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22F $31K in savings, what to do with it?

Hi everyone. I'm currently working a casual job with hours between 30-40 hours per week, $23/hour.   I'm in my last semester of Uni (hopefully) but don't have a full time job lined up yet; I'm not even sure of what career I want to get into despite almost finishing my degree (bachelor or media: majoring in public relations & advertising).   Currently living at parent's home so don't have to pay rent but me and my brother are responsible for paying all utilities. My partner wants us to move in together sometime next year though.   I have about $4000 of Uni debt which doesn't have to be paid off until I make $54k/year (living in Sydney, Australia). EDIT: There is no interest accrued, but it is indexed every year with inflation ie 2-3% per year.   I have a car that's fully paid off but registration is about $800/year and comprehensive car insurance is about $1500/year (I'm under 25, female, and had 1 suspension).   Expenses are: Internet is $30/month (my half) Netflix is $12/month Electricity is about $100 quarterly (my half) Gas is about $60 quarterly (my half) Other daily expenses is about $300 monthly Phone network $20/month Public transport $80/month   I was hoping to save up for a first home home deposit but that dream is quickly becoming unattainable due to the surge in housing prices (last year I looked at a studio apartment for $480k, right now the same apartment is going for $515k; off the plan studio apartments are going for $700k; 2br apartment going for 1.5mil and 3br going for 2mil off the plan for both).   I have $31K sitting in the bank with interest of only 2.81%. This savings account is one of those bonus variable interest accounts when you deposit a minimum amount each month. Other banks have similar interest rates for savings account.   What options do I have? As in what other investment opportunities are there? Where and how do I start?   @lublysinqq thanks, I will look into it :)

Congrats on saving so much! Im 24 y/o male living in Perth, and just like you, had a large wad of cash (50k to be exact) withering away in a high interest savings account. Long story short, I ended up reading heavily into anything finance related over the course of 6 months and decided to invest into various ETFs offered by Vanguard. If you haven't heard of them, I highly recommend that you do. At the moment my net worth is 65k where I have 15k in cash as an emergency fund and 50k in ETFs such as VAS, VEU, VAF, VTS and a few more (80% stocks, 20% bonds). This is essentially a high growth portfolio where your investment horizon is 7+ years, but you can alter this to have more bonds over stocks so risk is not as high. Hope this helps :)

Wait for the one or two days/month in the year that Apple is at $92, but it, sell it at $100/105. Buy Netflix at $88, sell at $95. Buy Twitter before Football season starts.

personalfinance

moiscraycray

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lublysinqq

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Nonaluuluu

d704k8c

What is the best way to invest money as a gift for friends' baby, to be accessed when baby turns 21?

A group of friends are looking to put some money in an account for our friends' baby to access when it turns 21. The baby and most of the friends are in the US. We'd be looking at a relatively low initial investment ($200ish) to possibly be topped up at various birthdays or Christmases in the interim years. Have had a look into various types of account and nothing seems that well suited for this. If the baby and its parents were in the UK, we would probably go down the ISA route, but can't find a US equivalent. As a non-American trying to navigate US savings schemes, any help would be appreciated! What do you guys recommend, please?

Have you considered a 529 plan? If you expect the child to attend college, this may be a great option for you. The money grows tax deferred, plus any distributions for qualified expenses are tax exempt. I'm not sure if there would be any problems opening one from across the pond, so you would have to look into it more.

I´d recommend you gift the child gold or silver coins and rounds. Easy to liquidate, and that way, you don´t have to involve neither banks, brokers or tax. 200 USD a year is not worth putting into stocks and bonds. Fees will eat too big a chunk. Plus, coins are physical objects, and easy to appreciate as a gift. More so than "pieces of paper".

personalfinance

octoboss

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robbinthehoodz

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alexanderkirkegaard

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cgrgdxi

Sell with increased IV versus waiting for being more ITM?

I have SPY puts 4/17, 5/15, 6/19 all ITM. Assuming tomorrow opens red and IV increases, is there a way to figure out whether its better to hold the puts for being more ITM later or sell immediately once IV increases?

You are asking for a crystal ball. At some point, IV will come down and this will offset the gain from being "more" ITM (assumption that SPY will continue to go down). Without knowing the SPY price in the future, there is no way to determine this break even point. Let's take for example SPY 226 P 4/17. As of the time of this post, it is worth $17.10. Vega is 0.2492, Delta is 0.5670, Theta is -0.2816, and IV for SPY is 0.69. Based on how SPY futures are looking, we know that IV is going to jump. SPY IV ranged from 0.70 - 0.78 early last week. Let's say IV jumps up 5 points. Vega is 0.249 so 0.249 x 5 = 1.245. Your option would be worth 17.10 + 1.245 = 18.345, or a 7% increase in your option. Now let's assume that you hold the contract, and IV slowly goes back to 0.69. You would need to make up the 1.245 in delta (more in the money). This would mean that the SPY would need to go down 1.245 / 0.567 = $2.19 dollars to make up for the loss in IV. \^the above is super rough math. We also ignored theta-gang, which will eat away at your profit as well. &x200B Lastly, IV is really high right now. I do not think these levels are sustainable, and I think IV comes back down to .50 range within the next few weeks, so you are looking at a .2 change in IV.

Glad I'm not the only one being slightly clueless about these. I have 7/17 200 SPY puts and I'm on the fence on should I sell them since the volatility is bound to go down at some point or keep writing shorter term puts as much as I possible while I still can. I could keep writing and gather money for the market turnaround that nobody knows when it's coming or, being already handsomely in profit, I could cash out now and sit on the cash until I see a good opportunity to switch to call side of things. The more I think about this, the harder the question. Upcoming unemployment numbers could give volatility and as a result my puts a boost, but successful government stimulus could also partially ruin them. Also the virus is still spreading rapidly and cure is nowhere near and the US government still has a plenty of opportunities to screw this up while a wave of bankruptcies hits like a tsunami. Too many variables.

options

mmmonkeys

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moondoy3910

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AlleKeskitason

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Wanting to break out of poverty

This is my first time posting here so please excuse any errors you may find. I'm 25, female, server at a chain restaurant, making about the bare minimum for living. I live with my boyfriend of 6 years who cooks for a different chain restaurant as well. He makes $11.00 and hour while I make $2.15 and bringing home at most about $70 a day. We live in a rough apartment complex that is $670 a month. Although we scrape by, I want to be able to do something much more than clock in and make quick cash every day. I studied some college but ended up dropping out cause of family issues, they have also always lived in poverty and have never really been able to help me other than provide rides every now and then since I don't also own a car. My question is, how do I break out of a dead end job and get into something that can actually get a ball rolling into living comfortably? My credit isn't great (525 I think the last time I checked) I have no car, plus, the only real experience I have is with restaurants and basic computer call centers. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Trade school is a very good option for many people. If you think uni is a better path, then apply to community college and focus on having the best grades so you can get scholarships to a state school for the last two years. Pick a useful degree.

First of all hugs, this sucks and just clinging along can be hard. Secondly, the wiki in the side bar would be a good start to catch up on reading. Do you guys have a budget?

personalfinance

mushroomgr00vy

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whiteraven4

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Ayanka88

djkk3td

Am I doing this right? SO many options! 401k vs. ROTH IRA vs. HSA %'s

25, Male. Salary 80k. Anyone see room for improvement? Should I not be so invested in ROTH IRA contributions? It's after I get taxed for the money.. but my income in retirement should be higher? HSA seems amazing with the whole no tax on medical expenses thing.. thoughts? Assets: 6 month emergency fund sitting at $25,000 - $2500 in a 5% dividend account (that's the max allowed for the 5% return) - $22500 in a money market account at 0.75% dividend (6 withdraw / month limit) \~ $100,000 in a company 401k \~$2500 in ROTH IRA \~33k equity in a $180k house Debts: 4.7k loan, 3.1% interest rate (student loan) The rest of the house, I suppose Contributions (I changed this recently from pure 401k contributions) : I contribute $500 / month to a personal ROTH IRA from my income (to max $6,000) I contribute pre-tax max to HSA account (My wife and I are gonna have a kid or two soon :) ) The max match percentage for my company 401k All in all, it's an effective \~25% savings including employer contributions.. now, we use the HSA account for qualified expenses. (contacts, prescriptions, etc.) Super grateful for all thoughts / suggestions! :)

If you think your income in retirement will be higher then ROTH is the way to go yes. HSA is amazing, yes contribute everything you can to it, [This article goes into more details on HSAs]( and how you can use them as the best retirement fund (keep them receipts). Beyond that it sounds like you're well on track, if you're asking where to put more money, you can open a Roth IRA for you wife as well and contribute another $6000 for her. After that I'd personally recommend more to your 401k to max that out, then 529 account, then you've used pretty much all of the tax advantaged accounts at your disposal. &x200B &x200B Basically I recommended [this](

It sounds like you're doing a great job so far! One consideration would be to invest some of your $22.5k in equities. Given your age and the fact that you've taken care of your 6-month emergency fund, it makes sense to take on more risk to get more reward. If you really want to keep it liquid, at least put it in something like BASOX (BlackRock Short Obligations Fund). It returns a bit over 2% and the actual value of the fund barely moves (in the past year the highest it has traded at is $10.03, and the lowest is $10.00, to give you an idea). That’s a great place to plop money that you might need really quickly (like a day or two). It’s basically free money compared to interest on a savings account.

FinancialPlanning

TheChefGeoff

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SypeSypher

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champagne_farts

fg1jqnh

Need some advise on salary negotiation.

So yesterday I received an job offer. The offer I received included a base salary plus an "Employee Incentive Program at a target rate of 10%". The base salary alone is way below my previous salary, and I would be taking a rather large pay cut. However, when you factor in the potential 10% incentive/bonus, then it puts me over my previous salary. It seems that the employer is going this route, factoring in the base salary, plus the bonus and saying that they are offering me more than I was making so I should be happy. I don't see it that way. The bonus is a once a year thing. It's a bonus for doing good work and for the company being productive. It doesn't help me pay my monthly bills. On the base salary alone, I'd be losing over $500 a month over what I was making previously. How do I ask for a higher base salary? Otherwise, I really can't afford to take this job, bonus or not. Any advise would be appreciated.

The bonus is a once a year thing. It's a bonus for doing good work and for the company being productive. It doesn't help me pay my monthly bills. On the base salary alone, I'd be losing over $500 a month over what I was making previously. Say that.

