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Kris-Fillip

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USA Net income & expenses compared to EU

I was wondering how the income & expenses of US citizen compare to those of a EU Citizen. In news articles and statistics, incomes are always compared bruto (before any taxes). Let's say a mid-career full time college teacher earns 45.000$ a year, how much would be left to spend after taxes and other obligatory spendings. In Belgium for example we have to pay about 50% on taxes and social system, so we're left with about 26.000€. rent price of an appartment would be around 750€/month ( in smaller cities). How does this compare to US? What taxes do you pay, how much does health insurance and social security cost you, ...?

Both the EU and the US are far too diverse to easily compare. Someone living and working in a capital of a western European country will have a vastly different financial situation than someone living and working in a rural area of eastern Europe. Similarly, both wages and prices in large US cities, especially coastal cities such as NY, LA, SF, etc... are much higher than those in rural areas. Things like taxes and health insurance costs are also not easily comparable without having far more details. Taxes have a state-level component to go along with the federal tax. Health insurance costs can range from nothing for jobs with employer-paid insurance as part of the benefits package to something you have to pay fully on your own. A basic comparison of various expenses can be done at But to really get a good picture, you'd have to ask people that live and work in the field and area that you would be working in.

Some European countries have mandatory deduction for your pay towards pension. For example I will get something like 2500€/month (minus taxes) with my current income when I turn 69,9. Currently the retirement age is something like 63. ...But I'm paying for it and get like 1% interest...

personalfinance

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Mom died. I’m 24. How to handle finances?

My mom just died from cancer. I am 24 and live with parents (now just dad). My mom supported the family financially and my dad is unemployed. My dad and I know little about finance. Most likely we will both have to depend on my low income—I stopped applying for/taking jobs other than freelance work when things got crazy with my mom. I have questions if anyone can help with any (please lmk if there is a better subreddit for some of these): Where can my dad and I get affordable health insurance? We no longer have any as we were on my mom’s employer plan. As soon as I’m able to get a full-time job I will switch over, but in the meantime what insurance is good for self-employed/low-income/Texas? Looking into Medicaid and Marketplace but first time reading about it, not sure which is better or if there are other options for us. My mom has a joint bank account with my dad—we assumed nothing changes here in that he’ll still be able to access everything, but recently heard that banks may freeze an account if a joint account holder has died? Is this true? This would be a nightmare obviously. Not sure my mom had a will if that makes a difference here. Other than life insurance, what other financial institutions(?) might we need to contact to get affairs in order? We both still need to file taxes. Does my mom’s death affect how my dad should file (maybe next year)? Medical bills. I’m assuming my mom's health insurance is still supposed to cover everything up till she died. Does her death affect how we should pay off these bills? Are there unemployment/low-income/deceased spouse/current covid etc. benefits either of us can apply for? I’m just lost—I’m sure we are forgetting/unaware of some important things we need to do in the wake of my mom’s death. Is there anything else we should do to take care of things financially/otherwise?

Sorry for your loss. The PF wiki has an article on this topic that I would recommend reading: *[death of loved one]( I'll try my best to respond to your questions: Where can my dad and I get affordable health insurance? Those are probably your best options, but the insurance company is also required to send you COBRA information and and an application to fill out. COBRA will almost certainly be more expensive than buying insurance on the marketplace, though. Make sure you understand when your current coverage ends. joint bank account [In most cases, the surviving spouse can continue to use the account without issues.]( Other than life insurance, what other financial institutions [...] file taxes [...] Medical bills See the wiki page that I linked. It addresses each of those topics, but please feel free to ask follow-up questions. Are there unemployment/low-income/deceased spouse/current covid etc. benefits either of us can apply for? See this post

I'm so sorry for your loss. There are not really good options for low income health insurance in Texas as they blocked medicaid expansion. If you or your dad can prove one of yo are disabled, you might be able to get free health insurance. Travis county (Austin) has a county medical insurance program for low income people I think. Maybe you can check if your city or county has something. I'd suggest applying to pandemic unemployment insurance when it gets rolled out in your state (unclear when that is at the moment). You might be able to get it if you can show that the virus has impacted you and your dad's ability to find work, even if you haven't been employed for a while.

personalfinance

hazel9182

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Think I did a good move :)

I sell cars Customer comes in, has 5k to put down on a car, we run his app and get him approved...however I noticed on the credit report he has a signature loan with a company who is known for their high APRs, I get his app ran again with no money down, bank accepts no change in APR just a higher payment. (BTW we got him 6.5% APR) So I sit down with him and basically say "Your approved, but I want to talk to you as a friend not a sales person" he goes "ok" I go "You got a personal loan with X bank, whats the balance, and whats the rate?" He goes "Balance is $3,500 and rate is 24% payment is around $200 a month" I said "Alright, well I got you approved with 5k down, however you could also do no money down, our rate is 6.5%, so here is my idea. You take the no money down right, and pay off that 24% APR loan completely. Now your car payment will go up by about $100 a month however you will also be paying off a bill thats costing you $200 a month." He sat there for a moment and looked at me and said "I can do that?" I said "yea you can do that" he goes "Why did you do this?" I said "Cause I saw the company you financed that signature loan with and I know they have higher rates and I said to myself "I should see if I can get this guy more money to pay down his high rate loans"" Guy was flabbergasted, and happily purchased the car from me. He texted me today and said he just paid off his high % note AND off another credit card with the $5,000 we didn't take from him. Now on to the pr peeps who will blast me 6.5% APR for his credit rating was a good rate He wanted to buy a car, I created the best overall situation for him with the cards I was given Edit 1 Im not interested in earning business off of reddit nor exposing what dealer I work for. For various reasons. Reddit is my private venting place. Not going give that up. With that being said /r/askcarsales has a team of people like me giving you real, honest advice. Be warned we have a reputation for stomping on toes Edit 2 Cleaned it up a bit

Sounds like it was without a doubt a good move for your client, but this was also a good business decision by you which no one has brought up yet. Your company will now make money off this guy since he's paying you interest and not the other guys.

As a former car salesman, that guy was lucky to buy from your dealership. Where I worked management wouldn't show us details like those let alone care about his situation. They would have used the down payment to lower his car payment and pushed the low payment aspect while selling the car full pop and throwing accessories on or stealing the trade. I quit car sales because I was uncomfortable with shit like that. I'm a contractor now and play by my own rules. I'm proud of you mate.

personalfinance

proROKexpat

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WHAT_ABOUT_DEROZAN

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cnqypbu

[deleted]

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cnrsnch

Best legal way to reject a pool of potential Tenants?

I ran applications for 1 week for a 1 bedroom apartment. After getting about 10 applications/showings, i then picked the most qualified applicant. Do you need to specifically state why they were rejected, or can you simply give a generic rejection? Here is my generic rejection email: Thank you for your interest in [ADDRESS]. Unfortunately, the apartment is no longer available, as it has been leased to another applicant who was more qualified for our rental criteria. We sincerely appreciate your interest and wish you luck in your home search.

if you rejected any for credit reasons you are required to state that and provide information on getting a free credit report. your credit provider will give you the exact language

I would recommend not even stating that it's no longer available. If the rejected applicants wanted to be dicks, they could maybe find out that it is still available and act a fool. What about somehow stating that you will be moving forward with more qualified applicants?

RealEstate

Gold_Flake

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NumNumLobster

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I will qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) in 5 years. $180k balance on loans, $75k estimated balance after 5 years. Is this a no-brainer? Am I missing any major potential downsides? $75k "free money"??

[Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)]( Basically, if you make 120 qualifying payments against your loan(s) while working full-time at an employer who qualifies as a Public Service provider, the government will forgive the balance of your loan after 120 payments (10 years). My loans started at a ~$210k balance. By my math, if I continue to make the minimum required, income-based repayments to reach 120 payments, my balance will be ~$75k. This balance, if I'm understanding everything correctly, will be completely expunged -- POOF! .. This obviously makes me nervous -- is there a catch I'm missing? Help!! Thanks!

No catch. I would be really surprised if you actually paid off that much. I'm on IBR with about 225k in loans and my payments of $300 a month don't even keep up with the interest.

One aspect of this program that I missed that may be material is that you have to have made 120 on-time payments at a designated level (I forget what they call it, I am lucky to be loan free). My wife qualified for it however her monthly payment would have almost doubled and the 120 payment period would have started from her first payment of the new amount (so she lost 4 or so years of time). After a bit of analysis it didn't make sense for her to make the change.

personalfinance

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MerePuffery

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Boeing downgraded to neutral by JPMorgan

Boeing shares are down to $173 currently in pre-market. Between their MAX disaster and Covid, they have plummeted. This is historically a good company that pays healthy dividends. Is it worth a look now for long term holding? After Corona passes and they ditch the Max program they surely will be getting more plane orders.

Thanks JPM. Down from $430 to $161 and they think it's time to downgrade. Fwiw, they don't have the cash flow to cover that dividend, I think they took debt for it, and that was before the corona virus issue flared up. I do suspect that someday in the future we may look back at $173 BA and hardly believe it. But it will be a long, tough slog and it may be down before it's up. May also see restructuring or bailout talk.

Back in 2018 when they had back to back crashes of a new plane, there were two ways to go: own the problem, say the plane is flawed and will be canceled, take their lumps and start the 3 year process to a new and properly designed replacement deny and minimize, float the idea of a quick and easy software fix, get flying quickly and start trying to rebuild We can see which path they chose and what a poor choice that was. They could be well on the way to a new model by now. Instead they're still hacking away at the old design and not flying or selling. With staff furloughed, they aren't even building anything.

stocks

flmosinman124

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Just put in 2-weeks notice - How do I choose/setup a personal IRA to roll my TSP/401Ks from all future jobs into?

I remember learning that I need to open a personal IRA, so that when I resign from jobs throughout my career I can transfer the company 401k/TSPs into the personal. I was looking into Vanguard, as I know no-load mutual funds are where I should be to make sure 100% of my money is working for me. Do any of you have any recommendations or advice to give me in this regard? I've worked 4 years at my current job, and other than retirement, I have saved virtually nothing. Even with the TSP I have, I didn't take advantage of the full 5% matching until 2 yrs in, and only just in January did I take everything out of the G fund and place it into other indexed funds. The G fund is basically money market only earning 2% yearly...I lost out on so much in gains over the past 3 years. Looking forward, I want to make sure I invest aggressively and save heavily moving forward. I want to make up for the years of waste and stupid immaturity. So please let me know the best way I can move what retirement I do have, diversify well, and move aggressively so I can take advantage of my long investment horizon. I am 24 years old.

"I want to make up for the years of waste and stupid imaturity." "I am 24 years old." Oh, go to hell! You're doing great for even having anything to your name at all! Even if you were starting with nothing at all right now, you're making moves earlier than a lot of people. Many people don't get their act together until 30 or 40. But I do understand feeling upset that you've missed out on opportunities, but don't get too focused on making up for it. Just make up for it by getting more involved in your personal finances now, which is a great first step, especially at age 24. Like others have said, Long-Term investing kit in the side bar is a great place to get started. Is the TSP all you have right now? I don't know a lot about those, so listen to the other commenters, but you can still set your own IRA with Vanguard and start contributing to it. I believe they have minimum investments starting at 3,000. They might have some $1,000 funds too. I'd just give them a call and say you'd like to set up an IRA (traditional, if you want to roll 401ks into it) and they will help you out.

I use Vanguard for the same purpose. I had a small amount of 401k money rolled over from previous jobs. No complaints. My investment has nearly doubled since I opened it a little over 6 years ago. (Of course, that's mostly due to the market - not Vanguard.)

personalfinance

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Finance and Family Relationships: Student Loans

Hi Everyone! I'm curious about what advice & experiences you have with reconciling your parent's seemingly irrational opinions on student debt with your own. I'm lucky; my parents don't want me to take out student loans (which at this point would be subsidized (and I'd probably only need to take out >$2k for the rest of the academic year). I think it makes more sense for me to take out a little in loans, because they are really really hurting financially. They were frugal and prudent, but unexpected circumstances (much more more expensive than a 6 month emergency fund would cover) left them using their good credit to get 0% credit cards and paying them off in lump sums from retirement. I guess I'm torn because I want to be more financially independent, but self-interest convinces me not to take out loans. A little more context: I'm a junior at a good college. I know I want to attend law school, and my eyes are open to the disadvantages and risks of this plan. My plan is to go to the best law school I can get into (with a decent state school as back-up) and borrow 150k.

