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    Home Unlabelled Personal Finance Has anyone here managed to get any substantial passive income?

    Personal Finance Has anyone here managed to get any substantial passive income?

    November 25, 2018

    Personal Finance Has anyone here managed to get any substantial passive income?

    Has anyone here managed to get any substantial passive income?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 09:23 AM PST

    Youtube and Google are kind of useless for this, you just end up with people either humble bragging or trying to sell you something.

    What kind of things would it take to eventually get to $2k-$3k per month of passive income? Aside from something like buying a $1 million office block and renting it out? (i'd need a mortgage to cover the deposit, let alone the rest of it :P)

    submitted by /u/jjake101
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    $1,500 bathroom remodel prize update

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 10:21 AM PST

    Hello Everyone, a few weeks ago I won a $1,500 bathroom remodel prize drawing. I came here to ask if it was a scam and lots of people told me that it sounded legit and was an awesome prize!

    https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/9pa4we/we_won_a_1500_bathroom_remodel_is_this_a_scam/?utm_source=reddit-android

    I thought I would give you guys an update so that others can watch out for things like this. It was absolutely a scam... They tell you that you won and get this great discount. My first hint that it was a scam was that they called both me and my girlfriend to tell each of us that we had won. We both had entered into the drawing. When I asked them about it they said oh well we had 2 winners this time. I was sceptical so after the quote came in I asked for the breakdown of prices. The quote they gave me felt way too high for the remodel I was wanting. They were charging me things like $800 for the faucet alone that should have been $200 max. After seeing that, I got another quote from a local company for the same remodel that came in almost $3,000 cheaper.

    Moral of the story is that you should always get another quote, ask to see the price breakdown, and be skeptical if you are "winning" a prize like that. They clearly were raising their prices to compensate for the "discount" making there be no real discount and they just tricked you into getting a remodel that you may or may not have wanted in the first place.

    Thank you for the advice guys!

    Edit: I'm a terrible writer

    submitted by /u/HursHH
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    The Personal Finance Teacher at my school is working for an MLM

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 04:18 PM PST

    The Personal Finance teacher at my school is known to give questionable financial advice. After googling her name, I quickly found a profile that is littered with MLM posts that suggest that she is very deep into this and she has been doing this for a very long time. Personal Finance is a graduation requirement so most of the students have or are taken the class. Some students, such as me have opted to test out of the class because the class is joke. One example of her questionable advice has made known to me after I spoke to a classmate in her class who decided to finance a 2018 car on lease just so he can build credit. He doesn't even use the car. He told me he did this after the instruction of the teacher. It is mind blowing that the person responsible for teaching financial responsibility could condone actions like this. Even the most simple shred of personal finance student should know how reckless financing a car on a high school part time job is responsible. There's probably nothing I can do, or even should do, but I'm interested in what you guys think about this.

    submitted by /u/GermanGamering
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    I have a serious spending problem on food and I don’t know what to do

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 03:31 PM PST

    I'm just gonna cut to the chase and say that I spent $950 on fast food in October. That means in the 31 days of October it would be equal to about $30 a day. I just found out because I was curious as to why my checking account seems really low. That includes restaurants, gas stations and other smaller food places. I probably go out to eat at least 5 times a week for a few different reasons. One being that I spend a lot of time at my boyfriends house and I don't like asking him to make me food or to eat food at his house. Another reason is there's always people at my house (I live with my family) and I feel everyone is always in the way when I go to make food in the kitchen. Also my boyfriend is currently unemployed and he can't pitch in when we go out to eat. So basically that $950 is split between both of us. Still it's a lot of money and I don't even make that much in a month. Now I've looked at the other months and most of the time I spend somewhere between $2-300 so I'm shocked at how much I spent in October when nothing was really that different. Anyway I'd really like some advice on what I can do to solve this issue. Any super easy meals I can quick put together or just take over to my boyfriends house?

    submitted by /u/mynameiswhat222
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    I'm (46 & semi-recent widow) in need of advice on what to do with late husband's 401K please.

