Datasets:

Kris-Fillip

/

SocialFinanceQA

like 0

(FL)My mom and I own a home together 50/50 and I want her to buy me out. What are my options?

In 2014 my dad passed away while living in my childhood home. My parents were divorced and I'm the only child but they still co-owned the home. I took over my dad's half. At the time I wish I had requested my mother buy me out but I was only 19 and had a plethora of other things to deal with in the matter. Now I'm planning to buy a home at the end of this year in the city I live in but I do not want to be legally and financially responsible for two homes. Among that my mother and I have a rocky relationship and she uses the home to blackmail me. My mom has been living in the home since my dad passed away. There is a mother-in-law suite in the back of the home where my mom charges anywhere between 500 to 600 dollars in rent depending on who has lived there. Our house is just a few steps from the beach and A1A so our property taxes are around 2400 and our insurance is also about 2000 a year. My mom has lived in the house mortgage-free as it was completely paid off many years ago. I've brought up the idea of her buying me out or we sell the house altogether but she bounces back and forth from "I can't afford to get a mortgage" or "I don't want to pay rent anymore" to "I will live in this house forever" and "I'd rather own the house myself." Every month we talk about it she has a different idea of what her life should be like. This has gone on for two years. On top of that my dad let the house go to shambles. The two things that haven't gotten fixed yet is we need a new roof and a new septic tank. A few weeks ago I told her that she can buy me out for 50k (my half is worth 85k) and I will walk away and be good with it. I so desperately want this money for a down payment on my future home and this will be the second year its getting pushed off since my mom wont decide. We are both so unknowledgeable about this topic and I dont think this is helping my case. I want to show my mom that she can afford a 50k loan on her 33k yearly salary. She is worried about interest rates being 10%+ on the loan and thinks a loan for our case dont exist. She also told me that she spoke to a real estate agent and they said that the only way this can work is if I give full ownership to my mom FIRST(?) and she will take out an equity loan for 25k and give me the money. She will then in the next few years fix what needs to be fixed in the home and then sell it in three years and give me the rest. She claims she wants to do this because "she doesn't want to live in a shitty home forever." This is just a snippet of the ongoing decisions my mom throws at me. So where do I go from here? What are her loan options? What are our options? What can I do for myself? If she did finally accept buying me out for 50k what can I do to protect myself and how to do we go about proceeding in a legal way?

your mom needs to talk to a loan officer, not a realtor. she needs to see if she can qualify for a 'cash out refinance' to get the $50k to buy you out, happens all the time w/divorces and partnership dissolutions. you can easily be removed from ownership in this process. OR you can talk to a loan officer and see if you can take out a loan on the property, that won't solve your problem of being free n clear of the property, but it is a way you could get cash. are you paying part of the taxes and insurance? are you getting some of the rental income? are you and/or your mom claiming that rental income on your taxes? you should probably consult an attorney, i've seen situations where this could escalate to a court ordered sale, but that could take years and will cost you a good bit of money in legal fees. however it turns out, if i were you, i wouldn't count on the cash to use a down payment any time soon.

I just did this to buy my mom out of half of my home. I went to a loan officer and got qualified for a cash-out refinance. She signed a quit- claim deed at title, they recorded it along with the rest of the paperwork at closing to remove her name while simultaneously paying her the agreed upon funds. You would do the same thing, but in reverse. She needs to go get a loan, and you need to sign a quit-claim deed. This is done at the title company, they hang onto it and turn it in only at closing. If the loan falls through, they don't record it. Do not give it to her directly otherwise she could record it without you getting paid. This is a simple process that title companies handle on a regular basis.

RealEstate

PizzaLinter

t3_7z6i21

novahouseandhome

dulnty8

JJHall_ID

dunfuf0

My awesome mom passed away recently and left me $100,000. I don't want to waste it! Any advice?

My mom was 69 and died of renal cell cancer after a 15 year battle. It was important to her to be able to leave her sons enough money when she died that they could turn it into a livelihood. With that in mind, she somehow managed to work up until the final year of her life, through chemo, experimental drug trials, emergency room visits, the pain -- through it all. I don't want the money she worked so hard for to go to waste. But I have no idea what to do with it. Wish it was eight years ago and I could invest in Facebook. Any suggestions? EDIT: Per request, here's some more info about me. I'm 32, married, no kids, and make $50,000 a year. No debt, no house. Pay monthly rent on an apartment. No car. Few expenses. EDIT2: Thanks so much for all the smart advice. Although some people differ on what to do, I now have a very good idea of what my primary options are. It's really helped me to focus my thoughts. So thanks again everyone!

Wish it was eight years ago and I could invest in Facebook. Actually, facebook is a privately-held company that announced their IPO just yesterday. (You don't want to invest in facebook, though.)

Facebook is about to go public, so in theory you could invest it there. I wouldn't though. How old are you? Have any debt? What kind of salary are you making now? Own a home? I will probably get downvoted for this but I would suggest investing it in Apple (AAPL) and a few other companies you like. I'd also take a good chunk of it and go do something awesome that you think your mother would want you to do.

personalfinance

doingmypart

t3_p7vnx

[deleted]

t1_c3n8xva

c3n8xva

yabrickedit

t1_c3n7qsh

c3n7qsh

How can we save money faster?

My husband and I are trying very hard to move out of state, to a city with a higher cost of living than where we are at now. We would like for at least one of us to have a job lined up before arriving, but this may not be possible, and we do not want to go into significant debt to do so. Since moving is expensive, we need to do some saving. Can you guys take a look at our budget and see if there is anything we can do to quickly grow our savings to something that will get us to our new city and support us for a few months there in case getting a job takes longer than anticipated or at least one or two months to cover us until paychecks start rolling in? Income: Husband: $1968/month after taxes and contributing to his matched retirement program Me: around $1400/month, after taxes. It is sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more as I work hourly. Monthly expenses: Groceries: $200 Gas: $80 (my husband has a longish commute to work, mine is 5 minutes) Rent: $1200 Utilities: $100 (power/water/sewer/trash) Netflix: $9 Internet: $65 Phones: $109 Medical: $100 (We always budget this much per month, and this covers our medical expenses and those of our parrot and lizard. Sometimes the actual cost is less, sometimes more. I am currently paying off a surgery. We are both insured and do not pay anything towards our premiums) Eating out: $35 Debt: Currently we have 3 credit cards between us. One has no balance, one has no interest for another year and has a very small amount on it anyways (paying the minimum of $20/month for now), and the other had a very high amount of money on it. We've been throwing virtually all of our extra cash at it and should be paid off this month or next month. Currently it is at around $400 with an 18% APR. No other debt. We have a truck and a car. We own them both, no payments. Both are old and ugly, but they run. For most of the repairs we do them ourselves or my dad does them for little more than the cost of parts. Once we move, we can probably sell one of the cars, however we do need them both now and we need them both to move. I own a condo with my family. It is paid off and my brother and my parents are currently covering other expenses (I helped cover them when I was living there in college, now my brother does). Once he graduates (in 2 years or so) we will sell the condo and I should get a chunk of cash from that, expecting around $20k, but this won't be for some time. We have no other real assets or anything, and our savings account is sad and lonely at $300 (because we've been throwing everything at the credit card). Thank you guys all so much in advance. I really hope you can find some way for us to save a little more. We are both very unhappy here, and moving will help us so much with our careers and our happiness, plus we want kids and refuse to have them in this state.

I know this isn't quite what you are asking or necessarily what you want to hear (and I don't know your specific situation), but I would highly recommend not moving until at least one of you has a job lined up. It can be much more difficult to find a job when you are unemployed than when you are employed. And especially if you are moving because of unhappiness, prolonged unemployment can lead to further unhappiness.

Assuming your expenses remained the same after moving, then you're saving enough to cover 5 months of expenses every 6 months. You have a 46% savings rate of your net income. What is your expected cost of living where you plan to move? one has no interest for another year This will creep up on you, is it a large balance?

personalfinance

ShellLillian

t3_2rmn8t

fireandnoise

t1_cnh8ryn

cnh8ryn

IanCal

t1_cnhfhdw

cnhfhdw

Trying to find the best software to keep track of my spending

I have tried Mint and want to know if there are other options that allow me to graph my income and spending?

I really like YNAB. It has changed my life. I've taken control of my spending and have eliminated all debt outside of my mortgage. Highly recommended. I think there are some free videos floating around YouTube. Check em out and see if it fits your style.

Seconding YNAB. Absolutely changed my entire relationship with money & how I spend. I’ve gotten several of my friends hooked as well. You can get an extension on the one month trial if you email support up to 3.

personalfinance

Tribaltimmy

t3_9ugo6k

nefarious1985

e942q4q

shirp06

e94afrz

What are the risks of giving out your bank account and routing number? A local gym requires that info for membership.

I've only given my bank acc information to my employer and the IRS, and I feel nervous about giving that information to a gym. I admit that I am very ignorant of how a bank acc # can be used for better or worse. Are my anxieties over this unfounded, or is there a real risk for giving out that sort of information?

That info is printed on any check you write, so it's not a secret. But I agree that the gym is likely to use it to try to steal money from you at some point when you are ending your membership. It's not the numbers themselves, it's the form that you will sign that says "I give the gym permission to take all the money from my bank account whenever they feel like it".

They want to make sure if you cancel you can't just cancel your card. If you want to get rid of them you have to go in, tell them you want to quit, and if there are fees its coming directly from your checking account.

personalfinance

ImtheEagleMasterDude

t3_8awjsf

jellicle

dx24vyt

trucido614

dx2go0s

Advice on transitioning out of student mindset

I am 25 years old and just started my legal career at a law firm making 160k a year. Since I've been living like a student for the past 7 years, this seems like infinite money to me. Most of my personal finance knowledge can be boiled down to spend as little as possible, and I need to get out of that mindset. How should I now start approaching personal finance? I am putting 10% into 401(k) (no matching from the firm), and have roughly 90k in law school debt. At this point my plan is to pay off my loans as soon as possible. After that that I have no idea.

I dunno, "spend as little as possible" still sounds like a good plan. Or if you prefer, "save as much as possible"? Go ahead and max out the ol' 401k, at least.

You need a budget! :) If it feels like infinite money to you, it'll be really easy to spend it on stuff that doesn't matter. A budget will help you spend on things that enrich your life without feeling guilty, while also saving for long-term goals or getting rid of debt. I recommend [YNAB]( The method and software are super helpful. Check out /r/ynab for YNAB success stories.

personalfinance

Moofy_The_Great

t3_3w9nta

macoafi

cxuh884

Keladry_of_Mindelan

cxuv8ha

I just immigrated to the USA, I have absolutely no Credit score. What is the most intelligent way to build up my credit fast? Also, I have a business.

What do I do? This is all quite new to me... You have to be in debt to create good credit? What is this magic? I detest credit cards and have a tendency using debit/cash only. Bonus: I run a small business that uses multiple thousands dollar of materials each month. Could I leverage that into a speedier credit gain? Thanks a bunch for all your help! AMERICA!!!

