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Human: I live in Michigan and will be debt free by the end of 2018. I have about a 670ish score, but lately I've been making good choices and I have a delinquency that should disappear by 2020 and will bring my score up. However; I'm sick of having to keep track of my score. I only have one card and I never accrue interest on it. I have a car loan (my only source of debt and biggest regret) that I also have never paid interest on and will be paid off this year. I understand that without having multiple credit sources open you will simply never achieve a great score. I don't care anymore. Below are some projections I've made for myself: * Be debt free by end of 2018 * Estimated saving potential is >>$26,000 for all next year * I have a mutual fund with around $2,000 that I contribute $100 a month * I have a 401K that I contribute around $25 a month * I make $3,000 during the school year and ~$2,400 during the summer each month * Total expenditures are $700 a month after debt freedom starting 2019 I don't really want to put much money into my 401K because those funds wouldn't be easily accessible for a down payment on a house that I want to save up for ASAP. I also understand that I miss out on my company match. How do I make the most of my situation? Once I become debt free, I'm going to just shovel as much money into my mutual fund as I possibly can. A couple more bits of information: * I know about mortgage underwriting, just not sure what banks require or which banks do the underwriting. * If I pool more money into my 401K, I know there are penalties for withdrawing funds, which I want to avoid.

First thing is DO NOT PASS UP COMPANY MATCHES. This is literally free money for retirement you're saying no to. Practice some patience and delay the house a little to get that free money or at the very least stop contributing to the mutual fund and bump up the 401k for the match. You shouldn't even be considering pulling money from a retirement account for anything. Good on your for clearing your debt first though. Having said all that I know Dave Ramsey is all about the no credit score and underwriting thing. He recommends Churchill bank or something like that. I found [this list](https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mortgages/best-mortgage-lenders-for-low-credit-score-borrowers/) with a quick search too. Underwriting can be a long process so not a lot of banks do it. So bump up 401k for the match, clear the debt, save for a massive down payment on the house while you check with banks for underwriting a mortgage. Keep in mind you will always have a credit score for as long as you use a credit card. If you really want to get out of the game close it and just start using a debit card.

You may find these links helpful: - [Credit-related wiki pages](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_credit) - [Credit Reports](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_reports) - [FICO / Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico) - [Improving Credit Scores and Building Credit](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Good morning, r/personalfinance As a bit of background, I am currently at university and work in the holidays. I earn around £400 / week working in holiday working 5 days. As I live in wales, my rent is £80/w and utilities are going to be ( sorting them out right now ) around £15 / week. My parents are giving me £600 per month toward my studies and I have around a £5000 student maintenance loan. As I have so much spare money at the moment, I am throwing it all away and pretty much cannot stop myself. My paychecks are above £1000 and as a 19 year old, this is so much money that I think that I can't get through it. I started tracking how much I spent on gaming and other things by looking through my bank statement and my expenses for the last month that I was at uni ( June ) were as follows: Rent: £640 ( halls ) Food: £167 Transportation: £98 ( had to commute between campuses ) Entertainment ( Netflix / cinema e.t,c ): £36 Gifts: £36 ( no birthdays, I just give out a lot of money to people, buy them dinner e.t.c ) Sports £18 Gaming: £305 ​ I never realised what an absolutely ridiculous amount of money I was spending on gaming. From combing through my expenses I have found that I've spent around £2-3k on gaming this year. This is money that I could be saving and putting towards a house in a few years time. I blame the reason that I have such bad control of my money due the fact that at 16, I was trading skins and making about £3-400 per month, which at that age just means I could buy the entire world, at the same time being given money from my parents. I realise that my situation may not apply to everyone as I'm in a very fortunate situation with my parent's financing me and having a solid job in the holidays. I want to if anyone has been in a similar situation and has any advice for me. I wonder whether it's possible, for example, to block steam / other gaming things from my card so that I can't throw away my money. I also realise that it is entirely my fault but I'm just looking how to force myself into changing my habits so that I don't throw away my future. ​ Thanks in advance for any advice.

Most video games today with micro pays and loot boxes have been specifically designed to be addicting. You got sucked in by something that is designed to strip people of their money; no different than a casino. I would strongly suggest research gambling addiction and not be hard on yourself and start working on doing better. I used to work with this person who worked out, looked great, drove a nice car and lived in great condo. They would brutally put down overweight people and mock their lack of self control and make snarky comments if an overweight person would eat a sweet or drink a regular soda. One day we find out they were kicked out of their condo and the car was repoed at work. Turns out they were a horrific gambler and literally gambled away all of the money, and this person made six figures a year. They were in such denial did't file bk to try and save the condo. With all my years of sucking air on this rock I have come to find out that people who treat things like this with harsh comments are usually compensating for their own bad habits.

I spend a good portion of my salary on gaming and computer parts l0l ~10k If you like what you do and you enjoy it, just do it. Sure, the 10k could be used to buy something else that is more "Essential", but living my life like how I want it to is kinda important too. 300euros on gaming isn't that bad.

Human: I am a senior in high school applying for colleges. I want to go to a specific college because I like the environment, community and style of the college. When I get an estimate of tuition after financial aid, it comes to a price of $45,000. I have an older sister in college, her tuition is $18,000 and they aren’t happy with that price either. I don’t want to go to a college and end up in a lifetime of debt, but I really want to go to this college. Would I be able to get scholarships and get the price reasonable? Should I just go to a community college, get all the essentials out of the way and transfer? Or should I just not apply to this college? Edit: To add more information, I want to be a Machine Learning Engineer. I can't find much data on the salary, but glassdoor consistently reports an average salary in the six-figure range. I know that ML is in high demand right now, and I am hoping that it will stay that way for at least the next six years just so I can pay off any debt. This college is one of the only schools I know of that teaches ML, and they are well known for their research in the topic. Edit 2: As per recommendations, the college I want to apply to is MIT. Assistant: If this is actually MIT you would be insane not to go. The community college route is great for certain careers and jobs: not high level computer science. You would be stunting your chances at your end goal by following a lot of this advice. You do have to ask yourself some questions: are you sure you want computer science, can you stay dedicated, and are you willing to work HARD. Transitioning from high school to high level programs is night and day. If you go to MIT you will have access to internships and skills that few others will have. Take advantage of them early. Your summers need to be spent honing your skills/ making connections. Remember that most interviews in this field will be heavily technical so you need to put your money where your mouth is. My friend group just graduated from a strong program, but not as strong as MIT. About half of them are making 120-140k immediately out of school (granted many in HCOL areas). This will skyrocket over time, especially if you have a degree from MIT. /u/Lougehrig10, if you can swing it this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Most of the people giving you advice are NOWHERE NEAR your situation. If you have any questions please feel free to ask, I can answer or pass on a lot of questions about the general field and post college employment. Human: Thank you for the advice! I haven't applied, but I really want to. I asked this question just to see if I should even apply

You definitely should. However, definitely apply broadly. MIT is super competitive. I was in a relatively high end pre college program (always had a few students go to Princeton, Brown, Yale, etc...) and it was verrrrry rare for us to get anyone to MIT.

You should definitely put an edit in your original post saying that the school is MIT. The advice you're getting here is good but the school being MIT changes things. Most schools are not worth $45k a year but a CS degree from MIT might be Also if you're good enough to get into MIT you should be able to get scholarships

Human: Like the title says, I have saved $5,000 to buy a car, but I know I’m going to need to budget for taxes/registration, I’m just not sure how much. Any advice for a somewhat reliable car I can get for that price range? So far I’ve been looking at Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and Mazda. Tips/advice? I’m kinda nervous because I’ve always gone for a car loan, and for some reason the idea of buying it outright is terrifying to me (but my credit is super low, so I don’t have much of an option)

Don't buy a $5k car. Buy a $4k car and be ready for repair bills.

this is a great guide that GotThatMilk wrote on buying a used car: https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/8r1jgg/frugal_car_buying_guide/

Human: Hello. I have 700 in my checking account and 1500 in my savings. I make about 900-1200 per month depending on hours and am just wondering if anyone has budgeting advice. Of those earnings i pay about 650 or more on things such as rent to family, car and phone, etc. what can i do to help budget myself or even make more? I just want to be able to not stress over money right now Assistant: Start a written budget. Write down each of your expected cost items on a monthly basis. Make sure it fits within your income. Stick to your budget. Human: What should the categories be

This is the starter budget for YNAB, a budgeting app I started using after it was recommended countless times on this sub. One or two of the Categories aren't really intuitively named without seeing YNAB documentation or video walkthroughs, but the payments cover most things you'd need to consider when building a budget. Category|Payment| :--|:--| Immediate Obligations|Rent/Mortgage| Immediate Obligations|Electric| Immediate Obligations|Water| Immediate Obligations|Internet| Immediate Obligations|Groceries| Immediate Obligations|Transportation| Immediate Obligations|Interest & Fees| True Expenses|Auto Maintenance| True Expenses|Home Maintenance| True Expenses|Renter's/Home Insurance| True Expenses|Medical| True Expenses|Clothing| True Expenses|Gifts| True Expenses|Giving| True Expenses|Computer Replacement| True Expenses|Software Subscriptions| True Expenses|Stuff I Forgot to Budget For| Debt Payments|Student Loan| Debt Payments|Auto Loan| Quality of Life Goals|Vacation| Quality of Life Goals|Fitness| Quality of Life Goals|Education| Just for Fun|Dining Out| Just for Fun|Gaming| Just for Fun|Music| Just for Fun|Fun Money|

Here mate something that may help you. https://www.smartsheet.com/free-financial-planning-templates There a few free budget planning tools here. Personaly i use the family budget planner with few adjustments i made as its the easiest for me :) And on phone i got a app called Moneyboard (ios) as its failry easy as well Hope i helped

Human: I have a rewards credit card with a limit of $1000. I want to make a payment of $1000 with it (current balance is $0). I have the money to pay it off immediately, however, I would like to use the card so that I can get the rewards. Since this would account for 100% of the card's credit line I would prefer for the dept to remain for the least amount of time possible. Is it allowed to pay the $1000 and then make the purchase? Thanks in advance for the help!

If your purchase is within the card's limit, just make the purchase first. Then log into your bank account when you get home to pay off the debt if you really want. Paying $1000 onto a card that currently owes $0.00 might get flagged as suspicious activity and get the card locked up.

Run the card for $999 and pay the rest in cash, then check online and pay it off. If you use it for any recurring payments make sure to check the limit immediately prior and just adjust how much you run on the card.

Human: My oldest child (I have three - this one is just 16 and still living at home, not an independent situation) had a job this summer where she made around $2000. They took some trivial amount out, but not much. I don't have the paystubs handy. I was assuming that this would just fold into the one tax return I file at the end of the year, like my wife's W2, and adjust everything accordingly. I wasn't exactly looking forward to that, since from experience (I make a lot more than my wife does) it just ends up resulting in me having to pay more. But then my daughter said, "When do I get my money back? The other counselors at work told me that when you're below a certain amount you just get back whatever they took out of you." I'm guessing that she was speaking with people who were filing their own independent returns, and I believe that's true, since that would put her below poverty level. But she's not trying to live on it. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here. All I've ever done is fired up TurboTax, I've never gone to anybody else to do our taxes. Now on the one hand I'm expecting to pay more out of my own pocket while she's over here thinking she's getting it all back. Somebody's not right. Can somebody point me to an article about how I'm supposed to be handling this situation? Thank you! EDIT : Thanks everybody! Always open to learning that I'm wrong, especially when it saves me money! :)

Your kid needs to file a return to get their refund. You are not affected. There is no limit on how much she can make as a qualified dependent child as long as you still support >50% of her expenses. [Turbotax article](https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/family/rules-for-claiming-a-dependent-on-your-tax-return/L8LODbx94).

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/7r0tvv) - [Taxes](/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Given today's market and political and economic environment, what should I buy? (I'm now retired at 49 with a decent Real Estate side hustle to keep me comfortable). ​ My initial thought is just 80% VTSAX and 20% VBTLX, but wanted to get candid opinions from this great sub...

Are you planning on pulling money from it yet? You're still pretty young so a more aggressive portfolio like the 80/20 split you have is still okay as long as you aren't relying on it for an income stream.

Look up the "three fund portfolio". I personally use: * Domestic total market fund (70%) * International large cap fund (20%) * Domestic bonds (10%) Depending on your broker, the exact funds you choose will vary. Look at the expense ratios, invest, then forget about it. Time in the market over timing the market.

Human: **tl;dnr - An essential part of retirement planning is planning how to preserve your money for after you lose the cognitive ability to manage it.** This is a horrific article about the cottage industry that has sprung up to rob elderly people as they start to decline. [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights) I have a personal experience along these lines. My great uncle and aunt had no children, and lived at some distance from the rest of the family. He had been an army colonel, with a post-army career, and frugal with money. A couple from their church--seemingly very nice--took my uncle and aunt under their wing, helped run them to errands and appointments, keep up with their house, etc. One day, my father got a call from an attorney doing some work for them, and it set off alarm bells. He flew in from out of state to find my uncle and aunt still cheerfully enjoying their lives, but nearly broke. Six hundred thousand dollars in retirement savings, down to about 80K. A hundred thousand dollars in gold and silver coins, missing. The house, heavily mortgaged. Oh, and the will, now made out to the names of the nice younger couple from church. Tracing the checks and bank info, it turns out that the younger couple had been receiving a salary of roughly 100,000 a year (in the mid-1980s) to help take care of my uncle and aunt, plus lots of miscellaneous expenses, to the point where my uncle and aunt had taken out mortgages on their long paid off home. The young couple angrily denied any wrong doing, claimed to know nothing about the missing coins, etc., etc. The police were brought in, as well as an attorney. In the end, the nice young couple from church got off without any sanctions, repaid about 25,000, and had their names off the will. The end damage was my uncle and aunt's life savings, and they lived in reduced circumstances for the rest of their lives (about 2 years for my uncle, and 8 for my aunt). There was no inheritance to leave to either charity, or to pay for the education of younger relatives, which had been their intention.

One of my family members hired someone to be live in help. That person moved their entire family into the house and tore up the backyard to make a garden. When that family member passed away they were pissed that they were being kicked out of the house. They had assumed they would be allowed to keep the house.

“TL;dnr” Lol this seems appropriate for this article.

Human: Im a junior in college, and was very fortunate to receive a $10,000 scholarship which will be applied as a stipend. I don’t have any college expenses, so I’m about to have this money transferred into my account. I want to invest it for two reasons: I don’t want to be tempted to spend it on something stupid, and I think it would be a good idea, if it’s just going to sit, to invest it. I have plans of going to grad school so I have a long time before I will ever need to touch it. I’ve been looking into Vanguard mutual funds, but am not quite sure if that is a good option. If it is a good option, would it be better to invest it in an aggressive but risky fund, or rather a safer and less aggressive fund? Assistant: If you don't have an emergency fund, you now have an emergency fund. Pop it into a savings account and don't touch it unless you need it. If you already have a 6 month emergency fund and want to buy something in the near (within 3 years) future, pop it into a savings account and don't touch it. If you don't plan on making any big purchases in the next 3 years but do plan on making a big purchase in the next 10 years, put it in a taxable brokerage account investing in index fund following the SP500 and don't touch it. If you don't plan on needing it until retirement, max out a Roth IRA investing in index funds. Human: Correct me if I’m wrong, a Roth IRA is a retirement fund right? The idea is that taxes aren’t taken out of dividends during retirement?

