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jiggerypokery posted:Hello thread. How much is the debt? Do you own the house outright or do you have a mortgage, and if so, what is the size and interest rate? How much do you have in non-emergency-fund savings?
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Aug 3, 2016 13:02
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If your debt is at 0.9% you should never do anything other than pay the minimum
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Aug 4, 2016 05:17
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Quick question on cards and balance transfers. I have a BankAmericard with outrageous interest but I mostly just use it as my every day card and pay it off to $0 each month and then cash in the rewards each month for free money so I've never had an interest charge. It has a $2500 limit. I have a Chase Freedom with $5600 in debt on it. I've been paying it down super fast (it was over $10k a year ago). I have a 0% balance transfer offer on the Bank Americard. I can easily cover the $2500 ($2400 + 3% transfer fee) in the time alotted (I'm in a much better position than when I racked up the debt) so I plan on taking the offer. My questions are thus: If I put $2400+$70 on a card with a $2500 max, will that ding my credit score? If I basically max out the Americard, that means I can't really use it as my daily anymore. Can I use the Chase card? For instance, if I have a $5600 balance on the chase and I spend $400 on it this month, and I pay off that $400 at the end of the month (plus whatever payment I make on the balance), will I get charged interest on the $400+$5600? Or just the $5600? I tried to ask the bank but this part is all confusing to me. From what I gather, any time there's a balance, there's no 'grace' period on the $400 and the interest is calculated on the daily balance regardless of when a charge was added to that balance. I'm totally fine just paying everything out of my checking but figured I'd ask.
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Aug 4, 2016 16:07
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tyler is a joke posted:Quick question on cards and balance transfers. It might ding your credit score, but it's temporary and will go away when you pay it off. Unless there's a reason you'll be needing your credit score in the time it takes to pay it off, don't worry about it (see thread title). You cannot use the Chase card as your daily. You will be charged interest. EDIT: Make sure you're doing the math as to whether you'll save enough interest to cover the balance transfer fee (and some extra for the hassle/risk of it going wrong). If you're really paying it very quickly, it might not help.
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Aug 4, 2016 18:41
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Grumpwagon posted:It might ding your credit score, but it's temporary and will go away when you pay it off. Unless there's a reason you'll be needing your credit score in the time it takes to pay it off, don't worry about it (see thread title). I suppose your score might individually evaluate the ratio of each card and ding you accordingly, but I don't think that's the case.
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Aug 4, 2016 19:40
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I think utilization is calculated on your entire credit, otherwise someone with tens of thousands in credit lines could tank their rating by putting a purchase on a low-limit card, and while credit is dumb I don't think its that dumb. I mean the real answer here is not to worry about what happens to your immediate score unless you are planning on needing it imminently for something, and to focus on what is the best way to dispose of your debt. I agree with Grumpwagon that you should you check the math, because if you've already brought this down from 10k to 5.6k in under a year, then you should be able to polish it off soon enough that you might not be making much in savings.
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Aug 4, 2016 19:45
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I just heard about Robin Hood today. Lets you invest with a small initial amount of money and no trade fees. Anyone use this? Is it good, bad, stupid, a scam?
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Aug 4, 2016 20:48
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There's no scam. Word from the stock picking thread when it launched a couple years ago was that trades execute very slowly, but it does work as it promises.
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Aug 4, 2016 20:55
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As far as I know Robin Hood mostly works as advertised, but there is supposedly some behind-the-scenes screwiness with the speed and order of execution of trades, which is where they make their money. But you shouldn't ever be placing market orders anyway, and if you use limit orders it's kind of not a problem. That said, don't even bother with Robin Hood unless you've already got your tax-advantaged savings maxed out and in balanced allocations. It's not investing, it's gambling. If you're already maxing out your IRA and 401k and want to speculate with some fun money then go ahead.
