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Human: I was laid off last October and apparently my previous employer paid me a few hundred each month in Dec/Jan/Feb without me noticing. Now I got a letter saying I owe them $2500 and have 20 days to pay. Can they actually collect this? Can I set up a low payment plan instead?

If they overpaid you then yes, you owe them the money. You can probably set up a reasonable payment plan. What do you mean by low? Something like $50/month isn't reasonable.

I got a severance check in November in place of my last payceck and was told I would get anything outstanding the following month so I didn't question this. After that just made sure I got a paycheck from my new company but didn't think to look for additional payments from the old employer.

Human: As of right now, I make $17.10/hr while in training for a job that will translate into a $50,000 salary in June. But to coincide with that, I have two student loans. One under my parents which (after speaking with Nelnet last night) I have learned has an outstanding balance of $186,000 paid over 25 years at $610.87/month. The interest rate for this loan is 8-9%. I then have another loan in my name, interest rate around 5%, for $25,000 that has monthly payments of $301.28. In total, I have $200K+ student debt after attending a public university for four years at $25K/year. #feelthebern? When I graduated in 2014, my loans under my parent’s name were under a Parent Plus loan. Along with this loan, my parents had Parent Plus loans for my sister and brother. These loans are divided into groups that all fall under our respective social security numbers, so I know which groups to pay. At the end of each month, my brother, sister and I give our dad our respective totals, and he pays down the amount in each group. Now, for whatever reason, you can only pay the balance all together. For example, if I have the money to pay my loan but my sister doesn’t, the loan can’t be paid until the total amount is ready to be paid. This is one of the reasons I am in this predicament. My sister did not work for many years, therefore my dad told me the loans were in permanent deferment and I could pay what I could during this deferment period. Being that I worked minimum wage along with extended periods of unemployment (studying journalism was a great idea!) until this past February, I did not pay down the debt on these loans while they were in deferment (my biggest mistake, I know). I was supposed to begin paying December 2014 and I made a few payments here and there but I didn’t start regularly paying on the Parent Plus until this past March (when the deferment expired). Now, my dad is telling me that because my loan was in deferment for 1 year and that I wasn’t making every required payment, my loan balance jumped from $100K to $186K. He says that’s the result of the interest compounding daily. As you can imagine, being 23-years-old, I am upset to shit that I am $200K in the hole. So after panicking all last night, I gathered my head this morning and decided that ideally, I would like to pay $1,000/mo. on my parent’s loan and $500/mo. on my own so I can make a dent in more than just interest and instead actual principal. I also, however, would like to experience my 20s and not live at home anymore for a plethora of reasons. Additionally, I have $0 in credit card debt, 1 line of credit, bought a car outright so I have no monthly payments, and $2,000 in savings (I had $5,000, but I just used $3,000 to buy that car). Can someone please explain to me how this whole $200K in debt is possible and if something sounds suspicious to you too because I genuinely feel like I’m being screwed? Is there any possible way I can get this loan transferred from my dad’s control under the Parent Plus to my own control? Last night for example, I gave him $1,000 to pay on my loan and he couldn’t because my sister didn’t have to money to put on her’s. It’s already a week late (I paid him a week ago btw… he just decided to pay now!). Somewhere along the line I've been bent over a barrel and shown the 50 states therefore how do I manage this?

You are in $25k of debt. Your dad is in $186k. Parent plus loans are his not yours. I understand your desire to help pay them back, though, but here are the things that seem wrong to me. * paying back the loans all at once. This seems wrong. You can usually make a partial payment. Doing this may result in your payment being late, though, but I don't get not being able to pay it at all. * the loan jumping from $100k to $186k in one year seems literally impossible because, if my math is right, it would mean you would have an insane interest rate that doesn't really exist for these loans. I think you'd have to have like a 60% interest rate to do that, which would not exist. Perhaps this includes late fees from missed payments? Or was the original loan much higher? Awkward to ask, but how trust worthy is your dad?is he good with money? what is he like? Because all of this is fishy.

My girlfriend has 100,000 in student loans on an art degree, what she did was have sex with me so i would pay all the living expenses while she pays her student loans off, so the key is to find someone who barley graduated high school amd makes 70k per year to support you.

Human: My dad has a large gas bill that he will honestly probably never pay off in his lifetime. My question is when he dies (hopefully no time soon) what happens to that debt? Do I or my family become responsible? Will it effect my credit or anything else?

My only source is horror stories from others in this sub, but there have been cases where the scummiest of scummy debt collectors will pressure grieving family members into making a small payment on the debt, like $10, then suedthen for the full amount using the payment as evidence of your intention to assume the entire debt.

It will not be your responsibility but it will be the responsibility of his estate.

Human: I live in an apartment with four other guys (5 of us) and we each have our own lease. We are required to pay the entirely of the lease by the time it ends in August, but there's nothing about paying utilities. I'm the only one planning on staying for a month and a half in the summer, while the four guys are "moving out". By this I mean they won't be living in the apartment, but they'll be leaving all of their stuff inside until the end of the lease (to make storage costs cheaper). A lot of things I've seen online say that they shouldn't have to pay utilities if they move out, since they aren't using water or electricity, but since they won't have technically moved out completely, I feel like they should still pay their cut. They said they'll probably come stay for a day or two throughout the summer so they'll still be living here part time. Thoughts?

I feel like a lot of people are missing the boat here. They should still pay. For example, whether its the winter or summer months, heating or cooling will be required to make the space habitable. Say a 4 bedroom house is kept at 75 degrees in the summer - its not like you can prevent the air conditioning from going to the uninhabited bedrooms. Climate control is probably the biggest portion of the electric bill, to boot. EDIT: In addition, extra cable boxes are a flat charge per month. The rooms are unable to be sublet-ed, so consider that too.

Then divide the bill by the number of person-days, and each person pays that amount for the number of days they live there. For example, in a 30 day billing period where there's a $100 bill due, where Person A was there all the time and Person B was there a week, there would be 37 person-days. 100 / 37 = ~$2.70/day Person A would pay at least $81 Person B would pay at least $18.90. There's usually something left to pay due to rounding and you guys can figure out how to deal with that.

Human: I have around $40k which I'm looking to invest through a friend who does forex trading. He has been doing really well for for the past 6 years or so. Normally his clients provide $100k+ minimum as an investment in his portfolio but has allowed me to go in with less. I would make 3% interest per month, paid out each month. The gains are certainly attractive, I'm just scared that it's fully based on "trust" that I'll get my money back. I would be signing a letter of agreement with him, which states that he'd take on the full risk, but I'm not confident that if anything should go wrong that it'd hold up in court. He's a good friend of mine and I trust that he wouldn't screw me, I just never invested this kind of money before and am a bit nervous. Is it highly ill advised to get into such an agreement with a friend based almost solely on trust? Or would a letter of agreement hold enough value in court to defend my position? I'm really looking forward to getting into business with him and it seems like a great opportunity, I just don't want to get screwed obviously. Appreciate all advices.

So you're getting 36% APR and he's taking all the risk. Yea, ok, that's believable.

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Human: TL;DR first - I have about 60 days to find and close on a house or I will be forced out of the home buying market because of new FHA guidelines regarding how they factor in your income based repayment vs having to factor in 1% of the loan balance regardless of what your payment is. I rent for 900 a month or could have a mortgage for around $590-600 a month. Really don't want to get forced out of the neighborhood I've lived in for more than half a decade now that I finally have a "real" job that can qualify me for a mortgage, since waiting tables through college could not qualify me. I am single 30 year old. No children. I have been looking for homes and I am pre-approved but for only $90,000 I currently pay $900 a month in rent plus utilities/internet. I have no car payment and don't plan to have one. I have $45,000 in savings - I also have about another $50k on the way when some inherited land sells. I work for the government and don't make much. I have $30,000 in student loan debt and qualify for loan forgiveness after 10 years of service. Since I am planning to go into law enforcement once I graduate in a month, and I already work for the law enforcement agency in an assistant capacity, I don't see any issues getting the job. Here is my dilemma. I am a bit set on living in a certain part of town. That part of town is a bit more expensive than everywhere else. I currently rent in this particular part of town. I am 5 minutes away from the court systems, 3 minutes from my job, life is easy. I absolutely despise commuting. If i am unable to work in this industry for any reason, I have plenty of restaurant experience and all the good restaurants are in this area so I could hop back in and make twice what I do now anyway. Because of my student loans, I can only get an FHA loan. On June 30th, the FHA will require 1% of my student loan debt to be factored into my DTI for qualifying me for a mortgage. Right now, the bank only has to use my monthly payment which is based on my income, and that monthly payment is about 20 bucks a month. On June 30th, they will have to assume my payment is around $300 a month, which it isn't, nor will it be. I can get a townhouse with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a private backyard, and a basement for $100,000 - Since I only qualify for 90k loan, I'd have to put 10k down to get to the 90k mark. I have to put 3.5% down anyway since it's FHA, so I will actually be putting down more. My mortgage with insurance, PMI, taxes, etc, will be about $600 a month, which is less than my rent. I know a lot of advice will probably be to pay off my student loans with that 45k. I'm not opposed to that, but I need to think about it some considering the 10 year forgiveness thing. The townhouse has a 300 yearly HOA fee. I'm not crazy about a HOA, nor living in a townhouse, but I'll be damned if I have to get something 20-30 minutes away from the part of town I love. Also, this is the first job I've had where I could qualify for a mortgage. I've been told in the past working as a bartender or a waiter, that I'd have to have the same restaurant job for quite some time before they would approve a loan because it is considered an unstable job generally. So yeah, I have 60 days to buy something before I am forced out of the market until my student loans are paid down, or nonexistent, because of the new FHA guideline going into effect regarding income based repayment plans. I guess it's somewhat urgent because I am month to month now and have been for nearly two years. My landlord wants to move back to this city so I expect a 30 day notice to vacate at any time (might not happen soon, but you never know). I don't want to get forced into signing a lease somewhere else. Property has gone up in this part of town quite a bit in the last 2 years, so finding a house to rent again would probably be out of my budget, so I'd be forced into a crappy $700-$750 a month apartment and be unhappy. (I like to have a yard for my dog).

If the townhouse is really $100k in sale price, then you should probably forgo the FHA and just look for a 30-year conventional loan. I say this because you can put down a 20% down payment, which eliminates the need for PMI. I think a 30-year conventional interest rate is under 4%. For the sake of being safe, let's assume it's 4% - With 20% down, your mortgage is 80k and your monthly payment is $382. With the HOA fee, utilities, and internet, I definitely would peg you under $600/month. Seems this is a decent thing for you since you're confident in your location and stability. I only have a concern about the townhouse price - $100k seems really low. Then again, I'm in central MD where townhouses start from $300k. Regardless, make sure you get the place inspected. Also, make sure you have an emergency fund just in case your townhouse has un-foreseen issues (though after the 20% downpayment + closing costs, you should be good). I don't have much experience with student loans, but advice around here would say if the interest rate is greater than 4% (or whatever the savings rate is), then you should opt to pay down those first. If we assume you are no longer interested in FHA loans (which I would highly suggest conventional since you have the downpayment), then you should pay those down first. Rushing to buy a house is the worst mistake you can ever make, even with new guidelines.

I can get a townhouse with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a private backyard, and a basement for $100,000 where?

Human: Recently I got sick and even though I got a medical certificate stating that I should take some sick days off, I never took them. I've been wondering if I could get those two days paid by my employer in my next paycheck. Edit: Clarification, and thanks for the answers (and not making me feel dumb for such a silly question)! My question has been answered -- sick but able to work = normal work day

I'm confused. You got a note saying you wouldn't work for a few days, but you did work those days anyway but didn't get paid?

Nope. That's why they are sick days, not vacation days.

Human: Well, I guess I am just going to put this all out there. I am facing eviction based on $4,000 of unpaid rent. My rental company has said that if the balance is not paid in 3 days they will go to an attorney and start eviction processes. I fucked up big time, didnt pay rent for a number of months (even though I can now pay rent month to month) and didn't communicate with them, there is something wrong with me and I can't wrap my head around what it is. I have fallen on hard times and I am unemployed with bad credit due 1000 dollars in credit card debt and unpaid student loans. Borrowing money from family is out of the question as I have no family that will support me. Am I totally screwed? I really don't know where to go or who to talk to, as this is probably the lowest point my life has ever been. EDIT: I live in Washington State

Sounds like you're dealing with severe depression, bud. I've done this with bills before due to depression and anxiety of facing life in general. Work something out with your landlord, and once you are able, try to get some help so you can get mentally healthy and get your life back together.

You need tenant law advice, not finance so ask your question in the appropriate sub. .

Human: About 7 weeks ago I was hired to work in a furniture distribution warehouse as an hourly opener on the night shift that they were just starting. Essentially I open boxes and assemble furniture before it is shipped to other stores and customers. However the shift ended up not working out and as a result. I have the option to move to the morning shift but that isn't an option because of school. (I will be taking classes over the summer) Since my schedule doesn't work out I can't continue working there. Do i qualify for unemployment or anything like that or is it considered quitting because I have the choice to switch shifts? Obviously i have no dependents as I'm only 17. My expenses are typical teenage ones Groceries, Girlfriend, Building a pc.

You're quitting. Also, i doubt you would qualify for unemployment anyways since you're still a student, and because you only started working 7 weeks ago.

You are quitting. They are going to document that they gave you the option to work another shift and they may even provide you with a 'confirmation of resignation letter' stating that you are voluntarily resigning due to the fact that you refused comparable work and that was the only alternate option available to you. More than likely you wouldn't qualify for unemployment on 3 different fronts: insufficient wages, insufficient employment duration, and "resignation" as stated above. In most cases the employer would win an unemployment determination appeal hands down; however, it does depend somewhat on the state. For example, California sides more frequently with employees. I would advise filing for unemployment even if you are almost certain you will be denied. Sometimes employers choose not to contest claims or they may lose the letter with the information to contest the claim or they may be engaged in questionable HR practices and wouldn't fight the claim out of fear. They may even just miss the window for fighting your claim. In my understanding it never hurts to file and see what happens. My background is in HR and I currently work as a contracted employment consultant with the state. We work very closely with people who make unemployment determinations. TLDR: you are quitting and will probably not qualify for unemployment but apply anyways. *If I am incorrect someone please let me know. I appreciate every opportunity to learn.

Human: My internship for software programming offers 401K matching up to 6% of my pay per pay period, but the recruiter said that most student interns do not contribute. Would you suggest me contributing? My main issue is what happens if I choose to leave the company once I graduate? I am currently a sophomore looking at two more years of school at least, so I am assuming I will be at this internship for that long. This internship also provides the opportunity for full time work post graduation, however, I am not sure if I would accept considering I haven't started my work just yet. EDIT: Thank you all for the overwhelming and seemingly unanimous reply to my question! I'll be sure to set up the 401K matching at my internship when I get started this summer.

Unless you have something else pressing to do with that money, it is one of the smartest investments you can make. Your money earns tax free, and the employer contribution is basically free money.

No you are too young. Worry more when you are established and pushing 40.

Human: The settlement is due to the death causing my mom to be a widow. I want to make sure she makes the best financial decisions. She's already talking about buying houses and 'living off of rent'. She has always been a housewife and has no additional income. She also has no debt and enough in savings to live comfortably for the next 6-7 years including any medical expenses. First, is this amount worth seeking a financial planner, lawyer, or any sort of professional? I assume most of this is non taxable since it's not technically income. She lives in a small town and I don't think anyone in town is qualified for this. Assistant: A financial planner is a good idea. But self education is more important. Start with Reddit's wiki in personal finance. Just to start learning the terminology. In my opinion, firstly Get the money in a bank account that will make interest. Citibank has a good money market account. Other banks may be better. Be VERY wary of people wanting to get their hands in the pot. Never tell anyone how much she has just received. (Especially family) If you're at a bank and your start to feel uncomfortable about what they want to do with your money. Just say no thank you and move on. There are plenty of reputable banks and financial planners. Believe it or not, banks and financial planners do Not always have your best interest in mind. If they can they will steer you toward investments or accounts that benefit them. Keeping it simple is always the best strategy. Be wary of taxes. Although you believe she doesn't owe, you need to be 100% certain. You can call the IRS. They are surprisingly helpful. (Sidenote, be sure it's the actual IRS, Google can be..tricky) As I'm sure you're aware. 750k seems like a lot, but it can go quickly if you're not careful. If she already has a home she is happy with it might be easier to have her pay the mortgage off and be debt free. It may be better to continue her mortgage. She can live comfortably for a long time, if she makes it last. Human: Thanks. I'm just weary of a lot of scammy FPs. I'm 75% sure she's going to tell the family despite what I tell her. Good call on calling the IRS, I'll do that to make sure. She has no debt right now. She wants to move to a warmer climate, which I'm not going to argue if she does it responsibly. I want her to be responsible with the money, but I also want her to enjoy her life.

You need to ask her WHY she wants to tell the family. It's tough for Anyone to not brag, in our Facebook world. But honestly it will cause more harm than good. They will get the hint soon enough, when she moves or goes on vacation.

> I'm 75% sure she's going to tell the family despite what I tell her. Get ready for the war...

Human: I'm looking at a target date fund for 2055 for a Roth 401k through American Funds with my employer, read the sidebar and the ELI5 page, but still not sure if this is right for me. It's high risk, right? I'm pretty young, and the retirement adviser who came in to talk with us said this would be the best move for me. If something happens and the market sucks up my savings, am I just shit out of luck?

