Personal Finance An update to the $75k number after which more money doesn't buy happiness |
- An update to the $75k number after which more money doesn't buy happiness
- The IRS.gov Withholding Calculator has been updated for 2018
- How to turn down a promotion?
- Recently divorced 30yo with a degree and no work experience, I feel completely lost as to how to support myself and manage my money.
- Accepted job offer, employer counter offered more.
- New IRS Tax Withholding Calculator is Online
- Does it matter if the market is down for a 401k rollover?
- How to answer the dreaded "what is the minimum salary range you would accept" question.
- Want to move out on $18 an hour. Is this realistic?
- Looking for mortgages, feeling discouraged
- I keep hearing about Roth IRA's and 401k's, but I am from the UK. Can someone give me some info on the British equivalents (if there are any)?
- Best way to exchange money between housemates without using cash?
- Can the gov't take your tax refund because of Student Loan debt?
- How do you parents do it?
- To invest or not to invest my new car fund !
- Has anyone here quit their job and taken a gap year(s) to travel? How did it work out?
- I have to pick between two job offers. Which path would be better for me?
- I have no debt and $40k to save, what's the best option for me?
- How to Refinance?
- Company is doing a fake Bankruptcy
- I was told annuities was my best option... I'm not so sure now.
- I (20) am planning on investing into stocks for retirement. Is this a good idea?
- Big new windfall from stock options...hire wealth management or not?
- Found out that my dad is using a credit card under my name and is $5000 due.
| An update to the $75k number after which more money doesn't buy happiness Posted: 28 Feb 2018 09:09 AM PST There was a study in 2010 that said $75k is the magic number after which if you make more money, it doesn't necessarily buy more happiness. According to this study, that number is $105k now for North American households. What do you think? https://qz.com/1211957/how-much-money-do-people-need-to-be-happy/ [link] [comments]  |
| The IRS.gov Withholding Calculator has been updated for 2018 Posted: 28 Feb 2018 01:00 PM PST Tips For Using This Program The Calculator will ask you to estimate values of your 2018 income, the number of children you will claim for the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and other items that will affect your 2018 taxes. This process will take a few minutes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This Withholding Calculator works for most taxpayers. People with more complex tax situations should use the instructions in Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, expected to be updated in early spring. This includes taxpayers who owe self-employment tax, alternative minimum tax, the tax on unearned income of dependents or certain other taxes, and people with long-term capital gains or qualified dividends. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2018 05:38 AM PST Long story short, I have been approached by my director for a promotion to supervisor, in which I would have 10 full time employees under me. In addition to my new responsibilities, I will have to continue doing my current technical job and all the responsibilities associated with it because management does not want to backfill my position. I have been offered a 2% increase in pay for this promotion. Personally, I do not feel the additional work and responsibility is worth only a 2% increase to my salary. I would be interested in and happy to take the promotion and am stating my case for better compensation before I decide; however, I do not see the current offer as a fair deal. I would be doing a job worth between $60-80k plus benefits on the open market in addition to what I am already doing, while only being compensated a minute fraction of that. If my negotiations fail, I do not think I would want to trouble myself with all the extra work for so little extra pay. How can I tactfully decline this promotion? I really like my job, am treated well here, and do not plan on leaving regardless of the outcome of this situation. As such, I do not want to jeapordize my current job in turning this down. All responses are greatly appreciated, thank you! Edit: This garnered far more comments than I expected. I do not have time to respond to every single one but I want you all to know I have read every single comment (and continue to read the new ones), and appreciate you all taking your time to share your knowledge, experiences and opinions. I'll post an update once everything is resolved so anyone who is interested can find out the outcome. As one comment said, the consensus seems to be "f*** you, pay me". I think I'll go with a more tactful version of that and see where it goes. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2018 07:52 AM PST I'm in a bit of an unusual situation I guess. I married right out of college. My partner had a great paying job and asked that I not work and take care of all the domestic duties and keep. He also managed all of the finances and generally controlled all of our money and spending. I sometimes expressed a desire to pursue a masters degree or go to Law School, but he always shot down the idea and said that it was a waste of money and that I'd be set financially and not to worry. Anyhow, my partner recently left me and filed for divorce. I'm collecting alimony but am very concerned about my financial future and lack of career in the future. I don't know the best course of action here - should I just try to land the best entry level job I can with my degree? Should I go back to school? Should I try to do both? I'm also worried about being discriminated against for my age. Does anyone have tips about searching for an entry level job as a 30 year old? I don't have any spending problems, but I also don't know a thing about budgeting or managing my money. I'm worried about being blindsided by something I don't anticipate. Thankyou so much for any help you guys can give me. EDIT: Thank you all for the kind words and advice. It has really meant a lot to me. [link] [comments]  |
| Accepted job offer, employer counter offered more. Posted: 28 Feb 2018 07:04 PM PST Current $50000. IT industry. Discontent because I wasn't learning anything and wanted to move into IT security. I'm also the last employee holding knowledge on large client (the rest have left or on leave). [link] [comments]  |
| New IRS Tax Withholding Calculator is Online Posted: 28 Feb 2018 01:54 PM PST The new IRS Tax Withholding Calculator is up on irs.gov. It would be a good idea to use this calculator to make sure your withholdings are correct. Don't end up with a big surprise come tax time. [link] [comments]  |
| Does it matter if the market is down for a 401k rollover? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 08:13 AM PST I have a traditional 401k from a job I left about six months ago that I've been meaning to roll over to an IRA at Vanguard. I don't want to leave it where it is for too much longer because of the high fees for what is basically a S&P tracking fund (1.2%). One of my coworkers recently mentioned I shouldn't roll it over until the market goes back up. Is this accurate? Is rolling over the same as selling the fund at a down price? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I've never done a roll over before. [link] [comments]  |
| How to answer the dreaded "what is the minimum salary range you would accept" question. Posted: 28 Feb 2018 09:50 AM PST In a more specialized field (think data analysis) and they asked this question. The ranges were 35k-50k and 50k-65k and so on. I would want a minimum of 50k. What would you do? [link] [comments]  |
| Want to move out on $18 an hour. Is this realistic? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 05:45 PM PST I'm 20 years old, currently making $16.50 an hour. I live with my parents, and I don't currently have any real expenses beyond gas. I am not in debt of any kind. While my parents have been generous in allowing me to stay rent-free, and paying for my community college classes (I've been taking classes part-time since high school, I have roughly 2 full semesters under my belt), we don't get along great, and I really don't like where I live (Northern VA). My plan is to move to the Denver, Colorado area within the next few months, after this semester finishes up in May. I have an offer for an $18 an hour position doing the same job I'm doing now. I plan on finding a room in a shared house. Ideally, this would be around $500 a month, but my upper limit would be $700. I have: $6000 cash A car that I would be able to sell for at least $15,000, probably a grand or two more (2011 mustang gt with ~50,000 miles). It was paid for in full, but my parents very generously paid for half of it. I have yet to discuss selling it with them, but I'm operating under the assumption that they would in turn want half of the money I get from selling it. This would leave me with roughly $13,000 total, including my savings. I want to buy an older (04-ish) ford ranger 4x4 in decent condition. I've been looking online for a while, and I'll probably be able to find one for not more than 5 or 6 thousand dollars. This will leave me with about $7000. $18 an hour full time in Colorado will leave me with $2482 a month after taxes. Below is a rough plan I've come up with for where all that will go: Rent: (up to) $700 Food: $250 Car Insurance: $150 Phone: $50 Gas: $300 (I plan on spending most of my free time hiking and exploring the state, so I'm putting in a very high estimate) Savings: $500 Spending money: $500 I plan on using my savings for unforeseen expenses like car repairs or a broken phone. My parents are currently paying for my phone and my car insurance, and they might be willing to continue to do so. However, I'm not counting on it. If they're willing to, that would be an extra $200/mo going to savings. I'm going to be on my mother's health insurance plan until I'm 26. So is this realistic? I've ran the numbers over and over, and I really do think it'll be feasible. I know that a lot of the numbers I've provided are estimates, but I've done my best to make conservative ones. Is there anything I've failed to consider? Do I need a reality check? Finally being out of my parent's house would be a dream come true. Thanks very much in advance for any input! [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for mortgages, feeling discouraged Posted: 28 Feb 2018 06:52 PM PST Basically my wife and I have $2,000 a month debt between our cars and student loans. Total we