Personal Finance The benefit of even a small emergency fund |
- The benefit of even a small emergency fund
- For 2018, The IRS is Increasing the 401(k) Contribution Limit to $18,500
- Is it required for a company 401K to have certain choices for your investment?
- My father offered me his 250,000$ house for 100,000 dollars.
- How I managed to save up 3 months worth of every monthly bill and build an emergency fund as an impulse shopper
- I'm 16 what can I do to better my financial future?
- Prepayment of 2018 property taxes in 2017 to gain full deductibility despite tax reform limits
- Emergency fund and Cancer Diagnosis
- How does Social Security determine your distribution upon retirement?
- Doctor is reaching out months after treatment ended saying I need to pay $720 for treatment that insurance was supposed to pay. Anything I can do?
- 24 offered 60k a year but 12+ hour days and no benifits.
- $100 Target Gift Card was fraudulently used and customer support cannot help
- [credit] old debt with a new remark on my CR because they closed the acct. What are my options?
- Need advice: Past roommate racked up debt on apartment
- Is "Income Store" investment a scam?
- 401K Allocation
- Loan? Ideas?
- Feel like my situation will never change
- 20, University Student in Ontario, Canada unsure what to do next.
- Keep saving or start investing?
- Writing off expenses?
- Received some inheritance, have some debt, have no idea what to do!
- Just started a new job in NYC- critique my budget?
- Ontario University Student (CAN) budgeting question
| The benefit of even a small emergency fund Posted: 02 Dec 2017 06:43 AM PST So around two and a half months ago, I abruptly lost my job. I am, admittedly, in a field where it is not too difficult to find a job so I didn't panic but it was stressful for me and my wife. But, thanks to the advice on here and the work we have done to manage our finances, it wasn't as traumatic as it could have been. First, we had been budgeting and saving and living frugally for the past few years. Because of this, we were able to live off of my wife's income and the unemployment I was receiving without too much of a lifestyle change. Second, while I started a new job this week, I will not get paid until the 15th. Although we only had about $2500 in savings in our emergency fund, during this first week of my job, we incurred a few large veterinary bills totaling close to $1000, which was frustrating, but we paid them while staying debt free and didn't have to worry about being able to pay bills. Just a good success story from even having a small emergency fund and a solid budget. Thanks /r/personalfinance ! [link] [comments]  |
| For 2018, The IRS is Increasing the 401(k) Contribution Limit to $18,500 Posted: 02 Dec 2017 11:22 AM PST Here is the list of pension & retirement changes IRS has announced for 2018: The 401(k) limit is one that likely affects a lot of readers on this sub, so start thinking about modifying your contributions for 2018 if you want to hit the IRS limit. IRA limits remain the same at $5,500. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it required for a company 401K to have certain choices for your investment? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 05:51 PM PST Someone asked me about her 401K, she's concerned about the market being inflated. I didn't offer opinions about that, but said that she should move to a MM/Cash or TBill/Gov Bond type fund. She was saying that she didn't think that was an option. In all my life, I have never seen any US company that didn't have an option to move to something that was like cash and/or bond. Q. Is there some requirement for 401K accounts and what they have to offer for US businesses? Given that the Gov control what qualifies as a 401K, I can't even begin to imagine that a company could NOT offer cash/bond type safe account. The company is Sony, which makes me think they should have a great choice because they are a huge company. [link] [comments]  |
| My father offered me his 250,000$ house for 100,000 dollars. Posted: 02 Dec 2017 02:55 PM PST |
| Posted: 02 Dec 2017 12:01 PM PST Before reading, try to understand that while this worked for me, it may not work for you. It also may be more complicated than it has to be, but it works for me. I normally bank with Ally Bank, I have a savings account and a checking account with them. I found that I would see "a lot" of money in my account and think, "Oh cool, I can spend $200 since I have the money to cover it." Often I would forget about the recurring bills and end up panicking about how little money I had in my account when it came time for them to draw from my account. Whoops. The first thing I did was I opened two new checking accounts to separate bill payments. I opened one with Capital One to handle my car payment and car insurance payment. I did the same with Republic Bank and that handles my health insurance as well as all of my entertainment bills (Netflix/Hulu/etc). Note: I do NOT carry the debit cards of these accounts with me so I can not spend the money freely. I chose to use my savings account as my general emergency fund which would cover rent for 3+ months or any major unexpected need of funds. Next, I added up how much each account needed per month. For my car account I need $410 per month. Since I get paid bi-weekly, I divide $410 by 2, and contribute $205+$30 per paycheck. Sometimes I move a little bit extra over, and there's one paycheck per year that is "free" which contributes to my padding. I do the exact same for my entertainment account. I need $210 per month for that so I send $105+$20 per paycheck to my Republic Bank account. I use my savings account as my emergency/rent account and make sure to contribute 20% of my paycheck every paycheck. Whatever I have left in my personal checking account is now mine to spend how I wish. So the basic premise that works for me is: 1: Separate recurring payments into a checking account designated for it. 2: Figure out how much out of each check to move over per payment period and contribute more than you need. If you get paid bi-weekly then divide your bills by 2, if it's weekly, divide by 4. 