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I have around 11k in credit card debt with 7.7% interest. I no longer add to my credit, but there was a time where I was had to take care of myself and the credit card was the only way. I just came into some money (RIP Bubbe :-(), 22k to be exact. Should I pay off my credit card debt right away? If so, what should I do with the left over money? I don't really have a savings account because I generally don't have much money left after bills and stuff. I guess I have around $1000 in the bank most of the time. I have been browsing around here and see that SmartyPig is mentioned a fair amount so maybe I could use that. Or is it better to start a Roth IRA? I was thinking that I could take the $200 that I have been spending on my CC each month and instead add that to a Roth each month. Maybe I should put some money into savings and put the rest into an Roth that I then contribute to each month? Any suggestions would be nice. I have never really had money so I'm kind of overwhelmed.
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Oct 21, 2010 18:18
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Pay off that credit card in full, it's a guaranteed 7.7% investment. Is the money you inherited taxable or not? Find out before you go spending it all. I'd say yeah, stick a bunch in Smarty Pig and try to max out your Roth for this year by next April. I believe you'll need to put $3k in your Roth to start with at Vanguard to avoid paying a $20 annual fee. Start putting that credit card payment in savings and retirement investments. Don't ever get in credit card debt again and you'll be well on your way to being a millionaire!
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Oct 21, 2010 18:31
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moana posted:Pay off that credit card in full, it's a guaranteed 7.7% investment. Is the money you inherited taxable or not? Find out before you go spending it all. I'd say yeah, stick a bunch in Smarty Pig and try to max out your Roth for this year by next April. I believe you'll need to put $3k in your Roth to start with at Vanguard to avoid paying a $20 annual fee. Start putting that credit card payment in savings and retirement investments. Don't ever get in credit card debt again and you'll be well on your way to being a millionaire! Ha, yes! I can't wait to have millions! The money is not taxable, so that's awesome. Great way of explaining why paying off the card is such a good idea, I was thinking of investments that could earn more than that, but it's better thinking of it as a guaranteed investment. Okay, so I'll put a bunch into SmartyPig making sure to leave enough for the Roth. Is Vanguard the best place to start a Roth? I will look more into what they are all about, but I thought you were supposed to put money in once a month if possible. Why should I put my money into savings instead of the Roth?
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Oct 21, 2010 18:38
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No, you should start your Roth right away, and put whatever is left in savings. I'd say start with $3k at Vanguard because I believe that is their minimum if you don't want to get hit with fees, and set up an automatic contribution schedule to max it out ($5k max this year). I recommend Vanguard because they are awesome and have really low expense ratios, and their Target Retirement funds are easy for beginners to understand. Check out a few others and compare them, and come back here if you have any questions about what you find.
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Oct 21, 2010 18:55
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Zeta Taskforce posted:But the true smug, and I am not accusing you of this, are those who win in life and attribute it only to how smart and hard working they are, and are oblivious to the needs around them.
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Oct 21, 2010 19:53
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I think he needs at least a couple thousand in a liquid savings account before investing it in an IRA.
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Oct 21, 2010 23:57
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He'll have $11k left after paying off the debt, $3k in a Roth will still leave him with $8k liquid. Yes?
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Oct 22, 2010 00:01
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moana posted:
This. I've spent the past six months helping goons with this and its pretty abundantly clear that the last generation didn't care enough to teach anyone how to budget. I'm so glad I can help people, but its sad that there wasn't a class in high school or responsible parents who could help with this kind of thing. Third Murderer posted:Speaking of this, I would love to see a general budgeting FAQ or something. For example, I've heard that you shouldn't spend more than ~30% of your income on housing/rent. Are there similar "suggested" figures for other expenses, like utilities and groceries and stuff? I know there's a budget thread, but it's mostly people just offering each other critiques - it would be nice to have some kind of centralized document to look over. Are you looking for an average of what most people spend or do you really want a budget? I have 200+ goons information all averaged out in a spreadsheet from the budgets I make if you want to know how much the average is to spend on groceries or eating out or entertainment.
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Oct 22, 2010 00:33
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Zeta is my favorite Zeta.
