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savesthedayrocks posted:If I had to guess most of them have, or will stop this practice soon. It's contributing to a significant portion of losses/fraud. Yeah up until like a year ago, AMEX was showing all new accounts open with them back-dated to the year you originally became a member. We have 3 AMEX accounts opened years apart, and they all show as being opened in the year of the first one. It was nice for artificially inflating your average age of accounts. They don't do this anymore.
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Jul 14, 2017 17:44
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I don't feel like this question alone is worth another post in my thread while I'm writing up a new budget. How do you account for your FSA in your budget? It's an up front thing rather than a paycheck based thing, so it's not coming in at a regular interval. Should I just estimate my average monthly usage of the FSA and change my budget once it looks like I'll run out?
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Jul 23, 2017 20:40
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I don't feel like this question alone is worth another post in my thread while I'm writing up a new budget. How do you account for your FSA in your budget? It's an up front thing rather than a paycheck based thing, so it's not coming in at a regular interval. Should I just estimate my average monthly usage of the FSA and change my budget once it looks like I'll run out? It's not upfront? You get access to the total amount at the beginning of the year, but you pay that amount on a per paycheck basis over the year.
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Jul 23, 2017 22:20
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I mean that it's not a line item per paycheck. Like if I were just budgeting normally I would say "out of my paycheck of x dollars I'm budgeting y for doctors/prescriptions/colostomy bags." With the whole FSA sum available at once but paid over the year, how would you budget it? The expenses wouldn't come out of your paycheck, basically. They come from a different location entirely. Unless you would just plan to spend as much as you've had taken out so far that year and then pay amounts over that from the paycheck. E: wait, unexpected overages wouldn't even be budgeted. Second edit: Should I just make a new budget when it's almost empty? That seems like it might be the best plan. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jul 23, 2017 |
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Jul 23, 2017 23:07
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FSAs need to be spent each year, don't they? If that's the case, just treat it as a monthly expense and make sure you clear it out before the end of the year.
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Jul 23, 2017 23:54
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What I mean is how do I integrated the money in the FSA into my budget when it's a lump sum provided at the beginning of the year? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean? I've already factored the deduction from my paycheck into the budget. Believe me, it won't be hard to spend $2450 or whatever it is now on qualifying medical expenses.
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Jul 24, 2017 01:51
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Honestly, I don't see a reason to track the lump sum in the budget. So let's call it $200/month for convenience, your budget might look like this: January: ($200) FSA contribution $200 increase in FSA account ($20) in FSA spending ----- end of month: $180 FSA budget 'balance' February ($200) FSA contributon $200 increase in FSA account ($1000) in FSA spending (since the lump sum is available) ----- end of month: ($980) FSA budget 'balance' March: ($200) FSA contributon $200 increase in FSA account $0 in FSA spending ----- end of month: ($780) FSA budget 'balance' and so on - it should zero out by end of year.
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Jul 24, 2017 03:09
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Personally I don't track my FSA on the budget
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Jul 24, 2017 14:25
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FWIW you can roll over $500 from your FSA year to year, so you don't have to panic if you have a little left so that you don't use it.
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Jul 24, 2017 14:32
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Personally I don't track my FSA on the budget I don't either, but this is also my first year of using (a limited) one. I'll obviously keep the records for taxes etc., but it doesn't really impact my regular budget planning. I figure that it's all pre-tax, pre-paycheck money that never hits my bank account, and then the expenses I have planned to use the FSA money on will get paid out from the FSA before whatever may be leftover has to be covered out of cash on hand. Seems like it'll basically cancel out for all important purposes since it's all been planned ahead of time anyway. I'm sure that's not technically the best way to handle it, but I'm not a super strict budgeter.
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Jul 24, 2017 18:45
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My parents never taught me any financial literacy and I've just been winging it for the last few years, but I've recently found myself kind of lost when it comes down to what I should do with my money. I've been working a dead-end salaried job for a while now that pays $50k/yr. They don't offer any retirement plan so I've just maxed out a Roth IRA for the last 4 years. I started my own small side business last year which has tripled my net income. I bought myself a nice car, but other than that my regular spending hasn't really changed. I rent an apartment and I have no loans or debt other than the monthly payment on the aforementioned car. I've always kept $20k on hand as an emergency fund, but now with my increased income I have far more than that. My understanding is that keeping money in a savings account is just watching it depreciate. Is there something passive and valuable I can do with this money other than just having it sit there? I'm not currently interested in expanding my business or increasing my spending in any way, so I don't need immediate access to the funds. I would potentially like to buy a home in the next few years however.
