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    Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 31, 2018

    December 31, 2018

    Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 31, 2018

    Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 31, 2018

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 03:07 AM 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 questions, discussions, and sharing your success stories:

    1. Please make a top-level comment if you want to ask a question! Also, please don't downvote "moronic" questions! If you have not received your answer within 24 hours, please feel free to start a discussion.

    2. Make a top-level comment if you want to share something positive regarding your personal finances!

    A big thank you to the many PFers who take time to answer other people's questions!

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    Don't purchase Green Dot cards for use as gift cards!

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 12:18 PM PST

    I received one of these as a gift for $50. I activated it today only to find out that it is a checking account, and because so, I am required to enter personal information (by law) for the checking account. There is no other way to access the funds. Upon activation, I was notified of a monthly $7.95 fee that would start tomorrow. What?!

    I decided I needed to spend the money ASAP and try and get out of the fee. I bought some items at the store and planned to burn the remainder filling up my gas tank. I expected to be able to put $18.96 worth of gas in the car. The pump started slowing down around the $10 mark, and I'm thinking "wow, this is gonna take a few minutes to get another 9 dollars." Then the pump stopped at $11.01. That was weird. Did the math in my head, and the remaining balance was $7.95. The exact amount of the fee that was supposed to come out tomorrow...

    I go home and check the transactions on the account, and sure enough, the fee was charged after my first purchase. I call customer support and wait for 30 minutes. They give me the round-around and don't revert the fee in any way, even though I pointed out that they straight up lied. But, I'm just glad to at least have gotten the $42.05 out of it. I asked them to close the account, and I couldn't even get anything other than verbal confirmation that it's closed.

    TLDR:

    This is a product that disguises itself as a prepaid gift card, but is actually a checking account that requires personal information and charges fees. I imagine they prey on many unsuspecting people and get massive gains on the fees.

    Edit: If you are looking for a checking account, I guess this one could work if you would otherwise be denied by banks. I will say that the card worked, and they were to send a permanent card with my name, etc. My frustration comes from the fact that people can be confused with this being a gift card.

    submitted by /u/whoami-now
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    5k car loan at 5% , 28k student loan at 4% - dad says pay car loan first but...

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:35 AM PST

    I have 3k saved and ready to put down on my debt.

    I built my emergency fund bigger than necessary so now I want to put 3k down.

    My dad insists since my car loan has a higher percentage rate than my student loans, it's better to pay on them.

    I'm not sure if I'm missing something but in my head the student loan, though having a lower rate, will rack up faster due to the higher balance.

    This is really a simple question but my thinking isn't incorrect is it?

    Edit: thanks everyone; my dad is in fact correct.

    The total balance of the loan should not be taken into account when figuring this out. I over complicated it.

    Also to the homies messaging me asking if I even went to college, why yes, yes I did. I am not embarrassed to say I am an engineer who did the mental math wrong and reached out for help. I hope you can be nicer to people with honest questions in the future. No one wants to be made to feel stupid.

    Happy New Years ; cheers.

    submitted by /u/yogurtcowsayshi
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    Bonus etiquette?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:57 AM PST

    Edit: Major update!!! T'was all for naught. My boss just emailed to thank me for my hard work this year, and explained that I will in fact be receiving a $6000 bonus, but split up over the next couple of months due to our current cash flow problem. Whoo!

    ———

    Hi all. I'm a systems administrator and internal software developer for a medium sized business in NYC. I've received a $6000 bonus every year for several years, but this year, am only receiving $2000. I'm the highest earner at this particular business, and I know for a fact that other employees' bonuses have not been reduced this year. Of note is the fact that a bonus was never stipulated in salary negotiations, so while I believe my bonus has been reduced for unreasonable reasons, I'm not sure if it's appropriate to complain or argue for more.

