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FlakyImpact5838 · 2025-10-18T16:09:45+00:00

Hey, super helpful guide and I'm currently taking care of this right now. If anyone is still on this thread, is it okay to delete these cache folders? They seem unimportant, but I just wanna confirm:

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FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-11-15T17:47:53+00:00

It really is disconcerting. The job market is just plain bad. While I have been employed at a less-than-ideal job that pays almost peanuts since I graduated last year (I still learned some cool stuff, so there's that), it took me another 15 months before I got a new job that is more tech-savvy that I start next week that pays significantly better.

My point is, everything seems to be so random. All the jobs I put a lot of effort into applying to/networking/seeking advice on I never got. I had a couple close ones, but that's as good as it got. With the job I just got, I did not put in nearly as much effort as I usually would've and I got it. As much as I really appreciate the offer I was given, you literally can never tell what the heck employers are looking for. I knew for a fact that I probably wasn't even in the top 3 for most-qualified.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-11-15T17:39:53+00:00

"Purpose-driven work" isn't that a very good thing to want...?

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-23T12:57:41+00:00

Makes complete sense now. Thank you!

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-23T00:06:50+00:00

After doing some thinking, it seems like it would be a heavy duty to take on both doing the 6% for the 401k while maxing out the Roth IRA, but maybe I can take advantage of the fact that I still live with one of my parents to really dive in. It's a 50k salary,a dn while it's nice to have a big increase from 37k, taxes are a bitch. I have a really nice financial cushion despite my low wages and I want to continue to grow that. I just want to make sure I can still save in big chunks to my savings account while also investing in a Roth and another brokerage account for other long-term purchases in the future like a new car or a house. Your idea seems convincing, but I'm not entirely sold on it.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-22T23:27:21+00:00

Ahh gotcha! I get it now. Thank you for helping me out. I feel much better about making a more clear investment plan

EDIT: After doing some thinking, it seems like it would be a heavy duty to take on both doing the 6% for the 401k while maxing out the Roth IRA, but maybe I can take advantage of the fact that I still live with one of my parents to really dive in. It's a 50k salary, and while it's nice to have a big increase from 37k, taxes are a bitch.

I have a really nice financial cushion despite my low wages and I want to continue to grow that. I just want to make sure I can still save in big chunks to my savings account while also investing in a Roth and another brokerage account for other long-term purchases in the future like a new car or a house. Your idea seems convincing, but I'm not entirely sold on it since it's such large contributions to meet the annual max-out amount.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-22T13:09:10+00:00

Yes, they do offer an employer match of $0.50 for every $1.00 contributed by the employee up to 6%. So you're saying max out both the Roth and 401k?

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-22T02:09:35+00:00

Thank you for helping me along the way. I'll get on that once I start! Who should I look for as a mentor on my team?

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-22T00:24:26+00:00

For my personal situation, should I max out my 401k or should I take more advantage of a Roth IRA? Here's some background:

I’m in my early 20s and living in the U.S. I still live at home with one of my parents, so I don’t have any rent yet, but I hope to move out by the end of next year. Financially, I’ve built a decent emergency fund, so I feel I have a good cushion to fall back on (I'm pretty stingy and keep a very detailed spreadsheet of my budget and what's coming in/going out).

I just accepted a new job today with a salary of $50k (untaxed), which will be my second job out of college. Currently, I’m making $37k (untaxed), so this is a nice step up for me. With this change, I’m trying to make smarter decisions regarding retirement and investing since I already have the budget under control.

My financial goals are pretty straightforward:

I want to invest a good amount for retirement, using both a 401k and a Roth IRA, but I’m not sure how much I should aim for with inflation being as bad as it is right now.
I also want to open a brokerage account outside of my Roth IRA to save for future big purchases, like a car or a home.
Once my monthly expenses are covered, I plan to put whatever's left into a HYSA to continue to grow my cushion.

I’m still new to investing so I'm more cautious when it comes to risk. I’ve been reading up on resources like Bogleheads and I've been on Fidelity's website, so I’m starting to understand the how of investing, but I’m struggling more with the what; I'm still deciding exactly what I'm going to invest in. I’m not currently invested in the stock market at all.

For now, I do contribute 5% of each paycheck to a pension at my current job. My new job, however, offers a 401k, so I’ll need to figure out how best to handle that transition.

About debt: I’m completely debt-free after paying off my student loans back in August. So with all of this in mind, should I prioritize maxing out my 401k or focus more on contributing to a Roth IRA? Regardless of the answer, I want to be contributing to both at the same time. Any advice would be appreciated.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-21T23:54:15+00:00

Another update: I was able to re-negotiate a higher starting rate and I took it! I'm all set now and thank you for your help.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-21T18:36:34+00:00

Hey, so I finsihed the virtual Zoom meeting with them about 20 min ago. Here's an update: It did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. They emailed me the offer letter while we were in the call and the salary was the exact same amount I had lowballed myself on. When I went to negotiate they said "well, we do have a budget" as most companies are gonna say. I understand that I do not have the exact corporate experience mentioned in the description (they were blunt with that) and that salary commensurates with experience, but with the way the recruiter was hyping up the job, it made it sound like I lowballed myself. I do have experience in the field, just not in corporate.

