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I just found out that our 401k matching at my new job is 50% up to 12% of my salary. The downside is I have to wait 3 months, but still, that's a 6% raise right there!
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Jan 20, 2015 18:38
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Sweet high holy jesus that's a good match. Mine caps at 7.5%, but that's only after 20 years of service... Only 18 to go! 
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Jan 20, 2015 20:50
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My 50% on 4% pales in comparison. I'm grateful for that, though, with how many don't even give any match nowadays. When I started working here, they didn't offer one. Maybe the match will get better eventually? 
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Jan 20, 2015 21:06
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I was confused by my match, initially. It's a 3% match if you put in 4%, and then a guaranteed Bonus 4% match at the end of the year, and then anywhere from 0-7% ADDITIONAL match based on company performance. All of this is separate from actual payroll bonuses. So 7% minimum up to 14%. Pretty ridiculous.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:22
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DNK posted:I was confused by my match, initially. It's a 3% match if you put in 4%, and then a guaranteed Bonus 4% match at the end of the year, and then anywhere from 0-7% ADDITIONAL match based on company performance. All of this is separate from actual payroll bonuses. I was about to say sounds reasonable except when you mentioned that there are payroll bonuses too; I figured they were giving you a bonus in your 401k instead of cash to encourage responsibility.  I want to work where you work.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:25
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So I'm applying for jobs and one person, I guess them recruiter or HR asked me if a certain salary was OK in an email. Is that legally binding? Do I say yes in hopes that makes me look like a candidate they don't need to pay as much? Do I want that? (Entry position)
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Jan 20, 2015 23:11
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Our 401(k) match is 50%, period, no vesting. If you max it out, it's a free $9K a year.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:27
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Bisty Q. posted:Our 401(k) match is 50%, period, no vesting. If you max it out, it's a free $9K a year. So the highest match anyone can get is 9k? At companies I've been at, the match has been a % of Salary. For example, if you earn 200k and the policy is 100% match up to 6%, you could get up to 12k in matching funds. I'm just curious if it's really setup so that nobody can get more than 9k.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:41
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I get 100% of the first 1%, then 50% of the next 5% I contribute, so 3.5% on 6% in total. No vesting, either, so not too bad. And we get a pension still!
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Jan 20, 2015 23:43
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Edgar Allan Pwned posted:So I'm applying for jobs and one person, I guess them recruiter or HR asked me if a certain salary was OK in an email. Is that legally binding? Do I say yes in hopes that makes me look like a candidate they don't need to pay as much? Do I want that? (Entry position) Check out the thread on salary negotiations but a good general response to something like that would be to say that it depends on the benefits package to include things like health insurance, retirement, paid leave, etc. It's definitely not binding until you've got a signed offer letter. And you can almost certainly assume that they're lowballing you.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:46
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Mad jelly about some of the 401ks in here. I get 100% of the first 4.5%.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:50
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50% match on up to 10% for an ESPP, though the employer's 50% takes a year to vest. In other news, I cancelled my personal cell phone today. I get a free phone/plan through work-- hello extra $816/yr!
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Jan 21, 2015 00:12
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50% match capped at $3,000. It is something! Our "401k Adviser" is a market timer actively working AGAINST us, however. All our purchases for the past 18 months have been made anywhere from 1 day to 13 days after the pay date, always on the heels of a stock market pop. If the SP500 is down, the order is placed that day. GREAT JOB
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Jan 21, 2015 00:20
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Crabby Abby posted:So the highest match anyone can get is 9k? At companies I've been at, the match has been a % of Salary. For example, if you earn 200k and the policy is 100% match up to 6%, you could get up to 12k in matching funds. I'm just curious if it's really setup so that nobody can get more than 9k. Yeah, but it was previously textbook safe-harbor, so this is a huge improvement.
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Jan 21, 2015 00:29
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I get 7% "for free" since we have no pension or anything. Local government agency, FYI.
