Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 30, 2019 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 30, 2019
- How do you differentiate between lifestyle creep and improving your quality of life?
- Is it worth it to spend more for a better commute?
- My boyfriend bought a car from a buy here pay here that is out of business now. They put a lien on his tag, how to we take care of this?
- Credit Score 363
- New job offer is ~40% more than I make now, current job asking what I need to stay
- Wealthfront is dumping me
- Father passed away with no beneficiaries on 401k
- Should I max out 401k and Roth IRA?
- Keep paying on the debt or file bankruptcy?
- 7,350 in Credit Card Debt. Won't Pay off until May 2020.
- ROTH IRA - which platform to use?
- Mom is possibly in her last years need financial advice
- What to do when statement says minimum payment is zero?
- Hit in the parking lot. Feels like I’m about to get ghosted.
- 3 Fund portfolio with Schwab 401k - need advice for Domestic portion
- Keeping track of individual grocery prices
- Worried I Won't Receive My Check
- I have a Fidelity 401(k) account, and I think my personal rate of return % sounds ridiculously high.
- Claim from auto insurance or health insurance after at-fault accident (CAN)
- Replacing a house with no value (all value in land) with a new construction?
- New job - Health insurance
- Multiple random Venmo deposits?
- Chase lowering my credit limit on one of the credit cards
- 10 year or 15 year CD?
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 30, 2019 Posted: 30 Sep 2019 04:06 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]  |
| How do you differentiate between lifestyle creep and improving your quality of life? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 10:10 AM PDT This is something I've been struggling with for a long time. How do you distinguish (semi)necessary expenses to take better care of your mind and body from unnecessary and frivolous expenditures? Edit: Alright I get it! I'm poor and poor people don't deserve veggies or more than one pair of jeans for work. Thanks guys. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it worth it to spend more for a better commute? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 03:21 AM PDT I currently live with my parents and take public transportation to work every day. It takes roughly two hours door to door each way - sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. My day looks like this: Wake up 5 A Drive to train station at 5:40 A Get on train 5:54 A Get off train 7:15 A Get on (free) shuttle 7:30 A Arrive at work 7:45 Start at 8 A Leave work between 6:30 - 8:30 P Get home between 8:45 P and 10:15 P Then repeat M - F. I don't pay rent but I do pay for the train which is about $450 / mo. I know many people may ask why I don't just get a car, but traffic is so bad during rush hour plus the cost of gas / tolls / insurance etc. It doesn't really save me much time or money because it's still far regardless. I'm looking at an apartment now that's $900 + utilities (this is with roommates and considered a good price. apartments here are expensive). It would also be $82 monthly rail pass. However, I could wake up at 6:30 instead of 5 and be home at a more reasonable time. I can afford this with my income (avg about 3,200/mo) but obviously won't be saving nearly as much. I'm just curious as to WWYD? Part of me thinks this move might give me a better quality of life (and more sleep) but I also don't like the thought of spending a little more than double the amount I currently do when I don't have to. I don't love the commute but I know I can do the commute, although I do get really tired throughout the day. Is it worth it to spend more? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2019 07:14 AM PDT We are in Florida. Who do we contact to pay or remove the lien? The tax office said to contact the buy here pay here but we discovered they closed down. Edit- I forgot an important part, I know full well that we are still paying the car off and we keep up with payments to send the bank. This is in regards to the tag. The tag expired and when he went to the dmv to renew it they said there is a lien. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2019 06:21 PM PDT Hi, Never checked my credit. I'm 43 years old and had a pretty brutal life. I'm looking to get out of living in my car, I'm going into a U.S. Veteran housing program for now. Is it possible to rehabilitate my credit? I was forced to go-to Art school when I was 18 and never paid the loan, lots of tickets and fines never paid etc. My goal would be to rent an apartment someday. I do crap work like wash dishes but I have a lot of IT networking skills and am pretty good at Linux and may get back into that line of work. Thinking about just jumping off a bridge if my credit can't be fixed. Thanks in advance for any info. [link] [comments]  |
