Personal Finance 30-Day Challenge #1: Get on top of your credit (January, 2020) |
- 30-Day Challenge #1: Get on top of your credit (January, 2020)
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 06, 2020
- IRS will open the 2019 tax filing season for individual filers on Monday January 27, 2020.
- Recently married. Spouse has $77k in student/car loans. Should I pay them off?
- Spent 2019 realizing I'm a grownup and my finances should probably start acting that way! Here's my 2019 year in review! Looking for advice on improving and happy to help others!
- Declining an inheritance
- Always double check that your paycheck is correct
- 2.5 years ago I was a dirt-poor junkie on a downward spiral. Now I'm doing awesome! Even financially!
- Mortgage Broker Stopped Replying After A Hiccup With Financing....
- Ok, I messed up and agreed to a predatory loan at a whopping 828% APR. I need help.
- Ex Roommates sister used my credit card to book Airbnb
- A weird job situation and asset allocation. Can I afford building this new house?
- My parents are broke and aging. How do I prepare?
- Good books beyond budgeting and saving, living within your means, or passively investing?
- Question about the process of obtaining financing for a car
- 26 Years Old $9,453 in maxed out CC Debt
- Extra income: pay off mortgage quicker or invest?
- HELP!: FIL used my now wife’s credit cards to pay for their rent w/o telling her. Put her in +$8000 debt. He passed away earlier this year
- Beware of medical bills at this time of year
- 100% ESOP Company Sale After Resigning. What happens to my shares?
- Save my 4-year savings in Canadian dollars or US dollars?
- Just caught an employer error on my paystub
- Is it possible for me to live off of $16/hour? Can someone help me really break this down?
- Where is all my money going??
- I'm 7 years deep in 2 Bank on Yourself policies. Please help
| 30-Day Challenge #1: Get on top of your credit (January, 2020) Posted: 06 Jan 2020 05:08 AM PST 30-day challengesWe are pleased to announce that we're continuing our 30-day challenge series. The schedule spans the entire year so be sure to keep an eye out each month. This month's 30-day challenge is to get on top of your credit. Here are some concrete steps you can take: Check your free credit reportThere are three major credit bureaus in the US: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These companies each gather credit histories for individuals and sell that information to credit card companies, lenders, and other financial institutions. You can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com to get a credit report from each credit bureau once per year. It's often recommended to stagger your requests so you can get one every four months so you may only want to request one report at this time. You can use a calendar reminder to stay on top of this. Now, your free credit report won't include your score and it also won't include credit monitoring, but you absolutely don't need to buy those from a credit bureau because there are free options. See below. Note that the security questions will sometimes ask about intentionally false information (e.g. made-up loans), so "none of the above" may be the right answer. If you can't get past the security questions, you may have to write in to get your report. Also be aware that you don't have to pay for anything on the credit bureau sites. If you find yourself prompted for a credit card number, you might have clicked to sign up for something you might not need or want. Also, if you have trouble with the web site, try temporarily disabling browser ad-blockers and privacy extensions. See the Credit Reports Wiki for more information! Sign up for free credit monitoringYou don't need to pay for credit monitoring. Some options:
After exploring your options, sign up with at least one of them. More information contained in the Credit Scoring Wiki. Find out your credit scoreYou can now get your FICO score for free from Discover without a credit card. In addition, a number of credit cards actually give you a free FICO score as a benefit of having their card. Brands providing FICO scores include Discover, Citi (branded cards only), American Express, Bank of America, and Barclaycard. Here's a full list of options. In addition, you can get your VantageScore from Credit Karma or Mint. VantageScore is used less often by creditors than FICO, but it's a usually a good estimate of your FICO score. Paying for your credit score is silly unless you're considering getting a major loan like a mortgage. Get rid of pre-approved credit card junk mailOptOutPrescreen.Com is the official consumer credit card reporting website to opt-out of offers of credit or insurance. It's an easy win to reduce junk mail and reduce the risk of identity theft (from someone stealing your mail). I recommend signing up unless you're in the process of building credit and actually want to receive pre-approved offers. Are you looking to improve your credit?Once you have a score over 740, most credit files are solid enough to qualify for prime rate lending. This means that any additional increase of your score will likely not get you better credit products. If you are in a position where you'd like to improve your credit, here are two situations that often befall people when asking for help here:
