Personal Finance 2019 was the first full calendar year I rented out a house. Here is how I keep track of income and expenses. |
- 2019 was the first full calendar year I rented out a house. Here is how I keep track of income and expenses.
- What are some good things to do at the beginning of the year finance-wise?
- Go ahead and apply for that job even if you don't meet all of the advertised requirements
- New year's goals!!!
- 22, recently got my first real full-time job, trying to finally move out of my parents' house, don't know where to start
- Landlord wants to sell me 'my' condo unit.
- 2019 Review - My best year Ever!
- Appropriate length of time to build emergency fund?
- Employer cancelling health insurance on last day, not covering remaining month, looking for direction.
- Former Company Sold, 401k Funds MIA
- How can I develop my knowledge of stocks and investing at 16?
- Haven't paid my taxes in two years, unsure where to start
- $93,022.59 in debt at low interest on a 3 year term. Thinking about refinancing to a longer term, not sure if I even can.
- How much should my car payment be if I make 18 per hour full time?
- 27y/o and I need to make a change.
- Spend inheritance on house or continue renting?
- Urgent care trying to charge me extra money?
- Home refinance question.
- Retirement accounts
- My Roth IRA says I can still contribute to 2019. Is this normal?
- Should I put the max contribution to Roth IRA today?
- Capital One Account Holders: Switch from Money Market to Savings Accounts Sorry
- Do I invest in a Roth IRA or save for a house?
- If I open a college savings account for my nieces, does it hurt their chances of getting financial aid?
- Health insurance nightmare
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 11:33 AM PST As the title says, 2019 was my first calendar year I spent as a landlord. Here is the spreadsheet I used to keep track of all my income and expenses. The house we rented out was a house that I had lived in for a couple of years until I needed more space and bought a new house. A couple of things to note: I had our first tenant move out at the end of May. Luckily, she gave me plenty of notice and so I had a new tenant lined up and only had it vacant for a week while we did some repairs and cleaning (thats when we did the floor refinish). I used that time between tenants to do things we should have done when I first moved out, like change the locks. I also had some large expenses this year for the property because of the floor refinish and the range going out. The "Paid to Me" line item is what I consider my "salary." I manage the property myself, and I also made a separate bank account for the rental, so me paying myself is when I transfer money from the rental account to my personal account, which is why I also keep track of the total without "paid to me." What surprised me the most is that even with me being able charge rent at almost double the mortgage, it doesn't make that much money to own a rental. I am still happy with having converted the house to a rental, if for no other reason than the property itself has increased in value a fair amount, as well as I am hoping to keep it long enough to pay off the mortgage, but I know I would have loved to see something like this before I became a landlord. I hope this is helpful! Edit: it was accurately pointed out that my situation isn't a common one, in that I bought the house cheap, right before an uptick in my area, I'm close enough to a University that I get a handful of students who apply, and I live in a city with low rental inventory. So I have an inexpensive mortgage in comparison to how high I can charge in rent. [link] [comments]  |
| What are some good things to do at the beginning of the year finance-wise? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 06:24 AM PST Need some help building an effective self-audit. Update: Based on feedback most of this list should be done over the course of a year. Also maybe can't do this all in one month My list so far:
Additions so far:
[link] [comments]  |
| Go ahead and apply for that job even if you don't meet all of the advertised requirements Posted: 31 Dec 2019 11:23 AM PST Four months ago I left my job because of the physical and mental toll it was taking on me. I left somewhat abruptly and didn't have anything else lined up. I applied to a few different positions in the same industry. One job posting required 5 years of experience in my field, and I only had about 1 1/2 years. I ended up getting an interview with the company. I was completely honest about my experience level. It turns out they were having trouble finding people with the specific type of experience that I have, and weren't worried that I didn't have the 5 years that was listed as a "requirement" on the job posting. They ended up giving me an offer, including what amounted to a nearly 40% raise compared to my previous job. I recently had my first performance review and my lack of experience has not been an issue at all. This might be a unique experience but you have very little to lose by taking moonshots like this- the worst they can say is "no". [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 02:05 PM PST Pay off $13,000 worth of credit Double payments on my car $740/month hopping to be debt free within 3 years totalling $37,000 which at my wage should be do able assuming work keeps going the way it has been [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 04:19 PM PST I've worked this job for 2 months and if all goes well should be inducted into the union at