r/personalfinance

My wife's car is a 2014 Hyundai Veloster we got from Carmax with their warranty which thankfully has been paying for all these repairs. Her car just blew another head gasket most likely and is about to be on its 5th engine. She still has another $13,000 to pay off on the car, and Carvana offered us $4000 on it.

What is our best course of action going forward? This car has been in the shop for far longer then she has been driving it. Car runs great except for when the engine decides to grenade itself again.

Hello all,

Genuinely at a crossroads. I have 18k in student loan debt (all federal loans, 70% is subsidized) and am now completing school part-time. I have been a working independent student since I started going to school and have been living with roommates for the past few years. I have been commuting to school during the daytime and working at night.

I was finally placed at a temp agency! The pay is 26/hr for 35 hours a week for a job that would be really great for my career (planning on attending law school if everything goes well). However, it is too far from where I currently live.

My father is offering something he hasn't before: to live with him for free. It would be an hour commute. However, he is an alcoholic. He starts drinking at 9 am and gets pretty insufferable when he drinks. He lives in a one-bedroom basement, so it is pretty tight and will be difficult to have space for my own.

I really would like to live on my own without roommates near where I work. I understand that having roommates would be financially wise, but I have never had a real home. I am tired of moving (I have moved every 10-14 months while job hopping for the past 5 years after getting kicked out of my mom's, she is just very mentally unwell and abusive). I am losing steam as I am fighting, fighting, fighting to make it out as a first-gen (no other family in the country). I want to go to law school. I want to overcome all of this. I have some mental health issues that make it difficult to have a roommate (difficult for myself, not others, as I just get severe anxiety and find it hard to sleep as my roommates have all been strangers).

That being said, I am split between renting something that would eat half my paycheck, leaving me with little to pay off loans/save and such, and living with my father. I really would rather live with my father (live for free) and make the commute than have roommates. I am unsure of what to do. I would appreciate any advice.

Is retirement really as simple as it seems? I’m early 30s, and am fortunate enough to be able to contribute the max amount to my 401k per year. If I run the math, depending on interest rates I would retire at 65 with roughly 6-7M, obviously there’ll be taxes paid on that, but I think I would be comfortable in retirement at 3M net.

Of course I’m trying to take advantage of other investments, but worst case maxing 401k is relatively safe, or am I over simplifying it?

I 24M currently have 36K left in my student loans. I refinanced them down to a lower interest rate (5.9%) on a 5 year loan. I am about 2 years in so I would have 3 years left of payments.

I currently live at home in NYC and make 125K base with a 25K bonus. I have 23K in a brokerage account, 10K in my checking account and 10K in my savings account for emergencies.

I honestly hate having the debt over my head and would love to get rid of it asap as I would like to move out in the next year. Is it worth it to sell my 23K in stocks and put that towards my loan? That would leave me with 13K left to pay which I would aggressively work on finishing before the end of the year.

I figure my two options are

1. continue to make my monthly payments of $1,030 and when I get my bonus next April, throw the entire 25K (likely 17K post tax) at the loan.

2)sell the 23K in my brokerage account and use the funds to take a massive chunk off my debt.

My question is, is it silly to sell my entire brokerage account when it pretty much makes up the bulk of my savings just to clear my head of the debt? There is also the tax write off from the interest on my student loans to consider as I will no longer have any write offs.

I appreciate any insight! Thanks in advance.

Edit: I also have 50K saved in a 401k that I forgot to mention.

My SO’s work has a 401k and a pension. I recently found out they only contribute very little to their 401k, and their reasoning is because of the pension. I’m not sure if they’re even getting the full company match on the 401k.

Since there’s a pension, they have to contribute a certain amount to that, and because of it they say they can’t really contribute much to the 401k. Is there an actual rule/ recommendation that applies when you have both? I think I need more details from them to get a better answer here, but figured I’d ask in the meantime.

