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Creditkarma.com, run by transunion gives some numbers relating to your transunion report, and also lets you see most of that report anytime you want. In my experience the number they give you isn't entirely accurate. For instance mine said like 725 on there and when I got a loan back in Feb my actual credit score according to my credit union was 770. But it's free and doesn't really require you giving up any information they don't have access to. All the stuff for linking other accounts to that site (much like mint does) are optional.
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Oct 23, 2014 22:22
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posh spaz posted:Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of those percentages, I just wasn't sure where to start. The last detailed budget I had was made by analyzing expenses over a few months, figuring out what reasonably attainable benchmarks were, then trying to meet or beat those targets. I know a fair amount about corporate finance and budgeting, but I don't have much experience with personal finance, and it's also hard to be objective when it's your own money. I think it's much better, when it comes to personal finance, to think about absolute dollars. For example, if you make six figures but live in small town Kansas, your housing can be a much smaller part of your budget than if you made even mid 5 figures in New York City (or mid-6 figures in San Francisco, amirite?  )Plus, that way, you can better think about where your money is going in more relate-able terms because some budget items should be fixed (e.g. phone, internet) while others are more variable with your income (e.g. entertainment, housing). It can also give clarity for some items, like how your utilities stack up against your actual housing situation. An expensive but small apartment should have lower utilities than a cheaper but larger house.
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Oct 23, 2014 22:29
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totalnewbie posted:I think it's much better, when it comes to personal finance, to think about absolute dollars. Just so we're all on the same page, my actual budget is and will be in dollars. I'm not allowed to discuss my income so it's hard to describe my budget in absolute terms. I was also considering going to a fixed/mixed/variable budget, but I think that's probably more trouble than it's worth to maintain.
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Oct 23, 2014 23:25
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posh spaz posted:I'm not allowed to discuss my income so it's hard to describe my budget in absolute terms. That is weird. Why can you not say what you make? It is really hard to look at the percentages and give you any idea if they make sense.
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Oct 24, 2014 05:23
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spwrozek posted:That is weird. Why can you not say what you make? I have an employment contract that specifically states "discussing my pay rate with others" is unacceptable behavior that may result in termination. I know some weirdos on here have tracked down people in real life to mess with them, so it's not a risk I'm willing to take. This job is really good and I'm not going to purposefully do anything to jeopardize that. I understand it's hard to tell by percentage if the apartment cost is reasonable or not. I'm constrained by market forces too (lower limit on how cheap I can go) so I guess I'll just try to find the best location for the lowest price with acceptable quality.
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Oct 24, 2014 17:15
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For what it's worth, I think you are probably overapplying the bounds of that restriction, because as you are reading it it would be ridiculously onerous and prevent you from doing dozens of necessary things for a regular life. But if you aren't comfortable disclosing your income that's all that needs to be said, it just limits the amount of information you are sharing and therefore what people can help you with. Anyway, posh spaz posted:Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of those percentages, I just wasn't sure where to start. I am not sure how you did it the first time around, but I would recommend using a tracking tool like Mint or You Need A Budget - these help evaluate where you are currently putting your money, which can be helpful to many people who have blindspots on certain kinds of spending. This is mostly the case for people who find themselves feeling broke and don't really understand where the money went, but also applies to someone getting coffee twice a day without really internalizing how much that habit costs over time. Even if that doesn't apply to you, a tracking tool is good for keeping you on track once you have a budget. It can be dupicated/replaced with a spreadsheet or a even just a logbook like your grandparents used for checks, but having a premade tool available and on your phone, etc. helps many people. Consider that as a good place to start. quote:From the research I've done, market rates for the kind of apt I'm looking for are about 27-35% of my net, with tons of options in the 31-35% range. If you are constrained by the market there isn't a lot you can do about it. There is no point telling someone to get their rent under 25% if there isn't anything livable in that range for them, so you need to find the best deal you can make on rent and build around that. When you are looking, think about what you really want from a home, though. It is easy to get drawn in by amenities you may never use, or other 'perks' that actually add very little to you in practice. Look at your current space and work out what you use/need. You might find that you actually need less than you think. Or not, that's fine, just make sure you've done a real appraisal. Without an income, your food percentage is pretty meaningless; food is something that doesn't scale very well to income. For two people, I would start a grocery budget around $250 and then work with your needs and constraints. Location matters a good deal, and so does how you are comfortable eating . You can go down from there if you want to lean more heavily on cheap staples, or up if cooking quality meats is important to you. Work out what you are spending and how you feel about that. There is nothing in your budget about savings, either general or retirement. I understand you are paying down debts, but student debts are often easier to manage if you hit problems (assuming they can be deferred or IBRed) so trying to squeeze some additional savings in is a good idea. Particularly if your employer has any matching programs. Generally I would say that your budget needs to be flesh out more thoroughly - you don't have any allocation for Entertainment, for instance. I suspect that you are spending something on having fun, and even if its just a monthly movie it should be accounted. I would suggest you head over to the budget thread to take a look at some of the breakdowns and what other people are doing/saying. If you can't share specific details, reading there can help give you a sense of what you need to do.
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Oct 24, 2014 18:01
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Ashcans - thanks for the feedback. I currently use spreadsheets for my budget, but I've been thinking about switching to Gnucash because it makes double-entry accounting a lot easier. I haven't looked into Mint or YNAB because I assumed they wouldn't be as useful or as flexible as I like. I also assumed they wouldn't support accrual accounting. I could be wrong though, so let me describe what I've been doing, and let me know if you think Mint would be better. I'm fast and accurate with a 10-key so entering transactions isn't a big deal. I download my bank account as a .csv weekly to double-check amounts, and never pay cash if I can avoid it. When I do I keep the receipt. I don't especially like cash accounting and prefer the accrual method. I've also got detailed auto-calculating proforma spreadsheets set up to organize payments by loan and minimize interest paid. I have a dozen or so loans, some are a good rate (<2%) and some are pretty bad (6-7%). I'm not sure if YNAB or Mint can do that, but I don't think Gnucash can either so I'll probably have to keep my loan spreadsheet regardless. As an aside, I have no idea how two people can manage with $250 per month on food. I really like to cook good food so I guess food is also partly my entertainment budget. I don't really go to movies or bars, so besides Netflix, and maybe a restaurant once a month I don't really do stuff for fun that costs money. I know we're getting more into budgeting and beyond "how much rent should I pay" so I can move this whole discussion over the budget thread if that would make more sense.
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Oct 24, 2014 19:13
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posh spaz posted:I have an employment contract that specifically states "discussing my pay rate with others" is unacceptable behavior that may result in termination. Can you at least tell us how many clamshells (wink wink) you earn in a month?
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Oct 24, 2014 19:41
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Or he can just tell us how much the loans are for. 
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Oct 24, 2014 19:46
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Your pay rate and your income are two different things. You can say your income is 5000 per month but we don't know how much of that is your pay rate and how much of that is from your exotic dancer side job.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:06
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nelson posted:Your pay rate and your income are two different things. You can say your income is 5000 per month but we don't know how much of that is your pay rate and how much of that is from your exotic dancer side job.
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Oct 25, 2014 05:05
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I'd also be very surprised to find out that that clause is legal and enforceable in a developed country. Even in the US.
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Oct 25, 2014 05:47
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FrozenVent posted:I'd also be very surprised to find out that that clause is legal and enforceable in a developed country. Even in the US. Haha, in an At Will state you can be fired for anything and nothing, even being too hot for your boss to handle. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/12/melissa-nelson-dental-assistant-fired-for-being-irresistible-is-devastated/
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Oct 25, 2014 06:00
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FrozenVent posted:I'd also be very surprised to find out that that clause is legal and enforceable in a developed country. Even in the US. He probably doesn't want to share. A lot of people feel income is very private. It will limit how much help he can get, but whatever.
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Oct 25, 2014 12:52
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Well, Ashcans already gave me really good feedback re: the apartment. But thanks for wheedling me. I'm looking for somewhere in a very tight geographical area. It has to be within 2 fare zones of downtown and 3 fare zones from my work, also within walking or easy biking distance of the light rail. Market rates are 27-35% of my net. If I lived outside that zone I'd have to buy at least one, maybe two cars, which would increase the percentage spent on transport from 6% to 15-20%. So I might be able to get rent down to 20%, if I live somewhere really lovely far away, but I'd still pay more on balance when transport is included. Also, this: Peanut3141 posted:Haha, in an At Will state you can be fired for anything and nothing, even being too hot for your boss to handle. posh spaz posted:Reasonably attainable standards don't encourage continuous improvement and can lead to unnecessary budgetary slack. Like, maybe I'll pay too much for something I could buy at a store 15min away because I don't feel like making two trips and I'm still "under budget" in the category. But if the goal is too hard I'm sure I'll get demoralized and sabotage the whole process.
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Oct 25, 2014 14:59
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posh spaz posted:Well, Ashcans already gave me really good feedback re: the apartment. But thanks for wheedling me. Have you gone to the Denver thread and asked for some living advice? I can't recall. I am not sure the last time you lived here but a lot has changed in the last 5 years and your percentages mean nothing to everyone here. If you tell us Denver folk how much you want to pay for rent people will give you some solid suggestions.
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Oct 25, 2014 15:42
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spwrozek posted:Have you gone to the Denver thread and asked for some living advice? I can't recall. I am not sure the last time you lived here but a lot has changed in the last 5 years and your percentages mean nothing to everyone here. If you tell us Denver folk how much you want to pay for rent people will give you some solid suggestions. Thanks for the offer. I do really appreciate the thought, and I'm not trying to come off as ungrateful, but percentages are all I am willing to discuss. Unless someone in the Denver thread wants to rent me an apartment along the light rail corridor under market rates, I'm not sure how else they'd be able to help me. I got the market rates by looking at apartment listings on Padmapper and Hotpads for the areas I'm interested in. I've also been talking to my friends in Denver about housing. One of my friends needs a roommate for a couple months, which should give me plenty of time to find an apartment that fits my needs.
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Oct 25, 2014 16:55
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I don't see why you're talking % of income when you're trying to set a budget. Yes it can be useful, but far less useful than dollars. You clearly don't make enough money to have an employer who cares about what you make or who you tell. You probably should stick with talking about budgeting in dollars.
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Oct 25, 2014 17:25
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SiGmA_X posted:I don't see why you're talking % of income when you're trying to set a budget. Yes it can be useful, but far less useful than dollars. You clearly don't make enough money to have an employer who cares about what you make or who you tell. You probably should stick with talking about budgeting in dollars. What exactly would you be able to tell me if I were to tell you the dollar amounts? Ashcans was already very helpful, so I'm not sure what other issues fall within the scope of this thread. You could tell me how much you think I should spend, but I'm sure you have different costs/values/priorities than I do, and it would be difficult for me to describe in detail the entire basket of goods I purchase every month, as well as the relative importance of each line item to me. There's a reason financial analysis involves lots of percentages and ratios, because it's difficult and sometimes misleading to compare nominal values between different people/companies/situations. I understand you can't offer any specific help with my budget. That's fine, because I feel my questions have already been answered without violating my employment contract. I understand you guys don't take that seriously, but I don't expect you to, because you have absolutely no down-side risk in this situation. I have a minuscule, but non-zero amount of risk, which is more than I'm willing to take. I really don't understand the continued fixation on my income, although the amount of prurient curiosity does make me feel better about not disclosing it. If anyone can address my previous general question about motivating myself to outperform my budget, I would appreciate it. If not, no big deal. posh spaz fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Oct 25, 2014 |
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Oct 25, 2014 18:16
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Good luck not filing your taxes because you can't let the IRS know your income.posh spaz posted:If anyone can address my previous general question about motivating myself to outperform my budget, I would appreciate it. If not, no big deal. nelson fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Oct 26, 2014 |
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Oct 26, 2014 01:34
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nelson posted:Good luck not filing your taxes because you can't let the IRS know your income. A derisive comment followed by a content-less humblebrag. Cool, thanks. I don't know if you're being facetious or you're just ignorant, but if it's the latter, my employer reports my wages to the IRS. I also don't get why you people keep badgering me about this. It's getting really weird. posh spaz fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Oct 26, 2014 |
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Oct 26, 2014 17:11
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posh spaz posted:I also don't get why you people keep badgering me about this. It's getting really weird. I agree.
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Oct 26, 2014 18:25
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posh spaz posted:I also don't get why you people keep badgering me about this. It's getting really weird.
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Oct 27, 2014 02:29
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Hey, who cares, let's get back to newbie questions about PF. Scary Spice can start her own thread if she decides she wants a play-by-play budget breakdown; otherwise, it's irrelevant. Let's change the topic to CurrentC and retailers completely turning off NFC because they're mad about Apple Pay existing.
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Oct 27, 2014 02:55
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posh spaz posted:I also don't get why you people keep badgering me about this. It's getting really weird. I don't think it's so much about knowing your rights as it is about asking a question and knowing you aren't going to give enough information for people reasonably answer it. You've done the equivalent of going into AI and saying "I want a car! I can't tell you how much I drive or what I plan to do with it, but I want it to be red! What car is best for me?!" The reason people are bugging you is because you can either give some idea of your total income, or anything else you say is just a waste of time because everything important is left to the imagination. If you're not comfortable sharing your income, fine, but don't call other people ignorant because you want something impossible.
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Oct 27, 2014 02:58
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Bisty Q. posted:Let's change the topic to CurrentC and retailers completely turning off NFC because they're mad about Apple Pay existing. NFC is that thing where you just wave your credit card at the terminal and walk out with your poo poo isn't it? It's gotten so ubiquitous here in canada that I get annoyed at places that don't have it; I can't believe the US is so backward when it comes to payment systems. Is chip and pin at least standard these days?
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Oct 27, 2014 03:02
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FrozenVent posted:NFC is that thing where you just wave your credit card at the terminal and walk out with your poo poo isn't it? WTF is chip and pin (I know what it is but there is your answer)? But I swipe the ole chase visa everywhere. Never used the tap function (if it even works? no idea really, I think mastercard is more on this trend?) or my phone to pay for something.
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Oct 27, 2014 03:36
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FrozenVent posted:NFC is that thing where you just wave your credit card at the terminal and walk out with your poo poo isn't it? quote:It's gotten so ubiquitous here in canada that I get annoyed at places that don't have it; I can't believe the US is so backward when it comes to payment systems. Is chip and pin at least standard these days?
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Oct 27, 2014 03:47
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Hi All, I couldn't sleep last night so I tried to envision the perfect personal finance app for my immediate needs. My wife and I both have iPhones with us all the time, so this is the tool I want to use for day-to-day stuff, but I don't mind setting up on a PC/Mac. Anybody know if there's something like this? I'd gladly pay for it.
You budget items into categories (standard stuff). Any time any purchase is made on any tracked card or check you get a notification on your phone. Swipe the notification to open the app and categorize the spend. After categorizing the spend you get a list of where you are in each category for the month. Anything like this? I used Mint for a while but it was terrible, admittedly that was a while ago.
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Oct 27, 2014 15:03
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YNAB does all that, except you must enter transactions manually. IIRC, they did this deliberately (but also because it saved them a lot of work/hassle/headache, I'm sure). It does use GPS to track location, which is convenient, so that you don't have to keep entering "Local Townie Bar" every time.
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Oct 27, 2014 15:39
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FrozenVent posted:It's gotten so ubiquitous here in canada that I get annoyed at places that don't have it;
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Oct 27, 2014 16:25
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My credit card had the RFID wave thing. Barely any retailers used it, and I once caused an incident at a Jack in the Box by using it. The employee was puzzled that I paid for my tacos without having her swipe the card. My bank sent me a new card to replace the old one, and it didn't have the RFID chip inside. The attached documentation said they were getting rid of it because very few retailers actually used it.
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Oct 27, 2014 23:33
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FrozenVent posted:I'd also be very surprised to find out that that clause is legal and enforceable in a developed country. Even in the US. They most definitely aren't legal. Federal courts have ruled that employees have the right to discuss salaries, under the National Labor Relations Act.
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Oct 28, 2014 12:22
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totalnewbie posted:YNAB does all that, except you must enter transactions manually.
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Oct 28, 2014 13:58
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Remulak posted:Thanks, I'll try it but the auto feature in the app is *really* what I need, as my wife is terrible at updating and it's causing some issues. Seems like something my credit union should offer.
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Oct 28, 2014 16:06
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I have about 24k in a savings account, which is my one year emergency fund. I've decided that I don't need a full year's worth of emergency money in that account, and can get by with half of that. I'd like to take the other 12k and get something more than the piddly 0.1% interest (or whatever) I'm getting from my savings account. I already contribute the max to my Roth IRA every year. Should I take that $12k and just put it in the 401k offered by my employer? They don't do matching yet, but it would be the easiest 401k solution for me. Are there other smart options for this chunk of money? Stocks, mutual funds? Just keep it in savings? I'm 33 years old, with no debt besides my mortgage.
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Oct 28, 2014 18:20
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Clint Howard posted:I have about 24k in a savings account, which is my one year emergency fund. I've decided that I don't need a full year's worth of emergency money in that account, and can get by with half of that. I'd like to take the other 12k and get something more than the piddly 0.1% interest (or whatever) I'm getting from my savings account. I already contribute the max to my Roth IRA every year. Should I take that $12k and just put it in the 401k offered by my employer? They don't do matching yet, but it would be the easiest 401k solution for me. Are there other smart options for this chunk of money? Stocks, mutual funds? Just keep it in savings? I'm 33 years old, with no debt besides my mortgage. 401k has to be funded by witholdings, so you can't just transfer it to your 401k. However, turning up your contributions to 100% and then spending down the emergency fund works and is what I would probably do in your situation. I'd also usually put a bit on the mortgage as an emotional hedge so you don't feel as bad if the market promptly tanks 20%.
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Oct 28, 2014 18:27
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Yes, you should invest in a 401k. YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS WITH YOUR EXTRA SAVINGS. The benefit for 401k and Roth IRAs are primarily in their tax advantage. 401k contributions are pre-tax and so your contributions now do not count towards the income tax you pay (i.e. how much is taken out of your paycheck. This doesn't mean you get to deduct your 401k contributions when you file your income tax returns.) However, you WILL pay income taxes on them when you withdraw from it after you retire. Roth IRA contributions are post-tax, but the benefit is that you do not pay taxes on them when you withdraw. Therefore, if you were to contribute to a 401k with post-tax money, you would be paying taxes on it twice. Instead, something like a low fee mutual fund is probably what you're looking for if you want to play it safer, or stocks if you like to gamble. Alternatively, you could put it into your mortgage or towards a new car or something.
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Oct 28, 2014 18:30
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totalnewbie posted:Yes, you should invest in a 401k. The right answer is bump contributions to max or near max, and live off the $12k for a bit. IMO.
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Oct 28, 2014 19:28
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SiGmA_X posted:Most 401k's won't allow you to make post tax deposits, and require payroll deductions. I'm doing this right now with my 457(b) so I can max out for 2014. In fact, I cranked my contribution up high enough that I'll hit the max with a couple paychecks left in the year. I'm really looking forward to December when my take home will bump from a couple hundred per check back up to a couple thousand. 
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Oct 28, 2014 19:45
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