Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 04, 2019 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 04, 2019
- Warning! Look out for scammers in this sub,
- Married, age 26. Leaving the Military with about 50k in Savings, no credit. Seeking advice for planning next step.
- Company refusing to provide notice of termination
- 30k in savings, ready to do something with it
- Received $6000 Cash and $4000 in gift cards from baby shower - next steps
- Dad's Social Security Survivor Benefit Payment Lower Than Expected
- Pretty sure my father is getting scammed selling a car
- Chase ate my cash deposit
- Just found out my coworkers salaries
- What type of investment is best for a child’s college fund?
- What's your rule on when it's time to stop spending money on an old car?
- Job offer apprehensiveness about leaving
- House appraised at and we have 78% equity, mortage company is saying we have to be at 75% to remove PMI insurance?
- I was really dumb my first few years as an adult and tanked my credit.
- $71,000 ER visit after BCBS insurance coverage - please help (Texas)
- $80,000 in personal student loans and $20,000 In federal loans.
- Experian dropped my FICO 71 points for almost maxing a $300 secured CC that was not even due, how do I correct this?
- Cost of Living Calculator when I don't have a destination in mind?
- Starting college at 28 with zero financial support from parents.. how to make it work?
- How do you find out how much the dealer paid for the car you want to buy so you can negotiate?
- (RO) How to get employment as a disabled man after layoff?
- As a college student (18YO), what should I be concerned about it a recession hits (US)
- Accidentally contributed to my traditional IRA instead of Roth
- Buying vs leasing
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 04, 2019 Posted: 04 Oct 2019 02:04 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]  |
| Warning! Look out for scammers in this sub, Posted: 04 Oct 2019 04:45 AM PDT I posted here yesterday asking for investing advice and got a pm from an throwaway account. They said I should invest in BTC and I immediately assumed they were scamming me. I still held a conversation with them to see what they actually wanted. They told me to contact a private cloud mining rig called adiamondtransfer. Clearly a scam. I'll send screenshots of the conversation. The scammer is an Asian women (she sent a pic of herself with her phone) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2019 08:13 AM PDT Good morning to you all. I will preface this by saying what I've been doing this far probably isn't the smartest approach to financial planning, and maybe my goals are ill-conceived. If you think of a better way to approach my goals that are outside my current plan, please share! Aside from alternate plans, what I think I really need is advice about what to do with my savings to achieve my goals. Current situation:
Goals:
Rough plan for achieving these goals INPUT APPRECIATED:
I figure I can continue saving about $2k/month like I've been doing for the last 2.5 years. I feel like just letting my savings pile up isn't the best way I can achieve my current goals. I guess what I'm looking for is advice on investing in a relatively safe way while being able to make significant withdrawals to build this house and buy land well before retirement. After we own the house and the land it's under, the majority of our savings will go towards retirement. A couple personal quirks of mine to note:
edit: formatting [link] [comments]  |
| Company refusing to provide notice of termination Posted: 04 Oct 2019 12:18 PM PDT So it's been a month now, and my previous employer is refusing to provide anyone with a notice of termination including myself what am I supposed to do? I've tried getting emergency services until my new job starts (which is 10 days away, but still won't receive a paycheck for three weeks from now)
And for anyone curious for future reference, it's DHL Supply Chain. [link] [comments]  |
| 30k in savings, ready to do something with it Posted: 03 Oct 2019 09:45 PM PDT Okay, I've got some weird finances. Currently, I work 40(+) hours a week making minimum 450 to over 500 some weeks. I have very low expenses. My rent is 265 monthly, utilities included, even wifi. I don't drive, just bike, and I don't even have a phone bill. I communicate through apps. I spend very little on food, usually nothing, because I have an arrangement with my roommate that I do all the cooking/dishes and they buy all the food. I've got a couple fringe benefits from my job, like moderate healthcare and school coverage, but I'm not enrolled at the moment. All I do is save. At 24, I have 30k in my bank made of this job and previous work. My partner lives in Canada, and I am attempting to gain citizenship there, making it my only other financial requirement. I sincerely doubt this will happen by the end of the year, however, so my income is likely to stay consistent. I need to make my money work for me. I admit that I'm not the