Ah, in that case I don't think it's a bad idea to take out a small student loan. I would pay off your CC, keep $500 or $1k in the bank for emergencies, and pay back the money after you get a job. I just wouldn't prioritize buying an iPad while you're unemployed.

I would just wait until you have the cash. You don't need an iPad right now, and if you can save up the cash in a few months, waiting shouldn't be a problem.

I would assume total medical bills between $10-15k for a healthy pregnancy and hospital birth with no significant complications. That gives you a starting point for calculating coinsurance costs. If your baby is born quite early or needs surgery, then your costs will be much, much higher and you'll almost certainly hit your out of pocket max. 10-15% of babies born in the US spend some amount of time in the NICU, so it's not very unlikely you'll have high costs due to a NICU stay or other complications.

If I assume your total healthcare costs are about $12k before insurance, then your total cost with the HSA plan is $6,680 for the year. If you go with the PPO plan, then it's $8,404 for the year.

If you have meaningfully higher costs due to complications, the HSA is the better pick because the out of pocket max is lower and the premiums are substantially lower.

I'd pick the HSA plan, and max out your HSA so you are spending tax-free dollars to pay your medical bills.

I used the future value formula in excel, and included a present value of $450k (your 401k balance and other investments).

If you are investing around $40k per year (between your contributions and your employer's match), you will likely get to around $3M by age 65. No one can know what future market returns will be, but if you assume a 6% return, the future value of your investments is $2.9M.

If you have savings in an investment account, I would just pay off all of your high interest debt now.

Refinancing high interest debt into a lower interest rate personal loan should save you some money. I would worry less about the potential impact to your credit scores, and instead just focus on paying off your high interest debt and then saving up cash.

> when we go to purchase our first home (hopefully) next year.

Your timeline for buying may not be realistic if you have no savings at all right now. Make sure you are saving up enough cash for your down payment, an additional 3-4% for closing costs, and then a 3-6 month emergency fund on top of that. If you are aiming to buy a $200k home with a 5% down payment, just as an example, you'll need something like $26k in cash before buying.

Closing on a home usually takes around 30-45 days from the time your offer is accepted to when you get keys to your new home. If you want to have keys to your new home a week or two before your lease is up, then you'd need to have an offer accepted no later than early May.

If you are seriously thinking about buying a home, I'd go get pre-approved, talk to some agents, and start looking at houses within the next few weeks.

> it's hard to fathom that a private school is providing adequate value for the cost difference.

Agreed. I'd rather my kids attend the best in-state public university, assuming they can get in, rather than pay significantly more for them to attend a private university. A private university that offers significant merit scholarship would be fine, but I'd look at what is required to keep those scholarships.

I have young kids, and I expect college costs may change a lot over the next 15+ years. I'm hoping public universities will do more to control costs and limit tuition increases, or more states may roll out Bright Futures style programs that cover some or all of the cost of tuition at public universities. I'm therefore going to hold off on sinking a ton of money into 529s until my kids are older and I know more about what their college costs might be.

Your best option is to sell your vehicle, if it is worth more than you still owe on the loan.

If you owe more than the vehicle is worth, then you'll need to pay the difference in order to sell the vehicle. For example, if the vehicle is worth $20k, but your loan is for $22k, you'll need to come up with the $2k difference at the time you sell the vehicle in order to walk away with nothing.

If you stop paying and the vehicle is repossessed, you still owe the total loan balance, less whatever the vehicle sells for at auction. In this case, your vehicle might sell for $17k at auction, so you'd owe $22k less $17k plus some amount of fees related to the repo, so perhaps $6k total that would go to collections. This is your worst option.

Is the $104/ month car insurance cost because you have insurance bundled with your parents' policies? When you move out and have a new address, you'll need to get your own policy, and the cost may increase. It's rare for 20 year olds to have inexpensive insurance just because young people are riskier to insure, on average.

> - $50-$100 misc. category

This may be accurate if you are super frugal, but I suspect your actual costs will be higher. Think about everything you might spend your money on in the course of a typical year: new housewares (towels, bedding, cooking equipment, small appliances), oil changes, gifts for others, social activities with friends, new clothes and shoes, contacts/ glasses if you need them, dentistry costs not covered by insurance, vehicle registration fees, travel/ vacations, replacement electronics, furniture, parking,

It's hard to predict how much you'll spend on all of these things, but with your budget you are only allocating up to $1,200 for the entire year, and that seems unlikely to me.

Your take-home pay after taxes will be something like $3,400 per month, and if you were to spend $1,500 on rent and an additional $350 on utilities (electric, gas, water/sewer, home Wi-Fi), you’d have only $1,550 remaining for all other spending and saving.

Also— $600/ month for all living expenses other than housing seems very unrealistic to me. Can you break that number down? I’d expect a single adult to spend something like $250-350 per month on groceries and other consumables (toilet paper, laundry detergent, razors), at least $100 per month on auto insurance, another $150 or so on gas, $50 on auto maintenance and repair, $50 for cell service, $200+ on hobbies and entertainment, and so on.

> Is it a bad idea for me to rent a home for approximately ≈$1,500/month?

Yes, that's too much to spend on housing while you're earning $50k.

The general rule of thumb is to keep your housing costs (including utilities) under a third of your gross (pre-tax) income. That means you'll want to find a place to rent where your monthly rent and expected utilities are no more than $1,388.

Are you not working full-time? A part-time job to increase your income makes more sense than a personal loan or selling your house. You might also consider renting out a room in your house to a tenant to increase your income.

> Is going to the art college a bad idea financially?

Probably. What are your realisitic job prospects? How much might you earn if you get an entry-level job in the film industry, and would that be enough to pay your bills in a high cost of living area like LA or NYC? Do you know anyone who recently earned a film degree who can talk to you about what the job market is really like?

If you were my friend, I would encourage you to take a step back and think about what it will actually take to succeed in the film industry, and whether it makes more sense to pick a career path that isn't such a long-shot. Will you be happy in five years if you were never able to get a job in film and are instead working in a job that doesn't require a degree? Or will you feel like the film degree was a big mistake?

If there's some other occupation you are interested in, something more viable, I would pursue a degree related to that occupation instead.

> Could I potentially end up homeless?

Yes, if your parents can't financially support you after you graduate from college and you aren't sure you'll be able to line up a job that pays a living wage. You definitely won't be able to relocate to another city and secure housing without substantial cash savings.

> houses are well over $700K on average

You would have to earn significantly more money for a $700k home to be a reasonable purchase, even if you are able to save up a 20% down payment. A household income of around $200k would make a $700k home within reach, depending on your down payment and interest rates at the time you buy.

I think it's wise to continue living with your parents until you pay down any high-interest debt and save up an adequate emergency fund, but once you reach that point, moving out is a perfectly reasonable option. You don't have to optimize for saving as much money as fast as you can if it makes you unhappy to continue living with your parents.

If you find a job that will pay you a decent amount ($15+/ hr) and give you 30+ hours per week, you can likely afford to move out and get an apartment with roommates. If you can find a job within walking/ biking/ bussing distance of your college campus, even better, because then you won't need a vehicle.