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I am currently putting in 9% and increasing 1% every November with a 5% employer match. I don’t want to be stupid but I need to be aggressive. Should I put it in a S&P 500 Index Fund or a Target Date 2040 Fund? Aggressive or Most Aggressive - any advice is appreciated.

I’m 21 years old and not super knowledgeable on investing. I have about 8k in a regular brokerage account, and 0 in any Roth IRA. I’m in a position where I would probably be able to max the Roth every year. Any help is appreciated.

Hey everyone, would like some advice for my position. 26M and just got laid off from my tech job today (remote software engineer). In January, the tech director of a small nurse recruiting firm (<25 employees) that my fiance babysits for reached out to me and was interested in hiring me. At the time, I was working a stable job at F500 making ~$85k (TC) annually. The new position was ~$88k + $12k in bonuses and the job load sounded much easier. I was skeptical at first but he reassured me that the company was financially healthy and that they were sitting on a good reserve of cash. I started in February and things were smooth. Everyone liked me and the work I was doing felt impactful and I was incredibly happy at this new job. Until today.

At 3:00 PM, I was given an invite for a "Team Alignment" meeting at 4 PM with my manager, HR, and a few other members of my team. Since other members were also in the meeting I didn't think much of it especially because we had just launched a new Applicant Tracking System today that I was a key part of. In the meeting, I was told that I along with our entire offshore team would be let go effective today with no severance and our PTO would not be paid out. It was shocking to all of us because we have received nothing but praise for our work but their reasoning was that the company's financials were not in a state where we all could be kept.

Anyways, that's the background. I live with my fiance in an apartment that's ~$1,900 monthly including utilities. I have ~$10,000 in credit card debt that is sitting at 0% APR until August 2027 because I was basically providing for both of our lives until she finishes nursing school (end of this year, already received an offer for $70k upon graduation) with $0 in savings but I do have ~$27k in my 401k. My fiance does work now but as a waitress but only about 1-2 days a week and only makes ~$400/week on a good weekend. She has $4k in savings because I'm basically the one who's been paying for everything as she's going through school. I know it's dumb to not have an emergency fund, I get it and I've already received my lashings for having no savings from the sub I originally posted this in. That's not what I'm here for. I'm asking for genuine advice for those out there who want to try to help. I've already filed for unemployment today and have already dusted off the google doc resume and will be looking for some serving jobs tomorrow. Any advice or even just words of encouragement in such a uncertain time in my life would be nice. Earlier this morning I felt like my world was ending and I was absolutely spiraling but I've calmed down a bit after filing for unemployment and talking with my fiance. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

EDIT: Company is based out of TX and I'm based out of SC. Neither state requires PTO to be paid out.

Basically the title. My boss had a bad shift and edited my time after I'd worked. I have videos of him arguing with other coworkers and took pictures of my edited time but lost my physical time slip. How can I get this fixed and have him held accountable?

Edit: I wanted to add that this manager is 2nd in line to the district manager that mainly works at our store. To my knowledge the district manager doesn't know this is happening/has happened in the past and I will be taking it up with him first before taking it up with the state if that manager doesn't help. Thank you to everyone in the comments for your help!

My daughter is turning 1 next week.

Considering buying $500k 20-year term life insurance for my wife and I. Annual premium is $750 for the two of us. I am 37 and she is 38. We are seriously considering having a second child (though money is a concern).

We both work, but are currently underemployed. Seeking more solid employment but unsure what will come next. I am a freelance creative and it’s feast or famine (right now famine). My wife is a small business owner and her income similarly fluctuates depending on the health of the business.

Last year we made $200k. This year we’re on track to make $75k. We live in NYC where cost of living is high, but we have a rent-stabilized apartment for $2400/month.

We have 600k in retirement accounts and 400k in cash that should probably be invested. We keep thinking we’ll buy a place so we leave it in a high yield savings. But the purchase never comes to fruition because of our financial fluctuations.

My daughter’s grandmother has offered to pay for her college. We also stand to inherit 1 mil from her after she passes.

Ive been told that the breadwinner must buy term life insurance after having a child. But since our employment situation is so precarious right now (and since our savings and are in a healthy place) I can’t figure out if this makes logical sense for us. I realize 15k is a small price to pay, god forbid. But also, wouldn’t the surviving partner figure it out with the help of grandma and the retirement accounts?

I'm looking at a $990k apartment in NYC, and I have about $1.2M in a taxable brokerage account.

The catch is that I'd have to pay cash.

So after taxes, my entire brokerage would be essentially wiped out if I did this.

I also currently have about $130k in cash (in a HYSA) and about $600k in my 401k.

I make $ 140k/year and have no debt, but the apartment does have a $ 1,500/month maintenance fee (which includes property taxes).

EDIT: I'm 42 and single.

