Personal Finance Should I feel guilty about spending 50% of my take home pay on rent? |
- Should I feel guilty about spending 50% of my take home pay on rent?
- What is an aggressive retirement investment?
- Gym wouldnt let me cancel due to balance owed
- Fannie Mae + Freddie Mac Adverse Market Refinance Fee Delayed to Dec 1
- Frontier Airlines refusing to issue credit/refund of $955 because time limit passed
- Sanity Check my Retirement Budget
- Should I ask for a raise after shouldering the load of another employee that was let go?
- Vanguard Roth IRA Portfolio feedback
- A cleaning fee before i move in
- My legal immigrant parents need help with retirement plans.
- Got a substantial raise, want to buy personal hobby stuff, not sure how much to spend
- My credit card limit was cut in half from $10,000 to $5,000 because I never use my card.
- Dad got wrapped into a 20% for 48 months auto loan...options at this point?
- Opened a secured credit card, a little confused on the best way to build credit
- 29 years old, minimum wage worker. I need to get my life on track.
- Dad passed away. Found out he technically didn't own the house, but his sisters Husband does. They want me to buy the house from them.
- How much house can we afford in San Diego?
- Employer adjusted payroll for the leap year (27 pay periods) but now the office is closing at the end of October. Should those downward adjustments be reimbursed now?
- Parents opened my mail and didn't tell me about a bill
- How to negotiate a car deal using Edmunds or KBB price?
- I have $92k in the bank, no job, and no house. What's my next move?
- Both traditional IRA and Roth
- I'm feeling a little over my head trying to figure out what to do with my Grandmother's very small assets ahead of getting her on Medicaid and SSI.
| Should I feel guilty about spending 50% of my take home pay on rent? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 04:58 PM PDT I'm a physician, but am an intern and make ~$55k. I spend $1600 in rent at the moment, but I have no debt and am still able to save 15% in my Roth IRA and Roth 403(b), no match though☹️. I kinda feel guilty about spending so much money in rent, but I live 4 blocks from the hospital, which will be super nice in the winter when it snows. Right now, I justify my rent in my head because I'm still able to save 15% for retirement, save up for vacations, go out to eat, etc. But the main reason I justify is it because I know I'll have a large income increase in 4 years and would be able to save as much money in 4 months as I can in 4 years right now. And if I had cheaper rent, I would just put that extra money into my 403(b). Anyway. Should I move to the apartment across the street which is much older and would probably cost $500 less in rent, move to the suburbs and have a long commute for cheaper rent, or keep my apartment? [link] [comments]  |
| What is an aggressive retirement investment? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 06:42 AM PDT So we have our 401K at Fidelity and today received an email from them telling us about the situation of our investment mix. It turns out, with our 90% large cap index and 10% bond mix, we are right in the middle of the conservative to aggressive investment. I always thought that with 10% bond index, we are very aggressive already; however it turns out not to be the case from finance management perspective. Theoretically, what should you do to be an aggressive investor? Stocks are not an option in our 401K selections. ==Update 1, 18:50 27/Aug/2020== WOW I am overwhelmed by so many responses. Big thanks to you all for all the comments and inputs here! It's great to learn other's perspective. Some further info: I am in my early thirties so I am not looking at retirement at least in another 25-30 years. Thus I am comfortable with my split of stocks (through index funds) and bonds (also bond index). Originally I was just surprised to see that with 90/10 split I am still considered as intermediate aggressive; now I get that it's not only about the ratios, but also what kind of stocks I get. With my heavy investment in the large caps, it's indeed not that risky, or aggressive. Based on the portfolios mentioned below, it looks like I am in no way at the extreme. However, it does remind me to add some int'l stock to diversify, which is something I will do as my next step. [link] [comments]  |