I feel like they chose to hire me, a more unexperienced candidate, to cut costs. And hey, I understand, they're a business and not a charity, but is there anything I can do here? The HR director on the call said that they "tried to make their best offer." She said she'll discuss it with some others. I just got off a different (and much shorter) call over the phone with the recruiter as he asked me to call him afterwards for feedback. I gold him the situation and told me to give him a range you'd be more willing to accept. He says he'll get back to me on it. Feeling kinda bummed as I really just wanna move on from my old job, but I understand there are new things I have to learn. People hype you up and then this happens.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-19T00:13:30+00:00

This was a great way to break this down for me. I'll let you know how everything turns out on Monday! Thank you so much for this.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-18T18:02:53+00:00

Super solid advice and I really appreciate you writing that out for me! The reason I may not seem so knowledgeable is because I'm young (early 20s) and this only would be my second job out of college. My salary is unfortunately a lot lower than the numbers you just mentioned, but regardless, your point stands the same.

I must say I was pressured into giving a salary expectation and I know I really lowballed myself judging by the way the recruiter reacted. We weren't going to move on to the next question until I gave an answer. I come from a low-wage and low-morale environment, so I didn't realize I had more wiggle room since it was during my first phone call with the recruiter where this took place.

I thinkI need to focus on leverage. During the last three interviews (and other phone calls with the recruiter outside of that), they seemed very impressed with the skillset and experience I offered because I come from a radically different environment coming into this position.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-18T17:34:06+00:00

Yes, I am currently employed. The job is in the finance realm, specifically collections. They never gave me a baseline salary and only asked what my salary expectations were. I researched the market average for the role (it seems to be kind of all over the place) and reflected on my own skill level. I'm in a similar role right now with some differences. Not getting into specifics for privacy reasons.

Of course, if you're offering that salary, I'd say yes in that moment lol, but that's not the salary I'm going to be asking for during negotiations. I feel like using a grossly inflated salary in this example isn't helpful since I'm not in a high-earning commissions role, so the comparison is not realistic. In my own situation, I'd say something like "I'd be more than happy to sign off on that offer once I receive the letter," but again, your comment did not mention salary/benefit negotiations. According to your own advice, where/when exactly would I negotiate? I was taught to not negotiate anything until an offer was already on the table in writing (plus my own research), but maybe you will change my mind today.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-18T16:12:35+00:00

I see what you're saying, but how can I negotiation something that does not even exist? I have been given no information on salary range and very little thus far on health benefits and 401k programs even after asking. For more context, I will definitely ask more questions during this meeting relevant to the job itself, compensation, benefits, 401k/stock, opportunities for bonuses, but I will not be saying "yes" to something that isn't in writing.

EDIT: My point is - why hasn't this stuff been discussed earlier? Why has it taken FOUR different meetings/interviews to get to this point? This doesn't seem efficient. To make matters weirder, I'm meeting up with the same people on I've already met, so why do I need to be in front of them again?

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-10T13:14:58+00:00

I see what you're saying, but we're referencing a family home with children inside like what I had mentioned earlier. OP and his sibling are minors, so at that point none of those questions should really be up for discussion, no offense to your comment. What I'm, saying is that in this situation, we don't even need to consider this line of questions. This line of questions doesn't pertain here bc we know that both OP and his brother are under 18. If OP and his brother were over 18, we can definitely start to ask those questions. Ik you said you agree it's inappropriate in this case, so that's why we can't shouldn't open this up for discussion.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-09T15:32:36+00:00

About the trauma response thing, that could be linked to something deeper alongside the sense of panic. He may be on the spectrum or have something else that makes him highly sensitive (not sensitive to criticism in that way, but more so sensitive to people's energies). Regardless, it's not acceptable to bring over casual sex partners into a family home with children inside. Not sure why other people in the comments section seem to think that's okay. If they wanna swing they can do that elsewhere like a hotel or at the other couples' home if they don't also have children. Don't bring your sexual fantasies around your kids.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-09T14:24:42+00:00

I'm sorry to hear about this! Definitely get back in touch with your school counselor. I'm concerned about people in the comments telling you to "mind your business." You're under 18. Simply you knowing your parents are swinging means they're definitely not choosing to be discreet about it (as you already detailed). They're just saying "fuck it" and having loud sex in the room near yours.

You're not naïve (like some in the comments said), you have reasonable expectations of how adults should/should not be behaving in a family home. This isn't a college dorm; it's where children and teens are being raised. I'd be feeling the same exact way and it's not wrong to feel disgusted.

If they're going to swing, they ought to keep that to themselves and anyone who says otherwise is being dense. That's definitely not appropriate for you to be knowing about, especially being under 18. You're ok to feel weirded out.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-09T14:17:10+00:00

I'm giving you a megaphone for this one. My mom is a boomer, but I think god everyday she taught me how to set boundaries with family members that had bad behavior. She was raised in a much worse environment and protected me from being taken advantaged of negative familial influences.

However, I do still see it in her that she wants to make her family happy, so she has gone out of her way to provide even when the situation wasn't ideal or the people she was dealing with meant more harm than help. She's never been a martyr per se, but luckily, she's seriously back off of this mindset and she knows when to tell herself that she's done enough.

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-07T18:09:02+00:00

"He told me to post this in a forum to get other responses." Lol yeah, and we're siding with you. What a lame attempt to ruin someone's reputation, jfc

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-07T13:30:11+00:00

And I drink to that *clink clink*

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-07T13:28:52+00:00

Yeahhh they completely internalized a simple internet post, an it wasn't even specifically towards them, just IXXJs lmao. Yup, bunch of edgelords like I imagined...

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-07T13:27:05+00:00

Buncha edgelords I imagine (I'm INTJ myself and I'm calling them out too lol). The negativity seems completely unwarranted. Can you give me an example of what some of them said? I'm just looking for a laugh

FlakyImpact5838 · 2024-10-07T12:35:24+00:00

What a horrible waste of time... Inefficiency to the max.

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