What are /r/personalfinance's favorite Products & Services?

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Failure to provide service is the sort of situation that credit card disputes and chargebacks are made for. You've tried unsuccessfully to get a refund. Stop calling hotels.com and call your credit card company.

>Ourselves, and no one in our family or friends makes this kind of money

I have seen this dynamic before and I would caution you about disclosing too much detail to friends or family about what you will be making. Do a few nice things to help people if they need it but don't allow yourself to be viewed as an endless ATM.

If you haven't read any financial books in the past I would recommend The Millionaire Next Door and A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

Plan on making contributions to retirement accounts early on. Come back to the forum with a list of investment options when you get started with your new jobs, in whatever your company's plan has to offer.

50% of the boomers have less than $100K saved for retirement. 76% have less than $300K. Lets not get excited about the impact of their retirement accounts.

Source: https://www.fool.com/retirement/2016/12/17/baby-boomers-average-savings-for-retirement.aspx

First off: tell no one! Not your family (i.e. relatives) if they don't know. Not your friends. Not your co-workers. Nobody! Sit on that money for a couple months to get your head straight. Spend none of it until you do a couple of things...

Consumer Reports has a great list of what to do when you inherit a large amount of money. Link is here.

One of the more important things on that list is:

>Consult a financial adviser. >If you had bad financial habits before, a windfall might only accentuate them. Financial planners can help to create distance between you and the money, and even set you up with an allowance if you're concerned about the possibility that you'll squander it. Consider a fee-only financial planner, one who doesn't work on commission and shouldn't try to sell you investments you don't need. To find one, go to www.napfa.org, the website of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. Interview several before you choose one. An adviser can help you come up with a financial plan that will meet your financial goals, both short-term ones (big-ticket purchases, for example), and longer-term goals like retirement.

You need to seek out a financial adviser that has a fiduciary duty to do what is best for you and not the financial adviser.

$1MM, while a large sum, can easily be squandered. Sorry about your grandfather but good luck to you.

I used to sell annuities as a broker, yes this is the main reason. You are better off investing in a Roth IRA or some other retirement account first, then - if possible when you retire - obtain a variable annuity with a principle/income protection (just in case the market crashes, but you get more dough when it goes up, than fixed).

Long story short, read Bogleheads Guide to Investing or Bogleheads Guide to Retirement; sources:

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_d006Bb505YNH1

The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470919019/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_z006Bb4QAZKBM

These two books are more than enough to give anyone the knowledge in terms of investing and retirement planning. Or just hit me up with questions, please note that I haven’t been licensed in almost a decade, because I had chosen not to renew my series 6 and 63. Anyway, I hope my post helps.

Edit: damn autocorrect.

This is a great way to think about major purchases. It's one of the core concepts in Your Money or Your Life. There's even an extension for Google Chrome that will change any prices on a website to the amount of time you'll have to work to earn that much.

Don't just focus on the investing side, focus on your overall financial situation. This includes your investments, but it also includes how you handle your short term savings, plan for trips, use credit cards, negotiate for raises, etc.

To that end, I highly recommend to the book "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. Ignore the silly title, it's not a get rich quick scheme--it is all about how to get your financial life in order so that you feel "rich" even if you are really just graduating from college and starting your first job.

His advice on investing is going to be similar to what most people here suggest: Index funds, keep adding money over time, rebalance every once and a while but don't sweat the market swings or try to play the market daily. But he's going to give you a lot more instruction on how to automate the rest of your finances and get to a place where you are comfortable.

Unlike many other general personal finance books, he's never going to tell you to be cheap or to go without buying things you really want. He'd rather help you optimize your savings and get a better job than try to fund your retirement by never buying Starbucks.

You can send Money Order. USPS has a limit of $1,000 max per money order, but it's only $1.65 for mailing $1,000. So it'll only cost ($8.25 for 5 - $1,000 money order). You can also track it and make sure you receive it because there's receipt number you can call and use the receipt number to locate it.

