BFC General/Daily discussion thread. Don't eat out today.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > BFC General/Daily discussion thread. Don't eat out today.

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moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

H110Hawk posted:

I bought a breast pump and no one can prove I didn't decide not to use it personally upon receipt and have a friend buy it off me at a marginal tax rate discount.

Pumps are covered by Obamacare still, aren't they?

# ¿ Aug 7, 2019 23:55

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 14:14

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Grumpwagon posted:

Does anyone have any experience using Wealthfront/Bettermint/etc? I have a friend/coworker who is pretty clueless. I've offered some suggestions, but I'm not willing to hold his hand step by step, and he understandably wants advice from someone who isn't just some random guy at work.

My understanding of those companies is that they offer good basic investing advice for a reasonable fee that you can avoid if you know what you're doing, but this person doesn't.

Are they privacy nightmares a la Mint? What exactly do they offer? Is it a Mint clone with some investing stuff tacked on? Do they offer anything in the budgeting realm? Are they going to sell his data to an army of whole life insurance salesmen?

Imo he would do better to use Vanguard's advisory services. Roboadvisors overstate their alpha based on short term tax loss harvesting strategies. Vanguard will give decent human advice at reasonable prices.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2019 15:21

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Magnetic North posted:

What's the gooncensus on Nassim Taleb's books? He keeps coming up as I search and try to learn, and honestly an epistemological approach to finance and risk sounds interesting to me.

He's one of those authors who makes up new words for old concepts and passes them off as brilliant new insights. "Antifragile", yeah, sure thing dude. Interesting if you've never heard of the concepts before, insufferable if you have even a passing knowledge of the subjects he's talking about. Very Malcolm Gladwellish.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2019 14:57

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Magnetic North posted:

Thank you all. I guess I should be reading Bogle's Mutal Funds book assigned by If I Can instead anyway.

Taleb will make you feel smart. Bogle will actually make you smarter.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2019 00:54

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:

Fee based financial consultants who act as fiduciaries for topics of actual management and asset allocation?

Yeah that's the kind of dude I work for, it's pretty great. Advisors are usually poo poo if all they do is asset management, but real advisors will also do insurance reviews, employee benefit reviews, social security optimization along with tax planning for the bridge years between retirement and 70 to minimize RMDs later on, real estate and rental property assessments, and kicking people in the butt to get their estate planning done. The number of multimillionaires who come in without umbrella insurance is astonishing, ditto for people with rentals who don't depreciate on their schedule E.

I mean, we do tax loss harvesting and rebalancing and stuff but that is like the most minor of things a real advisor does. If you're looking for a good advisor, ACP and NAPFA are the places to look imo.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2019 20:41

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

TURGID TOMFOOLERY posted:

Trying to build better financial health. Recommend me books, articles, videos on building positive habits and destroying negative habits.

What are you talking about, like budgeting? Spending problems? Investing regularly for retirement? What are your actual goals and issues? Because "financial health" is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2020 07:25

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Yeah, don't hire a personal trainer if you have money problems. If you're fat you can just start skipping meals, and as a bonus you'll be saving money on food. If you're scrawny there are tons of bodyweight exercises you can do that will work specific muscles to make you look good in pictures. And posture will take you 80% of the way there anyway.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2020 23:11

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Yeah, nothing is "affordable" unless you have the cash to buy it. I don't understand the casual attitude some people have about credit card debt. Turn off the spending spigot and stop consuming luxuries for a while, it's really not that hard and high interest debt is an anchor that drags down way too many people.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2020 01:00

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Do you have an emergency fund? This is step 1.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2020 02:21

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

The hourly planner we refer to in the Bay area is $300/hr. Check the Garrett network for fee only hourly planners, or maybe XYPN. With Covid, everyone is doing virtual meetings anyway, so hire someone from bumfuck, your state if you want it to be cheaper.