Yes, IRAs are Individual Retirement Accounts. /u/Halifish overlooked that you might not be able to contribute to an IRA because contributions must be from "Earned Income". Your scholarship is not Earned Income. Your stipend might also not be considered Earned Income (mine isn't). In that case, you'll only be eligible to contribute money if you earned some from a summer job.

DO NOT PUT IT INTO AN IRA! you qre only allowed to put "earned money" into an ira and no more than u made that year up to 5500. so if u dont have a job, u cant contribute any to an ira. if u made 4000 dollars that year, you can only contribute a max of 4000.

Human: I went to best buy to buy my son a laptop in cash fortunately best buy offered me a credit to buy the laptop. I thought why not l”ill save the cash then. unfortunately i wasnt approved they said its the bank ( citibank) which governs best buy credit. My credit score is 730. I used to have a citibank account as a student that i have forgotten 2-4 yrs now which i cant log in probably it was closed. (Im going to citibank on the weekend to check. Was it the reason i got declined even if my credit score was good? Edit: update they told me(bestbuy) i have to wait in the mail. Citibank will send me a letter regarding the application. They also stated i wasnt “DECLINED” but i forgot the word they used. Ill wait in the mail and most likely go to the bank this weekend to chek my old acct. Also i didnt leave it with a negative balance. Just inactivity for not using it. Hence i cant manage cards when i was a student. Thanks for the comments it really gives me a good perspective. Enjoy the rest of the week fellas!

It is likely because your Citibank account was closed and they have now marked you as someone who cannot open another account with them.

As others have stated, it is more than likely due to Citi closing your account due to inactivity. You are somehow flagged in their system. Your best bet is to call them with the number provided from Best Buy and see if you can work it out. That is, if you really want the BB card.

Human: Hey guys so I scheduled a payment with my chase credit card just to find out it didnt go through this morning with an email saying I missed a payment. They payment was due yesterday (9/24) and I made the payment today (9/25) as soon as I got the email....I have been paying my credit cards on time for a little over 2 years now never miss a payment and I'm stressing hard because I don't know how this will affect my credit...I have been shopping around for a car and now I'm worried that that's going to screw me. Does the missed payment show up on my credit report or will it not since I paid it within a day of it being late. When I talked to 2 representatives at Chase they were NO help, so any guidance will be great

> I don't know how this will affect my credit It won't. Only accounts 30 days past due (or greater) show up on your report. You could call and beg them to reverse the fee, but its not going to affect your score.

Pretty sure nothing gets reported unless it's 30days or more late.

Human: So in 2015 I decided to do my taxes in my school. Big mistake because the tax person who prepped it never filed it and I didn't realize it till a year later when I needed to file taxes in 2016. The IRS said just file it and leave 2015 gross income at 0. I prepped it myself online but I didn't realize I never actually filed it. So I've been to scared to file them since then but now I need to man up and get that done. My questions are these: Is it still possible to file taxes after 4 years? Will I get a return still for all 4 years? Is there a penalty for filing late? How would I go about filing late taxes? Thanks for the help guys. This is a throwaway account since it's so embarrassing to talk about.

> Is it still possible to file taxes after 4 years? Yes! > Will I get a return still for all 4 years? No! You missed out on the **refund** for 2014, and if you don't get that 2015 return filed by April 15, 2019, you will miss out on that refund, too. > Is there a penalty for filing late? There is no penalty or interest charge for filing a refund return after the return due date. If you owe, there will be assessments of the Failure to File and Failure to Pay penalties and interest. > How would I go about filing late taxes? If you can access the 2015 and 2016 returns in your software, print them out and mail them in. You must attach your Forms W-2 to each return, and I would encourage you to mail them in separate envelopes.

The most important thing to know is that the IRS wants you to file, and they want to help you get back to normal. When I was in a similar situation, I felt like the IRS would treat me like a criminal. They didn't. People at the IRS help line are super helpful, and I never encountered a single person who wasn't nice. Call them. Let them know your intent. Go to a tax place and have them take care of it all for you, just to take the stress off yourself. It'll be worth the cost.

Human: My husband and I want to start a family at some point. We are 30 and 29 y/o. I make $85k, corporate world salaried. Husband's base salary is about $75k, construction, but with overtime he usually makes close to $90-100k. We live in the Chicago area, so taxes and utilities are higher compared to the rest of the country. We set a tentative goal for a savings of $30k before we even try to start having kids. I think we can achieve it if we work really hard and are really aggressive in saving. I am a saver and had about $40k saved up before getting engaged. Husband is more of a spender but had some money saved up. We paid for our wedding completely on our own and purchased our home with no additional financial assistance from family, which set us back significantly (I know, I didn't want a big wedding either, big financial regret for me personally). There were also other typical financial setbacks that come with owning a house and cars, per usual. As of right now, we have about $16,000 saved up. Husband missed two weeks of work due to some slowdown but we should be back on track now. By the end of this year, I'll have my student loans and any remaining credit card debt paid off. I'll also be starting a very-part-time retail job to bring in some extra income while husband chases overtime opportunities and side work. I think I'm a little negative because I worked my ass off for all those savings prior to getting married, only to watch it dwindle away in a matter of months. Because of that, I feel very ill-prepared for the future and I feel like I am way behind. How much did you have saved up before you had kids? Did you feel like it was enough, or not? What was the biggest expense you were unprepared for? ​ A few other things maybe I should note: \- I already spoke to the HR rep at my company and discussed options for maternity leave. I can use a mix of vacation time, short term disability, and FMLA to at least get SOME kind of pay while I am taking care of baby. So, planning on that. \- I work from home the majority of the time, so childcare costs shouldn't be a huge issue. Unfortunately, I no longer have a relationship with my parents and our relationship with in-laws is iffy and they will be living in Arizona at that point anyway. \- I'm not really the type to buy all of the new/fancy stuff, so I'm not overly concerned about spending too much on unnecessary things for baby. I am all about buying things second-hand, making our own baby food, etc. \- I know what everyone says, "you're never really prepared" and I understand that completely. But, better to try to be as prepared as possible, right? :) ​ TL;DR - Chicago-area couple wants to have $30k saved before kids. We have $16k saved up now with an estimated annual joint income of about $160-$180k. Is this enough to have saved up? ​ edit: Budget posted below ​ **$9,600 total monthly income (standard, no OT, post-tax, post-health insurance deduction, post-retirement deduction)** **Home:** Mortgage: $2200 Recycling/Waste Services: $100 Water and Sewage Services: $80 ComEd Electric: varies but averages about $150 Nicor Gas: varies but averages about $50 ​ **Loans/Finance:** Car Payment: $500 Monthly finance payments for AC and washer/dryer (broke down after we bought the house): $450 Student Loans: $300 ​ **Other Payments:** Cell Phones and Plans: $200 Internet and Dish TV: $200 Gym Membership: $20 Car Insurance: $200 Monthly Parking, Gas, and Tolls: $600

Median household income in the US is $59K a year. Let that sink in, $59K a year median household income. Now pair that with the average household size is 2.6 people per household. But really that's probably a bit low because of singles/etc. But either way, that means the per person would be at around $22-23K. So assuming no savings rate and all income is spent on the family, you can treat that income as the expense rate. (Which actually aligns to the cost that the government usually points out as price per kid per year). Honestly, if you are unable to save making 160K+ even with a child or 2, there is another issue present.

We had about $8k to our names when we first got pregnant. My wife was working part time until our child was born and I'm military so I have steady employment and made about $55k annually after taxes at the time. I think your goal is doable. One thing that we did was to buy a lot of used/secondhand/thrifted baby clothes or stuff since they grow so fast. Popping tags was the best!

Human: [https://www.reddit.com/comments/9hadzu/want\_a\_car\_you\_can\_actually\_afford\_just\_pick\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/comments/9hadzu/want_a_car_you_can_actually_afford_just_pick_a/) This advertising post is on Reddit with comments disabled. My comment is: A car you can afford does not require payments Assistant: > A car you can afford does not require payments Sure, if you want a very narrow view of what afford means. if you qualify for a low enough APR, then it can be worth your while to pay a nominal amount of interest to keep your money liquid and in your possession. Human: Don't be fooled. You still have to part with that liquid money at some point to pay for your car, plus more for not paying it off right away. Most people don't realize that the price of the car has a financing fee built into it. If you pay cash you don't end up paying that fee. The car dealership tried multiple times to get us to take a loan, which is rediculous, when they finally realized we were only going to buy with the money in our pocket they confessed that the cash price was $2000 less (we didn't know). For those following along that's $36000 - $2000 = $34000 which is a 5.5% fee

You must have stepped in a black hole or something because that's not how car buying has worked for sometime. now, it's always possible that this was simply the result of the negotiation and this is just how they justify it on paper. You caught someone at the right time with the right situation and the right money. I wouldn't say this is repeatable. (it may even suggest the other way that you overpaid even at 34k)

>Most people don't realize that the price of the car has a financing fee built into it. If you pay cash you don't end up paying that fee. You can get most cars cheaper if you do finance, if anything. The dealer can make money on the back end so maybe you can get a slightly cheaper price up front

Human: Basically I am trying to plan for a bathroom remodel. So far a lot of my other projects have ended up being off what I mentally expected and since this is the most extensive one I figured Id ask before I get blindsided during a walkthrough with a contractor and end up wasting someone’s time. Basically I’ve got a small bathroom that pretty much needs to be gutted. When I say small I mean like 4x6, if even that. The scope of the project would be new drywall (including cieling), new shower tile, waste height tile in the remainder of the room, tub removal & install, new light fixture., new flooring. To save a little bit of money I plan to install the toilet, sink, trim and mirror myself. Materials I have priced out at 1k-1.5k depending what kind of tile I end up going with. Because of the size of the room I could easily see it being finished in less than 3 days. Mentally I am expecting around 2k for the labor. Is that at all reasonable? I’ve heard labor is usually 2/3 the cost of the project and with my supplies hitting around 1k I felt like I was being generous. But then I google and see ridiculous estimates saying 10k low end for a full gut like this. I don’t want to waste a contractors time so I’d rather know in advance what to expect for this sort of thing.

you are not wasting a contractors time...that's exactly what they do..get bids for jobs, then come out and give you an estimate, then it's your choice to get more quotes from other companies, or if you liked the first quote, purchase. this is standard operating procedure. and I advise not to buy or contract the very first estimate...get more than 1 quote.

Get a quote, then if its above what you want to pay, ask them what's driving the cost. If you want to save more money and are skilled enough to do it, ask them how much it would reduce the price by starting with an already gutted room (i.e. doing the demo yourself).

Human: I am looking to move out of my home to an apartment or home within the next two months. Funds/Credit Score are all fair, however, my spending habits haven't been the greatest for the past years. Been eating out a lot and buying useless items. I am working on this. Anyways, I have noticed some rental postings are asking for bank statements? Is this normal and/or legal? Just a bit confused if I should open another account that I just put money in to hide my bad spending habits. Assistant: There is no legal requirement to show your bank statements. There is also no legal requirement for them to approve your lease/rent application. Normally, they just want to know if you have enough money and whether your income supports the rent. Also why aren't you using a credit card for purchases? Human: Thanks. I was a bit confused when most places in the Bay Area are asking for them. It seems a little personal.

It is personal. You can refuse to give them your personal information and they can refuse to give you a personal place to live... it's not personal, just business ;)

It is pretty personal, and, in some areas, completely standard. You could redact transaction descriptions I suppose.

Human: I would first like to state that I AM going to meet with a financial advisor. I am just looking for opinions, different types of investing, and things of that nature before my husband and I do meet with him so we have an idea of what we are walking into. My grandparents passed away and left me a little over 150k in a CD that matures in a few days. The house is sold and since everything is split 4 ways between myself, my mother, and my two uncles, we inherited 88k from that. The car was sold and we were given $4,800 from the split on that. My grandparents were big on investing and owned their own company, but they are no longer here so I cannot ask their advice. I know we will but some in a CD, but we are not familiar with this type of money and would like some advice on what you guys have done to invest and how your experience has gone. I do not want this money sitting in our checking account. Thank you for any advice or options you can recommend!

First off, the obligatory: read the side bar. But on a personal note: I'm sorry for your loss. Don't rush to make a decision, that's a lot of money to come into. Personally, I would open a high-yield savings account (such as Ally or Marcus by Goldman Sachs - they pay \~2% interest) and park the money there until you figure out exactly what to do with it. FDIC insured accounts protect up to $250k, so that much money is perfectly fine in a savings account. Take time to grieve, develop a plan, and then act. With that said, I would not leave it in an account that is tied to your daily debit card (if you use one), for fear of the card getting skimmed and that account being drained... But only from the standpoint of it being a hassle to get reimbursed and fees waived.

Pay off your debts, get educated, and don't let someone sell you life insurance

Human: I have a $5000 limit with relatively high usage, I know oof. If I opened a second card that I used and paid off every month would that be a good way to decrease utilization and increase credit score?

If you're staying current and paying off the balance every month on a $5k limit card, but stretching its utilization, your income is certainly high enough to support either a higher limit on that card or getting a new card, which should improve your credit score somewhat. In fact, with that kind of usage, you would actually be able to snag some excellent signup bonuses with new cards and make at least several hundred extra dollars by doing so. If you are instead carrying a high balance, not paying it off in full (but plan to pay off the new card in full), you need to reduce spending and pay off this card before trying to extend your credit. This is more so you don't dig yourself any deeper than trying to optimize a credit score.

One thing to note is that there are 2 different utilization factors... You have your overall utilization and your per card utilization. By opening another card you would reduce your overall utilization but not your per card utilization so you would still take a slight hit... That being said, based on how you worded your question, it sounds like you have 1 card that is mostly maxed out but not paying it off every month. If that is the case, opening a second card to reduce your utilization is not a smart move. You would be more likely to max out your second card and instead of being $5K in debt, you will be $10k in debt (or more). If I am totally misreading the situation, then even still your better bet would be to pay your card more often throughout the month as you don't have to wait until the end of the month to make a payment. This way when the bill is generated even if you technically charged $100k on the card throughout the month, it would only show up as $500 since you paid it mostly off. The last piece of advice that I will leave for you is that utilization is such a small part of your credit score that there is no real reason to try and game utilization. If you are about to take out a mortgage and are right on that 740 line, then sure... Go ahead and do what I mentioned in the paragraph above. Even still I would be shocked if it raised your score more than 10 points.

Human: What are some general tips, recommendations, or resources for building an investment account for a newborn child? I intend to set up a 529 account but would also like to establish a separate investment account using gifted funds to my child shortly after my child’s birth. I’m looking for recommendations that would limit my and my child’s personal tax liability to the fullest extent possible. Thank you for the insight.

UTMAs will probably be the most straightforward vehicle that you're looking for.

A 529 would probably be best. You can put up to like $70k/year and unused funds can be converted to an IRA

Human: My BIL passed away recently leaving my sister and nephew (2 yo) as direct beneficiaries to his life insurance. I've been trying to guide my sister in handling her son's estate while he matures. The intent is to gain as much as possible by the time he turns 18, so savings is out. Since the money is already in his name (she is a legal guardian), are there any catches with the UTMA account I may not be aware of? Does anybody have any other suggestions to gain as much as possible over the next 16-19 years? We'd like to see him start his life not having to worry about money for major life events (wedding, home & car deposits, etc) things his dad would have wanted to contribute to. Is a trust a potential option if he was the named beneficiary? She'd like him to grow up a little more than 18 before getting access to that kind of money.