I would ask: my previous salary was higher because I did the work. I'm not requesting to match that but I do need more money for my skill set. If you want to give me a serial period to see my skills and then we x as n revisit a raid

personalfinance

Behind8Proxies

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Username_Used

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kenkaniff23

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1 million Californians filed for unemployment

According to [this source]( While this only accounts for the state of California, I thought Wall Street estimated around 2.25 million unemployed nationwide? I wonder what the real numbers are for the other states. Please post your state’s numbers and source if you can find them so we can add them up before the official nationwide numbers come out. EDIT: I’ll start adding up the numbers by state if you can provide a source. Wow, so far, this is pretty sad :( EDIT: All of these sources are saying these are claims from the past week or two. This quarantine is going to last for the foreseeable future so expect more claims throughout April... TOTAL: ~ ??? AL ~ 17k [source]( AK ~ ?? AZ ~ 30k [source]( AR ~ 10k [source]( CA - 1 million CO ~ 180k [filing attempts in a single week]( CT ~ 100k [source]( DE ~ ?? FL ~ 70k to 224k [source]( [source 2]( GA ~ ?? HI ~ 40k [source]( IA ~ ?? ID ~ ?? IL ~ 64k [just last week alone]( IN ~ 54k [source]( KS ~ 28k [just last week alone]( KY ~ ?? LA ~ 70k [source (just from last week!)]( ME ~ 5k [in just 3 days this week!]( MD ~ ?? MA ~ 20k [filed just on monday alone!]( MI ~ 109k [source (just last week alone)]( MN ~ 150k [source]( MS ~ ?? MO ~ ?? MT ~ ?? NE ~ ?? NV ~ 206k [just from casinos alone!]( NH ~ 44k [source]( NJ ~ ?? NM ~ ?? NY ~ 1.7 million [source (these are calls and are not confirmed)]( NC ~ 166k [source]( ND ~ ?? OH ~ 139k [source]( OK ~ 18k [source]( OR ~ ?? PA ~ 540k [source]( RI ~ 62k [source]( SC ~ ?? SD ~ ?? TN ~ ?? TX ~ 281k [source (I can update when I get a new source)]( UT ~ ?? VT ~ ?? VA ~ 40k [just last week!]( WA ~ ?? WV ~ 28k [source]( WI ~ 101k [source]( WY ~ ??

Ohio was told by the federal govt to not release any numbers until tomorrow. It's going to be high. They shut down stores and schools almost a week before NYC and the rest of the country.

I can't find the exact number, I will keep looking but the last paragraph of this article in my state says: "With so many people in need, the Division of Unemployment said its website and call centers are seeing “unprecedented” volume which may result in long wait times."

wallstreetbets

ChivePretzel

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74FFY

flhruio

thePBRismoldy

flhy2oi

Someone stole my money through Facebook messenger.

Hi, my brother told me to post here. I got an email last night that I had sent $452 to this girl that I don't know on Facebook. I got on my computer to look into it and there were actually 3 separate messages with varying amounts all around $450. From that page I noticed that Facebook had two of my cards on file from a previous purchase of an album from a friend's band and a donation I made to a charity a while back. I promptly removed those cards which stopped two more charges from going through to a different girl for $200 and $100. All within 5 minutes of each other. I'm going to my bank Monday morning, but there is no real way to get in touch with Facebook, there's a live chat but it's only for business accounts. Any advice?

Call the number on the back of your credit card it should have an option to speak to a representative and then tell them about the fraud so they can deny the transactions. Also email Facebook customer support so they can open a case.

Something similar happened to us, facebook was of no help. Bank denied charge-back and said that the current transaction is similar to previous (legitimate) facebook transactions so they cant tell if it is really fraud. &x200B P.S. this was an Asian bank. US banks might be better.

personalfinance

danielleflock

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atat10

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toxicdevil

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The owner of De Beers, Anglo American’s (AAL) share price is down by 87% since 2011. It seems diamonds are not forever or is this a good buying opportunity?

Anglo American recently announced a loss of $5bn this week, along with revenue declining by 26%. So, what do we know about the parent of De Beers? It market value is at an all-time low. [Imgur]( Anglo American’s current market value is 60% lower than the pre-commodities boom in the early 2000s. So, why has this company fallen from grace? Despite owning 85% of De Beers, it also owns a platinum division, copper division, coal division, and iron ore division. All this is due to falling commodities prices and a slowdown in demand from China. On the surface, Anglo American’s balance sheet isn’t so bad, as illustrated by the chart below: [Imgur]( Its equity is slightly lower than it was back in 2008 at $21bn, but this is much higher than the $13bn recorded in 2001. But deep down, Anglo American is deep in debt. [Imgur]( So deep it surpassed the “$10bn” for the first time at the end of 2015. Anglo’s market capitalization has declined likewise. Even more disturbing is the company’s shrinking investment portfolio to an all-time low. [Imgur]( A liquidity of its long-term investments has not stopped the company declining cash balance and since 2011, it saws its liquidity fell from $19.8bn to $9.5bn. And Anglo American’s financial position won’t improve because the company has dire earnings. [Imgur]( It doesn’t look like the company is making a profit anytime soon, as it’s CEO stressed that asset-sale will be accelerated in 2016 to reduce net debt. The question on everyone lips are: “Who will be buying?” Please let me know your thoughts on this company.

Diamonds are the biggest scam ever. Society is convinced that they're so valuable but they can be made in laboratories rather than having to wait thousands of years for them to form. They're abundant, just the De Beers family and great marketing has convinced us that they're not. Their only true value is industrial for cutting and grinding. If you buy stock in any company vested heavily in diamonds, you're really gambling, not investing. Gambling that people will remain brainwashed into thinking diamonds are "rare and valuable". Not really thoughts on the company, just thoughts on one of their big "products".

I think with the advent of the Internet, people have access to all the information around the artificial pricing in the diamond market and are getting wise. I sure wouldn't get in at this point.

investing

Walter7793

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rkim777

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buck9000

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Should I quit or wait until I am fired?

Long story short, I hate my job and the company I work for. It's a very small start-up with no HR department. The CEO is abusive and borderline psychotic, and the company does not respect any employee. I recently raised a stink about the way I am treated, which pissed the CEO off even further, and I have a feeling that my time at the company is limited. My question is-- should I just go in tomorrow and quit? Or should I wait until I am eventually let go? I have a very small savings, enough for one month, but my S/O has enough money for us to live for quite a while. My reasons for wanting to just go in and quit tomorrow are as follows: -I don't want to help them with a single thing further, especially with preparing for my replacement -Right now, the CEO has me working 12 hour days, quitting would give me significant time to buckle down on the job search and interview -I haven't had a single day off in six months Reasons for staying are: -Collecting a paycheck, obviously -health insurance -If I am let go, getting a potential severance and then collecting unemployment Please let me know your thoughts.

Look for a job until you are fired, you may be eligible for unemployment vs. you leave you wont be. No one can make you work, step out during lunch for interviews, make time for yourself.

Neither. Always transition to a new job. This isn't about "helping them", it's about taking care of yourself. There are also many reasons quitting without another job lined up is terrible. Moving forward, always try to get two years under your belt or your resume will be a warning sign to future employers.

personalfinance

wildstylemeth0d

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BitterVegan

d8v8wic

BassSounds

d8vg825

30yo, just found out I have been an authorized user on my Dad's credit card for 15 years

I know, I probably should have looked at my credit report long before now, but contrary to many posts I see on this sub, I think this actually may have benefited me. As the title states, I finally had a look at my credit history on Experian, and found a $13k credit card opened in 2003 by my Dad. I never got any personal credit cards until I was 17, so that is the oldest card on my history by a couple years. He has paid it in full every month since opening it. My credit score is 800, and I feel that may have a large part to do with it. I have about 20k in other credit cards/loans that I also pay monthly. Now that I am 30, what should I do? Do I leave it open? Ask to be removed? He says he in unaware of me being listed on the account, but verified it is his. Thanks for any advice! EDIT: Thank you all for the help! I am seeing my father tonight and will definitely be buying him a beer. Cheers!

He has paid it in full every month since opening it. Oh, it was intentional. My credit score is 800 It was very intentional. Your dad did you a solid with a great start in your (financial) life. Give him a hug. Just don’t squander this opportunity. Learn from it and leverage it.

I've been on my parents' card for gas purposes since high school, but like you said they seem to look at the opening date. This particular account happens to be older than I am and my parents have never missed a payment. Just having good credit can save you a ton of money so it's a great thing for any responsible parent to do, you don't even have to give them a card as long as you add them to a well-maintained credit account

personalfinance

sabertoot

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Mefic_vest

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pyropro12

dmxej5q

looking for ideas to allow limited access of family bank account for teen daughter

Our current situation, that I have become increasingly uncomfortable with, is we have 3 debit/bankcards on our account, my husband has one, and I have 2, but they are identical (I signed my name in Sharpie over the 3 digit CVC code, so I asked bank for a replacement card) and for ease of dispersing money every time she needs gas or wants to go out with friends, I have permitted my daughter to use the unsigned debit card, with instructions to sign her name, so I know she used it. She also has my PIN, which as I type this, is probably pretty risky, but I do trust her, to a point. For the most part this system has worked, however, as most teens probably are, she thinks there is an endless supply of money and even after discussing that she needs to ask permission before just using the card on a whim, I feel she has been disrespectful to our requests. She is 15 years old and not permitted to get a debit card on our account with her own name and as far as I know, not allowed to get any type of bank issued debit card even if she had her own checking account. I am looking for advice on how to possibly give her an allowance, while allowing the convenience of a card. Are reloadable charge cards a viable option? I have no idea how those work and if it would even solve my issue. Please advise on possible solutions without negative comments on my gullible parenting. Thanks!

Rechargeable cards have high fees. Take her card away and tell her she has a set allowance every week and that if she needs any more money she has to come to you and specifically request it. You are not doing her any favors by letting her spend money she didn't earn without thinking about it. The convenience of her having a card seems to be costing you a great deal of money. She needs to learn to budget eventually or you are setting her up for a lifetime of financial troubles. I know plenty of people that come from very wealthy families but always have financial trouble because they lack basic budgeting skills.

