Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of March 02, 2018 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of March 02, 2018
- Bought and Lost ~$5,000 Bitcoin gambling in 2017. How should I go about my taxes?
- I am $69,733 in debt living paycheck to paycheck. I do not even know where to start.
- ~$130K inheritance + house hunting, unsure how to allocate
- My husband and I owe $1200 for taxes this year and our withholdings are already set to zero. Is there a way we can further adjust to make it flush come tax time next year?
- My grandmother who is illiterate and starting lose her mind signed a lease for a car she can't afford.
- I’ve really screwed up my career path and not sure where to go from here
- No cost of living increase while the company and market thrives?
- Best way to deal with $5000 for a someone who is habitually ghetto rich?
- Reminder that you can get free tax preparation through the IRS VITA program!
- Navient tripled interest rate overnight - shook.
- Insurance is giving me $7,800 to buy a car after mine just got totaled. What is the most cost efficient car of 2017?
- Was given a promotion, but told a raise couldn’t be on the table until I had been with the company for one full year. Is this common practice?
- Is my Gf obligated to give her son's father some of her return? (Child exemption)
- Salary counteroffer rejected - now what?
- Are side gigs worth it?
- I currently have no credit history. Would financing a motorcycle be a good idea?
- I want to buy something that will cost me $1,000. Would it be stupid to open up a 0%APR credit card with a cashback deal and pay it off over a few months?
- I may be getting a job that pays $70,000 a year and all previous jobs I have had have been under $12 an hour. How Can I adjust without overspending?
- What size raise would it take to move for a new job?
- HSA issues in TurboTax
- Lost job, living with my girlfriend, we have $500 between us in usable cash. What are some things we need to know/do RIGHT NOW?
- My employer keeps postponing my salary talk.
- Should I hire a financial advisor?
- IRS is demanding payment on unreported income that wasn’t all mine
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of March 02, 2018 Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:05 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]  |
| Bought and Lost ~$5,000 Bitcoin gambling in 2017. How should I go about my taxes? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:00 AM PST Hi personal finance , I bought around ~5k of bitcoin on coinbase in various intervals in 2017. After buying the bitcoin I would immediately send the coin to online sports books and casinos. Sometimes I would win and send it back to my coinbase account (and on the rare occasion send it back to my bank account), but I definitely lost a majority of the bitcoin to those sites Now that it's tax time I'm concerned on how and what I should file. I'm trying to make sure I report information that I need to. I've taken a step back from gambling and am now 90-days gambling free. I hope to continue abstaining from it in the future. [link] [comments]  |
| I am $69,733 in debt living paycheck to paycheck. I do not even know where to start. Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:55 AM PST I am $69,733 in debt, $27,220 in credit cards which are mostly around 29.99% interest, $35,670 in student loan debt, $4,033 in debt on a car I am upside down on, $2,810 in personal loan debt. No retirement, no savings, living paycheck to paycheck. I earn $2,300 every other week. I am 35 years old. Thinking bankruptcy might be the way I need to go, but I am not sure. I might possibly qualified for SSD as I broke my neck a year ago and have struggled with depression and social problems most of my life. I have seen the Reddit community help so many people, I thought I would ask for help myself. Any help would be very appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| ~$130K inheritance + house hunting, unsure how to allocate Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:06 AM PST Sadly, I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer a couple months ago. I'm an only child and the last remaining heir and have therefore assumed ownership of an IRA with ~$130,000 in it. Typically, I would lean towards leaving the vast majority of this money alone, perhaps rolling in to my 401(k) or similar. However, my wife and I are house hunting in an expensive market (Boston) and if we put the money towards a down payment on a home we would of course save money on interest over the life of the mortgage, and give ourselves some buffer in our emergency savings. For the sake of this discussion, let's assume our new home costs $450,000. We have about $120,000 saved (not counting this new IRA and retirement savings) so the 20% down payment + closing costs are going to come pretty close to wiping out our savings. If we were to take out all of my Mom's IRA it looks like I'd be left with close to $100,000 after taxes. I'm basing this off of the assumption that the $130,000 would be added directly to our AGI and we'd be paying 24% on it based on the new tax brackets. Still using this $450,000 house assumption, we could now have a down payment of something like $180,000 and still have $40,000 left in savings. Our mortgage would be $270,000 rather than $360,000. We'd have lower mortgage payments (obviously) and maybe we could even look into a 15-year mortgage. I'm not sure what to do though, as: A) I don't know if my tax calculations are correct. It seems simple enough, but even tax lawyers don't know what's going on with the new tax code right now, so I could definitely be missing something. I do my own (simple) taxes and have never had a tax advisor so I don't have an easy person to turn to. B) I hate to spend all of that money in one lump sum. I am not sure how much my emotions are tied up into this though - I'm essentially spending my parents' life savings so it is hard to let go of. C) I will have some new expenses as I've also inherited my parents house. These are minimal though as it is paid off and in rural Maine so I'm looking at less than $2000 a year on taxes and property insurance. I can't see how owning the house costs me more than $5000 a year on average, and I could eventually rent it out some as it is in a winter resort area. If I could break even on owning it I'd be thrilled. For some additional context, my wife and I make ~$150,000 annually pretax. We have no debts except for ~$10,000 left on my wife's car and paying cheap rent, so we're saving ~$2000 a month without even being as frugal as we should. I hope I've included all of the needed details, and many thanks for any advice/thoughts you have. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 07:56 AM PST |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:32 PM PST Hey Reddit, I really need advice. My grandmother who can't read or write and is starting to lose her mind signed a lease for a car she can't afford. My grandmother wanted a new car, but her credit is bad. She was watching TV and saw a commercial for a dealership. She called the dealership and they sent someone to come pick her up. When it was all said and done she had signed a lease for a car. She ended up leasing a fully loaded SUV. The payments are 600 dollars a month and she can't afford that on her fixed income. This afternoon I found out she signed the lease three days ago. She was embarrassed and didn't want to tell me. When I asked her why she did that knowing she couldn't afford it she said she was confused and didn't know why. My cousin called the dealership yesterday and the dealership didn't seem interested with helping with the situation. I understand they are business and don't care about personal issues. She wants to either get out of the lease or get a cheaper vehicle. I am planning on calling the dealership tomorrow or Sunday. I didn't want to call today because I wasn't feeling level headed about the situation. What can I do to help her? Any advice is appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| I’ve really screwed up my career path and not sure where to go from here Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:58 PM PST I've been pretty down lately as I've realized how hard it's going to be to get a new job that makes decent money and has opportunity. I'm 31 years old married guy, with a degree in marketing. I've been with the same company for almost 7 years and only making around 40k. The advancement opportunities are nonexistent, and they are laying people off left and right. The benefits are about the only thing that's good, 25 days vacation and 5% 401k match. What I do there isn't really marketable for other careers as my job is kinda a joke. I could make what I do sound good to other employees but not sure it would really get me hired. I was a team lead for a bit 4 years ago, but made the decision to make a lateral move to what I thought was one of the best depts in the company. Looking back this was a terrible move as I would have been in a shitty dept but probably a supervisor these last 3 years. Now looking at it, this would have been a really nice resume builder. I've started taking some online classes, one for SQL and looking to maybe do a few others. I've been pretty stagnant in looking for something new because of some health issues I've been dealing with the last 3 years. Causes me a lot of brain fog, so it's hard for me to concentrate and think at times. All my friends have careers making more money with better opportunities and it's been difficult to deal with. I apologize if this sounds whiney or I'm posting on the wrong sub, but needed somewhere to vent. Any advice on how I should proceed to better my career? Or maybe a similar story you have where you turned things around? [link] [comments]  |
| No cost of living increase while the company and market thrives? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:01 PM PST My company was purchased by a VC firm almost two years ago. They have had layoffs, reduced benefits, etc. gradually since taking over. Leadership is constantly telling its employees how strong of a financial position we are in. This summer I took a job in another dept and received a 3% pay raise. Three months later the company concluded a market analysis on salaries. My salary was not adjusted, but I did end up losing my 7% per year target bonus. Fast forward to today, annual reviews are taking place and due to adjustments being made for some three months prior, it doesn't sound like they are giving out cost of living raises. I feel like I have job security and am challenged and okay with my job for the short term, but do you think I should be okay with not getting a modest annual raise with the current tight labor market? I know I could go elsewhere and get a 10% bump overnight. This is a pre-emptive post as I have not had my review yet, but want to be prepared when they try to justify the lack of inflation raise. What do you think reddit? [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to deal with $5000 for a someone who is habitually ghetto rich? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:14 PM PST I've been below the poverty line for most of my life. I rarely had small windfalls, less than $1000 and I'd always spend it all immediately with nothing to show for it. I've slowly become more comfortable over the years. I now live more comfortably than I ever have, with all of my living expenses under control. Just today, I realized I have $300 just sitting around and I don't need anything. I could use an updated and larger wardrobe, which I plan on slowly obtaining so I don't blow all my money at once. I'm about to have about $5k in spare cash that has no predetermined use. I've been getting my retail therapy under control by filling my cart online and then slowly removing items as I realize I don't need them or just filling carts on sites I don't use and then forgetting about them. I'd like to have some sort of return from my money if possible, but I'm not willing to invest in risky ventures like stocks. I have a gambling issue and will easily lose it all if I start playing that game. I also don't want my money locked away where I don't have access to it when I really need it. I only have my high school diploma. I could pay for some classes to get some certification and try to get a better carreer opportunity. I just don't know where to start or what to do and I need to have somewhat of a plan so I don't go back to my old habit of spending until it's gone. Tl;dr: I finally have $5k that I don't have to spend on anything. What should I do to keep it safe, spend it wisely, or gain some short term returns? [link] [comments]  |
