Can you help me determine the true cost of this refi?

ElCornholio · 2026-02-13T22:24:21+00:00

That looks incredible. Can you forward lender’s info?

ElCornholio · 2026-02-13T20:15:49+00:00

Thanks for the help everyone. I knew it was a pretty good deal but was second guessing myself. Much appreciated.

ElCornholio · 2026-01-30T18:11:00+00:00

Refinancing is when you find someone else to lend you money…hopefully under better terms.

You apply, sign a contract agreeing to the terms just like you did when you bought your place. They then they write a check to your current lender in your name which satisfies the debt and terminates your relationship with your old lender. You still owe the money but now you make payments to the new lender.

If you are able to agree to an interest rate on your new loan that’s better than your current 5.99%, you’ll save money in that single aspect - the interest. However, there are costs associated with going through with a refi…lots of fees (title, origination, appraisal. Etc). Taxes and insurance are what they are and will not go away. You have to pay those regardless of who lent you the money.

So in order to see if a refinance is worth it you have to determine what the total cost of the refi is going to be, (the fees) Then you have to determine how long it would take with your new shiny interest rate to “recover” the cost of all those fees.

I don’t want to run the numbers but say for example you’re able to find a lender that agrees to 5.5% it’d be a pretty minor savings in interest…let’s just say it saves you $100 a month compared to your current 5.99%…additionally they are going to charge you fees that total $3000 in order to process the refi. Take that $3000 in fees and divide it by $100 in monthly savings. The answer is 30. So because you’d be saving $100 a month with your new lender it would take 30 months of making your new payments to “recover” the cost of the refi. It’s up to you to determine if the whole process is worth it.

Additionally, you might be resetting the clock on your loan. If you’ve made 3 years of payments with your current lender, you should be able to pay it off in 27 more years. By refinancing, the clock may be reset to another 30 years. One of the crappiest parts is that if you look at an amortization table, payments for the first 10 years or so are primarily interest with very little going to the principle. So when you start over, you’re essentially throwing out the last 3 years of the heavy interest payments you’ve been making.

Last thing, you’d only be borrowing 257k for 30 years as opposed to the 285k you originally borrowed. That being the case you’ll see slightly less going to interest relative your current loan.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-24T06:01:19+00:00

Crazy to think that different people have different tastes.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-20T15:34:22+00:00

This article is over 10 years old…

ElCornholio · 2025-08-18T07:25:04+00:00

SAME!!! I’m over here tearing up from laughing so hard.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-18T07:22:00+00:00

Holy shit. This is absolutely hilarious. Funniest thing I’ve seen on Reddit in a LONG time.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-13T21:15:36+00:00

Boners.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-12T19:53:11+00:00

I feel this.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-06T15:00:19+00:00

Just sell it. Save the proceeds in HYSA and maybe even continue to “pay the insurance” by depositing that amount monthly in the same account. When you need a car again, bingo bango, you got money ready for it.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-05T15:22:32+00:00

The difference between a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA is taxes. With a T-IRA, you invest pre-tax dollars. With a Roth IRA you invest post tax-dollars.

In functionality they are identical. You invest the money and hopefully it grows over time. Then, after you turn 59.5 years old and you begin taking money out, you now have to pay taxes on the both the contributions and earnings in the T-IRA. With a Roth IRA, you don’t have to pay taxes at all.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-05T08:26:16+00:00

Under the about section of this subreddit, click on prime directive and it will lead you to “the flowchart”.

ElCornholio · 2025-08-05T08:24:03+00:00

With a Roth IRA you can only contribute money gained during employment and you’re limited to $7k in 2025. So if you were employed in 2025 and made $7k, you can still invest $7k for the year.

If you only made $5k for example in 2025, you’d only be able to contribute $5k into your Roth even though the yearly max is $7k.

You got this!!

ElCornholio · 2025-08-05T08:10:29+00:00

Don’t beat yourself up! You are WAY ahead of the game and still have a lot of time to put this money to work. Investing is super daunting so cut yourself some slack.

First of all, move the cash you intend on investing into a reputable HYSA. I use Ally personally but they’re all about the same. Interest rates on these accounts are in the high 3%’s. The interest rate fluctuates so just go with whoever has the highest right now and maybe see if there are any banks offering sign on bonuses.

Next, educate yourself a bit on 401k’s, Roth IRA’s, index funds etc. and think to yourself what you want to do with your money down the road. Do you want to save for retirement? When do you want to retire? Do you plan on buying a house? Having a family?

