- May 2, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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## Need Help with Personal Finance Questions?
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## Discussions and Sharing Success Stories
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****** just grabbed a
Something positive and maybe helpful –
I have a 401K from a previous employer and I was getting statements in the mail every month. I knew I needed to “roll it over”, but for some reason thought it would be super complicated and found it intimidating and never did anything with it.
Today I finally went to the website specified on the statement, opened a new account at Fidelity, and followed the links to roll it over. It took about 10 minutes total and was basically idiot-proof.
For anyone else putting this off – my 401K had been sitting dormant for about 2 years, and will now be actively accumulating again.
I am a new grad, and will be starting my first job next month. I want to get into the retirement savings from Day 1, and need some advice on that.
A bit about myself: My AGI is around the 100k mark. I am currently on a student visa which gives me 3 years of work permit. I currently do not have the work visa needed for working beyond those 3 years. So, I might have to leave US after these 3 years.
Considering this situation, what would be an ideal split between Traditional 401k / Roth 401k / Traditional IRA / Roth IRA? Given the uncertainty of my future here in the States, I am thinking 50 / 50 / 50 / 50? My employer gives a full match till 6%, so I’ll put 6% in 401k (3% Traditional and 3% Roth). I’ll also max out on my IRA ($3500 Traditional and $3500 Roth).
Am I doing this right?
I didn’t want to create a separate thread for this, but can someone help me understand savings account interest payments? I always thought that as every month the interest paid to you should be higher than the amount paid to you the month before, so long as you do not withdraw a cent?
My APY has not changed, but these numbers aren’t making sense to me.
Month 8: $46.37.
Month 9: $50.66, an increase of $4.29.
Month 10: $51.67, an increase of $1.01.
Month 11: $59.68, an increase of $8.01.
Month 12: $61.96, an increase of $2.28.
Why is the amount that my interest payments increase by fluctuate month by month instead of just steadily increasing every month?
**Thinking about opening a HYSA with discover. Do I have to pay and report tax on the interests if I make less than $10,000?**
I make less than $10,000. I’m 20 and started a job but make less than $10,000. I have a good bit saved from working in HS and want to put it in but I don’t know how to go about it with interest being taxable as I’ve never filed taxes.
This is going to sound incredibly weird but, I’m trying to figure out what is the best way to help put someone to college. This man is like a brother to me and I came upon more money than I would honestly need. So I want to fund his college education. Unfortunately, he burned through his GI bill through a closed school and is in process of doing borrower’s defense.
Is it possible to open a 529 for someone that is not a dependent? I’m in the state of CA if it makes any difference.
A few months ago a told my landlord that I didn’t want to renew my lease and started looking for a new place. I was recently laid off and I want to stay at my current place to not have to deal with verifying income with a new landlord. I have enough saving to cover my rent for a year and then some. I’m looking for a new job, but it’s only been a week since being laid off. I’m thinking of just taking a retail job in the meantime just to have income. I’ve tried getting in tough with my landlord to see if I can still renew (current lease hasn’t officially ended yet), but they aren’t responding. I’m anxious and afraid that they’re trying to push me out and I’m having difficulty finding people that will say that landlords will rent to me. I feel like I’m going to be stuck out last minute still trying to find a place to live. What do I do?
When I graduated college about a decade ago, I started a Roth IRA and short term investment account with American funds (I’m aware of the hate towards the company). I have a nice little chunk of cash in my short term investment account which doesn’t yield any penalties for withdrawing. I recently started an account with Wealthfront that is 5% APY. My account with American funds uses the American Balanced Fund (BALCX). Would it be better to take the money in the balanced fund and move it to my Wealthfront account? At first glance it seems like Wealthfront has better returns but I’m not too savvy with all this stuff. The only big payment I have to make within the next 6months to a year is around $19k for student loans.
Asked my friends for financial advice recently. They are saying I should throw all my savings into a HYSA and open up a Roth IRA. They also mentioned I should shave 10% of my take home pay for my 401k instead of my current 5%.
I have opened up a HYSA with Vanguard through their Cash Plus Account. I put 60% of my savings in there and intend to save the rest for emergencies.
