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Simple interest is based on the principle alone. Compound is based on the principle + compounded interest. So 10% simple interest on $100 would get you $10 + $10 + $10 over three years. Usually that interest is paid into your account or available to you somehow. 10% compound interest on $100 would get you $10 + $11(interest on $110) + $12.10 (interest on $121). This interest is paid into the principle.
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Nov 5, 2012 17:55
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In the US how many years back can you claim a tax credit for tuition or deduction for student loan interest?
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Nov 6, 2012 02:00
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Harry posted:Do the student loans first. The tax deduction is going to be negligible and since you've somehow amassed $30,000 in savings I'm going to assume you aren't just some reckless wild spender. Why is your health/dental post tax by the way? Can you not do the cafeteria plan? I found out last year that I made too much to be able to take a deduction on student loan interest (which sucks because I paid about $3,500 last year just in student loan interest). In fact, about the only thing I could actually deduct was my state tax paid from federal tax paid. It does give me enough where itemizing makes sense, so I am trying to be more diligent this year about tracking other possible small deductions. My health and dental (and 6% of my 403(b) ) are pre-tax, sorry if that wasn't clear from my first post. I go out probably twice a week on average. Dinner for me and my girlfriend usually runs about $50 but we usually trade off every other time on picking up the check. We live about an hour apart (me in downtown Baltimore, her in downtown DC) so when we see each other, we usually try to actually go do something. I realize that might not be the best financial decision, but for our relationship, spending the two nights a week that we see each other out in the city rather than at home watching Netflix seems like a necessary evil. canyoneer posted:But your case is sort of out of the ordinary, because your student loans are at a fairly high interest rate and your other debt is at a strangely low interest rate. Dave Ramsey popularized the 'debt snowball' method, which is to pay down your debt starting with the smallest balance first ignoring interest rates. I totally get what you're saying. I am a very logical and not very emotional, though, and for me, getting the total debt paid off the fastest is what I want. I did pay off a few very small loans that had slightly lower interest rates already. I am really looking for a strategy as far as how much I could afford to pay off of my student loans, and still be safe as far as keeping enough in the bank should something catastrophic happen with my job. As I mentioned, I have about 12 months worth of relatively liquid assets at this point. Perhaps someone could point me to a calculator that would tell me if I paid off $x now versus waiting until I have the entire amount saved, it might give me a clearer picture of how much I would waste in interest, and I could make a better decision about what my current financial security costs me over the repayment term.
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Nov 6, 2012 07:17
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A question about banks/credit unions. I want to be able to save up for things, and it would be mentally easier for me to be able to toss my money in separate "buckets" to keep the various things separate. Obviously I could just use a communal bucket and keep track of the split externally but I would prefer not to do that. I know I have seen people mention ING having the ability to easily create new accounts, does Charles Scwab do this? Are there other banks or credit unions that have some way of easily creating new accounts or making sub accounts or similar?
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Nov 6, 2012 09:06
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Why not just open some extra accounts where you're at?
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Nov 6, 2012 15:55
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PRADA SLUT posted:Why not just open some extra accounts where you're at? Prime solution. I have 7 savings accounts + my chequings and I'm considering opening one or two more savings accounts, depending on how anal I want to be about micromanaging myself.
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Nov 6, 2012 16:42
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"mentally easier" and "multiple accounts" seems contradictory to me. I mean if you're really micromanaging things enough to keep a good handle on a bunch of savings accounts, I don't see how that's any easier than anally maintaining your own records with the balance broken down into the different funds/savings goals. To each their own I guess.
Remy Marathe fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Nov 6, 2012 |
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Nov 6, 2012 18:09
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Steampunk Hitler posted:A question about banks/credit unions. You could try http://www.smartypig.com/
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Nov 6, 2012 18:18
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I have like four different savings accounts. One for goal A, one for goal B, one for goal C, one for goal D. By logging into my accounts I can easily see just how much money I've saved up for each individual goal. Multiple bank accounts makes it way easier.
