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Human: Assuming the buyer has good-to-excellent credit: Why would someone ever purchase a car in all cash if many US dealerships are providing interest rates anywhere from 0% - 4%. Further assuming the person is saving up for a down payment on a home, which is arguably the most difficult aspect of getting into a home, doesn't it make sense to keep the cash and pay the small interest hit? You can't get a loan for cash less than 6%-10% these days, so really financing a car is one of the best deals out there, assuming you want to keep your cash to get into a home. I've always known that taking on debt is never a good idea, but I've suddenly found a situation where it may make the most sense.

If you're trying to save up money to get into a new home, you probably don't need to be financing a new car just because the interest rates are low. Buy a beater with cash.

Changing your debt to income ratio also interrupts the underwriting process. You'd likely need to provide updated bank statements. This means you having to provide this info again, the lender needs to receive it, process it through the right internal departments, the bank etc. It throws a wrench in the whole approval/closing process.

Human: We did a house reno and I was worried that we were going to be eating some costs. Instead it appears that we may have increased the house by more than the reno costs (a miracle that usually only happens on HGTV) Anyway to make this quick: Original house cost: $142K Reno costs ~ $190K Appraisal: $340K Interest rate: 4.125% Some personal financial background: The only debt we currently carry is the $40K remaining on the existing mortgage Wife and I bring in ~ 90K per year with some upside since I have just started my own data system business We have a 12 (almost 13 year-old) & an 11 year old that will likely want to go to college some day We had approximately 45K in savings before the reno. We were misled into a bad loan type at the start of the construction process and so we have had to beg, borrow and steal to finance the construction to this point ourselves. So currently we have some IOUs that we will be able to pay off when the loan closes which should be very quickly now that the appraisal is in. MY MAIN QUESTIONS: 1) Should we take the loan for the max amount ($272,000) knowing that we can invest the rest and save for the kids college since there is a good chance that the 4.125% interest rate will look great in comparison to college loan rates/interest rates moving forward? Or take the loan amount that will cover the reno and with a little left over for the rainy day fund? THANKS!!

There is no guarantee your investment returns would outpace the 4.125%. Don't take on more debt than you need.

No you should not borrow money against your residence to invest, to put it simply.

Human: I have been a homeowner for 8 years now and I've noticed every single bill goes up. Insurance, internet, mortgage, etc. I have to switch car insurance every two years cause that goes up and I've never had an accident or claim. My home owners insurance goes up yearly and have never had a claim. When I bought my house it started at $395, now it's close to $1000. Taxes go up each year. Both taxes and insurance therefore make my fixed mortgage payment go up to account for higher escrow costs. All these changes and my salary doesn't change (that much) so it gets harder and harder each year. Could I being doing something differently? I don't ever expect things to go down but no increase at all for a year would be great.

Inflation

Inflation, costs of production keeps increasing and dollar value is decreasing therefor to offset prices need to increase.

Human: Current job informed me I'm on a layoff list should things get worse economically. (One pro is they told me- most places just screw you without notice). The reason is because I'm highly employable elsewhere (yes- a ridiculous reason and I told them that, too). I could make double what I'm making now, but it would require a move to a larger city. I am trying to determine any incentive to stay and not just preempt it by leaving. It appears the only incentive would be to wait a year and make an argument of, "I stuck with you after you telling me this, give me a raise"- but then, there's no guarantee of that. I generally really like what I do now. It's flexible, I'm the head of a department, the work matters, etc. The benefits are good. (Retirement is just provided- no matching required, private school paid for, some education, insurance for wife and I is provided, business expenses, etc). But, I'm feeling devalued, obviously. I could go make more money and get a better house in another job, but that would be me going back to the corporate world- structured hours, be here, report to someone, etc. And it requires a move. I don't want to get myself in a position where I could have stayed, made more money to boot, but gave it up for something stereotypical of corporate America. Any thoughts maybe I haven't thought about?

Start putting out your resume to look for something else. Since you already have a job, you have the security to be able to turn down a job offer for any reason (or none at all). That means you have the ability to find a position that with both pay you better AND that you think you'll enjoy. If you wait until there are layoffs, you may feel financial pressure to accept the first offer that comes your way. Additionally, when a company warns you that they may have layoffs, and that your name is on the layoff list, they are letting you know that the company is not very financially secure. A financially healthy company would not feel the need to make a layoff list. So, things are shaky with your employer. It's better to get out while the getting is good.

It comes down to whether you want to leave or not. If you are unhappy and want to go, then go. If you are happy and want to stay, then stay but pile up money in case in the worst thing happens and you have to leave.

Human: I'm 21 years old and am looking at buying a home. I'm making about $25k a year, and potentially have a raise coming up in the next few months. My dad told me that I should look at getting a duplex and renting out the other side. My bank is having a 0.125% interest rate discount on home purchases, and could also get a 80% mortgage. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. What else do I want to look for when buying a home? Assistant: Here is a checklist for getting ready to buy a house: 1) Debt-to-income ratio of less than 33%. 2) At least 20% downpayment saved. 3) Emergency fund equal to 5 months pay + 5% house cost. 4) Build up a good credit score so you will get the lowest possible interest rate on the mortgage. 5) Be pretty sure you are going to live in the house for more than 5 years. 6) (Especially if buying in a new town) Take the time to research and understand the neighborhoods, the housing market, the commuter and traffic patterns, before you buy. Rent for a while first. 7) Decide on needs and wants for a house before you start shopping. 8) Remember to check out tax and insurance costs for houses in your target group in your target location. 9) Be cautious about HOAs and condo associations, read their rules, check out their costs. 10) Pay equal attention to the property as a home, "we love it!" and the property as an investment, "It is a good buy, and it will be easy to sell." 11) By the way, check out the rental value and ease of rental (almost no one does this, but, if your job moves across the country, being able to rent the property, at least for a while, might be a lot better than trying to make a hasty sale.) 12) Find a good inspector. Human: What if I don't know if I will be there for 5 years?

Then don't buy a house.

Then either keep renting, or, as you are thinking of buying a duplex, make sure that it would make sense as an investment property after you move out.

Human: I have heard it's one of the oldest scams in the book -- but now that I'm actually living it, I'm not sure what to do. What do you advise? Other facts: - I live literally a half-mile from the car repair place. - They graphically described me getting into an accident if I choose to drive home. - They said I can't drive my car out of there because the brakes are unsafe. - They said I will need a tow truck if I want my car. - I am a woman. Update: I had my car towed to another family owned shop recommended by our neighbors (towing was courtesy of AAA). They said that the first shop was not only overcharging us but outright scamming us. We did not even need the tow truck. (Got it just to be safe as recommended here.) They are replacing our front brakes for $150 (as opposed to the $750 job quoted at Midas). Thanks for all your advice. Assistant: They don't have any right to withhold your vehicle from you. Brakes that "wear out" make a squealing noise for a long time and are still reasonably safe (may not have 100% stopping power, but...). You would feel and hear it when stopping. If it's any consolation, it's pretty normal for men to be upsold on auto repairs as well. First lesson of car ownership is to say "no" lots of times when talking with any mechanic. Human: Yeah, I have driven some jalopies (seriously) with brakes that were literally grinding into the steel of the wheel, or whatever. I'm no car expert but the squeaky sounds of our 2013 sonata don't indicate anything THAT serious. Then again, I'm not an expert. We can always get Triple A to tow it out for free, if we have to.

On a slightly different note, why are you waiting until they get so bad to get your brakes done? Literally neglecting one of, if not, the most important part of your car that can result in causing injury to yourself and/or others.

Call Midas corporate and see what they have to say about the whole situation

Human: This is in Texas. I worked for a family business last year until the end of 2016 and am now working for a new company. When I got my w2 only 1/4th of my taxes were paid for 2016. My old employer is now telling me that I need to file a 1099 even though my taxes were withheld from every check last year. He was just pocketing my tax payments without telling me. What should I do about this? Edit: thank you guys so much for the help! I plan on calling the DOL tomorrow morning to get this situated. Assistant: Employers do not get to decide who is a 1099 contractor or W2 employee; there are legal tests that make the decision for them. Sounds like this guy is up to some shenanigans. Like others have said, I'd insist on a corrected W2, and file a report with your state regulators immediately (and possibly with the IRS as well) just to get the ball rolling in case your (hopefully former) employer decides to continue with this behavior. Human: What can be the consequences if I do the 1099? I do not plan to. Just curious.

He stole from you and the tax man, and basically wants you to say you stole from the tax man.

In addition to needing to pay more taxes that other people have talked about here already, you would be signing your name on an official government document implicating yourself in fraud. Do not file a 1099, unless the IRS told you to, doing so otherwise will only get you into much much much deeper trouble.

Human: I'm shopping around for a mortgage and have been talking to three different lenders. I went in to see one guy and have him run my numbers and see what he could offer me. When he finished calculating he asked me how his interest rate compared with other offers I had gotten and I told him honestly that it was in the ballpark, but slightly higher than the other two. Then he said, "well, give me a reason why I should give you the best rate possible." And I honestly didn't know what to say to that. In the end I think I said something like, "well wouldn't you want to offer me the best rate possible so I have an increased likelihood of using you for my mortgage?" And he kind of laughed at that and started talking about how he hates working with people who only care about the numbers and people need to understand that there's a lot more to a mortgage than just the lowest interest rate, etc. To be honest, it was really strange and off putting to me. Why would he tell me to "give him a reason" to give me the best interest rate possible? Was the number he gave me not the best he could do? What could I have said to him in that situation that would have satisfied his question? I'm just a little baffled and looking for advice about what he meant by that and how I should respond in the future if I'm ever asked a similar question. I'm assuming this is something to do with mortgages that I must not be understanding. It's my first time buying a house, so this interaction really caught me off guard. Assistant: My mortgage was sold before I even made a single payment on it. Lenders will talk about supporting a local business or customer service, but it's BS. They will sell you as soon as they can make a nice profit so go after whatever loan gives you the best terms. Human: Yeah. This guy wasn't local though. He works for a national bank chain. I am looking at a couple other more local banks though. So he wasn't trying to convince me to support a local bank or anything.

Run away from the national banks! these guys are just sales people getting mortgage sales goals jammed down their emails every day. go on the online mortgage websites, put in the terms you need and find the lender with the lowest APR and closing cost.

I think this is what he wanted to hear, and if you had said it to him, he would've offered you a better rate. "I will probably refinance in the next year or so, and when I do I will have you do the refi." Or, "i'm actually thinking about getting into real estate investing, and buying a duplex or triplex with my parents. So I will be looking for more mortgages in the near future." Not that any of that would've been true, but I think that is what he was looking for, a better mortgage rate in exchange for a long-term relationship of business.

Human: Hello /r/PersonalFinance. I've made a throwaway since some friends know my username and we wouldn't want them knowing about this. But my girlfriend and I are about to buy a house. She just recently found out that at the time she had about $130,000 in stocks that her grandparents had put in for her while she was younger. This is awesome, and more recently, the prices in the stocks have went up to ~145,000 is what the most recent statement has said. The stocks did have a family member as a "guardian" of the account. But it's since been changed over to her name. Now we're at a kind of hard spot. Taxes have never been paid on these stocks. That's a big worry for her and it also worries her how much will be taken out of these stocks. She's supposed to set up an appointment with a tax adviser on the best way to take the money out while paying the least amount in taxes possible. Some of this is our down payment money, so we kind of need it soon. I just wanted to see if anybody here might have some ideas on what we could possibly do to make this go faster, and take it out while paying the least amount of taxes.

Advice - don't buy a house together unless you're married.

Really? You're asking Reddit? Talk to a financial advisor.

Human: Tldr: £300k, no debts and no clue how best to use it, what do? My dad died last month and has left me with around £300k with which I have no clue how to handle. I am currently working as a waiter for around £15k a year (a job which I do not enjoy but do so I can live) I just finished college last year and chose to stay home and look after my dad instead of going to university, my hope is that I can use this inheritance to avoid uni if I can. I have no debts and don't really understand retirement options here in the UK or bank account types or how to invest in stocks or shares but would very much like to learn. I live with my mum so I have no monthly out goings no mortgage or formal bills to pay. What would be my best course of action to use this money to create a good future and make my dad proud?

Don't post on Reddit. See a financial advisor.

Refer to the windfall tab on the right, there are a trove of resources there to navigate through these times.

Human: You can check my comment history for a feel of where I'm coming from (Bipolar AF). Basically I have no connections worth mentioning, I'm just dirty husk with some money in my pocket, a high school diploma, and a smartphone. I would like to live somewhere where I can get back on my feet without needing a car. I can stay where I currently am until the end of April.... but the area is very high cost of living. I have no work history that's been more than a few weeks.

buy a van, live in van, pay for yearly parking near the beach (CA), get a planet fitness gym membership for showers, do what you like for work.

Come join us at r/bipolar

Human: I live in Colorado. I parked in a private lot. I paid the fee to be there until 6pm. It would have been another $10 to stay all night. Got back at 6:10pm and there was a ticket on my windshield. Made to look like an official ticket (yellow envelope, orange markings on ticket), but on the bottom in tiny print it said it was not a city ticket. Ticket was for $75. No signs in lot saying that was fee for overstaying. I ignored it. Few weeks later I got a letter from a lawyer saying they were collecting on debt and if I did not contest within 30 days, in writing, through mail, they would consider it a valid debt. Question is, I never agreed to pay this amount. Can they really hit my credit for something I never agreed to pay?

If you want to fight this, write back to contest their authority to levy the fine and politely ask for the legal basis that gives them the right to assert it. Don't make an argument, just ask for the authority. First re-read the letter and see if they point to law or contract authorizing this charge.

i would ignore it. i wouldnt even contest it as it cannot effect your credit rating. the worse outcome is that they will tow your car if its parked in that private parking lot again. Other than that- there is absolutely nothing to worry about and nothing they can do.

Human: I've been working for a consulting firm for a little over a year, and I'm expecting to be asked to resign soon. I'm on a "performance improvement plan" due to low productivity. The job has been drastically different than advertised for, I'm not trained for a large portion of it, and I'm looking forward to the next step, to finding a better fit. Should I resign before this actually culminates in a proper HR meeting? Should I refuse to resign, instead being fired to collect unemployment? Any experiences? Hoping to stay in my chosen area of expertise, but extremely worried about my current situation.

I would probably be sprucing up my resume and looking for a job that fits your criteria better than the current job. If you get a job before they fire you great. If you don't get a job prior to that, get terminated and take unemployment. There is no practical difference between being fired and resigning other than one if coming from the employer's at will and one is coming from the employee's at will. So long as you act professional regardless of this not being what you signed up for most companies will not go out of their way to make your life miserable when they are firing you, make sure of any policies in regards to references and move on from your job.

Find a new job ASAP.

Human: So I have been contemplating whether I should get a credit card to help buy myself a desktop computer or not. I currently have about $300 saved up, and I will start summer work for minimum wage around end of May. I wanted to get a desktop soon but I obviously don't have enough funds. So should I get a credit card and start getting credit (since I'm 18 and don't have credit under my name) since it's a simple way to gain it and I will easily pay it off during the summer. Or should I just wait longer until I have enough money to buy a desktop and have money left over.

Wait until you have the money, then get a credit card, then buy the stuff with your new credit card, then pay off your credit card with your money that you already have

Agreed, you think you'll pay it off. Be mature enough to realize your not that mature, they'll suck you in and in the end hurt your credit.

Human: My husband and I make 165K/Year jointly. I make 8K more and we each contribute a percentage of our income into a joint account for bills and savings. Within the past two years, we saved and paid off for a medium sized wedding, had a baby and bought a house with 20% down, and are now paying for daycare in a high cost area (the Bay Area). we managed to save a bit every month (not as much as I'd like) and have about 10K in our savings right now. Initially, the plan was to put our tax return directly into our joint savings since we'd like it to be much more than what's in there now. But I looked at my loans from grad school (55K total, 30K at 5.8+ percent interest) and asked husband if we can use a large portion of our tax return to pay down my loans. It feels a little selfish of me to ask, even though as a married couple, my money is his and vice versa, so paying down my loan should be good for the family. My husband didn't seem enthused and has asked time to think about it. We have mortgage payments and a car payment at 1.3 interest, not other debt. So my student loans are the highest interest debt we (or I) have. Is it a good idea? Or as a family of three, is it better to pad our savings more before trying to aggressively pay down my loans?