You don't have to get in debt to get a credit score. Get a standard credit card and use it like a debit card. Purchase your items, than pay it in full before you are charged the interest rate at the end of the billing cycle.

Your credit score is just a score of how good you are at making the banks money. Pay cash for EVERYTHING and you'll never need a credit score. No score is the best score.

personalfinance

wanttoengineer

t3_1o0nne

Koksnot

t1_ccns7ph

ccns7ph

Wr1then

t1_ccnsoi2

ccnsoi2

[TX] Title Company and Lender made error on deed and have been extremely slow to correct - now I’m facing a massive property tax hike- legal remedies?

I bought a new home last year that encompasses 2 legal lots (i.e. Lot 38 & 39). The lender’s attorneys made an error, which the title company failed to catch, on the closing docs that failed to properly denote both lots on the deed transfer paperwork. The deed was submitted with the error to my local tax/appraisal authority, so according to official records I only own half of my house. I didn’t catch this error until I received my 2019 notice of appraised value and saw that my property taxes went up 80% when the law states they can’t go up more than 10%. This is because the tax authority evaluated my house as a new property (it’s not) due to the fact the legal description of the property had changed and thus not subject to the 10% cap. When I look at the property map it very clearly shows my lot being split in two and the other half still belonging to the seller and reflecting the prior year tax value of the entire property with both lots included. So according to the tax authority they discovered a brand new lot and are going to get double the tax revenue from a single property that they got last year. Roughly a month ago I filed a protest with the tax authority explaining the situation and also contacted both the lender and the title company to notify them of the error and requesting they expedite a corrected deed. Since then I’ve been given the runaround by both title and lender claiming they are waiting on the other to provide them with paperwork - I’ve called them every fews days requesting updates and it’s gotten to the point where they aren’t returning my phone calls. Meanwhile the tax authority isn’t budging and refuses to assess my house based on the prior year assessment as the basis for appraised value (thus subject to the 10% cap) and claims that unless they get a corrected deed before the May 15th deadline I’ll be on the hook for the new appraised value regardless. My friends have told me I need to have an attorney contact title/lender and threaten legal action if they don’t correct the deed immediately - but I’m running out of time. I’ve hired a real estate tax attorney to help with the protest, but they handle a massive amount of protests and when speaking with their representatives they’ve indicated this situation goes a bit beyond their service offerings (they are one of those companies that represent a lot of homeowners and take a % of whatever tax savings they generate). What are my options here? Would a real estate attorney be able to help me in this situation with the title/lender? Would those fees be covered by my title insurance?

Don’t deal directly with the title company. Contact your title insurance underwriter directly and file a claim. Also register a complaint with your states department of insurance. Title companies are insurance agents and are licensed and regulated by the states DOI.

FYI Lurkers: in California I've done the licensing stuff for both loan originators and real estate agents and have both. Essentially ZERO of that education contained anything pragmatically useful for one home straddling multiple lots, or one contract that includes multiple properties, and out in the real world it only comes up once every 2 or 3 years. And each time for me it's 100% OJT "whelp we'll see how this plays out." About 9 months ago I did a VA loan on a property that encompassed 5 different lots/APNs, and that's not going to cross my desk again (as a live ratified seller signed purchase contract) for easily another 10 years, after which time the rules will have changed anyways, effectively meaning that each time it's the first time. Escrow and title, or the lawyer if it's in a lawyer state, are the folks with the knowledge on this subject. They do 10x the volume of either Realtors or lenders (meaning this comes up 10x more frequently for them), and have the expertise.

RealEstate

Made_of_Tin

t3_bkzib1

cardprop

emkkd8i

aardy

emkuahy

Homeless, no car, no money. Scared to death.

I've been struggling to find a steady job for the past 6 months. My girlfriends stepfather (who we live with) decided to kick me out without any kind of notice. It's been 1 week since I've been kicked out and the terror is really starting to sink in. I have no transportation, and no money. I don't know what my options are at this point. Any advice would be a great help. If you need any more info let me know and I'll add it. EDIT: My skills are mostly warehouse based, such as equipment experience and things of that nature. I live in Louisville, Kentucky. Cost of living is around 600 to 700 a month in rent. As far as the relationship goes, things are fine, and it's the only thing keeping me going. Right now I'm staying at a friend's trying to get a job where they work. EDIT 2: Wow, thank you all who replied to this post. I didn't think I was going to get so much advice, I'm going to take all of this advice to heart and I will keep you all updated as I go! I appreciate all of you kind people so much :) UPDATE: Hello everyone, I've taken a lot of your advice and things are slowly falling into place. I went to a temp agency and am scheduled to start working a full time warehouse job when my background check comes back. I also have an interview for a permanent position scheduled on the 19th (my birthday) I'd like to thank you all for being supportive in my time of need. All the kind words have really helped me tough it out.

Could you apply for other jobs near your friend? You're just applying at one place OP, and it could take months to get hired there...I'm glad too that ppl already posted about the tenant laws. It's definitely true that it's usually not legal to kick someone out like this, even with no rent being paid.

Kentucky has a wonderful horse industry and the majority of jobs comes with accommodation. The pay isn't great, but it will a) get you on your feet b) you will have shelter and be warm c) you will not need transportation d) there is plenty of opportunity for growth. Do not worry if you do not have experience with horses, they will teach you. My recommendation is to reach out to KY Racetrack Chaplaincy They list the chaplains at Churchill Downs, who if you call know everyone at the track and can help you out. I am sorry you are going through this.

personalfinance

Simba808

t3_81q422

CatSimpatico

dv4buc2

JustNursingAround

dv51ywq

Cashless business banned in NYC - effect on Fintech/Payment stocks (SQ)

"New York City’s restaurants and other retail establishments will no longer be allowed to reject cash payments under legislation passed by the City Council on Thursday. Supporters of the bill say cashless businesses requiring credit cards and electronic payments like Apple Pay discriminate against poor people who may not have bank accounts or credit cards — as well as minors." [ &x200B Thoughts on long term effects for payment companies like SQ, V, MA? Will this become a trend? Or will the 25% of NYers without credit cards die out?

This just means that cashless is getting so popular that they have to make laws to make sure system is fair for people not wanting/having bank account. In long run, looks like you should long. But picking individual stock is hard since not clear which one will win and on which platform.

Increase in customer base is not a bad thing because people with cash may now buy with cash. I understand the no cash policy which is to reduce theft by workers but, such is life.

stocks

golgi_01

t3_eua39c

wondermania

ffnic5e

SovArya

ffn5ob9

How do you think the government shutdown will affect the economy?

Since we are now 25 days into the longest shutdown in history, with no end in sight; I am curious what people think about this regarding its effect on the economy, and investments. If it goes on long enough, can it trigger a recession? As a personal anecdote, I have been forced into being the sole breadwinner of my household this month due to the shutdown. As a result, I have had to cut my expenses severely, and halt any non-retirement investing. I can't be the only non-govt employee affected by this. What's the end game here?

It’s shaving off GDP. So yes. We’re gonna pay government employees for time off in the end... and whatever work they have to do will still need to be done.

I think of the story of 2010-2018 is that the Fed is really powerful on whether we have recession. The stimulus of 2010 did roughly zilch because the Fed saw that as an excuse to not act, and that cancelled out the stimulus. The Fed overreacted to the sequester of 2013, and 2013 promptly turned into a hyper bull market. The Fed overhiked in 2018, and we got the first bear market in 2018. If the Fed freaks out about the shutdown, we might get looser monetary policy and a really roaring bull market.

investing

rageingnonsense

t3_agegxh

failingtolurk

ee5mrjc

lee1026

ee620xv

Seriously. Who are the people who can afford rent this high?

I've been seeing a lot of new apartment complexes going up all over town. I'm in a suburb outside of Boston and it seems they are everywhere now. So my wife and I are doing pretty well I think - no debt and making about 160k. We rent a crummy 1 bedroom for $1150 a month. I've been looking at these new complexes and rent is $2500-$3k per month for a one bedroom. I'm talking under 1000 sq ft. Granted, these are nice complexes with guns and pools, but they are huge and they are everywhere. Who lives in these places? Who can afford 3k/month for a one bedroom outside of the city center? Am I strange for thinking these rents are outrageous?

It is outrageous, but you should absolutely be able to afford it on your income - pending you don't have other major debt or childcare expenses. 1150 a month isn't an uncommon rent for someone making a 3rd of your income.

Don't ever step foot in SF or you'll have a stroke. $160k combined is pretty low. Do you both have entry-level jobs? You should be bringing in more than that if you're established in your career.

personalfinance

WhatIsClaimedIs

t3_3uy5zy

vettewiz

cxiq8su

snowbirdie

cxiufo6

If my wife doesn't work outside the home, can we contribute $11,000 per year to an IRA? Or are we limited to the $5500 maximum for me?

Also, do we need separate IRA accounts in order to contribute $11,000 per year, or can we both make our contributions to the same account?

You can both contribute $5,500 each to your individual IRA (Roth or traditional), and you need to have separate IRA's. To be eligible, you have file taxes as married filing jointly.

If you guys file taxes jointly, then technically your income is her income too, so she does have "income" and you can max out a roth IRA in her name AND one in your name. I hope that helps.

personalfinance

Virian

t3_1ihit3

ed_lv

t1_cb4hhcm

cb4hhcm

Cosmolution

t1_cb5azv5

cb5azv5

I've got $3,900 left in student loans at 3.15%, which (at this time) is only gathering $0.33 per day. What's my best course of action at this point?

Living with parents and working only ~20 min away has saved me a bunch of money over the past 1.5 years, so I managed to pay down my previous $23k loan to $3.9k. In hindsight I wish I hadn't spent money on other things, but whatever, nothing I can do about that. I'm working full-time $15/hourly with (at the moment) available overtime up to 10 hours at $22.50/hour. Anyway, with my loan interest growing ever so slightly every day, should I bother making large payments on it (I'm talking between $500 and $2k) and pay the minimum monthly (which is $144.10) and instead start investing that somewhere else/building up my emergency fund a bit? I've got about $1200 across my accounts as a buffer in case anything were to go wrong with my car, etc. but that's about it. Other than the student loans, I've got $2000 left on my car to pay (interest-free I might add; my parents bought the car for me and I paid them back the majority of it). At this point I'm looking at the best route to take. I've got my goals set up to pay off the car by August next year, when the title will be transferred over to my name. So, what would be my best option right now? Putting money away to invest; a car, a house, etc. the big purchases that are coming up, naturally, but for the most part, things are wide open. Edit: I should mention that I'm looking into opening a Roth IRA through Vanguard because that seems to be popular in this sub. I should also mention that I'm not very well educated in finance, so I'm looking at this based entirely on what people are posting in this sub. Not sure what to invest in and how much. I've got my priorities when it comes to money, though, so I'm not spending my money freely. Just need a bit of guidance. Double Edit: I also make approx. $6k subcontracting yearly web dev work on the site, at this point in time. I also overuse parentheses (a lot). Triple Edit: I set up a few savings accts with Capital One 360. I've had them for a while and am going to capitalize (heyo?) on a better APY. At the moment, I've got it set up as following: $400/month (transferred bi-weekly) to an emergency fund. If it should be higher, please don't hesitate to tell me I'm wrong for using this amount. $300/month towards a house (bi-weekly). This isn't entirely important to me right now because I've got a somewhat ideal situation right now. When I move to a new location, it will be because of a.) a new job, or b.) I'm getting married, so I'm saving money til one of those becomes a reality. $300/month towards a car (again, bi-weekly), just because.

