Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 30, 2020 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 30, 2020
- I sent a debt collector a letter through certified mail requesting proof of debt for a medical bill from 4 years and still have not gotten a response. What are my next steps?
- We kept track of every penny we spent for an entire year in this awesome budget spreadsheet.
- 529 College Saving Plan vs Whole Life Policy for my son
- Should I say something?
- Creating a scholarship
- Dealership said it would take years to establish enough credit to lease a vehicle, can’t get a co-signer, don’t know what the next step is.
- Collections: Old apartment complex has sent me to collections over a bill I never received
- Job Offer SCAM. I need help to figure this out
- Can I fund my wife's Vanguard Roth IRA with my bank account?
- Why is used car dealership asking for cash only?
- Got a couple of job offers after being unemployed for a year. Will you help me figure out which one to take?
- Best way to track real expenses for frequent Venmo user?
- I'm receiving 10 times what my pay should be - Should I be worried?
- Inherited money that I'd like to use to buy a house, but not for a couple years. Is there anything worth doing with it in the meantime?
- HSA family contribution limit rule
- How can I finance myself studying as an international student from a non EU/EEA country?
- 401K Investment Choices
- Best way to save for a house
- Opening an Roth IRA with Vanguard (or Fidelity)
- Investing Recommendations for someone new
- Schwab vs Fidelity - 2 questions
- I'm on SSDI so finding a home loan is difficult. There's government-backed FHA, USDA, and Fannie. However, I can't find enough information for my wired situation. Help
- What Will Happen Now That I Didn't Pay My Taxes?
- I’m moving from the US to the EU and I’m upside down on my car loan. What should I do?
- moving out help
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of October 30, 2020 Posted: 30 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]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:38 AM PDT So basically, I noticed a big hit on my credit about a month ago, and when I researched what it was, it was relating to a medical bill I must have received in college. I don't remember what this bill is pertaining to or why my insurance would not have covered it at the time. It has been nearly a months since I sent the letter to the debt collector and I still have not revived a response. What other steps can I do to get this off my credit report? [link] [comments]  |
| We kept track of every penny we spent for an entire year in this awesome budget spreadsheet. Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:30 PM PDT Hello friends! I started working on this budget about 2 years ago, and I finally came to an iteration that I enjoy in July of this year. My partner and I started using this budget together on November 1, 2019. It has now been an entire year of tracking every penny we spend, and it's been a helpful, eye-opening experience. I've shared this budget before. This is the first time I am sharing this iteration of the budget. Our total net worth is only slightly less than it was 1 year ago, but we also bought a new (used) truck and got married in that time, and we've almost finished building up our $20,000 emergency fund. We have money set aside for medical expenses and unexpected vehicle expenses, and we're hopeful that we will finish paying off our debt, start putting money into retirement, and begin to work on paying off the mortgage early. (I know, I know! We should start saving for retirement NOW. We both have HSAs and pensions and 401ks that are not accounted for in this budget.) I'm sharing it again because I'm hopeful that it will be an interesting look into one married couple's expenses for an entire year and because I am hopeful that someone may find the spreadsheet template useful. Please note: This has been "anonymized" a bit; I don't actually work at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. For the most part, however, this shows our actual expenses and income for the entire year since November 1, 2019. Is anything surprising? Would you use this budget yourself? Are there features you'd like to see that aren't included? Hope this gives just one person some help with budgeting! Here it is: [link] [comments]  |
| 529 College Saving Plan vs Whole Life Policy for my son Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:57 AM PDT Hello. The agent I received my whole and term life policies with was trying to sell me a whole life policy for my 5 month old son for college and his future. Made it attractive by showing the cash value and death benefit many years from now with interest and dividends. Research that I have done shows mixed reviews of which would be better. Advice very much appreciated about which would be better for my son in the future. Thank you in advance. For reference: the policy I was shown was from New York Life that she called "Set For Life". The 529 plan I would enroll in would be CHET (Connecticut). [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 01:16 AM PDT (18) so I just started this job a couple months ago and