My fiance has a car that she currently owes something like $11k on, and the motor recently ate itself. (Allegedly ran out of oil or something...)

We reached out to her loan servicer/lien holder and described our situation to them: she's not working and has no income right now, we're looking at a $6k repair to get the car working (totally not worth it as she's not taken good care of it) and don't think it's worth continuing to make payments on a car that we can't use and can't afford to fix. We effectively informed them that we'd like to surrender the car.

Some agent told her that they'd send over a packet that she needed to fill out and return, which I read through after receiving and am encouraging her NOT to fill it out and return it, as it has language in it where she surrenders all her rights through the process. So, I'm reaching out to Reddit for advice on how we can proceed with the surrender without her signing everything away and STILL being on the hook for everything. It would seem to me that we could either generate some version of their paperwork ourselves to submit to them (minus the language that keeps us on the hook for remaining balances, etc). That might be wishful thinking in this day and age, but wondering if anyone out there might be able to help point us in the right direction so we retain all of our rights as possible.

I had a great two years at work and saved up 80k in my bank account. Yes I maxed out my 401k. The 80k is in Citibank making close to 0%. I’d like to keep it liquid, have to buy a car and do a kitchen remodel in the next 1-3 years. Where can I put the money so I could touch it, but also make some interest?

Edit: I have no debt other than my mortgage

Currently have a 2023 Honda Accord Hybrid Sport L with 85k miles. It’s a lease and I am at the end of my lease. However I work at a Honda/acura dealership and they allow you to get an employee matching program where they pay for your lease. My question is should I trade in my accord hybrid lease for an Acura lease because of the employee matching program? They match your leased monthly payment for only Acuras. I was thinking of picking an integra or ADX and singing on for one of their employee lease programs. Currently my payoff is 21k for my 23 accord. I was planning on refinancing the rest in a 36 month loan to finish paying it off. It is a hybrid and I get 45 mpg. I won’t get that with any Acura. Also insurance will probably go up a little bit, but nothing crazy. I don’t want to lose the hybrid capability but I’m also worried about the reliability of my accord hybrid after 100k miles when the hybrid battery warranty runs out.

I also drive a ton of miles every year just commuting to work, so I will almost certainly be over the mileage allowance which is basically the whole reason im in this predicament. I know on the backside if I had the same mileage for an Acura, the vehicle would actually be upside down. The only reason why I’m not upside down is because there aren’t many accord hybrids used right now.. I’m kind of thinking just drive the accord hybrids until the end 200k plus miles but who knows if Hondas are reliable like that anymore, especially hybrids.

Hi, I had a rough time in my twenties and spent a lot of time with a lot of mental health challenges. There's a lot of things that were never explained to me..such as going to the gyno and retirement planning...etc. Getting cervical cancer shots...Idk well I'm catching up now.

I don't have any debt, but recently found out people have been contributing to their retirement accounts since their twenties. I have about 70k saved up, but that's just cash in a savings account. I'm not sure what the best move for me right now is in terms of starting a retirement account. People keep saying to get my employer to match, but I'm starting grad school soon. It's a fellowship program, so I'll be getting a stipend of $60k/year. Could I also invest that? I have been keeping expenses low by living with family and will be able to continue doing so since the university is nearby. Not sure what the best move is. Thank you.

Also no debt. I'm super new to this. I just throw money in a savings account attached to my bank.

Financially, I am drowning. I am so stressed about it and I don’t know what to do. I have an appointment with the NFCC in like two weeks but I’m not sure I can stay afloat that long honestly. I’m going to try to make this as coherent as possible, but please bear with me.

Who I am: I am a 21M senior in college who will graduate next spring. I am a full time student and have a part-time job, as well as a campus work study position. 

What I owe: a current total of $43,838. Here’s a breakdown
-Creditor: Amount Owed APR Minimum
-Affirm: $1416 0% $118
-Capital One: $2351 0% til 09/2027 $25
-CareCredit: $259 33% $41
$298 0% til 01/2027 $60
-Citi Mobile: $2803 0% til 09/2027 $60
-Discover: $1581 23.5% $53
-OnePay: $327 31% $50
-UT FCU: $11,550 8.6% $251 (starting in September)
-Parents: $3200 disappointment $0
-Surgery: paying November 18th, total of $10K. Will be using CareCredit for as much as possible (limit of $4500) and have been trying to save/fundraise to cover the rest, let’s assume the debt is $6K
-Student Loan:$12,256 in subsidized
$1,797 in unsubsidized at 6.52% no payments til after graduated

What I Make:
-$14.30/hour for about 26 hours per week, average
-$9.50/hour for about 10 hours per week (federal work study)
-SNAP Benefits: $27
-currently have roughly $7k in my savings and deposit $150 every two weeks to try to save for my surgery payment.

