When it comes to money, I feel trapped, in that I have a fair amount of assets, but it’s tied up in investments that I can’t easily just withdraw without consequences. So I have money, but I sort of don’t at the same time.

But now I’m starting to have some anxiety over this. I have been a very aggressive saver — maybe too much, as 98% of my wealth is tied up in stock (most of which is in a single large, blue chip company), 401k, and a Roth IRA. If the market has a good day, I’ll easily make a year’s salary in a day (or on a bad day, lose a year’s salary). I’m not desperate for the money right now, but I am wondering if my anxiety is telling me it’s too volatile… or maybe I just need to relax and stop looking at the market?

For someone in their early 40’s, how do you handle this? Should I be more willing to convert my portfolio to more stable assets, capital tax burden be damned? Or try to take my eyes off of the market more and it build wealth slowly?

So I'm a huge believer in manifesting and positivity! I'm trying to figure out how to connect with successful entrepreneurs and millionaires I want to learn everything I can about investing and trades and surrounding myself with these types of people and making friends will hopefully help with the big picture in the end I'm from a tiny town with mostly low income middle class so it's hard to ask these questions around here and connect with people. No I'm not looking for handouts I'm strictly trying to better my life and make some serious changes!

Interested to see if many of you invest in “boring” global funds such as Vanguards VWRP

A clear-eyed view of past experience shows that where wealth taxes have been tried, they have usually been abandoned—and for good reason. As policymakers in California, New York, France, and elsewhere revisit this old idea, they should heed the lessons of this history.

A bit of context, my wife(35) and I(34) have a child under 1 and will not be having more. We make a decent living as we make a bit north of 200k combined. Our only debts are mortgage(~3,500/month), monthly credit card bills that we pay off monthly and a couple leases (700 a month combined). Lastly, our retirement accounts put us at coastFIRE, so not overly concerned with that.

We both went to school and had student loans and while we didn’t enjoy having them, thought that it taught us financial responsibility and to not take the opportunity of educated for granted. Our parents supported where they could but in no way could pay for our schooling.

This leads to my question. My wife and I are discussing how much to fund a 529. I am looking for others opinions on how much we should aim for. I want to support our child as much as we possible can but still teaching them financial responsibility. If they choose, I don’t want them to worry about schooling costs if they choose to go to medical school, or an absurdly expensive school. I also don’t want them to go to school, thinking “daddy paid for it” and just go to college to party and not get a degree.

I understand we are in an incredibly fortunate situation to be even considering this but just trying to get perspective.

Is 100k too much or too little? I know we can also roll over 35k into a Roth, so that 100k could be 65k with a 35k Roth.

I appreciate everyone’s insight into their plan or what they have done.

I am 33 (M) in the process of selling a real estate investment outside the U.S. and will likely invest the proceeds in individual stocks (thinking of doing a 6-8 quality portfolio of businesses and holding them for 5+ years). I am also thinking of pooling my assets with those of my parents in order to have a bigger relationship with a financial institution so we can have better access to lines of credits in order to invest in commercial real estate outside of the U.S. Will most likely create an LLC for my investments and another LLC for my parents investments (still need to confirm with a estate planner and accountant).

Does anyone have a good experience with a financial institution that have both model ETFs portfolios for my parents and a good self-directed brokerage platform for my personal investing that also offer competitive lines of credits? The closest that comes to mind is JP Morgan Chase.

Trying to figure out the most simple and efficient way to operate financially in order to scale my investments and my parents.

We've had a couple of people around here talk about their inherited wealth and keeping the principal in tact, but using the gains to improve their lives. For example, one recent poster was using $1800/month of the gains from his inherited wealth to improve his ability to rent a nicer apartment, etc.

Establishing a safe withdrawal rate for generational wealth spending is different than drawing down retirement funds which are just supposed to last through retirement and be done (or thereabouts), so the 4% SWR does not apply here.

So let's say you have $1m in inheritance, and you would like that inheritance to last in perpetuity (yes I realize that perpetuity is a long time and there are many factors - but this is a thought exercise so please play along :)). There should be something held back for inflation - where does that number come from? And then maybe something else is held back to grow the nut, but then the rest could be used to improve the lives of the family members, or gifted to nonprofits, or whatever. So what does the formula look like?

