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This isn't investment per se, but do most folks here use high yield savings accounts for their emergency funds? I have spent my life with Bank of America (since I was 10 years old ), but tend to keep a rather large emergency fund around for paranoia reasons - I figure there should be a better option than just letting that money sit there earning 0.3% interest. The questions being: 1) What bank offers the best high yield savings 2) If it's an online bank, how do you get cash without penalty, and how do you get cash in general without a physical location (i.e., contractors will often give a significant discount if paid in cash, so I often do that, but how do I get $5k in cash from Ally?) 3) What are the downsides of not going through a national/international bank with locations everywhere. 4) What have experiences with international travel been - can you still just withdraw from ATMs internationally for a given exchange rate?
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Jul 5, 2019 18:27
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Sab0921 posted:This isn't investment per se, but do most folks here use high yield savings accounts for their emergency funds? I have spent my life with Bank of America (since I was 10 years old ), but tend to keep a rather large emergency fund around for paranoia reasons - I figure there should be a better option than just letting that money sit there earning 0.3% interest. The questions being: I keep mine with Ally. They reimburse $10 if ATM fees, you can write the guy a check unless that is "not cash" Not sure on this one Yes, 1% rate with Ally
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Jul 5, 2019 18:31
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Sab0921 posted:This isn't investment per se, but do most folks here use high yield savings accounts for their emergency funds? I have spent my life with Bank of America (since I was 10 years old ), but tend to keep a rather large emergency fund around for paranoia reasons - I figure there should be a better option than just letting that money sit there earning 0.3% interest. The questions being: Why I have multiple bank accounts: Sofi: 2.25% checking SalemFive: 2.51% high yield savings Schwab: used just for traveling abroad - no foreign transaction fees and they reimburse all atm fees If you need to regularly make cash deposits, use a local credit union then move the money to an online bank with high apy
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Jul 5, 2019 18:34
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If you need to regularly take cash out or spend money from it internationally then it really isn't an emergency fund and an online-only bank may not be a good choice. If your emergency fund scenario involves something where the couple of days it might take to transfer between banks matters then you should keep the money in your regular bank. One option might be to keep a little bit of the emergency fund in your regular bank savings account where it is immediately available and the rest in a high-yield online account where you can get to it in a few days.
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Jul 5, 2019 18:36
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In the case of Ally, they also offer (0.1%) checking accounts. I would assume transfers between an Ally savings account and an Ally checking account are instant, but maybe not.
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Jul 5, 2019 18:46
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Sab0921 posted:This isn't investment per se, but do most folks here use high yield savings accounts for their emergency funds? I have spent my life with Bank of America (since I was 10 years old ), but tend to keep a rather large emergency fund around for paranoia reasons - I figure there should be a better option than just letting that money sit there earning 0.3% interest. The questions being: 2) Assuming you can plan your life 3 banking days in advance you can just transfer it back to BofA whenever you want, up to the federal limit per month for savings accounts. Practice it a few times to get a feel for how it works, pay attention to what time you are submitting, as it's east coast banking hours that matter no matter where you live in the USA. If you do it post close add 1 day. 3) You can't literally walk into a bank and fondle your money, get out cashiers checks, that sort of thing on a whim. When I need to do that I generally have the 3 days notice from #2 and then can do that. Otherwise if it gets dire I will pay the piper and wire out of Ally. 4) In theory yes, haven't tried, you should again just move the money to BofA for your general operating capital. I have 4 accounts with Ally: Emergency fund (Savings), Hookers & Blow / Large Capital Projects (Savings), Venmo/Paypal Danger Zone (Checking, $100, no overdraft, gently caress paypal), and Checking ($1k, ATM Access money.) I can move money between these accounts and my main brick and mortar bank anytime I want with their mobile app or website. Can deposit up to $50k in checks/day through the mobile app as well. The e-fund has only my 6-month emergency fund in it and whatever interest it accrues as a slight edge against inflation. Everything else is Hookers & Blow. I top up the ATM Access account once a month if it's dropped below a grand. When I know I'm having contractors out I just whip out my phone and transfer that money right then and there, eating whatever few days of interest I will lose. Don't overthink that $0.18, seriously. Just do it whenever you know you will have a bill coming in a few days. If you are having work done same day show and tell the contractor what you're doing - I bet they're OK with it. You can also get a checkbook from Ally. I haven't, but that removes that multi-day wait. WithoutTheFezOn posted:In the case of Ally, they also offer (0.1%) checking accounts. I would assume transfers between an Ally savings account and an Ally checking account are instant, but maybe not. It's instant.
