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colachute posted:$~9500 student loan debt @ 4-5% interest Pay off the loan that has interest first and foremost unless you have spare cash laying around. Assuming you can pay off the 0% APR withing the 14 months, you're better off that way. If you CAN'T pay off the 0% loan in the time it's 0%, then you need to plan on paying it off.
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May 13, 2019 18:01
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Medullah posted:Pay off the loan that has interest first and foremost unless you have spare cash laying around. Assuming you can pay off the 0% APR withing the 14 months, you're better off that way. If you CAN'T pay off the 0% loan in the time it's 0%, then you need to plan on paying it off. Feasibly I could pay off both within the 14 months and split the $1500 right down the middle, I’m just very uncomfortable with where my emergency fund is currently. I was out of work for two months and in that time had to relocate and pay deposits on an apartment, buy some furniture, and so on. It really hit my savings pretty hard. Semi-related: My step dad believes that the best emergency fund is getting out of high interest debt. At one point he advised me to put $2000 (less than one month of expenses) away and then not worry about any bigger of an emergency fund until all high interest debt is wiped out. In theory I can see the benefit, but in practice it makes me a little uncomfortable not having a few months of cash stashed away in a HYSA. What say the thread?
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May 13, 2019 18:09
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I would go for the CC debt. If you gently caress up and miss that date it is going to hurt. I would not worry too much about the student loans. Get your e fund back up before student loans. That is just me.
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May 13, 2019 18:19
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Student loan interest is still an above-the-line deduction, right? I'd say pay off the credit card first, but I don't think it would be, like, catastrophic to do the student loans first, either.
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May 13, 2019 21:11
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Uthor posted:Tldr, you don't own the land, can get kicked off of it easily, and the trailers aren't exactly "mobile" enough to just pick up stakes and move. EL BROMANCE posted:Yeah that segment on LWT is really good and came around at the best possible time for you it seems. Well, that's some poo poo I didn't really think about. The issue my wife and I are facing though is that we don't really have options at this point. Remember I said that the rent and housing markets have gone to poo poo around here lately? A few years ago, you could find kinda-lovely, but livable 1 or 2 bedroom apartments for $400-$500/month. Since then, the average rent has skyrocketed up to $800-$1000/month for the same place in the same condition. Just last week, I looked around through the usual sites and publications and found 1 place under $800, but it was a 1br directly next to a train crossing on the busy main line into town. I sleep like poo poo as it is without getting woken up to the place shaking and a train horn blaring every hour. As far as ownership is concerned, I can't speak for years ago because we weren't looking, but before we moved into the inlaws place we took a look around town for any relatively cheap properties we could conceivably buy, and couldn't find anything under $150k that wasn't either in the middle of a high crime rate area in the middle of downtown, or a superfund site. Considering my wife and I make about $43k combined, and are also interested in not dealing with crackheads and gangs and whatever toxic waste is in the ground, that just isn't going to work for us. It's the primary reason we want out of this blighted hellscape in the next couple of years. I guess one thing I hadn't considered is renting a mobile home. I'd have to see what's available, and also what the rent would be and if it includes or is in addition to the lot fee. Given our incomes and current debts though, we basically can't afford to rent in this city anymore, nor do we want to buy a traditional home outright, since we want to leave in a couple years anyway. What other options do I have that I'm not seeing here? At this point, we both need to  of the inlaws house. You've seen that Credit Karma commercial where the girl's constantly having her peace disturbed by her mom as she vacuums and uses the blender? That's basically our lives and it sucks. We get literally zero privacy or alone time in the house, and neither of us can stand it any more. Sundae posted:(Among other huge problems) this has been a huge problem in the bay area where I'm living. There are only a few mobile home parks left, they require you sign 5 year leases with built-in minimum rent increases (which are usually not maximum rent increases), require you give first right of refusal to the land owner if you're going to sell the home with stupidly long refusal times so that your potential buyers lose patience and buy somewhere else, and in some cases also assess fees for abandoned property or for utility disconnects if you do leave. It's seriously hosed, but there's literally nowhere left for these people to go unless they abandon everything they own and hoof it to another state entirely. That does indeed suck, but thankfully I don't think it's quite that bad here yet. But I will agree, it could definitely turn out that way. Motronic posted:Sounds like you're trying to borrow your way out of debt and increase your debt at the same time. No and yes? I don't want to borrow my way out, so much as I'd like to consolidate and lower the amount I pay per month. I wanted to add the cost of a mobile home into that debt so that I wouldn't be paying two separate bills that might be more than I could afford per month. I'm also not sure if it would be better to get one large loan for everything or if I'd have a better time getting a loan and then a mortgage in either order. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:thought 1: where do you live? 1. Buffalo, NY 2. car loan, I... Dont' know off the top of my head. I'd have to go digging for it. Credit card is 26.99%. Personal loan is 19.72%. 3. I did that to illustrate how much I'm paying per month. It's also useful to me to think about the payments in the day-to-day, to help me budget monthly/weekly for when the payments come up. 4. I'm understanding that a bit better now. The issue now is, what are my alternatives? If I go show my wife the video linked above, she'll want alternatives. I can't just shrug my shoulders and be like "sorry, honey, looks like we get to hang out with your brother 24/7 for the next 3 years!".
