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My landlady has asked me to pay next month's rent on top of this month's. Need some advice please. | Edit: Resolved. I spoke to my landlady about feeling unfairly singled out because of my current situation, and showed her the current total in my savings account. This seems to have put her at ease and we've agreed to review the situation on a month to month basis. Many thanks to all who contributed.
OP:
Hi y'all, so just a quick one...
I live with my landlady as a lodger (no written contract necessary), and am recently unemployed (25 days). I haven't found work yet and my landlady is getting paranoid that, because I'm still unemployed after 3 weeks, I won't be able to pay the rent in January. So she's asked me to pay it upfront with December's rent.
Now I'd like to respectfully refuse that request as I feel it's completely discriminatory and unfair of her to ask me to pay double rent when nobody else in the house has to based solely on the fact that I'm currently unemployed. I've tried to assure her that I have more than enough savings to cover the rent in the event that I don't find a job within the next six months even, but I work in an industry where it's fairly easy to find a job so that won't be an issue (truth be told I've been enjoying being a slob these past few weeks as I haven't had more than a week off at a time in the last seven years or so!).
But I just wanted some advice as to whether I'm obliged to actually pay the double rent given that I don't actually have a written contract, or whether I'm within my rights to respectfully refuse her request? | ITT: a bunch of people who are barely informed about financial matters now trying to give out legal advice like they actually know what they're talking about.
Post your location, OP. Assuming this happened in the first world you are most likely a de facto legal tenant. Everyone going off about how "no contract = no protections" has no clue what they're talking about since it's common to let in a distant relative or friend, let them pay no rent, have no contract, and then the de facto tenant claims tenant protections because they have been there for more than x (typically 30 days).
Hope this helps OP, google your local tenants rights laws. | Why does your land lady know you lost your job? It's none of their business. All they need to know is what is broken and needs to be fixed, that the rent is coming when they expected and when you are leaving if you have any notification requirements.
Too late for that now, but fyi for the future. | personalfinance | 75 | 1,556 | null | null | null | haxorjimduggan | 1,575,243,199 | 1,586,707,371 | null | t3_e4pwe2 | false | 1,919 | null | null | null | SpezCanSuckMyDick | null | f9eobyy | 1,575,247,452 | 1,584,284,730 | null | 2 | null | null | null | greenerdoc | null | f9f68zv | 1,575,260,676 | 1,584,295,090 | null |
To any day traders: | Anyone know of any techniques or strategies I can use to distract myself from fear during a trade? I trade on a 1 minute timeframe around market open and I sell too early often because I fear losing my gains. I try to plot price levels of daily support and resistance as places to sell most of my shares but sometimes don't have time because of the pace of momentum stocks. Appreciate any support really, sorry if some of this wasn't clear, it's late and I'm about to go to bed. | Actually naked trading works really well: Watching a clean chart along with level ii + time & sales helps you spot break outs/downs and trend continuation.
Also observing day trading events like the break out of the opening range and fading (or breakout) from yesterday's low or high.
If you're looking to hold through out the day, then yeah indicators will help like VWAP and moving averages.
Volume by price and volume profile techniques help too.
Other indicators like cci and stochastics can give a lot of false singles, which is fine, but they're on the bottom of this list. For example if CCI is already in the 100s, we're in an uptrend, and there's a lot of selling, then we might see a reversal.. or not and price continues up, so there's so many conditions that have to be present for you to work with indicators. | Sounds like you just started. Time and experience will help. Are you progressively using more of your capital? Maybe just keep trading a set amount until you’re ready to increase the value safely.
There are very good poker books that have chapters on bankroll management. Having a good plan keeps players from going broke, so perhaps think of it that way, and divide your trading capital into “buy-ins”.
If you are playing with all your capital each trade it’s always going to be stressful, unless you are doing arbitrage. | stocks | 21 | 76 | null | null | null | ndaxb | 1,540,624,115 | 1,542,664,736 | null | t3_9rsf3u | false | 14 | null | null | null | provoko | null | e8jexq5 | 1,540,628,653 | 1,541,517,174 | null | 0 | null | null | null | nanmart | null | e8jl7ku | 1,540,642,443 | 1,541,520,112 | null |
Bought a house, and now I'm in big trouble. Advice Needed! | Hi all, I am a first time poster here, and I really need advice.
I bought a house at the end of March last year for 63,000. I had an inspection done by a highly recommended licensed inspector. I was given an inspection report, and at the end he told me that it was a very solid little house. The sellers ended up fixing a few electrical issues and giving me a small credit towards a new water heater before I moved in.
Everything seemed to be fine for the first six months. Then the mold starting popping up.
First it was in my bathroom on the ceiling. I chalked it up to poor ventilation so I cleaned it and tried saving for a bathroom ventilation fan. Then it showed up along the ceiling of my bedroom and all rooms along the exterior walls of the house. I had it in the back of my mind to call someone to find out what's going on. Finally, this past week, some boxes were moved out of a closet and the wall and carpet are covered in mold that's all colors of the rainbow, as well as soaking wet. This spanned into the next rooms closet as well. Then I started noticing it everywhere.
I call three different restoration companies to come and look. The consensus seems to be that my house is pretty much screwed. The attic is covered in mold and so are the walls. I have been told that the roof, ceiling drywall, and some of the walls need to come down. I'm waiting for the bid but I was told it will be more than $20,000.
I had my insurance adjuster out yesterday and she told me it didn't look good. I now have to wait for a structural engineer to come next week before I can find out if anything is covered. She couldn't say anything, but I could tell she was hinting to me that I'm in big trouble.
Here's the personal finance part of this mess. I have 1,000 dollars in savings. I have no one to fall back on and a "fair" credit score. What do I do if this house needs 20-30k in restorations? I bought this house less than a year ago and it's obvious the problem was covered up when I moved in. I was told I shouldn't even be staying here right now due to the mold, but I have no where else to go. | Real estate agent here.
What I would recommend is contact your agent to speak to the agent who listed the property and ask the sellers if they had any issues with mold.
I would also call every single mold remediation company near your along with some contractors and say this. "I am trying to find the company who gave me a bid for mold remediation and I cannot remember the name of the company. Can you tell me if you ever came out to (property address.)"
Now if you get a hit on this ask them for a copy of that bid along with the date in which they came out to the home.
There is a very high likelihood the seller new about this issue. Mold this intense just doesn't pop up in a few months.
Problem is there is no way to prove they knew about it. UNLESS you can prove they had someone come look at the house.
The seller/agents/inspector have massive legal exposure.
EDIT: Thanks for the GOLD!! | There seem to be a lot of helpful comments here (albeit some harsh ones). OP, it would be awful for you to lose the house and your credit for 10 years, so maybe this is a last resort. It seems like you are taking the right steps to sort this out in terms of legalities. Now, to address the financial aspect...have you looked at your budget to see where you can cut so you can have more free cash in your life to pay for this issue and to save? Have you considered taking additional work or changing jobs to something that pays more? I think you can save the house and keep your credit score, but it may mean rolling up your sleeves and working really hard. | personalfinance | 357 | 1,523 | null | 1,523 | 0 | mandasee | 1,452,951,765 | 1,455,006,457 | null | t3_418gap | false | 3,742 | null | 3,742 | null | blattos | null | cz0kre4 | 1,452,967,675 | 1,454,532,041 | null | 2 | null | 2 | null | theanamazonian | null | cz0j6b0 | 1,452,964,966 | 1,454,531,294 | null |
PF Loan Repayment Advice | Hello, I have seen multiple posts about student loan repayment assistance so I thought I would try my luck.
My student loans come due in the middle of November and I'm trying to figure out a game plan for paying them back. My current loan amounts (including accrued interest) are - I have included the original amount in parenthesis:
SR = $ owed per month in standard repayment;
PAYE (Income Based Repayment) = $ owed per month with PAYE/IBR Repayment
$8,278 ($7,500) @ 6.8%, SR = $86; PAYE = $53
$7,738 ($7,500) @ 3.86%, SR = $75; PAYE = $49
$1,915 ($1,609) @ 6.8%, SR = $23; PAYE = $12
$4,500 ($4,500 - subsidized) @ 3.4%, SR = $44; PAYE = $28
$3,427 ($2,750) @ 6.8%, SR = $31; PAYE = $22
$3,504 ($2,750) @ 6.8%, SR = $31; PAYE = $22
All of these loans started at different times which is why they have accrued different amounts. For a standard 10 year repayment my loans will be roughly $290 a month. However I filed and received the Pay As You Earn (P.A.Y.E)/Income Based Repayment plan which means that I will only have to pay back roughly $188 a month. However, since I will be making smaller payments this accrues more interest.
Money is sort of tight but I'll be able to pay back $290 a month, the reason why I still filed for PAYE is just incase I can't make a full $290 payment one month. So my questions is this: Is my best bet to pay the minimum (PAYE) balance on loans 2-6 and then pay the rest of the $290 back on loan 1 - since it will accrue the most interest?
For instance -
$8,278 ($7,500) @ 6.8%, $157
$7,738 ($7,500) @ 3.86%, PAYE $49
$1,915 ($1,609) @ 6.8%, PAYE $12
$4,500 ($4,500 - subsidized) @ 3.4%, PAYE $28
$3,427 ($2,750) @ 6.8%, PAYE $22
$3,504 ($2,750) @ 6.8%, PAYE $22
=$290 a month. That way I am targeting my biggest loan. Once that loan has been payed off I would target my second biggest loan (loan 2) and so on.
Is that my best course of action? Thanks for any help you are able to give me. | Loan 3 should be your first target. The mathematically optimal method (avalanche method) is to target the highest interest rate first. Loans 1, 3, 5, and 6 are tied for that.
In the event of a tie, it makes the most sense to go with the lowest balance (out of all the loans with the highest rates). This is loan 3. As soon as you pay off a loan, you no longer have to make minimum payments for the loan, so your overall minimum payment will drop (in this case by $12 if you pay off loan 3 first).
Once that's done, go with your next smallest 6.8% loan (loan 5).
Do not let the larger balances on the other loan divert you away from this strategy. Think of this like it's 29,362 separate $1 loans, each with interest rates of either 6.8%, 3.86%, or 3.4%. Pay off as many 6.8% $1 loans as you can. | It is very smart to sign up for the PAYE program to reduce your required minimum payments as a risk strategy. But I like that you are expecting to pay at the usual rate. Nice job.
As for loans, what you proposed is fine but (for risk management) I'd pay off the highest interest, lowest balance first so that your required minimum payments drop/
Good luck. | personalfinance | 11 | 13 | null | 13 | 0 | theimpendingloandoom | 1,412,026,846 | 1,441,146,947 | null | t3_2httnz | false | 17 | null | 17 | 0 | jveezy | t1_ckvzmc0 | ckvzmc0 | 1,412,030,649 | 1,426,762,614 | null | 2 | null | 2 | 0 | ejly | t1_ckw2hk4 | ckw2hk4 | 1,412,036,677 | 1,426,761,276 | null |
Turned 18 about a week ago, moved out and drove across the country. I think I fucked up. | To spare you the long story that's embarrassing and traumatizing, my family is dysfunctional and I was raped (I'm a guy) and no one believed me and told me I had to accept I was gay. Like I said, long story.
Anyway I recently turned 18 and I graduated from high school as a junior. Part of the long story, but my school let me do a couple of classes on my own so I can graduate early. As I just turned 18, I got some money and I've been saving money too. Right now I have a little over $2,500 in cash, my own car, and some of my possessions (my tv, my computer, my xbox, and a couple of other things). The car is mine, my dad pays the insurance because he gets child support from my mom and was nice about it, but I don't know how much longer he'll pay. I haven't spoken to him since I left.
So, drove from Illinois to Colorado and I'm homeless now. I'm ok with that, but I didn't realize how much more money I'd actually need, let alone a job. The last week all I've done is go to the library, read, think, etc. I haven't been able to find a job, but even then I can't afford an apartment or living expenses on minimum wage. The only other option I can think of is apply for college but I have no idea what I want to do, let alone how I will afford it. My college money is sadly gone, so I'll need a scholarship (probably not) or just go into debt from loans. Even then I can't afford dorms and I still need a job to afford basic shit.
I know, I fucked up but I needed to leave. I don't even know the legality behind living in my car but I'm doing it. Any help would be appreciated, and if I don't reply I'm probably driving around and don't have wifi.
tl;dr Toxic life, had to leave, now I'm ~1,000 away from home with $2,500 to my name. What are my options other than go back home? | You need to start developing some skills that will provide for you financially. Are there any skills you currently have or any prevailing interests that can be developed?
If college is not for you, then consider [Job Corps]( which will provide job training as well as room and board, or the military. There is also [Americorps]( which will provide you with a small stipend and an educational award at the end of your two year service. Most of their programs require a college degree, but look thoroughly to find the ones that only require a high school diploma. | I am sorry for the situation you are currently in and can't even begin to thing what you have gone through. The only advice I can give is to try and find a staffing/temp agency to get work for the time being. With the way the job market is now by me, if you have a HS diploma, can work 2nd or 3rd shift, have a clean record, and can pass a drug screen you can make $13.50 an hour with a raise to $16+ after being hired on in 90 days. Even basic packaging and assembly is paying $10.50+ here. Stick with the bigger names like Manpower, Adecco, Aerotek, etc. and you should be fine.
Source: Work for a big staffing company in Illinois. | personalfinance | 94 | 50 | null | 50 | 0 | kdkdae | 1,436,226,903 | 1,440,627,395 | null | t3_3cd4oa | false | 41 | null | 41 | 0 | ElementPlanet | t1_csuf1tk | csuf1tk | 1,436,227,922 | 1,437,644,047 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | CherryDrank | t1_csuwajw | csuwajw | 1,436,272,830 | 1,437,652,356 | null |
For those who found success, do you find stock trading hard? | Is it difficult to earn money? Do you just follow a flow and it comes to you naturally? I've been on a constant downtrend, even though I'm sticking to a consistent strategy and cutting my losses, but maybe I'm just unlucky or picking the wrong stocks. I don't think anything is wrong with my technical analysis either, and I thought maybe I'm just thinking too much about it. What do you successful people think? | It is hard. You need to be disciplined.
IMO, the highest probability to be successful is to be a long term investor. Day trading, swing trading, and technical trading is much harder and much less tax efficient.
I've done both. Trading and Investing. Investing long term has been much more profitable and much less stressful then short term trading.
Disclosure: In the last 4.5 years I've returned about 125%, while the S&P500 is about 75% return. The bulk of my gains have been dividends and long term capital gains, which are very tax efficient. | It's not hard, you just have to actually be interested in the businesses that you invest in and read a lot about them. That, long with being patient and disciplined, will make you money without question. | stocks | 28 | 103 | null | null | null | samanake | 1,503,325,817 | 1,504,706,716 | null | t3_6v39wz | false | 77 | null | null | null | nbagenius2000 | null | dlxdf3h | 1,503,328,837 | 1,504,252,427 | null | 1 | null | null | null | eemctwo | null | dlynv2l | 1,503,398,948 | 1,504,275,255 | null |
Is 30% income to rent even realistic these days? | Hi, I posted recently about finding my first apartment without roommates. I'd like to know whether or not the general rule of 30% take-home income to rent is even realistic these days? My area for my take-home income (1-bedroom for one person) is nowhere near 30%. Sure, I can look for a roommate to meet that percentage, but I'd like to know how many of you who live alone actually pay only 30%? | From my own experience, ~30% is reasonable. That said, it's true that rent varies across geography (and could vary based on cost-of-living -- though salary should vary accordingly as well).
I have a one-bedroom apartment and my rent is 35.9% of my after-tax, after-401k income. | I live with my girlfriend, so with the amount of money we currently bring in together our 1 bedroom costs us about 30% of our income. But that's in Toronto, where rent prices are a bit excessive + we don't need to own a car to make up for it.
However even if I were living on my own my rent costs would only be about 40% of my income, which I think is still reasonably acceptable for when you're not also paying vehicle costs. I could move further out + pay less but I'd be spending more on a car. | personalfinance | 78 | 70 | null | 70 | 0 | KingKazmaaa | 1,390,261,857 | 1,441,950,920 | null | t3_1vprve | false | 15 | null | 15 | 0 | lightcloud5 | t1_ceumf5c | ceumf5c | 1,390,263,154 | 1,432,030,540 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | Sector_Corrupt | t1_ceuveqo | ceuveqo | 1,390,283,508 | 1,432,034,864 | null |
First Time Car Buyer | Hi, I'm a 24 y/o teacher whose car just died. When I was 18, I was fortunate enough to be given my dad's old car. It past away last weekend, and I need a car quick. I'm making $38,000 and currently have $2,000 in savings. What is my best course of action for getting a dependable vehicle and financing it? | Please do not buy a new car.
Find something 6 years old or more, but reputable. Perhaps a used entry level Hyundai or Kia.
Don't negotiate based on monthly payment amount. Negotiate the final price, then talk about financing options afterwards. | How about you take the $2,000 you have in savings, take it out in cash and walk to the next used car dealership and get a car you can pay cash for. Like the chepest one. Forget financing don't be in debt, and if it gets scratches you dont care. If it breaks you repeat the cycle. Works for me. | personalfinance | 38 | 49 | null | 49 | 0 | crookteethsmile | 1,446,663,943 | 1,450,684,097 | null | t3_3rj0po | false | 10 | null | 10 | null | gizram84 | null | cwopxdn | 1,446,677,222 | 1,449,602,123 | null | -1 | null | -1 | null | oziris23 | null | cwoydln | 1,446,691,207 | 1,449,606,172 | null |
Investors with 20+ units | What’s your story? I’m curious how much work you need to put into a large number of units when property managers are in place. I’m always dreaming of having a ton of units that are a variety of property types, but I’m not sure how many units is too many units. Thanks in advance for any advice/insight! | I have exactly 20 units at this time across 7 buildings (1-6 unit).
In theory it takes very little work. Assuming you have a good property manager.*
I spend about 30 minutes each month reconciling my bank account with quick books and entering the months books from my pm monthly reports (rents, expenses, repairs, etc.). Most of the bills that are my responsibility are on auto draft so I don’t really spend time paying them anymore.
I also spend a few hours per year with my CPA around tax time or if I refinanced something.
All that said if your pm isn’t good and proactive and good with follow through and communication you will spend more time than you would like communicating with them about whatever issue. I am in the middle of changing pm right now for this reason. I was finding myself being the one reminding the pm to follow up on things they were not, and what’s the point if you are paying them. I expect my new pm will be very good (spent more time getting this one) and I’ll likely spend maybe 2 hours or so per month of total effort on my stuff.
| I’ve got 20+ units (bought 22 last year alone). Over the years, it took some trial and error to find the right PM and now I spend the majority of my time focused on finding new properties.
Now, I might spend 2 hours a week proactively managing the property manager but I’m extremely anal and go through everything with a fine tooth comb.
Also, too much is never enough. | realestateinvesting | 64 | 108 | null | null | null | bballstarr5 | 1,583,942,298 | 1,587,614,582 | null | t3_fgzd95 | false | 75 | null | null | null | concentrated_failure | null | fk7t051 | 1,583,943,059 | 1,591,613,263 | null | 3 | null | null | null | thixotropes | null | fka5f6t | 1,583,993,176 | 1,591,656,204 | null |
I'm 19 and I have 0 credit. What's a good way to start building up my credit? | I come from a family that doesn't care about credit or things like that. I want to know how to build up and have a good credit score for future use like a car. How can one build their credit score easily? | Go to your local credit union open an account. Then open a line of credit for 200 or so then spend money on it and pay it off every month. | I applied for a credit card online, of course it said, "you do not qualify for credit" blah, blah, blah. 2 months later, the exact same company sent me a credit card in the mail with a maximum of $500.
My father told me it was not a gimmick and that I should accept the credit card, and so I did.
I was terrified to touch it, for almost a year, I did not use it. I gave the card to my boyfriend so that I wouldn't use it for anything silly.
The time came around where I had to purchase four new tires for my car. yes, all four at one time. My father told me, "you'll be in debt, but, you're buying something you HAVE to have, and now is the time to use that card. You just have to make sure you pay more than the minimum on the card each month. Don't pay it off in one big, lump sum."
So, that's exactly what I did. A year after they sent me the card, my credit line was raised to $1500, and right as that happened, I had to get about $1500 dollars worth of car repairs done.
My father told me that I should use the card on this, considering I don't have the funds or paychecks to pay for something like that out of pocket.
I did that, and I've been paying TWICE a month, MORE than the minimum payment. Even if it's only $5 dollars more than the minimum, it still looks good to the credit company. My credit score is incredible, my dad said that it's almost better than his credit score.
You don't necessarily have to pay it off in one big, lump sum. If you have to use it for emergencies, then pay on it each month, that works too.
The other suggestions of using it like a debit card and paying it off each month is also a good idea.
It just depends on what financial situation you are in.
I would love to be able to pay my credit card off at once, but, since I cannot, I make sure I pay double on in it each month, and DO NOT miss your credit payment date or you will screw yourself over! | personalfinance | 100 | 122 | null | 122 | 0 | Brockbrown | 1,442,470,291 | 1,450,791,118 | null | t3_3l9ry5 | false | 99 | null | 99 | null | B00ker_DeWitt | null | cv4h4xx | 1,442,475,788 | 1,444,412,089 | null | 1 | null | 1 | null | marvelwall | null | cv4l977 | 1,442,492,317 | 1,444,414,094 | null |
Anyone else kicking themselves? | Been following Coronavirus since January. Was called crazy. Went against my gut feeling and didn't liquidate my portfolios back in February. And even after a few dead cat bounces in March. Fast forward to today and damn, should have sold! I still have 30+ years to retire but the mental gymnastics of what if's is killing me! I'm still investing and if anything, investing more now. But, the what if I sold and rebought now is draining.
Anyone else feeling the feels? | You know what will really get your blood boiling?
Two GOP senators both sold over one million worth of stocks EACH, right after they were briefed about the coronavirus.... and then days later they told people not to worry about the economy... | I liquidated every thing in 3 chunks around 2/28. I was able to rescue 40% of my gains over 10 fucking years. I was sweating bullets going through all my holding and just sell sell sell sell. Glad I did it or I would be fucked right now. It was bad enough losing gains, I would be volunteering to catch the Corona if I lost all my gains and then some of my principle.
Take this as a learning experience. Start raising as much cash as you can right now and be ready to jump back in. If we make it though this, this is the best buying opportunity in a life time. If we don't recover, buy generators, water purifiers, and guns. | investing | 150 | 338 | null | null | null | specialmoose | 1,584,666,072 | 1,587,695,535 | null | t3_fllq19 | false | 333 | null | null | null | _Gunbuster_ | null | fkzg5r2 | 1,584,670,218 | 1,592,104,925 | null | 0 | null | null | null | catfarts99 | null | fl01flz | 1,584,687,666 | 1,592,115,074 | null |
What causes this type of stain on miniblinds? | Please follow link
If there is a better subreddit to ask this question please let me know | Really easy to clean. Fill the bathtub 1/3 full with warm water, add 1 cup of ammonia and 1/4 cup of dish soap. Dip them for 10 minutes and pull them out. Cuts grease, nicotine, grime, etc.
I'd also run a dehumidifier in the room because it looks like condensation from being in front of a poorly-weatherproofed window. | That's almost certainly damage from smoking indoors.
