Hello all,

My girlfriend who I will likely propose to and marry in the next two years are discussing how we would set up the prenup and expenses going forward. Currently we split everything 50-50.

Stats

Me Age: 31 $300K stocks $90K down payment Comp: $115K No other debt

Her Age: 31 $100K Stocks $10K down payment Comp: $200K $150K debt mostly student loans and car note

So going into this I am going to be bringing the majority of the assets $390K. She will be bringing essentially net ($40K).

She will continue to outpace me in salary likely will be making double I am in the coming years and maybe more.

I am much more financially savvy than her and would handle all finances and investments together.

When deciding on how things are going to be handled I think everything should be treated as we are one going forward. Essentially post marriage assets/expenses treated as one. I think this simplifies things the most. I think her contributing proportionately more to household expenses makes sense as her income is so much higher.

She hesitantly agreed, but was first thinking things should remain as they are and be separate.

I understand this setup over the course of the marriage would benefit me in the event of a divorce 10+ years down the line. But definitely for the foreseeable future I am taking on far more risk as she has some spending issues and a negative net worth. So I want to hear other opinions on if this is unfair.

She would naturally have a higher free spending money than me, but for larger expenses those would be decided together.

I have no plans on increasing my lifestyle due to this spending split and continue investing ~50%+ of my income as I do now.

After paying off her debt I would basically plan on increasing her investments and the net would be to do with whatever she wants after accounting for our housing expenses. I imagine her share of household expenses would be like $600-1000 more a month, so really not much when accounting for the $ amounts we’re dealing with.

So I have my bonus I was supposed to get about a month ago. I was going to use the $25,000 check to pay for my move, namely the purchase of a large trailer to haul my things. Now I still haven't been able to get my check despite my constant nagging up a storm at work but I need to be out of my house in a few weeks and it could take a couple months for them to re-do my information for my bonus. Is there someway for my to get about 10-12k ASAP *WITHOUT* a loan or credit card? I'm trying to avoid having to pay interest on money I was already supposed to have. Thanks!

Keep in mind, if a savings is used once in a long time, it could always go back up. If your savings gets taken out more than oncd a month...

You gotta re-finance yourself when a pen and paper and get to work on your future and spending habits.

Has anyone used this? Just ran across it while. checking out at a website.

Is it as carefree as it makes itself appear?

I’ll gladly take a hamburger today and pay tomorrow.

Thinking about the grant freezes, federal firings, Billy Long, Canada/Mexico trade war, Elon Musk gaining access to accounts, etc. I'm probably going to end up owing money because I worked a bunch of extra work shifts over the course of the year. That being said, is it worth filing early or should I wait to see how this whole thing shakes out? Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question.

I recently read about how to optimize retirement investments to best protect against taxes and wanted to ask this community if it makes good sense. The model is;

1. Have 6 months worth of savings somewhere.
2. Have a 500k balance in a 401k / IRA.
3. Place everything else into a Roth 401k/ Roth IRA.

I'm asking because I'll need to open a Roth 401k/IRA and start thinking about the 'everything else' part of my future investments. Without getting into too many details (I undertand that the "right" answer here depends on several factors like my tax bracket) is this a sound model for retirement?

Hi, I am 18 and I've been starting to invest, and there are lots of terms which I don't even get to comprehend, so where should I start?

Also, I've been investing in Etoro and the only share I own is an Nvidia stock. Thanks beforehand.

My current balance is $400 but my monthly/statement is -$600. Does that mean they owe me $200? How do I get them to give me back that money when I only have $100 of credit remaining?

Also, does having frequent negative credit card balances increase my credit score more or will I be penalized for making them owe me money?

Pretty much what the title states. Was laid off last year and received a severance that was taxed pretty hard. What document would I need to collect to file a return from that?

Lots of talk on various pages about pulling out of the market due to uncertainty.

