Personal Finance If you’re someone who doesn’t have a good handle on their finances but can’t keep a “budget”, you might appreciate my insanely simple way of managing finances. |
- If you’re someone who doesn’t have a good handle on their finances but can’t keep a “budget”, you might appreciate my insanely simple way of managing finances.
- Husband died- can't survive on just my paycheck on the month to month.
- Electric Vehicles are More Cost-effective Says Consumer Reports
- What can I do that doesn’t require going to college and being in debt? Also, what is a good amount for emergency savings?
- Got a new quite-less paying job earlier this week, and today got new better offers.
- Short Sale approved, bank wants $95k, buyer only has $85k cash.
- Spectrum reported me to collections over a modem they say I didn't return in 2018, even though I did. What can I do?
- If you hold a mortgage with BoFA log into you account.
- Company switching me from salary to hourly pay discrepancy?
- Is someone trying to scam me? I received 4 different packages from 4 different states, in a short amount of time, which I did not order.
- Spectrum sent an "unreturned equipment" bill to collections 3 years later
- I opened a roth ira, but not sure what to do with it
- Should I leave my job?
- Progressive quote wildly lower than my USAA plan?
- HELOC or HELOAN advice
- I’ll be inheriting some land in 10 years. For my future self’s be if it, how long should I hold off on selling it?
- Can I prove I didn’t cash a check from an employer without the check?
- Relative Terminal Cancer, can we just stop paying cc debt?
- Is it ever a good idea to take out a TSP Loan?
- What to do with some extra money besides for the stock market?
- I don't get it. Need help using my equity.
- What to do with a bunch of old 401k accounts?
- Advice on an inheritance my sister received recently. (She is against investing and would rather use that money for “fun things,” traveling, car purchases, house purchase etc.
- Can you get money out of internet outages?
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 06:15 AM PDT This method of handling your personal finance may sound incredibly simple to some, but for me it was life-changing. I wish I had thought of it years ago. For reference I'm single, no kids...so this isn't for family budgeting. Here it is: -You just need a savings and a checking account. -Make sure you have $4,000 in your checking account. That should be enough to cover your monthly expenses with some solid padding. If it's not enough, adjust that number, but for sake of explanation I'll keep it at $4,000. -$4,000 is the key number. This all revolves around $4,000 (or whatever that number is for you). -The goal is to keep your checking account at $4,000 no matter what. -so every time you get paid (For me, every other Thursday), you should have more than $4,000 in your checking. wake up on pay day and Immediately do the following: Pay off your credit cards. IN FULL. If you're still above $4,000, use it to Pay off any debt you owe. If you still have More than $4k, send the remaining amount to your savings account. Now you should be at $4k in your checking. -if, after getting your paycheck, you don't have enough to pay off your credit card and stay at or above $4k, you need to Spend less money every month...I know that's easier said than done. -Of course, if you're having a tough month or you recently lost your job, fine you'll slip into the $3k or $2k, but the nice thing about this menthod is that you have a real understanding of how much money you actually have...Instead of just piling on credit card debt. Prior to this method I always felt like I didn't have a real sense of how much money I had. I always just kept everything in my checking account, but I didn't really know how much I'd have after paying off my credit card, and therefore I never put anything into savings. Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope it helps. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Husband died- can't survive on just my paycheck on the month to month. Posted: 07 Oct 2020 09:47 PM PDT My husband passed a week and a half ago unexpectedly. I have 28,000 in credit card debt, and most likely about 6000 in hospital bills (haven't' gotten them all yet) a car payment for 580 a month, and a mortgage for 1600 a month on a house we only have 4 years of equity on, plus utilities, etc. I have a $25,000 life insurance policy coming, and $26,000 from a cashed out 401K (he cashed it out because he was laid off due to covid. He was going to use it for training him for a new job- his old job will take years to return- and then put what we didn't' spend, put in a Roth) He's been on unemployment for 5 months, and when I logged into his account, realized he opted not to take taxes out, so I will have to pay out at the end of this year.I have 1 adult child living with me and 1 soon to be adult child. Adult child is in school, we were paying for collage. I plan to apply for social security for the youngest, but he will only have 7 months if he gets anything. He is 17. The eldest has a Paid-off truck that was given to him by his grandmother- but is currently undrivable , has bad paint and needs repair. It was owned by his deceased grandfather, so the grandmother will likely pitch a fit if we sell it. I have no doubt she would consider it disrespectful. If we get rid of it, My son then gets my husband's paid off 2007 truck (I will trade him) and now there is some cash for a little bit. I could try and trade in my car for a much smaller car, but I doubt its worth much being almost 3 years old from new... but it's worth a thought. It looks decent, but has been in a couple of deer strikes, so it has those on it's record. We have three pets So here is my problem: I don't make enough a month to float us. My choices: take the money, and pay off all the debt – no credit cards, doctors bills. Get rid of cable. At this point, I make enough money for everything aside from food, gas, and any other essential