When I was 15 1/2, I got my first checking account at BofA. I think it'll be a good responsibility exercise for her to manage her own account. You can deposit a finite amount to get her started and then encourage her to get a job to keep funding it herself in the coming years.

personalfinance

iowa_kay

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negativefucksgiven12

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seeyounorth

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Forgot to add a W2 to my tax return!

Early in 2014 I did a one-off contracting job, and filed tax paperwork for the work. The work wasn't anything huge ($200). I filed taxes early this year (Jan 20th) with the W2 from my salaried position(~35k), completely forgetting that I did this contracting gig. I filed with the standard deduction and already recieved my state refund (MI). Will this forgotten W2 have any negative implications? It is a small enough percentage of my overall income that it won't put me in a new tax bracket, but I want to be sure I wont need to re-file etc.

You will need to file an amended tax return. If you don't you will receive a matching notice from the IRS saying you did not report this income. Use form 1040x to file the amended return.

Just amend your return and pay the IRS and the state of Michigan what you owe them. I don't know about MI, but you will probably have to give up $20-$30 to the IRS assuming you're single and based on what you told us.

personalfinance

mscinsider

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mustachi-oh

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coayrit

squat_some_more

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coazmh0

Rough percentage of houses that are staged?

I keep seeing houses with strategically placed bowls and vases, and the sheer amount of wall hangings with cheesy inspirationally words or phrases. Are most of these staged or do I just think I'm cooler than other house sellers?

the house we ultimately bought had cheesy and/or religious quotes stenciled in every single room of the house, including the front hallway. not staged, the previous owners just had terrible taste.

Our house had a lot of photos and weird crafty shit in it, so we had to take them down and replace them with whatever schlocky Live Laugh Love, photos of flowers, or paint night creations we could scrounge from our friends and neighbors so you can't see the holes in the walls.

RealEstate

VroomVroom905

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Hrekires

enn39zu

T-Flexercise

enrlfm9

Living in NYC making $70k/yr am I wasting my time with a Roth IRA?

With respect to tax implications that is -- I always hear you should do the Roth IRA when you're young and in a low tax bracket, but I don't know what that means for someone in my particular situation (I am 27, btw). Am I better off going heavier with my firm's 401k?

It depends entirely on what you think your tax situation will be in retirement. There are a ton of variables in calculating that as well, like your desired income in retirement, whether you'll be living in a city/state with additional taxes (like NYC), and what congress will decide are appropriate taxes 40 years from now. Given how hard it is to answer even one of these questions, it makes sense to have a healthy balance of of pre and post tax retirement investments. Continue maxing your Roth (since it has the lower contribution limit) but start allocating as much as you can to your 401k as well.

Especially in your specific situation, you would probably come out ahead by sticking with a traditional IRA. I've been in NYC with a similar tax bracket for 6 years and have never contributed to a Roth.

personalfinance

fnceIgnorant

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flat_top

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Practicing

t1_cgjvyq0

cgjvyq0

Anyone feel bad for Robinhood?

They absolutely initiated and inspired the movement to zero commission. They represent the competitive innovation of the free market. Now everybody else is following suit, and Robinhood has little competitive advantage. They’ll likely take a gigantic hit, all because everyone’s doing what they did first.

They still have a rather large market of millennials who like to use their phone for ease of trading where even if other brokers have apps, it’s more complicated to the laid back “investor.” And no I don’t feel bad for this company of any other company. Robinhood started a trend they didn’t change investing forever or create a product. They simply forced the hand of the “real” BDs to stop overcharging and I’m grateful for that. But that’s all Robinhood was for me and a lot of other people: a free platform.

No, the absolutely first thing you should expect if you try something new and it works is to be copied. If your competitive advantage can be copied easily, it's not going to be an advantage for long. You can't be a one-trick pony when you're trying to get a seat at the table of well-established companies. They've all pulled tens or hundreds of tricks to keep themselves alive.

investing

[deleted]

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thebrowdavis

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ilonelytylenoli

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Can't afford rent anymore - want to break my lease. Options?

Hi, I live in a one bedroom in Scottsdale, AZ and i'm currently paying $1,300+ a month in rent. I'm 6 months into a 12-month lease. I recently transitioned careers and can't afford to pay the rent anymore (making roughly 35,000 a year now). I've lined up another living situation with a roommate to make rent much more affordable. My question is, how tough will it be to break my current lease? Do i tell my landlord i can't afford rent anymore? My lease is extremely vague and doesn't provide much language about the consequences of breaking the lease. I assume i might lose my deposit (one month's rent) but i don't know what else. Any suggestions on how to approach it with the landlord will be greatly appreciated!

You are probably responsible for the rent for the full term of the lease or until another tenant is in the unit. Your best move is to talk to your landlord and see what your options are. They might take pity on you if you give as much notice as possible, get the place spotless, help them find a new tenant, etc.

I used to live in Scottsdale about seven years ago. Guessing you live in one of those apartment communities? (Hopefully not the one on Shea and Tatum, they were awful to us.) From my experience, these places are owned by a national company with spelled out guidelines. There’s usually a clause for breaking a lease early, and it involves at least a month or two of notice and some sort of fee. I believe the fee for me was equal to the rent I was paying. Try calling that national company for details. If my guess is incorrect and you’re dealing directly with the owner of the property, all you can do is ask and be honest. It will be a lot easier to negotiate when the person you have a relationship with also owns your rental. Depending on your situation and your past rapport, they may let you live in your current place for a lower rent for a short amount of time. We were able to do this when a third roommate left the lease early and didn’t have a replacement right away. Whatever happens, good luck!

personalfinance

RedSwamp261

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IceCreamforLunch

ehalaaq

ThisIsMyThrowaway935

ehb8hzt

Save for a baby or pay off student loans?

I’m a preschool teacher and my husband is a web designer. We live in a house and we have two cars (paid off) and a moped (not paid off). I take home about 1800-1900 a month after taxes etc. and I’ve recently become pregnant. Our expenses every month are low and we’ve been living off of my husbands income while I used my entire paychecks to pay off debts (paid off his student loans, one of my private student loans, and a credit card). This question comes because I still have 23,000 in student loan debt. Which in theory could be reduced to about 5,000 or so if we continue just chucking my entire paycheck at it by the time the baby should be born. But babies are expensive. We have an emergency fund set up already with 4 ish months of expenses, though obviously that doesn’t include the baby’s expenses. The moped scooter has about ~4000 left to pay off. Our plan was to pay that off first before hitting my student loans because we’re doing the whole snowball thing. Really, besides the moped and my loans, we have no debt. We’re cutting back on the things we can to use more of my husbands money for an emergency fund. So reddit, would you try and pay off the loans as much as you can or save for a baby?

Pay off the loans. Babies are expensive, but part of that expense is the loss of cash flow, you take more time off with a baby so you bring less money in, and put more money out. If you can get your loans nearly paid off you will free up cash flow once you have the baby. Some of the big expenses for having a baby are all the furnishings you need that as 2 adults you didn't need before. Take the time to really think through what you need. You are one of the most marketed to demographics now, the expectant mother/new mother is bombarded with things that are "must haves". If you can get through this gauntlet keeping your wits about you the cost can be more manageable. (we did not, we bought sooooooo much useless shit) You should go through some parenting on a budget threads and see how you can really prepare. The big thing we did differently between baby 1 and baby 2 was have a LOT MORE prepared food in the freezer. We wasted so much money the first 3 mo of baby 1 just because we were to exhausted to cook good meals for us we'd just eat out or order in.

The biggest expense in the beginning is any payments you will have to make for the birth. I was surprised how little a healthy baby needs, sleep and feed. Most of the furnishings you will need you can get second hand as you mentioned. This will save you a lot of money. If you can breast feed then that will save you a lot of money. Formula was our biggest expense until switching to milk and actual food. We also were fortunate to be able to purchase diapers at a few dollars per case. No doubt this saved us a significant amount of money. That will be the next biggest expensive after food. That being said, you have an efund and are already living like you have one pay. Keep throwing money at your loans or if it makes you feel more comfortable to build the efund up a bit maybe split it 80-20 or 75-25.

personalfinance

Inexperiencedascrap

t3_d7pimm

stephenBB81

f135m7t

motoo344

f1445v0

Biggest Cosmetic Returns

What are the cosmetic improvements to a property that, in your experience, have given you the most return on your investment?

Paint and flooring. If I had to choose just 1, I'd say paint. Paint will instantly shine a turd (but it may still be a turd) EDIT: Here is a good example of the difference paint can make.

Still in the process of purchasing my first property but on the bigger pockets podcast, one of the guys said he’ll repaint cabinets, throw on a cheap but nice looking nob, and slap in marble countertops

realestateinvesting

Svprvsr

t3_99qcnx

the_haawk

e4pnro4

Strupnick

e4pp031

Should I buy some shares in Netflix tomorrow morning?

Sorry guys my last post was accidentally deleted. Anyways, I'm thinking about investing around 500 or 600 dollars. I don't really want to invest to much because this is my first time investing and I don't really want to take a big risk. What do you guys think? Thanks for the advice guys! I realized how dumb I was being haha.

Why? WHY? Can you explain to me in a sentence or two why you think that Netflix is undervalued now that it's run up about 20% in the last week? If you are looking to "not take a big risk." Look at Netflix. That is like the definition of a "big risk." What do you define a big risk as? Are you willing to potentially lose 10% in one day of trading? Do you also realize that to buy and sell the stock you are going to lose about 2-3% in commission on a $500 investment? Seriously, don't buy Netflix. But an index fund. And if you insist on buying a stock, go buy a utility company that yields like 3% if you don't want a big risk.

Are you earning money? Are you planning to save and invest more? What is your time horizon? Investing everything in one stock is risky, even if it is a big stable company like Coke. Netflix - it's not obvious that they will be around in ten years. They could be Amazon.com. They could be AOL.

investing

[deleted]

t3_w3nkh

lordwow

t1_c59xyeo

c59xyeo

bunabhucan

t1_c59zxwu

c59zxwu

Fake ID Sent to my Parents' home

The other day, my parents texted me a photo of a fake ID with my name that was mailed to my parents address (my old address). I have a new ID in a different state. The name does not completely match (for example, my ID would say John Q. Smith where this fake ID just has John Smith). Also the birth date is 1 month off. The individual pictured is black and I'm white. None of the other information matches my true ID - just address. There was no return address on the envelope. To me it looks like a really terrible quality fake that someone is using to get into bars underage. Also - I'm in my early 30s... I've pulled my credit report with all three bureaus to see if there's any suspicious activity, and there's nothing out of the ordinary in one report, and I'll have to request hard copies for the other 2. What steps should I be taking to protect myself? &x200B EDIT: Thank you all for the advice! This got bigger than I ever expected. I've already changed all my passwords to all my accounts on-line. I also plan to take a day from work and drive back to my parents to take the ID to the local police, as well. This way I'll have copies of the report on file. I'll also use that day to freeze my credit and change my bank account info just to be sure. Realistically, this is probably the least damaging way to realize your identity may be compromised, but I'll count this as lucky and change everything up. Better safe than sorry. Thank you all again!

