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Kris-Fillip

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Is it possible to not be homeless in Washington DC working minimum wage?

I'm mid-twenties, no kids, no pets, no debt, no car. DC is my best shot at getting a good job with my education and experience but I'm in a different state and don't have time to do long-distance applications. What can I expect?

You probably need to do both of the following Rent a small bedroom in someone's home. Work more than 40 hours a week at minimum wage don't set your sights at minimum wage though. Look for physical jobs, maybe a factory or an Amazon distribution warehouse or roofing (warm seasons) or road construction crews.

The metro system in DC extends a decent distance into the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. It's much cheaper to live outside the city and commute in for work or fun. Definitely find a roommate to keep costs down - it helps!

personalfinance

poachedhardeggs

t3_5d2rpk

welliamwallace

da19x27

MasterOfSporks

da1lxgq

What is the best platform for a total novice to start trading stocks?

I am looking for the best platform (preferably something with an app) to start trading stocks. I’m COMPLETELY new to this - I took some finance classes in college so I have a very small working knowledge of finance - so I want something that is user friendly for a beginner. What is important to me: fees/commission aren’t too high - I will only be investing ~$100 a few times a month just to get my feet wet and see if stock-trading is right for me. ease of use I am currently using E-Trade (the app) and it is NOT clear what I will expect to pay per transaction and when I pay. I also deposited $100 on Tuesday of last week and STILL my account says that I have $100 in my account but $0 available to invest. I tried chatting them and while I was waiting in line, E-Trade disconnected my chat. Now I am on hold with them for ~20 minutes to speak on the phone. Can anyone recommend something better or is E-Trade good and I just don’t know it yet? Many thanks in advance!

Please do not trade stock, especially as a total novice. You are almost certainly going to lose a ton of money. Read the wiki which will have some suggestions for how to invest. Low fee, passive index funds are your friend.

td ameritrade from my experience hasnt had any of your problems. Commission is free now and they have videos to teach you about stock trading. I say only way learn is to try but definitely heed others warnings and only use money you dont need to practice.

personalfinance

nciacs

t3_fj4euk

romman00

fkkzdsh

StaLo_Kee

fkle0zq

Which companies do you consider most innovative?

I'm not talking about long-shot penny stock that might have the cure for cancer. I mean companies with an overall "innovative" vision. For example, GOOG is obviously extremely innovative; driver-less cars, home integration, web, etc. AMZN is very innovative; online shopping, the drone concept, their server farms, cloud, prime video, etc. TSLA is innovative in their one product, but I don't know if I'd call the company altogether "innovative" as they're really just pursuing one singular (granted large) innovation. I realize this is /r/investing and that a lot of these products (Amazon drones, driver-less cars, etc) may not be profitable or relevant to corporate p/l any time soon, but I personally like innovative companies. Companies that push the envelope and don't put themselves in a "box". Google doesn't say "We're a search engine", Amazon doesn't say "We sell books online", etc. They're companies that are constantly looking to push boundaries and societal norms, they question the status quo, etc. Anyway, curious what innovative companies may be out there that aren't as obvious as the cop-outs I listed.

Solazyme. They, hopefully, will be the Exxon of the future. They use algae to create everything, from biofuels to oils for the human body. They even have plans/already synthesized proteins from algae fit for human consumption. They've fueled Navy ships and airplane flights, they have contracts with Chevron, Tyson, Johnson and Johnson, etc. Seem like a solid company. What does everyone else think about the future prospects of this company?

These larger, successful companies that have experimented with egalitarianism in their personnel practices also fit your other definitions of innovation (probably no coincidence): Mondragon Corp Valve W.L. Gore and similarly, if to a lesser extent, some major corporations using a lattice organizational structure which is in part intended to fuel innovation: Deloitte SAS Cisco Thomson Reuters

investing

jorgerunfast

t3_1vaft2

farquezy

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ceqbt7s

lensman00

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ceqcn8g

Refinancing student loans: which organizations would you recommend or not recommend?

My husband has a total of ~$118,000 in private student loans, of which the most monstrous has a balance of $30,000 and an interest rate of 11.75%(V). This is our only debt. As of right now we are tackling these using the Avalanche Method but would ultimately like to bring the interest rates down by refinancing. We looked into options such as Earnest, SoFi, Laurel Road, etc., but don't want to go into anything blindly. Those of you who have refinanced in this kind of situation, who did you go with and why? A couple things we're looking for: * No fees, especially no early payoff fees. We're tackling these loans as fast as we possibly can to be out of debt ASAP. * Cosigners allowed. While my husband makes good money himself, I do make a little more and have a little higher credit. * We're open to reputable online organizations as well as local banks, but will probably steer clear from nationwide banks. * We're willing to refinance into multiple smaller loans and avalanche those if it were highly beneficial, but otherwise a single lump sum would be fine. We'd very much appreciate any advice we can get, particularly with personal experience in the matter. TIA!

I'm partial to SoFi but acknowledge that they are pretty strict in their acceptance. I've heard good things about commonbond as well. Most of these organizations point you to the same agencies, like Mohela, there are only so many orgs that can take on student loan debt. almost none will have early payoff fees.

With private loans, I cannot think of any reason not to refinance if you can get aloaer interest rates. 11.75% is crazy. Advise you did not ask for. Don't cosign on your husband's loans. It is better to have them in only one name. Unless you need to for a really low interest rate, but even then think about all the implications.

personalfinance

manchotendormi

t3_eupz63

female_on_reddit

ffqrv1i

allthedifference

ffsd48a

I drive a $3500 car. Should I pay for collision insurance or just keep enough in my emergency fund to replace it if it gets wrecked?

SSIA.

Most will advocate just holding liability on a car with that low of a value. The reason is that if your car actually does get in a wreck, it will almost certainly be totaled unless it is extremely minor. After that, you can bet the insurance company will argue that the value is no where near the 3.5k you think it is. After you settle that, you still have to pay the deductible, plus it counts as a claim on your record which will likely increase premiums. When you calculate just how little you will get if you actually have to make a claim and weigh it against the increased premiums for the coverage and the increases if you actually claim it, it becomes difficult to justify the expense for a car that old.

I'm an advocate for strictly Liability for a car like that. I mean think about it, iff you take a gamble on the fact you won't be using it, its like an extra ~$130/month in your pocket. do that for 8-9 months without making a claim and you have saved enough to pay for a repair.

personalfinance

humperdinck_humperdi

t3_35jtba

firefox15

t1_cr52bc0

cr52bc0

papalugnut

t1_cr5dne1

cr5dne1

College Senior, Opened a Roth IRA, Where to Invest?

College Senior (21) with a well paid internship, no debt, ~20k in expendable savings, need to start investing it, I opened a Roth IRA and don't know where to begin, I've never been advised on this and through my hours of research it is still overwhelming. I've read to keep a portfolio of around 80-90% stocks and 10-20% bonds for my age, but can anybody be more specific about which investments are best, preferably low risk? I just want to protect my funds for retirement rather than do a bunch of financial engineering. My account is with Vanguard.

Honestly, if you don't care to manage it too much and trust the investment companies, then a target date fund is fine. They manage it so that they move money more conservatively as you get older. Look for a 2051+ target date (I'm 23 and my target date fund is 2055). I don't want to mess with it too much and I don't know enough currently to split the funds up myself.

The single most important thing you can do is minimize your fees. Multiple studies have shown that fees are the 1 predictor of performance. Second thing I would recommend would be invest early, don't bother trying to time the market or anything, you're better off putting it in early and getting the early earnings. Compound interest is your friend. My specific advice, invest all of it in a 500 index fund or a 500 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) - Vanguard has one: VOO. The ETF will likely have lower fees than what you can get with their regular 500 Index given your portfolio value (0.05% for the ETF vs. 0.17% for Investor Level shares of VFINX; if you have $10K then you can get Admiral Shares at 0.05%). At your age you don't really need bonds, you can be exposed 100% to the stock market without much excess risk. You can easily transition a portion to bonds in 15-20 years if you want - honestly it's not difficult enough to balance that you need to pay someone to do it for you. Any stock market investment is going to be considered "risky," but a 500 index fund is about as low risk as you can get - essentially you're investing in the market as a whole, and it has a long history of increasing in value over (given a long enough timeframe, which you'll have). DON'T do the target date fund - it's not going to be complex enough to provide significant returns, and the fees are too high to justify it (Vanguard's 2060 fund is at 0.18%).

personalfinance

panic_bloom

t3_3bvryq

B_Witt

t1_cspyanb

cspyanb

lux-libertas

t1_csq00dd

csq00dd

At what salary can you realistically max out your tax advantaged accounts?

With the option of a 401k , IRA, HSA there is a substantial amount you can save (tax advantaged ) a year. As the title says at what salary can you realistically max them out and live a decent life style. And what ~$ left do you have as disposable income? I know there are a lot of unknowns and assumptions that can be made, but assuming "regular/frugal" expenses. Bonus- 2 people married/couple whatever. Is it simply double or can you get away with less? Thanks !

I'm able to do it at $75K annual salary. 24%(18k) goes to 401K, 4%(3k) to HSA, this leaves ~38k after taxes, 5.5K of that goes to roth ira so I'm left with $32.5k for expenses and other savings. My expenses total 28.6k annually so there is some money left there for other unexpected expenses.

The answer is location-dependent, with cost of living and state/local taxes being the two biggest variables I can think of. E.g., if you live somewhere that costs $20k/year to live comfortably you can max out your accounts at a lower salary than if you lived somewhere that costs $30k/year to afford the same lifestyle. If you have to pay significant state tax (e.g., CA), then you'll need to earn a higher salary, in part because states don't permit exemptions for all account types (e.g. HSA contributions are not CA income tax-deductible).

financialindependence

FIMoneyBags

t3_6k0ba8

wannabepizza

djibpnn

SingleMaltSkeptic

djisua5

do sellers really blacklist buyers if offer is too low?

I was reading another post here: [ _low_is_too_low/]( &x200B One person mentioned that they (seller or seller's agent) would blacklist buyers if offers are too low - [ _low_is_too_low/ei7tmhf]( &x200B My question - does this really happen?? I've sold real estate a few times, and I take no offense to low ball offers, I merely tell the buyers agent that the offer is not competitive, and they are welcome to submit higher offers if they wish. I can't imagine blacklisting a buyer just because they were trying to get a good deal...in my opinion the more offers the better. Would any seller / sellers agent really blacklist buyers, unless the buyers are outright fraudulent or have no financial approval?

