|
Anne Whateley posted:Maxing out your Roth IRA (currently) is $458/month. Maxing it out 2008-2012 was $417/month. It's pretty doable especially because you only have to do it over the course of a year (you can pay less one month and make up for it the next). Also some companies don't realize they're having a 53 week pay year and sometimes pay you out 27 checks instead of 26 
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 17:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 10:58 |
|
|
Anne Whateley posted:Salaried people paid biweekly have a huge advantage over hourly wage workers -- those two unbudgeted paychecks. Makes the math so much easier to get paid 24 times a year though. I used to work at a department store. They had a pretty sweet employee discount, 25% off. The cool thing is that 25% off applied to sale prices/clearance stuff also. So if something was 70% off for all the plebs, employees would get another 25% off of that price. That also means that they could hide all the good stuff in the days leading up to the sale for their own purchasing, which is why you can never find things in your size on sale The catch with the discount is that you must use a store credit card to get your discount. The rates on them were horrible, 20%+ interest rates for most people. The store made it really easy though, you could make a payment on your card right at the cash register. So a smart employee would purchase something with their card for the discount, and immediately pay it off with cash or check. More than half of the people I worked with carried balances on their 20%+ interest rate store credit card. They didn't conceptually understand that if you carry a balance on your card for a month or two, you've wiped out all of your "savings" from the discount. You could always tell who they were, because they would make a cash payment on their card BEFORE purchasing something, so they could free up some credit limit on their maxed out cards.  I keep in touch with some friends who worked there, and a couple of them only paid off their card 3 years after they stopped working there.That employer only matched your 401k contributions if you were putting it in company stock. There were a number of managers there who had been working there for 20+ years and had six figure balances in company stock, with no other investments. It went from $30/share to $3/ share at the depth of the recession in the space of 2 years, and many of them panic sold it. Now 5 years later, it has bounced up to $90/share. Some of those people would be really well set up Can't complain too much. I was enrolled in the plan when stock was $3/share, and sold at $36/share, turning $600 of my pre-tax earnings into a $10k down payment on my house 
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 17:52
|
|
|
canyoneer posted:Makes the math so much easier to get paid 24 times a year though. As long as they don't tell on December 23 that they're accelerating the January 7 payroll to December 31 for tax purposes though, and they weren't doing the usual HSA and TSA withholdings  I figured out that only cost me like 36 bucks in additional taxes, and will mean there's no way in hell I spill into the 28% AGI bracket this year, but forecasting my net income that month was tricky.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 18:20
|
|
|
canyoneer posted:I used to work at a department store. They had a pretty sweet employee discount, 25% off. The cool thing is that 25% off applied to sale prices/clearance stuff also. So if something was 70% off for all the plebs, employees would get another 25% off of that price. That also means that they could hide all the good stuff in the days leading up to the sale for their own purchasing, which is why you can never find things in your size on sale
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 20:15
|
|
|
Thank christ I get a flat 50% off full priced items and 10% extra off sale items and have to deal with NO OTHER BULLSHIT. That sounds ridiculous especially considering who is hired.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 20:29
|
|
|
SiGmA_X posted:A month at 20% APR is 1.66% and 2 months is 3.33%, so I think they're still saving money with a 25% discount. I worked at a Sears when I was pondering life after highschool between college and college, and we had the same deal - employees made payments to use their store cards. It was sad. You're right  The underlying principle remains, because everyone seemed to have either had zero balance always or maxed-out always.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 21:32
|
|
|
canyoneer posted:You're right
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 22:23
|
|
|
