Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of January 31, 2020 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of January 31, 2020
- Just got my W-2 and realized my boss has been paying off the books and pocketing my taxes
- Savings account for my son
- Aetna refuses to pay in-network for emergency room admittance for childbirth - to tune of $50,000
- Do your kids know what your salary is?
- Are there any "catches" with refinancing your house?
- Is spending half of your paycheck on rent really that terrible considering quality of life?
- Thinking about getting LASIK and have some questions around HSA reimbursement for it
- Creditor keeps reporting new balances (after interest) as a new debt every month, making it appear as though it's a new debt every month.
- If you have a College Ave Student Loan, CHECK IT NOW!
- Accidentally claiming Federal income tax exempt on W-4
- Why won't TurboTax allow me to file as a part-year resident in both states I was a part-year resident in?
- Is turbo tax not free anymore?
- Personal Finance - Perú
- I'm looking to put money into a savings account, any recommendations?
- Im looking to open a bank account but have no clue which to choose.
- Carbroken into, backpack stolen, paystubs inside, what do I need to do?
- Want to know if I could handle a $4500 pay cut in exchange for getting into a new industry and out of a horrible current job...but don’t know how to do the math!
- Finances while incapacitated/in hospital
- Rental car help
- High debt load authorized user...?
- Need advice: My son (19) filed as independent, using Turbo Tax, but today I found out I can file him as a dependent...
- Owing taxes for the second time, not sure what's going on.
- Seeking advice; I owe a debt, credit recovery company has it. I have the full amount in cash now, do I have any bargaining room?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of January 31, 2020 Posted: 31 Jan 2020 09:05 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]  |
| Just got my W-2 and realized my boss has been paying off the books and pocketing my taxes Posted: 31 Jan 2020 12:17 PM PST I would estimate that I made somewhere in the ballpark of $35000 last year from this job and my W-2 states that I made around $8000. Sometime in 2019 around May I stopped getting direct deposit and started getting hand written checks. This did set off some red flags but I was assured by my boss that everything was on the up and up. Now I see it was not. The issue of my boss pocketing the tax money aside what steps should I take to make sure that I am not going to get into trouble with the IRS? Can I be held liable for something like this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 10:11 AM PST Me and my wife are trying to reduce the amount of junk toys we will get for our son from family and friends. To prevent him from being spoiled and having millions of toys. And avoid waste! So I plan on setting up some kind of savings account that we can have family members donate to instead of buying dumb toys. I plan on giving him the savings account for college or home down payment when he's an adult. He is currently 18 months old. Any recommendations for the best kind of account for this? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Aetna refuses to pay in-network for emergency room admittance for childbirth - to tune of $50,000 Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:59 PM PST Wife and I welcomed our son two years ago and we still don't have resolution. We entered the hospital via emergency room for a legitimate emergency (pre-eclampsia) and were admitted. NJ state law (as I understand it) states that childbirth done via emergency room admittance shall be billed in-network, if discharged within 3 days (we were). Prior to going to hospital we had spoken with their billing specialist and were assured (in writing -email) that we would be charged in network don't worry. A year after child's birth we received a $50,000 bill, all charged out of network. We were advised by hospital to dispute the charges with Aetna even though the window for dispute is 30 days (again bill came 1 year later). Dispute was obviously denied, and hospital said they were going to resubmit anyway. I check in with them every few months and am told they haven't heard back from Aetna yet. Skip forward one more year. My son is now nearly 2 years old. Today I received a $1500 bill for pediatric childbirth care and pediatric discharge, all charged out-of-network with Aetna. Should I get a lawyer? What can I do about this? [link] [comments]  |
| Do your kids know what your salary is? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:55 PM PST Growing up I had no idea how much my parents made. I generally knew we were lower middle class but I never really went hungry or shoe-less so for the most part I didn't really think too much about it. Between my wife and I our household income is 350-380k/yr and while our kids know we're fairly well off, they've never really concerned themselves beyond that. Our daughter is about to start college and our son just got his first job. For some reason, they both now have expressed serious interest in our financial situation. I've spent considerable hours teaching my oldest what a budget is and how to build/manage one but it was always with imaginary income/debts. My wife and I both grew up in low income homes so we have worked very hard to ensure our kids were not spoiled or grew up feeling entitled and I think for the most part we have succeeded there. I am a bit worried however, that if they know exactly how much we make it will become a "talking" point or something to boast about and I am not comfortable with that. So I am curious what others position is on this topic. Does it seem odd to want to keep that information off-limits to my minor children. (I think we'll be much more open when they are older and starting their careers.) [link] [comments]  |
