Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of June 28, 2019 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of June 28, 2019
- My roommate has screwed me over, looking for advice
- Had a panic attack while driving. Had the EMTs called on me. EMTs did nothing but check my pulse and blood pressure. Got hit with a bill for $461 that my insurance is rejecting. How do I go about contesting this?
- Fed Loan put my boyfriend's student loans on an extended graduated plan without him asking.
- Husband's disability pay was stolen. Not sure what else we can do
- Got suckered into a Whole Life Insurance policy and not sure whether to cancel
- Filling the Void after Debt Struggle
- Leaving Job to go back to school: What do I do with my 401k?
- Lifestyle Creep
- I found out the new hire I've been training makes more than me. Advice?
- Haven't used a credit card in ~6 months, rejected for new CC application, credit score dropped 105 points from 740 to 637
- Inheritance from grandpa... what to do with it?
- Just received $20,000 at 19, what do I do with it?
- Do you have a positive/negative experience with Amazon Prime Visa Rewards card?
- Roth IRA better if you also heavily invest on your own portfolio?
- Stressed out of my mind as a college student. Maybe you guys can give me some advice?
- ELI5: backdoor Roth Ira and income eligibility for traditional vs Roth IRA
- Grandfather is going to buy me a car ~$15k after I graduate high school.
- Why can't I open a bank account?
- Am I in a proper circumstance to ask for a discount on my rent this month?
- Selling house after I just bought it.
- How big should your emergency savings really be?
- Checking account overdrawn by 3000
- I need help getting out of this sticky situation
- I quit my job and started my own company. I need advice on what to do with my current 401(k)'s and future retirement savings
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of June 28, 2019 Posted: 28 Jun 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]  |
| My roommate has screwed me over, looking for advice Posted: 28 Jun 2019 07:21 AM PDT I originally posted this on r/kindvoice and was recommended to post here for advice on the financial side of this situation. This story is long and complicated, but here's a sort of summary. I met my roommate on a dating site a little over a year ago. We went out once but ended up becoming friends instead of dating. In January she went through some stuff with her roommates and ended up staying with me at my sister's house where I was renting a room. I purchased a condo at that time, got the keys on February 1st. I let my friend move in rent free because she was still paying rent at the other apartment until May. Since January she's taken advantage of me in many ways - financially and emotionally. I basically supported her for a bit because she lost her job. I have about $14,000 in credit card debt, much of which has racked up because of her. In May, she scraped the side of my car along my garage, didn't offer an apology, and expected me to use my insurance to pay for the damages. She borrowed money from me countless times, asking me for gas money, expecting me to buy groceries, and always saying "thank you" profusely. I don't know when I realized that she didn't intend to pay me back, but today I went to the bank to see about debt consolidation. I was denied a loan from my longtime bank because of the sudden increase in my balances. I walked out of the bank, sat in my car and cried. I know I still have options, but it was overwhelming. Not only are there financial difficulties - she's difficult to live with. She doesn't flush the toilet, she calls my dog "our dog" but never takes her out or plays with her (unless it's for her Snapchat story), she uses my makeup and brushes, and has been making some mean comments lately. I don't understand why she is treating me this way - there was no foreshadowing before she moved in. I know I gave too much, I enabled her. But she's 26, she should never have taken advantage of me this way and I don't think I can respect her anymore. I have a hard time trusting people and she's broken my trust so many times now. I need to tell her to move out. Or maybe I can stick this out, but a talk needs to happen. I'm not good with confrontation and I don't know what to say. I feel like the bad guy. She has nowhere to go and I have no one else to move in. If you have read this far, thank you. I don't really have anyone to talk to about this. Everyone else has stuff of their own and I hate bothering people. Thank you. Edit: many people are assuming I'm a male. I am a 22 yo female. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:03 PM PDT Title pretty much explains it all. I was driving through Pennsylvania and had a panic attack. I pulled over and walked into a hotel lobby to try to settle down. The guy behind the counter saw me and called emergency services. The EMTs showed up for a half hour and all they did was check my blood pressure and pulse. A month later I get hit with a bill for $461 which my insurance is rejecting. The bill is itemized as follows: Control gloves - qty 2 - unit price $1 - amount $2 Bls treatment no transport - qty 1 - unit price $459 - amount $459. I didn't even call the EMTs, they didn't do anything other than check my pulse and bp, and they want almost $500 for this. That is ridiculous in my book. Are the EMTs making $500 an hour? I'd just like to know they best way to go about handling this bill as I'm very tempted just not to pay it. I don't want the hit to my credit though. [link] [comments]  |
| Fed Loan put my boyfriend's student loans on an extended graduated plan without him asking. Posted: 28 Jun 2019 09:34 AM PDT He already fixed the issue (just had to "apply" for them to be put back on the standard repayment plan), but I thought it was very sneaky that they moved him to a plan that would essentially triple the amount they would get back in repayment without consulting him. He also recently noticed that half of his loans are in forbearance without him asking - he's currently working with their support team to fix it. Just a heads up for anyone who has Fed Loans. Make sure you're on the standard payment plan. Edit: Thanks for everyone's comments! I now realize that it might actually be better for him to just continue to make the standard level of repayment while keeping the other loans on extended so that I can tackle the higher-interest ones more quickly. [link] [comments]  |
| Husband's disability pay was stolen. Not sure what else we can do Posted: 28 Jun 2019 11:40 AM PDT Husband and I are both veterans. This morning I noticed that my pay was deposited and not my husband's. He logged into his eBenefits account and his direct deposit information had been changed, effective June 17th. It was changed over the phone, which is why he did not receive an email notification. My husband is unemployed and 100% disabled. Someone received a nice payment of over $3000 this morning.
