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Edit: Thank you all for your advice— you have reassured me a great deal. For those asking if this is real or engagement bait, it is absolutely real and I’m pretty sure this policyholder is one of the dumbest humans on the planet. It’s also dumbfounding that their insurer would pay for the repairs with zero investigation. I’ll update this thread whenever this is resolved.

Long story short: I rear ended someone at a stop sign going about 5 mph. My airbag deployed (responding police said that can happen at slow speeds under certain conditions). The airbag gave me a concussion and I wasn’t thinking clearly, so I did not get out to take photos of the other car. I could see their bumper had minimal or no damage. EMS came, I went to the hospital.

Anyway, these people were driving a 2021 Mercedes. The police report clearly documented it with license plate and VIN. They waited 6 weeks and then filed a claim with my insurer for extensive damage in spots all over the car— but it was a 2026 BMW. Their insurer went ahead and paid the auto repair place immediately without investigating— before they even filed with my insurance — and the repairs were completed. My insurance is refusing the claim because that car wasn’t in the accident. Their insurance is sending me threatening letters, demanding I pay out of pocket $8,000 in repairs for a car I didn’t damage.

My insurer is telling me not to worry about it. I am worried about it. I don’t want my credit wrecked.

Turning 62 soon and my old company pension payout will be starting.

I have $150k for lump sum or $920 a month.

Trying to figure out if I should take the lump sum and invest in something like VOO/VT/SCHD/SPY the next 10ish years. Or just take the $800 a month for the rest of my life.

I am still employed and plan to work 5/6 more years.

I have a 401k, IRA, and Social Security (will try to payout 68)

I am in fairly decent health but you never know.

Thoughts?

Thank you.

Updating:

1. Own the home… just paying property tax and insurance.

2. Car is paid off and paying car insurance. Not planning to anytime soon but If I do buy a car again, it’ll be a Honda/Toyota/EV and I can pay cash.

3. No debt minus house bills (Gas/Power/Internet/CellPhone)

I'm 18 years old, and I don't have a lot of experience with this, so go easy on me. I've decided to enroll in a public in-state university for engineering, and I did a lot of the things that people said would make college cheaper. Not all of them, to be honest, but I took dual enrollment classes (33/120 credits already done), applied for FAFSA, went to a public in-state school, got a scholarship, etc., but I still feel a lot of uncertainty over the cost.

I'll point out that there are a few things to keep in mind, namely:
-The original cost is about $21,000
-Tuition itself is like $9,100
-A lot of these are fees, about $1,000 in total. I'm not too familiar of these but I think they might be a one time payment (could be wrong)
-About $1500 is wave-able
-I believe I can change my meal plan to deduct about $700
-The scholarship I have is about $1700
So deducting all this I still have $6100 total. I can pay it in 5 monthly installments. I live with a single parent who makes about $110k plus VA benefits (don't remember the exact amount).

Anyway what do I do? The bill is due by August. I wanted to live on campus, but if I really have to I can continue with community college. The only thing is that I absolutely do not want to do anything military related for various reasons (I don't think I'm even eligible anyway), so please do not suggest that. But any advice would be welcome. Thank you for reading and answering.

To put things in perspective, my Dad died of prostate cancer 13 years ago at 52 years old. My grandpa had prostate cancer twice before that and managed to beat it. He died around 70 I think. This may my mom died of colon cancer at 52 years old as well. I’m the second born out of 4 kids. 2 younger siblings a brother and sister and 1 older sister. My younger sister has type 1 diabetes and both of the younger two have mental disabilities. Me and my older sister are…I guess normal.

Now since mom died she had a house that was being remodeled and never finished. It’s going to be sold and split accordingly 4 ways. An even share for my portion is anywhere from 140-170k.

My position: I’m 23 yo single male with 20 months left on my active duty contract for the Air Force. I also took on sole responsibility of being the representative of the estate. I’m handling everything with that. I have no debt, no credit card debt(it gets paid off monthly), no car payments( I have a truck, a car, and a motorcycle that I have titles to, I only pay about $300 in insurance for all three vehicles). I have 10k of my personal money saved up from a recent combat deployment I just got back from.

The problem: I believe my life will not be long due to the extensive family history and both parents dying before 60. Neither of them made it to retirement and that scares me. I know I’m at a higher risk for everything but I can’t live my life as if I’m going to be 90 years old because to me that’s unrealistic. It would be nice and I hope I do but statistically speaking I can’t see that happening. I know this is going to be upsetting for some to hear but I could really care less about a 401k. Yes I’ll contribute probably 30k to it and that’s it. But I can’t dump everything in there if I end up dying before I can even touch it. (Hope for the best plan for the worst)

My goals: I want to get out of the airforce with a good cushion to float for about 3-6 months before figuring out a job. I also want to set aside some capital to start a remodeling company and get into real estate with my brother who’s getting out of the Army in 10 months. I’m looking for any advice on how I can make this money last and work for me because I know this will be such a leg up in this life. If anyone has experienced something like this and has any advice to give on my situation that would be appreciated.

