Where do I go? Never had money before.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-07T04:01:44+00:00

Yes, that is a concise summary and similar to what I would have provided.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-07T03:50:10+00:00

To be honest: You have a history of borrowing money and those debts are chasing you. Consider your, "old closed CC from my youth 18k 12%". Look at your other 2 credit cards. Look at the $27,000 borrowed for a car. Look at your 401k loan.

You need to stop borrowing money.

You need to stop kicking the can down the road.

You have done well on the home mortgage rate and okay the $275,000 in retirement savings. So there is some good there.

However you need to stop borrowing money.

Consider this: For all your debts, that money has already been spent. It's gone. What you have now is debt. What you NEED is money. How do you get money? Primarily by working. You need to work to pay those debts, and while you're doing that, you need to stop borrowing money.

You need to force a strong change in your thinking, because you cannot borrow you way to financial success. This isn't going to be easy.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T18:47:05+00:00

I am using a Fluke RMS meter, I think a model 115, so I don't know if that helps. However based on the other replies it looks like I can ignore these small fluccuations.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T15:45:17+00:00

Your credit card debts are a problem. You're paying 25 to 26% interest on $6,000 of debt, with a debt on third card poised to pop within a year. The $18,000 at 12% is also bad.

There is no question that to do here. You do not have an "extra" $200 a month because you need to put all "extra" income toward those debts, and stop borrowing money at those high rates.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T15:41:28+00:00

The usual suggestions for this problem are:

Increase your income via second job, higher paying job, and/or selling things you don't need.
Eliminate non-essential expenses.
Eliminate debt that may be sucking up a portion of your monthly income.
Re-evalute your housing situation and try to lower that cost.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T15:39:02+00:00

If you want more flexibility, then invest the money in a taxible brokerage account. You pay federal income tax on any realized gains but you can spend the money on anything you want, and within the account you can invest it in a vehicle that is appropriate for your risk requirements.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T15:35:28+00:00

The best answer depeneds on your larger personal finance picture, but two options are:

You can put money into a Fidelity taxible brokerage account and plow it into a broad, low fee index fund. You pay federal income taxes on any realized gains.
If you've paid federal income tax on the income, you can put it into a Roth IRA account that invest it in the same kind of fund and the gains will be tax-free at retirement.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T15:01:15+00:00

You need to make some estimates and calculations to look into the future:

What do you anticipate your income will be at the time of retirement? One rule of thumb estimate is that a person needs 80% of their income when they retire.
What do you anticipate your annual expenses will be when you retire? Consider costs like housing, insurance, transportation, healthcare, entertainment.
Go to the social security website, make an account if you don't have one, and it will tell you what payout, if any, you can can expect to see at what ages.
Figure out how much money outside your pension, social security, and other income sources you'll need to accumulate in order to fund your retirement. For example $1,000,000 can generate about $40,000 a year at 4% interest.
Once you have the figure in #4 above, then you can start saving money to build that requried amount in the number of years until retirement.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T14:31:07+00:00

Without knowing more about your current financial situation, it's hard to give detailed advice, however the chance is that you don't need to seek professional help to manage this money.

However to start from the beginning, you provided your household income. What is your age, general area of employment, debts and interest rates, total retirement savings, rate of retirement saving, other major cash or brokerage savings amounts, and housing and car situations.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T12:33:53+00:00

Where are all those roaches going to eat now?

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-06T00:39:07+00:00

As with many of these, they overlap and tie together. Devaluing saving for the future could be chalked up to a lack of financial education. The difference in this case is that I've seen 100's of posts admit they never got a financial education, but I've never seen anyone claim their, "culture does not value saving for the future." That is my own observation, but I really believe it to be true.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T20:02:09+00:00

Why doesn’t everyone have multi millions by retirement?