It is possible to clean it, it just takes a ton of effort because you have to avoid damaging the blinds while still scrubbing pretty hard. If they're cheap blinds it probably is worth just replacing them. | RealEstate | 15 | 22 | null | 22 | 0 | psyrios | 1,482,174,407 | 1,484,419,912 | null | t3_5j87w2 | false | 11 | null | null | null | darkesnow | null | dbe5ry5 | 1,482,177,963 | 1,483,891,974 | null | 0 | null | null | null | TryToBePositiveDep | null | dbe3s35 | 1,482,175,648 | 1,483,890,969 | null |
Boss says I can work from anywhere, even out of state, should I move? | Hi all,
It's not even been half a year yet and my boss has told me basically I could live anywhere I want to since I work from anyways. Boss basically said since I'm young, it's a good way to grow as well.
Should I do it? Or stick around to visit my workplace here and there to establish a great relationship first with my boss and my coworkers first? We already have a good relationship. But I don't want to lose opportunities to connect on a deeper level with them. I know I want to work with them for years to come.
I don't want to jeopardize my job, but on the other hand you're only young once and I've always wanted to see how it was like living in California (specifically Silicon Valley).
I did research and found that it is about the same (rent) with where I live now, and I can fully support myself on my current lifestyle. The taxes are indeed higher, but I don't mind getting a weekend job to make up for the loss. I'm looking for life experience and creative growth.
EDIT : since people are saying how expensive SV is, here is a list of single bedrooms. Keep in mind I plan on sharing anyways. I've found rooms on Craigslist 800-1100 for San Jose, which I am looking to go, rather San Francisco which is about 1200-1600 to share.
What I'm looking for in SV in terms of lifestyle: uber pool or public transportation anywhere in Bay Area, places to play regular volleyball, and a set up at home to do work. I can eat quite comfortably at $150-200 a month, don't like to go out to eat, watch movies, etc. | to be honest when reading this post i was fully expecting that you want to move to a cheaper area because if you can work from anywhere you dont need to be in an expensive area just cause its near to work or something.
was totally not expecting california here and you should check if working in a different state than your actual job is creates any issues regarding taxes or something. | I mean go for it! esp if the numbers check out. I would go for a more temporary move (say a year) before committing living there and let your boss know that! | personalfinance | 88 | 38 | null | null | null | VSAngel | 1,497,596,303 | 1,500,147,193 | null | t3_6hkxu2 | false | 73 | null | null | null | Pixelplanet5 | null | diz45gt | 1,497,597,127 | 1,499,392,899 | null | 1 | null | null | null | throwaway03249328023 | null | dizcdfk | 1,497,616,995 | 1,499,396,981 | null |
Does This Sound Like a Scam To You? | I have a couple of friends who have joined a "mentorship" program. Now I've heard some good things about certain mentorship programs. Having someone that can coach you and teach you about financial literacy, management, and responsibility can be incredibly valuable so I thought nothing of it at first.
It wasn't until they started explaining more that I became incredibly suspicious. Almost every single time I ask for details about it the lady who is their mentor (who my friends refuse to give me her name which is incredibly suspicious IMO) always comes up and how she is an incredible success story and how by following through this program she was able to retire early. They refuse to give any details on how she was able to retire early or how "many" others were able to retire early. All that they will tell me is that it's not a traditional way of making money but that it definitely works.
This sounds incredibly suspect right? I'm not being an asshole of a friend by being incredibly concerned for my friends am I?
*EDIT - I finally got my friend to explain and it is 100% without a doubt a MLM scheme. She has talked about setting up your own business and not working for anyone and how you really start to make money as you recruit more people. | It's probably an MLM so yeah basically a scam. The "mentor" wants to recruit you to sell life insurance or Amway or something and she gets a cut of your sales. It's a thinly veiled pyramid scheme. |
Does This Sound Like a Scam to You?
Judging by your title, yes.
"mentorship" program
okay, so an MLM then...
refuse to give me her name...incredible success story...by following through this program she was able to retire early...not a traditional way of making money but that it definitely works
Definitely an MLM
This sounds incredibly suspect right? I'm not being an asshole of a friend by being incredibly concerned for my friends am I?
You're right to be suspect, and they're the assholes for trying to rope you into it. Just tell them in no uncertain terms that you're not interested, and don't back down. | personalfinance | 4 | 9 | null | null | null | jayjude | 1,570,122,205 | 1,586,222,765 | null | t3_dctrlq | false | 26 | null | null | null | [deleted] | null | f2b6lrm | 1,570,122,464 | 1,578,165,053 | null | 2 | null | null | null | elderezlo | null | f2cgabj | 1,570,137,744 | 1,578,187,119 | null |
Just found out BofA charges me $700 a year in check fees and they're dead to me... What banks have the best checking accounts? | So I just got a Mint notification that I was charged a $6.00 "check fee" by Bank of America. No biggie, 6 bucks isn't the end of the world. Then I find out that these fees alone (not counting my other fees) are costing me over $700 a year. Fuck. That. What are some better options to make the most out of my checking account? | Charles Schwab checking. No fees of any kind, including no ATM fees anywhere in the world. They also give you free checks. I can't recommend them enough. Someone has already mentioned USAA. They are very good as well. | I don't know about the "best", but for me, I use PNC. They have a checking account that is free, and it also has ATM reimbursements. It worked for me in Europe too. I know they pay crap for interest, but other then that, it is a solid checking account. | personalfinance | 128 | 174 | null | 174 | 0 | Art_of_Flight | 1,417,325,853 | 1,441,045,026 | null | t3_2ntmwt | false | 68 | null | 68 | 0 | timefan | t1_cmgvs2t | cmgvs2t | 1,417,344,654 | 1,425,757,667 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | factory81 | t1_cmgzdeq | cmgzdeq | 1,417,361,633 | 1,425,755,937 | null |
Thoughts on Hasbro? (HAS) | Hasbro looks like a pretty good buy to me right now, constant increase in dividends every quarter, 30% gain in this year alone, %5 increase in revenue every quarter. Licenses with Disney for Star wars and Marvel, and while primarily a boys toy company, in 2016 it'll have the rights to sell Frozen and Disney princess dolls, which has been out performing barbie. With frozen 2 and starwars films coming out, what are people's thoughts on HAS? | My buddy Donny works for them as a janitor. He said they have a new child's product that's coming out which should revolutionize the industry. He also said he had fresh cakes | Not a lot of choice of investments in this sector. Really its Hasbro v Mattel.
Here are the stats:
Name | Value | PE ratio| LT growth | Div Yield
:--------|:--------:|:---------:|:---------:|:---------:
[Hasbro]( | $10bn | 24x | 12% | 2%
[Mattel]( | $9bn | 19x | 4% | 6%
It's a little concerning that Mattel's forecast dividend is higher than it's forecast earnings. Though admittedly, that was also the case last year. | stocks | 5 | 13 | null | 13 | 0 | Squibler | 1,437,058,748 | 1,440,607,836 | null | t3_3diel2 | false | 13 | null | 13 | 0 | Alarm420 | t1_ct5eyi3 | ct5eyi3 | 1,437,059,727 | 1,437,903,480 | null | 2 | null | 2 | 0 | shane_stockflare | t1_ct5pqjl | ct5pqjl | 1,437,075,345 | 1,437,911,299 | null |
I feel like there is a huge market for teaching personal finance to college students and other young adults. | Just from reading this sub, churning, and financial discussions with young coworkers, I feel like the financial literacy of youth is incredibly poor. I believe part of this is because even if high schools do teach it, students can't relate at the time because they generally don't have to worry about paying bills, using credit cards, dealing with loans, or making investment decisions. Then the real world can be a rude awakening, and since many go off to college they don't have a parent present to teach them how to effectively manage money, nor do many want their input anyways. Personal financial advisers are fairly inaccessible as well because they primarily make their money off of a percentage of assets in an account, so if you have little to no money to open an account they won't give you the time of day.
That being said, I'm thinking about starting my own basic financial consulting side business to educate young people on what to do and what not to do to establish good credit and put themselves in a position to succeed financially. I, myself, am 24 and feel since I'm close to to my target market's age, they would be more willing to pay me for help and more likely to take my advice. (A little background about myself, I have a BS in Finance, have excellent credit, very little debt at a low interest rate, paid my way through college, and make more annually than the median household income of the US.)
Have any of you had the same idea or run businesses like this? | The main problem is limited funds by your target demographic combined with no tangible short-term rewards.
Anyone motivated enough to learn about finances at that age is unlikely to pay for something they can research easily on the internet. | I actually work for a non-profit organization that runs an in-school program in which students create and run their own businesses to learn a number of fields, and the program has Personal Finance built into the curriculum. We have a number of financial professionals involved with the program that helped put together the curriculum and advise classes of students. Our students frequently espouse that Personal Finance help is a main takeaway and something they're very grateful to our program for.
If anyone is curious about finding out more information, send me a message and I can provide you with more. | personalfinance | 139 | 896 | null | 896 | 0 | mntwins001 | 1,407,074,752 | 1,441,237,675 | null | t3_2ci3pb | false | 367 | null | 367 | 0 | Caustical | t1_cjfok70 | cjfok70 | 1,407,075,768 | 1,435,045,907 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | seatraveler | t1_cjg7opf | cjg7opf | 1,407,120,492 | 1,435,055,133 | null |
Should I bump up my 401(k) contribution? Expenses at almost $900 a year. | I am currently contributing 5% of my paycheck to our Roth 401(k). I get a 20% match on that (maxes out at 5%). Its balance is $37,500 and it's averaging around 9% each year. I am 26 and make $50,000. I am also maxing out my Roth IRA.
The 401(k) has a yearly fee of 1.81% of the balance plus $200. The match covers half of that, but it still seems like a fairly high expense.
Right now, between my wife and I, we put 17.6% of gross into retirement (22.5% of net). Our total retirement balance is $85,000.
My first question is: Should I bump up my retirement contribution? We have about $1100 left at the end of each month. I want to be sure we have enough money for when we retire, but I also want to live in the present (fix up the house, go on vacation, etc.).
My second question is: If I should bump it up, should I put it in my 401(k)? I have a side LLC so I've considered an Individual 401(k) as well (in hopes of achieving a lower expense ratio), but obviously that takes quite a bit more to set up. | Your boss's pal is basically skimming money from your account, and that really sucks. Your 401K plan is terrible. But it's still untaxed money. How are the actual investments in your aggressive fund? If you assume they're very similar to a target year ETF you'd otherwise buy (big assumption) then you're still better off maximizing your 401K before contributing to taxable accounts. |
We have about $1100 left at the end of each month. I want to be sure we have enough money for when we retire, but I also want to live in the present (fix up the house, go on vacation, etc.).
Please read the information found in the FAQ. | personalfinance | 44 | 61 | null | 61 | 0 | CoffeeOnARainyMornin | 1,416,580,278 | 1,441,059,240 | null | t3_2mzipr | false | 6 | null | 6 | 0 | pf_ta | t1_cm93v5k | cm93v5k | 1,416,591,951 | 1,425,909,233 | null | -11 | null | -11 | 0 | aBoglehead | t1_cm8y9rg | cm8y9rg | 1,416,580,461 | 1,425,911,914 | null |
Using KwikPay online with Federal Student Aid, I paid 2x the minimum for a couple months. Now I have $0 due and it's not billing me for a month. Anyone else had this? | I mean, there is no due date for March, just April. Thought I'd ping reddit before spending half an hour on the phone. | I can think of 2 possibilities...
Assuming you're using MyEdAccount for managing... go to "Manage KwikPay" and check the "KwikPay Override" box. This will allow you to pay extra in a given month without it advancing months.
If you're around your due date now and KwikPay is in the process of withdrawing, it may show last month paid and next month due until it gets the current month's payment. I pay on the 7th and from the 5th to the 9th (approx.) I don't see the current month's payment listed.
Additional note... if you want to apply additional payments to the principal (and you do), you will have to call to work that out. | With student loans... Unless you specify otherwise, you are prepaying the actual monthly payments. Easy example - if you owed $100 per month and you paid $150 for that month's payment, you'd only have to pay $50 by the next due date. If you paid $1,200 in that first month, you wouldn't have a payment due for a year. | personalfinance | 28 | 40 | null | 40 | 0 | dick_long_wigwam | 1,363,094,349 | 1,412,989,026 | null | t3_1a58sn | false | 15 | null | 15 | 0 | ChiantiAndFavaBeans | t1_c8u7bc8 | c8u7bc8 | 1,363,096,780 | 1,431,560,478 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | initiallastname | t1_c8uc7hw | c8uc7hw | 1,363,113,338 | 1,431,562,829 | null |
Why not just park money in QQQ and come back in 20 years? | Looking at the growth of $10,000 over the past 20, 10, 5 year periods, investing in QQQ has handily beaten SPY(S&P 500), VTI (Total Stock Index), VNQ(REIT Index)
If one has a time horizon of 15-20 years and can stomach the volatility, why not invest a 100% in QQQ?
I get that the major argument would be diversification, but the numbers are pretty clear. | The major argument is that past performance does not guarantee future returns. Tech has been on the rise.
Also, what's your goal for the next 20 years? That should affect your risk tolerance and investment strategy. | Imagine if prices for trucks got much higher than all other types of automobiles in the last 5,10,and 20 years. So much so that they're worth more for resale than originally purchased.
Would now be a good time to buy a truck at a very high price, assuming that its value in the future will be higher? Not necessarily. It could just mean that you are buying something when it is expensive and could lose big. | investing | 73 | 244 | null | null | null | xtootse | 1,567,143,840 | 1,567,230,222 | null | t3_cxcqel | false | 416 | null | null | null | Cualquiera10 | null | eykbv5r | 1,567,144,202 | 1,575,815,862 | null | 1 | null | null | null | farmallnoobies | null | eykw43r | 1,567,169,813 | 1,575,826,027 | null |
Anyone use Mango's 6% savings account? | [Mango is a service where you get a prepaid Visa card and a savings account.]( The savings gets 6% but there are a number of catches, most notably that the 6% is only up to $5k. However, this would be perfect for an emergency fund or a temporary store for cash. Anyone use it, and what are the downsides? |
A net direct deposit of $800.00 or more monthly and a minimum balance of $1.00 at the end of the month is needed to qualify for the 6.00%.
We offer a fall-back Annual Percentage Yield of 2.00% for those accounts not meeting the minimum $800 dollar net direct deposit threshold.
Well if I understand it right, you'd want to stay 5,000 or under and have to have a "net" deposit of 800 a month for the 6% APR. If you do not satisfy the +800 net minimum, the rate is 2%. Exceeding 5,000 turns the rate to 0.1%. So lets have some fun:
Net Positive months:
4200 + 800 = 5000 @0.06 = $25
3400 + 800 = 4200 @0.06 = $21
2600 + 800 = 3400 @0.06 = $17
1800 + 800 = 2600 @0.06 = $13
Net Negative (Withdrawal) Months:
5000 - 800 = 4200 @ 0.02 = $7
5000 - 1600 = 3400 @0.02 = $5.67
5000 - 2400 = 2600 @0.02 = $4.33
And lets assume you'd have $5,000 tied up the whole time
1up, 1down: $25 + $7 = $32 x 6 iterations = $192 = 3.84% APR
2up, 1down: $25 + $21 + $5.67 = $51.67 x 4 iterations = 206.68 = 4.13% APR
3up, 1down: $25 + $21 + $17 + $4.33 = $67.33 x 3 iterations = 201.99 = 4.04% APR | I have an account with them. It was annoying because late last year they changed the terms to require a net direct deposit of $800 from just $500 direct deposit, and I must have missed the notice for it, so I was only getting 2% interest for a couple of months. I'm going to have to designate a month each year to transfer out the extra cash over $5K so I only lose the 6% one month a year. | personalfinance | 20 | 25 | null | null | null | swissarm | 1,495,227,082 | 1,497,158,808 | null | t3_6c6cn7 | false | 12 | null | null | null | Clumsyflipperfeet | null | dhsa8py | 1,495,229,595 | 1,496,666,379 | null | 1 | null | null | null | mlml9115 | null | dhsla66 | 1,495,244,851 | 1,496,671,679 | null |
Made a huge mistake; Not happy with my job I took 2 months ago | Hello PF,
As it states above, I took a job two months ago at a smaller company as a marketing coordinator thinking it was a good fit even though it paid a tad lower (38k) than my previous job I left (40k). In the interview, they were shooting around the starting salary at 40k-45k. They offered me 38k, and I countered with 41k, and they obviously didn't take it. The company expressed it was a good place to move up and gather more responsibilities than my previous position.
To make it short, they didn't include some of the duties in my job description when I started (being the backup receptionist while the main one is not at her office/answering phones is one example). To be honest, I wouldn't have even considered the job if I knew this would be one of my responsibilities. My boss says one thing and doesn't remember what he said and instead blames me for the error. He is also a huge micromanager and I can't stand it. It's a smaller company from where I came from, but I'm thinking of looking for another job.
Should I confront them about this? Also, if I do start looking for another job how can use these two months as a positive thing in an interview (even if I get one)? Should I even include it on my resume?
Thanks again in advance! |
Also, if I do start looking for another job how can use these two months as a positive thing in an interview (even if I get one)?
Be truthful. It turned out to be a mistake, you and the company aren't fitting in together, and you didn't catch on to that during the interview process (interviews are 2-way streets, remember).
Should I even include it on my resume?
For this current job hunt, sure. After you get the next job, no reason to. | Wow you sound like the woman that took over from my job I quit 2 months ago, or, exactly like how I felt! Sounds like the same interview, same pay, and same small business people haha. Is your name Amanda?
I walked out on a friday. There was nothing left to do, and a better opportunity had come up unexpectedly, so I didn't see any reason to sit there doing nothing inside on a nice day for a few more hours. I'm glad I did it, even though it would have looked good on my resume had I stayed longer.
I debated on what to do about the resume for quite some time. I did pick up some experience there (reading technical drawings and some other stuff), but like you said, I was not expecting to be the backup receptionist also.
I put it on my resume at first, but then took it off. I figured I can just explain in an interview that I was at a job for 6 weeks being underutilized and decided to do something more productive with my time. I decided to enroll in school full time instead (already had a degree, but was getting a second taking one class per semester) so my gap in employment will be explained by that.
As for you, I'm not entirely sure what you should do. I don't know that listing a job you've only been at for 2 months will help. It might be best to put your education or volunteer experience if you have any at the top, then previous work history below. You can also put a note in your cover letters about leaving your most recent job voluntarily for personal reasons and are looking for a better opportunity for long term employment. | personalfinance | 24 | 33 | null | null | null | triscuitsareforever | 1,506,095,777 | 1,507,587,443 | null | t3_71rwgp | false | 60 | null | null | null | winstonjpenobscot | null | dncygwv | 1,506,095,980 | 1,507,004,035 | null | 2 | null | null | null | listen- | null | dndan7l | 1,506,108,848 | 1,507,009,969 | null |
ELI5: Why the US imports oil from far away places when it is a net oil exporter? | I just read that the US became a net oil exporter. What I don't get is why we are exporting oil all over the world while also importing it from far away places like the Middle East? How can this be economically efficient and cost effective? Why not just consume domestic oil and not pay shipping costs?
&x200B
For example, according to the EIA, in 2017 we imported 626M barrels from Persian Gulf Countries, while exporting 9.6 M barrels to India, which is geographically close to the Persian Gulf. Why wouldn't India just import from the Gulf while the US keeps the oil at home and imports less from the Gulf? This would save thousands of miles of shipping.
&x200B
[ _move_expc_a_EPC0_EEX_mbbl_a.htm](
[ _move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm]( | Different kinds of oil used for different things and processed in different ways. It is tempting to think of oil as one homogeneous and interchangeable thing but actually oil can have different properties, most notably its viscosity. "Light" oil has a low viscosity, flowing easily and being easy to refine. Because of this there is high demand for this type of oil in the less developed areas of the world which may have little to no refining capacity. The US on the other hand has advanced refining capacity and both the skill and the technology to effectively deal with heavy oils.
The result of this is that the US can benefit by exporting light oil and refined products while importing primarily heavy oil to refine. In your example India is one of those less advanced countries which doesn't have the infrastructure or personnel to deal as effectively with heavy oil so importing it directly from the Gulf isn't as good as from the US. | A lot of oil we import is refined and then exported again. We have a lot of refining capacity as well as refineries that can handle more complex types of work. | explainlikeimfive | 4 | 9 | null | null | null | acvdk | 1,544,133,165 | 1,548,865,491 | null | t3_a3ssez | false | 17 | null | null | null | Phage0070 | null | eb8ug7c | 1,544,134,073 | 1,547,277,965 | null | 2 | null | null | null | warlocktx | null | eb9dptn | 1,544,148,040 | 1,547,286,969 | null |
20 year old college student in the United States, set to inherit a large house in Beijing, China. What are some of the tax/personal finance implications I can expect when it happens? | I am a 20 year old US citizen attending college. My grandma in China wants to will her house directly to me when she passes away. Right now, she is in good health but I want to be prepared when things happen.
My personal finances are in order. I work full time in the summer. My IRA is capped, I have a savings account with ~$4000, and a credit score of 750. However, I have no experience dealing with finances of any real magnitude.
The house in question is worth about $1.2 million, recently renovated and in a good area. I am extremely nervous since I will I do not know anything about the housing market in China or any tax implications the house might bring. A few of my most pressing questions I have listed below.
Will I need to pay inheritance taxes when the title is transferred or should that be taken care of in the will?
Will there be property or other regular tax payments to the US, China, or both? If so, what neighborhood will these payments be in?
Will inheriting this house affect anything else financially (ie. higher income tax bracket, credit scores, etc.)?
On a less pressing note, I will not be living in China upon graduation or in the near future. Would you recommend selling the house or renting it out?
Thanks for taking the time to read through alll the text above, and I really appreciate any help you can give me!
TL;DR - Inheriting expensive house in Beijing as US citizen, what should I expect financially? | Please don't listen to random people on the internet when dealing with taxes and international real estate law. I've gotten amazing advice and great insight from this sub, but this seems like a situation that needs an estate lawyer or someone of that nature! | In some countries, only that countries citizens are allowed to own property and if house is sold and money given to you; you just can't take money out of the country (there's a limit). Best you check China's law, consult Chinese lawyer (contact Chinese embassy for referral, or Chinese community organizations in your area). In US, you need to hire a CPA specializing in Tax (those with experience in foreign investments/real estate). | personalfinance | 61 | 754 | null | 754 | 0 | rgb247 | 1,440,935,460 | 1,443,152,055 | null | t3_3iy481 | false | 482 | null | 482 | null | Johnnyfletcher55 | null | cukr3be | 1,440,944,161 | 1,441,585,360 | null | 2 | null | 2 | null | ShadySpruce | null | culgqsl | 1,440,991,975 | 1,441,619,500 | null |
Thoughts on EA | With the incident in Florida and the push back of Battlefield V the stocks not looking to hot. Will it recover? Should I buy more? | I don't think anyone is holding the incident in Jacksonville against them (in fact it may give them some positive PR with the $1M donation). However, their slow rev growth and net profit margins leave a lot to be desired. It doesn't look like they have much highly anticipated games coming up besides the annual sports games either. The most favorable model I used for them is the cash flow model which puts their price in the low $90's | I can't speak to whether EA is a better investment than other companies. But if you are talking about today's drop, it has to do with bfV getting delayed a month. If you are holding more than a year or two, this news has no significance.
