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Inept posted:Furnaces work more efficiently the longer they're on, so you're better off making the furnace work longer by having it heat up the place by 10 degrees instead of 5. You also may want to look into moving into an apartment that is smaller/has better insulation to reduce your heating bill in the future. Those will matter a lot more than keeping the place at 54 vs 59. This is the first month we've lived here, I have no idea what the energy bill will look like. It's a 1,920 sq ft house and utilities are split four ways, so I don't imagine it would be all that bad even if we kept it a good bit warmer. The reason we keep it so cold is because our one roommate's family is a little bit nuts in this regard and that's how his family kept their house. My roommate had a pet bird in college that he brought home when he graduated that froze to death in their house, but he still seems to think it's the best. He's also the one that does the most in regards to general maintenance/upkeep/appearance of the apartment so we tend to let him do whatever he wants/thinks is best. I'm used to it and don't mind, however our new fourth roommate is constantly complaining about the cold and I told him I'd do some research. It doesn't really matter to me how it works out, either we're doing it the cheapest way possible and I'll tell him to stop being such a girl OR we're not and then he would be happier and we'd be saving money overall. Lyon fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Dec 15, 2010 |
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Dec 15, 2010 22:26
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The link to CreditKarma on the previous page motivated me to finally check my credit score, which I have never done before. Good to know, but the summary and so on they provide following that raised some questions. The two areas I apparently rank lowest in is the number of credit lines and their age. Specifically, I have four credit cards and no other loans/etc. Credit Karma seems to be telling me that I should open more accounts; is that something I should really consider? Opening new accounts also seems to clash with point two, which is the average account age. Regarding account age, they say: quote:Credit history is a significant component of your credit score. As such, the average age of your credit lines can be a strong indication of your credit history. Care should be used in keeping old accounts open, active, and in good standing. I suppose that if my credit is fine, I should just keep doing what I've been doing, but now I am slightly worried that they'll close out my unused accounts at some point, which would be a negative blow, right?
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Dec 15, 2010 23:25
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(Wasn't sure if I should post a completely new thread) My girlfriend had surgery a month ago, and is on short term disability. Her regular job is pretty physical and due to the surgery, her employer won't let her return to work until she is healed 100%. If she gets another job in the meantime (like a boring desk job, something very different to her normal job), will she still be able to receive her short term disability benefits from her regular job? We are in Illinois.
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Dec 16, 2010 07:16
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I posted this in Student Loan thread but no response. What do people mean when they say private student loans are structured like a credit card and not like a mortgage? Ive heard some law school grads pointing this out. The most I can come up with my google-fu is that it means interest accrues daily... how does this compare to a mortgage and how is it screwing student loan borrowers more than mortgage borrowers? (I know nothing of mortgages and indeed, shamefully little about debt structuring)
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Dec 16, 2010 09:26
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Ashcans posted:The link to CreditKarma on the previous page motivated me to finally check my credit score, which I have never done before. Good to know, but the summary and so on they provide following that raised some questions. Trying to outsmart FICO by doing stuff that has zero or potentially negative effects on you building wealth is practically always a waste of time. If you have bad or new credit, there are sometimes easy things that have a decent bang for the buck, but if your credit is already very good to excellent, then anything you do isn’t worth it. What is your score? There are probably hundreds of factors that go into building your credit score. Some are important, some less so. A credit report always lists the top 3 or 4 reasons that prevent your score from otherwise being higher. If there is something glaringly wrong, then its good to know why and what you need to work on. If its already excellent, anything they come up with falls somewhere between pointless and nitpicky. If that’s the case, a higher score is nothing but bragging rights and its going to be things like savings, investments, down payments, and income that really matter, and none of those are measured by your score.
