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Zeta Taskforce posted: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. I completely agree with you, I was just throwing that out there because Ramsey can definitely turn a lot of people off with some of his political/religious commentary. He's a good listen for common sense finance.
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Apr 7, 2011 20:34
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What do you guys think of Clark Howard? I like to listen to him since he's basically a moderate Dave Ramsey and doesn't think credit cards are the devil. http://www.clarkhoward.com/
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Apr 7, 2011 21:26
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Ashcans posted: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. This is 90% of Mint's value. Also, if you have a smart phone, it can be a blessing in that you can have a read only connection on your phone without having to sign directly into your bank (you do use different passwords, don't you). Anyway, the 'savings' are mostly distorted crap. Case in point. 90% of my retirement savings is in the Federal Government's TSP. Expenses are in the range of about .025%! Not 2.5% but .025%, Mint trys to tell me that I can save thousands by rolling it into a Vanguard IRA. Yes for many this is true, but even Vanguard's rock bottom ETF's are about 3-4x as expensive as the TSP! It guesses with some things and makes unreasonable assumptions. It can be a good place to start if you are looking for a loan or a CD or even a credit card, but don't take its word as gospel. Edit: All in all, it's great for FREE. If I had to pay, I would be much harder on it when my transactions show as duplicated or my balance doesn't update for a day or two. You get what you pay for, and this is 99% as good for an infinitely better price. KennyG fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Apr 7, 2011 |
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Apr 7, 2011 23:09
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A note regarding Mint and Navy Federal: NFCU reports the "Current Balance" to Mint, not the "Available Balance". This means your balance will be higher than your actual funds (the higher value being the sum of any Pending transactions). It's a bit annoying.
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Apr 7, 2011 23:25
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Zantie posted:What do you guys think of Clark Howard? I like to listen to him since he's basically a moderate Dave Ramsey and doesn't think credit cards are the devil. He's a libertarian nutjob (but non religious) Dave Ramsey. He used to be good, but I tried to listen to a recent episode and he just wouldn't shut up about how anything that isn't completely private insurance is going to send this country straight down the toilet. I wish there was someone who did the sort of financial counseling Dave Ramsey or Clark Howard did without all the preaching and ranting. No, Suzee Ormann doesn't count because she is batshit as well.
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Apr 8, 2011 01:08
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I listen to Planet Money and also Marketplace Money. I'm surprised the latter hasn't come up in anyone's list; is there something wrong with it? 
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Apr 8, 2011 01:28
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Thanks for the new podcasts guys! Glad I hit at least a couple of the popular ones on my first pass. I'm really enjoying getting a daily dose of economy/finance.Zeta Taskforce posted: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. Liberally leaning. I pretty much follow the party line (raise taxes, government regulation, help poor people, medicare, blah blah blah), although I don't necessarily know why or even if its a good idea. I don't like holding opinions that aren't well informed and often take a pass on economy since I'm pretty unawares. Would like to shore up my current beliefs, or discover a new one if that fits. For instance, on a purely political and humanistic level, I endorse Medicaid/Medicare. From an economic point of view, I understand that it is a huge burden on our country. I don't understand the realities of economy enough to make an informed decision if it is economically viable, however. Same can be said for lots of other areas, like austerity vs. spending, etc.
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Apr 8, 2011 03:31
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Didn't really know where to throw this... One business week is an appropriate wait time before asking "What's up?" after receiving a job offer over the phone and at the same time being told the paperwork should be en-route in a day or two? Got a call late last week reference to a position and was told it was mine if I was interested, and I haven't received any further contact or paperwork. Want to make sure I'm not the only one who might be wondering what's up in this situation - but also don't want to bother people before paperwork and other details are straight.
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Apr 8, 2011 05:31
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Untagged posted:Didn't really know where to throw this... Like all things, it's fact specific, but assuming they are in the same general geographic area (no expectation of significant mail delay) and they said they would send the paperwork in a "day or two", yes 1 week would be appropriate. You could also phrase it as a followup. Start with something else and then inform them that you have not yet received any paperwork.
