Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of March 22, 2019 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of March 22, 2019
- Kids...here is why you need an emergency fund
- My Mom was promoted a year ago and has not received a raise. People working under her have higher salaries. What can I do to help?
- My dad was just let go after working at a company for 20+ years.
- $10k pay cut for a better job?
- Cosmetic house improvements
- Better budget apps than Mint?
- What major expenses should I anticipate for a daughter?
- Is our long term plan smart or dumb?
- Mother is in 60k debt! What can she do?
- I paid off my entire credit card bill. Why was I still charged interest on my purchases?
- Buying a 2016 CPO BMW. Bad decision at my age?
- Haven't filed taxes for 2 years
- My partner and I are looking to relocate to a different country in the next 18 months, and unsure about how to invest.
- 63k per year (Denver), how do I stop living paycheck to paycheck, and what are some expectations when one makes that much?
- Recent raises, need feedback on updated budget!
- Alliant CU adding two-factor authentication March 26
- I’m filing my taxes. I have a 1099. I made a little over 6 grand, Owens little over 400. I’m on govt assistance, food stamps, health care is free. Is this right? Can I get deductions?
- Why is maxing out yearly 401k contributions considered by many to be the "best" strategy?
- ETF Model Portfolio (Help)
- Cancel my current CC for a better card or adopt a second CC?
- COL in NYC - worth a $12K pay increase to move?
- Should I take my name off wife's credit card?
- Discover agent asked me for my full social security number on the phone
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of March 22, 2019 Posted: 22 Mar 2019 02:05 PM PDT 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]  |
| Kids...here is why you need an emergency fund Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:28 PM PDT I live in the US, my family in Europe. My dad had a regular operation a few weeks ago, I stayed in touch and spoke every day etc. Then this morning...a complication. He's in hospital still, awaiting an operation. My mom was in bits, my brother shouldering a load, and I miss my dad and would like to just..be there. Am on a red-eye tonight, and will be back in the old country tomorrow afternoon. Budget in tact. Flights booked, car rented. You can't put on price on things like this, and a few years ago..5 in fact - this would have been a struggle - but this is an emergency that an emergency fund is made for...and I have this sub to thank for it. Edit: Holy shit balls. This blew up between me posting and getting to the airport Thanks for the gold...whoever it was! You are all good people. If you don't have an EF. Start today. $10 stuffed in a drawer, $100 that you don't take out from your checking account, $1000 in a savings account, $50K in a savings account and a credit card you can pay off It doesn't matter, getting on top of money and being able to be in the situation where you can drop everything and do what needs done is priceless. If you're married and have a partner on the same page...all the better (kudos to my wife - she's shouldering our 2 year old for a week without me around) An emergency fund is freedom. And it's a beautiful thing to have. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 08:09 AM PDT My Mom was promoted from an accountant to a manager a year ago and has yet to receive a raise. Her boss is terrible too and refuses to give her a raise worthy of her title. She now has much more work and doesn't get any compensation to show for it. Her coworkers that report to her have higher salaries than her. She comes home late often and works for much of her free time at home without overtime pay. The firm even gave her a work phone (she didn't have one before) to make her more available during off-work hours. It pains me to watch her get treated so unjustly. I've tried to convince her to jump ship, but her job-finding agency hasn't been able to find any promising opportunities for her in Toronto and she doesn't have the connections to do it herself. So reddit, what can I do to help my mom? [link] [comments]  |
| My dad was just let go after working at a company for 20+ years. Posted: 22 Mar 2019 12:55 PM PDT So my Spring break has started off wonderful, I'm on my way home and I get a call from my parents that my dad was let off from work. My dad worked in a factory, and has been a supervisor for the past several years, and before that worked on a machine. He has no other experience since coming to America. Luckily for us, he had a side job with his friend at a contracting company, so we're not going to go broke, but it's not the best. Both of my parents are foreign, English isn't their strong suit, and luckily for them, I'll be home for the next week. So essentially, I'm going to be helping my dad immediately look for new work. Going to help him create a resume, a LinkedIn, start applying, and in general just help him out this whole week. My mom only works part time for not great money, so money is going to be tight for a bit. What I ask from you guys, what are the most important steps we should take while he looks for new work? I'm ready for a busy spring break. [link] [comments]  |
