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Zeta Taskforce posted:It is true credit doesn't measure your entire financial picture but you still want to have good credit if possible. If those cards from when you were 19 are still unpaid, I would take care of those before I did any type of investing. I may have grossly misunderstood something along the line, but I was under the impression that once something falls off your credit report it's no longer a part of your financial picture. Is that not true? 
ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Jan 29, 2014 |
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Jan 29, 2014 17:11
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ladyweapon posted:I may have grossly misunderstood something along the line, but I was under the impression that once something falls off your credit report it's no longer a part of your financial picture. Is that not true? There isn't a statue of limitations where the debt is forgiven. You still legally owe it. In theory they can't sue you over it, but they can still try to collect it via other means. But a lot of collectors are scum who don't follow the law and I have seen them (illegally) reage the account so the collections pop back on. If your luck is like mine, it will happen at the worst possible time, and try explaining to a loan officer that, yeah it's really mine, BTW I haven't made a payment for 10 years, but you're not going to count it against me, right? Until it is paid, think of it as a time bomb that could go off at anytime, or might never go off. If they are that old, you should be able to settle for pennies on the dollar. I don't know if it will help or hurt your credit in the end. But I think if you can afford to pay your bills you should. But I would not call them and wake them up until you are in a position to pay them, and don't wake them up all at once unless you can pay all of them.
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Jan 29, 2014 17:35
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Been doing some thinking and I think just paying off my 3% interest car loan with my tax return and 3rd paycheck this month is probably a better choice than putting that money on my ~5% student loans, since I have to have a higher level of insurance coverage on the car that doubled my insurance rates when I took out the loan earlier in 2013. I got some time to think about it though, my insurance is paid up until May. Man, I also just realized that with this student loan consolidation I just signed and am waiting to disburse, my private loans are actually going to have a slightly lower (like .225%) interest rate than my federal ones. Although the Federal ones are fixed and the consolidation isn't. Edit: Yeah I'm gonna do it, if only because it excites me to go from six open loan accounts right now down to two after the consolidation and paying off the car, even if it isn't totally optimal, or whatever. 100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 03:41
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Excitement is a big driver of the snowball repayment theory. If that gets you going, it certainly sounds like a good deal. Stay motivated either way and you're set.
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Jan 30, 2014 04:07
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It's definitely not a bad decision to pay off your car. While not necessarily the most mathematically optimal, you'll have paid off a depreciating asset and eliminated a good chunk of your total debt. As long as you redirect most/all of that monthly payment toward paying the rest of your debts then I say go for it and good job. Even better if you can save a bit on insurance now, though if your car is still only a few years old it's probably still worth enough to keep up comprehensive and collision even if your loan would no longer require them. It might be worth raising your deductible, though, but even that varies a lot company to company. For instance, the difference for me to have a $250 comprehensive deductible and a $500 comprehensive deductible is literally like $2/year. And somewhat relatedly on insurance, my $125/yr renter's insurance saves me over $200/yr on car insurance because of the multiple policy discount. Guinness fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 04:16
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Do you need your car for work? If you totalled it, would you be able to replace it without going into debt? What about major repairs? Include that in your reasoning before you reduce your insurance coverage; if you need a car for work you're an accident away from being in a shitton of pain. If your emergency fund can cover major car occurrences, heh, cancel the drat thing.
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Jan 30, 2014 04:39
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FrozenVent posted:Do you need your car for work? If you totalled it, would you be able to replace it without going into debt? What about major repairs? This is a good point. Many banks require a $500 deductible in order to have a loan, even though there is often a lot of savings going to $1000. He can probably take an extra $500 in risk. But dropping collision all together is riskier unless it is already a beater.
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Jan 30, 2014 05:44
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Been doing some thinking and I think just paying off my 3% interest car loan with my tax return and 3rd paycheck this month is probably a better choice than putting that money on my ~5% student loans, since I have to have a higher level of insurance coverage on the car that doubled my insurance rates when I took out the loan earlier in 2013. We have a similar thing of student loans and car payments. The car payments were just more achievable and more monthly, so while interest wise it was certainly not the most efficient way possible, we decided to do car loans first for both breathing room in case of emergency and it was way easier to hit. I got one out of two down, and I already don't regret it.
