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First off, thanks for the input so far everybody.Orange_Lazarus posted:I was going to ask you about the current value of your car compared to the debt you owe but then I saw you had three kids and a wife. Unless you're driving your family around in a car that's unsuitable for a family you might as well keep it. Car: We've been upside down until recently. It's a 2003 Envoy XL (one of those third row family style SUV's) which really is perfect since the 3 kids are all boys. It runs like a champ but looks a bit rough. (I really do miss my jeep though) I keep telling the wife she's going to have to wait for her Armada or Pilot or whatever. You might be right about the tax thing, I'll have to look into it. We use turbo tax each year and everything works out but you're right we could probably be keeping more per month. As of now we're basically a lower income, married-filing-jointly, 3 kids, 1 full time student (me) so it's really not much to calculate. Data backup: we're using LiveDrive right now. 7 bucks a month for unlimited storage and computers, and basically a set it and forget it type system. We take tons of pics mostly of the kids so it's really just for that. I know I'm good at justifying just about anything. My wife tells me I'm too good. ("But honey they're not excuses, they're valid points to be taken into consideration.") But I am appreciating the feedback. How about the best way to go about paying off the debts? Using rough numbers, if we get 13k back, how should I go about doing it? Pay everything off straight away in one shot? Pay the personal loan off (highest APR), pay half the car and refinance, and pay half the credit cards? Any combination? We also don't have anything in savings and it'd be nice to have some in there, but I'm thinking we could start filling up a savings account after we're not dumping money into a debt any more. Should I get a financial advisor? Should I hire a budgeting service (I know there was one on here but can't seem to find it now)? Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Aug 20, 2012 |
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Aug 20, 2012 14:34
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Its hard to go wrong by taking out the highest APR first and working your way to the lower ones. Keeping thousand or so of the return for an emergency fund wouldn't be a bad idea, as long as you stick to only using it for emergencies. You should definitely pay off the loan, the car, and CC#3. I would still put it all into your existing debt though since its a hedge on reducing interest you are already paying vs reducing interest you might be paying later, and (I think? I don't know the military very well) you have a stable job situation. edit: Also if you want budgeting, I love https://www.mint.com/. There are a ton of free budgeting apps that come highly recommended by goons so you shouldn't need to pay for one. Harry posted:Only do the individual 401k if you were planning to do a large match with your personal business. Xenoborg fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Aug 20, 2012 |
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Aug 20, 2012 15:37
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If you're getting 13k back in taxes than you're paying too much in. You're funneling over $1,000 a month to the government only to get it back in a lump sum. Wouldn't an extra $1000/mo give you better breathing room?
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Aug 20, 2012 18:10
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FCKGW posted:If you're getting 13k back in taxes than you're paying too much in. You're funneling over $1,000 a month to the government only to get it back in a lump sum. I'm going to hazard a guess that a significant portion of this is earned income credit ($5751 of it) and either American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning credit. That said, he probably still should reduce his withholding, which is probably more like $400/month.
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Aug 20, 2012 18:18
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:I'm 25 years old and was just hired as a librarian at a local community college. I'm living at home, and plan to stay there for a year or so to build up some savings and/or get most of my student loans paid off. My current balance is roughly $37,000 with a 6.8% rate, but they're federal, so I qualify for the income based repayment plan and the ten year public service forgiveness program (having all loans forgiven after making 120 payments while employed by a public institution). My salary is starting at $31,100 annually, and I plan to save a vast majority (roughly 80%) minus gas expenses, taxes, etc, which should yield about $20,000 in a year. Combine that with my other savings, and I'm looking at about 30,000 in savings a year from now. Are you living somewhere rent free? I'm an aggressive saver, but you might find it difficult to keep all of your expenses within $1,000 per month, which seems to be your current plan. I'm not saying that it can't or shouldn't be done (I can definitely be done), but you may have to see how things go while living on that budget for a while to see if you can maintain that savings rate. Of course, if you have to drop down to 60-70% savings, it wouldn't be the end of the world...
