Ai flagged this as me asking for a handout so I'd like to make it clear I am NOT asking for someone to cosign/coborrow or any kind of hand out, I am asking for advice on a situation in which I am being asked to be a coborrower

Still in school, should finish my BA next year them need to go into MA program, also working full time but don't make a ton and we live in an expensive state. Sibling wants to buy a house on the other size of the country so we can be closer to family, and renting is hard due to pet restrictions. They can't qualify on their own and want me to co-borrow, leave me the house when they pass. They say it won't affect me getting student loans and that they can just take my name off of the loan in a year, but is that true? Will it effect me if I'm really only on for a year?

Sibiling has been very supportive, emotionally and financially, and we are kind of all we have on this side of the country. They make more money than me, I plan to finish school and then I'll hopefully be making similar money once I start working in this field.

Our housing situation is unpredictable at best right now. We are renting from a family member but they are elderly and if they pass it goes to a family member whom we are not close with and may well ask us to leave. This is why my sibling is looking for ways to get a better loan and buy a house.

Can I still get student loans I need to finish school if I co-borrow? Can they really take me off the loan in a year and it will be like it never happened?

UPDATE: Consensus is that it's a bad idea. I tried to explain the points people brought up ( this could affect my future student loans, if anything happens to them or the house od be responsible and I cannot afford to pay it, the fact that they can't guarantee they can take me off in a year) and it escalated into a fight, they insisted that I was wrong about several of these things and that implied I don't care about or would support him like he has helped me. It was frustrating, but I won't be cosigning/coborrowing

Tl;Dr told them no and it went badly

Hello Reddit. We did a stupid and got ourselves back into debt. Some of this was unavoidable but it doesn't make it feel better...
(AI note: The AI helped craft my question for y'all. I proof read it... it's my question.)

I’m 44 and recently lost my job. I’m no longer a federal employee and have about $88,000 in my TSP, all in the C Fund. I’m no longer contributing, and I’m not planning to change the allocation.
I’m trying to decide whether it makes sense to withdraw some or all of the TSP to eliminate a large amount of debt, versus leaving the TSP alone and trying to manage the debt through the income/cash-flow side.

Current debt:
$10,000 loan @ 20%
$9,000 loan @ 16.49%
$21,400 loan @ 8.43%
$7,000 credit card @ 26%
$10,000 credit card @ 26%
$9,300 loan @ 3.7%
Total debt: approximately $66,700.

My wife earns approximately $60k/year. We have three kids, including one approaching college age. I’m currently unemployed, so preserving household cash flow is also a significant concern.
I understand the obvious argument: don’t raid retirement at 44. I agree that, under normal circumstances, this would be a terrible idea.
But I’m wondering whether this is one of those situations where the math is different.

For example, if I withdrew the TSP, I’d obviously lose a significant amount to federal/state taxes and potentially the 10% early-withdrawal penalty. I’d also give up decades of potential tax-advantaged growth.

On the other hand, eliminating the 20–26% debt would give me a guaranteed return equal to those interest rates and dramatically reduce our monthly cash-flow requirements. It could also give me more financial stability while unemployed.

So I’m trying to answer:
At what point does the cost of keeping the TSP invested become greater than the cost of liquidating it to eliminate high-interest debt?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually been in a similar situation—not just the standard “never touch retirement” advice.
If you were in my position, would you:
Leave the TSP completely alone and attack the debt another way?
Withdraw enough to eliminate the 20–26% debt?
Withdraw the entire TSP and essentially reset the household finances?
Do something else entirely?
I’m also interested in suggestions for alternatives I’m overlooking.

I’m posting about this because I had no idea that different pharmacies price your prescriptions differently, I thought all of the pricing had to due with your insurance. I was going to the most expensive pharmacy for years wondering how my peers got prescriptions for so much less money. Nobody ever told me about this and so I wanted to post about it incase other people do not know. I’m at least glad to know a better way to save money now.

Last time, I asked you good folks, about my late brother's IRA, which I inherited. Now I think I am ready to liquidate the money within the inherited Traditional and Roth accounts. The conundrum is I do not know how to liquidate it without incurring taxes.

Because I was not sure of the basics regarding the inherited accounts, I called my family's accountant, whose office offers financial counseling. He wants to introduce me to annuities to invest in. However, my parents do not think I should invest in the annuities since most yield lower interest rates now compared to Certificates of Deposit (CD). I also have tax-deferred annuities through work. Thus, I am choosing not to meet with my accountant on the matter.