Monthly Non-Credit Bills: My partner and I split most bills roughly 60%/40% since he is a full time employee.
-Rent: $850
-Electric: $160
-Water: $70
-Wifi: $40
-Rent Insure: $14
-My phone only: $28
-Pet Food/Meds: $82
-my health insurance: $36
-my medications: $20
-Entertainment Subscriptions (mine only): $18
- Surprise medical bills have also been popping up for care I thought/was told would be covered by my insurance: $290, $320, $590, $220, and several smaller less expensive ones. I am supposed to have an echocardiogram Wednesday but it has a $200 copay due before the appointment and I can either pay that or my part of the rent, so I am considering cancelling it.

I am just so lost and trapped and I don’t know what to do to get my head above this mess. I don’t figure I’ll get a ton of help from this post, but it made me feel a little better to kind of vent it all so I will take what I can get. 

Thanks for reading and any advice you may have

(Please ignore the grammar typo in the title, not sure how to change it now)

Hello everyone, I’m going over what my monthly expenses would be while paying a mortgage. I’m running through this to see what I’ll actually be left with once all expenses are paid. This will be my first time ever going into debt so I really don’t I know if the final number I calculated could be feasible long term.

Here’s the breakdown:
$6350 net take home (monthly)
-$2700 for housing expenses (principal, interest, insurance, utilities, and property taxes)
-$700 for other monthly expenses (car insurance/gas)
-$1200 for groceries/hobbies

This leaves me with $1750 going into savings per month.

Also, I would be leaving myself with around $70k in savings after the home purchase. The monthly take home number is also with me contributing 12% to my 401k which is also in the low $70k range as of today.

Please let me know if the potential housing costs are too high in your opinion. Thank you!

Hi! I’m 26F, live in the Netherlands. I’m renting an apartment (1400 per month), have no debts, earn 4200 bruto per month and and have some savings. I save 500-600 a month. I’m quite good at saving and keep my spendings in check. I wasn’t brought up learning and talking about money but I really want to become more financially literate and set myself up in the best way when it comes to things like pension, saving, investment, using resources that aren’t that obvious but make a difference for your finances. Could you please share some wisdom where I could start/share a plan of how to tackle it and what books or any other resources you found useful? Thanks you in advance!

I am in the fortunate position where I can typically save £1200 a month after all other expenses.

I currently have a £170k mortgage at 5%, £15k emergency fund (in an easy access cash ISA) and £5k in a stocks and shares ISA. I’m 34 for reference, living in London, full time civil servant.

I want to diversify without taking on loads of risk, but also keen to become mortgage free as soon as I can. Rather not have all my savings tied up in a London property, though.

I’m currently thinking I split the £1200 three ways and divert £400 to mortgage overpayments, £400 to S&S ISA (I’m on a defined benefit pension scheme with no plans to retire early, so am less bothered about building up a big S&S pot over time), and £400 to cash ISA to save up for a car (next year or so) and in the longer term (next 3 years all else being equal) to put towards upsizing to a bigger property.

Does this sound like a sensible approach??

Hello! I recently inherited $100,000 from my grandparent's estate, and am at a bit of a loss as to what my next steps should be (I currently have the funds sitting in my bank account).

I have not been good with financial planning. I've never had a proper savings account, 401k, etc. I have around $8,000 spread across some investments. I would typically just spend the funds I made at my previous job, since it wasn't paying a lot. I know, in hindsight, I could've done a better job at planning ahead... but that's why I'm writing here today!

I don't have any debt whatsoever (college loans are fully paid off and I treat my credit card like a debit card.) I also have just been recently laid off from fill-time job and am collecting unemployment until the end of 2026. I have been seriously considering going into freelance/contract work full-time with the financial net and professional connections I currently have. I am NOT looking for career advice on this thread.

I am a single person who rents with a roommate in a rent-stabalized apartment in NYC, and only have to care for my solo monthly expenses.

I appreciate any feedback or advice y'all have. I'd love to have something that can provide some more stable support my freelance endeavors in the short term while also thinking about the long term.

Hello everyone, I am 23 and started my first "actual" job last year in September. Right before I started it, my old 2000 Chevy Truck died on me, and I hastily bought a 2026 Honda Civic. I really regret it because I feel so stuck.

