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Irritated Goat posted:I've got an Ally account. I'm kind of tempted to use it for emergency funds\wife's taxes (she's a contractor) now that someone mentioned it. It might make us a couple dollars over time and is less accessible if my dumb rear end overspends.
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Feb 9, 2016 21:49
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Extremely naive question: Is it normal for my car insurance premium to increase for no discernible reason? My last two six-month premiums cost $x, so I've been saving up to buy another at $x but now it's a little more (only like $20 or so). I mean I guess it makes sense, what with inflation and everything. I just wasn't expecting it and wondering if this happens to everyone?
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Feb 10, 2016 04:03
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Rexim posted:Extremely naive question: Yeah. The other thing is that it's worth shopping around every year or so for insurance. There's no one company that will be always cheapest for you. If your only insurance policy is auto, definitely do it. It's annoying to do it when you have a bundle for car/boat/house/beanie baby collection
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Feb 10, 2016 05:08
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Per Clark Howard, it is common for insurance companies to develop algorithms to figure out who is likely to check prices, and who not. Then they'll raise the prices knowing, in general, who won't shop around. Insurance does not reward loyalty. Call around, getting a couple of quotes that could save you a hundred dollars a year is worth it.
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Feb 10, 2016 12:18
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Speaking of insurance shopping... Every time my 6mo premium rolls around I always go shopping but for some reason whenever I get quotes from other companies it's usually 4-5x higher than what I'm paying now. And I already think I'm paying on the higher end of what I should be. I'm with geico with higher than average coverage, but comparable coverage with other companies just seems so out of line with what I've got, I don't know what to think...
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Feb 10, 2016 17:57
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SeaWolf posted:Speaking of insurance shopping... Every time my 6mo premium rolls around I always go shopping but for some reason whenever I get quotes from other companies it's usually 4-5x higher than what I'm paying now. And I already think I'm paying on the higher end of what I should be. I'm with geico with higher than average coverage, but comparable coverage with other companies just seems so out of line with what I've got, I don't know what to think... This is me too. Sometimes you just fit a particular company's risk model very well I guess. I've heard people say GEICO can be hard to work with if you actually need them to pay out. But I have an old car with liability only (decently high limits), and I've never needed them, so I have no personal experience there.
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Feb 10, 2016 18:06
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Grumpwagon posted:This is me too. Sometimes you just fit a particular company's risk model very well I guess. That's very interesting, as we've had Geico and went through 2 totaled cars with them. Both times the process went as smooth as I can imagine it ever going, paid out quickly, quick estimates and a breeze to work with. I guess YMMV.
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Feb 10, 2016 18:10
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ObsidianBeast posted:That's very interesting, as we've had Geico and went through 2 totaled cars with them. Both times the process went as smooth as I can imagine it ever going, paid out quickly, quick estimates and a breeze to work with. I guess YMMV. Well, I'm just passing on 3rd hand reports of anecdotes, so it's very possible I'm full of poo poo.
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Feb 10, 2016 18:18
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ObsidianBeast posted:That's very interesting, as we've had Geico and went through 2 totaled cars with them. Both times the process went as smooth as I can imagine it ever going, paid out quickly, quick estimates and a breeze to work with. I guess YMMV. Generally speaking, totaled cars are super-easy to deal with, especially if there are few/no injuries.
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Feb 11, 2016 00:44
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I've had Geico for like 10 years - never had a problem with claims
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Feb 11, 2016 01:25
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Geico is kind of an anomaly in that they're crazy cheap for some reason. They are the Walmart of auto insurance companies, competing on cost alone.
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Feb 12, 2016 04:56
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I just moved to Canada from Australia and have no plans of going back. What would happen if I stopped paying my australian gem visa credit card? (forever)
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Feb 13, 2016 06:00
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Nierbo posted:I just moved to Canada from Australia and have no plans of going back. What would happen if I stopped paying my australian gem visa credit card? (forever) Really depends on how much you owe. If it's $1k, they might get a judgement against you and try to seize any assets of yours still in Australia (bank accounts, property, etc), but I suspect it's unlikely they'll try to chase you across the ocean. However, if you're owing hundreds of thousands in unsecuritised debt (I doubt that's likely) and have nothing in Australia, they might go to all the effort of tracking you down, serving you in a Canadian court and forcing you to pony up. It's not something I'd recommend doing. Even if you're not in Australia, they may start sending bills, collections notices and debt collectors to anyone you've ever stayed with, like your family. Nothing ruins Christmas dinner quite like 'hey kid, good to see you again, the debt collectors are still after you - there's a couple of scary notices in the corner there for you to look at'.