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Jul 24, 2017 19:41
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thebandbeforetime posted:My parents never taught me any financial literacy and I've just been winging it for the last few years, but I've recently found myself kind of lost when it comes down to what I should do with my money. Sounds like you're doing fine. If you'll need the money in less than 5 years, then put it in a high interest savings account at Ally. If you'll need it in more than 5 years, then just put it in a Vanguard brokerage account. Not really any need to complicate it.
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Jul 24, 2017 19:44
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thebandbeforetime posted:My parents never taught me any financial literacy and I've just been winging it for the last few years, but I've recently found myself kind of lost when it comes down to what I should do with my money. You should also look into doing more than just a Roth IRA. You're gonna be working until you're like 70 if you are only putting away $5,500 a year for retirement. http://twocents.lifehacker.com/a-basic-guide-to-retirement-plans-when-your-employer-do-1657644936
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Jul 24, 2017 19:53
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I wouldn't track FSA either, unless you actually have more left in the account than the $500 carryover limit at year's end (plus grace period) in which case the money lost can go to the "poor planning" line item.
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Jul 24, 2017 20:33
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I track it more to make sure that the amount billed by the provider matches my insurance EOB and the reimbursement from my FSA.
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Jul 24, 2017 22:50
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I think if you have your own business you can set up a SEP IRA, which you should absolutely do if you can. edit: this was for thebandbeforetime
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Jul 25, 2017 13:25
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thebandbeforetime posted:I've been working a dead-end salaried job for a while now that pays $50k/yr. They don't offer any retirement plan so I've just maxed out a Roth IRA for the last 4 years. I started my own small side business last year which has tripled my net income. I bought myself a nice car, but other than that my regular spending hasn't really changed. I rent an apartment and I have no loans or debt other than the monthly payment on the aforementioned car. I've always kept $20k on hand as an emergency fund, but now with my increased income I have far more than that. My understanding is that keeping money in a savings account is just watching it depreciate. Is there something passive and valuable I can do with this money other than just having it sit there? I'm not currently interested in expanding my business or increasing my spending in any way, so I don't need immediate access to the funds. I would potentially like to buy a home in the next few years however. Are you properly paying taxes on your side income? That can bite you big time if you're not, and will absolutely bite you if you also try to open a business-related IRA. But other than finding tax advantaged accounts to take advantage of, for the general investments themselves you're just going to want to look at index funds, typically Vanguard target retirement funds until you are comfortable making your own asset allocation. If you want to buy a home in the next few years, you have to make a decision on whether you would be fine having to push that purchase back further if the markets are low (in exchange for greater long-term profits from your investments), or to choose investments that are less volatile (in exchange for lower long-term returns).
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Jul 25, 2017 15:15
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I sat in on a presentation today by SavingsPlus, the firm that offers supplemental retirement plans to California state employees like myself. They offer 401k and 457 plans, separate from our state pension plan. According to the presenter I can contribute 18k to the 401k AND the 457 in the same tax year  It will be a while until I have enough income to fill out both a 401k and a 457, but it's something to aspire to.Later in the presentation, the speaker mentioned that I can contribute either pre-tax, roth, or a mix of both to either the 401k/457. An 18-36k per year roth account sounds intriguing, but I wouldn't be able to contribute anywhere close to the limit on one account, let alone the second, with post-tax money for quite some time. I make 60k a year, so I'm not in a high tax bracket, but I don't have a ton of money to invest - saving aggressively, and having no unexpected crises, I can probably invest 11k in post tax dollars (and substantially more in pre-tax dollars). I am trying to move up the ladder - in the next few months I am trying to get promoted to a position that pays 68k, and in the next 5-10 years I'd like to be in an upper management position, which can pay around 90-110k per year, depending on what it is. Since I have a larger tax advantaged space to work with than normal, but I don't have HUGE amounts of income to fill it with yet, does it make sense to stick with pre-tax contributions to try to fill as much of the tax advantaged space as I can while I am still moving up the ranks? Should I eventually transition to Roth contributions later on in my career when I'm making more? Or should I just make roth contributions now, even though my initial contribution amounts will be smaller than if I used pre-tax? I'm looking at a few online calculators like this one and they're indicating that if I am investing the tax savings I get from pre-tax contributions, I'll edge out the Roth contributions, unless I work for another 40 years or so (or have a wild change in taxation).
