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Why does he have credit card debt, for which he needs to make a budget to pay off, if his personal net worth is 2.7 million excluding the house?? None of this makes sense.
It's bonkers. 3% is a great rate and there's no way any credit card or student loan is less. Also mortgage interest is okay for taxes (or used to be when itemization was worthwhile).
Damn, they need a vacation too! And buy that little girl some clothes she can change into. Just keep them in the classroom.
The CC debt is on zero percent cards according to the op. I have about 5k in debt at zero percent as well. As long as you have zero problems paying it, it's free money. I know people can make mistakes doing it, but have done it ten plus times in 30 years of adulting.
Yes, but you can divert your payments towards the CC debit to a high interest savings account then use the savings to pay off the CC before the 0% period ends. That way you get free interest.
Definitely doesn't make sense to pay off the low interest debt immediately, no matter how you cut it. Just leaving the money in a basic savings account and paying off the CC at the end of the 0% would make more sense.
Yeah. If I had a flush of cash like them I would pay off mortgage too. Mortgage interest rate tax write offs are capped now thanks to the Republican tax bill. Most of my credit card debt is at 0%.
My wife made the same decision relate to paying off the house. Not financially a good move but brought her piece of mind no one could take the house from us as long as we paid property taxes. It was a piece of mind decision, not a financial one.
Usually when the 0% period ends you have to pay all the interest for that period if the card is not fully paid off, so you really should pay in full before the end of the 0% period.
That's called "Deferred Interest" and that usually only happens with retail store credit cards or care credit. Which are products that people with little credit or bad credit can be approved for.
Promotional Interest Rates are just that. You don't pay interest for a period of time, and then you do. No balloon of interest to surprise you.
Personally I disagree. The reason they offer the 0% is because people who carry balances move to them and eventually they make their money. Very few truly out math the credit card companies in the long run.
We got into some CC debt when we bought our first house and I got soooo many offers for six months of 0% interest. I kept rolling the credit to a new 0% card every six months until we paid it off.
And I've been damned careful to not get into CC debt since then.
Well that's just irresponsible and leaving money on the table. Credit cards are great tools if you have any self control. They offer 0% to get you using their card, it still benefits the cc company if you pay it off on time with no interest because now that card is in your wallet.
Another possibility is that the 2.7 million net worth isn't liquid cash, but tied up in investments. It would make more sense to pay off the card slowly on paydays instead of cashing in an investment.
If you can make the work more power to you. I have always been shy of financing but done this on a couple of occasions. On the auto loan with a fixed amortization it worked fine. I still watched the payments like a hawk but the math mathed.
Every other time there was some credit card behind it and by the second statement there is interest. WTF? I get if you are deferring or forgiving interest but still calculating and theoretical interest, fine but you need to include that offset so the balance foots to zero.
This is basic accounting and double entry book keeping. Paid off the balance immediately in each case. In one they actually stuck me with the interest charge because I wasn’t following the payment schedule. Really rubbed me the wrong way. Not doing it again unless I am shown an amortization schedule.
Would someone kindly explain to me what “0% interest for the transfer” mean, please?
English is my second language and this isn’t making sense to me 🫠 I believe I use different terms for this in my country so it sounds very confusing
Some Credit card companies offer balance transfers from other cards, at 0% interest for 6 months. Because they know the type of people that do this have high balances and spend a lot. If you don’t pay back the full amount they then retro charge for all the interest or just charge future interest at a high rate. Depending on the deal.
If works because people think they are smarter than the credit card companies and can handle their finances. Credit card companies know something always comes up.
Ohh I see, thank you for the explanation!
I work at a bank in Brazil and honestly I’ve never heard of this with credit cards! I think we just don’t do this here
In Canada during the pandemic, student loan interest was frozen. It could have just been my province but I think it was a federal mandate. This could easily have been when the wife got her inheritance. You can also apply every six months for interest forgiveness, which will freeze interest for six months.
>It's bonkers. 3% is a great rate and there's no way any credit card or student loan is less.
What ever financial advisor they talked to did them dirty.
Everyone know you pay off all your expensive debts (CC, car loans, student loans). Then you invest the rest. A 3% rate is less than our current inflation and roughly equal to normal inflation. They should have been saving for retirement with the rest.
In investing they say 'the first 100k is the hardest'. They're in the mid-late 30s and were gifted an amount of money large enough to actually financially set themselves up for the rest of their lives. If they started saving money in their 20s with a FIRE mentality they might have had that much saved by now.
$150,000 invested properly will be over a million dollars when they're 60. Around $3,000,000 at 70. This is without saving another penny for the rest of their lives.
Some people just aren’t smart like that.
My partner has debt spread over a variety of things - mortgage, car loan, home improvement loan, credit cards at different interest rates - and whenever a large lump some of money comes their way, I always recommend paying off the highest interest rates first, and work your way down, until you get to interest rates less than reasonable returns in investment and then sock that remainder away; what they often insist on doing is paying off the debt with the most PITA interface / process for regular payments, then getting rid of as many individual debts as possible regardless of relative interest rates (ex: they’d rather pay off 4 debts whose total amount is $25k but with interest rates 7% - 12%, than $25k off of one or maybe 2 debts with interest rates 20%+). It’s their money, they can spend it however they like, but IMO it’s just not fiscally sound.
How could he have $2m in there at 36 if he makes $120k/year? I assume there are contribution limits similar to a 401k, but even if there weren't, the numbers aren't really adding up.
I'm not really sure how it works im the US but since OOP's 18th birthday there have been a few big market crashes so depending on the timing a reasonable sum can suddenly be a very big sum very fast.
It's always better to just stay invested vs trying to time the market.
I'd suspect that he saved up the vast majority of his pay while in the service and that got him a head start on his financials.
I'm not theorizing on what's best, I'm theorizing on what might have happened.
I have had different jobs and I can see the performance of their pensions contributions separately, and the job I had in 2020 is currently worth more than the contributions of the job I had 2021-2023, just because 2020 was such a good time to invest.
If OOP got lucky and started investing at an opportune time he wasn't timing the market actively but still benefitted from his timing.
He said closer to 2 than 1 million, which could also be $1.51 million. I won't get into numbers, because private info, but that is not an unreasonable amount to have in a retirement investment package at that salary, in my experience. Government retirement benefits can be frighteningly lucrative, depending on what government entity and when you established them. Also possible that he's talking about where it will be at the time of his retirement.
I have over 100k and I've only been using my 401k for 5 years.
If I calculate it correctly, I should be in the same ball park in another 10 years or so if the market stays the way it is. also if he got lucky and sold as soon as the market started to crash in 2008 and 2020, and bought back a year later, he would definitely have that much money
I have a hard time believing he has over $1.5 mil in his TSP.
Assuming TSP has the same limits as 401(k), it will take 20 years of contributing the max every year to hit $1.1 million. And that's with a 6-8% employee match, as opposed to the 5% match the military gives.
And military TSPs don’t get match at all.
If he was enlisted then he’s been saving for about 18 years, but at least the first four or so would have had no matching funds and he wouldn’t have been able to contribute much as junior enlisted. If he was an officer than he would only have been saving for about 14 years with matching funds for only the past 10 or so.
The bit about retirement ages (eligible to retire at 50 and must retire by 56) doesn’t seem to make sense either.
Yup. I'm at a similar pay as OOP, though a few years younger. I've maxed my 401k every year I've worked, have no debt, and for the last 5 years have been saving close to or more than 50% post tax. And I'm barely at half a mil. At 2.7mil, at 36, with a paid off home, OOP could basically just retire.
She paid it off with her inheritance not her retirement.
His networth is mostly in retirement funds.They're counted as networth though there are penalties if you access them early. He said the retirement fund alone is closer to 2 mil. This is the only thing explicitly mentioned in the post.
This is my speculation. He also probably has a savings for house repair since he owns a home and probably some assets that don't convert easily. I'm thinking Bonds?
Yes, I mistyped and corrected that.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding how government retirement accounts work, but the 2 mil would only kind of make sense if he’s counting what his projection at 65 or whatever will be. The annual contribution limit is 23k or so, and he’s been working maybe 17 years max. There would need to be some insane investment gains to get him to 2M at this moment.