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Aug 4, 2016 20:58
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Guinness posted:That said, don't even bother with Robin Hood unless you've already got your tax-advantaged savings maxed out and in balanced allocations. It's not investing, it's gambling. If you're already maxing out your IRA and 401k and want to speculate with some fun money then go ahead.
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Aug 4, 2016 21:00
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:How would it ding his score if he's just transferring balances? As far as I know (and I could be wrong) the score is only affected by overall utilization ratio across all available revolving credit. Transferring balances form one card to another wouldn't change that overall ratio. I very well could be wrong, but I thought I remembered someone coming in here with a low limit card maxed out (but with other high limit cards at ~$0) that was hurting his credit. Maybe it's just the usual FICO gobbledygook explanations being full of poo poo though.
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Aug 4, 2016 22:50
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I have an HSA that I barely use but still contribute the maximum value to annually. My company required switching to a new HSA provider and it turns out that I can choose to invest my HSA balance and fortunately it includes Vanguard funds. There are others but I'll stick with Vanguard for now. So here are my options: VDAIX - Dividend Appreciation Index Investor VSMAX - Small Cap Index Admiral Class VTMGX - Developed Market Index VEMAX - Emerging Markets Stock Index Admiral Class VFSTX - Short Term Investment Grade VBLTX - Long-Term Bond Index VSCGX - LifeStrategy Conservative Growth VSMGX - LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Right now my HSA balance is around $25,000 and I invest the full $3,150 annually. So since it is for emergencies, I don't want to be too risky but right now it is in a savings account type setup where I only make 0.05% interest on it so I'd like it to be a little more aggressive. I was thinking mostly VBLTX and VSCGX (I can distribute them how I want) but wanted to get a second opinion.
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Aug 5, 2016 12:41
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Last year my Chase card had $23k on it. Today I paid off the last $2500, down to a $0 balance. Feels good man.
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Aug 5, 2016 13:36
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The Experiment posted:I have an HSA that I barely use but still contribute the maximum value to annually. My company required switching to a new HSA provider and it turns out that I can choose to invest my HSA balance and fortunately it includes Vanguard funds. There are others but I'll stick with Vanguard for now. So here are my options: I'm jealous, the only Vanguard fund (and the only fund with a good ER) I have available is VTSMX total stock market, which I already have a rollover IRA in.
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Aug 5, 2016 14:38
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gregday posted:Last year my Chase card had $23k on it. Today I paid off the last $2500, down to a $0 balance. Way to go, dude. That's awesome!
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Aug 5, 2016 16:56
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$23k of savings in a single year is super duper good, and that's not counting anything else you did. By the way, maxing your ROTH IRA and 401k is about $23k.
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Aug 5, 2016 17:19
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Hey guys. I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment. 24 y/o. 59,300.04 in Student Debt. (25,169.39 Wells Fargo at 8.75 APR) (34,130.65 Federal [these are multiple small loans with interest ranging from 3.4-6.8 but I have a consolidated payment plan] ) 8,141.96 in my bank account. That is my only asset. No other bonds or etc. I don't own a car, a house, or horse. Income : 35k a year. I make roughly 35k a year. This is ambiguous because I work as a server in NYC, some weeks are better some weeks are worse, and also I take home cash tips which I don't declare, then use on groceries and miscellaneous poo poo and promptly forget I ever got it. (I'm recognizing I should keep better track of this money). But I would say I probably made 35k, and as I get more responsibilities and a larger section at my job I can project I might make 40k this year. Not the job I want to be in ultimately but it is what I do right now. Monthly expenses: 680 Rent 100 Utilities 116 Public Transport 150 Groceries ____ 1046 base survival expenses I have just started throwing bigger amounts of money at my loans. I was pretty freaked out my first year being on my own and afraid I would bottom out so I was only doing the minimum payments on both loans. Once I realized I was stable I realized I was capable of putting more towards them. I have recently started paying 800$ to my Wells Fargo, and 200$ towards my Federal. I graduated from school with a degree in acting. I'm here in NYC pursuing that and art stuff for the time being. I would eventually like to maybe move into a more stable and lucrative career but I'm not quite ready to give up pursuing this for the time being. That being said I would like to start a retirement account and I would like any guidance and input on being more financially responsible. How much can I safely put into a retirement account? Vangaurd has a minimum of 1k before you can start investing it. Should I hold off on building a retirement account until I conquer my debt? I'm trying my best but I don't have a lot of guidance from my family or help. I can't move in with my family to save money on rent since my mom is being evicted and there are drug issues. Anyway... Thanks a bunch! 
