Personal Finance $1000 is a lot to owe, but a little to have. Extra cash edition. |
- $1000 is a lot to owe, but a little to have. Extra cash edition.
- a different kind of encounter with someone who "needed help".
- Where is your emergency fund?
- Will accepting unemployment or food stamps hurt your credit score?
- Mom suddenly died and trying to settle her affairs
- Just got fired from my job, no emergency fund, and around $3,000 in monthly expenses. Advice greatly appreciated.
- Home inventory app?
- Im terrified of being poor/having debt. Any advice?
- How do you use your debit cards and credit cards?
- Target Retirement Fund vs S&P 500 Index Funds
- Kicking Off My Personal Finance Journey With A Bunch Of 'Stupid' Questions For You All
- How do you feel about the 30% housing rule (of thumb) if your other expenses are low?
- Partner says it’s not a good idea to close the home mortgage. Is she right?
- College student trying to build credit for apartment next year
- Finally getting on a rhythm
- Capital One: "Free credit monitoring and identity protection is available to everyone affected." But, how?
- Is joining the military worth it ? From a Financial and Career standpoint ?
- Should I use my Roth IRA to help pay for school?
- Planning to move my 410k to IRA
- 15 Year Old Trying To Start Early
- Looking to buy my first home
- Another mid-20s married couple totally clueless about where we go from here
- Whats the catch? "Open a Key Bank Checking or Savings account and get $400 after making a $500 deposit."
| $1000 is a lot to owe, but a little to have. Extra cash edition. Posted: 04 Aug 2019 09:06 AM PDT For the past few weeks I've been able to pick up some extra hours at 3x my normal rate. I should be thrilled, but I'm not. All that happens on those days is I come home exhausted and miss out of my evening. The money is good, but it just doesn't affect my life in any way. The only change is a 1% gain in my account balance at the end of the week. I already buy small things whenever I feel like it, but spending $500-$1000 on something I want feels like too much. The problem is that I expect to make about $1.5 k before this contract ends, but I want to save up for a down payment. In my area, that means about $60 k (I know about FHA loans and stuff, its an issue of I can't afford a $300k+ mortgage with PMI on top) since $300k is about the very bottom of even condos for 100 miles. Houses start at $500k unless they are a tear down. It feels like the only way I'll ever own something is with a large pay jump, not by being smart with money. Anyone else have a similar issue where it feels like your goals are just too far away to reach and good discipline isn't enough? Edit: Y'all been so helpful. Sorry for being vague in my replies, I have had people data mine me during arguments before and its pretty annoying. I'm going to go buy a new putter today and hope to get a nice promotion this month. Otherwise I'll look into places to move to. [link] [comments]  |
| a different kind of encounter with someone who "needed help". Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:48 AM PDT I just read about the post about falling for a scam at a bank, and wanted to share a story with a different kind of ending. I was coming out of Costco, back when it was new and not a zoo. the parking lot was relatively empty, and this older guy was wandering around looking rather anxious, a bit confused and as if they were looking for something. I asked him if he was ok, and he said he was supposed to meet his pastor and was getting panicky because he's afraid he missed him and doesn't have a car to the church. I dig in some more, and turns out, at least according to his story that his pastor was going to give him some rent money before his family gets evicted from their apartment. Yeah, sounds pretty obvious scam, right, except he never asked me for help and really didn't volunteer much. I sense some shame, definitely humility, and plenty of fear. I dug in a bit more and found out what church; I know the place, it's 5 miles down the road. Figure out where he lives, and yep it's definitely the low cost part of town and there's plenty of subsidized housing there. So I offer him a ride to the church to see if we can catch his pastor. He hops in and is immediately profusely thanking me, like in a way that only people who really need help can. We get to the church; it's empty, locked, not a car in sight. Fella starts crying on the spot. Now folks, we've all seen children cry, but when a grown man cries in desperation it's something completely different. Not crying in physical pain, but sheer desperation and loss and not knowing what to do. Outside of funerals and the military I've only seen this when I was volunteering in shelters, kitchens and clinics in my youth. So at this point either this guy has con game that deserves to be rewarded, or he's in genuine trouble for his family. Find out he only needs a couple hundred (it's been over ten years, but I think it was around the 300 range) dollars, so