22 Eargesplitten posted:

JFC that sounds like a lovely church. I would still be going to church if it wasn’t for the “be presentable at 9AM on a Sunday” thing.

canyoneer posted:

Dying Woman Sorry She Won’t Get To See 37-Year-Old Son Grow Up

quote:

The focus needs to be on the garbage disposal system of the body; the lymphatic system. Detoxification is the key to alkalising and cleansing the tissues and fluids. Your cells will then strengthen and regenerate, and excess waste matter will eventually be eliminated. This heals the root cause of disease and brings the body back into balance.

Suspicious Lump posted:

Pseudo-science - Check
Marketing wonder liquid - Check
Facebook Fitness Business - Check
Another australian trying to scam people - Check


https://www.metro.us/body-and-mind/health/olivia-budgen-instagram-cancer
https://www.reddit.com/r/insanepeoplefacebook/comments/7g4acp/cancer_is_good_for_you/

Ashcans posted:

There are estimates that 39% of Americans have literally no savings, and that an additional 35% have less than $1000.

As of 2016, 12% of Americans had either low or very low food security, which means that they had to rely on coping strategies such as outside assistance to avoid disrupting their eating pattern, or suffered disruptions anyway.

47% of respondents said they would have to borrow or sell things to pay a $400 unexpected bill, rather than having adequate savings

One in five Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities, and one in three has trouble making ends meet

You can just read this whole report, really, if you can tolerate the despair


Now, 'Homelessness' is probably something of an exagerration, simply because many people rely on more than financial supports and if you in the position of living on the street you are more likely to be able to find housing with family, friends, or by downsizing your life to acquire a roof and not be technically homeless (ie, renting a single room).

quote:

My Wife is in the military and her pay/benefits have served us well. We fell into the credit card trap early and made some silly decisions regarding cars, and now we're flailing. My Wife has decided when her enlistment is up (September 2019), she'd like to transfer to reserves. We'll still be getting a small paycheck from the military, and of course she will find work once she's off Active Duty, but I want to be as stable as possible to account for any lag between leaving active duty and starting a new job in the civilian world. Our budget is as follows:

Monthly Earnings AFTER Taxes: $5,842
Monthly Expenses:
Daycare: $786
Rent: $1465
Water: $180
Insurance: $172
Gas: $130
Groceries: $400
Credit Card 1: $100 (monthly minimum; $2,500 limit)
Credit Card 2: $50 (monthly minimum; $2000 limit)
Entertainment: $40
Credit Card 3: $25 (monthly minimum; $500 limit)
Car 1: $450 (~3 years left)
Car 2: $569 (Lease. ~3 years left)
Credit Card 4: $158 (monthly minimum; $5,800 limit)
Electric: $180
Cable/Internet: $117 (Locked at this price til June 2018. Getting rid of cable after that, leaving only internet)
Credit Card 5: $115 (monthly minimum; $5000 limit)
Credit Card 6: $115 (monthly minimum; $5000 limit)
Credit Card 7: $25 (monthly minimum; $500 limit)
Cell phones: $206
Total after expenses: $559

All varying expenses (electric, water, etc.) have been averaged. All credit cards except Credit Card 2 are maxed with high interest rates. We also have no savings. Every other month we **don't have a water bill.**

I work for a law firm and get not so great pay, but soon I will be getting hopefully around $2,500 per month in bonus pay based on deals I'll be working, but I haven't included that above as I haven't started getting them yet and some months will be lower and some will be higher. I am also a student with around 20k in debt so far and am about halfway through my Bachelor's, so it'll be another 2-3 years before I have to start paying on those.

I am very financially illiterate I'm finding. I have this narrow view of money where I see money coming in and going out and we have X dollars to get us to payday. I budget in a note on my phone where I have all of our expenses and basically take a calculator to our bank balance every couple of days to keep track of money coming and going.

I feel so silly even typing this. I have a 3 year old son and I can't figure out how to work my own money. I don't expect to be a millionaire by 2019, and I don't even expect to be 100% stable by then, but I need us to be in a much better place so that we aren't pinching pennies anymore and my Wife can get off Active Duty like she's been wanting to for years. I'll read any book or listen to any podcast or whatever it is to understand. Any help would be immensely appreciated.

quote:

As for the cars, the $569 is for the family van which comes in handy on trips we frequently take to visit family and such. It's not that we would mind giving it back, but (and I don't know what the fee would be) we don't have a lot of extra cash to pay any sort of fee, and then we'd be forced to finance another vehicle. With the trips we take, it's nice to have something new an reliable that we're not sinking money into for repairs.

quote:

Two big trips a month for groceries, usually costing around $150 each, plus several random trips throughout the month for when we run out of essentials. The water is every other month so I probably should have listed ~$90. As far as gas goes, my Wife and I work fairly close to home and most of the places we frequently go. As far as our trips go, we usually take around 2 trips per year (either to Florida, Syracuse, or New Orleans) so I don't typically include those in our general budget.