This is more a relationship advice issue rather than a financial one Yes, you should likely use the tax return to pay off your student loans. You're getting a return equal to whatever the interest rate on the loans is

You may find these links helpful: - [Student Loans wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/studentloans) - ["How to handle $"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) - [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) *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: A mortgage banker I am talking with said my credit score for a mortgage is different than my consumer score. Maybe he's talking about FICO vs Vantage? Basically I could have a 820 score with the 3 bureau, but a 680 when banks look at it for a mortgage. Because, I don't carry a couple hundred dollars balance on my revolving accounts. I thought you get a better score from paying off your balances and maintaining access to large amounts of credit?

You have many different FICO scores. Yes, banks often (though not always) use a different scoring model than the ones you commonly get online (either ones you pay for or the ones that you get free from sources like credit cards). FICO 8 is the most popular score overall, but look at the chart on this page from FICO: [Link](http://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-score-versions/) FICO 2, FICO 4 and FICO 5 are all commonly used in mortgage decisions. I can't tell you what the differences are between the models, but there are differences. Regardless, many mortgage lenders use the residential mortgage credit report, which are those three scores from the bureaus you can see in the chart on the page I linked above. That said, I highly doubt that carrying a balance on your revolving accounts would positively affect those scores. No one knows for sure because the models are trade secrets, but that just wouldn't make any sense. On the off chance that it is somehow considered, I don't see how it would make *that* much of a difference.

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

Human: Hi all. I came here for a second opinion. My girlfriend's current vehicle has 230,000 miles and burns oil so she'll have to buy a new one soon. She is a teacher and makes $42,000/yr before taxes. She has $65,000 in student loan debt. Half of this is federal loans and has an interest rate of 3.5%. The other half is private and has a rate of 8%. I cover living expenses so assuming most (~75%) of her income can be used to repay debt, what should her maximum budget be for the next vehicle? Thanks for any input you may have.

What can she buy without a loan?

With that much loan debt she should save up and pay cash for a beater (or keep the heater she has for as long as possible).

Human: Hello r/personalfinance I am a current 11th grade high school student with a slightly above average GPA and SAT scores. I have no idea what I want to do in life, but I want to be financially stable in whatever it is. How should I approach 1) choosing a college, 2) picking a major, and 3) finding an industry all from a financial perspective? Other info: I am a Northern California resident, strong in math and science, and don't want a lot of student debt. Thanks in advance for the help!

If I had to do it all over again, I would have gone into the military. Join the Navy, and get a job in IT or something involving computers. Learn technical skills and get security clearances, on the military's dime, and save as much money as you can. When you get out, with the right skills and clearances, you can get a job making 6 figures and have a good nest egg to build upon. Debt free, while seeing the world. Or, if you don't like IT, you can go to college and get a degree in something you like, and use the GI Bill to pay for it.

www.mrmoneymustache.com has all you need

Human: I am wondering what the consequences of choosing to have my employer pay me my full pay check and not take any out for taxes. I understand that I will need to pay tax on that money. Are there any penalties for not paying taxes throughout the year but instead paying them all at once? My thoughts for waiting to pay tax till it's due is that it is easier for me to look for tax breaks to minimize taxes owned through out the year rather then waiting for tax season to try get as much back from tax returns as possible. It's very easy to think of the tax return as "extra play money" when in reality I could of been putting that money towards long term investments. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

>Are there any penalties for not paying taxes throughout the year but instead paying them all at once? Yes.

No + side here It's not a one way door. Finish the year and file. I'd you can prove you over contributed, they will pay you.

Human: I am posting in this sub to get a perspective on the financing part of my situation. Sorry in advance for the wall of text. Also, not sure if all of this is relevant but here we go: I graduated high school in the top 20% of my class in 2010. I was accepted to my dream school out of state and parents told me they'd pay for it. College started well, I began in a STEM major, 3.3 GPA for my first year. A week after getting home for summer break, my parents told me they were getting divorced. Next year, I went back to original school, was having slight difficulty focusing and doing well in advanced level math courses. I thought it was stress. Finished the semester with a 2.8. Spring semester sophomore year I started falling off the wagon. In hindsight, I likely had "high functioning" depression. Parents started putting me in the middle of fights (I'm the oldest). Stopped going to class because of stress and lack of doing excellent in subjects I used to breeze through. I wasn't able to work through it. I sought help from the school and got paranoid when I thought I overheard a counselor talking about me in the hallway before our meeting that I was running late for. I dropped all my courses for the semester and went home without any bad grades. Junior year, everything collapsed. I completely stopped doing anything other than trying to cheer myself up. Things I continued doing: partying, social events. I tried getting a puppy to work on my depression (maybe not the best choice at the time but 4 years later, he's my entire life). A month later, a major storm decimated my hometown and I spent a lot of time worrying about how my family was doing instead of working on class work. I was almost kicked out of my sorority, and I decided halfway through finals week to drop out completely. I was heart broken. I decided to transfer to a college in my home state and moved in with my grandmother. Things were going exceedingly well. I was working part time, I loved my classes and I was making friends at the school. I finished this semester with a 3.4. This school had another "flagship" college whose program was much better than that other one. I decided to transfer there in order to put myself closer to my goals of getting the best degree I could. I got in to transfer but not for my ideal program. I had balanced working full time with school full time and finished this semester with a 3.2. I figured I was in. Unfortunately, I was not accepted to the program I wanted. I had needed a 3.5 because I was a "transfer" student. I was devastated. A couple weeks later, I was suspended from work due to not getting the required license needed within the allotted time. I was out of work for 6 weeks. During that time, I was too depressed to get out of bed, I felt defeated and stupid. I asked my family if they would support me taking a year off of school to treat my depression and go back to school having worked on a recovery plan. They all encouraged me to "just keep going, you're almost done" because I had been in school for 4 years. I needed about 40 more credits for my major, if I ever got into it. I tried "beating the system" by taking summer courses while I waited to apply again to the major I wanted. This backfired. I could not shake this failure looming over me. I couldn't focus on any work, and when I did, I was so self conscious about it. I thought people would think I was stupid, I'd never graduate and everyone would laugh at me wondering where I went wrong. I was let go from my job in September right before the semester began. I continued academic year 2014-2015 with the same results. Failure. Depression. Unable to even get out of bed. My GPA dropped down to a 1.5. The grades were either B+ or higher or Fs. I was put on academic suspension. I had to wait a year before I went back and took courses on a probationary status over the summer of 2016. In the meantime, I worked my butt off at 2 jobs, knowing I'd need to save up money to go back. I applied to every job I could to get closer to an office job in my industry. I went back super excited. I loved the course I signed up for, I had gotten an entry level position (although temporary) in an office and was applying daily to permanent positions in my industry. I wound up getting a C in the class because it was group focused, and I carried my group the entire course by doing most, if not all, of the work. This was the point that I decided I didn't even like this school. Why did I even care? I didn't meet the criteria for a probationary re-admission after academic probation. I attempted researching other colleges I could attend instead that were still in the area or online. I found a college that I was very interested in that had my major, and required a 2.0 Cumulative GPA. I guess I only had a 1.8, and I was rejected. My options were to take 4 years off and do an "academic bankruptcy" in which I'd have to start over or raise my GPA. I figured it shouldn't be too hard to raise my GPA, so I enrolled in the local community college. Bonus: maybe I could get my A.S. and it would make me more competitive considering I had then completed something. Fast forward a couple more months, I am currently in an entry level position in financial services with plenty of room to advance. I love my company. They offer $2,500 per year tuition reimbursement. I am taking 2 courses this semester towards an A.S. at a local community college. They want me to retake courses (24 credits more) that I previously took in order to get my degree (for example: English I, Public Speaking, Management, etc.). Total credits: 83 I think my GPA is around a 1.7 Cumulative I have some questions: 1.) Is there any way to appeal the transfer evaluation at the community college? I won't get double credit at a 4-yr school for retaking classes o did well in the first time. 2.) Does it make sense to graduate with the Associates before transferring to a Bachelors program? Or should I try to raise my GPA with the couple courses I'd need to take as prerequisites and then try to transfer again? 3.) Is it even possible to raise my GPA that much considering how many courses I have managed to fail? 4.) Should I even bother trying to get my Bachelor's Degree? I have always dreamed of getting a Bachelors and a Masters, but now I'm thinking maybe it's just not worth it/unachievable given my past mistakes. TLDR; Fucked up in college due to depression, parents' divorce, getting fired and major storm, failed a lot of classes, should I even bother trying to finish?

Where i'm coming from: I have about 120+ units from 4 schools and have been going to college forever, changing my major and oscillating between poor performance and good performance. My GPA started 3.2 before my first transfer, got as low as 1.9 and is now back up to 2.9 As for you, you mentioned your major and thinking of getting an AS or BS repeatedly, but never once said what that was. It really depends on the major and how competitive it is as to how much GPA matters for transfer eligibility. "Graduating" with an AS shouldn't take many (or any depending on your school and transfer schools) other classes that won't be necessary to get your BS anyhow, so in a lot of ways it doesn't make sense not to pick it up. It's not likely to open many new doors for you at just the AS level, but it should give you a leg up in areas that are already open to you, plus performing well on these courses will look good on a transfer application and show that you're trying (supposing you actually do). It is feasible to raise your GPA back up but it will be a lot of work/take a lot of classes to do so. That said, again depending on major, GPA doesn't matter for much other than getting into a program, and even then 2.0 should be fine for most majors, after that your performance in those classes is what matters. A BS held by someone with a 2.3 GPA looks the same as someone with a 3.2 GPA unless they post that on their resume, and most industries don't care about the number, just the BS and them experience and strong contacts. If it's a dream and your work is helping to pay for it then go for it, especially at 2 courses a semester, 2 courses is cake and you should be able to get A's and start recovering your GPA. Though again, that said, taking only 2 courses it is going to take a considerable amount of time to finish your BS or even AS, thats 2 years just to finish the 24 credits they want you to retake, so it depends on if you're going to be in for that long of a haul/ how happy you are with your life and if you think you can/want to take the extra time out of your day. Hope this helps some, all of this is from my own experience with going to college forever, trashing and fixing my GPA. I'm finally on course to get my BS in molecular biology in yet another couple years, and should be totally fine. However if I had tried to get into pharmacy instead it would have been a no go until I got my GPA to 3.5 (aka impossible without wasting all my effort)

I just want to say anecdotally that this is more common than you might think. I know a dozen or so people from my hometown who dropped out or lost their scholarship to a prestigious school due to burn out. 10 years later, all of them seem to be doing okay. A few restarted college at a local state school part-time. A few seem to have aborted their plans for a BS and instead worked their way up the management ladder in the service industry. Life is full of disappointments and you're going to have times when you don't succeed the way you want to. The important thing now is that you get your issues under control so you'll be healthy and ready to do the next thing.

Human: Where should I open it? I have read many good things about Vanguard and TD Ameritrade. Don't know what to look for though. Thanks in advance!

Saver's Credit probably https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-savings-contributions-savers-credit http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/04/031704.asp

I've got an account with TD Ameritrade. They let you trade most Vanguard ETFs commission free. You might have to sign up for that feature once you get your account but I've got it on mine. All in all they're not bad. I've been with them probably 15 years now. They've recently dropped the stock/ETF trade fees to $6.99 or something after being at $9.99 forever. And as far as Vanguard goes - they're a pretty big company but their funds are mainly index funds as opposed to actively managed funds. Active management has had a pretty sorry track record in recent years so more and more people have gone to index funds. If you want to open an account with them you basically just go to the website and sign up. They might mail you some paperwork and have you send it back at a later date. You can set it up to do electronic withdrawals from your checking account and deposit the $1800 that way. It might take a couple days to get that set up because I think they do that thing to confirm the connection by depositing a few cents into the checking account and having you confirm it - so don't wait until April 14th to make the deposit is what I'm saying.

Human: hi everyone! I'm a young man (18) who lives with my girlfriend and her parents. Before you judge me on living at her parents house with her, my house was to small for everyone (7 siblings including myself) so I took to leaving. I'm looking for advice on how to best utilize money to prepare for the coming of my first child (September 22nd is when the child will arrive). Also wondering if it would be better financially to move out before the baby comes, or do it a few months after? I get paid weekly, work 3rd shift, and make around $220-$300 a week depending on how much work there is. thanks for your help if you comment on here! edit: girlfriend makes about $200-$250 per week at her job, paid weekly

I don't suppose you've considered enlisting? You'd have to move to wherever they send you but you'll be fully covered medically and you can get out after 4 years with a GI bill to pay for school.

Spend less than you earn and in time you will have a nice sum of emergency funds. Don't forget to spend a % of time educating yourself and developing skills so you can earn more. If you don't do that you might find yourself stuck in a low paying job with increasing financial and time pressures of a baby.

Human: (Auto) Evening everyone, first time posting here and I wanted to know if any one could help with my question. Do I get an discounts on the car itself? It's cost is $32,985... The dealer already lowered it in their website by $4k. Is paying with a debit card the best option or a cashier's check? Or can I bring cash? Any info and help is appreciated. Tom

Read the FAQ in /r/askcarsales Cash is not an incentive. It does not increase your bargaining power. If you absolutely insist on paying cash bring a cashiers check. Don't make two dealer employees count your money multiple times just so you can feel important with your cold, hard greenbacks. In addition, use any of the countless resources available to you as a consumer to determine a fair price for the vehicle you look to buy. Your negotiation "strategy" has no bearing on reality and will more than likely not have you taken seriously. Make an educated offer, review your contracts to ensure nothing was typed incorrectly, and move on with your life. You don't have to make this more complicated than necessary.

Finance it and take the incentives. Then pay it off after the first payment is due.

Human: I know this is an extremely vague question that depends on several factors. But generally, how far should a person further their education if they want to make the most money possible within their lifespan?

It depends entirely on their field, how their degrees are paid for, what school, etc.

Art appreciation - kindergarten Entrepreneur - associates in business, depending on their field Liver transplant anesthesiologist - however far past grad school they are supposed to go.

Human: Apologies if this isn't the right place for this post, looked around but didn't find anything quite relevant. Basically my GF has been living abroad for the past 10 years without filing any taxes. Her wages during that time would have qualified for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, meaning she wouldn't have had to pay income tax. My question is, can she just start filing taxes this year or is there some sort of process she needs to go through first. What should we be prepared for? Thanks for any help.

Contact an accountant specializing in expat taxes. This is a rather common issue. [Here's what I found in 30 seconds of Googling](https://www.taxesforexpats.com/articles/first-time-filing/file-back-taxes-multiple-years-american-expat.html). If she wouldn't have owed any taxes due to taking the FEIE she shouldn't owe any penalties, provided she files them before the IRS reaches out and tells her to. Make sure she also back-files the FBAR. The accountant can probably help with this too. And make it a point to her to file both every year going forward.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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 have about $50k invested with a broker. It's not much but it's about half of my retirement (other half is in my work 401k). I have given some thought to "firing" this broker and moving it into Vanguard and redistributing it amongst 2-3 funds. (Currently it is spread out amongst a dozen or so different funds.) I have a good relationship with this broker and she's talked me off the cliff once or twice and given me good advice about rolling a traditional IRA I had into the Roth. My only concern is the fees I may be paying and how much they'll eat into my retirement. I'm with Ameriprise if that makes any difference. Is firing my broker a good idea here and if so, how do you have this conversation? I have no beef with her personally though I admit if she retired tomorrow I'd probably take the opportunity to go out on my own. Assistant: If you're falling into the "oh my, the market is down **sell now!!!**" trap, a broker may actually be worth the fee you're paying. Ameriprise is abysmal, but it's not as bad as an undisciplined investor who is going to subject themselves to some real risk. You can fire them by doing a direct transfer. Call Vanguard and they'll handle it. Human: I've been with this broker for several years. I feel I at least owe her a conversation.