I would be in no hurry to pay off a 3.15% debt where the interest is fully tax deductible. The remaining interest on your loan is around $60. It's going to be paid off in 2 years or so anyway with your $144 minimum payments, so I would build up the extra cash. An emergency fund is the obvious short-term solution and then whatever goal is most important to you. I would put retirement savings and a house above another new car though.

Also if you want to make a credit based purchase you might be better off doing it before you pay off your student loan. I know it sounds silly, but apparently the age of your active debt affects your credit score. Making the final payment has the potential to cause your credit score to drop. Just something to note down if you are thinking about a car or home loan in the next 3 years.

personalfinance

mrobit

t3_1l452y

awstick

t1_cbvkxdx

cbvkxdx

CrashCourseInCrazy

t1_cbvu6kg

cbvu6kg

$amd and ethereum

It's my understanding that AMD's recent surge has a lot to do with the booming cryptocurrency market, due to miners needing powerful GPUs. Ethereum is slated to switch to a PoS model in November, which eliminates mining. Is there any concern that this could hurt $amd?

AMD was surging long before ethereum was booming. It has more to do with AMD's CEO reducing cost at an alarming rate and positioning the company to take market share away from Intel. Yes, AMD is benefitting from the crypto craze, but it also has solid long term prospects.

Deep learning uses a lot of GPUs too, and it is booming Video games ask for more and more power I wouldn't worry for the GPU demand in the coming years

stocks

mikepankake

t3_6phh37

ATribeCalledM

dkpdh9f

nockof

dkq0ja4

What is the appeal in moving out of the country to FIRE? Why not just move to a rural area?

I never understand hearing posters talk about how they plan on moving out of the US, commonly to a 2nd (or even 3rd) world country to be able to FIRE. People that live / grow up in those parts of the world would do (and are doing) anything to leave and live in a great country like America. I understand some places are really expensive and all, but you could find cheaper places to live in the states; no need to move to Equador and have to worry about crime, bad infrastructure, corrupt police force, etc. Is it really that worth it to FIRE, that you would put your health and safety at risk? I think as Americans, alot of us really take for granted how good we have it here. But to the point, I live in a moderate COL area, and just ran a quick google search for rural areas around. Rent is half what I am paying now, for a larger place. No need to move to a third world country guys, if you are just looking for a cheap place to live, move to a rural area instead. Edit: "I'm moving out of the US because I have decided that I don't like it anymore" != "I'm moving out of the US because it is expensive and Equador is way cheaper, and I will be able to FIRE there". For the few people that do fall into 1, why don't you strive to make your country a better place, if you believe it has its flaws in certain areas? There are a lot of really smart / rational people here, and I am sure we could make the world a much better place if we tried. Moving somewhere just because it has "pretty beaches" is not worth it IMO. I also think alot of the preference towards cities vs rural areas, that I am seeing in so many comments, has to do with demographics- according to that (partial, still not fully released......) FI survey from a few months ago, people in the FI sub tend to be younger. Younger people tend to like more active environments (ie. cities) and are a little more adventerous and eager to do things like traveling the world / experience living in other countries. That is another factor to consider.

Have you been to those other countries? Panama City (the downtown area) is an extremely nice, modern city that puts many of our US urban areas to shame and it grants citizenship to anyone who owns land there, which means free health care. You can live near the beach for a fraction of the cost in the US and it is easy to avoid areas that pose any kind of danger. Costa Rica is gorgeous, has a lower cost of living than most rural areas in the states, and has a large expat community. Again, you can live in extremely desirable areas for much cheaper than in the states. Thailand is also an amazing place to FIRE. In these places, you can hire gardeners, housekeepers, and others for cheap and there is little to no taxes. You don't have to leave the US, but you would be hard pressed to afford the same standard of living in the US as in a number of these countries.

For the few people that do fall into 1, why don't you strive to make your country a better place, The reason I'm interested in FIRE is so I can stop working, not work even harder at something else.

financialindependence

uhu6g

t3_55blsw

pfeifits

d898wza

definitely_not_cylon

d8bd93c

I have around 17k of credit card debt; how can I consolidate if my loan requests are betting denied?

I have about 17k worth of credit card debt between four cards and I'm starting to drown in the minimum monthly payments. Two of them aren't bad but the other two are dragging me down. One card is over limit and my credit has taken a hit. What are my options to work this debt down since I'm barely surviving paycheck to paycheck?

The bigger problem is 'how did you get in this mess in the first place'. Because, really, the credit card debt is a symptom of the problem, not the underlying problem. Not that you necessarily have a habit of spending more than you make, but the fact that this is spread out over 4 credit cards does suggest it might be. Also, it is very common for a lot of people to 'budget' for their known expenses and set absolutely nothing aside for the unexpected (which statistically happens several times a year, more if you have kids, cars, pets or own a house). Step one is always to get your spending under control, because if you can't do that, nothing else matters.

Hey since you don't qualify for a consolidation loan and likely won't for a while you could look into nonprofit organizations in your area that do credit counseling. They work with you and your credit card companies to lower interest rates / payments and get you on a program to pay them off. I looked into one called Clear Point at one time but there are others. You can also start listening to Dave Ramsey's podcast, he's talked to a bazillion people in worse shape than you are and has some very simple steps you should follow to work on getting out of debt.

personalfinance

AlessaCarson

t3_7ls2co

KellieReilynn

drokiyf

nudiepicsonly

drospgw

Making 3k a month (AUD), just finished high school and having a gap year for work. Don't know what to do with my income.

I finished high school about 5 months ago and am planning on going to uni next year, or the year after. (Uni is free as I'm moving to NZ for Uni and I'm a Kiwi citizen). I'm making just above 3k (AUD) a month, after tax and superannuation, and don't know what to do with it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

That's good money for someone fresh out of school. What's your plans with uni? Working as well or just focusing on study? Get some savings in the bank and travel/have fun.

Hey mate, good for you! It took me until i finished uni and started work to get into investing, so good on you for taking an early interest. Personally, I learned a lot from ASIC's MoneySmart website, so you might want to start there ( It's got great advice on the kinds of things you want to think about when you're investing, and what your options are. It's also got great information about your superannuation, which I'd also strongly urge you to look at - just making sure your super is all in one place and invested in an option that you're comfortable with will go a long way over the long term since you're so young. That being said, if you're thinking of investing outside of super, you want to be pretty sure you're not going to need the money for a fair few years. So, to start with, don't be afraid to build up a cash fund that you can draw down in an emergency, or if you need to stop working for a few months to focus on uni. This would likely be at least several grand, depending on your expenses. Once you've got that buffer, then you should start thinking about investing anything else you can save. But good on you for getting into it early! You're way ahead of the curve already.

personalfinance

ChaoticMunk

t3_bwlohw

jackiechaniam

epyhxls

King_Jon_Une

epyjsl6

I recently got a new credit card and found something strange.

In the paperwork that described their checking of my credit there was a section that was called something to the effect of "detriments to your credit." essentially why my score would be lowered. In that section it said: "over the credit limit on accounts." However, I have one credit card that has never been over the limit and a student loan which doesn't require action until I graduate. No other accounts. Does anyone know what may cause this?

The paperwork is saying that if you go over the limit while using their card (or any card for that matter), your credit score will take a hit. It's not saying it's already happened.

Do you have any charge cards (e.g. a card with "no preset spending limit", like an American Express Green/Gold/Platinum card?). That can result in such oddities in credit reporting. EDIT: It's not clear if the original poster had this indicated under an adverse action letter (approved for credit, but not the best interest rate/limit) as a FICO reason code ("Factors that adversely affected your FICO Score") - in which case, it's his credit report - or if he's quoting a general credit bit from the terms/information provided with his card. I have received such adverse action letters before (over the APR) and there are a bunch of FICO reason codes for utilization. I assumed that this may be the cause. Until the OP provides more information, we can't be sure. I am not sure why I am being downvoted at this point in time.

personalfinance

supdudels

t3_x6t72

[deleted]

t1_c5jq0sv

c5jq0sv

coopdude

t1_c5jomni

c5jomni

Male, 24, Do I wait to buy a new car when I'm 25 (the year car insurance supposedly goes down)

So I'm 24 with one speeding ticket in Washington state. I got a new higher paying job and am considering purchasing my first new car (2017 Subaru WRX). Now, I got a Vin and called around for car insurance quotes. The best I got was $275 a month!!! The worst was $450 a month. Jesus. Does anyone have experience in my situation and can tell me roughly how much I would expect that number to drop once I hit 25 in June?

No. I work in Insurance. There is no sharp drop off at 25, it's just a gradual decrease in rate as you get older. If you can afford it now, do it!

It's partly that high because of the type of car. I'm a woman but my insurance went up $11 a month with State Farm after 2 tickets. State Farm will adjust pricing the day the tickets been on my record over 3 years, they may do the same with your birthday! Doesn't hurt to ask.

personalfinance

toomuchsoysauce

t3_59evwf

K-man21

d97x9na

ieatcheese1

d98e5p2

$MU Megathread

After hours today we passed the previous 20 day high. Where do you guys think we go from here? I personally see it pulling back before doing a proper moon run. Any other $MU thoughts/topics are welcome.

Pull back? nah, it might have its down days, but they broke consolidation last week and we were hella green on a market red day with high volume. This is the break out.

Look at my post if you want to see why we moved so hard AH. Could be quite the play this quarter.. PE is so low compared to other semis and fundies are great

wallstreetbets

VentiDepression

t3_8jotum

SpunkyGoon

dz1a909

TheWolfOfWallSt-

dz1abos

Does anyone daytrade straddles consistently?

If you buy and sell straddles in a few hours, IV wouldn’t matter as long as stocks move in one direction far enough. Anyone try day trading straddles everyday? Seems to be good this month so far...

You can daytrade SPX weeklies and make money if you can identify good support/resistance levels and sell spreads at those levels. Straddles, meh, you need a pretty big move in one direction to offset the loss on the other side. Right now, yes they're probably paying because of how much volatility there is, but in a calm market you're not going to get much being long theta.

def a good month for straddles since this vol spike took everyone by surprise (ie implied vols were low until realized vols were not). i wouldn't do it forever, and it depends on the tenor. short-term straddles cause so much theta decay that it's painful to hold even intraday (for a 1 day straddle the intrinsic value basically crashes as the trading day goes on), and long-term straddles are hard to monetize - well, depending on the asset. basically, if you want to be purely long vol, straddles are the way to go, as long as you delta hedge as spot moves around. downside: hella expensive. like, probably the most expensive option strategy

options

TheRiskyInvestor

t3_9snvbv

mangist

e8qitm4

domingnatrix

e8ql48a

I have 130k in savings and make 36k a year. What can I afford for a home.