My plan is to go to the best law school I can get into (with a decent state school as back-up) and borrow 150k. This is probably not a great idea financially. Lawyers are not in demand right now. I remember someone on here saying the going rate for a starting salary is about 50k. So imagine trying to pay off 150k on 50k. As for your family, I think you should take out loans instead of your parents taking out of retirement. It is your education, and it's hurting their retirement date way more than it's helping you by not taking out loans.

I agree that your parents are going to wind up being a huge burden on you if they don't have any retirement savings. Please point that out to them--that it is kinder for them to take care of themselves so that you won't have to take care of them while you are struggling to earn a living as you start out as a lawyer. I don't really see how it's "filial" to let your parents bankrupt themselves. You can take out a student loan without their permission, in all likelihood, and I think you should.

personalfinance

jrl2014

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Got a chunk of money, should we pay down mortgage w/ PMI or pay off debt?

We got a large chunk of cash that we were going to used to pay off a 15 year loan that's at 5.49% but as we talked about last night it might make more sense to pay down our mortgage which would get rid of PMI and in the long run save us more money. I want to make sure we're not overlooking something though. 15yr $40k loan @ 5.49% - Total $56k over the life of the loan assuming we don't pay it down quicker. 30yr mortgage with $146/m PMI. $38k would get rid of PMI and if we left the payment the same would pay off the loan 7 years early and we'd save $90k in interest. So, it seems like the better long term solution would be to throw it at the mortgage as we'd be saving over $70k over the long term. Is this math about right? What are we missing? I guess if we paid off the loan instead we could turn around and put that monthly payment ($400) towards the mortgage too but we wouldn't get rid of PMI that way. This is "Extra" cash, we have emergency fund, retirement accounts set, etc.

I'd pay off the PMI personally (and also double check on removing the PMI, some lenders require you to initiate the request to remove it, they won't do it automatically). Then, start paying that $146 a month you towards the 15yr loan.

I just want to throw out there that it isn't as easy as you are thinking to get rid of PMI. Check with your mortgage company, but at Chase the PMI goes away once you hit the DATE for getting to 78% according to your amortization calendar. Meaning, YOU would have to initiate that conversation before they take away the PMI even after you pay your principal down. After you initiate that conversation, they require to get an appraisal (typically $400-450) in order to verify that your home hasn't reduced in value. It seemed pretty sleazy to me, but then...I don't live in that world. Anyway, that appraiser (appointed by Chase) then comes to your home to complete the appraisal after you pay them the ridiculous amount of money. Then they communicate with their partners at the bank to determine what the value of your home is that day. Overall, it wasn't a fun experience to get the PMI removed...probably by design.

personalfinance

chunkomoney

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I don't plan on living past 60 or so. What should I do for retirement savings and plans?

I don't plan on being alive past age 60, I would say. I have a genetic condition that will worsen over time. The last years will be severe pain, low mobility. Honestly even now I'm at moderate pain and medium mobility. I make about 80k a year, Denver area. Early career, I'm about a year in after finishing all school. I'm 25. 36k in student debt (started with 56k when I first started working, was also living in a lower cost area). I anticipate making around 90k within a couple years, maybe even 100k. It's the way my job is structured. Where and how should I save for my late life stages? I may need access to those funds for medical care. I genuinely have no intention of being alive past 60. This condition is not curable, and it will not improve. I'm not here to argue with "you never know you might improve!" Because it is literally physically impossible. I like the idea of "retiring" at 50 or 55 while pain is still tolerable and I can move around. What kind of account/fund would allow me access before the typical retirement ages?

The main thing is reducing your expenses so that you can maximize savings. You can't live wildly right now if you wanna retire well with a disease that might cost a lot financially

After 10 years of paying in to FICA you will qualify for Social Security Disability Income when you reach the point of complete disability. It's not much, but it will be a foundation. If you continue to earn what you are earning you will qualify for close to the maximum SSDI benefit, around $2800 / month in today's dollars. Of course, who knows what changes will be made to the program. There are ways you might utilize traditional, tax advantaged accounts like 401K and traditional IRA, and yet avoid paying penalties for withdrawls before age 59+1/2... other posters have mentioned this. But you could also just open a taxable brokerage account, and stash after-tax money there. r/pf likes Vanguard, Schwab, and Fidelity brokerages. You will owe taxes each year on earnings, but you will have total access to all of the accumulated funds whenever you need them.

personalfinance

mythrowawayforhelp

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My parents Life insurance hit it's 20 year mark, and the Monthly premium went from $40 (for both) to $250 a month. They want life insurance but can't afford the $250. Does anyone have any suggestions?

EDIT: INFO: My parents are in their late 60's. My father is retired, receives a small pension. My mother is disabled and cannot work, and receives nothing from past work. She may be receiving SS, but I'm not sure.

Unless there's something that you're still leaving out after the edit, I don't see why they'd need life insurance. If/when Dad dies first, his pension should continue to get paid to Mom; you'll want to check and double check this to be sure. If Mom dies first, she wasn't bringing in significant income, and would likely decrease costs significantly because of her disability. StarryC [nailed it pretty well]( Help them figure out how to save that $40/month in a small emergency fund/rainy day fund. They don't need to spend $3000 a year on something there's no apparent need for.

"Now that there's more of a chance we will actually have to pay out, we will be charging you an excessive premium as a kind "fuck you" for your 20 years of loyally paying us for essentially nothing.

personalfinance

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Hospital charging "bad debt write off" 7 years later.

Hopefully this is the right place for this. A few weeks ago, I broke my ankle. I've been checking in periodically with a local orthopedist, paying the copay and all that jazz. I walk in today on my 4th appointment and they let me know that I have a $90 charge on a bad debt write off from 2009. When I was in high school and on my parents insurance. I know it's only $90. But, it's also $90 worth of groceries/gas. My dad, who's insurance it was on, is now out of the picture and I have no way of finding records to see if it was ever paid. Is there anything that I can do in this case, or do I just have to suck it up and pay the $90?

Interesting that they are coming after you when it wasn't your insurance, this doesn't sound right to me. You can ask for proof from the orthopedist regarding the validity of the debt and see if they'll give it to you. If they say "sorry we can't do that because it wasn't in your name" you could then shoot back with "then why am I required to pay it on my father's behalf"?

Agreed, if you are past the statute of limitations, you do not it need to pay. This exact thing happened to me, except I had 2 bills from high school. My deadbeat father never paid any bills. I found this out after I graduated from college and was looking at my credit report for the first time. I ended up paying the first bill (dental) because I thought I had to. I called the second collections agency (ER bill) and the sweet woman actually told me that I shouldn't pay because the statute of limitations would be up in a few months. She also told me that it was illegal to be on my credit report in the first place because I was 15 at the time. I didn't pay, and in a few months it was taken off of my credit report.

personalfinance

SchwiftyTinyRick

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FanKingDraftDuel

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Perfectlyridiculous

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Unemployed and almost out of savings... Options?

I'm 43, and I've been unemployed for about a year-and-a-half now. I'm on unemployment, but the amount I receive does not cover all of my monthly expenses. My savings have slowly whittled down to the point where it's almost non-existent. I bought a house 18 years ago, and I have 2 years left on the mortgage. About $17K is still owed. I do have a Roth IRA with $22K. My question is, do I take the early withdrawal on the IRA and pay off the house? My unemployment benefits would then be enough to cover my monthly expenses. What kind of a hit am I going to take with the early withdrawal in the form of penalties, since I'm not yet 59½? Will the Roth after penalties be enough to cover the mortgage? Would this be a hardship withdrawal since I won't be able to cover the mortgage in the next month or two when my savings run out, and the house would go into foreclosure?

You can take your contributions out of the Roth IRA without having to pay taxes or a penalty. If it means saving your home I would take just enough out of it to keep current on your mortgage payments, not to pay off the whole place. That way if you do get a job pretty soon, you didn't eliminate your retirement account for nothing.

Not making light of the situation or trying to give you a hard time with the following: Can you give more information about why you have been unable to get a job? More than just, it's the economy...what sector are you looking in, what kinds of marketable skills do you have, how have you been networking and what avenues are you pursuing to find leads on jobs? You need to be knocking doors down, going into businesses where you want to work and going to groups, meetups and other networking events to get to know people in your industry. It's said many times it's who you know, not what...so go know some whos. I'm going to assume you have broadened your search outside your "best case scenario" job, even outside your career field. You may need to get a job just to make ends meet for a while, especially with the house so close to being paid off. Other than that advice, I would only withdraw enough money to supplement the monthly bills, I wouldn't make any large payments down on the house. You'll probably lose close to 30-40% if you withdraw a lump sum (depending on how much growth you have) from your retirement account. Seriously though - all of your energy should be going to becoming employed, and then you won't need to worry about these types of questions.

personalfinance

Pixilated8

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WestTexasRedneck

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Mael5trom

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People that bought TSLA at $200+ recently

What is your justification?

TSLA's recent decline has been closely and directly correlated with the price of oil. After its tumble to the low 190s, it shot back up to almost the 230 level of support it was testing before the drop. TSLA will continue this volatility and price trend until either: TSLA counters the negative with some positive news (like they tried with the battery swap option, and the snake charger, which pushed the price back up to ~228.xx from 19x.xx) or Some other positive or negative catalyst pushes the price accordingly. You have to remember that TSLA was trading around $260 just a few months ago after their earnings report, which was overall positive. People will argue TSLA was trading at the mid-100s just a year ago, but recall that was before a model 3 announcement, and after another year of continued growth. The price of oil has been bringing down the whole market. It's even affected the NASDAQ (AAPL, GOOG, etc.) when it really doesn't have a direct tie to those companies. I don't think low oil prices will affect TSLA sales much, if at all. They have a very specific customer, who is going to buy TSLA regardless of oil prices, and regardless of competition from BMW, MB, etc.

People that talk about how Tesla is a brand of quality as justification for their investment need to learn from history. If that's your only thesis you'll be burnt to a crisp, this news is just a start.

investing

rainingdx

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johnnyblac

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PATthePOWER

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cnmfwp0

Can a listing agent say their is an offer on a house without there being an offer to push a sale?

Homebuyer here. We saw a home recently that was on the market for 4 days. The listing agent told us after we saw the house an offer was already in. Can they say that to push a sale??

19 years ago, put our offer in at $309K, the agent called saying that there is another offer and she suggested that we offer $313. I told her that we had to really pull a lot of resources to get 309 to work, and we can not go through that anymore and told her that we will keep looking. She probably knew that we could go higher, but she is the sellers' agent, bot the buyers' agent. There were a few other circumstances helping us. While it was a sellers market, they needed to sell to buy their bigger house. We offered in November, which is not the main season here to look, so the offers were probably not as strong. She called back the next day and said the offer fell through. So ever since that happened, I'm guessing there was never another offer, but there might have been. The best thing to do is be able to back away. I was really ready to move on, but we got the home.

Happens all the time. When I hear it I know its probably BS, but I play along just a tad. I never make my first offer with all the money I'm willing to pay anyway, so if I come up a little they get to feel like their shitty tactic worked and I'm still not paying as much as I might have. If there was a real offer that wasn't just vague interest, I don't think this would work, but it usually does.

RealEstate

ThePittsburgher

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phunstraw

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Pay off Student Loans with Savings?

Hi everyone. I have about $9,100 in student loan debt left (down from $100,000) with a 3.5% interest rate and no other debt. I take home about $4,150 each month after taxes, have $10,000 in a savings account (1% interest rate), and about $25,000 in my 401(k). I rent and have been living a small lifestyle since I graduated college five years ago. My question is whether I should use my savings account to get rid of my student loans. If I don't, I should be able to pay them off by May this year. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Well, depending how you structure your payments, you're looking at roughly a savings of 53 dollars (or a semi-nice date with a lady) if you really are planning on emptying ~3050 of your take home into your loans. You'd then take the same 3 months to recover your savings account. If the peace of mind is worth 53 dollars, go for it. If I were you, I'd take about 4K out of my savings (since you seem to be able to live on about 1K a month, therefor 6K=6months) and put it towards the loan, then finish out over the next 3 months, as planned, but at a much lower % of take home (1710/month vs 3050/month) and you'll save about 23 bucks in interest, or a fun happy hour!

