Stop worrying about your score. Fix your debt. A good credit score should never be your top priority.

You are in collections. You have had a massive hit to your credit. Fixing that will be the best step.

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My car payment is more than that and I make only 60k a year. If you’re still saving 1k a month, you’re fine. You can always cut back on the extra 1k to your student loans if you run into some issues. Enjoy the car :)

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• /r/mintuit and /r/ynab

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Your in laws are proposing you and your husband enter into terrible investments because it's what would be most convenient for them and their family (like the member who lives rent-free in the duplex).

If they need financial assistance and you want to help, fine. Cut them a check.

But buying houses with them is a really bad idea.

You got a 20k retention bonus. Your employer sent 7k of that to the IRS and you claimed it on your tax return.

Now you pay back your employer 20k and then you get the 7k back from the IRS when you file next years taxes. You might be able to amend your taxes to get this earlier. This is a relatively simple situation, but go to a tax preparer.

Like others are saying, you can also ghost your employer or try and negotiate down the payback.

A HYSA isn't $ doing nothing when they return 3-4% right now. $5K is a good start, but if you need that money in the next year, it needs to be in something safe, like a CD or a HYSA.

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On these bigger one-time payments often a larger percentage is withheld. As I understand it, it could even be obligated by the IRS to do it like this.

So you will have to wait to get it back.

However, when you get a new job in 2023, you could aim to under-withhold some taxes there, so that every paycheck is a bit bigger, and after the end of 2023 you get a smaller refund. (Use the IRS W4 calculator to get the "correct" amount of taxes withheld, taking into account all that you earned and will earn in 2023 and the amount of money that was already withheld).

Lol I agree.

Go splurge on a ribeye steak and buy some VTI.

I don’t get it either.

Thanks for your reply.

I did cover co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, HMO vs PPO, etc.

However, these kids don’t even remember what they had for dinner last night.

I bank with Discover and I love them! There are tons of no fee ATMs. They also have a student credit card which helped me build credit when I was in college. I’ve been with them for probably 10 years and I have never had any bad experiences. I get my paychecks early always, their customer service is top tier, and banking is so easy. Everything is all in one place online.

If it's already paid up in full, you could keep it or you could not. $30k isn't a whole lot as far as life insurance policies go, but it will at least allow your dependents to pay for funeral costs and maybe some months of bills if you die. On the other hand, if you DID cash it out, and put that $3,500 into an index fund and let it ride for a few decades, you MIGHT come out over that $30k. Really up to you.

Very important to understand the difference between volatile and risky

>What he got was regressions, statistics, etc w/ a bit of stock picking (no mutual funds allowed!), etc.

Had to teach regressions & some stats too. For my stock project I used MarketWatch’s virtual game (real-time stocks, but fake money, and tracks it all for them), not only did it allow funds but even limit/stop orders (none of my students used that feature though).

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Definitely agree - we did a lot of work on this house that we're currently in so some went to that, and we're 32 years old so haven't had a lot of time to really accumulate yet. My income before these three years was much closer to just the base income.

Echoing what others have already said: spend less.

The people that pay off that much that quick have cut back A LOT. Like, never going out to eat, basic vacations, cheap(ie-free) entertainment, inexpensive hobbies and living well below their means. It’s awesome to have done it, but it takes a ton of discipline.

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Unfortunately it wasn't anywhere in writing. My manager verbally said I would only need to work maybe 1 or 2 overnight shifts a year, but I have worked numerous, then expected to come in for evening shift. This has resulted in migraines and vomiting, which I wasn't even allowed to leave for. I knew it would be every other weekend, but didn't know how awful the scheduling would be.

Its not really illegal, just inconsiderate.

I would base it on your base income so you aren’t in a world of hurt if for some reason the bonus doesn’t go thru or severely reduces in the future. Unless you build up enough of a cash emergency fund that it’s not an issue.

With that type of income your overall savings seems to be light though. I would start saving a higher percentage of your overall income…like maybe the entire bonus.