I have no debt. I will be looking in the Minneapolis area. I am under estimating my total savings around 10k for a safety net. I spend around $700 a month on food, gas, fun ect. What is a reasonable amount I can afford for a home?

Whatever you've been doing (that resulted in 130k savings) keep doing that. Edit, now that I know the OP inherited the money: When you have cash to spend on a home or other property, you have lots of leverage. A buyer who is motivated to sell (i.e. needs money) will be eager to make a deal. You can use that leverage to negotiate a much better price. Be sure you have the title researched and all the other proper things. Take your time, don't get attached to one realtor. Decide what you're looking for and watch for the right deal to come along, you have time, wait for a seller who is in a hurry to get cash, then you start from the strong point. Your situation is different from 99% of the people shopping for homes, you're a realtor's wet dream don't let them take advantage of you.

If you've been living paycheck-to-paycheck so far, you're asking the wrong question. You should be asking, "How small of a house can I get by in?" This is your opportunity get your life on a stable path towards retirement; don't squander it fulfilling expensive "wants".

personalfinance

monthlyhangout

t3_33zgol

Scottrix

t1_cqptw3h

cqptw3h

jeffmolby

t1_cqq47ow

cqq47ow

Getting married for insurance? For love? Why is insurance so damn expensive.

My girlfriend (26) and I (25) are unmarried, and have a 4 month old child. Currently I'm working full time, and she's a stay at home mom. Her old jobs insurance policy recently ran out, and she can't get on mine unless we're married. My son and I are covered, but she's not. And she can't go without it. COBRA is almost $800 a month for her, while I pay $150 through work for my son and I. There don't seem to be many other options than to just get married. We don't want to get married just yet, but I also don't want to spend 800 freaking dollars a month to stay single. This is ridiculous. Are there other options? Is getting married not that dumb an idea? (We plan on it anyways, but didn't want to do it like this)

If you are just waiting because you want to have the right wedding, then just get married at the courthouse and do the shindig later. Heck you don't even have to tell anyone. If you are waiting because you aren't sure, then keep waiting. Although you already have a child so not like it will get much worse to divorce at this point (other than legal fees). With a stay at home parent you'll also likely save on taxes as well by taking advantage of all her deduction but no income. Have you used the worda "domestic partner" when inquiring about adding her to your policy? Don't just say girlfriend. You may learn you can cover her that way.

Why not go without insurance for a while? I doubt the penalty fee for not having it is gonna be more $800 (think that insurance is no longer mandatory thanks to tax reform). You both are relatively young and should be healthy. Unless she has a medical condition you are probably better off going without insurance for a while.

personalfinance

Ckarini

t3_8twc2a

Frozenlazer

e1aqw5w

Caravaggio_

e1b91rs

How do I Recession-proof Myself?

I'm 23 years old, I'm graduating college with my Marketing degree in December, and I have just about $70,000 in debt across mostly federal and state loans. I am not an expert in economics, far from it, but what little I know about it, I'm getting nervous. I remember 2008 just enough to know I don't want to end up like a lot of the college grads did then.Regardless of your opinions on the economy, what are the best ways to recession-proof myself? &x200B

You want flexibility. Live below your means. Don't sign up for new debt. It's easy to get into the budgeting via monthly budget way. But you gotta remember what happens if it all goes away. For example, let's say your loan payment is $1000/mo. And you get a job taking home $5000/mo. It's easy to say "oh, I can afford a $500/mo car, a $2000/mo apartment, $1000 on food and partying, $500 on savings/miscellaneous". But then if you lose your job, you don't have much you can cut back on. If you can cut your savings and food/partying down, you still need to come up with $4000/mo to just get by. And if it happens 6 months into your job, you'll only have $3000 saved, at most. You won't even make it a month, and might be forced to take jobs or side gigs you don't want to take. But if your car is paid for in cash, you split an apartment with 4 people and only pay $500/mo, keep your food/partying budget to $500, and shove the rest towards savings, if you lose your job in 6 months you'll have saved $18,000 and only have like $2000 in bills you need to hit every month. You'll be able to go 9 months without worrying. Having that flexibility will allow you to take time finding better jobs, move across the country if a new opportunity arises, take classes while unemployed, etc, etc, etc. Also, others will say max your student loan payments each month. If your interest rates are low enough, you could consider shoving as much money into a student loan and emergency account instead. If you have an emergency, you can use it. If you don't, you can push it all towards your student loans at the end of the year. It may cost you a bit in interest, but the flexibility will be priceless if you ever need it.

/r/personalfinance is mostly the sub to learn about how to stretch a case of ramen noodles for six months as you live as frugally as possible. If that's what you're looking for then you're in the right place. In general though, it's basically impossible to be completely recession proof. You can take a government job that doesn't necessarily move with the ups and downs of the markets but it's not like teachers don't get laid off when things get bad. You can throw your 401(k) and other savings in consumer staples that people buy even when times are tough but while they won't drop in a recession they also won't shoot through the roof in a bull market. My advice would be not to worry too much about being "recession proof" and instead just work on making intelligent financial decisions. Put away money in a 401(K) or Roth 401(K) if your employer offers it. You're only 23 and have a long way to go until retirement so you can afford to take more risk than someone nearing retirement. Apply to well regarded, fiscally strong companies and work hard to make yourself indispensable. Establish an emergency fund. Pay off your credit cards balance each month or as soon as you can. Don't live too far out of your means. Choose a partner with good fiscal habits and, when you're ready, get married and split bills. This sub loves to tell you to burn your credit cards, live with your parents, stock up on ramen, and buy a bike to commute to work but IMO that's just no way to live. Make good financial decisions and you'll weather the ups and downs of the economy just fine.

personalfinance

mpersonally

t3_cgswy3

tomatuvm

eukyzet

ImNotBernieSanders

eulzewo

How to invest in an industry you dont know well?

Obviously new to stock trading here, hello. I am researching stocks in general and I feel more comfortable researching manufacturers of products I can find in stores, it's something I as a consumer can understand and be interested in. Currently I have a little money in a toy manufacturer. However there really just aren't many retail stocks i can find. There are clearly many more silicone manufacturers, biotech companies, pharma, ect. I feel almost as if you need to be a doctor to invest in pharma, too many things to be educated on. How do you pick your industries?

It's best not to invest in things you don't know well. But if you still want to get into an industry you don't know well, buy the ETF of that industry, like IBB for biotech.

If you are interested in a company, read through their investor relations site. They always have presentations on what they are doing there - there are financial reports and conference calls as well as (usually) business model and technology presentations. If you still don't understand what they are doing after reading those, you should probably stay away from them. It might be that their business model is so complex that you have to have some expertise in the field (Infinera comes to mind) or it can be that their business model is bad and intentionally obfuscated (Enron is the most famous example). Also remember that they can sugar-coat their model in their presentations. The hard data is in the financial reports.

investing

Ampix0

t3_51j5n1

bms0430

d7cf5ak

stenlis

d7cm9af

A smaller company offering a much more competitive salary than my current job

I've been speaking with a company who is interested in hiring me. I'm still not sure if I should take the position for a few reasons. I understand without all the context it's hard for you to make a suggestion, but I appreciate any advice! My current company does about 300+ Million in annual revenue and is public. It has a little under 2000 employees globally. After my bonus my salary is anywhere from 80-90K (before tax). The new company is offering 120-130k base with 40-50K in bonus opportunity. This would be a significant jump for me and It would take me at least 2-5 years to get to that salary level at my current company. This company, however, is much smaller. I believe it has less than 200 employees. I'm not sure about their annual revenue as they are not public. My primary concerns have to do with the stability of the new company. They've doubled their revenue year over year for the last 2 years, but it would be the smallest size company I've worked for. I'm only 25 (living in the chicagoland area to give you an idea of COL) so part of me thinks even if the company starts to struggle in a year or so I still have plenty of time and flexibility to look for something new. I do think I'd be more protected against economic downturns at my current company as I'm held in pretty high regard and would have more tenure. With that being said I'm also paranoid that if perhaps a recession were to occur in the next year or so and I end up taking this position, I could be out of a job in a potentially tougher job market. Of course, there is also the challenge of learning a new solution (I'm a business consultant selling software) and a new company. This is all a bit premptive as I have not gotten an offer yet, but I'm a planner so I was wondering what r/personalfinance thought of this situation I'm in. thanks for all and any advice!

I'd take the new job. Even if things go south with the company, your new salary base line should make improving your income easier. 200 employees isn't that small. Also, this greatly depends on what industry this is all in 25 is the time to take calculated risks, and getting your income up to almost $200k/year seems like a prudent risk to take

Do you have any idea of the financial health of the company? How long have they been around and what are the sources of their funding (are they raising debt, venture capital, PE money)? I think it’s important to do some moderate due diligence before diving in to the new company. Overall, it’s probably a good risk to take but I’d be sure I knew as much as possible about the company before making the jump.

personalfinance

dragunight

t3_dp7h28

Werewolfdad

f5sxwb4

rmoreen

f5t3z2b

Market down , VIX ?

I understand the VIX is a fear index but I’m having a hard time understanding how it can be Down so hard after the market is tanking. Any insight would be appreciated ! $UVXY $VXX $VIX

People are getting use to the fear. It’s the new norm till something else happens to spook everyone. Maybe unemployment numbers, maxed out hospitals, or longer shut downs can get it back up. I have no clue what I’m talking about

Needs to tank harder and faster to maintain high IV. We actually decelerated from the insane volatility we were seeing where we would hit circuit breakers and almost 2 in a day sometimes to the measly 3 to 4% we see now. IV therefore will drop.

wallstreetbets

matt_233

t3_fnrw0g

Scrogdiggle

flb50rj

dizon248

flb510a

Two new build questions. Should I use a realtor, and which of these builders is better?

Moving to [this community]( and after looking at two model homes It didn't seem like I need a realtor. Do I? Also, does anyone have an opinion on which builder I should go with? They have DR Horton, Rendition Homes, Impression Homes, and Highland Homes.