| New job offer is ~40% more than I make now, current job asking what I need to stay Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:52 AM PDT I love my job because of the opportunities, type of work, and the work/life balance they offer. Out of curiosity, I interviewed for a similar position, and they just offered me almost 40% more than my current paycheck. I'm pretty sure I won't take the job because of everything I like about the current job, but I'm surprised I'm worth that much more than I'm currently getting paid. I openly discussed it with my manager, and he went to HR to try to get me a raise or promotion. HR came back and said they won't do 40%, but then asked what % I need to stay. Obviously, I'd love to say 39%, but I don't want to just destroy the negotiations, especially since I already want to keep my job. What would be a reasonable ask, assuming they're probably going to negotiate me down? Edit: added flair [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:23 PM PDT I intended to move my money out of wealthfront, so I contacted them that I would be moving it out. They placed me in a cash position. I didn't get around to it due to travel for work, and then they contacted me telling me I had until the end of the week to do it. Their tone in their email sounded threatening. I replied back to their email saying that, that didn't seem like a good way to treat a customer, threatening about my own money... they replied with a half ass apology. That apology was about a week ago. Now I got this: Seems like they could care less about the tax implications if they send me a check. [link] [comments]  |
| Father passed away with no beneficiaries on 401k Posted: 30 Sep 2019 10:47 AM PDT My father recently passed away and my sister and I are his only children. My father and mother divorced nearly 20 years ago and he never remarried. My father also had no will or trust, so everything is essentially going to his estate and probate. Thankfully my father did not have any outstanding debts except for a couple hundred dollars on a credit card, which we've already paid off. He did not own any property either. My sister and I were hoping he had set us up as 50/50 beneficiaries to his 401k so we could leverage an Inherited IRA, but the plan administrator only had a contingency for spouses/domestic partners in the event of no beneficiaries. As a result, his 401k is going to his estate and will be subject to the estate income tax rate, which for federal is 37% for amounts over $12,000. Then there's a 5.7% tax rate for state (VA). And of course, it also goes to probate, for another 1%. With a 401k balance of nearly $400,000, we'll be left with only $177,000 by the time the tax man has taken his cut. My question at this point, is there anything we can do to lower the taxable amount of the 401k being disbursed to the estate? Is there any rollover or tax deferred accounts (my sister is planning to open 529 accounts for her kids) that can be used to lower this income or are we essentially screwed? I can find a million and one articles about how you can lower your taxable income for an estate before you pass away, but nothing about how to do that after you're deceased. NOTE: My sister and I have engaged a CPA to help with the tax returns for my father. We've also reached out to my father's employer to see if there is any documentation that might show him selecting beneficiaries at any time. He worked for the same company for over 30 years and they've changed 401k companies several times (Mass Mutual, Vanguard, TRowe, etc) and don't know if the beneficiaries might've gotten lost somewhere in the fold. It's a hail mary at this point. P.S. Let this serve as a reminder to everyone to please select and update your beneficiaries! Had my dad survived his heart attack he probably would've had another one had he known how much of his retirement would go to the government. EDIT: I wanted to provide a quick screenshot of the 2019 Tax Rate Schedule for Estates, which can be found in the 1041-ES form. This is where the "37% for amounts over $12,000" comes from. It is marginal, so it's technically $3,075.50 + 37%, but I simplified things for posting purposes: https://imgur.com/tXMQ6vJ The 1041-ES form is the form estates file with the IRS for income generated by the estate. Generally speaking all of my dad's other assets such as his checking, savings, etc... were all post-tax so most of that doesn't counts towards the estate's "income", except for some paltry interest, but because his 401k is all pre-tax, it counts as income. EDIT 2: If it helps, my father was retired, but not taking any distributions from his 401k yet. He was almost 67, so he wasn't forced to take any RMDs yet. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I max out 401k and Roth IRA? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 07:36 PM PDT I am 21 years old and just recently graduated from a 4-year college with no debt I have around $10,000 saved up. I plan to live with my family until I'm 22 or 23 years old. I have no expenses while living at home. I got a job that makes $53,000 annually. The company I am working for has a 401(k) and will match it to 5%. (I don't know the correct terminology) I want to retire early. I am planning to max out my 401(k) and contribute $19,000 a year. I am also thinking about opening a Roth IRA and maxing that out; $6,000. My questions:
TLDR: I want to make enough money so I can leave my day job and pursue something I am passionate about without feeling the financial burden. I understand best by reading examples of hypothetical scenarios. Also, feel free to give me any advice/ tips on money management. Any tip is a good tip, I'm a newbie and I appreciate all the help I can get! [link] [comments]  |
| Keep paying on the debt or file bankruptcy? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:20 PM PDT My best friend told me to post this here. 4 years ago while I was in college, I learned about life the hard way. I got into major debt. The year I went to college, student loans weren't available. Not enough credit to get another loan elsewhere. So, I got tons of credit cards to pay for college. Big mistake. I'm 25 and I learned a lot in the last 7 years. I'm much better now than I use to be. However, I went from a 400 credit score to roughly 630 now. I'm getting there. I have way less debt than I use to too. So, I still have a lot. Just 3 months ago, I had about 18,000 worth of debt with 15 credit cards and loans. Now, I have $15,300 on 10 credit cards and loans. I pay about $1,000 a month towards my debt. However, interest rate is extremely high on a $3,000 loan. Last year my job shutdown for 2 months, my car got totalled. It was a bad show. So, this December my job will give up two bonuses. I plan to use those to pay off the $3,000 loan. I pay $150 a month but it hasn't even made a dent a year later. However, $1,000 a month that im paying towards the debt is making a difference, but not quickly. My living situation isn't the best. I have a step family member who reminds me of the debt all of the time. It's causing my depression to go up. I'm doing my best. However, my parents keep telling me to look into bankruptcy. I have a 2016 Honda Civic. I went from a lemon car that always cost me tons of money, and slowly worked my way up to this car. I rather not file bankruptcy. I don't want to chance losing the car. I'm so close to getting the debt paid down giving it another year seems logical to me. I just don't know the wisest choice. I learned a lot. I'm just ready to have things paid off so I can have my own place again. I still can't find any consolation loans as my credit score isn't high enough just yet. I've tried to lower my interests on some accounts but companies don't want to lower it usually. Any advice is welcome. Thanks so much and I hope you have a great week! Just wanted to at least see other people's opinion on the smartest way to attack the debt and not have to live with family. (I use to have a place that I shared with a roommate with. Killed me when this person barely payed 30% of the living costs and then ended up bailing. I learned to not rent a place with someone unless I can fully afford the costs myself worse comes to it) [link] [comments]  |
| 7,350 in Credit Card Debt. Won't Pay off until May 2020. Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:54 AM PDT I am a full time Graduate Student and Support Coordinator. I live independently in NJ. I can put about $1,000 a month to pay off my credit cards. I was doing fine before I collected some medical bills since I don't have insurance, totaled my car, needed a new laptop, and had to front $2,500 for a summer class. My parents live out of state and I'm obligated to my lease until I graduate in May 2020. Should I gut it out or open a personal loan? I'm not sure if the APR on a personal loan would exceed my credit card. I would assume it could because my credit score is dropping. I don't have any time to pursue another source of income because my schedule is stacked. Wouldn't have many investment opportunities with 0 capital. I do have 4,000 in a 401k but with early withdrawal penalties and tax I don't think it would make a difference. Any advice? Update: Thanks for all the advice. Decided to go with the recommendations of a Balance Transfer. Saved me about $300 and I will be able to pay off new Credit Card without interest for 15 months which more importantly gives me some peace of mind! [link] [comments]  |
| ROTH IRA - which platform to use? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 06:06 PM PDT Relatively new to personal investing here. Last year I opened a ROTH IRA with TD Ameritrade and basically am doing the three fund portfolio (domestic index, international, bond). Since then, I've been seeing that most people use one of the main three other platforms - Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab. Should I switch to one of these? Does it really matter that much? Newbie here. [link] [comments]  |
| Mom is possibly in her last years need financial advice Posted: 30 Sep 2019 12:22 PM PDT My (23F) mother (61F) may only have a year left due to stage IV cancer. Right now I live with her rent free as I'm paying off student loans. I have no idea how to approach this. She still owes on her house. I know she took out a home equity loan. She is the primary owner of my car which isn't paid off yet. She has credit card debt. She has some savings and a retirement. She's not married. It's just me and my 3 other siblings. I'm not sure if I'll keep her house when she passes. I just want to make the financials of everything as easy as possible for her and us kids so we can focus on my mom and her treatment. [link] [comments]  |
