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Eric Cantonese posted:
I think a better analogy (beyond straight up gambling) would be incredibly expensive penny stocks. I'd be surprised if anyone here held any penny stocks.
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Feb 24, 2021 16:46
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I had a tiny amount of money in btc for a week or two, made a tiny profit, but yeah it’s gambling and honestly an unwelcome topic in the gambling thread... let alone this one.
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Feb 24, 2021 16:48
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Yeah, the threads are more 'safe' versus 'gambling' as opposed to a question of time-horizons. And, as far as I can tell, cryptos are just slow databases for unregulated gambling assets. There's some trends there, sure, but you'd be gambling off those trends.
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Feb 24, 2021 16:58
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I’m getting shitloads of YouTube ads for crypto apps and platforms now. That’s a sure sign to stay way the gently caress away.AndrewP posted:Just checked my retirement funds yesterday and wow it’s been a good few months huh Yuuuup. Surprised it hasn’t gone down already, there’s no way this boost is a long term thing. Hard to care tho when I’m 35 years from touching that money.
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Feb 24, 2021 17:02
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Tesla is the 5th largest holding in VTI  . Therefore you are already overexposed to bitcoin just by having a reasonably diversified investment portfolio. Trust that if bitcoin actually becomes a real thing, and not just a speculative bubble, U.S. corporations will quickly adopt it and you will have exposure to it within your diversified holding of stock. Putting money into bitcoin now is pure speculation/greed/FOMO and this thread isn't the place to discuss that.
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Feb 24, 2021 17:09
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Edit: quoted my post like an idiot instead of editing it.
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Feb 24, 2021 17:11
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laxbro posted:Tesla is the 5th largest holding in VTI I was just about to post this. I apparently own BTC now... Also just look at the ridiculous volatility of crypto. I don't see how any sane company can realistically accept it. You pay for a Tesla with 1 BTC and they really have to convert that to dollars (stable money) immediately. otherwise they are just speculating it will go way up or it crashes and... you just paid them 1/4 the price of the car (good for you bad for them). maybe they have enough cash and credit at hand but just makes no sense to me.
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Feb 24, 2021 17:33
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dxt posted:least 15 debit card uses per month). Any reason not to do this? Never use a debit card. Unless you enjoy gambling someone won't steal your $25k every single time you swipe it.
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Feb 24, 2021 18:30
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H110Hawk posted:Never use a debit card. Unless you enjoy gambling someone won't steal your $25k every single time you swipe it. My only exception I take to this is I have like $800 in a Charles Schwab account and use the debit card across the world (or used too.... hopefully again someday) to get local currency as it is way cheaper than the money exchangers. My other checking accounts I don't even have a debit card for though.
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Feb 24, 2021 18:42
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spwrozek posted:My only exception I take to this is I have like $800 in a Charles Schwab account and use the debit card across the world (or used too.... hopefully again someday) to get local currency as it is way cheaper than the money exchangers. My other checking accounts I don't even have a debit card for though. Yeah, I have a dedicated account like this too, it never has more money in it than I am comfortable being stolen. Similar to my paypal(venmo) dedicated account. It means I will stick my debit card into the sketchiest ATMs possible, including one where the top computer part was unlocked for months and months.
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Feb 24, 2021 18:48
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I used nothing but a debit card for years and the one fraudulent charge I had during that time, the bank denied on their own and then they locked my account until I got a new debit card. Didn't cost me a dollar. The whole "use credit cards because debit cards aren't safe" thing kinda sounds like something I would roll my eyes at my grandpa for saying, but to each their own. I prefer the cash back now anyways. Eric Cantonese posted:I was starting to look into BTC and other virtual currencies since they seem to be gaining more acceptance as an alternate store of value (kind of like gold) I don't think this is true. There are certainly a lot of people who will tell you that bitcoin is a hedge against inflation and the stock market. But a good portion of these people, and a whole bunch of other people are buying because they want to double their money in a year. Nobody is buying gold to do that, so bitcoins valuation is distorted relative to something like gold. Gamblers tend to get handed their asses when the market crashes, so I would expect bitcoin to eat poo poo any time the market does, since it's propped up by gambling money. It certainly took a dive when everyone was selling their coins to try and buy gamestop and AMC stock, which coincidentally was the worst day for the broader stock market in many months. I personally have 0% in it directly, and I intend to keep it that way. acidx fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Feb 24, 2021 |
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Feb 24, 2021 19:18
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acidx posted:I used nothing but a debit card for years and the one fraudulent charge I had during that time, the bank denied on their own and then they locked my account until I got a new debit card. Didn't cost me a dollar. The whole "use credit cards because debit cards aren't safe" thing kinda sounds like something I would roll my eyes at my grandpa for saying, but to each their own. I prefer the cash back now anyways. You got lucky. Plain and simple. Plenty of people have the opposite experience. It's the same level of effort (pick a different card from your wallet) to make it the banks risk not your risk. Seems like a good tradeoff to me. You also get generally stronger consumer protection. I would do it without cash back/points rewards as well. The PayPal account is definitely tinfoil hat territory, but so be it.