One important thing to understand about UTMAs are the tax issues, the so-called "kiddie tax". Any realized gains you have in the UTMA are taxed differently than normal. It depends on the circumstances, but for most kids, the first $3,600 or so of long term capital gains will be taxed at 0% ($1050 standard deduction and then $2,600 in LTCG), then 15%+ after that. So you have to watch this carefully. ​ There is something called "tax gain harvesting" that is a good thing to do in UTMAs. Here's an example of it: ​ Say you have $10,000 in a mutual fund in the UTMA. In 15 years, it grows to $30,000. The child decides to sell all the mutual funds and use the proceeds to pay for college. When he does this, he now has $20,000 in capital gains that he has to pay taxes on. With some planning with tax gain harvesting, you can avoid this problem. The key is to sell and rebuy the same stocks every year they go up in price, as long as you've held the stocks longer than 1 year and the gains are less than the kiddie tax threshold, so by the time you sell and withdraw the stocks, the costs basis will be higher. ​ So the $10,000 after 1 year becomes $11,000. You sell all the stocks and rebuy them, now the cost basis for those shares are $11k. You have $1k in capital gains, but you don't owe any tax on it. Then the next year they're worth $12k, so you sell and rebuy. Again you have another $1k in capital gains ($12k - 11k), but again no tax. You keep doing this every year, so by the time college rolls around, the stocks are worth $30k, but the basis will also be around $30k as well, so the taxable gains will be minimal.

> Is a trust a potential option if he was the named beneficiary? Maybe. She should talk to a lawyer near her who specializes in trusts. Ordinarily, the trust would get set up while the grantor was alive and the trust would be named as a beneficiary, not the minor child. Or the spouse would be named as primary beneficiary and the child would be named only as a contingent or second beneficiary. Naming a minor as a direct beneficiary makes things a lot more complicated. As it stands, the portion of life insurance proceeds that was left to the child probably has to be treated as if it is already in a UTMA whether or not that's where it currently sits. The money is not your sister's. She most likely can't put any restrictions or conditions on it beyond those provided by the UTMA laws of her state. She can exercise fiduciary control over it only as long as her son is a minor and she acts in his interests. If she wants to move some or all of it to a 529 account, she'll need to use a custodial 529 to keep the money titled in her son's name.

Human: They said the the money in the account is being rolled over into a Millennium Trust IRA. I(M32) already have a retirement fund set up with my current job. What would be the best way to handle the old retirement account?

Contact Millenium Trust about doing a rollover of that account into your current 401k or IRA

You may find these links helpful: - [Retirement Accounts](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_retirement_accounts) - ["How to handle $"](/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Hello all! I’m about to receive a sizeable bonus at work and wanted to place that as well as some other funds into a high yield savings account, I had heard on here that ally savings is at 3% making it the highest known, but now looking at it, it appears to only be 1.85%, am I reading this correctly or have they changed the rate, if they have is there a better place to put funds for short term (less than 2 years) savings?

Ally savings has never been at 3%. The 5-year High yield CD is 3%, though.

You definitely didnt hear that here. The 3% that is. To answer your question a HYSA is the best spot, be it ally, or one of the others.

Human: I recently paid off a Chase credit card that I owed $5k on with a personal loan and my credit score shot up to a 780. I want to close the card in order to avoid temptation of using it again, but I’m not sure how much that would affect my credit score. I’ve only had the card open about 18 months. I have 4 other open cards. One is 2 are paid off and the other 2 are rooms to go cards that I owe $2k on and $800 on. The Chase card is my newest card at 18 months old.

From the Wiki: "The second truth is that sometimes banks will close accounts that have not seen activity for six months or so. If this is just one of your many cards, closing will bring down your credit available, increasing your utilization and thus decreasing your score. If it's your oldest account, it will also bring down your Age of Accounts (Oldest Account category). Before letting a card go inactive, always check your terms to make sure." Anecdotal: Once I paid off my largest balance CC, I had a credit line of like $20k on that one card alone and lord, I did not want that card to close nor did I ever want to pay effing interest again. So, I put my Spotify recurring monthly charge on that credit card, and signed that credit card up for auto pay each month. The physical card sits in the safe. ​

You may find these links helpful: - [Credit-related wiki pages](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_credit) - [Credit Cards](/r/personalfinance/wiki/creditcards) - [FICO / Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico) - [Improving Credit Scores and Building Credit](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: This is my 1st home we're talking about here. I've never sold property before. From what I've read if you make under $250k no capital gains tax. So am I in the clear? That doesn't seem right though. I've gotta pay something I'm sure. I want to use some of this money to pay down debts & invest some in new property. Just want to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot when the tax man comes looking for his share.

If you lived there as your personal residence at least two years (in the last five, technically...), then you can take up to $250K capital gains tax-free. It's a nice tax preference.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/7r0tvv) - [Taxes](/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Just checked the mail and my mom got a priority shipping package that only contained a check from the company ascend federal credit union and we don’t know if it is legit or not

This screams fake check scam. Call the credit union and ask them. I'm sure they'd love to know if people are making fake checks with their name on it. If you google the routing number, does it come back to a different bank?

Get the number from their website and call. https://www.ascendfcu.org/

Human: I bought a car last night with a loan through USAA. I was in the finance guy's office finishing the application on my laptop and he said to decline Total Loss Protection because they were selling me their own GAP insurance, and he went into some banter about how it's better. I was like, "Whatever" and got him the paper he needed. He comes back a little bit later and says, "Actually we can't sell you gap because you're not financing through us. My mistake. You can call USAA tomorrow and have it added to the loan, they won't have any problem with that." SO then I go and sign papers on that notion. Well I called USAA today and they will NOT add it. Also, I had initially declined the dealership's extended warranty because I told him I didn't want to pay anything down. He said, "Oh well I can work with the numbers and get it to fit within your total approval amount." Initially he was going to fit both the gap and the warranty in. But, without their $800 gap insurance in there, he decided to tack on that $800 to the extended warranty price. So, if USAA had of let me add gap to the loan today, I would have had to pay something out of pocket to cover it and he knew that. Unfortunately, now I can't have it at all. Assistant: This (car salesman telling you one thing and papers you sign saying another) is unfortunately very common and you will likely have little to no recourse outside of possible good will from the dealership that sold you the car. In a written contract situation, the general rules are to always read everything and if it's not on paper it doesn't exist. On the bright side, this is a relatively cheap way to learn this lesson. On another note, gap insurance and extended warranties are of questionable value to begin with. Human: I want to get it because I don't like owing more than a vehicle is worth, which is pretty much with any car loan but especially due to my current situation. Assistant: I think you'll find it very difficult to be upside down on a 2+ year old used car with any appreciable down payment. If you're worried about this, it's a bit of a sign that you can't actually afford the new car premium. Human: I brought a brand new car but traded in an old truck that was upside down so that added a $5k balance to the new loan. The new car was sold at invoice and rebates kind of made up the difference, but it's still a few thousand dollars in the wrong direction.

> I brought a brand new car but traded in an old truck that was upside down so that added a $5k balance to the new loan. Like you were told, you just bought a car you cant afford. You, like so many people, come here after the shit has hit the fan. Consider this a life lesson. Do your research and ask for help *before* you sign a contract or take out a loan.

What car did you get and what did you trade in? These trade ins are some of the main points sales make a profit.

Human: I thought I clicked on the option to reinvest settlement funds when I first opened my Roth IRA.

I would try to roll it into a jelly donut.

You may have, it'll just take time for that to get reinvested. I believe it happens once there is enough in it in order to buy in at the lowest available amount.

Human: I just got a job offer for $50k. The recruiter told me this was a little on the lower side since the company gives out bonuses annually and the company has consistently been meeting or exceeding it's goals. The bonus I could make this year would be ~$9k. However, after doing research on Glassdoor and other sites, it looks like my base salary should be around $58k. If I don't receive any bonus this year, then I will be below what I should be paid. The recruiter has been telling me that bonuses are pretty consistent at this company, but I'd really rather have a higher salary. How can I negotiate a higher base salary in this situation? I just want to make sure I'm still being reasonably compensated if the bonus doesn't work out for whatever reason.

Sounds like a bum deal. A bonus is supposed to put you ahead of the standard, not barely get you to it. Here are your options: A) refuse to accept less than $58K + bonus or walk away from the offer. B) walk away from the offer. C) suck it up and take less than you feel the market is offering for your time and skills.

This is just the way some companies operate, and there is always gonna be someone willing to take it. What you gotta decide is if it's what you want. You could ask the company to offer more in exchange for forfeit of bonuses but I doubt they will bite. Best chance you may get a bigger offer if they want you...

Human: I was involved in a accident earlier this year, after five months have gone by the other persons insurance is coming to me with a settlement for “Pain and Suffering” of a $1000. Is that reasonable? At the time of the accident I did end up going to the ER and having CT scans done, which lead to me seeing a chiropractor. My insurance covered most of my medical bills and the payment of my car since the other drivers insurance wasn’t taking any of our calls at the time. A few details about the accident are, the other person was at 100% fault in the accident, they blew a stop sign and T-boned me on my drivers side which lead to my car being totaled out.

They’re trying to buy you out. I would go consult a lawyer, you can probably get way more than the $1000

Is this 1k apart from paying for your car and medical bills?

Human: Throwaway because r/pf is a huge subreddit. Intentionally vague on this post so sorry if that's the case. I currently work for a Fortune 500 company in corporate IT making 70k/year. I'm in my mid 20's and grew up with wealthy parents; as a result, I have no car payment, no student loans, and no credit card debt. I've been reading r/pf for about a year and it's been very helpful. I follow most advice given on the sub. I max my 401k and Roth IRA accounts. My rent is reasonable and I don't have any financial difficulties. I have a healthy social life as well and hobbies I enjoy. A customer support job recently opened up for a tech company I love and whose product I use daily. No phones/calling would be involved, just email for questions regarding use of their app. It would be part time, work from home work between 20-30 hours a week. I think I could be good at this job: I know the product well, it would be fun, and it would give me more experience in a different tech role. However, my current full-time job is very comfortable; high pay, low hours (no more than 40), low stress, and nice culture. Literally no complaints. I have no intentions of leaving my full-time job within the next 2 years. Is taking a 2nd job a stupid idea? I don't need the money. Should I tell my manager at my current job? Any advice or stories about a similar experience would be helpful. Edited to fix a typo

From the perspective of this sub... there is no way ever taking a second job is wrong. The question you gotta ask yourself is * Do I value my free time versus the extra money I will earn? * Will the time commitment in the 2nd job cause issues with my primary job. I wouldn't take it if you hesitate to answer any of the questions above.

No. If it’s something you enjoy, go for it. It may lead to a career doing something you are really passionate about.

Human: My boyfriend needs surgery to fix what we're fairly certain is an inguinal hernia. His job requires lots of lifting and he won't be able to work until it's repaired. We just moved into an apartment that costs us (all bills included) about $1,200. I just started a new job and I make about $1,200 on my own per month, so I can't support us both with my income. His job absolutely will not pay him any medical leave, workers comp, etc. I'm not sure how much his surgery will cost but I'm estimating it will be close to $1,000, possibly more. We're both 19 with no savings or safety nets. We live in Texas if that matters.. What the hell am I supposed to do? It feels like I have 0 options and absolutely no way to make this work. If anyone can think of a resolution please, please give me ideas. I'm feeling stuck and hopeless.

Do *not* take payday loans, it will start a cycle that will be very hard to escape from. Take a deep breath, its a bad moment - but your life will move past it! As others said, look into workcomp, a job he can switch to and keep some money. If its 2 months, then thats 2 months to pick up extra hours, an extra job. The good news is its almost the holiday season! Almost all retail will be needing extra help. You got this!

I'm afraid you guys will have to temporarily moved out of the apartments in the meantime and find a room to live in with together somewhere else where you won't have to pay so much. Either with a friend or family or something. it shouldn't be too bad to hold it off for 2 months or so. Their really isn't anything you can do to keep the apartment unless you get a 2nd job, or find a way to make extra income.

Human: hi, there's a situation i need to ask about.. someone offered me an investment and claimed verrrry promising rewards. he says for example you invest 1000$ , there's 120% yearly profit and they pay you 90$ per month .. actually he himself is receiving this pay out (he's my friend and doesn't lie) but the business plan is somehow unclear to me what happens behind the scene.. he claims they're an international company and trading daily in cfd and forex (oil and energy stuff) for example the company trades with my money, makes 20-25% profit every month and gives 10% to me.. (guaranteed pay off) but is it natural a company make 20-25% profit evvvvery month? they're using network marketing which has awful history here and i doubt every company using this method.. if you bring another investor you'll get 10% of his investment which is huge imo..! (althogh the network here is optional you can invest your money and receive the profit (which apparently they're giving) you see.. 120% yearly, 10% for bringing new investors.. that'll be a lllot of money and i've learned every time there's something looks toooo good you should suspect.. but hey.. my friend's actually making money for real... [worldwide.energy](https://worldwide.energy/) this is their website

Pyramid scheme, Ponzi scheme, multi-level marketing scheme how many other ways can I put it? It’s a scam. Stay away and say nothing more to them. Think about this: If they are making those returns why do they need your $1000?

You may find these links helpful: - ["How to handle $"](/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) - [Investing](/r/personalfinance/wiki/investing) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: I'm not exactly sure if I got scammed or I actually switched to a new company? I'm young and naive and of course I let myself get involved in this, but lessons need to be learned! ​ Okay, I was approached by two gentlemen with binders that had the ConEd Bill in the front of them, and told me they'd give a $25 dollar gift card to compensate me for not switching to "clean energy" and were very nice and polite, and I was in a hurry so I wasn't really thinking about it, and just went with it. They ended up with my account number, email, and name. They also got me to confirm a few things on the phone. Lucky for me, they left their binder, and they have a lot of numbers and addresses on lined paper, as well as "scripts" and a paper for sales for "Entel Marketing" and "Great American Power". When I looked those up, I guess people got billed triple their bill and I'm not ready for that at all. I called ConEd and they said they can't really help me since they can't get involved in another company. I'm really scared and confused, and laughing like a crazy person as a defense mechanism. How can I stop all this from happening? I can't even buy myself a bag of hot cheetos and I'm really stressed out. ​ EDIT: ConEd and not ComEd! ​ Also thank you so much everyone! I was so stressed out, but now it's so comforting knowing that people care, have been through this, and have gotten out of this situation. Thank you again!

It's called slamming. Google power slamming and your state and see if your public utilities commission has any information on how to prevent it.

I don't have any advice on your current situation, and it looks like you pretty much have it sorted anyway. I just have a bit of advice for the future, for you or anyone reading the comments this far down 😆 Don't do anything on the fly. I have learned this tactic, just because of how I comprehend things. I really need to read and compare things before I make changes. So I tell them that they will need to leave me with materials, or email me their program. They will then go into the sales pitch of "We are only in the area today" or "This is a very special offer and is only available if you sign up now". This is a sales tactic as old as the hills. They are trying to create an urgency. Don't fall for it. I know special deals exist in the universe, but there are not many reputable companies that will try to chase away new customers just because they want to think on the offer. I will flatly tell these door to door people that I appreciate them telling me about their service but the ONLY way I do business is if I can go over their literature *in my own time*. As a side note: You should not feel like a fool. These people have been *trained* to do what they do. You (likely) have not been trained to defend against it. Especially not when you are in a hurry, and your mind is elsewhere.

