Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of April 29, 2019 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of April 29, 2019
- Let's talk about a "beater"
- I’ve played the loyalty game and lost
- Can I afford this or do I need some financial grounding.
- End of chemo finances
- Email comprised which led to fraudulent charge on credit card, where do I go from here?
- Employer wants my sister to accept job before they disclose wages with her?
- Kevin Hart is educating people on money with a program called Financial Fitness
- Did an IRS payment plan for the first time. Completely lost
- I think my fiancé’s employer is scamming her and the IRS.
- Thinking of selling my car to save $484 in car expenses because I live a half mile from work, the grocery store, but I just started a new job in a new city. Looking for advice.
- Restaurants in NY now charging fees for Credit Card transactions
- My roommate is jobless and is asking me to take on more rent every month.
- What's up with the low APY of the savings accounts of Brick and Mortar Banks?
- 23, Over $85,000 in debt, mostly student loans. Been traveling the country for the last 3 years and in a financial mess.
- I don't know how to make money
- Need help understanding equity in a small company
- Advice on bailing one job for another after 3 months
- Local Bank Offers 5% APY on Checking Accounts. Should I be Skeptical?
- Inherited gold, what now?
- Just received a small check from United States Treasury
- Trying to build a plan to get out of $90k debt
- How much of your portfolio is in investments?
- Buying A House With Retirement
- How to deal with fear of finances
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of April 29, 2019 Posted: 29 Apr 2019 04:07 AM 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]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2019 09:32 AM PDT So I am the son of a mechanic of 35 years. He's been able to keep up with the current technologies and has worked on some of the most basic and advanced vehicles in the modern era. It pains me to see people say, "buy a cheap reliable car" as if that is something easy to do. Unless you know a good mechanic that has access to dealer trades and auctions it can be tough. Here in SW PA, cars over 150k miles are usually junk. Rust due to salt, transmissions blown due to hills, etc. Unless you live in the suburbs, cars are not garage kept. My dad and I set out to find my grand mother a replacement car. I gave her a 2005 grand prix in 2014 with no rust and in 4 years of being outside, the rockers cannot be patched anymore. We looked at around 35 cars and unfortunately my dad is retired. So he does not have access to dealer trades or auctions and most of his contacts have moved on or retired as well. This is a compilation of what we saw. 35 vehicles total 20 costing between 4-8k
15 costing 8-12k
We looked at a wide range of cars. Sure about half were GM, but the rest were Subaru's, Toyota's and Honda's. So this idea that people can "easily" find a "cheap but reliable" beater is a but insane. Many of these cars would cost even us thousands to maintain for a year. They could easily strand my grandmother as she travels to my uncles house every month (2 hour drive). Her old 2006 grand prix started to have issues, water pump, suspension work and the rockers were shot, patched 3 times. Now I am not advocating for buying a new car. But we ended up reaching out to my other uncles and they all put together money for a 3 year old chevy trax for her. It has far more safety features than her old car, does much better in every crash test, should be reliable for 3-5 more years, etc. We could have gotten her a sonic/cruze but she didn't feel comfortable in them (too low and small) and she's in her 80's so comfort is a thing. But the moral to the story is, when offering "advice" you need to understand that a "cheap but reliable" car is not an easy find and if you live up north very difficult to do in many cases. Don't assume that everyone has connections and has a reliable mechanic that can easily find good and cheap deals. My dad found me that 05 grand prix that I drive for 5 years and it was about 8k when I bought it in 2009, but that was back when he had unlimited access to thousands of cars. ***EDIT***I want to clarify something. Reasonably safe & reliable vehicles do exist under 5k. Even in my area. Out of 1 gem there are 10-20 POS Junkers. My point is, the average person cannot change their own oil. They wait 6 months after the oil light comes on to change it, drives tires to the cords and didn't know you need to replace brake pads. Those same people also don't have a reliable mechanic, know someone at a dealership or someone who goes to auctions. They do not have the know-how to find a cheap but reliable car. And if you take a look at the marketplace or Craigslist, people who are selling most of these cars say, "Only needs $20 part to pass inspection". And if you're on a 5k budget, can you afford to take 10-15 cars to a mechanic charging $100-150/car? Let's also take a look at safety. Back in the day, without automation, head-on collisions were far more common this is why there was not need to put the front brace all the way across the front of the car. Due to better safety features, small-overlap is more common. You're 2004 civic has no front brace at a 15* offset but that 2017 Cadillac the other person is driving does. So surviving a small overlap crash in an older vehicle is actually very low. I am not saying