We have saved 60k and my fiancée and I have no debt please help.

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This is just my opinion and I am not an expert.

Keep an emergency fund fairly liquid of 3-6 months of expenses.

Pay off credit cards every month. Don't carry a bunch of open credit on many different credit cards.

If you buy a house put atleast 20% down to avoid PMI. Don't buy too much house. I think I am somewhere between 12-15% gross or something like that. Obviously it can be higher, but keep in mind all expenses.

Don't buy too much car.

I would try to avoid debt as much as possible outside of house, vehicles (maybe), and business investment.

Max your Roth and contribute to personal 401k to company match at minimum. Try to save 15% household minimum for retirement annually.

Try to keep a balanced stock portfolio. There is some thought investing in a low fee S&P index fund is the best thing for the novice investor. You can also use a target retirement fund if you have a company 401k.

Realize that children are expensive and don't have kids you can't afford to live the way you want. Basically plan out having a family. If you don't have kids take some time to travel and enjoy each others company first.

When you get married don't separate your accounts. You should be a financial team. It is part of your relationship and it always seems to cause problems when you dictate it is an individuals money instead of the couples money. Obviously this is for after you are actually married.

I don't see how being black has to do with anything regarding this topic. Race doesn't dictate decision making. It is just individual choices and in general society is clueless about financial management.

How do you not have a 401k or IRA?

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How do you not have a 401k or IRA?

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I never had a job that offered a 401k and I just learned about IRA about 3 months ago. I was focused on hitting 50 k in savings and increasing my credit score. Those were my main focuses.

Well you need to open a roth for sure. You can always take the principle out without penalty in an absolute emergency. It basically uses taxed money investment, but the gains are bot taxed. The IRA will allow you to deduct from your tax expense. You won't pay taxes untilnit is withdrawn when you are really old. You can probably put up to $11000 between you and your future wife assuming you don't already make $200k as a couple. You can also put up to $36k into an IRA or 401k a year.

Your 50-60k is a great savings milestone because now you can still pay your bills if you happened to lose your job. Always try to keep an emergency fund for that. The size is dependent upon your expenses and your potential length of unemployment in a crisis. Having some type of disability insurance and life insurance is also important. Most important when you have expenses and children.

Also important to speak with a lawyer during family planning to have a will and plan in case something happens to y'all when you have kids. I feel this is commonly overlooked by young parents.

I think one thing that could substantially help the American black community is the ownership of their home, as you mention in your property comment.

Stock investments are important too. But even for American whites, houses are typically the biggest value in an estate. Generational wealth likely starts with the home.

You are going to be paying to live somewhere regardless, right? I'd say get yourself into a position where you can buy a home (house, apartment, condo), get it insured like crazy, and put yourself in a position to where it can never be taken from you.

What is the cost of something equivalent to what you are living in?

I'm a money board lightweight, but this resonates with me for reasons I shall not disclose. So....Mistakes that young black people make in my experience:

Trusting in a " financial advisor" that also sells them financial products. Often somebody in leadership at church .

Purchasing of expensive whole life insurance products. Often from same advisor at church. Buy a fully underwritten 30 year term policy.

Investing in low performance mutual funds with high fees ( young Pimp is guilty as charged here).

Wasting wealth accumulation through the financing of vanity cars. Young black earners are even more guilty than the average Joe here.

At your general level of sophistication I would recommend attending a Dave Ramsey seminar . Listen to his podcast first . We give Dave a lot of shite , but he's invaluable to young guys like you. He will lay it out for both of you, get you and your wife on the same page and most of all get you both super excited to accumulate wealth and make a difference with your money . At our Buddhist temple today we discussed the joy of helping others that is only possible through prosperity. Which caused me and Mrs Pimp to then discuss our annual charitable goals ( temple and monk assistance , YMCA swimming program, our kids school fund, st Jude's etc).

Lastly, if you are that young and have no debt and 60 grand , it is us that need to be paying respect to you. Don't think you need to defer because of your youth or lack of wealth, it's a marathon and if you do it right, you'll achieve great things.

Home ownership in Pasadena is probably unrealistic for the OP at this time. If he were in a place with cheap property like I am in Memphis, then yes it would make sense. I doubt he can find any livable place for 200 k or less there, and I wouldn't even consider anything over that, that might be a stretch even. He doesn't mention his income though, it might be 200 k plus in a stable job for all I know and then it's different.

I would advise you studying as much as you can about ways to invest. I would recommend buying a multi family property. You can start off by buying a duplex and living in one side, that will pay for most of ur mortgage. Also if you can pay 20% down. I did this 10 years ago, best financial decision of my life. There are so many opportunities in real estate and have the best returns. Just got to do ur research