the end of January - my superiors and co-workers seem to all have positive opinions of my work so barring anything unexpected I should get in. (I haven't seen the full union contract yet since I'm still provisional - if you ask me specific questions about it I may not have answers but can ask the union steward at work tomorrow, so e.g. I'm not sure if they offer a retirement fund/401k matching but will find out). I'm making more money than I ever have when I was working at my parents' company in the past and now have more money than I know what to do with. I have a checking and savings account at my local credit union and have been dutifully adding a few hundred out of each paycheck to the savings since right now other than gas and car insurance/repairs I have basically no expenses (I have offered my parents to help with the household expenses but they declined to charge me rent on the condition that I make progress towards moving out eventually - which I have been by getting a job, but now that I have the job I should move out some time soon, hopefully within the next year). I'm probably going to get a big tax refund this spring since I was unemployed almost all of 2019 before getting this job in the fall (my job at my parents' company was essentially as a part time temp worker and I only worked when someone else was absent, which didn't actually happen much since it's a small company). My total income from 2019 was only maybe 5k or so, so I should get nearly all of what I paid in income taxes back since my company was withholding as if I had been working all year. What should I do, if anything, to prepare to move out? I will not be able to afford rent in this area without a roommate unless I break the 30%-of-your-income rule, as the cheapest rent I'm seeing around is more like 40+% of my income not including utilities, and electricity in this area isn't cheap either. How do I estimate my expenses to create a budget, since I haven't really had any expenses before? I almost wish my parents would let me help with their expenses because then I would at least have some numbers to work with for things like groceries and utilities. I am fairly disciplined when I need to save and have basically only spent my money on necessities and very, very occasional nice things like going out to eat with friends - and we're talking places like Taco Bell, not fine dining - other than buying people Christmas presents this year, which obviously only happens once a year, was dependent on how much money I had available to spend, and didn't hit my bank account too too bad anyway. Both my checking and savings accounts are comfortably over $1000 right now, but I know my mental health would be better if I knew exactly what portion of my income is disposable and what portion I really need to be putting away and reserving for the future, because I struggle a lot with guilt when spending anything on myself (even for things like food) unless I am able to earmark a specific amount from each check as spending money. I had a brief, ill-fated college career (no debt left from that luckily because I left before incurring any) and, like most college students, was perpetually poor while I was there, and I remember becoming reclusive and skipping meals because spending what little money I had on seeing friends almost made me feel sick to do because I would feel so guilty when I had to ask my parents for money. I really need a budget even though I know I have enough money for the place I am right now and probably even have enough for a couple months expenses if I were to move out right now. I just really need to know that for sure to feel like I'm being responsible, and I need to know how to figure that out. [link] [comments]  |
| Landlord wants to sell me 'my' condo unit. Posted: 01 Jan 2020 03:46 PM PST I live in an apartment style condo, 18 units in the building that are all individually owned. It's not much, but it's become home and there's plenty of things I could do with it. I plan to be here for the next 5+ years, it's in one of the most sought after school districts in the state (so I don't think I'd have trouble renting or selling). But. I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never bought property before and I have no idea what I need to do or what kind of costs I'm going to run into. Do I need an agent? A lawyer? A sort of... step-by-step would be great. [link] [comments]  |
| 2019 Review - My best year Ever! Posted: 01 Jan 2020 02:53 PM PST Just wanted to share this with the community to show how powerful a tool budgeting can be. This year was my best year ever in terms of savings rate. Last year was 45%, this year is 48%. As you can see, I make a decent wage nothing spectacular, I have no debts except a car payment, and I live in one of the highest cost of living areas in the United States. If I can do it, so can you. [link] [comments]  |
