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Orange_Lazarus posted:Yeah, it looks like you know what you're doing so the only advice I have is to just try to find the most cost effective computer for your needs. I would just recommend going to the serious hardware forum since they're usually up to date with what models/parts are the most cost effective and are aware of current deals on Newegg. I think this is fantastic advice, the biggest trap I see is people buying a computer that is specced too high for what they want to do with it and not realizing the benefit of the extra money they dumped into it.
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Mar 16, 2013 10:13
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I actually had a lot of recommendations for a MacBook Air, which is why I stated the $900~ price! I'm not actually too keen on getting a MacBook, even though there are a crazy amount of supporters for Apple products. I was considering getting an Ultrabook, but there seems to be a lot out there for a lot of different prices, which makes it more difficult for me if I mess up in buying one that isn't right for me. In the end, I may just end up getting an Air just because of all the great word of mouth that I've heard about it. I also live in Australia, so I don't think I can get the awesome prices from Newegg unfortunately! I am pretty up to date on sales though, so I will be trying my hardest to get the best price for whatever I plan to get.
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Mar 16, 2013 12:04
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(New) Macbook Airs start at AUS1100, and while they're excellent computers (recently got the wife a 13 inch model) they're definitely luxury laptops. If you're a college student on a small budget then they're overkill unless you really need a Mac for some reason. Of course that doesn't stop people from buying them in college because hey, I don't need to pay off my student loans now, right?
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Mar 16, 2013 19:19
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It's around $900 with education pricing and refurb, I don't think that I'd consider buying a MacBook if it was that expensive. Australia does 'student loans' a bit differently, with the government paying for our courses. We don't have to pay them back unless we earn over a certain amount, and then we pay them off with our income tax. So it's not really a pressing issue for students at all. It does surprise me though how many uni students are able to afford MacBooks, whenever I walk into a lecture theatre, everybody seems to have one.
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Mar 17, 2013 01:19
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If you don't need a Mac, don't get one. I've done nothing but Mac since 2008, and they're fine, but unless you need some Mac-specific software, they're just computers that can't do a lot of things. Next time I'm up for a new computer, I'll probably go Windows just to avoid the Mac premium.
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Mar 17, 2013 02:02
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I don't know why you include the refurb thing in there. You can get a used/refurb PC. Even with education discount or whatever, you can definitely get what you need for less, probably much less. Blinky2099 fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Mar 17, 2013 |
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Mar 17, 2013 02:03
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Go talk about the right laptop for you in the SHSC "recommend me a laptop" thread.
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Mar 17, 2013 02:22
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So I'm going to get my MD and start medicine residency in a couple of months, which is another way of saying that I'm 27 and have $70k of school debt (all at a fixed 6.8%) and no retirement savings. Should I be putting everything I can into debt straightaway or split between paying down loans and putting savings into a 401k/IRA? I don't know if the program I'll be working for has an employer match for retirement contributions but had been planning to put in just whatever they'd match and the rest to loans.
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Mar 17, 2013 14:26
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Bass Concert Hall posted:So I'm going to get my MD and start medicine residency in a couple of months, which is another way of saying that I'm 27 and have $70k of school debt (all at a fixed 6.8%) and no retirement savings. Should I be putting everything I can into debt straightaway or split between paying down loans and putting savings into a 401k/IRA? I don't know if the program I'll be working for has an employer match for retirement contributions but had been planning to put in just whatever they'd match and the rest to loans. It really depends on a lot of things, but 70k of student loans for a doctor is practically nothing. Here's a site that's more geared towards doctors, and it's general premise is live like a resident until your student loans are paid off. It also goes into various insurance "scams" that prey upon doctors.