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Jan 30, 2014 22:30
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Yeah my emergency fund can cover a major issue with a vehicle, and I only really need the car in the cold months because soon as it gets warm I park it and ride my motorcycle like 95% of the time. Hell, I only live 9 miles from work so I could ride my bicycle if I had to. My car was only 3600 bucks, and I could have bought it outright when I got it but I would have completely wiped out my entire savings and most of my checking account. So I felt more comfortable financing it. But now that I'm doing better and I've been budgeting really good in YNAB since June, I was gonna take the difference between what I paid for insurance this last year and what I pay this upcoming year and save all that into my Vehicle Maintenance budget category in case anything comes up. I really think I'm overpaying at AAA right now. 100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 00:05
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I am pretty dumb when it comes to financial matters, but I want to do better this year and I have a healthy enough income that it is inexcusable that I have not really been paying attention to it in the last few years. I grew up very poor so my natural inclination has always been to hoard money, even if that is not the logical thing to do. The situation: I currently have a 401k (3% matching) and whole life insurance that I can draw from when I'm 65. My husband has a CalPERS pension and is fully vested, but no other retirement set up. Last year we finally paid off our student loans, so now the only debt we owe is our mortgage (200k in CA so not an unreasonable amount). We currently have 40k cash in the checking account, which, outside of an emergency fund, is pretty much being wasted. I am wrestling with what to do about it, however. Dump it into the mortgage or put more towards retirement? Spousal 401k? Do a Roth instead? Investing? We're both 31 and we jointly make around 240k a year pre-tax. No crazy hobbies or expenses.
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Jan 31, 2014 01:58
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Step 1: Drop the whole life. Step 2: Jack up your retirement savings, to like 15% of your income, even if it's in a taxable investment account. (Dave Ramsey Baby Step 4) Step 3: Pay off your mortgage. Step 4: Literal profit. Build wealth and give!
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Jan 31, 2014 03:51
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nikosoft posted:I am pretty dumb when it comes to financial matters, but I want to do better this year and I have a healthy enough income that it is inexcusable that I have not really been paying attention to it in the last few years. I grew up very poor so my natural inclination has always been to hoard money, even if that is not the logical thing to do. 2. 15% of GROSS HOUSEHOLD income to retirement 2.1 Roth 401k to match 2.2 401k to match 2.3 Roth IRA to max 2.4 Roth 401k to max 2.5 401k to max 3. Pay off house 4. More into investments 5. Be a baller. Get rid of your whole life policy. Put the money into your retirement and get term policies. For your ages, 20yr probably would be ideal.
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Jan 31, 2014 03:52
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SiGmA_X posted:2.1 Roth 401k to match What does this mean? These aren't really separate things. You have a single contribution limit for either roth/traditional 401ks, and most employers match up to a certain amount or percent regardless of what kind it is. Also, splitting 401k types can be a huge headache.
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Jan 31, 2014 04:53
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RogueLemming posted:What does this mean? These aren't really separate things. You have a single contribution limit for either roth/traditional 401ks, and most employers match up to a certain amount or percent regardless of what kind it is. Also, splitting 401k types can be a huge headache. The employer match on a 401k is always a traditional 401k match too, which how they're allowed to deduct it from their business return. Only the funds you contribute are Roth, not the employers.
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Jan 31, 2014 05:10
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Woot, got my W2 for last year, plugged it into TurboTax, and my withholding was off by only $2. Beautiful. But with the deduction for maxing out my HSA I go from owing $2 to receiving $810. More than enough cushion for all my 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, and K-1s that I'm waiting on. Love it when taxes work out nicely like that.
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Jan 31, 2014 20:31
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The 401k contribution limit of 17,500 is only for the individual's contribution, not the company's match, right? So their match is on top of that with no penalty?
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Jan 31, 2014 21:18
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Cicero posted:The 401k contribution limit of 17,500 is only for the individual's contribution, not the company's match, right? So their match is on top of that with no penalty? Correct.
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Jan 31, 2014 21:32
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Welp, one year and two weeks ago, I decided to pay off my $20,000+ credit card debt. As of today, my credit card balance across all cards is.. $0 
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Jan 31, 2014 21:32
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Congrats, that's a major achievement. Now keep them under control in the future. 