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Dec 16, 2010 22:44
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I don't think there's a good place to put this, but its probably not worthy of its own thread either. My bank (Suntrust) is changing all check cards from Visa to Mastercard in a month. I have never owned a Mastercard in the past so I'm very naive about where it may or mat not be taken. I have no credit cards currently so I don't want to get stuck somewhere unable to use my card. Should I be concerned about having trouble using my Mastercard check card anywhere or am I worrying to much and it will be business as usual?
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Dec 17, 2010 01:22
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Mastercard is pretty large, I don't think you'll have too much trouble. Anywhere that accepts Visa will, for the most part, accept Mastercard. I can only think of the smallest of small merchants that don't carry both/all card providers.
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Dec 17, 2010 02:15
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Aredna posted:I don't think there's a good place to put this, but its probably not worthy of its own thread either. I lave literally never seen a place that takes Visa but not Mastercard, or vice-versa. Some won't take Discover or American Express, but everybody takes Mastercard. I can't pay my tuition with my Visa card but I can with my Mastercard, because my University charges a processing fee to pay with a credit card, and the TOS of Visa don't allow them to charge a service charge.
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Dec 17, 2010 02:17
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Aredna posted:I don't think there's a good place to put this, but its probably not worthy of its own thread either. Only thing I will say is that conversions from one system to another never go as planned. Either have a backup card or take some cash out the week before so you are not stranded. Also you will be getting a new number (all Visa cards start with 4, Mastercard with 5) which means if you have reoccuring charges like your gym or cell phone, you will have to update their records.
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Dec 17, 2010 02:35
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I agree with the above, I can't recall the last time I saw somewhere that took visa and not mastercard. My debit card is mastercard, but I also carry a visa credit card in case I need it, but I cannot remember ever having the first refused and needing to pull out the second instead. I have a feeling that visa might have better coverage internationally, but even that is mostly a hunch and probably not something you need to worry about. Zeta Taskforce posted:Trying to outsmart FICO by doing stuff that has zero or potentially negative effects on you building wealth is practically always a waste of time. If you have bad or new credit, there are sometimes easy things that have a decent bang for the buck, but if your credit is already very good to excellent, then anything you do isn’t worth it. What is your score? Ok, thanks for the insight. It's reporting my actual score as 760, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, and from what you're saying I should just be happy with that and focus on the rest of my finances like savings, where I'll get better mileage than trying to tinker with the score at this point. Mostly I was just looking through the 'Credit Report Card' that Credit Karma generates (not sure if you have seen it) and it had a big fat 'F' for the number of accounts and a 'D' for the age of accounts, so my immediate reaction was that surely I can manage better than an F! It's reporting my actual score as 760
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Dec 17, 2010 02:58
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Lyon posted:My question is obviously, is this the cheapest way to set the thermostat? Or is it cheaper to say do 64 and 59 so that heater doesn't have to work as hard to get the house back up to 64? At 54F your house will lose less heat than at 59F. See Newton's Law of Cooling. Keeping it at 54F would be cheaper. Also see http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2970/does-turning-down-the-thermostat-at-night-save-energy
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Dec 17, 2010 06:50
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Ulf posted:At 54F your house will lose less heat than at 59F. See Newton's Law of Cooling. Keeping it at 54F would be cheaper.lumns/read/2970/does-turning-down-the-thermostat-at-night-save-energy[/url] Okay, I will admit (if necessary) that I'm a big, huge baby, but how do you guys keep your houses at 54F?! I left my heat off last night and was woken up half frozen at 62F(with a comforter and a "sleep outside" camping sleeping bag on my bed)! I live in California, granted, but I felt like I was going to freeze to death. My house is all electric, if it matters. I would have to wear a sweater, a hoodie, long underpants (if I owned any), sweat pants, and two pairs of socks to let it get that cold in my place. I'm totally willing to accept that I'm a big baby if its the popular consensus. ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Dec 17, 2010 |
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Dec 17, 2010 06:55
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2508084 posted:Okay, I will admit (if necessary) that I'm a big, huge baby, but how do you guys keep your houses at 54F?! I left my heat off last night and was woken up half frozen at 62F(with a comforter and a "sleep outside" camping sleeping bag on my bed)! I live in California, granted, but I felt like I was going to freeze to death. My house is all electric, if it matters. I would have to wear a sweater, a hoodie, long underpants (if I owned any), sweat pants, and two pairs of socks to let it get that cold in my place. Well, I don't go down that cold either (don't really have to, since I live in Florida), but the nights that get down to 65, I use an electric blanket.... I'm pretty sure i could handle 50F if i had an electric blanket. If you look at the times he has his house at those temps, it's the night and when everyone is probably working.
