Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of May 08, 2020 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of May 08, 2020
- Student Loans: a cautionary tale in today's environment
- How a financial blunder improved my personal finance skills
- Savings rates continue to drop... is it worth moving money?
- 5 Years Of Dog Expenses
- My dad is currently on life support, just wondering what's next?
- 38k in medical debt after finding out I wasn't actually in network
- What is a modest amount of money for a single person to spend on food, gas, entertainment per month.
- Can a home builder prevent me from applying for an MCC?
- Is it normal for a landlord to ask for your saving and checking account # and their respective balances on a rental application?
- Too late to apply for unemployment?
- 20k pay cut for a better quality of life
- Financial risks associated with opening joint accounts/marrying someone with high student loan debt
- Help with applying for CERB, im a little hesitant.
- Save for down payment, tackle debt, or invest?
- New college grad
- Mom wants money back
- Recent Grad, Job Offer, Start Date Pushed Back
- Buying my first stock in fidelity Roth IRA. I dont understand "Time in Force" option
- Inheriting shares
- Why savings goals are important and my personal finance journey
- Invest or save a small amount of money from a voice acting gig?
- 24 Unsure where to invest cash/paychecks
- Getting off a cosign for my girlfriend
- Pay off higher or lower student loans first?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of May 08, 2020 Posted: 08 May 2020 02:05 PM PDT 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]  |
| Student Loans: a cautionary tale in today's environment Posted: 08 May 2020 09:51 AM PDT I got into my dream school with a decent scholarship a couple weeks after the stock market crashed in 2008. My parents had saved diligently for myself and my twin sister in a 529 account, but we saw that get cut in half overnight. Despite all that, my mom told me to pick the school that would work best for me and to not worry about the cost because "we'd figure out a way to make it work". I applied for hundreds of external scholarships, but didn't get any. So, I chose my expensive private dream school, signed my life away to Sallie Mae (the solution to pay for it after my savings was exhausted, which I didn't know in advance), and started college in fall of 2009. I was lucky to graduate with a good job thanks to the school's incredible co-op program, but also saddled with $120k worth of loans ($30k federal, the rest private). I met my amazing husband while there, and he was in the same boat. Together, we make a pretty decent living, but we currently owe more on our student loans than we do on our house. Even paying an extra $1k/month (our breakeven with our budget), it'll still take us many years to pay them off. It's so incredibly frustrating watching our friends from school (most of whom don't have loans) be able to live their lives the way they want while we continue to be slaves to our loans for the foreseeable future. No switching jobs because we want a new career, that doesn't pay enough. No moving to a different city, can't afford the hit to the salary in cheaper areas, or the huge cost of living increase in more expensive ones. I'm happy with my life and that I was able to have the experiences I did (I absolutely loved my school), but not a day goes by that I don't wonder how my life would have been different if I'd made better financial decisions. Parents, don't tell your kids to follow their hearts if the only way there is through massive student loans, particularly if their career will not let them have any hope of paying them off. Students, have those conversations with your parents. If they say don't worry about it, question what that means and what the plan is. Now is the time to be having those discussions, before you've already registered for classes and are looking to pay that first bill. Don't make the same mistakes we did. Edit:added paragraph breaks Edit 2: Wow, I did not expect this to blow up so much! Thank you for the awards! It's reassuring (and a bit sad) to hear so many of your stories that are so similar to mine. For all the parents and high school students reading this, please take some time to go through the comments and see how many people this truly affects. Take time to weigh your college financial decisions carefully, whether that be for a 4 year school, community college, or trade school, and ask questions when you don't know or understand something. I hope with this post that everyone is more empowered to make the best decision for them :) [link] [comments]  |