| $10k pay cut for a better job? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 05:23 PM PDT I am making $60k a year at my current job and absolutely miserable. No room for growth. Boss is a nightmare. The whole team is looking for new jobs. Just got offered an amazing job with a large company, great benefits. Offices all over the country if I ever wanted to transfer. $50k. Countered at $57k and they said $50k was the highest they could go. I am in absolutely no place to take a pay cut. I mean I could, but I would have absolutely no discretionary money. But this is a company I would be happy to stay at for the next 20 years if need be. I've only been at my current company since December and I am already checked out (my last company closed in December so I had to unexpectedly get a new job and went from $42k to $60k which has been the only good thing to come out of the unexpected layoff). Would I be totally stupid to take a pay cut? FWIW, I am an interior designer in Washington, DC and I was recruited to come to this company by my former coworkers who are now at this new company. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:38 AM PDT There was a post here that I can't find that highlighted inadequate reasons to buy a new car, one of which is your current car is just dirty. The user talked about how spending $200 on a thorough detail can make a car feel new again, and is a whole lot cheaper than buying a new car. I thought on this, and how $200 would feel like a lot to spend for an afternoon cleaning, but how right they are that I would enjoy being in my car more. I recently applied this thinking to my house. There are a couple reasons why we were thinking of moving: had a new baby and could use another bedroom; there are plans for expanding a highway nearby within the next 5 years that we don't know we want to be around for; I'd love to be near better schools when my son goes to kindergarten in 2-3 years; I don't like my neighbors; the real estate market in this area is hot but there will be more newer developments. Nothing that imminent or important, but enough that we talked to a realtor. But there are some bigger reasons to not move, like that I'm not currently working and a bigger mortgage would add a financial strain. So everything is pointing to waiting a couple years until I go back to work. I also thought about the added expenses of moving, like closing costs, moving supplies, a truck rental or a moving company, buying new stuff for a new house, and the emotional costs of dealing with all that with young kids when we don't really need to. So I applied the mindset of the car detailing, and decided it makes more sense to spend about $1k-2k on making my house more pleasant now so we enjoy living in it now. So we did some landscaping in the backyard so we play back there with the kids and avoid the crappy neighbors and their dogs. We built a swing set. We got shutters for the patio door so we're no longer blinded by the setting sun when sitting in the living room. We bought a kitchen island table to give us more work space. We have new carpet (it's stained and worn) and a new dishwasher (on its last legs) on our list, as well as some painting inside and pressure washing outside. We're spending more on tbe house than a normal month, but I keep in mind it's cheaper than moving. And it makes our house feel new again, or at least giving it new life. If we decide to move in 5 years, then these improvements will hopefully make the house sell faster. TL;DR: Cosmetic improvements to a house are cheaper than buying a new house. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:46 PM PDT I've been using mint for the past couple years and would hate to waste the data I've piled up there but it seems like every other time I use the app there are errors with some of my accounts not loading and missing/not updated information. The notifications are also really bad and I only seem to get emails and push notifications after I open the app which seems counter-intuitive. Are there better options out there that are free to use? [link] [comments]  |
| What major expenses should I anticipate for a daughter? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 05:44 PM PDT For the first time my life, I have a daughter. I started a 529 plan for her where I plan to make $200 monthly contributions. I also created a "major purchase category" of $15,000 in Betterment for a car in 15 years. Assuming that my wife and I are up to date on emergency funds and retirement plans (full disclosure: we are not), what are some small long-term things that I could pitch in for in index funds to make life easier for my daughter (and quite frankly, us) while she stays with us? If it helps, we gross 80K in a Southern California coastal area. No debts outside of $250k-ish mortgage on a condo. [link] [comments]  |
| Is our long term plan smart or dumb? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:28 PM PDT Hello, my wife and I just purchased a townhouse this week. We have been renting for years and saved enough for a 20% down payment on a 300k townhouse (Pudget sound area). We combined make about 100k/yr. I have a union wage scale so I know that in 4 years time our income will jump dramatically. Our current long term plan is to live in this townhouse and save enough to buy a 5 acre piece of land in the area we grew up (would still be within commuting distance for us) in cash sometime within the next few years. Then after we are maxed out at work selling our townhouse and getting a construction loan to build a ~$350k house on land which we will have hopefully already purchased in cash for around $100k. Is it a bad idea to store our savings in a land purchase? Is building dumb? [link] [comments]  |