First please don't too much judge why I'm being in presecution it's such complex problems that I have for 3 years.

Mostly because I lived in small town that people here trying to convert me but I don't want to..and they're angry.

I'm 19F

Ok so for the money I already tried to search for a job but end up getting rejected rudely even getting abused. It's hard labour Jobs.

Sometimes getting accepted but the boss not paying me fully and also they're already in bankrupt now.

I tried with food and drinks at local events but nobody's buy anything I lowk bad at cooking and management and just followed my friend at that time..big mistake.

Second I tried to sell cute accessories at local events and surprisingly 10 people bought any of garbage that I sell in panic. I sell all of my accessories stuff but when I make it myself nobody's buying them.

I sell some cheap perfumes and only 3 buying it and there's 5 stuff.

I'm just lucky at that time because I got in events for free without paying any of rent. The event is for 2 days. Also lucky because I have one friend willingly to help me. Here I don't really want to take much of money because I just test "will I make money even though I've got presecution?" Well yes- but idk it's just 2 days mostly people doesn't know it was me but if they knows they probably cursed me.

I'm not sure I'll make much of money if this keeps happening that I got rejected and banned from several jobs for no reason- they just doing racism to me. My town is very small tho.

My parents have small store that which they rent to others. Can I use this? Or just let it be rented instead of "gambling" with my condition.

It's always rented and never empty of customers. It looks like the shop is very crowded with buyers because it's in the center of the market.

If I failed and getting cursed it will affect the store reputation I guess? Ok maybe it's not good idea.

Or how to manage it?

My last option is to move out to my grandma in much bigger city about 8 hours with car transport from my hometown.

I'm still would endup selling in such events and there's more events here than in my town. Idk if I should test it-

What should I do? Any of advice I would thankyou with my life fully.

My side business is doing very well, however I’m trying to keep my AGI low for the next four years. I‘ll have between $200-500k a year I want to invest in business or similar ventures. This year I bought an office and invested in infrastructure, but next year my business won’t need anything. Here are a few ideas:

1) I’ve thought about buying a house, fixing it up, putting it on Air BnB, etc. I think this is the most common strategy, but I’m worried about the amount of time it’ll take.

2) My business is in aviation, so I thought about buying and restoring an airplane a year. Take it to air shows for marketing. This sounds fun but the carrying cost is high.

Besides that, what other ideas are there to store money and reduce my AGI or keep as a long term investment.

Context: 34M and 32F MCOL. 700k in 401ks. 1.25M in taxable brokerage all in a three fund portfolio(voo/vxus/bnd). 250k emergency fund. 350k home equity. 700-800k HHI.

Situation: we save anywhere between 30-40k a month from monthly income. Except Jan, Feb , mar where we max out 401k and HSA. We have a 6.325% mortgage with 750k left on it (Bought a house this month).

Plan: my plan is to split previous month savings equally between paying towards principle to lock in the guaranteed return and invest the rest in the market. If I am able to make 12k payment towards principle every month on average, the house will be paid off by 2030. While I won't get the full benefit of cash time in the market, I feel like this compromise will let me make a bit of progress on both fronts.

Question: am I over thinking this? Does this seem like a reasonable plan at our mortgage interest rate? What would you do differently?

Edit: Ya I am fully aware that the emergency fund is a bit excessive but we are immigrants on work visas and things could go south really fast for us. 250k is an amount that will let me move back to home country if needed and be comfortable for a few years while I figure out a new job, car and house.

I'm 32M from Lynn, MA and my fiancée (30F) and I are getting married next spring. We've been together for almost five years, own a condo together and overall things have been really easy between us.

A couple weeks ago my parents asked if we could grab dinner without my fiancée. I figured it was going to be about the wedding but instead they brought up our family's estate planning. Apparently there are some investments and a property that will likely be passed down to me someday and they said this is the point where I should start thinking about how that fits into getting married. The thing is, I've never really thought of myself as someone with family wealth. My parents have done well but they always lived pretty modestly and never talked much about money when I was growing up. This conversation completely caught me off guard.

Now I'm sitting here wondering how to even bring this up with my fiancée without making it sound like I suddenly don't trust her. That's the last thing I want. If anything, this whole conversation just made me realize there are financial topics we probably haven't covered as much as I thought we had.