| How a financial blunder improved my personal finance skills Posted: 08 May 2020 05:11 AM PDT Recently I saw my future income rising and decided to lock in a lease agreement to rent a nicer apartment. I was doing well in my job and a friend's small business I had been helping for many months was beginning to turn over enough revenue to create a side stream of income. However what ended up happening was sales began to slump at the end of last year and the amount I had earned from my main job began to decrease. The business I had been supporting was also put into a position where it could no longer pay me for the work I was doing to help keep it running. All of a sudden the amount of money I was spending became more than the amount I was earning and I realized very quickly that I had made a mistake to increase the amount I was paying in rent. I began to feel very depressed and calculated that if I went on spending what I was currently spending with my new income I would be burning over $1000 dollars a month. I was in a lease for 10 more months and it would cost me over $3000 to break lease early and many more associated costs if I was going to move out of my apartment. Uh OH! There was only one option. I had to REALLY tighten the belt if I was going to survive this storm I had entered into. Using the spreadsheet I had used to figure out how much I was going to lose each month I went in deeper to understand not what I was spending all up but what I was spending individually. The big things were eating out, alcohol at bars and Ubers, and I also realized that I was spending about $40 a month on subscriptions too. I began to cut all of these things out, by cooking more at home and not eating out anymore. Not drinking at bars anymore and cancelling all my subscriptions and reading books from online instead. I also began to catch public transport or walk instead of taking Ubers. In my first month I spent $500 less, The exercise has made me go through all my expenses and now I understand how much I spend on everything each month. When COVID hit it was like I was already adjusted! Since COVID I am now spending Over $750 a month LESS! When I think of spending for convenience I think about earning that money through not choosing that option. It is very helpful. I also have become more confident and value money far more now. Now I know how much it costs for me to live each month. I know how long each dollar saved will support me if I lose my income entirely and see this as freedom! It has not been easy and I still feel depressed like today when I am worried about my future and not sleeping enough. But I wanted to write this post to remind myself of how much I've grown from the experience and that whatever happens it is just another opportunity for me to learn new skills and take more control and responsibility! I have been humbled and when I am back fully on my feet again I will not take my money for granted. I will not let myself spend more than 20% of the money that goes above my new monthly cost number. The other 80% will be saved and invested in something to secure my future and help me become less frightened and scared. If you are going through hard times I hope you find a way to see the light and grow stronger and more confident as a result in a way that can be maintained long term! Thank you for reading my story. [link] [comments]  |
| Savings rates continue to drop... is it worth moving money? Posted: 08 May 2020 08:33 AM PDT I have about 6k in savings, I moved everything from capital one to marcus early this year after capital one dropped interest rates to virtually nothing. Since covid, my rate has dropped from 1.7% to 1.5% and then today dropped to 1.3%. I'm considered an essential worker and my state is beginning to open up, I've been fortunate enough to be able to continue adding to savings (although less than before) each month. Is it worth shopping around again to try to find a better rate? I know it's not much of a savings, but I'm working on it. Any help is greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 May 2020 06:46 AM PDT Inspired by this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/gf9bud/i_tracked_the_expenses_for_my_german_shepherd_dog/ I thought I would add some perspective with a longer term look at dog expenses. I've got a full image breakdown here: Imgur And an image for the dog tax here: Imgur Total Costs - $13,841.83 Notable Costs: Vet Bills: This includes surgery required right after we got her for a root canal. A couple of appointments for broken dew claws (she was a very active dog in her youth, still is :), and a visit to the dog ER for some major vomiting/diarrhea issues about a year ago. Other than that this is the cost of yearly checkups/shots and heartworm medication. Food/Toys/Supplies: The majority of this is for food and frontline from Costco. I found that their food agrees with my dog and I can get a large bag of the blue buffalo knockoff stuff for $35. She needs about 1 bag of food a month. Frontline is also dirt cheap there at $35ish for a 6 month supply. This also includes some toys, and the price of a few dog beds. Usually a bed lasts about 2 years it seems in her kennel before she scratches it apart. Boarding/Kennels/Rover: Costs to board her when she cant stay with friends/family. We usually take one big week long vacation a year where she gets boarded. Other than that its maybe 2-3 over nights a year on top of our vacation. Rover we also found to be cheaper/closer once we found someone in our neighborhood. The dog also seems to like it a lot more. The rest of the expenses in the list are pretty rink-a-dink one off things. Random toys/treats, some training costs from when we first got her, the initial adoption cost. The cost for PetPlan was after I was spending a ton of money on her at the vet in the first year. I thought dog insurance would be worth the cost. I quickly learned that it isnt. They have loopholes big enough to drive a semi through, and I see no way to justify the expense unless you have a pure breed dog that you know for certain will have high vet costs. Please feel free to ask any questions! I love tracking my expenses and personal finance. I think now we've got a pretty good handle on dog costs and what it cost per year/month. [link] [comments]  |