How much is your current monthly payment? How much of that payment is interest? Is the student loan debt such a burden that you need to dip into savings or this for your own mindset? How much consumer debt do you have? Any other debt types? Based on your answers, you might be dipping into savings and it's not worth spending the money.

personalfinance

CoolGameStreets

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perfectviking

czmje61

How should I structure my finances once I'm married?

I will be getting married in about a year when my fiancee graduates college. I was thinking we could keep our own checking accounts, and create a new joint account for shared expenses/saving. Is this a good Idea? Also, how should we split expenses? 50/50 or based off of our incomes?

It's definitely a personal choice. I got married earlier this year and even though my wife and I both have jobs we decided that joint accounts were a good idea. For one thing, we are a team. It's not her paycheck, or my paycheck - it's "our" income. It's not my debt, or her debt - it's "our" debt. Our savings go towards goals we both have, towards retirement we will share. Having joint accounts has unexpectedly brought us closer together, and we now even compete to see who can save the most! It's win-win. Good communication is key, and we talk about any 'major' expenses - even if it's just a quick text message, it's nice to let your partner know. I should note that we are both frugal and have similar spending habits so that makes it easier. I can imagine if the partners are very different when it comes to spending then separate accounts may be less stressful. I thought about how to set things up for a long time before implementing it. Here's how we structured it: We have 4 joint accounts and two individual credit cards: 1) Joint Checking 1 - Both paychecks are direct deposited into this account. The running balance of this account is ours to play with or to cover unanticipated expenses. It is purely discretionary money - We decide together if we want to save it or spend it. Generally we put all expenses on our credit cards to take advantage of cash rewards, so this account is also used to pay those balances every month. (e.g. After paying off our cards, this month we chose to pay off a car loan with the leftover balance in this account rather than, say eating at restaurants frequently or going on a road trip) Generally food and entertainment are a budgeted expense for most people, but to me it is discretionary. I can eat for $2/day or $20/day, or spend $0 on entertainment this month or $1000 on entertainment this month. Therefore, these expenses (and others like it) are typically taken care of out of this account. 2) Joint Checking 2 - "Expense" Checking. Our predictable or budgeted living expenses are automatically withdrawn from Joint Checking 1 as we are paid and deposited into this account, which we use to pay those expenses. (e.g. Rent, Cell Phone, Loan Payments, Utilities, Insurance, Retirement Accounts). With this amount automatically withdrawn, we never worry about paying bills. In fact, we have automatic bill payments set up for most of them. Bill paying is a non-issue for us. 3) Joint Savings 1 - Emergency Fund, with 6 months of expenses saved. This allows us to be bold with our finances, and cut our budget razor thin - we can pay down our debt aggressively without fear of hitting the red. I sleep very well with this in place, and it's possibly the most important part of our finances. 4) Joint Savings 2 - Dream Savings. House fund, travel fund, opportunity fund. If there is something either of us wants in the near future, we drop a little extra out of our Joint Checking 1 for a couple of months and then buy it outright. We have individual credit cards so that we each have active credit histories, and our overall available credit is much higher.

Great answers here. I have a couple of additions that will hopefully help. First, remember that (in the US) marriage is very much a financial union. You cannot legally withhold any asset from your spouse. All income made during the course of the marriage is considered to be made equally and jointly; assets brought into the marriage may be protected with a prenup. Secondly, I see a lot of people advising long-term savings accounts with investments held in currency. Your long-term savings should be invested in diversified funds to combat inflation and grow. My checking account contains only enough money to pay bills and buy things in the short term. My emergency funds are stored in index funds and my long-term investments are in IRAs and long-term real estate.

personalfinance

ElectraDescending

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johnsmithindustries

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c2l10lk

jackery

t1_c2l7849

c2l7849

Financially unstable parent, how do I prepare to not get whacked as she ages?

Hello! I've (M33) been browsing here to find out what I can do for or about my aging mother. She's in her 50s and literally lives paycheck to paycheck. Her rent is about 40% of her take home pay and she has a mid 2000s hatchback that is falling apart with every mile. While being paid off, it has some serious issues which she just seems to ignore. IE she drove in Arizona, where we live, with no AC for a whole year, opting instead to just drive with the windows down.......in the 110+ weather. She has no checking account, savings, retirement or anything more than her standard bi-weekly check. I pay all of her bills, and give her an allowance out of her pay to basically live off of. She has tried to get a checking account and all the local banks refuse, but she wont tell me why. She is such a secretive person I do not even know her birth year, or date 100%. She claims she is escaping the things in her past so she cannot divulge. Absolute lunacy... Anyway I imagine she will eventually become my financial burden which I do not need or want. Since she lives a cash based lifestyle, she has no debt to speak of but I am afraid her eventual passing may bring up some proverbial financial skeletons. Some questions: Can I take out life insurance on her to help offset her end of life expenses etc? Can I check if she has filed taxes recently? I am under suspicion she has not in a few years. I suspect she may owe money to some banks. Can I check that out too? While many will suggest to sit down and have a frank, albeit hard discussion with her, I've tried. All she does is avoid it, throw a fit or some other tactic to avoid the current situation. Help me figure out how to help her, o at the very least minimize the burden on me and my immediate family as any major expenses would put us in dire straights. Thanks in advance!

She has tried to get a checking account and all the local banks refuse, but she wont tell me why. Because she has been bouncing check/overdrawing accounts and chances are good there is a bank she still owed a good bit of money to. You need to talk to whatever version of adult protective services you have there. Because this is a gigantic red flag that she's losing it: I do not even know her birth year, or date 100%. She claims she is escaping the things in her past so she cannot divulge There is no financial planning that is likely to help you here. She needs help of the non-financial variety first.

I had an aunt like this. She was paranoid schizophrenic. My advice? NEVER co sign anything, do not have your name on anything and have her evaluated. I am seeing red flag after red flag on your moms mental state. There is one glimmer of hope I can give: You cannot be forced to pay off another debts with your funds. Her creditors can lay claim to her assets, which from your description she doesn't have, but that's it so when she goes her debts go with her. Of course they'll try to get you to pay it off by manipulation, pointless posturing and flat out lies but to be frank they'll have no legal standing unless you agree to do it so simply reply " She had no assets", "it's not my debt" and if she has no will "she died in testate." It's hard but the best thing is to simply say no. I know I sound harsh and heartless but it comes from experience. I've delt with more than my fair share of other peoples problems. My extended family ... lets just say for the most part they're not financially savvy and ... lets just say the legally insane one was of one of the sanest one of the lot... sigh... I still get hassled for money from the junkie...

personalfinance

FUNwithaCH

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illegalpartytoilet

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that_other_goat

dx24iny

The 'everything bubble'. Do you agree?

Here is the link. What do you think? Personaly I believe it is fear mongering for the profit of the author.

The alternative that I never hear anyone talking about is this could be a sign of massive inflation in a system built to hide inflation. If the price of everything is going up, that's not a bubble, that's inflation.

I love it when people run around proclaiming bubbles (because they just saw The Big Short). The more they do it, the less likely we are in a bubble. Once everyone believes "this time is different," we will have a problem.

investing

XxXMorsXxX

t3_75i4ef

Mr_Incognito

do6dmoj

thejourney2016

do70291

Dealing with craigslist scams based on listing

Our house was put on the market a week ago in a high demand location (San Jose). Craigslist scams have surfaced based on our listing. If you're not familiar with the Craigslist rental scam based on MLS listings, it basically means that scammers use your listing details as 'bait' for potential renters. They look up property records and use the real homeowners name so as to maybe sort of appear legit. When they get contacted for more information, they ask for security deposit and 1st month's rent up front, usually by western union. The targets of these scams are often people moving from out of town who don't get to inspect the property first. They tend to list below market rates to appeal to these buyers and use the MLS photos and description. Several potential 'renters' have come by my house and luckily have contacted my agent since they saw the sign out front and were confused. She added a sign to the front door (I should mention that we have already moved out of state, 10 hours away) stating that the house was NOT for rent and the craigslist ad was a scam. We're scanning craigslist for additional listings (the scammers are lazy and usually copy the MLS text verbatim) and reporting them regularly, but as a reader of /r/legaladvice I'm terrified of someone showing up with a lease (even if fake) and given access to the property by police. One person did contact me via facebook after a long email thread with the scammer (who was pretending to be me) asking if it was legit. She forwarded me the email thread so I have the scammer's email, but I know those are a dime a dozen. I already reported it to aol but I know they'll just get a new one. Is there anything else I can do? I've alerted neighbors and do have a dropcam pointed at my front door/walkway, but there are so many showings and people coming and going (yay San Jose market) it's hard to tell who is legit and who isn't until someone shows up with a moving van.

Make sure that the NOT FOR RENT sign is inside your front window so it is unlikely to be stolen. Make sure that your agent gets to that property every day to check all the locks and make sure the place is still empty. Wish I had more to say. Good luck.

I am an agent and in my area this is also a common scam. I use Google notifications to keep track of my listings and see what is showing up on the internet. Most scammers are smart and will not put the address, just a phone number asking to call them to wire money or what not. The only thing that I can do is call the FBI and report the crime. It's not the world we would want, but it is what we have. Good luck.

RealEstate

GlorbAndAGloob

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ShortWoman

d4kdcmp

Faraii

d4kyzeh

Reasonable to buy a car?

Moved cross country and started a new job recently. I've been paying down debts and thinking of getting a vehicle. 25 year old. 20K in student loans at 3.8% 3K in Credit Card debt (I do intend to finishing paying off the CC first) Salary: 40K/Y Take home (after 401K): $1200/2W or 2400+ per month. Expenses: $1300 (Living comfortably) Savings $1100+ each month Currently I have a public transit pass which allows me to ride for free. Unfortunately it's a round about commute which takes 40+ minutes. A car ride to my work takes 6-7 minutes in traffic. A safe calculation would suggest a car saves me roughly 240 hours in commuting time each year. The car: I've pretty much made up my mind to buy a car. Although I'm trying to work out what the best investment would be. Affordability calculators would suggest I don't go beyond 11-13K. This budget would allow me to purchase (for example) a 2012 Mazda 3 with 40K miles and a clean history. I could lower my budget considerably to the 5K range, but im hesitant to deal with a vehicle which may quickly become unreliable. I'm also curious if I could justify a higher price tag in terms of depreciation and resale. The price of a Mazda 3 doesn't seem to change very much between 40-60K miles and 2-3 years of age. Financing would be 60-72 months at 1.80% for those who like all the details.

Get a bicycle to cycle to work. Rent a car for special occasions. Take a bus if it rains. 20K debt and then finance a car on top of it is ludicrous.

You're going to be hard pressed to find people in this sub to tell you to take out a car loan. We're the debt free crowd. We want to help you avoid coming back here in a year explaining how you lost your job and now you've got student loans and a car payment and what should you do. Here's what you should do. Click the link on the right side of this sub called "[READ THIS FIRST: How to handle $]( " If you can afford a $10k car, then go buy one for cash when you have $10k. You're saving enough to get that done in less than 10 months.

personalfinance

PeterMus

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singvestor

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Karmadoneit

d40qblk

Received a $4900 hospital bill that I absolutely can't afford

I checked into the ER December 30th 2019 for some intense abdominal pain that I suspected was gallbladder related. It was 10pm and all the usual clinics were closed, so the ER was the only choice. I spent the next 20+ hours WAITING. They ran some basic tests, gave me morphine for the pain, and made me wait until morning so they could run special tests. Turns out it was a minor attack and they sent me home. I JUST received a bill for $4800 in the mail today. Originally the bill was $13k before my insurance kicked in. My first payment of $200 is due March 6th. They gave me a week to just magically make money appear. I'm just wondering about my options here. I can absolutely not afford a bill this large, or a payment this large. I make about 18k a year. EDIT: I would like to thank everyone for the great advice. I won't be able to make the phone call or office visit until after work, but I've gathered all my paperwork and wage information. For those of you who are judging my purchase of a firearm a few months ago, I understand your point on luxury items. However, you should know that it took me over a year of pinching pennies and when I got my small xmas bonus I decided to treat myself. (Which was purchased before the ER visit)My emergency fund only consisted of $1k and that was spent helping my mom out. Some spend their extra money on food, games, sports, etc. I saved some of my extra cash for a dream gun. UPDATE: I have an itemized list of charges, they all line up with the overall bill. From what I can understand it would seem the itemized list is correct, however prices for certain things are ridiculously high. Ex: transport between ER and the radiology section 600ft away was 3k each way. They also pumped 1600 worth of hydration through my IV because they made me wait so long. The hospital bill is about 1300 higher than my insurance says I owe. I have to go in on Monday on my day off because the billing dept closes at 3pm and isn't open on weekends. They won't discuss it over the phone.

