Every place I've ever been to wanted first, last, deposit, and a listing fee

True. I’m fixing up my budget right now to be able to afford and save. I’m already pretty good with my money and don’t really spend much besides rent / groceries / cat food anyway lol so I’m feeling good

Follow the wiki though. Make sure you have an emergency fund.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/

https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.png

live like a college student from july-september

ramen, bags of rice, beans

It sounds like the $1300 could be the deposit and last month’s rent (meaning when you move out) and the $250 represents a pro-rated amount for February. But, I’m a stranger on the internet that hasn’t read your lease. You should still contact your landlord to confirm.

[removed]

Thanks, and should I just pay the extra payment that would be my credit card usage towards it then?

> and last month rent

Is that normal? I've lived at 3 different complexes in 2 different states over the last 6 years and none of them ever asked for last month rent upfront.

However, they were all managed by businesses, not private rentals or something.

This should all be spelled out in the lease though. The deposit/first/last month and when first rent is due and how much.

Right, I’d only have 12months to pay it down. I’m positive I could do that just worried that paying off the 12% loan would wipe our account. I see your point though thank you seems like the better option

Yeah Thank y’all! I believe I paid for March’s rent in February and he’s asking for February pro rated rent

Thank you for the sound advice, and honestly cutting through the political noise. I saw a lot of posts today about Republican grandstanding at cutting federal telework policies and other things basically designed to starve out fed staff. Made me second guess whether it'd be even right to walk into a situation like that, ya know?

But you're right, it is basically recession proof. My current job doesn't require a clearance, but it's a foot in the door and as long as I get any part time work cleared, I should be just fine financially. As you say I won't get rich, but a solid life is what I'm after. I grew up a child of Central European immigrants so as you may imagine there's some leftover prestige in working for the state and respect for those civil servants/contractors, even if the average American thinks of them as just some bean counter or under-achieving IT student lol.

I am serving the nation, in my own way.

> I think the public transit in DC is pretty good. Haven’t used it in a while but always felt like I could get to where I needed to go in DC.

For context, around here the Commission for the Blind can do most everything except transit. It's really only Uber or Lyft, and they can't subsidize that (for obvious reasons, cost is too wildly in flux). There is zero public transit here, unless you want to go from your hotel to the Boardwalk once per day.

Is 4k on the low end of what might be enough to get someone set up? I know inflation has been kind of rough lately, eggs at $6/unit and all. I figure even if I don't put in 30 years, I can at least put in a solid decade or so, and get some type of secured pension.

[removed]

Oh that would make a lot more sense!

Assuming your interest rate is fairly low, it's usually better not to pay off your mortgage.

That being said, we're also human, not robots. Some people aren't disciplined enough to have extra money in their accounts each month and won't actually invest it. In that case, paying off the mortgage faster is smarter than nothing.

Youre definitely not going to complain that you have too much equity in your home or that you don't have a mortgage because you paid it off early. Could you have made more money in the market? Probably. But that's assuming you would've actually invested.

If you have the option of having a loan at 0% or a loan at 12%, I know which I would take. Obviously, that CC won't be at 0% forever, but if you are confident you can pay it down before the rate resets, you would come out ahead. That said, the rate on that CC is going to reset to something like 27%, which is even more insane, so before taking on that debt, be damn sure you can pay it back before it resets.

[removed]

4.7% interest right is right on the edge of a recommendation either way. Right now, high yield savings accounts can get you 4%+ which would come close to cancelling out any interest charged.

If you value having money saved and available more, then I would contribute to a high yield savings account.

There’s also an argument to be made that a car is a depreciating asset and should be paid off as soon as possible.

It’s really your choice as long as you’re saving the same amount of money you’d be paying extra.

[removed]

My lease started (Feb 13th), The fee was sent as an invoice and attached was “pro-rated (apt #) move in 2/13)” exactly identical to the original rent and security deposit invoice I paid went first moved in just without the pro-rates part

What's the interest rate on the mortgage - that is the single most relevant piece of information to making a financial decision about whether to pay towards it or not and you didn't even mention it.

😆 I feel your pain . I also have a champagne taste and a beer budget. And of course you don't have to live where your real estate is. But a duplex and hire someone to rent and take care of it. Doesn't have to be vacation property.

And another option is go in with your friends on a place to live. That one gets tricky of course.

And as one person said , just keep doing what you are doing , but at a higher level. Keep saving investing in stocks. Compounding is very powerful.

The excess contribution is rounded to $10 per Pub 590-A worksheet. You need your MAGI.

You can remove more, or even the entire contribution. But the more you remove, the more penalty applies if you have a positive net income attributable to the contribution.

If you didn't have a gain, just remove all and re-contribute the full $6k to traditional IRA.

Iras and life insurance transfer as a matter of law. Meaning beneficiaries is all of it. Will would only come into effect if no beneficiary listed and went to estate.

[deleted]