Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of August 31, 2020 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of August 31, 2020
- Why is life insurance a scam?
- Does a long term capital gains stock sold count toward your normal income to decide your tax bracket?
- Enlisted in the military, how do I set up auto pay on my card for Bank of America?
- Tools for comparing mutual funds, index funds and ETFs
- I want a change and an adventure, how much can I "blow"?
- Too young for a Roth IRA? / General Roth IRA questions
- IRS trouble -- seeking advice
- What are creative ways you have educated children about money?
- Does Anyone Have a House Emergency Savings Account?
- Is it common to take out a loan to do renovations on your home? Or do people typically save for the renovation?
- Is it possible to get an itemized list of my transactions from a place with a loyalty card program, like Kroger?
- Credit Cards keep getting compromised
- 27 years old. No debt(yet). Minimal Savings. Just started college.
- What IT certification should I go for while I'm taking a break in college?
- Employer didn't report my 2019 wages to unemploymen
- My husband is recovering from illness and is looking for a way to get back into financial shape. Emergency fund running low.
- IRS penalizing me for their mistake
- Got scammed by tenant through cash app
- First time home buyers. Newly debt free & looking to buy a home. Pros and cons of 80-10-10 mortgage or conventional 90/10 loan?
- House needs new roof, salesperson inspected and told me home insurance would pay for it??
- Overwhelmed - Please help me understand what to do with my money
- Financial check up - 28 years old - Where should I go next?
- Working with broker-dealer investment advisor
- How does one present one's research of salaries when negotiating salaries/raises?
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of August 31, 2020 Posted: 31 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]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 06:07 PM PDT I've been doing research into whole life insurance policies and they seem like pretty blatant scams. However, most people seem to agree that a term life insurance policy down the road is a viable option. If I know that one day I'll have dependents and that I'm in my 20s and healthy, why wouldn't I take out a policy early? It would still technically make me money in the long run, although obviously not as quickly as any other form of savings. Wouldn't I be able to get a policy for super cheap while still being able to invest aggressively elsewhere? Am I missing something? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:44 PM PDT The long term capital gains tax rates for married/joint are below. In a scenario where the joint couple made $200K of income, but sold a stock (long-term) for $500K, would this push the tax rate from 15% to 20% or is the bracket for what you made in normal income instead? Meaning, would the 500K be taxed at 15% or 20%? 0% $0 to $80,000 15% $80,001 to $496,600 20% $496,601 or more Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Enlisted in the military, how do I set up auto pay on my card for Bank of America? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:01 PM PDT BoA makes auto pay really confusing. I need to auto pay my bills while I'm away for a few months. I currently have auto pay on and it will deliver by: on the due date with payment amount: account balance. It's been a few cycles and I have yet seen it work. I always have to pay manually. Does anyone know what I can do to make it work? I think I have the right settings activated... I'm not sure. [link] [comments]  |
| Tools for comparing mutual funds, index funds and ETFs Posted: 31 Aug 2020 06:01 PM PDT Any website/tool of choice? I tried this https://tools.finra.org/fund_analyzer. It seems to miss management fee for one Franklin Templeton fund. Not sure if it is missing anything else. Wondering if any other website shows a better comparison, please share [link] [comments]  |
| I want a change and an adventure, how much can I "blow"? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:43 AM PDT Im [25M] a old software engineer whose paid off all my student debt (no other debt) and saved just over 60k. Im very well compensated. I make about 105k a year, but its a very tough place to work, causes me alot of stress and eats alot of my time/life. My lease ends in August with my current saving rate of 3k Id have ~90k depending on the market. This doesn't include my retirement accounts, which I wont touch. My question is how much can I spend without messing up myself in the distance? I feel like I havent done anything in life and want an adventure. If I dont do anything in life whats the point of this money? Im thinking of backpacking across Europe for ~6months. I expect ill take a paycut in my next position, but also I live cheap and would trade money for time in an instant. This all assuming the pandemic is over in August 2021, which God I hope it is. [link] [comments]  |