That's incredibly frightening and could indicate something more insidious about to go down. Make sure you freeze your credit files from all three bureaus. That is FREEZE, not lock. The bureau might try to convince you to just lock your file, but that is not the same thing. My concern is not so much that someone would try to use it at a bar, but rather somewhere that IDs get less scrutiny like stores. If they've stolen one of your credit cards and go shopping / need to show an ID, have you ever encountered a cashier scrutinize the ID or scratch at it? If you have any credit cards, maybe contact your banks and ask that they get re-issued with different numbers.

Get Lifelock.. their top tier.. expensive, like $250/year. But you can link all accounts (bank, investment, auto loans, etc). They will also call/text whenever ANY credit is attempted to be open in your name..

personalfinance

CovesMcGoves

t3_fdca5p

Koinutron

fjgfycl

Gilxa1204

fji2ahx

Where to go for car insurance. Soon to be 25 year old male.

I just received my new 6 month premium for after my 25th bday from state farm. It went up about $120 to $755. I called for explanation and they said I lose my good student and safe driver discount for turning 25. I was able to get them to lower it $670 bc of my miles driven. I'm currently on a family plan with my mother to save a few bucks. Are there any insurance companies that can offer a better deal? I'm currently financing an 08 tacoma and haven't had a ticket in 5 years.

Switch to a smaller regional one. State farm was quoting me like 4k a year for a new corvette and truck at 23. Erie dropped that to 1300 (a year).

If you are in a state that MetroMile is available in, I would highly recommend looking into them. They give you a simple miles tracker dongle thing to plug into your car's data port, and they only charge you based on actual miles driven (with a cap of 150 miles per trip, in case you take a super long road trip). Basically all traditional insurance companies charge you based on some average assumption of how many miles you drive, or some self-reported estimate. For me, I drive probably 6-8k miles a year, and my lowest 6-month payment with Geico was $650-$700, and with MetroMile it's now down to $350 (charged as about $60 a month). Super easy to work with, nice informative smartphone app with a lot of data from the tracking dongle, and I already used them for a glass claim when someone broke my driver side window and the customer service was prompt and professional.

personalfinance

_jakemybreathaway_

t3_5jkbxw

vettewiz

dbgrpmo

strugglingcomic

dbh3jvh

Are doing your own oil change is worth it?

The oil change ramps, chalk blocks and drip pan total $80. Each time I change the oil the oil will cost roughly $50 to include the filter. Then, I have to change it myself and go through the hassle of disposing of the old oil. Most oil change place and do everything for about $45. The reason I’m considering doing it myself is because I know I would do it right and no one is going to take care of my property in the way I will. From a financial standpoint, what do you guys think?

Not sure what oil/filter you’re using for $50, but can you imagine a shop using the same quality materials for less, when they still have overhead and techs to pay? Rhino ramps and a good oil drain pan will last forever. It’s a one time investment, so if you want to do it yourself, do it.

Probably not worth it. I do them, but because I want to know what I'm getting. Your car will probably work with the piece of crap filter and oil they do at Jiffy Lube or Valvoline (that costs $30). I do mine because I want to make sure I'm getting a quality synthetic. Synthetic runs $50-75 at those places, so for me there was a little incentive because everything for me costs like $35 (Walmart has the cheapest synthetic oil). I'm in good shape and never needed rhino ramps for any of my oil changes because I just need an arm under there to do everything. You can even buy a pump - to pump out the oil and you don't have drain the oil under the car. What kind of car do you have?

personalfinance

cullenbohannon1111

t3_9ir9xl

shootdang167

e6lr7ni

aeonsky

e6mumd2

Can I use my Discover Card (0% APR) to pay off other cards' statements so I don't pay interest?

My "Discover It" card has 0% APR and no "balance-transfer" fees for the first 12 months. Would this be a viable option to pay off my other balances (assuming that I would need to pay the minimum on some of them, so I would most definitely need to pay some interest if I don't do this)? Is there any problem with doing this?

If it does not have a balance transfer fee AND the balance transfer also enjoys 0% APR during the intro period, go ahead and do the transfer to save you some interest. You have to make the minimum payments or you'll be hit with a late fee. And make sure you pay the whole balance down before intro rate ends. Remind yourself on your calendar.

Ex Discover card employee here. That 0% Apr is only for purchases and can't be used for consolidating other forms of debt.. however most often if you have an account you get 2 different types of balance transfers(a preset Apr that is treated separate from your purchase Apr to consolidate debts). 1 being a 0% for about a year with a small fee (usually around 5%). 2. A small Apr around 3% with no fee that last about 2 years. If your debt is huge or you don't think you can pay it off with on a year go with the 2nd balance transfer. One thing to keep in mind though is that many people will keep bouncing a debt with balance transfers they get from multiple cards. This can save you money but it is a form of debt consolidation and can affect your credit (not a credit analyst so it can affect your credit differently from others and its not always negatively) however if you do it too often credit card companies will notice when they pull your credit and eventually companies will stop giving you balance transfers after a while. Tl:Dr credit card debt isn't something to play around with if you need to use a balance transfer pay it aggressively

personalfinance

ThrowawayDebt2015

t3_3lob3m

DeluxeXL

cv7vhre

MyNameIsNotKyle

cv7z3b0

Have about $25,000 saved, recently started making $48,000 a year. Not too sure what I should do. Living in Iraq.

I spend about $1000 per month so basically I'm saving $36,000 per year. The thing is I live in Iraq at the moment. Currently all my money is a bank account in an Islamic Bank. I can throw it in a savings account and make "profit" at around %2 per year. Very low. Should I send my money back home, Canada, where I'm from? Start investing the money in stocks? No clue what to do with it, really. But I'm in a good position and definitely have job security. And I like to travel ALOT.

IIRC, there may be different banking rules for non muslims. Aside from that, I would recommend keeping your money in the country you are from. With ATM's globally available, access should not be an issue.

Might want to check out HSBC premier, it's a ~25k minimum, but you can bank in many countries as well as take a 50% ltv mortgage (i'm told, haven't check m'self) after having an account for a few years. So might make a nice financial base for your expat lifestyle.

financialindependence

bricks87

t3_2uzo7h

tatermangia

t1_cod4srl

cod4srl

mr_tgreen

t1_codoo0v

codoo0v

Tenant wants to "mutually break the lease" (IL)

Long time lurker and I need some help. I own a home that I lived in but needed to moved out of state for a career opportunity. Instead of trying to sell the property, I used a real estate agent to help me find a tenant. They guy we found had excellent credit and references. We signed a one year lease, I got a deposit and first months rent and everything is off to a good start. After about six weeks, he comes home from being out of town a few days and finds mouse droppings in the kitchen. So I called a pest control company to come to the home and they patch holes and set bait. I also hire a contractor I trust to patch any holes that the pest control cannot. Then next morning, the tenant smell gas, so he calls the gas company. The gas company detects a leak and shuts off the gas. I called a plumber to come out and fix the leak the same day (Saturday of course, so they charge time and a half). One week later brings us to today: the tenant texts me that the toilet isn't flushing properly and backing up into the shower. I called the plumber again, they come out and rod the sewer line. When speaking to the plumbing company manager, they tell me the line is open, but that we'll need a video feed to check for any possible breaks in the line. They assure me that everything is working. Then tonight, I get an email from the tenant that he wants to break the lease. He said the toilet is still not working and that the plumbers told him him there are major problems and leaks. He says all the time he has to deal with these problems is affecting his job, causing him to be late. And he feels that property is unhealthy due to mice that got into the house and that he's spent money having to disinfect the home multiple times. He says that he would like for us to "mutually break the lease" and that he wants half the security deposit back. I'm not sure what to do. Being a landlord has been more stressful, work, and costly than I had anticipated and I'm trying my best to be a responsive landlord. If the tenant leaves, I'd want to sell the property. I feel if the tenant wants to break the lease, they aren't entitled to the any of the security deposit. So do I let him out of the lease so that I can unload the property and be done dealing with tenant issues? Or do I stick to trying to keep him happy and keep fixing the problems even though he is clearly is unhappy at this point. Sorry this is a bit all over the place, its been a long, stressful day and I'm probably leaving out some relevant information. TL;DR Should I hold the tenant to terms of our contract or allow him out with half his security deposit refunded?

These sound like legitimate issues, I would break the lease and sell the home if you are done renting or renovate it and re rent it. Nothing worse than having an upset person in your home. If I was him I would ask for all money back and I would even pro rate days off rent for issues.

Nothing here is out of the ordinary. Properties have issues and that's exactly why people rent instead of purchasing a home, so they can call the property manager instead of having to call the plumber/exterminator/gas company themselves. NO PROPERTY is without it's issues. If you have taken care of these issues promptly, like you said you have, then there should be no problem. It doesn't sound like the city or borough would give you a hard time esp if you have everything documented. This is the normal stuff a landlord takes care of and really shouldn't be that big of a problem. If you're stressing out about it then look at a property management service or test the market in the springtime.

RealEstate

Vheek

t3_5i93cr

PyritePyrex

db6diw9

jt3611

db70p72

(US) Can I [23M] get on my employer's insurance if I am still listed on my father's insurance plan?

So my employer offers a pretty decent insurance, which they will pay for 50% or 75% of the premium (depending on the plan), and I was getting ready to sign up, but realized that my parents still have me listed on their health insurance. My father gets amazing insurance from his work, but I have never made a claim or even used their insurance.I moved to South Carolina as soon as I finished school and started working, and my parents still live in Georgia. Would my insurance application get denied or penalized if I am still listing on my parents insurance? I would never use his insurance, just worried about being listed on two policies!

