[Cody]

So I’m in need of some advice, as we are in a somewhat unusual situation.

My wife and I are completely debt free. No car payments, no house payment.

But I only have a couple thousand dollars in savings and our house needs some repairs. I’m 21 and I make about 35K a year.

I have 15% of my biweekly check being taken out for retirement. So should I stop my retirement for a little while to save as much as I can? Then start contributing again once my savings looks a little better?

Just need some advice.

Thanks!

[Natalie]

Might be a good time to get a solid financial advisor! Sounds like you’re doing great and will go far!

[Lynell]

It may be a typo, but Dave *doesn’t* recommend stopping retirement in order to pay off a mortgage (Baby Step 4)–only to pay off all other forms of debt (Baby Step 2) and get a fully funded emergency fund (FFEF–Baby Step 3). Do you have your FFEF in addition to this couple thousand dollars. If not, you should pause retirement to save that FFEF.

Once that’s in place, then you need to figure out the house repairs. If they are large emergency items (roof is about to cave in, septic system is collapsing, etc.), then you would keep the pause on retirement until you have also covered the cost of those, then start working on retirement again. If the house repairs are more cosmetic–updating rooms, redoing landscape, etc., then you would not keep the pause on the retirement. Rather, after you have your FFEF, you would restart the 15% into retirement and save for these projects as you can.

At 35K a year, if you or your wife could pick up some side hustles delivering pizza, doing DoorDash, thrifting and reselling online (or whatever makes sense in your area), you could make a significant difference in your financial lives in short order.

[Michelle]

You should stop retirement until you have fully funded emergency fund of 3 to 6 months.

[Amanda]

I don’t have an answer for you but I’m just here to say wow! 21 years old and debt free! I wish I was as smart as you when I was that age. I was young and dumb at that age.

[Victoria]

You need 6 mos saving of all your expenses combined before you invest.

[Author]

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