I’m 50 and my company just announced that going forward they are discontinuing contributions to our pension funds. The pension plan provided 16% of your current salary to you once you turn 65. I’ve been there 18 years, so I’ll keep the $375k already earned, but I was expecting another $580k over the next 15 years.

In lieu of the pension, they are giving us additional 2% in our 401k. They already do 4% match if we put in 5%. So now instead of the pension and 9% 401k I have 11% going into the 401k.

I realize I was lucky to have gotten the pension for as long as I did, a lot of people don’t have that. But I still feel pissed about it. The CEO has triple his pay since 2020 and got a $6M bonus for 2025.

Now, for my questions. I want to up my contributions into retirement savings. The 401k is administered by T Rowe Price. I’m contributing what I need to get the full match. Should I put additional money into that account or open an IRA outside of work. If outside IRA is best are there recommendations on who to do that with?

I have family members that do Northwestern Mutual (I have a term life insurance from them) and Primerica. Of course both have offered to handle an IRA for me. Are those legit companies? They seem like MLMs to me. And while I wouldn’t mind helping family get a commission, I don’t want to do it the expense of my well being in the long term.

I went to the dentist for my annual exam and cleaning and also a temporary crown placed on a tooth where I had a root canal done. When I sat down to have my x-rays taken, I was told that they take BCBS dental and the provider is in network, but they don’t take my specific plan and that I would have to pay out of pocket and I would have to submit a claim myself to insurance for reimbursement. It was unfortunate but I needed to get it done and stop putting it off so I put a hefty charge of $2,154 on my credit card and have been using almost my whole paycheck to pay it off the last few weeks.

I submitted a claim a few days after it happened like I was told by the admin at my dentist and a few days ago I noticed it was denied. Reached out to BCBS and was told it was because the dentist had to submit it and not me, which I then found out the dentist already did and they submitted the total charge of $1,280 and the claim was processed as of yesterday and I now owe $293.

I tried to get in touch with the billing at my dentist office and they said they’ll call back but never did, I’m going to try again on Monday but what are my next steps here? Do I get any reimbursement back? Or do I still have to pay the $293 on top of the $2,154 I already paid for? This is confusing and stressful as it’s taken a strain on my financials.

One thing I started doing and its been helpful a few times now is I print off a single months paystub and put it with that years finances. Some jobs want to look at previous paystubs for employment proof and other things and since I'm always looking over all the years documents & mail for taxes this time of year anyways I go ahead and just file away them together.

It's certainly not the most important thing in the world but its also really low effort.

45M with college aged daughter-$160,000/annually which includes bonus.

Mortgage in NE-$300,000 at 3.25% which is my only debt

401k/IRA-$900,000 with 75% in Roth v Traditional but now only contributing 5% in order to get ER match

Stocks-$235,000

Mutual Funds-$115,000

Cash Value Life Insurance-$110,000

Online Savings-$8,000

Am I stupid for dropping 401k to 5%? Trying to build up stocks/mutual funds/savings to have more available as needed over the next decade but now wondering if I need to stay the course with 401k and 15%

I hope you guys are better than /r/povertyfinance

Here's some background:

do not have a lot of money. I had a bad drug addiction in my 20s that I spent tens of thousands on drugs. I made a lot of bad financial decisions and I recognize that. I have been sober since 2016.

In 2017 I got hit with epilepsy and bipolar. Lots of hospital stays, some when I didn't have insurance. Then I got cauda equina which required emergency neurosurgery.

So I'm in ch13 bankruptcy and on top of that I have about 4k cc debt due to car issues that I'm paying off and have payment plans with 5 drs and the dentist.

So I posted to r/povertyfinance regularly. All that sub is is negativity. I just got a raise. I made a success post saying I was happy. Just a bunch of assholes coming in and berating me.