| Too young for a Roth IRA? / General Roth IRA questions Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:43 PM PDT Hi there, I'm looking to set aside and build money for when I retire (in +40 years). I'm 20 years old currently. I work part time as a barista and I'm a Junior in university (full time). I'm pursuing medicine with the current plan to become an anesthesiologist. My assets: 401K (work provided w/ matching up to 4%): ~$3,000 Stock Market investments: ~$6,000k net profit (holding some tesla stock long term). personal savings: $12,000 I plan on keeping about 10k in liquid savings for rainy days / emergency funds. I've managed to get to a place where I'm saving consistently and I don't want my money to sit in a psuedo-savings account accruing .02% interest. I'd like to take the extra $2000 in my savings currently (and everything I'll be adding as time goes on) and put it somewhere where it'll accrue a good bit of interest over time. Neither of my parents are financially literate and we've struggled all of my life but I'm trying to break the mold and becoming financial literate and stable. I want to have a secure future (as secure as possible). Am I too young to start a Roth IRA? Should I invest my money elsewhere? I plan on keeping the money in the 401k and in the stock market for now. The 401k money will need to be transferred fairly soon though as I'm currently looking into jobs more career-oriented. Here are some questions about Roth IRAs (I've already checked out the r/personal finance index ): 1) Google states the max contribution for a Roth IRA for 2020 is $5,000. Does contributing to my 401k play a factor into the $5,000 cap as well or are these exclusive of each other? 2) When I quit my job and have to move my 401k funds, can I move it into the Roth IRA? or a personal 401k account? 3) Currently I'm in a low tax bracket due to being a part time employee at a minimum wage job, but if all goes as planned I will be an Anesthesiologist in the next 10-15 years. I know that there is a maximum yearly income in order to contribute to a Roth IRA, (google says $139,000 single and $203,000 married and filing jointly). Hypothetically, if I end up making more than the capped income, I won't be able to contribute to the Roth IRA correct? Where would I then have to put my retirement money? 4) Is it worth paying a financial advisor (or those advisors that come with the brokerage) to manage your IRA? If so, what's too much to pay? Even though I'm not very financially literate, should I attempt to do it myself? 5) Lastly, what brokerage do you use for your IRA? Have you heard of any good ones? Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post. I do understand that everything is subject to personal opinion and experience, I just figured I would try and gather more insight from those probably more educated than I am considering I can't exactly go to my parents for this information. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:28 AM PDT So long story short, I used a school tax credit for 5 years instead of 4 and owed Uncle Sam some money (~ $1300). However, I sent in a payment in April thinking I covered the whole debt. I got a love letter from the IRS saying I still owed that money. Looking online I discovered that I had posted the payment for 2018 instead of the intended 2017. I tried contacting the IRS via phone, however no matter what my selection is it keeps saying "Technical Difficulty" then hangs up. I've left messages with the Tax Advocacy Group and just sent a letter to the IRS asking them to move the payment from '18 to '17 due to "obvious taxpayer error" (Thanks reddit). What are my next steps? My wife lost her job due to covid-19 so our emergency funds are depleted and can't really afford to dish out another $1300. Do I contact my representatives? Any advice would be helpful, Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| What are creative ways you have educated children about money? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 07:54 PM PDT Hello PF! I have two children under the age of 12, and they are at an age where they are starting to form their attitudes and habits around money. I want to promote positive habits in this area and I'm looking for creative ideas about how to do that. So far, I talk openly with them about money concepts without going into many actual numbers yet. When they are teenagers I'll get them involved in the actual household budget so they will have experience. But for now, I'm more interested in internalizing a spectrum of good values through practice. That's going to take some creativity that goes beyond just do chores = get allowance. So for example, tonight I explained to my children that we have a household budget. I also told them if we came in under budget for the month of September, everybody in the house would get a bonus, including them. They can help make that happen by reducing our power bill and discretionary expenses. My older child immediately ran around the house turning all the lights off. I don't know if this will work out like I want, but my goal is to get them involved in a way that give them some ownership and agency. Most people learn by doing, not just hearing another lecture. So my question is, what are some creative ways that you have educated children about money? Did you have an experience growing up that stuck with you because it taught you something about money in a positive way? By the same token, were there ever any attempts that just fell flat? [link] [comments]  |