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Pillowpants posted:Are you looking for an average of what most people spend or do you really want a budget? I'm not sure how to explain what I mean, to be honest. I just had the feeling that this is the sort of thing where there ought to be a FAQ or something with common breakdowns of different expenses, how to figure out if you're overspending on one thing or another based on where you live, stuff like that. I don't know if an average would be useful since people's situations are going to vary tremendously.
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Oct 22, 2010 01:45
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Pillowpants posted:I have 200+ goons information all averaged out in a spreadsheet from the budgets I make if you want to know how much the average is to spend on groceries or eating out or entertainment. I would be interested, bonus if you could break it down by income as that would be more meaningful (average spend for those earning 10-20k, 20-30k, etc).
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Oct 22, 2010 01:52
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alreadybeen posted:I would be interested, bonus if you could break it down by income as that would be more meaningful (average spend for those earning 10-20k, 20-30k, etc). Since I'm not on my computer, I'll give you some info I can remember. Most goons spend over $200 a month going out to eat. Most goons also spend around $150 on their cell phones, and have over 5 Credit cards. 4-5% of goons are living a life where overdraft seems to come regular, and half a dozen goons have debt where minimum payments exceed $2500 (and another half a dozen pay rent of around that much)
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Oct 22, 2010 02:35
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moana posted:He'll have $11k left after paying off the debt, $3k in a Roth will still leave him with $8k liquid. Yes? Rereading that I have no idea how I missed that fact. Nevermind then!
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Oct 22, 2010 10:52
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Hey, me and my family have 140k euros that we'd like to grow in the few upcoming years (let's say 3 years) to buy an apartment. We were thinking of buying gold with that money. Is that a wise thing to do right now? I don't really know anything when it comes to investing, but from what I've read gold hasn't reached its peak price yet.
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Oct 22, 2010 11:51
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moana posted:He'll have $11k left after paying off the debt, $3k in a Roth will still leave him with $8k liquid. Yes? I'll have a bit less really because the money is Canadian so there will an exchange rate, but that won't be more than a few hundred. That being said, anything I should keep in mind for exchanging the money? Any best practices or tips?
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Oct 22, 2010 16:31
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That is a terrible idea. Gold fluctuates wildly in price, and you need a stable investment that you can pull out in the very near future. I wouldn't gamble at all with a house down payment - savings account or money market account to keep your capital as safe as possible edit: sorry, jewce, I know nothing about exchanges. Hopefully someone else can help!
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Oct 22, 2010 16:32
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Is there such a thing as having too high a credit limit? Is there some sort of ratio I need to follow? http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/no-such-thing-as-too-much-credit.aspx says no this this true? - I never keep a balance on my cards. - I make 30k a year. - My first credit card I got in early 2009 is a Discover with a limit of $6000. - I have a $8200 balance on a $9500 %4.99 used car loan with my credit union. - I have a $3700 balance on a $8000 %7.50 student loan. I just got a Chase No Hassle Rewards MasterCard yesterday with a $3000 limit because Ive found a few places that don't take discover here and when I plan to travel abroad I would like to avoid foreign transaction fees as well as being able to use something else besides my credit union's visa debit card. These are my only two cards. I always pay the full balance on all cards. I'm never late and have them set to auto pay as well as the car loan and every other bill I have because I know I would forget one eventually. I know I can raise the limit on my Discover but I don't want to hurt my credit.
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Oct 22, 2010 22:21
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Raise that poo poo to the roof, credit is awesome. You might take a small hit in credit in the short term because they usually have to run a hard inquiry to increase your limit, but in the long term more credit is good. Plus, what if you ever need to buy a jet plane on credit?
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Oct 22, 2010 23:20
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Great. Thanks for the info. Now that I think about it will getting a new credit card yesterday effect my score as to prevent me from increasing my limit on my old card? I had done quite a bit of research on the cards and features I was interested in and the Chase card I got and wanted was for excellent credit only and I thought based on the guidelines on the sites I looked I may have fallen into the Good credit category rather than excellent but I did a quick pre approval on the Chase site that said it did not effect credit score and it approved me for the excellent credit score card I wanted. Getting this new line of credit by what your saying may lower my credit short term but considering I started with excellent credit it shouldn't lower it enough to prevent getting a raise on my old card should it? On a side note approximately how long does it effect my credit negatively and will Discover see that I have a new line of credit with someone else and reject my request for a higher limit because they think I'm trying to get too much credit all at once?
