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incogneato posted:The amount you contribute is pre-tax (i.e. reduces your taxable income). You're effectively getting a discount equal your marginal tax rate. Just make sure you don't contribute more than you know you'll spend, as you already noted. For the most part, yeah, they're a loving ripoff. And for the love of God make sure you save each and every one of your receipts. They will use any excuse to gently caress you on it, and default deny even things that come from doctors.
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Jun 10, 2019 07:34
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literally this big posted:Hello everyone, I'm about to get custody of a Merrill Lynch brokerage account, and I could use some help understanding everything I need to know about it. It's full of $BAC that my grandmother gifted to me >20 years ago, and has been DRIPing since then. I was recently sent an account statement that shows all the shares that were purchased and all the cash in the account, and I could use some help understanding a few things. Were these in her name, passed to you? If so you don’t have to pay gains on growth that occurs before inheriting. Cost basis step up. If they were in your name all along and you were just made custodian, I would ask an independent accountant. They may not even charge you. It’s not difficult to look up a historical share price, but I’m not sure if the IRS will just accept an estimate for the day. E: or just call the IRS directly, the wait times suck but they’re usually helpful. howdoesishotweb fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Jun 10, 2019 |
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Jun 10, 2019 12:28
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Sab0921 posted:My wife has an FSA available from her new employer - it seems like a ridiculous scam - what is the underlying point? You get to contribute your money to this account that disappears if you don't use it? Some FSAs allow dependent care use. We used it for kids daycare, and $5000 was a guarantee. Easy couple grand tax savings.
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Jun 10, 2019 12:30
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the FSA at my work lets your roll over 250 bucks if you dont spend it all. I still don't put any money in it.
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Jun 10, 2019 13:20
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Guinness posted:Bonuses are taxed as ordinary income. No different than your wages when tax time comes around. Well that's a slight relief, if it's taxed as regular income I'll save a couple bucks as compared to the flat 35% that I thought was the case. Thanks!
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Jun 10, 2019 14:34
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Don’t get an FSA. The money you put in it evaporates if you lose your job.
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Jun 10, 2019 15:22
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I'm currently living in the Boston area, renting a room for cheap, and expenses low enough to save about 70% of my take-home pay. I'm toying with the idea of buying a home or condo and renting out one (or more) of the rooms to help pay the mortgage. But now that the standard deduction is high enough that I wouldn't itemize, is there a point? I don't hate where I live or having roommates, it's mostly financial. Would it be smarter to just keep the lower expenses and invest, or take the plunge? I can always use that money to buy in the future.
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Jun 10, 2019 15:25
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Simpsons Reference posted:I'm currently living in the Boston area, renting a room for cheap, and expenses low enough to save about 70% of my take-home pay. I'm toying with the idea of buying a home or condo and renting out one (or more) of the rooms to help pay the mortgage. But now that the standard deduction is high enough that I wouldn't itemize, is there a point? I don't hate where I live or having roommates, it's mostly financial. Would it be smarter to just keep the lower expenses and invest, or take the plunge? I can always use that money to buy in the future. This is one of those areas where a lot of people have personal value systems that make giving advice tricky. Is this purely a financial decision, or do you want to own a home? There's a lot of work involved in home maintenance (and buying a "move-in-ready" home just means that it'll take a little longer before you realize what's wrong with the place; every home needs maintenance). Do you want to be a landlord? If you care solely about the financial aspects of things then I'd recommend sticking to an investment that doesn't demand as much personal time.
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Jun 10, 2019 16:34
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literally this big posted:Hello everyone, I'm about to get custody of a Merrill Lynch brokerage account, and I could use some help understanding everything I need to know about it. It's full of $BAC that my grandmother gifted to me >20 years ago, and has been DRIPing since then. I was recently sent an account statement that shows all the shares that were purchased and all the cash in the account, and I could use some help understanding a few things. howdoesishotweb posted:Were these in her name, passed to you? If so you don’t have to pay gains on growth that occurs before inheriting. Cost basis step up. So this isn't something I should expect Merrill Lynch to be able to look up? It seems like pretty pertinent information for my brokerage / financial advisor to know.
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Jun 10, 2019 16:38
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If you can get the dates but not the prices, the IRS will accept the published closing price for those dates as an estimate. Technically they’re not “accepting” anything, they just use what you give them, unless there is an audit. If there is an audit, you should be completely honest and tell the auditor you have no idea what the actual price was, and the exact information wasn’t available, but you tried your best by using the closing price on the day they were bought.
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Jun 10, 2019 17:35
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literally this big posted:It's the latter. I believe they've been mine all along, but I'm just now getting custody of them. Incompetence in the non fiduciary financial services industry? I’m shocked  The closing prices are google-able. Probably easier this way. Is there a reason you want to sell?