    Basically, the situation is that a major project I was due to finish this year was put on hold so I could help devise and open a sister business for the owners. I've received no additional pay (though a request for a small COLA was recently granted) for now administering the networks of two businesses, as well as developing software for both. Despite being sidetracked from the major project I was due to finish, I holed up in November to work 14 hour days to finish the project in question anyway. My boss was duly impressed upon presentation, but I have the sense that my bonus has been reduced because I worked from home during this time, because there's no way I'm going to give up any additional time to commute when working such obscene hours. After 5 years of working from home, they built me an office at our new business, and believe my boss is irritated that I haven't taken full advantage of it, despite the fact that heading to office would have reduced the amount of work I was able to accomplish. I also think that he was becoming annoyed by my lack of output this year—despite the fact that goal posts were moved and I did an enormous amount of work opening another business for him—and when I did pull unhealthy crunch time and actually finished the project in question anyway, it was during the most stressful time of year in our industry, and it didn't quite click that this was a big fucking deal.

    So the question is: Since my bonus is a 'courtesy' and not guaranteed to begin with, would it be within reason to argue my case and complain about the reduction, or should I just accept that it's a courtesy and keep my mouth shut?

    submitted by /u/BotoxTyrant
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    Last day of the year tax tips

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:52 AM PST

    Not that any of us like to procrastinate, but there could be people asking: what can we still do on December 31st to save money on 2018 federal income taxes? That depends on your specific situation; for most people, probably including you the reader, not so much. But, if you do see yourself in any of these scenarios, you may still have options today. (Many people also have options in effect until the tax filing deadline of April 15, but those are not today's topic.)

    This is not intended to be a complete description of everything possible, and in particular, it doesn't list all of the hoops one must jump through to be eligible to take these, so do your research before making the decision to buy a shiny new electric car based on something you read on reddit.

    • Losses in taxable investment accounts. If you own any stocks or bonds (or funds of same) in a taxable account (i.e. not an IRA) that declined in value since you bought them, then you can deduct up to $3000 in losses against other income, whether or not you can itemize; you only need to sell enough to claim the loss. (If you exceed $3000, you can carry that loss forward to future years.) You can't replace the shares until 30 days pass if you want to own the same thing. (Look up "wash sale" rule for more about this.) Your losses have to exceed any realized gains to take advantage of this.

    https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/111315/deducting-stock-losses-guide.asp

    • Adjustments to income. These reduce your taxable income whether or not you itemize. The ones that are calendar-year based include: alimony payments, student loan interest, interest penalties for early withdrawal, armed forces moving expenses, and expenses incurred by educators and performing artists. If you have the option to pay these today, then that will help your 2018 taxes.

    https://www.thebalance.com/adjustments-to-income-3192985

    • Itemized deductions. These only apply if you have enough of these to exceed your standard deduction of $12,000 ($24,000 for joint filers). If you can itemize, then increasing your 2018 expenses for things like charitable contributions, state and local taxes (up to $10,000 annually), and mortgage interest will reduce your 2018 taxes.

    https://www.thebalance.com/new-tax-bill-itemized-deductions-4160594

    • Schedule C/E expenses. If you have self-employment or rental property income, any expenses incurred as of today can still be taken to reduce taxable income for 2018. This also reduces your self-employment taxes. You can also take an adjustment for health insurance premium payments.

    https://smallbusiness.chron.com/list-deductible-business-expenses-schedule-c-21156.html

    • Tax credits. You can take a tax credit for at least part of certain types of expenses. These are mostly calendar-year based, and include dependent care, college tuition and fees, and electric vehicles. Also, adoption expenses. Clearly, most of these involve some significant advance planning, but to the extent you can time your payments favorably, today would be the day to do so.

    https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/taxes/what-tax-credits-can-i-qualify-for/

    You may also have state tax options; those are outside the scope of this discussion, but 529 contributions might be one place to look at deductible expenses with a calendar-year deadline.

    submitted by /u/yes_its_him
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    IRA contribution limits increased for 2019

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 02:06 PM PST

    Tomorrow begins 2019! Remember that you are able to contribute $6000 in 2019. Also, you have until April 15th, 2019 to get your 2018 contributions in. The limit for 2018 is $5500.

    submitted by /u/PersonalFinanceKid
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    37 years old with high income and almost no retirement and significant student loans. What is the best type of retirement/investment account?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 04:50 PM PST

    I am a 37 year old physician recently finished with residency and now earning between 450 to 550k yearly. Employer has 403b and 457b accounts, both of which are maxed out at 19k annually. Employer also contributes to 401a account at 6% of annual income.

