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Subways Jared posted:
It's possible that with your promotion there's no more wiggle room for them to pretend that you're an independent contractor and not an employee, so they don't want to risk penalties from state or federal auditors. You're at least setting aside money for the taxes that you owe and the estimated taxes that you have to pay, right? You might have better temporary cash flow right now, but the additional 7.65% you have to pay in self employment taxes probably means you don't actually have more money now. EDIT: And if you got fired as 1099, you can't collect unemployment unless you get the Department of Labor to rule that you were actually an employee and thus can benefit from unemployment insurance. Ancillary Character fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Feb 4, 2017 |
# ? Feb 4, 2017 03:59 |
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# ? May 26, 2024 16:16 |
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Subways Jared posted:This will probably sound ignorant and go against all BFC conventional wisdom- but I can't afford the deductions that come from being filed under W-2 status right now. That would be a significant cut to my monthly income from what it is now. 1099 employees are expected to manage their own retirement accounts as well as health, dental, and vision insurance, plus usually pay other self-employment taxes (oh poo poo you knew about this, right?). Please read this carefully and again consider legal or tax advice from a lawyer or CPA: https://www.irs.gov/help-resources/...self-employed-1
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 04:01 |
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Ancillary Character posted:It's possible that with your promotion there's no more wiggle room for them to pretend that you're an independent contractor and not an employee, so they don't want to risk penalties from state or federal auditors. That's kind of what I was thinking, and I'm glad you think it's a possibility also. That would explain how things went down. Yes, I've been setting aside the tax money in a sub-account at my bank. It's probably not going to be that much different after the 7.65%, so I may just file under W-2. I have much more job security with this company now, which I didn't have when I started. That was a big reason I chose 1099. My big questions was whether it was plausible they withheld the promotion bonuses due to my filing status, and you answered that. Thanks. baquerd posted:1099 employees are expected to manage their own retirement accounts as well as health, dental, and vision insurance, plus usually pay other self-employment taxes (oh poo poo you knew about this, right?). Yeah, I'm aware of that. I will definitely read the article because I could always be better informed about all this. Thanks.
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 04:34 |
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Where I work, there is usually a one pay period delay on pay raises but the "missing" amount from the week of the raise shows up as a line item in the following paycheck (in addition to the new full amount). So if it is just one paycheck, don't start panicking yet.
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 06:00 |
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literally this big posted:But Treasury Direct says that my $50 note, purchased 25 years ago, has earned over $56 dollars in interest, and is now worth over $81? So if they're already worth more than the number printed on them, how can I tell what the final value of the note will be, or what it will be at a future date? Ugh ok, I have that backwards. The note says what it was purchased for. Honestly, i think someone else posted it, if you go online you can submit each note to a treasury department and get a better quote. Thinking back, I had to make a spreadsheet to track it.
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 13:25 |
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Question. I started trying to build up my credit score from having no credit about 8 months ago. Since I had no credit, I went with a secured card. I set it up so that my phone bill automatically pulled from my credit card, and the credit card automatically pulled from my checking account. Then I just let it sit. This worked great, and now I have an 8 month record of using and paying off a credit card every month. The secured card automatically upped my limit from $300 to $500, but I think that's as far as it's going to go, so I'd like to get an unsecured card with a higher limit to give myself better limits, a better credit utilization score, and to build credit faster with multiple cards. My plan with this card is to do the same thing I'm doing now with my phone bill with my auto insurance, since that is another bill I haven't been late on for years. So all that being said, I have two questions. I've been using creditwise from capital one to keep an eye on how my credit score is progressing. The thing is, it uses the vantage score 3.0, and I'd read that most lenders use the FICO. I have a 705 according to creditwise, which puts me solidly in the "good" range, but I have no idea how that might translate to a FICO. Should I dig up my FICO score to see for sure that I'm above 690 before I apply for a card that is eligible for people with a good rating according to nerdwallet, or just give it a go? If I need to see my FICO, what website should I use to keep track of it? As far as which cards I should be looking at, anyone have any recommendations for at least a direction I should be looking in? This is a lot more complicated than shopping for a secured card. I don't plan on using this one as anything other than a middle man for my auto insurance, so I'm not sure what sorts of rewards and such would be best suited for me. I plan on buying a new vehicle here in the next month or two, and using my tax return and some extra change for a down payment, so I'm thinking one of those cards that gives you a bunch of perks for spending a bunch of money on the card right away would be good. I could pay for the down payment with the card, let the balance show up on a credit statement, and then turn around and pay the whole thing off in full. Also, I'm a full time student.
