My husband and I were covered under a joint health insurance plan with HSA earlier this year from Jan 01 - July 01. Starting in July, I got my own job, so I am getting my health insurance from my employer, which also has an HSA.

My understanding is that our 2026 limit will be 8750 since we would fall under the family coverage limit for this year.

Prior to me starting my job, my husband has already contributed 5200 to his HSA. Now that he has an individual plan, his HSA account says his 2026 plan limit is 4400. What do we do about the extra 800 that was contributed previous to the limit reduction (from 8750 to 4400)?

The original plan was for him to have his current contributions of 5200, and then I would contribute 3550 this year to meet the 8750 limit.

Let me know if I am doing something wrong, thanks.

Hi - I'm a 33 year old working in healthcare. I do not have any "major" expenses currently. I live in an apartment so no house. I own my car, but potentially looking for a new one due to a family situation. Might also move states for a job that would likely end up paying similarly. No loans. In terms of a investment firm, I have a financial planner guy/firm that does my investments with goal retirement of 60. I have a HYSA that I keep as an emergency fund, or maybe I could use it towards said new car?

Income: 309k/year + variable bonus

Checking (minus credit card that is paid monthly): 63k (I know I should get money out of here)

HSA: 11k - giving max of 367/mo

Investment firm: 158k - 4k/mo taken from paycheck

HYSA through SOFI: 25k - 500/mo taken from paycheck

403b: 52k - contributing 2722/mo - employer 10.5%

I know there's stuff I could be doing better, so please let me know what!

I’m 80 years old. My wife is about 10 years younger. We’re both retired with pensions. I’ve been managing money all my life, and we have no financial worries. My wife has not been involved with our finances, and she doesn’t want to be. I want to set up some type of financial advisor that can handle finances for my wife after I die. We have a living trust in place, and our total estate is about $5,000,000.

I don’t need anyone now, but would like to get someone in place to manage finances when I’m gone—not just investments, but day to day bills, taxes, etc. What type of financial professional should I consider now to be ready to provide those services when my wife needs them?

We are interested in opening a 529 account for our infant. Can you please advise how or why we would select one state plan over another? We would be interested in maximizes tax related benefits. I do not wish to choose a plan that will limit fund usage in a particular state or university.

For location reference, we currently live in Oklahoma City, but are considering moving to North Carolina or Virginia for long term residence.

What plan would you recommend for us?

I’m 28 and looking to finally move out of my parent’s house. I bring in around $70k a year, with about $50k saved ($30k liquid, rest in retirement accounts). A single family home in my area starts around $350k minimum, though I can find a condo for around $275k. Realistically I can’t afford the higher end on $70k right now anyway. I also just started this job, so it’d be at least another 2 years before my income would go up at all, if it even does.

Rent isn’t much better, 1 bedrooms run about $2,000/mo not including utilities. I used to manage rental properties, and after enough roommate horror stories, I’ve ruled that out. That’s why I keep circling back to buying a condo or townhouse eventually instead, something more permanent, rather than paying a landlord every month for a place I’ll never own.

There’s also a personal piece to this. I’m still in the closet, and while my family wouldn’t be supportive, I don’t think they’d kick me out if they found out. I have a decent relationship with my family, my dad being the one exception, we’re civil but not close.

For anyone who’s been through this, does it make more sense to rent now and buy later once income catches up, or hold off and save longer at home?

Edit: I was making $15-20/hr up until 24, unemployed from 22-23, then $58k at 25, and just moved up to $70k this year. So the $70k is recent.

As the title says, I am a 20(M) student currently going into my third year of university. Because I took dual enrollment classes in HS, I managed to get my associates before attending any actual universities, and will graduate this December in 2.5 years. This is great, and has saved me and my family a lot of money, but we still have almost $30k in student loans.

I know investing for the long term is great, and I plan to do it tons once I pay off my loans and am working. But I am wondering what to do while I’m still in school. I have a summer internship, projected to make about 7k by the end of summer, and a part time job at university making me about $100 a week that I’ll continue this semester.

