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danielv835

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Human: I generally like to think that I'm a frugal person, but I know that I'm not the best saver. In six months, I'll be moving from the south (very low cost of living) back to the northeast (high cost of living, even in my destination of Baltimore). I'm hoping to put together as large of a moving fund as I can. I would really appreciate it if someone who's better with money could tell me what I need to be cutting back on. I currently net roughly $1550 per month. (It fluctuates slightly per pay period.) My monthly expenses are: $550 for rent, $50 for my student loan (though I usually try to do $100 to pay off the 1.5k balance faster), $130 for utilities, $30-40 for gas, $10 for medication, $10 for toiletries, and roughly $350 for food, alcohol, and takeout (I know this is a place I need to cut down, but my boyfriend makes 3x what I do and loves to eat out/eat well, and we go halfsies on everything. Also, cooking is my hobby, so I'm ok with spending a little more than I have to on food). For the next six months I am also still on the family cell phone and health/car insurance plans. (I know I'm spoiled, but when you're a 25 year old in the non-profit world, free money is free money. I make sure to thank my generous parents profusely, believe me.) My car is paid off, and since I recently drained my savings to pay for tons of repairs, I'm optimistic that I won't need to be paying for any more repairs within the next six months. I'm set on clothes/shoes/other non-essentials for the next six months. I have no debt other than my student loan. I also contribute 3% of each bi-monthly paycheck to my 403b, which is the maximum my employer will match. With my life what it is, how much money do I need to be allocating to expenses/savings? How much do I need to cut down on my food/drink costs? I consider myself a frugal person (my leisure/entertainment costs are so low they aren't even worth mentioning), but I know I'm not the best with money. How can I put aside as much as possible for the next six months? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

>but my boyfriend makes 3x what I do and loves to eat out/eat well, and we go halfsies on everything. Time to talk to your BF and let him know you can't afford to do it so much, and if he wants to pay for it all sometimes then fine, but you need to cut back because of your own money issues.

About 2k Each month is enough to live" basic"

Human: I'm 26 years old and looking to get a loan, so i checked my credit score for the first time ever. Apparently I owe medical bills going up to a total of 7,000$ from 2009 to 2015. I just got my own health insurance, I had been on my parents when all of these bills arose. How do I fix this? Because I am fucking lost. like a 4,803 dollar bill from 2012? I've never received anything in the mail for these. I just got a bill from a collection agency last week I'm trying to figure out what it's for and it's saying I owe $541. I have no idea what to do. Who do I talk to to figure this out? My parents insurance company? A lawyer?

Did you actually have a medical procedure done in 2009 or 2012? If not, I'd look at figure that out first. If you did, I'd be figure out why you're just now hearing about it for the first time. If not, I'd be getting in touch with the insurance company and the place that the bill originated from - hospital, etc.

I'm no expert but you might want to make sure the medical bills are actually yours. Credit scores have been known to have errors

Human: Good afternoon, PF. I apologize in advanced if I am in the wrong sub, please redirect me if need be. I'm 21/F living with my SO of 3 years. We make a combined income of ~40k (neither one of us have degrees yet), with a monthly take home of about $2200. I bring home about 1200/mo. My expenses are listed below: $400: rent (my half) $50: electric $60: internet $75: phone bill $300: CC ($300 limit that I max every month, but also pay in full) Groceries/sanitary products: ~$150 Total= $1185. As you can see, there's not much wiggle room, but we get by fine. My SO doesn't have a credit card so she has some extra per month, but not much. Debts: SL1 (fed): $2,123 (deferment) SL2 (fed): $3,560 (deferment) SL3 (private): $11, 170 (my dad grudgingly pays this). private university: 13k (in collections) Total= $29,918 Story: I foolishly attended a private (45,000/year) university straight out of high school. I got some partial scholarships and was approved for a $10,000 loan to cover my first semester. However, my second semester loan request wasn't approved. I attended school for the second semester anyway, thinking that my dad would find the money somewhere (17 y/o me). That didn't happen. Now I owe the school 13k for transcripts that I don't care to have. I tried going to my local community college to enroll, thinking that I could just start over as a freshmen using my high school transcripts, but they informed me that, no, since I had attended university, only those transcripts can be used (needed to verify the 2.0 gpa needed to get into the school). It will take me some time to pay off the 13k to have my transcripts released. I have been shopping around for jobs, but without a degree I haven't been able to find anything higher than 12/hr which is my current rate of pay. My question is this: Should I file for bankruptcy to discharge the 13k? (I'm aware that my SLs cannot be discharged). I know it will remain on my credit for 10 years, but if I get the debt discharged I'll be able to go to school, get a higher paying job and work to repair my credit when I'm older. I know that I could eventually pay off the 13k, but I don't want to wait until I'm 23 or 24 to go back to school. Is this a good idea? If not, what is your advice? Thanks so much! Also, I should add that my family is unwilling to pay the debt/loan me money and I am unwilling to ask my SO to help me pay this debt, as she has her own bills to deal with.

> $300: CC ($300 limit that I max every month, but also pay in full) What are you spending $300 *on*, every month? What kind of expenses are you charging on your credit card every month? How many hours are you working every month? Could there be a job-on-the-side with which you could earn some more income, so that you can pay down the debt?

Pare down your budget as much as you can. Improve your income. Pay your debts. Re-evaluate school when you have a more solid financial picture.

Human: Hi PersonalFinance! I've always admired /r/personalfinance and the advice it's users provide; that's why I'm here. So here's a little back story to my situation; I am currently a non-exempt undervalued employee at my current job ($48,000/year salary with no incentives). According to Linkedin and Glassdoor, an employee with my title should be making around $63k/year in my area. Some good things about this job is that I have a lot of freedom with my schedule, I come and go as a please, the work-life-balance here is amazing (here I am trolling reddit as I type). I have recently started interviewing around to confirm my suspicions about being undervalued and I was right. I was have an offer of $61k/year + incentives with essentially the same title at a company. The main difference is that I'll be an exempt employee and they have already set the expectations that it would be 10-12 hour workdays with a possibility of a 6 day work week being common. I was not impressed by their interview process as they were unorganized, unresponsive to some of my questions and lastly, they will not budge on the salary. The culture there put me off and made me feel slightly uneasy to be honest. I just want different insights and opinions, what do you all recommend I do?! Thanks again!

Avoid this offer. 13k is not enough money to be miserable, unless you are currently struggling financially. I can tell you that I would kill for a job where I can come and go as I please. See if you can get a raise.

I wouldn't take the new job but the good thing is that you've established your worth. Stay at your current place and continue interviewing. It's only a matter of time until you get another offer for this kind of money at a company where you like to work.

Human: My yearly income is $15,000 and my monthly expenses never exceed $1000. I also have good credit and $7,000 in accessible credit at my disposal. I don't use it frivolously and if I do use it, I always pay the bill on time in full. I'm wondering if it's necessary for me to have 3 months of emergency funds saved, as is recommended in this sub, or if I can use that money elsewhere in my life (traveling, recreation, etc) and rely on my credit in an emergency. Thanks!

Yes it's necessary. What are you doing to get your income up? $15,000 is really low - like below retail wages.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Emergency Funds wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/emergencyfunds) - ["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: I hope this is in the correct place, but I was wondering if there is such a thing as credit cards with low interest? It seems like most cards offer 0 to small interest rates for a number of months, then start adding 11-20% interest. Any help would be appreciated. Edit 1: Thank you everyone that responded. I thought that maybe the wealthy were the only ones that got 'low interest' cards, but now I know that paying the balance off each bill cycle nets 0% interest. I will do this from now on.

All credit cards are 0% interest if you pay it in full every month. You're never going to get a credit card that will offer 0% indefinitely. "Low" interest is basically what the market determines, which is in the ballpark of 12%.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Credit-related wiki pages](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/faq#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: Is banking the appropriate amount to collect interest and then paying them in bulk at the end of the year a better idea?

The United States is a pay-as-you-earn tax system. Unless you do not expect to have a tax burden for the year it is not legal to "opt out" of tax withholding.

Probably not. Not a lot of people can save that much money and pay it in a lump sum, like that.

Human: For example, if you were to pay off your credit card after every transaction, would that lead to a better FICO score than paying off your balance once a month before each statement? Thanks.

No.

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Human: Apologies if this is the wrong sub, but the salary sub is pretty much dead, so figured this would get more traction here. I work for a popular youth media company. This company has had a long-held bad reputation for poor pay; however, higher-ups recently decided to change the tide and raised the minimum salary at the company to 45k. This is coming less than a year after they had bumped up the minimum salary to 35k; prior to this many recent grads were making a pittance, in the neighborhood of 20k-30k. A year and a half ago I was hired at 50k to essentially run a department that my boss oversees; after 6 months I became a manager (with no pay bump, was told they wouldn't give me a raise until a year, a lie I believed) with one direct report. In less than a year, I was managing 4 people. Still no raise, boss gave me various B.S. reasons for the lack of a raise, but promised me more money was coming, I just had to be patient. In this time, my work was praised and I was so-needed at work, that any days off I still had to field 50+ emails and help out with emergencies. At the end of 2015 FY, my boss put in for a 20% raise for me, which would put me at 60k. She told me it would go in effect in January. Cut to January, still no raise. She told me it was coming. At the start of March, she told me that my raise would kick in on March 31. March 31 came and went, still no raise -- but here's the kicker: all of my direct reports who were making less than 45k were all simultaneously bumped up to the new minimum salary, regardless of merit or seniority. This new policy came completely out of the blue and took all of my direct reports by surprise. My assistant, who I had seriously been considering firing, got nearly a 30% raise! Just for existing! I am obviously livid over this news -- I talked to my boss about it, and she tells me she understands my plight and promises to go to bat for me. To spare you all the details, after talking with HR and higher-ups my boss lets me know that my, and other more senior people in the department, including her, raises are "frozen" and that HR was not going to scale the salaries with respect to the new minimum wage. My boss then decides to take a spontaneous vacation. So, here I am. I am still very angry. I am making only 5k more than the people I supervise and I have 7 years of experience over them. I don't know what to believe. I feel like my boss was giving me lip service the entire time. At present, I am planning on leaving the company and have been applying to other jobs left and right but nothing has materialized. Insofar as my performance goes (if you are curious if that had anything to do with the lack of raise), I have received nothing but praise. My job is integral to the department and the company as a whole. In short, if I left, my boss would be totally screwed as she has next to zero idea how to do my job. My direct reports could take over but they lack both the maturity and experience to handle my job without major hiccups. What is the best way to handle this? If I got a job offer today, I wouldn't think twice about putting in my two weeks, but I really do want to get the prorated raise. A check with a 20% bump postdated to Jan 1 would be nice. Do any fellow redditors have experience with this? What do you recommend insofar as leaving AND recouping my losses? Thank you in advance for any insight you may have. TL;DR: My company gave all my direct reports pay bumps but didn't scale mine. I now only make 5k more than the kids I supervise.

Update your resume and start grinding applications.

A post dated pay raise will probably require burning your bridge with the company by suing them and/or contacting the Department of Labor in your area. In ether case you'll want to leave. Whether or not you get your pay, it doesn't sound like you can expect much from them as an employer. You need to give up on the "maybe if I ask nicely" routine because obviously it's not working.

Human: Reaching out here because I don't know what else to do. I've always been awful with finances, so I kept ignoring my problems and shopping instead because it gave me so much anxiety. I'm a (relatively) recent college graduate. I have $112k in private student loans, which have been in forbearance for 8 months now. I haven't made any payments yet, so I don't know my minimum payments. Two loans have 5% interest. Three others have 8%. Monthly Income: $3,300 Monthly Expenses: Rent: $1,150 Groceries: $400 Other Shopping: $800 Total Savings Account: $120 Total Credit Card Debt: $6,200 (22% interest) No investments or car. What should I focus on first? Credit card? I think I need to get another credit card, because I can barely afford my monthly expenses. Thank you.

> Other Shopping: $800 wtf does this mean? Follow the side bar information. Create an actual budget and cut out any and all fluff. You bring home 40k per year and have 160k debt. Although I don't know how 6k in credit card debt and 112k of private loans add up to 160k. You don't get to have fun.

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Human: A couple weeks ago a tooth was starting to bug me a little at night when the air got colder. I went to the dentist the next day and he glanced at the tooth, but told me I had a huge crack in my front tooth and even showed me with a light and a mirror. I was devastated. I take really good care of my teeth. He told me I would need a 900 dollar per tooth veneer. Right after he said that, I was swarmed by another dentist, and a lady with papers to sign, while in the chair, to get me to pay at least 900 per tooth, probably for at least 2 teeth to keep it symmetric. I'm super broke right now, and I cant afford that, so I walked out, but not before being told "Dont bite into any apples!" I spent the next week avoiding biting anything. I believed my front tooth was totally screwed and it could split down the middle like a 2x4 at any moment. A few days later, when my anxiety cleared a bit, I got curious and started Googling tooth cracks. After a bit of that, I had a friend recommend a good dentist and I went for a second opinion. Turns out I have a 'craze line' which is a totally harmless and benign condition that does not mean my face is falling apart. My teeth are fine. The first guy used high pressure sales tactics and preyed on my lack of knowledge and general fear of not having a front tooth to almost get me to sign up for a crazy expensive and permanent procedure that I didnt need. I expect this stuff from used car people, but not dentists! Maybe I should from now on. The moral of the story is, your health is a major investment, and you want to make sure you make the best decisions possible, so get that second opinion, even if it costs you more money up front. You want to make the RIGHT call, and it can save you a bunch of money. Having your natural teeth is optimal if possible, and veneers can require maintenance later in life. I saved myself 1800+ dollars by spending 35 on a consultation. So worth it. So even if you can afford to sign up right away, if you dont know the dentist or doctor well, and you're not bleeding out, take a second to google and get a second opinion. It could save you money, and who knows, maybe save your life. I have since reported him to the California Dental Licensing board, as well as leaving 1 star reviews on Yelp and Google.

I had not been to a dentist in about 10 years. I had a tooth break and went to my wife's dentist. I had a lot of work done replacing filings, etc. That broken tooth needed a cap. So, we move and after about two years I decided I needed to go back to seeing a dentist regularly. We go to a place a new friend of my wife recommended. First visit and they recommended a tooth be capped. My first thought was 'really?' but I went with it. The next visit was fine, no problems. The following visit he told me I needed to have a filling replaced as there was starting to be some decay around it. Now these fillings were less than 5 years old. This didn't sound right. I told him I wasn't going to do it right away. We were about to leave for an expensive vacation (absolute truth) and, if anything, I would need to wait a couple months. He immediately began pressuring me to schedule it that day and warned me if I waited too long it could become a root canal. I reminded him of my expensive vacation and I would contact them when I got back. I never went back. Two years later I decided to find another dentist. Picked one and went in for an introductory check up. They found nothing. I asked them to take a closer look at the suspect tooth. They asked if it was bothering me and I just said to look again and let me know if they saw any concerns. He scrutinized that tooth and admitted he couldn't find anything wrong. I told him what my last dentist said and he looked again and, nope nothing. It's been seven years and I've not had so much as a cavity since. I'm still kind of pissed off about that cap. Was probably unnecessary.

You should not have reported him or left bad reviews because he was most likely genuinely trying to help you out. You're the jerk here.

Human: So yesterday I sat through a long pitch (though I'm not supposed to call it a pitch) about joining Amway as an IBO. I have absolutely no interest in attempting to craft a business through means of a legal pyramid scheme, but the whole IBO benefits looked interesting on the surface. Has anyone had any experience with shopping on Amway in a similar fashion as one would at Costco or Sam's Club? It costs $67 to become an IBO (one time cost, it appears) and it is refundable up to 90 days, but I am a bit iffy on the details of buying. I was told that when one of your customers (which would be one of my parents for me in this case) buys a product from you, you also receive that product and then get paid a small commission (which would serve as a discount basically). That means I get two of those products for less than the price of one, correct? The prices to start are absolutely ridiculous for the most part of course, but there are a few exceptions that make the 2for1 aspect worth it. Also I was told that Amway affiliates (Under Armour, Sears, etc.) offer discounts to members as well. Was I given false information or is what I just said true?

