Almost a quarter of American workers are staying in unwanted jobs to keep their health insurance, according to a new report from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America.

That's an 8% increase since 2021 of workers who are in so-called "job lock" due to a reliance on employer-provided insurance.

"That is a concerning figure, even if it's 10%," said Ellyn Maese, research director for the West Health-Gallup center. "But when we're seeing it rise to 1 in 4 employees, that's pretty serious."

Granted, I live in a very expensive area so that probably skews what I see. However, I feel like I’m seeing so many SAHMs post about how they’re trying to become content creators so they can continue to stay home with their kids. It’ll be blatant (e.g. I need to make $x per month to stay home with my kids so please watch and interact with my video). I also see a lot of posts about SAHMs with young kids asking for leads on WFH jobs that are flexible enough so that they can take care of their kids too.

It feels like the uptick happened really quickly. I’m not sure if it’s my algorithm or if this is something I’m going to look back on in 10+ years and be like “there were clear signs the economy was in the trash.” Basically wondering if this is like the “stripper index.”

And yes, I’m fully aware this economy is awful and things are expensive. I’m just curious if others are noticing it or if it’s just my social media. Also curious what other subtle signs you are all seeing.

Wanted to add - a dealership near me started advertising that first time car buyers can qualify for downpayment assistance and I immediately thought this was another thing I’d look back on and be like “there were signs.”

Our washing machine has started making a noise that sounds like someone put a handful of coins inside it, except there are definitely no coins. Repair guy said it could keep working for another month or another 3 years, which was very helpful lol. Repair would be around $350 and a decent replacement is about $900.

We have enough money to replace it, but it feels wasteful getting rid of something that technically still works. At the same time, waiting until it dies probably means buying whatever is available that day, paying for rushed delivery and possibly spending a weekend at the laundromat.

Do you guys replace aging appliances once they start showing signs or squeeze every last load out of them?

I didn’t owe as much as many because my parents were able to help pay for some of my college tuition. But my income has always been on the low end of average range for my field, and I live in a medium COL city, so paying them off was kinda challenging and took a bit longer than I expected. I paid consistently through the covid 0% interest period which I think helped me get a bit ahead.

Anyway. Feels good to have one financial burden off my shoulders!

Over the past three years I have been going to school full-time under a tuition reimbursement program through my current employer. The program has a three-year vested window from the final reimbursement date, any action that terminates my employment requires me to pay back the company. Once I graduated, I was promoted to a new position, but that position came with a smaller compensation increase than I was expecting and feel I am entitled to. Unfortunately, I believe I am going to lose my argument with the powers to be about this. The pay structure for my department has a cap out time peroid of 4 years, and over that period I will lose more in pay than the total tuition reimbursement amounted to, which was around 20k.

I am in the final stages of interviewing with another company (highly respected and an industry leader in my field) that I expect to start at a similar pay rate as my current role, though the upward mobility, future compensation possibilities, and career learning opportunities are far superior than my current role, where I have felt somewhat stifled for about 2 years now. For all intents and purposes, I am just going through the motions and not progressing in any relevant way for my industry or career.

My dilemma, I am going to try to push the new company to pay for my tuition reimbursement as part of the negotiations, but I am not too confident that they will bite. Would it make sense to sell off 401k assets in the event that I do decide to take the new job so that I am able to exit my current situation? This would represent less than 10% of my total 401k balance, although I understand there will be both penalties and tax implications. I am kind of on my own, career guidance wise, and really need some objective opinions regarding the issue. Feel free to ask anything though, I am being intentionally vague regarding the industry and companies involved but I will respond with as much detail as possible. This situation (opportunity) really fell into my lap so I am no where near capable of doing this out of my personal savings.

I’m 28 and looking to finally move out, I’ve lived with my parents this whole time. I bring in around $70k a year, with about $30k saved. Homes in my area start around $250k.

Rent isn’t much better, 1 bedrooms run about $1,900/mo. I used to manage rental properties, and after enough roommate horror stories, I’ve ruled that out. That’s why I keep circling back to buying a condo or townhouse instead, something more permanent, rather than paying a landlord every month for a place I’ll never own.

For anyone who’s done this, does buying end up more affordable than renting where you are? And beyond a bigger down payment being safer, what else should I be weighing, HOA fees or any other hidden costs that catch first time buyers off guard?

Edit: I was making $15-20/hr up until 24, unemployed from 22-23, then $58k at 25, and just moved up to $70k this year. So the $70k is recent.

An unexpected assortment of big-name American firms is coming together to grow training in the skilled trades.

Ford, Google, Carhartt and BlackRock on Tuesday announced the launch of the Alliance for America's Skilled Trades, which will support training efforts in more than two dozen states.

The group says it's hoping to help correct the shortage of such workers that could top 2 million by 2030.

The effort comes amid a broader rethink of the value of an increasingly costly college education.

