Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 23, 2020 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 23, 2020
- The inventor of the ‘4% rule’ just changed it
- 401k my broker let 17,000 in cash sit for 2 years.
- Recently found out that the Army opened a bank account in my name back in 2001. I need help accessing the funds.
- Just saw an email from my boss about potentially letting me go. How should I handle this?
- Do I continue working full-time, or do I accept more debt so I can work part-time and finish my degree?
- I just found $70 in my budget by doing almost nothing!
- Starting to invest in your 40's
- I’m 20 went from making 18k to 70k in under a year. Never been to college. Got fired from a job paying $10hr got a new job,moved up quick and I’m so grateful. I wish this for you all ����
- Paying cash for New car - Strategies to use this as negotiation tactic?
- Should I close my secured card now that im eligible for an unsecured one.
- Credit card first?
- Short Term Disability Plans worth the expense?
- Just turned 18, unemployed, $1,300 in savings. What do I do?
- 24 - New Job, 55% Salary Increase - Starting PT MBA Program - Need Advice on Situation
- Investing in index funds using margin?
- How do you teach good money habits to kids?
- What happens when we reach an age where we can no longer manage our finances? Assuming no children.
- Budgeting Journey since 2018
- Have I been paying off my credit card the wrong way?
- Per Diem Confusion
- Worth Paying Collections?
- I'm in college on a full ride scholarship with about $10,000 to my name.
- How to start investing in the market stocks?
- Is there anyway to buy groceries or food delivery with just a checking account?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 23, 2020 Posted: 23 Oct 2020 02:00 PM 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]  |
| The inventor of the ‘4% rule’ just changed it Posted: 23 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-inventor-of-the-4-rule-just-changed-it-11603380557
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| 401k my broker let 17,000 in cash sit for 2 years. Posted: 23 Oct 2020 11:52 AM PDT 401k employer plan - Ive had it for almost 3 years. The broker let 17,500 cash sit for almost 3 years - He never invested it. I just now asked him to do something with it and he put it all in RALCX fund class C with annual expense ratio of 2.07%. I asked him to move it to RALSX with expense ratio of 1.07% but he said I need a balance of 25,000 to do so. I am new at all of this - Am I correct when believing that 2.07% is too much? Where should I ask him to move my money that wont cost me as much? I am a long term investor and have a long ways to go until retirement. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 01:35 PM PDT So I left the Army in 2001 and continued getting earnings statements from DFAS. Well, I just filed them with my other documents and randomly sorted through them a few months ago. I found a bank account number as well as deposit amounts from 2001. The issue is that the bank in question merged with Bank of America shortly after and they have no records from that far back. I checked the Florida lost funds website and even called them directly and they have no records in my name either. I've been in touch with a fiduciary, a lawyer, Bank of America, the FDIC, and the Army and none of them seem to know how to find the money. I normally wouldn't even bother with this except that by my reckoning it's about $14k, not to mention any interest. Does anyone know of other options I may have? [link] [comments]  |
| Just saw an email from my boss about potentially letting me go. How should I handle this? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 09:56 AM PDT hi everyone, my job has been going through a lot of staffing changes lately (my manager & coworker quit, they just brought on a new manager from within the company.) and I'm getting pretty burnt out. I just recently got my job back from being wrongfully transferred to another location for 3 months, barely receive communication from higher ups, and now today I looked at my manager's email and see an email from our regional manager. The email states that "after spending more and more time with irrina1 I don't think she's in it for the long haul. She has a very poor attitude and isn't interested in helping residents, often ignoring them or disregarding them. I suggest we have a meeting with her and discuss if this is really the job that she wants, don't want to burden new manager with her, would prefer a temp over her." I'm completely shocked by this email because in the past couple months since this woman has become my (new) regional manager, I've spent less than an hour with her collectively so I'm not sure how she came to this conclusion. It's actually the opposite, I think I'm the only employee that actually does care about our residents. This company has put me through every schedule change possible with no notice, relocating my job with no notice, sending me to other locations temporarily to cover for other managers, etc. and up until now I was fine w/ it because I generally enjoyed my job and believe I have a strong work ethic, so I didn't reallly see it as a big deal. Anyway, I have been applying for jobs like crazy the past week because regardless of this email, I do want out. My question is, how do I handle this situation? Do I wait for them to let me go so I can collect unemployment? Do I quit early and just... hope?? that I can get unemployment? This is my first "big girl" job so I've never dealt with a scenario like this. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 07:02 AM PDT I currently work 40 hours a week at a bank, and I'm finishing up my last two semesters at community college. Once I get my associates degree I intend to start on the path towards a CPA, but this presents an issue when it comes to time. I have two options:
I prefer option 1 because although it would be hard as hell, the idea of willingly taking on extra debt makes me want to rip my hair out. Plus, actually working in the banking field feasibly gets me a head start, and working full time and pursuing a degree may land me in the accounting department before I even have the thing. Also, tuition reimbursement. On the other hand, am I really just being too stubborn? Am I killing myself working full time and going to school for no reason other than pride, when I could work less, finish school, get into the workforce faster, and potentially pay off those loans faster anyways? TL;DR : Should I continue working full-time and going to school, or should I take my girlfriend's advice and take on more debt in university so I can work part-time and finish school faster? Edit: Wow this blew up way bigger than I imagined it would. Thank you everyone, this all gives me a lot to think about. Edit 2: I did a rough calculation of the monetary difference between options 1 and 2 here. [link] [comments]  |
| I just found $70 in my budget by doing almost nothing! Posted: 23 Oct 2020 09:36 AM PDT I'm in counseling through Better Help for my mental health and get a 15% discount I have to reapply for frequently. I missed the deadline this time because life and lost the discount option, which would make me pay $260 instead of $220 per month. (I know this is probably expensive and I should get a therapist through my insurance but I was in a crisis situation when I started and like my counselor, finding someone new who I like and is covered could take months or more, then re-establishing my story so far...) I didn't realize until missing this discount that the app had other payment options than monthly, and saw that by paying for a full year, I'll bring my cost down from the $220 I'm now ineligible for to $150 per month, instead of going up to $260. Now, I don't have $1800 in cash but I do have a credit card with a $5000 limit, $50 balance, and 24 months of 0% APR. So I can now pay off that balance by $150/month, pay no interest and put the other $70 towards my massive medical debt, and be able to do it again in another year, although I hope to not need to. I'm a bit stretched in every resource I have: money, time, energy, mental health, physical health, sleep... You name it. I'm struggling. I've been looking for a way to bring in just an extra $100 or so a month for wiggle room but haven't been able to have the time and energy to pull extra hours because I'm just going through stuff, you know? It won't always be this rough, but I did really need a break, or a raise. Or this. This is perfect and I'm so happy and excited. It wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have a pretty good job and built the good habits that built my credit enough to get approved for that card so it's not like I didn't work for this but still. I finally got cut the break I needed. That's all, thanks for reading! Good luck everyone! And work hard, but work smarter, too. [link] [comments]  |
| Starting to invest in your 40's Posted: 23 Oct 2020 07:02 AM PDT Is there a sub for how to achieve a secure retirement when you started late in the game? We spent our 30's paying down. Student loans and saving for a home and are just now starting to fund our 401k. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 08:10 PM PDT I had a really grunt work job working out in the sun all day for $10 an hour I liked the kind of work but not the job. I fought with a customer and got fired I was devastated and sad after I was 19 and had never been to college and was just lost. I got another job doing something else I like and was getting paid $11 an hour plus commission which wasn't much. I became #1 in the company and was getting all kinds of praise and busting my ass but no pay just a lot of talk About 2 months ago it wasn't cutting it for my bills and I was burned out I asked for a raise they said no and covid and blah blah so I just quit because there were other places I could make the same and do so much less So I put in my 2 weeks and they let me walk. While I looked for other work those weeks I found a job doing the same thing I did. It was only 3 hours a week but paid $300 a week So that was better than what I was making Anyways I officially left my job said good bye to everyone and cleaned out my desk I was only gone for 2 days and they called begging for me to come back. I got a raise to $25 an hour plus commission and still have the side job. Anything is possible guys! [link] [comments]  |
