Why?

Sorry you're not getting points for posting, @Amie. I found resolution by contacting service; they responded quickly and added the points to my account. Good luck!

@Amie Sometimes if you check your Points Summary instead of the Points Store, it will show you the real balance of your points. I find my points store locks up for some reason and reflects the wrong amount. An email to customer service fixes it, but it will lock up again as soon as I spend my points. I usually wait until I have the max spend for the week (750 points) and then I will email customer service to unlock my points store. Not sure what is going wrong in the coding.

Happy Monday Everyone! Had a relatively quiet weekend (kid went to Grandma's woot!) and now I'm ready to take on this week. I generally balance my budget on Monday's, so I'm about to take my morning work break to do that. We did overspend on eating out; I wasn't feeling well and husband didn't want to cook. But with some rearranging I can make it work.

Hope you guys are hitting your goals!

Great job using the budget as a tool to help adjust to life's changes, @Sarah! I used to get so hung up on sticking to my budget, then would get discouraged when I went over on a category and give up altogether. Now I know that it's not the end of the world and I just need to go back to my budget to see how to make it work. It's a total game-changer!

Good morning! I've been hearing a lot about government issued Series I Bonds lately. They're paying something like 7% and the maximum you can purchase is $10,000 per year. I'm really thinking of taking some money out of my emergency fund to buy some but part of me is saying that I should just wait until I'm in a better spot with savings, even if they lower the rate by then. I'm conflicted…

@Katie I had heard that about bonds as well. From what I read the 7% is transitory and may go up or down in the future. From the treasury website, it appears the rate is good until April 2022. It appears that the previous rate was 2% ish. You would have to hold the bond for a year before being able to cash it, but you would pay a penalty in interest (3 months). There seems to be no penalty after five years. If the rate drops again down to 2%, that's still more than what a high yield savings account is paying (ALLY is 0.5%) or a CD (0.5-0.6%) right now. You would be banking on savings rates to not change much.

Looking at the 401K my ROR on five years is 8%, with the pandemic mixed in there. For me, if I had the 10K and I didn't need to have it in hand right away, I would invest it in ETF/Index funds. That way it is working for you and is easy to get to in case of emergency. There are a few ETFs that are collections of bonds, so you can still invest in bonds but without the rules. I currently hold two ETFs in bonds, both of which are at a poor rate of return right now, (hovering around 0%) but do pay monthly dividends which I reinvest. I choose these two for diversification in my portfolio. I am invested in ETFs for domestic stocks(~54%), international stocks/emerging markets(~16%), real estate (20%) and bonds (10%). Although I confess sometimes I skip the bonds and use 10% to buy 'fun' meme stocks. I am still learning and playing with percentages that are right for me, this is just what I have stumbled upon right now.
This assumes that the market performs as it has in the past; I think even with highs and lows, it evens out to ~10% lifetime ROR.

This ties in nicely with a question I've had for a while: when I do get to my max emergency fund, do I keep one-two months in a high yield savings for easy access and invest the rest? Or do I hold the max amount in savings? I lean towards investing because then my money is earning something and not just sitting there; if I had been structured that way during the pandemic though and lost my job, that money might not have had the same value at the time I needed to cash out.

That's a good way to think about the bonds, @Sarah, thanks for the perspective!

Your question on the emergency fund is the same I've been having. I'm secure in my job and I have a HELOC available for house emergencies and sinking funds for a few other big categories. So, having an emergency fund for a full 6 months (or however many months, some say 12) just sitting in a savings account earning next to nothing doesn't make sense. I'm thinking I'll put some in a Roth IRA, since the contributions can be taken out without penalty, if needed. The max is $6,000 per year so that would be a good amount to fall back on if absolutely needed. I'm so far behind on retirement savings that I'd prefer to invest in that rather than a brokerage account right now. Hopefully one day I'll have enough money that I can contribute to ALL of the things! (One can dream, lol)

@Katie I have also thought about starting a Roth IRA for both myself and my husband; I think we each can put in $6000. I have been wanting to reduce our overall tax burden so I have been going back and forth between opening an IRA or maxing out my employer 401K to the max limit ($19500 per year). Right now I'm planning on maxing out my 401K for the tax savings, even though I am not a fan of the available investments in my employer program (they seem to be high on the fee side). I think I could get better investments in the Roth though whether or not they would return better than my 401K I can't predict.

Can we do something different besides doing the same thing?

@Sharmaine L: I am uncertain what area you are asking about, or if you are asking in general. In general, a person can always choose to do something different; be prepared for different consequences (interpreted as good or bad).

Assuming you are asking about doing something different pertaining to SaverLife/savings. Yes, you can…but there seem to be set guidelines that are quite helpful for the masses; such as saving for known big expenses and unexpected expenses. Using interest to help keep/cushion purchasing power, "living within one's means" [income >= expenses]. There is always outliers, though. It all depends on your risk tolerance.

@Sarah, the max for 2022 401k was raised to $20,500, which is really exciting! Now if only I made enough to contribute that amount and still afford to pay bills, lol!

In other news, I didn't get that job I interviewed for but at least I still have my old job and I had a chance to freshen up my resume!

Hope everyone has a great end of the week!