| Reminder that you can get free tax preparation through the IRS VITA program! Posted: 02 Mar 2018 10:14 AM PST The IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax preparation services. Where I live, the income cutoff is $54,000 (not sure if this amount varies by state). Find a location near you: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/find-a-location-for-free-tax-prep This is my first year as a VITA volunteer. I took training classes in December in which we learned about taxes as well as how to use the software, and I began volunteering last month. Each tax return I complete is reviewed by an experienced preparer. All volunteers must pass course exams with a score of at least 80%. I'm not being paid to promote this program (I'm an unpaid volunteer!), but I'd like to remind you all that this service is available. There are certain restrictions such as the income cutoff, and we can't file married-filing-separately returns, for example. [link] [comments]  |
| Navient tripled interest rate overnight - shook. Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:27 PM PST Apparently I was enrolled in a rate reduction plan for a year. My interest was 5.5%. I scraped together every single penny, was frugal as all hell and did not spend any money on anything beyond the minimum for the entire year. In January '17 my loan was 16k (been paying this private loan since 2004). Today it's 9k. I called when I checked this morning and saw my interest skyrocketed to 14.5%. I nearly shat. They said because I've been aggressively paying the loan off that they can't do a thing and I'm stuck with 14.5% because I don't know, guess I'm an asshole for trying to pay this off. Are there any options out there? This is just stupidly high, right? Sorry I'm freaking out. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:01 PM PST My parents want me to buy a new car with 0% interest rate. I dont really care for style or speed or that shit, I just want something that is gas efficient, low repair cost, low yearly cost, long lasting, etc. What are you guy's recommendations? Also, should I get a new car or used? I personally want to get a used car (because I believe new cars are rip off, once you drive it off the lot it depreciates greatly) but my parents are worried that used cars will break down and the repair cost will just add up so there is no point. How true is that? They say it's better to buy brand new at 0% interest and then I'll take over the monthly payments once I graduate in 5 months. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 05:50 PM PST A little back story. Last July I was hired as a part time employee starting at $12/hr. A month in I had already surpassed many of my co-workers and clearly had a knack for it so I was asked to go full time and was given a $2+/hr raise. I've continued to fix all the most obvious problems in the department and have been someone everyone can come to with questions. A month ago the GM told me they were going to make me the supervisor this Summer. Well, shortly after hearing this another employee put his two weeks notice in and they pushed my promotion up. So now I have all the responsibilities and even more so since I am fixing problems that have been going on for years. When the GM told me it was official I was delighted but then she ended by saying a raise wasn't even possible until my work anniversary. Is this common? [link] [comments]  |
| Is my Gf obligated to give her son's father some of her return? (Child exemption) Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:21 PM PST So I will keep this as short as possible. My girlfriend's son's father (that's a mouthful lol) is demanding she gives him some of what she received from the dependent exemption on her tax return. They are not legally-tied in terms of custody, they are not divorced, and they are not together (obviously lol). She supports her son 3/4 of the time and it's a hassle to even get her son's father to spend time with his son, or even watch him while she works. He is usually only with his father while she works, which is about 2-4 times a week for 4 hours per time. He will watch him for 8-12 hours (Maybeeeee) one night/day of the weekend. He's not completely absent, but he isn't fully there either. Her son lives with her and has for last 4 years of his life (he is 6 years old). Since they have broken up, they usually split it (whatever she received for their son) 50/50. This year she has decided not to split it for the reason that she has been his primary care taker for the last 4 years. He's demanding her to give her some of her return saying that he wants "100 dollars a week" (he wants 400 total) for the next 4 weeks. He says that he "deserves some of the return" and said that, "I will be nice this year and only take 400." My question is: Is she legally obligated to give him any of the money from the exemption if he rarely contributes to his son's care? If there is any laws stating she is obligated to to give him anything at all can anyone leave a link below? Thank you for your time and to anyone who responds :) [link] [comments]  |
| Salary counteroffer rejected - now what? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:38 PM PST Hello - I was very recently offered a job that would be a great fit for me at a phenomenal company. My close friend, who has worked at the same company for two years, strongly recommended that I negotiate my salary because (1) he was concerned that I consistently sell myself short, (2) it doesn't hurt to ask, and (3) he did it for a different job in the same company and it worked out for him. I was comfortable with the original salary range but he convinced me to negotiate. After talking with him and doing research online, I counter-offered with a nominal salary increase (five thousand more a year - I expected them to come back and halve that offer) for X, Y, and Z reasons. My recruiter said that she understood my reasons, said it doesn't hurt to ask, and would talk to my hiring manager about this. Within two hours, she said that the team was not able to accommodate my counter offer and that their offer was the top range for my role. The original offer still stood.