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Jan 31, 2014 21:45
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along the way posted:Welp, one year and two weeks ago, I decided to pay off my $20,000+ credit card debt. Congrats. Now grab your cards, book a trip to Vegas, and celebrate in style.
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Jan 31, 2014 22:06
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Thanks. It's a pretty big deal for me. On a $50k/year income, it's been an adventure, but I just took the advice I could glean from BFC (snowball, cutting back on luxuries, learning how to cook, etc) and some other sources and made it happen. I screwed up a few times and had some issues with my beater truck, but hey. It'll be nice to be able to go out to eat more than once a month and begin saving again.
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Jan 31, 2014 22:47
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My roommate let me know that he's looking for houses, and told me that I could either move with him or take over the lease if he finds a place. I'd kind of like to have my own place and stay here, it's in a great location and we have a garage. It's been stated that ~33% of your income should be a good baseline for rent: is that pre or post tax, and does that include utilities? I make 36.5k/year (pre-tax), rent would be 725 and utilities ~200/month averaged over a year (utilities assume I'm on my own).
GobiasIndustries fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 00:54
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33% is just a rule of thumb anyway. Keeping the place by yourself sounds awfully expensive. What's your monthly budget right now? Knowing in detail how it will change cash flow will help you figure out how you feel about it.
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Feb 1, 2014 03:29
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Personally, I go by net because I wont be paying my rent out of my gross pay. My rent is 35% of my net income (27% gross, fwiw), utilities is another 5%. I would rather pay 40% of my income to rent + utilities and live alone than pay 30% total and have to live with a roommate 
ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 04:42
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GobiasIndustries posted:My roommate let me know that he's looking for houses, and told me that I could either move with him or take over the lease if he finds a place. I'd kind of like to have my own place and stay here, it's in a great location and we have a garage. It's been stated that ~33% of your income should be a good baseline for rent: is that pre or post tax, and does that include utilities? I make 36.5k/year (pre-tax), rent would be 725 and utilities ~200/month averaged over a year (utilities assume I'm on my own). What does the rest of your budget look like? I make a little more than you, but if I subtract my student loan payments, I probably have a similar monthly income. My rent is ~$680 a month (including utilities). With no other major debts (CC, car, etc), that leaves me with enough to eat decently (but not eat out a lot), save, and contribute to my retirement (though not as much as I'd like). That extra $200 for your utilities would probably force me to lower my savings or retirement even more. If you have no other big expenses or debts it sounds doable, but expensive. edit: so, basically, I just repeated what slap me silly said above. RogueLemming fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 05:08
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Am I better off making multiple payments on one high-interest loan, or paying off a lower interest but longer time span loan? Debating whether or not I should make 6 car payments or pay off 1 or 2 of my smaller, federal student loans. edit; Would work out to 6 payments of a 9% $11K loan (yay for being a dumb kid and putting practically nothing down on an older car) or I could pay off a $1.4K at 6.8% and most of another $700 one at $6.8 as well. On one hand, I think it's better to make payments on the car because then it'll bring me closer to owning it in case I need to sell it or get into an accident. On the other hand, gently caress Sallie Mae. Sab669 fucked around with this message at 12:15 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 07:02
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Well, there's a mathematically optimal way (pay higher interest loans first). There's a safer way (pay off the car loan first if you're underwater on it). But for the most part, you should do whatever is going to make you feel the best.
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Feb 1, 2014 07:24
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I'd pay off the student loans. They can't be discharged through bankruptcy, but a car can.
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Feb 1, 2014 16:26
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If you lose your job or go back to school, you can call up the student loan people and get a deferment. Car loans don't do that so I vote pay the car loan first. Having a paid off car is awesome.
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Feb 1, 2014 16:30
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The difference between paying off the student loans first and paying off the car loan first, if you pay 1900 a month (making an assumption here) until all the loans are paid off, is roughly 30-40 dollars in interest. Personally, I'd pay off the smaller student loans first just so you have that many less payments per month to deal with. Use http://www.vertex42.com/Calculators/debt-reduction-calculator.html for a more accurate calculation for your situation.