RUN don't walk away from Amway!!!

Not sure if it's comparable to shopping Costco but it can work. My grandma joined years ago to be the main seller of energy drinks and protein bars to her friends. They all liked them so it just worked and she split the free stuff with them. Their laundry soap is the only one I've found I can use. It's $30 but lasts foreverrrrr. She gets all of their cleaning supplies from there too.

Human: About 7 or 8 weeks ago, My close coworker/confidant, lets call her Jane*, came to me at work stressing out about how she couldn't pay her rent. She got pretty sick the week prior and had to take some time off. She put in sick hours to make up for the lost hours, but my manager did not see the requested sick time, so Janes paycheck was short. Jane is a fantastic worker, I wouldn't have loan her the money if my views were any different. I had a few extra hundred dollars that month, so I told her I would loan it to her. There was an understanding that she would pay me back when her sick time gets processed for the following paycheck. So the next paycheck rolls through, I asked her if her sick time got processed and she said yes and that she'd bring me the money the following day. Awesome, I say. Its been three paychecks now (we get paid every 2 weeks) and Jane still hasn't paid me back. I hadn't brought it up since the first paycheck because I thought maybe she was still trying to get her ducks in a row. Then I thought, 'maybe she just forgot'. So I brought it to Janes attention the other day and her response was, "oh yeah, I'm sorry, I'm stupid, yeah." That was so awkward for me that I told her to just give it to me when she can. I don't know why I said that. It has been two months now and I've brought it up twice. I do need the money back soon. Maybe it's my own fault for lending the money out, but I didn't think it would take this long for me to get back. How I can go about this?

She's taking advantage of your discomfort. Stand up for yourself!

"Jane, I need the $xxx back by mm/dd because I have got to pay my [whatever you want to say] bill by [the end of the month.. or something.]" Personally, I doubt that you'll see the money again. Her answer lacked empathy for your side of the situation.

Human: I'm a 24 year old entrepreneur, and had a very successful last year. (A little over 1M). I do not know much about investing, but I'm trying to divvy up my earnings into investment strategies. I currently have a SEP and another account with ~100k, both on Wealthfront. I've had two people suggest Life Insurance, one being a friend who works as a Financial Advisor. My business partner has a habit of having meetings without the full intent of following through, and I got wrapped up in the entire process. They have suggested an initial deposit of either 50k or 100k. With the anticipation that I start pulling out money come retirement. I'm wary of throwing my money into an illiquid investment vehicle, but I do understand that I need to have some long-term accounts active. I also know that commissions are in play here, and I don't want to be used as a money sign to Financial Advisors. I live a pretty cheap lifestyle compared to my earnings, so I'm also playing around with another ~300k (not including my "emergency fund"). Also, I don't anticipate my earnings to be this high in the future - I like to spend my money cautiously because of this. Since it's a decision I'm expected to make soon, I'm looking for an unbiased opinion about Life Insurance for someone in my situation. But since I do have a good amount of uninvested capital, I would love any extra input. Thanks!

The return on life insurance is terrible. Generally the only people who will recommend using insurance as an investment are those who will make money off of the transaction. If you need insurance in order to support your family, get term insurance. Anything else is a waste of money. Invest the premium difference between a whole life and term policy, into mutual funds and you'll come out way ahead.

If you want something safe, liquid, and without all the commission garbage, look for a bond mutual fund. This is assuming you have diversified into some aggressive investments as well, because you are young. Charles Schwab has many options that don't cost any commission to buy, one of which is symbol THIFX. These won't get huge returns, but with the amount you have to invest, it is a good place to start.

Human: I joined the Air Force and am now in tech school. After constabt briefings and thinking about it, I want to start to build credit and frt a credit card. Some background on me: 20, male, single, no credit at all, no legal issues at all and like I said just joined. What would you suggest I get?

USAA You should take advantage of everything they have to offer. Banking, insurance, EVERYTHING.

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Human: Hey, /r/personalfinance Here's the deal, I've got about 57k in student loan debt. I'm on an Income Based Repayment plan that is at $312/month. I've been paying $580/mo towards the loan + any additional windfalls I receive to try and knock it down as fast as possible. Every time I call and talk to Great Lakes about my account, they see that I'm paying well above the IBR minimum, they think it's a mistake and ask why I would want to do that. It makes sense to me but their constant questioning of it (as well as a similar reaction in /r/studentloans) is starting to make me think I may be wrong. They both seem to think I should be only paying the minimum and then just worry about it when the tax bomb comes, but I don't know if that's something I'm ok with. The other issue is that I have to renew my IBR application every year, and I was just reapproved for another year. The problem is that since I was paying over the minimum, I was considered paid ahead for almost a year. When they renewed my IBR, my paid ahead buffer reset to zero! Is this normal? I put my entire tax refund towards my loan principle, thinking that If any emergency situations came about, I would not have to pay my student loan for the month since i was paid ahead so far (obviously I'd still get charged interest but it doesn't capitalize so I was ok with that scenario). If this is normal for any paid ahead buffer to be reset every year when I reapply, is it worth it to do it this way or should I be using a different strategy?

Having an emergency fund is critical. It may seem more important to pay everything off all at once as quickly as you can but not having money set aside for the unknown can bury you. I didn't and all of my extra money was paying down debt. High and low interest. Ended up needing money for an emergency and I didn't have it saved. Right back into more debt. It took a while to recover but I learned from it. My main goals now are to have an emergency fund and enough money in another savings to pay bills for 3-6 months in case I am out of work. I had to weigh the interest from the credit cards(high), student loan(low), and car loan(low). Slowly building an emergency savings while paying off the high interests cards first was more cost effective, for me, than paying off my student loans and car loan faster. Once they were paid off, I could then focus more money on the low interest loans and knock them out relatively quickly.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [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: Long story short is that while I'm smashing down my debt load, I would rather see that money going towards paying down more debt and saving me interest. Worst case scenario I have a no balance credit card with a high limit that can help me through an emergency. This has been working for me for over a year. Convince me I'm wrong.

If you need someone to convince you you are wrong then no amount of convincing is going to convince you you are wrong. In your mind what you are doing is right so whatever someone else says doesn't matter.

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Human: Hi all, From Australia. I'm currently half way though The Intelligent Investor and have also been going through courses on Wall Street Survivor. Great source of information. However one thing which I cannot seem to grasp is this; I want to buy stocks so who do I give money to?! I have a budget of around $250 a month to invest in stocks and shares and am very keen to get into Index Funds due to their good rep. Vanguard is the only one who appears to be able to do this but everyone is also saying their fees are crazy. Could someone advise on who I pay to get some shares? Thanks!

You need to find a brokerage. Vanguard fees are extremely small. I don't know if they take Aussie customers, though.

don't invest in ANY vanguard/fidelity/etc funds. all are a scam. stock market is largely a scam. the only thing you can remotely touch are index funds and S&P stocks (ie very large companies). but even then you probably gonna lose money.

Human: In september of this year, I (18m) am moving into an apartment with 2 of my best friends who are females. The apartment is 3 bed and 3 bath with a kitchen, laundry, garage, whole 9 yards. Onto the finance part, I make $9.25 an hour at between 25 hours a week to 35. Rent is 1400$, split between 3 people is $467 a month. Is this a viable plan? Any advice on a budget or about my plan would be great, thanks in advance. Assistant: It'll probably end up taking up half of your income. What other expenses do you have? Human: 60$ a month for car insurance, other than that nothing. Assistant: You're going to college for free, with a paid off car, and no cellphone bill? If that's the case, good for you man. You'll have to budget yourself, make sure you set aside that money for rent, and don't touch it. If all the rest is disposable income, try and save a chunk of it each paycheck for an emergency fund. Human: I will be saving up for college this summer as well, I bought my own truck cash completely paid off, my mom has agreed to take my cell phone bill as I help out my siblings alot over the summer. I was just looking for some advice to make sure this was a viable plan from a outsiders perspective, do you think so?

You need to put more details in your post. How much does school cost? (include books) How much do you spend a week on gas? How much do you spend on going out/entertainment? How much do you have budgeted for groceries/food? My guess is at the end of the year, you'll be in debt to either your parent(s) or to the credit card company. This happens with many people when they go out on their own. It's important not to let it spiral out of control. For example, you may build up debt during the school year but can knock it down very quickly during the summer. It's not ideal, but it can be an acceptable way of doing things while you're in school.

If your parents are paying for literally everything but your rent and car insurance you might be okay, but that doesn't sound like the case, you just said that they are paying for your cell phone. Additionally, $1400 not including utilities is a lot for a 3 bed/3 bath where I live, you can get a 3 bed for $600. Although you may live in a higher cost of living area, I would recommend finding somewhere cheaper. Not immediately related to your finances, but living with your friends often leads to them not being friends anymore, seriously consider that aspect of this arrangement. They will leave out trash, they will leave dirty dishes, they will eat your food, they will be unwilling to do their share, they will be late on paying utilities, and you'll let it ride for a while because hey they're your best friends. The resentment will build over whichever of these things they are or aren't doing and you'll talk to them about it over and over. If it doesn't end poorly you will be in the vast minority of people who were successfully able to live with their friends. At least with strangers you don't have to ever see them again. I'd look to rent a single room somewhere if it were me, check craigslist. If you do go through with the $1400 lease and your parents aren't paying for everything you should be prepared to take out loans. Like the person below kind of passive-aggressively states ("no other expenses? that's amazing!"), you're probably leaving out some expenses like: gas for your truck, internet, food, utilities, toiletries, personal hygienic products, entertainment (another side effect of living with friends is you will be that much more prone to overspending on entertainment), etc. Although it is possible you will have to live very frugally, and even still you're going to be living on the edge.

Human: Hello, r/personalfinance. I'm looking for a little advice (or just reassurance that I'm not being paranoid). My wife and I live in NJ and make a combined 90k yearly. We've been renting for the last 5 years and our savings is what I'd call insufficient based on our lifestyle. We have roughly 35k available as a general fund - it's all we have. We have no student loan debt and roughly $900/monthly auto/cc debt (I just cut up my card with the intention of not replacing until the balance was zeroed). We've been pre-approved for 225k, which means nothing based on experience. We have very different ideas about home affordability. I'm extremely nervous about going into home ownership without 20% down. Our rent for a small 1 bedroom is $1200 monthly and that even makes me cringe most days. I don't want to mortgage a house that has me paying more than $1400 monthly with taxes and insurance included, which means either building a greater down payment or spending less (both things that don't really bother me - I just want a decent school system). I know we're not ready. My wife thinks we're loaded. Our real estate agent is a family friend and showed us a house in the town we live in over the weekend - asking price $225k. Great house and location, don't get me wrong. Under normal circumstances with the proper financial backing it would be a slam dunk. My wife, however, thinks it's perfectly fine to go in with 3.5% down and forego PMI for a .5% increase in the interest rate. Almost $1,800 a month before we turn the lights on, which is 38% of our monthly take-home. She's adamant that we put in an offer this week. I know our spending habits are not ideal. Our budgeting needs major work. We should have tripled our savings given the length of time we've been together. Am I insane for thinking this house is a bad idea? Assistant: Avoid PMI. It's absolutely a waste of money. If you're not comfortable with the payment, don't do it. If anything happens (job loss, injury, etc) you'll end up resenting your wife. Remember, finances are the primary reason for divorce. Best of luck! Human: Yes, but doesn't PMI drop when a certain amount of equity in the property is built? Like I could pay PMI for 10 years or a half percentage point interest for 30?

On new FHA loans the PMI never drops off. The only way to get rid of it on newer FHA loans is to refinance once you get 20% equity, and if interest rates have gone up before that happens the refi might be a worse loan. I did a 5% down loan in 2010 where I took a slightly higher rate in lieu of having to pay PMI. The going rate at the time would have been about 4.375%, and I ended up getting the loan at a hair under 4.825% but with no PMI. Historically speaking even the people who *did* "do everything right" and diligently save their 20% didn't get a rate that good, so I was pretty happy with the deal. Ended up refinancing a few years later anyway when rates came back down again, so only ended up paying the higher rate for ~4 years

> Yes, but doesn't PMI drop when a certain amount of equity in the property is built? On an FHA loan with 3.5% down, you carry PMI for the life of the loan.

Human: Hey r/personalfinance, sorry for the throwaway, but I'd rather not associate this with my main account So I have a new job offer in another state with another Fortune 100 company (I currently work for another Fortune 100 company making a salary in the low 40's in a very low cola area) with a 30% increase in salary, a 12% signing bonus, and better benefits (including eligibility for a pension someday, which I do not have at my current job). The new area I'd be going to would actually have a lower cost of living by the way The interview with the new boss went extremely well, we really clicked and the work seemed interesting. I was going to take the job immediately when I noticed a certain clause in the job offer that said, >this job is predicted to be a 2 year assignment. At the end of your assignment, we will reevaluate your role at the company and see if there are other opportunities here for you. Unless we make you another offer and you accept, your employment with the company will be terminated immediately at the end of the 2 year assignment. This termination will be marked as you voluntarily resigning, meaning you will not get any severance when you leave the company Does this seem normal to you guys? This was never mentioned to me until I read it in the offer. I also understand that this job is "at will", so they can lay me off anytime, but so is my current job, and there's no clause in there saying I'll be reevaluated in 2 years for another role or layed off without severance To me it seems like this role is a temporary job that'll get my foot into the door of this company, which does still have amazing oppurtunity for growth. But I'm pretty conservative about getting a new job in a new area, and I'd rather not risk a temporary job for a higher salary if I'll be unemployed in 2 years My current job is also pretty great by the way. My bosses love me, my coworkers and my team are super nice, and there's also great oppurtunities to grow here too. I'm just underpaid and work 50-60 hours a week, and I feel that it'll be harder to get the 30% bump in salary that I'm getting going to the new company than if I stay here So should I be weary about this clause and reconsider taking the new job? Or is this something normal and am I being paranoid? EDIT: so I called this morning like some people recommended, and the recruiter told me that after 1 year, I can switch teams if I want to, but I'd have to stay at that site, and after 2 years I can leave the site for another job and site of the company if I want to. She said it's not a contractor or temporary position, even with that clause in the offer, and I get full health benefits and eligibility to enroll in the pension program after 1 year. She also told me I'm not to worry about that 2 year review as long as I do well at my job and on my team, meaning they'll probably let me go if they don't like me or my work I'd assume. Also I'm in corporate banking in a back office doing accounting work, I'd be going to do more accounting work in another bank back office, and I just graduated from college last year with my bachelors in accounting, hence my low salary.

seems normal; like a 2year contract position.

Never stayed in a job more than 2 years so this doesn't really seem like a 'problem' to me. No job is insured so imo 2 years is a good deal. If the job seems like something you'll enjoy, do it, worst case in a few months you decide it's crap and start searching again. Even if the job ends in 2 years, that's 2 years of experience working in that higher paying job that can help you move to other similar/better paying gigs.

Human: Is it as simple as the interest rate? If I make a $100 extra payment on a 6.8% loan is that a 6.8% return on my $100?

Yes.

Yes, the math is straight up. Just make sure you're not siphoning those extra payments from somewhere else where it's needed. Obviously, you're not going to carve that extra payment from your rent/Mortgage, but if you have a credit with a balance at a 12.9% rate, you may want to reconsider. Unless you're doing the snow-ball thing where you're throwing all your money at one bill to eliminate it, and then moving on an targeting another. Then it makes sense.