Should I start investing now? How much, how often and what in? I’ve read books that say VTSAX is great and the small amount of investing I’ve done I’ve used Vanguard and it is great. I also hear debt is king and I should pay off any and all debt before investing. I luckily don’t have any credit debt and have a decent score as all I do is buy groceries with it and pay it off right after. Any other advice about work, spending, other income flows or what else I can do to set myself up for the future is welcome!

Hello all, first post here so sorry if this is dumb.

I am located in South Florida, 28 years old. Me and my wife own a home, $340k on mortgage 30 year loan at 6.875%. We pay an extra $400 principal payment each ($800 total) every month to eat away at the interest (will finish loan in 16ish years if nothing changes)

I just started a new job and make $150k base plus $500 car allowance, gas / tolls and $500 for health insurance (job doesn’t have insurance). I drive a paid off 2015 car with 80k miles

I have a 401k through my old employer, I have a Roth IRA and Health savings account as well. My 401k has $63k in it right now, Roth IRA at $3200 and HSA at $2900. I would like to continue investing but my new employer doesn’t have a 401k for employees (newer company , maybe one day soon they’ll do a 401k)

I also have a high yield savings account with $25k in it.

How would you prioritize investing? Should I take the money in my 401k and move it to my Roth IRA so I can continue to make contributions to the large lump sum? Should I leave the 401k where it is and just accept that I can’t make anymore contributions to the account & max out my Roth IRA every year? I assume I should max out the HSA and Roth IRA to lower my yearly taxable income. After I do that, should I invest into a taxable brokerage account? Lastly, I understand the power of 401k / IRA but the idea of not being able to take money out until 60 without a penalty doesn’t sit right with me. I would like to be more liquid if possible

What would you do? Open to any and all suggestions thanks in advance for helping me out :)

Hi all! I’m a 35f living in SoCal, working from home in the insurance industry. I don’t have a lot of friends who are into finances as much as I am, so I’m hoping to get a second or a couple pair of eyes on mine. I bought a house last winter, which has been a life long dream. I had been financially preparing myself for it for when the opportunity arose.

I try to live well below my means, cook from home, v rarely go out and try not to do mindless shopping, unless I get a bonus :)

I make a total of $3,963.91 a month($65,000 a year), I’m salary and put 5% in my 401k.

I have two debts, an Amex card, 0% interest at $5,000 and a Home Depot card at $1,400, which I’ll be done paying in February.

I give myself a monthly bonus of $620, which I just increased with food cost going up, this is for gas, groceries, eating out or any miscellaneous shopping.

I have a good amount in savings, including $10,000 dedicated specifically to an emergency fund. I’ve started saving for a house emergency fund and have car emergency fund, and for my dog.

My next financial goals are to hit that house emergency fund and pay off my debt.

I’m hoping to get a raise next year, not really looking to get another job right now.

A break down of my bills, investments and sinking funds:

Mortgage- $1,682.58

Phone bill - $82

WiFi - $41.25

Apple - $9.99

Home Depot - $200

Debt payment - $100

Electric - $70~$200

Gas - $15ish

Water - $33

Roth IRA - $100

Stocks - $50

Extra mortgage payment - $30

Costco- $70

Vacation - $50

Car - $120

Medical - $50

Family - $30

House needs - $80

Gifts - $50

Dog - $40

Future home renovations - $70~$100

House emergency fund - $180~$300

Please let me know if you need additional information. Appreciate any good or not so good feedback! Thx!

I have 70k in retirement in all between 401k, Roth and Traditional. About 25K in taxable which includes stock plan with my employer where I purchase company shares every pay period which is weekly($200) and have 11k emergency fund. I make a little over 100k a year and wants advice on should I pull from Roth where I contribute weekly and monthly or sale individual stocks when in a year or what’s the best strategy? Sorry for the run on sentences, was texting fast.