Just something to read

https://foolwealth.com/hubfs/one-pager/timing-the-market.pdf?hsLang=en

I’m confused on how the deductions work. Do I only get the deductions after I file my taxes? Are deductions based on your income pre or post tax? Because post tax I make below 77k so would that mean I get a full deductions on my contributions?

Is it possible to disinvest my 401k from the various funds without withdrawing it and incurring taxes? Like, if I just wanted to pause my investments because I was worried about the market, do I have to put it into a seperate fund? I don't want them in bonds - i just want them uninvested, but I don't plan on spending any of it.

Started a new job that offers a 401k through Voya. They do not offer a match at all and from what I understand, Voya charges 1.35% annually in fees. (working to confirm the fees)

My 401k at my prior job was through Fidelity. There's about 80k in there now. As far as I know, I wasn't paying any fees on this.

I also have a Roth IRA through Fidelity, not connected to any job. It's only got a few thousand in it.

My initial plan was to start contributing 500/month to my new 401k and roll the old one into it. However if I'm understanding the fees correctly, that would be $1350 per year in fees for every $100k in the account.
At $500 per month, that's nearly 3 months that I'm just sending straight to fees.

I'm really not sure what to do financially here and am considering several options.

1. Roll over the Fidelity into Voya. Invest as planned. Just eat the fees.
2. Leave the 80k with Fidelity(assuming I'm able). Invest as planned with Voya, basically starting from scratch there, which reduces fees greatly.
3. Leave the 80k with Fidelity and start dumping the planned 500 per month into my Roth IRA.
4. Forget investing and blow the 500 per month on cocaine and hookers.

I'm certainly open to any other options but if anyone could help with the pros and cons of these, I'd appreciate it greatly.

Been longing for advice on what to do as far as financially. I’ve heard of the Dave Ramsey method and other ways to reach financial stability and independence but I would also like to hear what others might have to say.

For context, I am:

• 25m, Chicagoland area, living with my parents • Work for local government that offers a municipal pension - great benefits (health, dental, etc) • Income is $3,800/mo AFTER taxes/deductions (5% of my take home check goes to my retirement fund which I just started when I got this job 1 month ago) • No debt (car is paid off, no student loans, no credit card debts) • Only bills that I pay is rent, Apple Music, gym membership, a few streaming services, etc • Total for said bills ^ would be around $300/mo (my parents only charge me $150 for rent) • $25,000 in savings, $500 in an emergency fund • Every check, I try to save $1,000 for savings, and $250 for my emergency fund • Remaining of my check gets split into my other expenses • $500 is in my employee retirement fund since I just got this job 1 month ago • I do have a Fidelity ROTH IRA that has $1,500 invested in S&P500 but haven’t touched it in 1.5 years

I guess my question for you guys is what should I be doing? Saving for a down payment on a house? Investing more into my ROTH? Focus on my retirement account first? Any and all advice helps, thank you all

Info about me: 23 years old, just got a good new job and am starting to think about the future. I just opened a Roth IRA for the first time.

Predicament: I owe $5500 on an auto loan at 6.25% interest. I can either pay off my loan or invest that money into a Roth IRA, before the April 15th deadline for 2024 contributions. I won’t be able to do both. Should I get some money into my Roth IRA so I can get the extra year in? Or should I pay off my car first?

Thanks!

So, I am pretty sure I am hosed but I thought maybe someone would have some input. Feel free to call me an idiot, but, about 17 years ago my sister convinced me to cosign on a mortgage with her because she and her husband had filed bankruptcy before and their credits were both bad. I was young and naive and believed her when she said I could leave whenever I wanted after asking what if I wanted to cut and leave later.

They were concerned that his oersonal chef business would be in jeopardy if something went wrong so it was she and I as cosigners. The agreement was that they would split the mortgage between them and I would pay utilities. At the time it was pretty equal.

Fast forward to now and I could count on one hand the number of times they have paid on time. Annual forgiveness paperwork and hardship refinancing kept deferring payments back onto the balance and I have cleaned out all my savings and taken a loan out from my 403b multiple times.

