Personal Finance I have a gut feeling to accept a lower offer on my property because something about the buyer is tugging my heart strings. |
- I have a gut feeling to accept a lower offer on my property because something about the buyer is tugging my heart strings.
- My student loans have a 2.9% interest rate. Wouldn't it be best for me to pay the minimum amount on that loan and invest the rest in a low-risk account?
- Vanguard Customer Service is now horrifically inept.
- If you plan on living in your house until you die, is it still considered an investment?
- Death of Wife leaving me with our 3 young children - how to invest for our future.
- Brokerage can't find my deceased mother's TOD form and won't release her stocks to her heirs. What is our recourse?
- I accidentally scratched someone’s car I didn’t have insurance at the time. I offered to pay to get t he scratch buffed they say it’s 800
- Have 5k to spend from HSA before leaving job this month
- Recently received an inheritance…
- I goofed up. Not sure how bad. Any insight is appreciated.
- I have been willed a house, I have no idea what to do.
- Can't sell my car because I can't get title.
- Wells fargo insurance check hasn't processed
- College didn't inform me of debt until two weeks before it was due?
- Rooftop solar: finance or pay cash?
- Contributing a higher % than company match
- Student loans vs investment
- Ever heard of a credit card with no grace period for purchases?
- Fresh uni grad, parents are advising paying off student loans slowly in the next 10-20 years and putting most of the money into savings and 401k. Is this right?
- When asking for a raise
- Self Employed in Texas - Haven't filed taxes in 10+ years. Ready to sort this out. Advice?
- Worth trading in a truck to lower negative equity?
- I screwed up in a big way with retail therapy last year, and now I need to fix it. What’s the best order to attack this five figure debt?
- How to resolve an unpaid Verizon phone bill that went to collections
- How to best make use of my credit cards? (BoA Travel Rewards Gold + Chase Sapphire Preferred)
| Posted: 22 Nov 2021 06:34 PM PST My wife and I have multiple offers on this piece of property that we are selling. One of the offers is lower than the current highest offer by $5k. I learned that it is from a single mom who has been looking for a place for months and keeps getting beat out. I know that I need to have a logical, level head here, but my heart strings are being tugged because I know what it is like to have a single mom trying to find a place, because I went through that when I was young. I lean towards accepting the lower offer. Is it okay to be sentimental and emotional about decisions like this, or is straight numbers the way to go? Update: Thank you all for the kind words! Never did I imagine that I'd be in a position like this before. I think back to growing up, when I was moving from house to house with my mom before we found a place, and I never knew or understood how hard it must have been for her. I know that there is a chance that maybe my heartstrings are being manipulated. In the grand scheme of things, I'd rather be guilty of the sin of giving when I shouldn't have than of the sin of not giving when I should have. Update: My wife and I decided to accept her offer. In the end, if we can make a difference to someone, then the difference is an amount we'd gladly pay. Maybe God sent the offer to us because we are the ones who'd be able to bless her life. However we want to look at it, I think she will be better off for it. Update: People are really concerned that I'm being manipulated, wondering how I know that this lady is a single mom, or how much I can trust my realtor, etc etc. Basically, what happened was that we received a few offers on our place. While going over the offers, I asked my realtor (whom I know very well and trust highly) if they knew who the offers were from. They then told a brief description of the people, one being a single mom with two kids and the other being a young couple just starting out trying to find their first place. That is literally all the realtor told me. I didn't read an offer letter, I didn't get many more details than that. But the thought of this single mom just got stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out. Some people may call it being manipulated, or foolish, or hoping that they aren't going to make the closing process miserable for me. I hope all that too. But growing up, moving from house to house with my own single mom, I can't imagine how that felt for her. But my heart is full with this chance, this slim chance, that maybe I can make a single mom's life a little easier, to be able to maybe spend more time with her kids, to have a better hand dealt to her for once. Maybe, just maybe, I can do that for her, and the money I'm leaving on the table is worth that to me. Update: Interpret this how you want. When our realtor told them that we accepted her offer, the other realtor communicated that the single mom broke down and cried. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 11:59 AM PST Any money I put towards my student loan would essentially be investing it at a 2.9% return, right? So my thoughts are that if I could put money in a mutual fund and make a 3% return, that would be a better long-term use of my money than trying to pay off all my student loans really fast. Am I thinking on the right track here? [link] [comments] |