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Jul 26, 2017 06:16
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Riders of Brohan posted:I sat in on a presentation today by SavingsPlus, the firm that offers supplemental retirement plans to California state employees like myself. They offer 401k and 457 plans, separate from our state pension plan. According to the presenter I can contribute 18k to the 401k AND the 457 in the same tax year I'd look at the details of your pension plan and what you expect to have in retirement. A defined-benefit plan generally makes a Roth more valuable than the calculator would show. Roth also has the advantage of removing any uncertainty about how much your account is "actually" worth. Generally, Roth is the way to go. But if you do plan to invest 100% of the benefit from your pre-tax dollars and have a situation where your AGI can give you some benefits by being reduced, then maybe traditional is the way to go. It's hard to say for sure without knowing your specific pension, future tax rates, savings goals, and likely situation in retirement. Congrats on the very nice plan options.
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Jul 26, 2017 13:16
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457s are awesome I've been clamoring for my state institution to add one for close to a year now.
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Jul 26, 2017 15:34
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Hello, I have been directed over here from the housing thread ~ Mainly, a part of me has been wanting to move out for a while now and get my own place but I know I do not plan to even try to do this until at least next year. I guess what are some good tips and tricks to help myself prepare for trying that? I can give the following information of my current living situation/costs to help out. I currently live still with family and do not pay rent I have a full time job and make just under $1,200 a month after taxes. That's the closest number to round up to. I do put a portion of my paycheck into health/dental/vision insurance with work as well as a fair portion into my retirement with it as well I paid off my student and car loans earlier in the year so I am totally debt free at this time My monthly expenses that are concrete (I know how much I pay on these) are as follows $78 car insurance $50 internet ~$30 in subscription based services (website/video games) $400 dollars of each paycheck goes into my savings account for about $800 a month Sometimes I will use paypal though so it ends up being 350 or lower per staying in there depending on what I end up paypalling I eat out from time to time which normally does not exceed $50 a month, like that's maybe the maximum I can think of I work from home so I do not often need to refuel my car for gas so I only fill my tank up maybe once every 2 months? I do get a hair cut which is about $30 about once a month but that's because I often pay for myself AND my brother at the same time so living on my own would cut this in half This is about all the information I can think of right now. I do realize when I live on my own, I will need to factor in rent/utilities/grocery type costs. Is an apartment in the 350 range per month outside of my sights or would I be able to shoot for higher even? I appreciate any help you guys can provide and can give more details if needed. Again, I guess I'm just kind of testing the waters to see if I'm on a good track so far 
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Aug 9, 2017 21:57
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I think at 1200 a month you're really going to have a hard time. I would be looking to see what you could do to get your income up. It sounds like you have a really go grasp of not blowing all of your money though so that's a plus. I think that 350 a month is on the way low side though. I'm not sure you'd be able to do that without renting out a room in a larger house with room mates. I know in my area, 750 is kind of a bottom of line kind of price and it's not at all where anyone wants to live. rotaryfun fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Aug 9, 2017 |
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Aug 9, 2017 22:15
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I live between the Dayton and Columbus Ohio area , the average around here seems to be in the low 400s to 500ish from what I've seen but I might be wrong.
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Aug 9, 2017 22:19
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Good Listener posted:Hello, I have been directed over here from the housing thread ~ Mainly, a part of me has been wanting to move out for a while now and get my own place but I know I do not plan to even try to do this until at least next year. I guess what are some good tips and tricks to help myself prepare for trying that? I can give the following information of my current living situation/costs to help out. Just some thoughts in no particular order and definitely not complete advice: Start tracking exact spending instead of estimating. I use Mint, some people swear by a more hands-on budget like YNAB. Regardless, things like just guessing food costs could bite you in the rear end if you're way off. Start a practice run. You have the advantage of not needing to move out now, so start pretending you already have. Put money you'd spend on rent, utilities, food, etc to the side in a second account or something. See if you can live off what remains, or if you discover some issues. Ideally do this for more than one month. Maybe even buy your own food if that's feasible. There's a budget thread in this subforum I think. Speaking of food, start learning now to cook for cheap and in bulk. Lots of good threads here and around Reddit and other parts of the internet. Cooking for cheap versus eating out even occasionally can make or break a budget, especially a tighter one such as yours. Don't forget initial costs of moving, like needing furniture, a security deposit, and any small items that add up but you're used to just having around (eg cleaning supplies, toilet paper, power strip, and all those other things that are invisible day-to-day). I can't really speak to $350 being a good target for renting, but you may need to consider roommates to reduce costs. With your income it will likely be a tight budget.