Human: Hello, I’m considering getting an $8k loan from Upstart to consolidate high interest credit card debt. I have a question about the terms. I can get the $8k on a 3 year loan with 15.62% APR with monthly payments of $265.45, or 5 years at 15.45% with monthly payments of $182.39. I intend to pay it back in 3 years, but since there is no early payment fee doesn’t it make sense to get the 5 year loan at a lower APR and just pay it off early? In both cases there is an origination fee of $409.28 Thanks!

It seems odd that the longer term loan would have the lower interest. It’s hardly much of a difference. But, yeah, if you plan to pay it off early, follow the lower interest, but read the terms carefully. Like I said, seems odd. Edit: that fee seems high.

Assuming you actually follow through and pay it down quick, yes.

Human: Hello everyone, a year and a half ago I had no job until a hostel picked me up and gave me a place and for the first time a salary, the hostel I work at is amazing, the bosses and my co-workers as well, but from my view there is only one way to grow and that is by changing hostel to one that pays a lot more (shocker). My dilemma is the emotional attachment I have with the place that made everything possible here in the first place and the fact it´ll be completely cut in order to further my career. ​ Has anyone been in this situation, and if so what would you recommend? ​ Also sorry that it isn´t the most interesting of careers.

Having an emotional attachment to a job is a difficult situation. When you are concentrating on your financial situation, you need to separate the emotions from your decision making. The people at your current employer will understand why you are leaving and will hopefully not take it personally. If there is no way they can match the money you will be making at the new hostel, then you have to make the move that is right for you financially.

Those people will leave this job without giving you a thought if they had something lined up. People aren't NPCs. They have their own lives. You should not jeopardise your own financial possibilities based on people who do not consider you.

Human: Hey guys my brother is a freshman in high school and my parents haven't started a college fund for him. I've recently started tutoring him 7 days a week for about 3-4 hours a day making sure he kicks ass in school. I asked my parents for $180 a month to pay for the tutoring to cover my parent plus loan monthly payment but I thought I would suprise him by matching that 180 and putting all that money into a college fund from now until he graduates(360 a month for 3 and a half years). My question to you all is what is the best way to save this money? Should I just put it in a bank account? Put it into bonds or blue chip stocks I'm completely clueless when it comes to saving for college and would love any help you guys can offer.

Use a 529. Pick a state that has the best fund options. The state you put the 529 in does NOT need to be the state where he goes to college :)

https://www.savingforcollege.com/intro-to-529s/what-is-a-529-plan

Human: I’ve got a AMEX blue cash everyday with 23% APR. The introductory 0% will be over next month. I’ve slacked on paying off the balance big time and still have about $8000 remaining. From my understanding my interest will kick in next next month on the $8000 (which amounts to about $200 a month from my calculations?). I will most likely be able to pay $1000 on it monthly but I’d like to know how fucked I am and what my options are.

Assuming you have no other way to come up with the money I would strongly suggest you balance transfer as much out as you can to a new promotional rate, ASAP. And if you can pay $1000 a month on it, get to it. Don't let this thing hang around forever. Good luck.

You can try and transfer all or part of the balance to another card. Otherwise pay off as much as you can as soon as you can. If you can pay off $1K on $8K @ 23% it will take you 9 months to pay off and about $768 in total interest. Of course, stop using your card otherwise it will take you longer and cost you more.

Human: Let’s say, I’m preapproved for $250,000 for a mortgage but I found this really nice house for $150,000 and it also has two rental units where I Would be able to generate $650/month while living in it. After a year or two, I’d buy another house and rent the top unit (so both units) for $1500/month total. I’m just curious if anyone has any horror stories or something I’m not thinking of. It just sounds too good to be true. Why don’t other do this? I’m very handy and have flipped two houses in the past so I feel pretty confident I could do the landlord thing.

Being a landlord is a lot of work and responsibility that not everyone is willing to take on.

People do this all the time. It's a lot of work, or it can be. My wife and I spent months doing renovations in our 4-unit while we lived there. It was basically a second full-time job for both of us. We moved across the country and had very mixed results with different property managers and lost some money in the process. When the property manager is doing poorly, it costs me time as well. We've been lucky and have not had any destructive or otherwise terrible tenants yet. Every time we save up a chunk of money for maintenance we end up having to spend it - a new roof, a bathroom remodel, etc. One unit needs a kitchen update, which is going to suck up probably a couple years of our "profit" over the mortgage/management/maintenance costs. It takes years to really make money, but you can get other people to buy the house for you with not too much out of pocket.

Human: I’m in Chicago. A family member recently passed away, leaving an apartment near London to me and my sibling (and some money.) I’m from the area originally and the rental market is strong in the UK and I like the idea of passive income. 2bed 1bath Apartment value is appx 350,000 GBP, we will inherit the same in cash, give or take, after inheritance tax, and it’s a 50/50 split. Should we a) sell up and split the money. Or b) should I use some of the cash to buy my sibling’s half of the property, and take full ownership of the apartment (owned free and clear) and rent it out? I sure the like idea of owning a property there. One day I might like to move back etc. After some renovations it would rent for 1,400GBP per month. I understand I would pay 25% in income tax on rental income in the UK. Appreciate any thoughts.

I'd sell it. Sounds like not enough income to warrant the work involved.

If they left you the money instead of the apartment, would you buy an apartment with it? > After some renovations it would rent for 1,400GBP per month So assuming no void periods, no costs or anything else, that's less than 5% return.

Human: I live in Atlanta, GA. I moved to my new house in December 2017. I paid all the electricity dues and transferred the connection to my new house. Last week I got a bill for $517 for my previous address. When I reached out to them they said that the meter number associated with our account was incorrect. So basically last year I was paying someone else's bills and someone else was paying my bills. They say that the $517 is for electricity that I used but wasn't charged for. I have asked them for a breakdown of the bill, but is there a way to ensure that I am not paying money unnecessarily? Am I liable to pay this bill?

if you dont pay, you risk them shutting off your current power for nonpayment. See if they'll set up a plan of a portion of it per month but just be proactive about it all

I had a very similar thing happen with my gas bill in New York City, and managed to fight it. It required filing a complaint with the state, which immediately got me in touch with higher up reps than you get when you just call in to customer service (those people are just paid to filibuster and hope you give up). Utilities are held to high standards by state governments since they are essentially gifted a monopoly on their services, so they pay attention to the regulators much more than your average business. It took several rounds of argument over the course of a month or two with my girl Dawn, but eventually I complained enough about how their screw-up with the meter reading had nothing to do with me that they dropped the charges. So it's worth a try to channel your inner New Yorker and just bull your way through it.

Human: I just moved into my own apartment roughly three weeks ago and am trying to make smart financial decisions for my future. My new roommate was telling me about how he put his rent due (and only his rent) on his credit card, letting him build up his credit history without sinking into debt. I did a little research with how my apartment does payments, and see that if a payment is done with a Debit card or bank, then I have a service charge of $4.95; however, if a Credit card were attached instead, then I am charged with a 2.95% fee. ​ My housing costs are $750 a month (including W/G/E/S and Internet) and is covered by a 529 plan (I dont know if that matters or not) I'm basically given three options: Pay 11 months (rest of the lease length) of rent up front now and only be charged a one time $4.95 fee. Pay month by month on my debit card and pay the $4.95 fee each month. Pay month by month with credit card at a 2.95% fee. ​ My guess is that the smart thing to do is put my rent on the credit card, along with my car insurance just to build up credit and use my debit card for everything else, but is the extra 2.95% too much? My biggest concern is budgeting 4 years from now when I'm not sure how much will be remaining on my 529 student plan.

A 2.9% fee is not worth it.

You may find these links helpful: - [Credit-related wiki pages](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_credit) - [Credit Cards](/r/personalfinance/wiki/creditcards) - [FICO / Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico) - [Improving Credit Scores and Building Credit](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: If I chose to pursue this what should I know in advance? Is there anything I could do to protect my future in the event my wife left me or passed? Has anyone else worked for their in laws? How did it work out for you (I’ll admit, when we first got married I swore I’d never consider this). Any input is appreciated and thank you in advance.

Working with family is the single worst decision anyone can make. Especially if the family member in charge has an antiquated view of “how things work” which ultimately ends up preventing the business from flourishing and remaining relevant in today’s landscape.

You shouldn't approach this differently than you would any other job.

Human: Last year my scummy sister somehow convinced my mom to co-sign an apartment for her. This was necessary because she has destroyed or been evicted from so many apartments in the past. Her lease is up this month, and my mom just got the bill from the final inspection. The charges are just over $5300. I’m surprised the apartment itself is worth over $5300 as it’s a cheap, moderately run down place in a low income side of town. But I know how landlords are. The destruction is a combination of things: carpet destroyed by dog feces, walls repainted with glitter glue, general filth. I have no idea what else, but I’m sure the sky is the limit. Anyway, I’m wondering if there is any possible avenue my mom can take to reduce or avoid the $5300. The place is covered by renters insurance, so perhaps that could help? Does anyone have experience or advice for this situation? Or is my mom out of luck?

Call the renters insurane and ask them first. If it was obvious neglect and destruction, they will likely not help. Your mom might be screwed, sorry to say it.

renter's insurance does not cover repairs.....and as cosigner , your mom is 100% responsible for the cost of repairs

Human: When I was in college I had no idea what I wanted to do. I bounced around between various majors, computer science / music / philosophy. It took me several more years to figure out what I wanted. Consequently I never finished my bachelor's degree. Now I'm a programmer and just got a job making 70K. They didn't care whether I had a degree or not, but when I was looking for a job, there were many companies that did care. So now that I'm far more stable in life I'm wondering whether I should go back part time to finish my degree. My rationale is: 1. It may make me a better programmer, thereby opening up new opportunities at my current job. 2. It may open up better job prospects in the future. However, many companies don't seem to care about whether I have a degree or not. So, perhaps not having one won't actually hold me back? If I do pursue the degree, I plan on paying out of pocket. I already have student loans I'm paying down and don't want to add to my debt. Also I should only have 30 credits or so to finish.

You're going enough to finish.You still have the stamina. First determine what it will take to finish....financially. Then determine what you'll benefit. Then, since you seem to want to it, I'd buckle down and do it. Seems to be an incomplete portion of your life.

Maybe pursue certs?

Human: This is my first post on /personal finance and I haven’t yet come across a topic similar to mine. Long story short, I work for a small college doing public relations and currently make 53k annual after a year of employment. The job itself is relatively easy but I come home most nights depressed that I have zero satisfaction and virtually no positive feedback from from the higher ups other than when enrollment is up a percent or two. It doesn’t matter how great a commercial or article I write is, if its not reflected in the bottom line, it isn’t worth it. I’m not the kind of person that wants to live out the rest of my life in that kind of career. Randomly an ad for a warehouse worker at amazon opened up in my town. The pay is bad. Like, 14 an hour bad, but it’s mindless work and with only 30 hours a week, I could spend an extra 5-10 volunteering and making my brain a little happier. I’d have to give up a few luxuries for sure, but I’m very tempted. I have an interview Friday and have played out scenarios in my head and keep coming back to just wanting to be happy. Has anyone ever had to make this kind of decision before? Thanks in advance

Ignoring the rest of your question, it's my understanding that no one anywhere should ever quit a better job to work in an *Amazon warehouse.* Seriously, Google it. The allegations on how their employees are treated are staggering.

Just realize that a job is a job. Start learning a new trade and go up like coding or take some classes, maybe free. Or get a side gig at night like bartended if you need to get out more. Lyft driver or aomething

Human: So I was working at my company for about 2 years, and I am making 50k annually. 2 months ago, I got bored and starting searching for a new job and applying to places just for fun. I just wanted to see if my resume stood out to anyone. (I created it myself, and it landed me my current job. Very proud of myself) Anyways, 2 weeks later I receive an interview for this other company. I go to the interview and nail it. The new company is offering me 70k plus commission. (About 20k or so if I hit my quota) So I put in my two weeks notice at my current job and told them I’m leaving to go back to school full time to pursue my masters degree. They asked me if I would consider working part time from home for them. About 20hrs per week, and everything will be done remotely. I won’t need to ever go into the office. I reluctantly agreed, and they offered me 25k salary to do this job part time. So now I’m making 70+25k+Commissions I can’t help but feel kind of guilty about this. But I’m excited that I’m gonna be making over 100k. I’ve never made this much before and I’m really excited. So did I do anything wrong?

So you think you'll be making 90k at your primary job and then for some reason you want to work another 20 hours per week to make 25k? It's not worth it. Focus on your new job and knock it out of the park. You'll end up benefiting way more than $25k per year and you won't be killing yourself doing 2 jobs. Not sure why you decided to lie. You had no reason to do so and it could certainly backfire in the future.

you have to learn to stand up for yourself for starters, taking on 20 hrs/week for a mere $25k is especially not good when you factor in the taxes on this $25,000 thats on top of your $70k job

Human: I expect to be VERY close to the 120k number at the end of the year. Probably a little bit over (1-2k). This would make me a "Highly Compensated Employee" and means that I will be ineligible for most of the benefits of a 401k and Mega Backdoor Roth through my employer. Is this 120k number gross income before any deductions? I have money for my 401k taken out every paycheck along with HSA money and a dependent care savings account. Will any of this help me?

> This would make me a "Highly Compensated Employee" and means that I will be ineligible for most of the benefits of a 401k and Mega Backdoor Roth through my employer To double check first: are you sure about this for your particular employer's plan? Have you been notified that your contributions are being capped this year? Being a HCE doesn't really matter on its own: it's whether your employer's 401k plan meets the IRS's nondiscrimination test requirements and whether their compliance gets tested. Most plans that are on the ball enough to allow in-plan mega backdoor roth conversions should have that all figured out and many have auto-escalation clauses, safe harbor plans, etc. to deal with it without any impact to HCEs.

**TL;DR reply:** There are ALL KINDS of ways to reduce your AGI for the purposes of flying under the "highly compensated person" radar. And even if you are just slightly over it's not a big deal at all: Just make after-tax contributions of as much as you want (up to $55K nominal dollars between your contributions and your employer contributions) and next time you change jobs or switch from FTE to Contract or whatever, you can roll that money over to an IRA you own, pay the taxes on it (generally low for early-career savers), and convert it into Roth money that will make tax free gains until you retire. Also you don't need to hire guys to do this if you don't have the cashflow on hand to afford that. You can just buy a copy of the desktop-based Turbotax and it will handle this sort of thing for yourself easily. Disclaimer: IANAL, IANACPA, nothing I say is legal advice or fidcuiary advice.

Human: I thank all in advance for any wisdom offered. I’m a year into a stable career. Prior I wasn’t making much of anything. Made about 250k my first year, but that’ll increase to appx 450k come January. Paid some credit card debt and other odds and ends that first year. Here’s my current glorious reality... BIO: 40 yo single male, no kids, no alimony DEBT: -Student loans: 600k at 7% -Remaining car loan: 60k (4 years left at 1250 per month) INCOME: -Gross: ~450k (330k salaried, 120k independent contract<—this latter number isn’t really known to me in advance, it’s just a prediction) ASSETS: -401k: 25k -Index fund: 15k -Checking/Savings: 25k -Crypto: 3k Obviously those fucking student loans are the glaring burden. They’re an albatross around my neck and I’ve come to desire paying them off as soon as realistic (whereas when I was accruing them, I had a more “youthful” thought of just riding them out til I was in diapers or a coffin). Live and learn. I have the advantage of living rent free for the next 2 years. After which I’d like to buy a house (I live in an area where renting doesn’t make sense and frankly I’m done with renting). My plan to get out of this debt while still building a life is to use that 330k salary (estimating about 15k net per month after 401k) and pay 10k/month to loans which should have them paid in just over 6 years, which leaves about 5k/month to live/save/invest. The income from the $120k portion of my gross income I’d just stash away in a savings account and not touch it for two years. That’d be used for my down payment on the house. Once I have the house I’d now have that additional income to live/save/invest and depending upon circumstance maybe even get more aggressive with the loans. Halp!!!!!!!!

