|
As was mentioned the back-end that mint uses is Yodlee which is already used by banks themselves. Also I would make the argument getting updates on any unusual spending within a day of the charge makes you less susceptible to fraud as you could quickly identify any errant purchases and it will send you notifications on anything unusual.
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2010 18:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 10:00 |
|
|
Speaking of Mint; it seems to be having major issues with BOFA.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2010 20:16
|
|
|
Arkane posted:You are 17, not emancipated, and located in the United States? If so, yeah, you should be in the clear. Make them keenly aware of your age. Do I even need to alert them as to that? Can they leave a bad credit report on me without my SSN? (they don't have it)
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2010 06:25
|
|
|
Sorry if this have been answered before, but what's the best kind of software to set up a budget and help me keep control of my personal finances? I really like the look of Mint but it's not available for us outside of the US.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2010 11:34
|
|
|
I will be buying a new car soon and wanted some advice as it will be my first major purchase. I will be getting a reliable, brand new vehicle with a price from $20-35k. Some things I've been looking at were 0% APR specials for 60 months. Are there any downsides to this type of deal or other 2% or less APR loans? Anything I should be looking for specifically? Any ideas on reliable new cars that will still be reliable in 5-7 years? What should I expect to put as a down payment assuming cash on hand isn't an issue? My income is a pitiful $1900/mo minimum with lucrative side income of ~$500/mo. My expenses are around $1000-$1200/mo, but I don't have a budget. My next questions are related. I have 0 debt, good credit although I don't know what my score is, and I have around $30,000 in savings earning pitiful interest. I am expecting to open a Roth IRA soon with the maximum $5000. I will move the rest of the money to an online bank to at least earn a little income on it. Keep some there for savings/emergencies and invest the rest. I do not get a 401(k) and unless I get a new job am not expecting one anytime soon, but I am looking for new work. I want to invest whatever is left into an index or mutual fund, but I don't even know where to start. I was planning on going in Vanguard with the Roth. Do they have good funds to simply invest in as well? How much should I save/invest?
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2010 02:32
|
|
|
Ziggy, what are you saving for? Obviously retirement with your Roth, but what is your end goal for the other money? Down payment for a house? Your time frame for investment will likely determine where you want to park your money. If you are taking out the money within 5 years, it's probably best to put it somewhere safe (like a savings account with SmartyPig or something). For longer timelines, you might be looking at investing into bonds, stocks, or a mix of the two (Vanguard has index funds for just about everything). For your car, I recommend reading through the car thread:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3213538 Following their advice, I bought a Kia for around $15k, and had to put $3k down. Also got the 0% APR for 60 months, great deal if you can get it!
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2010 02:49
|
|
|
|Ziggy| posted:I will be buying a new car soon and wanted some advice as it will be my first major purchase. I will be getting a reliable, brand new vehicle with a price from $20-35k. Some things I've been looking at were 0% APR specials for 60 months. Are there any downsides to this type of deal or other 2% or less APR loans? Anything I should be looking for specifically? Any ideas on reliable new cars that will still be reliable in 5-7 years? What should I expect to put as a down payment assuming cash on hand isn't an issue? My income is a pitiful $1900/mo minimum with lucrative side income of ~$500/mo. My expenses are around $1000-$1200/mo, but I don't have a budget. Usually when dealers and manufacturers offer zero percent, you have the option of getting cash back instead. Most people do better taking the cash and then financing less with their bank or credit union. At any given amount, the difference in payment between 0% and 4% or 5% is surprisingly little, and you may be better off getting a regular loan if it means you borrow $1000 or $2000 less.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2010 03:39
|
|
|
I'm 24 and have no plans for a house in the immediate future. Retirement is the plan with the Roth and if I had a 401k I'd just max that and go for retirement. I guess any taxable investments would just go toward retirement whenever I get a 401k.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2010 04:08
|
|
|
