|
It's /r/bitcoin all over again.
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2014 08:17
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:04 |
|
|
Bubbacub posted:Maybe you should apply to grad school. My sister is in grad school for English, and I think her stipend is close to 30k, plus you can defer your loans. So what you're saying is, take on more debt and become even more underemployed?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2014 19:41
|
|
|
Cultural Imperial posted:I think the real question here is, can you pay off that 50k debt? If you can't, don't worry about whether cancelling your 2009 cc will affect your credit history. I think he was saying he had 50k in limits, not outstanding balance.
|
|
#
¿
May 7, 2014 13:46
|
|
|
FieryBalrog posted:I already have an IRA through work Do you mean 401(k)? IRAs by definition are separate from employmers.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 9, 2014 00:59
|
|
|
Or check your Amazon order history and view invoices until you find what matches (in case things get split up into different shipments and therefore split up into multiple CC charges) The worst is when you cash or write checks, and there's a long time between when you write it and when someone else cashed it. If you didn't keep a copy or your bank doesn't retain a digital photo of it as a record, good luck categorizing that one!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 9, 2014 05:13
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:Checks suck, but even my little credit union has on-line account access where I can see the image of the check. It happens about once a month that I have to look up what a check was for. Likewise. I actually have a bigger problem with checks written to me that I cash, which is a much more rare event. Because I don't have any record of it after the fact except that I made a deposit... although now that I usually deposit via my credit union's phone app, I more often keep the checks around for a bit until I can confirm their categorization in Mint. It's funny how much I loathe spending straight cash these days because Mint doesn't easily handle it for me. I'm not about to whip out my phone, unlock it, enter a PIN in the Mint app, and go through its clunky process for recording the transaction as it's occurring. That's probably a $50 black hole in my spending each month unless I specifically tally up drinks bought at a concert the night before or something.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 9, 2014 14:33
|
|
|
I was all gung ho about switching to an HDHP with HSA since typically I have very low medical costs per year. And this year I'm maxing both my 401(k) and Roth IRA, and I figured it would be nice to out some money in this guy and reap the long game's benefits. But I looked last week and the investment options they give all have high ERs, 0.59% at minimum. I know I can put own contributions into whatever servicer I want, although my company's contributions will only go to their designated provider. That's fine, though I wonder if it's worth the hassle... or if I should stop complaining and just invest in the best plan option I currently have since it's not really a primary investment vehicle anyway.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2014 04:27
|
|
|
SiGmA_X posted:With employer contributions, you should be pretty well off regardless of fees, no? I would expect so. Plus once you depart, you can roll it into a better HSA. I hadn't really thought of the employer contributions as being their own benefit, now that you mention it. I'm so hooked on the amount that I contribute, I don't think about the $75 per month they're throwing in. Same with the 401(k); now that I'm maxing it, I typically only think of $17500 from my earnings going toward it, whereas I'm forgetting the additional ~3% of my income that my employer is tossing in, too.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2014 12:57
|
|
|
Just this weekend in an interesting coincidence, my mom told me she was thinking of leasing a Leaf. I stopped and rattled off all the points made in this thread, but I think she's still considering it. Granted, my parents can afford it and my mom would be trading in her existing paid off car to do so, but they have odd ideas about car ownership as it is (namely, they have 4 with greatly varying levels of use) and are planning on doing a big remodel on their house since they've decided to retire there instead of sell & downgrade. Whatever, it's their money and I did what I could to prevent it. This won't make or break them, and it's not as if I'll inherit nothing if they go down this road...