| Appropriate length of time to build emergency fund? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 11:10 AM PST Hey guys. My SO and I just passed our first 6 months of living together supporting ourselves financially 100%. (Both moved out from parents house and started our careers in June) I have been very diligent with our budgeting and spending & have been building an emergency fund for us among other savings buckets. I am shooting to cap 6 months of living expenses which comes to around $15k or so. I am having some though trouble figuring out what to prioritize since we both have considerable amounts of student loans. We just hit 5k in our emergency fund and I am feeling more comfortable now so I was thinking about dialing it back from 25% of our after expense income to 5-10% so that we can attack our student loans more aggressively. Am I right in justifying the reduced contributions to our emergency fund to prioritize our debt or should we remain aggressive until we hit our 6 month cap? How long should it usually to cap an emergency fund? Edit: Thanks everyone for the advice. It seems that majority of people are advising that we focus on the emergency fund a bit longer. We are going to save aggressively for that for the new few months until we cap our 6 month emergency fund goal. Once we hit that, we will go all in on the student loans from there. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 06:45 AM PST I'm not sure if this is the correct sub to post in. But I'm leaving my current job on January 3rd. I'm paid bi-weekly and my health insurance comes out of each paycheck. My last paycheck is to be paid January 10th. Is it correct that my last day of work would be the last day my insurance is in effect? Need help soon! HR at my employer didn't seem confident when I questioned her about this, and in any other job I've had insurance cover me the full month after I left. [link] [comments]  |
| Former Company Sold, 401k Funds MIA Posted: 01 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST Had a 401k with a company that I parted ways with years ago. Logged into my 401k account today and the balance was $0.00. The company sold in 2019 and apparently distributed the funds. I had an old address in another state on my 401k account and didn't receive any kind of notification or more importantly a check. Being new years day, their office is closed and I'm a little worried. What happens to the funds in these cases. Did they mail a check to my old address or are the funds sitting in an account somewhere so the new company can't touch it? I'll certainly be contacting them first thing tomorrow when the office re-opens. [link] [comments]  |
| How can I develop my knowledge of stocks and investing at 16? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 02:59 PM PST I am 16 and want to learn more about investing and stocks. I currently have very little to no knowledge but want to learn over the years so that I have a good idea for when I can start investing. How would I go about gaining knowledge or what are the best ways? Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Haven't paid my taxes in two years, unsure where to start Posted: 01 Jan 2020 12:18 PM PST The biggest issue is that I don't have my w2s from 2017 and I don't know where to get them. My employer has switched payroll services since then so I don't even know where to get them at this point. I've procrastinated this for too long and I want to get it taken care of. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 07:52 AM PST Hey everyone, I'm 1.5 years out of college, and as the title states, I've got a lot of debt from school. This debt, however, is not traditional student loans. Instead it is 100% owned by the Department of Defense. I had a full ride through an ROTC scholarship, but I was booted from the program my senior year (graduated May 2018) after I fucked up in rather large way. I started making payments on my debt in February of 2019. The original balance was $133k, and it amortizes on a 3 year term at 2.360% interest with a monthly payment of $3,786. Balance owing is $93,022. I just don't even know how I would go about refinancing this. Can I use SoFi or other student loan refinance companies? Other Financial Information: I made a $112,000 in 2019, and I live at home with my parents. As a result, I've been able to make the payments without issue, and in some months, I've even paid more. I've also managed to contribute about $9,000 to a 401k (market value of $12,000 due to employer match + growth), and I have an emergency fund of $20,000 in a high yield savings account, along with another $5,000 in brokerage account that I started up in college. I'd like to get an apartment with my friends in the next couple months, but I would not feel comfortable doing so with such a massive monthly payment hanging over my head. Alternatively, I could just live at home for another year and continue to try to pay this loan off as quickly as possible. I think I could have the majority of it paid off by the end of the year, as I expect to earn closer to $150,000 this year. Thanks in advance for any input. [link] [comments]  |
| How much should my car payment be if I make 18 per hour full time? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 07:02 PM PST My monthly bills 500 for rent and utilities 60 for phone bill 50 for internet 35 for gym Monthly earnings 2880 I'm looking to spend 10 to 14k on a reliable used car [link] [comments]  |
