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Am I being too paranoid about how much of a liquid (to varying degrees) emergency fund I keep on hand? Maybe I'm just in a different financial place, but so much personal finance advice I hear is to have a 1-2k emergency fund on hand at all times, and to me that just sounds dangerously small. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what ya'll mean by emergency fund, as I interpret that to mean "poo poo hits the fan, lost my job, rent is still due every month until I find a new job fund". The way I've got things set up right now is pretty much a 3-tier system: - Checking/Savings at CU: I treat $3000 as "$0", and try to keep an additional 1-2k on top of that (so 4-5k total) to absorb all the day-to-day and month-to-month living expenses. Fortunately I'm earning over 6% on the first $1000, with a total blended rate being about 1% on 4k. I do all my spending on my CC in lieu of cash/debit, but I always want to have the balance due actually in my checking account at all times. That, plus rent and loans means I've got a total monthly cash outflow of like $2500 (vs. inflow of ~$5000). Of course, if I were in an emergency situation, spending would be cut down quite a bit to just the essentials ($1500-1700/mo). If things got really bad for the long-term, I'd obviously move to a cheaper place when my lease expired. - "High" yield Savings (ING Direct): 15-20k cash at 1%, available within 3-5 days. This covers me for about 1 year's basic living expenses (rent, loans, food, etc.) and is non-volatile. This, plus the CU accounts, is what I consider to be my true "emergency fund" totaling to about 20-25k. - Long-term investments: Everything beyond the above, with the mentality of once money goes into this tier of savings, it is not to be touched for a long, long time. Essentially, forget that it even exists. So.... am I just being hyper-paranoid? Should I be locking up more of my cash cushion in long-term investments? I'm already putting a healthy chunk into long-term savings as it is, though sometimes I wonder if I should be doing more. Still, there's something comforting knowing I could go unemployed for a year or more (which I hope is a very unlikely scenario, but you never know...) without having to live like a pauper.
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Aug 4, 2011 18:47
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Sophia posted:But if you have higher expenses, then it's going to be more. The rule of thumb I've seen most often here is 3-6 months of expenses, but it's very situational. Thanks. Yeah, I know that higher expenses definitely means higher emergency fund threshold. The 3-6 months rule seems to make more sense, but even that still seems dangerously small to me, especially in the current climate. I feel more comfortable with 12+ months, but maybe (probably) I'm just more risk-averse than most people v  v. I'm just trying to gauge how much my approach differs from "the norm", but I guess there really isn't one huh?
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Aug 4, 2011 19:13
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Vehementi posted:FYI it's Prime + 3% (so, not variable) That's very much variable.
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Aug 12, 2011 21:33
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Sophia posted:My grandpa used to say that no one ever got rich by painting their house. A really young guy driving around a really nice car means either 1) he's living off of his parents 2) he's one of those one-in-a-million super smart rich guys who has made more money than God off of his genius and will continue to make money forever or 3) he's poor and he just doesn't know it yet. And a girl only gets to date #2 in movies. 13k is hardly a really expensive car. "Really nice" or "really expensive" car to me is more like 50k+. If you're in college or working a retail job, yeah you probably shouldn't be spending anywhere near 13k on a car. That said, almost anyone with a decent professional-ish job and well-managed finances can afford a 13k car pretty easily. Don't get me wrong, I know 13k is more than a lot of people can afford/want to spend on a car, but it's really not a very large amount of money for a car that you will use a lot and spend a lot of time in (or, god forbid, even derive pleasure from driving). I've had my share of ~5k cars and they were well-above the "car with two hubcaps" description and were great cars. If that's all you're looking for, great, do it, it's a great plan. But 13k can get you some pretty drat nice 4-7 year old cars on the used market that still look and drive like new. People think that anyone driving around in a Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Audi, etc. are all rich pricks (or pretending to be), but a whole lot of people driving them (myself included) buy them several years used in the 10-20k range - less than half of the selling price when new. On the used market, they aren't even that much more expensive than a similar year/condition Honda or Toyota, especially given the retarded used car market right now. You get so much more car for the dollar. Yeah, they'll cost a bit more to maintain, but if we're talking about saving money you aren't actually taking your car to a dealership, right? Guinness fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Aug 17, 2011 |
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Aug 17, 2011 00:58
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Totally fair point, and I agree: if you can't afford to pay in cash, you can't afford it - even if you are going to finance part of it. I would never, ever recommend financing a car if you can't get an interest rate below 4-5% - and even that is on the high end, especially for new/near-new cars. If your credit isn't good enough to get a good low rate, then definitely stick to cash-only. A car is already a depreciating asset, and getting raped on a high-interest loan only multiplies the pain. Getting upside down on a car is a lovely place to be for a variety of reasons.
