Personal Finance Tax Thursday Thread for the week of February 24, 2022 |
- Tax Thursday Thread for the week of February 24, 2022
- Do you think its worth buying a home at 22 with no debt and 740 credit score ?
- How can I give money to parents in return for guaranteeing getting it back in will (assuming money is left in estate)
- After 10+ years boss is offering stock, but it's complicated...
- I've been getting sporadic payments from a stranger on Zelle for 6 months now. What can/should I do?
- Free TurboTax premier with Fidelity
- Social security card, blank checks, car registration stolen
- Apartment bleeding me dry, low credit score.
- Is it possible a fraudulent collections company could access a legitimate collection and pretend that they own the debt and try to get me to pay them? Everything about this feels off.
- Fun stock for less than $15?
- If I'm not planning to utilize my credit anytime in the near future, should I just freeze it and keep it frozen? I've never done that.
- Receiving an inheritance at 70yr without other retirement savings
- Is this the right time to do a home project that'll cost $80k, paid by my HELOC?
- 50k debt for college. Skip?
- Is there a preferred strategy when doing a Roth conversion?
- How do I amend taxes... didnt file crypto taxes
- I am trying to finance a car, with good credit and no credit card debt. But student loans…
- Thinking about closing my Wells Fargo account
- 1 year old, custody battle and negative bank account, possible eviction.
- Do tax refund checks always need to be endorsed?
- Great YNAB alternative (especially in EU): Goodbudget
- Debt Collection, How to Proceed?
- Settling a Debt lawsuit
- Struggling mother - need advice
- 401K vs Student Loans
- Feel like I made a mistake listening to Dave Ramsey. Applied excess funds towards principle of home.
| Tax Thursday Thread for the week of February 24, 2022 Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:00 AM PST Please read the PF tax wiki page to see if your question is answered there before posting. Also check out the Tax Filing Software Megathread.This weekly cross-sub thread will be posted through mid-April to give subscribers a chance to ask basic tax-related questions in a consolidated thread. Since taxes can be a very complex topic, the main goal is to point people in the right direction, provide helpful information, and answer questions. (Please note that there is no protection under §7525 or attorney-client relationship when discussing matters in posts on a message board. Consult a reputable tax advisor in person if your situation demands it.) Make a top-level comment if you want to ask a tax-related question! If you have not received your answer within 24 hours, please feel free to start a discussion. For all of the Tax Thursday threads from the last year, check out the Weekly Archive. [link] [comments] |
| Do you think its worth buying a home at 22 with no debt and 740 credit score ? Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:57 AM PST So im in a situation where one of my family members is going to sell their home and its 1800 sq ft. Upstairs and downstairs with 4 beds 2 bath 1 extra game room upstairs. The house may need remodeling, but also has a storm shelter and shed. I was told they would sell the house to me for 100k, and the value of the home is 150k. The house also qualifies for the usda loan for rural areas since its in a suburb part to a major city. I know I can also qualify for FHA if I wanted to use that instead. Im just stuck in the middle because this would be my first "adult purchase" requiring a loan. Is it worth putting myself in debt ? I just like to hear pros and cons and other opinions about it. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 12:02 PM PST My parents (actually in-laws) are broke. They own a house and thanks to the high value of real-estate, it is worth ~800k with a 200k mortgage. I would like them to be able to stay in the house for as long as possible but presently they have very little money to make ends meet. They are already renting out part of the house as a basement appartment, but the money is not enough, so they are going to switch and live in the basement and rent out the main part. I think they will be miserable. As for other investments, they have done very little planning. As immigrants, my father in law does not have much in the way of CPP, nor much of a pension. They declared bankruptcy in their 40s due to stupid investment purchasing a business so aside from lucking out on their house, they are pennyless. My idea is that we send them $1000 per month. This should be enough to keep them in the main part of the house, and prevent them from starving. But we somehow guarantee that we get the money back upon their death (assuming there is anything left in their estate). That way it is not money down the drain for us, and allows them continue to live. Edit: A couple points. They did not buy a $800k house. They paid about $300k for it. House prices have skyrocketed. (basically their generation won the lottery) Any advice. The alternative would possibly end up with them going broke and end up living with us which would be apocalyptic. [link] [comments] |