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Jul 5, 2019 18:46
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withak posted:If you need to regularly take cash out or spend money from it internationally then it really isn't an emergency fund and an online-only bank may not be a good choice. Yeah I keep ~ 1 month of extra expenses in my normal cash account (so 2 months total) and the rest in the high yield savings. It's also good because I don't have to think about overdraws and transfers if I'm buying like a plane ticket or couch or something that month.
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Jul 5, 2019 19:01
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I'd been maxing out my tsp this year, but I think we'll be looking at buying a house this next year and we're going to save up for a down payment. I guess the best approach here is just to contribute less for the year? I looked at tsp loans and those look like terrible vehicles. I figured it was just better to eat the lost investing time than do that.
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Jul 6, 2019 05:01
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I have no advice to give but if it helps others, TSP residential loans charge an interest rate equal to the current G fund rate, currently 2.125%. Last 12 month average is 2.87%.
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Jul 6, 2019 05:23
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Taking loans from your retirement is generally a bad idea and should be a last resort situation.
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Jul 6, 2019 13:49
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If my earnings record for Social Security has one year misreported as higher than it should be to the tune of 20k, should I get it corrected or take the free money? I’m risking someone else using my social security number for work, right? Should I wait until next year and see if it was just a one-year anomaly?
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Jul 6, 2019 22:38
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When is moving all of your liquid assets into gold a rational event?
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Jul 7, 2019 03:15
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You have insider knowledge that someone has just developed a technique to transmute gold into something more valuable.
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Jul 7, 2019 03:33
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street doc posted:When is moving all of your liquid assets into gold a rational event?
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Jul 7, 2019 03:35
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street doc posted:When is moving all of your liquid assets into gold a rational event? When you know the apocalypse is going to happen in 3 days and you actually think gold will matter more than guns.
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Jul 7, 2019 05:10
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street doc posted:When is moving all of your liquid assets into gold a rational event?
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Jul 7, 2019 06:56
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street doc posted:When is moving all of your liquid assets into gold a rational event? When you just invented an immortality machine that runs on gold.
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Jul 7, 2019 15:21
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When it starts raining with the sun out all over the world and the leprechauns can't meet demand
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Jul 7, 2019 16:59
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Has to be space on the Internet for rational dialog about growth with limits, and safe haven assets, without falling into pure goldbug scamming.
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Jul 7, 2019 19:42
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Try reddit
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Jul 7, 2019 19:43
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street doc posted:Has to be space on the Internet for rational dialog about growth with limits, and safe haven assets, without falling into pure goldbug scamming.
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Jul 7, 2019 19:53
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street doc posted:Has to be space on the Internet for rational dialog about growth with limits, and safe haven assets, without falling into pure goldbug scamming. I don't see any difference between shifting assets to invest in gold and timing the market.
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Jul 7, 2019 19:54
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street doc posted:Has to be space on the Internet for rational dialog about growth with limits, and safe haven assets, without falling into pure goldbug scamming. Your question rested on the premise of goldbug scamming so I'm not sure what you expected. But in case it wasn't clear there isn't a rational reason to convert all of your liquid assets to gold. The idea there ever would be is goldbug scamming.
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Jul 7, 2019 20:27
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street doc posted:Has to be space on the Internet for rational dialog about growth with limits, and safe haven assets, without falling into pure goldbug scamming. Hoodwinker posted:If you feel like you have rational dialog to present, lay it out then. This reminds me of the recurring bitcoin thread post, "this looks like the thread for making fun of crypto. Where's the thread for having a serious discussion of crypto???"
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Jul 7, 2019 20:36
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You're not going to find anyone here supportive of moving all of your liquid assets into any one anything, unless it's an index fund or a target date retirement fund. Putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad idea, and I don't see anything about gold that makes the case that it should be such a basket under any circumstances.
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Jul 7, 2019 20:40
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Hoodwinker posted:You plan to build a cool fort out of it.
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Jul 7, 2019 21:58
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Gazpacho posted:But what is the fort protecting? Itself?
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Jul 7, 2019 22:12
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Gazpacho posted:But what is the fort protecting?
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Jul 7, 2019 23:46
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im considering an offer at a company that offers a worse 401k match than my current company (4% on 5% contribution now to 2.5% on 5% contribution there) but the new company also offers an ESOP plan (20% vest per year, 100% vested at 5 years). how should i be valuing the ESOP in my compensation package for salary negotiations? im not familiar with them at all, every job ive had to date has been either government or publicly traded
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Jul 9, 2019 00:25
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Find out what your options are for converting the employee shares into actual money and how much money that gets you, then just do that ASAP when you vest and treat it as extra income. You don't generally want to be invested in your employer unless you like gambling -- you're concentrating risk because they're also the source of your livelihood.