| Vanguard Customer Service is now horrifically inept. Posted: 23 Nov 2021 08:27 AM PST After 15 years and > $1M invested, I need to move everything to another brokerage. I have only ever used Vanguard and still believe very much in the "boglehead" approach to investing, but I will be moving all of my investments to another brokerage. Vanguard's customer service has gotten so bad that I never want to deal with it again, and thought to share my experience as Vanguard is still so frequently recommended on /r/personalfinance. Summary of events for my recent request to transfer a Vanguard (company sponsored) 401k to my existing Vanguard IRAs:
And then, after all of that, Vanguard's rep tried to push for having me sign up for use of a "personal investor". They only confirmed the .3% fee after I explicitly pointed out that this is not a free offering and goes against my boglehead approach to reduce fees if at all possible. This is beyond pathetic and not a company I trust my life investments with any longer. So which brokerage is worth moving to? Fidelity, Schwab... something else? [link] [comments] |
| If you plan on living in your house until you die, is it still considered an investment? Posted: 23 Nov 2021 06:16 AM PST What benefits does owning a house have if you never plan to sell it? [link] [comments] |
| Death of Wife leaving me with our 3 young children - how to invest for our future. Posted: 22 Nov 2021 05:10 PM PST Hello. I was hoping for some guidance for my current situation. Why wife unexpectedly died of a stroke last week, leaving behind me and our 3 boys - 8/5/1. We both worked and made decent money for our Southeast location. 70k for me and 47k for her. I will be moving into our new built home next week with our 3 boys. I am not too worried about living on my income but do have questions about planning for mine and the boys future. I current have 50k in saving 25k in retirement account and will be receiving 50k pay out for life insurance. Our only debts are 13k car and our new 260k house. My kids will recieve about $1k/month divided between them in social security benefits. Other than continuing my 6% employer match, and trying to max my Roth, where is the best place for additional funds for my boys. Also, what route is best for life insurance incase of my passing? Edit: I'm 30, wife was 31. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 09:30 AM PST My mother registered a Transfer on Death form with her brokerage several years ago directing that her securities be divided equally among her heirs. She died recently and we dutifully submitted her death certificate and signed forms accepting the transfer. Now the brokerage says that the TOD form can't be found. What is our recourse? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:41 PM PST I don't know if this is the right subreddits for this. But this is the situation. I just got a new job. I didn't have insurance because I couldn't afford it and I had to use the car to get to work so I could make money to get insurance. I was in the parking lot trying to park and they're care was parked way out in the middle so I accidentally scratched it. With my car. I didn't wanna do a hit and run so I left a note saying i accidentally scratched your car here is my number we can work this out. We agreed that I would pay for that spot to be buffed to avoid any insurance issues on my end and her end. It was tiny scratch. Maybe an inch long. The car was a 2017 Tahoe. So we shake on it and I give them my address and phone number so they know I'm willing to help. They didn't get back to my for two months and they originally told me that they were going to get it check that weekend. They texted me today and said it cost 800 to get the car buffed which can't be correct. And I don't know how I am going to pay can someone tell me what I can do here legally ? [link] [comments] |
| Have 5k to spend from HSA before leaving job this month Posted: 23 Nov 2021 04:15 PM PST I am sitting on 5k in my HSA insurance account that I was always told would be mine, even after leaving my current employer. Apparently that is not the case and I will lose that money. I believe this money is restricted to vision and dental expenses. Any and all advice is appreciated on ways I can use this money in the coming days. [link] [comments] |