Human: I'm 22, graduated college last May, have been in a full time position since then making about $19,000/yr but just negotiated a raise to $28,000/yr. I have roughly $5000 in student loan debt, $2000 in credit card debt, and not including those payments I have $1000 in monthly housing expenses and recurring payments. I've had a savings account for many years, but never any money to save so it's pretty empty. My question is how should I go about saving money and paying off debt at the same time? Sometimes I feel like all my money should go to paying off debt, other times I feel like I should save it all, then I try to find a balance but I feel like I'm not making any improvements on either one. How do you find the balance between saving money and paying off debt?

Use my new Flowchart! http://imgur.com/g6j4IRu

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Human: I know it might seem strange to want to raise your tax liability, but allow me to explain. I recently pre-ordered the new Tesla Model 3, which I'm super excited about. The US Federal government is providing a tax incentive for consumers of EV manufacturers. If you're lucky and you get the full incentive (I won't get into the details of how, but let's just assume for this case we get the full incentive) it works out to be $7500. Now, from what I've read, this money is given to you at the end of the year with your tax refund. It is taken out of your total tax liability and given back to you. (Ex. You pay $12k in taxes over the year. End of year you only owe $8k, you get $4k back. The $8k remaining is where they will be giving you the $7500.) SO, with that being said, apparently if your tax liability is <$7500, than you only get whatever that number happens to be. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.) Well I happen to fall short of $7500 tax liability by quite a bit. I make about $43k a year before taxes. Based off of an online tax calculator I found that I have about $4.8k in tax liability. Which means I would only get that $4.8k instead of the full $7.5k. So, how could I raise my tax liability the year i buy the car? I was thinking about possible taking money out of my 401k and using it to buy my first home, I'd be taxed on that money, hence raising my tax liability, right? Please, let me know if there are better ways! I'm sure many other reservation holders are curious about how this all really works. tl;dr Pre-ordered Model 3, want to raise tax liability for full federal tax incentive. EDIT: Okay, so literally everyone is saying I can't afford the car, so I guess I'll be canceling my reservation then:( I just wanted to be apart of something big. I've always been in love with Tesla, and have always been huge fan of Elon Musks work.. I knew this was more car than I could afford, but with the tax incentive bringing it down from the 35k and I live in a state where the incentive here is no tax on EVs.. I thought it would be SOMEWHAT possible considering that I do live home... And that I'd have a 21+ month head start on a healthy down payment, but yeah making more money is easier said than done. Special thanks for the people who at least were kind enough to break it down and not just simply saying "make more money."

> I make about $43k a year before taxes. Then you can't afford a Tesla. >So, how could I raise my tax liability the year i buy the car? Make more money.

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Human: I filed first thinking that we would be better off filing separately but it turns out my husband would owe about $4K more if he filed separately instead of jointly. My husband ended up filing jointly without me so now we have my return sent to IRS and accepted and his came back rejected because his IRS pin was incorrect. We are waiting to get an answer on this to fix it. Do I have to file the amended return and my husband leave his return rejected or does he file his return and I amend mine to married filing jointly? He also filed a schedule c since we own a business together (50/50) so not sure how that will affect the amended return as well.

Either of you can amend. It's unlikely that you will benefit from filing MFS. Why do you think that's better?

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Human: I recently was given the offer to work for $65 an hour as a 1099 independent contractor for a position that would be 40 hours a week any week that doesn't have holidays/vacation/sick leave. Up until now, I've only ever worked through a contracting company. What do I need to know? I know that there's addition SS and MC taxes and I don't think anything gets withheld now. I suppose I need to know how much to set aside every pay check, how to file my taxes, things to deduct and how to deduct them, pitfalls, and an equivalent salary to what I'm making. Thanks in advance! EDIT: Thanks everyone who replied! I was somewhat hesitant towards this. They offered 90k salaried with a 10k sign on, so I've agreed to take that instead.

Welcome to the wonderful world of self employment. Here are some useful references for self employed persons: [2015 Publication 334 Tax Guide for Small Business](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf), gives a good general overview. [2015 Publication 583 Starting a Business and Keeping Records](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p583.pdf): **Keep. Good. Records.** [2014 Publication 535 Business Expenses](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p535--2014.pdf): make Ordinary and Necessary your watchwords. Business expenses reduce your profit. [2015 Publication 463 Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf); a closer look at commonly claimed business expenses. [2016 Publication 505 Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf) is the primary written reference for when and how to make Estimated Tax payments as a self employed person, as well as the Underpayment of Estimated Tax penalty. Withholding from any wages you may have is treated as tax paid throughout the year. Your tax return won't be easy, so no more 1040-EZ for you. [2015 Form 1040 Schedule C](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf) is where you report your income and business expenses. [2015 Form 1040 Schedule SE](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sse.pdf) is where you compute your Self Employment tax liability. The very basic math is 15.3% of your net earnings. Self employment tax is **in addition to** your income tax liability for the year. Assuming your net earnings (income less ordinary and necessary business expenses) for 2016 are ~$96,200, the self employment tax liability is ~$13,593.00. [2016 Form 1040-ES](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf) is the form you use to compute your quarterly estimated tax liability, and you would include the appropriate voucher with a check, if you choose to mail any estimated tax payments. There are plenty of [electronic payment options](http://www.irs.gov/Payments) available. For most Taxpayers, the first quarter ES payment is due on 4/18/2016. I just want to say good luck. We're all counting on you.

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Human: Not sure if this belongs here, but I will try. I just got a quote from Met Life for $30.99/month for 20 years, for $250,000.. I am a 31 year old, excellent health.. but I told them I was a former smoker and I think that upped my rate. If I go to a different company trying to get a cheaper quote, do I have to disclose that I am a former smoker at all? Is there anyway they would know or care? Thanks in advance.

It depends on their fine print, of what they consider a smoker. If they ask: Are you a former smoker? Then you'd have to say yes. If they have any kind of fine print regarding smoking that states, if you have smoked in the past year, you are okay, then you wouldn't have to disclose it. But I really have no idea how those things are written, I'm sure they are very clear about it though.

Just ask the Met LIfe agent if it is a factor. It's pretty unlikely he's going to lie about it. You should shop around regardless. Just give them the straight story. If it ups your rate, so be it. Find out how long you have to be a nonsmoker to get the rate reduced and make sure that when that date arrives you update them. And congrats on quitting.

Human: I enjoy managing and developing people, and that's why I have been in the same job for nearly 15 years. Its a passion of mine. Unfortunately I happen to be doing this in a retail environment. Retail employees have a shelf life, and I think I exceeded that a few years ago. Its emotionally draining and a lot of the required work does not align with what I want to do in my families personal life. While most people in my position get a raise only once every 1-3 years at best, I have enjoyed a healthy raise of 4-6% every single year of my career. I've even gotten salary increases mid year based on merit and cost of living. Last year I was hit with something very unexpected; A salary cap that I had no clue about. I am told I will still get a "raise" but it will be paid in a lump sum, and will always be based on the cap I am at. From what I understand, this does not work in my favor. I now cannot stay above the rate of inflation. Yes I have been pursuing higher positions with the company, but growth has stagnated to a halt and positions have been consolidated and or dried up. It could be a 1 to at most 3 years before I see something open up. So I am left with my current situation. Do I stick it out? I have incredible tenure, wonderful benefits and love developing people, but I can't stand to be on the sales floor anymore. The thought of perusing another job, is something I want, but looking at indeed.com or monster, is overwhelming. I don't know what non-food/retail industry is a good fit for a senior store level manager with multi unit promise. TLDR: Work retail management with same company for 15 years, extremely good at it. Hit salary cap that I didn't know about. What is a good industry I can jump into next? I used a throw away because they have internet police and know my reddit handle.

50k is not an industry-wide cap, is it? That's your company's cap. Why would you change careers when you love what you're doing. Start looking for work doing the same thing somewhere else, see if anybody pays more.

Pay attention to how much you want a pay increase, vs how much you want the recognition that comes with the pay increase. If you just want the Pat on the back, don't leave just because the pat is not the same one you are used to. However, if you are concerned about your future do to the job stagnation, or you resent the fact that they are no longer going to pay you what you deserve (and you DO deserve to be paid more) then look for growth in your current company and other companies that are willing to pay you what you are worth.

Human: Last year I made about $14K through a video game called Runescape. About 30% of the transactions were done with cash, and about 70% I sold via bitcoin because of the nonrefundable nature of the currency. I am an international student at a university in Ohio and I don't have any receipts from the transactions. Also, this year I made sold an additional $25K worth of runescape gold but I'll be declaring it in the taxes next year. At the time I was making the money, I didn't realize I would have to declare this in taxes so I don't have receipts for any of the transactions. I'm going to a tax workshop at my university on Friday and I'm wondering exactly how am I going to file the taxes on the money I made from the video game. Any help would be appreciated.

If you resold stuff, you should file it on Schedule C so you can deduct expenses. If you just sold things you found or made or whatever, put it under other income. This article can help: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Reporting-Miscellaneous-Income

Please tell me you weren't ruining Oldschool, But rather RS3? Thanks.

Human: Recently we were able to accomplish out longer term dream of owning a house. I am also making sure that on my every mortgage payment, I am keeping some amount of money for my year end taxes. I don't want this amount to sit idle till the end of the year, until I pay may taxes. Are there any no risk investment options, where I can invest.? I should also be able to pull the money out, at least what I invested at the end of the year to pay my taxes.

savings account.

IBonds https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds.htm

Human: My dad died 10 years ago. My mom retired a little over a year ago. She receives a pension from work which is more than the monthly payout from my dad's Social Security. Since it's more, the government does not give her any of my dad's Social Security and she has to rely solely on her pension. After paying the mortgage, she's not left with much. I don't understand what right the government has to my dad's Social Security. If he were alive, he would be getting it. But since he isn't, it should go to his family... not the government.   Is there anything we can do?

The money isn't kept by the government. It's going to other people who qualify for social security who are still alive.

> it should go to his family... not the government. That's not how Social Security works.

Human: A little background : 22, graduated in december 2014 from college for business administration, living with parents, my current take home pay comes out to $25k post tax and my expenses come out to 900/month so i can essentially save 1k a month. (budget isn't the problem here though, i know how and when to spend) My dilemma: having ~1900/month take home is definitely not enough (i live in Toronto) and I've essentially been told there's not much room for growth here because the people that are in the roles i can potentially be in aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I work in a small-mid size manufacturing company for a year now, and in this company one person does multiple jobs. For example: the CFO is also the plant manager, the purchaser as well as many others. (A pretty disorganized place if im being honest) Other than the main administration responsibilities, i actually do a large amount of the A/R and A/P work that takes a load off of the (only) other a/p clerk and a/r clerk. So the amount of work I am doing is definitely not worth the $15/hour when other job listings i've looked at are well above 20, even without an accounting designation. I've never asked for a raise before but i've been reading up on what to say if I were to ask for one. However, if they say no, do I just accept it and stay here? Do I ask when I have another offer? What's the proper time to ask for a raise? PS sorry if this is all over the place, didn't really know which information to include. If there's anything I'm forgetting, please let me know.

First ask for a raise, then based on their answer, you can look for a new job. Edit: you didn't say how long you've been working there... assuming since graduation in 2014, it's fair game. You can ask every year imo. Edit2: nm, 1 year there...ask for the raise.

It sounds like the likelihood of a raise is slim to none. I'd personally start looking. Once you are near the point of receiving offers you can: 1 - ask for a raise then 2 - say you have received another offer (perhaps they will offer you more or match it) then 3 - decide to leave or stay At your age, your biggest salary leaps will tend to come from new offers. Heck, most people experience the biggest leaps when moving. It's sad but true.

Human: So im 20 and make 30 k a year, im not struggling for money but i want to work on saving money for a retirement account So i was wondering if i can defer from withholding taxes throughout the year and just let it sit in a savings account instead to collect intrest?

The US has a pay as you go system not a pay by April 15 and you're all good system. There are under withholding penalties. Also, learn to type.

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Human: 37 [M] wanting to give up the rat race and spend the rest of my days finishing all my unread books, games, hobbies... Selling the house would net me 250k, cashing in stocks for another 50k, have another 200k locked up in retirement funds that I can't touch until I'm 65 but should be at least 350k by that time... So I'm wondering if there's any place on earth where I can live a relatively safe and comfortable lifestyle and retire? Someplace with cheap yearly rent, preferably close to amenities, low crime, good climate, free healthcare, low cost of living...

Retire, probably not but you might be able to semi retire in Uruguay. As far as Latin American countries go it is very safe, and the cost of living is fairly low compared to North America. You could probably buy a nice place outright in Colonia for $50k, which is a couple of hours from Montevideo and a ferry ride to Buenos Aires. I'm speaking on from travel experiences.

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Human: I am 32, married, with a household gross income of about $60K. My wife has $40K in student loan debt, I have only about $6K left at 4.5% interest. I also have a stock portfolio that if sold today could pay off my loans, though I would be selling much of it for a short-term capital gains loss. My current monthly payment on my loan is about $150, which I could then put towards my wife's loan. I'm also currently facing about $4000 in medical bills from a surgery I had recently, and we're getting a $2000 tax refund. Really not sure where I should be allocating my resources at the moment, so I'd appreciate the help. Thanks in advance. **Edit: Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to hold on to the stocks and work on finding other ways of paying down the debt.**

You aren't going to get out of debt super fast no matter what you do with this money. I would leave it there and just focus on getting out of debt with future income.

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Human: I went to the ER. A nurse took my vitals and asked me a few questions (~5 min.). I was called in and saw two PAs simultaneously for 5-10 min. Then I get a $1500+ bill in the mail some days later. So $6000+/hour for seeing a nurse and 2 PAs for no more than 15 minutes? They said they legally could not discuss the price until I was discharged. Then after I was discharged the computers were down so they couldn't answer my questions. There is no breakdown of the charges. I told them I was experiencing persistent congestion and difficulty breathing episodes only when sleeping to the point where I felt I was going to suffocate that night during my sleep. But...the report says I complained about congestion and anxiety....and the diagnosis was anxiety (again, I never saw a doctor). I'm pretty sure my insurance bill will be the same for me either way, but I'm just concerned this might affect my records or insurance maximums? What should I do, if anything, suggestions?

Don't go to an ER for something your family doctor could see you for

I have been seeing many posts about people going to the ER for non emergencies. The ER is not going to be cheap, you have to pay for the staff that is on call there all through the night. It doesn't matter if they only saw you for 15 minutes, they're sitting there all night and for highly skilled people it's going to cost a lot no matter how long you're there. As for not seeing the doctor, the PA must have felt it was handled, and it was honestly. The PA cannot be there without the doctor (who will be ultimately responsible regardless) so you're paying for all that. Save that stuff for your PCP.

Human: Sorry if the question is a bit unclear, I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it. For example, Chase is running a promotion right now where if you open a new checking account with them, they'll credit the account $150 (provided that you make a direct deposit into the account within the first 60 days). Would there be any consequences to opening the account, getting the $150, and then closing the account?

Read the fine print. I would hazard a guess that you have to maintain a specific balance for a period of time. They wouldn't offer that money unless they had a method of recuperating it back.

There was a time when ING direct would give you $50 for opening a savings account with them, this was in 2002-2003 or so. Many people I know signed up for accounts, and kept them open just long enough to get that $50, then withdrew it. Most banks wised up and put verbage in the contract that you have to maintain the account for x amount of time.