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Apr 8, 2011 14:59
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I got offered a job on a Thursday night, the guy who hired me said, "we'll have the offer letter to you tomorrow or Monday." I didn't get the offer letter until the following Friday (week and a day, not actually the next day). I sent an e-mail to the guy who hired me on Tuesday and then e-mailed the HR lady on Wednesday. She gave me some BS line about talking with the guy who hired me to modify the offer letter as to why it was taking so long.
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Apr 8, 2011 15:50
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KennyG posted:This is 90% of Mint's value. Also, if you have a smart phone, it can be a blessing in that you can have a read only connection on your phone without having to sign directly into your bank (you do use different passwords, don't you). Anyway, the 'savings' are mostly distorted crap. That was my impression, but I thought I would check - I mean, apparently enough people click through to keep the site going, and it seems like the users of something like Mint would be at least slightly more savvy than the general populace. The only thing that Mint doesn't seem to do that I would like is the ability to add my utility accounts onto it. It's not a huge deal, but it would be a nice little addition. If I am doing this right, though, it seems like it will at least recognize the charge against my accounts and sort it correctly into the budgeting interface.
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Apr 8, 2011 15:51
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I asked this question a few pages ago but got no response. I recently was denied a loan, checked my credit report, and found two items that have been sent to collections (from 2007-2006), both of which were from my time as treasurer for my fraternity, where I found pretty quickly that tossing out bills was a pretty common practice. Is there anything I can do to get this off my credit report, or do something at all? Everything on there that was my personal credit lines was almost perfect, and I feel like I'm pretty hosed from now until 2015, when the 1st one goes off my report.
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Apr 9, 2011 06:19
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Is there a consensus on direct/online only banks? I thought there was a thread on this but i can't seem to find it. I feel like I don't need a B&M bank
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Apr 10, 2011 01:38
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Pizer posted:Is there a consensus on direct/online only banks? I thought there was a thread on this but i can't seem to find it. I feel like I don't need a B&M bank USAA if you qualify. Alliant Credit Union if you don't. Think that was the general consensus really.
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Apr 10, 2011 01:47
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I've had Everbank for a few years now, and their customer service has been absolutely flawless—open 24/7, always friendly and helpful, and when their website was down for maintenance, I called and a rep spent a good 30 minutes on the phone with me reviewing my upcoming ebill payments and recent transactions, so I didn't have to wait another day to review my budget/spending. They're also amazing when it comes to investigating payment problems from their billpay (ex. landlord says he never got the check, Everbank emails me documents proving that he received, endorsed, and cashed the check). They also increased my ATM withdrawal limit to $900 for a day when my brother (in another state) needed me to deposit cash into his Chase account so that he could immediately access it from his local Chase. This saved me the hassle and expense of wiring him the money. Highly recommended!
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Apr 10, 2011 02:05
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GobiasIndustries posted:I asked this question a few pages ago but got no response. I recently was denied a loan, checked my credit report, and found two items that have been sent to collections (from 2007-2006), both of which were from my time as treasurer for my fraternity, where I found pretty quickly that tossing out bills was a pretty common practice. Is there anything I can do to get this off my credit report, or do something at all? Everything on there that was my personal credit lines was almost perfect, and I feel like I'm pretty hosed from now until 2015, when the 1st one goes off my report. OK, I'll bite. You're likely screwed. It depends on the legal arrangement, but if it was in you're name or you co-signed it, you're screwed. You could pay off the debt, but no matter, you are on the hook for the debt. If you signed for the loan/debt/account, that meant that you legally guaranteed the money in the event the fraternity didn't pay. It would be a cheap lesson on why you should never co-sign a loan for anyone you aren't married to (and that one's not unanimous.) We need more information on their claim to you owing the debt.