What to do if you find information you don't recognizeEven though credit reporting is automated, mistakes can still occur. The most common errors can involve names and addresses. If your name is similar to a parent's name, there are also instances where a line of credit is reported on the wrong file. The simplest course of action is to dispute the information with the bureaus. Here are direct links to initiate a dispute: Finally, if you believe you've had your identity stolen, read and follow the steps in our Identity Theft Wiki. If you're not in the United StatesThe PF wiki has many more countries covered. If you would like to add information for your country to the wiki, please message the moderation team. Challenge success criteriaYou've successfully completed this challenge once you've done 3 or more of the following things:
If you're outside of the US, you've successfully completed this challenge once you've done the following things:
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| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 06, 2020 Posted: 06 Jan 2020 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]  |
| IRS will open the 2019 tax filing season for individual filers on Monday January 27, 2020. Posted: 06 Jan 2020 01:08 PM PST The deadline to file 2019 tax returns and pay any tax owed is Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Taxpayers can get free help preparing and filing taxes through IRS Free File online or free tax help from trained volunteers at community sites around the country. [link] [comments]  |
| Recently married. Spouse has $77k in student/car loans. Should I pay them off? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 11:35 AM PST Youngish newlyweds - 35 & 27. Spouse is $76,959.65 in debt. I always see great advise from r/personalfinance and now it's my turn to ask. Currently on a $1000 a month payment plan. Student Loan 1- $37,118.88 7.210% Interest $390 payment per month Student Loan 2- $7,156.85 3.862% Interest $50 payment per month Student Loan 3- $19,994.25 6.210% Interest $160 payment per month Car Loan- $12,689.67 3.09% Interest $400 a month payments Current pay plan only includes spouses income. Our combined income is about $100k after taxes. I have $60k in savings working towards buying a house. $10k emergency fund. I max out my Roth IRA and contribute 10%(3% match) into my 401k. I am debt free with a newish vehicle. Spouse has not started down the retirement path. We currently live rent free (long story) and probably will for a few more years. Especially if I dump my savings. Other expenses are budgeted and I believe negligible for this exercise. Unbury.me is a fabulous tool that shows the straight dollars of spouse's current pay plan. Numbers indicate it would be paid off by 2028, but with over $20k in interest paid. The balance exceeds my funds, but we can scratch off the two higher interest student loans. Increasing our pay plan to $1500 a month, we would be debt free in a year with only $390 interest paid. I feel like I have given this plenty of thought, but I am looking for outside insight that I may have not considered. Bonus Question - Our living situation is rather unique, but can change at any time. It has not changed in 5 years and we do not expect it to, but it surely could. I was told with home loan interest rates being what they are; it is better to borrow than to put down a large down payment. I'd always have the $10k emergency fund for a down payment. Opinions? Lastly, let's pretend trust isn't an issue. This isn't relationship advise. In my heart of hearts I can't imagine spouse saying "kthanksbye". This is not their idea. Spouse doesn't even know I am contemplating this. Spouse budgets, is paying debt aggressively and is far more responsible with money than I am. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2020 09:40 AM PST So off the top - my wife and I are in a really fortunate position income wise. We're in our mid-30s and live very comfortable lives largely because of our hard work in our 20s. Combined we earned about $240k gross in 2019. I know that puts me on the top of the higher end of the income spectrum. I've been climbing the income ladder for a few years without making many strategic moves to set us up for the future - that changed in 2019. Before I get to the long winded stuff about what we did in 2019 here are some charts and tables! 2019 Sankey Chart - Income/Expenses 2018 Sankey Chart - Income/Expenses (one that made me realize I need to get smarter) Table Comparing 2019 vs 2018 Income/Expenses Changes Made In 2019
Changes to Net Worth
So to wrap this up I'd like pointers from anyone in this community - what can I do better in 2020? Is there anything people would like to learn about the strategies we took to get from A to B? tl;dr: we looked at our financial life at the end of 2018 and realized we needed to grow up - here's the results of spending 2019 growing up. What can I do better? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2020 06:35 AM PST EDIT 2: thanks for all of the responses. Sounds like this is completely doable, and in a number of ways, but the general consensus is that I should NOT do this. Very valid points have been made, and I think I will just keep my mouth shut about things. ORIGINAL POST: My parents are getting older and will obviously pass away at some point. I know that they will have well over $1M by the time they pass just due to the growth of the retirement accounts they currently have. I'm am financially independent and will likely retire early. My 2 siblings are in a very different boat. Splitting my parents estate 50/50 between my 2 siblings will absolutely change their lives. Am I able to just decline my 1/3 share so that it gets split 50/50? EDIT 1: I have discussed this with my parents already, and they refuse to change their existing will, which specifies an even 33.3% spilt. They see the 50% as unfair to me, even though I am the one that is requesting it. [link] [comments]  |
