Personal Finance What are your 2019 financial goals? |
- What are your 2019 financial goals?
- Firefighter (47M), I got injured on the job and now I have to retire. I wasn't planning on this, so I have several questions and need lots of advice.
- There is a new "Fraud Alert" scam. ALWAYS get your banking contact information directly from their site.
- Mid 30s, bought first home. Tips for being frugal
- Not able to call IRS due to shutdown, need advice
- E-Fund Saves the Day (plumbing edition)!
- How much do you typically spend on a night out?
- Accidentally signed up for two Amazon Credit Cards
- [US] Need some real personal finance help - willing to pay for someone's time. This is sort of an emergency situation, I apologize.
- My mom was hospitalized & I discovered her finances are in trouble. Please help.
- 18 year old looking into investing/retirement/planning
- I am 18, looking for an apartment, and I don't know what I can reasonably afford.
- Rebuilding credit after allowing two to go to collections
- I opened a Charles Schwab account, and after transferring my money over a majority of it is unavailable.
- Young (22) professional. Is it a bad idea to buy a house at my age?
- Student loans showing delinquent, havent been late in years.
- $84K student loans @ 4.7%; 50K windfall. WWYD?
- Federal Student Loan Refinancing?
- Help with electricity bill..
- Early 30’s (M) deciding on best steps for financial future, what would you do?
- Index funds asset allocation
- 19, in college, never had a credit card, got denied from applying towards a credit card.
| What are your 2019 financial goals? Posted: 27 Dec 2018 05:06 AM PST Let's hear about your 2019 financial goals and resolutions! If you posted your 2018 goals on the resolutions thread from last year, include a link and report on how you did. Be sure to include some information on your overall situation such as the steps you're working on from "How to handle $", your age (approximate age is fine!), what you're doing (in school, working, retired, etc.), and anything else you'd like to add. As always, we recommend SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Don't make unrealistic or vague resolutions. Best wishes for a great 2019, /r/personalfinance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2018 05:00 AM PST Some back story- Like I said, I'm 47 and had 20 years 3 months and 7 days of service under my belt when I got injured on a fire last October. After 4 neck and back surgeries, the docs said I have to retire. My medical retirement took effect November 8th of this year. I received my pension letter from the fire department yesterday, and I was somewhat relieved to learn that I will be receiving 60.25% of base pay, tax free (the % is based off my impairment, and I had been told it could have been as low as 45%). My questions. My pension papers clearly say that I am allowed to work, however, I have heard that if I make over a certain amount of money, it can make part or all of my disability taxable. The only thing I've found online so far concerns Social Security benefits, but I'm assuming my pension fund has similar rules. I'm not all that concerned about this, as of now I don't plan on filing any w2's in the near future. However, I am considering taking a large chunk from my deferred comp (457b) plan, and paying off all my debt (Mortgage, last remaining credit card, and a home equity loan). First of all, is this stupid? Becoming debt free would put me in a position to continue building a savings near the same rate I was able to before I retired (and that's not counting any side income I earn). It also would be a huge stress relief, especially after all the uncertainty of the past year...and that alone seems like the biggest selling point to me. My concern is, while there is no penalty for withdrawing the money, it says it will be "taxed as income", which has me worried that it would count against my disability income, like income from working a job would (if that is indeed the case), and I'd have to pay taxes on some or all of the disability income as well, which doesn't seem correct, but unfortunately I'm pretty ignorant with all of this. Everything lately just seems like such a huge decision, I just don't want to do anything stupid. Thanks in advance for any insight or advice, and let this be a lesson for you young whippersnappers, you're never too young to start preparing and educating yourself about retirement! Now let me see if I can do this right, I've been practicing- GET OFF MY LAWN! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2018 12:55 PM PST I just had my credit information stolen and used to purchase tickets for Spirit Airlines (I know what you are thinking, those poor poor thieves). What was interesting is that I immediately got a notification via text message from a service purporting to be PNC Bank alerting me to the fraudulent transaction. They asked via the text that I contact their 800 number immediately to freeze the card and work on the situation. I logged in online, and sure enough there was a fraudulent charge on my card. I went back to the text, and was very close to clicking the number in the text, when I decided I would just double check online which number to call for PNC Fraud. Long story short, it was the first my bank had heard about the fraudulent transactions, and they informed me that the number I had been texted from was definitely from the fraudsters, as neither Visa nor PNC had made any effort to reach me just yet. They had me send in screenshots of the text conversation and reconfirmed that this person was not associated with PNC or Visa (It was a 5 or 6 digit service number). TLDR: If you receive a "Fraud Alert" text, even if the fraudulent charges are genuine, DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER IN THE TEXT. There is the distinct possibility it is the scammer attempting to finish stealing the remainder of your information by putting you through 'caller authentication' whereby they can gain access to everything else necessary to steal money from all your accounts. [link] [comments]  |
| Mid 30s, bought first home. Tips for being frugal Posted: 26 Dec 2018 11:46 PM PST This was the big year, I thought I did all my research, but there were plenty of gotchas. Here's some quick tips for things that I ran into--
Post RIP inbox to include other stuff that made moving in nice (although not really frugal tips)-
Reading a lot of amazing advice, thanks everyone! [link] [comments]  |
| Not able to call IRS due to shutdown, need advice Posted: 26 Dec 2018 08:40 PM PST I owe a decent chunk of change to IRS due to messing up my W4 for 2017. I filed late (Oct 2018) and therefore just recently got a letter back from IRS saying they want the full amount paid by Dec. 31 2018. Problem is the amount is way too much to handle at once which is why I submitted the form requesting a Payment Plan (along with initial payment) when I filed in Oct. What happened to that request I have no idea. When I login to the online IRS site it doesn't show me any info about the payment plan, only the full amount owing by Dec. 31 plus some interest already. So I need to talk to someone but the Call Center is closed. Any advice? If I wait it out how much interest am I looking at paying monthly? [link] [comments]  |
| E-Fund Saves the Day (plumbing edition)! Posted: 27 Dec 2018 01:18 PM PST Like many of us on PF, I throw money into an emergency fund every pay period (in my case, $200), and I've managed to save about $10k. Well today the plumber came out to look at a leak in my kitchen drain, and after replacing some bad pipe and a bad garbage disposal, and clearing my shower drain, the bill is $690. My fiance is cursing and annoyed, but I feel perfectly calm about it. Of course I don't like writing the check, but knowing that I have cash on hand for this makes it a non-event, and I can continue to enjoy my holidays without worry. Thanks to the other cautionary tales in this sub, I'm prepared, and it feels good! [link] [comments]  |
| How much do you typically spend on a night out? Posted: 27 Dec 2018 07:18 PM PST And more specifically, when hitting up a bar, how much is your tab on average? [link] [comments]  |
| Accidentally signed up for two Amazon Credit Cards Posted: 27 Dec 2018 12:37 PM PST I was meaning to get the Prime card because I pay for Prime anyway, and figured I should. Accidentally got the store card. Was approved. Then I got the Visa I wanted, was approved for that too. I have good credit, don't carry any balance on any of my credit cards. Should I look to cancel one, or just keep both because there will be no yearly fee on the one I didn't plan to use. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2018 06:02 PM PST Hello reddit, and r/personalfinance, Before you read this, I should preface this with the fact that I seemed to have upset people here. I know i waited too long to get control of the situation, but I've received some PM's and messages here where people seem outraged and accusational. I didn't mean to offend anyone, I'm very bad with finances to begin with, I do need the help that this sub offers, and I'm willing to cut expenses down to zero just to get by. I'll do whatever it is that I have to. I apologize in advance for the rest of my post. :( I probably have belonged here for quite some time, but I never made the trip because I felt like I didn't have to. Throughout my entire life, I didn't do too bad, I felt. This past year, however, has