Personal Finance Weekend Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 17, 2021 |
- Weekend Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 17, 2021
- I’m 36 years old and have wasted a lot of time and I’m in a lot of debt. Help.
- Spent 2 years building my credit just to have closing an account drop my score almost 100 points
- What to do with parent's belongings after they die?
- I’m about to get a $1500 hospital bill which is after the insurance contribution. My new insurance is awful. How do I go about facing this?
- What do I do with 10k sitting around
- 26 years old, trying to figure out what to do/invest with the money I hoard for FIRE
- What are some adaptations and tips for living with low income?
- My home was recently lost in the KY tornadoes. I have been very thankful to the people around me. My question is what do I do about the donations I’ve received?
- Got a letter from IRS to file 2018 taxes and that the proposed amount due is 20k. I am terrified and do not know what to do.
- Picking Health Insurance Options
- Home sale capital gain exclusion
- I work in one state, live in another state. Which state will tax my income?
- Am I doing okay in life for my age?
- Just received a job opportunity that is hard to pass down, but current company countered, need help deciding what to do.
- 33, no debt. Invest in first house or continue to rent and invest for compound interest?
- I am 28 years old, and struggling.
- Silver linings for the end of the year if you have had a bad financial 2021
- I'm trying to get ahold of a debt collector to try and pay a bill or settle and they won't answer the phone.
- How can I afford anything in 2021?
- If I want to retire at age 60, should I transfer my target retirement fund to a target date 5 years earlier?
- Sears upcharged without my consent and now sent it to collections
- Confused about whether we're eligible for ACA subsidies
- Underpaid 401k over the year. Can I throw a bunch of post-tax money into 401k? Will it count as pre-tax money instead?
- Should I finance a car at 19?
| Weekend Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 17, 2021 Posted: 17 Dec 2021 01:00 PM PST 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] |
| I’m 36 years old and have wasted a lot of time and I’m in a lot of debt. Help. Posted: 17 Dec 2021 06:45 PM PST It all started in high school. My parents are first generation citizens and had no idea about college or finances. Devry at the time was promising 80k income with a Bachelors in bio-medical technology. During the course of 3 years I racked up debt of 70k. Worst part is I never finished because the school is a scam and it's also my fault. I had medical issues as a kid and that lead to addiction to drugs and I still struggle with it. The last 8 years I poured myself out to a Union that finally started paying off and I was making $39/hour as a journeyman and that is now gone because of COVID due to the fact that it deals with auto and trade shows. Now I'm struggling to find work, my work history is scattered so all I get is miserable warehouse jobs. I have a wife and 3 kids and live in an apartment that costs $1600 a month. I'm drowning! What's sad (not trying to boast) is that I'm smart, a fast learner, highly productive and organized. I just have been playing my cards all wrong and I was never taught how to manage money. I started a clothing brand and have everything set up but because of my school loans (missed payments) my credit is screwed and don't have the means to buy inventory and set up the website. I need to get out of this mess.. some people know what is that they are passionate about, I have no clue! I am constantly thinking hoping that a lightbulb will go off one day. Advice would help especially if you've been in a similar situation and have escaped it. My situation isn't all bad. My wife is ride or die and I have 3 beautiful healthy kids. If this post got me no where I at least got it all out. [link] [comments] |
| Spent 2 years building my credit just to have closing an account drop my score almost 100 points Posted: 17 Dec 2021 10:17 PM PST I've had a secured credit card for the last year and a half. Finally built my score up from 415 to 692, only 8 points away from 700. This was HUGE for me, I was so excited. I was offered a credit card through the same bank, Capital One, with a $4k like of credit. This was also huge for me because I'd never been approved for a credit card before, let alone for that limit. So I thought, hey, why keep the secured card when I have an actual credit card through them now! I'll just cancel my secured account and get that deposit back and switch to using my credit account. So I canceled it, then two days later I was notified that my score dropped 88 points. Literally the only update to my credit was that I closed an account. I wanted to cry. I'm almost back in the 500s. Why did this happen??? Is there anything I can do to fix it? Is it going to take another year to build back up to where I was prior to closing that account? This feels like a sick joke. It took one day to drop my score what it took one year to raise. [link] [comments] |