1. Forget about the house for now. Your priorities are the debt, then, retirement contributions. 2. Put $15k/mth towards the loans, In fact, make that more. Put most of the $120k part of the income towards the loans, you can probably put $19k/mth towards the loans. That should pay them off in a bit under 3 years. 3. Then max your 401k, max a Roth IRA (via the backdoor), if available, do the mega backdoor Roth, For your contract job, open a SEP IRA and you can probably contribute $24k/yr to that. So total contributions to retirement (if you can't do the mega backdoor, which most 401ks don't allow) would be about $48k/yr, which is just over 10% of salary, and is not going to be enough to retire at the same standard of living as when employed, as you are way behind and will be old. Boost those contributions when you turn 50 as you are allowed more. But you will have to invest at least $50k/yr in taxable accounts to get set up for retirement. 4. So, once you are contributing $100k/yr to retirement, you can then save up for that house. That will be about 3 years from now, when you have paid off all the loans. You will still have plenty of money to save for the house, after contributing $100k/yr to retirement, if you don't inflate your life style too much. That horrendous car will be paid off in one more year. Drive it for another decade and don't replace it with anything nearly as expensive. Good luck.

You may find these links helpful: - [Student Loans](/r/personalfinance/wiki/studentloans) - ["How to handle $"](/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) - [What's the best way to pay down my debt?](/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt#wiki_what.27s_the_best_way_to_pay_down_my_debt.3F) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: One of my older friends, kind of like a mentor to me, was a stock broker. He was a sharp cookie, too. He left me some funds in a Transfer On Death account? He had told me how it should go, but it's not turning out like he mentioned. If I had to trust his advice over the bank, he would win every time. He said that Transfer On Death, is just that, when he dies, the funds get transferred to me. Made sense to me... After he passed, the bank sent me a list of what he left me. But, the bank has been stalling for two months now. Now, I get a call to sign more paperwork and it's the same list, minus like three shares of each fund. I call up the "advisor" and ask what's up? They claim that the first assessment was an error on their part and this later, lesser list is the correct one. I feel like I'm letting him down by not knowing if this is in my control or the bank is just trying to pull a fast one on me. It doesn't help that he just passed away, too, you know? Should I ask the advisor for some kind of proof? Is that within my rights? Or could someone please advise? Thank you for any help.

Sorry for your lost, but it sounds like it's time to get a lawyer involved. People are very vulnerable when they're grieving and sometimes other people take advantage of that. For your friend's sake, please don't just accept whatever is told to you.

Talk to an attorney. Then, after you have actually spoken to an attorney follow their advice. I'd be willing to bet that the bank would change their tune once they learn you have an attorney to be honest.

Human: My husband and I are planning to buy a condo. He is working and I am doing my graduate degree. Our (basically his) take home pay is 7000 per month. The monthly mortgage for the townhouse plus all the fees (HOA etc) is 3800 which is 54% of our take home pay. After all the other bills, groceries, commute expenses etc, we will probably be able to save around 1000-1400 per month. We have currently around 100k in our IRA account and are contributing to the 401k. Would it be wise to go ahead and buy this place? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you! Edit: Just wanted to add that we live in a city with expensive rents and expensive house prices. We are currently renting a one bedroom apartment for 2000 dollars (in an okay-ish area) which is 28.5% of our take home pay. The new place is a 3 bedroom condo in a nicer area.

Can you afford it? Technically, yeah. Would it be wise? There is literally no financial advisor on the planet earth who would tell you it's a good idea to go spend 54% of your take home pay on a condo, which may have increasing expenses or special assessments in the future.

A mortgage shouldn’t be more than 1/4 of your pay.

Human: For bank of america, it requires you to have a $250 "qualifying direct deposit" each month to avoid maintenance fee. If I go to an atm and deposit $250 to my checking account does that qualify?

No, you need something from a job basically. Or find a bank with qualifications you meet or no fee.

Think you can direct deposit between banks. Both accounts could not be BOA.

Human: I recently got a 12,000 dollar inheritance from my grandmother. I feel very unsure what to do with it. It's a check payable to me. I feel very numb. I have never seen so much money in my life. I don't know where to start or how to feel like I can accept it. I'm 20 years old with a full-time job and I go to school part time. I used to take care of my grandma and it's been hard since she passed. I don't really know exactly how to invest the money . Advice would be great! Thank you for any future responses!

I think you should safe guard it, don't spend it until its a real emergency. Im sure your grandma would have liked you to be took care of when shit happens in life, which brings me to my next point. You're going through something very difficult, it's completely fine feeling feelings of loss. Try to be gentle and patient with yourself. Also, Loved ones want to be remembered for how they were before they got sick, and if your grandma seemed to behave in ways not like how she was before becoming sick, know that if there were negative emotions going on, it had to do with her past, and not you. I hope you didn't have that level of pain to cope with, but it is common to happen, so I felt the need to address it. Edit: Also, don't let anyone know about the money.

Spend some of it on things you can use to make more money, life more efficient. And don't waste any on pointless crap.

Human: My credit union has an incentive program that offers its members a no PMI mortgage option if you can only put down less than 20%. Of course, there is a slightly higher interest rate on that loan. Question: is it ever a good strategy to put down less than 20%, even if you had the 20?

If you don't have enough money to keep a reserve of cash for emergencies then that would be 1 reason to put less % down. Then again if you don't have an EF I wouldn't really recommend buying a house.

Yes, if you like paying more interest to the banks, you should put less down. Seriously though, do you have a better use for the money?

Human: I haven't worked for the company for 3 years and I'm wondering what my options are with the account. It's in a vangaurd 2050 and I've kinda just kept it there and haven't touched it. Am I allowed to contribute to it still? Is it better to roll over into a Roth IRA? I'm generally clueless about all of this. Thanks in advance!

You can leave it, roll it over to IRA, or cash it out (not advised).

I've always just rolled old job 401k's into an IRA I have set up at E-Trade. This wouldn't be a Roth IRA situation, though, because that's for post-tax dollars, but you'd be dealing with pre-tax money here... so just a standard IRA.

Human: So I'm looking at used cars around $12k and I have $6k in cash. I was wondering if I should put it all in the down payment or get the car financed fully through the dealer and pay the 6k in principal afterwards? I've always heard but never done that, I've heard I would just write "principal" on the check. If I get a 7% interest loan for 60 months I'm not sure how that would work out, is there any real way to avoid paying the interest? Would the interest I pay 7% of $6,000? ($420) Also would it be beneficial in any way to get a loan with my bank and go in with the full amount? This is my first time doing anything like this so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Put five down to get a lower rate. Keep $1k around for the first three months for unexpected maintenance costs. Pay down the principal or keep the $1k around after that.

Rate shop with a local credit union, depending on your location and if you have a good Rico score you should be able to find something in the 3-4% range. Bankrate.com is also a good resource to get an idea for auto loan rate. Put down and finance an amount in which your monthly payment will be affordable for you while being able to continue to save. Just my two cents.

Human: It there any somewhat easy car services that usally costs a fair amount of money you're able to do yourself?

I’ve done my own alternator on several vehicles I’ve owned, almost never took more than an hour.

I’m sure someone will argue this but I’m going to throw in replacing a clutch in here too. I have a Jeep that I’m constantly working on. I replaced the clutch last fall for like $90, not including my tools. This whole thing should be split into two categories, money savers for the average joe and for someone mechanically inclined with tools.

Human: So, I've launched a new business, and the name of it is a low-character word, and it previously was unregistered as a domain. However, I appear to have made the mistake of asking a friend for help with the branding, because he immediately started searching the name on domain registering sites. Repeatedly. "Just to check" it was still available. When he started doing this, it was \~$10, but at the time I was cutting back on unnecessary spending (due to car repairs), so I couldn't buy it immediately. Friend is fairly well off, and always has been, so he just doesn't seem to be able to comprehend *not* having "just $10" to spend on a non-essential purchase. Well, since then the domain has been purchased by a domain flipper. They're now charging $800+ for it. Friend chastised me for not buying it when it was cheap, because I've "blown a great opportunity". I'm honestly so angry at him, he's in advertising & branding, so he keeps telling me how I've cost myself so much money and it would have been great to do all these things like develop my business, say it's got this great name with great branding and then sell it on for profit (I'm still in the "I want this to be my job" phase). At the moment, all of that is just "what ifs" to me, because I'm the middle of launching the business.... without the .com domain name. That directs to a site saying in massive letters "This domain is available for $800+!" I'm lucky enough to now be able to afford it outright without it making any real dent in anything but savings ($20k inheritance), but I'm still smarting over having to pay so over the odds for it, and $800 is a huge amount for something as ephemeral as a domain name, friend keeps telling me it's "an investment", but I don't see it that way; it's an overhead I have to make a lot of sales to cover. Should I do it?

Any chance your "friend" saw a chance to make $800 and bought the domain back when it was $10 and is now trying to sell it to you secretly?

I know of a situation where price jumped from $5k to $50k when there was interest. It’s a shady business.

Human: I'm in the UK at University and have just completed my placement year, which is 12 months work at a job in my field for work experience and such. I'm now back at University and have just realised I've been paid another month's wages, as if they haven't taken me off payroll. AFAIK, I did everything correctly when leaving, I only signed a 12 month contract and everyone including HR was aware I was leaving. What's my stance on this, do I have to return the money via bank transfer? Thanks in advance.

Just contact them asking why did you get paid that extra month. I am sure they will explain what's happening or ask you to return the money.

It's pretty common for mistakes like this to happen, and yes you need to return the money. Talk to HR about it though rather than just sending the money off.

Human: Guy got a call from a number that was listed in the back of his atm card. Please be aware scammers are getting clever and people go through with it like an autopilot not realizing what is happening. I'd be interested if anyone has any stories to share. You can find the article [here](https://readbloomjoy.com/2018/09/21/wells-fargo-scam/)

Never trust incoming calls, call them back by manually entering the correct number.

It happened to me as well. They said someone was using my card in another state. I was on vacation and got really upset. I started to answer some of the questions and realized in mid-sentence that the bank wouldn't ask me these questions. I immediately hung up and called the bank from a number I had in my phone. Now we have to jump through major identity hoops when calling the bank but I don't mind a bit. Also, I have to answer calls because it is a business phone as well. Before you say use two phones one personal and one business, I tried that and it was a mess and a hassle.

Human: (deleted)

What you have done is roughly the same as gambling. And you lost. Sorry, there is no way out of that. Putting all your money into a single company is like betting everything on red at the roulette table. Large gains if it goes well, large loss if it does not. I would recommend that you pull out of that position until you figure out what you want to do. Consider this a somewhat expensive lesson (many have had much much worse). You need to identify what kind of risk you actually willing to take and then then start looking for an investment strategy matching your risk profile. Broad index founds are often a good start for an inexperienced investor. Also, [check out the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/investing). There is a lot of good stuff in there.

Buying individual stocks is akin to buying a company. Were you prepared to own a company? One specific company? With only the info a layperson could find online? Hopefully you see the error in this. You were gambling, even if it seems as though you did research. There is no way a layperson, a novice at both investing and at business ownership, has the tools available to them to accurately pick 1 company to sink all of their money in. Buying/selling companies is something very very wealthy people do, and it’s because of this reason- they buy a bunch of them and then it’s ok if some fail. You went in and put your money on a single roulette number- the way you actually win the game is by buying the whole table. As someone else mentioned, you need to go back to your investing plan. If you don’t have an investing plan, then that was your first mistake. You need to think about your risk tolerance and what kind of time horizon you are looking at for this money. Then you need to learn everything you can about diversification. As for whether you pull out your money now, I don’t know. How valuable was that 44k to you? How valuable is the 35k to you now? How long are you willing to let this ride out? 1 year? 5? 20? One good strategy here would be to diversify by new purchases. This means that all of the new money you invest is not in this company. Right now you are 100% in this company. Take your new investing money (because you do have an investment plan and are regularly saving and investing, right?) and buying toward your new diversified investing plan, so maybe in 1 year you are 90% this company, 10% other stuff, and as time moves on you will move towards the investment allocation you want. I’m sorry though, this was a very expensive lesson. Make sure it doesn’t go to waste. Get to the library and learn.

Human: I am trying to do it, and Experian seems to have a form which can be downloaded and sent by for other two the process doesn't seem to be clearly defined. Does anyone here done this? How do you suggest to proceed. Thanks.

Here is the guide I followed: https://oag.ca.gov/idtheft/facts/freeze-child-credit It was worth the hassle IMO

You may find these links helpful: - [Credit-related wiki pages](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_credit) - [Credit Reports](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_reports) - [FICO / Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico) - [Improving Credit Scores and Building Credit](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: We were checking our 2017 tax prep by accountant and noticed state tax was higher. We told accountant and the tax prep was redone without any explanation. Those taxes were filed. Now, from taxes filed by the same accountant, we got a notice from the state saying we underpaid on 2015 state tax, and there was interest on the bill. I asked him what the deal is with this. Accountant says it’s because state gross was more than federal. Also no other explanation. I recall we also got an underpayment notice maybe in 2016, but could have been for federal as a small amount of unreported income. I cannot confirm for what, just that it was an underpayment thing. I work in one state and live in another. My spouse works and lives in the same state. We live together. What do people think is going on? I never had this happen. But we also just started filing jointly in 2015. Same year I got accountant. But they filed 2014 for me on my own. UPDATE: Thanks for responses. Accountant says there is a discrepancy between states and my transportation as a write off not counting in my home state. I never had this come up before but I have no choice but to trust accountant. Similar responses support why this happened. Thank you

Some states don't count contributions to things like HSAs as tax deductible, while the IRS does. California, for example, has a [publication](https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2017/17_1001.pdf) (pdf warning) that shows the difference between California state tax law and federal tax law.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/7r0tvv) - [Taxes](/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Hi, So i was driving to work today when i hearf a commercial for these guys called Augusta Precious Metals. https://www.augustapreciousmetals.com/gold-ira/ Basically their message is that the stock market might be about to crash according to "some experts." And that opening an ira based on precious metals (with them obviously) would be a safer investment with your money. Im sure there are other companies doing this that you guys may have heard of, but this is the first im hearing of something like this and im curious what everyone thinks of this investment strategy? Is it a scam? Just another option comparable to existing investment choices? A great idea? Im curious to hear this subs opinions. Edit: Thanks everyone. Seems like the comments are very consistant that this just isnt a good idea, which i expected since it was a radio commercial.

You heard it on the radio.... Don't waste your time. If you think a crash is coming, start stockpiling some cash and lowering debt.

You can invest in a gold or a silver fund in any IRA. Just buy the ETF GLD for gold or SLV for silver (there are others). This is the easiest way to invest in gold or silver. Most people on this sub would not recommend investing in them. Some people think that commodities add useful diversification. In any case you should probably have no more than 5% of your portfolio in precious metals, even if (for some reason) you love them. Good luck.

