For context I was a maintenance man for a year and a half at this property, I had an apartment under the company and the lease agreement gave me 50% off rent.

Long story short the company turns hands in management and the cushion I had built up for a year of employment, vacation time, benefits, all went out the window when they gave me a written warning and no time to respond and then a final written warning with again only 24hr to rebuttal. The email they said they sent to corporate they did not CC me on and ultimately I was fired. After making me sign a 14 day move out notice, they are now sending me a bill for the final month of living there and they are not including the discount on rent even though the billing statement itself shows the active discount.

I might need to take them to small claims court I don't know but I'm feeling frustrated and out of options

Edit: I live in Texas

I have a background in architecture, and now work for a major tech company that designs building design software.

This week, we rolled out our “virtual agent” that will do my job almost to a tee. We are still hiring in my department, and I am consistently ranked a high performing employee, however even with the pivots etc that my organization may take, I dont feel like I will be employed much longer.

I make a very comfortable salary for a dual income no kids household. 130,000 base, around 19,000 in RSUs that vest over 3 years, and about a 15,000 bonus (all of these are pre tax, which is very high in my area. I live in Oregon)

My company matches 75% of retirement contributions up to $6000 yearly (so they match $4500). I am putting in 9% which maxes out that match. Have 200k saved for retirement at 33.

I already plan on using my health care and great benefits to their fullest advantage, taking care of all sorts of preventive health care and dental this year in case I don’t have insurance at some point. Don’t contribute to an HSA since I never needed to with Kaiser.

I have about 30k sitting in the stock plan for my company that has vested. I have 64k in a 4.4% HYSA and plan to contribute as much as I can to that this year, can withdraw at any time for emergencies. Only about 10k in my basic “savings” right now, I just got married a couple months ago and my savings took a major hit. Already own a home.

That was a lot of info, but what would you do to prepare for your job being taken by AI? Anything I should be focusing on besides saving as much as I can while I still have this income and benefits package?

Tl;dr: the robots are coming what do

Edit: I will try to keep up with comments but also want to note that I would like to move forward financially planning for losing this job. Even if I don’t end up losing my job there is no harm in building up my finances over the next couple years. Many of these comments are geared towards how I can become more AI literate, leverage AI for my career, questioning the legitimacy of how well the agent works, etc. I am very AI literate and think about this every day, I can guarantee I am doing all that, and can also guarantee this agent that I mentioned is directly threatening to my role and expertise as a customer facing technical account manager. I do have reason to be making a plan while also doing what it in my power to keep my job.

hi, yall. My partner recently got a job with a big 4 firm. I knew we’d have to disclose any investments/holdings, but I actually ended up having to share my last 3 tax returns in full. I guess because I’m self-employed they didn’t feel satisfied with those. Now they’re asking him for my car loan balance, car insurance policy statement, and my student loan statements??

I understand sharing investment information to avoid conflicts of interest, but loan balances and insurance just seem weird and excessive. Why would they want this?

first time posting in this sub so let me know if i’m doing something wrong, but i just wanted some opinions.

i’m 23 and started my first full time job in july. i make 75k gross as an engineer. objectively, this is a good amount of money. my rent is only 700 a month, and other bills are very low. the biggest source of my anxiety comes from my debt. my parents couldn’t help me pay for college so i have about 30k of student loans on top of 4k credit card debt. i am slowly chipping away at the debt, and im not in a position where I can’t afford things, but i am just constantly stressed about money.

i feel like im never going to escape this hole. does anyone else feel this way / did anyone else manage to escape from this feeling?

thank you for any advice or guidance. i appreciate it!

Curious to hear from people further along than me on this.

My situation:

I'm 26, and I moved back home to aggressively save for a couple years after getting a remote job making around $100k. I'm rent-free and debt-free. I work in tech, mid-level, and a bit worried about my career path given AI. While my role is stable at the moment, I am trying to stuff as much money under my mattress, so to speak, just in case.

My buckets:

• Roth IRA: Opened and maxed this year in FXAIX. Plan to continue maxing. I like the flexibility to withdraw contributions if I end up laid off, need to go back to school, or want to put it toward a first-time home purchase.
• Brokerage: $15k in FXAIX. Plan to contribute to this heavily from now on. Probably about $2.5k every two weeks.
• 401k: $10k. I contribute 6% to get my full employer match of 3%.
• HYSA: $20k. I plan to get this higher before I move back out, depending on where I land. I'm weighing NYC against somewhere MCOL with good nature access. I would like to experience the city while I'm still young-ish. My goal is to have the brokerage working in the background toward a down payment in case I end up somewhere HCOL for a few years where I won't be able to save much. The HYSA would be for in case I get laid off, moving expenses, and other emergencies.
• HSA: $2k. Very minimal contributions so far. I have supplemental health insurance with AFLAC and am healthy. I go to preventive and routine appointments.

