Personal Finance Teachers and students can download Microsoft Educator 365 and get all Microsoft Office programs for free, as opposed to the typical $99.99/year subscription price! |
- Teachers and students can download Microsoft Educator 365 and get all Microsoft Office programs for free, as opposed to the typical $99.99/year subscription price!
- Need Advice. $30,000 in credit cards. $7,500 in medical bills. Wife in hospital long-term for mental health issues. I have 3 young kids. I'm about to be sent to collections. Help me!
- Hopeless financially at 33.
- Credit score obsession
- (a cry for help) I'm 18 and scared to death. I don't know how the adult world works at all but I feel it's time to uproot.
- My company wants to send me to another country for 6 months, but don't want to pay for anything besides my flight. Is this normal?
- I finalized the purchase of my first home and 4 hours later I was fired from my job - budgeting help!
- How to find odd jobs or offer similar services?
- How I Came to Personal Finance
- Cancer diagnosis for single income family (US)
- 26 years old, no debts, need help with Roth IRAs and moving my 66K out of savings.
- How to transfer banks efficiently?
- Second car for 1 person?
- Opinions on Vanguard target retirement funds vs managing your own four fund portfolio
- Homeless in 3 days, brain won't work due to stress.
- If you're renting, overpay your rent by a little bit each month. When you move, your last month(s) will already be paid, so you can use that extra income to pay for deposits and moving expenses.
- Just approved for SSI
- Help with certifications while in school
- Bank Refusing to reimburse a fraudulent transaction
- Student Loan & Scholarship Help for Grad School
- I have decided to pay all college tuition and expense for a relative for the next school year. How should I go about this regarding tax?
- Moving out of my mom’s house: What’s the most cost effective way to buy a new bed?
- How to invest my internship money?
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 06:09 AM PDT I wasn't sure what the best sub to post this in would be, but I wanted to get the word out! My wife is a teacher and is required to have Microsoft Office on her laptop. We bought her a new laptop for the school year and, while at Best Buy, the salesman was telling us that the only way to get Office was through the yearly subscription. I thought that didn't sound right, so I decided to do some digging. Sure enough, if you go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office and have a valid school email address you can get Microsoft Office free, for the duration of your schooling or teaching career! Hope this helps all the teachers and students out there! Edit: A few people have also recommended LibreOffice, which is another free program, thought I'd go ahead and provide the link to that as well! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 12:46 PM PDT I have $4000 in checking and savings. we depended on my wife's additional income before she went to the hospital with seizures in march. She hasn't worked in 3 months and likely won't for the foreseeable future. I am working overtime and picked up a part time job to make up for that income - but now I have $7500 in medical bills which are going to collection soon. I don't have money to pay the med bills without draining the checking account needed for rent and utilities. Here are my options for the medical bills:
I have 3 small children - 2 aren't in school yet and have a cheap at home nanny for them. family can't help during the week. I have $150,000 of debt in mortgage ($100,000), student loans ($20,000), and credit cards ($30,000). Absolute minimum monthly bills are $4,600 with nothing going to savings. I make $4,200 from my main job and about $400-$600 from my part time job. I live in Michigan. My Wife's job doesn't offer disability. What can I do? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 01:55 PM PDT First let me say some of the posts in personalfinance feel a little intimidating as far as what some people make. I am a 33f no college education, but I think I'm fairly intelligent. I am currently working as a "coordinator" which to me feels like a dirty word where it just means everything I do is under the "other duties as assigned" part of my job description while other people get paid a lot more money. I have been in various roles over the years with other companies and I thought the best way to get ahead anywhere is to start where I can and make my way up by showing dedication and putting in hard work. This does not seem to be helping me make more money. I am currently making about $35k a year gross, and struggling to make it financially. I have two small kids and lots of bills and no help from family. My husband is in construction and while he helps out with a little bit here and there he is not exactly swimming in the dough. Combined if I have to estimate how much we make together it would be less than $50k but it's hard to tell because he mostly does cash jobs. I know I am in the throes of a deep depression here but I truly am so overwhelmed trying to