I know nothing of the builder, but a few thoughts on the Realtor question... &x200B I would recommend one for many of the reasons state below, but also because they take care of a lot of the headaches so you don't have to. I used a Realtor when I built a house 3 years ago an I'm SO glad that I did. Here's why. Because of my agent, I understood that if I did this I needed to be sure because the builder used their own contracts and their contracts gave me basically NO way to get my earnest money deposit back once construction had begun. When I wasn't able to stop by regularly, my AGENT did and she caught several things that they would have just covered up. It was all cosmetic but, but we never would have known about the huge chunks of drywall missing along the base (but hidden by our 6" baseboard) or that some of the drywall was over 1/2" away from the next piece but that the builder tried to just cover with tape and then mud over. She looked out for me and went to bat for me when I was working full time, pregnant, had a toddler, and didn't have the energy to do it myself. She bugged the builder to correct the small stuff and followed up to make sure they did, and took pictures to prove the issues existed and didn't get covered up. She knew questions to ask that I just plain didn't even know to ask because I'd never built a home before. Even silly things like "how many outlets are in the kitchen, can we re-locate them for better placement?" She made sure we got a full inspection done on the house. The builder told us that our final walk through (known as a blue tape walk through) where they check for small things was enough but thanks to her we made sure that we didn't just note things, they were IN THE CONTRACT that they had to be fixed. For example, the entire front lawn had died because it didn't get enough water. She knew better than to just take them at their word that it would come back after more water and got it written into the sign off that they would replace it if the lawn did not recover. It didn't, and they came back in the fall (after the weather cooled down, we wanted to wait until then) and did it again. They had to replace everything. This didn't happen to me, but it could have. An agent should be keeping documentation of everything as well, so (heaven forbid) if something goes horribly wrong then you have a paper trail! It was a lot of small stuff, but without her we could have easily had a misstep that ended up with us being out a lot of money. There were still things that the builder had to fix under warranty, but the entire experience was MUCH easier because I knew I could trust her to look out for me. A GOOD agent is invaluable and could end up saving you thousands. Builders will often tell you they'll reduce the cost if you don't use one. Great, you're going to reduce the cost of my house by $5,000 and I'll end up with $10,000 worth of headaches and a mortgage payment that is a whole $5/month less (exaggerating here, actual numbers will vary). Pass!

There was no reason not to use a realtor in our case. He assisted us with the negotiation (successfully brought down the list price significantly and got extra concessions when the builder agent screwed up), pointed out things along the way that we wouldn't have thought of, and because it was through Redfin, we got the rebate money at closing.

RealEstate

Madstork1981

t3_anrmdy

BeccaTRS

efvqjsp

zoemi

efw2o14

My company is raising our 401k matching, but we think it's actually a decrease.

My company just announced they're increasing our 401k matching from a maximum of 6% of our salary to a maximum of 7%. Good news, right? They also slipped in that instead of paying out matching each pay period (every 2 weeks), "any match will be paid annually in a lump sum by the end of January the following calendar year". As I understand it, that means we don't get to take advantage of market gains on our 401k matching in that calendar year. Can anyone point me to help for calculating this difference? My company is marking this as a 1% increase, but I'm guessing that with average annual market returns this is actually an effective decrease. Sure, market gains aren't guaranteed but for the long term I've seen 7-10% assumptions for broad index funds.

The bigger concern, to me at least, would be the fact that if you leave during the year you aren't getting any of that contribution. (i.e. if you leave halfway through the year, you would get 6% for the months you were working under the old plan, but zip under the new plan). In terms of actual numbers though, as people have mentioned, it is /technically/ an increase, but not as much as they are implying. If it was a true 1% increase over your old plan, it would pay out in each pay period. Its a nominal increase over the 6% with a stipulation in place to try to keep people working through Jan of the next year.

The bigger problem is that if you don't plan to stay at the company you're eventually going to get screwed out of a lot of contributions. As to whether it's an increase, it is. I mean, just as a rough estimate, if you assume a 10% return evenly spread throughout the year the contributions you were getting gained 5-6% on average before January 31 of the next year. 1.06*6% is 6.36% and they're now giving you 7%. So it's an increase but not as much of one as they'd like you to think.

personalfinance

Tepid_Coffee

t3_7ubvqg

thawowtso

dtj37ye

B_P_G

dtjz0qc

Parents claimed me on their taxes but don't pay for anything, what should I do?

So my parents claimed me as dependent on their taxes so that they could get the benefits. The problem is, I pay for my rent and I take out my own loans for college because they don't help me out at all. I think this might be causing me issues getting money from the FAFSA as well, because the government thinks my parents pay for over half of my income, when in reality they don't. What should I do in this situation?

Have you spoken with your parents about it? It seems like it'd be much easier to work out with a phone call than filing and getting the IRS involved. If they don't cooperate, then do what you gotta do and let them deal with the consequences.

If you claimed yourself and didn't take out the loan, would you still be able to afford rent and living expenses? If not, seems like letting them claim you is worth more than claiming yourself.

personalfinance

bruhwhyudothat

t3_5nj5eg

MadMonk67

dcbz4ji

jasondorne

dcbv5kx

Question about problems that happen after the house is sold...

If you have an inspection, and it turns out the inspector missed something or did a crap job, who is liable? Is it the buyers responsibility to pay for it or the sellers? I remember reading about this happening to someone but I can't remember what ended up happening. Currently my mom is considering selling a 50 year old home to a buyer who low balled 50k in order to just buy the home straight up without an inspection. However, this just got me wondering what happens if you have an inspection and the inspector misses something, who is liable for fixing it?

Generally speaking, without knowing where you are or whether I’m at attorney in your state, and even if I am, without this being any sort of legal advice, caveat emptor. Buyer beware. Nobody is responsible for the buyers choice to buy the property. Inspectors almost always limit their liability to the cost of the inspection and while I can’t say that could never be pierced, it’s incredibly unlikely. Similarly, short of outright undiscoverable fraud, sellers are not responsible for the property after closing. Doctrine of merger - when you accept the deed you accept the contract - it’s over. And judges are loathe to pierce that.

If you know something, you have to disclose it, you can't actively try to hide it, but it is ultimately buyer beware. An inspection is fine, but as-is means as-is. They are lowballing to offset any repairs. This sub is full of stories that inspectors missed and it's pretty much tough luck for the buyer.

RealEstate

MattPilkerson

t3_eajbpe

hamhead

faskkjp

[deleted]

fasprtk

Does Health Insurance Really Cost This Much?

21 years old, I've been out of college for a year and a half now working the same job making about 45K/year. I have a mortgage, and all that goes along with that, as well as student loans, and a car payment; all payed for with my income alone. My fiance and I are looking to get married and eventually have children within the next couple of years, so naturally I begin to look into moving off of my parents' health insurance plan. The company I work for pays a portion of the insurance they offer, somewhere around 50%. Even with the help of the company, my jaw is on the floor looking at the cost of this out-of-pocket. For a family I'm looking at almost 1K a month! I simply don't understand how I'll afford this even if I wait until I'm 26. I've asked co-workers and they've confirmed this is what they pay. I'm at a loss as to how they afford to eat. What am I missing?

Your not missing anything, for many that is correct. Try shopping family plans on the marketplace to see if you might find a better option. My wife and I both work for small employers and they cover our insurance 80/20 %. Once we add one person to that it becomes a family plan and it shoots to about 1K a month. We found a policy for my daughter on the marketplace for much lower cost even without any subsidy, and retained our own individual plans through our employers. Now we just cross our fingers and pray we all don't get in the same accident and have separate deductibles to pay =/

I agree with others - sounds about right. Companies are shifting more of the cost to employees and offering more "high-deductible" plans where the premiums may be lower but the out-of-pocket costs are higher. We are all in the same/similar situation.

personalfinance

[deleted]

t3_828yg2

Causey842

dv8at56

EquivalentSpare

dv8fjhj

Why aren't SPX premiums 10x as SPY premiums?

SPX is usually around 10x that of SPY. SPY is at 217 means SPX is roughly 2165 to 2175. I understand that one is an ETF and the other just 'tracks', SPY gives out dividends, SPY is more liquid, etc. However, for example, for Sept 2 expiry the call premiums are as follows: Call SPY @218 = $0.59 Call SPX @2180 = $4.1 I would have expected SPX to be around >= $5.75. Can any experienced traders explain the discrepancy?

SPY has a discrete dividend, while the SPX forward continuously accounts for the expected dividend / interest rates. SPY options are american, SPX are european. SPX mostly expires end of day Thursday, while SPY expires eod Friday not exactly 10:1 because of the dividend (217.43 vs 2170.95 means the same strike option could differ by the 18¢ in your example)

Cause spy is at 217.38 so 2173.8 and SPX is at 2170.95. So spy is 3 points higher price wise. SPX is also European style. There is nothing here price wise to arb.

options

frugalidiot

t3_50jcdb

MichaelLuciusJulian

d74itp8

rolliduck

d74ivoc

Getting out of whole life

About 4 years ago my wife took on a whole life insurance policy. It's a Minnesota Indexed Universal Life policy. It has a $183k death benefit and costs us $150/mo. It has an accumulation value of about $5400 and a surrender value of about $2100. It's become clear that this was a poor choice on our part. How can we get out of this with a minimum amount of hurt? Can we take cash out? Convert the value of the policy to a really long term policy?

If you don't want it anymore just surrender it and take the cash. Right now the whole thing is a sunk cost so as much as it hurts to not get the full value you're still better off getting out now.

If you read through the actual policy, you will learn a lot more than by posting this question on Reddit. The policy likely has a surrender charge for a few years still, and also has a guaranteed minimum rate of cash value accumulation (excluding costs of insurance charges). IF you stuck it out until the surrender charge is behind you, it's likely you would at least break even on your cash value relative to premiums paid. No mathematical loss and you've had insurance the whole time. If you cancel now, you will have succeeded in paying the broker's commission as well as allowing Minnesota Life to recover all their underwriting costs. The only one losing money by cashing out now would be you. Also, this is not an whole life policy and this is a very important distinction. Index Universal Life is a non-registered product, which has "investment" characteristics. Also, the person who sold it likely has no FINRA investment registration due to the mismanagement of their own personal finances. Read your policy and run a broker check before you buy any investments or insurance from another "advisor"

personalfinance

fixingthestupid

t3_2o1v8o

genini1

t1_cmiwy2w

cmiwy2w

Dividendz

t1_cmiydjz

cmiydjz

How should a company choose between paying a dividend and doing a stock buyback?

While both dividends and repurchases have the effect of returning capital to the shareholders from a capital allocation perspective, what are advantages and disadvantages of each?

In theory they are essentially identical except for tax purposes. Buybacks are generally more advantageous from a tax perspective, so the company "should" always choose the buyback. In practice, that's not really how it works. Traditionally, dividends are regular and (hopefully) sustainable. Many people believe that paying a dividend puts pressure on the management to keep the company stable so the dividend can be sustained. There's a whole class of investors who basically only look at a company's dividend (and its dividend history) when investing. On the other hand, buybacks are often one-time payouts and there is less of an expectation that they will be regularly repeated. So perhaps a dividend has some psychological value to investors that a buyback does not.

The big difference exists because of the impact of perception on reality, combined with past practice. There is an irrational expectation of dividends from too many investors. That irrational expectation by investors creates a rational demand for dividends within management. So a failure to choose to pay dividends then is more likely to represent a financial problem than a rational understanding of the relative inefficiency of dividends. But that rational reason for companies to pay dividends (caused by irrational investor expectations) then becomes a rational reason for investors to expect dividends. The original source of all that was historical, when buy backs were far less efficient, so dividends were the only way to return cash from a company that generated more cash than it could efficiently reinvest into growth. That historical reason is gone, but its echoes are very persistent. There are, of course, big non-tax differences between buy backs and dividends for small direct shareholders. Those differences cut in both directions, so it may be very hard to determine whether (before considering tax effects) dividends are better or worse than buy backs for average small investors. BUT the company has no reason to really care about that either way. Big investors and indirect (through mutual fund) small investors matter. But direct small investors are too trivial a fraction of shares outstanding to drive decisions. For big shareholders and indirect shareholders, the non-tax differences are too trivial to notice and the only real difference is the relative tax flexibility of buy backs.

investing

MartEden

t3_3rd0yt

uh-okay-I-guess

cwmymev

jsf67

cwn18n6

Zero Balance Transfer Credit Cards. Good/Bad/Ugly?

