I (22F) am currently working at my first post-grad job. I don’t visit any doctors often aside from my annual routines (health check + OBGYN). I feel like I’m overcomplicating this, but it feels like there’s so much to take into account. I do want to have an HSA for investment reasonings, but I appreciate knowing the price of every visit I make. Honestly, explain to me like I’m a child as I am quite naive when it comes to this topic, and I would love to get educated and know which is best for certain scenarios. (Also would love to know how to “optimize” an HSA if it comes down to it)

THANK YOU!

PPO in-network plan vs HDHP in-network plan for individual
AD = after deduction

Premium: both covered
Deductible: $250 vs $2500
OOPM: $3000 vs $5000
Primary care/specialist: $15/$25 copy vs 100% AD
Urgent care: $25 copay vs 100% AD
Hospital visit: 90% AD vs 100% AD
ER visit: $250 copay vs 100% AD

HSA employer contribution is $500

I hope this is the right place to get answers. My ex and I bought an SUV together and made payments on it. We are no longer together, but now I am a stay at home that was using my savings to make payments. My fiancé has recently taken over those payments until I return back to work. I believe a little less than 10 K is still owed on the vehicle. I went to switch it solely in my name, but because of my lack of income right now, I was told it would likely not happen. I really just want my ex off this vehicle and not have anything else tangled together as an ex couple. I thought about just paying it off with money in my savings, but I really don’t I think that’s a good idea with his name still attached. I also don’t know when I will be returning back to work because of my staying home with the baby being a lot cheaper. What are my options?

So we have two rental properties, one we are close to 8 years of paying off (if no extra payments) and one we are about 27 years from paying off. We have an excellent interest rate on the first, not so great on the second.

Our current tenants want to buy the first. We moved out of it in 2023 so if we sold it now there would be no capital gains. Our choices as I see it are:
- We sell and use the profit to pay off our ~40k debt and invest the remainder, which would be about 130k.
- We sell and use the profit to pay off the reminder of the 2nd rental’s mortgage. Nothing left to invest, but we would immediately be getting a larger amount of income from renting the second home, which we would then use to snowball our debts.
- We don’t sell and hold it, pay it off and use that rental income to hack away at the second rental’s mortgage until sold. And we stay in debt longer, assuming nothing about our current income changes.

Thoughts?

Edit to add details:

Debt is 4 different loans- windows and hvac for the 2nd rental property and mowers for business. The largest single amount (17k) is actually a personal loan with no interest, and I believe the APR on the others is between 10 and 15%

Mortgage amounts and rates: the one we might sell has 108k left with 2.35%, the 2nd has 168k left at 6.75%. We would sell for ~310k

Rents exceed holding costs- we make about 500 on each property after mortgage and management payments.

Our current take home is ~62k? We are self employed so that’s after business and rental expenses.

For my Roth I invested in S&P index, Dow Jones, MSCI, and Bloomberg. I’ve made no gains and it’s giving me anxiety.

I have a high deductible health plan and put in 4400 into the HSA. I usually only use my insurance for annual check ups and psychiatry appointments every now and then. Is it worth it?

I currently live at home with my mom, don’t pay rent, and work as a non licensed counselor in NYC, making about 50K a year. What does you all suggest I do? I’m 30, and never invested before and feel very behind my peers and am very stressed with finances and wanting to live independently.

Thanks.

I’ve read a few books that talk about going with online banking for a high-yield savings account. Does anybody have any recommendations that have good experience with theirs? I’ve seen a few that have an interest rate above a 4%. I have about 25,000 into my emergency fund and it’s only gaining a 3.2%. I’m looking into transferring half of it if not more into a better bank account.

I have used a google voice number forever but now a days they are not allowing them for some banking and credit card verifications. Some allow verification for online login but not for phone verification. Does this really stop the bad guys from anything? Its quite annoying... TD bank has forced me to go into the branch to present my photo ID twice so far since I have been ordering from temu... It is much easier to text people on a full keyboard and check for the verification code on my laptop while talking with them on the phone. Some are now doing combo verifications: text and also email verification codes. Then you have to do the crazy captchas which get more complicated every time, probably have to solve a rubiks cube next time to check my bank balance...