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Mar 17, 2013 16:52
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This maaaay or may not be the right place for this question, but what the hell. Feel free to smack me across the face and point me in the right direction if it's not. I'm looking at apartments in the greater Boston area. I've never really apartment-hunted in high demand areas before, so I have exactly zero experience dealing with brokers. At first I was like "gently caress that, I'm not paying extra to some middleman!" but now that I'm really looking around, it seems like the only places that don't go through a brokerage are the huge rental companies with super fancy expensive buildings. Money's not a huge issue, but I'd rather not pay $3k/month for some place with a fancy fitness center if I can pay $1500/month for an entire house somewhere else. It seems like all of the smaller, more reasonably-priced places go through brokerages and therefore come with an extra fee. But if I'm getting a better deal on rent, that would obviously pay for itself, in a month or two. Am I being really dumb? Missing something obvious? Right now I'm thinking of going directly through a brokerage because we have some specific needs and I'm sick of hunting on my own. As I understand it, they'll basically do the same thing that a real estate agent would do if I was looking for a house. I'm more than willing to pay someone a chunk of money to find a place that works for us with reasonable rent. But every time I run across someone's personal story about apartment hunting, they're always like "well I went through a broker, which was definitely a mistake..." so it makes me think I'm being a big dummy by even considering it.
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Mar 18, 2013 02:06
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Jessi Bond posted:This maaaay or may not be the right place for this question, but what the hell. Feel free to smack me across the face and point me in the right direction if it's not. Feel free to join us in the Boston thread. We mostly talk about apartments and restaurants. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3032491 I have some experience with the Boston area; it is hard to have a decent place in a good area by yourself unless you are making north of $50,000 a year (look toward minimum $1200/mo rent). That will get you into a reasonably spacious one bedroom apartment in a good area but not necessarily a highly sought after area. $1,500 will be an average 2 bed in an average area. No where will it get you an entire house for that unless you wanted to live in Brockton or Lynn (you probably don't). Most of us who don't want to pay that much have roommates. If you don't want to go through a broker, the good news is that Boston is full of small landlords who own triple deckers and live on one floor and rent out the others, and you will probably be dealing directly with them. Feel free to PM me for more detailed info, or if you want to share your specific needs I might be able to point you in the right direction or suggest areas you might want to look at.
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Mar 18, 2013 03:55
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Feel free to join us in the Boston thread. We mostly talk about apartments and restaurants. Thanks! I am passingly familiar with the area and my husband used to live there, so I'm not going in completely blind. It's just that brokers are totally unfamiliar to me so I'm particularly curious if they're a total ripoff or worth it in my situation. $1500 for a house might be a slight exaggeration but I saw a few listings close to that at one broker website I looked at, in areas that didn't seem completely terrible. I need a minimum of two bedrooms with an office or a third bedroom that could be used as one, and laundry in unit, both of which are features it's difficult to search for on most sites. (Looking just for three bedrooms excludes places that might be two-bedroom plus office, and there's seemingly no reliable way to search for offices/bonus rooms specifically - and laundry in unit doesn't seem to be a search option anywhere.) Like I said, money's not a huge concern. We could theoretically afford most places with the features we want. But lower rent means saving more for a down payment on a house, so I obviously don't want to overpay for no reason. I really just want to know if I should avoid brokers like the plague or if it's okay to consider broker-fee places as an option too. I will check out the Boston thread. I didn't seek out something regional originally, because brokers are something that seem to exist in a lot of major cities so it seemed like a more general-purpose question. VVV Thanks - I just wanted to make sure it wasn't one of those "oh god no all brokers will steal your money and kidnap your dog" situations since I'm totally inexperienced in this area. Jessi Bond fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Mar 18, 2013 |
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Mar 18, 2013 04:16
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Jessi Bond posted:Thanks! I am passingly familiar with the area and my husband used to live there, so I'm not going in completely blind. It's just that brokers are totally unfamiliar to me so I'm particularly curious if they're a total ripoff or worth it in my situation. $1500 for a house might be a slight exaggeration but I saw a few listings close to that at one broker website I looked at, in areas that didn't seem completely terrible. I need a minimum of two bedrooms with an office or a third bedroom that could be used as one, and laundry in unit, both of which are features it's difficult to search for on most sites. (Looking just for three bedrooms excludes places that might be two-bedroom plus office, and there's seemingly no reliable way to search for offices/bonus rooms specifically - and laundry in unit doesn't seem to be a search option anywhere.) You're right that its hard to look at an ad on craigslist and figure out if it meets all these needs. Its not impossible to send out a bunch of emails and pick up the phone and make a bunch of calls to lots of people. A landlord is going to be showing their place to multiple prospects, meaning the ad could still be up even if they already have someone in mind. A good broker will narrow down the search drastically but as you noticed they don't work for free. There is not a right or wrong answer here. It mostly depends on if you have more money than time, or more time than money.