| 27y/o and I need to make a change. Posted: 01 Jan 2020 07:01 PM PST Tl;dr at bottom I feel like I have been struggling with making / saving money for my entire life and I am great at making up excuses but I no longer want to live this way. And sorry if this is also a bit of career help but I feel they are both intertwined. Here is a brief summary of my current situation: I have $1950 in my bank account I am $4426 in debt with credit cards I make about 1300/mo with good health insurance Car Insurance is paid off for 6mo (until july 2020) Phone 61/mo + gas 25/wk + food 35/wk + gym 10/mo = $311/mo I pay my 1/3 of the rent at $653/mo with roommates - I may have to move in Oct due to a roommate moving out of state Overall, my bills add up to about $850/mo Leaving me with about $450 leftover. I can probably clear the debt in about 7-8mo, 6mo if I aggressively want it gone. I only have an associates degree in fire science to become a firefighter but have been barred from civil service due to developing asthma. That was 6 years ago, I have also been struggling to find a career since. I've tried human services, programming, and currently working at a school (another financial problem in the summer). These have all been a passion at one point but every time I pursue a passion, it burns out my appreciation for it. So now I want to pursue something that I believe I'll be good at but not have much of a passion for that can make good money - engineering. I have passed AP Calc back in highschool with a B while taking another AP class. I most likely will have to pay for school out of pocket now since Ive been in school forever but if it is something that is manageable for now that will have amazing returns in the end, I am 100% down to suffer for 5yrs or so. I know this may be a lot but the feeling that I'm not making much change financially is really starting to bother me mentally. And I am not sure what my options would be once my roommate moves out in Oct., I may ask to move back in with my mom ONLY if I were pursuing engineering and working less. Would it be a fiscally sound idea to pursue engineering while making $15/hr with $2k in pocket and $4.4k in debt? Do you believe it would be too hard to juggle both right now so I should wait until the summer to find a different job? I know this is a lot but I would really appreciate any feedback. Thanks. I can give more info if needed also. [link] [comments]  |
| Spend inheritance on house or continue renting? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 04:44 PM PST Hello, I came into a $350k inheritance last year and wasnt sure if it was a sound idea to go ahead and buy a house or to continue renting. My current rate is ~$500/month with rent and utilities included. I'm a student and only bring in about $500/month with my part time job and the inheritance is paying for any monetary slack as well as tuition. Decent 3 br housing near me is ~$170k and it shouldn't be difficult to get for sure one, probably two roommates to pay rent. I'll be in school at least another 3 years and wasnt sure if that was enough time to warrant buying. Is it financially responsible to continue renting or would it be better to buy? Edit: 27 years old, no kids, computer science degree so most likely can remote but no guarantee, no financial obligations besides car insurance [link] [comments]  |
| Urgent care trying to charge me extra money? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 06:15 PM PST Hi all, I visited an urgent care for a check-up last July and paid out of pocket. It was like $97 total. When I was there, I specifically asked if there would be any additional charges or anything in the future, and was told no, that I could pay the total out of pocket. I did not have any tests done. Tbh I went because my tummy hurt and work required a doctor's note to stay home. All that happened was a brief conversation with a nurse then doctor, and I left with my note. I've gotten 2 calls from them saying I owe another $250. I tried explaining the situation, and I've sent them invoices of the receipt for the $97 charge. I also tried to dispute them respectfully, saying that I asked if there would be any future charges and was told no. They are threatening to send me to collections if I do not pay, and tbh I do not have the same kind of money that I had in July. I can't afford it. Is there anything I can do? Thanks in advance, and I apologize if this isn't the right place for this question. Edit: sorry, I think I incorrectly applied flair. I'm pretty stupid when it comes to this stuff haha Edit 2: wow I did not expect such quick responses! Thank y'all! I'm going to go in person tomorrow to ask for an itemized bill since it has not been emailed, and I will go from there with the advice I've been given below (possibly get my insurance involved, look at breakdown of charges, talk to a representative, etc.) THANK YOU guys for helping me, I'll update once something happens. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 02:52 PM PST I've been contemplating doing a refi on the home I currently have a mortgage on since interest rates are so low. We currently have around 85% LTV (the home has appreciated since we moved in 4.5 years ago). The loan term is 30 years. I do not pay PMI on the home, Navy Federal CU services the loan and does not charge PMI. Right now our interest rate is 5.75%. It looks like with the current state of my credit, I can get that down to about 4.25ish depending on the lender. With about 7 to 8k in closing costs. This would lower my payments on the mortgage by about 150 dollars a month. My principal balance is down by about the same amount the closing costs would be. If I stay with NFCU I will avoid paying PMI still. It's not our forever home, I don't plan on staying in the home past maybe 5 years from now. It would take about 4 years to recoup the costs of a refinance, but I would still have around 18k in equity in the home after the refi. My main goal is to lower our payments. I'm not taking a cash out refi at all. It seems like I'm trading equity for a slightly lower payment, and that I may just be better off keeping things as they are and having more equity in the home when I sell, instead of having slightly more cash in my pocket each month. Am I on the right track with my assessment on this? Am I crazy for not taking advantage of lower interest rates right now? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 05:03 PM PST After ira and 401k are there any other types of tax savings retirements accounts I can invest in? [link] [comments]  |
