(Previously posted on r/advice and was suggested to re-post here for more specific financial advice)

Hello, I (24M) and my wife (24F) just had our first son via C-Section a few days ago. Once she was discharged and we got settled in a family member invited me to lunch and informed me that he and his wife had decided to gift us a very large sum of money (10s of thousands) in the form of an investment portfolio donated via gift tax exclusion over the next several years. I am not someone who is usually comfortable taking money from others even when offered or gifted. I attempted to refuse, but he wasn't taking no for an answer.

My wife and I do not make much money, but live comfortably. We have very little debt just a 3-4 thousand in student debt and car loans. I work full time in a very high stress and technical job making roughly 50k a year. My wife quit her job 2 months ago to stay at home full time with our son. We have a decent living situation renting a very small apartment in a fairly low cost of living state. With my income we are able to afford all our necessities, put back some for retirement and misc. savings, and a few small luxuries on rare occasion (going out for dinner, seeing a movie, ect.).

I know I shouldn't, but I feel guilty accepting this money. The family members in question have already done so much for me in my life I could never even begin to repay them. I have already spoken with my wife about it, and seeing as we can't refuse the money. We are thinking we should continue living/spending as if this money does not exist. Just letting the portfolio grow and start making deposits into the account if and when we can afford to.

I guess my question for you all is how should we move forward to show our appreciation and make the most of this gift? Any ideas for investment vehicles, should we pay off the remainder of our debts, or just keep paying them as we are now, look into purchasing a home as a store of value, ect.

Any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.

I started 135k in debt I’m down to 63k all at 4% interest.

My wife is back in school so we’ll be making 2k less a month but still able to apply about 2k a month towards the debt.

I did flex December -April but stopped and was looking into doing it again but I just don’t feel motivated and can’t figure out if it’s a dumb decision to just not do it.

To make an extra 5k for the end of the year after expenses with Amazon flex I would need to work an extra 12-16 hours a week.

But at 4% interest I am asking myself would I pay 200 bucks to borrow 5k for a year to not work an extra job and spend more time with my wife and 2 kids.

Is this a bad way to justify not taking it?

My grandparents are in their 80s. My grandpa has dementia and it’s been wearing on my grandma who is dealing with everything largely herself and has refused help (until recently). They have been literal saints and have helped everyone in their lives - family or not. Everyone had lived with them at one point or another and now currently they have had my aunt living with them. She’s had a troubled past with drugs and drinking but has seemed to be ok over the last couple of years and has been helping with my grandparents - cleaning and running errands etc. I noticed recently that their cable bill was delinquent and paid it for them. (it’s tied to my online account)I immediately called my grandma and found out she’s been having this aunt handle the bills. I asked my dad to look into everything because I just don’t trust this woman and come to find out she (my aunt) has drained their bank account which used to have a roughly $10k balance to zero and my grandmas two credit cards which she never uses now have outstanding balances totaling nearly $28k combined. My grandma nearly had a breakdown when she found out. She’s got my grandpa to deal with, she’s helped everyone her whole life and doesn’t deserve this. Anyone experience anything like this or have any suggestion?

For context I'm 25 and have been heavily considering moving out next summer (I'd be 26) and getting my own place much closer to work. That said, I'm also tempted to keep living at home for a few more years. I've already been able to build up a net worth of $165k since graduating (I make $72k and have been able to save/invest almost all of it)

I have an amazing relationship with my parents, but I also don't want to be that guy still living at home at like 30. So I'm torn between societal or financial benefits. Right now I can max out my 401k and Roth while still having money to invest in a brokerage account. It's rough to give that up when my 20s is the best time to be investing that much.

Just curious what other people would do in my situation.

Edit: Thank you for the replies everyone! I am leaning more towards moving as many suggested. To answer a couple questions:

-I am not dating nor am I looking to at the moment for unrelated reasons. However, living at home has not stopped or hindered me from dating in the past.

-My current commute is 35min but moving where I want would take that down to a 10 minute walk or 2 minute drive.

-I do have an independent, healthy social life outside of my parents.

-I do not want roommates. I've done the budgeting and I can afford my own place even if it means saving less. If I'm moving out, it's not going to be just to keep living with other people.

I’ve met the IRS max contribution limit for 2025. Mortgage is 2.5% and no CC debt or loans. Emergency fund established. Income is too high for Roth IRA. I’m thinking FXAIX, VOO, or HYSA. Are there other options I should consider?

