SoFi Blog

Welcome to Hey Coach!, a career advice column hosted by SoFi’s Career Advisory Group, a team of expert career coaches dedicated to helping SoFi members reach professional success. Got a tricky career question of your own? Email [email protected].

Hey Coach,

My husband and I have made the decision to move across the country so we can live closer to our families in the Bay Area. We’ve been living in New York for the last ten years and have really planted roots—great friends, families and jobs—but we’re looking to start a family of our own soon and know being closer to loved ones is the right choice.

Who says you can’t have avocado toast if you want to buy a home? Oh, right—an Australian real estate developer who made the comment heard ’round the world about how it’s preventing millennials from becoming homeowners.

You probably already know that you should have an emergency fund—three to six months of expenses saved in a place you can access it quickly and easily if needed, like a checking or savings account.

But what you might not know is that, beyond your emergency fund, a savings account is one of the worst places to keep—and grow—your money. The average savings account interest rate of the five largest U.S. banks this year was 0.08%—less than one-tenth of one percent!

Making a large payment or additional payment does not automatically change your monthly payment. For a fixed rate loan you will continue to owe the same amount the following month unless you request a re-amortization, which may lower your monthly payment. For a variable rate loan you will also owe the same amount the following month, unless you either (1) request a re-amortization, or (2) the SOFR rate changes and your loan re-amortizes due to a change in your interest rate.