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Hashtag Banterzone posted:You could do a backdoor Roth IRA e: GoGoGadgetChris posted:Let's say I make $120,000 a year, but I max out a 401k ($18,000). Guinness posted:Yes, Roth IRA contributions are based on your AGI not your pretax income.
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Nov 3, 2015 20:25
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:You could do a backdoor Roth IRA lol no
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Nov 3, 2015 22:42
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:You could do a backdoor Roth IRA I think maxing a traditional 401k and then contributing to a Roth IRA normally is the preferred way to go if you can. 23,500 in tax-advantaged accounts is better than 5,500.
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Nov 3, 2015 22:59
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You will need to see what your MAGI is but there is a phase out between $116-131k so you will be able to put most of the limit in buy not all. The IRS page has all the details.
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Nov 3, 2015 23:29
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nelson posted:Increasing "withholdings" (withholdings are the amount of money the government takes from your paycheck) will make your tax refund bigger (or make it so you get a refund if you owed taxes before). Yes, you're right. My mistake. Thanks for spotting it.
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Nov 3, 2015 23:33
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Does anyone have any particular recommendations or reading on online savings accounts? Seems like there's not a ton in the way of reviews and resources for picking them aside from rates and review sites that are half people with axes to grind. I'm mostly just trying to get something better than the insulting rates that I'm currently getting on roughly 30k. Maybe a bit more after I crack a CD with a similarly lovely rate. It seems like the obvious picks would be MySavingsDirect or Radius Bank, but goonpinions are always good to get.
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Nov 4, 2015 00:56
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Echophonic posted:Does anyone have any particular recommendations or reading on online savings accounts? Seems like there's not a ton in the way of reviews and resources for picking them aside from rates and review sites that are half people with axes to grind. I just started using Ally. Very easy to set up and transfer funds. That being said, I have only been using them for about 3 months.
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Nov 4, 2015 01:07
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Echophonic posted:Does anyone have any particular recommendations or reading on online savings accounts? Seems like there's not a ton in the way of reviews and resources for picking them aside from rates and review sites that are half people with axes to grind.
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Nov 4, 2015 01:56
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Echophonic posted:Does anyone have any particular recommendations or reading on online savings accounts? Seems like there's not a ton in the way of reviews and resources for picking them aside from rates and review sites that are half people with axes to grind. I've used Ally for around 4 months now and have had a great experience, overall. Small sample size but I had to contact customer service about a few things and they were speedy and helpful. They are unveiling tiered rates for savings accounts on Nov 7 (I believe). So you may want to check out the announcement before deciding.
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Nov 4, 2015 02:50
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I've been using Ally for a little under a year thanks to this forum. I have zero complaints. Integrates with Quicken, quick transfers, simple and easy to use web interface, takes direct deposits, and pays ~1% (0.95? Whatever.) I'd highly recommend them. I've read good things about their checking features here too, but I personally love my CU - my CU just has horrid interest rates on savings so I moved to Ally. 1% is still low, but it's closer to inflation than 0.01-0.05%!
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Nov 4, 2015 17:29
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I actually had Ally Auto for my car loan, never had any issues with them. A 10th of a percent for a bank I already like seems like a fair deal. I'll take a closer look at Ally. Thanks!
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Nov 5, 2015 00:08
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So my credit card started showing me my credit score last month, that's cool. I log on and see my FICO is 832. That sounds right, I've never had any late payments, usually pay my credit card off every month or carry at most a 5% balance that gets paid off the next month if I go a little overboard with gifts or something. This month I log in and it says my credit score is 798. That's a little shocking so I read its recommendations and it says I don't have any recent instalment loans so my credit score doesn't reflect my ability to pay loans. I paid off all my student loans about a year and a half ago, paying off the last 2500 in a lump sum because I wanted the psychological benefit of having an extra 200 dollars in my budget each month. I did the same with my car about 3 years ago. Apparently this means my ability to pay off loans is no longer recent and I took a 34 point hit to my FICO. Here's the other fact: I did all my Christmas shopping last month so I put about 1200 dollars on the Visa and didn't pay that off until today (post pay day). Could the 1200 sitting on my credit card (limit 9500) be more responsible for that dip than my loans finishing up last year or is FICO just a terrible system?
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Nov 5, 2015 18:50
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Don't worry about it, anything more than like 750 is typically considered excellent. Unless you're buying a house next month there's nothing to stress about.
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Nov 5, 2015 18:55
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pathetic little tramp posted:Here's the other fact: I did all my Christmas shopping last month so I put about 1200 dollars on the Visa and didn't pay that off until today (post pay day). Could the 1200 sitting on my credit card (limit 9500) be more responsible for that dip than my loans finishing up last year or is FICO just a terrible system? The bottom line is that if your score is hovering around 800 then you're doing fine and don't worry about gaming it.
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Nov 5, 2015 19:05
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Does anybody have some links for trying to figure out if a HSA/high deductable health plan is worth it over traditional? It's open enrollment time on Monday, and I barely understand how the hell a HSA/hdhp works anyway and I'm trying to educate myself before I make a dumb choice.