Depends, but I know agents who blacklist buyers, appraisers, loan officers, and other agents lol. (not usually for lowball offers tho, for other reasons) This is a relationship business, and what I’ve learned is you want to have good terms with people in general. But if I have a lowball offer to submit, I usually ask the listing agent verbally. It saves everyone time and courtesy.

By law no matter what the offer, if you send it to the realtor they HAVE to present it to the Seller, unless instructed by the Sellers in writing, or they can lose their license

RealEstate

UIUC_grad_dude1

t3_azilzo

The-One-N-Only

ei80jq7

REH98021

ei96jl4

My girlfriend (16F) just got a job and her mom wants to withhold all of her pay

Last week, my girlfriend filed for a work permit with her school and employer as required by Indiana law for minors. It's signed by all parties including herself and her mother with agreed upon hours with the employer. Today her mom said that she is not going to be able to have any of her money, and that she(her mom) is going to do "what she deems best" with the money(meaning some would go towards family needs like utilities and the rest would go towards my girlfriend's savings). Is it legal for her to take my girlfriend's checks every two weeks? My girlfriend doesn't even have her own bank account yet. If anything wouldn't it be illegal for her mom to cash the checks that are in my girlfriend's name? Googling about wage withholding by a parent only returned results about child support wage withholding.

Is it legal for her to take my girlfriend's checks every two weeks? Yes If anything wouldn't it be illegal for her mom to cash the checks that are in my girlfriend's name? As a parent, she can. It might be bad parenting depending upon the facts, but it is not illegal. When she turns 18 she can have complete control of her money and can support herself.

As others mentioned I guess she can until she is 18. Hopefully she can get a job that pays under the table or get a job that gets cash tips (waitressing,bartending, etc) and keep her Cash.

personalfinance

Nicksabeast

t3_3q848z

entitledmillenial25

cwcwtb5

Dingo9933

cwdfj9r

How long should I wait before asking for a raise?

Here’s the situation: I’ve been with the company for 7 months and I pretty much run all the day-to-day marketing operations. That consists of planning and executing email campaigns, webmaster duties, SEO updates, graphic design, all event coordination, public relations and being an admin for our CRM. I make $41,000 per year plus $1,000 bonus with full benefits. I have 1 year of professional experience in an office and a bachelors from UMD in public relations. About how long is it reasonable to wait before negotiating a raise?

I would wait for your annual performance evaluation. At the meeting with your supervisor, I would presume, a raise would be offered based on specific metrics your company uses. This is a great time, in my opinion, to negotiate or ask for a little more money as your employer is laying out all the things you do well, pretty much making your points for you

I think it can be posed as "what would I need to do to get a raise.". It is good to know the "going rate" for your skillset and local economy. glass door.com is (I hear) a good resource. It is technically illegal to keep people from discussing their wages with co-workers (not illegal to ask, but illegal to enforce) so you might go in armed with knowledge. It is your boss's job to say "well, Larry gets here early and stays late and there are never any problems, that's why he is paid more..." Right now, wages are going up, in order to attract skilled people (and hurt stock prices). You may be perceived as too good to lose, right now.

personalfinance

Goughballs

t3_7vft69

Shopingkart11

dtrwg8t

popcornhicken

dtrwq6z

Is there an ETF that invests heavily in bananas?

I've read that the Cavendish banana has a virus that may wipe them out. I'm thinking before that happens the price is going to rise. Any ideas on a way to invest in that?

Just buy as many bananas as you can and store them in your home. In a few years when the harvests are wiped out you can sell yours for a premium.

I cant believe this is the 2nd time I've discussed going long on bananas today, but Feb 8 is the chinese new year and 2016 is the year of the monkey. If you find one, buy it!

investing

geak78

t3_4160l6

Ostracized

cz03b2s

NatasEvoli

cz0oanx

Is a “Travel” credit card actually worth getting?

I have been hooked by retailer credit cards before which promise rewards and deals for using their financing but they always cost more in the end with ridiculous finance rates. I was just wondering if any of the travel rewards (flight miles etc.) were actually worth using a card for and if anyone has good or bad experiences with redeeming said rewards.

Based on your first paragraph I would be hesitant to recommend a travel card for you since the interest rates are usually around 25-30% People who effectively use travel cards are people who pay their balances "always". Not usually, not mostly, always. One hit of interest from that card has a good chance of wiping out pretty much any cost savings you got out of that card.

For the sake of having one? No not really. The "miles" or "points" aren't really much better than a cash rewards most of the time either. The big difference is going to come from side-perks and benefits. For example I have a friend of mine who booked a vacation for last fall down to the Caribbean. TLDR of his vacation plan is they were chartering some guy's boat to take him around to various locations for a week or so. Then the Caribbean got hit by back-to-back hurricanes last fall, and the boat he was supposed to be chartering was lost, along with the money he paid for the trip. The guy/business he paid in advance was wiped out and had no ability (or willingness) to refund him. If they had paid with a travel card, most of them insure your trip against that kind of loss and would have reimbursed the full cost of the cancellation. Unfortunately they paid via debit and were shit out of luck for that $3500. but they always cost more in the end with ridiculous finance rates. If you pay interest on a credit card you're using it wrong. The balance due should be paid in full every pay period, and they won't charge any interest. (They still make their money via the transaction fees, and from referrals to participating travel partners)

personalfinance

illexa

t3_8wmeu1

Ky1arStern

e1wqjzu

Andrew5329

e1xkd51

Moving In & Sharing Expenses

I'm moving in with my partner soon, and am looking for some advice on how to split expenses. We've had some discussions about this, but I'd like to gain some outsider perspective. I'm looking for advice on how to share our expenses 'fairly', given our unique circumstances. My partner makes about twice as much as I do, and has children from a previous relationship. Expenses for the children are split between their two parents, who have similar incomes. Custody is 50/50. So far our discussions have centered on the idea that I would pay 'rent' to cover living expenses. My question is how much should that 'rent' be, as a portion of mortgage payments, utilities, groceries, etc. Thanks!

Whatever works for the two of you is what you should do. I've been on both sides of an income disparity and each of you paying half is rarely feasible. The partner with the higher income typically wants or needs a higher standard of living than the lower income partner is comfortable with. I imagine with kids involved that's even more true.

This is going to totally depend on the two of you, your personalities, viewpoints, etc. But to give you an idea of how I did things, I was living with someone who made easily about 3 times what I did. We split rent 60/40 (however we later moved to a much more expensive area and that shifted to more like 70/30) and we split groceries, taking turns buying.

personalfinance

KnotAgai

t3_2ik8lk

artipants

t1_cl2u404

cl2u404

Throwaway_Style_

t1_cl35m53

cl35m53

Why retire early?

Considering everything you dream about regarding early retirement, what are you looking forward to the most?

I took ten years off between 42 & 52. It was awesome, rehabbed my house & sold it for $100k profit, bought land in FL, designed and built my dream house on 4 acres in the middle nowhere. Went back to school, got my nursing license and make bank watching people sleep for a living.

Doing things I actually like? Not having to wake up at 6 AM every day? Going to sleep whenever I want? Go wherever I want? Not having to work while getting old and brittle? What I can't see is an advantage to retiring LATE.

financialindependence

BartDaily

t3_68gl7i

agent_of_entropy

dgya4pm

HenryJonesVictor

dgyt803

The US Tarrifs on China officially begins today, How does this movie end?

CNBC Reports, Trump launches the opening salvo in US trade war with China as tariffs take effect China is all set to slap tarrifs tarrifs back about the same time. We might see more right away or over sometime. China has a trump card, which is the US. Bonds they have worth over a trillion.

Industries affected by the tariffs will likely see an immediate impact, especially those dependent on an input (e.g., Chinese pork farmers on U.S. soybeans). The secondary industries will probably see a mitigated effect provided the initial industry facing the tariff absorbs the cost. Consumers probably won't see much of an effect in the short-run, but long-term it'll probably begin to break down supply chains and both economies will begin to suffer and become sluggish with decreased consumption. Personally, this isn't something I foresee lasting a long time. Frankly, if Trump's strategy works, it might end up lowering tariffs across the board, which will be great for both sides. But that's a big "if".

I think this will drag on until the Dems either take away his tariff powers or, if they can't win, his presidency ends. The real strength of China here is that Xi is here basically for life and has no opposition to speak off. His country is flush with cash to sustain a long trade war. He can wait. Trump will sooner or later leave and it's unlikely his replacement will be as stupid (knock on wood)

investing

vikkee57

t3_8wh99u

txcotton

e1vjq99

bitflag

e1vq37y

I Need A New Job So That I Can Work On Myself

Currently, I work at a job in customer service that I had to take so that I wouldn't be homeless but it's gotten very stressful over the past 8-9 months. It's heavily contributed to my depression and anxiety. I am even starting to have noticeable physical reactions to stress that I thought I contracted an illness. When I was in high school, during a summer I took an internship and I absolutely loved it. All I did was sort old documents in a room by myself for 9 hours a day. Really relaxing and had fun. My question is, are there any jobs that anyone knows about where I can do a job with limited contact with others while sorting or filing documents? Or any other job that was like the internship that I had before? Pay isn't really as much of a concern as a less stressful environment. Any advice is appreciated.

Try construction. I have had issues w anxiety/stress and construction is a good job. Pay is decent. Get forced to get plenty of exercise. Time goes quicker the harder you work. Feels good to see the things you help build. At the end of the day you are exhausted and proud. No time to have anxiety.

I work in tax accounting and our administrative staff mostly sort, file, and mail documents. Tax season gets very busy, but I think the admin staff is pretty shielded from the crazy hours that the preparers have to put in.

personalfinance

LowStrain1

t3_bpfs59

Lizurd_Dikk

ensoncm

okieschlokie

enu0q3y

Over 300K in equity due to speculation bubble. Sell?

We bought our house as a foreclosure in a very nice neighborhood for $205K. Due to tech industry speculation, housing prices have steadily climbed, reaching pre-recession heights less than 5 years after bottoming out. We would be house poor if we had to buy in this area right now. We currently have a little over $130K on the mortgage left, and if we keep paying the same amount we've been paying, it will take about 10 more years to pay it off. The neighbors just sold their very dated home with less square footage, and one less bedroom for $422K. I think we could probably get $445K - $450K for our house if we sold this year. That would net us over $300K in cash. We could then rent, or live with family for a couple of years, until the speculation dies, and then buy something else. I do think the speculation will die down, as people realize there won't be as many tech jobs as our governor promised when handing out the tax breaks, and our market will adjust. I guess I'd be a fool if it didn't though, and the "what if's" are keeping me from listing the house right now. Does anyone else feel like they're in a similar situation right now? What are you going to do?