    No credit card debt. Approximately 350k in student loans (mostly federal subsidized and unsubsidized). Participating in Loan Forgiveness program.

    Mortgage for 460k taken out two years ago.

    My plan is to aggressively pay down debt but I want to contribute about 4k monthly to supplement my retirement planning since I am starting so late.

    As I understand it, my income precludes me from investing into a Traditional or Roth IRA. Is this correct?

    That leaves me with a traditional brokerage account. My question is how best to invest it in order to be tax efficient.

    I have a reasonably high tolerance for risk. My 457b and 403b are split between Vanguard total stock market and S&P 500 indexed mutual funds.

    My plan was to continue this investment strategy with my brokerage account.

    My questions are:

    Are there better options to optimize my growth? How are standard brokerage accounts taxed? Are there better investment vehicles that are more tax efficient?

    submitted by /u/ExMorgMD
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    Made Some Really Good Progress This Year

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 07:28 PM PST

    https://imgur.com/XShl8Ps

    I have been tracking my finances for a couple years now but this is the first year I actually feel proud of them. Without getting into exact monthly budgets and all that, here are my 2018 numbers overall. I would say it was a really good year and made a lot of progress toward our family goals. Paid off a total of 43k in debt principal!

    1. Eliminated credit card debt. Yay! This is one of the most satisfying things I've done in my life. Once you get sick of being in debt, you think about every little thing you paid for with a credit card. Beer at the bar that satisfies you for one night or a video game that now sits on your shelf. It really makes you think about the purchases you want to make with cash.
    2. Completely paid off my wife's car. Looking to upgrade soon and nice to know the trade in is all in our favor.
    3. Reduced student loan debt by half. This is the first year the debt snowball was able to touch them. Total of 22k paid off in student loans principal alone.
    4. Started an HSA. I know that's not a huge deal but I feel really adult getting that set up and building up nicely.

    We didn't stick to every monthly budget and made some big improvements to our home, ie new floors and a shed in the backyard. It's just nice to see that hardwork and a bit of education can really make a difference. I owe a lot to this reddit.

    Goals for 2019:

    1. Get out of consumer debt completely. That includes the new vehicle we plan on buying soon.
    2. Build up out emergency fund. I hate having the 1k starter fund but thankfully we haven't had to touch it the last year or so.
    3. Travel. We haven't seen a lot of family due to money restrictions and new work schedules.

    Thanks everyone in this community for the support and the constant questions asked/answered. It has opened my eyes to personal finances.

    submitted by /u/sgoda14
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    Hospital sent me a $2400 reimbursement check after my insurance covered a procedure; the check bounced. My banks has charged me a fee.

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:02 PM PST

    What's the best way to go about this, and what is the likely outcome? The hospital's billing department and my bank are closed, I'm just curious what I should expect to happen in this situation. Thanks in advance!

    submitted by /u/Mmmelanie
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    What are my options for this money my kids inherited?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 12:33 PM PST

    My two kids (11 and 8) inherited about 12K each when my in-law passed away (the money was in a CD payable upon her death at the local bank in their town). So now I have two checks made out to my kids and I am not sure what to do with them. They have decently funded 529s (for their current age) so I don't want to put it there. They have youth savings accounts at our local bank that they use to save birthday money but those are non-interest bearing accounts. What are my options for this money?

    Thanks and Happy New Year!

    submitted by /u/nmmb
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    How much house can I afford?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 12:01 PM PST

    I make about $105,000 per year, have an 820 credit score, and have $30,000 in my 401k. I can probably scrounge up about $30,000 for a downpayment without touching my 401k. I live in Colorado and want to buy a house north of Denver. I've tried the online mortgage calculators and they always want contact information at the end to give me my results. Ballpark, how much can I actually afford?