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 15:10 |
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Hey everybody. I've got a question about ~bonds~. I have no idea how they work, except you pay half of their value up front, and the bonds keep getting bigger until they don't anymore. I need to buy something soon that won't be cheap, and I've been looking at these bonds as a way of not completely blowing my savings all at once (This is, of course, to avoid loans). Most of the bonds I was given fully mature in 2024/25, and most of them are already worth more than their "face value". Anyways, I would like to figure out which ones are the most worth keeping and which ones will have the least value added when they fully mature. Is there a projection software I can look at? My savings and bonds software won't project their values beyond May of this year. I have an idea of what I'd like to know, but please inform me if this isn't the information I should be going for. What I'd like to do is take the current value and subtract it from their final value, when they've finally "matured(?)" and subtract the two, so I know which ones will have the most value added from now until the final date, correct? And, of course, the ones with the least improvement ought to be the bonds I consider spending, right? Any advice is appreciated.
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 21:44 |
Dumb question - I don't have any credit accounts open right now, and my credit score is low due to me loving up a few years ago - 620. For the past 4 years I've been paying everything on debit - all my poo poo has been on time, but there's literally just that one closed account from years ago on my credit report. I want to get my poo poo together so I can get approved for a non exorbitant car loan in a year or so when it seems like my 15 year old car might bite the dust. Looking at some stuff online, it seems that it may be a good idea to open a secured credit card, charge 10 percent of it every month and pay it off in full every month - I was thinking I could get a $500 secured card, throw my gym membership and Spotify subscription on it which ends up at $50, and then just pay that off in full every month. As I understand it after six months this should boost my score. A) Is this a good idea or am I dumb B) I've been looking at various sites, such as beverlyharzog.com, where she has a list of secured cards. Some of them she lists as reporting to the credit bureaus as unsecured rather than secured - would an unsecured reporting help my credit go up faster? What's the difference?
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 22:01 |
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:~bonds~ Step 1: what kind of bonds are they?
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 22:33 |
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slap me silly posted:Step 1: what kind of bonds are they? They are all Series EE
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 22:39 |
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Ok, that limits the universe a lot so that's helpful. You still want to know for each of them was it issued before or after 2005? And is it paper or electronic? Because there are those different types of EE bonds. I'm only really familiar with post-2005 electronic ones. For those, it's probably best to keep them at least 20 years, because at that point you are guaranteed they will be worth double what you paid for them (equivalent to ~3.5% interest, which is quite good for a such a low risk investment). Sell them earlier, you have to take whatever you get which is likely to be less.
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# ? Feb 4, 2017 23:20 |
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slap me silly posted:Ok, that limits the universe a lot so that's helpful. You still want to know for each of them was it issued before or after 2005? And is it paper or electronic? Because there are those different types of EE bonds. They were issued in the mid 90's, grandparents and other relatives giving them as gifts when I was a kid. I just looked, and they were issued between 08/94 and 09/97; the only other information I have are the serial numbers, which I don't think I'll post here. If they are physical, it's likely my parents have got them in one of their filing cabinets somewhere or some kind of safety deposit box. I'd have to ask them, but I assume pre-internet era bonds would be physical, right? I don't even think ATMs were networked yet, but I could be wrong.
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# ? Feb 5, 2017 01:47 |
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:They were issued in the mid 90's, grandparents and other relatives giving them as gifts when I was a kid. I just looked, and they were issued between 08/94 and 09/97; the only other information I have are the serial numbers, which I don't think I'll post here. If they are physical, it's likely my parents have got them in one of their filing cabinets somewhere or some kind of safety deposit box. I'd have to ask them, but I assume pre-internet era bonds would be physical, right? I don't even think ATMs were networked yet, but I could be wrong. You have to get the physical bonds (you are correct, they would be physical), go online to the treasury and plug in each number to get your value. I'd recommend making a spreadsheet. I think someone posted the page you plug in the numbers to a page or two ago on this thread. Bear in mind you will pay the tax on the interest earned when you cash them out on your 2017 tax return, so def budget for that.