be responsible for my family and navigate my own way into feeling more satisfied with my job or finding a career better yet, and making enough money to support my family let alone put anything away. I do have a 401k through work and there is employer match but it seems to have lost money so far this year if anything. I have $0 in long term savings. My paycheck is spent and then some every pay period. How do you find your dream job and make a lot of money at it? I have no idea what I want to do with my life or how with so little extra time and support. Sorry for the long rant. I have made a lot of mistakes and I know that I am just hoping someone has been through this same scenario or worse and come out to the land of stability at some point. Thanks for your time. EDIT - I just wanted to clarify the situation regarding my husbands income since I didn't give a lot of detail about the ballpark of $15k...he owns his own business doing renovations (which I mistakenly generalized as construction) such as painting, drywall, tile, cabinet installation, windows, etc. He started it over a year ago when we moved from one place to another and generally gets cash payment for these jobs which are sometimes sporadic. He is licensed and insured. My income is $35k a year gross approximately (a little over $25k net after taxes, 401k, personal insurance, and life insurance for both of us). His gave me approximately $1000 a month cash in inconsistent increments over the last year towards our expenses/household income. I do not know if he made more than this and is keeping it separate, spending it, etc. he uses our debit card for food, gas, and other things he wants and i see he keeps cash in his wallet for his "vices." I have spoken with him several times about the need for more money but it usually results in fighting. I will admit that I am not always coming to him from a calm adult like place, sometimes there is criticism, and frustration which makes talking about it impossible. He does not ask me about our bank or credit card balances (this has caused overdraft problems) and has little interest in being involved in paying our expenses. He gets overwhelmed easily for one reason or another. This tends to piss me off because I have a lot on my plate managing the bills, buying groceries, taking kids to and from daycare, making dinner, stressing, and more stressing. I know he is trying to help support us in his own way even if it's not enough. I am not trying to defend him because I often have the same thoughts which I express out loud a lot. He has made mistakes with his business including poor time and money management, hiring the wrong people to help him with work, being maxed out on time by our own family members who ask for favors, among other things. I grew up very independent due to family issues, so making my own money and being successful are important. I have tried not to give up and it's very hard for me to rely on anyone to take care of me or fix my mistakes. I have made a lot of them, especially with money over the years but I am trying to get better it has just been challenging and it doesn't seem like there is a quick ending to this stress I'm going through. In a lot of ways I feel like I'm so overwhelmed that even with easy solutions it's hard for me to push myself to do anything. At the moment I am also not feeling very successful. I was raised (or maybe brainwashed) into thinking success was fancy titles at work, possessions, and being well known. I am none of these things but I still hear critical words from family members regularly and get reminded that "I'm not getting any younger" while they talk about friends kids or even my step brothers and sisters who are making six figures a year. I don't even know how to get to step b. Thanks for your patience with my emotional and scattered post. I understand if this is not the forum but maybe it will give a little light on how I've managed to "dig a hole" as someone put it. It definitely is friend. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 01:05 PM PDT This sub has an unhealthy obsession with credit scores. Over the past week I have seen the following questions posted: Should I take out a loan to build credit? Will paying off my loan lower my credit score? My credit score dropped 20 points! What should I do? Should I pay my credit card bill every day to boost my credit score? Instead of focusing on your score you should be working to improve your overall financial situation. Maximize your salary. Pay off your debts. Never be late on a payment. Only borrow when absolutely necessary. Live within your means. Establish an emergency fund. If you do these simple things your credit score will rise naturally. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 02:31 AM PDT I'm working full time at Walmart right now but I only have a high school equivalency (homeschooled) and no money for college. My dream is to get my own place, live comfortably, and be able to secure my future self a job that can support a small family. But I've been stalling on everything for so long due to my depression, and being medicated has made me realize how much I've fucked up. I'm on my second gap year and still can't even drive, my chronically ill mother takes me to work 5 days a week and I feel awful. I have a permit but haven't even gotten behind the wheel. I have no particular job field that interests me and I feel like no matter what I pick I'm going to hate it. So on top of being broke, I also have no visions for the future at all but I'm still dreaming of that white picket fence life. If there are college alternatives, please help me find them. I don't know what I can do. Please help me figure out my future. I'm exhausted, I'm upset, I'm scared, and I'm making a legitimate cry for help. The adult world is scary and although I want to leave the nest, I'm completely lost and scared to death in the adult world. The only thing that scares me more than leaving is never leaving. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 01:20 PM PDT I work for a small company and they have talked about sending me to the UK off-and-on for the past year. I have told them I would love to go, but ideally just for a few months. They finally asked me to go for 6 months and they want me there relatively soon. However, they asked me what my living situation is and if I can sublease my current apartment or put my stuff in storage while I'm there. I verified with my boss that they won't be paying for my housing (the cost of living there is slightly below where I live now) and it doesn't really sound like they will be giving me any sort of stipend either (although this has not been completely verified). I talked to a couple friends and have gotten conflicting answers from "sounds normal" to "wtf are they smoking." I would love to go, but I am thinking of a million little costs that are going to add up: putting my car in storage, having to eat out more (I doubt furnished apartments come with all the kitchenware I am used to using), extra costs for cell phone and gym, taking public transit or renting a car, etc. I'm already underpaid at this place, but there are various reasons I stick around. I think I'm going to do some more research and go back to them next week with a number I will need in order to do this (likely rent + a couple hundred/week as a stipend). Hoping for opinions on if what they're offering is typical or completely exploitative or somewhere in the middle. I want to make this work and as excited as I was when they first asked, I'm now a little miffed that I may have to walk away from this opportunity because of finances. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 07:39 PM PDT Sorry for the "give me finance advice for my very specific situation" post but I've read a lot of these threads and am still curious about some things. My stats:
The good news is I'm still receiving about $200k from back pay and miscellaneous things. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with that while giving myself enough breathing room to take a much needed break from work. My idea was to recast my mortgage, I think my lender told me if I recast for $200k my mortgage drops about $1000/mo, so basically my monthly bill for housing would reduce to $400/mo. Is this the right way to go, though? Should I be investing some of this new money? I'm very risk adverse. And while taking time off work it seems very appealing to only have to pay $400/mo for housing. Thoughts? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| How to find odd jobs or offer similar services? Posted: 08 Jun 2019 03:47 PM PDT I am a currently looking to add some other income in my spare time with odd jobs. I already work full time, and the extra income would be very nice to help add to my savings for the car I'm eventually going to buy. My issue is, I am having trouble finding odd jobs in my area. I have looked on things like Craigslist, but I don't see anything there, and otherwise, I'm not sure where to look or how to go about offering whatever services I can provide. Any suggestions? [link] [comments]  |
| How I Came to Personal Finance Posted: 08 Jun 2019 09:59 AM PDT Hi All, I wanted to share my story of how I came to this sub and my circumstances. If you are reading this, please take the concepts from this sub and start applying them to your finances. If you ever manage to get to a good job like I do, you will need the knowledge to make use of the large salary you get. Not all debt problems are solved by having a larger salary, although it definitely doesn't hurt. Here is my story: I've always been good at making enough money to cover any bills or debt I had, but terrible at keeping it. When I was in high school I was making $15 an hour at a time when most of the people I knew were making $7-8. I had a nice Audi and I never missed a payment for it or the large insurance I had to pay to keep it. I always managed to rack up credit card debt, but never to the point that I could not pay it. After college I would take a second job to pay my bills if I needed to. I made around 40k per year after college with a few jobs. I increased my credit card debt. I kept managing to keep my monthly bills paid, but I never really manged to pay any of