Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 09, 2019 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 09, 2019
- UPDATE we made it babyyyy
- Almost fell for a gift card scam! Be careful, friends.
- A woman opened a credit card in my name at Kay Jewelers and purchased a $6,000 bracelet
- (USA)Employer changing 401k provider and buried in the paperwork is new vesting period change(currently 100% vested), how does this affect me?
- Should I give my savings to my SO for rent?
- Is it worth playing $2500 to refinance my mortgage from 4.25 to 3.87
- 21 years old (UK), contracting for ~£95k p/a, giving away 45% because of loyalty. What should I do?
- Free credit check?
- Multi-Account Three-Fund Portfolio Rebalancing Spreadsheet
- High Yield savings account questions
- Put bonus into the market now or park it and invest over time?
- My lender (FHA) is now telling me I need to close 5 credits cards that already have a $0 balance
- Earnings only from CD Account. Do I need to file taxes?
- help with building credit
- Hospital says I can reduce my bill by 30% if I pay upfront, but otherwise they refuse to reduce. Is this normal? Am I really stuck?
- Disputed all the collections on my credit reports and all but one has been removed. Am I still liable to pay these accounts off?
- Government 457(b) plans
- (USA)Best possible way of paying off loans(Motorcycle and Student) as a new grad and build my credit back up. What do you think of my plan?
- 15k in debt. Dont know what to do or where to start.
- Donated a ton of stuff after Marie Kondoing my place. Worth it to itemize $1000 for the deduction, or just take the $500?
- How do 529s provide for college expenses?
- Debt Collector filed personal suit against me
- 2 year old Rent Check
- Long-term Investment Strategies for a Will
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 09, 2019 Posted: 09 Dec 2019 03:07 AM PST 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]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 03:58 PM PST Idk if I am allowed to post this here so mods please tell me if I need to do something else Link to my last post in case you guys want to know the story. Well I did it fellas, I am free, I'm really not sure if anybody really cares but I still want to get this out there. So much has happened since I made that last post so I will just jump right into it. First however, I have to thank everyone for the kind messages, when I had no one, the reddit community pitching in and being there for me helped me through a bad time, thank you. A month after I made the post, I turned 18, when I turned 18 I went online and set an appointment for my driving test a couple of days later, I fully intended to take the test with or without my parents help. Luckily though, my parents allowed me to use their car to take the test. Why? I am still unsure to be honest, but I was lucky they did because 10 days later I was KICKED OUT. PLOT TWIST!!!! I was so surprised, but I have a couple assumptions as to why they did what they did. It all started when I was arguing with my sister about cars, thats right, we were going back and forth which car was better, being the sore loser that my sister is, when I proved my pick was superior she called our drunk father whom was in another state at the time. Using her rather manipulative tactics she convinced our father I was acting threatening with my arguments (I mean it was a heated argument, but I never got close to her). She put me on the phone with him and thats when he said it, "get out of my house you useless piece of shit". You don't know how happy I was to hear that... I grabbed my phone, a jacket, a knife I had hid in my desk, and my wallet. From there I said goodbye to the siblings I liked, and walked out the front door. From there I called the brother I worked for, he picked me up, and I went to live with him. I am not sure why there was this change from "you're never leaving this house" to "get tf out", and honestly I don't care, it was probably a mix of my father being drunk, me arguing with his golden child, and the fact I hated every day of my life and was dragging myself around on the daily at the house, but who knows. I now live on campus, work 40 hours a week and go to school, I couldn't be happier, I have friends, a great relationship with my brother, everything for the most part is good. I know there are many details I'm missing, but I felt the obligation to at least update the 20 followers I gained when I made the original post. I probably won't be able to respond to many comments, but just know everyone who gave advice, reached out in my private mail, or just wished me well. Thank you, you are all amazing and helped me to prepare to get into the real world. I especially would like to thank a girl named Grace (we still keep in touch so I will let her know about this post) she was a reddit user who asked for my IG where we talked though some of my issues, she got me through such a tough time, she is a wonderful human being who deserves the world. Never doubt kindness exists (god thats cheesy but whatever) I have so many more stories but I don't feel this is the best place, I may post about it elsewhere if people are interested, I made enemies, I got with a girl for a few months (that shit sucks, not trying that again for a bit) I bought a car, all kinds of stuff! Love u reddit •~• [link] [comments]  |