buy a new or expensive car. My point is, once you're financially sound, you should look to save and buy a more reliable and safe vehicle. Spending 10-14k on a CPO vehicle, unless you're in a financial mess is not a bad idea. Those Sub 5k beats can cost more than double in maintenance in just 2-3 years. Take that 5k, put it down in a 2-3 year old CPO vehicle and pay off the other 5-9k over a 2-3 year period and drive that car for another 5 years. If you HAVE to get a beater, PLEASE get someone who can help because I've seen hundreds of people get swindled. **EDIT 2** I own a 2017 golf which will be paid off this year and wife drives a 2015 Sonic which will be paid off in a few days. We plan on driving these cars for awhile. We are considering upgrading her in a few years to a 2-3 year old car but with cash. [link] [comments]  |
| I’ve played the loyalty game and lost Posted: 29 Apr 2019 12:55 PM PDT I've been in the workforce for about 8 years as a software developer and I never kept a job more than a year, each year I would jump ship for at least 20% increase in salary. I wanted to try to remain loyal to one company. I've been with my current employer for 3 years, at a big multinational corporation. During this time my work was exemplary, I even started a new trend in the corporation that ended up rewriting all their 15 year old applications to decrease development cost and enable features, I've been a technical lead and voice within the company, took responsibilities that weren't mine just to get the job done good and fast. In return, I discovered that I'm paid half of what the new developers are paid in the project and when I asked for a raise I was called greedy. So I came to realize that loyalty is not paid off so today I quit my job. Morale of the story, don't spend your time in a company if your salary is not matched according to the market standards, even if you love the project, eventually it will hurt you and after all, you are selling your time and expertise. [link] [comments]  |
| Can I afford this or do I need some financial grounding. Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:23 AM PDT EDIT: thank you all for the advice. I will be taking all of this into consideration, appreciate it. Looking to move into a 1b /1b by myself. First time renter but lived with roommates throughout college. This was "ok" but would like my own place as I work a lot and a quiet clean place would be nice. Where I live, you won't find a 1b/1b located in a area that is not crime heavy for less then 1200, especially as its almost summer and rent is at a yearly high. Is this a good idea or do I need to get real and check myself. I have no debt, and $26k saved. I've been lucky enough to be able to live at home for almost a year and just fully save which has been amazing. (no time rush on having to move either, just feel like its time). Apartment monthly cost - $1380 / 13 months lease with 6 weeks free move in special. Apartment is brand new, great location, pool, gym, car park, close to my work and great view. $45,000/YR If I hit all sales goals, $65,000 My monthly earnings: Take home after taxes $3,200 monthly commission $500-1k / this has been the average for 1yr now What I assume my monthly costs on average will be: (I have no pets) Utilities $300 Gas $50 Food $300 Internet $60 Car payment $300 Renters Insurance $15 Car insurance $120 Total spent - $2525 Remaining $665 It's coming down to quality of life in a nicer area vs saving $300~ a month basically. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2019 07:44 AM PDT My husband was the breadwinner, earning three times as much as me. He was working through an agency for a client that decided they needed to cut back on their spending and my husband was basically laid off. A couple of months later he was diagnosed with bone cancer and began an aggressive and rigorous chemotherapy treatment. In November he had surgery to remove the affected bone and put in a prosthetic. He just finished the last required round of chemo and wants to do the optional four, which would mean it will be July 13th before he's done and mid-October before he regains his strength. We received money from family and through careful management (thanks hubby!) we've made it this far without having to go further into debt, except for medical bills. While he is job hunting, there is no telling when he will definitely be finished with chemo (as his body is not rebounding like it used to) and no telling when he'll be hired and working. We have $7,753 in savings, $7,519 in medical bills to pay (although I could negotiate down and apply for assistance) and our spending is up since my husband is now networking/job hunting. If we could sip just $2k from savings each month, we'd make it to August, but then what? I also just remembered that we'll need to pay for childcare during the summer. 😣 What strategies can I employ the bridge this gap between almost out of money to husband bringing home some bacon? [link] [comments]  |