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Oct 23, 2010 00:03
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Pillowpants posted:Since I'm not on my computer, I'll give you some info I can remember. You have to remember that you're not dealing with a proper sample of goons. Most people looking for a budget are unhappy with their financial situation in some way, so while I'm sure you have a decent amount of well-off customers, understand that you also will have more people with financial problems than the average. (Sorry about the tangent, I have been analyzing political polls for a class)
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Oct 23, 2010 21:54
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Loanarn posted:Now that I think about it will getting a new credit card yesterday effect my score as to prevent me from increasing my limit on my old card?
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Oct 23, 2010 21:57
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Cool thanks. Before they had a policy where the max you could request at a time for increase was $2000 if I'm not mistaken. Called and found out they increased the limit request to $5000 and I requested that much. They ran a quick credit check and I was able to get a $4500 increase. Much more than I was expecting. Thanks for the advice.
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Oct 23, 2010 23:04
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401(k) question. I have just landed a job with a major retailer, my first since February when I was laid off from my previous job. When I was laid off I continued to contribute to my Roth IRA with my unemployment checks and the odd website gig. My new employer offers a 401(k) with a 6% match, but only .50 for every dollar, and it's in Company stock, rather then cash. Personally, I don't consider it a very good deal. So, my question is; should I open the 401(k) with my new employer, or ignore the 401k and keep contributing to my Roth IRA?
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Oct 24, 2010 07:24
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BigDave posted:My new employer offers a 401(k) with a 6% match, but only .50 for every dollar, and it's in Company stock, rather then cash. Personally, I don't consider it a very good deal.
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Oct 24, 2010 07:45
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My Employer puts my 6% match in company stock every paycheck and I have to go into my 401k every 2 weeks to move that poo poo to my other funds. What's scary is that virtually no one at my employer actively looks at their 401k, so most peoples portfolio's by default are 50% company stock, which is just hilarious. This is the company that went through the Worldcom fiasco and people here still haven't learned.
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Oct 24, 2010 14:32
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Have you complained to HR about that? It totally blows me away the match is all in employer stock and even though you can move it, it can't be done automatically. Shame on your employer for that.
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Oct 24, 2010 15:39
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moana posted:How long do you have to keep the stock before selling it? If you can sell it relatively quickly, that's an easy 50% ROI which is pretty darn good, then put the money into other things. I'm not sure, but I can tell you it's not going to be in my favor. Their benefits are for crap; Legally, they have to call the health insurance a "Health Discount Plan". It's kind of moot at this point, I don't qualify for the 401k until I've been their 90 days. I'm just wondering if a 401k is worth the hassle, since the match is only going to be  a paycheckalreadybeen posted:Have you complained to HR about that? It totally blows me away the match is all in employer stock and even though you can move it, it can't be done automatically. Shame on your employer for that. Well, company stock is a LOT cheaper for them then a cash match. Oh, but don't worry! They have a stock discount purchasing plan! For their stock! It can come right out of your paycheck, just sign here! 
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Oct 24, 2010 17:08
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It's really hard to beat a 50% match, I'd do it even in those unfavorable terms. Do you know if you can move it around to different funds or anything once you receive it in cash?
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Oct 24, 2010 17:14
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alreadybeen posted:It's really hard to beat a 50% match, I'd do it even in those unfavorable terms. Do you know if you can move it around to different funds or anything once you receive it in cash? To be honest, I don't know. I'll know more information Monday, I requested a information packet from HR. Everything I know came from a general benefit plan description. I do know the 401k is through New York Life, if that means anything.
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Oct 24, 2010 19:42
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If you can take it out relatively painlessly, do it. My share plan is actually pretty good. Company matches 25% in your first year, 33% in the second, 50% in the third. Max is 10% of your gross pay. The terms are really good though. You can take out YOUR contributions whenever the hell you want. Only the company match has to sit for at least 1 year. I just sent a request to cash out all my available stock, which is just over $10k. Company closed at $41 on Friday, I maxed out my contributions when the recession hit and the stock was worth $27. So I made out pretty good even if you don't take into account the company match. Decent plan, I wish I could move more money through it. man thats gross fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Oct 24, 2010 |
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Oct 24, 2010 21:20
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Pillowpants posted:I have 200+ goons information all averaged out in a spreadsheet from the budgets I make if you want to know how much the average is to spend on groceries or eating out or entertainment. I'd love to see the averages of everything. I know it's not a whole representation, but it would be interesting nonetheless.
