Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 06, 2018 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 06, 2018
- People with 3+ kids, what are your main guidelines to reduce expenses? What are the biggest financial mistakes that people make regarding raising children?
- UPDATE: I'm the guy who took a job 3 minutes away from home with a 18% pay cut.
- Smart move or dumb move?
- Shout out to the PF sub
- My husband wants to take a job in another country and I believe the pay is not enough
- Fell in love with a 320k home. I make 120k. I pay 1.2k debt monthly (student loans and car). Am I daft to want to buy this house?
- I want to spend $1000 for a gaming PC but I don’t know if I should.
- I have 10 years to get to $1M in retirement savings. Can I do it?
- If you are charged a late or interest fee on a bank account or credit card, call the bank and ask for a courtesy refund.
- I’m a 15 year old hoping to save a good amount of money by the time I’m 18 so that I can have some fun with it once I’m finally an adult.
- 16 year old looking for college savings
- 19 year old looking for investment advice
- Reality check on moving from a high cost of living area to a lower one.
- Car crapped out and our wedding is in 4 weeks, need advice
- How much is a happy job worth? I'm making a significant chunk lesser than I COULD have and as a 25yo, its playing on my mind.
- whats the best financial/investment move you ever mad
- Is a “Travel” credit card actually worth getting?
- How to properly ask for a raise?
- 20 Year old working $9/hr job just inherited $25k
- 32-YO with expensive taste and poor spending habits
- Did I just end up paying 47% interest on my lease instead of 13% or am I just not seeing something?
- Incoming Ph.D. student with 50K saved up - What's the best way of investing this?
- About how many credit cards is considered healthy?
- <housing> My Husband & I are finally going to try to buy a house. A couple questions for those of you familiar with lending, FHA, & student buyer.
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 06, 2018 Posted: 06 Jul 2018 02:06 PM PDT 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]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 03:52 PM PDT What are the biggest financial mistakes that people make regarding raising families? People with 3+ kids, what are your guidelines and tips to making it all work? We're pregnant with our second, but would love to have four kids if we can afford it. [link] [comments]  |
| UPDATE: I'm the guy who took a job 3 minutes away from home with a 18% pay cut. Posted: 06 Jul 2018 06:21 PM PDT Two months ago, I asked /r/personalfinance their thoughts on taking a pay cut in order to live closer to home. You can see the original post here. I took the advice, took the new job, and began loving the new lifestyle. I gave a 1-month update which you can see here. In that post, many people commented I was still in the honeymoon phase of the job and that my perspective is partly warped due to the extreme contrast of working for a bad boss to working with kind people, and I partially agree. But I think it's important to document the feelings in the moment, and so here is another update. As of today, I've now been at my job for 1 month and 21 days. Is this still the honeymoon phase of any job? I'm not sure. But I can tell you that I feel like I'm living in retirement already and I'm incredibly fortunate to have scored the trifecta (doing what you love, getting paid to do it, and working close to home). When I wake up each day I either enjoy my hobby before work or cook a nice filling breakfast. When I get ready for work, I take my time. I've begun to consciously enjoy the routine of getting up in the morning since work is so close to home. There is virtually no commute (I'll listen to a whopping 2 songs on the radio IF I'm lucky now). In my past jobs, I used to rush to get to work since I didn't sleep well (I would sleep 7 hours but they weren't deep sleep), or I felt stressed thinking about work. Nowadays, its a lovely thing of the past. For lunch, sometimes I'll eat at my desk and work (because I enjoy the projects I'm working on and I want to work), or I'll drive to the park for quiet alone time to relax and do some good deep thinking. Many times I do end up going home to make lunch (and play some video games) because I have the time to do so. My life is filled with peace knowing I can take my time to do these things that most people either have to take the time to prepare lunch the night before or the morning before work. It's incredibly relaxing. I can see why siestas are so popular. I feel as though stress is a foreign experience for me. It used to be