As for the Roth IRA and 401k, I don’t feel like I should make any changes. I currently work a minimum wage job, and I’m making a little over $20/hour after the recent fast food wage bill in CA. I don’t think it is worth opening up a Roth IRA without a proper career, and I don’t make nearly enough money annually to justify increasing my 401k donation.
Should I change my mind and go with my friends’ recommendations? Or should I trust my gut and secure myself a career job before going through with the Roth IRA and 401k rate increase?
Ok this post is mostly for myself to just put everything together and cry :). Perhaps this will help you realize that you are better off than you thought! Although I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. I got myself into massive debt in 2022 and somehow , my current debt is improved which will be shocking when you see the numbers. I had a failed business adventure with personal funds, didn’t budget and lost my job. I ended up maxing out credit cards/loans but still didn’t budget properly and ultimately was delinquint on a number of loans. I got a job and was able to recover but a lot credit cards/loans were over 90 days. Ultimately this ended up helping in the long run as creditors offered to reduce what I owed and setup payment plans which further reduced my interest rate. Here is the damage.
Mortgage – $189,000 due (4.25%) – Monthly: $2,215.00 ((House Value: $489,000))
HELOC – $75,000 – Monthly: $489
Personal Loans: $77,625 due (7.49% – 28% Range)- Monthly: $2,505 total combined
Credit Card Debt: $67,366 – Monthly: $2,149 total combined monthly due (mostly under agreements to pay off in within the next 2ish years.
Monthy Bills:
Car Lease: $785 (two cars, sedan and SUV)
Electric and Gas – $330
Water Sewage – $40
Internet: $70
Cellular (Family Plan) – $250
Life Insurance – $69
Total: $1544
All in for my monthly payments: $8,902 per month
Making these payments, in 48 months my credit cards are paid off fully. In 2-3 years depending on the loans, my loans will have been paid off and things will finally look good. Time wise this doesn’t seem terrible due to the massive amount of debt.
I also took a new job in February. This will hopefully help me put a big dent in it. My paychecks are twice a month for $8,500 per paycheck. The first paycheck essentially pays all of this. The second paycheck pays for everything else (food mainly). Then end of the month I put the rest into savings with the plan to let that build up quickly and help speed up my bills by paying off the highest interest loans first. Obviously I am quite grateful for an insane salary that will make this doable and not force me to declare bankrupcy. I am also elgibile for a bonus ($90k after taxes) in January. Until then I will be eating a lot of Ramen
Thanks for reading my madness. And let me know any feedback!
Hi yall, so I graduated the past winter and will be starting work in the next upcoming week. I have a Chase college checking account that I’ve been using the past 4/5 years. I am planning on opening up a HYSA with SoFi for my emergency funds. Is there any benefit to opening up a SoFi checking account as well? I am planning on having my direct deposit be set up to my Chase account since I also have a Chase Sapphire credit card.
Thanks.
# Best Budget App May 2024 – Past Mint User
Hi All, Now that Mint has closed down, I am looking for a replacement and maybe an upgrade. I have gotten used to auto syncing feeds so that is a must but I have also other preferences. When I say upgrade, I’m looking for an app that is basically a digital checkbook register and personal PL in one. Is there an app for that?
I would like a budgeting app that has the following: Bank feed syncing, Drill down/split expense categorization (e.g. being able to split a Costco or Amazon purchase into their multiple correct categories, Mobile and web app, Reconciliation against bank statements, Ad hoc reporting (e.g. setting a date range and pulling data from the platform)
I’m basically looking for a stripped down version of bookkeeping software like Quickbooks Online or Xero but not willing to pay the $30/mo to handle my personal finances. I am willing to pay the average $100ish/year for an app that has the features listed above. I have looked into the following but do not have first hand experience using any of them: Copilot, YNAB, Empower, Monarch, Tiller, Quicken Simplifi and Deluxe.
I have been doing my own research for a bit and so far have found that only YNAB has actual reconciliations. If anyone has first hand experience using any of the mentioned apps or can recommend an app not listed above, I would appreciate it. The recommendation does not have to have all the features I listed above. An app with as many of them as possible would be great. I’ll just have to settle for whatever is out there for now.
Help me with my retired parents asset allocation.
