thank you so much!!

If you borrowed $17k for a car while making $18k/year, you have paid way too much for your car. The absolute maximum vehicle value you can afford is half your annual income, and in general way less than that would be better. It's just too hard to save money while paying for that vehicle. Even if it were already paid off, the depreciation is costing you too much money.

So if it's a struggle to find a car that fits that limit (or if the only cars available are so damaged that they're costing you tons in repairs), then the real financial advice is to figure out a plan to be making a lot more money in a few years.

Yeah, I'd be paying extra to get rid of this debt; 5% interest isn't terrible but the less interest you pay, the better. And take really good care of that car so you minimize repairs and maximize lifespan, while in the meantime figuring out how to move into a career that will boost your salary. Maybe that requires some education or training, so the smartest financial thing you can do is figure out how to pay for that while keeping other expenses low. The reality is that there aren't a lot of good financial answers while making $1500/month, because no matter how good your financial choices and budgeting are, everything is always going to be tight and unexpected emergencies are going to put you in a big hole.

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And if your partner is more focused on getting an expensive engagement ring now, you might want to reconsider the engagement.

If you take the extra money you were going to put towards your mortgage and invest it instead, your returns will be greater than what you gain in equity. You can usually get roughly an 8% return in the stock market, and hell, even CDs are offering like 5% right now. So if you keep that up for 30 years, your investments will far outpace what you can gain in home equity.

Not until you sell it. On a given year, you will deduct the purchase price of the property (minus land value), divided by 17.5 I believe. IRS uses a depreciation schedule of 17.5 years for real property.

One is that stock market grows faster on average. You make more money by investing.

Two is liquidity. It is much better to have money in brokerage account than in equity in house. The equity is harder to access when you need it, you have to sell the house or take out home equity loan. Brokerage account is fast to sell and transfer and can use for anything you want. A good example is can use the money for down payment on new house and wait to sell old house instead of having to sync the sales.

This assumes that you are the kind of person that can save and not spend it. If you can't then paying down mortgage is way to save money without having access.

I've lived in the DC area my entire life and the metro rail here is honestly one of my preferred rail lines. It goes pretty far into Maryland and VA - though it won't get you to say, Virginia Beach or Baltimore.

Honestly if my partner didn't live all the way across the country I'd probably never leave here - it's just so much nicer than any of the other areas I've visited bar like, San Diego.

If you can get a job that requires security clearance, you'll be pretty much set - not sure about how it works now but back when I was graduating, places were really hurting for people who could pass the clearance (granted this was back in like 2016). I have family who've worked in the government and while it's not the most glamorous of jobs, the security cannot be beat, so it's a tradeoff on that front.

Doesn't property value appreciate though, generally speaking?

In the future, avoid getting into this situation but not over withholding. You are restricting yourself for no reason. You do not want a massive tax refund. You want bigger checks.

Go to the free IRS withholding calculator and enter your values. Then update your W4 with your employer.

Cheapest way is to just pay them off with the money he has already. But if he wants to hold on to it then we are just debating the way that gets it all paid off most quickly.

Remember the big tax savings, depreciation of the property.

> an hour or two of work for you to put it all in a spreadsheet

More like multiple weekends of hell

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Sure, anything you can do to pay it down faster.

Wait until the last free month of 0% APR and assess then do a consolidation loan. Rates will probably be lower by then anyways.

I’m not sure why there are only two choices. You can do both.

If your rate is low then it makes no sense to pay the mortgage off early except peace of mind.

If your rate is high you can pay do both- pay extra while investing. If rate drops you can refinance and reassess. Nothing is set in stone.

Does she know about this debt or is it hidden from her? Are you guys married? Im assuming even if you arent you’re living together you guys are practically married even if not legally married because of the child. If she doesnt know she should know about your debt you should tell her even if you guys keep separate accounts. Hiding debt isnt good. It doesnt matter if she’s making 10% RIO on the market when you’re paying back 20%. Overall together you’re both losing money. For rich and for poor, all that stuff.

Right now it's very low, but will go up incrementally over the next five years until it hits market value.

My interest rate is quite low for now. What's the reasoning behind not paying off the mortgage?

I lived in Arlington during my time in college. My biggest mental hurdle is just theh fact that most Metro stations aren't like.. right next to housing, you have to walk/drive a good distance. I am reliant on rail not just to get to work, but to get around NoVA and the DMV at large.

Wrt renting, I saw one place with no joke a 20-30 minute walk time to the Metro (in Reston) offered at $1,200/month... What? Prices can't be that crazy, can they? This was for a basement unit, if that matters.

> Promotion potential: there’s no real upper limit given personal ability and time. My current Director is someone I helped train. My desk today sits ~10’ from where my desk was 12 years ago.

I'll be coming in at a GS5-1, with Excepted Schedule A service.. You think it's impossible for me to make GS10 by the time I'm in my early 30s? I am unsure about getting a clearance, but I want to set myself up for a solid career in the event my vision does start to go more than it already has.

> The further out you live, the cheaper housing gets. I commute ~50 miles by train and pay less than half DC rates. Nearly all of my coworkers commute by rail.

Does the Metro really go out that far?? I always had this assumption the Orange Line went maybe 30 miles as the crow flies into Virginia, and barely into Maryland. Cool stuff :D I am happy you've managed to make it work so long.

I've only ever seen deposit + pro-rated first month + application/admin fee....but I've only lived in a few places so yeah if asking for more is normal, that very well could've been what OP paid extra for.

Yep yep. Definitely going to be vetting out the deductions game for all it's worth!

Thanks.

The best solution is probably to get a cheaper ring, but if you're not willing to compromise on that, why not get a credit credit card with a 0% APR promo AND a sign up bonus?

Yes and if the business spends its revenue then it didn't make any profit to be taxed on. Maybe your existing car is now the business vehicle ... etc