You're speculating that the rise in home prices will reverse in a few years. It's equally possible that home prices in the area will continue to rise and you'll be priced out. If you want to stay in the area keep your home. You are paying way under market value to live in your current place, that's a huge win. If the market crashes, you still have your home.

Sell your house, buy a house for the same price as your first one but in a different area, use the remaining money to buy and fix up forclosures and then rent them. That is the best way to keep your mortgage payments almost the same while increasing your portfolio of properties/investments

RealEstate

dangerousminority

t3_50loue

jayknow05

d75451w

xgrave01

d75kzhy

23 years old and saw my credit score for the first time, 552, am I in a bad place?

I've never seen my credit score before today, but I got a free report in the mail and it said 552 from experian. I know this isn't a good score, but I don't have much history. I use my credit card for gas and pay it off in full every month. I've only been paying my own bills for a few years and I'm late every once in a while (more out of laziness and forgetfulness than anything else). I just got my first real job and now make around $43k a year. Am I in a bad spot or is this normal for where I am in life? Thanks!!

and I'm late every once in a while (more out of laziness and forgetfulness than anything else). Put recurring reminders on your calender or something, and stop being late. Old bad spots will drop off your report after 7 years, but your credit history will never be great if you continue making late payments. Stop paying late and your credit report will improve with time.

I've only been paying my own bills for a few years and I'm late every once in a while (more out of laziness and forgetfulness than anything else). Good job...

personalfinance

bisonfarm

t3_zueal

pentium4borg

t1_c67sx6j

c67sx6j

[deleted]

t1_c67y5l4

c67y5l4

How much of your net salary should your car cost?

There has been a plethora of information regarding the cost of rent as well as how much you should be saving a year; but I haven't seen any discussions regarding the cost of cars.

I'm gonna parrot one of Dave Ramsey's rules of thumb. He just made it up, its not conventional wisdom or anything, but I think it works pretty well. always pay cash (if you have to finance you shouldn't buy the car) all motorized stuff (cars, boats, motorcycles, quads, whatever) should have a combined value of no more than 50% of your gross yearly income. If you and your spouse are making 100k/year household, its not unreasonable for you to both have a 25k car. If you are both driving 50k Mercedes, though, you have too much money (compared to your income) wrapped up in things going down in value. The big issue is that you avoid the lifetime spiral of car payments everyone else seems to be in love with.

You're going to get incredibly varied answers to this question. For those that are financially comfortable and enjoy car stuff^tm, I'd say spend no more than double of whatever you have saved in your "no specific goal" account. That means if you want that $40k WRX STi, you should have $20k of 'extra' money sitting around. Not that it should be spent on the car, but it's a decent measure of what you may or may not be able to comfortably afford. Of course, if you obviously need to make sure whatever you've financed actually fits into your budget, there will be corner cases where the 'extra money' account isn't a good measure of income and stability. If you're just starting out, or trying to get things in order, I'd agree with everyone else who says spend as little as possible. Buy the 10+ year old Corolla, and view it as an appliance that gets you to work. In these cases, you generally want to reduce your debt burdens, aiming to minimize your car expenditure is the smart thing to do.

personalfinance

aceshighsays

t3_183n8g

threeLetterMeyhem

t1_c8bds7r

c8bds7r

wilkenm

t1_c8bbzt4

c8bbzt4

[ADVICE] Grandpa needs to be put in nursing home, but has a couple hundred thousand in a tegular checking account. Grandma needs help making sure she doesnt lose it all.

So a little back story, my grandpa's mental health is declining rapidly. He needs to be put in a home, but has all of their money just sitting in a checking account. Idk the exact number but my best guess is 300K. They don't have any investments, no assets other than a really small house, and a 2017 Toyota Camry. Plus a checking account with their life savings. My grandma isn't going to be in a home for quite a while and is wondering what she can do to protect herself from the nursing home taking all their money. Can she withdraw a large amount without being penalized by the nursing home when they go through their finances? My mom is on her way to see a financial advisor, my grandparents are super old school and reserved about stuff like this, so she hasn't been taking anyone's advice or even planning anything because she doesn't know the first step to take. What's the best way for my grandma to maximize money for herself without raising any red flags? We are in Ohio if that matters. Any advice helps. EDIT: My mom just informed me the lump sum is in savings, and there's a small chunk in checking. Bank is PNC.

There are strict rules about this, she really needs to talk to a lawyer (an actual lawyer) who specializes in "elder law". Medicaid has a 5-year lookback period for all financial transactions. If you move money around or try to hide it, they will find out. Good luck.

Nothing, they're fucked. The nursing home can't take the house but, they'll take the cash, drain Grammy down to zero except her social security check and then Grandpa goes on Medicaid for the nursing home expenses. At 130K a year that money is gone in 2.31 years.

personalfinance

clvIV

t3_6vuh8j

Quaffoto

dm32r8o

TheSingulatarian

dm3io87

Lawyer with solid education and $300,000 debt due to a scholarship.

Ok, this is my throwaway account since it might contain identifying info. Originally I am a 2 year redditor. I am a 30 years old guy from a European country (obviously non-English speaking as you could guess from my linguistic errors). I completed my first law degree in 2007, and became a bar admitted lawyer in my country (I am not admitted to any US bars). Afterwards, I won a terrific scholarship, which allowed me to receive language education, master's and doctorate within any country in the world. I came to the US, and had my language education. After that I had my Master's degree in Law in an IVY League well-known university. Upon graduation, I started my SJD (PhD in Law) in another good university (I believe in top 100 in world, not sure). My dissertation is about alternative settlement methods of disputes in international intellectual property. It has some groundbreaking findings (changing the patent settlement in some countries, as well as offering a so-far 100% successful dispute settlement method that is not used in IP cases. I also have a published article, which received citations from international law books, as well as US courts. I will receive my degree on December 2016, and my expected GPA is 3.94. I lectured in a US law school a few years ago for one semester, and had a visiting scholar position in one of the best Canadian law schools for 2 years. I was supposed to go back to my country, and work twice the amount of time, which is 7x2=14 years. However conditions in my country changed dramatically, and I do not want to go back. Should I want to stay in the US, I need to pay back all the expenses my sponsor did on my behalf withing five years (20% must be done in the first year). The amount is a whooping $300,000, and I have no money. my weakest point is that I have almost no network. I wonder if I have any chance to find a job within 2 months and start working in the US, and have enough money to pay $60,000/year for 5 years. I think I have no chance, but asking your opinion should not hurt. Thanks for taking the time to read!

First off, do you even have the required visa or immigration status to work in the USA? Such as OPT? Or will you require employer sponsorship for a visa? This will be a huge hurdle. Next, you've been in school in the USA for a while and you have no network? Doesn't your school provide you with career services?

Syria? Anyway, do you have at least a linkedn with some connections? Reach out to those connections and just ask if they know of any available positions. I'm sure with your qualifications landing a job won't be too hard. It's just not having us citizenship might make employers realize that they can pay you less, so be careful. Good luck

personalfinance

drlawyerindebt

t3_5cgcg2

jaksblaks

d9w87nd

CalamariDude

d9wzlgb

I'm 27 and I have $225,000 invested currently in my IRA. I have 11 separate stocks. I make $23-$30,000 a year from these investments. I'm looking to make a change to real estate/apartment leasing. Need some advice

After 4 years of college I realized that there is a large profit margin for leasing apartments to college students. What are the variables that I need to consider? I know nothing about property leasing protocols and hope to put my cash liquid into an area where I don't need to calculate as much risk. Any advice would be appreciated.

Residential units are considered residential and require a 20% down payment if you are not living in one of the units (6-plexes+ are considered commercial and can require as little as 15% down, but often times for first deals lenders will request 20%). Considering you have $225,000 in theory you could buy $1.125M in real estate, however, you need to account for closing costs (land transfer taxes, lawyer, environmental fees [if commercial], etc.) so you can anticipate safely acquiring $750,000 - $900,000 in real estate as a result. Real estate, unlike stocks, is not a passive income. You need to find tenants, collect rents, deal with repairs and complaints, etc. and if you have little/no experience you really should start slowly by buying one unit/duplex/triplex and getting used to all of the nuances and comfortable first. When considering properties make sure to seek out properties in areas that are near schools, clean and not run down, but not fancy or high-end (students don't have large budgets) and try to cashflow on the property after covering the costs of a property manager who can take care of everything since you have little no experience in these areas (their fees are 5-10% but in my experience the experienced reputable ones that are hands-on always charge closer to the higher end of 10%; you don't want to skimp on quality). Can you make more than stocks? Oh hell yes. Leveraging other people's money (you get 100% of the appreciation of the real estate even though you are only putting down 15-20%; leveraging the lender's money); you also have the mortgage paid down by your tenants (leveraging your tenants money) and you (hopefully) have a healthy cashflow in the middle. I have triplexes that earn me $5,000 per year in cashflow but it's peanuts compared to the $25,000 in appreciation & mortgage pay down each year. These triplexes required me to put ~$70,000 down so as you can see my returns are safely at 40% and this is in a market where appreciations are averaging 2-3% instead of the historical averages of 4-5%. Now let's discuss cashflow assessments. Find a solid template, and make sure to double/triple check your numbers. You need to consider mortgage, insurance, heat & hydro (if paid by landlord), water bill, snow removal & lawn care (if not taken care of by tenants), vacancy allowance (6% of income), repair allowance (4% of income), vacancy advertising, accounting & bookkeeping (if not done by yourself), property mangement fees (10% of income), and take the time to consider both present case (e.g. mortgages at 2.7 - 3.7% rates) and potential future case scenarios so you know what could happen in the future when the interest rates inevitably rise (e.g. mortgages at 4.5 - 6.5% rates). Hope this helps, there's lots more to consider but I wanted to provide you a foundation for your considerations. If you have any questions don't be shy and feel free to PM me.

I'd avoid putting all my eggs in one basket that way, especially given how closely you have to watch the basket when it's real estate. I'm not sure your capital base is big enough to do this profitably and at a reasonable level of overall diversification. If you want to use leverage to operate and speculate on real estate in an efficient way, buy shares in a REIT -- they'll do all the work for you at a much lower cost. Once you figure out all the operating, transaction, and tax costs of real estate, it becomes a lot less attractive particularly given how much work it is. Real estate in an IRA is a bit dodgy too. Also, leasing protocols and hope to put my cash liquid into an area where I don't need to calculate as much risk Was this written by a bot?

investing

domaris321

t3_2sw33b

bumpgrind

t1_cntfp01

cntfp01

ScotchAndLeather

t1_cntybme

cntybme

Kicked out of the house at 20. Friend had a place for me to stay but now needs it back. I don’t know where I’m going to stay.

