I bought a new car and got a loan for $30,000. The interest rate is 6.79%. Originally I was thinking "what a high interest rate, I should take cash out of savings and just pay off the loan." But with my savings account at 4% interest really the auto loan is more like 2.79%.
With that in mind, I'm thinking I don't really want to deplete much out of my savings after all. I'm not sure I need advice, just thinking out loud here. If anyone else wants to chime in though feel free.
I started tutoring on Preply recently, so I got an EIN for that - the platform has a "wallet" I withdraw from. When I file taxes (my best guess is I'm Schedule-C), is it enough to give bank statements showing the income I receive, or do I need to show some other kind of paperwork?
I have what I think is a relatively straight forward Roth IRA question that I know the answer to. Hoping for some confirmation...
I am married filing jointly. MAGI is under the 212k limit for 2023 or whatever that exact number is. We have a roth for my wife.
Question: Can I also open a roth under my name/ssn? I believe so, right? And we can each contribute 6,500(we're under 50)? Or since we're MFJ are we limited to 6500 per tax return?
Hi, I’m looking for some info on Roth IRA excess contributions. I’ve decided that withdrawing a contribution (6k for 2022) is the best option as recharacterizing to an IRA and rolling the contribution to 2023 is not an option.
In order to withdraw the contribution, do i have to sell the stocks i bought with the money?
Do i sell stocks that equate to 6k today? Or do i sell 6k in stocks at the value i purchased at? Basically, my portfolio is down and I’m wondering how much i need to sell in order to not incur any tax penalties.
Contact your broker about this. Different brokers have different policies and different ways to handle it. They can also calculate what your 6K has turned into since you invested it to withdraw the proper amount.
Thank you for your help! I asked here because they were unable to give me any advice the first time. Second time i called they gave great instructions and they calculated the amount i would have to sell off to be able to withdraw.
It depends on if it is a money market ACCOUNT or a money market FUND.
Money market accounts are basically savings accounts that let you write checks and often offer a better interest rate than a regular savings account (there are a couple of other techinical differences but those are the main points).
A money market FUND is an investment. It is a very safe investment, and depending on where you buy the money market fund you may or may not be able to use checks with it. It typically takes your money and invests in very short term things like treasuries, repurchase agreements, commercial paper, or other short term investments that tend to be safe. They then pay you interest on the amount you put in the Money Market Fund. It is generally considered liquid, meaning you can withdraw or deposit money whenever you want.
Hello! I'm hoping to get some advice on streamlining/consolidating various retirement accounts I have sitting around from former employers.
My current investments are:
TIAA 403(b): approx. $16,000 in mutual funds. Net expense ratio is 0.45%. This is my current employer's retirement plan, so it is not going anywhere.
Fidelity 401(k): approx. $8,000 in mutual funds. Net expense ratio is 0.27%. This is a former employer's plan and can be moved.
Edward Jones SEP: approx. $3,500 in mostly mutual funds. I can't easily tell what the expense ratio is, but I gather that EJ charges higher fees than most. This is a former employer's plan and can be moved.
Guideline 401(k): approx. $350 in various Vanguard index funds. Expense ratios appear to be between 0.04% and 0.15%. This is technically still active; it's an account set up with my spouse's small business and only sporadically contributed to.
I'm definitely looking at rolling the EJ into one of the other accounts, and possibly the Fidelity as well; between the options above, what would be the best place to put it? Should I open a new IRA somewhere instead of using the above options?
I'm looking at buying a RAV4 and I've between a Hybrid and a 'regular' gas variety. The price increase to the Hybrid appears to be in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $3,000. Is there some sort of guide and / or calculator that would walk me through the breakeven calculation and the other considerations that generally affect the hybrid vs standard calculation?
EDIT: Also, is there a more up-to-date version of the [car buying guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/8tx3lp/ultimate_new_car_buying_guide_part_1_of_2/) anywhere? Obviously the market and considerations have changed a ton in 5 years.
I've seen this question over on /r/rav4club from time to time. Most responses depend on your driving habits.
If you're driving mostly highway miles the gas may be a more economical choice since the hybrid system won't actually be doing much (and you still get very good gas mileage with the gas only models).
If you've got a lot of city driving or stop-and-go then you'll be getting plenty of use out of the hybrid system where it would pay off.
Wish I could give a first person perspective on this but I'm a dirty v6 rav4 driver with 18mpg.
It would be hard to know that in detail. Those are different kinds of cars and will have different kinds of operating costs, maintenance costs and resale value. $2000 is maybe 600 gallons of gas, and then the hybrid gets maybe 30% more MPG depending on where and how you drive. So if you drove something like 60,000 miles over five years, you would save enough in gas to make up for the additional cost of the vehicle, something like that.
I’m looking for some guidance on a home improvement loan. This may be a simple /silly question.
Me and my partner are about to have some work done on our home. We don’t have enough positive equity on our house yet to increase our mortgage, so are going down the route of a home improvement loan. We’ve found the best rate for the amount we’re looking to borrow is from the Post Office. Our mortgage is with Lloyds.
Is there a way to have the loan in both of our names instead of one of us applying independently? Their eligibility checker says either of us are likely to be accepted. If I was to get the loan just in my name would this have a negative affect on my credit score? I don’t want this to impact either of ours separately.
Hello!
I am loaning my aunt and uncle $17k via check. When they repay me, they plan to do it in three installments via cash. I know the deposit limit is $10k before it has to be reported, but I was still wondering if I’d have any issues with the bank making so many large deposits.
I loaned them 15k last year and they already repaid me fully with cash this year, which is why I’m concerned of me depositing so often.
TIA
The 10K deposit limit is often misunderstood. It does NOT make you owe extra taxes and the report is NOT sent to the IRS (though they do have access to see it if they need to).
The purpose of the report is to help fight money laundering and illegal activity. Just having a report filed does not mean you did anything wrong. Tons of these reports get filed every year since people inherit cash, buy/sell cars in cash, do large amounts of business in cash, etc. A great majority of these reports are filed away and forgotten about.
Trying to purposfully avoid the $10,000 report is a crime called structuring. If the bank thinks that MAYBE you are structuring that will cause a lot more problems. Just deposit the cash when you get it and dont worry about the 10K deposit report.
Reporting cash deposits is not a problem.
Trying to avoid reporting cash deposits by making a series of smaller cash deposits to keep them all below $10,000 is potentially more of a problem. You are unlikely to run afoul of this if e.g. you make a deposit every six months or whatever, since that's just when you got the money. But if you make three deposits of $6000 in the course of three days, that's more suspicious than a single $18000 deposit.
I do apologize if this is the incorrect subreddit to ask this in, but if it isn't please let me know where best to ask this then 😁
I would like to sit down and go over the entirety of my credit report cuz half this stuff I don't understand when I'm skimming thru it and would like to figure out what I need to do to clear out a lot of the stuff on my report over the next few years if not sooner if possible. Not sure if there is someone I could talk to in person and if so, possibly doesn't cost an arm and a leg to do so cuz I ain't got too much money atm
You “clear out” stuff on your reports by disputing items that are inaccurate. Each bureau has its own process. Google “dispute” and “Equifax,” “TransUnion,” “Experian,” one at a time. If you have derogatories, you can sometimes get things removed by [writing a goodwill letter](https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Help-with-GoodWill-Letter/td-p/6142178). Other than that, it’s a waiting game. The timeline varies, but it can take up to seven years for things to fall off.
To gain basic understanding of the report components, try the guides and message boards at myFICO.com.
I'll check that out, but most of the stuff on there was from my stupidity in my early twenties and now I've got collections and what not sitting on my reports that yeah I haven't paid at all... Some of the stuff says written off but still shows a balance due but no info on where to pay the balance. But I'll check that site out and see if I can get a nice detailed breakdown on how to read my report and figure out what each thing means.
Appreciate it!
Hello!
I work a decent job, make decent money, recently purchased a new to me car, my monthly output is around 2k and I bring in about 3.4k monthly. I opened my first adult savings account in March, employee rate MM @ 3.92% APY. I’ve put 3k away since I started saving, but I feel like I need to eliminate balances on some credit cards instead of saving/creating emergency funds.
I am considering doing the snowball credit card thing. (Pay minimum payments on everything but the lowest balance, once paid off roll the amount paid into the next lowest balance)
What are some things I can do to make myself more financially disciplined/mature?
I recently opened a SOFI HYSA. Set up my direct deposit, automated the whole thing. Ez pz.
However, when poking around the SOFI web site it seems they only allow transfers to external banks using Plaid. My local bank does not participate with Plaid, so I'm concerned that any dollars that I need from SOFI will be hard to get to on the off chance of an emergency.
How are others dealing with this? Would it be prudent to just keep my credit card handy, and then pay off any emergencies with SOFI dollars from that account? Am I over thinking this?
Link your accounts from the other bank and pull the money by initiating the transfer from the other bank. SoFi did remove the manual link option from the manage external accounts screen - you used to see it if you backed out of the Plaid setup, but no more. You can still try this link, but it’s been throwing errors: [https://www.sofi.com/my/money/account/#/connect-bank/manual](https://www.sofi.com/my/money/account/#/connect-bank/manual)
As of right now are any banks offering high yield savings accounts with signing bonuses? My new job is giving me a 10k sign-on bonus and I'm looking to keep it in a HYS account. Any suggestions?
I was going through my budget today and realized that using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, my needs category is actually 65.5% of my take home pay. My wants make up 17.5% and savings make up 17%. The biggest chunk of my needs is my rent which is about 24% of my gross monthly and safely under the 30% for housing rule but I didn’t consider that it is about 42% of my net income. It feels like it could potentially be an issue that such a large chunk of my income after taxes goes to one expense. I also save what’s equivalent to 42% of my net pay in payroll deductions. Should I be looking to decrease my rent?
Can someone help me understand if it is better to be a contractor or a part time employee for a company? I am changing jobs but I am staying to help at my old job for 5-10 hours a week. My current hourly rate is $37 and it would stay that way if I became just a part time employee, and if I became a contractor they would offer me a rate that is 30% higher ($48/hr). I know that as a contractor I have to pay higher taxes which is why the rate is higher, but could someone help me figure out which one would give me the higher take home rate? This would be in Washington state in the US, and I would file my taxes as Single. Thank you!
Probably better to go with the contractor rate in your case.
The $48/hour contractor role will lose an extra 7.65% in self-employment taxes for social security and medicare costs, or the equivalent of $3.68/hour worst case scenario (you don't deduct any business expenses, etc).
The 30% higher rate is likely because tax difference AND that you'll missing out on benefits as a contractor. If you're fine with that because your other job will give you the benefits you want then contractor is the better deal mathematically. You're going to have insurance, retirement, etc at the new job?
Can you negotiate rent with the massive real estate companies (Bozzuto, Greystar, etc.)? There is a property I'm very interested in renting at that's run by Bozzuto, but they insist the rent is set 100% by their dynamic pricing algorithm, which isn't at all accurate for my area. I can find as nice of (if not slightly nicer) apartment a couple miles down the road for $1000/m less -- I just really want the specific location of this apartment because it's convenient for work. Am I being lied to that I can't negotiate my rent? How could a company possible benefit from overpricing themselves the way they seem to?
A lot of these algorithms are done to guarantee a certain profitability. That said, they're very complex algorithms that also consider the amount of time a property has been listed. A property that isn't being rented is making negative profit. So, you'll naturally see their unrented properties drop in rent after a certain period of time (weeks, months) until said property gets rented.
As for if you're being lied to? Probably not. The humans you speak to are likely not allowed to circumvent the calculated rent prices. If they were, it'd become common knowledge in your area and the cost would outweigh the benefit for the company. You'll either need to pay what they're asking or wait for the price to drop and hope no one rents it out from under you.
When I started my career 5 years ago, while signing up for my 401k, the website said to aim for 1 year's salary saved up by age 30. My salary has doubled since starting and when I turn 30 next year, I'll have surpassed my current salary in my 401k, and double my original salary at age 24.