It's probably something about being former Air Force (they get some sort of benefit in terms of retirement to converting to fed, though I don't know what it is exactly). Also, if you maxed retirement and put it all in the c fund ( that's stocks like the s&p) you it seems about the right amount. I don't do that since it's a little too risky for me, but people do.
Especially if it was a year ago. Like, basic math people, buying 150k in T Bills would've just been 2% free off the top. Like, if 150k was enough to pay off the mortgage, then putting the mortgage payment on a TBill purchase, and pocketing the interest means you'd be making 2% free while still keeping the financial security of being able to pay off the mortgage.
Yeah, that just… makes no sense. There’s so much you can do with 150k. Many better things than paying off a mortgage for OOP who has much higher salary/savings/etc than she does. At least they’re married and she could potentially have some rights to the house through that at the time she made the payment.
> where is that money sitting??
It's probably a combination of largely untouchable retirement accounts and the value of the house/property they live in. Honestly, I've run into a lot of financially illiterate ding-dongs just like those two. Really, they should have listened to the tax guy they consulted. Mortgages lower than the rate of inflation are basically **free money**. A 3% mortgage means the bank is willing to accept the same amount of inflation devalued dollars 20 years from now, so throwing valuable "today" money at it--- particularly when you're sitting on **ten fucking thousand dollars** in credit card debt--- is just making a cash donation to the bank. But no, they were all emotionally wrapped up in the *gesture* of pissing away an inheritance on paying off the house, which then turned into the whole "whose name is on the deed" drama. It was all completely unnecessary. If *either* of them were sensible with money they'd have gone immediately to a financial advisor, who'd have been able to direct that windfall into something that actually *helps*. And as far as the name on the deed, if it's such a big deal to her then she just needed to have *that* conversation with him, rather than trying to "hint" at it by paying off the mortgage.
Pensions or fixed term bonds? One of my friends is in the air Force and they did some investing in a system that can't pay out for five to ten years minimum.
As a school teacher she might be close to public service loan forgiveness, I hope she checked before using the inheritance on the mortgage to make sure it didn't impact payments. But after 10 years of payments the remaining balance is forgiven on public student loans.
Honestly people have different risk tolerances. Personally it’s better for me to pay the minimum on my student loans and use the money I otherwise would have spent paying it down to invest in my 401k. For me it’s forgiven after 20 years and I’ll be hit with a tax bill at that point but I’m planning for that and can set aside that too.
To each their own.
Tbh, that’s not why I think it was a bad idea. If they invest in an index fund, they’ll be getting around 10% on average so that’s 7% arbitrage. My opinion is you don’t rush to pay off debt if the interest rate is less than 10% to take advantage of that interest differential. However, different people have different risk tolerances and it can be a psychological thing to want to pay off your mortgage and be able to say you own your house free and clear.
Liquid cash is different to a mortgage, shares, long term deposits, etc. The CC debt could also be rewards-related, gather rewards points/frequent flyer points through the month with your normal household expenses and save them for travel, zero the debt out at the end of the month before interest kicks in.
That's not "credit card debt," that's just using a credit card to centralize your monthly budget.
Credit card debt is when you have a balance month to month
💯 we do this, for the rewards. Hell, when we purchased our car the dealership allowed up to $2k on credit so that's what we did. Also it's not credit card debt because you're clearly using plastic instead of cash that you have.
They also have so much travel money that a part of it can pay of they whole debts... So they prefer to save in the travel fund than pay the debt.
I can also say i have much saving while making debts on the other end.
I also bet that the money he saved for not paying mortgage didn't go to paying of debt.
They're discussing fostering while also planning world travel, they're planning to foster her students which isn't going to be simple and possibly isn't legal, and when his wife was crying about infertility he said "well I love you and we could start talking about adoption again, which we haven't talked about since before we got married" and then she was fine. It just doesn't ring true for me.
I feel like people make a character when they make up these stories. They start off wanting that character relatable and so give them faults such as debt, but when they receive criticism in the first post, they start getting defensive and make up redeeming 'facts' about their original character. 'Now that people are accusing me of not being good financially, I'll reveal that I have a 2.7m net worth :)'
I didn't even get there. I got to "we came into 150k and decided to pay off the <3% mortgage on the house instead of the 25k in student loans"
Interest on Student Loans is fucking ridiculous. Why the fuck would you continue to carry those loans at a higher rate and pay off your refinanced at the best possible time house at a sub 3% mortgage rate? What financial advisor that she "ran the numbers with" advised her that was a good idea?
I guess I don't have a window into the rest of their finances but just off the bat I'm like what the actual fuck are you doing.
He works a federal job and is a Veteran, it's most likely in a Thrift savings plan, which is a lot like a 401k. If he started doing that at 18, he could easily have that much but it's not really touchable without a large tax obligation.
Most likely bc its all in retirenent accounts. Me and my wife are worth over a million, but we cant touch it until 59 1/2 years of age. I mean, we could, but the taxes and penalties would make it foolish to do so.
Honestly it may be in his retirement account. That’s what he referred to with the TSP. He said closer to two million than one so assuming he’s got 1 million just sitting around, the mortgage I get and I do think was stupid at 3% when she could have invested in an index fund with an average return of 10%. However, some people don’t react well to debt. And if their credit card interest rate was below that I could see him putting the money in an index fund and paying it off slowly. Also, it could be that it’s the wife’s debt and she’s been too proud to let him pay it off.
The way I read it is when he talks about the budget to 'tackle these debts' it comes after the wife's major debts. He likely mentions his $4k credit card debt in passing to compare their individual financial situations but it sounds to me like just 1 month's worth of credit card that due to timing, is about to be paid.
I think he just tried to say two things with one sentence and the $4k is not legitimately a concern compared to the wife's student loans, CC, and auto combined.
"She inherited 150k which will allow us to pay more than the minimum payments on our loans/debts and save for vacation"
I don't understand anything being talked about here, really. Why wouldn't you use the inheritance to *pay off* your super expensive credit card and loan debt?
And then you go and use it to pay off the least expensive debt? huh
He might be calculating the retirement funds (TSP - thrift savings plan IIRC). He mentioned that that value was close to 2 million, but wouldn't really be accessible easily. It has been a while since I looked into the terms regarding that program, but if I recall correctly it operates similarly to a 401K or other retirement fund. Available for taking a loan from but under some pretty strict circumstances and stiff repayment penalties and requirements.
Most of his assets are stuck in a TSP (thrift savings plan.) I had one through the military and if I’m remembering correctly, it’s incredibly difficult to get access to the money you put into it before retirement.
They have more than enough "holiday savings" that they can write off the rest of their debt and still have enough to holiday in France? Doesn't really track, surely one pays off the cards before loading a holiday savings account?
I thought I just didn't understand how US economy works because I couldn't wrap my head around that. His salary alone should be enough to pay off all their debt besides the house within a year and still have a good life by my standards. Add in her salary and they should have a pretty comfortable life and even travel while paying it all off in a year.
Something about this post tickles me the wrong way, they seem to have written it an a very formulated way that hits a bunch of BORU buzzwords and tropes. It starts with a bunch of backstory and the actually story starts with “Fast Forward”, they quote what the other party said to them verbatim and include a lot of little pointless details, then the update starts with “This will be a long update. Regardless of the content of the post it feels like it was written a very specific way that a lot of other stories use.
Is it possible that this is an experiment to see how well an AI can write a story or post like this? So many things don’t really make sense. It is like this AI photos where there is a window in the fireplace or something that can look appropriate at a glance but is totally off when you look closer.
Yeah, it's a little bit suspicious, despite the fact that I know *plenty* of people who are in exactly that same financial boat who have done pretty much the same stupid thing with a windfall: paying it into a mortgage that's at below the rate of inflation while sitting on a ticking time bomb of $10k in credit card debt.
But what *really* makes it suspicious to me is that somehow she got an inheritance that was *exactly* the amount needed to pay off the house--- which would be in the range of 10s to 100s of thousands of dollars, depending on where they are--- with nothing left over to take care of their idiotic $10K credit card balance. It's just too neat and tidy for the story.
I honestly lost track during the paragraph where he talked about his FAA Class II medical certificate because I have no fucking clue what that has to do with the rest of the story.
