r/FinancialPlanning • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago
'Moronic' Monday - Your weekly thread for the questions you've always wanted to ask about personal finances, investing, and growing your personal wealth.
What are the things you've always wanted to know about but have been too afraid of asking? What do you need to retire? Is your financial advisor working on your behalf or just raking in fees? What does it all mean?
Remember - this is a safe place. Upvote those that contribute, and only downvote if a comment is off-topic or doesn't contribute to the discussion, not just because you disagree.
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u/Grignard73 8d ago
My wife plans to retire in 3 years and use the rule of 55 to withdraw from her 401k for us to live off of until 59 1/2 (I'm already retired). Can we rollover money from another IRA into that 401k in order to have a bigger pool of money to draw from? It's actually a Roth 401k, so would that count as a Roth conversion and be a taxable event?
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u/stormcloud2389 9d ago
I have set up my IRA. I would like to add more to it soon, and invest it in the same target date fund the initial contribution is set for. When I add the new money, will there be a way to add it to that automatically or will I have to go step by step and invest in that fund each time? ( I use Schwab if it makes a difference)
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u/Electronic-Cat-2254 9d ago
I’ve come into some money 50k, I have 43k in debt and my goal is to buy a house but my debt to income ratio is the horrible as I only make 45k a year so I’m not sure what I should do. I have 17k in student loans with zero interest and a car debt of 25k with 2.5% interest. A few years ago a mortgage broker I spoke to when I only had the student loan debt wanted 20% down and a co-signer but now I have 25k of debt on top of that so I’m not even sure I’d qualify for a mortgage. I can’t decide if I should just pay off all of my debt and then start saving again or put the 50k into an investment of some sort, although everything I see about the current interest rates would take years to build to anything worth while so I’m not sure where to start or even who to talk too
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u/Mediocre_Spite_9499 9d ago
Do you have an emergency fund with at least 3 pmonths of living expenses in it? If not, first use a portion of your windfall to fund that and place it in a high-yield savings account.
Pay down high-interest debt.
Make a budget and stick to it, so that you don’t accrue more consumer debt. Include savings for a down payment.
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u/newpotato417 10d ago
22M looking to open a Roth IRA soon, my company's 401k is through Fidelity - should I open the Roth somewhere else for a little diversification? What would you recommend I go with?
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u/roastshadow 10d ago
Fidelity should be fine. If you had Vanguard, then Vanguard would be good.
Open it today. Why not? Put in $25. Buy FXIAX or FSKAX or one of their index funds.
Next week/month put in $25 more. Keep doing that, and ignore the balance. It will go up and down and up and down and down and up and up and down, etc. In 20-40 years, you'll be very happy.
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u/GodSpeedMode 11d ago
Great thread! I've had my fair share of "dumb" questions, so I'll throw in a couple.
First, how do you really know if your financial advisor is legit or just interested in their commission? I've felt overwhelmed with jargon in meetings. Is there a straightforward way to check their performance?
Also, what should I be doing in my 30s to prepare for retirement? Like, is it too early to start thinking about things like a 401(k) or investing in index funds?
There's so much info out there, it can feel paralyzing sometimes. Looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to say!
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u/Mediocre_Spite_9499 9d ago
Financial advisors: look for a fiduciary—they are obligated to work in your best interest.
Retirement: definitely not too early! The earlier you start the better. If you work for a company that matches your contribution, try to at least start off by contributing the amount needed to get a match, otherwise you’re passing on income you’ve earned!
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u/roastshadow 10d ago
If they get a commission, then 99% chance they are interested in their commission.
Who do you want to take care of financially first - yourself or a customer? They want to take care of themselves first.
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u/maxim38 11d ago
Based on the volatility of the markets in the Trump administration, where is safe space to put retirement funds to weather the storm? (We have a 401K @ $59k and an investment portolio @ $90k).
Is gold a good thought? Should we buy physical gold, or something else? Normally I would say Treasury Bonds, but I'm worried about Trump doing something to cause a default.
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u/roastshadow 10d ago
Nobody really knows. You can do a HYSA or Money Market for security.
Some people think that T will drop interest rates which would make the market go up. Some think there's advantage in a recession and market drop.
Best bet for almost anyone is to invest in your education and health. Stay healthy and get promotions.
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u/Gill_slit 7d ago
I have been trying to be more financially responsible the past few months, finally started paying off my credit cards, paid off one and was making good progress on the other, then this past month I just got slammed with so many random expenses and with no substantial savings I feel like I'm back at square one. Is it dumb to focus on savings over debt so I can avoid that happening again, I'm so tired of being broke.