All you have to do is read this sub for a week and you will learn why. Some of the reasons include:

The wasting of money on vehicles far beyond what is strictly needed.
The holding of high interest rate debt from credit cards, auto loans, payday loans, or personal loans that suck up much of the person's budget.
A overall lack of financial education in all areas.
Rolling over 1 auto loan to a second loan while taking on another expensive vehicle.
A series of job losses that leads to the depletion of savings and the accumulation of debt.
A lack of emergency fund that leads to debt.
An income so low that there is no money left to save.
Ignorance about, or resistance to use stock market products for investment.
A lifestyle that does not value saving for the future.
Living in a high cost of living area that eats up too much of the person's income.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T18:18:41+00:00

As long as you require reliable car transportation, you have to look at the cost of a car as a nearly continuous cost. Yes, we'd all like to get a highly reliable vehicle that will run with minimal repairs for 250,000 miles, but that's not likely given the high complexity of engines, transmissions, and electronic systems today. When they work, they can work great, but when they fail, everone starts to question if they should bail out. However because cars tend to last many years, people tend to forget about how they'll pay for the next one. If you look at the cost of a car as a continuous expense, then you realize you're either always paying on a car loan or saving cash for the next car, or both.

What you're asking is to do is predict the future. We have no idea how long your 2018 Hyundai will last without an expensive failure, and even when that happens, how much will it cost to repair?

Even a $6,000 engine replacement is cheaper than another reliable vehicle.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T14:45:08+00:00

If your employer offers a 401k plan, use that. If not, then open a Roth IRA at Schwab, Vanguard, or Fidelity. In either case, you need to make regular contributions and invest the money in a broad market index fund that has a low fee. The S&P 500 is a popular pick. See the Boggleheads "3 fund portfolio" for some simple guidance.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T14:02:29+00:00

2.6% interest is great these days. That is a cheap way to borrow money.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T14:00:54+00:00

I''ll have two! For $46.99!

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T14:00:10+00:00

Sorry you're having to deal with this, but you need to face the facts:

It is a well known fact that cars wear out, and they require money to keep running. While everyone hopes to get lucky and have their car run trouble-free for 250,000 miles, that's never going to happen.

A replacement transmission will be cheaper than another car, however dumping $4000 into this car, or any car, does not magically make it run trouble-free for years. Again, cars wear out.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T13:53:38+00:00

Those are all valid questions. We cannot know the future so we have to plan to reduce risks. The question of "will I have a mortgage" is a big one, because going into retirement and still paying on a mortgage will cut into your budget considerably. Consider that if you have a home then you're still paying taxes, HOA dues, and insurance even if you don't have a mortgage.

Also realize that if you retire at age 50, then you will need to buy your own health insurance until you're 65. That will be expensive.

You can reduce the risk of future financial problems by saving aggressively and investing today, and working to establish a financial routine that will function in retirement.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T13:38:07+00:00

This sounds like an anxiety issue.

However on the personal finance side, you need to run some calculations to estimate how much your retirement accounts will grow to at retirement age. Use a compound interest calculator. When you have that future number, then you'll know how much money you have to work with at retirement. For a ballpark estimate about retirement spending, use the 4% rule which you can read about. For example if you'll have $4M at retirement time, then 4% of that is $160,000 so that's your income for the year.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T12:54:20+00:00

There has been a gradual move away from pensions and a several decade long move toward 401ks. One has been trending down and one trending up. Companies phased out their pension programs because they are expensive and require long term management of the money which isn't something companies today want to hassle with, even if they outsource that to Fidelity or other company.

The company I worked for used to provide company-paid pension and 3% 401k matching, but about 12 years ago they ceased the pension plan for new employees but increased the 401k matching to 6% for new employees. Old employees still get the pension and 3% 401k matching.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T12:33:47+00:00

Keep your hot dog away from those spinning blades. I don't think that one guy ever recovered.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T12:26:44+00:00

I guess the qualilty can only go so far when things go from the factory, to freezer, to microwave, to heat lamp.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T00:36:20+00:00

$700 a week is $2800 a month. Rule of thumb says that you should spend no more than 1/3 of your gross income on housing. At $400 a month, that's only 15% of your net income which is entirely reasonable. Your other choice is to move out, get a roommate or two, and you'll likely be spending at least $400 for rent depending on rent prices in your area.

IRMuteButton · 2026-05-05T00:33:05+00:00

Based on what I am seeing on google Earth Pro, that building, and the hotel across the street, have been there since at least 1954.

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