(https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/12/how-do-money-orders-work.aspx) (https://www.google.com/search?q=usps+money+order+guarantee&rlz=1C1LENP_enUS653US653&oq=usps+money+order+g&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6879j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

ynab.com (You Need A Budget Student Program) Is still offering students a free year online budgeting. There's also an app. It's done wonders for me (and plenty of others according to their videos). Congrats on getting a hold of this. It won't be too long before you're out of this hole and in a better financial space.

ETFs are very similiar to mutual funds and IMO you can treat them the same. https://www.fool.com/investing/etf/2018/01/15/etf-vs-mutual-funds-the-pros-and-cons.aspx

the topic is very well covered, and i definitely prefer ETFs, and have been buying them non-stop in my career for my IRA and non-401k accounts

Before you go and negotiate the salary read THIS book. Or do the audio book. There is a section on negotiating salary but the whole book is useful. Really changed the way I talk with people.

I am so sorry for your loss. I am in a similar situation.

I live in Oregon, but I asked my mortgage company this question and they said just keep making the payments and have family contact the lender to do paperwork. In an apt/condo you might need to keep up with dues/fees to the HOA or community fund also. You may have to pay some property tax before the end of this year. The tax office or mortgage lender can tell you the current tax bill payment arrangement (who sends the payment).

Def contact an estate attorney in CA for advice.

Untangling things takes time, so take a deep breath and keep good records of calls and to-dos. I have a spreadsheet with a different tab for each organization I talk to so I don't have to remember anything.

You may need to have multiple copies of the death certificate over time, so make sure you have some spare signed originals.

I found this book pretty helpful: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1476700214/

Again, my deepest condolences to you and your family.

lol

https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/beneficiaries/

>Robinhood doesn’t support beneficiaries
at this time, but if you’ve recently experienced the loss of a loved
one, please know that we’re here for you.

With a Roth IRA you can withdraw CONTRIBUTIONS (not gains) before 59.5, penalty free. There are some circumstances that allow you to withdraw gains penalty-free as well.

It may not be your ultimate goal, but the Wiki in r/financialindependence will help you figure some of this stuff out.

Our condolences, first of all.

This is mostly a /r/legaladvice question in regards to the specifics of how her will would be executed and her estate probated to settle her debts.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/10/what-to-do-when-a-loved-one-dies/index.htm

Even if the bank is informing the police it can't hurt to make a report yourself. Find the non emergency number for your local station at home and tell them what happened. Assuming the bank has security cameras it won't be hard for them to just pull up the recording from when the fraud occurred and hand it over to the police. As for your other personal info I'd go over all your accounts and update/change the security. If you aren't planning on taking a loan out in the next few months you could contact [email protected] to freeze your credit. Check out https://haveibeenpwned.com/ as well, it might give you a hint as to how your info got out there.

Nothing super snazzy, just Rhino Rack and then the kayak rack to carry the kayaks around

You could try amazon mechanical turk It is safer in terms of virus risk than online surveys. The money you earn can go to an account or to Amazon gift cards. I do it from time to time when I am watching TV and have made a bit of extra cash.

Never ever reuse the same password on two or more different sites!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Ignore this email. What's done is done. If he or she has your password, and actually has anything else on you, they will not give a shit about you once you've paid them a few hundred bucks (or whatever .45BTC is worth at the moment)
2. Immediately do an anti virus scan, windows and/or MacOS/iOS/Android updates. Update all devices you own.
3. Download KeePass for all your devices where you will need access to your passwords
4. Create a password database (KeePass 2.X, not 1.X, that's legacy) and begin adding all usernames and current passwords to it. Start changing the primary sites - emails, social media accounts, banking & personal finance sites, etc. Use a randomized password if possible - the strongest each site will allow. This will take a while. Do it for all the major sites and then the other random sites.
5. Enable 2Factor authentication on ALL WEBSITES which support it. This requires you to enter a randomized 6-8+ digit PIN along with your password. You'll either receive it via text, email or using an Authentication app like Google Authenticator or Authy.