Quick question - searched BFC but didn't find anything relevant. I apologize if I missed something. I recently became eligible for my employee stock purchase plan which offers a 10% discount. I'm not an expert by any means, but I do try to keep a good understanding of my financial situation. That being said, I understand that single stocks are one of the most risky investment vehicles, so while I had intended to contribute, I thought of going with a smaller amount of my paycheck, say 1-2%. However, after doing a (possibly poor) search about how much to contribute, what I've read makes them sound like a better opportunity than I first thought if I plan on holding the stock long-term (which I do). This is making me rethink my original percentage contribution. Does anyone have any guidance or suggested reading material? Thanks in advance.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2010 22:54
|
|
|
Are you allowed to sell your stock right after the purchase? In general stock matches are great because they are a guaranteed rate of return. However as you mentioned having a large percentage of your portfolio in a single stock exposes you to more risk. When that one stock is also the company that employees you its even more risky (your employment outlook and company stock price are correlated). That said I too have a stock purchase plan (15% discount) and max it out at 10% of my salary. I believe my company has a strong value as a short-medium term purchase due to growth and plan on selling a bunch of it when I need a down-payment or other large expense.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2010 17:17
|
|
|
I posted earlier this month about getting hosed over by TCF Banks overdraft fees when I didn't notice my account was overdrawn a couple days before my paycheck was deposited. I've done a little reading about the new overdraft protection law and according to the federal reserve's website:quote:Existing accounts. If you do not opt in (agree), beginning August 15, 2010, your bank's standard overdraft practices won't apply to your everyday debit card and ATM transactions. These transactions typically will be declined when you don't have enough money in your account, but you will not be charged overdraft fees. I was never contacted by my bank to opt-in to overdraft protection, can use this to get them to refund what they charged me in early September, or am I misinterpreting this?
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2010 01:41
|
|
|
The Third Man posted:I posted earlier this month about getting hosed over by TCF Banks overdraft fees when I didn't notice my account was overdrawn a couple days before my paycheck was deposited. I've done a little reading about the new overdraft protection law and according to the federal reserve's website: All accounts should have been reset to "opt-in" only after the law, meaning that you would have to explicitly tell the bank that yes, you do indeed want overdraft protection. If you didn't the transaction should have been refused, and no overdraft would have been generated. Double check with your bank, I know Chase has been pummeling me with odd doublespeak about "account credit" and misleading prompts every time I use the ATM. You may have inadvertently opted-in again if you're not careful. If you indeed were still opt-out, those charges are invalid and they are breaking federal laws if they try to make it stick. Also, this post give me a good reason to post this, outside my bank a few weeks ago. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2010 02:34
|
|
|
BorderPatrol posted:Also, this post give me a good reason to post this, outside my bank a few weeks ago. That is some serious boogeyman poo poo there. The bank fear mongering leading up to the law going into effect has been pretty scary.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2010 04:20
|
|
|
Planning on heading back to school. What are my best options for my 401k. Seems that rolling it into an IRA would be the smart move. Upon research it looks like a lot of people convert it to cash, but that's going to nail it with a 30%ish fee (20% tax and 10% early withdrawal). I'm going to keep doing reasearch, but any anecdotal advice would be greatly appreciated.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2010 18:31
|
|
|
Do exactly as you suggested, roll into into an IRA and be thankful you did in 30 years.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2010 20:35
|
|
|
Alright, I have a mortgage I took out 2 years ago and the rate was 5.625% for 30 years. I was clicking around on my account and see that the current rate for a refinance is 4.599% APR. I should probably go ahead and refinance now, right? No reason to try to get the ABSOLUTE lowest rate is there? Can it go much lower than this? The calculators I looked at are saying that I will save like $1700 in the first year from the rate drop. Does anyone have any recommendations for companies to refinance with besides my current loan owner (Wells Fargo)? I should shop around for interest rate/fees right? BossTweed fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Oct 5, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 03:25
|
|
|
How long do you plan on living in your current place? With a refi you basically have a higher upfront cost for lower payments (or if you're getting a shorter term, less paid in interest). If you refi today but are moving out in a couple years probably best not to, however if you plan on being there a while it is probably the best bet (assuming you qualify).