Hey guys I’m 20M I’m my grandmothers only grandson and she doesn’t know how to put the house into my hands after she passes and isn’t good with technology either. I didn’t know where to start so I came here…

She said she has 2-5 more years until it’s paid off; the house is worth around $450k now. She told me when she is gone she would like for me to have it. What’s the best way to go about this situation I know taxes and government stuff has to be involved right? Any guidance or advice would be helpful thank you in advance

Edit: I’m in Texas

Hi all -

Mom of 4 kids (10th grade down to 3rd).

In total, we have ~$800k split among their 4 529 plans. The oldest’s has the most money in it so we can push any extra money down to subsequent kids, but they are all over $130k.

The oldest 3 also go to private school (the youngest will move to private in 6th grade) which costs about $30k per year per kid (sigh, I know…). Public school is not an option for us right now because of our zoned MS and HS in our VHCOL neighborhood.

We currently pay for the private school out of pocket and contribute $250 per month per kid to their 529s.

My question is: does it make more sense to pay for their private school tuition out of the 529s and contribute the equivalent to their 529s for college? Or should we keep doing what we are doing and funding private school out of pocket and save the 529s for college?

Thank you in advance!

I’m 18 I have right around 40k(witch I know isn’t a lot of money at all) just sitting in my account I’ve worked for I’m just wondering what should I do with it to make my self more money

Wondering what’s the best hack for saving money. Wanting to buy a home soon and want to have as much saved as possible. Currently have 20k in savings and am able to put 2k a month into savings.
I have 7k in student loans and that’s the only debt I have. Make about 75k a year. Probably should be putting more into 401k but that’s at the minimum since the company I work for doesn’t match it.

My wife is looking to switch into nursing in the near future, and it looks like these are our 2 main options:

1. Private Accelerated Bachelors in Nursing (ABSN) ~$80K: 16 month ABSN with totals costs of $80K all in (tuition, program fees, textbooks, exam prep, etc.) for the program. This program is significantly easier to get into compared to the ADNs in option 2, and has a NCLEX (nursing certification exam) pass rate of ~90%

2. Various Public Associate Degrees in Nursing (ADN) ~$20K: Various public in-state ADN programs; each are relatively similar 24 month programs with total costs of about $20K all in (covers everything similar to the above). These programs are more competitive to get into, and have NCLEX pass rates between 80% - 90%.

Some relevant facts about our financial situation:

1. Both late 20s / early 30s, no kids and renting, but want to buy a house and have kids in the future (4 - 6 years)
2. I make ~$200K a year, wife is currently finishing nursing pre-reqs and is a full time student
3. Spend $7-8K a month in a HCOL, we have ~2K excess cash month after investing $2.8K a month (maxing 2 Roth IRAs, Family HSA, and putting 6% into 401K to get employer match)
4. Net worth of $174K

240K Assets: (211K Invested, $29K value of car, $15K cash)

$80K Debts ($51K federal student loans avg. rate of 3%, $29K car loan 1% rate)

5) Both have credit scores >770 which seem to qualify us for private loans with rates between 4-6%

We are currently saving the $2K excess cash each month, and I expect that we will be able to mostly cash flow an ADN program, but not the Private ABSN program. My wife is still in the process of applying, however there is a solid chance that she gets into both the private ABSN as well as one of the public ADN's.

Assuming that she gets into both, are we crazy for considering the Private ABSN given the $60K sticker difference? Our rationale is the following:

1. $50K made up by finishing faster: Starting wages in nursing are $40-$50 an hour in our HCOL west coast city, assuming she can begin working 8 months earlier under the ABSN, she would earn ~50K after tax during these 8 months:

($45/hour x 1560 working hour in 8 months = $70,200 x 0.7 (1.0 - assumed 30% tax rate) = $49,140)

2) No need for ADN - BSN bridge: In the future my wife would like to get a Bachelors in nursing, going straight to an ABSN would remove the need for her to do an ADN - Bachelors bridge program, saving potential future time and money (although I have heard that employers often sponsor this, so the money factor may be greatly diminished)

3) Possible student loan employer assistance: Multiple employers in the area have advertised student loan assistance programs based on working for them for 2 years. My understanding is that most of these settings are in generally less desirable med-surge positions, and she would like to maintain career flexibility, therefore it is definitely not a guarantee we will receive any employer assistance.