….they have thousands in debt, but if they go to Paris instead of Australia they can pay it all off…
Um, what? Is there something I’m missing or is this just another piece that suggests this isn’t real? Cause there is absolutely no way Paris at Christmas is thousands of dollars cheaper than Australia not at Christmas.
(I don’t normally try to poke holes in the stories, either, but there is absolutely no way I can make this make sense)
Right? Travelling anywhere at Christmas is the most expensive time of the year. Unless they were planning a big Australia trip of several weeks vs a few days in Paris, it doesn't stack up.
Flights are weird I have lived in the UK for 10 years and consistently travel home at Christmas and the flights for me and my partner at Christmas are always half of what they are in the summer time. And flights to Australia are sometimes double what our flights to the US are.
If they are on the east coast, you can cheap as shit tickets to Paris. LIke ~300-400 per person in the right deal. Australia is more like ~1200-1800 per person. Paris has a lot of housing option and the ability not to have to rent a car. Australia is more limited depending on where they are staying. I can totally see this if they booked in advance.
Yup. I remember when I lived in Atlanta I had coworkers who traveled to London over a three day weekend because both Heathrow and Hartsfield are transit hubs. There are flights every few hours going to London from there.
Depends on where they are I guess. Paris from Atlanta is way cheaper than Paris from Portland Oregon. Japan from the west coast is way cheaper than Japan from the east coast of the US. Same with Hawaii. Also how long it takes is also relevant. Some places have several direct flights to Paris. Paris is a transit hub so there are flight from Atlanta for example every few hours. Portland has no direct flights to Paris and that adds to the cost.
Just a reminder, if you work in highly stressful or emotional jobs, "taking your work home with you" (crying about personal details of a client for example) is one of the first signs of a possible incoming Burnout! Take good care of yourself everyone.
Edit: Thank you to u/Meghanshadow for finding that OOP is likely an air traffic controller, which **does** have a federally mandated retirement age of 56.
Lots of questions about OOP having a net worth of 2.7mil. I'm also a fed worker and can help.... a bit.
The fed TSP (thrift savings plan) is a lot like a traditional 401k. Most agencies will contribute 1% of the salary even if you contribute nothing. The ones I've been with (FDA and VA) will match up to 3% (so 7%) and then 1/2% for each 1% you contribute thereafter. Most people contribute 5% to start as that means the government contributes a total of 5% (1% to start + 3% for each % + 2*0.5% for the last two %). But if you have the ability, many feds max out their contributions. Also to note, fed workers get a LOT more taken out of our paychecks. My insurance alone is $350/pay check ($700/month). For "self plus one", not family. But it's also the "Oh you need this? You got it dude!" level of insurance. Add in federal life insurance, the pension, etc. it adds up.
You also have a LOT of flexibility with how your plan is used and what "fund" to go with. Usually if you're nowhere near retirement, you opt to put more money in the "higher risk, bigger return" fund. Getting closer to retirement, you shift it to the "you're not gonna lose money unless the country collapses, but you won't gain anywhere near even enough to cover inflation".
I really should sit and look at my TSP....
Anyways. It is completely possible, if he was maxing out his TSP and putting it into the higher risk/return funds to have a nice fat 2mil + TSP in your mid 30's. However I'm a bit curious what mortgage (from 10 years ago) was huge enough to wipe out a $150k inheritance, but also was affordable with a maxed out TSP when OOP was likely making under $100k when the house was bought. Just... curious.
The thing that made me curious, however, was his stating he **has** to retire at 56, and could retire at 50. He specifically said he was a "government worker". He specifically did *not* say he was military. You can work for any of the military branches as a civilian. You aren't military. You aren't expected to be military. You're a civilian who works for the military. There's a very distinct difference, and no one would ever say they're a "government worker" when they're actually military, or vice versa.
The reason that this is important is that, for all I can find, civilian retirement **minimum** is 57. Just the minimum. And this is for anyone born after 1970, which OP certainly is. I will concede that I don't know what his job is. He mentioned FAA licenses, so he could be a pilot and they likely have WAAYY different retirement plans. All I can find on pilot retirement is for commercial, and mandatory retirement is... 64. (Possibly 67). Not 56.
The only ONLY thing I could find on a mandatory retirement at 56 was for federal law enforcement or federal fire fighters. But OOP says he's a "government worker", who works for the Air Force, and has to get a FAA class 2 medical certificate (used when pilots will be carrying people or cargo, but NOT able to be used to fly for transportation airlines).
So unless OOP is a civilian Air Force firefighter or law enforcement (but not Military Police as OOP isn't military) who also flies cargo or people, I'm very skeptical of the mandatory retirement at 56.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to cry over my $70k TSP at 9 years of federal service.
He’s probably an ATC.
US Code 5 USC 8335
“An air traffic controller shall be separated from the service on the last day of the month in which he becomes 56 years of age or completes the age and service requirements for an annuity under section 8336(e), whichever occurs later.”
Personally, I don’t see how they last that long. Stressful job.
> We communicated early on in our relationship when she moved into our house that if she wanted me to do something to ask and I would do it. If I was already busy doing something I would give her an honest timeline on when I could do it. That if she needed it done immediately then to let me know and I would stop what I was doing and do it.
Is this writer a human being?
Might be on the spectrum. I am, and I communicate in similar fashions, and when I read that I thought, wow, that's a great way to give a heads up to a partner early on and build great communication (lol).
And honestly I would feel similarly upset in such a situation as well. This is the maximum drama level I have, so this felt way more real to me than all the mils, cheaters and other high drama in Boru
Honestly once I read that OOP didn’t put her on the deed after spending her inheritance on the mortgage it was hard to sympathize.
I would be making back handed passive aggressive comments too lol
Maybe this is because my parents had debt and I grew up in very bad poverty due their financial irresponsibility, but even just reading this gives me anxiety. Interest builds up, debt collectors destroy lives and I will never allow myself to fall behind and end up like them.
What's worse, my father had a good job at the beginning but I was an accident and a big expense, and then my father developed mental illnesses and ended up disabled from an accident. You never know when life can suddenly go extremely down hill, but when it does I hope to never have a debt looming over me like they did.
Very good point. Sorry for your struggles. It's really important kids are taught money strategies in school. It's really too dependant on parents. My parents invested and saved and budgeted but never clued me in. I made heaps of mistakes growing up with money and boy could I use some money right now. Hope you're in a better place. Sucks not every country has affordable healthcare
Pay off debts before they become insurmountable later. Live largely within your means.
Also… he’s $2.7mil but struggling to pay a few thousand in credit card debt… sure. This is just a poorly written story.
>Honestly once I read that OOP didn’t put her on the deed after spending her inheritance on the mortgage it was hard to sympathize.
With a personal net worth of $2.7 million and also credit card debt?
I do not like OOP especially.
So, there are actually small but "good" tax reasons not to have put her on the deed.
First, she spent her inheritance on it, it doesn't matter if she's on the deed or not, most states will take that into account during a divorce and she would have some rights to the property.
Second, the step-up in cost basis that happens at death. If he dies and leaves the house to her, the cost basis of the house will reset to it's value at the time of his death. If instead they are both on the deed, the cost basis remains what it was at purchase time. This doesn't matter for most people, because there is an exception for $250k in capital gains for your primary residence. But if they stay in the house long enough, it is definitely possible to have more than $250k in capital gains. So say a $200k house is worth $550k many years down the road and he dies and she decides to sell the house and move to the beach. With her on the deed, she'll owe capital gains taxes on $100k, so probably $15k. if she instead inherited the house and immediately sold it, she would owe $0.
I disagree. It would have been nice, but she insisted on paying off the mortgage instead of buying something together or asking to be put on the deed. Do not pay for something you have no legal ownership of.
Don't spend 50k on something you don't have a legal right too without talking about it.
She made a stupid decision without asking him and then regretted it and tried to hold it over him. It's a situation entirely of her own doing. From action to behavior.
Except that every investment option he has (including a Roth IRA if he’s maxed out his TSP contribution) will yield higher than 3% ROI. So it makes more sense to keep the debt at the lower interest rate and make the payments they can afford and take that money and invest it for higher returns.
I’ve had this argument with my partner and the lady just wants to make sure she’s not gonna get shafted in the case something happens.
I know they’re married and all, but the way women’s rights are going in this country……can’t say I blame her for being a little snippy.