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Aug 17, 2011 02:28
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Buying a 20 year old car with a loan is a really bad idea. The mantra "if you can't pay cash you can't afford it" is especially true on cars that old. There are many (good) reasons why financial institutions won't write a loan on cars that old, or will but will give you an astronomical interest rate. Don't get me wrong, old cars are rad, especially if you're willing to put your own blood, sweat, and tears into it. But if you can't afford to buy and maintain one out of pocket... well, that isn't going to end well. Doubly so since the only kind of 20 year old cars worth 5k+ tend to be rare, European, and/or sports cars (i.e., above-average cost to maintain). Edit: If you absolutely must make a bad decision, you'd be much better off with a personal loan instead of an auto loan for an amount that small. The interest rate still won't be great, but the car won't be the collateral. Plus, with an auto loan you're typically required to carry comprehensive and collision insurance which is pretty dumb on a car only about 5k or less. Guinness fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 05:40
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Sean_Miller posted:I've payed off $6000 of a $7000 CC bill and am keeping the $1000 on there just to keep some sort of balance. What? Why? You're just pissing away money on interest fees. quote:Should I just go ahead and pay off that card completely now? It's at 8.9% interest a year and right now I do have the ability to 0 it out. Yes! Always! quote:I should have about $25k saved up in six months give or take with no debt whatsoever. How can I maximize the money that I have now to work for me and to start a good plan for the future? Start by stop carrying thousands of dollars on your credit card. Pay it off entirely every month.
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Sep 13, 2011 00:24
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Quoting this to make a point. Very well said, and this is why it's so important to 'vote with your dollars'. I switched over all of my day to day banking to a credit union (BECU in Seattle, highly recommend them!) and it has been a really great decision. I've very rarely had any problems, but when I have I've never been jerked around and have gotten friendly, intelligent, capable support both in-person and on the phone. Plus, my CC through them is a kick-rear end 6.9% APR. It's great knowing that if for some reason (emergencies, etc.) I had to carry a CC balance for a couple months I wouldn't be getting ruined by interest fees. Even when I was with Wells Fargo for years I never overdrafted, and mostly avoided any monthly fees entirely despite WF's effort of changing terms and seemingly randomly "upgrading" my accounts whenever I went into a branch. It's been so refreshing to just not even have to think about playing those stupid games. When I was shopping for a used auto loan about 6 months back, their rates were pretty competitive with other banks/lenders, but dealing exclusively with the credit union I already use and love made me forget about the few fractions of a percent in interest rate difference (plus the much "simpler" loan agreement paperwork). Don't regret it at all to support a great financial institution that doesn't try to screw the customer with fees and penalties at every turn - even if I was/am smart enough to avoid them.
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Sep 13, 2011 18:19
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low-key-taco posted:Thanks for the advice. I drive a Nissan Versa SL 09 with about 30k on it. I've only owned a bunch of beaters and this car so I'm not certain what I'd buy but something in the 3 or 4k range. If you like the Versa, and plan on keeping it for at least 5 years, and the loan payment isn't killer, I'd say just keep the car. It's an 09 with 30k miles, if you take decent care of it it has at the very least a decade of life in it, probably two. And since it's so new, you really shouldn't be having to put any money into it beyond gas, tires, oil, and brakes for the next few years. Unless you yourself are mechanically knowledgeable and know how to shop for good deals, or are VERY good friends with a skilled mechanic, used cars under ~5k tend to be a huge crapshoot. There certainly are good, cheap, used cars out there but they are diamonds in the rough and even they will still need more attention than a 2009 Nissan with 30k miles. Reliable, safe, hassle-free transportation is a really valuable thing to have.