Human: Theoretical Question: I want to purchase a mobile home. However, the mobile home I want to purchase is in a 55+ community. I am 52. I qualify for a $225,000 mortgage loan. The rules of the mobile home community state that as long as the owner of the home is 55+, it doesn't matter who else "lives there". They said it is perfectly acceptable for someone to purchase the home, and have someone else who is not yet 55+ live in it. I have no problem putting this house in my mothers name, and she is fine with me making payments to her every month for the amount owed. The only problem is, she doesn't qualify for a mortgage loan, only I do. Is there any way to make this work? I am the one who qualifies for the loan, but the property needs to be in her name.

Can you apply for a waiver from the mobile home community? I mean its not like you're 25.

What they probably mean is a married couple can live there as long as one of them is 55+. Presumably your mom won't be living there. At the very least this is not in keeping with the spirit of their rules. I'm sure they wouldn't be ok with a group of 20 somethings living in a unit that was purchased by their older parents right? So if I were you I would speak to someone there about what it is you're trying to do and make sure they are ok with it before you go any further.

Human: Finance graduate here working in the corporate world. Throughout my college career I was taught theory as most every student is. Is it accurate to assume I can use these techniques to start investing? Can I calculate some financial ratios and take a look at operating income and begin gauging whether or not to buy shares of a company? (I’m going to say no for obvious reasons). So then... Where can I truly begin learning how to make proper investment decisions? How do things really work? Where do I begin? Appreciate any insight.

Have you read about warren buffets million dollar bet? Passive indexing with low expenses pretty much always beats actively managed funds in the long term. Like the other guy said, Vtsax and relax

see if you can read John Bogle's senior thesis (Princeton 1951...I think)...then his Little Book of Common Sense Investing, Common Sense on Mutual Funds, etc.

Human: 23, poor af, community college, send help ​ So I recently got a job at Lockheed Martin. They want me to finish my electrical engineering degree before putting me on any client jobs, which is more than understandable, so I dont really have any income from them. The problem is that school has left me \~$14,000 in debt, normally this wouldnt be an issue because of student loans, but my bank (and all I've looked into) dont offer student loans for students attending 2 year colleges. Here's the *real* problem: My first account of borrowing for school was when I went to a program through my community college at PSU for a nanotechnology degree. Here I borrowed \~$6,000. My banker told me to put it on my credit card (I know, red flag) so that I could come in at a later time and not borrow more than I need; A big fuck no went off in my head, but I'd been banking with him through my adolescence - present and didn't think he would do me wrong, also my dad went to the bank with me and he wasn't really phased. After placing that and my next semester on my credit card I went in to transfer my debt to a loan. Well, even after having an appropriate income, a good credit score (\~750) and working with them for the entirety of my life, they denied me a personal loan due to "not enough credit history". At this point my banker that I trusted gave me some sketchy af options, so I dont think I'll be working with him again. So basically I need a way to keep my head above water until I start working on client jobs in a year. I'm working part time to pay bills, but my finances are staying stagnant. I dont care if I rack up $100,000 in debt, I just really need help getting it off my cc. Thanks for helping, it means more than you think ​ For anyone who is interested in the options my banker told me * Get new credit card with 0%APR and roll credit onto that, rinse and repeat until I start my job * Shop around * Get fucked an die (Obviously he didnt say this, but thats how it felt)

Go fill out your fafsa, right now, and see what kind of federal loans you can get. Use those to go back to school. Get part time *paying* job and tell LM to fuck off if you’re actually doing any work for them at this point. Pay off credit cards with new income.

Well you can transfer the balance to another card, but you're really going to have to figure out a part time job or SOMETHING while your in school and have this huge CC bill above your head. I understand you have a job lined up with lockheed, but I'm assuming you have more than 1 semester left? I would see if you can transfer it, but you really need to read the terms of the new credit card and balance transfers before you do so.

Human: A previous employer (small, private company) provided me with stock certificates. I quit a little over a year ago and they have reached out asking if I'd be willing to sell the stock back. I am willing. They indicated that the first step is a phone call with the CEO to discuss. Anyone gone through this before and have some advice about what I should expect? I'm assuming the CEO would like to buy them back for as little as possible and has little incentive otherwise. Am I wrong about this?

Check your employment contract first.

You can try to sell the shares on sharespost.com depending the on the quantity, i the think min is $25k or $50k. Getting a competing bid is always a good way to determine what they are worth. Also since you're a shareholder and i assume they are a Delaware corp, ask to see the financials and look at revenue trajectory.

Human: I have a loan with GM Financial that I'm trying to pay off faster. My plan is to pay $500 a month, instead of the minimum payment of $381. Does it matter if I just pay this the normal way or is there a way to call in and have the payment applied to the principal instead of the interest? With my mortgage, I have to call to do this, but I haven't had a car loan in a while and forgot to ask about it at the dealership and I'm not clear on what I'm finding online.

Best thing to do is call them, that way you are 100% sure it’s going to the principal. There are companies that apply it directly to the principal when extra payments are made online, but most of them just apply it to the interest without even telling you.

Your payments should always be going first to all interest owed until that is zero and then all to principal until your payment is used up. Should probably be able to use an online payment system and just watch what happens to the balance after you overpay the loan.

Human: Hello Reddit. I would really appreciate any information you can provide to help me manage a difficult situation. Suffice it to say that my father is a really horrible person, has hurt everyone around him including me, and all I am trying to do is help him stay afloat while minimizing contact with him. ​ BACKGROUND: (this can be skipped but I'm trying to explain what a crazy/reckless/willful/destructive person this man is even at 71 years old) Just to give you a flavor so you understand how difficult it is to help/control him, my husband and I bought a house for him and pay the property taxes. He's been there 6 years. A few of the things he's done while there. (1) Cut out a window of the house because he wanted to enlarge it with a custom window. Then proceed to ask for what ended up being about $1000 for "parts" to build and add a new window. For 3 years there was a whole in the house he kept covered with a tarp during winters. Winters in the Poconos are pretty cold. (2) Although he has no money, he somehow accumulates massive amounts of junk (wood he bought and then left to rot in the rain, old machinery he gets I don't know where, old clothing he gets I don't know where) and then we have twice given him more than $500 for "garbage removal" (in addition to paying for the normal weekly garbage services). When he asked a third time we refused. So basically he does all sorts of money intensive and property destroying things without asking us and despite numerous protests/requests etc to just not freaking make house-altering actions. So this is to give you a flavor of how he doesn't listen but just shakes us down for money. We bought him the house and pay the property tax and otherwise try not to do anything except if he contacts in a dire emergency. This is because when we first started helping him out we did things like pay the electric which he abused (running electric heat instead of using the wood burning stove despite us buying wood...which he left to rot), running the electric heat while leaving the door and window open to get some air, running an AC in the summer even though it's only 70 degrees outside. We also initially gave him a credit card (he abused this running up hundreds of dollars a month at Home Depot for no clear purpose) and then some cash (he kept doing home-destroying things so we stopped giving him money so as not to enable this). So we have tried any way we could to help him not have emergencies and it doesn't work. Oh we have also bought him 2 cars which he complains about as in they're not good enough yadda yadda yadda. ​ Bottom line: At 36 years old I have spent almost half my life contributing to this man's support and I have really had it emotionally and financially. I really want to have nothing to do with him and want to make sure he is getting as much as he can from the government. I pay lots of taxes and I feel totally strung out and like I can't do this anymore and like I have pulled more than my fair weight for this problem and now society should step it up a bit more. Want to see how to lessen contact even more and make sure he is accessing all government benefits possible. END BACKGROUND: ​ Here's where he's at. He gets $660 a month in social security net (I saw on the statement $50 is garnished to pay my mother back child support and $134 is"SMI Premium" <- what is this?). I initially helped him apply for food stamps and home heating assistance with the help of a social worker. He claims these have been cut over the years, so I don't have details as to what he is receiving and whether he is doing all the applications he can for relevant benefits. He lives in a house we own and we pay the property tax so he has no costs associated with rent. ​ He claims he has the following monthly expenses, but doesn't provide proof: $147 auto insurance (doesn't this seem high? my auto insurance is about $600/year in NYC) $61 internet (this also seems high to me....I wonder if he is buying more than the bare minimum) $40 cell phone (ditto...seems like he could get by on a lower plan...and this is in addition to the free cell phone he got from the federal government via some program unless he doesn't have it anymore...but he certainly did in the past) $120 gas money (this seems like a lot for gas each month. he can't work due to a criminal record...so there is nowhere he really has to go...and $120 seems like several hundred miles worth of driving each month...whereas he lives 6 miles from town so even to socialize he doesn't need to drive that far....) $200 food and pocket money as he describes (he occasionally asks us to order pet food for him which we do because we don't want his numerous cats and 1 dog to starve...I know food is expensive but I definitely have gotten by on less than this per month just a few years ago when I was watching my own expenses so this also seems high relative to his income) $100 electric bill for the month of August. For reference all appliances run off electricity (water, oven, etc), but to me this still seems high for a month with lots of daylight hours. I'm just sort of like wtf is he doing to run up that kind of electric bill. $133 / month medicare supplement (well it's technically $514 per quarter) ​ ​ So a few concrete questions: ​ (1) Does someone who only has around $660 monthly income at age 71 really have to purchase a $500/quarter ($2000/year!?!?!) medicare supplement when he is clearly living below the poverty line? My father is a classic narcissist so I can imagine he bought himself something fancy rather than take the government entitlement. (2) Reality check for gas and electric monthly expenses in NE PA. Am I being too harsh or is he spending way too much relative to what is really necessary? I am not interested in telling him never to leave his house and to drive nowhere, but seems like even if he drove to town everyday there's no reason to be spending $120/month on gas (he has a regular V4 sedan, some Japanese car which should have reasonable gas mileage) (3) Auto insurance of $147/month?!?! seriously?!?! what am I missing? (4) Any advice on how to deal with this kind of intractable relative? How can I get the government more involved? I don't think the details of my abused childhood are interesting, but it takes an emotional toll on me that is really heavy every time I have to interact with him and I feel like I want to vomit every time I give him money. I'd like to minimize this for my own well being. I feel I have done more than what I owe this person and yet when I get a midnight text that he will die and needs a certain medication or has run out of food etc and I need to act I can't quite bring myself to do nothing. (5) What is the SMI Premium of $134/month? I just don't get it. If my father is below the poverty line is it really necessary that he pay $134 \* 12 + $500 \* 2 = $3600 a year when his income (not even counting net just total social security of $844) is only around $10,000 per year?!?! I know the US is shitty for benefits, but is it this shitty or is he choosing to make the situation worse? How is he not eligible for medicaid for example?!?! (I know nothing about public assistance and need to know how to get educated about this). Thanks Reddit and I apologize if this is not the place to post. I will gladly edit/add details if asked. Please give me any helpful advice you can! Assistant: My advice, and I know this will be tough to hear, is that you’re doing way too much for him. He’s not your child. If he is actually a narcissist he doesn’t even appreciate anything that you’re doing for him now. I’d sell the house and go no contact. Sorry you’re going through this. Human: Don't think I wouldn't love to do that and the thought has crossed my mind. Here's what holds me back. ​ (1) Unclear I can evict a 71 year old even if I have the stomach to do this. Some places have protections for the elderly. (2) Even if I can evict him, he may just start showing up on my doorstep pounding on the door in the middle of the night. He has harassed numerous relatives through the years. (3) If I could just not hear from him, and just kick in a few thousand dollars a year I think the "regret minimization" is worth it. But he keeps pushing the boundaries. ​ If I could tell my 18 year old self to go no contact I would, but I don't know if I can extricate myself now.

Oh you def can. It just may be tough. But seems to be the best option

Hard answers but: 1) You're right, it will be a pain but it's probably necessary at this point 2) If somebody starts banging on your door at midnight call the police 3) You seem to already know what this will lead to. :-(

Human: My credit card has ~$11,000 on it. Recently, I've been trying to be much better at saving money, as my wife and I are aiming to save for a house. I bring in about $6600 every month, and have been splitting my paycheck between savings and rent ($3200/month - note: this doesn't include my wife's salary). I now have almost enough in my savings to pay off my credit card. Does it make sense to wipe my savings to clear out my card? Or keep going and making small payments?

You should keep a small amount of cash, perhaps $1000, on hand but it isn't sensible to be paying high credit card interest when you have the cash to pay it off. So pay off as much as you can and keep paying it off until gone and then start rebuilding your savings ​ ​

You may find these links helpful: - [Credit-related wiki pages](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_credit) - [Credit Cards](/r/personalfinance/wiki/creditcards) - [FICO / Credit Scores](/r/personalfinance/wiki/fico) - [Improving Credit Scores and Building Credit](/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: So I hear interest rates are about to rise. At the same time I plan to buy a house (with mortgage) in next 9 months. So is this a bad thing for me because my mortgage will be more expensive? Or will house prices fall accordingly and it will be a wash? Not sure how to view this. Thanks

still too early to tell. Dont time the market, buy when you are ready...if in 9 months, the markets change in your favor and you're ready....Purchase.. if in 9 months, markets are not in your favor and you havent saved enough money, Dont purchase.

It's hard to say if home prices will stabilize as rates rise. In my neighborhood home prices are shooting through the roof. The house I bought three years ago is worth about $40k more than I bought it for.

Human: I live in a 2 bed 1 bath apartment with 1 roommate. This month we got hit with a $111 electrical bill. This is the first time either of us are living on our own, so we don't know what to expect in some aspects of independence, especially when it comes to billing. According to my ebill, our average temperature is 69°. Our apartment complex provides free hot water and heating, so I'm not expecting costs to rise during the winter. It also tells me that, this month, we've used 963 kWh. With that, I have a few questions. Firstly, is this a normal level of energy consumption? Or are we using way more than we really should be? Second, what can we do to reduce these bills for the future? The things that are likely pulling the most power are the 2 refrigerators. We have a main in the kitchen, and a mini fridge in the living room for beers and sodas. My desktop computer probably isn't helping, either. I intend on being more diligent about turning off lights and shutting my PC down when it's not in use (and use it less frequently). What other tips and tricks does reddit have to keep monthly costs low? EDIT: Many of you have made it clear that my AC unit is what's running us up so high. From here on out we're gonna keep the AC off unless it's totally necessary. Windows will be open and box fans will be on if it gets too hot at night. Thank you all for your suggestions and input

You didn't pull 963 kWh with two refrigerators and a computer. That's mostly AC. Set the thermostat higher during the day and open windows at night. Good news is that it'll go way down in the winter.

69 is pretty cool. where do you live? up north, that's much easier to achieve while not using as much electricity. i'm in Florida and our electric bill runs about $120 during the peak summer months for a 1300 sq ft apartment trying to keep the temp around 70. in the winter months here, our electric bill is "high" if it goes above $70. i wouldn't say $111 is outrageous, especially with the warm temps this summer. but it all depends where you're located and how often your AC or central air stays on. that's your biggest consumption of electricity.

