You have student loans > 1 years income and consumer debt > 2 years income. It's time to find a higher paying job if you can fear be damned.

I met a girl whose dad said he'd be rotting in the ground before he let her date a guy with long hair. Turns out a $14 trip to cost cutters didn't fix much and it was the kid under the hair he wasn't fond of...

Are you certain this has anything at all to do with debt and isn't just a dad posturing? If your future partner is beholden to her father you're not looking at a great outcome regardless of your next steps.

NJ allows a 529 tax deduction and you have NJ income presumably so it's a no brainer.

In states without income tax or without a deduction then you may choose another state's program for better expense ratios or investment options but you can deduct up to $10k annually which is cool.

Income is great but no one values their $100,000th dollar the way they value their first.

At some point intangibles like work life balance, stress, commute time, and regular old enjoyment of the job drive the bus.

I'd make a ton more as a consulting engineer than I do now but I don't mind straight 40 hour weeks vs 50+ and all hours on call and no travel now that I have a family.

Surely it would be nice to invest more/save more/have more but at some point you have 'enough' and for my family my wife is down to 3 days a week and I'm in a much more relaxed industry. We should be able to get the kids through school/retire reasonably if she goes back to 5 days. We do without some luxuries friends might have but that's life. We've come to terms that a bit of simplicity is worth a whole lot of time together and less stress.

I wouldn't fault logic that prioritized investment over paying loans at an APR less than most HYSAs. I will let go of my 3.125% mortgage on my death bed.

Right. It's not 'in lieu of' but rather in addition to.

OP is going to be paying $190/month for protection from his most likey avenue of liability (the car) but in my instance for $15/month I get $1M of additional protection that follows me around in the car or in a borrowed car or in a rental car or walking my dog or anything I do without malice/criminal intent. For OP to get their hands on an extra quarter million would be peanuts just in case someone decides 'hey, OP has some bucks let's pull some stuff'.

I need to carry 300/500/300 insurance but it sounds like that's what op is describing.

You don't get to choose how insurance subrogates (who pays) and I guarantee your insurer is no spring chicken and won't see 'at fault' and 'rear ended' on the same claim and say 'weird' APPROVE.

The minute you call your insurer and tell them you were rear ended and would like to file a claim they're going to get the other drivers information and make them pay the bill.

Straw break camels' backs all the time but it's unlikely that you're going to see a drastic swing in financing if you start/stop and start in June vs just going with the flow. Obviously there's changes to prime rates that can have an impact if you delay but this is so speculative and assumptions built in that no one knows what will happen even though everyone guesses.

The smartest play almost always remains to take your time shopping and buy when your need is high but without being rushed. Look for a deal you can't refuse to hit you in the face but don't go rushing out.

Ask yourself, if you sold 11% of the global supply of something globally but 75% of your sales of that something was sold in North America and 39% of your sales of that something was sold to the US what currency would you probably want to consider using?

The beautiful thing about the internet is that anyone can share their thoughts and information. The bad thing is that most of that information is trash and makes no sense once you peel back the first thinnest layer of the BS onion.

Dealers/Automakers spend gajillions of dollars creating a sense of urgency with promotional rates and specials and discounts.

Certainly reducing financial costs of borrowing is a good goal but so too is delaying the purchase for as long as possible considering you hold on to your money longer, avoid depreciation/insurance for as long as possible and otherwise extend the amortization period of your current car.

720 likely won't get you the teaser rates but it's worth inquiring. If you're auto shopping make sure you've got loan terms from an unaffiliated bank in hand before you test drive. Dealers try to get you on the lot for a reason and it's because they and their environment are tailor built to get you to buy a car. Going in without knowing your financing terms and letting an expert at selling cars lead you down their donkey trail is going to result in more money spent. Full stop.

See paragraph 1. Whatever works for you.

It's an emotional arrangement first that needs money (like all things) to function. If you're comfortable at a different level of support/contribution great.

I'm not trying to have the romantic inclinations of a wet sponge but this is a finance sub and not a relationship one. It's sort of like seafood; you can't put your finger on what makes it right but when it's bad you both know.

Combining 2 homes into 1 would be hard. You'd be moving your life into another person's space and that would require a lot of communication and financial arrangements that are too nuanced/emotional/personal to have any logic from a financial side.