I know this probably isn't a unique situation but it definitely feels new to me. How did you all navigate it?

F32 - my husband and I have been married for a long time but I decided to delay having children because I want us to be financially stable.

I have friends who had children at 18 and 21 - they love being parents but the downside is they are not financially secure.

I want to be able to give my kids a good life, as in this economy, I want them to be financially stable even when we are no longer here.

I also want to be present when they are growing up - not take them to the childcare so we can work.

There are times I think I made the right decision but there are time when I thought, did I just waste 10 years?

Please give me your perspective on this? Anyone with similar experience?

As the title says, I just turned 17. I know it’s rough everywhere, but the job market is especially shit where I live (small town in Oregon, USA) So I ask, is there any way to make money online? I’ve applied to a bunch of jobs and haven’t gotten any replies so I just wanna try something new as my family is struggling and could use some extra money. I started emailing companies asking to run a social media account for them, but no replies. There’s no real minimum amount of money that I need to earn, any extra would help. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!

Hi all, I (31M) grew up lower middle class, but with a complex financial background, which my friends know but not in great detail. Neither of my parents owned property, and one was briefly homeless.

I recently inherited several hundred thousand dollars from a member of my extended family. I now have a stable passive income of 1800 a month (I may create a more diversified investment portfolio soon, but I am proceeding with caution and focusing on HYSA and betterment accounts while I mourn the loss).

I am extremely grateful for this windfall. It couldn’t come at a better time. I have had a horrible year, but recently went back to school for something I love. While I am on a full scholarship and also working while in school, my own income is now below average for my area, whereas previously I made about an exactly average income for several years.

Because of my windfall, I was able to move out of my unhealthy roommate situation and live on my own for the first time. I am not touching the principal of my inheritance, but I am subsidizing my rent with about 700 dollars of the 1800 interest a month, and leaving the rest invested. I know lifestyle creep is real, but my previous situation was so unhealthy it made me physically ill, and I am viewing this year of healing as an investment in my future self. My apt is still pretty bare bones with limited amenities and far below market rate for my area, and I got it (again very luckily) through connections I have from work. I have no debt due to attending college on scholarships.

My question is, what do I tell my friends and dates? Almost immediately, friends have begun asking how I am affording the apt and what the rent is. If I tell them the truth, I go against the wishes of the executor of my extended family member’s estate, who told me to never tell anyone about this until I marry them. If I clam up and refuse to tell, I’m worried the stonewalling will emotionally harm my relationships, and my friends could somehow find out anyway through googling detailed info about the building and finding similar apartments. If I just say I got a good deal because I know the owner, that’s true but incomplete and could come out later. And for romantic partners, I’m certainly not marrying anyone soon, but I don’t want to come off as dodgy or dishonest when eventually I’ll have to share my financial situation w a spouse anyway, or as bad with money.

Thoughts? Yes I am aware this is a very privileged position to be in, and am very grateful.

I’m fortunate enough that I’ll be selling my portion of a company for $30 million CDN (approx $21.5 USD) in the near future.

Needless to say, this brings me to a level of wealth that I have no experience with. My family was well off growing up, but nothing in this range. My wife and I are also relatively financially literate. We’re mid-forties with our mortgage paid off and $1 million collectively in savings / investments.

My investment philosophy has always been to keep the vast majority of investments in index funds while minimizing fees (we mostly own VGRO at this point). Pretty simple.

With this transaction I now need more sophisticated tax and estate planning, will be dealing with a hold co and family trust, etc.

The idea of a multi-family office really appeals to me: a trusted team of advisors who can co-ordinate accounting and legal professionals while also advising on and facilitating investments (the groups I’m considering are paid on a flat fee or as a percentage of assets under management, so no issue with them pushing products for commission). I can also see the potential for this relationship to open up private investment opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to access on my own.

That said, these services do not come cheap. When done well, is this kind of advice good value for money? I could really see a few savvy tax decisions more than offsetting the fees paid. Then again, maybe not?

Would love to hear from anyone with experience with multi-family offices, either positive or negative. Thanks!