I could go into the details of why they are awful with this but it's all family insanity. Recently I looked into the possibility of refinancing it just in my name and taking over since the only blemishes on my credit are the mortgage itself but I was told we would need a year of on time payments. I have nothing left to even keep thinfs going for a couple.

I guess I was grasping at straws for some ideas or insight. Again, I know I made the biggest mistake of my life cosigning with my sister If I didn't think she would, as the narcissist I have since learned her to be, pursue legal action against me if I just left then I would already be gone and staying with friends.

Hi all. I'm in a weird situation. Disclaimer: I'm not very financially literate, and I'm really trying to become more financially literate, but it's very overwhelming.

A long while ago my dad bought some stock in a brokerage account for me, so the account is in my name. I basically forgot about this til recently. He had always done my taxes. I recently lost him so I can't ask him questions. It has a decent market value.

The only recent activity going back a couple years are super small monthly interest deposits (I'm talkin like a quarter). So there's a small amount of cash/cash alternatives. My question is... what exactly should I be doing with this? Should I be taking out some and placing in a HYSA or roth IRA? And I set aside some for the associated taxes?

I'm so sorry if this is too broad. Also, in case this is relevant: Aside from this I currently only have a checking and savings account. I realize I should probably move my savings to a HYSA.

Thanks.

Basically can I open an IRA for my son who is 15, (but has no earned income) and just put money in it for him on a monthly basis? Want to contribute 1000 a month to it at least until he turns 18. However I’ve gotten mixed results from Google if this is possible due to lack of him having income.

M31

I’m about to make $2,000,000 off the sale of the family business (I have no legal ownership)

I’m in a position where I can retire off 150k, and don’t need to make anymore retirement contributions.

I’d like to retire as soon as possible, what is my best option, tax wise and job wise? (I’m sure I will be fired or salary reduced)

My fiance and I (29M, 30F) are first time home owners and bought a small condo in a HCOL area (CA) last year (bought w/ 20% down @ 530K, 17K in closing costs, worth about 560K now according to Redfin). Originally planned to live here for 5 years, make some improvements and later move to a townhome/SFH, however we've been having issues with a mentally ill neighbor who has a criminal record who makes us feel unsafe. Long story short, the police don't do much about him and he's easily the worst neighbor we've ever had (cops at his house at least 3x a week, honking at 2AM - 8AM, trashing people's cars, dumping trash in the common areas especially in front of our house, verbally harassing/following people esp. women to their houses looking for a fight, stalking neighbors online and sending them threats). Multiple neighbors have a restraining order against him and he pleaded guilty to a felony charge he will be having a hearing for in a few months.

It's come to the point where we are considering not waiting even the 2 years to avoid capital gains, and maybe just leaving after 1 year. However, we don't have a lot saved up yet to just up and move without it hurting financially. I'm wondering if it's better for us to rent out our condo and live elsewhere, but I'm also worried that because we have to disclose the neighbor's behavior, that it will be difficult to find a buyer/renter for the house, and we'll end up selling at a loss anyways (maybe even if we stayed here 2 years). Then we'd be out the realtor fees and other associated costs still. I'm wondering what would be the best plan of action for us to take without losing too much money in the process.

Hello everyone i m about to complete my masters degree and I was not able to appear for the final exams because of financial issues , so we have be trying to sell , mortgage property, take personal loan for the past 3 months and nothing is contributing not even a penny , i m clueless, mu father doesn’t have proper income for last few years so no bank is ready to lend any money without completing my masters i feel like a sitting duck who is good for nothing any good suggestions to arrange the money in legal ways possible kindly put on these feed i am open to any legal suggestions Thank you everyone

Hi all! I received a 1099-NEC from X Corp. Weird thing is, I never worked or did any work for them. I don't have the X app at all. It is a legitimate 1099-NEC form, with non-employee compensation of $23.83 (which I never received). Is someone or X using my info?