If you do this, you'll be protected from current & future data breaches, and put yourself in a safer position that you shouldn't be targeted in the future.

I wouldn't pay them - they probably only have your password and if it's a common one, maybe they have a few random pieces of data on you. It's unlikely though, they're probably bluffing. It's useless to pay them - nothing stops them from collecting the Bitcoin and immediately releasing whatever stuff they have on your, or continuing to exploit you and shake you down monthly or yearly.

You generally cannot qualify for subsidies for marketplace plans if your employer plan is considered "affordable". Unfortunately the definition for affordability is based on the expense of single coverage, not family coverage:

>A job-based health plan is considered “affordable” if the employee’s share of monthly premiums for the lowest-cost self-only coverage that meets the minimum value standard is less than 9.56% of their family’s income.

https://www.healthcare.gov/have-job-based-coverage/change-to-marketplace-plan/

However, OP may be able to take the single coverage for himself and have his wife and child covered under a marketplace plan with subsidies.

(Also I'm not sure why OP thinks that crossing state lines for medical service will be a problem with a marketplace plan.)

For decades, I was a Kraft purist, then I discovered you can buy cheddar powder in bulk and make your own mac and cheese. It's so, so much better, plus you can add as much cheese as you want instead of being limited by that tiny little packet that comes in the blue box. My favorite brand is Anthony's Premium Cheddar Cheese Powder. It's about $10 for a whole pound on Amazon.

Absolutely don't do this; if you're going to invest in stocks and bonds, your expected returns after inflation for the next 30 years are probably about 5%. If you financial advisor takes an exorbitant 1% every near no matter the market performance, that eats up a third of the total portfolio value at the end of those 30 years.

You're an investing newbie: do your homework on how to invest wisely (Jack Bogle's The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a good start), then feel confident about dumping most of it into index funds using Betterment or Wealthfront.

And yes, as others have mentioned, 500k invested wisely means 20k a year to spend for the rest of your life and probably forever. Don't throw that opportunity away.

Edit: A fiduciary, or fee-only advisor (charging a flat fee rather than a percentage of your assets) would be a great help at this stage. They can educate you and help you without a direct conflict of interest.

I know several people who have bought bmw's in the $5k range and had horrible problems repairing them constantly. A buddy of mine owns a shop and also steers people away from them. They break down and have tons of problems, and are really expensive to fix.

There are several websites that show average yearly maintenance costs by car model and brand and BMW's are consistently more expensive on those as well.

The only one I found after a quick google search was this one from consumer reports buts it's mainly targeted at newer models. I know there's some others out there I remember from when I was shopping for our last car that break out maintenance costs a bit better by model.

Well, it's like this for many of us. Graduate high school, go to college, exit college to face a tanking economy, can't find a full time job, move back home to live with parents and work part time job, economy slowly pulls itself out of the toilet, get better job and are able to move into own place but still paying student loans so living paycheck to paycheck.

TL;DR The Great Recession was a bitch.

They'll send you a fake check and ask you to send an etransfer to the "movers" who will "pick up the car".

You'll etransfer real money to the scammers, which is gone forever. The check is fake and will bounce.

It's scam #2 here:

https://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

It hits about ten different warning signs described in that page.

Holy crap, fire this adviser.

>Cash out the traditional IRA paying the penalty

>Combine the cashed out IRA with the Roth IRA into a Variable Annuity (Roth IRA)

If the goal was to combine the IRAs, you could simply convert the traditional to a Roth and only pay taxes, not the penalty. It is shocking he suggested you cash out the IRA and eat the 10% penalty. It's borderline negligent.

As far as variable annuities, they are complicated, expensive products that generally are not very useful, especially for young people. They can offer some nice guarantees but you pay a premium for it, and a good chunk or of you money actually goes to paying adviser commissions, which is why advisers love selling them. It can take years to recoup.