> It's high risk, right? I'm pretty young, and the retirement adviser who came in to talk with us said this would be the best move for me. If something happens and the market sucks up my savings, am I just shit out of luck? The market *will* go down. It is likely that there will be several recessions between now and your retirement. But that's fine, as long as you don't sell during a downturn. So don't do that. As you get closer to retirement age, your fund will shift assets from stocks to bonds. Even in the event of a recession during retirement, you will be able to live on the bonds and wait for the stocks to come back up, if you saved enough money. The only people who lose money when the market is down are the ones who sell. Investors who have self-control will actually buy when the market is down, because they will make money when it comes back up. Your target date fund will automatically rebalance, so this part is taken care of for you -- if the fund is supposed to be X% stock right now, and stock prices fall, the fund will buy more stock to get back up to X%.

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Human: I know that authorized credit cards when they appear on the AU's credit history will include all the history of the account, but I'm curious if it will show up as a "new" account, and possibly bring down their score by reducing the overall "average age" of accounts. Edit: Thanks very much for the replies and confirmations of the behavior.

It will show up as being as old as the original account is.

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Human: Hi, So I went to my bank recently, Chase to get a new debit card made. While I was there I was told all sorts of offers and stuff per usual. Then they told me how I could and should upgrade my Slate card to the new Freedom card. I asked them I'm good for that as long as its an upgrade. They said sure it is. I said ok, signed a document and left. Well, its not an upgrade, its a new line of credit. Which angers me. As I do have a balance on my Slate and now I have a new card that I will likely not touch unless I kill the Slate card after paying it off. I know cancelling cards does more harm than good, right now I have 3 credit cards. So what I'm asking is, should I bite the bullet and kill this freedom card? Should I pay off the Slate card then kill that one and keep the freedom card? Or should is there a way to get my slate account transferred to the freedom? Or is it too late on that? Thanks for any advice for helping a stupid person make a mistake with little thought in the process.

Well now you have a bigger credit line, so every dollar you spend equals less credit utilized. So you have a better credit utilization ratio. And if you just use all three cards sparingly, you'll have a better record of on-time payment history. So really, this is a good thing. The only potential negative here is your average age of credit history will drop since this is a new card. But unless you're using your credit to make a large purchase in the near future, this isn't all that bad, and is certainly outweighed by the potential good.

If you won't use it, you may as well cancel it. The hit won't be big and will vanish entirely after 2 years. But there's really nothing wrong with having additional cards, and the Freedom isn't a bad card. 5% cash back on rotating categories is one of the better rotating benefits you can find. Depending on what you want to do, keeping it open isn't a bad idea.

Human: Hi everyone. I was hoping to start looking into buying a house, but reading some other home-buying threads on here has been discouraging. Like yes, I understand you get a better deal if you have a big down payment. I know it's better to get a 15yr instead of a 30yr. But if you buy a house and have lower monthly payments than you had when you were renting, isn't that better? Why would you throw your money away renting? Thanks for the info, my financially responsible reddit friends!

> But if you buy a house and have lower monthly payments than you had when you were renting, isn't that better? Then your AC breaks and your water heater goes out and your roof needs replaced, but oh, you didn't save an emergency fund! So you're screwed. So to answer your question: No.

No. There are fees when you buy and sell. If you live somewhere for a short period of time, those fees plus interest plus maintenance plus taxes plus insurance (plus pmi if you don't have a large enough down payment) can easily be more than any equity.

Human: *busser Sorry if this isn't the right subreddit. They have been doing this for almost a year now. All the servers complain, and I've googled myself numb, but still it seems much higher then usual. We only claim the 60% Also, most of the time the food runner is a manager, which may/may not be legal to tip him. How do I proceed? Should I file an anonymous claim? Today I'm going to send an email asking where our tips go when there is no one to tip out.

I am a California lawyer. This is almost certainly illegal, and in your shoes I would not put up with it. Requesting a written explanation was a good idea.

I would send an anonymous email. Threaten with a lawsuit if they don't stop with this bullcrap and they have to do something nice for the employees as well. 30 days paid leave per employee or something.

Human: Not sure if I should post this here but if need be redirected i'd appreciate it. See my dad works for a company that gave him his car and his insurance and everything, so under the name line on the insurance it says his company's name and not his. I only recently started driving and was just wondering is it possible for a company to insure a car and not a person? Am I breaking the law by driving it?

The best thing to do is ask the company and find out. That way there is no issue for you or your dad.

Just ask the company, ur present company.

Human: Hi everyone. Here's my stats: Income: $50k a year ($3,244/month net) I have a wife (seeking employment) and an infant son (not seeking employment). Assets: $6500 sitting in ETFs / $4000 in bank account Expenses: Rent: $1,250 Car insurance: $60/mo Gas: $100/mo Groceries: $150/mo Internet: $50 Cellphones: $100 I live in Torrance, CA, where the median salary is $75K and average house is $750k / average 2bd condo is $350k. I've seen a lot of arguments against buying a house because 1) so-cal's prices are inflated 2) yeah I'm building equity but I'm losing a lot in hidden fees. Question: am I in a situation to get a mortgage and get at least a condo, or would I be losing too much? I appreciate any and all feedback!

Your infant son needs to start seeking employment as well.

You should use a mortgage calculator online to figure out what your likely mortgage payment would be. Also have to factor in yearly property taxes, home repair costs, etc. You'll also want to make sure that your "emergency fund" now includes enough to also cover your new child's expenses. It looks to me like you might want to wait, but I don't have time to work out the numbers. Best of luck!

Human: I need some good advice. Here's the gist. I am a single father living paycheck to paycheck. I work for a great company with 2 close friends. These friends were bringing in 6 figured incomes while in sales. My position is management and my income is MUCH less than theirs. I come from a sales background and this is the 1st time I've managed. I've done great in both fields. Anyway, the 2 friends got their commission percentages dropped. They would still be making low 6 figures but they felt cheated and quit. They are starting their own company and asked me to join them at an equal share (33%). In the meantime my company decided to give me the sales job and a 25k raise for the 1st year and once 1 year is completed I'd be strictly commission. Strictly commission wouldn't be an issue since I bring in over 1mil in sales a year as manager. Strictly commission will bring me to a 6 figure income. I'm heavily leaning towards staying where i am but is that the right move? Do I stay put and finally be able to provide the type of life my child deserves or do I take the risk and join this new business? Please give some solid advise. Thank you

> I am a single father living paycheck to paycheck I don't think you're in any position to be taking risks that may end up with you not being able to food on your child's plate.

If your friends could have been making low 6 figures but quit to start their own company, they must be pretty confident they'll be able to generate sales. You already said they have a solid strategy and the right connections. If you have a chance to be truly happy and make oodles of money, that's something special. Also, you're a heck of a salesman if you can bring in 1 mil in sales. If your friends' venture fails, couldn't you just join another company? You're a rainmaker, right? Why wouldn't they want you? I guess it largely depends on how likely your friends are to succeed and how much money you stand to make by joining them, but it could be a beautiful thing.

Human: Hey, So I just got a letter in the mail from a collection agency for century link. About a year ago i got a promo for century link and called them for an install. However, when the guy came through and told me all that he would have to do we decided that we didn't want it and told him to cancel the installation and he said he'll cancel the subscription as well. We called them a couple of weeks later to make sure that it was all cancelled and they told us no, and we were being charged for service and gave them the long winded story about how we didnt want the service and to credit out the account. The agent on the line agreed it was a mistake and told me that theyll credit the account and close it. (Took down the agent name and date on which we spoke.) One month later we get a bill from them. I call again. They say it's a mistake and that they credited it and it isn't reflected yet. Okay. Fine. Next month no bill. No bill or correspondence from century link since. Until today. Good people of reddit what do I need to do next? Obviously I need to call them, but their customer service line isn't available till tomorrow morning. My move is to use all the paperwork we kept and all of the noted conversation dates. Should I immediately try to escalate go a supervisor? How to I ammend my credit? How do I get off the collection? Thanks in advance!

First assert your rights under the FDCPA and dispute the debt in writing with the collection agency. Second, I'd file a complaint with the FCC, FTC, your state's utility regulator's office, and your state's consumer protection agency and/or attorney general's office. Third, send a complaint in writing to CenturyLink and demand that they correct the issue. Honestly, I wouldn't waste my time calling their customer service number. The people who answer your call have one responsibility: getting you off the phone as quickly as possible.

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Human: Hey PF, Been a lurker here for awhile and figured now is the perfect time to submit my question to you all. I spoke with my manager, the CEO of my company a couple weeks ago about negotiating hiring hourly wage for that employee. DURING that conversation it was said "oh and you and I will sit down to talk about your raise after this upcoming trade show (next week). Well my paycheck went through today and i noticed I had a pay increase on my check stub. I heard from the accountant at the company that the CEO wanted it to be a surprise for me. That's nice and all but, shouldn't I be given the chance to discuss the pay raise? I haven't had a raise since FEB 2013 and have anxiously and patiently waiting for the day to come where i could discuss this issue. Now that its done, it feels awkward to go to her and say "Hey thanks for the raise, I really appreciate it but that isn't at all what i was looking for." To be clear, the pay raise is 27% and its nothing to scoff at, but how do i go about addressing the issue without burning bridges or her getting the wrong idea and just completely shutting the conversation down? Any advice would be great since I'm spending 1 on 1 time out of time with her in the next couple days. Thank you for reading the short novel :P EDIT: Hourly rate was $18.50 went to $23.50 with a month to month bonus that ends up being 25-30k at the end of the year. my HOURLY pay increase is 27% but my total yearly salary ends up being only a 12.9% increase. Sorry was only looking at the hourly percent increase Assistant: Given that a "good" raise is considered 3-5%, and you got a 27% windfall, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. That was a very generous move on the CEO's/company's part and a very clear sign that they value you. People that get to discuss raises don't get a 27% increase. This is far above and beyond anything that you could have achieved, unless you are very very below market value for your current title. Human: Yes i agree. I just Edited the original post. I'm not on Salary and this was strictly a hourly increase. Assistant: Even with your edit, if you had gotten a "jumping for joy" 5% raise every year of the past 3 years, you'd still have only gotten a 16% raise by now. I really don't think you understand how big of an act that was towards you. Overall all though, sounds like you aren't happy. If you simply can't come to terms with this, start looking at working somewhere else? I think your employer will be just as confused as I currently am, not understanding how going above and beyond, and giving you an unheard-of pay increase was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back. Human: I see your point and I will definitely think on it. Honestly it might not be about the money, it might be more about not even having the discussion of my performance and the thought process behind the value of the pay raise. this entire post makes it sound like I'm ungrateful, which I'm not. I am totally lucky i have landed what i have and been able to keep it up for so long.

Who says you can't have the discussion still? No, don't say you didn't appreciate it. Say, " I saw the salary adjustment on my last check, I wanted to say thank you, and I was hoping we could still sit down and have that conversation about my performance and goals that we can work on going forward," and set up your next raise.

Again, I think that given that the raise is not just beyond your expectation, but far beyond what you or really anyone could have expected, speaks volumes. If you read between the lines, you'll see that they know your thought process. They see you likely at least 8 hours a day, have noticed that for whatever reason you weren't properly compensated, and went above and beyond. It's like when I'm with my best friends. I know them well enough that I don't even have to ask them where they want to eat, because I know if I ask, I'll be able to tell you exactly what each thinks of the decision. I can see the conclusion without having to go through the motions.

Human: My credit kinda sucks but my wife has good credit... we are finally financially stable and I am trying to get my credit score above the minimum require for a VA loan. Thanks. Assistant: Why is your score low to begin with? Missed payments, high credit utilization? What is your score, if you don't mind? Human: My score right now is like 485 I think... she is like 700 or so. I missed like 3 payments on old credit card because I lost my job and stuff a few years ago. Other than that it is just some medical bills in collections from when I lost my job and insurance and got sick. Those are only like 2,000 tho. Which I figure I won't bother paying since they don't count against you as much as other types of debt and they are already like 3 or 4 years old. long story short... like a few missed payments medical bills in collections a couple other things I need to pay before they go into collections, was thinking of putting those on this joint card and paying it off to build credit... THANK for help.

485 is extremely low. There must be something else beside a few missed payment and medical collections. You literally have to had file for bankruptcy, divorce, car repo and defaulted student loans. You should get the free credit report and see all the details.

There's a high likelihood your lender won't approve you for a mortgage until you take care of your old collections. You might have luck (and a real big score increase) convincing these collectors to DELETE them from your credit report in exchange for payment. Ignoring them completely means you won't be approved for a loan for another 3 or 4 years when they drop off. =

Human: In need of help, I require $400 to pay fines otherwise it's 6 months in jail.. I can save enough to pay the court fines but not the rest that's owed for probation and such. Court fine us 180 so you know. Would my bank help with this in any way or are there other options that I can look into. Thanks

Sell something to come up with the cash? Browse Craigslist gigs section for quick labor jobs? Cash advance on a credit card? Wouldn't typically recommend that, but given the choice between paying some interest and jail time I'd take the interest.

Check out peer to peer lending.

Human: I recently moved, but kept my account with a bank that has no local branches. I get direct deposit, they have great online banking, ATM reimbursement, and mobile deposit. I recently received a personal check for over their mobile deposit limit. Is there any way I can get all of the money? From my reading of PF, I'm not hopeful, but worth a shot. It seems like all the options charge a fee or would require opening an account with a minimum balance. (Or crazy idea: would an issuing back break it into smaller checks? Nah, they'd probably want a taste, right?)

Sign up for an account with Ally. The limit on their mobile deposits is $50,000.

ask them to increase the mobile deposit limit.

Human: I'm currently in my mid 20s, looking to purchase my first real car as my '01 Civic is close to the end of its life and not worth continuing repairs on. I'm done with school and currently looking for jobs, though I have a pretty stable full time job where I make roughly $1700 a month after taxes. I don't expect to see myself in the same position after 3 years (hopefully) so I expect my income to rise in the future.   I currently live at home, which means I don't have any major expenses, however it's very well likely that I may have to start contributing "rent" of $500 a month starting in the summer. I spoke to my parents asking if I could possibly do it after I end up getting a vehicle, but they basically told me that if I get a better job than the one I currently have then I don't have to pay anything (which I guess motivates me even more to get a job).   Anyway, if we're including the cost of rent, then my monthly expenses break down something like this: $500 for rent $200 toward loans $100 toward cable/internet $60 toward car insurance $200 toward miscellaneous expenses (food, hygienic, gas, netflix, etc)   The miscellaneous expenses probably vary the most, but it never exceeds $200. This gives me approximately $600 of income that I technically "save". My current debt consists of: $1500 credit card (this is actually a store card which is interest free until July 2017, so I'm just making minimum payments right now) $12,000 private student loans $20,000 government student loans I'm also making the minimum payment on the loans as well. I have about $3000 in my savings account. I probably don't plan on buying the car until I've at least fully paid off the card (by applying more toward the balance due...plus I'm owed $1000 by family which should help as well).   Now I guess most of you would probably tell me to throw all my extra money toward my loans, which I understand, but then I probably don't see myself getting a car for another 2-3 years unless I manage to score a better paying job/career in the next year. And if my current car breaks down, then I'm royally screwed.   Anyway, the car I want which I plan on keeping for pretty much as long as I can is approximately $30,000 MSRP and is running a promotion of $350/month for lease with a $2k due at signing which I will attempt to negotiate down to $500 + the trade-in of my current vehicle hopefully. The buyout is $19,000 after 3 years. The other option would be to finance the vehicle at a 2.9% rate most likely (that's best case scenario) but then I'm looking at monthly payments well over $500 even with a sizeable down payment. I don't feel as though that's something I could afford comfortably. With the lease, I'm basically gambling getting a better job in the next 3 years to be able to pay off the vehicle later down the road, since $350 seems like something I can manage now. According to my FICO credit provided to me by my credit card, it's roughly in the high 600s. I only have one actual credit card (excluding the store card) that has a $0 balance. I've paid off an $11,000 loan two years ago and I make all my monthly payments for everything, maybe a late payment once in like 20 months or something.   My brother went through like 4 cars in his 20s which were all leases except his final car which he financed. I'm still on my first, but he has a way better paying job currently. Unfortunately, I wasn't as motivated and did pretty shitty in college, so even if I do get a better job, I don't think it's gonna be anything too spectacular. In all honesty though, I'd like the opinions of the experts on this subreddit as to whether or not I'm out of my mind with what I'm trying to pull off. If you need more clarification from me on anything, I'll provide it granted this thing doesn't blow up. Thanks.

>Anyway, the car I want which I plan on keeping for pretty much as long as I can is approximately $30,000 MSRP and is running a promotion of $350/month for lease with a $2k due at signing which I will attempt to negotiate down to $500 + the trade-in of my current vehicle hopefully. The buyout is $19,000 after 3 years. The other option would be to finance the vehicle at a 2.9% rate most likely (that's best case scenario) but then I'm looking at monthly payments well over $500 even with a sizeable down payment. I don't feel as though that's something I could afford comfortably. With the lease, I'm basically gambling getting a better job in the next 3 years to be able to pay off the vehicle later down the road, since $350 seems like something I can manage now That would be incredibly stupid. You make very little and are being supported by your parents as a result. You have a negative net worth. The idea of buying a 30k toy when you are living with your parents, in credit card debt, and have a low income is just terrible. You will be pouring a huge portion of your funds into a depreciating asset when you have already borrowed extensively for an education that is yet to pay off. I would be looking at a reliable sedan for 5-7k at most in your situation. That will mean sticking to basic models. I would also be very focused on getting a better job/second job until that credit card debt is paid off and then be very focused on those loans. You owe a decent sum for someone who make less than you could having skipped college and worked hard on building a career with drive/common sense and no college degree. Ultimately, we may have different values around work, financial stability, and materialism. I would be absolutely sure that buying a 30k mantoy is something that will actually make you happy before doing so, because you are considering dumping a huge sum of money into it given your income and it is exceedingly lavish given both your income and overall financial picture. This seems like it would grab you down.