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Feb 13, 2016 07:52
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SeaWolf posted:Speaking of insurance shopping... Every time my 6mo premium rolls around I always go shopping but for some reason whenever I get quotes from other companies it's usually 4-5x higher than what I'm paying now. And I already think I'm paying on the higher end of what I should be. I'm with geico with higher than average coverage, but comparable coverage with other companies just seems so out of line with what I've got, I don't know what to think... Thanks for posting this! It reminded me to shop around. I have been with esurance for the past two years with their premium being dramatically lower than any other company I compared them with. But slowly over my last three renewals my premium went up a total of $90 per six month period for no discernible reason. I took some time to compare today and was able to go from $393/6 months to $294 by switching to Progressive. I was even able to bump up my coverage in several areas and still come out way ahead. Good With Money: I used the savings to get Renter's Insurance, which I have been lacking for a few years now. :x
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Feb 14, 2016 20:44
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spinst posted:I took some time to compare today and was able to go from $393/6 months to $294 by switching to Progressive. I was even able to bump up my coverage in several areas and still come out way ahead.
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Feb 15, 2016 00:59
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I personally had no issues with progressive. Two chipped and filled windshield and a mowed over dog on the highway. Anecdotal, obviously.
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Feb 15, 2016 02:22
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froglet posted:Really depends on how much you owe. If it's $1k, they might get a judgement against you and try to seize any assets of yours still in Australia (bank accounts, property, etc), but I suspect it's unlikely they'll try to chase you across the ocean. However, if you're owing hundreds of thousands in unsecuritised debt (I doubt that's likely) and have nothing in Australia, they might go to all the effort of tracking you down, serving you in a Canadian court and forcing you to pony up. Do you think they'd try and track me down over 5 grand? Would that pos poo poo country even have any jurisdiction over canada?
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Feb 15, 2016 03:32
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You're gonna tear up your credit over $5 grand? Just write them a letter, tell them you're going to send them a check for $50/mo for the next 100 months @ no interest due to you leaving the country forever. These kinds of things have a way of circling back around to you some day. If you're gonna be a dick about it, buy $100k in gold on credit and then leave the country or something mischevious (pro tip: don't actually do that). But not for a measly $5K. Especially if you can get a job in the US, and then that debt is only $2500.
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Feb 15, 2016 05:56
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Well I walked out on my internet and phone and power bills anyway so my credit is long but gone. like I said I'm never going back so credit rating doesn't matter to me. But yeah I think I'll just pay the money back and be done with it.
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Feb 15, 2016 18:47
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I keep $1500-$2000 in my checking account and the rest in Ally to protect myself from impulse spending. I used to just put way too much money in my 401k, but I've gotten a bit more of a handle on myself, so now I've taken the next step of keeping more money in checking but with most of it slightly more protected in online savings. Also what is this thread's thoughts on getting a part time job in addition to a full time office job? I've heard horrible things about Uber but I applied for Favor, Task Rabbit and I'm looking at freelance stuff for copy editor type work.
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Feb 16, 2016 05:00
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Is there a good way to figure out how much to contribute to an IRA for 2015 before filing so I don't end up owing any tax this year? I eyeballed my exemptions after my wife graduated and started working full time and I didn't think we'd owe taxes - turns out we're gonna owe about $300 as things stand. Also, how are traditional IRA deduction limits affected by the 401k I have (and contribute to) at work?
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Feb 16, 2016 05:09
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I worked 6 months in 2014 and got $2000 on my tax return. 2015 I was still employed at the same company but worked the whole year and only got $1300 on my tax returns. Nothing has changed but why am I getting less money back? Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 01:43
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That's not enough information to go off of, however, it if you only worked part of the year in 2014 and the full year in 2015, you may have increased your earnings over the limits in which the "earned income credit" would apply. Other off the wall things could be the obamacare fine if you didn't have insurance (325/person you claim if not covered the ought the year) which increased substantially last year.