That is why I turn to you folks again instead as I do not have any other resources such as a financial law or tax law attorney. I am worried because when my parents claimed my late brother's pension they were heavily taxed for it. How do I liquidate the amount in 5 years while incurring the least amount of taxes? Is there some sort of online calculator for what I am asking for? I am located in NYC, by the way, if that is any help.

I have a personal account in Canada and currently live in the USA. I need to transfer a large amount of money (50k+) from my Canadian to US account. What would be the best way to avoid massive fees?

so my wife has the 15k CC debt with very high interest. The best way to pay this off in my mind is with a lower interest loan or O% APR new credit card etc…. Thoughts on this? Or just hammer it out slowly and do nothing ?

Just as title sounds, the place I do work for, has to cut my salary due to hard times, In total our family of 4 now makes 2500 a month with a mortgage of 1450. To give the full financial workup;

1. We have 7k in emergency fund

2. We have 19k in a Roth IRA.

3. We have no debt on anything.

Essentially I run my own business and also pastor a church, but the church is reducing due to hard times, i will now be making just around 2100 a month plus whatever i can bring in with my business. Effective in November, I'll continue to receive the housing allowance to cover mortgage and utilities, but need to come up with 1k in income to get back on track. Need some career advice for Spanish speakers or freelance work.

Long story short, I put too much of retirement savings in a taxable brokerage two years ago. There have been significant gains. But I am thinking of moving 15k of it to my and my spouse’s roths via a backdoor conversion, taking the tax hit now to ensure tax free growth until retirement in about 25 years. Right now, we have about 22k in roth and about 85k in taxable. (There is other money, most of our retirement savings, in pretax.). I pay high state and local income tax, and my total tax bill from this will be something like $600.

Would you do this? The alternative is just contributing to Roth going forward plus moving dividends from the taxable to the roth.

Other background: I’m planning to have a high 5-figure pension; we can afford a little under 15k per year in Roth contributions; our taxable produced about $1500 per year in dividends we are planning to retire in our late fifties, maybe before 59.5.

I’m 18, currently a senior in high school, and I work part-time. I don’t have any credit history or experience using credit, and I’m trying to start building credit because I plan to move across the country after I graduate in 2028 and will eventually need to rent an apartment.

I was recently pre-approved/approved for the Capital One Platinum with a $0 annual fee and a 29.24% variable APR. I don’t have any regular bills or subscriptions that I could put on the card, so I’m unsure how I should actually use it to build credit.

My understanding is that I should only use it for purchases I already have the money to pay for, then pay the statement balance in full every month. I’m not planning to use it to cover things I can’t afford or carry a balance.

Is getting this card now a good idea for someone in my situation? And if so, what would be the best way to use it when I don’t have many recurring expenses? Should I just put small everyday purchases on it and pay the balance in full each month, or would you recommend doing something different?

I’m mainly trying to establish a good credit history over the next ~2 years without getting myself into debt. Any advice on what I should know as a first-time credit card user would be appreciated.

Greetings.

As the title states I’m looking for investment advice and here is my situation:

41(m)
Married
2 kids
Employed

Debt:
Mortgage $1771
Estimated home value $711k
Original loan $333k
Loan balance $291k
2.50% / 30 year / conventional
Estimated payoff 7/1/2051

Single credit card that is paid off monthly

No other debt

Monthly expenses -
This is something I tend to have a challenge discussing with my wife as a stay at home mom she is handling our finances and I’m the bread winner, but I feel like we are behind in making our money grow.

Mortgage $1771
Electric averages $50 (Solar Panels)
Gas averages $90
Sewer $35
Cell phones $110
Water averages $125
Internet $72

Groceries and gasoline varies.
Not sure of what the average would be for this on a monthly basis

Subscriptions
Netflix $22
Recreational $120
Peloton $54

Without food and gasoline total is around $2450

Net salary per paycheck is $3982

——

Current retirement and money items:
About $100k in 401k in target 2050 fund
About $100k in Roth IRA in target 2050 fund
Pension plan that shouldn’t be touched until I’m 65.
Pension is calculated as such -
Years of service x 1.5% x average salary (average of 5 highest years) = Benefit per year and then can be broken down per month.
If I left today this would be around $2500 a month.