| My dad is currently on life support, just wondering what's next? Posted: 08 May 2020 08:54 AM PDT Hey pf. Long time lurker here. So I'll just get to it. My dad had a large brain bleed following a heart attack and is currently brain dead. He is on life support until my brother can fly in from the military to say good bye with us. They are currently performing numerous tests to see if he is viable for organ donation. My questions are, who is responsible for the costs associated with tests and organ donation related things? I'm kind of confused what's for that and what's for just keeping him "alive". Is there any tips or things that you guys know of that could help us in this time? I've read the losing a loved one wiki already. Just fishing for some other misc tips and whatnot. Thanks guys. [link] [comments]  |
| 38k in medical debt after finding out I wasn't actually in network Posted: 08 May 2020 08:59 AM PDT Okay, so a few months ago I made an appointment with a hospital to have my neck looked at. I went through the hospital's appointment dept and they took all my information down and advised that my insurance was in network so we proceeded to set up appointments. Over the course of about a month and a half, I had a biopsy, several different doctor's appointments, CT scans, PET scans, and even surgery. I was never asked to pay anything other than my insurance co-pay at any of these appointments. After surgery, I found out that I had cancer and wanted to continue care at the same facility and was days away from starting chemotherapy before their billing department called and said I wasn't in network and would have to pay for all future appointments in full before being seen. I wasn't able to afford this at all and have since found care at another facility that actually does take my insurance. My question is, do I have any recourse to avoid paying the full 38k? I definitely don't have that kind of money and wasn't anticipating paying that much to begin with. I don't want to completely ignore it and get sent to collections, but is there anything I should be able to work out with the billing department since they told me my insurance was accepted? [link] [comments]  |
| What is a modest amount of money for a single person to spend on food, gas, entertainment per month. Posted: 08 May 2020 10:51 AM PDT Hey, so I'm a single guy (no kids, no wife/gf). I earn about 40k a year, but this coronavirus situation has me realizing that I need to save more money for future unknowns. I have all my monthly recurring bills down, but I can't for the life of me figure out how much money I should be spending per month for eating out, seeing friends, grocery shopping, buying clothing, etc. Pretending that the whole coronavirus situation isnt happening, how much do you all spend per month for these kinds of things? [link] [comments]  |
| Can a home builder prevent me from applying for an MCC? Posted: 08 May 2020 05:11 PM PDT My husband and I are under contract with a Home Builder for a new home in Texas, and they've partnered with Loan Depot to provide lending. We qualify for a zero-down USDA loan, locked already at 3.5%, and it's all currently in underwriting. I really want to apply for a MCC Tax Credit, as I'm very certain we qualify, we have very low risk of eventual recapture tax being owed, I've thoroughly researched it and am extremely confident I understand what it is and how it works, and I'm not one to leave money on the table. When I asked the sales rep of the Home Builder about it, she said "they don't do those," and gave a canned explanation that didn't make sense. I then spoke to the loan officer of Loan Depot who works directly with the Home Builder, and asked her about the MCC. She said that Loan Depot as a whole and she herself is an approved lender for the MCC program, and she agreed the MCC is a very beneficial program, but she didn't want to disrespect Home Builder's policy of no MCCs. Can Home Builder prevent me from applying? I don't see how they could. I respect that the lender doesn't want to get in trouble with the Builder she's contracted for, but I don't see how I'm being prevented from applying for a federal tax credit I'm almost certainly eligible for by the company I happen to be purchasing from. If anyone has advice or experience with this, I'd greatly appreciate it! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 May 2020 10:47 AM PDT I can understand asking for a gross monthly income and running a credit check, but is it normal to ask for the account # as well? [link] [comments]  |
