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You can try https://www.clearcheckbook.com . There is an Android app for it as well.
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Jul 31, 2012 18:58
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I have a Canadian Federal Loan of about $11300 that I currently pay $350/month into. The interest rate is Prime + 2.5%, so 5.5% currently. It should be paid off within 3 years (likely less because I pay an additional lump sum from time to time). I see that I could open a line of credit at a bank (like Scotiabank) and get Prime + 1%. Would it be worth it to switch over to the line of credit for the lower interest. Is there something I'm missing that makes this a bad idea? Note: I am not eligible to use any of the Canadian Federal Loan relief programs or anything because I make over the threshold. I have a contract guaranteed job for the next 5 years minimum.
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Jul 31, 2012 20:59
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for a digital "Envelope Budgeting System"? Like an Android app or website? I want to try the system out, but I'm enough of a shithead that I can't afford to withdraw a month's supply of physical cash. Check out YNAB at http://www.youneedabudget.com - they have cross-platform desktop applications as well as apps for iOS and Android that all sync together. It's worked great for us over the past few years, and you can try it out (I think the free trial is now 34 days). In addition to the software, they have a lot of really great training materials as well.
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Aug 1, 2012 03:20
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Seconding YNAB. It's really helped me know where my money goes and how to fix things. Worth doing the free trial.
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Aug 1, 2012 04:54
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As I slowly crawl my way out of debt I have a couple questions. Right now I have about $2000 in savings, $3800 in credit card debt at 14.24%, and $2000 over budget in checking. I spent the past year with negligible savings. Ideally I want to save money for a house down payment. I am tempted to use my surplus and savings to pay off my credit card now but doubt I have the discipline to replace that money in the 5 months I originally planned to pay it off. After that is gone I will have an extra $1200 a month to replenish my assets. I need to prioritize what I do with that money: 1.) Saving for house (Currently at $2,000, would like to see at least $20,000) 2.) Pay off car early (Owe 12,219@3.79% min $365 month payment) 3.) Contribute to Roth IRA. (just started, about $800 with $30 in contribution this year). Other retirement accounts have 20k in it now. My wife and I have a combined income of about 5,000 net a month and are living with parents rent free. Eventually we have to move out but the first time we did that is what sent us spiraling into debt. I would be more careful this time but it would take a significant amount of our money. Should I take the 2000 extra dollars and put it in savings or pay down the credit card or keep getting money in savings? Is the value of saving greater than a 14% penalty? I will try to pay myself the money that would go to the credit card if I do that but know that having money around like that can be tempting. How we can we save significantly for a house while renting? Anything decent is close to $1000 for the rent let alone utilities. When can I afford to start contributing big time to my Roth IRA? I don't know if I can get up to 5K by April. All in all I went from 44k in liabilities to 17k in liabilities in a year by cutting my losses and going to one car and moving back in with her parents to live rent free. Now that I got a steady supply of decent money and our heads above water we got to smart about what to do with it this time.
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Aug 2, 2012 04:08
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Very quickly here is what I would suggest as priorities: 1) Build up savings a little more for an emergency fund. This should be enough money to cover your expenses for 6 months ish should you lose one or both sources of income. It's also for unforeseen medical expenses and, well, emergencies. 2) Pay down debt: the interest on your debt is way more than anything you'll be getting on savings so in my opinion it makes the most sense to get the debts out of the way. Even if you only did $1000/month + the $2000 surplus you have now, you'd be able to pay off both in a little over a year. You could do it more aggressively too but I'm being conservative because life tends to throw curveballs. e: I forgot to think about interest, oops. Anyway, it's not that bad and I think you should kill that debt. 3) Max out Roth IRA. Are the other retirement accounts work-held? If there's matching, you should be contributing the maximum matched amount so you get that sweet free money. 4) Save for house. Personally I am frightened of debt so I hate the idea of buying a house. Rationally, however, I understand that it's an important goal for you and you need to have an end goal in mind... but getting your retirement on a better track is a higher priority IMO, and you'll need to get rid of your other debt before you're likely to get a house loan anyway so just do that as soon as possible. When do you have to move out? Do you know if there's a time limit on your living with her parents? disclaimer: not a financial professional in any way, just a nerd.