If my DD indicated that I should buy EA, today/now is probably a good time. | stocks | 26 | 35 | null | null | null | ChucktownOG | 1,535,643,742 | 1,536,828,648 | null | t3_9bkq68 | false | 42 | null | null | null | CaliKingslayer | null | e53r7zq | 1,535,646,414 | 1,538,094,202 | null | 1 | null | null | null | AeroElectro | null | e54eiel | 1,535,667,082 | 1,538,499,075 | null |
Microsoft: will it continue to go down? | It seems like the they get decent news. Like 12 million new users because of the work at home issue. Will their stock go much below $ 140? | It’s the buy of a lifetime. This company has one of the best balance sheets ever. Buying companies like AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, MA, HD, MCD, NKE, SBUX, TJX, LOW. will be some of the best purchases you ever make in the next 5-10 years. | Nobody knows for sure. But in the long term the big five tech companies should continue to do extremely well. Covid-19 does not change that in a long term manner, IMO.
The big five are Google, Amazon, Facebook of the new ones. Then the older ones Apple and Microsoft.
Safest position is to own all 5. As much of the competition for the five will come from another in the five.
Also realize these companies have a ton of cash ready to go. Google for example has less than $4B of debt and over $100 billion of cash ($120B).
So Google for example has tons and tons of cash ready to go on acquisitions. These companies will be in even stronger positions after covid-19. | stocks | 10 | 14 | null | null | null | laundryman1616 | 1,584,755,598 | 1,587,705,861 | null | t3_fm7abt | false | 39 | null | null | null | [deleted] | null | fl2oqty | 1,584,756,112 | 1,592,162,476 | null | 2 | null | null | null | bartturner | null | fl3lnio | 1,584,789,735 | 1,592,178,803 | null |
24 year old...managed to put myself 18k in credit card debt...what to do next? | A bit stressed. Wanted to post here and get some advice. 3 years ago I graduated and moved to a new state, managed to find a job quickly, and things were going swimmingly. A year goes by and I am unfortunately laid off. Cue about 8 months of job hunting (with various odd jobs here and there). Started putting expenses on a credit card...suddenly it sort of snowballed and now I have 5 credit cards and 18k in debt. I, unfortunately (and stupidly), just sort of played it off like it was nothing...but 18k is a lot of money and that is not nothing. Last night sort of had a breakdown about it, but am determined to get myself out of this mess. Here are my basic expenses right now-
$3,200 Monthly income (I have a job now thank goodness)-
$650 Rent-
150 Utilities-
293 Car Payment-
314 Car Insurance-
200 Gas-
200 Groceries-
28 Gym-
30 Entertainment-
35 Renter's Insurance-
293 Student Loans-
253 Credit Cards (all 5 total, all at 0% interest right now)
And...I think that's it. My biggest issue is that I have a spending problem. I'm finally becoming aware of this and am taking steps to stop this. I also go out on weekends too often...cutting this as well.
Right now I am looking for a second job on weekends. I am thinking about possibly becoming a soccer referee as I use to play and think it would be a good supplement. Once I secure a second job all that money will go straight to the credit cards.
And...yeah. Any advice from people who have gotten themselves out of something like this? I feel pretty stupid and dumb for letting this happen. Just hoping this isn't a hopeless situation and I can get myself out of it. | All of your expenses add up to $2446. Is that income number a take home pay?
Because if so you have ~$700 in available income that could be used to pay down the CC debt rather quickly. If you get a second job you could have it all paid down within a year.
It looks like you're in good shape and I would just recommend that you build up a good emergency fund once you are through all this so that you don't have to go into debt if you get laid off. | From you listing, looks like you have ~$700 extra each month. If you don't feel like you have this much extra, you need to get to tracking your expenditures more closely. Use Mint or YNAB.
I'm also 24 (M) and my car insurance is less than $100/mo. Do you have lots of tickets/accidents? Are you deductibles very low? If both of those are "no" I would try to get other quotes for auto insurance. | personalfinance | 28 | 22 | null | 22 | 0 | tryintofixthis | 1,441,729,939 | 1,450,810,905 | null | t3_3k40l6 | false | 14 | null | 14 | null | Pinewood74 | null | cuukcv7 | 1,441,730,650 | 1,444,238,768 | null | 2 | null | 2 | null | Thinkbravely | null | cuul1si | 1,441,731,705 | 1,444,239,094 | null |
“The secret of very early retirement is that almost everyone makes money after retiring." |
“The secret of very early retirement is that almost everyone makes money after retiring. Too much happy energy to avoid it.”
Mr. Money Mustache responding to someone on Twitter
That quote was recounted on the [Mad Fientist podcast with Michael Kitces on the 4% rule]( (which is a must-listen episode, BTW). Michael is a fee-only financial advisor who routinely works with early retirees. After listening to this episode, I'm wondering if many of us can "retire" earlier than we thought.
More on this subject from the interview in no particular order:
“In reality, we need things to wake up to in the morning. We need to have a sense of progress, and we crave to have something that gives us a feeling like we’re having impact. Most of those things end up being something that make money!”
“We see this routinely with clients and have for years and years now. If you’ve got any capability to work in retirement, most people we see continue to work in retirement for a period of time. Or they take some time off and realize that they’re kind of bored, and they go back working in early retirement.”
“…the number of people who insisted on getting to their pure stand-alone FI number because they never ever ever ever ever wanted to work again… and then within 3 years were working again…”
“I find a lot of early FI folks grossly underestimate the sheer impact of just doing a little part time work for like $10,000 a year. Assuming a 3% withdrawal rate, an extra $10,000 of side gig income is like having another $300,000 in your portfolio.”
(talking about a client) “I know you’re trying to work another 7 more years for early retirement, but if you just cut back your work and income 50%, you’d be ready to ‘retire’ today.”
While I'm also working toward FI, if I'm being honest with myself, I'll likely never be able to retire fully (unless I'm physically or mentally unable).
Even if I hit my number and wave goodbye to my job, I'll probably pick up a hustle and start earning at money again within a few months. I won't work full-time, or all year, but I will most certainly work. Given this information, I'm sincerely considering leaving full-time employment earlier than planned (like super-lean FIRE territory...)
Is anyone else planning on working on an income-generating activity in early retirement? If so, are you adjusting your FI number to account for this? Or do you disagree with this sentiment? | "The key to early retirement is that you don't retire."
These articles need to stop bullshitting and get to the point: People pursue FI so they can exert labor on their own terms for their own reasons rather than working for someone else.
I wouldn't mind my job at all if it had no boss, no deadlines, I got to pick my co-workers, I could say whatever I damn well please, and I could quit at any time without consequence. |
if you just cut back your work and income 50%, you’d be ready to ‘retire’ today.
If only that were an option. I would never expect to fine the same hourly rate equivalent of my salary at a part-time job. I could search for something full time that's more like 35-40 hours and non-salary, but that would just prolong my pain in the workforce.
Current thinking is a hybrid - save until I can afford to go back to high school jobs. $20k/year total between the wife and I is what I'm planning on bringing in. If I could spend Monday through Thursday as a free man, waiting some tables on the weekend would be a good way to get out of the house and meet new people. | financialindependence | 241 | 1,202 | null | null | null | hustlebutts | 1,513,649,597 | 1,515,348,711 | null | t3_7kq4jj | false | 386 | null | null | null | ja1484 | null | drgep3d | 1,513,654,163 | 1,514,863,772 | null | 2 | null | null | null | engineeringtway | null | dri2a2b | 1,513,735,149 | 1,514,896,746 | null |
Car Accident Caused a lot of headaches, on top of my CC debt | My fiance and I were involved in a horrific car accident on January 26th, and our car was totaled. Due to this, neither of us have been able to make it work and we both hold two jobs each. This has not only made it all but impossible for us to obtain a new vehicle so we can continue work, but it has also left us extremely short on our rent money. We're both in college and we are now at risk of being evicted from our home and have nowhere to go in subzero temperatures. It would kill us both to have to drop out of college due to an accident that wasn't even our fault. On top of all of this, we were both injured, my girlfriend more so than me. Well the eviction process will most definitely start tomorrow at this point. I have talked to a few different charities that will help pay our rent, but what can I do about the eviction notice as to make sure we don't get kicked out before we can have our money together from that? I am also trying to figure out what to do for work with no car, and my ability to stay standing is drastically crippled. The person responsible for the accident has not responded to their insurance company yet, Allstate, and they have not claimed liability because of this. | What does your insurance company say/what is your coverage? Many full coverage insurance has car rental included as you shop for a new car. Sounds however like you only had liability coverage and no e-fund. In that case call your state board for personal injury lawyers in your area and call a few. Good luck. | > We were about to become financially well-off, and start our savings account with the majority of our income going into savings, living off of a very minimal budget.
&x200B
What does this mean? You were about to? Dependent on what? Is this no longer the case? | personalfinance | 16 | 14 | null | null | null | Anonexistantname | 1,551,109,622 | 1,553,258,442 | null | t3_aumlx6 | false | 20 | null | null | null | gas-man-sleepy-dude | null | eh94pxq | 1,551,112,683 | 1,554,983,727 | null | 1 | null | null | null | ThorMagnusson | null | ehaaph0 | 1,551,141,422 | 1,555,003,329 | null |
ELI5 Why McGraw Hill Financial $MHFI is worth $28 billion, while only bringing in $5 Billion in revenue and -$239 Million in net income? | No p/e ratio. I am absolutely no expert in price evaluations of companies, I just can't rap my mind around this valuation. There must be some intrinsic value that I can't see. | They incurred some non-recurring settlement and regulatory costs in the amount of $1.6b during the fiscal 2014. Previous year those costs were about $77m.
If you discount those their net would've been in the ballpark of $1.5b. With a P/E of 20 (about what their peers are trading at) their market cap would be $30 billion - which is pretty much how they're valued at the moment. | [CocoHobbs]( you are looking at historic EPS there, including exceptional items.
Look to the future!
[Our analysis]( shows:
forecast PE ratio of 23x (with peers on 22x)
with EPS in 2015 of $4.40 and long term growth forecast of 15%
Yes, did $5bn of sales last year with 60% coming from the US, so might indicate there is lots of room to grow in EMEA and Asia-Pac?
The S&P rating business is an oligopoly player and not been destroyed by 5 years of regulation
The S&PDJ Indices are a near-monopoly.
CapitalIQ is a me too data vendor, but seems to be holding its own versus Morningstar, Factset, etc.
Let's look at some of the peers:
[Moody's Corp]( trading on 21x
[Factset]( trading on 28x
[Morningstar]( trading on 25x
[MSCI]( trading on 28x
You'll have to look at Markit, Dun & Bradstreet, Broadridge or Valueline if you want something cheaper! | stocks | 3 | 16 | null | 16 | 0 | cocohobbs | 1,425,206,656 | 1,440,879,402 | null | t3_2xjvk7 | false | 17 | null | 17 | 0 | julle_1 | t1_cp0qjnj | cp0qjnj | 1,425,207,545 | 1,427,516,879 | null | 0 | null | 0 | 0 | shane_stockflare | t1_cp0u47q | cp0u47q | 1,425,222,332 | 1,427,518,545 | null |
"I saved $1000/month by not drinking alcohol/coffee" | I thought this would bring up an interesting debate. Guy in NYC stops drinking alcohol and coffee and says he saves $1000/month. Also thinks it's completely "normal" for someone to go out for drinks every, single, day. What do we think, /r/pf? | Having lived and worked in Manhattan, I do not find it at all abnormal for someone to go out for drinks every day. Not saying it's necessarily a wise thing to do, but no one would label you an alcoholic if you went to happy hour every weeknight and out for dinner and drinks on the weekend. But, yeah, you will be healthier and have more money in your pocket if you cut back to maybe once or twice a week. | I did not cut out my morning drinks, but the change I made is to not drink "empty" drinks. I can spend $2 on a morning's black coffee, or I can spend $1.25 on an equivalent amount of Naked juice that actually has some calories and real nutritional value. Since I'm usually packing down 3000+ cals a day just to maintain weight, I make many decisions on cals per dollar.
So this move alone saves me $180 per year versus coffee. If I just drank water I'd save $720 versus coffee. | personalfinance | 480 | 1,518 | null | 1,518 | 0 | litecoinminer123 | 1,450,795,649 | 1,454,945,933 | null | t3_3xu80s | false | 371 | null | 371 | null | rogueknits | null | cy7swys | 1,450,797,167 | 1,451,794,925 | null | 1 | null | 1 | null | meatwad75892 | null | cy881ll | 1,450,819,909 | 1,451,802,195 | null |
$20,000 hospital bills and the hospital won’t budge anymore, I work at target, how do I pay that? | Had to go to the hospital for 5 days for psychiatric services, got the itemized report today, just under $20k. Because I don’t have insurance and I’d be self paying, they dropped it to $10k which is cool, if I had money. I asked if I could set up a payment plan, the lady was being very kind, she said she put it lower than she was supposed to and it still only brought it to $260 per month which I still can’t afford. I honestly have no clue what to do, I want to just let it go to collections just so I could get it lowered otherwise I can’t even afford to live. | Pay as much as you can and continue doing so until the debt is paid. Letting huge bills go against your credit won’t benefit you in the future at all. Sorry I don’t have better advice. | Although you said you did not get approved for Medicaid. Ask if they have a Medicaid worker on staff. Most states have an emergency Medicaid thing that will cover only the days you were in the hospital. It is a rare and rarely used form of Medicaid. Most Medicaid workers don't even know that it exists. If the hospital doesn't have a worker on staff I'd ask to speak to a supervisor at the county office and see about getting approved for just those days in the hospital. It might be worth looking into if your state has this kind of emergency Medicaid. | personalfinance | 15 | 13 | null | null | null | domibitchminn | 1,550,692,058 | 1,553,225,800 | null | t3_assrno | false | 18 | null | null | null | momajustnot | null | egwf2yp | 1,550,692,307 | 1,554,494,642 | null | 2 | null | null | null | RioKye | null | egwfshv | 1,550,692,780 | 1,554,494,988 | null |
First Time Home Buyer Do's/Don'ts and other Red Flags | Me and my wife are preparing to buy our first home sometime over the next 4-6 months. We look at homes daily and have approximately 20k in savings for a home. We have virtually no revolving debt other than 30k in student loans with a monthly payment of 250$. Both of our cars are paid off. CC are paid in full monthly. We are looking for general advice as well as ways to appraise homes as we make our decision in 6 months from now. When we go on redfin or zillow to look at homes we just mainly look at pictures galleries. However we realize their is a TON of information written about these homes including the property assessment. What red flags should we be looking for in these homes? What type of heat/energy products should we be looking for? All advice is appreciated. | Property assessments are not good indicators of value. In my area they set them 3 years at once and so a quickly moving market can easily get out of whack. What the tax assessment is good for is determining the tax rates in one area as compared to another. Also look at the square footage in tax records as compared to what listings say because this is a red flag that there is (possibly) an unpermitted addition (very difficult to get a loan these days, on places with unpermitted improvements).
Zillow is also not a good way to assess value. Zillow is a marketing tool for realtors and advertisers.
I know lots of reddit hates using realtors but IMO for a first time home buyer, it's a good idea. The seller pays the fees. And just my opinion, based on years and years of analyzing final sales prices, you will NOT save money by not using a realtor, the seller will save money. A first time, not market-savvy person is just asking to be screwed out of a lot of money by not working with an agent (oh go ahead and downvote me but I've seen it many, many times).
But the best way to know if you're getting a good deal is to become an educated buyer. Go look at the homes in person, drive by them, attend open houses. Pay attention to what the asking prices are, how long they take to sell, and what they sell for. If you really want to geek out put it all in a spreadsheet and track square footage, views, upgrades, quality of construction, curb appeal, etc.
Also bear in mind that amateurs like to discuss price per square foot when looking at houses. Appraisers do not use price per square foot to estimate values because it is not a good tool for this. If you take an average house there are some fairly fixed costs, foundation, mechanicals, kitchen, baths. To make this house larger costs much less, per square foot, than the initial build. Baths are actually the most expensive rooms in a house per square foot because of everything going on. So very easy to be comparing apples and oranges if you don't know what you're doing here. Price per square foot doesn't capture the cost of the land or lot size, views, site improvements like pools or fences, or differences in school district etc. It's kind of like pricing a car by the pound.
TL/DR ignore zillow, ignore $/SF, work with a realtor. Good luck. |
First and foremost, trust the numbers - never fall in love with the house to the point of blindly accepting it's defects.
It is customary for sellers to pay all realtor fees (at least here in Texas) so don't negotiate anything otherwise.
Ask for cash back at closing to cover closing costs. Usually $3,500 to $7,000.
Ask to see utility bills for the coldest and warmest month of the year. This will give you an idea of your max utility costs.
User a realtor but bear in mind the realtor will always want you to pay a higher price as their commission depends on it so if they say an offer of say $135,000 is a good offer, look on the MLS yourself at similar properties to confirm. You may be able to offer less.
Hire a good Inspector, one that also uses thermal imaging on the walls. I think $450 is a good price to pay. Here the old addage 'You get what you pay for' really comes in to play.
Finally, determine your financing game plan. Get pre-approved for your loan and put no less than 10% down on your loan. You can get into an FHA home for 3.5% but you will likely pay about $250 per month in Mortgage Insurance. You may as well just burn that cash because you will never see it again. You could get two mortgages, a 10% mortgage and then use the 10% mortgage combined with your 10% down payment to bring the Loan to Value under 80%, negating the need for PMI. TALK TO A MORTGAGE BROKER AND GET OPTIONS - ALL OPTIONS - ON THE TABLE.
Finally, buy a house within your means. You have 20k in savings. If you buy a 100k house with 10% down that leaves you with only 10k - a pretty scare situation. Consider the risks of home ownership and the possibility of losing a job or two and only have 10k in savings.
Like Ben Franklin once said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. | RealEstate | 15 | 8 | null | 8 | 0 | tnolan182 | 1,442,410,267 | 1,450,792,898 | null | t3_3l640t | false | 19 | null | 19 | null | wamazing | null | cv3gsol | 1,442,411,632 | 1,444,394,703 | null | 3 | null | 3 | null | LuckyTrader | null | cv3kxsf | 1,442,418,354 | 1,444,396,654 | null |
How to invest in Hoisin sauce? | I want to invest in Hoisin sauce. How do I do that? | Two of the biggest brands selling them by volume in the U.S. is Lee Kum Kee and Dynasty Sauces. The former is privately held while the latter is a subsidiary of the publicly traded Kikkoman. | Hell yeah! That stuff is awesome!
Although as someone said, Hoisin is a condiment not a specific brand. You can invest in a company that makes it, but most of those companies make dozens or hundreds of products. The ingredients in hoisin sauce are very common so there is no market you could try to invest in the corner. | investing | 9 | 61 | null | null | null | MookyOne | 1,498,861,644 | 1,500,199,906 | null | t3_6kjb1f | false | 37 | null | null | null | 1541drive | null | djmhcou | 1,498,862,078 | 1,499,804,535 | null | 1 | null | null | null | aveeight | null | djnbjjo | 1,498,920,486 | 1,499,819,426 | null |
Investment Class Project, beat S&P 500 over 2 months? | Hey /r/investing, I'm struggling to understand a project that I have in my Investments class. We've been given $1m of fake money to try to beat the S&P 500 Index in the next two months using any kind of securities available.
I have to write an 'investment policy statement' to explain my strategy for making the investments I choose, but I can't think of anything to say except that trying to beat the S&P 500 over a 2 month period can only work if you're lucky, and this project is only encouraging speculation, not investment.
I can't really take it seriously for this reason, much less write a page long explanation of what I'm doing and why except to say that I'm putting money in a stock and hoping it goes up in 2 months.
Is this wrong? Is there some underlying lesson here that I don't understand, or some reasonable strategy for making this work? Is this kind of project more designed to get people familiar with the stock market and trading than actually to teach them about investment, and if so, why require us to write a statement as though there's some kind of actual legitimate strategy to this?
Thanks in advance! | Note: the following is simply a gambling "betting strategy" and does not answer your high-level question re: whether or not this assignment represents a possible lesson.
If the goal is simply to beat the S&P 500 by any positive nonzero amount (no matter how small), simply make a very tiny investment that you expect to change quickly (within days). If you don't win this one, make a slightly larger one, until you happen to win one. By increasing the "bet" size each time, you essentially only have to "win" the last one in order to be up a tiny amount from your starting capital.
Once you have made the tiniest amount, simply put the entire fund into the S&P 500 itself, so that no matter how it changes, you will match it exactly, plus the (tiny) amount that you achieved at the start.
This strategy does not have any real-world applications, it is simply a way to improve your chances of succeeding in this particular assignment. | Op, I completely agree that these stock market games teach the wrong lessons, encourage risky short term speculation, and are counterproductive overall. It really upsets me that schools are still reaching this crap. What class is it and what school? Eg high school or college? Business finance accounting what?
If I were you I would construct a simple low cost tax efficient portfolio of index funds in several different asset classes. According to modern portfolio theory, including asset classes of negative correlation increases the output of your portfolio more than the constituent parts. You might "beat" the s&p and if you don't you can still smugly tell your "teacher" that you did the right thing. | investing | 31 | 17 | null | 17 | 0 | whitehat511 | 1,346,778,326 | 1,413,604,820 | null | t3_zcdrp | false | 57 | null | 57 | 0 | jklbkses | t1_c63cm2q | c63cm2q | 1,346,779,010 | 1,429,815,331 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | throwaway1138 | t1_c63inn8 | c63inn8 | 1,346,801,615 | 1,429,818,266 | null |
My county's assessed value of my home went up by 10% (nearly $20,000). What does that mean for me? | This is our first home and for the past 5 years our county's assessed value has stayed relatively the same (increased by about ~$2k). We received a notice of increase in our assessed value and though it mentioned that the current tax rate is 11%, but that we may incur a higher tax rate in the next tax cycle. We have an escrow account that estimates taxes based on past years. How will this affect us? | If the entire town/county was reassessed, there is a chance your taxes go up, down, or stay the same... its just a realignment of your percentage of the town/county overall tax bill. Say if everyone's house was reassessed 10% higher due to real estate market improving, then everyone pays the same taxes. Outliers are; the guy who let his house slip and deteriorate, probably pays a little less, and teh guy who improved his house without permits may see his taxes go up.
On the other hand, if you improved your house (and with permits, cause this is how they know) with a new addition, or upgraded the kitchen or something... after the project has final inspections, a tax person comes out and a reassesses the value of your home. So if that 10% increase is because you improved your home, then yes you will see a tax increase.
If taxes are paid in your mortgage, you do nothing different. The mortgage company will see the tax increase notification, will see that your escrow is not enough, and will raise your montly payment.
In USA new jersey the 10% could be a killer. I pay $8000 for a 1500 sq ft house. In 48 other states though that 10% isnt really a big deal. | You can challenge and pending who you are dealing with you can great results to none, but worth the effort in a high tax rate area. I have done this several times. Make sure you have comps in the neighborhood and have market info for your school district. | RealEstate | 5 | 21 | null | null | null | Stillnotyourmom | 1,488,591,415 | 1,492,373,767 | null | t3_5xegev | false | 13 | null | null | null | markaritaville | null | dehz692 | 1,488,636,207 | 1,491,200,307 | null | 2 | null | null | null | BATHTUBSURFER | null | dei2q6o | 1,488,642,506 | 1,491,202,023 | null |
Any disadvantage to using a realtor to find an apartment? | Like higher rent or larger deposit?
Sorry for the dumb question.. | Former apartment management person who became a Realtor here.