| What to do when statement says minimum payment is zero? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 07:05 PM PDT Does this mean I don't have to pay anything for the month? Normally I would see it say at least $20 bucks which was what i was planning on paying. I'm a bit tight this month so can't pay the full balance. Also while i'm here, why do we get charged when withdrawing cash from our credit card? Does the fee differ based on how much i am withdrawing? [link] [comments]  |
| Hit in the parking lot. Feels like I’m about to get ghosted. Posted: 30 Sep 2019 04:14 PM PDT My first car accident. Guy (lets call him T) backs into my car in parking lot. We exchange numbers and I grab his license plate #. Unfortunately my phone was dead and I did not call the police or file a police report. He was 100% at fault and admitted it. Said "he would take care of it". I believed it and wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt. Said he did not have insurance, that it was his moms car and she had insurance (red flag 1). His mom witnessed the accidental but immediately left in another vehicle before I had a chance to speak with her. Had a body shop estimate of $3000 which I'm sure is on the high end for the amount of damage done. Relayed that info to T and he's not having it. I ask him to find a body shop he'd be more comfortable with and get back to me. T never got back to me so I gave him a few more days and called back. Said he was busy and would call me back again. At this point I'm expecting this guy to ghost me and I want to be prepared. Any ideas on what to do next? Assuming he doesn't call me back I'm not sure if I should call the police, insurance company, or small claims court. Calling my insurance agent tomorrow but I'm pretty sure any claim would bump my rates. As for the police, the only evidence I have is a 2 min voicemail he left at the time of accident. Unfortunately it didn't pick up the part where he admits fault. And I doubt his mom would be of any use. The damage is on a rear passenger door and traces to the rear which is pretty indicative that he back into me as I was already pass his vehicle. Sorry for the long winded post just want to be thorough. Any help appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| 3 Fund portfolio with Schwab 401k - need advice for Domestic portion Posted: 30 Sep 2019 06:19 PM PDT My job has Schwab. In choosing my Domestic portion, Im in between VOO (Vanguard S&P 500) and SCHX (Scwhab US Large cap which tracks closely to the SP500 according to my internet research) Any advice which on would be better? SCHX would have no commission fee since its Schwab. Would the commission fee of VOO outweigh any benefits? [link] [comments]  |
| Keeping track of individual grocery prices Posted: 30 Sep 2019 05:48 AM PDT So at the beginning of the year I moved out on my own and I've been somewhat able to keep track of what stores sell things at a better price than others and even that Walmart isn't always the best deal. I've been keeping my receipts to somewhat be able to keep track of price changes and such but it has become cumbersome and now I'm wondering if there is an easier way to keep track of deals and such , I thought about integrating prices from receipts into my spreadsheet budget but I feel like that would make it way more complicated. Any suggestions? Edit: I shop for myself and I meal prep for the week because it's more cost effective to cook for the week than eat out. I budget for $250 a month with food which can be adjusted of course. I have a Walmart near me and a few local grocery stores, This post was more of a general sense, everything from food to toiletries and household items you would need overtime. I'm trying to only go shopping once a week as going multiple times a week doesn't seem cost effective and is time consuming. [link] [comments]  |
| Worried I Won't Receive My Check Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:28 PM PDT Hello! Roughly a month ago I began proofreading remotely for a company called Writer's Relief. Everything was going well until recently. I was supposed to send in and invoice on the 15th of the month in order to get paid, and I sent in the invoice on time. I'd previously asked how I'd be receiving payment, and was told that it would be sent to the address provided in the W-9 form I sent in. I waited until the 24th of this month and hadn't received anything, so I sent an inquiry via email, and got a prompt response saying that it would be mailed out the morning of the 25th. I still haven't gotten anything, and it's the 30th now. I sent an email around 7 PM asking for an update. I'm a bit concerned. I don't think this is normal, and I was just wondering if there's anything I can do or should do. Sorry for the long post. Any help is appreciated. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| I have a Fidelity 401(k) account, and I think my personal rate of return % sounds ridiculously high. Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:20 PM PDT I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, so I won't immediately post what I'm getting, if that's ok. What is a realistic number or range for a personal rate of return % from Fidelity Net Benefits? Just asking for a reality check. [link] [comments]  |