| Mother is in 60k debt! What can she do? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:46 PM PDT Hello PF, You guys have done wonders for me, and now I am posting this for my mother's sake hoping for help! My mother told me recently she is in 60k debt. I'm trying to get her back on track and I felt PF would be able to point her in the right direction. Her Net income is: $3366 Credit Cards: CC TOTAL DEBT: $23,437.69 Credit Card 1 (Credit Union Card): $10,668 ; APR: 16.15% Target Card: $3748.26 ; APR: 25.15% Sam's Club CC: $3286.18 ; APR: 25.15% Kohl's CC: $3,000 ; APR: 22% Pier 1: $835.69 ; APR: 29.24% Chase CC: $1900 ; APR: 0% until October Personal Loans: PERSONAL LOAN DEBT TOTAL: $36,206.75 Loan 1: $9,316.75 ; APR: 11% Loan 2: $26,890 ; APR: 17% This brings her grand total debt to: $59,644.44 Her monthly necessary expenses is: $2,129 Electricity:$140 Gas: $50 Water: $78 Trash:$40 Cellphone:$311 Cable/Internet:$212 Auto Insurance:$168 Car Gas:$100 Car Registrations:$50 Rent:$740 Other(medical/education):$50 Emergency savings:$50 Misc expenses (gym/subs/gardener):$140 This leaves her with $1,237 a month. I want to know what her best plan of action is here. Recently she said she went to a debt consolidation session with Take Charge America and they were going to take that extra income a month for 3 years and 10 months to get rid of it. According to her they're going to negotiate to bring down her interest to make this possible. I don't know much about this company, or how legit they are so I wanted to come here for advice as well and if this program is her best option. Thank you guys so much! [link] [comments]  |
| I paid off my entire credit card bill. Why was I still charged interest on my purchases? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 08:40 AM PDT I paid off my credit card in full, and I was looking at my account this morning and I went from a $0 balance to a $25 balance because of interest charges. I was under the impression that if you have a 0 balance, you will not pay interest charges. Would anyone be able to help me clarify this before I call the credit card company and dispute? [link] [comments]  |
| Buying a 2016 CPO BMW. Bad decision at my age? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:41 PM PDT Hello all, Followed this subreddit for awhile. I'm looking for a brutal reason why, in my current situation, I shouldn't buy a CPO BMW, even after accepting all of the risks. Disclaimer: 1st time prospective Euro car owner. I understand the risks, the unreliability of BMWs, the expensive maintenance, and depreciation problems with these cars. This is about buying a toy and whether or not it might fuck me. Specs: - 27, m - Live in a medium sized midwest city. - Sr. IT/Systems Engineer, 9 years, coming up on 10 in the field. - $95k gross annual salary (about 55.2k take-home) - I rent. $824 monthly, gas/trash/sewage included. Yes I am aware that I am earning no equity. - FICO 696 - not a ton of total credit or credit history. 2 credit cards, 3k limit each. Only one has a revolving balance of about $1500 m2m. - No college loans, or loans of any kind. - Currently drive a 2004 Ford Ranger with 167k miles on it. It was broken into last week, ransacked and radio was stolen. $800 quote to fix, I don't want to put any more money into that rattletrap. - I don't drive much but when I do, I want to enjoy it. Looking for a toy, more or less. - I'm trying to push my credit score up, to plan on buying a house in the next 3-5 years. The long and short of it is, I want to try to more or less get a CPO luxury car financed for the price that one might buy a recent model used Civic for. My friend at the dealership found me a 2016 BMW 328xi, less than 30k miles, more or less loaded that he'd get me into for $24k even, before taxes and fees (the lowest price I've found this make/model, mileage, features and a CPO). I plan on putting $10k in cash down, financing the taxes/fees/registration in. Total expected loan: 15.9k My financing options are a bit grim. 5.9% / 60 months 6.79% / 72 months Trying a credit union next, ideally I'd like a 48 month term and pay the higher monthly to race the depreciation. If I can get a better interest rate on the loan for 48 months, given the information I've provided above, and knowing I'm looking for a toy I might drive only 5-6k miles a year or less, am I making an astronomically stupid decision? Even accepting/fully understanding what owning a Euro car entails? tl;dr roast me. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Haven't filed taxes for 2 years Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:04 PM PDT For various reasons, I haven't paid taxes the past 2 years and really want to stop ignoring the problem this year. I have been divorced, unemployed, self employed. - IE, My taxes will likely be complicated. I have little (no) expendable income to hire a tax preparer or ...whatever adults do in this situation. I've been fucking up. I want to fix it. I have no idea how to start. Please, any advice is very very appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:54 PM PDT Hello, I'm currently located in New Zealand with my partner (both recently 25), and we're sitting on some savings that we'd like to grow, but are completely unsure about the best approach given our plans for the near future. We're both making decent salary, at least here in NZ. We're able to save a fairly good percentage while covering all costs and paying off my student loan. I'd say we're financially comfortable, but things could definitely be better. I have no portfolio existing in NZ, but I have explored my options and am considering using Superlife (part of the NZX), fortunately there's plenty of