a part of me at all times. Even my close friends have acknowledged the positive change in attitude/ mental well being. I noticed I smile more, laugh more, smell the air more/ breathe deeper and cherish learning moments at work. In many ways, I feel more present with the moments. I'm not sure whether I'm slowly turning into some yoga loving hippy or if it is the incredible impact this job switch has had on me (likely the latter). There have been a few minor cons I've experienced lately with the new job: I don't like the office snacks much, once in a blue moon I'll stay an hour later than expected, and the pay isn't as much as my last job. However, with the exception of pay, these cons are absolutely trivial. In conclusion, once again, without reservation, I still am happy to have traded the 18% pay for the boost in my mental health and sanity. One last thing for now: One of my first memories of Reddit was encountering the story of the CEO businessman and the fisherman story here. I always admired the fisherman in the story and vowed to myself to become the fisherman one day. I acknowledge sometimes you do need the money more than the fish, but right now, I'm content with my lifestyle. I'm working hard enough to pay the bills, save, and enjoy my life one moment at a time. If people are still interested, I'll post another update in a month or two. TL;DR: The grass is greener on the other side! New job still rocks! I love taking my time to get ready for work/eat breakfast etc. I sleep a solid 9 hours each night, I eat homemade meals at home! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 05:46 AM PDT 35 year old guy here, going through a rough patch in my life, got divorced a year ago and my wife took everything from me. I have a full time job (been here for 11 years) where I'm making $24/hr and have topped my position with no more room to grow. I'm working 60-70 hours a week, I have no social life and dread going to work every day. We get raises every 15 months ($0.75-$1.00) and a bonus every year of ($1000). I pay $1900+ a month for a small 1 br apartment plus $1000+ for other bills (car insurance, gas, gym membership, food, etc). My car is paid off and I have a little over $4000 in debt. My brother lives one state over and has offered me to move in with him for a year(no rent) and I've been offered a job in the same field but with a different company. They offered me $22/hr+ scale pay and a benefits package plus room to grow, a M-Fri type deal working 45 hours a week. I'm wanting a change in scenery and to be closer to family. I also plan on purchasing a car and trading in my 10 year old car with its numerous problems. I planned on purchasing a new to me car (not brand new but perhaps a 2016/2017 and nothing outrageously priced). My family and friends think I should make the move, are they right? Update: Holy smokes, I really didn't think I was gonna get many replies but thank you, thank you! Thank you for everyone taking time out of their day to give me advice, well wishes and thoughtful comments. I have read through most posts and will try to reply to everyone. *This afternoon I called the new place and accepted their offer and put my 2 weeks in with my current place. Also, I'm going to hold on to my current car for a few months and see how everything goes. Thanks again for everything! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 05:58 PM PDT Been lurking for a while, and I've learned a bunch through older posts and responses, the sidebar, and responses to some of my own posts. Thanks to everyone for providing thoughtful advice and suggestions. If only more people were this helpful in person / 'real life.' Thanks guys. [link] [comments]  |
| My husband wants to take a job in another country and I believe the pay is not enough Posted: 06 Jul 2018 03:27 PM PDT My husband's work is offering a project manager (IT) position to him, it involves relocating from Mexico to Reston VA. It sounded really good a the beginning, as it is a great opportunity, but he's already being underpaid and they are converting his current rate to dollars and the "cost of living" over there, according to them.. I feel like it is to little money for this position.. they're not even giving him a pay raise at all! He wants to take the job, I don't want to go to another country with what I consider not enough money to live like we do right now, considering that we would have to leave everything behind (house, car, everything!) and relocating our pets will be really hard. They are offering 48k without insurance for me, and I think we would have to pay taxes from it.. rents in that area were like 1500 - 2000 last time I checked. What can I tell him? He