The reason I’m posting this here is ultimately because of two things. One, because I have no credit as of right now (however I did apply 2 weeks ago) and two, I don’t know where I’m going to stay until then and really I have little savings. So, my dad blamed me for my parents potential divorce and basically made my every day a living hell. So I moved out. At the time I had a friend in college who moved in with her boyfriend and told me that she had an empty apartment that the lease was ending on Nov 28th for. And that if I paid her just $350+utilities for the time, I could just have the apartment. So I’ve been in there for about 9 days and have paid $200 to her already. Well now she needs the apartment back because they broke up... Originally she had offered for me to just sleep on her couch until I had a place but her friend made it very clear to me that it was apparently illegal to do so and that I needed all of my shit out by Thursday. She has agreed to just pay me $150 back plus pay for the utilities. But now, I have nowhere to go and no credit to get a place. PLUS I have my bed, my desk, 2 chairs, a dresser, and all of the food that I have in the fridge that I just bought.. what is the best next move for me here? I currently have 2 jobs that rake in roughly $1500 a month and apartments near me go for roughly $600 a month. Thanks and I apologize if this isn’t the subreddit for this.

Try to find a month to month ministorage for your stuff and find a hotel that has a cheaper rate if rented by the week. I'm talking like a Motel 6. No luxury by any means, but it'll give you a few days to Craigslist or Facebook or to find a place locally that shares housing information. That way your stuff is safe and you're not on the streets. Also, as said above, it's bullshit that you can't live somewhere if your name isn't on the lease. It's not illegal. Your friend just might not want to live with anyone and is using that as a way to deter you from staying. Considering your position, it wouldn't be out of line to ask to stay there for a week while you find somewhere else to go. Offer her some money for staying, be a good, quiet and helpful guest and don't overstay if she agrees to let you crash there for a week or whatever. Don't make her be the one who has to tell you it's time to leave. Contact your local housing authority and there may be a place they can direct you where people seeking roommates are posting. Google "best place to find a roommate". They provide many options.

Did you sign a sub-let contract with your friend prior to moving in? That could potentially change things here in that it would mean you have the legal right to the space and your friend that went through the breakup does not.

personalfinance

weathers35

t3_9smprs

mcbijou

e8pvd0e

OnlyARedditUser

e8qeyqi

My financial advisor ignored my request to invest conservatively and instead invested in risky stock options. I lost ~$100k and have almost nothing left. What can I do?

In short, I do not know much about investing or finances, so I trusted my financial advisor's decisions regarding which stocks to invest in and so forth. The money I inherited after my dad's death was approximately $160k, I have taken out approximately $40k, and now have less than $10k left. I have written documentation that states he invested in risky stock options despite my request to invest conservatively. Is there anything I can do? Can I sue him?

As a financial advisor, I can tell you right now that you need to contact FINRA. They take this kind of thing very seriously. Do not lose hope. If you have documentation that you told him specifically to invest conservatively and he went against your direct orders, you will get your money back. His firm is liable. He will lose his license and not be able to "play" with others money anymore. I will say it again, you willl get your money back. And they WILL be responsible for your lawyer fees

Sounds like at least a couple of potential issues: suitability and unauthorized trading (if it's not a discretionary account). You'll want to check the account form from when you opened the account. This will tell you a couple of things: what sort of risk tolerance they have on file for you, and what sort of recourse you agreed to in case of dispute. Check out the FINRA site:

investing

pgrechwrites

t3_yn9oy

Other_Joss

t1_c5x6orl

c5x6orl

banwa

t1_c5x6k41

c5x6k41

Need to help my (age 24) dad (age 57) who has money sitting around in a bank account

I was hoping someone could tell me what I can do to help him. He has ~40,000 just sitting in his bank account. He was never really too financially savy but after hearing about my ROTH IRA he became interested in them. Would a ROTH or Traditional IRA be beneficial or should he look elsewhere? The bank has a really low interest rate on his savings so he wanted to put it into something that could at least gain value for around 10 years.

Does your dad work? He can only contribute to an IRA if he has (1) earned income (from employment), or is a (2) non-working spouse. IRAs are fine for investing. Your dad is over 50, so he can contribute $7,000 a year into an IRA. Does he have access to a 401k from his work? In that case, he can contribute a lot more into retirement through his employer (total of $25,500 at his age). If he's self-employed he can contribute through other retirement vehicles like a solo-401k (total of $63,500 max at his age). Either way, the point of putting money into an IRA or 401k would be to invest it on the market. 10 years is a decent amount of time to grow money. How aggressively he wants to do it is up to him. The more aggressive, the more he can lose but also gain more; the more safe the money, the less money he'll make on what he contributes.

Definitely get him into a Roth IRA, maximum yearly contributions are at $6,000. Max that out and get him in some investments! That money won't be taxed when he needs it in retirement, and a properly managed Roth IRA should double in value every seven years! Best of luck to you and your dad!

personalfinance

MoneyIsFor121

t3_f1cgqi

MoneyQuestions2674

fh3ywrl

dalyfitness247

fh5v7cf

Why aren't people more pessimistic about TSLA?

TSLA has roughly $24bil in debt, $4.2bil in equity, and lost $1.9 bil last year. If this were a private company, you'd probably be contemplating bankruptcy. The reason tesla is alive at all is because investors keep pouring in money for the company to incinerate - its quite hard to go broke when you have unlimited access to dumb money. Unless TSLA is turning a profit, buying tesla at the current price seems like financial suicide.

It's a cult like following. Emotional investing at its finest with complete disregard for fundamentals and math. They make incredible electric cars. That's hard to argue. But I wouldn't invest a nickel into TSLA. Electric cars are competitive now and will get more competitive as the years go by.

What new investors are you referring to? When we buy Tesla stock they don't get the money. They got the money from the IPO, and that's it. That money IS their equity stake along with that used by owners to buy stock pre-public or any VC funding. They don't see a dime from investors buying shares from one another (regardless of how overvalued they may be). The cash they burn through is all debt financing and revenue. The bankruptcy option doesn't come into play unless they aren't adequately capitalized to reach profitability. (Or something like it). An investment in a growth company is inherently speculative, and always has been. The idea is that they will gain a large enough percentage of market share, benefit from economies of scale, introduce design and manufacturing improvements, all of which will pave the road to future profitability. They're not spending investor's money, investors are.

investing

WHO_DlS

t3_8ffhq8

avoidingdumbmistakes

dy33m2t

JorahMoremount

dy3540y

What happens if I don't buy health insurance?

Basically, I'm wondering if the penalty for no health insurance vs. the most basic health insurance - which one is worth it, and if also there is any way to avoid getting it. [This is for United States] I have good health and live in a safe area. In past few years, I've never gone to doctor except to get a shot.

Well, first of all, if you get sick or need an operation and go to a hospital, you will owe a shit load of money. You will go bankrupt, most likely.

This is the biggest, most confusing thing for an Australian. If I don't have private health insurance, nothing happens. If I get into an accident, I get treated and I walk out with no bill. Private insurance only counts if I decide to get some voluntary treatment done, and even then it only covers the hospital stay. Or I want to have my own room in the hospital.

personalfinance

mementomoriok

t3_32vrb7

lakers189

t1_cqf34ux

cqf34ux

thepissednewt

t1_cqfewik

cqfewik

I got rear ended while stopped at an intersection, guy wants to skip insurance but I dont. Problem is he has shitty insurance

First off, sorry if this is the wrong sub for this. Basically like the title says I got hit while stopped at an intersection. The guy (lets call him bob) is a delivery driver and is afraid he'll lose his job so he doesn't want to go through insurgence. I know what a pain in the ass it is to handle this type of stuff without insurance so I don't I dont want to skip it. I brought the car in for an estimate and the guy doing the estimate said that bob's insurance company is a tiny company and is a huge pain in the ass to deal with because they push back on everything really had and refuse to pay for stuff sometimes like rentals. He offered a piece of advice if I want everything to probably go smoother, to skip bobs insurance and just file under my own, pay my deductible and give them the info for them to deal with. He said this shouldn't affect my insurance because I was not at fault. My question for you all is, is this fair advice? is this course of action something I should consider?

There are three ways to handle any accident where you're not at fault. 1) Exchange contact info and get the other person to pay directly. Very risky and always a bad idea. 2) Exchange insurance info and contact their insurance agency. However, their insurance agency will always want to minimize the amount they pay out on behalf of the other person and if they decide to be crappy about it, it's you against a corporation - typically a losing prospect. 3) File a claim with YOUR insurance company asking that they subrogate the claim. That means that it's handled as a normal claim against YOUR policy and they do what they can to make you whole according to your policy rules. Then they go after the other company to get reimbursed. If the other company gets crappy about it, it's corporate lawyers against corporate lawyers and you have nothing to do with it other than possibly testifying if it ever goes to court. This is almost always the best option. It should also NOT affect your rates.