| What to do with parent's belongings after they die? Posted: 17 Dec 2021 09:26 PM PST My father died this week. I am his only close family member, and I have made all of the necessary arrangements for his funeral and burial. I did not live with him, and I have not done anything with his belongings other than what is necessary so far. I chose some of his clothes for his body, and I rehomed his dog with one of his close friends. He did not have a will. He had a large estate that will need to go through probate. He had a friend who is a lawyer, and the lawyer seemed to say that I can do whatever I want with the items in the house and any cash I find. My father had a rental tenant as well, and the lawyer said the rent checks can be made out in my name. I read some things on the Internet seemed different. Some of them indicated that the tenant's rent would need to go in an escrow account, that the cash needs to go in a bank account for the estate (not my own bank account), etc. I have probably just misunderstood the lawyer somehow, but I don't like to bother him too much because he was just my dad's friend and is helping me. I am an adult, but way younger than normal to not have parents and I don't understand these things much. Edited to add: He will probably have a lot of medical debt, but no other debt that I know of. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Dec 2021 10:20 PM PST I heard about the itemized list, and I also see they have financial assistance which I would qualify for being under 400% poverty level. The question is, when this bill arrives, in what order do I proceed? Do I ask the hospital for the itemized list before applying for the financial assistance? Or apply for the financial assistance first? Or does it not matter? Anyone have similar stories and how you handled it? Thank you everyone. [link] [comments] |
| What do I do with 10k sitting around Posted: 17 Dec 2021 10:45 PM PST So Basically I'm an 18 year old college student soon to be 19. I have 10k saved up. I have made most of my money by small things and working at Amazon. I have about 600 invested in crypto. I have all my money in a checks account. Need advice thank you very much in advance. [link] [comments] |
| 26 years old, trying to figure out what to do/invest with the money I hoard for FIRE Posted: 17 Dec 2021 06:52 AM PST I make $108,000 annually before taxes and it will most likely continue to increase each year. My SO makes roughly the same. We purchased a new construction home in 2020 (15 year mortgage fixed at 2.5%). Roughly $4,000 in mortgage, utilities, and expenses (we overpay our mortgage by $1,000 per month). No children. I have $12,000 in my Vanguard Roth IRA and plan to max it out each year until I hit the income cap. I have $40,000 in my ML 401K and also plan to max it out each year. I have roughly $80,000 sitting in multiple savings/checkings account earning pennies. What funds should I invest in my Roth IRA? Should I also start a brokerage account through Vanguard and transfer all of my money into it? What funds do I purchase? And do I want to purchase the same funds for both the Roth and the brokerage? Wouldn't I want the Roth to be more aggressive because it's tax free? [link] [comments] |
| What are some adaptations and tips for living with low income? Posted: 17 Dec 2021 04:09 PM PST I ask this because a lot of advice about personal budgeting presupposes the reader has high means, such as the piece of advice "Make sure your rent is no more than 30% of your income," when that is infeasible for Americans making minimum wage (or the infamous "just borrow a few thousand $ from your parents"). What kinds of adaptations have you learned on low income? What strategies does one use when financial security is not a given? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 04:07 AM PST It is close to 9-10k and may be more. What tax implications does this have? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Dec 2021 05:45 AM PST UPDATE: Thanks to everyone this morning for shaking some sense into me. I got all my papers in order, signed and sent back with the response letter they sent me. I did that after reading through these comments but ultimately was reassured by just calling the number on my notice and speaking to an agent. They are more than willing to work with me on manageable payments to get it taken care of and will waive the penalties that shot it up to 20k. So I will just be paying off the 12k on monthly payments for a while and will never make this mistake again. Thank you again everyone, you really helped me today and I am so grateful. I'm glad I'm not the moron I was in my 20s anymore and will do the right thing and def not go to jail lol. ORIGINAL POST: Hello, I am hoping this community can guide me in the right direction. I made a huge mess up and can't believe it. I'm scared, shocked and worried for my family that I fully support. I completely neglected to file my 2018 taxes and didn't realize for