is REALLY excited and won't listen to anything, if we don't go he'll resent me for the rest of his life, I'm pretty sure. Do you think I'm being unreasonable and that it is a good pay?? Is it worth it?? Any advice is welcome, and if you are familiar with the area I would really appreciate some info I apologise about any grammar mistake as this isn't my first language, and thank you all in advance :) ──────── TLDR; husband was offered job with what I consider a low pay, he wants to take it, I don't think it is worth it [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 09:22 AM PDT I have enough saved to put 20% down payment. Is this a good move? Should I continue to rent? Thank you friends in advance for your help! [link] [comments]  |
| I want to spend $1000 for a gaming PC but I don’t know if I should. Posted: 06 Jul 2018 01:39 AM PDT I'm 17 years old and want to get a new PC. I'm a senior next year and I have about $2500 in my bank account. I work weekends and make about $80 a week. I have a Surface Book laptop already that I use for schoolwork but it doesn't have a dedicated GPU so I can't play games on it. I have a Xbox One X but want to go to PC for just better quality in gaming. I like playing competitive shooters and have played games games like cod, destiny, Overwatch and Fortnite on Xbox. I would like to play csgo, fortnite, and overwatch on PC and try using mouse and keyboard because I know you can aim better. My parents are also saying they will pay for my college. I've also done a lot of research for a couple months now on all the PC subreddits and seem a lot of YouTube videos about building. I'm looking to spend about $700 for the PC, $200 for a 144hz monitor, and the rest for a better chair. I'm still deciding if I should build my own but I've seen some great deals online for prebuilts. I don't know if I should spend the money or save it for college and other expenses. Is it reasonable to spend $1000 for my own entertainment? [link] [comments]  |
| I have 10 years to get to $1M in retirement savings. Can I do it? Posted: 06 Jul 2018 05:26 AM PDT After years of modest salary and under-saving for retirement due to obligations, I'm finally earning really good money and have no one depending on me. I'm 55 and my goal is to retire with $1M in retirement savings at 65. How do I get there? Can I? Here's where I'm at now: Salary: $145K (very recent) New biweekly take home (26 paychks/year) $3000. 401K: $275k. IRA: $32k. HSA: $2k (new offering by employer). Brokerage: $24k. Cash: $13k. Mortgage, tax, ins: $1400/month. Mortgage: $150k @3.75%. Car: $6k @ 3.99%; $317/mo. Utilities/maint: $300. Gas: $120/mo. HOA: $208/mo. Food: $250-$300/mo. Out of pocket medical/dental: $50/mo. This year I will max out the 401k ($24.5k) and HSA ($4450 - not going to use it to pay current med bills). No pension. Employer 401k match is 35% of the first 6% of salary up to $18k. How much do I need to save per month or per check outside the 401k and HSA to get to $1M by 2028? Best way to do that? Thank you!! And thanks for reading to here. Edit: my sincere thanks to everyone who contributed and did the math. I'm going to pour over the comments and calculations this weekend. Bottom line - I see that, if everything holds, $1M by 65 is doable for me. Honestly thought I'd have to work to 70. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 12:02 PM PDT If you miss a payment by a few days and get charged a late fee or you don't pay your statement bill in full at the end of the month and get charged interest, there is a good chance either of those charges will get refunded back to you, if you ask. As long as you have a good history of paying in full and on time, the banks are usually willing to refund that charge to you. Something like "Im calling about a late fee that was posted to my account. It slipped my mind and I forgot to pay on time. Is it possible to get a courtesy refund?" usually does the trick. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 06:50 PM PDT This is kinda simple and don't know if it really fits here but if I save a dollar a day until my 18th birthday I'll have around 850 dollars. I currently don't have a job but I help my aunt from time to time with basic around the house stuff and helping renovate a house they're flipping and she'll pay about 10 dollars an hour but these are kinda sparse and usually don't work for very long as it's not usually full day job kind of things. I was just wondering if there's a good place to put the money and any website/app/paper tool I could use to mark off a dollar per day. I plan on getting a job once I turn 16 so that I can drive myself and make a good amount of money. Any tips on this plan or how to track money and store it without enticing me to take any out before my 18th birthday. I'd prefer to just keep all the cash and not have to put it into a bank. [link] [comments]  |