| Too late to apply for unemployment? Posted: 08 May 2020 09:48 AM PDT Hello, this question has probably been asked many times so I'll just lay it out quick I'm a 19 yr old part timer that worked on weekends but a month now I've been out of work since the company was doing not so great so they decided to give full timers extra work to make up for their reduced income. That means they took over all our shifts so part timers are basically on the bench until this is over(hopefully soon). I just want to know if it's too late to apply for unemployment especially if I'm not planning on staying there much longer as I'm looking for another job even if it's seasonal. My manager told me I could apply when he initially informed me of what was to come a month ago but I dont want to seem douchie by applying when I'm already thinking about quitting. Sorry for making the long post I didnt want to raise too many questions TL:DR part timer haven't worked for a month, is it too late to apply for unemployment? I'm already thinking about quitting soon. [link] [comments]  |
| 20k pay cut for a better quality of life Posted: 08 May 2020 07:00 PM PDT I feel like a little background would be helpful with this post. I am a single 26 year old male with no kids. I graduated college with a degree in chemistry and a little over 6k in debt and it's paid off now. I have worked at a coal plant for just over a year where I work a rotating shift. For example I work 7 days on day shift, 7am-3pm then 2 days off then I rotate to evening 3pm-11pm for 7 days, 2 days off, then 7 days of midnights 11pm-7am. This does not include all the overtime that I am forced to work. While I do make good money, this past year over 60k, I feel like I am being overworked and it's not good for my health. In the next month there is a job opening that my friend is trying to get me to come and work at. It is straight day shift and I would only work 4 days a week and the job atmosphere is much more relaxed and the schedule is much more flexible. The only reservation that I do have is that I would be taking an estimated 20k pay cut. I'm on the fence about this decision to take the job if it is a possibility because I have been working and have saved 30k so far and was trying to reach my goal of 55k so that I could travel for 6 months before going back to school. Would the pay cut and move be worth not saving the amount of money that I was wanting for an overall better quality of life? [link] [comments]  |
| Financial risks associated with opening joint accounts/marrying someone with high student loan debt Posted: 08 May 2020 03:56 PM PDT My partner and I have been together for about a year and a half. Collectively, we have about $155K in gross annual income. As of today, my partner owes about $120K in student loan debt (I owe none). Three questions: 1) What financial risks does a debt burden that high pose for us with respect to executing financial transactions (e.g. getting a mortgage) if we were to marry? 2) How would jointly held assets (e.g. mutual funds, money market accounts) or our combined annual income influence his minimum student loan payments if we remain unmarried? How would that change if we marry? 3) How would assets held only under my name (e.g. stock portfolios) be affected if he were to default on his loans (unlikely, but you never know) if we remain unmarried? How would that change if we marry? [link] [comments]  |
| Help with applying for CERB, im a little hesitant. Posted: 08 May 2020 06:40 PM PDT Ive always been self employed but my income has been majorly disrupted due to covid. Just wondering if i can still apply. Dont want to get fucked in the end and have to pay it back. Im really tired so if you need more clarification dont hesitate to ask. [link] [comments]  |
| Save for down payment, tackle debt, or invest? Posted: 08 May 2020 06:30 AM PDT My fiancee and I (soon to be married!) have a gross income of 115k per year and are wanting to buy a house soon. We currently have about a 2-3 month e-fund if both of our income was cut off. I have already checked out the flow chart and I am still unsure about what to do. I would love to put down about 40k-50k on a down payment in a couple of years but would also like to get our debt out of the way. We have auto and student loans totaling around 80k and with the snowball method, I feel we could knock it out fairly quickly. I also want to start investing since all we have currently is my 401k that is only up to what my employer matches. I want to max out our HSA as it could essentially be used similarly to a Roth IRA. I hate paying rent and not building equity, and although there are perks to renting, it just hurts my soul. I feel weighed down by debt and want to get it out of the way asap. I feel we also need to start thinking about our future and investing more as we are already in our late 20s. Which do I pursue? I feel they're all equally important. Any help would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 May 2020 06:28 PM PDT I graduate from college this month. I have accepted a 12 month internship that doesn't pay that well. But it includes room and board. My mom pays my cell phone