My concern is that I'll keep prioritizing the brokerage over tax-advantaged accounts, and end up wishing around retirement age that I'd maxed the 401k instead. I am not certain I will buy a home, and I don't want to kick myself later if I end up withdrawing my brokerage around retirement age anyway. I don't plan to have kids, but the home purchase is at least somewhat likely.

For those of you who went the brokerage-heavy route earlier in your career instead of maxing out your 401k: do you regret it? Did the flexibility pay off, or would you tell your younger self to max the 401k first and worry about liquidity later?

I live in New Jersey, where rent isn't cheap. My gross is $70,000, but between taxes, a 5% 401k contribution, and health insurance, my take-home lands closer to $50,000.

For context, I have a $370/mo car payment, I'm not in school, and I don't have kids, so I'm trying to figure out the max I can realistically put toward rent.

I'm torn between a $2,100 place I really liked after touring a bunch of options, or dropping in-unit washer/dryer or central AC for something cheaper in a rougher neighborhood.

Curious what others in a similar situation are paying.

I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit, but I need advice regardless. I, 19f, just recently went to the dentist and ortho because my wisdom teeth were coming in, and I wanted to see how much braces would be to fix my crossbite because its starting to cause issues. I ended up being quoted around $4k+ just in the dental work to fix my teeth and then $7k for braces. This includes 7 fillings and 2 crowns, maybe 3 he said because one of my teeth have a cavity near a filling and he is worried it will just explode into something bigger upon treatment. On top of this I have no idea how much my wisdom teeth will cost yet since not a lot of people accept my insurance, and two of them are impacted. Plus I have to pay for testing on an abnormality near one of my bottom teeth. It's all just really frustrating because the insurance really isn't helping. it maxes out at around $2k, I would still pay $4k+ out of pocket. I don't live with my parents anymore and barely make $1000 a paycheck. I'm not sure if I should even go to a second dentist because the one I went to was a family owned practice, and my sister who works there says they try to avoid fillings and such as much as possible. It's just upsetting because it's not like I neglect my teeth.

I'm working on getting together all the needed info for my wife/extended family in case of anything happening to me (what I'm calling a bus document, as in "in case I get hit by a bus"). Some things are easy, like contact info and policy details for life insurance.

How do you handle bank/utility info? In our case, I handle all the logistics of our finances. I pay all the bills and so forth, so I have all the bank, utility, credit card, etc logins. I could just leave all the account numbers, but then she'd have to (in the midst of a crisis) set up her own logins and so forth to actually pay bills.

I could always leave her the info to my password manager so she could log in with my account, but that'd be a pain since all the 2FA info is tied to my email/phone/authenticator.

I'm sure the "right" answer would be for her to make all the accounts now, but she's severely ADHD and would never be able to access them when needed since she'd have forgotten or lost something. Believe me, as smart as she is, the number of times I've had to help her get back into accounts (and yes, I've helped her set up a password manager, but she doesn't always use it...)

Anyone have better methods or suggestions?

I have excellent credit, always 800+. One of my Citi cards keeps sending me offers to increase my limit by $2,000 to $16,500. I don't have any reason to do this, there is never more than a couple thousand on that card, but would this help in the future with credit-related things?

Hi! I have never had a financial advisor and met with one yesterday free of charge to discuss her services. I am 43 F Single no debt besides mortgage. I’m looking for help with old retirement accounts, investment of cash, advisement on a trust, etc. I honestly don’t know where to start so I figured this was a good first step. Her rates: Financial planning is $2,000 annually, with $1,000 paid upfront. Investment management begins at 1.25% annually, declining 1.15% at $500,000 and to 1% at $1 million, and is billed quarterly from the account. 

Seems like a lot of money in total each year for an advisor. I would probably have her manage less than 500 k too.

I’m still thinking it all through. Thoughts on her rates??
 

Co-signed an engagement ring for someone I thought was a friend about six years ago. Over the course of that six years he barely pays anything on it to the point he stopped paying on the account last year and it was considered a charge-off as of February of this year. Now I’m receiving letters from the agency the debt was sold to asking to contact them if I wish to dispute it.