See if the hospital has charity care you can apply for. Some hospitals have it available for low income people and it should reduce the amount you have to pay. Not all hospitals offer this, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Otherwise you should be able to set up a payment plan where you pay a certain amount every month. As long as you make your monthly payments, they shouldn’t send your account to collections.

Is it really "extra money" on a luxury purchase if your emergency fund is depleted or very low? You're right, it doesn't matter which purchase you want, but not having a proper E-fund creates a lot of stress and unnecessary debt spending.

personalfinance

sleepdeprived01

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HealthLawyer123

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JustMakeMarines

fj11914

Signed a lease and not 24 hours later got the job of my dreams. In a different state. (UPDATE)

Thanks to the support and advice from you all, I was able to calmly and confidently do the following: I wrote up an email explaining my position with the offer letter attached and then I immediately called after and spoke with the agent who I was working with up to this point. He assured me that the landlords would be understanding and would do nothing to stand in my way of living out my dream. Fast forward a day and I got a phone call from him again saying the landlords are in fact willing to tear up the lease and refund me all the money!!! To say that I'm relieved is an understatement. Thanks again for the advice. Ready to start the apartment search in Arlington. VA now!

As a former Arlington resident, get ready to pay a lot of money but live in one the nicest places in the DC metro area. Save your money on a car and get a place near a metro station. Pro tip: deals can be had on Columbia pike and the pentagon city metro is a 5 minutes bus ride.

Good luck with the new search! I don’t live in Arlington but I work there - I swear I think the USCIS office is like two blocks away. It’s a great place to be, I hope you enjoy it!

RealEstate

mrveitch

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PAM111

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Aero5

dzenwz5

Early experience with debt has warped my relationship with money. On the path to becoming a Scrooge.

Good day PF. This is one of my favorite subs because I learn a lot from everyone here. I'm hoping a few of you can help me with my particular situation. Because of my experiences with debt early in my college years, my relationship with money has become unhealthy and not normal. To expound on that, I have to give a quick back story. I found out during college that my parents have created significant debt (credit card debt and taking out equity on the house to expand their home with another room). To add to this, my father didn't work for several years, although he tried day trading, and is now working as a painting contractor. You could say that a lot of money was spent in these ventures. My realization to these money problems came when my father told me I will have to give up college because he could no longer help me with tuition payments. When I discovered the gravity of the financial situation my parents were in, my brother and I joined the military, and started our quest of frugality to help our beloved parents. It was difficult, but we paid off their equity loan (~150k) and their credit card debts (~20k), as well as our own personal student loans. I am grateful to have maintained that discipline for all these years as well as a loyal brother who also made the same committed sacrifice. Now that my dad is slowly coming around with his painting business, and my parents are no longer under the daily stress of collectors calling them and threatening them, I am happy for them that they can live peacefully. However, these years have warped my relationship with money. I cannot conceive of spending anything luxurious for myself. I only spend on things of necessity, and anything else, I put them into a savings account. I fear that something will come that will require it. Actually, my parents don't have any retirement savings at all. They will get a paltry social security check, so I am already thinking about using my savings to help their retirement. Are there any suggestions to help me? I don't want to live like a cheapskate. But it is harder to break this mentality than it sounds. There is immense guilt to spend on anything for myself. I can only think of opportunity costs for having spent that money. Thanks PF. Always appreciate everyone's advice and time put into this community.

You helped pay for 170k of your parent's debt? That's, beyond remarkable. Even if something were to happen that you would need all that saved up money for... I don't think anybody would blame you. Don't forget to live a little. :) Think of it as investments in positive memories and experiences.

and anything else, I put them into a savings account. I fear that something will come that will require it Here's the thing. You're contributing to a savings account with this nebulous goal of "savings". That's never going to feel like enough, because there's always a "what if". You should write out a list of potential catastrophes to deal with, and determine an amount that's adequate for them.

personalfinance

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Warren Buffett recently said bonds are a "terrible investment." Do you hold any other conservative/income-focused investments besides bonds to balance out the stocks in your portfolio?

His statement is from back in May, but I didn't see anything posted about it here. Here's an article for reference: I'm in the midst of moving most of my investments from an account with a financial advisor to an index fund approach at Vanguard. I'm hoping to keep things somewhat simple, but I'm open to diversifying a bit more. Do any of you keep anything besides bonds or bond index funds in your portfolio to hedge against your stocks? If so, what are they and how big a proportion of your total portfolio do they account for?

just full disclosure here's the full quote from the article. "Bonds, they're terrible investments now," Buffett said. "That will change at some point, and when it changes, people could lose a lot of money if they're in long-term bonds." one can mitigate this by sticking with short term bonds. some boglehead post i read said the following: Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral Shares has a yield of 1.6% and a duration of 5.3 years. The duration means that the fund will lose 5.3% for every 1% that interest rates go up. Now, suppose that interest rates rise by 0.4% per year for ten years. The fund's price will fall by 21.2%; however, the yield will be 5.6% at the end of the period, and with an average yield of 3.6%, the yield produces a 42.4% gain. Subtracting the loss in price, you have a net 12.2% profit (1.16% annualized) over those ten years despite the rising rates." not great return for sure, but not as terrible as some would have you believe what one has to due is consider risks and returns. on both sides of the equation. too much risk going for bigger returns or too little risk and suffering poor returns

Nope, bonds (and/or CDs) are all you need. Keep in mind stocks and bonds compete for the same investor dollars, so if bonds are a "terrible investment" at the moment, stocks probably are as well. The less you listen to such opinions, the better your investment results. Stay the course. "Age minus 10" in bonds is a good general rule.

personalfinance

murphyslaw86

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mjsmithz

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cb4vpr8

kurds_way

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cb4tg21

Are life insurances worth it? Afraid of getting one because of possible scams.

Hi! I've been working for 5 years, saving my money only in a bank account. I know that my money will not grow in the bank, which is why I'm considering saving it somewhere else. No dependents yet except for my parents. Planning to get married in 5 years or so. Income is stable since I have a corporate job. Tips?

Insurance is not an investment. That is not what insurance is. Never sign up for any insurance that claims to make you money. Their tax advantages are only for the very wealthy. You don't need any life insurance until someone depends on your income, and then you should get TERM life insurance. After a decade or two, your life savings should be enough that your dependants could get by, and you no longer need life insurance.

It sounds to me like you are just looking for a better place to keep your money. Yeah ur bank account is horrible for growing your money with such low interest rates. Especially with inflation eating into it. Make sure ur taking advantage and really have your 401k set up perfect for you. Also look into Online banking. That's where I keep my emergency fund because the interest rates are higher than brick and morter banks. For example for me it's a difference of .025 and 2.38% and it doesn't lose it's liquidity. There is a slew of other options out there like privately held real estate portfolios, separate from the REITs offered on the market. Fundrise is one that I am looking into. Important: Read Tony Robbins book, "Money Master the Game" it's not his usual motivational stuff it's all about money and what to do with it. The book changed my life and I'm not even joking. He brings up things most people have never even heard of! Includes interviews from some of the richest and greatest investors of all time. Cool thing is there is also an audiobook. Bonus tip* Don't pay for audio books you can go to your local library get a library card and download the app Libby. You can rent all the stuff on your phone for free. It's just as good as google or audible. I've seen a book I was gonna get for $30 for rent at my library that had both digital and audio available. Okay I'll shut up good luck on your financial journey.

personalfinance

astro_sentai

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ThunderDrop

ev3h99s

TreasurePodcast

ev3fex7

How much of a loan can I get for a home based on my finances?

General Debt: $14,000 ($200/month minimum, we usually do $400ish). Available money for down payment: $20,000 (+ $10,000 available to borrow from family at low interest if needed). Married Yearly Income (together): $42,000 yearly before tax As a background, we both has 690ish credit scores and we have been paying $950 in rent for 3 years now and we have always been on time. The homes that we are looking at cost between $115k to $140k. Would this be realistic considering our finances? Also, what kind of loan would you recommend as I have seen FHA 3.5% down, and the classic 15yr and 30yr loans. And lastly, would you recommend buying a home in the current market? We are buying because we are a family of 5 living in a 2 bedroom apartment so we want some more space. As always, thank you for any insights you have!

The homes that we are looking at cost between $115k to $140k. Would this be realistic considering our finances Yes, that is realistic. Also, what kind of loan would you recommend as I have seen FHA 3.5% down, and the classic 15yr and 30yr loans. I'd recommend putting a large enough down payment to qualify for a conventional loan for the same reasons that listed. As for 15 vs. 30 yr, with your income, debt, and family of 5 I would do a 30 year so that your monthly payment is lower. And lastly, would you recommend buying a home in the current market? We are buying because we are a family of 5 living in a 2 bedroom apartment so we want some more space. I would not buy in the current market. However, I am single and your priorities are different than mine. If I had to put a roof over 5 heads then I probably wouldn't have much of a choice, regardless of the market.

What is the time frame you are looking to buy a house in? we both has 690ish credit scores If you could improve your credit scores (possibly even just a small amount) before you start house shopping, you may be able to get a better interest rate. $115k to $140k. Would this be realistic considering our finances? Yes; though it is going to depend on how comfortable you are with a monthly mortgage payment (plus some money for maintenance, probably increased utilities) that is higher than your current rent. If you buy a home at the top end of your budget, the mortgage alone will run $1200 a month, while at the bottom of that budget you could be looking at a mortgage a little lower than your current rent. There are, of course, significant variables in here (interest rate being high on that list). Also, the property taxes you mention sound pretty high (4%), are you sure on that? I would recommend that you start budgeting now for what you think you can afford for mortgage, increase in utilities, etc, and save that difference. With 20k to put down, you are within striking distance of a 20% down payment on homes in the price range you mention, and it would really help if you can get there. And lastly, would you recommend buying a home in the current market? We are buying because we are a family of 5 living in a 2 bedroom apartment so we want some more space. There is a great deal of variance in the housing market depending on your location, so I can't really say. But you should do some comparisons and see how much it would cost to rent something similar to what you are looking to buy, to see what your alternatives are. I would recommend doing a conventional mortgage instead of FHA, and that you really try to get into the 20% down territory. Keep in mind, that this doesn't always mean that you put 20% down (for example you could buy a home that needs some work and put a large portion of that cash into that).

personalfinance

SukhjitSingh21

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gregoriousginge

duyqqy2

stampedingTurtles

duyzt3e

If I have a 3.5% interest rate, is it worth paying an extra $500/Mo to pay down my mortgage principal quicker?

Other options for that $ would be saving for an addition, growing my business, savings, investing. Thanks!

You will, on average, make more investing that same money than you will save by paying down your mortgage faster. That said, mortgages (on a primary residence) are one of those grey areas where pure mathematics don't work so well to tell you what you "should" do. Does having that big of a debt hanging over your head stress you out? How much is it worth to you to have the peace of mind of outright owning your home? Could you stand to have the market drop 30% next week while sticking to your investment strategy, or would you panic and waste everything by reversing course at the worst possible moment? If you can impassively ignore that debt as anything more than a number, it's a no-brainer to invest instead of paying it down faster. Personally, I consider myself pretty stoic, and I haven't been able to resist putting a bit extra toward my mortgage every month (which is another option - This isn't black-and-white, you can split the difference).

You are paying your 3.5% interest rate on a post-tax basis. Hence, if you invest the $500/month in some asset class that is able to generate more than 3.5% return on a post-tax basis CONSISTENTLY, then you should invest it - not pay down the mortgage faster. You know your tax rate - see what the annual return would need to be for you to come out ahead by investing this money. Two key points: 1) Consistency - can you generate returns consistently? This is hard. Much easier to do this in the bullish markets we are in now. 2) Warren Buffett advocates not assuming anything more than 5% returns in the market on a consistent basis. Assuming more than that may be folly by way of planning. On the other hand, should your returns consistently beat the 5%, great!

FinancialPlanning

1070architect

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ribnag

dozcded

arnexa

dp3wzgm

Is predicted sea level rise in this century affecting real estate markets like Miami yet?

For investors that are acquiring property and assets to leave to their children, you have to look at the inevitable. As sea level rises people will evacuate low-lying cities. Where will they go? Will the Great Lakes be a desirable locating because off it's proximity to fresh water? Maybe not too many people think about these things, but as someone who's in this for the long haul and who wants to leave something of value to my descendants... I wonder about it.