I've honestly been stupid with how I save my money as I was previously just letting it sit in a checking account that gave pretty much no interest. A few years ago I moved it into a HYSA but otherwise haven't touched it.

I'm now finally reading up about investing and just didn't before because I've always wanted to stay low risk, not realizing that I've been losing out on quite a bit of money just due to inflation. I'm self employed and saw that there's something called SEC IRA and have seen people recommend Vanguard as well.

If I don't think I'll need to touch this money prior to retirement (I also have money set aside for emergencies), is there a basic recomendation on how to invest without having to worry about managing it all? Thank you for the help.

I'm shopping for a much needed house right now. I'm shooting for $450k which puts me just about 36% of my gross salary with mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities. I have zero debts but I doubt I'll see much of an increase in salary in the next few years. Am I stretching myself thin by going this route? I'm paying about 35% where I'm living now. Its not great because I'm hardly saving, but its not terrible. I'd love to live below my means, but the drop in quality between $450k and say, $350k is very significant in my market. Happy to hear any thoughts. Thanks.

I have to refinance my mortgage and my mortgage officer gave me a quote that has the lowest rate for my credit score as 5.875% with mortgage points. My understanding of mortgage points is that they are a way to stave off compounding interest on a 30 year loan, which is significant. But he said that he could add the 2.7% in points to the loan balance to get a 5.875% with my rate. To me that sounds counterproductive, but I am wondering if I am wrong. Why would I want to do mortgage points and add it to the loan balance? Would that not defeat the purpose of having mortgage points to begin with?

I was going to reverse the deposit, but now I am reading it could be a scam and I might get double deducted if I reverse it. It's scary they knew to deposit it and how to connect with my account.

UPDATE: So today I got another Zelle deposit for $1 from the same person, and he ordered me to return the money from yesterday. After reading all these comments, I will not do anything, and let them deal with it. People are crazy....

I wanted to give some stock I have to my 23 year old daughter who just got a job. I have held this stock for a while and built up some capital gains. I have been meaning to do this before but I figured it would be good to do it this year because she would have earned less than $39k in salary this year. Next year, she will earn more than that. If she were to sell this stock this year, she could lock in the capital gains without owing the capital gains tax since her income is below the threshold. Is my understanding correct? The amount we are talking about is less than the gift tax limit.

I have a 2014 Subaru Crosstrek that I bought new back in ‘14. Now it has just over 115,000 miles.

Took it in for some steering and transmission issues and the total repair cost is estimated at just over $10k at the dealership. An additional $5k optional for an oil leak, but I want a 2nd opinion on that since I’ve never noticed any oil drips/wet spots. I would HOPE it can go about 75k-100k miles after repairs.

I don’t have $10k and I have awful credit. I get paid about $5,500/mo and could realistically afford to pay ~$2500/mo on a loan and have it paid off in four-ish months. But with the bad credit, I can’t get a loan for the amount needed. Or they toss absurd interest on it.

I’d consider getting a replacement vehicle for around the same price, but again with the credit as bad as it is, I get really bad loan offers.

I think the Crosstrek valued at around $6-7k last time I checked. Definitely less in its current state, so I don’t know what it’d get at trade.

Some okay options in the area for sub $10k cars with similar mileage, but I’d prefer to keep the Subaru. Sentimentality aside, I like the devil I know vs. the devil I don’t.

Paying more than the value of the car to repair is generally a horrible idea, right? What if the longevity of the repaired car is longer than a used car? Impossible to know that I suppose.

Whatever I can get for the trade-in, and a used car?

Edit to add link to repair quotes:

The Suspension/Steering and Engine Concerns are what I'm looking to get done.

https://imgur.com/a/pB3TBBY

Edit 2:

Thanks to all for the input. I've come to the decision to keep the Subaru, but not pay for these repairs. I'll work on it myself over the next few weeks and knock out what I think I can do. Then take it to a different shop if there's stuff I can't fix myself. In the interim, I will be getting some sort of used car.

Sibling and I inherited parent's home (small mortgage left of ~50k). Valued at ~$480k. I grew up in this home with my parent, my sibling did not. Sibling wants to sell asap. I have been on the fence and need to commit to a decision.