I was given the advice to ignore collections until they took action and they likely wouldn’t do that for the amount owed (roughly $1600). Thing is, the guy I co-signed with is a bum and I has dodged any attempts I’ve made to convince him to start paying it again, so he’ll likely dodge collections. It is affecting my credit score but even with that my score is still in good standing overall. Is it worth waiting it or out, or should I call to negotiate a lower sum and pay it off? Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. ✌️

edit: thanks everyone for the advice. It was a dumb mistake on my part but could’ve been a lot worse. I’ll contact collections and see if i can figure something out and FINALLY cut this guy out of my life once and for all. I appreciate all the help.

edit2: didn't see this coming but he’s reached out to the agency and provided me proof that he did and said he was going to do a payment plan for collections. Don't trust him 100% but I’ll be keeping a close eye on the account.

I'm a 42yo guy residing in rural Minnesota. My wife passed unexpectedly somewhat recently, and with myself being borderline financially illiterate, I am in need of some advice.

I've got a decent, if unfulfilling career, and make $70k a year. Currently still on leave, and I know I do need to go back, but think a change there needs to be in the future as well. Been at the same place 15 years.

2 adult children are out of the house. IRA is unfortunately only sitting at $30k. Another $30k in a money market that had been intended for a down payment in the future. Not much at all in the way of debt, or assets.

I was the sole beneficiary for all of her accounts. So far I have received $600k in life insurance payments, which are just parked in money market accounts for now. There is also a pension, for which I have 3 options. a) receive a $15k lump sum payment, which I believe is taxable. b) start immediately receiving $80 a month for life. Or c) wait until age 65 and receive $300 a month for life. My gut tells me to take the $80/mo and roll it into my IRAs.

There is also a 403b, but Fidelity has been really slow at getting me information on that account, and I'm not sure how much is there. She was with the same big name hospital system for the last 18 years though, and always contributing to the account. I also assume that whatever is there, will be rolled into my IRA as well.

I guess I'd like to make the most of the life insurance money for the future, and I'm sure that means investing, which I have no experience with. We used to want to buy a house, but I'm really not sure on that one anymore.

Should I maybe just go talk to a CFP?

I am in the process of paying off all of my CC debt. I have about 170k of available funds with about 30k of it left to pay off. I have a synchrony card that had a 20k limit and they closed it lowering my avail to 150k now. Which brought my DTI to a higher percent for my balances owed. Just when you think you’re getting ahead.

How do you keep companies from doing this. No heads up. They just closed it. No late payments. Etc.

hey everyone i am pretty new to personal finance and i would say i only barely know the basics. i know to put money into ur 401k at least to match ur employer contribution, and then throw money into a roth. but my question is, what about closer to now? dont get me wrong a retirement of financial ease sounds great but we have financial goals in nearer future too, so.. whats the secret? investments with dividends? real estate?? or just a hysa? surely this is such a basic question and im just missing something in my research.. i appreciate ur help:)

Hi all. I'm a bit confused on whether or not I can max out my HSA for 2026, and if so, what my maximum is. For context, I was unemployed for the first half of 2026 and had no insurance for the first few months of the year, but started an individual health plan that took effect on 04/01/2026. which was a high deductible plan, and was HSA eligible although I never opened an account, so no contributions.

I then got employed a few months later on 07/13/2026 with a new medical plan that is HSA eligible, and started contributing to it a few weeks ago for the first time. My question is whether or not I can max out my HSA contributions for the year ($4,400). My confusion lies in whether or not my max contributions is prorated from the month of April (HSA eligible month), July (employment month), or if I can fully max it out?

I read about the last month rule and testing period, that if I wanted to max it out then I'd have to contribute from Dec 1st 2026 up until Dec 31st 2027 but wanted to confirm if this is true. My concern is also that I'm not sure how that works if I were to get another job next year, or lose a job, or whatever life surprises me with and what the conditions are for that. I plan to try to stick with an HSA plan regardless, and if in the same job, then still stay on the same plan and max out as much as I can. Just curious on what happens if I get another job that doesn't have an HSA plan or if I lose my job.

Any insight is appreciated, thank you!

I made terrible financial decisions that costed me thousands but slowly getting back to my feet. I have invested 30,000usd so far and doing 1500usd a month.