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Jul 9, 2019 00:31
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sorry, should have clarified, my offer is not at a publicly traded company, so no trading shares (not an ESPP), im talking about an ESOP retirement plan as described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_Stock_Ownership_Plan so while it would be solely in ownership of the company i work it, there's no cost to me and there's a 401k offered on top of it so it definitely sounds like a net positive over my current situation unless the company completely tanks?
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Jul 9, 2019 00:58
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Find out what your options are for converting the employee shares into actual money and how much money that gets you, then just do that ASAP when you vest and treat it as extra income. You don't generally want to be invested in your employer unless you like gambling -- you're concentrating risk because they're also the source of your livelihood. An ESOP typically works as a retirement plan, there usually isn’t a mechanism by which you can cash out early (other than leaving the company or diversifying at a certain point). Usually the way an ESOP works is that you are going to get an allocation of shares each year, it’s not something that you are going to directly pay into. When an ESOP works well, you can end up with a retirement benefit well in excess of what you would have generated through a company 401k contribution. On the other hand, it can end up being nothing with no practical way for you to get out, and you might lose your job and hold a bunch of worthless company stock (even if it wasn’t directly paid for by you).
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Jul 9, 2019 01:01
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Big Ol Marsh Pussy posted:im considering an offer at a company that offers a worse 401k match than my current company (4% on 5% contribution now to 2.5% on 5% contribution there) but the new company also offers an ESOP plan (20% vest per year, 100% vested at 5 years). how should i be valuing the ESOP in my compensation package for salary negotiations? im not familiar with them at all, every job ive had to date has been either government or publicly traded Easy, here is the formula: (Total Shares * FMV - Total Shares * Strike Price) / 48 * 0 = value. But tell them you want more of them once you're at a total comp package you otherwise like. If they jackpot you want to ride that gravy train.
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Jul 9, 2019 01:26
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Big Ol Marsh Pussy posted:sorry, should have clarified, my offer is not at a publicly traded company, so no trading shares (not an ESPP), im talking about an ESOP retirement plan as described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_Stock_Ownership_Plan I work at a publicly traded company with an ESOP, and I value the shares at $0 because I have no control over the share price in any significant way. The ESOP is also concentrating your risk in your company which is bad. Negotiate for a bigger salary to make up for the worse 401k match.
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Jul 9, 2019 02:40
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H110Hawk posted:(Total Shares * FMV - Total Shares * Strike Price) / 48 * 0 = value. Correct current day valuation all the time. Any equity is a lottery ticket.
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Jul 9, 2019 02:44
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Why do some places like Citi with their "Citi Accelerate" Savings account provide 2.36% APR but my bank (e.g. BB&T) provides a 0.03% APR? Is there some sort of gotcha?
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Jul 9, 2019 22:19
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three posted:Why do some places like Citi with their "Citi Accelerate" Savings account provide 2.36% APR but my bank (e.g. BB&T) provides a 0.03% APR? Is there some sort of gotcha? Banks are awful. Next question. ("Because they can." / Lack of competition in the space for the unwashed masses, their thin argument around maintaining branches being expensive.)
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Jul 9, 2019 22:21
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three posted:Why do some places like Citi with their "Citi Accelerate" Savings account provide 2.36% APR but my bank (e.g. BB&T) provides a 0.03% APR? Is there some sort of gotcha? My credit union offers 3% APY on checking accounts (up to the first $10k average daily balance) if you do 30+ check card transactions in a given month. They have an associated money market savings account that offers 2% if the same number of transactions are met (up to $1MM or something obscenely high). So we keep our checking accounts at around $10k, and the rest goes in the money market. Many online banks do high interest as well. Ally and Marcus are typical favorites. With these, there are no gotchas except maybe some minimum balances or something. I don't have one (see above CU interest bonanza), but my understanding is that they're dead simple to set up and transfer to/from via your normal bank. When I say dead simple, I mean that after the first few transfers to establish things, it typically takes 1-2 business days at MOST to move money around electronically (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here). So short answer is: 1) Ditch your mega-national-globo-bank (pro-tip: they all suck and there is literally no reason to stay with them ever) 2) Find a good local CU 3) If said CU doesn't offer high yield savings, find an online bank that does and use that for your savings that you don't need instant access to Why? Because even at those rates they're still finding ways to make money. It's all FDIC/NCUA insured (up to normal amounts) so there's no risk unless you have poo poo-piles of money laying around. Your only question should be: why are you sticking with BB&T/etc. if they aren't offering anything better?
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Jul 10, 2019 01:22
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Because the big banks suck rear end. Go find a credit union or an online bank as mentioned. I use Sofi for checking at 2.25% apy and SalemFIve for savings at 2.51% apy
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Jul 10, 2019 02:26
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If you like credit unions, Alliant is an online credit union with a 2.something % savings account.
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Jul 10, 2019 02:55
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