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Apr 10, 2011 03:18
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I was wondering if anyone had any insight on the best banks for international transfers? My husband starts a new job next week working for a U.S. company and will be telecommuting from the U.K. for a few months until he starts working from the U.S. office. His employer will pay him in U.S. dollars but we'll need access to the money in U.K. pounds so we can pay rent, etc . We're thinking he could open up a U.S. bank account, transfer the money from that account to an X.E. account, and then transfer the British currency to his U.K. account. We have no idea what the fees will be like for something like this, though. Any insight? We'd prefer to bank with a local credit union or something Stateside but it looks like using a big bank like Bank of America or something might be a good temporary solution so we can do easy transfers to X.E.?
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Apr 10, 2011 10:24
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I don't know specifically about transfers, but a lot of my friends who live in multiple countries throughout the year (mainly Canada, the UK, Hong Kong, and the US) bank with HSBC and have been pretty satisfied with it. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of them but apparently it made it a lot easier to get to their money from various countries than it was before. Again, I don't know much about them except that they have branches in a lot of countries, but it might be worth looking into.
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Apr 10, 2011 16:30
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amethystbliss posted:I was wondering if anyone had any insight on the best banks for international transfers? My husband starts a new job next week working for a U.S. company and will be telecommuting from the U.K. for a few months until he starts working from the U.S. office. His employer will pay him in U.S. dollars but we'll need access to the money in U.K. pounds so we can pay rent, etc . If you get an account with Bank of America, you can use their debit card to withdraw from Barclays ATMs in the UK for no fee, directly converting into pounds. Also, any HSBC savings account will give you an ATM card that will let you pull from HSBC ATMs, also no fee and direct conversion to pounds.
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Apr 10, 2011 16:42
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kaishek posted:If you get an account with Bank of America, you can use their debit card to withdraw from Barclays ATMs in the UK for no fee, directly converting into pounds. Also, any HSBC savings account will give you an ATM card that will let you pull from HSBC ATMs, also no fee and direct conversion to pounds. Transaction fees aren't as much of an issue as the forex spreads, which will end up being a few hundred dollars a year.
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Apr 10, 2011 17:27
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DuckConference posted:Transaction fees aren't as much of an issue as the forex spreads, which will end up being a few hundred dollars a year. Yeah, but you can't help the forex spreads - they'll get you no matter what you do. The fees can be avoided, though, so you might as well put in the effort.
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Apr 11, 2011 01:04
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DuckConference posted:Transaction fees aren't as much of an issue as the forex spreads, which will end up being a few hundred dollars a year. This is only, as I read it, for a few weeks/couple months before they move to the states. So this would be a fine stopgap measure, I think.
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Apr 11, 2011 01:33
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Thanks for all of the responses. For clarification, my husband is telecommuting from the U.K. for 3 months, but then he's moving to the U.S. before me while I stay in England and finish my dissertation work. There will be an additional 2 months where he's in the U.S. and I'm in England. Getting access to British pounds is the biggest deal for the first 3 months since we'll have pretty large expenses like rent and tuition. After he leaves, I'm going to stay with his family for the remaining 2 months, so I'll still need a decent system in place but I won't be dealing with such large sums of money. I've used the Bank of America/Barclays system in the past, but I'm pretty sure there's a limit on how much you can withdraw from an ATM in a month? I'm sure if I tried to take out £1000 in one go just to pay for rent, (let alone living expenses, bills and tuition money) out of an ATM that woudn't go over well. If I were to take a Bank of America card into a Barclay's branch would they handle such large sums of money? The HSBC thing might be worth looking into, but my quick reading online suggests that those accounts are pretty expensive. Most places I've looked at suggest using a U.S. account, a U.K. account and some middle-man service like XE or PayPal (one woman said to pay her U.S. student loans from abroad she transfers money from her U.K. bank to her U.K. PayPal, then from her U.K. PayPal to her U.S. PayPal, then from her U.S. PayPal to her U.S. bank. I'll be doing it the other way around, of course, but I'm trying to avoid something as complicated as this).