I get some cash and drive him to his apartment back in town. the whole time the guy's genuinely just gushing the most sincerest relief and thanks, when we get to his apartment his wife comes out crying with thanks. Absolutely no doubt in my mind I helped them prevent eviction and hopefully at least get stable, if just for another month. So anyhow, I guess the lesson is sometimes people really do need help, but it seems to me that the ones who need is the most are often the most reticent to ask and yes, of course you need to be very careful. In this case, they weren't approaching anyone, I approached them, they didn't volunteer a story I had to draw out the details of what was going on, and they voluntarily took me to their house, I didn't simply hand over cash. EDIT 1754 EST August 4th: Hey everyone, had to run some errands, I'm back. I'm sorry about the post being removed and I'm not sure what happened. I hadn't removed it, and to me it all looked fine and I was replying to comments but apparently that wasn't the case. I messaged the mods before I left to run errands and it seems be back and working ok now. THE MODS BRING UP A REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE IN THEIR STICKIED COMMENT. Please read it. I wanted to share this one story as a bit of a ray of hope, but at the same time I have family members who lost almost everything to professional cons. Be careful out there. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:35 AM PDT I've been working since February, and I've been saving money for a six month emergency fund. So far the money has just been in my Wells Fargo savings account, but I'd like to put it somewhere more effective. So, where should it go? I'm looking at either a high yield savings account, or something like a Vanguard money market fund, but I'm not sure if there are better options. I was thinking I wouldn't put it into an index fund, so that I don't have to sell at a loss if I need the money when the market is down, but the return on the investment would be much higher if I did use an index fund. I'm just not sure. Where do you all have your emergency funds, and where would you recommend I put mine? [link] [comments]  |
| Will accepting unemployment or food stamps hurt your credit score? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:10 AM PDT If you had no outstanding debts or fees and are just down on your luck, will applying and using social programs such as unemployment and food stamps negatively affect your credit score? [link] [comments]  |
| Mom suddenly died and trying to settle her affairs Posted: 04 Aug 2019 08:48 AM PDT Pretty much what the title says. Our mother unexpectedly died a few days ago and my older brother and I are scrambling to settle her affairs. From phone bills, to the power bill, all the way to her medical bills. We are trying to do it one by one, but we are running into roadblocks. She had a lot of medical issues due to her breast cancer and simply had to live off my deceased fathers social security income while supporting my two younger siblings. Point of this post is to see if there are pardons we can find within companies to waive certain bills or past-due payments? PSEG has not been helpful and Verizon Fios apparently do not waive any ETF's or pastdue bills. We already have to drop $8k on funeral/cemetery fees and also take guardianship over our two younger siblings. Any tips can be truly helpful as I know the reddit community is more helpful than any customer service line. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 04:32 PM PDT Hi all, Just as the title says. I was working a dead-end job that I was unhappy with, and finally got the boot this past Wednesday (7/31). It was a sales job and I was pulling in approximately $3k-$4k per month. The reason I was fired was because I was "late", so I'm unsure if that qualifies me for unemployment where I live (New York State). I've never been fired before, so although I feel a degree of freedom (at the moment), the weight of my financial situation is definitely starting to take hold. Yearly salary: Approx. $52,000 Here is a breakdown of my current monthly expenses: Expenses:
Total: $2,792 Credit Card Minimum Monthly Payments:
Total: $489 Monthly Grand Total: $3,281 Total Credit Card Balances (APR):