    EDIT: I'm renting a basement for $500, and I have a $450 truck payment, about $130 in insurance. Those are my only expenses. The $105k includes my wife's income, no kids. Very stable employment, working from home in the basement. She's works in engineering, just started out and will be making considerably more in the near future. We take home about $4500 a month now.

    EDIT 2: I know this is ironic, but I work for a mortgage company. I don't work in originations, I'm a business operations analyst basically doing IT and coding for the customer service side of the industry, so this isn't really in my wheelhouse.

    submitted by /u/The1TrueRedditor
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    "Inheritance" with "rules" attached

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:37 PM PST

    It isn't quite an inheritance, but I received $5,000 from my grandparents and can use it however I'd like, however, they'll give me 10% of what's left at the end of the year for up to 10 years (maximum $500 per year). So if I have a "full" balance every year for 10 years instead of spending it all, I'll net $10k instead of $5k.

    I'm trying to find the best use of this money.

    Current Debt: Student loans total just over $30k and with varying interest rates from 3.5% - 4.6% (every year was a different interest rate). The average interest rate is ~4%. No car payment or mortgage.

    Current situation: I bring home $3k per month, post taxes. I support my partner, since her parents recently abandoned her and she doesn't have a paying job because she's in her last year of school and needs to do an unpaid internship to graduate. My monthly expenses are around $2,800 and includes rent, utilities, groceries, car + renters insurance, student loan payments, cell phone, and dog expenses (all for both me and my partner).

    My thoughts: Since my company doesn't have a retirement plan yet (in the works and will be some time 2019), I've considered throwing it in an IRA. I've thought about how my loan interest over the next 10 years might accumulate more than $5k, so it might not be worth keeping a "full" balance every year. I also know I need to have at least a 3-month emergency fund, preferably 6 months though and right now I don't even have 1 month's worth (only about $1,500 in savings).

    What do you think is the best use of the money? Throw it all into savings? Into an IRA? All at student loans? Some combination of the 3?

    ​

    ​

    submitted by /u/zanellaice
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    4th Robo-Horse-race update, comparing Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, WealthFront, Betterment, and DIY

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 01:50 PM PST

    Since February 2017 I've had a little money with each of Betterment, WealthFront, and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. I'm comparing how the robo-advisors do to my own DIY Index ETF portfolio of 32% SCHX, 8% SCHA, 25% SCHF, 30% SCHZ, and 5% Cash.

    tl;dr* - If you are nervous about doing it yourself, go with a robo. They are WAY better than doing nothing, and only slightly worse than DIY. They are all very correlated with each other and with DIY, so which robo you pick is probably less important than figuring out the right allocation to use (eg, 60% equities versus 90% equities).

    Original Post, 1st Update, 2nd Update, and 3rd Update

    I still get one or two PMs each month asking for an update, and the last thread is archived (no new comments allowed) so I figured I'd start yet another one. Mods, if you find this annoying, let me know and I'll just update via PM or edit old threads or whatever. But about half the PMs are people stumbling on the post via a search, apparently, so maybe it's good to have newer stuff in the search results.

    This is not financial advice, and you'd be stupid to make a decision about robo-advisors based on a post by a stranger on the Internet, even if he weren't making it all up.

    If you are interested in professional comparisons of robo-advisors that include other robos, Backend Benchmarking does a pretty thorough job every quarter: https://theroboreport.com/about/. I have never figured out why some of their quarterly results look so different from mine, so I am continuing to post my results.

    As I explained last time, the vast majority of my investments are 65% equities, but I added a couple of robo accounts with high equity allocations. The percentage equities is in parentheses above each column.