bill and I don't have a car or any other expenses besides normal everyday things like haircuts, snacks, entertainment, etc. I will graduate with 18,000 of student debt. My 12 month post will pay 6,000 of that at the end of my service. I'm not a big spender. I had a summer job last summer and have 3,600 from that job still in the bank. I will receive 1,000 a month stipend from my internship. So. Should I just keep the 3,600 I have in the bank ? Invest it somehow? Pay it towards my student loan? I also have the option of putting my student loan in public service forbearance, but I'm not sure I will stay in public service for the length needed to pay it off and since it will be less than 12k with my service award, I'm not sure if I should just pay it off as quick as possible instead of gambling on a public loan forgiveness program. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 May 2020 07:44 PM PDT Hi! My mom has been sending me money occasionally since I was in college to pay loans and for food and etc. when I went to buy my first house, she gave me about 10K gift money and signed the papers. We recently got into a dispute and she is asking for her money back. I was under the impression that she wouldn't do that this entire time. She transferred money from her bank to my bank during all these times. Now she wants 30K from me right now. Is there anything she can legally do to make me pay? I'm a little nervous and don't know where to start. [link] [comments]  |
| Recent Grad, Job Offer, Start Date Pushed Back Posted: 08 May 2020 07:08 PM PDT Hi everyone. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post. I need help figuring out what I can do since my industry is negatively affected. I used to work an on campus job before everything happened (campus is now closed and my work was hands on). Now, I am graduating and finishing school next week, I will no longer be a student (so I am no longer elegible for the job). My reason for not having a job atm. I received a job offer in April and the work must be done on site (my company is nonessential). The start date was meant to be in July, but now it is pushed back until September due to the current situation. Am I eligible for unemployment or CARES??? I tried applying for unemployment but there wasn't somewhere to indicate that I have a job offer affected by the current situation... I'm in Massachusetts [link] [comments]  |
| Buying my first stock in fidelity Roth IRA. I dont understand "Time in Force" option Posted: 08 May 2020 04:36 PM PDT I am getting serious about investing and slowly learning. I want to purchase some shares of MSFT in my fidelity Roth IRA and hold long term. As I am trying to purchase however there is an option that I do not understand. Time in Force: - Day - On the open - On the close What is the meaning behind this options and which one should I be using on my market order? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 May 2020 06:47 PM PDT My mother wants to transfer some shares in a company to me in case she passes away. Her estate will be complicated and even though she has a will, she just wants it over with. These shares were passed down from her grandmother and she wants it to stay in her family line. We are not associated with the company in any way. I am currently not working, I receive alimony support and am finishing my degree in a university program. My mother wants me to place the shares into a Roth IRA, and reinvest dividends. I know very little about investing. I do understand the difference between traditional and Roth Ira when it comes to taxes. My focus though has been on savings, and building a solid credit score. I have not felt knowledgeable or secure enough to invest money before. I have relationships with 2 banks (one traditional, one online), and a federal credit union. I do not know if I am even allowed to open an IRA right now since I am technically not working. I do not understand what I could potentially do with these shares. I know the company name, I have looked at the stock history and see that it is currently in a low period (obviously corona related). I anticipate it will recover as it is a longstanding company. I've looked at stock analysis, and it all says "overweight" and "buy", so I think I definitely want to hold onto these, but I just don't understand how to "hold" them?! Can I open a Roth IRA if I am not working? Is there another type of account I can put them in without having to do anything for awhile or defer taxes on them until I am done with my degree in about a year? [link] [comments]  |