the cards off altogether. I rationalized that I would do it some day when I had a higher paying salary. Years later I finally hit my big break at work and negotiated what I considered at the time to be a huge salary. I had to relocate across the country with my family, but we all decided to give it a shot. My wife and I bought a huge house, she had brand new cars and we shared everything. Then, my father passed away suddenly and I inherited a large lump sum life insurance payment. I had no debt except for the house and car payments. Life was great. About a year into my new life my wife and I divorced, and it was an ugly one. My 401k was drained out and by the time I managed to get the house sold, I was in debt for around $50,000. The divorce put me in a terrible position and I did what I had always done to make sure my bills were paid on time each month, and they were. My credit had no late payments. In the end I managed to pay down about half the debt I had built up from the divorce and started to rebuild my life. A few years later I was picked up by a new company and my salary was now over the six figure range. I had to relocate again, but I was single and had a huge salary. What could go wrong? It was an easy decision. When I arrived in my new job and city, I found the cost of living was about 30% higher than where I lived before. I had done some basic math and could cover the expenses no problem. I stopped really paying my debt down and went back to my old ways of buying what I wanted under the idea that I always pay my bills, and I can just pay down the debt later when the next big break comes. I never budgeted anything beyond my next pay check. A year later I was pondering my life. I had all these bills and it felt like I had no money. I couldn't understand it. My debt had been about the same from when I relocated, $25,000, my salary was huge and I lived in a small 1-bedroom apartment. How could it possibly be that I felt like I was not earning much more than when I was in high school paying for my expensive car? I didn't have a nice car, I didn't have nice clothes, so what gives? I started really looking at my situation. I found this sub, I read everything, and I started using a budget program (YNAB). I found that I was eating out nearly every day, multiple times. I had a fancy computer and was spending a lot of money on games that half the time I didn't even play much. I was spending tons of money on expensive alcohol. I had 3 credit cards, and a truck loan to pay off. Two of those credit cards had 25% interest rates (more or less). I couldn't believe it. I had these 3 cards for probably 10 years and I never once bothered to look at the interest rate. It's been about 4 months since then and I've nearly paid off one of the 25% interest cards, my truck will be paid this month and then I'll tackle the next 25% card. I then started looking at my high salary and after reading through a lot of the posts and wiki here and other similar subs I realized how much of my salary is being fruitlessly wasted to taxes. My company has a 401k that I can only put in 5% to right now because of my debt. My company also has an HSA plan that I'm only contributing a little bit to. I have no IRAs, nothing. My "huge" salary is going to credit card interest, loan interest and Federal/state tax withholdings. It's insane. I had no idea how much I have been losing over the years. I don't even want to know how much money in my lifetime I've just given away to interest or taxes. Money I could have been using towards savings or retiring early. I've learned my lesson and I plan to pay off the remainder of my debt, save up about 6 months of essential bills and then really start investing my money into 401k, IRAs, HSA and go from there. Thanks for reading my story. TLDR: Was good at making money but an idiot with keeping my money for most of my life and now I'm working on fixing my debt/finances. [link] [comments]  |
| Cancer diagnosis for single income family (US) Posted: 08 Jun 2019 01:18 PM PDT Well the worst of the worst just happened. I'm two months into a new job and I just found out I have cancer that needs treatment. The difficulty is I'm the sole breadwinner. My wife is a SAHM and doesn't have a career before that aside from occasional childcare or retail. Her career prospects don't look like they would support us if I stopped working. To make matters worse we just moved cross country and purchased a condo. Our mortgage is around 2000/month. Chances are highly likely I won't be able to work when chemo treatments get intensive. Which it looks like they will. I also have a feeling I'll be let go from my job when I start calling out excessively for not feeling well and appointments/treatments. Since I haven't been employed a year I don't qualify for FMLA We currently have 50k in savings. It can carry us while I get treated but if I have to go on COBRA combined with our mortgage that is going to disappear quickly. Aside from my health I'm terrified for my financial outlook. COBRA ain't cheap. My wife has family out here who I'm sure would take us in if it came down to it but they don't really