3: Don't touch those accounts for any reason except to allow automatic bill paying. By doing this I know exactly what I can spend on fun per month and I am adding an emergency cushion to all of my bills. I went from living paycheck to paycheck two years ago to having 3+ months of cushion for every bill that I have. [link] [comments]  |
| I'm 16 what can I do to better my financial future? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 06:30 PM PST Hello everyone, I am 16 years old and am looking into doing something with my money other than spending it on stupid stuff or rotting in a bank with .001% interest rates. I have a custodial account with my mother right now and I have a part time job making $11 an hour. I work around 14-15 hours a week so my paychecks are usually around $300 or so. I have access to free or very cheap community college through my mothers job and I am not a good student at all so I believe this would overall be my best route. I have asked and talked to my parents and they have told me that it is my money and I can do what I want with it. Currently I have around 450$ but I'm owed around $220 and by Christmas I should have over $1000 I have saved up. Some things I have looked at from looking online and from the multiple business and investments classes I have been taking in high school and will continue to take are that mutual funds are usually a good way to start so I am very curious about those. I am also very interested in cryptocurrency. I do acknowledge that something like this would be very risky but I think that while I am young and still living at home now would be the best time to risk as well as this being something I would like to say I did instead of just being something I wish I had done. I am open to any and all suggestions and am grateful for any help I receive. [link] [comments]  |
| Prepayment of 2018 property taxes in 2017 to gain full deductibility despite tax reform limits Posted: 02 Dec 2017 06:03 PM PST Well, the house and senate tax plans both limit property tax deductibility to $10k per year starting in 2018. Is your annual property tax bill more than $10k? Then there may be a one-time opportunity depending on your situation: 1) check with your taxing municipality to ensure they allow prepayments. Mine will allow prepayment from Dec 1-Dec 29, up to the amount paid the prior tax year. 2) check with your accountant (or your tax software) to ensure that an additional $X of property tax paid won't turn you into an AMT payer in 2017. 3) pay the portion of your tax bill that is greater than $10k. Mine is $19k, so i'll Prepay $9k, and pay the remaining $10k in 2018. In effect, this strategy allows you to gain deductibility on the full property tax bill one last time. In my example, this will have a cash benefit of (9,000*(marginal tax rate)) - $2-$4k depending on your income. Certainly greater than the 6 months of interest I would have earned on that $9,000. As always, check with your accountant before you take action based on a stranger on the internet. Just giving you a heads up to look into this one time tactic. [link] [comments]  |
| Emergency fund and Cancer Diagnosis Posted: 02 Dec 2017 03:19 PM PST Without going into the specifics, my wife and I are young and newly married but have saved a modest emergency fund in a short time. I'd like to share how this has benefited us and could benefit others in a similar situation. Unexpectedly, my wife was diagnosed with a rare late-stage cancer in early October. We needed to re-locate immediately to Boston for treatment that isn't offered in our state. Our emergency fund will allow us to support ourselves without extreme measures like liquidating our retirement accounts. This allows us to have reserves on hand if experimental treatments or medication is required in the near future. Furthermore, the financial advice and plans specific to advanced cancer in this sub will allow us to be prepared for the next steps with slightly less uncertainty about our future. Anything that makes this experience even marginally less difficult is greatly significant to both of us. I'd like to re-iterate the benefit an emergency fund. Prior to this incident, I thought my wife and I were in excellent health and we both had promising careers and outlooks. However, her diagnosis instantly created a life-or-death situation that hinged on our ability to re-locate to an unfamiliar city immediately. Our emergency fund had a direct and immediate impact on her outcome. Thanks for reading and happy holidays. [link] [comments]  |