Could you explain why you don't want to avoid going through insurance. I've done this before and it was as easy as showing the person my estimate and them paying me cash. If the guy refuses to pay, then go through his insurance. Maybe I'm missing something?

personalfinance

Immortal_Thought

t3_95eilo

virtualchoirboy

e3s2unj

NicCage360NoScope

e3sl27m

Selling Vehicle with Upside Down Payments

Happy Monday, personalfinance! My live-in girlfriend and I are thinking about getting rid of one of our cars, specifically mine. I work from home and rarely drive somewhere during the day. We live in San Antonio, and Uber and cabs are relatively easy to use. When we're not working we pretty much always do the same activities and hang out together. My car and insurance payments are about $800/mo right now. Her's is $300. The issue I have is that I bought my car new in 2014 and currently owe 22k and it is worth 18k according to kbb.com. So, as I understand it, I can't really sell it to a third party because I can't get the title without paying off the loan. (Please, correct me if I'm wrong, or alternative suggestions.) Can I sell it back to the dealership and work out some sort of deal with them to pay off the remaining 4k? Or could I do that with NMAC? Obviously, we're looking to save about $500-800 a month here. So any suggestions would be greatly and graciously appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I just did this - isn't super complicated, but you need to be able to take out a loan (I'm hoping you can though if you qualified for the car.) Go to a Credit Union (or Bank, but CU are usually better for this) Take out a traditional loan for the $4000 difference Get a buyer for the car (dealer, or ideally 3rd party for max value) Go WITH BUYER to a branch of the bank that holds your car note Buyer pays the bank, you cover the difference using above loan Bank issues lien release to you You sign title over and give lien release to buyer Buyer goes to DMV to reregister car in their own name

It sounds like you already got your answer, but I'm not seeing anyone chew you out :) If you don't have the cash on hand to make the difference, it sounds like you really over reached. To me a car is never an investment, it's always a cost to be mitigated. With that said, good on you for noticing room to improve your scenario.

personalfinance

nickburns2006

t3_4ijsmu

rustbeltventures

d2ysd8y

drock42

d2zclss

How autistic is this? ($MSFT)

I'm trying to determine if this fits in my Personal Risk Tolerance. I own a ton of MSFT shares. About a year ago, I decided to make some rent on them by selling covered calls. Through definite retardation on my part, I now rolled 6 calls @ 165 to Jan 2021. So, this is a loser move. I think it may be $165 in Feb. Shit only goes up. However, my new plan is to set up margin on that account and roll the calls into like $155 puts. The value of the shares should give me enough to cover this. Then, as time goes by, it just goes away and I get to keep the measly $1500 I made from all the rolls. Brilliant or retarded?

Think of it as two things. First, you made a mistake. Buy back the calls. Case closed. Now, is it a good decision to do the 155 puts? If so, do it. If not, you lost a few bucks. Make it up elsewhere.

Why not just let them get called away and buy in later on a dip? You lose some upside if it continues to moon, but you’d have already collected the premium plus whatever you made from when you bought in.

wallstreetbets

SageCactus

t3_edt517

johntaylor37

fbkl5ni

LessThanCleverName

fbrc9dv

Lowball salary offer?

Update 1: Hiring manager called 2 days after last chat. She said, “if I could come up to 80k would that be a deal breaker?” I said “no, I talked to my family about it/thought it over and I would love to work with the team.” She replied with, “great, I have a few more questions.” So I answered and she said she would contact me in 24h letting me know if I got the position as she kept telling me that there was another internal candidate during this whole process. I agreed to 80k because of your responses, so thank you! However, she said she was going to call today and let me know if I got the job or if it went to the other candidate.” No call. No email. Ghosted. I’m presuming it went to the other candidate first and she’ll only offer it to me if they decline. Thoughts? I’ve worked at the same company for 5 years. Non profit. I was lowballed upon hire as a fresh out of college grad with little experience and it was my first non contract job. I needed the money. Now, I make 20K more than when I started and have attained not only experience, but a graduate degree in my chosen field. My performance is excellent and I pretty much walk on water. So to speak. Dream job comes up for the same company. I’ve been through 4 interviews and I thought yesterday was the last. 5th interview, me and the colleague I’d be working with hit it off again and start bouncing ideas off each other. It’s a great meeting. Hiring manager comes back and flat out suggests that I requested on my application 70-80k. False. My application clearly stated 80-90k. *Background: I did research, both market and nonprofit/within organization and asked others in the same level of position their salary and she lowballed me, the average in the position is 85-90k for the department. The average market rate is 105-150k. My worth via pay scale is 97k in industry. I thought 85k was feasible and showed my value as the department just bragged about being able to offer employees 80% of market. We go back and fourth and she asks, “I don’t want to negotiate I just want to know, what is your bottom line?” In the importance of being candid, I tell her, “based on my experience, passion, and performance-85k.” There’s a long pause and she said, “I’ll have to go back and check what you wrote on your application but I’m sorry, we may be too far off.” I explain that’s okay, I loved meeting everyone and there’s always potential in the future.” What did I do wrong? Should I not have been honest? Tl;dr. Lowballed, was looking/hoping for 20k more than offered and gave my bottom line of 15k.

She is setting up that coming back at 85K was a massive push/ask for her so coming back at 80-85k should make you appreciative and stay with the company longer. Just a common negotiating tactic from slimy HR reps

Loyal for 5 years is my top end; maybe 6 for vesting purposes. Maybe it’s time to to start looking elsewhere. I’m sure industry will be able to offer better benefits and better salary which will increase your cash flow even more significantly.

personalfinance

zephyrzenizzle

t3_9krida

FlyinPenguin4

e717xug

neaux2135

e7267o1

How do I stop feeling bad about declining social invitations because there's no more room in my budget for them?

I'm a pharmacy student with a growing student loan balance and have established a fairly tight budget (eg. $1100 in expenses/month) to reduce what I have to borrow. I set aside money each month for fun: dining, drinks, concerts, etc. but when I hit that limit I quit. Several times I've had to turn down friends' invitations to do things because I don't want to overspend. It's not that I don't have the money to do it...it's that I don't want to spend it. Sometimes it's challenging and a little awkward explaining this without coming off as a miser. For those of you on a stricter budget what do you do/say in these situations?

“Thanks so much for the invitation! Unfortunately that concert/club/restaurant/exhibit isn’t in my budget this month so I have to decline. I’d love to hang out though. Do you have any interest in going to a museum/taking a hike/packing a picnic/insert frugal activity here with me next week?” I think a lot of times people pick expensive things to do because the frugal alternatives just don’t occur to them and/or require more planning ahead, or they worry that other people won’t want to do the frugal things. The important thing is to make sure you’re communicating to your friend that you are interested in spending time with them so they don’t think you’re just using your budget as an excuse to avoid them.

Congrats to you for being responsible with your money. While I can't offer any advice to change how you feel about something, I can suggest simplifying your perspective. If you have $500 set aside to pay rent next week, then it would be irresponsible to spend that money on entertainment today in order to screw yourself next week. Maybe you need to be more explicit with your budget. I applaud you for saving to avoid future debt. So just remember that this money is spoken for and while you have but paid the tuition bill yet, this money is as good as spent. So be proud that you are responsible and are helping future you avoid the money off paying off student loans and at the cost of a night on the town every so often.

personalfinance

MajorCreeep

t3_7zwp0f

abzabazoo

dur95np

kvotheorkelsier

dur9jbv

How much are your monthly bills in total?

Just turned 20 3 days ago. Still live with my mom. I've been calculating my (future) bills alot lately. Looks like its gonna be at least 16-1700 WITH a few roomates. 2300 without (including food, free spending and whatnot) Id have to gross15-23 an hour to afford that with no savings. I'm going to school to be a welder if that helps. I also have 4-5k saved. I don't see how moving out on near minimum wage in the Denver area is a good option. Any advice?

A fellow Coloradan? Denver is definitely expensive, but everywhere in CO is at the moment. I'm 22 and live with a sibling in an apartment for $1400 a month split between us. So I pay $700 rent + about $350 in secondary bills like Xcel, internet, phone, etc. I make $15 an hour, so it's doable. You just might have to commute to Denver (as I'm assuming you go to school there). BUT if given the option to change my past decision, I would have stayed with my parents and saved as much money as I could. So advice, find apartments in Westminster.

I live just outside of Denver in Centennial. Am 28 years old, live with fiancee. Mortgage+tax+HOA: $~1100 ($404K house with $254k down payment. Cable: ~$140 Electric+Heat: ~$130 Water: ~$70 Monthly bills come in to just around $1450 ish. We allow around $250 a month for groceries but this is flexible. Advice: do NOT get an apartment in Denver. It's not worth it. Our housing / rent market is exploding far faster than our income. Stay with mom as long as you can until you can afford a mortgage. I'd recommend living outside of Denver, as the only "affordable" areas of Denver are VERY rough.

personalfinance

Adigrat96

t3_5kvwgm

FabledDead

dbr0s7a

vanilla_disco

dbraq1m

Getting into an apparently risky employment agreement. Seek advice.

I am an expat in the US, getting a job at a startup. On the employment offer letter, my employer has added a clause (and I paraphrase) that I will be receiving some training and if I choose to leave the company within 2 years for any reason, I will owe the company 20K USD for the training. I had insisted on making it pro-rated, but he stated that he will have to bear the cost of green-card etc. (which is not mentioned on the offer letter) and he cannot alter the terms in interest of protecting the company. It is otherwise a great offer and the work is interesting. But I am thinking that it might put me in a disadvantage if things go south. Though he kept assuring me that he will personally handle it should such a situation arise and the offer letter terms will not really be a binding, it feels like I am getting into a bonded labor situation. Do you think I should go ahead based on his verbal assurances? Can I demand to pay the actual training cost incurred (which should be less than 20K) if I decide to sever ties with them? Thanks a lot.

Though he kept assuring me that he will personally handle it should such a situation arise and the offer letter terms will not really be a binding, Do not fall for that one, even if they mean it, as he may not be there and then what do you do. What matters is what is in writing. Also what training will you be receiving or is this just an attempt to tie you to the job for 2 years without paying extra for the right. Is this training or a , you have the pleasure of being exposed to my awesomeness everyday, training Are you an H-1 or were you already in the states. I did not know there was extra cost for an employer for Green Card employees. Also do they require this "training cost" of all employees or just their Green Card workers. It may be, since they are a start-up, that investors may want personnel tied to the company if they invest. Do not want guy working on a key peace to bail at a critical junction. The fact they do not want to pro-rate it raises a red flag to me.

Sounds like indentured servitude. Also, eff his assurance, it's a contract. I would never sign that contract unless you're really hard up for a job or that training. At least try to contact other employees and see if they had to sign a similar thing and what it's like to work there.

personalfinance

Stripcartoon

t3_30d5jl

Stedw

t1_cprajzq

cprajzq

RollX

t1_cprio93

cprio93

How come everyone's expense list is so simple?

I am new to PF and am working on creating a monthly budget, tracking where every penny goes and predicting expenses for the month. When I look at people's posts, they list the basics like rent, car payments, insurance, etc. And then they or someone in the comments always points out that they should have X left over to put toward debt or savings. My budget always looks good when I lay out the basics, and it seems like there should be plenty left over. But when you start thinking about having to buy a birthday gift or buy a bridesmaid dress or go to the dentist or stock up on contact lenses, suddenly that surplus is gone. I guess I'm just wondering if other people have this problem. I understand the surplus shouldn't be blown on restaurants or entertainment, but a lot of other random expenses can't be avoided.

