Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 21, 2020 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 21, 2020
- My company is offering me 15 weeks pay to leave
- 3 month Deferral on our mortgage, bank branch said we were good, 3 months later the bank says we weren’t.
- I just got offered a %3.4 refinance on my home, I have excellent credit and equity well over 20%. I think I can do better, right?
- Is there any reason not to convert mutual funds to ETFs within my Vanguard account?
- I'm stuck with a 500 GBP water bill because all my other housemates bailed on it. What can I do ?
- Is chipping in for my parents house a good idea?
- Is it really all that great a time to buy a home?
- I’m torn between buying an old honda civic or just a base one for $20k. ($400/month payment) I’m so tired of car repairs...
- Just turned 18, got kicked out with no plan ��.
- Best way to liquidate assets?
- Receiving $20k gift from family member.
- Beginner looking for advice on starting a retirement fund
- Does it make sense to contribute mostly to Roth accounts if you anticipate inheriting a large number of rental properties before retirement, which will produce a lot of taxable income?
- Credit Score Dropped Almost 70 Points after Refinance
- Any downsides to consolidating retirement accounts with one broker?
- Brothers have offered to purchase a home with me, could use some guidance
- Unknown auto claims
- Need Temporary 401k money
- Transferring money outside the U.S. What to know and what to do?
- John Hancock 401k Advice
- Rent negotiation
- Just got a debt collection letter, will it affect my credit score?
- The IRS has made an error somewhere, blaming us, we have no options left
- Precious metals sales question
- Parents offering to cosign on a mortgage - potential disadvantages?
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of September 21, 2020 Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:00 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]  |
| My company is offering me 15 weeks pay to leave Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:58 AM PDT Hey everyone, Looking for a bit of guidance, hopefully my story makes sense and is okay to be posted here. I've been working in sales for a local company making decent money for about 3 years now. I get about 40k before commissions, which in good years normally brought me up to about 55k-60k. However, right before the coronavirus hit, I had been struggling to reach goals for a few months and thus was being targeted to be let go for not performing high enough. Once coronavirus hit, the corporation which owns where I work put a freeze on all layoffs or firings, so my job is safe (for now). Now 6 months later, I'm technically still on their "performance plan" from before the virus, which is their way of saying if I miss goal again I'll be let go, but the freeze from corporate is also still active. Sales for the entire company are down 40% from last year. However, I have been one of the top performing reps in my department through the entire virus (though still not hitting goal, almost no one is), so I was starting to feel confident I could hold the job a little while longer, at least till things clear up and more opportunities arise again. However, last week I received a buyout offer for about $17k (About 4 months pay+ paying all my leftover time off), plus they'd pay my and my wife's health insurance for 4 months, and I could file for unemployment. As generous as it is, it made me feel if I say no, they may turn around a month or two later and fire me with only a small severance at most. This has spurred me to begin looking into alternate careers. Sales has really burnt me out, nothing is ever good enough and your past accomplishments mean nothing. I don't find the work stimulating anymore. Of course, now that comes with figuring out what I want to change to and making that happen. I've been interested in programming, and have begun a bootcamp to learn that quickly, but it will take 3-6 months by their estimates to complete a basic certification, and who knows if that's enough to actually start getting decent income on. So, my situation is: Do I stay with my current company while trying to learn coding as fast as I can, do I look for another sales gig to keep me afloat a little more safely while I learn, or would it be plausible to find something in a non-sales field now with just a bachelors in business? My wife brings in some money and we have some savings, so we'd be okay for 4-6 months but dipping into our savings pretty quickly if I take the buyout and can't find another job. My other question for you all is, if I take the buyout, does that look bad on me like a firing does? I've never lost a job before. Appreciate any and all advice, trying to stay positive but it's quite a big moment I feel and I'm not sure what to do. Edit: thank you to everyone for the advice! I was not expecting nearly this big of a response but it's really encouraging to see, and you've all been a great help. Sometimes people with an outside perspective can be really helpful for personal decisions. After reading and discussing many of your thoughts with you all, my wife reading many comments here, and her and I having a discussion, we've come to agree with pretty much every single responder, and take the buyout. I'll probably work on getting qualified for something more like a sales engineer or another customer facing more tech oriented goal. I did receive some extra info from hr which likely answers many peoples questions: I would be staying on until 10/16, basically giving me 3 more weeks of runway to find a new gig. She's confident I'll be able to get unemployment because we'll both be signing confidentiality agreements, but to be honest I'm not so confident in that. It doesn't change the outcome though, even without UI, the buyout is the safest route. Also want to throw a special thank you to those of you keeping my coding expectations in line, I've altered my short term goals with it all in mind. I'll be working on learning the basics for now, and using that to the best of my ability to wheel into something more technology focused. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:25 PM PDT Due to corona wife lost her job for a bit and employment had a while to kick in, bank gave us a option to have a 3 month deferral and payment restart after the 3 months, Bank of America associate walked us through the deferral which we requested through the app and got a letter in the mail saying we were good and we had been approved for the deferral. Roll around to September which is the time the payments would have kicked back in, we get a call from a debt collector saying we are a week late on the payment, I was shocked as in the bank associate had told me that the payments would kick back in automatic and we wouldn't have to worry, I apologized and I sorted everything out over the phone, I made a same-day payment so I was told there weren't gonna be any fees or late payments since I was deciding to pay the full amount that day. Skip to 4 days later I receive a letter in the mail from Bank of America with a delinquency notice saying I owe close to $7000 in late fees and mortgage payments..... I have no words. I was told that I would be able to call the mortgage branch and everything would go back to automatic payments and I would be ok and now I'm receiving a letter saying I might be foreclosed on. I know I'm going off on "I was told, I was told" but it's because I've always had a great relationship with my bank, never any issues until now. Is there anything I can do? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:33 PM PDT I never know if I should apply to one of those LenderTree on-line types of companies, but I keep hearing that 2.6 loans are available, how do I get me one of those? [link] [comments]  |
| Is there any reason not to convert mutual funds to ETFs within my Vanguard account? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:21 PM PDT As the title asks, are there any downsides to this conversion? There are not any tax implications. I own VTI, VTSAX, VXUS, and VTIAX all within my Roth IRA. There are two different types there because of conversions and rollovers over the years. Obviously I could just let it ride as is without any problems, but I'm a fan of simplicity. Any reason I shouldn't convert the MFs to ETFs? [link] [comments]  |
| I'm stuck with a 500 GBP water bill because all my other housemates bailed on it. What can I do ? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:19 AM PDT [EDIT:] I am grateful for all your advice and constructive criticism. I ended up biting the bullet as I had some money saved up for a new PC. This situation has woke me up when I should have been way sooner. I hope this story helps someone in the future so they don't have to put up with this themselves. Rented a house in the UK with some other students the last academic year. The guy that was supposed to pay the WiFi literally snorted the money as a separate incident I recently discovered. I discovered this when Virgin Media (ISP) sent me a text saying that if I don't pay up my credit score might be imparted. The other 3 people in the house (lease ended this Sept) want nothing to do with the 500 GPB water bill. We were supposed to pay it all at the end of the lease but they are all like "they wont find us" and "what are they going to do", etc. I did speak to a Anglian Water representative and did stupidly give them my DOB. (It is my intention to pay but 500 isn't peanuts - especially for 1 person) What are my options. I don't mind burning bridges one bit. [link] [comments]  |
| Is chipping in for my parents house a good idea? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:28 PM PDT My parents want me to chip in about $100k in cash for buying a $975k house. They claimed that if I chip in the cash, they'll chip in $600k in cash and put the house under my name. Knowing that I won't directly benefit from the house until they pass away or get a new house, is this something that you guys would recommend to do? I also I have about another $130 locked up in investments, so I won't have to worry about starving. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it really all that great a time to buy a home? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:20 PM PDT I'm 25 and live in CA. Income: 130,000 up to about 160k if I do overtime Savings: $80k Debt: 0 I've been pre approved for well over $500k at 3.125% but I'm keeping my house price search to $350k max Prices have skyrocketed in my city, Like 10% since last year and of course rates are low. I found a home in the neighborhood I'd like to be in thats move in ready for $350k. I believe I can afford this place pretty comfortably but I just don't know if these prices are just way out of line now. i suppose I can't time the market so I'm thinking about going for it. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:44 AM PDT So I have a garbage Chrysler 300 that is requiring $500 a month in repairs. I'm about to throw the stupid thing off of a bridge. I own a motorcycle and was going to get a truck, but now... I just want something to get me to work... Something I don't have to baby every damn day. So what do I need to know about the Corolla/Civic gang? Better to go used or new? TLDR: So what do I need to know about the Corolla/Civic gang? Better to go used or new? [link] [comments]  |