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Aug 20, 2012 18:49
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zharmad posted:I'm going to hazard a guess that a significant portion of this is earned income credit ($5751 of it) and either American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning credit. That said, he probably still should reduce his withholding, which is probably more like $400/month. Hit the nail on the head with the credits. Military pay is no secret (here's a pay chart). As an E4 in over 2 I get 2046. I'm actually only paying 80 for social security, 30 for Medicare, and 46 in state taxes, and no federal taxes. Wage YTD is 13076. YTD for all of the above paid is 1061. (God this is depressing.) Of course I get ~free~ housing and medical but yeah. I guess the wife's just gotta get back to work lol
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Aug 20, 2012 18:52
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:As an E4 in over 2 I get 2046. I'm actually only paying 80 for social security, 30 for Medicare, and 46 in state taxes, and no federal taxes. So those rates in the chart are per-month?
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Aug 20, 2012 19:05
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baquerd posted:So those rates in the chart are per-month? That is correct.
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Aug 20, 2012 19:25
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I'm back for more advice. Somebody tell me to get over it and just suck it up, because it's for the best. (I wasn't sure if this was the perfect thread for this post, but seeing as how it's a continuation from my previous discussion and nobody's posted anything since my last post yesterday I figured it'd be alright) You all know my financial situation from above. Now here's some more stuff. Long story as short and consise as possible: Since I had an "early out" (from Military Active duty) request for October pending, and just about everybody in my chain of command thought it was going to go through (based on numbers), we moved the wife and kids early to TN to stay with my parents until I got out in October. (My kid was starting 1st grade and we wanted him not to have to deal with going to school here for 1 or 2 months and then switching to a whole new school.) My parents have a house with a fully finished basement (3 bedroom, kitchen, bath, living / dining room, etc) and they only asked 200 a month until I get out and we settle in our own place there. I took 2 weeks of leave to move them there, only taking their clothes, toys, books, and crib (rooms already had beds and furniture). Leaving them in TN, I came back from leave to find out my early out request was denied so now I'm in until my contract is up in Nov 2013. We're at a crossroads. Or a fork. Or whatever. Option A: Family stays in TN Pros: Free childcare (my parents) Wife can work full time ($2k / mo low estimate income starting position at the hospital) I can move out of this house and get a room mate in a place for about $450 including rent and utils, gaining the 1400 that's taken out of my paycheck for this ~free~ base housing for cash in my paycheck I can probably take on another class per semester, thus finishing my degree sooner Cons: 15 months away from the wife and kids  ... yeah that's about it. That's a long time. Option B: Family comes back here Pros: Yay wife and kids are here  Wife can still work full time Cons: Childcare costs Stuck in this house (can't find an alternative decent enough to save the money that we're not paying in rent and utilities) Kids (even though I love them) are loud, distracting, attention seeking, energy draining leaches who make it insanely harder to focus on school (They're actually really awesome kids and I love them but it's still true) gently caress I'm almost 30. I "got lucky" with a shore command where I don't have to be deployed and can stay with the family, and now there's this option. The wife's looking at it like it'd be a complete waste of time to come back here, like we'd just be sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting until November next year, and yeah she's basically right but goddamnit. I just have this feeling that option A really isn't going to be everything it's cracked up to be. Really I guess this whole thing came as a shock and I'm being a stubborn emotional unaccepting idiot. Tell me how spectacular option A is.
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Aug 21, 2012 20:46
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Is the base your on close enough to TN for weekend trips up there? Do you even have weekends or some other time off? Is what you're studying something you could do on a long bus/train trip? I can't give you anything more than my own anecdote, but when I was 8 and my little sister was 6 my dad worked in another city that was a 4 hour train ride away for almost 2 years and we saw him on average 1 weekend a month. I haven't really talked to my parents too much about it, but it seemed to work out for us. Xenoborg fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Aug 21, 2012 |
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Aug 21, 2012 21:51
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I have a question which doesn't really deserve its own thread. Also, if this question is too much like "how do I launder money?" let me know and I'll delete my post. I recently received an inheritance of $10,000. I am also unemployed and severely underwater on my house. My wife and I are exploring a number of options, from short sale to refinancing to the Keep Your Home California program. I know that acceptance into any of these paths would not be helped by a sudden $10,000 cash influx into our bank accounts. We're also not interested in spending the money anytime soon. I wanted to sign over the check to our sister-in-law, but B of A won't do 3rd party checks, especially for such a large amount. They also won't cash a check for more than $5000. What the hell do I do with it? Deposit it into my IRA? My kids college account?