| Always double check that your paycheck is correct Posted: 06 Jan 2020 01:11 PM PST I know it sounds like common sense, but many younger or new hourly employees don't think to compare their paycheck to their hours worked and may be overlooking mistakes made by HR/payroll. Ever since I started comparing my rate and hours worked to each paycheck, I've noticed mistakes from time to time. They aren't malicious or intentionally done by my employer, but little things like paying me at my old rate after getting a promotion or forgetting to add a day that I turned in a timecard for (we have to turn in timecards if we forget to clock in/out in the electronic system). When I was younger, I used to assume my paycheck was always correct and I'd be fearful of bringing up discrepancies to my employers, but in reality they've always been extremely apologetic and made efforts to fix the issue right away to get me paid. Always double check! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2020 03:54 PM PST I guess this post is mostly just to gloat/humblebrag, but also to give others some hope. Like I said, a few years ago was bad. Starting in my late-teens, I had a solid decade of bad decisions, ignoring my mental health, and being a dipshit. I was either using heroin, drinking, or going through withdrawals. My performance at work suffered greatly and, since my income is largely performance-based, I was headed toward a cliff that would probably end in my family leaving me and becoming homeless. There were several times that I thought that the depression was going to get the best of me (I later discovered that I'm also bipolar). Eventually, everything broke down and I ended up in rehab. Also, I'm married and we have two little kids. I slowly started to rebuild/recover - then quickly. My first year with my shit together got me out of debt and I started living less paycheck-to-paycheck. Then, in 2019, shit got real. My income from work increased by about 50%, I got a few side jobs which brought in another 20% of my previous income. Because I've learned to manage my time better, I've even had more time to spend with family (and play video games). Just in 2019, I went from having $0 savings, $0 retirement to:
Honestly, I don't even know what to do with all this money?! I've grown so accustomed to a minimal lifestyle that I actually enjoy living cheap. Other than spending a buttload of money on PS4, my expenses haven't really gone up at all. I suppose I should ask for some financial advice here... What should I do with my savings? My wife and I like the idea of continuing to rent cheap near where I work and also buy a house in an area that we really enjoy that we can live/vacation in part-time and rent out when we're not using it. In the area where we are looking at, the housing is $300k-$400k. My income has probably stabilized at $100k. My wife is going to start working in a couple years, probably at $30k - $40k for a couple years, and then doubling+ once she's done with her education. Also, my job is inversely tied to the economy, so if there's some kind of financial/housing collapse or recession, my income will most likely go up by 50% or so. Also: using throwaway due to drug references and personal info. [link] [comments]  |
| Mortgage Broker Stopped Replying After A Hiccup With Financing.... Posted: 06 Jan 2020 10:15 AM PST I don't know if this is where to post this, but I need some advice if anyone knows about this! So I'm 26/F in the midst of trying to buy a house with my dad and we're doing this privately without a real estate agent as my dad has a friend who is trying to unload a couple investment properties. This has actually been going well, it's definitely more difficult without the guidance of an agent, as I'm a first time buyer, but the people we're working with have been amazing. So the pickle, we were at the very last steps of financing through this brokerage and getting the final papers to sign when she mentioned that the lender would be calling my job 2 weeks prior to the closing date to confirm my employment there..... now when we first wrote up our mortgage application I put down my full time employer and everything would have been good, but literally 2 weeks after I got a job offer (that I had applied to months ago) for a career in my field which I gladly accepted and was excited about. I didn't consider this as affecting anything with financing and thought it might even help out more as I get paid like $10000 more now. But when our broker brought up the employment during a meeting, I had mentioned to her what had happened with my new job, again not even thinking this would be a big deal as I make more $$ now, and she freaked out, my dad told me afterward she called him on the phone angry and told him he was a liar. Since then we had spoke and it seemed like it would be fine they would just explain to the lender what happened, but now it's like radio silence. They haven't responded to any emails, they haven't called etc. What do you think is up? Was what happened really that bad? It was completely innocent....my career finally is taking off, I guess just at a bad time? Should we just move on and try to find another broker/lender? Any suggestions or opinions would be amazing. TLDR: I innocently got a new job while in the process of getting a mortgage, and broker is ghosting me because of it. Edit: The new job I got is in fact in an industry separate from my past jobs, I didn't realize this is apparently vital information... [link] [comments]  |