The car is in my parent's name, and the loan has about $30,000 (60 month/5.5%) on it still since I have only been making minimal payments ($700 mo/). I had planned on paying down the car faster but I developed a really bad gambling habit, thankfully I am two-ish months removed from that. I bring home around $3000 a month.

Point being is that I regret getting that car without considering other options, like a cheaper used car. My truck literally broke down on the Saturday before my job started on Monday. Definitely jumped the gun.

I feel so stuck because I kind of hate my job/field of work. IT is so soulless and I really want to change the path I am going down ASAP. Unsure what to do, any advice? Sorry if I explained some stuff poorly!

Hello, I’ll keep it very short!

Wife and I:
Joint House Fund (HYSA): $32.4k (we match contributions)
Joint Fun (trips): $150 (match)
Joint Brokerage?

Me:
401k / employer match
Roth IRA (just started): only buying s&p500 (FXAIX)
Emergency Fund (rebuilding to $10k): $1.5k
Individual Brokerage: just started

Wife
401k / employer match
Roth IRA (just started): only buying s&p500 (FXAIX)
Emergency Fund: 10k+
Individual Brokerage: just started

What can we do better? How can we be at a better position. There’s a lot of noise saying buy this, and buy that. I’d love to just get some solid info and guaranteed safety and wealth that everyone seems to be doing.

Please educate us as we’d like to do the right thing and learn as much as possible!

Edit: we both use fidelity for our company 401k and our individual Roth

I have 2 kids. 4 yo and 1 yo. I opened scholarshare 529 in CA 4 years back and actively funding it. I just realized that it shows my name as beneficiary. May be I did mistake in adding my 4 yo as beneficiary.

What should I do next if I want to save for both kids?

Option 1 - Change beneficiary on existing account to 4yo
And open new account for 1 yo?
Option 2 - keep funding the existing account and change beneficiary in future when its clear which one or if both kids needs support ? Can we have both kids as beneficiary on one 529 plan ?
Option 3 - Change beneficiary on existing account to 4yo
And open new account for 1 yo in different state?

Please guide me in right direction. 529 plan in California has no tax advantage on investment, it just grows tax free for future.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

My husband and I bought a a 1890s home almost 4 years ago and we have put so much blood, sweat and equity into it over time to make it remotely livable. The last room is the Kitchen.
The kitchen is barely functional and lacks a lot we need for our little one (and a second on the way). We are by no means doing anything luxurious.. just a basic reno with all basic products + materials.

Right now we hav 1/3 of it saved ($25k) and it is looking to be $75k with updating the old electric and making it up to code.

We recently had an appraisal and our house is worth 65% more than what we paid - leaving us some good equity.just want to make the right/smart decision for ourselves and our children + future.

What is the difference between a HELOC and personal loan? What makes the most sense for us

Hi everyone! I’m a 28 yo new grad nurse living in Florida. Our pay isn’t great compared to places like California or New York, but it’s definitely better than anything I’ve ever made before.
Here’s my situation, for the past four years, I’ve basically been living off the money I had saved before and during my bachelor’s program. I don’t regret it at all because I genuinely feel like I found the right career for me, but I am kind of kicking myself for having to use most of the money I had saved from the years when I didn’t go to school right away.
I’m child-free and have no credit card debt, but I did end up with about $11k in student loans. Around $5k of that went toward paying off credit cards, and the rest helped cover required health insurance, gas, food, and other expenses while I was in school.
So my question is: where do I go from here?
My goals are to contribute to my 401k and max out my Roth IRA every year, but beyond that I’m not really sure what I should prioritize.
Should I focus on wiping out the $11k in student loans as quickly as possible, or just make the minimum payments while investing?
I’d also eventually like a new car. I’m currently driving a 2012 Corolla that I love, and I want to keep her until she gives up on me lol, but I’m worried that might happen sooner than I’d like. And honestly, part of me also just wants to finally enjoy having a nice car.
Then there’s homeownership. I know buying a house is considered an important financial goal for a lot of people, but I actually really like apartment living. If something breaks, someone else fixes it, and overall it’s just very low stress for me. I’m not sure I even want to own a house anytime soon.
If you were in my position… 28, new career, no credit card debt, $11k in student loans, older paid-off car, renting, and finally earning a decent income, what would you prioritize first

I’m (30M) planning on leaving my job in about 2 years and move from where I am. Ideally, I’d like to purchase a house before I move as it’s in another state. I understand there isn’t an early withdrawal penalty on a 457b if you quit your job.