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Aug 22, 2012 17:52
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coronaball posted:I have a question which doesn't really deserve its own thread. Also, if this question is too much like "how do I launder money?" let me know and I'll delete my post. Maybe use it to pay down some of the debt on your house? The reason that your listed paths would not be impressed by $10,000 cash is because there are lots of people out there who actually need the programs because they don't have $10,000 cash. If you have to rig your financial situation to qualify for assistance, that should be a flag to you that maybe you're not as bad off as you think.
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Aug 22, 2012 19:58
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Hey guys! I come to you guys almost one year after I original sought your help with my credit standings. Once again, thank you so much for your help thus far. On to my question - my credit score now sits at 723. I have the same crappy little credit card with Capital One that I got last February with a really small credit limit (started at $500, now at $750.) I have zero blemishes on my record, so my credit history looks something like this: -Student Loans, never late -Bought a $20k car, paid it off -Got a credit card in January or February, consistent usage, never late. I am interested in getting a better card with more rewards as possible... however, I know that this may be a bit early for those kinds of shinanigans. I've read a lot about the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card and it looks right up my alley. Credit Karma says I'd have a "good" chance of being approved. Am I getting ahead of myself here? Thanks for any advice! And keep doing this great service. Everyone should be required to read this entire thread before they turn 18.
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Aug 22, 2012 20:25
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coronaball posted:I have a question which doesn't really deserve its own thread. Also, if this question is too much like "how do I launder money?" let me know and I'll delete my post. Since you are unemployed, you are by definition in the middle of an emergency. I would keep the money in a money market account until you start working again. I get that you don't like being upside down on your house, but is this a matter that you bought too much house, and now with the unemployment you can not pay the mortgage, or you barely can but the least thing would blow you over the edge, or you can afford the mortgage, you just feel like a sucker because you could rent an equivilent place so much less?
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Aug 22, 2012 21:47
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mfaley posted:I am interested in getting a better card with more rewards as possible... however, I know that this may be a bit early for those kinds of shinanigans. I've read a lot about the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card and it looks right up my alley. Credit Karma says I'd have a "good" chance of being approved. Am I getting ahead of myself here? First, wow! You're doing well and should be really proud of yourself Second, I have a Blue Cash and it's meh. Not everywhere takes AmEx, and the rewards haven't really stacked up to much for me. I have an Amazon Chase Visa that I use and that I get Amazon credit or a check (I don't know if the check is less) on a quarterly basis. I like that one a lot more because I can use it more places and the 3 points back on Amazon purchases adds up nicely (there are also points on groceries or something, not sure). There's also a credit card rewards thread that you may find useful, or maybe you've been there already since you're thinking about the blue cash.
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Aug 22, 2012 21:57
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Eggplant Wizard posted:First, wow! You're doing well and should be really proud of yourself I have both of those cards and I just use them wherever the points are maximized. I kind of wish I would have picked up the Blue Cash Preferred. You don't really have to spend that much on groceries at 6% cash back to make it pay off pretty well. I believe it's around $210 a month on groceries where the annual fee is covered by the extra 3%. Also, the extra 1% on gas is cool. You can get a statement credit from both cards at 1 point = 1 cent but I tend to use the Amex when I can because you can redeem 2500 for 25$ and not wait for the 5000/$50 on the Chase.
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Aug 22, 2012 22:39
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Eggplant Wizard posted:First, wow! You're doing well and should be really proud of yourself This is fantastic information, thank you! Once again, to everyone here: I was completely ignorant when I first began researching these topics, and this thread is really the number one resource I've found. Please keep it up, if only as a public resource! Also, thank you for the compliment. I've actually been terrified of using credit (this I did not have a CC until 8 months ago) -- but sitting with a good credit history and standing does fill me with a sense of accomplishment. So, to circle back to my original question: is it too early to be considering applying for another, harder to get card? Or is it OK to consider that?