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Mar 18, 2013 04:35
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I think the best way to think of a rental agent is like a toll booth. You can get to where you want to be without dealing with them, but it probably means taking some roundabout crazy backroad that is a lot more time and effort. Or you can pay this dude who is basically just a gatekeeper to where you want to be and have done with it. The Boston apartment market is packed high and deep with agents, and while there are certainly landlords that handle it all themselves it can be hard to find those amid all the agencies clogging up the listings. If you can afford to pay them, you should probably consider broker listings as an option, because a broker will have access to a lot of inventory and can do the legwork on narrowing down a place for you. But you should also remember that even if you're paying a fee, a broker works as much for their landlords as for you (often more so). Think of them as a furniture salesman or something - they'll help you find what you want because it's in their interest to get you to rent through them, but they aren't really looking out for your interests.
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Mar 18, 2013 15:11
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So I figure it's time for me to get serious about saving and looking for advice about where to put my money. I'm single, 30 years old and bring home about $4.2k per month. My 'necessary' expenses add up to around $1.8k per month, including rent, electric, etc. I also allot about ~$500 a month to blow on whatever, like going out, going to a restaurant for dinner, etc. So that adds up to about 2.2k a month, leaving me ~1.9k a month to do something with. Right now, I have a 401k from my last job that I'm not contributing to and it has around 35k in it. I also have some stocks with Oppenheimer Funds that has a current value of about 8k. I also have a regular savings account, which I put all my excess money into now, and I have no debt. So, what should I do with my money? I know putting it into a regular savings account isn't the best idea, but I don't really know where to put it. My 401k? I'd like to plan for retirement, but I'd also like something that will increase the money I have on hand now, like, if I want to buy a house or something. The stocks I have, according to the little graph on their web site, made a 11.09% return in 2012. Would it be better for me to throw some cash into there, too? Since I have a decent amount of disposable income I don't mind taking a little risk with my money in hopes of a greater return.
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Mar 18, 2013 16:29
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Only you know what you want from your money... you're in great shape now to make some broad decisions though. How do you want to allocate your current savings plus your $1900/mo between long term - like retirement - and short term, like a house or wedding in the next 5 years? Read the retirement thread which will recommend you put about $750/mo into long term savings, via a combination of work 401k and personal IRA. Assuming your current savings are commensurate with your income, there's probably no reason to hold stocks outside of retirement accounts, unless (1) you don't have access to a 401k type thing or (2) you have a 10-20 year savings goal. In either case you should study about portfolio allocation from the "Fundamentals" section in the OP until you understand why the one-year return is pretty useless information. Or (3) you'd like to play around in the stock market, in which case use your play money not your savings. A savings account has a crappy interest rate right now but it is still a great place for any cash you're likely to use in the next 5 years. You could look into CDs if you want to put in a little more work for a (possibly) slightly larger return. Edit: Ooh, the Oppenheimer Funds are kind of expensive at ER of 1%+. When you figure out what you want, definitely think about getting out of those and into something else. slap me silly fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Mar 18, 2013 |
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Mar 18, 2013 17:16
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What's the best place to check my credit score?
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Mar 19, 2013 01:24
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Because you're posting in this thread, I have to ask why you even care about your credit score. To answer your question though, either use creditkarma for an estimate or pay equifax :15bux: for the real thing. Or just apply for the loan you're eyeing.