| After 10+ years boss is offering stock, but it's complicated... Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:37 PM PST So I've been working at a tech startup for over 10 years. I started working only a few months after the company was founded and was 1 of 4 key players in actually having a successful product. Along the way I have advanced my position and developed the technology significantly in the first few years, to the point its fair to say the business would be nowhere near its success today or gone. I have been lobbying my boss for the past 4+ years that I am interested in stock options, and have become more and more aggressive lately. Why? Well he's an older gentleman and his health is starting to cave. We constantly have larger businesses trying to acquire us and IMO it's only a matter of time before that happens. Also, since I was a key player I feel a bit of a vested interest/ownership anyways and would feel awful if the company was acquired and I'm just any-other employee to be laid off. I've always gone above and beyone and boss knows that. He also asks my advice on key business decisions from time-to-time and trusts my judgement. I've always believed in the product and along the way he's "dangled carrots" as to the rewards we'd all be getting once we made it big. Well we made it big, for 3yrs now and he really hasn't done anything but the usual "slightly above cost of living increase" pay increase. It now feels odd that the only thing keeping me here is the next 2wks paycheck, which I have vocalized to him, he agrees to an extent. My last performance review was half a year late, and even with doubling last years revenue and increasing profit % it was disappointing. A weak bonus and no raise. I let him know my disappointment and he had nothing to offer really as he acted shocked. So I made a linkedin account to start looking for what's available and somebody tipped him off to this and suddenly he's VERY interested in satisfying my requests. He gave a talk to me about how he absolutely cannot let me leave the company, he's looking into stock options etc. So we have another meeting to talk about what can be done and it's a bit complicated and I'm a bit suspicious of what it really means. Theres 2 companies:
I asked why is it setup this way, and basically if business-A caved, or was sued etc. then the IP is secured and not at risk. We didn't go over % yet and really am not sure what I could/should expect. So, I don't know it just seems a bit fishy. I was going for stock options but he mentioned "the way the company is setup, that's not possible". Thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| I've been getting sporadic payments from a stranger on Zelle for 6 months now. What can/should I do? Posted: 24 Feb 2022 01:18 PM PST Background: I've received 7 different payments from this person totaling $880. They come every few weeks to a few months.
Zelle was completely unhelpful in giving me more info other than name and amount, which I already have. The off shore rep seemed to be reading off a script and really just wanted to get rid of me. He actually seemed downright incompetent and several times told me to "block the sender" but when I asked how, he said "you can't block people on zelle". Their script may have been outdated. I'm so confused. This name isn't particularly unique but it's not Bob Smith. There are a couple dozen of them across America. I'm a lawyer so I'm familiar with the law side of it, I just don't know the practical side of it. Has anybody ever had a similar experience? [link] [comments] |
| Free TurboTax premier with Fidelity Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:28 PM PST Just finished filing my taxes with TurboTax premier (investments & rental property) and it was free for both federal and state after I clicked on a link on my fidelity brokerage account dashboard. Normally this is $69 and $39 dollars, respectively. If anyone else was waiting last minute to file due to pending tax forms this is your chance at great savings and the tax import software works relatively well for most accounts (minus WeBull). Cheers 🍻 Edit: so I guess only some qualify for the free TurboTax premier according to other posts. Regardless there is a link worth checking out and at the very least you get a $20 discount. Coinbase offers this too. To find the hyperlink on Fidelity you need to login to a desktop and find the TurboTax icon and hyperlink on the bottom-right of the screen. [link] [comments] |