The card company did say that if we faxed them proof of identity and address, they would change the account info over so we could access it. Do/Should we do this? Or do we need to let all the investigations play out? And is there anything else we haven't done that we need to do? [link] [comments]  |
| Got suckered into a Whole Life Insurance policy and not sure whether to cancel Posted: 28 Jun 2019 10:10 AM PDT Four years ago, I fell victim to a Whole Life insurance agent. The agent insisted that I sign up for a 10 year 700k policy, which had an annual premium of 17k. Although, I had some money saved up, I told him there was no way I could afford to pay 17k a year. He said "No problem! Just pay 17k for the first year and then after that, you just have to pay 1k each year to keep the policy going". Of course, I NOW know that the entire first year payment is his commission, which is probably why he suggested that method. I reluctanty agreed, paid 17k for the first year and for the 3 years after that I've been paying around 1k a year to 'keep the policy going'. I also realized that the remaining 16k that I owe for my premium is being deducted from my payout amount. So now that I'm on my 4th year, my current death benefit has been reduced to $652k, and $0 cash value. So if I continue doing this, I assume that when I'm done after 10 years, I will have paid around $26k, and have a $556k death benefit which covers the rest of my life, and $0 cash value. After reading through this sub, I know I could've done term and paid MUCH less. My question now is, do I cancel? Since I have $0 cash value, I feel like it's money down the drain. Or at this point just keep paying 1k for the remaining 6 years? [link] [comments]  |
| Filling the Void after Debt Struggle Posted: 28 Jun 2019 03:34 PM PDT I think this is my first ever reddit post! I'm debt free. Except for the mortgage on my house. It took quite an effort and focus, and many years. I worked on this sooo hard, and monitored it so much it kinda became obsessive. I think I became addicted to the feeling of watching this thing shrink over time. Now that it's gone and I have some positive cash flow, I feel a little sad. This is quite ridiculous, I know because there are so many out there who are struggling and would love to be in my shoes. I reached the top of the mountain and there is really nothing there except for a pat on my own back, and I feel a little weird. I guess I like challenges and a bit of struggle in life to keep things interesting and to give myself purpose outside of work. Anybody ever feel this way? I've typed the words in my title into Google 100 different ways, and there is not 1 article, or blog post I can find where someone else has talked about this. I know what to do next. Don't get into debt again. Roger that. Save and invest, done. But I just can't help shake this feeling like I can walk away and not "think" about debt anymore. It's so weird. I've lived with it for so long and now that it's out of my life, It just doesn't seem real. Anyone ever dealt with this? Feel this? Have any advise on where to go next? [link] [comments]  |
| Leaving Job to go back to school: What do I do with my 401k? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 08:44 AM PDT Hi all, I am leaving my job next week to go to medical school at the end of the summer and would like some advice on what to do with my 401k account from my employer. I have about $3200 vested balance. I know I can cash it out (which from what I've read is generally not advised) or I can roll it over into another type of account (IRA?). I am 25 and feel like cashing it out would be useful in having some extra money set aside for the move to a new state; but, leaving it alone would be smart for my long-term goals even though I wouldn't be able to contribute any additional money until residency I'm guessing. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2019 12:32 PM PDT Hey all! I just wanted to say that thanks to this sub, I am nearly debt free. My main problem was lifestyle creep. I'm 30 years old and make $120k (without bonuses). I'm going to walk you through what my situation turned into and the drastic measures I took to fix it. I had 14 credit cards with balances on them with an average APR of 24%, three personal loans with APR of 10%-15%, and a mortgage at 3.5%. Plus student loans This totaled nearly $257,000 in debt, $57k of which was cc and personal loan debt. Monthly cost to finance the minimum payments was about $4,000. This didn't happen over night. It was lifestyle creep over several years, a lack of financial awareness, and an unwillingness to accept the really. I fixed this by getting real with myself on the costs of debt, an inability to save for the future, and facing the music before it was too late. I sold my house and moved into an apartment where all utilities are covered. It's still expensive but it was a flat rate and it meets my needs. Went from a 4 bedroom house to a studio apartment. I put every penny I made from my house towards the debt, cut up my credit cards, and maintained my lifestyle from when I was living paycheck to paycheck. I don't eat out, I discount shop, I got a job where my employer pays for 100% of my premium (this was lucky and unplanned but still saved me $500 per month.) The only thing I have left to pay is about $10k in car loan and $50k left on student loans which I'll pay aggressively. My credit score went from 650 to 815-820. I'm also starting therapy to make sure I don't get into the same problem with impulse spending, etc. The sheer psychological weight of this was worse than anything I had experienced before. Thank you for the awesome advice! [link] [comments]  |