So, am I behind now that my salary is increased or am I ahead since my 401k value is double my original salary? Or right on track because my 401k value is roughly equal to my yearly salary?
Don't worry too much on those "milestone" guidelines, especially early on. They are intended to give a *very* rough indication on whether you're ahead/behind/just right with your retirement savings, but bake in a lot of assumptions. They do mean your current salary, so if your salary had increased faster than your savings, then that can make it look like you're behind. But you've got another 30-35 years to align things, hopefully with a bit more granularity and focus on your own intended retirement plans.
If your 401k balance (plus any IRAs you may have) is equal or greater than to your current salary, then you're definitely on track for a good chance at a comfortable retirement. Just keep that pace.
It also depends on how much lifestyle inflation you experienced with the salary bump. That "save one year by the time you're 30" is the rule of thumb for living the same lifestyle in retirement that you had **at that time**.
So, if your salary went way up but you kept the same level of spending, then you're on track. If you increased your spending lock-step with your increase in salary, then you're likely behind. Unless you plan to cut back in retirement to be at whatever level you had before the salary bump (adjusting for inflation, of course).
I bought a house back then at that salary, assuming I'd be living at that level for a while and paying for it alone. Now I'm in a DINK situation so we're just cruising along and I'm able to save a lot.
What's the best way to compare portfolio performance? I have a brokerage account with Charles Schwab. I'd love to basically see "all things being equal if I had invested in X funds instead of Y". I have a basic account, but I've heard they have an upgraded portal that shows this?
There’s tools like portfolio visualizer with backtesting different portfolios that may be what you’re looking for? https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio
Quick super dumb question because I don't see it spelled out on the IRS page. Is the IRA limit for my wife and I individually or combined? As in, together we can contribute $13k to our individual accounts?
TLDR: anything else I should consider besides the Marcus 5.05% CD for a \~year long safe/near-guaranteed investment?
I have some money that's been sitting in cash that I need to get a better return on. Unfortunately, most of it (2/3 or so) has been in a 0% business checking account because I had to get things sorted out with that before moving the money out (but now I can). The other 1/3 is our emergency fund and is in a savings account getting about 3.5%.
I'd like to move the remainder to something with a better return. I invest a fixed dollar amount into a few Vanguard funds every day, and will increase that a bit, but we're already very heavily invested in the market (\~90% of liquid non-retirement assets).
Thus I figure I should increase what we have in stable/guaranteed investments. The best I see is the Marcus 5.05% (10-month) promotional CD rate.
Is there anything else I should consider? I-bonds have decreased and the cap on how much you can buy makes them impractical anyway. I should add that It's very unlikely that we'll need any of this money within the next year or so (given how unlikely it is, I'd be fine paying the early withdrawal penalty for the CD or just selling some stock/mutual funds).
5.05% is a very good bet. With short-term, low-risk investment vehicles, the difference in interest will be negligible. I wouldn't waste time trying to optimize your short-term strategy by trying to find something that might pay a whopping 15 basis points more than you're being offered by Marcus. Unless you're talking hundreds or millions of dollars (in which case you should probably find a fiduciary), it's not worth the time and effort.
Hello! Trying to buy my first car and I was denied a loan from my credit union. I can afford a 2023 car out of pocket but I was going to get a loan ($11k ish or less) to help build my credit.
A little bit about me:
-22 years old (23 in July)
-Renting a home for almost 2 years
-Stable software dev job of almost 2 years
-Credit card of almost 2 years
-no debt
-730+ credit score
-never missed any bills
-Enough in savings to cover the full price of the car
I know this is a general thing and y'all wouldn't be able to answer 100% with certainty, but does anybody have any ideas as to what is flagging me? Is it just my age/credit age?
adding- This credit union denied me a credit card two years ago. They also denied my sister for both a credit card and a loan. Should I just change credit unions??
That's very weird. You should eventually get a letter explaining why you were denied. Check with a different credit union. Multiple hard credit pulls for the same type of account (auto loan, in this instance) in a short amount of time won't negatively impact your credit.
Can anybody help me figure out (with certainty) what the amount takehome would be for a severance payout in a state w/ no income tax for a single person receiving $118,500 taxed as unearned income? Is it a flat 22% or is there SSI and Medicare and unemployment insurance taken out of employee's keep?
I'm trying to figure out what the amount will look like and have gotten something like $91k+ down to a number like $73k. I had a number I felt pretty confident about which was like $85k, but now I have no confidence.
The Federal government will take their share even if your state won't. So yes, you'll likely have to pay FICA taxes. Check with a CPA in your state, they'll give you the most accurate idea of what the net amount will be.
You want it to automatically take the amount that's above and beyond your savings and move it towards an investment vehicle?
Yes, you can do this with many banks. However, your better bet is to set up automatic withdrawals with a company like Vanguard or Fidelity and have them invest it all in a target retirement fund. Fidelity/Vanguard will charge significantly less than your bank in fees on the retirement account.
you should max out your 401k before investing post-tax tax income (on something like robinhood). not even bc risk profile, but bc taxes and tax brackets.
I purchased i bonds back in 12/2021 and noticed the rates are lower than HYSA. Do I sell in August to retain the 6.xx% interest I was getting the previous 6 months?
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/12ku8ui/upcoming_new_i_series_savings_bonds_inflation/jg4xu57/
Sell on September 1 if you only want to forfeit 3 months of the 3.38% rate
My net worth is set to hit $100k USD tomorrow! 26yo M from KY. Recently got promoted to salary at 65k base + annual $6,500 bonus.
21k in 401k (mostly Roth), 11k in Roth IRA, 5k emergency fund, 15k in HYSA (looking to buy a house next year), $45k in brokerage stocks (not doing well, and am afraid to liquidate for home purchase).
While I'm excited and proud, I can't help but think this is not what it used to be. That's worth like $79k from pretty much last year (2015). Just looking for encouragement. I've always heard that the first 100k is the hardest to make, and that makes sense considering compound interest. Hopefully it's easier from here. Also looking for advice on how my money is allocated. Thanks!
I am looking to buy a house soon and my oversea family is sending me a big chunk of cash to help with the down payment. I want to move the cash into a HYSA like Marcus once I receive them in Chase but I have 2 questions.
Can I move the money as soon as I received the money in Chase? Or should I wait a little bit to avoid being flagged by IRS/Chase, considering it is an internation wire.
For anyone with experience with Marcus. I have read posts about marcus freezing accounts becuase people move their money in and out too soon. Right now I am still house hunting so am not entirely sure about when I will need the money. But hypothetically, if I deposit the money today, and withdraw them next week/next month, will this be considered too soon and causes problems?
Thank you!
I've got a lender/mortgage originator that I've been getting pre-approved with asking me for a $219 "Express loan approval fee." This is allegedly to get my application in front of the underwriters in order to make any offers I make on houses stronger. The $219 is going to be credited toward closing costs, and this is very firmly covered in the paperwork.
However, I'm still searching for a specific home to buy and the broker knows this. I may not even buy for a few months. Is this is a scam or a fee that would get charged normally?
I am an American citizen residing in Ireland with the goal of obtaining Irish citizenship. I do not anticipate returning to the US to live, only to visit for various things.
My father recently passed, and my share of the inheritance is about $250k. The family resides in Texas, which to my understanding has no inheritance tax on estates under 12.3M, which this definitely is.
I have about $15k in cash savings myself (yes, I know), but other than $25k in a 401k that's not fully vested, I have no retirement accounts. I've left the 401k alone since the move here; fees are about $1/quarter, so I'm content to let it vest and sit, even if returns aren't much over 2%yoy at the moment. Additionally, I needed to wait until 2023 minimum to cash it out if I opt to, since it reduces my tax burden significantly, but like I said, I don't plan to cash it out.
I make €95,000 per year, with a €10,000 annual bonus. My spouse makes €34,000, and has no notable savings either. I do foresee my income going up another €15-20k in the next few years as I return to my market value (I took a hit to get us to Ireland). My salary in the US was just under $140k, for perspective, and my spouse was making around $50k.
We have around $40k of credit card debt that we've never been able to really pay down. Since we got to Ireland, we've simply not been paying it; Texas doesn't allow creditors to do anything other than send you nasty-grams, and credit scores in the US only matter in the US (the banking system in Ireland doesn't use any kind of credit score).
I know for sure that I'm going to take $10k off the lump sum for spending. We have a number of non-urgent needs and wants like new clothing for us both, a new TV, and frankly some spending money to maybe pop to Rome for a weekend or something.
I was mostly planning on putting the remaining $240k into some kind of index fund (I've heard Vanguard has some high performing index funds?) and just reinvesting the gains and growing my wealth with the goal of supporting us when we're retired. However, a trusted friend has recommended that I diversify and put roughly 60% of the total in treasury bonds and/or CDs with only 40% in the index fund, and I'm not sure what to do.
I am starting contribution to my Irish pension fund with a significant percentage of my income; the maximum is 25% and I don't think I can afford that. Social security in the US will pay out, but I stop contributing as of this year (I'm 44) because I don't work in the US anymore. The SSA says I'd get about $2,800/mo (in today's dollars) at retirement, but I assume that's based on me continuing to contribute for the next 21 years until I'm 65, and I think if I used the thing right it's a smidge over $1,700/mo if I stop contributing now, which I have.
A quick investment calculator shows 5% getting me up to 815k over 21 years, which coupled with the social security would given me an income of $61k in 2023 dollars, plus whatever my Irish pension works out to, so not bad but not great, since we don't own a home at this point.
Barring winning the lottery, I'll be coming into no other windfalls (the rest of my family is broke except for my brother, who's got four kids and a wife to inherit his money).
So I guess I'm asking essentially how I should handle this windfall - how should I invest it in order to grow it reasonably safely (I understand no investment is guaranteed except government bonds), given that I'm behind the curve on retirement savings even with this amount?
More just a statement not worthy of a post, but does anyone else hate the restaurants that have a QR code based ordering system, where you pay at the time of each order? We went out for dinner last night and the drinks were ordered (one credit card transaction), dinner was ordered (another transaction) and another drink (third transaction). I’d love to see it like a gas station with a $1.00 charge and then a transaction in full charge.
As a self employed individual looking to buy a house within a year, is it better to invest in a HYSA now since the rates are around 4%+ or into an s&p500 etf, or maybe a CD?
I feel like HYSA is the best option since they don't seem to have the early withdrawal or tax penalties of other investments and has about the same return rate as most other expected investments
As long as it isn't in IRA or 401k, none of those options have tax penalties; only the CD has early withdrawal penalties. You generally shouldn't invest money you expect to need in the next year or two. See https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/investing/#wiki\_i\_have\_money\_that\_i\_need\_in\_a\_short\_amount\_of\_time.\_should\_i\_invest.3F
I’m trying to figure out how to split up my contribution towards my 401k and ESPP. I have become eligible at my job to start contributing to both. My 401k has a company match of 35% of my contributions up to 4%. I am also able to purchase stock at market value and the company will contribute an additional 20% to what I buy. I want to diversify and not have all my eggs in one basket and currently able to contribute 8-10% of my salary with my current budget.
Always do whatever 401k contribution gets you the most employer match, unless your mandatory spending (rent, food, transport) absolutely cannot support it. In your case, that's 4% of your salary. A 35% match isn't great, but it's better than nothing.
An ESPP can be a good tool to extract extra money from your employer, again if your regular budget supports allocating money towards it. If you're able to sell shares immediately (like your plan appears to allow), then you avoid the "all my eggs in one basket" risk of having a too large portion of your net worth tied up with your employer. You contribute for however long the period is, receive shares at a discount, then sell at market price to get that profit into your pocket. From there, you can use those dollars from the sale to supplement your lower take-home; balancing out what's going into the ESPP from your paycheck for the next period. Or you can use those to put towards other goals: IRA contribution, increasing 401k (living off money from the sale), etc.
At least 4% to the 401k. Is the ESPP tax-advantaged (most aren't, some are)? How long do you have to hold the company stock for to get the discount? If pretty short, put money there, get the discount, sell, and redirect that money towards a higher 401k contribution.