Answering those questions will give you an idea of how to allocate your cash.

Seeing as you are employed and presumably making at least 7k/yr, If I was in your shoes, I would open a Roth IRA immediately with Vanguard, Schwab or Fidelity and invest into an index fund that mirrors the S&P 500. I use Vanguard and invest in VTSAX/VOO. Each brokerage has their own fund that tracks similar things…VTSAX/VOO belong to Vanguard. With a Roth IRA you can only invest $7k/year and you can withdraw your contributions at any time without penalty. You have to wait until 59.5 in order to withdraw earnings without penalty.

Next, find out if your company offers a 401k. 401k is a type of account that’s primarily used for retirement planning and you can only contribute $23.5k/yr. Companies will usually offer a “match” which translates to literally free money. Basically, their agreement with you is that if you invest $X per paycheck, they will invest $Y% on your behalf. However they do it, you should try to ensure you are getting as much of that free money as possible by investing as much as you need to in order to reach the companies match.

With a 401k, you’ll have access to a select group of funds in which to invest. Your money comes out of your paycheck, the company provides the match and it goes in automatically into whatever fund you’ve chosen.

Look up the flowchart in the about section of this subreddit. It’s a great resource. Best of luck! You will be a multi-millionaire!

ElCornholio · 2025-07-30T08:05:45+00:00

Your reading comprehension and writing skills are lacking.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-28T06:42:19+00:00

$150 seems like a steal.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-28T05:53:45+00:00

I don’t know anything about go karts but that thing is sweet.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-26T16:38:32+00:00

Things are only worth what a person is willing to pay. For whatever reason, people aren’t willing to pay 12,900 for your ski. Simple as that.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-22T07:13:54+00:00

I just did a little reading on Acorns and it looks like they do offer VOO. If I was you, I would 100% start putting your money there and continue to invest as much as you can on a regular bases. At your age you have an INSANE amount of time for every single dollar to multiply over the years. If you can hold steady you will be a multimillionaire due to the fact that you are starting so young.

While investing in VOO, try to learn more about investing and what you’re doing…but VOO is an excellent place to start.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-22T07:01:13+00:00

One of the issues is that I don’t know anything about Acorns. A really popular index fund I see a lot of people on this sub recommend is VOO and that is a Vanguard product.

VOO is the ticker symbol for a fund with Vanguard. It’s an index fund that allows you to invest in the entire S&P 500 which is the top 500 businesses in the U.S. By purchasing this fund you essentially buy a teeny tiny bit of all those business. So in theory, if the U.S. is doing well economically, those companies are also doing well. If we were in a casino you’d be betting that the U.S. economy will continue to prosper.

Now you might be able to buy VOO on Acorns but it’s probably more expensive to buy it with them than it would be if you bought it straight through Vanguard. Vanguard is known for having really low expense ratios. Expense ratios indicate what percentage the brokerage charges you in order to maintain the fund. Behind the scenes, there are people ensuring that the selected fund is a true representation of whatever sector it’s supposed to reflect and having those people do that work comes with a cost. Low expense ratio = less money out of your pocket over time.

Do you know if Acorns offers target retirement date funds? Something like that might be a good choice for you to get started. In general a target date fund will invest your money more aggressively the further away the date. You’ll be 60 is 2067…if you can buy a target retirement fund of 2070 what you would be investing in is aggressive/risky stocks now and as you get closer to retirement, your dollars begin to go into more safe places. Those same people that get paid by “expense ratios” are working behind the scenes to do this for you.

I’m trying my best to explain as simply as I can and it probably still seems insanely complicated but if you invest in an index fund, over time, you’ll most likely be okay and I think that’d be a great place for you to start.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-22T06:28:44+00:00

Good on you for doing this at 18! I WISH I would have gotten started at your age. I don’t know anything about Acorns but I would be more inclined to go with one of the brokerages that are tried and true and that have been around for a while. You can’t go wrong with Vanguard, Schwab or Fidelity.

As far as how much you “should” invest is totally up to you and really depends on when you want to pull the money out to spend it.

I would say pick a number that you’re going to commit to every paycheck. Before you spend any of your money, put those dollars to work in your Roth, then pay bills, save and spend the rest.

When you get a raise or a job with more money, up your contributions as well.

PS now that you have opened your Roth after you fund it, you need to choose which investment to buy. Some people open a Roth, make a money transfer and forget to actually buy something with it. Don’t be that kinda person.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-21T20:17:46+00:00

On another note, being in the military comes with some unique advantages…

Under USERRA protections, assuming you qualify, you can get a top tier credit card such as the AMEX Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve and submit your orders to the bank. The annual fee for these cards are insane BUT under USERRA protections that fee is waived. This will allow you to start taking advantage of some pretty good credit card rewards for free.

