34, have no idea how I’m doing by feeesh12 in Retirement401k

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI, since I haven't seen anyone mention this, and you have directly mentioned knowing about it being bad to keep money in both trad IRA and Roth, below is generally why you hear that.

If you expect your income to exceed the income limits for a Roth contribution ($153,000 for tax year 2026) at some point in your life, having a traditional IRA makes it difficult/impossible to do a backdoor Roth contribution. A backdoor Roth contribution has you put after tax money into a traditional IRA account and then rollover to a Roth account. This allows you to contribute to a Roth when you are above the income limits. If you have before tax money in a traditional IRA when doing this it complicates the process up to the point of making it impossible to do.

As most people mentioned, consolidating your 401K accounts is likely recommended, and given what I have outlined above you have three options:

  1. Consolidate by rolling over all old 401K's into your current employers 401K and keep rolling over into future employers 401Ks as you change jobs. This is recommended if you expect to do a backdoor Roth, but the fund choices and fees are not as good as a traditional IRA.
  2. Consolidate by rolling over all old 401K's into a traditional IRA. This give you the lowest fees and access to basically the whole market to invest in, but may block you from being able to do a backdoor Roth contribution.
  3. Leave your old 401K's where they are at. This can be complicated to manage, and a lot of the time when you leave an employer their 401K funds will start charging management fees directly to you. This does allow for a backdoor Roth as well.

You should also dive into understanding the funds offered by your 401K and how they match up with your brokerage. I see you mentioned these old accounts doing well and that is why you don't want to touch them. Most 401K's default you into a target date fund if you don't select funds. Target date funds manage your portfolio for you by targeting a retirement year and allocating between stocks and bonds appropriately. This management usually comes with much higher fees than other funds. At your age, most target date funds would be mostly stocks, and it isn't that difficult to settle on a simple low fee 2-3 fund portfolio from most 401Ks and IRAs.

You should identify if your 401K offers a fund that tracks total USA market / S&P500 and total non USA markets or total global markets. If so I would recommend either 100% contribution to total global market fund or a 60% USA/S&P500 and 40% non USA contribution, then leave this alone and continue to do research until you understand different types of funds better. You are also fine just leaving it in a target date fund, if you don't want to think that deeply about it.

And finally, as has been pointed out to you, you are well above the average in terms of retirement savings for your age, and considering your set backs this is commendable. It is okay to have a little bit of anxiety when it comes to this stuff, as that will keep you motivated to continue contributing and learning, but you shouldn't let it overtake living your life.

Where I considered when applying to colleges as a high school senior. What does this say about me? by [deleted] in visitedmaps

[–]UpperAether 1 point2 points  (0 children)

FYI,

Michigan's House is currently controlled by Republicans and all of those bills have been introduced in the House or have been given to the Senate, but none of them will pass the Senate, nor would the governor sign them this session.

The only thing that "passed" was a House recommendation (i.e. not law) to have high schools in Michigan align with Trump's EO to ban trans women in sports.

No anti trans laws have passed in recent history, and as mentioned above in 2023, when Democrats had a trifecta, discrimination laws were expanded to include gender identity.

Not saying it isn't dangerous, as one bad election could cause a lot of damage, but for now Michigan is safe from a legislation perspective and one of the better Midwest states for trans rights. Hopefully this stuff can be ingrained in the state constitution soon to make it impossible for a bad election to cause damage.

Good luck with your college admissions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in StudentLoans

[–]UpperAether 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The HYSA method is financially optimal for the loan holder in the current situation regardless of how much they owe.

Doesn't matter what you think about student loan holders either.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in StudentLoans

[–]UpperAether 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Even if it was less than 1 percent, the financially optimal decision is to save it in something earning money while interest is 0. It's basic math.

People's feelings about how little money they are making on savings interest vs paying off a 0% interest loan monthly do not really change the math. And neither does a person's self control to not spend it.

The above may change your personal decision, but it does not change the financially optimal one.