Saeku posted:I work retail at minimum wage and save ~$750/month. Can't imagine living at home, working full-time or near full-time, and not saving -- after doing that, how are you supposed to adjust to life with rent? You have less than $600 of expenses per month? I am assuming you are in one of the $10 minimum wage states.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 06:30
|
|
|
Felter Chesthard posted:You have less than $600 of expenses per month? I am assuming you are in one of the $10 minimum wage states. Minimum wage here is $11/hour now, but when it was lower I did, yeah. Isn't the entire point of living at home to have low expenses? If a guy can afford a $25k car by living at home, he can afford to drive a beater and stick that $400/month car payment or whatever into savings every month.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 06:52
|
|
|
Saeku posted:Minimum wage here is $11/hour now, but when it was lower I did, yeah. Isn't the entire point of living at home to have low expenses? If a guy can afford a $25k car by living at home, he can afford to drive a beater and stick that $400/month car payment or whatever into savings every month. The worst is that I had $23,000 of student loans that took me almost 5 years to pay off, earning more than double that he is making, and that felt like an eternity. I'm guessing that car is going to be sucking a huge part of his take home pay for 10 years.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 07:17
|
|
|
One of my coworkers told me this past week that he had something like 80k in student debt alone, at a state school I asked how the gently caress was this possible cause he's an engineer and I guess it's a combination of out of state tuition and some other bullshit. He just left the company and I guess the ~gossip~ from other coworkers is that he was constantly complaining about his student debt to basically everyone all the time and saying how he doesn't have money. But he asks around every single day if anybody wants to go get lunch (easily ~$10/day after tip) and I assume goes out for lunch even if by himself, and he was looking to buy a house, or rather a "fixer."
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 14:13
|
|
|
Boris Galerkin posted:One of my coworkers told me this past week that he had something like 80k in student debt alone, at a state school I asked how the gently caress was this possible cause he's an engineer and I guess it's a combination of out of state tuition and some other bullshit. He just left the company and I guess the ~gossip~ from other coworkers is that he was constantly complaining about his student debt to basically everyone all the time and saying how he doesn't have money. But he asks around every single day if anybody wants to go get lunch (easily ~$10/day after tip) and I assume goes out for lunch even if by himself, and he was looking to buy a house, or rather a "fixer." It is very easy. Don't get scholarships, parents make to much for grants, don't have time to work during school (I did and it is tough), be lazy in the summer or work hard but blow the money on chicks and beer and stuff. I will use my in state engineering school for an example. The estimated cost for one year is $26,375. I think some of the living stuff is a bit high for the area but easily going to cost you $22,000. Take it all in loans and you are at $88,000, most people can't finish in 4 years though so it could be even more. It is really not much different at any other in state (pick one) engineering school that is well regarded. But by working hard and getting scholarships you can make it out with a lot less (I left tech with $6K in debt). And here is a link to the info on cost. http://m.mtu.edu/finaid/understanding/cost/
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 14:42
|
|
|
Boris Galerkin posted:One of my coworkers told me this past week that he had something like 80k in student debt alone, at a state school I asked how the gently caress was this possible cause he's an engineer and I guess it's a combination of out of state tuition and some other bullshit. He just left the company and I guess the ~gossip~ from other coworkers is that he was constantly complaining about his student debt to basically everyone all the time and saying how he doesn't have money. But he asks around every single day if anybody wants to go get lunch (easily ~$10/day after tip) and I assume goes out for lunch even if by himself, and he was looking to buy a house, or rather a "fixer." You're saying 80k in student loans for an engineering bachelors is a ridiculous amount? Did you graduate in 1975 or something? My public state school charges about $4K a semester for tuition alone. Double that for living expenses, etc. Yeah, that guy going out to eat lunch at 10$/day is excessive, can't argue with that. I studied EE for a year before I dropped out because the curriculum was too difficult. Those guys don't have free time to work a second job. And yeah, 8$/hr 10/h at Home Depot is really going to cut a dent in your tuition bill. If you're in liberal arts, sure, as long as you can vomit some words on paper you'll get an A or B. Engineering is hardcore. In the 2003 and post era, even PUBLIC school tuition and fees will put you in the poorhouse. At least he didn't go to law school.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 16:07