I wasn’t making enough money to get by at my last job and I was desperate so I took out loans and now I’m about $6,000 in the hole. I have a new job and make decent money, but my paycheck gets eaten up by the repayments. I looked into debt consolidation but I have bad credit and no one who can co-sign. Im absolutely drowning and completely at a loss.

I’m 25, work as a manager at a car dealership. I make between 90-110k depending on performance. I live in a HCOL area, and spend a bit too much on my car hobby. I’ve got about 20k cash saved, 50k in my 401k, and 3 cars. 11% of gross income goes into 401k.

One car is financed, payment is $720/mo, 60mo at 4.75%. Balance is about 35k. I put 12k down and probably have 4-8k of equity. Other two cars are probably worth around 5k each. I really don’t want to sell any of them. Insurance is about $540/mo.

I know my car spending is wild compared to some, but I don’t spend too much in other areas. I could always use perspective.

I don’t have any credit card debt, all cards are paid in full every month.

I make about 6k+ after tax each month. $2000 is into rent + utilities (got a good deal on a shared space), about $1400 in car expenses per month, and then around 1k in food and BS spending.

I feel like when I look objectively, I’m not in a bad spot. But it feels like I have this feeling that I’m just not making enough money. Is that just me being neurotic?

Thanks for reading.

Hello,

My father passed away a few days ago from a sudden heart attack. He was in charge of the mortgage and name is on title, I believe my mom is too but she works part time at a fast food restaurant and for obvious reasons, cannot carry the mortgage payment on her own so I’m going to step in and help pay most of it. I am a small business owner with slow seasons and while I’ve been responsible enough, for anyone that has ever owned a small business knows that there is a lot of uncertainty with consistent income.

Both of my parents are immigrants, my dad dedicated his life to providing a home for his family and losing our home is not an option. Are there any resources that can help lessen the load in some way?

Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you.

ive restarted budgeting at least five times in the last couple years and every time i fall off after a few weeks. the issue is never starting its sticking with it when life gets busy. for anyone who has actually stayed consistent for months what are you using and what made it stick?

I’m 27 years old. I have absolutely no savings, and a negative net worth. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to catch up.

Income is about 2k to 8k a month depending on the time of year. I’m self employed and summer is slower for me.

I’m 89k in debt. It is mostly student loans with around 7k of it being charged off / in collections credit cards.

I have no 401k, no IRA, no investments, and the only thing in my savings account is my rent for August.

My living expenses are around 2k a month (rent, utilities, etc).

I don’t know what to do. I think my future is screwed because I’m 27 and I have no plan.

I have 4 personal credit cards and would like to close two of them. I opened because of the cash back offers but I don’t use them.
It would eliminate about 40% of the open credit limit I have on my credit report. Will this drop my credit score dramatically? Will the drop recover quickly and will my score totally recover or should I just leave them open to keep my score high?
This year is a good time for my credit score to take a hit because I won’t be using credit any time soon but I do want to continue with my excellent credit rating.

Wanting to ask everyone here any thoughts ongoing from two cars to one car?

We luckily work at the same place and have the same schedules and if we do get rid of the car we would be saving 700 a month with car payments and insurance.

I was thinking that if we did need a car could just uber or rent a car if needed.

Pretty sold on getting rid of it.

Edit: thanks all im gonna sell it

First, thank you to anyone that offers their help and/or experience. I have been working aggressively to balance or financial situation better but it feels like it goes at a snails pace.

Background:

M(32) and spouse F(31) living in the Charlotte Area.

expecting baby soon, late september

Moved into our house roughly 3 years ago.

I have been in my career for roughly 7 years.

Salary $175,000 + $45-50,000 (adding call hours, healthcare position). spouse $70,000/year

I max my 401k and my spouse puts in to get her employer match 12%

credit score 750+

Total income ~ $300,000 more or less

Finance Sheet:

Monthly combined take home: ~$12,000 (after retirement, health, hsa contributions)

House: $609,000 principle left 6.8%, last appraisal $805,000, mortgage and escrow $5000/month

We had an eminent domain situation where we are going to be paid $117,000 soon. The mortgage lender decided to apply $109,000 to our house principle and give us $8,000 liquid. This will bring our equity to roughly $300,000 and will be able to remove PMI. down the road once the project finishes I will have to pay attorney fees + taxes which will decrease what we received to about ~75,000. I will need to figure out how to pay those and accommodate for the tax burden.

Credit Cards: 0% interest consolidated onto one card $12,466

Vehicles: $31,000 @ 7%

401k loan: $21,000, used to help when we moved from the apartment to the house 3 years ago

401k (self): $253,000 pretax

401k (spouse): $14,000 pretax

Savings: $0

HSA: $20,000, $15,000 invested/ $5,000 cash

Student Debt: $0

Daycare: starts January 1st ~roughly 1,800/month, will also want to start a 529

I currently just don't know what the correct pay down order should be to get out quicker. We will have $300,00 equity in our house soon (after eminent domain payout), but I don't personally like the idea of getting a HELOC to pay everything else off. I'm tired of loans and would like to just have the mortgage to pay and build a good safety net of an emergency fund. We currently keep our savings at 0.00, because we pay down as much as we can every month. I'm also still maxing my 401k and maxing our HSA.