Edit: And an annuity/Roth IRA combo makes almost 0 sense: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/just-say-no-to-an-annuity-in-your-roth-ira-2015-01-23

These numbers seem a bit suspect to me. They are based only on the numbers from this particular mechanic referral service, which has only been in business for less than four years, and would be skewed by things like dealer service programs. For example, new BMWs are covered for maintenance for the first 4 years / 50,000 miles, so these guys are not seeing any BMWs in those years under normal circumstances. My personal experience with multiple BMWs is nothing like the numbers quoted here, for example; I've probably averaged about $500/year for the last twenty years with cars 1 to 8 years old.

Better numbers would be found here, for example: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/12/what-that-car-really-costs-to-own/index.htm

A lot of stuff from the 15-20 and 18-25 wiki pages is probably applicable.

The Bogleheads videos in the wiki are very good. The "sound financial lifestyle" one is short, but very applicable. The Khan videos are also very good, but you might want to skip around a bit.

Books that might be helpful:

• Your Money or Your Life
• Total Money Makeover

Finally, check these posts:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6d8b77/i_have_been_asked_to_teach_a_class_on_personal/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/3audcu/i_have_the_opportunity_to_teach_a_personal/

First of all, have you called to try and figure this out? It sounds like you're already in over your head financially, so you might as well turn to the pros whose job it is to guide people through their health insurance options. The number to call is 1-800-318-2596.

Sorry for your loss.

How old is your sister? Are you in school or working? Same question for your sister.

Do you have any savings like an emergency fund?

Are any large expenses coming up?

Here are two good checklists:

• http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/10/what-to-do-when-a-loved-one-dies/index.htm
• http://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-06-2012/when-loved-one-dies-checklist.html

Worry about stuff step-by-step, you don't need to do everything at once.

I ran her Best Buy debt through a repayment calculator and her $93 monthly will never pay off the debt. If she doubles her payment to $180 per month, it will still take her 4 years to pay it off. It's important that she cut lifestyle to the bone and work her butt of at multiple jobs or better jobs to increase income. Her low income and spending habits have to change...keep an eye on any interest that may be accruing on the deferred student loans. Maybe check out a copy of Total Money Makeover and have her read it.

I know people that swear by that one, and it's not a bad book for BEING HUMAN LIKE US. The investment, money, and frugality books recommended on this sub are like that for the monetary side of life. If you internalize say, the central message of Your Money or Your Life(which would be a bit harder to do if you've never actually earned money), that is, money = life energy, don't waste it, you'll re-evaluate every facet of your spending, from the correct perspective of "is this worth the life energy I spent acquiring the money that I'm about to spend." The answer for fast food is: That wasn't all that fast, since it takes ~20 minutes, and if you're middle class it took you >30 minutes of work time to afford.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street is a book I have recommended a few times on this sub. It has pointed out vehemently that the best investment for an individual is a low expense, broadly diversified, index fund. Since the S&P 500 covers about 75-80% of US equities, that constitutes the perfect option.

While some people feel the need to buy help, you should really only pay if you can beat the market. Even then, you better make sure you are beating the market with fees being considered. Much to Bugs Bunny's chagrin, "if you can't beat me join em."

You got a puppy when you couldn't afford it? :-(

1. You need to budget every single dollar, you both clearly have a massive spending problem. YNAB.
2. Stop eating out. /r/MealPrepSunday and /r/EatCheapAndHealthy.
3. Reduce cell phone and internet costs.
4. Cancel cable.
5. Reduce pet expenses and do not get another pet, period.
6. Stop any non-matched retirement contributions until you get a handle on your budget, kill off the CC card debt, and have at least 3 months of spending in an emergency fund.

> My Credit Card= 5.5k owing

Paying this off needs to be one of your top priorities.

> 300 a week due to restaurants/fast food

I'm trying very hard to be nice, but that should be more like your monthly food budget, not your weekly spending. Read this article.

If you start cooking, you should not be buying any pre-prepared or ready-to-eat foods either. You need to be cooking your own meals. Cooking is not that hard.