|
|
|
seacat posted:If you're in liberal arts, sure, as long as you can vomit some words on paper you'll get an A or B. Engineering is hardcore.  Financial counseling really ought to be part of the college admission process. All the marketing is geared towards making people feel like special snowflakes going to their one ~*dream school*~ regardless of cost.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 17:43
|
|
|
e: nevermind
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 17:49
|
|
|
I was in the midrange in social sciences, and now I'm graduating next month with my Masters in Social Work. I am currently typing this from my weekend job  I miss undergrad where vomiting words was a thing I could do in at least some of my classes. The only way I'm able to work now is by having a 6am wake up, 7 day a week schedule (2 days of classes, 3 days of mandatory credit internship, 2 days working). Asking a 19 year old to have that kind of discipline is probably excessive. And as soon as I hear about this pending job offer, I am quitting and never looking back.Summer jobs are almost non existent in some parts of the country as well. I had to maintain a job year round, and during the summer we basically tossed applications straight in the trash after the first two hires in April or May. That said, it's not unusual for grad students to be even worse with money now than when they were undergrads because now they are "adults" and need things like their own apartment, nice furniture, and credit card financed weddings 
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 18:06
|
|
|
Trilineatus posted:I was in the midrange in social sciences, and now I'm graduating next month with my Masters in Social Work. I am currently typing this from my weekend job I've written 143 papers since September. I don't think "vomiting words" is really accurate for the process. It really wasn't as straightforward as science majors tend to make it out to be, but I have no point of reference regarding post-secondary labs and maths and poo poo. The workload was about 100 hours a week on average, including class time. As for paying for it, I think a good strategy is to seesaw with a spouse in a well-paid trade, where you get a qualification, work in it while they get another full time, then back to upgrading, and so on until you reach credential nirvana.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 18:12
|
|
|
tuyop posted:I've written 143 papers since September. I don't think "vomiting words" is really accurate for the process. It really wasn't as straightforward as science majors tend to make it out to be, but I have no point of reference regarding post-secondary labs and maths and poo poo. The workload was about 100 hours a week on average, including class time. Alright, BFC goons, which one of you is going to do this Power Couple game with me?  Seriously though, as a pretty happily single person, that is the thing I am most jealous of - couples with similar goals and good financial sense. Ain't nobody paying half of my rent 
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2014 20:03
|
|
|
Trilineatus posted:This made me laugh like crazy. If I went on a date with a guy and acted like that, I'd expect to get dumped at a bus stop without so much as a glance over the shoulder. I always found the idea of women ordering expensive meals to show how much they are "worth" to men to be ridiculous, and it turns out it is just as hilarious gender-swapped. I know this is late, but I didn't have internet access or time last week:  I'm confused, is the worthy thing supposed to be the meal or the women? Your use of 'they' has left me hanging. I thought this was simply to see if the person paying would flinch.Content for thread: I'm bad with money. 7 (or 8) years in graduate school and now that I'm actually making money I don't know how to spend it. I did pay off my remaining $11k in student loans and save up a $12k emergency fund the first year out of school, though. So there is that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 00:28
|
|
|
Where are all these restaurants that have $10 chicken, $12 fish, and $85 steak & lobster? Just take your date somewhere that doesn't have a menu full of landmines. I'd hate to be on a date and wonder if I'm ordering the wrong thing...
