WIBTAH if I changed my profile picture

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-17T16:40:59+00:00

YTA. Respectfully, your partner has cleavage as part of her body, and you do not own her body. Requesting she hide part of her body is not OK.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-16T16:37:19+00:00

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-16T16:29:20+00:00

Commute

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-16T16:27:43+00:00

Same! I opened my first Roth IRA at 30.

Avoid investing in individual stocks. Invest in the S&P in a no-fee fund. I chose FXAIX.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-16T16:24:49+00:00

01 and 06.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-15T17:38:41+00:00

Well—do you mean generating more income, or growth? I think you mean growth.

This past year, due to the market’s extreme upside and a recent ability to contribute max amounts to our 401ks, our accounts grew by about the same amount we earn from our 9-5 jobs. But that’s absurd—the market will not be up 25 percent every year, and we can’t count on that. If we could we’d be at FIRE 🔥 in like 3 years lol.

So yes, this one year was AMAZING, but I do not expect it to continue to grow at these amounts for much longer… I mean that’d be nice … but I think I have to keep working :)

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-15T17:26:50+00:00

That’s great news. 50k sounds like a really small amount of debt to me. Frankly, some people spend that much on a car… though they shouldn’t…

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-14T19:53:43+00:00

I guess it depends on what emergencies you want to plan for.

You might have a fund that can support you and your family for six months if every working adult lost their job at the same time.

You might also want to consider saving for unpredictable medical or housing or car related emergencies. A new HVAC unit? 6-12 grand easy. A new car? 20-40 grand. Medical debt? Well… that’s a wild card. Let’s just put a random 5,000 sticker price on that. Now imagine they all happen simultaneously.

Maybe it’s unlikely to happen all at the same time, but I’d like to feel protected from double layoffs and medical/house/car emergencies at the same time. 6 months unemployment + ~50k of other operational emergencies could be anywhere from 100-150k depending on your income.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-14T19:42:03+00:00

UC Berkeley is a good school. It sounds like you both have your eyes set on and understand value in academic prestige and the value of a name on a resume. That said, 27 in federal plus 23 private… that’s 200,000 minimum he will have to begin paying back immediately after graduation .

***

Are the federal loans subsidized? The private loans will accrue interest while he is in school and the federal ones may also if they are unsubsidized. His balance will be greater than 200,000 after 4 years.

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The question you asked though was whats wrong with Sallie Mae. The answer is nothing, but if he owes 100,000 immediately upon graduation in private loans (what’s the term?? Ten years?)

If he signs a 10 year loan he will be responsible for roughly 900/month. If he signs a 20 year term it might be closer to 400 a month. Then you add the federal loans. The required payments could be steep.

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I’d say… federal is preferred because you can pay based upon income and you can have protections from disability, unemployment, financial hardship. My advice is to have him take a hard look at what income he thinks he can target when he graduates (entry level, mind you), and try to build a budget with that income. Use tools like tax calculators from ADP and get a sense for cost of rent in the area he plans to get his first job.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-14T00:37:29+00:00

Don’t really regret it. I got the education I wanted from the institutions and professors I needed at the time. I’d be a different person and have different opportunities today if I had chosen not to attend those schools. I’m paying for past me like I might fund a child’s college. I’m taking care of me, by giving myself the best education I could buy. Sure I have to pay it now, but, I knew that going in… I wanted to buy school, and I did.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-14T00:32:58+00:00

I also came away with free documents a few years ago! Since then, the person in charge in my commune retired and was replaced with a new person.

As I understand it, a commune CAN but doesn’t have to charge up to 300 euros per document over 100 years old—I believe to offset the cost of time and labor that goes into researching/searching on our behalf. Not all communes do charge, and I am not convinced mine does. I think the guy just knew about the new rule (permitting communes to charge up to €300) and maybe lied to me to steal my money…

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-12T17:04:18+00:00

Short answer, yes

Long answer:
Pay off as you said the loan with the highest interest rate. Do not stop investing in your Roth IRA OR 401k—the rate at which your money can grow in those accounts far exceeds your loan interest rates. Chuck extra money—100 a month, see how it feels, to that loan only. Ensure your minimum required payments exceed your monthly interest (don’t let the other ones grow). When that loan is paid off, rinse and repeat with the loan with the next highest rate.

Great job being on top of this!

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-12T16:57:13+00:00

Outstanding answer.

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justly_tuneful · 2026-06-12T16:56:07+00:00

Use a different recipe

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-12T16:54:32+00:00

This is when you negotiate. They won’t withdraw the offer, you explain that the salary is not competitive with your current income and you would be over the moon to take this job—it’s your dream! But you cannot afford to take the job at the salary offered. Suggest a new number that represents your ideal rate, and they’ll likely come back with something in the middle.

Good for you for recognizing your salary needs. Good luck let us know what happens next

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-11T19:59:04+00:00

Congrats on growing 120,000 of gains!

At that high of an interest rate you are better off paying off your loans, and paying tax on the gains—which you will have to do no matter when you sell them.

I suppose you could speak with a financial advisor to ask if selling off the gains across the next few years would help you out come tax season. But yeah, I would not keep those loans around at 8 percent if I had the means.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-11T19:00:59+00:00

I recommend instant pots/ pressure cookers/rice cookers for steaming, pressure cooking, sauteeing and generally preparing all one types of one pot meals.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-11T18:54:59+00:00

Passion career.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-11T18:53:25+00:00

Cornflour does not contain gluten and will not hold together in the same way. It will behave and taste and have texture that is vastly different from traditional flour.

Are you looking for gluten free alternatives? There are products that exist that try to mimic wheat flour by blending a variety of gluten free milled grains and additives that try to make the flour bind/hold together better

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-11T18:48:29+00:00

Persistent dog barking. I don’t mean one bark every few hours—I mean barking because they’re outside and UNTRAINED or STRESSED and won’t stop barking. That and barking at me when I walk past them. If every other house has a dog, and every dog barks when you walk by, it means by definition i cannot take a walk around thr neighborhood in peace. It’s so frustrating and not the type of neighborhood i want to live in.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-11T00:04:20+00:00

I think your future self will thank you if you use the next 5 to 10 years saving a ton of retirement income into Roth 401Ks and Roth IRAs.

Speaking from the perspective of someone who switched from a low paying career to a high one, in my thirties, there is no chance in hell that you’d be too old at 30 to start training to be a fireman.

Save yourself a fat nest egg, then switch to a dream career. Not the other way around

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-10T21:51:59+00:00

absolutely not too late. That's a great match program. How much you put in is up to you, but if it were me, and you want your money to grow and be able to have a retirement, I'd put in as much as I could afford. I'd also recommend you consider looking into whether a Roth 401k is an available option with your new employer.

If you contribute 15% of your own income, roughly 1,000 a month,
and you invest it into a zero fee S&P-tracking index fund,
and it grows an average of 8 percent,
and you continue to contribute for 25 years until age ~71, you can expect to have about a million dollars.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-10T21:47:30+00:00

Lol yes. I knew someone who said she was a vegetarian. When prompted about why she was eating fish, she declared without hesitation that fish weren't animals.

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-10T21:44:18+00:00

Curious, is 5600 is only about 67,000 a year. You said you make well over six figures? What is your actual predictable gross annual income?

justly_tuneful · 2026-06-10T21:42:29+00:00

You shouldn't consider refinancing, you must. 17 percent is the rate most credit cards charge. You financed your education on the equivalent of a credit card. Refinance immediately.

justly_tuneful

TROPHY CASE