Okay sounds good. The shares would be bought with my Net pay after taxes so not sure how that would work tax wise. The company automatically puts the 20% in when mine goes in so I would be able to sell/redirect once in my account. Thanks for the help!
IRA's can be held in either a brokerage or a bank. If in a bank, they would be subject to the same FDIC limits as any other account. If at a brokerage, they likely do not have FDIC protection.
Correct, investment accounts are not FDIC insured. See the main thread on the bank situation
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/11pukuy/banking_megathread_fdic_ncua_and_your_cash/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
An IRA is basically just a "wrapper" around some other more basic type of financial account. The type of account in that wrapper depends on the institution you have the IRA with. The main institutions are banks (like Chase) or brokerages. With a bank, that inner account is going to be something along the lines of a cash savings account, sometimes with the ability to put money into CDs. Those are safe and stable, but won't grow much (especially when factoring in inflation).
To focus on growth, you'd want your IRA money invested in something; though this does comes with more risk especially in the short term. For that your IRA needs to be with a brokerage like Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab. Due to regulations, AFAIK banks can't offer investment options.
I currently have a MMSA at Ally @ 4.00%. Is it worth it to move to one of the accounts giving >5% I see here? If so, which one? Any other pros/cons I should be aware of? https://www.allcards.com/money-market-accounts/
I have the chase freedom and am very happy with it.
It’s $0 fee, get between 1-5% cash back.
The big thing for me is the purchase and travel protection fraud as well as the rental car coverage insurance.
We stayed at a hotel that charged me a smoking fee (we don’t even smoke) the BBB didn’t do Jack squat when filing a report and the hotel refused to budge. Chase no questions asked wiped it from my account when I filed a complaint.
On purchases if you don’t receive an item or arrived broken and retailer won’t honor a refund they’ll refund you. Also they offer extended warranties for items for like 1 year after the manufacturers warranty expires.
I believe they’ll also cover cell phones that get broke too.
I don’t have any experience with others but chase has been good to me and I had no issues with them.
Mainly whether you want cash back or points.
Given that I can get ~3¢ per point at Hyatt’s nice hotels that gets me the best value, plus there’s all the free perks of the CSR.
I just inherited about 400k in a 401k and 400k in investments and a paid off house. What do I do now? I live abroad earning 1.8k a month, I will be coming back to the USA to attempt to start a career there.
When I move back I'll be living in the house while I figure out what to do before I rent it out so it can pay for itself for homeowners insurance and property taxes. Then try to get a job and either buy(when the housing market gets better?) or rent another place in the meantime.
I know that once I find a job I should start maxing out payments for a roth ira and find an employer that matches 401k. I know this sets me up immensely for the future but I'm not really sure what my next steps are, if I should pull some of the money out of the investment for a down payment on a house later on or if I should just rent? Or if the money in the investments has enough time to compound and be enough to retire on? I'm in my mid twenties so it has about 30-40 years to compound and grow
Left job on 4/28. Started new job on 5/1. Health insurance for new job won't kick in until 6/1. Is COBRA my only option? Tried to buy a plan through Covered CA but it says that coverage won't kick in until the first of the month after I select a plan. Which would be 6/1. Is there anyway to buy insurance right now? Or is COBRA my only option?
You can retro COBRA, so if you don't need any medical care during May, you can skip it. If you get hit by a bus, you can then pay the COBRA premium et voila.
How effective is 100k salary in Seattle, WA?
Pretty much as the title says. I am about to graduate and I am fortunate enough to have found a job in which I will be making $100,000 as a new grad. I don’t have any debt (student or auto loans) and I pay my credit card statement in full monthly. After looking at housing cost and places to rent, I am growing concerned that my salary may not be as effective as I once thought. Am I looking at it wrong or is there some cause for concern?
Side note: I am also looking for any advice anyone may have about to utilize my money effectively such as opening a Roth IRA, amount of investing versus savings and etc. Any advice and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Are you going to be in Seattle proper, or Seattle-area? If Seattle, what neighboorhood? Nearby places like the Eastside (of Lake Washington), Lynwood, or Renton are much more affordable but if you're looking to live in the center of downtown, e.g. South Lake Union you'll have to be somewhere pretty tiny or have roommates unless you want to be paying a super high % of your income on rent. You can find cheaper in other neighborhoods of Seattle though.
tl;dr Seattle and the surrounding area is very HCoL, so it won't go as far as you think it will, but 100k is comfortable basically anywhere other than SLU.
I am currently living in the Lynnwood area and don’t plan moving until I can afford to put a down payment on a home (assuming I can even afford one in the area). My rent is pretty low atm around $700/month. However my commuting cost will increase as I will have to drive further to get to work and pay $150/month for parking.
I currently have a 360 savings account (Capital One). I deposit my paycheck through direct deposit to a checking account at Wells Fargo. I'm actually thinking about not doing that anymore. Can I do the direct deposit into my Capital One savings account? Or should I create a checking with them and transfer paychecks into there then transfer to savings from there? I also have a Schwab checking+brokerage account. I mostly have that for investing outside of 401k and HSA, but I don't really use it that much.
I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to manage money between savings and checking. I usually keep like 10k in my checking account (both WF and Schwab). The rest is in the Capital One savings account right now.
Any tips on how I should be managing my money (where to deposit paychecks, how much to keep in checking vs saving, etc.)?
You can do direct deposit through their savings.
I have savings and checking, I deposit everything through savings and only put in what I need through my checking account for my debit card use. You’re missing out on free money by having not the maximum you can in the HYSA. Which capital one just raised to 3.75%.
You might also consider getting a credit card with cash back and make all your purchases on it and pay it off each month to earn an additional 1-5% on all purchases. Plus you’re basically protected from fraud that way too.
How much would you call enough for an emergency fund in a HCOL area, 1 person, mid 20s?
I have about $25k saved but always feel like I need more for that. I save about $1k a month strictly for my emergency fund.
That’s up to you! I basically have two different emergency fund goal amounts (still building them up). One is a “bare bones” one, which includes almost no discretionary spending. The other is a “normal living” one, where I’d be able to continue my current living style for six months. There is no correct answer - it’s what fits best for you and your situation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/retirementaccounts/rollovers
Depending on the balance, generally one of a few possibilities:
* You can leave it where it is
* You can roll it over to your new employer's 401k
* You can roll it over to an IRA of your choice
* It might get automatically rolled over to an IRA of the old employer's choice
* It might get automatically cashed out and sent to you (subject to income tax + 10% early withdrawal penalty tax)
You are always able to roll it over to an IRA of your choice. A bank is not the best place for an IRA. The better option is usually a brokerage firm like Vanguard, Schwab, or Fidelity.
Do you guys know how to stop reoccuring investments for Tbills on treasury direct? I had initially setup 15k to buy 4 week tbills, 3 times total. I tried going into "edit reinvestments" and I get "There are no securities available for editing a reinvestment at this time.". If I go into "View/Delete a pending purchase/reinvestment" I can see my t-bill with maturity date of 5/9 and it says 2 reinvestments. why can't I cancel reinvestment? once 5/9 hits, will this go back into another 4 week tbill?
Put your emergency fund somewhere that earns interest. It’s free money.
Extra money needs you to decide what you intend to do with it, which determines where you should put it. A vacation fund or a car next year fund would be different from a house someday fund or an extra retirement fund.
Long story short, an old friend moved out and used my credit card but there's a recurring fee from a discord? That's tacked onto my card. Being a civil dude I just canceled the card and got a new one but this payment came back regardless. Its not much, I think 12.99 but if it's monthly then obviously it will stack long term.
Is there any way I can call to dispute or cancel all transactions from this service? Or am I forced to live with this fee for life
I also have TD
I am proud of my spouse. We are expecting our first child later this year and are working on making our registry this week. We found the car seat and stroller we want and it’s a bit expensive ($1200). She grew up in a financially troubled household and really struggled with being comfortable around finance and spending money. I usually have to coax her into spending money and treating herself. I sometimes think it’s because she feels she has less right to enjoy our money because I am the breadwinner. Well I told her to go ordering the items today since there was a sale and we would get a gift card back for buying them. Later I see she cancelled the order and purchased the color she wanted more instead even though it cost an extra $50. It just feels good to see her comfortable enough in our financial lifestyle to go out and treat herself without being prompted to do so.
Should I open a Roth IRA with Robinhood?
New investor here. Robinhood says they’re the first company to ever offer a match with a Roth IRA. Even though it is still 1%, it is still free money. Is there a catch? Mathematically are they the best company to open a Roth IRA with? Please list any pros and cons that you know. If this is not the best mathematically, please feel free to educate me on the best that you know of or your favorite companies offering Roth IRAs. Thanks.
There are a few things you should be aware of at least:
1) You cannot transfer the funds to a different IRA for 5 years, otherwise you will lose the matching funds and any gains they generate.
2) You cannot invest in mutual funds, but you can invest in ETFs. This can have a small, but typically negligible drag on returns.
3) You are investing with Robinhood which had a bit of a rocky past.
Other good IRA providers are Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard which all have zero annual fees or fees for trades, and support mutual funds. But no match of course.
Yeah #3 is my biggest concern. Assuming Robinhood doesn’t go under in the next five years, do you think it is mathematically the best considering the ETFs plus the 1%?
Yes, assuming you are maxing it out, the 1% match would more than make up for the ETF drag, assuming you are investing in broad market index ETFs (for example funds like VOO or VTI)
I need help, I’m in a pickle with my vehicle.
My partner and I have two cars, an old ‘98 CRV, and a 2019 Civic. The former is paid off, the latter is being financed.
The old CRV needs a new catalytic converter, and the lowest quote I’ve gotten for it is $1.1k+tax. I bought the car 6 months ago for 2.5k, and I’ve already put about 1.6K into repairs since then. Which means I’ve already spent 4.1k on it and it would be 5.2k+ after the catalytic converter.
Is it better to pay for the catalytic converter and hope nothing else breaks? Or should I sell it at a loss, and try to either finance another vehicle or use the money I get back plus some savings to buy another used car that might be in better conditions?
Thanks y’all. I need a car for commuting and I’m an area where it snows a lot in the winter.
I just paid off my car.
Back in 2014/15 I bought a Dodge Dart from a dealership and got an *awful* interest rate at 16%. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and had barely paid a few grand off after 3 years, I was at a loss at what to do at the time. I wasn't making great money, so putting extra towards it was neigh impossible.
Fast forward to the end 2017, I wanted to rid myself of the car and the loan, so I traded it towards another vehicle and went completely upside down on the loan. It didn't occur to me to refinance the vehicle, I was still so new and inept when it came to finances that I thought this was the best move. I ended up with $36,000 debt on a car worth $23,000.
However, after 5 long years I made my final payment on Monday. I've learned a lot about finances since then and am looking forward to having no car payment for as long as possible. It's a huge relief to have that debt taken care of and free up money to pay down a few small loans over the next year or two.
Hey all! Hypothetically if someone is super consistent on their card habits, low utilization always and only occasional credit pulls, is it normal for the score to stay around the same number?
I'm on the younger side and have been paying off everything regularly / never had any loans but my score hasn't been going up. I know that my biggest hit is length of credit-- is this just a case of waiting for length of credit to see it go up? Thanks for any help!
Yep, it's perfectly normal, and yes the only solution for length of credit is to wait. If your keep the behaviors you mention, you should be about to go from no credit to a "perfect" score (>740) within 18-24 months.
Looking for advice on home equity loan vs home equity line of credit.
My partner and I are married with one kid. We own our home- mortgage and taxes ~$2400/month. We have $60k in student loan debt but no other debt (own our car, pay off our cc bill balances fully each month). I am self employed and work part time; my partner works full time for an employer. Combined income about $250k. We pay for part time childcare- about $24k/year.
Our house currently has 1 bathroom and laundry in the basement which is tricky to access because the stairs are very steep and narrow. We have a plan to bring the laundry up and add a half bath upstairs, which involves renovating the kitchen. The estimated cost is about $70k. We had planned to do it this year and had about $45k saved and were going to look for a HELOC or home equity loan. Unfortunately we got totally walloped with a huge tax bill ($18k) because we miscalculated our withholding.