| Recently received an inheritance… Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:17 PM PST Received a bit over $500k inheritance in the form of IRAs, life insurance, checking accounts, etc. We plan on maxing out 401k contributions and using the withdrawals from the IRAs to supplement our income. Also going to max out our own IRAs. I owe about $11k on student loans still, with a 6.8% interest rate. Only other debt is owing about $12k on the car 3.5 interest, and our mortgage, which is currently $135k with 26 years left, 4.3 interest. My husband wants to pay off the mortgage. I'm not so sure that's the best option. While it would be nice to be completely debt free, I see a lot of people saying not to pay off a mortgage. Would it be better just to pay more per month? Pay it off? Keep it as is? Also, what else should we be doing? We have kids. Should we start 529s for them? Is there something better we could do? I have no experience in finances beyond savings and checking accounts, so if you could explain it like I'm five, I would appreciate it. [link] [comments] |
| I goofed up. Not sure how bad. Any insight is appreciated. Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:52 PM PST So I faxed a document containing very sensitive personal data to a number given to me by a reputable financial organization that had legitimate need of it. Except for the fact that I didn't. I just realized that I entered the number wrong, but still got a fax confirmation saying it was sent. I didn't realize this mixup until several weeks later when I called the organization for a status update and they said they hadn't received anything from me. What are the chances the fax was actually received and viewed/printed? Don't wanna say too much but I essentially entered 800 instead of 877, and doing some googling it looks like 800 numbers can receive faxes, but googling the full incorrect number I don't see any immediate hits for existing phone numbers. What should I do about this to make sure I don't become a victim of identity theft? Or are the chances slim that the document was seen by anyone and I should just keep an eye on my accounts but not lose too much sleep over it? Just need to know how worried I should be. [link] [comments] |
| I have been willed a house, I have no idea what to do. Posted: 23 Nov 2021 02:52 PM PST My father passed away over three years ago, in his will he left my his home. The terms were if I lived in it for three years (while it was under my grandmother's name) it would then be transferred into my name. Those three years have passed and my very elderly grandmother is anxious to get this out of her name and into my now Wife and I's names. She has deeded the house over to us, but I'm not sure what to do now? I'm ok with finances, my wife makes $70k/year W4, I make more than that but I run my own business and it's only been a year so I know the bank will look poorly on that (even though I have a credit score above 800). Is the next step to get pre-approved for a loan? We aren't buying the house, just taking over the mortgage so is there some way to transfer the mortgage into our names? Any advise would be extremely helpful. Thank you! TL;DR: dad died, left me his house, some family stuff, it's now time to get the house and it's mortgage put into I and my wife's name. Please help? [link] [comments] |
| Can't sell my car because I can't get title. Posted: 23 Nov 2021 09:48 AM PST Hope this is the right subreddit. You guys are usually pretty helpful. Years ago, I had terrible credit. Got a car financed through American Credit Acceptance. I've since learned that this place is only for people with low credit. I think the interest was 24 percent. Shortly after that time in my life, I found this subreddit and am doing much better lol. Anywho, I refinanced with Chase after building my credit. Couple of years later, paid it off. I'm looking to sell my car but American Credit Acceptance still has a lien on it. Never reported it as paid off. They also have terrible customer service. I've been told they would send my title 3 times now, and they still haven't sent it. Is there anyway to force them to legally send this? [link] [comments] |
| Wells fargo insurance check hasn't processed Posted: 23 Nov 2021 01:40 PM PST My wife's car was totaled in October. We filed an insurance claim. She still owed like 3400 on it to wells fargo to pay it off. Our insurance company issued a check more than 10 business days ago to Wells Fargo. They still haven't received it. We called our insurance company today, they told us it was out of their hands and to call Wells Fargo. We did. Wells Fargo said we are still responsible for missed payments and the loan and any negative implications on her credit until they receive the check yet there is nothing pending on their end. What the hell am I supposed to do? Not to mention, we are still waiting for money to be sent to us for the car that someone else totaled. It wasn't her fault at all. So it's left us with no money for her car that was almost paid off, marks on her credit possibly,and Wells Fargo saying she is still responsible for a loan that our insurance company was supposed to pay off. I just need advice from anyone. Feeling overwhelmed [link] [comments] |
