Personal Finance Let's talk about the subreddit, our stance on advertising, and hear your feedback |
- Let's talk about the subreddit, our stance on advertising, and hear your feedback
- Your amazon store card is probably scamming you
- In January I bought an empty piece of land that had been sitting on the MLS, unsold, for years - for $2k. The property assessor assessed it at $25k value. New York, US
- Good Personal Finance Books with No "God Talk"?
- Income distributions for young people under age 26
- Mold in our bathroom, estimates are in the $30k range, how do people do this?
- My college roomate stole my credit card and made a $500 puchase last semester and never told me about it.
- Grandma had $15,000+ stolen via her debit card over the last 14 months.
- What kind of jobs are out there that would allow me to tap into my passion for personal finance?
- Is there ever a point to investing in an actively-managed fund?
- Hospital charged me for labor and delivery when I didn’t give birth there.
- Should I really invest in a 401k if I'll be leaving the US in ten years?
- Can I get scammed using Western Union?
- Should I ask for a higher salary?
- Does checking your credit score online, effect your credit score?
- High-Yield Savings interest rates have basically doubled in the past year. What’s driving this change?
- Dad might die. Mom has a lot of animals and no source of income if dad goes. What can I do?
- Saved up cash over 5 years and need to form a plan on how to best invest it
- How can i become finacially stable as early as possible?
- [Retirement] Employer offers "discretionary" 401k match... not sure where to put my money
- Looking for information on how to ensure banking/personal data security.
- My neighbor's house is going up for auction in a couple of months. I want to buy it. Who do I need to go to for help and advice? Lawyer? Real estate agent?
- Just moved to LA with no money or car. How screwed am I?
- An unpaid medical bill slipped through the cracks & got sent to collections. How to resolve & keep off credit report? (US)
- Should I invest into this property?
| Let's talk about the subreddit, our stance on advertising, and hear your feedback Posted: 31 Aug 2018 09:01 AM PDT Hello /r/personalfinance! The moderation team would like to update everyone on a few things, answer any questions, and listen to your feedback. We're looking for new moderators!If you're either a frequent participant on /r/personalfinance or an experienced moderator, please consider applying. You can submit an application here. The wikiSince our last meta post, we've added some new pages:
We've also continue to maintain the entire wiki and updated pages including: Reading List, "How to handle $", Investing, and Roth or Traditional. Think something is missing and willing to write it? Let us know! Rules changesWe haven't changed the rules significantly since our last major update when success stories and victory posts started being redirected to the weekend thread, but we have made a few clarifications to the rules including:
How should we handle success stories?We're thinking about allowing success stories to be posted on the weekday thread rather than just the weekend thread so that people who have a victory post removed are able to immediately repost. What do you think? 30-Day Challenge SeriesIf you haven't stopped by our 30-day challenge series lately, please check it out. If you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see us cover and you're willing to write it up, please let us know. Please welcome our newest moderators!AmNotLost, Econ0mist, T__Fish, chocolate_soymilk, kylejack, mail323, mormengil, slalomz, StarKiller99, IShouldBeDoingSmthin, wolfofone, and 431026! AdvertisementsOne of the core principles that's very important to us is that we want to keep PF as free as possible from advertising, soliciting, and other shenanigans to make money off of the subreddit. Over time, we've had to make the subreddit rules increasingly strict (e.g., disallowing PM requests) because certain people have come up with progressively more creative ways to work around the rules. Simply put, we want advice to be given without conflicts of interest and because people want to help others, not because it financially benefits the person giving the advice. Of course, Reddit runs advertisements that run on /r/personalfinance, and that hasn't been an issue as long as those advertisements are clearly advertisements and don't look like normal posts, and we absolutely want Reddit to be successful as a company. The moderation team would like to ask everyone for some help. Specifically:
Any other feedback or questions for the moderation team?Are there any changes or improvements would you like to see? Are there things we could be doing differently or better? We'll do our best to answer any questions you have about the subreddit and moderating it so please ask away. [link] [comments]  |