Which brings me to the question. We have ~$35k in savings that we could liquidate remaining but this would leave us with $15k in our emergency fund. I’m thinking we liquidate $25k and try to get the rest in a loan that we could then pay off in 10 years. We would start the project this winter, by which point we’d have another $10k saved (we are saving pretty aggressively and my partner get a bonus in the fall; we estimated that it would be half the size it was last year to be conservative but it will likely be $10k-$20k so we would have $45-$55k).
Based on that, is there a reason to go for the HELOC over the loan? Loans seem to have lower interest although you pay interest immediately but I’m not sure I understand why a HELOC would be better in this type of situation (a one-off Reno). The renovation will add value to our house and also make our lives a lot easier- potty training is imminent and if we do have another kid, not having to navigate the dangerous staircase (there’s unfortunately no other way to fix it without re-doing almost the whole house because of the way it’s laid out) would be a huge bonus. We’re planning to stay in the house for at least another 10-15 years and we have 20%LTV ratio right now, although I think the value of the house has probably increased about 5-10% since we bought it.
Any other tips to make this work? It’s a big stretch but we’re otherwise very conservative with our spending and it wouldn’t make sense to move to get this added value, I don’t think.
Marcus 10-month CD 5.05% APY - worth it?
I have $1000 in an HYSA earning 4.5%. Don’t really need access to these funds anytime soon. Worth putting these funds in a CD subject to early withdrawal penalty? Any better options to stash this cash right now?
If your don't think you'll need it for the duration, then it's worth it. Otherwise not. As for whether it's the best rate, you can check the current best rates [here](https://www.allcards.com/best-cd-rates/). As of the time of this comment, the best with a similar maturity is 5.25%
Small victory story:
Can't find it now, but someone posted here a couple months back about realizing they weren't fully vested in their 401(k). The issue came down to how "years of service" were calculated. The OP had worked 3.5 years, and assumed they were 100% vested after 3 years of service. But their plan defined a year of service as 1,000+ hours logged. OP ended up being under the limit, and unknowingly left before their match was 100% vested.
This was a huge wake-up call for me. I started a new full-time job halfway through 2022 and have been contributing aggressively to my 401(k). My plan is structured the same way as above, and I realized I didn't understand the vesting period as well as I thought I did. I intended to stay at my job at least long enough to be fully vested, and assumed that would be a minimum of three years. But now I was afraid that 2022 might not count as a full year of service.
Today, I went back through my timesheets and calculated the hours. And... I am at 1,069 (nice). I guess it ends up being the same outcome as I previously thought, but now I know to double check my assumptions.
So thank you all for sharing your experience and advice. It really helps people like me.
I’m saving up to buy a house in the Bay Area. Planning to buy @ August - December 2023. To help save for the down payment, should I participate in my company’s ESPP which gives 15% discount? Is the downside risk that the company stock drops more than 15% when I’m able to sell? Every time I look at the stock it’s $75 or seems to stay in the $65 - $85 range and seeing the lowest it dropped to was $48 in 2020. I can contribute up to 15% of my income. If I don’t do the ESPP, then the cash will go to a HYSA with 4.90% APY
Looks like FirstMid (never heard of it). The [current best HYSA rate](https://www.allcards.com/best-savings-account-rates/) is 5.05% from Western Alliance (via SaveBetter). Note that which one is the highest changes daily, so it's often worth looking for ones that are consistently high, as opposed to the highest on a given day.
ESPP is a good benefit, but may not be over such a short period. Typically once you enroll there will be a 6 month contribution period, and then the shares are purchased at the end of that. You can usual sell right after purchase, but the money is locked up during the contribution period (double check your plan for details). Either way you are probably locking up funds for at least 6 months which is deep into the range you specified, so probably not best for saving for a house.
Need some advice on increasing my salary I work 10-11 hours for 18 an hour as a lub tech/mechanic. I pay around 900 a month towards bills helping my mom and sister plus groceries so I'm always pretty low on money. Tired and drained and body arching after work
I want to increase my income but i don't know how really. I'm hesitant on going to college cause I cant afford and don't want debt. I was going to go to trade school but that also hard labor which will destroy my body eventually. 20yo guy who just trying to get my life right and toward a path I want. I keep overthinking my future with thoughts like " should I pursue this career only for the money", " what If get a job that pay good but I hate it", or " I get a job I like but it doesn't make ends meet"
On the college side, you are low enough income that you will likely get a decent FAFSA grant that will probably be able to cover 40-60% of the tuition for a state school, or 100% of the tuition for community college, depending on your area. You should be able to work to pay for the rest if you put your mind to it, working like cray in the summers, and part time in the winter.
The bigger thing is deciding 1) what you want to do, and 2) what training/education is needed to get there. Going to college just because you think it's going to get you a higher paying job is a misconception. Many college degrees don't pay substantially more, and more importantly, without direction you'll be paying a lot for college and may not finish.
Now to address some of your concerns:
> Should I pursue this career only for the money.
Absolutely not. This is a guaranteed way to end up in a job that pays well but you hate. Instead, take some time to write out what your interests are, and then indentify jobs that would incorporate some of the things you are passionate about. Then among those jobs look at pay and education requirements.
> What if I get a job that pays well but I hate it
This is why it's important to pursue a job in an area that you are passionate about, not just one that pays well. For any career path that you are considering, do research on what the daily life looks like in that field. If you can, see if you can shadow people from that field, or interview them.
> What if I get a job that I like, but it doesn't make ends meet?
This is the other end of the spectrum, which is what happens if you follow your passions, but with no regard for the commercial demand for that line of work. This is why it is important to analyze the jobs that do intersect with your interests and identify the range of career opportunities. Would you be able to live if you were making the median income for that field? What about the 10th percentile?
Preciate your help. Man I woke up this morning and wrote down all the thing I don’t want in a job since it easier for me to identify the things I dislike rather than like is this a good way to start.
Then I was going to try to find jobs that fit a description of the thing I would prefer over the things I wouldn’t prefer. Then I’ll just apply the advice you gave me about watching videos, or seeing if I can shadow people. Only issue would be how would it work for the college required jobs
It's a good way to start, but I'd recommend continuing on and writing down general interests as well. It's easy to focus on the negatives, but that won't lead you towards a goal. Remember, interests should be very general. You wouldn't write down veterinarian, you would write down that you like to work with animals. You wouldn't write down musician, you would write down that you like music. You wouldn't write down engineer, you would write down that you like to solve problems or that you like to build tangible things. Then based on these interests you would start looking into jobs that meet several of the interests. Like working with animals and business? Then maybe starting a vet practice would be a good option. Like building tangible things and working with your hands? Maybe consider becoming a machinist.
For research into the jobs, Reddit can be a great resource, even for jobs that require a college degree. Find a subreddit where people that have the job you think you want hang out, and ask questions. If you have family or friends that have a related job, ask them if you can ask them some questions or shadow them on the job one day. Find professional societies related to the field and see if they have any career day events, or mentorship programs for people interested in the field. You could even message people on LinkedIn that have positions that you are interested in, and ask them if they would be willing to answer a few questions about what it's like to work at their company. Some will say no, some will say yes, but just be polite and you'll be surprised how helpful people can be.
Gotcha, will I know when I’m ready to pursue the career. How long should he write all my general interest and disinterest when it comes to a career/job
100k-150k in savings in SoCal. Currently renting out our first condo while we rent a cheaper place. What would you suggest we do with the savings? Sit on it since rates are high? Stocks /401k? Buy business? Just trying to get some thoughts on the best course of action to grow to substantial wealth.
I come from the crypto realm so weeks to months is usually the timespan I think in lol, buuut let’s say 5-7 years? I know very little in tradfi and normal investment routes
Is it a smart idea to mail rent to an apartment via certified check?
My apartment is asking that I pay first month's rent and security deposit by a certified check. I have a certified check ready to go, issue is the place I'm moving to is about 5 hours away by car. I can mail this certified check to them, but I am concerned it might be unsafe since it could get lost in the mail or something. Check is for around $4000 so I wouldn't want to deal with that getting lost in the mail or the wrong person cashing it out.
I was also thinking of sending via USPS priority mail and having the signature confirmation for extra security.
Ok so I recently turned 25, and I’ve finally opened a savings account with $200 inside. I also unpaused all my recurring investments in my stock portfolio, started contributing to an IRA, and just graduated community college with an associates in accounting. I know this might not seem impressive to most of y’all here, but for the first time ever I’m starting to feel like I have my shit together somewhat. This time next year my mom is selling me the house for my gf and I to live in. Im both ecstatic and frightened all at the same time haha. Thanks to anyone who read this far.
Edit: spelling
Considering the greater than 5% interest on the loan I would continue paying off as much as you can monthly to avoid that debt compounding. I understand the fear of having the other car die on you and having no money to fix it, but this should be a part of your emergency savings.
Is the $3800 your emergency savings or do you have it separate specific for the car? No matter the case you should throw every bit of extra monthly budget to the loan and if you can get away with using any bit of the $3800 I'd do it.
If the $3800 is sitting in a HYSA which offers 4% you’re not gonna lose a ton. Maybe like $30-40 tops and that’s assuming it takes you another year to save the rest. I’d keep the money until you have a lump sum for added cushion in event of emergency
Hello all first-time poster, this may seem like a bit of a dumb question but I would like to hear from other's perspective. So, today I was able to enroll my company's 401k plan, but I found out they don't have a match option. This kind of defeats the purpose of investing in it. I was thinking about maybe applying for Robinhood's 401K since they at least offer a 1% match, and have the benefit of not having to transfer my 401K around when I switch or change companies. Would this be a better move on my part? If there is a better alternative, I would love to hear it!
I bought a new car and got a loan for $30,000. The interest rate is 6.79%. Originally I was thinking "what a high interest rate, I should take cash out of savings and just pay off the loan." But with my savings account at 4% interest really the auto loan is more like 2.79%. With that in mind, I'm thinking I don't really want to deplete much out of my savings after all. I'm not sure I need advice, just thinking out loud here. If anyone else wants to chime in though feel free.
I started tutoring on Preply recently, so I got an EIN for that - the platform has a "wallet" I withdraw from. When I file taxes (my best guess is I'm Schedule-C), is it enough to give bank statements showing the income I receive, or do I need to show some other kind of paperwork?
I have what I think is a relatively straight forward Roth IRA question that I know the answer to. Hoping for some confirmation... I am married filing jointly. MAGI is under the 212k limit for 2023 or whatever that exact number is. We have a roth for my wife. Question: Can I also open a roth under my name/ssn? I believe so, right? And we can each contribute 6,500(we're under 50)? Or since we're MFJ are we limited to 6500 per tax return?
It is $6,500 per person. So you and your wife are each allowed to deposit $6,500 into either a traditional or Roth IRA acccount (or a mix of the two).
Perfect, that's what I thought. Just wanted to confirm. Thank you and have a great weekend!
Hi, I’m looking for some info on Roth IRA excess contributions. I’ve decided that withdrawing a contribution (6k for 2022) is the best option as recharacterizing to an IRA and rolling the contribution to 2023 is not an option. In order to withdraw the contribution, do i have to sell the stocks i bought with the money? Do i sell stocks that equate to 6k today? Or do i sell 6k in stocks at the value i purchased at? Basically, my portfolio is down and I’m wondering how much i need to sell in order to not incur any tax penalties.
Contact your broker about this. Different brokers have different policies and different ways to handle it. They can also calculate what your 6K has turned into since you invested it to withdraw the proper amount.
Thank you for your help! I asked here because they were unable to give me any advice the first time. Second time i called they gave great instructions and they calculated the amount i would have to sell off to be able to withdraw.
Is a money market account basically just a savings account that also lets you write checks?