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Aug 5, 2016 18:44
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RebBrownies posted:Hey guys. I would say you should probably start your own thread. There's enough going on here that having a separate thread for it would probably benefit you.
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Aug 5, 2016 19:00
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The most straightforward advice that you should heed is to pay off that 8.5% debt before investing in anything. Debt is something like a negative investment with a guaranteed cost. Paying it off is an investment with guaranteed returns. The stock market had returned an average of ~7% annually across the past thirty years. Your debt is sitting at 8.5%. There is no better investment in your future than paying off that debt. Your midrange interest (3-7%) stuff has a bit more complicated calculus going into it, but the general feeling is that this is also worth getting rid of before considering investing. Low interest (less than 3%) are generally worth paying minimums on due to greater returns elsewhere. Mortgages and Student Loan paid interest can be deducted from your taxable income which slightly complicated the above picture, but the general advice still applies.
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Aug 5, 2016 19:17
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Thanks for the input guys! I might start up a thread, but I really appreciate the input!
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Aug 5, 2016 19:25
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Pay your taxes.
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Aug 5, 2016 19:32
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The Experiment posted:I have an HSA that I barely use but still contribute the maximum value to annually. My company required switching to a new HSA provider and it turns out that I can choose to invest my HSA balance and fortunately it includes Vanguard funds. There are others but I'll stick with Vanguard for now. So here are my options: VSCGX Is already 60% bonds so I would probably just go with that, but if you want to be more conservative you can include more bonds in the form of VBLTX.
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Aug 6, 2016 06:49
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A Tin Of Beans fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jan 16, 2017 |
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Aug 6, 2016 13:18
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A Tin Of Beans posted:I'm in the scrub leagues of personal finances but thanks to some reading of this forum I've been working more on paying off my student loans and actually budgeting. No debt besides student loan debt. I make around $27k a year. Keep that money as liquid as possible. It's the start of your emergency fund. You'll also likely need some cash for your move. That means savings account/money market. I wouldn't bother with a CD unless you find something that's significantly better than the 1% you can get from some place like Ally. If you want, you can open an online savings account to get the 1%. It's not a huge difference, but as you get more money in there, it will add up eventually. I use and like Ally, but there are a bunch of banks that will give you ~1% on your savings. No debt besides student loans and some savings -- you're doing good. Keep up the savings, keep paying down those loans. If you have a 401k match at work, consider taking advantage of that (depending on how big and how high the interest rates are on your loans). The thing that will really help you is increasing your income, but you're doing well already.