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Nov 7, 2015 21:01
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Do you go to the doctor a lot or have lots of medication? If no, a HDHP with an HSA is worth it.
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Nov 7, 2015 21:39
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Moneyball posted:Do you go to the doctor a lot or have lots of medication? If no, a HDHP with an HSA is worth it. This is the basic criteria for whether or not an HDHP is a good idea for you. An HDHP is more like medical disaster insurance. If you've got very low regular medical expenses and just need to insure against something terrible like a car accident, surgeries, cancer, etc. then HSA plans tend to work greatly in your favor. If you're offered multiple plans through your employer, you'll still need to run the numbers to compare plans though. For me, an HDHP is a no brainer. I'm young, single, and generally healthy and my employer pays for the whole premium cost of an HDHP and contributes $125/mo into my HSA. The traditional PPO option would cost me $75/mo. Edit: Also, HSAs are a really fantastic type of account to have. Contributions go in tax-free, grow tax-free, and come out tax-free when used for medical/dental/vision expenses. Guinness fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Nov 7, 2015 |
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Nov 7, 2015 22:08
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When I weighted HDHP vs traditional, I basically looked at it this way: HDHP has a higher deductible, obviously, and a higher out of pocket max per year. If I took my savings from going from traditional health plan to a HDHP and put it in an HSA (and I get a company match up to X amount), it would take me about two years to make up the difference for if I suddenly hit my out of pocket max with a HDHP. In other words, I did the math and found that if I stayed healthy for 2 years, I would come out ahead. My health expenses are very low (effectively zero) so that made the math easier. A little more complicated if you know you like to go get checked out every 3 months or whatever, but otherwise that's how I looked at it.
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Nov 8, 2015 00:15
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Hypnolobster posted:Does anybody have some links for trying to figure out if a HSA/high deductable health plan is worth it over traditional? It's open enrollment time on Monday, and I barely understand how the hell a HSA/hdhp works anyway and I'm trying to educate myself before I make a dumb choice. The other somewhat obvious, but important, part of a HDHP is to have sufficient cash savings so that you can pay your OOP max for a year or two, in case things go really badly.
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Nov 8, 2015 15:03
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I signed up for a HDHP at my first job cause the whole "you're young and healthy" pitch and what do you know a few months later I got into a bicycle accident and hello instant $5000 deductible and physiotherapy and surgery and. Yeah I wouldn't recommend it at all if you're an active person. Plus then I found out that the chiropractor across the street at work accepts insurance for massages and it's really nice getting free massages every other week is all I'm saying. Full coverage or bust.
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Nov 8, 2015 17:01
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Any word on what Ally's new tiers are for savings accounts? They were supposed to be released yesterday, but I can't find anything
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Nov 8, 2015 17:41
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Meh, it can be a risk but not really too bad. I ski, bike to work, rock climb, etc. I have about 3 times my yearly deductible in my account now. Yeah things can go bad but my premiums are $35 a month with a $2750 max oop.
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Nov 8, 2015 17:43
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So I've always done HSA because I've been young and healthy. This next year I know we're going to have ~$25k in medical expenses (pregnancy) yet I just modeled it out and the HSA still comes out ahead... Premiums are just so much lower, combined with the cash my employer gives me to choose the HSA.
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Nov 8, 2015 17:48
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EugeneJ posted:Any word on what Ally's new tiers are for savings accounts? Their official site has the three tiers listed, but all three rates are still the same 1%. Still not sure when they will start changing them or what they will change them to.
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Nov 8, 2015 17:57
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app posted:So I've always done HSA because I've been young and healthy. This next year I know we're going to have ~$25k in medical expenses (pregnancy) yet I just modeled it out and the HSA still comes out ahead... Premiums are just so much lower, combined with the cash my employer gives me to choose the HSA. While it varies by plan (you have to plug in the premiums, coinsurance rates, deductible, oop max) HDHP plans can also make sense if you have an extremely large planned medical expense coming up. Depending on the type of delivery an your coinsurance rate, you may well be hitting your oop max in your situation. A baby or major elective surgery could certainly make sense on an HSA Where HsA's can fail is when people have chronic but non catastrophic expenses, perhaps costing them a few thousand a year, or if you are in a situation like the guy a few posts up where you have an unexpected injury and need to come up with several grand you haven't had time to save; having bad luck can hurt anyone, but you are especially screwed if you do t get employer funding in a lump sum and throw your back out on January 1st. Sure, if you've got the cash on hand anyway you can pay yourself back and it'll work out in the end but you may not be in that position They are also bad for the poor, since rather don't get much of a tax break from whatever minimal contributions they can put in the savings account. Kaiser family foundation did a study that may be of interest if anyone cares about the public policy angle.
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Nov 8, 2015 18:20
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Boris Galerkin posted:I signed up for a HDHP at my first job cause the whole "you're young and healthy" pitch and what do you know a few months later I got into a bicycle accident and hello instant $5000 deductible and physiotherapy and surgery and. Thanks for playing risk vs. reward, sorry that you lost. Doesn't really impact things statistically though: young and healthy people tend to win at HSA, unless by "active" you mean "adrenaline junkie" or "risk-taker" (not saying that you were in one of these categories). I can't really say much though, my OOP max is $3000 so I'm looking forward to wind sailing in freeway traffic next week.