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Sep 14, 2011 18:28
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I don't know much about online-only banking, but look into a credit union. If you're in Washington I highly recommend BECU. No fees on anything, huge ATM network (part of the CO-OP network), still have access to real, helpful people if you need help with anything. How the hell can a bank even begin to justify $4 per debit transaction?? I've never seen anything like that before.
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Sep 20, 2011 19:27
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LorneReams posted:To add, I used to be a only debit card person myself, kept the reciepts, synced with MS Money...it was a good system....until it got cloned at a gas station skimmer. It took loving 2 months to get my money back. It took 6 months to eventually get all the charges reversed, and that was with a detective on my side practically yelling at the branch manager, and then finally someone in corporate. NEVER AGAIN. With a credit card, your limit is reduced for a couple of months while they work it out, with a debit card, it's your REAL loving MONEY. This, plus rewards points, is why I do 95% of my spending on my credit card and pay it off every month.
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Sep 21, 2011 01:21
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WeaselWeaz posted:Can anyone comment on Ally Bank, ING, or online banking in general? I'm not happy with the transition to Wells Fargo and I'm considering moving my checking and savings to my credit union (where my money market and a minimum balance checking account to keep it are). The rates at Ally seem pretty nice, although I can't see good reason to drop the credit union account entirely and lose the lower rates when I eventually want a loan. I've been using ING Direct for a "high" yield savings account for years now, and I've got no complaints. The website is fairly intuitive and easy to use, there's no fees for anything, and I can transfer money around instantly with my Sharebuilder account as well. I haven't taken the plunge into strictly online-only banking, as I still do all my day-to-day banking with my Credit Union (which I love). Transfers from/to my CU checking account usually take about 3 business days, but other than that I've never had a problem. The only thing I'd warn about ING is that they were recently bought by Capital One. So far nothing has changed as an ING customer, but if/when the rates/services go downhill or get less competitive I'll be shopping around. Fortunately, with just a savings account switching is incredibly easy. Guinness fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 12, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 17:40
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baquerd posted:It's confusing to me how so many people misuse credit cards. Keep a 10-15% max of credit limit load on your card, pay it off every month, win. If once in a blue moon you actually need the credit, it's nice to have. It really is that simple. Likewise, I'm completely blown away by the number of people who gently caress themselves with a credit card. Where on earth do so many people get the idea that a credit card is just free money? A CC is a very simple concept, and following a couple very basic, very common sense rules make it pretty hard to get into trouble. I understood this when I was like 12, how can you be an adult and not "get" it? I don't even have a defined or written budget (I really should, though...), I just know about what my monthly expenses should be and casually keep a running tally of my account balances and sanity check them with my online balances every few days. By 1) never putting it on credit if I couldn't currently pay cash for it, and 2) ALWAYS pay off the statement balance no matter what, it's practically impossible to bone yourself barring some extreme corner-case emergency. I do virtually all of my spending on my rewards card, and have NEVER carried a balance on it, so the rewards are literally just free money compared to using a debit card the same way (what I was doing before). I have a second card with my CU with a much lower APR (6.9%), 10k limit, and no rewards/fees that I keep around in case of a real emergency occurs and I have to charge several thousand dollars that I won't be able to pay off at end of month. Doing that on my rewards card with its crazy ~17% APR would be financial retardation. Fortunately, I haven't had any large emergencies like that yet. Guinness fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 18:51
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You can get better yields than a 0.40% CD in a "high yield" savings account from somewhere like ING Direct or Ally Bank. My ING Direct savings account is 1.0% APY, without forfeiting any liquidity (beyond the ~3 day transfer time).
