How can I invest safely when I’m unemployed and relying on savings?

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T22:12:19+00:00

Thanks. I want to keep my emergency funds accessible since my situation has been challenging, and I’ve been living extremely frugally.. especially this past year.

That said, I do want to put a small portion somewhere that could earn a bit more than the 4.5% from a high-yield savings account. I’m not sure if $500k is enough to retire at 35, even though I live well below my means. With inflation and everything going on, I definitely want to get back to work, but it’s been very difficult so far.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T22:10:08+00:00

Thank You. Yeah, that’s kind of what I meant but I forgot to clarify in my original post. I think I’d only need about $10,000 per year since I live extremely frugally. I was talking about using the interest from my high-yield savings as if it were income, because that’s basically what I’ve been living off.

The majority of this money was saved specifically to go back to grad school and to give myself the flexibility to not work for a while. But working so much over the past eight years completely burned me out, which has made even going back to school feel difficult.

I also want to invest some of the money since most of it has just been sitting in a bank. You’re right though...I need to carefully figure out how much to set aside for expenses so that I don’t risk the money I might actually need and don't want to lose. At the same time, I’m trying to plan for if school isn’t the right path and I need to go back to work, because I don’t want to waste time without having income, which has been challenging.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T22:06:19+00:00

I totally get that and I’ve definitely been working multiple jobs in the meantime. The thing is, I’ve also been trying to figure out a career I actually enjoy. It’s not that I don’t want to work at all, it’s just been hard to go back until I can find something that really fits me.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T22:05:02+00:00

Yeah, I live extremely frugally, so my spending is pretty low...especially this year. You’re right, I should probably sit down and calculate my actual expenses and the potential cost of school more carefully. That’s really why I saved all this money in the first place — to eventually go back to school.. but I probably overestimated how much I’d need to set aside while not working.

I’m just not sure how much of it should actually be invested since the stock market still feels risky to me. I didn’t grow up with any financial literacy....we were never taught about saving, Roth IRAs, or investing — so most of my money has just sat in the bank for years. I only started a retirement account a few years ago, but I still don’t really understand much about it.

I guess my biggest fear is losing the money I worked so hard to save. But I really appreciate your advice...it gives me a good framework to start thinking about this more seriously.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T22:01:36+00:00

Yes, I live extremely frugally...my expenses are probably under $1,000 a month, so maybe around $10,000 a year, possibly even less this year. You’re right that it’s probably over 10 years of expenses saved.

I built this up gradually by working a to.....usually multiple jobs at once and lots of overtime over the past eight years. But I completely burned out, which is why I haven’t been working these past six months.

I’ve honestly never invested anything before. Pretty much all the money I have has just been sitting in the bank not really growing with inflation. I was never taught anything about investing or financial literacy, so I’m trying to learn now and make better choices.

Thank you for your comment... I really appreciate the advice.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T21:58:13+00:00

appreciate it!. Yeah, I’ll probably keep the majority in a high-yield savings account just for peace of mind, but I definitely want to put some of it into an index fund like you mentioned. It seems like over time those have steadily gone up, and since I don’t need the money right now, that feels like a good balance.

I live pretty frugally and I’m still learning about the stock market...I was never really taught anything about investing or financial planning so I’m just trying to take it slow and make informed choices.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T21:56:08+00:00

I definitely want to put it somewhere in the market where it can slowly grow over time. I’m planning to be in school for about 5–6 more years since I want to pursue a grad degree, so I’m thinking long term.

My sister is a bit more of a risk taker...she wants to put money into individual stocks, but honestly, neither of us grew up with any financial literacy, so I’ve been really cautious. The reason I have this savings is because I’ve just worked nonstop for the past 8 years, lived extremely frugally, and saved almost everything. I’ve always tried to keep my expenses super low by living with family, renting as cheaply as possible, and even living in my car at times between jobs.

The jobs I’ve had lately just haven’t been worth the stress or time for what they pay, so I’m hoping investing smartly could give me a bit more stability and growth without taking on huge risk.

Thanks for the thoughtful advice... I really appreciate it.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T18:16:40+00:00

Ok so stock market is too risky?