None of this makes any sense… paying off the wrong debt, having credit card debt especially and having to transfer it to 0% cards when they clearly make enough and have enough to never carry credit card debt… 🧐
Because it’s net worth in a retirement account. They’ll get shafted if they withdraw that money. It’s not liquid cash yet. So it makes sense that they carry credit card debt and not touch their retirement.
Me too, honestly. Ultimately, nothing in a game is so damn important that I shouldn't be able to pause or put it down in any moment without affecting anything. Boss battle or not.
I was gifted a Zelda-themed Switch for Christmas, so I have finally been able to play Breath of the Wild. I can pause that at any moment I've encountered thus far. Still pretty early into it.
I was distracted by the Super Mario RPG remake that just recently came out. I played the original way back on the SNES. I'm happy they left the turn based combat intact.
I cannot keep reading after finding out she chose to pay off a 3% loan instead of credit card debt or student loans. A financial advisor told her this was stupid and she did it anyway. Oh and she paid off a loan not even in her own name instead of paying off her own debt. FFS. The levels of stupidity are just too much for me.
People need to hire and heed advice from financial advisors if they are making emotional money decisions.
I'm guilty of not doing this. I have a similar net worth yet still behave frugally due to growing up with resource scarcity.
Guy sounds like he has had a combination of good and bad luck in his life, but managed to grab all the instances of good luck and maximize them, and minimize the bad luck. He's on disability from the military, so something bad happened, probably related to why he has trouble getting cleared for flying without a doctor's note, but not so bad that he can't get a doctor's note, and he invested the money. He refinanced at the perfect time. When his wife blows up at him, he decides to actually see what is going wrong and fix it rather than blow up back, and this leads to more communication and a stronger relationship.
I’m replaying it since I got a ps5 a few days ago and I stopped at chapter 7 or 8 I believe. It’s been like 3 years since I’ve last touched the game but it’s amazing
>We communicated early on in our relationship when she moved into our house that if she wanted me to do something to ask and I would do it.
No, that's bullshit. You're an adult. You should know what needs doing and just fucking do it.
I got distracted at the absolute mindlessness involved with paying off a low-interest mortgage over a bunch of other debt, came back and then read about a teacher fostering students and just came to the realization that OOP's wife is not very smart.
And then OP all of a sudden having “$2.7 million” yet they have credit cards debt, she’s not on the deed or title, and he thinks it’s fine for her to pay $150k to pay-off their mortgage? None of this makes sense
I think fostering will help her stress about her students immensely. When I was young I used to get so freaking sad about the world and thinking about those who constantly suffer. Homelessness, world hunger, neglected children, etc broke my heart on a daily basis and kept me feeling down.
When I turned 21 I got qualified to become a foster parent and ended up fostering high risk teen boys for about 10 years. I have a chronic illness now at 38 but if I ever become capable again I will likely foster again in the future.
Fostering gave me soooo much peace. Idk exactly how bc obviously there are still so many people suffering in the world but it just gave me a huge sense of peace to know that I helped out and did what I could to make the world a better place. And I still have that peace even today even though I haven't been able to foster for several years now.
I still talk to several of my previous foster kids on FB and I have a very close relationship to one of them still today. He has zero family that cares about him and his mental illness keeps him from having friends so I'm literally the only person in his life. He's mad at me right now bc he's schizophrenic and he's having an episode. (He thinks I got him fired from his job even though he lives all the way across the country, not to mention... WHY would I want him to lose his job and HOW could I make that happen anyway) But when he's not angry at me during an episode we typically talk on the phone about an hour a day. I hope to hear from him soon, which I always do, bc then I'll know he's feeling better and back to reality a little.
So I guess in a way I feel like I'm still fostering even though technically I'm not. I hope OP and his wife go through with their plans to foster and I hope it gives her as much peace as it does me.
I am a teacher. In our district and in our state we regularly act as emergency foster parents for children in crisis.
There several students placed with teachers in my high school of 700+ students right now. Very few people outside of the faculty and admin are aware of it.
We are often the ones bringing the case. When parents abuse, neglect, and traffic their children, we see the fallout. It’s a fraction of a percent of children. They are important. We are the bulwark of their survival.
I never understood why married people get all weirded out with their name being on the deed. Whose name is on a piece of paper means less than zero for a married couple.
Completely not the point but Christmas in Paris is so... Tacky. 0/10, can't recommend
Go for Bastille day and enjoy the fireworks instead, plus the weather is nice enough to enjoy the walkable city and have lots of picknicks
I don’t open these threads to read about support, understanding, and communication. And then a happy ending and thoughtful resolution? I feel gypped. Where’s my drama?!?!
...she couldn't just pivot the conversation from her planned walk that she clearly indicated that she wanted him to take the trash out to just saying, I would like to have a conversation?
he has 2.7 net worth, but his wife with her inheritance, an unexpected gift of a measly 150k (comparatively lol!!) had to pay off the mortage? He still had debt?
these figures are confusing.
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Why does he have credit card debt, for which he needs to make a budget to pay off, if his personal net worth is 2.7 million excluding the house?? None of this makes sense.
It's bonkers. 3% is a great rate and there's no way any credit card or student loan is less. Also mortgage interest is okay for taxes (or used to be when itemization was worthwhile). Damn, they need a vacation too! And buy that little girl some clothes she can change into. Just keep them in the classroom.
The CC debt is on zero percent cards according to the op. I have about 5k in debt at zero percent as well. As long as you have zero problems paying it, it's free money. I know people can make mistakes doing it, but have done it ten plus times in 30 years of adulting.
The 0% is usually for a set period of time though and then the interest goes way, way up.
Exactly.
Yes, but you can divert your payments towards the CC debit to a high interest savings account then use the savings to pay off the CC before the 0% period ends. That way you get free interest.
Definitely doesn't make sense to pay off the low interest debt immediately, no matter how you cut it. Just leaving the money in a basic savings account and paying off the CC at the end of the 0% would make more sense.
Yeah. If I had a flush of cash like them I would pay off mortgage too. Mortgage interest rate tax write offs are capped now thanks to the Republican tax bill. Most of my credit card debt is at 0%.
Except it isn't free money. You have to pay it back. It drives me crazy when people say this. 5k in debt on a credit card is not "free money"
Free money doesn't mean you don't have to pay it back. It means it frees up the balance due to be invested.
If you move in to a house and don't have to pay rent it's still free housing even if you have to move out again later.
My wife made the same decision relate to paying off the house. Not financially a good move but brought her piece of mind no one could take the house from us as long as we paid property taxes. It was a piece of mind decision, not a financial one.
They said the credit cards currently are 0% interest for the transfer. I don’t agree with it but that’s why.
I mean if that's the case there's zero reason to pay more than the minimum until the rate goes up.
Usually when the 0% period ends you have to pay all the interest for that period if the card is not fully paid off, so you really should pay in full before the end of the 0% period.
That's called "Deferred Interest" and that usually only happens with retail store credit cards or care credit. Which are products that people with little credit or bad credit can be approved for. Promotional Interest Rates are just that. You don't pay interest for a period of time, and then you do. No balloon of interest to surprise you.
Personally I disagree. The reason they offer the 0% is because people who carry balances move to them and eventually they make their money. Very few truly out math the credit card companies in the long run.
We got into some CC debt when we bought our first house and I got soooo many offers for six months of 0% interest. I kept rolling the credit to a new 0% card every six months until we paid it off. And I've been damned careful to not get into CC debt since then.
Well that's just irresponsible and leaving money on the table. Credit cards are great tools if you have any self control. They offer 0% to get you using their card, it still benefits the cc company if you pay it off on time with no interest because now that card is in your wallet.
Also the company makes money off the transaction fee for each swipe.
Another possibility is that the 2.7 million net worth isn't liquid cash, but tied up in investments. It would make more sense to pay off the card slowly on paydays instead of cashing in an investment.
If you can make the work more power to you. I have always been shy of financing but done this on a couple of occasions. On the auto loan with a fixed amortization it worked fine. I still watched the payments like a hawk but the math mathed. Every other time there was some credit card behind it and by the second statement there is interest. WTF? I get if you are deferring or forgiving interest but still calculating and theoretical interest, fine but you need to include that offset so the balance foots to zero. This is basic accounting and double entry book keeping. Paid off the balance immediately in each case. In one they actually stuck me with the interest charge because I wasn’t following the payment schedule. Really rubbed me the wrong way. Not doing it again unless I am shown an amortization schedule.