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 03:37
|
|
|
alreadybeen posted:How long do you plan on living in your current place? With a refi you basically have a higher upfront cost for lower payments (or if you're getting a shorter term, less paid in interest). If you refi today but are moving out in a couple years probably best not to, however if you plan on being there a while it is probably the best bet (assuming you qualify). Yeah, I will be here for at least 2 more years, but it could be more. I guess I just need to figure out what the cost would be upfront and see if the $1700 per year saved will cover that cost fast enough.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 04:02
|
|
|
I realize that this is a question for my financial planner, but I'm completely in the dark right now and would at least like a small idea of what I'm talking about when I have my appointment: can anyone just give me basic overview of the process for selling a piece of real estate, and turning those proceeds into a new piece of real estate? It's my understanding that you can avoid paying capital gains tax that way. Are there basic limitations? Am I talking out of my rear end and have no clue what I'm talking about?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 20:26
|
|
|
The Masked Unit posted:I realize that this is a question for my financial planner, but I'm completely in the dark right now and would at least like a small idea of what I'm talking about when I have my appointment: can anyone just give me basic overview of the process for selling a piece of real estate, and turning those proceeds into a new piece of real estate? It's my understanding that you can avoid paying capital gains tax that way. Are there basic limitations? Am I talking out of my rear end and have no clue what I'm talking about? I think you are thinking of the $250,000 ($500K if married filing joint) capital gains exclusion when you sell your primary residence. Basically if you sell a piece of property at a profit and have lived there for 2 out of the last 5 years, you don’t have to pay capital gains on the first $250,000 in profit. It is not necessary to buy another house right away to take advantage of this exclusion. Here is a more detailed explanation of how it works http://taxes.about.com/od/taxplanning/qt/home_sale_tax.htm
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 21:04
|
|
|
Thanks for the reply, but after further Googling it seems like I'm looking for a 1031 real estate exchange. Now that I know what it's called, I can spend a bit more time researching it. Thanks again, though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 21:11
|
|
|
The Masked Unit posted:Thanks for the reply, but after further Googling it seems like I'm looking for a 1031 real estate exchange. Now that I know what it's called, I can spend a bit more time researching it. Thanks again, though. That’s a lot more complicated, but useful if you are a real estate investor. Because there are some pretty stiff deadlines and legal requirements, and because with buying and selling real estate there are always so many moving parts, you need to have a good tax advisor who specializes in those transactions lined up and would be familiar with rules that apply to your state.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 21:36
|
|
|
Zeta Taskforce posted:That’s a lot more complicated, but useful if you are a real estate investor. The Masked Unit fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Feb 20, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 22:25
|
|
|
I just recently got to a point where every extra dollar I earn now is pretty much allocated to nothing. I've got a over a year of expenses in a savings account, a maxed IRA, my "fun" purchases out of the way (car, toys, travel, etc), and no debt. I guess the next thing to save for is a home? I'm looking at at least 5-10 years down the road for that both financially and personally. So where does this cash go? I've never been in this situation before. Depending on the month, 50-70% of my monthly take home is extra. I've got a Vanguard account and am interested in some of these "core funds" they have, but don't know much. All I know is I'd like to be fairly hands off, but am willing to accept more risk than the zero I have now. How liquid are these funds? Should I continue to build cash savings? Can I transfer money easily between funds? I can only afford to buy into 2-3 at the moment, should I wait until I have more cash, or buy into a single fund until I have enough to properly allocate into riskier ones? Which funds should I look into? Complete newb here.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2010 03:54
|
|
|
Consensus for 5-year savings used to be money market funds, but the interest rates are so low that it might actually be better to stick the money into a savings account like SmartyPig. After that, bonds were considered a "safer" investment than stocks, but in the coming future it's likely that bond prices will drop as the interest rate rises, leaving open the possibility of losing a big chunk of your capital if you put it in bond funds. So it's kind of risky in the short term no matter what, unless you park the cash in a savings account. As for your other question - funds at Vanguard are pretty darn liquid, and tranfers between funds are easy as pie. To be honest, I don't think you'd need to use too many different funds to achieve your goals, especially if you pick one of their index funds. Heck, you could probably pick a "retirement" fund that was set for 5-10 years from now and you'd be at about the right risk level, with the same bond caveat as above. If it were me and it was a house downpayment, I'd put it in SmartyPig and thank goodness for the 1.75% risk-free interest, but I'm pretty conservative when it comes to the short-term.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2010 04:42
