|
I'm making about 800/week after takes. I live at my mom's, cook all my own food, own my vehicle outright with low insurance, and I don't spend anything on entertainment or medical. I'm not spending enough money. My bank statement keeps growing. What do I do with this money? Invest? How much can I have before it's A Dumb Thing to just leave it sitting? I have no goals or aspiration such as owning a home or having children (at least no time soon). Mons Public fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Apr 4, 2011 |
# ? Apr 4, 2011 01:46 |
|
|
# ? Jun 13, 2024 04:54 |
|
RobBorer posted:I'm making about 800/week after takes. I live at my mom's, cook all my own food, own my vehicle outright with low insurance, and I don't spend anything on entertainment or medical. What are we talking here, 1k or 10 or 100k?
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 01:51 |
|
kaishek posted:What are we talking here, 1k or 10 or 100k? Right now I have about 10K, but I've never been employed full time before so this is the first time I've had extra money. If my spending habits don't change then eventually we get to stupid land, hence me asking here.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 02:02 |
|
A bit over two years ago, I purchased my first car. I had no credit history, so the only loan I could get gave me a terrible interest rate (over 12.5% if I remember correctly.) Now, over two years later, I'm wondering what my options are in getting these monthly payments lowered. I have a decent credit score (690) and have never been late for a payment on my current car loan. My current loan is through Carmax -- I was told that going through a credit union is my best bet. Is that my best bet? Get a new loan through a credit union with a better interest rate and transfer the debt over from Carmax? Any guidance is appreciated -- I just want to make the best decision and know the most possible. Thanks!
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 02:11 |
|
mfaley posted:A bit over two years ago, I purchased my first car. I had no credit history, so the only loan I could get gave me a terrible interest rate (over 12.5% if I remember correctly.) That sounds about right to me. Basically you just need to get any line of credit at a lower interest rate - a CU is least likely to try to screw you over.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 03:13 |
|
RobBorer posted:Right now I have about 10K, but I've never been employed full time before so this is the first time I've had extra money. If my spending habits don't change then eventually we get to stupid land, hence me asking here. Open a Roth IRA, make the maximum contribution, and buy an ETF that tracks the US stock market. You can probably make this years and last years contributions if you want. For advanced investing, buy a mix of ETFs that track the US stock market, the International market, and a a bond index. Also spend some of it on you, but keep saving. At least thats what I'm doing. To help pick a reasonable ETF: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/etf/tools/recommendation?reset=true
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 03:38 |
|
RobBorer posted:How much can I have before it's A Dumb Thing to just leave it sitting? I have no goals or aspiration such as owning a home or having children (at least no time soon).
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 04:08 |
|
Six months income or six months expenses?
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 04:08 |
|
Qaz Kwaz posted:Six months income or six months expenses? Six months' expenses. You need to fund that portion of your paycheck that you're spending, not saving, considering that this money is coming out of your savings in the first place.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 06:14 |
|
Not really sure which thread to ask this in, and don't want to start a new thread for it. I wired some money from my Wells Fargo bank account to my Swedish bank account using the IBAN number. Now, of course I wrote down the wrong number Any chance at all of getting the money bank? The number I gave them was actually four digits short, and the four digits that were provided were correct, but with an IBAN number that is too short there is no way that the money can possibly end up in someones account, right? So am I right in thinking that either 1) Wells Fargo should have noticed the number was 4 numbers short and halted the transaction or 2) the swedish bank should have done the same?