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Feb 17, 2016 01:59
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edit
Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 02:06
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Busy Bee posted:I worked 6 months in 2014 and got $2000 on my tax return. 2015 I was still employed at the same company but worked the whole year and only got $1300 on my tax returns. Nothing has changed but why am I getting less money back? The income tax for one-half of your income is not equal to half of the income tax owed of your entire income, rather it is less due to the progressive nature of the income tax system. In order words, twice the income does not result in twice the income tax; the income tax owed is actually larger than double. It seems like your allowances have you over-withholding, which is why you're getting a refund in the first place. Withholding per paycheck assumes you get that paycheck for every pay period in the year; it doesn't taken into account that you only worked half of a year. Last year, you essentially withheld half of what you withheld this entire year, but the tax you owed was less than half of what you owed this year, so you got a bigger refund. Since income tax owed does not scale linearly with income, your refund did not double just because you worked the entire year because you owed more than double the income tax you did last year. It's also possible your income caused you to phase out of certain deductions and credits as well.
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Feb 17, 2016 02:35
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So.. my wife owes like 1500 for taxes.. most likely due to working lots of overtime last year. I was wondering if there was any possible way to lower this amount due back by contributing a lump sum into her 401k? Or is this not how it works? (Sorry, Canadian goon, American wife.)
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Feb 17, 2016 16:17
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I'm pretty sure 401k contributions legally have to come out of paychecks, and so you can't contribute for the past year after December 31. At least, no employer I ever had gave the option to make a contribution outside of pay withholding, current year or otherwise. If she hasn't contributed to an IRA yet for 2015, her best bet is to contribute the max (5500) to a Traditional IRA. It's worth taking a few hours with a tax refund calculator mid-year to see where you stand taxwise and where you're likely to end up due to this reason, so you have more time an ability to adjust for it.
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Feb 17, 2016 16:29
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lol internet. posted:So.. my wife owes like 1500 for taxes.. most likely due to working lots of overtime last year. I was wondering if there was any possible way to lower this amount due back by contributing a lump sum into her 401k? Or is this not how it works? (Sorry, Canadian goon, American wife.) Wife and I were slated to owe $300 this year (posted earlier in this thread). A $1000 contribution to a traditional IRA turned us from owing to getting a refund of $24. YMMV based upon your AGI, but it wouldn't hurt to see how it would work for you.
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Feb 17, 2016 17:16
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My wife is a contractor so we have to set aside her taxes. Is there a good site to calculate that based on her paycheck? To be more precise, I know what she gets paid in total for her hours (i.e. $100 deposit) and would like to just input that, my state and filing status for the amount I need to set aside for her. If I really need to get more info, it's fine but I wanted to try to do it without bothering her today.
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Feb 19, 2016 16:52
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I'd like to double check my plan for divvying up my money - I'm in Canada. Those are my current student loans: Federal - 14,559.37 at 5.2% floating, monthly payment 194.25 Provincial - 16,931.60 at 2.7% floating, monthly payment 204.96 I have no other debt, and I hold a RDSP with $26k right now that still has tons of grant matching space left to make up - the government will grant $3500 for the first $1500 I put in annually. I have over 20k of unclaimed grants, and I can contribute up to 10.5k per year until I catch up. I have $37k in the bank. The one negative is that I currently do not have a stable income. I live frugally and have really good financial restraint, but because I'm still waiting to land an ongoing stable job in my field I'm not going to throw all my money at the RDSP and loans immediately. Am I correct in that the best strategy for tackling this would be: 1) Contribute money to the RDSP to get the government grants 2) Even if my loan repayment assistance ends, continue with RDSP grants as first priority over loans since the grants outweight my loan interest payments 3) Once RDSP annual grants are maxed for the year, pay down the provincial loan first because it has the higher interest rate Koskinator fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 20:36
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Irritated Goat posted:My wife is a contractor so we have to set aside her taxes. Is there a good site to calculate that based on her paycheck? If you want to be exact, you have to know what you're going to make this year, what she's going to make, and what deductions/exemptions you're going to have. I've always heard to set aside a third as a good rule of thumb; it's probably overkill for most people, but better a bit over than a lot under.
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Feb 19, 2016 21:11
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It's almost certainly not overkill if she's paying both sides of FICA.