    Cumulative Returns as a Percentage:

    Date Comment DIY(65) Btrmnt(66) SIP(66) WlthFrnt(66) DIY2(60) WFHEH(92) SIP2(85) SIP3(85)
    2/7 Initial Transfer -1.32% -1.32% -1.46% -0.27% -0.27% N/A N/A N/A
    2/15 Everything Invested (Clock starts now) 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% N/A 0.00% N/A
    2/28 0.16% 0.12% -0.21% 0.03% 0.42% N/A (0.05%) N/A
    3/31 0.96% 0.75% 0.54% 0.94% 0.92% N/A 0.84% N/A
    4/30 2.16% 2.15% 1.55% 1.95% 2.08% N/A 1.92% N/A
    5/31 3.57% 3.68% 2.43% 3.57% 3.35% N/A 2.84% N/A
    6/30 4.20% 4.07% 2.92% 3.93% 3.80% N/A 3.66% N/A
    7/31 5.88% 6.12% 5.11% 6.16% 5.28% N/A 6.01% N/A
    8/31 6.13% 6.54% 5.58% 6.44% 5.69% N/A 6.23% N/A
    9/30 7.83% 7.88% 7.17% 8.26% 7.07% N/A 8.65% N/A
    10/31 Opened WFHEH on 10/16 9.24% 9.41% 8.00% 9.88% 8.42% 0.00% 9.87% N/A
    11/30 Opened SIP3 10.48% 10.68% 9.35% 11.37% 9.31% 1.77% ?? 0.0%
    12/31 11.72% 11.52% 11.12% 13.30% 10.78% 3.79% ?? 1.83%
    1/31 Rebalanced DIY 15.06% 15.52% 14.98% 17.43% 14.11% 9.16% ?? 5.93%
    2/28 Added 0.6% to DIY2 11.42% 11.58% 11.02% 13.03% 11.50% 4.19% ?? 1.59%
    3/31 10.81% 10.71% 10.97% 12.42% 10.64% 3.25% ?? 1.31%
    4/30 11.12% 11.07% 11.09% 12.70% 10.79% 3.54% ?? 1.86%
    5/31 12.20% 11.31% 11.09% 13.83% 12.06% 4.10% ?? 2.32%
    6/30 12.07% 9.98% 10.50% 13.10% 12.19% 3.10% ?? 1.74%
    7/31 14.15% 13.03% 12.84% 15.65% 14.33% 6.09% ?? 4.04%
    8/31 15.51% 13.32% 12.78% 16.29% 16.03% 6.27% ?? 4.42%
    9/30 15.50% 12.78% 12.63% 16.35% 16.03% 6.64% ?? 4.42%
    10/31 9.18% 7.35% 6.78% 9.33% 10.30% -1.35% ?? -2.40%
    11/30 10.30% 9.13% 8.15% 11.18% 11.56% 0.65% ?? -1.16%
    12/31 5.18% 3.69% 3.16% 5.26% 6.15% -6.43% ?? -7.56%

    Just for fun, I plotted the monthly returns of each robo against the monthly returns of the DIY account. If one account is just "riskier" than another, we expect it to be more positive in the positive months, but also more negative in the negative months. If one account is actually better than another (higher alpha) then we expect there to be a consistent positive bias. Unless I bungled the math, it appears that these accounts are all highly correlated with each other, and it's just riskiness that causes a difference in returns. The largest bias is negative 11 basis points for SIP85. The most positive bias is just 5 basis points for DIY2. The correlation coefficients are all over 0.97 (B=0.97, SIP=0.97, WF=0.99, DIY2=0.99, WF92=0.98, SIP85=0.99) and the R2 for linear fits are all over 0.94.

    2018 ended down, so TLH was a possibility. If I had been adding money each month like most normal people would do, I'm sure TLH would have been higher. But even with no new money, B harvested 2.8% of the ending account balance in 2018 losses, and WF66 harvested just 0.3%, and WF92 (which is newer) harvested 8.5%. My DIY account is MUCH older than any of the robos, so I harvested no losses in 2018 in that account (in fact, I realized some long-term gains while rebalancing). I personally don't get much value from TLH because I'm in a very low tax situation. I won't adjust the returns, so that people can do the appropriate math for their tax situation.

    At the end of my last update I suggested that WF seemed riskier, and that after a prolonged downturn their lead might disappear. Indeed, they are now only 8bp ahead of DIY, and almost a full percentage point behind DIY2. Neither B nor SIP are within a percentage point of DIY any more.

