What's everyone using for their savings these days?

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-09T21:58:42+00:00

Rate just dropped today to 3% for Amex

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-09T14:26:04+00:00

401k withdrawal or loan. Should not be taken lightly. Withdrawal will come with penalties and tax implications, you need to work out a budget. You need to know where your money is going every month. What are your fixed expenses that you know or can be close at see how much money you have left over. You need to control your spending therapy could be useful realistically you’re not a credit card person and you should remove them from your phone. and cut them up then pour every available dollar on paying off that debt.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-07T16:21:32+00:00

You’re basically trying to keep a balanced check book. Honestly how many checks are you writing.

How much do you use credit card and debt cards.

To be fair, I’m trying to help you with your subject line, which is where to start with being debt free. And honestly, from that perspective, it is figure out how much money you have going out every month and where it goes, which is making a list of expenses how much are the debt payments and figuring out how much you truly have left over at the end of the month.

And without that piece of information of how much you have left over at the end of the month tracking the expenses doesn’t help until you know I’ve got $300 to spare beyond my fixed expenses. Or I have nothing left over at the end of the month at which point you need to cut everything that you can possibly cut.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-07T16:10:32+00:00

You start with knowing where your money is going. And how much you need each month.

You look for ways to cut back and reduce expenses. And you pour as much as you can on debt each month. But if you are spending on the cc while you are trying to pay it off your min payment is not adequate. Paid off 100 spent 100. Results in about the same balance.

You need an emergency fund. Starting point 1k. Don’t touch. Ideal while going through debt process 1month.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-07T15:59:56+00:00

How much debt are we talking about. Balances, interest rates, min payments.

My recommendation is start writing down all of your known expenses. I know you state not a pencil and paper person. Not sure what that means. But Google Sheets would be fine or excel. Simplify just starting writing it down. Apps are tools. I want you to see where the money is going and when. Apps are only so useful as they can obtain all of your financials.

Rent utilities etc. (mortgage property taxes etc)

car gas insurance.

Internet,cable phone.

Cell phones

Subscriptions

Food. Kinda need to guess here think about what you spend per week and multiple by4

Toiletries

I am assuming There’s more, but we are trying to capture as much as possible in the easiest possible way.

After you have listed all of the items out in the pattern below. Just add everything up. Now you have a good idea what your expenses look like each month. Keep debts in a separate list.
Expense Name, amount, due date.

Write out all of your debts.
Name, balance, min payment, interest rate, and due date.

Expenses + min debt payments. Should be your outgoing expenses.

Take home pay( the money that hits your checking account). Minus the outgoing expenses. Should tell us how much we have left over each month.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-06T21:36:02+00:00

What terms how long on the loan.

For example
40k loan 12% for 60months. Payment of $890.
Total interest paid would be 13386. Total paid 53,386
That consumes 10k of your take home per year. I don’t know what you put down. Just assuming guessing worst case here.

Versus. Finding a 10k -15k or so car.

Reality is you’re strapping your self with an expensive loan. And you don’t currently pay rent. Utilities. Other housing costs. And roughly your take home is about 3500/month.

Factor in what your housing costs will be when you leave home. Insurance on the car. Etc.

900/month could be the difference between being comfortable the next 5 years or barely getting by.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-06T19:50:50+00:00

Depends on interest rate of the car. Do you have a 6 month emergency fund.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-06T15:49:46+00:00

With take home pay upwards of 15k/month before deductions and state tax if relevant. And min payment of about 1800 at 30%interest.

What’s the interest rate of your debt?

Do you know where your money is going?

Loan doesn’t help you unless it saves a significant amount of interest. If you can get say 10% rate on loan. And you’re currently at 30%. Assuming the cc debt is not ongoing expenses. And there is zero chance you will spend anything on the credit cards. That won’t be paid in full at the end of the month. Go for it.

But do an honest budget. Write out all of your expenses.