|
|
|
I have $25,000 that I would like to grow over the next 4 years by putting $2000 to $2500 a month into it. This money would be used as a) as a safety net ($15,000) b) to pay for wedding expenses ($10,000) c) as a house down-payment (whatever is left) Where do I put the $25,000 plus monthly contributions? I guess this question is similar to the one just asked. I checked out Smarty Pig and their rate is .5% after you hit $50,000. So after hitting 50 grand, I should go with a Money Market account? I am taking out a $10,000 auto loan tomorrow. Just to be sure, the best thing to do would be to put my above contributions directly toward the loan and pay it off in 6 months? I guessing yes, but I know poopoo about finances, so I thought I'd ask. If it matters, no other debt to speak of.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2010 19:55
|
|
|
pauld posted:I have $25,000 that I would like to grow over the next 4 years by putting $2000 to $2500 a month into it. This money would be used as Ingdirect.com is paying 1.1% with no minimum. If you really hunt around, you might be able to do a tiny bit better, but no savings account or money market pays much. The other alternative is to look at a high yield checking account. Some pay around 3 or 4%. Typically you have to agree to direct deposit of your entire check, use a signature based debit card so many times a month, and agree to electronic statements. These banks may not be in your local area, so there are a few hurdles, but that is another option. http://www.depositaccounts.com/checking/reward-checking-accounts.html
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2010 20:55
|
|
|
pauld posted:I have $25,000 ... I am taking out a $10,000 auto loan tomorrow. Eh? Why not pay cash for your car?
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2010 00:14
|
|
|
I'm relocating abroad on Saturday permanently and am wondering what the best way to bring funds into the country will be. I was thinking of just bringing in $10,000 in cash to open a bank account and have the rest of my funds wired over. Is there a better way to do this? I'm concerned about carrying so much in cash around.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2010 14:31
|
|
|
Qaz Kwaz posted:Eh? Why not pay cash for your car? I see your point, and I've been going back and forth on this. But one year of food and rent would be at least $25,000 for us. And even though we'd cut back/move if something really bad happened, I think I'd feel better having more saved and pay maybe $100 in interest over a few months. Also, thanks for the advice above.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2010 14:59
|
|
|
shrike82 posted:I'm relocating abroad on Saturday permanently and am wondering what the best way to bring funds into the country will be. Where are you moving from/to? Do both places use the same currency? Do you already have a bank account set up in the new country? I moved from Canada to the US and there's no way I would have felt comfortable taking $10k in cash. Before I moved, I had set up Canadian and American bank accounts (both denominated in USD) and just did a wire transfer of USD from one to the other. It was pretty painless, took 15 minutes in person at my Canadian bank. Another option is to use xe.com - they do online currency exchange. I know a lot of expatriate Canadians who use them, they're trustworthy and generally well-regarded. They make their money on the spread of currency conversions and their rates are pretty reasonable. If you want to transfer without changing currency it costs nothing. The way it works: 1) You send them money via wire transfer or ACH/EFT (both are easy, in the US the latter should cost nothing). 2) They change the currency if needed. 3) They send the money where you tell them via wire transfer, ACH/EFT, or by mailing you a bank draft. If you don't have a bank account set up in your new country a bank draft might be easiest.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2010 17:52
|
|
|
This is probably a really dumb question but I'm reading conflicting stuff online so I wonder if someone could set me straight. I may be in a position where I have to cash out my retirement savings in the near future. Assuming I have no other income next year, what would be the actual money-in-pocket (i.e. after taxes/penalties) if I withdrew, say, $20k out of my 401k? What if I withdraw the same amount out of my Roth IRA instead?
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2010 20:18
|
|
|
pauld posted:I see your point, and I've been going back and forth on this. But one year of food and rent would be at least $25,000 for us. And even though we'd cut back/move if something really bad happened, I think I'd feel better having more saved and pay maybe $100 in interest over a few months. If you're so hard up then why are you buying a $10k car?