Most people budget for expected, predictable expenses, not unexpected or unpredictable expenses. Some expenses which are predictable (contact lenses, doctor visits, etc.) should have their own category where you budget a prorated monthly amount even if you aren't buying it that month. Most people also have a "Fun Fund" which is a budget line that functions like a savings account so you can buy whatever the hell you want without worrying about that which you worry about (i.e., random weddings / vacations / trips).

I agree, my budget is complicated as well - and therefore I don't make one. That's not normal here obviously but to me it isn't helpful. I spend what I need and put away what's left over. I don't feel like I'm sacrificing my lifestyle, but of course, I'm still saving a lot in order to retire early. I'd be more conscious of a budget if all my bases (I.e. savings) weren't being taken care of.

personalfinance

que-pasa-calabaza

t3_2li8k1

lukertin

t1_clv0bni

clv0bni

tommyboy319

t1_clvo5yu

clvo5yu

Move out of parents place and live on my own, or stay at home and save?

This question is asked a lot but I like hearing people's opinions. I am 23 years old female, and I make 65k/year. I have a nice living situation with my parent's in which I do not have to pay rent, and the only expenses I pay for is my car insurance and my phone bill. This has allowed me to pay off my student loans completely, and save up some money. The relationship status I have with my parent's are good... I actually rarely see them as I work full-time, but it does put a damper on my social life and dating life as I only have my childhood bedroom to work with... and at times when talking to them I still feel forever 16 living with their house rules and general life expectations/opinions. Despite that, I feel that I am in a good position right now to save/ start learning more on how to invest, like I have been doing...but another part of me is wanting independence and to explore as well while I am young and at my prime. From my parent's POV they are encouraging me to stay as long as possible so that I can save up for a future house,car or emergency fund. I have 2 older sisters that throughout their adult life lived independently, and came back home to live due to finances or life event. I am hoping that I can be different and once I leave the nest, I will never have to come back! :) What are your thoughts?

People in this sub need to realize there's more to life than living the exact mantra of what's in the wikis. You make $65k a year. You paid off your student loans. You have a bunch of savings. You have basically no bills. Go move out! Be 23! Have fun! Just keep saving money towards goals, saving towards retirement, and living frugally. Need to justify it financially? Spend more time at networking events. Hang out with people in your industry. If you work in a city, move near work, sell your car (pocket cash and save insurance) and walk to work. Need more justification? Learning how to truly live on your own, budget bills, and balance needs are skills you don't learn living at home.

i would say you are in a very good situation, if i were you i would maybe take maximum another year to stay at your parents, in the meantime take your time to look around for a place to move in. you have time and time is your friend here as it allows you to search for what you really want and at the same time each month you are searching on your own pace adds more money to your funds that will help you in the future.

personalfinance

MercuryStarshine

t3_7t3ig1

tomatuvm

dt9lfya

Pixelplanet5

dt9uimm

My dear option sellers

So this is a question to any one who consistently makes solid profits from selling options. How do you deal with a big outlier movement of the underlying? What is your exit strategy, as in if you had a losing position how do you get out of it. Thanks for all the responses, I forgot to add one question that is rly important. Do you let your profit cumulate? As in do you use capital that include your last trades profit? Or do you use a set amount of capital every time?

I've been trading for longer than I care to admit. These days, I tend to sell naked options at the 10% probability line. I use the strike price of the option as a mental stop. When that price level is breached, the plan is to take the loss. If the move happens quickly, the loss can be astronomical in terms of percentages vs. premium collected. The big losers are the offset for having 90% probability. Unless one believes those option buyers are stupid idiots, the main reason for buying those options is for a 10x winner. So hence, the 1000% losers (vs. premium collected). Most of the losers are smaller than that, a few a bigger. The more difficult times come when there is a gap move and liquidity vanishes. In those cases, having enough dry powder to trade the underlying is a backup. It is important to note that with the downward trend in volatility over the past nine years, selling premium has been a huge winner. If the reverse happens, vol starts low, ticks up, someone goes all in, vol continues to move higher, that account can get in a lot of trouble. Hard to say this will happen, or how long the moon stays in phase, but there will be future days, weeks, months, when buying premium is better. Rule 1 Live to trade another day If I have a streak of losers, I keep cutting positions (vs. rolling or doubling down or praying for a comeback). This means I have less and less exposure as the market goes against me, as losses pile up. It is important to focus on process. Some recent episodes of BAT vs. BAT on Tastytrade (Thu 6/8, Fri 6/9) go in depth on staying mechanical, vs. trying to guess when the market will turn.

Since I mostly sell covered calls based on dividend events of "Dividend Champions", I just wait it out and collect the dividends on my initial investment. For example, [this]( 10-day CC on COP is what I hope for. But [this]( CC on COP ended up taking 4 months.

options

Sudeng1128

t3_6gyj35

RTiger

diudg16

rharmelink

dium56v

I have been made redundant at 41 and have $100,000 in savings. I want to retrain / change direction..

I am a 41 year old UK guy, been made redundant from teaching in the UK and am looking to retrain or start something up. I have $100,000 savings to help me on my way. I don't want to go back to uni for four years, what lucrative trades could I retrain in to set me up for the rest of my working life ?

If you are good with math and computers there are lots of options. Ccna/networking certs, programming bootcamps, itil certs, project management certs all of these can help you get into a new career without taking 4yrs. Bear in mind however, that no course work will ever guarantee you a career.

Ideally make sure it is something you enjoy, also make sure it is an industry that is receptive to older people. Ultimately what you do is going to be dictated by what you want to do and will it provide the level of income you need.

personalfinance

scubajunky17

t3_4l6pvy

dmonaco05

d3krc83

maroonmonday

d3krgu5

Anyone here interested in Homestead/Self sufficiency?

I've had the opportunity to see a relative acquire a good chunk of land in a beautiful location, build a fairly sized wood cabin and cultivate the land, collect water and use solar for energy, and I've never seen this relative so fulfilled, in fact he told me "I've never been this content with life", I've also had the great chance of experiencing some Homestead life for a few uninterrupted weeks and It changed my outlook on life in a pretty drastic way, akin to taking psychedelics for the first time, i.e experiencing a set of experiences you didn't know were even available, they were hidden, and now you know and while the afterglow will dissipate you will never be the same again. This is one of the reasons I'm interested in FI, anyone else in a similar spot?

The good news is that this lifestyle makes FIRE pretty easy, as it is a lot cheaper overall than a materialistic city life. The caveat is that you better be sure to try it before you pack it all in, as returning could be difficult. We live in an area known for forests and water, but we live in town still. Young family, just easier. We have plans to buy land and build a simple cabin, it may end up just being a retreat (which sounds funny, as we already live a slow life), or we may move there.

My dream is to have a small plot of land that is a good mix of forest and fields, preferably with a river or lake, on which I can grow vegetables, raise sheep and chickens, and forage/hunt/fish for subsistence.

financialindependence

busterfellar

t3_ea2uta

muskokadreaming

fanfj7i

Space_Cadet_Jeb

faniqr5

Father took me off insurance right before i had braces put on out of spite. 2200 in debt please help.

Without my knowing my father had taken me off his medical insurance plan because i found out that I was not his biological daughter, and he didn't have any reason to care anymore I suppose, right as I had braces put on, this was a few years ago. He did this right after he traded my car in that he co-signed for, and gave the new one to his biological daughter. I finally finished paying that off and now I have 2200 dollars in collection. I don't want to give them my bank information because they'll draw out however much they want, and I can't afford that right now living in a new state, on my own, at 20 years old. I have no idea what to do and any help would be greatly appreciated. I am currently paying 150 a month for rent at my amazing boyfriends mom's place. Phone bill is about fourty and car insurance is 131. I am a sever so it's hard to say exactly how much I make but usually I'll pull in about 1500 a month.

I know $1500 a month is pretty low income, but so are your expenses. You only listed $311 in expenses, so if you spend $500/month on food & entertainment, that still leaves $689 a month you can save up towards this debt. Save up $1300 as quickly as you can and tell them you will consider giving it to them if they agree in writing to remove the debt entirely from your credit report. If they agree to those terms, go buy a money order and pay them! Also, start putting $300/month into an emergency account, so if anything else happens you're ready to deal with it as it comes.

When was the car he traded in bought? Were you over 18 at the time? If not, it's legally his debt, not yours. Which, you know, is pretty awesome karma, I think. As for the rest, braces can be paid for on a monthly basis. It's how I paid for braces for four kids, one at a time. Medical insurance doesn't cover them, nor do all dental insurance plans. I only had coverage for 1/2 the cost of one of my kids' braces. It happens. Where is your mom in all of this? You are not obligated to give collection people any information at all, unless they obtain a judgment against you. But, again, if the loan was taken out before you were 18, it's your dad who's on the hook for it.

personalfinance

S4M4

t3_5nf930

mwenechanga

dcb65ru

McDuchess

dcbhbf2

What's your favorite finance/econ blog and why?

Just trying to get a good list of what people are reading and why they like it. Zerohedge is my personal favorite for its perma-bear counter view.

<<< pure entertainment right here. Dr. Fly is hilarious and is a permabull. The opposite whom is a perma bear is I don't read into every article Zerohede has, but they do post somethings that other news source are either afraid of or won't.

One of my favorite economics blogs is Carpe Diem, published on AEI by Mark Perry. He is a conservative/libertarian economist, but he posts great content and shares links to other notable blogs, such as Mankiw (which I also enjoy). Sometimes he can get a bit political, particularly when he addresses certain topics like the CEO-Worker Gap and the Gender Wage Gap, but you can kind of easily read through it or ignore the politics. Also love reading qz.com, though Quartz isn't necessarily a blog. Likewise, Matt Levine at Bloomberg is pretty impressive. Don't have access anymore, but for a while I read the Gartman Letter. This was my favorite. Even got to meet Mr. Gartman. Funny guy. I avoid ZH and Krugman like the plague.

investing

a1letterword

t3_3are8h

loldogex

t1_csfbpq8

csfbpq8

Ry-Fi

t1_csga1sw

csga1sw

Could we ever get to a point where it is no longer necessary for companies to ever go public?

I was listening to Bloomberg radio a few days ago and they had a guest who explained how growing start up type companies no longer need to go public because there is so much venture capital/private equity money sloshing around that entrepreneurs no longer need public assets to grow their business. Then, when they do decide to cash in, and go public, the public doesn't have much discretionary capital to spare, so the future could end up being all private funding for new businesses. He said that as more and more capital is concentrated in fewer hands (sovereign wealth funds, billionaire investors, pensions, endowments, etc....) there is plenty of money to go around via concentrated, private ownership. What worries me about this development is that it will create a barrier to entry for the general public to take advantage of a growing economy and reap rewards from capitalism. Stock ownership among the general public has been [declining lately]( which is also concerning.

