Background:
I graduated from a university in May and landed a job, making a little over 30k a year in a middle to high COL location. I am very fortunate, I have no debt. Currently I have a credit card in my name that is paid for by my mom (started in college to generate credit) that I really only use for things like doctors' visits at this point (edit: I have a few medical conditions that require frequent visits and occasional expensive tests. Nothing a full adult can't handle, but I'm only 3 months out of college and kind of starting from scratch so I still use this in instances I have to go to the doctor.) I have 20% of my income routed to a savings account that I never touch, and 5% going into a 403b (will be matched after a year of work, but I will probably only be at this job for 2 years.) I have a budget for myself and stick to it. I pay for my health insurance but not car insurance (still on parents.)
I feel like I am off to a good start, but I'm becoming extremely stressed about money in the future (I know, already right?) I want to go to graduate school, and the original plan was to do a PhD which would have provided a stipend (probably around 25-30k per year) and the program likely would last about 6 years. Tuition is waived in every program I have looked into, and stipend for every program is similar. Money would be tight, but I think I could pull it off with minimal debt. However, I am starting to consider a masters degree option to work in industry rather than academia, and this means paying for tuition (which can be anywhere from 15k to like 50k a year) and NOT getting paid for two years. On top of this, I have a SO, and we are planning to get married in a few years, which costs a pretty penny as well. then after that I want a family, and if I'm in debt from grad school I can't do that, and I eventually want a house, and... I feel like it's impossible lol.
I know y'all can't solve my money issues, and can't teach me how to get rich quick. But, other than the bare-bones basics of personal finance (save up 6 months salary first, put money away for retirement, avoid credit card debt like the plague but still try to build credit) I don't have a clue what I should be doing to set myself and my future family up for success. I want to run with the gifts I was given (aka debt free and able to move comfortably before my first job). All advice is helpful. I'm serious, I don't even really know what investing is, or how I can be doing it with my retirement account.
Edit: the other part of this is that I want to become financially independent from my parents for obvious reasons. I can stay on their car insurance for a few more years, which is really the only big expense that they are still responsible for, but I can't be on it forever!
Submitted September 20, 2019 at 10:12PM by waking_dream96 https://ift.tt/2V5GAMi