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Dec 17, 2010 08:33
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2508084 posted:Okay, I will admit (if necessary) that I'm a big, huge baby, but how do you guys keep your houses at 54F?! I left my heat off last night and was woken up half frozen at 62F(with a comforter and a "sleep outside" camping sleeping bag on my bed)! I live in California, granted, but I felt like I was going to freeze to death. My house is all electric, if it matters. I would have to wear a sweater, a hoodie, long underpants (if I owned any), sweat pants, and two pairs of socks to let it get that cold in my place. Clothing restricts blood flow. Cold weather training was basically, "Take that poo poo off and sleep naked under layers." Sheet, blanket, sheet, etc... Wool is warm as all get out, so get a cheap 100% wool blanket if you can and use it as a layer between something else (because wool is also scratchy as poo poo). I've spent many a night in sub freezing weather, outside in a standard sleeping bag wrapped in a poncho laying on a rubber bitch on frozen ground and been plenty warm. You should have no problem being warm at 62F.
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Dec 17, 2010 16:16
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Murgos posted:I've spent many a night in sub freezing weather, outside in a standard sleeping bag wrapped in a poncho laying on a rubber bitch on frozen ground and been plenty warm. You should have no problem being warm at 62F. I've done this, the part that sucks is seeing how long you can hold it before finally leaving your warm cocoon.
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Dec 17, 2010 16:19
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Murgos posted:Sheet, blanket, sheet, etc... Wool is warm as all get out, so get a cheap 100% wool blanket if you can and use it as a layer between something else (because wool is also scratchy as poo poo). I'm allergic to wool  Alternative?LorneReams posted:I've done this, the part that sucks is seeing how long you can hold it before finally leaving your warm cocoon. This was me this morning. I held it all night just because I didn't want to get out of bed, but I finally gave in. It's also 67 degrees in my house so I'm not exactly going out into a frozen tundra of an apartment, but its still cold*  *yeah, I'm a big whiny baby. I'll just admit it now. ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Dec 17, 2010 |
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Dec 17, 2010 16:19
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2508084 posted:I'm allergic to wool Microfiber.
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Dec 17, 2010 16:53
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ok stupid question I bought a sweatshirt on my credit card. Went home, paid off the charge on the card the next day by doing an online transfer. A few days later I decided the sweatshirt was too small, so I returned it. Given that I already paid off my credit card, how does the return work? Do I get a "credit" on my credit card? orrr.....what?
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Dec 17, 2010 20:56
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Exactly, you'll have a 'negative' balance. As in you owe us negative dollars. Believe you can get a check at some cost, or if you use it regularly they will apply to your next balance.
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Dec 17, 2010 21:04
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This happened to me once, although in that case I had set up an autopay on a card and then forgot to turn it off when I stopped using it. The balance sat there for a couple months (I kept meaning to use the card to wipe it and forgetting to) and then they sent me a check for the balance - I didn't have to request one or pay anything for it.
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Dec 17, 2010 21:10
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Ashcans posted:This happened to me once, although in that case I had set up an autopay on a card and then forgot to turn it off when I stopped using it. The balance sat there for a couple months (I kept meaning to use the card to wipe it and forgetting to) and then they sent me a check for the balance - I didn't have to request one or pay anything for it. Same here. Now if only the outrageous interest rates worked the other way around.