My folks are retired, in their 70s. I just saw their accounts and they are ~70-80% allocated to stocks between tax advantaged and taxable accounts. Seeing this made me a bit nervous. I want to help them rebalance.
* Their day to day expenses are covered with pension and SS. They need a place to park the portion of their 401k RMDs they aren’t spending.
* ~$500k in a taxable brokerage. Is the best move to keep this to avoid tax implications? It’s ~80% stocks
* ~1.5M between their 401ks. 78% stocks, and a bunch of funds with overlapping holdings. They can sell anything and buy a new fund in the 401k account without tax implications, right?
If it’s recommended to have them keep the taxable accounts alone, I’ll just have them either buy a retirement income fund (like VTINX) or make a 3-fund portfolio so their overall asset allocation is maybe 40% stocks. I think they can handle a bit more risk since most day to day expenses are covered by pension/SS.
I think they’d like some place to park cash as well, either a CD ladder, or money market fund.
Does this seem like a reasonable plan? I’m not too informed about tax implications and can do more research for them, or help them connect with a fee-based CFP type person.
I’ve got a taxable account that’s allocated for a house down payment.
I’m putting money in each month, and I’ve been buying T-Bills that autoroll every month, with a 1/4th of the total in VT to try and chase bigger returns. I’m getting lazy, and want to be fully hands off, instead of having to buy T-Bills manually. Should I just use SGOV instead of T-Bills?
I see SGOV has a dividend technically, but I know that it’s exempt from state taxes. What’s the “optimal” way to do this?
Just paid my last car payment and IRS payment for my 2022 taxes! Now to just tackle the credit cards and I’m debt free in June of next year!
Huntington 5.18% APY 7 Month CD
Hello,
I have $15k maturing from a previous Huntington Bank CD and they currently have an offer for 5.18% APY for a 7 month CD.
I already use Huntington so I feel it is a worth while offer. I was simply curious to see if there is anything substantially better out there that can give that high of a return guaranteed for 7 months.
I know there are maybe still a few High yield savings accounts out there at 5.25% but they won’t be guaranteed to stay that high.
Thanks in advance!
Does anyone spend their HYSA interest? We track ours in its own category in YNAB and we haven’t spent any of it. Sometimes I look at the total interest earned and think about treating ourselves but I also like seeing it grow. What do you all do? Trips, home updates or let it sit and continue to cushion your account?
[deleted]
Posted this in the weekend thread and nobody saw it, so reposting here:
When I discovered a delinquency on my credit report from an old Verizon account, I called them to try to settle the matter. I guess they mailed me a final bill after I closed the account over the phone, but since I moved soon after I never received the bill. Fast forward to me calling them late last year, I said I was happy to pay to settle the matter, I just didn’t want it negatively affecting my credit. The young guy on the phone said I had two choices: pay half or pay the whole bill. I said what’s the difference? He said no difference. So I said, okay, I’ll pay half. And they apparently closed the account.
However, even though the account is closed, it is still showing up as a delinquency on my credit report. Is this because I technically “settled” the debt by paying half? If I had paid in full, would they have simply closed the account in good standing? Is it worth calling them back to see if I can pay the rest and get this negative mark off my credit report?
Thanks in advance.
What are the best cashback cards for each major provider nowadays?
Mastercard/Visa/Amex
Key things I want:
– no monthly/yearly account fees
– i just want plain cashback or a bill reduction, not points/miles
– ideally but not mandatory, a good online dispute system. I have a card right now that uses Synchony bank and makes me mail in a letter if I want to dispute a charge, which is not fun.
-I don’t care about interest rate at all. I set my card to autopay so I never pay interest on my credit cards.
Hey everyone, first time poster.
So my company recently closed a big deal and we’re now sitting on mid 7 figures of cash. I was looking around at the banks I use for my personal HYSA and saw they generally don’t have competitive rates for business savings accounts.
Any recommendations for business savings accounts with a 4.25%+ interest rate? Also open to a business brokerage account with a cash sweep option which would get us to a similar interest rate
Is it ok to put most of your emergency savings in accessible investment accounts vs just a high yield savings? I’m talking some mutual funds and ETFs with just a few volatile stocks. This is specially ear marked toward emergency and not retirement. I just don’t think putting 50k into high yield savings makes sense. But that’s what 6-8 months of expenses would look like.