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May 13, 2019 23:59
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neogeo0823 posted:I'm also not sure if it would be better to get one large loan for everything or if I'd have a better time getting a loan and then a mortgage in either order. Secured debt is going to be less expensive than unsecured debt. Car loans and mortgages have lower interest rates, often even when you have poor credit. neogeo0823 posted:4. I'm understanding that a bit better now. The issue now is, what are my alternatives? If I go show my wife the video linked above, she'll want alternatives. I can't just shrug my shoulders and be like "sorry, honey, looks like we get to hang out with your brother 24/7 for the next 3 years!". 1.) Increase you income so you can afford to live where you are. 2.) Move somewhere that your skills are adequate to earn enough to live there.
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May 14, 2019 00:08
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neogeo0823 posted:Well, that's some poo poo I didn't really think about. I can't loving believe a one-bedroom in Buffalo is going for that much.
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May 14, 2019 00:10
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Motronic posted:1.) Increase you income so you can afford to live where you are. 2.) Move somewhere that your skills are adequate to earn enough to live there. Thanatosian posted:There isn't really a magic formula; you need to either increase your income, or decrease your spending. Your not making enough to live on your own in the place you live right now, so you either need to find jobs that pay more, or move someplace cheaper. We're working on earning more right now. My wife's over halfway done with schooling for her career, then I get my turn. When she's done, she'll have 5 different certifications for various things for a career in aesthetics, and has already secured a job at one of the top three places she wanted to work at. I'm going to go for certification as an HVACR technician, hopefully working more on the commercial side of things. They're not the most glamorous careers, nor do they pay the absolute most, but they're needed literally everywhere, are things we each find enjoyable, and are both steady and stable incomes that are projected to grow over the next 10 years. And yeah, it's loving atrocious in this town right now. It started with that whole "billions to buffalo" thing and the revitalizing of the waterfront in the hope of attracting tourism. Then Tesla moved here, and Solar City set up shop, and Amazon opened a distribution center near here, and then all of those places caused people to flock here looking for work. The landlords and real estate agencies saw that and went all  and now all housing is expensive as poo poo.And yet, by some metrics, we're still like the 3rd poorest city in the country. This is why we're planning on getting our careers in order and then loving right off to greener pastures.
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May 14, 2019 00:30
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neogeo0823 posted:We're working on earning more right now. My wife's over halfway done with schooling for her career, then I get my turn. When she's done, she'll have 5 different certifications for various things for a career in aesthetics, and has already secured a job at one of the top three places she wanted to work at. I'm going to go for certification as an HVACR technician, hopefully working more on the commercial side of things. They're not the most glamorous careers, nor do they pay the absolute most, but they're needed literally everywhere, are things we each find enjoyable, and are both steady and stable incomes that are projected to grow over the next 10 years.
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May 14, 2019 00:33
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Also don't look down on being HVAC tech. Trades are good business and pay really well.
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May 14, 2019 03:43
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spwrozek posted:Also don't look down on being HVAC tech. Trades are good business and pay really well. Yep and HVAC is always in demand.
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May 14, 2019 11:33
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I'm honestly not sure if it's a newbie question or more nuanced. My state sucks. I'm not kidding. This article kind of says it all. We want to move in a few years. We'd be closer to my wife's family. It'd be better schooling for my son. It's a net positive in every regard. The question is, how do I start getting ready? Yes, I know saving money is the start but I feel like I'm forgetting something. According to NerdWallet, it's about a 7% increase in Cost of Living to move to Minneapolis from Baton Rouge. I know we'll be looking for jobs making the same or more than we're making now. I know we'll be going up there for looking at houses and such. Should I start a separate savings account for moving money? I don't think I'd get relocation fees for either of our current positions. What would be a good target?