everything is fine. But about a week ago I got sidetracked in a call and realized about 10 mins after I forgot to clock in. I immediately sent an email to my supervisor informing him of this (protocol is to immediately email supervisor and not to clock in/out and allow them to adjust it). It was a week notice that was given. Yesterday I clocked in for work and saw that my supervisor emailed my team to verify their timecards at 9 AM (I clock in at 2) that day and also a reply to my email stating " This was Marked Unpaid Timeoff" and $122 was deducted from my pay as a result. I completely understand that it is my responsibility to clock in/out everyday and that never usually happens but it did. But I provided a week notice and had no chance to verify my timecard because I do not start until 2 and he did not check his email until after he submitted the time cards. $122 is a lot of money to me and I desperately needed that. Im fairly new to the corporate world obviously and not sure how to handle things like this. Am I unjustified in at least asking if this could be rectified and reflected in my next pay check? EDIT: I also sent a email directly after his follow up asking if the issue would be rectified but have yet to receive a response. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:39 AM PDT Hi all, I am not sure if this is the best sub for answering this question but I'll give it a shot. I am hoping to create a small scholarship in my moms honor. She was involved in Tech from the 70s and through her entire career, at a time when it wasn't so common for women to be in tech. She was a mentor to many people over the years and was respected by many. I would love to award a $1k scholarship to a female college student interested in a tech career, and something I would envision doing each year. I would love to make a donation to an organization that could manage the details, but was hoping I could put my moms name on the scholarship. Is there anywhere out there that is able to manage this and want are any details I should be aware of for taxes, Liability etc. in addition is it possible to stipulate that a scholarship goes to a female? Thank you! Edit:typos [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 03:20 PM PDT As the title says I recently inquired about leasing a vehicle and the dealership told me that even with a credit score in the 700s on a card I've had for 5 months I would still need a history of bigger payments on something like a car or house before I could get approved for a lease without co-signer. He said it would take me a few years going at the pace I am of making multiple payments a month on my card. Would a better option be ask the bank for a loan and try to finance? I have a decent amount in savings as well. [link] [comments]  |
| Collections: Old apartment complex has sent me to collections over a bill I never received Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:00 AM PDT Hello, the title says almost all of it. I moved from Atlanta to St Louis in January 2020. To do so, I cut my lease early and paid an additional 1 months rent (per the contract). A few weeks later, my apartment complex emailed saying the last of my utility bills were still due. That's fair, I totally get that. So I responded with my new address and requested a full breakdown of the expenses. I did so because for three months before my move, I was convinced that there was a problem with the toilet. My water/sewage bills had tripled out of no where, but the apartment complex kept saying everything was fine and that they'd discount both bills. They responded to my email and said that they would send the breakdown along with the bill. I never received the bill nor was there any follow up from the apartment complex. Frankly, I just forgot about it. Between Covid and a new job, life was pretty hectic. I checked my credit score and saw that they had sent me to collections, for over $600. Which I assume utilities + late fees, but I don't actually know for sure since I never received the bill. I've read so much about what to do or not do when it comes to collections, that I've gotten myself totally confused. Any advice? should I reach out to the apartment building first or the collections agency? [link] [comments]  |
| Job Offer SCAM. I need help to figure this out Posted: 30 Oct 2020 01:52 PM PDT I need help!! Yesterday I was emailed from a "representative" of Bolt Creative HR department. The email had a job post for a 2D and 3D artist position for the company. Allen Martinez (the "recruiter") mentioned they have found my Artstation portfolio and would like to hire me. I was to contact James Anderson the HR manager to conduct an interview for the position. Honestly it sounded to good to be true so I looked up information about Bolt Creative and come to find out they haven't done anything since 2015. That was a red flag for me, but I was unsure. Maybe they are about to start a new project. So I ended up messaging James and we had the interview. Second red flag was the fact that the interview was done via texting through this third party messaging app called ICQ. I went through the interview and James explains I will be hired and will need to get materials before I could start my employment. Third red flag James proceeded to email a check for me to deposit into my banking account so I could buy the materials I needed for the position. The check was for $4,900. He told me to go ahead and buy the materials I need from their vendor and that is where I didn't go any further. I told James I was uncomfortable and was not about to purchase anything because I have no documentation saying that I am an officially an employee. I haven't received a message from James since. Honestly before I became ultimately skeptical I did deposit the check into my banking account and it's on hold. So what should I do next to make sure I am not screwed over hard? Did I stop the scam before they could do major damage to me? I bank with Chase btw. [link] [comments]  |
