Buying a home to live in isn't a great investment plan. If you can't sell it free and clear, and not have to spend money from that sale as a result (such as for rent or a new place to live), it's not really an investment...or at least not a great one. That ~$100k you have could be put into the market and earning a larger return on average than average home appreciation is. There's so many factors though...would the condo be cheaper (mortgage + HOA + maintenance, etc) in the near term than your rent would be? If not you have lost opportunity cost of what investing the money while renting could build up in that near term too.

If, on the other hand, the cost of housing is cheaper than renting in the near term, buying would probably be better. Additionally, consider that condo's appreciate slower than single family homes, so the average appreciation mentioned above will be even lower - which favors renting.

For my situation, buying has never the best financial choice for me...but if you're trying to start a family or need the extra yard and such to be happy, sometimes making the best financial choice isn't the most important thing.

Seems like a reasonable goal and you are on your way to achieve it. I think the question you need to answer is if buying a condo is right for you. Do you plan to stay in Seattle? Will a condo still cover your needs 5 years down the road? Or would you rather save for a little longer and buy a single family home that you can stay in for 10+ years?

Also, how does the condo and HOA fees fit your budget? Are you lowering retirement savings for the monthly payment?

What’s the rest of the financial picture look like? Retirement saving, e fund, etc.

Most people do backdoor Roth conversions as /u/Mr_Evil_Dr_Porkchop described.

But, some people who followed the general advice of rolling their sizable 401ks over to traditional IRAs are no longer able to do the backdoor Roth without getting hit be the pro-rata rule. I am in this camp, so I generally just contribute to a tax-exempt bond fund in a taxable account. It is also possible to do an after-tax contribution to a traditional IRA account and maintain the basis on IRS Form 8606 every year.

This is very confusing 😫. I thought the general consensus was employee Roth IRA. I had just changed it last night. Ok I’ll read that again later. Hopefully I won’t get more confused lol

Portfolios lose value unless you can predict the future.

Buy some long dated puts in the stock market if you really want to hedge against it

Despite your down votes, this is probably the path I'll take. Pay the loan off a little earlier, and also capture some of the market while it is down. Thanks.

Wasn't aware the Roth IRA was named after someone. Feels like that could be a Jeopardy question.

Thanks.

Use this to check. https://www.gov.uk/estimate-income-tax

You can also set up a personal tax account with Hmrc. You will need to create a government id.

I don't have one from this tax year, but I think I have one from the previous

You should check with Hmrc, have you ever received a p60.

Lately I have been just going onto their emails and getting my pay slip, when I started I used to be given it. I believe they left it up to the accountants to sort out all the pay and deduct everything.

You are legally entitled to a pay slip, your employer is also responsible for your correct tax code.

Sure thing. I suggest just using the traditional (pre tax) 401k, then going to Roth IRA, then back to traditional 401k

Here's some reading, if you have the time:

/r/personalfinance/comments/10qwnrx/why_you_should_almost_never_contribute_to_a_roth/

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What I often see is people who think their time window is 3 years like you are thinking here, it turns out to be 4 or even 5, or longer. It happened to me with a house we bought. We figured it was temporary and we'd upgrade, we stayed 12 years. You are imagining the worst case but not thinking of the best case. You should think of BOTH. Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. You don't mention the current income or potential future income in this scenario. All of this matters in personal finance. And again, fear should not drive a decision, planning should.

If you had $20k in a savings account making 4.76% after 4 months it would be the same thing.

T-Bills are a solid asset for part of your bond allocation in your overall portfolio. Guaranteed to make the rate that you bought them at

I know what the tax codes mean. I wasn't on an emergency one before but am now as it ends with an X, my job has currently changed for the next two weeks. Within my work we dont have a payroll or HR so I do have to go directly to my boss regarding this. I cant easily request a pay rise as there is no system to do that. The only way I can see a pay slip is by going into my boss' emails.

This is just a new's blurb for those who don't bother reading any further or understanding any of the relevant details. First, all Hyundai and Kia vehicles after Nov. 1, 2021 (and some makes/models before this date) come standard with the anti-theft immobilizer, and thus any new vehicle OP might be considering won't be affected. Additionally, insurability is dependent largely on location, as well as carrier. "Uninsurable cars" made headlines because it is good clickbait, but even for the model years affected it was limited to a handful of areas (most with high vehicle-crime rates and higher insurance premiums to begin with) and/or specific carriers.

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What tax code were you on before, and what tax code are you on now?

Most credit unions consider "new" vehicles as anything within a certain number of model years - for example through December last year my CU that I have for my auto loan considered a new vehicle to be 2021 and newer - even when 2023 was coming out. Actually, even looking at older car loans, they have held interest rates across them at the same rate.

Definitely do NOT use dealer financing unless it's an amazing deal. Go to local credit union and get preapproved for an auto loan. Don't say anything about the financing while looking at a vehicle, just sort of say thinking about financing, etc.. Then negotiate the price of the vehicle and say you'd like to use your own financing.

Assuming that $999 down, $23,000 at 6%/60mo would have a $425 payment and a total cost of $28,400. Change it to 2.9%/36mo and you get a payment of $639 and a total cost of $25,900.

I had no clue they sold cars, thanks