| I found out the new hire I've been training makes more than me. Advice? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 06:29 PM PDT I've worked at a respectable Audio Visual setup company for the past year and half. I have a bachelor's degree in Electronic Media which gives me a loose background in the kind of work I do. Like most hires in this company I was started off at $11 on the hour, which was bumped to $12 after my first year. I've been handed plenty more responsibility in the company over time, and feel I've handled it well, and was hoping to negotiate a more significant raise towards the end of the year. Today, the new hire I've been training for the past week, who is still in school working on the same degree I have, and has no prior experience in this line of work, blurted out that he makes $14 on the hour. Now, I'm young, in my mid twenties, have never had to negotiate pay (and have never really felt comfortable doing so, honestly) and hearing that was infuriating. I feel I'm worth more than what I make, and that I'm being undervalued significantly for the work I do. How should I go about this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2019 03:16 PM PDT I closed my only credit card (Chase SW) about 6 months ago after using it about 3 years (to avoid an upcoming annual fee) and have just been using my debit card since. Never missed a payment. I've been putting off getting a new one for now, and I just recently applied for a new CC (Bank of America Cash Rewards), but I got rejected. I called their reconsideration line and was told they had zero credit history for me. I checked CreditKarma credit score just now, and saw it dropped 105 points from 740 to 637 since I last checked :( Does my past 3 years of credit card history not count anymore? Is 6 months the threshold past which the past credit card history is no longer recent enough to get me approved for future cards? Or is this a potential mistake I should talk to BoA/credit bureau about for some kind of appeal/reconsideration? If not, what's the simplest way to get my credit back to where it was before? BoA suggested a secured credit card, but I've never had to do that before. Plus I was told it'd take 6-12 months of payments on that card to re-establish a history. It's odd to me I'd have to start back from "zero", even though I had 3 years of perfect payment history before this. Or should I take myself up on a pre-approved card in the mail, to avoid another hard inquiry? I was really hoping I could take advantage of a card with good rewards/sign-up bonuses though :( BoA specifically cited these problems: "no established credit references" "no investment with us or our affiliates" - would I have better luck applying for a Chase card? [link] [comments]  |
| Inheritance from grandpa... what to do with it? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 03:50 PM PDT So, my grandpa passed a couple months ago but I just got a phone call yesterday from my brother telling me he left each of his grandkids 160k. I have never had this kind of money before, I've worked my butt off all my life, and had no idea I would be getting any money at all. I don't know what is the best thing to do with it, or if there are relatively safe investment ideas out there. My husband and I just bought a house a couple months ago so some of the money will probably go towards fixing it up, paying off our car (25k) and my husbands school loans (13k) We don't plan on changing our life style at all, we never go out, I'll continue shopping at good ole Tj maxx, in other words, I'm not going to ball out at all. I would really appreciate some solid advice from you all, Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  |
| Just received $20,000 at 19, what do I do with it? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 09:10 AM PDT So I recently turned 19 and found out that my grandparents had been paying into a monthly insurance thing every month since I was born and I finally get to "cash it out" so to speak. There's about 20k overall. The question is what do I do with it? My college is mostly paid by family so I don't need to worry about that. I don't really have anything I want to buy. Should I save it? Invest it? How would I even do that? I realize I'm in a fortunate position for my age and I'd like to know how to best utilize this privilege. [link] [comments]  |
| Do you have a positive/negative experience with Amazon Prime Visa Rewards card? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 06:52 PM PDT Hello, I shop a lot in Amazon. To tech/gadgets to even clothing of some sort(Mostly hats but I plan on buying jackets to). I want to know if anyone here has had a positive experience with them? Or any form of experience that I should be aware of?. I've been trying to google but the responses are, though good for me to know, not allowing me to know what sort of credit people with this offer usually have. Are you an average on CK? when you applied? or were you good on CK?. Is what I'm mostly seeking to know. I don't know if knowing the Credit Karma is to personal but I feel , its like something I need to know before applying for something I don't think I'd be approved for(I am average), like it sucks getting Hard Inquiry(Did you also get a Hard Inquiry when applying?) and being rejected. My second question is , do you get the ability to finance through amazon as well? I remember seeing this form of ability by some amazon users and never gotten the chance to know if that was only offered to a selective few and etc. I've also read in comments when I was lurking, was "Always smarter to buy with credit card and transfer your points to your account." what do you mean by this?. is it similar to the Capital One Cash Rewards? I really appreciate your time to those willing to help me out a bit. [link] [comments]  |