| Social security card, blank checks, car registration stolen Posted: 24 Feb 2022 04:46 PM PST On Monday, my GFs car was broken into and all of her papers from the glove box were stolen. This includes her registration, proof of address, blank checks, and social security card. She had just gone to the DMV to renew her license, so had it all together in the envelope and forgot to take it out of the car. We filed a police report, froze her bank accounts (she will be opening new ones with new numbers), and are currently filing for replacement registration with the DMV. We also froze her credit on Equifax, Transunion, and Experian, and signed up for fraud alerts on the first two (my understanding is you only need one). She just filed for a replacement social security card. What are our next steps, aside from checking credit reports for suspicious activity? Should she freeze her SSN? Should she get identity theft insurance? She has not filed her taxes yet, so I'm a little concerned they may be able to do that. How can we prevent that? We're in Oregon if that matters. Generally speaking, is our current situation identity theft, or is it only considered that if they actively use it? [link] [comments] |
| Apartment bleeding me dry, low credit score. Posted: 24 Feb 2022 08:19 PM PST Title says it all, recently broke up with my unbeknownst to me expensive ex girlfriend about 3 months ago, managed to pull myself out of complete debt making 5-6k a month being a waiter, still stuck with a 2k a month apartment lease that's in her name but I'm a spouse to her on paper. Credit score is low 600. My focus is on putting 2k away monthly into a savings account for either a new car after the lease (current one is on deaths door) or prioritizing an emergency fund first. Not sure how to get out of lease without consequence and get a much lower place without much hassle or issue. Any advice is appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:50 PM PST Yesterday, a credit collections agency called my parents home phone and my Grandmothers home phone (not sure how they would get that information). I will get to this, but it is important to note, it turns out I do owe a high interest loan company money that I did not pay the full balance of, and given the high interest rate it is now about $2,500. They were somewhat threatening in the phone calls, saying that if I didn't respond within an hour I would be served papers for a court case. Right off the bat, there were red flags:
I called the number they gave today, and they said I owe this amount of money and if I don't pay they will take me to court for intention to defraud a bank by taking a lone with the intention of not paying them back. (I think this is a big stretch because I made a ton of payments on this, before moving to a new house and I didn't notice that they stopped pulling money from my account every other week to pay back the loan. I had a rough year or two and didn't take my credit and loan obligations very seriously. So I call the company and they want me to confirm the last 4 digits of my social security company before they would tell me anything. They told me the first 6 digits so I figured they already had my information. I asked them how I could verify that they were a legitimate business, since they didn't even tell me anything about what I owed until I gave them that information. After giving the last 4 digits, the woman told me the collections was from a company that I did take a loan from. I told her I would call her back once I looked at my credit report. I saw that there was a collection on my report from Ad Astra as of 2/1/2022. The company name they gave me was United Firm. No record of this anywhere on the internet. When I called back and asked them to send me some sort of documentation, the woman said they can't do that. When I asked why they don't have a website, she gave me some convoluted response and said they can't have one based on the nature of their business (red flag). I have since cleaned up my finances, and wanted this to over with so I asked what I could pay to have this taken care of. Initially it was $2,000 and they offered a payment plan. I said I could pay $1,500 today and she said that wasn't enough. She offered dual payments as another option. I wanted to take care of it and said the most I can possibly pay is $1700. She said she had to check with her supervisor, and then after 30 seconds she said they authorized it. I said I wanted some sort of documentation from them that showed an agreement where I would pay the amount and they would contact the credit agencies and say the debt was paid. She said that department was out for the day, and that they could send me something in the morning and I could pay then. After thinking about all of this, I have some questions. They had my parents address, yet didn't send any letter. They also had my email address but didn't send any emails. When I asked about that, she said the previous owner of the debt had already done that, so they didn't have to. She said if they sent me an itemized summary of the amount owed, they would have to take me to court. That seems crazy for a legitimate business. It is also a red flag that the name of their agency is different from the collection company that actually does own my debt based on my credit report. Ad Astra has a website and is a legitimate business. Is it possible a fraudulent company could access a legitimate collection and pretend that they own it and try to get me to pay them? Everything about this feels off. The only reason I believed them is because they knew the name and amount of a real debt. They didn't even have my cell phone number. The two numbers they called were landlines registered to my parents and grandmother that could be accessed via a search on Whitepages. I would really appreciate advice on this. Sorry the post got so lengthy, I just wanted to make sure I stated everything as accurately as possible. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:45 PM PST I have $15 left to spend in my child's brokerage after investing in ETFs, what would be a fun stock from a company he would know to invest in? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:58 PM PST I own two cars and a house and credit cards. I have no plans to make any purchases needing my credit anytime soon. I was wondering if I should just freeze it to protect myself. I've never done this, could this cause any problems? [link] [comments] |
| Receiving an inheritance at 70yr without other retirement savings Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:50 PM PST [Throwaway for obvious reasons] My parents (70 and 74) are about to receive roughly $1MM as a death benefit from my deceased grandmother's annuity. Since it is an annuity it will be taxed as ordinary income so it will be approximately $650-700K post-tax. Personally, I invest my money passively in indexes, but I'm not quite sure how to advise my older parents because they don't have the same decades of growth potential I do. My parents have almost no retirement savings except for the house they own outright ($500K) as they've just recently finished digging themselves out of massive debt, so this windfall needs to last them the rest of their lives if possible. They both still work so they won't need to start drawing from it immediately and they can probably save 20-30K/yr for the next couple years but that will likely change in the next 1-3 years. There is an option to roll all or part of the money into another annuity which will keep it in a tax-deferred status and reduce the overall tax liability, but then that portion is forgoing growth (and is taxed as Ordinary when it comes out but that will presumably be in a lower tax bracket since it won't be adding ontop of their current income at that point. My inclination is to take it out over the maximum allowed 5 years in even amounts to reduce tax liability and invest in low-cost index funds. It won't have decades to grow, but that starting amount should still grow around $40-50K per year which gives them a not insignificant safe withdrawal number that should cover their expenses when combined with social security while having a lump sum that can still be tapped into for emergency expenses, nursing care, etc. Since they are already at retirement age, should 2-3 years worth of living expenses go into bonds as a safe store of short-term cash needs? More? Less? Should it all go into index and just try to not draw from it for as long as possible? Should they annuitize some portion to have some guaranteed income for life? All suggestions/comments welcome! [link] [comments] |
| Is this the right time to do a home project that'll cost $80k, paid by my HELOC? Posted: 25 Feb 2022 12:44 AM PST My plan was to dip into my HELOC. With current war developing and God knows what's going on with inflation, my intuition is telling me to pause the non-urgent home project and wait it out with current savings. I'm worried the HELOC interest rate might spike and also the quote for the home project was high due to supply chain issues. I have a wife and a kid, I'm the breadwinner so I'd rather and like to be as cautious as possible to provide for my loved ones and some buffer for safety. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:40 PM PST I'm about to graduate high school. So far, it looks like college is gonna put me 40k-60k in debt. Should I skip? If so, what do you think I should do next? The major I'm looking at makes about 44k in my area, so perhaps change majors, re-apply elsewhere next year, or skip altogether? Trade school? I Hope I'm not breaking any rules asking... [link] [comments] |
| Is there a preferred strategy when doing a Roth conversion? Posted: 24 Feb 2022 04:55 PM PST I've figured out the tax implications and am prepared to begin doing some conversions. Besides doing it before the end of year, is there any sort of strategy involved? I am new to the conversion process, so my questions might be a bit ignorant. If I am converting, I'm technically selling, correct (thus the tax hit)? If that's the case, do I wait for the market to rebound? I guess I'm asking a timing question. [link] [comments] |