    So, I stick with my original hypothesis: Robos are certainly better than not investing because of fear or uncertainty or whatever, but spending a little time learning to DIY is probably a good idea for most people on this sub and following this horse-race, especially if you have a 401k or HSA or some other account that can't be managed by a robo.

    submitted by /u/plexluthor
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    Single income, new baby, looking for advice

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:58 PM PST

    Hello all,

    I have found a lot of value in perusing the posts and advice given on this forum over the past year, so thank you for this community. I am posting today because of mounting anxiety I am feeling about my finances, and was hoping for some general advice. But honestly, a big part of me also already knows that we'll be okay and I think more than half of my anxiety is just struggling to accept my circumstances and let go of some of my previous financial goals.

    My wife and I are expecting a new baby to be born in the next month or so. She has been making $30-$40k over the past several years and supporting us on her teacher's salary as I have been working to finish grad school. Because of this we have little savings, as I just started working about a year ago. Our plan is for her to stop working for at least the first 12 months (but likely longer due to childcare costing too much to make her working worth it). So as of her stopping work in a week or so, our monthly budget will be as follows:

    Income (only mine): $4500 after taxes

    Expenses: Housing/utilities (small 1 bedroom in large metro area: $1750 Food: $650 Gas/maintenance/ins: $270 Health expenses: $100 Clothes: $50 Entertainment: $60 Student loans: $370 Total: $3250

    I had been hoping for the past several years that we together or I would be closer to 100k when we were having our first child. I have been reading frugal personal finance blogs for years and had really come to hope that I would be able to get myself on a similar level of extreme savings discipline (e.g., saving 40-50% of my income with a goal of attaining financial freedom in my 50's). As it stands now, I'm really just entering the workforce in my new field and will only be able to save about 10k altogether this year. Plus we have only about 2k in savings as an emergency fund after having spent the past several months paying off our credit card debt. Other than that there is 10k or so in stocks.

    My question for you people, I suppose, is should I let go of my financial ambitions? Anyone found themselves in this sort of position that can relate? I fully realize (and my wife tells me often for reassurance) that we will be fine, but letting go of this goal just really bums me out. I am super excited to be a dad, I just also always imagined being more financially solid first so as to be able to provide for my family well (and still maintain a frugal lifestyle).

    Sorry this is so rambling. Like I said, posting with a lot of anxiety. But I honestly feel a little better already having been able to get some of this off my chest.

    Thank you in advance for any words of guidance you might offer.

    submitted by /u/MyNameIsAlreadyTook
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    I jointly own/finance a car with my father. Father may have some debts going to collections in the future. I may end up being his power of attorney as well. What could happen?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:41 AM PST

    TL;DR: I own 50% of car with Dad, with 4 years of payments left. He has no other touchable assets. I cover all payments. Dad's recently in nursing home, only makes money from social security, and has a ton of unpaid debt that he can't afford to pay from being careless with personal loans. I may end up becoming his power of attorney. What kind of liability do I have? Is there any risk of losing the car, or any risk any of this may affect my credit?

    long version: My dad has a lot of various debts from being extremely careless with taking out loans. Now he's in a nursing home, and those debts may end up going to collections as he can no longer pay. He's lucky enough that one collections agency sent a letter stating some debt had been discharged (which honestly seemed random and out of place, that particular one was only 4 years old) but I'm sure he has plenty more debts ready to pop up.

    I did research and found that they can't touch his home/land, and he doesn't have any real assets. The only thing is the car. We both own 50% of the car, and it still has 4 years left to be paid off. Car payments aren't an issue, I've been paying and never have missed a payment. It's really my car, he just co-signed the loan for me.

    From what I read it seems like they could technically take his half of it and buy out my half or something to that extent? Assuming of course they go as far as to take him to court and win. I'm not entirely sure how it works....

    His only income is social security/disability, and has been for years.

    Also, with me possibly becoming power of attorney, what kind of debt liability does that give me? I may just end up being healthcare surrogate, but he'll probably end up needing me to be full PoA to manage his money at some point.