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Nov 9, 2015 07:37
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HSAs and HDHPs are awesome for a lot of people. What's not up for debate is the fact that FSAs are garbage.
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Nov 9, 2015 19:48
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What's the problem with FSAs?
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Nov 9, 2015 20:09
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Ashcans posted:What's the problem with FSAs? Have to use the money in it by the end of the year or you lose it
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Nov 9, 2015 20:23
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Yeah even for guys like me with regular prescriptions (inhaler/allergy meds/stomach stuff) my high deductible account with HSA is the clear winner. I ran the numbers and our PPO is only cheaper if you have kids and lots of office visits. Hell once you count the employer contribution to the HSA, we actually get paid to have health insurance.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:29
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EugeneJ posted:Have to use the money in it by the end of the year or you lose it 
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Nov 9, 2015 20:31
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Boris Galerkin posted:I signed up for a HDHP at my first job cause the whole "you're young and healthy" pitch and what do you know a few months later I got into a bicycle accident and hello instant $5000 deductible and physiotherapy and surgery and. You got terribly unlucky, and that sucks, but it doesn't mean it was the wrong decision. Statistically, most young and healthy people come out way ahead with an HDHP+HSA. Also unless you've got a super kick rear end PPO plan, which the vast majority of people don't, you'd still be paying thousands of dollars in copays, coinsurance, deductibles, etc. for surgeries, physical therapy, meds, and all that. Depending on how good/bad the PPO plan is, in serious medical disaster situations you can end up paying significantly more through a PPO than an HDHP. But again, it comes down to the specific plan offerings, the differential costs between plans, and how many medical visits you expect to make. I've been on an HDHP+HSA for a number of years now, while leading an active life of biking, skiing, hiking, rock climbing, etc., and have over 4 years' worth of OOP maximums in my HSA. There is unfortunately not a single, one-size-fits-all recommendation when it comes to health plans since there are so many drat variables. It's all disastrously overcomplicated in the USA compared to every other civilized country on earth.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:44
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I put money into these two accounts but this is all jibberish to me. One was supposed to be a conservative account, where the other one was a moderate. I don't even know which one is which. I also have a 401k with ~50k in it that I am contributing 10% to (matched). I want to start automatically transferring money into one of these or both of these, but I am not sure how much to put in, or if I want to keep both or what. So, how good are these? http://imgur.com/a/eZznR I suppose another question I have is about my 401k. Mint says it is worth ~50k, or the "market value" is ~100k. Why are there two numbers? What is the real value?
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Nov 9, 2015 22:20
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baby puzzle posted:So, how good are these? My guess is that they're garbage portfolios. baby puzzle posted:I want to start automatically transferring money into one of these or both of these, but I am not sure how much to put in, or if I want to keep both or what. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Nov 9, 2015 |
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Nov 9, 2015 22:25
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EugeneJ posted:Have to use the money in it by the end of the year or you lose it You can roll over $500 
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Nov 9, 2015 22:25
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baby puzzle posted:I put money into these two accounts but this is all jibberish to me. One was supposed to be a conservative account, where the other one was a moderate. I don't even know which one is which. I also have a 401k with ~50k in it that I am contributing 10% to (matched). Mint is terrible at tracking investments, log into your 401k and check.
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Nov 9, 2015 22:26
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Probably garbage, just judging by the seemingly scattershot approach. It's also hard to say for sure without seeing the expense ratios or loads (especially when I see American Funds), but my hunch is that you're getting fleeced there. Maybe I can find more better information. I really am clueless about this kind of thing. I think I am paying double the quarterly fees because I have two separate accounts. I don't have any plans for the 100k. I might like to buy a house some day, but I'm in no hurry. I would really just like to watch it grow into something more, without worrying about it a whole lot. THF13 posted:Mint is terrible at tracking investments, log into your 401k and check. The bank's web site gives me the 50k number. Is that, like, the value if I were to pull it out now or something? I have no plan on doing that.
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Nov 9, 2015 23:03
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baby puzzle posted:The bank's web site gives me the 50k number. Is that, like, the value if I were to pull it out now or something? I have no plan on doing that. Are you vested?
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Nov 10, 2015 00:58
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I don't know. I didn't know it was a thing. I'll have to find out how they do it. At least I know what that is now.
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Nov 10, 2015 01:06
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My suspicion is that you have cliff vesting, where your employer's contributions all become yours after a specified period. Check your employee benefits guide or ask an HR rep. Regarding your other funds, honestly I'd figure out your desired risk level and just park it in a Vanguard LifeStrategy fund (assuming all other areas of your finances are sound -- no bad debt, Roth IRA for the year is maxed, e-fund is good, etc.). Just keep aside some money to handle any capital gains you'd owe on your next taxes. I did something similar about a year ago, cashing out some awful American Funds money (high ER, front loads) and converting it to Vanguard. It wasn't too terrible of a process.
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Nov 10, 2015 01:28
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