The conversation can go like this: "I appreciate the services you've provided for me these several years. However, I now feel comfortable with my investing knowledge and I'd like to take more control over my future. Please expect to be contacted by _insert financial institution_ for a direct transfer of funds." Your relationship is a business relationship. You can't be a charity here - if you've found a better deal somewhere else (like Vanguard) then you are only hurting yourself if you don't go.

You don't. You're not going to convince her that she isn't doing the right thing for your, is stealing from you, or isn't adding value equal to or exceeding your costs. That's doubly true if you have an undisciplined approach to investing.

Human: I apologize if this was posted in the wrong subreddit. Without divulging much personal information, here's the story. I am a freelance and I signed a contract last year January (2016) with a company that upon satisfaction of my work and completion of a large-scale company project, i will receive $30K. As mentioned, i am a freelance and i don't have a fixed income. This project took up about 4 months from me and basically during this 4 months, i was living on my personal savings. The project was completed well on the estimated date and everything went smooth for the company. I was then told i will receive the money at the end of month, just like every salaried worker in the company does. I contacted them on second week of may since i wasn't contacted and informed about the collection of the payment. I called the manager of the company, who i was told to find for any enquiries, and he said it will be delayed slightly and i will be contacted again. Weeks past and everytime i called the manager, i would be turned down with different excuses and up till today, i have still not received a single cent. The final straw came yesterday. I felt hopeless after the last call i made to the manager yesterday. I understood my rights from the contract but when i told the manager yesterday, through phone, that i could exercise my right and sue them for a sum of money, i was told to bring it on. The company is quite a monopoly in the industry and i was warned that if i dared to tarnish their reputation, he would personally make sure that i would be blacklisted among all other companies. I am at my wits end... i have no idea who to turn to and my family is counting on me to survive. My personal saving is being exhausted and would finish probably by the next 1 month or so. What's my next course of action? I felt so indignant, i gave up my sleep and work effortlessly for the company but i am just a speck of dust to them. Thank you for reading and sorry for my bad english, it's not my first language. Assistant: Contact a plaintiffs-side employment lawyer. At this stage I would suggest using someone who charges by the hour, avoid anything commission based for now. First step will likely be to send a sternly worded letter demanding funds plus interest. That should not take much time for the attorney and should get their attention. Sorry to hear, the situation sucks. Human: Thanks for the reply, i thought my thread will be lost in the sea of post. If i take up your advice, my concern is the hefty fee from hiring the lawyers. And to add on to my post, my parents advised me to contact my cellphone telecom to get a recording of the conversation yesterday where the manager threatens me. Do you think it's possible?

> If i take up your advice, my concern is the hefty fee from hiring the lawyers. This is unfortunately a risk you take when doing freelance work. I'm sure that you can find all kinds of similar horror stories over at r/freelance (the top post right now is, "Client is not paying for design work that is featured on his Facebook. Should I write a comment on this fact?") > And to add on to my post, my parents advised me to contact my cellphone telecom to get a recording of the conversation yesterday where the manager threatens me. Do you think it's possible? No, I know that the government does some shady ass wiretapping stuff, but your cell provider does not record every call that you make.

Call a few lawyers, tell them the situation and see what they charge. Obviously you don't want to spend $10K to get back $30K, but if all they are doing is writing a short letter and advising as to an appropriate interest calculation that is really not a lot of work and should be only a few hundred bucks I would imagine. Discuss with them what they will and won't do and how much they would charge. Really I would hope the company will be motivated to pay after they get a letter from a hopefully reputable lawyer/firm so they will know you are serious. On the recording, I wouldn't do any of that. But do take your own notes on these conversations at the time they happen, noting the date/time, who you spoke with and what was discussed.

Human: Like many, I must give thanks to this group to help open my eyes to what was going on with my accounts, retirement and 529s. My wife and I got married right out of college. Conveniently, my new brother-in-law was been a financial adviser with Edward Jones... how convenient! So we started to build out our Roths, and when we had kids, the 529s. Then the company I worked for was sold, and I had the opportunity to roll the 401k into EJ... so i did that. All of a sudden there is a sizable (to me) balance, and after lurking here and John Oliver, I decided to take a closer look at what was going on. Findings: 1) Annual fees ($20 to $40) on the retirement accounts 2) 3.5% front load fees. This pissed me off, because on each investment, i saw a $ for $ investment. However, the following day the investment would be revalued to take the fee out. It's like driving a new car off the lot...loss of 3.5%, boom. 3) 2% charge on all reinvested dividend and cap gains (once hit $250k, this went away. 4) Lowest fund expense ratio was 0.58%, most of the balances were 0.6% to 0.7%. With the new fiduciary rules being put into place, my wife and I had a call with my adviser (brother-in-law) to review what the plan was with our accounts. I started to poke around with some questions, and at one point asked to see all of the funds available to us, looking for 0.25% ratios. He literally said "If I gave you a list of all of the funds, then what would you need me for." Bingo. Now he is trying to put our accounts under a "guided solution" which is 1.16% on the balance each yr, and then says, "I'll reduce that to 1.08% because your family"... what!? We end the call, with me needing to "review our options". Further research ensues. Decide to transfer all accounts to Vanguard. I expect to see cost savings of $2,000/ yr through EJ fees and lower fund ratios... thats around $80k over 20 years. So once again, thank you!. TL;DR - started to used Edward Jones because of family relationship, after research and convincing wife the family would be ok, and EJ are just salesmen of financial products...saving ~$2,000/ yr.

>Lowest fund expense ratio was 0.58%, most of the balances were 0.6% to 0.7%. Yeah lol.. for frame of reference most of Schwab's basic index mutual funds were lowered to 0.03% as of 3/1/17. So your Edward Jones "lowest fund ER" was 19.3 times larger than that.

As always **You** are your best financial advisor. Glad you got into a better situation.

Human: We are planning to buy a house and I wanted another opinion on what we can comfortable afford. * 250k Down payment * 70K a year (After taxes etc.) * 225 Heating monthly avg * 150 electric monthly avg * 470 car payment monthly * 200 phone monthly (paying for mother in law) * 40 Internet monthly * 25 Sling monthly * 300 Monthly Childcare avg * 290 Car insurance/registration monthly avg * 1k a month for food/out to eat * 320 Monthly for Gas avg * Average property tax rate is 22.00 per 1,000.

Wait, with a 250K down payment, why wouldn't you just buy a home for around that amount? Of course I am unsure of the area you are in, I can't imagine why you would have to spend that much on a home with your salary, not even including your other expenses that you listed. Hopefully you have savings or an emergency fund set aside as well.

Is $70k your annual income? What is your monthly take home income? Your non-mortgage expenses seem really high for a family with an annual income of $70k. I added up your non-mortgage expenses and arrived at $3020. Is that an accurate list of all expenses? What about retirement savings? Or travel/ vacation spending? Misc expenses on clothes, furniture, haircuts?

Human: Hey PF, I recently took my car to the shop to get to the bottom of some strange noises that it was making. Ultimately, it looks like ill need new brakes and new struts along with one or two minor issues resolved. The estimate I received was for a minimum of $1100 - $1200 to get this fixed. The car, which I own outright, is 10 years old and will likely still need to be replaced within a years time. I'd really not like to take on a car payment right now because 1. debt sucks and 2. I'm within 6-7 months of paying off my student loans since I've been making very aggressive monthly payments to them and a new car payment would only reduce the amount I pay towards loans. So I see two options: 1. Pay the $1200-ish for the repairs right now, buy myself a few months of existing life with the car, finish paying off my loans in that time, and then look into a new car. 2. Trade the car in as is now, without throwing the $1200 at the repairs, maybe get $1500-2000 (completely guessing) as a trade in value, spend the $1200 or so that would have gone to repairs towards a new car, but take on new debt at the same time as my loan payments. Are there other options I'm overlooking?

probably best financially to repair the car.

Brakes and struts are NOT repairs, they are maintenance items. Maintain your car. These are also jobs you can likely DIY (at least the brakes). Brakes are very easy.

Human: I have been watching the ACC Tournament these last few days on the ESPN channel family and I keep seeing a commercial for Charles Schwab coming up. It's the series of ads where an unnamed competitor is freaking out over a banner that is being draped over the skyscraper next door touting that Schwab now has the lowest expense ratios and zero fees among the other investment firms, including Vanguard. I just recently began the process of transitioning my Roth IRA from Fidelity to Vanguard to take advantage of their lower expense ratios (and what I had always thought based on my research had the lowest expense ratios). So now I'm seeing this ad on TV and wondering if Vanguard truly has had its fee and expense ratio structure bested by Schwab. Anyone seen this ad and have any insight on if it's accurate or too good to be true? Anyone have a Schwab account and mind sharing reasons they chose it over Vanguard? Thanks!

Fidelity has some free to trade very low expense ratio ETFs. They're lower than Vanguard already on some of them (like ITOT vs VTI). Basically all 3 are great with very low expense choices. Vanguard runs the funds at cost. Fidelity and Schwab have some funds that are loss leaders so they can be a little cheaper than Vanguard - and I mean a LITTLE cheaper.

Schwab uses some of their index funds as "loss leaders" to get you investing there. Many of their other funds are more expensive than Vanguard. If you stick with index funds at Schwab you'll be OK if you get lured into some of their other services that's where they make their money off of you.

Human: I've been told that if a US person moves to a foreign country for work and stays a US citizen, they owe US income taxes on top of the taxes in the country in which they work (I'm skeptical of this). The example I was given was a Microsoft employee (US company) working in China and having to pay both Chinese and US taxes. If a US person goes to work for a non-US company in another country are there any situations in which that person would owe taxes to both countries? Example: Boeing aeronautical engineer in US takes a job with Mitsubishi Aircraft in Japan.

US citizens are taxed on their worldwide income but there are exclusions and ~~deductions~~ credits that account for living abroad and/or tax paid to foreign governments. I could explain in more depth, but you can literally google the title of your post and find the same information.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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: Hey guys, a friend told me that you have insight about finances, thus I wanted to ask you for advice. What can I do with 200k?

Park it for 6 months. Wait for you head to clear and get used to your new situation. Then follow the advice.

Max your Roth IRA Contribution for 2017. Or if anything help me max out mine this year..... please =D

Human: I am 20 years old and am being claimed as dependent under my mother. However, she cut me off a few months ago, almost forced me to drop out of college. My dad wants to help, and he suggested we could maybe have my dependent status moved from her to him. He makes more than her, he would get some money back from taxes that would go straight to my tuition. That's what he says may work. I want to know if this can actually happen, and what I would need to do to make this work. (I am completely clueless when it comes to finances so please bear with me)

If you are a full time college student and he starts covering more than 50% of your expenses, then he can claim you as a dependent for the 2017 tax year. If he wasn't covering over half of your expenses in 2016, then he cannot claim you on his 2016 taxes.

They have to work it out on their side. If they both claim you on their taxes who ever does it first will be accepted and the other will be declined and they will have to figure it out through the IRS. If your mom helped you even if she cut you off more in 2016 she will have the right to claim you but moving forward your dad can claim you for 2017 onward.

Human: Hello! I'm a young professional making good money and saving well. However, I find myself obsessing over finances. I check Mint multiple times a day (though once a week would be sufficient) and check repeatedly through each month to see if I have any extra money to move to my brokerage account (though once per pay period should be enough). I find myself making many minor financial adjustments (just switched my savings account to Ally and moved some of my too-large emergency fund to my brokerage account). I am also spending a lot of time reading finance and financial independence blogs, playing with retirement calculators, and browsing this subreddit. All of this and I only just started my first post-grad school job about seven months ago. Even early retirement is at least 15-20 years away, but I can't stop myself from obsessively researching and monitoring. Any advice on how to take a step back and just let my recently-established system work and grow? And yes, I do see the irony in asking that question here.

If you are dealing with anxiety or other emotional / psychological concerns, there are professionals that can help with that. For the other stuff, come up with a set of goals and plans. Then just compare your progress against your goal. If your goal is "Make as much money as possible and save as much as possible" that really isn't a healthly goal or realistic mindset. There will never be "ENOUGH" if that is your goal. You start chasing dollars just to make your bank account bigger. Money is just a transfer mechanism, on it's own it has no intrinsic value. Only when we use it to do things does it turn into something valuable. So you gotta stop thinking just the raw numbers, and try to turn the money into things you want to do in your life. Otherwise you may find yourself with 250k in the bank, yet living in a place you don't love, never doing anything because you can't bear to spend any of your money on even reasonable things.

To clarify, "obsessing" is an exaggeration. I don't suffer from anxiety or compulsion. Also, I can't find a way to edit the post on mobile...

Human: Feeling humble enough to share on Reddit. Sent my last payment this morning (pending). Lifestyle: Grew up poor, first generation American. I'm very good at budgeting and saving money as material outside of necessity doesn't give me much pleasure. I get easily overloaded so I'm quite the quirk. Also a firm believer in working hard now to enjoy life later. Strat: Continue my lifestyle, only buy what is needed. Pay back high interest first (although admittedly my first 2-3 group loans were around 2k each at varying interest rates just because I needed momentum before paying for my 6-7K group loans) and Alaska. I relocated to Alaska as a graduation present to myself and for loans. It had been a goal of mine, it's BEAUTIFUL and having done extensive research for the year prior, I found I would be able to work my way up fast as young talent was not common, as well as access to the PFD to make paying back loans much faster. Worked as a Data Entry tech for 5-6 months and then landed my second job shortly after as a Programmer (both in Alaska). With my job, and the PFD, I had some freelance on the side (websites) that helped reach my goal! If you are STEM and can survive the winters and isolation for a few years, jobs are available in Alaska and the PFD (after living in the state for a year) will help you tremendously although the state is running into MAJOR budget issues as of recent so do your research! Degree: BA Geography focus in GIS/Programming Expenses: Go phone ($25-$45) Internet ($89) Gym ($90) Food (750-1k a month) (Rent $600-$850). Public transportation only, no vacations and mostly cooked meals at home. Receipts: [Here](http://imgur.com/a/HsSMq) Includes last payment this morning, all group loans, and my payment per month. Woo! It feels great to be 0 and not -50K. Assistant: $750 to $1K a month on food? Is that because you live in Alaska? Human: Yes! Quite expensive up here.

I hear growing microgreens and sprouts (inside sunny window) is a great way to stay healthy and it is virtually free! Even cherry tomatoes...

:O Thats mad! What are you eating ! I don't even earn that in a month :(

Human: Have a friend out of state trying to get a place for us, so I only know info as it's relayed back to me second-hand. I asked him if he could get a copy of the lease/contract/whatever for me to read over prior to, you know, just giving someone my money. But he's telling me the landlord won't provide the lease agreement until the day we move in. This just seems weird to me, but I've also never rented an apartment before, so it's new territory. So question: is this a normal thing, not seeing a lease agreement before you're just about to move in? What if there's something I don't agree with that's a deal breaker, only to find out the day of? Just seems really off to me. Or maybe I'm just overly paranoid. But I'd rather not haul all my crap hundreds of miles only to find out this place is a no-go.

Hell no. What happens if you got the moving truck outside and the lease says "you will paint the entire apartment when you leave"? F that. Or it says "you will be charged $1000 late fee if you don't pay between 12:01 and 12:07". Nope, move on.

I usually ask for a voided copy of a lease to read over somewhere quiet. I've received a few looks in the past, but have never been told no.

