Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of February 09, 2018 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of February 09, 2018
- WSJ: Forget the 4% Rule: Rethinking Common Retirement Beliefs
- Parents want to claim me as dependent
- Greenpeace is making unauthorized transactions on my checking account.
- Should I claim 0, 1, or 2 on W4? Looking for a change
- 65 year old parents are getting a divorce. Both don’t have 401Ks or any kind of savings. Advice would be super helpful.
- Just got a letter from the Dept. of Treasury
- Buying a house at 23
- Buying a Home?
- 401k Contribution?
- Should I pay the rent? When I don't live there anymore.
- How do my wife and I rescind our tax return and file separately?
- Budget Review
- Just got married last year and my wife filed her taxes separately. We later found out that we can get a bigger refund doing it jointly. What can we do to fix this?
- Paychecks with New Federal Tax Rates Have Begun
- Tuition Payback - A Student Loan?
- Hours on paycheck not the same a hours worked.
- I have a $4,000 dollar work bonus from work on a preloaded debit/card card. What is the best way to make good use of it?
- When people say you should save 10-20% of your salary, do they mean save it in a bank account or invest it?
- Is it ever the right choice to accept a counter-offer for more $$?
- I bought a house with a mortgage loan 3 months ago and I regret it
- Don't have insurance, receptionist at dental office recommended I look into this (and stated it wasn't insurance). Need help identifying if scam.
- Negotiating Salary
- Are we crazy for considering this or would this be a good idea?
- Can I afford this rent?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of February 09, 2018 Posted: 09 Feb 2018 01:06 PM PST If you need help, please check the PF Wiki to see if your question might be answered there.This thread is for personal finance discussions, questions, and sharing your success stories:
A big thank you to the many PFers who take time to answer other people's questions! For past threads, please search the Weekly Archive. [link] [comments]  |
| WSJ: Forget the 4% Rule: Rethinking Common Retirement Beliefs Posted: 09 Feb 2018 05:19 AM PST Interesting article I came across in the Wall Street Journal this morning regarding the 4% rule; which is commonly prescribed in this sub as guidance for income in retirement. Many financial advisers are revisiting the age-old advice in the face of financial markets with inflated asset values, which may mean lower returns in the coming years. Here's the article (paywall warning). Instead, the article posits a couple of solutions. First is a 3% safe withdrawal rate. This is obviously much safer than the 4% threshold most of us are currently expecting. While safer, this would also mean that you'd need to save 33% more for retirement to achieve the same standard of living that you would need under a 4% withdrawal rate regime. The second is a "guardrail approach" which provides more discretion in when/how much you withdraw from your retirement balances. From the article:
[link] [comments]  |
| Parents want to claim me as dependent Posted: 09 Feb 2018 06:24 AM PST I'm 23 years old and graduated back in May. My last semester I only took 2 courses (half time). I'm pretty sure I covered more than half of my expenses. I paid for rent, utilities, food, tuition, car maintenance, gas. They paid for my car insurance, phone, health insurance. They also gave me $50-60 once sometimes twice a month until August. The last 3 years I let them claim me since I wasn't making significant money. However, this last year I worked full time at a retail job and then got a better full time job after I graduated and make more than my mom now. My dad says he will owe $5,000 if he doesn't claim me. But I would lose a lot for a refund that would be helpful to pay my student loans (40k). Even after I told him I don't think he can legally claim me, he gets mad and says he'll owe money. I want to know if I'm wrong and he can actually claim me? I feel bad to make him pay money but at the same time I think he's benefited from me these last few years in college since I've been paying majority of expenses and my tuition. I only started learning about taxes more this last month so please correct me if I'm wrong. What do you think is the best way to go about this situation? [link] [comments]  |
| Greenpeace is making unauthorized transactions on my checking account. Posted: 09 Feb 2018 07:23 AM PST I used to donate monthly to Greenpeace, and over a month ago asked them to cancel my automatic donations. They told me they were cancelled, but the donation was still withdrawn from my account. I told them to cancel the charge or refund me, and they told me that they were "100% certain that my donations were cancelled." The charge was never erased from my account, and a new one has appeared this month. I've asked them at least 5 times to stop charging me, and they won't stop. What are my options at this point? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I claim 0, 1, or 2 on W4? Looking for a change Posted: 09 Feb 2018 06:27 AM PST So I've been filing as 0 for the last few years and I've been reading that it's better to get closer to $0 when it's closer to tax time. I've always gotten a refund (2-3k yearly). My salary is 87k, 401K, HSA, bi-weekly paycheck, take home $2300. Should I claim something other than 0 this year? