Ask for a breakdown of the costs, always ask questions. You probably paid a deposit and the last months rent or something like that. If you moved in half way though the month, the 250 sounds right but just ask for an explanation. Your lease will also tell you exactly what that 1300 was for and that should clear it up. You would probably owe the 600 + the 250 if that’s the case but just double check.

Good life advice, give people the benefit of the doubt but always make sure the numbers add up.

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I'm not sure. (PDF warning)

Under "Why not 100% stocks?"

> In short, although a strategy that fully invests a retirement portfolio in stocks can be perceived as riskier than most alternatives, is that really the case? Is a strategy that has the lowest probability of failure, provides the same or better downside protection, and higher upside potential really riskier than other strategies simply because a retiree is more uncertain about (how much higher will be) his bequest? If not, then having a retirement portfolio fully invested in stocks is a strategy that should be seriously considered by retirees.

One of my first job interviews after college was a bit of a bait and switch. Something like “Analyst position at major finance company”. Turned out to be a group interview trying to find people to sell life insurance.

There was only one happy person in that building and it was the “star salesman” who was around 30 and drove a Ferrari. I later learned his dad founded the company and he took over when dad retired.

The sheer misery for everyone else was palpable. Over hearing people on phones trying to sell this crap to relatives and acquaintances.

Years later I got cold called by the same company by completely different people to interview for the same thing. I went in just to waste their time. The only people I recognized from round 1 were Ferrari and his secretary.

Are you buying on Treasury Direct or on a brokerage? If TD and you have the discount rate, you can use the following formula with $100 as face value and 30 days as time: Price = Face value (1 – (discount rate x time)/360).

If through a brokerage, the price should be directly listed.

Is that health insurance through an employer? Or are you paying the full cost OOP yourself? My husband provides our family health insurance, as well as the bulk of our income. Losing his job means we have to provide insurance ourselves, the full cost. Which would be a significant expense that we don't currently have.

What did your lease agreement say?

I was thinking OP meant should they file married joint or married separate. Not single.

I was suggesting to do both married joint and separate and choose the one that saves them the most.

I guess I misread the question.

What I would do with what I know of your situation is do the local credit union where she will be living for checking and a credit card, then do a savings account online with Ally, Wealthfront, etc that pays higher interest so she has the habit of using that account as she gets older.

Absolutely not. You can borrow money for a house (and just about anything else while you're working) but you can't take a loan for retirement.

Also:

>I'm just thinking my rent money gains me absolutely nothing. Its a full net loss.

That's not true. It buys you housing.

>Whereas my 401k(all index funds) will return what like 10% at best per year over my lifetime?

Which adds up to a LOT of money by the time you retire.

>I'm spending 20k/year on rent, so why not just take the 401k hit but actually contribute to a mortgage instead of just pissing money away in rent?

Rent isn't just 'pissing money away' and houses have a lot of costs that will also feel like you get nothing for, like taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs, etc, etc.

how would I find the price I'm paying for the bill? I assume it's not 100(1-.04382) because then the actual yield would be way too high

No kidding. Tax season, there are so many posts like “how can I possibly owe money, I can’t believe it, I got a giant refund last year”.

That's 1000 savings every month give or take. I have retirement with a 5% match through work that comes out of my paycheck already. The 1000 is after retirement is taken out already.

By the way, READ THE CONTRACT from when you were hired and they paid your bonus.

Exactly what does it say about repayment if you don't stay a certain period of time? Is it supposed to be prorated?

Is there anything that your employer did where they are in breach of the contract?

You say the hours are insane. Is there anything they are doing that is potentially illegal?

(You could potentially go to a lawyer if they are doing something illegal.)

you will lose a significant chunk of your down payment when you buy only midway through the crash.

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What doesn't make sense is getting into debt, if you already have experience in an engineering role. It also doesn't make financial sense to switch from a field that is under saturated with employees to one that is over-saturated, but if that would make you happier, then it trumps the financial incentive.

Do you have experience programming? Even Verilog and VHDL experience would carry over software development, as would scripting, such as using shell scripts or TCL. Your best bet to make the transition is to spend a few years working for a small semiconductor company, in your current line of work, that would also let you take on programming projects. If you haven't asked yet, see if your current company will let you.

Experience is far more valuable than earning a degree in a different field, so if you can transition your experience from electrical engineering to programming, it'll be a much better use of your time, and you won't have to go into debt.

I never had the money to spend. I only received $13k. I do have that. I don't have $20k though.

These are annualized. To find what you'd actually make, you can take the par value ($100), subtract the price you're paying for the T-Bill, and divide by the price you're paying. That'll get you the yield for the period between you buying the bill and the maturity date (30 days for yours).

Reasonable. Not everyone reading your comments assumed so much. This whole comment chain turned into a nit-picking back and forth rather than advice for the OP.

A 401k loan is somewhat better than actually “raiding” it but if the market recovers while the loan is out that is obviously a terrible idea.

If OP could pay it back very quickly it wouldn’t automatically be a terrible idea especially if they can get a better interest rate that way.

Considering how often it comes up here and how often people are confused by it, it may as well be a secret to be discovered.

Unless it's stated otherwise, yields and rates are annualized.

This but it might be a good idea to leave at least one month in the emergency fund. 8.5% is bad, but not EXTREMELY bad.

Married. Filing Jointly will likely result in the best outcome.

There are exceptions to this, but they are unusual. (Google: Why file married separately and you'll get loads of sources citing when)