Personal Finance 30-Day Challenge #12: Get involved with charity! (December, 2019) |
- 30-Day Challenge #12: Get involved with charity! (December, 2019)
- My landlady has asked me to pay next month's rent on top of this month's. Need some advice please.
- Don't pay off the house early?
- Shoe retailer asking for my bank info to process a refund
- Moving to upper management, no more raises and only bonus. How to negotiate raise?
- Do I finance a car or just buy it cash?
- 40, 85k in debt, about to lose job and and in desperate need of financial advice
- Review our 2020 financial plan
- I visited the doctor without insurance because I was told it would be $200, but received a bill for more... (US)
- Doing work without being payed?
- How to properly shop around for a mortgage?
- What does Pulse and STAR logos on my debit card mean?
- I have a large emergency fund. Where should I keep it?
- Starting a Roth IRA, does it make sense to invest in the same Index Fund I am already investing in through my 401k?
- Where should I put my savings?
- Young almost college graduate unsure of what to do with savings
- Walmart charged me for my return instead of refunding me? My bank insists there is no hold and Walmart issued a charge to my account instead of a refund. Walmart insists they issued a credit to my account instead of a charge. Is this something normal?
- Questions about travel credit cards.
- Advice for young adult with savings account.
- Dad was in E.R for 30 minutes - got billed $2000 from hospital and $700 from doctor treating him.
- Healthcare benefits at new job cannot be used until 3 months of employment
- Put in Charge of "Special Needs" Trust for Older Brother - how to navigate?
- Young person with no experience looking to get started in investing
- Is there any logic to investing in two separate Target Retirement Funds with different target years?
- Wife's credit score dropped due to unpaid medical bill that went to collections, now we find out they had the wrong mailing address
| 30-Day Challenge #12: Get involved with charity! (December, 2019) Posted: 01 Dec 2019 05:06 AM PST 30-day challengesWe are pleased to continue our 30-day challenge series. Past challenges can be found here. This month's 30-day challenge is to Get involved with charity! As the end of the year approaches, there are many opportunities to extend oneself to be generous. The best advice is to "secure your own oxygen mask first" before helping others. The foundation of your generosity should be a solid financial footing for yourself. Until you have achieved this, you should be circumspect about monetary giving. Monetary donationsIf you have the means, consider monetary donations as these are the most efficient use of your charitable resources. Don't spend money to buy material goods that you intend to donate unless they are specifically requested by the charity itself. Cash donations allow for flexibility for the charity to get exactly what is needed at the right time in the right quantity at the right place to serve their mission. Make sure you are contributing to charities that are good stewards of your hard-earned dollars by checking Charity Navigator, Give Well, or another trusted source. If you do decide to donate cash, see if your employer matches contributions to extend the benefit. You may also consider donating to a charity that has assisted you or your loved ones in the past. Material donationsDecember is a great month in which to declutter your home, especially if you are participating in one of the many gift-giving holidays. Review your living space to determine what you can part with and how you can enjoy the reclaimed space. You can donate material goods to Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill industries, AmVets, and local options near you such as food pantries. Time donationsOf course with all the donations coming in at this time of year, many organizations will need volunteers to help with the influx. If you are unable to donate money or material goods, you can consider donating your time. You can use Volunteer Match or Catch a Fire to get you started. There may also be local soup kitchens, churches, schools, or other organizations that need assistance. Alternative donationsThere are other ways to be charitable if you don't have spare money, goods, or time. Here are some ideas:
TaxesQualified charitable contributions remain tax-deductible under the new tax law in the US, but realizing a reduction in taxes is more difficult because of the increase in the standard deduction. If this is a significant factor for you, you may want to consider more advanced tax reduction strategies such as donor advised funds, giving appreciated stock, or bunching your donations to meet the itemization threshold. Receiving charityIf you are in need this year, please consider being the good-faith recipient of a charity's assistance. Challenge success criteriaYou've successfully completed this challenge once you've done one of the following things:
[link] [comments]  |