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Dec 17, 2010 21:19
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I'm 19 and have pretty much no credit score whatsoever. The only bill I pay is my cellphone bill, and I was just informed that paying that every month does nothing to my credit rating. I have around $1000 in a normal savings account, going up by like $500 every month. Is there any way I can get a decent interest rate my credit score of pretty much zero?
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Dec 19, 2010 04:52
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Why do you need a decent interest rate? If you want to build credit, just get a card, any card (a secured CC if you can't get approved for a regular one) and pay it off on time every month. Really, if you're doing it right you should never worry about the interest rate on your credit cards because you're never going to be paying interest anyway. Don't get a credit card with the intention of getting into debt.
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Dec 19, 2010 18:08
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moana posted:Why do you need a decent interest rate? If you want to build credit, just get a card, any card (a secured CC if you can't get approved for a regular one) and pay it off on time every month. Because I want to make some money with it. Im interested in stocks but it seems with most options i have to invest at least 1000.. Guess I was asking what kind of investing I can do with only 500 dollars, not gaining credit.
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Dec 20, 2010 01:47
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Oh, you mean making interest. I thought you were interested in low interest rates on a CC. You can choose to invest in just about anything, it doesn't matter what your credit score is. The answer will depend on what you want to do with the money. With that little, I imagine you'll want to keep it liquid and safe in case of emergencies, in which case SmartyPig is probably your best bet. When you have $1k saved up, you can start a Roth or something and invest in stocks. Do you have a regular income?
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Dec 20, 2010 02:09
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moana posted:Oh, you mean making interest. I thought you were interested in low interest rates on a CC. You can choose to invest in just about anything, it doesn't matter what your credit score is. Yep, I'm going to be investing around $800 a month into this savings account. So I'll have $1k very soon, I'll probably start up with stocks then. I'll read up on SmartyPig, thanks for the suggestion!
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Dec 20, 2010 02:32
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zeldadude posted:Yep, I'm going to be investing around $800 a month into this savings account. So I'll have $1k very soon, I'll probably start up with stocks then. I'll read up on SmartyPig, thanks for the suggestion! Stocks aren't a good way to just make money. It is very volatile and highly prone to swings. Are you investing in a retirement account at all? Need to get your 401k (if your company matchers) / IRA in order first.
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Dec 20, 2010 04:34
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zeldadude posted:Because I want to make some money with it. Im interested in stocks but it seems with most options i have to invest at least 1000.. This thread has tons of info on long term investing, diversification, time horizons and good companies to invest with. You will mostly be talking about mutual funds. This one is more for individual stocks, is this the right time to pull the trigger on BAC, how safe is the dividend on MO. Until you know what you are doing, and even when you know what you are doing, you are better off sticking with mostly mutual funds. The rewards are potentially great with individual stocks, so are the risks, and it can be a lot of fun, but you should probably wait until you have an emergency fund, and have a good core group of of funds at a good fund family.
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Dec 20, 2010 05:21
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Chin Strap posted:Stocks aren't a good way to just make money. It is very volatile and highly prone to swings. Are you investing in a retirement account at all? Need to get your 401k (if your company matchers) / IRA in order first.
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Dec 20, 2010 17:07
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moana posted:Yeah, it's best to invest in stocks in a retirement account that you're not planning on touching for years and years since they are so volatile. That's why it's so important to know when you want to be pulling this money out in order to recommend what to do with it. No 401(k) available. And I want to be able to pull it out in like a year? Maybe a bit more, but I'm not looking to turn this money into my retirement fund. I just want it to grow a bit so I'll have a decent amount in a year or so for various reasons.
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Dec 21, 2010 05:09
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It's not going to grow in a year or so unless you take fantastic risks AND get really lucky. Shove it in a "high" interest online savings account and ignore it until you need it. ING Direct Orange Savings gets a lot of good press (haven't used it myself).
