Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of May 10, 2021 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of May 10, 2021
- A tax bill made me pat myself on the back
- Do I have a right to know what my debt is even for? [Surprise third party hospital debt]
- Reaching out for some help.
- I cant bring myself to spend money
- Should I negotiate my at my current job or accept a new position?
- Help! Last minute mortgage water testing
- Overcontributed to 401k in 2020, past deadline to get money returned
- Daughter starting college in the fall, fumbling through best ways to fund...
- Living in CA while working remotely for a MN company, is 'state' on my W-2 wrong?
- Adding children to credit card to build their credit
- Job offer in The Netherlands evaluation
- Wondering if a small student loan is worth it.
- Is using only a credit card better than cash and a debit card?
- My wife has private loans; I can't find a place to refinance.
- Buying a 2bd/2ba condo, how does renting out the second room work?
- South Carolina to California: Struggling with Life Decisions...
- My FICO 'Length of Credit' jumped a decade and a half out of nowhere. Should I be worried?
- Is this check floating? Am I screwed?
- 22 Looking for advice on how to properly organize my finances. Ireland
- Critique My Budget for Family of 4
- Confused by the IRS Withholding Calculator Recommendations
- best investment app for beginners?
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of May 10, 2021 Posted: 10 May 2021 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]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A tax bill made me pat myself on the back Posted: 10 May 2021 07:40 PM PDT Got one of those dreaded IRS envelopes today letting me know that they finally got around to processing my 2019 return, and I owed about $900 .... Most previous years of my life this would have caused me massive stress and I'd probably have had to set up an installment plan and eat the fees and interest along the way. This time around I calmly said "That sucks", and paid it right then and there without breaking a sweat. Just really damn proud of myself that I've made it to a point where a $900 surprise was an inconvenience, not an emergency. That's all, just wanted to share, thanks y'all! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Do I have a right to know what my debt is even for? [Surprise third party hospital debt] Posted: 10 May 2021 03:38 PM PDT A year and a half ago I gave birth to my son in a hospital. I know that hospitals hire third parties to assist them and that you receive a separate bill from them, but as far as I'm aware we haven't received any separate bills. We paid what we owed the hospital and moved on. A year and a half later we get a debt collection notice in the mail from ICSystem (a legit debt collection agency) saying we owe Pediatrix (a shady-ass medical group) $2800. Completely surprised at the bill, I call the number to gather more information and dispute the claim. The debt collectors know my name, address, when my son was born, which hospital he was born in, and they even know his name. I haven't told them any personal information, this is all stuff they already knew. When I asked what the debt was even for they gave no reason, they didn't even confirm that they provided any services for me, just that I owe them $2,800. Pediatrix specializes in Premie and NICU care but my son had no such issues. I disputed the claim, Pediatrix ignored it and is still demanding we pay up. Do I have a right to know what I am even being charged for or is this information that can legally be omitted? I just don't think we owe them anything but they will not answer their phones and they're ignoring my dispute. What can I even do? I don't have $3000 just laying around! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 10 May 2021 10:49 AM PDT Okay folks, I have a situation to sort out, so I am reaching out for some help. In November of 2020, My Mother in Law gave my wife all of her money (A shade under 300K.) A former partner was attempting to extort her for her finances as she was dying of brain cancer. She passed in December of 2020. We have absolutely no idea how to report this to the IRS. We are in a bit of a blind panic at the moment, so any assistance would be appreciated. Edit Thank you for your input! I would like to thank wild_b_cat and BouncyEgg especially. The house has gone from thermonuclear to a medium simmer. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I cant bring myself to spend money Posted: 10 May 2021 06:45 AM PDT I'm starting to realise that I'm having a serious issue with spending money. I'm 18 currently working full time making approx 50k (AUD) and I'm also attending university full time. I've always been frugal but since starting my job I have been investing aggressively approximately 90% of my income (I live at home and don't own a car so my expenses are minimal). Even though I have the money in the bank and I know I should enjoy some of it I cant bring myself to make any "fun" purchases, to the point of sitting on a products page wanting it but not being able to fathom spending the money on it. I was just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and had any tips on learning to spend money more for fun? Cheers [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Should I negotiate my at my current job or accept a new position? Posted: 10 May 2021 02:31 PM PDT I currently work as a Data Analyst for a Engineering consulting company and I really enjoy my job. I started off as an intern for about 6 months until I went full time with them a little over a year ago. The original offer I had with them was for 50k a year however since it was prime covid time (and being fairly green) it was a hard sell for upper management so when I transitioned to full time I accepted a lower salary of 40k a year with acknowledgment from my manager we could revisit the salary topic within a year. For my yearly review last week I did some research on the current market and what I should be making in my area for the experience I have. I reached out to some recruiters and submitted a few applications online just to get a feel of what I should be making. I had very high interest almost immediately and called the one company back and had some back and forth with their head analytics supervisor who said I would be perfect for their position and is offering me 60k (this is before even getting into serious negotiations) and wants me to come in this week to meet the team. Obviously this isn't set in stone but knowing in less than a week of looking I'm in discussions for 50% more than I'm currently making definitely confirms to me that I'm vastly underpaid. I had my yearly review last Friday and I think I did an amazing job fighting for my case to get a raise. I asked for 55k which I think is a very fair market value for my skills. I really like my manager and he told me he agrees with me and will talk to HR/upper management and will get an answer for me by the end of the week. I never told my manager that I've been interviewing around just that I reached out to a few people in the industry/researched online and got really good feedback on the 55k amount. I expect to get the final offer from the new company along with a new offer from my current company this week. If my current company can't even get to the 50k range obviously thats an easy decision for me and if they're able to do 55k I'll accept that no question. Obviously I wouldn't leverage the new offer until it's set in stone but if/when it is, would it be acceptable to take that to my current employer and see what they can do to match/come as close to it as possible? I know people say horror stories of companies axing them after asking for a bigger raise but I honestly don't think I have to worry about that. The work my branch does is very niche compared to the company as a whole so I feel very safe in my current position. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Help! Last minute mortgage water testing Posted: 10 May 2021 12:12 PM PDT Hello! Update: we just got a call from our mortgage company. Turns out they had made a mistake and given us the water requirements for public water treatment facilities and not private wells. We are now on track to move in as long as nothing else happens. I am in the process of buying my first home in Connecticut. I was preapproved and all tasks had been completed and my conditional approval sent. 5 days before closing (May 10) my mortgage company informs me that lead testing needed to be done, basic water testing had been completed on March 23, and it wasn't until May 5 that I was told to get lead testing. Luckily I was able to get a rush one day test done for lead, then the mortgage company tells me they need even more water testing done. They are asking for all metals, arsenic, uranium, and all VOCs. These tests will cost me over $800 with a minimum 2 week lead time. My closing date has already been pushed to May 13. This is an FHA loan and I have check state and local requirements none of which require this additional testing. What do I do? Has this happened to anyone else? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overcontributed to 401k in 2020, past deadline to get money returned Posted: 10 May 2021 10:45 AM PDT Hey everyone, I switched jobs early this year and did not track my 401k contributions across companies and wound up putting an additional $1,100 into my 401k over the $19,500 limit. I reached out to HR about this months ago but they dragged their feet, and now they're telling me since it's after April 15 they can no longer take the $1,100 out of the 401k. What are my options at this point? How would I report/reflect the overcontribution in my 2020 tax return? Will I get taxed twice for the contribution, or is there a separate penalty? Thank you! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Daughter starting college in the fall, fumbling through best ways to fund... Posted: 10 May 2021 02:52 PM PDT So my eldest daughter is starting college in the fall, trying to figure out the best way to fund her tuition, with an eye on making sure I don't do anything that will screw up her FAFSA for future years or trigger tax implications (gift tax, etc) if they can be avoided. Her mother and I are divorced, mother is primary custodian and makes significantly less income than I do. While no longer married, we are still very close and I trust her implicitly that any funds I give her will go straight to supporting my daughter in college. My father established a Coverdell ESA a number of years ago for my daughter (when I was still married to my now ex-wife), with me as the responsible party, and there is about a year's worth of college attendance cost sitting in there now (about $35k). Additionally, we have an extended quasi-family (very close family friends) that wants to make significant ($10-15k) contributions towards the cost of her attending school (probably on an annual basis). They have not made any contributions yet as I told them to hold off doing anything until I get this sorted, but obviously time is of the essence. Lastly, I will be contributing to her attending on an ongoing basis. I know I'm late to the party on getting this planned, but only recently reached a point of financial security where I could even think about such issues. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Things I need help with:
To be clear, not looking in any way to skirt the law here - just trying to be smart and not cause myself (or my daughter) headaches for future years at school. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Living in CA while working remotely for a MN company, is 'state' on my W-2 wrong? Posted: 10 May 2021 09:05 AM PDT I live in CA and work remotely for a company in MN. I have never lived or physically worked in MN. This site shows that since I live in CA, I should pay CA state taxes only, not MN. But it also says this:
When they say 'state', does that mean box 15 (sample W-2)? Because my W-2 shows that box as having MN even though I have lived in CA the whole time. Is this correct or incorrect? If state should actually say 'CA' instead, I will only have to pay CA tax and do nothing for MN right? Just not sure what I am supposed to do right now overall [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adding children to credit card to build their credit Posted: 10 May 2021 07:04 AM PDT I've heard about people doing this before, but not sure if it actually works. I have very strong credit and my credit card is fully paid off every month. Should I consider adding my (very young) children to it to start establishing/building credit for them? Is this possible, and if so, are there any cons to doing it? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Job offer in The Netherlands evaluation Posted: 10 May 2021 02:54 PM PDT Hi all, location Amsterdam, Netherlands **EDIT: the location is a little flexible so I can rent an apartment out of Amsterdam since htere's a flexible work-from-home policy* me Almost 3 years of work experience as a Full Stack Software Developer, with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. company Let me say a good company, from what I saw, the environment and the team look great position .NET Software Engineer offer here's the summary: - base salary: €65K (8% holiday allowance included) - employment: full-time - benefits: - 26 vacation days - 10% discount on basic private health insurance - relocation support - optional pension scheme (which I will probably skip) - commuting compensation I feel positive overall, the team is really good and am liking the opportunity. My question is as mentioned above, am I missing anything? Is there anything I need to ask about? Any comment please feel free to share. Most appreciated Thanks [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wondering if a small student loan is worth it. Posted: 10 May 2021 03:31 PM PDT I (30m) am trying to finish my bachelors degree after dropping out years ago. I need to pay about $7,000 for summer and fall tuition expenses to finish. Rent is only $800/month, plus another $200/month in automobile expenses. Currently my wife (32f) and I only have unemployment income to cover expenses, which is enough, but will run out in a few months. My assets include about $110K in Roth IRA, that includes about $24k cash that I can withdraw without penalty or taxes if needed for emergencies. Would prefer not to resort to that. I also have another $10k of taxable investments due to mature at the end of the year which cannot be liquidated earlier. My wife also has some assets, totaling around $10k in cash and another $27k in taxable brokerage investments. We have no debt except for a small CC balance which gets paid off each month. Clearly I have enough to pay the tuition in full from existing savings or assets, however there are two future dates which are