Hi Longtime lurker. First-time poster. I love this subreddit and now wanted to see if you guys could help me. Here's the deal... I have a decent amount of CC debt and am getting married in a few months. I'm thinking of having my wife get a zero balance transfer credit card (after we get married) and transferring some of my debt to her new credit cards. The theory being that it will lower the interest I'm paying and allow me to pay off the debt sooner. I guess my question is: 1) What are the downsides to this? (beyond the fact that my debt is now attributed to her?) 2) Are there any other pitfalls I have to watch out for? 3) Would you recommend this? Thanks in advance!

Transferring the debt may help you pay it off faster, but it doesn't address the problem. Unless you learn to control your spending (how are you paying for the wedding?) you'll be back to where you are in a few years.

Some credit cards have retro-active interest which means if you don't pay the entire balance off by the end of the 0% interest period then you get a huge bill for the interest. This will also happen with pretty much every credit card if you miss any of the minimum payments. There is also a 3% balance fee for most cards. Chase 'Slate' is the only card I know of that has no balance transfer fees. Balance transfers are not a bad idea, but it doesn't change the fact that you need to pay off these cards as soon as possible. Make your money work for you not the other way around.

personalfinance

JerseyPhilosophy

t3_2d3too

whiteraven4

t1_cjlrtfi

cjlrtfi

dgreenmachine

t1_cjlv1nf

cjlv1nf

Up to 50 million Facebook accounts attacked

What's your opinion on Facebook long term? Other than advertising revenue, are there any growing aspects of their business you're bullish on?

are there any growing aspects of their business you're bullish on? There does not even really need to be growth, as far as I am concerned. Things that FB has going for it: No competition worth caring about - Google tried like 7 years ago and failed, if Google cannot do it, who can? No debt, no need to ever take debt, and a Piotroski score of 7 or 8 Extremely profitable business model (unlike most social media). The profit margin could be halved and would still be better than most companies Only social media that really captures the middle-aged and elderly segment Potential to monetize IG and WhatsApp Long-term potential to monetize Dating Some long-term potential with Oculus (but it doesn't really matter, it doesn't have to work out) Something like 40 billion in cash to acquire more companies/pay regulation fines Reasonable P/E multiple (23) considering the quality of the business

I'm extremely bearish on stocks right now, but facebook is the one American company that I'm currently investing in. I'm also lightly investing in twitter. I will buy more if they go down unless there is some unforeseen game changer.

investing

pondering_ape

t3_9jovmi

SpocksDog

e6t5hnt

stolenButtChemicals

e6vht3t

New "Part Time" job has me working 42 hours a week, is it worth it?

Just got a new job at a grocery store and I'm loving it, it's easy and not stressful at all compared to my other 2 jobs. However I'm 18 and a senior in highschool, right now I'm ok with working since we don't have any schools because of the virus. But I was talking to a coworker today and she said that they always have their employees working 6 days a week. What's dumb is I even signed something that said that since I'm part time I would be working no more than 35 hours, but on my first week they schedule me for 42? And almost all workers work 42 hours? I want to become a filmmaker and go to film school, which is the reason I got this job but I have no personal time to work on personal projects as of now because of work. Should I quit?

In a month there are going to be a lot of people who would gladly take 42 hours of work a week. Make the money now, bank it for later when unemployment hits 10% and they hire more workers and you find yourself scheduled for 20 hours or less a week.

Work all the time you can, bank all the money you can, then quit as soon as it is appropriate for you. There is a lot of turnover in jobs like this. Give them 2 weeks notice and don't worry about it when you take your next step. And as far as the film making—I HIGHLY recommend getting a degree in something like accounting, business, engineering and then MINORING in film making (if you're going to school). I'm 30 and when I was in college all of my friends went to school for film, I went for business/marketing. Eight years after graduation, out of the ten of them, one is working for Dreamworks. The other that is sorta in the biz is an actor in NYC working jobs as a waiter/bartender (nothing wrong with that, but not what he wants to be doing). The rest (out of about 10 people) are working random jobs or wound up going back to school. It is very hard to break into filmmaking in a way that will support you. If you've got a job that pays your bills and you're truly passionate about filmmaking, it's something you can do on nights and weekends until it takes off and lets you live the lifestyle you want.

personalfinance

ChoppedNSkrewed

t3_fl3sma

KungFuBucket

fkwhlkd

JoeyJoeJoeShabadooSr

fkxoq8h

Looking for advice on the daunting process of purchasing a house

Currently my fiance and I, both 24, are looking to purchase our first home later this year. We live with my parents and are looking to get out before the wedding at the beginning of next year. Right now we don't have many expenses and are able to save up about $2,000 combined each month. One of my biggest concerns is that we do not have any credit, or rather not enough to generate a credit score. I've often heard that having no credit is worse than bad credit. Would it be possible to to build up our credit enough to get approved for a mortgage? For a little bit of background: We have no debt, both make contributions to our 401K's and I make contributions to a ROTH IRA. At the moment I have ~15k in savings between my emergency fund, ROTH IRA and a few individual stocks. I also have 1k tied up in a piece of property I own along with my parents. As for her, she has roughly ~5k in an emergency fund. I would like to get her started on a similar investment path but I'll save that for another post. Our annual combined income is $55,000. I have looked up various mortgage calculators but I'm not sure if those numbers can be trusted. I'm sure a few more factors go into determining that outcome but based on what I put in it seems to range from $120k-$160k, we were looking more in a price range of 100k to begin with. I can give some more information if needed but hopefully that covers most of it. I believe we are ready, I just have no idea about how to take the next step. Like I mentioned before I have a feeling that we would never get pre-qualified because we have no credit history. Even after all of this would renting still be a better option?

I would not buy a house until you are married and living together on your own, for at least a year, but that's me. For a mortgage without credit, you can get a manually underwritten loan from some credit unions.

First, you've gotten some great advice regarding credit and financing. Follow it. However, I think two of you should go ahead and start your house search now. Get a feel for the market, figure out what you two like and don't like about homes, and really figure out where you want to live. Finding the right place can take a really long time. In my personal experience, I started looking about 2 years before I finally purchased, with the last 6 month really searching. When the perfect house came along, I knew the market well enough to know it was a good deal and that it wouldn't last long. And it didn't. There were 8 offers in 5 days. They accepted mine because I knew what it was worth and offered above market price (tied with one other offer) and had all my paperwork in order. So even though 6 months or a year sounds like a long time away, start going to open houses and searching the web now. Figure out your must haves, nice to have, and learn to ignore the crap you don't need that the real estate agent will try to talk up.

personalfinance

ToBuyOrNot2Buy

t3_1x77td

SharkWeekJunkie

t1_cf8qbrc

cf8qbrc

DrovemyChevytothe

t1_cf8whte

cf8whte

Lender is being secretive with low appraisal number.

My wife and I are purchasing our first home so we aren't sure what the normal process is here, but this is the situation. The house we are under contract on has received an appraisal lower than the purchase price. My lender called to let me know the situation but says she can't give me appraisal number. The agents now have 48 hours to supply comps that support the original purchase price. Then we will be given the final appraisal report. My lender seems very reluctant to disclose the current number to anyone, and also won't share the final report with my agent, only my wife and I. Is it normal for a lender to be this secretive about appraisal numbers? Is this done to prevent some kind of shady happenings between agents, or is the lender just trying to give my wife and I the most control over the process as possible? Also, I'm told that we have 5 days from being notified to work out a deal on the purchase price or to walk away from the deal. Does it make sense that the 5 days would start now since we haven't been told the appraisal number? I can't haggle out a deal if I don't know the starting point after all. I'm sure it's important to add that this is a VA loan as well.

This would be VERY unusual... ...except at the very end of your post you say it's a VA loan. Google search "VA loan Tidewater Act," post back if that doesn't answer it for you. Anecdotes from non VA borrowers should be disregarded.

Does your purchase agreement have a VA Amendatory clause? This is used here in California to protect VA and FHA buyers. It basically states that if the sellers don’t want to sell for appraised value the buyer can cancel without penalty. Not sure if this is a nationally recognized form though.

RealEstate

RBDK

t3_aj4px1

aardy

eesoysw

cochanel170

eetq3ci

How do you tell if you are investing well, or it is just the economy is getting better?

For example, over the past 3 years of randomly buying ETFs, my portfolio is up ~30%.

A simple way to determine your alpha is to compare your returns to a benchmark. For example: VT closed yesterday, May 20, 2013, at 55.31. The adjusted close (taking into account dividends) for VT on May 20, 2010 was 36.53. The actual close was 39.14. VT has a three year return of 55.31/36.53 - 1 = 51.40% It really depends on your benchmark. For example Vanguard Target Retirement 2020 fund, which currently allocates 36.51% of the fund to bonds, is up 42.19% in the same period. On the other hand, SPY is up 65.22% Pick the benchmark that most appropriately matches your risk profile/asset allocation.

My portfolio is has been above 40% since the first 6 months I started. It's been 9 months now so I do wonder the exact same thing. Currently own 11 stocks. Not much of an ETF person myself. I have a couple of personnel rules/methods that seem to work well for me so I have no reason to change. Then again it could all just be a whole lot of luck (probably is).

investing

chaoticneutral

t3_1erdot

nows

t1_ca2zk12

ca2zk12

rjm101

t1_ca3b7ru

ca3b7ru

What is your longest dated individual stock holding? How has it performed compared to the averages?

Personally, I am still in college and my portfolio is only about 3 years old. So most of my positions are on average about 18 months old. I am just curious what stocks this Sub has held for decades.

Bought my first stock with my allowance at the age of ten with the help of my grandfather who wanted to teach me about investing. I have still have it (McDonalds) more than two decades later mostly based on odd nostalgia. The stock certificate associated with it is the only one I have ever owned that is actually printed on a piece of paper complete with illustrations. As far as average return, I don't really care. It went up. It taught me the basics of investing and that is what mattered.

I have a lot of shares of $ALL I got from my Grandfather who used to be pretty high up there. I've had the shares since the mid-90s. I also have a bunch of shares of $MS and $DFS I got from him. They used to be shares of Dean Witter until Morgan Stanley merged with them and they spun off Discover. Watching this portfolio get straight murdered in 2008 is what prompted me to better understand investing and the stock market. I sold most of the shares but kept some for sentimental reasons, I guess.

investing

dat_ags_spec

t3_7t6y4p

purpleyak0

dtacpm9

baccus83

dtaejk0

new grad, no debt, 53k salary, how to budget?