| Your amazon store card is probably scamming you Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:38 PM PDT I noticed a weird charge in my statement that pays my amazon store credit card off. It's listed as security 5. I didn't know what it was but the amount kept going up as my card balance went up. Called the number and the guy answered then danced around what the name of the company was and what they were charging me for. Eventually he slipped the word synchrony and that dinged in my head the bank that issues the amazon card. So i googled (all this while still trying to get this guy to tell me what this charge was for) and found that it's an automatic form of insurance that you are put on when you open the card. It's 1.66% of your balance monthly and you have to opt out by responding to a single piece of paper mail that gets sent sometime when you open the card. Now im getting frustrated that this guy isn't saying what the hell his company does when he just changes gear and says the full balance will be returned and the service stopped. It was over 1800 dollars since 2014 I'll have it back in 3 days i was told but check your statements people. Edit: even if you use the 0% for 12 months on large purchases (which is how i typically use my card) it still charges their fee every month [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2018 06:47 AM PDT I bought an empty plot of land earlier this year. It's 200ft by 73ft - about .45 acres. It's in a depressed area economically, and located in a flood zone, lies next to an abandoned home, and 1/3 of the land is an unusable swamp. I bought it because I would like to build on it someday, when I am more established. There was previously a home on the property that was demolished after a flood several years ago I bought the empty land for $2000. It had been listed on the MLS at $3000 for several years before I made my offer, and the owners jumped at my offer. No one wanted it. I paid taxes earlier this year and the two plots that make up the property were valued at $6000. I just received a bill for school taxes, and they had valued the empty land at almost $25k. My school bills for this property are almost as high as my school taxes for my home. I called the assessors office to see whether they had the property listed as a residential on accident. No, it was listed as a vacant lot. They told me that I didn't have any choice this year but to pay my taxes, and that I'm only allowed to file grievances in May every year. So I'm not allowed to dispute this ridiculous assessment in any manner, and just have to pony up. The issue is, I wasn't at all expecting to spend almost $1000 on school taxes for an empty little plot of land in a town where the homes cost $15k each. I can't afford that right now, and in the letter I received for my school taxes it says I have to pay up - almost the entire amount - by the end of the month, or my property will be delinquent. What the hell can I do in this situation? [link] [comments]  |
| Good Personal Finance Books with No "God Talk"? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:41 PM PDT The main personal finance author that I am aware of is Dave Ramsey. I tried reading one of his books but he interweaves too much religious talk into his stuff for my taste. What are the best books out there that just stick to finance? [link] [comments]  |
| Income distributions for young people under age 26 Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:58 AM PDT So the IRS put out some aggregate information on 2016 80% earned up to $25,000. Another almost 16% earned $25,000 to $50,000. So that's collectively 96% of people in that age group who filed tax returns. About 3% made up to $75K, and the remaining 1% made more than that. https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i.hH4NrpPNsI/v1/760x-1.png That 1% is 185,000 people, so quite a few, though not a big percentage of the population. (There are about 4 million people of any given age, i.e. 4 million 25-year-olds, roughly.) 1400 of them make over $1M in 2016. 45 made over $10M. So, not everybody is a Silicon Valley software developer making six figures, it just seems that way sometimes if you read a lot of posts here. [link] [comments]  |
| Mold in our bathroom, estimates are in the $30k range, how do people do this? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 01:51 PM PDT I bought a house about 6 years ago, poured my life savings into it and it has appreciated in market value quite a bit. Every time we manage to save a nest-egg we need to replace the A/C or something else goes wrong. Previous owner was a DIY guy who didn't know what he was doing. Long story short, there's mold in our master bathroom. To remove it and re-do the bathroom is going to cost somewhere between $20-40k. We have a fraction of that in savings right now and some CC debt. I called about a home equity loan, but got quoted 8.5% APR, which seems so damn high. I thought about refinancing my mortgage but I'm locked in at 3.5%, no way do I want to refinance that. Do I have any other options? Do we spread it out over credit cards and just pay it down very slowly? Is there a lifeline I'm not seeing? Thanks so much. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:37 AM PDT So I have been avoiding credit like the plague because I am a broke college student and don't make enough to warrant it. I eat almost exclusively at the college cafeteria, and buy only necessities. However, I own a vehicle and wanted a line of credit to make repairs if absolutely necessary. So I got a Firestone card for this purpose. The only other credit I have is for my phone, which gets paid off on time every month. All this to say that I have never really had a reason to check my credit score. Turns out that my roommate last semester used my Firestone card without permission to make a $500 repair to his car and never told me. So my credit is now shit because it is several months overdue and I don't have the money or the income to pay it off. I have no idea what to do at this point. Edit: probably should have included this earlier, and it was braught out in the comments. I confronted him about this three weeks ago via text. He denied at first, but decided to pay me back the original $500 when I threatened to file a police report. I have yet to receive any money from him after three weeks of pestering him, and he has reverted to "not my problem" and is avoiding me again. [link] [comments]  |