Mid 20s please pay some rent

Human: Hi everyone, I had a few questions about opening an Ally Bank savings account. I am making a few thousand dollars over the summer with an internship. I use a regional bank that has atm locations at my college. However, looking at Ally, their APY at 1% seems like an insanely good deal compared to my bank where I earn almost nothing on the money I have saved. Are their any significant drawbacks? Does it fit the basic needs of a college student? Thanks for the help! EDIT: On their website it states: "Six transactions limit per statement cycle." Not really sure what that means. I read it has to do with online and mobile money transfers. I use venmo a lot, do venmo transactions count towards the 6?

The 6 transaction limit is from Regulation D. All savings accounts will have it. Federal Regulation D states that you may make no more than six (6) automatic or preauthorized transfers from your share savings or money market account per calendar month or statement cycle. (The monthly limit is based on when the transaction is processed, not when the check or item was written or authorized.) If you make a combination of checks/drafts and automatic or preauthorized withdrawals, the total limit is still six.

Look at Lake Michigan Credit Union. Their max checking account is at 3% APY when you meet the monthly requirements (4 logins, 10 debit card purchases, and a deposit (which can just be a transfer from another bank)). They do a hard credit pull to open the account though, so that's something to keep in mind. I put the vast majority of my purchases through my credit cards, so I just buy 10 $0.50 charges to Amazon's digital gift card balance to get around that requirement. It only takes me about 5 minutes a month.

Human: Ok, so this is my first time posting here so I do apologize. I'm feeling completely stressed and I'm exhausted and on the verge of an anxiety attack here. I'm at work right now and exhausted from all the OT I've been picking up, trying to catch up with my finances. Anyways, I've never really learned how to finance properly so I've learned along the way. Unfortunately, that means I learn from my mistakes which can be quite costly. If I can just pay off my two credit cards, I think I'll be less stressed out. I never miss a payment on anything, I'm very good about paying everything on time. Right now, I have a few major events going on in my life including a new part-time job, the lease of a new car, and moving into an apartment. These are very big changes for me and contributors to stress. My old car crapped out on me so I had to lease, unfortunately. So, I'll start off with what I have to pay off. The beginning of the month include credit card payments and layaway payments while the end of the month, I pay student loans and my car payment. I have one credit card balance of $800, and the other is $1,400. I have a store card with about $600 on it as well. I just paid off my Macy's store card (needed a suit), so that's done and over with. My car payment is about $215/month and student loans $300/month. Both of these payments come out towards the end of the month or out of my second pay-check. I'll be moving into my apartment mid-June which will include a $200 deposit and $600/month rent. The only utility I'll be paying is electric. I forgot to mention that I spend about $100 towards the end of the month on my cell-phone bill. Additionally, I have about $1,500 in furniture on layaway. My income including OT averages anywhere from $900-$1,100 every two weeks. Now, I have a $1,700 tax refund on the way but $300 of that will go back towards a regional income tax and I have a $200 on a traffic ticket I need to pay this month as well. It wasn't for speeding, I made a right turn between certain hours but I wonder if I can go to court and fight it, hoping the officer doesn't show. Well, that all leaves me with about $1,400 I can spend towards whatever. I just got paid today ($985) and already spent $100 to close out my Macy's card, $200 on my one credit card to bring the balance down to about $1,600, and another $100 to bring my other card down to $800. I need to spend $300 on a piece of furniture for the new apartment (3-month financing) and need to spend another $100 on another piece of furniture in layaway. I'm hoping to earn at least $1,000 for my next paycheck and will have about $500 left to spend on bills and layaway or whatever else after my student loans and car payment comes out. I just need a solid plan to make all this manageable and I feel like I've certainly bit off more than I can chew here. I expect my SO to help with rent maybe $200 at a time, but I need to plan as if I'm not getting any help here whatsoever. I certainly appreciate any help I can get here. Thank you so so so so much!

It sounds very disordered, like you're keeping track of everything in your head. Write down all your debts in order of interest rate (eg): Card A - $600 @18.25% Card B - $1200 @22% Layaway purchase X - $800 @ 0.5% Use your real numbers. Then concentrate on paying the highest interest debt off first as that will save you $$ in the long run. Make minimum payments on everything else. Sometimes if you have a serious cash flow problem where it's difficult to even make your minimum payments then you could decide to use a windfall to pay off your smallest balance first, in order to free up $$ to pay towards your highest rate debt. Consider waiting to buy the furniture until your debt repayments are sorted. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor and eating off milk crates isn't fun but neither is being a wage slave.

$100 a month for cell phone is very high. Check out low cost options like Republic wireless. I put my mom on that and she pays $25 a month for all the data and calls she needs. Use publicly available wifi as much as possible, and only pay for what you need beyond that. I agree with others here - don't buy furniture. There's so much free stuff out there. Try https://www.freecycle.org. Pay off debt with that money instead. If you want furniture save up for it after paying off your credit cards, and then buy it *after* you've saved. All you really need right now is a mattress and a few free dressers or shelves.

Human: Leaving Canada soon. The exchange rate is finally around .80 CAD to 1.00 USD, but RBC still gets me for 1.30 to move my money south. Would it make sense to pull all my cash in CAD, close my account and exchange it elsewhere, or is this another unavoidable racket in the finacial industry? The amount is sizable enough not to feel the additional 10% deeply. Any direction/advice is appreciated.

Transferwise. Easy to use, great 'actual' market rates and low fees. I've moved GBP to USD this way for 18 months. No complaints.

I remember reading somewhere that the best way is ATM withdrawal in the foreign country, aka USA. Assuming your bank has a branch or affiliated ATMs, the fees will be substantially lower compared to other methods. Try searching google about it..

Human: I'm 20 years old, about to become 21 in nearly two weeks. I have a strong desire to pursue a medical degree. Is it worth the 500k+ debt I'll graduate with, 16 years later? Are employability rates for doctors on the rise? If so, how safely can we project they'll be at in years to come?

I would just *make sure* that you are willing to see this thing all the way through. About once every 2-3 months there's a post about someone who couldn't finish their degree that still owes ~500k. That can be pretty life-ruining without other options. The medical field is a good one, but just be prepared to finish what you start.

As far as I know, employment rates for doctors are pretty much 100% and will be for the foreseeable future. The hard part is the grueling training and enormous debts. There was a guy on this sub a few days ago who failed out after 3 years with $350,000 in student loans. Be absolutely sure you can complete the degree, and absolutely sure you want to be a doctor.

Human: Hi PF... Background info: 23, unmarried, and I live in the Bay Area. So, as the title says, I've spent almost $1,500 on food for the month of April. I am one human being, although I do sometimes pick up the tab for both myself and my boyfriend when we have dinner out (he does the same). My "food" (groceries + eating out) spending in Mint has been above $1,000 a month since December, but this is the worst month yet. Each month, I've set a goal of spending less on food; I've been failing every month so far. Obviously, I eat out a lot. I eat out for lunch nearly every day, which I try to keep as cheap as possible, but in San Francisco I struggle to keep it around $10/day. Sometimes it's worse, like $15-20. Obviously this is one huge area for potential savings. I even grab a bagel for breakfast around 3x a week... It's $2.75 every time. (I do adore bagels.) I'm also eating out for dinner a ton, ordering too much takeout... I signed up for Blue Apron, a service that basically sends you uncooked food with recipes, but the meals are $10/each and I get 6 in a box. Unfortunately, it's set up so it's three two-person meals, so I often prepare them with the boyfriend or my roommate, making it basically $20/meal for me. I think I need to ditch this, even though it does help me cook more. (I've been doing this 1-3 a month, not weekly.) I do cook some, but groceries are so expensive here! I don't have a car, or a large freezer, so I feel like I can't really do a big Costco run and set myself up for awhile. Luckily I do live really close to grocery stores, so I've been thinking I need to wait for a meat sale and stock up at least a little. I need a kick in the butt to help me fix this. I know this is absurd, and I'm really hoping to hear advice from people who've been in a similar situation - single and needing to rein in an out-of-control food budget in a high CoL area. The social aspect: it's super easy to fall into the trap of eating out all the time, especially when you're doing it to socialize with people. I eat dinner out with my boyfriend and friends, and often eat lunch with co-workers. It seems as though everyone I work with eats out every day too. Only a few bring things from home. The good news: I have no consumer debt, contribute 12% of my income to my 401k, and have been aggressively building up an emergency fund, as well as paying on all my student loans and paying rent and all that. I'm not financially destitute because of this... yet. I'd much rather cut this down to $800 and have the extra money to put towards savings/loan payments. **Tl;dr:** The title, basically. Yes, I eat out a crazy amount. Multiple times a day. Especially hoping to get advice from people who've been in this situation! **Edit:** Er, wow. I'm really blown away by all the thoughtful and helpful responses. I wanted to post this to get an outside perspective and the push I needed to start fixing this, and I definitely got that, as well as some really good strategies for starting this process. I'm hoping to see a significant reduction in this number for May. Here's my plan: Breakfast: One breakfast out a week. Otherwise, I need to just eat a granola bar or toast my own bagel in the mornings. Lunch: Two lunches out per week, three from leftovers from dinners I'll cook. Dinner: Two dinners out per week, probably on the weekends. Otherwise, cook. I think that's do-able to begin with, but should still be a huge reduction in eating out/total food spending. I'm also doing a lot of research into meal planning, thanks to all the great links to other sites and subreddits. Thank you for those! I know how to cook, but I definitely don't know how to meal plan to minimize waste and money spent, so that'll be a huge focus too.

Incredibly easy to fix. Do not bother with Blue Apron. If you live close to a grocery store and don't have the ability to carry more than a few bags, go a couple times a week. /r/eatcheapandhealthy /r/slowcooking Re: breakfast - if you want to eat a bagel, buy a bag of bagels (say that 3x fast)

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-Self%E2%80%90Control

Human: [Original Post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/301lwy/170k_in_student_loan_debt_im_not_a_doctor_lawyer/) Here's my one year update for ya'll! Please see my original post for budget and loan details. I'm excited to say I'll be making the final payment on the private student loan (Navient) with the highest interest rate TODAY! **I DON'T HAVE THE WORDS TO DESCRIBE MY EXCITEMENT** In fact, I'm so close to crying (happy tears!) while writing this... The principal amount in 2008 was $7,350.00. At 8.5 interest it ballooned to just under $9000 last year (despite having made payments since 2012). At the recommendation of you fine Redditors, I started the avalanche method to all my private loans last year. This method allowed me to make more than double the minimum payment on the Navient loan. The last three months I've put more than 4x the payment towards it plus my tax refund. Literally--every penny I could! And with the help of my super-super supportive partner, we're paying it off entirely TODAY!!! Additionally, my partner and I decided to move out of our expensive apartment and move in with SO's parents to REALLY tackle my private student loan debt. Our goal is to pay off the remainder of my private loans in the next two years, which will be roughly $60k. It's a lofty goal, but we're motivated!! We will essentially live off one income and the other income will be applied to the private loans. Our first focus will be the Chase loan at $35k with an 8.25% interest rate. My parents have also offered to help which will hopefully speed up that two years :) Thank you SO MUCH r/personalfinance for your guidance and support. Despite the amount of debt, I truly feel IN CONTROL. I also think it's important to emphasize that I'm not doing this alone. Without my partner I would not be able to make this much progress. I am very aware that my situation is not the norm and know that many out there are not as lucky. TLDR: I currently have a little over $160k in private and federal student loan debt. I'm paying off one of my private loans TODAY! And I've developed a new goal to pay off nearly $60k in TWO YEARS.

My SO left college with 150k and a nurse job. Her interest rates were at 11 percent. It took more than a year for her to consolidate with a lot of pleading by me. Most are at 7 percent now with consolidation. She still has 1 at 11percent that I loaned her a few thousand to pay down a little. The student debt life is crazy. We can afford to live but limited funds for anything fun let alone getting a house anytime soon.

what a disastrous post

Human: So last year I incurred a massive amount of personal/medical debt, as well as this year. Most of it is money other people owe me, whom I loaned to with good intentions and promises to be paid back (never happened). I had no choice but to buy my first car last year when me and an ex were splitting up so I could take myself places. Anyway, here is my debt: Various medical: $7,928.92 Student loan: $4,678.13 Car: $26,626.00 Credit Card: $6,213.00 All-in-all almost $45,000.00 in various debts, I was living with my new gf in her mothers house to save money on rent and bills to pay it down. I was recently (forcibly) relocated and my costs of living have increased exponentially once again. My total monthly expenses exceed what I make monthly by a few hundred bucks, at least. around $1,800.00/mnth after taxes, my total bills amount to more like $2,000-$2,200 and some change, which leaves me in the red. The worst part is my income fluctuates with my job based on some confusing bonus survey bullshit and attendance. Anyway, I've been considering bankruptcy or selling my car, but wouldn't I still be responsible for the loan? I can barely afford rent, I won't be able to afford anything else until I get paid again, on top of late fees and interest, due to all the work I've missed from having to move around so much from bad roommate experiences, breakups, living out of my car off-and-on, etc. I've had to move 4 times in the past year, and missing a lot of money because of it. How can I cut down my expenses or make more income. I've been trying to drive Uber, but they're threating to pull my contract due to "low ratings" and I don't understand why. Assistant: Or would anyone happen to have any advice on going after 2 former room mates and an ex-gf for money owed to you for personal reasons when they now live several states away?

Your time will be better used working to earn money than going after them for it.

You're never getting it back, you need to move on.

Human: So I'm 18 (student) and I'm from a poor family. We don't receive welfare, but we just get by. I was qualified for the Pell Grant and I got more than $4,500. Which more than covers my semester at school ( I go to a technical college. It costs $1,700 this semester.) Of course I told my parents how much I got, and my mother said that I will pay her $1,200 because of my books and gas to drive there everyday. I was already going to give here $400 for my books. I don't think that I should give her the $1,200 ( my parents are not good with money and they will just waste it). I would use the money for my next few semesters, gas, and trying to move out. I tried to explain this to them. They tried to say that I owe them at least $2,200 in total and that I'm getting a deal to only pay $1,200. I want to keep the money hidden but it's almost impossible that they will forget about it... What should I do? TL;DR: I got $4500, school -$1700, parents want $2200 (they are irresponsible with $). I want to use it for more school/gas/moving. Trying to guilt me to think I owe more. Assistant: Stop telling your parents how much money you have. It almost never leads to anything good, whether it's them asking you to pay them $1200 or saying "I know how much you make, you can/can't afford x" Human: I realize now not to tell them how much I got but hindsight is 20/20

Remember, never again. Not many things breed more problems than being the highest earner in your family. I would only ever talk about money with people who have a verifiable amount much more than you do.

wise words from an 18 year old.

Human: Title states the situation -- My wife and I have a combined $275K in student debt (no other debt) from 13 years of total school (both did a masters). Fortunately, I just graduated and our combined income will be $250K. **Here's my ask: Critique by monthly financial plan. Are there considerations I'm not thinking through?** First, some background information: * Weighted average interest on student loans is 5.7%. Small range (5-6%). 60% private, 40% federal. I believe I can refinance most of my loans and get an average weighted rate of 4.5%. That's the assumption I'm using for my plan, though I don't think that changes my plan. * ~$13,000 in take home pay after taxes/deductions. Expected to grow ~10% per year (both are in stable professions) * $5,500/mo in expenses. We live in one of the most expensive cities in the US. We live nicely, but definitely nothing extravagant. Over the last year, we've been able to stick to this budget. We feel comfortable with what we're spending each month, so don't want the discussion to be around reducing expenses. * $80K in retirement accts, $5K in investment accounts, $20K in emergency fund * My personal disposition/goals: I'm irrational about debt. My natural inclination is to put every penny we have towards it (even empty out our retirement accounts to pay it off). However, I'm optimizing around building long-term wealth, and I know putting every cent towards the debt isn’t the way to go. **So, how should I manage the $7,500 in disposable income remaining? Here are my thoughts, let me know yours** * **1. Pay $3,000/mo for loan minimums.** Not sure what the actual amount will be since the loan payments haven’t started yet, but this is probably ballpark. * **2. Pay $900/mo in 401k contributions to get company matches.** Our companies match up to 6%. The actual contribution will be higher, but since 401k is pre-tax, our take home pay will be reduced by $900. * **2a. Put remaining $3,600/mo into emergency fund, until it goes from $20k to $30k.** This is 3.5 months of expenses + minimum loan payments. **Placing money into emergency fund will be only for 3 months, which is how long it’ll take us to put in the extra $10k.** Then, after the emergency fund is fully funded, and we have $3,600/mo remaining: * **3. Put $900/mo in Roth IRA (via backdoor approach) to get to $11K combined cap.** * **4. Place $1,500/mo aside in high yield savings account for investment opportunities.** Many in my network are savvy (and wealthy) investors who would be willing to let me invest with them, even with relatively small amounts (say $20K). The question of course, is if I believe they can beat a 5% return (Rate on my loans). I’m comfortable betting that they can, but not sure if I want to invest more than $1,500/mo given our high debt balance * **5. Use remaining $1,200/mo to pay down highest interest student loan** **What do you guys think about this plan? What am I not thinking about? What are my blind spots** Thanks everyone!