bring in ~$10,000/month pretax. We spent a lot of money on a wedding and that depleted a bunch of money in July. Since July, we've saved 13,000 towards a house, the rest is a few grand in checking and then our 401ks. Our lease at our $1,200/month condo is up May 30th. We want to buy a house in the Phoenix metro and move in by May 30th. We want a house because we cannot have animals at our current place(secretly have 2 cats, want a dog), most of the condos in our complex are $1,500ish a month so we see it being raised, and we want to have the nice warm and fuzzy feeling of being home owners not losing money. Most houses we want in the area that is a reasonable commute for both of us, that are 3 bed, 2 bath, with a 2 car garage and a pool(it is Phoenix, there are 100 days over 100°) is $250,000-300,000. So we filled out a Rocket Mortgage for a $290,000 house with $13,000 down. Again we make ~$120k/year pretax, 24k loan obligations/year right now, and my credit score is 749 and hers was 770. We got pre-approved for a 280k loan but it was like 5.125% and I forget the 2nd percentage. We plan on calling Ally tomorrow for a pre-qualification since they're our main bank. Then we want to go to US Bank on Monday and talk to someone in person about getting a loan there. The national average with 20% down seems to be 4.5%, with only 4-5% down on the house is the 5.15 something other banks will beat? We figure if we save another year we will still be owing PMI, so we want to go in now. We realize rates are up the last couple of months, but are afraid of them being higher next year. Should we be expecting similar rates from other banks? Is a broker worth the fees? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2018 03:16 AM PST Also some info on investing in general here, as I don't know where to start. [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to exchange money between housemates without using cash? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 03:07 PM PST So, we split rent and utilities but I actually make the payments through my bank. Is there a good way to send / receive money without using cash? What are the best options? [link] [comments]  |
| Can the gov't take your tax refund because of Student Loan debt? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 07:09 PM PST I have a guy who was going to pay off a debt after his tax refund came in, but now says the gov't is taking it for a student loan debt. He owes me rent, and I don't want to kick him out because he's been good in the past, and he's just having a hard time. Ive never heard of the gov't docking your tax refund over a student loan debt. I sent him to that AES website & told him to look into a financial hardship deferment. Problem is, he can't pay my rent anymore because he says the gov't took back the money. Can they do that? And while I definitely want to get paid, is there anything I can do to help him be ABLE to pay? I've been lenient but he's running on being 3 months behind now. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2018 05:55 PM PST I am looking into the future a few years...my boyfriend and I live in New England and make a combined $130k. We currently both pay reasonable rent, etc, don't spend frivolously, put money into 401k's and savings. He has a little bit of debt (under 6k) that should be paid off in around 2 years. I literally do NOT understand how we could possibly afford to have a kid together. Our current pay gives us a comfortable life, but adding on childcare for the first few years alone will be costly. I KNOW I am getting ahead of myself, but I do think about it sometimes. Do we save less? Put away less into retirement? We are both hoping for increases in pay in the next year but it wouldn't be over significant. Thank you for your help and reassurance (hopefully!). [link] [comments]  |
| To invest or not to invest my new car fund ! Posted: 28 Feb 2018 06:47 PM PST So I drive a fairly old vehicle that runs well but has some misfire problems related to the design of the engine. Not something worth fixing and I'll drive this car until it dies. I'm guessing this car will last anywhere from 6 months to 2 years so I want to begin saving towards a new car. I have a 6 months emergency fund in Ally. I max out my 401k at work and plan to also contribute 5500 to a Roth this year. I live fairly frugally for my area so I am doing fine. I have no debt. Now the issue that arises is all the advice I hear is to just put my vehicle fund into a savings account since the time horizon is fairly low. However, my risk tolerance on this vehicle fund is fairly high because i don't absolutely need a vehicle, it's more so for hobbies and activities I don't want to use the bus for. (Now I know I'll hear to not buy a car but it's something I value highly so I'll keep it. )So I feel like I would be better off putting my car fund in a vanguard index fund and taking advantage of some growth that's larger than 1.45% at ally. Would this be a bad idea? Is investing 50% and saving 50% a bad idea? TL;DR: want to invest vehicle fund in mutual funds instead of savings account. Thoughts ? Thanks ! [link] [comments]  |