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Oct 19, 2011 23:20
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CDs are a pretty bad proposition right now, even for being FDIC insured. Interest rates are incredibly low across the board, and you can often get an equivalent or even higher rate in a "high" yield savings account (ING, Ally, etc) right now without forfeiting liquidity. The only CDs that have higher APYs than high yield savings accounts tend to be long-term CDs, and even then it's only by a very marginal amount. For example, my ING Direct savings account is at 0.9% APY right now and has no penalties or fees for pulling money out. The only ING-offered CD that beats that is a 60-month CD at 1.1%. Ally has some better CD rates, with a 12-month at 1.03%, and their 60-month at 1.89%. So it depends on what liquidity is worth to you. If you want to stay liquid, move to a high interest savings account. If you don't mind not touching the money for 3-5 years, a CD from somewhere like Ally wouldn't be a bad idea, but there are better investment vehicles for that time horizon (but they aren't FDIC backed). Also, if the money is money you are okay with not touching for a long time and don't have an IRA already, consider opening one for the tax benefits. IRAs vary a lot, but most of them allow you to invest in CDs and mutual funds through the IRA. Others allow you to buy stocks and ETFs through the IRA. The maximum annual contribution is $5000 IIRC. Guinness fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Oct 27, 2011 |
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Oct 27, 2011 21:00
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leftover posted:You also mentioned other investment options that are not FDIC backed, would you mind expanding on them? The Long-Term Investing and Retirement Savings Thread The Stock Picking, Analysis, and Trading Megathread (rich jerks itt)
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Oct 27, 2011 21:56
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This year I'm on track to save ~$20,000 on top of paying down the remaining ~$15,000 of outstanding student loans that I had left at the beginning of the year. I make about 80k/yr.... so almost 50% of gross if you count loan payoff. But I'm young, single, and renting so living expenses are relatively low.
Guinness fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 03:24
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KarmaCandy posted:And that $20k is all going into your retirement accounts? I have $15,000 cash in emergency savings (~1 year's worth of essential living expenses) in a "high-yield" savings account with ING and I max out my IRA contribution each year ($5000). Almost everything beyond that goes into my personal brokerage account, which is basically my long-term/retirement savings. My employer's 401k plan is pretty lovely and has no match, so I have not opted into it. Theoretically, once money goes into my brokerage account it will never come out short of a huge emergency or if I start thinking about buying a house (not anytime soon). Investing is kind of a hobby of mine and I spend a lot of time reading and researching, but I'm not at all a day trader trying to make short-term gains. The core of my portfolio are mostly DRIP investments. Guinness fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 03:35
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KarmaCandy posted:if you don't plan on staying with your employer for the rest of your life, you'll be able to roll that over at some point into an IRA and choose to invest it in anything at some point. This is my first job with a 401k match and I've never had great choices, but unless they're really, really bad, there's usually one low rate boring fund you can put all your money into and then roll it over. An interesting point that I hadn't though much about, thanks for giving me something to consider. Though the 401k plan through my employer is still pretty bad, especially since there's no employer match. Yeah, yeah, the tax advantages etc., but eh. Maybe I'll enroll before the tax year is out and throw a bunch of money into it. I've really been more concerned with paying off all my student debt and my car loan the past 2 years, since that ~$35k in debt would be growing a lot faster than the crummy returns in some half-rate 401k funds. Since pretty much all of my large debts will be paid off at the end of this year, I'll be reworking my saving and investment strategy significantly next year since I'll have something like an extra $1000-$1500/mo that won't be going toward loan (over)payments. Getting out of debt ASAP and establishing a good cash cushion has been priority #1 since graduating 2 years ago, and now that that goal is almost accomplished I've got a lot of replanning to do. Guinness fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 20:43
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If I have cash in my wallet, it disappears in a hurry and I have no record of what I spent it on. I don't like taking out more than $40-60 in cash from an ATM at a time, unless for a very specific purpose, because it's so unaccountable. Using my credit card, I get a near-enough-real-time tally of how much I spent on what and where that I can track at any given moment. Plus, since I put 95%+ of all my expenditures on my credit card, I know pretty well what my expected monthly expenditure should be and if I start hitting that number before the billing cycle ends and/or start getting bigger bills than expected it's a sign to examine my spending history and habits and find out why.
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Dec 3, 2011 00:04
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Zeta Taskforce posted:He also would have told you to never put work expenses on a credit card that your name is on, even if your company will reimburse you. Okay, so what is the alternative besides quit/get fired if there is not a company CC? Every company I've worked at, even ones with lots of travel and expenses, have reimbursed employees for expenses they put on their own cards. It seems to be pretty much SOP from my experience.