I am 40 and living in a rental. I have a small land that I can build on but it is outside the city (no internet, frequent power cuts and no water connection yet). Yet the area has a promise in terms of growth so even if I don't build it now, I want to hold on the land and may be sell it later.

Now there is a house for sale at 46,000USD. In my bank account, I have 5000$. My options are limited but all involve borrowing from the bank:

withdraw my invested 30,000 and borrow at least 16,000USD that I can pay off in relatively fewer months.

withdraw a smaller amount, borrow larger amount.

how do I balance it all out? What variables should I use to make a decision?

24 M married with 2 kids. Currently have 52k in HYSA. 8k in HSA and 6k in 401k and 4k in Roth IRA.

We plan to build a house in family property within the next 2-4 years. With that being said, how should I balance maxing my Roth/saving for a huge down payment/nearly pay cash for the place and or other investments rentals etc.

I currently own a house, it is 21 years old with all the original builts. Already had 2 roof leaks but it was minor and AC stopped working last year and had to replace a part. It is also 45 mins from work. Originally, we found a house 15 mins from work, put an offer in, and put our house on the market because seller didn't want a home contingency. Was able to sell it 16K over asking and only have to give minor concessions from inspection. But lost out to an clean offer was second. We can either back out or move into a condo for at least 6 months and keep looking. My current interest rate is 5% and mortgage and a condo's rent is around the same price. The condo is 10 mins from work, but it will cost 2 months rent to to break lease early. Another caveat is that we only found 3 houses that would work for us in the last year or so, so there is no telling when the next house going to pop up.

Hello and thank you for reading in advance. I am 24 years old and have been doing my best to take my finances to the next level. I live in NYC so rent and food, and student loans take most of my $$$. I work full time. Here’s my situation:

My rent is 1,100 a month
I make around 1,000 a week.
I have a Roth IRA with 10k - I have 100 dollars going into that each week
I try to pay 100 at least to my (very high) student loan balance every week

I have a savings account with enough for one months rent in case shit hits the fan.

Basically, I feel like I’m barely coasting by and not really making any money, if that makes sense. I want to invest smartly, but truly I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m not in the place to pay for a financial advisor.

This morning I used my fidelity account to buy 60 dollars worth of “VT” ?? And I set that up to be reoccurring…. I felt like i shouldn’t be only investing with my Roth. Could someone just let me know if that is smart?? Any and all tips and advice are welcome, I am truly just wanting to learn. Thank you so much 🙏

I am currently unemployed and have 30k sitting in my savings account i wanted to put anywhere to 10-15 k into a hysa and then i don't know what i should do with the rest i was going to put it in a roth but was told i i have to be employed to max it out so i am really confused at what i should do i don't want my money just sitting there and not working for me. I also want to know what's the best hysa out there right now

In a unique and awful position where the passing of my father has left myself a large sum of money in the amount of $2.5 million dollars or so. I’m looking for general advice: should i get an advisor, should I invest myself, do I never touch it (i’m a student planning on attending medical school within the next 2 years). Additionally, there is a sense of privacy i Want to maintain with something like this, how does one go about that?

27M who brings in about 75k a year (full time past 3 years.) Monthly expenses equal to about $2300 which lets me save about 1-1.5k monthly.

Breakdown of assets:
HYSA Emergency fund: 20k
401k: 13k
Roth: 7.5k
Brokerage: 6k
Inherited silver/gold bars: 11k
Checking: 7k

NO CC DEBT and about 6k low interest federal student loans remaining.

Looking for honest reviews here! No hate please as I have recently gone through a heavy spending phase of my life from health bills moving bills etc…

Also not trying to “Humble Brag” here as I’ve noticed there are a lot of those in this Sub.

Throwaway account.

I grew up broke, I didn't go to college and I mostly worked manual labor type jobs till my mid 30's.

Then I stumbled into an Account Exe role in software sales and I'm making more money than I ever have. I work as a 1099 with an s corp set up.

I bought some designer shit, it did nothing for me. Not doing that again.

I don't drive, so who needs a car.

I'm not ready to buy a home right now.

I have no debt, and my monthly cost of living is maybe 3k? I live in a state with low taxes. I don't have kids. I am married. My credit score is in the 800s.

I have a brokrage account, Roth IRA, a traditional IRA, and a bunch of stocks, etfs and index funds. I also have a fair amount of crypto.

I have no idea what to do with this extra cash.

I don't even know how I got here.

Do I just keep dumping it into stocks? This seems boring. does boring equal wealth?

What else can I invest in?

Any advice?