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Jun 10, 2019 18:33
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nelson posted:If you can get the dates but not the prices, the IRS will accept the published closing price for those dates as an estimate. howdoesishotweb posted:Is there a reason you want to sell? A few more questions: 1) Most of the post-2000 shares (and probably many of the pre-2000 ones) are currently losses so that means I wouldn't have to pay any capital gains tax on those, correct? 2) How exactly does tax-loss harvesting work? Is that something the IRS / brokerage keeps track of, or is that something I need to keep track of myself and keep for my records, to then apply to future capital gains? 3) Seriously, what do I do if I can't find out at least the dates of the pre-2000 lots?
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Jun 10, 2019 19:44
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literally this big posted:Any idea on how to go about doing this? I'll give my advisor another call, but I have a feeling they're going to give me the same non-answer. If that doesn't work I could ask my parents if they know anything about it, but they're probably just as clueless as I am. Grandma passed away recently, so I can't exactly ask her. 1) correct 2) you should ask the long term thread. I believe you are limited to $3k per year 3) probably ask an accountant (honestly I would just use the historical date and "risk" it)
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Jun 10, 2019 20:00
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BarbarianElephant posted:Don’t get an FSA. The money you put in it evaporates if you lose your job. You can still file claims incurred before you lost your job. Also, it you quit mid year you don’t have to pay your company back, even if you’ve used more than has been deducted from your paycheck. Like most of the American healthcare system, medical FSA rules are arcane and silly, but if you have a known expense you can make them work. Dependent care FSAs, of course work differently because of course they do.
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Jun 10, 2019 20:10
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spwrozek posted:3) probably ask an accountant (honestly I would just use the historical date and "risk" it)
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Jun 10, 2019 20:13
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So, my girlfriend is getting an inheritance of around 20k. We want to have it mostly invested, but with IRA limits, I wasn't sure what else to do with it in the interim. Any suggestions?
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Jun 10, 2019 22:54
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I have $10,000 in Apple stock that I’ve had since I was 8 (the cost basis is about $1000) and $6,000 in leftover credit card debt from moving across the country for a new job. I’m 28 and make $75k in Chicago now with $35k in a 401k and $2000 in savings. Do I cash out the stock to pay off the CC debt? 
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Jun 11, 2019 19:09
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Luigi Thirty posted:I have $10,000 in Apple stock that I’ve had since I was 8 (the cost basis is about $1000) and $6,000 in leftover credit card debt from moving across the country for a new job. I’m 28 and make $75k in Chicago now with $35k in a 401k and $2000 in savings.
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Jun 11, 2019 19:12
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Hoodwinker posted:Let's flip this around: would you put $6k on a CC to buy Apple stock? I know the cost basis complicates things a little bit, but the principle remains. Well when you put it that way, it’s obvious: don’t charge myself 18% because numbers in account look pretty.
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Jun 11, 2019 19:14
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Luigi Thirty posted:Well when you put it that way, it’s obvious: don’t charge myself 18% because numbers in account look pretty.
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Jun 11, 2019 19:14
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Hoodwinker posted:Ding ding ding. The good news is you'll pay the LTCG rate on those gains so it'll only be taxed at 15%, for a total hit of around $1,350. Even better, if had lower income this year and are in the 12% marginal bracket (AGI 39,475 for single), you might not own any tax at all on them!
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Jun 11, 2019 19:30
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Hoodwinker posted:Ding ding ding. The good news is you'll pay the LTCG rate on those gains so it'll only be taxed at 15%, for a total hit of around $1,350. You pay (any applicable) State-level LTCG too, right? I sold off a fuckload of stocks and was advised to hold on to 25% for taxes.
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Jun 11, 2019 19:44
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:You pay (any applicable) State-level LTCG too, right? I sold off a fuckload of stocks and was advised to hold on to 25% for taxes.
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Jun 11, 2019 19:48
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Luigi Thirty posted:I have $10,000 in Apple stock that I’ve had since I was 8 (the cost basis is about $1000) and $6,000 in leftover credit card debt from moving across the country for a new job. I’m 28 and make $75k in Chicago now with $35k in a 401k and $2000 in savings. Other question is: is the credit card debt on a 0% entry year credit card (or can it be moved to one), or is it accruing interest?
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Jun 12, 2019 16:51
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So forever ago, I asked for help getting the simplest credit card possible. I never got off my rear end to do that, but in the interim, I've been trying to decipher my lovely current card's website to give me categories and let me see where my money is going, and it's basically impossible. At the time, Duckman2008 kindly recommended the Citi Double Cash card, but does anyone with a Citi card know if there are any built in budgeting tools? If there aren't, are there decent and simple (non-rewards) cards that do have them?