Your plan is close to the flow chart that was recently posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/4gdlu9/how_to_prioritize_spending_your_money_a_flowchart/ http://i.imgur.com/1rPEkGQ.jpg The big exception being that you're prioritizing Roth IRA over paying extra towards student loans, which I don't think is a bad idea since you can't "back contribute" to past year's Roth IRA, and you're not drowning in debt (yes, it's an enormous amount, but your income is very high as well). The other big exception is this: > 4. Place $1,500/mo aside in high yield savings account for investment opportunities. Many in my network are savvy (and wealthy) investors who would be willing to let me invest with them, even with relatively small amounts (say $20K). The question of course, is if I believe they can beat a 5% return (Rate on my loans). I’m comfortable betting that they can, but not sure if I want to invest more than $1,500/mo given our high debt balance This just sounds like a bad idea altogether. I certainly wouldn't forgo paying down 4-6% interest debt over this, and I would strongly suggest not doing this at all.

Please read the information found in the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index), particularly ["I Have $[X] ... What Do I Do With It?!"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics). You may find [Your IRA and You: Basic Information](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/iras) and [Your 401k and You: Basic Information](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k) worth a read as well.

Human: I'm so tired of suddenly taking a 75 point hit to my credit retort for a bill they say wad never paid, but totally wss (and I have the paperwork to back it up). They say it's automatic and erroneous. It's ruining my life. I've never missed a bill for anything ever. This has happened three times so far.

https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us This. Your best friend. Amazing how fast they will respond at risk of a big old FCC fine. They are required by law to respond and remedy within a few days.

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Human: Finance noobie here. I'm a 21 year old about to be a senior in college. I posted this a few days ago but left out some important information which lead to some people making some very ignorant assumptions about me. So I wanted to write it over and repost. I have barely any money to my name but also not many expenses as my parents have so generously payed for a lot of my food/gas/some of my college/ect. The money I make I am pretty much free to spend how I want. My plan is to move in with my boyfriend once I graduate college. I will graduate in May 2017, so I have roughly a year to save money up. I currently work 20 hours a week at a minimum wage job. This summer, I am getting certified in personal training and have an almost guaranteed part time job in that come August. I will be a fitness class instructor 3x per week and each class pays $85. I will work both jobs during my senior year. I am well aware college is not needed for PT. unfortunately it wasn't until recently I realized this was my true passion, and I'm not gonna drop out of school with less than 25 credits to go. I refuse to give up my happiness and passion just to work in my degree and make my debt somehow more "worth it". So if you intended to comment that, please just leave this post now. Anyway, it is my goal to save 80% of my paycheck to put towards rent/utilizes/security deposit. I hope to over the next year, save at least 6 months worth of rent. The only sucky part of my situation is I will be graduating with about 60k in student loan debt (25k will be in my name, the rest will be in the form of a parent plus loan that my dad took out but I promised to pay it since he was generous enough to do it). Yes, I'm well aware I could have gone to a state school and saved money. I wanted to be close to home and there is only 2 state schools near me. One I didn't get into and the other didn't have my major. I will never regret my decision to do this, for many reasons, but mostly because I got to spend quality time with my grandpa before he unexpectedly died. Anyway, my grandma has hinted that she would pay my portion of the loans as a graduation gift meaning I would only have to worry about paying my dad back (35k or so). I have no other debts. This will be my first time on my own and I really want to be prepared. For the time being, it will be only me saving as my boyfriend is about to have major surgery and won't be able to work for at least a few more months. I guess I'm just looking for advice in general when you have no money and are about to be on your own! What do you wish you had known before being on your own? If it helps, we will probably be living in the Washington D.C. Area (Maryland). I have looked online and have already found numerous affordable apartments especially considering the rent would be split.

Some things I wish I had known before being on my own for the first time... Get a credit card in your name if you don't already have one and build credit history. The older the credit account with a high limit and no debt, the better it will impact your credit score. Learn about the things that can positively and negatively impact your credit score. There are things you can do to improve your credit over a short time and having better credit will serve you well in your early years, especially when you start to think about buying a house or a new car in your twenties. Frugality is a habit. Simple things like turning off lights, fixing a running toilet, and buying store brands will add up over time and build good habits. Many people learn to be frugal after they've gotten themselves into debt and need to scrimp to save money. Start building those good habits early and you won't have to shift gears later to 'rescue' yourself. Keep a budget for all of your spending. Something that lets you look back and analyze your recent spending habits. There are a host of free and cheap sites and apps for this. It's easy and will quickly become one of the good habits you need to be successful in life. Never let a month go by without depositing money in your savings account. No excuses. Even if you took money out of your savings to cover something, find some cash to deposit that month. One thousand dollars, one hundred dollars, five dollars, it doesn't matter. Always deposit SOMETHING. Lastly, learn when it is appropriate to spend money. Maintenance on your car is important. A full service oil change might be pricey and when money's tight, it can be hard to justify it. Mechanical repairs cost more and the car won't last as long if not cared for. Things break and need to be fixed, but often times you can spend pennies on the dollar up front to maintain something before it breaks and becomes a problem. Good luck in you future endeavors. May the fitness gods spoil you with happy clients and full schedules.

No one is entitled to anything, no one is above anything. By this I mean eat cheap food, buy cheap clothes, etc. etc. Material possessions are fleeting and hollow. Spend your money on things that matter.

Human: At 28, I've never questioned it really, but I've heard it here and there that some people may take a technical cut in pay for better benefits. My questions is, how is one supposed to calculate it?

Math. You can find out what percentage of your health premiums is covered by your employer, and multiply the dollar amount per pay period times the number of pay periods in a given year. Assuming full-time employment, you can multiply the hourly rate times eight for each vacation/sick leave day. Assuming contributions up to the match for a 401(k) plan, apply the match percentage to your annual salary. Add all similar things up, and that's your annual benefits package. Divide by 2080 for the hourly comparison.

Depends on what benefits you're looking for. If you medical conditions that require expensive treatment yearly, some people will take a pay cut for better health insurance. Some people appreciate flexibility so making slightly less money to be able to come and go as you please is another reason. Some of these are quantifiable and others are totally based on what's important to the employee.

Human: Exactly what it says in the title ! Thank you !!

The correct site is annualcreditreport.com. It will not show you your FICO credit score, you will have to pay for that.

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Human: I was wondering if it was a good idea to pay someone to manage my 401k. I was reading that it can be both good and bad, but I want an easy to understand view of either side. I do not have much experience in investing so I thought I'd start here. Thanks for your help!

Almost certainly a waste of money, pick a diversified low-cost target date fund instead.

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Human: Hey guys, I've never posted in the sub Reddit, but I have seen the, fast, in depth and practical advice you guys have given to others in the past and I could definitely use that right now. We don't know what to do. Long story short. A man who said he was my attorney called my grandmother saying I had been arrested in another state and needed a LARGE sum of money as bail. So of course she did everything she could to pull the money together and wired over the funds, but it's now after having talked to the rest of the family and finding out I was alright did she realized just how far the wool had been pulled over her eyes. As it stands now she's in deep financial trouble, is an emotional wreck, and neither of us have any idea of how to proceed. If you guys have any advice or steps we could take to hopefully get the money back or save her from financial ruin it would be greatly appreciated. TL;DR My grandma is out a huge sum of money do to a scumbag convincing her to wire funds to bail me out of jail (I was not arrested or in jail) now in financial ruin

Contact your bank and your local police department. But to be blunt... the money is likely not going to be recovered.

Getting the money back? Not something you should get your hope (or grandma's) up about. Saving her from financial ruin? We would need more information about her current financial situation: income, debt, savings.

Human: I'm looking for a way out of a constant cycle of debt. It feels like I'm constantly finding myself under a huge amount of debt, then I get out and start saving and then constantly end up back where I was. I make a good salary about $120K/year. My husband makes $70K/year. We own our home and have a manageable mortgage. And one child who's child care costs are $25K/year. Right now we have $15K in debt and my husband wants me to cash out some bonds I have equaling $20K to get us back on top. I'm hesitant to cash them out because they are my emergency funds and knowing that we have a history of getting ourselves out and then back in I don't want to get rid of what I consider my insurance policy. I inherited about $20K last year and we used that money to pay off our debts and here we are back in the same place. Sorry for the ramble. I just want to find a way out of this constant cycle. Assistant: > I inherited about $20K last year and we used that money to pay off our debts and here we are back in the same place. You need to figure out how, with a combined $190k income, you can fall into 20k worth of debt within one year. Then... stop doing those things. Human: The problem is that I am an independent contractor so although my yearly salary is high I often go months without income at all. So during those times of no incoming money the cards help tide us over and then we are left here.

Stop spending every dollar you earn the minute you earn it. Since you have a good idea what your yearly income is, divide that amount by 12, and use that figure as your monthly income (less whatever taxes you need to pay for being self employed.) Months where you earn more than this, goes into savings. Months where you earn less, you withdraw from savings to make up the shortfall.

> The problem is that I am an independent contractor so although my yearly salary is high I often go months without income at all. During those times of no income you spend some of the money you **put away while you were earning it** on essentials. > So during those times of no incoming money the cards help tide us over and then we are left here. The cards don't help you at all, they just trick you into feeling like you can keep living in boon months with no income. If you make $15k in 1 month but it takes 2 or 3 to make that again you need to spend $5K or less each month. They way you're living is unsustainable and no matter how much income you earn you'll never get out of the cycle until you learn some impulse control and how to budget.

Human: Okay, I know this is probably a stupid question to ask on a finance thread because I know what everyone is going to say but here we go. Up until today, I was 100% sure I was going to go to University of Miami. Which, of course, is quite expensive. According to my calculations, after my scholarship and financial aid, it'll cost me $30,000 per year (including textbooks/random necessities for moving). Now, my parents are able to pay $15,000 of that each year, and I currently have $2,000 saved up. I am also working two jobs, and will be able to earn at least another $8,000 before I leave. That brings it down to about $5,000 in debt for the first year. I also plan on doing a work study program the whole time I'm there. I'm confident that I will be able to handle the costs. It's also the college I've been dreaming about for years. Today I discovered that I am also able to go to University of Texas at Dallas. For free. As in, I will get complete coverage of tuition and fees, a $4,000 cash stipend per semester to spend on whatever textbooks or other necessities, $1,500 towards on-campus housing, and a one-time $6,000 study abroad stipend. One catch, I have to officially choose this school by Sunday. I have visited UTD and I don't hate it by any means, but it's not quite what I'd been hoping for. Anyway, I'm not asking for someone to make a decision for me. It's more of, I wanna hear people's experience with student loans and is it ever worth it? I mean, is the debt really manageable or am I just fooling myself? I know that on paper, utd is the obvious choice but I also know how perfect miami seems. Anyway, what do you think?

I would pick Dallas in a heartbeat. Literally getting paid to go to school is a crapload better than going into eyeballs deep debt to go to school.

It really depends on your field of study. If you are pursuing a lucrative field like money printing or gold mining (i don't know what's big now) then i guess you could go to Miami. I only had $8000 in student loans 10 years ago and i still have 3k left(computer graphics, never finished) but if your passion is German polka history or majoring in English I'd take the full ride. It may help to shrink it down, say you LOVE McDonald's, would you turn down a free Whataburger, to borrow money to buy a mcdouble?

Human: Thoughts on this study? *Should* millennials be worried about growth rates affecting their retirement savings or this just doom and gloom? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-27/be-afraid-be-very-afraid-if-you-re-investing-for-the-long-run?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

> Should millennials be worried about growth rates affecting their retirement savings or this just doom and gloom? What good is worrying going to do them? [Focus on what you can control](https://redd.it/2a2zn1) instead of worrying about what you can't. Returns aren't something you can control.

Yes, millennials should be factoring in growth, or negative rates in their financial decisions. Simply put, you will need more money set aside in order to retire, if to retire at all. If we have negative growth, and deflation, part of the challenge will be holding onto money in an as-is state, since inflation won't be eroding the value of the money. Whether there is NIRP or ZIRP makes a big difference for savings, as compared to high positive rates.

Human: I graduated from uni (BA/MA) without any debt (I had a full scholarship) and went into a PhD program where I made about 30k/year, which I basically completely spent because I live in NYC and the cost of living is ridiculous. I was living very frugally, too. In september, I'm starting a 60k/year job (probably) without any debt, but I have no savings, I own no property/car/etc. My SO has no savings (or debt) either (but he is younger) and makes enough to cover his portion of the rent/expenses. How screwed are we? How could we possibly think of starting a family - would that be irresponsible? We live a simple but good life right now but we would like to have children in the near future.

A lot of people without the benefit of a graduate degree don't get to a zero net worth until they are 30. You're fine.

LOL, you're ahead of the wide majority of the population by not being in debt. You aren't screwed at all, rather you're in a wonderful position to steamroll ahead. Get to it.

Human: Ok, a little back story here since I don't know all the facts. Just had a discussion with my fiancé and it came up that she put all the outstanding student loan debt from her Physician Assistant program on her credit cards to pay off the student loans. Problem is, she still has that debt, only it's in the form of credit card debt. When I asked about this, she said the credit card rate was lower than her student loan rate so she put it on there instead of keeping it outstanding as a student loan. I am very suspicious of her financial logic here, especially since she told me at one point to not pay any of the fees my apartment complex charged me for breaking my lease and to take the hit on my credit and let them try to send it to collections. To me, this all seems really irresponsible, as she said she does take a hit on her credit score for the outstanding credit card debt. Also, I know of NO credit card that I is less than the 6.2% APR student loan that I still have, my lowest credit card is 17%! I am wondering if perhaps she looked at the minimum payments for the credit cards and saw that it would be lower than the minimum payment for the student loans and thought this would be a better option. My question is twofold here, first if this can be a better option (like if there is another fee schedule for long term payments that I am not seeing) and second if not how can I convince her that it isn't?

Oh boy. Oh boy. In theory, transferring balances to a lower rate is the optimal strategy. You're refinancing at a lower rate to pay less overall interest. Introductory rates are just that, once the promotional time is gone, the interest rate will explode. Odds are her loans will not be paid in full by then, and she will owe a lot more. Factor in the anecdote about your rental company, and one might conclude that she sees non-payment as a legitimate strategy. And if that is the case, that goes beyond finances and into character, and you should ask yourself some hard questions about the future, because trying to change people is a losing proposition.

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Human: The short of it is I went to Bank of the West to take out some money, and the lady asked if I wanted to build credit by getting a credit card. I decided why not and allowed a deposit of $300. I"ve never needed a credit card and I don't have any debts because I have plenty of money in my savings and I only spend $50-$250 a month unless I have to buy books for college. It has approximately a 21% APR which scares/confuses me and a $25 annual fee. Anything online about credit cards is just scaring me and talking about "paying off your balance," Questions: 1) If I dont ever use it, I most likely will only pay $25 annually correct? 2) If I dont use it, should I just cancel it 3) I am considering using it for gas and small buys. Will this credit card make me pay more? 4) Can I even USE this account? I remember the lady saying the money would be locked or something

They will not be automatically taking the money from your account to pay it off *unless* you set up autopay to do so (which you should be able to do from your online account center). To build credit, just use it for a couple small things every month and pay the **statement balance off in full every month** and you'll be good to go. The $25 annual fee isn't terrible. It's not great, but it's not the worst. If you don't use it, it'll be $25/year -- BUT a lot of cards get closed due to inactivity so you'd have to use it every now and then to make sure it stays open. If you don't want it, you can cancel it and get your money back from the security deposit.

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Human: So, I handed in my resignation for a job and my last day was the 27th February. I received a wage at the end of March for £860, which is a little more than half of my usual wages. I figured this would be due to holiday entitlement, commission earned and general adjustments from work done in lieu and that it would be my final wage. About two weeks ago, I received a letter from my previous employers saying that my resignation had been accepted and that they would pay me up until the 2nd April. Fair enough. Today, I checked my bank balance and they have paid me £1300...which is essentially a full months wage, of which I worked none of. What should I do? Should I tell my previous employer that I think they have over paid me? Or am I working out something wrong? Or should I keep quiet? Edit: I realise they have said they will pay me until the 2nd April, however if someone on their end made a cock up, could they still ask for it back? They have essentially given me a months free wage?! Help!

Did you by chance have vacation time and that is why they paid you for the month you didn't work? I would say take the money and just toss it into savings. If they ask for it back you have it, if they don't you have some extra emergency money.

Your rights? What about your integrity? Contact them, find out what it is for. You'll likely find out its legitimate and get to keep it. If not, be an adult and return the overpayment.

Human: Three friends and I are planning a trip at the beginning of July and were looking into accommodations. All four of us are college students. We were originally looking into more affordable options like AirBNB, but the father of one friend was very insistent that for the friend's safety, they had to stay in a hotel. The friend relayed to the other three of us that their father would use his frequent flyer miles to get a discount/pay for a portion of the hotel fees (they were not very clear on which at the time), so a hotel would not be out of range for us. I raised my concerns about cost several times. Yesterday, they told the rest of us that their father had booked the hotel without their knowledge, paying for it entirely in frequent flyer miles, and now wanted each of us to pay 25% (697USD) of the cost in the equivalent dollar amount and are claiming that because it was payed for in this manner, the miles could not be refunded. This all seems extremely fishy to me, and I doubt I need to explain that I don't have the money for sudden and enormous expense like this. There was no written or verbal agreement, but at the same time, I'm concerned that if I back out, I'll be leaving my friends in a huge lurch. I'm pretty sure he can't have the money collected, but if the three of us back out, I'm concerned he'll be charging his own child upwards of $2000, as they do not seem to be on good terms.