| Almost fell for a gift card scam! Be careful, friends. Posted: 08 Dec 2019 10:32 PM PST I'm a millennial and consider myself pretty tech smart. Today I received an email on my work account and the name in the email was my boss' boss' name (Let's say Jane A Smith). Whenever she emails me her subject line is always "Please do this quickly" and this subject was that. The email basically said she needed me to pick up a gift card for a client, which seemed reasonable because our holiday party is next week. I was kind of annoyed because I thought she could do it, but I emailed back asking how much. If it had been a reasonable amount I probably would have done it, but she said "I need five gift cards, $200 each." I then checked the email and realized my Jane's name comes through as Jane A. Smith with a period and when I clicked the actual email it was basically random letters with a dot ru. Had I fallen for it I would probably be too embarrassed to talk about it and even now I feel kind of stupid, but please be careful out there especially around the holidays! I'll be talking to IT about this tomorrow. UPDATE: Apparently quite a few people got this same email but luckily no one fell for it. I imagine we'll have an IT common sense meeting soon. [link] [comments]  |
| A woman opened a credit card in my name at Kay Jewelers and purchased a $6,000 bracelet Posted: 09 Dec 2019 07:52 PM PST As the title says, a woman walked into Kay Jewelers, opened a Kay Jewelers credit card in my name, and immediately purchased a $6,000 bracelet. The facts: - It happened in a state that I don't live in and haven't been to in over 6 months - She apparently had a driver's license that had her picture and my name on it - She knew my social security number and used that to open the card - The store has a picture of this woman from their security cameras How I found out about it: - Someone from the store called me 10 days ago and left a voicemail thanking me for the purchase. I tried to call back and they did not answer (obviously I should have tried hard to get in touch with them, but didn't think about it too much at the time as I get tons of spam calls all the time) - The receipt of the purchase as well as the card finally get delivered to my house, letting me know the whole situation What I've done so far: - I have called the store and finally got in touch with someone that told me they are incredibly sorry and that I will not be on the hook to pay off this card (not sure how much I believe that as I'm sure they've already sold my debt) - I have tried to get in touch with the credit card company from Kay Jewelers to let them know it was not me that opened this or purchased the bracelet, will try again tomorrow as I believe it's past hours - Called Equifax to try to place a fraud alert on my name and social and they tried to sell me some subscription program to prevent future fraud. When I told the lady that I would like to solve this first before I purchase anything else, she let me know that they did not have enough information to verify my identity so I will be calling Transunion, then Experian next if I have to - I plan on filing a police report through my local police station tomorrow during the hours they are able to file the report Is there anything else that I am missing? I want to make sure that I am not going to have to pay for this purchase as well as make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks in advance for all of the help. Edit: Just realized that I have a Credit Karma account and they asked if the purchase was me this morning. I have disputed this as fraudulent and they have submitted the report to Transunion [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:42 PM PST When I started at my current employer, I was 100% vested from day one. In the last year we acquired another company, and took their name. We received notice that we're switching 401k providers, and buried in the new paperwork is a vesting schedule, where I would be currently vested 0%. I've reached out to my HR department, but what happens to my current vested employer contributions? Can they retroactively change it when the funds move to the new provider? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I give my savings to my SO for rent? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 07:48 PM PST I graduated this year and started working in July. I make $4000 a month after taxes. I'm paying off student loan and credit card debt (~$1000/month), and putting a little aside in a savings account (~$400 a month). Basically I've been paying as much as I can on my credit card which has a balance of $3K now and interest goes up to 20% at the end of this month. I also owe $20K in federal student loans. I have $900 in savings. My partner (1.5 years together) and her family are late on rent and already received a 3 day eviction notice if they don't pay by tomorrow. I feel obligated to consider giving them my savings. I'm sure she could pay it back as she has a job lined up after graduating starting early January (also $4K/month after taxes). So realistically I could get the money back after March. I'm hesitant because I was so proud of myself for starting to save. I also I feel like I have so much debt, I would be better off paying my own debt instead of helping someone else with theirs. Still feel guilty saying no if she asks me for money though. What should I do? [link] [comments]  |