seen me lose albeit everything I have, and what I have now, is a lot of obligations, and a family who doesn't deserve what's coming. I really fear the worst - I don't know how to make heads or tails of anything at this point, it's ALL bad news, and the few "irons in the fire" that I have going aren't going to pan out in time to save us. I went on furlough from my company this year - this was the start of the hell that we're living now. What was supposed to be one month turned into three, and before i knew it, the company closed the datacenter I was attached to. I won't get into naming names, but it's a financial company, and I'm a software developer who should've bailed on the company in the same manner that they bailed on all of us. I wanted to stay loyal, I had savings, and I loved my job. When it first happened, I paid off our sole credit card so that we didn't have a balance at all. I figured that if it came down to not being able to pay for it, then it wouldn't affect my credit score. I also decided during the furlough that I would start taking on small "short-term" contracts - those that I could finish within a week or two if I was called back into work. This turned into a freelancing job for me, which I didn't take seriously until just about now. In the middle of this, my car went into the shop for repairs, and basically didn't come out the same. The engine has an issue with it, the brakes, tires, and fuel pump are all in such poor shape, that driving it is dangerous. It's not the cheapest car, a Lincoln MKZ. I'd sell it, but i'm sure I'd need to fix those issues first. Plus, it's 5 years old now, and really not worth what it used to be worth. It's now just expensive to fix, expensive to insure, and an eyesore to me. I'd like to ask for the help of someone who knows how to get out of situations like this. We're in an apartment where the rent hasn't been paid in 8 weeks (I made a small $450 payment 3 weeks ago toward this). The landlord has demanded the rent be paid by the first of next month, in full (in other words, caught up). I told him I'd have some money coming in, and that I should be able to pull this off. This was a few weeks ago, and I doubled my efforts to take on more freelancing work, but there just wasn't enough to be had, and I've pretty much fallen flat on my face. I'm able to feed my family, still - I end up averaging about $100/day for at least five days per week. It comes in, in trickles though, and by the time we have any money, we never seem to be able to put enough aside to pay a single bill. This is a new apartment for us (our living situation has changed drastically since the furlough), and I made great friends with the landlord. He's an older gentleman of 72 years, but when we got to talking, we had a lot in common it seemed. He's been patient, but he said that he's already shown us more patience than he normally would, and that if we're not caught up by the first, we'd be leaving by the end of January. I'll say now that we have absolutely no family rock to run under, or option like that, and I'm still too proud to let something like that happen. I'll fight to the end - I just have no idea how anymore. For the record: Rent: $1260/mo (behind 2 months, going on a 3rd, and due to be removed - this is obviously the most dire thing that needs to be corrected - I just have no idea here). Vehicle and Insurance Payment: $210/mo Electric: Averages ~$70/mo (missed payment for the first time this month) Internet/Cable: $243 balance, $120/mo - I'm not sure what's going on there, but i know I paid it in November and we had a balance then. I did get a credit of $75 the other day when I called to figure it out, and I'm waiting for the new bill to come in to know what I owe now. Daily expenses: Food, and the short trips to the store (our food store is 1/2 mile away, thank goodness): ~$175 - $200/wk. Also for the record: I'm not eligible for unemployment because I was a contractor. This was a kick in the pants I never thought about before. We applied for, and receive now, food stamps: $290.00/mo. We don't receive any cash assistance. We looked into getting groceries from local foodbanks. There's a network between the churches and charities in my area, and we're allowed to receive one box of goods per month. At the time we looked into it, we didn't feel as though we deserved it - now, however, we'll be revisiting that option. My credit now has taken enough hits to be below 600 for one company, and 610 on another. I didn't know it could even get that low. I have ZERO coming in right now (though this could change at any time), because I just finished a project, and I'm looking for another. I typically start looking well-before a project ends, to keep the work seemless, but