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:52 PM PST

    My situation is as follows: Single mom of 2 teenagers, the older one is a 17 yo high school senior who is planning for college, younger one is 14 yo high school freshman.

    Each child receives 1100 per month in survivor benefits. This benefit ends at graduation in May 2019 for the older child.

    I was laid off from my job of 13 years. I am trying to figure out a way to go back to school for BSN.

    Late husband's 401k has $65,000 which I kept in his former employers plan. I am now ready to move the money but I am having a hard time figuring out what the wisest option is.

    I own a home which I plan to sell sometime after my oldest goes to college. The house is in need of repairs before I am able to put it on the market.

    I was thinking about cashing out the 401K to invest in the home repairs so hopefully the sale of my home will yield more profit.

    I had read somewhere that a widow would not be subject to an early withdrawal penalty but will of course have to pay income tax. Is that true?

    Also would it be possible to roll part of it into an IRA and part cashing out?

    submitted by /u/Leocancer22
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    36, retiring in 20 with pension, late start on additional savings

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 04:55 PM PST

    I'm 36 and will be retired after 35 years of service in about 20 years with a pretty decent pension. I am not sure if I'll have the quarters to get the reduced SS in my 60s; I doubt it but who knows.

    I know it's late, but I'm ready to start putting money aside into some sort of retirement account. I can swing $150 pre-tax every two weeks for now. My employer does not offer anything I am interested in. They only offer a 457 plan that does not allow any loans and nearly no hardship withdrawals. I understand the goal is to never touch the money, but as a single person owning a home, if my roof blows off I'd like to be able to loan myself some cash to replace it, etc.. I don't like the idea of being entirely locked out of my money; I have the discipline to not treat it like a savings account.

    With the "guaranteed" money of the pension I am willing to be a bit aggressive in my choices.

    While I read through all the pages here, what would you do if you were in my situation?

    submitted by /u/GeeMass
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    Merchants can retrieve your new credit card information on recurring charges

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 12:33 PM PST

    Recently, I was confused after finding a recurring charge from a website hosting company that I no longer use knowing that I did not update my billing information with this company. Maybe I'm behind the curve on this, but it turns out most major credit card companies offer "Updater" services, allowing merchants access to new account numbers and expiration dates for recurring charges. I wanted to post this so that others are not caught off guard for this reason, even if most of you know this already.

    (In case anyone was wondering, I also placed the service on "Do Not Renew" before the recurring charge was filed thinking it would be enough, but I missed the fine print asking users to contact customer support to cancel for real.)

    submitted by /u/chicken_pearl
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    Rent, buy, or wait?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 01:42 PM PST

    Rent or Buy

    Hi all. My SO and I are trying to plan for our future living arrangements once I'm done with grad school next May. We live in a HCOL area where a 1BR apartment runs about $1700 per month. That's why we both live with my parents, and we're definitely feeling the pressure to get our own space.

    Here's some more info: - Combined gross income (June 2019 estimation): $96k - Car payment: $488/month (0% interest, ~$30k remaining till 2024) - Current savings: ~$14k

    We can probably put away another ~$8k by next June, and will be able to save substantially more once I'm working full-time.

    Any house we'd consider looking at would be <$250k. Realistically, should we even try looking for houses with less than 20% saved for a down payment? It seems like we would be stuck at my parents' for a lot longer than originally anticipated in order to save up $50k for a down payment.

    So I guess what I'm really trying to ask is should we suck it up and pay $1700/month in rent and push our dreams of owning a home down the road?