| Is it worth playing $2500 to refinance my mortgage from 4.25 to 3.87 Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:08 AM PST I just bought my house 5 months ago, and the agent called me and said he can refinance my mortgage. The deal is that I pay $2500 to go from 4.25 to 3.87. Is this a good move? [link] [comments]  |
| 21 years old (UK), contracting for ~£95k p/a, giving away 45% because of loyalty. What should I do? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:51 PM PST Half a year ago, a man I did an internship for last summer offered to introduce me to the contracting world as a frontend (app) developer. I now work for him full time, and cannot express how greatfull I am to him for introducing me to the like of work and giving me the confidence to step in at the level I am. My current rate is £425 a day, which assuming 20 days per month, 11 months per year comes to £93,500 p/a. Perks of employment are sick pay, 3% pension contribution, 20 days holiday and guaranteed pay between contracts, all of which I would not get on my own. However, I take home just over £50k before tax (also loosing tax benefits as on PAYE), and my employer gets the rest at just under 40% net margin. There's no arguing that financially I would be far better off alone. In the case I was requiring or ever had required technical help I wouldn't mind this. Admittedly I had some guidance before interviewing for my first contracts, and I am sure this helped with my professional development, but I also haven't required this since. I would be more than comfortable contracting on my own, and could probably even raise my rate (verified with colleagues). The financial side could just as easily be handled by an accountant, so I wouldn't even need to be more involved. This all begs the question of why I stay, and as much as I rack my brain I can't seem to find the answer. If I'm honest I don't really need the money, I earn more than 2.5x my next highest earning mate as is (I hide my salary completely), and would almost feel greedy going for more. However in some ways I also feel a little ripped off. I hadn't heard off the guy for two months until recently, despite paying him in essence £6.5k over this time. £50k is still a crazy salary for my age. If I'm honest my current plan is to stick with my employer until at least the end of the year. Should I just leave it be? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 04:35 PM PST My fiancé and myself are looking to buy a house in the spring, I was just curious if there's anywhere I can get a free accurate credit check. I've never had any luck with credit karma being accurate at all, but for some reason I remember hearing that I can get 1 free credit check a year that doesn't effect my credit just curious as to where to go. [link] [comments]  |
| Multi-Account Three-Fund Portfolio Rebalancing Spreadsheet Posted: 09 Dec 2019 04:47 AM PST Hey all! TL;DR, I wrote a calculator to do automatic contributions/rebalancing/withdrawals for me in the context of a three-fund portfolio. Link is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NkWpQjycFbETF5E-221Mv10nJq0dp2GcDEbVg07xgq8/edit?usp=sharing --- When I found bogleheads.org and started getting interested in three-fund portfolios, I looked around and was shocked to find that there weren't any good calculators to handle multiple accounts. There are plenty of calculators to rebalance within an individual account, but that's easy enough to do with a pencil and paper. It gets more complicated when you have 3, 4, 5 accounts and want to move funds in an efficient way. So, I wrote a calculator to do the following for me: automatically compute contributions, rebalances, and withdrawals across multiple accounts in a way that maximizes the benefits of different tax-advantaged and non-tax-advantaged accounts while minimizing rapid alternating buying/selling behavior. In short, trying to follow the strategy outlined at this link: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Prioritizing_investments. If you're curious about the long term behavior of this calculator, check out the tab "Three-Fund Rebalancing Behavior Projection." Sample inputs and charts are at the bottom. The flow I've implemented is as follows: Contributions:
Withdrawals:
Next, after any set of contributions/withdrawals, rebalancing is triggered. This rebalancing follows the fund placement philosophy outlined at this link: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement. An overall flow is as follows: Rebalancing:
If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! This is my first time doing something like this, so any and all feedback is appreciated. If you use this and find any bugs, please let me know! [link] [comments]  |
| High Yield savings account questions Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:16 PM PST Hey everyone, bit of a lurker here, I've been banking with USAA since my parents opened an account for me when I was a kid (Am mid 20s now) but have become interested in high yield savings accounts from lurking around here and have some questions. I'll just list them off, hopefully it's not to much of a hassle for you all.