have room to fit us in their house. My father has a house with room for us to live back east. I'm sure he would ask for maybe utilities at the most. The difficulty is if we do move back east I will definitely have no insurance where I could roll the dice and see if I can somehow work and continue to get treatment. From everything I've read of the cancer I have I don't know how likely this is I can continue working. So my options are move back east where even if we needed to get COBRA on what we have saved we can afford two years of it into a not optimal living situation but we will definitely have financial security. Or stay on the west coast and roll the dice on me staying employed. To complicate matters I just bought this property. It's in a hot enough market I can turn it over and break even or lose a few thousand after closing costs. But what I would get back is probably 10k, making our full assets 60k. I do have good job prospects back east from former employers who would take me back in a heartbeat. But they might not have open benefitted positions available immediately. Chances are I could find a job as soon as we moved back east but I'd be in the same situation again, having to go on leave or not working at all once I get too weak. I still wouldn't qualify for FMLA. And there's a chance I won't have insurance immediately. It's a hard decision because right now I have insurance but I'm not sure how long that's going to last. To complicate matters I think I'll need to start treatment immediately so I have to decide soon. Thanks for your guidance. [link] [comments]  |
| 26 years old, no debts, need help with Roth IRAs and moving my 66K out of savings. Posted: 08 Jun 2019 05:47 PM PDT Hi all, I'm not well versed in personal finance yet but am trying to learn. I have a lot of money sitting in savings and would like to move it somewhere to grow more quickly rather than just keep up with inflation. My primary goal is to open a Roth IRA and I have narrowed it down to Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab. This is something that I would like to just contribute to and then not think about or touch until I'm older. The only difference between providers seems to be trade fees, and I'm not sure how that would affect me if I used only index funds. Current accounts are: 66K in savings with 2.08% interest 33.5K in Vanguard 401K, currently contributing 10% No debts. Living expenses are very cheap due to having roommates, ~$200/month. Car is paid off. I would like to buy a (small, affordable) house in the next year or two but am currently trying to save as much as possible (~3K a month). I don't want a down payment (40Kish) tied up somewhere that I can't access though. What would be the best option here? Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| How to transfer banks efficiently? Posted: 08 Jun 2019 06:34 PM PDT I'm in the process of trying to switch from Bank of America to Navy Federal, but I'm hitting some hiccups. I have a credit card with BofA, at this point close to maxed out at almost $2000 in debt. It's not a huge deal to me right now, I can have it paid off in 2 months easy. But the only way to pay it is through transfer from my BofA checking account. I would really like to be able to close the bank account and cancel the credit card as soon as that card is paid off. However, I just ended a car lease and my credit score dropped 50 points. I'm now very worried about closing that account. It's my second oldest credit card, so my average credit history would drop. And apparently you can lose credit points just for closing an account? It's VERY important to me to have my score over 700 by February next year. It was at 700 before it dropped when I closed my lease. I need to get another car lease in February and I'm worried I won't get good options if my credit is under 700. I'm considering opening a new credit card through Navy Federal, with a 0% intro APR. transfer the credit, close the accounts and be done with it sooner rather than later to give my credit enough time to bounce back before I really need it again. Even if I can't get a $2000 limit, I can transfer the max amount and pay the rest off. I just don't want to hit my credit if I'm not going to qualify for it at all, or if this is a really stupid idea. Also, I really hate the idea of switching banks in general, and having to go through and update my payment information for everything, but I hate BofA at this point more than almost anything. Any advice on how to best handle this with the least impact on my credit score? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 06:05 PM PDT Ok so I'm currently 19 don't really have any bills to pay I have a payed off 1999 mustang it's a great car with low miles and Runs great, here's the problem I live in the middle of Ohio and it's let's say not so great in the winter it's ok for now because I only live about 5 minutes from my work and in the middle of the city but soon me and my family will be moving, will be about 15-20m away from my work taking mostly back roads and I'll have to drive along a gravel road for a bit and I don't see this going well in the winter anyway sorry for the long back story What I'm asking is would it be stupid at my age to buy a second truck/SUV for its 4WD for winter and moving stuff/more people around? Money wise I have about 10k saved and make around 800 every 2 weeks pretax just looking for advice! [link] [comments]  |
