"Launch" - A 24-year-old woman living in a rapidly growing MCOL city in California, earning $80K/year as she prepares to pursue a master’s in CS (debt-free). Her net worth is 79th percentile for her age. She lives at home (no rent), pays no student loans, and invests $20K in individual tech stocks (NVDA, AMD, META, GOOG, AAPL) and ETFs (IDEV, QQQM, SCHG, VB). Another $24K is in retirement (Fidelity target date and Roth IRA), plus a HYSA. After deductions, she has $5,200/month to save/invest, but is unsure about the balance between cash and investments, and whether to focus more on career, city moves, or homebuying. Community advice: diversify with more index funds, track expenses, increase income, and enjoy life a bit while young.

“I’m confused what direction I should go. Should I keep more cash? Put less in retirement accounts to save elsewhere? I can see myself moving for a job, maybe renting, maybe buying, but not sure. Just want to make the right moves.”