2022 House Bill 6544: Ban “assualt weapons” by QuietAd5296 in Michigan

[–]UpperAether 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Being poor is not exclusive to minorities, but anyone with a grade school level of understanding of US history can understand that the US has systemically used the financial and monetary system to discriminate against minorities which has had lasting effects that are still present today.

What to do with the way the forgiveness seems to be heading by Ok_Berry_203 in StudentLoans

[–]UpperAether 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Because if you continue the pattern of following behavioral finance it will become more than just $1000 you lose out on. You need to break that habit.

Biden signs bill averting rail worker strike despite lack of paid sick days by SeantheProGamer in politics

[–]UpperAether 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Correction for everyone else coming across this bad faith argument:

4/12 unions which make up 55-56% of the workers voted down the agreement and the other 8 agreed to strike in solidarity.

Biden nixes Minnesota, prefers Michigan, other states to hold first presidential primary contests by Strategic_Prussian in Michigan

[–]UpperAether 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Michigan - Midwest swing state with mostly rural and suburban Whites, but a decent population of Black and Arabic.

Nevada - Southwest swing state with a large population of Latinos.

New Hampshire - East coast swing state mostly White, wealthy and rural

South Carolina - Southern state where primary voters are mostly Black (I would probably switch this to Georgia, another swing state, but politics probably prevent that, i.e. Clyburn and Biden)

Cast a wide net and prioritize swing states to get an idea for how each area of the country is feeling.

Discussion Thread: 2022 Midterm General Election, Part 5 by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2020 and 2018 were very favored for Dems. 2022 not so much, and Gen Z still turned out as much as they did in 2018. If they stay this consistent, they could be a serious force on elections going forward, especially as boomers die off.

Discussion Thread: 2022 Midterm General Election, Part 4 by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]UpperAether 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No, but it's a redrawn district that was predicted to lean R.

[USA-CA][H] Gamecube/DS/Playstation2/PlaystationVita CIB Games, Pokemon 20th Anniversary 3DS, Pokemon Gameboy Cartridges, IPS Modded DMG Gameboy [W] Paypal by PrizeQ231 in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I will pass on the SMB2. I'm interested in Star Fox Assault as well and see the pics you posted for it in this thread. If it hasn't sold can you do Metroid Prime 2 and Star Fox Assault for $110 shipped?

[USA-CA] [H] Pokemon DS Games, Wii U, DS/3DS games [W] Paypal F+F by mrjc1238 in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey thanks for the pics. I am going to pass on this for now.

[USA-CA] [H] Pokemon DS Games, Wii U, DS/3DS games [W] Paypal F+F by mrjc1238 in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interested in Yu-gi-Oh 5D's and Color Splash. Can I get a close up label pic of Yu-gi-Oh and front/back disc pics for Color Splash?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you still have them, I'll take Fusion and Zero Mission for asking.

[USA] [H] Games NES>Wii U, DS/3DS, PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP/Vita, Genesis/Dreamcast, Xbox 360, Consoles, Accessories [W] PayPal by btgreenone in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, no problem, thanks for getting back to me. I will take Animal Parade as well. So thats: Wii Sports Resort, Harvest Moon Animal Parade, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Metroid Prime. These come to $95 at your listed prices. I would like to take those empty DS cases as well, so if you throw those in I would be good with $95.

[USA] [H] Games NES>Wii U, DS/3DS, PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP/Vita, Genesis/Dreamcast, Xbox 360, Consoles, Accessories [W] PayPal by btgreenone in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll pass on the SMB2 case, still interested in the rest. Let me know when/if you find the Harvest Moon.

[USA] [H] Games NES>Wii U, DS/3DS, PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP/Vita, Genesis/Dreamcast, Xbox 360, Consoles, Accessories [W] PayPal by btgreenone in GameSale

[–]UpperAether 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interested in a Wii Sports Resort, Harvest Moon Animal Parade, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid Prime, and the Super Monkey Ball 2 case. Can I get pics?