In a tough spot and need some advice. My 2015 Subaru Crosstrek XV needs an engine replacement, $5k used or $9k new. I’m not considering either option, I’ve had bad experiences with engine replacements and find its better to just sell the car. The bad part is I still owe $11k on it, and I don’t think it’s worth that much in its current state. I would obviously be transparent in selling. So - how much is it worth? I’m in San Diego, CA. Then, what do I do with the rest of the loan, and what car do I buy next? A beater, newer, or lease brand new? I have no savings, and will be financing any of the above options. I also have credit card debt and student debt. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Just found out within the last thirty minutes that you are not supposed to have both if you are legally married. We just got married back in December and had NO idea, and we’ve kept all of our insurance stuff separate so didn’t even know to look into this. I just now stopped my disbursements for the year but I’ve contributed $2,400 already into my HSA. My husband has contributed $1,200 to his FSA. Where do we go from here?

i just got my first job and my employer gave me a paper check as my first payment. i don’t have my id or birth certificate. how can i cash my check?

Hey everyone, looking for some outside perspective on a compensation choice at my job (California, if it matters).
My company is giving me an option:
Take a $2/hr base raise (moves me from $28 to $30/hr), but quarterly bonuses go away completely.
Stay at $28/hr and keep the quarterly bonus structure.
Some context:
Bonuses: These are paid out if we hit our targets. Historically, they've averaged about $3,000 a year for me, though they bounce around a bit every quarter.
Overtime: I regularly work about 2 to 3 hours of OT every week.
The Catch: I suspect $30/hr is a hard "glass ceiling" for my current job title. If I take the $2 raise, my base wage tops out right there.

I really like my job and want to stay where I am. Should I take the guaranteed $30/hr base, or try to negotiate a middle ground (like $29 + keeping bonuses), or stick with the $28 + bonuses? What would you do?

Edit: I went with the $2 raise thank you everyone!

I am thinking about pulling the trigger on retiring early next year.

I have 2 pensions that are already paying me 6k a month. My house is paid for my cars are paid for I have no debt and I have about 2k a month in bills.

I have $150k in TSP set to a conservative investing strategy.

Also have 2600 RSUs in the company I work for that hasn't gone public yet but when they do it will likely settle around $100 a share give or take.

Do you guys think this enough for the wife and me to live on in retirement?

Mid-40s, financially comfortable, and realizing we may end up with more money than we'll ever spend, what should we be thinking about?

My wife and I are in our mid-40s. Our youngest is a high school senior, and we have two college-age kids who are financially self-sufficient.

Our current financial picture:

$1-2M invested, roughly 3:1 pre-tax 401(k) / Roth IRA
~$1M home, with ~$150k remaining on the mortgage at 3.125%
~$175k annual household income
~$7,000/month total spending, including everything

We've spent a fair amount of time thinking about lifestyle inflation. We've considered downsizing the house, but we've decided we're genuinely happy where we are. We have a great community, and our house works well for us with main-floor living if needed down the road.

We've also talked through the usual ways people increase spending as their income and net worth rise: nicer cars, bigger houses, major home projects, expensive toys, etc. None of those things really appeal to us. For toys and recreational properties, we're happy renting rather than owning.

We're very grateful for what we've accumulated. We've been fortunate, but we've also been intentional about investing consistently and resisting lifestyle creep. This community has been a big part of helping us develop that mindset.

The interesting thing we're starting to realize is that, if we continue on our current trajectory, we're likely to accumulate considerably more than we would spend.

That's where I'm looking for perspective.

We don't feel particularly compelled to retire. I enjoy my work well enough, and neither of us feels like we're waiting for some magical future when we'll finally start enjoying life. We already like our day-to-day life. So we're approaching this next chapter with this question:

If you're financially comfortable, don't particularly want more stuff, enjoy your work, and are on track to accumulate substantially more than you'll need, what should you be thinking about?

For those who have been in a similar position:

What did you wish you'd thought about earlier?
Did your priorities change as your kids left home?
How did you think about work once money stopped being the primary reason to work?
Did you find ways to use your resources that were more fulfilling than simply accumulating more?
Are there financial or estate-planning issues we should be thinking about now rather than later?
Did you find effective ways to distribute wealth to your children early that complemented rather than disrupted their individual development?

What has helped you think well about the next 30–40 years when accumulating more money isn't the goal anymore.
What did you learn when you reached this point?

I purchased a phone from a shop two months ago and now that phone has been blacklisted by the carrier and they are unwilling to remove it. I since opened a chargeback dispute with my bank as the shop said they couldn't refund as it's past their 30 day policy for returns. The shop said they are willing to exchange for equivalent value, but the phone might not be brand new, open box like the one I purchased.