brightest. I know how to pinch a penny, and have a lot of self control when it comes to spending, but I am terribly, terribly afraid of screwing that up and making bad decisions that leave me with nothing. I've wasted a lot of time because of that fear, my most adventurous investments being risk free CDs. I want to invest in a particular stock I believe in and want to support, but lack any other plans. I've floated buying a cheap vehicle, probably a motorcycle, and getting supplemental work doing Door Dash or similar services, but that's not working smarter, just more, and what I want is to work less while making enough that it doesn't send me into an anxiety spiral that makes me want to keep each penny like Smaug McDuck. I would like to travel and buy the things I want some day, but the way I see it, I have this money now, and the sooner I make it start returning value, then I can feel comfortable living life. What should I do? Please don't point out how stupid I am because I already know. [link] [comments]  |
| Received $6000 Cash and $4000 in gift cards from baby shower - next steps Posted: 04 Oct 2019 12:50 PM PDT My wife and I are expecting in Nov. We've received many of the baby necessities (e.g., crib, bassinet, play pen, stroller, etc.,) as hand-me downs or bought them used. My mother-in-law invited her rich friends to the baby shower and we received way more than expected - approximately $6000 cash and $4000 in gift cards. We still need to buy approximately $500 worth of additional items - this will come from the gift cards. We're not planning on buying anything else until we realize we need it - so we plan on keeping the $3500 worth gift cards around for future child items (e.g., bigger car seat, diapers, toys, etc.). The question is, what should we do with the $6000 cash. We have enough savings and investments that we don't need to save the $6000 for unforeseen child expenses that can't be covered by gift cards. My first instinct is to put all of it in a 529 plan and start contributing to it on a monthly basis. I thought I'd reach out to see if anyone had other sage advise. [link] [comments]  |
| Dad's Social Security Survivor Benefit Payment Lower Than Expected Posted: 04 Oct 2019 03:51 PM PDT My mother died in July. My father went to Social Security and filed to receive my mother's benefit amount, because she made more money than him. He also filed to receive the $255 death benefit and her last check, which was held back in August. The clerk told us he'd start getting her full benefit once it was processed. In September he still got his original amount, which didn't surprise us. In late September he got the $255 death benefit and another payment that is $200 less than her monthly benefit was. We assume that's her last check, because their regular checks don't arrive until the third Wednesday. Any idea why he got $200 less? I don't remember him being asked to fill out an IRS withholding form. [link] [comments]  |
| Pretty sure my father is getting scammed selling a car Posted: 04 Oct 2019 03:21 PM PDT Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I need a third opinion Basically he's selling a car to someone locally for $6,500 I'm not really sure the reason, but she is paying $1,500 cash, and $5,000 through paypal with the "family and friends". Something about she can't withdraw it from her bank or something rather, no idea Typically that means that cannot be refundable, but I thought I've heard of this scam before, but I can't find the "catch" Can't seem to talk my dad out of this sketchy deal [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2019 04:54 PM PDT Earlier today, I went to chase's ATM to deposit a total of $480. The ATM is acting up, so I asked an employee standing around for help. She helped me deposit the cash.For some reason, it swallowed the money and spit out an error receipt and told me to call the number. The employee told me to call the number to file a claim, and said she could help but it's gonna be a long wait, so I decided to call instead. I really need the money because I might get charged with late fees on my internet bill. But the claim specialist told me it's gonna take like 10 business days, and when I asked about the temporary credit, they were very vague about it, trying dodge the question and just answer the same answer: "it's gonna take 10 business day to finish the investigation". How should I proceed with this? [link] [comments]  |
| Just found out my coworkers salaries Posted: 04 Oct 2019 04:53 PM PDT I work in a large urban university as a staff, not faculty. I am the longest tenured member of a relatively young department (I got promoted from the "old" version of this department to a new one when the founding director retired). I was talking to two new coworkers today- both of whom I outrank but don't supervise and both make 6-8 k per year more than I do. I am not happy but also know that the university has a policy that limits how much more you can get when you get a promotion. So I can see HOW this happened - sort of- but I am furious that they didn't look at the salaries overall in the department and recognize the inequity. I have more responsibilities and am considered part of the "leadership" of the department. I talked to my boss who basically said they didn't know what anyone in the department made (not entirely unexpected) but they would talk to the dean of finance. Any words of wisdom for me? Side note- we get free tuition for our kids at this school, so I really want to stay for that, as well as my own further education. [link] [comments]  |
