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I'd like to start putting $10 a paycheck toward something for each of my 3 nieces, to give to them when they turn 18. It'll be 8 years til the first one turns, what's the best thing to invest in a little at a time? Just create a savings account? Savings bonds?
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Sep 3, 2011 03:26
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baquerd posted:There's nothing you're going to be able to invest in $10 at a time with nothing upfront except for a savings or high yield checking account. Would I be better off just earmarking the cash then until I hit $50/$100? I figure I get paid twice a month, that ends up being $260 a year for each of them.
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Sep 3, 2011 03:55
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kaishek posted:It is unclear when they "grab" these numbers for your latest scores because it depends on when the card reports. I would recommend waiting one full billing cycle from close to close with low utilization to be sure. However I don't actually think that a temporary high utilization will be particularly problematic. You can tell them please be aware I had a high utilization last month, which is partly why I'm requesting this increase in limit. I paid off all my credit cards in July, and went for a new car loan in August. They told me that it took 6 months from the time you pay off your cards for it to really show on your credit report. Probably BS, but you never know...
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Oct 8, 2011 19:12
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I’d also be curious to know where they were going with that. It is true that your balance is updated monthly. But when you are establishing credit, it takes 6 months of continuous reporting of the same account before a credit score is calculated. I also tell people that I deny for delinquent credit that if they want to try again, it takes about 6 months of good behavior before there is a significant improvement in the score, but that is only a guideline. Yeah, he was going with the 6 months of good behavior. He definitely was trying to get me into a higher rate, which I understand. My goal is to wait 6 months to a year and refinance through a credit union once I've had a decent track record.
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Oct 13, 2011 01:04
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I have a friend who has about $15k in credit card debt, and is looking at talking to a credit counselor about his options. Does anyone have any recommendations for a legit one? Googling "credit counselor" leads to disaster...
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Nov 11, 2011 20:06
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Hey thread. If there is a better thread to post this in, let me know. I bought my house in 2004 during the peak of the housing boom, and just finally got myself in a good spot with a refinance a few years back. I'm a single guy and have over the last few years got myself a pretty reliable, well paying job, got my credit under control (750ish generally) with my only debts being the house ($112k) and car ($9k). I'm putting away about 20% of my check in a combination of 401k, Roth IRA and employee stock purchase. I've been watching house prices rise and rise, and I'm kicking around the idea of selling off my house and going to rent for a bit. I bought the best house I could for the mortgage I got in 2004, which wasn't much. It's only around 850 square feet, but is in a nice zip code (decent school district) and has a pretty big back yard for the area (on a 60x200' lot). I don't need the yard or the school district, and I'm in a position with my job that I could move anywhere and work remotely if I need to. The good news is that I recently got siding put on the house and a new water heater, the bad news is that the bathroom is a wreck and needs to likely be fully redone. The house being a 1 bathroom house means redoing it is tricky. Long story short - should I put some feelers out to see what kind of value the house is "really" worth (Zillow says $130, but isn't counting the siding or bathroom work) and potentially sell it as is with the bathroom work needing to be done still? With the house as small as it is and me not having much baggage, I could deal with an apartment or something else of similar size for a while, bump up my savings and hope for the market to turn back into a buyer's market in a couple years, getting a place that's more what I'm looking for (more city, less yard).
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Jun 30, 2018 22:53
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Best Buy apparently just converted my store only card into a Visa rewards card without any type of approval from me - is that going to do anything to my credit? I'm in the middle of getting a mortgage and they were abundantly clear that "opening a new card is a huge no no"
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Sep 21, 2018 23:03
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:My man, welcome. How did you get here? boop the snoot posted:adopt draconian austerity measures until you're out of credit card debt and then keep that lifestyle since it sounds like you may be living outside your means unless your minimum payments are spread across 50 cards or something. ^^^^^ What's changed that will prevent you from going into debt again? If I remember correctly, those types of programs can actually hurt your credit if they take a settlement. You might pay less in the short run, but in the long run you're hurting. Unless you recently got a big promotion/job change/something that means you'll be able to maintain your lifestyle while not incurring more debt, you'll go back under. Take it from someone who has done that - I cashed out my 401k when I left a job 10 years ago to pay off credit card debt that I had paid off multiple times with various loans and such. Make a budget - even as simple as an Excel "Bills" vs "Income" that calculates against each other can be eye opening. And if your bills are greater than 80% of your income, you're gonna go back into debt even deeper.
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Sep 25, 2018 01:14
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Thanatosian posted:Only put in an FSA what you're 100% sure you will spend and be able to be reimbursed for, and make absolutely loving sure you keep every loving scrap of paperwork. You can carry over $500 a year on your FSA card now, so you do have a small buffer. But yeah, FSA is great as long as you track it and use it.
