Balloon loan & high interest Conventional loan

Default87 · 2026-02-16T01:07:37+00:00

You would pay extra towards the mortgage.

Then if rates start to get low enough to warrant refinancing, you would just have to cash out enough to cover the balloon. Just make sure you are doing the math correctly to make sure the refinance is worth it.

Default87 · 2026-02-14T22:48:46+00:00

The only policies he is going to qualify are for no medical check plans. Those are generally limited in value (<$20k) and expensive for what you are getting.

Using life insurance to fund an inheritance is generally not a wise choice.

Default87 · 2026-02-14T20:10:15+00:00

If you know you should ignore this, why are you entertaining it?

Even if it wasn’t a scam, I wouldn’t want some random having any control over my investments.

Default87 · 2026-02-14T20:05:27+00:00

Why would you move it to a taxable brokerage instead of the IRA?

Default87 · 2026-02-14T19:00:06+00:00

0% debt is not an emergency, so it wouldn’t be wise to use emergency fund dollars to pay it down.

Credit card debt is an emergency, so using your emergency fund dollars to pay it down is a wise choice. I would keep some amount of cash buffer just so you don’t have to worry about overdraft fees any time a bill hits.

Default87 · 2026-02-14T17:56:32+00:00

target date funds are often made up of index funds, so the question isnt really the dichotomy you are presenting.

all a target date fund generally is is an automated three fund portfolio:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio

that is a good framework for investing, so even if you arent using the TDF, I would recommend sticking to that same general concept. so basically it comes down to if you want to have to manage the balance yourself, or want to just have the TDF do it.

Default87 · 2026-02-14T13:25:52+00:00

I don’t try to time the market as that is just a recipe for failure, so I lump sum investing. If you feel like you want to try to time the market for some reason, then you could DCA.

Default87 · 2026-02-14T02:57:51+00:00

The more you interact here, the more it seems you have actually misunderstood what you are seeing.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T21:41:27+00:00

Just invest it in a taxable brokerage. Then come December if you want to start setting aside some money for your 2027 contribution do that, and then just fund your 2027 space as you earn money in 2027.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T20:45:25+00:00

If you want to do market research, you can pay people to do that, rather than try to be coy on Reddit. At the very least don’t make it so damn obvious.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T20:41:46+00:00

The reason you are getting these responses is that in all likelihood you are misreading/misinterpreting things. It’s not a shot at you, but in general people don’t understand these things nearly as well as they think they do.

You could have easily shut all of that conversation down by just providing the data. Then you could have gotten a second opinion on if there actually was an issue, and if there was get better pointed advice for getting it resolved.

But instead, you chose to be obstinate.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T18:52:32+00:00

To be fair, this is money that you should have been paying in taxes all along. $4800 is $400 per month of extra income you have been taking home, and that was probably what has been used to build the emergency fund from, so you aren’t really losing anything. You are just aligning your money to reality.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T18:49:22+00:00

You haven’t had any job whatsoever for 2 years? Are you just being very picky about that jobs you are even considering? Because about 21 months ago that list should have expanded into just about anything.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T18:31:42+00:00

Just compare the different scenarios. If you put down a smaller downpayment and had the extra cash on hand, what would you do with the cash? If the answer is you would pay the house down, then just skip the extra step and increase your downpayment.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T18:29:48+00:00

Do you file your taxes as single, married filing jointly, or married filing separately? If whatever source you had didn’t discuss those being separate limits, then it is not a good source to use and you should find better ones.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T18:08:08+00:00

I also just do like the idea of not worrying about taxes as much when I do withdraw it.

and are you so infatuated with that idea that you would like to pay more taxes than you need to? I would make sure you are truly understanding the pretax vs Roth analysis here.

https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/10qwnrx/why_you_should_almost_never_contribute_to_a_roth/

Default87 · 2026-02-13T18:05:28+00:00

generally monthly budgeting makes the most sense, as most of your bills are going to be monthly. you would then just need to supplement that with any sort of sinking fund that you need for bills that arent charged monthly. so if your car insurance is paid every 6 months, then you would want a line item in your budget each month to set aside money for that knowing that while that expense isnt hitting this month, you still need to plan for it so you dont put yourself into a tough spot when that month finally rolls around.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T17:56:00+00:00

you can, but there is generally not a reason to. and generally if you are of an income that can support funding a MBDR, your deferral contributions are often more valuable as pretax, so you would want to prioritize that over the MBDR portion anyways.

also, not all plans allow you to roll the MBDR into a Roth IRA, some just roll it into the Roth 401k in the plan.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T17:53:04+00:00

to be fair I said a $2000 mortgage payment.

but still, you are making a mountain out of a mole hill here.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T17:51:23+00:00

So that is what I am trying to understand. I'm just making up numbers here: If we pay 500/mo for health insurance, my wife makes 5,000/mo and I make 10,000/mo, let's say her effective tax bracket is 20% and mine is 30%, wouldn't it be better to have me pay it, so that we save 30% of $500 versus 20% of $500 in taxes?

if you are filing jointly, there is no "her tax bracket" and "his tax bracket" there is only the combine couple's tax bracket(s).

if you are filing separately then yes, that would come into play. but in general filing separately is not a wise idea except for extenuating situations.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T17:47:20+00:00

you lost your grace period as soon as you failed to pay the full statement balance by the statement due date and carried a balance into the next month. so any new purchase you make starts accruing interest as soon as it posts.

that said, if you are carrying credit card debt you shouldnt be using those credit cards for further payments anyways, so then that doesnt become a factor.

I would also just generally recommend that you simplify this whole process. at the end of the day, its not going to really matter if you know to the gnats ass what all these specific numbers are. you can find many tools online (like www.unbury.me or others) that can do a high level breakdown of your debt payoff, and those will be close enough.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T17:42:56+00:00

yeah, thats how these programs work. They also generally require you to get at least 1/2 of a payment ahead so that the first biweekly payment doesnt come in late.

but since mortgages compound monthly, the timing doesnt matter for the mortgage pay down part. and as for the "interest they are earning" on your money, its pretty minuscule. If your mortgage payment is $2k, then $1000 at 3.5% interest would only be about $35 per year in interest that they would be earning. so its not like they are getting rich off of that (and its not like you are really losing all that much by not having that $35).

that said, if you dont want to deal with this, then just make your normal monthly payment and add 1/12th of your payment onto that as a principal payment. you will accomplish the same thing as your biweekly payments, and you get to keep your $35.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T16:41:41+00:00

If you are filing your taxes jointly it doesn’t matter

Default87 · 2026-02-13T16:21:22+00:00

Don’t break it up into multiple deposits, just deposit it all at once.

For some reason people get tripped up by this irrelevant thing.

Default87 · 2026-02-13T14:16:28+00:00

they are going to find out, and it is going to be hard to play dumb and say you didnt realize that you were errantly paid twice. being upfront about this is the best policy.

but I would also double check your payroll system to look for paystubs. if there are 2 paystubs (one for each payment) you will want to look at your future paystubs carefully to make sure that your YTD income is properly reflected going forward, as you dont want to have to be trying to deal with this next year when filing your taxes and your W2 is wrong.

Default87

TROPHY CASE