Also, if you are drinking alcohol or soda with your meals, cut that out too. It's empty calories and expensive.

> Needs wet food and vet dry food

Find something cheaper, I am almost certain you are wasting money here too. Ask on a pet-related subreddit.

Finally, I'd suggest checking out copies of these books from your library:

• The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin

This! Set up a password manager (Bitwarden is free and open-source), turn on 2FA everywhere you can (not SMS 2FA if you can avoid it), and stop using the same password everywhere.

Then yeah I'd definitely research some low fee mutual funds. SP500 index funds only charge like 0.15% or something while some actively managed funds charge 2-3%. It doesn't sound like a lot but that adds up fast over the long run.

Get yourself a copy of the book The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and read the whole thing. It's not going to give you the full picture of the investing climate in 2017 but it's a really good starting point for getting into investing. Warren Buffett recommends it for all new investors.

Also, play around with some stock market simulations before you start doing your own stock picking.

Please read A Random Walk Down Wall Street. It's not that you can't make money, it's just that you likely won't. 80% of traders will lose money. If you want to invest more than your 401k/ira/401b/403b/TSP allow, I would personally use an after tax brokerage with Vanguard. This talks about what funds to place into what

> That's the #1 annoying thing about only using streaming services. There's no centralized database of who has what. If there's a movie I want to watch, I have to open and search in each stream individually. There are a few sites that purport to do that search for you, but I don't have good luck with them working well.

I usually do a quick search on this website. Seems to work for me. https://www.justwatch.com/us

Time to change banks to one that requires your card and pin entry to withdrawal money from a teller.

I would also strongly suggest that you lock your credit and request a copy of your credit report to look for fraudulent activities.

Request a copy of the withdrawal slip from Citibank so you can compare the signatures. If they are even remotely similar change the way you sign things.

It is probably a good idea to also check repositories like have I been pwned to see if your details have leaked from a hack somewhere. This is another good way to check for identity theft.

If your identity has been stolen, you're in for a bad time for the rest of your life.

I will forever be grateful that my high school Economics teacher had us read 'The Millionaire Next Door.' Forever ingrained in my mind the image of what someone looks like who not only is wealthy, but who plans on staying that way.

IRS employee here;

If your father claims you on his return for 2014, it is likely he will pay a larger Shared Responsibility Payment (SRP) if you don't meet one of the exemptions allowed by the Service.

Check your healthcare options through your community college, or try healthcare.gov.

Thank you for reading.

You are confusing anti malware and anti virus. They are two different things. And both arguably vital. Plus your advice is a little off. Although windows av has improved, better (and still free) AV is available. I'd recommend Avast, but research your own if you prefer, lots of independent comparisons.

>Here is my problem. I have no clue how to teach him about investing. I have my retirement savings in one of those target year funds because I am financially illiterate.

Congratulations! You are the Socrates of finance. This puts you well ahead of most.

Start him a savings account first. You'll need to open a custodial account since he's a minor. While he's saving money to meet minimum investment requirements you can learn about saving and investing together.

I would recommend reading the books listed under the side bar here and /r/financialindependence. Specifically, I'd start with A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Avoid anything from Robert Kiyosaki, Dave Ramsey, or the like.

That isnt true at all. The expansion is for people that didnt make more than 133% of the poverty line:

>If your state hasn’t expanded Medicaid, your income is below the federal poverty level, and you don't qualify for Medicaid under your state's current rules, you won’t qualify for either health insurance savings program: Medicaid coverage or savings on a private health plan bought through the Marketplace

Get insurance NOW. The ACA has made pre-existing conditions illegal with the exception of smoking. You can get insurance, and if there is a lag pay the bills with your assets. You are almost certainly not going to qualify for medicaid, but buy private NOW. I just sent you a private message, more people need to be aware of this

https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/pre-existing-conditions/

> The coverage they offer is absolute shit; $6,000 deductibles and no other benefits offered before you rack up $6,000 in costs.