| Paying cash for New car - Strategies to use this as negotiation tactic? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 01:11 PM PDT Hi All, I'm buying my first new vehicle for my family. While I don't really want to debate whether we want a used one or not, we have our heart set on what vehicle we want (mostly). We've been saving for a long time, and while we won't be spending 100% of our savings, we're ready to pay cash for the car we want while still keeping our "goal" in savings. Does paying cash offer any real kind of negotiation tactics I can use with car dealers? I had planned on finding a few of the same color/models of our chosen car, and fenagling with dealers via email until one eventually gives me the best price. Also, kind of follow up question: Would it make more sense to pay ~75% in cash and get a loan for the remainder? I feel like interest wouldn't be TOO much, and my credit score hasn't moved in forever -- wasn't sure if it was worth it or not to use a finance loan to make it look better. Thank you! Obligatory Edit: WOW this blew up. Thanks everyone. I'm still a couple months out, but I feel like I'm a lot more prepared. I'd buy any of you a beer if you were in my area. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I close my secured card now that im eligible for an unsecured one. Posted: 23 Oct 2020 02:23 PM PDT Bank is capital one and they wont allow me to upgrade my card, so they are essentially holding my $200 deposit hostage until i close the account. Since the account is barely a year old im contemplating getting their unsecured card and closing the secured card. Would this be a smart move or would it affect my credit score too much? I dont have any upcoming credit dependent purchases in the near future. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 07:37 PM PDT Need transportation soon as I just moved across the country. My plan is to save up for a down payment on a vehicle, and to make payments in order to build credit. Should I get a credit card to try and build my credit while I'm saving? Roughly, how long will it take to get to a score at which I can get a decent apr? I'm currently around 570 and the vehicle I'm looking at sits around 10k [link] [comments]  |
| Short Term Disability Plans worth the expense? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 04:21 PM PDT I'm considering a short-term disability plan. I spoke with the rep today (AFLAC) and was told that the plan would cost me $1,200 per year and it would pay out a max of $9k. At this point in time, my emergency fund would cover that same $9k as well as my deductible and the out of pocket max on my health insurance plan, but I would be bankrupt after that. Worth it? I don't own, I rent. I have 2 weeks of PTO through work. It's just me and my dog. No spouse/kids. [link] [comments]  |
| Just turned 18, unemployed, $1,300 in savings. What do I do? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 08:40 PM PDT I turned 18 not too long ago. I am a full-time, unemployed college student (besides the tiny side hustle I have. I make about 10-15 bucks a month from that). I live at home with my parents. I applied for a Discover It Secured card and got rejected for some reason. I just transferred $400 into a brand new Ally savings account. What do I do with the other $900? Should I reapply for the credit card? Should I open a Roth IRA? Is 900 dollars even enough to invest within a Roth? Your advice is seriously appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| 24 - New Job, 55% Salary Increase - Starting PT MBA Program - Need Advice on Situation Posted: 23 Oct 2020 08:27 PM PDT I'm in a unique financial situation who is looking for advice from the Reddit Community. Depending on the advice that I may receive from this post, my next steps are to find an accountant and a financial advisor. TLDR: Starting a Senior Manager Role in a Fortune 100 organization, leaving consulting going from $90k base to $140k +15% annual bonus. I am also starting a Top 20 Executive MBA Program in 2021 expected to be completed in 2 years, with tuition totaling $125k. Trying to optimize my financial situation to come out of this program in the best financial position possible, especially since the Tax Cuts in 2018 have removed certain deductions that I would have taken advantage of. Looking for advice on how to take advantage of all existing legislature and programs. Long Version: Received a new opportunity as a Senior Manager Program role in a Fortune 100 non-tech consumer healthcare company. Will be permanently working from home post COVID-19. Compensation and Benefits:
Expenses:
Assets:
*All Investment Assets are currently in Vanguard S&P 500 Funds Liabilities:
Savings Plan:
MBA Education:
Tax Situation:
Immediate Plan:
Open Questions:
I know that I am in a much better financial situation then most people, however I am a bit overwhelmed seeing a 55% base increase and a 75%+ total comp increase. While I want to be as frugal as possible, I do want to live and enjoy myself as well. I am trying to make educated decisions and take advantage of all the current legislature, programs, and offerings which are currently allowable for someone in my present position. So reddit community, what are your thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Investing in index funds using margin? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 04:39 PM PDT Let's say you had a large lump sum of money you wanted to invest in US market index funds and you want to hold these funds long term. What would be the downside of getting additional funds in the form of margin from a brokerage and then investing even more in these index funds since you're a long term holder anyway? [link] [comments]  |
| How do you teach good money habits to kids? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 08:22 PM PDT My son is 17 and started his first job as a courtesy clerk in a grocery store in August. He makes $13 an hour, 25 hours a week, and he blows all his money on Uber and eating out and streaming games. I want him to establish good money habits. For whatever reason it took me 15 years of adult life to establish good money habits and I don't want that for him. Unfortunately, he's almost grown and so I'm starting with teaching him late. Any tips before he goes down a bad path? Or did I start too late with habits? I grew up very poor so I never wanted him to stress over money like I did. Sadly, I think I went too far in the opposite direction. [link] [comments]  |
| What happens when we reach an age where we can no longer manage our finances? Assuming no children. Posted: 23 Oct 2020 11:20 AM PDT I've always managed my own finances. And in my experience have noticed that even when investing for the long term, assets need to be bought and sold regularly over time. It is rarely a one and done procedure. A home or stock I buy this year may best be sold 5-10 years down the road, the market reevaluated, and another asset purchased in its place. Unless you're sitting on something like land, which can be held indefinitely with no drawbacks. So what happens when we cross the inevitable barrier into needing to be cared for? Do we have no option but to work with a money manager to continue investing on our behalf? Interested to hear about all your various plans for late stage retirement. I don't think I could ever trust my investments in the hands of another. But that may be the inevitable truth. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 06:48 AM PDT I've been budgeting since 2009, using Excel to track every single transaction I make. In the early 2010s, I created a pretty detailed budget sheet that tracked spending against a monthly budget. After I got married, though, I realized that the budgets that we kept were generally pretty good over the course of a full year, but they were way, way off on a month-by-month basis. For example, we reliably spend about $1,200 a year on utilities - oil for heating, trash & recycling, and a septic system tax from the township - but the majority of that $1,200 is spent in a single month, when we refill our oil tank, so a $100/mo budget doesn't make sense - we'll spend $0 in August but could easily get hit with a $700 bill in March. To solve this problem, we decided to shift to monthly budgeting. Before each month begins, we decide what we're going to spend. If it turns out we got it wrong, then we fight the urge to recast the budget, instead just trying to improve in the future. I wanted to see how we've been doing; it's felt like we have been pretty disciplined this year, but is that true? Well, here's my answer! Basically, we were pretty awful in 2018, a little better in 2019, and pretty good in 2020. The trend has gone in the right direction. The key so far has been to stop being overly optimistic. We can tell ourselves that we're only going to get takeout once a week, but then we get caught working late, have frustrating things going on around the house, etc., and we say screw it and order a second time. We have given ourselves more room to be undisciplined, which has helped the budget get more accurate. What is interesting, though, is that allowing ourselves to be undisciplined has actually made us more disciplined! By using a more realistic budget, it's easier for us to hit; the motivation to hit the