Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of August 24, 2020 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of August 24, 2020
- Concert “postponed”, stub hub wouldn’t refund, dispute with credit card was in our favor.
- Using an HSA as a retirement account?
- What is up with the housing market?
- HSAs arent always Triple Taxed Advantaged
- What should my siblings and i do with our inherited 401k and life insurance money?
- My parents are "borrowing" money from my account
- Invest, buy a home, or pay for school; the dilemma of a soon to be doctoral student
- I'm an idiot..bombed my own credit score. Asking where I should go from here?
- Debt collection letter to place of employment
- Opening a 529 for my Niece
- Stocks, Savings Or Mix. For future down payment on a house.
- Moving out to better my mental health, is this a solid plan?
- Everyone’s entitled to an annual free credit report. Seems a lot of people didn’t know that.
- Should I try to refinance my auto loan?
- What % of a raise would you need to change jobs in the present economy?
- Old landlord didn’t accept final payment and sent the bill to collections
- Choosing a new health insurance plan at a new job. Want to make sure I am not missing something.
- What to do with ~50k in savings - already maxed Roth IRA, have CD account, and 403B max matched
- Recently inherited 10,000 plan to pay off debt. What's the best strategy?
- Two years ago I was involved in an accident that damaged the highway guardrail and now I just received a bill from the DOT.
- Canceling 24 hour fitness for 1 year commitment plan
- Continuing an interview process after accepting an offer.
- Investing home equity while living abroad
- How should I spend my money?
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of August 24, 2020 Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:07 AM 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]  |
| Concert “postponed”, stub hub wouldn’t refund, dispute with credit card was in our favor. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:09 AM PDT We bought concert tickets pre-Covid for a show that was supposed to happen this past weekend (Rammstein in Philly), we even bought the insurance which we never do. The concert was postponed - until next year! To me that's not a postpone, that's a "we cancelled our concert, see you at next years tour". Further, I don't live in Philly and was just happening to be there the same weekend for a wedding. StubHub was unresponsive, would not refund tickets, offered to let us sell tickets "fee free" which is still nonsense. I could not get customer service on the phone. I initiated a dispute with my cc company, stubhub didn't even respond to the dispute, so we go all of our money back. Don't be afraid to dispute merchants trying to give you the shaft because of Covid. UPDATE: I just called stubhub, informed them of the charge back and what to do with the tickets. They are sending me a shipping label to return the tickets; all is good. [link] [comments]  |
| Using an HSA as a retirement account? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 05:25 AM PDT Hi all, Starting a new job and just started the process of enrolling in benefits. My healthcare option is a high-deductible plan with an HSA, into which my employer contributes a small amount (around $1k annually) and I have the option to contribute further, pre-tax. An HR rep has been trying to convince me to max out my HSA contributions ($3500) due to the triple-tax advantage, and while I get why this is advantageous, I'm a little cautious given it's a health savings account and can't be used for other purposes. I already max out my Roth IRA, and I'll contribute to the employer-sponsored 401k (at least enough to max out the employee match), but what should my next priority be? I don't have the funds to max out my contributions to all of these accounts; what's the best order for me to use these accounts as investment holdings? HSA will be held through a large US-based bank and can be invested in pretty much any common holding if/when the account reaches a $5000 threshold. Thanks for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| What is up with the housing market? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:31 PM PDT I don't understand how the housing market isn't going bust during this pandemic?? Unemployment is the highest it has ever been. I understand that interest rates are low and inventory is low BUT still I don't get it!? Any thoughts on the housing market for this year/next year? [link] [comments]  |
| HSAs arent always Triple Taxed Advantaged Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:30 PM PDT Federally, yes. Federally Triple Tax Advantaged. But for those poor souls in California and New Jersey you still have to pay state tax on contributions. HSA earnings are also taxed in California [link] [comments]  |