This isn't exactly true. All new health insurance plans are required to offer free preventative care regardless of the size of the deductible. Some plans (like mine) also give you three free primary care visits per year, regardless of the purpose of those visits. I know it's not much... but just putting it out there in case you didn't know.

I had the same issue with Expedia and a refund needed due to flight cancellations six times in a row.
Every conversation needed to iterate the first cancelled flight, the reason for the cancellation, the rebooking 'fees' that would need to be waived, etc. etc. Waste of manpower.

Finally, when the conference itself I was planning on attending cancelled, I simply asked for a refund. Multiple expletives at being given the run around, until finally I was like "I'll just ask the airline."

8 months of back and forth resolved in less than 48 hours.

Third party establishments, such as hotels.com and expedia.com, can ultimately give you so much more of a headache as the process is not about streamlining it for your ease, it's for efficiency towards their profit. Also, people can be downright stupid.

Yes, it's definitely a scam.

https://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

The unwritten rules to not get scammed on craigslist:

• meet in person. Deal locally

• don't send money via Western Union, MoneyPak, or any of these other shady payment systems with no fraud protection

• don't buy shit that sounds too good to be true

• DEAL LOCALLY!

Offers to ship cars are virtually always a scam.

I would bet $100 if you go thru with this, you will get scammed.

Wealth Wisdom podcast episode 'The Millionaire Next Door' January 28th, 2011. Your typical millionaires don't look like millionaires. Best word of advice I got when I graduated "Do you want to look rich, or be rich?"

Might as well start with the most successful school in history: The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham (Warren Buffets mentor), then if that makes sense to you Security Analysis by Graham and Dodd. These were written in the 30's and 40's, so they're a little out dated but the concepts are still there.

After that, shock your system, because there are alot of ways to play the market. I'd maybe go with Crisis Investing by Doug Casey.

OP, you should really read "Don't Go to Art School" by Noah Bradley before you take the plunge.

I was once like you. I had a dream to be an illustrator but decided to go with the more lucrative route of nursing. I'M SO GLAD I DID. My artist friends had a lot more fun than I did in college but now they are living paycheck to paycheck bagging groceries and stocking shelves. They are just one car accident or broken arm or appendicitis or unplanned pregnancy away from screwing their lives over.

I work 12-hour shifts 3 days a week and have the rest of the week to do whatever I want, including using the internet to teach myself art for free while everyone else is in massive debt for it. Saving money is a cinch and I have plans to travel in a few months. Sometimes I schedule myself to have 5 or 6 days off without needing to use any paid time off at all. It's like I'm having mini-vacations from my job all the time and it's amazing.

One thing that artists don't realize is that you are essentially running a small business. A lot of art graduates think that they can get by with having a strong portfolio but that is only half of the battle. Do you have any business acumen? The ones who have a better chance at being successful artists are the ones who know how to pitch their skills and sell themselves and manage their resources. It's naive to think that work will just come your way just because you can "draw good." You need an entrepreneurial spirit to actually take your career off the ground as an artist.

This is a behavior issue. You can't make them succeed with money and they are likely to be poor sooner than later. The comment about stolen money being the reason they had to take the house back makes no sense. I'm guessing they did some dopey rent-to-own/land contract deal.

You can only firewall yourself from them. Give them a copy of the Total Money Makeover and if they don't read it, that is on them.

>mostly through the Act Blue donation engine. If you have ever been on a site like Daily Kos, you know what i am talking about.

I'm not familiar with that site or Act Blue, but could you use Ad blocking to prevent her from seeing any "reminders" to donate? Most browsers have ad blocking extensions available or a whole-home ad blocker (built-in to router or a Pi-Hole) might be better if you have control over the router.

https://www.healthcare.gov/fees-exemptions/hardship-exemptions/

A couple that might count for you:

"You had medical expenses you couldn’t pay in the last 24 months that resulted in substantial debt"

"You experienced another hardship in obtaining health insurance"

> Talking to a branch tomorrow.