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Mar 19, 2013 01:43
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myfico.com will give you your score from equifax for free if you sign up for a 10-day trial of their score watch product. As long as you cancel within the trial period they won't charge you.
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Mar 19, 2013 01:50
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I've made a huge mistake. On Friday, 3/15, I made an online transaction with my Wells Fargo Visa Check/Debit card for $49 (Straight Talk) and the payment was approved. Today, I closed out my Wells Fargo checking account and later find out that the transaction from 3/15 hadn't posted to the account yet. The bank employee specifically told me that there were no pending transactions. Straight Talk's website is showing that the payment has been approved and service is active. My question is, can the Visa Check/Debit card issued by banks count as bounced checks? I'm hoping that Wells Fargo will just decline the transaction when it tries to post, and I can deal with Straight Talk over the issue. My fear is that somehow the transaction will occur, and I'll have a negative $49 balance on a closed account and deal with that headache. Any ideas?
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Mar 19, 2013 02:17
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e: dumb, wrong thread
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Mar 19, 2013 02:31
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Hughmoris posted:I've made a huge mistake. Are you totally sure it didn't post before you closed the account? Anyway, no biggie. Just call up ST in the morning, tell them what happened, see what they say. Then do the same for WF. Hopefully you can plead dumbassedness and get any fees waived, if there are any. I lost 19 cents this way because a bank closed my account before crediting me the final 6 days of interest 
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Mar 19, 2013 02:37
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Hughmoris posted:I've made a huge mistake. I don't think you have anything to worry about with Wells Fargo in that it is simply a transaction that they will decline. It's not like a bounced check. Straight Talk is going to figure out really soon that they didn't get paid. I would call them up and pay with a different card. What probably happened is Straight Talk (can gay people join?) got a valid authorization, which happens instantly and sort of paves the way for the actual charge to go through a couple days later. Wells Fargo should have noticed there were outstanding authorizations, but they didn't.
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Mar 19, 2013 04:34
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As a graduating medical student, I finally get my first job and paycheck! I expect to make a ton more money in the future, and my parents are there to help me out with rainy day funds if needed. I just don't want to make any financial mistakes starting off or miss valuable opportunities that will cost me a lot of money in the future. I've broken down my income and loans as follows: Income: $51,000 a year as a resident physician. ($14 a hour! Making da bigg bucks) In 4-5 years, I expect to become an anesthesiologist making $350,000. Debts: $137,000 @ 6.8% interest. I am extremely lucky in that my parents paid for all of my college (expensive private school) expenses, bought me a car, and paid for my rent, food, books, and other expenses during medical school, so my loans only cover tuition. Assets: I have a 2009 Nissan Altima that I plan on driving until I graduate from residency. Other than that, some petty cash. Expenses: I don't go out and party, I don't travel, my only vice is buying expensive toys (single-malt scotch, Apple products, luxury watches, cameras, telescopes) - which I will stop. I am single. After tax, I'm looking at $3000 month in take-home salary. Unfortunately, I live in Los Angeles, and the average rent for a studio apartment / 1 bedroom apartment is $1500-1800 a month. I plan on making income-based repayment of my student loans at about $200 a month. That leaves $1000 remaining. Gas, insurance, and food will probably take away another $500. Leaving $500 a month remaining. Question: What to do with the $500 a month? Is it better to put that money away in something like a Roth IRA and invest it in growth-targeted mutual funds, or use it to pay down my student loans? I'm leaning towards the first option as the Roth IRA will only be available to me for the next 4 years before I'm rendered ineligible. $5500/yr for 4 years, compounded at 10% for another 30, comes out to just under $500,000 at age 60. That's not bad for a $22000 investment... Goal: gently caress it, I WANT TO MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. I am 25 now. I want to retire early, preferably at 59 1/2. INTJ Mastermind fucked around with this message at 07:33 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 07:17
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I'm not sure it's wise to be spending 2/3 of your income on rent straight away. Is there nowhere cheaper you can find - share a place with a flatmate or something?