December has been a rough month. My rent is $1260/mo. I've missed two payments, and as of the first, I'll hit the third missed payment. I have a son, who is 8 years old, and he's such a good child. I spent $200 on him on Christmas, and that really didn't go as far as I thought it would. Still, I was able to give him a Christmas, and that was really important to my wife and I. What I couldn't stand, however, was trying to explain to him how we have to leave our home, and his school. I'm sorry for the long post. I'm willing to pay for someone's services if they'd help me figure things out. I am horrible at finances - like the worst. I'm 42, and I've always lived paycheck to paycheck, sort of. My paychecks as a software engineer were often large enough to put at least a little away each week, so there was always a few thousand in the bank - I just never let it grow. It always seemed like there was something going on that required paying. I never got control of it. While I can't pay anything right now, I'd be quite willing to work out a payment plan with someone that I could stick to. I could also barter my work for anyone who needs a web site, software application, or mobile app (Android and/or iOS). Whatever way I could get someone to help me, I'm all for it. I can't, again, apologize enough for the long post. If you've managed to read this far, you're a better person than I already, and I'm grateful for it. Thank you reddit, and r/personalfinance EDITS It's been asked, and no my wife doesn't work. She worked her entire life until about 4 years ago when she developed a severe depression. She hardly speaks, doesn't leave the bedroom much, but she's still "there." Her doctor diagnosed her with agoraphobia and gross major depression. I personally used to scoff at these things because I'm an idiot like that, but seeing it first hand destroy the woman I fell in love with - the woman who I thought would never even give me the time of day until she did - kills me inside. I'll never let her go. She's applied for disability and been denied, and her doctor is working on her case with her to get that to "go through." Cutting the cable - consider it done. I don't watch TV, and my son plays with legos and reads books when he's home. He's like... so good. This is the part that makes me feel like **** for not being a good father now. Oh wow. :/ Getting a regular job: Yes, I'm all for it, and the car situation is what has that nailed right now. I'm looking at almost $3,000 in expenses to get it to a running state. We live in a very small town in north-central massachusetts (50/50 cows:humans), and the one shopping plaza in town comprises the only businesses that would be hiring someone like my wife or myself. Some have said it's too late. I know. Goodness, I know. :( Someone has said that I've made excuses for not doing what's been suggested thus far. When someone said "get a job," I said "absolutely, the problem is the small town, broken car, and my wife cannot work." I fail to see how this is making an excuse. I feel somewhat unwelcome here, and if I've posted in the wrong place, please - i'm sorry. I didn't intend on angering anyone for any reason. I'm trying to take control of a situation that I've lost all control of, and one that I'm solely responsible for. If my wife could work, I'm quite sure she would. [link] [comments]  |
| My mom was hospitalized & I discovered her finances are in trouble. Please help. Posted: 27 Dec 2018 01:46 PM PST Hi PF, My 63 year old (retired) mother was hospitalized for a few weeks and I'm helping her get back on her feet. Unfortunately, I discovered her finances need very significant help. She lives in a four bedroom home in a desirable suburb in Southern CA, which I'm learning she can't afford any longer (she initially purchased it when she was working and she has since retired and collects a pension, but not Social Security). My younger brother and his girlfriend also live in the home rent-free, and my fiance and I are staying with her for at least the next several months so I can help her recover. (We came to visit her at Thanksgiving when her health issues started and have stayed here since. We live out of state and are freelancers and don't normally live here, and I'm not working right now because she needs constant care. My fiance is trying to get local work while we're here. We are very open to contributing to the household, though given that I'm a full-time caregiver and helping manage her healthcare and finances, we don't know how much would be appropriate. We don't know how my brother and his girlfriend would feel about contributing. I'm not a homeowner and am a bit naive about homeownership, so I've included a lot of (maybe irrelevant) information