| What should my siblings and i do with our inherited 401k and life insurance money? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:44 PM PDT My father passed away unexpectedly not even a month ago... He has two 401k accounts through his two employers, a separate IRA account with an investment firm and two life insurance policies through those two employers. I am 21 my brother and sister are 19 and 15. I have no idea what i'm doing and i'm worried ill make a mistake that'll result in the Irs taking a lot of the money.. any advice on how i should move forward? Any tips for obtaining the money without getting it all taxed? What would be the best move for my sister who is a minor? Should i try to set up trusts for us all? We were all financially dependent on my dad. I lived 2500 miles away from my siblings and once this devastation happened i quit my three part time jobs and came out here to help with everything. We are living off of my savings and help from my mom who was receiving and relying on child support from my dad. She is asking for child support from me now too but the social security checks for my sister are coming in and im hoping that'll suffice. I apologize for the rambling, i just really don't know what to do.. any and all advice would be beyond appreciated. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| My parents are "borrowing" money from my account Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:37 PM PDT I finally got access to my bank account that is a joint account with my parents. I have a controlling mother who waited until i was 19 to get a debit card even though I asked for one since high school because I had been working since I was sixteen. For the three years I spent mostly my tip money i earned but never what was put into the account. Anyways, they finally gave me access to see the account and records after having many fights about it. Looking at the transfers I see that since about early 2019 my parents have taken $3,854.92 (haven't looked at every transfer yet) I didn't know they were taking money from my account since they didn't allow for me to have my own bank account info. When i brought it up my mom got angry and said, "Wow, as soon as you get that you look through the whole thing." Well, yes mom I should be looking through the whole thing this is money I have earned over the last five years. This is money I worked my butt off for. I am actually super angry because I got my card declined one time trying to buy groceries and then had to use a friend's card. My parents just said oh yeah it goes quicker than you think. I don't think so mom and dad. Even though i didn't see the transfers from my account I always kept track of how much i was spending at college (i attend college out of state). Im an avid receipt keeper. Back then, I was so confused as to why my money drained so quickly. I tried to not question my parents since it upset them. Im lost. Do i freeze my account? Do i get a new secret account where I put money in? How do i bring up the conversation to have my own account without hurting them or causing a huge reaction? Right now I don't have complete financial independence so its hard to cut off ties and frankly I don't think thats the best option. I do live at home when I am not at school because again i don't have enough money for complete independence from them. They aren't paying for school. I had to take out huge loans with which they had to cosign because we had to dip into parent plus loans. They have no intent with helping me pay off these loans. It's just frustrating and i don't know what to do without causing a rift in my family. Tldr: I am 21 years old but my parents still control me. They take money from my account without my consent to tell me they are "borrowing" it but it never gets returned. Don't have complete financial stability or independence to completely cut ties nor do i think it's the best option. [link] [comments]  |
| Invest, buy a home, or pay for school; the dilemma of a soon to be doctoral student Posted: 24 Aug 2020 06:51 PM PDT Hello, guys! Hopefully Im able to articulate my current situation well enough to maybe get some advice. I'm a nurse. Currently chasing covid around the country and making decent money doing so. I start Nurse Anesthesia school in January in Pittsburgh. The way the program is structured allows me to work the first year. But the second and third years are clinically based and dont allow time for making money. As of right now I own a condo in North Carolina which is on the market and will hopefully be sold in the near future. Between my condo and the work that I'm currently doing I hope to have between 130-150k saved prior to starting school. Tuition and all associated costs (not including life expenses over the 3 years of schooling) should be around 125k. So I'm looking for some advice on how to approach the financial situation here. My gut reaction was to buy a house in Pittsburgh and hope the market holds well enough to at least break even on it down the road. The complicating factors are obviously 1.) I'm not sure I'll be sticking around Pittsburgh after the 3 years of school and 2.) I dont know if the housing market will be steady enough to not lose a ton of money owning a home there for 3 years. Another option is to rent a place in Pittsburgh, keep a nice portion of money on the side for life expenses, and invest the majority of my money into the market while taking out loans to pay my tuition. Lastly, and probably the worst idea(?), is to pay as much of my schooling up front, rent a home in Pittsburgh, and try to escape school with as little in loans as possible. I'll be set up to make a decent living after school (~200k/yr) so im trying to keep that in mind with my decision making as well. Now that I've blabbed and hopefully covered my situation well enough I'd love to hear what your guys' opinions might be on the situation! Thanks so much [link] [comments]  |