| My landlady has asked me to pay next month's rent on top of this month's. Need some advice please. Posted: 01 Dec 2019 03:33 PM PST Hi y'all, so just a quick one... I live with my landlady as a lodger (no written contract necessary), and am recently unemployed (25 days). I haven't found work yet and my landlady is getting paranoid that, because I'm still unemployed after 3 weeks, I won't be able to pay the rent in January. So she's asked me to pay it upfront with December's rent. Now I'd like to respectfully refuse that request as I feel it's completely discriminatory and unfair of her to ask me to pay double rent when nobody else in the house has to based solely on the fact that I'm currently unemployed. I've tried to assure her that I have more than enough savings to cover the rent in the event that I don't find a job within the next six months even, but I work in an industry where it's fairly easy to find a job so that won't be an issue (truth be told I've been enjoying being a slob these past few weeks as I haven't had more than a week off at a time in the last seven years or so!). But I just wanted some advice as to whether I'm obliged to actually pay the double rent given that I don't actually have a written contract, or whether I'm within my rights to respectfully refuse her request? [link] [comments]  |
| Don't pay off the house early? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 08:27 AM PST So in a casual conversation, I mentioned to some of my colleagues that I plan on paying off my house early. To which someone said, "You don't want to do that." I explained that we plan on putting down 12k towards the house at the end of every year and after doing so, our mortgage will be paid off by the time I'm 57. (Currently 43.) His advice was to not dump all of that into the house but reinvest it. His school of thought is investments and later retirement. Mine is debt free and part time work instead of full time, or if possible, early retirement before 60. Feedback would be appreciated. Thank you all for the time! Edit: Holy Inbox! Thank you all again for your replies. Many of you have stated that more info would be helpful. Here's some.
[link] [comments]  |
| Shoe retailer asking for my bank info to process a refund Posted: 01 Dec 2019 10:55 AM PST I bought a pair of shoes that broke after two weeks of wear. I'm trying to return them in store, but their customer service keeps emailing me this:
I made the purchase in a US store with my Discover credit card, so I don't understand why they're asking for this info as if they're trying to do an international wire transfer. They are a Spanish company. Am I wrong in feeling uncomfortable with this request? Or is it perfectly safe to give them this info? I'm gonna call them tomorrow but I figured I would ask here - sorry if this is the wrong place to post. [link] [comments]  |
| Moving to upper management, no more raises and only bonus. How to negotiate raise? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 11:15 AM PST My responsibilities and title are unchanged, but I got moved from mid to upper management, without a raise or formal promotion. Upper management does not get annual raises, but gets bonus (I don't know how much yet). All other employees get annual raises (2-6%) and a bonus based on seniority (roughly 3-5%). I plan on staying with my job and company for at least 5 more years. If the upper management bonus is not spectacular (must be over 10% to equal mid-mgmt raise and bonus) then basically I just locked myself into my current pay for the potential of more work to come. I'm wondering what is the best way to calculate a fixed salary that will not be adjusted for inflation for who knows how long. My current pay is average, probably just below the middle of market rate. I know I have some room to negotiate although the company is very stingy, because I'm in the middle of leading a big project that would have a huge, probably permanent, setback if I leave. Any advice is appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Do I finance a car or just buy it cash? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 06:59 AM PST My wife and I are looking for a car after mine was totaled. We found one we like a lot on Carvana. Now we're trying to decide what is the smarter decision. We can finance it and pay about $260 a month for 72 months or we have the cash to buy the car now and it saves the interest from financing which is about 4-5k. Edit. It about 3k. Not 4-5k. [link] [comments]  |
| 40, 85k in debt, about to lose job and and in desperate need of financial advice Posted: 01 Dec 2019 05:24 PM PST So I'm kind of screwed and would love some advice. Between a nervous breakdown, mental health shit, family crisis, unemployment, student loads, and pending divorce, I've been in a fog for the past year. My head has cleared and I find myself 85k in debt (70k to Great Lakes for student loans, 11k in credit card that debt that I got stuck with from the marriage), and credit score that dropped 120 pts in the past five months (to 600), and about to lose my current job. I have about 1200 in cash, a 401k with all of 7k in it. My position could end as early as next Monday. Between accrued vacation time and pension refund I'm probably looking at another 6k in cash. I'll qualify for unemployment which should be about 1200 a month give or take, but will not cover rent plus expenses and minimum credit payments. I'm beyond fucked and freaking out. I don't have any friends or family that I go to for help and I'm scared that when I lose my job, I also lose my health insurance and mental health care. Long term, I want to fix my credit, knock down the debt, build savings, and maybe, just maybe be able to retire before I'm 75. Short term, I need to keep myself off the street. Any guidance or advice would be appreciated. I've been shit with money and realize its an issue. I need help and throw myself of the mercy of the subreddit. [link] [comments]  |