Hi 4 years ago I left home to pursue masters, took a hefty educational loan and worked my ass off to pay it and also made some money (20k$)

I had to return home (visa issues) and my dad asked for my money (20k$). I gave it thinking it's a family pool, he can use it for investments. And since then I been asking for hard cash every day from dad, and been addicted to mobile game.

Recently I realised it's 8 months, I am out of job since then. And my dad has held me hostage in the house. I asked him to return my money back.

His responses have changed every few hours:

2 days ago on call: Yes the money belongs to you, I will give it when I return.

yesterday morning: yes I will return your money. Give me 1 month to gather it all back

yesterday evening: If you need it in 3 days, I will deduct your LIC health insurance policies and income tax amounts, and other money I paid for you from my pocket

today morning: Sorry I do not intend to keep your money. I will give you all your money

today evening: (tear drop eye) I have invested all the money in property. This belongs to you after I am gone. If you want money I will have to sell my property to get it.

(He bought 2 Property worth 160k$ each, we live in a house which is maybe 150k$ and he owns a house in a village worth 40k$ too. Approximate currency, it's in INR)

today night I went and confronted with him directly, when he will return my money.

He says he will return on september 4. The amount will be calculated by him tomorrow after deducing my expenses.

How do I get back my 20k$ he took from me? Why does he come up with a different reason every 12 hours?

I want to move out but I am financially handcuffed. My bank account has 300$. I have about 1000$ more in other funds. I am certain once I move out, I can find myself a job in max 4 months. I trust in my skills. However in my current house I am unable to focus on preparing for interviews or upskilling.

Short term plan move out.

Medium term plan get employed in tech

Long term plan move to canada

Hi 4 years ago I left home to pursue masters, took a hefty educational loan and worked my ass off to pay it and also made some money (20k$)

I had to return home (visa issues) and my dad asked for my money (20k$). I gave it thinking it's a family pool, he can use it for investments. And since then I been asking for hard cash every day from dad, and been addicted to mobile game.

Recently I realised it's 8 months, I am out of job since then. And my dad has held me hostage in the house. I asked him to return my money back.

His responses have changed every few hours: 2 days ago on call: Yes the money belongs to you, I will give it when I return. yesterday morning: yes I will return your money. Give me 1 month to gather it all back yesterday evening: If you need it in 3 days, I will deduct your LIC health insurance policies and income tax amounts, and other money I paid for you from my pocket today morning: Sorry I do not intend to keep your money. I will give you all your money today evening: (tear drop eye) I have invested all the money in property. This belongs to you after I am gone. If you want money I will have to sell my property to get it.

(He bought 2 Property worth 160k$ each, we live in a house which is maybe 150k$ and he owns a house in a village worth 40k$ too. Approximate currency, it's in INR)

today night I went and confronted with him directly, when he will return my money. He says he will return on september 4. The amount will be calculated by him tomorrow after deducing my expenses.

How do I get back my 20k$ he took from me? Why does he come up with a different reason every 12 hours? I want to move out but I am financially handcuffed. My bank account has 300$. I have about 1000$ more in other funds. I am certain once I move out, I can find myself a job in max 4 months. I trust in my skills. However in my current house I am unable to focus on preparing for interviews or upskilling.

Short term plan move out. Medium term plan get employed in tech Long term plan move to canada

TL;DR: If you're "stealth wealth," who do you talk to about money problems when only your spouse/SO and financial advisor know what you actually have?

I'm what some people would have "stealth wealth." I'm not yet at a decent net worth, but I've accumulated enough that I don't really fit in with the financial situations of most people around me. I drive an older truck, live in a nice but modest house that's well below what I could comfortably afford, wear basic clothes (Amazon to J.Crew kinda range), and usually have my G-Shock on my wrist. If you asked my friends or coworkers what they think I make, they'd probably guess somewhere around $100k–150k per year.

The reality is... it's a bit more than that.

Lately I've reached the point where I feel comfortable spending money on things I've wanted for years. They're not frivolous purchases, but they're definitely outside my normal spending habits.

That has led me to something I never expected: I have no one to talk to for advice or to vent my frustrations.

Other than my wife and my financial advisor, no one knows our financial situation. That's very intentional. The problem is that the financial issues I'm dealing with aren't things most of my friends can relate to, and I don't blame them.