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May 14, 2019 17:08
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Irritated Goat posted:I'm honestly not sure if it's a newbie question or more nuanced. Do you really need a separate savings account? Can you just use a current savings account and any amount over $xxxx (your emergency fund) is dedicated moving expenses? This is probably my own personal nuance but I try to keep the minimum amount of checking/savings accounts that suit my long term needs. One thing I would consider, that I didn’t consider when I moved to a higher COL area, is any lapses in income you may have. I was in a rough spot where I went into a moderate amount (but extreme for my own personal preferences) amount of debt because I didn’t work for two months after moving. In fact, if I were to relocate again I would probably stash away a bunch of money just for bills to cover a few months in addition to everything else, just in case I’m not working for whatever reason.
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May 14, 2019 17:16
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Hi BFC! I've been following this flowchart https://m.imgur.com/CcEVQAV and need some help on the next step. I just finished paying off my credit card debt and now just have student loans debt wise. My emergency fund is low at $2000 so that is next to bump up. My current job has no 401k match so I haven't been putting money into it until my emergency fund is enough for 6 months, about $20k. I'm about to start a new job that has a wonderful match of 50% up to the cap. While this is great I'm not sure the best way to go about splitting my savings budget. After student loans I will have about $1200 a month for savings. I don't want to miss out on free money but also want to get my emergency fund to where it needs to be. Any suggestions for how to split it?
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May 14, 2019 19:44
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Maed posted:Hi BFC! Take the free money up to the match cap.
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May 14, 2019 19:46
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colachute posted:Take the free money up to the match cap. Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant they match to the 401k cap of $19k a year.
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May 14, 2019 19:50
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Tough one. If you have $1200 a month and wanted to get to $20k e fund that will mean 15 months of no 401k. I don't think this is ideal. I would probably put at least $600 in the 401k. Your taxes will go down slightly as well. Any bonus, windfall, or tax return I would put 100% into the e fund.
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May 14, 2019 19:59
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spwrozek posted:Tough one. If you have $1200 a month and wanted to get to $20k e fund that will mean 15 months of no 401k. I don't think this is ideal. I would probably put at least $600 in the 401k. Your taxes will go down slightly as well. Any bonus, windfall, or tax return I would put 100% into the e fund. That's my plan. I'll get twice yearly bonuses that will go right to the e fund.
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May 14, 2019 20:20
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Irritated Goat posted:I'm honestly not sure if it's a newbie question or more nuanced. Setting up a separate account for a specific goal is a good way to stay disciplined. Capital One 360 has a decent account and a saving goal tracker so you can see where you are for meeting your goal. As for the amount, I would say three months of expenses plus whatever the COL percentage its. For example, if you have $1000 a month in expenses, your goal should be $3200.
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May 14, 2019 20:30
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neogeo0823 posted:are also interested in not dealing with crackheads and gangs and whatever toxic waste is in the ground
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May 14, 2019 22:11
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Sub Rosa posted:This is the funniest reason I've ever heard someone use to justify wanting to move into a trailer park. Honestly, the trailer parks are all pretty decent compared to some other areas. Up north of Buffalo, the closer you get to Niagara Falls, the more superfund sites there are and the more poo poo they find in the ground. Like, we locals make fun of it here, but as an example, they tore up a relatively well used main road in NF a year or two ago to repave it and had to put the project on hold for a year to do remediation because it was literally twice as radioactive as they had anticipated. Pretty much all of Niagara county from the river to Lockport is superfund, and it extends down into North Tonawanda and the surrounding areas. Without going through every neighborhood individually, you have a ton of overpriced and tightly packed suburbia to the generally-north-northeast-to-east, and a ton of dangerous and run-down ghetto to the generally-southeast-to-south-to-west. The further east you go, the nicer it gets till you get out to Clarence, where it's super-rich-gently caress territory. Heading south of the heart of the city, it goes from super-run-down to nicer till you hit Hamburg, then it's back up to rich-gently caress territory till you get way further south. The trailer parks we've been looking at are all pretty much located in the southtowns, with a couple exceptions, and are generally decently crime free, if not very well kept sometimes. Anecdotally, my wife and I used to live in Black Rock, which is a suburb of North Buffalo. It was tightly packed upper/lowers, and one end of our block had like 80 units of section 8 housing, and the other had a police station. The 2nd to last apartment we lived in was in an area of Tonawanda called the Sheridan Parkside area, and it was all quadplexes owned by a slum lord company that took in anyone with money and never did any repairs. We dealt with every kind of poo poo in that area, and if we thought for even a second we'd be moving back into that environment, we'd drop that place like a hot potato.