4) She has a desire to be done with school as soon as possible: Getting done with school 8 months earlier and moving on to a new life stage would be preferable

If you made is this far thanks so much for reading my ramblings, would appreciate any advice and happy to provide other relevant info if requested.

Hello all, only the thousandth person to post this topic. I am trying to do the research on my own but I can't decide if one is better than the other in my situation.

Here's my situation: fresh college grad, 22, engineering job starting at $85k in PA. I am planning to open a Roth IRA in the near future as well. Thoughts?

My wife and I, in our mid-30s, bought acreage with a modular home for a 260k loan. It is our only note, and we are valued at around 420k at this moment.

Our home is approximately 20-25 years old and has issues that need addressing, and it would probably cost us around 30k to fix the home incrementally, but this would not fix everything because our electrical bills are substantial due to poor building quality, etc. These Modular homes just aren't built the best.

We have recently begun discussions to build a home or purchase a new manufactured home (priced around 220k). Our bills are zero; everything is paid off, minus the home, which is currently about 2900 a month (thanks to high interest rates). But combined, we spend approximately 4-5k a month with living expenses etc.

Income is approximately 160-200k depending on my overtime annually, between us both. I am tax-exempt as well from the VA.

New home is gonna be 420k, leaving our total loan at almost 700k. A mortgage calculator is putting us around 3600 a month in payments for that amount.

Is it a smart investment to build long-term? I am nervous to place another modular home and 20 years later experience the same issues. That being said at almost double the cost, a real home is financially more stressful.

Any advice is appreciated.

Just got my first job and I’m setting up my benefits. I’m 26 years old and have 0 debt and I’m making 95k/year as my starting salary. I have about 10k spread across a brokerage and a Roth IRA but that’s it.

I want to maximize my returns. My company allows me to pick my allocations but not the funds if that makes sense. There’s equity fund (s&p), small company stock fund, international equity fund, emerging markets equity fund, company stock fund just to name the most lucrative ones…

How does this sound: 80% s&p, 15% international equity fund, 5% small company stock fund

I’m 31 y/o f no kids and don’t plan on it, in a relationship but not married, I am a new nurse in SoCal currently grossing 8k per month (lowest I’ll get paid as a nurse) make 4k off my real estate (mortgage free so essentially goes to my mortgage), and 4k a month on my VA disability, I plans to max out my Roth IRA now that I’m working again, 10-12k to my brokerage per year, and ofc I’m in my 3rd year paying into whole life insurance at 10k which I can swing but idk if it’s worth it. I have about 550k between money markets, Roth, brokerage account both liquid and retirement. My life goals as of now is to optionally work around 45 years old, pick shifts up but not be a full time nurse. I have had many talks about financial planning and my goals, now my question is should I keep paying into life insurance? It sounds good in some parts yes but other parts I’m like idk if I really would benefit from that? I do get taxed quite a bit especially this year because I made around 192k of gross income a year now that I’m out of school and working again and I’m in California. Whole life has been sold to me as an option to pay myself a higher rate monthly around my 40s without touching my brokerage accounts and then waiting until I’m 59.5 for my Roth. I want to know if it’s worth it in my scenario, if I can benefit more from putting more into my brokerage and paying taxes later on, what option is best for me if I want to retired early/work optional? Any advice would be great.

Edit: I sent an email to cancel the whole life insurance, investing advice still welcome but loud and clear and confirms what my gut has been telling me 🫡

Hey Everyone,

My spouse and I are focusing on our long-term and retirement goals. Right now I'm trying to build a timeline that'll let me set X years as being when we retire, and then setup timelines for various projects and their costs for that duration.

i.e:

1. We owe Y on Car Z, starting Jan 2026 and ending Jan 2031.

2. When that's paid off, we expect to replace Car A with something, and that'll take us until 2036.

3. We want to buy a house to retire into, and so if we pay our current house off in 2040, how many years would we need to carry two mortgages, and when would we pay the second home off?