You can have more than one insurance policy. Your primary insurance will be the one through your employer, & your parents' will be your secondary. There's a thing called Coordination of Benefits, basically your two insurances working together. When I had BCBS as my primary there was a form online I filled out with my secondary. When you go to the doctor, just give them both cards and tell them which one is primary. If you don't have a COB form online, the insurance companies will usually mail you a form after the doctor runs both of them.

In most states you can have more than one insurance policy. A primary and a secondary. In this case your primary would be through work, and your secondary would be through your father. Many insurance companies have provisions for "life" events that allow you to make changes outside of regular enrollment periods. (I.E. Adding, dropping, or making plan changes.) If I recally correctly, qualifying life events are ones like getting married or divorced, a death of a policy holder in the household, a job loss or job hire, etc. I believe as long as you act within a certain time frame (30 to 90 days of the qualifting life event), if you wanted, your father could probably drop you off his insurance since starting a new job is a qualifying life event. This is me going off of what I know, some insurance companies are different, but it's something to think about. Talk to your dad and decide if you want to stay on both or have him drop you off his plan to help save money. No matter what you decide, don't hesitate to call customer service numbers for either of your insurance plans to figure out what paperwork needs to be filled out or what needs to be done. 9 out of every 10 times they're super helpful. Also, I'm sorry you're being downvoted so much. You have an excellet, legitimate question.

personalfinance

Bizleah

t3_67v95l

Potato__Bender

dgthh86

Undene

dgtyrxe

I am a 24 year old who saved up a good amount of money and am in the market for a car. Should I buy a brand new or used car? Is my money better spent elsewhere if i decide to buy a used car?

Throw away for obvious reasons. I am a 24 year old still living at home with my only expenses being car insuance and my phone at the moment. I have managed to save up around $12,000 and am still adding to that weekly. The only problem is, I need a car by Tuesday and was wondering if it would be better to get a brand new car (looking at one that is around $16,000 right now,but hoping to negotiate down to at least $15,000) or a used car for less and invest/use my money elsewhere, or just save it of course. I don't have any credit, but i am hoping that since my down payment on my car would be so high that i would be approved for a $3,000 loan. I have heard of websites that have institutions bid against each other to get you the best interest rate, but i forgot the name, do you guys know of any? Also, what is the best way of going about buying a new car if I choose to do so? Right now, I am just going to go through my bank for the loan, but if I can get a better rate with someone else, I would. The only trouble is, i dont want a hard inquiry done on my credit 30 times with 30 different institutions to get the best rate (as it would put a ding in my credit). However, like i said before I didn't establish any credit yet, but I don't know what credit score you start out with so I'm not sure if it can be hurt or not. I guess what I am trying to ask is, what are my options and which one is the best one in your opinion? Thank you!

brand new cars are about the worst purchase you can make. all cars lose value at about 15%/year. pay $16k for a new car today, and in 2 years it will be worth only $11k. this is not a smart use of money. better to buy a used car that's only 2-3 years old, after some other chump has thrown $5000 down the toilet. I would recommend you find a nice used car in the $8-10k range and pay cash. no loans. you can get a great, low-mileage car in nice condition for that price. and with no car payment, you can keep saving and upgrade in only a few years for cash.

I drive not necessarily "beater" cars but i try to look something with relatively low miles for its age. There is something to be said for maintenance, but overall i find buying cheaper cars has been good for me. the car i bought for 5k and put 130K miles on was the best car ive ever had. Never let me down, i was genuinely sad to see it go (it still had lots of miles, i gave it to a close friend for his kids to drive as i had 2 vehicles at the time). Anyways i think you should buy the car you want to buy, dont have remorse for spending your hard earned money on something you dont really like. I just think vehicles can be such a waste of money, they all get you to the same point at the end of the day. I make 6 figures and im driving a 14 year old truck worth about 3 thousand dollars.

personalfinance

throwawayfinances001

t3_6yvw2b

harrison_wintergreen

dmqj8k5

Owattrtrotn

dmql03m

Paying medical bills through payments but hospital just offered a courtesy 30% off

I incurred some relatively large medical debt last year and have been, since then, paying it off via payments monthly (no interest, no impact to credit). A few days ago, I received a letter where the hospital is issuing a 30% off of the remainder if I pay the full amount within the next 30 days. Letter head, account information and everything seems legit, but I'm just wondering if there's any reason NOT to do this. I could have paid off the debt when I incurred them last year, but since there was no interest payment plans, I figured I'd do that instead. However, to get 30% off seems like a good deal, so I'm thinking of just paying it off now. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance

Hospital pay scales are pretty negotiable. I'd call their billing people and tell them you could pay $X right now and call it done. Depending on how much cash you have lying around it could work. I'd shoot for at least a 50% reduction tho. Full disclosure: I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I'm tighter than Lil Dickey, and I try to negotiate everything.

Ours offered a similar discount if we paid before we left, so I'd say its legit. It was for delivering our baby that we planned for, so we had the money saved up and it wasn't an issue. Many hospitals are working in a constant state of debt or near debt, and I would say its better for them to get some money all at once, than to risk a patient to stop paying or declare bankruptcy.

personalfinance

DanGWanG

t3_4600pt

dirtyrango

d01d968

acims

d01engn

Staging a home worth it?

I'm finding that it's extremely expensive to stage a home. Is it really worth paying thousands of dollars to stage a home? I'd be pissed if I spent all this money and the home didn't sell.

Yes. It’s worth it. However, if you can’t justify the cost, then focus heavily on decluttering your space. Buyers will have a hard time seeing themselves living in your space when you have personal belongings everywhere such as books, family photos, unread mail, cluttered countertops, and more.

Unless you're in a high dollar market, do it yourself. Paint any room that's a bold color neutral. Declutter everything. Put stuff in storage or donate. Get all your photos or religious pieces put away. Remove any furniture that is oversized for the room it's in. It took us a good week, it was worth it. We have way less to pack now that we're moving and we got a cash offer two weeks after listing.

RealEstate

britt_57

t3_bzq91w

mfontanilla

eqv6gmp

coryrain

eqweu92

Looking at changing careers. Possibly real estate?

Alternate account because of personal information. I'm 25 and currently work as a convenience store manager. I've worked for the same company since I was 16. My base salary is $43250. This year's bonus was about $16K. My husband makes about 40K working at a bank. We have no children (and there will be none unless we adopt). Debt: 150K mortgage, 25K in auto loans, 13K in credit cards (this will be paid off within 6 mo), 7K in student loans. My job isn't bad. It's not too stressful and it pays okay. My biggest problem with my job is boredom. I don't enjoy being at work. When I was a kid I really wanted to go into real estate and I'm starting to get this feeling again. I'd like to start as an agent with an ultimate goal of possibly acquiring rental properties and/or flipping properties. I realize there are big pros, cons, and what if's in this industry. But I'm lucky enough to live in a part of the country that has a strong and growing real estate market. My plan would be to get certified (about $700) and to save up about 6 months worth of expenses before entering this new career. What freaks me out the most about this is the thought of losing everything good I have going for me. I'm not stressed about bills, I have history with the company I work for, a great working relationship with my district manager as well as my regional director. There are also talks of me possibly getting a bigger store in the near future which would mean more money. Do I risk all this just because I'm bored and unhappy? My brain is telling me this is a bad idea but my heart wants change! Any suggestions as to whether this is a good idea? Other than saving, doing research, and coming up with a business plan, is there anything else I could do to better prepare for a career change like this? Thanks for thoughts and suggestions!

How good of a sales person are you? I did real estate for a while in college and my mom is currently a real estate agent. To be successful you have to be tireless about networking and promoting your self, real estate agents are unfortunately a dime a dozen due to to low cost of entry compared to other professions. Questions I'd ask myself/the broker I'd be working for: What are your lead sources going to be, ideally you know or will start working on building relationships with people who can give you business: attorneys, accountants, bankers, etc. How are you paying for advertising, getting your name out there is key, the agency may give you an advertising budget but you'll likely have to contribute your own money. Other costs, how much will you have to pay for the MLS, desk fees, etc. Also, you'll be an independent contractor so you'll be paying 100% of the costs for things that were free or subsidized when you were an FTE such as health insurance. Think about the sales pipe line, houses take a long time to close, even if you hit the ground running, its going to take some time for the money to start coming in. Another key to being successful is realizing that you have to be proactive in getting your deals closed, you can't sit back and leave scheduling in the hands of the attorneys. A corollary to this is that you have you develop a list of professionals to refer your clients to. You'll need: A good attorney who works quickly and communicates well. A competent mortgage banker/broker who will be able to give you a good idea of if your buyers will get financing. An inspector you can recommend who won't sink your deals. I know this won't be popular to say here but in reality recommending an inspector who will point out every potential flaw with a property isn't in your best interest.

Understand that sales any kind of sales is a profession. It requires education and training to be really good at it. Many non sales people thing it simply requires a "gift for gab" but, what it actually requires is that you are a good listener and honestly try to meet your customer's needs. If you go into real estate see if you can do it part-time to start. Also take some sales courses like Dale Carnegie. The Lee Dubois sales training videos are also excellent ( that's what I trained with and they are well worth it. Also Tom Hopkins books on Real Estate Sales. Once you get your license try to get in with an agency in an affluent community. Expensive houses mean bigger commissions. You'll have to work very hard in sales to be successful generating leads, you will face a lot of rejection but, as someone famously said "Sales is very easy low paying work and very hard high paying work". Good Luck.

personalfinance

RealEstateWannabe

t3_5stiu6

SZGriff

ddhpr4l

TheSingulatarian

ddi98p3

So I'm finally at a place where I have enough at the beginning of each year to just fully fund the max contribution for retirement funds. Does it make sense to just do "bulk" purchases every January for the whole year? Like, I am saving enough so we can do 11K for IRAs, 6750 for HSA at January 01, 2017 for the year 2017. I know there's no such thing as timing the market, but it also feels like if I do that and let's say there's a big crash in August, I missed a chance to get better returns, you know? So if I do half in January and wait to see a dip in the market during the year and then do a second bulk contribution? Does anyone have a strategy, like dividing it all by 12 to make equal contribution each month to spread the risk or is it better to just do it in January and forget about it for the year? Thanks!

[This study]( Vanguard published found that 2/3 of the time, investing a large lump sum at the beginning of a period of time had better outcomes than regular deposits throughout that period of time (dollar cost averaging). It's not a big difference, though, so if you're more comfortable spreading your investments out, you may decide it's worth it for the peace of mind.