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Aug 22, 2012 22:45
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I had a really good credit score and was denied the Amex Blue card because I didn't have enough sources of credit open so I had to get my wife to apply for me but then they were nice enough to put me on the account too :P Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Aug 23, 2012 |
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Aug 22, 2012 23:25
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SmuglyDismissed posted:I have both of those cards and I just use them wherever the points are maximized. I kind of wish I would have picked up the Blue Cash Preferred. You don't really have to spend that much on groceries at 6% cash back to make it pay off pretty well. I believe it's around $210 a month on groceries where the annual fee is covered by the extra 3%. Also, the extra 1% on gas is cool. Aha I can see how that would work. I don't have a car, I use a debit card that goes to a joint account with my boyfriend for groceries, so the Amex doesn't even get used much anymore. mfaley, I don't know about approval and all that credit voodoo, but in yourself I think you are okay so long as you keep on paying off your cards as you go and not carrying a balance. It's possible to be responsible with 1 card and it's possible to be responsible with 9 (but that's a bit silly).
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Aug 22, 2012 23:41
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So I just graduated a few months ago and I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to do with money. I worked during school and lived cheap so I have ~$25k sitting in a checking account right now and I'm starting to think that's probably kind of dumb. I don't have any debt. My job offers a 401k so I'm planning on making the max contribution to that. But I don't know what to do with the rest of my savings. I'll probably be looking to buy a house in ~5 years but until then I'm not planning on spending much. Is there anywhere I can stick it to get a decent return without taking huge risks and where it will be accessible in the medium term? Is there a general rule for what percentage of your income to save for retirement? My company matches something like $.75 on the dollar for the first %7 of salary so I'm planning on doing that at least, but not sure if I should do more.
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Aug 23, 2012 03:34
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I think the general rule is still to contribute to your 401k up to the company match then max a Roth IRA. If you managed this then you go back to funding your 401k with whatever you have leftover. You can (as far as I understand) take the principal investment out of your Roth without penalty. So if you absolutely had to keep your money somewhere where it can grow but will be accessible that's one possible route. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Aug 23, 2012 |
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Aug 23, 2012 03:52
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Aha I can see how that would work. I don't have a car, I use a debit card that goes to a joint account with my boyfriend for groceries, so the Amex doesn't even get used much anymore. Awesome, thank you very much for your wisdom.
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Aug 23, 2012 05:10
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Orange_Lazarus posted:You can (as far as I understand) take the principal investment out of your Roth without penalty. So if you absolutely had to keep your money somewhere where it can grow but will be accessible that's one possible route. With as bad as rates are right now, you're not going to find much. I have a bunch of cash stored in a yearlong CD at like 1.5% which was the best rate at the time, but I was saving it for the very short-term. Bankrate.com lets you compare rates if you want to go that route.
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Aug 23, 2012 05:17
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Heh.. I did the above and tossed all my money into a 2020 target retirement fund with a similar diversification but the expense ratio is +.05% higher. Think it's worth rolling over to https://personal.vanguard.com/us/fu...&FundIntExt=INT ???
Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Aug 23, 2012 |
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Aug 23, 2012 11:50
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moana posted:With as bad as rates are right now, you're not going to find much. I have a bunch of cash stored in a yearlong CD at like 1.5% which was the best rate at the time, but I was saving it for the very short-term. Bankrate.com lets you compare rates if you want to go that route. And yet my reaction to 1.5% is "  WHERE? WHERE?"  Not that I have a use for a year-long CD at this point. I just like to watch them like sports, I guess.
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Aug 23, 2012 13:22
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Eggplant Wizard posted:And yet my reaction to 1.5% is " Yep. 1.5% with negligible risk is pretty good these days. I'd take that.