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May 14, 2019 23:55
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Maed posted:That's my plan. I'll get twice yearly bonuses that will go right to the e fund. are these like consulting bonuses (fairly certain with a known floor) or like normal company bonuses (lol)? if they're like consulting bonuses and you know you're gonna get at least X, i would put more money in the 401k to offset
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May 15, 2019 14:27
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neogeo0823 posted:Honestly, the trailer parks are all pretty decent compared to some other areas. Up north of Buffalo, the closer you get to Niagara Falls, the more superfund sites there are and the more poo poo they find in the ground. Like, we locals make fun of it here, but as an example, they tore up a relatively well used main road in NF a year or two ago to repave it and had to put the project on hold for a year to do remediation because it was literally twice as radioactive as they had anticipated. Pretty much all of Niagara county from the river to Lockport is superfund, and it extends down into North Tonawanda and the surrounding areas. Without going through every neighborhood individually, you have a ton of overpriced and tightly packed suburbia to the generally-north-northeast-to-east, and a ton of dangerous and run-down ghetto to the generally-southeast-to-south-to-west. The further east you go, the nicer it gets till you get out to Clarence, where it's super-rich-gently caress territory. Heading south of the heart of the city, it goes from super-run-down to nicer till you hit Hamburg, then it's back up to rich-gently caress territory till you get way further south. The trailer parks we've been looking at are all pretty much located in the southtowns, with a couple exceptions, and are generally decently crime free, if not very well kept sometimes. you seem to have backed yourself in to a corner where you believe that the only viable option is buying a mobile home so i'm not sure why you came here exactly
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May 15, 2019 14:28
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Irritated Goat posted:I'm honestly not sure if it's a newbie question or more nuanced. I’ve moved cross country twice. There’s three main questions; -cost of of initial move -will you find a place ahead of time or when you get there? -what job will you get? The cheapest cost to move is renting a UHaul/Penske, which is just about $1,000. Hiring movers will put you at $3,000-5,000. One move I rented an apartment , signed everything before actually going down. Second move we stayed at my in laws place for a month while looking. Option 2 sucked, but it’s definitely optimal. My first move I had to find a new job. I find the equivalent of what I had, and I was completely qualified and it still took I think 1-2 weeks. It’s just a process to get hired. My first move was from lower cost of living (Tennessee) to higher cost of living (Philadelphia), and man, about 6 months in it just hits you. I made about $35k at the time, which was very liveable in Tennessee, it was harder in Philly. A year in I job searched and found a higher paying job. Set as much money aside as possible. There’s always random costs, there’s always the chance that something goes wrong, time without income, etc. and I’m sure having a kid makes it twice as hard. I think it’s worth it, but be over prepared.
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May 15, 2019 15:02
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:are these like consulting bonuses (fairly certain with a known floor) or like normal company bonuses (lol)? You don't think normal company bonuses are a thing?
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May 15, 2019 15:16
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spwrozek posted:You don't think normal company bonuses are a thing? I had a job with "guaranteed" bonuses when I signed on, and a year later they made those bonuses far less guaranteed. I never ever ever count bonuses in my budget anymore.
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May 15, 2019 16:06
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I never said to count them in a budget. The only year I haven't got a bonus was 2009 (understandably so). All the people I know who work at places with well defined bonus structures have generally got some sort of bonus. I agree though don't ever expect or count on it in a budget.
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May 15, 2019 16:19
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I'm bonus eligible at my job. I'm also working furiously today (er, and posting on SA) to figure out how to meet payroll this week.
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May 15, 2019 16:26
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I’ve received two bonuses at work since getting hired here. And by received I mean the company requires me to stay here for two years to vest it. So it’s a bonus that you receive but still have to work for. It’s lame.