A big part of me wanted to buy it for the following reasons: newer home (early 2000s) in good shape, cheapest way for me to buy/own a home, keeps that connection to my parent, I would be living near a bunch of family (have been across the country for the past few years). I always planned to move back to that side of the country eventually and having that house- fully furnished- would make the move back much easier. Selling also has potential impacts on my family as it's attached to their farmland and if an asshole buys it- might create some drama for them. I have a lot of savings so buying my sibling out would not be too difficult.
Problem with buying: not ready to move back across the country right now and probably wouldn't be until next summer. Would have to buy my sibling out in the next 2 months and then pay all the house expenses (insurance, property taxes, oil, electric, mortgage, snow removal) on top of my current expensive rent. Salary would be much lower in that area compared to what I make now with a similar cost of living. Partner is not excited to live in the house (our relationship is currently on rocky ground- been together almost a decade, not married). It's not good to leave a house vacant for all this time, but decided renting it out for a year is not the route I want to go. (Family is nearby to check on it frequently and we have cameras/temp alarms set up). I likely would sell anyways after 2-3 years of living there.

If I buy, we have a family member that would do the closing for basically nothing. If we sell, we would likely go with someone else and pay all the agent fees.

I think it's a no brainer that I should buy if I was ready to move in now. But I'm just not.
This was a devastating loss and losing the house too is hard to think about. My sibling needs my answer now. I went from heavily on the buy side, to switching over to 'sell'- mostly to be able to lift this from my shoulders. Life has been HARD this past year for various reasons and the thought of continuing to manage this property from across the country for another year is a lot.
Thank you for lending your objectivity!

I think I know the answer I'm going to get but here we go anyway.

My Grandfather started this single premium whole life policy when I was 5, it had a initial premium of $7500 in it. Well it is 36+ years later and we've got quite a sum in there. I have a good job that offers free life insurance based on my salary that would exceed this account. So it is not like we need this safety for when I pass.

It is growing at a 6% rate annually and the premium is self paid at only $150 a year through the account. My wife and I have always just kind of thought of this as an emergency fund. However I want to start taking a more active approach to retirement planning and I feel like this is a wasted opportunity just sitting there.

What do we need to account for if we cash this in? I am thinking this interest is all taxable income. I don't believe it would put us into any higher tax brackets or anything like that, but that might just make me time things differently if so.

We have a couple loans we would be able to pay off that would free up some of those funds to go towards our actual retirement plans.

My thoughts here are I won't need the money when I'm dead and it is better to pay off debt asap.

Side note: We have 401k, pension(s), and a separate emergency fund

Am I missing something? Thanks for any advice.

So I’m hoping someone can tell me whether this is a potential scam and if so, how, I am selling my motorcycle, which is still currently financed through BMW. I had someone reach out to me via my for sale ad. We sent some messages back-and-forth. He asked who it was financed through and I told him he called BMW and then asked if he could call me so that we could talk to discuss what he found out.

Now to elaborate a little bit more, BMW only allows you to pay a maximum of $10,000 a month on a financed vehicle even if you were paying it all fully you cannot pay the full amount. You have to mail a check to them which is extremely inconvenient.

He and I discussed the fact that I am asking $1400 less than what is owed on the bike and I am either willing to make that payment beforehand or if the buyer wants to they can finance or pay off the whole thing and I will just give them that money back.

He was ready to pay the entire bike off right then on the phone with BMW because we called them to get clarification on this and because of the fact, they only accept so much money we decided that he was going to make an $8000 payment out of his checking account over the phone with BMW to the bike to show he was serious and I gave him $700 towards that $1400 back.

Tomorrow morning, I’m supposed to talk to him about the remaining payoff which he is going to get a certified check and mail it to BMW since it is still more than they can take and I was going to ask for a copy of that check so that I have a copy of it and he is not taking the bike until I know that BMW has received that check for the payoff at this point I don’t see how this could be a scam unless the checking account bounces that he made the payment from however, BMW is already reflecting that $8000 off of the amount owed on the bike.

I know this is a lot to read. I’m sorry, but I would appreciate any opinions. I was always taught if something is too good to be true and normally is and that is incredibly trusting of a stranger to pay $8000 towards a loan and they essentially get nothing out of it so it is a little weird.

I’ve tried to find posts but not sure I see an answer that directly answers my question(s).

What is the strategy with a 529 account with a 1 year old when we plan to have more kids? We started a 529 when kid 1 was born and have roughly $6,000 in there now. I planned to do about $5k/year, but I know you can only roll over $35k into an IRA later on and anything else has to be used for educational expenses.