| Opinions on Vanguard target retirement funds vs managing your own four fund portfolio Posted: 08 Jun 2019 02:14 PM PDT Looking for opinions on whether it's worth it to manage your own four fund portfolio versus investing in a Vanguard target retirement fund. It looks like the target retirement funds have expense ratios of 0.15%, whereas the popular component funds used to create a four fund portfolio have expense ratios of 0.04% to 0.11%. Is the savings of 0.11% to 0.04% worth managing it yourself? How long do you have to neglect your four fund portfolio before you would have been better off letting Vanguard take care of it? [link] [comments]  |
| Homeless in 3 days, brain won't work due to stress. Posted: 08 Jun 2019 11:27 AM PDT Hello everyone, I am sorry if this doesn't belong here. In three days (Monday) my fiance and I will be evicted from our apartment and have no where to go. Our friends and family are in no position to help and after a very long stretch of hovering above hell and trying and doing everything to try to get out of our funk; we are now falling in. We both go to a methadone clinic which we are dosing out of and as of the end of July will free up 660$ that a long with cell phones and cigs our monthly absolute requirements are about 800$ a month. My fiance works at amc full time and is looking for another job total she brings in 300$ every two weeks and I started a job working 15$ hr working 7 days a week so I'm bringing in about 5/600 a well. We just got our car plated and as soon as I get 200$ i will get my fiances license un-suspended and as of now we have 80$ to our name. My question is honestly wtf do i do? I would kill myself but my daughter and my fiances son won't allow me to do that (I could never leave them). I just need someone to tell me what to do because I'm just at the end of my rope emotionally and mentally....hell even spiritually. Edit: Thank you guys for all of the ideas and kind words. I have been able to calm my mind a bit now and am hopeful that perhaps this room rental will present an opportunity for me to better myself and become the father figure my kids deserve. Life is always worth living, I guess it's the only thing you really truly have eh? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 08:09 PM PDT Just make sure you and your landlord/agency are keeping track of the excess in payments. This can also help if you have a financial emergency that saps your rent money. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 02:59 PM PDT I was just approved for supplemental security income, I'm 20 and applied when I was 18 so I will be getting back pay. I just learned there is so many rules with SSI it is mind blowing. I cannot have over $2000 total in assets unless it is an an ABLE bank account. And then it can only be used for things to do with my health like medical expenses and housing. I am living with my parents and have to pay them rent, according to the SSA I am supposed to pay them market value or my payment will be reduced. Market value is about equivalent to the actual full monthly ssi payment of 771? How is that expected to work? I have a vehicle that costs 180$ a month to ensure. I haven't been able to get a job because of the health problems. I don't understand the rules let alone how I'm supposed to live by them without being penalized by the SSA. It's a shot in the dark but if anyone has experience with this any help would amazing. [link] [comments]  |
| Help with certifications while in school Posted: 08 Jun 2019 07:47 PM PDT I hope this is okay to ask here as I'm not sure where else to go- if there's a better place to ask please let me know! I'm currently looking for a class, certification or anything that can give me "experience" in a timely manner that can get me a better paying job while I'm still in school for Business/Finance. Background- I was a foreman of a landscape company for four years, making pretty decent money, but I couldn't further my career anymore. I took an entry level office job at a good company to grow with while I continue in school. That job came with a huge paycut though, as I was having trouble getting anything without much real experience. For example, I've applied to a few Accounting Assistant positions, but haven't had any luck because I don't have accounts payable experience.. even though I know as a quick learner I would be able to do the job. I'm hoping I can find something to take online over the summer to help me be able to get past the issue of not having any experience to show. Thanks guys! [link] [comments]  |
