You are doing well. You have way more of a handle than I did at your age. I just threw darts while trying to figure it out. Of course, the internet was just beginning

Do not worry about the layoffs. Layoffs go in a streak. In one or two years(tops), there will be no layoffs for another decade and it will only be hiring. 2009 to 2021, companies hired like mad, now it is time to pay the piper. By the start of 2024, I am willing to wager hiring begins again.

IMHO, when young you need to worry about surviving first.

Contributing anything to retirement is better than nothing. But contributing the max to retirement could mean living hand to mouth. I realize you are not contributing the max, but it is a good chunk. None of us know then the time clock ends. Life is meant to be lived.

I say cutback on the ROTH 401k contributions, maybe to 8%. If you like the 12%, then go for it.

For me, my goal was to always lessen my debt. Not sure what your rate is on student loans, but since I have seen some with 11.25%, ouch. As I recall, my student loans were at 8%. We paid our student loans in full. My loans were not in the 5 integers though.

I always figured if I lowered my debt, I could allocate the money to build wealth. I own mutual funds, dividend reinvestment plans, stocks, and iBONDS. Do not buy iBONDS.

Buy a ROTH IRA and put it into a mutual fund.

The RSUs are nice, but my advice is to keep 50% of them if you believe in the company and sell 50%. I speak from experience on losing out on a bundle of cash because my spouse told me I could no longer sell stuff because of the tax consequences. I was using the money for home improvements.

Fine. I sold none of it after that and watched it crash to -95% from the high when I cashed out. I lost $400,000 or so. After that I told my spouse I no longer accept advice from them.

Start the ROTH NOW.

When you do the 401k, put it all into the S&P 500 index fund that you will have as a option.

Invest in a mutual fund, automatic deposits every month. Pick a fund. Since you are young you can play and learn. Pick something exciting. Such as an all health care fund. Maybe an all Electric car fund. No idea if that exists, but what the heck.

Look at starting a Dividend Reinvestment Plan into a utility. Slow and boring. I always recommend either AWK or WTRG. Every one needs water. You will not make 500% in a water utility in a day, buy you also will not lose 85% in a day. This is what I call a foundation for a young investor. A good building is built on a strong foundation.

If your company gives you stocks options, and they are sold at a discount to you, exercise the options and sell the stock. Yes, you pay capital gains but you make money. No one ever went broke making a profit. Plus, if the company goes in the toilet, you are not holding a bunch of worthless options.

Our state was Vanguard, and Fidelity is no better or worse than Vanguard. If you despise the Vanguard then don't worry about the state tax deduction and go with Fidelity.

Some states have BAD ones though. I rate Vanguard and Fidelity run ones as good ones.

VGHCX 2022 returns -1.05%

2021 = 14.3%

2020 = 12.62%

2019 = 22.93%

FBIOX

2022 -23.38%

2021 = ???

2020 = 38.34% covid vaccins

2019 35.96%

2018 = -10.73%

FSPHX

2022 = -13.35

2021 = ???

2020 = 24.43%

2019 = 31.46%

2018 = 7.44%

PRHSX

2022 = -4.25%

2021 =13.27%

2020 = 30.12%

2019 = 29.11%

2018 = 1.23%

If you are close to your Uncle and he has been nice to you and your late mother(his sister) then maybe sell it to him at a 10% discount, $225,000 FIRM.

Bring in a realtor to do a COMPS for what the house is worth. You can sort of do that on your own with your recorder or register of deeds office and tax assessor, those offices are all online nowadays.

I keep a list of all the sales of my neighbors houses. I also have the realtor sales listings from all the houses. I also have a list of what everyone's property taxes are and their last assessments. (I might be a little to nosy)

If he has not sat down and gone through numbers and what needs to be fixed and costs, then don't believe him. Do not let him bring in a contractor friend, you hire your own contractor to give their estimates.

If he has been an ass, then go all in on selling the house outright. Divvy the money up 50/25/25.

He plans on buying you out cheap, use what should have been your money and MAYBE fixing it, and then selling it. He is going for a quick flip.

6 of one, half dozen of the other.

Yesterday, I put in motion on moving my money from Fidelity to Vanguard. I had to call Fidelity to do that, which, of course, means they try to sales pitch you out of it.

Why? I am consolidating accounts to make it easier for me to manage.

Lucky me, I have more consolidation to go through. I should be done by the end of the year is my guess. I move slow. Do one account at a time, to make sure all the bugs are worked out. Then move on to the next.