| Roth IRA better if you also heavily invest on your own portfolio? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 06:24 PM PDT This is a question I've been having since many articles I read say that a traditional IRA is often just as good as a roth. My big question is though, if you are someone who wants to FIRE and save aggressively when young. Would it not make more sense to have a Roth IRA so that when you retire, roth distributions do not count as income on taxes (from what I've read). Meaning you're capital-gains tax rate is also lower, 0% for people with low income. However in a traditional IRA since distributions count as income you would also then have to pay a percentage of capital gains tax on personal investments depending on what bracket the IRA distribution counted toward. So wouldn't a Roth IRA be the easy winner if you also invest on the side beyond the ira yearly limit? [link] [comments]  |
| Stressed out of my mind as a college student. Maybe you guys can give me some advice? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:28 PM PDT I'm moving out of my parents house and into a city that is closer to my college. They are paying for my schooling, (I'm very thankful and lucky for this) but not my housing. My housing will be around $700 a month. I will be working during this time, but i am worried that i will not be able to make the $700/month while being a full time student. Should i take a student loan out for 3 years worth of rent in order to pay for my housing consistently? Maybe continue working and just save money to pay it off as much as possible when i graduate? I work at a coffee shop making around $800 a month working 25-30 hours a week. Any advice would be amazing, even if it's just "Buckle down and work full time with school" lol. Thanks you guys. [link] [comments]  |
| ELI5: backdoor Roth Ira and income eligibility for traditional vs Roth IRA Posted: 28 Jun 2019 08:54 AM PDT I make about 125-140k a year. When I did my taxes two years ago, the tax software told me I paid too much into my Roth IRA based on my income. So I looked into a traditional IRA. Whenever I tell anyone that I make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, they look at me weird as if that wasn't a thing. Also advice here usually points people towards a Roth IRA, but a Google search shows yes there are income limits for a Roth so it's not for everyone. I'm a bit confused. What is the truth about eligibility to contribute into a Roth vs traditional Ira? How do backdoor Roth IRAs work? And would it be the optimal way to go for someone in my situation or is traditional better? Notes: emergency fun is good to go and I already max contributions to my job's retirement savings plan (TSP). [link] [comments]  |
| Grandfather is going to buy me a car ~$15k after I graduate high school. Posted: 28 Jun 2019 07:37 PM PDT I already have a car it runs good, good on gas, and is already paid off, I asked him if he'd be willing to do something else with the money and he said yes. I'm only 17 as of this post but I will be 18 when he offers the deal, what is the best investment I can make to possibly live more comfortably in the future? I've read a lot on the topic and was leaning towards investing In a Roth Ira but I would still like a second opinion. [link] [comments]  |
| Why can't I open a bank account? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 09:30 AM PDT I'm looking to open a new bank account. I currently have a joint account with one of my parents at a major bank. (I don't want to say which one to protect my identity, but if it's necessary I can mention it in the comments.) But since my parents have been abusive to me in the past, part of which involves them taking all of my money from my bank account, I want to protect the money I'm earning at my job from them. I applied for a checking and savings account through my current bank (all of the accounts have the same login info), but since I realized my parent would probably still be able to have access to those accounts, I started looking to get an account at a different bank instead. The problem is, I keep getting denied. I've applied to both major banks (different from my current one, obviously) and smaller ones with higher interest rates. I got a report from ChexSystems, but no "incidents" or anything showed up on the report, which I believe is a good sign. And I have a 750+ credit score, so I don't think it's that, either. The only other thing I can think of is that my multiple bank account applications are somehow raising red flags, but even my very first application got rejected, and I haven't sent in, like, potential-scammer levels of applications or anything (maybe 4-5 over a 3-month period). I don't have a steady year-round job and I'm not financially independent since I'm a 20-year-old college student. But I didn't think that was necessary to open a bank account. I do have an internship this summer, and I literally have over $1000 in paychecks that I'm just waiting to deposit somewhere. Thanks in advance for your help! I'm seriously out of ideas. EDIT from comments: Also, I forgot to mention that there might be something weird going on with my social security number, since my electricity company wasn't able to make my account online and it sounded like they had to go through some extra verification steps to get it approved over the phone. But I never found out what it was. [link] [comments]  |