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Feb 24, 2021 19:22
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acidx posted:I used nothing but a debit card for years and the one fraudulent charge I had during that time, the bank denied on their own and then they locked my account until I got a new debit card. Didn't cost me a dollar. The whole "use credit cards because debit cards aren't safe" thing kinda sounds like something I would roll my eyes at my grandpa for saying, but to each their own. I prefer the cash back now anyways. I've been driving my car for years and have never deployed the airbags. One time I got in a minor fender bender but it wasn't bad enough for the airbags to deploy. The whole "cars need airbags" thing kinda sounds like something I would roll my eyes at... etc. Using a debit card is probably fine the same way that driving your car to the grocery store is probably fine... until it isn't. But if you're financially stable there is literally zero reason to use a debit card over a credit card. Better fraud protection and better rewards programs. Why choose to do the more risky thing when there's a better tool readily available?
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Feb 24, 2021 19:25
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I went to Vegas when I was younger and tried to withdraw money from an ATM for the strip club and it ate my card, refusing to give it back. I had no other money source and had to borrow money from my friends to stuff into a stripper’s thong. The shame was immeasurable. Years later I unexpectedly go to a strip club and don’t have a debit card, because debit cards are stupid, and again have to borrow money from a friend to stuff into a stripper’s thong. The shame was immeasurable. Debit cards are awful, just carry cash. debit cards are rarely more secure than cash anyways. Credit cards, at least, give you money and security.
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Feb 24, 2021 19:25
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I think it's important to note that the price of bitcoin is correlated pretty strongly to the stock market, so buying bitcoin doesn't hedge poo poo. Here's a random article I found: https://www.csspartners.co.uk/2020/the-curious-stock-market-and-bitcoin-correlation/
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Feb 24, 2021 19:42
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Well poo poo, I've been using a debit card for most things for years. Guess I should stop that.
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Feb 24, 2021 21:05
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For what purpose, even if you don't care about the security why not let the credit card companies pay you to use their products.
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Feb 24, 2021 21:09
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Gaius Marius posted:For what purpose, even if you don't care about the security why not let the credit card companies pay you to use their products. I didn't want to go into credit card debt when I was poor/dumb in college, force of habit since then. Plus Wells Fargo let me put dumb pictures on my card.
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Feb 24, 2021 21:18
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Click around NerdWallet and pick the benefits that fit your spending habits best. At the very least, get a cash-back rewards card like: Citi Double Cash - 2% cash back Fidelity Rewards - 2% cash back, need a Fidelity account to redeem Capital One Quicksilver - 1.5% cash back, no international (outside USA) transaction fee
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Feb 24, 2021 21:28
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Nerdwallet is a little less trustworthy than they used to be imo, so poke around some on no-affiliate-link sites like doctorofcredit to find out what the current options are and what sign up bonuses are on offer this week. I think the DoubleCash has lost a lot of the things that made it the go-to once, price rewind is gone and something about how the cash back gets applied became a little less customer friendly? It's still great and easy-ish to get approved for, and the Fidelity one is probably a natural fit for a lot of people itt, but it's worth noting that 2% flat rate cards aren't a short list offered by just those big boys anymore. Alliant also has one (be an owner not a source of revenue, etc) as well as a 2.5% one for peeps with six figure income and a high credit score (which is more rare). PenFed is another generally-liked (not by me, but that's a long story) credit union that costs ~$15 to buy into via some affiliated charity and also offers a 2% card. They're conservative lenders with dated web design, but have the most customer-friendly redemption options of any I've experienced (rewards can be redeemed as actual cash rather than statement credit in any amount, to any bank internally or externally, with no minimums, and it can be set to empty itself monthly without you needing to do poo poo), and they also offer the best no-annual-fees travel card on the market to go with it. I'm out of the loop, so there may be other options now too! But imo those smaller ones with less brand awareness are going to fight harder to keep you with value and rewards than the ones that have already have name recognition, and that goes double so for CUs.