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# ? Feb 6, 2017 13:23 |
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I already have their current value. It's in a program on my computer. The problem is that I don't need to spend them all, and I want to know which ones will be the best to cash in, given their different interest rates and ages. The program I'm using can only project their value out to may of this year. They fully mature by 2024-2027. I was wondering what information I'd need to figure out which ones to cash out, and which ones to save without actually throwing out their serial numbers on the internet. So, to summarize: bonds were issued between 09/94 and 08/97, they are Series EE and physical, stored in a safety deposit box a long time ago. They each have different interest rates, from 4% to 1.3%. There is also a value called "yield" on my software, but I don't actually know what that means. It's somewhere around 3-4% on all of them. I already know I'm going to have to pay taxes on it (Even though we bought it from the government?) Thanks for the help so far, guys.
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# ? Feb 6, 2017 20:09 |
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I need some help with additional withholding to put on my W4. Last year I had a full year of making better money and even with my wife and I at 0 allowances we owed the feds $~2,200 (after standard deduction + student loan interest). We both hold essentially the same jobs this year with my wife getting a few grand a year raise, and now the W4 manual calculator on the back of the W4 says I need to add an additional $5,050 in withholding over the rest of the year and the IRS website says (numbers rounded):IRS posted:Based on your responses, your anticipated income tax for 2017 is ~$19,000. If you do not change your current withholding arrangement, you will have ~$13,900 withheld for 2017 leaving ~$5,200 due when you file your return. To meet your anticipated tax of $19,000 change your current withholding arrangement by claiming 0 allowances plus an additional amount of $2,400 for the balance of 2017. Here’s how: We already are both at 0 exemptions, so I guess since both worksheets are saying ~5K we need to do that? I don't get why it tells me to switch to 0 allowances then only have ~$2400 additional witholding. However, that value would better match what we ended up owing this year and our salary is only increasing by a few grand so that makes sense to me... So, I'm confused on what withholding to do. Do I do the $2400 or the $5200 since I'm already at 0 allowances?
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# ? Feb 7, 2017 00:11 |
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Hawkeye posted:We already are both at 0 exemptions, so I guess since both worksheets are saying ~5K we need to do that? I don't get why it tells me to switch to 0 allowances then only have ~$2400 additional witholding. However, that value would better match what we ended up owing this year and our salary is only increasing by a few grand so that makes sense to me... Maybe the $2400 is assuming that both you and your wife each withhold that much extra?
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# ? Feb 7, 2017 00:19 |
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Droo posted:Maybe the $2400 is assuming that both you and your wife each withhold that much extra? Or it might want you to change from 0 exemptions at the married rate, to 0 exemptions, Married, but withhold at the higher Single Rate.
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# ? Feb 7, 2017 01:37 |
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It looks like the values may be suggesting switching to withhold at higher single rate, that may be it. I also realized I didn't take into account pretax deductions like 401k/healthcare when listing our salaries, so fixing that made numbers line up slightly more with the modest salary increase this year and the rates we are taxed out now. Thanks for the thoughts Droo and Ancillary Character!
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# ? Feb 7, 2017 01:46 |
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I already have their current value. It's in a program on my computer. The problem is that I don't need to spend them all, and I want to know which ones will be the best to cash in, given their different interest rates and ages. The program I'm using can only project their value out to may of this year. They fully mature by 2024-2027. I was wondering what information I'd need to figure out which ones to cash out, and which ones to save without actually throwing out their serial numbers on the internet. I would cash out any at 1%, then I would go from oldest to newest until you have enough.
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# ? Feb 7, 2017 12:10 |
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I went through some health problems last year and ended up getting a credit card I only owed like $330 on closed and sent to collection/chargeoff. I haven't paid anything on it. The credit card was through Capital One. I opened a checking account at Capital One 360 today and was going to put some money in there. My question is: If I put money into the 360 checking account could they potentially take the money out of the checking account to satisfy the Capital One Credit Card debt? I am not sure if its even the same institution, perhaps just owned by the same "Capital One" holding company. And the credit card is no longer active with them. It was closed by them/charged off and sent to collections. PoorUser fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Feb 11, 2017 |
# ? Feb 11, 2017 00:52 |
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X-post from the Goals thread because this thread may be better for this- my student loans are currently split across two accounts, one at ~$1500 with a 5.6% interest rate (subsidized), and one at ~$4k with a 6.8% rate (not subsidized). I'm paying more than the minimum each month and have the option to allocate the excess payment into these accounts in any ratio I define. Would it be better to concentrate on getting rid of the smaller loan ASAP or should I bring down the larger loan sooner due to its higher interest rate? My goal is to pay $3k into them this year ($250/mo vs. the $100 minimum I have to hit), which would be enough to get rid of the smaller of the two.