Human: ***EDIT3:*** Thank you all SO MUCH for your replies already!! I'm getting exactly the kind of help and perspective I was hoping to find here. I am currently feeling much less panicky about my situation, and I am extraordinarily grateful to all of you for that. I will be revising this post tomorrow to condense everything and post a detailed budget. Also, thank you ***very much*** to everyone who pointed out that I accidentally posted with my main account on here. I have deleted the post, but I guess it goes to show just how debilitating mentally this kind of stress can be. ***EDIT2:*** I will be back tonight or early tomorrow to condense this whole thing and post a detailed budget. Being able to put in text was like pulling an emotional anchor through an ocean of molasses, so thank you for bearing with me, double thank you for everyone who has already waded through this and written advice, and triple thank you to the excellent mod team. This is a throwaway because my situation is unique enough that people might recognize it. Long story ahead, I'll try my best to be brief. Back in 2012 I was working a job in the Midwest I'd been at for 4 years, making $80k. Good benefits, matching 8% for 401k, which I contributed to faithfully. My situation seemed stable enough that I'd bought a house in 2010 for $120,000. Mortgage of $1000 including escrow, taxes and everything. Everything was looking great. Then it all went to shit. Right before my daughter was born I was laid off in late 2012. Things rapidly went from bad to worse: * Lost entire $15000 in savings to Cobra payments and paying bills, maxed out credit cards and accrued some debt with hospitals for what Cobra wouldn't cover. * Couldn't find a job anywhere in state, was told I was either overqualified or grossly underqualified. * Right before unemployment ran out, finally got a job in mid 2013 working in the next state over, with 2 hour commute each way. Making $70k, most of which was eaten up by bills, paying off debt, and gas. * Moved myself to a temporary (I thought) apartment living with a buddy in the same state as my job to save money on gas. * During this time my wife decided she might want to be my ex. * I got laid off early 2014. * Became suicidal, and didn't have enough money (or willpower) to visit home, where there were no jobs anyway. * No savings, unemployment barely covering essentials. Bills went unpaid. * Went to therapy, got on medication, and worked my ass off to find a job. It paid off. The week before my unemployment ran out again and I was contemplating bankruptcy, I got another job in 2014, this time making $100k. * Wife filed for divorce. I think she was just waiting until I had a job again. * Everything went to bills, paying down debt, getting current with mortgage and essential utilities, and paying for the divorce (over $18000). * 2015 divorce was finalized, and with my bills paid and debts current, I got a personal loan for $4500 to fix up the house which was now empty because ex had moved back to live with her parents. * I paid several contractors to do work and contracted a realtor, who I believe colluded to bilk me out of some money. There were several things that never got completed (tough to monitor from another state), and now the money was all spent. * I'm not going to pretend like I'm a genius with my money, but what really sucked is that I *thought* by late 2015 I was doing okay. Even with a mortgage for the old house, rent for my new place, bills for both, child support, alimony, and paying down debt, I was doing okay. Until I found out that, inexplicably, the finance department of my work had listed me as having 6 allowances, when I specifically requested 2. Also, I got hit with a huge tax bill from one of the previous cities I'd moved to because my prior employer didn't take out for city taxes. Suddenly I owed over $10000 in taxes. * I work out a deal to pay off my taxes in increments, work really hard to get my budget and spending under control, suffered a few more serious financial setbacks (car accidents, major repairs to the house from wind damage, etc.) and this brings me to today. * Oh yeah, and I apparently haven't been contributing to my 401k since 2012 because my middle job didn't offer it and my current job's finances department fucked up that paperwork too. (The person/people I suspect responsible have been let go, but that doesn't help me much) My employer will not match contributions, no idea why. Whew. Okay. Here's my situation today: * I have enough to cover my expenses. * I have no extended family (all dead or living on the other side of the country and strangers to me), and no friends in a position to help financially. * I have $500 in savings. * I'm way behind in my 401k ($25k when I'm told it should be at least $40k-50k) * I have $1200 in credit card and loan debt. * I still owe $100k on the house. * House still needs $5k-$10k of work in order to be sellable. * Barring additional tragedy, I can afford all my bills with maybe $500/mo to put away starting from this month. Here's my tentative plan: * I'm going to keep $250 in savings in case of additional expenses, the rest is going to pay off debt, credit card first. If I have more, more's going to pay off the debt. I should be paid off in 4 months or sooner. * I'm then going to ask for another personal loan and get my house fixed up. * I'm then going to hopefully sell it before the year is out. * Next up, pay off the personal loan within 6 months if at all possible. * By mid 2018, I hope to be in a place to devote half the money that was supporting the house to my 401k, and the other half to rebuilding emergency fund ($500-600/mo to each) * Here's where I don't know what to do next. It's going to take me a year at this rate to get even one month's worth of emergency fund saved up, and I'll still be way behind on my 401k. * What should be my plan of attack come mid-2019? What can/should I do in the meantime to expedite my plan? Where are there areas of savings I haven't looked to? I'm at maybe 75-85% efficiency with my budget, so I'm sure there are places where I can trim up and cheap out to save money. Thank you for reading all this and for any help you can give. I included the long backstory to curb the inevitable questions about "If you're making $100k why the hell are you having problems" that I've gotten from other people I've tried to talk to. Edits: formatting and spelling.

Ignoring the (lengthy) shit you've been through and focusing solely on your current situation... things don't seem that fucked. Ignore the fact that you feel like you're behind in saving for retirement. You've got other pressing matters at hand... like getting rid of that house and your credit card debt - which is minimal. If you get your finances in order and your debt is gone, you've got YEARS to really dig in and focus on retirement. Once your debt and house are gone, contribute to your 401k up to the match, then fully fund a roth, then increase your 401k contributions. Nothing is fucked here, dude.

Jesus man, boil it down to a couple paragraphs. Back in 20 minutes when I read it all.

Human: I make daily purchases every month of around 500 and I pay in full on the 31st of each month. However what I'm concerned about is my landlord is saying that I owe utilities. We are currently working it out because I'm telling them I'm not paying for utilities that I don't even use. They said they we are going to figure it out, yeah okay. Did my credit drop because of this utilities? I only have one credit card and like I said, I never miss payments!

Don't obsess or freak out over 11 bloody points. Credit scores bounce around. It's normal.

11 points is a normal fluctuation. Most likely you have been paying it and you score gets monitored immediately after, so your balance is always 0. With a balance of 500, you're still doing fine, but your utilization has increased, so the score may go down. Most likely this month's score was taken before you paid it off. Like most have said, it's not a big deal. I have found that mine gets taken around the 28th of the month, but the statement closes on the 1st, so I actually try to just pay it off every two weeks or so to keep my utilization excessively low and avoid this as much as I can.

Human: Just as title stated. When I made money I partied it all away. Defaulted on almost everything i've ever owned and touched. Last two years have really opened my eyes to how much i've fucked everything up. My credit score is at 515, I cant even get a phone plan. I didn't work a proper job for the last four years, and just in Jan I now have a steady monday-friday job. The total owed to lenders is around 10 grand, mostly to credit card and phone companies. The actual value is at 15ish but a bunch of values have 'written off debt' next to them. Every financial advisor says i'm fucked, its a shame to go bankrupt for 10 grand but it would take nearly 7 years to rebuild and pay everybody off. I'm about to pull the trigger but I figured i've been on reddit for almost 5 years and very rarely posted, so if anybody has ideas or any thoughts lemme know. I dont mind posting more details if needed but for privacy sake i'll be vague with what I can. Assistant: What is your income? $10K should not be enough to go bankrupt over. A bankruptcy will haunt you for a very long time, and costs a fair amount on its own to do. Human: costs under 2 grand and 9 months then the 7 year wait starts.

Sounds like you made /u/ghazzie's point.

Your plan is just foolish. You could resolve this in 7 months of delivering pizza. You haven't even contacted the creditors to see if they'd accept a lower settlement offer. It's entirely possible that you're filing a bankruptcy over a $5,000 debt.

Human: I've been reading about credit limits and it seems you always want to stay well below the the limit to make sure your credit score doesn't dip, but i also saw people saying they wanted different cards because they offered higher limits. However, since you want to stay well below the credit limit anyways is there a point to getting a higher limit

If you are a responsible adult who doesn't spend more than they can afford, higher limit is always better. It's a big reserve of money you have access to borrow in a dire emergency and keeps your utilization lower. High utilization isn't really something to concern yourself with, it has no history/memory so as soon as you pay down your balances your credit score acts like utilization was never high in the first place.

>since you want to stay well below the credit limit anyways is there a point to getting a higher limit It means you can spend more money while staying well below the limit. It's basic math. Let's say you have a credit limit of $10. That means you can only spend $1 per month to stay at a 10% utilization. That's not useful. If you have a limit of $10,000 then you can spend $1,000 per month and still have a 10% utilization. That's way more useful.

Human: I have an experiment I would like to try and need some finance guru advice. I've got my debt pretty well paid down, just a car loan left with 3 years on it. I've got an emergency fund, 401k, and whatnot. My next lofty goal is to try to create passive income sources to pay monthly bills. I want to start small and work my way up one bill at a time. By starting small, I mean really small, like my $7.99 a month Netflix bill. What's the best investment, how much would I have to invest, and what rate of return would I need to never have to pay for Netflix again, making it essentially a bill that will be paid by investment interest or dividends from investments alone from now on. I know it's a trivial thing and a trivial amount of money but I just want to do it as a proof-of-concept and then work on bigger bills after I've done this one. Ideas? Assistant: Put 10,000 into an Ally savings account earning 1% interest. You'll be able to pay Netflix with the earnings. EDIT: Words. Human: The max I can start with would be maybe $2500. Any suggestions for other options with a lower initial upfront investment?

You aren't going to find a lot of options that are both liquid (easy to get money out of) and guaranteed. You'd need a guaranteed 4% return on your money to be able to afford Netflix with a 2,500 investment.

There are savings accounts that pay 5% APY ($125/yr on a $2500 balance). They do have some catches, the main one being that they only pay that for small balances, but that works perfectly for you. See http://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/#Which_Account_to_Open_First for details.

Human: Have a IRA from previous employer, have a 401k with current employer. Better to put both together for retirement? No debt, 56, plan on retiring at 65.

Keep the funds with whichever firm has the the lowest fees. Some employer 401K funds are subsidized by the employer. Others are horrendously expensive. Your situation may vary.

You may find these links helpful: - [401(k) Fund Selection Guide](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k_funds) - [401(k) FAQs](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k) - ["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: A story about H&R Block: I got on the ball early this year and got my tax return filed. It took awhile to get all of my appropriate forms together and reviewing my tax situation from the past year. I classified the situation as unusual for the simple fact that I had worked in two different states due to an internship. Now let me preface by saying H&R Block has been doing my taxes for 2 years and has done an excellent job thus far. But to be sure of myself, I looked at what my tax rates should be online and dug around. Well during the filing (I sat in on it instead of dropping off paperwork), everything was going just fine, I was going to get a larger return than expected as well as being eligible for their refund advance loan. As she's wrapping everything up and handing it back to me, she mentions that I will owe my primary state **$1,207** in state taxes. I wish I could have seen the look on my face in that moment. She avoided my eye contact and pled ignorance. She called someone over to look at the system again which showed everything was entered correctly and was corroborated by who I assume was her supervisor. I couldn't really understand what went wrong, but I was very close to accepting that fact that tax professionals know what they're doing. That didn't sit well with me. I went back the next day and handed my info in to be looked at again. Today (4 weeks later), I get a call from the same rep saying there was a "glitch in the system" so I should expect some changes in my refund. Basically, she got my dates of residency for each state completely screwed up but wouldn't admit that. Only that there was a glitch. In any case, I went from owing one state $1,207 to receiving $583 from that state. On the other state, I went from receiving $700 to receiving $357. I could have just taken whatever I was told at face value, but when it's your money on the line, don't leave it to someone else to protect you. **TL;DR: trust but verify**

> pled ignorance I feel like this is the difference between a reputable and not reputable preparer. I'm a CPA and prepare taxes and I'd never not provide an explanation for something like this. It might take me a few minutes to figure it out and sometimes clients don't like the answer (often it's just you didn't pay enough tax during the year) but I just can't get my head around them being ignorant about it (much less file a return where there was anything about it I didn't understand).

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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 recently received an email from them on an error to amend my state tax return. No other messaging as to what specifically. I've contacted support, and I keep getting random copy/pasted responses that don't answer the question or are completely irrelevant to the question of why I need to amend my return. It is like talking to a bot. So good luck with their support if their tax return process has problems. I should have just used a paid service. Now I'm going to have to figure out what this message could possibly mean.

Credit Karma tax is basically in beta right now. I ended up using TurboTax for filing my taxes because Credit Karma had issues with 1099-R. I would definitely use another service to check the Credit Karma results.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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: So my roommate recently got a job at a bank as a teller. They get incentives for getting people to apply for credit cards and other things. Lately I've been getting a ton of things about being "pre-approved" or special offers for things at her bank. I've never banked at where she works, had an account there, or applied for anything at this bank. I was wondering if I'm taking a credit hit over all these applications. A quick google search says it does but I'm not sure if these are actual credit card applications or just stupid little promo things. I'm also not sure if they're just being requested with name and address or if she took my social off our lease and is making this much more serious. Any help would be great.

Does she work for Wells Fargo? There's an easy solution - make an account at creditkarma.com and look at your free credit report. You can see in two minutes if you're being signed up for credit cards.

You can opt out for 5 years at a time. Since I've signed up, I get zero solitations for any credit card or loan. https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

Human: This has been posted countless times before but no one really understands how powerful this can be by helping you reduce your debt. I just got my 17% Capital One Quick Silver reduced to 7% just by asking. Here is the phone number to top name cards to get you guys started. JUST ASK. **Backdoor Numbers - 90% of the time direct connection to decision makers.** * Amex: 800-528-4800 (Rate reduction line) * Citi EO for the Citi Cards division: 605-331-1698 * Barclays: 888-232-0780 (Customer Care) * BofA: (PENDING UPDATE) * Cap1: 800-889-9939 or 800-625-7866.(Account Specialist) * Chase: (PENDING UPDATE) * Discover: 866-219-0214 (Retention Dept.) * HSBC: 866-551-0258 (Credit Analyst) * Synchrony: (except WalMart): 866-419-4096 * Synchrony: 866-519-6441 (Credit Analyst/Credit Solutions) * Wells Fargo: 800-967-9521 (credit card underwriting) **TL;DR - Call your credit company and ask them for reduced APR. Some will just gladly do it. The numbers above is direct access to common banks.** Assistant: Or better yet, pay off your balance in full every month and use their generous rewards programs to your advantage. If you really must carry a balance the Chase Slate has an introductory 0% APR offer. The 0% APR lasts for 15 months. Human: That's for sure better advice brother. Just helping those who can't pay it off fully out.

Thanks Mr. Hogan.

Or people who have built a terrible balance a while ago and have since figured out how to handle it.

Human: I'm 18 years old and still in highschool. I have 12 more weeks until I graduate. My parents got a divorce just recently and I get Child Support of about 500. I know nothing about living on my own or how to get the child support checks to go to me instead of my mom using it. My mom are kicking me out. Recently got out of an abusive household with my father. I don't know what I should do to support myself through college, or if I can even go to college. Please help me with any information that you might have. Thanks I'm advanced

Friends. Stay at a friends until you graduate. You do not want to let this affect getting your high school diploma. Try and get your diploma. After that you can decide to go to college, get a full time job, or the military. If you can find a friends place to stay at, once youre back on your feet I'm sure you can find a way to repay them whether it be money, or cooking them dinner, ect.

In Canada, if you're under 18 and still in school, the government will help you financially. Contact your local government to see about assistance. Unfortunately, here, it's only until you're 19 but its worth a shot! Even if they can't help you directly, they'll likely know about people who can.

Human: I have browsed PF posts and found a lot of information about 1099 income and estimated taxes. I am trying to educate myself about the rules regarding income I will earn in 2017. I am making this post to learn a bit more and to ask the question: **if the federal, state, and county governments get the appropriate money from me, do they care what income source it comes from?** Does it raise red flags if I don't pay them they way they expect me to? A few details in case they help anyone willing to provide some advice. * Married, no kids * owed ~$400 after filing 2016 taxes * wife earns $40k/yr W2 income * I earn $50k/yr W2 income Starting this month I will earn $750-$1250/mo additional 1099 income by doing part time consulting. If my federal withholdings are ~20% of my monthly paycheck, can I take ~20% of what I earn from my part-time consulting work and withhold it from my W2 paycheck as 'additional withholding' towards federal taxes, skip paying quarterly taxes, file at the end of the year, break about even, and not think about any of this until January? Can I adjust my W4 as much as I want in case the consulting hours I bill trend up or down on a quarterly basis? Thanks!!!!