| Has anyone here quit their job and taken a gap year(s) to travel? How did it work out? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 06:44 PM PST I'm 25 and am considering leaving my job in a few years to travel the world. Has anyone else spent a significant amount of time out of the workforce to travel, and how did it work out? Was it difficult getting a job when you returned? Is there anything financially you wish you had done differently before starting or while you travelled? [link] [comments]  |
| I have to pick between two job offers. Which path would be better for me? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 08:07 PM PST I'm young and quite early in my career path. I would like advice to which path to choose. I'm currently at one job but I was offered another job basically doing something similar abit less technical. My current job as an entry level engineer makes me 67K. I'm currently in CT which makes my salary on the lower end. Currently my company is going through a lot of salary restructuring and it's a real shitshow right now. My company is known for underpaying employees. Raises are quite bad. Attrition rate is ridiculous. The education program doesn't reward individuals who get their masters. Employees tend to grab their masters and start looking for jobs outside of the company. It's actually easier to get a higher salary if you leave the company and apply later. A person who has been in the company for a few years has been paid only a few thousand above me. According to my projected schedule, if I were to perform and do well in 4-5 years, I make around 82K which is STILL under other engineering companies. My projected salary is 67K, 2.8% raises per year based on merit which is basically 1.8% after inflation. I like my job though. My boss is a great man who fights for his employees. I really do respect my boss and enjoy the projects that I'm working for. I'm just not quite happy with the entire money situation and I'm quite worried about my future situation and further education prospects. Not to mention, A LOT of employees are not happy (for good reason) with the company right now and are openly planning on leaving. My other job offer is in PA and I start off as a 57K. It's for a government job so I also get pension. I don't really have much else to say about this job as I have no idea what it's like. I'm just scared that my boss sees me as a cog in the machine as I kinda got the feeling of that in the interview. I also have an interim clearance for this job which is means I'm working on a lot less interesting stuff as I currently hold a secret clearance. So I fear the work there would be a lot less interesting. I also will live with my parents for a few years and it'll save me a lot of money. My projected salary in 5 years according to the government payscale is 57K -> 59K -> 65K -> 77K -> 92K. It's what my employer and my father who works at the company says I'll make in 5 years. 92K will be higher than my other job and I don't think I can really make that money in my current job unless I've been here for 10 years or so. I'm not sure whether to go or not. I don't mind living with my parents and it's nice to save up all that money but I fear the work is less interesting and I fear that I'll have a shitty boss and be thrown into a much more toxic environment. I like my current job because the people and the environment is nice. My projects are interesting but it seems like a lot of people, myself included, do not believe in a future at this company. I'm also already thinking about leaving the company and applying somewhere else after I have enough working experience. The two jobs have a lot of job security so I highly value that. The 92K salary is incredibly tempting. Idk what to do. Any advice? (Also, is it possible to renegotiate my starting salary because at the time they told me that they gave me that scale because I had no working experience but now I have 5 months?) [link] [comments]  |
| I have no debt and $40k to save, what's the best option for me? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 07:48 PM PST So I am now, just a few weeks shy of 30, debt free. Paid off my last student loan! Now I want to plan for my future a bit. I have a 401k and I'm putting the annual maximum in, but I have about $40k in savings (combination emergency fund and savings for a future down payment) and I want to know the best place for it. The savings account at my credit union is just under 1% interest, which is terrible. Where should I put the money? My debts are paid, my bills are easily handled and I have a steady budget. I plan to buy a home in 3 to 5 years, honestly closer to 5. I also need some access to the savings if I have an emergency I can't handle with my excess income. I considered a CD at my credit union, 2.5% for 60 months, but that feels like not the best option. Suggestions? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2018 05:00 PM PST I owe around $40k in student loans right now. They are all private loans at variable rates unfortunately. I have been paying them off consistently, no late or missed payments, when I received a letter stating that my two largest loans had there rates increased by a full percent. At this point, my monthly payments, if I want to hit the principal, go up to the point where I will have little to no disposable income. I am curious if any of you have any advice on refinancing loans to a lower fixed amount? I see plenty of places that say they have as low as 3.25% fixed but no where I have checked will give me lower than 5.5%. I have over 790 Credit so I assumed that this wouldn't be that hard to get but apparently banks are bloody vultures. Thanks guys. [link] [comments]  |