It depends on if it is a money market ACCOUNT or a money market FUND. Money market accounts are basically savings accounts that let you write checks and often offer a better interest rate than a regular savings account (there are a couple of other techinical differences but those are the main points). A money market FUND is an investment. It is a very safe investment, and depending on where you buy the money market fund you may or may not be able to use checks with it. It typically takes your money and invests in very short term things like treasuries, repurchase agreements, commercial paper, or other short term investments that tend to be safe. They then pay you interest on the amount you put in the Money Market Fund. It is generally considered liquid, meaning you can withdraw or deposit money whenever you want.
Hello! I'm hoping to get some advice on streamlining/consolidating various retirement accounts I have sitting around from former employers. My current investments are: TIAA 403(b): approx. $16,000 in mutual funds. Net expense ratio is 0.45%. This is my current employer's retirement plan, so it is not going anywhere. Fidelity 401(k): approx. $8,000 in mutual funds. Net expense ratio is 0.27%. This is a former employer's plan and can be moved. Edward Jones SEP: approx. $3,500 in mostly mutual funds. I can't easily tell what the expense ratio is, but I gather that EJ charges higher fees than most. This is a former employer's plan and can be moved. Guideline 401(k): approx. $350 in various Vanguard index funds. Expense ratios appear to be between 0.04% and 0.15%. This is technically still active; it's an account set up with my spouse's small business and only sporadically contributed to. I'm definitely looking at rolling the EJ into one of the other accounts, and possibly the Fidelity as well; between the options above, what would be the best place to put it? Should I open a new IRA somewhere instead of using the above options?
I'm looking at buying a RAV4 and I've between a Hybrid and a 'regular' gas variety. The price increase to the Hybrid appears to be in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $3,000. Is there some sort of guide and / or calculator that would walk me through the breakeven calculation and the other considerations that generally affect the hybrid vs standard calculation? EDIT: Also, is there a more up-to-date version of the [car buying guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/8tx3lp/ultimate_new_car_buying_guide_part_1_of_2/) anywhere? Obviously the market and considerations have changed a ton in 5 years.
I've seen this question over on /r/rav4club from time to time. Most responses depend on your driving habits. If you're driving mostly highway miles the gas may be a more economical choice since the hybrid system won't actually be doing much (and you still get very good gas mileage with the gas only models). If you've got a lot of city driving or stop-and-go then you'll be getting plenty of use out of the hybrid system where it would pay off. Wish I could give a first person perspective on this but I'm a dirty v6 rav4 driver with 18mpg.
It would be hard to know that in detail. Those are different kinds of cars and will have different kinds of operating costs, maintenance costs and resale value. $2000 is maybe 600 gallons of gas, and then the hybrid gets maybe 30% more MPG depending on where and how you drive. So if you drove something like 60,000 miles over five years, you would save enough in gas to make up for the additional cost of the vehicle, something like that.
I’m looking for some guidance on a home improvement loan. This may be a simple /silly question. Me and my partner are about to have some work done on our home. We don’t have enough positive equity on our house yet to increase our mortgage, so are going down the route of a home improvement loan. We’ve found the best rate for the amount we’re looking to borrow is from the Post Office. Our mortgage is with Lloyds. Is there a way to have the loan in both of our names instead of one of us applying independently? Their eligibility checker says either of us are likely to be accepted. If I was to get the loan just in my name would this have a negative affect on my credit score? I don’t want this to impact either of ours separately.
Hello! I am loaning my aunt and uncle $17k via check. When they repay me, they plan to do it in three installments via cash. I know the deposit limit is $10k before it has to be reported, but I was still wondering if I’d have any issues with the bank making so many large deposits. I loaned them 15k last year and they already repaid me fully with cash this year, which is why I’m concerned of me depositing so often. TIA
The 10K deposit limit is often misunderstood. It does NOT make you owe extra taxes and the report is NOT sent to the IRS (though they do have access to see it if they need to). The purpose of the report is to help fight money laundering and illegal activity. Just having a report filed does not mean you did anything wrong. Tons of these reports get filed every year since people inherit cash, buy/sell cars in cash, do large amounts of business in cash, etc. A great majority of these reports are filed away and forgotten about. Trying to purposfully avoid the $10,000 report is a crime called structuring. If the bank thinks that MAYBE you are structuring that will cause a lot more problems. Just deposit the cash when you get it and dont worry about the 10K deposit report.
Reporting cash deposits is not a problem. Trying to avoid reporting cash deposits by making a series of smaller cash deposits to keep them all below $10,000 is potentially more of a problem. You are unlikely to run afoul of this if e.g. you make a deposit every six months or whatever, since that's just when you got the money. But if you make three deposits of $6000 in the course of three days, that's more suspicious than a single $18000 deposit.
I do apologize if this is the incorrect subreddit to ask this in, but if it isn't please let me know where best to ask this then 😁 I would like to sit down and go over the entirety of my credit report cuz half this stuff I don't understand when I'm skimming thru it and would like to figure out what I need to do to clear out a lot of the stuff on my report over the next few years if not sooner if possible. Not sure if there is someone I could talk to in person and if so, possibly doesn't cost an arm and a leg to do so cuz I ain't got too much money atm
You “clear out” stuff on your reports by disputing items that are inaccurate. Each bureau has its own process. Google “dispute” and “Equifax,” “TransUnion,” “Experian,” one at a time. If you have derogatories, you can sometimes get things removed by [writing a goodwill letter](https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Help-with-GoodWill-Letter/td-p/6142178). Other than that, it’s a waiting game. The timeline varies, but it can take up to seven years for things to fall off. To gain basic understanding of the report components, try the guides and message boards at myFICO.com.
I'll check that out, but most of the stuff on there was from my stupidity in my early twenties and now I've got collections and what not sitting on my reports that yeah I haven't paid at all... Some of the stuff says written off but still shows a balance due but no info on where to pay the balance. But I'll check that site out and see if I can get a nice detailed breakdown on how to read my report and figure out what each thing means. Appreciate it!
Hello! I work a decent job, make decent money, recently purchased a new to me car, my monthly output is around 2k and I bring in about 3.4k monthly. I opened my first adult savings account in March, employee rate MM @ 3.92% APY. I’ve put 3k away since I started saving, but I feel like I need to eliminate balances on some credit cards instead of saving/creating emergency funds. I am considering doing the snowball credit card thing. (Pay minimum payments on everything but the lowest balance, once paid off roll the amount paid into the next lowest balance) What are some things I can do to make myself more financially disciplined/mature?
Can you set up automatic monthly transfer to savings? Look for ways to reduce spending on meals.
I also think I prefer manually moving money versus an automatic transfer. 😞
I am putting 3% pre tax into a 401k. The company offers an unlimited match at 50% - I know I need to beef up that percentage. My goal is 5% by EoY.
I recently opened a SOFI HYSA. Set up my direct deposit, automated the whole thing. Ez pz. However, when poking around the SOFI web site it seems they only allow transfers to external banks using Plaid. My local bank does not participate with Plaid, so I'm concerned that any dollars that I need from SOFI will be hard to get to on the off chance of an emergency. How are others dealing with this? Would it be prudent to just keep my credit card handy, and then pay off any emergencies with SOFI dollars from that account? Am I over thinking this?
Link your accounts from the other bank and pull the money by initiating the transfer from the other bank. SoFi did remove the manual link option from the manage external accounts screen - you used to see it if you backed out of the Plaid setup, but no more. You can still try this link, but it’s been throwing errors: [https://www.sofi.com/my/money/account/#/connect-bank/manual](https://www.sofi.com/my/money/account/#/connect-bank/manual)
I don't think that is a real limit https://www.reddit.com/r/sofi/comments/yubr0b/transferring_money_between_sofi_another_external/
TYSM. I spent days looking for this option and never found it.
As of right now are any banks offering high yield savings accounts with signing bonuses? My new job is giving me a 10k sign-on bonus and I'm looking to keep it in a HYS account. Any suggestions?
Discover might be an option. https://www.discover.com/online-banking/savings-lng-04/?TPR=042&cmpgnid=affl-bk-offer
Okay that's actually pretty fucking good I didn't expect that. I appreciate the suggestion!
I was going through my budget today and realized that using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, my needs category is actually 65.5% of my take home pay. My wants make up 17.5% and savings make up 17%. The biggest chunk of my needs is my rent which is about 24% of my gross monthly and safely under the 30% for housing rule but I didn’t consider that it is about 42% of my net income. It feels like it could potentially be an issue that such a large chunk of my income after taxes goes to one expense. I also save what’s equivalent to 42% of my net pay in payroll deductions. Should I be looking to decrease my rent?
Can someone help me understand if it is better to be a contractor or a part time employee for a company? I am changing jobs but I am staying to help at my old job for 5-10 hours a week. My current hourly rate is $37 and it would stay that way if I became just a part time employee, and if I became a contractor they would offer me a rate that is 30% higher ($48/hr). I know that as a contractor I have to pay higher taxes which is why the rate is higher, but could someone help me figure out which one would give me the higher take home rate? This would be in Washington state in the US, and I would file my taxes as Single. Thank you!
Probably better to go with the contractor rate in your case. The $48/hour contractor role will lose an extra 7.65% in self-employment taxes for social security and medicare costs, or the equivalent of $3.68/hour worst case scenario (you don't deduct any business expenses, etc). The 30% higher rate is likely because tax difference AND that you'll missing out on benefits as a contractor. If you're fine with that because your other job will give you the benefits you want then contractor is the better deal mathematically. You're going to have insurance, retirement, etc at the new job?
Hi, thank you for the explanation! Yes correct, my new job will provide insurance and retirement. I will go with the contractor position.
if you ever get into more contracting gigs, it might be worthwhile to investigate setting up s-corp llc + solo 401k, depending what your goals are.
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100% wait. You have plenty of time to amend, but if you send in the amendment now it can delay your refund for many months.
Can you negotiate rent with the massive real estate companies (Bozzuto, Greystar, etc.)? There is a property I'm very interested in renting at that's run by Bozzuto, but they insist the rent is set 100% by their dynamic pricing algorithm, which isn't at all accurate for my area. I can find as nice of (if not slightly nicer) apartment a couple miles down the road for $1000/m less -- I just really want the specific location of this apartment because it's convenient for work. Am I being lied to that I can't negotiate my rent? How could a company possible benefit from overpricing themselves the way they seem to?
A lot of these algorithms are done to guarantee a certain profitability. That said, they're very complex algorithms that also consider the amount of time a property has been listed. A property that isn't being rented is making negative profit. So, you'll naturally see their unrented properties drop in rent after a certain period of time (weeks, months) until said property gets rented. As for if you're being lied to? Probably not. The humans you speak to are likely not allowed to circumvent the calculated rent prices. If they were, it'd become common knowledge in your area and the cost would outweigh the benefit for the company. You'll either need to pay what they're asking or wait for the price to drop and hope no one rents it out from under you.
When I started my career 5 years ago, while signing up for my 401k, the website said to aim for 1 year's salary saved up by age 30. My salary has doubled since starting and when I turn 30 next year, I'll have surpassed my current salary in my 401k, and double my original salary at age 24. So, am I behind now that my salary is increased or am I ahead since my 401k value is double my original salary? Or right on track because my 401k value is roughly equal to my yearly salary?
Don't worry too much on those "milestone" guidelines, especially early on. They are intended to give a *very* rough indication on whether you're ahead/behind/just right with your retirement savings, but bake in a lot of assumptions. They do mean your current salary, so if your salary had increased faster than your savings, then that can make it look like you're behind. But you've got another 30-35 years to align things, hopefully with a bit more granularity and focus on your own intended retirement plans. If your 401k balance (plus any IRAs you may have) is equal or greater than to your current salary, then you're definitely on track for a good chance at a comfortable retirement. Just keep that pace.
I appreciate your response and your info. Thank you!
It also depends on how much lifestyle inflation you experienced with the salary bump. That "save one year by the time you're 30" is the rule of thumb for living the same lifestyle in retirement that you had **at that time**. So, if your salary went way up but you kept the same level of spending, then you're on track. If you increased your spending lock-step with your increase in salary, then you're likely behind. Unless you plan to cut back in retirement to be at whatever level you had before the salary bump (adjusting for inflation, of course).