Mokelumne Trekka posted:

Hard to reconcile this with Black Friday's big sales, $1000.00 Apple X purchases, restaurants being crowded often, people with 3 kids and only average household income driving nice cars, etc. Other than debt, of course.

Advice to a college student who lost $2500 on one stock today posted:

Hey guys,
Yesterday I invested in DPW at $2.60 per share, thinking that it would follow the trend of bitcoin related stocks having success recently. Over the course of two days I've managed to nullify the smart investing gains I've made in my short investing career.
First off, what do you guys suggest I do with DPW? Should I cut my losses or try to wait it out?
Also, what are some tips/advice you have for a beginner investor like myself?
Thanks guys!

OctaviusBeaver posted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/7g8it2/advice_to_a_college_student_who_lost_2500_on_one/

DPW is down to $1.38 lol

Suspicious Lump posted:

Pseudo-science - Check
Marketing wonder liquid - Check
Facebook Fitness Business - Check
Another australian trying to scam people - Check

Liquid Communism posted:

So a college student invested 5k, expecting to double their money overnight bitcoin style.

GamingHyena posted:

And the guy who runs this company that seems to be 90% corporate buzzwords looks like this?



Yes, give this man your money. Give this man all of your money.

quote:

I hate to share a sob story, but that's what I've got and I need to pick brains for ideas I may be missing.

I am a 40yr old guy. After 20 years with the same company, I was just laid off from my Senior Technical Analyst / Senior Technical Support Engineer position. A few years ago, I began to have severe trouble with my back to the point I could not even navigate my own home. This did not affect my work, however, because I was already telecommuting full-time (and have my entire career).

Finding a similar job is proving difficult, given the limitation that I can not leave my home for an interview or for the actual work. (And mind you, there is no reason my position can not be fully performed remotely). Unless a job specifically announces it is remote work, I'm not sure how to squeeze into it anyway, and ask for my need to be treated as a "reasonable accomodation". I am perfectly capable of doing the work I've done for the last 20 years. Literally the only thing holding me back is an employer's unwillingness to set me up with a PC, VPN, and phone remotely.

INCOME / DEBT:

At the moment, nothing. Some 'unemployment' payments should be coming in for a little while, but that's it. I should have a little money coming in from being laid off and it'll be just enough to pay off my $6k in credit card debt.

My income up until this point was a base salary of about $86k, but with shift-work and on-call pager-duty, was about $135k this year.

SAVINGS:

I have $190K in a 401k and $10k tied up in a Prosper account. The 401k has an outstanding $18k loan, which I've been told by Fidelity that I can let "default" after 45 days and then (I think) that $18k will be treated as income and taxed the same for the year it defaults in (and then I'll also pay an extra 10%, so probably totally $7500 on this?).

I have enough money in my checking account to pay my mortgage on December 1st and January 1st. Then I have literally no more money.

That's all my savings. That's it. Yes, I used to have a lot more saved and invested. Yes, I know I should be in a much better situation than I am. Given the length of my employment (entire adult life with this company), I took the risk of helping a friend to the tune of $200k over the last two years. I expected that I would buckle-down in 2018 and regenerate my safety-net from that point on. I was not expecting to lose my job this Thanksgiving of all times. Yes, this was stupid. I just really wanted to help my friend out and didn't realistically thing it would destroy me.

ASSETS:

I have a home in the Denver metro area that I bought for $195k in 2010. It has had about $100k or so invested in it (gutted the basement and two floors to update them from 1969 styles, insulated the attic, updated the 50amp electrical panel to 200amp, added some 20amp outlets on two floors, added a very nice new bathroom, installed a new boiler, installed new baseboard hydronic heating, new evaporative cooler, new roof). It could still use some finish work to make it presentable for a sale. Zillow claims it could sell for something like $330k. I have no idea how accurate that is or how fast it would go. I still owe about $140k on it.