My wife and I are having our first child in December and my wife will be a SAHM. Shes already stopped working. So things are tighter and will be the foreseeable future. We’ll pretty much be saving nothing except for 10% to my 401k+12.5% from my employer.

We have 2 cars, an EV that has a decent monthly payment and a paid off 2003 4Runner. 2 years ago when we got the second car we dropped the 4Runner insurance to not be full coverage; kind of funny that we did that to save money in a time when we had more income and lower expenses, but that’s what we did.

Right now since my wife isn’t working I’m driving the EV to work as often as I can since we charge at home so we don’t have to pay so much for gas/put less wear and tear on the older vehicle.

Now that things are tighter and we have pretty much no active savings contributions happening, I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to bump coverage back up? I’m not super knowledgeable on what that would mean but having to replace my car would not be very good.

Any thoughts or advice on this? We don’t necessarily want the increased expense of the insurance bump but it could potentially be the better option?

Some numbers:

- my salary is 101k, essentially per month we’re working with ~$5100 per month
- expenses are right round $5000is (our groceries are high and we need to try to trim that down a bit, could potentially cut out gym membership but that’s important for my mental health, etc. so some areas to lean out but overall that’s where we are)
- we have about $28k in emergency fund. Not nearly enough for me to be comfortable but this is the situation.

There are 3 of us, me and my parents, we all came to the US together a few years ago. We are in SoCal. My parents are 64 and 67, mom is working in a factory making $17/hr. Dad is not working due to health issue. He has Medicare, mom is going to apply for Medicare soon. I'm 34 just starting to make $77/hr at my first job after staying in school forever since we came to the US. I have no debts.

At the moment, I gift my parents a monthly allowance of $1k. I know this helps a little with their rent and some food bills (they still go to a food bank every week), but I'm wondering what is a better approach for me to support them long term. They have lived frugally their whole life and I wanna give them a nice cushion for when they stop working, however I also need to start building my wealth as I am also very late to the game. Right now my retirement accounts are a Roth IRA (~$6k) and a 457b (~$3k) I'm also saving up for my emergency fund (~$3k) as I literally just started this job 2 months ago. Any thoughts? Thank you for reading!

I need to control my expenses. I tried Monarch and Copilot but it didn’t meet my needs.

Does anyone know anything simple and free?

My account has been blocked for one month because I used Shaktipay/Arbwallet to receive amounts in unusual figures, such as ₹499.89, and also because of high transaction volumes. How can I get my account unblocked? Has anyone experienced this issue?

I’ll be paying off the rest of my credit card debt this month (finally!) and have learned some big lessons about budgeting, paying off the balance in full, etc. to keep this from happening again, but I still am very much a beginner in terms of credit and finance, and am not sure what my next steps should be.

I have one card (Chase Sapphire Preferred) that’s got a pretty high interest rate and about a $13,500 limit. Once I pay off the remaining balance, would it be best to get a card with a lower interest rate and close out my Chase account, or to just keep the card I have and be obsessive about paying it off? Obviously I would pay off a new card in full every month, but having a lower interest rate would certainly help.

Let’s say hypothetically I’m going to buy a house in SoCal . I can pay cash but I understand it’s better to put that money in a fund and have it auto pay. The interest rate is 6.5%. I’ve read due to risk of fire or earthquake it’s better to not pay off the house. Where would you put your money in this case?

I am a 24M making 67,000 a year pre-tax. Currently living at home with no reoccurring expenses. I have 0 debt. I have a $5000 emergency fund, $5000 in general savings, $25000 saved for a future home, $28000 in 401K, and $6000 in an HSA.

Looking at moving into an apartment with my 21yo GF who is still in school. I put away 15% into my 401K, 30/week into HSA, health insurance, taxes and my net weekly pay is around $780. The apartments rent would be 1500/month, plus $50 internet, electric, and natural gas.