| 16 year old looking for college savings Posted: 06 Jul 2018 04:57 PM PDT As I said I am 16 and wanting to go to college/university but currently do not have the funds to get there and live well. Ialready have a job, which brings in about $10000 per year, however I will need more than that in order for myself to go to college/university and be able to live a more comfortable life while there. Are there any things that a person of my age should know whilst they are on the road to college so that they are able to generate more money to fund it? I would appreciate any little tip whatsoever. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| 19 year old looking for investment advice Posted: 06 Jul 2018 05:48 PM PDT I am 19 years old, just finished my first year of college and have around 5500 saved up in my checking account. I recently opened up a general investing account with Vanguard and bought 1 share of the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF. I've been reading up a bit and this was my first real experience in making any kind of investment. It's not much now, but I was thinking about whether I should be contributing to some kind of retirement account instead (specifically a Roth IRA) or both a retirement account and a general investing account. [link] [comments]  |
| Reality check on moving from a high cost of living area to a lower one. Posted: 06 Jul 2018 01:15 AM PDT Hi everyone, I figured this would be a good place to ask this. My now pregnant wife and I are planning on moving from Philadelphia to Columbia, SC area. I make around 85k and am transferring within the company. I am seeing cost of living calculators showing we could live the same off of 20k per year less. How accurate do you folks view these things? Housing is clearly cheaper there. [link] [comments]  |
| Car crapped out and our wedding is in 4 weeks, need advice Posted: 06 Jul 2018 12:27 PM PDT I need to preface by saying that I am currently making $35k/year. I'm currently paying off student loans so my disposable income is limited. My fiancee and I are currently paying off the last of our wedding expenses which is less than 4 weeks away. I have a 2011 Chevy Cruze (purchased 2 years ago, 80,000 miles) that started having transmission problems. I took it to the shop to have it looked at. Apparently, i'm looking at a full transmission rebuild totaling $4,000. I've gotten second opinions but it's clear the trans is just done. I just refinanced my auto loan to a much lower interest rate. I am still paying $180/month for this thing. I still owe $8,300 on the loan with a ~3% interest rate. The current value of the car AFTER the trans is fixed is only $4,500. So i'm completely upside-down here. My fear is that I'm going to pay to have the trans fixed, and it's gonna happen again down the line (I have come to find out that 2011 Cruzes are notorious for transmission issues). Current Options: *Pay to have it fixed. Risk the car dying on me in the future. But at least limit the amount of money spent at the present time. *Look at trade in options. The car as it stands is only worth about the cost to fix the transmission. Unfortunately this would mean rolling my current loan into a new loan (or lease). *Not fix the trans. Drive my fiancees car and she purchases a new car until I can sort this out. This is the least desirable option as we don't want to take on more debt right now. My fiancee has money saved that we could use, although i'm trying to avoid that option if possible. My head is foggy and I really am more pissed that this is happening right now, so I could use an outside perspective of what my options are. Tl;dr: Completely upside down in loan for broken down car. Money is tight with upcoming wedding. Looking for the least painful option to get this sorted out. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 10:00 AM PDT Recently graduated and got my first job - turned down like 15k/yr extra from what i currently make from another offer but I'm really happy in my job, at least early on. I hear about how any job eventually gets shitty so maybe I could've gone for some extra cash. Not sure I'd be too happy with the other one but I still feel like I made a mistake not considering it further. My opinion - can't put a price on job satisfaction. What do you guys think? [link] [comments]  |
| whats the best financial/investment move you ever mad Posted: 06 Jul 2018 06:39 PM PDT im 25 what are some investment/financial moves have you made that your thankful for now? [link] [comments]  |