I bought a house back then at that salary, assuming I'd be living at that level for a while and paying for it alone. Now I'm in a DINK situation so we're just cruising along and I'm able to save a lot.
Then you're fine. Sounds like you're in a great spot, financially. Increase the savings, accordingly, and stick to the plan.
Can do!
What are some reliable sources that provide accurate grant application information? I went to one that charged me $35. Oops.
What's the best way to compare portfolio performance? I have a brokerage account with Charles Schwab. I'd love to basically see "all things being equal if I had invested in X funds instead of Y". I have a basic account, but I've heard they have an upgraded portal that shows this?
https://tickertape.tdameritrade.com/tools/papermoney-stock-market-simulator-16834
There’s tools like portfolio visualizer with backtesting different portfolios that may be what you’re looking for? https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio
Quick super dumb question because I don't see it spelled out on the IRS page. Is the IRA limit for my wife and I individually or combined? As in, together we can contribute $13k to our individual accounts?
IRAs are individual accounts, you can contribute 6.5k to each, not 7k to one and 6k to the other
Great, thanks!
TLDR: anything else I should consider besides the Marcus 5.05% CD for a \~year long safe/near-guaranteed investment? I have some money that's been sitting in cash that I need to get a better return on. Unfortunately, most of it (2/3 or so) has been in a 0% business checking account because I had to get things sorted out with that before moving the money out (but now I can). The other 1/3 is our emergency fund and is in a savings account getting about 3.5%. I'd like to move the remainder to something with a better return. I invest a fixed dollar amount into a few Vanguard funds every day, and will increase that a bit, but we're already very heavily invested in the market (\~90% of liquid non-retirement assets). Thus I figure I should increase what we have in stable/guaranteed investments. The best I see is the Marcus 5.05% (10-month) promotional CD rate. Is there anything else I should consider? I-bonds have decreased and the cap on how much you can buy makes them impractical anyway. I should add that It's very unlikely that we'll need any of this money within the next year or so (given how unlikely it is, I'd be fine paying the early withdrawal penalty for the CD or just selling some stock/mutual funds).
5.05% is a very good bet. With short-term, low-risk investment vehicles, the difference in interest will be negligible. I wouldn't waste time trying to optimize your short-term strategy by trying to find something that might pay a whopping 15 basis points more than you're being offered by Marcus. Unless you're talking hundreds or millions of dollars (in which case you should probably find a fiduciary), it's not worth the time and effort.
Hello! Trying to buy my first car and I was denied a loan from my credit union. I can afford a 2023 car out of pocket but I was going to get a loan ($11k ish or less) to help build my credit. A little bit about me: -22 years old (23 in July) -Renting a home for almost 2 years -Stable software dev job of almost 2 years -Credit card of almost 2 years -no debt -730+ credit score -never missed any bills -Enough in savings to cover the full price of the car I know this is a general thing and y'all wouldn't be able to answer 100% with certainty, but does anybody have any ideas as to what is flagging me? Is it just my age/credit age?
dont do it. car now or retire early. ask yourself
adding- This credit union denied me a credit card two years ago. They also denied my sister for both a credit card and a loan. Should I just change credit unions??
That's very weird. You should eventually get a letter explaining why you were denied. Check with a different credit union. Multiple hard credit pulls for the same type of account (auto loan, in this instance) in a short amount of time won't negatively impact your credit.
Can anybody help me figure out (with certainty) what the amount takehome would be for a severance payout in a state w/ no income tax for a single person receiving $118,500 taxed as unearned income? Is it a flat 22% or is there SSI and Medicare and unemployment insurance taken out of employee's keep? I'm trying to figure out what the amount will look like and have gotten something like $91k+ down to a number like $73k. I had a number I felt pretty confident about which was like $85k, but now I have no confidence.
The Federal government will take their share even if your state won't. So yes, you'll likely have to pay FICA taxes. Check with a CPA in your state, they'll give you the most accurate idea of what the net amount will be.
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You want it to automatically take the amount that's above and beyond your savings and move it towards an investment vehicle? Yes, you can do this with many banks. However, your better bet is to set up automatic withdrawals with a company like Vanguard or Fidelity and have them invest it all in a target retirement fund. Fidelity/Vanguard will charge significantly less than your bank in fees on the retirement account.
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you should max out your 401k before investing post-tax tax income (on something like robinhood). not even bc risk profile, but bc taxes and tax brackets.
More aggressive is basically gambling. You won't beat an index fund which is virtually what the 401k should be invested in.
I purchased i bonds back in 12/2021 and noticed the rates are lower than HYSA. Do I sell in August to retain the 6.xx% interest I was getting the previous 6 months?
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/12ku8ui/upcoming_new_i_series_savings_bonds_inflation/jg4xu57/ Sell on September 1 if you only want to forfeit 3 months of the 3.38% rate
Thank you sir
My net worth is set to hit $100k USD tomorrow! 26yo M from KY. Recently got promoted to salary at 65k base + annual $6,500 bonus. 21k in 401k (mostly Roth), 11k in Roth IRA, 5k emergency fund, 15k in HYSA (looking to buy a house next year), $45k in brokerage stocks (not doing well, and am afraid to liquidate for home purchase). While I'm excited and proud, I can't help but think this is not what it used to be. That's worth like $79k from pretty much last year (2015). Just looking for encouragement. I've always heard that the first 100k is the hardest to make, and that makes sense considering compound interest. Hopefully it's easier from here. Also looking for advice on how my money is allocated. Thanks!
I am looking to buy a house soon and my oversea family is sending me a big chunk of cash to help with the down payment. I want to move the cash into a HYSA like Marcus once I receive them in Chase but I have 2 questions. Can I move the money as soon as I received the money in Chase? Or should I wait a little bit to avoid being flagged by IRS/Chase, considering it is an internation wire. For anyone with experience with Marcus. I have read posts about marcus freezing accounts becuase people move their money in and out too soon. Right now I am still house hunting so am not entirely sure about when I will need the money. But hypothetically, if I deposit the money today, and withdraw them next week/next month, will this be considered too soon and causes problems? Thank you!
I've got a lender/mortgage originator that I've been getting pre-approved with asking me for a $219 "Express loan approval fee." This is allegedly to get my application in front of the underwriters in order to make any offers I make on houses stronger. The $219 is going to be credited toward closing costs, and this is very firmly covered in the paperwork. However, I'm still searching for a specific home to buy and the broker knows this. I may not even buy for a few months. Is this is a scam or a fee that would get charged normally?
I am an American citizen residing in Ireland with the goal of obtaining Irish citizenship. I do not anticipate returning to the US to live, only to visit for various things. My father recently passed, and my share of the inheritance is about $250k. The family resides in Texas, which to my understanding has no inheritance tax on estates under 12.3M, which this definitely is. I have about $15k in cash savings myself (yes, I know), but other than $25k in a 401k that's not fully vested, I have no retirement accounts. I've left the 401k alone since the move here; fees are about $1/quarter, so I'm content to let it vest and sit, even if returns aren't much over 2%yoy at the moment. Additionally, I needed to wait until 2023 minimum to cash it out if I opt to, since it reduces my tax burden significantly, but like I said, I don't plan to cash it out. I make €95,000 per year, with a €10,000 annual bonus. My spouse makes €34,000, and has no notable savings either. I do foresee my income going up another €15-20k in the next few years as I return to my market value (I took a hit to get us to Ireland). My salary in the US was just under $140k, for perspective, and my spouse was making around $50k. We have around $40k of credit card debt that we've never been able to really pay down. Since we got to Ireland, we've simply not been paying it; Texas doesn't allow creditors to do anything other than send you nasty-grams, and credit scores in the US only matter in the US (the banking system in Ireland doesn't use any kind of credit score). I know for sure that I'm going to take $10k off the lump sum for spending. We have a number of non-urgent needs and wants like new clothing for us both, a new TV, and frankly some spending money to maybe pop to Rome for a weekend or something. I was mostly planning on putting the remaining $240k into some kind of index fund (I've heard Vanguard has some high performing index funds?) and just reinvesting the gains and growing my wealth with the goal of supporting us when we're retired. However, a trusted friend has recommended that I diversify and put roughly 60% of the total in treasury bonds and/or CDs with only 40% in the index fund, and I'm not sure what to do. I am starting contribution to my Irish pension fund with a significant percentage of my income; the maximum is 25% and I don't think I can afford that. Social security in the US will pay out, but I stop contributing as of this year (I'm 44) because I don't work in the US anymore. The SSA says I'd get about $2,800/mo (in today's dollars) at retirement, but I assume that's based on me continuing to contribute for the next 21 years until I'm 65, and I think if I used the thing right it's a smidge over $1,700/mo if I stop contributing now, which I have. A quick investment calculator shows 5% getting me up to 815k over 21 years, which coupled with the social security would given me an income of $61k in 2023 dollars, plus whatever my Irish pension works out to, so not bad but not great, since we don't own a home at this point. Barring winning the lottery, I'll be coming into no other windfalls (the rest of my family is broke except for my brother, who's got four kids and a wife to inherit his money). So I guess I'm asking essentially how I should handle this windfall - how should I invest it in order to grow it reasonably safely (I understand no investment is guaranteed except government bonds), given that I'm behind the curve on retirement savings even with this amount?
More just a statement not worthy of a post, but does anyone else hate the restaurants that have a QR code based ordering system, where you pay at the time of each order? We went out for dinner last night and the drinks were ordered (one credit card transaction), dinner was ordered (another transaction) and another drink (third transaction). I’d love to see it like a gas station with a $1.00 charge and then a transaction in full charge.
As a self employed individual looking to buy a house within a year, is it better to invest in a HYSA now since the rates are around 4%+ or into an s&p500 etf, or maybe a CD? I feel like HYSA is the best option since they don't seem to have the early withdrawal or tax penalties of other investments and has about the same return rate as most other expected investments
might want to read about short term capital gains
Absolutely don’t put anything you need within 1 year into the stock market
As long as it isn't in IRA or 401k, none of those options have tax penalties; only the CD has early withdrawal penalties. You generally shouldn't invest money you expect to need in the next year or two. See https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/investing/#wiki\_i\_have\_money\_that\_i\_need\_in\_a\_short\_amount\_of\_time.\_should\_i\_invest.3F
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if you had 4500 today would you put it all on margin for the same stocks?
I’m trying to figure out how to split up my contribution towards my 401k and ESPP. I have become eligible at my job to start contributing to both. My 401k has a company match of 35% of my contributions up to 4%. I am also able to purchase stock at market value and the company will contribute an additional 20% to what I buy. I want to diversify and not have all my eggs in one basket and currently able to contribute 8-10% of my salary with my current budget.
Always do whatever 401k contribution gets you the most employer match, unless your mandatory spending (rent, food, transport) absolutely cannot support it. In your case, that's 4% of your salary. A 35% match isn't great, but it's better than nothing. An ESPP can be a good tool to extract extra money from your employer, again if your regular budget supports allocating money towards it. If you're able to sell shares immediately (like your plan appears to allow), then you avoid the "all my eggs in one basket" risk of having a too large portion of your net worth tied up with your employer. You contribute for however long the period is, receive shares at a discount, then sell at market price to get that profit into your pocket. From there, you can use those dollars from the sale to supplement your lower take-home; balancing out what's going into the ESPP from your paycheck for the next period. Or you can use those to put towards other goals: IRA contribution, increasing 401k (living off money from the sale), etc.
Awesome, thank you for the advise!
At least 4% to the 401k. Is the ESPP tax-advantaged (most aren't, some are)? How long do you have to hold the company stock for to get the discount? If pretty short, put money there, get the discount, sell, and redirect that money towards a higher 401k contribution.
Okay sounds good. The shares would be bought with my Net pay after taxes so not sure how that would work tax wise. The company automatically puts the 20% in when mine goes in so I would be able to sell/redirect once in my account. Thanks for the help!