I wouldn't bother using a Realtor unless you need something unusual in an apartment. If you need a garage, or a handicap unit, or a community that accepts large dogs, sure get a pro who already knows where to start looking. Otherwise go to any convenience store, pick up one of those free magazines with a title like "Apartment Guide" or "For Rent" and start looking.
Good luck! | Just signed my lease and I can tell you I found the house myself. I have the realtor the number and the landlord didn't want to rent through them because of the fee associated with it. | RealEstate | 16 | 12 | null | 12 | 0 | DumbQuestionUser | 1,434,217,834 | 1,440,672,251 | null | t3_39q5eq | false | 11 | null | 11 | 0 | ShortWoman | t1_cs5flw1 | cs5flw1 | 1,434,218,877 | 1,436,969,833 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | I_Zeig_I | t1_cs5ywbd | cs5ywbd | 1,434,263,377 | 1,436,984,902 | null |
I am 19, Depressed, and I haven't had a job before. Where do I start? | Hello, I am 19 years old and in college which my parents are paying for. I want to get a job (hopefully I can get work study next year with the 2017/2018 FAFSA) but I don't know where to begin. My school is very competitive, their med school even more so, so I need to get into a professor's biology lab or any kind of research lab to even think about competing with other students. I want to get a research position, but I also need to make money (so I can pay for my own things and help pay for college a bit). I don't have a car as of now, but I can get free transportation from my school.
Luckily, my school has their own website where you can post your resume and apply for jobs there, but it's hard for me to get motivated as I am very depressed.
I don't know where to begin to even start looking for a job (the type of job I should get, if I should do it over the summer, ect).
Also, I am also unsure of if a credit or a debit card is better, as I've never had one.
TLDR; I want to get a job (but also need a research position at my school) but my depression is getting in the way and I don't know where to start. I also dont know whether or not to apply for a debit or credit card. Advice?
I'm on mobile so I apologize for the mistakes. | i would check into what services your college offers, both in terms of career support and help with the depression.
Depression is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is something to take seriously. Please don't just hope it will get better all on its own. Seek some help and I'm sure you can find some.
good luck! | You might want to consider tutoring either through the school or independently. If you can get private clients it pays well but either way it helps cement the material into your head which is never a bad thing even if it's outside of your field. Also the hours are flexible and it might look good on grad school applications (I have no idea about the last part I'm just speculating but the rest I'm sure about). | personalfinance | 5 | 8 | null | null | null | luckyladybeetle | 1,491,017,451 | 1,492,477,963 | null | t3_62qbmx | false | 17 | null | null | null | fammo5 | null | dfoj0an | 1,491,019,646 | 1,493,698,302 | null | 2 | null | null | null | ThisFingGuy | null | dfp1kam | 1,491,061,851 | 1,493,707,237 | null |
When is 0% financing ok? | Hi, I am new here, I have a question about 0% financing. I am in the market for a new laptop. Recently my company was purchased by a national firm and with the new software, I can work remotely. The only issue is many of the programs are not compatible on my Mac. I have enough money saved up to purchase the laptop today, but if I can finance it with 0%, is that smarter thing to do? | It's fine but only if you get it paid off before the promotional interest rate expires.
If you screw up and do not you might be charged interest for the entire term.
You have to pay attention- there's no room for error here.
Even a day late and you're screwed. | How about a used laptop? You can get a very decent laptop such as a Lenovo Thinkpad T460s for about $500. Look for a 2-3 year old business series laptop (Dell Inspirion, HP Elitebook, Lenovo Thinkpad T-series) with 256gb SSD and 8GB of RAM and it should be good for everything but gaming.
You could then apply for a credit card such as Chase Freedom that not only gives you true 0% interest (read the terms of the store offer, I bet it says "no interest IF") but a $150 bonus after spending $500 in the first 90 days. | personalfinance | 10 | 15 | null | null | null | nowthatsrich | 1,547,899,704 | 1,552,672,168 | null | t3_ahlkaj | false | 62 | null | null | null | gooberfaced | null | eefm01z | 1,547,899,862 | 1,551,611,754 | null | 1 | null | null | null | mail323 | null | eegdt3k | 1,547,919,951 | 1,551,625,206 | null |
Thoughts on Grubhub (GRUB), is it oversold? | Why has grubhub fallen so hard?
Background: Grubhub is a food delivery platform that operate gruhub, seamless, and eat24.
It peaked in mid september at 144, now trading at 88. They beat top and bottom line and increased guidance.
Is there something big happening in this space, why would it fall 10% - or is it just a sign of the market feelings in general?
It is still up 20% year to date, 44% 1 year.
Is this just a reversion to proper valuation? I'm trying to decide of this is an entry opportunity. I don't know why I never thought about investing in Grub before, I use it all the freaking time. Granted it meteoric rise started April 2017.
Its roughly an 8.1 billion dollar company
As of thursday at 99/share (vs today at 88), GRUB has a P/S, P/E and P/B values of 10.63, 93.13 and 6.18 respectively. Its P/Cash is valued at 18.55.
net profit margin for the 12 months at 15.2%. Comparatively, the gazes have a Gross margin 0%.
ROE 10.8
ROA = 8.2%
ROI = 5.1%
The EPS of GRUB is strolling at 1.04, measuring its EPS growth this year at 28.7%. As a result, the company has an EPS growth of 24.82% for the approaching year.
Analyst’s mean target price for the company is $140.14 while analysts mean suggestion is 2.2.
Operating Margin is seen at 12.9 percent. Forward P/E of GrubHub Inc. is standing at 40.39.
I'm just trying to throw up as much info as I'm finding about the company. I don't know how to put some of these numbers in context, any input would be much appreciated. | Saturated market...
Grubhub, UberEats, DoorDash, BiteSquad, Postmates... Plus restaurants delivering their own food.
I don't see what they bring to the table (heh) that everyone else doesnt. I use whichever one is offering the restaurant I want food from at the time, there's no real loyalty. | probably because they are losing business to competitors like postmates. a restaurant owner here... they charge way too much for restaurants to use their service, which I suspect to be a major source of cash for them. Their customer service & delivery network are also inferior to others. | investing | 10 | 32 | null | null | null | akmalhot | 1,540,658,498 | 1,542,666,266 | null | t3_9rvnov | false | 60 | null | null | null | fromtheitdesk | null | e8k18kw | 1,540,660,427 | 1,541,527,589 | null | 2 | null | null | null | kittyon9thlive | null | e8l3s9y | 1,540,699,200 | 1,541,545,640 | null |
Buy a house or rent in Vegas? | I recently picked up a remote job and am considering moving out of HCOL California to Vegas. I have never lived long-term in Vegas, but have been before on short trips and plan to Airbnb for a month while looking at houses. Using the NYT buy-rent calculator, it seems like for 2-3 bedroom houses in the 250-300k range, it is worth buying over renting if I stay for 5+ years.
My liquid networth is \~$350k with an additional \~$200k in retirement accounts. I make $160k/year which puts me comfortably in the 3x income rule. I plan to put down 20% down with a 10 year ARM mortgage.
My big concern is that I am 90% sure I can stay in Vegas for 2 years but beyond that I will probably want to move back to California. How sensible would it be to buy a house and then rent out (either long term or Airbnb) after a couple years? I see a lot of property management companies in Vegas so this may be inflating my perception of how easy it would be. Thank you! | I moved out of SF to Vegas 2 months ago and don't regret it at all. (Also working remote).
I'll probably be here for at least six years I'm hoping.
Seems to be ok for rental units in west summerlin. | ...
You do know what happened in Vegas during the last recession, right? What could go wrong with an ARM?
You’re gonna get eaten alive on closing costs if you only hold onto that house for two years. Being a remote landlord sounds like a terrible deal, check out REITs or something like Fundrise instead.
Just rent. Why would you want to invite all this hassle into your life? | personalfinance | 6 | 6 | null | null | null | Exciting_Olive | 1,570,569,332 | 1,586,263,706 | null | t3_df6ezl | false | 11 | null | null | null | Grave_Warden | null | f317esr | 1,570,569,441 | 1,578,624,386 | null | 1 | null | null | null | [deleted] | null | f31b8q4 | 1,570,571,516 | 1,578,626,205 | null |
Is Fidelity HSA the best one to open up? | Hello PersonalFinance!
Over the last year I've been doing a lot of research with all the tools you've provided me. I went from not knowing anything and trusting a company to handle my money that was charging me a lot of fees to today I'm handling all of my own investments through Vanguard. I feel pretty confident with the knowledge I've gained but still am still appreciative of any help you all can give me.
My question is about the Fidelity HSA account. I currently have $5000 in my work sponsored HSA that I want to move into an HSA that I can invest with. I did some research on this site and from what I'm reading, is Fidelity HSA the best HSA in terms of fees and investment options? I'm looking for any recommendations for or against this option.
I see they are $4.95 per trade. That doesn't matter whether I do 1 share or 1000 shares, correct? My plan is once a year, take the contributions from my HSA (which I'm trying to max out at $7000 this year) and put them all into an index fund. I will probably do 66% - 75% US stocks and 25% - 33% International stocks for an allocation in the long term.
I'm so used to Vanguard that when researching Fidelity I believe I found their counterparts. For my US Total Market Fund I use VTSAX which I believe FSKAX is Fidelity's version. For International I use VTIAX which I think FTIHX is Fidelity's version. I used a stock comparison through Google and they look pretty much identical.
So essentially I'm looking for recommendations if Fidelity is the way to go or if I should look into another account. I'd like to verify with the cost per trade thought process I had. I also want to ensure that the FTIHX and FSKAX funds are the ones I should be doing (to mirror VTSAX and VTIAX).
Thanks for your help! | Yes, Fidelity’s HSA is probably the best on the market right now.
The $5 fee only applies to trades of individual stocks and non-commission free ETFs. There is no fee to purchase Fidelity’s own index mutual funds. | I have mine with Lively and I love it. No fees and can invest your balance through TD Ameritrade 100% free. Only downside, for me, is they don’t have an app yet. | personalfinance | 20 | 17 | null | null | null | ZombieV83 | 1,550,337,469 | 1,553,194,734 | null | t3_arasfj | false | 18 | null | null | null | Econ0mist | null | eglv221 | 1,550,337,582 | 1,554,300,924 | null | 2 | null | null | null | Brundonius | null | egmo8h8 | 1,550,361,694 | 1,554,316,093 | null |
Is "I'll just go back to work if the stock market collapses" still a realistic plan B for FIRE? | A fairly common (but not universal) belief among FIRE advocates is that earning money once you are retired is easy. That you can always go back to your old career, or monetize some hobby, or get a part-time job doing something you love, or (at the very least) start driving for Uber.
Mr Money Mustache is probably the prominent advocate of this line of thinking.
Kentucky normally processes 2,000 jobless claims a week but received more than 9,000 claims on Tuesday alone.
Given we're currently in a largish market crash, how many people are looking around right now thinking, "Yeah, this would be a good time to look for a job if I were retired?" Are there any recent retirees considering going back to work? What work are you considering going back to? | It's a terrible plan as anyone who lost a job during a big recession can tell you. It's reassuring to think you can always just go back to work since before you FIREd you were doing well, but when the jobs or your industry is gone, it doesn't work. | No, I am not. My expenses are substantially less then my income. I am starting to look for opportunists to invest some of my extra cash flow. Another passive income stream would not be bad. | financialindependence | 206 | 848 | null | null | null | eidolongitude | 1,584,499,278 | 1,587,676,319 | null | t3_fki9td | false | 784 | null | null | null | fortynplus | null | fksvslt | 1,584,499,563 | 1,591,988,240 | null | 1 | null | null | null | CalcuTrack | null | fkxfwa3 | 1,584,627,260 | 1,592,069,240 | null |
Spent all of my student aid money on Jan 15th Calls. If things go wrong, can I get a refund? | Vical ($VICL) Phase 2 HSV-2 vaccine trial preliminary results releasing around Q2-Q3. May 8th VICL is announcing Q1 earnings and a business update on their pipeline. I'm hoping for bank or I might have to drop out of school. | did donald trump go to school. did warren buffett go to school. did john maynard keynes go to school.
no.
they made their fortunes on phase 2 data releases.
good boy. | Yes, as a student you are entitled to a full refund of any investment under $15,000 until graduation provided your loss is 60% or more of initial investment under federal securities code 101c section 4 article 3 under the stipulation that you maintain a GPA within the 95th percentile or higher for your major. So if you didn't invest $15,000 yet make sure to get out loans to invest more in extreme OTM options until you hit it. | wallstreetbets | 6 | 29 | null | 29 | 0 | lulzcakes | 1,430,772,366 | 1,440,754,946 | null | t3_34v60y | false | 37 | null | 37 | 0 | [deleted] | t1_cqyiu72 | cqyiu72 | 1,430,783,019 | 1,432,773,767 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | brucebwang | t1_cqyd8hr | cqyd8hr | 1,430,773,320 | 1,432,771,058 | null |
What does everyone do here career wise? | Title says it all I suppose. I’m trying to figure out the future and how to go- I’m 20 and preparing to (finally) go to college in the fall. But I’m still unsure of what to major in.
As of right now, working part time and have about 1k in savings. I know it’s not much, but it’s a start!
In regards to the question and due to the fact that I’m not sure what to do for college, what have people here majored in and would recommend? I’m definitely into computers and have been looking at CS- but also was debating entomology and also mortuary sciences. | Hairstylist. Figured I’d give some hope to the blue collar folks out there. If you cater to rich people, you can make a killing. My schooling only cost $11k, and I make 6 figures. Don’t discount the trade jobs. | I would say don't look at what other do to try and figure it out, but look at your own skills and what you do. Also diversify and have more than one job. I do online sex work as my main gig, dog walking/sitting and theater work. Guess what if I didn't diversify I wouldn't be able to have any work with this virus shutting down events and people staying home with their animals. | financialindependence | 901 | 904 | null | null | null | rulerofthetwili | 1,586,009,556 | 1,587,856,564 | null | t3_fuucpr | false | 1,283 | null | null | null | Wowbaggerrr | null | fmf7zib | 1,586,021,762 | 1,593,006,392 | null | 1 | null | null | null | jucythighs | null | fmfca56 | 1,586,024,250 | 1,593,008,493 | null |
My bank has offered to increase my credit limit from $2000 to $4000. What should I do? | I've had a credit card for awhile now and my credit history is pretty great. I haven't been at this bank long though and it seems a bit funny that they would offer me an increase of $2000 when only a month ago, they wouldn't give me a $300 increase. I travel, so it would be nice to have a credit limit that is higher than the $2000 I have now. But $4000? Other than debt, are there some other cons to having a sudden higher credit limit? | As long as you're always paying it off, no, there's no real downside. They might do a hard credit inquiry to qualify you, but if they're offering it maybe not; and that would be a small and relatively short-lived hit to your score. | Do it, but pretend it's not there. It'll help your credit limit and allow you to have higher limits on future cards. Odd that it needs to be agreed upon, my credit cards just notify me when they do increase the limits | personalfinance | 16 | 7 | null | 7 | 0 | n_elegance | 1,447,748,964 | 1,450,656,743 | null | t3_3t4usl | false | 12 | null | 12 | null | evaned | null | cx33yeq | 1,447,749,637 | 1,449,850,544 | null | 2 | null | 2 | null | iamsaver | null | cx3drtp | 1,447,776,591 | 1,449,855,291 | null |
Advice about 3x income rule | So in states where rent is 1200-1500. Houses are 300,000 that’s if we get lucky.
(Colorado)
And me and my wife together make around 50,000 a year gross income.
Are we just going to have to rent forever unless we get a job that pays more. Neither of us have degrees or anything. We are looking to going back to school but we just had a son so it’s kinda on the back burner.
Will we have to rent forever? | No.
There's always the sweat equity option - you find somebody's beat-down house and fix it up yourself.
Or take a second job and pile all of the income from it into a down payment.
Or work your way up the ladder at your current job.
Or take your skill set to a LCOL area. | I don’t accept your premise. My wife and I were paying $1350 in rent about 3-4 years ago for a 3 bedroom ranch. Last year we bought a similarly sized, turn-key house with a much larger lot in the exact same neighborhood for $165,000. Our mortgage payment, which includes property tax and insurance (no PMI, we put down 20%), is $1050.
Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly houses in my area that go for $300k+, we just didn’t buy one of those. I don’t know anything about the housing market in Colorado, but the blanket statement that houses go for X in states where rent is Y does not hold water in this case. Save as much as you can for a downpayment and I’m sure that after a few years you’ll be able to find a place that’s a little more in your price range. Good luck! | personalfinance | 150 | 451 | null | null | null | Helloserrano | 1,509,032,418 | 1,510,481,844 | null | t3_78wdm4 | false | 473 | null | null | null | theoriginalharbinger | null | dox5pg0 | 1,509,032,739 | 1,510,205,280 | null | -5 | null | null | null | Scofflaw7 | null | doxb2tq | 1,509,038,010 | 1,510,208,064 | null |
Corona virus stock | Which stock is the best buy right now? | Winners :
INOVIO PHARMACEUTICALS, INC
MODERNA, INC
BIOCRYST PHARMACEUTICALS INC
NOVAVAX INC
GILEAD SCIENCES INC
Losers:
ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD
BAIDU, INC
There are another 15 stocks in the China-internet (ecommerce) investing theme here : | i'm feeling like the most lucrative move is to buy other stocks affected by CV fear like Nio
&x200B | pennystocks | 17 | 56 | null | null | null | unkownsourcecode | 1,580,144,713 | 1,587,157,733 | null | t3_euqqiv | false | 18 | null | null | null | Spotalpha | null | ffr1y92 | 1,580,148,682 | 1,588,793,670 | null | 1 | null | null | null | ticklesmith | null | ffsrkd9 | 1,580,189,924 | 1,588,823,356 | null |
Question about purchasing an older home (1920s) | Hi,
I had a walkthrough of a duplex built in the 1920s. On paper, it looks like a good deal, but I saw the crack in the ceiling in one of the rooms. The owner said that it had been there since he moved in 10 years ago, and it hasn't grown or changed. The crack was hairline on the ceiling and did not extend to the wall.
I also noticed house lifting jacks in the crawlspace under the house. Is this a concern? Are there any other things that should be checked out prior to submitting an offer?
[EDIT / UPDATE]
Thank you all for insightful feedback and information! Incredibly helpful. | You know that 95 year old great grandpa you know? They have some issues. So will the duplex. I’ve owned 100 year old homes before. They take a lot of TLC. Basically budget to replace everything. | I own a 250 year old house in Connecticut that has lots of “issues” like that but it’s entirely liveable and enjoyable. I love older homes.
Ask questions but don’t be too concerned about minor cracks and shored-up basement/crawl space structural elements, especially if they’ve been there for a while. | realestateinvesting | 12 | 11 | null | null | null | datavis | 1,553,891,487 | 1,560,305,911 | null | t3_b72b3r | false | 13 | null | null | null | seattle-diarrhea-dad | null | ejor87q | 1,553,892,080 | 1,554,033,003 | null | 2 | null | null | null | amorosky | null | ejouzn1 | 1,553,894,591 | 1,554,036,112 | null |
Getting super close to being a "sophisticated trader"! | I started my Robinhood account in July 2018 with $2,500. I have had to abide by the pattern day trade rules for over a year and a half, but I am getting really close now to the $25,000 that makes you a "sophisticated trader" according to the SEC. Currently I am up 768% and have made no withdrawals or deposits since starting. My goal was/is to make 60% a year so that in 10 years I would have $250,000 from the original $2,500.
&x200B
Here is my all time chart along with my latest venture into Nektar (I posted about this a few weeks ago...hope you didn't inverse me cause it is up 25%).
&x200B | Profit goals is what usually destroys accounts. Also, be careful with the 25k threshold. I started trading differently after crossing that, and got into losses. If you're doing something new, start small to make sure it works. | Good work!
What did you do before you started your journey with the $2,500? Did you read books, trade other accounts, etc. Basically, how do you know what you’re doing | wallstreetbets | 61 | 596 | null | null | null | Yottahz | 1,578,838,926 | 1,587,034,405 | null | t3_ennzp8 | false | 207 | null | null | null | bruceisright | null | fe2ptwe | 1,578,841,604 | 1,587,738,612 | null | 3 | null | null | null | SidoDyas | null | fe3tz9a | 1,578,852,849 | 1,587,758,266 | null |
Relative was told by her son that gifting her 401(k) to him will mitigate taxes. We suspect this advice is wrong. Are there any situations where gifting a 401(k) is beneficial? | Edit: I’m going to advise my aunt to talk to a professional. As many people said, this is a bit too prickly to handle any other way.
My aunt recently asked me to look into a financial strategy that her son stated would help mitigate taxes on her 401(k). She is gearing up to retire in the next year or so and wants to ensure she is mitigating her tax liability properly. Her son claimed that a financial adviser told him that she could gift out of her 401(k) to spouses or children up to a certain value either without a taxable event or at a lower tax rate. My aunt asked me to investigate as I have a BBA (accounting) and she thinks this doesn't pass the smell test, but I am not a tax professional and could use some guidance.
I suspect this is bad advice and told my aunt that this seems incorrect already, but I would dig into it further. The only thing I ever found regarding gifting is that you don't need to report a single gift transaction to the IRS unless it's over $15K or something to that effect, but would still count towards your lifetime gift allowance (which shouldn't matter in this scenario). Taxes would still incurred when the money is taken, whether she gifted the 401(k) and the son then takes the money or she withdraws the money herself. Unless there are some financial gymnastics that I am unaware of, I cannot find anything close resembling the scenario presented to my aunt.
The above also doesn't address my other concern regarding gifting to my cousin. Any transfer of control is sketchy in my book and could really hurt my aunt. I don't think this was presented to my aunt maliciously, but does reek of poor and/or unethical financial advice.
My plan is to report what my research has shown so far, anything I learn from this post that I may be missing, and have my aunt speak to a tax professional.
TL;DR: My aunt was given a suspect tax strategy and I'm saying the taxman always gets his cut. Am I missing anything? | 1) you can’t gift a 401k to someone. It is the property of the account holder and can only be transferred to someone else upon death
2) what tax implications? This sounds like utter nonsense. You pay taxes on distributions but that’s it. Taxes all depend on how much she needs to live on or how much she plans to take distributions on each year | > a financial strategy that her son stated would help mitigate taxes on her 401(k).
The benefit to a 401K is that you’ll withdraw money post retirement when your tax burden is lower than when she‘s employed.
Not suggesting her son is giving her nefarious advice for personal gain but even when a 401K funds are transferred on death to a beneficiary, it still will be subject to penalties and taxes if the beneficiary is not of retirement age. | personalfinance | 155 | 3,481 | null | null | null | Illydus | 1,569,162,507 | 1,586,135,275 | null | t3_d7r4qq | false | 1,722 | null | null | null | 1hotjava | null | f13ojvs | 1,569,163,111 | 1,577,408,427 | null | 1 | null | null | null | FortyYearOldVirgin | null | f159ez2 | 1,569,186,582 | 1,577,435,585 | null |
Let's talk about Acorns (again) | I know it's been posted before, but I'd like to get PF's take on the viability of Acorns and get a better sense of how it compares to alternative investment options out there.
When I've seen it discussed here in the past, commenters have said either 1) it's a gimmick that plays with insubstantial amounts of money or 2) investing in other ways have better fee structures.
