Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 02, 2021 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 02, 2021
- Hospital is charging me after I already paid my bill.
- What is considered not living paycheck to paycheck?
- How to stop being so focused on money/lack thereof!?
- Should I cash out of a lease I will make money on?
- Mortgage advice ?
- Bank Deleted a Dispute With Merchant
- Rental Property Thoughts
- Class action lawsuit…legit or not?
- This lease payout makes no sense. Please help???
- Is spending 50% of income on rent/housing a bad idea or the new norm?
- Sent my car to a mechanic to get my car looked at and will find out tomorrow what's wrong with it.
- How Can I Open a Bank Account at 15 Years Old Without Parental Consent?
- Need help with ETFs
- I’m 22, what should I do with my 401K?
- Refinance Possibility...
- The car we just bought has body damage that is causing an electrical problem.
- I did not deposit the checks from my previous job for a long time, what do I do?
- Obsession with planning and strategizing investments
- Best option to tackle 20k of CC debt on one card?
- USA Patriot vs. Inheritance: What is the real amount?
- Solar PV system installed. I've financed the installation but could pay it down. With 2.99% for 12 yeas should I?
- Looking for some outside perspectives and input on retirement and investing
- Gifting parents 30K USD with the least fees and hassle (i.e. no FBAR requirement)
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 02, 2021 Posted: 02 Jul 2021 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]  |
| Hospital is charging me after I already paid my bill. Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:28 PM PDT I went to a local hospital (Texas) in January and received medical care, after which I paid a bill for $232.52. I paid in full and explicitly asked the secretary I was paying to make sure that that was the full amount, and that I wouldn't be receiving any additional bills. She verbally confirmed and I accepted my receipt and left. Today I received a collections notice for a total of $68.21 that I never agreed to from the same hospital. I am about to write the collection agency a certified letter asking for a proof of debt, but I wanted to find out if there's anything else I should be doing? I have the original receipt showing completion of payment for the debt to which they are referring - this $68 is random and unexpected. Should I inform this collections agency that I have a receipt in hand stating that I paid my bill? Or should I simply wait until they respond and then contest it with the credit reporting agencies? EDIT: Tons of helpful advice here. As indicated by many, it sounds like it's likely a physician's bill or something related to that. I'm loathe to pay it, given this sort of surprise billing seems predatory and cheap. However, my feelings on the matter aside, it is prudent to contact the hospital and I'll be doing that Monday. Cheers for all the rapid (and very helpful) assistance. Just to reiterate here, this was an uninsured visit - insurance is playing zero role in this. I didn't offer up insurance information, I simply paid my bill. The last time I attempted to utilize the VA insurance to which I was entitled I was refused on the grounds that I hadn't visited a VA hospital in the past year (because I was not ill and didn't need to). So I haven't bothered with them since. [link] [comments]  |
| What is considered not living paycheck to paycheck? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:10 AM PDT I've read online a number of articles only loosely defining living paycheck to paycheck as not being able to meet daily expenses if you lose your income. But then how much of your income would be required to save to be considered not living paycheck to paycheck? [link] [comments]  |
| How to stop being so focused on money/lack thereof!? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 09:10 AM PDT Hi everyone. I have been focused the past few months on paying off credit card debt from being unemployed during 2020 (only $550 left!) and putting money aside toward student loans (~$37,000). I also started doing Rover pet sitting a few months ago to make extra money- I've been making ~$250/month that I save/put toward debt. I keep a spreadsheet of my spending, saving, and side hustle earnings. While I do love my newly found organization and intentionality that this brings me, I find myself becoming almost bitter. Bitter that I'm not able to say yes to every dinner out with friends or weekend trip, etc. Bitter that I'm 31, have a Masters degree, live in a 1 BR apartment, and still only making $54,000/year. Ugh! How do I get out of my own head and stop thinking about money all the time? It's to the point that I'm so focused on getting out of debt and being smart about money that I'm kind of in a bad mood about it. Suggestions??? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I cash out of a lease I will make money on? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 04:30 PM PDT Way back in September of 2018 I began a lease on a vehicle. I got the dealer to reduce the capitalized cost of the vehicle from about $46,000 to about $33500. I leased for 42 months, and I have the right to buy the vehicle for about $20,900 in February 2022. My buyout price today is about $23,900. Here's where it gets interesting though. I can basically sell this car today for $30,000. I would need to replace this vehicle as well, which I would do with a late model used vehicle - buying this time instead of leasing. The question there is of course - is that vehicle's price also over-valued the way mine is? What is r/personalfinance's opinion here? Should I get out of this lease and cash out $6000? Should I drive it to the end of the lease? Clearly the one thing I should NOT do is just turn it back in, as it's worth more than the buyout price. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2021 05:59 PM PDT My partner and I want to buy in NYC. We both have great credit, no debt, and we have saved enough to put 25-30% down. Our combined income is around $90k annually. The places we're looking at are around $400k. Would we be able to get a mortgage ? I should add that she has only been in the workforce for a few months since finishing grad school. I have read that sometimes 3 years of pay stubs are required. Any advice much appreciated [link] [comments]  |
| Bank Deleted a Dispute With Merchant Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:12 PM PDT I filed several disputes with a merchant and they ended up giving me permanent provisional credit for every dispute except one. One dispute they deleted because they said I told them to delete it and have "audio" of me saying to delete the dispute. This isn't true. I never consented to being recorded or gave any written document stating that I want to cancel a dispute. I spoke to a bank employee in person at the branch to file all the disputes. What are my options? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:03 PM PDT Details:
As this is a single family home, in a HCOL area, the possibility for large rental income is not great for the immediate future. I could possibly increase the rent by $1-200/month, but with property management, I'm not gaining that full amount. I am constantly torn between continuing the long-game of renting the property out (as it is essentially about even now factoring in the $350/month over mortgage rental income, versus the set-aside for vacancy and repair) and selling it, taking the money to invest in other possibilities. I don't want to buy another home right away, so would likely be stuck with a very large capital gains tax payment (I wish there was some contingency for unexpected military orders forcing me out of the home). However, it's hard to think of the possibility of, post taxes and fees, walking away with (from the cash offers) $100K on this house when I won't see a long-term income on it for many years. The recent tenants are a factor in this as well, given the difficulty they present for buyers. What factors am I missing or not considering? [link] [comments]  |
| Class action lawsuit…legit or not? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:43 PM PDT Hi, 18 year old who knows absolutely nothing about this stuff here. I received an email from "Shutterfly BIPA Settlement" about a lawsuit against Shutterfly due to "storing biometric data of individuals in Illinois without proper notice and consent as part of a feature called Face Grouping". Does anyone know if this is legit? I started filling the form out to get my payment and when it got to the section where I had to put my Paypal in, I got nervous it was a scam. How can I verify if this is real or not? [link] [comments]  |
| This lease payout makes no sense. Please help??? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:29 PM PDT I financed a 2018 Subaru and now my lease is up. I paid 3500 down and paid payments of 200 (only 166 went towards the car) for 42 months. The initial price of the car was 21000. At the dealership they said that when the lease is done I could choose to buy it and pay the difference. When I called Subaru for a pay out estimate they quoted me 15000 which is several grand over my estimate. The guy on the phone literally told me that I only paid such a large down payment so I could get a lower monthly payment and it doesn't effect the amount of money I've paid into the car. This does not make any sense to me. Does that have any truth? Can somebody please help me? Any suggestions? [link] [comments]  |
