Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 28, 2019 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 28, 2019
- Best of 2018 Winners!
- I saved more than $50k for law school, only to sit during the admissions test, and think that I should not invest in law school.
- No, DON’T leave your “miserable” high paying job to pursue your low paying dream.
- 24, no savings, Pile of debt and a 430 credit score and no idea what I’m doing.
- What to do with inherited Hilton and Westgate timeshares?
- 30 year mortgage vs 15 year mortgage for young first time home buyers??
- If you made less than $66k this year you can file you taxes for free on the IRS website.
- Doctor charged me for extra stuff in a (supposedly free) physical, and sent me extra bills for other physicians that never saw me.
- Forgot about employer from early last year; they refuse to send me another W2
- How to report money made from selling plasma?
- First-time home buyer: how important is my last two years of income to mortgage lenders?
- Free File Fillable Forms is open - free e-filing regardless of income level (if you are comfortable with tax forms)
- I’m drowning
- Car Getting Repossessed in 3 Weeks
- SallieMae insisting I do not have a loan with them, but my school was given $3000
- Didn’t have the courage to ask
- So Verizon FiOS wants to charge me 185 dollars to cancel their TV service. But my plan is to keep their internet. Same fee if I go ahead cancel all of the services they are currently providing me. Any advice on how to avoid the fee?
- Wife accepted into masters program. Best way to pay for it
- Just did my first tax return by myself.
- Parents separated, Mom wants to sell house to downsize. What happens after with taxes?
- How much of a bad idea is taking on more debt to further your education?
- My doctor died after I paid 2000 for upcoming services. What can I do?
- Im 20 years old and have been offered a massive pay raise. Unsure what to do next.
- Mother wants to buy a house in my name but they pay. Yay or nay?
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 28, 2019 Posted: 28 Jan 2019 03:08 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:
A big thank you to the many PFers who take time to answer other people's questions! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2019 02:38 PM PST Hello fellow PFers! Back in December, we posted a nominations thread for the Best of Awards campaign for 2018. Here are the winners! All winners will receive Reddit Platinum and honorable mentions will receive Reddit Gold! Anything in italics is a direct quote of the nomination. Best Overall Contributor
Best Overall Submission
Honorable Mentions:
Best Weekly Thread Helper
Honorable Mention:
Wild Cards
Honorable Mentions:
And since we still have more coins left to give away, some additional honorable mentions:
Awards will be distributed shortly. Thanks for all of the incredible contributions from everyone in the subreddit. We're looking forward to a great 2019. Good luck in all your financial (and other) endeavors this year! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2019 08:55 AM PST My mind went blank and the only thing that I could think about was losing everything I worked so hard for. I guessed on every question and I am not expecting a score that will earn me a scholarship. The question is if there is a better investment for my $50k, other than a graduate education? I need to do some soul searching to figure out if I just give it all away to an institution, or use it to better myself in another way. [link] [comments]  |
| No, DON’T leave your “miserable” high paying job to pursue your low paying dream. Posted: 28 Jan 2019 01:08 PM PST Listen, this may be a controversial opinion here, but, money is power. Money can buy happiness. There has not existed a single depressed rich man whose sadness can be cured by losing his money. If you are in your 20's, make money. Seriously. Yes, I know you want to party and live the life- but once you're in 30's, you will have family to take care of, and 40's, you're too invested in one skill to change profession out of security. Lots of times, on r/jobs, I see post about "hey I'm making 200k a year as a butterfly flyer, but my true passion lies in paper clip literacy and have offer for 200 bucks and 2 paper clips per year: really hard choice, which should I choose?" again, yeah, I can heard your gasps "but you are supposed to follow dream! If you don't enjoy work, don't do it! Is a 15% raise really worth another year of company that dares to give single plyer TP?" I don't subscribe to this notion. If your passion is English major but have a job in dentistry- you're NOT MAKING A GOOD FINANCIAL DECISION BY CHANGING. Sometimes good decisions does not make us feel "good" inherently. I mean if you work is literally a danger to you, physically and mentally, yes, you can change. But my point is mainly really about people that "chase" their dreams. Way too many people that had 2.9 GPA applying for med school and wondering why they haven't matched in 3 years with 300k debt in account. Do what you can in your own power lane, but also think more critically about how much sacrifice you're willing to make to have the security deposit early in life when you have less need for it so you have much more choices later. [link] [comments]  |