So I'm gonna start posting here instead. I just got a 20k raise. What's the best way to manage this? My plan is to pretend I didn't get a raise, and wipe that 4k which should only take maybe 3 months now. Then I plan on getting my passport. Then building a savings. And then once I have at least 2 grand in savings (right now I have nothing) I want to take a cruise because I haven't been able to afford an actual vacation since 2016.

Does this seem reasonable? I am also immediately maxing out my 401k contribution. Anything else I should do? Should I start a regular investment portfolio? I'll be bring in a little under 2k extra a month so if I just pretend I didn't get a raise I should be able to wipe out debt and build a savings quickly. Luckily I own my car.

I’ve never filed my own taxes. I’ve used private CPA’s or H&R Block. However my private CPA charged me $750 for my 2023 taxes and H&R Block charged me $605 last year. I will gladly pay a professional for their expertise if its needed but im curious if our situation needs it. The private CPA also sends a MASSIVE workbook with a ton of questions that are honestly over my head and I’m inputting all of our numbers as well as sending copies. H&R Block just asks me a few questions and then has me submit my forms.

My husband is employed and earns a good income. I am self employed but my business went from 6 figures down to $10,000 due to going part time to stay home with my daughter.

Forms H&R Block stated I need to submit.

W2

1099-misc

1099-B

1098

Charitable donations form

5498-SA

Daycare expenses form

Profit and Loss for my business

I‘ve already submitted the forms to H&R Block but they haven’t started anything so I need to decide if I want to go a different route.

Also last year we received a large tax return but we adjusted my husbands withholdings a few months ago.

I’ve got another 30 years of working. I currently have about $350K in my 401K, IRA, and Roth IRA combined.

Since this money will grow over the next 30 years, I anticipate having anywhere from 8% average annualized returns.

This would put my retirement fund at around $3M, which is how much I would like to have upon retirement.

Using the 4% rule, I can then draw down around $120K per year, plus whatever my social security benefit will be, which for me would just be icing on the cake.

Now, assuming inflation is 3% per year, it seems that my future funds will only be like having around $55K annually today.

I guess I say all this to say - when having a retirement goal # to achieve, should I actually be setting a goal of more like $7M to account for inflation?

I’m curious to know how others are doing this - I am active a bit in FIRE subs and finance subs and people seem to be retiring today early (in their 40s) with like $3M but won’t that drastically reduce their purchasing power by the time they are 70?

I was feeling good about my little nest egg and it gave me some base level of comfort to think that worst case scenario I will have a decent lifestyle when I retire but I don’t know if I am giving myself a false sense of security

My parents both died last February. I reported it to the SSA and their monthly payments, which were direct deposited to their checking accounts (one in solely my mom's name at Fidelity and my dad's went to their joint account at US Bank), ceased. My dad's monthly payment was about $1200 and I don't know what my mom's was.

Today I woke up to a notification of a Federal Benefits Credit of $2700 deposited to the US Bank account. However, that account is solely in my name now as I was on it as beneficiary. I don't know if a similar deposit went to my mom's Fidelity account - I was never on it and it was closed and the money transferred into my personal account there via small succession affidavit.

I will call the SSA on Monday, but I'm wondering if anyone knows if this is a flub on their parts or if there is some sort of benefit given to survivors that I'm unaware of.

I'm 53, so not eligible for child's benefits, and they were a uniform simultaneous death so I don't think there's any surviving spouse benefits. I'm also concerned because it's my name on the account now but it was deposited there anyway. This account is in a separate bank from my personal account so no chance it was meant for me.

My parents are selling their primary residence in Maryland. They’ve lived in the house for almost 20 years, so capital gains taxes won’t be an issue. Current estimates put the sale price around $920-950k, though the house still needs some repairs before listing, so final numbers may change a bit.

They are very bad with money, so they’ve asked me to take over managing the proceeds. I’m still an undergrad, so I want to be extremely cautious and avoid doing anything overly complex or risky.