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Dec 29, 2011 19:06
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Continue to pay off the higher interest rate loan. Even though it's fewer total dollars, those dollars are still costing you more in interest per dollar than the other loan.
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Jan 4, 2012 06:16
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razz posted:The unsubsidized loan is ~$1400 and is growing exponentially larger and stressing me out. What kind of interest rate is the loan where only $1400 is growing fast enough to stress you out? Even if it's something ridiculous like 10%, that's still only about $150/yr. While it's a good idea to pay down the accumulated interest before it capitalizes, I wouldn't worry too much about paying the principle down early unless you already have a sizable cash cushion saved up (6+ months of expenses, IMO) and are in an otherwise relatively stable financial situation. Although, if you can comfortably afford to start paying that one high interest rate loan down early, great, do it. Guinness fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Jan 10, 2012 |
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Jan 10, 2012 01:38
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TurboTax is a lot cheaper than hiring a tax professional, and is extremely straightforward to use. An investment account or two is not very difficult to file on your taxes. With TurboTax or the like, it's literally "put the value from box A here, put the value from box B here" etc.
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Jan 11, 2012 18:51
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5t1n6r4y posted:but wouldn't it be more prudent to invest in a mutual fund instead? Only if you can consistently get a rate of return higher than 2.36%. I wish my student loans were only 2.36%. Almost all of them are more like 6.5%, so they are getting paid off ASAP.
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Feb 22, 2012 19:17
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I'd aim to max out your RIRA contribution ($5k/yr) and then plow the rest into your student loans, especially at 7%.
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Mar 16, 2012 03:15
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Congratulations! It makes me so glad to see people sort things out, get out of debt, and enjoy the security and freedom that comes with that. We see so many stories of people burdened by debt and bad finances in this forum, but so few success stories. You're proof it can be done, and done well and in a relatively timely fashion.
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Mar 23, 2012 17:51
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Interest rates are the lowest they've been in a long time right now, especially on guaranteed/insured accounts like savings and CDs. You can still get a little less than 1% with online-only banks like ING and Ally. If you already have a savings buffer and 6-12 month emergency fund, there are a lot better ways to invest that 15k long term than a savings accounts.
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Mar 31, 2012 17:14
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WeaselWeaz posted:I had the same issue with one of the books recommended here. It's by two women but I forget the names. Each chapter was probably a page, at most, of advice. The rest was just stories of dumb people or explaining things repeatedly in dumbed down examples. Always read a contract before you sign it? Really? The thing is, for a lot of people they need basic common sense ideas beaten into them over and over before they get it (if ever). The average person is not very bright, especially when it comes to money. It's incredible.
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Apr 6, 2012 17:42
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Ouch, I know airline tickets are going up, but in January/February of this year I did Seattle -> Hong Kong -> Kunming -> Siem Reap -> Kunming -> Seattle, staying at each stop for 1-2 weeks, all totaling less than $2000. That's some crazy rear end prices for simple R/T tickets, I would have expected more like $1300-1400.
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Apr 11, 2012 00:44
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DeusVult posted:It's because I'm travelling in July, high season at that time unfortunately. It'll be worth it. I love Asia. 
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Apr 11, 2012 01:10
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Budget Bears posted:5) I have heard a lot of credit card horror stories. What do people do wrong to get into deep poo poo with their credit card companies? What can I do to avoid getting hosed over? Don't buy things on credit that you couldn't pay cash for, and pay off your balance in full every billing cycle. If you do these 2 things, you will never get into trouble.
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Jun 14, 2012 20:01
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It all depends on your situation, your income, your expenses, your future plans, etc. If your student loans have a ridiculous rate like mine did (6.6%), then it's a pretty good idea to focus on paying those down rather than just paying the minimum for years and years. You still want to be saving some money rather than just plowing it all into debt, but getting rid of those loans will save you a lot of money over time. I just paid off my 23k (principal) in student loans a week ago, and feels good man. I self-imposed a 2-year payment plan on myself once my grace period expired, and it sucked plowing $1000+/mo into loans on top of maxing my RIRA, building a 10k emergency savings, and investing an additional ~15k on the side, but man was it so worth it to get that poo poo off the books. I didn't have a 401k match at the time so I just skipped the 401k entirely to pay down my debt faster. Do it while you're young and can live cheaply. The only debt I have left now is ~9k on my car (at 3.5%) and my revolving monthly credit card bill that gets paid in full every month, so I am now able to sock away a shitload of money since I'm still young (24) and single. Guinness fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Jun 29, 2012 |
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Jun 29, 2012 22:26
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Mint.com and its budgets feature? There's an iPhone app for it, I'm sure there's an Android one as well.