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/daisydeeer
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    Humbly requesting a factcheck of a comment from r/Entrepreneur arguing against the use of index funds and passive investment

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 01:41 PM PST

    Hi all, not sure what exactly the etiquette, or reddiquette is of this, but I read a highly upvoted comment from a fairly recent reddit post that raised a lot of red flags for me. It seems to be arguing against the use of index funds in lieu of a more active approach. Rather than poorly summarizing it, I'll just quote it in its entirety below. I won't link to the original comment as I don't think it's necessary to call out a user and I'm sure it could be found easily enough anyways:

    I thought pretty much any sensible investor these days would only be interested in practical long term investments (eg. low cost ETFs)

    Think about that for a moment, though. If you invested in the S&P 500 in 1996, by 2001 you would have had a net-loss. Then, as you made that money back again, by 2008 you would have been wiped out (again).

    In other words, if you invested in 1996 by 2009 13 years later, you would have had absolutely NOTHING to show for it.

    Now, of the last 9 years of this propped-up bull market stimulated by Quantitative Easing, you would have made a lot.

    But the Fed has recently shut off that tap. They're no longer flooding money into the market anymore, they are not buying treasuries and MBSs anymore, and they have started unwinding their balance sheet and raising interest rates.

    Fact is, we're about to see a 25% to 50% retracement over the next 2 or 3 years. The bull run is done.

    We have already ERASED all the gains we've made in 2018. And they were erased in about a two week period.

    So, if you had invested ALL THE WAY BACK in 1996 you would have seen a modest gain on your investments, after the accumulated wealth of all your investments had been cut in half 2 times (soon to be a 3rd).

    But what if you invested in just the last five years? You're about to have a net loss.

    So, the old "buy and hold" strategy DOES work, if you're willing to wait three to four decades to see any meaningful returns.

    But in reality, it's just a strategy. And it's a strategy that -- even on 10-year to 30-year time-scale -- is only profitable depending on WHEN you got in.

    Further out? To 40 years to 50 years? Sure, you'll be up...but at what age did you start investing? When you were 20? or 30?

    Or did you start - like many did - when you were 45 to 50?

    There are many strategies for reliable income (Options Credit Spreads for example) on a weekly or monthly basis.

    And then there's the fact, that plenty of people have some extra money sitting around and they enjoy speculating.

    Even if you're right on speculation only 40% of the time, if you employ a 2:1 risk/reward, you can be highly profitable year in and year out.

    Personally, I only trade derivatives. I will never touch actual shares of stock - ever. Not for trading and not for buy and hold. My chosen investment vehicle is Real Estate.

    So it's kind of a cop-out to say "Why don't people just throw all their money into an Index Fund and keep it there forever?!"

    Depending on when you start throwing your life's savings in an Index fund, that could be very dangerous. And depending on WHEN you start investing, it could be downright pointless.

    submitted by /u/bch8
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    Just got my first ever hospital bill and I don’t know what to do.

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 11:51 AM PST

    I went to the ER last month and just got a bill for $3200! I don't even make that in a month. I have insurance through work. What do I do? I already live paycheck to paycheck as it is and I'm heavily in debt. I only went to the hospital because I couldn't eat for 4 days and I was scared. Any info would really help

    submitted by /u/Irrationate
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    What to do with $5000 in old US Savings Bonds

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 08:00 AM PST

    So, I have about $5K in US Series EE savings bonds, some of which were purchased for me as a child in the 1970's and some of which I bought when I was just starting out in the 1990's. The "mature" face value of the bonds is about $5K, so they were worth a bit more than that (but not a lot more).

    Regardless of the actual value, what's the best way to use them to minimize the impact of taxes? Should I try to use them to pay for my kids' college expenses? We're not desperate for the funds right now, but since they have just been sitting there, I feel like I should do something with them. Thanks.