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May 15, 2019 16:39
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colachute posted:I’ve received two bonuses at work since getting hired here. And by received I mean the company requires me to stay here for two years to vest it. So it’s a bonus that you receive but still have to work for. I had a similar thing at a place I worked a few jobs ago. Your annual bonus was split over 3 years, meaning for 3 years you get 1/3 of the bonus (plus interest I think). They claim this was to buffer out bad years (so if they have a bad year you should at least get something leftover from the last 2 years), but it's really just to punish anyone that quit. Understandable though, that place had a high turnover (mainly because of micro-management and backwards policies like this). The place I'm at now has an extremely strict calculation method for bonuses. Dependent solely on profit and a pre-selected set of KPIs (for whatever pet projects they were trying to incentivize, like safety or something). Every quarter they have a town hall presentation that includes showing where the bonus calculation is and what they project it to be. Kind of cold and it doesn't leave room for "hey this guy busted his rear end," but at least it's transparent and you're not left wondering until the last few weeks. The last place I worked it was entirely at management's whim, so it was always a question mark as to whether you'd get a bonus or not. No transparency whatsoever, so you don't know how much of your bonus is from company performance and how much is a merit adjustment.
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May 15, 2019 17:03
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spwrozek posted:You don't think normal company bonuses are a thing? They're far riskier than consulting/finance style bonuses, where a significant portion of your total comp is in the form of bonuses. The total amount of a consulting bonus varies, of course, based on individual and firm performance, but unless the firm is actively failing you will certainly see a bonus, and you will have good guidance as to what that bonus will be. This is not really the same at "normal" companies as far as I can tell.
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May 15, 2019 17:06
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Last year, I helped my mom balance transfer $4500 in credit card debt to a new card with a 0% introductory rate for 15 months. 13 months later, she's paid it down to $1500. Pretty good, but not good enough. I get the impression from this thread that she instantly gets charged the entire year's worth of interest if she misses the deadline. Is that right? Chase doesn't make it entirely clear. That would be ~$800. Rather than finding her another card to balance transfer and try the same thing again, I'm thinking of just paying it off for her and having her pay me back over the next year. This website indicates that it's fine under $15k: https://finance.zacks.com/paying-someone-elses-credit-card-gift-9237.html Anything I'm missing or should consider? I'm not worried about her paying me back or mixing money and family, she's reliable.
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May 15, 2019 17:06
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That should be fine with the caveat that you should expect she won't pay you back, so you'll survive without the money. That's the golden rule for lending money no matter who it is or how positive you are they'll pay you back.
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May 15, 2019 17:33
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It doesn't work like that. That's more like the 0% sofa or TV financing traps. When the 0% intro rate ends, they will start charging the balance transfer interest rate going forward. While that's a high rate, it only applies to the current balance. If you want to lend her some money so she doesn't have to pay 24%+, I wouldn't worry about the gift tax
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May 15, 2019 17:36
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Simpsons Reference posted:It doesn't work like that. That's more like the 0% sofa or TV financing traps. As someone who is going to be spreading his finances relatively thin to pay off a 0% balance transfer, thanks for this info. I was under the same impression that I’m going to get charged for the entire beginning balance transfer amount if I don’t pay it off within the intro window.
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May 15, 2019 17:44
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I could be wrong, but won't any new purchases on the card (at potentially lower rates) automatically get paid for first, also making you pay the higher interest portion for longer? I vaguely remember that being the care 10-15 years ago.
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May 15, 2019 17:47
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Yeah there's a lot of vagaries to 0% promotions. Some charge interest on the entire amount. Some only on the remaining balance. Some charge interest each period but defer it until after the promotional period. In short read the contract terms to be sure, or else just pay it off at least a month early.
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May 15, 2019 18:06
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If you transfer a balance, do not make purchases with the card it gets transferred to
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May 15, 2019 18:37
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Simpsons Reference posted:If you transfer a balance, do not make purchases with the card it gets transferred to Does your opinion change if the card also has a 0% APR on purchases as well? I made one large, but unfortunately necessary, purchase on my CC because it had a 0% APR on purchases as well, and then cut the card up and I won’t request a replacement until it is paid off.
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May 15, 2019 18:44
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Built 4 Cuban Linux posted:Last year, I helped my mom balance transfer $4500 in credit card debt to a new card with a 0% introductory rate for 15 months. 13 months later, she's paid it down to $1500. Pretty good, but not good enough. I get the impression from this thread that she instantly gets charged the entire year's worth of interest if she misses the deadline. Is that right? Chase doesn't make it entirely clear. That would be ~$800. The $15k gift tax exemption is per person per year. If you exceed that, you still have a lifetime exemption of over $11 million. Given the questions you're asking, I suspect you don't need to be concerned about gift tax. Very, very few people do.
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May 15, 2019 19:03
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