| Email comprised which led to fraudulent charge on credit card, where do I go from here? Posted: 29 Apr 2019 08:54 AM PDT I woke this morning to about 550 new email subscriptions tying into my old university email address. This is not necessarily my primary email anymore, as I graduated in 2014, but I keep it around for various reasons and it is the main email tied to a few older accounts I have. While filtering through this spam I noticed one was an order confirmation from JCrew. They had somehow got into my JCrew account and used my JCrew store card which is tied to the account as the default payment method. $650 worth of Nike's later... and I only noticed because of that order email. I assume this must have happened via a password theft rather than the theft of the physical card, because I never use it- it's not even in my wallet and is kept at home in a drawer. How they got the security code or if that was even required at time of purchase, I don't know. So I canceled the card, changed my password for my JCrew online account, added a 2-factor verification for my university email and changed the password, and put a freeze through all 3 main credit reporting services just for kicks. I think the last was probably overkill, but one of the spam emails was a subscription to myFICO's newsletter... Which may just be nothing, but I'm really really worried they got more of my identity. Is there anything else that I'm missing? Anything that I need to do that I haven't thought of? Edit: I also called the credit card, flagged the charge as fraudulent and a chargeback is in process. [link] [comments]  |
| Employer wants my sister to accept job before they disclose wages with her? Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:39 PM PDT So my sister is in the job market as her previous employer was bought out and the company who bought her former company made her go through the interview process again. No big deal. Apparently when she asked what the position paid they told her she would have to accept the job offer before they told her how much she would make. Can they do this? It seems highly unethical seeing as how your wage is a very important factor on whether or not someone would accept an offer of employment. She was asking me what she should do and I told her I wouldn't accept a position without knowing what the pay rate would be. I've never had this happen to me so I don't know what to tell her and I was hoping someone here could help me out with this. Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Kevin Hart is educating people on money with a program called Financial Fitness Posted: 29 Apr 2019 12:16 PM PDT Sounds like he has had financial difficulties in the past and wants to help others understand money better: https://youtu.be/XW_KhFq4LQo?t=3241 [link] [comments]  |
| Did an IRS payment plan for the first time. Completely lost Posted: 29 Apr 2019 06:18 AM PDT Due to an accounting blunder on my part I owe about $7k in federal taxes this year. I filed through TurboTax and used their system to set up a payment plan. I thought that was all I needed to do, but I've been checking my bank statement and no funds have been withdrawn yet even though I set it up to pay $1k at time of filing, and $1k/mo after that. So I read through the tax docs and I figure I have to also set up the actual payments through irs.gov/OPA? I went ahead and did that, entered my account number and routing number and selected automatic bank account withdrawal, and the last page of the IRS site has all this language about making payments on time. So do I also have to set up the payment on my bank website? Or did I screw something up and I'm going to be paying double each month now since I set up the payment plan on TurboTax and on the IRS site? Am I on the right track? Should I call IRS or TurboTax for clarification? [link] [comments]  |
| I think my fiancé’s employer is scamming her and the IRS. Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:40 PM PDT My girlfriend started working at a local mom and pop pizza restaurant about 3 months ago, she was in desperate needs for a job, so she accepted the first one she could that fit her student schedule. She's only working 10-13 hours a week. Once she started working there, she noticed everything is done by hand, all the transactions, all of the cash earnings are written down on envelopes and all of the credit card purchases are logged by hand. She has to run all of the cash and credit card totals by hand at the end of every night. That's just the first red flag, the second red flag is the fact that she was being paid cash every week, and no taxes were deducted, so we're all of the employees. I'm addition to that the owners charge a "fee" on all the tips the servers make. She didn't think it was a huge deal that she was getting paid under the table until I told her that was a big No-No. Now this is where things start getting sketchy, she had a conversation with her employer about wanting to get on payroll and start paying taxes on her income. The employer told her this wasn't an issue, and began "deducting" taxes from her paycheck. Here's the kicker, my GF never filled out a W-4 or gave a social security number. Every paycheck no matter how many hour she works, it's an even 13% deducted from the top. I'm curious about what to do in this situation. My girlfriend needs the job and source of income, and it's almost impossible for her to find another job due to being a student without transportation. I was thinking about potentially helping her find another job and reporting them to the IRS. Can she get in trouble if she is the one who reports them to the IRS, because she hasn't paid taxes on around $1800 of income? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2019 04:36 PM PDT TL;DR: I'm considering selling my car because I Just moved to the downtown of a city in the southern USA and I could save a minimum of $484 per month by eliminating car payment, insurance, parking, and fuel. Job 6-month W2 contract-to-hire (NOT 1099) Monthly salary: $9,500 during the contract. Not sure what salary would be offered after contract period is over. Monthly Expenses - $2,669 Rent: $800 (utilities included) Car payment: $200 Full coverage car insurance: $142 Fuel: $42 Parking: $100 Phone: $55 Gym: $22 Food: $300 Entertainment: $200 Health Insurance: $165 Credit Cards: $280 Student Loan Payment: $360 Credit Card Debt: $15,000 Car Payoff total: $4,900 Kelly Blue Book trade-in value: $5,200 to $6,500 (based on "Good" condition) Kelly Blue Book private party: $7,400 to $9,300 (based on "Good" condition) So, I'd assume I would come out ahead by $1,000 to $4,000 by selling my car now. There are five primary reasons I want to sell the car:
To elaborate, I just moved to the city this weekend. I've been thinking about getting rid of a car altogether for several years. Now seems like a good time. However, the job is only a 6-month contract-to-hire (W2) position though. This 6-month contract-to-hire is just how the company does their hiring for software developers. Just to be clear, it is NOT a 1099 job. Prior to accepting, the company assured me that there is a high likelihood I will get converted to full-time within 6-months. This is just the way they do hiring here. This job is located in the south. The average high in January is in the 50's. I'm coming from the midwest where the average January high temperature is in the teens. I drive a 2013 Nissan Altima. No issues mechanically. Great fuel mileage. But I could easily buy another if I'm so inclined in a couple years. I have 27 months of loan payments left on the car. It has 89,000 miles, and I'll need new tires in the next 10,000 miles. Lastly, I read Mr. Money Mustache a lot, and he makes a lot of good points about how expensive cars are. A few years ago I lived close to work and downtown in a different state, and I just biked everywhere. I would only drive when the weather was bad. I'm a single guy so stopping by the grocery store on the way home is simple and easy. I've done it before. My primary concern with selling the car is if I don't get a full time offer in 6-months, then I might have to buy a car around that time. There are a lot of software jobs downtown though, so I imagine I'd be able to find a job close to where I currently work. I'm planning on buying a house in the next 18 months as long as everything is going well with the job. So, eliminating credit card debt and saving $35,000 for a down payment are high on the list. I would appreciate any recommendations you have, or things I need to consider or reconsider. [link] [comments]  |
| Restaurants in NY now charging fees for Credit Card transactions Posted: 29 Apr 2019 11:30 AM PDT Could this be the end of the "free rewards benefits" of using a rewards credit card for purchasing food? https://nypost.com/2019/04/27/new-yorkers-are-furious-over-sneaky-credit-card-surcharges/ [link] [comments]  |
| My roommate is jobless and is asking me to take on more rent every month. Posted: 29 Apr 2019 07:26 PM PDT Hi PF, My house mate has been out of work for nearly 6 months now and it's been worrying me quite a bit for several of those months. Yesterday she asked me if I would be willing to take on more rent until she found a job. I really, really do not feel comfortable doing this, as it would go against our agreement of rent splitting and change all of my budgeting. Plus, I don't think her specific situation warrants that large of an ask from me. Is this a common scenario people go through with roommates? How do I even address this ask of hers? Thank! [link] [comments]  |
| What's up with the low APY of the savings accounts of Brick and Mortar Banks? Posted: 29 Apr 2019 08:58 AM PDT My current physical bank (BB&T) keeps advertising their savings account to me. After looking it up, I noticed the APY on it is 0.03%. How do these rates still exist when 4-week Tbills are paying ~2.40% APY and Ally, Amex and the like offer accounts with 2%+ APY? Is there some benefit to them I'm missing? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:03 PM PDT I went to college in 2013 not knowing anything about student loans with no one telling me what to expect. I was caught up in not wanting to be seen as a loser and didn't care about money. I used loans for everything all 4 years including an apartment the last 2. Fast foreword to graduation in 2017 and I luck out with my literal dream job since I was a little kid. I have spent the last 3 summers traveling the country from May to September working for the pro motocross tour doing sponsorship work for television. The problem has been that from September to May the company does not have work. This coming season I will be the manager and making a great salary where I should be able to save up 10-15k. During the off seasons in the past I have just worked random jobs to barely pay my bills until the following season. It is now 2019 and I have used all of my forbearance allowed on my $71,000 of student debt along with a maxed out credit card at $7,800 and an auto loan at$6500. I had a huge realization that I really messed up and am in a bad situation. My girlfriend and I have just decided to move in together. We want to try to get an apartment by then end of this coming summer. I do not have a plan for what to do for work when then summer is over but I've realized it's time to move on from this experience and find a normal job with secure yearly income. I feel like I am going to be trapped underneath this student debt for the rest of my life and it is going to prevent me from doing anything I have ever wanted to do. I have bad credit, lots of debt, and no secured job when September comes around. I have no knowledge of finance or any clue of how to make this a little more manageable. [link] [comments]  |
| I don't know how to make money Posted: 29 Apr 2019 08:03 PM PDT Tittle says it all. I am twenty seven, living at my parent's. Had a five year career in the culinary industry, left it because of low pay and crazy hours/lack of benefits. Currently a first year C.S student at a community college. Mainly picked this major for earning potential. Stuck between the feeling of four years of school being too much ( and what if I completely hate the job?) and the feeling that if I don't do this now I'll be stuck at a low level job for the rest of my life. Mainly I just feel like my main flaw is that I don't understand how to provide value, or make money, other wise I wouldn't be in this situation or need a college degree. Should I put my head down and do this C.S degree? is it financially smart? am I just doomed? Help. [link] [comments]  |
| Need help understanding equity in a small company Posted: 29 Apr 2019 06:23 PM PDT Hey PF, I'm looking for a succinct explanation on how I should view equity in a small startup company I'm expecting an offer from. I'm(25M B.S in Chemistry)looking to switch jobs and I'm currently expecting an offer from a small startup, <15 employees. During the 2nd interview we talked salary and other starting things, but it caught me off guard when they talked about equity/stock in the company as performance bonuses and such. I've only worked for a large corporation so far and I had no idea this was a thing. I plan on accepting the job because I really don't enjoy where I work currently, but I just want to understand how much to value company equity vs other benefits like PTO and such. Thanks for any info you guys have. [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on bailing one job for another after 3 months Posted: 29 Apr 2019 06:20 PM PDT EDIT: Thanks for the advice everyone. I forgot to mention one cruci detail. The new job is a one-year contract. They anticipate that it will continue beyond the first year, but can only guarantee one due to budgeting issues. But the job is with the state and seems like a great opportunity to get my foot in the door regardless of what happens in a year. I started a new job at the beginning of March after getting laid off from my previous job. They offered me a salary about 12,000 less than my previous salary. It's in a smaller city and it's a smaller company than my last job so it made sense that some kind of pay cut would be warranted, but I still felt like it was too low. I was able to negotiate $2,000 more. A couple weeks ago, I heard back from another employer about a job I had applied for at the same time as the one I have now requesting an interview. Normally I would have declined saying I had already accepted a job offer, but this job would be way better for me for several reasons. It would cut my commute in half, better benefits, and the pay is $10,000 more a year than I'm making now. Well, today I was offered the job by the other employer. I asked them to let me sleep on it and told them I'd get back to them in the morning. My question is, is it a dick move for me to bail on my current employer after just three months? I feel terrible, because they've invested a lot of time showing me how to do things, everyone is really nice and has been super supportive and told me I'm doing a great job. But I feel like the salary is inadequate for my field and this area, and the other job would just put me in such a better place. What do people think? [link] [comments]  |
| Local Bank Offers 5% APY on Checking Accounts. Should I be Skeptical? Posted: 29 Apr 2019 06:14 PM PDT So this bank has existed for longer than I have. My parents used to many decades ago and have said good things regarding it. I plan on opening an account with them, but 5% APY seems insane and I wanted to rule out any possible issues. Terms:
None of this would be an issue for me. I usually keep around $1000 in checking, but I might consider keeping $2500 due to the fact that 5% APY is higher than my savings return. So, am I missing something? If anyone wants to look over the website, here it is. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2019 03:43 PM PDT Inherited a gold bar with "1kg 999.9" stamped on the front. I have no documentation that it belonged to my dad though. He had no will. There are no receipts or anything like that. Just the dumb bar. . I want to sell it and split it with my sister without doing anything illegal. What will get me the most net from the sale? What kind of taxes do I need to report for this thing? Really lost... [link] [comments]  |
| Just received a small check from United States Treasury Posted: 29 Apr 2019 03:40 PM PDT Today I received a check for $5.92 from the United States Treasury. I have no idea why I'm getting this check. There is a some text on the check as follows... PRED PHILAD 12/2012 TAX REFUND 30 INT $ .28 Is this a check from my 2012 taxes? Is there a way to find out what this check is from? [link] [comments]  |