When you do, you should use the words "I'm closing my account because you guys are worthless assholes and I'm going to bank somewhere that isn't regularly voted the worst-or-second-worst customer service in the whole USA"

It's also a good idea to cross-check your receipt with the amount you're actually charged. That way, you can protect yourself from waitstaff taking liberties with their tips.

In terms of budgeting, though, you might want to check out Mint.

AirBnB's insurance policy doesn't cover damage to rented properties if the owner didn't consent to the sub-letting. That is, if you're renting your apartment from someone else and then renting it out to others without the owner's consent, that million dollar policy doesn't apply to you (in the paragraph headed "User Conduct"). By all means, keep on keepin' on, but be aware of your personal liabilities in this situation.

If your grandfather died in 2019 or earlier, you fall under the old set of rules, which allow you to stretch out withdrawals from the inherited Roth IRA over your lifetime. However, you would have needed to elect that method right away. If it’s been a few years and you haven’t taken any withdrawals yet, your remaining options may be limited, or there could be additional tax penalties. Schwab has a pretty good summary of the old rules here. Be sure to scroll down to the heading “Roth: Non-spouse inherits”

You can avoid penalties in some cases.

https://www.schwab.com/ira/trad-ira/withdrawal-rules#:~:text=You%20can%20avoid%20an%20early,adjusted%20gross%20income%20(AGI).&text=If%20you're%20unemployed%20for,your%20spouse%2C%20or%20your%20dependents.

Also, divorce only qualifies you for the special enrollment period if the divorce is the reason you lost insurance. If you don't have insurance when you get divorced, the divorce will not make you eligible for the special enrollment period. Here's the screener that explains it.

For online backups of sensitive information you can use a dedicated password management application like KeyPass. Even if your PC is hacked the passwords, and any other information in it, are still protected by encryption requiring a second password. I have it on Windows, Linux, and my iPhone with my database on Dropbox so I can easily access it from wherever I'm working.

What you should never do is keep your sensitive information online in a way that just anyone who uses your logon or computer can read or use. Letting your browser store passwords for automatic logins for example, or keeping them in a spreadsheet or document.

Little known fact: Computer security is rated by how long it takes to crack (difficulty), not whether or not it can ever be cracked. Anything man-made can be man-hacked. What you want is something that can't be hacked in at least the next few years.

(Don't kill the messenger. This explanation is too short and simple to cover all technical security possibilities, but it is a good enough place to start and it is what I tell family members.)

Put together a resume. Find a template that focuses on skills/accomplishments rather than employment history.

Then I would stop into every business in town that you might want to work for and fill out an application and attach the resume.

I’ve drifted between SAHM-ing and working. I’m sorry if this is obvious, but DO NOT mention that you have kids in your interview. It will come out eventually, the interviewer will likely figure it out, but don’t volunteer the information before you’re hired. It’s unprofessional. When asked about the gap in employment I’ve said “family obligations” while still being able to play up household organization, meal planning and preparation, transport, record-keeping, budgetary responsibilities, etc.

I’ve also opened employment doors through volunteer opportunities.

My kids are 17 and 19 now. A little more advice...work this out now. That “beyond motherhood” purpose. My friends (nearing the empty nest) are all having a rough time. Regardless of their educational background, age, marriage it’s a hard time and I wish I had been better prepared for it.

Edit: I just did a quick search for a simple resume

example of skill based resume

Don’t overlook qualities employers may appreciate! Licensed driver/clean driving record, reliable vehicle, can lift 100lbs, can stand for long hours, etc.

Are you sure about that? There are Schwab brokerage locations across the country, but the bank is a separate entity and you can't do any banking there (I've tried before) although they can occasionally help you with administrative issues (link).

Very common scam, the check was fake. Your cousin is likely out the money. How did your cousin send the $4800 to the scammer?

They can file a police report but they're not going to get the money back.