| Are there any "catches" with refinancing your house? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:41 AM PST Me and my SO bought a townhome (our first home) around 1.5 years ago, 20% down payment so our mortgage is $320k roughly with 4.375% APR for 30 years with BoA (SO works there so we got a slight savings in APR). I don't know if it's important to note but our townhomes value has risen by ~12% since we've moved in. My buddy was telling me who is basically in the same scenario as me ($320k mortgage ~4.5% APR for 30 years) that he refinanced his house He offered to give me the guy who he dealt with contact info if we wanted to look into it as well. I don't know much about the whole process so just wanted to make sure there were no unnecessary risks or catches I needed to look out for. EDIT: Can someone double check my thinking here? So assuming that I can reduce my rate from 4.375 to 3.375 and my current loan started at $320,000 and my current principle left is at $316,000. Also assuming I'm keeping it a 30 yr fixed and not including escrow, I'd be saving $200/month on monthly payments. This seems like a no brainer to me if I'm not missing anything even if I'm paying $2k in fees, I'll recoup any costs within a year. We aren't planning on selling within the next 5 years anyways. [link] [comments]  |
| Is spending half of your paycheck on rent really that terrible considering quality of life? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:09 AM PST So I'm in a very highpriced city where studios go for about $1400 in okay places. I lived a year alone and was dropping almost half my paycheck in rent ( was making 50k and paying 1317 a month) and I moved back home to save some money. My plan was to buy a co-op but I just think the risk is too high so I'm looking at renting once more. I saw my dream apartment in the place i've wanted to live my whole life. I was born and raised in the ghetto and I still live there. I could afford a place at most likely 1200- 1300 again or get roommates which would limit me alot. The place I'm looking at allows pets so I'd be able to get a cat and dog which I've always wanted to do from child hood in a very safe part in the city. The place im in now ...theres no sleeping in the summer with people blasting music so high , windows shake and drug dealers going at it where I currently live at home....my last place still had that issue at a less degree... Cheaper places exist in these parts So I got a raise and if I do 40 hours a week I would be hitting a few 100 dollars short of 60k a year . And at 27 , I have almost 65k in my savings. So I see my dream apartment for about $1500/month and If did a budget and after all my bills including %6 (with matching )retirement ,my health insurance , metro card , food and literally everything else I should have about 1000 left overs as I have no kids and no debt. I could also afford a studio at this price in the same area. Alot of people are against paying so much in rent with a salary like mine but isnt the extra $200 ish dollar a month just worth the upgrade to quality of life? Even if it goes up , so should my salary assuming I dont mess up. Isnt this better then living in a shit part of town or living with a random stranger where you cant even have pets? What is your opinion on these kinds of situation ? [link] [comments]  |
| Thinking about getting LASIK and have some questions around HSA reimbursement for it Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:12 PM PST LASIK and HSA Hi all, Have a question that I'm unsure about. I'm thinking about getting LASIK which will be about $4,000. I don't have nearly enough in my HSA but should by year end. If I use my credit card and then pay off with my own money, can I reimburse myself with what I have in my HSA now and then also reimburse myself as my HSA funds accumulate through this year? Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 09:18 AM PST Hello all. A couple years ago, my wife and I hired a lawyer in small family court matter. we paid the lawyer a $3,000 retainer, and that should have been more than enough to cover the matter. The lawyer made one appearance for us, and nothing was done, the date was just postponed. Before that second date, the lawyer told us he wanted another $2,000 to "continue with the case". We declined, let him go, represented ourselves at the next appearance, and the matter was settled and we moved on. A few weeks later, we got a letter demanding an extra $800 in unpaid balance, or we'd be reported to the collections. We refused, and demanded an accounting of where the $3000 retainer had been used, and where the new amount had been incurred. We had seen no work done and no accounting for the services rendered or where the money was spent, despite asking several times. Anyways, it was reported to collections, and when they called, I told them that we weren't paying the fees until the lawyer showed us a detailing account of the services provided. As a matter of principal, I wasn't going to be extorted by a greedy lawyer. Now, this is the only black mark that appears on my credit, and while my credit score has slowly been improving, it keeps going back down by 25 points or so every couple of months, as the interest accrued is being reported as a new debt every month. I pay all my bills on time, have a good line of credit with MasterCard, and after years of "no credit", I'm improving my score. (I've brought it up nearly 200 points in the past 4 years) Is this normal? For a creditor to just keep reporting the same debt over and over so it never gets to that 7 year mark? Is there anything I can do to fight the unfair debt in the first place? At this point in my life, I don't NEED great credit, getting my score up has become more of a hobby than an obsession. I just refuse to pay a bad debt that shouldn't be there in the first place. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| If you have a College Ave Student Loan, CHECK IT NOW! Posted: 31 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST I got an email at 2am saying my automatic recurring payment was canceled for today. I called college ave and they said "this is a system error and IT is working on it." eye roll I logged into my account and my automatic payment is still set up for February, but not January. This is the second time they've tried to do this to me in the last year. If you have College Ave Student loans and have automatic payments for the end of the month CHECK THEM TODAY AND PAY IT. [link] [comments]  |
| Accidentally claiming Federal income tax exempt on W-4 Posted: 31 Jan 2020 08:09 PM PST I was doing my fiancé's taxes when I came across a unseen issue. Her W-2 said she had not paid any money toward Federal income tax and only toward Medicare and social security. How would I calculate the amount she owe and send that to the IRS? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:33 PM PST Sorry for the weird title. I worked in California for around the first half of 2019, then I moved to Georgia until December, then finally moved to Texas on the 27th of December in 2019. For this reason, TurboTax seems to think (or there is an exception I'm not seeing) that I should be filing as a nonresident in California and a part-year in Georgia, when actually I lived in both states while I worked in both states. At no point did I earn income in California while living in Georgia, or vice versa. Here is the relevant section. When I attempt to change the details, it always reverts back to what it says here. Is it correct to be leaving it as nonresident status? If not, why is there no option to fix it? Thank you guys for any help!! [link] [comments]  |
| Is turbo tax not free anymore? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:17 PM PST I've been using turbo tax for years and never had to pay for it, now all of a sudden they want to charge $80 ($40 for state and $40 for federal) to file so I tried HR block and now my return is getting rejected because apparently my AGI doesn't match with what they had last year. They're making me pay for the "deluxe" version that I don't want and they're charging just to file state [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 12:30 PM PST Hi! I'm trying to be better at budgeting and saving, but all the suggestions on this sub are about US system. I wanna know if someone has some tips for a peruvian. [link] [comments]  |
| I'm looking to put money into a savings account, any recommendations? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 11:16 AM PST Description says most of it. Thinking about putting in 30-40k. [link] [comments]  |
| Im looking to open a bank account but have no clue which to choose. Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:58 PM PST I just got a full time job and im not sure which bank would be best. If any lovely person(s) can share what bank you use along with your reason why, Personal experiences, pros and cons of any banks you know of, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. God bless! :) [link] [comments]  |
| Carbroken into, backpack stolen, paystubs inside, what do I need to do? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:05 PM PST My backpack was stolen out of my car last night with my paystubs, these are not live checks or anything. Do I need to do anything to protect myself? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:47 PM PST Hi all! I am a teacher looking to leave the education industry for a more stable, professional career. I am currently in the interview process for a position that sounds like a perfect fit for my skills and experiences. Only thing is the difference in pay, which they were very upfront about. I currently make $48,500, and this job would pay $44,000. I was expecting to have to make a pay cut to switch industries, but...how do I calculate if I can afford this? Current monthly expenses after paycheck: $550 on rent, $259.45 on a car lease payment that will be up in August, $119.24 on car insurance, $453 on student loans, $25 gym, $30-40 for utilities, $50 on gas and probably $50 or so on groceries. I have a 403(b) and am currently paying in 15% - this is taken out of my paycheck. Not sure what the 401(k) match would be at this job (if there is one). I had to tap into my savings account recently for an unfortunate emergency. I have about $800 left. I'd like to build it back up to a minimum of $5000 (ideally more like $10k but I know that will take some time). I've been able to put about $400 a month away for savings. A lot of my paycheck goes to union dues, which I obviously wouldn't have to pay anymore, and I am paying into the teacher retirement pension, but I haven't put in enough years to be vested. I'd have to pay in for 6 more years and do not think I can handle teaching for that much longer, so I've accepted that it's just lost money at this point. If my calculations are correct, with the union dues and pension costs that are taken out of my paycheck, my take home pay is about equal to $44,800 (I get a check for $1,208.39 every two weeks, so $1208.39 x 26 / .7?). So maybe it won't even be that big of a change? My boyfriend makes around $40,000 and, once we started sharing financial information, we realized we have very similar take home amounts, even though I make almost $10,000 more than he does. I don't think the pay cut would make a HUGE difference, by these calculations...is 30% a good estimate for how much would be taken out for taxes? That would leave me with a take home if $1,184.62, so not even that much less than what I'm getting currently. Does this thinking seem on track? Any insight you could provide would be helpful. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Finances while incapacitated/in hospital Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:57 PM PST A family member of mine is in the hospital and unable to speak/make decisions. They will likely be there for some time. I have POA, but have no idea what I'm doing. What steps should I take to protect their financial well-being? Are late mortgage payments, etc forgiven with proof of hospitalization/incapacitation? Or should I try to figure out how to pay bills? Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:52 PM PST My girlfriend and i will be renting a car for 4 days in march to go from co to st. Louis. Im not understanding the insurance through rental companies. We have tried looking it up and just dont understand some of it. Can someone explain the extended protection, personal accident insurance, and (big one) damage waiver. If we add all of it the bill will almost double in price. From 356 to 690. What is things we should absolutely get and things that seem to be a scam. We have decided upon alamo considering they have lowest cost. Thank you in advance all help is appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| High debt load authorized user...? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:43 PM PST The company I work for added me as an authorized user on an AMEX and Visa, combined the balances fluctuate between $80,000 - $200,000+ month to month.. my score dropped only a few points for this, however I have to ask is this really hurting my credit having such a high debt load show up on credit even though only less than $1000 is actually from my personal credit usage? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:39 PM PST I did my research and asked a friend who knows taxes and before we filed his I was under the solid impression I could not claim him. He works, he was in college but not full time, and he was 19 as of May 2019. We filed his yesterday as independent and last night his return was accepted. Less than 24 hours later I was filing my taxes (also used Turbo Tax) and apparently I can file him as my dependent. Is there any other way besides filing an amended return to fix this small mistake? My son had plans for his taxes and I feel awful at the idea of him having to wait 16+ weeks now, and I can't file until his is fixed so does that mean I will be waiting even longer than 16 weeks? Any help would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Owing taxes for the second time, not sure what's going on. Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:52 PM PST I'm 23 and work one job for 2 years. For 2017, I didn't owe anything because I got two jobs in November. For 2018, I had to pay a total of ~$900 back for Federal and CA taxes. I had $1,400 work expenses (computer, desk, etc.) and somehow didn't get those deducted from my owed taxes from that year. I understand why I owed that much, because I messed up on my W4 (my W4 said I was only working one job, since I got them at different times in November and didn't update them), but shouldn't the $1,400 deduct from the owed taxes anyway? For 2019, I have to pay back a total of ~$200 back for Federal and CA taxes despite submitting correct W4s for 2019, and I have yet to get a tax break for my work expenses. I quit Job B mid-2019 and sent an updated W4 to Job A to show that I'm now only working one job. The same amount of taxes were still being taken out, which I assumed was normal, but now I'm not sure. So I'm going to contact my job's HR about the taxes situation, and I'm going to mention the 2020 W4 to make sure I don't have to owe anything for 2020. Yet I'm still so confused as to why the $1,400 work expenses isn't giving me a tax break, and WHY they aren't taking enough taxes out despite my W4 being correct. Can anyone help me figure out what's going on? I'm sorry if this is confusing! I'm confused myself. *** EDIT: My corrected W4s for the first half of 2019: Single, 1 allowance (for myself) My corrected W4 after I quit my second job: Single, 2 allowances (for myself, working only 1 job) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 11:27 AM PST Debt originated from Department of Defense. Pioneer Credit Recovery owns the debt now. Debt is for unearned portion of enlistment bonus and life insured payed by DOD while I was not serving. I have the full amount in cash now ($5500). The debt is from late 2018 I'm wondering if I have any bargaining room. The recovery company doesn't have my real address at the moment. They've only been able to call my phone. Obviously I owe this debt in full, but if I make the situation easier on the recovery company by calling in and paying it, will they take the easy lesser amount? Or will they insist on full payment because of their power. My credit is obviously bad, but I don't need credit any time soon. I don't have much money tied up in assets that could be seized. I sold my largest valued assets so I could pay this debt and not worry about having them seized. I just don't see how they have much power on me at the moment. Am I totally ignorant to the reality of my situation? Or do I have some leverage? Thanks in advance for any feedback [link] [comments]  |
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