Heh, yeah. I did that this January and felt stupid. In the future, I plan on doing exactly what you said: half at the beginning, half later in the year, so I can also invest the dividends at that time. (If I could without paying extra, I would put 1/12th in every month like my 401k, but it's not really worth spending an extra hundred dollars to do that.)

personalfinance

upstatepanda

t1_d586zdq

CamelCavalry

d587ggt

_neminem

d58dm38

Broad stock investing or a few individual ones? Or ETFs?

I have a co-worker that invests all his money about equally into 4 or 5 relatively safe companies. I, conversely, buy like 1 or 2 shares of dozens or hundreds of different companies and ETFs, ones that I hand pick and like (of course I use Robinhood or commissions would kill me). Alternatively, there's the philosophy of, invest in 1-5 broad-market ETFs or mutual funds and let it sit. Pros/cons of each strategy?

Buying an S&P 500 index fund is the right answer 100% of the time. I created my own portfolio of individual stocks instead because I take great pleasure from researching and managing. So far I have just slightly outpaced the index but with 100x the effort (and fun, to me). Indexing is boring but it works and is optimal.

Depends on experience, risk tolerance, etc. I keep about 50% of my portfolio in ETFs and the rest are individual companies I like. But that isn't for everyone. I've beaten the market this year but that isn't always the case.

investing

CharonM72

t3_7ckucj

Mr_Find_Value

dpqsior

atdharris

dpr5250

Working for Charles Schwab soon. After bills will have $2,000 to do whatever with. No debt, no kids, and single. Do I just give it back to Chuck?

As the title says, I'll be making some great money here shortly. Enough for a nice place, all bills (gas, food, insurance, phone, etc) paid, and an extra $2,000 at least. I live pretty frugally, so I don't need much. What is the best way to invest it? Should I just give it BACK to Charles Schwab in some IRA or whatever? I honestly have no idea what that is, or the best way to use this money. Thanks for your help.

Check out the sidebar, but here is some general advice in a loosely prioritized order: Build liquid emergency fund you're comfortable with If employer offers matching in retirement plan, contribute enough to get full match Consider major purchases over the next couple years and save in non-qualified account (not an IRA, not 401(k)) Max a Roth IRA account Max employer retirement plan

Do you get any particular perks for being an employee for having their accounts? i.e. free trades, fees waived, etc? Finding these details out should help figure out if Schwab products/accounts are comparatively better for you as an employee vs other companies out there. Everyone here can only look at what Schwab offers and charges for retail consumers, any employee perks can tip the scale and make Schwab pretty favorable to use for employees (if they exist).

personalfinance

[deleted]

t3_16xzko

TelamonianAjax

t1_c80ecq1

c80ecq1

Jahlapenoez

t1_c80elvy

c80elvy

How much fed tax to withhold for early withdraw from IRA Rollover?

Hi guys, My 401k account with my previous employer (approx. $1000) was rolled over into an IRA. I wish to do an early withdraw, but I'm asked how much % of fed tax should be withheld. It seems like the default is 10%, but I'm not sure what I should choose. I rather not pay any tax as a result of this early withdrawal if possible as well. Should I choose the 10%? Is that typically the standard? Thank you!

If the money is in a traditional/rollover IRA and you withdraw it, you will pay 10% as a penalty as well as taxes equivalent to your highest tax bracket. If you normally pay 25% as your highest tax bracket, you will pay 10% + 25%. There is no way to avoid this if you withdraw it now.

10% should be considered the minimum since you'll owe a 10% penalty. You'll then owe income tax on top of that so you should withhold at what you estimate your marginal tax rate will be + 10%. If you wish to not pay taxes, don't do an early withdrawal.

personalfinance

Daliette

t3_52uohk

ChillyCheese

d7ngtt2

traken

d7ngvhj

Financially speaking, is college a bad idea?

Neither of my parents can afford to pay anything for college for me. There's no money saved up, and apparently they don't make enough to give me anything significant to cover some costs (they say that, but I don't believe them as they can pay $10k+/year for my sister, but regardless, they're giving me nothing). My grades are not good enough to get any significant scholarships or grants. I don't want to take out $50k+ student loans, but I don't see any other option if I want to go to college. I've thought about going into a trade, but my parents don't really want me to do that. What are my options here, financially speaking? Would it be best for me to just not go to college? EDIT: This is kind of beyond the intended scope of this post (ie, purely financial), but yes, I had wanted to become an electrician, but my parents keep telling me I'm smarter than that and can do a lot more with my life. I felt like this was insulting to electricians honestly and would have just ignored it, but they also brought up the valid concern that I might have trouble with keeping a job in the winter and when the economy sucks, so I wasn't sure if that was a good option.

If you're parents aren't going to help you, then who cares what their opinion on going to trade school is? If it's something you want to do, and you have a plan, it's a great decision.

I went to college and got a B.S. degree in Engineering. It helped me get a decent job, but I ended up taking a civil servant exam and getting a way better city job that I could have landed without a degree (and 10 years earlier). If I could do it all over again, I would have either gone into the military or gone to trade school. Military experience usually gets you extra points on a civil servant exam if you want a city/state/fed job. Learning a trade will also probably make you more money in the long run. College is overrated (and overpriced).

personalfinance

xcv117

t3_3tug02

jfasdjnfa

cx99niy

JP714

cx9frku

Been waiting for this... Here goes... How do I know what the admin fees/loads/commissions are for my retirement accounts? Once I know that, how do I compare it to something like Vanguard that uses a percent expense ratio? I have a SIMPLE IRA and some other kind of IRA with Edward Jones from a previous job. I also have a 401(k) with Fidelity, also from a previous job. I'm thinking of rolling them all into one IRA, but I can't figure out how to compare the costs. The Edward Jones accounts have some fees listed on my statement ($20 and $40 annually), but I can't tell if that's the only fee or if there are more somewhere else. The Fidelity statement doesn't seem to have any fees listed anywhere. If someone could tell me what I'm supposed to be looking for, I'd appreciate it.

Just google the ticker symbol of the funds you are invested in. One of the first links should be a Morningstar fund review, with a tab called "fees" or "expenses".

You may find some useful information on: You just type in your (current or previous) company's name and you can compare the retirement accounts with others. There's additional information provided on fees and expenses. It's my understanding all this information is gathered from SEC filings which are public, and BrightScope has then aggregated.

personalfinance

tommy290

t1_cmooqs1

welliamwallace

t1_cmopvpv

cmopvpv

bkstruct25

t1_cmoy6vm

cmoy6vm

I don’t mean this in a bad way but can you guys post your trades more frequently so I can inverse them?

Maybe like an excel sheet? I.e., if you sell short, post quickly so I can catch the ride up and visa versus.

[Here're my longs.]( Feel free to short me.

long: * $F (in at $11.3) * $URBN (in at $17) * $FCAU (in at $9.98 WEW) but will take profit if more than 3 days in a row down or RSI >70

wallstreetbets

Texas_Rangers

t3_73p03x

SirVeryImportington

dns3dvd

fibonacci_11235

dnsek8l

I cannot contribute more than 3% of my income to a 401k. 409a only offered option what do i do?

Hola, I have about 65k in student loans left. 120K yearly income. I can only contribute the 3% match of my company to my 401k this is due to a "top heavy rule" Should I contribute to a 409a and how much? I have no idea if i am messing up or not

With that kind of debt, once you have the employer match you're better off paying down the debt. The employer match gives you an instant 100% return on investment, so even if it's managed poorly it's about the best investment you can make. Beyond that, the surest thing you have is eliminating debt, as that has a return on investment equal to the interest on the loan. Even if you could put more into a 401k, I wouldn't until you get the debt paid down.

I can only contribute the 3% match of my company to my 401k this is due to a "top heavy rule" So you own 5% or more of your company? You don't have a high enough income to qualify for the "highly paid executive" clause. If you don't own such a portion of the company, HR screwed up. If you do, you probably should direct your fellow owners to investigate why your plan is top-heavy (it means your employees aren't contributing). EDIT: Citation:

personalfinance

NickAndersonG

t3_42bmmj

AusIV

cz93b2s

PAJW

cz92cyd

What are your favorite LCOL-MCOL cities in the United States?

I’m currently living in Saint Louis, which as I understand it is pretty LCOL for a city. I’m not necessarily interested in finding the lowest but just some that people like with a good bang for your buck. If anybody has links/reading on this I’d be interested in checking that out too! For reference I’m a software engineer without significant debts (student loans/car payment) and am pretty easily able to reach 50-60% SR).

I’m in Louisville, KY right now. Chocolate milk is $0.79 a gallon. So, basically, I’ve found my forever home.

If you want sun but still some winter/summer and a pretty good size city (800k) there’s actually a lot to be said for Albuquerque, NM. I don’t live there anymore because family is in the PNW and that’s where I’m happiest, but I enjoyed the years I was there. Almost everywhere outside of Portland and Eugene is pretty medium to low cost of living in Oregon, but it’s also all pretty suburban/ rural. Biggest city outside portland is only 150k.

financialindependence

Meronar2

t3_bfo668

Gallcws

elfd431

exhaustedinor

elgtvlm

Next Steps for 21 year old $54k Salary? |Financial planning advice

Hello All, I've been lurking around some finance sub reddits trying to read as much as possible to garner information about my next steps. Background Info: I'm 21, recently hired at xyz company. My salary is $54k a year. ( Early position so there's career advancement ). With no prior debts or really any expenses at all. Possible monthly rent of up to $1,000 in the near future. My goal is to potentially buy a house within the couple of years. Possible car ( although not needed ) Area: Boston. As well as take care of my mother who is 50 with no savings for retirement.. hence the house will be mainly for her as she will not be able to support herself with this ridiculous house market. What would be the best next steps I can take with this job that would ensure I will be financially secure for basically 2 people?.( Mother ) Should I aggressively save and buy a house in 3-4 years. or invest in ROTH, 401K or any others I may not know about?. And use that for her ? If at all possible. Again I'm new to most of this. Thanks for any advice!.

1) Save up for three months worth of expenses, and put into a high-yield savings account such as Ally. 2) Have a total of 15% of your income going into retirement accounts. Roth 401(k) if you have it, Traditional 401(k) up to the match otherwise and then a Roth IRA after that. If you don’t have a match, max out a Roth IRA first. 3) Set aside money for your down payment. Use a savings account if you plan on buying within the next 3-5 years. Use a brokerage account if it’s past 5 years out. This depends on how quickly you think you can save up your emergency fund and get your retirement in order.