| How does Social Security determine your distribution upon retirement? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 05:41 PM PST So, more specifically, do they have every individual's information on file in a prestigious Database that tracks citizens contribution and eventual payout? Are their computer systems capable of persisting this information and correctly distributing the right amount even over 5 decades of variant earnings, career changes, contributions, etc. This seems a monumental task fraught with many, many potential pitfalls especially with regard to technological upgrades that are necessary to implement such an institutional undertaking. Just wondering if anyone has some insight to this or can elaborate on the inside processes with competence. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Dec 2017 04:10 PM PST Had acupuncture treatment for 4 months. Checked with insurance before they said it was covered if I had a referral letter from GP, which I did. Before going in I checked with acupuncturist and they said it was covered. Months after my last session, doctor emails me saying even though they also checked with insurance before, insurance is not paying. They have been fighting with insurance for months with no success. Anything I can do? [link] [comments]  |
| 24 offered 60k a year but 12+ hour days and no benifits. Posted: 02 Dec 2017 07:36 AM PST Hello, for obvious reasons this is a throwaway account so no one from work can find me. I work on a tv set for a show that plays locally and I am doing a variety of jobs including seting up lighting, filming, editing, doing audio, and making graphics and other elements for the program. I have a bachelors degree and am around 30k in debt with student loans. The show has been on around 10 years of which I have been working on it for less than a year. This is where it gets tough. The boss is awful, she is always screaming and swearing over any little thing. Ive had unpleasant bosses before but this one takes the cake for sure. She is an older woman and has technological problems of all sorts and she is always calling for help at different times and keeping me on the phone for 4-8 hours after work fixing her computer problems and while she picks apart all of my work. It could be 1 am and I have to pick up the phone at risk of being fired. One of her favorite passtimes is telling people on set how she could fire them at any time. A normal day is around 12 hours of work filming then editing. Well our program is getting significantly more popular and has been growing. Were getting a new set to film on and I will be getting a new office with a new computer to edit on. Until recentley I was getting about 22$ an hour for all my work on the show but we only filmed a few times a month, now that we are going to be on set more often she is offering me a 30k salary and said she will double it once I have "proved my worth" when that would be I am unsure. Nothing is in writing and I was told I will essentially always be on call to help her and must remain by a computer to help her if she calls at any time of day or night. People keep telling me how lucky I am that I will be working on a show that is getting this big but to me it is just awful. Is it worth staying with this job to get the experience and pay off my debt? At my previous job I only made 13$ an hour. There are no benifits or breaks on this job and if I asked she would probably just let me go. [link] [comments]  |
| $100 Target Gift Card was fraudulently used and customer support cannot help Posted: 02 Dec 2017 01:19 PM PST Hi PF, not sure if this is the right subreddit for this, so please advise me if it isn't. My parents purchased a $100 Target gift card from Fry's (our grocery store equivalent of Von's, QFC, Ralph's, etc) on 11/19. We paid for it with a Chase Freedom Unlimited card. However, when we went to try to use that gift card yesterday, we found that there was a $0 balance on the card. After talking to Target customer support, they have told us that all $100 for the gift card was used in Cypress, CA on 11/23. We've contacted Target customer support twice and both times they just sent us to take care of the issue at the store, unsuccessfully. We've gone into Fry's and talked to a manager who in turn called corporate, and they said that they could not issue us a refund. Chase Freedom card protection services informed us that gift cards are not eligible for protection. What can we do at this point, since we still have the receipt for the purchase of the gift card, and we clearly were nowhere near Cypress, CA in the past few weeks? A big thank you in advance for any help on this! [link] [comments]  |
| [credit] old debt with a new remark on my CR because they closed the acct. What are my options? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 03:15 PM PST Hello again /personalfinance. I'm still on my way to improving my score and found another bump on the road to good credit!!! So I had a debt from a broken lease that was first recorded in late 2012. Its been a while and I was letting it drop off my credit because I refuse to pay it due to the circumstance surrounding but I had an inquiry recently and it appeared with an updated date of 10/17 in closed status. This brings a couple of questions to mind. 1) Does that restart the clock of removal date? 2) Would it be beneficial to try and pay the debt and request removal/status change at this point? If I don't have to pay thousands I won't but at this point I'm not really ready to wait another 7 years to stop worrying about negative remarks. Thank you for your help! [link] [comments]  |