| Just turned 18, got kicked out with no plan ��. Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:15 PM PDT My dad found some drug paraphernalia in my room and rightfully decided I'm out of his life and now wants me gone. I'm left with a Bahamian, American and Italian (E.U) citizenship, my phone and laptop, about $2000 cash and 6 ounces of coke (plan to get rid of). Any help or survival advice would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:49 PM PDT Hey everyone, I've currently got an investment opportunity that I want in on, but most of my money is currently locked up in stocks. I have ~$8k in cash (emergency fund), and $81k in a taxable brokerage. Most of the stonks have reached long-term capital gains status, and some (a few grand) could currently be sold at a slight loss. Any strategies on how to minimize taxes if I want ~$15k in cash to invest in this opportunity? My income means long-term capital gains would be at 15% (plus whatever DC taxes them at). Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Receiving $20k gift from family member. Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:22 PM PDT I have a family member who has told me they are going to send me $20k as a gift. They are planning to send it to my Chase account through Zelle. I would ideally like to move it to my investment account ASAP. My questions are what are the tax implications of this, and is it going to raise any red flags receiving this much money in this manner, and also moving it immediately to another account? [link] [comments]  |
| Beginner looking for advice on starting a retirement fund Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:46 PM PDT Hello all, I (24) am a graduate student and I have modest savings as well as a steady income and expect this to continue for at least 4 more years; I would like to start contributing to retirement funds for the future. I would like some advice on good banks/ organizations to look into for these services and pointers on good financial products. I am leaning toward a ROTH IRA since I'd prefer to use the post-tax income for such things. I am located in the United States if this helps. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:02 PM PDT I am in my mid twenties and have recently reached a point where I can realistically max out both my IRA account and 401K account for 2020 onwards.
Most advice for Roth vs traditional comes down to future tax rates, expected income growth trajectory, expected spending in retirement, etc. With all this considered I originally planned on doing Roth for the IRA and traditional for the 401K, at least for now.
However, like I've mentioned in the title, I am likely to inherit multiple properties. About 8 or 9 homes that are completely paid off, producing a decent amount of taxable income. Would it be a logical decision to contribute the majority of my contributions to Roth accounts? I know there are tax deductions and things of that sort so my taxable income in retirement may not be as high as I am thinking. Are there any other factors I am not considering?
This is definitely something I don't feel comfortable bringing up to family or friends and maybe my googling skills suck but I haven't been able to find any other threads regarding a similar concern. [link] [comments]  |
| Credit Score Dropped Almost 70 Points after Refinance Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:25 PM PDT I just refinanced my mortgage and my credit score dropped almost 70 points from 820 to about 750. Is that normal? How long does it take to go back up? [link] [comments]  |
| Any downsides to consolidating retirement accounts with one broker? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:40 PM PDT I have investment accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard and am looking to streamline to one broker. I opened my IRAs with Vanguard back when they had an advantage on fund expenses, but that's no longer the case. Are there any downsides to transferring (not rolling over) everything to Fidelity? The Vanguard UI and research tools are not great and I want everything in one place. I do like the idea of Vanguard being client owned, but I'm not going to kid myself thinking that they somehow actually care more about me as a small fry personal investor. [link] [comments]  |
| Brothers have offered to purchase a home with me, could use some guidance Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:50 AM PDT Hi there, I have a bit of a unique situation on my hands. I have four older brothers, and we have an LLC. We currently own 2 houses together but none of us live in those houses. We rent them out. I'm the youngest and my brothers are pretty savvy when purchasing homes. They're really great about including me in opportunities. Essentially we all pay an equal amount in the up front investment. The renters cover the mortgage, and any money we make on top goes into a house account to cover repairs/taxes/etc... This has been working well for the last ~8 years or so with no hiccups. These are long term investments for us, we don't flip them quickly are always looking to add to the portfolio. I'm now at a point where I'm ready to buy my own house after renting since I got out of college. They're all very encouraging of this, but have said they would be willing to do the same investment strategy here too. I would live in the house and would be responsible for the monthly mortgage payment. One part of me says no, and that I want to own the house out-right in my own name and ultimately make the profit when I sell down the line. The other part of me likes the idea of splitting the risks/costs so I don't have to put up the full 20% myself, which would just about tap all my cash. My question is this - if we all paid the equal amount in down payment, but I covered the cost of the mortgage - would I be correct in asking for more percentage in ownership since I'm the one paying down the mortgage monthly, while they incur no costs other than their percentage of the down payment? They have said it would be equal ownership, regardless of me paying the mortgage but that doesn't feel right. Not sure why though. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:33 PM PDT Long story short, I was trying to find better insurance and get to know that there are claims (at-fault and non-at fault accident) on my report but I have no knowledge of those claims.