| I'm an idiot..bombed my own credit score. Asking where I should go from here? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:32 AM PDT I'm in my late 20s and as of July had a good score, 740 and with no credit cards (I know now after reading everything here how bad of an idea this is). How you might ask? Well, I thought that because of the 22 accounts in my student loans and 100% payoff rate was doing it..but that was not the case. I pulled my score and found a balance on a card I didn't own. Turns out I was an authorized user on a card. Something I thought surely was dragging down my score...so I called and had it removed. What a terrible idea, as I didn't know that was the only thing giving me credit at all. I bombed my credit score by 100 points (640). I went back to my parents and had them re-add me, but it doesn't look like that is effecting my score at all as of yet.. How screwed am I and where should I go from here? Side ask: For future reference (after things clear and I get a new couple of cards) How in the world do you get off of being an 'authorized user' without it hurting your score too bad? [link] [comments]  |
| Debt collection letter to place of employment Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:50 PM PDT So my debt was sold to a debt collector who sent a letter to my employers address with my name and the amount I owed. This is a new job and I've never used this work address in any credit application or otherwise. Is this legal? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2020 12:27 PM PDT I live in Texas where we have no state income tax. Niece lives in Tennessee. I do most of my investing through Vanguard, and it looks like the Texas 529 plan isn't as good as some other states. I'm thinking of going with Utah's for the low initial investment cost as I'm only planning on doing $1000 to start. My wife and I make about $185k annually before taxes. Does anyone have any experience with this or any advice? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Stocks, Savings Or Mix. For future down payment on a house. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 06:58 PM PDT Hey everyone. Quick background. I'm looking to invest in real estate in my area. I just recently paid off all my debt and looking forward to this venture. My maximum down-payment I'd feel comfortable with (20% minimum) is $40,000. I'm new to stocks and still a bit nervous about it. My current portfolio is right at $500. And current savings is just over $7,000. Current minimum I'll be able to stash away every month is $1,000. [link] [comments]  |
| Moving out to better my mental health, is this a solid plan? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:10 PM PDT Found a house near work for $700 a month on a yearly lease. Intend to only stay there for two years while me and my S/O save up to purchase a house, I already have $13k in a savings account plus $3k in my emergency savings account. Here's our expenses and income: Income from both of us : +/- $4000/mo with overtime giving us an extra $600/mo My expenses Dental (braces/crowns) $233/mo Carpayment/insurance $400/mo Cellphone $95/mo Total: $728 S/O expenses Car payment $300/mo Cellphone $75/mo Insurance $140/mo Total: $515 We intend to get internet only and we were told to expect a bill of around $120/mo for spectrum, Netflix and Hulu will be added so maybe $150-160/mo total. The power and water is through the city. For two people who will not leave things on and who are responsible, the bill for both will be around $400+/- The rent is $700/mo and since we are both paid biweekly, we can split that up to $350 each, or $175 every check. Same with the power/water bill. $200 each, or $100 every check. The internet/entertainment will be my responsibility. Adding my expenses with my monthly income brings me here: $728 + $350 + 200 + $160 = $1438 which leaves me with $1100 each month for food/gas and a little to put into my savings. This will increase depending on the amount of overtime I get. My S/O expenses brings them here: $515 + $350 + $200 = $1065 which leaves them with $500 each month for food/gas. She does not get overtime due to corona and working in a doctors office. She has debated getting a 2nd job but we don't know if that's necessary yet. While renting this house, I am going to continue to build my credit, but my main objective is to save and increase my mental health. Where I live now is rent free, but there's a lot of issues there that I cannot bare to live with anymore. Would you suggest looking for cheaper housing, getting a 2nd job, putting up with the rent free environment to maximize my savings, or going ahead with this plan? [link] [comments]  |