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2014 01:35
|
|
|
100 HOGS AGREE posted:How do I know I'm succeeding as an adult if all the numbers I can track aren't as good as I can possibly make them????? gotta get dat high score High score? Gotta max dat credit card balance 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2014 03:09
|
|
|
ashgromnies posted:Also, how much will I owe in taxes on my sale of $15k in stocks? As with everything in life, "it depends". What was it bought at, and how long did you hold it? That would determine if it is subject to long term or short term capital gains. Was it multiple lots purchased at different times, part off an Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or some other kind of pre-discounted price compared to market price?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2014 05:56
|
|
|
ashgromnies posted:Employee stock plan, purchased at $12.50, sold at $31. Executed and sold on the same day. Turbotax has a good writeup here of some scenarios and calculations for them. In your case, you are selling under disqualifying disposition and short-term capital gains: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Investments-and-Taxes/Employee-Stock-Purchase-Plans/INF12047.html
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2014 08:00
|
|
|
He's a savvy investor who doesn't know what an IRA is?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2014 05:11
|
|
|
And you never know if some medical complication will make the kid (or even one of you) more costly than usual to take care of. If that unfortunately happens, better to not have a an illiquid house + mortgage hanging over your head too if you're not sure you will be able to afford the house now.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2014 15:11
|
|
|
Duckman2008 posted:I am interested,so I'll look that up tonight. Thanks! No joke, seems like a great idea. But the stupid optimizer in me immediately tried to figure out if there was any benefit to me diverting a tiny amount into it myself if it is offered in Texas. Then I realized that I'd be basically be competing directly with poorer people for prizes (moreso than rewards cards) and disincentivizing their betterment of habits, and I felt bad. I'll stick to buying two lottery tickets per month, instead.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 1, 2014 21:03
|
|
|
Me, I'm amazed at the prospect of your spending only $8,000 across six months. I spend 2-3 times that over the same period. I'm not the most frugal person, but my savings rate far outpaces most other people my age (maxed 401k and Roth IRA, and full 15% to ESPP most of which eventually goes toward index funds). I really ought to get a steady roommate again, cook more, and drive less. Gotta get my "don't eat out today" in higher gear... especially considering I went out to eat today with my team at work. But at least I took half home for a second meal!
|
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2014 22:39
|
|
|
Pinball posted:Ha, I'm really not some paragon of frugality. I live on around 1300 a month, and 769 of that is rent, though I'm in a pretty low cost-of-living area (San Marcos, TX, about 30 minutes south of Austin). I spend 100 bucks a month on fun, 140 on food (since I eat at work), and the rest goes to clothing, utilities, fuel, Netflix, etc. I'm very lucky because my parents insist on paying my cell bill despite my protests and I drive a paid-off car. I work around 30 hours a week and attend school full-time, so it's not like I have a huge amount of free time to spend money. I'm not too far from you, in north Austin. But my mortgage is like 90% of your entire monthly expenses... I really ought to get a roommate again. And spend less on food.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 14, 2014 05:52
|
|
|
Go to the Long term investing megathread (linked in the OP) and use that as a starting point on what to do with the extra cash you have aside from your emergency fund! Even putting it in a higher yield online savings account won't be enough to counteract inflation, but over the long haul, index fund investing of that money instead will provide much better returns.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2014 02:32
|
|
|
At my company, the max match ($0.50 per dollar withheld up to 6% of paycheck)is on a per-paycheck-withheld basis, so if I said withhold $3000/month from my check thinking my 401k would get filled to $17.5k in ~6 months, then actually I'd be missing out on half the corporate matching on the year because each paycheck (24 in a year) hits a cap of matching equivalent to [(0.5*%6) / 24 paychecks per year]). I'm better off setting $17,500 / 24 paychecks = $729 per paycheck and ensuring that I hit the max only in my last paycheck of the year. Luckily our plan through Schwab does in fact let us set a flat $ amount on the withholding and I don't have to set it as a percentage basis of my check and adjust it whenever I get a raise. So if my salary were $100k/yr, then setting a 401k withholding of $729 per paycheck would give me $125 in matching per check, and $3k max at the end of the year. If I contributed let's say $1500 per paycheck, each contribution would still cap at $125 per paycheck, but my contributions would cap out and stop after about 6 months, and therefore my corporate matching funds would stop as well. Then I'd only have about $1500 in matching for the year.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2014 20:28
|
|
|
Consider paying just half now and keeping a cash cushion for emergencies in your account. Then maybe do 4-10x minimum payments on the remainder as you see fit until it's gone.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 1, 2014 21:23
|
|
|
Dumb question, mostly because the implications seem too obvious... I see lots of low-interest car loans advertised all the time if you have good credit. I know a 0% loan just means the base price of the car was way higher to make up for the lost interest from the loan itself. But is that proportionally true for other low-interest loans, and are they written in such a way to prevent you from immediately selling the car and leveraging that money for other investments (let's assume you have the emergency cash to back up the full car value). Is the kicker that you won't get a sale price approaching the loan principal in order to make that workable? Let's ignore for the moment the title/registration fees and other initial ownership costs.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2014 19:22
|
|
|