| 24, no savings, Pile of debt and a 430 credit score and no idea what I’m doing. Posted: 28 Jan 2019 09:05 AM PST I'm 24 with a 430 credit score. I have about $6500 in collections (mostly hospital bills, the rest are phone bills/cable bills family put in my name when I was 18 and then abandoned) and a recent $2500 defaulted student loan. I have been scraping by my entire working life and have no clue how to fix any of this. I will admit I haven't been responsible with payments on things I personally owe. I know this is a sad excuse but I raised myself and I don't fully understand how credit and debt works, I've never been taught financial responsibility and I have a hard time doing more than basic survival (rent, food, utilities) I have made a mess of my finances and I'm too embarrassed to ask friends and my s/o for help. My utility bills are backed up about 3 months($500 total) due to high bills because my apartment is not insulated, so I have to have heat and electricity running high at all times to stay warm and I had a medical emergency and had to live on nothing for a while due to it and couldn't make adequate payments, so it's piled up. any advice on how to rebuild my credit and tackle these debts? I'm so anxious and overwhelmed. I currently work full time and make around 23-24k a year, rent an apartment and don't own a car. [link] [comments]  |
| What to do with inherited Hilton and Westgate timeshares? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 06:48 AM PST I recently inherited two timeshares, one from the Hilton and the other from Westgate. The Westgate still has to be paid off, which I had to start paying for about $250 a month, and both have annual maintenance fees that are close to $1000 each. My grandfather, the person I received the timeshares from, used them for vacation all the time, but I never thought much about the details of how they work. I'm looking for some advice on what to do with them. I'm wondering if it is more worth it to try to sell them or rent out them out, considering there is only a few thousand left to pay on the Westgate, but the Hilton is paid off. I'm recently out of college, so I don't have much in savings and I was hoping I could use these, whether by selling or renting, to start to save for the future. Any advice is much appreciated. Edit: Thanks for all the replies! I just got off work and have read them all, thank you for taking the time out of the day to offer me advice. For more information, the timeshares were in a trust which I was unable to access until recently. Unfortunately, that means the they have been paid for a period over 9 months, I was unaware of their existence until recently. I definitely do not want to continue this financial burden, so I'll start looking into the resources and suggestions provided. Wish I knew about /PF sooner. [link] [comments]  |
| 30 year mortgage vs 15 year mortgage for young first time home buyers?? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 02:09 AM PST Hi! First time posting to reddit, but I'm looking for advice on buying our first home this summer! My fiancé (24m) and I (23f) are recent college grads that have been renting for two years and are ready to own a home! We are very money conscious and focus a lot on having a frugal retirement. With that said, what works best for us? A 15 year mortgage, or a 30 year mortgage (with the one extra payment each year towards principal?). I'll be honest, I like nice things and will probably end up upgrading to a nicer home after 5 years or so to start a family in. Is the 15 year mortgage worth it for us? [link] [comments]  |
| If you made less than $66k this year you can file you taxes for free on the IRS website. Posted: 28 Jan 2019 04:51 PM PST Go to irs.gov. Click popular now. Click free file. It gives you the big tax company software for free [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2019 08:31 AM PST EDIT for clarification: I wasn't billed for the extra visits, they were submitted to my insurance, just didn't bill me for the copay. This happened back in 2017. I went to a doctor that a relative recommended for my free yearly physical (I get one free with no copay with my insurance). I stated repeatedly that I wanted a physical, and that I wasn't feeling bad. Turned out to be the most exhaustive physical I ever had. They did all the usual (blood pressure, weight check, bloodwork), and many more, including X rays of my back. At the end of the visit I saw the doctor who said he noticed something with my balance (first time I hear this) and that I should come again because the doctor that does that is off that day. He also mentioned everything was okay and that he was going to share the results with other doctors in the practice, so that they could give their opinion too. He warned me that I would get multiple insurance Explanation Of Benefits letters but that I didn't need to pay any more visits. I went a second time a few days to get the balance test thing and came out okay. I never paid anything at the practice because this was a physical that should be free. Fast forward a few weeks and sure enough I start getting letters. Around 3-4 letters with EOB, two from the doctor I saw (two visits) and two more from people I never saw. All but the first mention that I owe the copay for each visit. On the following week I get the last letter: a bill from the doctor to pay for the Xray (no copay or anything). Total: $30. Since I went for a physical I didn't expect to pay for anything so decided to confront them when they send a second one Fast forward to last week and I get the bill again. It's not a lot of money, but I have two questions:
The bill is just $30, which I have no problem paying, but this guy is triple dipping on insurance, and me on top of this. TL;DR: Got extra charges for a free physical, but doctor billed insurance for multiple visits. [link] [comments]  |