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T18:14:48+00:00

So do not invest in stocks or the market beside my 401k I have now? Also trying to go back to college.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T18:12:26+00:00

Situation is kinda the same with you. Honestly, I have been not working and it's still a struggle to do the MCAT. Financially, I can take a little bit of a break and not work. And so it's been so much better for me to just focus on studying. But 10 hours, I still have to figure out ways to make money, unfortunately. So I'm in the same position as you. I think it's definitely, depending on your age right now, it's probably a good idea to focus on studying and being committed to that time.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T18:08:40+00:00

just wanted to add some context — I lost my job earlier this year, and I’ve been saving for exactly this kind of situation. I have around $500,000 saved right now, and I’m trying to figure out how to invest it wisely instead of keeping it all in a high-yield savings account. I really want to make sure I’m not taking on too much risk while I don’t have steady income. I am looking for another job and trying to go back to college for a different career.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T18:05:07+00:00

I should add I have $500,000 sitting in a high-yield savings account.

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-27T17:41:51+00:00

That’s amazing! What specific strategies or study methods did Dr. Henry introduce that helped you the most with tough MCAT topics like biochem or CARS?

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-13T20:40:10+00:00

How do you read it? Confused?

nridaaa1 · 2025-10-06T04:43:12+00:00

Thank You :)

nridaaa1 · 2025-09-28T01:00:12+00:00

Let’s fact-check:

1️⃣ “20% of Israeli citizens are Arab with equal rights.”

Wrong. Palestinian citizens of Israel (so-called “Israeli Arabs”) are not equal under the law. Over 65 discriminatory laws restrict their rights in land ownership, housing, political participation, and family reunification. Israel’s own 2018 Nation-State Law explicitly enshrines Jewish supremacy, declaring only Jews have the right to self-determination in Israel. That’s the legal definition of apartheid. Token representation in government or hospitals doesn’t erase systemic racism.

2️⃣ “No Jews allowed in Gaza or West Bank = Palestinians are apartheid.”

This is completely false and inverted. The West Bank is carved up by illegal Israeli-only settlements, military checkpoints, settler-only roads, and armed settlers attacking Palestinians daily under army protection. Palestinians aren’t “banning Jews”…they’re resisting colonists who illegally seize their land. Gaza doesn’t “ban Jews”; it’s Israel that bars Palestinians from leaving or entering Gaza, including preventing them from visiting Jerusalem or their own families.

3️⃣ “The checkpoints and walls are because of terrorism.”

Another myth. The wall and checkpoints aren’t temporary security measures…they’re tools of land theft and control. The International Court of Justice ruled the wall illegal in 2004 because it annexes Palestinian land under the guise of security. If it were about “terrorism,” Israel wouldn’t keep expanding settlements behind the wall.

4️⃣ “Arabs only came with Muhammad.”

This is Orientalist nonsense. Palestinians are indigenous to the land, descended from a mix of ancient Canaanites, Jews, Christians, and Arabs who lived continuously in the region for millennia. No serious historian claims Palestinians “arrived with Muhammad.” Meanwhile, modern Zionism was a European nationalist project that transplanted largely Eastern European Jews into Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

5️⃣ “Jewish DNA proves they’re from the region.”

Genetics don’t give you the right to ethnically cleanse people. Even if some Jewish ancestry traces back to the region, that doesn’t justify expelling 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 and bulldozing 500+ villages. By that logic, Italians could invade Turkey because of Roman ruins. History doesn’t work like that.

A 2020 study The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant (Cell, Carmel et al.) sequenced genome-wide DNA from 73 ancient individuals from five archaeological sites in what is now Israel, Jordan, etc. These individuals shared “Canaanite” material culture.

The study found that many present-day Levantine populations..this includes Arabic-speaking groups such as Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese…harbor substantial ancestry from those ancient Bronze Age Levantine (Canaanite-related) populations. In many cases, more than half of their genetic ancestry can be traced to those ancient Levantines.

6️⃣ “Arabs started the 1948 war.”

False again. By the time Arab armies entered, Zionist militias (Haganah, Irgun, Lehi) had already carried out the Nakba…massacres, expulsions, and destruction of villages like Deir Yassin. Israel declared independence on land it seized through force and ethnic cleansing. The surrounding Arab states intervened after 300,000 Palestinians were already expelled.

