don’t want to put it in a 401k if it’s going to lose me money in the long run and there could’ve been better options. And I’m definitely trying my best to increase my income so I can contribute more in the future but living frugally is all I can do for now.

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Definitely, I agree with paying off the AMEX and CSP and making it my first priority, then start lowering the balance on the BOFA. Having savings is crucial to me, and it didn't even cross my mind to start putting my purchases on the card with 0%. Thank you for your response!

Great explanation. I appreciate it!

If theyre that irresponsible do em a favor and kick em out! Enabling poor behavior has NEVER resulted in a solution to the problem.

Be honest with them. Tell them if they want to keep the money then they can gtfo and find their own place

This is true. Also after school activities! So many teams, clubs, fund raisers, play dates, half school days, yada yada yada. If this means you don’t need day care or a sitter, your flexible job is solid gold.

A tip is technically taxable income and should be reported on your income tax return. Not that anyone would ever know.

Thanks so much!

To clarify, is it the case that when calculating your total taxable income for capital gains tax rate calculations, you should do so *after* removing the standard deduction from your income?

To continue the example, if my income was $40,000 and the standard deduction is $12,950, I wouldn't actually pay any capital gains taxes until I earned >$14,626 in capital gains (which would make my income $54,626 - minus the deduction of 12,950 =$41,676 the capital gains income threshold).

Thank you again for your help!

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Yeah I honestly didn’t even bother reading very far. Young folks absolutely should move around a few times in their lives.

Screw the money, having a decent life is a bit more important. Don’t be boring just to save a few bucks.