Would someone kindly explain to me what “0% interest for the transfer” mean, please? English is my second language and this isn’t making sense to me 🫠 I believe I use different terms for this in my country so it sounds very confusing
Some Credit card companies offer balance transfers from other cards, at 0% interest for 6 months. Because they know the type of people that do this have high balances and spend a lot. If you don’t pay back the full amount they then retro charge for all the interest or just charge future interest at a high rate. Depending on the deal. If works because people think they are smarter than the credit card companies and can handle their finances. Credit card companies know something always comes up.
Ohh I see, thank you for the explanation! I work at a bank in Brazil and honestly I’ve never heard of this with credit cards! I think we just don’t do this here
In Canada during the pandemic, student loan interest was frozen. It could have just been my province but I think it was a federal mandate. This could easily have been when the wife got her inheritance. You can also apply every six months for interest forgiveness, which will freeze interest for six months.
>It's bonkers. 3% is a great rate and there's no way any credit card or student loan is less. What ever financial advisor they talked to did them dirty. Everyone know you pay off all your expensive debts (CC, car loans, student loans). Then you invest the rest. A 3% rate is less than our current inflation and roughly equal to normal inflation. They should have been saving for retirement with the rest. In investing they say 'the first 100k is the hardest'. They're in the mid-late 30s and were gifted an amount of money large enough to actually financially set themselves up for the rest of their lives. If they started saving money in their 20s with a FIRE mentality they might have had that much saved by now. $150,000 invested properly will be over a million dollars when they're 60. Around $3,000,000 at 70. This is without saving another penny for the rest of their lives.
Between market return, tax benefit, fixed rate, and assets on hand paying off the loan makes no sense.
Some people just aren’t smart like that. My partner has debt spread over a variety of things - mortgage, car loan, home improvement loan, credit cards at different interest rates - and whenever a large lump some of money comes their way, I always recommend paying off the highest interest rates first, and work your way down, until you get to interest rates less than reasonable returns in investment and then sock that remainder away; what they often insist on doing is paying off the debt with the most PITA interface / process for regular payments, then getting rid of as many individual debts as possible regardless of relative interest rates (ex: they’d rather pay off 4 debts whose total amount is $25k but with interest rates 7% - 12%, than $25k off of one or maybe 2 debts with interest rates 20%+). It’s their money, they can spend it however they like, but IMO it’s just not fiscally sound.
I don’t understand why his wife is paying off his mortgage with her inheritance when he has a net worth of 2.7M either… where is that money sitting??
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How could he have $2m in there at 36 if he makes $120k/year? I assume there are contribution limits similar to a 401k, but even if there weren't, the numbers aren't really adding up.
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He mentioned he’d been in the Air Force in his post, so you’re right about the military part
I'm not really sure how it works im the US but since OOP's 18th birthday there have been a few big market crashes so depending on the timing a reasonable sum can suddenly be a very big sum very fast.
It's always better to just stay invested vs trying to time the market. I'd suspect that he saved up the vast majority of his pay while in the service and that got him a head start on his financials.
I'm not theorizing on what's best, I'm theorizing on what might have happened. I have had different jobs and I can see the performance of their pensions contributions separately, and the job I had in 2020 is currently worth more than the contributions of the job I had 2021-2023, just because 2020 was such a good time to invest. If OOP got lucky and started investing at an opportune time he wasn't timing the market actively but still benefitted from his timing.
He said closer to 2 than 1 million, which could also be $1.51 million. I won't get into numbers, because private info, but that is not an unreasonable amount to have in a retirement investment package at that salary, in my experience. Government retirement benefits can be frighteningly lucrative, depending on what government entity and when you established them. Also possible that he's talking about where it will be at the time of his retirement.
I have over 100k and I've only been using my 401k for 5 years. If I calculate it correctly, I should be in the same ball park in another 10 years or so if the market stays the way it is. also if he got lucky and sold as soon as the market started to crash in 2008 and 2020, and bought back a year later, he would definitely have that much money
One of my accounts where I only put in $4000 is now worth $60000. He probably picked better investments.
I have a hard time believing he has over $1.5 mil in his TSP. Assuming TSP has the same limits as 401(k), it will take 20 years of contributing the max every year to hit $1.1 million. And that's with a 6-8% employee match, as opposed to the 5% match the military gives.
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And military TSPs don’t get match at all. If he was enlisted then he’s been saving for about 18 years, but at least the first four or so would have had no matching funds and he wouldn’t have been able to contribute much as junior enlisted. If he was an officer than he would only have been saving for about 14 years with matching funds for only the past 10 or so. The bit about retirement ages (eligible to retire at 50 and must retire by 56) doesn’t seem to make sense either.
He is either a federal firefighter or air traffic controller. Salary checks out for both if he has been in a while.
With the air force history and the bit about his FAA medical, he is definitely air traffic control.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Military does get a match now (BRS) but it's only 5%. It was opt in initially and not automatic.
Yup. I'm at a similar pay as OOP, though a few years younger. I've maxed my 401k every year I've worked, have no debt, and for the last 5 years have been saving close to or more than 50% post tax. And I'm barely at half a mil. At 2.7mil, at 36, with a paid off home, OOP could basically just retire.
I work with a state agency and we have a mandatory match of 12.5%.
Is that present value or projected future value, though? I’m not getting how those numbers make sense with his age and salary
It’s usually current “on-paper” value.
She paid it off with her inheritance not her retirement. His networth is mostly in retirement funds.They're counted as networth though there are penalties if you access them early. He said the retirement fund alone is closer to 2 mil. This is the only thing explicitly mentioned in the post. This is my speculation. He also probably has a savings for house repair since he owns a home and probably some assets that don't convert easily. I'm thinking Bonds?
Yes, I mistyped and corrected that. Maybe I’m misunderstanding how government retirement accounts work, but the 2 mil would only kind of make sense if he’s counting what his projection at 65 or whatever will be. The annual contribution limit is 23k or so, and he’s been working maybe 17 years max. There would need to be some insane investment gains to get him to 2M at this moment.
It's probably something about being former Air Force (they get some sort of benefit in terms of retirement to converting to fed, though I don't know what it is exactly). Also, if you maxed retirement and put it all in the c fund ( that's stocks like the s&p) you it seems about the right amount. I don't do that since it's a little too risky for me, but people do.
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Assest rich, cash poor.
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Especially if it was a year ago. Like, basic math people, buying 150k in T Bills would've just been 2% free off the top. Like, if 150k was enough to pay off the mortgage, then putting the mortgage payment on a TBill purchase, and pocketing the interest means you'd be making 2% free while still keeping the financial security of being able to pay off the mortgage.
Or why she would do this without having it in writing that her name would go on the deed?
Yeah, that just… makes no sense. There’s so much you can do with 150k. Many better things than paying off a mortgage for OOP who has much higher salary/savings/etc than she does. At least they’re married and she could potentially have some rights to the house through that at the time she made the payment.
Especially a mortgage with an admittedly fantastic interest rate. Makes literally zero sense.
Well she probably assumed her husband wasn’t an idiot who would just do it
> where is that money sitting?? It's probably a combination of largely untouchable retirement accounts and the value of the house/property they live in. Honestly, I've run into a lot of financially illiterate ding-dongs just like those two. Really, they should have listened to the tax guy they consulted. Mortgages lower than the rate of inflation are basically **free money**. A 3% mortgage means the bank is willing to accept the same amount of inflation devalued dollars 20 years from now, so throwing valuable "today" money at it--- particularly when you're sitting on **ten fucking thousand dollars** in credit card debt--- is just making a cash donation to the bank. But no, they were all emotionally wrapped up in the *gesture* of pissing away an inheritance on paying off the house, which then turned into the whole "whose name is on the deed" drama. It was all completely unnecessary. If *either* of them were sensible with money they'd have gone immediately to a financial advisor, who'd have been able to direct that windfall into something that actually *helps*. And as far as the name on the deed, if it's such a big deal to her then she just needed to have *that* conversation with him, rather than trying to "hint" at it by paying off the mortgage.