Tell your friend's dad to pound sand. He's trying to use his kid and kid's friends to convert his miles to cash. He's a dickhead.

LA? Beginning of July? 5 nights? are you going to Anime Expo?

Human: I am 18M, and I have been suffering from depression for around a year now. And approximately a month ago, I was feeling suicidal, I told my friends good bye, and was prepared to leave. One of my friends however called the cops, and I was pressured by the police to be sent to the temporary psychiatry facility. There, I wasnt given any medication, or treatment. They held me in captive, and released me after a brief interview with the doctor. They did not tell me anything regarding payment, or finances. Ever since my stay, I have lost all motivation, and just living my life because I can't die. Today, I received a letter from the county medical system. They are chraging $2,524. I am a high school student who was pressured by an officer to go to a psych ward, where all my freedom was taken from me. Now they are charging me $2,524. I have no money, and I dont know what to do. The bill does not contain any information regarding the treatment. I dont even know what I am paying for. Its a piece of paper telling me I owe $2500, and asking me for my card number.

Do you not have insurance? It's required by law. All medical debt is negotiable. If you have no assets and can demonstrate that you have no assets then they will probably take whatever you throw at them.

I don't know about your county medical system but mine (I live in California) has an ability to pay program, and if you talk to their financial counselors and can verify you don't have any income you may not have to pay anything or pay very little of the bill. Do you have any health insurance coverage from your parents?

Human: I'm making about $100 a day cash from a small crafts business run out of my house. I'm depositing the money into my personal checking account nightly, for about $100 a day cash. I know there are laws put in place to prevent fraud and money laundering. If I continue on this path of depositing $100 a day, will I get a notice saying what are you doing?

No, but expect to owe taxes.

I have no idea since it's a personal account, but it may be worth creating an LLC and a separate business bank account so you're not commingling funds. Unless you don't care if you're held financially and personally/legally accountable for everything dealing with the production and sale of your craft goods. It's very common for retail companies to make daily deposits - think about your local fast food place; they go drop off a bag of cash every morning.

Human: 2003 Camry engine w 130k miles blew (locked) the other day. It was paid off. Wife has paid off 2002 Accord. She's pregnant w or first. 10k emergency fund. We both have excellent credit & little debt (except mortgage- 100k remaining at 3.85%). Oh yeah, we were also thinking of adding on to our small house. Car was worth about 3.5k (maybe more cuz rims). Thanks to a friend I could get engine & labor for $2400ish. What's your take, Reddit?! Edit: everyone's focused on the problem & not the solution. Yes, a young Camry's engine died way too early. I was due for a change but not overdue- I always get full synthetic oil changes. There was a leak and the damn light did not go on (although it flickered once). Not that that's said, can we move on to the advice?

fix the engine and take better care of your vehicle. 130k engine total on a camry? you clearly didn't maintain it well. Also, take the damn rims off your car you're going to be a father.

If you blew the motor in a Camry you're doing something wrong OP. I'd probably replace it due to overall age but that's just me.

Human: Hi all. I have about 12k in cc debt and about 60k in liquid savings. I lost my job a month ago and prospects/the market is not looking good. My Wife pulls in about 5k a month and we have a 4 month old. Between my savings and her income we can cover our expenses and anything that pops up with the kid. Should I dip into my savings and pay off the cc debt? I pay about 150 per month in fees. The way I see it is i would rather stop using the card and pay it off slowly so I can have liquidity in case of emergencies. Other people say it's better to stop using the card and pay off the balance. What are your thoughts?

Pay off the credit card. You're losing money keeping it. If you even exhaust the $48K left, you'll still have the credit limit for another "emergency fund." Of course, you're not supposed to use credit cards as emergency funds, but you still have that $48K in savings. You could also do a credit card balance transfer. Chase Slate * 0% transfer fee * 0% APR for 15 months Citi Simplicity or Diamond Preferred * 3% transfer fee * 0% APR for 21 months BankAmericard by Bank of America * 3% transfer fee * 0% APR for 18 months Slowly pay off your credit card using your savings all while you look for a job. Don't add more debt to the credit cards. If you were able to transfer $12K with a 3% fee, you'll have $12,360 in debt transferred. Do your math to ensure you pay off your debt by the end of the promotional period.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [What's the best way to pay down my debt?](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt#wiki_what.27s_the_best_way_to_pay_down_my_debt.3F) - [Dealing with collections](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/collections) - [Credit repair](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building#wiki_i_have_bad_credit.2C_and_i_am_looking_to_repair_it.) *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: Going to need something like a root canal, and they say don't delay, though there's no possible way I can afford a dentist at this point. I'm also looking for a part-time job at the moment. Are the costs of getting it done at dental schools very low or still somewhat expensive? I'd like to deal with this before it turns really bad

Some colleges have dental/medical coverage available or already a part of students' tuition. Check with the medical office at your school. In any case, yes, dental schools are generally much lower, but I'm not familiar with their root canal costs. Good luck, and good on you for dealing with it as needed.

I went to a dental school before lol I believe it was free of charge for cavity, my gf was going there after us drinking lol

Human: And I was wondering if this counts as a credit inquiry, like when buying a car?

because they want to know whether or not they can give you the phone for free, and let you make payments on it, or whether they need to get a large down payment from you.

Because you are financing a phone.

Human: He no longer qualifies for a pension because of this apparently, and now needs to figure out for to live off this money for the rest of his life, possibly pay for aged care and is already facing some painful and probably expensive surgery in the next couple of years. I kind of hate that this man who worked his arse off his whole life can't get the pension, when I know of people who own 2-3 houses and still manage to collect. What should he do?

Hi. You might also try /r/AusFinance

However many official tries he and your mother had to conceive you, he gives you 25 grand on the account that he wasted lives of your sibling sperm and hastened your ascension to venerable leader of the planet

Human: My husband and I are disabled and under 45 years of age. My husband is on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and medicaid insurance. I am slightly different, I paid in taxes through working so I'm on Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) benefits and Medicare + Medicaid Insurance. Also, we are on SNAP benefits. What happens to our benefits if my husband's family leaves him and only him an inheritance of over 10k? Do we both lose all our medical coverage as well as our SSI and my SSDI payments? Is there a limit to how much money we can have if we give up all the supplemental income and benefits? Can we keep the SSDI income from me? Help?????? Calling Social Security can be a nightmare to get a same answer twice. Any advice?

SSDI will not be affected. SSI could be, it depends on the amount of money you are talking about. http://www.disability-benefits-help.org/blog/inheritance-ssdi If it was affected, you have some options: "Keeping Eligibility You may be able to keep your inheritance and still retain eligibility for SSI even if the amount of the inheritance would otherwise put you over the statutory limit of $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples, by setting up a special needs trust. Money in special needs trusts, which is managed by a trustee rather than being managed by you as the SSI recipient, can be spent only for specific purposes so the Social Security Administration may not count that money as part of your resources. You can also ask to be disinherited from the estate or to have someone else inherit your share instead, but this means that you'll never receive the inheritance." http://info.legalzoom.com/ssi-inheritance-23351.html

Howdy. U/yes_its_him is right. Let's go through the program's so you understand what they're for and why you might lose entitlement to them. SSI is Supplemental SECURITY Income. This exists so you don't starve to death. Seriously. So if you come into 10k in inheritance the government is reasonably assured you won't starve to death. You will most likely lose SSI income. As said, there are some trust maneuvers you can look into but you may need the money more immediately. If you get 10k... Spend 7k on needed home repairs or car maintenance or what not, you could become eligible again for SSI. SSDI (we just call it "disability") is an insurance policy you purchased from all the withholding from all the paychecks youve ever earned. Think of it a little like a car insurance policy. You get in a accident the insurance company doesn't say "well we see you can afford these repairs on your own... So we're not paying". That doesn't happen. you bought the policy saying they would repair the car regardless of whether you have cash in the bank or not. Same with disability. You bought a disability policy. As long as you're disabled you're going to receive your disability check. If you start working again or medically improve then you no longer meet the disability policy requirements and lose the disability. But no where on there does it say "if you have savings you don't get disability". You should be on Medicare which you won't lose with 10k in the bank. Again this is a insurance policy not a "keeping you from starving" program like SSI. Medicaid which I assume your husband has, he might lose. That's the "keeping you from starving". You have to be low income to get it. Each state has different requirements to stay on or lose Medicaid. Let me know if you have any questions

Human: I am 27 years old and have had terrible credit since the age of 18. I have about 2-3k in debt that has been hanging over my head since I was 18 all of it being dumb stuff like medical bills, utilities bills. None of it was for a credit card. As of 2 months ago I started checking credit karma and finally committed to a 200$ secured card. Instantly my credit jumped 70 points to around 580. I put a 70$ purchase on the card and decided to pay that off over the next few months. A month later at Kohls I got talked into applying for a kohls card which I have done previously to get a 25% discount and somehow got approved for $200 which I never imagined would happen. I decided to do the same thing on this card and keep it at 70$ and pay it off the next few months. I am now on month 2 of having 2 lines of credit and opted into applying for an Amazon Visa Rewards at checkout and somehow got approved for $2,000. This is blowing my mind because the last 10 years of my life iv gotten rejected for every line of credit iv applied for. Did I shoot myself in the foot getting 3 lines so quick ? Should I keep all three open with a small balance on each one ? **TLDR; I have always had bad credit and always get rejected on credit applications. Now Iv gotten 3 lines of credit in 2 months. Did I mess up?**

Stop worrying about your credit score. If you are paying your bills off **in full, every month, no exceptions** by the statement due date you will be fine. Your score was already so low it doesn't even matter.

Don't carry a balance. Everything else you've done is fine except this fact.

Human: I have a great job in my field (genetic counselling) after 7 years of college. American citizen living in the UK. Am coming up to 6 months working and feel like I'm seriously treading water and can't see an end. My financial quality of life is worse than when I was a student and I can't see out. Loan summary (all federal student loans, mix of under and post-grad): * 1-01, 7,774.11 @ 6.55% * 1-02, 4,484.22 @ 5.75% * 1-03, 4,473.78 @ 4.25% * 1-04, 8,186.10 @ 6.55% * 1-05, 1,606.08 @ 6.55% * 1-06, PAID (was originally 2,000 at 6.8%) * 1-07, 8,982.05 @ 6.55% * 1-08, 22,913.78 @ 5.16% * 1-09, 20,747.37 @6.16% * 1-10, 22,014.42 @ 5.96% * 1-11, 24,309.36 @ 6.96% My minimum monthly payment is $846.73. Last month I paid $1054.80. I had tried the avalanche method for about two months, but it made me so anxious that I started the snowball method. I have only been in proper repayment two months, and have been making payments before my loans were due for about 7 months total. I just looked at my "payment summary," and only $22.15 of the minimum $846.73 went to the principal. It makes me feel like the biggest turd in the world and I have no idea how it can possibly get better. I'm on a mix of standard and graduated repayment plans. In 2020ish I'm going to be paying $2400 a month, which seems impossible. Monthly income after tax: $2700 ($300 goes to employer matched pension plan) Monthly expenses: * Student loans: $1000 (roughly) * Rent: $750 including bills/utilities (I live in London, UK) * Cell phone: $36 * Emergency Savings: $200 (Have just over $1000) * Transport: $75ish (I spend $20 on a "cycle to work" scheme, the rest is going in and out of the city, buses on rainy days) * Food and socializing: $300 (make own lunch at work, don't buy coffee, etc) * Long distance relationship: $150 (London to Cork flights monthly-- non-negotiable) * Healthcare $0 (woo, National Health Service) Some months I'll also have to pay for travel to conferences, which take months to be returned. Any advice is hugely appreciated. I feel like a fart. EDIT: Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and your kind words. I feel more heartened and less farty. The only thing I will say is that a job can be great for a lot of reasons besides money. Thanks all. Assistant: Next month, 24 dollars will go to principal. As the principal gets smaller, more of the minimum will go to principal because you pay less interest. Paying more than the minimum right now is your best move. Looks like you already know that. Human: Thanks m8. It must make mathematical sense otherwise it wouldn't really be a 10 year repayment plan, but it's so so demoralising.

Juat keep doing what you're doing. Every dollar you pay extra now goes straight to principal.

This example assumes a starting principle of $1000, 12% annual interest, and a $20 fixed payment for ease of calculation. Your first payment rolls around. $1000 * 1% = $10. Your $20 payment will be split as follows: interest - $10; principle - $10. Second payment rolls around. $990 * 1% = $9.90. Your $20 payment will be split as follows: interest - $9.90; principle - $10.10. Third payment rolls around. $979.90 * 1% = $9.80. Your $20 payment will be split as follows: interest - $9.80; principle - $10.20. Now for the fourth payment, you get a tax refund of $100 and decide to put it all to the loan. $970.10 * 1% = $9.70. Your $120 payment will be split as follows: interest - $9.70; principle - $110.30. Fifth payment: $859.8 * 1% = $8.60. Your $20 payment split: interest - $8.60; principle - $11.40. And so on and so forth until 0. See how your principle payment is going up? Now, this is for fixed repayment. If you're doing ibr or gr the math is different.

Human: I'm a bit lost. Got divorced, our two kids live with their mom in her house. I rent a bigger apartment to be able to take the kids half of the week (which ads $400 monthly). I pay for health insurance for the kids. My take home pay (bi-weekly) is $1500. Due to having the kids on my health insurance my co-pay went from $1500 to $3750. I pay all medical bills for the kids (if there are any). Do you have some insights how to calculate how much child support I should pay? Is there a calculator you can recommend. This overwhelms me :( EDIT: we got divorced abroad, so we don't have an amount from the court.

The court will tell you in specific detail. If you have the health insurance and joint custody, it should be close to zero.

each state sets their own requirement....in Illinois it was at one time 20% of net take home for 1....and 25% for 2....but that was 20+ years ago. All this should be set in your divorce decree.....

Human: Reddit, I have been working for an architecture firm in NYC for the past three years. I am strongly considering moving to the Carolinas for a different job. My goal with this career change is to be closer to my family, get started in real estate investing, and become more financially independent. I am a 27 year old licensed architect and I have my LEED AP credential. I have 4 years of full time experience. I have my Masters in architecture. I currently make $56,000 a year. My rent is $2,153 a month. My credit card bill averages to $1,100 a month. If I was smarter, or less selfish I could have a roommate and reduce my rent. Right now I am receiving help from my parents to pay the bills. I have a round of interviews coming up. From the phone interviews I have taken part in over the past weeks it sounds like I will make $60,000 a year. Rent for a one bedroom in my home town will be around $1,000. I am interviewing with a developer, a construction company, and two architecture firms. I have been reading this post about how to negotiate a better deal. https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/4b91pt/successfully_negotiated_a_45_raise_in_salary/ At my current job, we are in the middle of construction administration. Should I feel guilty about jumping ship? I have been working on this project for three years and leaving will place a pretty big burden on my team. I am planning on informing my firm of my leaving a month in advance. This is a pretty big decision for me so I want to get the thoughts and advice of PF before my round of interviews. Thanks.

From an Econ standpoint, higher salary and lower rent sounds like a good deal, at least on paper. If that's what you want to do, go for it! As far as feeling guilty, don't. Your firm could let you go at anytime - they wouldn't worry about it. It may in the short term mean more work for your colleagues, but they will understand, and would likely make a similar decision if they were in a similar situation. Lastly, you are likely more replacable than you think.

Sounds completely logical to me. Don't feel guilty. They understand that you need to move on and up.

Human: Income is ~140,000 pre tax. I currently spend 1600 on rent. I max out my 401k. I have around 120k in savings and 401k combined. No debts. What do you suggest I should look at spending for a house?

As little as possible given whatever your housing requirements are and where you live.

It really depends on your values and area. I make quite a bit more than you do, but my focus is on building wealth while living very modestly, so I live in a house that was $1200 a month in mortgage (before I paid it off). In my area, at that time, a $170k house was a nice 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 2 car in a great neighborhood. You have to weigh all that in your situation, only you can answer it. You have everything in order, I'd only add to make absolutely SURE to have 20% down to avoid mortgage insurance. Or better yet, if at ALL possible in a few years time, but a house with cash in full. Either that or buy to where you could pay it off nearly as quickly.

Human: TL:DR informal promotion in a busy season with no mention of a raise, should I press the issue in case it slipped my boss's mind or wait for my annual review? This might be a little industry specific so I'll give you details. I work for a small (~5 employees) consulting engineering firm. This is our really, really busy season (until the end of July). I got an email about a month ago from my boss saying he had just realized I had crossed the threshold to be considered Engineer II. He apologized for realizing it 3 months late and congratulated me on my "promotion" (emphasis mine), but mentioned nothing about a raise. We've been crazy busy since then, and I spent 3 weeks working at another location in the middle of all that. I know I'm getting billed out at a higher rate, so they're making more off of me. I honestly don't know if he forgot to give me a raise or doesn't intend to yet. I got a pretty good annual raise last year (5%), so I don't know whether the assumption is that my raises will be portioned out over multiple years rather than big raises at each "position" jump or if my boss just forgot to give me a raise because we're so busy right now. The biggest thing that's frustrating me is that I know my company is charging other people 25% more for my time right now, and I'm not getting anything more yet. Anyone else that works in a similar field have any experience with this? Thanks!

Boss: "Congratulations since X left the company (for more money) we're promoting you to his job" Me: "Great! What's my raise going to be?" Boss: "Unfortunately we don't have the budget to give you a raise" Me: "But at last weeks meeting the director announced we were making record profits. Who's going to be doing my current work?" Boss: "We don't have anyone for that yet." Me: "No thanks then." Boss: "You're refusing a promotion?" Me: "You didn't offer one, you offered me longer work hours for a lower hourly rate" Boss: "... Let me get back to you." A few days later I actually had a sizable raise, and a lot of extra work for a while.