Human: Taking some steps to improve our financial situation and am curious on your thoughts on where to focus. Relevant Info: - Wife recently finished residency and started as a new Pediatrician at ~$130,000 per year. She'll be eligible for a few bonuses later on, will get a raise ($to $140k) next year, and then will be based on RVU's after that. - I am mostly a Stay at Home Dad. I was working FT ($52k), but was laid off this summer and we decided that I can just take care of the kid (7 months old). I do some odd jobs and will join the work force PT in the next year or so (her schedule is a bit wacky at the moment) - We don't many kinds of debt: own the cars, no CC, etc., just student loans and the house. - We have about $150k in investments (mutual funds, mostly) and another ~$50k sitting in our previous 401(k)s (an issue for another day will be the best way to deal with these). Roughly $30k in the bank (emergency fund + savings. We have some house repairs to make in the near future that will probably eat half of this). My question regards Student Loans vs. Mortgage. At this point, they are pretty equal. - Her Loans: $318,000 at about 6.5%. Currently payments are $350 a month; this will change next year due to her increase in salary this year. - My student loans: $24,000 at around 4%. Payments at $305 monthly. - Mortgage: We owe right around $310,000 at 6.5%. We pay $1595 per month towards principle and interest (with property tax, insurance, HOA, CCD, etc., it's right around $2000). We've been discussing how to attack her student loans, but I'm curious if that is the best course of action. Since the house and her loans are roughly the same amount at the same interest rate, which is the better option? Different thoughts: - We increase our equity, not to mention we live in an area that is currently going through a huge building surge. Property values are expected to go up (but we'll see, of course). - We purchased the house on a physician's loan (before I was laid off, so we may have acted differently). We don't have PMI, but I read about refinancing as soon as we pay off what would have been the 20% down. At regular payments, we'll be there in about two years. We've been in the house less than a year. - Her student loan payments should shoot up pretty high next year (or sooner) (although I'm not sure how to know what they'll be until paperwork is processed). - Mentally, we've discussed tackling the loans first while she was in residency. Paying these off would be a huge mental relief. - We plan on moving in 5-7 years. If the house isn't paid off, we can still move and sell/rent the property. The student loans will follow us around and can't really make us money. - We may not be able to deduct her student loan interest (although I'm still learning about this), but could deduct mortgage interest. Am I missing anything else? Does one direction make more sense than another? Of course, we want to look at refinancing the student loans (although she consolidated them not too long ago). If one of the interest rates were to drop, we could decide how to proceed. Seeing how they're roughly the same amount at similar interests, I'm curious how we should think about this. Thanks! TL;DL - we have $318k in student loans at 6.5% and $310 in a Mortgage at 6.5%. Outside of refinancing to change these numbers, which would be the best debt to tackle first?

Whoa...she's over a quarter million dollars in debt and her salary is less than half of that? That was kind of a bad financial decision. Also, you really should go back to work. You guys are close to $350,000 in debt - NOT counting your mortgage. And your household income is only $130,000/yr. You are not going to get ahead unless you make some drastic changes. Sell the house, you should go back to work, wife should find a better paying job, etc. This debt will bury you if you don't make serious changes; you'll be making payments for the rest of your lives.

You may find these links helpful: - [Student Loans](/r/personalfinance/wiki/studentloans) - ["How to handle $"](/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) - [What's the best way to pay down my debt?](/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt#wiki_what.27s_the_best_way_to_pay_down_my_debt.3F) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Hi all, looking for some advice when in comes to purchasing a new diamond or diamond ring. I'm open to buying a loose stone and having it mounted or buying a complete ring. I'm thankful that I'm fortunate enough to be able to consider a purchase like this but thought I'd see if there is any advice from this community. -Looking to buy a 3ct to 3.5ct center stone, preferably radiant cut. -G to J in clarity towards G and SI1. Questions for anyone how has purchased a ring. - Can $20,000 to $25,000 purchase a ring such as this? I've seen nice looking rings in this range or even less. I've also seen 3.5 F-VS1 in a showcase for $77,000 so I realize a lot goes into it. - Any tips on online purchases? - Anyone with experience purchasing lab grown diamonds? We are open to this. - Any thing I should be thinking about for maximizing return on the purchase? Credit Card, Points? etc. I'm assuming a jeweler would make a better deal for cash?? - I would not finance. - Any advice on negotiating price with a jeweler? If a ring is listed in their showcase at $30,000 what would be a reasonable offer? - Anything else to consider? Thank you!

>Anything else to consider? The bigger the ring/wedding, typically the shorter the marriage.

Does she actually know how big 3-3.5 Cts would look in her finger? That’s huge I think a diamond that size and of that clarity is going to run you more than 20-25k. Maybe if you go look at estate jewelry you may be able to find something. Looking at 2 cts of a similar color and clarity put us in the 20k range. Also, try the engagement ring subreddit. Lots of good advice there and vendors who can help.

Human: For about a year now, I've been feeling that I was underpaid at my current job. I went to my boss and gave a pitch for a raise which he agreed I deserved a raise. He said his hands were currently tied ( which I do know is true ) and he wants to give me a raise. Since then, I have been interviewing for other jobs and got an offer for~30% more than my current salary. It's a sales job so the compensation package is a little different which is what I'm having issues with. Current offer included 70% base, 30% sales incentive plan, which the hiring manager said almost all of the sales position receive. I have a hard time just saying ok, to a completely unknown off 30% of the salary. How do I ensure I get the 30% incentive plan, like I was told? My first thought was to ask to see a previous employee pay stub, name obviously removed. Any other thoughts? I've been burned before taking managers word so I'm not making that mistake again. EDIT ; for clarity, I DO know the Mark I need to hit to receive 100% of the incentive. The problem is I have no idea what the account current sells/ year so they could be inflating that amount significantly

There isn't really a way to guarantee you will receive the incentive amount because it is just that, an incentive amount. If you meet the performance requirements you receive it, if you don't you won't. I would ask for the requirements to receiving the incentive, and attempt to use those to determine if you can meet them.

I would assume that you don't get bonus - it's largely outside of your control

Human: I’m a college student who has no credit. I’ve done research, just want more opinions.

You'll most likely need to start with a student credit card, and if that doesn't work, you'll have to get a secured card. The Capital One Journey and Discover Student IT card are two of the more popular student cards out there; the Discover card is probably a bit better. If you have to go the secured route, the Discover Secured IT card is the only secured card I'm aware of that offers any kind of rewards, so I'd go with that.

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Human: Ive just completed nursing school and I am now employed at a hospital in Florida at the rate of $25/hour. I am limited to not exceeding 40 hours per week during my 10-12 week orientation period, after which I am able to pick up overtime shifts at $37.50/hour if I desire to. Here's a quick synapses of my situation: Myself, wife and 3 month old baby. $850/m rent from family friend, no lease. Wife stays home with baby but is not against a work-from-home or side-hustle opportunity. I work 3 days per week, ~13 hour shifts. This gives me 4 days per week to explore extra income to help my situation. Through the last 18 months of college, we've reduced our savings to nearly zero ($138 dollars as it sits). We've increased our credit card debt to nearly 90% utilization. Somewhere around $14,000 for me and likely the same for my wife. That last sentence was hard to type. I am expecting my new income to be approximately $4000/month gross. And I am hoping around $3300 after taxes (I claim 3 allowances, and there is no state income tax, $250/m health insurance). I need to rebuild my emergency fund obviously, but I also need to start paying off these atrocious credit cards. They are all pretty high interest, in the 18-24% range. I have read the avalance and snowball method and will be implimenting one once I get my first check in early October. I have a balance transfer card which I will need to pay down first before the 18 month zero interest rate expires. I have about 6 months left and it's around $5000. This should be easy to pay off. How would you go about balancing rebuilding the savings and paying the debts?

Normal advice is save up $1,000 cash as a mini emergency fund. This is basically an "oh shit" fund if things really hit the fan. Put the rest of your cash towards your debt. Worst case scenario if you have another emergency you can use the cards again, at least you will have saved some interest. ​ Paying off the cards you generally want to pay off highest interest first, and minimums on all the others. Some people advocate paying off lowest balance card first, this gives a psychological benefit for some people, although it's not the most efficient financially. ​ Assuming the balance transfer card doesn't have retroactive interest I would just pay minimums on it and deal with it when it starts charging interest. Just put it in the cue with all the other cards and focus on whatever is highest interest. ​ Once the cards are all paid off save up a 3-6 month emergency fund and start making retirement contributions.

> Likely the same for my wife. Do you have combined finances, or don't you? In Florida all debt incurred during marriage is attributed to both people in the marriage, there is no advantage for either of you to consider your debts separately. I would recommend proceeding in this order: 1) Create 1 month of expenses as an emergency savings account. Do this while making all minimum payments on your debts. 2) Start contributing to your 401k *up to your employer's matching amount* - not anymore. 3) Up your emergency fund to 3-6 months expenses, depending on your job security (how long would you need to find new income if you lost your job? How likely is that to happen?). 4) Continue making all minimum payments, but increase the payment on only your highest interest rate debt to as much as you can afford. Make a detailed monthly budget so that you can know how much you can afford. When the highest interest debt is paid off, move on to the next highest. This is, with very few exceptions, the mathematically optimal way to pay off your debt the quickest with the least amount of money. 5) At a certain point, if all of your debt is relatively low interest (at the very least lower than 5%), you may consider diverting some of your budget surplus towards maxing out a Roth IRA account. There is some debate about this, because many people see paying off a guaranteed low interest debt as a better investment than contributing to a Roth IRA (where of course all investments have *some* risk). However, historically the stock market will effectively guarantee returns much higher than 5% **over the course of multiple decades**. This means picking a low-fee mutual fund to invest in and not touching it for 30 or 40 years until you retire. If you can commit to that, then it is mathematically sound to divert money away from low interest debt towards retirement investing.

Human: A valet scraped my car by accident. The damage was quite minor, but they caused it. To their credit, they claimed responsibility immediately and promptly issued a claim check at the quoted amount for repairs. Around $3.5k. I have signed a claim release that basically acknowledges they have paid me for the incident and the issue is resolved. The check is payable to me. My question is: Can I use this money for other things? The damage is so minor, you might not notice it, and I could definitely live with it. I have a credit card debt I would be tempted to knock out. Assistant: As long as it's not a financed vehicle you can do whatever you wish with that money. Human: The car is financed, I owe about 10k still.

It would depend on the terms of you financing agreement. If it's minor I wouldn't worry about it. In the odd event your vehicle gets repossessed they may have some leverage on you, but you are probably fine. Source: insurance adjuster

just deposit the check and spend it on your cc bills.

Human: I'm a college student and opened up a bank account for the aid I get each semester. My bank charges a monthly service fee if you don't meet certain criteria. Usually at the end of each semester my account is out of funds and the I charged bank fees. Whenever I get charged and see I owe the bank I always pay it each month out any cash I have on hand until the next semester. Well after doing this for a few years now I notice that almost everyday I get flooded with mail containing credit card offers. I actually got several from American Express. Does paying Bank fees on time each month actually build credit and that is why I'm getting so many offers?

No, that has nothing to do with Credit

No. *Some* utilities will report payments to credit bureaus, but that's few and far between.

Human: I’m working construction right now and I make about 14$ an hour 40 hours a week. I want to get into computers but I’m 18 living on my own. What’s the best way to go to college and get a job that is tech support/computer building? My rent is $550 and car insurance is $100. I don’t enjoy my job and I need to find a new job doing things I enjoy which is mostly technology. Edit: Thanks for all the replies guys, I’m thinking of going to the community college in my area and try and get my general education online and then take it from there. The problem with getting tech jobs is I live in a small town of around 40,000 people and it’s not a very techy town. Edit 2: I am just looking for a job that can get me in the door, Does anyone know an employer that is tech support that you can work from home? Is there any risk with me starting a side job where I post a craigslist ad to fix computers?

Computer building isn't really a job per se but I think I know what you mean. You could try to get some tier 1 call center tech support role now (maybe easier thru an agency, rather than working directly as a full time employee). Then, save up for and pass some basic cert like the CompTIA A+ or something equivalent. Then, try to use your cert and experience in call center to get into better helpdesk IT support job. From there, you should be seeing a little more money and you can see what area might be your interest (networking, systems admin, development etc). If you still like it, you can try to move up thru the organization into the area you are interested in, collecting relevant certifications as you go. There will probably be a ceiling you hit with just certs alone (but maybe not, depending on your ability). At that point, you could consider college if you absolutely need a degree to move up. Tldr: you may not need a degree to work in IT, and definitely don't need one to try out the entry level

You could also keep working at your construction job, making money, and go to an online school like /r/wgu/ One flat cost per 6 month term, take as many classes as you complete. Regionally accredited, not for profit, and they offer a handful of IT degrees both bachelors and masters. Plus, you get certifications as part of the degree, such as A+, CCNA, or AWS SysOps administrator, varies by what degree. Getting certs while working on the degree makes for an easy way to switch jobs without having to wait for graduation.

Human: Im not looking for anything crazy, im just sort of stuck in my house due to health issues that most likely wont go away. Im looking for mainly part time, or something where you work until you hit a certain amount of hours. Id like at least minimum wage really, and all the googling ive done i come up with nothing but scam sites. Can someone here help me find something doable? Assistant: Unless, you have a desirable set of skills that lends itself to at home work, I wouldn't expect minimum wage. Part time, as needed, WFH jobs usually pay little more than beer money because you're competing with people in other countries with a far lower cost of living. Regardless, there is some information regarding these types of jobs in the Wiki: /r/personalfinance/wiki/sideincome Human: its really rough to think that because of my illness i cant even work for minimum wage..

Theres nothing stopping you from learning a skill that pays more than minimum wage. There are plenty of coding tutorials online, for example

I imagine with SSD and the "beer money" options, you would at least be at minimum wage.

Human: Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, I have been getting phone calls saying the IRS is filing a suit against me and my family. I've been overseas replied for the past two years so I haven't done taxes. Does the IRS call people? When they call they don't ask for any information, it doesn't sound like a phishing scam in that way. A close member of my family got his identity stolen a couple years ago so I'm a bit worried, is there any way I can check on the actuality of it?

It does not call. It’s a scam.

Total scam. They always communicate in writing. For a couple missed returns you will get some mail. If you are worried, hire an accountant, preferrably one who is an attorney, get your back returns filed, if you owe, start making reasonable payments. I've dealt with the IRS for years, and as long as you are up front, communicate regularly, and don't ignore them, they are reasonable.

Human: Hi all - thanks in advance for your reply. ​ I left my former job (of 3 years) about 4 months ago to go work for another company in the same field (I work in consulting). In March of 2017, I began my final step towards my green card application (I-485 for those that are familiar), which requires a medical exam, lawyer fees, and submitting forms and an application fee. My application was not dependent on my employer relationship as I am applying through a family member. All in all, it was \~$2,400. My employer at the time offered to pay for the thing, so I signed a document stating that I would need to stay 2 more years or else I would have to return the money. ​ Fast forward to May 2018 - I quit and left for a better opportunity and thought they had forgotten about it (since they didn't deduct it from my final paystub), but I received a letter this morning from them asking for the full amount back. ​ I talked to my dad, who suggests that I send them a pro-rated amount for the amount of time I spent there out of the 2 years (\~ 1 year, so let's call it an even $1,200), and to claim I didn't understand what I was signing. He mentioned that they may not pursue it if they are seeking $1,200 because it will likely cost them more to bring it to small claims court. ​ Please let me know your thoughts on this and if you think I can get out of any of this in any way! I appreciate your time and help.

Why are you trying to scam your employee and 'game' the system? Why are you trying to 'get out' of it? 1. You thought they just 'forgot' about it 2. Now you want to pretend like you didn't understand it. You understood the contract you signed, and you broke it. You owe them the money. You know you owe them the money. You should pay it. It's the right thing to do, both ethically and legally.

What did the contract say? Does it mention pro rated amounts? You should not sign anything you don't understand.

Human: I’m looking to buy a house. I heard US economy is still not stable and it is expected that house pricing will go down ridiculously in coming years (by 2020). My information source is just reading articles here and there. So I’m here to seek advise from my fellow redittors.

Don't try to time the market. Buy a house when you want to buy a house and can afford it.