I need to call the company which I was trying to get a quote from where they got this information. My question is .. how do I go about correcting these public records. where this information is maintained? Online search resulted in CLUE, is thats the only one? Note: This is impacting my insurance rates and hence personal finance, but happy to post in other forum, if this is not the best place, please suggest. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:01 PM PDT Reddit, I need access to funds from my 401k for a few months after which I should be able to fully return the amount. Can I do this as a CARES withdraw and avoid federal income taxes? Story My wife was furloughed from her job in March, she has accepted a new position and we relocated several states away. Part of that is both of us took a Severance agreement and will have roughly 40k headed our way in 2-3 months. Our other house is under contract and set to sale end of next month, we will have 30k in cash headed our way once the house sales. We have picked a house out in our new location. We need 60k for 20% down and currently have total of 50k liquidity on hand. Because of temporary living arrangements in a small apartment and storage fee's of household belongings, closing on this new house ASAP is a high priority to us. Because we are switching jobs, 401k loans are not an option. I want to withdraw around 20k dollars to help shore up things for closing and downpayment while funds from the severance and other home come through then use that money to repay this back to the 401k without it being counted as taxable income...can it be done? [link] [comments]  |
| Transferring money outside the U.S. What to know and what to do? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:51 PM PDT A family member wants to transfer money out of the U.S. and is nervous about it. There's absolutely nothing nefarious or illegal about it - this money is theirs, it's in a bank account with a major U.S bank, they've paid taxes on it, etc. But they're worried about the whole process, especially with the amounts involved - questions and forms from the U.S. government, taxes, fees, etc. They have a bank account in the other country. My advice to them is just to set up an electronic transfer between the banks and be done with it; there may be reporting required, but it's nothing out of the ordinary for most banks. However I'll admit that I've never done anything like this myself. Is there anything they need to know and/or do to accomplish the transfer? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:31 PM PDT Hi All, I'm 25 years old and I started working at my current company back in February. This is the first employer that offers a 401k plan. They offer traditional or Roth, so I opted for Roth because I'm just starting out in my career and (hopefully) will see an increase in pay as I progress. I started in February, but didn't decide to contribute until now because of a mix of laziness and not realizing how long a quarter actually is (I'm only able to enroll/make changes every quarter). I suppose my financial details are important too: I work full time (40 hours a week with overtime sprinkled in sometimes) and make $16.50/hour. My company matches 50% of my contributions up to a maximum of 6% of my contribution (I feel they worded this weird, so the max they match is 3%?). My current plan is to contribute 16% overall (6% to Roth 401k & 10% to Roth IRA). I opened an Roth IRA account with Schwab if that matters? I currently live with my parents, so I don't have to pay rent (I am eternally grateful to both my parents for this) and am able to save more than usual. I'm kind of young and was thinking of doing 85% stocks and 15% bonds (just an idea, but willing to listen to other ideas too). OKAY. So my main question is: What do you guys think of the options I have available via John Hancock and how would you allocate the 6%? The options: Asset Allocation - Target Date
Aggressive Growth
Growth
Growth & Income
Income
Conservative
So there it is. All the options available for me through my employer's 401k plan. Any and all advice is very much appreciated. I'm also slowly going through William Bernstein's "If You Can" to learn more about this topic. Thanks in advance, mrjello. tl;dr 25 year old single average redditor who lives with their parents and pays no rent making $16.50 an hour needs advice on how to allocate their assets for 401k plan. Leaning towards an aggressive portfolio. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:07 PM PDT I live in an apartment complex in Seattle and I got a chance to negotiate my rent. At the beginning of the year we were up for renewal and they were going to increase our rent by $100. Then the pandemic happened and we went on a month to month basis without rent increase because of the moratoriums. Recently we got offered a 5 month lease at the same rate. Me and my roommate have been looking at new places since the beginning of the year and we saw that rents were decreasing around us. We also saw another similar unit in our building going for $200 less than what we pay now. So I told them we'd be willing to sign a lease for that price for 1-year. They told us they can decrease our rent by $50 or we stay month to month with our current rent. Now I'm wondering if should just take it or ask for a little lower. I honestly was just happy to keep the same rate for another year haha. I'm negotiating with someone at the management company who then gets approval from her manager and our rent is about $1900. So I don't even know if any further negotiations would go anywhere. Those who have experience with this, what do you think? [link] [comments]  |