    His credit at this point doesn't really matter, we're just focused on his health. I'm just a bit concerned about losing my car or becoming liable for other debts.

    submitted by /u/Cramer19
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    My job cut my hours by half. What do I do from here?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 04:48 AM PST

    I was supposed to have a full time job over winter break and a part time job throughout the semester. My full time hours got cut to part time.

    What are my options with my employer and otherwise to keep myself afloat? HR and my supervisor are in agreement that the needs of the business aren't for a full time employee right now blah blah blah. So no luck there. (Plus, it's an otherwise awful place to work and I want out.)

    I'm leery of credit card debt because I don't think I could pay it back. I am trying to increase my student loans.

    By the time the hiring process for another job would be done it would be beyond when I could manage a full time schedule. What are my options for emergency part time night/weekend work? I'd work during the day but I want to give this job proper notice as fucked as they have been to me.

    Or, would it be advisable to put my start date as ASAP, quit without notice, and just never put them on my resume or as a reference?

    submitted by /u/manateesea
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    My mother and sister are taking on tons of student loan debt (80k+) for her undergrad when she has no career plan. Help me get them to understand what this means.

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:09 PM PST

    My sister is going to an average, out-of-state school that might be 80k or more in student loan debt. She has no idea what she wants to do for her career, nor what to major in (for now she's just selected "Environmental Studies").

    I think the amount of debt, plus the fact that she has no career plan, make this a REALLY BAD idea. I think she'd be better served by going to the community college in the area for the first two years, saving a ton of money, and getting more time to think about what she wants to do.

    She just finished one semester of undergrad and already has 13k in debt. 3k in federal loans and 10k from a private student loan. Multiply that by 7 more semesters and that could add up to 90k....

    Both my mom and sister don't like the idea of community college. My mom would rather her be out of the house and sees community college as the place where people with no motivation go. My sister wouldn't be thrilled about community college either and she doesn't want to consider any other in-state schools because she just doesn't like them.

    I tried to explain to her what 80k in debt means, how interest accrues, how big her payments will be. How the two of them could end up drowning by the end - especially if she doesn't study something that's great for her career prospects and is not able to find a professional job right away.

    My mom is in her 60s and needs to be thinking about retirement, not saddled with a bunch of private student loans.

    They both don't seem to understand what they are getting themselves into. I just want to make sure she doesn't make some of the same mistakes I made, yet much worse.

    I'm worried - there's got to be better options for her than what she's doing now. I want to get them to understand better before the debt just piles on. Am I wrong? Can anybody give me (or them) some advice before it's too late?

    Thank you very much!

    submitted by /u/ThatCommercial3
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    Due to bank error, my money was lost. A dispute has been filed, but in the meantime, my account was overdrafted. What recourse do I have?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:52 AM PST

    So sort-of-long story, I had to make a cash deposit on Christmas night using the ATM. After making my deposit, the machine took my money and had broke down, not crediting my account. I fiiled a dispute, but problem is that while they investigate the issue, my account was overdrafted this morning by Verizon due to my phone bill being withdrawn. I originally had $12.00 whole dollars in my account, and since my deposit was lost, I am sittiing at -239.66. My car insurance is set to auto-pay on the 31st and if the bank doesn't credit my deposit back into my account by then, I'm heading deeper into the red. My question is: since none of this was my fault, can I force the bank's hand into reimbursing me the overdraft fees since it happened due to their error? Do I have any recourse? I am thinking of closing my account with them since this is the 2nd time - believe it or not - that an ATM of theirs has "eaten" my money and shut down due to a "technical error"; it happened at another branch other than this one. They eventually remedied the problem by crediting my deposit into my account after a week or do from the last disoute. Anywho, I just can't afford to pay off being this far into the red right now, and going farther is only going to kill me. I'm thinking of taking to Twitter and making some noise, but idk. Any suggestion would be nice. Thank you

    submitted by /u/Weapon_Eyes
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    Closed a joint bank account in my and my father's name. New bank won't accept the check, even if it's signed by both of us.