most of the year I had been set to tax exempt and completely forgot to turn that off. I never made great money before and was completely stupid and since then I have claimed the max on taxes for deduction and this was the only year of a mess up of this magnitude. It says I have until 1/12/22 to file the 2018 taxes or pay the proposed amount due. If I filed the amount goes down to 13k. I don't even have that much money. I just am praying that I can file the taxes for that year (I have the W2 through my ADP login) and work out a payment plan. What should I do first? How can I file the 2018 taxes? Can I do it online or does it have to be mailed in with the response form from the IRS? Am I going to jail? I just am so scared and want to fix this and so ashamed that it even happened. Please help, I couldn't get any sleep and I just hope we don't lose everything or go to jail and can work out payments for an amount like this. [link] [comments] |
| Picking Health Insurance Options Posted: 17 Dec 2021 09:50 PM PST I'm exceptionally lucky that I currently have the option of several good health insurance plans (public servant life)... but need help picking which one. Obviously, there are so many details, but I tried to condense it. Husband (25M) has a $6k deductible/12k out of pocket max family plan that is free for the whole family. I do not believe husband can opt out (union thing). Co-pays are $30/each for regular appointments. I have access to three different plans each with $750 deductible/$4500 out of pocket max per family, all with slightly different benefits. Cost of each plan ranges from $50 to $95 per month for us both. If I opt out, I would receive $233/month (unknown if this is pre or post-tax). Co-pays for regular appointments are $10-15 each. We are each healthy individuals, but participate in med/high risk sports. Ie if something were to go wrong, it would go very wrong ($$). Husband relies on daily oral medications to stay alive, cost of these out of pocket are about $300/month retail, insurance brings this down to a fraction of it. We have combined finances. Would it be better for me to go on his plan (and receive the opt-out $$ to build a health fund?), or him on mine? Or stay on our own? Anything else to consider? [link] [comments] |
| Home sale capital gain exclusion Posted: 18 Dec 2021 04:17 AM PST We are planning to sell our home in a few months and relocate. We plan to rent for a few months while looking for a new house. We are safely under the $500k gain limit Is there any tax risk if I put proceeds from our sale into a investment account for a few months, until we find our new place? TIA [link] [comments] |
| I work in one state, live in another state. Which state will tax my income? Posted: 17 Dec 2021 11:10 PM PST Let say my salary is $150,000 Scenario 1: I live in NY but I my remote work is in Seattle, Washington. Scenario 2: I live in NY AND my work is in NY Which scenario would i be paying less income tax on? Which scenario would let me keep the most money [link] [comments] |
| Am I doing okay in life for my age? Posted: 18 Dec 2021 01:13 AM PST I turned 18 in July. I have graduated high school, I currently work as a pharmacy technician making 16.50 an hour, which is over twice minimum wage in my state, rent an apartment with my name on the lease, I have my own phone and bill/plan, pay for my own groceries, gas and most other basic necessities. I was a stupid teenager and didn't save any money and wasn't able to for a while but I have 500 dollars in my savings at the moment. I haven't had a late or missed payment on anything thus far. I'm getting in my own head about my job and how financially independent I am vs where I should be, though I don't know anyone else my age who's even moved out. I'm not trying to get in over my head with bills and potential debt so I'm only taking on what I can, when I can. Am I doing alright? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Dec 2021 06:19 AM PST I am a telecommunications engineer, and I have been with my current company for about 7 years. I am very happy where I am, but the company is fairly small and there is little room for growth. My current company only offers a retirement plan but no insurance so I pay that out of pocket currently for my wife and kids. I was just offered a job at one of the cabling manufacturers we sell for, in their engineering department. I will be doing very similar work at the new company but it is a much larger company. Here I will layout pros and cons of both jobs to give everyone an Idea of what both company's are offering me and my current life situation to give more context to help with my decision. My wife is currently in nursing school and has about 18-24 months of schooling left before she will graduate, she is currently a stay at home mom so we don't have any kind of child care established other than her. My current employer lets me stay at home and work and watch my kids whenever I need to while my wife goes to class, but I am not sure the new company would give me that opportunity so I would