Retired this year at 58 after 30+ years of corporate life.
~$5M net worth, including a paid-off home.

Working with a wealth advisor. His plan has the bulk of my wealth in the stock and bond markets. But one facet of his plan is to put $400K into an annuity, which, after 10 years of being untouchable, is supposed to pay out $5000 every month for the rest of my life.

So $400K now. Then at 68, I will begin to get $5000/mo. in perpetuity.

This is making me anxious.
The locking-up of $400K for a decade.
Even though it would "break even" (i.e. delivered $400K in income) after ~7 years.
I think maybe because both of my parents died before they were 65, so I don't know if my genes are good enough to last past the time when the annuity will start paying out. Yes, I am mindful of my health, I exercise and eat relatively healthy..... but it feels like a gamble for me.

My advisor touts it as a guaranteed income diversification strategy, which should be unaffected by the stock market.

Anyone else invested in annuities and can share their thoughts?
Can someone help me think rationally about this?
Are there any other income-delivering strategies that can help me diversify?

*** Quick edit ***
The wealth advisor is a fiduciary.
And they are not making a commission on the annuity.
And, in addition to this annuity, I have a full stock/bond portfolio. My concern is putting ALL of my money into the stock/bond markets. What other options are there to provide diversified income in retirement?

Me and my wife have been very good about budgeting and have been able to put aside 30% of our income on average every month. We now have a kid and she is going to stay at home. Income wise we make similar salaries. One thing that is stressing me out is that our income is effectively getting cut in half. So if our spending is the same we will go from net savers to net spending 140% of our income (I actually made a bit more than her so it’s actually closer to 130%). Have other people done this? How do you transition from 2 incomes to 1?

I’m getting a new car and am looking at quotes. Luckily if I stay with my current provider I’ll be looking at only $4-8 more per month.

I’m looking at policy choices and options and one I never looked at before was the medical payments option.

Their policy states: “This coverage will pay for medical expenses, up to your policy limit. It also pays medical expenses for other people who are injured while riding in your car, up to your policy limit. It pays regardless of who's found liable.” It also states that it covers pedestrian accidents, and accidents that occur when riding in someone else’s vehicle.

For reference, my health insurance has a $500 deductible and a $5,000 out of pocket maximum. I also already pay for short-term and long-term disability, as well as accident insurance through my employer. For $3k in coverage (per accident), this car insurance addition only adds $4 per month. However, I wonder if this is worth it due to the fact I live in an at-fault or tort state, meaning that whoever is responsible for causing the accident is held completely financially liable. I would assume that if I were to get in an accident not my fault, the driver’s insurance would be liable for my medical bills. And if I caused an accident, my insurance would cover both mine and their medical insurance.

I rarely have passengers in my car, mainly my parents if I’m out of town visiting them, and I do not let anyone else drive my car.

I’m wondering if anyone has any advice! I’m considering it only because it’s extremely affordable, but it also seems redundant if I’m in an at-fault state.

hi! any advice would be much appreciated :)

i'm about to wrap up my first serious summer job where i expect to take home a little over $3k after taxes. this is my first time having this much money and i'm wondering what to do with it. if you were in my position, would you invest it, put it in a savings account, or do something else?

for some context, i am a college student. i am very grateful to have tuition fully paid by my parents, so i don't have to worry about that.

thank you!

I'm Looking for advice on the value of a Revocable Living Trust.

I'm 52 and my wife is 50. We have two kids, 9 and 11. Our estate would has a net worth of about 3.2MM today. In the future we do expect to have additional significant inheritance.

We don't have a will, we know that's a bad thing. We have identified ourselves and the kids as dependents on all of our accounts.

So today we met with an Estate Planner and she proposed a Revocable Living Trust, and mentioned a fixed fee well over $3,000. I'm having sticker shock.

My choices are to move forward with this planner and pay $3K for the fancy trust, pay a lot less to have a will drawn up ($1k), or pay even less and use an online will service.

My wife is gung-ho on this trust, and I'm wondering what is the value of the $3k fee when the odds of us both dying at the same time feels very low. We don't have $3k sitting in a checking account waiting to be spent.

Can anyone help me out with the value of this service? Am I just being cheap?

I understand:

- There is basically no tax advantage of this right now. We're well-under the estate-tax cutoff. If this changes with our own inheritance, then a revocable trust can help avoid the estate tax.

- Since our accounts already have beneficiaries, most of our financial assets would skip probate.

-That leaves our house, which is JTWROS. That means the house could require probate if we both died at the same time. (possible, but unlikley)

- The Recovable Living Trust would allow us to put terms & conditions on our kids accessing any estate should we both die early. We could avoid the boy buying the Corvette when he turns 18.