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Mar 19, 2013 11:47
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$500 seems on the low end for Gas, Insurance and food, unless you have a very short commute and virtually never eat out. I would make sure you have some kind of emergency savings built up before throwing everything at loans. One nice thing about a Roth is you can withdraw principle penalty free, but ask yourself if you'd be willing to do that if say your transmission breaks one day out of warranty. I just moved from LA and I think even in the nicer areas of town you could find studios for 1250-ish, and you could split a 2 BR for about 1000, so if you wanted you could get that down a little.
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Mar 19, 2013 12:27
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INTJ Mastermind posted:As a graduating medical student, I finally get my first job and paycheck! I expect to make a ton more money in the future, and my parents are there to help me out with rainy day funds if needed. I just don't want to make any financial mistakes starting off or miss valuable opportunities that will cost me a lot of money in the future. I've broken down my income and loans as follows: I'm ok with you renting a niceish 1 bedroom now. You are a resident who is going to be working ridiculous hours and the last thing you need is to come home and remember this was the weekend his parents were coming and how they will wake up early and cook and be banging pots the one morning you can sleep in. I think you are underbugeting on a bunch of things and I this $500 you have to invest won't be there most months. However you have to promise me that you will keep living at that level once the big checks come in and you keep driving your Altima around. (this means AFTER you graduate, not UNTIL you graduate. Please take a moment for this to sink in) Don't go out and buy a huge house in the hills and lease a BMW until the debt is paid. (and still don't lease) You will do just fine saving and investing, even if you don't have access to Roth IRAs in the future. Those of us who do invest in Roth IRAs are not crying for you on this one. Finally I hope you have a comfortable but not extravagant life and you are generous with not just time but also money to causes you believe in. Zeta Taskforce fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 12:57
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Goal: gently caress it, I WANT TO MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. I am 25 now. I want to retire early, preferably at 59 1/2. There is absolutely no reason why you couldn't retire well before 59 1/2 if you really wanted to. When you finish your residency and are making hundreds of thousands of dollars, just live well within your means. If you're even close to the $350k you're hoping to get there is no reason you wouldn't be able to bank a ridiculous amount of money every year - you just need to keep your lifestyle and spending in check. A couple things about your post like about the car, "I'll drive it until I finish my residency." If you're serious about early retirement, you should reword that to "until it dies or I pay cash for a nice replacement". And your vice of buying expensive things, it's only going to be 300x worse once you're making actual money. So do you want to have a lavish lifestyle, spending 90% of your income on a big house, leased cars, rolexes and have your student loan following you around still in 20 years or do you want to save money, pay off your student loans, still have nice things and have the financial flexibility do pretty much whatever you want. You could start a Roth IRA now but when you're done your residency you'll make too much money to continue to contribute. Read "The Millionaire Next Door", it's a bit dated but the general gist is the same. Most rich people don't look like they're rich. Most people who try to look rich (especially when it comes to the middle class), are in fact not rich. dreesemonkey fucked around with this message at 13:12 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 13:10
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Can someone explain to me the differences between a FICO score and a credit score? My credit union just started offering a free FICO score lookup once per month. I'm also looking to apply for a vehicle loan in the coming month and was wondering how much the FICO score would be taken into account?
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Mar 19, 2013 15:53
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A credit score is just your placement in whatever metric someone is using to rate your credit, and there are a number of different systems for this - Vantage, Credit Optics, and Experian and Equifax also have their own score models. These all use their own metrics and scale, so unless you know what is being used a 'credit score' can mean anything. FICO is the largest and most commonly used one, though, and so is generally what people look at and worry about. Basically FICO is the brand name of credit scores, like Kleenex is to tissues. Edit: If you are getting the loan from your credit union and they are offering free FICO scores, then chances are they will be using that as their score system. This isn't the only thing they will care about though - Zeta has talked about this before.