| Gym wouldnt let me cancel due to balance owed Posted: 27 Aug 2020 07:54 AM PDT First let me start off by saying i signed up for the gym and was going for 2 years then got injured and stopped but continued to pay, it was only 20 dollars and planned on going back. I never renewed or resigned another contract so i can only assume it was an auto renew contract i dont know. So fast forward a year later i was ready to go back to the gym. Right before the covid-19 they tried to charge me an annual fee of $30, it got rejected and considered insufficient funds. no biggie ill just eat the charge then boom covid-19 hit everything shut down and now we are at this month. i just found out they opened back up only due to my bank being charged my monthly fee. I went in to workout and got confronted stating i owe back charges, i explained to staff & then manager i spk to a manager before covid and he stated if i pay my 30$ annual fee i would be good to go and he would waive the charge. The new manager (female) stated not only did i owe that charge and insufficient fees but lates fees as well and she stated i owe 2 months of membership fees totally 80$ + 20$ they just took out. I argued with female stating i was told 30$ and my fees would be waived, She denied what last manager told me and stated she couldnt do anything unless i pay 80$. I told ms that you already took 20$ out this month for but your not allowing me access. She stated we can not allow you access with prior balance but we will still charge you every month. WTF!!!!!!!! Manager denied me access and would not cancel my contract. I told her i was willing to pay my 30$ charge and already paid this month but i am not going to continue to pay for something you are denying me access to, it doesnt make sense. she did budge, i told her ok i tried to compromise and do this the easy way. I called my bank I not only put a stop payment against them so they could not change me anymore but i also disputed all their transactions for fraud and told my bank they are refusing to cancel due to prior balance and wont compromise and wanted to continue charge me while not letting me use facilities. My bank also refunding me all money that was paid to the gym during to after covid-19. So instead of compromising they now cant charge me and i got my money back for the month they wouldnt allow me access even thou it was paid. Me +1, planet fitness 0. How the F*** are these people aloud to deny people access and still charge them? I could understand if i choose not to go and still get charged but you are refusing service and charging people. That is FRAUD period.. [link] [comments]  |
| Fannie Mae + Freddie Mac Adverse Market Refinance Fee Delayed to Dec 1 Posted: 27 Aug 2020 08:03 AM PDT The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) to delay the implementation date of their Adverse Market Refinance Fee until December 1, 2020. The fee was previously scheduled to take effect September 1, 2020. FHFA is also announcing that the Enterprises will exempt refinance loans with loan balances below $125,000, nearly half of which are comprised of lower income borrowers at or below 80% of area median income. Affordable refinance products, Home Ready and Home Possible, are also exempt. [link] [comments]  |
| Frontier Airlines refusing to issue credit/refund of $955 because time limit passed Posted: 27 Aug 2020 10:22 AM PDT My parents are older people who don't speak English, I don't think they understood the implication of letting the time limit pass on this. How is it an acceptable/legal business practice to place a time limit on their money and give them nothing? Seems like an extremely shady business practice put in place to take advantage of vulnerable people like my parents. They didn't even cancel the flight, it was cancelled due to COVID-19. Frontier has provided absolutely nothing to them and gets to pocket their money. They are being extremely rigid with this time limit and saying there is nothing they can do.. what can we do about this beyond Frontier? [link] [comments]  |
| Sanity Check my Retirement Budget Posted: 27 Aug 2020 05:54 AM PDT Hi, r/personalfinance. I've been crunching numbers all week trying to figure out how much I need to save for retirement. I make 52,000/year, want to retire comfortably, and don't have much hope for social security benefits being around when I'm older. I'm 30 years old and have only recently gotten to a place where I can afford to save much for retirement. I went back to college in my mid-20s so I've got student loans that will last through most of my 30s. However, these numbers for retirement are giving me sticker shock. When applied to my budget, I will be left with about $250 of wiggle room per month. I had been hoping to buy a house sometime in the next 5 years, but that looks way more difficult now than it had previously. (ETA: current home prices in my area are around 200 - 225k for decent starter homes.) The budget I am linking is a model of things after upping my contributions to meet my goal of 1.5 million at a retirement age of 65. The only difference from my actual current budget is that I added in $412 going to an IRA every month. I track all spending every month in another spreadsheet and use those averages to tweak my budget, so it is highly accurate to my actual spending. Cutting into my food budget, for example, isn't a sustainable option. This is my budget after putting 18.5% of my gross income towards retirement: https://imgur.com/a/zG4k90D I used BankRate's 401k calculator. Now, I did use pretty conservative numbers to estimate what will get me to 1.5 million: an annual salary increase of 1.5%, and an average growth rate of 6%. My employer matches 50% of my 401(k) contribution, up to a max of 5%. I really love where I work and it's a smaller company. Unless something major shifts, I would stay at the same job as