making me hesitant: the end of our unemployment benefits could be the start of a period with little to no income, especially while I finish the last few months of classes. The other, even larger consideration is the imminent birth of our first child in 6 weeks. For this reason I would prefer to take out a student loan and hold the cash/assets for unforeseen expenses and/or a period of no income. I applied to discover student loans (private, as I did not qualify for fafsa), and was quoted a 10.39% fixed rate. This is surprisingly high, as my credit score is in the 760s. Is there something I'm missing from the equation? Am I being quoted a ridiculous rate? Am I overestimating how much cash I should have on hand? TLDR: I don't know whether to spend savings that might be needed in the coming months or take out a high interest loan (on a small amount) to pay for tuition. Any insight would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Is using only a credit card better than cash and a debit card? Posted: 10 May 2021 05:02 PM PDT How smart are you using credit cards, I thought about this for a long time but I don't wanna use my debit card or cash when it comes to making a payment. The rewards and benefits you get using a credit card is pretty good. I would think its smarter to use only credit cards so I can manage track my spendings, and be more responsible with money. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My wife has private loans; I can't find a place to refinance. Posted: 10 May 2021 01:38 PM PDT My wife and I are ~6 months out of school. I got through with Fed loans only, but my wife was out-of-state. In total, she accumulated ~$110k in private loans. I managed to snag a career job, but my wife is part-time looking for something else. Edit: Joint income is ~$60k Everywhere I look, places my wife applies to with me as cosigner deny her due to the loan size. I got fair credit, she's got good credit. Is there something I'm missing, or do I need to find a way to cough up an apartment's worth of money each month (not even looking at both our Fed loans yet)? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buying a 2bd/2ba condo, how does renting out the second room work? Posted: 10 May 2021 12:42 PM PDT Hello, I am in the process of closing on a 2 bd/2 ba condo in NJ. I had the intention of renting out half the apartment (1 room/1 ba and a shared common area) to an acquaintance. Now that I am reading about all the work involved, I am a bit overwhelmed. Here are my current expenses (per month): Mortgage Payment: $1,197 / month HOA: $400 / month Taxes: $500 / month Condo Insurance: $45 / month Utilities: $150 / month (just estimating here for some numbers to play with) I was hoping to charge approximately $1000 in rent / month. It completely slipped my mind that I have to pay taxes on this income so now I'm stressed that I made the wrong decision in purchasing this apartment. How does this work when it comes to my taxes? Now I have an additional $12,000 a year of income that I have to pay taxes on. What part of the above charges, if any, am I able to deduct from my taxable income? It seems that the following I can write off: Mortgage Payment (Interest Part Only) HOA Taxes Condo Insurance (Excess over standard?) Utilities Would I be writing off 50% (since half of the condo if including shared space is being rented)? Are these deductions taken as part of the itemized deduction? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Carolina to California: Struggling with Life Decisions... Posted: 10 May 2021 08:11 PM PDT Been working remotely from here in South Carolina for about 8 months now. We're going to a hybrid model of 3 days remote 2 days in office. I have the option of moving to San Francisco September 2021, Jan 2022, or Jun 2022 It's going to be hard leaving behind everything and moving (family, friends, girlfriend). Of course, it's nice to make CA money in SC, but I have FOMO not moving to California sooner rather than later from a social aspect (seeing coworkers in person and developing friendships and better relationships) and also a housing aspect (I worry if I wait too long, prices will go up while people start moving back as their companies open, and I won't be able to find a good deal in the city) ... So, I'm a little conflicted. Do I delay the inevitable and enjoy my cheap SC rent and loved ones? Or do I plan to move across the country in a few months and jump in headfirst leaving everything behind? Apologies for posting here, I thought it was PF-related with costs and all. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My FICO 'Length of Credit' jumped a decade and a half out of nowhere. Should I be worried? Posted: 10 May 2021 06:12 PM PDT I've googled around for this and didn't find anything helpful. When I got my credit card (and the free credit report with it) my 'Length of Credit' showed as 4 then 5 years. This lines up with when I took out my first student loans, makes sense. I just checked my updated credit reports (from 2 different cards, one using FICO the other using creditwise) for this month, and it jumped substantially without doing anything. I go into the details and my 'Length of Credit' now shows as 20 years for both. I was around 3yo then so I'm not sure how that's possible. Is this something I should be worried about? What does this mean? Does someone have my information? Any advice or ideas about how this can happen is appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Is this check floating? Am I screwed? Posted: 10 May 2021 05:55 PM PDT I made a mistake. I have two checking accounts. I regularly move funds between them. I needed to transfer money from my local bank to my credit union. I wrote a $200 check and did mobile deposit, the money I needed was available immediately. I went to the grocery store and got some gas. I later logged into the bank's website, and it turns out I do not have as much funds as I thought I did. I should have checked before writing the check, I am an idiot. Lesson learned, I am very embarrassed. My mom used to do shit like this to get by each month and I never wanted to do this kind of thing. I know that writing a bad check will result in a load of fees and penalties from both institutions. I decided to call my CU and they did a "stop payment" on the check. So when the bank tries to cash it and it fails to go through, I will only have to deal with their fees and such. I do not have $200 right now, and likely won't until the last week of the month. I'm on a lower income and doing my best. I'll pay whatever fees and deficits I need to. I feel gross about using money that isn't there. When the bank tries to push the check through, it will not go through and they'll be able to see I did the stop payment. Isn't depositing my own check and then it not going through check fraud? Does it matter that I did a stop payment, or is it the same since the bank is still out the money they automatically credited? It truly was not my intention to just take money that wasn't there. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 Looking for advice on how to properly organize my finances. Ireland Posted: 10 May 2021 03:36 PM PDT Hi guys, long time lurker, first time poster. I'm in my final year of college at the moment and trying to set myself up and my finances to work for me in the future. My parents, colleagues and pretty much anyone in their 40's kept telling me that I'd regret it if I didn't save, invest etc so I'm trying to understand what's out there. Currently at the moment I have: 14,000 in savings Saving 700 a month regularly Participating in a company stock purchase plan which amounts to about 3000 a year in ESPP that comes at a 15% discount Finally, RSU's at around 1500-2000 a year. Vesting 1/3rd every year til 2023. What would be the best way to invest said savings? The banks here give very awful rates if not 0. Currently at 0.01% AER so it feels totally hopeless. I was thinking of taking a mortgage out on an apartment and renting it out but the property market seems to be all over the shop currently. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Critique My Budget for Family of 4 Posted: 10 May 2021 07:13 PM PDT Monthly Budget (Austin, TX):
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| Confused by the IRS Withholding Calculator Recommendations Posted: 10 May 2021 12:16 PM PDT Hi all, I ended up owing some on my taxes this year, so I'm going in and making adjustments and adding some additional withholding. I used the IRS 2021 Calculator, and here is what I see for my recommendation (note I am married and my wife's recommendation is also there, but I assume whatever issue is happening with me is happening with her calculation as well as hers seems off in the same way): For a refund of approximately $0, I need $1038 withheld from each paycheck, $515 more than my current tax withholding (in actuality I currently am salaried and withhold $522 per pay check now). Now in the steps to adjust, it says to only add $295 in additional withholding per pay period (line 4(c) on form W-4). Isn't that value too low? It says I need an additional $515 per paycheck, but in the actual how to do it step, it says $295. What am I missing here? I get paid twice per month as well. Here are my raw numbers: My Salary: 160k Per pay check withheld: $522 YTD Paid: $10,666 Paid twice a month Wife Salary: 130k Per pay check withheld: $350 YTD Paid: $8400 Paid twice a month Let me know if you guys need additional info. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| best investment app for beginners? Posted: 10 May 2021 02:12 PM PDT I turned 18 a couple of months ago and I don't know much about how the stock market works. Based on my little research, I'm confused as to which investment app I should use for long-term investments with minimum to no commission fees. I have around $100 to start off with. thank you. [link] [comments]  |
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