| My Roth IRA says I can still contribute to 2019. Is this normal? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 12:26 PM PST I just logged into my vanguard Roth IRA and it says I have 106 days left to contribute to 2019 even though it's 2020. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I put the max contribution to Roth IRA today? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 06:37 AM PST I'm debt free as of October 2019. I have $6k that I was wondering should I max contribute today? Why or why not? Should I max out 2019 and pay monthly toward 2020? Or just max out 2020 and forget 2019? I'm not sure the best route to go and I would really appreciate some advice from you lovely people. Happy new year! [link] [comments]  |
| Capital One Account Holders: Switch from Money Market to Savings Accounts Sorry Posted: 01 Jan 2020 10:30 AM PST Capital One used to offer money market accounts with competitive rates, but switched to offer savings accounts a few months ago. However, they didn't convert money market accounts to savings accounts automatically for existing customers. It made some sense to switch (there's a thread about this here) but wasn't necessarily a big deal because the rates were the same for accounts over a certain value. However, today the legacy Money Market Accounts only offer a savings rate of 1.5% on accounts with balances over $10,000, while the savings account offers a rate of 1.7% on all accounts for any balances. So the savings account is strictly better in all cases. If you still have a money market account, now's the time to open a savings account (it's a fairly straightforward process online) and transfer your money market funds over. If you have $10,000 in an account, that 0.2% is worth, well, only about $20 over the course of a year. Still, I figured I'd share. Edit: Haha, don't know how that Sorry made it into the title :/ [link] [comments]  |
| Do I invest in a Roth IRA or save for a house? Posted: 01 Jan 2020 02:30 PM PST Financial situation below. I'm 27 years old in the Philly suburbs. Salary: 105k Debt: none 401k: $72k. I max it out and my company contributes 12% via 401k and profit sharing Checking/Savings: 35k I need about $15k for a 6 month e-fund so I am trying to figure out what to do with the 20k of excess I have right now. Should I put 12k into a Roth for this year and next year? Or should I save it all toward my house down payment. Will likely need about 100k for a house down payment for a 20% down payment? With my salary, maxing a 401k, maxing a Roth and maintaining my e-fund I should still have about a $20k net plus each year. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 06:53 PM PST I was inspired by another post and started going through the process of opening a 529 plan/college savings account for my nieces (12 + 14). My brother is a drug addict and completely out of the picture and the mother is a nice person but definitely isn't thinking about this at all. School hasn't really been a priority for either of them, but they look up to me so part of me is hoping that these accounts will help inspire them to be a little more serious about school as they start to enter high school next year. As I was filling everything out i started to worry that having any assets tied to their SSNs might hurt their chances of getting as much financial aid as they could potentially get otherwise. I actually grew up in a similar scenario and ended up getting a full scholarship to a pretty good school. I am anticipating being able to save $15k ish for each of them by the start. We also live in two different states. Does anyone have advice? I also saw the disclaimer that you're not guaranteed to the funds either so that freaked me out. I don't necessarily care about the tax deduction, just want to start putting things aside for them. Thanks for any advice/recommendations. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2020 05:19 PM PST Last September I had a hip surgery for a torn labrum. I had just started a new job so I had to use COBRA. With the procedure coming up I expedited the process over the phone and was told the amount I needed to pay in order to be covered for the month. I did this in order to essentially "pre pay" for the month as the bill hasn't been generated/processed yet. I get pre authorization from insurance for the procedure, and am told I am all set. I have the procedure and then ignore letters about future month's payments as my benefits had kicked in at my new job. I think nothing of it and go about my life. Fast forward 15 months and I get a call from the hospital that I am on the hook for the 70,000 dollar surgery as my insurance denied it. It turns out the amount I was told to pay over the phone was 6 dollars short of the correct amount. As a result they nullified my coverage for that month for "only making partial payment" I appealed and the insurance company said it's not their fault and since I only made a partial payment, I never had coverage. What (if any) are my next steps here? My train of thought is calling the hospital and getting any ore-authorization documents I can from them and explaining the situation. And then either appealing again to the insurance company or seeking a 3rd party appeal or lawyer. [link] [comments]  |
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