| Bank Refusing to reimburse a fraudulent transaction Posted: 08 Jun 2019 03:55 PM PDT Just a month ago one night I received a text as a two-step verification from TD Bank. I was surprised as I was watching the news and wasn't trying to login. I was confused as all kinds of thoughts were racing in my head. a few minutes later I tried to log in to my online banking, I notice my phone was completely off. On the screen was a message Sim is not provisioned. I opened my laptop and tried to chat with ATT support to find out why the phone was off. Suprise! My cell phone number was ported out to T-Mobile without my approval. Now, I was really confused. I logged into my bank account and I was shocked to see a withdrawal of $989.00 to Brian Santiago. I immediately reported the incident to the bank and blocked the account. I got a police report and submitted to the bank. Now, the bank is refusing to reimburse me. Investigator reached a conclusion that all information to get the money matched, based on that no reimbursement. I called the local police, no response, they said the investigator will contact you. I called ATT asked them to provide me the detailed report of that day so I could go to police and bank to prove to them that it was stolen by someone. ATT replied that they will provide the report only if I get an attorney. It took 30 sec for hackers to get my cell number and it took ATT 1 week to get my number back from T-Mobile. By the way, ATT is the worst mismanaged company. How could I resolve this issue? ATT is useless. TD Bank is refusing and police are to busy to pay attention to my problem. Hackers used Zelle to transfer money from my checking. I have to get my money back it is not fare. We are not protected at all then! [link] [comments]  |
| Student Loan & Scholarship Help for Grad School Posted: 08 Jun 2019 07:37 PM PDT Hello! I am in need of some advice regarding taking out loans and finding appropriate scholarships for graduate school. I will be attending Arizona State University for a Masters degree in violin performance pedagogy. Because I am going into music (and esp at a Masters level) there are very few scholarships available, all of which are very competitive. Thus, I did not receive a scholarship or grant from ASU or their School of Music to help cover my tuition costs. There are not any TA or GA positions open; they were all accepted by incoming students. I am in close contact with my advising professor regarding available scholarships and assistantships. I have no significant savings. Most of the money I have saved will be used for my move from Michigan to Arizona. I live with my significant other who currently works full time as an assistant manager in retail and plans to continue doing so when we move to AZ. My SO will be my primary means of support while I'm in school, and I will also continue to work part time. As a graduate student, I am required to take a minimum of 9 credits per semester. The tuition cost for 9 credits (plus program and student activity fees) is $12,600. The tuition cost may get closer to $15,000 if I take additional credits in future semesters. The program is two years long. As far as financial aid, I was "awarded" a Direct Unsubsidized Loan for $10,250 and a Direct Graduate PLUS Loan for $15,799 for both 2019 and 2020 semesters. I would not accept both loans in entirety; I would accept the full $10,250 of the unsubsidized and $7,000 of the PLUS. $12,600 would go toward tuition and $5000 of the PLUS loan would be used for living expenses. I have also been searching endlessly for outside scholarships on FastWeb, Niche, Unigo, and other sites but cannot help but feel like they are not very legitimate. What are your thoughts on these sites? Are there better places to look for scholarships? I have been able to go this far without accumulating debt, but I currently see this as my defeat! Any financial advice is welcome. Are there any benefits, caveats, or advice you may have pertaining to accepting such loans? Is it wise to take out additional money for living expenses since I cannot work full time? And finally, where the heck can I find legitimate scholarships? Thank you! Edit: added info [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2019 02:22 PM PDT The relative is not a dependent and is over 18. Their family has some unexpected hardship. I have decided to cover all costs for her next year. Is there anything that I can do regarding tax? [link] [comments]  |
| Moving out of my mom’s house: What’s the most cost effective way to buy a new bed? Posted: 08 Jun 2019 11:14 AM PDT Hi, I'm moving out my moms house next week and I need a bed, including mattress. To be honest, I had no idea they were so expensive. Does anyone know of cheap websites/places to get full bed sets? I live in the DMV, US. I appreciate the help! [link] [comments]  |
| How to invest my internship money? Posted: 08 Jun 2019 03:27 PM PDT I just finished my third year at college and will make about $25,000 pre-taxed this summer so I should have about $10,000 to $15,000 left. How should I best invest this money since I don't buy a lot of things and my expenses are pretty low because I'm staying at home. I already have a high yield saving account with 6k in it and about 3k in acorns, and 5k on robinhood(overall loss right now though). [link] [comments]  |
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