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Mar 19, 2013 16:10
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I think you are underbugeting on a bunch of things and I this $500 you have to invest won't be there most months. What I didn't mention is that hospital gives us a food stipend for lunch in the cafeteria, and $1500 a year to help cover the cost of books, board exam registration, and DEA / state licensing fees. Residents have also taken to buying iPads with the surplus book stipend and turning around and selling them still in the shrink wrap. Plus we're promised an approximate $2000 raise every year as part of our employment contract, so I'm looking at $51,000 -> $57,000 / yr over my four years of residency. Not really enough for a significant lifestyle difference, but that extra money in the latter years will make the monthly budget a lot easier and should provide more flexibility in saving and investing. quote:However you have to promise me that you will keep living at that level once the big checks come in and you keep driving your Altima around. (this means AFTER you graduate, not UNTIL you graduate. Please take a moment for this to sink in) Don't go out and buy a huge house in the hills and lease a BMW until the debt is paid. (and still don't lease) Will do. My dad bought his Honda Accord new in 2000 and is still driving it to this day. This is for a man who paid cash for 4 years of private college, 4 years of rent and living expenses in med school, and bought me a new car with cash in the interim, so I fully plan to live by his example. What are some things I can be doing now to make sure my car will last as long as possible? I'm already keeping to a strict schedule of oil changes and trying not to hit anything heavy or immobile. quote:Finally I hope you have a comfortable but not extravagant life and you are generous with not just time but also money to causes you believe in. That actually brings up a good point. I'm passionate about conservation and protecting the environment. Would it be better to contribute annually to a charity I believe in, or keep that money in investments, let it build, and leave a much larger sum in my will - maybe enough put away into a trust to fund a couple of scholarships or something? Comedy option -  for every goon on SA.
INTJ Mastermind fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Mar 20, 2013 |
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Mar 20, 2013 07:02
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Will do. My dad bought his Honda Accord new in 2000 and is still driving it to this day. This is for a man who paid cash for 4 years of private college, 4 years of rent and living expenses in med school, and bought me a new car with cash in the interim, so I fully plan to live by his example. What are some things I can be doing now to make sure my car will last as long as possible? I'm already keeping to a strict schedule of oil changes and trying not to hit anything heavy or immobile. This is great! Keep up with maintenance (oil changes, spark plugs, etc.) and it will save money in the long run. Find an honest mechanic and you'll have that car for a long time.
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Mar 20, 2013 13:26
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INTJ Mastermind posted:What are some things I can be doing now to make sure my car will last as long as possible? I'm already keeping to a strict schedule of oil changes and trying not to hit anything heavy or immobile. Besides good maintaince, driving it gently, no jerky driving, limit hard stops, sudden accelerations, etc will make it last. quote:That actually brings up a good point. I'm passionate about conservation and protecting the environment. Would it be better to contribute annually to a charity I believe in, or keep that money in investments, let it build, and leave a much larger sum in my will - maybe enough put away into a trust to fund a couple of scholarships or something? Comedy option - That’s a really good question about giving and only you can answer that through self-reflection. For me I believe I should always be giving something rather than waiting until some point in the future when might be able to give more due to the magic compounding has on investments. It’s easy to rationalize waiting. I still have debt, I want to save for a house first, I haven’t maxed out my IRA this year yet and I will never have the 2013 contribution window again. Giving helps address the needs today. You care about the environment. There are rainforests that need saving today. The climate is changing today. Do you want to be part of the solution today or do you want to wait until 50 years from now before you can afford to care about polar bears and coral reefs? But I think giving changes you as a person and opens doors that otherwise you wouldn’t be there. Let me give you an example. There might be someone in this very thread who was supporting a charity for a few years at a low/moderate level, writing checks and that was about it. He was able to mention it to a weird bunch of misfits on the internet who also gave. That forced the guy to learn a lot more about the work that was being done and get more involved with the charity, who as it turns out needs someone to volunteer as a database administrator. Since that guy wants to continue his education, it might look pretty good when he is looking at schools. He isn’t quite sure about the time commitment so he is going to turn in a blue star, but he is excited about the experiences and people he will be exposed to while helping a really cool cause.