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Apr 11, 2011 12:37
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As to the limits. Many banks have a per day or a per transaction limit. Most of these are designed to combat fraud. No matter how you do it, you are going to need to sit down and explain it to the bank, because your transactions will likely be denied due to fraud alert algorithms.
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Apr 11, 2011 14:10
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amethystbliss posted:The HSBC thing might be worth looking into, but my quick reading online suggests that those accounts are pretty expensive. HSBC Advance is free online savings with an ATM card: http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/1
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Apr 11, 2011 16:04
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Is there a "minimum" one should have available before starting investing in non-retirement vehicles? I'm saving for retirement (both 401K and IRA), although I am certainly not maxing out my contributions (because I don't make that much money). I would like to get involved in other investments, mostly just for fun. I understand that speculating like that is risky and I consider any money I throw at it to be already lost, akin to spending money on a hobby. That said, I don't have gobs of money to throw, even if its a hobby. Is there a general minimum that is required (say, $5000 or $10,000) before you are even capable of investing decently? Can you do small, hobbyist investing with $1000?
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Apr 11, 2011 16:52
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polyfractal posted:Is there a "minimum" one should have available before starting investing in non-retirement vehicles? I'm saving for retirement (both 401K and IRA), although I am certainly not maxing out my contributions (because I don't make that much money). I would like to get involved in other investments, mostly just for fun. I understand that speculating like that is risky and I consider any money I throw at it to be already lost, akin to spending money on a hobby. Are you talking about a separate account to buy and sell stocks and basically play around with?
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Apr 11, 2011 17:27
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Are you talking about a separate account to buy and sell stocks and basically play around with? Yep. I'm curious because if the minimum is, say, 10 grand to do anything even remotely useful I won't bother.
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Apr 11, 2011 17:30
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polyfractal posted:Yep. I would consider 10 grand to be an informal minimum in any case because of the nature of the investment. Unless you think a stock is going to magically double in price $500 isn't much to work with. You'd need to see decent gains just to break even from the price of buying and selling that stock, and at that point is it even worth the effort?
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Apr 11, 2011 17:37
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polyfractal posted:Is there a "minimum" one should have available before starting investing in non-retirement vehicles? I'm saving for retirement (both 401K and IRA), although I am certainly not maxing out my contributions (because I don't make that much money). I would like to get involved in other investments, mostly just for fun. I understand that speculating like that is risky and I consider any money I throw at it to be already lost, akin to spending money on a hobby. The less you have, the more fees you have to pay. And since it is basically just gambling anyway, you are at an even bigger disadvantage when you have to pay more fees. Just take up a hobby that is productive and doesn't cost so much, and put more towards retirement.
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Apr 11, 2011 17:41
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polyfractal posted:Yep. Don’t know if there is a “right answer” but I would say that you should be completely debt free, be maxing out your employer match if you are fortunate enough to have that benefit (free money is always good), and the fun account should not exceed 10% of your investments. The retirement should stay in low cost, diversified mutual funds that you don’t jerk around. But assuming you can do all that, I think you could start out with $1500 or $2000 with a discount broker. Yeah, illcendiary is right about the trading costs, and $5K or $10K is better, but assuming the other 90% of your life is rock solid and vanilla, you’re not going to do enough damage with the 10% no matter what happens. Personally I’m not in a place financially where I can meet my guidelines (bought a house a couple years ago), and I miss the adrenaline rush when you are ready to pull the trigger on something.
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Apr 11, 2011 17:54
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What is regarded as the highest one should go when looking at the housing vs. income ratio? Is 50% way too high? I'm possibly moving to the Northern Virginia area and at the salary of 48K, I can't find anything on short notice below $1200 (+utilities), even for a one bedroom. If my math with local taxes is right, that's about a little over 50%+ when factoring in other costs and expenses.