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Nov 6, 2012 18:28
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PRADA SLUT posted:Why not just open some extra accounts where you're at? Because I hate where I'm at at and plan on moving both my checking account and savings account to someplace else. I wasn't sure how simple or easy opening extra accounts tend to be. Where i'm at now it takes a good chunk of my day to drive in and deal with the idiots in the office to make a new account so I only have the one. Comrade Gritty fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Nov 6, 2012 |
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Nov 6, 2012 19:03
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Steampunk Hitler posted:Because I hate where I'm at at plan on moving both my checking account and savings account to someplace else. I wasn't sure how simple or easy opening extra accounts tend to be. Where i'm at now it takes a good chunk of my day to drive in and deal with the idiots in the office to make a new account so I only have the one. SmartyPig.com lets you partition your money into various goal 'accounts' through their website without actually having a separate account. The interest rate is 1% there so the rate is pretty competitive for a savings account.
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Nov 6, 2012 19:14
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Smartypig looks pretty nice. Thanks.
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Nov 6, 2012 19:21
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Smartypig looks good for saving for a few longer-term goals. Is it easy to move money from smartypig to my bank? Are there any fees?
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Nov 6, 2012 19:29
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No fees, at least not when I used them. I found the interface a little clunky but you can also get extra bonus cash at certain retailers if you cash out in gift cards, which is nice.
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Nov 6, 2012 19:40
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I do not know anything about Smartypig but I use ING and I like it. I do not have the separate savings accounts set up (perhaps I should), but I have done transfers in and out and I've used their customer service line. No fees, no problems.
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Nov 6, 2012 19:42
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I hope some of you fine goons may be able to help me out with this. I live in Venezuela and I've been doing some research into opening a bank account in the US in order to put aside some money into savings since I'm hoping to move overseas during Q4 of next year because this is a loving terrible place to live. The problem is that due to travel restrictions and expenses, taking a trip to open it personally is out of the question at the moment and I'm having no luck finding any banks that let foreigners open bank accounts remotely. My only two options so far are Commercebank -which does let me open an account from here but requires a minimum deposit of 3000$ within the first month or they'll close it automatically- (out of the question since that ammount is the equivalent of five months of my budget) or Chase bank through an intermediary who earns his living opening accounts for venezuelans for a 500$ fee (still high since I'd have to go through the black market to get the dollars). Now, I'd like to avoid paying this fee if possible since I have all the necessary documentation and I have some friends in the states who could probably help me out with any necessary errands. So if any of you could point me in the right directions as to which banks I may work with, or have any information about dealing with Chase in particular in order to sidestep the intermediary (their contact numbers for international banking have been terribly unhelpful in this department), I'd really appreciate it. If it helps in any way, once I get my bank account up and running I'm planning on getting an EIN for Amazon since I'll be trying out their Kindle Direct Publishing Program. If having an EIN beforehand would aid me out in opening account that'd be great to know. Thanks in advance goons! EDIT: I suppose since I have a specific question I'm better off asking here instead of making a whole new thread, if that isn't the case let me know. Labradoodle fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Nov 6, 2012 |
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Nov 6, 2012 19:44
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ING Direct is changing from Orange and Blue colors to Red and Blue colors. They're whole business is around orange, and the "Orange Savings account" and "Electric Orange" and their logo is a giant orange ball. They will also be known as "Capital One 360". Very catchy!
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Nov 8, 2012 00:03
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FCKGW posted:ING Direct is changing from Orange and Blue colors to Red and Blue colors. Goddamn. I like orange  I don't really like capital one.
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Nov 8, 2012 00:51
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Yeah, I've been starting to consider moving away from ING/Capital One ever since the take over. For a while they pretty much left it alone, but now they're totally rebranding and changing things. Nothing has really materially changed yet, thankfully, but these types of takeovers tend to eventually ruin a good thing. But the integration with ShareBuilder is really nice... so I'm still playing wait and see.
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Nov 8, 2012 01:03
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Does anyone know anything about this AmEx "Personal Savings" business? It's sponsoring NPR so I keep hearing about it. It sounds weird. Also the savings calculator is hiiii-larious. Competitive .9% rate indeed 
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Nov 8, 2012 01:09
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Guinness posted:Yeah, I've been starting to consider moving away from ING/Capital One ever since the take over. For a while they pretty much left it alone, but now they're totally rebranding and changing things. Nothing has really materially changed yet, thankfully, but these types of takeovers tend to eventually ruin a good thing. They're losing their rights to use the ING name in a few months, so I suspect things will start changing before long. I intend to get out sooner rather than later.