| Company is doing a fake Bankruptcy Posted: 28 Feb 2018 07:37 PM PST The situation: I found out today that the company that I work for (I'm middle management) is going to sell all of it's assets to itself...basically, the company started a second company to buy up the assets of the old company and after that, the old company is going to declare bankruptcy/go out of business. I put in a month's notice last week, before I knew about all of this. I'm moving to an industry that has nothing to do with my present company, so I'm not worried about any of this coming back to bite me. I guess I'm wondering if there's any money/opportunity in reaching out to the companies we owe money to, to alert them to either start legal proceedings for the debt they have with my company, or to at least stop selling to them at this point. Anyone have any experience with selling corporate knowledge for money? Also, if this belongs in a different reddit thing, let me know. [link] [comments]  |
| I was told annuities was my best option... I'm not so sure now. Posted: 28 Feb 2018 07:36 PM PST When I left my last company in 2015 I had some cash in the company's 401k. I went to go see a financial adviser (family friend) to see what I should do with the money. They recommended that I invest in annuities. Me being naive at the time and not fully understanding what this was (still kind of don't), I trusted them and allowed them to roll over the money. Fast forward to today, I'm not 100% sold this was the right thing to do. I'm looking for advice on if I should move this money into another account like a IRA or leave it where it is at? Below is the details about the contract: Midland National Contract Type: Indexed Annuity Issue Date: 1/06/2015 Accumulation Value: $16,060.54 Contract Details: Contract Description - Indexed Annuity Product: Flexible Premium Deferred Annuity - MNL Endeavor Tax Qualification Code: Roth IRA Maturity Date - 01/06/2097 Contract Values: Current Accumulation Value - $16,060.54 Surrender Charge - $1,445.45 Surrender Value - $14,295.01 Transaction History: 01/06/2015 - Payment $11,961.07 01/06/2015 - Payment $2,423.19 [link] [comments]  |
| I (20) am planning on investing into stocks for retirement. Is this a good idea? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 06:02 PM PST I currently make a dollar above minimum wage in Oklahoma (minimum is $7.25/hr , I'm currently making $8/hr.) It isnt mich, but I want to put small amounts of what I can into stocks via Robinhood, and when my career builds up I am able to invest more. Is this a good idea? I'm only 20 but want to get started on the retirement thingy. Ive heard of w240's if thats what they are called. I don't even think my job offers them because I'm a work-study at the university I go to. What is your advice? [link] [comments]  |
| Big new windfall from stock options...hire wealth management or not? Posted: 28 Feb 2018 01:36 PM PST after taxes I'm looking at 2.3M...it feels a bit like winning the lottery though since I just got very lucky by working at the right company at the right time. Don't feel like I worked harder than anyone else to earn it really. My big question is if I should hire some sort of wealth manager to deal with this? The advice on the sidebar seems a bit conflicted on this. If I don't, I'll just be dumping this all in Vanguard mutual funds at whatever split they suggest to me based on my risk tolerances. The other lingering question is if I should buy a house...for important context, I live in one of the most expensive places in the US (silicon valley) where a small house is gonna be ~1.2-1.5M. I'd wait ~6 months before doing this. Also not sure if I should buy it all in cash, or still get a mortgage and use my financial security to secure low-interest rate (the logic being I can make more investing the money than I'd lose to interest on a loan). Would love anyone's perspective on this! Got some mixed advice on past threads on whether hiring wealth management is good in this situation or not. I've also lived relatively cheaply, grew up a save, and have a little bit of experience managing my savings in vanguard so I might be fine going this alone? [link] [comments]  |
| Found out that my dad is using a credit card under my name and is $5000 due. Posted: 28 Feb 2018 03:48 PM PST Hey all, I'm not very versed when it comes to credit score. But I have a credit card that was opened last spring to pay for a traffic ticket and a business suit (for a job interview.) The total balance was about $1000 for those things. I get a bill in the mail today telling me that the balance on the card is now $5000. Turns out my dad is using it for "expenses." I ask him about it and he says that it's fine since he's paying it monthly. My concerns are this: 1) Will my credit score go down because of this card? 2) Am I in the wrong to be angry about this despite my dad taking responsibility to pay it off? EDIT: Some clarification. I gave him permission to use the card to pay for the $1000 worth of expenses. [link] [comments]  |
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