| Ok, I messed up and agreed to a predatory loan at a whopping 828% APR. I need help. Posted: 06 Jan 2020 04:04 PM PST Ok, first off, obvious throwaway as I can't bear the humiliation as it is. I was actually trying to make 2020 the year that I turned my finances around and here I am only 6 days in and I fucked up. Here are the details. On the 3rd, I ran across a site that said it would help consolidate debt, one thing led to another, I ended up getting "approved" for an $800 loan with what I thought would have a total finance charge of $240. I thought that was steep, but I was desperate and signed up anyway. Today, I get the funds, and I notice that my first payment is due on my next payday... I then see the finance charge and start thinking about how the rest of the payments would work... That's when I saw the "truth in lending disclosure". The damage is as follows... APR is 827.5596% and it's going to cost me $2,520 for the $800... They have me making payments every payday through October. How do I fix this? I assume the faster I pay off the $800 principal, the less I will be charged total, so is the best course of action to just pay the $1,040 ($800 + $240) this coming pay? Is this my only way out? I know I fucked up so I don't need everyone to chime in about that. I was really trying to rectify an issue I had and ended up with a bigger one. I'd appreciate the help on how to deal with this as best as possible. [link] [comments]  |
| Ex Roommates sister used my credit card to book Airbnb Posted: 06 Jan 2020 11:25 AM PST Over the summer, my roommate asked me to use my credit card to book an Airbnb for his sister. I booked it and he Venmoed me on the spot. I thought I made sure not to save the credit card information, but I guess it saved onto Airbnb rather than the browser. 4 months later, I get an unknown $700 charge from Airbnb. I dispute the charge, get refunded. Then a few days ago, I get an email from the bank saying they need additional information regarding the dispute because the merchant (Airbnb) provided some proof. They sent over documents showing proof, including my ex-roommates sister's passport so I obviously knew it was her at this point. I instantly texted him, and he said he'll need a few days to pay me back. He's been very hard to get money from in the past so I am afraid he won't pay me back, and I'll have to pay the money. But technically, I didn't "authorize the purchase", but I'm not interested in screwing over my bank or interested in suing my ex-roommate. What can I do? I need to print and scan back a form saying the following by the 13th: Neither I, nor anyone authorized by me, made this charge or received any benefit. _____ I recognize this transaction. Please rebill my account for the above amount. _____ [link] [comments]  |
| A weird job situation and asset allocation. Can I afford building this new house? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 05:54 PM PST I'm a 35M, married with three young kids, and we want to upgrade our house and do a semi-custom new construction. But we're hesitating because it's such a big purchase: is it too reckless?
The house we want to build would probably run us $700K. We MUST purchase it all cash (We would get a HELOC or home equity loan against our rental properties to get the needed cash). (If you must know, it's because we're both victims of stalking/violent threats and we must purchase our primary residence anonymously through a trust/LLC - please no tangential questions about this) We would sell the $350K primary residence after moving to the new house. I know this is going to be a very personal decision, but wanted to run this by you guys in case I had any blind spots. Is this too much house for us? Is it too risky or reckless to spend this much on our primary residence? What other things should I be thinking about from a financial/affordability perspective? [link] [comments]  |
| My parents are broke and aging. How do I prepare? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 10:16 AM PST My mom and dad are 57 and 50 living in upstate NY. Mom only has social security as income ($1k/month), Dad is a truck driver. They've lived check to check their whole lives, and now they're older. Thankfully, I (25) had the opportunity to go to college and land a good paying job as an engineer. My own $95k in student loans are way higher than average due to poor planning on my part (and parents, who never dealt with college and financial aid). While I make more than both of them, I'm tied up saving and paying debt. They've never asked me for money, but have alluded that they will eventually have to depend on me. They are staring down their 60s with no substantial savings. I'm sure I won't be able to afford supporting them. Because of these student loans I simply will not have a lot of money or assets in my lifetime - or at least for the long foreseeable future. How do I prepare for my parents no longer being self sufficient? [link] [comments]  |
| Good books beyond budgeting and saving, living within your means, or passively investing? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 06:25 AM PST Ever January, I rebalance, rebudget, and read a book on personal finance. I've read a number of books from this subreddit's FAQ—The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, The Richest Man in Babylon, The Millionaire Next Door, A Random Walk Down Wall Street —and I don't want to read another book on the same themes of budgeting and saving, living within your means, or passively investing. I think I appreciate and live these principles, and I want something new that challenges me. Any recommendations? [link] [comments]  |