That’s also why private debt funds are popping up everywhere. It’s an opportunity for an investor to reap the rewards of lending to non public companies. Just because they aren’t publicly listed on exchanges doesn’t mean you can’t invest. Sure, private equity has high minimum, but more and more firms are creating these alternative strategies for retail audiences.

Honestly, I believe this is a serious risk that hasn't been discussed. I almost feel this was the point Michael Burry was trying to warn us about index funds but I think he wasn't clearly communicating it well enough to the general population. I feel like perhaps he was trying to point out the easy money from index funds will funnel into the high valuations private investors/initial retail investors give private companies like lyft/uber at IPO/etc. Granted, index funds could put more fundamental controls such as not investing until all lockup agreements expire, and X quarters of earnings announcements to give the market a chance to price things accurately. One big problem is the $1m accredited investor networth/$200k salary requirements the SEC created in the 1930s to reign in fraudulent security raising practices (good old Mr Ponzi...), was never indexed to inflation. So $1m in the 1930s is around $19-$20m today. Were those requirements adjusted for inflation then we'd have a lot less accredited investors around and perhaps money wouldn't be flowing as easy into all these startups, so more companies would have to raise publicly and get scrutinized closer. It's hard to say though as there are plenty of pump & dump penny stocks on the public market you could throw your life's fortune at and no one would stop you, a lot of stocks that the market pumped up (pets.com), etc. There is a longer and longer trend of private companies to stay private as the accredited investor base grows every year. Ultimately it comes down to if the company thinks it can make more money remaining private or going public.

investing

warrenfgerald

t3_dx6ix7

miha222

f7no8xs

Adderalin

f7qm8iq

17 years old, debt free. What’s next?

17 years old, have 15k of my own money saved up and fully invested in the stock market. Going to college on a full athletic scholarship, so I’ll be debt free coming out. What are some hidden expenses i should be looking for during/ right after college?

Get a tattoo of this flowchart and reference it whenever you have a question (joke, but seriously, read it) Get a credit card (may need to wait until you're 18). Don't go into credit card debt. Pay your bill in full every month. Invest in index funds rather than individual stocks, and preferably invest in retirement accounts (IRA, 401k) rather than taxable accounts Consider every textbook that you buy for college a defeat, and fight to pay as little as possible for your books. Buy used instead of new, rent instead of buy. Check out the textbook from your university library. Search for pdfs on Google. Don't drop out. Don't lose your scholarship. Try to major in something that has good job prospects. Get a high yield savings account to store your emergency fund (Ally, Alliant, Discover, and credit unions offer these). Don't invest your emergency fund.

Yeah I mean you definitely face a period of uncertainty and some moving costs, of course. I can't think of anything specific aside from that as far as hidden costs. You do have to worry about not getting a full time job at the terms you'd like. I'd look at the sidebar, prime directive, as a good guideline going forward. I do think people in college should err more on the side of having too much emergency fund rather than too little, since there's a ton up in the air.

personalfinance

SaintLaurant1k

t3_958b59

Sorten

e3qsjlk

ClosertothesunNA

e3qsnlf

Seller offers to back out of a deal.

$108k condo sale appraised at $110K Seller offered me to take $2500, he's going through a "job change". I think it's crap, but what does it matter. I have invested about $1000. It is not clear if my bank will be happy with condo docs either, they are reviewing atm. So there's a chance I won't get it anyways. Let's say $2500 is not enough, what about $3500? It feels weird to negotiate that. What if I say no? Can seller become stubborn and make it complicated? Purchase and sales was signed weeks ago.

Basically, the seller is handling the scenario in the best way he can & is being pretty forthright about it. His situation changed, through no fault of his own, and he's going about asking you if you'll cancel out mutually & is even offering to compensate you for your time. That's a stand up guy, in my book (if all his previous dealings have been in good faith thus far). The alternative (which, btw, is how most sellers proceed) is to simply stonewall you, cut off communication, refuse to sign closing papers & yell "sue me" while peeling out of the parking lot with both middle fingers raised through the sun roof. Anyone with any experience in specific performance suits knows good & well that it's an uphill battle & your chances of triumph are very small -plus it will eat up your funds in attorneys fees & the like. Usually it's not worth it to sue. I'm not saying it's cool or that you deserve what's happening & should just roll with it. It sucks. You obviously want the condo. I'm just saying that the guy is handling it in a mature & forthright manner & that is respectable. Consider what it's worth for your time & efforts (and other options on the market) to comply with his request & possibly walk away a little richer for your time spent. Just a suggestion.

In theory you can basically hold him to the contract and either get the house, or get litigation going, but you've got to consider negotiations to be done and you better not miss any deadlines.

RealEstate

brons_luscious_hair

t3_4flgyk

ShinyLightning

d29z1ba

aardy

d29w4y5

Can a company that has paid you a bonus for last years performance require you to pay back the bonus if you quite a week after receiving it?

My wife is getting ready to quit her job. She receives a monthly, quarterly, and yearly bonuses based on performance from her current job. She just received her yearly bonus for the work she did last year. She has heard about her employer electronically pulling bonuses out of people's accounts if they quit shortly after receiving the bonus. She did quickly transfer the money in my account, which she is not on. We have separate checking accounts and a combined account all same bank. (Bill money goes in to combined account, spending money stays in separate account) She is afraid they will go after her for the bonus money. $6k. Edit> Thank you everyone for your input. I'm in agreement that they cant withdraw the money back. Just wanted other input first. Also there is no contacting HR. The company terminates employment very quickly. Double edit> Wow this has blown up. I'm trying to reply as much as I can. I'm going to have put this on pause for 4 hours while I head towards Cheyenne. Thank you all very much.

Employers are allowed to reverse incorrect ACH direct deposits within 5 banking days. An unscrupulous employer could do what you suggest though absent any policy that you must remain employed with them after receiving a bonus for x number of days doing so would likely be invalid. Some states, such as California, don't allow employers to reverse an incorrect direct deposit. &x200B &x200B

I've had more than one employer do this same thing - it keeps people from waiting for the bonus before quitting. It's usually 30 days after receipt of the bonus. That being said, it was always in the employee handbook/HR policies, but maybe it's not obvious.

personalfinance

fulminedio

t3_apu1zw

dwinps

egb61dg

legogirl

egbc6wg

How do you evaluate a stock?

I consider myself an amateur. I've read, I've invested, I've made some money, and I've lost some money. I'm working hard to develop positive habits that will help me in this game. I LOVE to research, to learn everything about an investment I possibly can before pulling the trigger. It's fun. It reduces stress to go in prepared. I look at the fundamentals and the technicals. Recently I've been using a combination of [finviz.com]( for screening and news, [tradingview.com]( for charting the technicals, and cruising through reddit for commentary from peers. First I decide what sector to research. I like value stocks right now. I think we're in [mid to late cycle]( The Fed is going to squeeze us and earnings are slowing accross the board. I'm looking for reliable companies with defensive attributes. I like utilities, industrials, healthcare, telecom, secular growth consumer goods. I like the boring stuff that's going to pay its 2% dividend without fail. I like a clean balance sheet and a company with a reliable history of earnings beats. I love a company that meets all of this critera, but still sports a Price/Earnings ratio 20% beneath the sector average. Add quarter/quarter earnings growth and a positive outlook, and we've met my critera. Bonus points for institutional ownership and insider buying. Once I'm satisfied with the fundamentals, I chart the technicals. Where is this Stock trading relative to its 50, 100, 200 day SMAs? To its 52wk high/low? I like a beat down stock looking to break a key resistance. I won't pull the trigger, though, until I get a technical signal to confirm my fundamental analysis. Maybe that insider buying triggers some market interest and leads to a run, I see a volume spike and the price shoots through the 200 day SMA and breaks a key resistance, formation, or trend-line. Then I'm in. I'm looking at $SNX right now, by the way. How do you evaluate a stock?

Doing a full analysis takes too much time. I just screen on finviz, and check their BS and IS. If eveyhting is pointing upwards aling with good news then we're good and its a buy.

Industrials aren't often Reliable comapneis. They are cyclical as they have economic cycle exposure. Just be careful with that sector. There are often long sector or industry cycles that ppl mistake for secular growth. You gotta look at a companies market share, its competitors, its employees, it ceo, and most of all it's long term growth patiential. Consistent earnings bests, I dont always love. Could mean mgmt is cooking books just for wall street. Amazon never gave a shit about wall street. GE used to always beat.. Charting is ok. But it's always going to just tell you what already happened. If you want to know where it will go you have to use your imagination ;) ( or some advanced statistical techniques )

investing

SatoshiPairs

t3_9r20cp

Naima_

e8dhc7l

abeecrombie

e8eibot

(PA) Landlord unresponsive-but there's HOA!

Hi all, I currently rent a condo with my boyfriend in a beautiful community. The landlord is completely useless. We've had trouble with him since we signed the lease, but have overlooked many things because it really is a spectacular place and priced perfectly for a young, working couple. This community has an HOA. The landlord told us this and said at some point he'd send over their info so we would know who they were and the whole deal, ya know? That never happened - 6 months in now. We've asked repeatedly to no avail. We are unable to utilize the pool since that is covered in the HOA fees (which the landlord promised we could use in the summer). We cannot get a parking permit since that is also done by the HOA (so yes, we're basically parking illegally everyday, waiting for a ticket or to be towed). Amongst many other questions we have regarding this HOA... We cannot find any info online about them. The neighbors have been very rude to us, as were thinking we are the only young couple renting, whereas most people there are much, much older and own their condo. They have left nasty notes on our cars about the way we park (backed in a spot opposed to parking head in a spot) and that we have no permit, and these things are "against the HOA rules.". We don't know the rules!!! We are a quiet couple and keep to ourselves, ideal tenants, honestly. We don't know what else to do. Can't find them online. Have no phone number. Landlord can't be reached. Neighbors unwilling to communicate. What can we do? Is this more of a legal issue? We still have 6 months left on this lease and want to make the best of it.

Bylaws are posted in the county records for anyone to read. You could go by your county courthouse and see if one of the filing clerks could help you pull everything related to that condo. Beware, you might find out subtenants aren't allowed.

Is there a clubhouse type thing near the pool? Look for a bulletin board, perhaps the HOA officers would be listed there or the date/time of the next meeting. If it's a decent sized community there is probably also a property management company.