I look at my financial madness as sort of like living in our house forever. We accumulate a lot of stuff, and that stuff is put into out of the way places, marked as "to be dealt with later." Twenty years later, you look at that collection of 600 flower pots, and go, "Why?"

I was worth NOTHING when I graduated. Actually, I owed student loans, so my net worth was negative.

I said the same thing as you. Yes, I worked. Yes, I had money. yes, I spent money.

I should have saved. Now, you know.

You are not late at all.

Start putting money into an S&P 500 index mutual fund today. keep contributing $50 each month for the next 40 years.

Once you have a job and can contribute to a 401K do that. Still contribute your $50 per month though into the mutual fund.

The key is just do it, and let time and compounding do all the heavy lifting.

You will be fine.

woooooooo

lots of colors

Some interesting tidbits: boardgames $900, a fridge 1623, a TV 1150. No idea if that is monthly or left to pay or whatever, and I don't need to know.

You have your income down and your expenses down.

you have retirement planning going on.

You have savings.

You can definitely afford a $1500 monthly payment since you already pay that in rent.

texas has the wackadooble energy companies where you can find the cheapest energy and hope and pray everything does not freeze.

You have no state tax.

You two are probably more knowledgable about your financial preparedness than 97% of the people in your age bracket in North America.

I think you are solid and you two know what you are doing and would handle any weird thing thrown at you.

I say buy a house and have kids.

I do my monthly financial statements and from that my net worth statement.

These provides my an opportunity to log into all the accounts and verify i am alive.

Some of those I do during the year multiple times, my mutual funds I only do maybe once or twice a year and mostly December and January.

In January I get the privilege of prepping to do my taxes and then start on them in earnest in February. Some companies just refuse to provide tax documents in a timely manner. I had two companies that always sent me letters in April that I needed to file an extension because they did not have their act together. After four years of that, I jettisoned them.

During the year I keep track of how much in dividends we get each month to get a handle on when they come in for that retirement thing.

NO. contribute to the 401K enough to get the maximum match, if any.

If no match, you must contribute something to the 401K so it grows tax free for the next 35 years, since you are 29.

I do not understand this.

Did you buy a property that increased in value 200% or something in two years? If so, bully for you, well done.

How can a mortgage lender NOT charge you the correct property tax/escrow? It is not like it is a secret to them.

This is why you pay your 20% in equity so you do not have to deal with escrow/PMI.

I agree with Yukycg.

IBonds cannot be cashed until after 12 months. then you lose 3 months of interest or something. All CLEARLY explained on the treasury website. I found it and read it, and I am old and dumb.

Can you do a 529 on yourself?

Short term cash goes into a HYSA or a 6 month CD. Not into iBonds or stock market at this time. Or that other weird thing, crypto currency.

I truly wonder how many young people bought Bitcoin at $60,000(or a fractional share) and are now down to $20,000 taking a 67% haircut.

Start a Dividend Reinvestment Plan

https://www-us.computershare.com/Investor/#DirectStock

You can start pretty low, and then contribute $50 per month. We selected a stock that charges him NO FEES so his $50 buys $50 worth of stock, and his purchases are at a 2% discount to market fair value on the day of purchase.

My son started one in August of 2021 with an investment of $500. He invested $50 per month starting in September.

Is he rich? No.

Is he losing money? No. You only lose money when you sell at a loss. He has not sold.

Is he building an asset? Yes.

Is he learning about the power of compounding interest? Yes.

if my math holds(multiplication in my head), he invested 14 months * $50 = $700.

He started with $500.

Total so far $1200.

Account is worth $1,117.95.

Technically, he is losing money, but he started when the market was HOT, so his buy to open the account was at $52 per share or something. Now, he is dollar cost averaging by buying shares as the price declines. His last purchase was at $41 per share.

In 40 years, he will have invested $24,500 of his own money. The account should be worth around $190,000. This assumes 8% growth per year, the historical S&P 500 rate of return.

Investing can be very boring. But if you look at the long term effect, the payoff can be pretty good.

I think you are doing just fine. Probably better than 95% of Americans are doing right now in your age group.

You are putting enough money away, I say live a little. Life is also meant to be enjoyed not just meant to be worried about your retirement.

You have 35 years for your money to grow. Assuming 8% growth on your husband's income you will have over 3,000,000

If you work for 40 years, the retirement nest egg will be over 4,000,000.

That is just your husband's 401K.

Throw in your Roths, you will be very comfortable.

Add in your husband's pension which is probably 34% of the final three year's average annual salary.

And you probably contribute to Social Security also.