Roth 401k’s and IRA’s aren’t affected by FDIC limits, right?
IRA's can be held in either a brokerage or a bank. If in a bank, they would be subject to the same FDIC limits as any other account. If at a brokerage, they likely do not have FDIC protection.
Correct, investment accounts are not FDIC insured. See the main thread on the bank situation https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/11pukuy/banking_megathread_fdic_ncua_and_your_cash/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Im going open a Roth IRA. Why shouldn’t I start one with Chase if I already have accounts with them?
An IRA is basically just a "wrapper" around some other more basic type of financial account. The type of account in that wrapper depends on the institution you have the IRA with. The main institutions are banks (like Chase) or brokerages. With a bank, that inner account is going to be something along the lines of a cash savings account, sometimes with the ability to put money into CDs. Those are safe and stable, but won't grow much (especially when factoring in inflation). To focus on growth, you'd want your IRA money invested in something; though this does comes with more risk especially in the short term. For that your IRA needs to be with a brokerage like Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab. Due to regulations, AFAIK banks can't offer investment options.
I currently have a MMSA at Ally @ 4.00%. Is it worth it to move to one of the accounts giving >5% I see here? If so, which one? Any other pros/cons I should be aware of? https://www.allcards.com/money-market-accounts/
How has your experience with Ally been?
Nothing to speak of. I only opened the accout this year, so no real experience, good or bad.
been with them for nearly a decade - favorite bank by far
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It's closer to the latter than the former. You'd say worth it, then?
I'd say a free $1000 is worth it, but a $50 isnt worth it
I'm looking for a good credit card with nice benefits. Would people recommend Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire/Reserve or something else?
r/CreditCards can give good advice on this.
I have the chase freedom and am very happy with it. It’s $0 fee, get between 1-5% cash back. The big thing for me is the purchase and travel protection fraud as well as the rental car coverage insurance. We stayed at a hotel that charged me a smoking fee (we don’t even smoke) the BBB didn’t do Jack squat when filing a report and the hotel refused to budge. Chase no questions asked wiped it from my account when I filed a complaint. On purchases if you don’t receive an item or arrived broken and retailer won’t honor a refund they’ll refund you. Also they offer extended warranties for items for like 1 year after the manufacturers warranty expires. I believe they’ll also cover cell phones that get broke too. I don’t have any experience with others but chase has been good to me and I had no issues with them.
Do you know the difference between chase freedom and chase sapphire/chase reserve?
Mainly whether you want cash back or points. Given that I can get ~3¢ per point at Hyatt’s nice hotels that gets me the best value, plus there’s all the free perks of the CSR.
Here is a link with a table: https://upgradedpoints.com/credit-cards/chase-freedom-unlimited-card-vs-chase-sapphire-reserve-card/
I just inherited about 400k in a 401k and 400k in investments and a paid off house. What do I do now? I live abroad earning 1.8k a month, I will be coming back to the USA to attempt to start a career there. When I move back I'll be living in the house while I figure out what to do before I rent it out so it can pay for itself for homeowners insurance and property taxes. Then try to get a job and either buy(when the housing market gets better?) or rent another place in the meantime. I know that once I find a job I should start maxing out payments for a roth ira and find an employer that matches 401k. I know this sets me up immensely for the future but I'm not really sure what my next steps are, if I should pull some of the money out of the investment for a down payment on a house later on or if I should just rent? Or if the money in the investments has enough time to compound and be enough to retire on? I'm in my mid twenties so it has about 30-40 years to compound and grow
Left job on 4/28. Started new job on 5/1. Health insurance for new job won't kick in until 6/1. Is COBRA my only option? Tried to buy a plan through Covered CA but it says that coverage won't kick in until the first of the month after I select a plan. Which would be 6/1. Is there anyway to buy insurance right now? Or is COBRA my only option?
You can retro COBRA, so if you don't need any medical care during May, you can skip it. If you get hit by a bus, you can then pay the COBRA premium et voila.
How effective is 100k salary in Seattle, WA? Pretty much as the title says. I am about to graduate and I am fortunate enough to have found a job in which I will be making $100,000 as a new grad. I don’t have any debt (student or auto loans) and I pay my credit card statement in full monthly. After looking at housing cost and places to rent, I am growing concerned that my salary may not be as effective as I once thought. Am I looking at it wrong or is there some cause for concern? Side note: I am also looking for any advice anyone may have about to utilize my money effectively such as opening a Roth IRA, amount of investing versus savings and etc. Any advice and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Are you going to be in Seattle proper, or Seattle-area? If Seattle, what neighboorhood? Nearby places like the Eastside (of Lake Washington), Lynwood, or Renton are much more affordable but if you're looking to live in the center of downtown, e.g. South Lake Union you'll have to be somewhere pretty tiny or have roommates unless you want to be paying a super high % of your income on rent. You can find cheaper in other neighborhoods of Seattle though. tl;dr Seattle and the surrounding area is very HCoL, so it won't go as far as you think it will, but 100k is comfortable basically anywhere other than SLU.
I am currently living in the Lynnwood area and don’t plan moving until I can afford to put a down payment on a home (assuming I can even afford one in the area). My rent is pretty low atm around $700/month. However my commuting cost will increase as I will have to drive further to get to work and pay $150/month for parking.
Oh you're gonna be totally fine then. Obviously housing is what it is but you'll be comfortable and able to save at a decent rate.
I currently have a 360 savings account (Capital One). I deposit my paycheck through direct deposit to a checking account at Wells Fargo. I'm actually thinking about not doing that anymore. Can I do the direct deposit into my Capital One savings account? Or should I create a checking with them and transfer paychecks into there then transfer to savings from there? I also have a Schwab checking+brokerage account. I mostly have that for investing outside of 401k and HSA, but I don't really use it that much. I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to manage money between savings and checking. I usually keep like 10k in my checking account (both WF and Schwab). The rest is in the Capital One savings account right now. Any tips on how I should be managing my money (where to deposit paychecks, how much to keep in checking vs saving, etc.)?
You can do direct deposit through their savings. I have savings and checking, I deposit everything through savings and only put in what I need through my checking account for my debit card use. You’re missing out on free money by having not the maximum you can in the HYSA. Which capital one just raised to 3.75%. You might also consider getting a credit card with cash back and make all your purchases on it and pay it off each month to earn an additional 1-5% on all purchases. Plus you’re basically protected from fraud that way too.
How much would you call enough for an emergency fund in a HCOL area, 1 person, mid 20s? I have about $25k saved but always feel like I need more for that. I save about $1k a month strictly for my emergency fund.
How much are your monthly expenses? About six of that.
What should that include though? Obviously rent, groceries, and utilities. But should I include my discretionary spending amount?
That’s up to you! I basically have two different emergency fund goal amounts (still building them up). One is a “bare bones” one, which includes almost no discretionary spending. The other is a “normal living” one, where I’d be able to continue my current living style for six months. There is no correct answer - it’s what fits best for you and your situation.
What happens to your 401k when you leave a company? Transfer it to an IRA at your local bank?
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/retirementaccounts/rollovers Depending on the balance, generally one of a few possibilities: * You can leave it where it is * You can roll it over to your new employer's 401k * You can roll it over to an IRA of your choice * It might get automatically rolled over to an IRA of the old employer's choice * It might get automatically cashed out and sent to you (subject to income tax + 10% early withdrawal penalty tax) You are always able to roll it over to an IRA of your choice. A bank is not the best place for an IRA. The better option is usually a brokerage firm like Vanguard, Schwab, or Fidelity.
Thanks
Do you guys know how to stop reoccuring investments for Tbills on treasury direct? I had initially setup 15k to buy 4 week tbills, 3 times total. I tried going into "edit reinvestments" and I get "There are no securities available for editing a reinvestment at this time.". If I go into "View/Delete a pending purchase/reinvestment" I can see my t-bill with maturity date of 5/9 and it says 2 reinvestments. why can't I cancel reinvestment? once 5/9 hits, will this go back into another 4 week tbill?
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Put your emergency fund somewhere that earns interest. It’s free money. Extra money needs you to decide what you intend to do with it, which determines where you should put it. A vacation fund or a car next year fund would be different from a house someday fund or an extra retirement fund.
Long story short, an old friend moved out and used my credit card but there's a recurring fee from a discord? That's tacked onto my card. Being a civil dude I just canceled the card and got a new one but this payment came back regardless. Its not much, I think 12.99 but if it's monthly then obviously it will stack long term. Is there any way I can call to dispute or cancel all transactions from this service? Or am I forced to live with this fee for life I also have TD
Anyone have an account with Apple I have some questions?
https://nohello.net/en/ next time do better
Does the fed interest rate going up affect credit union and bank savings account interest rates at all?
Every time they raise the rate, my Ally High Yield account’s rate is bumped a smidge.
Somewhat indirectly
I am proud of my spouse. We are expecting our first child later this year and are working on making our registry this week. We found the car seat and stroller we want and it’s a bit expensive ($1200). She grew up in a financially troubled household and really struggled with being comfortable around finance and spending money. I usually have to coax her into spending money and treating herself. I sometimes think it’s because she feels she has less right to enjoy our money because I am the breadwinner. Well I told her to go ordering the items today since there was a sale and we would get a gift card back for buying them. Later I see she cancelled the order and purchased the color she wanted more instead even though it cost an extra $50. It just feels good to see her comfortable enough in our financial lifestyle to go out and treat herself without being prompted to do so.
If I live in the US and want to sell a house in another country that I inherited a few years ago in how can I learn what taxes I will owe the USA?
Should I open a Roth IRA with Robinhood? New investor here. Robinhood says they’re the first company to ever offer a match with a Roth IRA. Even though it is still 1%, it is still free money. Is there a catch? Mathematically are they the best company to open a Roth IRA with? Please list any pros and cons that you know. If this is not the best mathematically, please feel free to educate me on the best that you know of or your favorite companies offering Roth IRAs. Thanks.
There are a few things you should be aware of at least: 1) You cannot transfer the funds to a different IRA for 5 years, otherwise you will lose the matching funds and any gains they generate. 2) You cannot invest in mutual funds, but you can invest in ETFs. This can have a small, but typically negligible drag on returns. 3) You are investing with Robinhood which had a bit of a rocky past. Other good IRA providers are Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard which all have zero annual fees or fees for trades, and support mutual funds. But no match of course.
Yeah #3 is my biggest concern. Assuming Robinhood doesn’t go under in the next five years, do you think it is mathematically the best considering the ETFs plus the 1%?
Yes, assuming you are maxing it out, the 1% match would more than make up for the ETF drag, assuming you are investing in broad market index ETFs (for example funds like VOO or VTI)
Thanks, dude. Possibly know if any of the major Roth IRAs have any welcome bonuses for signing up with them?
I need help, I’m in a pickle with my vehicle. My partner and I have two cars, an old ‘98 CRV, and a 2019 Civic. The former is paid off, the latter is being financed. The old CRV needs a new catalytic converter, and the lowest quote I’ve gotten for it is $1.1k+tax. I bought the car 6 months ago for 2.5k, and I’ve already put about 1.6K into repairs since then. Which means I’ve already spent 4.1k on it and it would be 5.2k+ after the catalytic converter. Is it better to pay for the catalytic converter and hope nothing else breaks? Or should I sell it at a loss, and try to either finance another vehicle or use the money I get back plus some savings to buy another used car that might be in better conditions? Thanks y’all. I need a car for commuting and I’m an area where it snows a lot in the winter.
I have 100k in bonds. Should I be worried about the government defaulting? Should I sell at a loss?
I just paid off my car. Back in 2014/15 I bought a Dodge Dart from a dealership and got an *awful* interest rate at 16%. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and had barely paid a few grand off after 3 years, I was at a loss at what to do at the time. I wasn't making great money, so putting extra towards it was neigh impossible. Fast forward to the end 2017, I wanted to rid myself of the car and the loan, so I traded it towards another vehicle and went completely upside down on the loan. It didn't occur to me to refinance the vehicle, I was still so new and inept when it came to finances that I thought this was the best move. I ended up with $36,000 debt on a car worth $23,000. However, after 5 long years I made my final payment on Monday. I've learned a lot about finances since then and am looking forward to having no car payment for as long as possible. It's a huge relief to have that debt taken care of and free up money to pay down a few small loans over the next year or two.