TL DR: If your bill rate increases 25%, ask for 25% raise. Expect 15%, and don't settle for anything less than 10%. I would do this first thing Monday morning (before your boss realizes you are willing to do more work for the same $). Hopefully my similar situation can provide a data point for OP: I am an Engineer 1 at a med/small (~100 people) non-tech, non-startup engineering consulting firm in the SF Bay, and I coming up on 1 year /w my company (3yr total experience). In preparation for my performance review (and presumed promotion to Engineer 2), I have asked my close coworkers/friends what pay raise I should be expecting. Consensus was ~10%. My company's bill rates increase 4% annually, and bill rates increase at 20% per "level" (E1->E2, E2->E3, etc) until you get to VP level. When they offer me 10%, I will thank them for recognizing my efforts, then inform them that that number was less than I was expecting. I will bring up the fact that the company will likely be making +25-30% revenue off my work (per employee admin fees are high and static - unfortunately it doesn't sound like this applies to you), and ask why I am seeing less than half of that. After some back and forth ("you are a valued employee, but we didn't budget for this" - "I love working here, but at the end of the day I have to consider my family", yadda yadda) I expect we will settle on 15%. I will not be happy. Even if they gave me 20%, that would likely not stop me from continuing to apply for other jobs. While I do have "fealty" to my manager, it is prudent to remember that despite doing everything correct, you can (and may) still get "laid off" tomorrow. This is the reality of corporate America. I don't necessarily recommend mirroring this approach, but I have spent many hours considering factors (company is SHATTERING historical profits, I am ranked #1 for my level, I work 60 hour weeks, it's a relatively small industry, and ALL of our competitors are actively hiring), and I personally believe what I am asking for is fair. For reference, I received a 5% cost of living raise, and 3% bonus for 6 months work (6% annualized) in Dec 2015. Irrespective of promotion pay raise, I expect another 5% cost of living raise and at LEAST a 6% bonus in Dec 2016. Don't settle for less than you're worth.

Human: So I got worried about a sexual encounter and went to an ER to get an anti-hiv medication PEP. I gave them my insurance and I asked them if it went through and they said yes, and in addition I was waiting 2 hours in a hospital bed at one point which I felt was time to tell me if something didn't work or whatever. I had read on the internet 30 days worth of PEP is 600-1000 dollars. They gave me 4 DAYS worth of the 30 day system and I was supposed to see another doctor to get the rest. I again asked about billing and the doctor said the insurance should cover everything except for maybe the ER copay. within the 4 days I ascertained I wasn't at that much risk for HIV so i never got the other 26 days of PEP. fast forward to today (a month later) I got my medical bill. 1500 for the treatment. and another 400 for the ER entry fee. There are over 30 things on the bill. a $400 Hep C test and a $580 HIV test being among them. The actual medication was minority fee. In addition it said the payment was due one the 29th, but my roomate picked it up (he checks the mail frequently) on the 29th and i read it at midnight. idk what to do. I found out a couple weeks later my insurance wasn't working when I had strep and had to pay for the anti biotics without insurance (it was only $10 so I was like whatev). It is government insurance we had problems with because we accidentally payed for health insurance through my college and the government cancelled my other insurance because they said I was already insured. How is this going to work out? Can I ignore this and for how long? I have finals and I really don't want to be thinking about this stuff right now. EDIT: I agree it was a mistake going to the emergency room but just so it's understood I went because PEP has a 72 hour window of effectiveness and I was approaching that window that night in the AM. Not a great reason in reterospect but that was the logic.

Everyone is giving you advice about how to pay the bill, which is great advice. I think you should start by calling your insurance and speaking to a claims person. Just tell them you'd like them to help you understand what they covered and what you're responsible for paying. There's a chance something was processed incorrectly and they may be able to spot something that you can't.

Take out the words "medical bill" and then take out "an" at the start and thats what i did. And i'm not 20. Or go to college. So also ignore that... I am high is what i'm trying to saying..

Human: I'm all for a quick fix, but with only 9K worth of debt...I really don't think bankruptcy is the right choice for me. I've been pressured hard by my mother because I have bipolar disorder, which is was got me in debt in the first place. But doesnt this seem too extreme? I don't want a big black X on my credit report the rest of my life. Help? ***UPDATED*** I had many questions about my income. I currently do not have a real means of income. The manic episode that sent me so far into debt also got me into legal trouble, and then my father died so I took time from work. I get 200.00 a month from my mother who lives 13 hours away from me, and a weekly 80.00 babysitting check. I am currently training for a new job...but I already have one creditor who has threatened to sue.

We can't advise you without knowing your income, other expenses, and interest rate for the debt. In general, you shouldn't declare bankruptcy if your bipolar disorder isn't yet treated well enough to prevent you from running up more debt.

Could you merely pay it off on the premise, "so that I don't have to work my balls off to pay it off for you?" And yes...my interest that I pay would be paying it off. Money doesn't come from a magic fairy spring in the woods. Edit: Lesser phone...maybe skip a music fest or two...do this a couple of times...no problem. Pay it off please.

Human: I'm currently working in an 8 month coop placement through my college with a privately owned company. I am 4 months into my position here and am doing really well. The company had also hired an additional student and we split the load of work that we do. Each of us was paid about 20$/hour, and the other student has just quit. I am taking on all of their responsibilities as well as the ones that I currently have. I'm interested in asking for a pay raise, but am unsure how to go about doing it. I have started quantifying my contributions to the company with dollar values, is this a good first step? Where should I take it from there?

You're a co-op on an 8 month contract. You aren't in a position to ask for a raise.

If you quit, would you be able to find a different and higher paying job that has the same potential for career advancement? If the answer is no, then you have no reason to ask for a raise.

Human: For the last few years, my income has exceeded the IRS maximum for Roth IRA contributions, so I don't contribute. My fiance does not make as much money, and has been contributing regularly to her Roth IRA. We will be getting married this year, and will be filing jointly next tax season. Combined, our income is above the married couple IRS limit ($194,000). Can she keep contributing until we are married, and then stop contributing afterward? Or will we need to do something to undo all the contributions she made this whole tax year?

> Can she keep contributing until we are married, and then stop contributing afterward? Married as of December 31st counts as married for the whole year. So she will be ineligible for Roth IRA contributions if you are married by the end of the year and have an income above the limit.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Retirement Accounts wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/retirementaccounts) - ["How to handle $"](http://www.reddit.com/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: Hi PF. I've scoured the FAQs and been lurking here for a few months trying to get some direction on how to improve my credit score and manage my finances. I have a collection listed on my credit report, and recently sent a letter for verification of the debt. I used one of the form letters found on the wiki, which expressly states all communications a preferred to be in writing. The response letter I received from the Collections Agency has me a little confused as to how to proceed. It reads: "We have received your request for verification of the debt noted below and we are committed to factually resolving your questions. <Company Name> serves as an agent for the original creditor who retains ownership of this account: *Unable to locate account in our office. Please call us and provide additional information so we may assist you." The only information I have about this account and collection item are listed on the credit report. I included all of that information (partial account number, dates, etc.) in my original letter. Regarding the debt, I may owe the original creditor. Although it certainly should be less than what the balance on the collection item on my credit report is showing. It was a cable company in a town that I moved from years ago. I was irresponsible and didn't get around to paying the last month's bill, or returning their equipment (which was eventually returned a while later when I went back for a visit, I am having trouble locating this receipt). So what's my course from here? Contact the original creditor? Call the collections agency as per their request? Should I just dispute the item with the credit Bureaus? Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

> dispute the item with the credit Bureaus This is your best option. They cannot locate your account... then they can't put it on your report.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [What's the best way to pay down my debt?](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt#wiki_what.27s_the_best_way_to_pay_down_my_debt.3F) - [Dealing with collections](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/collections) - [Credit repair](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building#wiki_i_have_bad_credit.2C_and_i_am_looking_to_repair_it.) *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: Backstory: Getting a Tesla 3 in two years so needed a car to just fill the gap. Never in my life thought I would lease a car, but given this particular scenario...it just kinda makes the most sense. Anyway, I've done my research and I really like the new Civics. I've talked them down to $209 a month out the door...$7,016 all in for two years. 2k deposit. Pretty good, yeah?

>Backstory: >Getting a Tesla 3 in two years so needed a car to just fill the gap Given Tesla's history of missed deadlines, I'd suggest you buy instead of lease. No telling when they'll actually manage to deliver in any kind of meaningful volume.

That sounds like a terrible deal. You could buy a reliable car for 5-7k and then sell it at the end of the term and collect most of that back sense the depreciation hit has already largely been hit. That also would likely reduce your insurance cost. If you are financially stable and saving a large % of your income so you can therefore afford to burn a ton of money go ahead, but in terms of value of purchasing transportation you would almost need to try to do worse than leasing generally and this case matches the general trend.

Human: I'm sure most people here are familiar with the charts/graphs showing the power of compound interest. E.g. Investing $5,000 a year for 30 years. This may be a dumb question but I was curious if these examples include reinvesting dividends? Because it seems like it'd make a huge difference if you invested $100 a week for 25 years and always reinvested the dividends rather than withdrawing them. Thanks.

Yes.

Yes, along with some unrealistic annual growth %, Typically 8% is assumed

Human: I frequently encounter and read about people who graduate from college and it seems as if it's the first time they are made aware/realize that they have student loans that require repayment. In many instances those same people go into panic mode because they are facing a large amount of debt and don't know how to handle it. I guess my thought is, where did the breakdown occur between signing the loan documents in order to borrow the money and "realizing" that those loans had to be paid back? I would like to hear people's personal experiences in this matter and any suggestions on how the loan process might be improved to better educate and prepare students for when the graduate.

If you haven't worked and lived on your own, you just don't have all the data to understand what repayment will mean to you when the time comes. How much money will you make? What will your costs be for living expenses? You really can't know all of this in advance. A lot of people don't get a job in their field out of school and end up working for near minimum wage. If you have large student loan payments to make, that's going to be a problem. I don't think anyone is blindsided by having to pay back their loans -- they're blindsided by how large a portion of their income will be required to do so. If your minimum payment is three times as much as you have left over after rent and food, that's going to be tough.

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Human: Hello PF. 27/M here. I have had an HSA from my employer that I have been maxing out for the last several years and has over $10,000 in cash. I have the option to invest up to 90% of it in the following funds as offered through Bank of America's portal. These are: COLUMBIA SMALL CAP VALUE II A COLUMBIA MID CAP GROWTH A COLUMBIA CAPITAL MOD AGRSV A COLUMBIA GLOBAL STRATEGIC EQ A COLUMBIA CAPITAL CONSERV A COLUMBIA US TREASURY INDEX A PIMCO TOTAL RETURN INSTL PIMCO LOW DURATION INSTL AMERICAN FUNDS CAPWLD G&I -F BLACKROCK EQUITY DIVIDEND I BLACKROCK FLEXIBLE EQ FD - INS COLUMBIA SMALL CAP INDEX A COLUMBIA MID CAP INDEX FEDERATED KAUFMANN SMALL CAP INVESCO MID CAP GR JHANCOCK FDNTL LARGE CAP CORE MAINSTAY LARGE CAP GROWTH A MAINSTAY HIGH YIELD CORP BOND OPPENHEIMER MAIN ST MID CAP FD THORNBURG INTERNATIONAL VAL A NEUBERGER BERMAN REAL ESTATE OPPENHEIMER DEVELOPING MARKETS PIMCO COMMODITY REAL RETURN VANGUARD 500 INDEX INV VANGUARD INFLATION-PROTECTED S VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STK INDEX I am considering investing $5000 now and $5000 each time my account rises to $10,000 cash assets which given my current good health should be about every 1.5 to 2 years. My questions: Should I even invest any of my HSA? Is $5000 in cash reserve a prudent figure? (my deductible is $3500 BTW) How should I divide my $5k between my options above? Thanks!

Check the funds for loads (commissions) paid up front, you want no-load mutual funds, and also compare the expense ratios. Stick with index (passive) funds instead of active managed funds.

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Human: They sent the letter saying that "the decision is mine", and that they were forwarding it to their legal department to see if my account should be placed with their attourney. I'm not sure what the amount is for, as I don't recall ever having an amount due of over 1900 to the hospital. The last time I went, I only received a bill for a 200 dollar co-pay. Could this be "collection fees"? I'm at a crossroads on what to do. I don't want my wages garnished or my car seized over a medical debt.

Kind of sounds like a collection agency purchased your debt and are trying a scare tactic. I would call and verify your debt and if its yours, work out a lower payment with the new agency. Again, i wouldnt stress over your car being repoed. If it is not from the hospital, the new agency purchesed your debt and will be willing to get anything back. They know that after 7 years any debt rolls off your credit report and makes it invalid.

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Human: My girlfriend and I have been trying to start our own businesses for about a year now. We're at the point where we can live off of the income that she gets from flipping appliances, and I from flipping ohv's. If we were to do that, I'd have no clue how to pay income taxes for either of us, or what things are deductible. What should I keep track of and who do I go to with all this information at the end of the year? Does it matter that some ohv's I buy and sell don't have titles?... Also, how do I pay for all of the other taxes besides income? Would it be better if she and I created a single business, or if we created our own?

I think you would want to have separate businesses, each tracking its own expenses. Schedule C (or C-EZ) is used to track your revenue and subtract deductible expenses. For your businesses, those expenses include cost of goods you flip. It's only the resulting profit that gets taxed, so keeping good records of deductible expenses is important. See also IRS Publication 535. Schedule SE is used to calculate Social Security and Medicare taxes. It starts with the Schedule C profit. The Schedule SE info gets used by Soc Sec Administration, so your earnings count in your record and might influence your Soc Sec benefit later. This is one reason for filing two separate businesses: each of you gets credit for Soc Sec that way. Form 1040 is the tax form you have to use. The Sched C result goes on line12, the Sched SE result on line 57, and a number equal to half of Sched SE result goes on line 27 as a deduction. Income tax will show up on line 44, but the SE taxes on line 57 get added to that. If you also have other income from W-2 jobs, you can choose to increase withholding (by filling out a new W-4) to be sure you don't underwithhold and don't owe a lot at tax time. Or you can use Form 1040-ES booklet worksheets and make four "estimated tax" payments. Whichever approach you use, at tax time when you file your taxes you learn if you sent in too much or not enough, and get a refund or owe. (IRS wants you to have sent in 90% of your tax during the year -- or 100% of previous year's tax if smaller. If you simply wait until tax day to send it all in, you could have an "underpayment" penalty even though you paid in full.) There is an area at IRS site with resources for small businesses/self-employment. Also there are books about this too.

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Human: I usually mail in my taxes but surprise! I just received my tax forms back in the mail. It did not get sent and was returned to me. I believe they made a mistake in reading the address (I cross my 7’s like shown in the zip-code. They used a marker and wrote over my 7) so the post office could not deliver it. Obviously, now is past the tax deadline but I still have the original letter with the postmark date. Should I re-send my taxes with the original envelope inside a new envelope? Would I get penalized for sending this because it is now late (but I originally sent it on time)? Has this happened to anyone else and what resulted out of it? I will try contacting my state department of revenue but unfortunately it’s the weekend. Here is what it looks like: http://imgur.com/MMl0zSD If you look closely, you can still see my 7 underneath. I think my address looks clear (but someone didn't think so). I'm kind of angry about this. I owe the state some money but I don't want to get penalized for it being late.

Seems kind of silly that the PO couldn't figure out where to deliver it since I'm sure thousands and thousands of returns were going to the same address that week, and there were probably entire truckloads of mail going to that one address.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/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: I'm finally starting to approach the 6 months expenses mark for my emergency fund and I'm trying to find where the best place to keep my money is. Before anyone says anything, I realize emergency funds aren't for investing and that you're just supposed to have quick access for, you know, emergencies. After some searching I found one bank and one credit union that offer 4% returns on checking accounts. One is [Consumers Credit Union](https://www.myconsumers.org/en/Home.aspx) and the other is [Coppermark Bank](http://www.coppermarkbank.com/my/). As always, there is a catch. CCU requires 12 signature based transactions and CMB requires 16 transactions of any kind, and both of them need direct deposit set up. I am not a big spender so this would essentially require it to become my default checking account. I know that some people like having their money separated into checking/savings/emergency, but I'm not sure I fully understand why. One reason I can think of is as a mental distinction so that you don't spend your emergency money. This doesn't really apply to me though because I have good self control financially and am capable of only spending my monthly budget without dipping into my emergency money. Another reason I can think of is so that if your account information is stolen you don't have to worry about your emergency money being siphoned, but before I moved my money into the checking account I would ask about their policies on stolen information to make sure I'm fully reimbursed if someone gets a hold of my numbers. Are there other reasons I haven't thought of for why I shouldn't keep my emergency fund in my general checking account? Also, I am suspicious of 4% rates on a checking account in a time when savings accounts don't go above 1%. Luckily, I work in a bank so I'm having a friend check out their financial situations. I know my money would be FDIC insured, but I still don't like the idea of putting my money in a bank that's on it's way to being bought out. One last thing I just thought of, I live only a couple miles from a Coppermark bank, so quick access in case of emergency shouldn't be a problem. So r/pf, is there a reason I'm missing as to why I shouldn't move my money into one of these accounts?

It's important to note that, at least with CCU, the 4% rate only applies on the first $10,000 in your account, and it's only guaranteed through June of this year.