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Aug 23, 2012 16:22
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I posted a few months back about starting work in switzerland, and wondering what to do with my paycheck. At the time I was considering moving a chunk of my earnings out of CHF into UK and Ireland-based GBP and EUR accounts where interest would be better. Now I've had some time to look into things in a bit more detail, it looks like a swiss CHF based investment fund might be a better option, but I don't know enough about how these work to make an informed decision yet. A brief summary of my finances: I am untaxed on my earnings as I'm in an international organisation. I drop 1kCHF in mandatory pension contribution and health insurance per month.The pension fund contribution can't be increased, and because I'm only in a 2 year contract at the end I can cash out, convert or continue with it if I get a longer term position (unlikely). The remainder of my pay is mine to do with as I please. I am living pretty cheap, in total my monthly expenses including rent, food, socialising, etc are <2500CHF. I have a student loan which I will need to repay but I'm sticking with the bare minimum on this as it's capped to inflation. That is my only outstanding debt. This leaves me with a fair amount of cash sitting in a checking account. I've accumulated an emergency fund in this account now which is sitting at 10kCHF which I reckon is as high as I want to take it. I have about 2kCHF/month free to invest/save. In switzerland the interest on savings is horrendous- it's _less_ than I get on my checking account (0.2% for a standard savings account at my bank compared to the 0.55% preferential rate I get already). The advisor suggested I go for one of their investment funds, specifically their balanced fund which is split 45/55 stocks/bonds. This is the specific fund she pointed me to: http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/funds/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F0GBR04SR7 At face value it looks ok to me- the expense ratio is 1.66%, the performance for the year to date has been pretty good, but to my untrained eye it looks fairly volatile. Does anyone familiar with this kind of fund have any advice on whether this is a solid bet? I'm not even sure if this is what I should be looking to put my money in. Ultimately I'm saving for a combination of medium-term (preparing for a family within the next 5-10) and retirement (I'm nearing 30). I'm only likely to have this kind of liquidity for the next 2-3 years, so I'm keen to make the most of it while I can. Any suggestions?
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Aug 24, 2012 15:52
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StarkingBarfish posted:The advisor suggested I go for one of their investment funds, specifically their balanced fund which is split 45/55 stocks/bonds. This is the specific fund she pointed me to: You're making some good money - the equivalent of someone in the US making ~$130k a year. Are you sure no government needs taxes from you? That expense ratio seems quite high to me. I would imagine you'd do better manually splitting income into index equity and bond funds.
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Aug 24, 2012 16:41
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baquerd posted:You're making some good money - the equivalent of someone in the US making ~$130k a year. Are you sure no government needs taxes from you? It's definitely tax-free. Because CERN is an international organisation its employees aren't taxed (because which country would they pay taxes to?). This was made clear by HR over here when I started the position. Even cars are on diplomatic sales and untaxed. It's probably why there's so many nerds floating around here with porsches. I think the expense ratio is high precisely because I pay a premium to not bother splitting myself- If I understand you correctly, I should pick a couple of funds with lower ratios, each 100% stocks or bonds and just divide my intended deposit amount between them? I'll take a look, as that seems pretty straightforward. UBS has a really intuitive online banking framework. Thanks! Edit: So CERN levies an internal tax before I ever see my paycheck. This goes back to CERN, and I'm exempt from governmental taxation. It's described here: http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1245729/ StarkingBarfish fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Aug 24, 2012 |
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Aug 24, 2012 17:21
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Morning Star posted:UBS (Lux) Strategy Fund - Balanced (CHF) P-acc This is almost the definition of a fund to stay away from. Your adviser suggested a fund where they extract 6% up front, and up to another 2% when you finally pull out of this.
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Aug 24, 2012 17:34
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Initio posted:This is almost the definition of a fund to stay away from. Your adviser suggested a fund where they extract 6% up front, and up to another 2% when you finally pull out of this. That's assuming they extract the maximum, right? From what I was told at the time the initial charge is 2%, though I'd like to see that in writing Either way, what are common/sane initial and exit charges in your experience? This is the first time I've had to do something like this so I have no baseline for what is normal.
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Aug 24, 2012 17:39
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StarkingBarfish posted:That's assuming they extract the maximum, right? From what I was told at the time the initial charge is 2%, though I'd like to see that in writing The current expense ratio for Admiral Shares of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund is 0.06%. That is not 6%, but 6 one hundredths of one percent. There is no fee to purchase or sell the fund. This is a fund that is diversified across the entire stock market. Although Vanguard fees are lower than most other servicers, you can make up a diversified portfolio across stocks and bonds with just a few funds of this type. There is no such thing as a fund with "sane" entry and exit charges, since you can create a properly diversified and balanced portfolio with the purchase of just a few funds that don't have any such charges. Managed funds like the one you are considering charge fees because people think they can pick winners in the market to justify their high fees. There have been quite a few studies that indicate that such funds rarely beat the market by more than the fee they charge to attempt to do so, and often fall short. If there were managers that were good enough to always beat the market, they'd be so busy managing money for the super-wealthy that they wouldn't have any need to take investments from the population at large. Also, assuming you are a US expat, I would make very sure that you don't owe the federal government any income tax. Just because you don't owe Switzerland any money doesn't mean that Uncle Sam still doesn't need to get his beak wet. Based on some quick googling, the foreign earned income exception is about $95k, but based on your posts you seem to make more than that. As such, you may still owe the US government money. NJ Deac fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Aug 24, 2012 |
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Aug 24, 2012 17:56
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The ones I use personally don't have any fee to buy or sell. My average expense ratio is about 0.25% (one quarter of one percent). Essentially I just picked three funds that track major indexes (one for bonds, one for all US stocks, one for non-US stocks). I usually just update this once a year or so when I add more money. If you want even less involvement, there are some companies that offer a 'target retirement' fund (like this one https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0696&FundIntExt=INT). These will take care of stock/bond allocations for you, moving you towards less risk as you near retirement - just set up automatic deposits and the whole thing works automatically.