| How do I amend taxes... didnt file crypto taxes Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:42 PM PST Hi there, I did my taxes but I didn't file my crypto with turbo taxes. I added it but removed it because it wanted to ask 209 reviews got tired of it and removed it and just continued without it. Now I submitted it and now i'm feeling guilty and want to file my taxes for Coinbase/Robinhood. I think the total income it was added was 20k? So i'm sure the IRS will deff audit me. So my question is how do I submit this forms since I already submitted my tax forms without the crypto/stocks? I just didnt want to add it in the first place because it wanted me to review 209 tax crypto transactions I made in the past year... Please help don't want to get audited, since I heard IRS is checking on the whole crypto scene and want to tax every single thing. Should I go to an accountant and tell them I submitted through turbotax and need help on amending my Robinhood/Coinbase tax forms ? [link] [comments] |
| I am trying to finance a car, with good credit and no credit card debt. But student loans… Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:05 PM PST My credit is in the 750+ region, my gross income is approximately 62k/year, my rent is 900$ a month. I applied to carmax/carvana and received an apr of 10% with 6000$ down payment a 200$/ monthly payment. The budget they set me was approximately 15-18k. I currently have 17k in student loans that I've deferred payments on for a number of years now without any interest. I have no set plan to start making payments although need to this year before interest will start accumulating. Could the fact that im not paying off any student loans be affecting such a shitty offer for my requests for financing a car? I thought 6k down would be considered a lot especially for a budget of 15k? This is my first time buying a car, im terrible with financial knowledge but would appreciate any feedback or advice. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Thinking about closing my Wells Fargo account Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:18 PM PST I don't see a benefit with them anymore, been with them for 5 years now. I have a student credit card that has no benefits—1% cash back on all purchases. I recently opened up an AMEX account for their Blue Cash preferred card. Will closing my Wells Fargo account affect my score? If so, could I just close my checking and savings account, leave the credit line open, and hope they close due to inactivity? After I close my Wells Fargo, I plan on moving over to a credit union [link] [comments] |
| 1 year old, custody battle and negative bank account, possible eviction. Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:36 AM PST I'm scared as fuck there is no way to say this. I do what I can to provide for myself and my daughter but on top of all my personal bills, taking care of her I pay 550 a month in child support. My bank account has dwindled down to -48 dollars. I have 1700 stacked away but I NEED that money to continue in court. Nothing matters more than knowing my daughter will have a father. I had to buy a car and bought one for 12 grand (finances were looking better at that point). I will have to cut some luxuries like wifi, and possibly my cell phone. I'm going to apply for food stamps but I believe that 550 will be counted as income instead of what is taken out of my pay so I might not get it. I started driving for Uber yesterday in effort for the car/insurance to pay itself. It's hard to pick up another job because of the hours i work. Does anybody have any advice or even perspective to help me get through this? [link] [comments] |
| Do tax refund checks always need to be endorsed? Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:01 PM PST I forgot to endorse my tax refund check before depositing it through the ATM - will it still be processed? [link] [comments] |
| Great YNAB alternative (especially in EU): Goodbudget Posted: 24 Feb 2022 12:08 PM PST I saw many threads asking for a good alternative after YNAB price bumps a few months ago. I wasn't aware of the bump, but now I noticed I would have to pay ~50% more starting next month. I spent a week trying out a number of the most recommended alternatives, since I considered even the original price barely acceptable (but it is an awesome app, so I swallowed). Note that a lof of the most popular apps are not available outside the US (Mint, Simplifi, PocketGuard, etc.), and you cannot link YNAB to your bank account either. That said, I was looking for a similar zero-based budgeting app that focuses more on planning rather than tracking your expenses, and I was ok with manual entry. I found that Goodbudget checks all the right boxes. Many of its features will be familiar from YNAB:
And some additional features not present in YNAB (or I couldn't find them):
Overall, I like it very much so far. The user interface is a bit different, but easy to get used to. YNAB's UI looks a bit better and there are more small convenience features, but no huge difference. The price is better: free with limited categories/accounts, or 7$/mo, 60$/yr [link] [comments] |