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 00:43
|
|
|
Lobster is market price and yummos, always get lobster.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 00:45
|
|
|
MickeyFinn posted:I know this is late, but I didn't have internet access or time last week:
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 01:00
|
|
|
SpelledBackwards posted:He means the women are trying to show they are high class and worth a lot by ordering an expensive meal. As in, that'll show the guy paying that she is worthy of being bought an expensive meal, and that it's not a waste of his time and money to do so. Pretty stupid supposition, but that's how some people operate. I'm a she, and that is the essence of it, but also to show their expectation of a suitor, implying that meeting the high bar of buying lobster that suitor will be making a positive impression on a valuable commodit- um, lady. Some women try and play off of the same psychology that makes diamonds valuable. Demand and false scarcity! Look how much others want them! Look how expensive they are! Story: watched someone in line at the record store get three cards declined in a row and still purchase their Iron Maiden and Mos Def vinyl on a fourth card Edit: I feel I should also add that the attitude of those women is a social construct that rewards women who conform and punishes women who don't, as "giving it away for free" makes you like, three times the whore, right?  (gently caress I hope I don't sound like I support the patriarchy  )
Mocking Bird fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Apr 20, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 02:56
|
|
|
GoGoGadgetChris posted:Where are all these restaurants that have $10 chicken, $12 fish, and $85 steak & lobster? Just take your date somewhere that doesn't have a menu full of landmines. I'd hate to be on a date and wonder if I'm ordering the wrong thing... Lobster generally costs a lot more than chicken. So does steak.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 05:20
|
|
|
Trilineatus posted:I'm a she, and that is the essence of it, but also to show their expectation of a suitor, implying that meeting the high bar of buying lobster that suitor will be making a positive impression on a valuable commodit- um, lady. May the Frisky Dingo thread light the way. Olivia: No I don't want no drat nachos! I thought you were taking me to a nice restaurant! Ta'quil: Well I would have... if you would've dressed appropriately.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 05:53
|
|
|
Nail Rat posted:Lobster generally costs a lot more than chicken. So does steak. I understood that part, I just don't understand why anyone would take a date to a restaurant with lobster on the menu if the date isn't allowed to order lobster. Is it actually rude to order the most expensive thing on the menu? It's irrelevant anyway, as it's very easy to pick a restaurant where there is a narrow range of prices, compared to my hyperbole example of $10 chicken and $85 lobster.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 05:57
|
|
|
According to The Office, if a woman orders lobster, she pretty much has to sleep with the dude. Confirm/Deny?
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 06:02
|
|
|
Been a lurker for a while now and I feel it's now my time to post! My sister makes 120K a year and her partner makes around the same. She has no savings and a 4K credit card debt that she only pays the minimum off for about 6 months now. My dad always pays her car insurance and rego because she wouldn't be able to afford that. She organised so many different wedding/engagement plans and dresses and lost thousands in deposits, and the wedding probably isn't even going to happen but that's a whole different story. She is even planning on buying a 350K apartment with said guy, the guy that will ring her phone 40x a day if my sister goes to coffee with my dad! I'll elaborate more on her financial ruthlessness when she sends me an email telling me what the hell is going on! I need to help her sort her budget out, get rid of her debt and actually teach her to save something but going by this thread I know it's going to be like leading a horse to water. It's just frustrating hearing her cry poor when I make less than a quarter of her salary. And another. A guy at my work is deep in debt... he leased a car worth about 38K, and by the time it's finalised he'd have payed 60K...he has massive credit card debt because he has to buy all these consoles and trinkets, and he even borrowed $500 from his brother (to pay for rent) who also work with us which is causing another problem in itself. He asked me for help once because he's getting those phone calls (sorting out debt, not asking me for money) but he didn't listen. Then the bank increased his limit and he just goes and spends more! He then tells me that he so badly wants to buy some solid snake figure or whatever the gently caress from EB that costs $100... I pretty much just called him an idiot and reminded him of his plight. It's not just these two either. I really am surrounded by people that are bad with money.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 07:38
|
|
|
Oh_Yeah posted:Been a lurker for a while now and I feel it's now my time to post! Do a breakdown of a monthly budget for her and then post it here for our amusement. Short of a drug addiction, I don't see how they can be blowing through 20k of combined monthly income.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 14:38
|
|
|
It's almost certainly their pretax income so they aren't really making 20k/month, but I'm sure it's funny regardless.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 15:12
|
|
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/23h2x3/serious_debt_problems_no_idea_where_to_start_or/ This guy. quote:
Later in the thread, he posts that his wife can't work because she had a gun pointed at her at work and has PTSD from that. I don't even know where to start with that. I don't even know what half those places are. Fingerhut, Gettington, 7th avenue? 260 a month for phones? Why do they all need smart phones? TLG James fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Apr 20, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 16:37
|
|
|
TLG James posted:260 a month for phones? Why do they all need smart phones? Because doctors can only interface these days through Facebook Mobile Chat, duh.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 16:44
|
|
|
TLG James posted:http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/23h2x3/serious_debt_problems_no_idea_where_to_start_or/ Check'N'Go: Installment Loan. If paid off tomorrow would only be $2500, but with interest over the next 12 months it's $570/month. Reddit Loan $200 repayment $230. Various Payday Advances $1215.38 All of it is bad debt and stuff, but this stuff right here. How/Why/What makes someone do something like this? Holy crap. Taking on debt to pay other debt?