It's entirely fine to over-pay taxes from your W2 job to help pre-pay the taxes for your 1099 job. I did it the past 2 years, and yes - skipped the quarterly payments.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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 feel like I'm about to get thrashed here, because for the duration of the time that I've subscribed to and read comments in this sub the one nearly universal theme is that advisers are at best useless and at worst nefarious and corrupt. Perhaps I'm part of a small minority, or through self-selection the people who subscribe to the sub are less likely to want help from a professional because they are "do it yourself" people, but the role my adviser has played in my life has been nothing short of life altering. I began to work with my advisor when I was 24 and I was getting my first job out of graduate school. I was not making all that much, and I think it's fair to say my adviser was not making much from my account, but I was an investment for him. That was 13 years ago, and since then my assets have grown from nothing to something in the mid six figure range, and we now own a house, and carry no non-asset linked debt. I didn't just start off knowing nothing: I had terrible spending habits, and I didn't know *how* to save. I didn't know *how* to budget. These are all things that my adviser advised me on, because to my adviser ... that's professional advice. In the years between age 24 and 37, I have no idea if I beat the market. To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention that much. When selecting funds fees and expense ratios were discussed, as was tax optimization (something I never see discussed in this sub), and fund manager performance (several times I exited a fund because the manager changed, and that sort of thing can be transparent to the client unless the adviser is paying attention and takes action). My account includes more than just funds; when we had children we included life and disability insurence. There is a mix of cash, taxable , IRA and Roth IRA accounts in my portfolio. It's a hollistic approach to my finances as a whole. Our conversations were not huge or frequent, but the real value did not come from me spending money for time, it came from my adviser knowing what was the right topic to discuss at the right time. Could I have figured this stuff out on my own? Probably, although I doubt I could have done all aspects of it combined nearly as well working on my own. But the resources are all out there. Just like technically anyone can teach themselves how to change their own brakes, and do basic plumbing and electric in their own home. But even though I know for a fact it costs more I'm still going to use a mechanic and a contractor, even though I have been overcharged by both on many occasions. My view on this may be simplified, and I may have just gotten lucky, but what I see in the sub seems too simplistic as well. If you are going to an advisor as a stock/fund picker, you're doing it wrong. That's not what they are supposed to be doing, and if it's all they talk to you about, fire them. An adviser is there to help guide you toward having more savings, and if you have more savings you're investing more, and if you invest more the gods of compound interest will take you much further than focusing on minimizing that one data point. If you don't believe me go run a simple calculation: $75@8% for 30 years, or $100@7% for 30 years. If you have gotten to the bottom of this, I thank you for your time. TL;DR - My advisor has been invaluable. Through professional advise I went from having a zero to a sizeable and growing net worth through smart savings and hollisitc financial planning. It frustrates me to see them demonized here and in the news.

Your story would be 1000% different if you wrote this in 2009 .. 13 years ago, dow was around 10,300 - now it's 20,900 Generally speaking - putting your money into any well rated funds, any blue chip stocks, any of the broad index or etf funds 13 years ago would have netted you wonderful results over the last 13 years.

If it worked for you, that's great. But what you're describing is akin to paying for a hospital room and physician to learn how to shower. It's great that you feel it helped but you have to realize you're probably going to end up paying 10s of thousands of dollars for 1) remedial advice and 2) stock advice that didn't beat the S&P 500. There's a reason financial advisors aren't recommended, and that's because they don't earn their keep, not because they don't make people feel warm and fuzzy. So, despite you feeling good about your choices, it's probably not a good path for most and you might want to spend the 5 minutes that it would take to see how you did versus market return.

Human: I need a car because my lease is expiring in June. I'm looking at a 2008 Lexus ES 350 with 107k miles, for $11k. I've been approved for a $12k loan through my credit union at a 1.5% interest rate on a 48 month term (I'd aim to pay it off between 24 and 36 months). I want to put $3000 down on the car. Insurance will probably cost me $180/mo for my first 6 months because I've never owned a car or had insurance in my own name (and I'm a mid-20s unmarried male). I'm interested in the Lexus because of its reliability and the fact that it's a nice car. I don't want to ride around in a beater, although I don't exactly need a luxury car. I want something that I feel confident riding around in, that I enjoy, and the way I justify this to myself is that if the car is nice enough I won't get the itch to buy a nicer car for at least 4-5 years - getting the most out of the car. My financial situation is OK, but in flux. I have recently received a job offer that increases my COL adjusted take-home pay by 35% and I'd be getting a $13k sign-on bonus as well, which I plan on socking away in an emergency fund. Gross Annual Income: $60k Net Monthly Income: $3770 Monthly Side Income from Web Design: $150 Current Bank Account Balance: $5700 (before the down payment on the car) Student Loan Balance: $23840 at an average rate of 4-5%. I pay $315 a month on these Rent+Utilities: $1000 Credit Card: I use this for subscription services only so my monthly balance is always under $200. Groceries/Dining Out/Drinks: This fluctuates and I don't stick to a budget, but I forecast about $1000 a month on these. I could definitely be a lot more frugal here if I tried. Question is, what should I do? I really like the car and I need to make a decision soon. I am daunted by taking on such a large debt but I am also really uninspired by economy cars like corollas, civics, etc. I feel so torn, like on the one hand I'd like a nice car and on the other I don't need it and it's a huge expense. Please let me know if there are any questions you have. This is the biggest financial decision I've made yet and I want to make a decision that I'm happy with. Thank you in advance.

That's a lot of money for a 10 year old car. You'll still be making payments on a 14 year old car. Gas mileage on that car isn't that great.

To be honest man, the best car I've found for the money is a newer Civic. I just got a 2012 Civic for right around the same amount as that car you want after they paid off my old car loan and it's more reliable, better gas mileage, newer, less than half the insurance cost (and I'm a 24 year old male). If you want to spend that much, which I don't recommend in the first place without having an emergency fund that's larger than yours, get one of those instead. As far as "economy", my car is the best car I've owned. Bluetooth, sunroof, 35mpg average, and it looks good.

Human: I recently opened up a credit card. My first statement isn't due yet and I want to know if I should pay it in full or pay only part of it. I have 0% interest for over a year, so it is completely fine for me to not pay in full. I suffer no consequences if I pay my minimum. I've been told all throughout my life to leave *some* money in my balance to prove I can handle debt. My father did not do this and has a significantly lower credit score than my mother, who did. My father has never missed a payment and has always paid in full whereas my mother has almost never paid off her credit within a month. They share all debt besides credit card debt. Why is everyone on this subreddit saying to always pay in full if that situation points to the contrary? I understand it's circumstantial and his credit may be lower due to other reasons, but everyone I've ever asked has had a similar or even the same story: pay most of the debt off for the month, but keep some to prove you can handle debt. Also, I'm only 18, so really basic terminology would be helpful. I read a lot about "utilization" but didn't understand what was being said. For reference: I never spend more than I earn and I could also pay off my debt in full monthly if that really does improve my FICO score.

>I've been told all throughout my life to leave some money in my balance to prove I can handle debt. No, you don't need to do this. You can put money on the card, allow the statement to generate, and then pay the full statement balance by the due date. That will show the credit companies that you are using the card (since the statement balance is what is reported to the bureaus) while also allowing you to never pay interest! Win-win!

i was just as confused as you on this subject but i can tell you that i have two credit cards and always paid the full amount once it was posted/past the pending status. my score started from a 640ish to now a 750-780.

Human: I am 26, and have never borrowed money, and I do not plan to. I joined the military to avoid borrowing for school (will be graduating in December), and built up a reasonable amount of savings in the process. I am in the process of getting a job where I will move regularly, so it does not make scene to buy a home, and in most cases they will either be providing housing, or assisting in finding accommodations. I have been fairly good with my funds, and when I eventually plan on buying a home (if ever) I should have the luxury of not needing to borrow to pay for it. I know someone is going to say it is good to have anyway, but is it really worth the time and effort of actively building a credit score?

In 5, 10, 20 years you may feel very differently. Don't screw future you on something as easy as 'getting a credit card and paying it off regularly.' I just think it's a bad plan. Good luck friend!

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

Human: Hey /r/personalfinance, thanks for reading! I'm a medical student who may have an opportunity to do a year-long internship at my school. That will obviously delay my graduation from 4 years to 5. In return, the school will cover almost 2 years worth of tuition (~100k), as well as provide a ~20k stipend for living expenses for the 5th year. -My tuition is ~55k/year -Living expenses are ~20k/year -Total debt upon graduation without internship: ~300k -Total debt upon graduation with internship: ~200k -Some of my loans are private loans at ~3% interest, most of my loans will be federal student loans at ~6.5% interest. -After I graduate, I will be in residency for about 3 years making roughly 45-50k/year, and after that when I'm a practicing physician I'll be making about 200k/year. So my question is, *strictly from a financial perspective*, considering I will be delaying my career by 1 year, is taking the internship worth it in the long run? Is it worth it to save 100k now and delay making 200k by a year? Thank you for your time!

My opinion...yes. It is well worth it. That internship may not only provide you related experience that gives you a competitive advantage, but there is a substantial financial benefit. A ome year delay in starting your residency, and then your medical practice, is really nothing compared to having a $100,000 debt at 3-6.5% interest lifted off you as you face the future.

Speaking from a fellow med student, I would suggest continuing school. If your career field is promising, then you can have your school paid off one year faster than if you didn't. But that's just my opinion. Hematology/Oncology is an expensive path, but the pay is worth it when you graduate. Just an opinion.

Human: Here is what I have to my advantage: No debt, no kids, no wife or GF in my life. I'm content living as cheaply as possible. I save all the money I can. I drive a paid-for car that I maintain myself. I pay $300 a year for liability insurance. I can save about $20,000 a year, and currently have $10,000 saved. By age 37 I should be close to having $100,000 in the bank. This is four 25% down payments on four $100,000 rental properties. If, all expenses accounted for, each property cash flows @ $500 per month, that would be $2000 a month to live on and leave the rat race. Yes it is near poverty, but one could still live comfortably off it if they were smart and not burdened with debt and family obligations. Should I go this route, or should I continue working until age 45, retire with a 1/4 mill in the bank, and then invest that money in even more properties and other investments?

Your strategy is poorly planned. You're 33, you have 10k in the bank and you think you can save 20k a year. So you're making, what, $50k? What makes you believe that you would be able to get mortgages on investment properties by reducing your net worth to $0 and dedicating all of your current income to renting these properties until you have tenants? Your plan is not feasible. Learn more about real estate.

Read 'The New Trading For a Living'. Learn how to buy/sell stocks.

Human: Hi all, I'm 22 years old in my first job out of college and I've been here for two months. My boss has been really impressed with the work I've been doing since I started working here, and a position above me in the company opened up. We're a fairly small company (14 people) and everyone signed off with me being promoted to this new position to fill the gap. Normally to be considered, you would have to have been at the company for at least a year to move up. But since the guy who has the job now is leaving fairly quickly, they want to train a replacement fast. So here's where my dilemma is. I'm excited to take on more responsibility at my company, and I would love to take the job, but I'm going to be kept at my current compensation even though this role has more of a spotlight shone on it so all of the partners in the company are going to be looking at me. So it seems from my perspective that I'm sticking my neck out for no change in compensation. This is a very public role and I've been told if I screw up (and everybody does) shit it going to rain down on my head. I'd like to bring this up to my boss, but I've never done any sort of negotiation like this at all, and I'm worried that I'm going to look like a jerk if I bring it up. Does anybody have any advice? Am I wrong about my expectations on compensation?

Every promotion doesn't come with more money. Prove yourself and the money will come.

You aren't a jerk for bringing it up. I think the biggest issue for you is your lack of experience in general, as well as being at the job for 2 months. It's probably a hard sell getting more money as a result. However, asking for a new title (one that would be considered an upgrade in the wider market) is a good compromise. Then in a year you can leave (or entertain other offers) with evidence that you were promoted within 2 months.

Human: So I started a Roth IRA a couple of months ago. I heard it was a good account for young ppl to start in order to prepare for retirement. I assumed it was just a glorified savings account, where I put money in and because it was set aside for retirement that it would have a large interest rate and that they would do some sort of auto investing. Now I have learned that, it seems to be more of an account that is used to invest in stocks, funds, bonds etc… My question is now what do I do lol? Should I close the account and start an account with one of these Robo investors? Should I keeping putting money into the Roth IRA and invest in stocks, funds, and bonds… Also how is it a good retirement account if how much I garner depends on how well invest. What makes this different as opposed ti if I just bought stock without opening a Roth IRA?

Read the FAQ on retirement accounts and IRAs.

You may find these links helpful: - [Retirement Accounts](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_retirement_accounts) (articles on 401(k) plans, IRAs, and more) - ["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: Some friends and I went out to our local hookah bar & grill. We ate, smoked, and drank well. There was a small dispute with the server about a re-pack on a hookah. I asked if a re-pack was free, and he nodded yes. But then got charged double. I let it go. The day after my wife checked the bank account and noticed it did not match the receipt(which we physically have). I posted about it on Facebook, and tagged my friends that went with me warning them that our server could of gave himself some extra tip. My other friend said he was double charged. The bill came out to: Subtotal 40.64 Tax 2.85 Gratuity @15% 6.10 **Total 49.59** My bank account showed the statement is $52.07 I called my bank right away, they said they can not do anything about it while it's PENDING. Only after it goes through. (I used a debt card). I want more than my $2.50 back now. What can I do? And what can my friends do? Is this server scamming every customer that walks through the door?

Restaurants often automatically authorize an amount that would include a 20% (or more tip) to make sure it would be covered. This is what you would see in a pending charge. Once the bill actually is posted to the card it might be different, based on what you actually tipped (if anything). I wouldn't freak out until the charge has actually posted. Which typically takes 3-5 business days.

First, speak to the manager. If you are not satisfied you can dispute the charge through the bank. The procedures for dispute are available from the bank but you will be expected to describe efforts you made with the merchant to dispute it. Most bank will refund is the amount of difference between what you agreed to and what you see chaeged

Human: Good morning. A little background: I'm in the military, E6 in 8 years and I make 60k+ a year. I have student loans, cc debt but I'm able to save at least 1000+ a month. I do plan on retiring from the military and earning a check once a month. My question for the group: am I on the right track for retirement or should I make changes and what could I do to improve my retirement accounts? Also, am I too diverse? I have 30k+ in my retirement accounts. Roth IRA/Mutual Fund is 14k+ TSP (401k) 16k+ Savings 1k Stocks 2k+ Acorn (micro investing) 1k+ Hope I did this right, thanks for the help.

Personally I'd migrate the money you have in Acorn to somewhere else, the fees are relatively high there compared to other places. Betterment for example is 0.25% of your balance yearly vs Acorns $1/month for balances under $5,000. Also the fees associated with the TSP are likely lower than what you're getting with your Roth IRA, so you should aim to max that out before contributing to the IRA. Make sure your TSP is actually invested as well, not just in the 'G' fund. On January 1st 2018 when the Blended Retirement System comes out you should do some math to figure out if you should opt-in to that or not, it'll reduce your 20 year retirement slightly but you'll get a match up to 5% of your TSP contributions. I'm not sure if it's better or not for those who plan to do 20 years. When you go to extend your contract again you should ask about student loan repayment as an incentive to stay in, you may not get it but it doesn't hurt to ask. The credit card debt you should try to pay off as fast as possible to prevent more interest from accruing on it. Other than that it looks like you're doing pretty good.

Ty!

Human: I'm slightly intrigued by the idea of investing in gold, but how easy would it actually be to liquidate it and get your money's worth at a later time? Obviously you're not gonna pay directly with gold at the grocery store or anything like that. EDIT: So I should've clarified, I meant buying gold as a way to preserve wealth, rather than actually make new money, as you would with stocks/bonds. I looked at some gold ETF's, but they all have expense ratios. This is fine for stocks, but the idea is that gold will hold the same value over time relative to the dollar. So if they're annually taking away some of your holdings, you are losing a little bit of value over time.