I was thinking there was some sort of rider like that, but I didn't think of how to word it in my question other than "written in such a way to prevent". Thanks.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2014 20:07
|
|
|
KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I did change my withholding for my last check to hit 16,5, and it's too late to change since we get our last checks cut on the 22nd - my change had to be submitted by December 1. So I'll be just a bit short. Bummer, but you still have a way sweeter deal than most of us. Gonna get a little philosophical here. While you're thinking about it, set yearly recurring calendar reminders for noon-ish on Jan 1 to do the following, assuming you normally have that day off: 1) Adjust 401(k) withholdings for the upcoming year based on new limits and/or any extra contributions you may have set toward the end of last year to catch up to the limit 2) Donate to any charity you may have passed up last year due to maxing out company matching, where you wanted to save it next year for specific causes or campaigns 3) Swap any credit cards as default payment methods in various online/recurring setups if quarterly reward categories have changed to make them more advantageous (these are quarterly reminders for me) 4) Rebalance investment portfolios, especially for "lazy"/three-/four-fund portfolios. Depending on your style you may want to make this a quarterly or semi-annual reminder 5) Write thank you cards for any particularly thoughtful recent gifts (always a good practice), and give any gifts you may have forgotten 6) Set specific time-based plans to reestablish a connection with friends, family, or acquaintances where you have fallen out of touch and want to change that -- you may not want to call on January 1 itself and get lost in a sea of generic well-wishing messages 7) Reevaluate your career, family, relationship, health, financial, and hobby goals and make sure they're both actively on track and still a good idea to pursue. Make this a quarterly checkpoint. Edit: Let's include a few more oft-neglected things: * Fire extinguishers and CO / smoke detectors * House locks & alarm testing * Insurance coverage for people and property * Wills and beneficiaries for investments & retirement accounts * Doctor / dentist / optometrist / OBGYN / therapist / etc. visits * Vehicle fluid levels and periodic maintenance SpelledBackwards fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Dec 12, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2014 11:37
|
|
|
drat Bananas posted:Does anyone have a recommendation of who to go through for setting up an HSA? For that matter, how easy is it to move HSAs between providers? Is it as easy as an IRA? My health insurance is through CIGNA and they nudged me toward their partnership with Chase, so that's where mine is more. The fund choices suck though, so going Vanguard would be way more preferable.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2014 03:44
|
|
|
esquilax posted:So - I bought a place in August at 30 year fixed, 4.125%. I got a call today from the mortgage lender that I used, saying I could refinance at 30 year fixed, 3.75%. This is completely free with no closing costs, he assures, because it's within a year of purchase and that's a thing they do. My house's mortgage got sold off right away to Wells Fargo from whomever offered it at closing. About 3.5 years later I got an offer from WF to do a no-cost refinancing at a time when rates had really dropped. I compared my documentation closely and the terms were nearly identical to my previous mortgage regarding length of stay in the house, use as personal property vs. investment property, etc. In the end I went from a 30-year 6% loan to a 15-year 3.75% and it really did cost me nothing at all to do that refinancing. I don't know how or why, but I'm not complaining.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2015 02:31
|
|
|
SiGmA_X posted:I do agree though, it is usually always, always worth taking the match due to the instant ROI. "usually always" is like saying "sometimes never".
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2015 00:25
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:A legitimate financial strategy! Until you get it back all at once as a a fat refund check, which you invest in some truck equity.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2015 08:11
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:I wish I could figure out exactly how my wife and I are showing to owe $4000 this year when we both changed our exemptions to 0 last January... I have a definite imbalance in my liability each year partially because of the $500 from repayment of the 2008 $7500 federal homebuying credit (  to the 2009 buyers who got $8000 with no need to pay it back), but mostly because of ESPP sales I make throughout the year.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2015 19:47
|
|
|
SpelledBackwards posted:I have a definite imbalance in my liability each year partially because of the $500 from repayment of the 2008 $7500 federal homebuying credit ( And with me getting closer to finishing my 2014 taxes (still waiting on E*Trade to stop draggin their asses on tax forms  ), I've decided to redo my W-4 today to claim 0 allowances and see if it nets me closer to what my total burden with immediate ESPP sales and tiny year-end bonus would be in the first paycheck where it takes effect, rather than having to do estimated quarterly payments and file 1040-ES forms. I'm hoping that will let me just take the proceeds of my ESPP sales directly without as much worry for prepaying taxes and forge ahead.Edit: This was what the IRS withholding calculator gave me, although I wish there was a more straightforward system of your paycheck is X, your amount withheld is Y with Z allowances, change to A allowances and it will be now be B withheld. It's so annoying that if I have no idea what my current allowances were set to, I have to play the guessing game and see if I accidentally withhold too much. I know how much my withholding should changed by, but I don't know what my last W-4's # of allowances was, so I'm just spitballing at this point. Otherwise I'd keep the same number of allowances and just add a small additional fixed $ amount to withhold. SpelledBackwards fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Feb 4, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2015 06:48
|
|
|
It could be like a Sallie Mae loan when I had one, where you have to specify whether an overpayment goes against the principal, or only serves to push back the next payment's due date. Tricksy hobbits...