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Jan 21, 2015 02:34
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My wife use to work for a state university that did 200% match. Yes, you read that right, for every dollar you put in they put in two. But took 5 years to vest. It hurt when she left that job and we had to give up the un-vested part, even though she made it all back and then some within the next year.
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Jan 21, 2015 04:46
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I don't understand this 'vesting' business. Is it to encourage employees to stay with the company longer? What happens if you lose your job? 
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Jan 21, 2015 09:39
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I work for a university. They match 100% up to 8% of your salary. After 3 years, you are vested and they match 150%. Of course, working for a university also means lower pay.
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Jan 21, 2015 12:57
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Rhianasaurus posted:I don't understand this 'vesting' business. Is it to encourage employees to stay with the company longer? What happens if you lose your job? It exists so they can fire you without you keeping the 401k you earned while working there. So glad my job doesn't have the vesting schedule bullshit, and I've been working here long enough for it not to matter.
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Jan 21, 2015 14:48
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Rhianasaurus posted:I don't understand this 'vesting' business. Is it to encourage employees to stay with the company longer? What happens if you lose your job? If you lose your job, you keep whatever portion had vested, depending on the way your schedule was defined. Let's say you're fired after 1.5 years of service in the following conditions: #1 - 401(k) has a 2-year vesting period. Result, you keep your initial principal and no matches. You probably lose the gains proportionate to the match as well, but that's not guaranteed / kind of gray. #2 - 401(k) has a 1-year rolling vesting period. Result, you keep the matches for your first year of service, lose the last six months of company matches. #3 - 401(k) has a 1-year vesting period, all or nothing: You keep everything, including the last 6 months. It is ostensibly to convince you to stay and not job hop, but in reality, it just gives an incentive to fire you quickly. 
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Jan 21, 2015 15:00
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The last place I worked had a 3 year vest and then a year in they decided it didn't work to keep people and got rid of vesting. I stayed 2 years 10 months...
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Jan 21, 2015 15:31
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Sundae posted:It is ostensibly to convince you to stay and not job hop, but in reality, it just gives an incentive to fire you quickly. I really think it's more the former than the latter. Finding new people in skilled positions and ramping them up(periods of very low productivity while they go through orientation and become familiar with the business etc. including needing time and attention from more expensive resources) will cost a lot more than the pittance that is most 401k matches. Things are stacked in favor of the company just about everywhere, but that's a little too  to make any sense.That said I don't think it does a good job deterring job hopping either. In any case my place vests based on hire date and not contribution date, and I became fully vested years ago, so that's nice. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 16:15
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Oh, definitely not a good job on stopping the hopping. Agreed there. I left my last job because it sucked even worse than my current one, and I didn't even care that I forfeited 100% of all 401(k) matches because the pay rise at the new job was greater than the balance lost. I've more than made up the difference now. My current place has no vesting period, but does not provide any match until you've worked there for a year. Then it's 75% on the first 6% of your salary, so ~4.5% of salary. My last place was 50% on the first 12%, if I remember correctly, but had a 2-year all-or-nothing vesting period. I didn't make it two years. Now that you mention it, you're probably right with regard to the tinfoil. Pension vesting periods, on the other hand... the number of people I've seen get fired a few months before their pension vesting is amazing. Sundae fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 17:05
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Sundae posted:Pension vesting periods, on the other hand... the number of people I've seen get fired a few months before their pension vesting is amazing. This I could see especially nowadays in the current anti-worker environment. I guess that's the one good thing about the decline of defined-benefit pensions: not too many people need to even worry about that anymore.
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Jan 21, 2015 17:20
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I've been a DirecTV customer for 6-7 years, and my bill has slowly crept up to about $115/mo. Realistically I'm not ready to go cold turkey, but we have a new provider (gigabit fiber Internet + TV, no contract) that will be live within 6-12 months and I'll be switching to them. If I call DirecTV and tell them I want to cancel based on "it's too expensive" can I expect that they'll offer me a discounted rate for a certain period of time with no contract extension?
