I would invest. If you think about, you're just asking if you should diversify into real estate. To me, that's a personal thing.

When things go well family and friends tell me that taking care of rental properties is no big deal especially when they use property managers. And then when things don't go well, they complain about this renter not paying or that rental needing repairs. My investments? They don't ever ask me to leave in the middle of a family gathering to take care of an emergency. I can spend a lot of time managing my investments or I can set them to auto contribute.

Some may argue there is greater return on real estate. Some may disagree. I neither disagree nor disagree. I just don't want to be hassled. Taking care of maintenance on my primary home is plenty hassle enough.

Good luck, OP. No wrong decision here. That you have the funds to do either means you're way ahead of the game of life.

To be honest, I was just replying to OP's lament on minimum wage being low. Whether that is ultimately a good thing for inflation or the economy is up for debate. I don't think I have the information to be right or wrong.

However, if I was a young adult making minimum wage (and I did for a few months), voting for this change is the first thing I would do as that is a simple thing to exercise. I don't believe you have a right to complain until you actively participate in changing it. Right or wrong.

1. I'm using less water by removing my lawn and using drought tolerant plants. I'm collecting waste water like the cold water warm up for a shower and water from washing fruits and vegetables. I use that to water my plants.

2. I'm voting for people that are in favor of increasing the minimum wage.

3. I'm not willing to increase my earnings as that usually entails more work or responsibilities. Sure, I'll take more money for free but that's rare. Therefore, I am looking for ways to reduce my spending. This personal finance forum is an excellent start in collaborating with others to maximize our dollars. If you spend less than you earn, you'll never run out of money.

Good luck, OP

File form 4852. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4852#:~:text=Form%204852%20serves%20as%20a,2%20or%20Form%201099%2DR.

Hey hey hey! None of that talk now. You know, my then SO said it was a demerit that I was living with my parents. But then it was a huge positive that I had no student loans, owned my car outright, and debt free. My spouse had zero intentions of paying off my debt.

Your filing status is as of Dec 31, 2022. Thus you either filing married filing jointly or married filing separately. In most cases but not all jointly results in lower taxes.

Stay with parents and it's not easy to date. Don't stay with parents and you have no money and you're not good marriage material.

Would I recommend you move back in with your parents? Yes. And I did. Yes, dating was a little more difficult. However, our first day of marriage, we lived in a home that we bought together. I would not have been able to do that if I still had debt from paying $2000 a month rent.

The logical steps for me is:

401k match Max HSA Max Roth IRA Max 401k Max Mega Backdoor Roth IRA

Real estate isn't even in the picture.

What does the 1099 say? Is it a 1099-R? Talk to Voya. Why have a panic attack without all the information?

It really is that simple. Stop spending to save. That's how the rest of us save money.

Also, a couple hundred bucks moving further out is 20% more savings when you're only doing $1000. That's a lot.

If it were us, Traditional IRA would be slowly converted to Roth IRA. MFJ means you should have plenty of space to convert at 12% tax bracket to a Roth IRA.

I would also prioritize maxing Roth IRA before maxing out a 401k. The reason is because you can take out contributions penalty free which you could use for your home down payment in the future.

I would have zero in savings since that amount is taxed. I would rather fill up all tax advantaged accounts before I invest in taxable.

I would cash flow vacations. There's no reason to save for it when you have upwards of $2k saved every month. Few vacations need to be paid all at once. Airfare is paid in advanced and hotels and meals are paid as you go on the vacation. We pay for vacations over the 3+ months the charges appear on our cards.

You can take out 401k loans and take out from Roth IRA for a down payment on a home. I would only stop retirement savings when plans are more defined. Until then, it is too nebulous a goal and you're losing out on valuable tax advantaged space.

It's not hard to buy. I just don't buy it. And if one uses the same excuse year after year, it gets old. This time is different? Okay, you can accept that if you like. I will go get new quotes.

I get it, costs go up every year. I expect to pay an incremental cost increase every year. But not 26% as OP indicated.

Edit to add: And if it is industry wide why did my insurance go down $4 last month while OP's went up? No change on my end except everything is a year older so it kind of makes sense it goes down a bit.

In the grand scheme of things. Lump summing one year of $6500 Roth IRA isn't going to move the needle for you one way or another. Given, you can max your Roth IRA and add 4 more months to your EF, it really doesn't matter. Assume 7% in a Roth IRA versus 3% in a HYSA. That's ~$260? And if the recession happens, you lose ~$260?

And if it really doesn't matter, then I would opt to keep it simple and DCA monthly into your Roth IRA and EF. If you change your mind next month or 6 months down the line, sure, lump sum it.

Good luck, OP

I don't buy the "inflation is going up" and "chip shortage increasing costs for parts" excuses the insurance agents give. This is the same refrain given for the past 3 decades since I've been driving with slightly different words.

They will increase your rates because they can and they think you will just pay it. They strike random people despite many including the insurance agents themselves saying the system sets the price, not them.

You vote with your dollars. Go find a competitive insurance. Case in point, my insurance went down the last two premium periods with Geico. I read plenty from people with Geico saying it went substantially higher. Two years ago, my insurance went up substantially when inflation was very low. I switched to Geico.

Good luck, OP.

The only requirement for me to get 0% APR was to:

1. Have the required credit score, 760+
2. Finance the vehicle through the manufacturer's financing division
3. Finance only for the term length specified. I wanted 84 months, at 0% why not? But they would only do 60 months.
4. Had to choose from existing new vehicle on the lot. Cannot order a custom vehicle.

I did not need a down payment but I did buy a very unpopular 2012 vehicle that had been sitting for over 6 months back in October 2012. 2013 Models had already come out.

1. Sell the car.
2. It bears repeating, sell the car.
3. Say a third time because you've been ignoring it from other replies on it. You cannot afford the car at your salary even if you had zero debt. Buy a used vehicle for cash, $3000 - $4000
4. Invest 5% on TSP to get the match
5. Pay off debt, however, you like. Highest interest first or debt snowball.
6. You should be able to pay off your debt if you go rice and beans gung-ho in ~6 months.

Good luck, OP. Rich people drive paid off Toyotas and Hondas. Poor people lease BMWs and Mercedes.

Gravity assist has been used by space craft long before Voyager and has continuously been used since.

Do you mean alignment of the outer planets for the grand tour? If it happened in 5 years, we'd miss it. It took over a decade to assemble and launch the Voyager probes.