| Review our 2020 financial plan Posted: 01 Dec 2019 11:25 AM PST We just finished paying off our student loans (thanks to YNAB and some FI tips) and can re-purpose those funds. We're hoping to get some feedback on our 2020 financial plan. Take a look at our breakdown and let us know what you think. Three year goal: take a few months off between jobs, buy a new house (up to $250k). [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Dec 2019 02:01 PM PST I paid $200 prior to the visit but I just received a $425 bill today for an "endoscopy procedure". I was there for congestion and the doctor said ok, let's have a look and stuck a thing in my nose for about 20 seconds. Had I known it would cost $425, I wouldn't have done it. Is there anything I can do about it? He didn't even hint that taking a look at my nose wasn't included in the $200 visit fee... [link] [comments]  |
| Doing work without being payed? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 05:22 AM PST I work at a small family business, specifically a specialty grocery. I am happy with my job, although there are a few practices that have made me raise an eye (then again this only my first job so perhaps these are more common than I'd like to believe). For instance, certain employees consistently work off the clock (think 10+ hours/week). Recently I was asked to write an article for their website, one that would be a historically informed, well written piece. In other words, not a short advertisement but a real thing of writing that would require hours of research and editing. Initially I was flattered to have been asked, yet the more I think about it, I wonder if I'm finding myself in a similar position to some of my coworkers. There was no talk of any compensation for doing work that is at the benefit of the company. Does this constitute unpaid work, or am I just being oversensitive? [link] [comments]  |
| How to properly shop around for a mortgage? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 09:42 AM PST I will be closing on a home in a little less than two months. Mostly everything is figured out other than who I will be using as a lender. I've gotten pre-approval and an estimate from an online lender(New American Funding) and an estimate from a local lender. Needless to say, I'm not satisfied with the rates and closing cost fees they are offering. I have a perfect credit history with a score around ~800 and many assets to back the borrowing of this money for the house. I have around till next Saturday to figure out my lending situation, but how do you guys advise I shop around in order to find better rates/fees? Should I seek out more local lenders or online lenders? How do I properly take one lenders estimate and leverage it against another lenders estimate to get a better deal? [link] [comments]  |
| What does Pulse and STAR logos on my debit card mean? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 05:48 PM PST I never ask this before. On the back of my debit card, there's Pulse and STAR logos. What does the logo mean or indicate? [link] [comments]  |
| I have a large emergency fund. Where should I keep it? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 07:22 PM PST I have a large emergency fund (about 60k). The reason my emergency fund is so much. I'm self employed and work from home. I also rent out the guest house on my property. I live in a wildfire zone in CA. I am very concerned about the impact a fire would have on my life. If my house burns, I wouldn't just lose my house. I would lose my livelihood temporarily (until I could get settled in temporary housing and get it going again) and all my inventory (I sell stuff on eBay for a living) until I could find a rental and get going again. I would also lose the rental income. I have insurance to cover rebuilding and paying for a rental while I rebuild but I still need to pay the mortgage even if it's reduced to ashes and It would be hard to do that with no money coming in. What should I do with this money? It seems wasteful to have it in a HYSA but I need it to be safe and liquid. I have no debt besides the mortgage. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Dec 2019 06:02 PM PST I was going to open a Roth IRA this week and max it out for the 2019 Year. I currently invest 100% of my 401k through my company to a Vanguard Target Date Index Fund. Would it make sense to change it up with my Roth IRA through Vanguard, or would continuing to invest in the same target date index fund be the right move? I currently contribute around ~10k a year to that Index Fund. I'm not sure if this is a repetitive action or if there is a better use of my Roth IRA vs. investing in the same Index Fund. [link] [comments]  |