Total: $11,907 I plan on significantly cutting back on my food/miscellaneous expenses, as well as gas. I was also told I'd be receiving severance pay for the next 3 weeks (the company paid on the 15th and last day of every month). I should receive around $2,000 on the 15th, and I'm unsure how much I'll be receiving (if anything) on August 31st. I also plan on pulling from my 401k; I can pull from it after my employment status becomes "inactive", which occurs after 2 unpaid payment cycles. I have about $4k that I can pull from. What would you recommend I do to manage the debt I currently have, and avoid it ballooning as I try to gain a foothold on my employment status? I know I dug myself into a hole, but I'm hoping this situation will teach (or rather force me) to reevaluate my spending habits going forward. Edit: I'm 28 [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 03:21 PM PDT Hi all, I've learned from this sub that it's advisable to catalogue the items in one's home for insurance purposes. Does anyone recommend a good app to assist with this? I have an Android phone, iPad, and a PC. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Im terrified of being poor/having debt. Any advice? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 03:09 AM PDT Im 21 and still living with my dad. I want to move out soon to lessen the burden in him and my step mom. Im working a job and make about 26k a year. I dont have any credit cards and i have a 6k debt to a local 4 year college. I share a car with my brother. What steps do i need to take before im able to safely move out. I am willing to get a room mate. I really just dont want to leave for somewhere and then fumble my way into a bad situation. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you use your debit cards and credit cards? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 04:13 PM PDT Hello all, only recently I've been frequenting this subreddit and just lurking and seeing what people talk about. Today alone I've seen a lot of mentions about debit cards and credit cards. About never using debit cards and only credit cards. And it makes a lot of sense. Recently I got an email for one of my cards that I can get up to 5% back up to $2,000 if I use it to pay for certain bills. Now, my question is just how do you guys do this? You make all your daily purchases on your CC and then immediately pay it off through your checking account? As I saw some mentions, my hesitation on using CC's over my DC is that I don't want to accumulate debt and become complacent and what not. When you think "well I have until this time of the month and I only have to make a minimum of $25 payment" that kind of thing. So how do you do it? What are your tips and tricks as far as using a CC and DC. Especially since certain CC's give benefits to suit your needs. Like miles for traveling, points for shops, cash back etc. What CC are good for which benefits? I should add, up till now I solely use my debit card for everyday purchases. Please don't hurt me aha Edit: So after all the comments up until now posted and what my friends have been telling me. I've been doing it wrong. Looks like I'll be switching over to using only CC from here going forward to maximize on my returns. Thanks everyone for your input. Still curious as to which CCs you guys and gals use for which kinds of rewards. [link] [comments]  |
| Target Retirement Fund vs S&P 500 Index Funds Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:04 PM PDT My company is offering a default target retirement fund managed by Blackrock and the target retirement date is 2055. The S&P 500 Index Fund is not managed by Vanguard, but is rather called SSgA. Is that the same thing? It just tracks the S&P 500? The expense ratio of the Blackrock 2055 target retirement is 0.09% whereas the S&P 500 is 0.01%. I was looking at the past 5 years performance of both of these options and it seems like if I invested $10,000 5 years ago in each of these, I would have $16,632 in the S&P 500 now whereas the Blackrock I would have $13,661. However, I read on many posts that the target retirement fund has more diversification and that it usually performs similarly to the S&P 500. However, there seems to be a big difference here. I'm not sure what to do, can anyone give me some advice? [link] [comments]  |
| Kicking Off My Personal Finance Journey With A Bunch Of 'Stupid' Questions For You All Posted: 04 Aug 2019 06:56 AM PDT Hey everyone, been reading this sub for the better part of 2019 now and after going through the sidebar and reading a book or two I have a handful of follow questions. Any direction on any of these would be amazing. A little background - my family has never really been great with money. High highs and lower lows. I was never taught how to handle money as a kid, it was always "we'll tell you when you are older" but then I got older and turns out no one seems to of had a clue what the hell they were doing. I made it through college while working and consider myself very fortunate in that I have already been able to pay off my education (help from older family as well). I landed a dream job and currently make ~$70K a year in an affordable city. I own my car. No credit card debt, I pay off monthly. Currently rent is ~$1K. I have somehow been able to set myself up to be in my late 20s and have 0 debt. Mostly due to luck and long hours working. I am lucky. All this to say I feel I am fortunate to have a launch pad to, if I play my cards right, save up and retire at a decent age. As well maybe responsibly start a family. But my knowledge of money until these last few months has been "pay off your credit card and don't buy stuff you can't afford". So here's a ton of questions that I'd love any insight on. Thanks!
I think that's all for now. Thanks for any help! Really enjoy this community (as well as r/ynab, which I been using for a couple of weeks now). Cheers! [link] [comments]  |
| How do you feel about the 30% housing rule (of thumb) if your other expenses are low? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 04:02 PM PDT I refer to the "Spend no more than 30% of your income on rent/mortgage" rule. I know it's good general advice. And there are the obvious "where do you live?" exceptions. But it's a weird rule. Some people say gross income. Others say net income. The difference between the two is almost a factor of 2 for me. I'm renting at a little less than 30% of net income. I can save about $25,000/year this way (on top of max IRA/401k). It's a nice place. Plenty of shopping and food around but it's also cloistered and quiet. Sometimes I look at other places that are closer social things. More "hip". Definitely more expensive. But still under 30% of gross income. I find myself wondering if I would be happier spending more on rent for that purpose. I almost didn't post this because I was enjoying the peace and quiet. I was watching my robo-vac casually and dutifully pick up crumbs. I was realizing that there is so much convenience to being able to drive your car straight into a garage and walk from the garage to your residence. And all those more expensive places don't have that. Still - I wonder. Guess this isn't so much a financial question as a psychological question. [link] [comments]  |
| Partner says it’s not a good idea to close the home mortgage. Is she right? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 06:09 PM PDT I have a mortgage at 3.4% with around 360,000 of the original $600,000 pending. I'll be getting a bonus in the next two months. I have been suggesting my partner to take all our savings + bonus etc. and try pay off the mortgage. My partner's against the idea since we get tax benefits for the mortgage. She feels we are better off saving the cash for a rainy day. To me the mental peace of going debt-free is exhilarating. What do you think is the right approach here? [link] [comments]  |
| College student trying to build credit for apartment next year Posted: 04 Aug 2019 05:30 PM PDT I'm about to enter my sophomore year of college and I plan on getting an apartment with some friends next year. I currently don't own a credit card and would like to know which companies have the best rates and how to get enough in about a year to do this? Anything helps [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 04:54 PM PDT Long post I suppose. Finally sorting my finances and budgeting for the FIRST time. Have lived paycheck to paycheck most of my life, but I finally have a full-time job with benefits and room to grow. Also picked up some freelance design work from my old job so it's time to really get in to the details of my spending. Took a really basic approach and started a google sheets doc with all my previous months broken down in to categories. Have a column for my new estimated amount and a column for actual $ spent. I thought about using an app to track my spending but it also clutters my notification, and isn't always accurate in picking up transactions, like cash for example. I also opened a savings account via Betterment, and hope that this can accrue. The bad part is, i currently have a lot of debt. Worst stuff too. Went to college for a year, dropped out, and never paid the $26,000 I owed. Also have some hospital and surgeries in collection, so that's a major hole I want to get out of. I was hopeless, but in seeing my money laid out, I saw where I could cut, and where I can pull money to start paying off my debt. Long road ahead but it starts somewhere. If anyone has any advice, i'm all ears. Kind of lost when it comes to paying back debt that has accrued to the point of collections. I don't use any apps to budget, spend, or even invest. Open to any suggestions and if you have a similar success story, i'm all for inspiration! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 04:50 PM PDT https://www.capitalone.com/facts2019/ https://www.capitalone.com/facts2019/2/ This was in response to the Capital One data breach. Yet, they don't say HOW to get their free credit monitoring and identity protection. Does anyone know what to do? I've been on hold with cap one for ~1 hour and I'm beginning to lose my patience. Thanks everyone! [link] [comments]  |
| Is joining the military worth it ? From a Financial and Career standpoint ? Posted: 03 Aug 2019 10:59 PM PDT For someone who has no degree , worked several dead end jobs and has no debt ? Would they do well in the military ? For example the 20 year retirement and TSP seems like a pretty sweet deal as well as the training and education benefits . [link] [comments]  |
| Should I use my Roth IRA to help pay for school? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 02:01 PM PDT I have about 25k in my Roth. I'll be starting school in January in a 3-year program. The program will cost a total of 80k. To add to that, I will not be able to work while I'm in the program due to how demanding it is to its students. My expenses during the program will run me very roughly 100k during the 3 years. Loans are going to be a definite must, but I want to know if it's worth it to use the Roth to help soften the blow. I don't have much confidence that the interest I make in the account will outpace the interest that will accrue on my loans. Right? Unless perhaps I am mistaken or there is something I'm missing. What is the best move forward? [link] [comments]  |