My issue these responses is that they seem to miss the point of the app, and I'm afraid that I'm simply missing something. It seems to me that a micro-investor plays with insubstantial amounts of money because that's all they are interested in investing. And the superior fee structures of a more traditional managed investment account are inaccessible to someone who is looking to squirrel away $50-75/mo. with no substantial initial investment. So the only question is whether or not it will, in fact, produce dividends that outpace what you would get with similarly-sized investments elsewhere.
The other reason I'd like to reassess it is that it appears Acorns has changed its fee structure since it was last discussed. It is now a monthly fee equal to $1/mo + 0.5% asset worth. (Unless you have $5k invested, when the asset worth fee drops to 0.25%. But it seems unlikely many will invest to that level.)
Obviously with that fee structure, the usefulness of the app depends on how much money you have in it. My question is simply: how much would you have to invest to make Acorns worthwhile, and is there something better to do with that amount of money? | $1 a month on $50 is a 2% fee. That's crazy.
TD Ameritrade and I believe Schwab both have funds that only require $250 to open. ETFs only require the cost of a single share to invest (Although you'll probably need to meet a brokerage account minimum)
The very fact they charge a flat monthly fee on such small amounts of money is probably the biggest problem with it. Just save up until you can meet a proper account minimum or watch all of your gains disappear to fees. | I requested discussion on a thread I posted, but didn't end up with much. Anyways, I will discuss here instead. Yes, it is true that you can invest in a diversified allocation with better fee structures elsewhere. However, I am not all that concerned with this at this moment in my life (Student working near full time). Also, the only way I see this app very useful is if you have it set up to be putting money in everyday. I have my account to set up to invest $5/day, $10/month, plus my round-ups. I have my portfolio on the Aggressive allocation setting and if the P/L% or any of the other numbers on the app were correct I could tell you how I'm doing. I have been in contact with Acorns support and have been informed that they are having a bit of trouble due to very large demand, but I haven't really received an answer as to when the numbers will be displayed correctly. | personalfinance | 17 | 13 | null | 13 | 0 | sarcasmgalore | 1,409,666,517 | 1,441,190,574 | null | t3_2f9ca5 | false | 14 | null | 14 | 0 | flat_top | t1_ck72oxj | ck72oxj | 1,409,666,878 | 1,427,241,914 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | RagingBullish | t1_ckeyw07 | ckeyw07 | 1,410,400,939 | 1,427,079,753 | null |
I just paid $1 for my TransUnion credit score. Did I just sign up for monthly recurring payments for a subscription to that score, or was if a one time payment? | I pulled my free report for TransUnion off annualcreditreport.com and decided to pay the extra buck to see my score. I'm not sure if I signed up for a monthly subscription or not.
Just afraid I'm signed up for an 'introductory rate' that will jump up to $14.95 next month or something. I can't find anything in my user account profile. | Now that you have your score, you will have to cancel withing 30 days unless you want to pay $17.95 a month.
Call them at 800-493-2392. Tell them to cancel your subscription. | Cancel. The score that you view on their site is and I quote the transunion rep that I spoke to. " just an estimate to give you an idea." well the score from TRANSUNION site and the TRANSUNION score the mortgage lender saw were 40 points apart.
I called to cancel and when asked why I stated that the score although from the SAME credit reporting agency were off 40 points. She gave me the above response. I asked why I can't just see the same score she explained that's just not how it works. | personalfinance | 7 | 8 | null | 8 | 0 | Freddit- | 1,414,209,115 | 1,441,105,602 | null | t3_2k9df5 | false | 17 | null | 17 | 0 | ElementPlanet | t1_clj57xq | clj57xq | 1,414,209,571 | 1,426,361,576 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | Tarbug | t1_clj96ie | clj96ie | 1,414,225,679 | 1,426,359,722 | null |
Can someone explain to this noob how a bond ETF is at 25% YTD? | Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF. It tracks the U.S. Treasury STRIPS 20–30 Year Equal Par Bond Index. It sounds like a long term investment but since it's an ETF I can trade it whenever right? I don't know anything about STRIPS but I didn't think bonds yielded that much. Trying to read and understand it is making my head hurt. | Bond funds always, always, react to interest rates. Folks who invested in long-term bond funds and bet against the prevailing wisdom are drinking cocktails in Maui. We mere mortals, stuck with our CD ladders, just hang on. | A good proxy for a zero coupon bond return in the short run is change in interest rates*duration. These strips have long durations of 20-30 years.
A 1% change in interest rates * say 25 year weighted duration ~25%. Long-term rates have gone down quite a bit YTD.
In the long run, in a positive rate environment, STRIPS are guaranteed to have a positive return as you buy them at a discount to par. | investing | 18 | 25 | null | 25 | 0 | wallstreetmike | 1,472,610,330 | 1,473,095,564 | null | t3_50ex5u | false | 13 | null | 13 | null | bozo94549 | null | d73manw | 1,472,618,280 | 1,473,691,910 | null | 2 | null | 2 | null | Risk_Neutral | null | d740di1 | 1,472,653,627 | 1,473,697,296 | null |
19 years old, over $30k in cash, no debt: what now? | Hi all, posting on a throwaway for obvious reasons.
Some background:
I'm 19, and in school. I'm studying engineering at a top 20 university on a full scholarship (no student debt). Growing up, my family didn't have very much money (I have two younger siblings) so I've been raised with a mentality of not spending very much money. In high school I earned quite a bit of money tutoring students, and I recently completed a summer internship in the tech industry that netted me a non-trivial sum of cash. I don't spend much so the money I have has mostly just been sitting there and accumulating. I have another tech internship set for next summer so I'm expecting that number to increase by ~$15k by the time the next fall semester starts.
I have very, very little personal finance knowledge. None of the money is in a savings account. Where do I go from here? Investment? Long-term savings? I'm open to all and any suggestions. Thanks all. | Aside from all the savings advice. I will add two things I would spend it (obviously not all) on.
A legit semester abroad to pay anything above what your scholarship won't cover.
A few months to actually travel after you graduate and before you start working. Few times in your life will you actually have time and funds to be able to make that work.
Seriously, just going out there and seeing the world can start you thinking in a way that makes you challenge assumptions about yourself and think in a global way that can be very beneficial both personally and in a career but is impossible to quantify. Also, you won't regret those experiences. | I'm still a young guy (21 yo) in the STEM field, but I'll tell you about my experiences so far in investing. First off, I would recommend keeping an emergency fund, because you know....shit happens. But anyways, since we're still young, I would recommend making higher risk long term investments. The concept of investing is essentially the same, buy low and sell high(er). I started with a smaller investment (around 3k) into mutual funds. The shares the the shares can be rather volatile, and you might start freaking out depending on how much the shares dip. However, I wouldn't recommend selling your shares (hence only invest money you don't need). Eventually, the share prices will raise back up (hopefully) and sell them at a profit when you feel the time is right. From my small investment, I was able to make about $300 in 4 months which is really good considering that's 10% of the initial investment. Obviously, not everyone's experience will be the same, but I had a good experience with mutual funds.
I also tried long term investing in stocks as well (using Robin hood). I didn't have as great as an experience with this type of investing compared to mutual funds. So things you should probably know, DO NOT INVEST IN PENNY STOCKS. They are extremely volatile. Also never keep all your money in a single company because, once again, shit happens and you don't want all of your funds tied up there when or if it happens. Try investing in a market, so for example the pharmaceutical market. Do your research on the leading companies in that market, then create a portfolio based on the companies you think will seceded. When you create a successful portfolio, you're no longer betting on a single company, you're now betting on a whole market. Also keep in mind, stock prices are based off of expectations for the future, not the present. I made about $150 after 3-4 months, but I'm probably really lucky I didn't end up with a loss. | personalfinance | 10 | 11 | null | 11 | 0 | lhs7284 | 1,447,610,338 | 1,450,660,391 | null | t3_3sx23y | false | 13 | null | 13 | null | LupineChemist | null | cx1hfl4 | 1,447,632,378 | 1,449,822,444 | null | 0 | null | 0 | null | Barryli123 | null | cx17oyk | 1,447,617,525 | 1,449,817,788 | null |
The P/E Conundrum? | {I know P/E ratios are not everything }Company A has great earnings, a strong balance sheet, great future prospects, and a great management team. In addition to that, the profits will grow and the business model is understandable. The only problem is that it is trading at 35X earnings. Wouldn't you think legendary investors like Graham and Warren Buffet have missed these companies solely because they never touch these companies that have over 20 P/E ratios? Graham uses the 15X to 20X barometer too. Wouldn't you think Buffet may have missed great companies because of this so called "value" approach and buying good businesses? Also, what if the stock is a really a value but the market just overreacted a little before you analyzed the company? So why do big portfolio managers care about this PE ratio when there are still good companies that are growing earnings and have a great management team? If you come across a stock like this, how will you approach it? | The P/E ratio in 1980 was only 7 or 8 because one could earn 12% on a 10 year Treasury. 1/12% = 8
Today, a 10 year Treasury is yielding only 2.4%. A P/E ratio could be anything up to 40 and still be better than buying a bond.
The point is that there really is no guideline for P/E that works as a rule. Is the company going to continue growing revenue and net profits. If it is going to earn 6.0% every year, it is better than putting your money in a 10 year Treasury.
If it is a company that is dying and will slowly drop in profitability despite having a P/E of just 10, it is not a good buy. The stock will continue declining and you would be better off buying the 40 P/E ratio of a 10 year Treasury. | Oftentimes, really high-quality companies with high P/Es aren't quite as expensive as they appear when you consider what you get in return. If a company has a long runway for growth and can generate high returns on new capital, you're going to make a fortune in the long run. Here is a wonderful [article] ( that discusses this in greater detail. | investing | 8 | 22 | null | null | null | Stuffmatters_123 | 1,515,282,034 | 1,518,503,822 | null | t3_7omx8z | false | 26 | null | null | null | Paul-throwaway | null | dsaszdg | 1,515,287,625 | 1,517,640,227 | null | 2 | null | null | null | CanYouPleaseChill | null | dsazwp9 | 1,515,295,865 | 1,517,643,691 | null |
Fidelity announces two additional zero-expense ratio funds | With the addition of these funds, this makes a total of four zero-ER offerings from Fidelity, they've lowered the ERs on most of their other funds, and also nixed the minimum investment requirements and all account-level fees.
This appears to be a rather significant threat to Vanguard, as their online interface, trading, and advisory services have always lagged, but they led on cost, which is no longer the case. What are everyone's thoughts? | These funds exist for marketing purposes and to serve as loss leaders. Fidelity has plenty of index funds with no minimum investment and ERs lower than the corresponding Vanguard Admiral fund. For example:
[Fidelity mid-cap index]( and [Vanguard mid-cap index](
[Fidelity small-cap index]( and [Vanguard small-cap index](
[Fidelity emerging markets index]( and [Vanguard EM index](
They could make a marketing campaign out of this without these zero ER funds. Maybe they have, but I haven't seen it. The ads practically write themselves. "Pick the asset classes you want to invest in, with no minimums, for cheaper than Vanguard!" Their [small-cap index]( and [mid-cap index]( have outperformed their active funds in the same category, though, and I suspect they'd rather have people investing in the active funds that aren't as cheap.
Having said all of that, I'm not switching from Vanguard. | Fidelity has been cheaper than Vanguard for quite a while now. Even prior to the ER reduction, they were cheaper than Vanguard. Now they are significantly cheaper. Fidelity also has a far better customer experience than Vanguard too. Better website, better customer service, and you can also do all of your banking at Fidelity too. It's all free. Vanguard offers no equivalent. | investing | 32 | 56 | null | null | null | Stahrk | 1,536,840,673 | 1,540,117,221 | null | t3_9fhfb9 | false | 23 | null | null | null | YesThisIsBare | null | e5wlcxj | 1,536,847,744 | 1,539,011,336 | null | 1 | null | null | null | QVP1 | null | e7d394v | 1,538,956,286 | 1,540,803,161 | null |
Buying - are we insane? | 5 kids (14, 10, 9, 7, 3)
Combined income 270-300k
Lots of child expanses (call it 2k for round numbers per month).
No CC debt.
Both cars = $850 a month total. Both will be paid off in < 2 years.
Own a property we can sell for 10% down. Rest comes from sale of current residence plus cash if needed. Should have 20% down - at worst 15%.
Current house: 2500 a month. House is cramped.
Looking at a budget of 750k. Obviously payment is going to be nearly double.
I think it’s way too much - but to get what we want space-wise, that’s kind of the range. Maybe 550-650 if we can ‘find’ them - which is the dilemma.
I am saying we stay put from a logical perspective. My ‘wants’ brain disagrees and so does the wife.
Thoughts? | You can do what I did. I couldn’t find what I wanted to buy bc everything was over my budget that I liked. Then one day I was looking at rental properties and saw a beautiful brand new home for rent. Twice the size of our house. I rented out my house, and used that rent to pay for half of the new big one. For some reason renting didn’t even appeal to me at first. When in reality there are some really nice rentals. And in this peak market, why buy anyway? | If you're a cash buyer, this may be the ideal time. But, who is buying or renting your current place? Buyers will likely be cash ones and lowball you to high heaven and good renters will likely be slim because of the cash flow situation for most Americans. I don't think you want to rent to someone who will then move in ten people to split the rent, some ethnicities do this now but from what I've seen its in throwaway Section 8 properties landlords don't care about. | RealEstate | 23 | 48 | null | null | null | TheDudethAbideth | 1,584,911,281 | 1,587,722,824 | null | t3_fn79ee | false | 40 | null | null | null | skoldane | null | fl805xn | 1,584,913,106 | 1,592,256,732 | null | 3 | null | null | null | 28carslater | null | fl858cp | 1,584,916,135 | 1,592,259,233 | null |
Misclassified Employee | I started working for this oil and gas service company here in West Texas at the beginning of the year. They consistently treat me like shit, never pay me overtime, and they never give my co-workers and I ANY days off. That’s right. NONE. My weekly pay is only $770, even though I work about 100 hours a week. I could go on and on but there’s no point.
Anyways now that taxes are coming up, they expect me to pay all these taxes out of pocket. I’ve been reading about the SS-8 form to change my status to the proper employee status.
I’m kinda scared about filing this. Can any of y’all give me some good advice? I was also thinking about filing a lawsuit against them since my coworkers and I haven’t received any overtime pay. I just feel trapped.
Thank You | Funny that a government subsidized multi-billion dollar a year industry is cheap with their employees.. Unemployment rates are at an all time low, that means you "should" not have trouble finding another job right now. | Hey OP, I have no legal or otherwise advice, but I just wanted to say I hope your situation improves for you and your coworkers. No one deserves to be taken advantage of and worked as much as you are without coming out the other end loaded with money. You've gotten good advice here so I hope it serves you well. | personalfinance | 13 | 29 | null | null | null | SmarterThan-U-Idiot | 1,582,213,258 | 1,587,438,321 | null | t3_f6uu20 | false | 17 | null | null | null | bearfilm | null | fi7be8h | 1,582,218,086 | 1,590,342,448 | null | 2 | null | null | null | Eugenes__Axe | null | fiajgh1 | 1,582,302,303 | 1,590,397,867 | null |
I'm in financial hot water and need some help. | I'm 28, in my last year of electrical engineering and I'm working construction to pay my debts. I make about $500-$600 a week but I'm in some financial hot water.
It started over two years ago when someone close to me died and I was blamed for their death (turned out that it wasn't my fault). My family turned on me and I fell into depression. I sought professional help which didn't do me any good. The medication did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. Long story short, I had moments of mania followed my depression.
I had a job where I was able to study while working which was ideal for me. I worked 24 hours a week and that was enough to sustain me before all this went down. I ended up losing that job due to this temporary mental illness. When I was manic, I spent all my money on food and when I was depressed, I spent it on alcohol (I'm from Canada, it's expensive here).
After a year of these huge swings, I got 4 extra credit cards and maxed them all out. I wasn't making payments and the interest rate hit 29% on some of them. Yes, I'm an idiot, feel free to call me one. It's hard to explain but I wasn't in control of my actions, I was a totally different person.
Now, I have credit card debt totaling $7500 and I need to pay off my tuition of $3000. I saved money throughout my life to pay $10000 of tuition a year to get through school but I spent that money too. I need to pay my outstanding balance before I can go back to school in September and finish. I also have a driving ticket that is setting me back $2500 that I'm paying back tomorrow.
I spend about $150 a month on gas, $200 on insurance, $800 in rent and the rest is going to my bills and I can't stay afloat anymore. I need help getting my debts in order. | You're an electrical engineering major and you're only facing about $10k of debt? You'll be fine. Take out a small student loan for now, the pay it back as soon as you can once you graduate and (hopefully) find a job in your major. | If you're in Atlantic Canada you could check Credit Counselling Services ( solveyourdebts.com ) . They are reputable, but they do charge a $25 sit down fee. They make a consumer proposal with your creditor(s) (not sure if they can help with the speeding ticket). You'll still have to pay some of the $7,500 back, but at least not all of it. It's not good for your credit history though. | personalfinance | 7 | 15 | null | 15 | 0 | voysturr | 1,438,085,082 | 1,440,584,327 | null | t3_3ew0ln | false | 22 | null | 22 | 0 | FIThrowaway2015 | t1_ctiw50m | ctiw50m | 1,438,086,390 | 1,440,132,649 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | TheCigarBox | t1_ctizty4 | ctizty4 | 1,438,093,628 | 1,440,134,453 | null |
I work in IT and am generally paid as a 1099. Recently a friend recommended I use a business that basically becomes my W2 employer, contracts with my current clients, and then passes on large tax savings via higher write off rates. Is this legit? | To go into more detail:
Apparently the company becomes my full time employer and then any contracts I get end up being with them for my specific services. I then send them my hours and they invoice the client/collect payments for me.
They say their fee is 4% of gross, but with the higher tax savings they pass on at corporate write off rates, their clients on average save 17% on year end taxes. Apparently they do all tax withholdings already, as well as have business insurance (workman's comp, disability, etc).
Does this sound above the level? The friend who recommended I use them swears by them and told me he saved a crazy amount of money on this past years taxes. Am I missing something, b/c this sounds too good to be true? | Probably not. Higher-paid 1099’s are eligible for a lot of deductions that W2’s aren’t like heath insurance (from any source), self employed retirement plans with low fees and high limits, unreimbursed business expenses, and the 20% deduction for qualified business income. | I’m a tax accountant and never heard of such a deal. I don’t understand what value they are providing. Seems scammy at the surface level, but I may not fully understand what you’re saying they do for you. | personalfinance | 27 | 11 | null | null | null | Mozeeon | 1,560,519,421 | 1,566,303,026 | null | t3_c0k6kz | false | 16 | null | null | null | Econ0mist | null | er575bw | 1,560,519,629 | 1,569,894,472 | null | 2 | null | null | null | bodiddlysquat26 | null | er5njzp | 1,560,529,691 | 1,569,903,106 | null |
Treasury Yields & Mortgage Rates Explanation? | I have been told that, among other things, mortgage rates tend to follow the Treasury Yields (10yr). How do they correlate with each other? When yields are down, do rates go down or is it inversely related (i.e. yields down/rates up)? Below is an example to reference.
EXAMPLE ONLY
Monday: US10Y:U.S. is 1.80% and mortgage rates are \~ 3.875%
Tuesday: US10Y:US is 1.95% and mortgage rates are higher or lower than Monday?
Given their indirect relationship, does the mortgage rate go up or down on Tuesday?
&x200B
Not day trading homes but curious on this relationship and how it works. | US treasury yields and mortgage rates are positively correlated.
The 15 year mortgage is most similar to a 7-10 year maturity treasury bonds
The 30 year mortgage is most similar to a 14-15 year maturity treasury bonds.
The major differences:
Mortgages pay down the principal over the life of the loan, while treasury bonds only pay the interest as a coupon. The decreasing principal balance is why the comparable treasury has a shorter maturity. Research effective duration if you're interested to learn more.
Mortgage borrowers can default while US treasury bonds can not in any meaningful sense. US treasury can print money to meet any nominal shortfall. This makes mortgage rates higher.
Mortgage borrowers have the option to prepay the principal without penalty. If interest rates drop, mortgage lenders expect the principal to pay down faster, and earn less interest. This option makes mortgage rates higher than comparable treasury bonds (negative convexity)
Mortgage lenders have their own specific issues. They can vary pricing according to business goals to originate new loans.
On the whole though, treasury bonds are the most comparable financial instrument to mortgages. | Mortgage rates are correlated with the 10 year treasury rate, but there are small differences mostly due to differning supply and demand. The supply and demand of mortgages can change because of small changes in the treasury rate, or expectations of changes in the treasury rate, or changes in the volume of mortgages/refis. And the demand for mortgage backed securities will also change if the alternatives change. So if for instance US currency was weaker/stronger this week, or foreign bonds were giving a higher yield, or it looks like the stock market is going to do well, or if those things happened, but not as much as the market expected, or even if there is no change yet, but just an expectation that these will change, the demand for US mortgages could drop slightly and the rate would go up even though the treasury | RealEstate | 4 | 16 | null | null | null | spartyon11 | 1,568,642,669 | 1,586,086,280 | null | t3_d513zx | false | 16 | null | null | null | taguscove | null | f0ix9d6 | 1,568,648,204 | 1,577,048,034 | null | 2 | null | null | null | sweetrobna | null | f0jfy0k | 1,568,655,478 | 1,577,056,981 | null |
What are the best places to learn about technical analysis? | Bull signs, gaps in trading, inverted hammers, triangles, all that stuff that means nothing to me, yet a lot of these TA investors seem to use it and make a lot of money. | Technical analysis is not working, it's bullshit. There! Now you know everything you have to know about technical analysis.
Seriously, if you have a long enough number sequence you can find literally any kind of pattern there especially if you really want to find it and subconsciously ignore all the cases where the pattern does not work. Taking it this way TA is not much different from astrology, numerology, kabbala and any other pseudo-scientific bullshit.
Well, you say, but it's working! Many serious and admittedly clever people are using it and have great results, don't they? Weeeeeeeeeeell, no. And if they are using TA I seriously doubt their cleverness (unless they are making money selling TA books, then they are really, really clever dudes). And do they really have good results in the long run? Yeah, check again and compare it to index. | Technical analysis has minimal value, it isn't worthless simply because other people think it works, it becomes a sort of self fulfilling prophecy.
I use some basic support / resistance, moving averages, etc to help plan entry and exit points for stock and option trades. It has no role in if I choose to enter a position, just a little influence at where exactly I am looking to buy or sell. | investing | 12 | 18 | null | 18 | 0 | High_Frame_Rates | 1,483,086,678 | 1,484,456,139 | null | t3_5l2g12 | false | 13 | null | null | null | tbdw | null | dbsjkfg | 1,483,100,280 | 1,484,149,008 | null | 1 | null | null | null | Newbieloser | null | dbtmres | 1,483,158,934 | 1,484,168,367 | null |
How do you create a budget when you're constantly in the red due to private student loan debts? | Short background: Both of us have good jobs and we make above the national average. One child in daycare. We make too much for any kind of government assistance. We both have student loans. Most of his are private, but he also has government. All of mine are government. Basically, his student loan bills are more than his paychecks. We've spoken to the private companies numerous times and they won't budge on payments. We can never keep up.
We live off of my salary then, using his almost solely for student loans. We have our normal bills, my student loans, weekly daycare, and now a few hospital bills which I can't afford. The hospital and physician are asking me to set up payment plans, but I'm already in the red each month. We spend about $50 on food each week for the three of us, live in a small rented duplex, have no cable, don't go out to eat, and have the cheapest cell phones we could get. We've cut costs in every aspect I can think of.
