POLITICS Inflation /General Finance Insanity

Maxing out my 401k is definitely something I need to do. I pay a good amount into it, but I know it's not the max.

She did the IRA thing for each of us recently. I think we pay $900 a month towards the two of them. When you say "max out," what exactly do you mean? Am I able to plug cash directly into it (like $20k from savings?), or is it only in monthly installments that have a maximum amount you can contribute? I'm sure she probably knows the answer to that.

I don't really care for the student loan psychological boost. I definitely liked having that when I paid mine off, but I wasn't really making much money when I started that journey, and I had just started making good money when I finished it. Right now, with the ability to pay hers off entirely if we wanted, and with not having to pay them the last however many years, I'm just not worried about them. I guess that could change soon though as payments start back up.

What about kids? Good to start saving in advance? Not sure if we will still be in Baltimore when that happens, but I imagine that if we are, private school will be the move. Also, daycare until they hit that age ain't cheap. Feels like setting money aside for that is a good idea, but is there anywhere to do that aside from a savings account?

 

We would probably pay off her student loans tomorrow if you could guarantee they wouldn't be forgiven in the next 10 years. The psychological boost just isn't there for me because we have the money to eliminate them, but my bigger concern is around dropping that much money just to watch them get forgiven a few years later. Would just feel like a big waste of money that could have gone towards the mortgage or additional investments.

 

We've also looked at starting/investing in a business or property. We already feel like if/when we move away from Baltimore, we will probably keep our current home and rent it out. Selling it would feel like a waste with our interest rate. I think we got locked in at like 2.625% or something ridiculous? That's another consideration we are taking into account - having money for a down payment in case we end up moving.

Just a lot to think about.

 

I think the student loan thing is back to normality for the first time since Covid this month since we learned a few months ago that a President can’t just wave a magic wand to forgive outstanding debt.

Not sure where that widespread student loan debt govt relief will come anymore from unless it comes from our legislative body.

Of course I think having the taxpayer subsidize people’s student loans would be immorally bad policy because the student loan crisis is squarely the fault of our greedy higher education institutions. Having everyone pay the piper for a few people’s college education because our university institutions have become profit-first pigs would be disgusting policy. I wish the anger surrounding this issue was correctly aimed at these institutions who need to reform their financial accessibility to a college education and not DC.

 

Ira contribution limits are $6500/year/person. Are not allowed to contribute any more than that. The limit changes each year. Can open one on pretty much any stock trading platform. Just park the money in spy or a total market fund and don’t look at it again until you hit 40 and talk to a retirement planner.

Can’t help you on saving for the kids I don’t save for mine. We stretched and got a 15 year mortgage which will be paid off when my oldest is in high school. Our college plan is using the mortgage we’re no longer paying to cover it. Plus another 8 years of raises.

 

I don't necessarily think loans should be forgiven either. But I'm also not all that interested in being one of the schmucks who pays off his (wife's) student debt a few years before they were about to be forgiven.

 

Makes sense. So we are contributing close to the max for this year. We can up that pretty easily. Need to look more at the 401k though. And I don't really understand her retirement set up. She's in government.

Hard to imagine our college system being the same as it is now 20 years from now. It just doesn't feel sustainable.

 

Something has to give. Either the higher education cartel successfully and deceptively PSYOPS the American populace into blaming their glutenous sinful greed onto DC politicians so that one day perhaps John Q taxpayer will forever institutionally subsidize their ridiculous business model. Or the marketplace will force higher education to restructure and reform financial accessibility to a higher education.

I’ll be cheering hard for the latter.

 

If you two are doing well you will be phased out and won't see a dime of student loan forgiveness.

 

You will never be ready to have kids, emotionally or financially. Just have them when you feel like you just have to have a kid.

 

Ya if we do it right, those of us doing well need not be included. This should be correcting the people who will otherwise be effectively indentured servants. But needs to include some way where that is also kept from happening (which Biden has actually made some moves on regarding 20 years in good standing and actually honoring the 10 years of public service for forgiveness).

 

Is that what came out today? I saw that he had canceled additional debt, but didn't dive into it.

 

I invest in properties and buildings. It's a pretty good gig, especially when you build them

 

I'd love to invest more in it that just the couple of REITs I have, but I don't want single family houses or deal with any hassle. Pure straight passive investment.

 

Commercial property is the way to go

 

Yep. Businesses are less likely to just up and skip town and usually have assets to lien. I would stay away from office space though as remote work is going to basically kill that and I don't think it ever recovers.

 

Idk that I agree with this. Why should people who have been successful be left out? Shouldn’t we want to incentivize the good behavior of paying off your debts?

 

This is what my wife wants to do, minus the “build them” part of it. She wants to be a developer, but with a social tint to it (not just 100% focused on the bottom line). She has no idea where to start though, even though she has worked with developers as a consultant and on the planning side.

 

I build them for other people during the week

 

We have industrial buildings, big ass open warehouses with a few bathrooms and an office or two