No. The best time to buy is during a downturn in the housing market. I bought then and was able to get a 3.25% fixed rate on my mortgage. These days, you're lucky to get under 5.25%.

Human: A friend of mine from college who’s is 23(who I’m not in regular contact with) recently texted me asking for money. He is in real estate in NC and has some delayed closings due to the hurricane(or so he claims). He has bills(rent and student loans) due this weekend and doesn’t want to reach out to his family for money yet because he “doesn’t want them to know about his deficiency”. He’s asking for 1000$ and is willing to provide a 5-10 interest rate with payment after his closing in the end of October. I am seriously considering lending him this money because I can relate to grown person bills and not wanting to ask family members for money. My roomate in real estate said I should get a copy of his contract that specifies a closing/signing date. I would also draw up a contract with our terms for payment. Any other advice from you guys?

> A friend of mine from college who’s is 23(who I’m not in regular contact with) recently texted me asking for money. Say no. > He has bills(rent and student loans) due this weekend and doesn’t want to reach out to his family for money yet because he “doesn’t want them to know about his deficiency”. Tell him to suck it up and ask his family.

I would tell him you're sorry he's in that position but you don't have any money to lend him and send him some thoughts and prayers

Human: Hey All, I have really liked my retirement account I have with VG and with a new job and more money (and already a Fidelity account) I have been trying to find funds that closely resemble the ones listed above. The few I have found with Fidelity have had expense ratios larger than VG...not sure if I keep my money here and take advantage of the commission free ETF and the 2 new expense-free index funds Fidelity has established. My money will be in the market for the long haul and the only time I plan on pulling some out will be for a home purchase in a few years. VBTIX = Intermediate Term Bond. Exp ratio .04% VINIX = Domestic Stock - Large Blend. Exp ratio .035% VIEIX = Donestic Stock - More Aggressive. Exp ratio .06% VTSNX = International/Global stock. Exp ratio .09% Which stocks at Fidelity closely resemble these? -Given those ETF’s expense ratio’s, should I migrate my money over to Vanguard? - I will be putting money in the account every 2 weeks or so.

There’s a comparison of Fidelity and Vanguard index funds here: https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/investing-ideas/index-funds

Fidelity Total Market Index Fund expense ratio is 0.015%

Human: To sum the story my dad passed away and left me 100k and in new york state you can apply for free tution and my mother has decided to leave New York state to go live with her boyfriend in Florida. We currently live with him and he is extremtly emotionally abusive and I can no longer take it but now since she is leaving new york state i will have to burn my 100k to pay for college and my mother basicly told me that thats what the money is ment for and now instead of the money supporting me and being a down payment for a house its now going to be spent on college so she can go live with her abusive boyfriend. Extremely frustrated and mad beacuse now I wont have any money for my masters and apartment ect after college. College will cost me $93,576 at the end since I won't receive state financial aid instead of 37k if I did. Im basicly losing all my money my dad gave me beacuse of my mothers ignorance so I dont know what to do. Assistant: You're not losing the money. It's going to further your education. If it will fully fund your college than you're going to come out so much further ahead than most other graduates. Why can you not apply for financial aid? If you're working minimum jobs, you should still qualify for some aid. Work through school to pay for your day to day, and save up that money as much as you can if masters is your dream. I'm sorry for the situation you are in with relationships, but don't focus on this as a negative to your financial life, because it's not as bad as you think. Human: But after college I'm lost on what to do, i wont have a support system ect since i spent it all on school

So you'll be in the same position that millions of other people find themselves in every year. Generally, after school you get a job and start supporting yourself.

You'll be fine. Cross that bridge when u get to it. If you get a solid education in a good field, you can make that money in no time. I dont have 100k to pay for school and wont have it when I'm done either. And I know it will be okay. Dont sweat it

Human: I NEED to move out of my house, but i only make about 18k per year and have Uni to pay for. ​ MY initial plan to buy a house was to get my parents to back my mortgage, get a renter and have them pay for the mortgage. I was going to get my dad, who is a freelance contractor to help remodel the house and get it ready to live in ( as id be buying a fairly crappy house) ​ I have been considering it and discussing it with them for about a month now, however; my mother just dropped something on me that has required me to find some other way to move out. Ill explain ​ There are a few reasons why i want to move out of my current house. 1) WE live way out of town, and i have to drive \~30 mins to and from Uni, my job, anything in town. which sucks ass, as it takes an hour or two out of my day. 2) My parents are the type to give you a job or a chore whenever you dont look busy, coming upstairs to use the washroom? chore. Getting a glass of water? chore. getting in the door at 11pm after working 8 hours? chore. So my thought was that if i were to move into town, i would kill two birds with 1 stone; id drop my commute from \~30 mins down to under 10 mins, and i wouldnt be at home for my parents to give me chores. Win/Win ​ Now, ive been trying to show them that i need to focus on school, rather than dealing with their petty chores but they keep bringing up the fact that i live at home for free and "if you arent going to do chores, youre gonna pay rent". With this, they did also agree to back my mortgage, so i thought i was clear. ​ But today, my mother dropped that "Even if you move out, you are expected to come home and help out with chores. because we are a family" so now, even if i move out and im not living in their home, Id be the one paying the entire mortgage(they wouldnt pay a dime), they still have the threat of evicting me from what would be their house (as their name would be on the mortgage). so that plan wont work out any more. ​ I guess what i come here to reddit to ask is: Should I, with 6k in savings, 18k annual income from 2 jobs and 34k in upcoming student debts buy a house independently of my parents? ​ Renting is almost out of the question, as renting in this city is crazy, the only thing youll find under $800 is a shitty basement ROOM, with 1 shared bathroom and no shower in a super sketchy part of town. When houses in the same sketchy area would come out to a $480/m mortgage for the entire 2 story house. And i dont make enough to throw 6k per year at nothing. ​ Is there a way i can get the bank to trust me? i am very good at managing money, and if i go hungry for a week or two to pay my mortgage, so be it. ​ Should i even be doing this? ​ TL;DR : I need to move out because my parents dont fathom a university workload, but i dont make enough to rent a place, and i dont have a backer to get a good mortgage. What do? ​ Thanks, and sorry for the rant. ​ EDIT: Im in Ontario, Canada. I just sound foreign as i suck at typing and writing structure.

>Renting is almost out of the question, as renting in this city is crazy, the only thing youll find under $800 is a shitty basement ROOM, with 1 shared bathroom and no shower in a super sketchy part of town. When houses in the same sketchy area would come out to a $480/m mortgage for the entire 2 story house This is almost certainly not true. You're are likely not comparing the actual costs of owning a home, which go well beyond just mortgage, with the actual costs of renting, which is going to mostly just the rent payment.

How much are the houses you are looking at? What repairs are needed? What are property taxes and home insurance costs?

Human: Okay guys. I know what I need to be doing to save. I know what my priorities need to be. I've read every post in the help section.but I just can't stop spending. I leave my card with my financially stable girlfriend and by the end of the day I've accessed the atm through cardfree to pull money just to spend. I know it must be psychological or something but if any of you have similar habits and have managed to break them some advice would be much appreciated.

Put your money in a bank without card free options. Preferably an online savings account where it takes a few days to withdraw money. Withdraw what you need for a week. When you run out, you run out. Longer term maybe you need therapy to learn to address self control issues.

Take joy in watching your bank accounts rise instead of buying stuff you don't need. By saving money, you are buying your personal financial freedom, which is almost certainly way cooler than whatever else you're spending money on. Cut off your ability to access an ATM too.

Human: Hello PF, After completing two interviews I was offered a similar job in both places. I'm curious how far $90k will go in NYC and how far $67k goes in Tampa. I have no student loans and no debts so I am in an okay financial position. Edit: I would also be receiving a bonus of $4,000 per year from the Tampa job and briging my own car. I am looking to spend about $1500 to $2000 on housing.

Would you rather live in NYC or Tampa? There is so much more to this decision than money.

Tell them you don't expect them to pay you that much and insist they relocate you to a B-level city

Human: This is the site https://playstationclassic.us/ and I did accidentally purchase from there with card, I know I was naive, it was only 60 dollars but I'm wondering if it's impossible to get a refund as there policy says you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase

Credit card or debit card? Either way, dispute with the bank.

Immediately call your credit card and tell them what happened.

Human: I really wanna know if there is like a website or group that I can go to that I can learn to balance a checking account, budget, savings, etc. My mom really doesn't have time to explain all of this to me and there aren't any classes that I can take in my school to learn about this stuff until senior. I also want to start investing as soon as possible. So any information that you have would be amazing. EDIT: Thanks for all the responses this is gonna save me a lot of headaches later on.

Smart kid. Save all you can. I won’t give you any specific details as I can’t give anything that is better than what’s already on here. I just want to urge you to do so. It will make life much easier for you later on. Be sure to have fun as you’re only young once but at the same time starting to save early will make the rest of your life a lot easier. I wish I had done more

Spend everything and make yourself more motivated to work hard

Human: Hello, I recently applied for a credit card and my bill due date is on the 3rd. My question is, does it look bad to make small payments before the bill due date or should I wait until the due date to pay in full. Thank you!

Pay the statement balance by the due date every month. That's all there is to credit cards.

Pay in full before the due date. It won't change how it viewed but it could lower your interest accrued.

Human: Say Person A is making $100,000 a year, and Person B makes $50,000 a year. Should they split everything 50/50? Or should they split bills proportional to their income?

Anyway they decide between themselves. ​ Some people split bills, others don't have separate accounts and his and her income, all in one pot, all bills paid out of the pot. ​ No right way, no wrong way as long as everyone is OK with it ​ My marriage isn't a my income and her income marriage, but that's just how we do it.

My fiancé and I do it based on net/take home pay.

Human: My husband and I are retired and 4 years ago we moved from PA to AZ. At the time, we had a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum 4x4 that we leased in PA. We didn't do much driving any more so a lease was a good choice for us. In 2014 we made our cross country move and within a year we decided to see if we could get out of our lease and actually buy a car. The manager of the local Nissan dealership was more than happy to help us with that. He took our keys to the Pathfinder and would NOT give them back to us. We were there for over 5 hours and we were ready to actually call the police. The short side of the story is that he wore us down and took advantage of us because we are older. He told us the lease would be written off, but in fact, when we had time to think and look at the paperwork, he included the leftover lease into our car that we purchased. It was such a horrible experience and we've been paying the price, literally, ever since. That manager was fired shortly after but that didn't help us any. When we finally agreed on a trade we bought a Nissan Altima, which I didn't like because I had a terrible time getting in and out of it with my hip that has arthritis in it. We kept that car for a year and traded it for a 2017 Rogue. We like the car but now we're so upside down on it it isn't funny. We've never been in this situation in our lives. The car is only worth $18,000 but we owe $30,000! We have a 0% interest for 72 months (it will be paid off in 2023!). Our payment is $568/mo. I can't believe how stupid we were to be pressured into this mess. I'm sure the options aren't good and I know that they aren't in our favor. My question is: Would you pay off the additional $12,000 to get rid of the negative equity or use that $12,000 to pay off our truck (payments are $200/mo.)? It just goes to show that you're never too old to be suckered in and learn a lesson. Thanks. ​ ​ ​

You're going to have to pay off the Rogue (with its negative equity) one way or another. Pay it now while you still have 0% interest. You can't withdraw negative equity to pay for another vehicle.

Depending on what’s important to you I’d say pay the truck off, being upside down on a car sucks but if you want to have more cash on hand at the end of the month get rid of a payment. You also might want to look into a home equity loan (If you have equity on your home). Home equity lines of credit are usually low interest and payments are sometime 1% of the balance owed. You can throw both balances on it and walk away with the titles.

Human: My first ever credit card, which I've carried a zero balance on for many years now, has just instated an annual fee of $55. I called and spoke to a representative and learned that everyone is now being charged an annual fee, it's a lower fee if you carry a balance. The rep was nice enough to give me a $25 credit for using my card in the next 30 days- and I'll do that so that my fee is essentially just $30. My credit is very good, partly due to this card's longevity and of course having automatic payments set up on all debts. This card is also my highest available credit limit- $16,000 available... So I'm looking for insight about closing this card to avoid that fee that is for nothing really, since I don't use the card, but will closing it be worth the ding to my credit report? And, is that high available credit on the card a good or bad thing for my credit? At this point I'm unaware of any rewards the card carries that I haven't been taking advantage of.

Can you do a product change? In the past, I've switched one of my credit cards to another product within the same bank, and kept my account age.

Close it. Your cash in the bank score is much more important than your credit score.

Human: Hello, first time poster to this thread! So I have actually 2 gym memberships, crunch and planet fitness, that I thought I cancelled maybe a year ago. The card that I put them on isn't even active anymore, and I am in the process of paying it off right now after having a maxed card of about $3,000 for about three years (Debt mostly racked up from school). I have only been doing the minimum payments and am just now paying it in large payments to get rid of the debt. I got an alert today that my card was over limit. I didn't realize that those memberships where charging still. Its probably around hundreds of dollars. I know these seem like dumb mistakes, because they honestly are but I'm trying to fix it now. Any advice?

Sure, cancel your memberships and in the future look at your statements monthly ​ PS, follow their instructions on how to cancel and keep proof that you did cancel

Obviously, it's pretty clear. You did not follow the proper policy in the agreement (which you did not read) and now your upset about. Pay your bills. Read agreements moving forward.

Human: A friend was away on vacation in the Dominican Republic for a few weeks and on her way back, she was notified at the airport that someone had tried boarding under her identity. Once she got back stateside, she found her Chase checking and savings accounts were overdrawn and when she called they faulted her for the fraudulent transactions and told her that she'd be responsible for the overdrawn amount. She has filed a police report but it has been over a month since the incident and she has begun to accept that there's nothing she can do. The story is strange and so far she doesn't know how it happened.

Too few details in your post. What reason did Chase provide for faulting her? How was the money withdrawn from her account? Forged checks? Online transactions? ATMs in the Dominican Republic? Debit card transactions? Did she lose her ID? Her debit card? Her checkbook?

You may find these links helpful: - [Identity Theft Guide](/r/personalfinance/wiki/identity_theft) - [Credit-related wiki pages](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_credit) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: We live in Southern California, and since having our first child last year, have been contemplating buying our first home. We're in our early 30's and my wife stopped working and our rate of savings isn't what it used up be but we're beginning to feel it's now or never as the housing market continues getting out of hand. I've been hesitant since I lived through the housing crash ten years ago through my parents actions and can't seem to find anything in our general vicinity or further for under 500k. My father-in-law offered to loan us 100k for the 20% down payment and we could the rest of our savings for the other cost. I feel extremely uncomfortable borrowing that amount of money from family and my wife has her heart set on buying a house this coming year. It would take me at least 10 years to pay him back. Should i accept his offer? Why or why not? Are there potential benefits or downsides to accepting his offer that I'm not considering?

I wouldn’t take the money. If your wife truly doesn’t want to work I would also consider relocating. One income in Cali with a kid at < 100k sounds pretty brutal.

The bubble has bren fixed, it already burst in 2008. Even with 18.27 an hour for my wage i couldnt get a mortgage because im a consultant and have only been with my company one year. The bubble partially happened due to sub prime loans, partially because they would give a loan to anyone to stimulate their earnings through fees and bonuses. They gave loans to people who couldnt afford it, that was a big part of the crash and i couldnt even get a mortgage, i opted for a 5 year turn around on land contract with a home equity loan from my stepdad; in or before 5 years i have to refinance and take out a mortgage in my own name. If you wsnt a house get a house, everything can be a gamble though, do you due diligence.