I wouldn't go rushing out to get a loan or to wipe my cash reserves when waiting 9 months wouldn't impact you at all. Revisit then and in the meantime take a step back and avoid the impulsivity.

Cars are fun but marketing executives are paid looooots of money to convince you that the feature you've lived without for your entire driving career and then 7 more you can't explain are NEEDS and not wants. Sometimes just putting it down for a bit and revisiting can clear your head and help make a choice about things that actually matter to you.

On one hand it's whatever works for you.

On the other A owns the home and pays all bills, repairs, taxes, insurance and B pays 50% of market rent on the home.

Utilities are split down the middle.

If A wants to reduce the charge because the home would otherwise not be B's pick or because they want to eliminate the 'profit' portion of rent to be affordable that's fine but justifying any lesser s[;ot charges because of income is silly. I don't pay less for milk because I'm poor. Why would I pay less for rent?

Having liability at least equal to your net worth is smart.

I'd also consider a $300k umbrella policy that kicks in after your liability is tapped and covers other liabilities after renters or just general life liability. Super cheap insurance.

If learning and honing your power of hindsight only costs you $6k then count yourself lucky.

Lots of people spend far far more to never learn the lesson of what it is that money can do for them that does make them happy and fill a void and what they do that is just rote action that they do to do.

Spending your limited money on the things that will give you the best utility is what it's all about and no experience is a total loss unless you fail to learn.

What does the TOS you agreed to say as far as your obligation? I'm guessing you agreed to something dumb in a big long TOS agreement you didn't read and this is regrettably pretty common.

Asking for verification of the debt is always step #1. If it's valid your options are to pay, ignore it (not smart) or ask for a settlement which is typically outside of the scope of most company's path.

If you read the wiki and review the sidebar information to give yourself a baseline you can then ask questions. If you want to study economics go study economics. Khan academy/youtube have plenty of videos.

Economics is a field that spans so far and so wide that no person can explain it in a reddit post. How we deal with scarcity (everything is scarce to some extent) is fascinating and has far more to do with our own value systems on a personal basis than anything to do with macro/micro economics.

The next recession will occur in the future. And then another one will happen. And another. On average recessions are likely every 7 years give or take and we're overdue. All the while things will likely trend up and like a boat in the ocean there's not much benefit to fighting it.

Read the wiki. Understand 80% of the 'what' by understanding the prime directive. Come back with actual focused questions that you haven't found an answer to as opposed to blanket statements asking for

The 'new job' exclusion isn't very clear about self employment but does mention you must move so that your place of work is >50 miles FURTHER than your old commute. If your work was regionally tied then you have a shot but if you're WFH then that would be questionable to me.

It's not entirely too hard to justify a partial exclusion using any of the numerous outs in IRS Publication 523.

The particular situation you speak of isn't outlined but would fall under 'other facts and circumstances' to me if you would have experienced hardship without the move based on circumstances you couldn't have reasonably foreseen. Maybe you have an inlaw with health concerns that would fit elsewhere too. Worth a call to a tax expert if you're treading lightly.

Alternatively waiting until october wouldn't be hard given it's likely 12 weeks from listing to closing in even the most ambitious timeline right now.

Financial deceit for your gain and at the expense of another is the legal definition of felony fraud. Maybe don't do that.

It's pretty easy to do a mail merge both physically and electronically or a cookie based advertisement via your IP to tell owners of 'Car X/year Y/trim Z' that their car/year/trim is in super high demand for trade in. This is a common tactic to drive traffic to the dealership.

I've heard of worse. I'd talk to a manager about their costs to understand what you're up against.

Frankly cashflowing $1000-1250 a month with optimistic occupancy rates assuming you do all the work on that kind of market exposure is still a little heavy for me heading into your life phase but I would understand why someone would do it.

What is the house worth?

What is market rent on the home?

Have you considered your own skill and ability to manage a rental property as a new father? I have a 1 year old and a busy work/personal life and balancing one home is rough let alone a 2nd and tenants.

Sell the new car and ride the less expensive option in terms of depreciation and insurance. Clearly your wife isn't driving much and holding on to a $30k plus car to drive 500 miles a month seems foolish. If you're worried about winter conditions get snow tires. I'd take good snow tires on a FWD over an AWD with all seasons every day of the week.

You shouldn't refinance if there are fees, payoff provisions, other details that make refinancing more expensive for how you plan to pay the loan off.