| Everyone’s entitled to an annual free credit report. Seems a lot of people didn’t know that. Posted: 23 Aug 2020 08:33 AM PDT Thanks for the feedback everyone! Updated to be an easier read as well as supply additional info from some awesome commenters! **US ONLY** : not sure what's available in other country's. If the infos supplied by a commenter who may know, I'll be happy to add it. :) Added Canada thank you u/xxHEYxx So I run across this a lot. Young or old, it doesn't matter. YOU ARE ENTITLED BY LAW TO GET A FREE CREDIT REPORT ONCE A YEAR. This does **NOT** effect your credit. As of right now these reports are free weekly due to Covid-19, until April/2021 I know a lot of people wonder what their credit is or get sad when they get declined for things and don't know what to do. A great first step is to get a detailed credit report. You can get 1 a year from each of the credit reporting agencies. Great if you're trying to build your credit and may not know what is on your history. Of course it's good for everyone to check their credit report once a year just to be safe, or if you suspect something fishy happening with your credit. Remember credit goes down a lot easier than it goes up. Here's the link I use to get it, this is the same one that's been used for years. If you feel more comfortable, their is a dot.gov link provided below courtesy of, u/Immediate-Nobody. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action This is a credit report, it does not show your credit score. It will however show a detailed report of every account effecting your credit including ones in collections. From my recollection it even provided phone numbers for the agencies I owed to. Hope this helps any people. I know credit can be confusing and frustrating. If anyone has any credit questions I'll try to answer them. Have a good one everyone! edit thanks u/Immediate-Nobody : added to the info. Due to COVID, they're offering free credit reports weekly, until April/2021. I'm not sure if it's the full report, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be. Edit: If you don't like OPs link you can use https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/ , and just click "Get your free credit report." Canada: Some additional notes, info and tips : Get Credit Karma or something equivalent. It doesn't provide FICO but it has plenty of info worth using. I find it to be pretty on the money for me personally. Pretty much a must have. If you are trying to rebuild credit a good start is to pull these reports. Pay down anything you can afford to and remember, it's always worth trying to negotiate a lower payoff. Second, get a secured credit card. This is a credit card given in collateral for an up front deposit. My first one was $300. Sometimes they are refundable after responsible payments for a year, sometimes they aren't. ALWAYS check card terms. It sucks but if you have bad credit even if it's due to medical or something out of your control, it's a little harder to get started. You have to start somewhere though. Just because you have a decent score does not mean you all of a sudden will get approved for everything. You still need an established history. Don't think you need a second credit line? Think again. All debt effects your credit, if your grandma said, medical doesn't do anything blah blah. Yah maybe 80 years ago. Medical, school, any debt will destroy your credit. Figure it out before that happens. I don't have time to right now but a few commenters stated if you check the Experian, Equifax or TransUnions website's you may be able to get a credit score for free. I don't know the terms or even if all 3 do it. Got a baby crying, I'll try to add more later. Thanks everyone for all the feedback and I'm glad and hope this helps people. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I try to refinance my auto loan? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:59 PM PDT Hello, I have an auto loan for a 2017 Kia Rio with a little over $5,100 left on it, just hit the midway point. Monthly minimum is $213.33, two months ago I upped my payment to $250. The APR is 7.74%. I'm married and I have good credit (801), and my wife has good credit (720ish). When we got the car, my credit wasn't as good and my wife's was non-existent. Is there a possibility I could refinance, and, if so, would it be worth it? Thank you [link] [comments]  |
| What % of a raise would you need to change jobs in the present economy? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:07 AM PDT So I will be receiving an offer from a company that pursued me hard. I've been working from home for a number of months, and this would be a permanent work from home position. They got me to accept the interview by promising up to a 50% raise, but not that we're to the end, my recruiter believes I could realistically get 30-40% more. This would potentially be enough for my wife to quit her job, or at least focus on something she likes more. I like my current company and coworkers, and am paid pretty well. In any regard, I'd give them a chance to counter. This company is more prestigious, I feel I would probably get along with everyone well, albeit remotely. I have to admit I'm paranoid about switching from a secure, stable job to something new. [link] [comments]  |