I know North Carolina tried passing a law essentially making it illegal to use climate-change science when calculating the value of a home: Not sure what ever happened with this proposal though

I'm on a Coast in Australia and it definitely has here. The local government implemented something to do with the 100 year sea level rise. We sold a block about a year before this for $900,000, it recently re-sold for just above $300,000. That's an extreme case, but the beach front properties in my area, the land value has seen a huge decline. Insuring a property for floods has increased a lot too. With an example, a unit I know of worth approx. $200,000 would cost $20k+ to insure for floods.

RealEstate

GatorNelson

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CaptSpify_is_Awesome

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cay75zx

Tehlumba

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cayjgaz

18 year old college kid just came into ~$15-20k, need advice

So I'm 18 years old and I have just come into a VERY considerable amount of money for someone my age. I spent some of it on a few things I needed and am left with between $15,000-$20,000. Now I'm looking for advice for some sort of investment or something along those lines to look into. I know I have time on my side so what advice can you give me reddit! EDIT 1: College is paid for in full from a scholarship so I have no student loans. I also worked in the past so I have more than enough saved up to live off of while I'm here. Essentially this is money that I would like to invest/save and not spend on as someone said "splurge items".

Need more details. Do you work? Do you have any other money? How expensive is your school? Are you in debt at all? Do you buy your own food? We have nothing to go on here.

Save it!! I know it feels like a lot of money but its not. I had 15k as a freshman and by sophomore year I had a little under 10k. Where'd it go you ask? Weed. Booze. And fast women. Trust me put it in a 1yr CD until you figure out a sure fire plan for it.

personalfinance

chattlax

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initialgold

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c962ubm

sinceretear

t1_c96h5v0

c96h5v0

Should I pay off my student loans in full immediately?

I should be able to pay off all my loans shortly after graduation. However, I see some articles encouraging me not to do that. I know that if the market outperforms the loan interest rate, it's better to invest. Besides that reason, why should anyone pay off student debts later if they can pay it now?

I promise you. More than anything in the world. You will thank yourself many million times over if you pay them off. You don't even know how much regret most people have for making these payments years down the road.

Don't listen to people here. If the interest is low, invest the money instead. You will thank yourself 10 years down the road. Paying it all off might be tempting, but investing is a game with time. You're young and time is on your side. You wouldn't want to miss out on hundreds of thousands of investment gains down the road. Do the math, its a clear choice.

personalfinance

trichechus

t3_8758b3

ZBTHorton

dwab9y2

PerfectNemesis

dwaebtn

How can I fight a bank that won't give me my inheritance

I've been dealing with this issue a few years now and I thought maybe one of the fine folks at personal finance might be able to weigh in. I'm a beneficiary of a family trust with several million dollars. The trustee is a bank and has been given a good deal of discretion with regards to making trust distributions. That being said trustees still have a fiduciary duty to treat all beneficiaries impartially. Currently they are distributing income to other beneficiaries on a per stripes basis (enough to support them fully without needing to work) but none to me despite me being a current beneficiary. In the past I had suffered from a couple years straight of unemployment and financial hardships and made distribution requests all of which have been denied. I have contacted lawyers and discussed my case and they think I have a pretty good case but none have been willing to work on a contingency basis and I can't really afford to go toe to toe with a big bank especially given that they are able to legally use our family's trust money to fund their fight. A legal battle would likely cost me at least 20 or 30K that I can't afford. I just thought maybe someone on PF could give any insight. Perhaps a regulating board that I might report the bank to for their behavior or something. It just seems so wrong and unfair. Thanks all.

The [wikipedia article]( makes it pretty clear that in both a per stirpes plan and the alternative per capita by generation plan, you get nothing as long as your mother is still alive. The estate was divided up between branches of the family. Your mother, as head of your branch, is the benefaciary of your branch's share while she is still alive. I don't see what fighting this could get you aside from destroying your relationship with the rest of your family.

It seems to me that the bank is working towards the best interest of the beneficiaries as a whole. You may not like it, but per stirpes is certainly a fair system and, from your description, the bank is applying it impartially. Your mother being the head of your branch is entitled to her fair share which is what she is receiving. When she passes, her share will be disbursed among her descendents, you included. I don't know what you want as an alternative. Giving your more money would result in your branch receiving more money which would result in an imbalance.

personalfinance

fightabank

t3_2ptg9c

splat313

t1_cmzw9fh

cmzw9fh

shhh_its_ok

t1_cn016si

cn016si

Best thing to do with paychecks to make money?

Hello. I am a recent college graduate who somehow landed a decent paying job. I was wondering what could I use that I would be able to put money in every paycheck or so to try and get decent returns over time. Savings accounts have horrible interest rates; but they are nice as I can pull money out of them at any time if needed (car breaks - need repairs or to buy a different car; etc). I have been trying to read up on mutual funds and index funds, but it is hard to tell what most are like as they seem to vary a lot. I come from an extremely poor family (first college graduate, etc.) so I do not have a lot of financial security to back myself up in the event of losing a needed function (such as my car). With that in mind, what would you recommend as the best thing to invest in that I could dump biweekly or monthly paychecks into over time to hopefully build up money; that I would still have the ability to get out of if needed? I already have a decent 401k started and all that jazz. If you do recommend mutual funds or index funds, what are the fees commonly associated with those or what should I look for to not get screwed out of money? From reading some of the stories on here I have seen where users invested and made quite a bit of money, only to have it taken away with fees and taxes and comissions so their 5 or 10 year gains were almost equivalent to the 0.63% bank interest rates.

1: create a nest egg. This should be at least three month's worth of expenses in case something should happen to your income. 2: pay off any credit cart debt 3: set up a budget on what you want to spend every month. 4: once you figure out what's left, you need to figure our your risk tolerance. The risk tolerance is what will dictate how great your returns can be. Low risk investments will allow for quick access to your money and lower returns, but tend to protect your capital. High risk investments can offer greater returns while also putting your principal a at risk. I highly suggest you take a look at the sidebar and read The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason it's a quick and easy read and will get you started on saving!

I agree with everyone else, but as someone who has been in a similar situation, here's my advice for you: Your job and your normal life is your best way to make the most money right now. Invest in that since it'll make you the most money at this point. Just some tweaks to what others have said: Three months saved is good but 6 months is a little safer in your position. Rent + utilities + food + gas + x% extra. Contribute whatever % of your income to your 401k as normal. It adds up. Some people say that if your company doesn't match, it's not worth it but being young, it's good to have that money put away just in case (in a serious, serious pinch, you can take a loan from your 401k, but if your savings is set, that won't be necessary). Pay off any high-interest debt ASAP, low-interest debt can be paid off at regular intervals as you'd normally do. Learn some econ + technical analysis + accounting and start with play accounts to get your trading acumen up. To me at least, $10k is the minimum you'll want to start trading with. Below that, unless you're in options, it'll just be too hard to see enough return on your investment on a per-trade basis to really be worth it. By the time you've fulfilled the other points and saved up your base amount, you should have learned enough to dip your toes in and get burned enough (but not too badly!) to be able to start making money. Or you could put every free dollar for the next 20 years into GOOG. Dollar-to-dollar, that could pay more than any strategy you could find.

investing

PasswordIsBacon22

t3_1ujl8y

TheLoneWarrior08

t1_ceiqfe6

ceiqfe6

cdimeo

t1_ceiwi42

ceiwi42

Mid-career travel/study break - crazy?

I'm a lawyer at a big firm and have been for the past seven years. Over those years I've been lucky to be able to save a lot - not quite enough to never work again, but enough to have a lot of flexibility and potentially make some rash decisions without causing acute money worries. I'd like to make a shift to public-interest work, i.e., to working for a nonprofit. However, it is turning out that this switch may take a while to execute. Since there aren't many job openings in the exact area that I'm looking at, I've come to the conclusion that it may take a while (and a lot of applications) before I find a job that is a match. (I've been getting some interviews, but so far no job offer yet.) The question is: what do I do in the meantime? The most obvious option is to just keep working at a firm. It's always easier to find a job when you already have a job. However, this work is destroying my soul. I really want out. I can stick it out for another couple of months, but ideally not more than that. Another option is to go back to school. Theoretically, if I picked the right course, this could help me transition to a slightly different field, or at the very least it would provide an explanation I could give to employers as to why I left my firm. I have looked into it and I would love to do this (I have always loved school), but so far I haven't come across any degree programs that would actually improve my career prospects. (I already have multiple degrees and anything I've found so far would not open new doors, I think.) A third option might be to volunteer somewhere. I'd be willing to do this, but likewise have not yet come across any opportunities that would actually make sense. Finally, there's the option to just chuck it all and go travel for a while, then see when I come back. I'm suddenly very tempted by 4, but am also thinking that it would be kind of crazy. I'm not the kind of person who would be happy never working again or only working in low-skilled jobs for the rest of my life. I don't care about 'success' in the sense of status or money, but I'd like to be able to find a job where I could do something meaningful, and I wouldn't want to destroy that possibility inadvertently. A combination of 2 and 4 would be another possibility if I found a suitable degree program: travel, say, January-August, then start studying. For the necessary money background: if I quit in January, I'd be at about $900K. No kids or partner. Late 30s. Annual expenses in a high COL city: approx. $40K. So, any thoughts? I'm clearly in the wide-open brainstorm phase, so all opinions and off-the-wall suggestions are welcome.

crazy? No. Just decide what's important in your life, and then make it happen. The most obvious option is to just keep working at a firm. It's always easier to find a job when you already have a job. However, this work is destroying my soul. I really want out. I can stick it out for another couple of months, but ideally not more than that. It does not sound like this is actually an option for you.

you are not crazy. i'm in a very similar situation to you. early 30s, no wife/no kids about to take the leap i'm doing a combo of 4 and non-location dependent side hustle (already set up and generating more $$ than my expenses). would recommend setting up a side income if possible. some sort of business that takes the stress off losing your law income. you can do this while working. even if it takes a year to set up - try and do it while doing your current job - it should make the transition smoother. from talking to more senior friends in the industry - i think a year off is not a huge deal. even if you don't have a traditional story. everyone gets it and fell it. you just had the balls to take a break. worst case - a year after you quit - you apply to some jobs and if people ask why you took a year off - tell them the truth. best of luck

financialindependence

throwmeaway124o

t3_7caesl

abstract_misuse

dpoce0i

throwmeawaysameasop

dpq76j5

Accuracy of Redfin and Zillow monthly cost?

Hi everyone. I’m currently looking for a place to live and have been looking through Redfin and Zillow. I’m mostly concerned about what my monthly will be with mortgage + HOA dues + property tax and all the other misc items. How accurate are these websites and apps with their monthly calculation? This is my first time looking for a place to live, and its a bit daunting to say the least.

Depending where you are, property taxes can be a huge surprise. I always check the current bill on our county assessors website. The reason is because people pay in arrear, properties where we are just got reassessed much higher and old people get freeze and discount. So many places we looked at look greatly affordable until I factored in that the 3k taxes were going to be 12k for us. Side rant: senior tax freeze at less than 60k income is something that should be looked at, IMHO. Many young folks don't have a 60k income with a paid off home. Giving a tax break at that level does not seem to line up with current salaries and means of young folks. That's like earning 100k+ with a mortgage,taxes and student loans. Not quite sure why we are giving tax break at that high income to seniors.

Compass.com shows you the property's assessor's parcel number. You can take this, find your county's website, plop it in to see the current tax bill to get an accurate % you'll have to pay. This will help get a near accurate property tax amount you'll have to pay.

RealEstate

Japspec

t3_ek8spo

Bbdep

fd80t00

bkforyou

fd9ojfb

Parents house got robbed last night

My parents called me from their landline this morning and told me that their house was broken into overnight while they were sleeping. They sleep on the 2nd story and apparently the burglars got inside during the night and stole almost every valuable. They stole both cars, iPads, iPhones, wallets, and worst of all they stole our family dog of 14 years. (Seriously, what the fuck?) The biggest issue is that my father had all of his passwords in a Note on his iPad for everything. Log-ins for banking, 401(k) websites, personal websites etc. I have helped them call their investment company and banks to have them lock-down the accounts to make sure nothing happens, but what else can I help them with? Do you all have any experience or tips that I can pass on to them about how to recover from a burglary like this?

Are you sure the dog was stolen? Maybe it just got out during the burglary. Even if the dog was stolen there is a good chance they just let it free. They should be calling all dog shelters in the area.