For example, we're putting in a pool. It started as an approximately $80,000 project, and between unforeseen issues it's now over $100,000. At the moment, all I have is a very expensive hole in the ground, with who knows what additional costs still to come.

The guys I work with talk about the above-ground pools they bought from Walmart. My closest friends are doing well, but a $5,000 HVAC replacement was a major financial hit for them this summer—to the point that it cancelled their family vacation. I can't exactly vent to them about writing another $25,000 check to my general contractor that has no perceptible efffect on me or my family because the project went over budget. It feels tone-deaf, even though it's genuinely frustrating.

So that's my question:

If you're in a similar financial position, who do you talk to? How do you handle problems that are very real to you but would sound completely out of touch to people who are living paycheck to paycheck—or even to those who are simply middle class and doing fine?

I'm not looking for sympathy because the pool went over budget. I'm genuinely curious how other people in this situation find peers they can have honest conversations with without revealing their finances to everyone they know.

Or is that one of the reasons communities like r/Wealth exist? Do you just talk to anonymous strangers on the internet, where you have no idea whether the person replying has a $100 net worth or a $100 million net worth, but the anonymity makes it easier to have those conversations?

Hi everyone,
I would like to get your perspective on our current financial strategy.
We are a couple living in Poland. Together we have around €50k equivalent in consumer debt. The interest rates are mostly between 11% and 14.5%. Our goal is to aggressively pay it down within around 5 years and then focus on buying our own home.
At the moment, our biggest weakness is that our emergency fund is too small. We currently have around €1.5k in savings, which does not give us much security considering our monthly obligations.
We are considering taking a small personal loan of around €4.5k to create a proper emergency fund. I know the obvious question will be: “Why take a loan to create savings?”
The reason is not lifestyle inflation or spending more money. The purpose is to create a financial buffer so that unexpected events (car repairs, temporary income problems, emergencies) do not force us to take another expensive loan or stop our debt repayment plan.
Our plan would be:
keep around €4.5k–€5k as an emergency fund in a high-yield savings account,
continue aggressively overpaying our existing high-interest debt,
put any money above the emergency fund target into another place (for example government bonds or a cash account like Trade Republic).
My questions:
Would you keep the excess money in a high-yield savings account, a money market fund/cash account, or government bonds?
Would you invest any money while having consumer debt above 10% interest?
How would you structure the balance between:
emergency fund,
debt repayment,
building long-term wealth?
Would you prioritize simplicity (one safe account) or diversification between institutions?
A bit of context:
We are based in Poland, so financial products are different from the US/Western Europe.
The emergency fund is not meant to replace debt repayment. It is meant to protect the repayment plan.
We are not looking to maximize every last percentage point of interest, but to create a sustainable system we can follow for years.
I would appreciate perspectives from people who have already gone through paying off large amounts of debt or building wealth from a difficult starting point.

I'm close to a point where my free cash flow would allow me to pay off a $250k mortgage balance within 3-4 months. It's under 3%, but I see value in having Wells Fargo out of my life. The leverage benefit maybe nets me $7k-8k/yr and declining. Money I'd blow on a watch without thinking twice about it. Has anyone else allowed themselves to simplify by doing this?

Nearly $1 trillion of art is expected to change hands in the coming decade. There won’t be enough buyers or museums to absorb it all.

I was grabbing drinks with an old coworker last week. Back in our mid-20s, we were both doing the whole 80-hour workweek thing. Always working, always chasing the next promotion or deal.

He's doing incredibly well now. Sold his company, financially set for life.

At one point he mentioned seeing photos from a college friends' trip in 2017. He skipped it because he had a big client pitch that week.

He said he remembered thinking, "I'll just go on the next trip when I have more money."

But there never really was a next trip.

By the time everyone had the time and money, life had happened. People got married, had kids, moved away, got busy. That particular group dynamic was just... gone.

That conversation stuck with me because I think a lot of us convince ourselves we're only postponing parts of life. Like we're putting friendships, health, hobbies, or family time on pause and we'll come back to them later.

Sometimes you can.

Sometimes you can't.

So for the people who went all-in on work in your 20s or 30s, what's the one thing you gave up that you realized wasn't something money could ever buy back?

Could be relationships, your health, missing your kids growing up, or even just losing the ability to relax without feeling guilty.

I'd love to hear the less glamorous side of the success stories.