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 07:24 |
|
mfaley posted:A bit over two years ago, I purchased my first car. I had no credit history, so the only loan I could get gave me a terrible interest rate (over 12.5% if I remember correctly.) By all means try to refinance, with a credit union as mentioned, or local community bank. The only thing that MAY slow you down, not saying it will, but it may, is that no one will want to refinance a vehicle that is upside down. If you bought a new car with no money down, even after 2 years you could still be upside down, meaning you owe more than it’s worth. If that’s the case, if you have the ability to, you will want to tell the loan officer you are working with that you intend to pay down the loan. You can check the book value on https://www.kbb.com https://www.edmunds.com or https://www.nada.com. The other thing is to have realistic expectations about what your payment will become. It won’t drop THAT much. The only way to reduce the payment dramatically is if the new place extends out the loan term. That can drop the payment a lot, but at the cost of making payments for another year and maybe still paying more interest overall.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 14:53 |
|
Zeta Taskforce posted:By all means try to refinance, with a credit union as mentioned, or local community bank. The only thing that MAY slow you down, not saying it will, but it may, is that no one will want to refinance a vehicle that is upside down. If you bought a new car with no money down, even after 2 years you could still be upside down, meaning you owe more than it’s worth. If that’s the case, if you have the ability to, you will want to tell the loan officer you are working with that you intend to pay down the loan. You can check the book value on https://www.kbb.com https://www.edmunds.com or https://www.nada.com. This is fantastic advice, thank you! (and thank you to kaishek, who also helped). I do indeed owe more on the car than it is worth -- unfortunately I drive a poo poo-ton for work, so I have put 50,000 miles on it in the time I've owned it. I have tried to pay it down where I can, but haven't made too big a dent yet. Great to go into the situation knowing this will have an impact on things. Any other insight is, of course, appreciated. Thanks again.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 15:50 |
|
I'm up to my eyeballs in credit card debt, after foolishly poking my head in the sand for the years following my divorce. (He made more money, we spent like madmen, I didn't stop when we split and was suddenly living on 25% of what our combined income had been.) I've stopped being an idiot now, but the damage is done. Compounding this problem, my student loans are starting to enter repayment. I can't go back to school right now because I owe them money, too. And now I'm trying to move to Europe to live with my boyfriend. How do I do the smallest amount of permanent damage, here? Are there ways to protect myself from stupidity following me across an ocean? I know that bankruptcy won't solve the student loan problem, but I have no assets and am looking at this financial picture: CC1: 25000 (12.24% APR) - they want 750 a month, I cannot pay them this amount CC2: 3650 (11.24% APR) - 67/ mo CC3: 515 (24.99% APR) - 25/mo CC4: 210 (22.99% APR) - 20/mo university bill: 2700 - haven't paid on this yet student loan debt: 47000 in total - payments right now are 225/mo, but the last and largest of my loans enters repayment in June, which will add upwards of another 100/mo to that car loan: 5000 - 215/mo car insurance: 123/mo rent: 535/mo phone/internet: 99/mo heat/elec: 75/mo I make about $1900 net per month right now, but I also live in WI and work for the state, so that is in danger of dropping somewhat significantly when the budget repair bill takes effect. I have a second job, but the income from that is somewhat unreliable, as it's a waitress job. On average, it's maybe another $350 or so per month. I've talked to credit counselors, and they can get me lower interest rates but cannot reduce my overall payments, which still leaves me in a position where I can't afford the minimums and rent/food/living.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 22:21 |
|
Here are my first thoughts, looking at what you have. Well, my first thought is that you might want to look into bankruptcy, but I don't know anything about that process. Assuming that you don't: - Is there any way to sell your car? What would it be worth? It is a huge drain on your expenses (especially considering your ridiculously high insurance premium) and is the best way I see to slash your costs immediately. Then you'd be able to pay off CC3 and CC4 in a month and free up that $45 to put to the $750 payment. Obviously the answer to this is kind of city dependent, but your rent seems to indicate you live in a big city that might have public transportation, and I know a lot of places in Wisconsin are very bike friendly. It's finally getting warmer and you're hoping to leave soon anyway, so why keep it? Losing your car is seriously the #1 thing that will help you. - Your rent seems really high for Wisconsin, but as I said you might live in a city like Madison, which I know is expensive. If you do live in Madison / a similar city: Do you live by yourself? If so, have you looked into getting roommates? Plenty of college kids around there to share with, I'd imagine. If you already have roommates, is there any way you can find a cheaper place to live? During the summer there will probably be sublets around the campus area. If you don't live in Madison / some other big city I'm not thinking of: Wow, why is your rent so high? 3) Why on earth do you have such a high phone / internet bill with your debt? Lose the internet, use the public library, and get a $15 pre-paid phone from Walmart. Based on my quick calculations if you can ditch the car you can afford the $750 / month with your current wages. If you get cheaper rent and slash your phone / internet bill you should be okay to pay things off. And obviously looking for a better job would help too, but I know this economy is rough. So, those are some preliminary thoughts.