Any positive advise is appreciated. | It's very difficult to get meaningful advice without more specifics. It would be most helpful to know the individual or aggregate loan amounts, including interest, and what the monthly payment is. It's also helpful to know what your current total take-home pay is per period, as well as a detailed breakdown of your other categorized spending.
There's no way for anyone here to suggest ways to save if we don't know details of the ways you spend. | There's something you're not telling us op. 271k in student loans, you both work in specialized fields, your husband often has to work weekends and yet both of you combined make only 48k. | personalfinance | 45 | 26 | null | 26 | 0 | [deleted] | 1,412,948,921 | 1,441,129,503 | null | t3_2iusna | false | 42 | null | 42 | 0 | Ritchell | t1_cl5nkyi | cl5nkyi | 1,412,949,341 | 1,426,594,658 | null | 3 | null | 3 | 0 | buzzinowt | t1_cl5x3za | cl5x3za | 1,412,967,523 | 1,426,590,133 | null |
Inlaws have retired, moving funds from 401k -> IRA, how to make sure they won't get ripped off? | So I haven't been involved in their finances at a granular level. Here's the basic premise: They have funds in their 401k (at Morgan Stanley), which they say they want to move into an IRA account, so that they can gradually withdraw for living expenses.
They went to Chase the other day and naturally Chase gave their pitch on their IRA account management, and want them to transfer their 401k funds into a Chase managed IRA. The Chase fees are a one-time, 3.5% and then 1.6% per year.
First off, I'm not entirely sure why they want to make this move other than they're familiar with Chase. The fees seem sort of high to me, and I've heard the Chase rep call them to aggressively try to set up a meeting to transfer the funds.
Does any of this make financial sense for them? What would be the best way to proceed for this situation? | The 3.5% fee for opening the account is pretty ridiculous. They don't need aggressive management at this point, they need a plan to withdraw their funds over time. The 1.6% fee per year is also excessive.
One competing example:
Roll their 401k into an IRA at Vanguard. Pay 0% to open the account. Buy the Target Retirement Income fund VTINX. Pay .16% per year on their money. | They can get similar services for much lower fees at E-trade,for one, Vanguard and Fidelity for two, depending on how much they're investing.
They need to shop around.
Maybe they'd be better off with a flat fee based consultant who could look t their assets and liabilities and make recommendations not based on commissions. | personalfinance | 10 | 16 | null | 16 | 0 | thats_wassup | 1,387,572,614 | 1,411,447,987 | null | t3_1tclnz | false | 20 | null | 20 | 0 | Pyorrhea | t1_ce6lad6 | ce6lad6 | 1,387,573,468 | 1,428,049,294 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | reg-o-matic | t1_ce6tgzh | ce6tgzh | 1,387,595,855 | 1,428,045,368 | null |
Fired from job, and I think my boss was planning this for months. Options? | I was just fired today from a job I've been working for over two and a half years. I love the company and it is my first job after college. Recently, I started feeling my manager create a distance and not allowing me to be successful at my job. Today, she delivered the news that I was no longer an asset and was terminated on the spot.
I've never been fired and have so many questions as to the next steps I should take? Is there anything I can do to prove she was planning this? Any advice on how to proceed? My apartment lease is ending end of July. I am in Southern California and have family here but would not be able to move in with them. I have money saved up that will last me a few months (maybe 5). Please help! first post btw |
I've never been fired and have so many questions as to the next steps I should take?
Start looking for a new job.
Is there anything I can do to prove she was planning this?
Generally, employers do plan to fire someone. There's not really much you can do, and even if you found a way to get back into the company, it's already tainted, and you'll be skeptical of everything and everyone. That's no way to work.
Any advice on how to proceed?
Again, just start looking for a new job. Move on, and you'll be much happier than stressing about it. |
I've never been fired and have so many questions as to the next steps I should take? Is there anything I can do to prove she was planning this?
Just an FYI, generally in the US if you don't have an employment contract your employer can fire you at a moments notice for almost any reason or no reason at all.
Also, you're a wiser and more shrewd person now so you know that when this happens:
I started feeling my manager create a distance and not allowing me to be successful at my job.
You start looking for another job immediately rather than waiting for notice of termination. | personalfinance | 24 | 8 | null | 8 | 0 | lost_and_scared007 | 1,435,817,968 | 1,440,636,236 | null | t3_3bufra | false | 36 | null | 36 | 0 | NoDiggityNoDoubt | t1_cspm7dv | cspm7dv | 1,435,818,490 | 1,437,516,587 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | hungryhungryhorus | t1_cspvp0o | cspvp0o | 1,435,847,780 | 1,437,524,172 | null |
Ohio - Low appraisal....can’t find records of appraiser anywhere | Hi, guys. My fiancé and I just recently put an offer down on our first house and are going through the rigmarole of financing. We are doing a 30-yr. conventional loan with Chase.
We got our appraisal back at the end of last week, and it was low. 49k lower than our purchase price. Needless to say, we were shocked, especially given the lovely neighborhood. We are trying to figure out our next steps without scaring the sellers away because we really, really love this house and would be devastated to lose it.
We felt the comps they provided weren’t appropriate, so we sent them an additional 7 comps to use instead. They rejected it and are “holding firm on the appraised value.”
I did a little digging on the appraiser our lender used, and the only thing I find online is a bad review on Zillow from 2012. No website, no phone number (listed online, anyway), nothing. I searched the certification number and name on Ohio’s “search” for approved appraisers and it returned no results.
Obviously, we are a little skeptical about this. Has anyone experienced anything similar in the past? We have a few options, but wanted to check with the more seasoned folk in this sub before we make any wrong moves. | If you want to PMSG the license number and name I will look real fast and see if I can resolve (do not post it here, we do not dox people).
I am not an appraiser but am very familiar with how the real estate commission site works in Ohio and its not always intuitive. You should search one or the other. If you search the license number you can screw it up too based on how you format it. I go by my middle name so my re license is a bitch to find (even for me, when trying to look it up to see details on it I occasionally need, and I know I am licensed and everything about me! ).
Not saying your appraiser is or is not licensed, but I can understand how it be hard to find and am willing to spend 2 minutes on this and see if I can resolve it for you.
--edit-- op msged me and it is a valid license. You all can help them on the rest ;) | You have experienced yet another of the nearly endless reasons that most people who have had the misfortune of dealing with real estate appraiser consider them the parasites of the real estate biosphere. | RealEstate | 16 | 12 | null | null | null | e_vee10 | 1,537,915,501 | 1,540,175,049 | null | t3_9iwwch | false | 15 | null | null | null | NumNumLobster | null | e6n1g8h | 1,537,916,528 | 1,539,532,051 | null | -4 | null | null | null | jdm_forest | null | e6neqzw | 1,537,929,909 | 1,539,538,297 | null |
Any ideas on why JNJ is down after a solid earnings report? | JNJ has consistently been down even after earnings that were relatively solid. The only thing I can think of is perceived over reliance on pharma sales being a drag. The stock is approaching nearly -20% from all time highs.
Thoughts? | Steve Cohen had a great quote in Market Wizards which is worth thinking about: "40&37; of a stock's performance is due to the performance of the overall market....30&37; is due to the performance of the sector that the company is in......30&37; is due to the performance of the actual stock itself." | Literally just happens sometime, without looking at JNJ, earnings mean nothing compared to guidance and aside from any red flags it could be a buying op. Recent examples on this are $SHOP & $TSLA | stocks | 5 | 18 | null | 18 | 0 | SenorCuntMuscle | 1,525,791,907 | 1,529,695,380 | null | t3_8hxdv5 | false | 26 | null | null | null | PM-ME-YOUR-CONCERN | null | dyn7vab | 1,525,792,416 | 1,527,225,648 | null | -11 | null | null | null | Shaou_Lin | null | dyn7q7t | 1,525,792,284 | 1,527,225,571 | null |
Have the values you've learned here ever ended a relationship? | I don't know if it's the values I've learned, or if it takes a certain person to be open to those values in the first place--but they are really making me rethink a relationship.
A small vent--I met a guy who is 9k in credit card debt. I was sympathetic as he grew up in poverty, and for some reason thought I could help him. I'm a financial planner, so that is what I do for a living. Yet he still buys ridiculous things on Amazon. I told him he should try to limit his going out to eat to 1X a week (because I know that he wouldn't stop) and he thought that was ludicrous. He expects me to pay for dinners etc because he is in debt and I have a well paying job (yet he somehow has the funds to buy beer and amazon splurges). I've found jobs for him (He is still in college) but he 'doesn't like them' or 'doesn't want to wake up that early.' His mom pays his car payments after he bought a brand new, upper-end Mazda. The most ironic thing is he is adamant about sustainability and getting out of the clutches of consumerism.
While he is on the extreme, have any of you ended a relationship because of the principles that go along with Financial Independence? To me, it's not just about money--but about personal responsibility, ignoring consumerism, self sufficiency, discipline and hard work--all of these things I take pride in. Someone who lacks the will power to make basic changes or who has so little pride that they continue on in their lifestyle that has thrown them into debt-slavery, or someone who refuses to take personal responsibility for their actions and choices loses my respect immediately.
The nail in the coffin was when I showed him MMM "your debt is an emergency" and he claimed that he likes the premise, but the actual
application was "way more difficult than he claims." I do not believe it is that difficult to STOP SPENDING MONEY.
It almost makes me feel guilty, because I immediately framed it as me caring more about finances than the individual-- but when I thought about it--again, it isn't about the money. I think that people who have the same values and principles I have will naturally lean towards frugality and a desire for independence. Yet my nature is to try and open people's eyes and help them come up with a plan. I guess I never really realized there are people that you cannot help. My job has people WANTING help, so this was a real eye opener for me.
A good lesson learned: to keep my principles in tact requires a bit of selfishness. | Hi.
I married that guy.
Please stop now. You cannot fix him. You cannot. The problems you see now, they only compound as the relationship grows.
Think about buying a house with him. What problems do you see there? Think about finding a place to rent with him. What problems do you see?
You are money to him, just like his momma is. He is not suddenly going to understand that he can't afford to eat out constantly and also pay down his thousands of dollars in debt. He is not suddenly going to understand that he needs an actual job and to do stuff like save for retirement. This falls under "I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you." |
personal responsibility ... self sufficiency, discipline and hard work
These are virtues that any person may exhibit, whether or not they have lots of savings or income.
It makes 100% sense to evaluate a person's relationship fitness based on these and other attributes.
There are tons of examples of people who make plenty of money, but choose not to manage their money wisely. Conversely there are many examples of poor people who manage their money well. It's not about how much money they make - it's about their character.
Also, here's my unsolicited advice: never help somebody that doesn't want to be helped. | financialindependence | 144 | 652 | null | null | null | uhohuhohuhohuhohuh | 1,516,989,290 | 1,518,587,927 | null | t3_7t6a92 | false | 812 | null | null | null | solorna | null | dtabdla | 1,516,994,794 | 1,518,311,126 | null | 2 | null | null | null | indivisibleremainder | null | dtak6do | 1,517,003,454 | 1,518,315,466 | null |
Where to keep money when saving for a house? | Where should I keep funds that I have the goal of eventually buying a house with. I don't mind a bit of risk, but I also want to make sure I don't lose it all?
Savings account? Stocks? Thanks for the help. | Imagine you have a few options. (Pretend you have $10,000 now.) I'm simplifying a bit and taking the worst and best times to own stocks for an example.
GE Capital Bank: 0.90% APY. In one year, you will have $10,090.
S&P 500 stock index: In one year you could have as little as $5,300 (March 2009) or as much as $12,900 (September 2012).
Your decision largely depends on how long it will be until you purchase. Are you certain that you'd like to buy a house in a year or two years? If so, you can't afford much risk because you'll need the money and won't be able to ride out a market.
If your time frame is a little longer (or more flexible), consider throwing some portion of your savings into mutual funds that track the broad US or International stock markets. Keep them for at least a year (for tax reasons) but gradually exchange them for cash as your purchase date approaches. | Put it all on your lucky number and spin the wheel!
If you hit it, you were meant to have the house! If you miss, well, at least it was exciting, right? | personalfinance | 7 | 38 | null | 38 | 0 | Uncle_Creepy123 | 1,385,531,767 | 1,411,544,304 | null | t3_1rjzfr | false | 8 | null | 8 | 0 | aust1nz | t1_cdo4zen | cdo4zen | 1,385,558,155 | 1,428,488,800 | null | -10 | null | -10 | 0 | teamDINGUS | t1_cdo29cm | cdo29cm | 1,385,540,130 | 1,428,490,141 | null |
Should we be investing into emerging market funds over the S&P 500? | The question is based on this article from Forbes where James Berman says emerging market stocks will be "eclipsing the S&P 500 over the coming three to five years..."
[ | There's a ton of political risk in emerging markets, let alone market risk, with limited, if any, upside over the United States. I have a hard time following his thinking on this. | Norway is increasing their stake in US funds, stating they are missing out on gains by not being more exposed to the US.
They're banking on diversifying their economy because they're not going to be able to afford their generous social programs if the economy becomes more green. They have one of the highest oil production per capita in the world. (might even be the most).
They see the US as a prime place to do that. | investing | 16 | 14 | null | null | null | ahhflirg | 1,568,770,562 | 1,586,100,938 | null | t3_d5qoba | false | 10 | null | null | null | DeadCatBounce2020 | null | f0nmu6l | 1,568,774,315 | 1,577,131,112 | null | 0 | null | null | null | VCUBNFO | null | f0oxpzt | 1,568,822,635 | 1,577,154,068 | null |
Is there any reason to use a bank over a Credit Union? | I'm currently using a very large US bank and was wanting to switch to my local credit union because honestly idk it just feels better than using the big bank.
Some background i mainly use two credit cards for everyday purchases (i pay the balance off of them each month) an AMEX and one from said bank if that changes anything. | The big banks are nice for providing a variety of services, from home loans to car leases to business accounts. Credit unions are usually smaller, but member-owned, meaning they usually give you preferential rates on loans and are more willing to work with you personally. For instance, a 36 month car loan could easily be over 4-5% from a bank, but my credit union offers auto loans between 1.7-3% on average.
Also, if you still use ATMs very often, the big banks are nice because they have branches everywhere. Credit unions tend to only be local, but a lot of them are doing co-op ATMs with other credit unions, so you can do deposits and withdrawals surcharge-free at any participating credit union.
So, it honestly comes down to preference. I'm with Chase, a credit union, and an online savings account just so I have access to all the services and products I would need. | I wouldn't compare it in terms of banks or credit unions--rather, I would look at it in terms of what's actually available to you.
For example, basically all of my local credit unions have meh APYs for savings (0.20%-0.35%), free checking accounts that mostly don't earn interest (and the ones that do are like 0.01%), awful credit cards, and decent-to-good rates on mortgages and car loans, while also lagging technologically. My local banks (which includes larger banks like Regions, Wells Fargo, BBVA, BB&T, etc) have garbage savings account APYs; some free checking accounts, some with fees that are extremely easy to avoid, and basically none that earn interest; credit cards ranging from meh to great; and decent rates on car loans and mortgages; all while mostly having decent-to-good technology. There are also online banks with fantastic savings accounts APYs, fantastic checking accounts, and at least some of the other things mentioned about brick-and-mortar banks and credit unions. | personalfinance | 17 | 9 | null | null | null | ByHardenBeard | 1,561,217,285 | 1,566,719,366 | null | t3_c3qzju | false | 20 | null | null | null | Calarrl | null | ersn8oi | 1,561,218,928 | 1,570,624,573 | null | 2 | null | null | null | MericaMericaMerica | null | ertgdrf | 1,561,241,624 | 1,570,679,099 | null |
Why do I feel so guilty about spending my money on a vacation? | I am a 23 year old female. I'm approaching being at my job for a year, which I don't make great money at, but I've been doing really well with saving and overtime, and have saved way more than expected. Enough where if I happened to lose my job and couldn't move back home, I could survive for at least a few months, most likely more.
&x200B
Next month, my boyfriend of almost a year and I are going on a trip. Nothing crazy fancy, just to a big city a few hours away. This is something I've never really done before, and until today I was so excited.
&x200B
We booked our hotel today and now we're supposed to book our transportation tickets. it's about $100 less to travel by bus, but a train would provide us more comfort, and guarantee no bus-sickness (which I sometimes get).
&x200B
BF doesn't care what we do, so he's left it up to me. I'm having a full blown guilt panic attack because I want to take a train, but I feel like I'm throwing my money away. But, I've worked so hard. I've treated myself in small ways, but not anything like this. I feel like if I check out the train tickets right now, I'll hate myself. I'm just super flustered and not sure what to do. | When you are young, you trade time for money.
When you are older, you trade money for time.
There comes a point where you need to stop rationalizing every cent. Sure the train is a bit more but so what? You could walk or ride a bicycle for even less money but that’s not appealing is it? ;) | What’s your salary?
Anyways, vacation should be a part of your budget and something you continuously save toward. You will feel less guilty thinking about it this way, and also ensure it doesn’t mess up savings plans. Also makes it easy to see what you can and can’t afford on vacation.
I budget $10,000 a year for three major vacation and a few weddings / weekend trips. I also sign up for cards that get me airline and hotel points to help. | personalfinance | 13 | 24 | null | null | null | jackie_bones | 1,562,554,895 | 1,566,845,749 | null | t3_cafnku | false | 67 | null | null | null | JE163 | null | et8h81u | 1,562,556,392 | 1,571,667,538 | null | 1 | null | null | null | Consulting2finance | null | et9rejb | 1,562,603,704 | 1,571,689,549 | null |
US Housing Prices (today vs 2008) | In the past 4 years, there has been a rapid increase in housing prices in many US cities. I've heard from foreign investors that they now consider US housing assets to be overvalued.
See inflation adjusted chart [here](
What is causing the rapid increase this time around? Is it wise to now consider looking outside the US for real estate investing... | Depends on where you are in the country. Are some cities home prices overvalued? Sure. I live in Seattle so tons of job openings, desirable location, high demand for housing, low supply...I see prices continuing to rise. The bubble in 2008 was mainly due to subprime lending. The current rise in prices are supply/demand based, not because shady banks are handing people mortgages they can't afford. | A lot of hedge funds moved into residential real estate and bought a lot after the crisis and now renting them out. They are hording the real estate forcing a supply shortage. Newer housing construction are faced with rising costs and can't price competetively vs older homes and current owners aren't selling. | investing | 23 | 33 | null | null | null | pooloo15 | 1,504,280,032 | 1,507,288,216 | null | t3_6xfabi | false | 27 | null | null | null | jwhite2386 | null | dmfhmrz | 1,504,282,524 | 1,506,404,152 | null | 3 | null | null | null | Hochaser | null | dmg8rdk | 1,504,315,207 | 1,506,417,366 | null |
My car was miraculously paid off, what now? | I bought a new car a couple of years ago. I financed it through the dealership. Since then, I have been making my payments on time. Last week, I received an email from my financier that my regularly scheduled payment was canceled. I looked online and much to my surprise I see that my balance is zero and my account has been closed. Checking over my payment history I see a large payment for the balance of my loan that I did not make. I made several attempts to contact my financier but couldn’t get through due to a high volume of calls because of covid....Fast forward two weeks, I receive a check from my financier for a couple hundred bucks for overpayment. Confused, I call customer service again and this time I’m able get through to a representative. I explain the situation and he says “yeah, your account is closed because your vehicle is paid off, we received a check from bank for the balance of the loan and “congratulations your vehicle is paid off. That check we sent was for overpayment of interest.” I explain again that I did not make that payment and have no idea how it was paid. He asked if it was refinanced or if a family member could have paid the balance to which I answered no. He said “well, somebody paid it off, according to our records we mailed you the title yesterday (I confirmed the address with him) and you should be receiving it in 3-7 business days, congratulations”. So my car was paid off and on top of that they sent me money back! WTF is going on, What do I do now? | For one thing, please keep all paperwork regarding this loan for I'd say at least four years. Keep a record of the phone conversation you had (write down date, time, who you spoke to (if you remember), what was told). Keep payment proof for the payments that you made.
If anybody comes knocking in a year or two about how a mistake was made etc etc, having all the paperwork might be useful.
Since this is probably about thousands of dollars, it's worth it to keep a small file somewhere for the next several years, just in case you ever need it. | In normal world I would congratulate you on luck. We live on fucked up goverment world, so my advice is check with your lawyer if you shouldn't pay tax (either local or national) on the money you "gained" by someone paying off your debt and store the amount that was paid off somewhere in case someone sees the mistake and will demand you pay back him/her money. It's not logical at all as why they should be legally allowed to demand the money back, but most places gives them that right. If you're unable to store that money right now, keep on "making the monthly payments" to an imaginary account or however you wish to call it, just to be sure you are able to give back that money. Check what's the foegiveness time for such earnings, after that period you should be able to spend that saved money. | personalfinance | 142 | 1,794 | null | null | null | advanced_relief | 1,587,801,839 | 1,588,079,080 | null | t3_g7pw0j | false | 3,115 | null | null | null | PetraLoseIt | null | foj2wp9 | 1,587,806,226 | 1,594,354,297 | null | 1 | null | null | null | Ussurin | null | fojdnkm | 1,587,817,794 | 1,594,359,425 | null |
(CAN) When does it make sense to purchase a condo with high HOA/maintenance fee? | The unit I am hoping for is in a great area, on the subway line and it's a unique 2-storey condo. There's nothing else (except townhomes which are 2x more expensive) like it in the area. Usually going for a bit over 400k + 700 maintenance cost. I realize this is high (but really only 200-400 than other condo units in the area). To me, it comes down to value. I love the unit and I think it's unique enough for a good area that in the future it would be easy to sell. If I love it, generally, other buyers would be attracted as well. Does anyone have good arguments against this? Not looking to debate. I think it really comes down to personal value but friends seem to get turned off instantly just due to this fee, which again, could also be said for buyers when I'd want to sell. Just curious for thoughts. | As a realtor, here's some of the questions you should have.
What do the fees cover? Some buildings only cover water and common elements while others cover heat, hydro, cable. Considering the costs of heat and hydro, having them included in fees can be better. Especially if only for $200 more than comparable units that do not include these things.
What type of heating system the building has is important.
Furthermore, what amenities does the building have.
Pools and BBQ areas usually require higher fees.
When making an offer, try to make it conditional on reviewing the status certificate if possible. However, in this crazy market, In a multiple offer, this condition often gets removed as the seller will take the offer that is firm.