They should have Homeowners insurance that will replace the items. It may also have identity fraud protection built in likely as indemnity. This could cover expenses related to recovery from identity fraud. Talk to your agent about it.

personalfinance

aDrunkLlama

t3_6vn0go

Aajmoney

dm1jkws

BigisDickus

dm2eoug

Lowest I've ever been

This is the lowest my bank account has ever been since I've moved out on my own. I'm a 20 year old male and currently have $250 in my account. Most bills are paid except a phone bill due on the 15th. I get paid on Friday but since I have all my bills except the phone on the 1st and 2nd all my money is gone. What's my best path to getting out of this rut? I get about $1000 every two weeks. My bills total about $760 monthly not counting food, gas money, and money for spending. Since I used to get paid about $680 a check until last paycheck I've been slowly going lower. Any advice is welcome.

So you take home $2000 a month? $760/month in expenses + food/gas/entertainment (lets say $640/month) thats $1400 a month. That should leave you $600/month Where is that other $600/month going? It's hard to tell without knowing how much you spend for food/gas/entertinament. Worst case I can see you still getting $300/month extra to put into savings, can you list out how much you spend on average?

A budget will help keep spending in check. If you're bringing in $2k / month you should be fine. If you don't know where all of your money is going it makes it challenging to save any of it.

personalfinance

amccrady1

t3_3rc88i

MustBeBear

cwmqxq0

oalos255

cwmtfvv

I Backed Out During Option Period (Texas), Now The New Buyer Wants to Use My Inspection Report. Should I Give It To Him/Her?

Hi all, I recently backed out of purchasing a home during the option period. However, I made my decision after getting an inspection done on the house. The reason I backed out was not due to the inspection coming back bad, I just had cold feet about the long term commitment. Now that the house has a new potential buyer in the option period, they have asked to have the inspection report I had done so they don't have to get one. Should I freely hand this over, charge a fee for the report or avoid handing it over altogether due to liability issues? The new buyer went into the contingency phase three days after I backed out so the inspection would still be relevant. Any advice is appreciated.

If you feel like being nice, sure go for it. If you want to charge them what you paid, sure go for it. Either way I'd probably write something up and have them sign it acknowledging that they will under no circumstances hold me liable for the accuracy, completeness, etc, of it, and here's contact info for the inspector if they have any questions. I personally wouldn't feel the need to have a lawyer write it, but that's me.

I'm new to all this, but how did the new buyer even know an inspection had been done and how did he get your contact information? I'm about to make an offer on a house here in NC, can I find out about previous offers or inspections?

RealEstate

illiam

t3_4s6nx4

aardy

d56x9z6

gahosp

d5723c4

Is this a good investment?

Kind of a weird one here. My mother is getting ready to retire. She'll be 65 in July. She is entitled to a small pension from her current employer, it's a state job so it should always be solvent. It is $930 a month and is indexed for inflation. But she can elect to add me to it. So when she dies I get the benefit for my lifetime. I am 38. The payment goes down to $720 a month if she adds me. I would get the $720 for my lifetime as well, again indexed for inflation. If I die first her payment would go back up to the $930. I am thinking about paying her the $210 difference during her lifetime. Then when she dies I have an income stream. I make good money so I am not sure this is worth the hassle or the loss of the $210 plus what it can earn each month. I've done some rudimentary calculations and it appears to be a good deal for me as long as I actually outlive her by 10 years or so. So is this a no brainer or just not worth the hassle? *I guess I am looking for some analysis for why or why not.

If you're decently good with probability distributions, you can use mortality tables to figure out the distribution of possible rates of return on your $210 monthly payment based on the joint probability distribution over (your life, your mother's life). My guess is that this is a pretty good deal for you. One thing you may want to consider is that ethically, this is putting you in a position where you're betting against your mother's life. The sooner your mother dies, the sooner you stop paying $210 and start getting $720.

You need to do a NPV calculation. Could you share a spreadsheet with your work so we could evaluate. What would your alternative use of the monthly $210 be? If you have any high interest debt, the discount rate to apply for the payments to mom would be high and could negate the benefit even if you would get a greater nominal amount.

personalfinance

meramec785

t3_612w9k

Econ0mist

dfb9nyv

timetraveler3_14

dfbdijg

[Bay Area, CA] Anyone here bought a house in the past couple of years with any contingencies?

Hello, My husband and I are looking to buy a house in the bay area. Our realtor (and also any other realtors we've talked to) told us that we'd need to waive all of our contingencies in order to even have a chance to get a place. I feel very uncomfortable about waiving certain contingencies. I don't know if my fear is real or I'm just imagining it. I feel pretty good about waiving financing contingency since we have an underwritten pre-approval. The 20% down payment will be about 1/4 of our entire net worth. We're looking to buy a place in the 800k-1m which is about 3X our annual base income before bonuses and RSUs. Does this sound reasonable? I don't feel very comfortable about waiving appraisal contingencies. I'm very afraid of having to come up with extra $50k and having to sell more stocks. I wouldn't actually want the house if the value is going to immediately be $50k less than what I will pay for. So the question is, has anyone recently bought a house with any contingencies? How did it go? Those who put in an offer with no contingencies and had something went wrong, what happened? Thank you

People write offers with 1 or 2 of the standard 3 contingencies in place all the time, that get accepted, in the Bay Area, including the infamous SF and Silicon Valley, and certainly at that modest price point. Perfectly average and normal agents want you to bend over and spread 'em because they want the fastest commission check, and they aren't the ones that'll be around to deal with the imploding foundation or collapsing roof. Having to drive you around 6 times and write 6 offers before one gets accepted means more driving you around for the same $20k net commission check. Much more efficient to just have you assume all that risk, and get your 1st or 2nd offer accepted. If you and 3 other people have your 2nd offers accepted, that means $60k of income for the same six times of driving people around, rather than $20k for driving one family around that same six times. $3,300 per car ride versus $10k per car ride. It's no different than when it was lawful for MLOs to get paid more the higher your rate (or get a bonus for doing an ARM)... surprise surprise, people got higher rates (and more ARMs). However: Some families feel like it's a big deal to write an offer, and each time it stresses them out. Sometimes, a lot. You might very well read that above paragraph and conclude that you want the process over with, so let's write it with no contingencies so one of our first few offers gets accepted, if not the first, and be done with it. That's a legitimate response, if that's who you are. Source: Am not unemployed. I also would never be one to say "based on my extensive & current market experience" with a paltry 5 or 10 transactions a year under my belt, but agents say that all the time. Also, RSUs can 'count' as income at that price point.

I bought mine without the appraisal contingency, and it was stressful - if it came significant under we'd have to back out and lose our earnest money. Our realtor was very experienced and helped us look at the market and the specifics of the house and how it would probably appraise - including talking to an appraiser to verify any assumptions. We then applied for two loans - and thus two appraisals - so we had a fallback just incase. In the end, both appraisals came in (unsurprisingly) at exactly our offer price, to the cent. It's stressful, but if you do it right there's not that much risk to it. A good realtor will also talk to the sellers agent and know what they care about. For another house we put an offer on (and lost to a all-cash offer) we kept the contingency because the seller didn't care as much.

RealEstate

FI_anonymous

t3_7zlf2z

aardy

duoy9m4

NegatedVoid

dupp4jq

What's your theory for why U.S. junk bonds (e.g., $HYG) are outperforming U.S. equities (e.g., $SPY)?

Energy, capital goods, and REITs together make up almost 20% of $HYG's NAV, all of which are being impeded by coronavirus and Saudi v. Russia acrimony, and the rest of it ain't sitting pretty either. Brent crude is down another 5% this morning on Saudi Arabia's promise to pump even more, yet $HYG is about to turn green. ~~Fed is following Bagehot's dictum, so while investment grade bonds have a buyer, who is putting in bids for $HYG? (Yeah, I'm short).~~ 04/09/20

I mean as you found out, bonds have a floor that equities don't. It isn't so much that bonds are trading at $50 now because presumably they bought them at $100 but the average recovery value is $50. Equity can and will go to $0 so you don't have that floor. The other thing is the S&P 500 has a decent amount of junk in it, pun intended. IQV, IRM, DVN, APA, M, QRVO. Perhaps the problem with indexing but if you want to trade this strategy, probably better off doing it versus strong balance sheets but even then, equities on the whole are likely to underperform credit given they are riskier. Where you really see this show up is the IWM (small cap) performance vs SPY or large cap indices. The other thing is that there is likely some Fed put in HY. They ain't buying HY yet but they'll buy HY before they buy stocks. Look at the index trading at a NAV premium. If things hit the fan, they'll end up supporting the credit while equity likely goes to 0.

I've got puts on HYG as well. I have concluded from my research that the underlying securities in this ETF are at a pretty high risk of default, and by virtue of being high-risk junk bonds, they don't have any recourse. The Fed won't buy them, and the companies that are getting cash infusions are going to cover every other base before they worry about paying out their junk bonds. One thing I found was that financial institutions like to short this ETF as a hedge. I'm not sure about this, and I want to hear what everyone else thinks, but my best guess is that this is a short squeeze - institutions are having to cover their positions and it's artificially driving the price up.

investing

SirVeryImportington

t3_frqh3w

Vacaythrowaway123

flx5jyw

fart_69

flx5qhf

When realtor works for both buyer and seller. Advice needed

Currently going through this situation. After much search found a home we loved. Home purchased by seller at foreclosure at 160,000. Renovated. And now listed for 240,000. They came down to 234,500 prior to our interest. The price per Sq ft of this home is $114. It's around 2100 Sq ft. Much more than other homes in or areas. Only other home in our area with this price/Sq ft is a 1,500,000 home. We love in KY so most homes go for 70-95/sq ft. One month prior to their listing, the seller posts on Facebook that the bathroom they had renovated will need a gut job in a couple of years. We offered 210,000. 232,000 counter We offered 218,000 They counter with 231,500 Seller wants us to know, told through realtor, they they have turned down a 224,00 offer. So our concerns, the bathroom posts as well as the per sq ft price, and not being taken seriously by our realtor. He is obvious working wanting this home to sell for the highest amount possible given his situation, but we can't help but feel he doesn't have our best interest. He said the detached garage is what adds so much value as well as the potential tial in the attic for another room to be added. We can afford to offer higher but red flags have been raised. After some time passed they have since come down to 229,000 but we aren't sure how to proceed. Are our concerns legit? Does our realtor have our best interest? They're showing it to two more potential buyers this weekend and we are fine with that. We love the house and obviously want it but we aren't going to move forward if we feel as if there is a chance we may feel ripped off in some way. We do not see the value they're placing on the house. Even if a appraiser says it goes for that, I don't feel like in this area, the common Joe like ourselves will see the value either.

First, price per square foot is a really lousy way to price a house and appraisers do not use it like that. Also, there is nothing even remotely comparable between a million dollar plus house and a 200K house. Also, what someone purchased a house for, or what they invested in it, is also virtually immaterial. You don't know if that was a good price for that time, or what the market was doing then etc. The only thing that matters is what is the market doing NOW and what are similar houses selling for NOW. An detached garage can add a little value but in my area anyway (and I suspect in most areas) this is minimal. Gross living area (contiguous heated and cooled living area under the same roof) is what matters most. Other things that matter after that is quality of finish, upgrades, and then views an other site amenities. Probably before that is most importantly, location, but if you're comparing houses in the same area then that's a given. Of course the selling agent wants the house to sell for as much as possible, their initial duty is to their main client. If you let them represent you as well as the seller then you have no one truly representing your interests and IMO this is a mistake. And why do that? I think it's unlikely that you will save any money in the end, indeed you are more likely to get ripped off. If you saw something on FB about an issue with the house, ask the seller, and get it inspected by an inspector you hire. See what the seller says about it on disclosures, if you get that far, and get all documentation in writing because if you do have an issue down the road, nothing verbal is going to matter. Good luck.

Long story short, you're doing the right thing working with the listing agent directly. The agent is going to indirectly give you an idea of what other offers are going for. The agent is also going to want you to get the house over anyone else because he doesn't want to share his commission he earns with a buying agent. Don't overthink it and go with your gut. All the best

RealEstate

MDean44

t3_47vl0r

wamazing

d0fvnr5

ferrier11

d0gjp29

Why isn't an ozone generator discussed / used more?