Human: Don't really know where to begin with this. An old friend, to whom I basically owe my life (pulled me out of a burning car wreck when we were young) has come back into my life. Hasn't paid income taxes in 20 years. Divorced, alcoholic, and in terrible physical condition. He's now sobered up and is trying to get his life going again, and I'm playing the role of "second set of eyes" and accountability partner. He's been self employed all during this time, doing odd jobs, but mostly doing computer repairs. No paper records at all. He qualifies for VA healthcare, so he's making progress there (hadn't seen a doctor in 20 years). He has filed his 2015 1040 and only owed self-employment tax (which he paid) since his AGI was around $6k. I have been searching reddit for advice for people in these circumstances, but I haven't yet run across an example of someone who screwed up for 20 years. The plan is to: 1. Continue with his health care at the VA (morbidly obese, low heart function, low energy, can't basically move much without getting out of breath). 2. After he recovers from surgery later this month, try to land an online job for customer service or online support (work from home) gig. 3. Get his wage and earnings transcript and file the back returns. 4. Work out a plan with the IRS, assuming he isn't in jail at that point. There really isn't cash available at this point to hire a tax pro, CPA or attorney, so I'm hoping to get actionable advice from fellow redditors. Questions: 1. Do people go to jail over something like this if they self report? 2. I have seen advice to file the current return and wait and see what comes in the mail, or to file the past 3 years, or to file the past 7 years. Anyone have any solid advice on what he should do about this? Should he try to file all 20 years? I'm in way over my head here. 3. I have read about "currently not collectible" status. If someone has f'd up this bad, is this even an option? 4. He's basically living out of his van at this point, with enough cash to cover his groceries and gas for the next three months. After he recovers from his surgery, would I be some sort of accessory under the law if I let him try to land a work from home job using my home internet connection until he makes enough to afford housing? Any serious advice would be greatly appreciated. He knows he has royally screwed up, but I believe he will do everything in his power to fix this. Is the tax part even fixable? [edit: line breaks and added: there's no cash available for hiring a pro at this point in time.]

Way to be a good friend.

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Human: This is the first time in my life I ever had to financially rely on myself, and its suddenly and unplanned, too. I am allowed to stay at a friends place but not for long. Ive been hired for a 10 dollar per hour pay and will be making at least 1,900 $ a month. My mom is making me pay for my own car insurance and is cutting off my phone plan and maybe taking my phone. I have up to 1000$ in my possession. I live in Atlanta, GA. My deadline to move out is this weekend and I am panicking because i dont have any experience in this. Edit: i want to thank everyone for the very helpful advise. This is sudden to me and i am very scared and confused. Call me a child or whatever but it was like yesterday i was enjoying my daily life, and today all these numbers are in my head. I wont describe my family situation, but i will learn from this incident for sure.

You've got a job and a few dollars in savings- that's great. You only need to find somewhere to live. You can't afford the luxury of living alone so you'll have to find share accommodation.

Get a job at a car dealership, cuz you can make more money than part time. As a salesperson that is not a lot tech.

Human: Hello, I am trying to start investing some money into index funds. I am just about to graduate college so I do not have a lot of money to start.I just register for vanguard and put 1,000 in. I plan to start with 75 dollars a week and hopefully increase to 1,000 a month after finding a real job. My problem is, after looking through the index fund for Vanguard, the lowest (that I could find) deposit necessary to start an index fund is 3,000. At my current rate that would take a very long time for me to save up to that amount. Also is there a way for me to transfer my money from a 3,000 index fund into an admiral fund after i saved up 10,000? Thanks in advance.

Vanguards Target Date Funds are $1000 minimum. These are a great starter option that require no real research. Just buy and hold. Alternatively you can buy ETFs which have no minimum, but they operate more like stocks and less like funds. The main difference is that you can't buy fractional shares of ETFs.

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Human: I really want to sell a couch, but alarm bells are ringing. Can someone explain to me how this is a scam? It really must be a fraud. "I will like to purchase this item like that from you and the only means of paying you is via cashier check because i am presently out of the state for an office assignment. you don't need to worry about the pickup, i will arrange for that after the payment is cleared with you. I am ready to offer you an extra $50 so you can sell this to me and i want you to know how urgent i need it. All you need to do is just get back to me with your Full Name & Mailing address and i will have the payment issued out ASAP. Thanks"

Yeah, scam. First, who buys a used couch without seeing it in person first? Second, the cashiers check will turn out to be a fraud. At best you will be out one couch, but more likely, the "check" will be for a lot more than the cost of the couch, so that you can "take money out of it to pay the movers". Then you are out one couch, and the money you gave the movers.

Scam. Could be that they want you to take down your post so that they can sell their own couch which is similar to yours. Happened to me three years ago.

Human: My grandmother died 10 years ago making my mother the executor of her estate.She left no assets only debt. A fiduciary was assigned and scheduled a hearing with all of the debt holders. No one showed up. I'm not sure of all of the particulars but the fiduciary completed his work and said since the estate had no assets that everything was settled.The credit card companies haven't sent a bill since he said everything was settled.The original fiduciary passed five years ago. Recently my mother received a letter from a lawyer stating he is the fiduciary trying to collect the large credit card debt my grandmother owed. When he was made aware that the estate had no assets he dropped that request and now wants $400 for some kind of filing fee. It seems to me this guy bought up some debt and is trying to collect but sees that no money is there to be had and is just trying to get any money he can. My mom received the letter two months ago and had a phone conversation with the guy. That's when he brought up the filing fee. Whats going on here?

Tell him you have the money to cover the debts, but just need $3000 in fees from him in order to release the funds from Nigeria.

You can safely ignore this clown. Estate is done and over

Human: I don't know what other subreddit to post this in, sorry if I g doesn't fit here, but I seriously need advice. I am 22 and have been working as an engineer for a year with a mojor fortune 500 telecom company. I have never had a job in telecom and do not have a degree, I was given a great oportunity and took it. In the past year I have went from being the new guy, to becoming the go-to guy in the group. I have recieved 4 certificates of recognition from managers of other groups and even one from a VP. I have been made by other groups the point of contact for my group and have also been one of the guys who had worked every high level project that has come through. I was even one of the key components of getting 1G/sec download speeds availiable to the first markets we provided it to. With that said, I am only a contractor who is yet to be hired in. My original contract was up a month ago and I was given another year contract for doing as well as I have. I am in the process of getting hired in, but who knows when that will happen. All that being said, I was out with the group this afternoon for dinner for one of the few occations we have all gotten together. After the first drink, a female employee I work with started to make rude comments to me, and to make the overall situation awkward in itself. I ignored the comments and even played some of them off as jokes, but it was clear that she had a problem with me. I should add that I knew a few people in the group didn't feel so highly of me, but I kept my head down and tried my best to stay out of their way. Anyways long story short I pulled her aside near the end of the night and told her I didn't want to have problems with her. She replied that it was too late for that, asked if I "really wanted to do this here"? I told her that I didn't know what it was that I did, so it would be best if she told me now than to live with the questions. I guess "everyone in the group hates you because you try to take the credit for everything, try to steal work, and refuse to help others". I am completely taken aback by that, my certificates are for being helpful and kind, I have ALWAYS tried to help people and go out of my way to ask them if they need me to help with anything. She cited two instances that she said I was trying to take her credit, one being in the beginning of the time we worked together, and one being recent. I can see where she felt I was trying to take credit, she said I told her, "don't worry about it, I'll take care if it" when she didn't know how to do something. I thought that was me being nice, I guess I'm trying to take her credit? Keep in mind these are small things that I wouldn't even receive a bump up for if I got credit for them...seriously trivial stuff I do on a day to day basis. She said, I don't care if I have to go to (boss) or (boss's boss), I don't care what I have to say, I will take care of you" I have never worked a corporate job, I don't know the proper steps I should take in order to mantain a good working relationship with my group and or maintain my job. Thank you in advance for all your help!

Corporate life is shitty sometimes. People are so used to being able to deny responsibility when it's their fault and claim responsibility when they had nothing to do with it. If they needed to ask for your help, then clearly they needed you more than you needed them so don't sell yourself short either. Sounds like she's used to everyone coddling her, so it'd be best to loop someone else on this potential issue ahead of the curve. She's trying to create a hostile work environment by telling you everyone else hates you.

HR maybe? And just keep doing you. If people think that "don't worry about it, I'll take care of it" is stealing credit when they can't solve the problem themselves, then they have problems of their own, which you can't help fix. Just keep performing well at work so your boss doesn't have a reason to side with any of them.

Human: So Im selling a used car, it's an 02 VW Golf. It's a little banged up and needs more TLC than I can afford, in both dollars and patience. It needs about $700-$1k worth of work done to it and my ad is upfront and lists the issues with the car. My wife and I considered donating the car after the first few potential buyers backed out. Finally a potential buyer contacted me who sounded serious despite the car being in less than top shape. He seemed to have a pretty good working knowledge of the car and seems to be mechanically inclined. He says he's willing to do the work himself. Here's the catch.. He lives a few hours away and can't drive the car that far in its current condition. He's arranged for a transport company to come pick up the car and we've set up a paypal payment. I created an invoice on PayPal and just received a pending payment. I have not released the car to anyone yet. My question is PF, am I making a huge mistake? Thanks and any advice really appreciated! Assistant: Update: I refunded his payment thru PayPal and sent him a text letting him know that id be willing to sell it for a cashiers check or a USPS money order. Selling the car for $1k so it works out. Thoughts? Thank you guys for the advice! :)

This is a common scam, any other method he tries will also be scams, stop dealing with him.

It is only $1,000. I would only accept cash. Anything else screams scam.

Human: So a little background: I am 23 years old and graduated from college in May of 2015. While I was in college, I paid all of my expenses (rent, food, utilities, school expenses, gas, etc) on my own, aside from cell phone bill and car and health insurance. I also paid/am paying for my college tuition on my own. When I graduated, I moved in with my boyfriend at his parent's house. They (very graciously) allowed both of us to live there free of charge. I started working full time hours between three jobs in June, and received my full time position in September. After working full time, I paid my own phone bill. Throughout all of 2015, my mother only paid my car/health insurance. All of my other expenses were paid for by myself or my boyfriend's parents. Since my mother did not pay even close half of my expenses, and I did not live at home in 2015, I filed my taxes independently (for the first time ever). I filed my taxes rather early, so I let her know I did this BEFORE she filed hers. I received my refund over a month ago. She contacted me today and said that her tax return was rejected because I filed independently. She said she talked with her accountant and he told her the only way to fix this is to sign this form (I haven't seen the form, even though I've asked to) and to pay the IRS $900. Basically, it sounds as if the form will make me her dependent for 2015 and the accountant claims the $900 is required to correct this. My questions are: can she still claim me as dependent since I was in college, even though she did not pay half of my expenses? Where did this $900 come from and why would the IRS fine her simply for rejecting her return? Can she just re-file her taxes and not claim me? Assistant: She doesn't have to provide 50% if you qualify as a dependent child rather than dependent relative. For child, she can provide <50% but you must have provided <50% of your own support. So depending on how much your bf's parents provided, that test could be met But it sounds like you wouldn't pass the residency test. To qualify as a dependent child, you have to have lived with her more than half the year, unless you were away for a qualifying reason (such as school). Since you graduated in May and did not moving back in with her for any part of the rest of the year (right?) then you probably do not pass this test and thus cannot be a qualifying child. The $900 is approximately how much a person would save by claiming one extra dependent if they were in the 25% marginal bracket. It's probably just the amount extra you would owe if you hadn't claimed yourself, not a fine or anything. Note that if you don't meet the rules to let her claim you, she can't (legitimately) claim you, even if you want to let her do it. Human: I did not live at her house at all in 2015. I did put my mailing address as her address in my return, though. I still have a lot of things mailed there, not sure if that matters. I know that my boyfriend's family more than likely provided 50% (if not more) of my living expenses. They are just simply not choosing to claim me as dependent upon them. Does it matter if I was in college for part of the year, and under 24? Does that still make me dependent? That is what her accountant is telling her.

https://www.irs.gov/uac/Who-Can-I-Claim-as-a-Dependent%3F Go there and you can see if the IRS would consider you a dependent from your mothers perspective. Based on what you have told us currently she cannot

Stop using her house as a mailing address. You can have all mail forwarded to your new address for free for six months through the USPS. Use those six months to inform everyone relevant of your new address. Your mom is using you for a tax credit, which is money out of your own pocket for her benefit. Don't assume she's going to willingly pass on any mail to you from the IRS.

Human: Hello, pf. I currently have about $110,000 in a Metlife annuity account. I've been thinking about moving this money, to earn better interest, to an Ally savings account. Thing is, I've never had to move such a large sum of money before. I'm a currently a college student, and will be using that money to pay for college, so I don't think I should invest any of it, at least not until I'm done with college. My bank is Wells Fargo, should I talk with a banker about this? Like go from Metlife > Wells Fargo > Ally? I don't really want to mess this up. I'm 21 years old as well. I also don't know what will happen for my taxes if I take out that whole sum this year... whether it'll mess with my financial aid for next year or not. Thank you for any advice. My mom doesn't know anything about finance, and I feel so lost in all of this.

If it is available as cash you should be able to open an account at Ally, and then have Metlife wire the money to the account. You will probably need to talk to reps at both institutions.

Sorry to hear about your Dad. It is common for life insurance companies to want you to take it as an annuity instead of them giving you the lump sum payout. I would the money and put it in a savings account. I would bank with a small local bank but you can bank wherever you wish. Just not a fan of the customer service of major banks. This money is to ensure you graduate from college debt free. I wouldn't invest it. I wouldn't spend it. This is insurance money. Then once you get out. I would buy a modest car if you need it. Then look at buying a home or whatever your next financial goal is.

Human: I also have a preexisting health condition

Be an adult and go buy some insurance or get a job that offers you insurance as a benefit.

From personal experience: you go to the marketplace, get a plan, then pay $220/month so you can get your meds and see all your specialists without bankrupting yourself. It's a great system. :)))))))) But seriously, call the marketplace. If you're a student, see if they offer you insurance through the school.

Human: I have family coverage through my employer (me, wife and kid). It's $350 every two weeks. They also said we don't qualify for any subsidies on the Marketplace. I'm a veteran and living in Texas. I would drop my coverage but then they couldn't get coverage through my job. Re-enrollment papers have to be in within a couple days. What should I do? Drop coverage and pay the penalty? Try to get child on CHIP (might take a long time)?

This transcends finance in some ways; "having an uninsured kid" is begging for trouble. Also, if you're violating the ACA by not having coverage, this may throw your ability to qualify for the EITC into question, but that's a bit out of my wheelhouse.

Look for a job with higher pay or better benefits while you are currently working? It can't hurt

Human: I have put money in a regular IRA on and off since the 4 years I've been employed here. Can I still put money into Roth, just not as much? thanks

The IRA limits are pretty low. You can just make contributions to a taxable amount once you max your traditional IRA contribution.

Why not look into some of the riskier investment options? You could open up an LLC that buys/invest in real state and other tangibles that can be rented out to others. There are plenty of property management companies out there who will charge you about 10% of whatever you make while you assume the risk of loss. At the same time, your risk is hedged by the insurance policy you keep on your property. I put cash flow in front of savings though. When stuff hits the fan, it's better to be truly diversified with something you can touch than have a whole lot of nothing. Others may disagree.

Human: Just had an H&R block employee call me directly today and repeat, verbatim, the words I spoke to a "confidential" phone survey the day before. She proceeded to insult me directly, speak in a completely condescending manner about my lack of tax experience, and inform me that yet another mistake on her behalf (yet she blamed me in the call) was preventing submission of my taxes. Learned not to use H&R in a desperate pinch, and that H&R obviously doesn't respect your privacy.

If that happened? ........I'd have a field day. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f14157.pdf

If you think H & R Block is shady, the IRS is the government entity that authorizes them to be able to provide the "service" of preparing and filing taxes but also giving you a loan based on your refund.

Human: So.... I think I screwed up. I rented my house to my sister after her divorce, and I moved into an apartment. TurboTax is now telling me that I owe taxes on the entire amount that she paid me to cover the cost of that property. I was under the impression that any income I gained would be offset by the costs, but now it says I owe an additional $3,000 in income tax. Am I doing something wrong? (Other than making bad decisions in general...) EDIT: Thank you all for the responses. Quick update, we did charge her close to fair market so we aren't as screwed as I thought. Sill a huge chunk that we owe, but with my wife's W-2 withholdings we are at least in the black. Thank you for all your help!

