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Spiritual_Jaguar4685 t1_j6ocd2t wrote

Great questions! I'll do my best.

1a) In general splitting investment money between pre- and post- tax vehicles is smart. Good for you! Yes, Roth accounts function sort of like super high interest savings accounts. After a few years you gain the ability to extract your principal (the money you put in) just like a bank account with zero hassle or tax problems. Obviously I'd recommend not doing this but it's nice to know in case of emergency.

1b) The issue is that your ability to put money into Roth accounts varies based on your income. At a certain point you're no longer allowed to put money into Roth accounts if you earn too much money. I'd recommend you talk to a "fiduciary financial advisor" about this as your specific case is for you only.

2a) Your job matches 35%? Of what? That sounds like a confusion. Most jobs match based on your salary. So terms to look for are a percentage MAX and a percentage rate. For example my employer matches half of my contribution up to a maximum of 3%. So I need to put in 6% of my annual salary in order for my employer to give me 3% of my annual salary as a match. It doesn't sound likely to me that your employer actually matches up to 35% of your annual salary, if they do, that's a sweet gig.

2b) You should talk to you HR or payroll departments to clarify the match and figure out what you need to contribute to get your maximum match. Yes, then stop contributing and pay off your high interest debt. Maximize first, then pay off the debt is the "smart" path, if you can afford it.

  1. Yes, I think it's smart to maximize your 401(k) match first, then pay off debt. I wouldn't go over the match though, I'd get it, and then pay off debt.

4a) REKTX is something called an mutual fund that is designed to appeal to people who want to retire around the year 2055. It's basically geared to be in high risk/high reward investments now and slowly over time move money to low risk / low reward investments as you get closer to retirement. That way you know what you have at retirement and aren't at risk of a market crash making you bankrupt the day you retire.

4b) Personally, I'd just keep dumping money into the 2055 fund if that sounds like approx. when you're going to retire. There are other funds usually in 5 year brackets you can jump to if that's not the case. If you're looking more like 2040, or 2065, there are funds that you can switch to for that. Personally, I'd not recommend the S&P 500 as an "all in" plan as that's a very high risk basket for "all your eggs". The retirement date funds are intended to be a "fire and forget" type of long term investment and are perfect for people who don't' want to micromanage their finances. If you are interested and would like to take more control over your investments again I'd advise you get a fiduciary investment planner to help you.

As a final word of advice, the key word in hiring someone to help you here is "fiduciary'. That term means they are legally bound to advise you and make choices in your best interest, and you pay them for their time. If they don't have that term, then they don't have that legal restriction and can advise you to do whatever they feel like, including expensive services that they receive kick backs or compensation for selling you on. Fiduciary agents work for you to make you money, non-fiduciary agents work for banks and financial services to make them money.

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BlueDoe1775 OP t1_j6odjaw wrote

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for taking the time to write this out. I truly appreciate it. If I wasn't in debt, I would give you gold, haha!

I'm not a high earner (yet) and make $52k pre tax so I don't think I'll reach that threshold super soon.

I will send an email right now about the match because yes, the 35% on it's own just doesn't make sense to me.

I'll keep my 401k in that mutual fund for now as 2055 is approx retirement age for me.

Again, thank you so much! I will come back to this comment when I am confused.

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Spiritual_Jaguar4685 t1_j6ofkzg wrote

Ok, I didn't want to ask your salary, but since you offered it I can update my advice.

In theory, your debt is "bad" debt, meaning your interest is more than you'll likely get on the market.

The 401(k) is free money, so absolutely get that match first.

Then get rid of your credit card debt.

After that, shift to the Roth IRA. In theory you are in a "low" tax bracket at the moment, our current income taxes rates are historically low AND you're not a super high earner. That means the "smart" bet is paying your income taxes now rather than in retirement. Once you start to earn around $73k the law starts to reduce how much you're allowed to put into a Roth IRA, at ~$82k you can't anymore.

So here's the plan for you - get your match, pay off your debt, then start pumping up your Roth IRA. You're allowed to put in a maximum of $6,500 into your Roth IRA right now, I assume you won't be hitting that level but if you can, do it.

If you're a super-saver and you can save beyond the $6,500 or your get more compensation start going past the $73k limit, then start moving your contributions back to the 401(k).

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BlueDoe1775 OP t1_j6ohbqf wrote

This is exactly what I will do, thank you!

I chose FSKAX for my Roth IRA, is it suggested to invest in different things for the Roth IRA or keep it all dumped into one fund?

I'm going to try my hardest to max it out after I pay off my debts!

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BlueDoe1775 OP t1_j6p6xav wrote

I just got word back that they match 35% of whatever I put in, once a year.

Does that sound normal? Like if I put in $10,000 a year, they'll put in $3,500.

Does that mean I should max it out if I can afford that?

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