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Feb 19, 2016 21:51
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Nail Rat posted:It's almost certainly not overkill if she's paying both sides of FICA. Yeah, for self employment income for a spouse your estimated needs are: 15.3% self employment tax + state tax + marginal tax rate considering spouse's income. So for example, if you are in illinois and your spouse makes 90k a year then you would need to set aside: 15.3% + 3.75% + 25% federal income tax = ~44%.
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Feb 19, 2016 22:09
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Droo posted:Yeah, for self employment income for a spouse your estimated needs are: The federal rate should be effective not just the highest bracket. But really since they are married it is going to be a bit screwy and you might just hold back the highest bracket to be on the safe side.
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Feb 20, 2016 00:46
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spwrozek posted:The federal rate should be effective not just the highest bracket. I don't know why people keep saying this. The husband has a job and is making $x regardless (presumably) of whether the wife makes $0 or $100,000. Therefore the wife's income (which is variable in this specific example) needs to account for the marginal tax rate that she will have to pay based on the fact that the husband's income will exist and fill the lower tax brackets regardless of whether she has that income or not. It's not really fair to to the wife to think about it this way, but in order to figure out how much extra tax they are going to owe that's how it works. Droo fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Feb 20, 2016 |
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Feb 20, 2016 01:33
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Droo posted:I don't know why people keep saying this. The husband has a job and is making $x regardless (presumably) of whether the wife makes $0 or $100,000. Therefore the wife's income (which is variable in this specific example) needs to account for the marginal tax rate that she will have to pay based on the fact that the husband's income will exist and fill the lower tax brackets regardless of whether she has that income or not. Exactly, maybe he makes 10k and she makes 20k (10%? Bracket). Or he makes 150k and she 150k so 28% bracket. Maybe they file separate? That is why the poster above you said we need to know his income too, they can ignore deductions to make it simple and will keep back too much. He didn't say what either of them make, if they have kids, you can't just assume 25%, that is lazy. If we want to be lazy just keep 50% for taxes and be done with it.
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Feb 20, 2016 01:58
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Koskinator posted:I'd like to double check my plan for divvying up my money - I'm in Canada. Personally , as an American (meaning I don't know poo poo about the RDSP, like even what that stands for), I would pay down the Federal Loan (5.2% Adjustable Rate) then the Provincial (2.7% Adjustable Rate) debt, then contribute to your RDSP. I would do it this way since it looks like you can postpone the contributions and matches for awhile. Of course you miss out on any growth, but I think it will be harder to beat the 5.25% you get paying off that loan. It leaves you with lower required future outflows as well as your employment status shifts. Really, and I say this having been unemployed for like two years, I would focus on getting stable employment. It's much harder to make these plans and decisions without a consistent, stable income stream.
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Feb 21, 2016 20:50
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The RDSP has the best possible rate of return, though.
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Feb 21, 2016 21:15
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It's been four years now since I got out of debt. And oh god I have over 100k in debt how did that happen? (I bought a house, that's how). A quick update, didn't think it warranted it's own thread but I know a lot of people care about ~CornHolio Business~... thought about starting a thread with the title that I was over 100k in debt, thought the better of it. Sister-in-law's house is up for sale, she has a potential buyer. Her and her girlfriend (a plot twist!) are planning on moving to California because there's hopes and dreams out there or something. So that monkey will finally be off of our backs (though as you know, I never really considered it much of a monkey). She's likely going to break even with what she owes, so I'm not expecting anything out of it. My wife got a decent raise recently (and I'm expecting one soon as I'm taking on managerial duties) and we're officially over $100k/year combined. Very little debt (it'll be gone next month, it was some emergency house stuff I had to pay for last year) and once that's gone, I'm saving up for a new car. Still don't have a lot of emergency savings at the moment (working on that as well). Still have the Volvo, it's indestructible after all. Bought an $800 pickup truck a year and a half ago too (I've found that as a homeowner, a pickup of some sort is incredibly useful). Still only have the two kids, they're five and eight now and are very well. So, uh, how are you guys doing?
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Feb 22, 2016 15:51
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CornHolio posted:It's been four years now since I got out of debt. Sounds like things are going pretty well overall for you. Really glad to hear that.
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Feb 22, 2016 16:59
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