I feel the same way. Your heart is in the right place.

In a place like Houston, I am sure there are many hard-working people working two jobs just to get by. Just, in some cases, to keep a hotel room because they are otherwise homeless.

Sorry for being "intellectual"---but it's a social Darwinist rat race out there.

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Welcome to how paying compound interest works.

I agree that it’s getting ridiculous but in lieu of increased earnings, there’re still things you can do to remediate the concern.

First thing I’d recommend would be to create a budget so you can actually tell where your money goes each month. From there, it can clarify your thinking on spending decisions. Such as eating out less, maybe cancelling some streaming apps you don’t use often, going to the library instead of buying books, national parks instead of theme parks, buying generic instead of name brand, etc

If you have the money, max out 2022 in the next couple weeks (deadline is April 18). Then max out 2023 at some point after that.

Obviously sooner is better but if you don't have the cash flow, it doesn't matter.

I personally wouldn't do it based purely on financials. Every time you go to dealership or make a transaction there's a lot of financial 'friction'. The dealer has to make a profit so they sell at a bit higher and buy at a bit lower. And you have to pay for taxes, dealer fees, doc fees, pre purchase inspections, etc... If you add all of that up, it adds up.

From a purely financial perspective I make as few car transactions as possible. It's a different story if you just don't like your current car or whatever. But purely from dollars perspective I wouldn't

I mean I’m doing alright I guess. I work in data management but my earnings haven’t increased since 2019 so it’s starting to get to me. I can blame it on myself for not being more proactive about finding a higher paying job but that’s about to change. All this inflation is Lightning up a fire on my ass.

I just feel for the people who have families or people who are now barely getting by…

It's incredible how anachronistic the minimum wage is now!

In NY City, the minimum wage is more than twice the federal wage.

I know what you mean---all this inflation!

What sort of skills do you have now?

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There are some 5% CDs out there. And money market funds are yielding around 4.5%. I'm not sure how much T bills are earning these days, but it's probably right in between. I don't think you can get a better rate on cash right now (in the US).

>and I would be investing (in the IRA Roth at least) into FZROX, FSKAX

Pick 1 of these 2, they fill the same role, so there's no real benefit to holding both. Then pick an ex-US fund (FZILX or FTIHX would be my top 2 at Fidelity).

I was just talking through why the IRS allows an indirect rollover that ends up in the same IRA the money was originally removed from.

AFAIK, the coding of a "rollover deposit" vs. "contribution" is still important to the IRS, and is something that needs to get properly done on Merril's side. Each year, your IRA provider generate a Form 5498 to report all the contributions made into that IRA for a given tax year. There are separate boxes on that for "IRA contribution", "Rollover contributions", "Roth contribution", etc. If the money you're depositing now ends up included in the "IRA contribution" box for your 2023 5498, then things will get tricky. I'm not sure if that's something that can be retroactively corrected, either with the brokerage or how you report details on your tax return.

I'm also not familiar with Merril's processes, so can't really offer much help on how to get them to do what you want. Sounds like you're making progress, so all I can offer is wishing you good luck.

Def get a job with the Federal government. Veterans get preference in hiring, so you'll have a good chance of landing a job. Also, a lot of the jobs align with military careers. ADA will protect you for some cancer types (look into it).

As for retirement. I'm assuming you served 20 years and will be getting disability on top of that. So you'll be making 40%+ of your highest military pay. I think you'll be fine in terms of retirement (especially if you work).

Also, veterans get free schooling. So feel free to get a degree if you want it.

That still seems kinda low to me, no? Is there another type of savings account that could yield more results?

I'd be sure to read the comments on this thread on why not everything Collins wrote should be followed: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/r7hiaf/in_the_simple_path_to_wealth_by_jl_collins_he

Edit: Typo

You might be interested in r/MilitaryFinance.

I’d just leave it. The TSP has great basic investment options at an extremely low cost.

Most banks and credit unions offer very little return on CDs, money market, savings and checking. If they offer high yield like 3%+, look at the limitations and requirements. Those may be perfectly acceptable to you or not.

It's not a hard and fast rule, but I tend to look at it as banks/credit unions and financial institutions. The financial institution side is were you'll grow your money.

Due to it's low fees, the TSP is one of the most sought after retirement account vehicles. Leave that money there.

And low fees.

It’s actually just a high yields saving account. But I will check

Alternatively WAB is at 4.8% APY HYSA right now: https://www.savebetter.com/banks/western-alliance-bank/high-yield-savings-account

I would normally go with Ally, but they did just drop their No Penalty CD Rates.

How are you penalized -- what does it cost you? Unless you are going for a loan immediately, what does it actually cost you?

The purpose of promoting the use of credit cards is profit motive -- every swipe you make costs that merchant. In turn, they raise prices to recoup that cost so you pay more. You now have debt -- so if the credit company gets lucky, you don't pay your whole bill every month. (kudos to you, OP, for not being that debt slave). Beyond this, your utilization doesn't cost you anything. If you want to do the experiment, stop using the card for two months running. No credit charges. THEN apply for the loan you need (don't, I'm not pushing debt -- this is just a lame example).

You are right -- this is not a thing to be worried about as a young adult. You need to be far more worried about all the debt our generation left you. We were pissed that our parents were leaving us a lot of debt, and we've left you 10x more. Sorry about that.

You may find these links helpful:

• Retirement Accounts
• "How to handle $"

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Put it in whenever you have the money. Also the limit is $6500 for 2023.

As long as you max it out, how you like to do it is kinda irrelevant. I personally DCA in 540$ a month. Some people prefer to just get it done with in 1 go and that’s also completely fine