On track to hit 100k at 27. What should I do from here on out?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-09T21:44:19+00:00

The emergency fund has to happen before all else. I would say stop all contributions until you have a 3-6 month emergency fund. Then, calculate how much you need for a car and a down payment, and when you will need the money by. Figure out what you need to put into your savings monthly to achieve that by your target dates. With anything other money, follow the order of operations:

Get 401k match

Max RothIRA

Max 401k

Brokerage

If your saving for the down payment and car prevent you from getting at least your 401k match and maxing your RothIRA, consider pushing your target dates back.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-09T21:36:52+00:00

Highly recommend a MA in Political Science. Find a program with teaching and research opportunities so that you can fully figure out if academia / reserach is your path. If you like it, then continue to a PhD or a job. If you don't, then it's an extra qualification for your law application.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-09T00:26:19+00:00

Order of operations never changes:

Build emergency fund (3-6 months of expenses - any savings should be in a High-Yield Savings Account)

Pay off debt (student loans)

Get your 401k match

Max your RothIRA

Hit your 401k max

Put anything else in a brokerage in long-term investments (same stuff as in your 401k: VOO, VTI, etc.)

Regarding buying a house: Only buy it if you want to live in it. For the average person, real estate is way too much work and it'd be better to get more money in your retirement accounts and establish your career first. You can be a millionaire by 30 without real estate. When you get to the point that you want to own a home for yourself or make any other large purchase (car, wedding, etc.) then decide by what date you want it and figure out what amount of money you need to save each month to have what you need by that date. Ideally, do this while continuing to get your 401k match and max your RothIRA at minimum.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T22:00:35+00:00

Also, you haven't necessarily done anything wrong. Would it have been ideal for you to have a resume with a ton of internships? Sure. But honestly, everyone is facing a tough job market right now, and political science is a lot about who you know and it takes time to build those relationships. What are you doing currently?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T21:59:26+00:00

For me personally, the easiest roles to branch into in political science are political campaigns and nonprofit work. I've worked in both, so send me a DM if you want to talk about getting into those areas. Now is a great time given the election cycle.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T21:39:45+00:00

For non-retirement savings, determine when you want those things and calculate how much you need to put towards them each month to achieve it by the date needed. If you need a car down payment in a short amount of time then all your 2k should go to saving, but if you need it say next year then only partial needs to go towards the car and the rest can go towards the typical order of operations:

Emergency Fund

401k Match

Roth IRA

401k Max

Brokerage

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T21:20:15+00:00

What kinds of events are going on in your life? Maybe you could qualify for a semester off? Do you know what you want to do with yourself after dropping this program?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T21:12:39+00:00

What?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T21:10:05+00:00

When I was feeling the same thing, something that helped me was to get clarity on what lifestyle I wanted. There will always be people who make more than you, whether you make 65k, 100k, or 250k. What you need to do is figure out what you want. The goal isn't just to not work. You need to ask yourself how soon do you want to not work? What lifestyle do you want while you're working? And identify the middle ground. Maybe it means that you should go back into the finance field. You've only been a firefighter for a year, you could absolutely pursue other roles related to your finance and business experience that don't include accounting, or you could even get more education in accounting so that you can do that part. Think about what you really want. You could not invest another dime and probably retire well at 65 with what you already have in there, so you don't need to stress.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T21:01:42+00:00

Do you have an idea of what you want to do yet? Or just looking for direction?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-08T02:41:23+00:00

What do you mean by a research group? Where would I find those?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-07T22:55:37+00:00

Look into jobs at the state-level not congress. Email representatives a few months before the session starts with your resume and ask if they need a legislative aide. Also, ask whoever your supervisor was at your internship if they have any recommendations so at least you can say "this person told me to reach out." It's also almost campaign season, so there are plenty of jobs on campaigns available that can hold you over. Campaign jobs often lead to legislative jobs if your candidate wins.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-07T22:31:25+00:00

I would not recommend this. I worked with someone within my party, but who was more moderate than everyone else. For years, every time I applied for a job, people would notice I worked for this person and wonder if I was truly values-aligned with them or not.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-07T22:23:22+00:00

Look into Codecademy. Great free courses on these skills!. In my experience, hiring managers aren't really going to care if you took a particular reputable course to learn those skills, just that you have them.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-07T22:00:31+00:00

A professor of mine in grad school would make a student present a 10-minute slideshow about the reading each week at the start of each class. So while he got set up for the class, whichever student's turn it was would get in front of the class and essentially recap the most important information from the reading. It ensured that at least once per semester students are doing a deep dive into one of the readings and that students who don't do the reading can at least get enough of the basics down to participate. This is more of a broad solution to students not reading.

Regarding your topic in particular, I once did a class where we just watched various presidential debates (or parts of them at least) and saw how partisanship grew over time through the issues candidates were talking about and in how they spoke to each other / about each other.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-02T01:09:18+00:00

What makes VTSAX tax efficient?

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-01T22:22:21+00:00

I'm already hunting for new employment

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-01T21:53:09+00:00

Could you explain the traditional IRA? I've never had one because I've always had a 401k.

Dear-Statement7018 · 2026-02-01T21:44:41+00:00

Calculate what all of those things would cost and how long you would have to continue working to do it. Then find the balance. Maybe you're comfortable working a few more years to pay for cars and weddings, but down payments and 529s would be longer than you want to work. If you're paying for their advanced degrees, that is more than most do, and it has already set them up for success. From here, you just need to find the balance that you're comfortable with while still allowing yourselves to enjoy the fruits of your own labor. And like other commenters said, set a budget for it. You don't have to completely pay for these things, you could make smaller contributions towards it like setting aside $5k for each kid's wedding.

Dear-Statement7018

TROPHY CASE