| Grandma had $15,000+ stolen via her debit card over the last 14 months. Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:14 AM PDT Hi everyone, title says it all really. My grandma just noticed this a few days ago and I've been helping her get it resolved. I created an online bank account for her to pull her transaction history. We narrowed everything down to find the fraudulent charges, which total ~$15,000 over the last 14 months or so. The bank was able to reverse the last 60 days, but unfortunately that's not much of the total, especially since there was less activity recently. I've been contacting each company listed and they have been unhelpful to somewhat helpful. Apple refunded a decent chunk of theirs, Amazon refunded digital purchases. For the most part though they say there's nothing they can do. Not necessarily their fault, just the way it is. When the refunds all process, there will probably still be $10,000 not recovered. I have a first name and last initial, plus state that the person lives in. Among other things, they were paying for Amazon, iTunes, their cell phone, electricity, internet/tv, a lending company, and a storage unit. I'll be filing a police report, and hopefully they can get more info. Anything else I should be doing here? Thanks for any advice. [link] [comments]  |
| What kind of jobs are out there that would allow me to tap into my passion for personal finance? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 12:57 PM PDT The obvious answer is probably personal financial advising. But I know so many of you rag on that occupation and say they're merely glorified salesman trying to rip people off for doing a job a robo advisor can do. Curious if there are any other career paths that might be good for someone like me who loves personal finance. (Or maybe personal financial advising really is for me, despite the outraged from reddit world). Background: I have done corporate finance (FP&A) since graduating 5 years ago and I'm so sick of it. Boring and mundane. I've lost all interest. [link] [comments]  |
| Is there ever a point to investing in an actively-managed fund? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:44 PM PDT I've searched here and read through articles online, and there seems to be an overwhelming consensus that actively-managed funds cannot reliably beat the market. Accordingly, most of my money is currently in index funds. I'm in my early 30s and I feel like I can take the risk. However, it's just unbelievable to me that there can be such a consensus, yet actively-managed funds are popular, readily available, and not widely considered a scam. So what reasons, if any, would a person have for investing in an actively-managed fund? I ask because a friend is trying to get me signed up with an actively-managed fund. Specifically, this fund has a certain portion in bonds to hedge risk. His explanation for why it would be beneficial is that, even though it may not consistently beat the market, it generally keeps up with it and the volatility is reduced by virtue of the bond holdings. He explained that this not only justifies the fees, but is the point of his fund. [link] [comments]  |
| Hospital charged me for labor and delivery when I didn’t give birth there. Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:46 AM PDT So back in June I gave birth in a birth center. Totally normal birth but I had to go to the local hospital to get stitches. Now I've received a bill from the hospital for labor and delivery plus a recovery room, along with other charges which actually make sense for services I did use. I keep calling to tell them I never gave birth there and was only ever in one room for the stitches and they keep saying they'll audit it and to call back. It's been months and they still haven't fixed it. I have money to pay it but I don't want to pay $2k for services I didn't use. How should I escalate this? What would you do? I'm worried they'll send this to collections while I'm waiting around for them to fix it. I just called agin and they said they sent it to the wrong department for review and to call back in 7-10 days. I keep saying I can pay for the services I actually used now. It shouldn't be that hard to look at my records and see I never gave birth there and was erroneously charged. Sorry for the rant! What should I do?? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I really invest in a 401k if I'll be leaving the US in ten years? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 09:58 AM PDT I'm an Indian national working in the US, in my late 20s. I'm currently enrolled in my employer's 401k match program, and 8% of every paycheck goes into 401k (company pays 50% of the first 6%). What I want to know is if it makes sense to contribute this much into retirement savings, if I'm going to leave the country in a decade? If I want to buy a house in a couple of years, am I better off using this money for that purpose? I understand the advantages of doing this:
I don't plan to do an early withdrawal for the money that's already in the account. But I do want to know if it makes sense to stop contributing to 401k at this point (I have around $85000 there), and use the same money for buying a house, investing in index funds etc. [link] [comments]  |