At a high enough temperature they will both melt

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

Human: EDIT: Thanks to everyone who helped me, sorry if i couldn't get to all your questions. I was freaking out and turns out that everything my dads doing is good as long as he keeps up with it. y'all have helped me a lot and ill be looking forward to posting again, maybe not first thing in the morning next time ha. This is my first post so if i'm doing something wrong lmk and ill fix it. also prepare before you read bc it's 7am and im on mobile so expect a mess. So just a background im 20yo and im about to start school, currently living with my mom to save. I've never had a loan or a credit card or anything of that nature. So when i logged into Credit Karma for the first time i didn't expect much. Turns out i already had an account (my email, SSN, and pw) and a credit card (not mine) that's been set up for a year. Now a year ago i lived with my dad in an apartment for about 6 months and he'd always say things like "were gonna get a house soon i just have to get my credit right" and i remember him asking me for my SSN and info bc he said "im putting you on my credit that way you can have good credit when you start using it". my parents have been divorced since i was 3 and my dad lived far so i didn't see much of him and i know not to trust him with things like that (his family has a history of scamming) but he seemed to have his shit together so i trusted him. When i logged on i had a 720 with 86% utilization and shows me the credit card connected to MY ACCOUNT ASSOCIATED WITH MY SSN AND MY CREDIT. So i guess what i'm trying to say is i know my dad had shit credit before a year ago, and it seemed like a dream come true when he bought his first house, so did my dad use my lack of credit to restart and piggy back off me? or did he use my SSN to. yield credit and buy a house? idk. i don't know how any of this works and im not okay with sharing credit with my dad so please help what do i do? i feel like something sneaky went on td;lr i have no credit, logged into CK and found all my dads expenses, wondering if he used my SSN to buy his new house.

There's nothing fishy going on here. It's a common tactic used by parents to try and set their kids up with a good credit score (assuming he actually pays bills on time). This isn't a scam. If he's paying it off every month, it's actually a huge help to you. Plus, since you're an authorized user, you're not legally responsible for any of the debt.

Pretty unlikely they're even related. Buying a house requires an absurd amount of paperwork, documentation and lots of things to sign, in person. If he somehow used your identity to buy a house he's some kind of evil genius. However it does seem pretty likely, it seems to me, that he actually did open a credit card in your name and nearly max it out. That's not cool. What is the balance on the card? It is some trivial amount like less than $1000? If so he may actually have good intentions because 720 is a good score and if they payments are going in on time and it's a small amount...well it's still not cool but it could be worse. If it's a large balance...well, dad screwed u. Sorry.

Human: I understand the psychological affect that owning a house has vs renting one: short of a drastic change in your life and income, you get to stay in the same place for as long as you want, instead of worrying whether or not your rent will rise next year or the landlord will want to sell the house, etc. I've had friends who experienced these situations that eventually forced their hand toward buying a house. We've been fortunate in that we have been renting a house from a nice couple for a number of years, and our rent has gone up just 1% on average. For context, we live in the Seattle area, which right now is on a rocketship trajectory to having some of the most insane house prices in the country, right behind SF and NYC. I do work in the tech industry, so it's a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to a prosperous economy and the dismal state of more affordable housing. We got into our house near the bottom of the recession, and our landlords don't seem too concerned with trying to milk rents for all they can (even though they could probably raise it quite a bit given the market). My wife just really wants to own a house to at least take away from some anxiety year over year as to whether or not we can stay in our house. We're a single income family (she home-schools our kids), and although I recently accepted a new job that pays more, saving money has been a bit slow-going (that's probably another post). I ran the numbers for a $500K house, which we can't even buy in our area (would need to move farther out, increasing my commute and the distance to activities/classes our kids attend), and it's around $1000 more per month when considering all costs. For reference we pay $2400 a month in rent, and all-in we're looking at a cost of nearly $3400 when you factor in the mortgage, insurance, taxes, and maintenance (there was also a recent transit package passed that increased property taxes, which is not figured into the calculations). On top of that, those numbers assume a $100K down payment, and plus transaction costs that comes out to $125K upfront. We don't have this kind of money yet, although we're working on getting there. I just can't see the justification of owning a house yet. Maybe if we do reach a point where we can no longer live in our current house, or where the rent is raised by a crazy amount would it make sense. There is this sense that unless you own a house you can't consider yourself to have "made it", but I have a really hard time accepting that. I also love the flexibility - if we want to go live somewhere else, or if I get an opportunity to work overseas, I could take it. What are everyone's thoughts?

If you don't want to buy a house, don't buy a house. Maintenance is the worst and something people gloss over a lot- I woke up today and my well pump crapped out while I was in the shower. In a few hours I'll be out around $4k once this is fixed.

Fixing things that break is probably the worst thing. I just dropped 17 grand on fixing the deck of the back of the house so my kids didn't fall to their deaths. On the other hand the house has more than doubled in value since we purchased it 15 years ago. Having a ton of equity gives you lots of options for borrowing money on the cheap.

Human: So my girlfriend (24) just moved back to Canada from Korea to accept a 1 year long contract with a bank. The position is meant to jumpstart a career in banking and pays around $37000 CAD yet does not guarantee a position after the contract is over. In order to get to work a car is required and this is where the problem starts. Her mother is insistent on leasing a brand new vehicle (~$160 biweekly for 3 years) when I believe it would be financially sensible to get a small loan to purchase a 4-5k pre owned vehicle from auto trader, etc. There's also the possibility of traveling after her contract so it would be beneficial so not be locked into a contract. Obviously there are a lot of family politics involved but from a financial perspective what do you guys think is the right thing to do at her time in life? Or are there other options to choose from? Thanks for the advice and let me now if you need anymore information about the situation. Edit: She's being forced because she lives at home currently and her mother will threaten to kick her out if she doesn't get her way. My bad that's a big part... Assistant: This is a major boundary issue. How is her mother "forcing" her to do anything with her money? It's your girlfriend's life, money and decision. Tell mom thank you for the advice and then make her own decision. If she continues to intrude, your girlfriend needs to very politely but firmly say, "Mom, I appreciate your input and telling me what you think is best because I know that you love me, but this is a decision I have to make on my own." From the financial perspective, you completely are correct in your thinking. The bigger issue is the days of "mom" forcing her to do anything now that she's financially on her own are over. Human: Thanks for the input. The leverage she has is that my girlfriend is living at home and her mother will threaten to kick her out.

Sounds like she needs to leave if this relationship is that toxic. Threatening to kick her out because she refuses to lease a car is past insane and clearly toxic. If your girlfriend wants to keep a healthy relationship with her mother, and this is how her mother is acting, she *needs* to leave.

your girlfriend has a simple choice...abide by mothers wish and stay or go her own way.....

Human: Hey guys, Long time lurker, first time poster (on mobile, please forgive errors or formatting issues). My husband and I are coming to the end of term on our mortgage and have been debating selling and moving closer to his work or a new house in our current area. Let me explain: We live in a small town 30 minutes from his work and I stay home with our two kids. He works a lot, like, a lot a lot and we spend about $300 on fuel for his commuting in a pretty fuel conservative hatch back. He's been commuting for five years and our original dream was to open a restaurant in the town we currently live in but shortly after moving here, he got an amazing opportunity in the city that has continued to grow and has resulted in him being the executive chef at three individual spaces. He loves his job, hates his commute. So it seems like a no brainer to move right? Wrong. To move into a neighbourhood that would decrease his commute, we'd need to double our current house budget, purchase something that's boarding on a tear down or purchase a condo. We'd have to move to an area that's still 15+ minutes away without traffic. The town we live in is a straight shot with minimal traffic so even though it's 30 minutes, it's never more. Some of the areas we've looked at are kind of rats nests. If there's traffic, there's TRAFFIC. Now onto our current town: We really love it for the kids, but that's about it. The schools, parks, recreation centres and special events are incredible but the day to day is pretty boring. We have no really sense of identity and loads of corruptions and drama within the town council and planning committees. This is important because we've debated staying here and opening a restaurant but the town has been impossible to work with. We could easily sell our house, pay off debt, keep our mortgage payments the same but we'd be stuck in our new home for probably five years. A huge motivation for selling is so that we can pay off our line of credit, credit cards and a vehicle payment and free up about $1200 a month. I've offered to return to work but the cost of childcare would overshadow the profit. We make too much to qualify for any type of child care assistance and my husbands schedule is too spotty to be relied on. I'd have to pay out for care for two kiddos and in our town (and city), that's as much as our mortgage. We are just kind of tired of being broke and being so far apart from each other. Should we just stay in our current house? Sell but buy in our current town? Or massively downsize to move closer to work? Thanks everyone!

These days, a 30 minute commute is "no commute". Plenty of people commute for an hour each way. Stay where you are.

I'd say no. Wait for your kids to be older and in school then go help with the mortgage on the new house

Human: I live in NYC, and granted taxes are generally higher here; I pay a city tax on top of everything. But I still don't understand how my bonus can be taxed at 48%. I make 80k a year plus my bonus, and pay a substantially lower tax rate on my ordinary income. Curious what others' bonus tax rates are out there...

25% supplemental withholding for the feds, 6.2% FICA, 1.45% medicare, 9.62% suppl w/h for NYS, 5% suppl w/h for NYC. You'll get back any overwithheld taxes later in the year, but this is how supplemental pay works.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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: Hey everyone, mid-2016 I started taking my personal finances more seriously. In the past 6 months I've paid off around $5,000 in credit card debt, I have $2,000 left (should be paid off by May). Once that's out of the way I'm going to start attack my student loan debt which looks something like this: Private - $65,000 (@30 years) Federal - $30,000 (@ 25 years) Parent Plus - $8,000 (@ 10 years) I'm planning to attack them in that order and keeping them separated though I may consolidate the private loans as my reduced interest period is ending. **My question** to you is would it make sense for me to build up a healthy emergency fund first? Right now I have $6,500 in a savings account, and an extra $3,000 in my checking (it could be moved to the savings, but I'm moving it over slowly). If I lost my job tomorrow my monthly expenses could be cut down to $3,000 ($1,750 is rent) so my target savings for my emergency fund is $18,000. I should be able to put between $1,400 and $2,000 per month into the emergency fund so I think before the end of 2017 I would be able to support 6 months of expenses. It will likely take me 5 years to fully pay off my student debt so I don't know if it really makes sense having a partial emergency fund available for that many years, especially since I will most likely be moving across the country in 3 or 4 years. Thanks in advance for the input!

You may find these links helpful: - [Student Loans wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/studentloans) - ["How to handle $"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) - [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) *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.*

I would also not forgo saving for retirement to pay off student debt. Compound interest is your friend in that scenario. For now student loan interest is tax deductible and take advantage of it. Holding onto your student loan has actual beneficial effects to one's credit rating. My credit score went down by 30 points by paying it off, because then I had no more installment loan on my credit report. Types of credit count for points.

Human: I am doing my taxes right now and have always claimed zero. Last year I got married and we filed jointly and we got a return of around $1,200. This year we are filing jointly again and we bought a condo as well and we are getting the benefit of deducting interest. I would think with all else equal our return would be higher, but now I owe about $4,500 and am getting penalized for not withholding enough throughout the year. I'll add that I started a new job in march, is it possible my employer messed up my withholdings and that is why I owe so much? How can I check that their withholdings are accurate? I am so stressed right now, appreciate any help.

> we bought a condo as well and we are getting the benefit of deducting interest. It is possible that you don't get a benefit from it. What is the total value of your itemized deductions? If it is less than $12,600 (the standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly), then you would not benefit from itemization. Any tax software program should automatically apply the highest deduction (itemized or standard), but if you are doing it by hand it is possible to use the lower one. > is it possible my employer messed up my withholdings and that is why I owe so much? It is possible that either you or your employer messed up. Many people also falsely assume they are supposed to check "Married" on their W-4 if they are married. However, that designation is intended for couples where only one partner works, or at least makes the majority of the wages. If you and your partner work, then you need to select "Married, but withhold at higher Single rate". My guess is that you chose the wrong one.

This is such a mind-bogglingly vague question there is no way to answer. Compare your two tax returns line by line and look for the discrepancy. Not that hard.

Human: I have recently begun looking for a home and I understand that the first major step is to get qualified for a home loan. * How do I go about this? * What should I be looking for? * Will getting qualified be a hard or soft credit inquiry? Is there a way to find out about how much I would qualify for with different lenders without getting a hard inquiry? * What are the most important aspects of a loan? Comparative importance of interest rate, ability to only put down 5%, mortgage assistance, PMI? Some potentially important background for me is that I'm low income and could qualify for mortgage assistance programs to help provide 3-5% down payment, but that would need PMI for the full length of the loan, and interest rates of upper 4-5%. An alternative loan program I've seen has been no PMI if I put down at least 3% (I don't remember the interest rate though). Thoughts and suggestions?

Most mortgage companies post their rates online, along with basic fees - I found my mortgage company just by searching low rates and then comparing fees. Local mortgage broker couldn't even come close. Though, with low income and being worried about a down payment - are you actually ready ( able to afford ) to buy?

PNC has a loan program for 3% down and no PMI if you qualify for it and live east of the Mississippi.

Human: My dad claimed me as a dependant on his taxes. I'm 23, haven't been a student since 2015 and have been living on my own since February of 2016. I was trying to submit my taxes through credit karma and it returned them with an error. How do I go about this? I don't have much communication with him, so I'm not sure when they were submitted or how big of a hassle it would be to fix it on his end. I'd like it to be as painless as possible for both sides. Thanks for your help.

It's gonna cost pops some money. I'd start by calling him and telling him he can't claim you anymore.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Will be filing by mail and letting my dad know. Hoping for a painless resolution.

Human: 1. Is there a number I can't exceed with a student savings account? 2. I've been getting "invest into index funds" what are my risks? 3. How much is required to invest into index funds? 4. How long do I keep my money in the index funds? 5. Are there any fees to put the money in index funds? 6. Other than index funds, what other options are there?

Have you read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics Have you completed steps 1-4? If so, consider to max out your 401k first if you get better fund options through your employer. Otherwise consider this: how soon do you need the money? **If not within 5-10 years then:** You should consider investing in a Roth IRA up to the max, then invest the rest in funds. **If within 5-10 years:** Consider putting it in an online savings account such as Ally's 1% return savings or a CD. And as far as your questions, here are some answers. I am sure others will chime in as well. 1. I believe there isn't. A bank will not turn you away from depositing money. There are minimums though. 2. Index funds are less risky than individual stocks because you are following an index of stocks. If one crashes due to bankruptcy or some major PR issue, you don't lose a lot of money. However, that said, if you are in a down year then your investment can go down 8% if not more. You need to be able to tolerate this and wait for the rebound. For example, the S&P 500 index has always come up on top even after a recession. 3. There are various minimums. Some have $2000, others $5000, and others at $10000-$20000. The higher the limit the better features the fund has with possibly lower fees. Check out vanguard's various S&P 500 options with different investment limits and their fees. 4. The longer the better. You shouldn't take it out unless absolutely needed. Especially because it may be on a down year. Better question is, why are you investing? For retirement? Or simply because you have money sitting around that you will need later for a house down payment. Perhaps another investment makes more sense like a 1% online savings account 5. There's usually expense ratios for passive index funds (say a 0.25% fee), but if the fund is not passive and instead it is actively managed then the manager can charge many other fees which brings up the cost closer to 1% if not higher. Stay away from these managed mutual funds. They rarely outperform the passive index funds. 6. Other options are less risky bonds, savings accounts, CDs.There are also other funds that are not passive index funds (i.e. have an active manager) but with MUCH higher fees. There are also retirement age funds that automatically adjust your investments from more risky to less risky as you near your retirement age. These have higher fees than regular index funds.

I would max your retirement contributions if you have any and can. After that I would open a vanguard account and invest in the S&P 500 index fund. I would recommend reading the intelligent investor by Benjamin Gram. It's a very informative book and will help you decide on the right path you would like to go. Good luck to you.