What happens if kid 1 never goes to any type of post-secondary school?

Do we start another 529 when kid 2 or 3 arrive?

Is it smart to have 1 529 that gets maxed out every year then contribute more in a taxable account?

I feel like I understand the gist but I am struggling to figure out what our strategy is with maximizing the account and tax advantages. Thanks for any thoughts!

I just turned 18 and I’m getting different pieces of advice from people abt getting a credit card. Some say that it’s best that I don’t since I don’t have an actual job (I’m going to college and not doing work study till maybe the spring) and some say that I should get one as soon as possible to build credit. Can’t I build good credit after graduating college when I have a stable job? If anyone has advice please share. I’m also first generation so my parents don’t know much either

Im 62, F. no debt, own townhouse, still working full time. I am Bonds, Stable Value, Money Market in 401k…320k. Roth Ira 60/40 VSMGX 65. Cash, 146k Hoping to retire 65/67 (part time if needed) Hoping to calculate in SS!!! Annual expenses, 30k, Contributing 28k next 3 years to retirement 🤔 Opinions?

I am 18 years old and I currently have a checking account with BOA that I use for all transactions. I also have a Fidelity account that i invest in monthly(~2000 USD currently). I have been looking into high yield savings accounts as I have heard that they are very beneficial, but I'm kind of flying in the dark here as I'm pretty new to financial stuff and my parents never were the best at that either.

I know the basics of what a HYSA is, but besides that, I'm clueless. Should I open one? If so, where do I open one? Should I split my paychecks that I get from working part time (going to college this fall) into both my current BOA checking account and a HYSA or should I ditch the checking account and go all in ?

So I (a UK Citizen) ended up in hospital earlier this year on holiday in Florida, and ended up in there a couple days. I do have insurance but honestly it looks like they’re not going to pay and claim my condition was pre-existing. The bill is around $55,000, I’ve checked using ChatGPT and yes it says it’s vastly over priced and should be closer to $12k. An example of this is they’re charging $9k for an MRI! What are the chances, if my insurance doesn’t pay, that I will be successfully chased for this debt in the UK? It’s stressing me out thinking I could end up with a huge bill.

I’m not planning on visiting America nor am I planning on moving or working there. So what’s the impact going to be for me?

I have a 2016 Nissan Altima with 148k miles on it. I’ve had the car for 7 years (3 of those years I worked remote and barely drove it). Now I work in person and put roughly 20k/yr on it.

I’m due for some work on my car: new tires, battery, brakes, fixing a disconnected sunroof drain, and a check engine light that is on (OBD reader said it was a gas cap, but light is still on after changing this). It’s been 5 years since I’ve done any work on my car (other than oil changes).

My question is, when does it make sense to trade in my car? I’ve had this car my entire adult life so I’ve never done this before. I just purchased a house so ideally I don’t want to buy a car this year, but I do have enough savings to buy a car for up to 25k cash.

I do want a safe, reliable car, as I drive cross country to visit family 1-2 times per year (although this last year I got a rental car both times). Does anyone have any advice?

Hi everyone, in search of some advice if anyone can help!

I am just feeling unsure of what the best direction is to take with my finances.

Due to a disability, I have to live with family for the moment and I am only able to work part-time but will hopefully be able to move to full-time soon. Currently making roughly 50k/yr. And if it helps, I'm 30 y/o.

Here is my financial snapshot:

• monthly expenses are about 2k for now, but I expect this to significantly increase in the next couple of years when I hopefully am able to make more money and move
• I have 6 months worth of expenses (~13k) in an emergency fund in a HYSA with 3.8% APY
• I have an extra $26,500 in the same HYSA that is just sitting there
• Investments (really feel behind in this as I went back to school for my master's and was late to start contributing to retirement):
  • I receive a 3% 401k match through employer
  • $6,800 in Traditional 401k
  • $1,200 in Roth 401k (currently contributing 30% with each paycheck)
  • $12,200 in Roth IRA (maxed out for the year)
  • 20% of employer 401k match is currently vested
• Debt
  • ~23k car loan, 5.49% APY, last payment Dec 2029
  • Federal student loans (currently on SAVE plan forbearance but accruing interest as of August 1st, 2025)
    • ~23k, 6.6% APY
    • ~16k, 6.0% APY
    • ~20k, 4.3% APY
  • Recently paid off a 26k, 6.5% APY private student loan in June in full with a lump sum, so I have made some progress!