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Feb 1, 2014 17:08
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ranbo das posted:Ask whoever your broker is about a cashless excise. Here's an example from Fidelity's site http://personal.fidelity.com/products/stockoptions/exercise.shtml#exercise-and-sell I don't know who my broker is. American Stock Transfer I believe? I can't find anything about cashless exercise on their site.
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Feb 1, 2014 17:53
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ashgromnies posted:I don't know who my broker is. American Stock Transfer I believe? I can't find anything about cashless exercise on their site. I work with this company on a weekly basis. Call them. 800-937-5449. If they cannot do it, they can give you instructions to transfer to another broker/dealer. Most can do this for you. If you cannot find someone to accept the transfer let me know in this thread and we can touch base after Monday.
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Feb 1, 2014 18:32
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RogueLemming posted:What does the rest of your budget look like? I make a little more than you, but if I subtract my student loan payments, I probably have a similar monthly income. My rent is ~$680 a month (including utilities). With no other major debts (CC, car, etc), that leaves me with enough to eat decently (but not eat out a lot), save, and contribute to my retirement (though not as much as I'd like). That extra $200 for your utilities would probably force me to lower my savings or retirement even more. My budget needs a bit of work, but most of it comes from me having such low rent; I eat out more than I should and spend too much on 'extra' stuff. I could easily cut ~250-300 off of my budget by cooking more and cutting down on non-essentials. In addition, I've been putting 300/month into paying off my credit card, which'll be paid off by the end of February. I've been living with a roommate since I went to college, and I really, really want my own place sometime soon, which is why I'm trying to figure things out. This month I'm cooking all my own food, not eating out, and not making large purchases for fun (last month I bought trophies for my staff for our football Pick'Em league, ~$80, for example). It'll be a few months at least before the move so I guess February will be a good benchmark to see what I can/can't afford.
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Feb 2, 2014 01:34
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So one of my credit cards that I never use keeps mailing me these "0% APR for 1 year if you use us to balance transfer!!" checks. I always ignore it, but I just put a $5000 down payment for a car on my rewards card (mega points). Of course, I have the cash to pay this off now. However, if I were to do the balance transfer (3% fee) and put that 5,000 into my vanguard account (10% expected returns), I would theoretically make money in the long term, assuming I pay off the card before next year (which I would). Is there a reason not to do this? Aside from the risk of losing my job and having to pull money out of my vanguard account to pay off the card. It seems like a really bad idea but I'm not sure.
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Feb 2, 2014 05:26
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USSMICHELLEBACHMAN posted:Is there a reason not to do this? quote:3% fee...expected returns...theoretically...assuming... You already listed four reasons, why are you asking for more?
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Feb 2, 2014 05:48
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USSMICHELLEBACHMAN posted:"0% APR for 1 year if you use us to balance transfer!!" Gaming credit card offers is not for newbies, so the only advice from this thread is gonna be "Don't". You can make a few bucks that way, but it needs focus and care, and you take on risk.
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Feb 2, 2014 06:49
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Yeah it seemed like it was a bad idea, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't actually an okay idea.
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Feb 2, 2014 09:33
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If you have a solid cash flow income and some extra money if poo poo goes really awry, I say go ahead and do it. I would use a chase slate though since there's a 0% transfer fee and it's for 15 months, or you could do whatever citi card they have now that's for 21 months.
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Feb 2, 2014 15:36
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USSMICHELLEBACHMAN posted:Yeah it seemed like it was a bad idea, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't actually an okay idea. First: Don't. You have to make 3% returns just to break even - also if you use the card that you transferred to for anything other than the balance transfer for ANYTHING ELSE - a single coffee - you will pay interest until the whole balance is paid off. So if this is a card you want to use for anything other than this, bad idea. Second: If you decide to do this, you can frequently call and negotiate the balance transfer fee lower. I have gotten as low as 1%. But I wouldn't do this.
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Feb 2, 2014 16:49
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Harry posted:If you have a solid cash flow income and some extra money if poo poo goes really awry, I say go ahead and do it. I would use a chase slate though since there's a 0% transfer fee and it's for 15 months, or you could do whatever citi card they have now that's for 21 months. Thanks for listing more examples of how gaming credit offers requires you to take on added risk.
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Feb 2, 2014 21:46
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