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# ? Feb 11, 2017 06:25 |
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Today I had my annual performance review at work. In addition to my raise and being added to the cell phone reimbursement plan, my boss said he'd talk to the board about granting me "options" within the company. I assume this was stock options and I've done a little bit of research and think I have an idea about how options work at the beginning, but not how they work at the end. So my understanding is I'm granted the ability to purchase XXX stocks at YYY price after I become vested (1 year-ish?) after that I can sell whatever percent they set after the time frame. So I'm pretty clear about the first half, say they say I can buy 100 shares at .25 a piece, I pay 25 bucks and have 100 stocks. After 1 year, I can sell these for what they are currently at. But we're a private company still and that's where I kind of lose it. I guess does anyone have a "stock options for dummies" I can read?
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# ? Feb 11, 2017 06:40 |
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PoorUser posted:I went through some health problems last year and ended up getting a credit card I only owed like $330 on closed and sent to collection/chargeoff. I haven't paid anything on it. I don't think they can. I've have a 360 account since the ING days and when I got a new Capital One CC I couldn't even use the same login info. Either way, if the debt was sent to collections then they sold it off and don't own the debt anymore and they can't legally collect it from you.
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# ? Feb 11, 2017 08:22 |
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C-Euro posted:X-post from the Goals thread because this thread may be better for this- my student loans are currently split across two accounts, one at ~$1500 with a 5.6% interest rate (subsidized), and one at ~$4k with a 6.8% rate (not subsidized). I'm paying more than the minimum each month and have the option to allocate the excess payment into these accounts in any ratio I define. Would it be better to concentrate on getting rid of the smaller loan ASAP or should I bring down the larger loan sooner due to its higher interest rate? My goal is to pay $3k into them this year ($250/mo vs. the $100 minimum I have to hit), which would be enough to get rid of the smaller of the two. Mathematically speaking, you save more money on interest by paying off the unsubsidized loan first. Psychologically, paying off the smaller loan will feel great, plus it frees up a little bit of cash flow a little sooner. Neither choice is bad. Personally, I would pay off the smaller loan first, but I believe most of BFC would recommend paying off the higher interest loan.
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# ? Feb 11, 2017 13:44 |
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drive me nuts to school posted:Mathematically speaking, you save more money on interest by paying off the unsubsidized loan first. Unless the higher rate loan is SUBSTANTIALLY higher, I happen to agree with the idea of paying off the smaller loan first.
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# ? Feb 11, 2017 17:37 |
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If loans scare you, pay off the smaller one. If you can do math, pay off the one with the higher interest rate.
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# ? Feb 11, 2017 22:19 |
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Can someone walk me through the logistics of switching bank accounts? I am with WF and I don't want to continue to support their shady business practices. I am thinking of moving to Chase to get the $300 reward, but would welcome any other suggestions since they aren't exactly virtuous either. Here's my hangups:
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 01:13 |
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themaninblack posted:I guess I know the way it is supposed to work, might just be overthinking.
edit: yep I asked a similar question and then followed up last August: Star War Sex Parrot posted:For anyone curious (doubtful) this worked out nicely. I went into Wells Fargo, they issued a cashier's check for the remaining funds (waived the fee) and closed out the account. The banker said the process I followed was probably the best way to do it, since as I feared transferring everything out before closing the account might have triggered fees which he said they would have then tried to reverse. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Feb 13, 2017 |
# ? Feb 13, 2017 01:28 |
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:The more cash buffer you have, the easier it is. Here's what I did when I switched from Wells Fargo last August: I knew I had read a similar post that got me thinking this way, and it was yours. Appreciate the help. I am going through different items, but I ran a credit score simulator where the line of credit and credit card get cancelled and I lost 30 points. Is that accurate? That's a pretty heft hit imo.
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 02:11 |
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themaninblack posted:I knew I had read a similar post that got me thinking this way, and it was yours. Appreciate the help. themaninblack posted:I am anticipating them shutting down my credit card Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Feb 13, 2017 |
# ? Feb 13, 2017 02:18 |
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:No problem. With respect to the credit stuff: I'd close the line of credit and not worry too much about the credit score impact. With respect to: Did you just keep a small monthly thing going to your WF CC to keep it open?
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 02:32 |
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themaninblack posted:Did you just keep a small monthly thing going to your WF CC to keep it open?
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 02:34 |
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themaninblack posted:Can someone walk me through the logistics of switching bank accounts? I am with WF and I don't want to continue to support their shady business practices. I am thinking of moving to Chase to get the $300 reward, but would welcome any other suggestions since they aren't exactly virtuous either. I'm going through the same process, but I ended up deciding on Alliant credit union. Their loan rates are really good, it's easy to qualify for an account, and everyone has good things to say about them. If you're trying to get away from banks it's the way to go.