| Is spending 50% of income on rent/housing a bad idea or the new norm? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 09:45 PM PDT I recently graduated from college and got my first full time job, but the commute is about ~1.5 hours. I got a pretty good entry level salary but living in the city is very expensive. The job is remote now but could be moving back into the office soon and I really am not up for the commute. But even with my salary, finding a rental that that only uses the recommended 33% of my income is nearly impossible with the high as heck rent prices. And I'm very aware how wages/salaries haven't kept up with the increased cost of living. So I'm wondering if spending 50% is the new 30% in 2021? PS: I should also mention that I graduated college debt free and already have a good start to an emergency fund from working part time and living at home for the last year while job hunting for full time work in my field [link] [comments]  |
| Sent my car to a mechanic to get my car looked at and will find out tomorrow what's wrong with it. Posted: 03 Jul 2021 12:14 AM PDT When I described the symptoms of my car, they said that it could be the fuel pump, but they would need further investigation. I was looking at prices for a 2006 Toyota Rav4 model and the fuel pump is around 300-500 dollars and labor could be 400-600 dollars depending on the mechanic. Last time I looked online on how much I could trade my car in, I was quoted 2000~ dollars for the car with 165K miles. If I'm being charged around 1000~ dollars to replace whatever the problem is, would it be best to just junk it? My dad has an extra Dodge Ram 1500 with 100K miles that I can use in the mean time. It doesn't really makes sense to pay repairs+labor where it's half the cost of what the car is worth. I don't know how to fix cars, so I can't do the labor myself. [link] [comments]  |
| How Can I Open a Bank Account at 15 Years Old Without Parental Consent? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 10:32 PM PDT Hello. My name is Liam, and I am 15 years old. I am writing this post because I am interested in opening a bank account. Ever since summer started, I have been focusing on making some money. Though I have been successful with this, I am now wanting to open a checking account so I can store the cash I make in a bank, and have it be accessible via a debit card. Now, the problem is that I am 15. In addition, my parents do not want me to open a bank account. I have tried discussing it with them, however the result never turns out well. I have tried looking for ways to store my money in a bank without my parents' consent with no success. Now, is there absolutely any way that I can open a checking account at my age without parental consent? I am willing to take a "sketchier" route if that is what is required for me to get a checking account. I just want to note that I live in Washington Country in the State of Oregon (for the specific laws in the area). Thank you very much! :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:14 PM PDT I'm a teenager and recently inherited ~$100,000 from a dead family member. I want to invest this into ETFs and was looking for advice on what to do. This would be a long term investment, 40-50 years or so. I want a relatively safe investment that has good returns, and I believe ETFs are the best way to do this. I'd greatly appreciate any ETF recommendations, or just general advice/information. Thank you all for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| I’m 22, what should I do with my 401K? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:33 PM PDT Hey ya'll! I (22F) just turned 22 in June so I am definitely not close to retiring any time soon, but I need some advice about my 401k. During undergrad I worked at Target part time, and for 2 out of my 4 years there I was paying into a 401k plan. I recently left Target (for many reasons) and while I have 3 other jobs currently, I don't think any of them offer a 401k. Target sent me a letter today saying that because my 401k has less than $5,000 in it, I have to either take it as a lump sum or put it into an ira. I don't want to lose the money I've been saving, but it's definitely not a lot. I also don't want to mess up my taxes by transferring it or taking the money out. I have zero knowledge about retirement plan options and my parents (both still in their 40's) don't have much knowledge for me either. I also will be starting grad school and the amount I have right now would be enough to cover the first semester and I could delay taking out any student loans. (I somehow made it through undergrad without any loans, and I'm hoping to avoid them as much as possible in grad school as well.) Any advice or knowledge would be helpful. I'm definitely in over my head with this and I only have 30 days to decided what to do. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2021 10:11 PM PDT So we bought a house about a year ago on a great interest rate. Were sitting on a 30 year at 2.65%. The house has appreciated approximately 10-15% since we purchased it. We have been receiving offers to refi on a 15 year mortgage for approximately 1.8%. Due to my job, I am nearly guaranteed to get some decent pay bumps over the next 6-8 months. About 15%. Now here's the crazy idea... Refi the house for the appreciated amount on a 15 year note and then use the "profit" to cover the difference in mortgage until my pay increase hits. I'm only considering this because the interest rate is so low. I do understand that the fed announced that interest rates are not supposed to rise much until the end of 2023. Is this responsible? [link] [comments]  |