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Nov 8, 2012 01:36
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God dammit I've liked ING so far, but Capital One put themselves on my official poo poo list a while back and I am a big fan of the color orange. I remember Ally as another online bank at/near 1% return, any suggestions as to other high yield savings accounts I should be comparing?
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Nov 8, 2012 06:39
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Remy Marathe posted:God dammit I've liked ING so far, but Capital One put themselves on my official poo poo list a while back and I am a big fan of the color orange. Smartypig and that AmEx one I linked to maybe. Dammit I want like Vanguard to have savings; they're (probably) less evil I guess Ally is privately held so at least they're not beholden to shareholders? On the other hand I don't know what that means in regard to disclosure... e: Their parent company got in trouble in the big fuckup and it's still partially held by the government. Minus, or plus?e: Hahaha THE INCREDIBLE BANK is another one. (e again: watch those fees though- $15 for non-electronic statements. https://www.incrediblebank.com/support/fees.cfm) Alliant credit union has .79/.8 on savings, and .75ish on checking. Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Nov 8, 2012 |
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Nov 8, 2012 15:15
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Please for the love of Cthulhu, help me. According to my credit union's expense tracking software (MoneyDesktop), last month's income was $3393. Last month's outcome (is that a word?) was $2642. I put $400 into savings. So I should have $350 left over, right? I don't. I don't have any money left over. Also, I am increasingly convinced that I don't understand finances. At all. Please help me!
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Nov 8, 2012 20:23
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If you use a credit card, the expense tracker shouldn't be counting your credit card payments against your income (as it was expensed in the previous month). You should basically be seeing the $350 next month.
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Nov 8, 2012 20:30
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Outcome is a word, its just not the opposite of income, use expense or expenditure instead. Anyway, you can look at your account's balance after each transaction and make sure it adds up. It could also be that last month you had $350 more debit on a credit card then you do now. Most (all?) expense tracking tools count credit card purchases as expenses as soon as they happen and within whatever month the purchase happens (well when it clears anyway). Your credit card account is treated as an account with a negative balance, and when you pay off a credit card isn't treated as an expense, its a transfer between two of your accounts.
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Nov 8, 2012 20:53
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Brennanite posted:Please for the love of Cthulhu, help me. According to my credit union's expense tracking software (MoneyDesktop), last month's income was $3393. Last month's outcome (is that a word?) was $2642. I put $400 into savings. So I should have $350 left over, right? Did you calculate your income and expenses yourself? Without knowing more, there could have been something weird with the software. Especially with free software where you didn't imput anything, it there could be something funny where a transfer from savings to checking might register as income as far as the checking account is concerned, or a payment out doesn't count as an expense for the part that paid down the balance.
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Nov 8, 2012 21:23
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I'm not sure where to put this post, but I'm definitely a newbie at personal finance and I need to know what to do. I'm 22 and I have $400,000 which is sitting in a savings account doing nothing. College is paid for by parents, I own a car, I'm probably not going to have any additions to this amount besides a part-time job that I work at during school. I am working towards a Computer Science degree and have one year left. I imagine I will try start climbing the career ladder as soon as possible after school ends. The question: What exactly do I do with this and where should I start? I'm not about to blow it on fancy things, I'm not interested in spending it (exceptions being living expenses). I would like to be as responsible as I can with this money and I realize that not very many 22 year olds can say they have a net worth of almost half a million dollars. I've been thinking about buying a house, because that would save around $9,000 a year on rent alone and I would not need a mortgage because I could buy it cash. Once again - not sure where to start. If anyone would like to give me some solid advice, it would be much appreciated.
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Nov 10, 2012 00:49
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Catsoup posted:I'm not sure where to put this post, but I'm definitely a newbie at personal finance and I need to know what to do. Tell us about your current income and expenses, especially with consideration to next year when you're out of school. Buying a house all-cash is awesome, but I'd be careful about buying in the city of my first post-college job, since you might move around a few times in the next five years. Don't buy a $300,000 house though. You have a car, no debt (it sounds like), and you're not looking to start a company. Doesn't sound like you'll need a big chunk of cash any time soon! Take a trip to the Long Term and Retirement Investing thread?