Best of luck. | I bought a condo (after thinking I didn't want to deal with a HOA) after failing to find a more affordable starter house in the area but it's a little unusual for a condo, it only has one condo neighbor with a shared wall, and there are only three units in the building. The HOA fees only cover the insurance and the gardener fees, this is about 1200 a year. Since there are only three units we have to have a unanimous vote to do anything. The HOA fee is not enough to cover anything big like a new roof so we'd have to have a vote to get a one time HOA fee to cover it since we have no reserve. | personalfinance | 19 | 55 | null | null | null | Torontosaurus-Rex | 1,492,342,391 | 1,494,601,411 | null | t3_65ooxv | false | 41 | null | null | null | timlessmillenium | null | dgc256n | 1,492,351,598 | 1,494,114,447 | null | 3 | null | null | null | anonyfool | null | dgc51eu | 1,492,356,015 | 1,494,115,842 | null |
14 on this upcoming Tuesday | I may be young, but I want to start out strong. What I really want is to save up for a decent car that’ll last for awhile. (Don’t want to end up like my brother who first had a 1993 Honda Accord with no muffler and a crap ton of problems). Not sure if this law is throughout the U.S. or not, but in NJ law it states “that minors between 14 and 16 years of age may be employed, permitted or suffered to work outside school hours and during school vacations but not in or for a factory or in any occupation otherwise prohibited by law”. Especially around where I live, this is basically just Mom and Pop shops that I’m allowed to work at. The problem is that one, I’ve got no clue what I’m doing, and two, I need to learn how to manage my time. So here’s a few questions to end it off. Do I bother with a job now? Do I offer services such as mowing someone’s lawn? Do I find a job at a bakery, restaurant, or anything of the like? How long should I try to work?
Thank you in advance
Sincerely,
Some kid who’s clueless | If your home life is safe and, for lack of a better word, good i would encourage putting the extra effort into your schoolwork as that will pay so much more later in life than an extra $50 a week now ever could. | I started work at 14 for a supermarket. I would work 1-2 nights after school, and a full day on Saturday or Sunday. I managed to get good grades at the same time. I would hang out with friends each week as well (make sure you have time to have fun). Not everyone is rich. It's possible. | personalfinance | 17 | 16 | null | null | null | -ChalkyRaisin- | 1,554,012,307 | 1,560,315,011 | null | t3_b7klz5 | false | 40 | null | null | null | Compactsun | null | ejsm4dj | 1,554,023,833 | 1,554,200,027 | null | 1 | null | null | null | aartadventure | null | ejt6949 | 1,554,047,270 | 1,554,217,955 | null |
Budgeting for my first job | I am a 22M and graduated with a bachelors in May. It took me a while to find a job but I started my job in October and am making $64K per year and will be getting a $4K bonus in April. Another cool perk is that I’m eligible for raises every 6 months instead of annually, and those raises are 2.5%-5%.
I currently live at home and sorta feel like a loser. My job is 30 minutes from my parents house, but I am saving a lot of money.
My only expenses are my phone bill: $38 per month
Car insurance: $48 per month
Gas is around $35 per month (I drive a Prius)
Car maintenance costs around $100-$150 per year (it’s 12 years old)
Health insurance costs: around $85 per paycheck for dental, vision, health, and a small life insurance and LTD policy. (My parents have TriCare so the ACA doesn’t raise the age to 26 to stay under parent’s policy for my case)
I’m also thinking about joining a martial arts gym which costs $150 per month.
I currently have $13K in a money market for savings.
I have around $600 in my checking right now for entertainment.
I typically spend around $150-$200 every 2 weeks on hanging out with friends and food and movies and stuff.
I will be maxing out my 401K this year. Currently it has a balance of around $3K.
I’m going to be opening a Roth IRA later this year. I’ll put in $6K but you need at least $3K for VSTAX so I’m going to wait until around June to start the IRA.
If you were in my shoes, when would you move out? I want a savings account of at least $15K because I’m afraid my hybrid battery will go out, this forcing me to get a car.
What else should I change? | Speaking from experience if you can tolerate living with your parents, there is nothing wrong with living at home temporarily. It will allow you to build up an emergency fund and save for other things (new car, potentially a down payment on a house, etc.) more quickly. That's more of a lifestyle choice, than a financial choice IMO. | Wow do I wish I was in your situation. great job, no debt, and a chance to live rent free for awhile.
While I do think living on your own is valuable, there are many costs involved that would eat into your potential savings. Given the opportunity to live with your parents I would definitely stay with that for at least a year. If you really hate it at that point then maybe the pro of living on your own outweighs the con of having to pay much higher living expenses.
With the salary you have and expenses you laid out it seems like you can be saving upwards of $3,000 a month on top of your 401(k) contribution. Doing this will set you up to allow you to do whatever you like with your time or your money in a much shorter time frame than most. | personalfinance | 8 | 15 | null | null | null | Actuary10122 | 1,548,364,557 | 1,552,703,960 | null | t3_ajhcf4 | false | 16 | null | null | null | bombers223 | null | eevin00 | 1,548,365,121 | 1,551,972,610 | null | 3 | null | null | null | npshepherd95 | null | eevlte1 | 1,548,367,145 | 1,551,974,085 | null |
The Wealthy Barber, It all has to start somewhere. | Hello Redditors,
The other week I was at the local bar having a pint and a bite to eat. (If you are ever in Whistler stop by El Furniture. Best food in town) I was talking to my bar tender about how I had been playing the stock market lately and trying to help my financial standing. He recommended
"The Wealthy Barber" and said it was the best advice his Father had ever given him. I left home at a very young age and there were some big life lessons I missed out on and took several years making the wrong mistakes for me to finally clue in. I'm sure a lot of people have read this book and to those who are just getting into taking a look at their financial standings to give this book a read. The book costs 18 dollars and breaks it down in a very understandable way.
Do other fellow reddits have any other suggested reading material? | Playing the stock market won't help your financial standing in the long run - its speculating and not investing.
Investors hold for the long run - check out The Boglehead's Guide to Investing. | I just read "The Two Income Trap" by Elizabeth Warren and her daughter. It's the flip side of the coin to "The Millionaire Next Door" - instead of describing the demographics of wealthy individuals, it describes the middle class families who are tight on money. The "self-help" parts of both these books is really read through the lines, as they're both more academic than self-help. Although they both dedicate a small section at the end to explicit advice. | personalfinance | 18 | 58 | null | 58 | 0 | acallforsincerity | 1,356,252,446 | 1,413,266,728 | null | t3_15bjuy | false | 19 | null | 19 | 0 | rayout | t1_c7l0nxp | c7l0nxp | 1,356,272,816 | 1,430,751,472 | null | 3 | null | 3 | 0 | necroprancer | t1_c7l1kel | c7l1kel | 1,356,278,480 | 1,430,751,917 | null |
Girlfriend just got her license. Got a job as an independent contractor with a broker. Live in Nashville. Any tips on how she can get things moving? | She's tried using the dialer at her work but isn't a fan of cold calls. She's been using the meetup app to meet people and is hoping to network through that. Age is mid twenties so not many of our friends are buying property yet. Has a bachelors degree. Any tips are appreciated and I will pass on to her. Thanks! | An agent who isn't a fan of cold calls is going to have a bad time, I imagine. But, I get mailers from agents at least weekly, so there are definitely other ways to drum up business. Get creative. | Not sure which brokerage she decided to join but if she could get in with Village Real Estate they have some excellent resources for new agents. Their managing broker is the chairperson of the forms committee for TAR and their "Chief of Broker Services" is the current president of the TN Assoc of Realtors. Tremendous resources for any agent to have access to. | RealEstate | 9 | 26 | null | null | null | QuesoLover6969 | 1,489,671,998 | 1,492,416,573 | null | t3_5zqnkk | false | 21 | null | null | null | PearsonFlyer | null | df0av6r | 1,489,677,402 | 1,491,528,594 | null | 1 | null | null | null | malson | null | df09bkc | 1,489,675,640 | 1,491,527,841 | null |
How do you find your best ideas? | Specifically I’m talking about under the radar stocks that end up high flyers. Not just penny stocks, although they could qualify, I’m talking more like stocks like $FIVN which has been a 6x since January of 2016 or unsexy names no one has heard of but have easily beat the market.
What process, means, do you guys come across your winners. What things do you look for to find or stocks that outperform or multibaggers like $FIVN,
I’m looking to get better at digging and due diligence and wondering how others come by their ideas in an attempt to fine tune my tool kit.
Thanks | I used to get a lot of ideas from IBD when they had a weekly print edition. They’re pretty good at sorting thru the noise for potential high growth stocks. | I like to use IBD and Finviz. In Finviz I’ll screen for insider buys. In IBD’s Market Smith I’ll use some of their tools. I also have VectorVest but only because I get it for free as I do a Usergroup for them. Their Midas Touch stocks are good but you have to be able to determine if the have the momentum or will hit resistance or profit taking. Some of my better pops have been in pharmaceuticals but it can be hard to stay ahead of the news. StockTwits helps there Lots of noise but filter it out and there is some useful info. | StockMarket | 9 | 38 | null | null | null | castor_troy24 | 1,562,290,962 | 1,566,825,617 | null | t3_c9aald | false | 13 | null | null | null | SwitchedOnNow | null | esv0hbw | 1,562,291,766 | 1,571,433,106 | null | 1 | null | null | null | ButchTheBiker | null | esy1sae | 1,562,337,935 | 1,571,487,923 | null |
What were some of your best career moves? | Help a youngling out. I'm early on in my career, and I want to know what you did in your career that really paid off.
Networking event that got you a job? A scary project that impressed the boss? Learn a skill that led to a career change? What actions did you take that led to improvements in your work life and (hopefully) income?
So often in this sub we talk about increasing our income via side-hustles, but I want to know how you increased your income in your day job.
EDIT: Also, did you make your career moves more aggressively after committing to FI? I know that I'd like to retire in 10-15 years, so I'm trying to move up that ladder ASAP. Is that a good strategy?
(Also, mods I'm not sure if this qualifies as too personal finance-y. If it is, let me know and I'm happy to take it down). | As much as I hate to admit it because I think it's kind of a lame club, Toastmasters helped me a lot. Through Toastmasters, I got pretty good at public speaking, which led to me volunteering to give presentations to management, which led to me getting a leadership position. | Joining a company early on with type A, highly-motivated peers, and a culture of recognizing and rewarding performance (top-tier consulting firm in my case). Working hard to excel, grow, and learn NONSTOP. Have some bandwidth? Raise your hand and volunteer for more challenging (ideally high-visibility) work.
10 years later, have a ton of options, a super cush gig with embarrassingly great work-life balance and pay. | financialindependence | 134 | 186 | null | null | null | theatregeek1008 | 1,507,047,170 | 1,510,391,994 | null | t3_741fam | false | 114 | null | null | null | MadDogTannen | null | dnus6rr | 1,507,050,288 | 1,509,270,995 | null | 1 | null | null | null | Dope_Dissident | null | dnwhxt9 | 1,507,136,196 | 1,509,302,867 | null |
Feeling uneasy about downsizing. Have you given up something you really didn’t want to for your financial future? | My husband and I started our debt free journey about a year ago. Started with $116k in debt and have come down to a current balance of 83k. We currently rent a 2 bedroom single family home and just through causal looking found a one bedroom condo that would save us $800 alone in rent. Not to mention the landlord would pay pge, we would no longer have to pay trash or for pest control. Total savings per month would be around 1k that we could put towards becoming debt free. I’m just feeling uneasy about going from a 1100 sq ft home to less than 700. Also feeling sad that we’re going to leave the first home we lived in as a married couple..and part of me feels like we’re going backwards after living in a house and going to a condo.
In my head I know it’s for the right reasons and will benefit us in the end. But my heart isn’t into it and that makes me hesitant. Just looking for words of encouragement or advice. Did you give up something you really didn’t want to I’m pursuit of living the debt free dream and if so what was it and was it worth it in the end? | In my opinion, it's not downsizing at all if 700 sqft meets your space needs. It's more like cutting away the fat. Especially if it saves me $1000 per month. It really depends on your goals and lifestyle. Your goal right now is to be debt free so think about what an extra 12k/year means. Think about how much time you actually spend at home and is it worth it to pay an extra 1000 for 400 square.ft. If you spend most of the time at work and outdoors during the weekends, I don't think a big space is necessary. If you like to read or study in a home office and it aids your productivity, more space may be necessary. More importantly, don't let what others may think of your "downsizing" affect your resolve to be debt free. In the end, it's your life. | We have been in many living situations over the course of our marriage so far. 2 bedroom apartment to 850 SF house that we owned (and sold for a loss) to a larger rental house, back to 3 bedroom apartment, then a 2000 SF house that we owned, to a rental townhome and finally to a 3500 SF house. Change (and moving) can be daunting and scary and sad, I know very well, but sometimes it’s necessary. If it allows you to pay down your debt faster, it’s absolutely worth it. It doesn’t have to be forever and you’ll be setting yourself up for a better and brighter future. | personalfinance | 21 | 18 | null | null | null | khsanchez | 1,561,406,533 | 1,566,747,237 | null | t3_c4umg6 | false | 27 | null | null | null | blueliqhtning | null | eryge78 | 1,561,407,951 | 1,570,866,820 | null | 1 | null | null | null | graybird22 | null | erze79v | 1,561,433,095 | 1,570,884,085 | null |
What financially based questions about the future do I need to ask my significant other before we take the next step and move-in together? | For instance, I just learned my significant other would want our kids to go to a private religious school until high school. That's 250k right there not including all the other expenses of having kids. | Given your S.O.'s views on religious education, I would ask their views on tithing. I would also ask their views on:
Savings - especially the necessity of an emergency fund.
Income - lifelong employee or self-employed/entrepreneur? Neither is right or wrong, but if you want to own your own business and your SO has an employee mindset (or vice versa), this can lead to conflict.
Debt - are they bringing debt into the relationship? What are their thoughts on carrying a credit card balance? On financing versus paying for cars in cash?
Investment - opinion of/plans for home ownership? Views on stocks and other investments versus cash?
Retirement - has your SO thought about retirement? Do they have an IRA/401K/SEP or some other plan?
Hidden problems - you should also be sensitive to warning flags without being paranoid or intrusive (calls/letters from creditors, living 'above his or her means', inability to get credit, lotto ticket stubs, and other high risk financial activity (to include gambling)).
You should also look at your SO's parents. Are they financially responsible? Children often model parental financial behavior.
This may seem intrusive, but the stakes are very high - a partner whose financial belief system and behavior is compatible with yours can be a lifelong blessing. On the other hand, years/decades of arguing over money can be a lifelong curse.
Hope this is helpful and Godspeed! | Do you want to combine finances? My wife and I have always looked at our bills as "our" bills and the money we have as "our" money. We then prioritize and pay our bills with our money. I've seen so many other couples look at bills as you pay cable, I'll buy groceries, etc. If you want to stay married for 35+ years, be sure you are willing to combine and protect our finances | personalfinance | 43 | 136 | null | null | null | welpesdone | 1,497,437,753 | 1,500,140,148 | null | t3_6h6qw0 | false | 124 | null | null | null | HybridCamRev | null | divyyxs | 1,497,442,393 | 1,499,337,597 | null | 3 | null | null | null | trm17118 | null | diwilii | 1,497,464,524 | 1,499,347,110 | null |
How unrealistic is it to assume we will get a fair deal when it comes time to retire | I have this concern every once in a while that by saving all of this money for an early retirement, I might be wasting my time. I worry that in the future, they may decide to take all the money we have saved in "tax advantaged" accounts (401k, Roth IRA) and change the rules on us.
In the case of the Roth IRA I could see them saying "well you put the money in when the tax rate was significantly lower, therefore we will be adding an extra tax on the end when you withdraw".
I always talk myself out of it by saying "well they wouldn't be that stupid, that would ruin the whole point of an IRA and a 401k and one of the main methods of regular people to save for retirement would no longer be used"... then I remember I'm talking about the govt and they aren't always known for making the wisest long term decisions...
Thoughts? | It's a political non-starter. The people who have the most in their 401ks and IRAs are the people who have the greatest influence on the rules. It'll never happen, same reason why social security will never go away (the people who receive it are the most likely to vote). | Especially for a higher marginal tax rate person, the tax advantage of a 401k is so compelling that it is hard to imagine anything they could realistically do that would make you worse off than if you had never used the 401k in the first place. | financialindependence | 175 | 388 | null | null | null | tberg2508 | 1,484,240,370 | 1,489,427,815 | null | t3_5nkh8n | false | 128 | null | null | null | hutacars | null | dcc6mh8 | 1,484,241,938 | 1,485,992,481 | null | 1 | null | null | null | ryeoldfashioned | null | dccpvfa | 1,484,263,569 | 1,486,001,907 | null |
Investors: Do you ever think that your entire financial life is based on a number on a computer screen? | 95% of my money is sitting in a Fidelity Account and is accessed by a computer and screen. I don't know anyone at Fidelity and every once in awhile I have nightmares that I will wake up, check the Fidelity website and see $0 instead of $750K. Or maybe I will log in and they will say my account does not exist. In these dreams, when I call to complain no one can help me. I am just one person, I really don't count for much.
Think about it, we put so much faith in organizations that we don't have any access too. My entire financial life is based on faith. It's crazy when you think of it! | Why don’t you diversify the companies you hold investment accounts with if it bothers you so much? Literally transfer $500,000 between two new brokers and there’s a ton of schemes where they’ll even give you $2000-$3000 for bringing in new funds.
Now if you have $750,000 in one stock that’s a completely different thing. | This is why the government had to federally insure banks. Otherwise no one would let them hold their money if they were robbed or went out of business.
Imagine the old west. Was it really a good idea to have everyone store their money in that poorly guarded safe? | investing | 40 | 40 | null | null | null | [deleted] | 1,563,568,574 | 1,566,962,446 | null | t3_cfct57 | false | 32 | null | null | null | series7exam123 | null | eu90czp | 1,563,568,797 | 1,572,434,866 | null | 2 | null | null | null | slgray16 | null | eu9e7yj | 1,563,578,240 | 1,572,442,034 | null |
"What is your salary expectation?" | How do I answer this question without limiting myself. I am seeking $50,000 currently. |
I am seeking $50,000 currently.
"For a role like we just described, salary of $50,000 to $60,000 is appropriate from my research."
Don't forget to research and if the range is higher, of course mention those numbers instead. | Research the company on glassdoor, and look up what you think the industry will pay your position with your experience. If you have no experience, you have to accept whatever you are given, until you get some experience. I earn well into 6 figures, but started out on $25k. So entry level salaries can be far lower than averages.
Once you assess what you are worth, ask the employer for their range. If their range is low compared to the industry, ask about what their training options are. Don't give a range yourself, or they will come back at the lower end of it. If you really want $50k, then ask for $56,250. Always ask for odd numbers, as it sounds like you put more thought into what you need.
My motto in any job has always been, you must be either learning or earning which means you are either getting paid very well for what you do, or are building experience to get to the top of your industry. If you are being poorly paid and not learning anything, then leave the company. If you are paid well, and are learning, then you won the job lottery. | personalfinance | 45 | 18 | null | 18 | 0 | cutiebug | 1,461,588,946 | 1,463,572,581 | null | t3_4gd6h3 | false | 23 | null | 23 | null | mrmpls | null | d2ggnyp | 1,461,589,071 | 1,463,676,049 | null | 2 | null | 2 | null | OzAdam3 | null | d2gz7a9 | 1,461,614,602 | 1,463,684,921 | null |
Following the Money. Why Goldman really downgraded AMD. | GS understands that AMD is about to put some serious competition out on Nvidia. Here is how and why GS, a Market Maker manipulates the market.
Follow the money.
With two letters issued November 25 & 26 2013, Nvidia sold 64.5 million warrants to Goldman Sachs. This amounted to about 11% of Nvidia stock. Goldman paid a premium of $51,22 million to NVDA for the warrants. The expiration date is March 1, 2019. The strike price is $27.1425 per warrant. In addition GS held 15,872,239 Nvidia additional shares as of 31 Dec 2016.
On 3 March 2017 Goldman paid $13.64 per share for 45 million shares of AMD and began selling AMD immediately. They had a plan to maximize their gains by slowly selling AMD to soften the AMD SP.
GS sees the rise of AMD and knows it will depress Nvidia share price just as they take posetion of the Nvidia shares from the warrants. GS needed to cash out the 64.5 million Nvidia warrants ASAP. Nvidia agreed and announced they will settle the warrants with GS in exchange for Nvidia stock.
Bottom line is GS will make more money if Nvidia goes up. And GS does not mind at all throwing AMD under the bus in order to promote Nvidia.
Hari's advice to buy Nvidia and sell AMD has nothing to do about which company has better products or competitive stance. It has everything to do with GS making more money. They do this by calling for a Buy on Nvidia and claiming AMD does not have a competitive product.
The AMD sell with $11 is a head fake move to make more money for GS. Listen to GS advice at your own peril.
Cr | The only thing I'm not seeing play with this plan is that the amount of shorting manipulation going on in NVDA as well and any analyst worth their dirt knows these two are correlated - one one tanks, the other gets sucked down with it - and they both recover pretty fast together... | It doesn't matter if you have a competitive product if your financials are dog shit. There are tons of companies with fantastic products and trash financials. Banks will downgrade based on financials with other factors weighed in to account for good products. I think you're a froot loop. | wallstreetbets | 6 | 101 | null | null | null | SquirtleOnYou | 1,491,796,704 | 1,494,579,761 | null | t3_64hfeq | false | 13 | null | null | null | nevion1 | null | dg2ou1i | 1,491,835,712 | 1,493,950,513 | null | 3 | null | null | null | RV3016 | null | dg2rz8i | 1,491,839,270 | 1,493,952,033 | null |
Update on my windfall of approximately $2M from last year | Since so many people contacted me regarding my previous two posts ([original here]( and [update here]( I figured I'd post another quick update on where things stand.
It's been almost 6 months since I came into the money and everything is still not finalized. I've only recently gained access to the various money market accounts (this was my fault, dragging my heels) an still need to sell off a fair amount of property and a house (expect to fetch about $250K-$350K in total). The total windfall should be about $2 million, though I will need to pay estate taxes in a few months.
Between costs associated with handling the estate, taxes and the like, I expect to have about $1.75 million to use.
To date, no one other than my lawyers know the extent of the windfall. People are aware that I came into money (they're mostly considering the profit I will make from the sale of the house, which did not have a mortgage), but no one knows the full amount.
Over the last 5-6 months, I've paid off any debt I had, took a small trip (my first vacation in probably 6 years) and made some small purchases. In total I've spent approximately $10,000 of the total amount.
Although this was meant as an update, I do have a few questions for everyone here.
First, a large percentage (probably ~&750K) is in money market accounts with Wells Fargo. It seems that people on here don't think much of WF, so any suggestions?
I currently rent, and have almost a full year left on my lease. I'm not 100% sure I want to stay in my area for any length of time, but should I invest a portion of the money in a home? If so, how should I go about figuring out what I should spend on property? If I purchase a $250K house and have the ability to pay for it in full, should I do so ( I would assume not)? Edit: I should note that my credit score isn't the greatest. I would imagine getting a loan and making on-time payments over a lengthy period would go a long way in fixing that?
Lastly, while I do enjoy my current job, I'm considering potentially making a slight career shift and either doing some additional training (this would be related to programming/web design) or taking a pay cut to get experience working in an industry I may prefer - working for start ups is appealing to me and something I've done in the past. Does anyone have any thoughts on this.
Thanks again for the feedback in the past. | First thing to say is with that kind of cash, you can live the kind of life you want to live. Few people who want that have it, so I hope you do what your heart tells you. 20-year-from-now-you will be thankful if you do what you want rather than what's expected.
Once all the legal things are completed, I'd strongly recommend a fee-based certified financial planner (CFP) to help you navigate your investment options. With the right plan you could probably extract somewhere in the neighborhood of 3% of the balance annually from the golden goose, and she'll keep producing until long after you're gone. With that being said, there's no need to take one person's advice in such matters, and you could feasibly get the opinion of two or three professionals in order to take the best advice and ignore the rest. If you don't know already, please, please, please take the time to learn how to allocate your assets appropriately now and in the future. Should you want some book recommendations, I highly recommend The Bogleheads Guide to Investing.