Hey guys, I'm very fortunate and will be graduating in a few months at age 20 with no student loans with a degree in accounting. I've accepted an offer from a big 4 firm so that's exciting! But I want to know how I can take advantage of my couple years head start and lack of loan repayments to set up the best future for myself. Despite what my parents think they didn't teach us anything about managing personal finances in any accounting classes so I feel a bit clueless. I'm sure my parents will help me figure out a budget as the time to move into "real adulthood" gets closer, but I like to plan and want to have a starting point soon. I'm in FL and will not be living in my hometown so no living with parents. I really just need help estimating some costs and figuring out how much I should save &x200B I'd like to live alone, I know roommates would allow you to save more but I think I'm difficult to live with as I've never had a positive roommate experience and would prefer to just have that luxury if possible. -Base rent for the areas of town that seem safe and have \~20-30 minute commute downtown is $1000-1100 -I've heard to budget out $100 for electric, $40 for sewer/water -Right now I spend a max of $50/week on groceries (usually more like $20-30 but I'd rather overestimate) -It costs \~$100/mo pretax to park in the garage for the building at work -Will probably live around 10-15 miles from work and my car gets \~24mpg on those types of roads, gas is slightly less than the national average, no idea what insurance costs, not in a town where tolls are a necessity. Own my car -Company match on 401k is 50% per dollar up to 5%, -I know you don't contribute to pensions but there's also one of those (starts at $7k and then 2.5% of your base salary, 3 yrs to vest) -There's also an HSA but I'm not exactly sure how those work &x200B I guess what I'm looking for to make a budget is: is the rent realistic? And what expenses to include. How much should you put into a 401k each month? HSA? How do y'all budget for your car expenses what do you use to estimate gas usage? What should I expect insurance to cost each month? How do you determine what goes into different life funds (car fund for if it needs repairs, new clothes fund for when stuff tears, replacement housewares fund if your toaster breaks, an account w money set aside for co-pays, etc)? Do you budget in fun? Because I started trying to budget and when I put in the amounts my parents think I should be saving I had basically no money left, I'd like to enjoy some of my 5 weeks PTO after a brutal busy season and have some money to do that. &x200B Idk if it's relevant but I also have \~$25k in different stuff in Fidelity/savings right now and \~$5k in a Roth IRA so theoretically if I were short one month I wouldn't be screwed but I'd like to leave savings alone.

Congrats on landing the b4 gig. You need to look at the sidebar, "PRIME DIRECTIVE: How to handle $" flowchart. Yes, you budget 'fun' money. But use some of that PTO to study for the CPA exam. Try to knock it out as quickly as possible. Your rent is ~28% of your pretax salary. General rule of thumb is 30%, so you are good on that front. You can take money out of the emergency fund / your savings to pay for unexpected expenses

This was my world when I graduated undergrad. Start by paying yourself first. At least 10% (pre-tax) of what you earn is yours to keep. I invested another 10% in mutual funds. Maximized the company match in a 401k. Tried to keep rent under 30% of my post tax income. The rest went to fun and necessities. Be disciplined about investing now. When you start earning serious money it’ll be habit. I took on significant debt in grad school and because I invested continually, my net worth continued to increase and outpaced any student debt I took on.

personalfinance

needsenseandcents

t3_aosxzu

CashMoneySir

eg3h85k

FransizaurusRex

eg4l7oo

Any tips on spending less on fast food with a busy schedule?

I have been keeping track of my ins and outs through monefy, and it has come to my attention that I am spending approximately 500-750$ on food a month for 2 people (most the time). That is just fast food and take out. I have groceries in their own category which is around 100-200$ a month. I know the big emphasis on eating at home, however I don't know where to start. I work full time and go to school full time (even during the summer). I have a pet cat and ferret which takes up most of my free time at home. Out of most days, I have about 2-3 hours where I'll be home/awake, with only about 1 day off a week (homework catch up/pet maintenance day). Any tips on what would help? I'm terrible with meal preps because I barely follow through with them (plus I'm terrible with leftovers). Any tips on breaking poor take out habits?

Meal prep once a week. I too use to spend a lot on fast food, till I developed a food allergy. You can do it ! Also, ferrets are epic. Mine lived to be 12 and he was the coolest little dude ever. I hope you have a good budget for ferret items, spoil that weasel!

I have a pet cat and ferret which takes up most of my free time at home. What? That's a bit weird, no? To your point, it's all about priorities. My girlfriend is in medical school and spend the past 6 months at school studying for 15 hours per day, 7 days a week (no - that's not an exaggeration). She was still able to meal prep and we cooked dinner together many nights. It boils down to whether you care enough or not. If you care about saving money and not spending $1k/month on food you'll find time to meal prep and figure it out. If not, you'll continue to eat Chipotle and McDonalds until that changes. Only you can make yourself "follow through".

personalfinance

nabiyonbeh

t3_6mcyqo

CaptainCarlyle

dk0o61r

millennialpfguy

dk0ymx9

Does anyone here make a full time income trading options?

I'm curious if any of you are actually making a full time income trading options as your only income? I follow some of the big options website and blogs and these guys claim it's possible with the right strategy. But then I read articles on big financial sites that say it's not really possible and that advisor sites wouldn't need to have website and sell training and picks if they were able to make a living trading which makes sense. I'm just trying to figure out if it's possible to make a living if I follow the right strategy and am consistent and conservative about it? Also some people say you can make money regardless of the market while others say it's only possible in a bull market to really make money

I trade full time and while I have other sources of income, I do make a full time income trading options. What does it take to do this? Here is my 2 cents: 1) 2 to 3 years of experience is required before you usually see reliable results. This is a detailed and complex profession that takes time to learn, just like you cannot be a professional commercial pilot, or plumber, or any other profession of this caliber without the training and experience, you cannot be a successful options trader without knowing what you are doing and have a lot of experience. Fortunately, we can paper trade without putting real money at risk to get a lot of the experience, but not all. 2) A minimum of $50K to trade with. This is so you can weather some downturns and still have enough to build back. $100K is even better and trading gets lot easier when you go around $100K. Think about it, if you can make 20% trading options, which is a decent reliable return and not out of the question once you have experience, at $50k this will be $10,000 income for the year. At $100K it will be $20K income. Those who say you can make fantastic returns are taking huge risks and you will lose your account quickly (look up OptionSeller.com). As cash is the fuel you need to make this income, once you lose so much and get below a certain amount it becomes very difficult to make it back. As you might start a coffee shop or any other small business you need starting capital. Under capitalization is the 1 reason most businesses fail. 3) Treat it like a business and have a solid plan. To many trade casually or emotionally and so lose often. If you have a really good trading plan that you have honed and has proven to be successful, and you follow it, you will have an edge most do not who just jump in. Learn and know a top notch trading platform as this is just as critical as learning how options works. Far too many throw a few thousand into Robinhood and start trading only to find they lose all their money and say “options don’t work!”. If you want to trade options seriously then set up your business, get the deep thorough education and training necessary (it is all available for free online), become an expert on both options and a top flight trading platform, then develop a trading plan that proves over time it can make money. Sideline your emotions as more money is lost through emotional trading then by the stock going the wrong way. Even if you start now, and already have the required capital, you may be able to be a full time trader by 2020 or 2021. If you’re starting with less than $50K it will take you a lot longer to build up your account while still working to pay your bills. Options are NOT a get rich quick thing or super easy to really understand in depth! With all the above said, this is a really enjoyable profession! You can work from home and trading takes very little time once you have your plan dialed in. It is fun in that you can consider it the highest level video game made, you are playing against other traders for real money. :) I’d be happy to answer any reasonable questions, but the above should be totally clear. If you go at this haphazardly with minimal knowledge you will likely lose $20K just trying to figure it out . . .

Yes you can. The key idea (question) that you must have in mind to be successful in this area is that “ why people are ready to pay for such a premium? And be ready to pay for it when you have to. Then you build your port on the principal of debit>credit Good luck and be respectful to the market.

options

EasternLet

t3_a6rizu

ScottishTrader

ebxs52a

galadinner

ebyehu4

New card has fraudulent charge before any use. Is something larger going on?

Earlier this month, my bank flagged my credit card fore two (declined) charges to Netflix. As a precaution, they issued me a new card. I activated it late Wednesday only to find that on early Friday, there as been a successful charge to Netflix using the new card, before I was able use the card once. Upon they calling the bank, they informed me that they give subscribing merchants (i.e., Netflix) updated card information, and it was MY responsibility to clear my credit information from Netflix's database so that my new to-be-issued card would not be submitted to Netflix. I called Netflix, and they seemed helpful despite the fact I am not a customer. All that said, this seems very unusual. What precautions should I take? Am I a victim of a potentially larger scam?

Similar happened to me: I have two American Express cards. They give new information to recurring merchants without me doing it. A recurring merchant that was fraudulent happened to me once with a website I never even heard of- and there was no contact info for the site. I needed to tell Amex to block that merchant (so they can’t take money out) and to specifically not notify them of the change (so I changed my card info twice- one before I knew the whole recurring thing and once after). I haven’t had a problem since on any of my cards or with that merchant. That was my personal experience with it and it was not a larger scheme for me.

Service that notified the merchant of the new account number is called "Account Updater". Most subscription services use it so there's no interruption of service in case your card is lost or stolen. Call up your bank and file a dispute against the fraudulent charges.

personalfinance

FrankLaPuof

t3_7lq7x2

clementinejuice987

dro3xwh

adrr

drp0720

Mastercard chargebacks on vacation packages? (CAN)

So a few weeks back my mom signed up for a vacation package to Verodero Cuba. I think she paid for the package in august, but the tour didn't take place till last week. She came back fuming mad with these problems: 1) The hotel outlined in the package was specifically listed to be 5 stars and supposed to be the beach side for the whole tour of 7 days. However after the 2nd day and without warning the whole tour group was moved to another hotel for days 3-7, not beach side and much further away. Not to mention the place was not even close to 5 star. Yellowing towels, dirty sheets, improvised toilet paper holder made of a bent wire hanger, AC didn't work at times. 2) Food and entertainment, for the first two days, at the planned hotel everything was going well, food was mediocre but at least available. When they were forcibly switched there was always a shortage of food at the new hotel. The live entertainment that was supposedly available nightly was non existent. The unlimited drinks was no longer available, they were paying $2 USD a can for Cuban Cola. I read the itinerary, this wasn't part of the plan nor was there any mention about possible change in accommodations. 3) The arranged local excursions and activities were all not done because when she got there the package's local guide was unlicensed and was arrested on the 2nd day as a result she missed a few excursions and some meals. Specifically this is on a PC Financial Mastercard so was wondering what recourse she would have for the breach of contract.

Did she dispute this with her bank? They could go out for survives not as described. If she can get a copy of everything she signed it sounds like an easy win.

Chargebacks are easy in the US. Chargebacks are not easy in Canada. I've tried several. I was very, very, assertive and got "goodwill credit" in each case but no chargeback. By assertive I mean politely speak to one rep, speak to another rep, speak to manager, speak to ombudsman, threaten to complain to banking regulators, etc. This is for products bought online that were arrived broken/were fake where the seller refused to take a refund. Based on that, I doubt this will be "easy". Especially since I suspect the contract is written to give them a backdoor, allows them to provide "equivalent accommodations in exceptional circumstances" etc. Of course, this also depends on the issuer (e.g. Amex is much nicer). Your mileage may vary.

personalfinance

accidentalchainsaw

t3_55d2wu

SteinerIX

d89k165

agwald44

d89pqhs

I am able to do travel nursing for a significant amount of money. Should I do it full-time?