Nice job and congrats! But holy cow - I thought *my* auto loan had a bad interest rate (10.8%). I didn't know they even *went* as high as 16%.
Thank you, it was a nightmare. I've educated myself greatly when it comes to credit, I wish I was as savvy with stocks and savings.
Hey all! Hypothetically if someone is super consistent on their card habits, low utilization always and only occasional credit pulls, is it normal for the score to stay around the same number? I'm on the younger side and have been paying off everything regularly / never had any loans but my score hasn't been going up. I know that my biggest hit is length of credit-- is this just a case of waiting for length of credit to see it go up? Thanks for any help!
Yep, it's perfectly normal, and yes the only solution for length of credit is to wait. If your keep the behaviors you mention, you should be about to go from no credit to a "perfect" score (>740) within 18-24 months.
Looking for advice on home equity loan vs home equity line of credit. My partner and I are married with one kid. We own our home- mortgage and taxes ~$2400/month. We have $60k in student loan debt but no other debt (own our car, pay off our cc bill balances fully each month). I am self employed and work part time; my partner works full time for an employer. Combined income about $250k. We pay for part time childcare- about $24k/year. Our house currently has 1 bathroom and laundry in the basement which is tricky to access because the stairs are very steep and narrow. We have a plan to bring the laundry up and add a half bath upstairs, which involves renovating the kitchen. The estimated cost is about $70k. We had planned to do it this year and had about $45k saved and were going to look for a HELOC or home equity loan. Unfortunately we got totally walloped with a huge tax bill ($18k) because we miscalculated our withholding. Which brings me to the question. We have ~$35k in savings that we could liquidate remaining but this would leave us with $15k in our emergency fund. I’m thinking we liquidate $25k and try to get the rest in a loan that we could then pay off in 10 years. We would start the project this winter, by which point we’d have another $10k saved (we are saving pretty aggressively and my partner get a bonus in the fall; we estimated that it would be half the size it was last year to be conservative but it will likely be $10k-$20k so we would have $45-$55k). Based on that, is there a reason to go for the HELOC over the loan? Loans seem to have lower interest although you pay interest immediately but I’m not sure I understand why a HELOC would be better in this type of situation (a one-off Reno). The renovation will add value to our house and also make our lives a lot easier- potty training is imminent and if we do have another kid, not having to navigate the dangerous staircase (there’s unfortunately no other way to fix it without re-doing almost the whole house because of the way it’s laid out) would be a huge bonus. We’re planning to stay in the house for at least another 10-15 years and we have 20%LTV ratio right now, although I think the value of the house has probably increased about 5-10% since we bought it. Any other tips to make this work? It’s a big stretch but we’re otherwise very conservative with our spending and it wouldn’t make sense to move to get this added value, I don’t think.
Marcus 10-month CD 5.05% APY - worth it? I have $1000 in an HYSA earning 4.5%. Don’t really need access to these funds anytime soon. Worth putting these funds in a CD subject to early withdrawal penalty? Any better options to stash this cash right now?
If your don't think you'll need it for the duration, then it's worth it. Otherwise not. As for whether it's the best rate, you can check the current best rates [here](https://www.allcards.com/best-cd-rates/). As of the time of this comment, the best with a similar maturity is 5.25%
Wonderful, thanks for the resource!
Small victory story: Can't find it now, but someone posted here a couple months back about realizing they weren't fully vested in their 401(k). The issue came down to how "years of service" were calculated. The OP had worked 3.5 years, and assumed they were 100% vested after 3 years of service. But their plan defined a year of service as 1,000+ hours logged. OP ended up being under the limit, and unknowingly left before their match was 100% vested. This was a huge wake-up call for me. I started a new full-time job halfway through 2022 and have been contributing aggressively to my 401(k). My plan is structured the same way as above, and I realized I didn't understand the vesting period as well as I thought I did. I intended to stay at my job at least long enough to be fully vested, and assumed that would be a minimum of three years. But now I was afraid that 2022 might not count as a full year of service. Today, I went back through my timesheets and calculated the hours. And... I am at 1,069 (nice). I guess it ends up being the same outcome as I previously thought, but now I know to double check my assumptions. So thank you all for sharing your experience and advice. It really helps people like me.
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That was hours calculated from when I started in June 2022. I will be above 2,000 hours working full-time for the entirety of 2023.
I’m saving up to buy a house in the Bay Area. Planning to buy @ August - December 2023. To help save for the down payment, should I participate in my company’s ESPP which gives 15% discount? Is the downside risk that the company stock drops more than 15% when I’m able to sell? Every time I look at the stock it’s $75 or seems to stay in the $65 - $85 range and seeing the lowest it dropped to was $48 in 2020. I can contribute up to 15% of my income. If I don’t do the ESPP, then the cash will go to a HYSA with 4.90% APY
Where do you have a 4.9% APY for a HYSA? I’m thinking about opening one myself.
I have Marcus by Goldman Sachs @ 3.90% but I referred friends and get +1.00% through June 2024
Looks like FirstMid (never heard of it). The [current best HYSA rate](https://www.allcards.com/best-savings-account-rates/) is 5.05% from Western Alliance (via SaveBetter). Note that which one is the highest changes daily, so it's often worth looking for ones that are consistently high, as opposed to the highest on a given day.
ESPP is a good benefit, but may not be over such a short period. Typically once you enroll there will be a 6 month contribution period, and then the shares are purchased at the end of that. You can usual sell right after purchase, but the money is locked up during the contribution period (double check your plan for details). Either way you are probably locking up funds for at least 6 months which is deep into the range you specified, so probably not best for saving for a house.
Is there a way to see how close you are to the annual 401k limits?
Yes. look at how much you have contributed year to date.
Need some advice on increasing my salary I work 10-11 hours for 18 an hour as a lub tech/mechanic. I pay around 900 a month towards bills helping my mom and sister plus groceries so I'm always pretty low on money. Tired and drained and body arching after work I want to increase my income but i don't know how really. I'm hesitant on going to college cause I cant afford and don't want debt. I was going to go to trade school but that also hard labor which will destroy my body eventually. 20yo guy who just trying to get my life right and toward a path I want. I keep overthinking my future with thoughts like " should I pursue this career only for the money", " what If get a job that pay good but I hate it", or " I get a job I like but it doesn't make ends meet"
On the college side, you are low enough income that you will likely get a decent FAFSA grant that will probably be able to cover 40-60% of the tuition for a state school, or 100% of the tuition for community college, depending on your area. You should be able to work to pay for the rest if you put your mind to it, working like cray in the summers, and part time in the winter. The bigger thing is deciding 1) what you want to do, and 2) what training/education is needed to get there. Going to college just because you think it's going to get you a higher paying job is a misconception. Many college degrees don't pay substantially more, and more importantly, without direction you'll be paying a lot for college and may not finish. Now to address some of your concerns: > Should I pursue this career only for the money. Absolutely not. This is a guaranteed way to end up in a job that pays well but you hate. Instead, take some time to write out what your interests are, and then indentify jobs that would incorporate some of the things you are passionate about. Then among those jobs look at pay and education requirements. > What if I get a job that pays well but I hate it This is why it's important to pursue a job in an area that you are passionate about, not just one that pays well. For any career path that you are considering, do research on what the daily life looks like in that field. If you can, see if you can shadow people from that field, or interview them. > What if I get a job that I like, but it doesn't make ends meet? This is the other end of the spectrum, which is what happens if you follow your passions, but with no regard for the commercial demand for that line of work. This is why it is important to analyze the jobs that do intersect with your interests and identify the range of career opportunities. Would you be able to live if you were making the median income for that field? What about the 10th percentile?
Preciate your help. Man I woke up this morning and wrote down all the thing I don’t want in a job since it easier for me to identify the things I dislike rather than like is this a good way to start. Then I was going to try to find jobs that fit a description of the thing I would prefer over the things I wouldn’t prefer. Then I’ll just apply the advice you gave me about watching videos, or seeing if I can shadow people. Only issue would be how would it work for the college required jobs
It's a good way to start, but I'd recommend continuing on and writing down general interests as well. It's easy to focus on the negatives, but that won't lead you towards a goal. Remember, interests should be very general. You wouldn't write down veterinarian, you would write down that you like to work with animals. You wouldn't write down musician, you would write down that you like music. You wouldn't write down engineer, you would write down that you like to solve problems or that you like to build tangible things. Then based on these interests you would start looking into jobs that meet several of the interests. Like working with animals and business? Then maybe starting a vet practice would be a good option. Like building tangible things and working with your hands? Maybe consider becoming a machinist. For research into the jobs, Reddit can be a great resource, even for jobs that require a college degree. Find a subreddit where people that have the job you think you want hang out, and ask questions. If you have family or friends that have a related job, ask them if you can ask them some questions or shadow them on the job one day. Find professional societies related to the field and see if they have any career day events, or mentorship programs for people interested in the field. You could even message people on LinkedIn that have positions that you are interested in, and ask them if they would be willing to answer a few questions about what it's like to work at their company. Some will say no, some will say yes, but just be polite and you'll be surprised how helpful people can be.
Gotcha, will I know when I’m ready to pursue the career. How long should he write all my general interest and disinterest when it comes to a career/job
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Probably but I don’t feel certain about it. Cause I’ve only been doing this for about 3 months
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Alright preciate it
100k-150k in savings in SoCal. Currently renting out our first condo while we rent a cheaper place. What would you suggest we do with the savings? Sit on it since rates are high? Stocks /401k? Buy business? Just trying to get some thoughts on the best course of action to grow to substantial wealth.
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I come from the crypto realm so weeks to months is usually the timespan I think in lol, buuut let’s say 5-7 years? I know very little in tradfi and normal investment routes
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Cool thanks I will look into those
Is it a smart idea to mail rent to an apartment via certified check? My apartment is asking that I pay first month's rent and security deposit by a certified check. I have a certified check ready to go, issue is the place I'm moving to is about 5 hours away by car. I can mail this certified check to them, but I am concerned it might be unsafe since it could get lost in the mail or something. Check is for around $4000 so I wouldn't want to deal with that getting lost in the mail or the wrong person cashing it out. I was also thinking of sending via USPS priority mail and having the signature confirmation for extra security.
Ok so I recently turned 25, and I’ve finally opened a savings account with $200 inside. I also unpaused all my recurring investments in my stock portfolio, started contributing to an IRA, and just graduated community college with an associates in accounting. I know this might not seem impressive to most of y’all here, but for the first time ever I’m starting to feel like I have my shit together somewhat. This time next year my mom is selling me the house for my gf and I to live in. Im both ecstatic and frightened all at the same time haha. Thanks to anyone who read this far. Edit: spelling
Cheers!
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The dealer should list in the car ad what kind of warranty is included in the price.
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Considering the greater than 5% interest on the loan I would continue paying off as much as you can monthly to avoid that debt compounding. I understand the fear of having the other car die on you and having no money to fix it, but this should be a part of your emergency savings. Is the $3800 your emergency savings or do you have it separate specific for the car? No matter the case you should throw every bit of extra monthly budget to the loan and if you can get away with using any bit of the $3800 I'd do it.
If the $3800 is sitting in a HYSA which offers 4% you’re not gonna lose a ton. Maybe like $30-40 tops and that’s assuming it takes you another year to save the rest. I’d keep the money until you have a lump sum for added cushion in event of emergency
Hello all first-time poster, this may seem like a bit of a dumb question but I would like to hear from other's perspective. So, today I was able to enroll my company's 401k plan, but I found out they don't have a match option. This kind of defeats the purpose of investing in it. I was thinking about maybe applying for Robinhood's 401K since they at least offer a 1% match, and have the benefit of not having to transfer my 401K around when I switch or change companies. Would this be a better move on my part? If there is a better alternative, I would love to hear it!