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2010 05:33
|
|
|
I LOVE YOU posted:This is probably a really dumb question but I'm reading conflicting stuff online so I wonder if someone could set me straight. If you absolutely have to cash out of retirement, you are better off going to the Roth IRA. You are able to take out the contributions out any time without tax or penalty. Note that if you take the earnings out, you will owe tax and 10% penalty on those. The 401K you will owe 10% penalty on top of the money being taxed at your regular tax rate for both your state and federal. Depending on how much you take out and how much you earned besides, your tax rate will most likely be 15% or 25% plus your state tax rate. You will lose at least a quarter up to 40% taking money out of the 401K.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2010 16:27
|
|
|
I'm just posting to say that lurking this forum is really changing the way I think about money. My family's been living on credit for most of my life, and I guess I'd trained myself to think that's normal. Somewhere along the line I decided that not being at my overdraft limit yet meant I 'had money'. Most people I know think this way. Reading the threads here has really cemented in my mind that I don't want this, and as soon as I can I'm gonna start saving to move out. It's gonna be hard, because a lot of the time it's my money/overdraft that lets my mother pay the bills each month, but I'll get there. Either that or we'll go bankrupt because I'm not giving her all my money.  Oh, and I'm going to see about taking a book-keeping course at the local community college so I can keep track of what our business earns, and feel justified in asking to be paid. (Just found out that my grandad's been using my business money to pay off his credit cards and telling me we're not making enough money to pay me- joy.) Anyway, maybe I'll actually get somewhere on this, maybe I'll cave, maybe I'll start feeling really ill all the time again and forget, but I'd never even have thought about all of this stuff if it weren't for you guys. So thanks. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2010 02:00
|
|
|
Qaz Kwaz posted:If you're so hard up then why are you buying a $10k car? I put $25k down on the car, which in one day cut my savings in half. Even though I'd been saving with this purchase in mind, it was still painful. I think another $10k would have been too much at once for me.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2010 05:54
|
|
|
Rodge posted:Anyway, maybe I'll actually get somewhere on this, maybe I'll cave, maybe I'll start feeling really ill all the time again and forget, but I'd never even have thought about all of this stuff if it weren't for you guys. So thanks.  Also: If they're not paying you, leave. Refusing to keep proper records will continually get the business in trouble, and if you're even remotely responsible for the finances you can find the tax department breathing down your neck if they decide to perform an audit. Feel free to start a thread of your own so we can *These thing will happen regardless
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2010 12:56
|
|
|
froglet posted:If they're not paying you, leave. Refusing to keep proper records will continually get the business in trouble, and if you're even remotely responsible for the finances you can find the tax department breathing down your neck if they decide to perform an audit. My name is on the business as the legal owner. My grandad made me do it as a favour to him, basically saying that I wouldn't have to do anything except sign poo poo (I know, lazy of me, but I was so ill at that point I was pretty much housebound and we needed the money) except he is 70 years old and, as it turns out, has NO loving CLUE how a business works these days. He's been telling me all this time that owning a business means you have to make sacrifices for the good of the business, and he's been paying off his loving credit cards with money we could have used to eat or buy clothes that fit or fix our loving boiler so we don't freeze this winter. Believe me, I was furious when I found out why we hadn't made any money, but I can't properly confront him about it because he will flip his poo poo and probably take my family off the will, and we need that loving money. He makes stupid, stupid decisions when he's angry. You know why I need to take a class in book-keeping? I don't know how to do it legally, and when I take over I am going to do it legally. If I made a thread I would get yelled at immediately, because about £150 that I can't afford is going on video games in the next month. They're mainly for my brother because he won't leave the house (nervous breakdown caused by Asperger's), but mum won't let me ask him for the money because then he'll find out that she's been taking it to pay the mortgage and he has way less than he thinks he does. Oh, and I just had to lend her £50 so she could go to bingo. And she's insisting we have a proper holiday next year. ...I didn't realise I had this much to say. Huh. Rodge fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Oct 10, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2010 16:43
|
|
|
pauld posted:We're not hard up, but we are a single income household and will be for 4 more years of grad school. So if that single income goes away, we have to stay here and hope a new job comes along quickly. We're probably being way overly cautious, but that's how we are. Geez, $35k on a car... I think that's way too much for your situation.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2010 19:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 10:00 |
|
|
Qaz Kwaz posted:Geez, $35k on a car... I think that's way too much for your situation. Emptying quoting is prohibited so: Geez, $35k on a car... I think that's way too much for your situation.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2010 21:28
|
|