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Feb 25, 2021 01:33
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Double cash def still allows the 2% to just go on as a statement credit, so it works fine for me overall. It def does not have the standard rewards perks like price protection, etc though. I use it just because it’s super simple and covers a broad base. I used to use multiple cards but we ended up spending more by accident.
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Feb 25, 2021 01:38
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Citi is trying to sell people on "thank you points" which I suppose is a way to lock in those rewards balances. Apparently they occasionally run discounts on converting those to gift cards but I can't imagine it's worth the rigmarole
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Feb 25, 2021 01:44
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Duckman2008 posted:Double cash def still allows the 2% to just go on as a statement credit, so it works fine for me overall. It def does not have the standard rewards perks like price protection, etc though. I don't like being locked into statement credit, it makes it more difficult to do stuff with other cards. But yeah, I feel like for most people the way to go is either the best flat rate card you can get, or go all in and just churn bonuses. Juggling a bunch of cards seems like a bad effort/reward in comparison. And just getting one passive card that gives you a 2% discount on life is an easier sell to people who are intimidated by the idea of debt, or of the card-juggling it takes to milk the banks further. The only exception I'd make to that is stuff like business cards that will pay you an ongoing 5% on something set-and-forget like your phone bill while you carry that 2% in your wallet for everything else. And even those are probably only worth picking up if you're also going to cash in on their sign up bonus Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Feb 25, 2021 |
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Feb 25, 2021 01:48
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If you've got enough total assets in Bank of America and Merrill Edge, >100K, you can get a card that gives 5.25% cash back on a chosen category (online shopping is an option), 3.5% on groceries and warehouse clubs (including my beloved Costco), and 1.75% on everything else. The caps for the higher tier rewards are...$3000 of spending a quarter, I think? Then it drops down to the 1.75%. So if you spend a ton of money, a straight 2% card may be superior, but if your spending is limited and you mostly buy stuff online, at a grocery store, or at Costco, then it's a good choice. And if you want to consistently spend more you can get both a Visa and a Mastercard, functioning exactly the same in terms of rewards but doubling your total potential. Don't keep money in BofA, of course, but Merrill is fine as a brokerage.
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Feb 25, 2021 01:50
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Unsinkabear posted:Nerdwallet is a little less trustworthy than they used to be imo, so poke around some on no-affiliate-link sites like doctorofcredit to find out what the current options are and what sign up bonuses are on offer this week. I didn't know Alliant had a 2.5% card. Unfortunately it has a $99 fee after the first year, and that would eat up a lot of the savings. I pretty much switch between the Double Cash for everything but gas, restaurants and travel, which is my Costco card's duty. Discover occasionally has 5% on some decent things when you activate it, but I almost always forget and the 5% lasts for 3 months. Double Cash does offer a statement credit, or they can direct deposit into your bank, send you a physical check, or turn it into Thankyou points. I just have them directly deposit it into my bank. Silly Burrito fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Feb 25, 2021 |
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Feb 25, 2021 01:54
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Kylaer posted:If you've got enough total assets in Bank of America and Merrill Edge, >100K, you can get a card that gives 5.25% cash back on a chosen category (online shopping is an option), 3.5% on groceries and warehouse clubs (including my beloved Costco), and 1.75% on everything else. The caps for the higher tier rewards are...$3000 of spending a quarter, I think? Then it drops down to the 1.75%. So if you spend a ton of money, a straight 2% card may be superior, but if your spending is limited and you mostly buy stuff online, at a grocery store, or at Costco, then it's a good choice. And if you want to consistently spend more you can get both a Visa and a Mastercard, functioning exactly the same in terms of rewards but doubling your total potential. BOA hosed me with one of their overdraft scams when I was in college and I vowed to never use them again, but I keep on being tempted by this.