I was just reading another post and someone suggested using an ozone generator to get rid of smell. This had me googling and it certainly appears to be a great solution. I found one website mentioning potential health issues, and then they linked to a competing solution so I am not sure if there's any validity there. I also recently moved into a luxury apt complex with a 100+ apartments and complained about the smoke smell, they sprayed the apartment with some chemicals.

from a chemist stand point ozone wouldnt be my first choice for a couple reasons. 1) the health factor, ozone aint great for you. 2) ozone is a strong oxidant, makes things rust pretty quickly meaning you can damage stuff in the long run 3) not only metals but there is this delightful thing called ozone cracking that degrade some rubbers and plastics as well. basically its kind of strong to resort to it immediately and would recomend less radical chemicals first.

i worked in a fish factory where we had ozone added to our running water and ozone generators added in the fridge rooms. well it has a distinct smell and it kills bacteria but why you would want that in a home no idea.

realestateinvesting

spe-swa

t3_b9s9yq

esqualatch12

ek6pxoa

worktillyouburk

ek6ssls

Huge problem with Solar PPA/sale of home

We had solar installed on our home about a year ago; went the PPA (power purchase agreement) route with Suncrest. We are currently in escrow for the sale of our home, and the purchase of our new home. The buyers of our home do not want to assume the PPA; so we have to have the panels removed and roof fixed prior to closing. The issue is Suncrest says they will not transfer the panels to our new home (we want them on the new home). The contract doesn't say we can/can not do this. They are telling us if our buyer doesn't want them, we have to buy them at a pro-rated cost - which is about $16k + $1.5k for them to physically move them. We won't have $16k until we sell our home, but we can't close with the panels still on the house. We asked the salesman what happens if we sell the house; and he said it can transfer to the new owner OR we can have the panels transferred to the new house. He showed us where it says this on their website FAQ's; and it still shows there. I'm dumb-founded that the sale of our house, and purchase of the new one could fall through because of the solar panels. Because of this nightmare, I wouldn't recommend doing a solar PPA/lease to ANYONE - go the purchase route. Or at least make sure it's specifically addressed in the contract. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This is directed at the lurkers. I believe in anthropogenic climate change. I am not a science denier. Just for the record. That being said... If you wouldn't let Chevron put a lien on your car's title because their stuff gives you better gas mileage, why would you let someone put a lien on your property for solar panels? You will know that you can afford solar panels when you can cut a check for the full price of said solar panels. They are depreciating assets because next year's panels will be objectively better as technology advances. Financing or allowing title to be clouded, for an asset that you know will depreciate in value, is in general a poor idea (realtors and others in outside sales: yeah you get a pass on your fancy cars because those are often related to your income). There's about one thing that all of us in my office have in common: All have mortgages (no surprise there). None of us finance depreciating assets like cars and solar panels. Office full of professional debt-peddlers, and none of us have car or solar panel loans/leases. You can calculate ROI on panels to determine if it makes sense thusly. Annual energy savings / cost of solar panels = ROI. So if you believe you will save $60/month and they cost $15k, you do $60*12 / $15k = 4.8% ROI. If you feel morally compelled to help the environment, 4.8% + doing the right thing = not crazy. But letting them put a lien on your family's home, in my opinion, is crazy.

I love getting stopped by the solar city guys at home depot. Sometimes I'll just math them to death where it's obvious it's makes almost no sense to get them. Other times I'll just ask if they have solar panels on their houses. Soon as they hesitate I cut them off with "and that's why I won't be installing solar panels on my house".

RealEstate

lafn1996

t3_4w5sua

aardy

d64anlh

saml01

d64pwl1

Company can't make full payroll for month of October. Not sure how to handle it.

We got a memo today at my job that our biggest client is doing some major restructuring and we lost multiple streams of revenue. Because of this, they do not have sufficient funds to pay everyone this month. For the next two semi-monthly pay periods (the next one is tomorrow, a day late), everyone will be paid half their wages with the other half being paid when they have more money. Before this memo, I got a message from my boss telling me to start looking for a new job because he thinks to company is going to fail fast. About my situation: I'm a web developer so I'm not terribly worried about job prospects. I have a high savings rate and can live off of half my salary (shout out to /r/financialindependence). I also have a large emergency fund that would last me long enough to find another job. Obviously, I need to start looking for another job immediately. If I can work 20 hours a week and get paid half my salary, I would be happy. That would allow me to not dip into savings while giving me plenty of time to find a new job. If management does not agree to that, what should I do? I don't want to work full time for possibly only half what I'm owed with the possibility of never getting it back. At the same time, I'd be leaving money on the table and I would still legally be owed my wages. Also, is there anything else I should be doing or thinking about?

Since payroll pays for the previous 2 weeks, they already owe you 1/2 your paycheck. Do you have any vacation/sick time? I'd be using that and trying to get a new job in the next week or two.

Honestly, if I had a comfortable amount saved where I wasn't relying on that paycheck to meet immediate obligations (sounds like your case), I would stop going to work and politely tell them you will not return until they are caught up with you for time already worked. If you do continue to go to work, assume that the best case scenario is you will get paid 50% of your salary for the coming weeks, and worst case scenario is you don't get a check at all next paydate. Neither of those are acceptable to me, so I would cut my losses now.

personalfinance

shithitthepayroll

t3_55pvyc

work_login

d8cncwo

gtbaddy

d8cvib8

Feeling oppressed from debt.

I'll make this short and sweet, because you've heard this story before. I made a lot of very poor decisions in my past and as a result, the older and wiser me is paying for those poor decisions with a ~10k (27% fml) loan, a 12k (19%) auto loan, and a FICO of 650. I need the car for work and I'm upside down on it enough that there's no advantage to selling it as far as I can tell. There is no public transit option for me here. I'm only 4 years out from my bad situation (unexpected unemployment and the problems it causes when you're stupid and young) Which means I dont have enough credit to get a debt consolidation loan or anything like that to reduce my monthly payments (and as a result be able to make EXTRA payments to reduce my debt faster). I'm working on picking up extra contracts to gain more income to pay it off while I wait for my credit to recover so I could do something about this, but it really sucks. Is there anything else I can actually do?

You need to have a good understanding of this equation for you: [Avg After Tax Monthly Income] - [Avg monthly expenses] = [Surplus] What are those values? That will help us give you advice.

You need a car for work, but you don't need THAT car for work. You should borrow the difference in what you owe on the car vs. what it's worth and get out from under that 12k loan. 19% is INSANE. You should literally be feeling like your clothing is on fire and you must put it out or you will die. You can replace the car with a 1,000 dollar beater that you only use for commuting. You won't have this piece of shit car forever, just until you undo this mess that you've made. With 10k at 27% interest (holy shit!) You can't afford to go out to restaurants, or the bar. Every dollar you can take in needs to be getting thrown at this debt. Pick up a second job, hop on craigslist and offer to clean some houses. Eat rice and beans, thats it. The key is going to be in learning to spend as little as possible. You are in a full blown DEBT EMERGENCY. Its time to get really serious about knocking out these debts or they're going to continue to drown you.

personalfinance

anotherland12

t3_2ytews

welliamwallace

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cpcqyx7

PRNmeds

t1_cpcs2hv

cpcs2hv

From Fort McMurray, house is fine but I was evacuated. Insurance keeps trying to give me money.

I am an evacuee from Fort McMurray. I have a significant amount of savings, so I'm not hurting for cash but my insurance company has called me three times offering to send me large sums of money, encouraging me to rent a vehicle (even though I'm not sure yet if there is any damage to my truck). Maybe this is a stupid question, but if I have the cash to survive - and I keep all my receipts - is that always the best option? Or am I turning down money for no reason? I can't imagine that an insurance company would have good intentions in any way... Just don't want to get raw-dogged. Thanks!

I'm in insurance in Alberta. They're trying to look good and give you "loss of use" money/coverage from your policy. Doesn't mean you can't claim anything else. They're literally trying to help you out by paying out on coverage already built into your policy. Most companies are waiving the deductibles on "Loss of Use" as well. They are literally trying to help you and you are turning down money for no reason. The only negative that could happen is that you would have a claim on your record and that could affect your deductible in the future. But if you have any damage at all (you do) it will be a claim regardless. This is like if your property was stolen and you were refusing their money to replace it. There is coverage for when you can't live in your house, they are trying to pay it out.

Sorry to hear about everything ya got going on, wish i could help put that shitstorm out. But you have insurance, no? You pay them, to insure your stuff, they offer you money, its your money to begin with, plus your coverage, you need to use that money for who knows how long... You may be displaced for a month, or 3 years... take anything you can get, dont feel bad

personalfinance

Can-eh-dian

t3_4j0zrk

DoggMoney

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peteINC_

d33hf33

Is mental health worth paying for?

I'm an incredibly frugal individual. I don't like wasting money or time, and especially both at the same time. My strict spending habits have benefited well and allowed me to secure a financially stable life, which is a huge improvement over the impoverished hellhole I grew up in. The double edged sword of where I live is there is literally nothing for a hundred miles in any direction. It prevents reckless spending, but there's also nothing to spend extra money on. It's basically a giant work camp with a lot of garages, machine shops and part stores. This has solely been a drain on my mental health. I've followed the same routine for years now, and interact with same people to the point where interactions are mundane. There's nothing to do out here. There's no one to talk to outside bars and work. And I dont go to bars for a cocktail of reasons (pun intended). I'm half tempted to see a psychiatrist about my deteriorating mental health, but I'm also extremely reluctant. Due to the absurd 9 to 5 system in this country, I will have to schedule down time during weekdays to get help. Time is money. Taking time off costs money. Therapy costs money. Therapy eats up time. Times is money. Back into the loop we go. I dont like wasting money or time. I've heard mixed things about therapy. Some say it works, others say its glorified counseling. What do you think? Is therapy worth the time and money? Or is it a solid waste of resources?

Just an idea but now days with video conferencing you can probably find a remote therapist. To answer your other question, yes mental health is important, what's the point of making money if your miserable?

To clarify, do you not have health insurance? Do you not have a job that would allow you to use sick time to go to appointments? You don't sound happy. It seems like your mental health might need some work, if you don't feel deserving. And getting over the trauma of poverty can be difficult. Otherwise, what's it all for?

personalfinance

wehosh

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ScrewWorkn

f0knn8e

thewholebottle

f0mah1v

Im 21 and my financial situation is absolutely horrible

Alright so it's going to be a bit of a long one. I got a car back in 2016 brand new Nissan Sentra (under my sister's name as I had no credit) at the time the payments were a breeze I was living in Austin by myself with zero worries I could pay all my debt and still have a bit to spend on me. I was building up my credit to transfer the car over to me Now silly me moved to Amarillo TX and oh boy I can't find a good enough job I currently get paid 11.00 working about 38ish hours a week. Before this I wasn't able to keep up with my payments (was a gas station assistant manager made 9.15 an hour) so I took out a $3000.00 loan my car needed new tires so since I did not have enough money I had to use my credit card I couldn't pay bills so I had to use my credit card again, now that's maxed out. During an ice storm I got in a wreck while traveling, lost control of car and I busted a headlight and front bumper on passenger side is completely gone. Since the insurance was under my sister's name, she didn't want a claim to be put in and I have yet to fix that it's going to cost me around 800ish (low estimate). I'm currently living with my mom so thankfully I don't have to worry about rent or bills, not that I don't get yelled at or told how much of a waste I am because I'm abusing my mom's generosity, because it's totally my fault that no one offers good jobs that aren't minimum wage...but I digress. Currently I pay 483.00 car payment 135.00 insurance 143.00 student loans 105.00 bank loan 98.00 credit card 20.00 on gas every 2 weeks 30ish on groceries (idk how I'm still alive) And once I start "making money" throw in my half of living costs 325.00 on rent 80.00 on bills Hopefully I'll get something back once I file my taxes and hopefully I can fix my car and I don't know should I do a volunteered repossession? Trade it for something cheaper? I have paid off about 5k on it I don't want to ruin my sister's credit score but I'm in a hole and I honestly don't know how to get out.

because it's totally my fault that no one offers good jobs that aren't minimum wage Hate to break it to you but there are plenty of high paying jobs out there, you have to hunt them down and take them by gaining a special skill that those companies require. That skill usually takes a few years to become quasi professional at. There was no reason to buy a brand new sentra. Back to point number 1, you need to get yourself a marketable skill or you'll find yourself in a low wage cycle constantly having to buy "poor mans new cars" to make yourself feel happy. Start deferring your happiness and money will come to you. &x200B

Many companies offer good jobs that are not minimum wage. You just have the skills and/or education to qualify for them. You should try to sell the car and then try to get some training or schooling to qualify for better jobs.

personalfinance

qwelianiop

t3_b5j5h1

svenfromaccounting

ejdwtgd

bmoreboy410

ejfbsew

I have $60 to my name and $16,600 in debt. Please, r/PF, help me fix this before things get worse.