have to pay for child care a few days a week. My current employer treats me like family and I basically can do whatever I need to do with my home life as long as my work gets done. New Job Offer100k a year base pay starting, plus a $10k signing bonus.Guaranteed a 15% salary bonus after one year, and 5-15% yearly every subsequent yearGreat health benefits, retirement plan, life insurance, tuition reimbursement, 3 weeks vacationLarge company with lots of room for growthNot as flexible as current employerHour drive to work, plus longer work daysWill have to pay for child careWill have to pay for fuel back and forth to workWill have a whole new chain of command with multiple people above me Current Job Counter OfferCurrent salary is 75k but they say they will match the 100k base salary from the other offerI usually get a $2-5k bonus yearly around ChristmasOnly have a 401k plan no current health plans, but with the new offer are willing to reimburse me for what I pay for my health insurance through the marketplaceSmall company with little room for growth but very laid back and lets me make my own schedule30 min drive to work, plus they give me a company vehicle and pay for my gasNo child care needed as I can work from home whenever I want3 weeks vacation and basically limitless "Sick days/ Personal Days"I am pretty much my own boss and only report to the owner of the companyMy boss sees me like family and almost broke down when I told him I was leaving, he told me he plans to retire and sell in 3-5 years and told me he plans to share the profit with some of the key players in the company, the company is worth around 1-3 million, and he said he plans to give each of us, 3 people, 5-10% depending on how much it sells for. The biggest thing holding me back from jumping on the new offer is the fact that my wife is in school, and will need to start covering childcare. After doing the math with fuel costs and everything considered technically I will be making more money staying with my current employer, but will basically be topped out. One more thing I want to mention is that I am an RCDD and in my industry they are hard to come by and basically guarantee you a job at any company looking for a telecom engineer. So with that being said, if i do pass up the offer now until my wife gets through school, I will not have a hard time finding something new. Sorry I know this is a lot, and I appreciate any advise I receive, Thanks everyone. Edit: Left out one more big plus on the counter offer [link] [comments] |
| 33, no debt. Invest in first house or continue to rent and invest for compound interest? Posted: 17 Dec 2021 08:15 PM PST Hey everyone, first of all I'm grateful for this community and resource. Long time reader, first time poster. I'm 33, no debt, no dependents, and recently started a new job making $130k base (with additional equity). I rent and comfortably live on around $3,000 to $4,000 (on the higher end) a month. I have around $80k in savings. I love budgeting (it's fun and fascinating). For the first time I am reasonably looking at the possibility of buying a house, even though the current market seems to be around $600k in Austin, TX. If my mortgage were around $4,000/month, I could continue to live on/around the $3,000/month lifestyle (which is pretty comfortable for me). After the down payment I would have around $10k in savings. My career trajectory seems solid at this point, and I expect to earn more in the coming years, which would buffer these expenses and savings. I love home projects (and maintenance), and always do them anyway even at the places I rent. I think I would really appreciate and enjoy owning property. To explore, I reached out to my local bank and was prequalified for a 30yr conventional loan for $650k at 3% interest. My credit score was 807-820. All this being said, $600k seems like a staggering amount of debt. I could also not buy a house, continue to rent and keep expenses low, save more, invest in the stock market, index funds, retirement, etc. and build a larger investment portfolio. I feel as though I am at a cross roads in my financial life, and curious to hear any thoughts from others who have navigated this, and what their goals were/are? Thanks for reading! [link] [comments] |
| I am 28 years old, and struggling. Posted: 18 Dec 2021 12:23 AM PST I make around 25k a year, so peanuts basically. What steps should I take for my future? I've tried investing what little money I have into different stocks via robinhood, but I feel this is an elementary attempt at entering into a world I know absolutely nothing about. I dont have any debt as I own my vehicle and rent an apartment, but I do want more than that out of life. Any advice is appreciated. [link] [comments] |
| Silver linings for the end of the year if you have had a bad financial 2021 Posted: 17 Dec 2021 06:02 PM PST I'm sorry if your year has sucked on the financial side of things. Lots of lost jobs, unemployment, reductions, etc. But there are almost always some potential opportunities if this was the case for you.