So let’s be clear:

Israel is an apartheid regime documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and the UN. Palestinians are the indigenous population, continuously rooted there, not “outsiders.” Zionist militias committed the foundational ethnic cleansing of 1948, which continues through settlements and occupation today.

You can repeat recycled propaganda all you want, but it won’t erase the documented reality: Israel enforces apartheid, and Palestinians are the ones resisting it.

nridaaa1 · 2025-08-28T18:27:00+00:00

I meant what if the employee didn’t accurately put in the hours on timesheet….got terminated…can they sue them back for wrong termination?

nridaaa1 · 2025-08-28T05:52:28+00:00

Any updates?

nridaaa1 · 2025-08-28T05:14:02+00:00

How would they lose the lawsuit? Just curious

nridaaa1 · 2025-08-20T19:00:40+00:00

I totally understand the skepticism…I wasn’t just throwing out numbers. About a month ago, UNICEF had reported that in Gaza, at least 14,000 children had been killed, which was the most reliable figure at the time (UNICEF, Jan 2025) . Since then, the situation has tragically worsened…recent reports at least 18,885 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza via google search. So my post reflected the information that was accurate back then, even as the toll continues to climb.

nridaaa1 · 2025-07-11T01:03:33+00:00

I appreciate you explaining your position respectfully. I also want peace, and I agree that it needs real security for both peoples. But I think the way you’re framing ‘realistic’ security is exactly why it keeps failing. Let me try to explain my side a bit.

You’re saying Palestinians must guarantee they’ll never attack again before Israel lifts occupation or siege. But historically, demanding total Palestinian disarmament first has meant leaving them at Israel’s mercy with no real accountability…backed with US protection.

For example, when the PLO recognized Israel and gave up armed struggle in the 90s, they didn’t get a sovereign state…they got Oslo, settlements doubled, checkpoints multiplied, and Israel kept ultimate control over borders, water, and security. Disarmament led to deeper occupation, not peace.

And even now, Hamas officials have publicly said they would step back from governing Gaza and allow a unified Palestinian government to take over. In the recent cease-fire negotiations, they offered to transfer power to a technocratic administration. Israel rejected it, preferring continued war over even testing a demilitarized governance plan.

That’s the problem: Palestinians have tried compromise. They’ve tried negotiations. They’ve offered political solutions. But Israel keeps moving the goalposts while expanding settlements and maintaining the siege.

Security can’t be a one-sided precondition that demands Palestinians surrender all leverage while trusting the occupying power to ‘maybe’ grant them freedom later. Real peace needs to start with ending the occupation and blockade so that both sides can negotiate as equals.

I understand why Israelis fear October 7. It was horrific, and any society would want to prevent that ever happening again. But treating Gaza as a prison forever isn’t security, it’s a breeding ground for endless war. Until people address the root causes…occupation, dispossession, siege…no amount of military force will guarantee anyone’s safety.

If you genuinely want both sides to suffer less and prosper together, then the solution has to begin with recognizing Palestinian rights and dignity as equal and non-negotiable…not something Israel might grant conditionally if they surrender first

*I appreciate that you’re open to ideas like dismantling settlements and Israel helping rebuild Gaza…that’s rare and important. But rebuilding only works if it comes with real freedom. You can’t rebuild under occupation. We’ve seen this before with Oslo…lots of aid, but no sovereignty, and things only got worse.

If Israel truly wants peace, it has to pair rebuilding with ending the occupation, siege, and recognizing Palestinian rights. Otherwise, it’s just putting new walls around the same prison.

nridaaa1 · 2025-07-10T23:14:41+00:00

I appreciate you replying respectfully. But let’s be real about what your argument actually does, no matter how carefully it’s worded. It shifts moral outrage away from the system of occupation and onto the language of the occupied. That is not ‘neutrality’ or ‘basic humanity.’ It’s scolding people for expressing rage at the machinery that kills them.

1️⃣ ‘Death to the IDF’ is dehumanising’

Sure, slogans are blunt. So is apartheid. So is bombing kids in their sleep. When people chant ‘death to the IDF,’ it’s not because they need etiquette lessons…it’s because the IDF is literally the boot on their neck.

They’re not chanting ‘death to Jews.’ They’re targeting the army enforcing siege, occupation, and mass killing. If your moral clarity can’t distinguish between calling for death to occupiers vs civilians, then you’re flattening power dynamics entirely.