for context. She currently has no emergency fund or any money set aside for home repairs and maintenance, which are growing problems because the house needs some significant repairs (i.e. roof leak causing damage). She so far has $750 in outstanding hospital bills but I expect a great deal more (perhaps in the tens of thousands). And the breakdown below that I'm managed to put together doesn't even include groceries or other household expenses, or any kind of funds set aside for home or auto maintenance and repairs. (Using the information below I've created a monthly budget and added the cost of groceries and spread the cost of maintenance and repair money for both her car and her home for each month based on averages I found, but it's in the negative by $495.) I'm pretty overwhelmed by all of this and would appreciate any guidance or suggestions on what to do. My initial thoughts are that she needs to withdraw a healthy amount of cash from her 401k to float her for at least the next few months while we try to come up with a better plan. She is so far pretty resistant to the idea of moving because she can't live alone any longer so any living situation would require at least a two bedroom, and the local condos and apartments are only about $300 less than her current mortgage. She also believes the tax benefits of home ownership help her, though because she's single and doesn't have any dependents, she has had to pay several thousand dollars the last few years (which she has not accounted for in any budget). I'm looking into drawing her Social Security early rather than waiting until she is 66 and 2 months, because she desperately needs the money now and her long-term prognosis isn't particularly great. Disability also seemed like a good option initially because it would offset the early withdrawal Social Security penalty but she can't afford an attorney right now and I'm a bit confused as to if she would qualify because of her monthly income. We also need to draft up an estate plan as soon as possible and will need to cover attorney's fees for that, too. I don't know anything about the tax penalties of taking money out of a 401k, if that's even the best option, if she should take her money out of the stock market instead, if we should do either of these things immediately before the end of the year because of tax implications, or if those are horrible ideas and there are other things I'm missing. I'd appreciate any assistance or guidance at all to help figure out the next few steps - I'm trying to learn as much as I can about all of this but am very new to it all. Please let me know if there's any other information that would be helpful. I'm so grateful for any advice you can offer me. Total Monthly Income: $3869 Pension: $2179 Alimony: $1690 Savings: ~$2000 Checking: ~$700 No Emergency Fund -------- Mortgage Update: Home value is approximately $647,815-$657,000. Monthly Home Loan Payment - Escrow Account (+ Homeowner's Insurance**) :** $2182.94 Yearly Property Taxes incl. Original principal balance: $368,100.00 Unpaid principal balance: $320,468.09 Maturity date: 09/2042 Interest rate: 3.62500% Escrow balance: $1,875.33 Each Mortgage Payment: PRINCIPAL & INTEREST: $1,678.73 Property taxes: $425.26 Homeowner's insurance: $70.16 Mortgage insurance: $0.00 Total taxes & insurance: $495.42 Escrow shortage or surplus: $8.79 TOTAL ESCROW PAYMENT: $504.21 TOTAL MONTHLY PAYMENT: $2,182.94 Mortgage Info Original appraisal amount: $461,000.00 Loan type: Fixed rate loan Interest rate: 3.625% Loan origination date: Aug 24, 2012 Original payoff date: Sep 1, 2042 Original loan amount: $368,100.00 Principal balance: $320,468.09 Homeowners Insurance: Coverage: $345,000.00 Annual premium: $927.95 Deductible: $3,000.00 ----------- Monthly Expenses Mortgage: $2182.94 Cell phone: $26 Power: $84 Gas: $58 Water: $45 Sewer: $58 TV/Internet: $125 Car insurance: $73 Trash: $25 Life insurance: $118 Doctors: $80 Medication: $30 Credit Card 1: min. payment: $170 Credit Card 2: min. payment: $336 Total Monthly Expenses incl. Mortgage: $3410.94 (Health insurance is approx. $600/mo automatically taken out of her pension check) Debt Credit Card 1: min payment: $170 Balance: $5683.50 APR: 16.99% Credit Card 2: min payment: $336 Balance: $9,835.05 APR: $1,276.80 at 12.700% / $9,907.49 at 9.950% Misc. Life Insurance: Whole Life policy $133,000 Stocks (as of beginning of the month): $44,000 401K (as of yesterday): $165,218 [link] [comments]  |