they not a utility or car payment or house payment. Eldest drops out and gets a job, and we can make it- but cannot make it if he cannot find one. No money for school. I have some items to sell that will keep me afloat for a little bit- for only for a couple of months, and only if I can sell them. This would not be easily sustainable. Or I keep making minimum payments on the cards and doctor's bills- and put any other cash I have into the house to help it sell better. (new fence, maybe re-do the countertops, paint again) Or A balance of the two. Pay off debts, and try to sell as soon as possible. Some of my actions are clear: I need to get out of this house, I can't afford it with just me- but should I pay off all my debt so that I don't have monthly payments? It would also make my credit look good when I try to get a new, cheaper place. Or should I use this money to ensure that this house is sold- invest it that way? It will leave me in debt with monthly payments I don't think I can afford either.I think I have enough money for a holding pattern for a couple of months- but I need an exit strategy. Edit:
Edit 2: I have a lot of people saying the same thing, which was not what I was leaning towards, which tells me I really need to examine my course of action. Thank you very much. I will find a financial advisor in my area. Edit 3: I have been asked to put this here, I didn't realize how somethings were reading. My eldest son is 26 years old and is unemployed I have been supporting him 100%. When I said he would drop out- that due to things he said to us: That he can't keep a job and go to school. When he tried to do both, he got bad grades. When he quit his job, his grades got better. Because of that, we didn't pressure him to get a job, we just wanted him to go to school. I talked to him again, and he said he would try to go to school and work. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electric Vehicles are More Cost-effective Says Consumer Reports Posted: 08 Oct 2020 11:36 AM PDT ARS Technica posted this summary of a Consumer Reports analysis of ownership costs between electric vehicles and traditional internal combustion vehicles. It shows that lower fuel and maintenance costs combined with federal tax credits make EV's a better financial choice. I saw this on the r/Volt forum from techtornado and thought I'd share it here, since car buying decisions are often where people's finances start to go off the rails. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 06:59 PM PDT I'm asking this because I'm 23, recently paid off my car, which I should've never gotten by the way, and currently able to FINALLY save my money and I also need to live on my own because apparently my mom and her husband want to move to Texas but I doubt their ability (they're very bad with money). I've learned what not to do from them. So if they're moving states I need to live on my own but I'm scared I won't survive. Here's the situation. I live with them and I pay next to nothing to live there so I'm able to basically save 90% of my checks. I currently make $14.79 an hour but I'm only getting 60 hours every two weeks instead of the usual 80 before. So far in my savings I have $1,700 and I get paid tomorrow so it'll be over $2,000. I'm on my way to building emergency savings. All my expenses are $78 car insurance and $50 phone service and $36 gym membership. That's my financial situation so the real question is what can I do to up my pay? I'm very scared of big changes and in my fantasy world I believe I can just have an entry level job and survive. I live in Washington state so things are expensive. I just don't know the options and don't know where to go to get help. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Got a new quite-less paying job earlier this week, and today got new better offers. Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:15 AM PDT To give some context, the current job which I accepted earlier this week is with my ex-boss, who is actually a gem of a person to work with and the project is also quite interesting, but the contracting was through an agency which offered me about 1/5th of what I was getting before. Due to covid and being jobless for about 4 months and giving multiple interviews but not getting responses, and on top of that about to get married in 2 weeks, I had to give in and accept the low-paying job. Now within 3 days I got an offer from one of the companies I had interviewed for which is about 10% more than what I was getting pre-Covid and a role upgrade. What should I do? It is a no-brainer if it was any other company or reporting manager but since I have a very good relation with my ex-boss I don't know how to approach this - accepting a job offer with him pushing for my hiring and resigning in 2-3 days after getting onboard. please advise. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Short Sale approved, bank wants $95k, buyer only has $85k cash. Posted: 08 Oct 2020 01:47 PM PDT We are at an impasse. Our rental really has no further use since it's been vacant for so long, we decided to terminate it. There have been no buyers (for about 10 years) except for a lady who has just sold her own home to buy ours. But it feels as if the business would fall over since the bank came back with an exaggerated $95,000 supposed property appraisal. The lady doesn't have -or- wants to borrow the extra $10k. The lowest property around ours has sold for $56k and the highest has sold for $80k. All properties are almost all identical, we haven't done any improvements. So we are stuck between this and a willful surrender which I have no problem doing since it's a "strategic default". Should I do it? What are the repercussions? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 02:21 PM PDT I just got an email from my credit monitoring service saying there was a change to my credit history and I get on and see that there is a hit for an account in collections. They list the number to the debt collector and I call them and they tell me that they received the account from Spectrum at an address that I lived at until January of 2018. I call Spectrum and they say I did not return the modem and that is why I am being charged for it. I did return the modem, I don't have the receipt I got when I returned it because that was 2018 and I might have had it after I moved but certainly not nearly 3 years later. To add on to the problem, when I called Spectrum to dispute this point, they asked me what store I turned it into, but apparently the store I turned it into is no longer open (perhaps because of Covid-19) and is not listed on the site. The guy I spoke with did say that he would send out a request and that they would double-check inventory in their warehouses but I am afraid that the fact that the store I turned my modem in to being closed is going to significantly reduce my chances of them actually finding it. I guess this is just an anticipatory request because I am expecting them to come back in the 7 to 10 business days they quoted me and say they couldn't find it. What are my options? Like I said, I am 99.99% sure that I don't have the receipt from when I turned it in (I will continue looking for it though). I have used the CFPB to dispute a credit card claim before but I don't know if they would be helpful in this situation. A friend who worked at Spectrum a few years ago recommended I file a complaint with the state attorney general which would turn it into an executive level complaint which requires intervention on Spectrum's end, so I think I am going to try that to start out but I am unsure of what other steps I can take. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you hold a mortgage with BoFA log into you account. Posted: 08 Oct 2020 03:31 PM PDT I've been chipping away on my mortgage with Bank of America. By making large payments to the principal. Today I logged in to make a payment and noticed that the numbers were off. It showed that I owed more the $2,000 extra and it also showed that I was past due on the payment. It read that my mortgage payment was past due from July. Totally off since it wasn't due till November. I jumped on the phone to speak with them about this. Was told that they updated their system in August and that it was a glitch and it would take 15 to 20 business day to fix. Has anyone ever experience and thing like this? Any suggestions? I wouldn't want to end up losing my home over a so called "Glitch" [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Company switching me from salary to hourly pay discrepancy? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:25 PM PDT I was just hit up by my work about switching from salary to hourly for the sake of "uniformity". I wanted an extra set of eyes to confirm before I reluctantly agree and send this over to our HR/CEO and if proven wrong suffer through that embarrassment. In the switch from salary to hourly, they are reducing my PTO by 1 week, again for the sake of all hourly employees following the same structure. I will of course now be eligible for overtime, so I *can* make more, but obviously at the expense of working more. They said they "bumped my hourly pay" to accommodate for the lost week of PTO, and I can hypothetically take a week of unpaid time and come out equal. Taking "unpaid" time has never been an issue, but my work is project based, so I know OT will be scrutinized.
Am I correct to break it down this way? Looks like a pay reduction of $1224 for more hours worked. They want me to sign a document to acknowledge the structure change and reduction of PTO. I'm wondering if I should just accept. I am due for my yearly review in a few weeks and do anticipate a raise, but also won't be counting my chickens. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 03:38 PM PDT I'm not sure what info is relevant. I received 4 different packages from 4 different small businesses(FL,SC,IL,NJ. I'm in AZ) in a short amount of time. I received a PayPal receipt with one of them. The receipt has my first and last name, and correct address, but a(I assume) burner email address. I called the business that I received a receipt from. The lady had record of the transaction, said she recommended the funds and was running a small sewing business out of her home. The total, with shipping, is only $8.90 and is all payed up as far as I know. No receipts came with any of the other 3 items, but it all looks like cheap crap (ex. A foreman grill owner manual, hand made wooden necklace, comic book). I tried googling the return addresses and names, but didn't have much luck. Looks like people selling stuff out of their houses. Years ago I worked as a sports official for high school. The different schools and organization used one generalized website to keep profiles and pay each official. My bank info was registered there. I received an email a few weeks ago saying my info may have been accessed illegally. I haven't used this site in years, but my info is the same. They provided Experian membership for a year. Don't know if this is related, but it seems too coincidental. I checked my credit and signed up with Experian to monitor. My next step is going to be too get in touch with paypal. Does anyone have any idea what this scam is? Does anyone have a recommendation on what I should do to prevent harm to myself? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spectrum sent an "unreturned equipment" bill to collections 3 years later Posted: 08 Oct 2020 07:18 PM PDT I just got a notice that spectrum sent something to collections. I moved out of the address in question 3 years ago. I'm going to send a debt validation letter to them. I never got any letter, email, or phone call regarding this. Does anyone have any advice? I'm a male 22 in Texas. I have never had a credit card or any sort of loan so I'm not sure if I even have a credit number. Mint just reported this to me today. I have no old bills or account numbers etc [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I opened a roth ira, but not sure what to do with it Posted: 08 Oct 2020 12:47 PM PDT I'm a newbie when it comes to this, but I recently heard that it's not enough to just open a roth IRA and deposit money, you need to actually invest the money. I'm really not sure how to do this...I opened an account with Fidelity and have contributed $2000 this year. I'm not sure where to go from here... [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 09:18 AM PDT I have a good paying job as a Systems Administrator (IT) and I really enjoy the work, but I'm at the point where I hate the organization. I am salary and we normally work 40 hours a week, maybe a couple more here and there during normal day-shift hours. Due to a recent project, they created a temporary schedule for the department to support the new software we've been using. We've basically been working 12 hour shifts 6 days in a row (or more) and then mixing in some 10 hour shifts overnight. The way my schedule was made up I am working at the office at least 18 consecutive calendar days. Because we're salary, we're not getting any overtime and I feel we're being abused and that this goes beyond what's reasonable to ask of their salaried employees. We basically get to go home for a couple hours and then have to worry about going to bed to do it all over again. We're all exhausted and we don't know how long this is going to last. I've spoken with my manager and HR and they basically say it's only temporary, just get through it. I'm to the point where I'm just done with this place and I want this nonsense to stop. I have 4+ weeks vacation I would get paid out and I have an emergency fund (maybe 3 months worth), plus a gf who lives with me to help out with some bills if necessary. I've already started to look at jobs, but I'm just so exhausted when I get home I don't have the mental power or cognitive clarity to sit down and apply to these jobs. I think if I just get out of this hell-hole I'm going to see a big jump in my mental health and I'll have the time to start searching for jobs immediately. Am I crazy? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Progressive quote wildly lower than my USAA plan? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:48 PM PDT I was quoted $362/6 months through Progressive. Currently I pay $840/6 months through USAA. Does a price this low seem wild to anyone else? We have a 2017 Civic and a 2013 Elantra, we're 23f and 24m if that's a factor. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:50 PM PDT We want to spend close to 30-40k on home improvements and have plenty of equity in our home and great credit. We refi'd last year and never planned on these changes but will be home for the foreseeable future with remote work and have decided to put the work into the house. Last year would have a been a good time to probably do a cash out refi but probably not worth doing another refi - current 3.75% We will be in this house for at least another 8-10 years (anything is possible or course) and curious what anyone thinks is the best option. We can afford a steady monthly payment (HELOAN) but is it worth the added interest vs the HELOC? Any advice appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:47 PM PDT There's a 10 year trust on my late great uncle's property, a fourth of which will go to me. I don't know the exact acreage but it's undeveloped farm land in rural TN, low income area. I know as a rule land appreciates in value, so even in ten years it's likely to worth at least some more than it would be now. Airing on the optimistic side, let's assume I'm in a stable financial situation in 2030. Do i just let it sit there and maintain it as cheaply as possible? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Can I prove I didn’t cash a check from an employer without the check? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 06:29 PM PDT About a month and a half ago I quit my job at Five Guys. two paychecks were issued to me that I forgot to pick up. A couple days ago, when I picked up the checks and tried to cash them, they were both expired. I texted the general manager of the five guys and told him I needed them reissued. He said "he would check with corporate". He texted me back today and told me I needed to bring the checks back to prove they weren't cashed. I'm pretty sure I threw the checks away after I couldn't cash them (a mistake I know). Is there anyway I can prove I didn't cash the checks without the physical checks? Thanks for any advice. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relative Terminal Cancer, can we just stop paying cc debt? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 06:27 PM PDT Hi, My uncle has terminal metastatic prostate cancer and his oncologist just let us know this afternoon he has passed the point of receiving curative care and has probably 3 months to live. He is also developmentally disabled and has lived with my mom most of his adult life. He has no assets, no property, no car, no retirement plan, only receives social security retirement income. He does have about $25,000 in credit card debt. This might be a silly question but I'm out of my depth and have suddenly had this put on me to sort out. Am I ok to simply stop paying his credit card debt? What would the options be in the event my mom is either an authorized user or a joint on any of the accounts? Their checking accounts are not joint, but there is a possibility she is a joint account holder on one card they opened over 20 years ago. My worry is my mom relies in part on his social security to pay the mortgage and HELOC, even though his name is not on any of it. Trying to sort out the best way to keep her out of financial trouble since she's been paying on his debts. Thank you for any advice. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Is it ever a good idea to take out a TSP Loan? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:32 PM PDT Background: The Thrift Savings Plan, TSP, is a federal employee (military and civilian) 401k comparable retirement plan. A little more limited in options, but it's got low fees and they match 5%. Hypothetical set-up: Say you have X amount in debt at Y interest rate. And you have Z>X in your TSP. You have the option to take out X from your TSP to pay it off. Then they will take out of your paycheck an amount that will be pay off the loan in a timeline you set. In addition to just paying back the amount borrowed, they add an "interest" portion to your payment (this goes to your account too though). The only processing or administration fee is a $50 surcharge. This isn't a taxable distribution. Question: Is there ever a time when you would say that you would do this? Example: $10,000 in credit card debt @ 18%. To pay off in 10 years, your payments would be 180 dollars. If taking out a loan and keeping same payment (current interest rates on TSP loans are 0.75%) you pay it off in 57 months. Less than half the time. Is this an example of a guaranteed return (in the example's case an 18.75% return)? Or am I missing something? Please don't respond with saying you should check the budget. That's not my question. My question is if there is ever a time when it's a good idea to take out a loan. Site I used to calculate the example: [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What to do with some extra money besides for the stock market? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:30 PM PDT I have some money that I would typically put into the stock market, but with how things are, I'm not sure if there's a better place to place it. I have more than 6 months of emergency funds saved up. My mortgage interest rate is 3.375%. Should I put more money towards the stock market, my mortgage, max out my 401k (currently I put in 15%), or something else? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I don't get it. Need help using my equity. Posted: 08 Oct 2020 04:30 PM PDT I've done a lot of reading trying to find someone who has asked this question but I've never seen it discussed. Hopefully someone here can help me navigate this. I am lucky enough to have a great job (high income, excellent credit) and to have bought a home in the SF Bay Area in 2012 (lots of appreciation). My family has moved and we want to buy a new house in our new location. I have a pretty good bit of cash for a down payment (though not enough) and access to a HELOC. What I *want* to do is use the equity in my current home to help us get into the new home. Our plan is to then rent out our current home (at a rate that more than pays our cost there). I'm stuck because the appraisals are so low on (cash out) refis. We have talked to multiple agents and watched the comps closely and I believe the last appraisal I got back was 73-77% of what I could sell the house for. It might be as much as The HELOC doesn't get me close to the ~25% of equity that is "trapped" by the low appraisal. Would any lender to do both the cash-out refi and the new loan? Why is it so hard to get a higher appraisal? Is anyone offering 15% down on super jumbo loans? Any other creative ideas? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What to do with a bunch of old 401k accounts? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:13 PM PDT I started my third full time job recently and have started contributions to my employer sponsored 401k account but I'm wondering what to do with my older 401k accounts. I have a super old 401k account from my first job and my second job 401k is with the same company as my new one. I would roll over both accounts to my new 401k except I really like the investment options offered by my second job and that one currently has the majority of my 401k money invested. What's the best way to consolidate or move money around? Can I do a backdoor Roth IRA to my current Roth IRA account? Should I care about the investment options from the second job or just roll over to the new 401k? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:44 PM PDT As title states my younger sister (18) has recently gotten an inheritance from her side of the family amounting to mid to high six figures, (she won't say how much she got, but it's a lot.) Ever since she's received this large sum of money she spends very recklessly, she recently bought a brand new 2020 Mercedes Benz GLE AMG, goes out to eat everyday, buys very high end clothing, there seems to be no end to her spending habits. I'm aware that this is her money and she will do what she wishes with it, but I am trying to convince her to at least invest in her future, Roth IRA, CD, Savings, etc. Doesn't matter what advice I give her regarding putting some of it to the side and saving it. With her current spending habits I see her burning through this money very fast (in a few years.) Is there anything I can do to make her realize how good of a position she is in right now? No Debt, Single, starting University soon. Ever since getting the money she talks about not wanting to go to school anymore to pursue a career as a pediatrician. Seems like anything advice I give her goes through one ear and out the other. To make matters worse she has plans on buying a house soon (for whatever reason,) and has no history of credit. What can I do, I love my sister very much and do not want to see her waste away this blessing that she has been given to her. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Can you get money out of internet outages? Posted: 08 Oct 2020 11:31 AM PDT So I'm annoyed because my isp Comcast keeps having internet outages at least every other month. At first I'm like whatever but since I've been working at home and I need to have internet, this is really inconvenient. I once read that if you complain or something they give you money or credit for the time the service was off. Is this correct or do I just have stick it out? Edit: Comcast won't let you talk to anyone while you have an outage so I guess just stick it out for right now is my only option. [link] [comments]  |
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