Ah that is right. Forgot that Dave is ok with a mortage. Here is a better example:
Car loan of $5,000 at 0% interest.
Student loan of $10,000 at 8% interest.
I can see the point of building momentum and having less types of debt on the plate. I am too mathematically engrained to only look at what nets you the best situation in the long run, and not this psychological stuff that Dave is pushing. I am only wired one way
Dave would have you sell the car and ride beans and rice to work
Dang, you got me again. Ok, here is an example Dave canāt tear apart:
$5,000 student loan at 8%
$10,000 credit card debt at 23%
I get the reasoning why employer match is above emergency reserves, but for my own mental state, I would definitely work on the reserves first.
Not having an emergency reserve can collapse the whole tree
Cause its free money
I just want to throw out there that having a budget to keep track of your monthly expenses and your spendings is extremely important.
As I said, I get the reasoning why, but having no emergency reserves is a recipe for disaster.
At least build some reserves (hell, even a month), and then contribute to both.
You can now take up to 10k out of 401k for emergency bills. Can also take money out of IRA that was contributed 5 years prior.
Edit: whoops it is $1k
So 100% need to atleast get the company match
TIL
Whoops it is only $1k you can take out
I love this discussion. Personal finance really is personal, and in addition to the math, factors like risk tolerance, history with money, and other things will impact how someone approaches something. I saved up an emergency fund before taking on my employer match when I first started working, but also needed to wait 6 months before I was eligible anyways, so wasnāt a big thing.
Iām also someone who would likely make some additional housing payments before investing 25% because not having a house payment would provide me with significant peace of mind and QoL benefits.
Iām an advocate of deep freezers, the kind you can fit bodies into. If you have access to a car, sufficient space and live in a place where bargain hunting is feasible, there is a fortune to be saved.
This may either be the first āTuesday Topicā, or may just be a single question that happens to fall on a Tuesday.
For those of you that invest in your retirement accounts, do you contribute a consistent amount each paycheck, or do you tend to front or back load your contributions for the year? Please share your thought process for why you do what you do!
I do a flat percentage that goes in every paycheck. I do this for 2 reasons:
I do a fix amount each pay period because I like whole numbers, it would bug me to see like .13 at the end of my contribution.
Contributing an equal amount each month lets you budget better as you know exactly what youāll be deducting.
Consistent amount each paycheck, I just use a percentage. I think itās easier for budgeting purposes, but I also think itās easier mentally/emotionally than just dumping a bunch of money at once. Slow and steady wins the race with retirement accounts 
Iām also a consistent contributor. Iāve been tempted to front load as Iāve read the historical returns are a bit better over the long term if you do, but at least for me, the less I have to think about things, the more likely I am to continue through with it.
Also avoids any cashflow things, and I believe some employer matches may be effected if you donāt contribute with each paycheck. Maybe not 100% (like if you max out your 401k near the end of the year), but think there are some restrictions out there.
This is correct. Lets say you are going for the IRS limit for 401k, call it $23k, and you front load it the first 6 months, the last 6 months you donāt get your employer match
No groundbreaking thoughts just also set amount each paycheck as a percentage. Makes it both a) more automated and b) less of an active choice pay period to pay period, kind of forced automated savings
Flat percentage every paycheck however I do boost that number significantly whenever there are corrections in he market and then reduce it back to normal later