Personal Finance Weekend Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 21, 2022 |
- Weekend Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 21, 2022
- How badly have I screwed up?
- Sold a car to a friend who passed away
- I just spent a ton of money relocating for a job under false pretenses.
- Former Job that fired me wants me to fill out a W-9?
- Wife got new job, new company's independence clause is making me sell some of my stocks, anyway to get around this?
- What percentage of take home pay should a cat payment be?
- What is the 401k End Game?
- Planning for Kid with Debt
- Best financial decisions as a 17 yr old?
- Breakdown Comparison between 13 Different Companies for Homeowner's Insurance. Why is there such a large difference?
- How much money should I put into retirement? Age 27
- My Old Job Had my Old Address on file even though I changed it before I left. W-2 is being Sent there and They Refuse to Print me a Copy. Taxes are Coming up so scared.
- We have 10,000 sitting in an unknown bank somewhere, according to Mortgage company refinance.....
- How much house CAN WE REALLY afford?
- I translated the popular spreadsheet for people who don't know how to budget into Spanish!
- What's the most economic car to buy in the US right now?
- Planning how to recover after family tragedy and debt
- High yield savings accounts
- Inheritance advice requested
- 28, Looking to see what I can improve on financially
- Career change with a pay cut
- 15K in debt 15K in investments. Perfectly balanced.
- Am I investing correctly?
- Should I rollover my 401k?
| Weekend Help and Victory Thread for the week of January 21, 2022 Posted: 21 Jan 2022 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] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 04:51 AM PST I'm 34, making $70k a year and have almost $14k in my 401k. I got a late start saving and didn't open a 401k until I was 31. Due to financial issues, I haven't been contributing for the last year and won't be able to agin until June. At this point, I know I'm behind and am wondering how much I need to up my contribution to get myself back on track to retire around 65-67. Edit: Appreciate all the responses and advice, y'all. It's a lot to take in and go over but I'm feeling less pessimistic than I was. [link] [comments] |
| Sold a car to a friend who passed away Posted: 21 Jan 2022 08:02 AM PST Not sure if this is the right sub to post this so please delete if not. I sold my friend a car about two years ago. They paid me some cash up front and agreed to make monthly payments. It was total handshake agreement. They were making regular payments until COVID hit and their income situation was crushed. I was flexible and was lax on asking for payments because my financial situation was still good. My friend just passed away and still owes a few thousand on what we agreed. Their parents got in touch with me about settling things, but we haven't met yet. I'm just not sure what to do here and curious if anyone in this sub has either been through a similar situation or has any perspective on what they would do. Thanks in advance. TLDR: friend passed away and still owes money on a car I sold them. Not sure what to do. [link] [comments] |
| I just spent a ton of money relocating for a job under false pretenses. Posted: 20 Jan 2022 02:15 PM PST I just moved to a nearby city of a job that was made explicitly clear in my contract would be full time. My schedule has been completely threadbare (2/4 hrs of work instead of 40) these past few weeks and I'm out thousands of dollars already. There's no way I cant afford the cost of living without this being full time, like they said it would be. My contact touches on reimbursement but there are no details. It seems like a very copy+paste type of contract. I have brought this up to the owner of the company but I have heard back yet. I need to prepare for the worst case scenario. If everything goes south what can I do about this in terms of legalities? [link] [comments] |
| Former Job that fired me wants me to fill out a W-9? Posted: 20 Jan 2022 04:45 PM PST A company where I was an independent contractor for two years (even though it felt like I was more of an employee) let me go out of the blue a few months ago. Today, I received an email from them asking me to sign a W9. They already have my information and sent me W9 last year while I was actively working for them, so I dont know why they wouldnt just use that information to send me my 2021 1099. Tbh I feel I was wrongfully fired in the first place and in a harsh way- no notice and upon logging into work I couldnt get into any system. Just sent me a vague email. I dont really feel comfortable giving them info they should already have, will I be in any legal trouble if I don't fill it out? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 20 Jan 2022 06:53 AM PST As the title states, she got a new job with a rather large company that has an independence clause requiring us to divest in certain stocks that are on a restricted list. I don't really care that much, except for one stock that I have. My deceased father bought that for me when I was a kid(I'm 43 now) and I have had it pretty much my whole life. It's totally silly for me to be attached to a stock, I know, and I'm willing to get rid of it if there are no options because it's just a stock, but I can't help but feel a type of way about it as I lost my father around 16 years ago and don't really have a lot that he left me aside from that stock and a few little things here and there. Anyways, I'm mostly financially ignorant so hoping some smarter people here might have some suggestions. If there are no options, then it is what it is. Thanks in advance EDIT: To be clear, I'm not going to let this get in the way or affect my wife's job. Just trying to get an understanding of some options. Thank you! EDIT 2: Wow, thanks for all the responses! I didn't expect this much traffic on this post! Lots of great advice but I can't keep up with it all so just want to say thank you to everyone for taking time to comment and suggest some options. EDIT 3: Double wow, this one got so hot they locked it! Just another thanks to everyone who has offered their advice, be it good or bad. I appreciate it! EDIT 4(last edit): OK, looks like they opened this back up, and if you've read this far, here are some of the suggestions I have received and some feedback.