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Aug 24, 2012 18:01
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NJ Deac posted:The current expense ratio for Admiral Shares of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund is 0.06%. That is not 6%, but 6 one hundredths of one percent. There is no fee to purchase or sell the fund. This is a fund that is diversified across the entire stock market. Although Vanguard fees are lower than most other servicers, you can make up a diversified portfolio across stocks and bonds with just a few funds of this type. Wow, do you know if vanguard does anything in CHF? I took a look at their site but it looks like it's a US operation. Edit: vanguard.ch  NJ Deac posted:There is no such thing as a fund with "sane" entry and exit charges, since you can create a properly diversified and balanced portfolio with the purchase of just a few funds that don't have any such charges. Thanks, this is good info. I thought the point of funds was to take the effort out of having to juggle stocks and bonds by yourself, and that the charges were for doing the legwork. Sorry I'm so ignorant of how this all works. If it's as easy as it sounds then maybe I should be looking at doing it myself. Out of interest, how much time do you devote to managing your investments? NJ Deac posted:Also, assuming you are a US expat, I would make very sure that you don't owe the federal government any income tax. Just because you don't owe Switzerland any money doesn't mean that Uncle Sam still doesn't need to get his beak wet. Based on some quick googling, the foreign earned income exception is about $95k, but based on your posts you seem to make more than that. As such, you may still owe the US government money. I'm a British expat. Article 10, sec. 2.b(i) of this document: http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1035110 states: subject to the conditions and following the procedures laid down by the Council of the Organization, the officials and the Director-General of the Organization shall be subject to a tax, for the benefit of the Organization, on salaries and emoluments paid by the Organization. Such salaries and emoluments shall be exempt from national income tax; The UK signed this document, so I'm definitely in the clear in that regard. StarkingBarfish fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Aug 24, 2012 |
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Aug 24, 2012 19:53
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StarkingBarfish posted:
A very common misconception of many people that are new to investing is that the goal is to pick winning stocks/investment vehicles and to "buy low/sell high". This is essentially gambling, since it relies on your ability to accurately predict the future better than the rest of the market, including individuals who have both better information and more time on their hands than you do (and statisically, they do no better than random guessing anyway, and charge you for the privilege!). Rather than picking individual stocks and bonds, your goal should be to have a diversified allocation that meets your needs for your risk tolerance and long term planning goals. You can do this with just a couple hours of light reading and research. One very simple way to do this is to purchase something like the Vanguard Target 20XX Date funds, which buy the entire stock market and bond market, and slowly reduce your risk as you get older based on the target year of your retirement. These funds have a higher expense ratio than pure index funds, but still much much much lower than the one your "advisor" was trying to push on you. Often times the funds with front-end/back-end loads give a substantial portion of these proceeds as a commission to the financial advisor that sells you the product! Bit of a conflict of interest there, no? As you learn more, you can move your money to an allocation that is more personal. The Long Term Savings thread has a wealth of knowledge on all of this: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2892928 The Four Pillars of Investing (Amazon) is also a fantastic read on the same subject.
