How did he bankroll renovations with no job? He's probably not entitled to get that back, but states differ some.

This will be spelled out in the lease, but you probably paid March Rent already + a $700 security deposit and the landlord wants to prorate your time in February at 250.

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I recommend staying with your parents a little longer. It is easy to underestimate the cost of moving out, especially if you forget to account the occasional expenses, such as six-month insurance payments. Add on lifestyle creep of wanting to go out more often, hosting parties, and other things that won’t happen as much at your parents’ house. If possible, save up a down payment on a small house. Let the equity build a little and roll into a slightly better place.

Now for the other side, your social life will be somewhat diminished. However, it is possible to maintain if you are intentional about staying connected with your friends. Another bit of advice is to live out of your vehicle - keep a strict gym schedule after work and keep extra changes of clothes for different situations in the car. This will let you avoid running back home in the middle of the day and you won’t get sucked into sitting around. Casual relationships will be more difficult to impress living at home, but a significant other that cares will be supportive. It it possible to get through with your mental health intact, especially if your parents aren’t too intrusive.

It will bomb your credit score, but you basically have no job and no great prospect of paying this debt, I think this likely makes the most sense. This will almost certainly bar you from this university in the future though.

you should join sub redit 🔥 FIRE group. that's all we do! lol

Thanks for the excellent, detailed post. I'm going to do this asap.

Question about hsa contributions. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to maxing out your hsa with a single paycheck vs having it maxed out with payments throughout the year?

>ve product which is why someone would use Fidelity for FXAIX vs Vanguard for VTSAX. Purchase them if you're using that broker but generally these mutual funds also have a ETF equivalent and in VTSAX case that would be VTI. If you really want VTSAX you can buy VTI with your Fidelity account.
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>I don't see much difference between VTSAX and FXAIX and comparing their historical returns are within .5% of each other and their top 10 holdings are the exact same but with different weightings.

you can be aggressive until your late 30s or early 40s. Since you are just starting.

>What are the mechanics of moving to something like a target date fund, if I had been fully invested in equities for the previous ~30 or so years? Sell the equities and simply buy into a target date fund?

VTSAX is an index fund that holds the entire U.S. stock market. It's pretty diversified just by itself. Popular tips would be to hold VTSAX and then get a bond fund or global stocks index fund/ETF

Yep I remember when they put that in place.

Not for a HSA. With HSA’s, there is no vesting period for your employer match. The instant your employer puts the match into your HSA, it is 100% yours to spend, invest, or transfer out to your personal HSA.

A HSA is literally a bank account (Health Savings Account) you owe and the money is not in the control on your employer.

stop contributing to your 401k and pay them off. then rip up those cards. your on time out.

I’m pretty sure can ask for first and last in every state, but not everywhere will let landlords do first, last, and a deposit on top. That’s the case in my jurisdiction, only first and last.

than credit card is probably making you more broke than anything. that is the true issue here...

Now is it worth getting the ETF equivalent or just go with Fidelitys native funds? I’m looking for low fees and decent returns 8-10% but I’d like to be aggressive until my mid 30s

You’ve confirmed my plan so thank you for that. Now should you be more aggressive in a taxable account or the retirement account?

I was thinking AI, Tech and Bioscience ETFs/Stocks for my taxable and simple yet promising Mutual funds for my IRA. Or would you be willing to risk more in the Roth? Looks like all tech stocks are on sale

I thought you weren't supposed to put all your eggs in one basket? Would it be better to invest in several things?

Not helpful but I am curious.

Personally I view mutual funds as broker's exclusive product which is why someone would use Fidelity for FXAIX vs Vanguard for VTSAX. Purchase them if you're using that broker but generally these mutual funds also have a ETF equivalent and in VTSAX case that would be VTI. If you really want VTSAX you can buy VTI with your Fidelity account.

I don't see much difference between VTSAX and FXAIX and comparing their historical returns are within .5% of each other and their top 10 holdings are the exact same but with different weightings.

I live in Orange County, CA. I overestimated slightly for utilities and grocery just in case.

I think you’re overestimating your groceries and utilities. What city do you live in? $2400/mo would get you a decent sized house in many US markets (aside from the big three or four cities).

You make plenty to move out. Living at home too long isn’t good for your self esteem and it doesn’t prepare you for real life. Life gets way too comfortable when you stay at home.

Moving out will be the best thing you’ll ever do.

A basic 50/30/20 budget would be a good place to start. That is 50% of your net pay to essentials (rent, utilities, bills, food, car, etc), 30% for wants (eating out, having fun, buying clothes and other wants), and 20% to savings / retirement. At your income would be:

$2,200 for rent, utilities, bills, car, groceries, etc $1,320 for fun $880 to savings

Based on that, $2,200 a month for rent alone is too high for your income. Even cutting back on the 30% wants category, it’s still too high. You probably need to be around $1,300 to $1,400 per month for rent. That means you either need to find a cheaper place to rent or get a roommate to live in a nicer place / area.

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Personally I like VTSAX or FSKAX better since thy are total market index (3000-4000 stocks)

S&P 500 is only the largest 500.

It's not a huge different to be honest because the indexes are market cap weighted. Meaning for example if all the "total market" is worth $100 billion (I'm making up numbers here) and all of Apple is worth $5.32 billion it will be 5.32% of the stock in your total market index (that percent is what Fidelity is currently showing for FSKAX).

So at the end of the day dollar per dollar S&P 500 makes up about 82% of your total market index, that's why they perform about the same.

However personally rather invest in the total market because you're getting exposure (good or bad) to thousands of other stocks.

Also I think the advice "just invest in S&P 500" is antiquated. it's not terrible advice, but the issue is say 40 years ago all these index funds didn't exist and S&P 500 was more or less the most diverse you could invest in.

ETF and mutual fund is the same thing. Use mutual fund in your retirement account and ETF in taxable. It's more tax efficient and also will avoid any possibility of wash sales (as long as you avoid Vanguard funds since they are technically the same fund)

They get you if you don’t pay for it by the end of the term. They hit you with all the back interest I believe. I use it all the time for larger purchases even though I have the money in the bank 10 fold. I don’t have to worry about having $700 gone out of one pay check I can just pay $120 for 6 months or $250 for 3 or whatever. ( I just threw random numbers out there)

Set up the auto payment and make sure it’s paid off before the end of the term and you’re good.

If you go that route, be sure to read the terms of refinancing. In essence, a refinance means someone else (another lender) pays the car off to give you better terms. Unfortunately, the car being paid off sometimes comes with penalties from your original lender - fly by night dealers will do anything to take advantage of these kind of things to make $