MONTHLY EXPENSES: (~$1,950)

Mortgage: $825
Property Tax: $200
Homeowner's Insurance: $220
Power: ~$250-$300 (It has been about $140/mo while I'm here alone but I may have a sibling and their sigifnicant other move in and last time they did that it easily jumped up to about $300/mo).
Cell/Ting: ~$20 (this includes my service and a phone for my aging mother).
City utilities (trash, sewage, water): ~$40-80 (Is around $40 when I'm alone. Probably more like $80 with guests in the house).
Internet: ~$100 (Need it to job hunt or do just about anything else, since I'm not able to get out of the hosue to even go to the unemployment office and file things in person, for example).
Medication: ~$5 (I take blood pressure meds and urgently called my doctor the day I was laid off to get them to update my prescription for a full year and I can probably fill it at Walmart for this).
Food: ~$150 (Denver is stupid expensive for food. I think I can maybe get enough calories and protein in my body if I mostly focus on rice and beans.)
Misc: $20 *(I have an elderly cat. I figure $20 or so per month for litter and food).

This doesn't include medical coverage. With the ACA, I don't think I can afford that with no income. It seems to be about $300/mo for the privelege of having them pay about 40% of some expenses after I've met like a $6k deductable for the year. With a very minimal income, it seems I might be able to get enough tax credit to pay only $60/mo. Still, for something I can't afford to use, so this is literally money that I'm just paying for nothing. Alternately, I can pay like $700 penalty next year and have no coverage (which seems even worse, being I'm 40). This also doesn't include dental coverage. I need some dental work and it looks like dental coverage would be at least $60/mo and I wouldn't even be able to get anything significant done until the second year and even then only up to $1500 with them covering 50%. This also doesn't include vision. I don't think I can afford to have any of these things and my best bet is to find $700 somewhere and just pay the government to not give me health coverage.

HELP?!

How can I make the best of my situation? I'm really scared, because I'm 40 and in poor health and am worried I may not be able to get a job again at all -- much less an equivalent one. At this rate, I see myself ending up old, literally broke, never being able to retire, and scrounging at some awful job just to barely get by. I never saw my life going this way... It is the way my parents have gone and I don't want to suffer like they have had to.

My sibling and their significant other are probably going to move in in a couple weeks and we have discussed what we can do. It is likely that we will split things three ways (including mortgage) and I will give them their share of equity in the house if I ever sell it (calculated as whatever percent of overall mortgage payments they wound up covering).

If that works out, it could take my monthly expenses down to about $800 including food and pet, but not including ANY sort of health, dental, vision or anything else.

I can only think of two ideas.

Sell House:

I can get someone to help me do some work on the house and then sell it. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll sell fast and for like $330k (the last owners had it on the market over six months before I came along). I'll eat a big loss considering I spent about as much to renovate the house as it has (maybe) increased in value. Then I could pay the bank back the $140k and use the remaining $90k (or whatever I get after paying a real estate broker and taxes) to live on. I'm not sure how or where I would live very long on $90k, but at least I'd (maybe) have up to $90k.

Cash Out 401k:

I can cash out my 401k. It was $179k last I looked. Subtract that $18k and it's $161k. Figure 30% tax and 10% penalty, so I keep 60% of it. Maybe that leaves me with $96k. Use $7500 of that to pay off the 401k loan tax and penalty, leaving me $88k. That's $88k to live off of for as long as I can stretch it while having my house to continue to live in (though I'm then paying whatever portion of the mortgage and expenses still).

Which is better to lose? The 401k or the house? Either way, I feel I am just delaying the inevitable and have no future. I've been living every moment of the last two weeks like I'm constantly hyperventilating.

Thank you for reading this. Thank you for any consideration you give it. Thank you for any advice you offer.

Regards.

quote:

I took the risk of helping a friend to the tune of $200k over the last two years.

Subjunctive posted:

What does a successful CEO look like?

Photex posted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/7fvqh7/40_single_laid_off_after_20yr_no_savings_no/


How does a guy work for 20 years with an ending salary of that much get so hosed?


Oh.

Subjunctive posted:

What does a successful CEO look like?

Steampunk Hitler posted:

Subjunctive posted:

What does a successful CEO look like?

Mokelumne Trekka posted:

Hard to reconcile this with Black Friday's big sales, $1000.00 Apple X purchases, restaurants being crowded often, people with 3 kids and only average household income driving nice cars, etc. Other than debt, of course.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Well usually they just shave their head if they're going bald and maybe work out a little bit (corporate gym and trainer and all that) and maybe some nice sunglasses and...


Oh hey.

Also would have accepted looking freakishly young for being elderly Larry Ellison.