| Can I fund my wife's Vanguard Roth IRA with my bank account? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:51 PM PDT My wife is not an account owner on my bank account. We were about to submit her application to open and fund her Roth IRA using my bank account, but the last page has an "Important" notice on it: "If you are not an owner or authorized signer on the bank account and/or the signature of another owner or authorized signer of such bank account is required in order to authorize the initiation of ACH transactions to such bank account, you are not eligible to submit your application using an electronic signature and must exit this application." The language is a bit confusing to me. Can we do it or no? [link] [comments]  |
| Why is used car dealership asking for cash only? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:13 PM PDT I'm trying to buy a car through Facebook and the description of the car says "CASH ONLY" and it's a dealership. Is that normal? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:02 AM PDT
Some facts:
With the mom and pop, I was thinking that I could sign up for Obamacare once I get an efficiency but I have zero insight into that and I've been told that it's expensive. Another person told me that they get Obamacare for free, working 40 hours at Home Depot entry-level. Any insight on that? How do I find out how much healthcare would cost me? Is it worth it? What do you think? Which one should I pick? Anything you could think of that I could negotiate with any of the above jobs? Any other insight you could think of? Need someone without as much brainfog as me to give me advice. Edit: Any insight on how to negotiate a better package from the mom and pop? [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to track real expenses for frequent Venmo user? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:34 PM PDT I am a college student living with roommates. Every month we pay our rent, utilities, and internet on one person's card, then Venmo that person our share. For instance, I write a check to our landlord for $2000 (made up number) and pay the internet bill of $60 then my 3 roommates Venmo me $500+$15= $515 each. One of my roommates pays the electric, so generally deducts that from her payment, making it around $495. During Pre-COVID times, I did this a lot with dinner and drinks, too. Meaning I would charge my card $50 and get $25 back through Venmo pretty regularly. I have had trouble tracking this with every budgeting app I've tried, and have tried making manual spreadsheets, but because I make a lot of small transactions, they're hard to keep up to date. For example, I don't want my "rent" to be listed as $2000 with Venmo "income" of $1500. Instead, I want it to look like one transaction of $500. Same with restaurants, etc. Without having to do everything manually, does anyone have recommendations of apps or iPhone shortcuts where I can match Venmo payments to card charges and count them as one item, instead of an "income" and "expense?" Ideally, I could keep a record of the original card transactions, too, but not have them factor in to my final budget/ display. Knowing how many people use Venmo like I do, I can't be the only person with this problem, but haven't found any good solutions. Any ideas or brainstorming appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| I'm receiving 10 times what my pay should be - Should I be worried? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:46 AM PDT I work remotely for the University I am attending, and at the start of my employment I was told I would be paid $65 per week. However, for the first 3 weeks of my employment, I have been paid $650 per week (before taxes). How should I proceed with this? Is there anything I should be worried about, especially when I am filing taxes? Next year will be the first year I file. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:28 PM PDT My partner passed a little over a month ago... since then, I've been going back and forth on whether I want to sell our house and move, and am currently leaning towards yes. Aside from living in a place with so many memories, it's also just a large house for 1 person. The pandemic makes the idea of renting out a room unpalatable, and all the outdoor stuff like BBQing or gardening was his passion; I'd just as soon be in a condo. We just purchased the house 2 years ago, so I'm thinking that I'd like to delay selling for a year or two, though, so that I'll at least have enough equity to make up for the closing costs we spent when buying it. I can afford the house on my own income without having to dip into savings, as long as there aren't any major catastrophes like needing a new roof, and I'm debt-free other than the mortgage. Between life insurance and a couple scattered 401ks, I've got about $150k from his estate. So, 20% down on a ~$400k townhouse or condo plus closing costs, moving expenses, and a bit extra to invest (with whatever proceeds I take from the home sale, if any, also being invested when all is said and done). Given the short time frame, though, is there anything worth doing with the money other than dumping it into a savings account until I'm ready to buy? (I know this sub tends to be bearish on home ownership in general, but I'd like to be settled down rather than having to regularly move between apartments, and I'm established enough in my career that I don't see having to relocate out of the NYC suburbs where I live now) [link] [comments]  |
| HSA family contribution limit rule Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:28 AM PDT I have a question regarding the HSA contribution limit. There are 2 different limits depending on whether it is individual or family plan. So here's the deal. My live-in girlfriend is covered under my HDHP insurance provided by my employer. She has lived with me the entire year and I have provided for all of our expenses. However, we are not married. So under the tax law, she can qualify as qualifying relative. My employer has already verified her dependency status with some supporting documentations such as the apartment lease where she is a joint leaseholder. Now we have a open enrollment at the company and the HR portal states that the max contribution for me is $5700, since employer contribution is $1500 (5700+1500=7200). When I looked up 2021 HSA contribution, 7200 contribution limit for HSA is for family and individual limit is 3600. So my question is, is 7200 limit applicable to me since I will still be filing the income tax as a single with my gf as qualifying relative? [link] [comments]  |
| How can I finance myself studying as an international student from a non EU/EEA country? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:25 PM PDT Hi there, I am a 19 years old uni student. I want to study abroad but neither me nor my parents don't have enough money to finance my studies abroad. Actually we do have a real estate which is worth approximately $150.000 but nobody wants to buy it right now because of the ongoing economic crisis in the country. So here is my question: How can an international student(non EU) get student loans from the Dutch Government? I don't know Dutch so couldn't find a reliable source if I'm able to get or not. Assuming that I've paid my tuition which is 13.000€ per year and it is a 3 years university. Can I live by having a part time job and getting paid by my parents? I assume that I'll get 400-450€ per month for working part-time and my parents can send 500 to 600€. I'll get student loan here for international students which is a funny amount(140-160€). Is it going to be enough? Can I find some kind of a scholarship? While my life is going worse with pandemics and other stuff. I don't wanna be bothered by this issue. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:52 AM PDT Hello all, I'm looking for some advice on investment choices for my 401k. To be honest I have little understanding on which choices are better for me. I'm 34 years old, the only debt I have is my mortage at $2700. I've been furloughed since July so I'm not even sure how long I'm going to be in this 401K before I have to rollover. I have about 207K in my 401K now (is that a lot or a little relative to my age?) Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:20 PM PDT Hi, I am an average Joe who has been working for close to 5 yrs now actively paying my student loan debt and saving up in a savings account. Now, I am looking for ways to save for retirement and buy a house in a couple of years. While I found a fairly reasonable plan to save for retirement, I am wondering what would be a good place to park my savings for purchase of a house. I understand CDs is one option. But, I would like to know more options which are relatively high yield, not too volatile and also could be easily liquidated without much penalty if I choose to put in a down payment one fine day. In short, what is a good way to save money in the short term while making it run for me? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Opening an Roth IRA with Vanguard (or Fidelity) Posted: 30 Oct 2020 05:50 AM PDT I'm 19 and looking to start putting money away for retirement. I have a couple questions that I want to answer before I actually open a Roth IRA. First I was wondering if it would be better to open it with Fidelity or Vanguard. I like the sound of Vanguard's "radical structure," but if I'm being honest I don't really understand it. What does their investor-owned structure mean and what impact would it have on my IRA and my earnings? Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks :) [link] [comments]  |