Human: Throwaway as I don't want all my friends to know my financial situation. My situation: 28 years old making $82k base salary, plus anywhere from $0-22k annual bonus (has varied quite a bit but never less than $5k) plus about $40k in RSU's (restricted stock units) per year which vest over 4 years. I have zero debt apart from my mortgage (owe $240k on a house worth $350k). Roth IRA worth about $12k, 401k worth about $50k (annual contributions around $11k). Emergency fund is dialed in to support me for 9+ months if anything were to happen to my employment. The majority of my net worth is tied up in company stock (publicly traded company). In addition to the annual stock grants I also have 3% of my income going to employee stock purchase (I buy at a 15-25% discount) - have to hold it for a minimum of 6 months. So all said and done I have about $160k worth of company stock that is either vested (able to sell) or I own outright (from stock purchase plan) - this is mine whether or not I leave the company. Plus I cash flow an additional $40-50k per year as my RSU's vest (total unvested shares worth about $200k vesting gradually over the next 4 years). Obviously this is a very large percentage of my net worth tied up in one place. I feel like everyone is going to tell me to sell a large portion of my shares and invest in more diversified assets but hear me out: a) Selling a lot of these will result in significant capital gains taxes b) Company is stable and our stock price performance has been incredible since I started 4 years ago. I started buying/acquiring shares at $30/share and now we're trading at $225. Based on fundamentals we are still slightly undervalued compared to other companies in our industry. Also as a company insider I feel like I have a better overall understanding of the company and our business than the average investor. c) I'm young and have a high risk tolerance. I have no need for this money right now so why not let it ride? Thoughts? Am I nuts?

Doesn't matter about the taxes. Sell, diversify, and reduce your risk. Get as much stock as you can at a discount, but sell it as soon as you can.

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

Human: Is there any benefit to making extra payments towards principle if you know you won't pay it off? I bought a house last year and I know I'm moving in two years. We haven't decided whether to sell or rent it out through property management after we leave. Is there any tangible benefit to allotting extra cash to the mortgage?

If you do the math, basically your extra payment will be like saving money in a saving account at the mortgage rate minus less deduction you will have with income tax. So, if you made $100 extra payment a month at 3% mortgage rate and 24 months, you will be ahead $70. In a 1% saving account, you will make $23 in two years. Adjust it to how much you want to over pay and your mortgage rate, it could be a nice little bump or it could be so small, it doesn't really matter.

Depending on amount of addtl principle pmts (my lender required $5K extra pay down), you can ask the lender to recast your mortgage. It recalculates your payment based on the new principle due, same rate, so monthly payment will be lower. No cost. The pro is you can keep making extra payments with more going to principle. If you rent, the pmts are lower so easier to operate profitably. The con is your 30 years starts over, so this typically only makes sense when early in mortgage vs later when most of the interest has been paid down.

Human: I know this is my fault for not research further and not communicating well with the Mother-in-Law (MIL). I and my husband have been living together for almost 4 years, while his mom is living with his stepdad in another house. I was a full time student (non-citizen) and got a job in October 2016. It was internship and I got a W-2 although it's not a lot. At the same time, my husband has been a "at least half-time" student at a university. He doesn't work and his insurance is paid by his mom. I filed my tax return with him ad dependent using his 1098-T and my W-2, on TurboTax. Around the same time, his mom claimed him as dependent on paper. On TurboTax, it says my file was accepted and being processed. Now my concern is: since there is 2 people claiming the same dependent, how is it going to work out? Will my husband be affected by this, as in his insurance (Obamacare) and his FASFA? Will there be any penalty for me or MIL? Is there any complications I need to take care of/ worried about? Thank you. Assistant: One of you will have to file an amended return, as one of you couldn't actually claim his as a dependent. The other won't have to do anything, as they filed correctly. Does your husband live with his mom at least half the year? Is your husband younger than 18 years old (or younger than 24 years old if a *full-time* student during at least five months of the year)? If the answer to any of these is no, then his mom couldn't claim him. Human: No, my husband didn't live with his mom for years. He is younger than 24 (older than 18), full-time student for the first half of the year. What I'm worrying is his insurance. MIL said she been filing him because she paid his insurance.

And that's not a qualifying reason for her to claim him.

Insurance and whether or not he can be claimed as a dependent by her are two unrelated, different things. By the sound of it, she cannot claim him as a dependent, as she did not provide more than 50% of his support (food, lodging, etc.) for the year. He can still be covered on his mother's insurance up to age 26 regardless if she claims him as a dependent or not (and even if he's married, not living with her, attending school, or not financially dependent on her). Edit: a typo

Human: Hello. I am a sophomore student in the state of New York and attend a university nearby. It was never my plan or vision to attend school here, but my parents would not let me go any place else. My dream was to attend the University of Alabama. My parents said due to how far away it was, I cannot attend. I tried to negotiate with them and came to a deal freshmen year. They told me if I could get a 3.0 GPA my first semester, they would let me transfer. I did achieve this and then they "changed their mind". After arguing endlessly they told me "you can go to Alabama, but we're not cosigning on any loans, so good luck paying for it on your own". I am 19, still a dependent, only work part-time with no credit. I am writing this if anyone has any advice on how to get loans as dependent w/o a cosigner or any advice on how to pay for it on my own. I want to state that they ARE helping pay for my school here (with the addition of loans, aid etc.) and I would be finished in 2019 with my BSW, but it has just become so unbearable going to school here and I transferred from one local school to another one, and it's still the same. My dream school has been Alabama for as long as I can think back on, we toured it, it was great. Just my parents refuse to let me go there. I know since I still am a dependent and live under their house, they do have the final say, but I just want a change so badly. I have emailed the financial aid office describing my situation to see if they have any advice for me, but I decided to turn to reddit to see if anyone themselves has had this experience or just advice for me. I do know sucking it up for 2 more years at the school here isn't the end of the world, but it'd be a dream come true to attend UA. Thank you in advance for reading and replying. Take care. EDIT: Thank you all for talking some sense into me, I have to learn to be patient!

Wouldn't you have to pay out of state tuition? That's going to be super expensive for a degree in a career that you won't be making a lot of money in. My vote is to just stay put.

(Obligatory obnoxious Alabama fan post.) No advice as I didn't take out any loans, but Roll Tide. Unsurprising you want to come to the school where champions are made and where Nick Saban governs all. Only downside to Tuscaloosa is the incessant tornado warnings every spring. Sometimes with real love tornados attached. Anyways, good luck!

Human: I have about ~2k worth of outstanding balance total on 2 credit cards. Would it be wiser to open a card with 0% interest on balance transfers and make payments on that?

Instead of transferring the balance I have found that a better tactic is to find a new card with an initial 0% interest period then spend on the new card, accumulate a balance, while paying off the old cards. When I did this there were a lot of cards with 0% interest for the first 12 months and introductory bonus offers that gave you rewards after you spent a certain amount in the first 3 months or so. With this method, it is effectively a balance transfer but there are generally better rewards available. (I did this multiple times 3 or 4 years ago when my finances were tighter. I haven't checked credit card offers recently to see if this is still advantageous.)

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

Human: Im 18 years old and living on my own with my girlfriend. I am trying to build my credit early as opposed to later as I have a very good job and can support myself. My first credit card is on its way, and I think Ive studied everything well enough, however one topic eludes me: Does your credit build faster or become more secure if you pay your card off every night, or is it better to wait until the bill has accumulated and pay it just before your grace period is over. Ive read so many things regarding this topic, some saying it doesn't matter, some saying it will give your credit a temporary boost to pay it off after every purchase, others saying you must wait until you are billed to pay off the card. I currently have no credit record at all so I want to boost my credit as fast as I can. My two financial goals in life are to be able to retire by time Im 50 if I wanted to, and to have a credit score of 800-850.

Just pay the statement balance once a month. Otherwise you're overcomplicating an otherwise simple transaction.

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

Human: The title is pretty self explanatory, I have only been allowed to access it twice to buy my first car and then again to fix said car because I was barely allowed to touch my savings in general to buy a car after warning my parents spending more is better on my first car. I am trying to access my savings with some of my saved money to buy a newer and more reliable car but they are refusing to talk about it at all. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

If the account is in your name, just go to the bank and take the money out.

If your parents are still custodians on the account they can tell you what to do about it. Is the most in the account partially of fully money they have put in the account? If it is then ask them to give you your savings and start a new account. I had my mom remove herself as custodian on my account when one of my brothers over drafted his account and they took the deficit from my account. I didn't realize that it was still that was until it was too late.

Human: So my grandmother set up a mutual fund for me a long time ago to pay for college. For the last four years I've been taking money out of the fund to help pay for school. Last year was the first year that I filed a tax return and clearly I either a.) fucked up hardcore reporting my income correctly on turbo tax or b.) incorrectly assumed that any disbursement from the account wouldn't been seen as income and therefore didn't include them on the tax return. I got a letter in the mail from the IRS with a "corrected" list of what I should have included on my tax return (which was around 14k that I took out of the account) and they have told me that I now owe 1700$ in back taxes and must notify them by the end of April whether or not I accept this condition. Am I now royally fucked? I've been using this fund for living expenses this past year as well and I assume I'll owe a similar amount this year as well. I have about $3400 left in the fund and essentially no extra money since what I do have now is allocated for living expenses until the end of April. Edit: Sorry all I probably should have specified as well that I am now the sole custodian (I believe is the right term) of the account of of this school year (I think I did all of the paperwork in September)

Did you get a 1099-B form in the mail? Mutual funds usually have a basis. Maybe you should have completed a Schedule D with your tax return. You should only pay tax on the gains. Sale price minus cost basis equals the net gain or loss. Get in touch with the broker.

You need to pay it now or they will charge interest and penalties which will increase it by alot.

Human: Today I went through all of our filing cabinets and finally got all of our unpaid debts in front of me. Backstory: I had credit card debt and have paid off a great chunk of it. (Now at less than $10k) My now husband and I started to tackle our debts when SURPRISE I found out o was pregnant. Halfway through my pregnancy, my husband was let go due to company down sizing. We used any savings or money we had for debts to keep us afloat. When our baby was born she needed to be in the NICU because she had stopped breathing at one point and her pulse had dropped. Turned an estimated $3k delivery into a $10k bill. My husband has about $3k in medical debt himself. I have $20k in student loans. So our debt is $42k, with all but the $9k credit card debts being medical or school. I was told previously you couldn't put medical or school debts on bankruptcy because I was wanting to file. We are drowning. These are all in collections because I had to stop working due to the baby and are check to check. If we paid some of these we literally couldn't put food on the table. I don't know what to do. My husband kills himself at work week after week and there's just not enough to pay much and it seems like we will never climb out of this hole. Anyone have advice on what to do if you are drowning in medical debt?! I know I can't do anything about my student loans. Thanks Reddit.

I cannot express how much I appreciate the responses.

Cut cable and get a job.

Human: Lots of churning and loan refinancing in past two years. I feel embarrassed to have this low.

The difference between 767 and 800 is zilch when it comes to practical matters like being approved for a loan, or securing a low interest rate. Don't stress about the difference between a "great" and "even better" credit score - instead put your energy into improving your finances and your score will mind itself.

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

Human: I went and get a Certificate back in 2007. My father got a student loan in his name and said it was his responsibility. There was a smaller second loan that both of our names were on and that one was my responsibility. I paid that off in 2012. Part of my smaller loan was for a laptop, while some more of it was for a down payment on a car. In 2008, they paid off my car ($15,000) with a second mortgage, as a graduation gift. The deal was that I pay them back with no interest. It lowered my monthly payment by $300/month. I finished paying them off in 2013. *edit:* This is just showing that we have made financial agreements in the past. My father is now asking me to pay off the loan in his name. (Principal of $19,550.) It has been in forbearance for the last year, and they did it once before that as well. So, *lots* of interest has accrued. My father is a baby boomer, and never went to college. He is now retired (with not much income), just remodeled the entire kitchen (all new appliances, but all labor done by himself, and saved some money by reusing the old cabinetry but making it nicer). He recently bought an $1,100 home brewing kit. Last year he landscaped and installed a covered patio in the back yard (again, all his own labor). These are all normal things that retired people *should* do. I have no ill feelings about that. However, there are choices made in life that lead to more choices. I went to "college" and got a certificate in a field that I never got to do anything with. I've made some poor financial decisions myself, and actually just got my credit scores over 700 since filing bankruptcy in 2015. I've had to teach myself (by research on internet, and trail & error) everything I know about finances. I have a wife and a six year-old, and none of us have health insurance. We are planning on getting it this summer when a huge expense of ours is finished with (private school for the kid). Not only that, but we need to be saving more. I would love to be in a position where I could afford to do this, but I'm really not. My father says that he's exhausted all efforts to get the loan taken care of. I'm not sure what I should do...

I think this is a relationships question as much as it is a finance one. You are not obligated to pay back a loan not in your name. How much do you value your relationship with your father?

You said it yourself, you'd love to be in a position to pay it but you're not. That's what you tell your dad.

Human: Put towards principal on mortgage? Increase 401k percentage? Place in a savings account? Invest in the stock market? Donate to a worthy cause? Buy scratch-off lottery tickets? What would you do?

Savings! Just cause I'm cheap like that

Since I have the important things covered I would put it in the wedding/honeymoon fund. After that was over it would go to savings.

Human: Hello I recently bought some stuff from a small chocolate shop it was around 20$, I noticed today that my available credit hasn't changed and when I called my bank they said there was no pending charge. Did I just get these items for free due to an error or can they still charge my card in the future. I am Canadian btw if that makes a difference.

Small retail shops sometimes wait a few days, up to a week, before batch processing all of their credit card payments. The charge will likely show up in a few days.

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

Human: I'm sorry if this might not be the right Sub but you guys give the best advice. Thanks in advance!

Indeed is great about taking down spam ads so you're not wasting time

The amazing power of Google. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Job+Sites&*

Human: Hi, I have a 744 credit score. I used only one credit card all my life (I'm 20 years old), which is a basic $0 annual fee with no rewards. I receive an offer of a pre-approved rewards card with a $9000 credit limit with $89 annual fee (TD Aeroplans Platinum). Sounds awesome! I get some travel air miles from my regular monthly spendings...but here's the thing -- I don't spend enough per month to justify the annual fee of the new credit card; the net gain is about -$29. Should I accept this offer?

No. Get a rewards card without an annual fee. Chase Freedom, Amex BCE, Citi Double Cash, etc.

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

Human: I honestly don't think there's much that can be done about the situation, but any advice would be appreciated. My mom co-signed on my brother's car loan when he was finishing up grad school. He's now graduated, but has opted to find freelance work as a musician instead of a traditional job. He's pretty regularly getting behind on his car payment, and the bank has sent my mom letters in the past saying they were going to start seizing money from her account if it wasn't paid in full by x date. He has borrowed money from me in the past, but I can't help him out this time, so the 20th will be be 3 months past due (and when they start threatening to seize stuff). My mom realizes now that she shouldn't have co-signed with him, and we both know she can't get off the loan, but it's so frustrating. My stepdad is on a reduced work week, so I've been sending money home to help out with family bills, so there's no way my mom could even attempt to help him pay. We also figured out that since my savings account was opened when I was a minor, my mom's name is on the account and that means that could be seized as well. I know my brother needs to learn his lesson, but I don't think having the entire family lose their savings plus some is a fun idea.

Sounds like bro needs to sell the car, take the loss, take a loan only in his name, buy a beater, and grow the f*** up. Time to be a man and not a little boy waiting for mommy to save the day.

1) Close the joint account with your mother and move the money first thing Monday morning 2) Tell your brother to grow up and stop destroying your mother's finances and future with his dumb decisions. 3) Force him to sell the car, immediately, and take out a personal loan to cover the difference. 4) Tell your mom if she *ever* cosigns for *anything* for this knucklehead again that is the last dime you'll be sending to help them. That's some really tough love there, but loving people well is sometimes hard love. Anything short of any of the above is enabling all of this bad behavior.

Human: I'm 18 and have amassed around 1400 dollars and figure it would be smart to begin investing now. The only problem is, I have no idea where to start and stop. Got any solid advice?