At the end of the day, I want to work for this company and am fine with their original offer. I don't want to start on the wrong foot with them. I think I'm glad I asserted myself a bit. Obviously it didn't work out with what I requested, but I'm trying to figure out how to respond to my recruiter that (1) I understand that there is no wiggle room now and (2) I'm fine taking the original offer. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 05:54 AM PST This is probably a stupid question, so bear with me: I'm thinking about getting a side gig to help contribute to our house fund but I just want to make sure it's a good idea before committing to anything. Is there any reason a side gig would NOT be a good idea? Is it possible to end up paying more in taxes if I take on 1099 work on top of my regular, salaried W2 income? For reference: I'm married. My partner and I make around the same amount of money (~45,000), and I'm shooting for another 10,000 in side gig income (but who knows if I'll actually make this much.) I've never freelanced before, so I just want to make sure all my ducks are in a row. [link] [comments]  |
| I currently have no credit history. Would financing a motorcycle be a good idea? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:40 PM PST I'm looking into buying a new motorcycle. I have about 70% of the cost of the bike currently on hand and I could have the rest in a few months. In my situation, being that I have no credit, would financing a new motorcycle be a safe bet. And furthermore would it be a smart way to build credit. Additionally, would it be better to pay off the loan as soon as I have the money to do so. Or should I continue making monthly payments to bolster my credit, and keep myself in a safe financial position(having that pool of cash in case of emergencies). What are your thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 05:02 PM PST So I want to buy something that will cost a little over $1,000, simplicity lets just say it is a solid $1k. I can open up a credit card with an offer of 0% APR for the first 12 months, and $200 rewards back if I make $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. This would make the thing I want theoretically $800, and as long as I meet minimum payments I can pay it overtime without interest rather than throw a chunk of cash at it. Would this be a bad idea for my credit (currently in the "excellent" range), if I open up a credit card to purchase one large thing, pay it off over time, then close the card? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 04:24 PM PST It is very likely that I will be getting this job as they are starting the hiring process next week and as long as I don't screw up in training I have the job. The thing is I have no idea what I will be able to afford. I have never had my own place and I don't know how expensive things are. I do pay my own phone bill and car insurance but other than that I'm not sure where to start. Can anyone give me some pro tips on what kinds of things I should get when I get an apartment, what kind of apartment I'd be able to afford (I won't be in a big city if that helps), what kind of food I can buy? I guess general adulting tips. I'm 21 so I don't have a lot of experience with this and I don't want to over reach and then wind up with debt because I don't have any debt at the moment. I took the Dave Ramsay course a long time ago and basically the only things I remember from that are don't go into debt and have an emergency fund. He says $1000 but I would like to save $15,000. I just won't know where to go from there. Thanks guys! [link] [comments]  |
| What size raise would it take to move for a new job? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 07:05 PM PST I have a wife and two kids (not in school yet) and we live near Des Moines IA. I have an interview in a nearby large metro area and am confident I'll get an offer. What size raise would YOU require uproot your family? Housing and daycare would be more expensive but there would be way more to do, places to eat, entertainment, etc. My family also owns a nearby vacation home my dad said he'd give me if I was close enough to maintain it. in general, what's a good raise to move? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:56 PM PST Every year since I was 16, I've done my own taxes. Always has been cut and dry, enter in my W-2 and breeze through the prompts. In 2017 I worked for a company for a short 5 months, and they opened an HSA account for my high deductible insurance plan and deposited $1,000. They advised if I used it for medical, or was tax free, but if I used the money elsewhere, I had to pay taxes on it. So. $400 went to medical and $600 was used elsewhere. Coming down to filing my taxes, and it said I needed a 1099. Called both my previous employer and the financial institution that held the now closed account, both state I did not need it. Turbo tax won't allow me to enter my medical bills or the option to pay on the $600 I spent, without a 1099. The bank said I would receive a 1099 at the end of April for my records since I can still contribute until this April. I'm so lost and I'll take to a tax expert if needed, since I don't want to get audited,but, figured I'd give this a shot! TLDR: I had an HSA account and my previous employer deposited $1,000 