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 04:13 PM PST Hello friends, here's a bit more information about my parents situation: -They lost everything during the 2008 recession. Combination of bad luck and poor financial decisions led to where they are at now. As I mentioned above, no 401k or savings. -They filed for bankruptcy a couple years ago, and after completion of their payments in several months, they will be debt free. -Mom has a good job making low $60k/year, Dad has struggled finding a good job. He's been making minimum wage barely making ends meet for the last couple years. -They are both good people and as the eldest son I've managed to help out financially as much as I've been able to up to this point, but I'm out of ideas. I want to be able to show them both (mainly my father since he's in a "worse" spot right now) a good path that will allow them to retire, eventually. Any advice, tips, words of wisdom or guidance would be much appreciated. Not a religious man but I'll also accept prayers at this point as well. Thanks guys. [link] [comments]  |
| Just got a letter from the Dept. of Treasury Posted: 09 Feb 2018 06:35 PM PST For the past two years, whenever my wife and I would file our taxes, our refunds end up being taken and paid towards her student loans. That's fine. It's the only way we can afford to pay them. So we expect it. I have not finished filing our taxes this year because somehow we owe money even though our jobs are the same. That's a different story and I'll figure that part out later. But the important info is that we have not filed this year. I just got a letter in the mail saying a check from the IRS is being applied to the student loans. The date is today. I don't know why we'd be getting a check from the IRS already. The amount is $10 more than last years refund. So it's not a repeat from last years number somehow. Did someone file our taxes for us and try to steal the money without realizing it would be garnished? I'm kind of worried and of course it's a Friday so I can't call until Monday. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 07:29 AM PST Hi PersonalFinance. I am 23 years old and I want to buy a house. I know no one can tell me whether or not that is a good idea without knowing a metric ton of details about my life and being able to see my future, but I am going to try to give a brief description of myself and my assets, and any input on my situation and plan would be appreciated. About me and my current finances:
My debts:
My savings:
I live in a generally HCOL area, but I have been able to find properties that I like and that are in good condition (aka not a fixer upper) in the low-mid 200s. I am looking only at houses that are relatively new, or have been rehabbed and major appliances are newer and in good condition, in hopes that I will not have any major renovations in the first few years (but of course, anything can happen and that is why I have savings). Unfortunately, I don't have enough for a full 20% down payment at this point. This I think is my only downfall at the moment. That, and my stupid car payment. I think 25k is the highest I'd feel comfortable taking out of my savings for a down payment so I don't completely drain my savings. Still, for a property at 230k with a 25k down payment, my mortgage (including PMI, home insurance, etc) is projected to be around $1200. My reasoning for wanting to buy a house:
Now I know this was kind of a wall of text. I am sorry about that, but I wanted to include and lot of information. I hope the bullet points helped. I have thought this out very thoroughly, and I feel like I've gone over everything in my head. But I know I haven't thought of everything, so that is why I turn to you all. Hopefully anyone has some insight on anything I may have overlooked or could be wrong about. EDIT: Wow, I have received so many more comments than anticipated. I realize now that I may have underestimated the costs associated with buying AND I may not be allotting my savings to the right places. Like my debt. I got it now. Seriously. I'm relatively new to all of this stuff, so I thought I was doing good. But I'm going to use all of this advice and change up what I'm doing from now on. My plan of attack is to pay off the debt, funnel money into savings for my down payment, and either look into a cheaper house in the future or wait a few years until my salary is a little higher. Thanks to everyone who gave well thought-out advice, explained to me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it, and for your personal anecdotes. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 07:18 PM PST So I was not in the search for a house at all. But the "perfect" one popped up on the market. My girlfriend and I currently rent a small house for $1200 a month. This house has an asking price of $102,000. I could easily get financing with great credit, I have 10,000ish in debt. $3,000 at 0% on a credit card, the rest on an auto loan at 3%. $6,000 in savings. This would go strictly in my name. And I would be able to afford a mortgage on my own if anything were to happen. The biggest thing that makes me apprehensive is that we don't plan on being here forever. At least 2 years. But up to 6 or so. We aren't actively looking to move and both have great jobs that we like. Thoughts? We would save so much per month, and since we are in a house already we are used to all the responsibilities that come with upkeep, plus the utilities that come with a full home. And I am quite handy so fixing things would be easy. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 05:48 AM PST Long story short, my employer puts in an automatic 3% of whatever my current salary's is (not deducted from my salary). Is there a rule of thumb of how much I should be putting in if my own money/salary? Another 3%? A guy at my work says anywhere from 6-12%? Does this sound right? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I pay the rent? When I don't live there anymore. Posted: 09 Feb 2018 08:03 AM PST Background story is as follows. My partner and I are no longer. We have 5 months left on the lease. I obviously want to break the lease and we go on our separate ways to never speak to each other again. She wants to stay because she has a 3 year old and says she has no money to break the lease or a place to go. I moved out of the apartment because the situation was not healthy for me to be in. I had her put all the utilities in her name and I gave her the option to break the lease, let me use the second bedroom (our old one) as a storage unit or she can pay the lease herself. She isn't being reasonable and is rejecting all options as "unfair". I have alerted the landlord that I am not living there and that I wanted to see what my options were. He told me that it is between the two of us and we are both equally liable for the rent because we are both on the lease. My question is should I just pay myself my portion of the rent see what she does and then go from there? If she basically just says screw it I am not paying for any of it how liable am I? Thanks reddit. [link] [comments]  |
| How do my wife and I rescind our tax return and file separately? Posted: 09 Feb 2018 04:12 AM PST My wife and I (newly married) e-filed our taxes jointly a few days ago. It was accepted by the IRS. She is finishing grad school and we just learned that, under income-based repayment for student loans, we'll be stuck with a much larger monthly payment if they consider my income jointly with hers. How can I rescind our joint tax return and file separately? Do we both need to file a 1040x? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 05:10 PM PST Hi all. This will be the first post on this new account designated towards personal finance. I am graciously wondering if I can get a review of our budget. Income: Me: $70,000 (+ 4% bonus not factored in)(W2)(medical insurance, LTC, maximum life insurance taken from this source) Wife: $105,000 (W2) This gives us an after tax monthly income of $11,117.16 per month. We live in a MCOL area in SW USA. Our monthly expenses are as follows: Mortgage (PITI): $1590 Vehicles: $691 ($26k more at 2.5%) Groceries/Personal Care: $500 Car Insurance: $250 (should be about $150-$175/month when 2 accidents drop off next month) Gas/Vehicle maintenance/ Car washes: $200 Eating out/Entertainment: $500 Phone: $210 (we support my mom as well, all have the best newest phones, and use Verizon. I've tried calling and threatening to leave if they don't lower and they give me the finger. This is a high expense, but there's not much we can do about it, and are comfortable with the premium). Life Insurance: $100 (30 year term for each, expensive because wife has a condition) Gym: $45 Subscriptions services: $50 (Netflix Hulu, Patreon donations, youtube RED) Home maintenance: $150 Total so far: $4,286 We also pay $2500 a month to a family member for our home down-payment loan. For 2018 and 2019 we pay $2500/month for a total of $60k loaned to use, should wrap up on our 24th payment in December of next year. 0% interest (i owe this guy one for sure). We also allot about $500 in fun money. This one is hard to nail down but this is the average. Total spending/month: $7,286 This leaves us about $3,831 discretionary per month, which is immediately swept to a Vanguard taxable account (In reality it can be anywhere between $3500 and $4000 per month) invested in VTSAX. I believe strongly in a 100% equities allocation at this point. One thing to note is I am not eligible to participate in my employer 401k plan until 1/1/2019, at which point I can and will. The match formula is 50% up to 8%, with low cost Vanguard mutual funds available. This will surely change the budget up a little, lowering discretionary income. I have contributed to Roth IRAs 3 years in a row for each of us now. Assets: Home: $360k Vehicles: Per the TMV, $40k. Roth IRAs: $37k Taxable: $5k Traditional IRAs: $40k (includes our former 401ks and pensions) 401ks: $0 I am ineligible and wifes job does not offer it. I will start contributing at least the match of 8% on 1/1/2019. Discover Bank 1.4% high yield savings is my Emergency Fund: $10,000. This is about 3 months of our required expenses, and is all I am comfortable doing for now. I have plans of raising this about $2500 a year. Checking accounts: $2500 Total Assets: $455k Debts: Mortgage: $267500 @ 3.5% Family: $57500 @ 0% Auto: $26000 @ 2.5% Credit Cards: $0 (use them for almost all purchases but never carry a balance) Student Loans: $0 Total Debt: $351k Net worth: ~$105k The plan is to continue the course. Once I can contribute to my 401k I will likely max out, and we will continue to contribute to Roths as long as we can. Once the family member loan is paid off that amount will go straight to the taxable Vanguard account. This should be about $100k invested per year once that loan is paid between tax deferred and taxable investments ($72k taxable, $11k roth, $18.5k 401k (or whatever they increase it to in 2 years)). I've set a goal of financial independence for 2030, more of a fatFIRE goal. I may be able to retire before then if I change some expenses etc. but I like the round number as a goal in my mind. I don't want to get into that stuff too much here, I am mainly after a budget critique on this post. Let me know if I left anything out or messed up on some silly math. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 05:08 PM PST As the title says, we originally decided to do it seprately because it was free for us to file separately. However right after she hit submit, I found out that we would get a bigger refund if we did it together. I haven't submitted my refund yet. What can I do to fix and remedy this issue? [link] [comments]  |
| Paychecks with New Federal Tax Rates Have Begun Posted: 09 Feb 2018 08:22 AM PST You may have noticed in your latest paycheck that the new federal tax cuts have started and your take-home amount should have risen. Before you start deciding what new toys to purchase with the additional take-home money, consider these options instead.
None of this is to say you shouldn't go make an additional purchase here or there. Part of the reason for the tax cuts is to spur the economy with additional spending. But, it doesn't mean you have to go on a spending spree just because you have a little extra every month. [link] [comments]  |
| Tuition Payback - A Student Loan? Posted: 09 Feb 2018 06:23 AM PST My employer fully funded my tuition while I went to school part time for my MS degree. I just recently accepted a new position and so I'll be paying back roughly half the tuition (~$15K). I have enough in savings, ROTH contributions, and excess from my relocation bonus to cover the full expense, but I'd rather not deplete those accounts and want to take out a loan for it. My question is, would this be able to qualify as a student loan with banks? The interest rates for student loans are much much lower than regular personal loans. My credit score is in the 770 range so I think any rate I get should be somewhat decent, but I hope I can take advantage of the low student loan rates. TLDR - Would tuition payback to an employer qualify as a student loan? [link] [comments]  |
| Hours on paycheck not the same a hours worked. Posted: 09 Feb 2018 01:43 PM PST Basically what the title says, when I receive my paycheck there's always the check attached to a summary of hours worked pay rate etc. The hours worked field is always 88 hours (2 week pay period) even though I always clock in more hours and am scheduled for more hours. In addition to that there is always loose cash alongside my check in the envelope the amount of cash varies. I'm not sure what to do I don't know who to report this to or what this means for my taxes. Any advice you folks could offer would be greatly appreciated. EDIT: For more context this is my first job and I'm in Ontario Canada. I've only been working at the place for 5 months and I will be going back to school in May. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 07:38 PM PST I got a bonus from work for approximately $4,000 on a preloaded card. It's a credit card with spendable money; in other words I can not withdraw the money from an ATM or use it to get cash back. I will get taxed on this next year as a 1099. Besides using it for gas, groceries and other day to day life expenses does anyone have a good idea of how I could turn this into money that could be put into a savings account, a mutual fund or some other long term savings plan? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 06:32 AM PST I've heard this advice a lot -- you should be saving whatever percentage, usually 10, 20%, of your salary. But does that mean just leave it in a bank account or if you buy a house or invest the money somehow is that now your savings? I use all of my money each month but I only really spend about 20%. I put 50% into an investment service account and 30% goes towards my mortgage. Only that 20% is what's actually spent and gone. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it ever the right choice to accept a counter-offer for more $$? Posted: 09 Feb 2018 01:53 PM PST EDIT: I made up my mind and am rejecting the counter-offer. Thank you all for your advice! The internet pretty much unanimously says that it's a terrible idea to accept a counter-offer from your current company rather than taking an offer with a new company. That said, I'm wondering if there are ever cases where it's okay. My situation: I've been at my current job for 2 years. I just accepted an offer with a new company. When I gave my boss at my current company 2 weeks notice, he went into panic mode and told me he really wanted me to stay and would do everything in his power to keep me. The numbers:
The titles:
Some info about each:
Anyway, what would you recommend I do? I'm really torn. I appreciate your advice in advance. TLDR: Currently make 85k, accepted offer at a new company for 120k, my old company is now counter-offering 130 and a huge promotion. What do?! [link] [comments]  |