The only thing that I can think of is your personal motivation to keep your "emergency fund" up: as long as you can keep it as an emergency fund, I sure you'll be fine.

Human: Pretty simple situation, but I'm a financial n00b. My parents paid for me to go to college with the understanding that I would pay them back out of the money that was set aside in my name for me to use for that and for homebuying, further schooling, etc. I've got $150K or so sitting in index funds with Charles Schwab... how do I get it out and transfer it to my parents without paying capital gains tax? Any advice is appreciated. Assistant: Can't avoid the taxman. If it's not in a tax advantaged account and you sell, you're going to get hit with capital gains. The only way I can think of to mitigate it is by ensuring that they're long term capital gains (over a year), and also to make so little income that you're in the 0-15% tax bracket so your long term gain is also at 0%. It's possible that you can get by at a 0% long term capital gain, but you have to first be in the 0 - 15% income tax bracket (what bracket you're in depends on your ordinary income, including the amount you've made through capital gains). You can probably talk to an accountant for other ideas. Human: Yeah, I'm thinking the most prudent way to do it is to withdraw the money in smaller amounts over the course of the year.

Taking out a little bit several times over the course of the year won't help--your total income of the entire year is what matters. To be in the 0% capital gains bracket you need to have less than $35,350 in income (assuming you file single) and (for this case) including the gains from the sale of your investments. Any amount over that will be taxed at the 15% federal and the applicable state tax rate.

That won't help anything. taking it out small chunks in one year is no different from taking out a huge sum at once

Human: Now that Bank of America is going to start charging me for my regular checking account, i'm looking for a new bank. Where should i go?

First they left due to bad mortgaging principles, but I didn't leave, because I didn't have a mortgage. Then they left due to high overdraft penalties, but I didn't leave, because I didn't overdraft.

I don't know their alignment, but I've had a nice experience with Capital One. Refunding ATM fees. Convenient locations with helpful face to face service. Relatively good interest rates on money market accounts. Handy online banking interface. I can't say I have anything to complain about except the endless junk mail to convince me to get a credit card through them.

Human: Throwaway account...if it matters. So, I have been living overseas since the end of 2009. When tax time came around in 2010, I didn't have all of the docs I needed to do the taxes. So I did what any mor-idiot would do, and I just didn't file them. I'm pretty sure I was owed money though. I then didn't file them in 2011 either. *hangs head in shame*. I don't want to keep doing this since I don't like jail. I have only visited the US in late 2010. My question is this: Is there a way to go back and get all of the documents I need to file taxes for 2009? Also, should I be filing in the other years (2010-11) even though I have no US income now?

You're required to file a return if your income from worldwide sources exceeds $9500 (if filing as single). You can file your past returns and your current returns (if you don't owe taxes, then you shouldn't have penalties). There is a foreign earned income exclusion available for most taxpayers. You can get your US-reported tax documents by [calling the IRS to request them](http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/article/0,,id=101292,00.html). You will also need to report income earned from non-US sources.

I would consider hiring someone certicied and wise to file your taxes for you, given the rather complicated situation. Maybe for one time now, and next year he/she may have taught you how to file you taxes.

Human: This may be a stupid question, but is there a limit on the amount of money a person can take out in loans? I've heard that there is a certain amount that I can take out, but I was just curious if I can actually take out as much as I want as long as I pay it back. Thank you!

you cna take out as much as someone will give you.

Lenders will look at your credit behaviour in the past, at how many money you already have to pay back and at your income. From that they will decide whether or not to loan you more money. Mr Richguy with a salary of $14k per month, a credit score of 750 and $13k in current loans will be able to get a bigger loan than Mr Average with $4k income per month, a credit score of 689 and $55k in student loans.

Human: Hey guys, I was hoping to get some thoughts on my current situation. I'm a recent college graduate making around $48,000 a year and I'm looking at getting a house soon. Since I'm living with my mom right now my only bill is car insurance of about $100 a month. I'm very fortunate in that my grandfather has a significant amount of money and has said he will help me out with a downpayment, but is reluctant to discuss details until I'm closer to buying. He mentioned around 30% for a downpayment, but won't tell me much else. The area I'm looking at has prices around 200-250k. Obviously this would be out of my price range normally, but given the assistance am I wrong for going a little bit higher than I otherwise would? My feeling is that with the rates and prices like they are, spending more might not be a terrible idea, especially if I can skip the "starter home" considering I don't see myself relocating out of this city. At the very least this downpayment would be an interest free loan, but more likely it would be essentially an advance on my inheritance. As of now I have 10k in the bank and that will only increase as most of my paycheck is heading to my savings. I wish I could be more specific about the downpayment but that's all I've got. TL;DR - I have at least a 30% downpayment ready, 48k a year income, and no car payment. How much house should I buy?

I recently purchased a home and have roughly the same annual income. I'll tell you what I learned/knew going into it. 1. If you're not a handy man don't buy a fixer upper. If you are a handy man and buy a fixer upper be sure you can afford to pay for supplies and remodels. I'm not a handy man so I purchased a home that was move in ready. However the side gate needed to be replaced and I figured I could do it myself. In my mind I budgeted one day and $150...reality: a week and $300+. 2. Being able to afford the monthly mortgage is one thing, being able to afford the monthly mortgage plus bills, insurance, utilities, etc. and continuing to add to emergency funds/savings/retirement/401(k) is another. You'll want to be able to continue to add to retirement and savings accounts and have at the very least six months of savings left over after the purchase of your home. 3. Keep in mind spontaneous expenses. If your air conditioning unit all of a sudden needs to be replaced you're looking at about $5k-$7k so the emergency fund is very important. Also keep in mind other spontaneous expenses that might pop up; Car transmission blows will you have enough money to pay for that as well as your monthly obligations? 4. You'll want to have some fun right? Be sure to include in your budget funds for eating out or going on vacations and just plain fun stuff. Money can disappear really quick on $48k a year especially if you're paying for everything on your own and you have a significant other. 5. Property taxes vary from state to state and that is something you'll want to look into before purchasing a home. Some people like to put money into their own savings account and then pay what they owe in property taxes annually or bi-annually. Some people like to have it included with each mortgage payment. 6. If you're trying to figure out your monthly mortgage obligation don't do what so many people do when they're buying their first house. "If I buy a house at $150,000 with a 30 year loan then my monthly payment will be: $150,000/360 payments = $417 a month. I can afford that." I see it all too often and it can get you into trouble. You are in a unique situation whereas you have a significant amount of money for a down payment. Another idea could be to use a portion of the money you have for a down payment on your conservatively priced home and then potentially use another portion to put a down payment on a rental property, i.e. condo. There are a lot of places where you could purchase a smaller home, lets say $50k, and rent that property out to earn extra income. This would probably be another thread altogether but something to take into consideration. Good luck!

Go big or go...home.

Human: Hello all, I'll try to make this as quick and clear as possible. I'm a 23 year-old recent college graduate. I make decent money, not much credit history (at all), but what's there is good. I have a checking and savings account, and an Amazon 'store card' (Best Buy rejected me) where I can buy things, and I can take advantage of their financing 'plans' (if the purchase is over $X, you have Y months to pay it off before we charge you interest for the Y months, etc.). I love this, it's how I'm building my credit, and because even though I have the ability pay for the widget all at once, it's nicer to pay it off over a few months, and not get slammed with interest for those first Y months. My question is, is there a more general card (not restriced to a company like Amazon) so I can occasionally make larger purchases, and pay a low/non-existant interest rate for a certain amount of time (and they can hit me hard after that time period)? If I'm gonna pay interest every month I may as well just use my debit card. Can you finance gurus tell me what you would do if you were in my situtation? I know this is long, and even if one person provides me some insight, I'd consider it a success. Any help is greatly appreciated! Edit-First of all, thanks so much for the responses! The issue I have with the approach of "just get a card and make sure you pay it off every month" is that kinda defeats the purpose for me. I'm building credit through Amazon and through utility bills, and a soon to be car payment, so I'm looking for something that has a low or ideally, 0%, for a short time period (more than a month) before I get hit with interest. Perhaps it was my mistake in thinking there was a general card like this, and those deals are just from big retailers. If I'm making small purchases that I intend to pay off immediately, I may as well just use my debit card and not worry about it.

The best way to use a credit card is to pay it in full each month. You don't pay any interest at all. It usually works like this. Make purchases for the entire month up until the statement date. Then they send you a bill and it is due about 25 days later. Pay that in full by the due date and you don't have to pay any interest. Once you build up your credit, get a rewards card to earn money for making purchases. Also, check out [Nerd Wallet](http://www.nerdwallet.com/) for some help in finding the right card.

Like others have said, definitely pay your balance in full every month. The amount that is generated on your statement balance is what gets reported to the credit bureaus. You usually have somewhere around 20-25 days depending on the card from your statement date to pay the balance in full before any interest is charged. So even though you are paying your balance in full and not generating any finance charges, it's still building your credit. Another often overlooked component of credit score is credit utilization. That's one of the largest components of your credit score other than paying on time. To illustrate, if you have a credit card that has a $1,000 limit, try to keep the balance as of your statement date no higher than $250-$300, or 25%-30%. This shows you are responsible with your debt and that you are not overextending yourself.

Human: I'm graduating from college in a few months and am trying to get my financials off on the right foot. I've worked hard to maintain a good credit and no debt, aside from student loans, since I was 18. I have a credit score of 750 if that matters for any suggestions/tips. The Debt: I have about $60,000 in student loans. Half a mix of federal subsidized/unsubsidized loans at various interest rates between 4%-6%, the other half a Chase student loan with an interest rate around 9-10%. I have no credit card debt. Monthly Expenses: I'll be moving back home, so my only expenses will consist of the following: Gas - $300 (100 mile daily commute) Phone - $50 Car Insurance - $125 I'll be making around $40,000 a year when I graduate. My main goal is to pay my debt down as quickly as possible, but I currently have a car that is nearing the end of it's life and I anticipate I'll need to look for a new form of transportation within a year. One big question I have is in regards to finding a new vehicle. I've listened to advice from my father, who suggests I buy a new car (a big /r/frugal no-no) when the time comes. His logic is that buying a used car will come with more repairs and maintenance costs and no knowledge of how well it had been maintained. So when all is said and done, buying a used car for $10,000-$13,000 can quickly add up to the cost of a brand new $20,000 car. I'm very weary of adding on this type of debt while I still have my student loans to worry about, but at the same time would find more peace of mind knowing I have a guaranteed reliable vehicle. I apologize if this is really scatter-brained, needless to say I've got a lot of things I'm worrying about. Any help or advice /r/personalfinance could offer in regards to how I should go about paying down my debt or decisions I should make would be much appreciated, if theres any more information necessary to better help me out please let me know and I'll do my best to provide it.

>So when all is said and done, buying a used car for $10,000-$13,000 can quickly add up to the cost of a brand new $20,000 car. That's bullshit thinking. There's no way in hell a 2-3 year old car will need anywhere near $5k+ in repairs for the first few years in its lifetime. Most of the "taking care" of cars is just oil changes, brake pads, and other easy things everyone already takes care of. Either way, a new car is almost as likely to break down as a new car is. Personally, I would never buy a car newer than 2-3 years. Since you have a good credit score, I say finance a car and just pay down the student loans. The car loan shouldn't be anymore than 4% and I'm assuming most of your student loans are at 6%+.

To add to the pile, I'd buy a car that's <5 years old but definitely still used. Don't waste your money on a new car right now just so you can have that extra peace of mind. If it really bothers you, get something "certified used" from a dealership. That usually comes with a warranty or service contract.

Human: I'm 23 years old and am currently making 130k+ per year. I have 0 dependents and no exemptions and as a result I'm being taxed out the ass. It's ridiculously depressing forfeiting such a large number of bills to Uncle Sam. Is there a way to protect myself from either being taxed in the bracket I'm taxed in or perhaps to provide myself with write-offs (i.e. like how I could write off interest payments from a mortgage) I'd rather spend my money on things I can parlay into money in the future than forfeit it via taxes. The reason I ask this is because an individual I spoke to briefly made some remark about a friend of theirs who shelters his money by purchasing cows which he breeds on his fathers ranch. I didn't really inquire further... but I don't quite understand how that in anyway could protect his money... perhaps someone could explain. Thanks for your time!

You make 130K+ per year. You make enough to hire a tax accountant and/or financial planner. Aside from investing in tax-deferred retirement plans, buying a house, getting married to someone who makes little to no additional income, and having children, there are really no "simple" solutions. Get recommendations for financial planners/accountants from your coworkers or similarly situated friends and meet with a few to discuss not only tax savings, but also a plan that will help you accomplish what you see for your next 5-10 year future. Their fees are generally tax deductible.

You make twice the average family income for a person in the US. Suck it up.

Human: I was a full-time employee at a company for 2 years, and in 2011 was employed by them from January to June. At no point in time was I considered anything but a FTE, and got a W2 for my work in 2010. For 2011 taxes, the company fucked up paying taxes in January and February. So, they gave me a 1099 for January and February, and a W2 for March, April, May, and June work. The accountant straight up told me this was so they could avoid paying $10,000 in penalties. I feel like I'm getting screwed in this situation, but have no idea how to handle it. Any ideas? Assistant: Tell them you'll overlook it for $5k. Human: Ha. If i tried to blackmail, I'd be ruined. Guaranteed.

That's not blackmail. What they are doing is fraud, pure and simple and the victim is you. If it was truly a mistake they should stand ready to compensate you for any financial loss and inconvenience. I would ask for around $6K personally... paying you $6K is still cheaper than paying $10K and there's no point in accepting $5K when that is what the IRS will give you anyways. You aren't blackmailing, you are coming to a settlement. I'm sure the court system or the IRS could sort it out just fine, but that wouldn't be advantageous to either of you. In any event, start looking for work outside of that company. There are all sorts of red flags going off here.

You said below that this causes a 5k swing in your tax return. Seems only fitting.

Human: **[EDIT] Should be $260 a month, not $130** A little more info: I get around $65 a week from donating plasma, and they pay me by putting money on a reloadable Visa card every time I donate. Do I need to report this as income, pay taxes, etc on this money? Or do I just ignore it when doing any kind of filing? If it helps, here's their website: http://www.biotestplasma.com Thanks in advance for any insight!

Honest answer: Yes, it is income. Also, it's not a donation if you're getting paid. Dodgy answer: Did the company report the payment to the IRS? Did you receive a 1099? If so, yes, you need to report it. If not, you could risk not reporting it; but, if the IRS finds out about the unreported income, expect a letter and a bill in the mail later this year .

How much did you earn doing this in total?? Ask the company if they will issue a 1099.

Human: I've been looking into creating an additional savings account and have noticed that currently ING And ALLY have roughly the same rates at about .80% APY. Any tips on both banks would help shed some light as to which has the best extra to offer (e.g. minimal fees, holding periods on transfers, etc.) and which would be the best. My main purpose to this is to keep it as an extension of our emergency fund so it still easily accessible with nice rate of return.

I've had an account with ING since 2006 and I love it.

http://www.depositaccounts.com/savings/ Do remember that there are other online CU banks out there that offer better rates. Do your research on what each bank has to offer and take note of their fees. I think ING Direct was recently acquired by Capital One so I'd be careful with them...

Human: I just found out about it, did some research but would like to get some advice from someone who actually used it. I know they offer some good interest rates besides helping you finance small local businesses in poor countries but is it for me? I don't have much money.

It is NOT an investment, it is a donation. You do not make any money from this. If you are looking for an investment, this isn't it. If you like the idea of helping people in developing countries, and you think that Kiva fits that bill, than do it. But don't think of it as diversifying your portfolio...

[I always thought it would be fun to live in one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiva)

Human: So I'm on the verge of getting my first salaried job, and am trying to approach my finances as methodologically as possible ahead of time. The question is self explanatory: how many different bank accounts do you have, of what types, and how do you use them? I have one credit card, which I pay off in full every month. All of my student loan debt is completely paid off. The system that I've been thinking about is to have three bank accounts: Checking 1: primary spending account (rent, food, utilities, phone, misc) Checking 2: emergency fund (target balance of $10,000) Saving 1: "fun" savings (accumulate gradually, use for clothing, vacation, gifts, etc) Does anyone have any feedback or perspectives on how I might alter that scheme? Or how I might approach my first salaried position more effectively?

401K automatically comes out of paycheck. remaining paycheck is direct deposited to a credit union checking account, where i also have a savings account with one month's worth of immediately liquid cash. each pay period i have four automatic withdrawals into separate ING accounts (one general savings account and three targeted funds: travel/car/house down payment), and i have a fifth ING account that contains the bulk of my emergency fund. it's very easy to open [additional ING accounts](http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/07/02/how-to-open-multiple-accounts-at-ing-direct/), making targeted savings simple. each pay period i have one automatic withdrawal into my brokerage account.

Banks: 1. Schwab Checking - This is where all my money starts. 2. HSBC Savings - 10% of my income gets (automatically) transfered into this emergency fund until I reach 6 months. 3. Schwab Investments Account - I invest $200-300/mo for short-to-midterm savings. (Car or house.) 4. ING 401K - 6% of my gross income gets put into my 401k. Credit: 1. Green AmEx - I use this for literally everything for the benefit of points. (I'm at 89k points - this is a ticket to Italy depending on the time of year!) 2. Emergency Visa card - My oldest line of credit opened when I was 18 so I won't close it for that reason. Hasn't been used in years. edit: I answered the question asked in detail - why the downvotes?