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Aug 9, 2017 23:02
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Going to 2nd or 3rd the idea of getting a roommate. You might be able to look for a sublet where you are taking over someones spot who had to move out for whatever reason, either temporary or for good. Most likely the move in costs will be lower too. There are a lot of costs besides rent that are a lot easier to cover with a roommate. It doesnt cost twice as much to heat or cool a 2 bed vs a one bed. Your cable/internet you will split evenly. Someone already will have a couch and a couple recliners. There will already be a toaster and a full assortment of bowls, plates, glasses and utensils. Each of you will buy your own food but maybe you share things like condiments and spices. Spices are surprisingly expensive when you dont have any of them and you are starting from nothing. My experience is there are dramatic savings going from alone to 1 roommate. Significant going from a group of 2 to a group of 3. The savings from 3 to 4 are negligable. Also once you get beyond 3, the personal drama begins to increase exponentially
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Aug 10, 2017 01:47
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That does sound like a good idea, but the big problem is I have no idea who I'd be roomies with. Most of my friends have moved out of town, got married and moved in with spouses or were online pals to begin with so we don't live near each other at all really. It just sounds a little scary I guess to have to end up rooming with someone I don't even know you know? Thankfully though I do know how to cook stuff and I'm fine with just eating hot dogs and lunch meat sammiches if I need to haha. Honestly, it's harder for me to think of elaborate stuff to cook than just *throw this in toaster oven for 20 minutes* haha. I'll look into stuff though, especially that Mint thing mentioned cuz it's got me curious now. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I appreciate it!
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Aug 10, 2017 02:15
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Good Listener posted:It just sounds a little scary I guess to have to end up rooming with someone I don't even know you know? Craigslist. Its pretty much what all of us have done one time or another. We all have weird roommate stories but virtually all weird roommates are weird in harmless ways. Just do the best you can interviewing them and these days its easy to vet folks on social media. Youre going to be fine or at least survive it. The upside is that a 3 bed that is $1200 is going to be multiple times nicer than whatever option you could find for $400 on your own.
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Aug 10, 2017 03:33
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Good Listener posted:I have a full time job and make just under $1,200 a month after taxes. That's the closest number to round up to. Two things: 1. As others said, you have done a great job on tracking spending and being super minimal. That's awesome. 2. Doing math, I can't see this income being over $10 an hour if you are working 40 hours a week ($20k a year). So not to be super confrontational, but you should really, really look into fixing that. If you can manage your expenses how you list above, you deserve to make more than $10 an hour. So I guess the question is: what job working from home is paying that little (sorry, it's not a lot of money at all), and what options are out there that can pay better? Is this part of a career path where income can go up? I was making similar money 7 years ago and making it work with similar lower costs. It took a bit, but realizing that a higher income can really change the outlook of what you can afford was eye opening. Saving $400 a month is great and commendable with your income. But you could be making literally double, and have $1,000 extra plus spending money.
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Aug 10, 2017 14:34
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I have one credit card. It has a $1000 dollar limit and offers no rewards. My score is ~715. Is there any difference between spending $5 or $200 every month when it comes to my credit score? Until I can get a card that offers rewards, I would rather keep my credit card spending as low as possible, but not if it will affect my score.
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Aug 10, 2017 15:16
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:I have one credit card. It has a $1000 dollar limit and offers no rewards. My score is ~715. Yes, but it is miniscule. It also resets every month. Don't worry about it. But pay it all off on the statement before you apply for a new card if you're paranoid.
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Aug 10, 2017 15:18
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Good Listener posted:That does sound like a good idea, but the big problem is I have no idea who I'd be roomies with. Most of my friends have moved out of town, got married and moved in with spouses or were online pals to begin with so we don't live near each other at all really. It just sounds a little scary I guess to have to end up rooming with someone I don't even know you know? Roomates who are not friends are best, because it's hard to evict your buddy if he loses his job and stops paying rent, but easy to evict Joe Random Guy who never flushes the goddamn toilet if he loses his job and stops paying rent.
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Aug 10, 2017 15:24
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Yes, but it is miniscule. I basically use the card like a debit card, paying off its balance almost every day so that my utilization score is never too high. I'd been working under the assumption that more spending = better as long as my utilization score was under ~30%. But if spending more has no significant effect, I'll just stick Netflix on it and leave the card on auto-pay until my credit age is enough to apply for a decent rewards card. Thanks!