To be totally honest, unless the market takes a drastic turn, I dont think 54k will be anywhere close to being enough afford the cost of a home in Boston. I would love to buy a home here as well, but I'm unable to find anything that is liveable for less than 500k. I don't mean to discourage, but that is my experience with this market at the moment.

FinancialPlanning

2Krow_

t3_aiuvya

Peteypablo74

eeqnrrv

seasngullz

eere084

Father wants me to buy him a car

I'm under a lot of pressure with a situation, and need some advice/viewpoints on what to do. My father made some unbelievably foolish decisions with his finances and his credit is fucked up. He missed several payments on his last car and they repo-ed it. Now he's got a repossession on his credit. Now he needs a new car but can’t get approved for a loan, omg. He’s asked me to step in and buy one for him. He’d be making the payments but the vehicle would be in my name and my credit. I’m not sure if I wanna do that. I make a big salary (my annual income as an individual is higher than the household income for my state). But he is a severe credit risk, obviously. If he stopped making the payments on the car, the creditor would come after me and devastate my credit as well. Just even applying for a car loan would lower my credit score, before we even consider whether I'd be approved. I'd don't know what to do or what my options are and am struggling with the decision. It's a tough spot with him being my father. What are my options? Assuming I did help him, what ways could I minimize or eliminate the risk to my credit? Are there alternatives to me buying the vehicle for him with me as the sole owner on the paperwork? Could I share the risk and be one of multiple people co-signing for him? Appreciate it.

If you are willing to help him and you have cash, which it seems like you do given your "big salary", I would buy him a $3000 Honda Civic that you have checked out by a mechanic and then let him pay you back for it over a year. Then he should start saving up cash to replace it on his own with cash after that one dies. Or you can just say no. That's fine. But the above is the only approach to helping him get a car that I would entertain.

Can you buy me a car too? :) I'll make the payments. Really! The bank has determined that your father wouldn't pay them back, with their army of lawyers. Why do you think that your father will change? Don't do it. Actually, it is the easiest thing to not do it. You actively have to do something to sign up for paying 7 years of car payments for your father. You will regret it if you do. Your credit will get dragged into mud like his is now. He is the adult and supposed to help you. Just say that it is not a good idea. Or go with my favorite, "We'll see". Never go to the dealership with him to "look" or just avoid him for a while. Don't let guilt make you sign anything. This get sold as something that you can do to help out, and it won't cost you anything. However, you are on the hook for buying the whole car when he walks away again and let's bank repossess the car again. Good luck.

personalfinance

ComfortableElephant

t3_94duc6

c2reason

e3kaup1

RedditTempSpring

e3lanu1

As a young couple in their twenties, what financial advice would you give us?

My wife and I are both 28 and have completed our graduate degrees. We both came from immigrant families so we are never frivolous with money; the problem is we have so much of it so it all goes into savings. At this point we have been working in the petroleum industry as exploration geophysicists for the last four years. Our combined pretax income is 270,000$ a year, of which 75% goes into a savings account. We rent a cheap one bedroom apartment and drive twenty year old vehicles. After taxes our income is 17,500$ a month but our expenses are only 2000$ per month. Some of our long term goals are to retire by 42-45, start a family at 35, and own a home outright by 30. We will continue living frugally to meet these goals. What financial advice would you have for a young couple with the following goals? Is it feasible? Thanks.

Is it feasible? Um...yeah, I think you just might be able to pull this off with an extra $186,000 to throw around each year: 35k to 401(k)s if available 11k to backdoor Roth IRAs 20k to I Bonds 120k to house savings (you didn't mention where you live or how much you already have saved, but this should get you to where you can buy outright pretty quick...) Once you have the house, put the $120k in a [three-fund portfolio]( allocated however you are comfortable with when planning to use the money by your early 40s.

It sounds like you already keep a large amount of liquid cash. This is good. You'll want cash on hand for vacations and any unexpected expenses. Now, start investing your additional cash. I personally allocate 30% to bonds and 70% to index funds. These will get you a better return rate over the years than the paltry savings account returns you get today. I am not an expert, so I use lazy investment methodology: The advantage of lazy portfolios is they actually beat many mutual funds, cost less and don't require investing to be your second job.

personalfinance

Crasslass

t3_196ldg

Gigiya

t1_c8lb071

c8lb071

langer_cdn

t1_c8lfvkm

c8lfvkm

I'm trying to get my first auto loan but my bank is rejecting me, despite having a credit score of over 800

I'm not entirely sure of how to proceed. I'm going to go to my bank one more time on Monday and see exactly what's going wrong, since they have not told me why they've rejected my application. My credit history is one card that I've used for three years and that's it. I'm 23 and this will be my first loan (never took out a student loan, auto loan, etc. before). If not my bank (Wells Fargo), where would be another good place to look? I want to get pre-approved for a loan before I get too involved with car shopping, and I don't want to be stuck with having to use some bad/no credit place. My Experian and TransUnion score is 804, Equifax score is 796 for reference.

I don't think it's Wells Fargo that is the issue here, it's most likely your number of credit lines. I attempted a loan through my credit union, and like you, was told I had a score of 804 but they still denied me. I then tried to finance at a used car dealer and was denied there as well. The reason being, I only had 1 line of credit open and they wanted at least 3 with good history. I ended up getting a co signer and a shitty interest rate. Then I opened a couple more lines of credit, spent about a year building a trustworthy history, then refinanced with my credit union for 1.49%.

The one thing about credit lenders is that they like to see that you enjoy debt. We've all been brainwashed that debt is necessary to move along in this world, when in fact, it isn't. So where am I going with this? Fist, evaluate why you want to purchase a car. Is it to get something "better" or is it because your current transportation is no longer able to meet your needs? Second, if you're thinking of buying a new car, why not purchase a good, used car? I bought one new car because it's the thing to do. Then I upgraded because I "needed" a bigger vehicle for highway driving. Then life came around and I had to get rid of it. Well, now my current vehicle had to absorb negative equity x2 and will take 6, that's SIX, years to pay off. Thanks to new found discipline, I'll have it paid by the end of this year instead of 2015. I cry when I think what I could have done with that money. Third, why not finance it yourself? If your current mode of transportation in adequate, put aside some cash. Yes, you'll have to wait, but paying cash will have several benefits: drive it off the lot and you own it no monthly payments you can buy a 19 000$ car for the 15 000$ you have of saved and budgeted, thusly getting a better car for less than if you financed via a loan. Cash is a powerful negotiating tool, especially when you wave it in front of a salesman's face.

personalfinance

[deleted]

t3_25uhti

I_hate_whales

t1_chkvbul

chkvbul

highglyder

t1_chl3q7q

chl3q7q

Calculating the "4% rule" on cFIREsim

I'm trying to simulate the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rule on [ a calc often recommend on this subreddit. In the Spending Plan section, having entered an Initial Yearly Spending amount, and selecting Inflation Adjusted, the results of the run show the same, static figure being spent each year, so not increased with inflation. Hopefully, it's something simple I'm overlooking. Any ideas on how to get inflation-adjusted spending?

I'm pretty sure the numbers shown are in today's dollars. If you say your spending is not adjusted for inflation, you'll see the spending level go mostly down (though occasionally up during deflation).

The creator sorta half-assed a refresh and left off a number of features. It was free so I can't get too bent out of shape, but it would be nice if the old one was still easily accessible.

financialindependence

Xindee

t3_dutiru

eseligsohn

f78488j

ivegotgoodnewsforyou

f784t9d

22 Year old Teacher with a Pension, what else should I be doing financially for the future?

50K salary so far 195K in savings 20K in 2 stocks (not very diversified yet.) My goal is to make money investing. However I must consider NYC- rent 1100 Students loans possible around 500 per month random living expenses after that. It is going to be tight for me for a while, I dont want to touch savings at all. I want to use that as a massive emergency fund (also have a health condition, so saving is wise.) I am not sure at this point with salary and loans I can save much. However I am considering going on a super low loan payment plan, i habe 48K in loans. But they may be forgiven after 10 yrs since im a teacher. Any thoughts?

4 years salary in a savings account is the most extreme emergency fund I've ever heard of. Look into your health insurance, there will be an annual maximum out of pocket expense. If you're concerned about being unable to work due to medical reasons, look into long and short term disability insurance, it might make sense to get a policy and invest some of that cash pile. $200k cash seems higher than high for an emergency fund. Bring that down to a year's salary and you will still be very secure. Look at the FAQ here and on /r/personalfinance for tips on what to do with the money you want to invest.

If you are working at a public school, I think is important to consider the risk of your pension not existing in the future. With the federal debt and unfunded liabilities being so high and only scheduled to increase, it could be the case that there will be no money to pay you in the future. It is also conceivable that if there is a debt crisis, that a politician who is willing to slash pension programs will be elected and do exactly that. Understand that I'm not trying to scare you, rather that I am making the point that there is risk in solely relying on the pension. My advice would be to plan as if you weren't getting your pension. Chances are that you will, but it is good to be prepared if you don't.

financialindependence

thanksfortheride

t3_3hmnzc

Leopold__Stotch

cu8ozi1

npepin

cu93yy2

I'm a 20yo arthritic woman who wants to go to college, but has no family assistance. What should I do?

Hello everyone! I am a 20 year old woman who lives in the USA, in Massachusetts, and I was diagnosed with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis at the age of 9. It has become very severe since leaving high school, to the point I am incapable of working even a traditional part time job. I have no savings, and my family is only willing to help pay for my medical expenses. Ie. Doctors visits, medication, etc.. My goal is to become independent, and take a course in my nearby community college to become a Vet tech, but I am unsure how to go about the expenses of college without any help. I know very little about loans, but am certain I will probably have to take some out to afford school. Luckily, the community college I'm thinking of attending also provides some financial aid. I've estimated the cost of attending my ideal colleges to be about $15k a total, which isn't a lot, but for a low income family and an unemployed student, is very daunting. I have also been thinking about applying for disability aid, but I am unsure how to. My family also refuses to help me apply, or vouch for me. I thank you all for taking some time out of your day to read this post. Any help is appreciated. I am really excited to finally take some steps towards not letting my disability control me and my life!