RealEstate

neverbewhitout

t3_4o2zld

LeonAquilla

d494int

gergsmash

d497lhr

Could this virus outbreak be the bane of commercial real estate?

At first, it was online shopping when people realize they don't need to leave their homes to get what they wanted. Now, companies and employees are realizing they don't need the thousands and millions of square footage to conduct business. Could this be the bane of commercial real estate? *Don't get me wrong, commercial real estate will always exist...at least in our lifetimes. But, more and more people are realizing that it's not as necessary as once thought. Therefore, the demand will not be as great.

My wife who loves grocery shopping already commented "why would I ever step foot in the store again?". I myself am sitting here going "why do I need to ever sit in an office again?" This is 100% right. Life as we know it may never be the same.

There was already an excess in the US (5X more square feet per person compared to Europe). I think this will drastically change the landscape. In the best case maybe some can be converted to housing or something.

RealEstate

HenryK81

t3_frr0y8

hound29

flx6qmt

H4U5

flxdraa

(CAN) Am I liable for debts incurred when I was a minor? How can I have them removed?

Throwaway account because I don't want it attached to my main. Backstory: I turned 19 (the age of majority where I live) earlier this month and I filed an Equifax report because I'm interested in applying for a credit card (ideally to build a good credit score). Currently, I have a near full time job and I'm going to full time uni relatively debt free. Currently, I have $150 in Provincial student loans and the rest of my tuition costs so far have been covered by scholarship and grants. However, credit score is 494 and there is a collection record on my account for Shaw Cable through the collection agency NCO Financial. The amount due is $924 dated for 2014. In 2014, I was 16 years old and my understanding of the law is that minors cannot enter into contracts. I never signed up for a Shaw Cable account, but I believe I know what happened: In 2013/14, my aunt was paying for internet for me because my mom couldn't afford it and I fear that she might have put the account into my name but my mom was expected to pay for it-- which she clearly didn't. Am I liable for this amount even though I was underage when it was put in my name? How can I go about clearing this? A lot of the information in the PF wiki is American-based I also want to make one thing clear, I cannot expect my mother to clear this debt for me because she doesn't work and lives off social assistance. She is not good with finances (as might already be clear) and I have barely any personal savings because of it (I often end up buying food/paying bills). I also cannot afford to pay this $924 currently. Equifax says that debt goes away after 6 years. Is that correct? Is there a penalty if I ignore this debt? I would rather like to dispute it because it's been incurred wrongfully, but I am just curious. With this credit score would I be able to apply for a credit card? One targeted at students? Money really stresses me out and causes me a lot of anxiety, so I'm having a really hard time with this.

I would dispute the record with Equifax. They'll determine whether it's valid or not. This kind of thing is sadly common, it won't be the first time they've heard this story.

Shaw Cable will get their money one way or the other. Your disputed is with them, but they will go after your then guardian (mom or grandmother) and you probably don't want that. I would set up monthly payments and be done with it.

personalfinance

starix9

t3_5nhe4d

mrbeck1

dcbkigj

chashart2000

dcblz8q

New to investing

I'm a 14 year old and gonna be studying BTEC Business next year, just wondering if anyone could give me some basic tips about business and investing? Cheers, George.

I strongly suggest you to start by making an idea of what the whole thing is, a good starting point are investopedia's basic tutorials, that you can find here: Suggested to start: Personal Finance, Investing, Stocks, Bond, Mutual Funds, ETFs. Clearly these great introductory topics are only a starting point, more has to be consolidated by books, again a nice selection from investopedia: Start using demo trading platforms and simulators too. Good luck with your journey to investing and business.

Everyone has to start someday. Spend a lot of time doing some paper trading, grow your confidence. This can last for several months. There is no rush unless you are willing to lose money and give it away to the real money makers. Not everyone has what it takes to besome a succeful trader.

investing

georgemaddison

t3_6pmq9c

massive_dynamics

dkqjmym

Project_NapoleonX

dkqp49e

Post on r/fitbit about a watch that exploded/popped on redditors arm, leaving burns. Short $FIT possibility?

link to post on r/fitbit I can see this story gaining traction, between any recall possibility and just bad press, surely the stock could see some downside

Could be an isolated incident, haven’t heard of FitBits catching fire at all really OP will get restitution for burns and property damage but I can’t imagine the entire company will take a hit because of one device Many of the reasons other companies took a large hit is because the fires were so widespread and reported day after day after day

If it's a one of and not a design flaw, I doubt it will have much impact. Lithium ion batteries sometimes explode, in any companies products. It's just so rare that we don't think of it. But what made something like the Note saga different was that it was a design flaw creating many many times the normal risk.

StockMarket

kilmarta

t3_ako1jh

IRideZs

ef6f97d

ShaidarHaran2

ef6ui8m

Companies likely to still beat earnings in Q1?

Is anyone actually considering making a play like this? I remember that one guy loaded Nike calls And made 15K from one day to the next. Who, if any, do you guys think will beat the earnings estimates in Q1? (Possibly AMD?) SPY $240 4/17p

$PII I work at a powersports dealership in Southern California and despite having a skeleton crew and a quarantine restriciton, people are still buying RZRs, Can Ams, dirt bikes, etc. and lots of parts too. Most OHV trails are still open to the public, but even then, there's a few "riding spots" that are open and are extremely busy during the weekends. Since everything is closed down and people have more free time since being furloughed or laid off, the retards who are bored and have money to spend are going out to the desert and ride. As far as I remember, we are currently selling more parts and products than we did during this past holiday season.

Even when companies beat in this environment stonks still go down. After a few months of vix being dead then you can start buying. Until then everything is a pump and dump.

wallstreetbets

DelaRosaX

t3_fv7wip

cristoballin93

fmh4kwc

BajaRooster

fmh1bw8

Can I please get help on how to pay off my credit card?

Hey everyone. I’m sorry I know this is a probably repetitive question. I’m trying to figure out what to do and so far the posts I have searched and found are for much larger amounts of debt or multiple credit cards. I would really appreciate any suggestions or feedback even if it’s directing me to another thread! If this isn’t appropriate I can remove as well. 2 years ago I got a first credit card through Wells Fargo to build my credit. 1 year no interest then I believe 13.40 variable APR. 1500$ spending limit. Everything was smooth sailing until I got into a car crash. I had to put 1.2K on the card. I make 800-1200 bi weekly from work. I was supporting my unemployed SO at the time so I could only pay off 100 at a time max. Then we had to move to a new apartment so I put what I couldn’t afford on the card, still intending to pay it off. As my budget got tighter I could only make the minimum payment. The interest finally broke through the spending limit and my credit score dropped 40 points to 639 and Wells Fargo increased my spending limit to 2000$. My current debt is 1545.91. My SO Is just now employed again and so now I’m trying to pay off the card. I’m wondering. Should I talk to the bankers at Wells Fargo to help me calculate how much I need to pay each month so get it paid off? Should I take out a loan with a fixed APR to pay it off? Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated I don’t spend any money on it and I don’t have any intention of racking up any more credit card debt. Thank you for reading and I hope your day is going well! 🏼 peace 🏼

You don't need a banker to figure out how long it will take to pay. Play with this calculator for a few minutes. You can go by what you can afourd to pay, or by when you want it paid off by.

how much I need to pay each month so get it paid off? the answer is always "as fast as possible". the minimum payment is technically enough to "pay it off", it just takes forever. make your budget for necessities, then throw as much into your credit card payment as you can afford. after its done, roll that monthly payment into a savings account for emergencies so you don't dip into debt when the next emergency arises.

personalfinance

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I’m a sucker and fell for the whole life insurance scam

A family friend convinced me that bank on yourself via a whole life insurance plan was the best thing for my retirement. After paying in for 3+ years, my wife and I have just over $50k in cash value. The returns have been absolutely abysmal: we’ve invested a total of nearly $90k. Supposedly at year 7 years of investment we break even. Maybe that will happen, maybe not. If I cut my losses and cash the whole thing out, where should I put that money? Since I’m stupid I haven’t invested much my 401k. It’s sitting pretty at $2k. I’m thinking the first thing I should do is max that out for the year. Our only debt is a $90k mortgage at 3.8%. Should I make a huge payment on the house? I’m obviously financially illiterate so any help you all can provide would be massively helpful. I hope this post serves as a guide to others. Also, I don't care about the life insurance aspect. -- Edit I'm 31 years old. -- Edit I've put together a few graphs to help show the financial situation of the accounts. Paid Premiums vs Cash Value - Cash Value Less Paid Premiums - Cash Value as a Percent of Paid Premiums - Percent of Contribution Applied to Cash Value - -- Edit The company I'm working with is Northwestern Mutual -- Edit The combined values of the policies is $2.7M -- Edit One redditor suggested calculating continued investment in the life insurance plan vs taking the loss and investing the cash value in an index fund. The assumption of the life insurance fund is that it “breaks even” at 7 years (4 years from now). At the current investment level, the final value would equal $185K. Surrendering the account today would leave me with $51K. If the cash was used to invest in a 5% index fund while maintaining identical additions, the total equals $162K. At 7% 171K. At 10% $187K.

I am an actuary who design insurance schemes. Personally I do not like the endowment style of life insurance that you have purchased. What you need to understand is there is a significant timeline for these policies. These are really old style insurance policies. A better arrangement in modern times is a yearly renewable life insurance cover with a separate investment fund. What is your sum insured and at what age will this pay out? How long away is this? The cash value is the amount that you get back if you quit now. You have been paying in the first 3 years monies for the agents commission (up to 100% of your first year premium) inaddition to paying for future increased risk of dying when you are older. (Premiums stay flat for all years of your policy although risk of death increases). Its not a scam its just not well understood. Generally I would stick it through as you will be out by 50k if you leave right now. Call up the insurance company, ask to speak with an actuary if you can. Ask them to do a forecasted projection to show you at what year will the premiums and cash balance come to equal. Redecide at that time. Note if the agent missold you on any aspect you may bring this to your regulator (ombudsman) depends on your country. Sorry all typed up on mobile happy to answer anything else.

My brother in law almost got suckered into buying a policy like this. The salesmen who sell life insurance as an investment are so good, I think in part because they drank the Kool aid. No one here in this forum will likely be able to give you solid advice on what to do now. You really should find a financial planner who is not commission based just trying to sell you something, who can go over your whole financial situation with you. You need a true financial plan. With priorities, goals, etc. Not just throwing stuff at the wall seeing what sticks based off what someone on reddit says or what some snake oil salesman says. Just my 2 cents.

personalfinance

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