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Aug 10, 2017 15:58
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Duckman2008 posted:Two things: I make just under $12 an hour making hotel bookings that come in via email. Also I wanna check and see if you guys were thinking I was making less cuz I wasn't clear enough. I'm not saving 400 a month, that's 400 per check to savings. I put 800 a month max in my savings each month. You are probably right I should try to find a position that pays a little more though, I just don't know where I'd go with my skill set where I could make more. Also for some reason craigslist never crossed my mind haha.
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Aug 10, 2017 17:34
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I see that you have a car, and no line item for car maintenance. You might want to add that in too.
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Aug 10, 2017 18:20
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I see that you have a car, and no line item for car maintenance. You might want to add that in too. It's worth noting that this sort of thing is where actual budgeting (e.g. YNAB and the thread here) excels and simple tracking (like Mint) does not. Although you can do some basic budgeting with Mint, it's mostly for tracking spending--not planning. Things like car maintenance are a perfect example of something you can go for months not spending a dime on, then suddenly need a big chunk of change all at once. If you haven't budgeted for that (put money away each month for car maintenance), it can be bad.
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Aug 10, 2017 18:32
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Good Listener posted:I make just under $12 an hour making hotel bookings that come in via email. Also I wanna check and see if you guys were thinking I was making less cuz I wasn't clear enough. I'm not saving 400 a month, that's 400 per check to savings. I put 800 a month max in my savings each month. I don't know the hotel industry, but I'm sure there are threads or someone here who does. Just in general, it's something that may not be possible overnight, but I would bet money you could identify opportunities to switch, move up, whatever, and make more. Even getting to $15-20 an hour could help a good bit. On the plus side, working from home does lower your travel and potential food costs. So on the flip side, definitely factor that in on any job that you have to travel to.
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Aug 10, 2017 19:16
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incogneato posted:It's worth noting that this sort of thing is where actual budgeting (e.g. YNAB and the thread here) excels and simple tracking (like Mint) does not. Although you can do some basic budgeting with Mint, it's mostly for tracking spending--not planning. If you have a decent history built up in Mint though, it can help you average out what you spend on categories. I've used it for figuring out baseline numbers for fuel & maintenance since a have a few years worth of data, and I just manually adjust the budget I set for months when I know I have more expenses coming up (more fuel for a vacation, renewing my registration annually in the fall, etc).
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Aug 10, 2017 19:55
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Good Listener posted:I make just under $12 an hour making hotel bookings that come in via email. Also I wanna check and see if you guys were thinking I was making less cuz I wasn't clear enough. I'm not saving 400 a month, that's 400 per check to savings. I put 800 a month max in my savings each month. You are doing an amazing job of managing the income that you do have. I'm not telling you something that you don't know, but that isn't a lot of money and you will never have a lot of margin in your life, say nothing about other long term goals. It seems like you have a decent amount of flexibility with this current endeavor? If so you could substantially increase your income with a part time job a few days a week. Or even delivering pizzas. If this doesn't lead to other advancement you have to ask yourself if you want to be doing the same thing with the same income 5 years from now, and if not, what steps do you need to take? Is that more school, moving to an area with more opportunities so you can better use the skills that you do have? Nothing is on fire, you don't need to fix it today or come up with some quick answer in reply to this. You have the time to do things deliberately and carefully; that seems to be your nature anyway.
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Aug 10, 2017 20:55
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I will definitely try to look into that. I'd love to be making $3-$8 more than I do now absolutely haha. I dunno maybe I'll check with my bosses and see if there's anything I can do that'll help with that. I really do appreciate the help and constructive comments I've received. Thank you guys a bunch! Edit: Also one more quick question since I haven't been looking in like 5 years: is Monster still a good job search site? I've been way way out of the game haha Good Listener fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Aug 10, 2017 |
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Aug 10, 2017 21:40
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| # ? May 22, 2024 13:44 |
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incogneato posted:It's worth noting that this sort of thing is where actual budgeting (e.g. YNAB and the thread here) excels and simple tracking (like Mint) does not. Although you can do some basic budgeting with Mint, it's mostly for tracking spending--not planning. You can create budgets in Mint, and each budget can carry over unused portions to the next month. So if you budget 100 a month and spend 20, next month's budget is 180. They key is not looking at your bank account balance and saying "oh, I have extra money to use" because you really don't.
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Aug 12, 2017 18:58
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