Human: Well, I'm 16 don't know a lot about money management, but I'd rather learn about this now than later. My parents gave me advice regarding money management and got me to start making a weekly budget for myself on excel just to give me some budgeting experience. I'd like to hear what Reddit users have to say though, so Reddit. What would you tell a 16 year old you regarding personal finances? Oh, one more question. People saying "you should wait until you're done university and have a job to get a credit card" is something I've heard in real life, and on Reddit, but I never found an explanation for this. Would anyone mind telling me why?

I think it's hard for people to take away something from conversations. Sure, I could tell you anything and everything, but there's one thing that will stick with you: habit. Habit. Get in the habit of saving money. Get in the habit of paying bills. Get into the habit of taking care of finances. Get in the habit of doing these things, and you'll be set.

Dump every cent you have into silver instead of whatever bullshit I spent it on... then it'd be 1000% up instead of 300% :)

Human: So here's my situation. I will be graduating in May with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and starting a job on June 1 with an annual salary of $56k. I have about $10k in my bank account right now. My job is in the same city as my parents and there house is only about 15 minutes away from my job. What I need help deciding is if and when I should buy, rent, or save. My parents would be willing to let me live with them for a while, and have even suggested it. Even though I get along with them, as a 22-year-old guy with money, this isn't something I'd want to do for very long, but is something I could do for a few months while I save up. Right now I am considering buying a town home in the range of $150k-$200k, which my parents might be willing to help me make the 20% down payment on. I'm also considering renting an apartment in the range of $800-$1200/month. I have seen many people on here that seem to be opposed to buying a home as a young adult because you lose flexibility and it requires a lot of start up costs. But the job I will have should be stable, and there are plenty of similar jobs in the area, so I don't plan on moving anytime soon. I know that interest rates and home rates are low right now, so I don't want to wait and see them rise before I buy. I also don't want to rent for several years and essentially throw money down the drain that I will never get back (as opposed to buying where I can resell). I would also likely buy a 2 bedroom house, but only rent a 1 bedroom apartment, and I'd really like to have an extra bedroom. I could even rent it out to someone somewhere down the line, but I won't count on that. I like the idea of owning something and making an investment that will pay off if I stay there, but at the same time, I would be basically broke if I bought a town home immediately and it is riskier than renting. So the pros and cons of each that I can see: **Living with Parents** *pros* * Save lots of money *cons* * Less independence * Living with parents... **Renting** *pros* * Less startup costs * More flexibility to move * Cheaper in general *cons* * Only 1 bedroom * No investment - lots of wasted money * No tax cuts **Buying a Town Home** *pros* * Investment that could pay off down the line * 2 bedrooms - one could be rented * Larger than an apartment - room to grow into if I get married and have kids *cons* * Much less flexibility in moving * Much larger start up cost * Maintenance/upkeep costs I'll add that I'm single and have a car that is paid off, so that takes some of my living expenses down. So I need help deciding 1) how long I should live with my parents and save, 2) if I rent, how long I should rent (6 months? 1 year? 3 years? I feel like the longer I rent the more money I throw away), 3) when I should consider buying, if not immediately, and 4) what price range I could comfortably afford when buying a home and renting an apartment. Thanks!

Don't buy a house on the possibility that it *might* be a good investment or you *might* want the space later. Buy a house because you think it would serve your needs for the near future (at least 5 years). This is especially true when you're just starting out after college, in case you decide you need to change tracks at your new job. Personally, I don't like the idea of getting your parents to assist you with a down payment, I would rather do that on my own. Again personally, I wouldn't want to live with my parents after graduating college for any significant stretch of time. Realize that you are a significantly different person than you were when you moved away to college, and while it may have worked over a summer, it may not work long term. Those situations can work, but it depends heavily on the relationship with your parents and these financial issues tend to stress that kind of relationship. I think what you should do is find as inexpensive a place as you can that you deem acceptable and rent for a while. You say that rent is between $800-1200/month, but that seems a little high to me, particularly if you're willing to have roommates. If you decide you enjoy your job in a year or two, have job security, and have put some money away for a down payment you can revisit buying a house. But there's no need to rush something like this. There will still be plenty of time to buy a house when you're 25 and if it turns out you need to move you won't face a financial loss from buying a house.

I'll preface this by saying I'm about a year older than you so I just went through your situation--I graduated last June, lived at home for a month, then moved into my own place with my partner. I would recommend moving home for a few months to boost your bank account balances, then move into a rental. Make sure you have enough money saved in an emergency fund (~6 months of necessary expenses) plus some good start-up money for furniture, kitchen supplies, moving expenses, security deposit, etc. I'd recommend budgeting ~$3000 (or more if you want nice furniture) for this stuff based on my own experience. I only stayed home for ~1 month so I didn't get to save up much and now I'm *still* really behind on building up my emergency fund. After you save up all that money, move out and be independent! However, I'd recommend moving into a rental. I think when you're young, it's very hard to know much your situation will change in the next few years AND it's hard to know what you want out of a house. Don't tie yourself down with a mortgage--you'll just be hemorrhaging money on closing costs, maintenance costs, taxes, etc. But, once you move into your rental, start saving for a downpayment on a condo/house. By the time you have that 20-30% saved up, you'll be in a better situation to make an informed long-term decision. :) I also have one general comment on your "town home" pros--if you get married, your then-wife will probably want to have a say in where you live and raise your children, so she'll push for you guys to move into a new place. I would just get rid of that pro, honestly. Plus, if/when you get into a serious relationship, you might consider relocating based on one person's job. A lot changes when you add another person into the mix! Good luck!

Human: I have two sets of student loans I've been paying off for ~2 years. The smaller one has only $500+ left to pay (5% interest). The other one is a grouping of two sets of loans at (A) $11k left at 5.350% and (B) $3.5K left at 6.550%. (note that I can't pay A or B separately. My monthly payments to that one go into both repayments). I am currently paying all loans at least at twice the amount owed each month. I am so tempted to pay off that small loan, but I realize it's the smallest interest so I'd be better off putting that money into the A/B loan. But my other question is: Would paying off the small loan negatively affect my credit score because I would have one less line of credit? I know that the longer you have credit, the better, so would be bad to shorten the lifetime of this loan? I'd be saving a little bit on future interest on the loan, but I wonder what would happen to my credit score. edit: I don't have a credit card, so are these my only lines of credit? I have a 401k. Does that affect credit score somehow?

As someone who paid off their student loans 26 years early, I can say, without a doubt, that my credit score was not affected negatively by doing so. Student loans are not a line of credit like a credit card is.

Who cares even if they did. Being loan free is more important than some made up number.

Human: What on earth do I do? I'm making all the payments on time. I can barely pay anything, each month, to affect the principal when considering all the other bills that I'm paying. My interest rates are low, however, my debt is going nowhere and I'm losing $6,000 a year. Is there anything I can do? Assistant: What did you go to college for? Human: It's what they all told me to do. But business major and anthropology minor.

While blaming everything around you is pretty satisfying, and may even be accurate, it's not going to get you very far. Go ahead and have a good rant and then stop listening to "them."

Everyone told me to vote when I was 18, and I did. But I thought about it before I did it. I also registered for the draft. At some point, you are an adult whether you feel like it or not.

Human: Fellow redditors, I am over $40K in credit card debt. Currently I only makes minimum payments and am not making a dent in the money owed. My spending has stopped pretty much completely (other than the necessities and mortgage. I have a mortgage with about $120K remaining. Went to get a home equity line to pay off the cards, but it was denied due to my monthly/annual income not being sufficient. Additionally: I make about $1,500 a month. My mortgates is $900 a month; I'm not completely irrational spender. I had a year where I had major medical expenses and had to pay for a funeral. It just added up out of no where...in any case. Any advice?? I'm also doing my part in googling other sites. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Thank you everyone for your input...really appreciate it. EDIT: bought the house when it was super cheap, the value has gone up a bit...I am looking to sell the house. It's the only logical thing at this point. Thanks guys.

Your problem is income. $1500 a month with a $900 mortgage payment is not sustainable. Sounds like you've been living above your means for some time now. What do you do and how many hours do you work? You may need to find a 2nd job.

What the others have said (increase income, try to decrease interest rate). Http://unbury.me will show you that any extra money you'll be able to put towards the debts should go to the one with the highest interest rate. Perhaps first (before starting to pay more than minimum requirements) save up $1k as a mini-emergency fund somewhere so that a small financial emergency doesn't immediately get you in trouble.

Human: Hello there! I think this is the first or second time I've posted in this subreddit. My husband and I read r/personalfinance all the time and we're trying to get on track with savings, budgeting, etc. Our problem is this: this is the first time we are filing taxes together and we don't know where to go. We have some odd tax circumstances and a lot of questions to ask (specifically about filling out our W4s) and we're hoping the person who does our taxes can give us the answers. Here are the issues: *We were married last October but neither of us changed our W4s to "married" *Both of us had two jobs last year, but I made more than him. *His W2s have our old address on them. We moved out of state last July. *My W2 from my full-time job has my married name on it, even though I haven't legally changed over my name on my SS card yet. (We're both procrastinators, can you tell?) *We were both part-time students last year. *We're expecting a baby in May. Both of us agree to not use Turbo Tax or a prep place like H&R Block (since they're pretty much the same thing). The person who usually prepares my taxes owns his own business and is an actual accountant. Nearly everyone in my family has utilized this man's services for years and years and I trust him completely. However, his fees are a little too steep for us right now. The person my husband has used works for a non-profit that caters to the Latino community and is in a "ghetto" part of town (my husband's words, not mine). He has yet to steer my husband wrong and is very cheap but up until now, filing my husband's taxes has been fairly simple. My husband argues that we should support a Latino-owned non-profit and that we can actually afford to use this guy's service. I point out that by using my guy, we're supporting a Black-owned business and I actually trust this man, his services and his knowledge, cost be damned. What do you think? Edited for formatting.

Taxact or Turbo Tax is your best bet. You take your numbers and you plug them in. Your situation isn't complicated.

I always recommend www.sher-cpa.com for all tax services.

Human: I am in the process of buying my first house and I am going to be having a friend as a roommate that will probably end up paying about $450 a month in rent plus some utilities. My mortgage plus tax and insurance will come to about $1250 a month. My question is if the money paid to me in rent will be taxable income or not also if I could offset that by just deducting an equivalent portion of my mortgage and other costs as a business expense?

Yes it is taxable. You can potentially deduct portions of the expenses you incur. The IRS details the rules of this situation in Publication 527: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p527/index.html

It's a complicated tax situation, but yes it is taxable. On the other hand, now 50% or so of your house is actually a business, so you can deduct expenses like repairs at a 50% rate. You'll want a good accountant for the first year (at least) to make sure everything gets set up legit and all cost savings are maximized. You might also need business licensing so look into that.

Human: Hi personalfinance, Using a throwaway account here. My mom got laid off today from the company she worked at for 7 years. She was kind of expecting it but not so soon. I'll skip the unimportant details. They were planning to take a trip to Costa Rica in May and they will need another $2500 to finance the trip. Here's the lowdown (We are in Canada): She got a $33k severance package, after taxes, that will be ~$20k. What they have so far: >* RRSP: $20k (Emergency Fund) >* Pension Plan: $20k (Cannot touch until retirement) >* $10,000 liquid emergency fund Debt: >* New Furnace & AC: $5000 @ 10% >* Line of Credit: $58,000, Split Into: $28,000 @ 5% | $30,000 @ 4% >* Mortgage: $97,000@ 2.25% AND $97,000@ 3.25% >* '09 Car1: $12,000@ 0% >* '09 Car2: $13,000@ 0.9% Income: >* Salary + Extra: $4,000 (From other parent) >* Welfare: $1600 (From laid off parent) Total Income: **$5600** Monthly Costs: **$5600** (Food, Gas, Utilities, Car Payments, Insurance, Mortgage, etc...) Therefore, we are covering ALL monthly costs with the income currently made without the laid off parents' income. We are looking for some suggestions on what to do with the severance package. Car1 costs $450/month Car2 costs $245/month Furnace costs ~$101/month If we pay off Car1 completely, we can move the insurance to one-way and PERHAPS save about $100/month on car insurance. That goes on top of the $450/month we'd be saving. That's option 1. Option 2, we pay towards the principal for the Line of Credit. I would love to hear your suggestions. EDIT: Those interest rates are APR guys! Sorry! Also, these are all numbers from a family's income/expenses. Mother + Father.

Often, advice will tell you not to pay off debt during an emergency, which this may well be. Conserve cash until employment is regained. At that point, apply all non-emergency funds towards prior debts, continuing as you would have if you had paid.

Thats a crap ton of debt, they were wanting to go where? Here is my suggestion... * Sell House * Sell Car 2 * Move into Apartment * Get Job - Pay minimums on lines of credit until then * Start paying off lines of credit * Find a house she can afford.

Human: So I got a Chase Credit card around 16 bought around $2000 and hit the limit. 7 Years later I have completely forgotten about it until I tried to get a car loan from my credit union. They said I had this 7 grand debt and until I paid that off I couldn't get any loans. So I have no clue what my options are. I am pretty sure you are not supposed to get credit cards before you are 18 and I am wondering if I can use that to my advantage at all. Just curious as to what my options are?

Bad marks (unpaid debts) will fall off your credit score seven years after the first time you didn't pay when you should have. Ask for a copy from your credit report (maybe the credit union will give it to you, otherwise you can get a free copy from all three credit bureaus once a year (see [here](http://www.bankrate.com/finance/debt/old-debt-fall-credit-report.aspx) ) to see when your seven years are up). The link also gives more information about old debts, so read it.

How the hell do you just forget? They had to be calling you and harassing you to pay. It's a little saddening you are trying to take the easy way out by saying it was there fault.

Human: Some background info: 21 years of age, male. Not married, no children No credit cards, no credit history Student, have this semester off Own a car 100% Live at home Have a steady job. A week ago I started an account at Chase bank and applied for their Slate credit card. The person who helped me apply said 90% of new openers who apply get the card, even with no credit. I was declined because I hadn't had a long enough running revolving account with chase. The main reason I want the card is to buy gas and pay it off every month to build a credit score so as to get a better finance rate for my next car. The car for anyone who is interested is a 2005 Honda S2000. I'm a bit (by a bit I mean total nut) car enthusiast and I currently work as a mechanic for Sears auto I am however working to get into any of the dealerships in the area. At my job I work off of commission so my biweekly paycheck can range from $300 to upwards of $700 depending on how much and what kind of work comes my way. I am also in the running for a promotion and hourly rate raise in a few months. I went to the dealer and sat down and talked price with the salesman and I wagered it down to 15k financed for everything. I even talked with my insurance agency and my ins will bump to 230 ish a month but that's what I get for wanting a sports car at such a young age. However the dealer wouldn't finance me (no surprise there). My questions are: How should I go about obtaining a proper credit card for a student How will I be able to get a credit score the quickest and safest And lastly is a credit card the answer to helping with financing the car?(in terms of getting a credit score) The only bill I really pay is my insurance every 6 months. Any help is appreciated thank you in advance!

First, get a secured credit card to build credit. Second, you can't afford that car. If you're happy living at home, use this opportunity to build some savings.

Maybe you can pay the monthly payment, but it doesn't mean you can afford that car. No job is secure. You already own a car, why throw away your money? I get you're a car nut, but don't throw so much money away so young. Save for a year towards a car, if I year from now you still find yourself wanting it, then maybe get it, having a higher down payment and lower monthly payments. Get a secured credit card, or search nerd wallet for cards for people looking to a build credit. The chase slate card I think it terrible anyway. I don't like it purely from a marketing perspective. Basically, they are selling you the card telling you to pay interest each month. See if your local credit union has a card you can get by opening an account or something.

Human: The title says it all.. I'm a 24yo male looking to buy a house in next 6 years or so and start a family,etc... I'm looking to purchase house somewhere in the price range of $500,000 more or less (SoCal=expensive house).. I have around $10k saved up, but nothing else. I have a 401(k) with my company that matches 50%. I make around $32k after taxes.. What can I do at this point to make sure I reach my goal of owning a home in next 6 years?

You either have to earn more money or move to an area where homes are cheaper. A home loan right now would cost you around $2400.00 a month which would be $28800 a year. This does not include other things like insurance and property taxes. Working just for a home would be foolish. You could not enjoy your life. If you are looking at as an investment where you think the home price will go up ask anyone that bought a home before the crash. It is not always a good investment.

good news is prices are still going down in San Diego and Orange County and some parts of LA.

Human: Stats: Income: ~100k/yr. income from job Assets: One apartment (worth 100k, 25k mortgage outstanding, renting for $700/mo. net profit) One house (worth 106k, 100k mortgage outstanding, currently living in) Savings in various accounts (40k) Debts: Student loan (26k, 170/mo. payment) My plan is to buy 4 or 5 distressed properties on Homepath with a partner, who is an unemployed carpenter who built his own eco-house in 8 months under budget and whose knowledge of buildings I trust. I'll be doing the paperwork and managing tenants. My biggest concern is securing mortgages. I'd like to know if it will be possible to get mortgages on another 4-5 properties @ ~60k each with ~6k down payments. My credit score is around 700 as far as I know (I haven't checked it in almost a year). I don't really know about credit utilization to know how many mortgages I can secure, and I'm not sure if there are particular banks that specialize in investor-mortgages that I should look into. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don't just trust your partner. Validate his time & expenses against another knowedgable carpenter's opinion. This is a job that will suck time away from other things. Have a plan to always have 100% of the units occupied. Good Good luck!

Make sure to factor in the cost of upkeep/maintenance for that many properties in your projections, especially with so many houses.