| Forgot about employer from early last year; they refuse to send me another W2 Posted: 28 Jan 2019 08:17 AM PST So i worked for this plumbing company up until January 2018. They let me go for whatever odd reason. I forgot about them until now and now I'm out of state. Still haven't seen their W2 so I messaged them and asked them to send one to my current address. They claim they already sent one to my Colorado address and won't be sending another. What do I do? Is this even legal? [link] [comments]  |
| How to report money made from selling plasma? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 06:03 PM PST I started selling plasma at the beginning of November last year. I made $720 total by the end of the year. I'm currently working on my taxes, and entered that income as miscellaneous other income (not from a 1099, I just clicked on the "other" box, typed in plasma, and entered the amount). I'm about done, and the software is checking my return to make sure everything checks out. It's given me an alert saying that the $720 I entered exceeds the $400 threshold for self employment income, and that I should have paid self employment taxes on anything I made over that amount. It's saying I should enter the income in the self-employment/business section. That doesn't seem right, since it's not really my business. I just go to the center, donate, and they put the amount I'm paid onto a center-provided debit card. They don't send out tax statements or anything. What is the best way to report this income? Do I really need to be paying quarterly self-employment taxes if all I'm doing is selling plasma? [link] [comments]  |
| First-time home buyer: how important is my last two years of income to mortgage lenders? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 06:07 PM PST I'm 25 and looking to buy my first house in the next few years. I work as an electrical apprentice with the IBEW, currently in my 4th year making around $52,000. In about 1.5 years I will "top out" at ~$75,000. I still live at home so my monthly expenses are minimal, about $800 which leaves me with $2,200+ each month - a figure which will only go up as I progress through my apprenticeship. I have zero debt, a credit score of 785, and around $60,000 in savings. I'd like to wait at least until I become a journeyman to start the home-buying process, but should I wait even longer? Like, two years longer? How important is it that a mortgage lender sees I've been making $75k for two years versus having just started at that rate? For reference I'm looking for something in the $200k-$250k range and intend to put 20% down to avoid PMI. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2019 08:35 AM PST I've used it every year for a while now, if you're comfortable filling out a 1040 it's straightforward, and you can save the hassle of printing and mailing it. https://www.freefilefillableforms.com [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2019 04:34 PM PST My fiancé left me 30 days before our wedding. I'm a recovering addict just trying to manage the emotions while not ruining my life and pick up the pieces of the financial mess left behind. I've taken loans out with predatory lendors and now I can get on track. I'm spending 600 a month in interest fees and can't manage my bills without falling back in the whole. Please help me solve this problem. [link] [comments]  |
| Car Getting Repossessed in 3 Weeks Posted: 28 Jan 2019 05:53 PM PST My main source of income is from tutoring, which involves a lot of driving around to meetings (~50 miles of driving per day). My current car is a 2016 smart fortwo electric drive, which has a range of about 50 miles per charge. I can't charge it where I live (in an apartment with street parking only), so I often end up not having enough battery to get where I need to be, and have to resort to using Lyft/Uber/Getaround as a backup form of transportation, which has been very expensive (unfortunately, public transit in my city is not feasible with my schedule). I'm behind on payments on the smart car, so it will be repossessed in about 3 weeks, on 2/23, unless I make a payment of $2000. Because the Uber-ing has been so expensive, it's difficult to save up for a car better suited to my driving needs. Income:
Monthly Expenses:
Debt:
I owe $6,000 on the Smartcar, which has a Blue Book value of about $4,000 - 4,500. I need to come up with a plan of action regarding the Smartcar and choosing a new car. From what I can tell, my options seem to be:
I'm not sure with my credit score (~480) if I am eligible for a debt consolidation loan or a loan to buy a new car. Questions:
Also open to advice about handling the very high interest personal loan. Thank you in advance for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| SallieMae insisting I do not have a loan with them, but my school was given $3000 Posted: 28 Jan 2019 09:46 AM PST Hello everyone, I'm a college student who can't get financial aid due to a very complicated situation with my parents, and so I took out a $3000 private loan with SallieMae to help me out with tuition. I restarted my loan application a few times on different devices (only one finished, which was approved), and all of these partially completed applications remained on my account, so I deleted them. I also deleted the completed application by mistake. The funds were still dispersed to my school who have been unable to help as it's a private loan. I've called SallieMae multiple times and they are insisting I don't have a loan. I refuse to accept this mistake as "free money" because if life has taught me anything it's that I know this will come back to haunt me with a ton of accumulated interest I wasn't able to pay off at the time. I'm not sure what steps to take next? Do I get something in writing from SallieMae? How do I go about doing this? What do I include in my email/letter? EDIT: Contacted my schools financial department again and they claimed the status of the loan was "canceled by borrower" even though they've been sitting on that 3,000 for months and let me use it to pay my fees. In the HOUR since then they've removed the loan from my credits and are charging me my tuition in full, claiming it's "late". But this is a separate issue I have to deal with, so thank you to everyone who helped me get to the bottom of this. [link] [comments]  |