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Aug 6, 2016 14:09
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A Tin Of Beans fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jan 16, 2017 |
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Aug 6, 2016 14:55
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A Tin Of Beans posted:Liquid just means 'available' right? That makes sense then. Most of the CDs I've seen available to me wouldn't give much more than 1.3% at the highest, which doesn't seem like a big enough difference at scrub tier. Yep, liquid means you can get to it in a day or two and that you don't pay a penalty to do so. I'd call CDs semi-liquid, because you can usually get to them quickly, and the penalty isn't too bad usually. I personally wouldn't use a CD when the rate difference is ~.3% from an online savings account, because I'm lazy (and if you need the money, the penalty will wipe out that extra .3% pretty quickly), but some people like to squeeze out every last cent. I do use an online savings account though. It's an easy way to get another .85% interest. If you felt like it, that wouldn't be a terrible idea, but it's certainly not make or break if you're happy with where your savings is now, or if you're able to avoid fees at your current bank with it there. Agreed on your second point, with the move coming up so soon-ish, I wouldn't look for a new job where you are now either. You're doing fine as is, I just wanted to mention that you seem to be pretty optimized otherwise, that would be the next step. Be sure to visit the negotiation thread here when you're getting ready to start looking for new jobs. It has made me literally 10s of thousands of dollars that I probably wouldn't have asked for otherwise. If your career is one where LinkedIn is used frequently, the OP of that thread helped me find my current job extremely easily as well. Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Aug 6, 2016 |
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Aug 6, 2016 15:08
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Hi A Tin of Beans  In addition to everything Grumpwagon said, just want to say good job on saving what you're saving at that salary level. Once you get that new higher paying job you're going to want to bump that rate up, but in the meantime be proud of yourself for saving more (percentage or even straight up amount) than lots of people who earn more than you do.
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Aug 6, 2016 16:47
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A Tin Of Beans fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jan 16, 2017 |
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Aug 6, 2016 18:06
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asur posted:VSCGX Is already 60% bonds so I would probably just go with that, but if you want to be more conservative you can include more bonds in the form of VBLTX. Thank you. I decided to put 50% in VSCGX, 35% in VSMGX, and 15% in VBLTX.
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Aug 6, 2016 21:37
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I think I first posted in here 3 or 4 years ago. Last week I finally paid off my 2nd car, only debt I have remaining is student debt. Which I'll kill with a 10 year IBR (thank god my wife's new job is government). So thanks to everyone who posts good advice here, I wasn't perfect, I had one slip up where I had about $5k on a credit card (paid it off before the no interest period ended), but honestly, got better advice here on finances than anywhere else. So thanks everyone. So I guess the only thing left is figuring out what horse I should buy now that I don't have car payments?
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Aug 7, 2016 02:38
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I have a variety of debt's that I'm working to pay off right now, ranging from credit cards to a mortgage. I have ~$600 a month available to me currently (plus whatever I free up from clearing debts) that I can either throw at debt, or throw into retirement accounts (I'm already putting enough into my 401k to get the full match offered by my employer). My question is, what debts make sense to try and pay off aggressively and which ones make sense to just pay the minimum payments on due to the interest rates. My Debts: * A couple grand in a variety of credit cards, these are obviously high interest rates since they're CC's and are the first thing I'm hitting to pay down which should take me a few months. * A 401k loan at 4.25%, this interest rate I'm not sure about, but I'm going to pay this off second anyways because I don't want to hold a loan in my 401k where that money should be working to grow _and_ because of the unfavorable affect losing or leaving my job would have. * A car loan at 3.35%-- here is one that I'm most on the fence about. Does it make sense to try and aggressively pay off this loan at it's interest rate, or should I just pay the minimums and save the money I would use to pay this down? * A HELOC at 4.49%, this one is higher but I'm unlikely to be able to pay it off anytime soon since it's got a $70k balance, in the future I may try to refinance this into my mortgage but for now it's separate. * A Mortgage at 4.5%, like the HELOC, it's a higher interest rate than the car loan, but I'm unlikely to be able to pay it off anytime soon since it has a ~300k balance. In a few years if interest rates are favorable I may try to refinance it. So really it boils down to, does CC then 401k sound like the right path to go here, and should I leave the car loan at minimums or should I aggressively pay it down?
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Aug 7, 2016 17:39
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Steampunk Hitler posted:I have a variety of debt's that I'm working to pay off right now, ranging from credit cards to a mortgage. I have ~$600 a month available to me currently (plus whatever I free up from clearing debts) that I can either throw at debt, or throw into retirement accounts (I'm already putting enough into my 401k to get the full match offered by my employer). Definitely kill off the credit card debt and 401K loans aggressively (and in that order). After that, the car loan rate is low enough that I would do something else with that money (either HELOC or retirement savings).