| What type of investment is best for a child’s college fund? Posted: 04 Oct 2019 05:18 PM PDT I want to put $500 away for my 1 year old nephew that will receive the most effective return when he turns 18. I spoke with a banker at Wells Fargo and I was told they only offer long term CDs starting at 2.5k. He recommended a credit union for long term savings accounts. I was hoping I could get a CD or Bond or some long term investment that wouldn't be touched for 17 years. Any advice is appreciated [link] [comments]  |
| What's your rule on when it's time to stop spending money on an old car? Posted: 03 Oct 2019 08:43 PM PDT I bought a 2007 Mustang GT new back in 2006. Wasn't a smart purchase at the time for my income (I was just out of school ;D), but I paid it off in 5 years and have been driving it since then. Paid off since 2011. Been really nice having no car payments for like 8 years now ;D As it goes with older cars, stuff has stopped working. And what's really cost me has been my state's mandatory safety inspections. Last year I got tagged on emissions - needed to replace the catalytic converter in full. That was like $700. This year - the whole brake system - rotors, calipers, whatever. There was some other nonsense on the bill but it ended up being like $1500. So in about a year I've spent ~$2200 on a car that KBB tells me is worth about ~$5300. Am I going into stupid territory here? What is your rule for how much to spend maintaining an older car vs its value? I've priced out cars I would like online but I hate the idea of going back to a monthly payment. [link] [comments]  |
| Job offer apprehensiveness about leaving Posted: 04 Oct 2019 03:32 PM PDT Received an offer, details:
The compensation increase was a huge factor especially because I am thinking about my future (early 30's and want to save for a house/family). I'm meeting my boss again after he discusses with the management but they hinted that it may be possible to come close to match the offer. I went in thinking I definitely was going to take it, but I have a great relationship with my boss and company I'm a little hesitant. Any advice? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2019 03:22 PM PDT we had an appraisal of our house at $216K. We owe 169K. We're at 78% equity per the appraisal. The mortgage company accepted the appraisal, but said we could not lose the PMI until we hit 75% equity, because we've only been a customer of their s for 3 years. I thought federal law said 78% PMI has to be dropped automatically on a conventional loan? This might be in the mortgage contract, but doesn't federal law trump (sorry) contract law? It's 90$ a month we are paying for PMI, so it's quite a bit. [link] [comments]  |
| I was really dumb my first few years as an adult and tanked my credit. Posted: 04 Oct 2019 06:25 PM PDT I financed a car that eventually got repossessed. Said vehicle slid off the road one winter and I got a line of credit to fix the damages. After the repossession, I stopped paying on the line of credit and the insurance of the vehicle, both of which reported me to collections. So, now my score is sitting in the low 500's and it's impossible to do anything credit wise. Is it smarter to pay off the bad debt first or try and open a secured line of credit? Debt equals out to about $6000 and I make about $60,000 a year now that I am a journeyman in my trade. I really want to look into buying my first home and get out of the renting stage, but I need to fix and build my credit first. Any advice would be appreciated. Edit: Would it be smart to try and reduce my debt by bundling it together with my credit union? [link] [comments]  |
| $71,000 ER visit after BCBS insurance coverage - please help (Texas) Posted: 03 Oct 2019 09:30 PM PDT UPDATE Called patient advocate at facility and they said they don't balance bill. So I still owe several thousand which luckily I have a 2nd job and can afford it but still it's a lot HOWEVER she is willing to do a payment plan with me. Thank god. I can sleep. No more suicidal thoughts! Last month I suddenly ran a 105 degree fever and my vitals dropped and I went into sepsis within 3-4 hours prior feeing completely fine. I went to the closest urgent care (which I thought was an urgent care). I didn't want to go to the ER because i thought urgent care would be faster and cheaper plus it was closer and i didn't have time to drive so far to the hospital since I live far out. I was by myself and in a bad shape health wise. After a 23 hour stay I was transferred to another hospital due to the severity of my Abcess on my tonsils and it needed removal. When I went to the facility I was so sick that I didn't read the paperwork and I initialed papers and remember being in and out of consciousness. I remember a tech/nurse saying the bill is "comparable to your insurance coverage" Today I found out it was a stand alone emergency room. It is out of network with BCBS. My BCBS out of network coverage for ER visits is $3000 deductible and $6000 out of pocket. I called them and they said they only covered $1,186 of the $72,000 bill and the rest of from the facility. And they called the facility to do a "plan to plan" check and sure enough everything is correct. And I'm asking for an internal investigation. I can't afford $71,000 in medical bills. I already have $50,000 in student loans not to mention another $5000 for the ER I got transferred to plus I'm having tonsils surgery next month due to all this and will have that. I met my deductible though. How do I fight this? What should I do? [link] [comments]  |
| $80,000 in personal student loans and $20,000 In federal loans. Posted: 04 Oct 2019 11:44 AM PDT Hello, r/personalfinance I just recently graduated college with $100,000 in debt. I made a mistake of going through Sallie Mae for my personal loans and I have a 12.3% interest rate. I would like to consolidate and refinance my students loans but I don't know where to begin. Any help will be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2019 07:27 PM PDT Long story short, I had plenty of debt earlier in my life due to ignorance and youth (33M now). In total maybe $1600, that eventual fell off my credit report. My score eventually jumped up into the 700s (I don't know why, I never opened any credit cards since that time). I get older and decide that I know I need to raise my score, but I would not be accepted for a CC, so I paid US Bank $300 for a $300 credit line on a secured Visa. I was told to use the card and pay it off in full to help my credit score. I made varied purchases and paid 50 towards the card in the middle of the month when I was cashing some coinage. My Min due at the statement was $0 due 10/11. I get 2 emails from experian 10/4 that say I have lost points on my credit and my score went from good to fair, 700s to 600s with a total loss of 71 points. I have thousands in my checking and was going to pay in full before the due date. I see this and realize somehow I have hurt my score when ALL I have been trying to do is help me get an apartment and maybe a small loan for a vehicle. When I got the notification that they dropped my score so drastically, having never been late and not near the due date I flipped. I immediately paid the card in full right away but I don't know if I have any ability to fix the damage that occurred when all I was trying to do is bolster it. Do I have corrective measures? Can this be remedied, will it recover? Or have I done something incredibly stupid? What do I charge to my card, how often do I pay? Is it always in full? I'm sorry this seems so disjointed but I need help figuring out how to build it back up. I owe no debts, the CC is paid in full, can you guys pat me on the back and help me figure this shit out? I appreciate ANY help or advice, I know some of this thing might be covered but I can't find what I'm truly looking for. I know you guys are awesome, I just don't want to feel like I fucked myself here. [link] [comments]  |
| Cost of Living Calculator when I don't have a destination in mind? Posted: 04 Oct 2019 04:16 PM PDT Hello there! I know where I currently live, and I know the rough estimate of what my yearly salary is. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Starting college at 28 with zero financial support from parents.. how to make it work? Posted: 04 Oct 2019 07:04 PM PDT So I am pretty desperate at this point to go back to school. I've been working retail for 5 years, having taken a break from that for 8 months to try to work a tech support job that I ended up leaving because it didn't pay enough. I'm a skilled programmer who has learned a lot on her own, but has zero professional experience. My conundrum right now is that I can't figure out how to pay for living expenses and tuition while going to school given my work history. I know that I'm the kind of student who shuts down and dismisses her school work when my stress levels get too high, and trying to figure out how to make this work financially is making me wonder if school is even worth pursuing given where I am in my life right now. I work a full time retail management job. Full time is required for this position. I make a decent wage ($17.30/hr) but there is no way for me to work this job while going back to school. When I get home from work, I want to do nothing because the job is extremely mentally and physically demanding. My work schedule changes every week. I work inconsistent shifts and inconsistent days. This makes taking classes basically impossible. I can be at work