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Nov 10, 2012 01:00
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I was going to say just do whatever it will be hard to screw up, but then you're talking about buying a house to save rent which is retarded. Have you considered asking your parents? Or did you somehow manage to accrue this independently?
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Nov 10, 2012 01:00
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Don't buy a house. You might save $9k in rent but you'll spend $9k in taxes and maintenance. Also, it's short-sighted to commit to a single location when you're still in college and planning to do career poo poo after. There are counterarguments to this of course, but I expect the majority of people in your situation would not do well to buy. Otherwise you need to get the money into a portfolio of your choice, for which check out the long-term investment thread. Cash, stocks, bonds in proportions that accomodate your taste for risk and how long you plan to leave the money alone. In your case you might want to think about the different tax implications of different types of investments as well.
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Nov 10, 2012 01:03
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Catsoup posted:I'm not sure where to put this post, but I'm definitely a newbie at personal finance and I need to know what to do. How in the world did you get $340,000 in a year and a half.
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Nov 10, 2012 01:09
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Steampunk Hitler posted:How in the world did you get $340,000 in a year and a half. He invested all his money into Apple stock. But seriously, listen and do not buy a house. $9k sounds like a lot but it is not, considering that everything is more expensive with a house, like taxes, maintenance, utilities, etc. But most of all, it gives you a lot of flexibility in what you can do with your life. Especially since you say you're trying to climb the corporate ladder, that may very well involve several new jobs. Renting gives you the flexibility to move at the cost of a month's rent, whereas with a house, you're either tied down or in a situation where you're facing a sell for a loss. With that kind of initial investment, it may very well be worth speaking to (several) financial advisers and doing your homework before doing anything with that money.
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Nov 10, 2012 01:51
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Tell us about your current income and expenses, especially with consideration to next year when you're out of school. Buying a house all-cash is awesome, but I'd be careful about buying in the city of my first post-college job, since you might move around a few times in the next five years. Don't buy a $300,000 house though. Current income is zero dollars Bob. Planning on picking up a paid internship next semester however. (Probably $9/h / 20 hours a week) Expenses are $130/m car insurance, $650/m rent, no debt like you guessed. The house idea was only because it seemed like a great market to buy one. Prices are down and once I was done living in the one I bought, I figured I would sell it for a profit later and rent it while the market was still so-so. (7-8 years in the future). slap me silly posted:Don't buy a house. You might save $9k in rent but you'll spend $9k in taxes and maintenance. Also, it's short-sighted to commit to a single location when you're still in college and planning to do career poo poo after. There are counterarguments to this of course, but I expect the majority of people in your situation would not do well to buy. Long term investment thread seems like where I should be heading, thanks. totalnewbie posted:He invested all his money into Apple stock. Noted. I've heard a house is pretty expensive to upkeep once you're living in it but I thought the appreciation value when the housing market went back up would balance things out. Obviously this was just a random guess at what I should do, and thought I'd talk to someone (you guys) before I even stepped in that direction. I'll start talking to financial advisers ASAP - are there any recommended places to begin with? Steampunk Hitler posted:How in the world did you get $340,000 in a year and a half. Slick Internet detectivery. Apple stocks was the closest guess. Catsoup fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Nov 10, 2012 |
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Nov 10, 2012 03:33
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Catsoup posted:I thought the appreciation value when the housing market went back up would balance things out. Hahaha, after the bubble that just happened people are still thinking this! (Nothing personal, it's not just you.) There are zero guarantees on this score, so you shouldn't count on it. It depends entirely on what happens with the housing market in your area, and what your own buying and selling timeframe turns out to be, and you can't predict either of those things with any reliability right now. Regarding financial advisers, I think there are still a lot out there who will sell you lovely funds just because they'll get a fat commission. Read up on index funds, fund fees, etc. and if somebody wants you to put your money in funds with a 5% load you should probably fire their rear end. slap me silly fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Nov 10, 2012 |
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Nov 10, 2012 04:48
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I cannot ever recommend buying a house when you are that young, and this is coming from someone who bought a house young. Trust me, $9k is peanuts compared to the risk and illiquidity of your house, and if the market takes another giant poo poo you'll be stuck there or stuck with a loss, neither of which is great for a young person. Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it.