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 16:46
|
|
|
How on earth are Reddit Loans enforced? http://www.reddit.com/r/Loans So you just PayPal someone $1000 and take their word that they'll pay you back?
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 16:51
|
|
|
EugeneJ posted:How on earth are Reddit Loans enforced? http://www.reddit.com/r/Loans/search?q=UNPAID&sort=new&restrict_sr=on Here's a link to all the unpaid ones. Let the schadenfreude flow through you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 17:02
|
|
|
Oh_Yeah posted:Been a lurker for a while now and I feel it's now my time to post! Here in Australia I think everyone has heard stories of a friend or acquaintance who gets a job in the mines, gets a large salary because they end up working 12 hour days in the middle of nowhere for weeks at a time and blowing it all on boats, motorcycles, etc. It's really odd because talking to them they don't seem to realise just how lucky they are to be earning that kind of money while young and so appear completely detached from reality. One person I know who works on the mines used to talk about how people like me and her were 'strugglers' or 'battlers' when in reality she earns twice as much as me. It's to the point where you sometimes read articles in the local rag about how there are people who had these highly paid fly-in-fly-out roles, lost their jobs during the economic downturn and are now in financial difficulty because there's no equally highly paid work for them and they have nothing to show for their years in the mines.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 17:03
|
|
|
TLG James posted:I don't even know where to start with that. I don't even know what half those places are. Fingerhut, Gettington, 7th avenue? Gettington, Fingerhut, and 7th ave are all basically the same place, it's "buy here pay here" for lovely consumer goods. They used to advertise very extensively in catalogs to entire 'poor' neighborhoods with "pre-approved credit" offers printed on the back - granted, the credit was only good at their overpriced store and carried 25% interest, but hey, you too could own a 19" black & white Fony TV for just $20 a month for the rest of your life! Even if they do all need smart phones, they should be on straight talk or SIMple mobile or something and paying $40 a pop instead of whatever they're paying now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 17:14
|
|
|
Man payday loans are scummy as poo poo, just look at that - he got a loan for 2500$ and they're going to collect nearly 7000$ back. The US really really needs to bring the hammer down on usury laws, that is out of loving hand. Not to excuse this guy. I think FingerHut and Gettingtons must be if not credit cards, old-fashioned department store type charge accounts - all in all about a 10,000$ credit limit over... a dozen? cards? That's on top of the rest of his non-credit bills. Normally when I read these stories I think "man that is really a poo poo hole to be in, I'd love to just give him 10grand to get out of it," because hell I think everybody has been in that spot after a medical emergency or something (it took me a solid year to get back to zero after my own 5000 dollar brush with death), but this guy is pretty much the definition of someone who would go right the gently caress back into debt, not having learned a thing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 17:14
|
|
|
TLG James posted:I don't even know where to start with that. I don't even know what half those places are. Fingerhut, Gettington, 7th avenue? Fingerhut has been around forever (since the 50s) and theie schtick has always been installment payments on cheap crappy overpriced poo poo designed to trap poor saps who are lovely at math. Literally all their stuff is advertised (now online, they used to send out paper catalogs) as only $x.xx per month! This guy is like the poster child of poor uneducated Americans and why we need usury laws.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 17:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 10:58 |
|
|
Also, the better part of that guy's thread are the internet detectives that raided his post history and discovered he steals things for fun, has a Good Gamin' Rig, and somehow has money to smoke pot too.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 17:27
|
|