|
# ? Apr 4, 2011 22:48 |
|
Gloria Hole posted:I've talked to credit counselors, and they can get me lower interest rates but cannot reduce my overall payments, which still leaves me in a position where I can't afford the minimums and rent/food/living. Sophia gives good advice - my first thought was drop the car, if possible. Public transportation might be less convenient but it will drop hundreds of dollars in payments per month. It occurs to me that your issues might be worth their own thread. Suggested first steps: You need to cut expenses in every way possible - you seem to already realize that you were spending way beyond your means with a quarter of the income. This is going to mean reducing your rent, if possible, by getting roommates, or, as soon as possible, moving in with roommates. It's going to mean ditching the phone/internet entirely (tracfone for $15, public library/starbucks) For your student loans: who services this debt? You need to look into something called income-sensitive repayment, graduated repayment, or extended repayment. All will lower your monthly payments for now. You may also look into an economic hardship forbearance or deferment which would give you a 1 year reprieve to get your economic house in order. They may not consider having a job to be "economic hardship" enough. For your credit cards: how is your credit? Your interest rates are super high, and that's going to hurt you a lot. You should call ALL of the credit cards right now and just ask them nicely to reduce your monthly payment or reduce your interest rate. You may be able to work out a deal where they shut the card off and set up payment plan with lower payments. If they say no, it was worth a shot and it certainly won't help. You don't necessarily need a credit repair place or counselor to do this - just call the card companies yourself. If your credit is halfway decent, see if you can find a 0% balance transfer offer (with an interest rate lower than yours is now when the 0% expires). This won't solve your problem, but it will consolidate it and again give you a bit of a lifeline. You may, however, not qualify for this and given your previous...indiscretions...with credit, a new credit card may not be the best idea. But it is an idea! Good luck. Start a thread, and start keeping very close track. Goons will keep you honest.
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 00:06 |
|
Are you moving to Europe for good, or will you be back in the US someday?
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 04:04 |
|
Any DoD goons? I'm considering opening an account with Navy Federal Credit Union (DoD Civilian), they have screwed up round one and I could start an e/n thread on the first experience, but since I am currently a big bank customer I'm used to stupid people and dealing with self/internet service to avoid the incompetence. Can I use Mint.com with Navy Federal? A rep from the CU said they don't support it, but I am wondering if thats the truth or the inept customer service rep. I can deal with everything else, but no Mint is a deal breaker. KennyG fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Apr 5, 2011 |
# ? Apr 5, 2011 05:12 |
|
Kaishek/Sophia: I'm in Milwaukee. For a 1br here, this is pretty cheap. I'm also in my 30s, and have both a dog and cat - which made it very hard to find a roommate situation when I moved. I'm stuck in a lease until Oct, at which point with any luck, I'll be leaving for Europe. The phone expense is my iPhone (I don't have internet, per se) - the only real way to stay in touch (skype) with my overseas boyfriend with the time difference- and I'm under contract to AT&T - again, I'll probably have to deal with getting rid of that anyway when I move. The car is absolutely an issue, and probably the easiest place to start, since it has to go anyway before I leave. I am investigating bankruptcy right now, and exploring my student loan options. I really need to set up an actual budget so I have some idea of how much money I really have to work with. Ganon, I am not planning to return, except possibly for an occasional visit to family. Thanks for your suggestions.