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Dec 21, 2010 05:56
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I lost track of this thread just before I got my answer about Canadian investments, and forgot about it until just now... So I'd like to extend a huge, belated thank-you to Chernoi for his awesome post on page 19. I haven't had the time to schedule a talk with any finance people yet, so it's awesome to finally have a solid brief and a good idea of what I want to do. Thanks!
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Dec 21, 2010 08:43
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slap me silly posted:It's not going to grow in a year or so unless you take fantastic risks AND get really lucky. Shove it in a "high" interest online savings account and ignore it until you need it. ING Direct Orange Savings gets a lot of good press (haven't used it myself). He might also look at CD's if he can really avoid touching it for a year.
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Dec 21, 2010 23:44
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That's not practical when you're starting from scratch and adding $hundreds per month, and anyway the rates on 1-year CDs are pretty much par with the online savings accounts right now. It's a good thing to consider in general, just not real useful for this guy.
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Dec 22, 2010 01:27
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zeldadude posted:No 401(k) available. And I want to be able to pull it out in like a year? Maybe a bit more, but I'm not looking to turn this money into my retirement fund. I just want it to grow a bit so I'll have a decent amount in a year or so for various reasons. Your really only option is a straight savings account. It used to be that you could shop around for rates and get something in the 5 or 6% range. Not like what stocks would do, but not bad for taking zero risk. Those days are over. You can look around and I don't have an account there, but smarty pig has been suggested by others. But even that isn't going to be head and shoulders above your regular savings account in the end. Assuming you really are saving $500 a month and realistically will have $5000 by the end of the summer, and continue to save, if you have the stock itch (and only if you have the itch) you could safely take some of it out and play in the stock market, as long as you recognize that it is play, not investing.
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Dec 22, 2010 02:45
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slap me silly posted:That's not practical when you're starting from scratch and adding $hundreds per month, and anyway the rates on 1-year CDs are pretty much par with the online savings accounts right now. It's a good thing to consider in general, just not real useful for this guy. Sorry I had read the post several hours apart and forgot the details. I thought he had the money fully available at this time. In light of that, and given that a quick spot check against both credit unions and local banks sees a 1Y CD on 1K to be on par or even worse that that high yield account, I am in full agreement with you and the other advice in this thread.
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Dec 22, 2010 05:31
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I am in Pennsylvania, Currently with citizens bank (only one checking account). I would like to go somewhere else, I have had my account with them forever and it seems like I could be getting some perks elsewhere (reimbursement for ATM fees, less nonsense charges, etc). Where can I go to research what bank is a good choice for me? Is this discussed in this forum somewhere?
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Dec 22, 2010 22:00
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I have a few more questions about RRSPs, but maybe they're general enough for US people to answer too. I see that tax-deffered growth is massive. Does this mean that it is always better to have an RRSP than an unregistered account? For example, if I need to take money out in a decade or two but before I'm retirement age, is there a point where the tax-deferred growth generates enough money to make up for getting a huge part eaten by taxes + withholding fees? How do you get taxed if you put your income into an RRSP in one province, but then take it out in another? Whose tax applies? What happens to your RRSP if you move to another country? Can you still contribute to it? If you withdraw, who taxes you - just the federal govt. of Canada, or does your old province take any cuts/your new country? Can you have a retirement account in two different countries at the same time?
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Dec 22, 2010 22:29
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cr0y posted:Where can I go to research what bank is a good choice for me? Is this discussed in this forum somewhere? The general consensus from what I've seen is ditch the banks and get an account with a credit union. I'm about to transfer all my banking to a local CU. I always see https://www.penfed.org/index.asp getting praises sung about it. You need to have some military affiliation. If you dont have a family member who is military, then you can just donate 10$ or something to one of the military causes they have listed on there.
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Dec 23, 2010 04:40
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USAA is good, too, and reimburses up to $15/month in ATM fees. It's a bit feature-limited if you're not eligible for full membership (military or family), so you might not be able to use deposit-at-home and such.
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Dec 23, 2010 04:43
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