| 18 year old looking into investing/retirement/planning Posted: 27 Dec 2018 02:36 PM PST Tl;dr: freshman in college, pursuing med school. No money leftover from job trying to pay semester expenses with no late fees. Will not use loans most likely after freshman year. Getting $6k each November, last time getting $6k is Nov 2021, what do I do with leftover money after I pay off student loans? I'm currently a freshman in uni pursuing a business degree, will apply to med school post graduation (give myself 3-4 Application cycles). My freshman year is the only year I'll have to take out student loans (took out $5500 in federal loans), one scholarship covers tuition entirely and I'll most likely be a CA for my uni and that job will pay for my room and board entirely. I currently work on campus about 16-20 hours a week at $10/hr, most of this money goes towards my expenses such as food, gas, and my Netflix and Spotify subscriptions, and I've paid the remainder of fall so my other expense is $2200 for spring that I owe, and I occasionally pay off accumulated interest on my unsubsidized loans. My parents are paying my cell phone bill, car insurance, and helping with my spring costs when they can (very rarely). Health insurance is crappy from my stepdads employer, employer pays our monthly bill. I'm going to be getting roughly $6000 each November until 2021 from my bio dad repaying overdue child support. I plan on using this money to first repay my student loans from freshman year, but have no clue what to use with the money that'll be leftover. My jobs are on campus so I have no benefits in terms of 401k's and such. Should I invest the money in a Roth IRA, or any other investment or retirement fund? At the moment I have no savings due to no money leftover trying to knock out my semester expenses, my savings was spent on textbooks in the fall. I do have a secured CC with discover that I use to pay for everything and pay the balance in full each month. [link] [comments]  |
| I am 18, looking for an apartment, and I don't know what I can reasonably afford. Posted: 27 Dec 2018 04:58 PM PST I am currently a full-time employee with my local University and attending that University for free. I live about 45 minutes away and would like to move closer to cut down on commute time and cost. I don't know what I can afford. Here's my current financial situation:
I found an apartment about 3 miles from the University for just under $900/month, which runs really close to my $1,073 net. However, I expect to be able to cut gas costs significantly as there is free transportation to/from the University and apartment. I would like to look into getting a roommate, however 80% of the students attending the University live on campus, it is extremely difficult to find anyone to live off campus with. I would choose to live in University housing, but they don't want employees living on campus (hopefully for obvious reasons). Any and all advice is welcome. I don't know what I can afford, or if I'm getting ahead of myself. [link] [comments]  |
| Rebuilding credit after allowing two to go to collections Posted: 27 Dec 2018 03:50 PM PST My freshman year of college I got a discover student and a capitol one journey card combined with around $800 limit. I intended on using it to buy books then pay off immediately to just start a credit history however I was stupid and ran them up. Without a job I didn't make any payments and they went to collections. That was around two years ago. Now I want to rebuild my credit. My father let me become an authorized user on his account and it boosted my score to 590 along with opening a secured capitol one card. My question now is, is there anything else I can do to help my credit. If there's ways to slowly continue building I'm down for anything. I know once I graduate and start paying my student loans it will also help. Any suggestions or insight is appreciated! Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2018 02:53 PM PST So after opening an account and transferring money from my old bank to Charles Schwab, over 2/3 of the money in my checking accounting is unavailable for me to use. I chatted with their support, and they stated that the money would become unlocked either within 90 days or after I started making regular deposits. I'm currently a student who's not working, so I'm unable to make regular deposits. I start an internship at the end up January, but I would like to be able to have access to that money before hand in case I need to buy textbooks Is this a normal thing with banks when making an account? I just deposited the money yesterday, so I figured it would unlock the full amount soon, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What should I do? Do I just have to wait it out and not have access to a majority of my checking account? [link] [comments]  |