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 07:00 |
Gloria Hole posted:
Related to this - what is stopping somebody from just walking away from their student debt and permanently relocating to a foreign country? Are there any extradition laws regarding this? I'm assuming since owing money isn't really a crime anymore, Germany or wherever isn't going to revoke someone's visa and ship them back to the US to force somebody to settle a debt - am I completely wrong about this? froglet fucked around with this message at 09:50 on Apr 5, 2011 |
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 09:47 |
|
froglet posted:Related to this - what is stopping somebody from just walking away from their student debt and permanently relocating to a foreign country? Are there any extradition laws regarding this? I'm assuming since owing money isn't really a crime anymore, Germany or wherever isn't going to revoke someone's visa and ship them back to the US to force somebody to settle a debt - am I completely wrong about this? As with any legal answer, the short answer is: it depends. I am not your lawyer, but this is a terrible idea. Especially if you are going to go live in the EU. In 2011, the world is pretty connected. It will take them a very short time to find you, especially since as a foreign citizen you will likely need to register with the local government wherever you go. The bank will locate you and then file for judgment in a local court. Most of the western world has reciprocal judgment laws with the United States, basically your bank only needs to show up with a final judgment against you from a US court and they will honor it. I've oversimplified but the days of running off to the French Riviera to escape your debts are long over. You can't hide in the developed world. Find a lawyer that specializes in personal bankruptcies and talk to them. A couple hundred to them may save you a whole lot in the long run.
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 12:13 |
KennyG posted:As with any legal answer, the short answer is: it depends. I am not your lawyer, but this is a terrible idea. Especially if you are going to go live in the EU. In 2011, the world is pretty connected. It will take them a very short time to find you, especially since as a foreign citizen you will likely need to register with the local government wherever you go. The bank will locate you and then file for judgment in a local court. Most of the western world has reciprocal judgment laws with the United States, basically your bank only needs to show up with a final judgment against you from a US court and they will honor it. I've oversimplified but the days of running off to the French Riviera to escape your debts are long over. You can't hide in the developed world. Oh no, I'm not horrifically in debt or anything (so far I've just paid for everything in cash), I was just wondering what happened if somebody decided to move to Malaysia or France or whatever after accumulating a large amount of debt.
|
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 12:36 |
|
KennyG posted:Can I use Mint.com with Navy Federal? A rep from the CU said they don't support it, but I am wondering if thats the truth or the inept customer service rep. I can deal with everything else, but no Mint is a deal breaker.
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 16:38 |
|
Banks are stupid, they should support Mint.com. I still login to the online banking from my actual banks at least two or three times a week. Mint.com doesn't pull the available balance, just the statement balance, so you still need to use both as far as I'm concerned.
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 17:35 |
|
Ulf posted:Mint.com supports Navy Federal. No bank "supports" mint.com (they don't like losing the eyeballs), so it doesn't surprise me that the rep would tell you that. Banks, and presumably credit unions, are stupid. Especially when I stood up and walked out after confirming that. I understand the difference and it had occurred to me, but this woman was not that smart. I stood up and walked out of her office when she said I couldn't use Mint. I told her that I valued Mint way more than any benefits they could offer over my current financial institution. I still use the online bank websites, but the problem is even the ones that are designed to be customer friendly all suck. Mint is an amazing reporting website (despite it's flaws) that also gives me a high security (one way) reports layer with my mobile devices. I can't do that with the chase mobile app or PNC Virtual Wallet. I plug the bank into Mint and Mint into my phone and now I have a more secure mobile view. And all of this does not even ponder the lunacy that would be a credit union creating an app for Android or iOS. I think I have a better chance of getting them to offer me a $1m unsecured personal loan at 1% interest.
|
# ? Apr 5, 2011 19:11 |
|
Fuschia tude posted:Six months' expenses. You need to fund that portion of your paycheck that you're spending, not saving, considering that this money is coming out of your savings in the first place. I got that, but usually expenses are much less than income. Just clarifying.
|
# ? Apr 6, 2011 05:07 |
|
KennyG posted:Banks, and presumably credit unions, are stupid. Especially when I stood up and walked out after confirming that. I understand the difference and it had occurred to me, but this woman was not that smart. I stood up and walked out of her office when she said I couldn't use Mint. I told her that I valued Mint way more than any benefits they could offer over my current financial institution. I had almost this exact thing happen to me, when my FCU actually started blocking Mint and Microsoft Money. When I complained, they told me they only supported Quicken now and didn't really seem to grasp that Quicken owns Mint. I ended up walking to an extremely large yet local bank that reasonably supports everything. And then, ironically, I switched from Mint to Yodlee anyways. (Do not take this as a recommendation for Yodlee over Mint; Yodlee's new version is an abomination against web browsers.)
