Emergency Fund Reason Just wanted to post a prime example of why emergency funds are important. This month, a great start to 2025, my wife and I have had issue after issue with our home, sept leach field leak, car battery of our only car died, and to top it off the pressure regulator valve to the main waterline to the house busted and created a small pond outside. Gr…

Does it ever make sense to lease a car vs buy if your intent is to own it long term (buy at lease end) ? I have always bought cars. Never leased before so I am less familiar. To me as I always looked at leasing as something for wealthier people. The obvious advantage is you always drive something newer. But you always have a payment and never truly own anything. So my intention is to buy a new car and I would plan to have it for many years. Obvious…

Do you usually sell your ESPP as soon as they land in your account? I was recently recommended that I sell my ESPP stocks if you don’t see a drastic increase. Any recommendations on what to do with ESPP? submitted by /u/PlentyFar7008

Am I doing alright for my age financially? Hello! I’m 26 years old and have right at about 20k to my name. I’m currently working a job where I make 40-45k a year. I know it’s not good to compare and I guess that’s not my intention. Just wondering if I’m doing alright financially for someone my age! TIA to any responses! Edit because I should have given more info 15k of the 20 is in a sav…

Tax Filing Software Megathread: A comprehensive list of tax filing resources Please use this thread to discuss various methods of filing taxes. This can include: Tax Software Recommendations (give detail as to why!) Tax Software Experiences Other Tax Filing Tools Experiences with Filing Manually Past Experiences using CPAs or other professionals Tax Filing Tips, Tricks, and Helpful Hints If you have any specific qu…

Common law married for the past 10+ years (Texas), but we filed our taxes as Single. Should we ammend our taxes for the past 2 years? My partner and I qualify as being married under Texas’s common law marriage, but we always filed our taxes as Single. Would it be worth it to ammend our taxes? I believe we can only go back 2 tax years (2023 & 2024). Would this be difficult? What, if any, “proof” would we need that we’ve been married in the eyes of Texas? We have joint accounts,…

1099-INT from a bank I don’t have an account with? Yesterday I got an envelope stating it had important tax information inside and when I opened it, it was a 1099 from Varo Bank, which I don’t have an account with, for exactly $30 of interest. Has anybody had something similar happen or know what this could be? I immediately thought identity theft but nothing looks suspicious in my credit report…

Would it be financially irresponsible to rent an apartment for $1350/month (including utilities) on a $45k/year income (single, no kids, new college grad)? My situation is somewhat unique in that I cannot and do not drive so need to be in a central location near my new job, transportation, and grocery stores. I am considering living in a 1BR apartment w/ no roommate and toured one for that price in my desired neighborhood (which is in a MCOL major city). It feels kind of…indulgent? But, I pay $1200…

How Do I Start Learning About Stocks/Investing? (20) Hey everyone, I’m 20F, and I’ve been thinking about getting into investing, especially stocks. I’ve managed to save up $500 that I’d like to start with, but I don’t know much about how it all works. I know it’s risky, and I want to make smart choices, so I’m hoping to get some advice on how to get started. Here’s a bit about me and why I want to…

advice on what to do with inherited $30k as a 21 year old Hi I thought id ask here since I know so little. I inherited $38,500 and after paying off my car loan and my credit card (low, $500) and buying a new phone I’ll have about $29/30k left over. A little about me, Im 21M in school currently (no loans), I have zero other debt. credit score is 720. my plan is to become a property manager / assistant …

Parent w/Estate asked for Advice on sharing inheritance Hi everyone, My father passed away recently – leaving everything to my mom. Eventually, once mom passes my sibling and I will inherit the estate. Basically, my dad left enough where my mom will not have to ever worry about money again – and she asked me and my sibling about some ways that she could begin to pass down some of the inheritance to u…

Employer “may” make contributions to 401k? I’m currently enrolled in my company’s 401k plan. The enrollment started at a minimum of 6% and I’ve kept it that way. When we were told about the plan initially it was under the assumption it was employer matched. However, during the time I’ve been enrolled I haven’t seen any information regarding an outright match. I asked around to some cowor…

What do you even do when your car dies but you still owe $$$ on it? Ok so my car’s basically given up, like engine’s dead, 130k miles, just totally done. Ugh I still owe like $6k on the thing. I wish I could just set it free and be done with it, but turns out loans don’t work that way lol. I’m already in debt (like $15k ugh), so I can’t really take on another car loan. Anyone been through this mess? Is letting t…

Won $10K vacation, paid tax, canceled…how recover taxes? In 2022 my wife and I won a $10K vacation to Israel at a charity dinner. The travel agency that donated the gift sent us a 1099. On our 2022 taxes I declared it as income. Later we booked the trip in November 2023, but a month prior the war broke out. The travel agency canceled the trip, but could not recoup the funds they paid for hotels, airli…

I feel like I’m watching my friend financially crash and burn I have a friend who is struggling with their finances, but seems very casual about it. It’s stressing me out, and I wanted some opinions on the situation to know if I’m crazy and this is normal to juggle so much debt around. They are in their 30s and when they were younger, they opened over 10 CCs and have debt to pay on most of them, if not all…

Didn’t exercise my vested options and feel like an idiot I started a new job after being at my former job for over 5 years. It was a startup that during my employment got acquired. They paid out my vested options at the time of the acquisition, but I still had unvested options from grants that were converted into stock of the larger (now parent) company that I could’ve exercised. And the stock value o…

Moving to the U.S. and starting from scratch – Financial Advice Needed Hey everyone, I (M28) am moving to the U.S. (NYC) next month on a green card. I have $3,000 to my name, which will need to keep me afloat until I secure any job I can get to start with. I have no debt and can live pretty frugally, as I’m already used to it. I’m seeking financial advice to help me start off on the right foot. Any tips would be gr…

Paying off credit card debt directly vs personal loan? I am at a crossroads on what to do about my credit card debt and the best way for me to go about paying it off. For background, I have three credit cards each having an APR 25%+ and a grand total $35k in credit card debt. I’m employed and pay at least the min. for each card every month but have found I’m not making a dent. I want to quickly make…

Should I Pay Off Mortgage Early? Hello! My wife and I are trying to decide if we should pay off our mortgage. We understand that we could put this money in the market, but we’d love the piece of mind that a paid off house would provide. HHI: $170k Mortgage: $80k @ 4.99% (house value of $530k) No other debt We are both maxing out 401k & Roth IRA. After paying off the house, we…

Totaled a car, was told GAP would pay it off completely but didn’t read the fine print. I bought a used car in 2021, with an average amount of miles on it. I drive a LOT. The car was a 2018 model, and most of those have currently 80-90k miles on them. Mine had 117k, most of my driving is to and from work (I work all over the state, mileage is reimbursed). I hit a deer in November, car was totaled. Insurance wrote up the valuation r…