How much did she pay you in rent? What were your expenses relating to the house? You can offset the expenses against the income. $3000 in tax equals $12,000 in income at a 25% tax rate, so unless she paid you a lot more in rent than that, it's likely you can reduce, or maybe eliminate, the tax due by putting your house expenses (property tax, mortgage interest, etc.) into TurboTax.

I rented my house out for a few years before selling it. Trying to handle rent with turbo tax was an absolute nightmare. I got a CPA to handle it and it was not much more expensive than turbo tax.

Human: I received my W2 from my former employer in the mail in early February. I placed it on the fridge. When I went to grab it a few weeks ago, it was no longer there. For the last few weeks I've been tearing the house apart and my W2 is nowhere to be found. With the deadline steadily approaching, I need to do something. What are my options here?

Can your employer send another one? Shouldn't be too big a deal. Also, I'm assuming you pulled our the fridge and looked under it, yes? I once lost my passport when I put it somewhere for "safekeeping". Found it in a cookbook. Good luck!

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: I work a side job refereeing soccer and my income is between 500-800 every year. Before, I would file under a W2 and pay less than $15 in taxes. This year, since they classified my income as "nonemployee compensation", I am now self-employed. Is it normal to pay just over $100 on about $750??? Is my employer allowed to change my income type without telling me?

If you were being paid as a W-2 employee before, then: 1. Your employer was withholding taxes for you already. You were paying them, you just didn't see the money before it was paid to the government. 2. Your employer was paying the employer 7.65% of FICA taxes. As a 1099 employee, your employer doesn't withhold taxes (you're responsible for paying them) and you're responsible for both the employer and employee halves of FICA taxes, totaling 15.3%, plus any income taxes. Taxes aren't actually 10x higher; they are slightly higher (due to the additional 7.65% FICA you're now paying), but you're probably more aware of what your tax liability actually is since you see the money before having to remit it as taxes.

$15 in taxes off of even $500 is absurdly low. You realize that right? That's like just the local tax part it seems.

Human: I owe the irs a couple thousand dollars. Would there be a penalty if I paid using funds from my hsa?

Yes, it's taxed as ordinary income plus a 20% penalty.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Someone told me that if I made under $5k at a job that I don't have to file for taxes untill next tax season . I had gotten a shit job in October of 2015 then shortly after, got a new job in December . my w2 says I made about 3k or so in that time I worked at the shit job. Thank you for your time I'm very new to this and new to taxes . I have no one to show me what I should do and how to do it so any information would be helpful !

First Google Result: [Do I Need to File a Tax Return?](https://www.irs.gov/uac/Do-I-Need-to-File-a-Tax-Return%3F)

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Human: I'm a full time college student looking to try this independent thing where I get a job and start paying for my own expenses so I can lift the financial burden off my parents. Only thing holding me back is my lack of knowledge in personal finance. Will a part-time job, working at minimum wage for 2 years be enough to reach my goal? How much would taxes take from my income? How do investments work and where should I start? I'm really clueless, so any advice is appreciated.

> Will a part-time job, working at minimum wage for 2 years be enough to reach my goal? This is third grade math, not personal finance. Assuming federal minimum wage and part time means 20 hours/week and you work every week for two years, you'll earn ~15k before tax (7.25 x 20 x 52 x 2). 15k<25k so either some of my assumptions are wrong or no, you can't.

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Human: ### New members, please read through the [New User Orientation](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/newuser). Instead of posting individual threads for triumphant stories of how you've reached a certain net worth, paid off a loan, or anything else that you want to brag about, let's consolidate everyone's stories into one weekly thread! *Make a top-level comment if you want to brag about something regarding your personal finances!* For past Triumphant Thursday threads, please search the [Weekly Archive](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/search?q=Triumphant+Thursday+author%3AAutoModerator&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=year#res-hide-options).

I'm now debt free! Paid off $13,750 in 11 months after finishing all of my schooling. I succeeded in sticking to my budget and paid off the loan before the 1-year grace period ended and interest payments would kick in. I also managed to go on two trips, maintain a very active social life, and contribute to savings this past year as well! Being debt free will open up a whole new array of possibilities and I couldn't be happier. Big thanks to this sub. :) I never posted prior to this but I visit all the time for motivation. Cheers.

I started my vanguards awhile back and first they went down (down is the wrong direction). Later on they went up (that is good) [#bling bling](http://i.imgur.com/oGYXGM2.png) Also I bought a bicycle in CASH (actually credit because credit gives points or something i guess) That made my bank account go down which made me sad. I'm going to buy an airplane ticket which will make my bank account go down even more which is even sadder. It will even be 1/10th of my bank account. But I have a sweet bike which is happy. Actually afterwards I looked and the internet said not to get a bike with suspension; but I don't know about that complicated bike stuff and just got the bike that looked the most badass, so it's all good. I also got a bike lock called "The Brute". You gotta spend bike lock money to not lose bike. And in some sense a bike is sorta like money because you can trade it for precious gemstones. Also my student loans is going down (down is the right direction, how confusing). Just this month I payed 750 USD (that is 1342.50 Aruban Florin and 2862.75 Polish Zloty) Edit: Oh by the way I looked and my credit card is blue. Maybe I should get one with a pretty picture on it or something.

Human: Do you guys/gals have any encouraging stories about the success of your debt payoffs? I'm about to embark next week on throwing around $1500 a month towards my credit cards which is pathetic, but I want them gone in less than 2 years. The problem is I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and it sickens me what I could be doing with $1500 a month.

Maybe it's because you are framing it wrong. You already spent that money you are paying back to the credit card companies. You asked them to front you the money and you did whatever you desired with it. It might feel like you are throwing it away but the reality is that you've enjoyed the benefits of whatever your balance is already.

Learn from your mistakes and don't repeat them. That is what I did. Now my only debt is mortgage and student loans.

Human: Need advice on where my mom should invest her inheritance such that she can be assured that no principal is lost while she draws a nice monthly income. We were thinking about buying condos for cash, but this seems to be a lot of trouble for someone her age...am wondering if there are any financial vehicles out there since this is a large sum of money.

>We were thinking about buying condos for cash, but this seems to be a lot of trouble for someone her age. Huh? No. Your mother sounds like a good candidate for a single premium annuity - she pays a lump sum for a stream of payments over the annuitant's lifetime.

Condos are a bad idea as the money will be tied up, so your mom will have no access to cash, and property values can be volatile. An annuity does make sense based off of what you say here. An immediate annuity, as many people are commenting, will provide immediate income; however, this will likely only be beneficial if your mom is in great health, as the longer she lives, the more money she will get from the insurance company, but if she passes within the next few years, it may not be worth it. Obviously this is hard to predict. There are also variable annuities, which you have to be extremely careful when purchasing, as there are tons available and they all perform differently. There are also a lot of annuity salesmen that will be more interested in their own pocketbooks than in your mom's well being. That said, she can get a variable annuity with income guarantees so that she can receive monthly/annual income regardless of investment performance. She can also purchase something called a death benefit rider, which essentially increases the likelihood that money will be passed on to her heirs. Again, I can't caution you enough to really do your research on this and get your information from a trusted source/advisor because they can be high in fees. Annuities get a bad rep but are can be useful in this situation.

Human: I'm waiting for a new card atm and I need my CVV to verify this online transaction.

I would hope not. That would defeat one of the key security aspects of the card.

CVVs aren't even available to the bank's staff. They are randomly generated and encrypted on the issuer's end. This means you have to have physical possession of the card to know the CVV. It is how the CVV functions as a security measure. You'll have to wait on the card or use a different one.

Human: Like the title says, I am paying off my student loans month to month but don't know if I am using my money effectively. I pay $600 per month into the loan that has the highest interest rate (Loan B) and pay nothing towards the others. When I started, this loan was also the largest so it was an obvious decision, but now that I have paid for awhile it has shrunk. Should I still pay towards this one because of the high-interest rate? Should I be paying some to each of the loans? If y'all know of any calculators for something this complex I would be grateful. I am in graduate school so I don't currently have to pay my loans back but want to be debt free by the time I leave in 5 years. Some of them are accruing interest and some aren't. Here are the details: A - 3.4% $8,000.00 B - 5.8195 $3,838.76 C - 3.86% $5,500.00 D - 4.66% $5,500.00 E - 4.66% $2,134.59 Thank you for any and all advice! I really appreciate it. Assistant: The advice about highest interest rate is generally right. However there is one detail that you mention that could change things: > Some of them are accruing interest and some aren't So some of your loans are subsidized, and some aren't. You listed rates for all of them, so I assume those are the rates they will be in repayment. Which loans are accruing interest, and which aren't? It sounds like you should be able to pay off all of these loans before you get into repayment, in which case your best bet is to pay off the loans that are currently charging interest first (in order of highest rate to lowest), then the remaining loans (again in order of highest rate to lowest). Human: You make a very good point! The one I currently am repaying (B) has interest accruing and so does E. The other ones seem to not be accruing anything. So I guess I'll pay that one off next.

So in this case, it seems like the highest interest rate loans are also the ones that are un-subsidized (which isn't surprising), so it works out the same: (B, E, D, C, A) either way.

"Seem to not be accruing anything" is not quite enough information, in my opinion. You should figure out exactly what is going on with each of the loans! $25k in debt is a serious amount of money -- take it seriously! [Debt is an emergency](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/18/news-flash-your-debt-is-an-emergency/)!

Human: My wife and I have been waiting for the right time to start our own small business. Together we have $50k fully vested in our own separate 401k's from our current employers with $13k in loans from buying our house 3 years ago. Both in our 30's well under withdraw age. How much capital would we actually have after closing the 401ks after taxes/fees/penalties? Are there any loopholes to save money (heard about rolling to a Roth IRA before withdrawing not sure if true)? Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

$50k x (1- [nominal tax rate+10%]) Obviously you'll have to quit your job to roll the 401ks into IRAs first. Others will probably be all over you for this, but drawing down retirement to self-fund a business is a very, very bad idea from a financial perspective.

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Human: Hi Personal Finance, I entered the US on a visitors visa in the fall of 2014. My wife and I got married in early 2015 and I applied for my Green Card. It was approved in June, and I started my new job in October of 2015 and have had employer health insurance ever since. Was I required to have health insurance while waiting for my adjustment of status and Green Card? Thanks PF (you guys have saved my butt many times before!)

Were you required to file a tax return? If no, you are automatically exempt based on [income threshold](https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Individuals-and-Families/ACA-Individual-Shared-Responsibility-Provision-Exemptions).

You're not required to have health insurance at all and you won't have any tax liability till you have a social (my guess is you wont get one till mid october). Having said that, not having insurance is still stupid. At least buy travel insurance.

Human: I've been doing much more thinking about the future, and taking into account how history repeats itself yet we (society) never seems to fully learn from our mistakes... Some of the things I've read about how large financial institutions are doing a lot of the same things they did leading up to the 2008 financial crisis and calling them something different are just plain scary. Stuff like: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-04/goldman-sachs-hawks-cdos-tainted-by-credit-crisis-under-new-name It seems like we could be headed down the same road to another financial collapse. I heard a lot of people lost so much value in their 401K, stocks, bonds and other investments when the 2008 collapse hit while the Wall Street folks got filthy rich. We are mid 30's with first child on the way. Wife and I both have 401k's. We have some of money in savings (enough for an emergency fund) and I also have company stock and RSU's that vest every 6 months. So, PF, short of keeping our savings "in a mattress", what are the things we can do to best safeguard our money while still growing for our future? What should we be doing?

Market timing doesn't work, not now, not ever. It is always the right time to invest according to your asset allocation and risk tolerance. >What should we be doing? Ignoring clickbait news articles, for starters. Please read the information found in the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index), particularly ["I Have $[X] ... What Do I Do With It?!"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics). You may find [Your IRA and You: Basic Information](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/iras) and [Your 401k and You: Basic Information](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k) worth a read as well.

Run, don't walk, to an FDIC/NCUA insured bank or credit union. Plop every extra dollar you have therein, at 1% (+/-). When you feel comfortable, start buying 5-yr CDs.

Human: My wife (we are both citizens of U.S.) wants to "sponsor" one or both of her parents so they can maybe come and "retire?" in the United States. If she does this is there any risk to me financially? For example, what if one of them needs some expensive medical care a few years down the road? Or something else I am not thinking of - anyone have experience with this?

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/financial-responsibility-sponsor-permanent-resident.html >As the petitioner and financial sponsor, you will not only need to show that your income and assets are high enough to avoid the immigrant becoming a public charge, but you’ll have to promise to pay the government back if the immigrant ends up claiming certain types of public assistance benefits.

Are you asking if sponsorship comes with *legal* financial obligations towards the people being sponsored? If so, to get an accurate answer the government would be the place to look. Here you will most likely just get opinion.

Human: I am a 23 year old girl who moved across the world by myself and started a spearfishing tour business. I am looking to get on top of my finances. I have a very inconsistent income. I do tours and can make anything between 500-2500 a tour (a day). I do about 3 a week. I have low living expenses (no rent) of about 100$ a month (electricity) and food (250$ estimated). I was thinking of using a percentage plan to divvy up the income into an Emergency fund, Savings, Business fund (for new equipment and such), and Wallet money. I have no experience in finance so i'm really looking for some guidance! Sidenote: I have no bank account and do not have the option of opening one. Thank you!

Knowing what country you are from, what country you are in, and where you will be paying taxes would probably be helpful...

Well, figure out your average monthly income and that is now your budget. Making more than that one month means nothing, you save the difference for the next time you make less. And now what is that number?

Human: I married my husband in June 2015 and we are filing income taxes this week. I make $38K and he makes $53K. Should we file income tax together? He bought a house in his name in Feb 2015 before we got married. I have student loans, he doesn't. Should we file separately or together? EDIT: Update - We had to pay :( at least it was less than $300. But when you add tax prep fees from HR block of $600, we still got bit.

I generally suggest that married people should plan to file jointly.

Not trying to be snippy, but....shouldn't this be a question to ask an accountant?

Human: Background: (Throwaway for shame reasons and because frankly these are dark times for me.) I am 20, a student taking loans and working a small part-time job but since March, both of those are gone. My parents and I are no longer on speaking terms even though I am claimed dependant on their taxes ( just recently moved from home). They provided a saving fund at the start of my college that allows me to pay my rent on time so that I have a roof over my head but besides that, I am entirely on my own when it comes to finances. I have no credit cards and have been denied several times for one, reasons I am not certain. Like the title says, I did not have overdraft protection on my checking because sometimes I need cash pre-emptively so I purposely overdraft my account and replenish it before midnight when I would usually receive an overdraft. This time however, my account was under by about $2 and I did not have any money on hand, therefore resulting in my first overdraft fee. I first called the bank and asked if there was any way I could freeze my account or postpone any further fees until I could find some side work or something to cover my expenses, and they originally told me I would have several business days before more fees would arrive, but it has been 5 days since and I now have 4 more Overdraft fees of $35 each to deal with. I am desperately trying to find work in my college town although I have very little prior work experience and I am fighting thousands of other students for minimum wages so for at least the next few days I have no way of softening the damage that is my checking account. Are there any resources for young adults like me to get help in this situation? I have not been able to buy groceries because of this and I no longer have food in my home to feed me or my cat. Sorry for the poor formatting and sloppy English, coming to reddit with my problems was the ultimate last resort to me and I am not sure what else I can do except wait and die.... Assistant: Won't solve your immediate problem, but it sounds like you actually do have overdraft protection on the account. If you didn't, the payments would be rejected. You might consider turning that off. Human: Overdraft protection being on means I would not be able to make any withdrawls Like I made in the first place so I actually need it ON but the bank will not let me change that until I come up with the money.