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Apr 11, 2011 18:58
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Untagged posted:What is regarded as the highest one should go when looking at the housing vs. income ratio? Yes 50% pre-tax(?) is way way way too high. It should be about 30% max. Incidentally 1200 is 30% of 48k. Still that is pre-utilities. I would feel more comfortable at raw rent being about 1k max if you can. Then again my rent to income ratio is 6.2% so what do I know.
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Apr 11, 2011 19:10
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kaishek posted:HSBC Advance is free online savings with an ATM card: Thanks- I just rang them up and they said we'd definitely go over the monthly withdraw limit for the savings account and would be charged $3 for every withdraw plus 4% in fees. That's way too much money to lose  . They said we're going to get slammed with fees unless we open a premier checking account, which costs $100,000 to open. Definitely don't have $100k sitting around, so back to the drawing board it is. Thanks for the suggestions, though.Edit: Called Bank of America, got my daily/monthly withdraw limit increased and will probably withdraw our funds from a cash point and pray I don't get robbed on my way to deposit a few thousand pounds in into the UK account each month. amethystbliss fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Apr 11, 2011 |
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Apr 11, 2011 19:26
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Untagged posted:What is regarded as the highest one should go when looking at the housing vs. income ratio? I live in Northern VA too, it SUCKS (financially)! 48k is not going to get you a nice place out here. Look out on Columbia Pike in Arlington or down in Alexandria. I can get you a free application (save a ~$100) if you want to rent with Archstone. They have places as low as $1100 in the burbs but $1200 in Alexandria. Is having a roommate an option? Do you have a car? If so, staying out of Arlington would be a good idea as they have a 5% annual car tax (subject to minor allowances). It's not cheap living in Northern Virginia and its getting worse.
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Apr 11, 2011 19:27
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Thanks everyone for your input on "hobby" investing - it looks like I'm not in a good position to play around with money at my current salary. 
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Apr 11, 2011 19:41
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Chin Strap posted:Yes 50% pre-tax(?) is way way way too high. It should be about 30% max. Incidentally 1200 is 30% of 48k. Still that is pre-utilities. I would feel more comfortable at raw rent being about 1k max if you can. Yeah, I'm thinking along the lines of included utilities and fees and the like in my math. I had a place at 1100, but it was rented. Complexes love to gouge you when you tell them you're moving on short notice. KennyG posted:I live in Northern VA too, it SUCKS (financially)! 48k is not going to get you a nice place out here. Look out on Columbia Pike in Arlington or down in Alexandria. I can get you a free application (save a ~$100) if you want to rent with Archstone. They have places as low as $1100 in the burbs but $1200 in Alexandria. Is having a roommate an option? I'm really looking in Loudoun (Leesburg, Ashburn, Dulles, etc.) and then in portions of southwest PWC (Haymarket, etc.). All apartments online and in person quoted for 1BR's have all been $1100+ (most have been $1200+). Archstone in Ashburn is $1200 for a 1BR 15-Month lease. That whole "people are renting rather than buying" is really hitting NoVirginia hard.
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Apr 11, 2011 19:43
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Untagged posted:I'm really looking in Loudoun (Leesburg, Ashburn, Dulles, etc.) and then in portions of southwest PWC (Haymarket, etc.). All apartments online and in person quoted for 1BR's have all been $1100+ (most have been $1200+). Archstone in Ashburn is $1200 for a 1BR 15-Month lease. That whole "people are renting rather than buying" is really hitting NoVirginia hard. I encourage you to check out the Archstone place, we are really happy with them here in Crystal City. I'm sure every building is different but I am on the budget end of their spectrum, some of their buildings in Clarendon/Rosslyn/Ballston hit $2000 for a 1Br. Something that actually contributes: The big problem you run into in the NoVA area is the government. You have highly transient people who are coming to work here for finite periods of time and they don't want to buy, especially with the market the way it is. Military personnel on deployments, government people making career moves, contractors, lobyists and special interests all have a desire to be here but most have no desire to stay. This hyper inflates the housing market and means you pay up to $3/sqft a month. I know, new york people are scoffing, but the income doesn't balance - especially for the Gov't workers.