| Old landlord didn’t accept final payment and sent the bill to collections Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:01 PM PDT Hi PF, I lived in my old apartment for 5 years before leaving. Upon move out, the landlord, a huge rental company, sent me a bill for $450. They had never taken a safety deposit. I asked for an itemized bill and tried to negotiate the price down. The provided the itemized bill, charging me stupid amounts of money for dumb little things, and refused to budge. Grudgingly I said OK. I set up the payment through their online portal and think everything is done. 2 weeks later I receive notice of collections from another company about an "unpaid debt" to the previous landlord. I go to check the online portal and they deleted my account. I check my bank account and learn the payment was rejected. I call and they say the receiving account was "invalid." I contact the old landlord and ask for help. I told them I tried to pay but my account was deleted. They tell me bluntly, "if we don't get payment within 10 days, we send it to collections. Pay them and it won't impact your credit." This whole thing just feels wrong to me. Do I have any recourse at this point? Should I just pay this collections agency? Should I escalate to corporate? [link] [comments]  |
| Choosing a new health insurance plan at a new job. Want to make sure I am not missing something. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 05:49 AM PDT I recently started a new job and am deciding between two health care plans- a 90% plan and an 80% plan. I think the math suggests the 80% plan, but I wanted to make sure I am not missing anything. The 90% plan costs approximately $2,200 dollars more per year. It has a lower family deductible ($500 vs. $1000) and a lower out of pocket maximum ($2000 v. $4000). The plans also feature the exact same co-pay for certain items (specialist visits, urgent care, etc.). It seems that regardless of the medical expense, the 80% plan comes out ahead. For example, if my family had 5,000 in medical expenses, the math would look like this: 90% plan- $500 in deductibles and $450 in coinsurance for an OOP medical cost of $950. Under the 80% plan, our medical costs would be $1000 in deductibles and $800 in coinsurance for a cost of $1800. This means while we would pay $850 more out of pocket, we are still $1,350 ahead in lower premiums. I ran the numbers at various data points and the 80% plan always comes out ahead (see here: https://imgur.com/a/wtJMPiB ), and they both hit the max OOP once we have $16.000 in medical costs (500 +1500 for the 90% plan and 1000+ 3000 for the 80% plan). So what am I missing here? I know one potential thing is tax savings, however, there is a very small window where the tax savings are beneficial over the premium savings (at approximately $13,000 of medical spend). I also know there is the budgeting factor, and being hit with a big medical expense right away- i.e. something major happens and we owe our $4,000 OOP all at once is not ideal, but we have the resources to handle that situation if it arises. Thanks in advance for your thoughts! [link] [comments]  |
| What to do with ~50k in savings - already maxed Roth IRA, have CD account, and 403B max matched Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:30 PM PDT A friend of mine is 26 years old and came to me with this question - basically, they have 50k sitting in savings that they feel like is collecting dust. No debt and no large payments planned at least 2 years out. They are curious about investment accounts but don't know much about the stock market (and frankly don't care to learn). Was hoping to find somewhere to invest the money rather than letting it set. What would you do in this situation? Look at mutual funds? Index funds? Would appreciate any guidance here :) [link] [comments]  |
| Recently inherited 10,000 plan to pay off debt. What's the best strategy? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:05 PM PDT So as the title says I recently inherited 10k. My wife and I currently have the following debt Bank credit card 1 = 8,500 @ 16.99% Bank credit card 2 = 5,000 @ 17.5% Bank credit card 3 = 4,400 @ 13.9% Bank credit card 4 = 3,200 @ 0% for 3 more months then 16.9% Car 1 = 21,000 @ 4.8% Car 2 = 3,300 @ 3% Where is the smartest move to put this 10k. Should I pay off the highest debit or split these up. Assume we only pay the minimum on each card and snowball a 500 payment every 2 months. Income is 130k combined. Mortgage 1800 a month. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:52 AM PDT As the title says. Two years ago I had this accident that damaged the guardrail but just received this bill from the department of transportation. I actually just moved out of that state too. Is this something that I have to pay? Do I just ignore it? Appreciate any help. [link] [comments]  |