| The car we just bought has body damage that is causing an electrical problem. Posted: 02 Jul 2021 09:51 PM PDT In the last few days of May, we bought my wife a 2020 Explorer. That night when she put it in reverse, the screen for the backup camera was just blue. We took pictures and called the dealership first thing in the morning. Since the car is still under the factory warranty, I wasn't worried about it. I just wanted to make sure we would be able to get a loaner car when we brought it in. I was told that wouldn't be a problem. But that was on a Friday, and my wife had to travel the next two weeks for work. As soon as she got back, she called so schedule service. The earliest they could get us in would be the middle of August. So we called around to the the surrounding dealerships and got an appointment for today. So my wife took the car in and after looking at it, the tech tells her there's body damage and it's letting water into where the camera sits. Here's a picture: https://imgur.com/a/Lnx6JTS This went unnoticed because the damage is perfectly replicated on the other end of the chrome piece. The tech tells her that even if we get the camera replaced, it's not going to be a permanent fix because of the body damage. I called the salesman we dealt with, along with the sales manager, but both have taken the weekend off. I plan on calling again as soon as they're open, but I want to know what I can expect. We don't have any pictures of the vehicle before we purchased, and the autotrader listing has been removed. So we really can't prove that we weren't the ones who damaged it. We only have the picture of the blue screen from the night we bought it. [link] [comments]  |
| I did not deposit the checks from my previous job for a long time, what do I do? Posted: 03 Jul 2021 02:34 AM PDT I quit my last job a couple months ago and I have been piling up the checks from since a year ago. I have a couple dozen of checks right now. I was having some problems with my family and did not want them knowing how much money I have so I did not deposit the checks until I felt safe. I realize I was very stupid to not know that checks can expire. It was my first job and I had no idea, and I am feeling extreme dread right now that I could potentially lose thousands of dollars (this is a lot for me, this is a year's worth of work for me). Did the money disappear into thin air or can I do something about this? I know this was very very very stupid of me but I was at a bad time in my life and did not really think things through. I am honestly in a bit of a panic now that I found out that checks expire and this will really ruin my life for a bit if I can't get this money somehow What do I do? Thank you Edit: I haven't tried depositing the checks yet, should I try to? [link] [comments]  |
| Obsession with planning and strategizing investments Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:40 PM PDT I'm 30, and doing pretty well with my finances. My total net worth is somewhere around $350k. I made most of this by saving aggressively over the past 12 years. In the past couple of years, I've been strategizing the best way to invest this money to maximize returns for my future. Since I've worked hard to save it, I really don't want to fuck this up. On one hand, I could dump all of it into an index fund and forget about it. I neglected to do this earlier, and missed out on some huge gains. I've also been interested in Real Estate, but after doing a TON of research, it seems that the returns can be significantly better than index funds across the board, but they require a combination of luck and research in choosing the right areas to invest in. So, for the last few years, I've been obsessively researching real estate markets, checking properties, checking stock market info, etc. I've been convinced that both were overvalued, only to be proven wrong multiple times. I've realized that all of this time spent isn't really serving me, and I would likely make more money by simply pouring all of this research time into a 2nd job or a business. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed the same? Did you ultimately gain any useful insight, or was the behavior ultimately unhealthy? Let me know your thoughts. EDIT: Since people have been asking, here's my rough breakdown of holdings:
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| Best option to tackle 20k of CC debt on one card? Posted: 03 Jul 2021 02:10 AM PDT I have a CC that has 20k worth of debt on it with a 20.99% interest rate. I've looked at GreenPath's debt management plan as an option to pay the debt back but the only thing is that they will close the account and this will take a hit on my credit score. With GreenPaths I would have to make payments of 495 for 49 months and their fee is included in this so I would pay off 24k including their fee. Or is the best option to just vigorously pay off the debt as fast as possible and pay over my minimum? Would like to hear peoples opinions of who chose credit counseling or just chose to pay off the debt themselves without a 3rd party. Recently just started a new job and a few months I plan on revamping my skills and finding a better job but as of right now this job covers the bills. [link] [comments]  |
| USA Patriot vs. Inheritance: What is the real amount? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:24 PM PDT My Grandmother is settling her estate prior to death. She gave funds for me and my sister to my mother. Coming from Canada, it was fine and cleared. So I had my mother write a single check again that I would deposit and disperse, (she is a fulltime caregiver for a spouse with dementia and does not have time to devote to nonsense, imo). Now that I am holding a check for 10k my husband tells me we can't deposit it, without it ruining our taxes. Looking up the rules--I am seeing places that say only amounts OVER 10k get reported, while others also say hitting the threshold itself will have you reported for suspicious funds. I do not want to have us tax audited simply because my Grandmother is dying during covid. Our income is already under 35k yearly so this is an important gift.😠Tell me it's not true? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:11 PM PDT I owe 22k and am fortunate to have the funds. I'm also just 2 years into a 30 year mortgage at 3.5% rate. Question: should I just pay down this note for the solar system, or would these funds save me more if I put them towards the mortgage? Or neither? Investment options? [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for some outside perspectives and input on retirement and investing Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:13 PM PDT I'm eligible to retire from my state job when I turn 50 in September. I've paid into a defined benefit pension plan for the last 28 years so will be paid 75% of my current salary for the rest of my life. Cost of living increases are only about 1.5% a year so I know my pension won't keep up with the rate of inflation and I'll need additional retirement income. I owe 150k on my mortgage. The house is worth about 550k in today's market. I eventually want to sell it and move outside of Denver to a smaller community and cash buy another house, but recognize now is not the time to try and buy another house. Everywhere in Colorado is pricey right now. Aside from my mortgage, I have no debt. I have a couple credit cards I use and pay off monthly. I have about $20,000 emergency money in low interest savings accounts and have just started a Roth IRA through Betterment that has about $4000 in it. I deposit $500 a month to the IRA most months. I net just under $3900 a month now and will net about $3300 a month from my pension. I could survive on that, but need to bring in about $1,000 a month to maintain my current standard of living and continue investing. If I stay at my current job longer, I'll get an additional 2.5% of my salary for each year I continue to work, plus we're getting a 3% col raise this fiscal year. I'm SO burnt out right now, but it's not a bad job most of the time and I'm able to work from home. But, to me it makes better financial sense to retire and collect my pension to live off of, then get either a full or part time job elsewhere and invest most of what I make from that job for the next several years. But the thought of starting over at the bottom of a new company is pretty daunting. I guess I'm curious what some of you would do in my situation. I'm not confident enough to do any risky investing. I get anxiety every time I transfer money to my IRA as it is. And considering I have my defined benefit retirement, how much money should I have saved before I retire completely? I'm single so it's all on me. TIA for any input. [link] [comments]  |
| Gifting parents 30K USD with the least fees and hassle (i.e. no FBAR requirement) Posted: 03 Jul 2021 01:05 AM PDT Hello, I wish to gift my parents 30K USD (from my US account to their UK account). Was about to send through BoA when I realised I would be loosing about 600 GBP based on their exchange rate (1.42 USD TO GBP)* in comparison to what TransferWise reports I would get (1.37 USD TO GBP) if I went through them. Can anybody recommend me an (ideally US-based) service to use to send 30K USD with better rates and without a bunch of hassle (i.e. not requiring me to file an FBAR*). Thanks * https://imgur.com/afRZrPq [link] [comments]  |
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