| Debt Collection, How to Proceed? Posted: 24 Feb 2022 05:42 PM PST Hi, I want advice so please don't be judgy or mean. I'm 19 and figuring stuff out. So a while back, I had a phone from a certain cell provider. I began working for another phone company, and they were running a promotion where they would pay off your old phone bill if you switched over. I wanted my employee discount, so i accepted that offer. They would have paid off the $800 I owed on my phone. Now, they said my account type is invalid and they won't give me the switcher. It was the right type of account at the time I did the promotion, but i didn't recieve anything. I called again and they told me I'd still get it. That was 5 months ago, and i still owe to that carrier. I can't afford $800, and today i got a letter from a debt collector. How do I proceed? I know it can mess up my credit and ability to get any loan or mortgage for years to come, but I don't know what to do. I really need advice, thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:54 PM PST Ok I was sued in Texas for a Debt in like 2019 the debt has been stuck in court due to covid, I want this done and over with. I of course said it wasn't mine or that I don't owe it due to legal reasons, however I'm concerned that calling the debt collector to settle will result in me "accepting" the debt and they will use that against me and proceed with the court case. Any ideas as to which would be the best course of action? [link] [comments] |
| Struggling mother - need advice Posted: 24 Feb 2022 10:28 PM PST Hi there, I need some advice. My parents split when I was younger, which left my "stay at home" mother financially responsible for two children. Prior to their divorce thirteen years ago, my mother was working a minimum wage job once a week at a grocery store. Once she was on her own, she had to increase her hours at the grocery store but unfortunately couldn't advanced to full time (due to limited job mobility in the company). This consequently left my mother in a position where she had to work two-three jobs at a time to make ends meet. In terms of my mother's education, she only has a highschool diploma. My mother hasn't been able to obtain a well paying job due to her lack of skills and education. In the last few months, my mom was able to finally secure a full time job at the grocery store overnight. The money from this one job is still not enough to cover all her expenses. Thus, she also works casually at another job. This job provides very inconsistent hours. I'm reaching out to see whether anyone has any recommendations on how to help my mother. She's turning 55 years old and I'm worried about her working all these hours where she is barely getting by some months. Some weeks she can work anywhere from 60-80 hours. She will literally work two shifts back to back on no sleep. We currently reside in Toronto, Ontario, which over the last decade has become ridiculously expensive. I worry that the cost of living is increasing at a rate way too quickly for her to keep up. She definitely is not prepared financially for retirement or god forbid if she ever becomes sick. Any suggestions on how my hardworking, aging mother can better prepare for retirement and the mishaps of getting older? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:19 PM PST Lingered for awhile, thought I'd get some opinions from the mighty-wise folks in PF. My info: My wife and I combined have just under $20,000 in student loans with an average interest rate around 5.5%. My employer matches 5% into my 401K and I'm currently contributing 13%. My wife and I have roughly $75,000-$80,000 in our shared savings account. Would anyone recommend dumping $20,000 from our savings to get rid of our student loans, or just doing the 5% employer match and use the extra 8% that WAS going into our 401K to pay down student loans quicker? I know we have a nice little nest-egg here in our savings, but we recently bought a house and have been spending thousands lately on furniture, paint, deco, etc. I anticipate this spending to slow down in the upcoming months. Cheers. [link] [comments] |
| Feel like I made a mistake listening to Dave Ramsey. Applied excess funds towards principle of home. Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:39 AM PST Extra 100k applied towards mortgage. We purchased homw less than 2 years ago. Intrest rate is below 3%. Should I had put that towards a franchise or stock market? Edit: at the same time I did put an additional 100k into the stock market. (Index funds). Have another 100k liquid for emergency. Spouse has a secure career. Also three vehicles all paid off. Only debt is 5k student loan. Intrest is currently suspended & 0.1% chance they may wipe it (hopeful thinking).. No cc debt. Did not expect such a high number of helpful responses. Should had provided this information earlier. Thank you all ! [link] [comments] |
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