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Jan 22, 2015 03:56
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It worked with Comcast. They do not want you to cancel.
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Jan 22, 2015 04:26
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I lurk this thread a lot and it actually does help with curbing some of my nickle-and-dime spending. Not all of it, but it's progress. I think it was this thread someone mentioned T-Mobile's $30 unlimited data/text/100m talk prepaid plan that they don't advertise (and have one small blurb at the bottom of a page about) & since I destroyed my Verizon phone a couple weeks ago I decided to check into it. $100 for a new phone + $15 starter kid + $30 prepaid refill card is on its way to me. My Verizon bill was $65/mo so it's not a crazy amount of savings, but it's something. That + the internet bill savings gets me an extra $75 per month. T-Mobile also just started advertising a new set of prepaid plans that are 'unlimited everything' http://explore.t-mobile.com/unlimited-prepaid-plans Actual T-Mobile $30 plan details because it was hard for me to find it on the site. Its like 2/3 of the way down the prepaid page under the simple starter plans. Thanks to who ever posted about this! 100 minutes talk | Unlimited text | First 5GB at up to 4G speeds Includes unlimited international texting from the U.S. to virtually anywhere included in your plan at no extra charge. This plan is only available for devices purchased from Wal-Mart or devices activated on T-Mobile.com. edit: Huh, now its advertised on the LG Optimus 90 phone's page. spwrozek posted:It worked with Comcast. They do not want you to cancel.  v
ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 05:19
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Easychair Bootson posted:I've been a DirecTV customer for 6-7 years, and my bill has slowly crept up to about $115/mo. Realistically I'm not ready to go cold turkey, but we have a new provider (gigabit fiber Internet + TV, no contract) that will be live within 6-12 months and I'll be switching to them. If I call DirecTV and tell them I want to cancel based on "it's too expensive" can I expect that they'll offer me a discounted rate for a certain period of time with no contract extension? If you get a rep who isn't an idiot you probably don't even need to threaten to cancel. My internet bill spiked by 50% after two years, I called them and asked why, they said it was because my promotional rate had ended and it was automatic. I had a lot of talking points I was prepared to go through, like how it's crummy that they reward their loyal customers with increased rates, or how I had had quite a bit of technical trouble over the last year (that was the truth too). I got through "I'm not real happy with that price, I mean..." and the rep just jumped in and said oh, we can just find you another promotional rate no problem! Five minutes later my bill was five dollars less than it had been during my first two years. This was Charter by the way, which I've mostly been very happy with for the last decade in various places. They increase prices for people who've been with the service a while because they can; by and large people just tolerate it like you have been. Unless you get a bad phone rep, it's probably not going to take you much effort to get a lower rate. Hell, you might want to even try more than once if the first person you talk to isn't working with you. I don't know how DirectTV specifically operates, but yeah these companies would generally rather have you as a cheap customer than not have you at all.
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Jan 22, 2015 14:45
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My parents assumed I would need to move in with this summer while I save up for rent/deposit on a new apartment where I'll be moving. I'm 28. Got a good laugh out of it. I'm glad I'm more financially responsible than they think I am!
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Jan 22, 2015 15:22
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spinst posted:My parents assumed I would need to move in with this summer while I save up for rent/deposit on a new apartment where I'll be moving. That is pretty awesome. Good job.
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Jan 22, 2015 15:27
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Citi just added a feature where you can see your credit score. I've never seen mine before and don't plan to borrow any cash in the near term, but it was fun to look. It came out at 830, just based on me paying my credit cards off every month for the last 9 years. No non-revolving debt, no attempts to game anything, just paying off the cards. Knowing it is nice but doesn't really do anything. It'll probably be another 4-5 years before I think about buying a house, if ever.
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Jan 22, 2015 16:45
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ladyweapon posted:I have the worst luck with this kind of thing. I had comcast service moved to my current place, split off from a joint account, and after a year it popped up to ~$75/mo just for the internet (after being told that it wasn't a promo rate, why I didn't get that in writing..). I don't watch TV, I don't need a landline, just for my computer to connect to the internet, but I don't use/need $75/month worth of internet. I called them up and told them I need a lower price, even my old price (~45) & I don't care if it means hella slow speeds - the new price is the problem. They told me there was absolutely no cheaper internet plan at any speed that they could offer me. I told them that I can get a price I like from their main competitor, they said "OK." and we processed the cancellation without an issue a few weeks later once my new internet was set up. The guy who did my cancellation was probably the nicest person I've ever spoken to at comcast, though. He asked why I was cancelling, I gave him this run down, and then we got everything disconnected. v Yeah, it really depends on where you are and if there is any competition whatsoever. Comcast pulled the same thing with me because the only other internet provider serving my area is 0.5 megabit DSL. Hard to bluff that you're quitting when they know you have no alternative.
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Jan 22, 2015 16:48
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Ugh. UGH. Last week, we bought a new mattress for $1,400, including mattress protector, delivery, etc. (We live in Australia, and that's the 50% off price - poo poo is expensive here). We need it, too. Springs digging into our back on our five year old, $150 piece of junk. This week, I learn to fix my cracked tooth it's going to cost me exactly $1,400. Normally everything would be fine, but my wife stopped working last year and dropped our income by $50,000. I have a guaranteed raise of $400 a month coming in July which will help, but for now, poo poo like this is super annoying when we're only saving 10% of our pay. Thankfully, these expenses will come out of general savings and not our six month emergency fund, nor our $6,000 in investments, but drat. Every time I have to spend money like this, it's always a balance of "arghhh imagine what I could have done with that money" vs "shut the gently caress up at least you saved the money to pay for it". CelestialScribe fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 21:42
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So I had a relatively piddly amount of money in a private 401a (was automatically enrolled in that instead of paying social security at my college job). A few years ago my dad saw the mail from it and asked if I wanted to turn it over to him to mess around with, I said "sure, whatever". He apparently put it all in stocks, got the statement today that it returned 7.8% last year.  This particular company has relatively high fees though, so I'm going to move it over to Vanguard.
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Jan 22, 2015 22:36
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Pompous Rhombus posted:He apparently put it all in stocks, got the statement today that it returned 7.8% last year. Congrats on underperforming the S&P 500 by 7%? Vanguard is a good choice.
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Jan 22, 2015 22:56
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Yeah... my investment manager (I know.. it's complicated by family) congratulated me on January 1st, saying that "a big part of your portfolio returned 13.7% last year!". Way to admit that what you do is worse than doing nothing, guy.
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Jan 22, 2015 23:03
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I killed off my car loan and lowered my insurance premium today. 13k gone but drat it feels good to a gangster.
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Jan 27, 2015 21:24
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The streak is going to end today, my fellow BFCers. I fell behind on my cooking, so now today I must eat out for lunch. It's been 8 months since I last ate out for lunch at work. A wild journey, some might say. I've eaten many of left over stir fries, many leftover pastas and lasagnas. But today my only options were a peanut butter sandwich, which I also had yesterday, or leftover pasta that I had last night. Alas, the writing was on the wall yesterday, but I couldn't cook last night because it was D&D night at work. The experience of slaying a giant frog last night has now cost me greatly on this day.
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Jan 29, 2015 15:55
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Rick Rickshaw posted:But today my only options were a peanut butter sandwich, which I also had yesterday, or leftover pasta that I had last night. Congrats on your streak. The pasta/sandwich feels like an option that could have been taken, but that's just nitpicking, and I shouldn't talk. I don't eat out for lunch much, but an 8 month streak far outclasses my best. It's a good goal, I might start keeping track.
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Jan 29, 2015 15:59
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You could just like, not eat lunch if the streak is that important. You won't die.
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Jan 29, 2015 16:00
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