Homebuyer affordability declined in June for the fifth month in a row, as the the income required to qualify for a mortgage reached $109,152.

The National Association of Realtors’ calculus relies on the median price of a single-family house ($446,400), the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (6.57%), and assumes the buyer puts down 20% upfront.

NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun points out that affordability actually improved on an annual basis "as income growth outpaced home price appreciation and mortgage rates were modestly lower."

You’ve all seen it on Reddit. “What’s the worse financial decision you can make?” A thousand regurgitated replies saying buying a boat. “Bust out another thousand”… “the best day in a man’s life is when he buys a boat and second when he sells it”….”don’t buy a boat if you can’t afford to light money on fire”…”the best boat is your friends boat”

Okay I get these are just funny sayings. But I stg the people saying that crap have never owned a boat and only repeating what they hear online.

There was a post on PF 3 weeks ago from a guy asking if he could afford a financed 35k boat. The TLDR was that his HHI was 230k, heavily contributing to retirements, net worth of 400k and they were only 29 years old. Majority of the comments said he couldn’t afford it. Like LOL are you kidding me. Another very popular sentiment in that thread was that if you have to finance a toy, you can’t afford it. I get that that’s very sound advice, but there’s plenty of instances where I can say that logic doesn’t apply. There was also comments like “I wouldn’t buy the boat until I have my excess cash in these 8 money vehicles first, then you can think about the boat.” Then it got a handful of likes. Like it’s such a circle jerk

Anyways, I agree that boats can be extremely expensive but they certainly don’t have to be. A family buying a used $15k-20k (think 15 year old bow rider lake boat for the sake of an argument) that was decently maintained could last them decades with proper maintenance. And if the owners are at least a little handy, maintenance does not have to be expensive if you DIY.

My take on boats is this, if you’re a person or family who has been boating with friends a few times and then said “this is fun we should buy one” then I generally agree that with those subs advice. A newbie is unaware of all the costs that add up. Especially if you’re not handy, have a place to store it, while not being fully immersed with the lifestyle yet. However on the flip side, for those people who live on the water, no amount of expenses could make me hate it. I look at every expense as an investment for memories and experiences with my friends and family.

Sorry for the long post I’m horrible at condensing my thoughts and tend to over-explain.

TLDR: boats can be very expensive but don’t have to be. A 15k purchase doesn’t ruin your future. Owning a boat isn’t for everyone. Finance subs are helpful to an extent but they get ridiculous

Welding, plumbing and carpentry are almost AI-proof. Online creators are urging young people to get trained up.

What does that functionally mean? Is it just having no savings? Needing the next paycheck to pay your bills? Not needing the next paycheck cause you’ve already paid the bills?

Looking for advice on adding a teen driver and new car. She's getting a very used Honda SUV as a hand me down. We currently have about 7k still owed on my subaru. We're using all the discounts we can for her insurance (GPA driver's education, etc.). She's also saved some to contribute to gas and insurance. We prefer she not work during school year. The problem is high quotes on adding an additional car.

We have 4 growing kids who are busy, so she needs to be able to drive something. My idea is to buy a very used Honda or Toyota or subaru sedan that I can drive since I'm currently working remote. My husband would take my subaru. He thinks we should get another suv since we have so many kids but honestly we're rarely in the same car as a family of 6. I was quoted an additional $130 a month for insurance on another suv. Im also thinking about the higher costs of gas on it.

Edit: we're giving her my husband's honda pilot. He drives more for work and he already has over 210,0000 miles on it. He also wants to save on gas with a smaller car.

Edit: she needs her own transportation. She's in marching band, choir, sports, etc. We also have 3 other kids to transport to activities so 3 cars would be nice.

Option A: high mileage sedan that does well with high miles that I can drive and pay off quickly. May have more costs on repairsption

B: A used SUV with more leg room and life in it that may have more $ monthly payment

I'm open to other possibilities

We have three girls (9,7,4), a cat and a dog. The kids love produce, frozen fruit in smoothies, noodles, pancakes, and homemade pizza. I usually make a meat and rice dish two times a week for us parents. This is how much we’ve spent for 7.5 weeks of summer including back to school supplies, random art kits and back to school shoes. We also paid for gym pool membership ($115 monthly) this summer and trampoline pass ($240 for 3 kids for 3 months).

Grand total for the summer is $2796. Two weeks left of summer, maybe I can keep it near $3200.

Our normal monthly groceries, clothes, gifts, everything purchased is near $1000 per month.

Edit: added context, we are CA homeowners and we keep our day to day as much down as we can but our groceries go up during summer. We are debt free, invest, go on one vacation a year and the kids each get to do one activity per season. We have two summer kid birthdays. I shop Amazon very rarely. Pretty average lower middle class family.

mid 30s, I feel like I'm behind relative to peers who have been at this level but I feel like that's just my anxiety speaking + social media.