I am (finally) rolling over my old 401k plans (schwab, adp) into my new one (vanguard).
After the rollovers are complete, do I need to close/deactivate the old accounts? Do ADP and/or Schwab charge account fees?
Trying to prevent getting a negative balance like an empty bank account might.
I’m using a basic compound interest calculator to project what my 401K/Roth IRA investments may be over a long period of time. What is a reasonable long term interest rate that I should be assuming?
Looking at merging some finances with my fiancee.
We want a joint CC for shared expenses, just a simple rewards card, not one with different rewards rates for different categories, and zero foreign transaction fee.
We want a joint checking account for paying utilities and the CC bill.
We want a joint savings account. I was looking at HYSA but also considering MM funds.
And ideally have all of these at one institution.
I’m leaning towards Fidelity. No HYSA but can have a brokerage with MMF.
SoFi is also a good looking option.Their CC is a little better at 2.2% if you pair the CC account with a direct deposit checking/savings. Main downside is I’ve seen mixed reviews of their customer service.
Any other institutions I should consider that check these boxes? Any thoughts on deciding between SoFi/Fidelity?
Last year my employer withheld state income tax for the wrong state where I don’t live, for a few paychecks in a row after I started the job. Is there a process for reclaiming these taxes that went to the wrong state? I did already reconcile the issue on my 1040 when filing with the correct state, so now it’s just a matter of getting that money back.
This is a throw away because I’m so ashamed of not knowing the answer. I have 1 credit card and I am in debt 12,091 dollars with my current goal being to pay it off. I make more than the minimum monthly payments and try to minimize my use, but I’m still having a hard time making a dent. My APR is 28.24%. Would I be a good candidate for balance transfer in small increments to just make major dents? What’s the best/ smartest way I can get myself out of this?
I have a question about mortgages and credit. I just got married, my husband and I are buying a new home. I have a condo I’m selling for around $150,000, it’s paid off so essentially I’ll have that as cash. He has a house as well, and currently owes about $100,000 on it. His house is not big enough for us. Our options are to sell his place, pay off his debt, use my $ for a down payment on something bigger. In our area for what we are looking for it’d be around $300,000. Or we could keep his house and add onto it, our estimate for additions and improvements is around $175,000.
If we go with upgrading his house, what’s the best way to go about it? Should we pay off his mortgages (of which he has 3?!) and get a loan for the improvements? Should we refinance his mortgages get a better rate, and use my $ for improvements? The loan person I’m talking with wants us to refinance with him using an FHA loan, then use my cash for improvements. But I think if we pay off his debt we’ll get better loan options to do the work?
If it’s unclear I know very little about all of this! I would like to keep our monthly payments as low as possible (obviously) and I don’t want to over pay in interest.
Halp!
Going to put up a Hail Mary question…
My 401k is with Principal. I really like their retirement planner. It says with my current contributions I’ll have 82% income replacement.
Does anyone know if it’s using my age down to the day on the planner? For example, I’m 42. Would it calculate differently if I was 42y 1d vs 42y 364d?
I know, splitting hairs and all.
Hey all,
About to throw about $100k into an HYSA but not sure which to choose..
Looking for :
1.) Decent APY (of course)
2.) Relatively easy to use app/interface to monitor and track balance.
3.) Easy access to money (debit card necessary, 2-3 days max transfer to local checking account)
4.) FDIC insured, all the normal stuff, etc.
I’m reading pretty mixed reviews on pretty much every bank.. Ally and Wealthfront stick out as the leaders, but Everbank and SoFi also seem promising with mixed reviews.
No plan to do a scheduled direct deposit, but will make periodic deposits as the checking account balance becomes abundant and in excess of what we need to keep around for bills.
My emergency fund is fully funded and Roth IRA/401k is maxed as well, so this cash is just currently sitting in my local credit union earning pennies instead of dollars.
Good chance I am overthinking this.
Thanks!
Question about tax on CD, 10k+ bank deposits
Hey there guys. So I have a CD on CapitalOne, that I bought for $10,000. It’ll mature soon around $10,700. I want to cash it out to my main savings account, a Discover HYSA.
I’ll obviously be paying tax where applicable when I get my tax form from CapitalOne at the end of the year.