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Jul 31, 2012 18:33
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A 1% CD of only $500 would earn about $0.42 per month. You can find savings accounts with about the same rate while retaining liquidity. CDs are pretty silly with rates being so low right now, IMO.
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Aug 2, 2012 06:22
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If you can afford to pay it off without cramping your lifestyle or draining your emergency savings, then really you should just do it. If you've got 7k cash lying around, it's definitely not growing anywhere near as fast as the loan at 6.8%. Or just pay it off a couple grand a month for the next couple months, really no reason to drag it out. The longer the wait, the more it is costing you. Edit: SLAMMYsosa posted:e: I'm pretty bad with finances, obviously... I currently have 17k in my checking account Yeah you are, holy crap, why do you have 17k sitting in a checking account doing nothing for you? YES pay off the 7k loan right now, and then put most of the rest of that to work for you in a better savings/investment vehicle. You obviously live well within your means which is great, but having that much cash lying around just losing value to inflation is really bad over the longterm. Do you have a 401k, IRA, or any sort of brokerage account? With a surplus of 3k/month you could be saving/investing shitloads of money, and by not doing so you're losing out on a lot of potential growth. Guinness fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Aug 10, 2012 |
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Aug 10, 2012 00:53
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Harry posted:I think you need to look into your finances a lot more closely. None of this really makes any sense. Totally agree with this: if you're bringing in $8000/mo and are still carrying a $3000 credit card debt and only have $100-200 "left over" each month your finances are really seriously screwed up unless there's something very major you're not telling us about like how you're $200,000 in student loan debt or have an underwater mortgage on a $700,000 house. Guinness fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Aug 16, 2012 |
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Aug 16, 2012 05:32
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Ashcans posted:I guess it's a matter of lifestyle, but I can't imagine putting three grand on a card in a month unless you were in a position to charge your rent to it. 3k/month in spending isn't really unimaginable for two people with a ~100k income if you charge everything (even without rent) to the card and pay it off every month. It's certainly not penny-pinching frugality, but it's not wildly extravagant either. Hell, I'm single with not-quite-100k income and put everything minus rent on my card, paid off every month, and my typical monthly spend is $1500-1800 depending on the month. But the way the post was written it didn't sound like that was 3k in revolving monthly spend getting paid down every month. I prioritize my 401k, RIRA, additional savings, and other debts first (just paid off my 23k principal in student loans in 2 years!) and never ever ever carry a CC balance. Once all that is taken care of and bills are paid, since I can afford it I don't worry too much about spending several hundred bucks on my fun/hobby/shopping expenses. With the way that post was worded, it sounds like savings, investments, and debts are not being prioritized, credit card debt is allowed to linger, and yet somehow still they are essentially living paycheck-to-paycheck. I really hope that was just a poorly written explanation, otherwise they need to really re-examine their finances because there's no reason a couple with ~100k annual income should be in such a bad-sounding financial position. Guinness fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Aug 16, 2012 |
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Aug 16, 2012 21:24
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HairyNipple! posted:So yeah, $375 left over at the end of the month. Take out the wedding and Europe, and we'd have $4375 each month. We're going to stay on living off the one wage to save up for a house in the next couple of years. Okay, phew, that sounds MUCH better that you're typically saving about half (or even more) of your income, assuming the wedding is just a one time anomaly and most months you really are saving/investing that extra 4k. That's actually very good.
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Aug 17, 2012 02:24
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No, why would there be? You could, however, lower the coverage below what your financier required for the loan to lower your premium. But sounds like you don't want to do that.
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Oct 17, 2012 23:35
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