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Oct 4, 2018 11:26
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Untagged posted:This is employer dependent. They can elect the $500 carry over, or two extra months for prior year fund spend, or make no changes. Fair enough, I just knew the IRS began allowing it the year after I lost $400. 
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Oct 4, 2018 12:18
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Solitair posted:Just a job. I also don't have a car right now, so I'd have to find public transportation to get to a warehouse. Where do you live? Are there any retail outlets near you, especially Costco?
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Oct 5, 2018 19:36
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People that have money saved and ask how they can save more are generally the ones who end up retiring and living happily ever after, so I applaud you for that! I can even imagine having 150k saved up by age 36.
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Oct 9, 2018 13:00
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Drone posted:Ask me about being freaked out by what is probably just run-of-the-mill email spam that slipped through Gmail's spam filter. Gmail ignores periods, so Medullah.SomethingAwful@gmail.com is the same as MedullahSomethingAwful@gmail.com is the same as Med.ullah.Something.Awful@gmail.com. So I wouldn't worry about that part. I'd freeze your credit (fairly easy nowadays) and get a credit report pulled, or at least use Credit Karma.
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Oct 24, 2018 15:02
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gvibes posted:Yeah, looks like we are going to have a massive undifferentiated amazon/target bucket. Welp. I had the same thing when I started using Mint and I found it actually helped me realize how much I was blowing on Amazon stuff I ended up not needing. I actually went through every order for the last 2 years and decided if it was a smart purchase. It didn't curb ALL of my impulse buying, but it did help.
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Oct 26, 2018 23:49
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Go to a credit union. They're usually much better about consumer level loans.
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Nov 21, 2018 17:30
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Quabzor posted:I don't have much experience about lovely loans, but I figure the best course of action is try to talk to a few credit unions/banks into refinancing. Worst case scenario dump as much extra money towards the loan and try again in a year or so with a lower balance. Yeah, I mean even if he can't refinance through the CU for the car, a 10% interest personal loan will be better than that nightmare of a loan. This is why you take care of your credit, and teach your kids to build it as soon as they can.
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Nov 21, 2018 21:37
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FWIW Best Buy recently changed their card to a Visa, so you may have a 10 year old Visa card which is a bit more practical than the store only card. And a 10 year old account is going to help you more than it's hurting you being open
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Jan 20, 2019 16:38
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Icey posted:I have terrible credit but need a 5k loan. I have a cosigner with excellent credit. What is my best option? Amone wants me to borrow 5k and pay back 10k. I figure with a cosigner I should be able to do better than that. Why do you need a loan?
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Jan 25, 2019 21:00
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I do a similar thing, but actually use different banks because I looked for account bonuses (free $150 with $1000 deposit, etc). I have one account that is for purely static bills and I use direct deposit to deposit the exact amount needed for those bills plus $50, another account from my Credit Union for when I bought my car, my main checking and savings account. I wouldn't bother doing it if your direct deposit can't automatically do the sorting, because you WILL forget to manually do it if that's your intention, but it was a key step in me fixing my finances about 10 years ago since it let me not even see money that was already earmarked for bills.
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Jan 26, 2019 17:35
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If you're not in a huge rush you can set up an Amazon store and ship all the books to them to ship out as they sell. I was considering doing that for DVDs but realized it wasn't worth it. I probably wouldn't expect to get too much for the lot if you don't have a bunch. You might even want to just donate them to a library and take the tax credit.
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Mar 11, 2019 00:43
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SpelledBackwards posted:It would be a tax deduction, not a credit, and the new policies put in place last year definitely make it harder to break out of the standard deduction into itemized deductions through mortgage interest deduction and charitable giving deductions. Er that's right, what I meant. But yeah, I forgot about the massive change to the standard deduction.
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Mar 11, 2019 12:55
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Careful Drums posted:Hi money goons A consolidation loan can work to reduce your overall interest ratio, but realistically - have you made the appropriate lifestyle changes so that you'll be aggressively paying off that loan? Or will you rack up charges on the credit cards again because you're "back to zero"? If you want some real advice on this, let us know how much you make, what your current budget is (Rent, food, gas, etc).
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Mar 11, 2019 14:49
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Careful Drums posted:Glad you asked that to underscore the actual issue. Short answer is no, no lifestyle changes have happened because my wife doesn't take this debt seriously. Sorry to hear that. I would honestly not go for the consolidation loan then, because that's just going to open the cards back up for her to attack. I would sit down and just use an Excel spreadsheet to list out all of your expenses and then your salary. If for no other reason, you'll have an idea of where you're realistically at. Are you guys contributing to a retirement fund at least?
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Mar 11, 2019 16:00
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Careful Drums posted:I mean given how this conversation is going I think you know the answer to that. My wife grew up a lot more financially unstable than me so I think in her mind "bills are getting paid" = "buy whatever who cares". It causes a lot of tension because she thinks I'm stingy for wanting to save money. How much do you guys make, after taxes? What do your other bills look like? Edit - And if not too personal, how old are you.