[link] [comments]  |
| Put bonus into the market now or park it and invest over time? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:06 PM PST Apologies in advance if this comes across as douchey. The holidays are upon us and I got a decent chunk of change for a bonus. I want to know which is better: to put it all into the market now or park it in a high yield savings account/money market fund and invest it bit by bit over the next year into a index fund/target date fund to take advantage of dollar cost averaging? I already have a fully funded emergency fund, retirement account, and HSA. My credit cards are paid off, the only loan I have is my mortgage and I have no immediate need for a large chunk of cash (e.g., we're not moving anytime soon, no big expenses on the horizon). So this money is going to be invested, I just don't know which a better approach is generally; I am not trying to time the market here btw. I'm just trying to weigh "get your money into the market rather than a savings account" vs. "dollar cost averaging is the best way to invest." Thanks! == EDIT == *facepalm* I read the wiki before posting, I swear! [link] [comments]  |
| My lender (FHA) is now telling me I need to close 5 credits cards that already have a $0 balance Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:57 AM PST My lender who I have worked with for months, is now saying I need to close 5 of my credit cards. The total credit limit is well over $20,000 combined, closer to $30,000. He is saying this is FHA guidelines. However, I can't find any information about this. Does anyone have any experience with this? [link] [comments]  |
| Earnings only from CD Account. Do I need to file taxes? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:17 PM PST If someone's only form of income is from the interest on a CD account, do they need to file taxes? Is there a threshold before being required to file taxes? From internet searches, I find that a single unmarried person must file for taxes if the earned income is greater than $12,000. I've also come across different websites that differentiate "earned income" as W2 (salary) vice interest from a savings account. Is it treated different and therefore come with a different threshold requirement when determining the need to file taxes? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:06 PM PST I'm 18 and got a job a couple months ago and a couple of days ago got the chase freedom unlimited card, it has 20,000 bonus points if I spend 500 during the first 3 months and 15 months of 0% apr. I purchased a TV on the card a couple days ago and i only did it for the points, and because I already had more than twice the amount in my savings. My only question is, how should I go about paying the card off, should I make regular payments or just pay it all off right now l? Also would it make sense to use my credit card for everything and just pay it off at the end of the month? Thank y'all [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:06 PM PST (Texas, US) My husband recently had a stay in the hospital, we have about $4K debt with them and another $1k with the various labs/techs/etc. I called to do my frugal due diligence and ask for a reduction in the bill. I was given 2 options - 30% off to pay it all up-front or pay it all with monthly payments. My husband is chronically ill and disabled, he doesn't work and we racked up $15k in medical debt in 2018 which I paid off with a refinance on our house. We currently have no savings, about $8k in credit card debt and a few random other debts around $6k. We can't really afford all his medical needs each month and struggle to avoid the credit card. My point being: If I used credit to pay off up front I'd be moving debt from a 0% interest to an 8.9% interest which will likely take me a few years to pay down. So the 30% option is out of the question. (Earlier in this decade we had a similar $3k bill, it took us 3 years to pay off) I'm wondering - A, is this normal? Should I shop for a different Hospital for next time he inevitably needs it? B, should I take this at face value and start paying it off, or are there other tactics to try? As a kind of side note, I'm not sure what to do with the 10 separate tiny bills (separate providers) ranging from $40-$600. Each on their own is tiny and no way would I get a payment plan on them but added together it's more than I can shoulder in a month without more credit card debt. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 11:59 AM PST I read some time ago that you can dispute the negative accounts and collections on your credit report, even if they are legitimate. I had 5 items that were in collections and disputed all of them when I pulled all 3 reports back in 2017. Got to a place financially where I'm paying off debts and pulled all 3 reports today to see if anything new was added and to get the account numbers and addresses for the items in collections. In comparing the old and the new reports, only one item shows in collections on all 3 reports vs the 5 back in 2017. I'm want to know if I shouldn't worry about these items no longer reported or if I should pay them still? At the time, some items were as old as 3 yeas old as as new as less than a year old. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:17 PM PST Are these generally decent plans The one I'm reading about looks like it has minimal fees and is with Fidelity. The exp. ratios are low for the funds and I'm planning on early retirement so I like the idea of getting funds before retirement age. But one thing I'm not quite sure about is when it says the account owner "Held in trust by the University system exclusively for participants and their beneficiaries." Any help on what that means and if there are any risks. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 07:16 PM PST Hello everyone hope everyones ready for the upcoming holiday and new year. I recently graduated in August 2019 from college with my B.S in Computer Science. I found a job 2 months later at some warehouse first and finally where im at a corporate office working as a developer. The pay isnt substantial like other Computer Science Application Developer salaries. My current salary is 44k gross and about 30-31k with taxes applied. To give a back story on my creidt score. Last year around this time my credit score was 750. My current score is 616 and it was lower last month. Im slowly building it. Why did this happen you ask? After i left my job a while back i had no source of income to pay my bills . Long story short i spent 4-5 months not paying anything but everything is now settled and i also had one account closed on me Loans Currently I have 2 loans. My first loan is my student loan which amounts to about 22-23k. There are 7 loans that make up this 22-23k with various apr rates loan 1 3500 loan 2 1156 loan 3 2745.45 loan 4 5500 loan 5 2181.74 loan 6 5500 loan 7 2104.67 My highest interest rate from the above list is 5% which is for 7 and 6 My loan for a motorcycle im financing is already at 8200 but made my first payment well before the first due date. The amount isnt making much sense as the motorcylce with all taxes etc is 7214. Cant wrap my head around where almost 1k extra came from. I think this dealer added something that i stated i did not want. Im going to call just to get a gist of it and my apr rate is 24%. Yes i know get f**cked moment :D lol. I talked with my student loan vendor navient and my monthly payment is min 236. Im in a 10yr plan but im not going to go 10yrs with this as i will be paying way to much in interest over the yrs. My min payment for the bike is 218. I made an initial payment of 244.01 and i plan on doing another. My first due date however is jan 1 My Plan Is to pay off my loan on the motorcycle first. As one its the highest apr rate and i will be paying approximately 2200+ in interest in 1yr!! This loan is a 55 month plan but im prioritizing it based on apr. My next is to tackle the highest apr rate on my student loan. So i would pay the 236 then allocate money to the highest apr What am i planning on doing for monthly payments for my motorcycle? Call me dumb but 700-800. Do i have a budget.. Yes. Do i spend lavishly on things i dont need or things i want no. I have 2 credit cards discover and capitol one. I make multiple payments a month. For example if i have 200 to pay. I divise it into chunks of lets say 7 spaced out. Previously i didnt do this but now i am and im trying to have all my cards at balance 0 at the end of each month [link] [comments]  |
| 15k in debt. Dont know what to do or where to start. Posted: 09 Dec 2019 06:42 PM PST I started using credit karma. Score in Transunion 626, Equifax 699. 15k in collections. Should I try debt consolidation? Should I consider bankruptcy? Overwhelmed dont know where to begin. Is that score even that bad? I cant get any credit not even best buy card. Who or where can I go to talk to someone and get more input? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 06:33 PM PST Just donated a ton of name brand clothing to Goodwill this past weekend. Throughout the year, I estimate that we've easily donated over $1000 worth of stuff. I have the receipts from the donations, but they're blank. My understanding is that if donations exceed $500 and you claim more, then you have to start getting into itemized deductions. Is it even worth it to do that if you donated about $1200 worth of stuff? Or is it too difficult and it will get you flagged by the IRS for an audit, thus not even worth the hassle? We've donated more expensive items like good quality jackets, sweaters, suits, luggage, purses/handbags, ice skates (top of the line that still go for over $200 on ebay), etc. Take the $500 and move on or use elbow grease? [link] [comments]  |
| How do 529s provide for college expenses? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 11:37 AM PST I have a pile of cash to put aside for my daughter for college (~11,000). She is 5, I know I should've put it in an account a long time ago, but alas here we are. My question is, I never see any warnings about 529s losing value. My daughter will need this money in 13 years, which isn't a ton of time in market. But neither is 18 years if I were to have put it away awhile ago. So why is this? What happens to our kids if there is a downturn when they're 16/17? Is there a "safer investment" within the 529? [link] [comments]  |
| Debt Collector filed personal suit against me Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:03 PM PST I have a debt from synchrony bank in 2017 when I had major surgery. It's for 2k. It's a law firm in MD and I'm in Va. They're now saying they will meet me in court in January if I do not pay. Is this legit? I know the synchrony bank card did get charged off. Should I call them to work out a payment arrangement? They're saying to call them to resolve this account. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 03:47 PM PST Hey everyone. I have a situation I was hoping to get some feedback on. Basically my previous landlord from 2 years ago never cashed a rent check and called me asking that I resend it. I was wondering what my options were. I verified with my bank, the check was mailed out and deducted from my account and then when the check expired the amount was refunded. So, effectively I never paid a month of rent. But I have since moved to a new address. If I decide not to pay for the missed rent, can my previous landlord take legal action against me? Thanks for any assistance, you guys are usually good with this stuff. Oh, by the way, I'm in New York state USA. Edit: thanks everyone for the insight. I'm going to see if I can pay him back in installments or a lower amount, hopefully he'll be accommodating considering the situation. Thanks again, this helped. [link] [comments]  |
| Long-term Investment Strategies for a Will Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:57 PM PST This is mostly a thought experiment, but let's say I'm writing a will. By the time it comes into action, I'm dead, so I can have basically infinite patience since I'm not involved anymore. This opens up the possibility of long-term investment. Let's say instead of passing the money to my offspring, I put it in an account managed by a trustee who agrees to keep the money invested long-term, so that my great-great-great-great grandchildren can be given a sum that is far greater than what my offspring in the meantime would have saved, given that they have non-finite patience (they will die). Once enough generations have done this, it'll be pipelined so that each generation gets the investment growth of many lifetimes of investment. Am I missing something obvious? Is this a good idea? What are some pitfalls and can you think of any advice on how to optimize this? [link] [comments]  |
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