Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 09, 2021 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 09, 2021
- Vanguard merged my account with my father's and unable to get Vanguard to give me access - how do I escalate?
- Kaiser sent my ER bill to collections despite my bill showing as $0
- I am posting on behalf of my mother. She just received a settlement offer of 20k. Is this standard?
- Protecting my nest egg with no inheritors
- Turning 41 Monday with no retirement savings
- Investing Inheritance
- Is now an okay time to start putting some of my savings into S&P 500 index funds? Info in body!
- (USA) What State Should I Live In? - Homeless In Car. PLUS Extra Questions
- Currently paying for my mom's house mortgage. How to refinance?
- Should I Stay or Should I Go?
- 25 Year Old Teacher, 30k in savings, 0% Ideas in Brain
- Using debit card for purchases before home closing?
- Roth IRA vs. Roth 401k
- How much to save for my first house?
- Parked car hit & run
- New driver at age 34. What should car insurance look like for me ?
- How to decide on buying or renting?
- Penalties for default on a 401k loan?
- Is it safe to put down a deposit for an apartment sight unseen?
- Options for purchasing property from acquaintance.
- Tips on negotiating a raise when you're on commission and are busier than you've ever been and making more money than you ever have?
- Buying a used car $9k-$11k range, buy outright or finance half? Have savings, good credit, etc.
- Need a new car, don’t want to drop the money on one.
- Mortgage refinance again - am I thinking of this right?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of July 09, 2021 Posted: 09 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]  |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:39 PM PDT I've been unable to get account access to my Vanguard accounts for 3 months. Vanguard seems to merged my account with my father account (they say the account associated with my social and legal name is his username and my original username is gone). I've called Vanguard customer support 7 times over the last two months where they try to get me to go through a password creation flow or something generic action. From guesswork I think they accidentally merged my account with my father's since = we had a shared account, they deleted my account, and have now put this shared account in purgatory in which no customer support agent can give me online access (even though they can see all my holdings). I can't get vanguard to fix this, I've been through hours and hours of calls and had several calls dropped by their agents. I only have a phone number with east coast hours Monday - Friday. They won't give me an email, mailing address, or any other way to escalate. Is there any agency, regulator, or other complaint access to fix this issue? These accounts are a substantial percentage of my self worth. Update - since this seems relevant. My dad opened a Vanguard UTMA account (without my knowledge). This was the shared account we had. I am barely on speaking terms with my father, but from what I gathered he can't fix the issue either (since he has lost access to this account and its now under my name). He doesn't care since that account just had a UTMA. For a brief period, my dad's username was under my name, and under his address, so I'm guessing they illegally mailed my account information to him (not sure if that can help escalate the issue). [link] [comments]  |
| Kaiser sent my ER bill to collections despite my bill showing as $0 Posted: 09 Jul 2021 07:55 PM PDT I have a chronic condition that sometimes lands me in the ER. I went to the ER a few months back because I was blacking out. They eventually discharged me and I expected to pay the $100 co-pay as I have in the past. The weeks following I kept checking online through the Kaiser website to see if I had any bills. It kept saying I owed nothing. I was kind of confused. I've never had an issue paying my co-pays online. On top of this, I usually receive a bill notification in the mail directly confirming my co-pay. I usually pay any co-pays in the office but there's been a few times where they don't ask me to pay upfront. Anyway, as the months followed I occasionally checked online to make sure I didn't have a bill and it still showed $0. I probably should've called at this point. Fast forward to today, I receive a letter from USCB notifying me that this ER bill has been sent to collections. It also mentions that my billing statements were returned as undeliverable as the postal service which confuses me even more. I've received regular mail from Kaiser during this time so why?!?! I digress. I have no issur paying the $100 bill as I expected to pay it months back. I'm just upset this went to collections; I've spent a long time building my credit and finally had it in a good spot. Is there anyway to get this removed from my credit history? Or should I just take the ding and suck it up? [link] [comments]  |
| I am posting on behalf of my mother. She just received a settlement offer of 20k. Is this standard? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:30 PM PDT Hello, I am posting on behalf of my mother. My mother was injured on the job in February of 2020. She lives in the state of Utah. She is about 80% healed, and will be returning to work on Monday. She had a heavy box fall on her shoulder at work from over head. It tore her rotator cuff pretty badly, and herniated 3 vertabrae in her neck. She had to have surgery for this, and it was a long recovery period. Her lawyer says she has about a 50/50 chance of winning her lawsuit. She slipped in the snow and injured that rotator cuff back in 2000, although she did not need surgery for that. The staffing agency has offered a 20k settlement. Is this standard for this type of incident and injury? Of course. She is wondering whether she should take this, or proceed with the case. I have no experience with this, and most of the estimates I am finding online are for automobile claims. Thank you so much in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Protecting my nest egg with no inheritors Posted: 09 Jul 2021 04:01 PM PDT I have about 1.7m in personal assets and another 1m in unvested stock options and RSUs. I don't have anyone I want to leave my money to. I don't have a will of any kind, I just have OXFAM children listed as a beneficiary in my etrade account. Is that enough to make sure my money goes to OXFAM? Do I need to establish some sort of a trust? Should I set up a CRUT? I'll probably work another 5-7 years and make another 1.5m in that time. I can't imagine I'll survive much longer than that, but if I do, I'll live on about 25k a year (current pricing), and I don't plan on taking it with me. [link] [comments]  |