long as I could. That's part of why I estimate a low rate of salary increase, because I expect that there's only so much they can afford to pay me if I stay at the same job for years and years. On the plus side financially, I will never have kids so at least I don't have to worry about fitting children into the budget. These numbers came about in part to me planning to pay off my student loans early. I calculated that I would save about 3,000 by doing so. But the cost of putting off retirement savings was in the ballpark of 46,000! That really spurred me to figure out what I need to do this year to have my retirement on track. If you've read this far, thank you. So, my question is.... Am I overshooting?? Is this really what it takes to hit the recommended goalposts? I am way more careful with my money than many people, I'm single, childfree, don't own a home. If this is accurate then how the hell are other middle class people saving for retirement?! *****ETA: Please stop telling me to cut my food budget. I never asked where to cut my budget. I just wanted to show what my retirement savings plan looks like in the context of my budget. It's very hard to continue to be polite to people telling me to slash the main thing that gives me happiness in life. I get it, you spend less on groceries for your family of 4. I do not need to learn how to slash my food budget! I've lived on nothing before. I have a 52k/year job so I don't have to do that anymore. ETA 2: wow! Thanks for the bless up! [link] [comments]  |
| Should I ask for a raise after shouldering the load of another employee that was let go? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 08:51 AM PDT I apologize in advance for the long post. I have been working for my company for a year and in my current position for 8 months, which is the reason I am so hesitant to ask for a raise. The reason I believe I might be entitled to one is because there are supposed to be two people with my current position to share the load. My "partner" was let go due to a lack of performance and I have since taken on the full load of our position. My old partner was let go nearly 6 months ago and I haven't voiced any opinions yet. My company is supposed to be hiring someone to replace my old partner, but has had a hiring freeze since the pandemic began and I have heard nothing about hiring a replacement or compensating me for the extra work I have had to undertake. I am fairly organized and efficient so I have been able to handle it, but I don't believe that I should be doing the work of two people for the pay of one. My current thought process is to explain how I have been doing the job of two people for the pay of one and how even a significant pay increase would benefit both me and the company. I could absorb the workload altogether since I have proven that I can handle it and the company wouldn't have to pay another employee a full salary, benefits package, and give them a company car for field work. I am just hesitant to move forward since it has only been 6 months since my partner was let go and I have only been with the company a year in total. TL;DR: Partner was let go and I've been doing the work of two people for 6 months. Should I ask for a raise and if so should it be a percentage of my old partner's salary. Any tips or suggestions with this issue is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Vanguard Roth IRA Portfolio feedback Posted: 27 Aug 2020 12:04 PM PDT So I (22F) just opened my first roth IRA with Vanguard, I'm planning to contribute the max amount. I make about $66k and looking at about $2-3k increase every year for the next eleven years and then increases once every 5 years (caps at 30 years). Right now I have the following breakdown: 70% VTI 30% VXUS I didn't go with bond because I feel like I'm young enough to get away with it. I want to move to VSTAX and VTIAX once I have the minimum for admiral shares. My plan is to stay like this until I get closer to my mid-30s and then move towards a three-fund portfolio with some bonds. I also have a state pension/retirement fund that take 6% of my income. and a 403b that I'm contributing to minimally because I don't have an employer match, I'm putting more into a HYSA for a down payment on a home. Would love any feedback on this path so far. [link] [comments]  |
| A cleaning fee before i move in Posted: 27 Aug 2020 04:42 PM PDT I live in michigan and the management company for a apartment that im moving into soon says they charge everyone a 150 cleaning fee(she said fee not deposit). I just want to know about the legality of this. If its for cleaning shouldnt it be assessed to the previous tenants and, if its for when i move out shouldnt it be part of the deposit? [link] [comments]  |