resource available about NZ stock options, so I'm confident in what I should do if I'm in NZ. Basically, we're both completely unsure if we should be looking to invest now while we're here, or continue to grow our savings here until we move. Alternatively, would it be smarter to invest into international markets? I'd like to explore going to a Vanguard, but we're both really unsure about the best approach. If we move, we'd like our money to be with us, or end up where we intend to be long term (North America, most probably). I suppose my greater concern is having money moving around, funds adding up from that, etc. If anyone has a similar experience, or there's a really simple way to invest in a more international market without having to stress about moving our money around in 2 years time, that would be handy. Ideally we'd like to get a portfolio created and growing it ASAP, but again, we're completely unsure about the best approach given our situation and plans. Thanks in advance, your advice is greatly appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:50 PM PDT I have been horrible with money my whole life. I come from means, and have always had the safety net of calling my parents for money when I needed 100 or so. Last year I got a career, and started making around 63k per year (take home 1700 every 2 weeks after IRA contributions/medical/taxes). I used to make half of that, so i figured that my paycheck to paycheck days were over. I discovered this sub earlier this week, and it motivated me to put together a budget. Due to my inexperience with money, I was wondering what the expectations are for my income so I can use them as goals. For example, how much should I try to save within a year? My rough draft of a budget: <blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/MBQgHw7"><a href="[//imgur.com/MBQgHw7](//imgur.com/MBQgHw7)"></a></blockquote><script async src="[//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js](//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js)" charset="utf-8"></script> The weed and parking line items are pretty much non-negotiable. The streaming stuff less so. I don't really go out that much, so the "going out" was sort of a catch all. The IRS is back taxes from when I did Lyft for 6 months and didn't know WTF I was doing. Any advice appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Recent raises, need feedback on updated budget! Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:48 PM PDT I know I just posted one of these not too long ago, but both my fiancé and myself just got a pretty large raise at our jobs and I would like someone to take a look at our new budget. Any feedback/criticism is welcome! I am going to elaborate on some things because it helps me think things out, plus I got questions on them before. My income: 80k per year Deducted from paycheck per month: 401k: $1,407 (21%; company matches extra 4%) HSA Contribution: 416.66 Dependent Care FSA: $416.66 (Spend well over 5k a year in daycare costs, so no problem using all of this each year) Life Insurance/Legal/Dental: $40 Extra Vacation Purchase: $92 Health Insurance: $0 per month but deductible is $7k Net Pay: $3230 Fiancés Income: ~50k per year ($20 per hour, lots of overtime) Deducted from paycheck per week: No 401k option Health Insurance: $40 Vision/Dental: $20 Child Support (which comes back to me…long story): $15 per week Net Pay: Let's round/average and say $3,000 Total Household Net (w/ Child Support): $6290 **Keep in mind we are in the process of buying a home, so mortgage, utilities, and monthly house savings are estimates and that amount is currently being saved each month. Savings: $71k for house downpayment (40k max), closing costs (5k), furniture stuff/trashcans/dishes (6k), left over will be emergency fund $6k for new car (will need later this year $10,500 daughter college fund $50,000 401k balance Debts: Student Loan: $2300, Interest is like 3%. I got advice to pay this off last time, so I do put all extra surprise money (months with an extra paycheck) into it. So it will be gone this year. I just don't want to put a big chunk in at once. That would irrationally bug me. And I want to keep it on hand before official house buying process is over, just in case. Ring: $1700. 0% interest. Budget: Groceries: $300 Cell Phone: $81 Gym: $20 Subscriptions: $32 Miscellaneous: $400 (I cash flow medical bills and car repairs, plus we go to an obscene amount of weddings/baby showers/birthday parties each year. Also includes registration/haircuts, etc.) Gas: $250 Fiancés Dipping Habit: $50 (Kicked the other habit, this is next) Daughter Gymnastics: $59 Daughter Swimming Lessons: $60 Daughter other rotating activity: $50 Car Insurance: $250 Daycare: $600 Eating Out: $185 Vacation: $415 New Car Fund: $200 Mortgage: $1350 Wedding: $500 IRA Contribution: 250 Ring (0% interest, 1700 left): $275 Student Loan ($2300 left, low interest): $85 Holiday Savings: $75 House Maintenance: $300 Utilities: $380 Life Insurance: $125 How does our budget look? Are we okay on retirement? It appears we save a combined 15%, my raise next year will go to 401k to max it out, and I will start putting more in IRAs once the wedding is over. Likely in 2021. Is this a mistake? How important is it for fiancé to look for a job with 401k option? [link] [comments]  |