budget means that we don't have the "screw it" mentality that results in just kind of giving up in a month. The ultimate result? We've saved a bunch more money by allowing ourselves to be undisciplined. All this said, I'm interested in getting better. Are there things we could be doing to nudge ourselves in the right direction in terms of discipline in spending? We've got debt handled pretty well (mortgage at 3.25% + one car payment at 0.99%); we've got a decent emergency fund (6x monthly expenses), and plenty of life insurance. Our near-term goal is to find a second home on a lake, so everything we're saving is for that goal. We're able to make the purchase now, but there's basically no inventory in the 250 sq. mi. area we're interested in besides homes that are way more expensive than we'd ever want to pay. We're continuing to save so we have a better cushion once we buy and/or to bump up our budget a touch. That said, it's a bit mentally tough to sacrifice some of the small pleasures in life (like that extra bottle of wine or a more expensive meal) when the sacrifice is for a somewhat amorphous goal of just having cash on hand for whatever. This is why I'm looking for some tricks - I find it much easier to do things when driven by fear/anxiety (...we dropped spending by like 60% - only half of which was day care - at the start of covid, when we were both uncertain about job security, but spending has come back a good amount since then). [link] [comments]  |
| Have I been paying off my credit card the wrong way? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 03:04 PM PDT My credit limit on my credit card is only $1,100. My monthly expenses will typically exceed that amount so I usually pay it off before the statement appears so I get more credit. I just read this on the wiki: You should pay the statement balance in full every month before the statement due date. If you pay your current balance in full before the billing cycle ends and the statement is generated, no balance will be reported to the credit agencies. Have I been paying off my credit card the wrong way? Will none of my payments be shown on my credit history? If so, how do I allow myself to report the payments? Get additional cards? My credit card company, Capital One, never approves a credit limit increase. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 03:42 PM PDT I'm going to be traveling for work and usually per diem is paid out at the beginning of the trip and we can spend it however we like. This time they're doing it differently. Per the email sent to us today: "Per diem can be claimed (keep your receipts), but no cash advances will be provided unless arranged ahead of time." This is very frustrating for me. The trip is a week long and now I'm expected to front the money for a bunch of restaurant meals and wait to be reimbursed. Money is very tight right now and this seems like a very fishy policy. Is this a typical arrangement? I've never seen per diem be handled this way. Any insight would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2020 03:22 PM PDT Trying to be a real adult now and pull myself together. I have a collection in the range of 4k from my past life that's approaching its 3rd birthday. Is it worth paying this off at this point? If I pay in full what are the immediate and long term effects on my credit score? Same question for settling, and ignoring it. Any help here would be immensely appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| I'm in college on a full ride scholarship with about $10,000 to my name. Posted: 23 Oct 2020 04:33 PM PDT I'm currently in college on a full ride scholarship (tuition and housing) with a $600 stipend per semester for books and other discretionary spending. I have just over $10,000 from savings and scholarship refunds. What can I do to set myself up financially while I am in school? [link] [comments]  |
| How to start investing in the market stocks? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 06:30 PM PDT Where do I start? I'm really new on this world, I'm 20 so I think is a earlier age of my life to start investing, but I don't know what to do exactly, there's a lot of information around there that is overwhelming for me, any tips? How did you start? Any book around here that can help a rookie like me? [link] [comments]  |
| Is there anyway to buy groceries or food delivery with just a checking account? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 06:11 PM PDT Im waiting on a debit card in the mail and need groceries soon. I have been sick recently so I can't go down and pick one up or go to the store with cash out of fear of transmitting something. Can I link my bank account to some sort of virtual debit card service or a payment service the can take money out of my bank in one day? Not even that specifically I'm out of ideas. Privacy.com won't work I believe. [link] [comments]  |
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