I would like to have $60-80k for a down payment. The average yearly return on my 457b has been anywhere from 12-20% and currently have 80k. I have about 50k in a fidelity IRA that’s a no touch.

Should I stop putting money into my 457b and into a money market for a down payment since I can’t withdrawal without penalty until I quit? Save for 5% down payment in a liquid account and then use some of the 457b account for a large payment?

Not sure what exactly to do but wanted some advice since 2 years will be here pretty quick. Thanks!

Alright there's so many ways to go about this... (exploring my options, considering input)

here is the breakdown:

CC: -4,262 PMT: $150

School: -27,665 PMT: $97.00

Car: -19,391 PMT: $407 (60 mo left)

In 2024, I was stricken by a double-edged sword. I was rear-ended and totaled out by a company vehicle of a very large company. After approximately 2 years of care, for the most part I am back on my feet and back to work. I have some neck troubles and a TBI (PCS) still, but we're getting better every day. I occasionally receive injections every three or so months for pain but my insurance is pretty fantastic about it. Thankful that I'm alive. After weighing litigation options with my lawyer, I decided to settle my case for $100,000. After paying my lawyer and medical, I will be left with approximately $55,000.

I make approximately $59k a year.

route 1: I pay everything off and save approximately 654 a month - if put directly into my savings that's $39,240 by the time I'm 30. I am aware this might tank my credit.

route 2: I pay my car off, be left with 36,000. Pay my other bills as normal - keep maybe 5 as a blanket and invest the rest. Maybe tank my credit a little, not nearly as bad.

route 3: bees?

Any and all wisdom appreciated! <3

I’m 26M. I have a sports car that I bought right out of college that has been paid off for over 3 years. I’m considering buying a new car to daily drive, but I don’t want it to impact my timelines for a house or marriage.

I make $125k/yr and I have $120k saved outside of retirement accounts. My cumulative retirement savings is $100k. I max my 401K each year ($24.5k). I have NO debt. I save anywhere from $2.5-3k/mo after all bills not including retirement savings.

My main upcoming goals are to buy a house and to get engaged and married. We are going to have a less expensive wedding and I already have money set aside for a ring. Our timeline for buying a house is at least 3 years from now.

It’s hard to bring myself to spend $30k on a brand new car. I have an 8-10 mile commute. But I also want to keep my sports car in nice new condition as a weekend toy.

Can I justify this purchase? I have mild financial anxiety so I genuinely am unsure.

I come from a very poor background and have never had any financial help from anyone other than myself. I’ve worked like a dog to have any kind of scraps. It took me five years to save 3k due to the nature of life and living in poverty.

I had an 06 Corolla I drove until she refused to get back up. I had to get to work and knew my car was going bad so for a year I looked for different car options. My same car was going for over 6k in my local market so it just did not make sense to drop cash on a vehicle that would quit within a few years.

Someone told me that they were starting 7 year loans and I thought it was a great opportunity to be able to get a newish car for the same price of a 15yo car. Not even joking…. I searched everywhere and 15yo vehicles with multiple crashes and engine issues were selling for 16k easily in my area.

So I found a perfect opportunity for a 3yo Corolla LE at 16k with a 3.99% loan - my bank fought to help me get that APR since I’ve never done a loan of any kind before. I had perfect credit I worked on for years to get to this moment. I put my entire life savings of 3k as my down payment.

My friends and the bank said I had to do the gap insurance and the warranty thing so that brought my loan up to 21k. It hasn’t reached a year yet and I’ve gotten it down to 18k with a fourth job. I recently had to quit because my body was giving out and I chose my health over a car loan.

I was just watching a YouTube documentary talking about people’s stupidity of utilizing 7 year loans.

Am I screwed? I did the 7 year loans because it’s all I could afford. $300 was my top monthly payment and they helped me get to $300 monthly.

I plan on using the car until it also gives out so in my head it made sense, assuming the car lives to be 20 years old like my 06 Corolla.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that my bank has strict limits on what kind of car I could have to qualify. I wasn’t allowed anything older than three years old, no higher than 80,000 miles, and a bunch of other limits that severely restricted my ability to find a vehicle.

My current car started at 80,000 miles( thought was fine since it’s a Toyota)and exactly 3 years old. I made it to only look at the base and the kind of vehicle that’s supposed to be affordable such as Corolla.

My personal restrictions were that it had to be the base and have NO accidents or major issues which is hard to find in my area.