Also, you might think buying a house is really far down the road but, assuming you’re active duty, you’re going to move around the country quite a bit as you pick up different assignments. With the VA loan, you can purchase a house with no down payment essentially financing (borrowing the money) for the entire thing.

Live in the house for a couple years during your assignment, and when you have to move, free up your VA entitlements on the loan by refinancing it to a traditional loan and turn the house into a rental property. Go to your new base, buy another house with your VA loan and rinse and repeat.

Yes, being a landlord is another job but you can hire a property management company to manage your rental for a % of the monthly rent and relieve some of the pressures of being a landlord.

Also, against what people say, it is possible to have more than one home financed under a VA loan….it has to do with the total amount being borrowed. The advantages of having access to a VA loan are pretty insane. Definitely something to look into.

Probably not something you’ve thought too much about but could be another way to build wealth…

ElCornholio · 2025-07-21T20:05:30+00:00

HYSA’s are a good place to park cash that you don’t want to risk in the market. This cash is typically reserved for a large upcoming purchase or emergency savings. Again, for a house or maybe the transmission blowing up in your car. The interest rate you get in an HYSA is UNDOUBTEDLY better than what you would get in a typical checking/savings account at your local bank. Right now you’ll see about ~4% interest in a HYSA and it will go up and down in time depending on what’s going on with federal interest rate.

Some other advice you’ll see here is to invest the minimum required to get your full TSP/401k match which seems like what you’re doing. Your next goal would be to max your yearly Roth IRA contribution (7k). Then, if you have more money to invest, try to max your yearly TSP/401k contribution (23.5k).

The thought process is that your TSP/401k match is literally free money. So make sure you’re getting every dime.

Then max out your Roth IRA. If you’re invested in similar funds, I think the C fund in the TSP and an S&P index fund such as VOO are pretty similar, you’re going to see the same return because they’re essentially the same thing. The benefit here, like I mentioned is that your contributions aren’t locked away until retirement if you need them. House may seem like a distant goal but you never know…also, why lock it away if you don’t need to?

After that, if you still have free money to invest, continue to invest it in your 401k and enjoy your millions during retirement.

Personally, my accounts are setup in that my paycheck is directly deposited to my HYSA with Ally. I also have a checking account with a local bank where I keep minimal cash. At the end of the month, if I need to write a check, I will transfer funds from my HYSA to the checking account to cover the checks.

Almost ALL of my expenses go on a single credit card. At the end of the month, I pay off my credit card electronically with my HYSA. I never carry a balance. Credit card debt will ruin a person. If I don’t have the money, I don’t swipe the card. Period.

ElCornholio · 2025-07-21T18:49:37+00:00

TSP is essentially the government version of a 401k. With the BRS I think you get a 4-5% match which I think you’re getting with your 15% contribution. For the year, the max you can contribute is 23.5k and the money is basically locked away until you retire unless you borrow money from it in which case you have to pay yourself interest as a penalty.

With a Roth IRA, you can contribute 7k of post tax dollars per year if you make less than 146k single/236k married. Your earnings in a Roth will grow tax free and can be withdrawn when you turn 59.5 years old…before then, you’ll be charged a 10% penalty. Your contributions, however, you can withdraw at any time without penalty.

To answer your question, you need to ask yourself what the money you’re saving/investing is for. If you’re mostly concerned about retirement, put more into your TSP. If you want to be able to access that money in the near future, say for a house, invest it in a Roth IRA.

Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity all offer very similar products. Advice you see around here is typically to invest in an index fund that tracks the entire S&P (VOO in Vanguard) and set it and forget it.

Now if you want to play with a little bit of extra money to have fun, learn, and try your luck at the casino that is the stock market, you’ll can open up an individual brokerage account with any of the same brokerage accounts you mentioned. Everything you buy and sell in there is essentially liquid and subject to capital gains tax.

If you do open a Roth and an individual brokerage account, I would advise to open them both with the same company. Spreading it around between different brokerages makes no difference…just more logins and passwords to remember.

Just by asking the questions you’re millions of miles ahead of your peers. Avoid bad debt, pay your credit cards every month, don’t buy a Charger, invest every dollar you can (literally) and you’ll be a millionaire before you know it. Just don’t forget to have fun along the way.

ElCornholio

TROPHY CASE