A lot of redundancy in the comments so I'm going to chill on answering most of the questions moving forward, but want to extend my gratitude one last time to all who have chimed in. This has been an educational experience and I'm thankful to you all! [link] [comments] |
| What percentage of take home pay should a cat payment be? Posted: 20 Jan 2022 11:56 AM PST I have always bought cars with cash up front used. But I'm friends with a car dealership finance worker who says that the car payments typically work out to about 20% of take home pay because they qualify people for loans with pre tax income. I feel this is predatory and he is biased because he makes commissions on larger sales. Am I weird and just don't understand the economics of buying a new car? Edit: I'm sorry I meant car everyone. I do understand that cats do not need financing. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 20 Jan 2022 04:50 PM PST Hi. I'm 39. Have had a 401k going to take advantage of company max for a while. At 67 / 'whatever retirement age ends up being' is, how is this supposed to work? I just pull money out and spend it? Do I just work with Fidelity to pull out a fixed amount each year? My real issue is trusting the process and not knowing anyone that relies on 401k for retirement. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 08:04 AM PST My wife and I put down $1000 every month towards a credit card debt with $7000 on it. After that it's $4000 in student loans, and then debt free. However, my wife and I are more than ready to start having a kid and excited, and want to do it earlier than later because understandably so, she is 33 and even though it's not old, she thinks it's time to avoid complications. We are planning on trying summer or fall, but unsure of upcoming payments, cost of birth, nursery. We will be Debt free by end of the year, if we continue through this path. But unsure if these are the right steps or should we start using some of that Grand to save for the kid. [link] [comments] |
| Best financial decisions as a 17 yr old? Posted: 21 Jan 2022 07:01 AM PST I'm a 17 y/o gal seeking out advice for what I can do right now to help me financially in the future. I've been working a retail job I enjoy and I have about 3k saved up. I recently made the decision to commute to community college for my first year of schooling because I decided that I'm not too keen about drowning in student debt, but I'm still considering transferring to a 4/yr university after that. I'm seeking out any sort of advice for what I can do as a young person to benefit me financially. I read about a ROTH IRA and am considering opening one the moment I turn 18. Literally anything is appreciated and I am grateful to already be learning things:) Please let me know if this okay to post I'm very new to reddit lmao* [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 10:13 AM PST I called 13 different insurance companies and asked them for a quote on homeowner's insurance (technically HO-6 Condo insurance). In each case, I asked for the exact same coverage for the exact same property, and the quotes I got varied wildly. My questions are: 1) What, if anything, justifies a higher price? 2) What things beyond price should I look for specifically when buying insurance? 3) Which policy would you choose? Results $511/yr Nationwide $607/yr National General $659/yr Hippo $682/yr Allstate $827/yr Travelers $1,025/yr Progressive Home $1,055/yr Lemonade $1,071/yr American Family $1,243/yr State Farm $1,301/yr Farmers $1,726/yr Amica $1,950/yr Country Financial $2,165/yr Liberty Methodology The property used is a unit in a highrise condominum in Las Vegas, NV, built in 2005 All companies were give the same information about the specifics of the unit, i.e. sprinkler systems, burglar alarms, number of rooms and sqft, etc. All policies cover the replacement cost of whatever is insured Home Coverage: $155,000 Personal Property: $70,000 Liability: $100,000 Loss of Use: $30,000 (or 2 years expenses) Guest Medical: $1,000 Deductible: $500 At the end of each call I told each salesman that there were other companies out there with lower quotes for the same coverage, and asked them why I would choose their company over a cheaper one. In all instances I was told that their company offered superior customer service, except State Farm, where I was told that they would pay me money quickly with very little investigation. [link] [comments] |
