Nice, I didn't realise we had a FIRE community on here. Hi folks!
Wife is pregnant for the first time (very early, so we’re still in the ‘fingers crossed’ stage). Definitely not ready to tell family/friends, but exciting times nonetheless!
We’re slightly older than most new parents and have been down the FIRE path for a while so we’re financially prepared, which is nice. Definitely grateful for the financial security.
Now I get to look in to 529 plans for the first time. Not thrilled that I have to use one of the ones run by the state to get the state tax benefit. Didn’t want to have to manage a separate account from my brokerage/IRA. Oh well!
Congratulations, fellow older parent here.
Husband quit his previous job & took the summer off to work on some personal projects / reset for awhile. For various reasons he wasn't able to start job searching until the middle of November, just in time for Thanksgiving, and now the job market is shutting down for the December holidays. He's starting to get super discouraged that he can't find any positions (first time he's really struggled to find something quickly). I'm trying to keep his spirits up but the longer it goes the more discouraged he gets. : / Not really a financial issue but it really goes to show how much the whole "your worth is your job" mindset our society has affects people.
It does affect Americans heavily, especially if he was the breadwinner. That said, the timing really is atrocious, so he should spend any free time during the holidays refining his resume and written references (since people are in a charitable mood this time of year).
Best of luck that he lands something soon!
Happy spreadsheet day y'all! Enjoy that last minute rally in November.
Anybody else remember there being 5 year CDs at 5+% years ago? I could have sworn I saw those advertised back in the late 90's - early 00's. I didn't get one because stocks were all the rage.
Nowadays, banks won't offer 5% for more than 18 months or so. It seems like they're expecting interest rates to come back down in the next couple of years.
Brokerages have them, but they're not call protected. I am seeing 3-year call protected CDs going for 4.6% or so, so I think banks are thinking rates will stay high about that long.
I just got one for 23 months at 5.3%.
But yeah, it's definitely weird seeing shorter term CDs with higher rate than long term, since my whole life longer term was higher interest.