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:05 AM PST

    For starters, my father is out of town, so even if the new bank is wrong, I can't act on it until he returns anyway. Also, we had been discussing this for awhile, so it's not like I'm stealing the money out from under him. It's always been 'my" money in his eyes.

    So the other day I closed my account and got a banker's check for the full amount with the intention of depositing it into my new account. When I arrived at the new bank, I was told that not only could I not do anything with the ckeck without him, I wouldn't even be able to deposit it unless I opened another new account with both of our names on it. Which, predictably, doesn't solve the initial problem of making my money my own at all.

    Did I do something wrong at the first bank? Is the second bank wrong? I just can't believe it can be so difficult to do this, especially since I've done it before with a separate bank altogether with no issue.

    submitted by /u/The_Band_Geek
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    How to tap into vacant land?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 10:28 AM PST

    I've inherited a small plot of farm land from family that's in a different state. I currently own a home in another state and really have no use for the land. However, while the land is mine, those who gifted it to me are still alive and selling it now would cause a rift as it has large emotional significance to them. I currently generate 1K a year from renting the fields to another family member which basically is used to help cover the property taxes. The land has been recently appraised around 65k.

    Short of selling it, is there anyway to tap into the equity for other investment purposes?

    submitted by /u/meltedcactus
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    Mother wants me to buy a house for her to rent from me. I have question.

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 07:25 PM PST

    My mother (50yo) went through a divorce. Nothing in saving and been Workin all her life. She claims to have good credit. I'm 29(yo), credit 769, savings $11021.00, 401K/RothIRA $11800.00. how much house can I afford in Dallas?? North Dallas?? I make $41000 a year plus $5000 in bonus. I live with my partner, been together for 5 years. I don't pay rent or bills. Partner pays house bills and work pays my other bills. so almost all of my money goes to my savings. Mother wants me to co-sign an apartment with her but I don't want to mix our credit together. wouldn't buying a condo for my mother to rent from me be better for her and because she might have to relocate due to not making enough money to stay in her apartment. $1108 a month for her rent currently. What do you guys think. I could use advise.

    I apologize if this isn't the area that this belongs to. if it's not. please let me know and point me in the right direction. I don't make a lot of post.

    submitted by /u/Mightymax89
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    Best way to make money in your free time?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 07:09 PM PST

    Currently going into my last semester of college. I have a job and work full time. I'm trying to come up with ways to earn some additional cash to save up for a couple things. I've already thought of and looked into donating plasma. Is there anything else I should look into?

    submitted by /u/JohnKelley72
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    What would I gain from paying my car loan twice a month?

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 07:23 AM PST

    I have a car loan, interest rate of 5.9% with a balance of $13,000 that I'm hoping to rid myself of by mid-2020 because I've realized I just don't like being in debt to this vehicle. I've also calculated with the way that I'm saving I'll have enough to pay it off next Aug. What would I gain by paying my car loan twice per month?

    submitted by /u/as-modeus
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    Is it possible to become too obsessed with tracking your finances?

    Posted: 30 Dec 2018 10:17 PM PST

    I see lots of people posting very detailed spreadsheets on this sub (eg. every expense over 10 years), and I wonder if at a certain point it becomes unhealthy.

    I was that person at one point in my life, until I realized I wasn't living my life because I was too worried about the number on the bottom of the spreadsheet.

    Do you think obsessively tracking your finances is unhealthy? Have you ever been that person?

    submitted by /u/heartbooks
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    Wife Received Collections For Medical Bill While The Hospital Is Still Trying To Receive Payment (US)

    Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:27 PM PST

    Wife has been trying to get the insurance to pay for her medical expenses. She had a procedure done at a smaller clinic through the major hospital. She received a bill from the large hospital on the first of December saying it's overdue and that she owes ~$300 by 6 Jan. Today we received a letter from a debt collector for ~$15 with the account being at the small clinic. Besides the typical debt collector advise ( debt validation letter, etc...) any specific advise?

    Thank you for any help

    submitted by /u/throwawaydebtcollec
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