| Need advice: Past roommate racked up debt on apartment Posted: 02 Dec 2017 06:53 PM PST I'm dealing with a debt collector for the first time and could use some advice. I read through the wiki and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Several years ago I had an apartment with a roommate and a lease. After the lease was over, we kept the apartment on a month to month basis. I eventually moved out and my roommate kept the place and continued paying the bills. I know it was a poor choice, but I never officially removed my name from anything because it was important to not make waves at that time. A couple years later, he decided to find a different place and told me everything was all set and closed out at the apartment we once shared. Fast forward six months and I receive a letter in the mail from a debt collector saying I owed more than $5k. This shocks me because I never heard from the apartment management company at all and the contact information they would have on file has not changed. There also hasn't been anything about it on my credit report. I called the collection company and briefly explained the situation. They were friendly and agreed to request a full list of all of the charges from the apartment. I just recently got that list in the mail and only my roommate's name is on it. His name was listed first on the account, so it may be possible that the reporting software only lists the first name. I asked my old roommate about all of this and he said he was trying to explain to them he was between jobs, but I doubt he'll ever take care of any of this. I have great credit and no debt. If I absolutely had to, I could drain my savings to cover this or I could put it on a credit card, do a balance transfer and pay it off over the next 18 months. I'd obviously rather not do all of that if I don't have to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Is "Income Store" investment a scam? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 01:32 PM PST A friend of mine recently pulled out a 50K HELOC to invest in a company which claims to build a 'revenue generating site'. My friend says that she was told 15% ROI (which I know is unlikely). I don't want to break any rules by linking to the site, but you can google "Income Store" which has a website. If this is a scam, how do they operate, and how can I clue my friend in without seeming like I am being rude? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Dec 2017 04:16 PM PST New to adulting, just trying to get my finances in order. New grad, 23 years old. I've had all of my 401k in the target retirement for the last few months, but I thought I would be able to get a lower expense ratio. I was thinking of doing the following allocation:
Reasoning for above was that I saw people generally liked vanguard, and I did 10% bonds, and did the 30%-70% split for international vs. US (large cap and small/mid cap split was kind of arbitrary, as I am not sure of what a good ratio is). Any feedback would be appreciated! STOCK
BONDS
MONEY MARKET / STABLE VALUE
RETIREMENT
[link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Dec 2017 04:10 PM PST So we had a serious of bad luck situations happen. ( Car needed new engine, Foster kids put us at a financial disadvantage, etc). We are almost 3000 behind on our rent and have terrible credit. Our landlord wants us to catch up by January 1st, which would include another 1775. I just started a new job so we can now start to catch up. I make commission so my check will always be at least 1000 every 2 weeks but not less. My husband makes about 300 every week. We were tossing the idea back and forth of trying to apply for a loan but we don't think we could get one with our terrible credit. Are there any places that offer loans where they can withdraw money directly? I have no one to ask to borrow from. I'm at a loss for what to do. Help me get back on track!! [link] [comments]  |
| Feel like my situation will never change Posted: 02 Dec 2017 06:32 AM PST I feel as though I've been struggling a lot throughout my adult life and I don't know what to do. I'm a 25 year old female, I live with my father, and I'm working about 38 hours a week making $9.00 an hour. I did attend community college (starting after high school) but I've been there for so long and only have 48 credits. I'm taking this semester off to deal with some issues. I've dealt with bad anxiety and depression and that's been holding me back a lot. I have my license but I don't have a car. I take Ubers to work butt since my job is about 20 minutes away, I'm spending about $25 a day to get there. I'm working just to get to work. I've only help low wage retail jobs so I don't know how I would move up. I'm also not very good at saving money. If I don't feel like cooking, I'll order take out or go to the buffet at Whole Foods which I clearly can't afford. I get paid every 2 weeks and I'm out of money before that time is up. I have a poor credit score (517) due to a medical bill from a couple of years ago that I can't pay. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm feel like I'm drowning sometimes and I don't know what to do. :( EDIT: Thanks for the advice everyone! I do feel a bit better after venting. I was seeing a counselor up until around June or so when my therapist moved to a private practice. I'm still trying to find a new one. There is an Amazon in my area and a Blue Apron opened in the next town over. I'm gonna keep applying everywhere that's close to me. I feel more encouraged now. Thanks again! :) [link] [comments]  |
| 20, University Student in Ontario, Canada unsure what to do next. Posted: 02 Dec 2017 05:20 PM PST Im a a second year student in University and I'm unsure if I want to be here anymore. I've lived my whole live with everyone telling me university is they way to go, and all my friends looking down at people who aren't in it. Family is a major role too because my dad has been saving his money just for me to go to uni. Now that I'm here though, I don't know if I really want to be here. My resume shows I worked with WWF overseas, have 3-4 years experience in sales/customer service and started my own promotions/events management company. But with all that, I'm not sure I'm going to make it anywhere. I'm not sure if I'm going to be successful. I'm going through a rough mental patch right now, and I'm just looking for advice on what to do next. [link] [comments]  |