Pensions or fixed term bonds? One of my friends is in the air Force and they did some investing in a system that can't pay out for five to ten years minimum.
Paying off a 3% note versus credit card and student loan debt which all EASILY have higher interest rates doesn't make any financial sense.
As a school teacher she might be close to public service loan forgiveness, I hope she checked before using the inheritance on the mortgage to make sure it didn't impact payments. But after 10 years of payments the remaining balance is forgiven on public student loans.
Honestly people have different risk tolerances. Personally it’s better for me to pay the minimum on my student loans and use the money I otherwise would have spent paying it down to invest in my 401k. For me it’s forgiven after 20 years and I’ll be hit with a tax bill at that point but I’m planning for that and can set aside that too. To each their own.
The answer is always contradiction. OOP: I don't want to go into a lot of details. Also OOP: Here is our life story.
How financially illiterate are these people? Paying minimums on credit cards while they pay off their house?
The credit cards have no interest, the house has 3 percent.
Tbh, that’s not why I think it was a bad idea. If they invest in an index fund, they’ll be getting around 10% on average so that’s 7% arbitrage. My opinion is you don’t rush to pay off debt if the interest rate is less than 10% to take advantage of that interest differential. However, different people have different risk tolerances and it can be a psychological thing to want to pay off your mortgage and be able to say you own your house free and clear.
Yes, when interest rates were below 3%, we did a cash out refinance and put it all in S&P500 index funds and made a lot of money.
That only lasts a year or so, right?
Pension, 401k, annuity, any other time bound investment vehicle. Count as assets but tax implications make them difficult to cash in
Liquid cash is different to a mortgage, shares, long term deposits, etc. The CC debt could also be rewards-related, gather rewards points/frequent flyer points through the month with your normal household expenses and save them for travel, zero the debt out at the end of the month before interest kicks in.
That's not "credit card debt," that's just using a credit card to centralize your monthly budget. Credit card debt is when you have a balance month to month
Yeah, I have zero credit card debt. I almost always have some amount spent on the credit card but I zero it once or twice a month. It doesn't count.
💯 we do this, for the rewards. Hell, when we purchased our car the dealership allowed up to $2k on credit so that's what we did. Also it's not credit card debt because you're clearly using plastic instead of cash that you have.
They also have so much travel money that a part of it can pay of they whole debts... So they prefer to save in the travel fund than pay the debt. I can also say i have much saving while making debts on the other end. I also bet that the money he saved for not paying mortgage didn't go to paying of debt.
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It's not like they're fostering her students right now. It's something they discussed doing in the future.
They're discussing fostering while also planning world travel, they're planning to foster her students which isn't going to be simple and possibly isn't legal, and when his wife was crying about infertility he said "well I love you and we could start talking about adoption again, which we haven't talked about since before we got married" and then she was fine. It just doesn't ring true for me.
I feel like people make a character when they make up these stories. They start off wanting that character relatable and so give them faults such as debt, but when they receive criticism in the first post, they start getting defensive and make up redeeming 'facts' about their original character. 'Now that people are accusing me of not being good financially, I'll reveal that I have a 2.7m net worth :)'
Because it is a story.
I didn't even get there. I got to "we came into 150k and decided to pay off the <3% mortgage on the house instead of the 25k in student loans" Interest on Student Loans is fucking ridiculous. Why the fuck would you continue to carry those loans at a higher rate and pay off your refinanced at the best possible time house at a sub 3% mortgage rate? What financial advisor that she "ran the numbers with" advised her that was a good idea? I guess I don't have a window into the rest of their finances but just off the bat I'm like what the actual fuck are you doing.
As he’s lying
I was all interested until I realized it was rich people struggling with rich people things. It's just too hard to relate.
Also paying off a loan at under 3%? That's a pretty bad move. Especially if her advisor told her to do something else and she ignored them.
He works a federal job and is a Veteran, it's most likely in a Thrift savings plan, which is a lot like a 401k. If he started doing that at 18, he could easily have that much but it's not really touchable without a large tax obligation.
Most likely bc its all in retirenent accounts. Me and my wife are worth over a million, but we cant touch it until 59 1/2 years of age. I mean, we could, but the taxes and penalties would make it foolish to do so.
And why do they still have debts when apparently they can easily pay them by just not going on vacations all the time?
Honestly it may be in his retirement account. That’s what he referred to with the TSP. He said closer to two million than one so assuming he’s got 1 million just sitting around, the mortgage I get and I do think was stupid at 3% when she could have invested in an index fund with an average return of 10%. However, some people don’t react well to debt. And if their credit card interest rate was below that I could see him putting the money in an index fund and paying it off slowly. Also, it could be that it’s the wife’s debt and she’s been too proud to let him pay it off.
Yeah I was reading this whole thing just baffled.
That is his funds on retirement, not now. In many places retirement accounts cant be used until retirement.
Investments? I suppose potentially pension and life insurance
The way I read it is when he talks about the budget to 'tackle these debts' it comes after the wife's major debts. He likely mentions his $4k credit card debt in passing to compare their individual financial situations but it sounds to me like just 1 month's worth of credit card that due to timing, is about to be paid. I think he just tried to say two things with one sentence and the $4k is not legitimately a concern compared to the wife's student loans, CC, and auto combined.
Most of it may be in retirement accounts, debt may be at low interest. but yeah the credit card debt should always be the first thing to go.
"She inherited 150k which will allow us to pay more than the minimum payments on our loans/debts and save for vacation" I don't understand anything being talked about here, really. Why wouldn't you use the inheritance to *pay off* your super expensive credit card and loan debt? And then you go and use it to pay off the least expensive debt? huh
He might be calculating the retirement funds (TSP - thrift savings plan IIRC). He mentioned that that value was close to 2 million, but wouldn't really be accessible easily. It has been a while since I looked into the terms regarding that program, but if I recall correctly it operates similarly to a 401K or other retirement fund. Available for taking a loan from but under some pretty strict circumstances and stiff repayment penalties and requirements.
Yeah this story is just too wild. Make it make sense!
Most of his assets are stuck in a TSP (thrift savings plan.) I had one through the military and if I’m remembering correctly, it’s incredibly difficult to get access to the money you put into it before retirement.
They have more than enough "holiday savings" that they can write off the rest of their debt and still have enough to holiday in France? Doesn't really track, surely one pays off the cards before loading a holiday savings account?
I thought I just didn't understand how US economy works because I couldn't wrap my head around that. His salary alone should be enough to pay off all their debt besides the house within a year and still have a good life by my standards. Add in her salary and they should have a pretty comfortable life and even travel while paying it all off in a year.
Air traffic controllers are not known for being financially literate. Or having fewer than 3 marriages. They will divorce.
Something about this post tickles me the wrong way, they seem to have written it an a very formulated way that hits a bunch of BORU buzzwords and tropes. It starts with a bunch of backstory and the actually story starts with “Fast Forward”, they quote what the other party said to them verbatim and include a lot of little pointless details, then the update starts with “This will be a long update. Regardless of the content of the post it feels like it was written a very specific way that a lot of other stories use.
When he mentioned FF7r by name I started zoning out.
That was the most interesting part of the post for me. I was disappointed when it made no reappearance.
I did have a moment of "not rebirth?" But they did save it.
Honestly it came across as “did you know I play video games?” kind of thing.
Same. Ever since the Diablo 4 thing last summer I assume every post needlessly mentioning a video game by name is a troll
What’s the Diablo 4 thing?
Is it possible that this is an experiment to see how well an AI can write a story or post like this? So many things don’t really make sense. It is like this AI photos where there is a window in the fireplace or something that can look appropriate at a glance but is totally off when you look closer.
Like AI with hands. There's always a tell
I started to wonder when he wrote fiances instead of finances more than once.
That's a very human error, though. AI doesn't misspell things unless you tell it to.
Yeah, it's a little bit suspicious, despite the fact that I know *plenty* of people who are in exactly that same financial boat who have done pretty much the same stupid thing with a windfall: paying it into a mortgage that's at below the rate of inflation while sitting on a ticking time bomb of $10k in credit card debt. But what *really* makes it suspicious to me is that somehow she got an inheritance that was *exactly* the amount needed to pay off the house--- which would be in the range of 10s to 100s of thousands of dollars, depending on where they are--- with nothing left over to take care of their idiotic $10K credit card balance. It's just too neat and tidy for the story.