| Turning 41 Monday with no retirement savings Posted: 09 Jul 2021 09:39 AM PDT As the title suggests, I'm turning 41 on Monday and do not have any retirement savings. Now that I'm in my 40's the years are going by a lot more quickly than they used to, so I need to get started with a strategy. I spent the past twenty years buried in student loan debt, but thankfully, they're paid off. I realize I should have been saving for retirement for the past twenty years, but I was so stressed out by my loans that I chose to throw everything at them, so now I can stress about retirement lol. I'm lucky in that I'm in a position to start saving but would appreciate any suggestions as to how I should be investing to make up for lost time. Here is my situation: I am a frugal person and I'm finally completely debt free. I drive a three-year-old Honda that is paid off that will hopefully keep going for another ten or more years. I earn $103k per year and should be around $110k in the next three years. I work in a stable industry with transferrable skills, so I *should* be able to keep earning this amount for the foreseeable future, even if something happens with my current job. My company matches 100% of the first 3% we put in our 401k and 50% of the next 3%. I'm single and don't see that changing for the foreseeable future. I don't have any children and will not be having any. I rent – I really don't have a desire to own a house or condo (I've moved around various states frequently and may want to do so in the future), other than owning is an alternative to facing increasing rent every year for the rest of my life. I have $40,000 saved in my checking account that I want to keep liquid for any sort of unforeseen emergency. My take home pay is $6k per month. After rent ($1200) utilities, phone and insurance ($600) and food / clothing / fun ($600) – I have roughly $3,600 monthly to save / invest. My plan is to max out the 401k contribution at $1,625 per month, but beyond that, I don't know what to do. I bought a few personal finance books so I'll start educating myself about investing, but if anyone has any suggestions of a fund / investment to look into, to maximize investing in the time I do have left, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you all very much for any pointers, thoughts or suggestions you can offer, I appreciate it! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2021 03:19 PM PDT I have inherited 1 million dollars and am 27 years old. I am trying to figure out best way to invest this. I was thinking about putting it all in vanguard total stock market called vti. Is this a good idea? What do you recommend? Not planning on buying a house till at least a few years and do not have a need to use any of the cash as I am not in debt. [link] [comments]  |
| Is now an okay time to start putting some of my savings into S&P 500 index funds? Info in body! Posted: 09 Jul 2021 02:41 PM PDT Hello! The purpose of this post is to get some advice or pointers from people in personal finance, because I have very few resources for info. I try my best to read up on everything I can. I'm 24 and after nearly 9 years of working and trying to save money, I now have a liquid "nest egg" (I don't know if it's a nest egg because I'm going to post graduate school and have plenty of student loans) just sitting in an HYS at 0.5%. They say to take more risks when you're young, but given the current state of things in the US, I'm not willing to lose my shirt on super risky activity. That being said, I would like to do something more productive with my money. I hear money Market would be pretty much just a HYS. So I looked into index funds and etfs. To make it more complicated, I'm hearing that the bubble is about to rupture and the stock market is about to crash. I want to make the right moves and grow my money, but I feel like I'm always a couple medical bills away from having so much taken from me and don't want to risk too much. I was thinking about allocating some of my savings to index funds but I don't know if it's a good idea now Any advice or alternative suggestions are appreciated Edit: I have about 30k saved [link] [comments]  |
| (USA) What State Should I Live In? - Homeless In Car. PLUS Extra Questions Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:59 PM PDT Hello. This post is to ask for help with A few Different Things: INCOME: I often make between $10 and $12 an hour and it's not enough. I have no idea how to get higher pay and I want a decent Job. Now I can live on $10 an hour and actually save money each month if I had an apartment, but I want to do better... TRAVEL: I know different states in the USA have higher minimum Wage. Where I live the lowest is $7.25 but almost all the places offer $10-12 an hour. I was wanting to move to somewhere where the wage is decent and cost of living is lowish as well. I am Extremely Frugal and know how to budget. SAVINGS: I won't go into this too much but I have over $5000 saved so I could have enough to travel to another state and get an apartment... I just don't know where. I would like to somehow save 50 Percent of my monthly income. I would need a job paying $2400 a month after tax. That would be about $16 an hour and I don't know how to