| Just got a debt collection letter, will it affect my credit score? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:11 PM PDT I sold a couple of items on eBay and didn't know that I had to pay eBay seller fees. Unfortunately and stupidly, I had an email address that I didn't ever check linked to my eBay account, so I never knew that I owed money until I got a debt collection letter today saying I owed $27. My mom told me to just go to eBay.com and pay it off and then call the agency after so I've already paid it but haven't yet the agency yet. I am 18 years old and only have a debit card and no credit cards. Do I still have a credit score if I've never had a credit card or ever been in debt? Will this affect my credit score in the future and how badly? What should I say to the agency when I call them? [link] [comments]  |
| The IRS has made an error somewhere, blaming us, we have no options left Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:07 PM PDT I'll make this as short as possible We filed our 2019 taxes 234 days ago and have not received our $7040 tax return. Over 120 days ago we got in contact with the IRS, not much info was offered as to why we hadn't gotten OUR money, just that they were doing a deeper look into our return and that it would take no longer than 60 days. After that 60 days past, we contacted the IRS again. This time we were told that the previous person never sent the notice to the department in charge of doing that deeper look. We were told that the 60 day time limit would start over and we would see something in the mail about it (We have NEVER received anything in the mail). This past week, now that 60 more days have past, I have spent over 6 hours on the phone with the IRS. Here is what I am being told: My wife's company changed it's legal name so there were actually 2 W2's to file, which we did originally. However, the IRS says the problem is that they can not confirm one of the W2's and that her company needs to send the W2s to the IRS. The thing is, the company verified through ADP that all info had been submitted to the IRS. So there isn't anything they could do. They tripled checked TODAY and the IRS has been given info for all employees. We are the ONLY family experiencing this problem. After 6 hours on the phone with the IRS today, I was given no avenue to submit any information to them. No emails, no phone numbers, no fax number. Absolutely zero help at all. I was repeatedly told "You have the wrong department" before being transferred to another department who said they were the wrong department. We are at a loss. There is nothing her company can do to help us, and the IRS won't either. My wife has been crying over frustration. We just don't know what to do. I'm so angry. Any help would be so very appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Precious metals sales question Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:44 PM PDT I recently sold approximately $12,500 in silver coins. Looking online it seems like sellers are required to file a 1099B tax form reporting the sales> 10K (I had to sell them as a bulk package). I cant find anything about what the seller is supposed to do. If it matters, I purchased it for approximately 11K. I saw some place said its reported as income that is taxed at the capital gains rate, but i live in Texas where there is no income tax. I would much rather pay some taxes then get a colonoscopy by the IRS, so what do I need to do? Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Parents offering to cosign on a mortgage - potential disadvantages? Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:40 PM PDT Hello, I'm looking to buy a house in the $650k range. I've been self-employed since October of 2018, which means I only have one year (2019) of tax returns available. My income has been as follows: 2018 - just under 7 figures, but I wasn't officially self-employed at this point as I had another job the majority of the year. The income from my business was considered "Other Income" (I didn't have to fill out an Schedule SE or anything like that). 2019 - $60k 2020 - No less than $150k, likely $225k, could be $350k From what I understand, I have virtually no shot at securing a loan in today's environment with only one year's history of self-employed tax return. Even though I have enough for 20% down and could go as high as 40%, I've been told I'll have a difficult time getting a mortgage until I get my 2020 tax return finalized, and I really don't want to wait until April 2021. I really don't want to go down this route because I like doing things myself, but my parents have indicated that they'd be willing to cosign on the mortgage so that I'd only have to pay 20% down. My relationship with my parents is fantastic - I'm not worried about them taking anything from me, and frankly even if they did somehow rip my house out from under me, it still wouldn't be close to what I owe them for all they've done for me. I'm also very confident that I won't default on my loan. I'm near the top of my field in one of the fastest growing industries. Even if it stopped working out, I could fall back on my former job as an Actuary and/or programmer. And worst case, I have the assets to pay for the house in full if I really really needed to. All that said though, I'm looking to hear from experts on why this would be a bad idea. Is there anything bad that could come from this, even if I never default? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
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