| Question about the process of obtaining financing for a car Posted: 06 Jan 2020 08:17 PM PST Hello, To make a long story short I was involved in an accident where my car was totaled and need to buy a new one. I visited a few dealerships and found the car I want. I spoke to the salesman and he gave me the quote of how much it is gonna be with taxes, fees and discounts. I told him I will be coming back later this week for another test drive and to make my decision. I want to comeback already pre-approved for a loan in-case they try to swindle me with the financing at the dealership. This is my first time going through this process so I am confused. So my questions are:
Like I said this is my first time doing this, so any tips or comments are appreciated. Financial information: In case this impacts anything I am getting money from my insurance due to the accident which equals to about 41% of the new cars out the door price, I will be putting all of it to the down payment. [link] [comments]  |
| 26 Years Old $9,453 in maxed out CC Debt Posted: 06 Jan 2020 05:06 PM PST To preface this, I had/have a gambling addicting and got a couple of credit cards and put myself in a hole with cash advances (in my head if I won i'd just pay it off right away right!? no way I can lose so don't even have to think about that) I earn 24k a year, here are my debts: CC1: $7127.75 CC2: $1836.75 Credit Line: $496 My question to you all is what is the best way to pay all this shit off? I'm averaging around $35 in interest on CC2 and $125 in interes on CC1. Im thinking making the minimum payments on these and saving up actual cash until I can make a substantial payment to significantly lower the amount of interest i'm paying each month makes the most sense? I have virtually zero expense aside from gas, food, and other everyday items. I just want to be out of debt and stay like that forever. My credit score is at like 659 and I want to get it back up to 750+ like it was a couple years ago. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Also, this has been going on for probably like 2 years or so, possible a little longer, but i've decided to give up gambling and get my shit together. [link] [comments]  |
| Extra income: pay off mortgage quicker or invest? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 06:44 PM PST My wife and I are in our early 30s and live in a small (900 sq ft) house. My wife bought this house at the bottom of the market, post-recession, and locked in a 2.75% fixed rate after a re-fi (she was very smart, and her parents taught her well). The home's value has appreciated to about $400k, and we only owe about $85k in principal. We both work full-time and gross about $140k. Three months ago we had our first child. We'd eventually like to buy a larger house with at least 1 more bedroom. We could sell this house, but we'd like to consider keeping it as a rental and earn some passive income. We've been chipping money into a brokerage account to (someday) apply as a down payment on another house, but I'm nervous to buy right now since the housing market has skyrocketed where we live in Colorado. We've got about $100k saved up in that account. So my question is this: 1) Should we pay off the mortgage early and in full by applying money we've saved for down payment? --or-- 2) Should we continue to put excess income into our down payment fund? I realize a lot of this depends on the housing market and nobody has a crystal ball, but just curious to hear others' thoughts and opinions. Thanks! -sw [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2020 12:52 PM PST As the title explains, my father in law used my now wife's credit card a few years ago without her knowledge when we were still dating to pay the rent and other expenses. We didn't know until we applied for apartments in order to move in together. We were shocked and angered at knowing he used her credit card without her knowledge and was not paying the outstanding balance. He apologized and said he would fix it by sending letters to the credit bureaus via credit karma to forgive the debts (I don't have much details but can find out if information is needed). We could only send the requests once per month according to him. Her credit was getting fixed and then he got ill and passed away earlier 2019. My wife recently looked into her credit score and saw it dropped significantly. She saw that she was being charged for $8000 of rent bc her name was on the lease due to being over the age of 18 when they moved into an apartment with the rest of the family; if you are over 18 y/o's your name has to be a part of the lease in California. My wife submitted a letter to the Credit Karma to forgive the $8,000 since she was not in charge of the finances and was still a dependent but they denied her. What are some other steps we can do to resolve these credit issues? Any help is greatly appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Beware of medical bills at this time of year Posted: 06 Jan 2020 04:11 PM PST My wife and I just received a letter for a prenatal testing we had done in November 2017, with big bold letters saying: It is $8,000, pay now for only $249 and we'll forgive the entire thing! Well guess what, we had paid for this 2 years ago, and we had the statement and the claim both ready. We call the place and they say, ok this was a mistake on our end, we'll correct it. What happens is, billing companies use the shotgun method to send all the bills they haven't marked as "paid" at the beginning of every year. If we hadn't checked and called, we would have been out of money we had already spent. Not going to get into how this could be legal, or how there are zero repercussions for these companies for pulling stunts like this, but please save your medical bill payments somewhere, and keep track of them so you don't get fleeced. [link] [comments]  |