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Feb 25, 2021 01:56
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If you buy a lot of groceries, AMEX has the Blue Cash Preferred, which is 6% back on groceries (and 3% on gas), but with a $95 annual fee. If you spend more than 2400/year on groceries, then it beats out 2% cards even with the annual fee included. I also use it to buy Amazon gift cards at grocery stores to get an effective 6% cash back on Amazon.
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Feb 25, 2021 01:57
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Citi double cash user for many years, but a year ago I stopped using it in favor of the Apple Card. So if you’re on the Apple eco system, it’s great. 1% on everything 2% if you use Apple Pay instead of swiping/chipping/typing your number 3% on anything Apple It’s pretty cool because your card mag strip has a specific number on it but no number printed on the card. Then if you need a card number for a digital purchase, you go into the app to look it up. If your card ever gets breached online, you request a new number instantly - no new physical card needed. If your physical card gets breached, then you need a new card just as you would any other card. And Apple Pay doesn’t expose your actual number to the vendor so when Target has ANOTHER breach, they don’t get your real number either.
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Feb 25, 2021 02:01
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Unsinkabear posted:I don't like being locked into statement credit, it makes it more difficult to do stuff with other cards. But yeah, I feel like for most people the way to go is either the best flat rate card you can get, or go all in and just churn bonuses. Juggling a bunch of cards seems like a bad effort/reward in comparison. And just getting one passive card that gives you a 2% discount on life is an easier sell to people who are intimidated by the idea of debt, or of the card-juggling it takes to milk the banks further. I literally always get it as cash in my bank account. deposited two days after I ask for it. Double Cash is the best out there for easy to use straight cash back card IMO.
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Feb 25, 2021 02:02
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spwrozek posted:I literally always get it as cash in my bank account. deposited two days after I ask for it. Me too. If you apply your cash back to your statement credit, I think you lose 1% on your 1% cash back for payments, making it effectively a 1.99% cash back card.
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Feb 25, 2021 02:11
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silence_kit posted:Me too. If you apply your cash back to your statement credit, I think you lose 1% on your 1% cash back for payments, making it effectively a 1.99% cash back card. Yeah, this (irrationally) annoys me. I don't know why I had the impression that they didn't offer a direct deposit alternative, sorry about that. Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Feb 25, 2021 |
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Feb 25, 2021 02:20
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Kylaer posted:If you've got enough total assets in Bank of America and Merrill Edge, >100K, you can get a card that gives 5.25% cash back on a chosen category (online shopping is an option), 3.5% on groceries and warehouse clubs (including my beloved Costco), and 1.75% on everything else. The caps for the higher tier rewards are...$3000 of spending a quarter, I think? Then it drops down to the 1.75%. So if you spend a ton of money, a straight 2% card may be superior, but if your spending is limited and you mostly buy stuff online, at a grocery store, or at Costco, then it's a good choice. And if you want to consistently spend more you can get both a Visa and a Mastercard, functioning exactly the same in terms of rewards but doubling your total potential. As of 2019, BoA had the most archaic billing system for credit card payments. Auto-pay was a goddamn mess. I switched from the Citi 2% card to Fidelity's 2% card. Citi has a slicker website but the card benefits for Fidelity are slightly better.
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Feb 25, 2021 02:55
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I've been doing employer match 401k for a few years now. They match until like 3/5%, and I've been doing 10% of paycheck earnings. I've been thinking of starting a Roth and may do that this weekend, but is there any reason I should max 401k to 19.5k or whatever before starting a Roth? The way I understand it is Roth lets me pull my contributions out without any downside, so unless 401ks are just generally way better, I feel like employee match 401k -> Roth to cap -> maybe some more in 401k after that is a good place to start with all this? Am I missing anything?