What kind of stock options? Usually the plan is: is it a sizable part of your net worth? Sell immediately to diversify and eat the tax hit. Is it a small part of your NW or a stable stock? Consider holding on until you get LTCG treatment. But sometime things can get more complicated, depends on the type of options.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2020 08:56

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

sorry if your CC debt is at 17% you should prioritize the CC debt full fuckin stop

Yeah, without a match there's no question, pay that poo poo off.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2020 05:02

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

drainpipe posted:

I am very confused about a common statement that I hear which is "higher risk means higher expected returns".

Not quite. Putting all your money on number 15 in roulette is risky. Buying powerball tickets with your IRA funds is risky. It doesn't mean you have a higher expected return. The better way to say it is that a stock with higher risk requires higher returns so that people will invest in it.

Hopefully this is somewhat of a decent analogy, but please take me to task if it's not right:

A large part of the risk/return curve relates to volatility. Suppose I ask you to buy a ticket to roll a die ten times. In the first game, every number you roll guarantees you win $1, so you're going to get $10 back, 100% guaranteed. Now suppose I ask you to buy a ticket to roll a die ten times, but with the following rules:
If you roll a 1,2, or 3, you lose $10. If you roll a 4,5,or 6, you win $12.

How much would you pay for the first ticket? How much would you pay for the second ticket?

Would it be the same amount, since the expected return of each game is $10? What about if you only had $20 on you, so that if you hit a losing streak in the second game you would have to stop playing altogether and never recoup your losses? What about if you had to buy lunch at the end of the game, so you needed to have at least enough money left for a sandwich or you would go hungry?

In the real world, volatility matters - people need to retire at some point, and they can't pretend that they're going to be playing the markets for infinity. There's more demand for a sure payout, which means if you can accept the risk of a losing streak, your tickets are going to be cheaper (and your ROI commensurately higher) - since people don't want to play the second game as much as they want a sure payout. That's why annuities exist.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2020 20:28

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Joose Caboose posted:

Fianc� and I are talking about wanting to open a joint bank account - initially for wedding/shared household expenses but then eventually to use for future savings as well. Neither of us have strong ties to any individual banks - any strong recommendations for opening a joint account?

An online high yield bank like Alliant, Ally, or CapOne360 would probably be best.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2020 02:06

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Well, for one she's committing fraud, so maybe don't admit that in an online post. Doing this will make you an accomplice to fraud. You could get in big trouble if found out, perhaps even go to jail.

Assuming she just wants to give you the money as a gift: She can legally give you $15k every year without any issues or paperwork required. Above $15k and you'll have to fill out IRS form 709 that reports it. That's it. There will be no issues going to the bank with this, you'll at most have to fill out a form there.

If you invest that money (which is now YOUR money), you will have to pay taxes the same way you would normally, and if you decide to give money back to her, you can do that with the same $15k restriction as above.

Again, this is committing fraud so please don't do it.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2021 18:09

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Mint is free but they sell your information. Personal Capital is another option, just don't invest with them.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2021 17:59

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Berkshire annual letter dropped today if anyone fancies a read: https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2020ar/2020ar.pdf

# ¿ Feb 27, 2021 20:22

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Social security isn't going anywhere. For high earners it definitely isn't going to cover a huge chunk of post-retirement expenses but it's meant as a safety net to keep seniors from eating cat food, not to maintain a luxury lifestyle.

I'm taking the series 65 tomorrow morning and I kind of want to throw up thinking about it. It's not supposed to be as bad as the CFP exam but it's just so many regulations to keep in my head with pandemic brain.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2021 22:33

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

At least I am super comfortable with all of the options questions after reading the stock trading thread for the past year. Thanks to all the lovely degenerate gamblers who post about puts and calls in that thread :3:

edit: passed, woo!

moana fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Mar 16, 2021

# ¿ Mar 16, 2021 01:27

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

CelestialScribe posted:

My grandfather has left me a $130,000 inheritance. I'm terrified I'm going to make a bad decision with that money so I'm just going to put it away for six months and not even think about it until I decide what to do with it.

Sorry to hear that, CS. Hope that you can use the money to help you do whatever it is you really want, and remember him by it.