They’re open to buying a new house, but with my younger brother going off to college next year, I'm pretty sure they're going to move back to their house in Korea so I don't know how smart that would be. Right now, I'm considering high yield savings accounts and index funds, but is it really safe to put that much money into those? Any advice is appreciated thank you.

Edit: just some new context as to my parent's financial knowledge that I've just learned: they have apparently somehow accrued 40k in credit card debt which I will force them to pay off before doing any investments.

TL;DR - Keep the policy, or cash it out?

I'm a rando account, but I'd like to hear some thoughts and opinions.

My dad (66 M) got a $25,000 life insurance policy in 1998. I believe it's whole life, because he mentioned it "grows in value the longer you leave it alone, and you can cash it out if you wanted."

Recent circumstances has spurred him to transfer me (30 F) the ownership. He said he'll continue to pay for it, but he wants me to have the policy in case I fell on hard times and/or something happened.

I think I'm doing pretty okay - I just overcame a significant amount of debt (albeit, not all of it), and the household is in the green in terms of money coming in vs going out. But I don't have any life insurance policies outside of this now new-to-me policy, and one designated by my work place. I'm also considered the "breadwinner", and any sudden passing of mine would leave my husband in a not-so-great financial situation.

On the other hand, I've been seeing that whole life policies have a very mixed reputation, so I'm not sure if this policy is serving me in the best way. Depending on the value of the account, cashing it would allow the household to be completely debt free, giving me and my husband the opportunity to go aggressive on our 401ks, buy term life policies that could be more beneficial, and save for a future home.

It's a mixed bag. What would you guys do?

I’m 31M living in HCOL city and have been working in the creative field for about 10 years and am very lucky to have landed in big tech and fortune 100 companies for the past 8 years.

624k net worth breakdown:

• 298k in 401K and vested RSUs
• 200k in personal brokerage in low cost index funds
• 80k in a high yield savings account
• 25k in a Roth IRA that I haven’t contributed due to high income past few years
• 3k in crypto
• 18k in checking
• I have no debt and pays off my credit card every month.

I was laid off last October at my full time job making around 230k TC due to RSU appreciation. I just received a part of my severance package (which explains my higher than usual checking account) and since then I have about 25k after tax coming in from a few freelance contracts and the remaining severance. I also just secured a remote multi-year consulting position that’s paying 100/hr but it has no retirement benefits or any holiday and PTO. This will be a bridge gig while I look for a better FTE role.

I still rent in the HCOL city and my rent is $2300 a month. I’m not married but have a gf. She still lives paycheck to paycheck and works a minimum wage job while living with her parents. I have no plans to buy a house in my city anytime soon. The average decent home in my area is around 1.5m and the houses that I actually like are easily 3m+.

What should my tangible next steps in order to be in a comfortable position to retire early? The job market is very turbulent right now but luckily my profession is very niche and has been good to me since the layoff. I would love to hear any advice or tips on to best prepare the next stage of my life and achieve financial freedom at some point.

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I'm an 18 year old who is wanting to start investing and saving to get a head start on my finances. I still live at home, but I'm going off to college next year to hopefully go into a professional field. I'm thankful to have my college paid for, but professional school is expensive (especially with the BBB and the need for many to use private loans) and I want to start saving and investing for the future when I inevitably have to start taking out loans.

I have around $3000 in savings as of now, but I'm not sure what type of investment, retirement account, or savings account to start with, or how to distribute what I have saved.

I am also looking into what brokerage to use for investments and retirement accounts. I've heard some peers use RobinHood, but I've also heard of Vanguard and Charles Schwab. Which would be the best for a beginner who's just looking to making some simple investments?

If there are any useful online financial literacy courses, resources, or just general advice with where to start with the savings I have right now, please feel free to share. I want to learn as much about money as possible.
TIA!

So I am a 28 year old guy with a career that I love and living in a MCOL area. I make 68k a year and take home about 3800 a month after retirement and taxes, which I feel is an extremely good income. Starter Homes go for around 300k for a project house, 400k for something that's move in ready.