| Canceling 24 hour fitness for 1 year commitment plan Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:00 PM PDT Hello, I signed up to 24 hour fitness for 1 year (12 month) commitment contract back in February. They haven't been charging me since the Covid thing. I saw that it was in "freeze" when I checked online few days ago. I went through the cancellation link where i just put my check in number and DOB to cancel. Right after I did that, I saw that there was a "invoice" under the make a payment tab with an amount equal to 3 months worth of my usual payment. (3 x $31.99). Can this be waived due to them not providing the service for the 1 year time? Or has any of you guys went through the same thing? [link] [comments]  |
| Continuing an interview process after accepting an offer. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:01 PM PDT Here's the deal: I've taken some time off the past few months during covid. Doing some consulting, and dipping into savings a bit. I'm on the job hunt. Among the companies i'm talking to are 2 startups: Company A: decent people, good salary range, could not give a fuck less about their product. I'm honestly concerned that they won't be here in a few years. But hey a job is a job. Company B: good people, little higher range, and I'm super super excited about what they are doing. In the 10 years I've been in software I can count on one hand how many times i've heard about a product and thought "fuck yeah that's def gonna be huge". they are one. Began process with both last week. Company A made a reasonable offer on Friday. (very fast) they are eager and actually pressured me to answer quickly. I had to push back to get a week. (I knew I had another interview with B today) After the interview today, I brought up the other offer. I expressed how much more excited I am about "B" and how much higher of a priority they are to me. I'd much prefer them. I asked how much can they expedite? This seemed to make them a bit cagey. They seemed excited about me until then but after they seemed almost inclined to discontinue in all cases. I'm tempted to take the full week, accept on the last day of the deadline, and continue talking to company B. (assuming I haven't already scared them away) Surely this is unethical? Or is it just reasonable business practice of hedging? https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/13031/keep-interviewing-after-job-offer Surely no company would offer me the same level of consideration in any stage of the employment process. So fuck 'em? look out for #1? Added context: I have more savings but I really really really need to get back to work. HOWEVER, I am fairly confident even if i lost both of these companies I'd still be able to make something happen eventually TLDR: Do you guys think it's ok to accept an offer, and continue talking to another company i'm more interested in? thanks in advance for your input [link] [comments]  |
| Investing home equity while living abroad Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:57 PM PDT My wife has taken a DoD contract job in London for 3-5 years. I'm planning to look for work there once we move. We're selling our house in the US, and due to a very healthy market where we live we should end up with ~300k after closing. My initial plan was to put the money in a low-risk mutual fund, but after researching it seems you can't buy US mutual funds if you're a non-resident (even if you're still a US citizen). I'm not sure I want something with a fixed maturity date like a CD or bond, because I don't know exactly when we'll come back to the states but I'll need to quickly liquidate the funds for a future house. So I'm struggling on where to put that money that is fairly low-risk, with a decent return (at least better than letting it sit in a savings account), and I'd also be like to be able to contribute monthly to the fund while we're overseas. I've also read that I won't be able to contribute to my IRAs while I'm working and earning income with a foreign firm, but I'd still like to contribute something towards my retirement. I'm not familiar with UK investments, and unsure where to put money away for retirement, and be able to easily liquidate and transfer to an IRA when we return. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:37 PM PDT I'm 30 years old. Only making about 21,600 from work due to Covid but I also own a house and rent it out for 25,620. My savings are around 15,000 and I also have a 50,000 dollar HELOC ... some of which I plan to use to make some necessary fixes for my house. I don't pay much for rent, don't have any debt, and I have a lot of time on my hands. I'm thinking of going back to school to be a physical therapist ... but I haven't decided yet and I'm feeling pretty aimless. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should spend my money on ... or anything I should do? Thanks for your time! [link] [comments]  |
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