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You need to revisit your W4 and adjust for both of you working. It is Step 2 on the form ‘Multiple Jobs or Spouse works.’ You can also request higher w/h amount. I believe there is an online calculator you can use to figure out the amounts but do it now so that you don’t get surprised come tax time next year.

I am at one of the lowest salary steps for my classification, my income will keep going up but will hit a ceiling in a few years if i don't get a professional certification (studying now) My spouse does stay home but he will enter the workforce when all our kids are in full time school. My 2 younger kids will need to go to preschool, probably part time, in a year or two. They need the social development

this is why. Change your W-4 back to single or if you keep it as married then you both need to check the "spouse works" box in step 2c of the W4

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Without any other changes, this tells them to withhold taxes like your spouse does not work. This means they assume you get both your and your spouse’s standard deductions and lower-income-tax-buckets.

Can you share which state you're in, your state tax rate, and amount you plan to contribute? It's a math problem of whether the drag from bad investment options/high fees outweighs the tax savings from contributing to the eligible state plan. In most cases, the tax benefits still win.

You should also be aware, you can't just open a "fidelity" 529. Fidelity manages a few state plans (Arizona, Mass, Connecticut, Delaware, and New Hampshire), and for non-residents who still want a fidelity-managed plan, they route them to the NH.

Though even in that plan, you don't get access to the full suite of Fidelity funds. They have a few options for managed portfolios that you can choose.

Same goes for Vanguard plans. They manage New York, Colorado, and Nevada's plans, and route non-residents to their Nevada plan.

You'll need to run the math to see how much of an impact the ER difference would be and compare that to the tax savings (don't forget to consider the tax savings as additional investments).

Then you should have gone through the W-4 carefully.

>Step 2: Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works

Depending on how different the two jobs pay, it can be as simple as checking that box, using the worksheet, or going through IRS withholding calculator.

And your credit looks like you borrowed the full mtg amount.

We both work full time and bring in two spectate Incomes

Can't speak for Chase specifically, but our bank sets its CD (and other savings product) rates based on what the competition is offering. They do a survey of all of the banks that are their main competitors in the region every week, and then use that information when setting new rates on various products. If there is some bank that they consider a significant competitor for new-to-bank funds that is offering a higher rate on a certain length term CD, that could explain why that particular product is higher than others.

>change status to married with no dependents from single at job.

This.

If there is only one job total among the both of you, this is the correct choice.

You may find these links helpful:

• "How to handle $"
• Investing

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You guys don’t get one of those battery powered safes and then lose the key and then let the battery die. All my shit is in there. Wedding rings. Documents. Fuck.

I googled it best I could find was 3.85% with Citi. Do you know of anything better?

Wow, thanks. I did not know about this!

This is really hard to provide more meaningful thoughts without knowing more details than you may be willing to provide. It will also definitely depend on your local real estate market, but ultimately nobody here can predict the future. For now, you need to set a hard budget first, inclusive of all long and short term goals, calculate from there how much you can comfortably handle on the mortgage, and plug in numbers into calculators with typical interest rates to see how much house you can actually afford, regardless of the preapproval amount listed on your lending letter. Play with the down payment amounts to see how much the monthly payment difference actually ends up being between 5%, 10%, 20% down, etc. Leave a bit of buffer for PMI for estimates below 20% down.

Some stuff to consider:

-You state single income, is your spouse planning on entering the workforce any time soon? If not, can you reduce paid child care needs?

-Sounds like you're public sector employee with pension, so are you still scheduled for any merit salary increases, or are you capped at "top step?"

-On the standard 30 year time frame, will the mortgage be paid off before you retire?

FWIW my median credit score was 804 out of the three bureaus to determine my PMI.

My company matches at 6% and just opened an HSA. I have that match right now, so I guess the next logical step would be to max out a Roth IRA.

>So if it was moved to an IRA, which is evidently taxable, do I have access to those funds to pay the tax burden?

A direct transfer from 401(k) to IRA - or 401(k) to a different 401(k) - is not a taxable event at all.

A 1099 showing a distribution does not imply that it was a taxable event. You do need to figure out where the funds ended up, in case the IRS wants to know.

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

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A few points to support investing on both. 401k's often have a company match (free money), Roth IRA's are very flexible and grow tax free, both are tax advantaged and good choices. It's good to have a mix of pretax and Roth money, that will usually give the most efficient tax savings in retirement. Depending on your current salary and desired lifestyle in retirement, usually maxing a Roth IRA isn't enough to retire comfortably.

With all that, the flowchart says to get the 401k match first, then max Roth IRA, then increase 401k to meet retirement contribution goal (HSA also gets mixed in there if you have access to one).

Not a robo-advisor, which will tend to put you in a complex mix of investments that churn and throw off taxable distributions.

A brokerage account money market fund is a fine place to hold an emergency fund. Otherwise, a broad market stock index ETF is usually the best choice for long term investing.

In my experience holding individual stocks often results in me "messing with" my investments too much, usually to my detriment.