| Where should I put my savings? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 07:22 PM PST I live in Canada and i want to buy a condo or a house in next few years. So I don't want to risk losing everything. I am 26 years old. No debt. I currently have 66% of my net worth in a 1.7% 1 year term deposit (will recup in april 2020). The rest 33% is sitting in my bank account 0% for emergency I guess?!? I speculate there will be a recession soon this is why i put my money at 1.7% and did not invest in stocks (have a Questrade account I did not use yet). I am young and i need advice. Please don't hate on me and tell me what i can do better. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Young almost college graduate unsure of what to do with savings Posted: 01 Dec 2019 03:48 PM PST Hello. So, I'm 21 and graduating with a BS in chemistry in less than two weeks..... yikes. I'm planning to pursue a PhD. In the sciences you get a stipend and your tuition covered when getting a phd so I'm not worried about covering that. I have about 20k saved up mostly from working back when I was in high school. I feel like I should do something with this money to grow it while I'm in graduate school (i honestly should have done something with it a long time ago but here we are) I know nothing about money and while my parents are financially stable they don't really invest their money either. I just want some advice from people from this community because being in it has been pretty helpful (: [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Dec 2019 03:40 PM PST So I've gone through a shit show today. I went in to return 2 items that I purchased with a debit card with receipts. The lady was extremely rude and after dealing with the process she hands me the two receipts that showed *CREDIT ISSUED, Back to my card#. Each receipt had the correct total. Afterwards, upon checking my bank account, I noticed that I had 2 charges to my account for the cost of the refunds I was supposed to receive. So instead of receiving a credit to my account of $65, I was charged $65. I called my bank and they have been 100% adamant that this is not a hold for anything and that it is a debit charge issued by Walmart. The customer service desk refused to help me with any of this and just kept saying they sent the credit and completed the refund. I've called my bank, Walmart customer service, my store # to speak with store manager, and have gotten absolutely nowhere. Is this normal? I've never had this happen before for a return to my debit card. I'm familiar with what a hold is, but this is not a hold. My bank clearly told me that Walmart flat out issued two separate charges for the price of what I was supposed to be refunded. $11 and $54. So now, I've been effectively double charged for two items I don't even possess since they have been returned. The store manager said that it's normal for returns to be charged to your account and then have the full total refunded the next business day. I personally don't buy it. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Why would I be charged AGAIN for the items I'm returning before you refund me. So I should now be receiving $130 from Walmart instead of the $65 I was expecting. The initial cost of the items and now the additional cost of the new charge they've given me for the items I returned. Has anyone else had this happen to them? This doesn't seem normal. [link] [comments]  |
| Questions about travel credit cards. Posted: 01 Dec 2019 06:39 PM PST Hey personal finance fam! I've got a few questions about travel cards and bonus miles. My fiance and I are planning a trip to japan next June and before we buy tickets I wanted to get some opinions about a specific senario. Were looking at flying into Tokyo then two weeks later flying out of Osaka meaning we would purchase two 1 way tickets to Tokyo to the tune of roughly 2 grand. My thought is to open a new credit line with a spending bonus after 2000$ of 40,000 bonus miles. I could then turn around and use the bonus miles for the return plane tickets from osaka back to the states essentially saving 2 grand. The particular card I'm looking at requires a 8 to 10 week turnaround on the bonus miles meaning I would have to wait that amount of time to use them on the return plane tickets. I also have been told that bonus mile fliers normally have to fly standby which does sound troubling but hey we would be saving 2 grand right... We have the cash to buy the tickets outright but if we can save 2 grand than hell yeah. My questions are. Does this plan sound like a good deal? Does anyone have a better idea/card to apply for? Am I missing something glaring that makes this a bad idea? [link] [comments]  |