up to 11:30PM during the holiday season, 9:30PM Jan-Oct. The other issue is that I don't trust myself at all when it comes to taking online college courses. I know that I will procrastinate unless I'm forced to show up to class every week. It's just too easy to find anything else to do than school work. And if work is too stressful, it will impact my grades. I've been looking at other jobs, mainly tech support jobs that are part time and pay at least $15/hr with around 30 hours/week and a work schedule that would allow me to go to school. I interviewed for one but never heard back from them. I currently live with my dad and I'm able to put away a decent amount of money every month into my savings, but to make school work I'm going to have to drop to part time. Basically every retail job out there involves an inconsistent schedule. They don't want someone with a student's scheduling needs. That means I'm going to have to drop from management and take at least a $5/hr pay cut, on top of an hour cut. I'll go from taking home $2100 a month to $1000 if I'm lucky. How did you make it work, reddit? My dad expects me to pay rent, I have bills to pay like any other adult. My dad is unable to help me out financially outside of giving me a cheap room to rent in while I try to get my shit figured out. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you find out how much the dealer paid for the car you want to buy so you can negotiate? Posted: 04 Oct 2019 02:35 PM PDT My partner is looking to purchase a new vehicle. We are looking to negotiate on the price because it is just way too high. (We are looking at Subaru Impreza 2019). Is there a resource or place that breaks down how much the manufacture charges the dealer to buy the car? For example, if it cost the manufacturer $10,000 to make the car and they charged the dealer $10,000 to buy it, can I negotiate to lower the MSRP or invoice price? The car we are looking at is $21,000 without tags and taxes etc... [link] [comments]  |
| (RO) How to get employment as a disabled man after layoff? Posted: 04 Oct 2019 09:10 AM PDT Hello. I made a post here a long time ago and you guys really helped out, I can't thank you enough for it. But now I could use your advice again. I am a Romanian, disabled and stuck in a wheelchair due to a genetic disease (muscle dystrophy). 1.5 years ago, I managed to get a job working as a customer support agent, thanks to someone I met here on Reddit. I was answering customer calls over a text chat interface for a small company over the internet, now I got laid off as the company is now only selling to enterprises and not customers, making me obsolete. I am now looking for a new job, but I have no idea how to actually get one. Wrote up a CV and started looking on job search websites, but all the "work from home" type jobs I have found seem to be either very low paying or outright scams like affiliate marketing or survey completion. I'm trapped in my apartment due to a lack of elevators and ramps rendering conventional jobs impossible, making a work from home type job necessary. How can I find another job that I could work from home? Preferably a full time, stable one? [link] [comments]  |
| As a college student (18YO), what should I be concerned about it a recession hits (US) Posted: 04 Oct 2019 11:56 AM PDT I've been seeing posts about ways of preparing for a recession lately. I know we can't predict when it will hit but I just want to know how it would affect me as a young individual in college? I have a part time job and recently opened a savings account at Ally. I wonder if I am in a bad position to be in right now. I heard the last recession really pulled college graduates down edit: thank you all for the insight and advice. i will be sure to keep them in mind. [link] [comments]  |
| Accidentally contributed to my traditional IRA instead of Roth Posted: 04 Oct 2019 02:07 PM PDT I wasn't paying close enough attention a few months ago when I made a contribution to my IRA. I had intended to contribute to Roth, but ended up contributing to my traditional IRA with the same institution instead. Is it possible to move it back this year without any tax implications (or anything reportable really because I'd like to avoid the headache of extra paperwork.) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2019 02:05 PM PDT So I drive a lot for my job. 20,000miles a year on average. I recently bought a new (used) car because I wanted something that was better in the snow and more reliable. While I was signing the papers the finance guy mentioned that his sister has my exact same job (same company, same 20,000 miles a year) and she leases. she argues that the car depreciates so fast because of the high miles she actually comes out ahead leasing. He said he'd run her math and she was right. How can she be with the high miles? Can anyone clear this up for me? Just wondering if I made the right call buying this car or if I should have leased it. [link] [comments]  |
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