| Young (22) professional. Is it a bad idea to buy a house at my age? Posted: 27 Dec 2018 01:37 PM PST Some background: I graduated a year early from college about two years ago. Right out of college, I got a good, stable government job and recently got promoted to a position that I've wanted since I started. The starting salary for my new position is $50k and I can expect annual raises of about 3%. I'm halfway through a master's program, which will bump up my salary at least another $5k once I graduate. Call me complacent, but I love my job and I could see myself staying happy in this position for quite a while. I also live in Phoenix, AZ, so $50-60k is fairly comfortable. I realize that I'm pretty young to be in this situation, but I don't see any reason to continue renting overpriced apartments year-to-year when I could pay about the same or even less on a mortgage on a decent home. I feel like I'm in a similar financial situation to many people in their late 20's who would probably make these kinds of decisions without hesitation, but I just can't help but to feel a little naive for making such a large financial commitment at 22. Am I overthinking it, or is there something I'm missing? In terms of a down payment, I'm pretty limited. I'd probably have to rely on a loan/assistance program. I obviously know very little about home buying and the housing market, but I just signed a new 12-month lease so I have some time to research and start looking. This is sort of my first step in deciding whether or not it's worth it to even devote the energy to look into it yet. EDIT: for additional context, the only significant debt I have are about $40k in student loans (when I finish) and an auto loan. I work for the state government, so I'm contributing a good amount to retirement already. [link] [comments]  |
| Student loans showing delinquent, havent been late in years. Posted: 27 Dec 2018 02:07 PM PST Hey everyone, I have been a lurker on this sub for awhile now and has really helped me get my life back together. I was the typical irresponsible 20-something and ruined my credit. Today I am 30 and completely back on track but there is just one thing that I cannot seem to get rid of, the negative marks from my student loans being past due. My (Federal) student loans have been getting paid on time for the last few years now but due to my mistake in not getting paperwork filed properly, I was past due on all of them for about 3 months. I have been working diligently to get them paid off and have been on time every month since then. I am currently on an income based repayment plan but try to pay just a little more if I have any extra. I have been monitoring my credit score for the past year or so and have even had family pay for a credit repair agency (Lexington Law) to help me out (I plan on buying a house in the next year and they wanted to do this for me). No matter what I do though the 120 day late marks will not come off of my credit report and it is dragging it down. The law firm has had them validate the debt and even sent letters stating the marks on my credit are not correct. I received letters back from the agencies stating that the marks on my report are correct and that they will not look into the matter further. Is there anything I can do to help this? I have listed my current financials below: FICO is currently 682-705 depending on the agency 4 credit card accounts which all have a $0 balance and a total limit of $19,000 1 used car loan @6.5% on which $8,xxx is owed and is current $12,xxx in private student loans which are all current $31,xxx in federal student loans which are all current and on an income based repayment plan (9 separate loans in total) Thanks for any help and advice. EDIT: formatting [link] [comments]  |
| $84K student loans @ 4.7%; 50K windfall. WWYD? Posted: 27 Dec 2018 07:19 AM PST I have $84K in student loans at 4.7% interest rate. I have a 6 month expenses emergency fund and am getting my 401K employer match. Annual Household income is $130K. I am getting a windfall of approximately $50K and would like to hear what you would do in my situation and in the current economy. Before refinancing student loans (previously 5.5%), I had been paying down student loans aggressively at $3500/mo over the last 15 months. After refinancing, the loans are now in an interest grey area of whether to A) continue the $3500/mo payment, B) contribute more to retirement while paying the minimum on the student loans (~$1600/month), or C) a mix (e.g. $2500/mo to student loans and $1000/mo additional to retirement). With this sudden 50K windfall, I'm thinking I'd like to spend 30K on student loans to get down to 50K and max our Roth IRA's for 2018+2019. Then I'd do option C for the student loans ($2500/mo to student loans + 1000/month to retirement, which will essentially max my 401K). Additional factor: planning first pregnancy mid-late 2019. I'm thinking we'd just start the baby fund after the first trimester by possibly pulling back on some of these contributions. This is the only thing that makes me want to just get the student loans done with sooner rather than just paying the minimum and dumping the remainder into retirement accounts. Thanks for your advice and perspective! [link] [comments]  |