    ​

    EDIT: The autobot just showed me this: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/savingsbonds

    I will review - sorry.

    submitted by /u/volcs0
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    Judgement Lien

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:41 PM PST

    Originally borrowed $5,500 from a small credit union back in November 2014. Paid religiously up until May 2017. My wife lost her job. Credit Union wasn't willing to work with me. I quit paying until I received a threat from a lawyer they use. So I called the credit union in October 2017. They said they could no longer stop the judgement but would tell the lawyer no longer to pursue me as long as I could make the minimum $150. I made the minimum best I could being late about every month. This November I received a letter from the credit union lawyer saying I had 15 days to fill out a garnishment paper or pay the account in full $2900. Seemed high.

    I just came in a lump sum of money and instantly logged into my account with the credit union my balance was only $2200 and I paid in full. Once I paid the principal balance it said I still owed $28. So I paid the $28 and now it says I owe $0.05. But I cannot make a payment smaller then $1.00.

    I have no idea what to do. I'm trying to get my life together and could use as much advice as possible.

    submitted by /u/blob92
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    Best jobs to do for second income??

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 04:57 PM PST

    I have a full time 8-5 corporate job. I'm trying to boost my savings while being able to pay off the loads of college debt I have.

    My doggo was the reason I haven't seriously looked into a second gig, but she sadly passed away recently and now I have no excuse/need to pay off those vet bills I've racked up.

    I'd like to avoid retail/need something that's flexible hours.

    What are your experiences? I don't need to make a ton but would like an extra $400 a month or so.

    submitted by /u/shcouni
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    Collection for Taxes

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:03 PM PST

    I just received a collections notice from the city I grew up in. I moved away for college in 2006 and never permanently lived there again. During college I did work a little bit at a Subway during two or three summers in 2007, 2008 and MAYBE 2009.

    I received zero communication from the city until I received this notice. I will contact the city tomorrow but how far back can they try to collect taxes? Why now? I would have just paid it if I knew I owed - now it's going to show up as a collection on my credit report.

    I had the same address for 4-5 years in Columbus. I just bought a house about 6 months ago and miraculously they 'found' me.

    submitted by /u/poblanoglow
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    Best way to rebuild credit after bankruptcy

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 10:39 AM PST

    Had a lot of debt that I couldn't pay, lawyer made bankruptcy sound like the best option. It really wasn't and don't know how to move forward with my building my credit

    Edit : Thanks to u/Binestar I signed up to CK and realized my credit isn't that messed up, although it looked odd to me so I would be contacting them to understand why it looks the way it does, thanks to everyone that suggested different cards, I will be looking into them and see which one will be best for me. Thanks to all of you :)

    submitted by /u/i2aFa
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    Advice for first time stock investor

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 07:37 PM PST

    Hi everyone,

    ​

    I have $200 in savings bonds from my grandparents that have just now fully matured. I'm not really in a position to invest much of my extra money into stocks (I'm working on paying off some of my 16-17% interest credit cards), but I figured that since I've never been able to have my hands on this money that I should invest it. I may be able to add an additional $300 to make it an even $500, but that's about it.

    ​

    Are there any top recommended trading sites that I should use? Should I even be investing this money, or should I just put it towards my high interest cards?

    ​

    Any help is appreciated.

    submitted by /u/thaatpoppunkguy
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    Goal is to buy a house within the next year, de-risk investments?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 04:42 PM PST

    Some background, I'm 23 and looking to buy a house in the next year or so (12-14 months), and had a question. I am looking at houses in the ~200k range, looking to put 10% down. My question is, I currently have about $10k of the $30k total down payment and fund for closing costs, etc. invested in stocks.

    Should I move that into something more stable since I know that I will need it in the short run? Should I put it in a short term treasury fund? If there are fund suggestions I have fidelity and prefer the no purchase fee low expense ratio ones they offer.