| Alliant CU adding two-factor authentication March 26 Posted: 22 Mar 2019 03:56 PM PDT Just got an email today! "To further enhance security, Alliant is adding a two-factor authentication (2FA) option for members using Alliant Online and Mobile Banking. As of Tuesday, March 26, you can enroll in 2FA through Alliant Online Banking. Once 2FA is enabled, you will need a code (in addition to your password) each time you attempt to log in to your account. This randomly generated code will be texted to you, and you will need to enter it to sign in to your account." [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:03 PM PDT They're gonna take every cent I have in the piggy bank. I didn't make that much to begin with. Anything I can do? If I had my taxes done professionally, could I get it lower? [link] [comments]  |
| Why is maxing out yearly 401k contributions considered by many to be the "best" strategy? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 09:27 AM PDT I understand the tax advantage rationale of course, and it's a no-brainer that you should contribute at least as much as you need to in order to receive your full employer match (if you have one). But let's say your goal is to retire at least a little early. Dont Roth IRAs and even just plain old taxable investment accounts give you much more flexibility than dumping everything into a 401k? I'm open to being convinced this is the best path to take, but I'm curious why this is such a widely-adopted "common sense" investing approach. EDIT: I should add that I already do max out a Roth IRA and contribute about $11k to my 401k. EDIT 2: thanks for all of the replies. Theres a ton of great advice/info in this thread, so much that I dont have time to respond to all of them individually today. But thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2019 02:00 PM PDT So I'm trying to remember what a friend recommended for a model portfolio with ETF's. I think I went something like this: Large Cap: 50% Mid: 30% Small: 12% International: 8% Can anyone comment on if this is a good model. If not, what are you guys using? (Not trying to have 10 different ETF's in my portfolio) [link] [comments]  |
| Cancel my current CC for a better card or adopt a second CC? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:40 PM PDT I have ~9 months of credit history and my first card isn't really fitting my lifestyle of cash back purchases. Do I swap it out or adopt a second card? I also currently have a line of credit. [link] [comments]  |
| COL in NYC - worth a $12K pay increase to move? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:23 AM PDT I'm 32. I live in Boston, where I work as a software developer at a fairly comfortable gig, earning about $82K per year. I can walk to work and work from home 2 days / week. I like my coworkers. I'm certainly happy considering this is my first full-time programming job (self-taught) and I haven't held it for very long. However, I would like to be earning more money and working on more exciting technologies. I have an interview next week in New York City with a bank. They mentioned a starting salary of $95K (with some retirement benefits, I don't have in my current role). I don't think I need advice about navigating my CS career (although it's more than welcome), but my big question is cost of living. Nerdwallet says that $82K in Boston is the equivalent of $131K in NYC. Is that accurate? Should I consider refusing this offer on the basis of the amount alone, unless they substantially increase it? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I take my name off wife's credit card? Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:31 PM PDT Hey, guys. Started cleaning up my credit, recently. Made a lot of bad decisions in my youth. As it stands, currently, I have about 11.5k out of 14k being used on "my" cards. I say "my", because 7k of that is on a card that is my wife's, but I didn't know I was a user on. We are attacking her credit later, so we're only worrying about me, besides making her minimum monthlies. However, that card has a good payment history going back a few years. So... to reiterate, if I only count my actual credit cards, I'm using 4.5k out of 7k (those cards also have good payment history going back). If I include the wife's, I'm using 11.5k out of 14k. I have the opportunity to take my name off her card, and the card issuer has stated it will be removed from my credit report. I know this will hurt because it'll take away some payment history, but if the goal is to reduce my credit utilization, what should I expect from my credit score? Would it be better to keep that 7k debt in order to keep the payment history, or would it be better to lose some payment history in exchange for less credit utilization? Sorry if this was difficult to understand. [link] [comments]  |
| Discover agent asked me for my full social security number on the phone Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:21 PM PDT Hey guys, Just making sure I'm good because after going through a registration process on the phone, the lady told me that the only way to fully verify my identity was by giving her my full social security number. I eventually gave in, but after she said there was an issue verifying my identity. My guess is that it's because I just turned 18 and have no credit but who knows. Anyways, I had to upload three documents showing my SSN card and drivers license (front and back). I uploaded it to their official site so I'm not too worried about that. And to clarify, I was the one who called and made sure it was the right number the page displayed multiple times. I think this is a standard procedure but I want to be sure because in the past my parents have fallen victim to identity fraud. [link] [comments]  |
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