No, you need to stop making withdrawals when there is no money. Man, that's why you are posting in the first place! At least learn one lesson.

Right, that's the downside, no more kiting checks so to speak, but at least you wouldn't end up $200 in debt as you are now.

Human: After moving out of an apartment I'd rented for 9 years the landlord sent me an account statement saying I owed $400 on top of the full amount of my security deposit for unspecified "excessive damages". I asked (in writing, via certified mail) for an explanation of what that meant and never received any response. (State law requires "specific" reasons for keeping security deposits). Around a year later a collection company shows up saying I owe the $400 and the legally allowed interest to them now. Through working with the CA I finally got some paperwork that shows the entire apartment was renovated, along with the other units in the same building, and the landlord basically decided on a random amount of money they wanted me to chip in. There were also handwritten messages on the paperwork trying to suggest I should be grateful they aren't billing me for the entire renovation. I then asked the CA to provide proof they had a right to collect on the debt (something suggested by people here), to which they haven't replied. In fact, they stopped contacted me completely after I made the request, which feels very unsettling and makes me worry I'm about to get a bad surprise. I haven't heard from them in three weeks, where before we were sending letters back and forth on a weekly basis. I was fully prepared to send a check as soon as they'd provided the proof, since a few hundred bucks isn't worth risking the damage to my credit, and going to a lawyer would probably end up costing quite a bit more. (On a side note, the CA was pretty friendly to deal with. Any information I requested from either them or the landlord would show up within a week, and aside from the constant form letter 'pay now to retain Select Payer status!' fluff they were never rude or pushy. ) This is my first time dealing with collections of any sort, am I missing a step? Is there something I should be proactively doing instead of waiting to see if the CA replies to me? Any advice is appreciated, thanks PF! Wow, thanks for the fast replies! Sorry for not putting this in /r/legaladvice in the first place, I'll hide this and go ask over there. (Unless deleting it is more appropriate?)

Your post actually belongs in /r/legaladvice. You'll have to provide your state for an accurate answer.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [What's the best way to pay down my debt?](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt#wiki_what.27s_the_best_way_to_pay_down_my_debt.3F) - [Dealing with collections](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/collections) - [Credit repair](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/credit_building#wiki_i_have_bad_credit.2C_and_i_am_looking_to_repair_it.) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Husband is leaving on Sunday and will be out of the country for half a month. We're expecting a very large check that should have been here months ago, but shit happened and it didn't get cut on time. We were kind of counting on that check when his trip was booked. It's now set to be mailed out while he's gone. We have joint checking and savings accounts through USAA and Bank of America. Can I deposit the check by writing "for deposit only?" I'm kind of worried about what to do here. Wasn't sure what sub to ask this in.

Depositing a check doesn't require endorsement signatures. *Cashing* a check is the only time the payee signature(s) are required. Writing "For Deposit Only" is totally fine!

My bank does this: As my wife and I have joint and she gets a check in the mail addressed to me, she can sign the back as her name and deposit into our account just fine.

Human: I've been reading stories on PF probably since junior year of high school. I'm a freshman in college now and am grateful for the advice I've read on here, because this week it absolutely saved my ass! For the past year or so, I've had 15% of my paycheck automatically go to my savings account so I can start an emergency savings account without having to manually transfer (1% interest savings from Ally, highly recommend it). I had about $2000 saved up, only had to take out money from it once or twice. Anyways, a month ago, being the "invincible" college kid that I am, I found myself getting in to a little bit of trouble at a St Patrick;s Day parade. This is a huge event at my college and is (as you could guess) a full day of public drinking. I was unlucky enough to be one of the few to actually get caught doing this, and was given an open container ticket. My hearing for it was this Monday and they hit me with an $800 fine. EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS. Only having a few hundred in my checking I move over 800 from my emergency savings and eat the 800 fine. I cringed when handing over the check, but was incredibly happy I had an emergency fund and my parents didn't need to find out. Fast forward 24 hours and next thing I know my car's clutch goes out in a Wendy's drive thru. Get it towed and go to sleep thinking maybe a couple hundred, because I wasn't thinking the whole clutch needed to be swapped. Wake up to a call saying the clutch is shot and a new one will be $920, parts and labor. While this post probably sounds like me complaining about the unluckiest week I've had, I don't know what my situation would be if I didn't have the emergency fund. Yes, my parents would helped with either situation (wouldn't be too happy about the alcohol fine) but its a great feeling when you can be completely independent and not need to feel broke asking parents to cover my ass. Thanks for the wisdom PF! Might bump up my Savings contribution to 18-20% til I get the $1700 back. TLDR: $800 open container fine and a $920 clutch replacement in the same week isn't good on a college kid's bank account.

Hot damn. Look at you adulting. Good job. If I had bothered adulting as young as you, I'd own everything by now.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Emergency Funds wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/emergencyfunds) - ["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: I was 1099 last year and didn't take out near enough or have enough deductibles. Just looking for a way to get this paid off quick. I have a baby coming and would like to eradicate all debt ASAP...

File a complete and correct return on time. The biggest tip is to pay in full on the 18th. No interest and no penalties. The next tip is to pay as much as possible on the 18th, to reduce the assessments of penalties and interest. If you don't pay in full on time, the IRS interest rate is currently 4% per year, compounded daily on the unpaid tax and penalties. The interest rate can be increased or decreased on a quarterly basis. The Failure To Pay penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid tax per month or part of a month. If you have a valid monthly Installment Agreement, the FTP rate is reduced to 0.25% of the unpaid tax per month or part of a month. Pro Tip: Fix. The. Problem. If you are still self employed, get current and stay current on your Estimated Tax payments.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: As the title says, I'm applying for my first credit card through my bank (Huntington). I know NOTHING about finances, banking, bills, credit, APR, etc. The two options they give me is to choose 3x the rewards by earning points per dollar or have a 3% lower purchase APR. Which would be a smarter move and why? If it matters, I work part time, making roughly $9.50 an hour while still in school for the next semester. Edit: I have full intention of paying off my bills in full every month. My main goal is to use this card for establishing a base credit score. I don't intend to buy much with it. Only what I can afford to pay off with ease. Edit 2: Would it be wise to link my credit card and my checking account for overdraft protection as well?

So, if you're using a credit card responsibly and paying off the full statement balance completely every month, you don't actually care about the APR. So take the increased rewards. If you aren't going to pay off the full statement balance in full every month by the due date, then don't get a card at all.

3% lower apr is quite a small difference vs 3*rewards. Are you going to use credit, or pay it off? is the amount you're likely to be spending going to get you anything worthwhile in rewards?

Human: (Throwaway because idiot) Hey guys, I'm in my late 20s and I'm happy to say I'm finally out of debt. The main reason for my debt is because I was an idiot with my spending. The second factor is that my previous company screwed me out of a large bonus, which I planned to use to pay off my credit cards. I ended up attributing a massive $35k in credit card debt! I switched companies last year, and my 2015 earnings fell significantly, but I knew they would pick up in 2016. I'm on track to make ~$250K this year, and my first bonus was paid out in March for $45K after taxes -- I immediately paid off my credit cards. Before paying the debt in full, I made the minimum payments. My questions: (1) I'm on multiple "debt relief" mailing lists. When will I stop receiving these letters? (2) When can I expect my credit score to increase? Thanks for reading. I appreciate any feedback. BTW - I've learned a valuable lesson and will never spend money I don't have.

2 years for the mailing lists to SLOW down, a couple months for the credit score to increase IF you keep the credit card open and spend for just gas and pay it off each month. Otherwise if you have normal car loans and such then it should start going up after a couple months.

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Human: I am currently contributing about 15% of my income to a 401k. I have been doing this for about a year. My employer only matches up to 6%. The 401K charges a fee of 1.5%. I was looking up vanguard and some of their index funds charge a fee of 0.05 for 10K investements and 0.17 for 3k investments. I was thinking of only contributing what my employer matched and putting the rest in an vanguard index fund. I know that the benefit of doing a 401k is getting pretaxed on your investment but is that tax benefit enough to offset a 1.5% management fee? Some info about me. 30 years old. No debt. 50k a year. No mortgage. No car payment. No kids. In a year or two I would like to take some time off to do a round the world trip for a year+.

Please read the information found in the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index), particularly ["I Have $[X] ... What Do I Do With It?!"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics). You may find [Your IRA and You: Basic Information](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/iras) and [Your 401k and You: Basic Information](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k) worth a read as well. Performance of a Vanguard index fund is not comparable to that of "a 401k" because a 401k is just an account in which you hold various investments. If you are saving for retirement you should use your tax advantaged accounts (like a 401k or IRA) before taxable accounts.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [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: How am I supposed to have ANY idea what I owe (or if I owe) without doing may taxes? I'm filling the extension to get the time to actually work through a very complicated, multi-state, multi business, mess of tax information. Can I just say 0 and make up the difference later? So much has changed since last year, my previous taxes are probably not a good indication of anything.

An extension to file is not an extension to pay. If you end up owing money when you do eventually get around to filing, you will be charged penalties for that. They're asking you for your estimated tax burden now so that you have the opportunity to pre-pay any difference now so that you avoid those fees/interest.

If you file an extension, and wind up owing money above what you paid by april 17th (zero in your suggestion), you will be charged .5% per month on the late amount. (max of 25%) Thats up to you if you choose to incur that or not. You may look to prior years for guidance, or you might have an incentive to spend this weekend getting it done... warning, if you do not file an extension, the .5% becomes 5%.

Human: Back in November, a coworker of mine had come to me with financial issues and asked to borrow money. Seeing that he had a pretty good SOB story, and makes about the same amount that I do, I was like okay, sure, 900$. Please pay it back by the end of the month. End of the Month Comes by and he pays it off. Cool! December rolls through, He comes back, Needs 2500$ for more financial issues. I was very hesitant, He says he'll be able to pay it back by the next 2 months. Takes me a few days, Im like okay. Here's 2500$, please pay it back by February. January rolls through, not a penny to be seen. We get our bonus, SOB story ensues, he had to pay off some debts with it. February comes through, Not a penny but he comes back asking for 900 more, this time with a huge SOB story that is very near my other coworkers that I dont want to know whats going on. He almost gets down on his knees pleading. Im extremely uneasy at this point and say yes as long as he starts paying back paycheck by pay check at a pretty convenient amount per paycheck. we make a promissory note to make sure he starts paying back. March rolls by (im starting to sweat that im never going to get my money back), I only see one payment with half the amount that was agreed upon for the month. Im really fucking starting to get pissed now. This month of April, He comes back with another SOB story that hes going to get evicted and have to pay huge fines, and cant pay rent for another home. Needs another 2500. Now Im really fucking sweating. I dont want to help this guy anymore, But if i dont, im afraid ill never get the money back im extremely frustrated. Just another example of why not to loan money to anybody you know. Theyll play with your head till you feel that their lifes problems are your problem too. Which is the case. Please give me some advice. Im completely lost on what to do.

Threaten to take him to court, from my understanding you (hopefully) have a signed note of how much he should pay back.

You got scammed. Time to cut your losses.

Human: I'm 20 years old. I'm independent, and have been for two years. I go to school and I work. I lost my job yestarday and won't be able to pay my rent in two weeks. I have no savings. My total assets are $250 in my checking. This put me in a really bad place mentally, and I've began flirting with the notion of ending it all. I will not be able to pay rent, I will run out of money soon, and I don't see many options in my immediate future. What can I do guys. I'm sorry if this doesn't belong here, but I really don't know who to turn to. Thanks.

First things first this is a temporary problem that you will get through there's tons of help out there for now just hit the pavement and apply for any menial position you can. Talk to your landlord and explain the situation stay communicative and on the best terms you can. Go apply for any benefits and emergency assistance you can get and when those thoughts begin to creep in know that people care and you can reach out to any number of us or hotlines to help you through that rough spot

If you've got no one to rely on right now then start looking at one to two part time jobs. School can always wait until next term. Looking for a cheap roommate situation for now would be the second best thing for you. And thirdly you should start looking at unemployment benefits, even if they are small. I would drop all notions of hurting your self and really push right now. Finding a way to succeed is actually very important. I had a similar issue a few years ago and I am way past that now.

Human: I earn an estimated $4000 per year. I tried looking up information on this but I'm not sure if I have to or not. I thought I didn't because I earn under $6,300, but then I read I might have to since I'm considered self-employed and make over $400. So do I actually have to pay taxes or not? If I do, how do I go about it? I'm paid in cash and I definitely have not been able to keep track of every dollar I'm paid. Do I just estimate how much I've made? Thank you!

Yes - technically, you owe taxes. You don't make enough to pay income taxes, but you will owe payroll (aka fica) taxes. this will come out to approximately 15% of your net income. (gross sales minus expenses - you can deduct things like poo bags, transportation to your clients, advertising flyers for your business, etc) However... not that we advocate for avoiding taxes, but I guarantee that the grand majority of 17 year old dog walkers that are paid in cash don't report their income.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: My wife(27) and I(27) have been married for 3 years. We have a savings of $45,000. With our combined incomes, we break even; not saving and not losing any at the moment. I would like to spend $1,300 on a new mountainbike. I realize that dipping into our savings is not ideal. I can buy this bike at cost, and if we ever really need the $1,300 back it will be no problem to sell the bike for what I pay for it. I feel that my wife and I have worked hard to get to where we are, and that we have both earned the right to spend some of our savings on something that will make us happy. I would be happy to see her spend $1300 on herself as well. The dilemma is that she feels that spending some of our savings on ourselves at the moment is irresponsible, and I do not share this feeling. What are your thoughts? edit: together to married (oops)

You're looking for validation to you wants, not personal finance advice.

You haven't provided enough information to determine if you break even because you are on the edge, or "breakeven" because you spend too much on dinners out, vacation, or elaborate cell phones. You also haven't indicated what your are saving *for*. If you are jeopardizing a shared goal, your spouse has a point. But assuming you are doing just fine, buy the bike. Just be sure to ride it. It will keep you healthy. If your wife doesn't want to spend the money, put 1300 in a seperate account for her.

Human: So I asked for a raise and had a meeting with the owner/manager of the place I work. We go over my strengths and weaknesses as usual, but when we talk about money he says if he bumps me up too much more then I'll be in another tax bracket, an ill pay more in taxes and earn less money. I was under the impressionist only pay more for the money I earn in that tax bracket above the one I'm currently in (the way overtime works). So he offered a. Voice perks instead, something he can write off and that would benefit me, aka paid "business trip" vacation or something. I have a feeling he just doesn't want to pay more even thought we agree I deserve it. I'm going to be a dad in a few months and I really need to get my ducks in a row. A vacation would be nice, but I'm more interested in earning more for the time I spend at work than taking time off, traveling, etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks everyone. Edit: Update: thanks everyone, jeesh! I didn't expect so much response. Unfortunately I just found out some bad news, my dad has cancer, and I'm gonna just deal with whatever I can get for now. I asked them to pay for my phone and pay for insurance for baby. I'll look for another job later, my current job is pretty flexible schedule wise and that's gong to be really important right now. Thanks again, great people of Reddit!

Your boss is full of shit. If this is how he responds to significant changes in your career it may be time to look for another job.

Get a new job. Sounds like a lousy boss.

Human: I fell behind on payments and I was just getting back on my feet and ready to make a payment when it was repossessed. I don't need it for work thankfully, but I don't know what the best option is from here.

Here's what's likely. First they will want you to pay a lump sum to get caught up on your payments. If you can't do that, they will sell the car. If they get less than you owe for the car, and this is likely, they will come after you for the difference.