    I know it is not recommended to take money out of retirement for the down payment, but the money in the Roth was always just an extra emergency fund/down payment fund anyway. And I also have a 401k/HSA with work that I contribute to.

    submitted by /u/redditforwork1995
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    FSA or Savings account?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:45 PM PST

    I'm filling out open enrollment paperwork and my company offers a flexible spending account. I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons. I know it is taken pre-tax, but it has to be for specific purposes and receipts must be provided, there is a hard limit to how much I can have in the account, it doesnt accrue interest, and if I don't spend it by the end of the year I can lose any money I have deposited into it. I don't see any reason to do this instead of putting the money into a savings account. Am I missing something? Any help would be appreciated. I have to have this turned in tomorrow.

    Edit: It might be worth noting that my company doesn't allow for any rollover.

    Edit 2: Thanks guys. This information was very helpful. We decided to put in roughly what we have been averaging in copays and deductibles.

    submitted by /u/fistofwrath
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    Is A Savings Account Adequate?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 11:08 AM PST

    Hi there,

    Im starting my first professional job soon, but with a salary that will only get me about 100-250 dollars a month leftover to save. Since it is such a low amount, should I just keep it in a savings account? Or is there a better way to optimize this cash?

    submitted by /u/b46t65
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    Picking a Health plan: Emergency room care coverage

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:15 PM PST

    Under the ER visit section, I have a few choices between plans.

    Plan A states a flat 20% coinsurance for an ER visit

    Plan B states a $300 copay. After copay, 20% coinsurance, deductible does not apply.

    Can anyone tell me what the language "deductible does not apply" means in this case?

    submitted by /u/whoisdingus
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    Is $600 in utilities a month for a 5 bedroom 2/5 bathroom (hot tub room and pool room also not heated or cooled though) normal?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 01:20 PM PST

    I've just taken over responsibilities of the bills since my dad died and he was on payment plans, late fees and a whole bunch of other shit so i grew up thinking maybe it was normal for the electric bill to be $330 gas to be $90 and so on turns out he just couldn't budget. Now its my turn and im trying to be cheap. My Kwh for 9 days was 450 in October, is this normal? also im paying about $70 for water witha slight leak in the kitchen sink. $48 for gas and another $200 for cable and internet ( know im insane and this is ridiculous) im just trying to figure out averages and what normal people pay. According to my research my bills should be cheaper. Is there something i dont realize? other people using my meter or is this normal for a 5 bedroom house in the winter. Also how do billing cycles work? I had to pay 10/15/18-10/24/18? i dont know when to expect my next bill or any of that. im 19 and very new to this BILL thing can anyone help so i know if im paying to much and WHEN i have to pay. BEcause ever since the 24th when i paid that bill i havent got another so do i expect from 10/24/18-11/24/18? or 10/24/18-12/9/18

    submitted by /u/Despise12me
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    Help me understand about my car loan.

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 10:41 AM PST

    I bought a car last year for around $16,000 and I put down $10,000 and got financed for the last bit.

    So I checked how much I had left to go recently, $13,000 out of $16,000. So I'm wondering where that $10,000 I put down went too.

    Thought I'd ask you guys before raising hell at the dealership and or the finance company.

    Thanks.

    submitted by /u/wallet113
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    I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Tried college but have failed a few classes and don’t really care about it.

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 02:24 AM PST

    I'm 21 in a low paying job that is going no where. Not sure if I should join military as I have no idea what career I should pursue. Almost have associates in accounting but I have not done well in college so far. I've failed some classes and I have a hard time giving enough of a shit to go to class. Only two classes I've really enjoyed were speech and astronomy. Also don't really care that much about accounting, don't hate it I'm just not crazy about it I guess. Idk if this is the right sub but didn't know where else to post so here it is. Just looking for some advice I guess.

    submitted by /u/DoctorHarryPotter
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    Is the free Discover FICO score more accurate than Credit Karma scores?

    Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:21 PM PST

    My Discover FICO score is 818 but Credit Karma shows 773 TransUnion and 778 Equafax. Discover didn't show any inquiries in the past 12 months but I know there was one around 5 months ago and the Discovery TransUnion report does show it.

    submitted by /u/adudeguyman
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