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Mar 11, 2019 16:07
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Careful Drums posted:idk after taxes but i make 104k now and it should be going up to 120 (see cobol thread if you want to dox me) Oh man, yeah, don't do the consolidation loan. You can clean that up quick with a bit of focus, and consolidating doesn't learn her a lesson. Start saving for retirement ASAP - I have a guy that works in my office who was a programmer for 30 years and didn't have what he needed for retirement, his company folded and now he makes $40k a year taking level 1 customer calls at almost 60.  At the very least I really recommend the Excel spending exercise. Set up Mint too, easy way to see spending habits. You'd be surprised how just a little attention can change your habits huge.
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Mar 11, 2019 16:50
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Careful Drums posted:loving christ i came in here asking for financial advice and ended at "you should divorce" i will challenge my assumption about counseling and see about that before concluding this. I'd start a financial thread as first recommended. That will help you get the understanding you need to see where you're really at.
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Mar 11, 2019 18:07
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eddiewalker posted:The day you get your new credit card in the mail, immediately log in and set your autopay to “statement balance in full” on or before “date due.” That’s the only trick to winning the credit card game. Yep I regularly use my Amazon, Chase Freedom and Citi double rewards cards for 2%-5% off. It's a good game but you have to pay it off. Miss one payment and the APR kills you.
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Mar 25, 2019 22:41
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colachute posted:$~9500 student loan debt @ 4-5% interest Pay off the loan that has interest first and foremost unless you have spare cash laying around. Assuming you can pay off the 0% APR withing the 14 months, you're better off that way. If you CAN'T pay off the 0% loan in the time it's 0%, then you need to plan on paying it off.
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May 13, 2019 18:01
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spwrozek posted:Also don't look down on being HVAC tech. Trades are good business and pay really well. Yep and HVAC is always in demand.
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May 14, 2019 11:33
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spwrozek posted:You don't think normal company bonuses are a thing? I had a job with "guaranteed" bonuses when I signed on, and a year later they made those bonuses far less guaranteed. I never ever ever count bonuses in my budget anymore.
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May 15, 2019 16:06
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That should be fine with the caveat that you should expect she won't pay you back, so you'll survive without the money. That's the golden rule for lending money no matter who it is or how positive you are they'll pay you back.
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May 15, 2019 17:33
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Don't rely on the card for that, use Mint to see where your money is going.
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Jun 23, 2019 14:18
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PoorUser posted:I have an old student loan of 5.5k @ 3.5% and the ability to pay it all off now. But, I don't have much good credit to speak of. If you pay it off now, will you still be able to live comfortably with a decent chunk of savings? If you don't pay it off, will you be able to get more than a 3.5% return on the money if you invest it elsewhere?
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Jun 28, 2019 13:45
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Yeah but it's still generally worth it.
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Jul 11, 2019 23:16
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My friend just had a kid, and wants to start saving money for him for life milestones. Right now he's putting it in a basic savings account. He wants to maintain control of the money, so he can withdraw money for things like a car and college. I expect he won't be touching it for 10 years, but will be depositing twice a month when he gets paid. What's the best option for him? I thought at least an online bank with higher yield interest rates.
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Jul 15, 2019 18:07
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The March Hare posted:I didn't really like YNAB when I last looked at it (years ago). I'm sort of less interested in budgeting and more interested in Stats, mostly just want a dashboard that shows me where I'm at and where I'm going. I'm a reasonably disciplined spender, so I don't really like dealing with the effort of scrutinizing my purchases as long as I'm hitting my student loan/savings goals each month. I mean, Mint is essentially the free version of Quicken. You could probably purchase that and get rid of the ads.
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Jul 15, 2019 18:27
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Worrying about +2 points on your credit is not necessary. You'll get pre-approved for a mortgage that's double what you should use anyway. As long as you have your down payment you're fine
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Jul 17, 2019 10:51
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:I was approved for a 350k mortgage when I made 45k a year, and was buying a house for 86k. The banking system is stupid. Yup I bought a new house last year and was pre-approved for 700k, bought a 250k which was higher than I felt comfortable with but I loved the house
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Jul 17, 2019 16:23
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How crazy would it be to refinance my mortgage 10 months into buying the house? I was a bit tentative about being able to make the payments I'd need to in order to do a 20 year so I did a 30 year I'm easily able to make them (been making the 30 year payment plus extra principal to match what the 20 would have been), so I'm wondering if the long term gains of dropping down to a 20 would outweigh the short term cost of refinancing.
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Aug 8, 2019 18:11
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All good points. Thanks, I'll do some number crunching.
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Aug 8, 2019 20:39
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