Hope 2022 is better for you! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Dec 2021 08:07 PM PST Yeah the title pretty much says it. I'm trying to get my credit score better by just paying off debt one at a time. This is the last one I want to pay off. I've called a few times, it won't let me connect to an actual person and always ends up hanging up. There's no online services or anything. Does anyone have advice on what I should do with that one? I know debt laws are different in some states but anything would help at this point. This feels crazy that I'm the one chasing them to pay. [link] [comments] |
| How can I afford anything in 2021? Posted: 17 Dec 2021 06:42 AM PST Well I been working at Walmart for 6months now the pay its okay , I can't afford food or sometimes pay my rent. I have tried doing door dash in the side. But whatever I do I can't get caught up with bills. I have tried getting a loan but I can't do it because I'm still paying my car which I have around 2 months lets on it. I got less than 2 weeks to find $1,000 and I dont know what to do. I tried applying to food stamps and they said I'm over by $75 so I can't get approved. Anybody got any suggestions? I dont know what to do. UPDATE i got a job interview on Monday $18hr plus overtime and pays weekly. Thanks for giving advice in my situation I appreciate. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Dec 2021 06:48 PM PST My current target retirement fund is primed for when I'm 65; I'm considering moving it to a target date 5 years earlier (I used to think I was gonna retire at age 65, but I realized that IRAs and 401k can be taken out at 59 1/2 yrs so now 60 is my goal). I kind of want to do this since target retirement funds are designed for this, but will this mean that the funds become conservative a bit faster and thus mean I lose out a bit more? [link] [comments] |
| Sears upcharged without my consent and now sent it to collections Posted: 17 Dec 2021 03:32 AM PST So I hired one of those vent cleaning services (ends up being from Sears) for my house, $50 for the house. I'm out at work, housemate was OK'd to let them in and show them the vents. The bill comes to almost $1,000! I call them, they said the person there OK'd it. The housemate doesn't know what they're talking about. Now I've got a collections letter. How can I fight this? Should I just pay it and take solace that Sears is missing out on most of the profit from their scam? [link] [comments] |
| Confused about whether we're eligible for ACA subsidies Posted: 18 Dec 2021 04:19 AM PST My wife and I are currently working remote and have health insurance through my job. I will be leaving my job for an extended period in a few months, and I'm trying to figure out our best option for health insurance. My wife has plans offered through her employer, but they are only HMO plans that cover the tri-state area around the main office. We could enroll in one of those plans, but it would be a three day drive or a flight to get medical care. Does that extra burden mean we can apply for ACA subsidies, or are we disqualified because we technically have access to a plan? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 04:06 AM PST My 401k match was .. way under what it should have been over the year. I have a bunch of money in savings. Is there a way to put money from that savings' account into my 401k and then take that money off my taxable income as pre-tax 401k funds? Or, would all ways that I put money into the 401 be the post-tax 401k version because it didn't happen at time of pay check? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 03:40 AM PST Hey! I've recently started a new job, I'm sub-contracting making roughly 3.5-4.5k a month (roughly 40-60 a year, depending on how certain jobs go, there is guaranteed pay, and that bottoms out at around 39.5 for the year) and reliability is somewhat important now that I'm moving around in large towns and highways more to tend to properties. I try to move some gaming consoles and stuff through Facebook marketplace on the side for a few hundred extra bucks a month, so that by itself would cover my payment. I have a 2007 328i w/ 80k miles now, and there was an accident but I was thankfully covered by the other drivers insurance, and am looking into selling the car (roughly 9k where I'm at) and putting about $10k down on a 23-26k vehicle. I have zero debt, and my parents are well-off so I have a place to live for the next 3ish years while I amass income and savings for a housing endeavor. I am currently contributing about $80 a week into my Roth, but looking to max my contributions soon. My father has gotten me a credit score of 840 through the 'adolescent credit method' and I have roughly $230k in paystubs dating back to when I was 14. My father also swears they won't ask him to co-sign. I want the warranty and assurances that I can receive by spending this much and financing a much newer, lower mileage vehicle. I will mention I am looking at a particularly frowned upon car(s), as I'm considering 2012-15 S4s and 335s instead of being disappointed with another 328 or an A4. Feel free to talk me out of it, lol. I've also got a completely clean driving record (was ruled not at fault and counter-sued for the aforementioned incident) and I have yet to be pulled over, as I'd rather floor it where I'm allowed to and can safely do so, so I'm confident I can control myself in a high-powered car. Thanks for any advice! Edit: I'm also looking on incorporating an aftermarket warranty depending on the circumstances, so advice on that is appreciated. [link] [comments] |
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