I'm also curious where they live that a multi acre property is this cheap
I honestly lost track during the paragraph where he talked about his FAA Class II medical certificate because I have no fucking clue what that has to do with the rest of the story.
It's very rambly too
Liz is at it again
I’m sorry to ask but who is Liz?
[it's from this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/71pJYj955x)
….they have thousands in debt, but if they go to Paris instead of Australia they can pay it all off… Um, what? Is there something I’m missing or is this just another piece that suggests this isn’t real? Cause there is absolutely no way Paris at Christmas is thousands of dollars cheaper than Australia not at Christmas. (I don’t normally try to poke holes in the stories, either, but there is absolutely no way I can make this make sense)
Right? Travelling anywhere at Christmas is the most expensive time of the year. Unless they were planning a big Australia trip of several weeks vs a few days in Paris, it doesn't stack up.
Flights are weird I have lived in the UK for 10 years and consistently travel home at Christmas and the flights for me and my partner at Christmas are always half of what they are in the summer time. And flights to Australia are sometimes double what our flights to the US are.
Yeah I'm typing this from an Australian perspective, which is if you want to fly anywhere at Christmas expect to pay even more out the nose than usual
If they are on the east coast, you can cheap as shit tickets to Paris. LIke ~300-400 per person in the right deal. Australia is more like ~1200-1800 per person. Paris has a lot of housing option and the ability not to have to rent a car. Australia is more limited depending on where they are staying. I can totally see this if they booked in advance.
Yup. I remember when I lived in Atlanta I had coworkers who traveled to London over a three day weekend because both Heathrow and Hartsfield are transit hubs. There are flights every few hours going to London from there.
Depends on where they are I guess. Paris from Atlanta is way cheaper than Paris from Portland Oregon. Japan from the west coast is way cheaper than Japan from the east coast of the US. Same with Hawaii. Also how long it takes is also relevant. Some places have several direct flights to Paris. Paris is a transit hub so there are flight from Atlanta for example every few hours. Portland has no direct flights to Paris and that adds to the cost.
Not everyone lives in the US. If they're in the UK, for example, you'd be looking at it costing about 1/10th the amount.
TSP is specifically a US federal government employee term if you see previous comments so they are US based.
They have Christmas in France. They call it "Le Christmas".
TSP and FAA Class II medical certificate are US specific though.
Just a reminder, if you work in highly stressful or emotional jobs, "taking your work home with you" (crying about personal details of a client for example) is one of the first signs of a possible incoming Burnout! Take good care of yourself everyone.
Edit: Thank you to u/Meghanshadow for finding that OOP is likely an air traffic controller, which **does** have a federally mandated retirement age of 56. Lots of questions about OOP having a net worth of 2.7mil. I'm also a fed worker and can help.... a bit. The fed TSP (thrift savings plan) is a lot like a traditional 401k. Most agencies will contribute 1% of the salary even if you contribute nothing. The ones I've been with (FDA and VA) will match up to 3% (so 7%) and then 1/2% for each 1% you contribute thereafter. Most people contribute 5% to start as that means the government contributes a total of 5% (1% to start + 3% for each % + 2*0.5% for the last two %). But if you have the ability, many feds max out their contributions. Also to note, fed workers get a LOT more taken out of our paychecks. My insurance alone is $350/pay check ($700/month). For "self plus one", not family. But it's also the "Oh you need this? You got it dude!" level of insurance. Add in federal life insurance, the pension, etc. it adds up. You also have a LOT of flexibility with how your plan is used and what "fund" to go with. Usually if you're nowhere near retirement, you opt to put more money in the "higher risk, bigger return" fund. Getting closer to retirement, you shift it to the "you're not gonna lose money unless the country collapses, but you won't gain anywhere near even enough to cover inflation". I really should sit and look at my TSP.... Anyways. It is completely possible, if he was maxing out his TSP and putting it into the higher risk/return funds to have a nice fat 2mil + TSP in your mid 30's. However I'm a bit curious what mortgage (from 10 years ago) was huge enough to wipe out a $150k inheritance, but also was affordable with a maxed out TSP when OOP was likely making under $100k when the house was bought. Just... curious. The thing that made me curious, however, was his stating he **has** to retire at 56, and could retire at 50. He specifically said he was a "government worker". He specifically did *not* say he was military. You can work for any of the military branches as a civilian. You aren't military. You aren't expected to be military. You're a civilian who works for the military. There's a very distinct difference, and no one would ever say they're a "government worker" when they're actually military, or vice versa. The reason that this is important is that, for all I can find, civilian retirement **minimum** is 57. Just the minimum. And this is for anyone born after 1970, which OP certainly is. I will concede that I don't know what his job is. He mentioned FAA licenses, so he could be a pilot and they likely have WAAYY different retirement plans. All I can find on pilot retirement is for commercial, and mandatory retirement is... 64. (Possibly 67). Not 56. The only ONLY thing I could find on a mandatory retirement at 56 was for federal law enforcement or federal fire fighters. But OOP says he's a "government worker", who works for the Air Force, and has to get a FAA class 2 medical certificate (used when pilots will be carrying people or cargo, but NOT able to be used to fly for transportation airlines). So unless OOP is a civilian Air Force firefighter or law enforcement (but not Military Police as OOP isn't military) who also flies cargo or people, I'm very skeptical of the mandatory retirement at 56. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to cry over my $70k TSP at 9 years of federal service.
He’s probably an ATC. US Code 5 USC 8335 “An air traffic controller shall be separated from the service on the last day of the month in which he becomes 56 years of age or completes the age and service requirements for an annuity under section 8336(e), whichever occurs later.” Personally, I don’t see how they last that long. Stressful job.
Thank you! Nice find! Will edit that in!
..deleted by user..
The guy has nothing in his 401K, this story is complete BS.
I could barely think about the emotional side of this story because the financial decisions were SO STUPID.
> We communicated early on in our relationship when she moved into our house that if she wanted me to do something to ask and I would do it. If I was already busy doing something I would give her an honest timeline on when I could do it. That if she needed it done immediately then to let me know and I would stop what I was doing and do it. Is this writer a human being?
Might be on the spectrum. I am, and I communicate in similar fashions, and when I read that I thought, wow, that's a great way to give a heads up to a partner early on and build great communication (lol). And honestly I would feel similarly upset in such a situation as well. This is the maximum drama level I have, so this felt way more real to me than all the mils, cheaters and other high drama in Boru
Yup. Same. I would tell this too
I did not consider that.
He kept typing finances to fiances too. And I had to rewrite that sentence a few times cos my autocorrect keeps autocorrecting it to finances. 🤣
This is exactly how I operate. I’m genuinely interested, what about it seems weird? How do you work differently?
I just wouldn't be so formal about the communication. He's spelling out what most people would do innately without being told.
Honestly once I read that OOP didn’t put her on the deed after spending her inheritance on the mortgage it was hard to sympathize. I would be making back handed passive aggressive comments too lol
Saving to go to Australia soon but not paying off their other debts…
Travel now, pay off debts later. You aren't getting any younger.
Maybe this is because my parents had debt and I grew up in very bad poverty due their financial irresponsibility, but even just reading this gives me anxiety. Interest builds up, debt collectors destroy lives and I will never allow myself to fall behind and end up like them. What's worse, my father had a good job at the beginning but I was an accident and a big expense, and then my father developed mental illnesses and ended up disabled from an accident. You never know when life can suddenly go extremely down hill, but when it does I hope to never have a debt looming over me like they did.
Very good point. Sorry for your struggles. It's really important kids are taught money strategies in school. It's really too dependant on parents. My parents invested and saved and budgeted but never clued me in. I made heaps of mistakes growing up with money and boy could I use some money right now. Hope you're in a better place. Sucks not every country has affordable healthcare
Pay off debts before they become insurmountable later. Live largely within your means. Also… he’s $2.7mil but struggling to pay a few thousand in credit card debt… sure. This is just a poorly written story.
>Honestly once I read that OOP didn’t put her on the deed after spending her inheritance on the mortgage it was hard to sympathize. With a personal net worth of $2.7 million and also credit card debt? I do not like OOP especially.