| Is a “Travel” credit card actually worth getting? Posted: 06 Jul 2018 11:20 AM PDT I have been hooked by retailer credit cards before which promise rewards and deals for using their financing but they always cost more in the end with ridiculous finance rates. I was just wondering if any of the travel rewards (flight miles etc.) were actually worth using a card for and if anyone has good or bad experiences with redeeming said rewards. [link] [comments]  |
| How to properly ask for a raise? Posted: 06 Jul 2018 05:28 PM PDT Hello all, So a little back story first, I have been with this company for over 2 years now, science based job. I started there as an intern for the summer and then worked part time there while I finished my degree that year. Once finished I was offered a full time position, which I accepted but I saw there wasn't much chance for advancement in that department. There was an opening in a different department for a similar position, but chance for more opportunity to advance so I applied and got the job. I was told they could not offer me more money than what I was already making, but I still wanted the job for more experience. Fast forward 5 months of doing this job by myself they finally hire on another co-worker to help with responsibilities of this job. After months of me training and working with my co-worker I find out that she is being paid more than me. I am more qualified than her, have been with the company longer, and carry on more responsibilities of this job than her and she still struggles do the simplest tasks we have. I like this job and the people I work with, but the fact that I am basically her boss and making less than her feels like a bit of a slap in the face to me. On top of the fact that they told me that they could not offer me more money. What is the best way to approach this? Ask my boss for a raise? Start looking for a new job and hope my old job matches what they offer? [link] [comments]  |
| 20 Year old working $9/hr job just inherited $25k Posted: 06 Jul 2018 05:27 PM PDT My father passed when I was thirteen. Today, my mother wrote me a check for 25k, my portion of the inheritance. I have an appt with the bank to open a savings account. Beyond this, any steps I should take in the event of a windfall of cash? [link] [comments]  |
| 32-YO with expensive taste and poor spending habits Posted: 06 Jul 2018 07:54 AM PDT Hi, not sure why it took me so long to find this sub. I'm 32, single, make $130k/year, and have very poor spending habits. I impulse buy a lot and Amazon Prime is killing me. I'm not saving much because I don't have a plan. This sub is giving me major anxiety.
Ideally, how much should I save? Should I save for another house? How should I invest now? I see IRA mentioned a lot here but I never did that. Still embarrassingly ignorant with that. How much can I use for traveling? How do I find balance? How the hell does someone get out of the mentality of always wanting the best brand/quality of everything? I don't even know how I developed this expensive taste because my parents were always very frugal. Anyone holding cash in anticipation for another 2008 market crash? I've bought some gold and silver bullions — anyone buying physical metals? Prices haven't gone anywhere in a few years. [link] [comments]  |
| Did I just end up paying 47% interest on my lease instead of 13% or am I just not seeing something? Posted: 06 Jul 2018 07:23 PM PDT https://i.imgur.com/FpyxYsu.jpg I just got out of spending just about 7 hours in a dealership leasing my first car. I went in with the intent of being very careful, hearing horror stories about car dealers/first time car owners and not wanting to fall victim, but after talking to people for so long and staring at papers and computer screens I was admittedly in a hurry to get out. Toward the end during the actual payment part there was the most amount of paperwork and I was the most fried at this point. My understanding of the picture linked at the beginning of my post: The agreed upon base price of the vehicle is $15108. After taxes and fees, price is up to $16245. I put $1000 down and $2500 on the warranty, bringing me up to $17745.61. The next part is the part I don't understand. I'm leasing for 72 months making payments of 362.83 per month, with an APR of 13.49%. The total amount of money in interest I'll pay by the end of my lease is 8378.15, bringing the total to 26123.76, but isn't 8378.15 47% of 17745.61? $17745.61 * 47.21255% = $8378.15 $17745.61 + $8378.15 = $26123.76 $17745.61 * 13.49% = $2393.88 $17745.61 + $2393.88 = $20139.49 Am I missing something huge? Was I or was I not scammed? I really can't think right now, i'm so unbelievably tired, I really would appreciate the advice. I don't need any replies telling me how dumb I am in regards to me miscalculating if I wasn't scammed or me falling for dealer tricks if I was scammed, I really just need help for what my next course of action is if needed at all. tysm edit: holy fuck did i just get a loan instead of a lease fuck [link] [comments]  |