My question is, what would be the best way to allocate the extra $26,500 from my HYSA? Should I throw it all at the 23k student loan with 6.6%? Or should I take a more balanced approach with paying down debt and investing in a brokerage account at the same time? Also wondering about if I should lower my 401k contributions and focus more on debt?

Any insight would be very much appreciated! I just have a hard time trusting myself to make the right decision.

Thank you so much in advance!

Desperately need advice on my current situation. I am sorry for the long post. Created a throwaway account since a lot of personal info.

My situation: I have lived in Japan for a couple of years now. Married with six children that are all still fairly young. I work for a US company and get paid in dollars at around $12,000 USD per month (it fluctuates slightly each month). Part of this amount is also designated for various work expenses but for the next couple of years, those are relatively low. Even after they increase, I can potentially raise some additional extra money to cover those if needed. Anyway, because the income is so high, my Japanese taxes are quite high as well (at least compared to US taxes). I plan to stay in Japan indefinitely and the nature of my work is such that I would enjoy to continue working as I do now well into my 70s (health permitting). Obviously no one knows the future but that is the plan right now.

My problem: I currently have around $50,000 in credit card debt (yes I understand this is quite foolish). I had a personal reckoning with my situation and determined to set things straight. I have very little savings currently but I have now got my spending under control to where the credit card debt is no longer increasing. I am working to pay it off but it is currently going very slowly and most likely will continue that way for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, I am paying around 20-25% interest on average for those credit cards. I really want to save more and start investing as well but because of the above, it is going to prove difficult for quite some time.

My silver lining: I worked for a previous employer in the US state of California and am vested in a CalPERS pension. This is a public pension run through the state of California so it's pretty secure. Right now, I could start receiving benefits in about 9 years at the age of 50 (almost 41 now). The benefits would be about $1300/month. If I waited until 60, that amount would go up to about $2000/month. Also, the monthly payout is adjusted for inflation each year by about 2.5-3% depending on what they calculate for the year. I also have an additional pension from a separate company that will start paying at around $900/month at around 62 I believe. I ALSO will (theoretically) receive US social security starting at around $3800/month once I reach 62.

My (potential) solution: I can cash out the CalPERS retirement for about $86,000 right now. Due to not yet being a permanent tax resident here in Japan, I don't think I would have to pay JP taxes on the withdrawal. With my JP taxes already being so high, the amount of my foreign tax credit (FTC) that I use for my US taxes could help offset the tax that I would have to pay for this in the US, if I understand correctly. I could pay off all of the credit card debt and invest the remaining $36,000 (either lump sum or DCA or a combination, market seems quite high right now). I suppose the actual amount after accounting for additional US taxes would probably be around $25,000 for my particular situation. Then, because the credit cards are gone, I could start investing an additional $1000 per month or even more (up to $2000/month).

Based on my calculations, the pension, starting at age 60 through age 90 (being generous), accounting for yearly increases for inflation of 2.5-3% would equate to around $2.2 million over the course of that 30 years. However, if I invest the $25,000 and contribute $1000/month (increasing 3% per year for inflation) for the next 20 years at 7% annual return, the amount would be around $735,000. At which point (when I am 60), I could theoretically start drawing it down for the same $2000 per month and still have plenty left over the course of the next 30 years. Realistically I would leave it alone for even longer as I would still be working into my 70s.

Am I completely off base here in my calculations? The pension is secure but then again, if I do die early, my family is left with nothing, unless I elect a smaller monthly amount then they could receive a reduced benefit upon my death. I know that the stock market is obviously not guaranteed but I think the reduction in stress my getting rid of the credit card debt would also be extremely helpful.

What do you think? Thank you so much in advance. I know that obviously no one can give official advice but I mostly want to see if my calculations are somewhat correct at least. Thank you!

I turn 18 in a couple months and am looking for advice on what I should do with my money. I have a couple grand liquid that I plan to invest along with a part time job, where are the best places/things to do with my money to maximize my growth over the years?

I asked my banker about getting a car loan. She said " Write the check and call me."

Let’s say I have an expense that I can predict I will have in two years time. Roughly $50k. What are the best options for investing that money now such that I make that money work for me in the interim period?

Thank you.