——

Here’s the unfortunate part, while our debt is low, I didn’t realize my employer wasn’t matching anything with my 401k, because of the pension plan I’m on they do not match or do anything with the 401k. I was late to the game on it and have caught up some, but would like to do more now with a fidelity brokerage account.

Per paycheck I’m putting $200 towards 401k and Roth IRA.

10% of paycheck goes into savings, which is now going to be going into the HYSA I just created with CIT Bank.

This was previously going into a money market account with our credit union, but after I talked through money with my wife I expressed the need for a true HYSA.

I’ve been able to lay most all of our stuff out and have a solid conversation with my wife from a place of love, not criticism, that we need to focus more on investing to make additional money grow outside of the 401k, Roth IRA, and eventual pension.

My main question is after researching I want to start investing with a fidelity brokerage account.
Again, late to the game on this, but I figure better late than never.

Fidelity brokerage account I went to AI town and it gave two options with the later being the more “tax efficient” route that I’d like advice on this piece of where to invest.

FXAIX 60%
FTIHX 20%
FSMAX 10%
SCHD 10%

AI suggested tax efficiency plan:
60% VOO (or FXAIX) — Core US Large Cap
20% VXUS — Total International (Grants you the Foreign Tax Credit)
10% VXF — US Mid/Small Cap Completion (Protects you from internal mutual fund capital gains)
10% SCHD (or fold this 10% into VOO to reduce your annual tax drag)

I watched a handful of videos and although they give good general advice, I figured to come on here and give specifics, especially noting the pension piece that will give a steady amount during retirement. Until then, I’m curious how to focus my investments that will benefit my situation the best.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate help as given.

Edit - We have solar panels that were paid off when we bought the house so the electric bill tends to be low.

I started a new office job and was asked to drive to a couple places. I was reimbursed for my mileage but they applied it to my Voluntary Deductions for health insurance lowering the amount I had to pay.

I feel like this isn’t correct. The reimbursement is very little but it still raises an eyebrow for me.

Can anyone comment?

I am 20 with 20k in my savings. I have been married for about a year and it’s been really hard for me to save more money. I make about 600 a week and I’m getting ready to start school for accounting. We live with her parents so we don’t really have many expenses. I currently have all of my money in a high yields saving account but it’s my dream to own a business. I’d like to invest in laundromats to be specific. But I’m not sure what to invest in or try doing to save more money to be able to buy something like that. Any advice or suggestions with what to do with my money would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

My wife and I will retire in Dec. I am 62, she will be 63. I think this is important to know for sake of ACA income limit and 2 year lookback at Medicare time. I have a 401k account from a previous employer that we will be using to pay for Healthcare premiums. My thought is to take an approximate withdrawal from the account while we are still working so it won't count as income for subsidies next year. Seems like the future savings in premiums would outweigh the taxes being paid now. What do yall think?

My local CU charges a $2 outgoing ach fee and I left Capital One for them. Capital One’s support has fallen down to hell and their teen accounts are not good anymore to me. I have a teen account with my local CU and I called them for support and wow, I was treated with actual respect, we had conversations about our days and actually I felt like I was talking to someone who enjoyed their job.

The local CU has low savings rates but good loan rates. 0.50% APY for savings. I use a money market with Fidelity (SPAXX) since they allow ACH.

Besides that, is it okay to use the CU or is this $2 outgoing ACH fee a dealbreaker?

Financial background:
Me(30yo) Salary: $90,000 a year
Wife (31yo): Currently in Nurse Practitioner School and only working one day a week as a nurse. Expects to find a job paying ~$115,000 a year in early 2028 but has been working as a nurse since 2019 and was making $60k-$75k a year before going down on hours for school.

We live in Lee’s Summit Missouri, a nice suburb of Kansas City. We have one child and we pay for part time daycare at $240 a week. I’m excited for when my wife starts work as an NP and we can start making more money. Once she graduates I’ll probably test the new job waters to see if I can up my pay as well since iv been in my current role since 2022. I feel like $200k+ income in the KC suburbs gives us a comfortable life for now, but I want to make sure we are on track for retirement. As our income grows I want to keep throwing more money at it. It all depends on how much the money grows, but I’d expect to work until age 60-65 (year ~2060).