Is there more to it? These seem popular, and the Estate Planner seemed surprised when was hesitant.

Is a Revocable Living Trust the right thing to do for "Medium net-worth individuals" ? Is that the right name for a 3.2MM estate?

Edit: I'm in Georgia.

Hi all,

Looking for a little advice. My wife’s company recently went through a workforce reduction and, unfortunately, her role was caught up in said reduction.

Her company’s 401k provider, TransAmerica, called her today to setup a meeting for tomorrow to discuss what she’d like to do with her 401k balance. She is 36 currently has $64k in her 401k (got a late-ish start on investing). In her role she was making just shy of $100k (grew her salary 2x in just a few years at her last company) and should hopefully be able to find a job near that salary again.

What is the best course of action on her current 401k balance? My thought is to just roll it into a traditional IRA, but I’m not sure if that’s the best option.

Can someone help me understand the best course of action? If it helps, I’m making just shy of $100k as well.

I'm going to be starting high school in the fall but just got my first "real" job working for a farm. I get $10 per hour and work about 20 hours per week. I don't have any bills or anything unless I want to buy myself something. My mom isn't the best at finance stuff. What can I do? Do I need to have someone open me an account or do I only get to save what I have without it earning more? This is so new to me and Google searches just left me more confused with too many options. I just need someone to tell me what to do

Hi! I am a 24 yo registered nurse. I have been a pediatric nurse for over 2 years now (PICU/Medsurg). I am currently on my first travel nurse assignment for income context. I did not grow up with any type of financial literacy teachings so I’ve had to learn as I go. I have made really good money as a nurse but also have blown a lot of money as well. I’m getting older now and have had my “careless spending” fun as I should say. I’m networking and meeting a lot of people that are telling me about opportunities that could really change my life in nursing. I have not contributed to a 401k yet or anything of that nature. I have no kids, not married, my only debt is my car and a few credit cards (<10k). I have been seeing things about only keeping x amount in a checking account, x amount in savings then putting towards Roths, 401k, hysa, voo etc. can someone please break it down for me? I really want to learn and set myself up to be financially stable for the rest of my life. Thanks!!!!

Got a job offer in a different state that is a promotion in title. I’d be a manager, overseeing 3 people in my department. However, the salary isn’t that much of a jump and I’m having a hard time justifying moving my family.

Background: we left our “home” state for our current state. We actually took a pay downgrade for a better work/life balance. Our kids adjusted. We don’t love where we currently live, but we are all comfortable.

Current job:
Salary: 200,000
Bonus: 25% (has only been paid fully 1x in the last 5 years. Average is 60% of that).
Equity: 125 of stock options that vests every 3 years, been about $45,000 a year.
Retirement: they match 6% and add an extra 2%
Other: amazing work life balance

Job offer:
Salary: 225,000
Bonus: 40% (hr says it’s paid fully every year)
Equity: 30% bests every 3 years
Retirement: they match 50% of first 6%
Other: will be expected to work more

Every other benefit is equal. We would be going from a MCL and no income state to a MCL and no income state. The only benefit to the move is the new location has a beach nearby. Otherwise weather, things to do, etc are all very similar. In the new area we’d also have family closer and it’s an area that more people would be interested in coming to visit vs our current area. Housing costs would be the same, but we’d be paying more because we’d be losing our crazy interest rate.

So looking at it if you include the bonus and equity, it’s a big jump. But I’ve always been more interested in the straight salary. $25k doesn’t seem worth the uprooting and disruption. Im going to counter, but would love thoughts.

Looking for some guidance on investment allocation. I currently put $1,500/month into my Fidelity investment account. I have two mutual funds and two ETF’s. One was a small preexisting account from a family member (GFAFX) that had done well so I’ve left it alone. Have around $33k between the 4 funds.

Should I just split the $1,500 four ways? Should I leave any of these accounts alone and only focus on two or three? They’ve all done well since opening within the past 5 years. I’ve tried to diversify with a full market fund, tech fund and then high dividend. I know I’m missing an international fund (open to suggestions).

Funds:

FDVV
FTEC
FDROX
GFAFX

Any thoughts or guidance would be appreciated!

So when the pundits say 80% of working income is a good guideline…are we talking take home or gross before taxes/401k, etc.

I feel like this might be a dumb question and as with all of these questions, YMMV.

I have what I feel would be a good amount of “pension” type income when I do retire between a military pension and Railroad Retirement Board payments (ballpark 100k if I go at 62 for the wife and I…creeps on up to about 125k at 65 and like 140-145 at 67).

I figure when I retire and stop kicking in $$ to company stock, 401k, taxes go down, etc I pick up about 4500 a month in take home money so I don’t think I NEED 80% of the roughly 180k I am bringing in.