@Kristen I talk consequences from actions often with my daughter; actions always have consequences, so choose good ones :)
@Sharmaine SaverLife does have some other activities, but posting to the forum and the article of the day are the only repeatable ones I think. I do not mind it though, as I have found coming here to check in and chat has helped keep me focused on my financial goals. Personal Finance has started to be my topic of interest outside of work and its nice to chat with other people about it. I also find it easier as there is less judgement here (I feel) than talking to someone offline.
@Katie I'm sorry you did not get the job you interviewed for. I also saw the news about the 401K limit. I should be able to get to max once I get our short term debt taken care of. I think I mentioned previously that my plan is to get there slowly so adjusting to a lower monthly income is a bit easier for the family (and budget). I am planning on doing a 2% increase Jan 1st.
I received my prep form for my yearly performance review; I filled out my usual info, but since I've obtained licensure for my profession (in one of the hardest states to get licensure in!) I've wanted to ask for a raise. So I put that in there as a point of discussion and now I'm feeling anxious about it :\ I've been doing research on how much I should ask for but I haven't really gotten a good idea yet(5%, 10%?). I did receive a cost of living increase this last year (2%); I am pretty well compensated (I make the median income for my type of position, including benefits) but I did work really hard to obtain my licensure. I read somewhere that like 36% of people who want a raise actually ask for a raise but of those who ask 70% actually get the raise. So here's hoping I am in the 70%.

COLA for social security was 5.9%, so maybe the 5% would be appropriate, @Sarah? Although, I don't have all the details so take that suggestion with a grain of salt

2022 will be the year of the 401k for me. I plan to aggressively increase my contribution on Jan 1st and then see if I can increase it during the next opportunity on July 1st as well.

@Katie ~5% plus my current salary is what I asked for initially when I negotiated my salary coming in. This is probably where I will land. I'm hoping that I've proven that I am worth that much!

Happy Monday Everyone! I'm looking forward to the short workweek (and an uncongested commute!)

Katie, I have a good feeling that you have the job in the bag. After they offer you the position you can always ask if they are willing to negotiate pay for a slight increase. The worst they can say is No.

Amue, chin up. The points are a-coming. The LifeSavers are pretty diligent about catching up the points these days. Good luck..

Welcome back, @Candace! How was the meditation course?

Last day of the workweek for me, then trying to figure out what to do with four kids for five days on a budget

@Sara B: I hope the raise works out for you! Still, asking is such a huge step. I semi-recently expressed my concerns about pay and was surprised to learn that before year's end my company's minimum wage is increasing. That statistic you shared "read somewhere that like 36% of people who want a raise actually ask for a raise but of those who ask 70% actually get the raise." seems encouraging. I cannot recall if I stumbled across something similar, but I do know that I needed some convincing before finally expressing my concerns/wishes.

I agree

Good morning! Started the morning with a power outage for 3 hours but all is well now.

Glad to hear your company is increasing minimum wage, @Kristen! My company recently did that and we're hoping it'll draw in more candidates. Covid really took a chunk out of our workforce and put a lot more work on the remaining workers. Time will tell.

Yep these posts seem pointless and I can't seem to be able to redeem my points. I don't even know why I come on here at this point lol

Anything you'd like to see discussed, @Trista? You start the conversation and I'll join in As far as issues with points, I would suggest reaching out to Service - they respond very quickly!

@Trista Customer Service is pretty great about fixing points issues.

Hope Everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! We spent the day eating and getting Christmas lights up. I'm super excited for Christmas this year. :)

@Katie P: That is my hope, too. (That increased wages draw in and keep more employees.)

Here's a question:

With what people are calling "The Great Resignation," seemingly more sources for those interested in self-employment, and the (what I assume to be often) occurrence of determining priorities (move for more opportunities in a desired field, pay differences, formal education/apprenticeship I'm sure there are many other factors) how do you choose a career? Do you choose a career?

I remember reading from several people that they have decided not to stay in a career-mindset to encourage growth and challenge/adapting mindsets… What are some of your thoughts?

I've been really intrigued by the way that workplaces have adapted to the pandemic by making changes that they otherwise wouldn't have - and same for the employees who have decided to make a change. I, myself, haven't been on either side of the changes - I've stayed at my position and my workplace made only minimal/temporary changes (allowing employees to work remotely but not all positions and no plans to make it permanent). I think if I had more capital and if my children were over 18 then I would have taken advantage of the Great Resignation but instead I clung to security. I'll patiently wait for the next revolution

@Katie I also choose to not make any major changes right now for similar reasons. I'm pretty well set in my career and I didn't want to rock the boat too much; asking for a raise is about as much as I'm willing to risk it. :)

@Kristen I did not choose my career, but rather fell into it. My mom worked in the same industry and was able to help me get an internship in my field (not related to her field, but same industry) at another company where she knew someone. I was a college student and I found although this particular industry was not my first choice (Oil and Gas) I was actually really good at it. And I worked really hard at it so I'm now in a senior position with tons of experience under my belt and I've got my licensure which is really tough to get in the state I live in. The science portion of my job is extremely fulfilling for me. I initially saw myself going into academia when I was a college student and this lets me do similar stuff but with the bonus of getting paid really well.
Although I love my job and the challenges/rewards I get from it, I have been struggling with the ethics of working in the industry. I see my industry not lasting until my retirement and I've spent many nights wondering what exactly I will do when that happens. I feel like I could be using my skills for the benefit of others, but I don't know exactly how to get there. Its part of the reason I've made savings/budgeting a big focus lately.
I'm not sure what mindset this puts me into; A fear one most likely lol. I've let my career define a large part of who I am. Who am I outside of my career and what do I have to contribute to society? I don't quite know yet.