Contact the lender. Depending on who it is, they may just have wanted to get your attention, or they may just be tired of not getting paid. I think technically, they have to notify you when and where they will sell it, sometimes it's at auction, sometimes it's just classifieds. Contact them, keep your cool, offer to work with them and do what you can. Good luck

Human: I've known my employer for quite a while now and his family, so when I decided to follow his restaurant to help after quitting my old one, it was an easy decision. However, the restaurant isn't doing so well and I have been making poor tips as a server to an extent that I don't think I can fully pay for my expenses (gas, food) or future expenses (next semester college tuition, textbooks, car repairs, etc.) and went job hunting. I finished a job interview that has a higher pay, and it went really well, but it's a demanding job where I won't be able to spare my time for my current employer if I'm with my new employer. Is there such a thing as loyalty when it comes to work? I'm feeling incredibly guilty right now.

Im loyal to my employer. when it does not conflict with my loyalty to myself. whats your plan? work as a server at a failing restaurant till you die of old age? I assure you if the restaurant does close, he wont keep paying you.

basic life lesson to fully understand...loyalty begins and ends with the paycheck....

Human: He claims people don't honor his 60-day cancellation policy and needs my routing number. I can pay 20% more per month giving him just my credit card number. He seems trustworthy enough, but I don't feel comfortable giving my routing number out. Should I? If I do give him my routing number, is there any way to protect myself against fraud? EDIT: Another reason for the routing number is he claimed it was a cheaper processing fee.

Even if you feel he's trustworthy, do you have confidence in his ability to *protect* the information?

Your routing number is on every check you give out, and available online with a 2 second search. Any direct debit from your account uses your routing number. If you'd be comfortable giving this guy a check, it's essentially the same as what he's asking for. >Another reason for the routing number is he claimed it was a cheaper processing fee. That's almost certainly accurate.

Human: I know everybody's sick of the old chestnut of renting vs buying, but my situation is a bit different. Going to be moving to Portland, OR soon and we have the option of renting or purchasing a house for all cash. However, we're not sure how long we'll be there--be it 1 year or 10 years. Now usually the clear answer would be to rent, but I feel like skipping a mortgage changes a lot about this answer. Am I wrong? Here's my quick couch-math. Rent + utils would be maybe $2k/mo. House would be, say, $300k that we'd pay right away. Let's say closing costs on buying/selling house are 6%, property tax is $3k/yr, and utils are $3k/yr. Then after only the first year, renting costs $24k and buying house costs the same, $24k. But if you factor in appreciation (5% in Portland) then the house is worth $315k by end of year, so it's like you really only spent $9k. After year 2 with renting you're $48k in the hole whereas with the house you've spent $30k but the house has also potentially appreciated by $30k (even if it doesn't appreciate at all it seems like you're still better off than renting). So by that (admittedly sketchy) logic, it seems like going the house route is pretty much always going to better in this case. Am I oversimplifying things? P.S. - Before anybody mentions it, yes I know it'd technically be better to not pay cash for the house and instead leverage and invest that money. I really just prefer the peace of mind in not having a mortgage (see here http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/02/24/pay-down-the-mortgage-or-invest-more-a-winwin-question/)

You are oversimplifying things and you logic sucks. You are leaning towards buying because you count the house price appreciation in the buying scenario without counting on any returns on the $300k that you get to keep in the stock market/bonds in the renting scenario. I don't know if house prices or stock prices will result in one beating the other, but not considering both unfairly favors the housing.

First, do you live in the Pacific NW now? It's kind of nice here. Second, if you do move away, besides selling right away you can also rent it out for awhile.

Human: I know it's late and we procrastinated once again on our taxes, also I'm not sure if this is the place to post this but I read PF all the time I'm a big lurker and know how helpful this group is. So here it goes, we had our first child in 2014, I returned to work March 1, 2015. During my maternity leave I found a nice lady who posted on FB her in home position. We met and had discussed rates previously. We paid her by check, biweekly; she kept our child along with her children at her home. Now comes tax time, we learn about the child care tax credit. I asked her for her social and she claims that we should've discussed with her previously that we were going to claim her and she didn't report it as income. Where I'm confused is, do I just lose out on this credit which could reduce our tax liability because I failed to discuss this with her? There are so many different view points online (ha I know I'm asking on Reddit), that I don't know what is the right thing to do. She says I should've given her a W-2 and a W-10 by Jan.31st for the previous year. I see her point however am saddened that we will lose out on legitimate child care expenses. Is it not worth pursuing? I would love to hear thoughts, advice and maybe a breakdown of what I'm responsible for providing to her if I want to claim child care expenses. Thank you in advance!

If she's watching them in her house, then it's likely she wasn't your household employee. That's good news for you as the burden to claim income falls on her. A Tax pro would be better equipped to answer that. Typically with this kind of arrangement you would be clear from the outset if payments would be under the table or not, obviously that wasn't spelled out. You could push the issue, but you'll probably end up looking for a new care provider. Also consider that the rate may have been lower - enough to offset your tax benefit - under this arrangement. The care provider is in the wrong here, but you need to ask yourself if $600 or so is worth the hassle of finding a new provider.

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: Okay I may be wrong here but this is an idea which I will most probably take on when I leave school, I just wanted you're thoughts on it. (I live in Sydney, Australia so prices are more likely to be much higher than the UK, US and even Europe) I am going to get a qualification for plumbing so before then I'll be earning peanuts. But once I get the qualification (I'll be 20 years old) I can start making good money. I'll be earning $500 a day, 6 days a week. So I will be earning nearly $3000 a week, $12,000 a month roughly which is good enough itself and leaves me with a wealthy pay check. Next step is investing, I'll buy a $500,000 apartment. I'll pay for $100,000 which is 10% which means I have to pay back a $400,000 loan. This means I have to pay the bank $2000 a month. With the money I earn from being a plumber I can easily fit another $500 into that loan so I'll be paying $2500 monthly. I'll pay off this loan for about 4 years which means i've payed off $120,000 out of the $400,000 loan. Then I will sell the apartment. With the property prices sky rocketing here in Sydney I could sell the apartment for $600,000 easily. This means I made $100,000 profit. From here I can now buy and rent out two apartments, or one apartment which is more expensive. This process will keep going on and on, hopefully before I am 30 I can quit my job and become a full time investor and make a larger income then being a plumber. From there I shall hunt for more properties and get more and more dosh in my pocket. I am sure about this and I know I can become rich off of this I just need to follow the golden rule. The golden rule is to save the second I leave school. Not going to waste it on cars, girls, drinks and going clubbing because that isn't worth it and when you're 25-30 you'll regret it like most people do. Besides, a beer here in Australia is $10 now. It cost like $70-80 to get hammered, and thats just on beer! R.I.P Whiskey, Vodka, Scotch. Assistant: Another thing that jumps out at me is that by paying $2500 a month on a $400,0000 motgagw you will have paid off $120,000 off after 4 years. Um no... Not even close. What you pay on a motgagw is mostly interest for the first 10 years. Without running an amortization calc I'm guessing after 4 year you may have paid off $25,000- $30,000 not $120,0000 Human: If I pay $2500 a month on the loan, thats: 2500x12 = 30,000 30,000x4 = 120,000 Paying 2500 for 4 years equals $120,000 which is a lot of the loan covered off, but instead of paying for the whole loan and waste 10-15 years I can sell the property which will be more than what I bought it from. Trust me the property prices in Sydney are some of the most expensive in the world.

But... But that's not how that works. Like he said, you'll be paying mostly interest which IF I'm correct, means you won't touch the principal. I'm not trying to shoot you down or be rude, but it seems like every person has tried to be polite and give you pragmatic advice and you just shoot them down with another reason your plan will work. If you were not going to listen to advice, then why did you post this? If you are confident in this plan and unwilling to listen to sound, objective advice, then go for it. I have lurked here for a while and posted a couple of times and from what I can gather this is a great group of folks who, generally, know what they're talking about. My advice - be wise, and listen to them. Good luck on your plumbing gig!

What about the interest on the loan? Banks to loan out money for free? :)

Human: I am a 24 year old who is trying to support her family. I have assumed the role as my father's legal guardian and as the caretaker/provider in my household since my mother recently passed away in 2013. My 71 year old father suffers from hemiplegia and aphasia due to a stroke he had in 2012, has a history of seizures, has undergone a hemiarthroplasty, is a fall risk, and needs a lot of care. My sister is mentally ill and is unable to take care of herself let alone anyone in my family. None of my relatives are willing to help me financially or support me by other means. They've all turned a blind eye and refuse to realize the gravity of the situation that my family is in right now. I spoke with a really close friend of mine who referred me to this section of Reddit. So, here I am. I'm not sure if I am in the right sub-Reddit, but I definitely need financial advice. As of right now, I work as a part-time tutor at home so I can be there for my dad when he needs me. I make $10/hr ever since I dropped out of school after my mom passed. I work 5-7 hours each week. I barely manage to pay for my living expenses since I can not commingle funds with my "ward". My dad can not afford for our living because of guardianship. My father is collecting his retirement benefits which pay for his expenses and the co-op we live in. My sister, who is two years my senior, does not work and has no desire to work. We all have a place to live because my father is still alive. The predicament lies in if and when he passes. Because I am unable to take on the responsibility of being a legal guardian, household provider, have stable employment, and go back to school to finish my studies (I am not sure of what I want to be and where my talents are), I need to know what I can do to be able to not have the rug be pulled from underneath me when my dad passes. I suffer from PTSD, but I am willing to work very hard to make the very best of things for my family. I just need guidance, financial and legal advice, and perhaps a little emotional support to get through my PTSD. In regards to the co-op we live in, the rules are not very specific. It states that when the shareholder (my dad) passes, the person who assumes ownership (me) must have proof of income that meets the requirements of owning a 3-bedroom apartment. My monthly salary has to be 6 times the amount of the monthly maintenance fee if I am single, and I have to make 7 times the amount of monthly maintenance if I am married. Since the monthly maintenance fee is approximately $900 right now, factoring in the effects of inflation, there is no way I can meet their requirements with a part-time job. I also need to face the fact that my dad, a Medicaid Managed Long Term Care recipient, most likely will have a lien imposed on his estate when he passes due to the Medicaid Estate Recovery. I sought an elder law attorney and she said she will charge me $2500 to put the co-op in an irrevocable trust which will prevent Medicaid Estate Recovery (Can anyone confirm this?). Even though this will prevent Medicaid from taking the entire profit for when I sell my co-op, it doesn't help me when it comes to the second issue in regards to my home. If Medicaid doesn't take away my home, it does not mean that the co-op board will approve me and allow me to stay here. I will be able to pay the monthly maintenance upon my dad's passing using his 401K and his life insurance. What should I do in regards to my home? In terms of jobs? I'll update if anyone is confused about anything and needs me to further clarify.

Contact Hospice - they will provide some support in a failure to thrive situation. They can help do basic personal care for your father.

Get a better job. If it means you can't do so good at home, that's tough but that's how it is. You have to have the money now and in the future.

Human: Maybe this can inspire someone who needs it. June 2013 - I had just decided to "retire" (change jobs) from being a college campus minister, and so I had no job and 43k in debt (25k in student loans, the rest on credit cards). The only "asset" I had was my 1986 Nissan 300ZX, which was breaking down from my lack of money to maintain it. I was engaged and knew I had to do something so after 3 months of job searching I finally got a job doing IT work (I have an associates degree in IT) in another city. I was offered 42k a year salary. I move there and live with some family friends to save money and save up for a car. After 2 months I buy a 99 Nissan Altima for 2k cash. Not much money went into debt except the required monthly payments. August 2013 - I get married and my wife and I find an apartment to move into the week before our wedding. We looked at some really dumpy places for $600 a month, but I didn't feel safe in those neighborhoods at pretty much any time of day. So we settled on a apartment in a somewhat nicer part of town, closer to my work, that was $800 a month. That was as low as I could go and be comfortable living in my own apartment. This is when things really start to take off. My wife is a very frugal person (she lived in Africa for a few years with nothing), and we help each other when we wanted to give in. We took most of the money we received from our wedding and put it towards the debt, starting of course with the highest interest CC. Mine weren't too bad honestly since I've always had good credit even with the really high utilization. The most I was paying was about 13% (it's crazy to me now that I ever paid that much) We saved everywhere we could. For the first months she stayed home and found every way to save money to put towards debt. She cooked every meal, and we didn't do anything but spend time with each other(worked out for the newlyweds). We had a strict budget and spent that to the dollar. She would go through the grocery ads and find things on sale and that's what we ate that week. We only had 1 car (my old one being broken), and so I drove to work and back and that was it. No where else unless we had to go. I made my own lunch every day (while all my co-workers went out) and we didn't go out drinking or really anywhere. We might go see our family and friends but we never ate out. We did have a TV I owned, but we just used an OTA antenna I had and watched our movies we already had on DVD. Pretty much the only items in our budget were Rent, Water/sewer, electricity, internet service (lowest I could get), groceries, gas , car insurance, and then debt. My work paid for my cell phone and I got my wife a Republic Wireless phone that cost $12 a month using our internet. Nov 2013 - I get my wife a part time job at my work, making $10 an hour. She has a degree in nursing but we wanted to have kids so we always planned for her to stay home. Since she works at my workplace, we keep the 1 car and ride together. Now she brings home around $800 a month which all goes to paying the debt. I also start getting some overtime at my job and that helps a little as well. We are literally paying maybe close to 2k or more a month now to the debt. Oct 2014 - A year has gone by and all the credit card debt is all paid off, and we are just working on my much lower interest student loan debt. But now we find out my wife is pregnant! We are so happy but we really don't want to raise a child in our apartment in a sketchy part of town. In the year or so we've been there, we'd seen some bad things that would make you shudder. So we consider how we could buy a house in a better neighborhood. We decided that a home right now was more important than the debt temporarily, especially since all the loans were under 6% interest (majority of it was at 3%). Also they kept raising the rent on us and it had gotten to over $900 a month. I also was getting some overtime at my job, but I was moving up quickly. I was able to negotiate a 9% in place raise when I set up a meeting to review my hourly rate. This put me up around 47k and maybe a little more with overtime. So instead of saving now for the debt, we stopped and started saving for the house. Just put the minimal in all the student loans. Also I did fix up myself my old 86 Nissan, and so we had 2 cars now. This was good so that my wife could stay home more days and rest and go out if needed. Jan 2015 - So we start looking for a home with a realtor, though I'm not sure why. We did all the work looking through homes and all he did was just set up the times to go look at them. We went out about 5 Saturdays and looked at about 6 homes each time. We would find one we really liked in our price range but then someone else would get it. Or there were ones we liked and weren't under contract, but they weren't willing to negotiate down in price. Then one day I found this perfect house randomly on a website, for sale by owner. I drive by and there's not even a for sale sign on it so I have my realtor talk to him and we negotiated an offer for 219k. It was a high amount for what is usually considered reasonable by this sub, but I knew I was going to be making more money soon and with our current budget, paying that mortgage wasn't that much more than our rent. April 2015- We Closed on the house, the seller to pay all the closing costs, we even got a home warranty in there for free. We had only enough cash for 10% down, and I accepted that since the PMI wasn't much with my credit score. And I was able to get 3.75% interest on the house with no points, which was great. I spent $80 on a moving truck and did it all ourselves. May 2015 - We started putting that extra money back towards the debt again, though obviously less than before. And my wife had stopped working around here, so we lost that extra $800 a month. July 2015 - Baby born! This threw a big cost at us, since my work's health insurance deductible was at $5000. I had some of that in my HSA, but 4k or more came out of my pocket. Plus all the other expenses that come with a baby,It was a stretch but not too bad. Our good budgeting helped immensely. August 2015 - The guy above my position was fired because he was horrible at his job and I was doing all the work for him. They then promoted me to his position and pushed me up to 55k a year salary. No more overtime, which sucked because it had really been helping us out. But I did get a bonus if the year was good. Jan 2016 - I made the last payment to the student loans. I got paid an extra paycheck and I got a bonus and that was enough to finish it off for good. It was the greatest feeling, like I'm free! And I found out we are having another baby! Another $5k to pay, hah. So moral of the long story, you can do it on a reasonable salary. You find the cheapest place to live that you can, and you put everything to your debt. Sell things, work extra hours, do whatever you can to get it gone ASAP. Live as cheaply as possible, and it's a minute by minute decision. You don't need to spend $2 on a soda when water is free. You don't need to buy a new car when it won't cost that much to fix your old one. Be determined and it can work. I left alot out because this is already too long, especially some specifics, feel free to ask and I'll try to reply. Edit: Yes I agree title is misleading on having no debt, I owe $190k on my house still which is debt. Edit 2 : You can believe what you like, but our wedding money was around 2k. So we are talking about 30 months, which is $60k of money at the average rate of 2k a month. Sometimes more and sometimes less. And anything else I could get my hands on went to the debt. So this is definitely possible to do saying I paid off the 43k and put down 21k on the house in the 30 months time frame. I don't print money in my office, obviously there are other things that help like tax returns, bonuses, Christmas gifts, some odd jobs, and sold some car parts. All things that are fortunate to have, but something most people use for things other than debt. I know not everyone is as well off as even I was, but I want people to know it's possible to get out of the hole if you work at it. Every situation is different. The whole point is GET OUT OF DEBT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

>"Debt free" >"bought a house" Riiiiiiiight

This post was great man. I really needed to hear something like this. Thanks

Human: In previous years I haven't made enough money to have to pay taxes , but recently business is getting better and if this keeps up it might be to my advantage to pay something . I'm a traveling magician so I spend a lot of money on props and travel , could I claim that if I were to pay taxes?