make that much. RETIREMENT: I am considering retiring in the Philippines and I need $600 a month (This is middle class there). Otherwise I need $1200 a month to live in the USA. I was wanting to save up like $200,000 and put it in the stock market and maybe that would give me back at least $600 a month? It would take me about 15 years if I made around $15 an hour. HOME: I think an apartment is best for me. Something like $700 a month would allow all my expenses to be $1000 to $1200 a month. So a $10 an hour job would afford that for example... But I want even more money so I can save half per year MARRIAGE: I have a girlfriend who lives in the Philippines. She only makes about equal to $200 a month . I would love to bring her here and get married. We could also work together and make money quicker. What is my best bet and your best advice for me to succeed? If you disagree with my life choices that is fine BUT play along and tell me the best advice to achieve my goals please? [link] [comments]  |
| Currently paying for my mom's house mortgage. How to refinance? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 09:56 PM PDT I am currently paying for my mom's house mortgage. It's currently the best time ever to refinance mortgage but my mom does not work anymore. Is there a way for me to refinance mortgage myself even though I do not own the house? We want to refinance obviously because:
Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2021 04:03 PM PDT I'll try and keep this simple. Been with current employer for 11yrs. Have progressed steadily from a junior role up to Product Manager. Established company with numerous multi million dollar state contracts. Don't get to target PM work as much as I would like - i feel it has held me back in career progression in the past 12-18m. Company was owned by a large multi-national who dictated resource usage and overheads. Company was recently purchased by top 2 execs who now have autonomy of company. I was approached by a recruiter earlier this year related to a PM role for a company who operate in my sector, but not a competitor. They are a startup from 2012 and have had massive growth and now employ over 300ppl. They have a huge emphasis on product dev and offered me a position on their PM team after a rigorous interview process. Their offer was a 7-8% salary bump over my current salary, including a 6% bonus and an incredible benefits package (no premium health plan, 300p/m monthly into HSA among many other things). On learning of the offer and my decision to leave, current co and owners have offered a 40% raise in salary, 2% equity in the business, recruit a role to take over the non PM work that i get routinely dragged into, and a budget to use resources for pure product dev. It's not easy. I was drawn to the new co because of their approach to product dev, their growth, and the 'change' it would offer me. Obviously, grass always seems greener, right? With the counter, it obviously gives me equity in an established private company ( i need to ask questions about vesting, strike price etc. i realize), a huge increase in salary, and if i take them at their word, support and structure to do what I want to do to help them grow. What would you do? [link] [comments]  |
| 25 Year Old Teacher, 30k in savings, 0% Ideas in Brain Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:37 PM PDT Hello! I am a 25 year old teacher making ~54k a year. I had the blessing of living at home for a while. I have ~30k in my savings account. I just paid off my newish car, don't have college debt, and the school district is pretty much paying for my masters. Other than phone bills and stuff like that I have nothing weighing me down. I just opened up a Vanguard Roth IRA. I was told about investing it into VTSAX and just adding $100 a month. Even if I switch to another Federal government job, I'm still planning on getting a pension. I'm just planning for retirement. Any advice on where to go from here would be great. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Using debit card for purchases before home closing? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 07:03 PM PDT Hi, this is potentially a dumb question. I am closing on a house on Monday, late afternoon, and the title company has already received the funds I sent for all closing and down payment costs. I'm not going to use my credit card until I have the keys to the house, but is it okay if I use my debit card? I want to buy cleaning supplies and first night essentials (i.e., inflatable mattress, toiletries, towels, bedding, etc.). I have $15k in an emergency fund, $6k leftover in my home down payment/closing cost fund, and $7k in my checking. Idk I just don't want to somehow mess up. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:15 PM PDT I'm 31 years old and I make 78k. My husband makes 75k. My employer offers a Roth and traditional 401k with no employer match. Can someone please explain to me why I should choose to contribute to a Roth IRA instead of my employers Roth 401k? Right now I contribute 19% (15% into traditional 401k and 4% into Roth 401k). Also, about 9 months ago, I started slowly contributing money into a brokerage account with fidelity (FXAIX, FZROX, FNILX, FZILX). I was originally doing $100/month but recently have been doing more (closer to $400+ per month). Anything I should change? [link] [comments]  |
| How much to save for my first house? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:29 AM PDT Hi, I'm planning to buy my first house sometime in the near future (next 2 years). I'm trying to figure out how much I need to save, but I've found conflicting information online. I'm 25, make $68,000 before tax, and have very little debt. I just pay rent/utilities ($1,200 / month) and have a car loan that will be paid off in a couple of months. I have $17,000 in savings, $2,000 in stocks, and around $10,000 in my 401K. I'm in a stable field, so I'm not too worried about an emergency fund (figured $12,000 should be good).
Thanks for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2021 09:44 PM PDT someone did a hit and run on my car, police got camera footage and stuff like that. but can anyone let me know what insurance could do because my front bumper is cracked and half out, bottom front light is gone completely, the lock car sound now sounds weird and i dont know what to expect, this is my first "accident" as i am young and on my first car which is an 05 car. [link] [comments]  |
| New driver at age 34. What should car insurance look like for me ? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 10:03 AM PDT I am 34, but I am a new driver who is just getting started with driving. I am looking to get a car soon, but I've heard that car insurance can be super high for new drivers due to lack of driving history. I am financially stable with a decent job, but I still need to make sure that my car insurance doesn't go out of my monthly budget. But I am unable to get a good idea on what a "good" car insurance looks like for new adult drivers above 30. Most of the resources related to that are geared towards teens as they are generally considered to be new drivers. Where can I find more information on average car insurance for new adult drivers ? PS : I have a good credit score (above 740) and I live in Minnesota, if that matters. [link] [comments]  |
| How to decide on buying or renting? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 06:01 PM PDT Have a somewhat difficult financial decision to make. I'm working + going to grad school, so I'll be in my current location for a minimum of 3, potentially 5 or 6 years (longer is possible but knowing me I doubt it) Rent is damn high in this area relative to COL . I have the opportunity to buy a nice house for 400k ish, where a 30 year monthly mortgage payment would be roughly 300 dollars a month less than comparable renting an apartment. Factoring in property taxes the monthly cost would be almost identical (I also assume utilities would be slightly more for the house but not a ton as it's small) Neither of these is an investment and I understand how amerozation works so buying for a short ish term (5 ish years) isn't cut and dry Any advice or input on how to make responsible decisions here? [link] [comments]  |
| Penalties for default on a 401k loan? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 09:10 PM PDT Anyone know what likely IRS and California FTB penalties there will be on a 401k loan that I've had for 18 months but decided to default on - I'm over 60 years of age. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Is it safe to put down a deposit for an apartment sight unseen? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 03:49 PM PDT My lease is up and I have the option of renewing my lease with the same rent, or looking around to see if I can find a better apartment. I have two more months to make that decision before I go to month-to-month at a slightly hiked rent. I have come across a lot of nice apartments that are not available for a tour because they are still occupied, but the property managers recommend applying and putting down a deposit because it will be gone by the time it is available for a tour. That has actually happened quite a few time when I was thinking of seeing some apartments when they become available. What are the odds of putting down a deposit or signing a lease sight unseen like what the property managers suggest and getting an apartment that has not been cleaned or painted? Do I have any recourse if I put down a deposit and the apartment is in worse shape than the photos, or the similar unit shown? [link] [comments]  |
| Options for purchasing property from acquaintance. Posted: 09 Jul 2021 12:26 PM PDT I have a lead on a property that could be an absolute incredible deal. We know the sellers on very good terms. They need to move for family reasons and want someone they know to buy. I want to meet and discuss with them (And do all my due diligence too!) They want a cash sale for expediency and to avoid realter fees I think. The property does not have mortgage out currently as far as I am aware. EDIT: Actual question being - from your experience, which direction would you tend to lean the most in this situation? I'm thinking of options to discus with them, but was hoping for some insight into these and other possibilities that might work with a seller that is sort of old school, well off already, and want the least hassle on their part.
Affording the place is not an issue. Getting them the money in a cost effective manor that suites both sides is what I'm trying to decide.