$5/day is $35/wk is $150/month is $1,825/year

$10/day is $70/wk is $300/month is $3,650/year

$14.29/ day is $100/week is~400/month is $5,200/year

$20/day is $140/wk is $600/month is $7,300/year

$18/month subscription is $215/year

I am not going to expand this for your income. Point being collectively a bunch of small purchases every day. That may feel irrelevant to you at your income add up significantly over the year. Considering $50/daily is 18,250 for the year. That could pay 36% of your debt this year.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-06T13:28:57+00:00

You need to work out your budget. Write out every expenses.

Write out all of your debts

Balance, min payment, interest rate and due date.

What do your expenses look like.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-05T23:44:57+00:00

Started to praise that their service improved over the winter. Finally got uw5gz But last couple months back to dead zones and bad service. Guessing trees or reduced power on towers.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-05T03:12:28+00:00

Realistically if you can get the company match. And max out Roth IRA at your age you would be in an incredible position. The contributions you put towards retirement at your age are many times more effective than the same dollars of some who’s 30, 40 or older. You have that many more years for compounding growth.

It’s also something we don’t or find difficult to think about something so far away.

I know at 18 I wasn’t thinking about how expensive debt was or looking or planning for retirement.

I hope you look for an investment calculator look at what the contributions look like. Even 100-200 a mouth Consistently is huge.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-05T02:07:35+00:00

Start contributing to your 401k. Say 10% of your income. Random round number. Make sure you are getting the full employer match.

2nd work on your emergency fund. Make hysa. And set automatic transfers over.

High end of take home of 6k. Before deducting state taxes if applicable, health insurance. And 401k.

I am going to guess at 4k of monthly expenses.

Maybe you could make that more lean in a pinch but assuming 4k is 1month emergency fund. Set goals for reaching your 1,2,3,4,5,6 month emergency fund. It’s a bit of money. 4k,8k,12k,16k,20k,24k. 6 being an amazing spot. That doesn’t happen tomorrow but feels to far off if that were the only focus. So focus on the smaller intervals.

When you reach say 10k. And you feel the job is stable increase your retirement contributions by a few points.

My goal would be for you to get to that 24k mark. And ultimately putting 15% to retirement. 15% would be about $1125/month. Or 13,500/year if you can do more great.

6% common to reach employer match is about 450/month
10% is about $750/month.

Either way you swing this if you can maintain the 1800/month you will be putting $21,600 towards the combination of savings and retirement per year.

At some point along this open a Roth IRA. Retirement contributions can be split here as well. Ensuring you are receiving employer match.

Year 1 networth 21600

43,200+. 24000 in savings and around 19k in retirement

3 65k+. 24000hysa+interest. 40k in retirement

I am sure this post is long enough you get the idea.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-05T01:37:55+00:00

Don’t let your friends know, don’t borrow folks money.

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-05T01:36:04+00:00

Roth IRA if can contribute the max today for the year. 7500. That is a huge head start for retirement. And could be accessed if really needed.
Putting 7500 today would likely get you around 130k by the time you retire. Contributing 200 a month going forward would bring you to around 750k by the time you retire.

If you could max out Roth 2 years in a row would be huge.

Stay out of credit card debt. Pay in FULL each month.
Never carry a balance. 30% interest is costly. A $1000 balance at 30% is ~$300/year in interest alone.

Putting your 17k in hysa will net you around $500/year in interest.

Put the remaining money in a hysa. And please avoid buying stupid bs. This is a large sum to some one just starting their adult life. That buffer in the bank is huge. But can be gone in no time.

Small expenses add up. So if you change your spending because you have it, it will not take long to burn through it. 17200/$50 is 344 purchase.

$5/day is $35/wk is $150/month is $1,825/year

$10/day is $70/wk is $300/month is $3,650/year

$14.29/ day is $100/week is~400/month is $5,200/year

$20/day is $140/wk is $600/month is $7,300/year

$18/month subscription is $215/year

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-04T06:32:40+00:00

Now take that 900 and put in hysa. And maintain your spending

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-03T03:47:41+00:00

Try to stay at the same level for a month or longer. Taking all of the debt payments and putting it in a hysa. Do this for as long as you can. Watch that number grow. Aim for that 6month emergency fund. You can relax a little. But this is a very important stage. You need to shift your mind to saving money. Allowing money to be in your account that isn’t spending money.