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Jun 23, 2019 13:04
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Don't rely on the card for that, use Mint to see where your money is going.
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Jun 23, 2019 14:18
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Double cash is good and gives you a year break down. For tracking mint or personal capital.
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Jun 23, 2019 19:21
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I have an old student loan of 5.5k @ 3.5% and the ability to pay it all off now. But, I don't have much good credit to speak of. Will it have a positive effect on my credit compared to paying it all off now to instead pay off all but $500 to $1k of the student loan and continue making minimum payments? I mean a positive effect in the sense that I am not closing an old credit line and can also use this to raise my percentage of on time payments (this part of my credit profile needs help). Or would it better to just pay it all now and save myself some interest? Thanks so much. PoorUser fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 13:36
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PoorUser posted:I have an old student loan of 5.5k @ 3.5% and the ability to pay it all off now. But, I don't have much good credit to speak of. If you pay it off now, will you still be able to live comfortably with a decent chunk of savings? If you don't pay it off, will you be able to get more than a 3.5% return on the money if you invest it elsewhere?
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Jun 28, 2019 13:45
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PoorUser posted:I have an old student loan of 5.5k @ 3.5% and the ability to pay it all off now. But, I don't have much good credit to speak of. What do you need the credit for?
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Jun 28, 2019 15:33
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Medullah posted:If you pay it off now, will you still be able to live comfortably with a decent chunk of savings? I could live comfortably, yes. I am not sure about the answer to the rate of return but I will be throwing it into a Vanguard mutual fund if I don't use it to pay debt down. EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:What do you need the credit for? I don't have a credit card at the moment which would be good to keep for emergencies and also I want to purchase a house in the next 2 to 3 years if life permits. PoorUser fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 22:06
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The downside to the economy is upon us. I got an email from Ally: “Your interest rate is going from 2.2 to 2.1.” Nooooooooooooooooo
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Jun 29, 2019 03:17
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Medullah posted:Don't rely on the card for that, use Mint to see where your money is going. So, I started looking into this. I thought it was like a calorie tracker where I tell it where my money went, but I guess you give it your login information and it does it automatically. That sounds neat, but I'm paranoid if that is secure. Has anyone tried using it just on credit cards and not bank accounts so you can see the money going out? I mean, if Estonian hackers get my credit card, that sucks, but if they get my bank info, that sucks a whole lot more. I only have one income stream, so I could probably manually add the few things that don't go through a credit card (rent, student loans).
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Jun 29, 2019 12:28
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Magnetic North posted:So, I started looking into this. I thought it was like a calorie tracker where I tell it where my money went, but I guess you give it your login information and it does it automatically. That sounds neat, but I'm paranoid if that is secure. Has anyone tried using it just on credit cards and not bank accounts so you can see the money going out? I mean, if Estonian hackers get my credit card, that sucks, but if they get my bank info, that sucks a whole lot more. I only have one income stream, so I could probably manually add the few things that don't go through a credit card (rent, student loans). Mint is amazingly secure and only grants read access to your accounts. I don't believe there is a way for someone to get access to your Mint account, and through that, access to any of your other accounts, as long as they don't have the same log in info.
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Jun 29, 2019 14:15
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definitely use two factor auth tho
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Jun 29, 2019 14:53
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Password manager also a good idea.
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Jun 29, 2019 14:54
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:definitely use two factor auth tho spwrozek posted:Password manager also a good idea.
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Jun 29, 2019 15:27
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Duckman2008 posted:The downside to the economy is upon us. I got an email from Ally: same with amex. bout to be a run on the bank.
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Jun 29, 2019 16:39
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drive me nuts to school posted:Mint is amazingly secure and only grants read access to your accounts. I don't believe there is a way for someone to get access to your Mint account, and through that, access to any of your other accounts, as long as they don't have the same log in info. I just downloaded Mint yesterday and got everything set up with my accounts. Two questions: does it allow for stock monitoring (outside of any of my portfolio information -- I just want to see what Amazon is trading at, for example)? and if I change a category of a transaction (like changing CVS from Pharmacy to Grocery) will it eventually remember to categorize it as that in the future, or am I fighting an endless battle? Same questions for Personal Capital. e: whoops double post
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Jun 29, 2019 16:41
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colachute posted:I just downloaded Mint yesterday and got everything set up with my accounts. Two questions: does it allow for stock monitoring (outside of any of my portfolio information -- I just want to see what Amazon is trading at, for example)? and if I change a category of a transaction (like changing CVS from Pharmacy to Grocery) will it eventually remember to categorize it as that in the future, or am I fighting an endless battle? Mint for investment monitoring has not worked for me since inception. As for the categories sticking, it's a coinflip. In a bizarre way, I don't mind because I prefer to track categories myself anyway.
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Jun 29, 2019 17:10
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