| Does Anyone Have a House Emergency Savings Account? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:59 AM PDT I'm buying a house soon, and I have a question about building a house emergency savings account. I already have an account with 6 months of emergency money saved in case I were to lose my job and need that money for bills, etc. My question is: should I also have a separate emergency fund for my house? If so, how much should I have in it? I ask because I know a burst pipe, damaged roof from a storm, etc., can be extremely costly and happen at the worst time possible. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:37 PM PDT Student loan, car loan and mortgage are all common loans people takeout. But what about a loan to do a renovation? I'm not looking to do any renovations as I rent but in the future should I own a home, what do people typically do? I understand taking out a loan means you're adding additional debt to yourself and it'll have to be paid off someway or another, but if your only debt is a mortgage is it better to save or go to ask for a loan? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:21 PM PDT We do most of our shopping at Kroger, Safeway, and Costco, and the downside is that it wreaks havoc on any attempt to figure out what exactly we're spending money on between food, household goods, gas, etc. Keeping receipts is one option, but annoying and time-consuming. I know these retailers can likely look up our itemized purchases monthly based on our loyalty card numbers - does anyone know if it's possible to request it from them, preferably in csv format? [link] [comments]  |
| Credit Cards keep getting compromised Posted: 31 Aug 2020 06:46 AM PDT So in the past year, I've had to replace my primary credit card 5 times due to fraudulent purchases. After every event I change all of my passwords for everything (email, websites with the card saved before I input new info, etc.) and scan all the computers for malware. I was beginning to think it was someone that somehow had access to my bank information directly because it was the same card over and over, but nothing weird has ever happened to my bank accounts and my credit report and SSA account show nothing unusual. The last time I was waiting for a replacement card took longer than normal, so I used another credit card. Surprise surprise, I see today that it was also compromised. WTF am I doing wrong? Is there a man living in my attic that keeps taking the CC details at night? Have I just been going to the same shitty merchant for a year and they haven't been caught yet in this scheme? Is someone somehow maintaining access to my online accounts after I change my passwords? I am so so tired of this, if anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| 27 years old. No debt(yet). Minimal Savings. Just started college. Posted: 31 Aug 2020 04:09 PM PDT I pissed away my younger years through depression, undiagnosed adhd, and heavy partying. My parents never taught me about saving money or how to do so so I would just spend my paycheck as I got it. I wish I had realized earlier because I would be living happily now. Now I'm 27 years old, living at home, working full-time and just started college. I have 0 credit card debt, no car payments. I pay roughly $800 for rent &bills&groceries, with about 14k in savings. I take home about $2800 after taxes a month. I just started college to finish my bachelor's in Accounting and in 2-3 years my loans will be about 20-30k? How can I go about the best plan for my future? Edit to add: I have a high credit score, 810 if that helps anything at all. [link] [comments]  |
| What IT certification should I go for while I'm taking a break in college? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 07:33 PM PDT hey everyone, I was wondering what IT certification I should go for that would offer me a decent-paying job? I personally haven't completed any certifications in IT, but I've always had an interest in pursuing something in IT. I would appreciate any guidance, thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Employer didn't report my 2019 wages to unemploymen Posted: 31 Aug 2020 04:46 PM PDT I applied for unemployment back in march. Today I found out that I was disqualified because my employer failed to report my 2019 wages and I don't have enough in 2020. I'm going to send EDD paycheck stubs and W2 copies, but is there something else I should do? Should I report my employer to the irs or ssa? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 07:29 PM PDT Hello, two months ago my husband (30M) had a stroke. He's since greatly recovered but has had major residual issues with mobility and cognition. He worked as a manager at a shipping facility and was the primary income of our household. He's since lost his job and is unable to get access to disability (our insurance claims he is able to work despite being unable to stand for longer than 20 minutes and has overwhelming head pain on a consistent basis). We had a 12k saved up in our emergency fund and have since used 10k - primarily on medical expenses and rent. We live in the Bay Area so our cost of living is quite significant. Currently, our average non-medical expenses per month are: Rent: 1800 Groceries: 350 Car/Renter/Pet Insurance: 390 Utilities: 300 I'm currently employed as an art tutor but, my hours have been slashed due to Covid-19. My husband has also found temporary work-from-home employment at a call center so our monthly net income is around 2550. We've been very frugal in our spending and thankfully we have no debt but, we know that we need to make some changes in order to start climbing back up into financial security. My husbands health situation is the primary concern. He's about 75% back to the way he was before the stroke but it's still evident that there's no way his old line of work would be a healthy choice. We're primarily looking for remote work possibilities for the two of us. Even an extra 500 dollars a month would keep us our heads afloat without having to dip into the emergency fund. [link] [comments]  |