| Am I in a proper circumstance to ask for a discount on my rent this month? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:36 PM PDT I live in a duplex with the landlord on the other side. Yesterday they told us not to use any water or flush the toilet because there is something going on with the drain pipe in the basement causing everything to leak. They have had a plumber over yesterday and today and are dealing with the city. It apparently has something to do with the sewer system. Apparently they won't do anything about it until after the 4th of July. It is important to note that our landlord is very odd and gives us answers that don't make sense on a lot of things. So we truly have no clue what's happening. Landlord did offer to pay for a hotel for a couple of nights, but my parents live a few minutes away and we will stay with them as needed. Rent is due on Monday and I'm not sure if this is grounds to ask for a discount. [link] [comments]  |
| Selling house after I just bought it. Posted: 28 Jun 2019 12:50 PM PDT So I just quit a job I thought I wanted. It was not what I was thinking and I bought a house because I thought I was going to be in the area for a while. Well that didn't workout how I wanted. So I was looking for other jobs in other places and I have found a lot of great opportunities in other states but I have this $220,000.00 anchor attached to me. I bought the house 3 months ago and it is a nice place in a good neighborhood. I am under the VA loan and it states I cant sell it or rent it out after a year. Is there anything I can do to get out from that? or just suck it up for a year and see what happens? [link] [comments]  |
| How big should your emergency savings really be? Posted: 28 Jun 2019 06:45 PM PDT My girlfriend and I live together, and we're trying to work on a) saving up an emergency fund, b) pay off debts (a mix of promotional purchases, car payments, and student loans; fortunately no high-interest credit cards), and c) our engagement/wedding. Using Undebt.it and YNAB, we've put together a budget that will have us debt-free, $16k in emergency savings (about three-four months if we both lost our jobs), and $10k towards the wedding in five years; however, I'd like to get the debt and wedding stuff paid for much sooner if possible. I don't want to give up on emergency savings, but I also think that if we reduce our monthly debt, it would make the emergency savings stretch further. I'd like to decrease my contribution or goal for emergency savings and pay off the debts faster, but I don't want to do that if it's fiscally unsound. Our plan right now is to put an additional ~$180 towards the debt snowball (on top of minimums), $350 towards emergency fund (which already has $1000 in it), and $150 towards the wedding per month. Is this reasonable, or should we consider moving around our priorities? EDIT: I should also mention that we are both teachers, and we could probably do substitute teaching during the year in case of a job lay-off or something like that. [link] [comments]  |
| Checking account overdrawn by 3000 Posted: 28 Jun 2019 07:48 AM PDT I set up up a payment on my credit card for $25, which it took. But it also took almost 3000 out of my checking account. So I'm overdrawn by 2,700. What do I do, someone pls help. I tried calling. And they don't open in like 2 hours [link] [comments]  |
| I need help getting out of this sticky situation Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:25 PM PDT I'm currently unable to work bc I have health issues and don't know when I will be able to work again. I'm gonna start the process of applying to disability but I still have hospital bills, rent, and credit cards that need to be paid off and I have no idea how I'm going to do this now that I'm too sick to work a job atm and going to be jobless soon. How do I even get the money to pay for everything while I'm still in the process of applying to disability? I'm kinda losing my mind RN. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:23 PM PDT So, like the title says I've quit my job and started my own LLC (I'm by myself with no employees). I'm 37 and I have two Roth 401(k)'s (one with $200k, one with $10k) from previous employers and one regular 401(k) (with $10k). What should I do with my existing 401(k)'s and what are my best options for retirement savings going forward? My conservative estimate on my future annual income is $200k and I would like to plan on saving at least 15%/yr of that specifically for retirement outside of my other long term investments which currently includes real estate, stocks/bonds, antique vehicles, and other random things I own that may or may not continue to appreciate over time (like a whole mess of guns). I'd really like some advice on how to proceed because all of this is pretty overwhelming. Please let me know if you need any additional details. [link] [comments]  |
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