As far as a house in concerned, I'd pay for it in full without hesitation. | Don't buy a house cash or otherwise if you aren't sure you want to live in it for a long time. Every time a house changes hands you get charged roughly 7-10% of it's value to real estate agents and various services. If you buy a $250K house in cash today and sell it a year from now for $250K, you'll be out $20K in fees plus $3K in taxes and insurance and roughly $7K in opportunity cost for the $250K you could have had invested.
I'm sure you'll find that you could rent that house for a year for a lot less than $2,500 a month. If you extend ownership out to something like 10 years, the math starts looking a lot better. | personalfinance | 39 | 68 | null | 68 | 0 | throwaawayheir | 1,368,476,614 | 1,412,376,179 | null | t3_1e9lua | false | 25 | null | 25 | 0 | mrzulu | t1_c9y3qix | c9y3qix | 1,368,478,074 | 1,431,169,564 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | Enphuego | t1_c9y6wdg | c9y6wdg | 1,368,486,810 | 1,431,168,061 | null |
I just had 3 weeks off work, and it drove me crazy. What now? | I used to think I wanted to stop working. But my experience over the holidays has made me rethink that. I had time off over the past 3 weeks, and due to some circumstances, my wife and I spent it at home, without any family.
It drove me crazy. I found I could not easily relax and enjoy books or video games. I picked up a bunch of projects around the house just so I could have something to do - something to make me feel productive. Filling the days was something that began to stress me out.
Now I'm worried that my desire to stop working has been motivated more by ennui and dissatisfaction than it has by the desire to have more agency over my life. Because, granted that agency, I didn't feel too good about it.
Don't get me wrong - I have taken long vacations before. In fact, I was out of the country for 6 weeks this summer, traveling. But the level of stimulation on such a trip is definitely higher than just spending time at home.
EDIT: I've thought about this some more. I think the key issue for me is one of feeling productive. I'm a 9-to-5er, and in my daily life, I have ample time to exercise, read, play video games, watch TV, hang with the wife and such. One of my greatest joys these days is going hiking on Sundays. I also manage to stay on top of a lot of housework, and get minor home repairs done. However - during this 3 week period, I tried to expand all of these things to fit all my waking hours. What this came at the expense of was the feeling of productivity - doing something, moving things forward, building, creating, removing entropy from the world. More gaming and hiking and reading didn't help me with that. Home improvement projects did, but there's a limit to my interest and expertise there.
So I think the core issue for me is that I need to find some hobbies that allow me to build and create, rather than just 'be'. | There is a big difference between time off work (no matter how long) and being retired. Glad you had this experience and now have something to think about. But actual retirement brings a whole new set of normal routines that can be quite satisfying. | I chose to volunteer, and tied that to my hobbies.
I help run 2 non-profits, pro-bono, that are related to my 2 hobbies which are sailing and scale model-making. They keep me just busy enough during the day that I still feel productive, and with one I get out and exercise while the other is a great social opportunity.
If I didn’t have these, I would go crazy. | financialindependence | 200 | 713 | null | null | null | OxidadoGuillermez | 1,546,455,755 | 1,552,575,841 | null | t3_abwfit | false | 180 | null | null | null | anymoose | null | ed3ficx | 1,546,456,091 | 1,550,782,037 | null | 1 | null | null | null | RodBlaine | null | ed5mso7 | 1,546,530,743 | 1,550,819,121 | null |
Fully fund IRA for 2019 or pay down student loans? | Hi all,
Looking for some advice. I have around 34k in student loans @ 5.5%. I already pay around 330 a month on them and my work chips in 100. I am going to get a pretty decent tax return (around 4K) and I was wondering if I should pay those loans down or use it to jumpstart my tradition IRA for 2019. I’m kinda worried about the market tanking soon so that’s why I am on the fence about this. Anyone have any thoughts on this? |
I’m kinda worried about the market tanking soon so that’s why I am on the fence about this.
Assuming you are in your 20s, why are you worried about the market tanking soon? Time is on your side for compound growth. | Depends how you look at it. The textbook answer is to make an assumption that you'll probably make long-term return above 5.5% in the IRA during the remaining life of the loan. Therefore, it makes more sense to invest in the IRA (especially considering you can front-load those contributions and allow compounding to do its thing for longer).
However, there's some qualitative considerations you should make. Paying debt down faster means you will be free of their clutches sooner which has a big psychological benefit and frees up cash flow sooner. You have to figure out for yourself what value do you put on the psychological benefit of being student loan free and what value do you place on having the added flexibility with your budget a little bit ahead of schedule. There is no right or wrong answer and anyone unequivocally saying one over the other is simply wrong. Investing and finances are part textbook and part subjective. The decision has to be right for the investor. | FinancialPlanning | 12 | 16 | null | null | null | pyacc | 1,554,960,535 | 1,560,489,118 | null | t3_bbw5gh | false | 19 | null | null | null | PsyAyeAyeDuck | null | ekm6721 | 1,554,973,164 | 1,558,076,637 | null | 1 | null | null | null | dcirrilla | null | ekmrgjz | 1,554,991,967 | 1,558,086,619 | null |
26 Year old Med school dropout, $87,000 in debt, in need of financial & life advice | Hi PersonalFinance,
TLDR : I’m distressed and contrite of my current situation explained below. I need financial and life advice on how to move forward.
FULL POST :
- 2015 / I made a personal and well informed decision to discontinue my medical school education in 2015. I moved in back with my parents at 22 and got a job as a telecommunication sales rep.
2016-2017 / To accelerate paying of $65K in school debt, I operated a small online business selling electronics. I had some successes in 2016 and 2017 managing to pay all my living expenses and pay the loans down to about $47,000.
2018-2019 / Unfortunately, in 2018 the business was victim to scams and operating loss (- $17K), I’d personally lost money from renovation scam (- $7K), and lost money (- $14K) in the stock market in 2019.
2020+/ I’m halting my business endeavours to reassess my life and how to move forward. My business assets will be liquidated and paid off. My personal assets are about $20K and I have $15K cash in personal savings.
With all the losses, I’m in around $87,000 in the negative with about $50K of it in student loans. I’ve moved in back with my parents at 26 (will be 27 in a few months) to reassess my situation and figure out how to move forward. I am a Canadian with a degree in Bsc but do not want to work in the medical field. I don’t want to debate my choice to leave or rejoin medical school, that ship has sailed.
I‘d like advice on what type of jobs to look for with a salary range and how to methodically pay down the debt. Any other financial advice is appreciated. | My main advice is just to simply be more careful. A lot of this debt is simply being scammed and then gambling in the stock market. Just work, pay it down, and accept that it'll be a long road. | My honest advice with your prospects is bankruptcy discharge, in Canada they are dischargible after 7 years and you can petition the court to lower that to 5 years if repayment would cause undue hardship. Section 178 (1) of the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act in Canada | personalfinance | 51 | 81 | null | null | null | AnonymousAcc_Cad | 1,577,662,560 | 1,586,925,842 | null | t3_ehdiwc | false | 79 | null | null | null | waterbuffalo750 | null | fciopvl | 1,577,666,265 | 1,586,344,635 | null | 1 | null | null | null | 121314U | null | fck1h0k | 1,577,713,676 | 1,586,368,498 | null |
Can't close on house because of seller's second mortgage [buyer] | I recently made an offer on a house and it was accepted, I went through all the preparation work with the bank for a mortgage, got approved, and as of a little more than two weeks ago was ready to close. I tentatively set a closing date and scheduled movers for the following Sunday. Shortly after this, when the deal went to the title company, it was revealed that the owner had a second mortgage which had not been know up to that point. The selling price of the house was not enough to cover both the first and second mortgage and so the owner had to start trying to get a loan to cover the second mortgage. I waited a week and canceled my delivery (costing me money), and putting the move on hold while the seller attempts to get his ducks in a row. Now the seller apparently had a bankruptcy and divorce several years ago so needless to say his first request for a loan was turned down. He heard from another bank that his finances look good right now when added with his new wife (married a few weeks ago) and that they should be able to (not guaranteed) get a loan for the second mortgage, problem is that it won’t be for another couple of weeks (IE first week of December) so that pushes closing off another two weeks. I have already turned in my notice at the apartment I currently live in and need to be out by the end of the month. Since my items are in storage with the moving company and the earliest delivery date I can get now will be the 3rd of December, I am going to have to pay about $250 in storage costs. It was suggested by the realtor today that I could request early occupancy but I am hesitant to move into a house I might not be able to close on if the seller cannot get a loan even with his new wife. I have already located a rental house which I like and could move into next week, and to be honest, at this point I am losing interest in the sale because of all this. So my question is, if I turn down the early occupancy suggestion and back out of the sale entirely, what financial costs can I expect to be liable for/can the owners take legal action against me? I looked through the Real Estate Contract and couldn't find anything which would exactly apply to this situation. | I just finished selling a townhouse a couple of month's ago, and my Realtor was extremely (almost anal) through about any and all legalities involved. During the process both myself and the buyer were given copies of everything. I remember that part of my contract I signed stated that there was no undeclared liens against the property. A second mortgage would be a lien.
You should have a copy of his declaration in your documents. Because of this clause not only are you NOT liable for any costs, you can in fact walk away from the sale and possibly sue the seller over this for any and all of your unnecessary expenses involved due to his actions.
If your Realtor didn't give you all related documents and mention your legal rights due to his second mortgage not being declared they may even be libel as well. This means you can fire them with no monies owed due to breech of contract. You might even be able to sue them as well.
My advise. Your Realtor is your advocate in all this and has to be looking out for YOUR best interests, not their commission. Before I would even talk to them I'd get all documents you were supplied and go talk to a lawyer. One that specializes in contract or realty law if you can. Find out all your rights and obligations.
With this information as a trump card, then go talk to your Realtor. I wouldn't disclose that I had talked to a lawyer unless it seems the Realtor is making statements that run counter to what you were told by the lawyer. Remember you did nothing wrong and acted in good faith at all times (I assume). It's the seller and possibly the Realtor that did not, that means YOU'RE the aggrieved party in all this and shouldn't get penalized.
Well there is variation in realty laws and regulations I find it very hard to believe that the undeclared liens clause would not be required where ever it is that you live. | You need to get an attorney. Realtors are not your advocate; they only make money when the sale goes through. Of course the realtor will want you to move in because it will be more cost and hassle to get out of the deal if you've moved in already.
Obviously you don't want to buy the house if you can't get clear title. If the seller is unable to give you clear title, typical real estate contracts allow the buyer to get out of the deal and get their deposit back. But you need a lawyer to review that for you and advise you of your rights. Check the phone book, Google, or contact your local bar association to see if they have a referral service to find a real estate attorney. Yes it will cost you money but you're already seeing the costs stack up and they will only go up from here. | personalfinance | 13 | 23 | null | 23 | 0 | outside88 | 1,416,604,088 | 1,441,058,648 | null | t3_2n0scw | false | 26 | null | 26 | 0 | Marbles53 | t1_cm9cabi | cm9cabi | 1,416,607,771 | 1,425,905,292 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | xLiquidx | t1_cm9vez2 | cm9vez2 | 1,416,673,145 | 1,425,896,223 | null |
$20,000 in debt. Student. I messed up. Anything I can do? | Sorry if this post isn't in the right sub forum, I'm new to Reddit.
I attended a well known University after graduating high school, and due to stupid decisions, partying, and depression, I ended up failing five out of my seven courses through the year. This was September 2012 - June 2013.
I was put into academic probation, so I decided to attend a small college to attempt and transfer into another University. In my first semester, I failed another 2 courses out of the 5 I was taking, and now in my second semester, I'm taking 3 courses, and doing mediocre in all of them. This leaves me with a low GPA, I will be unable to transfer, not to mention I might be put on Academic Probation once again, since the two failed courses count for zero GPA.
Now the end of the year is nearing, I can't apply for summer courses due to my probation, and I'm at a loss at what to do. I'm on student loans, so from these two years I am 20K in debt.
I don't know if any University will ever accept me now, with my terrible record.
Is there any hope of me getting into a University? Could I apply as a high school student? I've made some stupid decisions my whole life, and now I've finally facing the shithole I've created.
Any help or advice would be nice. | You're not college material. You need to learn a trade. With your bad GPA you won't qualify for further loans or grants from any bank or agency. You can enter into an IBR for paying back any government loans, if you can't learn a trade very quickly. Sorry to be so blunt, but I have dealt with dozens of former college students that can't cut the work that have driven themselves into debt and still have no marketable skill. You need to learn a job skill ASAP. | Some niggas ain't built 4 college. Go get a job with men doing manual labor or construction and physically exhaust yourself over a short period of time so you can learn to appreciate the kushy life college can bring you and suddenly you will have the drive to do good for yourself. If it fails however, or you just like to pick up and move heavy shit and want to it for the most part of forever you can go to trade school because I'm almost certain they don't give a shit about your university grades. Either way, get a job, get a new mindset, get back on with your life. | personalfinance | 20 | 30 | null | 30 | 0 | isthereanyhopeforme | 1,396,776,110 | 1,441,592,197 | null | t3_22c1u6 | false | 74 | null | 74 | 0 | mis_creep | t1_cgldokt | cgldokt | 1,396,786,587 | 1,433,232,200 | null | 1 | null | 1 | 0 | DizzyMG | t1_cgli6k9 | cgli6k9 | 1,396,801,951 | 1,433,234,395 | null |
Is there any "free" online course that I can take to learn the basics of being a broker if I don't intend to take the exam? | I'm an engineer - I like math. I like math things. When I purchase a house, I'd like to know the math and the functions that happen in the background.
I'm not intending on taking the broker's exam or a sales person exam, but I sure would love to work out what the Realtor should be doing for me so I can tell if I have a good one or not. Is there an online course that I could "take" or at least have the review material for so that I can decide for myself the realtor who will serve me best? | I see what you are trying to accomplish, but I don't think that taking a class will teach you what you want to know. When I took my classes I was amazed at how most of the material was really irrelevant when it comes to being a 'good broker/realtor.' Many brokers are idiots and have no real world know how. They aren't street smart, if you will. You want an agent who will aggressively market your property, give you good advice on pricing and guide you through negotiations and the closing process. Find an agent with a good track record and a solid marketing plan and you are on the right track. If you tell all that to your agent don't be surprised if they don't want to work with you. At best you'll learn just enough to be very annoying. | Wha? A Realtor is a specific type of agent or broker. It’s basically branding based on a set of ethical principles they adhere to. Their job is to help you find a house you want. There’s no math their. Just legal concepts someone getting their license must know.
For you there’s no real magic here. Unless you want to learn marketing and sales.
I’m assuming you’ve figured out how to calculate the total costs of a house. Know what’s in the TIL statement, and know the impact on taxes buying a house will have. Besides that I’m not sure there’s anything else. | RealEstate | 13 | 32 | null | null | null | boomjay | 1,548,881,553 | 1,552,737,747 | null | t3_alhc22 | false | 15 | null | null | null | TXHouseBuyer | null | efedhib | 1,548,890,405 | 1,552,290,680 | null | 2 | null | null | null | nastyamerican | null | eff2bc1 | 1,548,911,034 | 1,552,302,277 | null |
Accelerated payments against 15 vs 30 year mortgage, with front loaded interest, which way should I go? | Mortgage amount: $296,000
Options: (basic estimates, no taxes or insur incl)
30 yr Fixed at 3.75% = $1370.00 / mo
15 yr fixed at 3.5% = $2116.00 / mo
Plan to pay $2500/ month either way.
Calculations:
30 year total $493k in payments
At $2500 accelerated payment $370k total payments
Loan paid off in 12 yrs 5 months saving $123k in payments
15 year total $381k in payments
At $2500 accelerated payment, $364k total payments
Loan paid off in 12 years 5 months saving $17k in payments
Comparison:
30 yr plan costs me $7k more (3-4 more payments)
Question: I would prefer to have a lower "must make" payment in case of emergency (job loss), should I just go with the 30 year for peace of mind? The15 yr plan doesn't seem to be advantageous enough in case wife or I lose our jobs.
Question 2: Knowing that there is front loaded interest on either loan (right?). If we needed to move in 5 years or so (not planning to, but just in case) does the front loaded interest of the 30 mean we would have dramatically less principle paid off than going with a 15, using the same $2500 accelerated payment?
Thanks redditors!! | If the difference in interest rate is only 0.25%, I would absolutely go with a 30 year option.
As long as you make the same payment, the difference between principal paid off after 5 years will be really small, regardless of which option (15 year or 30 year) you select. Interest paid each month is strictly a function of interest rate and total balance that month. | A couple of my friends got the 30 year, and made double payments when they were both working, then a single payment when one of them went back to school. They paid off the mortgage in less than 20 years.
It worked for them. | personalfinance | 5 | 17 | null | 17 | 0 | I_see_what | 1,425,665,680 | 1,440,869,133 | null | t3_2y5pok | false | 12 | null | 12 | 0 | ed_lv | t1_cp6gq33 | cp6gq33 | 1,425,666,011 | 1,427,615,128 | null | 2 | null | 2 | 0 | aRoseBy | t1_cp6q1o1 | cp6q1o1 | 1,425,681,781 | 1,427,619,493 | null |
Is it just me or are most real estate agents crap? | I found a good one and I love her to death she has bent over backwards to show us everything we have asked her. But it took a while to find her. And some of the listing agents act like they cant be bothered with selling the home they have listed. What is the deal? Are there just a large number of incompetent people in real estate?
The first few agents I dealt with were abosolutly terrible. Not showing up, not calling back. taking forever to schedule showings I mean really what gives? | Agents follow the rule that 10% of agents do 90% of the business.
And there is a reason for that (to do with behavior, charisma, methodology, skill or training, etc...) So simply: yes. | I worked with REAs on Long Island during the boom. We had a saying in my office: When you have failed at everything else in life, you become a real estate agent. | RealEstate | 38 | 37 | null | 37 | 0 | Kungfubunnyrabbit | 1,440,808,761 | 1,443,149,453 | null | t3_3islfb | false | 21 | null | 21 | null | kaeroku | null | cujai8l | 1,440,810,125 | 1,441,560,118 | null | 1 | null | 1 | null | AlwaysANewb | null | cuk6wu2 | 1,440,890,476 | 1,441,575,715 | null |
How common are houses with less than two bedrooms? | I don't mean a tiny house. Just not divided into bedrooms. Similar to a large studio apartment, or one bedroom. Maybe 1000-1500 square feet total.
One in a hundred houses? One in a thousand? A million? Have you ever even seen any listings like that? | If you want a 1 Bedroom, then you rent an apartment. A one bedroom house isn’t incredibly useful to anyone, and is a very niche type of build, something a builder isn’t likely to make without a special request by a buyer.
Just buy a two bedroom house and use the second room as an office, hobby room, storage space, or guest room.
Or, if you find a house with the right floor plan, you could even take down a wall and either combine both bedrooms into 1, or open one of the bedrooms up into the living space. As long as it’s not a supporting wall, a hammer, sawsall, and 5 hours of work is all it takes. | Rare, but in markets I am familiar with, there is a tiny market for open layout homes. They generally sell quickly because there are more people that want them than houses that exist this way. Currently, the inventory of open lay out, modern "exotic/luxury" looking homes is outpaced by the demand. In other words, there's well off individuals and DINKS out there who don't see the desire for multiple bedrooms (and probably have no desire for children at the time); but want the privacy of a home yet have the floor-plan that many associate with a large, luxury studio apartment. However, these apartments are actually inspired from (albiet several iterations away from) of open layout luxury homes from the 70s, I believe.
Think those open layout tech millionaire homes in the hills or overlooking forests that make good magazine spreads, internet articles and IG posts.
A house is typically constructed with children and family in mind as families or future families are a large demographic.
On the contrary, a traditional layout home with only one bedroom is also very rare and generally is an oddball because the demand for that is so low compared to even a 2 bedroom home. | RealEstate | 7 | 8 | null | null | null | aiaor | 1,540,184,386 | 1,542,639,450 | null | t3_9qamc5 | false | 13 | null | null | null | ThePermafrost | null | e888qqx | 1,540,206,206 | 1,541,328,495 | null | 2 | null | null | null | staples11 | null | e88qz1n | 1,540,225,414 | 1,541,337,034 | null |
My mom added me without my knowledge to her chase bank credit card as an authorized user. I was 17. Her account has been "charged off" and my credit score is 552. What do I do? | My mom added me without my knowledge to her chase bank credit card as an authorized user. I was 17. Her account has been "charged off" and my credit score is 552. What do I do? | If you're just an authorized user you should be able to remove yourself from the account and it will fall off your credit report. Just call chase and ask them to remove you. | Their is alot about trying to fix your credit by correcting something about the past. That is all well and good.
I am here to talk about what you can do to restore your credit score reguardless of the past. You dont mention your age but i am going to assume no older than 25.
The easiest and safest way to improve ur credit it to get a loan. A credit card is a food idea but that comes with its own pitfalls.
What i have done to improve my credit is to accumulate 2000 usd in my checking account. Once u have that amount call ur bank.
You need too do two things simultaneously. First ask your bank for a 2000 dollar certificate of deposit. Then you want a secured loan of 2000 dollars against ur CD. This means you will start the day with 2000 dollas in ur checking account and end the day that way.
Everymonth their will be a bill of about 165 dollars a month. This must be paid on time. After a year your loan will be paid off. And you will have a 2000 dollar CD u can cas in if u need the money but if you are smart you will get another loan. Rinse and repeat.
Why is this good. Every year their will be a consumer loan paid off (improves credit), it will cost 30 to 50 dollas of interest. To improve ur credit this is cheap. After a few years you will have vastly improved ur ceedit score.
Side note. If you are financially capable you should always maintain 2000 dollars i. Ur checking account. If this is true. After the first year you will get another 2000 dollar loan on the original CD. If u can manage not to spend it every year from year 2 untill forever you will be forced to save 2000 dollars.
It this doest make sense let me know and i will try to explain better.
It worked for me and i am now in the process of buy my own condo. Their is always light at the end of the tunnel. | personalfinance | 39 | 453 | null | null | null | TommyDommyLommy | 1,511,957,043 | 1,512,322,431 | null | t3_7gcr1k | false | 443 | null | null | null | PA2SK | null | dqi34w3 | 1,511,957,315 | 1,513,120,938 | null | -2 | null | null | null | garza413 | null | dqjfb6w | 1,512,008,888 | 1,513,149,172 | null |
Which has priority, TSP or Roth IRA? | I previously put ~15% of my income in my TSP but stopped for a few months. Since the BRS I started putting the minimum in for the match. I also recently started my first vanguard Roth IRA. Should I go back to TSP or Max the Roth IRA first? | Usually the reason you do an IRA over a 401k/other investments is the fees are typically lower.
Since the TSP has such low fees I usually recommend you do the TSP up to the yearly limit before doing an IRA, but the choice is up to you depending on how good your IRA is. | You might find more help in r/militaryfinance, but I agree with what was already said: try to max Roth IRA first, but always have the minimum allocated so you get your “free” match. | personalfinance | 6 | 7 | null | null | null | walldj45 | 1,521,384,319 | 1,522,320,484 | null | t3_85bmf8 | false | 19 | null | null | null | ShawnSmith08 | null | dvw67kv | 1,521,384,702 | 1,525,299,602 | null | -1 | null | null | null | Packerfan735 | null | dvw679r | 1,521,384,691 | 1,525,299,597 | null |
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