| Why savings goals are important and my personal finance journey Posted: 08 May 2020 02:40 PM PDT I'll start by saying I know none of you care about these details at all, but I the reason I started making personal finance a hobby revolves around a goal I never had before and turned into something beautiful. If it can help just one person on this sub, it wasn't a waste of time. I'm a 25 year old male who graduated in December of 2017 with a degree in Energy. Landed a job in tech sales as an SDR out of college, making my degree basically worthless, and making roughly $55k/year in a HCOL area (northern Virginia). When I graduated and started making money, I never had a second thought about my finances because I knew I could easily afford all my bills every month and thought that was all that's important. That was until July 2018 when my favorite DJ announced a destination music festival in Mexico that I knew I couldn't miss, happening in Feb/Mar '19 and would cost about $5000 total between me and my gf. This caused me to manually build a spreadsheet mapping out my projected income and expenses for the next 6 months since I was paying for the trip on a payment plan to see if I could really afford it. Even though my gf and I really struggled by not being able to go to bars and shows like normal, this ended up being a huge blessing since it was the first step in the prime directive before I ever knew about this sub or anything related to PF. From there, I realized how important it was to always have specific goals in mind when dealing with money. Even if it's retirement that's 40 years from now, the time to plan is now. Every dollar you get, PAY YOURSELF FIRST. Without this random music festival popping up in my life and forcing me to take a deep dive into my finances, I never would be where I am today with a solid e-fund, plans to pay off $20k in student loans by the end of 2021, and retirement/wedding/house goals in mind. Take the first step. You won't regret it. And by the way the festival was amazing. [link] [comments]  |
| Invest or save a small amount of money from a voice acting gig? Posted: 08 May 2020 01:25 PM PDT So just to set everything out, I am 15, an actor, and i got hired in October to do a voice acting gig. It ended in January, but I just got my first payment now ( due to the thing, it got delayed) I have a bank account under my parent's name, I am expecting the full payment to be in the range of 500-800 euros. Which isn't a lot, but I mostly only had to go in for 2 hours at a time at most, once every two weeks. What should I do with it? Should I just save it or try to invest it? I find stocks and funds interesting...but would it be wiser to just save it? [link] [comments]  |
| 24 Unsure where to invest cash/paychecks Posted: 08 May 2020 04:08 PM PDT Hi folks, I'm a little confused on where to invest right now. I've worked out a budget using Mint and building my YNAB out right now. My gross salary is 143K, bonus is 29K. I have 37k in my 401K (I try to max contributions, need to pay into my 2019 IRA though). I have 40k cash. I am saving 10k of that for an emergency fund (~5/6 months emergency for VHCOL area). 6K Student loans. I have a few questions: I have 30k cash to invest right now, I was thinking of throwing it all into VTSAX and forgetting about it for a while. Would this be a good idea? I follow /r/stocks and /r/investing but am adverse to risk. After my budget was complete I save about ~3.5k a month. Would it be smart to put as much as possible into another index fund? Or use the megabackdoor IRA my company is now allowed to take advantage of? My ultimate goal is financial independence, not sure of when. I'm mainly just trying to prioritize having a decent 20's. My next big purchase will be selling my current motorcycle (~5k) and upgrading to a ~7k motorcycle. No current plans to own a home (~5/10 years away) this area sucks. [link] [comments]  |
| Getting off a cosign for my girlfriend Posted: 08 May 2020 04:06 PM PDT A few months ago, my girlfriend of a couple years was in financial trouble. She had taken a year off of school to join me on a job contract abroad, so when she came back her student loans were somehow due. Because of that, her dad had to take out more loans to cover it. But he needed a cosigner because of his credit. I volunteered, because of how she picked up her stuff to move with me for my work -- I felt it was the least I could do. I was shocked to find out it was for $40k. So Im a dual citizen but I didn't grow up in the US. My college tuition was no where near anything like that. After co-signing, however, I lost my job because of the coronavirus. At the same time, I got accepted to grad school on a great scholarship. Great, but not full -- I'm going to need to take out my own loans to go. And I dont have much else going for me in terms of work, and I don't see it getting better....so I'm leaning on going. So because I'm not exactly sure how the system works...what could be done about this co-sign? What would happen if I asked for a release 3-4 months into the arrangement? TLDR: I cosigned my girlfriend's student loans a few months ago but now I need to get out of it so I can get my own. [link] [comments]  |
| Pay off higher or lower student loans first? Posted: 08 May 2020 06:07 PM PDT With the federal student loan interest currently being 0% I'm trying to make the most of my time. I'm (un)fortunate enough to be an essential employee and only partially unemployed. I have 7 loans ranging from $2-5k, totalling to about $28k. Would it be better to pay off my smaller loans first or start hacking at some of the larger loans so that they accrue less interest when interest comes back in September. TIA [link] [comments]  |
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