| Advice for young adult with savings account. Posted: 01 Dec 2019 07:42 PM PST Hello, I am currently a college student with roughly $25,000 in my savings from working a good paying job for the past 5 summers. I won't have any student loans to be paid as I am on an athletic scholarship at school. I also don't have expenses like car/rent ..etc. I have opened an account with M1 investing a $1,000 principal in a Berkshire Hathaway replica account. I am adding $100 a month to this account. I also have $1000 in a Fundrise investing account. I have not added any more money to this account. This leaves me with the question of what to do with my 25k in my savings account?... Should I open a retirement account? (maybe a Roth IRA) Does it make sense to open a requirement account before I get a permanent job? Should I add more money to my M1 account? Any other misc. tips you have for a 20 year old with hopes of a strong financial future? Thank you very much! [link] [comments]  |
| Dad was in E.R for 30 minutes - got billed $2000 from hospital and $700 from doctor treating him. Posted: 01 Dec 2019 07:33 PM PST My dad had a medical emergency back in March, so he went to the E.R. The hospital is private (I tried to Google it, but I'm only 99% sure it is, I will call them tomorrow to verify) - he's been to that E.R. in the past, always with insurance, and this time was no different. The bill for $2000 was broken down to payments with the hospital and he is paying it, but he also received $700 bill from the doctor, it was NOT explained to him this time (and it never happened in the past) that the doctor needs to be paid separately. A patient in the E.R., can't really choose which doctor treats him, right? (The person checking him in didn't say anything about it ever being billed separately or anything either, just to explain that my dad had no idea this might happen) The insurance told him they don't deal with that, and reaching out to the doctor's office (or wherever the bill came from) they say he has to pay. What can he do about it? Is there a way to dispute it? if not, what would be the best way to go about discounting this? this became a big expense... Thanks for any advice! [link] [comments]  |
| Healthcare benefits at new job cannot be used until 3 months of employment Posted: 01 Dec 2019 07:22 AM PST Hi, everyone, I recently accepted a new job for higher pay, better/cheaper benefits, etc however I am unable to enroll in the healthcare program until I have been employed for 3 months. Does anyone have any advice for what I should do in the meantime? Am I eligible for an ACA health plan for 3 months? Should I enroll in COBRA insurance to continue my old companies benefits? Any help or advice would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Put in Charge of "Special Needs" Trust for Older Brother - how to navigate? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 02:03 PM PST Hi There, My mother passed away about 6 months ago and in her estate plan she put me as Trustee of my older brother's special needs trust. He is not mentally incapacitated - he is kind of asperghery and very unstable mentally (definitely not capable of managing money or keeping a job). Realistically the trust will end up with around 150K in it and should have annual income coming in of 15-20K through some real estate holdings. We live in California where rents are very high - there is no chance anyone will rent to him. We do have a property which we own outright which he can live on and just pay taxes/insurance etc. Question for you all - how to best invest the money? I'm thinking we will need around 15K annually for his living expenses. Also, has anyone ever managed something like this? He is very volatile and isn't happy that someone else is in charge of his inheritance. Thanks for your answers! [link] [comments]  |
| Young person with no experience looking to get started in investing Posted: 01 Dec 2019 12:49 PM PST Short backstory, I'm 22 and lucked out on getting my hands on ~15k as a bonus from my job. I constantly hear stories of young people being stupid with extra cash and spending it all, so I decided I didn't want to be an idiot and wanted to be smart with my money. I already have a pretty stable retirement plan locked into place and want to put this extra money into something more liquid like stocks. I have literally no experience in stocks and would like some help and tips on getting started. [link] [comments]  |
| Is there any logic to investing in two separate Target Retirement Funds with different target years? Posted: 01 Dec 2019 07:30 AM PST So from my understanding the year you set determines your risk tolerance... so if I invest against two separate years that's just spreading my risk tolerance out, right? Is there something I'm missing though, like additional fees by keeping two accounts instead of one? Am I crazy for considering this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Dec 2019 08:09 AM PST When we called the hospital's finance department they acknowledged the error in address and stated they would try to pull the overdue amount back from collections. They also recommended we call the collections company and pay the debt off anyway. Is this the best way to go about it? Is it possible to get this derogatory mark off of her credit reports? [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Personal Finance. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment