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Jastiger posted:I call and ask someone who does their HOME Insurance and they don't know. Because it's not possible that someone has had the same home insurance for 5-10+ years and just put it on auto pay. I had to look who does my renter's insurance because we thought about consolidating with Geico, but got a better rate through Allstate. It's not like if your house burned down the cops show up and go "WHO DOES YOUR INSURANCE? YOU DON'T KNOW. THEY ARE ABOLISHED OF ALL LEGAL OBLIGATIONS TO REIMBURSE YOU!"
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Aug 29, 2014 00:33
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Yeah not exactly info I keep at the ready.
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Aug 29, 2014 00:35
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Did you call someone out of the blue and ask them who their insurance was? Like your job is cold-calling to sell crappy insurance? If so, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you anything either.
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Aug 29, 2014 01:00
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Droo posted:Did you call someone out of the blue and ask them who their insurance was? Like your job is cold-calling to sell crappy insurance? Yeah i think it's mybutt insurance. Uh let me check here, yeah it's mybutt, what do you want to know about mybutt?
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Aug 29, 2014 01:02
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Huh, that's a little surprising for me. I would have thought more people would have agreed with Jastiger. For me, it's same people who do my auto insurance. And my car insurance is something I might need to know immediately. Plus I write them a pretty big check every year, at least for the car insurance. For the people who don't know it, is it something you have in escrow so you never actually see the name of the insurer?
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Aug 29, 2014 01:08
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I don't think I know anyone - including my 91yo grandpa - who doesn't know their insurance carriers.. Doesn't seem bad with money, but seems weird. Even if it's on autopay (mine is of course and I've been w them 3yrs+) I'd want to verify it cleared. What if they don't notify you a payment bounced and your policy is cancelled. No bueno.
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Aug 29, 2014 01:16
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Folly posted:Huh, that's a little surprising for me. I would have thought more people would have agreed with Jastiger. For me, it's same people who do my auto insurance. And my car insurance is something I might need to know immediately. Plus I write them a pretty big check every year, at least for the car insurance. Mine is in escrow but I know who my insurer is. Am I the weird one?
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Aug 29, 2014 02:16
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Droo posted:Did you call someone out of the blue and ask them who their insurance was? Like your job is cold-calling to sell crappy insurance? No they call ME. And my insurance isn't crappy, I am hurt. But seriously as the last few posters said...it's around $1000 for a lot of people. If you are willing to spend that a year and have it go without review that's bad with money. It isn't that knowing the ins and outs of an insurance policy is important (it is), it's that you're willing to spend a ton of money without even looking at it. Doubly so if it's in escrow and cancels on you. So no, you don't need to be on a first name basis with your agent, but you should know what is coming out of your account on something so important, especially if it can cost you a ton with your mortgage company.
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Aug 29, 2014 02:58
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Folly: yeah, escrow which I regret doing, it just makes things harder for me to keep track of. I hosed up with my insurance payments last year and forgot to pay one of them (auto or insurance, whichever one I didn't have set on autopay, and I double paid the other one, they were off by like $14 and so I never noticed) and they sent me a nice letter saying I was late and that they had extended my deadline as a courtesy since I hadn't been late before and then I called the number and got it taken care of in like two minutes. AAA is the bomb.
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Aug 29, 2014 04:57
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Oh, man. Escrow and autopay are so great for lazy people like me who can't be bothered to keep track of poo poo. Ignore bills and don't balance the checkbook for eight months? No problem, poo poo is all good. I had so many just-a-little-late credit card payments back in the paper and pencil days.
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Aug 29, 2014 05:03
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slap me silly posted:Oh, man. Escrow and autopay are so great for lazy people like me who can't be bothered to keep track of poo poo. Ignore bills and don't balance the checkbook for eight months? No problem, poo poo is all good. I had so many just-a-little-late credit card payments back in the paper and pencil days. Hah! Before I started budgeting, I "missed" whole months just by forgetting to send a check. I'm pretty sure I have a couple of "more than 60-days late" accounts on my credit report. It's the primary reason my credit score isn't perfect. So I'm all for escrow, so long as the bank doesn't charge me for doing it. I mean, they too have an interest is knowing the insurance is paid. So my home insurance is on escrow. But I pay my car insurance in a single check each year, and it's always due on my birthday just like the car's registration. But if you don't know your insurer, then you probably don't know your deductible. That actually is something worth looking in to.
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Aug 29, 2014 11:58
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For a number of years, I would opt to pay my cell phone bill whenever. I got a paper statement, but I rarely looked at it. If it seemed like it has been a while since I've paid it, I sent some cash. That worked out pretty well until I actually looked at a statement one day and found out I had a credit of a couple hundred bucks. So then I stopped paying for a while. Some months later, I had missed a couple payments and owed a few hundred. Auto-pay all the way. My grandma did something similar once with the power company. She would never go an check what the meter said out at the cottage, just make up some numbers. I guess she didn't do a very good job of keeping track of what she sent in before so she got a bill for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Which she paid. When the power company came by for an annual "official" meter reading, they noticed the error. Dad pays her bills now.
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Aug 29, 2014 13:43
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I'm really bad with this, and the only thing that saved me was having a program manage it. I was on MS money since like 1996 and was dragged to quicken kicking and screaming when money was discontinued. It seends text messages when bills are due...pretty good system.
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Aug 29, 2014 14:05
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I have everything that doesn't charge me a fee autobilled to a credit card, and the credit card on auto-pay. You know, for the points I never use. I really need to get a cashback card. Anyhow, I use Mint religiously to make sure I'm not overcharged. I had a buddy get an $1800 water bill one time due to a billing error. The credit card is an excellent buffer for that kind of mistake. Topical: I have a coworker who can't travel for work without an advance from the company. I can't remember how much I expensed, but I think it was less half a net paycheck. And the company always reimburses within a month of filing your expense report. Does anybody work in HR and could tell me if that's normal? It seems weird to me, but based on the statistics I see about debt in America I wouldn't be too shocked if it were normal.
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Aug 29, 2014 14:30
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LorneReams posted:I'm really bad with this, and the only thing that saved me was having a program manage it. I was on MS money since like 1996 and was dragged to quicken kicking and screaming when money was discontinued. It seends text messages when bills are due...pretty good system. MS Money was one of Microsoft's finest moments; when I was a less financially savvy individual it really helped getting a handle on things. Recording every single transaction without exceptiom means you quickly get your mind to thinking about spending. Surprising that no open-source coders have tried to emulate it. GNUCash is ugly. 
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Aug 29, 2014 14:32
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Yeah, before automatic transactions? I can't count the number of times I paid with cash because I didn't want to have to deal with adding a transaction.
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Aug 29, 2014 14:36
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Tawd posted:MS Money was one of Microsoft's finest moments; when I was a less financially savvy individual it really helped getting a handle on things. Recording every single transaction without exceptiom means you quickly get your mind to thinking about spending. Mint is pretty drat good. Especially because you can tether it to all your bank accounts / credit cards so it will automatically watch all your transactions instead of having to put them in manually. *Not open source but it's free to use. edit: It's also really nice for the peace of mind it gives me with credit cards. I'm always really paranoid that one of them is going to pull something shady without telling me and Mint will cry bloody murder any time you're charged a fee for any reason. Necc0 fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Aug 29, 2014 |
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Aug 29, 2014 15:15
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Necc0 posted:Mint is pretty drat good. Especially because you can tether it to all your bank accounts / credit cards so it will automatically watch all your transactions instead of having to put them in manually. Is there a way to add uncleared transactions and unsupported accounts to mint?
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Aug 29, 2014 15:21
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I had a "bad with money" experience that I'd like to share. Two days ago, I had a phone call with my sister who is headed off to medical school Saturday. Somehow we got on the subject of professional loans and she shared with me her "brilliant idea" (probably inspired by my mother, who deserves her own thread.) She told me she was taking out the max ($20k more than she needed) to pay off her undergrad unsubsidized stafford loans and then put the rest in the stock market to then pay down her loans more with the interest. I told her that this wasn't wise, because Professional Plus loans are at 7.2% and her undergrad loans should be at about 4.2%. I spent about 20 minutes explaining to her that you don't refinance a loan with a lower interest rate using a loan with a higher interest rate, which I was continuously met with "I'm not refinancing, I'm paying it off!" at every turn. Additionally, I tried to explain to her that putting cash into the stock market is different than putting money from a loan in, and that at best she could be looking at losing a couple hundred bucks and at worst she could lose it all. She didn't really understand that either, and I tried explaining it about 5 different ways. Then she told me that she would just put it in her 401K and try to "reduce her tax burden". I did my best to convince her not to do this, but I can't say that I succeeded.
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Aug 29, 2014 15:38
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LorneReams posted:Is there a way to add uncleared transactions and unsupported accounts to mint? I'm pretty sure you can manually add transactions, yeah. I'm pretty sure it already does uncleared transactions but it won't count them in your net totals until they actually clear. They DO show up though and it shouldn't be hard to force them into counting as well.
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Aug 29, 2014 15:49
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Wickerman posted:I had a "bad with money" experience that I'd like to share. That is weapons grade concentrated stupid. I hope you told her that it is illegal to boot. I know a guy who went to prison for "investing" his student loans
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Aug 29, 2014 16:01
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slap me silly posted:Oh, man. Escrow and autopay are so great for lazy people like me who can't be bothered to keep track of poo poo. Bad with money story: Me. Today. I had to pay a $360 fine because I forgot to pay my property tax on time. Then I paid a $90 "convenience fee" to pay it online because I can't be assed to write a check and stick it in an envelope (well, I might have if they had mentioned the fee before the last step, but by then I'd already typed in my whole credit card number! At least I'll get half the fee back in points). Folly posted:You know, for the points I never use. I really need to get a cashback card. If you've got Chase card, you can spend your points on Amazon. It's very convenient.
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Aug 29, 2014 16:03
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Zhentar posted:Bad with money story: Me. Today. I had to pay a $360 fine because I forgot to pay my property tax on time. Then I paid a $90 "convenience fee" to pay it online because I can't be assed to write a check and stick it in an envelope (well, I might have if they had mentioned the fee before the last step, but by then I'd already typed in my whole credit card number! At least I'll get half the fee back in points). Holy gently caress, what kind of organization charges 90 bucks for their pay-online ripoff fee? Usually it's like 2-5 bucks and I get outraged at that. Or are your taxes absurdly high or something and it goes off a percentage of that?
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Aug 29, 2014 16:09
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It's weird that that is illegal while spending student loan money on eating at restaurants and drinking at bars and televisions is not. Investing excess student loan money is probably one of the smartest things you can do with it. It's not like there is a huge risk of "loss" compared to spending them on junk, which is a-okay I guess. It's like the law sets you up for future bad financial habits.
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Aug 29, 2014 16:09
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canyoneer posted:That is weapons grade concentrated stupid. I hope you told her that it is illegal to boot. I know a guy who went to prison for "investing" his student loans drat I didn't know people actually get sent to prison for this. Was he investing the entire loan amount or just the excess funds after his education expenses were met? I found it interesting that my lender gave me "more" than I needed for tuition/fees/books that I could straight up cash out and use however I wanted. Luckily for me I didn't realize I had an excess balance on my student account until close to graduation, so I never spent it on beer and pizza. Wasn't there a dude in the Stockpicking thread who said he'd used his student loans to essentially become a millionaire daytrader instead of going to class? That's a pretty heroic story but easily could've gone terribly terribly wrong. No risk no reward
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Aug 29, 2014 16:24
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Wickerman posted:I had a "bad with money" experience that I'd like to share. So, are you going to post about your moms bad with money stories here or start a separate thread for it?
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Aug 29, 2014 16:53
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seacat posted:Holy gently caress, what kind of organization charges 90 bucks for their pay-online ripoff fee? Usually it's like 2-5 bucks and I get outraged at that. My village utilities/taxes charges 3% to pay online with a credit card. A mere $3,000 property taxes at 3% would be your $90 in fees.
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Aug 29, 2014 16:58
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Folly posted:Topical: I have a coworker who can't travel for work without an advance from the company. I can't remember how much I expensed, but I think it was less half a net paycheck. And the company always reimburses within a month of filing your expense report. Does anybody work in HR and could tell me if that's normal? It seems weird to me, but based on the statistics I see about debt in America I wouldn't be too shocked if it were normal. My company was shocked when I didn't ask for an advance when I needed to travel a few times. They were also shocked that I had the cash or credit to pay for the flight when I got to the airport and it turned out that I didn't have a ticket because someone had botched some paperwork. Of course, the guy that used to do that travelling often was getting faxed at work with court orders telling him to pay his child support, so maybe they just got used to that. Is there a list of BFC approved foods to abuse the hell out of per diem? If the place I'm staying doesn't have places to eat (I get sent to some really remote places) then I bring a box of stuff and pocket all that per diem money. Antifreeze Head fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Aug 29, 2014 |
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Aug 29, 2014 17:32
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^^^ Paying for work travel with your own money seems "bad with money" to me 
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Aug 29, 2014 18:37
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mobby_6kl posted:^^^ I think he, like most people who travel for work, pays up front and then gets reimbursed. Is this an odd concept to you?
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Aug 29, 2014 18:39
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Zhentar posted:If you've got Chase card, you can spend your points on Amazon. It's very convenient.
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Aug 29, 2014 18:41
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Bloody Queef posted:I think he, like most people who travel for work, pays up front and then gets reimbursed. Having a company card instead is nice. I only have to pay the bill if I don't have proof that something was for work, and it's all after the fact. Even without it, the company would certainly book flights and hotels for me, why would I front them cash for that? (I guess the cash back would be kind of nice.)
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Aug 29, 2014 18:46
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Jeffrey posted:Having a company card instead is nice. I only have to pay the bill if I don't have proof that something was for work, and it's all after the fact. Even without it, the company would certainly book flights and hotels for me, why would I front them cash for that? (I guess the cash back would be kind of nice.) Not all companies trust all their employees that need to travel with company cards? And/or just don't bother giving them to all employees.
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Aug 29, 2014 18:49
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fruition posted:drat I didn't know people actually get sent to prison for this. Was he investing the entire loan amount or just the excess funds after his education expenses were met? I found it interesting that my lender gave me "more" than I needed for tuition/fees/books that I could straight up cash out and use however I wanted. Luckily for me I didn't realize I had an excess balance on my student account until close to graduation, so I never spent it on beer and pizza. He started a business with his student loan money. I think this guy's problems were compounded by not maintaining minimum enrollment at school. He spent 2 years in prison, with another 5 or so on probation. http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/15/nissan-murano-crosscabriolet-dead-no-replacement/ I saw one of these on the road today. Whoever was driving it probably paid $45k for that horrible ugly garbage car   $45k gives you a lot of options in used BMW territory, and that guy bought Nissan's answer to the PT Cruiser
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Aug 29, 2014 18:49
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mobby_6kl posted:^^^ Work travel on rewards card. Free money if you get reimbursed before the statement due date, pretty high ROI (1-3%, depending on card) if you have to float the cost for a little while. Just don't do it if there's any doubt about your company's ability to reimburse. Bad with money: putting work travel on a card that you carry a balance on. Engineer Lenk fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Aug 29, 2014 |
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Aug 29, 2014 18:52
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silvergoose posted:Not all companies trust all their employees that need to travel with company cards? And/or just don't bother giving them to all employees. Yeah the way it worked for me was that it was in my name and I have to pay the bill if they don't approve it, but they can easily view the transactions and pay it if I provide receipts. So sure, it's sort of like me paying for it and being reimbursed, but I don't have to loan them cash while I do it, I take on debt in their name instead.
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Aug 29, 2014 18:59
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Folly posted:Topical: I have a coworker who can't travel for work without an advance from the company. I can't remember how much I expensed, but I think it was less half a net paycheck. And the company always reimburses within a month of filing your expense report. Does anybody work in HR and could tell me if that's normal? It seems weird to me, but based on the statistics I see about debt in America I wouldn't be too shocked if it were normal. Wickerman posted:I had a "bad with money" experience that I'd like to share.
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Aug 29, 2014 19:06
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cowofwar posted:I always get an advance. I don't need one but why would I pay with my own money and then wait for a refund? Trips often require booking airfare and hotel at least a month in advance so without an advance you're going to have to tie up your own money floating those costs. When I have traveled for work, at several small-ish companies, you can put the expenses on your personal credit card and then immediately submit them for reimbursement. Reimbursement typically takes no longer than 2 weeks, usually less. My credit card limits are all around around $10,000+ so it's hardly a burden. I then rack up credit card points and miles without paying a dime in interest. I've traveled before on a corporate card as well, and yeah sure it's nice to not even have to deal with it, but if I can skim a free 1-3% in rewards off the top of the expenses for free (or at least the 10 minutes it takes to submit an expense report) then why not?
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Aug 29, 2014 19:14
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Wickerman posted:I had a "bad with money" experience that I'd like to share. I immediately told my sister in med school: please don't listen to mom and dad for financial advice, I am always here to talk to. Doctors are mostly very bright people, but between massive student loans and (eventual) large salaries, they develop bad habits. Her and her med school friends were all having panic attacks about their loans, but now they're all pretty numb to it. That's a cool survival mechanism, but you shouldn't be numb to hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt! And then in 10 years, they're all going to making way more money than they have the time or inclination to spend properly, and spend it on crap or bad investments. Add to that they have virtually no time to learn about anything other than doctoring, and it's no wonder they're bad with money. When are they supposed to study proper investment, or even give it any thought? I see a similar thing with engineers, although I feel like they have less of an excuse. For them, it seems to be about choice; they're just so spergy they focus all of their mental energies on engineering and their obsessive hobbies that they never learn about money.
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Aug 29, 2014 19:38
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I designed a part for this monstrosity. Even the people at Nissan thought it was the dumbest poo poo.
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