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Aug 2, 2012 04:22
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I'm completely new to this whole having money thing, and I've been checking out my credit union's savings certificates. The one I'm thinking about opening is $500, lasts 15 months, has a dividend rate of 1%, and it says "dividends are computed daily and paid monthly." I don't know exactly what that means, how much will it earn in a month?
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Aug 2, 2012 04:39
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A 1% CD of only $500 would earn about $0.42 per month. You can find savings accounts with about the same rate while retaining liquidity. CDs are pretty silly with rates being so low right now, IMO.
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Aug 2, 2012 06:22
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Norry posted:I'm completely new to this whole having money thing, and I've been checking out my credit union's savings certificates. The one I'm thinking about opening is $500, lasts 15 months, has a dividend rate of 1%, and it says "dividends are computed daily and paid monthly." I don't know exactly what that means, how much will it earn in a month? The computation is how often interest is compounded. The more often it is compounded the more interest is paid. Let's assume you have a 1 year CD paying 1%. Compounded yearly it would pay an even $5. Compounded monthly it would pay $5.023, so an extra $.023. Compounded daily it will pay $5.025, so you would earn an extra 2 tenths of a cent over monthly compounding. Being paid monthly is really so that the bank isn't trying to deposit fractions of a cent on daily basis to your account. It doesn't really seem like much, but when you start working with larger deposits, larger interest rates or longer periods it can add up significantly. But, like Guinness said, you can get a fully insured liquid account that pays the same without locking up your money for a year and a half, so there's really no reason to lose liquidity until interest rates increase.
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Aug 2, 2012 16:36
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So I'm wondering if there are any inherent flaws with my 1-5 year plan. Which essentially boils down to, "Live cheap, save as much money as possible until you can buy a house without having to mortgage." Currently the only debt we have is our mortgage (we don't want to live in our current home) and we own both of our cars and we have about $21k split between checking/savings and $10k split between two Roths. My goal for the longest time has been to "Reduce my overall need to work." So in the past few years we have paid off all of our debt minus the mortgage. The advice I usually see for people that are in my situation usually is "Save as much for retirement as possible" but retirement seems like such a long way off and owning a home entirely seems like a much more sensible choice for the present as I would be netting an extra $1000 bucks a month, give or take. TLDR: We're saving all of our money for a home we plan to buy outright or reduce the mortgage significantly (>75% maybe?) we will still invest in our Roth IRA's but conservatively. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 16:35
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There are a lot of things to think about and I don't think one plan is necessarily right for everyone - personal ideology, psychology, behavior, etc all play a part in having the best plan for you, as well as what kind of income level and work benefits you get. I tend to fall more towards retirement savings over banging out a mortgage completely (especially when you're young) for a few reasons: 1) Both retirement savings and mortgages are tax-advantaged, giving you more bang for your buck. 2) The compounding nature of interest as well as the mostly untouchable quality of retirement savings can really balloon your retirement savings when you get there, allowing you to retire earlier. The younger you are, the bigger an effect this will have. 3) When people free up money from their budget from paying a mortgage, it doesn't tend to be a 1-1 replacement into savings or retirement - some of it almost certainly go into disposable income. 4) Kids are really expensive, making the issue in #3 even harder to deal with if you're not already used to socking money away. However, there are definitely cons to that, namely that getting used to living with debt can make it easier to spend money you don't have (though this happens less with mortgages than it does with credit card debt) and having a mortgage on a tight budget makes your life situation riskier in the case of a lost job. This is even more true if both parties are already working. And much of this assumes that you have a 401(k) or similar to take advantage of at work, giving the tax benefits of retirement savings. If, other than your Roth, you'd just be sticking retirement money in mutual funds or something, paying of the mortgage (or splitting the difference between faster repayment and retirement savings) might make more sense. One thing I will say is that if you're young you should not be investing your Roths conservatively. The goal is to make that account be as high as possible in 40 years, not keep it as high as possible every day until then.
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Aug 3, 2012 16:57
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Is there some reason you don't want a mortgage at historically low rates?
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Aug 3, 2012 17:01
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Yeah, although I probably could knock out my mortgage in just a few years, I am going to keep it around as a good hedge against inflation, especially since we have sub-3% rates right now.