Ashcans posted:

I don't think its hard to reconcile at all, quite the opposite: people spend money on things they are encouraged to buy like newer/bigger cars, upgraded devices, etc, instead of carefully squirreling away every spare dime. We do very little to convince people to plan and save their money compared to how much we encourage them to spend it all as quickly as possible. Many people don't receive any basic financial education in their schools, these classes are also largely absent from university. You essentially rely on parents to impart the knowledge, which is very hit and miss. Some parents have bad skills themselves, and others feel like its inappropriate to share financial information with their kids. Ads for cars, devices, and restaurants are everywhere, but when was the last time you saw an ad that said 'Hey, you know what, you should think about appraising your disposable spending and making sure you are building a 3-month emergency fund just in case something goes wrong!' The closest you get are ads for banks and insurance policies.

In addition, being poor literally makes it harder to make good decisions - not just in the sense that you can't afford the optimal choices, either. Being poor is a constant state of anxiety and problem solving, which depresses the ability of people to make good choices. Simply put, if you are constantly worrying about paying your next rent check or getting enough food, you have less capacity to handle decision making, particularly longer-term that isn't as pressing. The same people literally perform worse on tests when worried about money, and if you are poor you are worried all the time.

People who are struggling make financially poor choices like smoke, drink, or eat out because these are easy ways to receive a short burst of enjoyment and happiness and is very appealing when your anxiety is high and your horizon is short. You have a couple beers in the evening because you worked hard and you're wound up and really just want to relax a little so you can get some sleep for work tomorrow, and that is a much more pressing and fulfilling concept than the potential financial benefit of giving up alcohol for the next 10 years and investing that money in a retirement fund.

Ashcans posted:

I don't think its hard to reconcile at all, quite the opposite: people spend money on things they are encouraged to buy like newer/bigger cars, upgraded devices, etc, instead of carefully squirreling away every spare dime. We do very little to convince people to plan and save their money compared to how much we encourage them to spend it all as quickly as possible. Many people don't receive any basic financial education in their schools, these classes are also largely absent from university. You essentially rely on parents to impart the knowledge, which is very hit and miss. Some parents have bad skills themselves, and others feel like its inappropriate to share financial information with their kids. Ads for cars, devices, and restaurants are everywhere, but when was the last time you saw an ad that said 'Hey, you know what, you should think about appraising your disposable spending and making sure you are building a 3-month emergency fund just in case something goes wrong!' The closest you get are ads for banks and insurance policies.

In addition, being poor literally makes it harder to make good decisions - not just in the sense that you can't afford the optimal choices, either. Being poor is a constant state of anxiety and problem solving, which depresses the ability of people to make good choices. Simply put, if you are constantly worrying about paying your next rent check or getting enough food, you have less capacity to handle decision making, particularly longer-term that isn't as pressing. The same people literally perform worse on tests when worried about money, and if you are poor you are worried all the time.

People who are struggling make financially poor choices like smoke, drink, or eat out because these are easy ways to receive a short burst of enjoyment and happiness and is very appealing when your anxiety is high and your horizon is short. You have a couple beers in the evening because you worked hard and you're wound up and really just want to relax a little so you can get some sleep for work tomorrow, and that is a much more pressing and fulfilling concept than the potential financial benefit of giving up alcohol for the next 10 years and investing that money in a retirement fund.

John Smith posted:

My parents are poor and uneducated second-generation Asian immigrants. I am rich and educated.

I call your post bullshit. Poor people can do with a bit of hard work. Bitching rarely gets you anywhere.

John Smith posted:

My parents are poor and uneducated second-generation Asian immigrants. I am rich and educated.

I call your post bullshit. Poor people can do with a bit of hard work. Bitching rarely gets you anywhere.

Mokelumne Trekka posted:

Hard to reconcile this with Black Friday's big sales, $1000.00 Apple X purchases, restaurants being crowded often, people with 3 kids and only average household income driving nice cars, etc. Other than debt, of course.

Photex posted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/7fvqh7/40_single_laid_off_after_20yr_no_savings_no/


How does a guy work for 20 years with an ending salary of that much get so hosed?


Oh.

Zo posted:

hey man it's kind of taboo in this thread to suggest that maybe poor people should also watch their spending, because you see they had a bit/a lot of bad luck in their life so they are automatically relieved of personal responsibility in all aspects of their life

Zo posted:

hey man it's kind of taboo in this thread to suggest that maybe poor people should also watch their spending, because you see they had a bit/a lot of bad luck in their life so they are automatically relieved of personal responsibility in all aspects of their life

Hoodwinker posted:

therobit posted:

Would you look at the beak on that bird! Pretty.

Hoodwinker posted:

That's exactly what I thought!

therobit posted:

Do you know what kind of toucan it is?