| IRS penalizing me for their mistake Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:46 PM PDT So right before this whole pandemic situation, I filed my taxes as usual. I realized I messed up by omitting one of my summer jobs, and submitted an amended tax form a few weeks later. The IRS automatically corrected my form the first time around, but then "corrected" it a 2nd time using my amended form. After weeks of no response because of closed offices, I got a tax notice stating I owed almost exactly the amount of taxes I paid on from my summer job (multiple thousands, which I definitely could not afford mid-pandemic) I finally got ahold of the IRS, had them review my return, lo and behold they did indeed make a mistake, but instead of sending me a return for the amended form, I recieved a bill for hundreds of dollars accrued in penalties for non-payment of the taxes I never actually owed after they deducted what I was supposed to get as an amended return. The last agent I talked to said they won't re-review my record, but I know they still havent fixed the whole issue. Is this true or did the agent just not want to process the request or something? TL;DR: IRS messed up my taxes, then applied penalties for taxes I didn't actually owe and took my return. [link] [comments]  |
| Got scammed by tenant through cash app Posted: 31 Aug 2020 04:02 PM PDT On August 27th, 2020, I realized that there are 3 unauthorized transactions. I reported to cash app right away while they are in Pending status. They rented my place to B and his girlfriend L from May 1st, 2020 and they stayed until August 20th, 2020 and they have been sending me the rent and utility fees by cash app either B's or his girl friend's cash app account. they moved out just a week ago on August 20th, 2020 by leaving the apartment damaged and furniture was broken. On Thursday, August 27th, I see, they returned back the money that they sent for rent and utilities. This is a pure scam. BUT how come Cash app can go into my bank account and withdraw money without my consent and send it to someone who is doing a scam. Why cash app did not look at the transactions NOTE as they sent them for rent payment. I emailed Cash App Support many times on August 27th. but no one helped me. right now, I am unable to contact them, tried to call B and his girlfriend but they blocked me. Whichever different phone I call they hang up and blocks it. what should else I do to get recover my loss? please share your experience. Thank you [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2020 06:46 AM PDT Hey all, looking to get some thoughts on our first home/mortgage. My wife and I are newly debt free (paid off both cars & student loans this summer). We have a take-home income of about $7,700 per month. We both have excellent credit (800+). We have no kids so with our debt paid off, our expenses are minimal (about $3,000 per month for everything including rent, utilities, groceries, cell phones, personal spending, retirement contributions, etc.). We are looking to buy a home in the $250k range in the next 12 months. We are currently saving money for a down payment and should be able to put 10% down plus closing costs (~$33k) next summer. We will have $30k leftover in a HYSA and checking. My question is about the mortgage approach. Would an 80-10-10 mortgage make sense for us, vs. a 90-10 conventional loan? The reason I am thinking about the 80-10-10 is that we would likely be able to pay off the second mortgage in about a year, leaving us with only the main mortgage payment. This seems more appealing than taking PMI on a 90-10 conventional loan. Is there anything else I have failed to consider here? Alternatively is it dumb to not just wait the extra 6 months to be able to put the full 20% down? We will hit the 10% down savings threshold in the summer and the 20% down savings threshold in the winter so that is the main consideration for 10% down (seasonal buying/availability of houses; not being stuck in the small rental we are currently living in until the following summer if we wait for the 20% threshold). Any input would be much appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| House needs new roof, salesperson inspected and told me home insurance would pay for it?? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:49 PM PDT I normally tell everyone who knocks on the door that I rent and generally just to go away... but I know that I might need a new roof at some point soon. My house was built 18 years ago, I don't think the roof has ever been replaced. I saw the video and there were some hail damage spots (looking like gumball sized chunks taken out of the shingles). Nails are popping out of the wood, some of the overall construction looks poor?? The sales person made it seem like there was enough hail damage for me to be able to get my insurance company to replace the roof under my policy due to damage. My personal finance question are: is this a responsible use of my home owners insurance? If so, how should I conduct myself regarding what they want to install or the work they do considering they are charging my insurance company and not myself..... if they know someone else is paying for it won't they just milk the project for as much money as possible??? Is the insurance adjuster going to grill me questions regarding hail damage or something? I'm confused at how that is all going to go down and what's best for me. Thank you for any answers Reddit! If the insurance adjuster comes out to the house and decides that a new roof is warranted, do they negotiate with the construction company? Is it 100% certain that my home owners insurance rates will go up? (Am I, in reality, just financing a new roof with increased home owners payments?? How does that shake out in the long run? and with my current mortgage? ) If they decide that a new roof isn't warranted will they still raise my insurance premiums anyway (because I'm being "difficult" and they want to punish me)?? [link] [comments]  |
| Overwhelmed - Please help me understand what to do with my money Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:02 PM PDT I'm 31, not married, living in Orange County, Ca. I don't down any property and I have $0 debt. I pay my CC off in full every month. I have a good nest egg but I am not using it wisely. I would like to purchase a home but no plans to do so anytime soon. I need to be working on my retirement funds and I'd like to venture and be a bit more aggressive in the market. Specifically, I want to make sure I'm putting as much money away for retirement age 70 (2060) and venturing into long-term stock purchases. Here is a rough breakdown of my assets.
Any advice would be massively appreciated. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Financial check up - 28 years old - Where should I go next? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 12:45 PM PDT Struggling with where to go next with our finances and would really appreciate some direction on where to potentially go next. I've read through the flow chart, but wanted some advice since I'm still confused. Salary: $94,000 Total monthly expenses: $1550 Monthly Savings: ~$3,469 * Currently, all savings just going in to Ally HYSA (definitely not high yield as of late) Debt: No debt. Own my car outright and no student loans Accounts: * Ally: $77,600 * WF Checking: $15k 401k: my job has a non-elect safe harbor 401k where they put in 3% no matter what (I'm currently not contributing). Fiance: 29 yo, $42k salary, no debt, $60k in Ally HYSA, job does not offer 401k, currently saves around $1k per month. Goals: Buy a house in the next 2-4 years. According to the flow chart, we should be opening up a Roth IRA. But what about saving more for a house? What comes first there? Are we considered "late" in opening up roth IRAs? If the next step is to open up Roth IRAs, what type of investment should I make? Target Date Fund? Should I be contributing to my 401k? Recent advice I've gotten about this is to not contribute to this since they aren't matching. Both of us are just getting into finances/investing and don't know where to go next, and we're definitely feeling behind. Feeling a little lost, sorry if this is such a basic question. We are the first in both of our families that aren't financially irresponsible so any help would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Working with broker-dealer investment advisor Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:12 PM PDT I'm thinking about working with a broker-dealer/investment advisor at a boutique wealth management company. I am confused trying to sort out and understand all of the information I've read online and the responses I've been given to my questions by the company. Here are two of the questions and answers I received:
So from my understanding I'm working with a "fee-based fiduciary" which sounds like an oxymoron. =/ Are there questions missing I should ask? I also checked out his investment profile and he has 3 FINRA "disclosures" that I want to ask him about and ask for explanations, since it seems like a red flag. Also some context on me:
So I am not a super high net worth client. I would be paying 1.32% which includes the cost of underlying securities. Would I be better off managing on my own until I am able to accumulate more net worth and can work with a bigger firm with lower fees? [link] [comments]  |
| How does one present one's research of salaries when negotiating salaries/raises? Posted: 31 Aug 2020 08:09 PM PDT This is in regards to a phone negotiation that I have with my employer regarding a promotion. My question is, how exactly should I present my numbers? Should I say glassdoor says XXX, linkedin says XXX? The reason I ask is because I don't know how reliable these numbers are. I almost feel like I need solid proof. [link] [comments]  |
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