# ¿ May 30, 2021 05:57

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Ronwayne posted:

Thanks! Also, what constitutes,registering something as IP that you own? I mean in the sense of what process do I need to go through to say "these specific things, stories, etc, are the property IP of X."

If you're talking about publishing stories, as soon as you publish something you own the copyright. Any plagiarism will be handled by the distributor exactly the same whether or not you have a fancy legal document. If you published it, you own it.

Source: used to be a novelist, have had my books plagiarized multiple times and it was handled promptly by distributors.

# ¿ May 30, 2021 22:35

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

We are two adults and a small child at $700/mo in a HCOL area. That does include everything we buy at grocery stores, I'm not too picky about categories. Restaurants another $300/mo.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2021 04:57

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

drainpipe posted:

Anyone have any resources for how to buy term life insurance? I think I should get a policy soon, but I have no idea where to begin.

Term4sale.com is still the best aggregator site I believe.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2021 00:45

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

And as for how much/how long of a term, you want to ask yourself how much your dependents would need to be set, and for how long. So for example, you have a spouse, two kids who are 5 and 10, and a mortgage of $350k left on it, and you're the only breadwinner. You think your family would need $50k/year in the case of your passing on top of the mortgage, until your kids leave for good. So you get a policy for $350k + $50k*13 (years left before the little one leaves) + $200k*2 (for college expenses) = a $1.4M policy for fifteen years. More if your spouse will never work again, more if you have a special needs kid or something. Obviously if you already have a million dollars in your 401k you would only need life insurance for the difference between what you have and what you think your family would need.

If you wanted to, you could ladder two policies that overlap with the kids' going to school (say, a $1.2M policy for fifteen years, a $200k policy for ten years) but that's kind of nitpicky.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2021 00:55

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Semi-Protato posted:

I really am just asking for cold, soulless financial advice and a place to look for the nuts and bolts of what happens to our money when old people with assets and stuff get married. Like a website that explains it all, a book to recommend, or if talking to an advisor/banker is worth it. We are very aligned on our goals and financial philosophies, not sure where people are getting the impression or making the assumption that we aren't.

As a former financial planner, this is not worth going to talk to a financial planner. Estate planning attorney is probably your best bet, most will have a free consultation so you can see if you actually need to change anything or set up a trust, will, etc.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2021 21:53

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

New Sales thread is up here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3998781

# ¿ Apr 5, 2022 17:22

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Yeah, worse than op even thought. You are both responsible for setting up quarterly estimated payments directly to the IRS, and you are on the hook for self employment tax on top of your normal taxes.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2022 20:25

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Check the expense ratios. You could also rollover the old 401k into an IRA which could be better, expense ratio wise.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2022 15:05

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

cheese eats mouse posted:

It�s just I�m absolutely terrified of not working for several months which in this economy is laughable. I live with my partner who has been encouraging me to leave for the past year and also is FI and working. So I guess I could use some hype? A big push? I�m mostly afraid of losing any leverage being unemployed.

Are you married to your partner? And are they FI like "$2 million in the bank, living off returns" FI or "they don't depend on anyone else for their expenses" FI? If the former, then go for it, if the latter, then just stop working hard while you interview around/ decide what to do.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2022 15:50

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

We had a part time side income thread, but you should post your own because it sounds super interesting!

# ¿ Sep 30, 2022 22:28

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

THF13 posted:

The number on the back of his debit card should be 24/7

Their website also claims 24/7 contact for their credit card if he has one. Here's the cached website number listed for that, it's probably going straight to Visa though, no help if he gave out bank account info:

24/7 Support for Texans Credit Cards
Representatives are available 24/7 to provide assistance with your Texans Credit Card.