to do what I please with. I need to pay taxes on $600 since it wasn't all spent medically, and turbo tax won't let me continue to pay on it or enter my medical bills without a 1099 that both my old employer and the bank state I don't need. Edit: thank you everyone! I'm calling the bank again tomorrow to request the 1099-SA again :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:47 AM PST Long story short I was tipped off that I was going to be fired for 'misconduct' as part of an upper management issue within the next few weeks at the retail store where I've been working for the past three years. The gist of it is that the way we were trained and the way old management had been doing things was ethical but technically against company policy and the new management sees it all as misconduct. Because this is the only job I've ever had (first job since college), I wanted to leave on a good note and not be forced out like several of my coworkers were last week. I have about $10k in an emergency fund that will take a total of seven days to transfer over if I need it (I checked). I have about $5k in a Roth IRA. All of our major bills are paid for the month. We don't have a lot of food in the house, maybe enough to last 3-4 days. My last paycheck is coming in one week from today, probably going to be about $700. I'm also getting $120 soon as payment from some housework I did for my mom. For the debts, I have $500 in credit card debt and $90 in medical debt. I live in communal housing on communal land so don't have rent or utilities, but I do have a health insurance payment of $220/month dependent on income, and $160/month for medical payments. Cell phone is $40, car insurance is $105. Gas is probably $50 per month but that will change to around $25 as I'm no longer driving 90 minutes a day for my commute. Food usually comes out to $250-300 month for the two of us but I assume that'll be much lower now that we'll need to eat cheap. Girlfriend cannot work due to disability but could work an online job or sell crafts if needed. What are some things I need to do right now? What exactly are my options? Is there anything I can do online for the time being while I'm looking for a new job? This summer I'm going to try one of those coding bootcamps to see if I can make a lifestyle change. [link] [comments]  |
| My employer keeps postponing my salary talk. Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:10 PM PST I hope this is the right spot to post this. I was originally promised a salary increase conversation/meeting in December, that was postponed to January, then February, and now postponed to March. These postponements haven't come due to a lack of performance on my part, but rather big events at my employer causing issues. I am trying to figure out the best way to approach this with my employer. Should I send my initial offer over email to respark the conversation? Should I wait it out until my next meeting date? Im just afraid it will keep getting postponed and my salary will never be addressed. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I hire a financial advisor? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 10:18 AM PST I am considering signing with a "wealth management" firm to handle my investments. I make an OK income, have a 401k through my employer, along with some mutual funds and other investments; I'm in my early 40s, I don't have kids, I own my condo, and am considering selling a rental property I own. But, this doesn't mean I'm rolling in dough and the firm would charge me about 2% annually to manage my money. This % would go down the more money they make for me/I have. But 2% is still not a small amount of cash for someone like me. The firm is well-known, nation-wide, and have a good reputation, I'm just not sure it's worth it to me at this time. Thanks in advance for your advice! [link] [comments]  |
| IRS is demanding payment on unreported income that wasn’t all mine Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:06 PM PST I'm sorry if I'm not posting this in the right place but I've read through a few other posts and thought y'all might be able to help me. A few months ago, the IRS sent me a letter regarding my 2015 taxes saying that i had underreported my income. When I looked at the notes in the letter I saw one charge that I had forgotten to include as it was a job I wasn't at very long. But I also saw that someone in California had earned about $4k using my social security. I've never worked or lived in California. I responded back that I would take the responsibility for the tax owed on my actual job but that I disputed the income earned in California as I had never lived or worked there. A few weeks later I got another letter saying they were reviewing it. When I filed my 2017 taxes, everything went through without a hitch. I received my tax refund in it's entirety. Today I received a certified letter standing by their decision to charge me for these wages. The letter gave me the option to either petition through the US Tax Court or try to dispute it with the IRS again. Seeing as how my dispute with the IRS went nowhere before. I'm a little wary about doing that again. What in your opinion would be my best option or has anyone else ever dealt with this? [link] [comments]  |
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