Life Situation: 24 years old, no student debt (Graduated in 2017), works in the real estate industry, lives with parents still in the Denver metro area. No kids, no dependents. Currently commutes by car 38 miles round trip to work, but have been trying to bike/take the train (currently free with my student pass still)
Gross Salary/Wages: $40,000 (take home pay is $2700 a month)
Currently have about $700 in a Roth IRA I opened last month.
Taxes: was in a lower tax bracket for 2018, got a tiny refund, not significant this year.
Current expenses:
Live with parents so $0 in rent
Currently spend about $100 in groceries a month (food subsidized by still living at home)
Utilities $0
Restaurants/Alcohol: $200 a month
Clothing: $75
Dog: roughly $100 for food/vet bills so far
Car Insurance: $110 a month on a paid off 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid with 145,000 miles
Gas: $60
Gym: $25
Rec league basketball: roughly $25 a month (also adds 10 miles of driving a week)
$30 for haircuts right now but want to use UMGD to cut this out
Total: $725 per month
Assets:
$700 in Roth IRA opened last month
$5,800 in Betterment General Investing Account (90% index funds, 10% bonds)
$2,000 in Betterment Safety Net
$2,100 in Fundrise account
Another $1,500 in a Betterment savings account that I plan to use for my wedding next summer
Liabilities: No debt
I pretty much save all the money I don't spend on these expenses unless I get suckered into a night out with friends or decide to treat my gf to a nice date when she is in town.
Specific Question(s): My commute sucks, but I can cut it down by riding my bike to and from the train station. This will add about an hour commute time per day, to the point I am commuting 3 hours a day. I can read on the train, and I view the biking as exercise, so it isn't terrible. But I have thought about moving out of my parents house (I mea, I would rather live on my own, but not having to pay rent in Denver is nice). Would moving closer to work be a bad idea since I save so much on rent? Is there anything else I am missing here? Also, I have spoken with my dad about going in on a rental property, like a duplex, where I would live in one side and rent out the other. But we haven't really found many viable options for this yet. Any recommendations?