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Aug 24, 2012 21:26
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Forgive me if this is not the right place for this, but I didn't see any better place for this (except maybe the House Buying thread). I am trying to be less goony and move out of my parent's place. My thoughts so far are: 1: I don't even know where to begin looking. Whenever I Google renting sites, I come up with advertisement flooded websites overflowing with huge houses costing thousands of dollars that are miles away from where I am looking for. Craigslist seems a bit better, but I always feel like I'm about to get stabbed through my computer. Are there generally reputable sites for this kind of thing? I'm looking for something off of 95 in MA, if it helps. 2: I had a credit freeze put on my stuff because of an identity theft scare a few years back (under the advice of someone who I can no longer get more advice from). I am willing to get it undone, but is that going to hurt me renting? Or would that only matter for purchasing a house? 3: What do you guys think is a reasonable percentage of take-home income to pay into rent? I got stuff between 33% and 55% from random googlings (and admittedly I'll probably consider the actual money rather than the percentage), but I am curious what you will say to that old chestnut. Basically, what do I need to know to embark on this? I am in no specific rush, so I want to take this cautiously.
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Aug 25, 2012 02:54
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1) Start in this thread. It has an excellent OP (I'm super humble) and it's designed for peeps like you. 2) I don't know what that is. SOMEONE ELSE? 3) 25-33%, please not more. 55% is insane.
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Aug 25, 2012 03:14
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StarkingBarfish posted:Thanks, this is good info. I thought the point of funds was to take the effort out of having to juggle stocks and bonds by yourself, and that the charges were for doing the legwork. Sorry I'm so ignorant of how this all works. If it's as easy as it sounds then maybe I should be looking at doing it myself. Out of interest, how much time do you devote to managing your investments? If you get a target retirement fund with automatic deductions you can probably get everything set up in less than an hour and then forget it until you retire. By definition only 50% of investors will do better than the market. After tacking on fees only a small percentage beat the market in the long run, and studies have shown that those that beat the market can be almost all be attributed to random chance. An index fund with low fees will almost always outperform an actively managed fund in the long run. Before investing I'd highly recommend any of any of the books in the Long-Term Investing thread. My favorites are "The Four Pillars of Investing" and "A Random Walk Down Wall Street."
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Aug 25, 2012 03:18
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spaztaz posted:If you get a target retirement fund with automatic deductions you can probably get everything set up in less than an hour and then forget it until you retire. Thanks! A lot of helpful people in this thread. I'll see what I come up with after a bit of reading.
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Aug 25, 2012 11:04
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I don't really know anyone I can ask this IRL, so I hope it's ok to ask here! I really want to go to college. It's pretty much the only thing I want to be doing right now. I just don't know if that's currently a good idea. I have a lot of debt, an untreated mental illness, and no job. I've been jobhunting for months, but I honestly can't handle any sort of work right now because of said mental illness. Which I can't seek treatment for since without a job, I can't even afford copay. I don't want to e/n this thread up so I won't go into too much detail. I still owe $2,700 in student loans from my last attempt at college. that was a few years ago when I had just barely graduated high school and wasn't ready for it at all, and dropped out after failing one semester. After a loooong break from anything academic I know I'm ready this time. I have around $7000 debt in medical bills, due to my aforementioned mental illness(and the only reason I brought it up). I'm covered under my Mom's insurance, but we're not on speaking terms so I can't really go to her for financial help. Anyways this is the big reason I'm so hesitant to seek treatment without a job. I have almost exactly $1000 in credit card debt, since I had to live on a couple of credit cards for a really long time. I'd probably still be doing that now if my credit wasn't too wrecked to apply for any more cards  Oh and a $600 charge I owe to Washington state for a dumb mistake I made with my SNAP benefits, but I might be able to get that waived. I have a lot of other old bills floating around that I have yet to pay off simply because I just haven't had a lot of money for a longass time. Anyways somehow, despite all this I was urged to fill out a FAFSA and I was actually approved for a loan! But I'm really hesitant to take on even more debt. I know the community college I'd be enrolling in would have some sort of program to help me with my mental illness, and the loans would seriously help me and my boyfriend with day to day finances(right now we're both living off his $15/hr 9-5 job while he handles his own debts). And gently caress, I want to go back to school so bad. Would it be a good idea to take on more debt and go back to school? Or should I keep job hunting until I can find work to pay off debts and pay for treatment? Main reason I'm asking this instead of just doing the second is that it honestly seems like I won't be getting employed for a long time, especially when job interviews are too overwhelming for me sometimes. :\
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Aug 27, 2012 00:46
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