| Didn’t have the courage to ask Posted: 28 Jan 2019 08:06 PM PST I'm just posting this to thank everyone on this sub Reddit for helping me avoid financial catastrophe. I never had the courage to post my own story because I was too ashamed of being an idiot with my money. 23, right out of college, felt like the king of the world, spent on credit cards like they were going out of style. Between my own stupidity and my college car falling to pieces, I was quickly in a bind with the promo rate on my heavy spending card ending soon. Id never heard of balance transfer cards or being able to move my debt to something safe so I could pay it down responsibly instead of hoarding paychecks and trying to make massive lump payments. I'd never really been taught financial efficacy before reading this sub. I kept applying for a new card every month hoping "this will be the one" and got shot down for 4 months straight. I was considering all manner of personal loans and selling my valuables to try and get ahead. Finally, a light in the darkness came and offered me a line large enough on an 18 month promo rate and I am now safe to pay it off responsibly. Thank you r/personalfinance for giving me the courage to keep trying ❤️ [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2019 07:20 AM PST This is in Pittsburgh. Update: thanks to everyone that commented and provided insight. After a little while on the phone and my own frustration I conceded to one users advice and just lowered my TV tier to their lowest offering. Which saves quite a bit. [link] [comments]  |
| Wife accepted into masters program. Best way to pay for it Posted: 28 Jan 2019 08:53 AM PST Wife will be attending masters program which will last 22 months and cost 26k. Below are our financials and trying to decide the best way to pay. We have 32k in the bank, debt: house (242k owed @ 4% apr vs 330k value), vehicle (14k 2% apr), windows (3k 0%) old student loan (4k 0% on a 18 mo 0% cc will be paid off this year) Current income is 150 net with monthly expenses at about 4,500 I will receive a bonus in May for around 10-15k and should receive the same next year. Deciding paying in cash if we can make it vs taking a home quite loan at 4-5% or looking into student loans. Pretty sure i know the answer but just seeking advise Thanks for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| Just did my first tax return by myself. Posted: 28 Jan 2019 06:59 PM PST Until now I was always filed as a dependent under my parents return. Now I'm living on my own and didn't feel the need to pay money to have someone file my taxes for me. For those who are too intimidated because you're young and haven't been doing this for years already, it's really not that hard. I used freetaxusa and it was ridiculously easy, I did it on downtime at work. [link] [comments]  |
| Parents separated, Mom wants to sell house to downsize. What happens after with taxes? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 09:02 AM PST Hi redditors, I (31F) could use some advice right now and I apologize ahead of time for the long post. I've been really stressed in trying to figure out what to do. Please correct me where I am wrong too. I am learning this as I'm sorting though the mess. My parents separated last year and my dad quitclaimed himself from the house and added my two brothers on there last summer when he moved out. So all three of us (I have been on the deed since the beginning) are on the deed of the house except I have been the only one on the loan this whole time (I got pressured into it, my dad did not qualify). Now, my mom can not afford living in that house so we are planning to put the house on the market next month to sell. We want to downsize the house and get her a smaller house/townhouse with a more affordable mortgage where we can put down >80% down payment. I do not want to be financially responsible for the loan since I want to buy my own home in two years. It will be either her or one of her siblings to help her this time. I just recently learned that we are responsible for capital gain for next year taxes if the house sells this year. We bought the house for 585K and I plan on putting it on the market for hopefully 700-720K. So that's at least a net of 115-135K profit difference from buying to selling. I understand I won't be taxed if it's less than 250K for capital gain. However, since my siblings have not been on the deed for two years, they are at risk for being taxed, right? My brother did not work last year and is working under the table this year. My other brother made approximately 37K last year. He is estimating his income this year will be approx 48K via 1099. If we price the house at 700K when we bought it for 585K, the net proceeds will be 474,311.88. 700K is about the lowest we are shooting for. Is it possible to take my working brother. off the deed ASAP to avoid him being taxed next year from the income of the house plus his own income? What can I do to minimize the amount of taxes expected of us next year? Do I need to put aside money gained to pay for taxes next year? What should we do in preparation of selling this house? Am I missing anything? Just feeling sad and frustrated from this separation and the mess that came with it. Edit: california [link] [comments]  |