| Trying to build a plan to get out of $90k debt Posted: 29 Apr 2019 01:11 PM PDT I (34M) am $90,500 in debt. I owe $60,000 in federal student loans. I owe $9,000 on a personal loan. I owe $9,000 to American Express. I owe $5,000 to Chase Visa I owe $4,000 to Citi MasterCard I owe $3,500 to PayPal credit I grew up in a very poor, immigrant family in the US, often homeless. I was raised in a variety of group homes and foster homes from age 8-18. I was a first-generation college grad with no family support so I took out max loans along with the grants. Worked in nonprofits for 5 years hoping to qualify for federal loan forgiveness. I wanted to pay forward the help many nameless social workers gave me. The state had a record-setting budget impasse and I racked up credit card debt during the many layoffs. Married, then divorced, then depressed then suicidal when wife turned out to be impressively unfaithful. Counseling and retail therapy threw more on credit cards. My share of the wedding had also added about $10,000 to it. I now work in digital marketing making $42,000 a year. I occasionally freelance, adding maybe $5,000 a year. I take home $2,600 or so a month and pay a little over $1,300 in minimum payments of just this debt. I know and accept that all of this is because of me and my choices. I'm trying to cut costs but life issues/I keep getting in the way. Tire blowout, car towed, broken phone, etc. I also keep getting surprised by renewal charges and services that I vaguely remember signing up for. The most expensive ones were to make my work easier. I have many payment options saved via Apple Pay, in a cloud-passed credentials manager and other 'one-click charge solutions'. I rent a guest house so tiny, I can trip and be in three rooms when I fall. My neighbors are a junkyard, an auto repair shop and some kind of industrial pallet yard. Rent is $500 a month mostly because my landlord is someone I helped a lot during my nonprofit time (rent in my area is normally in the $900-$1,100 range). So I live paycheck to overdraft, month after month. In fact, I just got an alert that my balance just went under my alert threshold. So that's fun. Meanwhile, I got engaged. Fiancee has no debt, but makes less than me. Has lots of family support. The wedding is looking expensive. I am contributing what I can when I can, but we're both on the same page for my plan. She wants to help me stick to my plan after the wedding. ---------------- My plan:
Edit:
I feel [link] [comments]  |
| How much of your portfolio is in investments? Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:00 PM PDT I'm a 29 year old single female living in NYC. I make $104,000 a year and keep my spending low ($1100 for rent and I spend ~$2500 total a month). I'm maxing out my 401k and invest $1400 a month into my vanguard account. I still have money left at the end of the month. I'm nervous that I have too much sitting in a savings account. Should I be investing everything I don't spend? Cash Total: $42,500
Investments Total: $118,143
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| Buying A House With Retirement Posted: 29 Apr 2019 07:26 PM PDT Hey all! So I've made a decision that I'm having kind of a hard time reconciling mentally, reason being that general wisdom makes my decision "feel" wrong, but I keep countering that feeling with situational logic. I am 32, married with two children and my father will most likely die in our house. I've been working in government IT for the last 10 years in a place where the cost of living is obscenely high. Additionally, I've started running my own development business that's bringing in significantly more income than my 8-5. As my family is growing, I've decided to ditch my soul crushing day job and move across the country to the land of cheap housing and better job opportunities! What's occurred to me is that if I were to combine the equity in my house with the 10 years worth of state retirement (after fees and taxes), I can afford to put 100% down on the new 3200sqft home. Raiding retirement sounds insane, but I just can't help but feel like it makes sense here.
So, am I making the biggest mistake of my life here, or is there some merit to this? I know, I know, never touch your retirement, but it just seems like it makes a lot of sense given the payoff and the capacity to recoup. [link] [comments]  |
| How to deal with fear of finances Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:52 PM PDT Throwaway because I'm unreasonably paranoid. Not sure if anyone out there has experienced this, but I'm looking for some advice. I have this irrational fear of dealing with my finances, and it's starting to really negatively effect my life. I will put off bills until the last possible minute, I'm terrified of looking at my online banking, and the process of doing my taxes makes me sick to my stomach. It takes all of my will power to open a piece of mail that I think may contain bad news. I make a very decent living, (approx 95k a year) and I always feel poor. My money management sucks because I refuse to deal with things as they appear. A few things have slipped through the cracks and my credit score has taken a hit because of it. I know that this isn't a feasible way to live as an adult, but I don't even know where to start with this issue. I want to get better but my fears and anxiety overwhelm that want. Most importantly, my girlfriend and I are planning on getting married, and I want to enter that marriage as a person who can deal with these issues without it feeling like I'm drowning. Have any of you ever dealt with something like this? Are there any books or other resources to get me started on a path to properly dealing with this? [link] [comments]  |
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