| College didn't inform me of debt until two weeks before it was due? Posted: 23 Nov 2021 02:28 PM PST Hi all. I've attended college in-state (Virginia) via distance learning since Spring 2019. I am disabled, and receive tuition help through Virginia's Disability, Aging, and Rehabilitative Services (DARS). Through miscommunication between myself, the college, and DARS about cross-registering me with a school in Virginia's Community College System, I apparently didn't accept any financial aid for the Summer 2021 semester, where I took four courses. However, I was never informed of this by the college. I received no emails of it, no letters, no calls -- just radio static. I wasn't notified about having an account balance until Sept. 21st, 2021 -- well into the Fall 2021 semester, mind you -- by my DARS case-worker, who had also just been informed of it. According to the school, I had until the beginning of October to pay just around $5k, or it'd be sent to collections and I'd be unable to attend classes. I was only 24 credits away from graduating, and DARS had no way of back-paying. Obviously, I couldn't pay that much in just two weeks, and it's since been sent to third-party collections, where (thanks to late fees from both the college and collection fees from the debt collectors) the debt has ballooned to $7600. I'm making what payments I can on it, but I still feel something was mishandled here, given how I wasn't notified until it was impossible for me to pay. Any advice? TL;DR - My college asked me to pay $5k two weeks before it was due with no other correspondence [link] [comments] |
| Rooftop solar: finance or pay cash? Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:19 PM PST I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on a rooftop solar installation for my home. Total project cost willl be about $33k for 10kW. A 26% Federal tax credit effectively reduces that by about $8500, and rebates from my electric utility will pay back another $4000 over about five years. I have enough in savings and investments to pay cash, or I can finance it through the installer at 0.99% (10 years), 1.49% (15 years) or 1.99% (20 or 25 years) ... but financing it adds an outrageous 36% to the up-front cost, bringing the project total to almost $45k. Normally I'd say no way to a 36% price premium just for financing, but that charge also qualifies for the Federal tax credit so it's effectively more like 27%. That's still outrageous ... except with inflation being what it is and the loan interest rates being below 2%, I'm a big fan of using other people's money now and paying them back over a few decades. I ran the numbers and if I'm doing my math correctly, assuming 3.5% inflation in the upcoming decades, NPV for borrowing $44,624 at 0.99% for 10 years is $39,163; NPV for borrowing $44,624 at 1.49% over 15 years is $37,040; NPV for borrowing $44.624 at 1.99% over 20 years is $35,110 and NPV for borrowing $44,624 at 1.99% over 25 years is $33,353. So if I can afford to pay cash (about $33k), there's no financial reason for me to start up a low interest loan for 20 to 25 years, right? Am I missing anything critical in my analysis? [link] [comments] |
| Contributing a higher % than company match Posted: 22 Nov 2021 09:34 AM PST I work for a company that matches up to 4% for our 401(k). I've been at 5% since starting to was to start shifting that percent higher on a yearly basis. After speaking with my father in law (who'snot a financial consultant) he told me that his finance guy said anything above what the company matches is a waste as very little above that goes into your 401(k) and goes towards fees and other things that did not make it worth pushing that percent higher. Is this true? Should one take that money and find other avenues to help fund retirement? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:52 PM PST I wanted advice regarding my own personal situation. I went to grad school for healthcare in a 4 year program, and came out with a debt of around 270k. I'm making decent money at around 165k with bonuses included. I expect a 5% raise annually I hope. My question is multifaceted. Interest has been frozen until end of January 2022, with repayment starting at that time too. Should I pay off aggressively? I want to invest into s & p index funds as well with vanguard, and plan on making max contribution to Roth retirement that my company matches at 2 % salary. Should I even think about investing at this point? Or should I focus every dollar towards the loans? All advice would be appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Ever heard of a credit card with no grace period for purchases? Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:52 PM PST Last month, I pulled out a long-dormant credit card of mine from a local credit union, because I needed to make a payment to my contractor on some renovation work and this is the only card I have with a high enough limit (needed to clear $25k; only a sucker pays in cash if the merchant isn't charging a credit card fee, lol). Anyways, I get my statement a week later on November 1st, and the credit union charged me interest on this $25k purchase...it's something like a $100 interest charge on a transaction from, again, barely 1 week prior. I call up the credit union, and talked to several people who I felt like were straight-up gaslighting me; e.g., "I don't know what you mean by a grace period; if you make a purchase with a card and don't pay off the balance, interest starts accruing". I'm trying to explain over and over that this wasn't a purchase made in September that I let carry over into the current month; the purchase was from 10/21, and the interest was charged on the statement ending 10/31. I finally point them to this fine print on the back of the statement: Interest will be charged on a purchase posted during a billing cycle when the entire balance is not paid in full by the due date of that statement. Your due date is at least 25 days after the close of each billing cycle At which point the lady says she needs to have a specialist call me back tomorrow to explain things. I'm not alone in thinking this is bonkers right? If you were to go by what multiple members of the staff have told me, from the day you make a purchase on their credit card, it starts accruing interest. Why on earth would anyone ever use their credit card then? On top of that, the explanation I kept getting seems to directly contradict the fine print, and how every other credit card I've ever had works...which I could pass off as a couple of uninformed low-level employees, except that they actually charged me the interest! This seems like something a loan shark might do...but in this case, it's the official credit union of a major national university in the Midwest. Unfortunately, when I used to use this as a student, I usually carried a small balance from month to month, which I did (understandably) get charged interest for...so it was impossible for me to say "well this isn't how you used to do it". But the card has had a zero balance for years now. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 08:56 AM PST I'm 25 y/o, graduated from a university in Canada but now live and work in Bay Area, Cali. At this entry level position I make 60k before taxes (with room to grow), and have in total 40k of student debt; half from federal government and half from provincial government. The Canadian federal government announced recently that federal student loans will be interest free until 2023, and the provincial student loan still has a interest rate of 2.45%. I was thinking of paying a lump sum of around $10k to the federal loans now, then put as much as I can towards the debt each month while still saving $500USD/month and putting 5% towards 401k. However, parents advised me that I should just pay the minimum on my student loans over the course of 10-20 years, and put the extra money into either financing a car (my current car is a 2009 Corolla that is getting old), or savings/401k so I could invest it and grow. What would be my best option? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:09 PM PST Hi! Hopefully I am posting this in the right community and don't break any rules :-) I have been working for a company for about six months now. This is my first job out of college but I had several internships within this field during college. When I accepted my offer, they originally offered $40k salary and I had countered with $45k. Ultimately they decided that after six months I would have a review and see if my salary would raise to $42.5k. Now we are at six months, I'm wondering who I bring this up to? I asked my boss not that long ago and she seemed unsure but I don't want to email or ask the wrong person. I also just am unsure in how to go about this in general. What to say what not to say that sort of thing I also want to potentially ask for more money, hopefully $45k. Originally when I had started working for the company there was 2 assistants including myself, but now it is just me and the workload will definitely increase even moreso as we get into 2022. I appreciate any helpful wisdom you can offer me! [link] [comments] |
