Dang that’s tragic! I was just recently talking to my nephew (15) and his stepmom (who works some kind of government job but not a teacher) and they were saying how teachers are quitting left and right, moving to different states for other teaching jobs or just switching careers altogether because of how hard it’s getting to teach the kids. I’m thankful that I’m in a position so that my son can be homeschooled by my wife

This is particularly egregious because it looks like OP didn’t need any life insurance at all. And then his friend goes and convinced him to buy the worst type.

I should have been clearer. I was wondering what you were budgeting for, and how much you were setting aside for each item. Basically trying to rough out a budget to see if there was any way that this would look affordable. Without seeing it all, and just looking at your income and the rent number, I'd guess your best bet is to find a roommate.

It's not a bad fund. Especially if you're buying and holding for the long term.

Sweet, thanks my dude. I will contribute to the Pre-Tax 401k for the match, and then my Roth IRA past that :)

Or VTI?

Mathematically hitting the higher interest loan saves you the most money. The reason Dave and other experts say to hit the small loan first is because it can be accomplished faster and gives you a sense of accomplishment to help motivate you to keep going after more debt. It's more about psychology and growing momentum, but it's more effective when you have a wide variety of debts as it can be demotivating to throwing a lot of money at a really big debt while a bunch of small ones keep giving you tiny cuts.

If you're confident you can live frugally and consistently throw every penny you have at the higher interest debt until it is gone then do that.

If you've tried to tackle this before and gave up or keep getting sidetracked then maybe knockout the student loans first.

Try coming unprepared to an audit, and see how that goes then.

You have to file as married if you're married on the last day of the year. You can't file as single, you can file as married filing separately but it probably leads to more tax.

You should also see if you can get the escrow account waived/removed

Arguably the best book on beginner retirement investing. Anyone at any level can read this and understand it.

Do you mean pay the personal loan with 18% first? His student loan is only 5% on 6500. U mentioned pay student loan ASAP.. juat confirming.

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You can ask! The simple reason is you always pay taxes but you likely will pay less in retirement.

Why you should (almost) never contribute to a Roth 401(k) https://reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/10qwnrx/why_you_should_almost_never_contribute_to_a_roth/

Note: Depending on your MAGI you may be the almost never.

Thanks dude! So it seems I should just keep contributing for my match to my Pre-Tax 401k, and then contribute my own money past the match into my Roth IRA?

If so, can I ask why I should use a Pre-Tax 401k and not a Roth 401k? I like the idea of not worrying about the taxes later.

I generally find myself to be good with my spending. I do like to spend on traveling and vacations and don't want to be limited to not going because I'm tight on money. Seems like my gut is right telling me it's too tight.

Dealership are the most expensive places for maintenance, After the warranty go to a non dealership for repairs, For the recalls go to the dealership. I would just repair the car wheel sensor and tune up the engine and replace the oil with 100% synthetic oil (Non Dealership) and keep driving it until it rusts out, A vehicle is a depreciating asset just to go from A-B.

Why not VOO, I thought the S&P historically outperformed the total market index?

For transfers over $10,000 always, for electronic transfers - definitely when they ask.

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

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I love the flowchart! Here's the wiki page with more context and information.

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Personal finance is personal but why not calculate your fixed costs and multiply them by the months of emergency fund you desire?

Follow the flowchart.

My generic advice:

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

Here is the flowchart from the r/personalfinance subreddit’s Prime Directive. If you follow that, you will be ahead of almost all of your peers.

Stop by the sidebar to see the Common Topics, which include basic money handling and investing.

You don’t need to talk to anyone or buy some random book to do this. You have all the tools right here.

Own, no you don’t owe them that. Keeping the peace might matter, at which point an explanation can be helpful. I agree with you - but tried to focus on the PF bits without going into too many other family dynamics.

I have Income. Grad school pays me. Not a lot, but yeah enough to go by. I am looking to transition into full time work by summer.

Dave is wrong, from a financial perspective. You sound like you're fully aware of the problem with your debt. So you should tackle it head on by paying off the highest interest debt first.

The only people who should follow Dave's approach are the very ignorant and/or financially immature people who are only motivated to keep paying off their debt by seeing one of their accounts go to zero and feeling good about it.