| How much of a bad idea is taking on more debt to further your education? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 04:32 PM PST I'm trying to get ahead in life but colleges like Syracuse and the university of Wisconsin want $50 grand for a masters degree in Library Science. How does going into so much debt become the norm? I also can't do much with just a BA in history. [link] [comments]  |
| My doctor died after I paid 2000 for upcoming services. What can I do? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 06:38 PM PST I went to a specialist and paid upfront for diagnostics services. I paid over 2000 for these and I just found out that he passed away suddenly. There is no one answering his office phone now and I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to recoup this cost. [link] [comments]  |
| Im 20 years old and have been offered a massive pay raise. Unsure what to do next. Posted: 28 Jan 2019 02:34 AM PST I'm currently 20 years old living on my own in Namibia. For explanatory reasons i will be explaining the currencies in USD as i assume this is the easiest way for people to convert it to their relevant currencies to explain things. Currently I am working an IT Desktop support job, while doing Development job on the side, for a big insurance company in Namibia. Currently my paycheck is 586,51 USD before Tax and 439,88 USD after tax (Keep in mind that these values might seem low due to exchange rates). I've been working for this company for a year and it has taken a major toll on my mental and physical health. The company i work for is outsourced to the Insurance company. The working environment is not the healthiest ever and due to these reasons i want to pursue a dream career in Motorsport. I broke the news to my boss that i might be leaving end of this year to further my studies 2 weeks ago. Today my boss called me into the office and offered me a pay raise of almost 125%. My paycheck would go up from 586.51 USD a month to 1319,65 USD a month. The catch is, i have already applied for a different job to idle in while i wait for university stuff to pan out, as i despise my current work environment. At the current moment i feel as if i should weigh all my options. I'm waiting to hear back from Job number 2 as to how much they will pay me (Will update here when i find out what salary ill be receiving from them). I sincerely do not want to work unfair and inconsiderate. However, being young as i am the pay raise would be a massive amount and would set me up pretty well regarding future plans. On Top of that i don't want to entirely drop my dreams of doing motorsport engineering as it would mean id be working in a first world country. Thus i would love some help in regards to if i should sack my dreams of motorsport engineering, and if so how i should go about investing the extra money i will have available to me every month. Additionally the pay raise does have strings attached in regards to me having to complete a certain amount of courses which the company will pay for, however i am expected to work the money back over a set amount of time with them. TL TR: I have been offered a considerable pay raise of almost 125% by my current employers who are stingy and rude. I am also however waiting to hear back from a second job offer which could over a 100% pay increase. On Top of that i am also considering if i should go study and land a job in a first world country. Edit 1: Maths Edit 2: Added that there are strings attached to this agreement. (should have mentioned earlier.) [link] [comments]  |
| Mother wants to buy a house in my name but they pay. Yay or nay? Posted: 28 Jan 2019 12:35 PM PST EDIT: Hey y'all. So, I won't reply to each and everybody since pretty much the consensus is a big, huge, strong nay. Just wanna say I appreciate all the comments and explanations! It makes sense to me why this can be a bad idea. I am a Filipino, and if you are one, then you may understand, but in our culture, family ties are super strong. My drive to help my mom and also the pressure of culture and values I grew up with was pretty much all over me. But I know I have to be smarter. And by the looks of it, it will be better for all of us to not proceed with this. I will talk to my mom and hopes she understand. Once again, thank you! My background: Recent 21 y/o college grad working as a registered nurse for five months now. I'm renting a house together with my boyfriend. I have around $20,000 on student loans and a car that I still have to pay around $6,500 for. My credit score is good (721) according to FICO. My income is about $3k a month and I live in Memphis, TN. My mom and family are currently living in a house where my stepdad rents from his brother. $800 a month I believe. It's not bad but I'm telling you I do live better than them now that I've moved out. I want to help my mom find a place where she can be happy and at peace. They do have some history with the IRS. My dad works as a contractor with the USPS. Owns a trucking company with his brother but retiring very soon. My mom works two part time jobs. And I have two brothers at middle school. They want to put the house in my name so that maybe there's a better chance that it gets approved. I do not know much about real estate, mortgages, and stuff like that. I'm going to file my taxes for the first time this year. So I need maybe some opinions or guidance if it's safe to proceed with this. They're gonna pay for it. That's the plan. And in the future, if they have to move out of there, it's going to be my house. So far it sounds all good to me. [link] [comments]  |
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