| My legal immigrant parents need help with retirement plans. Posted: 27 Aug 2020 09:22 AM PDT Hello, I am a 19 year old female and I need some financial advice. My mother and father are both 40 years old and do not have any money saved up for retirement. They have tried to give me a better life by moving here since they were both 17 and life has been rough on them. My mom has been working as a nail technician (she has her GED) but that doesn't have retirement benefits. She wants to go back to school to get a job that does have retirement benefits. My dad does not have a GED but he can get one. Is there any way they can start making money now for that? Any jobs that have retirement benefits? I know my parents are somewhat young right now but they want to start thinking about the future as I mentioned before, they have 0 savings for retirement. [link] [comments]  |
| Got a substantial raise, want to buy personal hobby stuff, not sure how much to spend Posted: 27 Aug 2020 06:17 AM PDT I just got an unexpected raise with more money than I thought. I am extremely lucky for this. Usually, I am a very good saver. I max out my roth and 10% of my salary already goes into the pension. I am going to be putting even more towards 401k with the new salary. I live within my means and don't have any debt. I would like to buy a house one day, but where I live, there is absolutely no chance of being able to afford a place. Housing prices are upward of 800K even into the burbs. Given how frugal I have been, I have trouble deciding to spend money on things I want vs what I need. What are some guidelines people follow surrounding spending money on "wants." Objectively, I think I have the money, but I'm such a saver, it is kind of tough. [link] [comments]  |
| My credit card limit was cut in half from $10,000 to $5,000 because I never use my card. Posted: 27 Aug 2020 11:59 AM PDT Will this affect my credit score at all? I still don't plan on using that card at all so there won't be any balance on it. However, I do have other credit cards that I use. Edit: I cancelled my card and got the annual fee refunded. Read the comments for helpful advice if you are also in this situation [link] [comments]  |
| Dad got wrapped into a 20% for 48 months auto loan...options at this point? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 06:15 PM PDT Just like the title says: my dad just bought a previously leased car with Honda. He's put 4K down and financed 12k at 20% for 48 months. I realize this is quite tragic financially — what can I do at this point to help him? Is there anyway refinance or back out of this awful interest rate? [link] [comments]  |
| Opened a secured credit card, a little confused on the best way to build credit Posted: 27 Aug 2020 12:16 PM PDT Hi, I'm an international student in the U.S. I just opened a secured credit card and chose $400 as my deposit. I'm a little confused as to how I should be building credit. On this sub, most people seem to recommend using 10-30% of your spending limit and paying it off in full every month. However, at the branch, I was told to keep a balance every month (e.g. not paying off the card in full) as she said that's what creditors like to see? I'm planning on spending $80 every month on the card and paying it off in full but just want to make sure this is the most optimal choice. [link] [comments]  |
| 29 years old, minimum wage worker. I need to get my life on track. Posted: 27 Aug 2020 06:41 PM PDT Oh, boy. Here comes my life story. Thank you in advance to those who lend advice. I will try to keep this as short and concise as possible. As the title states, I am 29 years old. I live in Canada and I have a diploma in music, but haven't really used it much. I was a roadie for five years, but found I lack the personality to leverage that position into making an actual career. I also taught guitar in the off-season, but found that job to be more depressing and stressful than the gratification was worth. Since then, I've been bouncing around various retail and hospitality jobs, hoping to make a good impression and climb the ladder a bit, but I can't seem to break out of the minimum wage slump. I currently work two jobs which both pay $15/hour, which is the minimum wage here. One job gives me full benefits, which is great, but after paying bills, buying groceries, etc. the wages are not enough to really save much. I have about $1000 in cash saved up, and $4500 in a high interest savings account. I've got about $5500 in credit card debt. I'm doing my best to pay off all expenses as soon as I charge them, and I contribute $250/month to try and chip away at that debt, but the total seems to steadily increase anyway. I don't have any other savings. Bills come to about $1000/month and I average about $2500/ month income. I'll admit, I do eat out too often, and spend way too much on alcohol, though I'm trying hard to fix that. I just moved in with my partner, so we'll likely be buying groceries and cooking together, and I'm trying to heavily reduce the amount of booze I buy. Beyond all that, I'm still nowhere near satisfied with my professional life. I'm tired of making an hourly wage and want to find something that pays a salary. I've looked into apprenticeships, but a lot of places I talk to are looking for more blue collar experience, while I come from a mostly customer service background. I just really have no idea what to do or who to talk to about getting myself on a good career path, so I'm hoping someone here can lend me some wisdom and perhaps steer me in the right direction. I really hope this is the right place to post this, and I thank you all again for reading and offering your advice. Edit: got some math wrong. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Aug 2020 07:59 PM PDT Ok you guys, I may have been a little overzealous with my username, because I dont know anything about real estate and the laws surrounding it. I am a 24 year old Male from Phoenix, Arizona. Last year on July 10th I found my dad dead on his bedroom floor. Obviously it was a traumatic event, and I dreaded the prospect of arguing over the house with family. My dad did not leave a will because he died unexpectedly. However, because of the fact I was his only child, I was able to assume his bank accounts and personal belongings. As far as the house is concerned, it was never in my dads name. He simply saw an excellent deal on 3 bedroom 2 bed house for $69,000 and convinced his millionaire sister to buy it. The house was ultimately put into my aunt's husband's name and my dad sent them monthly checks to pay them back. I dont know if my aunt and uncle just straight up bought the house in full, or if they got a mortgage. Now, they want me to get involved in a first time homebuyer program and buy the house from them for something like $180,000. What is happening? I feel like I'm getting totally screwed over by my aunt and uncle. I dont want to be financially responsible for paying off a $180k house at 24 EVEN IF IT IS MY DADS HOUSE. I DONT KNOW HOW I'D EVEN GET APPROVED FOR A LOAN OR ANYTHING. I MAKE $12 AN HOUR. I asked her If I could just take over the existing mortgage on the house and pay it off. She said that wasnt possible....isnt an assumable mortgage exactly that? Any clarifications, insight, advice or comments are appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| How much house can we afford in San Diego? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 06:16 AM PDT We are a couple in our late 20s early 30s. Together we make around $200k a year before taxes. We only have been working for 4 years (similar salary) since we were in grad school. We both have been saving 20% of your salaries on our retirement 401k/Roth. We have outstanding credit score, more than 810. We only have a $350/month debt of a car but should be payed off next year. We do not have any other debt. We have in savings around $110k and we think we can get to $180k by next year, when our lease expires and we will be ready to buy a house. We would like to have a 30 year loan and put 20% down payment. If we use our whole $180k for down payment we won't have any other emergency savings. What house price house can we afford in San Diego, CA? We don't have kids but plan to have maybe 1. So we are lookin ideally for a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with yard, since we are getting a dog. Edit: the extra bedroom is for in laws or my mom who will live with us when they get older. Before we decide in location we would like to know what price can we realistically afford. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Aug 2020 09:00 AM PDT This is sort of a strange situation: my wife gets paid bi-weekly and this year is odd in that it has 27 pay periods. Rather than consider the 27th paycheck a bonus paycheck her employer has divided her annual salary by 27 instead of 26 so that each pay check is approximately 3.6% or $150 lower. Unfortunately the office is now scheduled to close at the end of October. Not the end of the world but it means my wife will have been paid $150 less for 23 pay periods in anticipation of making it all up in the final 27th pay check that is now not going to arrive. Putting aside potential issues around the employer's ability to pay - is my wife entitled to recouping that ~$3,450 (23 x $150) in reduced pay now that the office is closing before the end of the year? Is that a reasonable thing to ask for? [link] [comments]  |
| Parents opened my mail and didn't tell me about a bill Posted: 27 Aug 2020 07:11 PM PDT I just found out that there was a bill for the time I went to a walk-in clinic nearly a year ago. I thought my insurance covered it and I would have to pay a small flat co-pay fee, which I did when I was at the clinic. Well now I have found the mail my parents didn't tell me about and it is dated for May and I am assuming it is going to a collection agency because it says just that: "final statement before going to collections." What are the ramifications of failing to pay a bill? I'm assuming my credit score goes down. I also heard that collection agencies act really shady. But I have had zero calls about debt. I'm a minor for context. How should I proceed? [link] [comments]  |