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Mar 20, 2013 15:24
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I prefer to give monthly (or semi-annually or whatever) to charities because, like 401(k) contributions or other savings, it's easier to do when it's already gone before you hold it in your "spending" accounts. When you're simply holding onto the money, it gets really tempting to see a large lump of cash and use it as a down payment or to buy a car with the full intention of replenishing it later. Plus it's a lot easier to budget for it if it's a regular recurring expense. But, if you're really looking to do something large like leave scholarships, obviously that won't work with your goals. It's still individual preference.
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Mar 20, 2013 17:43
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INTJ Mastermind posted:That actually brings up a good point. I'm passionate about conservation and protecting the environment. Would it be better to contribute annually to a charity I believe in, or keep that money in investments, let it build, and leave a much larger sum in my will - maybe enough put away into a trust to fund a couple of scholarships or something? Comedy option - I'd say that unless your business is in making investments grow, don't hold off. The group you're giving to will either use the money to add to their own investments for future use (where they may have tax advantages over you), or use it today to further their mission. If letting the money grow as an investment is the best use of your donation, let them make that decision instead of making it for them.
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Mar 20, 2013 18:27
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INTJ Mastermind posted:That actually brings up a good point. I'm passionate about conservation and protecting the environment. Would it be better to contribute annually to a charity I believe in, or keep that money in investments, let it build, and leave a much larger sum in my will - maybe enough put away into a trust to fund a couple of scholarships or something? Comedy option - I am quite firmly in the "give later" camp. Probably once I have a house paid off, and certainly when I'm retired, I'll be giving to charity, and preferably I'll give in a way so that I'm not just paying some charity's board of directors' salaries.
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Mar 20, 2013 18:56
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Giving to charity has always been a sticking point for me. I love the idea of it, but I can never shake the feeling that my money is just going to buy a plate of sandwiches for a board meeting, especially with the whole "a quarter, or less, of every dollar you donate actually makes it to where it's helping the people you were promised you were helping." And it doesn't help that many charities are inherently dishonest with advertising (not that you can blame them: "give us money to run the logisitics of a charity with employees" is a terrible pitch).
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Mar 20, 2013 19:21
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There are plenty of charities with low administrative overhead. They unfortunately aren't nearly as well-known since.. well, if they were advertising they wouldn't have low admin overheads, would they? Stay far away from any charities that advertise excessively, like Susan G. Komen. Do your homework and dig up the good charities. Or you can simply give to your local community and ensure that the vast majority of your money gets used properly instead of disappearing down some money hole. Keep in mind that some charities (like Doctors Without Borders) spend a significant chunk of money on fundraising efforts. Without that money spent they wouldn't be able to raise nearly as much money as they do - they might have a lower admin overhead but they'd be much less effective. But their management costs are something like 1% which is pretty decent for a charity.
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Mar 20, 2013 19:29
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http://www.charitynavigator.org/ has a rating system that goes into a reasonable amount of detail. I personally like microlending with places like kiva.org.
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Mar 20, 2013 19:31
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reflex posted:Giving to charity has always been a sticking point for me. I love the idea of it, but I can never shake the feeling that my money is just going to buy a plate of sandwiches for a board meeting, especially with the whole "a quarter, or less, of every dollar you donate actually makes it to where it's helping the people you were promised you were helping." Actually, for most charities a quarter, or less, of every dollar goes to the administration and most goes to the charity itself. Check out charity navigator (linked above) for detailed information on where individual charities spend their money. For example, the San Fransisco Food Bank spends 96.9% of all money raised on program expenses, which means of every dollar they bring in, 96.9 cents of that goes actually to serving their mission/helping people. Their administrative cost is .7% of their receipts, fundraising is 2.2%. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4430
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Mar 20, 2013 19:47
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