Am I crazy?

Looking for some advice on what to do with savings.

My current situation is as follows:

-In my 40s
-$250k salary
-$787k in retirement (401k and 403b accounts); I am maxing out my contributions each year
-$20k in stocks
-$10k brokerage account
-$100k HYSA
-$120k regular savings
-$125k property
-$430k left on a home loan and approximately $200-$220k in equity.

I know I need to be doing more with my regular savings, but I am unsure where to put my money. I do not know how long I will be in my home, but I do believe relocation will be in my future. What would make the most sense to maximize my savings? I would also love to retire at 60, but is that even realistic?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I’m a 35 year old nurse and am wondering what the best way to optimize my finances are. I bought a house in the Midwest in 2020 with a 3% interest rate for 165k and still owe 134k. Still paying PMI on that. I still have student loans. 12k which I’m making minimum payments on, as I’m 16 payments away from that being forgiven with PSLF, and 12k that doesn’t qualify for PSLF that I pay $350 a month on.

I drive a 10 year old Subaru that is completely paid off. The hospital I work for contributes to a 401k and a Roth. I put 9% towards the 401k and 3% to the Roth. Every year when I get a raise I increase contributions 1% towards 401k. I have about 150k in those accounts combined.

I recently started a HYSA and have about 6k in there and use it as an emergency fund. Recently had some unexpected expenses, so I had more in there previously but the last few weeks I’m back to putting 1.6k per month in that.

The HYSA is a 4.5% interest rate and the student loans are a 4.65% interest rate.

My question is that I’m wondering if it’s more beneficial to keep putting money in the HYSA, pay off the student loans that doesn’t qualify for PSLF, or the principal on my mortgage to get rid of the PMI and lower my mortgage payment.

I got an email from Chase saying I could transfer my debt from a different credit card. I have debt on a 1FBUSA card I opened up in 2019 (college). I owe $5,386.18 in it with a 33.40% APR. I also currently own about $7,000 on my current Chase credit card with a 27.24% APR.

The offer they sent me is this:

Lower rate
0% promo APR
on balance transfers through your billing cycle that ends in June 2027
OR
More time
1.99% promo APR
on balance transfers through your billing cycle that ends in September 2027
After the promo period, your standard 27.24% APR will apply. This rate will vary with the market, based on the prime rate.

Should I transfer my debt from 1FBUSA to Chase? And close my 1FBUSA account? Will that affect my credit. Not planning on any major purchases right now but hoping to get married next year and buy a house in 2027/2028. Also just feel like I’m getting drowned in interest charges though. Any help is greatly appreciated!

i’m a 21 year old nursery/daycare teacher in the UK. currently i work 40 hours a week at £13.85 an hour, which comes out to around £1900 after tax. if i reduce my hours to 32 a week, i’ll make around £1650 after tax

this job isn’t a long term thing for me. i start university next september so it’s only a temporary job for a year. i’d like to reduce my hours because i’m stressed out and it’s affecting my mental health. i live at home on reduced rent and am absolutely fine with being frugal

here are my current monthly outgoings to help judge whether this is feasible:

- rent: £300
- driving lessons £240
- phone: £60 (my contract ends in october and then i plan to go with a cheaper provider for £10 a month)
- bus fare: £90
- contact lenses: £30
- subscriptions: £60 (netflix, work union, animal charity and coffee subscription)
- food: £100 a month/£25 a week

that leaves me with £760, or £810 when my phone contract is over. if i save £450 a month, that leaves me with £360 for ‘fun money’. i could save less but i like to have backup money in case my pets get unwell or if i need it for something else. the deal is that my parents pay for their food and i pay the vet fees if they get sick

i’m not a big spender and most of my spare money goes on little days out with friends and family. i’m not really a fan of buying things. is a 4 day work week feasible for me or should i just work full time? it’s only really temporary until i get to university anyway

What is a good HYSA? I have been looking at different options and just realized some aren’t FDIC insured. With that in mind, the two we are looking at the most are Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Capital One. Anyone have any experience with either or recommend another one? Thanks for your input!

Hello everyone! I’m a 26-year-old woman living in Texas. I earn about $4,600 per month and currently have around $10,000 in savings. My fiancé, whom I’ll likely be marrying next year, earns about the same as I do.
I completed my master’s degree and graduated at 23, so I’ve now been working full-time for about three years. During that time, I paid off my $40,000 student loan and also contributed $10,000 toward my sister’s education loan.
Lately, though, I’ve been feeling stressed about my finances. I haven’t had to dip into my savings yet, but it feels like I’m barely able to save anything anymore because I’m using almost all of my income each month.
With our wedding likely happening next year, I’m worried that it will drain both my savings and my fiancé’s. Do you think I’m doing okay financially for my age, or should I be more concerned? I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve been in a similar situation.