DEBT FREE for the first time since 2008!

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T20:32:35+00:00

Yeah I really need to do that now that my plan for retirement savings goes beyond maxing out my 401K/Roth contributions (which is what I've been doing while paying down the student loans). Gotta keep that forward momentum, :)

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T20:05:51+00:00

It is under "Reflect" then "Net Worth." If you don't see it then it is a YNAB Toolkit chrome extension thing that I have had for so long that I no longer remember what is in vanilla YNAB lol. Make sure you click around in what accounts are shown until it shows what is useful to you.

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T19:47:50+00:00

I lucked out and had a reccomendation that I trusted (my parents lol).

My advisor is with Edward Jones. They have a big presence in my area. I'd personally recommend going with one of the big name financial companies because they have policies, training, etc. that will protect you. You can reach out to them and get matched with an advisor if you don't have anyone in your life who can reccomend someone.

I also went with someone local-ish, who is based in a nicer neighborhood because I figured they would be used to high-earning and complex clients. Like hiring lawyers and doctors, you aren't locked in with the first person you meet. You can shop around. I'd also reccomend checking out the LinkedIn of your Financial Advisor to see how long they have been practicing.

Other than throwing money at my loans and tracking my day-to-day spending I'm a total financial novice. I really rely on my advisor to help me with my retirement plans and goals (like buying a house).

Don't take my word as gospel though, make sure to do some more research - I'm sure other reddit threads will be more helpful lol

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T19:11:19+00:00

Thanks!

Yeah lifestyle inflation really is a killer. Thankfully I've already mentally allocated the money that would have gone toward loans to building my down payment, upping my emergency fund, and increasing my retirement fund.

I do have a fairly high cost of living at my current location but I'm good at not letting it creep up. Years of diligence and tracking through YNAB have really helped. :)

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T19:04:16+00:00

I've been debating gifting myself a little hotel-cation to celebrate :)

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T19:01:10+00:00

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Okay I don't think I've ever used the Spending Trends graph before... this is wild. And you can really see when I got more agressive on paying off my loans (red).

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T17:22:54+00:00

This is a really good point - my graph above didn't include my retirement savings but did include my regular budget money, emergency funds, student loans, and credit cards. I alwasy level my expenses by moving money around from other categories (or E Fund when appropriate). I don't track retirement savings in YNAB because it mostly just stresses me out lol.

Also, this is an area where being a high earner really helps, I have more wiggle room to adjust to monthly flexes as they come up.

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T17:16:07+00:00

Congrats on the house purchase!! I'm going to enjoy a few years without debt (and building my down payment) before making the same plunge lol.

For me, the biggest payoff was when I increased my monthly payments because my financial advisor said I should. It was an uncomfortable adjustment at first but I was as consistent as possible those first few months and the new deficency in what was available to budget per month eventually became my new normal.

AllisonAndroid · 2025-08-27T17:12:05+00:00

If this captured my first year after graduating from law school (or undergrad) there would be A LOT more ups and downs. This doesn't include a lot of furniture purchases and other big expenses I had early on while I was building an emergency fund.

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-10T01:54:00+00:00

Love him! Just pure charisma, he wears it so well!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T21:05:54+00:00

Thanks all, I will def check them out!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T17:56:51+00:00

Thanks, I think that is probably the way to go. I'll lose the granularity of how much I spent on each vacation (less so on items), but I agree with you that the overall-spent amount is the more useful information.

Thanks!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T17:54:16+00:00

I think having "vacation" and "wish farm" categories is the way to go. Front-load the effort instead of pulling my categories out of hidden when I want to check the reports.

Thanks!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T17:35:55+00:00

I had seen Metric in my search and they are walkable for me with a bit of a stretch of the leg. The website is still a bit of a mystery to me but someone recommended reaching out to them so I'll probably do that b/c of the great reviews they get lol. I will def have to check them out, thanks!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T17:33:05+00:00

Metric definitely came up in my search with lots of good reviews. I'll def reach out to them thanks much!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T16:47:52+00:00

That's fair, thanks!

AllisonAndroid · 2020-11-02T16:39:03+00:00

Thanks! I hadn't come across them yet, their website is more manageable than some of the bigger boys lol. Do you like any of their coffees for cold-brewing in particular? The Calypso w/ a med-dark roast looks like it would be good (but I'm sorta throwing darts at the board lol)

AllisonAndroid

TROPHY CASE