Hi everyone, I’m 22 and just started working full-time. I’m looking for some advice on how to set up my 403(b) through TIAA. My goal is to max it out each year, and since I have a long time until retirement, I’m open to more aggressive investment options.

I have the option to invest in a Target Date 2065 fund, but I’m considering managing my own investments for potentially better returns and lower expense ratios.

These are all the funds I have available to choose from:

American Funds Capital World Growth and Income Fund - R6
American Funds EuroPacific Growth Fund - R6
CREF Growth R4
CREF Social Choice R3
CREF Social Choice R4
CREF Stock R3
Dodge & Cox Income Fund Class I
Nuveen Lifecycle Index 2010-2065 Fund R6
Nuveen Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund R6
TIAA Real Estate
TIAA Traditional
Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund Institutional
Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund Institutional Plus Class
Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund Admiral Class Shares
Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund Institutional Class Shares
Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund Investor
Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund Institutional
Vanguard Institutional Index Fund Institutional Plus
Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral
Vanguard Real Estate Index Institutional
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Institutional
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Institutional Plus
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Institutional
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Institutional Plus
Vanguard Windsor II Fund Admiral

Any thoughts or suggestions on what to choose? Please let me know if I can provide any other information. Thank you all and I appreciate any feedback!

My kids currently have 529 plans with about 100,000 each invested in the appropriate target year vanguard funds. Does vanguard offer a simple fund to preserve capital if the market loses 20-25% over the next few years? Both kids will be college aged in 2027 and 2029.

My grandmother passed away in 2017 and left me as the beneficiary of her IRA. It is currently at a local bank in South Carolina earning 2% interest and I receive an yearly death distribution. It is set to mature on February 7, 2025 before it gets reinvested for another 12 months. The amount is around $16,000.

What are my options with this IRA and can I move the funds to earn a higher yield?

The tax bracket lists long term capital gains for 2025 as 15% up to $533k, and 20% above that.

Say I have a taxable income of $400k, and I sell stocks that have gained $500k of growth. Is it as simple as: ($533k -$400k) =$133k taxed at 15%, and the remaining stock gains ($500k-$133k)=$367k at 20%?

I am 20 y/o and I am pretty clueless when it comes to retirement and which fund I should invest in.

For context, I have $8000 in my L 2065 fund. I keep hearing people say to move that money into C or S fund. Should I do this, or stay in the 2065? I was thinking about doing 50% in the 2065 and 50% in the C fund. However, I read that it might not be smart to invest in multiple target date funds.

If anyone has any experience, or helpful resources I can utilize please let me know.

Hj

I've been having a BEAR of a time getting any accurate info out of anyone. I have told ever intuition that we are 5304 (Fidelity, IBKR, etc.) and I do NOT want to impact other employees. Even with that, they keep wanting my employer to set up an account and fill out a 5305-SIMPLE. Obviously, we cannot do that w/o moving everyone to one custodian. So, my question is, what luck have you guys had in doing this? Has the employer had to set up an account w/ the institution to facilitate this? My employer is more than willing to help w/ this but we keep getting wrong info. I really want to move this to interactive brokers, but I cannot get straight answers that don't involve filling out a 5305. It's like they just don't understand what I'm asking. Any input would be helpful, I'm diving into something headfirst I know little to nothing about.

I'm wanting to move to have more control my investments (Want to put a bit in crypto but cannot w/ my current institution), reduce fees as well as consolidate my financial institutions a bit.

Thanks much,

Dave

Hello, i’d like to start off by saying no one in our household and rather our family use CITI, but we’ve been charged $200.2 on jan 1st,

then on the 31st we’ve been charged 696$??? the only banks we use are American Express for our CC, and we pay that on the first of each month, and Chase. We’ve never touched Citi but have been charged these to our debit ?

We’re thinking of filing a dispute with the bank but might be filing a police report as well..

Any other recommendations on this case.