| Claim from auto insurance or health insurance after at-fault accident (CAN) Posted: 30 Sep 2019 05:56 PM PDT I was in a car accident, rear end so I was deemed at fault. I have about $3500 in therapy / physiotherapy bills that I've paid out of pocket. Health insurance covers around 20%, not sure about auto insurance but I presume it's a higher percentage. I called my auto insurance after the accident, so they know it happened. I'm in Ontario. I'm not sure if it's better to 1) claim through auto insurance and possibly see my premiums rise more 2) claim through health insurance and get a lower % back [link] [comments]  |
| Replacing a house with no value (all value in land) with a new construction? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 04:18 PM PDT This is fairly complicated, so TYIA. My grandparents own a property with two houses on it, one of which my mom lives in. She has lived there for the last 20 or so years, after my father bailed. We're in the USA. The house is in terrible shape. It was meant to be a temporary thing, but she could never afford to buy on her own while she had me to take care of. The house was originally meant to be a temporary dwelling for my great-great grandparents, that my grandpa built with his dad when they were still alive, after they died it was vacant for several years until my mom moved in. It has no AC, no heating outside a wood stove, the windows don't meet the seams and gap away from the frames, the roof leaks and has collapsed the ceiling in some places, the subfloor is cracked and rotting, and most recently a chunk of the ceiling fell in during a bad storm and nearly killed me. The wood siding is rotting away and water seeps in when it rains, from the floor level. I'm pretty sure that if someone came and inspected the house, it would be condemned. Obviously I want my mom out of there, but she is adamant about staying to help my grandparents, she grew up there, the property has been in the family for 80 years, etc etc. My mom has an 8 year old bankruptcy from the recession that keeps her from most decent loans and lines of credit. I'm not positive that the house is permitted (property is not subdivided and we're quite rural, so possible that 50 years ago my grandpa was just like "screw the government" and built it) and am nervous to dig into it too much to avoid someone coming and inspecting. It may be grandfathered in, but would that apply to a tear down and rebuild? The other problem is that since my mom doesn't own the property, we have my grandparents' blessing to tear down and rebuild, but do I need to buy the land from them first? They've also agreed to that if it's necessary. If I went that route, would I be able to do that on a traditional mortgage and then demolish? Do we need a construction crew if we have the right permits? My grandpa is a farm mechanic and him and a few friends could probably demo the house in an afternoon (very small, 2 bedroom 1 bath ~900 SF). Since the value is all in the land (our house in terrible shape and their house is a 30 year old mobile home), under a mortgage would I be able to demo before paying off the mortgage, and then get a construction loan to cover the rebuild? Land value is ~100k, hoping to demo and replace with either a prefab or modest stick build for another 100k or so. I've looked at a lot of websites and nothing seems to quite fit what I'm looking to do. Any advice would be amazing. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2019 05:41 PM PDT Wondering which health insurance I should go with. In my area, I only have to choices. Kaiser or Aetna. Don't usually use my health care. I'm relatively healthy and just really want health insurance so I can get an HSA. https://secure.livethehealthyorangelife.com/files/PlanDetails-Transition-2019.pdf The link is to the pdf of the health insurance. You just need to look at the first page. I'm thinking Aetna because it does not require me to meet the deductible to use the insurance. [link] [comments]  |
| Multiple random Venmo deposits? Posted: 30 Sep 2019 07:49 PM PDT This morning my girlfriend reviewed a $10 Venmo payment with the caption mentioning supporting her recent becoming of a single mother (which she is definitely not) and through out the day she has been receiving more and more "donations" with similar captions. She's received 4 so far and they've all appeared out of nowhere in the last 12 hours. [link] [comments]  |
| Chase lowering my credit limit on one of the credit cards Posted: 30 Sep 2019 05:16 PM PDT Just received a mailing from Chase today that they are planning to lower my credit limit on one of my credit cards by 50%. Obviously this will have a negative impact on my credit score as it raises my credit utilization rate. Does anyone have experience with fighting the lowering of the credit limit? Their rationale is that I rarely use enough of the balance to justify such a large credit limit. Looking for suggestions. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2019 03:42 PM PDT Does anyone know/recommend any banks or credit unions that offer a 10 year or 15 year CD (preferred 15 year). Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
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