| Federal Student Loan Refinancing? Posted: 27 Dec 2018 03:02 PM PST So, I recently got a new job and got married. I had been on an Income-Based Repayment style plan with student loans that was fine. However, now with lots of new income, the numbers are piling up. One of the things I haven't done is consolidate my loans because I had heard that I could not do IBR without consolidating. So now I'm looking into it, because all of these loans over several services is really confusing. But I'm anxious because I can't figure out how much money my current IBR is saving me (I cannot for the life of me figure out what my monthly payments would be without IBR), I can't figure out if consolidating would benefit me in terms of interest rate, and I can't apply to consolidate without consolidating. Can anyone bring some light to this murky situation? Is consolidating a good idea (I have four loan servicers currently)? Is there a way to figure out what's going on with my IBR and what the effects would be? Help please, if you can! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2018 04:30 PM PST Hopefully posting in the right place. I live in a 2 bedroom, detached house in the UK, just me and my partner - we're both very careful about energy consumption and only have the heating on for a couple of hours in the evening. It's an electricity only house - so the central heating/water heating is run by an electric boiler. No gas at all. I'm aware that generally speaking this turns out a bit more expensive but I'm trying to figure out if there is something wrong as our bills seem to be really high. Our consumption from 8th December 2017 to 8th December 2018 was about 8843kwh from looking at the readings I've taken (however the energy provider is telling me it's 7684kwh for the last 12 moths oddly...) Can someone tell me if this is normal or what the average monthly electricity bill is for an electricity only household? I can't seem to find any answers on the internet! Many thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Early 30’s (M) deciding on best steps for financial future, what would you do? Posted: 27 Dec 2018 04:21 PM PST I recently got out of a long term relationship which resulted in me having to relocate back into my parents home. I have a couple options and wanted to see what would be the best financially in everyone's opinion, here's my breakdown. I have a stable full time job that pays 70K and will eventually cap out at 78K that has a pension, earnings are approximately $3500/m after deductions. Savings $6500 and a retirement fund that id utilize as a first time home buyer that has $10,000 in it (no penalty to withdraw and pay back within 15 years) Car loan is $3,900 remaining at 4% interest. Now my options below. A) rent an apartment for $950/m that is a 15 minute walk to work as opposed to my current 37 mile (hour total with walk) each way commute. After expenses have $1500/m leftover. B) Buy a house for $250K-$275K that is either a duplex or rent out the basement. (Doable in my area of living) still would be an hour each way commute. C) continue living at parents (least favourite option, obviously financial best) What would you do? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2018 02:26 PM PST Hey all, I'm brand new to a permanent job in the workforce and have some money in a gic account. I am started to research index funds and so far I seem to hear only positives about doing do (eg lower management rates and having a small piece of everything in canadian stocks). Any cons? Anybody able to shed light on what they mean by investing 15% in fixed income and 85% in equities? There are different index funds like this to buy? Or are these fixed income things and equities separate from index funds all together? Thank you kindly! [link] [comments]  |
| 19, in college, never had a credit card, got denied from applying towards a credit card. Posted: 27 Dec 2018 04:13 PM PST I've never had a credit card, I've only been using a debit card to help support my finances and when I applied for a credit card two weeks ago, I checked my mail today, and they said they denied me. They denied me due to "no recent credit" (well obviously, that's why I'm applying), and not enough time with the bank. I've had Wells Fargo December 3rd, is there a way for me to get a credit card? [link] [comments]  |
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