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Questions regarding a HSA and how use it to my advantage?

Household income 44k about to go up to 50k. Just me and my wife.

I recently lost my insurance because we earn too much (wife is still on state medical due to being disabled).

I’m going to move from PT top FT to help pay for my new medical expenses, hence the paybump.

I’m healthy with no medial conditions. It’s very possible that I won’t need a med or a dr’s app for the next few years outside of physicals.

I’m learning about a HSA and it seems it’s probably a good idea to max it out each year (3.8k), invest it and use it as a retirement account, and also if necessary pull money from it tax free to pay for medical stuff.

The reason I ask if this is rich persons game is that I’ve heard a few people talk about maxing this account out and never using the money for medical, you’d pay cash for that, because once you pull it out, you can’t put anymore back in till the next year. And because it’s a high deductible plan ($2.5k which I feel isn’t really that high) you might as well pay cash for smaller medical expenses because I’m unlikely to hit that amount.

Also, if you’re investing it in something like the S&P 500, it could go down and you don’t want to pull it out during a dip.

What would be a good strategy here? Max out the HSA and pay cash for medical? or use insurance and pay on the deductible? Use the funds from my HSA if I need to? Don’t bother with the HSA at all and use my insurance. Combination of two of these ideas?

I have $6.5k in a rother IRA, $8k in my 401k (no employer match, 6% currently) and $44k in a HYSA.

Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 18, 2023

### If you need help, please check the [PF Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index) to see if your question might be answered there.

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**A big thank you to the many PFers who take time to answer other people’s questions!**

Paying off 95% of a loan

What would happen to my monthly payments if I paid off 95% of my loan… would the payments reduce and run until the contractual end date or would my payments stay the same and the end time reduce?

TIA

Pension for less money?

If you had a choice between a job with no pension or a secure job that had a pension but paid 30% less then a job in the private sector which one would you choose?

Cant get insured on a new car

I bought a Toyota Camry about 6 months ago and my insurance went up from $250-$300. I lived in Detroit where insurance is high so I didn’t think much. I had a Subaru before that was paid off but now the new car has a $10,000 loan on it so I figured the financing caused the increase.

I moved out of the city to somewhere cheaper and safer. My coverage ended so I tried to get insurance from the same provider but they declined to renew. Looking elsewhere I got a quote from Geico and they want $475 per month. All-State will not provide an online quote for my new zip code.

I don’t understand why my insurance has nearly doubled. Did something happen in the industry?

Roth IRA withdrawal for international home purchase?

I’m a dual citizen recent who’s just starting to set to their personal finance (~around 20k net worth and close to 0 net income and expenses until I graduate college).
I have money wasting away in both the United States and abroad and am considering opening a Roth IRA. One of my considerations is that I will likely buy a home abroad rather than in the US and whether or not the first time home purchase exception applies to homes purchased abroad would have a significant impact on my decision.

Best credit cards to switch to?

I’m 23yo med student who currently has a DiscoverIT card (opened Jan 22) and a Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa (opened May 23). The more I look at these cards I feel that the discover cards perks (no annual fee, 1% cash back, 5% on some things, changes quarterly, only up to $75 per quarter in the 5% category) are simply not worth it. I’ve been told as a med student I should prioritize cash back as I won’t have time to travel. Any advice on what to switch to? My credit score is ~760 and I’m not against paying a decent annual fee if the benefits are worth it. Would be open to another airline/travel card but I do know I just opened that southwest card.

Should I keep my paid off car or sell it?

I moved from KY to NYC 3 years ago and I left my paid off car (2017 Toyota Rav 4 with 32k miles) back home. It was not being used ever, unless I came home to visit so recently I decided to drive the car back to NY and use it for bit then sell it. The problem is I still have to go through the title transfer (it was under my moms name), register it, insure it, and then find a place to park it in the city when not using. At this point, do you think I should’ve just kept it back home, paid the insurance on it and save it for future use or sell it and get a car when I eventually need one again?

Inheritance Vs School Loans & Investing

Hello everyone. So, putting our daughter through college I bit off way more than I could chew. I did a poor job with finances and got in way over my head to the tune of 88k in loans. I wanted her to go where she wanted and I let her. Oh well, it’s done and she’s graduated. I recently received an inheritance of 175,000. Obviously that takes care of the loans but I do wonder if there is a better way to go about paying it off? These are Direct Parent PLUS loans.

I imagine there’s no account that would pay more than what the interest on the loan would be. The monthly payments are around 1,000 a month. By the time they are paid off I will have paid almost 20k in interest. I was just wondering if there might be a way to go about asking for a lower total if I pay it all at once? The payments have been in forgiveness but start in a couple of weeks.

I have a about 30k in vehicle loans that will be getting paid off. After everything assuming there’s no way to get the college loans reduced I will have about 57k left. Luckily I keep the credit cards paid in full every month already. We also have about 3 months worth of expenses saved that we don’t touch.

Now, I do want to do some fun things for the family and there is a bathroom remodel that we need. My guesstimate is that I will have about 35k left for investing? Or lets just say 30k because we know how remodeling goes. I just don’t really have any ideas where to put it.

I do plan on speaking with a financial advisor but also looking for advice on here as well. What would you all do? Thanks for your time

Edit: Also, how do I go about choosing an advisor? I’ve no idea really who to talk to. I assume I can find someone online or should I look locally? If online any recommendations?

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How should I pay off my student loan debt? 25 year old

I have about $27,000 in student loan debt from my under graduate degree. No CC debt. I am currently working and have a 65k salary (first corporate job, I’m a financial analyst). I get paid bi-weekly, approximately $4k a month. I have $30,500 in my savings just sitting there (been meaning to put into a HYSA but I didn’t know if I should pay some of my debt first). I live at home and don’t have any bills besides paying for my parents utilities ($100/month). I live in a MCOL state but have plans to move in with my partner in a HCOL area (where he is from). Should I pay my student loans in full since I have the money? Or is there a more smarter option in paying it off? I know I have the money but I’d probably feel really sad seeing my entire account at 0. But I am willing to do that if everyone agrees that’s the best idea. I just don’t really have anyone to ask for advice. I’m a first gen student who grew up low income so I’ve really been winging it. I’m really proud that I was able to get a job but I definitely don’t want my debt to follow me around. Especially if I want to make a big step in my life (moving out of my parents, in with a partner). What advice would you give? What would you do? Thank you so much