But I’ve also heard that any deposit into a bank $10,000 or more is reported and examined to be taxed, or something. I forget the exact details of what I heard.
Is this true? Do I need to worry about it? I don’t want to be double taxed, or be taxed on the entire $10,700 when I should only be on the $700 profit.
Thanks.
Bad news: I’m 27 and just started saving for retirement this year, currently make 75k.
Good news: maxing out 401k this year, maxed out Roth IRA for 2023, 2024, and will max out 2025 on January 1st so will have put in (with the employer match) about 47k into retirement in a year’s time.
Roth IRA is 100% FXAIX, considering putting my 401k 100% into VTSAX but am wondering if I should keep like 20% of it international? I’m worried.
I know I’m behind, I’m doing what I can to fix it bit by bit.
I got into grad school out of state so I’m selling my house and renting for 2-3 years until I figure out where to buy.
I’m expecting around $100k from the sale of my current house and I’m trying to figure out where to put it. I don’t want to keep my home and rent it to someone because it will be too complicated for our situation. I’m eventually going to use it all as a DP on a future house.
One option I’m considering is putting it all into S&P 500 ETFs and the other option I’m considering is to put it into a HYSAC. Maybe I’ll split it up between the two.
What would you do?
I am a 19 college student currently attending uni on a full ride. I was talking to a friend a while back and he mentioned that he takes his subsidized loans and throws them into stocks (not smart imo as the stock can go down). However, I currently have a HYSA that makes 5.15% APY. I am currently eligible for 5.5k a year in direct subsidized loans. I graduate in the winter of 2026, which gives me about 3 years to let the loan mature in the account (add the 6 month grace period).
Given the 5.5k is processed 3 times, at my 5.05% interest, that would leave me with about 1.76k in “profit.” Paying off the loan there is like a 1% disbursement fee as well (1% of 16.5k is 165 bucks, so now 1.6k in profit).
The issue can exist where I may not have the money to pay the loan back. I am on a full ride at my uni and get a 3k stipend, 2k from scholarships, and my Pell Grant all given back to me at the beginning of each semester. I have around 28k saved as of now and it will steadily increase as I have a great job for my age as well. I was just wondering if this was a worthwhile endeavor since there is no chance of losing the money due to stocks tanking.
I know Ramsey would say “take out no debt blah blah blah” but 1.6k for basically 0 risk seems like a win to me.
Thoughts?
My husband and I (26M, 26F) are expecting our first child soon. We’d like for me to be a Stay At Home Mom. If we no longer had my income, we would be able to live on his income plus continue paying into an IUL, but this wouldn’t leave us space in the budget to continue contributing to 401Ks/Roth IRAs. I know there are mixed feelings on IULs, but we have determined it to fit into our long-term financial planning as a family. We currently have $125K between our retirement accounts, as well as $40K in an emergency fund HYSA.
I will plan on going back to work in likely 8-10 years or so, when our last child enters school, and will resume regular retirement savings contributions.
Is this a crazy plan? We want to be able to balance our family values (me being a SAHM) while also being financially wise. Are we severely limiting our retirement potential if we pause retirement savings for awhile?
I’m currently weighing my options for short-term savings and I’m trying to understand the differences between Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and high-yield savings accounts. I would appreciate your insights on a few aspects:
1. Interest Rates: How do the interest rates generally compare between CDs and high-yield savings accounts? Which tends to offer better returns under current economic conditions?
2. Liquidity: I know that CDs require locking in funds for a set period, but how significant is the penalty for early withdrawal compared to the flexibility of a high-yield savings account?
3. Risk: Are there any differences in risk levels between these two options, especially considering FDIC insurance limits?
4. Usage Scenarios: Under what financial scenarios might one choose a CD over a high-yield savings account, or vice versa?
Any personal experiences or advice on navigating these choices would also be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance for your help!
I remember someone had posted a website for a place to shop for term life insurance, does anyone know what I’m taking about and can link me
“…will match 50% of the first 4% of pay you contribute.”
You are always vested in your matched contributions
What does this mean exactly? Is 4% of pay my salary or is it 4% of what I contribute to the 403b?
My salary is $200,000 and I max my 403b.