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Aug 3, 2012 18:18
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Quick question: I have the option of taking out a $10,000 loan at 4.99% APR fixed with 4 year repayment. Is there any reason not to do this and put the whole thing into the market? What do I need to weigh? I'm 25, out of school, with current loans at: - $13,500 remaining, 2.99% fixed making minimum monthly payments. Two plus years remaining. - $2,350 remaining on a student loan, 3.45% variable. Payments not due until 2018 (this loan was much higher but in advance of the potential rate increase I made payments on it). - %1,000 remaining on a personal loan, 0% with the stipulation that if it's not paid down in one year's time the rate will jump to 28% on accrued interest. Final payment not due until February. My monthly rent/utility/bill expenses come in at about $2,300. The additional burden would amount to an extra $230/mo. My income is around $5,800/mo with a raise of about $600/mo coming in December. My thoughts on the matter are that this would increase my range in credit history and extend it past 2 years from now when the majority of my credit accounts are closed. My only concern is that it won't make the 5% minimum to break even over the next four years. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Well what do you mean? I'm obviously pretty new to this stuff, thus newbie personal finance... VVV Boon fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 22:24
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Boon posted:Quick question: Common sense?
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Aug 3, 2012 22:30
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You're probably not going to beat that return by a margin being worth your time, especially compared to your income.
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Aug 3, 2012 22:45
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Boon posted:Quick question: Can you explain what you're thinking here? 5% is a fairly realistic long-term goal for investment return, so if this were a 30-year loan you would probably break even. In 4 years though, you'll have to choose between either low-risk investments that won't even come close to 4.99%, or high-risk investments that are just as likely to give you a net loss over 4 years as a gain, and then you'd be losing another 4.99% on top of that. Think of it this way: if the banks could do better over 4 years investing that money in the market, why the hell would they be lending it to you instead of doing so themselves?
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Aug 3, 2012 22:45
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E:fb Eggplant Wizard posted:Common sense? The bottom line is its very very very unlikely you would get a 5% Roi over the 4 years in the market right now. The only way that might happen us with extremely risky investments, which you'd be far more likely to lose everything in.
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Aug 3, 2012 22:47
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Holy poo poo, the limit on my Discover card just went up by TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS from $2500 to $12500. I didn't ask for a limit increase, they just gave it to me. No question, just kind of blown away by it. FISHMANPET fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 23:05
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FISHMANPET posted:Holy poo poo, the limit on my Discover card just went up by [b]TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS[B] from $2500 to $12500. I didn't ask for a limit increase, they just gave it to me. Mine jumped up by $7,000 when I was unemployed.
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Aug 3, 2012 23:09
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Well my hesitation to do it was why I posted here, but since I just squirrel away excess cash into mutual funds I don't really have any experience with this. Thanks for the advice.
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Aug 3, 2012 23:11
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Boon posted:Well my hesitation to do it was why I posted here, but since I just squirrel away excess cash into mutual funds I don't really have any experience with this. Thanks for the advice. Thank you for listening 
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Aug 4, 2012 16:52
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I have a question on using the Debt Snowball method. Here's my current debt, attacking in this order: CC #1 - $525.00 - 0% (promotional rate) CC #2 - $1,940.97 - 27.99% CC #3 - $2,239.41 - 8.9% Student Loan - $15,038.97 - 5.25% I'm a few months ahead on my student loan. Technically, the next due date isn't until 10/28/12. I've been making $250 payments every month regardless though. Should I keep paying the $250/month anyway or drop that into the debt snowball as well?
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Aug 6, 2012 18:46
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armoredgorilla posted:I have a question on using the Debt Snowball method. I would definitely do that. You're paying about $45 a month in interest on CC2, I'd aim to pay that off as quick as reasonably possible. How much extra are you tossing into whichever each month? e: and by "that" I mean put everything extra into the snowball. Dragyn fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 19:08
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If I were you, I would pay the bare minimums on the student loan until the credit cards are gone. It will speed up your CC payoff dramatically.
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Aug 6, 2012 19:13
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Dragyn posted:I would definitely do that. You're paying about $45 a month in interest on CC2, I'd aim to pay that off as quick as reasonably possible. How much extra are you tossing into whichever each month? Yeah, that second card is brutal, but I'll be on it soon enough. I don't have my expenses spreadsheet in front of me (at work, pulled the balance/rates off the card sites) so I'll have to check it later. I'm sure there's money to be freed up because of that (I'm guessing around $50-75) and tossed into the snowball. MrKatharsis posted:If I were you, I would pay the bare minimums on the student loan until the credit cards are gone. It will speed up your CC payoff dramatically. Bare minimum on the student loan is $220ish, so I'll do that as well. I was just wondering about it for the next three months where I don't have any payment due but would still have interest piling up. Thanks for the advice, guys, it's much appreciated.