| How to negotiate a car deal using Edmunds or KBB price? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 04:03 PM PDT I watched this video posted by Edmunds.com on how to negotiate a car deal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqCGH-LL-p8 In the video they talk about starting your offer a little lower than the Edmunds suggested price. For the car I am looking at, the MSRP is 42,000 and on Edmunds.com the "Suggested price" is 36k. The suggested price as defined is the average that people usually pay for the car based on their analysis. This 36k price seems consistent with other sites I tried out (KBB, Carsdirect). I have not negotiated a car price before so just wondering if anyone has done this and how their experience was. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| I have $92k in the bank, no job, and no house. What's my next move? Posted: 27 Aug 2020 08:14 PM PDT The industry I worked in completely collapsed from corona and isn't coming back until life is normal. I traveled nearly full time for work, so I didn't have a place to land. I've been staying with my Mom since March. Our relationship isn't great. I would like to leave and not have a roommate. I was able to save up $92k since I finished college. I'm feeling depressed since it's not doing much for me. What's the smartest thing I can do with my money? I can't use it for a house downpayment since I don't have a job and won't get approved for a home loan. I'm having difficulty finding anywhere to rent since I don't have a job and there's income requirements. I live on the West coast and housing is horribly expensive. There's been articles about the housing shortage. Somehow people in my area are managing to drive up housing prices still. Things aren't slowing down housing wise. I figure my best option is to find some kind of rental from an individual who would accept a larger deposit/upfront payment, or just pay for a whole year of the lease at once. Once I get some space, I can try and gear up on some work ideas I've had. But if there's something I ought to be doing instead, I'd like to know. I just feel like shit. I did everything I was supposed to do - studied hard, got a job, always had a budget, saved up. And it's gotten me into my 30's and not able to afford an independent life :/ edit: I don't want to move away from the area, my entire support network is here and I love the region. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Aug 2020 08:05 PM PDT I am 27 and make about 62k/year. I don't expect to be in any drastically significant tax bracket when I retire (as I work in public schools). I have about 70k in stocks in a traditional IRA and about 4K in a Roth. I don't do anything with either account. What should I be doing? Convert t to Roth? Contribute to one or the other? Both? Invest? Thanks guys [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Aug 2020 11:15 AM PDT My grandmother is currently staying with me in another state during her evacuation from a storm. I have learned that she is receiving a very small amount of social security income, and that HALF OF IT is going to secondary health insurance premiums. I was pretty aghast at what I learned and I do not understand how she has even been surviving on this income, to be honest. I'm talking about $600/mo in income and about $280 of it is going to secondary health insurance. She is currently on Medicare, has Medicare Part B for prescriptions, and her secondary is Blue Cross. She receives spousal SS benefits (she was a housewife for most of her adult life and did not earn enough work credits to receive SS benefits in her own right). I did speak to someone on the phone about what she might be able to qualify for in Louisiana. I would like to get her on Medicaid, Qualified Medicare Beneficiary is specifically what it's called, I believe. Due to her age and income, she should also qualify for SSI. However- she has about $16,000 in assets between a checking account and what she says is an IRA (I have not seen any of her accounts, so I cannot be 100% sure what types they are or the precise dollar amount). Regardless, it is clearly more that the $2,000 in assets she would be allowed to have. Is it legal for me to take on the additional $14,000 in a separate account in my name, or for us to form a trust for her future medical care? On the SSA.gov site, I did read that if she transfers any assets, she could be ineligible for SSI benefits for 36 months. Considering her quality of life, that seems like quite a long time. Is there any way to mitigate this? She has been living on her own, but we are not sure for how much longer that will be possible. Her visit this week has been enlightening- it seems that we may need to reassess and address her living situation sooner that we previously thought. As she continues to age, who knows what kind of medical or nursing care she will need? My family aren't poor, but we are by no means wealthy. None of us are prepared to take on the costs of nursing homes or home health care, etc. She has this money set aside for the future, but she is living in poverty now. Can we keep this money set aside for her future, but still get her to a point where she can qualify for these benefits? If it's not already abundantly clear, I'm pretty financially illiterate when it comes to this sort of thing. If anyone is able to offer any advice I would be enormously appreciative. Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
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