Dear Quentin, After finishing graduate school, my wife and I decided to pay off all our debt before buying a home, or anything for that matter. We have been cheaply renting for the last three years, and living as if I were still a very poor graduate student. During this …
Read More »The Moneyist: My daughter was a TV star and saved $1 million. If she buys a home and moves in with her boyfriend, will he have a claim?
Dear Quentin, My daughter was a TV starlet in her youth, and thanks to the magic of compound investing, has a large amount of cash on hand (approximately $ 1 million). She wants to take some of this money and make the down payment on a co-op or a condominium. …
Read More »The Moneyist: My sister moved from New York to our mom’s house due to COVID-19. She saved $11K in rent and expenses. Is that fair?
Dear Moneyist, My sister gave up her apartment in New York City and moved back home in April, shortly after COVID-19 erupted there, and has now been living rent-free with my mother for the past seven months. My sister is 42 years old and holds a full-time job with a …
Read More »Upgrade: I’m 59, and my husband and I earn $500,000 a year — but have credit card debt and nothing saved for retirement. What should we do?
Dear Catey, My husband is 65 and a lawyer and partner in his firm with a thriving practice; I am 59 years old. We have three children (more on that below), and I was fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom. I now work part time, which is essentially just “play” …
Read More »Upgrade: I’m 40, will get a pension and have $60,000 saved for retirement. Should I borrow from it to pay off $17,500 in credit card debt?
Dear Catey, I am a 40-year-old law-enforcement officer and hope to retire in 13 or 14 years. At that time, I will have 30-plus years on the job with a pension giving me 70% of my current income with a cost-of-living annual percentage increase around 2% or 3%. Additionally I …
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