| Self Employed in Texas - Haven't filed taxes in 10+ years. Ready to sort this out. Advice? Posted: 22 Nov 2021 03:38 PM PST I own my own business (I have an INC) and have 10 years of both personal and corporate taxes that I have been too afraid to file. Some info: -I live in Texas. I'm not worried about jail or anything, but I want to get on the right page and not have this hanging over me as it causes tremendous anxiety. My instinct is to hire an Enrolled Agent to help sort this all out but the catch 22 with that is it will take all of my disposable income (and possibly more) to pay the Enrolled Agent (assuming they are $200+ per hour) and I won't have enough left over for a payment plan. I think that sums it up. Any insight would be appreciated. Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. [link] [comments] |
| Worth trading in a truck to lower negative equity? Posted: 23 Nov 2021 02:05 PM PST After my car was totaled I bought an F150 new as I needed to carry over 15k in negative equity over to something that the bank would allow instead of getting a personal loan to pay for it on the side. A ford dealer is now asking to buy this truck from me for more than what I paid which would lower my negative equity down to about 8k onto a cord explorer. Is it worth changing vehicles to lower the overall cost and equity? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 02:00 PM PST Last year was incredibly challenging, not just because of the pandemic but also because I was simultaneously dealing with my partner at the time being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, facing down the fact as the year went along that I was realizing that our relationship was a ten year toxic stew, massive depression, and ultimately her passing. I bought a lot (and I mean a lot) of stuff last year because of course stuff makes you happy. Well, obviously I tanked my credit score and acquired a lot of debt. I declared Chapter 7 back in 2016 so that wasn't an option. I have to deal with this screw up myself, but at least I can say that everything is picking up now - I have a good job, I feel a lot better about myself, and as of next week I'll rent my own place (albeit a room for rent and not a full apartment), but this is the last massive problem for me to tackle. I'm trying to figure out the best way to pay this mess down. I have four big debts, two are on active credit cards and two are debts already in collection. I let the two in collections go for as long as possible because I was still out of work up to August and couldn't pay until then, and I've enrolled them both in payment plans because they were on the precipice of taking me to court and I didn't want any judgments or wages garnished and have things get even worse. I'm coming in to $8,000, and thanks to my job taking care of monthly expenses I'm committing 100% of it toward my debt. I'm also selling everything that I purchased last year and then some. My goal is to have more than half of it gone by the end of next year. Debts: I'm trying to decide if I should try and settle the two collections accounts for a percentage (shooting for 20-50%) with the money or use the whole thing to take a big swing out of one of the two cards. [link] [comments] |
| How to resolve an unpaid Verizon phone bill that went to collections Posted: 23 Nov 2021 09:43 AM PST An EX had my name on a phone bill that went unpaid and went to collections. My credit has dropped significantly because of this. I already paid the bill and they told me the company that purchased the debt. What are my options for getting this resolved? Can I call that company to pay an additional fee? I am looking to purchase a home next year and would like to increase my credit scores. TIA! [link] [comments] |
| How to best make use of my credit cards? (BoA Travel Rewards Gold + Chase Sapphire Preferred) Posted: 23 Nov 2021 03:38 PM PST I (25F) have had a credit card since I was 19 but only used it for small purchases and have never paid attention to the rewards, points and benefits until now. I have been a heavy user of my debit card but want to make the change and take advantage of credit cards! For more context, I have a 775 credit score and have always paid on time. I have a Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card (Gold Tier) which gives 1.5 points for every $1 for ALL purchases, no matter the category. Because it's gold tier, it also says I have "25% Rewards" (which I am not really understanding what this means). This is the card I've had since I was 19. I also just got a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card due to several of my friends really liking the benefits. This has a higher point-to-dollar ratio for eating out and media subscriptions (ie., Spotify, Netflix) so I plan on using this card for all food, travel, and media subscription purchases. My question is: what card should I use for random purchases like errands, electronics, games, etc.? Is the BoA Preferred Gold (1.5x) better than Chase Sapphire Preferred (1x) for this type of spending because of the higher points, or do the Chase benefits outweigh those of BoA? TL;DR - I'm starting out with a credit card and want to know how to maximize the benefits! [link] [comments] |
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