Finances

My mom (70) “retired” a few years ago despite not being nearly financially secure enough to do so. Cut to today and she currently has 6k remaining in her 401k with no other savings, and is just over 100k in debt (43k remaining on mortgage, 23k car debt across two cars, 25k credit card debt, 10k in other loans). 

Monthly expenses including minimum payments on all loans is $4k ($1k housing, $520 utilities, $800 food/necessities, $675 car payments, $1k credit card/loan payments), and she gets $1.5k a month in social security benefits, so there is a $2.5k deficit that needs to be paid each month which she has been paying with a combination of credit cards and 401k withdrawals.

[Read more…] about Money Matters: ‘Elderly parent has significant debt and no job’

"I’ve got a brutal special assessment that was just unilaterally decided upon by my HOA board. I live in a condo I bought in May 2014 for $245K. The assessment will be for $60K to replace the siding and windows."

"I’ve recently moved into a condo complex that I’ve now learned needs a lot of urgent work done. We haven’t yet gotten a final figure, but it’s looking like a $30k-$40k assessment may be in my near future."

"Hello, I (30 F) own a condo in a 16 story building. I am a full-time Master’s Student with a part-time retail job. My Condo building is falling apart and needs about $3.5 million in repairs. My portion of this is an $18000 assessment due on June 11th"

[Read more…] about Special Assessments: The Hidden Risk When Buying in an HOA

Sunk Cost Analysisis a way of making decisions that ignores any costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. These costs are known as “sunk costs.”

The key principle of sunk cost analysis is that only future costs and benefits should be considered in a decision, not past expenditures, since the latter cannot be changed and should not influence the rational assessment of a viable option.

[Read more…] about What is Sunk Cost Analysis?

I’ve worked since i was 16 and have had 4 jobs: a cashier, tutor, babysitter, and i am currently a receptionist. I’m always really good with saving my money and only spend it to eat out with my friends or pay for my own necessities.

This is because i’ve been saving up to make a down payment for a car. however, my account was naturally under my dad’s account since i wasn’t 18. Every time I had 1k my dad would take it from my account and say “i’m saving it for you.” he never opened me a savings account no matter how much i asked and I just couldn’t do anything about it. i was just praying my dad was right and believed him when he said he wouldn’t touch any of the money but i was a fool.

[Read more…] about Money Matters: “18 y/o, saved up $4,000 over 2 years, dad used it all”

I’m struggling with a difficult situation involving my in-laws, and I desperately need some guidance. My wife’s parents, both in their early 60s, have always been irresponsible with money. They never saved much for retirement and constantly made impulsive purchases.

About three years ago, my father-in-law received a substantial settlement from a lawsuit, somewhere in the ballpark of $300,000. Despite our warnings, he decided to invest the entire sum in risky stocks, believing it would make him rich quickly. As you can probably guess, the stocks crashed, and they lost nearly everything.

[Read more…] about Money Matters: “My wife’s parents are broke and are asking us for money”

So, I wasted my 20s working in a dead end job with no retirement benefits at all and didn’t start my 401k with my current job until I was almost 33 (almost exactly 2 years ago).

I’ve finally gotten comfortable enough financially to start dumping heavily into it and am currently putting away 15% into the Roth 401k option and my company matches 6% pre-tax.

My current balance is just under $18.5k (pending market fluctuations). I feel like I’m way behind after seeing posts from people in their 20s with six figures in their retirement accounts. Someone reassure me that eventually I’ll be able to comfortably retire.

[Read more…] about Money Matters: ‘I wasted my 20s working in a dead end job with no retirement benefits at all’

1. 60M – $900K and also have a nice pension. I didn’t really start investing till I was 40. Been maxing 401K and Roth since. House almost paid off and zero debt.
2. 49, 365k.. never made over 45,000
3. 55 yrs old. $1.7m retiring in 3 months.

[Read more…] about 39 People Reveal How Old They Are and How Much They Have Saved for Retirement

Alright, let’s cut through the noise and get straight to the heart of what you really need to know about saving for retirement. No fluff, no overly complicated formulas—just the straight-up, actionable advice you need.

[Read more…] about How Much Do You Really Need to Retire? Solve the Puzzle with This Simple Formula

I’m in 250k worth of debt and I’m seriously considering going back to school

So I recently stumbled across a new career prospect that I’m extremely interested in . It’s in the medical field and I’d be making upwards of 150-200k right after graduating from the 2.5 years of schooling. The only issue I’m having is that I’m already in over 240k worth of high interest student loan debt . I currently make 70k working 2 jobs and I know my salary will increase but it’ll probably take another 7-10 years before even reaching $150k .

Is it worth applying for the program? It’s a very rigorous program and I can’t possibly work through it. I’m also on only 1 income at the moment so I’ll be responsible for covering living expenses for my self and my mother who lives with me.

This job will give me such a good quality of life after , but I’ll like come out owing $400k since interest on my current loans will keep accruing while in college.

[democracy id=”373″]

$120,000 in my savings, parents what me to pay off their house.

I’m 25 years old and live with my parents and make $52,000 a year after taxes. I spend about 9k a year on food gas clothes etc. My parents have about 110ish left to pay of on their and are expected to pay off in 11 years. I believe the interest rate is somewhere between 3-4%. Would I save them a significant amount of money paying off their house and having them pay me back in 5 years or would it be better for me to invest my money and open a high yield savings account.

Let’s get straight to the point: Your plan to pay off your parents’ mortgage and have them pay you back in 5 years is fraught with financial and emotional landmines.

If the logic here is that they can pay you back in such a short timeframe, it begs the question: Why aren’t they just as aggressive in paying down the mortgage themselves? This isn’t just about numbers; it’s about the complexities of intertwining financial dependency with family dynamics.

[Read more…] about Money Matters: “I Have $120,000 in My Savings Parents What Me to Pay off Their House”