In case I can't find another phone from them which I like, should I continue the chargeback process or take the exchange? I heard the bank wants me to work it out with the vendor first, and the vendor has offered me this proposition, but am I forced to take the exchange?

I received a credit card in the mail from US Bank -- one I did not ask for. I already have a card with US Bank. It's grocery-store branded. This new card does not appear to be a replacement for that one. (The grocery-store card is a MasterCard, and it doubles as a store loyalty card. The new card is a Visa, and it does not have the loyalty-card info on it.)

There is no letter with the new card explaining why they sent it. It did come with the usual information about interest rates & whatnot. There are no annual fees or anything like that, and there is no interest if the full statement balance is paid by the due date each month.

This feels weird. I was thinking about tossing out the new card, but there doesn't appear to be any downside to keeping it. And the addition to the credit I have available should bump up my FICO score just a bit.

Are there any red flags here?

My husband and I just got married may 2026

I just saw a post about someone else mentioning this so thought I’d post my own situation for clarification.

His job only has high deductible plans and my job I have a PPO with an FSA option. I am pregnant, we didn’t plan to add him to my insurance in January 27 because of how expensive a family plan is plus the $50 surcharge my company charges.
So he was going to keep his high deductible plan with his HSA and I was going to cover myself and the baby (due in February), with FSA.

Can someone explain what we need to do? Or why we can’t keep it this way?

I never even thought this was an issue until I saw that other post

Please share your opinion on whether the monthly pension or lump sum is better.

Age 55, will start collecting pension from previous employer while continuing to work and will collect another pension from current employer after retirement. Currently have $500k in Roth IRAs. Spouse is self employed and does not have a pension.

Lump Sum: $220k
Single Life: $1500/mo
Joint 100%: $1100/mo

We have never planned to pay off our house. We’ve only ever wanted to have enough equity in it to buy/build something smaller in an area with a much lower cost of living. We already own a piece of property there and we have about $120k of equity in our house. We can afford a small mortgage if we need it. I’m certain that we can make this part happen the way we want. We will have a pretty good retirement income and a 401k that we may not have to touch.
The problem is that we are currently carrying far too much credit card debt and
I don’t know the best way to get rid of it.
Does it make ANY sense at all to use some of the equity in our home now to pay down the higher interest rate debt before we move on?

I can bring 5k to do a down payment And family emis willing to give me 3k more to help, but I'm wondering if I should lease a new car or get the model and year I've been looking at?

This is my first car And I'm scared of making the wrong choice.

38 yo with 2 kids 3 and under, utterly burned out and mentally drained from the corporate grind. I am sick of being mentally ill, unable to be mentally present with my family and seriously considering taking a couple of years off from my career to focus on my health and my family 100% and welcome this community’s thoughts.

- We have 1.6M liquid, of which 1.1M is in retirement accounts, the other 500k is split 80/20 taxable brokerage and cash.
- We own a house with a low rate mortgage in a VHCOL area (400k equity, 700k mortgage balance outstanding at 2.8%). Annual expenses including this, are about 120k.
- if I took the break, I’d qualify for maximum ACA subsidies due to low income, so healthcare would not be a significant expense. I might also harvest some capital gains to take advantage of the low income.

- Current income: 300k (single income)
- Likelihood of getting a similar job in 2-3 years: probably not that high, but very high chance of getting something around 150k range. It’s a professional non tech field. Unfortunately part time with my current job is not an option.

What would people in my situation do? I’m prepared to accept retiring a bit later if it means I can get the time now while the kids are young and not in school. Some crude projections show that even if I do this, a retirement in my late 50s is still very possible, but I’m happy to work into my 60s if it’s a sustainable (even if lower paying role). I am aware it will not be the financially optimal decision, but with the current situation there is 100% chance I will look back and regret not spending more time with the kids before they reach school age.

24 in Southern CA, 70k salary (Less than a year of making that, 21.50/hr prior)
Have insurance, paid off car (parents old car), 13k in brokerage account, 7k Roth IRA, 6k cash savings for emergencies… along with no debt!

Feel like I’m behind, any recommendations? Am I behind?

I'm 42 and plan on retiring around 65-ish. At the moment I still have 100% of my retirement funds invested in stock. I've been debating over the last couple years whether I should start shifting part of my money to something lower-risk, or wait another few years.

When would (or did) you start moving to a lower-risk allocation and why?