u/Morning-Chub

I make $250k, wife makes $135k, MCOL area. 34 years old, two young kids.

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I have old traditional IRAs with six figures in them that result in tax when I do a backdoor Roth. I never expected to make this much money and my income only keeps climbing. A good problem to have, but it complicates the plan I had previously put into place.

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Only option available through work is a SEP. A 401k rollover is unfortunately not an option.

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I make too much to get a deduction for traditional IRA.

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Wife is already doing 20% of her salary into her 401k, has a small pension, and is contributing to a Roth.

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I currently save $2600/month into a brokerage account, and max out my HSA. I save into 529s for both of my kids. I have student loans ($85k at 3.75%), a small car payment ($12k at 3%), and a $185k mortgage. Any extra at the end of the month goes into my mortgage due to 6.875% interest rate.

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I have an extra $650/mo in my budget that I had planned to go into a traditional IRA, but recently learned that I can no longer deduct contributions as I make too much money. A good problem to have, no doubt.

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So I'm wondering which is the most efficient option out of the following:

(1) I contribute to my own traditional IRA without taking any deduction for it;

(2) I do a backdoor Roth for myself, take the tax hit, and just deal with it;

(3) Have my wife increase her 401k contributions and I use my salary to fund her Roth; (realizing upon further reflection that this isn't an option as she's probably at the contribution limit);

(4) Just contribute the extra money to a brokerage account.

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Would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

Hi folks,

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I guess I qualify to post here now. I found the flowchart and advice to be probably too simplistic for my situation on /r/personalfinance, so here I am.

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I recently got a new job where I expect to make roughly $250k this year in a MCOL area. My wife makes $135k. We are 34 with two young kids.

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I decided to refi my student loans at 3.74%. New payment on a 5-year plan is just under $1600.

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Previously, I was paying on average $1950/mo to student loans before any lump sum payments when receiving bonuses, which are variable and based on originations at work (I am a lawyer). Overall, I had been planning to pay between $20-40k extra to the loans with the goal of paying them off in 3 years max. Now that seems unwise with an interest rate of 3.74%.

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The only other debt I have is as follows:

A car loan at 3%, maybe $13k balance remaining;

A mortgage at 6.875%, and a balance of $186k.

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I am saving 20% or so of my pre-tax income for retirement already.

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Between all of my investment accounts, I have roughly $300k ($250k in IRAs, $50k in brokerage). I have probably $20-30k liquid or semi-liquid in various other places. These amounts are growing as a result of the savings rate noted above. The brokerage is mostly intended as a retirement account.

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So my question is: where should I be putting the $350/mo I was putting toward my student loans previously, and where should I put that extra $20-40k in anticipated bonuses that was going to be dropped on loans?

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My thinking now is that the most efficient and obvious place to put it is my mortgage with the 6.875% interest rate, but I recognize also that the value of my home is appreciating, so that's not necessarily more efficient than throwing the extra into brokerage for retirement money outside of my other savings.

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Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I'm a transactional attorney. I do a lot of residential real estate closings. I'm at a three-lawyer firm with six residential real estate paralegals.

My preference, known to everyone in the office and shared with the other two attorneys, is that closings not be scheduled at 9am, or at 4pm. This is a very strong preference for a variety of reasons, one of which is that I have a young family and I take an active role in caring for my children, including drop off and pick up, making meals, etc., and I don't like to be kept much later than 5:30-6pm to finish up things that couldn't be done because of a closing, or to have to cancel a 9am because I don't have coverage when there is a last-minute morning emergency (like illness making daycare impossible), or my three year old is having a difficult morning, or I didn't sleep well because my six month old kept me up and I'm barely awake at 9am. I also like to collect my thoughts before my day begins. Not that any of that matters, because I am the boss and my preferences should govern what happens with my schedule.

My paralegals, though, seem to not really care about my preferences when clients make demands outside of my usual hours. So I have been getting closings put on my calendar for 9am. I then ask the paralegal why they did that when they know I don't schedule closings until 9:30 at the earliest. They say the client wanted to do it early so they could get to work after, and similar things related to client demands. "It was the only time they were available" is something I hear often. So, I'll object, but I'll get pushback from people who I theoretically supervise. The reason for that is the demanding clients.

I don't particularly like either thing: that my subordinates are dictating my schedule despite the fact that they know what my preferences are, and that clients are dictating my schedule because they view their scheduling needs as superior to mine.

Am I being unreasonable on either front? Would I be justified in taking a harder line?

My thought is this: you don't demand an appointment with your doctor at a time where they have no availability, and a nurse practitioner doesn't have the authority to tell the doctor they HAVE to see a patient at a certain time. Is this an issue that is unique to my practice area? Maybe I'm totally off base, but it seems reasonable that I should be able to dictate my own availability without pushback.

Thoughts?

I have a pit mix who has been my best friend since right after graduating college. She has been with me through everything. I brought her to law school with me. She's been around through our pregnancies, and has been there when we brought our kids home. And now our three year old loves her just as much as I do. I used to take her everywhere with me, we'd hike, we'd go to friends' houses, the dog park, long walks for miles and miles. This dog has been a major part of my life for 12 years.

But she's always had a bit of a limp from too much exercise. And in her old age it has been progressing to back problems and hip problems. And a few months ago I got her pain pills (NSAIDs and gabapentin) from the vet and started talking about end of life care.

And now she's gotten worse. Early last week, she was unable to walk on our hardwood floors. She's recovered somewhat but is still not looking like she's having a fun time walking, and can no longer do stairs at all. And I have woken up to her whining at night all the way downstairs. I am fairly certain she is in pain or at least very uncomfortable.

But she still loves when I give her pets. She still loves to eat. She loves treats. She can't play fetch anymore, or go places with me, or do long walks, but she does still seem to be enjoying life despite the pain.

My wife keeps telling me it's time to put her down, and I know that that's true, but I just can't do it. I don't know why I'm struggling with it so much when it is objectively time to put her out of her misery. It's just so difficult when she clearly is the same dog, and still loves me, and I still love her, and the only issue is her mobility and discomfort.

I feel like I'm betraying my best friend. Like I'm a murderer.

Can someone please help me? Please? I am really, really struggling.

Okay, so I want a robot mower so I can spend time with my kids. Great. But where do I start?

I have a half acre lot. It does have some obstacles in the form of mostly small trees and gardens, and a shed. Nothing crazy that would block GPS, too big to want to lay a wire. There is a hill that barely functions as a sledding hill for the kids in the winter, but my riding mower sometimes struggles with it when it's wet outside or there's dew on the grass. I'm fine with going out with a weed whacker as needed. The back portion of my lawn goes down into a creek and is pretty muddy in the spring due to clay soil to the point that I don't bother to mow it until summer really gets going anyway.

What is the gold standard for someone like me, what's premium but not gold standard, and what is good enough? How good is the tech these days?

There are so many options out there that I'm kind of struggling to determine where to start.

Thanks all.