[link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2021 08:20 PM PDT So long story still-long-but-maybe-a-little-shorter-than-it-could-be, I'm an auto tech/mechanic on flat rate. Flat rate means we get a set amount per job - if an oil pan gasket pays 1.5 hours, and we make $20 an hour, we get 20 x 1.5, $30 for that brake job, regardless of how long it took. Everything has a book time (or one that can be made up!), and all of your pay comes from those hours flagged. I've been at this dealership for 10+ years now. I'm in our recon department, so I almost exclusively work on are used cars for our 3 dealerships; trade ins, auction buys, etc. In that time, the dealerships have grown tremendously. I don't have any illusions that's all because I'm putting out bangers, but I like to think my putting out quality vehicles helps sell them. 5 years ago, I was increased to 20/hour, and a small raise a couple years later. Since then, my average hours/week has increased every year, from 45 hours in 2016 to 60 in 2020. We usually have 3 techs, with me as "lead tech" - a title which really doesn't mean anything. However, one of them left in Feb (personal reasons), and the other left in June (moved). So now I'm the only tech. And there is a huge shortage of techs - a symptom of an industry offering far too few benefits and too little pay for decades on end. I texted every tech I know (to see if they knew of anyone that might be interested in our position), and almost everyone said their shop is also looking for a tech. Being the only tech in our shop has been reflected in my paycheck. I've averaged ~80 hours per week this year so far, and no signs of slowing down. Another little tidbit is that one of our former employees went to Walmart as a lube tech and makes $17/hour. As a result of this competition, our service department raised their lube techs to match at $17/hour. I will have a review this month. My last review was early in the year and I got great marks, though it was unaccompanied by a raise, which I was told would come in July. My internal version of how this will go down is that they'll offer a raise smaller than I feel I deserve, and the justification will be that I'm flagging more hours than ever before and that provides a natural increase in pay. I feel that if they thought every hour of my labor was worth $20 6 years ago, just to keep up with inflation, it should be about $22.50 - but in that time I've gained experienced, acquired tools, and increased my mechanical and diagnostic ability tremendously. I have no intentions of leaving, there are many benefits of this job other than overall pay that I like and don't think I would get elsewhere. I'm sure they know that after 10 years. How do you think I should approach this if they offer me less than I think I should be making? If they use the reasoning I mentioned above? [link] [comments]  |
| Buying a used car $9k-$11k range, buy outright or finance half? Have savings, good credit, etc. Posted: 09 Jul 2021 01:31 PM PDT I'm in the the market for a used car and despite my wanting to buy a slightly newer, CPO BMW which would cost about/at least twice as much - I plan to go the route of a used Acura TSX/TL. I'm looking at something in the $9000-$11,000 range. I have very good credit (has fluctuated a bit in the 790-805 range the last few months) and about $35k in savings. Salary of $70k. I plan to buy a home one day, but not within the next few years. Am I better off pulling the full purchase price of the car out of my savings (if I do this, I'd try harder to stick to the 8k-9k range) or better off putting say 5-6k down and financing the rest? [link] [comments]  |
| Need a new car, don’t want to drop the money on one. Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:59 PM PDT I'm in my late 20s, living very frugally after spending majority of my 20s traveling for work and going out a lot etc. I have a good amount of money saved up (30k over the past 12 months) no debt, maxing out my 401k. I rent a really cheap apartment. My credit isn't great, I learned later than most people about it's importance. It's at 661. That's actually good compared to this time last year. I drive a really old truck, I live very close to work so I don't mind it. But since I've moved after leaving the military, I find myself bored and finding more and more issues with the truck. I always fix them. I love the truck but I am finding myself missing road trips and whatnot with my dog, and my truck won't cut it, as I don't feel that it's reliable anymore to go on long trips. After looking at smaller economy cars (Hyundai accents etc) I figure a slightly used car would be great for me , but I feel like I worked really hard to save so much over the last year. Should I drop 17k on a car right now? Should I wait until the car market is better? Should I put half of the money down and finance the rest to help with my credit? If so, how long should I make the loan term? [link] [comments]  |
| Mortgage refinance again - am I thinking of this right? Posted: 09 Jul 2021 05:49 PM PDT I know everyone asks. My situation is a bit different and I apologize if this is confusing or if I've left any important info out. I refinanced my mortgage in July 2020:
Different part is, I kept "making the same payment" from my original loan, so I've been paying in an extra $122.34 each month in principal. This makes the "calculating break-even" not as obvious to me. I am calculating the break-even based on "how much less interest did I pay?" That puts my "break even" date as May 2025. I'm seeing new 30 year mortgages for 2.375%, and I'd want to continue "making the same payment" and funneling the difference in as principal:
If my math is correct, I've got ~$5k in closing costs for the new loan + $4,547 in "unpaid" costs from the old loan. So I am thinking of this as ~$9,547 in "total costs." Using the "how much less interest did I pay" approach to break even - this looks like I'd "break even" around the same time: May 2025, but have $4k more principal paid off. Even though I haven't broke even on my current loan, wouldn't this be worth looking at refinancing? It seems like it. [link] [comments]  |
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