| Keep saving or start investing? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 04:00 AM PST Hi all - Just seeking some advice. I'm a 25 year old male graduate student, no debt, no kids, renter. I make roughly $2600 per month after taxes, about 1100 of which goes to rent/utilities/internet/cellphone. Over the last 2-2.5 years of grad school, I've been fairly conservative with my spending and have managed to save up $11000 in a 1.3% interest savings account, stashing between 250-600 in savings every month. Recently, I opened a Schwab Checking account, which comes with a brokerage account attached. I've been pondering redirecting some or all of my monthly 250-600 into the Schwab Checking account, to be invested in mutual funds. Do you guys think this is would be worthwhile, or am I better off just continuing to save in my 1.3% account? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Dec 2017 07:14 PM PST Hi all, I recently started a small home business, pretty much making custom posters for friends and extended friends..etc. I collect cash/venmo, dont really have receipts for payments, and my startup cost is roughly 250 dollars for the press, ink and materials. Is it possible for me to write this 250 off as a business expense on my tax return? I never made this official, its just a side thing i do to make money. [link] [comments]  |
| Received some inheritance, have some debt, have no idea what to do! Posted: 02 Dec 2017 06:08 AM PST Hi guys, I wanted to ask a few questions about making good decisions with my money and realise I may not be doing that at the moment. Ill start by explain my situation. (throwaway for obvious reasons) I think its important to say im from the UK so some things are slightly different to the US. I'm 22 now, currently finishing my masters degree, and looking at starting a new job in September that pays a salary of about £33K a year. When I start the job I will be moving house to rent at first, with an aim to buy in 2/3 years. Currently i live off a student loan. Each year I take £9,000 of loan to cover my university fees and around £5,500 in loan to cover living costs. I currently live exclusively off that money (and a non repayable scholarship payment of £2,500). The total amount of student debt I have will be around £58,000 when I start working in September. Unlike the US the UK student finance is slightly different - we are only required to pay back the loan when we are earning over 22K a year and even then we pay back as a fraction of our wage. If we haven't payed off the loan by age 40 the loan is wiped clean. So I have a fair amount of student debt but that is not too serious of an issue due to the way its repaid (or not). When I was 7 (15 years ago!) my great grandfather unfortunately passed away, leaving me a portion of his estate worth around £75,000. Being 7 this was put into a trust and managed by my grandfather who invested it through a wealth management firm. On my 18th birthday the trust was transferred to me and has remained invested through the same firm since then. Its value now stands at £135,000. I also have a few other savings in the forms of premium bonds and savings that come to about £10,000. So my question is - what do I do? Should I continue on as things are, pay off my student loans, or keep the money ready to secure a low mortgage? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer! On a side note I'm looking at purchasing a car when I move home and start working (i will need it to get to work) and was considering a Tesla Model 3. I'm keen on EV and have always wanted a Tesla. Is this something I could realistically afford on my wage? [link] [comments]  |
| Just started a new job in NYC- critique my budget? Posted: 02 Dec 2017 04:55 PM PST Hello everyone! I just started a new job in NYC. I've gone from $40,000 to $54,000 and want to make sure my new budget makes sense. Note: I already have an emergency fund of ~6 months expenses and close to $11,000 in retirement. I'm 23. Considering increasing my retirement savings by another $150/month to take my retirement savings rate up to 20% MONTHLY SPENDING Rent & utilities: $900 Groceries & eating out: $300 Personal care & household items: $80 Misc. & fun money: $150 Proposed new expenses: $190 for gym membership and other non-essential health expenses MONTHLY SAVINGS Long term fun (travel, shows, etc.): $300 increased by $50 Long term responsibilities (holiday travel and presents, renters insurance, occasional copays, adding to emergency fund): $350 increased by $100 Retirement savings: $750 increased by $250 [link] [comments]  |
| Ontario University Student (CAN) budgeting question Posted: 02 Dec 2017 07:03 PM PST I recently got an internship for the summer of 2018. I will be making roughly $3,700 a month and want to save this money for my next year of schooling so I can pay for rent, food, etc. However, would it be wise to invest the money that I make in an aggressive mutual fund (with TD (return of ~10%)) or should I just deposit in a checking account? I will most likely be using the money once September hits and am unsure wether or not to put my money in a mutual fund where there are fees when I take out my money for such a short period of time. [link] [comments]  |
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