I am in a position to do travel nursing and double my income whilst also reducing my taxable amount. Should I take this opportunity to work my ass off for a few years and pay off my mortgage? Also I'm not yet fully vested I to my 401k. Next year will be my 5 year mark and I will be fully vested.

As someone who used to travel for work frequently, be sure that you're okay living out of a suitcase. It was nice for the first year or so but afterward it became to be quite a chore. I used to enjoy traveling for leisure but with all the work travel all I wanted to do on weekends was just sit at home.

I have a friend who is a NICU nurse, and she does this. Her husband can work from anywhere, so they go together. She will not do swing shifts, and is quite picky about her assignments, but with that specialty, she can write her own ticket. Winter in Palm Springs!

personalfinance

DomStud

t3_c99z0v

TerriblePop

esutljz

tu_che_le_vanita

esytk1a

Out of state landlord wants my mom to do "a walkthrough" with the new tenant, advice?

My mom bought a house and is moving out of the house she has been renting for about 3.5 years. Landlord (a certifiable crazy person, if that matters) is out of state and has asked mom to do "a walkthrough" with the new tenant and then give him the keys. This new tenant has apparently rented the place sight-unseen. My concern is that this guy hasn't been inside the place, I am concerned about the landlord coming down on my mom if he backs out. It is a nice little house, very liveable, but has quite a bit of deferred maintenance. Carpets need to be cleaned (LL asked mom to do this) and it needs paint in spots. It really probably needed all of this before mom moved in, but hey, it's a nice place in general. Basically I'm asking for CYA advice for my mom. I don't think any of this is her responsibility and I don't want any issues with LL once she's out. This LL goes from zero to "I'm calling a lawyer" whenever anything contentious occurs. I know this because my wife and I used to rent from her as well! Thanks in advance! EDIT: This is in Wisconsin, if that matters.

Don't allow your Mom to do this alone with an unknown person. If she is willing to do this with somone else accompanying her, fine. It is a nice thing for her to do to help the crazy landlord. If she is unwilling to do this, also fine. She is under no legal obligation to do this. The worst that can happen is the LL witholds the deposit, but from your description there seems to be a higher than average chance of that happening anyway. Also, take pictures of the property before she lleaves to prove the condition of the property. Hopefully, she has pictures of the property before she moved in.

You need to be a good politician here. Sure, you can give the LL a hard time and refuse to show but that's not going to serve you well when it's time to address your refund. The place is what it is. I'd do what I could to make the place presentable and cooperate.

RealEstate

welchblvd

t3_2kadkh

jmd_forest

t1_cljdw8v

cljdw8v

maxquad4

t1_cljhyqc

cljhyqc

What percentage of your paycheck should I be putting towards retirement accounts?

Roth 401k vas Roth IRA? My company matches 4% for 401k. I’d like advice on how much to put in each of these 3 accounts, or whether or not I should even have all 3? (401k, Roth 401k, Roth IRA)

Put at least as much to get the match for your 401k. In regard to a ROTH vs 401k, in basic terms, do you think you’ll be taxed more now or when you retire? If you think you’ll be taxed more now, put more into your 401k. If you think you’ll be taxed more when you retire, put more in your ROTH. Roth’s you put post tax money in and are not taxed at all when you take money out in retirement. (Also there are specific situations in which you can take money out before 59.5 where you aren’t penalized. 401ks, you put pre-tax money in but pay tax when you take money out in retirement. ROTH IRA’s have a max of $6000 contribution per year. 401k’s and ROTH 401s have a max of 19,500 combined. As you can see, it’s dependent on your personal situation, but at the very least get the match from employee. That’s FREE money.

I like that a few of these acknowledge the need for emergency fund. I suspect a lot of the people who are saving 10%+ already have this well funded, but it is critical. Context is key. Especially right now. I was saving 6% in a 401k with a two month emergency fund, but since late February took contrubutions down to the match because I need a 6 month emergency fund to be able to weather what is likely ahead economically/financially. When/if that is settled I plan to go up to 10% based on advice I have read here to put salary increases into increases contributions. I was just about to increase my contributions when coronapocalypse started and now holding my job long term is questionable. I am not far enough along on my financial journey to start also filling the roth and hsa money pots.

FinancialPlanning

airwreckuhhh

t3_g7i10j

LurkingFlyer

fohkx7r

porglet

foj4005

UVE (Universal Insurance Holdings)

On Friday, as Hurricane Irma was approaching Florida, Universal Insurance Holdings was down 17% of their pre-storm market cap of $720M (down to $600M). They are an insurer with a very large number of policies in Florida. About 41% of their total insured value is in Florida and a significant amount is in lower-valued properties (suggesting older homes and the like). That decline told me the market was anticipating big losses. There was some talk at work of shorting UVE in anticipation of their pounding by Irma. I took a different approach, looking instead to their reinsurance book and realizing they only retained about $35M of exposure. The rest of the risk was shared with the reinsurance market. I estimated a worst-case hit of $40M based on blowing through to the layers of their reinsurance cover. That meant they were undervalued by about $80M at a bare minimum. I took a guess that they would regain that value post storm, potentially providing a 13% gain post-storm, more if the storm dropped to Category 3, which Florida should be able to take well. I was in on Friday and out on Monday for a gain of 17.5%. I am somewhat new to investing and this seemed like a bit of a /r/wallstreetbets play, but I worked for ten years in insurance and felt pretty comfortable I knew what I was doing. So tell me, what did I miss in my analysis, how could I have improved this play, and was this just really stupid or a shrewd move?

You did the math to confirm that the market was overreacting to potential loss. A /r/wallstreetbets play would be using margin trading on speculative trades without any significant research into the stock, or ones that are difficult to research (such as biotech startups).

Not stupid at all. Just had to see that $16.50 was support from Nov 2015 (look at how many people sold back then!). So this was just pulling back to support (with even less sellers than before). So you should have held it. Because with so little supply left down at these levels, you know what that will do to prices. Think about this: everyone needs insurance, they'll throw you in jail if you don't have it. These companies have low P/Es and pay dividends. And interest rates will eventually go up (but don't hold your breath for December).

investing

DrunkenGolfer

t3_6zhxa0

COMPUTER1313

dmvedek

TheAncient1sAnd0s

dmvf6vs

Payday loans are destroying me

I (F21) was dumb and decided to apply for a payday loan about a year ago and that was spiraled into about 6 payday loans that are sucking me dry and usually leaving me with a negative balance and I don’t know what to do. I can barely pay for my living expenses. I make about 1200 a month and my loans are about 1500 all combined. My monthly expenses are about 350. I live in Ohio and I don’t know where to go from here. Can I file for bankruptcy? Would that make them go away? I’m so stressed and tired from this

Payday loans are designed to enslave you for your entire life. The interest rate is so high that you will never be able to pay them off. You said you only owe $1500, so you are not bankrupt. I make about 1200 a month This is your problem and likely why you got payday loans in the first place. What are your long term career goals? You don't want to be making $1200/mo for very long because it is almost impossible to live on that in the United States. My monthly expenses are about 350 I don't think this is true, otherwise you wouldn't be in this position. You need to make a detailed budget of all your expenses including food, toiletries, gas, etc. Don't forget anything. I would get out there and start applying to new jobs. Pick up a second job or start a side hustle. Browse Craigslist for day labor jobs. You should be able to make an additional $1500/mo just picking up an extra job and working more hours per day.I would actually recommend paying these payday loans before you pay anything else. Otherwise, you will never get rid of them and they will baloon out of control. In the future avoid these loans and debt entirely.

This is not a problem to go into bankruptcy for. You have two problems. You have an income problem and you have the payday cycle issue. What can you do to get your income up tomorrow? The next step is can you get or borrow money from any family or friends without them going into to debt for you? If not can you try to get a small line of credit from a local credit union or bank?

personalfinance

NekoNekoBlai

t3_aeyfkt

Shrewski

edtu8n0

comments_only

edtuf7a

Received a CP2000 form from IRS saying I owe $3500

HELP!! I have always been very very meticulous in filing my tax returns, but I switched jobs in 2013, and apparently between my retirement distributions (I had the option to take early distribution on a pension) and my 401k distribution ( I Had a loan out my 401k, so I decided to fully close it when I left the employer) I somehow misfiled my taxes and now I have received a CP2000 form for $3233.00. When I try to log in to the IRS website to set up an online payment plan, it tells me that my request can't be processed and to call the phone number. I was on hold for 25 min and had to go back to work. I'll try again this afternoon. I have about $3k in my savings, literally just enough to cover the amount owed to the IRS, and then I'll be at $0 again. My question: Do I set up a payment plan to leave my emergency fund intact, or do I bite the bullet and pay off the amount immediately, and start rebuilding my emergency fund? Here's my current situation: Salary of $78k/ year Just started this job, and am not eligible to enroll in 401k for 12 months Gross bi-weekly $2923.07* Net bi-weekly is $2249.60 I have the following debt: 50% of my mortgage: $600 Internet/TV: $185.00 (DirecTV/High-Speed Internet) Cell Phone: $130.00 Utilities: $120.00 Car Payment: $575.00 (yes I know that's high, but I splurged when I got a promotion at my other job, and I have about 3 years left on the loan) CC Debt: $17k combined with my wife and I Monthly Food: $400 -- we rarely eat out I have estimated that if I deplete my savings I can contribute roughly $600/month to build it back up to where it is and not have to frugally count pennies, but this made me realize how much disposable income I really do have that I can put into my savings. Any help/advice on this topic would be very helpful. I make almost twice as much as my wife, and all she contributes to is her half of the mortgage, and pays her student loans. I was fortunate to graduate with $0 debt because of scholarships etc. Thank you, fellow redditors -- I am fairly new to this site! Regards, iamabigbrownbear

You make $80k a year. $3k shouldn't even be an expense you bat an eye at. You need a much bigger e-fund and to get rid of the $17K of credit card debt. There is a cost to set up installments with the IRS and doing so will just continue your mindset of adding monthly recurring debts instead of building your future. First, verify that the information on the CP2000 is correct. If it is, then pay the IRS in a lump sum. Next, focus on rebuilding your e-fund to at least $6K (3 months expenses). Once you have the e-fund, kill your credit card debt. [Your debt is an emergency.]( Also, you can contribute way more than $600 a month to savings/debt service. Your biweekly net is 2249, or 4498 a month. Minus your expenses listed above, that's 2488 (not counting the CC debt.) After you build your efund up, you should be sending $2K a month in to kill off the CC debt albatross.

Why is internet / tv and mobile phone so expensive in the USA? I'm living in Europa and have 2GB 4G for $40 (+ 2000 minutes / sms), 120MB/s for $40 and TV for $25...

personalfinance

iamabigbrownbear

t3_3erwok

gergles

t1_cthsgzm

cthsgzm

dickapicture

t1_ctibn8y