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Aug 6, 2012 19:26
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I recently left a job and I am considering rolling my 401k over to my roth IRA. I have tried google but it is kind of confusing and I don't want to go to jail for screwing up my taxes. My current 401k = ~$11,500 All fully vested so no problem. 2012 Contribution to my Roth IRA = $5,000 My reason for doing so is mostly simplicity and convenience and so I get my money off Fidelity (my employeer's choice) and to vanguard (my roth ira, my choice). What do I need to do and is this actually a good idea or should I leave it alone?
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Aug 6, 2012 20:33
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Xguard86 posted:I recently left a job and I am considering rolling my 401k over to my roth IRA. I have tried google but it is kind of confusing and I don't want to go to jail for screwing up my taxes. You'll take a tax hit unless you roll it into an IRA. This is not really a good or bad thing, it just is, and is something to think about. Personally, I would make another IRA account with who ever holds your Roth and roll it into that. Make that your dedicated "401K dumping ground". That's what I did years ago.
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Aug 6, 2012 20:44
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Bit of background; Age: 28 Wage: $25/h Country: Canada Cash On Hand: $10k Retirement Funds: $40k Down the Pipe: I have $70k owed to me through inheritance that is currently tied up in real estate. Debt: Nothing serious, $1,200 in a federal student loan and a $800 balance on my credit card, which I'll new paying off this month. Budget: I have yet to nail this down. My biggest expense is rent, which is $1200/month. This is on the higher side for my area (the burbs around Vancouver) but I live at home in a basement suite to help out my parents a bit. rent-$1200 cable/internet - ~$120 cell - $100, but paid by work insurance - $130 food - $4-500 remainder - I've been putting $500/month away to build up my emergency, and just spend the rest on everything else. Getting a budget sorted out is on my to-do list. I got a $2.50 raise at the start of the year ($22.50 -> $25), along with a job promotion. I've fulfilled the job requirements sufficiently since then, and was offered two scenarios as additional compensation; a $3 raise, bumping my pay rate to $28/h, or a company vehicle (up to $600/month pre-tax lease). My first instinct was to take the extra cash, which is where I've been for the past month. However, I'd like to gather as much information as I can before my truck dies and I'm forced to make a rushed decision. I currently drive a 1996 Toyota T100, with 200k miles on it. I've replaced the engine a few years ago, which had 75k KM on it at the time, so it still has a long ways to go. However the rest of the truck, although decently maintained, is probably nearing the end of the line. I can feel the transmission slipping (auto) more than it used to, the whole underside is rusted out, and a bunch of small items that I've neglected to fix (passenger side seatbelt is gone, eaten by dog, who also chewed the shifter, making it impossible to spray windshield wiper fluid or take the truck out of OD). I'm hesitant to put any more money into my current vehicle, but I'm trying to weigh the option of either buying a truck and using the pay increase to finance it (~$340/month, which is $3x160 minus 30% taxes), or get a $600/month vehicle allowance (about ~$680 post tax). I have yet to look at insurance rates, but I doubt the difference between new and 3 year old truck would be that significant. The vehicle would have to be some variant of a grey F150, to match the bosses truck. It will also have a canopy with some sort of company wrap/logo.
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Aug 7, 2012 06:25
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Take the $3/hour pay raise and hit the used car market. Does it HAVE to be a gray F-150 though? Such a specific request.
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Aug 7, 2012 09:54
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Only if I got a company vehicle, is what I meant.
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Aug 7, 2012 15:01
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There are sometimes strings attached to company vehicles that make it so you'll have a hard time completely replacing your personal vehicle. Also, I don't like everyone who sees my vehicle parked to know exactly where I work.  Do you ever get overtime? If you're accustomed to getting even 5-10 hours a month in OT, that might be another plus to the pay raise.
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Aug 7, 2012 18:57
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Does switching between four or five different banks over a few years affect anything? I'm talking places for checking and savings. Credit cards and credit accounts have remained solid at whichever institution they came from.