I'm a 20 year old from Ireland 2nd year computer science student and been a software engineer / computer technician for 2 years.

I have also been investing for the last year or so with a portfolio worth £13,036.56 (£12,073.31 invested with a ROR of 10% - £963.55)

I have £465.31 in my BOI checking account and I started my works pension about a month ago and I have £765 in it currently

Just to clarify I'm not giving up on any life moments or anything like that, I still go out and still treat myself

Hello,

I’ll be graduating a semester early this December with about $45,000 in student loans. I’ve done my best to position myself to pay them off as efficiently as possible: I’ve secured a job offer for $79,000, which I’ll start in January—right after graduation—and graduating early gives me extra time to focus on my finances.

Since I’ll be living with my parents, I won’t have expenses like rent or food. My question is: aside from contributing the max ($7,500) to my Roth IRA, should I put all my extra money toward paying off my loans, or would it be better to invest some of it elsewhere?
Thanks in advance for your advice!

I currently inherited a three bedroom one bath house with a Zillow value of around $700,000. It did skip a generation and therefore I had to pay a lot of taxes on it.

Currently, I want to sell this house and use the proceeds from it to buy my family and I a new home.

To be clear, here are some of the financials on it:

Rental:
Inherited at $520k
Valued at $700k
Heloc $195k ($1,600/mo of $3,400monthly before expenses/taxes etc)

Net $505k

How can I estimate what the property gains taxes cost will be to me and how can I sell this rental and maximize the cash from it? What I mean is, is there a way that I can sell this house and avoid taxes on all the “cash” from the sale and put it into a down payment?

I just wanted to share for others who may be in a similar position to me, that at 29 I finally sat down, went through six months worth of bank statements, made notes, and have a budget to move forwards with.

I've always been a big saver so I've disregarded a lot of budgeting advice thinking well I save most of my income after bills so what's the problem.. but now I have a better understanding of where my money goes and I'm honestly looking forward to my paycheck next week and dividing it up as I've planned.

If you're in a similar situation you don't really know where your money goes, and you feel embarrassed by the idea of looking through your past decisions, you can do it and I'm really glad I did.

I am looking at my investment account right now (no ira, 401k or retirement, a normal investment account, EU based), and my top performing fund is +6% YTD, with an all average account for +4.5%.

Looking at this, and with a mortage with a 5.2% rate (standard on low end for my country), and with all the current market instability, wouldn't i be better with taking all out of investment and pouring into the mortgage?

Am i missing something here? For info, there is no tax advantage on the account besides that profits are not taxed until i actually take them out. The money on the account itself gets taxed as part of my total value for tax purposes.

Hello, I am a 22 year old CPL in the Army, myself and my wife recently moved in, are paying $1k a month for a 3 bed, 2 bath townhouse in a nice neighborhood. We both drive good cars, enjoy nice home-cooked meals, eat out plenty, and have plenty of fun. We live in Central Texas and have no children.

However, I plan to get out in 6 months instead of re-enlisting. I will be making almost $20k a year more starting out. She is using my benefits to pursue college, and I am using them to attend HVAC school and be certified in about 3 months. She is doing college full-time and plans to finish her degree in a couple of years, and is having to quit her job in order to do so. In about 2.5 years, she will graduate and plans to be a high school biology teacher. Without her job in the near future, my current financial plan is as follows:

$3,650 a month’s pay:
$1,020 for rent
$350 for car insurance
$388 for car payment
$500 for groceries
$50 for internet
$200 for electric
$600 for gas
$100 for water/sewage

All in all, almost $800 a month in savings without any fun money, eating out, etc.

I think this is a pretty liberal budget. I drive a V8 Mustang, and plan to sell it for a Tacoma, to both save on insurance and in gas. Her car payment is for a 2016 CX-5. We buy nice, natural groceries when we can, we travel all around Texas a lot.

Aside from those plans alone, how does my spending seem? How good is this for a $22 year old couple?

Hey everyone,

I’m a 32 recently married male and I just got a job that’s going to more than double my salary and idk what to do. Long story short, going from making 63K to 140K.

This is extremely amazing and I’m giving all the glory to God. I’m looking for some advice or similar stories of what you did. Right now, my wife and I are living paycheck to paycheck and this is an additional 80K a year we really just weren’t accounting for.

The budget we have for ourselves we want to still live by as it’s enough to support our rent and other essentials and we want to put more towards debt and savings but just trying to figure out how to continue to live below your means.

Some tips and strategies people have used to stay disciplined and not overspend or anything else.