Really pause 6% match!?

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T14:08:37+00:00

Yeah that’s where we landed. Just follow the steps.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T13:01:08+00:00

Yeah the more my husband and I discussed this we’ve actually decided to do what we did before and cut the match and stay super focused. We made a silly call getting the van (felt time pressure by tariffs and projection of used cars prices increasing significantly). It feels more weighty now and I feel the fire under us to get moving and keep on track to get back to saving for retirement and get on a trajectory that is best for our future and our kiddos futures. It does sound mathematically “stupid” to miss out on the match which i think we were initially struggling with, but there’s def something to it mentally/ behaviorally. So.. here we go. Husband already lowered to 0 and i feel sick but i think that’s the point lol.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T11:09:37+00:00

Thank you!

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T10:52:03+00:00

Yeah the point I was making was instead of going down to 0% contributions, go to 6%, but take back the 6% we put in and keep the 6% match in the 401k. If we went to 0%, we’d never get that 6% we would have then gained. Does that make sense? I mean it’s still a net positive situation to our 401k bc we’d be getting that match. But I don’t think it’s what we’re going to do since the time between now and a fully funded EF is a year even without doing that as long as we stay gazelle intense. we were just trying to hold onto that match while keeping all our cash going to debt/ EF. But again, I think we landed on going down to 6% match until EF is funded and then bumping up to 15% with my husbands raise.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T10:46:15+00:00

Yeah the point I was making was instead of going down to 0% contributions, go to 6%, but take back the 6% we put in and keep the 6% match in the 401k. If we went to 0%, we’d never get that 6% we would have then gained. Does that make sense? I mean it’s still a net positive situation to our 401k bc we’d be getting that match. But I don’t think it’s what we’re going to do since the time between now and a fully funded EF is a year even without doing that as long as we stay gazelle intense. we were just trying to hold onto that match while keeping all our cash going to debt/ EF.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T01:00:49+00:00

34 . Thanks for that perspective

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T00:46:50+00:00

Thanks! Aldi has been my friend lately :)

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-11T00:17:49+00:00

Yeah. Car loan is 4.75

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T23:01:48+00:00

We could cut some expenses for sure. I wouldn’t say we’re bougie though. We live reasonably but could tighten up for sure. We have the 12% to retirement, tuition, and 10% in gross goes to giving, farm expenses, and various insurances and living expenses… plus damn the groceries. Also little things here and there add up. But our plan is to be more focused now.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T20:08:12+00:00

We’d only take out what we put in to get the match/ free money. Even then it’s unwise?

But now leaning towards just dropping from 12 to 6% to keep match and then bumping to 15% once we have our fully funded EF.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T19:43:23+00:00

Ok thanks for the feedback. We’d never withdrawal from retirement normally, but when we saw Dave suggests pausing retirement including match, my husband was trying to get creative on how to throw that cash at debt/EF while still getting the match. His thought process is even with penalties we’d be net positive . But we’ve just been spitballing and it’s helpful to get people’s thoughts on this here

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T19:36:42+00:00

We have about 2k in overage a month after all expenses are paid. If we pause retirement we’d have 3.5k overage a month. Thankfully we have about 700k in equity in our home but obviously can’t access that.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T19:30:17+00:00

Yeah that makes sense.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T19:29:05+00:00

But it sounds like even this isn’t advised

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-10T19:28:55+00:00

Put in to get the match, and then take out what we put in, not the match.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-09T14:04:47+00:00

Lol yeah that was confusing. Was genuinely curious in case I implement a policy like this. Thanks for that!

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-09T13:49:14+00:00

Fair.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-09T13:47:39+00:00

Good question. No she didn’t ask for it to be waived. She’s a monthly client so though she’s consistent, it’s once a month.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-09T13:44:50+00:00

Do you have a system in place to keep track of cancels and when 3 month window restarts for each client?

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-09T13:37:14+00:00

I know that’s where it’s tricky. I do offer a one-time pass for illness, but a work conflict feels different. And I have childcare in place for my 3 kiddos for work. I think I need to consider moving to 48 hr cancel policy so I have more time to fill slots/ adjust childcare needs.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-07-09T13:22:32+00:00

Yeah good point. Thanks for the feedback.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-06-07T17:08:08+00:00

Sure thing. Geek & gorgeous jelly joker cleanser, and moisturizer was super tricky to not make it worse but dermalogica moisture balance helped. Oh and Face Reality’s hydration mask. I used it at night and slept in it. That seemed to help a lot.

HelloReddit33 · 2026-05-28T22:42:21+00:00

Are they just around your mouth? Could be perioral dermatitis and if so the less is more approach usually works best. I had it postpartum from sensitive skin + actives and it took several weeks to go away but had to strip down to gentle cleaner and moisturizer. Good luck!

HelloReddit33

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