I would not pay down a mortgage with such a fantastic rate. That is the right answer financially. You can do better than 3% with zero effort and low risk by dropping the cash in a HYSA.

Others see value in the security of owning their home and having no mortgage and that brings them peace of mind. Nothing wrong with that, but this is a financial sub.

I do not understand the "pay my wife back" part, but I guess thats a different matter entirely.

Everything looks pretty good. You have a few options that really depend on your goals/future plans.

- Increase 401k contributions. This makes the most sense if you don't plan to retire early. You can also consider backdoor roth.

- Increase brokerage contributions. This is ideal if FIRE is on the table and you want to set aside money for medium-long term bridge account. Index funds and/or bonds are both good options depending on your risk tolerance.

- Build CD ladder. This would work great for money in the 3-5 year timeline. Rates are currently great and would be locked in.

- Start a 529 or other savings vehicle/educational expense fund for kids. There are a lot of options here so do some research.

- Keep additional savings in HYSA. Rates are decent but not guaranteed. Cash position is good if you're concerned about a potential recession or want to keep options open (both for investments or fun). You could splurge on a nice vacation, a few lifestyle upgrades, look into alternative investments like REITS, rentals, etc. You've done all the correct things and deserve to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

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I only work 8 hours and my dog is a 70# Pitt bull. He has a larger bladder. He actually doesn't drink enough water IMO. Now a little poodle, I understand the need to let it out more frequently.

Would this be your first home? If yes, please note that first time home buyer benefits usually don't apply to investment property.

Even thought the market is not favorable right now, you could still find the right home with proper due diligence. Just make sure you take into consideration all the fees that come with it including taxes, insurance, HOA etc.

Additionally, if you're considering investing in a rental property, it's important to be aware of the regulations relating to landlord-tenant relationships. Keep in mind that if there are existing tenants in the property, you may not be able to charge market rates for the rental.

Hope this helps.

Best of luck

You actually can though not recommended to go this route as it’s time consuming. The account will be closed out then the money sent to the state. You can search for it on your state’s unclaimed funds site. Same happens for uncashed paychecks etc. It goes to the state and they have to hold it for a long time. My fiancé just did this for an old (5 years) uncashed paycheck he found. Just a few hundred dollars. The state had the funds. He had a bit of money from an old 401k as well and tracked it back to his old company and got that reissued as well. If they owe you they owe you. Their debt to you doesn’t disappear just because it’s unclaimed until a ton of time has passed. Decades but depends on the state.

The money is already gone and you can't get it back.

it also sounds like OP's employer may be contractually obligated to payoff their CDL loan directly thru the servicer, but is dropping the ball, which is unfortunate.

Every one says INVEST! invest in WHAT? That 70k could be 1,000,000 with a 50% return over 30 years. Or it could be $0 with a 0% return

I for sure set them up. They even opened the accounts for me but for some reason there's no contributions in them. Maybe I wasn't with the company long enough for then to start taking it out of my check. I'm going to call then tomorrow and find out

Anything but Dave Ramsey

But you don't "invest" $120k in a HYSA, you invest in the market which will likely pay more than 4% over the next 20 years.

Yea I did. I always set my 401k up even if I don't plan on staying with a company for long just in case the job ends up long term. I'm going to check all of my w2s

$6,100 / 31 = $197.

Thank you!

Pay 600 a month when you can and pay off the loan faster to save on interest then keep saving that amount once you are paid off. Then next time buy a car outright and save interest. You already wont be missing the money and its a great investment especially if you can find some competitive CD. This is the the best advice since you already purchased the car.

Nope, I'd never pay a dime of that off early.

Invest that $70k and it could be worth $1,000,000 in 30 years.

Which is a much better return than saving $80k on interest.

Since your kid is now an adult I would for sure set them up with their own bank so they know how it all works for when they are eventually on their own or married. I would also help them get started on a budget! I wish my parents showed me how to budget sooner in life. What we use now is YNAB and it is a life saver and makes money not as stressful.

Same! Or HCOL

You can ask your former employer to help you out with more money, but assuming you weren't under an employment contract, they aren't required to offer you severance at all. Your only recourse would be to quit, which probably won't make them change their mind since they're already terminating your employment...

Since it appears you work in California, file for unemployment immediately and apply to new jobs.

“Almost positive” vs 4 separate employers stealing his contributions.
Ima go with he didn’t setup the 401k contributions.

Could very possibly be that the company HAD a 401k, but for a number of reasons it was never setup. It’s common for new employees to not get access to full benefits (including 401k) for a while. Maybe you never stayed long enough to qualify?

An auto Lease is 5x worse than a regular payment.

Even in a high yield savings account at 4% return (this is how we are currently investing) her 70+my 50 would would only get us $33,600 in that 6yr period that’s less than half of what we would save on the interest of the mortgage

Nothing if you switch to another brokerage that doesn't compete with Vanguard and charge fees to discourage you to buy them.

ZERO! Car payments are stupid and new car payments even more so. Cars are financial cancer. Buy the best you can in CASH and drive the wheels off of it. Never mind the fact that new cars are genuine garbage that are intentionally designed not to be serviceable by their owners (serialized parts, right to repair). Too late now, but don't do it again. Some of the wealthiest people you will ever meet are driving 15 year old Hondas ;)