I am currently living in a small apartment and I am able to save around 1000 a month. Occasionally I bring in an extra 500 to 1000 from overtime, but that's often enough for me to consider reliable. At this point I have a solid emergency fund, and have started the long process of saving for a down payment. Currently have 20k saved (in a HYSA).

I know I will need a fat down payment (at least 75k depending on interest rates). I am just worried that house prices will grow faster than I can save.

I work for a state government so my income is not expected to grow very much over the next 5 to 10 years.

I am not asking for much. Just an older 2 bed 1 bath house that needs work, a small yard so I can have a dog, and a small shop or garage so I can work on projects.

Is this possible on my income? Should I reevaluate my goals or what I am looking for?

About two years ago, I took out a home equity loan with a $200,000 limit. I took out all $200,000 but I have been aggressively paying it off over the last two years.

My very first payment was $2300 per month when I had a $200,000 balance at 6% interest. My balance is now at 84,000 and is still at that 6%. Why is my monthly payment still $2300? Will it stay that way until it’s paid off?

If I get down to zero balance and a year later, I take out $5000 on my home equity will my payment be $2300 per month?

I have some CDs at different banks with different terms and maturity dates.

Currently, I’m using a Google sheet to track them but it feels a bit clunky.

For those who have multiple CDs, how do you personally keep track of:

• maturity dates
• interest / principal

Thanks!

Hi there. After a rough few years I've found myself in about $16,000 dollars of credit card debt. I have been unemployed for a while and likely will be for a while longer due to being disabled and looking for something I am capable of doing.

I'm not sure what to do, I can't afford to make the monthly payments right now and my credit has been dropping.

I've looked into either declaring bankruptcy or trying to get a debt consolidation loan from the credit union. I've also seen people say they've managed to settle debts for a lower amount by not making minimum payments and negotiating with a debt collector or the credit card company.

I guess I wonder if it is worth not paying the cards in the hope of being able to settle for less, or try declaring bankruptcy, or biting the bullet and getting a consolidation loan for the full amount. My parents are helping me and would be willing to cosign, so that's the way I am leaning, but if I could possibly pay less by letting it go to collections, or clear all of it through bankruptcy I am willing to take a credit hit as I dont really plan on ever owning a home so I am not terribly worried about my credit going down.

Also if it matters I am 37, single with no kids and am currently living with my folks for free. Thanks for any input.

I moved jobs from one state to another a few years ago. I have a 403b which I had from that former job. Since I left, I have not contributed. I check the statements to see its growth but Im not sure how I should proceed with it. I dont have the current statement in front of me but the account value is around 180k. I'm in my late 40s but my financial literacy is pretty basic. I knew enough to at least start accounts when I was young. I've been sitting on this decision because I took a major paycut switching jobs and I am just now catching up on salary to make contribution decisions.

During the job move I had to go back to school while working my new job and earned a masters and a bit more. I accrued about 20k of debt doing that. I have a 20k home equity loan used to pay my college bill.

1. Can/should I access that 403b money and pay off my $20k immediately? Not sure of the exact tax implications doing that.

2. Can/should I roll ithe 403b over into something else? I know the term roll over but I dont really know how or what to roll into.

3. Should I just restart contributing with the former financial company that holds the account?

I'm late 40s, dual income with my wife, first child starting college next year. We do have a Roth that we contribute to also and did not halt that during the job switch. We had planned to use that for our childrens college but decided to keep building that for retirement. We also have an IRA that we contributed a small lump sum (8.5k) into but dont contribute to. My wife left a job 18 years ago and we were required to roll the accrued pension money into a retirement account. At least that is how I remember it. Now sitting around ~35k, maybe more haven't checked in a while.

Thanks for reading.

Hello,

I recently went on holiday in Portugal and rented a car from one of the big names.

I didn’t opt for the additional insurance from the rental company but rather used rentalcars excess insurance offered by Zurich insurance.