| Can I get scammed using Western Union? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:35 PM PDT A man added me on facebook and told me I was beautiful and is offering to spoil me and send me money via western union. Usually I know they are scams right away because they say they can't use paypal/venmo/etc and want my bank details....but can I be scammed if they straight up send me money via western union? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I ask for a higher salary? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:34 AM PDT I received a job offer which pays a little bit higher than my current job, but it is in another city (6h trip). I don't pay rent now, but I'll need to pay if I accept the offer, and it will constitute something like 1/3 of the total salary. I can live there without problems with that salary, and I can pay for the relocation costs (which the company doesn't help with), like hotel expenses for the first days while I search for an apartment, and to buy basic stuff like refrigerator, stove, etc. Something to consider is that they asked me for the expected salary, and I answered the same as I currently earn. The interviewer seemed to me a little bit concerned about that and asked me to review thoroughly the cost of life there, as it is a bit higher compared to other cities. That, paired with the fact the they later offered me an almost equivalent salary, maybe they are open for a negotiation. I know that I should have researched more about the costs and the salaries before the interview, so that is a lesson learned. So, should I ask for a higher salary? I don't want to risk losing this opportunity, as it is like a dream job to me. TL;DR: got a job offer with almost same salary, and I know I can live with that amount, but the company seemed open for negotiation. Should I ask for a higher salary? [link] [comments]  |
| Does checking your credit score online, effect your credit score? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:58 PM PDT I recently checked my credit score roughly 3 weeks ago, and want to check it again now. Does doing that reduce your current score? thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2018 06:21 PM PDT I have an account with Discover Bank. The APY has gone from 1.25% in April in 1.8% now. It's gone up 0.15% just in the past month! I've seen some banks offering savings accounts with rates as high as 2%! I'm not complaining as this is awesome, but what's going on behind the scenes here to drive these rates up? [link] [comments]  |
| Dad might die. Mom has a lot of animals and no source of income if dad goes. What can I do? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 12:12 PM PDT Im thinking about my husband and I moving in with her. My mom's older, late 50s. She has also been caring for her father in the same house as well. She owns a farm but it's been decades since the farm made money. Now it's more of a giant hunk of land with a ton of animals that mostly serve as pets. She does occasionally sell goats, but I don't know that they actually make enough of covering the cost of owning them. I also have a sister who isnt independent yet. She's 19 and has yet to get her license and get a real job (she has volunteer experience). I was thinking of selling off most of the animals and forcing my sister to get a job and just maybe the three of us (me, my husband, and my sister) could hold us afloat, but other than that, I'm at a loss for what to do. From what I know, my parents have no savings. Hell, I don't even know if my dad has life insurance! I'm terrified of how much their mortgage is and what their possible debts are. My mom hasn't had a job other than tending to farm animals for 30 years. Also if my dad does die, I also have no clue how we afford a funeral. Is there any cheaper option? I'm not sentimental about what happens to the body whatsoever. I love my father, but if he goes I will do whatever I have to to take care of my family. I'm grateful for any advice you guys can give! UPDATE: my dad has a very slim chance of surviving. Prayers are appreciated as well as more advice as to what to do next. What's worse is I saw my mom's house and it's a WRECK. they have been living like animals. Not only is my mom screwed financially if my dad passes, but she will be basically living like a rat. I knew they had closed themselves off from people, but it's so bad. There are literally cobwebs hanging everywhere and not little thin whisps of web, but HUGE CURTAINS OF IT. This is worse than I could have imagined [link] [comments]  |
| Saved up cash over 5 years and need to form a plan on how to best invest it Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:37 PM PDT Background: - 29 years old, single, college-educated - income: approximately $70k / year before taxes - current career: software - no house; have been paying $650 per month in rent for past 5 years - $125k in cash (uninvested) - only very recently got a 401k set up and first credit card - spend very little money on non-necessities; afraid of spending money - willing to move to any US city or town, gain any necessary college education / training, etc if it results in substantially increasing rate at which net worth is accumulated - goal: retire within 20 years on $40-50k per year in passive income Basically, I was financially illiterate but have been educating myself over the past couple months. I have mostly been researching real estate and dividend stock investment. Dividend stocks appeal to me because of their stability, but taking a conservative approach, I do not believe that I currently have a high enough income to grow them fast enough to meet the above retirement goal. The retirement goal could be accomplished with investing in specific growth stocks, but I am too risk-averse to put all of that hard-saved cash into growth stocks in the longest bull run market in history. I am very concerned about an upcoming market correction and am considering waiting to see how the market responds shortly after the US midterm elections. With regards to real estate, I am considering starting with a 2-, 3-, or 4-unit property where I could live in one unit and then rent out the others. I will not commit to any plans of owning multiple properties until I have first had some experience owning and managing one. The current options I am considering:
I would like to have a clear and committed decision to how I will invest in real estate and the stock market before attempting to grow other alternative streams of income. I would be grateful to anyone who took the time to respond with their views or alternative options. Thank you for your time. [link] [comments]  |
| How can i become finacially stable as early as possible? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:33 PM PDT I'm still in highschool, hearing all of these words and phrases and rules when it comes to finance scares me to death. Is there a general website, book I can buy, or basic list of things I have to know that can help me in the future? I really just want basics as well as maybe passive income, but I think that shouldn't be my main focus. Thanks for reading and helping. [link] [comments]  |
| [Retirement] Employer offers "discretionary" 401k match... not sure where to put my money Posted: 05 Sep 2018 01:28 PM PDT Long story short, I just turned 30 and am starting to save for retirement. It would have been nice to start at 20, but I had this tunnel vision focus to aggressively pay off all my student loan and other debt, which I did. My current employer offers a 401k through Vanguard that has both a traditional and Roth option. My salary is 55k. I'd like to save about 10k per year in a retirement fund. The thing is my employer (a small company) offers discretionary matching, meaning it's up to the CEO at the end of the year if they will contribute. I'm in the process of asking the HR person what past years have been like. My other options are a traditional and Roth IRA. I live in a high tax state so I don't want to get killed putting into my Roth accounts. Am I in a tax bracket that makes the Roth options worth it? What would you all do if you were in my situation? [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for information on how to ensure banking/personal data security. Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:17 PM PDT Yes, I've read the wiki. Things I'm already doing: I use a password manager and I randomize any and all passwords assigned with as many characters as I'm allowed. I have two-factor authentication enabled on my password manager which requires an app and not SMS. Things I would like to know more about:
[link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:10 PM PDT As far as I know, it's because they are being foreclosed on. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Just moved to LA with no money or car. How screwed am I? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:10 PM PDT Not sure if this is the right subreddit but I just don't know what to do guys. I bought a oneway ticket to LA with nothing but a dollar and a dream. I've come to realize that being on the street is gonna be hard. How do you think I should go about with this? My top priority right now is saving up money to buy a car, but how the hell do I do this? How can I get a job when I don't have a car for transportation. I haven't cried this much in a while and it's gonna be my second day staying at the airport with nowhere to go. I'm hurting guys, any advice I can get I'd deeply appreciate it. I just don't know what to do.... :/ 20/m [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:58 PM PDT I applied for Medical Financial Assistance (MFA) through my hospital/insurance company (HMO). I had to have surgery, some of which was not covered (about $2,000 for all random things). Thankfully, it was approved. The MFA is a true life saver, I've had to miss almost three weeks of work post-op recovering, and since I'm a bartender, I don't have PTO/sick pay through my job. Thank god for my emergency fund...and thank you for tipping your bartenders! Anyhow... Before my MFA was approved, my insurance company told me to wait to pay for bills until after I got approved. In the case of me not being approved, the person who helped me apply for the MFA said that they would set up a payment plan for the bills so they wouldn't go to collections in the meantime. Somehow, before that, in early May, an outstanding bill got sent to collections without me knowing about it. I was never notified of this, and don't even really know what it was for. The collection agency has not tried to contact me. As of now, there is nothing reported as being in collections on my credit report. The person I talked to from my insurance gave me the collections agency's info, and the amount that I owe (less than $200). What should I do when I call them to settle this? I know collections agencies can be shady and do shady things and I don't want to get taken advantage of. Should I make them prove I owe them the debt? If so, how? If they can't prove I owe the debt, do I have to pay them? Can I negotiate with them and get the amount I owe lowered? What do I need to do to make sure it is expunged from my credit report, or is not reported in the first place? I have good credit (averages 800+), no late payments, and I want to keep my credit rating pristine. Thanks in advance for advice. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I invest into this property? Posted: 05 Sep 2018 08:23 PM PDT The seller is selling it for 11 million for a new property with the right to the land but in the condition that the seller will use it for 5 years as hotel. The seller will pay guarantee renting fee of 500k for 5 years as well and at the end of 5 years, I will be able to do whatever I want. I may either sell it or continue the hotel operation. I am thinking I will invest in it for 5 years and sell it for 11 million and make 2.5 million as profit from the renting fee. Is this too good to be true? [link] [comments]  |
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