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Aug 7, 2012 20:13
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canyoneer posted:There are sometimes strings attached to company vehicles that make it so you'll have a hard time completely replacing your personal vehicle. Also, I don't like everyone who sees my vehicle parked to know exactly where I work. I usually have 82-85h pay periods, but only get paid straight time. It's still a valid point, one I didn't really consider. As I said, I've already taken the pay raise, I just wanted to do some due diligence before my current truck dies. Right now I'm stocking all extra cash into a savings account, might just use that towards a truck. I'll also have to look into the strings attached. Any negative repercussions would be on his end, not mine, because insurance and everything would be under his name. But he's said I would be using it as a personal vehicle.
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Aug 7, 2012 20:15
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I've had my first job for about 3 months now. Being young and having most of my college expenses paid through financial aid, I have little financial responsibilities. While there's a lot of pressure to spend all my money because there's no bills, I don't want to be like a few of my friends who have little to no money in savings because it's always being dipped in. As you can imagine the job is apart time & minimum wage so i'm not getting much in. But with my current spending habits I typically have 30-40% of the check left over, which is thrown into savings. It's honestly not very fun or exciting to throw money in like that, but knowing in the back of my head that there's some sense of financial progression is nice. I wanted to "do more" with the money I have saved up, but I figured I should get an emergency fund well established first? And once that's started...I was thinking maybe invest in CD's? From what I've been told and am reading, they look like a decent way to save money. On top of that, the fact you can't pull them out before maturity seems like a great way to keep my self control in check. Not sure if it's still too early to consider all this, but I really want to spring on this opportunity while it's open.
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Aug 8, 2012 04:16
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Wow, saving that much is great. One thing that might help is if you make a budget and specifically give yourself a certain amount to spend on fun stuff. That way the savings won't feel as much like a deprivation. If possible, I'd suggest you start a Roth IRA and put some of the money in that. Starting to save for retirement early (REALLY early, even  ) is a very solid thing to do, and it'll give you a chance to learn a little bit about different investment options.CDs are kinda lovely right now, like everything else, but once you have your emergency fund set up they're as good as anything else I guess. Eh. My vote is e-fund & retirement fund. If you have more than $5000 earned income this year spare to throw into the Roth, I'll be very surprised. The bonus of a Roth is that you can take out any of the principal (the amount you put in before gains from the market are added) for any reason at any time. So it's not like you're locking it up for ever and ever if it turns out you need it later (except you are because DON'T TOUCH YOUR RETIREMENT FUND).
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Aug 8, 2012 04:27
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Untagged posted:Does switching between four or five different banks over a few years affect anything? I'm talking places for checking and savings. Credit cards and credit accounts have remained solid at whichever institution they came from. No, not really.
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Aug 8, 2012 04:46
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Just a quick credit card question: My fiance and I were getting married in the next year and were going to be planning a honeymoon afterward. Would it be wise in getting a credit card with travel points to help pay for it? Note that my income and finances are excellent and I plan to use the wedding as an excuse to make purchases on the credit card and then just pay it off a day later. Does this seem like an easy way to help pay for the honeymoon? Any goons with credit cards with great travel bonuses? I've been looking at AmEx Blue Sky card. It currently gives you a bonus 15K points ($200) and another $100 with every 7500 points earned where 1 point = $1 spent on the card. notMordecai fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Aug 8, 2012 |
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Aug 8, 2012 06:00
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Where are you going for the honeymoon? I've got an Alaska Airlines card from Capital One that is phenomenal for me - it's I think a $75 annual fee but you rack up points fast if you fly Alaska. The kicker for me was every year you get a buy one ticket to Hawaii get the second one for $99, which could be big savings for you if you plan on going there already.
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Aug 8, 2012 06:08
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| # ? May 10, 2024 00:21 |
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moana posted:Where are you going for the honeymoon? I've got an Alaska Airlines card from Capital One that is phenomenal for me - it's I think a $75 annual fee but you rack up points fast if you fly Alaska. The kicker for me was every year you get a buy one ticket to Hawaii get the second one for $99, which could be big savings for you if you plan on going there already. We're currently thinking either San Francisco, Alaska(!), or somewhere overseas. We live in South Texas so nowhere hot/tropical because we deal with this poo poo everyday. Here are some more notes on that Blue Sky card that just makes it really tempting:
I only have very basic usage CCs so a travel specific (or general "use points to buy poo poo to travel") card is very new to me.
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Aug 8, 2012 06:18
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