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Aug 7, 2016 19:46
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Steampunk Hitler posted:I have a variety of debt's that I'm working to pay off right now, ranging from credit cards to a mortgage. I have ~$600 a month available to me currently (plus whatever I free up from clearing debts) that I can either throw at debt, or throw into retirement accounts (I'm already putting enough into my 401k to get the full match offered by my employer).
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Aug 8, 2016 05:44
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I am all for delaying payment of low interest debt in order to put money into tax shelters. However, you're not the type of person with a low interest mortgage and maybe a student loan. Given the types of debt that you have: credit card, 401k, HELOC, I have a hard time believing that you are now super financially stable and will have the discipline to manage low interest debt. For someone in your situation, I would recommend paying off all debts asap other than maybe your mortgage.
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Aug 8, 2016 07:06
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potatoducks posted:I am all for delaying payment of low interest debt in order to put money into tax shelters. However, you're not the type of person with a low interest mortgage and maybe a student loan. Given the types of debt that you have: credit card, 401k, HELOC, I have a hard time believing that you are now super financially stable and will have the discipline to manage low interest debt. For someone in your situation, I would recommend paying off all debts asap other than maybe your mortgage. I agree with the order of repayment being credit card, and 401k. Credit card and 401k loans are risky debt especially with the consequences if you have a disruption to your income. The car loan is the lowest interest rate out of everything. Some car loans have no benefit to early payment, and given that the interest rate is lower than anything else you'd be better off putting money into higher interest rate debt. The 401k match is already done so they might as well run with it, provided debt repayment goes to plan. I am assuming something happened that led to all the debt and the higher interest rate on the mortgage. If it's not job loss or another life event then you may want to look at your expenses and see if there's something you could cut out to increase payments.
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Aug 8, 2016 07:54
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Duckman2008 posted:So I guess the only thing left is figuring out what horse I should buy now that I don't have car payments? horse
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Aug 8, 2016 14:38
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Devian666 posted:I agree with the order of repayment being credit card, and 401k. Credit card and 401k loans are risky debt especially with the consequences if you have a disruption to your income. What happened is basically buying a house before we were quite ready. That was *probably* a mistake, but I don't think a crippling one. We had no debt before we purchased the house, I took out the 401k loan to pay for part of the down payment (I know some will chide me for this, but I planned on doing this because I was looking at either saving more outside of tax advantaged accounts and maybe not using it and losing that space forever, or maxing my 401k and Roth IRA and maybe taking a loan out to "temporarily" pull that money out, albeit with a interest rate, and turning that money into a post tax contribution but easy to pay off within a year). The credit cards were a mixture of random house stuff that I didn't correctly budget for, and medical issues for our pets. Then my car caught on fire! All in the span of ~6mo. Anyways, thanks! I knew the CC and 401k loan needed to go ASAP (and that's what I'm doing now), it was the Car/HELOC/Mortgage that I was less sure about particularly when weighing it against 401k and IRA contributions (besides the match).
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Aug 8, 2016 16:22
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I find it hard to believe that buying a house led to a HELOC and a bunch of CC debt.
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Aug 8, 2016 17:23
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I find it hard to believe that buying a house led to a HELOC and a bunch of CC debt. The HELOC was part of the mortgage, it was a piggyback loan with the bulk of the value being put on a traditional 30y fixed mortgage, a smaller portion being put on a 15 year fixed HELOC, and then my down payment. The CC's are only a couple thousand and were things like, both AC units dying at once in the middle of the summer a few months after we moved in, our dog contracting anaplasmosis and spending almost a grand taking care of that, etc.
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Aug 8, 2016 18:10
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Steampunk Hitler posted:The HELOC was part of the mortgage, it was a piggyback loan with the bulk of the value being put on a traditional 30y fixed mortgage, a smaller portion being put on a 15 year fixed HELOC, and then my down payment.
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Aug 8, 2016 18:35
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