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Feb 25, 2021 02:58
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Meow Tse-tung posted:I've been doing employer match 401k for a few years now. They match until like 3/5%, and I've been doing 10% of paycheck earnings. I've been thinking of starting a Roth and may do that this weekend, but is there any reason I should max 401k to 19.5k or whatever before starting a Roth? I'm kind of in a similar position. I've been maxing my work retirement up to the max limit (~$19K) for years now but I still have more money to invest. I mean I could do a Roth but I'm thinking I should just start going more into ETFs/mutual funds for long-term holds.
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Feb 25, 2021 03:06
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Meow Tse-tung posted:I've been doing employer match 401k for a few years now. They match until like 3/5%, and I've been doing 10% of paycheck earnings. I've been thinking of starting a Roth and may do that this weekend, but is there any reason I should max 401k to 19.5k or whatever before starting a Roth? Roth IRA has some income limits which may come into play if you're making enough to consider maxing out your 401k ($140k single, $208k married filing jointly). You can get around that but if the funds you want are available in your 401k too you don't have to worry about using the loophole. Some (most?) 401k plans allow you to take a loan against your 401k, but you have to pay it back with interest or take a penalty, but all the interest you pay goes back into your 401k. That's not as nice as being able to withdraw contributions with no penalty though
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Feb 25, 2021 03:08
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SirPablo posted:I'm kind of in a similar position. I've been maxing my work retirement up to the max limit (~$19K) for years now but I still have more money to invest. I mean I could do a Roth but I'm thinking I should just start going more into ETFs/mutual funds for long-term holds. If your plan allows after tax contributions then you might be able to do mega-backdoor and contribute up to $58k total contributions (including employer contributions) by contributing to after-tax and then converting it to Roth 401k.
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Feb 25, 2021 03:10
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SirPablo posted:I'm kind of in a similar position. I've been maxing my work retirement up to the max limit (~$19K) for years now but I still have more money to invest. I mean I could do a Roth but I'm thinking I should just start going more into ETFs/mutual funds for long-term holds. You are legally entitled to (in 2021) $6000 of tax-advantaged IRA space per year, unless you make megabucks. Putting money into a taxable brokerage account before a tax-advantaged IRA is a mistake. Furthermore, it's worth noting, in case of a terminology mixup, that the account type (401K, IRA, whatever) is just a vehicle for your investments. You can put mutual funds in an IRA just like you can in a brokerage account. In fact, it's recommended. It's also worth noting that you can have a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, just like you can have a traditional or Roth 401k. So talking about a Roth [account of indeterminate type] is slightly ambiguous, although from the context here it seems pretty clear that we're talking about non-401k accounts.
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Feb 25, 2021 03:22
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Meow Tse-tung posted:I've been doing employer match 401k for a few years now. They match until like 3/5%, and I've been doing 10% of paycheck earnings. I've been thinking of starting a Roth and may do that this weekend, but is there any reason I should max 401k to 19.5k or whatever before starting a Roth? 401ks (traditional) are pretax, which is generally good if you're in a high tax bracket now. You may also have a Roth 401k option. IRAs (traditional) are also pretax, but have income limits preventing a lot of those high-tax-bracket folks from using them and getting tax breaks. IRAs (Roth) are post-tax on contributions but tax-advantaged growth. There are also income limits here but there's a way around that. Also, yes, penalty free withdrawals on contributions (but you won't want to do this probably). Good IRAs will provide significant choice and generally favorable (low) expenses on investment options. Many 401ks will have generally good investment options (at least per how the folks in this thread lean), with generally "at least okay" expenses. In some cases, the expenses will be bad but still worth it. In rare cases, the expenses are actually more favorable than a rough equivalent in an IRA. There are other nuances as well, such as favorability in the case of bankruptcy, megabackdoor Roth, match true-ups, etc.
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Feb 25, 2021 03:23
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Thanks! I'm not making megabux, I've just been throwing money into my banking account savings for years and feeling like I should do more with it. I could max 401k for a couple years worth, but feel like it's probably not a great idea. Roth + 10% into 401k + throw in some extra at the end every year sounds safe to me and probably what I'll end up doing.
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Feb 25, 2021 03:31
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laxbro posted:As of 2019, BoA had the most archaic billing system for credit card payments. It is still so bad. But it is a fee free card that you can use all over the world.
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Feb 25, 2021 03:53
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