| Investing Recommendations for someone new Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:12 PM PDT So, I'm in my mid 30s. Due to poor financial decisions and a divorce, I am a shamed to say - I have zero retirement plan. I have zero idea about retirement plans and not sure which resources to turn too. Additionally, I'm trying to get track, I want to start savings for the future and investing as well. I have only 7,000 in my savings account, own 1 of the 2 cars that I'm paying off, and still renting. I'd like to start off investing, maybe $100.00 -nothing too serious, to learn, maybe even gain some passive income. Could anyone make some recommend for US? I don't really understand most of this, so please explain to me like a five year old. [link] [comments]  |
| Schwab vs Fidelity - 2 questions Posted: 30 Oct 2020 05:12 PM PDT Hi all, I was considering using Schwab instead of Fidelity for investing (since they are an actual bank that accepts things like money order deposits) but I've had 2 issues with them so far: 1) With Fidelity, I can schedule a transfer from an external bank and the funds are immediately available to make a trade. With Schwab, when I schedule a transfer, it says it won't be available for trade until 11/3 (2-3 business days). This seems very inconvenient - why is there such a difference between Schwab and Fidelity with regard to fund availability for trading? 2) With Fidelity, I can buy any fractional amount of my favorite ETF (VTI), rather than limiting myself to a particular number of shares, I can simply buy $400, which is like 2.41 shares. Schwab says they support fractional trading via Stock Slices, but I'm not sure if this includes ETFs. My research shows that Schwab only supports fractional trading of actual S&P stocks. However, it doesn't appear to give an error when I attempt to place a trade for "2.4 shares of VTI" via the Schwab app though, it just says insufficient funds - is anyone able to verify whether this works or not? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:38 PM PDT I had a whole thread on r/Realestate just to get me this far. Ok, here's the deal. My mother and Aunt inherited a house 50/50. There's a lot of details that I'll leave out to try to make my question succinct. House is appraised at $100K. My mother is gifting me her half, so I'm just trying to buy my aunt's half... it's not going well. Anyway, let's say I am try to pay $50K for her half. I have $50K cash and after I sell my car, I'll have $20K more. The problem is I'm moving from Hawaii to Georgia and I'll have to buy a new car there. Between the new car and the necessary repairs to the house, I'll have nothing left... so I need a loan. I'd like to borrow $25K. Should I borrow that to pay off the house, and keep my $20K for emergencies, or should I pay for the house and get a home equity loan for that amount since I'll have the house paid off? Here's my details so you can hopefully tell me if I can even quality for either in the first place Credit score 750 Income $1450 Recurring payments $500 (I'm estimating because I'm not exactly sure what my utilities will be when I move) Is this even possible? [link] [comments]  |
| What Will Happen Now That I Didn't Pay My Taxes? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:35 PM PDT I made $800 in 2019 for an internship and received a tax form in the mail, but I lost it and didn't fill it out. Also, I'm filling out the FAFSA and unsure of what to put for whether or not I filed my taxes. I was SUPPOSED to, but I didn't, so it kind of feels like fraud and that I might get into trouble later on. Is it too late to file them? I'm not even sure what form it was. [link] [comments]  |
| I’m moving from the US to the EU and I’m upside down on my car loan. What should I do? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:21 PM PDT To add more details, I'm moving with my wife and child, I had a great credit score but it's now suffering from over-utilization of my credit (thanks Covid). I'm about 4k underwater on this car that's one year old. I never thought I would be leaving when I bought it so I got a bunch of extra junk that didn't add value to the car. Should I just turn it in and say fuck the bank? Is it worth paying 4K that I can't really afford just to keep my credit good? Would it even matter in Greece, where I'm moving? Moving with the car doesn't appear to be an option. Thanks folks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:32 AM PDT i'm currently 17, trying to move by around next august (when i turn 18). i'm working a job that pays $9 an hour usually with about 25 hours a week & i've worked there for about 3 months. so far i have $900 saved, as i'm saving $100 from each check every week. i did the rough math (which very well could be wrong i'm horrible at math) and by august i'll have about $4,000. i'm really worried it's not going to be enough to leave at 18. do you guys have any tips? i'm sort of clueless in this area and am having a hard time finding resources that i understand. edit: should have clarified that once i am out of school i will absolutely be working more hours, and i'm currently looking for a better job [link] [comments]  |
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