Maybe it's the ridiculous amount of time I've spent on r/GetMotivated today, but I'm tired of being broke. I turned 20 about a month ago and I've lived my entire life watching my mom struggle to make it by and, quite frankly, I'm just sick of it. Right now I have: A checking account with Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) A savings account with NFCU A Capital One Platinum credit card with a $1,000/limit My debts are: $16,000 in Student Loans $600 in credit cards I've read that Mint.com is a really useful tool, so I'm in the process of setting that up. I'm going to spend some time tonight on r/Frugal learning how to eat well cheaply so I can cut out the fast foot and what not. What else do I need to do? I've heard Ally bank has good rates, should I open a checking/savings account for the rates and continue to use NFCU for my day-to-day expenses? I really don't want my debt to snowball. EDIT: What is a good way to build credit with only one card? I have a contract with Verizon. Will paying the bill on time every month help?

Good job reaching out and thinking about this at quite an early age. It's impressive that you're aware. What are you studying in school? Since you're 20, I presume you have about 2+ more years to go if it's a 4 year program. Do you work? If not, get on it. It's best if it's related to your field of study and similar to what you'd want to do after graduation. Good move on the credit union accounts. Setup minimum payments on your credit card, so you never miss a payment. Yes, Mint.com is great. I believe, you dont need to switch bank account yet (since you dont have much money).... but what you can really focus on now: 1. educate yourself (read the side bars on personalfinance, frugal, ...) 2. spend time on mint.com and learn what it will do for you You're a young dude/girl.... your next 2-5 years can truly define the rest of your life. Good luck.

The single greatest thing you can do to improve your situation is to increase your monthly income and future career opportunities. The best way to do this is education. Go back to school, yes, even it means taking out more student loans. The rule of thumb is that total student loan debt should not exceed your expected salary upon graduation. Find an in demand field and work your butt off for a couple years learning all that you can and producing something real that you can show to employers as examples of your mad skills. Sounds like you are on the right path working on software development in your free time, but employers will be much more likely to hire you if you have a degree (and some examples of your work to back up your claims of being skilled)

personalfinance

ThoroughlyRidiculous

t3_107mj6

montrealite

t1_c6b2us6

c6b2us6

[deleted]

t1_c6bcpmv

c6bcpmv

Scammed on Ebay, already shipped item, didn't get paid

Hey redditors...so, I moved cross country with my wife and 6-month old, and to help with the costs after moving, I decided to sell my MSI laptop on Ebay. GTX 1060 6 GB dedicated memory, 2.63 GhZ Intel processor, great computer, costs $1,500 retail. Long story short, the item sold for $1,200. Not a bad haul, right? Enough to pay for 2 months of bills as I didn't have a job lined up. Thankfully, I gained employment at an electronics factory and start on Wednesday, so money isn't a critical issue now! Anyways, the seller requested my contact information through EBay, who gladly obliged. His name was Odunjo Williams, odd name, but not enough to make me think scam off the bat. Williams then proceeded to email me fake Paypal emails that looked perfectly legitimate with transaction IDs and the like. He also texted me (thanks Ebay), asking for the tracking number. I've made sales on Ebay before, not at that scale, but I know it can take 2-3 days after you've shipped the item and gotten the tracking number from USPS before Paypal releases the money. So, I went to the local post office, and shipped it out, sending him the tracking number. Fast forward 2 days, money still isn't in my Paypal account, so I call Paypal and get the automated message system. After a few minutes, the automated system tells me that if I don't make sales very often (which I dont), then the money can be held for up to 3 days in case anything happens. So I figure I'll wait one more day and then deal with it. So today, I called PayPal and talked to an operator and gave the (fake) transaction number, which he confirmed as a scam. He pointed me to IC3.gov, which I immediately went to and filed a complaint. I also called Ebay and asked if there is anything they can do, and of course not, that's not part of their corporate policies to clean up their mess. I know this was long, and a lot of ranting. It just makes me upset that Ebay would go and give out my contact info like that, and they aren't going to clean it up. My question is, is there any way I can recover that money? And I'd certainly be happy to release the scammers personal information that I have, but it likely all leads to burner phones and empty warehouses. Anyways, if you made it this far, thank you! And thank you for any advice you can provide me!

It's not going to help you for the laptop, but in the future, I'd suggest not shipping anything to an eBay buyer until the money shows up in your Paypal account. That's what I've always done and I've never had issues with these kinds of scams.

Definitely report the address to THEIR local police! They are in possession of your property, and their local police will go to the address for you. I had someone steal my license plates, but I knew the address of the person. I reported it to my police, and they told me to call the other guy's police. A couple weeks later I got my plates back in the mail. The police may be able to get your laptop back for you, but I don't know if it will be as easy as my case was

personalfinance

carvedmuss8

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DJStarstryker

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listen-

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Where are you supposed to keep your emergency fund? Is it okay to call your Roth IRA an emergency fund since you can withdraw the amount you've put in without penalty?

Keep it liquid. Cash is king when it comes to emergencies, and you will need access to cash in a pinch. Will it take 30 minutes or 30 days to get your money in an emergency? Time is a major factor in a financial crunch. Are you ready for it now, or not?

Keep it in a money market or savings account. The way to think of an emergency fund is not as an investment, but as insurance. Investments make you money; insurance costs you money to protect you from something. An emergency fund should be kept liquid and non-volatile -- a choice which costs you the opportunity of making substantial interest as you would in an investment vehicle (mutual funds, etc.).

personalfinance

KerrickLong

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zonination

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ccrg288

E1ghtbit

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cct3cv9

But it's not our debt!!!!!

My husband and his father have the exact same name (including middle names) with no Jr./Sr. distinction. We recently pulled his Experian credit report and found two derogatory marks from debts that are not his. Both were sold to collectors and neither are his. He disputed them both online by saying that he and his dad share the same name and provided his dad's DOB. One was deleted. The other just updated. The debt is definitely from before 2011 but is being reported open since 1/2013 and reported since 7/2014. It's a $118 gas bill. He called the company and was told that they couldn't find the record under his DOB and was able to confirm that the debt was from his parent's rental home several years ago. He checked all of his reports now. There are two different debts on his transunion report, which he disputed, and none on his equifax report. What do we do now? While my credit score is good, his has understandably taken a hit. We want to be in the position to finance a car this year or next and buy a house in 2-5 years. Any help is appreciated.

If you have time, there's no need to get a lawyer involved. You said you processed a dispute online and haven't gotten anywhere yet, give it a go over the phone first. I had the exact same situation arise a few years ago myself and needed to contact an individual at Transunion before I could clear up that my dad's name and my own are the same. They should send a request to the collections company requesting confirmation of the details within the collection (SSN, DOB, etc.) and if they don't match it gets removed. You can also call the collections companies who hold the debts and go through a process with them where they essentially ping your credit report. Make sure that they have the correct information on file. It takes at least a month, so be prepared for that, but you shouldn't need to pay for it.

His credit score is going to be fine. You don't have to worry about the repercussions, or waiting for them to fall off the report, or anything... it's not his debt, so it's not his problem. It's just a matter of doing the paperwork with the credit bureaus. They keep credit scores to accurately judge an individual's creditworthiness--it's in their best interest to keep that data accurate. Also, it's the law.

personalfinance

soundingsea

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ynkesfan2003

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cktzfn7

salvarfawkes

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ckuj4jg

Longtime lurker, 225K in debt

Long time lurker of r/studentloans which are now my reality. A few redditors suggested I plunk on over here to ask advice, most specifically about the 401 K part of my payback plan. Details: 30 y/o M, single, just accepted a software developer position for 78K/year. I will bring home about $2250 biweekly (including health benefit deduction, no 401K deduction). My uncle said to halt the 401K deduction until I get my debt under control (he's a Ramsey follower and said Dave said to stop all 401K payments until debt is under control) Backstory: Graduated with a degree in business, worked in banking for a couple years, decided to go back for my MS CS. Brutal details: Have 225K in student loans. 100,000 is Navient (private) between 7-11% , 125,000 is federal between 3.5-7% . Although I have a high balance, I was still making payments while in school to try and keep the balance from ballooning. I am also working as a golf caddy on the weekends (yeah, I'm 30 but I don't want to be in debt forever). I also bartend twice a week, so effectively I work 7 days a week. I want a future (family, house, etc) but don't know how to go about paying back the loans or if its possible. I'm scared it will keep my future a long way off. My grace period will be ending soon and I feel like I'm facing a mountain right now. When I was in school I was told that I could get over six-figure job for software development, so I feel unsuccessful that I haven't. And before everyone rails me for having a high student debt (because I've seen how badly some six-figure debtors get railed here), I was raised by my grandma, so please no "where were your parents" comments. My grandma did the best she could and contributed what she could to my education--the rest was on me ( and loans). I'm determined ro get rid of my debt for my future and my future family (someday) and I'm working like a dog to do it. Any real life advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don't feel unsuccessful. You're doing just fine where you are. This is your first CS job. You're not going to be making anywhere over 100k right out the door unless you work at the big tech companies, or a huge major tech city. 78k is very decent for your first job. Keep working diligently and in a few years you'll reach the 100k+ goal. Contribute the minimum to your 401k to get yoru company's match if they have one. It's free money you'll never get if you don't contribute. What is your credit score like? Is refinancing those private loans an option? 7-11% is really high. Before going too deep into paying your loan, save 250-500 a month to have a 1k Efund. Pay the minimum on your federal loans and tackle your high interest loan first. It's great that you're working two other jobs. You're going to need all the income you can get. But are those jobs your best choice? So far it sounds like you spend your weekend and 2 days a week for those jobs so that leaves you three nights free. I would start look around to see if you can't find part time work doing CS related things (if you're allowed to, check with your work) during those three nights. Once you find something, drop your caddy work and bar tending and dedicate your time to CS. Make sure you make a budget, go ahead and start calculating your monthly payments so you can get an idea of what you need to do to get by and pay it all off.

Wow, no way am I going to rail on you. Lots of people out there with debt and a low paying job. Not only do you have a job that pays well, you are busting your ass with not just one but TWO side jobs. Success sounds like it's within your reach. Make sure you're keeping a detailed budget and throw whatever you can at your debt. A lot of people here say to continue investing in your 401k. I say don't, and focus all you can on paying off that debt and securing your immediate future. After your debt is gone, you can throw whatever money as going to payments into retirement and make back most of the ground lost. But honestly, I think either way will be fine in your case.

personalfinance

acitylimits

t3_4tykn5

kimmy314

d5lg7mq

Yakitori555

d5loye4

Recruiter is advising against negotiating salary. Should I believe him?

Hello, I am about to interview for a legal assistant position through a recruiter. This is what he said: "As a strategy, I would NOT request any particular salary – especially anything higher than what I’ve mentioned; this firm takes it as a major negative if someone asks for more money than the position is posted for. They will often give more if they really like the person, but I would try to avoid the money issue if at all possible." The salary is a bit lower than I was expecting, but the job is decent and the commute is amazing. I'm not sure if this is what the recruiter tells everybody to get his client companies a better deal, or if he is serious. Would appreciate any advice on what to do here. Thanks!

You should only accept a deal you feel comfortable with. The motivation of the recruiter, once job is offered, is to get you to sign. Anything which could prevent that from happening, such as a botched negotiation, is against his/her own interest. By all means, you should negotiate especially if you are not comfortable will accepting offer as is.

They are probably willing to pay what you want. But you coming to them via the recruiter means once he gets his share you get less. You could either negotiate he takes a smaller cut. Or be blunt with the company about what you are hoping for and suggest you could reapply independently if that is the problem.. this would be kinda back handed towards the recruiter though. Basically you don't officially owe the recruiter anything but he is helping you in hope your income will help him. If he says they won't budge then he may already have discussed the max with them, which amounts to your cut + his cut combined. If you don't know what his cut is you can ask. But like most comments on here which are sound advice. If you aren't comfortable at a certain salary for the job. Don't feel obliged to accept. If you have luxury of looking further then why not.

personalfinance

Riyn