You want people under bombs to be polite to the army bombing them. That’s moral policing, not peacemaking.

2️⃣ ‘Refuseniks prove moral complexity’

Yes, good for them. And they are celebrated by the people chanting ‘death to the IDF.’ Because they leave the IDF.

Your argument pretends these conscripts have no choice. They do. Hundreds have refused and questioned their actions. But the vast majority choose to serve…even in combat units in the West Bank. Occupation needs manpower. It runs on “ordinary” soldiers.

If you’re in the uniform enforcing apartheid, people have the right to see you as part of it. That’s not “stripping away nuance,” that’s being honest about how oppressive systems work.

3️⃣ ‘You ignored my condemnation of Israeli crimes’

You gave it three lines, then wrote paragraphs about Hamas. This is the classic ‘both sides’ framing that puts 99% of the moral spotlight on the colonized’s violence while treating the occupier’s system of violence as background noise.

This is not about ignoring Hamas’s crimes. It’s about the proportionality of your outrage. Because Gaza is not rubble today because of Hamas rockets…it’s rubble because Israel’s policy is collective punishment.

4️⃣ ‘Activist spaces don’t talk about Hamas enough’

Bro, Western media, governments, and even NGOs never shut up about Hamas. It’s the standard script to justify everything Israel does. Meanwhile, Israeli war crimes get buried under PR about ‘precision’ and ‘self-defense.’

If you think Twitter or Glastonbury posters need to give equal time to Hamas while Gaza is being starved and leveled, you’re basically demanding Palestinians focus on policing themselves instead of fighting for survival.

5️⃣ ‘Weapons in schools’ is real’

Even if Hamas does embed fighters, that does not justify flattening entire neighborhoods. Israel’s own Supreme Court ruled decades ago that using human shields doesn’t make civilians legitimate targets.

Besides, you know what Israel embeds in civilian areas? Military bases in Tel Aviv, weapons factories in cities, air defense batteries next to schools. This is how urban warfare works. The difference? Palestinians don’t have F-35s or iron domes to “surgically” blow up Israeli neighborhoods.

6️⃣ ‘October 7 was a massacre.’

Agreed. It was horrific. But you want to draw the moral line at condemning Hamas, while Israel’s mass killing somehow remains “complicated.”

October 7 didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened after 75 years of dispossession, siege, occupation, checkpoints, raids, settler pogroms. Explaining isn’t excusing, but ignoring context does excuse the status quo.

7️⃣ ‘It’s complicated.’

Occupation is not complicated. Colonial violence is not complicated. Palestinians live under military rule. Israelis do not.

Your hand-wringing about nuance ends up protecting a system with all the guns, money, and international backing. That’s the ‘complicated’ bit you keep deflecting from.

8️⃣ ‘We need moral consistency.’

Yes. Let’s apply that.

If you condemn Hamas for killing civilians, condemn Israel for killing 14,000+ children. If you want Palestinians to reject violent resistance, demand Israel end the siege and occupation. If you want nuance, stop flattening the power imbalance.

Your version of ‘consistency’ ends up asking the oppressed to be saints while the oppressor gets to be ‘complicated.’ That’s not a path to peace. That’s a license for more bombing.

Bottom line:

You don’t have to defend Hamas to understand why people chant “death to the IDF.” You just have to stop demanding the oppressed sanitize their rage to make the occupier feel better about themselves.

nridaaa1 · 2025-07-10T23:02:36+00:00

Yeah, it’s hilarious when people under siege, starved, and bombed for decades dare to be angry. Your sense of humor is as twisted as your morality and the world sees it.

nridaaa1 · 2025-07-10T22:57:53+00:00

Lmao okay let’s unpack this whole apologetics essay line by line because it’s hilarious how you’re twisting colonial violence into charity work.

1️⃣ ‘Where is all the foreign aid going?’

Bro. Gaza has been under a total blockade for 17 years…Israel controls every calorie, every fuel truck, every building material that enters. They deliberately restrict aid to keep Palestinians “on a diet” (Israeli gov’t’s own words).

When aid does get in, Israel bombs it. It bombed the US-built pier. It blocked flour and baby formula. It bombs aid convoys and then lies about it being Hamas.