| 100% ESOP Company Sale After Resigning. What happens to my shares? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 06:53 PM PST My former company was a 100% ESOP and I was 100% vested at the time of my resignation. It was recently bought out and to date I have had 40% distributed into my 401k with the other 60% remaining in the ESOP to be distributed at later dates. The sale of my former company comes with an increased value of all ESOP shares for employees that will be paid out. But as a former employee, will my buyout also reflect the increased value of the ESOP from the sale? Or will my buyout be at the current value before the sale? This whole process is confusing since I only hear what is going on second hand. [link] [comments]  |
| Save my 4-year savings in Canadian dollars or US dollars? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 06:32 PM PST Hi! I am a Mexican student in his first year, I have started saving money weekly. At the pace I have been saving money, I will have around $10,000 USD saved by the time I graduate. I know it is not a lot in dollars, but in Mexican pesos it is a ton. I plan on getting out of here ASAP. I will probably go to live in Canada or the US. My question is in what currency should I save my money? I understand that the US dollar is generally more stable, but I am a bit worried about a possible war with Iran. I have been checking out the value of the USD and it seems it had a strong depreciation against the CAD around the time of the wars in the gulf. Is this valid? Should I take it into account? And overall, what currency is best if I won't be sure about where to move until I start with my job applications in 3 and a half years? Thanks!! [link] [comments]  |
| Just caught an employer error on my paystub Posted: 06 Jan 2020 04:18 PM PST My roth 401k contributions have been showing up as pretax as opposed to after tax, throwing off my withholding. I guess it's my fault for not checking it, but what's the right thing to do here? I assume my w2 would be wrong too if I didnt report it.. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it possible for me to live off of $16/hour? Can someone help me really break this down? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 09:11 PM PST Hey guys, Right now I'm living at my parents place. I just graduated from University and landed a job after a few months, however the pay is not amazing. I have not been paid yet as I just started so I am not sure of the actual % that taxes will take out of my pay and am also unsure how much benefits will be each month. Eight months from now, friends and I want to get an apartment together. The commute to work will be 35 minutes and right now gas is ~$2.15/Gallon. My car gets filled up off of $30 and a tank generally lasts around a week commuting 25 minutes. I've been trying to do the math and so far things just aren't stacking in my favor. Can someone please help me correct for errors and check to make sure I've accounted for everything? Total monthly income after taxes: $2048 (figured income tax of 20%, standard of two pay periods per month, two weeks per pay period. There will be some months I am paid three times.) Expenses: Benefits: ~$300/month??? Student loans: ~$250/month Rent: $450/month Utilities: ~$100/month? Internet: ~$25/month Car payment: $150/month Car insurance: $100/month Phone: $55/month Credit cards: $65/month Groceries: ~$400/month Gas: ~$150/month Total Expenses: ~$2045 According to what I have calculated, I will literally only have around $3 left over at the end of each month. The Patrick Star meme in real life. Lol. Am I way over-budgeting for some items or would it just be this tight? EDIT: Sorry for formatting errors I did post this from mobile. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2020 09:10 PM PST I use Mint to track all of my expenses. It is attached to all of my accounts (savings, checking, credit card). Yet somehow the math isn't adding up! According to my average monthly income and spending, I should have roughly $800 left every month to put in savings. In reality I basically live paycheck to paycheck. What am I missing? What expenses are being missed by Mint? [link] [comments]  |
| I'm 7 years deep in 2 Bank on Yourself policies. Please help Posted: 06 Jan 2020 05:22 PM PST Hello everyone. I started 2 Bank On Yourself accounts (whole life insurance policies), one in 2013 and one in 2014. One of them has $42k in total premium paid, 24k available for loan, and $17.5k available for partial cash surrender. Death benefit is 900k taken out on myself. The other policy has $24k in total premiums paid, 24k available for loan, and $19k available for partial cash surrender. Death benefit is 165k taken on my parent. Based on this, if I cashed them both out, I would leave with $38.5k having invested $66k. I have absolutely zero idea what to do and I hardly understand the details behind each policy. Will I ever have access to the full amount that I have invested? There are several other numbers involved in each policy and I can include them if necessary. But based on the fact that I have invested 7 years worth of income into both of these policies and this is what I've got seems like a disaster. There are PUA's involved and a whole lot of other things that are mentioned on https://www.bankonyourself.com/ . From what I've read, if I continue to pay into each of these policies, eventually it will be worth it, but when will that be? Thank you [link] [comments]  |
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