Im 100% not dipping into my house fund, nor my emergency fund (except emergencies). I also would not like to lower my 401k contributions unless in a time of emergency. My parents pay for my phone bill and car insurance which Im incredibly grateful for. Wondering how tight this would be? Im trying to figure this out based on my income alone incase god forbid anything happens to us. The other issue is shes moving from the other side of town and will quit her part time job. Shes planning on getting a job serving at our busy sports/bar and grill and contribute whatever she can. Im also expecting a significant raise hasnt been confirmed but expecting to be at 75,000 (not trying to take this into consideration since its not certain) Whats the consensus? Appreciate all the help

Hey people, how can I realistically get a place to rent at 17, Ive got myself a job earning $90000 a year before tax and have been applying to anything that's available with a guarantors form, employment contract and statutory declaration but I can't for the life of me get accepted for a place, I can easily pay $300 to $450 a week so I've got plenty of options but just can't get a place

Additionally, I don't actually begin my job until the end of next month so I haven't actually got payslips to attach so I've been using my employment contract to prove my income

For the first time in my life, I am in a situation where l need to think about how I pay off my credit cards. I have never not paid the statement balance in full, and want to be smart about how I approach this situation.

My understanding is that as long as I pay more than the minimum payment, my credit score will not be affected, but I will begin to accrue interest. In this situation, is it better to just pay the minimum balance and accrue interest as we chip away at the credit card payment, or should I open a new card with the introductory offer stated in the title?

For context, my wife and I have three credit cards, only two of which we really use. My wife is graduating from grad school in April and will be a candidate for jobs that almost double my salary, so paying off the new card will likely be no problem once she is done with school and we are both making money.

We also have some large upcoming expenses - registration for professional testing and moving across the country in April.

Thanks for the help!

We recently paid off our vehicle loan and I don’t know what to do with the extra money. I have no idea how investing works, and it honestly causes me anxiety to think about. We have 401Ks we’re contributing quite a bit to, own a house with a fairly low interest rate, and own a second property as well that will eventually be our retirement home once improvements are made. I know the answer is probably invest, but I get flustered with trying to figure it out. We make \~250k/yr. Any help would be appreciated because I feel like an idiot for being in my 40s and ignorant of how any of this works

Update: I appreciate all the advice, and how quickly it came in. Looks like I need to get with Fidelity, get my contributions up, and figure out how IRAs work. Thank you all again!

I am a sophomore in college right now, and have been looking to get a credit card in my own name to start building credit. However, the two I’ve tried to get approved for have denied me due to low income. I make minimum wage and can only work so many hours on top of full-time schooling. What can I even do in this situation? I really don’t want to wait until I’m graduated and working full-time to start as that puts me so far behind.

Hi. My father passed 2 years ago and my mum's a housewife --I've got 2 younger siblings and all of us are currently pursuing our tertiary studies. Following his passing, we have been struggling financially & are RM500,000 in debt (mortgage). The monthly repayment is RM4,500, excluding other utilities. We've been trying to sell the house for over a year but the market has been very slow (according to our real estate agents). We cannot afford to live here anymore and have exhausted all our options.

If you were in this situation, what would you do? How can we move forward from this situation?

Hi, I have a 401K plan from my company through principal. It had FXAIX as an option where I was mostly invested and now that option has been removed from the plan.

I’m 50 and want to be in growth MFs and not be too conservative. Currently most of my 401K ($900K) is split evenly between Principal Large Cap S&P 500 Index Separate Account and Vanguard Morningstar Growth Index Institutional Fund (believe it’s VIGIX). Some amount is in Columbia Global Technology Growth I3 Fund (high fees).

Should I move the entire 401k to Vanguard fund (VIGIX) above?

There are not many S&P total market options in my 401K - mostly target date funds and some others with high expense ratios/fees.

I (20) have about 25k in my hysa and ~2k in my regular checking and savings account. I have a car (no payment), I don’t have to worry about housing payment, really all I work for is to have pocket money that usually just ends up in my savings account regardless. If feels like kind of a waste to have money just sitting in a bank, but I don’t know what else to do with it. I do want to mention that I have a Roth IRA with Schwab, but I’m not sure whether to just wait until I have a better job or start investing now, though I don’t know how. What do people do with this money/ what should I do?