The best place to start is to learn about the various types of investments available to you, so that you can understand the ins-and-outs of what's out there. I would recommend reading the Investing section on the sidebar and learn some of the terms at Investopedia. A lot of people here really like index funds and passive mutual funds with low expense ratios, and I agree with that philosophy.

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

Human: I don't know how on Earth to cope with this. Granted only a small portion of these loans are mine (the rest are in my mom's name)...I'm just upset and scared. I don't go to an ivy league school or anything-- it's mind boggling how my debt is already in the triple digits. I guess my question is, do I give up now? I don't have a job at the moment and still have about 29 credits left in my degree program. I feel like a failure and a burden. I've never been a great college student but I don't have anything else going for me.

Finish your program as 29 units is just one year. Only thing worse than graduating with student loans is dropping out with same loans. If I may ask, what is your major? Loan debt is scary but you can go on an IBR plan if you feel like you will never pay it all off. You may also want to look at your budget and work on incurring as little additional debt as possible by either working more hours, spending less or a combination of both.

What's your degree in and how much do you owe? Dropping out now would be a mistake though for sure, 29 units is a pretty normal two semesters.

Human: Hi, new to this sub and I feel financially stressed constantly. I guess I'm wondering if I'm ok where I'm at and potential tips to help this? 10k cash, bachelors in management, no student loans, car paid off but making only 21k a year... living with parents and would like to move out but 1k mo in rent for studio (average in this area) seems so daunting. If you were in my situation what would you do? Assuming I need to start looking for another higher paying job asap. Investing? Thanks for all the help! Edit (zero cc debt, 778 fico, pay my cc balance off every month)

With a bachelors being paid 21k, u need to find a better paying job.

Others have raised the single problem with your profile. Your income. Moreover, for us to give you constructive advice we need an all around budget of income and expenses (itemized). Also, what is your degree in? Why are you only earning $21k/year? Finally, don't try to compare your situation with others. Your financial plan has to work for you. For some, saving enough to pull $30k/year (inflation adjusted) at 65 is the goal. For others saving enough to pull $200k a year at 50 is their goal. Simply put, we all have different goals in life. You are doing fine overall because you have savings and no debt. You need to ramp up your income and save more in retirement funds (IRA/401k) rather than just cash in hand. The $10 in your hand can be your emergency fund. But start saving towards retirement and look into other jobs.

Human: Anyone know of any funds that are consistently returning 10% or more? I'm looking to begin aggressively investing and am hoping for an annual return of at least 10%. Am I being too optimistic? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

All depends on the year. Any given fund could lose 20+% or gain 20+%. If there was a fund that was returning 10% every year, no exceptions, that's what 99% of people would be in.

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

Human: I'm a 27 year old male, still living with my parents. I make 50k a year, no car or phone payments, and have about $3000 left to pay on my student loan debt (no other debt). I plan on moving out after I pay off the rest of my student loan debt, but I am not sure if it's a good decision. I live in Ohio, and I plan on looking for an apartment on the $800 -$900 range. Should I save up some money before I move out or should I just got for it after I pay off my loans? Ps, I live in Ohio. Graduated and got my first job making 50k at 26, with $25k in student loan debt.

Because nobody's given you full on props, congratulations on **crushing** those loans within a year man! Regardless of what others say, it's mentally taxing to pay off debt, more so when you know you _could_ use that extra $50 here or $20 there and it wouldn't be a big deal. With little to no extra expenses at the moment eating up cash flow, you might be good to move out on the last payment of your student loans assuming you get first and last saved, as well as any potential deposits and hookup fees for utilities. If there's no immediate hurry, definitely stay at home for as long as you can handle and save that money while you can. You'll thank yourself later when something inevitably happens, and the best time to sock away money is when you can afford to, which is right now. Look into what everything will cost, from utilities to food to personal maintenance and other boring stuff like clothing and contributing to your retirement, and be realistic. Don't expect you'll only spend on water, electricity, food and rent, understand that there'll be a cost to buy cleaning products for the house, that you'll wanna go out for dinner from time to time, that you'll wanna splurge on whatever hobby you might be interested in or buy gifts for other people. Take the time to consider what _everything_ will cost. Tally it all up in a budget and see where you come out at the end. The money you have remaining is your free spend money. If you're comfortable with having that amount to do whatever you want with every month, be it save for a house or use it on hookers and blow, you'll probably be fine. This is all stuff I wish someone had told me very directly before moving out. I certainly don't want to move back in with my parents unless I absolutely had to having already moved out, but let me tell you an extra year under my parent's roof would have put me several years ahead in my financial game.

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: Title pretty much says it. Everyone here always suggests building an emergency fund of some arbitrary amount before paying down debt or making investments of any sort. To start off I'm not really that well off. 24 M with a salary of 40K. I rent an apartment with my gf so for tax purposes I'm single.The company I work for offers a 6% 401k match that I max and I actually had to withdraw money from my HSA because I overpaid into it throughout the year. I put $500 a month towards my student loans, have 3 credit cards, and a total credit line of 10k. My car recently had engine problems costing me around a grand that I put on my CC. I try to keep less than $1K in my bank account at all times. After taxes, insurance, and the 401k my take home isn't great. Whatever money I have left after accounting for upcoming bills is promptly dropped in the stock market. I've starting investing about a year ago and put around 11K in the market. I use Robinhood for day trading and short term plays and OptionsHouse for long term and option plays. My accounts have grown to over 23K in that time period. It seems like the mentality of most people around here is "oh you've got to have 3 months of expenses in your emergency fund". Why? I've had furniture bills that I was going to have trouble paying and sold 3K in stock last year (2k of which was capital gains) to pay it off. You can literally take the money out of the market in less than a week and any immediate bills (like car repairs) I can just put on a CC and take care of it in a month. So my question is there any legitimate reason to keep money in an emergency fund when really it's just siting in a checking/savings account letting inflation wreck it? I guess the flip side is what if I lost money in the market. My response to that is I haven't made money from every trade. You can learn from your mistakes and even if i did lose money I could realize up to 3K of it for every year on tax breaks. Assistant: > I try to keep less than $1K in my bank account at all times. Did you mean to put *less than*? Why would you keep less than $1K in your account? The main reason why people advocate for an emergency fund is because of the unpredictable nature of life. Everything seems fine now, where you're employed with enough money to invest into stocks. But say that one day, your company decides to downsize, you're without a job, and the market isn't good. Say that you or your girlfriend are in a serious car accident or are diagnosed with a serious illness, and insurance only covers a portion of your expenses. Say your car breaks down entirely, and you have to purchase a new one. All of these things could occur, and thus an emergency fund exists as a fallback. Yes, it is just sitting in the account, but it is good to have a set of liquid funds that you could pull at a moment's notice in case they are needed. You have your stocks, which are providing you with an extra income. However, the stock market is unpredictable. An emergency fund is better because it is a guaranteed balance that will remain stable for when you need it. Human: No I meant keep less than 1K. I hate the feeling of having money sitting around not doing anything. And like I said I can pull money out in less than a week if needed, so say my engine blows and I have to buy new car. I would be able to pull the funds to finance it whenever payments are due. I can't think of a situation where I would owe 10K immediately and not have time for funds to settle.

Imagine getting fired in the middle of a recession. Then you have no income and you'd be forced to sell your stock at a huge loss. You are coming at it from the viewpoint stocks will never go down. Trust me, they will. And you need to have the liquidity to not sell.

"money sitting around not doing anything" The cost of having cash in a savings account is (market growth rate - bank account interest rate), so say 6% of the amount in the account, call it $10k. So for the cost of $600/yr, you can have cash on hand in the event of an emergency and don't have to sell stock at a bad time. This $600 is basically an insurance premium, it is insurance against having to sell stock at a loss for liquidity's sake.

Human: This is my first post ever on Reddit and really looking for some help so please lay it on my. I make 2200 a month before taxes I'm left with 1310 afterwards This is including money that goes into savings for summer due to me working for a school district and we are off 3 months out of the year. Also 100$ goes into regular savings which I just barely started doing I have my associates degree, and currently got accepted into a private school so i can work and get my bachelors. I live at home with my parents. Here's the dilemma I'm 7k in credit card debt I can't afford to pay for college My car is old and breaking down I have no savings aside from what I save for summer My current bills go like 60$ phone 67$ insurance 56$ Disneyland 22$ gym 10$ Xbox 5$ Spotify 160$ gas Now my girlfriend and I are not the best with our finances and it brings the worse out in us. We eat out all the time since we don't live together. I'm constantly driving back and forth from her house to mine which is about 30 miles round trip. We go out and have fun a lot, but I can't afford it now. We have one more big trip planned but after that I want to really settle and focus on saving and paying my debt off. I'm also considering joining the military to help pay for school. Please help me make a budget and with advise with what I do. I know it may seem straight forward but I'm really struggling, I love this girl a lot a plan on marrying her too, so breaking up isn't an option. I'm very irresponsible I know but I'm really stressed out and needs some good advice. I also have a mark on my credit.

Cancel that vacation because you can't afford it. Tell her your situation and if she can't deal that's her problem.

You take home $1300 a month and your bills are $300ish a month. Where's the rest of it going?

Human: I have a question that about my debt vs savings that I’ve been struggling with for some time and my specific plan to address it. I have roughly $48k in debt and close to $30k in cash savings. The debt is spread across several CCs ranging from 12% - 19% APR. I know logic, and many posts on this forum, dictate that I should pay down as much of the debt as possible however something about having the security of that amount of savings (in case of emergency or something) has prevented me from doing that. Instead I’ve continued to pay for that security through the interest on my CCs. My thinking now is something along the lines of: * Get a loan with a much lower, fixed interest rate for the total debt amount from someone like SoFi, lending club, etc.. * Use that loan to pay off all my CC debt * Use half of my cash savings to pay off the SoFi loan (this would also significantly improve my credit score) * Keep the other $10k for an emergency fund * Budget to pay down the remaining SoFi loan over the asap (i.e. 12-24 months) Any thoughts or suggestions on this plan?

You're paying ~$8-900 in interest per month. You're literally burning over $6k a year for absolutely no reason. Pay $25k off the CC's and try get a loan for the rest. How would you feel withdrawing $800 from an ATM every month and lighting it on fire. This is what you're doing by keeping $30k in savings and $48k in CC debt

What is your cash flow like? Are you working? How much money do you have coming in? Expenses? Because I should think that will change the best policy for you. Personally I'd just straight up pay down the debt and keep a couple of months of expenses worth of cash. Tighten the belt however you can and keep paying it down. Maybe make a spreadsheet of everything to help with calculations too?

Human: Basically I want to buy a place asap and have saved $30k. Apartments to buy in my area are around $600k. Do I have enough for a down payment? What's the minimum amount I should put down when buying a house? Does it influence the percentage of interest I have to pay? Can I pay down bigger parts of my mortgage at once to pay the mortgage off faster?

What's your income? Unless your income is in the range of $200k a year, you're not going to be able to afford the mortgage on a $600k place.

600k is a lot for a unit, and 30k isn't a very big down payment for a mortgage of that size, you'll definitely be paying mortgage insurance which can be 5k+ depending on the size of the loan. If you can find a cheaper place...I'd advise it. My unit was around 300k, and I had about 35k deposit but still had to pay mortgage insurance. I'm also signed up for a 30 year loan. And correct, if you pay bigger instalments you will pay it off quicker. Check with your bank to see if they will allow you to withdraw some of that excess if you ever wanted to. It's a handy feature to have.

Human: My father passed away last year and just found out he left me land be bought in the 1980's in L.A coastal area. This was a shock as I didn't expect anything from him as he had no will and decided to let my mom decide. He bought it for about 18k that time. Don't know exactly where it is as that time when bought the address was just numbers. I live in the UK now married and don't plan on moving back to California. My mother will sign the deeds soon passing it over to me and does know how much it's worth now. I'm not knowledgeable about land value but I've read on a couple of sites that land value in California especially the coastal over time had more than tripled in value. As a Market website quoted - in California if bought around 15k in 1975 it's worth over 350k now. Should I sell it? Or keep it? If I keep it would have to pay tax on it. But it would be worth even more in a coupled years time. Husband and I are currently renting in the UK so we can use the money to buy a house or put a down payment. We on my owe 1k in credit debt. We both work and make the combined income about 50k. I would like to start Investing but not too knowledgeable about that subject. We never had this much in our life so this is new to us. What would be the best thing to do? Thanking you in advance

One cool thing about selling it now, at least for us tax purposes, is the step up in basis that happens at your dads death (rip btw and sorry for your loss) but you can basically sell that land and pay no taxes on it. Also that might be a remarkably conservative estimate of the value, but who knows

I live in Southern California and am in real estate. In addition to the great knowledge, wisdom, and information on reddit it will benefit you if you research an estate attorney and financial planner to help you think through your plan of action. You are sitting on a valuable asset that needs expert planning. You will likely want to take a long-term view on how/if the asset can help you meet your long-term goals.

Human: What is everyone listening to(if any) in terms of PF or wealth building podcasts. See something that's not on there? Im looking for suggestions. I get 8-10 hours a night of listening opportunity so I blow through these pretty quick. Here are my current daily/weekly listens. From newest to oldest: [side hustle school](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/side-hustle-school/id1188487073?mt=2) [the real estate guys](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/real-estate-guys-radio-show-real-estate-investing-education/id194167775?mt=2) [bigger pockets ](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/biggerpockets-podcast-real-estate-investing-wealth/id594419649?mt=2) [Dave Ramsey ](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dave-ramsey-show/id77001367?mt=2) I do listen to some others that are not directly PF or WB but still good to for entrepreneurial stories : [how i built this ](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this/id1150510297?mt=2) [fortune unfiltered](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fortune-unfiltered-with-aaron-task/id1135636641?mt=2)

Listen Money Matters is pretty good too

I am a fan of stacking benjamins

Human: All, Thanks for taking a moment to read. To elaborate on the title, I [30M] recently got married to a finnish gal who will be immigrating to the US as a permanent resident. Finland has all medical expenses paid, so she has never had to worry about insurance. I am a veteran, so I too, have never really had to worry about insurance. We are planning on starting kids and what not in the next year. My problem is that I know absolutely nothing about female health insurance, and don't even know where to start, or what to look for, and so on. Any advice would be great. Thanks in advance. Background: We are both college graduates, I gross 65k a year, she will be unemployed until she gets her green card. Our only debt is our mortgage.

There's no female health insurance. You should try to find out if she can be added to your health insurance plans, and if not, try to shop for something so she will be covered. First, check if she can get on your employer health insurance. Many employers include spouses. Also see if she has any benefits from your health insurance as a veteran. Sometimes the spouses of veterans get some coverage. The final option is healthcare.gov. It's the Affordable Care Act exchange for buying health insurance as an individual or a family. As a permanent resident, she probably won't get any subsidies, but she can buy a health insurance plan.

Do not, do not, do not, get her pregnant until you have the health care issue sorted out. You can probably add her as a dependent to your health care plan, assuming you get it from your employer. Make sure you check the coverage on your plan for pregnancy and birth control.

Human: Howdy, I am trying to figure out if I can file as a dependent on my mother taxes returns this year legally. I'm 21 and made around 14k this year while going to school PART TIME. However, I do live at her house still and she supports me with more then 50%. I have checked turbo taxes website and if I'm correct, because I was only part time at school and over 19 I can't be filed as a dependent. Is what I gathered correct? https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Return/INF12139.html Edit: provided link

If you're a part time student and over 19 then you're not a qualifying child. Since you made 14k this year you are not a qualifying relative. Your mom cannot claim you.

You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/5ohy01) - [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: My savings account hardly yields anything in interest payments so I am looking for an alternative place to let my money rest. The two criteria I have in mind are low-risk (similar to savings account) and liquid (i.e. I should be able to withdraw if needed) though I am flexible on the latter. Assistant: What kind of return are you expecting? Human: To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. Just started full-time work and I'm looking for a place to put my money that will give me more than .01% (my current bank).

Ally and Capital One 360 are the big online banks that pay decent interest on savings.

A savings account that gives ~1%.