| I bought a house with a mortgage loan 3 months ago and I regret it Posted: 09 Feb 2018 12:40 PM PST Ok, first of all, I had made this question in Quora but it's not getting answers so I found this place. I'm a quite lonely 30 year old man with a relatively good-stable job. I purchased an expensive flat paying 50k from my savings and 100k from a loan. Now I regret almost everything: price, neighborhood, size of the house, and having an enormous debt for the next 10 years. I should of bought something smaller, cheaper, with less monthly expenses, in the same area where I always lived. I'm prohibited from renting it, and if I were to sale it I'd lose a lot of the money I invested from my savings. I'm depressed about this and I'd need some financial advice from someone much smarter than me, cause I realized I was very awkward in this operation. Should I just get used to, get over it and go on? Or sell, lose money and start over? I'm tempted about the latter but losing 20k or more will be another awkward move. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 02:19 AM PST I don't have any insurance and do not qualify for any assistance- but I hardly make enough to get simple dental work done when paying out of pocket. The receptionist at the dental office recommended I check out something called Careington 500. She seemed pretty adamant about stating that it was not insurance; it was more of a discount plan, but I am not exactly sure what that means. If this is a legitimate program I would like help understanding what exactly it does and make sure that I don't have any nasty hidden fees out of nowhere. It just seems fishy to me that a company online would be helping me get a discount without getting much out of it in return ($99/yr). I didn't know who else to turn to so I hope asking for assistance on this is okay here. Thank you for your time, PF. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 05:26 PM PST So I am working at a company where for whatever reason, they aren't going to pay me the market rate for my job. I took an interview with another company about 5 months ago and got an offer for $105. I was at 81 at the time. Now I am at $85. I was looking for $120 to move at the time, but they couldn't get me to that number, so I passed. I asked my employer for a raise to bring me up more, but they didn't budge. So I called the other company back recently and asked if they were still hiring. I went in for an interview and it went really well, again. They are about to make me an offer based on my last email with them. I also just had a recruiter contact me about the same company and position stating the salary range was $100-$115. If they come at me offering $105, does it make sense for me to counter at $115 now that I know that is their budget? One of the downsides of moving will be that I will lose a certification and do enjoy where I work now. The new company will likely be a bit more work too. [link] [comments]  |
| Are we crazy for considering this or would this be a good idea? Posted: 09 Feb 2018 09:14 AM PST I've posted before about our finances. I'm happy to say that we have made some positive changes! We paid off my car and both of our cell phones. So that has freed up $347 a month in cash flow for us. We plan on putting it towards credit card debt. And we both have gotten so much better about not eating out. I'm actually really proud of my husband. He is so much better about not getting fast food. And he tells me no when I want to go out to a sit down restaurant, my weakness. He's helping me cook more too. We are finally working as a team :). So now let me get to my question. Our lease is up in early September. Our best friends (let's call them Jack and Rebecca lol) are also trying to pay off debt. Their lease is up in late August. We are talking about the four of us renting a house together to save on rent. Two married couples in one house. No kids. No pets right now though they did ask if we'd be ok with them getting a dog. We said yes. Ideally, this setup would only be for one year. Just until we get out of credit card debt. We have determined that we need at LEAST two bedrooms and two baths. Jack needs an office. I would love it if we could find a place that has two living rooms. So that no one has to put their furniture in storage. Are we crazy for thinking about this? We're all in our early 30s and we double date a lot. We work a lot too with the four of us having different schedules. If we do this, what should we consider? If you wouldn't do this, why? I just want to make sure we're making smart choices here. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2018 05:12 PM PST I'm thinking of moving into my friends apartment which cost $1850 utilities included. Only reason I'm considering this because it comes with a private beach and I'm a swimmer so I'll save a little bit on beach fees ($200) per month in the summer plus. I just received a 10k raise but I haven't seen final new paycheck amount and today I received my 20k bonus. Currently my income per month is $2700 NET (without the additional raise money) 401k Is set to max contrubition 5.5k Roth IRA put in this year total investment amount is 140k Expenses Food shopping $40 Entertainment monthly $200 Web Streaming - $12 month On paper it seems like I should be able to afford rent for 25% of my gross income but after I expense all of my investment account it feels like I'm stretching it. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
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