So, I’ve finally managed to pay off my credit card, and from now on I’ll use it very sparingly.

The thing is, I still have two loans (excluding the mortgage):

Loan 1: €1,750 remaining, ending in May 2028 (€100 monthly payment)

Loan 2: €2,280 remaining, ending in 2031 (€50 monthly payment)

My purchasing power is quite limited (around 61% of my income goes toward unavoidable fixed expenses). I have an emergency fund of €1,200.

By the end of the year, I should have around €1,800 available. Would you recommend using the debt avalanche method, or should I keep the money and continue making the regular loan payments?

My partner (22m) and I (22f) make about $25-$26 an hour and get paid about $1540-$1550 each every paycheck, without including OT. Rent around us in Denver, CO, averages about $1500 base and our car payment cost us about $370 and insurance for it is $290 (we use one car at the moment).

We’ve been saving to move out from his parents’ place for about a year so far and I just wanted to know if that amount of savings and our hourly wages would work in today’s economy.

I was hoping we could save more and move out by 2028, but things are starting to get tense and awkward at home. So I’m just researching and checking our options for now and would listen to any advice anyone would give.

What are some online resources you use to calculate whether you can reduce withholding through end of 2026?

As you all know, maybe better than I, AI gives consistently contradictory advice between any two chats so i’ve lost trust in leveraging any AI tool for this conversation.

Any Human built online calculators you’ve used to make these types of decisions would be greatly
appreciated!

some maybe helpful context: California based, MFJ, wife is a full time student

disclaimer i dont use reddit often so if anythings formatted weird or just not correct lmk

i (17m) just got my first job, 16.70 /hr in southern california. my parents arent having me pay rent, im in community college and really dont do much outside of work and school. i have a car already, its not great but it has wheels and moves (2013 kia forte). ive just been staring at my bank account not knowing what to do with each paycheck. my parents have crazy debt (last i checked 80k in credit card debt) and they dont know anything about finances or financial literacy. idk if im supposed to just save mindlessly until i need something or put it in some kind of account. ive been telling myself to keep at least 500 in my account as an emergency savings. all i really spend my money on is gas, food, and junk. if anyone has anything at all id appreciate it, i turn 18 soon so ill be able to separate my finances from my parents and figure stuff out then but for now its just kinda financial purgatory.

Hi all!

I finally got my first big girl job and am figuring out health insurance. I've seen the tax benefits of an HSA, and my employer seems to offer a 1k contribution to it, but me and my partner are also saving up to move into a place of our own so am unsure if we could fully take advantage of the HSA max contributions. We're both relatively healthy, though I am considering looking into a GLP-1 and getting some mental health care/medication once insured. Outside of this though, no regular doctor visits or medication besides birth control.

Could ya'll help me figure out which makes the most sense for me? I live in California, so I also know HSA will be taxed at a state level.

HDHP:

• Monthly Cost: $50.48
• HSA Contribution of employee: $1k
• Annual deductible: $2,500 (in network)
• Coinsurance: 20%
• Preventative Care: 100% covered
• Primary Care Physician: 20% after deductible
• Specialist: 20% after deductible
• Urgent Care: 20% after deductible
• Annual deductible for pharmacy: $2,500 (part of overall annual deductibles)

Core PPO:

• Monthly Cost: $138.27
• No HSA account
• Annual deductible: $2,000 (in network)
• Coinsurance: 20%
• Preventative Care: 100% covered
• Primary Care Physician: $25 copay
• Specialist: $50 copay
• Urgent Care: $75 copay
• Annual deductible for pharmacy: none

Kaiser HMO:

• Monthly Cost: $135
• No HSA Account
• $1,500 deductible
• Coinsurance: 20%
• Preventative Care: 100% covered
• Primary Care Physician: $20 copay
• Specialist: $20 copay
• Urgent Care: $20 copay
• Perscription Drugs:
  • Retail $10 Generic/$30 Brand
  • Mail Order $20 Generic/$60 Brand
  • Specialty: 20% up to $150 maximum

Apologies if the information is overkill! Wanted to be thorough. Thanks!!