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Oct 24, 2010 23:30
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My credit card was recently fraudulently used at a credit report site. The company looked legit enough, so I called them up, they said they'll refund the $15 and lock the site account of whoever did it. I called my bank, they're sending me a new card. But since credit reports are involved, do I need to call anyone else? The company confirmed they didn't have my correct DOB or last 4 of my SSN.
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Oct 25, 2010 20:28
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I hate to be all ask no offer, but I'm hopelessly inexperienced in anything financial. I've got a bit of an issue, any information or tips anyone is able to offer would be most righteous. Basically, I got a new mobile phone under contract nearly 4 months ago, $50 a month, smalltime figures, right? The problem is, I haven't paid a single dollar towards it yet. Basically what happened is almost immediately after getting this new phone (Being 19, this is the first sort of thing like this I've ever really done, I've never had bills to pay in my own name before) my father, who I live with, went completely insane after his debt and own financial turmoil reached boiling point (But that's another story). Any money I made for roughly three months disappeared nearly instantly trying to help him out with groceries etc. Then, flu hit, and I was stuck in bed for a good two weeks. Now, I've torn a ligament in my knee, prolonging my time off of work for another two or more weeks. Long story short, I've had (admittedly, smalltime) bills to pay, haven't had any cash coming my way, I owe around 200 dollars in phone bills. I haven't called my mobile phone provider yet (Honestly, I don't know what to say, or what I'm supposed to do, I am pretty lost), they just keep happily sending bills and the odd overdue fee here and there. My service has been cancelled for about a month, but I'm not fussed about that right now. Should I be worried? Is there anything I should do in this situation? Have I dug a hole a little bigger than I realise? I mean, as far as I'm concerned right now I can quite safely wait it out until I'm working again and then just pay it off. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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Oct 25, 2010 20:43
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I'm making approximately $55k/yr, have no debt, ~$6k in my checking and $20k in my HSBC Direct 1.10%APY online savings account. If I don't do any trips or buy more toys, I can get the savings up to $30k by spring pretty easily, I'm guessing. I work three jobs, half time at $40k/yr prorated, half time at $42k/yr prorated = $41k, and ~10hours a week at $34/hr. If I wanted to game $5-$10k of the savings, what are my safest options with the best return within 5 years? Being able to get that money out of where ever it is without much of a penalty would be a plus. I am sure I'm "just" asking for the world here, but there's gotta be some sort of happy medium between risk and reward that is right for me. I don't have any particular goals, though a house downpayment would be nice. Mostly I like seeing bigger numbers. I work for the state of Arizona for the two salaried positions, so I'm in the Arizona State Retirement system. I don't expect that'd be enough to cover retirement (I'm 25), but it'll be helpful, at least. Even though I perhaps should be, I'm not overly concerned about seperate retirement investment at this point. Though, huh, the Roth IRA $10,000 first time homebuyer thing would be nice to buffer my house payment concern. May look at that. I think I'm spergy enough about research and statistical analysis 'n junk that I could be OK at the whole day trade stock thing, but I don't particularly want to be that guy at this point. I like turtles fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Oct 27, 2010 |
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Oct 27, 2010 19:50
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I like turtles posted:I'm making approximately $55k/yr, have no debt, ~$6k in my checking and $20k in my HSBC Direct 1.10%APY online savings account. If I don't do any trips or buy more toys, I can get the savings up to $30k by spring pretty easily, I'm guessing. I work three jobs, half time at $40k/yr prorated, half time at $42k/yr prorated = $41k, and ~10hours a week at $34/hr. Anything that isn't index funds is gambling, and you should first be satisfying something like a Roth IRA to get in on all that hot compounding interest action.
