🤖 Automate Your Investing Engine

Am I behind? How much should I have saved?

Fidelity's rule of thumb: 1× your annual salary saved by 30, 3× by 40. It's a useful compass — not a grade.

Two caveats. First, the rule counts retirement accounts only; your real picture includes home equity, debt, a pension, or a partner's savings. Someone at 2× salary with zero debt is in better shape than 3× with $80k on credit cards. Second, the fix is always the same: raise your savings rate. The number tells you where you stand; this step tells you what to do.

Should I pay off debt or invest?

Use the interest rate as your referee:

• Always capture the full 401(k) match first — a 50–100% instant return beats any debt payoff.
• Debt above ~7% (credit cards, personal loans): kill it before investing beyond the match.
• Debt between ~5–7%: split the difference — minimums plus investing.
• Debt below ~5% (most mortgages): pay on schedule and invest. Long-run market returns beat it.

Lump sum or dollar-cost average?

If a bonus, inheritance, or rollover lands all at once, investing it immediately has beaten spreading it out roughly two-thirds of the time — markets rise more often than they fall.

But dollar-cost averaging over 3–6 months is a perfectly fine choice if a sudden drop would make you panic-sell. The best strategy is the one you'll actually stick with. Either way, don't sit in cash waiting for “the right time.”

What do I do with my old 401(k)?

Don't cash it out — you'll owe income tax plus a 10% penalty if you're under 59½. Your two good moves: roll it into your new employer's 401(k), or into a rollover IRA (usually more fund choices and lower fees). Use a direct trustee-to-trustee rollover so nothing is withheld.

One exception: if you expect to use backdoor Roth IRA contributions, keep pre-tax money inside a 401(k) — it avoids the pro-rata tax rule that makes backdoor conversions messy.

What percentage of my income should I be saving?

A common planning benchmark is 15% of gross income, including the employer match. If you're catching up, 20% or more may be a useful target.

The math: $100,000 income × 15% = $15,000/year. At 7% average returns for 30 years: FV = $15,000 × [((1.07³⁰) − 1) / 0.07] ≈ $1.42 million.

Exception: if 15% isn't possible today, start at the full employer match and add 1% every quarter — timed to raises, you'll barely feel it.

What do I actually invest in?

Low-cost total-market index funds. You don't need to pick stocks, time the market, or hold a dozen funds — one broad U.S. fund plus an international fund covers most people.

The math on fees: $10,000/year for 30 years at 8% ≈ $1.13M; the same at 7% (a 1% fee drag) ≈ $945k. That one percentage point costs roughly $188,000.

Exception: a target-date fund inside your 401(k) is a perfectly fine one-fund answer if you'd rather not assemble the mix yourself.

Higher salary vs. better benefits — how do I compare offers?

Compare total compensation, not salary: add the 401(k) match, HSA seed money, insurance premiums, and PTO value to each offer.

The math: Offer A at $120,000 with a 6% match ($7,200) and $2,000 HSA seed = $129,200 effective. Offer B at $128,000 flat with no match = $128,000. The “lower” salary wins — before counting insurance and PTO.

Exception: check vesting schedules. A match you forfeit by leaving in year one isn't really yours.

How do I know if I'm underpaid?

Benchmark your total comp — not just salary — on levels.fyi, Glassdoor, or BLS data. Roughly 10–15% below market is a conversation with your manager (bring the data); 20%+ is usually a job search.

The math: market rate $140,000 and you're at $115,000 — that's an ~18% gap, about $25,000 a year left on the table.

Exception: adjust for cost of living, remote flexibility, and non-salary comp before concluding anything.