| How much money should I put into retirement? Age 27 Posted: 20 Jan 2022 07:16 PM PST I recently started to get more serious into investing for my retirement. Some background info about myself is that I am 27 years old, no student loans 13k car payment, single, and make 100K USD a year. My employer has a 3% full match and the next 2% would only be a half match. Doing so I opened a ROTH IRA and started to create my 3 fund portfolio. My question is now, how much of my salary a month should I allocate to my ROTH IRA? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 02:56 AM PST I worked at a giant grocery store in my state. I recently called them to ask when my statement would be mailed out, and through conversation, I discovered that my work had failed to update my old address despite me filling out the paperwork to do so while I was still in their employment. They said there is nothing they can do considering the W-2s are handled by a 3rd party company, and they refused to print out mine for the same reason. It will not be sent back, considering my old address is my parents house who I no longer speak to and never wish to speak to again, them the same. HR said that if the mail was returned they would let me know, but I know it won't. So basically I'm fucked. I rerouted my mail last week at the poste office in hopes of stopping this but it doesn't take effect immidetely. How do I file my taxes without the W-2? Is there a way for me to get it back? At a loss. [link] [comments] |
| We have 10,000 sitting in an unknown bank somewhere, according to Mortgage company refinance..... Posted: 20 Jan 2022 08:12 PM PST UPDATE: Got off the phone with someone else we haven't talked with before. Turns out the first two didn't know what the heck they were talking about. They kept telling us to check all the same places you fine people suggested, saying we must have reserves somewhere and that they couldn't see who it was from. This NEW person we talked with today said there was a misunderstanding of the notes, rather we need to HAVE $10,000 in reserve to put the loan through because of two credit cards we have used to fix up our current home we just bought a year ago. Mystery solved! Thank you, everyone, for your help. I wish it was a more exciting answer and that maybe I had a long lost relative leaving us magical funds in a forgotten account, haha! Hello! We are refinancing, got all the paperwork turned in and all that jazz. Bank comes back to us and says we have $10,000 in monetary assets in our name and they need a statement of that account. Only problem is, we have no idea what this money is from or where it's being held! We don't have another savings account, my husband checked his 401K and its $37,000 , so not the right amount. It's a very specific amount, $10,490.28 No bank is named in the message from the mortgage company. We've been with this lender before when we purchased our home in the past and have always had a good experience and trust them. Any ideas of where else this mystery money may be hiding?? [link] [comments] |
| How much house CAN WE REALLY afford? Posted: 21 Jan 2022 11:37 AM PST My significant other and I are looking into becoming homeowners in the next 2 years. I have tried different affordability calculators and they all show results that I do not believe to be affordable, however maybe I am just a bit timid since this is our first time actually looking at houses. I currently make about $44k a year and she makes about $39k. When I enter our combined income of $83k it suggest that we can afford around $400k. That seems a bit aggressive, what would you do in my situation? No debt, will have about $20k - $30k of a down payment. [link] [comments] |
| I translated the popular spreadsheet for people who don't know how to budget into Spanish! Posted: 21 Jan 2022 12:50 PM PST Hey guys! I found /u/Celesmeh 's amazing post on budgeting today and decided to translate the spreadsheet they posted. Here is the link to the original post Here is the link to the Spanish version I translated. The two spreadsheets should be nearly identical. Please note, that I chose to scarcely use accents because spreadsheets tend to go wonky when you use special characters. The grammar suffers in Spanish when it comes to computers. Please give credit to at /u/Celesmeh if you share the Spanish version. Like they say in their post, the sheet is easy to use, so if you're interested in budgeting or budgeting In Spanish give this marvel a try. --------Versión en español del comentario-------- ¡Saludos a todos! Encontré el post the /u/Celesmeh hoy dÃa acerca de presupuestos y es maravilloso. Decidà hacer una traducción de la hoja de cálculo que se incluyó en aquel post para el uso de todos y todas. Aquà el enlace al post original en inglés Aquà el enlace a la hoja de cálculo que yo traduje Al hacer clic sobre el enlace de la hoja de cálculo, le va a pedir que haga una copia de la misma. Una vez tenga la copia, la puede modificar a su gusto. Las dos versiones (Inglés y Español) son casi idénticas. Le comento que opte por usar pocos acentos a través de la hoja de cálculo porque los acentos pueden causar errores en estas hojas. El Español sufre mucho cuando de los programas de cálculo se habla. El usuario /u/Celesmeh debe de recibir el crédito si usted decide compartir esta hoja de cálculo. Tal y como lo indicó originalmente, la hoja de cálculo es fácil de usar, de manera que si estás interesado(a) en presupuestar tu dinero debes de intentar usarla! Edit: Missing accent in spanish text [link] [comments] |
