I have $105,000 saved to my name. $9000 in a Roth IRA and $96,000 in a HYSA and I turned 26 3 months ago. I make $3400 a month, 100% saved because I have no bills. My mom pays for everything from car, to gas, to food, to everything.
What should I do with this money? I just save and save and save. I want to start making investments at some point.
What should I do with this current financial predicament?
byu/yungswiss_ inpersonalfinance
Posted by yungswiss_
20 Comments
Sounds like you are asking about a framework for what to do with money.
Start with reviewing the Prime Directive in the PF Wiki. It will answer your question and many other questions you didn’t realize you should be asking.
* https://www.reddit.com//r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics
The following provides a great foundation to build on.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/)
Bruh you’re living the dream and asking what to do lmao – max out that Roth IRA first ($7000 for 2024), then throw like 60-70% of that HYSA money into index funds since you have zero expenses and can afford the risk
Any debts? If not…
Do you plan to move out anytime soon? If so, figure out what you need to survive for 6 months and leave that in a HYSA and invest the rest. If not, invest it all. I would invest by front loading your IRA and 401k (if applicable).
You don’t need so much in the HYSA. Roth IRA is great… make sure you fully contributed for 2025 (you have till april 15th to do so), then also fully contribute for 2026.
Keep a few months worth of expenses in the HYSA, since your parents cover so much. The rest you can open a brokerage account and invest in a total market index fund.
I was in the same boat many moons ago. I moved and bought a home now but what i wish i would have done when i was living with my mom was max out roth IRA and max out 401k. Then keep enough emergency money and invest the rest.
On top of the other advice, I would start investing in myself.
$3400 is 40k a year. That’s not poverty but it’s also not great. If you’re mom wasn’t financing you, you would be just barely scraping by.
I don’t know what job you have, but It might be time to start getting certificates, additional training, or applying for additional jobs. Your situation is perfect for that.
You’re still young enough that the right combination of certificates and experience could get you to being a high earner by 30.
I had a friend that went back for a computer programming certification at 26 while living with parents and is now making 100k+.
I’ve had friends do union internships around the same age.
Find yourself a good financial advisor. Talk to trusted friends who use one and take recommendations. Yes, they charge a fee, BUT a good one will pay for themselves and much more. Good on you for being such a saver. Appreciate your mother! 😊
I live in a third world country and i have seen that investing in one of those is way cheaper and more returns than first world ones. Do your research for safe third worlds and invest. Imma do that if i ever get a job overseas.
Value of money is higher here than there. So less savings there are very very big here. You feel me. That’s my plan.
Maybe consider offering to pay some of the bills instead of making her pay everything.
You need some goals so you know why the hell you are saving $. That’s the first step.
Pay your mom rent. Be an adult and take care of yourself.
Financial educator here. You’ve got to invest some of that HYSA cash in an asset that will grow faster. I recommend buying property. (Disclaimer that I’d want to know more before making a more specific recommendation). Prob best to meet w a financial advisor very soon to come up with a plan so you can set yourself up for life.
Open a vanguard brokerage account and move about $75k from your HYSA to a diversified index fund such as VTI (total domestic stock market). This fund has extremely low expenses 0.03% annually and returns on average 10%. Moving forward, setup automatic recurring investments into it.
I made the same mistake as you initially putting all my savings in a HYSA instead of the market. It’s probably cost me over $100k in opportunity cost.
Pay your mom something for all this. 401k up to match, HSA if eligible, Roth IRA, back to 401K up to max, personal brokerage. Keep 6 to 12 months of expenses in a HYSA, invest the rest.
Even though it’s like half your income I’d max a 401k. I wish I could’ve done that when I was much younger. Even if you just did it 1 year at a young age (I am assuming you are young) that probably bests doing it 5+ years when you’re older.
Sounds like my daughter’s predicament, sort of. My daughter still lives at home. She pays no household bills of any kind. She paid for her car, her auto insurance, her clothes, and whatever else she wants. We live in a large home in a HCL area and the house is paid off. Sounds great but I have a rule – she must invest like she means it. I don’t look over her shoulder or tell her what to put money in, but she graduated college 15 years ago and has been earning six figures since then. Investing $4500 a month with a 10% return is $2M at 15 years and 7 months. OP, I hope you’re paying attention, because you have an opportunity.
Start a business so u don’t need to work for someone else your entire life
Why isn’t the cash invested? You would have earned like 15-20% last year if it was properly invested.
I’d do the following:
1. Max out Roth IRA for 2025 ($7,000) and 2026 ($7,500). If you don’t already have an IRA with a brokerage take 5 minutes and open one with Vanguard or Fidelity.
2. Max out 401k for 2026 ($24,500). If you employer matches ask if the amount can be frontloaded or not. HR will likely know. If not, you’ll have to spread the amount over the course of the year to receive the company match. Some math is involved to get to your magic number. You may struggle to “max out” at your pay, so you’d dip into savings while your checks are used up.
3. Move half of what’s left to a Vanguard taxable investment account. Invest in VTSAX.
4. Look at moving out. Put the remainder down on a property if you don’t think you will move for a job opportunity.
5. Leave whatever is left in t-bills. Have some liquid in a HYSA but T-Bills are better for tax reasons.