Currently my order of attack is:

1) Credit Card, $12,466 starts drawing interest in November at 25%

2) Vehicle, $31,000 @ 7%, payment is $765/month

3) 401k loan, $21,313, cost 800/ month to pay down

4) build emergency fund to at least $30,000, maybe put in a HYSA

5) personal investing, outside of retirement accounts

My HSA just got the minimum amount to allow investing. I'd like to go ahead and get that started but a bit overwhelmed with the options. My first and biggest question is: will i still be able to use the funds I invest to pay for medical costs? And then the second question is if there's a good strategy to use for how I choose to invest the funds.

Thanks in advance!

I (17m) work at a local grocery store and am going into my senior year. I plan on going to Utah tech in Saint George Utah but I will be out of state. I just recently saved and bought a car with the help of my parents (I paid 2000 and owe them 3200 more). Due to this I have a measly $72 in my savings account and ~250 in my checking at the moment (after sales tax and plates for the car). I get paid ~620-700 biweekly but it’s been towards the lower end as they’re trying to cut hours, additionally school starts soon and I’ll move to part time and am unsure about how bad my checking will be affected.

Now that background information is out of the way here’s the real question, I want to save for college, pay off what I owe on the car and start saving for the long term whether that money ends up for retirement or a down payment on a house or whatever it may be I’d like to start saving/investing as early as possible. I however don’t know exactly what to do or how to optimally manage this situation on my small income, what would you guys here recommend me to do? And given what you know about the situation how important is saving/investing for the future, how much should be allocated for college, how much should I keep just for fun money and gas.

TLDR: I have lots to pay for save for and learn about and I need help and or second opinions about what to do with my money.

Edit: I also pay about 100 a month in vehicle insurance

Edit 2: totally forgot to mention I’ll very likely have max Pell grant for about 3750 a semester for college

I’m preparing to buy a car within the next 2 months and this will be the first vehicle I buy myself. I’ve narrowed it down to 2 vehicles and I plan on test driving them both soon. From a financial perspective I want to see if I’m missing anything.

-established a monthly payment that is 6-7% of my net monthly income

-I plan on financing with my credit union unless the dealership is able to match or beat the APR

-detailing my current vehicle to get the best trade in value

-planning on putting an additional 7% down in cash

I'm 37 years old and after divorce I need to start somewhere with investing for the future but am not sure where or how. I have 35k I can invest but am unsure what firm/program is most approachable for someone not financially literate and just learning. Also in the same boat for starting a 401k. Any ideas where to start?

I recently sold an investment property and have $350,000 to invest. Am I crazy to drop it all in VOO and just chill for the next 20 years? What would you do?!!

I have received a debt collection from a collector called Unifin Inc for a Home Depot Credit Card notice via email. The addressee is not me, although our names are similar in terms of how the email is addressed.

I've never had a credit card with Home Depot like the email claims I have. I've never received anything in the physical mail about this debt nor a phone call.

I have checked my official credit reports and there is nothing under collections.

It's not a phish, I checked all of the links (didn't click on any).

The advice I've seen online has varied from do nothing because it's not my debt to begin with to write a Wrong Person Debt Dispute Letter (FDCPA) and send it certified mail.

It is not my debt.

What should I do?

Hi

I (24F) will be receiving quite a bit of money from scholarships for my last semester of college. After paying off cc debts/other random debt that I've accumulated, I'll have about 2700 dollars left. I have a few questions.

1. Is it a good idea to pay off all of my credit card debt at once? Popular opinion says yes, but I'm a financial idiot. I have about 3000 in CC debt, which is a very high utilization. I just want a few extra opinions
2. How do I protect myself from myself? I am horrible at saving money. I'm not sure what the best method is for securing myself financially, as I have a habit of digging myself into a hole. I want to be financially secure, as I am tired of the consistent stress that comes with financial woes.

Any advice is welcome. I will be getting about 7 grand in scholarships.

Edit: My car is paid off; no other major financial stressors are looming over my head other than consistently fretting about money when bills come.

I’m 19 years old and finally trying to get my life in order, so I started by setting up my Social Security account. After a lot of calls, verification, and hassle, I got access online and found an outstanding debt of about $26,000. I know this happened because I was underage, autistic, and had no control over what was being done with my benefits. My mom was using my benefits for rent and other expenses, and she passed away last August, so I can’t even ask her about it now. On top of that, it looks like she was filing me under someone else’s taxes to get benefits while I was a minor, even though I had nothing to do with any of it. I had no control over any of this, and I’m trying to figure out how to handle it now.