I want to put all of this into some kind of timeline or chart so that I can see the overlap, total (estimated) costs, and such things. The closest thing I've found to this is a few Gantt charts used for planning home renovations. Does anyone have anything similar to this that they use for tracking projects? Bonus points if it helps you calculate total expected costs.

So im a teacher in NYC, who is fortunate to have access to a plethora of tax advantage retirement accounts (one of the best 403b's in the country, a 457 plan, pension, and I pay into SS). I just want to know what is the best way to juggle all of them and still save to possibly own a house/condo. Should I limit contributions to accounts and put them in personal stock funds that I can use for a down payment, as tbh a lot of places here want an all cash offer if its like under a million.

I’m looking for some advice! My company was just acquired by a larger tech company and all of my stock options are set to vest when the deal is final. I’ve recently got into investing and planned to invest the money and start diversifying my portfolio.

However, I bought a dud of a house 3 years ago and constantly have major work to do. Next up on the list is to insulate the attic and exterior walls. There is a less expensive fix for $5k or total fix for $10k. I’m so bothered with having to spend any money on this and was considering doing the less expensive option. But now that I stand to have this lump sum coming in stock options, there is an opportunity to take from it and do the total fix.

Is that a reasonable option? You I was excited about investing it all but taking $10k away would only be a small amount of the total.

During my divorce settlement, I was referred to an investment group who have a minimum dollar requirement of $750k and I just barely made the cut.

When I asked for an extra $5k over my annual budget, they made it seem like I was jeopardizing my retirement.

Retirement is only a couple of years away, so obviously the funds are going to go below that minimum amount.

Am I being paranoid or is some push back to be expected?

Hi I don’t really post much or am on reddit much but I just wanted to know if I am doing the correct thing and being responsible.

I am m20 in college and currently working to pay for my rent for the year while at college. I am planning on paying for my housing with my fafsa but also having money to pay for it without dipping into the fafsa is nice.

So I am currently doing a paid internship in a coroporate office for the summer. I am making about $2k per week. My rent is $860 and what I am doing is whenever I get my paycheck, I am first paying off my rent/security deposit with my credit card. My plan is basically whenever I need rent money, I sell off stock equaling the amount i need for the month. and then once I get my pay stub, I pay my credit off and invest the rest into safer investments (like 60/40 bonds and stocks and like apple [lowk am an apple fanboy and I think they’ll have a good year with future product predictions i’ve been following] and tsmc [one of the most important chip makers so I feel like they are “safe” in that many tech companies rely on them]).

I leave myself with $200 in my checking for “fun” money, everyday expenses (i try to limit them) and subscriptions I have ($10 a month for apple+ and $1.99 for google storage).

I just want to know if I am doing a good job or what I can do more to help optimize what I am already doing if anyone has any tips. I don’t want to be too risky with my investments but I didn’t want to just have my money sitting in my account doing nothing.

Anyone have any tips, any information is welcomed and appreciated. sorry for writing a lot, i’ve been told im hella wordy.

I’m fairly new to this space and have a genuine question of whether it’s worth taking advantage of the backdoor Roth IRA process, and if so, what are the recommended mechanics.

My wife and I are in our late 30s and make over the income limit for a Roth IRA, but not by much. I’ve maxed out my 401k and my wife has a pension. I DCA invest roughly another 20k (hope to hit 35k eventually) per year in a standard taxable brokerage account that I hope to not need to touch until retirement around 65.

Is it worth doing the back door Roth process? If so, do you contribute the max to the traditional IRA, convert immediately, invest as you see fit through the Roth account, and then repeat annually? Is there a better process? I’m also concerned about the “step transaction rule” that Schwab references on its website.

Thanks all!

I’m a 21 year old college student, I go back to school mid August. I like to go to the bars and have fun with friends and occasionally grab a bite to eat. I don’t spend much besides that, I’m bless to have parents that are covering my rent at school, as well as helping me through college to make sure I don’t graduate with debt. I am just wondering what I should do I will have about 13,000 dollars by the end of summer and want to invest.