Beyond the whole 'yes, you are required to file' issue.... I have heard numerous cases of people working off the books for the bulk of the adult lives and then being shocked that they aren't eligible for social security/thinking that they are being screwed by the government (when in fact they never paid into social security!).

I added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). You may find these links helpful: - [Tax Software Megathread](http://redd.it/41dew6) - [Taxes wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes) - [Understanding tax brackets](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/taxes#wiki_eli5.3A_taxable_income.2C_tax_brackets.2C_marginal_tax_rates) - [W-4 IRS Withholding Calculator](http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Human: I don't believe they have officially claimed bankruptcy but I do believe they are on the radar now.

Use that $80k to pay off the debts that they were considering bankrupting out of. Bankruptcy is not a "get out of jail free card". If they're trying to file bankruptcy and suddenly have $80k in their possession, the judge is going to make them use it to pay their debts. Try putting off the inheritance until after the bankruptcy, and they'll be in a world of trouble when they get caught. Take the $80k and spend it, and then file bankruptcy? The judge is very likely to deny their request. This isn't free money. This is a blessing to help them get back on top of things just in the nick of time.

You and others viewing this thread may find these links helpful: - [Windfalls wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/windfall) - ["How to handle $"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) I also added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). *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 husband and I are in a decent place financially; both employed, paying down student loans, and slowly rebuilding our savings after buying a house last year. No credit card debt, and our cars are paid off. My parents are... not so much. A foreclosure, and a bankruptcy mean that they can't really get credit without ridiculous rates. They currently live in a house with my grandfather; his name is on the mortgage/deed, and they pay all the costs. He also "owns" the cars they drive. He's relatively healthy, but getting older. I've recently found out that my grandfather's will leaves everything to me, on my parents' advice. If they inherited they would have to refinance (to a much much higher rate) or pay off the remaining cost of the mortgage (at this point, about $40k; the house is valued at around $110k). I will be expected to continue renting the house to them, while they pay me the mortgage payments. I'm assuming they will also pay the extra costs of insurance, utilities, etc. I know I'm going to be stuck with inheritance tax, and that I'll be paying tax on rental income (hoping I can roll some of that into their payments to me). Other than those, what do I need to start preparing myself for, and how screwed am I? [disclaimer: I'm not willing to go nuclear and sell the house and/or evict them, but I also don't want to ruin my life if/when this happens. Just looking for finance advice, not relationship advice.]

As the others mentioned, you will not have to pay any federal estate tax. So that's good. However! Many states do have their own estate tax. So do a google search for *statename estate tax* and google will tell you the answer. For example, in Pennsylvania it's 4.5%, so for about $100,000 estate, you'll need to pay $4,500. If it was Arizona, google says 0%. So do that search and get the bad (or good) news. Even if you do need to pay a state estate tax, you'll still come out way ahead, since you'll own a house which is more than half paid off. As far as future rental income, the taxes on that will always be way less than the net profit. So you'll come out ahead on that too. So, you'll be ok. And I hope your grandfather stays healthy for quite a while too!

You and others viewing this thread may find these links helpful: - [Windfalls wiki page](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/windfall) - ["How to handle $"](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) I also added topic flair to your post, but you may update the topic if needed ([click here for help](/r/personalfinance/wiki/flair)). *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: See https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/2016-Tax-Season-Opens-Jan-19-for-Nations-Taxpayers . A weird quirk in the calendar this year means that tax returns are not due until Monday, April 18th. Emancipation day is celebrated in Washington D.C. on Saturday; for legal purposes this holiday is moved to Friday (today). The tax deadline can't fall on a weekend or legal holiday, meaning that your tax return isn't due until Monday. If you need more time to file your return, you can request an automatic 6 month extension by filing form 4868 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf). This will extend the time you have to file, but not the time to pay your return or make 2015 IRA contributions. So, if you think you will owe money, send a payment in along with the extension. Finally, if you are one of the two states (Maine or Massachusets) that celebrate Patriots Day on Monday, your deadline is actually Tuesday the 19th. EDITS: * 1 - See the post below from u/VerySeriousMan that correctly points out that your *state* tax return may still be due (if you live in a state imposing an income tax). This may also apply to local/city returns as well (yes, there are a few of these out there; thanks u/wmlloydfloyd for the additional advice). * 2 - u/I_RAPE_BANDWIDTH also points out that this only applies to the U.S. Sorry all you international folks; showing my U.S. is the world bias today :) * 3 - On a personal note, wow this thread is starting to blow up! It will be half my total comment karma soon. Thanks for the upvotes all; I know this is common sense for many people but hope it helps at least a few.

yesssss! Three extra days of interest on the $42 I owe the feds! sweet.

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Human: I tried to find any information regarding personal information being stolen and used to file taxes but couldn't...so hopefully you all might shed some light on my legal rights on this issue. My identity was stolen from TaxSlayer.com - when it was stolen TaxSlayer notified me via mail and offered credit monitoring services for 1 year. Unfortunately when I tried to file my taxes last weekend I found out that someone already had. The credit monitoring company had no idea this had occurred, so I filed a theft event with them and have been waiting the better part of a week to hear back on what to do. Taxes are due Monday. My return is currently showing as rejected on TaxSlayer.com due to this issue. It requires me to file via paper, but I think I might need an extension because how in the heck can I get this to the IRS by Monday and fill out the necessary paperwork to prove I am me? I am really concerned about the long term impact of this theft. I feel like TaxSlayer wants nothing to do with assisting me, and this third party company is a sham. The third party has spoken with me three times, all three times were because I contacted them. All three times they said I would get a call back within 24 hours. That was started on Monday. I have never gotten a call back. No one there seems to know why I haven't when I call them. Does TaxSlayer have any liability to make a better effort to fix these issues and provide a more reliable ID monitoring service??? I feel like they should. I am very worried about my credit, and potential tax return this person received...am I responsible for paying it back?! I am totally in uncharted territory here...please help.

>The credit monitoring company had no idea this had occurred They only watch your credit report. The IRS doesn't report when you file taxes to the credit bureaus. They will never prevent fraud anyways; they *might* tell you when it has happened. Freeze you credit reports, and file the paperwork you need with the IRS. You have until Monday to mail the forms or your extension request. https://www.irs.gov/uac/Taxpayer-Guide-to-Identity-Theft

Not that this advice helps you now, but in the future, you can (help to) avoid this by filing your taxes as early as possible.

Human: I'm looking at buying a brand new subaru forester because my car is 10 years old and literally dying (it broke down twice on me). I make 105,000 a year and this new car would cost me 28000. I currently have 80,000 in my checking account that I have no use for (I maxed out other savings, 401k, ect). I plan on keeping this new car for a minimum of 6 to 7 years. I usually save around 70% of my pay check per month (pretty frugal, $700 a month in rent, don't go out much). On PF I was told it's never a good financial decision to buy a new car. My logic is that the depreciation of a subaru or toyota is very slow, sometimes less than 10% in the first year. I also would be wasting a lot of my own time doing maintenance on an older vehicle. I think the most logical thing for me to do is buy a new car that's relatively cheap for my salary in cash. Edit: here is some data for around the DC area for subaru forester 2.5 limited, 2016 and 2015 model years. http://www.sharecsv.com/s/412f6639bcb61fffd4798b1f9d4a3b8b/cars.csv R mydata = read.csv("cars.csv") View(mydata) fit <- lm(Price ~ ., data=mydata) summary(fit) anova(fit) layout(matrix(c(1,2,3,4),2,2)) plot(fit) plot(mydata$Price ~ mydata$Mileage, col = mydata$Car , pch=16) legend("topright", legend = c("2016", "2015"), col = c("red", "black"), pch = 16)

it's usually a better financial choice to buy a car that is 1 or 2 years old. But given that you are looking at buying in cash - if having a new car (complete with teh warranty and everything else) is worth it to you, then do it. The main thing people forget tho is insurance. don't forget that is going to increase with a new car. It sounds like you won't have an issue with it, but just another factor to consider.

I would go for it but not buying it. My family has always leased cars. With a lease you are paying a few grand to use a car for as long as it has a warranty and then don't have to deal with it breaking or with selling it later. 80k is a lot of money sitting there that isn't doing much for you. I'd invest or buy bonds and then lease the car, your income is more than enough to afford the lease of a 28k car.

Human: I have a lot of money in my bank account; excess of $100k. My bank recently has been pissing me off. I want to move all my money to a new bank account; how do I do this? I've heard that you can only move < $10k a year? I heard that moving all this money would flag me as a drug dealer/launder/etc? I've been thinking about moving to a different country (to Europe); how do I move my money there too?

Open a bank account at another bank. Transfer it. The end.

This is only if you transfer actual cash. You can just write a check if it is a checking account. Make it out to yourself and deposit in into the new account. Since you have a paper trail for both accounts, there is no red flag and are just moving the money, there is no red flag. It will probably take a couple days for the check to clear! Or you can get a bank check from bank 1 and carry it to bank 2. Moving money to a different country....I don't know this one!

Human: I'm (30f) very sorry to ask-Im so shaking with anger and upset I can't think straight to google or talk a connection on the phone for guidance. The internet can be so vicious, so please be patient; it's all my fault. I make very stupid mistakes with money and get excited and over pay bills which sets my plans back. I've used ACCC for credit card/identity theft problems from my 20's. Today, though, IFU AGAIn. I never seem to think clearly enough to get on top, even when I try (I'm entitled, stupid, careless, etc. I'd be the first to say that it's all my fault.) I am posting this because I feel so crazy with desperation: is there a thing where someone will sit down with me with all my bills, not steal my identity, and help me get a handle on my money? My dad manages my investments, but we have a terrible relationship. Id like to take my investments to someone who will respond to me and help me-not treat me like a child, ignore me, act like I'm too stupid. I make $90k a year, am an evening grad student, $45k student loans (but I was destitute before school-so it made sense), credit card debt, ignorant about money, investment plans. I've read all the blogs. I have all the spreadsheets. Each paycheck is $2000. I thought i'd get a tax return this year-I didn't for some reason. So I paid the $900 I owed to IRS (my pay went from unemployment in 2014 to $78k in Jan 2015 to $87k in fall 2015). The car I never drive had a $1000 bill. Roommate deposited 2 Feb/March rent checks ($1000 each) within 1.5 weeks of each other- for some reason she just didn't deposit like usual. Today, my paycheck deposited: Chase was overdrawn (for the above bills) at $-1600. The $1700 deposited to Chase was immediately hit with $74 Geico bill and $70 Sprint bill-overdrawn again. Also auto deposited $300 from my paycheck to my other bank ($150 goes to a loan that I took last summer for a $4k tuition/stupidity bill). This loan balance is now at $900). $150 also goes another to credit card bill payment. Auto deposited $380 to the 401k (balance right now at about $12k). Also, I thought I was getting a raise from $87k to $90k, so I changed my 401k contribution from 6-11% for some stupid reason, which took my pay from $2077 to $2000. Next paycheck is in 2 weeks. I'm overdrawn again and currently trashing my apartment looking for books, things, clothes, old electronics to sell on craigslist. Please please help me-I'm hyperventilating and feel like I can't breathe. I feel so stupid and desperate, I don't know what to do. I think it would help to sit down with someone and look at my spreadsheets, pay stubs, plans to get back into financial health so I can move somewhere cheaper and not look back on my opportunities and see a money pit.

You need to produce a FULL budget, including everything you spend your money on, all of your bills (preferably ordered by date they're due vs dates of your paychecks). You may be able to get some due dates on some of your bills changed in order to better line up with your paychecks. That may help you get by until your next paycheck and be better suited in the future as well. How much is your account overdrawn currently? Also, try http://youneedabudget.com

Also: $300 to investing more and another $400 to my Roth IRA (trying to meet my $5500 yearly max). $90k-30% taxes-401contribution- rent (about $12k per year). about $36k remaining. Then, out investment contributions, Roth payment.

Human: I've already filed taxes for the 2015 year. I want to go back and put $5,500 for last year's limit, but I don't have an account yet with Vanguard. Would I be able to get it in on time? What do I do about the taxes that I've already filed? Do I go back and fix it? But I already received my return?

Yes, you should be able to open the account on time. Roth contributions are post-tax, and have no effect on your tax return, so by all means - go for it, and no need to file anything!

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Human: Landlord said an insurance person might be coming out to inspect the property and if they spoke with me to just say I live there with the owner.

So your landlord wants you to commit insurance fraud. Why dont you just not be there when the inspector shows up or leave to anywhere. Inspectors have a way of finding out the truth with or with out you being there.

It's kinda sketchy, but I'd ask him the reasons before jumping to conclusions.

Human: Posting here since you all seem to have a lot expertise in the area...and I could use a bit of context, in addition to a gut-check. I'm looking at getting a Mazda MX-5. Yeah they're sports cars, but they have a reputation for excellent reliability, solid mpg, and 2 seats is more than enough for me - plus I just plain want one really badly. I'm shooting for a used one, of course, a 2006 - 2009 model which can be found for $8.5k - $10k with relatively low miles. I'm in a stable salaried position now and I take home $2500 a month after taxes, health insurance, etc. I'm paying $600 in rent, $200 for Student Loans, and $150 for other bills (internet, utilities, phone, gym) - plus about $500 for food, groceries, and gas (I work out, and have somewhat high caloric needs, occasionally go out with my GF, and my current car is very inefficient, making my 25 minute commute more expensive at the pump). I've been saving pretty aggressively since the start of the year, I've over $3000 saved up so far and will have $4000 cash for a down payment once I'm ready to seriously start shopping this summer. I'm nervous only because I've never financed a car before - I've never spent more than $2k on a car before, either. I've driven nothing but beaters and my current ride, a 20 year old, 250k mile Toyota just isn't going to hold together for more than a few more months...I know I probably *should* just pay cash for another beater - but I would love to drive something nice, and fun, and not a junker for once...can I afford this?

Yes, you can afford this car you've described. Just take good care of it. I completely understand the need to spend a lot on food because you work out. Gotta get swole.

This looks fine. Also - your 250k Toyota may be worth $500 or $1000. You could always try selling it after you bought the new car. Then use that money to pay down the loan.