| Planning to move my 410k to IRA Posted: 04 Aug 2019 06:27 PM PDT I have my 401k with my old company and i recently joined a new company. At my new company there is no 401k match (Its a start up) so i was thinking about to rollover my 401k to IRA with some good Bank. Who gives the best benefits in this case? Are big banks good in terms of maintaning IRA account without charging too much bookkeeping fees? Aprreciate your feedback/suggestions [link] [comments]  |
| 15 Year Old Trying To Start Early Posted: 04 Aug 2019 02:40 PM PDT I have been brought up by upper middle class parents, the classic situation of them living beneath their means so that I am not robbed of motivation to work. This has worked so well that I feel compelled to start earning my own money, something that is difficult to do physically in my area - I can't get employed at restaurants or low level labour jobs because of my age, so I would be thrilled to hear suggestions for ways to make money online or by myself in general. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 06:40 AM PDT I'm living in London and I have always wanted to own my own home (a proper freehold). I'm financially in a pretty good place right now, I currently pay £700 rent and I save at least £1000 a month. I'd like to buy a two bedroom apartment for around 300,000 and rent out the other room for around £800. I figure that if I end up paying a mortgage that charges me £2300 a month I should be able to pay it off in about 10 years. I expect I can reach this figure because of my current rent + current saving rate + expected rent. I'm struggling to find anything online that supports calculating for this kind of situation and the tools I do find all tell me that the my income is too low for the mortgage amount - obviously because I can't report the expected rent as income. Does anyone know a good way to set this up, if I've not thought of anything that I should have thought about - like paying tax on the rent (I think I can report it as self employed income and since it goes straight to the bank I'll make 0 profit as a self employed business and so don't have to pay tax on it). But any advice would be amazing - thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Another mid-20s married couple totally clueless about where we go from here Posted: 04 Aug 2019 02:18 PM PDT My husband and I (23 & 24) are another typical mid-20s couple feeling totally unsure about our housing options. Debt: At the beginning of our marriage, we lived with family (paid no rent) and spent the majority of our income every month paying down my $17,000 of student debt from my teaching degree. This has since been completely paid off and I have 0 student debt. My husband has 0 student debt and we have no credit card debt. Our only debt is a $2000 surgery bill and about $1500 remaining on our mattress. Income: I am an elementary school teacher making $43,000 a year and my husband works an hourly job making $15 an hour (he was just promoted) usually working at least 40 hours a week. My husband also just got licensed to sell insurance so there is sporadic money coming in (just starting out, nothing above $150 a month). Current housing situation: In May, after living with family for a year and a half, we moved into an apartment. Our expenses obviously went up due to this, and we pay about $1200 in rent including utilities and everything. (For our area and close to our jobs, this is low.) Both our cars are paid for, so we have no car payment. Our expenses are the typical rent, phone bills, insurance, gas, food, etc. My husband and I both want a house. At this point we would absolutely go for a small, in desperate need of renovation, single family home but it seems very much out of reach. We do have savings (just over 6k right now) but we know down payment wise that is much smaller than most likely needed. I hate feeling like we are wasting our money every month on rent. Housing prices in my area are high and continue to rise. When doing a price search for housing in our area online, you won't find a single home listing under $275,000-$300,000. We feel totally stuck and unsure what to do. Paying off all my debt was a huge accomplishment for us, but it feels super insignificant at this point because of the predicament we're in. We're becoming open to townhouses because it seems more in reach for us. Is our best option to quit paying rent and move back in with family to save? I feel like with our current incomes saving + paying rent will not equate to saving enough to ever afford a home. Do we have any shot of qualifying for even a smaller townhome at this point? Any advice you could offer we are so grateful for! I am happy to answer any further questions or provide more information. We live in Utah if that helps. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:45 AM PDT Wife and I keep getting flyers in the mail that if we open a Key Bank checking account we can get $400 if we deposit $500. Is there a catch there? $400 isn't life changing but its worth my time to go down there and park $500 of my savings in there and pull it out a year later. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
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