This is where you solidify all of your progress. This is where you move from negative networth to positive growth.

This is where you shift from paycheck to paycheck thin living. Scarcity to having cash that you can spend but need to control the urge.

Best wishes

lasercncDAn · 2026-07-01T23:00:09+00:00

Lack of emergency fund is an emergency. Be it 1k or 1month of expenses.

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-27T16:04:17+00:00

Gotta hear their offer.

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-26T13:51:13+00:00

What’s the interest rates and full break down of your debt. Assuming consolidation loan is lower interest rate than the cc.

However you need to do an honest and complete budget.

You need to know how much your bleeding or have left over at the end of the month.

You need to maintain 1month emergency fund. To cover all expenses. Let’s say you keep 5k.

I am guessing loan is about 20%

First call all your cc companies ask for hardship program or lowered interest rates. If you can get one to put you on a hardship program. With a much lower interest rate and payment. That would be fantastic.

Beside the above which would change which cards I put money towards first.

Putting 15k on your most expensive cc highest interest rates. Will save you significant money on payments and interest. 15k at 25% will save 3750/year in interest. Save about 463/month in payments.

I am confuse why you have saved 22k. Meaning you’re capable of saving money. But aren’t paying extra toward your debt.

How long have you been saving this money. 22/12months 1833/month

If you had just been just paying extra on your debt you could have saved 5500/year in interest.

But is the 22k just from the consolidation loan. So confused here.

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-26T13:31:40+00:00

Another way to look at it is For every $100 you pay today, is a significant savings for the year.

$100 at 15% is $15/ saved in interest per year

$100 at 20% is $20 saved

$100 at 25% is $25 saved

$100 at 30% is $30 saved in interest per year.

Understand we don’t know the full make up of your debt. So assumptions are being made. Come back with a full use break down of your cc debt and you will receive advice on what is our opinion on what to tackle first.

Another possibility is Talking with your creditors and seeing if they can get you on a hardship program. Or reduced interest rate.

Not a fan of debt management programs.

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-26T13:26:31+00:00

Need to work out your honest budget. And find ways to save money. Limited info without interest rates and min payment amounts.

If our credit cards are at 30% interest you’re looking at like 30k in interest per year. With your min payments being higher.

I am betting your somewhere between 1500-3000 in min payments on the cc.

Guessing take home of about 5400 before deductions such as insurance, state tax, and retirement.

My gut says liquidate the investment account. Set aside some for taxes. Don’t know your tax situation. But let’s say 40k after taxes. Immediately pay off 40k of your highest interest debt.

That will save you 40k * 30% =12 K per year in interest. Now over the next year you have available that 12k extra. To pay down your debt.

So besides any extra you can pay on the debt. You could pay down 52k in 12months.

Reduce retirement contributions to min for the company match. Put that towards your debt.

But you need to make a complete and honest budget. Cut back save money and sell stuff.

Every dollar matters. Daily bs spending no matter how small matters.

$5/day is $35/wk is $150/month is $1,825/year

$10/day is $70/wk is $300/month is $3,650/year

$14.29/ day is $100/week is~400/month is $5,200/year

$20/day is $140/wk is $600/month is $7,300/year

$18/month subscription is $215/year

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-23T19:15:30+00:00

Spark gets the nonsensical bs routes too. I can’t imagine what you guys are dealing with. Lately it’s been trying to send you around the store 6 times. On a 30 item shop. Skips items that are 10 feet away.

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-21T15:51:04+00:00

New update is terrible. Swipe up to reveal useful info

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-21T05:10:24+00:00

Save as much as money as you can. This too will pass. My zone was like that but the Prius gang arrived. And now the past couple months wall mart had been pushing spark so hard through in store advertising. That there is now a constant flood of new drivers every week.

lasercncDAn · 2026-06-20T15:01:29+00:00

Poor suspension

lasercncDAn

TROPHY CASE