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 02:36 |
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We're in the process of doing this (also from Wells Fargo) and are moving to a credit union. Tracking your expenses meticulously (i.e. with YNAB or Financier) helps you catch a lot of stuff more quickly, and we got everything switched over pretty efficiently. They love to try to get some fees out of you once you stop using the account, but even if you get an account charge usually reaching a human by phone or in person will remove the charge pretty readily.
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 03:11 |
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themaninblack posted:Did you just keep a small monthly thing going to your WF CC to keep it open? My WF is my first card, from 2002. I think I have made less than 10 charges on it in the last 10 years, and zero charges in the last 3 years. They've never sent me anything about low activity. I moved from WF to Alliant two years ago. I left my checking and savings opened at WF so that I had a physical bank in case I needed immediate access to my money. I left $1500 in each to avoid fees and an additional $5 that auto-transfers back and forth every month to keep activity on those accounts (suggested by WF years ago when I had primarily moved to Chase).
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 17:38 |
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I started working for an organization that offers a partial IRA match for part-time employees, but it's only through loving Edward Jones. My plan is to contribute up to the match and make it VERY clear to the advisor that the money getting put in is not to be used for any purpose except sitting there until I leave the organization, at which point I would transfer it to Vanguard. Would this be a viable/possible plan? With the annual and transfer fee, I've figured as long as I'm there 2 years, even if I only qualify for the minimum amount ($5k in past calendar year, 3% match so $150 as bare minimum matched amount) I can walk out of this with a decent amount of free money.
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 22:00 |
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TL;DR: What to do with ~$130,000 that I don't need to touch for ~3 years but will need around that time? Buying a house is appealing but I might not break even. Backstory: I've got $137,000 in a bank account collecting approx. gently caress all in interest. I was planning to use on a down payment for a house but I moved to an area where a very nice house costs $250,000. I will likely move an hour or more away from where I am now within in the next 3 years don't break even on rent/buy decision unless the house appreciates pretty well in that time and was cheap enough to be low risk of not appreciating. (I am capable of fixing the house up myself, should a house be the best option.) I also considered my 401k but I currently contribute ~$8k/yr to that and I'm 27 so the projections suggest I will be okay retirement wise plus I'd like to use it for a down payment in the future. I'd like something low maintenance.
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# ? Feb 13, 2017 23:29 |
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If you're planning on spending all of it in the next five years, keep it in a bank account appreciating gently caress-all. $130k is a pretty hefty downpayment -- you'd clear 20% on a 560k house. Alternatively, break that $130k into several piles: •how much you need right now to feel safe •how much you'll definitely use within the next 5 years •how much you stash away waiting for a good time For that last pile, I suggest either... •dropping all of it into a vanguard brokerage account and putting it into a "lifestrategy" fund that matches your risk tolerance. •drawing income from it and increasing your 401k contributions. Finally, have you maxed your IRA yet?
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# ? Feb 14, 2017 00:02 |
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Stuntman posted:I started working for an organization that offers a partial IRA match for part-time employees, but it's only through loving Edward Jones. My plan is to contribute up to the match and make it VERY clear to the advisor that the money getting put in is not to be used for any purpose except sitting there until I leave the organization, at which point I would transfer it to Vanguard. Would this be a viable/possible plan? With the annual and transfer fee, I've figured as long as I'm there 2 years, even if I only qualify for the minimum amount ($5k in past calendar year, 3% match so $150 as bare minimum matched amount) I can walk out of this with a decent amount of free money. You mean a 401k match? But yeah, even Edward Jones shouldn't be able to gently caress up some stable value type fund. What are your ticker options? I somewhat refuse to believe you can only go through the advisor, and I would get everything in writing if you are.
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# ? Feb 14, 2017 00:10 |
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# ? May 26, 2024 16:16 |
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omnibobb posted:Today I had my annual performance review at work. In addition to my raise and being added to the cell phone reimbursement plan, my boss said he'd talk to the board about granting me "options" within the company. I assume this was stock options and I've done a little bit of research and think I have an idea about how options work at the beginning, but not how they work at the end. Read the Wikipedia pages on Option (finance) and Employee Stock Options. I don't think there is anything to help understand private company stock as its unique based on the contract. In general, your options to sell are very limited until the company goes public.
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# ? Feb 14, 2017 01:59 |