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Apr 11, 2011 20:37
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amethystbliss posted:We're thinking he could open up a U.S. bank account, transfer the money from that account to an X.E. account, and then transfer the British currency to his U.K. account. We have no idea what the fees will be like for something like this, though. Any insight? We'd prefer to bank with a local credit union or something Stateside but it looks like using a big bank like Bank of America or something might be a good temporary solution so we can do easy transfers to X.E.? I do exactly this, but in reverse (UK pounds to US dollars.) It was a little daunting to get started with XE, simply because I'd never done anything as exotic as currency trading before, but it ended up being pretty simple. So, I maintained a UK bank account (with the Co-Op online bank) after emigrating to the US, and also have a joint credit union account with my wife in the US. Those are my transfer points. When you sign up for a basic XE trade account (they might call you for some basic fraud prevention stuff when you do this, although they didn't with me,) you enter the bank account details for where the currency you're buying will go (so in your case, the UK bank, in mine, the US credit union) - and then you can start doing trades. If you're doing a 'Basic Trade' (what I stick to,) here are the steps: - Choose what currency you're converting from and to (so USD to GBP) - Select the amount (£1,500 or whatever) - Input the transfer method for how the funds will be sent from XE's middle-man account to your final banking destination (I use Wire because the other ones baffle me) - Select the recipient account (you set these up within the XE account itself, just plug in the bank details and it'll show up here) - Input the transfer method for how the funds will be sent from your initial bank to XE (again, I go for Wire - I think this costs me a flat fee of about £14.00) - Press GO! (or get quote, or whatever.) This will give you a 20 second countdown to accept or reject the offer, which is hilarious and over-dramatic because unless the currency crashes in those 20 seconds you could do the same trade again for the exact same quote. The rates at XE seem relatively good - better than you'd get from a bank, and with fewer fees overall. If £1 is worth $1.63, say, then XE will offer something like $1.60 or $1.59. Anyway, if you accept the offer they give you, you then have to transfer the necessary amount to their middle-man bank account (this is the scary part because omg, what if they explode or steal it or something) via the method you selected above (so, Wire for me.) I do this online through the Co-Ops 'one off bill pay' feature. Within 3-5 days they'll have received the money from you and sent it on in the currency of your choice and it will appear in your other bank account (probably minus a few dollars/pounds for Wire fees and all that jazz.) Ta-da, you are now a currency trader  XE gave me a default trade limit of like $10,000 (the maximum amount you can be trading through them at once,) which is more than enough for me and sounds like it would be for you too. Total fees will probably depend on how much your bank charges for a Wire/whatever transfer you use, but if you're sending a large enough chunk of money it won't eat into it too much. I think on a transfer of $2,500 I'd maybe lose $30-40. Obviously the biggest 'loss' for you will be that you're transferring USD to GBP - and the exchange rate isn't exactly favourable in that direction to begin with. I've done the above about six or seven times through XE with no problems. Anyway, hope that helps! Feel free to ask me stuff, I'll try to answer. gurneybro fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Apr 12, 2011 |
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Apr 12, 2011 19:05
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Quick question about budgeting: I'm about a year out of college and I've been lucky/frugal enough to not have student loans or credit card debt to deal with, so I've gotten kind of lazy with budgeting and saving and all. I started putting together an emergency fund but I just got slammed with car repairs in the ~$2000 range. Luckily, between my tax return and the next paycheck I should be should be able to cover it, but money's going to be tighter than I'd like for a while. What are some good basic budgeting tips to just cut spending in general? I'm trying to treat this as an opportunity to become more fiscally responsible. Thanks
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