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2015 00:40
|
|
|
Duckman2008 posted:I would agree, I would just literally pay the student loans from your $40K cash. The norm for emergency savings is 6 months income, but quick math pegs that at $90K, so I think that's a bit crazy. I thought it was typically 6-12 months expenses, not income. As in, what you actually need to get by for that many months, with no need to worry about income tax and the like. That would make it in the 36k range for 6 months.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2015 12:47
|
|
|
And if you're still worried, I would set the card to autopay its full statement balance every month, and then also send partial payments however often as you want throughout the month (1-3x, maybe) so that: 1) your utilization % remains low pretty much no matter when they report it 2) your autopay is the safety net that prevents you from ever paying interest in case you forget or don't care to make a manual payment in a particular month.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2015 19:24
|
|
|
small hendren posted:I deposited a check into my bank account today by taking a picture of it with my phone and uploading it on the bank app, and it got me wondering, why can't we do the same thing with cash? I seriously thought I was in the Bitcoin thread when I read that, but I'm all the more confused now that I realize we aren't.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2015 02:58
|
|
|
The thread title isn't actually talking about gaming the system either - what it's really saying is you shouldn't be trying to raise the score just for the sake of raising the score. Solid habits will improve it over time, and you only need to specifically care about the score itself in particular when you're looking to borrow money and the lender is going to perform a credit check on you in the process. Hell, if you get a background check done on you, do they even care about or check score, or will they only look for delinquent accounts?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2015 00:23
|
|
|
pig slut lisa posted:That's why it's so crucial to hit your retirement savings goal as soon as possible. It doesn't mean you have to retire early, simply that you have the option and the safety cushion if the decision is made for you by external circumstances. That's a very good point. 40 years ago, when someone typical who is retiring now was first starting their career, there probably wasn't a good way to predict the vast rise of the US service economy and decline of the manufacturing sector. Same goes with the proliferation of computers and automated systems. Who knows what the next 20-40 years brings? Maybe further computer-based automation and scripting kills a lot of manual jobs that keep people gainfully employed now. Maybe advances in electricity generation and storage make energy so cheap that the worldwide quality of life rises dramatically at little environmental or resource cost, to where less overall work needs to be done for society to benefit. Maybe self-driving cars and better public transit means people waste less time commuting and more on leisure, increasing the retail and service economy sectors. Or maybe climate change or a new Spanish flu kills 50% of the population and everything changes, or the stock market does precipitously collapse in a way that everyone loses. But assuming nothing too drastic happens, setting yourself up comfortably and having that safety cushion pig slut lisa is talking about means you are better able to weather a financial storm or largely separate yourself from uncertain market forces. It keeps the decision on how, where, or whether you work at all in your hands.
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2015 14:46
|
|
|
I recommend only 3 pages of debate. You don't want to have all that consumer debate hanging over your head 4 pages from now, do you?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 8, 2015 01:14
|
|
|
jarjarbinksfan621 posted:Who knows, maybe 10 years from now I want to gently caress off and buy a beach shack in Thailand and I will need all my savings to do so. Then you pull it all out of your 401k, pay back taxes (which you would've paid anyway had you kept cash) and then 10% early withdrawal penalties, and I think still end up ahead vs. keeping lots of cash around. If you decide you want to gently caress off. But if you decide you would rather do the typical retirement thing, or especially early retirement, then a huge pile of cash will not have served you well. SpelledBackwards fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Jun 9, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jun 9, 2015 13:23
|
|
|
...how did you think they worked, exactly?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 10, 2015 05:23
|
|
|
Peanut3141 posted:I'd recommend you two sit down and see how much income going part-time will cost you. Then figure out what you're willing to give up to offset that. Not just income, but potentially also the loss of certain benefits if he switches off of full-time.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2015 23:08
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:04 |
|
|
I feel bad sometimes, because my dad has been an insurance agent for 40+ years, and a lot of his commissions have come from selling whole life to small businesses. At a conference last year, he was definitely telling a colleague at dinner it was his preferred product to sell. I don't know the percentage breakdown or anything on whole life vs. other services, but he's done very well for himself overall. But then I hear about whole life on this board and I get all  about his sales track record.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2015 22:40
|
|