Visa Signature� Cash Rewards Card: 866.820.3892
Visa Rate Advantage Card: 866.820.3889

Lost or stolen card: 800.449.7728
If outside the USA: 727.299.2449

Edit: here's the number for a stolen debit card which might put a hold on the account: Lost or Stolen Card? - Debit Card 800.472.3272 This one seems like your best bet.

moana fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Dec 7, 2022

# ¿ Dec 7, 2022 03:43

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

What's your current AGI and where do you fall on this chart: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/capital-gains-tax-rates

It may be as simple as "I make less than the amount for 0% and have mostly long term gains, lock those gains in at zero taxes!" or "I am in the highest marginal tax bracket, mostly have short term stuff, and I care a lot about not paying more taxes this year, I want to use losses to pay less!" or somewhere in the middle. The most you will pay is 20% of long term gains, and probably you will be at 0 or 15%. Short term will be taxed at your normal income rate. Who knows whether it will be higher later on if you decide to postpone taking the gains?

# ¿ Dec 21, 2022 04:46

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Baddog posted:

Almost always better to harvest those losses. Reduce your tax burden.

Hard disagree. It's not reducing tax, it's postponing it, and if you have the option to harvest gains at a 0% rate, it's a no-brainer to take the gains. Even at 15%, these are historically low cap gains rates, and I'm guessing we see a hike on those rates in the next couple decades. If you think your AGI will increase in the future or tax rates will increase, it makes a lot of sense to lock in a low 15% tax rate now.

This all depends on the person's agi and future predictions of their personal tax rate and the federal tax rate, of course. But I think it's wrong to say that taking losses is the default best option.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2022 07:48

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

My.mom and sister just lost both their houses in the maui fire. They are all safe. What the gently caress can I even do for them? Sorry for downer posting, I just need a hug today.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2023 20:38

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Yeah, I just learned my sister couldn't get the cats. I'm breaking down over here a little. Living in california, I always thought it would be my house that set on fire :smith:

# ¿ Aug 9, 2023 22:32

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Yeah, I'm just bouncing back and forth between helplessness, grief, and seething anger at climate change deniers.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2023 23:11

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

If I were to open something like that, I'd have a ton of fun coming up with ideas for spaces that are instgrammable - cool hammock spots, hot tub with a view, big art installations in nature.

The reality is you're buying yourself a minimum wage housekeeper job for the first year or three but that's not too bad, I used to help my mom houseclean for tourist spots and usually we got like half of our food from the fridges cause they buy like, a whole big thing of oatmeal and then don't want to schlep it home.

I'll totally come stay at your campground and leave you some oatmeal, OP.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2023 08:02

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 14:14

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

cheese eats mouse posted:

I�m considering a career change, is there a good place to learn more about a CFP career track? I guess the career path thread, but if anyone has any more resources.

I�ve realized all the stuff I have to do land another design job is making me cranky, unhappy and unwilling to do it. I think I�m totally burned out on it. There are things I loved, but I�m pretty done with tech and seems to be the only place to nab a UX job when the tech market isn�t undergoing a correction.

I�m thinking of CFP bc of the growing interest I have in finance, and I like the idea of helping others to set themselves up for a good financial future. Even better if I could use my job knowledge to help people historically underserved. A lot of what I liked about UX design was why people do the things they do and being the person to listen to issues and problem solved for them. I have a first round interview for an entry level financial consultant position on Thursday, so I want to come in with good questions.

I went through all of the CFP stuff a while back, happy to answer any questions. I ended up quitting before finishing the experience requirement because I realized I didn't care enough about rich people's problems, but it was fun to learn all the stuff.

I did a couple interest interviews with some local CFPs and one of them reached out a few months later offering me a job. I'd say just make sure you work for an ethical place and not one selling while life or something like that. Ask about how quickly you can increase your responsibilities, especially client side, and what the track is towards a senior spot.

I really enjoyed working in a microfirm (3 people) because I grew quickly and was able to start leading client meetings within the year. If I wanted to keep going, I would have left and started my own firm catering to the niches I enjoyed working with. If I wasn't tied to a geographic location, I would have moved to join a larger XYPN firm probably. If you're interested in the tax side as well, the Alliance of Comprehensive Planners is the place to go. So many of those folks are old and retiring soon and looking for someone to take over their businesses.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2024 19:26

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > BFC General/Daily discussion thread. Don't eat out today.

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