| What's the most economic car to buy in the US right now? Posted: 21 Jan 2022 08:02 AM PST My girlfriend currently has a 2009 Honda CR-V, but we've constantly been having issues with it for the last couple years and I want to explore what the best move forward is. To be honest, the most economic answer could be "Keep the CRV" for a couple more years. The Used car market is pretty wild at the moment and it sort of defeats my prior strategy of buying a mostly new car that has less than 20k miles on it for significantly less than the price of a new car. The new car market.. also pretty wild at the moment. Do we see this situation getting any better? Any recommendations for this crazy market? Per the title of the post, is there a good car to buy right now that makes sense financially? [link] [comments] |
| Planning how to recover after family tragedy and debt Posted: 21 Jan 2022 09:28 AM PST Hi everyone! 28 yo here that will start a new job with an expected net salary of 3.9k a month + approx net yearly bonus of 8k. Last 2 years have been pretty bad because my sister got diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and all my family's savings (also mine) have gone to treatment - insurance only covered half of the expenses. Luckily treatment was effective and she's in remission. Currently in 30k debt with family member and 6k with a bank. As I'll reallocate to a new city, I need some advice on how to plan my budget/investment. I've heard that rent should not surpass 30% of net income. Also I'd like to allocate a percentage to debt payment and savings if things go south in the future. In case you have some advice on how to budget things and investment strategies, I'll be grateful to hear it! Cheers! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 10:24 AM PST I'm looking for a high yield savings account I've seen HM Bradley has a 1%/2%/3% savings with some different restrictions and requirements and I know Axos does .51% wanted to see what else is out there that's might be a good deal or interesting offer [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 11:55 AM PST Hello all. On mobile so please excuse any errors. Long time follower, first time poster. My wife and I have come into some inheritance after her father passed away. It's not "quit your job" money, but could make a big impact for 2 adults with one income and 2 kids. I'm worried about tax repercussions and what we will owe and possible ways to maximize what we keep. The inheritance came out of her fathers checking account and arrived in the mail via cashiers check. It's middle 5 digits in amount. It could pay off the mortgage, freeing up some money monthly to be used/saved, but we would still owe on the equity LoC for the house. We've thought about moving as we live in her mother's house (also inherited) and neither of us really like it as it's old and needs work, but the market is not great for buying. We've thought about saving it for a few years until the market is better and then trying to move. We've thought about saving it for retirement. (See below) Potentially relevant information: I have a large amount of student loan debt, my kids are on Medicaid (or Medicare,I can never remember which is which) and we have credit card and vehicle payments. Our credit scores are good as my job allows me to pay my bills, but not much room for saving anything and I have nothing set aside for retirement. No savings, no 401k, nothing. I'm in my late 30s. Any help, tips, or guidance would be dearly appreciated. EDIT: if we sold our (her mothers) house, the profits would have to be split 4 ways. [link] [comments] |
| 28, Looking to see what I can improve on financially Posted: 21 Jan 2022 11:25 AM PST Hi everyone, I started looking into my finance last year and would like to know what I needs to improve on. I didn't start working full time until a year ago and was mainly working part time before that. Currently working in a government job making around 70k (might be closer to 75k due to OT). Live in Bay area, CA. I have very little expenses compare to others at my age as I live with my parents (moved back due to pandemic). My expenses for the month are:
Things I have done so far:
Things I need to do:
I would love to hear any advice and will check periodically if possible. If not I will try my best to reply once I get off work. Thank you everyone! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 09:34 AM PST I work as a senior analyst in regulatory compliance within the asset management (financial services/investment products) industry. I've been doing this kind of work for 8 years and make 105k in Denver, CO (on the lower end of HCOL I guess). The work is usually rather repetitive and boring, but also not very stressful and I often work well under 40 hours a week (though I need to be near my computer at least 35 hours/week). The most challenging part is managing relationships and assessing/communicating business risk. I have a friend who is a Business Intelligence programmer for a company in the insurance industry. I've told him before that I sort of envy his job, his ability to work with statistics and have marketable skills in the tech field. I've played around with SQL and Python before for fun but haven't advanced very far. Anyway, this friend said (while not guaranteed) he could help me get a job as a BI Analyst at his company. I guess in this labor market they are really in need of employees and he wants to use his leverage there to help me out. This would be completely different from what I've been doing (creating and testing policies and procedures, working with marketing and legal to protect against regulatory findings of misleading advertising) and would likely be challenging and stimulating with lots of different paths it could lead to. The role has an advertised range that's 25-30k less than my current salary. My friend thinks he could get it up to the mid 80s, let's call it 83k, so over 20 less. The truth is, I'm not sure if I'd love the actual work, but it can't possibly be more boring than my current job. And it would allow me to explore building a new skillset that, in the long run, could offer a lot of options in various industries outside of my small niche within asset management compliance. On the other hand, if I got really motivated to look for new jobs in my current field, I think I could move up to 125-135 as a Compliance Officer or Manager, probably in a remote position so I wouldn't need to relocate. It would still be the same boring work, but more responsibility and pressure, which may or may not fulfill my need for more of a challenge. I'm wondering if anyone knows one or both of these fields well enough to advise on whether making this switch is a good idea in the long run. I'm not sure how long it would take to get back to my current ~105 level or a possible ~130 figure if I got the promotion I'm aiming for. Or what the long term prospects for both are (I don't have an advanced degree). I'm in my mid 30s. My mortgage (all in) is about 1550 and I've thought about trading up to a SFH (but getting a tenant/roommate to keep my net costs about equal) before prices in my city get even more bonkers. I'd have to put that plan on hold if I stepped down in salary. [link] [comments] |
| 15K in debt 15K in investments. Perfectly balanced. Posted: 21 Jan 2022 08:12 AM PST I'm soon to be 29, live in London UK and earn roughly 2K monthly. Some time during my mid 20s I felt forced to move out of my parents home. Due to being unprepared, moving out ended up being very costly for me. My poor spending habits meant I ended up relying on credit cards for survival and now my debt has crept up to the figure on the title. I've had to stop contributing to my work pension. Which I want to remedy asap. And, I'd say I live paycheck to paycheck only being able to save roughly 10% of monthly earnings. Everything else is just basic cost of living food, bills, the occasional movie or restaurant every now and then. Nothing lavish. My debt is spread like so: 8K personal loan 3.3% APR 6K credit card 0% APR for 15 months (due to balance transfer) 1K overdraft I pay £3 - £5 monthly Over the past year. What little money I had, I've been able to turn into 15K. Honestly, I don't think it's because I'm a greater investor. I think I invested during a bullrun and this yeildes the right result. 14K crypto 1K stocks I've made some mistakes which meant my returns aren't as high as they could've been and it looks like the crypto market is slowly turning cold. Without one last opportunity for retail investors to sell higher price levels. I'm not sure of what to do. Do I sell all my profits and pay off my debts and start from zero? Or Keep my investments and keep paying my lending off £300 at the time? Or Do something else entirely? Any suggestions or questions feel free to ask. Thank you for taking your time to read and share your opinion. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 07:13 AM PST So far I have Roth IRA, which I have been maxing out for a few years now. I also opened regular taxable brokerage account last year and invested good amount in VTSAX. My job doesn't have 401k but I will open one once I have a job that offers it. Also, should I keep investing in VTSAX in my taxable account since I have extra money to invest or investing in taxable account should be the last option? Just wanted to make sure that I'm doing everything correctly. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 21 Jan 2022 12:57 PM PST I have an old employer 401k with around $40k in it less a $9k loan. It was a loan towards a down payment on a house and has about 27 years left. The account made about 7.5% last year but is -3.5% YTD. My current 401k has about a $15k balance with the same kind of return. Is it wise for me to leave them separated because of the loan or rollover which would kill the loan incurring tax penalties? I don't have the money to pay off the loan. I'd like to have 1 account. [link] [comments] |
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