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Nov 10, 2012 05:23
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I got a Costco AmEx that has a 0% APR for 6 months. Can I do a balance transfer from another card and still have the 0% APR on it? There's a 3% balance transfer fee and a 15.6% balance transfer APR but I don't know if that overrides the intro APR or not.
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Nov 10, 2012 06:26
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So I have a newbie question and I looked at the OP and other threads here and I was not sure where to leave it: I am a 24-year old kid from a lower-middle class family. I started my career 8 months ago, my income looks like this: Car Loan: ~$17,000 remaining on 36-month 0.9% APR I pay $600 every month. No Student Loan or any credit card debt (other than $300-$400 that gets auto paid every month) Earnings: ~$1,900 a month (Still using my parent's healthcare instead of paying for it at my work, and I missed the 401k enrollment, I plan on doing that next time around) After a nasty car accident and long legal battles I netted a little over $71,000. This is more money than I know what to do with, and my parents don't know jack about how to best save it. Obviously I am looking to have this money grow since it will be a long while 'till I will need to touch it (house, medical surgeries to tune-up my titanium filled body etc). I'm guessing just leaving it in my checking account is a bad idea. Furthermore I was talked out of paying off my car loan since my 0.9% APR is low enough that chances are I can make a net gain by investing the 17k for the next 2.3 years. If you guys have any suggestions I am all ears, even it it is to go to a different thread. [edit] I am a little intimidated by stocks and bonds but if it's passive enough I suppose I could do it. I think I am looking for a safe thing I can just walk away from, but I did come for advice so I'll take anything into consideration. WhiteOutMouse fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Nov 10, 2012 |
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Nov 10, 2012 09:58
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will blow your mind.
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slap me silly posted:Regarding financial advisers, I think there are still a lot out there who will sell you lovely funds just because they'll get a fat commission. Read up on index funds, fund fees, etc. and if somebody wants you to put your money in funds with a 5% load you should probably fire their rear end. Definitely. What you want is someone who is fee-only and has a fiduciary duty ONLY to the client. That means that if the adviser works for an investment group like Schwab, for example, don't use them. People who work for investment companies are going to have an interest in getting you to sign up for their funds, which means they won't give you the best advice for your situation necessarily, but rather for their own commission/sales figures. You can look for a fee-only planner here. WhiteOutMouse posted:So I have a newbie question and I looked at the OP and other threads here and I was not sure where to leave it: Well, for safer choices there are a couple of options. Nothing is super great at the moment because interest rates are very very low (like your car loan).
My opinion? Split it up. Keep 6 months' expenses (emergency fund) somewhere nice and liquid like savings. Possibly you should keep more than that because you have more potential for medical issues, I gather, than us non-cyborg Americans. Then fund a Roth for the year. Next, chuck some into either your car loan or a .95% savings of some kind (if it's less that .9% then you should just pay off your car IMO). Then, if you want to minimize risk, put the rest into a savings account and enjoy that sub-inflation-rate-level-interest. (If I were you I would still probably throw a little into a Vanguard fund just so you start learning more about financial things. Even if it's only $1000, it's a good start and it's better to get a basic understanding of stuff before you throw everything into it. There are lots of good things to look at in the OP if you want to get more into it.) Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 15:18 on Nov 10, 2012 |
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Nov 10, 2012 14:52
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but seriously that's the best I've found.
) and likely to remain so for the next two-three years. Cons: you can't touch that money for 4-5 years without incurring penalties, and interest rates might go up sooner than 4-5 years. Now, to get this rate you need $25k plus, so you could put like half-two thirds or so of your money in a CD, and then do some market stuff for the rest if you want to do more than one thing. With the money not in a CD, you could...
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Catsoup posted:Slick Internet detectivery. Apple stocks was the closest guess. Why not just keep on doing what got you that much money in that timespan? If it was a one-time thing, why don't you let us know to satisfy curiosity. If it is something that can be repeated, why are you looking at internships?
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Nov 10, 2012 17:01
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