Main goals are:

Looking to get out of debt by EOY + I want to move and rent into a nicer area than where I'm currently at without becoming house-poor (living in a HCOL area).

It's only me and I'm also working on a savings account.

Recently eliminated a $20K Debt Consolidation Loan!!

Here are my financial stats at the moment:

Base Salary: $110K
*Potential Total Compensation*: $155K-$165K
Brokerage: $3K
401K: $75K+ (contribution of 8%)
Credit Score: Average of 800+
Cash savings: $2K

Debt:
$12K Car Loan at 5% (Sports Car)
$2.6K 401K Loan at 9%
$2K Medical Bills
$950 Credit Card Balance (with a $50K credit card limit, expect to pay this off ASAP)

Expenses:
Rent: $1850 (One Bed/One Bathroom), 800 sq ft
Utiltiies (Gas/Electric): $230
Wi-Fi: $95
Car Loan: $520
Phone: $109
Car Insurance : $115
Haircut: $130 (est)
Food/Groceries/Eating Out: $900 (average, this can be adjusted)
Gas: $50-$60

Credit Card Expenses:
Spotify: $12.99
Gym: $34.99
YT Premium: $13.99
LinkendIn Premium: $29.99
Streaming: $4.99
Gym 2: $79.00 (likely canceling soon)
LLM Service: $20

Couple of questions:

Am I objectively behind financially for someone in their mid-30's?
Should I prioritize eliminating all debt before increasing my brokerage investments?
How much cash should I have saved before increasing my house costs?

If you are in the middle class, how much, as a percentage of income, do you give to charity each year? (And beyond traditional charities, things like mutual aid, donations to your religious institution, and even 501c4s, etc. can all count. Anything that you give that you consider "for the good of humanity" or "for the good of others.")

Question for the group —

I owe about $11k on my vehicle, my husband’s is completely paid off. I have 33 more months at 1.9% and the payment is totally manageable but I have the money to pay it off in its entirety right now. The money is sitting in a HYSA so it’s making more interest than what I’m paying but it’s our only debt (aside from our mortgage) so I’d like to get rid of it and go hard at our mortgage.

Do I pay it off?!

I used to completely ignore subscriptions and random small purchases until I looked back one day and realized how much they were quietly adding up every month. It was a bit of a wake-up call.

I was recently told that I have until the end of September to transition out of my current role (white collar manager-type position) and the company. After that, I'll be formally let go and I'll get two months of severance and then nothing. They're eliminating my role and wanted to give me extra time to find something new. They're paying me during this transition period. I'm married and I make 2/3 of the household income, so it's a big hit. My husband makes 1/3 (same industry). We do have an emergency fund.

We have a variety of trips planned for the rest of the summer that we already bought tickets and hotel accommodations for, mostly flying for friends' weddings. Nothing international (farthest trip is to California) but it adds up. We also had an international trip planned for October which is definitely now cancelled (even if I find a new position, I won't be able to immediately take time off).

Our disagreement: I want to cancel the summer trips to save money, apologize to our friends and focus on the job hunt. I also feel comfortable telling friends that I got fired, in part for the emotional support and solidarity and in part to communicate my urgency to find something new. My husband thinks this is a terrible idea. He comes from a more professional/ upper middle class background than I do (my family is pretty blue collar) and is insisting that we basically keep up appearances, go on the summer trips and just tell friends that I'm looking for a career change. His reasoning is that being fired carries a stigma, that I haven't technically been fired yet and this head's up from my company is a boon, that friends are more likely to recommend me to their companies if they think this is a voluntary change, etc. To me, this feels disingenuous. I also don't like keeping secrets.

Has anyone faced this situation and have any advice on what is better career-wise?

Americans are buying fewer groceries than they did a year ago, CNBC reports, citing a new Bain & Company analysis.

Grocery units — the individual products sold — fell 1.8% in June, Bain said.

Meanwhile, grocery prices have risen about 33% since 2019, forcing more shoppers to rely on credit cards to pay for their food.

Rising fuel costs and reduced SNAP benefits are also having an impact.

In Bain's May survey, 56% of consumers admitted they're prioritizing cheaper brands, while 49% said they're buying fewer grocery items, period.

According to Google, if I sell and don't rebuy I'll get hit hard with (long term) Capital Gains Tax.

I should make between 250-300k on the sale. If I buy abroad, I assume this doesn't help the tax situation... I considered buying a cheap (<150k) plot of land in another state, but not sure if that helps either.

Then what to do with the money? I have a HYS account but otherwise don't know anything about money...

Debt collection lawsuits are way up, having risen steadily since 2024, new research from Pew Charitable Trusts shows.

The organization is pushing courts for more transparency around these cases.

Frequently, Pew says, those being sued don't have lawyers or understand the claims against them.

In an analysis of eight states for which information on these lawsuits was available, Missouri and Texas saw cases accumulate most quickly.

The data comes as consumers assume more debt and struggle to pay it down amid elevated interest rates.