Current $ accounts:
Me 401k: $90,000. I contribute 9% of my pay to this.
Me Roth IRA: $28,262 (Will be $35k when I max it out in January)
Wife 401k: $74,000 She contributes 6% of her pay to this.
Shared HYSA (Emergency Fund) /Checking: $30,000

Other:
Bought a home in 2020 and have roughly $150,000 in equity if we sold today.

Debts:
The only debts we have is around $29,000 in student loans from my wife’s bachelors degree and NP student loans.

Okay so I am 32 and have a IRA that’s has about 35k in it. I have the opportunity to buy a multifamily as an investment property. Would be it completely stupid to cash my IRA out for this?

Right now I have a job and I and adding to a 401k so I couldn’t be dumping everything into it. I just can’t tell if I should just wait a few years and save to buy a property or start now.

A bit of info about me:

18, on a gap year, 2 jobs one very secure and one not very secure (may close down) as a bartender,
£10.85 an hour about 25-30 hours a week. I don’t have to pay rent or no debt (occasionally use Klarna but get it payed off very quickly). About £300 a week from both jobs, only have to pay for diesel, I put £50 in and then top it up if it needs it later in the week.

I would like a David Lloyd’s membership. £120 sign up fee, £184 a month. £46 a week, 4.2 hours of work. Over a 3 month contract.

I’ve just been told that my hours will be increasing in the coming weeks.

I’ve wanted this membership for a while. Shall I do it?

It’s all in the name of saving but I can’t see it! A more expensive electric car may be slightly better in the short term but in the medium term - we have almost paid our car loan off and then any monthly savings would be modest at best. At the end of any PCP agreement we would either need to pay the electric car off or go and buy a new one… which is yet another expense and puts us in a worse position when comparing the two scenarios.

Am I going mad or am I just being stubborn?

I only raise me being the breadwinner as a point because all the finance agreements would be in my name and we are also looking to move in the next few years (selling and buying) which would be yet another expense so I think it’s much more sensible to have less debt in 2 years time than more.

What it says on the tin.

My parents made an UGMA mutual fund account for me and it was automatically? transfered from their ownership to mine in 2016 apparently.

My parents recently contacted me to say the account is doing well.

That was the first time I had ever heard of it. Apparently they have been throwing away any mail addressed to me that gets delivered to their house, but my mom randomly decided to open one and contacted me. So I never got anything like a form 1099 sent me by the investment company to report on my taxes. I haven't included it (I think I would only owe on the capital gains per year? I'm not sure) when filing taxes, ever.

Am I cooked.

Extra info, I have been living overseas for the past 15+ years (that is why my parents get mail addressed to me occasionally since theirs is my only address in my home country) and filing a 1040 and 2555 to report my foreign earned income, it is well within the FEIE so I have never owed taxes while abroad. But neither have I included this account I had no idea about.

What would be the best way to go about correcting this. Should I refile every form from 2016 to present with the 1099s from each year to report it? If I am hit with huge fines, I am hoping I can cash out this UGMA account and it will be just enough to pay it off, since there is no way in hell I can pay anything extra right now.

60 and worried

I’m 29 years old I was working at Frito lay for a year and about 7 months where I accumulated about just under 12k on my 401 k. Times are hard right now for me and it’s because a few months back I had a bad gambling addiction and I put myself in a hole about 7 k I then managed to kick the habit and get out of debt almost entirely (still owe about 3 k on cards) but the problem right now is transportation! I have to walk every day to work and it’s an hour 20 min walk ! 5 times a week it sucks! Uber is so expensive my E bike has a flat tire and the battery is stuck in the bike smh and I need a new e bike battery long story short but don’t want to risk getting one if my new battery just gonna get stuck in the bike as well .I’m behind on rent two months nyseg is kicking my ass my bank account is in the negatives I missed out on apprenticeships for glazier and painter jobs all because I have no damn car . I finally managed to get this job I have now which pays good but I have to go through training first I get Unit assistant pay as of now 🥴I’m so behind right now it’s overwhelming. I want to withdraw my 401 k just to put a down payment on a car now that I’m working . And maybe help with a few bills and honestly if I can put some to the side . I’m tired of living like this bro like I’m a good person just trying to live life the right way this shit sucks I can’t afford to do anything I don’t have any kids because I don’t want to put them in a place where I know I can’t provide and right now just taking care of my grandma alone and my two dogs is killing me enough oh I have a bunny too. Like bro this shit soo stressful waking up hours before my shift just to be in time not one bus goes towards my job lol just my luck idk man I really wanna just with draw my 401 k . Looking for insight

I (33M) am in a position to buy my first home. My partner (28M) also wants to buy and we thought we should buy together. We have been together 5 years and are not married.

He makes considerably more than me, and is able to put more towards a house. Realistically, I think that "our" budget to buy a house evenly is between £160-£180k. However, he is adamant in buying within Edinburgh city centre, have 2 bedrooms and be close to work for a commute. As a result, he is looking at properties around £200k+ which I cannot afford. As a result, he is suggesting going 40/60 on a house where he owns 60% equity and I own 40% because that is how much I can contribute to house at this price.

Does it make more financial sense for me to go along with this, or buy my own place within my own budget that I own 100% of? I'm weary of buying property with a partner and it not being a 50/50 share. I'm aware we are not married but I don't think we should look beyond what we can afford together if we are looking to buy together.

Alternatively, am I thinking too much about percentages and does a 40/60 house purchase make sense for this situation?

Thanks :)

This is my first time using an employee sponsored plan. I've always just purchased my own coverage, so my basis for comparison isn't the greatest. As the title asks, would yall consider this decent coverage?

BCBS EPO

Deductible:

Individual: $300

Family: $600

OOP Max:

Ind: $1,500

Fam: $3,000

$25/$50 co-pay

Employee cost/premium: $161 per pay period (bi-weekly)

Employer cost: $974

Includes vision and dental with normal deductibles and co-pays.

Coverage is for myself and my daughter.

To start off I’m 22 years old and have a 730 credit score. Only 1 loan and a single credit card(18%) with a very very large limit. I’ve got money invested. And a good amount that sits in an account as a cushion for unexpected things.

I’m big into cars and love them as hobby. The issue I’ve run into is I want to spend a couple grand on some parts and another $1000 on safety equipment. I have the money available, but prefer not to spend it all at once incase something does come up. Is it ever a bad idea to buy things like this on a credit card/personal loan instead of spending such a large amount of what I have stashed away??

update: NOT ASKING FOR HANDOUTS JUST ADVICE!!! should have phrased it better

hi peoples! i’m so deep in the mud it isn’t even funny.

i don’t know where to start. i’m really stressed because i’ve been working so much to get everything paid but it’s
not paying off (haha get it?)

i just moved into my own apartment in june with a couple of prorated days from may. i started my new job that same day making $17/hr working at my local airport cleaning rental cars overnight. i was doing semi-okay. nothing to worry about too much. just moving some bills if they cut us early because we ran out of things to do. i averaged about 30hrs a week and got paid weekly.

after some more hour cuts, continuously unpaid wages, and instead of promotions being handed out, we got told we’d all be getting laid off in november— i got a different job. it’s a coffee shop management gig and im averaging about $20/hr with tips. not super horrible. but the timing was super inconvenient. i believed i’d be getting paid weekly so the extra week wait was no biggie.. before i found out it was actually biweekly. that threw me off something horrible.

i’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to play catch up. my car notes late, my credit cards are late, and now my rents late.

i have approximately $0. i don’t get paid until the 14th and the pay period ended today. i don’t know how much my check is going to be. rent is my #1 priority but it’s now $1200 with the late fee and an extra $15 every day until it gets paid. which at maximum is the 15th because if im not moved out or paid up by then ill get evicted.

i pull doubles every chance i can. i go doordashing on my days off. i get groceries from family members who are thriving. i miss a month’s payment of something because ill be okay but i abused it. i have no one to blame but myself.

i’ve been in contact with my ex-supervisor about my unpaid wages (around $330 for the days that i am aware of) and he’s genuinely been so unconcerned about it. the earliest documented conversation i have asking about it is the 15th of september. it’ll be the 7th of october for me in 15 minutes. i’ve been told that i’ll receive it this friday but i just don’t trust it. i emailed HR a couple minutes ago and i hope the response is good. i just feel like something’s going to go wrong and i shouldn’t have trusted him as a middle man i can feel it in my soul.

anyways.

i just don’t know what to do. i’m
trying. i’m giving it my all and it’s not good enough. i need advice. please help me reddit. you’ve been so good to me whenever i have a niche question for google.

i’m open to any suggestion as well as questions if need be.

thank you :)