| Incoming Ph.D. student with 50K saved up - What's the best way of investing this? Posted: 06 Jul 2018 03:31 PM PDT As a Ph.D. student, I'll be making 19k per academic year. I'll be also making a couple of more hundreds per month with a per diem job. I'm hoping that the rent would stay within 500 dollars. Own a car but not planning on driving much to save up gas; cook for myself to stay healthy and frugal. I'm looking into the state reduced health insurance and lower my auto insurance since I won't be driving much. My monthly expense should come out to be no more than 1000. I should mention that, with the little I'm making, I am hoping to save at least 5500 so that I can feed my Roth IRA (targetted fund with fidelity, which has not been performing well...) I did considering buying a house while I have a full time job. But the preapproval of 175k was too little to find a place to when I did not know much about the location. Out of 50K, I 'm thinking about keeping 5000 as an emergency fund (car breakdown and whatnot). My foreseeable plan is wedding (- I'll have to find someone I want to marry first - but we can save this story for another time). I know wedding is mostly "for woman," I've been told, but I'll be an advocate to spend less on wedding. Based on my limited research, it seems like index funds with low expense ratio is a good bet. But I'm unsure how to to go about choosing which index fund to choose. I'm hoping for some suggestions for Index funds and some resources on how to identify which index funds meet my needs. I appreciate all your help and thoughtful responses. [link] [comments]  |
| About how many credit cards is considered healthy? Posted: 06 Jul 2018 07:15 PM PDT Since I know folks will want the background, I'm working on paying down my credit card debts from a time where I wasn't realistic with my spending. I've never missed a payment and have made significant progress this year getting two accounts down to paying off the statement balance in full each month. The biggest detractor from my credit score right now is usage which is at a pretty awful 65% since PayPal credit doesn't count towards your credit score (just finished paying that one off and now I'm not touching it) Anyway, I have a total of five accounts including car loan, student loan, and three cards. Average age is 3.8 years. I'm currently at the point where I only use one card which I pay off the added balance and then some each month. It's currently at about $7.5k (83%). This will take some time, but it is the lowest of the two cards that remain and I've been using the snowball method thus far. I also have another card which I haven't touched in almost a year that's sitting at a good 9k (60%). Im making minimum payments on that one while I focus on getting the card I use down to reasonable levels. I've really gotten control of my finances in the last four or five months and I'm certainly on my way to getting out from under this weight, but in the meantime should I have more cards just to help repair the score a little faster since this process will likely take years? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2018 11:37 AM PDT Details: Gross Monthly Income: $6200 Monthly Payments (Credit, Car, Student Loans): $1000 Both our credit scores around 630. Shitty credit due to stupid choices with little credit charge offs and late payments, nothing big like foreclosure or bankruptcy. Last year we've put in an effort to clean things up and our scores are climbing finally. Live in Pittsburgh, PA with 2 children and a bird. 3 years rental history paying $1100 monthly, never late, have a good reference from landlord. I am in my 1st year of a 6 year PHD program, fully funded, but I can still use up to 20K per year of loan if I need to. Questions: Does it sound like we'd qualify for an FHA loan? Could we use some of my student loan disbursement for a down payment? Do they factor in the amount of student loans, or just the amount that we pay on them (my husband has about 90k worth but only has to pay ~200 per month)? What could we do to give us better chances? Any tips/info would be greatly appreciated. We are very nervous to take this step, especially to go in and have them laugh us out the door. [link] [comments]  |
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