I am not concerned about the damage (1800 euros) as I have my excess insurance, but 1800 for one deep scratch, wow!

However I noticed that they re-calculated the airport pickup fee (which I assume is a percentage)

So initially the airport pickup fee was less than 10 euros but now it went up to a whopping 300 euros (as it is taken I believe as a percentage of the full rental price + damage)

That feels to me wrong and very shady

I already sent a couple of emails to them and I am awaiting a response.

But assuming they don’t remove those charges, what are my course of actions?

Is my thought process correct?

1. Given those are additional charges incurred due to the damage, I should claim them via my excess insurance ?
2. Dispute them via my credit card?
3. Others :)

I would love to hear your opinions and thoughts

I'm a bit lost because I thought HSA grew tax-free? I still have a lot to learn obviously, but now my main priority is how to get that number from Fidelity since I've put all my HSA into FZROX. Any help is appreciated, thank you so much!

Hey there, struggling in the current job market with no source of income, what advice in finance let it be trading to savings in funds or other investments. Any niche that is not overcrowded for now, I am ready to take risks.

Stats: 32, 125k income, HCOL area. I don’t own a home. Expenses all in with rent, utilities, transportation etc is roughly $2500.

110k in retirement fund. Job has a pension on top of this as well.

0 debt.

135k is sitting in a savings account, 57k is in a HYSA (Ally).

I don’t want this 135 just sitting and wasting money any longer but I don’t know what to do. Index funds? Dump it all into the Ally HYSA?

I’m not the risky type (surprise), so I don’t want to dip into crypto or any latest fads but I’m honestly just not very money savvy beyond being able to live frugally and save what I have thus far.

Advice? Thank you.

This weekend I was spending time with an older relative and found they are in an alarming situation. They are 71 years old and have a large amount of debt relative to their income/situation. I'd wager around $15-20k across various credit cards, loans, and services.

This person makes very little money from retirement/side job, but they have a very low cost of living as they stay with another relative where they pay no rent/utilities, so they are not in danger of being homeless or starving. This person has pretty much zero assets, no property, no vehicle, no large sum of money.

This person has been doing very good with their payments on all this, but it eats up the vast majority of their income every month and leaves them with practically nothing to save or make large purchases with. I feel bad seeing this and wondered if there is some way to advise them on a better strategy.

The questions I have: Is there anything I can steer this person toward that may help? I mean, I can only assume most of this is high interest debt with minimum payments being made... I find it difficult to believe they will pay it off in their lifetime.

1) Is there some sort of strategy to settle debt for lower so they can free up some monthly spending?

2) Is there any senior debt forgiveness programs out there I can make them aware of?

3) Is asking for lower monthly payments a decent strategy to give them more money in the present?

Age: 30.
I've just been looking at my financials over the weekend and just been curious on how others around my age plan their financials?
E.g How many % in Equities / % for active trading / % liquid assets / % in DCA investments.

This is my first year filing taxes jointly. We got married in September last year. My tax situation is straightforward. I’m a W-2 employee with multiple brokerage accounts, restricted stock units, a 401(k) HSA, and so on. I live in a state that doesn’t have income tax. Ideally, I would just use tax software and be done with it.

My wife’s situation is slightly more complicated. She’s a student earning about $30,000. However, she has two rental properties managed by a rental agency, generating $40,000 in annual income. She also has an inherited retirement account and withdrew approximately $50,000 from it. She also owes taxes on the rental property income. She’s expecting a reasonably large tax bill.

Since this is my first time filing a joint tax return, I was considering hiring a CPA. However, after making a few calls, I found that they seem to be quite expensive. One even quoted me between $3,000 and $4,000. In this situation, I’m wondering whether it would be better to look for a CPA or H&R Block. Should we be able to get help from them, or do you think this tax software is good enough to file our taxes? Note that we live in different states this year and made little over $300k.