|
# ? Apr 6, 2011 17:07 |
|
Merrill Grinch posted:I had almost this exact thing happen to me, when my FCU actually started blocking Mint and Microsoft Money. When I complained, they told me they only supported Quicken now and didn't really seem to grasp that Quicken owns Mint. You'd think bankers of all people would understand the financial/market implications of these things. Dear bankers, You are fungible commodities. The vast majority of Americans do not need a bank branch on every corner and most smaller banks will refund a reasonable amount of ATM fees. Throw in direct deposit and short of opening/closing accounts I never go in banks. It makes no difference who cashes the checks so long as they cash, and with FDIC/NCUA it's not you who I'm counting on. Get out of your own way and realize that you are not special and it's not that hard to get it right. Signed KennyG The one thing I get with Mint that I will say could hurt banks is that it stores my past account info for accounts that I have closed so I keep my transaction history even if I move on. (Makes me less loyal, or more appropriately less of a hostage) This, however, is also a help when fraud happens and the bank needs to close my account for that reason too. I lost about 6 years of transaction information that way. Now with Mint, I have the last 5 months of that account and everything going forward. I'm back up to 18 months of data.
|
# ? Apr 6, 2011 17:54 |
|
Assuming your bank or credit union is not screwing you over with high rates and fees, the locations work for you, they are responsive when you try to contact them and they are providing the financial products you need, failure to support mint.com seems like a frivolous reason to dump them. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just old and don’t get it.
|
# ? Apr 6, 2011 18:09 |
|
place fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Feb 10, 2017 |
# ? Apr 6, 2011 19:33 |
|
Zeta Taskforce posted:Assuming your bank or credit union is not screwing you over with high rates and fees, the locations work for you, they are responsive when you try to contact them and they are providing the financial products you need, failure to support mint.com seems like a frivolous reason to dump them. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just old and don’t get it. I don't want to sass you, but I just disagree. The problem is, one they weren't being responsive in the first place (couldn't answer basic account questions) and pretty much all of them do the rest of this to some degree or another. It depends on your definition of rates and fees, but they are all roughly equal. Right now, what's the difference between getting .8% interest and .1% interest in a local savings account when my Internet Savings is getting 1.35%. As described above, the websites are poor and most of them do a terrible job of making mobile services available. Only the biggest banks have smart phone apps and fewer still do any sort of trend tracking or budgeting in their online banking services. PNC's Virtual Wallet comes to mind, but compared to Mint, it's a joke. I have the TSP, a ROTH account, two credit cards, a checking and savings account, a student loan, and an online high interest savings account - all of these are at different financial institutions. Aggregating these accounts makes management easy. If I had to log in to check each balance individually, that makes my life harder. As I said before, banks and credit unions are mostly fungible. I don't really care who'se name is on the door so much as they just do what they are supposed to do, therefore Mint support is WAY more important to me than a simple checking/savings account and perhaps a credit card or eventual mortgage or car loan several years down the road as I am not in the market for either for the forseable future.
|
# ? Apr 6, 2011 19:46 |
|
I have friends who use Navy Fed and I haven't heard any major complaints.
|
# ? Apr 6, 2011 20:14 |
|
Zeta Taskforce posted:Assuming your bank or credit union is not screwing you over with high rates and fees, the locations work for you, they are responsive when you try to contact them and they are providing the financial products you need, failure to support mint.com seems like a frivolous reason to dump them. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just old and don’t get it. Five years ago I'd have had to pay someone to track all of these instead of using mint.
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 00:46 |
|
Are there any good economy/finance podcasts that I should be listening to? I'd like to learn more about economy, from all viewpoints since I only have a rough understanding (and, admittedly, politically biased viewpoint). I'm currently listening to: BBC Business Daily NPR Economy Financial Sense Newshour EconTalk
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 16:50 |
|
polyfractal posted:Are there any good economy/finance podcasts that I should be listening to? I'd like to learn more about economy, from all viewpoints since I only have a rough understanding (and, admittedly, politically biased viewpoint). I'm currently listening to: NPR Planet Money is great. Freakonomics is interesting but really annoyingly produced, its still in trial mode for me.