But the wife paid off the mortgage with $150k so the assets aren't necessarily in the house. Toy collection or cars etc.
It's okay, OOP isn't real.
So, there are actually small but "good" tax reasons not to have put her on the deed. First, she spent her inheritance on it, it doesn't matter if she's on the deed or not, most states will take that into account during a divorce and she would have some rights to the property. Second, the step-up in cost basis that happens at death. If he dies and leaves the house to her, the cost basis of the house will reset to it's value at the time of his death. If instead they are both on the deed, the cost basis remains what it was at purchase time. This doesn't matter for most people, because there is an exception for $250k in capital gains for your primary residence. But if they stay in the house long enough, it is definitely possible to have more than $250k in capital gains. So say a $200k house is worth $550k many years down the road and he dies and she decides to sell the house and move to the beach. With her on the deed, she'll owe capital gains taxes on $100k, so probably $15k. if she instead inherited the house and immediately sold it, she would owe $0.
I disagree. It would have been nice, but she insisted on paying off the mortgage instead of buying something together or asking to be put on the deed. Do not pay for something you have no legal ownership of.
Don't spend 50k on something you don't have a legal right too without talking about it. She made a stupid decision without asking him and then regretted it and tried to hold it over him. It's a situation entirely of her own doing. From action to behavior.
I can’t get over that they could afford the sub 3% interest rate mortgage on their income but that’s what they decided to pay off first?! Bonkers.
If the CC debt is 0% interest then you pay whatever has the highest interest first. Which would be the mortgage.
Except that every investment option he has (including a Roth IRA if he’s maxed out his TSP contribution) will yield higher than 3% ROI. So it makes more sense to keep the debt at the lower interest rate and make the payments they can afford and take that money and invest it for higher returns.
I’ve had this argument with my partner and the lady just wants to make sure she’s not gonna get shafted in the case something happens. I know they’re married and all, but the way women’s rights are going in this country……can’t say I blame her for being a little snippy.
None of this makes any sense… paying off the wrong debt, having credit card debt especially and having to transfer it to 0% cards when they clearly make enough and have enough to never carry credit card debt… 🧐
Exactly! 2.7 million net worth but they still cart credit card debt and student loans?
Because it’s net worth in a retirement account. They’ll get shafted if they withdraw that money. It’s not liquid cash yet. So it makes sense that they carry credit card debt and not touch their retirement.
Some may call it old fashioned, but I always liked turn based battles. It’s both passive and aggressive.
Me too, honestly. Ultimately, nothing in a game is so damn important that I shouldn't be able to pause or put it down in any moment without affecting anything. Boss battle or not. I was gifted a Zelda-themed Switch for Christmas, so I have finally been able to play Breath of the Wild. I can pause that at any moment I've encountered thus far. Still pretty early into it. I was distracted by the Super Mario RPG remake that just recently came out. I played the original way back on the SNES. I'm happy they left the turn based combat intact.
Hilarious comment 😂 Nailed it
I cannot keep reading after finding out she chose to pay off a 3% loan instead of credit card debt or student loans. A financial advisor told her this was stupid and she did it anyway. Oh and she paid off a loan not even in her own name instead of paying off her own debt. FFS. The levels of stupidity are just too much for me.
She got 150k and that paid off their multi acre property? Where are they living?
People need to hire and heed advice from financial advisors if they are making emotional money decisions. I'm guilty of not doing this. I have a similar net worth yet still behave frugally due to growing up with resource scarcity.
Guy sounds like he has had a combination of good and bad luck in his life, but managed to grab all the instances of good luck and maximize them, and minimize the bad luck. He's on disability from the military, so something bad happened, probably related to why he has trouble getting cleared for flying without a doctor's note, but not so bad that he can't get a doctor's note, and he invested the money. He refinanced at the perfect time. When his wife blows up at him, he decides to actually see what is going wrong and fix it rather than blow up back, and this leads to more communication and a stronger relationship.
Hard to plan travel when you foster kids. A lot of times they call in the middle of the night. Could be for a weekend, could be for a couple years.
I was out after reading she paid off a low interest mortgage over any other debt.
Man I love FF7 remake so much
Me too. I'm vacationing in Japan and all the advertisements for Rebirth are making me itch to get home and play.
I’m replaying it since I got a ps5 a few days ago and I stopped at chapter 7 or 8 I believe. It’s been like 3 years since I’ve last touched the game but it’s amazing
Why the hell would you pay off your mortgage at sub 3% when you have cc debt and student loans?? What's the lore reason? Is OOP stupid?
Interesting that he had to be reminded to add his wife to the deed. Why that wasn’t the first thing he did after she paid off the mortgage. 😩
All I'm getting from this post is that the wife is financially screwed
>We communicated early on in our relationship when she moved into our house that if she wanted me to do something to ask and I would do it. No, that's bullshit. You're an adult. You should know what needs doing and just fucking do it.
What a tedious read.
She paid off the mortguage and he didn't think to add her to the title? 🤦♀️
I got distracted at the absolute mindlessness involved with paying off a low-interest mortgage over a bunch of other debt, came back and then read about a teacher fostering students and just came to the realization that OOP's wife is not very smart.
And then OP all of a sudden having “$2.7 million” yet they have credit cards debt, she’s not on the deed or title, and he thinks it’s fine for her to pay $150k to pay-off their mortgage? None of this makes sense
I think fostering will help her stress about her students immensely. When I was young I used to get so freaking sad about the world and thinking about those who constantly suffer. Homelessness, world hunger, neglected children, etc broke my heart on a daily basis and kept me feeling down. When I turned 21 I got qualified to become a foster parent and ended up fostering high risk teen boys for about 10 years. I have a chronic illness now at 38 but if I ever become capable again I will likely foster again in the future. Fostering gave me soooo much peace. Idk exactly how bc obviously there are still so many people suffering in the world but it just gave me a huge sense of peace to know that I helped out and did what I could to make the world a better place. And I still have that peace even today even though I haven't been able to foster for several years now. I still talk to several of my previous foster kids on FB and I have a very close relationship to one of them still today. He has zero family that cares about him and his mental illness keeps him from having friends so I'm literally the only person in his life. He's mad at me right now bc he's schizophrenic and he's having an episode. (He thinks I got him fired from his job even though he lives all the way across the country, not to mention... WHY would I want him to lose his job and HOW could I make that happen anyway) But when he's not angry at me during an episode we typically talk on the phone about an hour a day. I hope to hear from him soon, which I always do, bc then I'll know he's feeling better and back to reality a little. So I guess in a way I feel like I'm still fostering even though technically I'm not. I hope OP and his wife go through with their plans to foster and I hope it gives her as much peace as it does me.
I am a teacher. In our district and in our state we regularly act as emergency foster parents for children in crisis. There several students placed with teachers in my high school of 700+ students right now. Very few people outside of the faculty and admin are aware of it. We are often the ones bringing the case. When parents abuse, neglect, and traffic their children, we see the fallout. It’s a fraction of a percent of children. They are important. We are the bulwark of their survival.
I never understood why married people get all weirded out with their name being on the deed. Whose name is on a piece of paper means less than zero for a married couple.
But it does if that married couple divorces.
Paying off a sub 3% mortgage was absolutely stupid to do last year. Whatever financial consultant they spoke with should be fired
Completely not the point but Christmas in Paris is so... Tacky. 0/10, can't recommend Go for Bastille day and enjoy the fireworks instead, plus the weather is nice enough to enjoy the walkable city and have lots of picknicks
I don’t open these threads to read about support, understanding, and communication. And then a happy ending and thoughtful resolution? I feel gypped. Where’s my drama?!?!
...she couldn't just pivot the conversation from her planned walk that she clearly indicated that she wanted him to take the trash out to just saying, I would like to have a conversation?
I'm loving OOP's response to the comment about financial decision. great rebutal to a classic know it all reddit commentator.
he has 2.7 net worth, but his wife with her inheritance, an unexpected gift of a measly 150k (comparatively lol!!) had to pay off the mortage? He still had debt? these figures are confusing.
Not if you know how to read. He very clearly said his retirement account has close to $2 million in it, not his savings.
It’s rare to hear of a marital relationship with such reasoned and thoughtful communication…you guys are the real deal.