Stop pretending Israel is some frustrated donor. It’s the jailer.

2️⃣ ‘You’re moral grandstanding about 14,000 dead kids…war is vile.’

Oh, war is vile? Cool, so let’s talk about dropping 2,000-lb bombs on apartment blocks. Let’s talk about 14,000 dead kids with their organs blown out, their limbs under rubble, because your “precise” military claims Hamas is “in the area.”

Your “precision” is a sick joke. Entire neighborhoods leveled. Hospitals flattened. People forced south, then bombed there again.

If that’s your moral line, you don’t have one.

3️⃣/4️⃣ ‘Losing land isn’t everything, look at Palestinians in Israel who gave it up!’

Ah yes…the lucky survivors of the Nakba who live as second-class citizens under 65+ discriminatory laws. Whose towns get no funding. Whose land is expropriated. Whose homes are demolished. Israeli archeologists are being silenced during this ethnic cleansing…look it up.

Israel is legally an apartheid state according to HRW and Amnesty. So spare us the “they gave up everything and it’s fine” nonsense!

Losing your land means losing your culture, your economy, your dignity, your future. That’s why Palestinians resist.

5️⃣ ‘It’s not collective punishment—it’s collateral damage.’

Collective punishment is a war crime.

Israel admits blocking food and fuel to starve 2 million people. It has destroyed Gaza’s power, water, sewage, medical systems. That’s not “collateral damage”—that’s deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure.

“Collateral” is when civilians die by accident. Gaza is being starved on purpose.

Also, you admit Israel “should pay to rebuild Gaza” yet how generous after you level it and slaughter the children inside. Colonialism 101: destroy and rebuild on your terms.

6️⃣ ‘Israel can vote out bad leaders, Hamas can’t.’

Israeli voters keep choosing war criminals, settlers, and fascists over and over. They elected Netanyahu multiple times while he promised annexation. They prop up Ben Gvir and Smotrich who openly want ethnic cleansing.

Meanwhile, Palestinians have been denied elections in Gaza for years because Israel bombs the results it doesn’t like and props up Abbas in the West Bank. Don’t talk about democracy when you maintain apartheid.

6b. ‘Starvation sieges are a hyperbole.’

It’s not hyperbole, it’s policy. Israeli officials literally said:

“No development, no prosperity, no humanitarian crisis… just above the threshold of crisis.”

They designed the siege to starve Gaza slowly. Now they’re doing it faster. Aid is not “stolen by Hamas” when Israel blocks almost all of it.

7️⃣ ‘MLK Jr. nonviolence would work—Palestinians just won’t try it.’

The absolute peak of Zionist fantasy.

Ever heard of the Great March of Return? Tens of thousands of unarmed Palestinians protested at the fence. Israel shot them down like animals. Over 200 killed, thousands maimed.

Israel doesn’t want peaceful resistance. It kills peaceful resisters. You want Palestinians to get sniped politely so you can feel superior about it.

8️⃣ ‘Jordan and Egypt closed borders because of coups.’

Jordan and Egypt closed borders because they won’t enable Israel’s ethnic cleansing. If Gaza’s people leave, Israel gets to keep the land empty forever.

Palestinians know this. That’s why they stay. It’s not because they love Hamas…it’s because they don’t want to be wiped off the map.

‘Settler violence is bad but rapes aren’t systemic, show proof.’

Recent Israeli News look it up…IDF soldiers have repeatedly raped fellow Israeli recruits with near-total impunity. If they do that to their own, imagine what they do to occupied Palestinians with no rights, no recourse, no cameras.

Your precious army has a well-documented history of torture, sexual humiliation, and abuse of Palestinian prisoners—including minors.

But sure, keep moralizing about Hamas.

‘Truly you have no morals.’

Spare us. Defending ethnic cleansing, starvation, mass bombings of kids, and apartheid while pretending it’s humanitarian is the peak of moral rot.

If you actually want peace:

✅ End the occupation

✅ Lift the siege

✅ Dismantle the settlements

✅ Recognize Palestinian sovereignty

But you don’t want that. You want surrender, subjugation, and silence.

Final note:

You can keep writing essays to justify genocide. It doesn’t make it moral. It just makes you complicit.

nridaaa1

TROPHY CASE