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 17:37 |
|
polyfractal posted:Are there any good economy/finance podcasts that I should be listening to? I'd like to learn more about economy, from all viewpoints since I only have a rough understanding (and, admittedly, politically biased viewpoint). I'm currently listening to: The two I'd add would be: Motley Fool Money NPR's Planet Money
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 17:39 |
|
Ulf posted:When you have over 20 different financial accounts (two working adults with their own 401ks, roths, SEP IRAs, brokerage account, ESPPs, etc etc etc), the value add on mint.com competes with the value add of a particular bank, easily. Perhaps I stand corrected on Mint.com. I probably have one of the more archaic systems for tracking my finances. I use the 1998 version of Microsoft Money. It was always funky trying to download stuff directly into it, and it has not downloaded stock quotes automatically since about 2006. In 2005 I tried updating to the then current version, and it was flashier and did more things automatically, but it ended up being a disaster because I had preprogrammed some transfers to go automatically, and then the software connected to my credit union accounts and downloaded the same things. The other thing it did was assign categories to everything that mirrored, but didn’t exactly match the categories I was already using. I fought with it for about 3 weeks and it just snowballed against me. I gave up, reinstalled the old version, and went to a backup and rekeyed the last 3 weeks. Its been completely off the grid since then and I enter everything in manually, but I’m cool with that. It doesn’t take that long, and it’s a time for quiet reflection. Over the last 13 years I’ve probably had 35 different accounts, between investments, loans, assets and various checking and savings accounts. polyfractal posted:Are there any good economy/finance podcasts that I should be listening to? I'd like to learn more about economy, from all viewpoints since I only have a rough understanding (and, admittedly, politically biased viewpoint). I'm currently listening to: Those sound good. I listen to NPR Planet Money PIMCO investment outlook TheStreet.com Real Story (not that often though) Dave Ramsey What is your political bias BTW? I don’t think you have to listen to the opposite because you will just get mad and you won’t be convinced anyway, but I think everyone would benefit from a healthy dose of centrist or apolitical subjects too.
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 17:43 |
|
Zeta Taskforce posted:I use the 1998 version of Microsoft Money. HAHAHAHA, me too! I used it forever. I actually won the fight after a heavy week of tweaking 2007....and then right when I got it to work perfectly, they cancel it.
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 17:51 |
|
Zeta Taskforce posted:Those sound good. I listen to Thirding Planet Money, and I listen to Ramsey but only because I can ignore the "Obama bad, Jesus good" rambling he tends to do.
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 18:53 |
|
Well, based on this recent burst of discussion I just went and signed up for Mint.com. It seems to work just fine with all my accounts and cards, I have most stuff linked into now (just need my wife to put in her student loans). I am sure it will take me a long time to get the hang of how best to use it, but if nothing else it's a great way to track things at a glance. I notice that Mint apparently makes its money through its referrals and recommendations. Does people generally take those or follow up on them? I checked into one of its suggestions and it wasn't something that would really benefit me, but I'm wondering how useful those ever are?
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 19:09 |
|
|
# ? Jun 13, 2024 04:54 |
|
traveling midget posted:Thirding Planet Money, and I listen to Ramsey but only because I can ignore the "Obama bad, Jesus good" rambling he tends to do. He gets a lot of flack for praising Jesus. I give him a pass on that. He is never in anyone’s face about it, and doesn’t bring up his spirituality to anyone unless they self identify as Christian. But if they do, he can communicate to a caller using certain concepts and terminology in a way that cuts directly to their heart. Obama is bad in his world, but it’s not like he heaps praise on the Republican leadership either. He is no Rush Limbaugh. The only thing that rubs me the wrong way is his genuine concern for his callers welfare juxtaposed with advocating tax policies that would hurt about 98% of them.
|
# ? Apr 7, 2011 19:32 |