You say you can't work due to health reasons. Then you say you want to be a vet tech after training for it. Those two statements conflict with each other. Vet techs are on their feet a lot. They have to handle all sizes of animals, some that are really active. If you truly can't work, don't take on debt to get any training or education. That would be a waste and put you in a terrible financial position because you wouldn't be able to pay the student loans back.

If you're not on disability and you can't work, becoming independent will be pretty difficult. There are many scholarships that would love to grant you, if you can show that arthritis won't hinder you from doing the job you go to school for. Pick a job you'll be capable of doing, even with arthritis. If keyboard typing is possible, then these jobs are ones you can do without needing more than 2 years education (and it's easy enough to do with only informal education such as online video tutorials (much cheaper than school): Webmaster Subtitle/Script Translator Jobs you can take school for and do with arthritis Psychiatrist (You'll be able to use voice recognition for much of your charting by the time you graduate 8 years later. Factory/First Aid Supervisor (maybe) Office Management (business degree)

personalfinance

Ockielon

t3_d1v4wi

wickedkittylitter

ezq5wpd

covert_operator100

ezs64hk

May be in an extremely volatile place in 6 months, how should I prepare?

For some background, I am almost certain I am gay. My brother and I agree that my dad will most likely not take it well. It's very possible I could get disowned, so I'd like to start preparing for that now a little bit at a time before I tell him. For starters, I am lucky enough to be graduating college this semester with an awesome job 4 hours from where I grew up. I am an avid reader of financial independence, so this isn't asking for budgeting help. My dad has a credit card out in my name to help me build credit. My mom co signed on the bank account I have complete control over. I've been working since 13 so I have a good amount of money saved up that I would like to keep. My bank statements are sent to my parents house. That is with bank of America because their mortgage is with them. I'm very wary of both parents having a heavy hand on my finances at 22 knowing how poorly they could react when I tell them. I am on my parents health, dental, and auto insurance. I don't currently own a car, but they plan on buying me one after I graduate college. I'm torn here because I don't want a financial gift from them if they were to disown me. I do plan on going on my companies health and dental as soon as I start work in August. I'm sure they have plenty of papers that would be important to me. Health, birth, financial, etc. I can't think of anything specific because I haven't needed too much of it, so I'm hoping for a bit if help here on what to request from them over the next few months to prepare. In short: What steps should I make to take sole control of my finances and credit? What kinds of documents should I make sure I have while preparing for the worst? Would you take a car from people knowing you might be ostracized shortly afterwards? If there's anything that you maybe think I'm missing go ahead and point it out. I need all the information I can get.

I'll stick to the question about the accepting the car, since the other ones will be awnsered by more knowledgeable people. Take the car! By not taking it you are basicly appologising for being who you are! You are not going to do something bad to them by coming out! If your anticipation is right, they are going to do YOU a big wrong. Good luck!

Depending on how badly you think things might go, you might want to open a safe deposit box at a bank or credit union to store your important documents away from home - this can be a good idea even if you're living in your own place, actually, to make sure your documents survive a house fire or break-in. It shouldn't be too expensive - mine costs $55/year, and that's in a large city and major bank. If you're in a less dense area or going with a smaller bank/CU it might even be cheaper.

personalfinance

surpriseskin

t3_7qd5s5

joeri1505

dso934r

bdunderscore

dsoub45

Do I Take a Lease or a Loan?

20 yr old; 0 debt; 0 "hard" expenses (no bills except spotify premium); looking to get a motorcycle. 2400usd/month income which will fall to apprx. 1200 (at the lowest) on around Aug. 10 due to school insurance for the bike will be \~$40/month, or 388 if i pay in full (466 if i pay monthly) "soft" expenses (clothes, gas, outings, etc.) total around $500 for a month, but will also fall in relation to my income (averaging about $2-300 per month) planning to put 1500 down on the bike, which, in total, will cost about 4100 out the door new does it make more sense to take a loan to buy the bike or lease it? both maintain the same insurance rate

If I'm reading this right, you currently have $2,400 take-home pay with $500 in expenses and zero debt. Where is the other $1,900 going? What do you have in savings? What do you need the bike for and when do you need to have it? Given your surplus income you should be able to save up and just buy it outright, meaning my answer to your question would be "Neither."

I used to buy and sell a lot of motorcycles. Just have one now. They’re like convertibles, you’ll pay the most in summer and get the best deal in the winter. Start saving. See where you’re at in six months, then make an informed decision. I know you want it now. I know how that feels. Try waiting. You’ll make a difference decision in six months.

personalfinance

babyboi12

t3_8vk8cq

xaradevir

e1nz81u

Easy_lucky_free_111

e1om0tc

What's wrong with my guaranteed $1M+ money strategy? (hint: literally nothing)

Take some solid index fund, SPY for example. Sell deep puts at some ridiculously low strike where the S&P 500 will never dip unless we have a nuclear war, in which case I'll probably not be alive to get assigned anyway, neither is the put holder, or the bank. $SPY Jan 19 2018 135 put = $1.15 Let's sell 10,000 of these bad boys 1.15(10000*100) = 1,150,000 Subtract the TD fees (9.99 + 0.75 per contract) 9.99 + (0.75*10000) = 7,509.99 Leaving us with an easy money profit of: 1150000 - 7509.99 = $1,142,490.01 $1,142,490.01 smackaroos in my brokerage account tomorrow risk free. I can't believe nobody on Wall Street has thought of this yet. Prove me wrong, I know you can't.

10000 contracts is almost 3 times the current open interest on Jan 2018 puts at 135. You need to find someone dumb enough to buy them. In other words, I'm sure someone around here will take them. Great plan!

my derivatives professor suggested this exact strategy as a pretty decent way to speculate.

wallstreetbets

doryphoros

t3_5iowgc

ritron9000

db9tl5s

pinkberryrosington

dba79me

Why do inverse ETF'S rebalance daily?

So my understanding was that leveraged ETF'S with a daily return objective had to rebalance daily because of this math: You have a $100m fund seeking 3x daily index return. Fund acquires a $300m exposure to that index and the index rises 2% on day one. Fund asset value is now $106m but the exposure is now $306m, but it needs to be 3x asset value to achieve it's return goals, so the fund buys $12m more exposure. This is the necessary rebalancing process to my knowledge. Yet it's clear the inverse ETF'S require daily rebalancing too. I just don't understand why. When your $100m short position grows to $102m after the reference index drops 2%, then fund asset value is now $102m as well. Future shifts in exposure should be matched to asset value 1:1 right? Why would a fund need to rebalance at all? I've read plenty of articles and yet they all show how decay happens, but not what that explicitly has to do with rebalancing. I feel like decay is just a natural side effect of tracking daily % returns for inverse ETFs, I don't get why these funds need to rebalance or why the rebalancing affects decay like it does for leveraged ETfs. Thanks!

Suppose you have $100 capital and want to go short and stock price is $1. Borrow 100 shares and sell short. (Ignore interest on $100 to make things simple.) Price falls 2% to $0.98/share. Now your capital is worth $102. But now you are no longer short 1x since you only have a short position in 100 shares. You need a total short position of $102/$0.98 = 104 so you need to short an additional 4 shares.........

They use a lot of futures and derivatives to achieve their leveraged positions and it's relatively easy to maintain, for example, a minus 2 delta if your goal is to move at twice the inverse of the underlying product. But you have to keep tweaking your holdings to maintain a minus 2 delta. If you're asking precisely why they have to keep tweaking their positions to maintain a desired relationship with an underlying security, we can do there, but I wanted to provide a high level overview first. Also, futures and derivatives expire. The time component (theta) in their price decays daily. This is where the decay comes from that you've read about.

investing

VSParagon

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Why can't I borrow money in the USA where interest rates are low and transfer money to this money to a savings account in another country where the rates are high?

Is there anything stopping me doing this? I'm assuming it's not as simple as this though.

Pretty sure you can, but you shouldnt because the interest rate discrepancy would very quickly be reflected in the exchange rate, due to arbitrage. So there would be almost no profit left for you by the time the trade is complete. And forex prices change very quickly so you could end up with a loss if the currency takes a dive for whatever reason.

What you're proposing is called a Carry Trade, and you are then exposed to the risks inherent in holding different currencies. Because foreign exchange rates are not constant, what could happen is that when you convert back into USD from the other currency, you lose more money than the interest you made.

personalfinance

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Ryan350

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What happens to your 401k when you change jobs?

Hey fellow redditors, I am relatively new in the workforce(1 year and 6 months out of college.) I work in IT. I am considering leaving my current role which I have been in for about as 1.6 years. The work is getting kind of boring, and I don't feel like I am learning anything anymore, and also I some recent concerns regarding the future of the company. So, What happens when to a 401k when you leave a company? I saw on the wiki there was a mention that 401k could move with you, but does that mean it always does? How does it work? Thanks

When you get a new job, you can roll it over into the new 401k, or you can roll it over into an IRA. You could also cash it out but this is not typically a good choice.

Consider lowering your 401K cost by moving it to Vanguard. Costs play a major part and can lower your earnings by .5%-5% or even more. 5% annual management fees on $100K funds amount to $5000 for doing next to nothing. I was paying about 2.7% management fees on approximately $110K, this was more than $3000 per year. Once I moved into Vanguard index funds my fees are less than 0.01% or about $100/year.

personalfinance

MostIllogical94

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Bringing in over $10,000 in cash to the US from overseas. Any tax implications?

I've been living in Thailand for almost 2 years and in that time I've saved over $10,000. I can't do a wire transfer due to some banking issues, therefore I must bring cash with me. I know that there is a $10,000 limit, anything beyond that needs to be reported. I know that I need to fill out a FinCEN form 105. Are there any tax implications for reporting this money? I made less than $100,000/year in Thailand and taxes have been paid to the Thai government. Any help in this area is greatly appreciated.

US taxes income realized by US citizens whether they live in the USA or not. If the taxes in Thailand are higher than the US equivalent, you are all set, otherwise you might owe income tax in the USA - talk to a tax professional. This is not driven by you bringing money back - it is driven by you earning money during that year. Since you already know how to declare any amounts over 10,000, the US customs will not give you any trouble for bringing the cash in. The fun part will be filing your tax return. Good luck.

why can't you transfer the money? that is suspicious. why should I believe you? do you have any proof this money was made legally? any paystubs? these are the types of things that can be asked of you. If there is doubt as to whether or not the funds were made illicitly they will be seized and the burden of proof is on you. Bring proof!

personalfinance

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