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Oct 27, 2010 20:38
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Cool, yes, I've been reading about those in the mean time, seems like a good way to go, especially with my home-buying interest and the $10k no penalty first time homebuyer withdrawal. So I can open up an account now, drop $5k in, drop in another $5k at the start of the year, and just let it go until 2012, then work on it from there? Are there any major differences between the various banks/investment firms/whatever offering Roth IRAs? Anyone goon preferred? How stable are IRAs when it comes to market volatility? Is the principle at risk? I like turtles fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Oct 27, 2010 |
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Oct 27, 2010 20:44
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Read the long term investment thread for more info on asset allocation, and pick up The Four Pillars of Investing for some basic introduction. Vanguard comes highly recommended because of their low expense ratios compared to other companies. IRAs can be as stable or unstable as the investments you put in them, so that question isn't really relevant - if you're saving for a home, you could put your entire IRA in a really safe and stable money market account; if you wanted to be more aggressive you could put it all in a broad stock index fund, and anywhere in between. Check out Vanguard's page for more information and browse through their Target Retirement and other funds to see what kind of options you have for investing. They are very helpful even if you decide to go with another company, just to get started. edit: and to answer your questions, yes you can stick $5k in this year and next moana fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Oct 27, 2010 |
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Oct 27, 2010 22:21
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I have a question about loan interest. I've noticed that if I pay more than the minimum amount on my car loan, the remaining balance does not reflect the additional amount I've paid. All that happens is when I get the next months bill, the additional payment is subtracted from that one. This makes it seem like regardless of whether or not I were to pay the balance early I'm paying the full amount of interest in advance. When I pay my credit card whatever amount I pay is what is knocked off the balance owed. So if I owe 900, pay 100, it goes down to 800. Why is my car loan different? If I pay 273, why isn't the balance going down by 273? Edit: I actually just logged into my loan providers website to check my payment history, it seems like whats put toward the balance and whats towards interest is completely arbitrary. For example, 10/3/2010 -$177.35 -$96.35 9/11/2010 -$123.30 -$150.40 Both payments were the same amount, left number is balance, right is interest. Merou fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Oct 30, 2010 |
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Oct 30, 2010 02:04
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Merou posted:I have a question about loan interest. I've noticed that if I pay more than the minimum amount on my car loan, the remaining balance does not reflect the additional amount I've paid. All that happens is when I get the next months bill, the additional payment is subtracted from that one. This makes it seem like regardless of whether or not I were to pay the balance early I'm paying the full amount of interest in advance. Check the terms and conditions of your loan. It could be that you're not allowed to make payments to the principle outside of the payment plan. You might want to check and make sure that's a.) in the contract you signed and b.) legal whereever you live.
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Oct 30, 2010 02:13
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Merou posted:I have a question about loan interest. I've noticed that if I pay more than the minimum amount on my car loan, the remaining balance does not reflect the additional amount I've paid. All that happens is when I get the next months bill, the additional payment is subtracted from that one. This makes it seem like regardless of whether or not I were to pay the balance early I'm paying the full amount of interest in advance. When we get a loan payment, the first bit of money always goes towards the accrued interest, the remainder pays down the principal. Every day we calculate the daily interest amount, or the per diem, which increases the payoff amount. Say the per diem is $2.50 per day and the last time you paid was the first of the month, if you pay $150 on the 20th, then $50 will be applied or interest, $100 will be applied toward interest. But say that you waited until the 10th of the following month, then it will be $100 toward interest, $50 toward principal. Say you do that and then pay on the first for the next payment, and assuming the new per diem is $2.45, then interest would accrue for 20 days, then $49 would go toward interest, $101 principal. So unless you are paying exactly every 30 days, it is normal to see the payment breakdown jump around some. This is the most common way to do it, but if what I said doesn’t seem to apply, then contact them directly and ask how the calculate interest.
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Nov 1, 2010 16:44
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Can someone tell me what I have to do to keep bank of america from continuing to place deposit holds on my paychecks? A little information to help: - they come from the same company every other week - the check is always for roughly the same amount, and under $5k - it's an electronic payroll check, from a multi-billion dollar corporation - the check is drawn from Wells Fargo, and the corporation is based in town - I have deposited over $40k from this company into this checking account this year - I have overdrawn my account twice in the past 6 months, both times as a result of these unexpected holds - I do not carry a high enough balance in my account to cover the check should it bounce It's always a 5 day hold, and they've done it every paycheck, without exception, for the past two months. I've tried doing personal teller deposits instead of ATM, it doesn't seem to matter. Direct deposit is not an option for me due to my position as an independent contractor with the company.
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Nov 1, 2010 20:41
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