Oops. You right. I didn’t notice he sold those calls.

Apparently, playing both sides does not mean you always come out on top.

You’re making this so much more confusing than necessary. The 401K and HSA are the only two accounts that matter because they’re pulled from your paychecks each month. Your IRA can be contributed whenever you have the money. Hell, you have until April of next year to fill up the prior year’s IRA.

But you’re nor retiring today with your current balance- you’re retiring in 20 years. Additionally, 60% (~$109K) of your current salary is a lot. If you’re hoping to spend up to that much without a mortgage then you need to save up a lot more.

The CAA degree seems like such a huge departure from your prior education and degree. Do you even have any interest in healthcare at all or worked in the industry before?

Uh. Isn’t that 5.1% annualized?

Your annual expenses are ~$61K/year right now. If you want to retire early you’ll need about $1.5M invested at a 4% SWD to keep that lifestyle.

If you keep up your current investment of $1.5K/mo ($28K/12) you’ll reach this $1.5M in 20 years at 10% return. That’s assuming nothing changes at all in your income and expenses of course.

So it is possible to retire early. How early is anybody’s guess.

It’s not hard to see why you don’t have much leftover. That’s a lot to spend on cars/car-related expenses. You’re at almost 17% of your take home on car payments/insurance/gas alone. That’s not including luxuries like pet grooming and dog walking.

I’m not sure why there are only two choices. You can do both.

If your rate is low then it makes no sense to pay the mortgage off early except peace of mind.

If your rate is high you can pay do both- pay extra while investing. If rate drops you can refinance and reassess. Nothing is set in stone.

I personally think DPT is a rip off, if not outfight a scam. Calling it a “doctorate” so they can charge PTs more for schooling is abhorrent. But that’s besides the point.

My wife also had about $125K of loans at ~6% APR for her grad school. When loans got put on deferment she went in super hard and paid all of it off. You have plenty in savings IMO- I’d go all in on those loans again.

I’d worry about rebuilding your emergency fund after getting current so you wouldn’t be put in such a predicament should anything like this happens again.

What changed for you financially since you bought the car? It’s not like you didn’t know what your monthly payment or APR was when you signed the paperwork.

Either pay off the car sooner so you won’t accrue as much interest, refinance with a personal loan, or sell the car. $777 is way too much to spend on a car with a take home of $3500.

Or a tenancy in common contract. But if you’re going to draft up a will for this then why not just get a marriage certificate instead?

I’ve found their prices still very competitive but then again I’m not rich enough to buy organic milk. Maybe you should drink regular milk if you can’t afford the extra $2.

Hi neighbor. Though technically I’m in Lacey. Things are definitely cheaper here than in northern WA.

Dave Ramsey repeatedly told a story on his show of a fiancée losing her partner in a car accident right after they bought a house together but not yet married. So now she owns half the house with the other half belonging to the fiancé’s next of kin, his parents.

If you must buy a house with your partner right now just go get a marriage license first then hold your wedding/ceremony after. Or just buy it under one person’s name.

Your employer’s. It’s the same thing as the 401K. You can’t just open a 403b/401K on your own unless you own a business.

$2K/mo for allowance/fun is a lot especially when you have $54K of debt, even if they’re low-interest debts. You’re essentially borrowing at 1.49 to 3.49% each year for fun money by just keeping those loans around to spend 10% of your take home every month.

At your income level there’s no reason why you cannot max out your 401K and IRA unless you’re paying off high-interest debts or saving for a big purchase.

Sorry. I just realized you said you have a 403b. It’s functionally the same as a 401K. You can’t just open a 401K unless you own a business.

Contribute to the trad 403b, not Roth 403b. Do a backdoor Roth IRA if you want to do Roth.

If you’re making too much for a Roth IRA then you’re probably better off going traditional 401K 403b as well.

You have to make some sacrifices if you want to get rid of this car payment early. Your savings aren’t going up because you’re spending as much as you bring home. So you have to bring in more money or spend less. It’s as simple as that.

If it was me, I’d cut down on the trips and vacations to build up at least 6 months of emergency fund then pay off the car ASAP. You live in an expensive city so presumably $9K wouldn’t go very far.

Congrats! Take a look at the wiki for guidance.

I agree with the recommendation of continuing to live like you’re making $60K because lifestyle creep is very real.

What else are you going to buy then?

OP has his priorities all out of whack. Spending over 1/3 of his rent on a car payment (half after taking into account insurance/fuel) is clearly not as important as having a great social life.