Sounds like your cousin broke the first 4 rules on craiglist's "how not to get scammed" page: https://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

If you list a beneficiary, generally that person. (It sounds like Robinhood does not let you do this; yet another astonishing shortcoming that should prompt you to choose a different brokerage.)

Otherwise, if you have a will or other estate document, the person named in such document.

Otherwise, it is distributed according to your state's intestacy laws.

Not forever.

From the FAQ:

>How long can I use this plan?
>
>You can use the plan as long as you are working at a qualified school. Your eligibility may be re-verified at any time. When your Office 365 Education plan expires:
>
> * The Office applications enter a reduced-functionality mode, which means that you can view documents, but you cannot edit or create new documents.
>
> * Online services associated with the school email address—for example, Office Online and OneDrive—will no longer work.
>
> * If your plan expires, you can extend your plan by re-verifying your status as an educator, or by moving to an Office 365 personal plan

​

Viable, long-term alternative: LibreOffice.

It's free, open source, works with Microsoft Office files, and none of my teachers were any the wiser.

There's certainly differences between the two, but it's more of a trade off than a deficiency. For example, there's some rarely used (but useful) function that Excel has that Calc doesn't, but Calc supports regex matching which Excel lacks (this is a big deal to me). There's a few other small things, but nothing I would consider a deal breaker.

If you really want cloud support, Google Docs is quite nice, and it's free, too. Otherwise, I just use Dropbox, also free, and save my school files in there.

> What are the repercussions of a 529 if they don't spend it on schooling?

https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/529-account-what-happens

However, if you decide to use the money for something other than qualified education expenses, you will have to pay income taxes plus a 10% penalty on the earnings.

>Also, I'd rather them not spend their "spending money" on school as I'm planning on providing for that myself.

Okay. As a reminder money is fungible. Putting this money towards school means you'd have to put less in for school and could put money towards other things.

Regardless I'd advise you to bump up the 529 contributions or put 2500 towards the 529. Because with the current calculations, it's not enough. I'm even doubting is enough for one semester in 18 years with the way college expenses are right now. Even in my in state school, their website is now stating avg 4 year uni costs are 100k.

You would love this book if you haven't read it. IMO, it's meant for the average joe to understand how paying anyone fees eats away at your future returns. It's fairly small and each chapter only takes 20-30 minutes to read. It's been well worth my time reading.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns by John C. Bogle

This hit the news last year. Had to find it again.

https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/what-do-recent-changes-to-fico-scores-mean-me

The two changes that I've experienced is credit utilization gets punished harder and they no longer consider your credit "birth" as a major factor (instead it's the average of all current credit lines)

Custodial IRAs are out there. They basically allow for parents to open up accounts (and deposit money) in their child's name and gain interest. This money can be used on college, housing, and retirement. One of many vehicles: https://www.schwab.com/ira/custodial-ira

1. Increase your income. This means get a second job.
2. Reduce your expenses. Your rent is an acceptable rent for your income (towards the high end), but your other debt makes your rent too high. Rent a room instead of an apartment. Or share a room.
3. Pay down your debt fast. The best mathematical way is to target the highest interest debt first. Basically, you go after the credit card (CC) with the highest APR.
4. Start budgeting. Track every dollar that comes in and where you spend it. Online tools like Personal Capital and Mint make this easy. But a real budget is more complex than these online tools. Ideally you either make a spreadsheet or use something like YNAB ( https://www.youneedabudget.com )
5. Start looking at making an emergency fund. With CC debt, emergency funds cannot be a priority, but having at least a one month emergency fund (one month of expenses) is worth slowing down on the CC payments. After your CC debt is paid, make sure you keep a 3-6 month emergency fund (6 months is ideal for many people though this fund can be smaller or larger based on your individual situation).

Check out Vanguard. Either go to their website, check out bogleheads.org, or read The Bogleheads' Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio: How a Simple Portfolio of Three Total Market Index Funds Outperforms Most Investors with Less Risk https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DH1QYJK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dQVaCbKQVD1VD

Easy peasy.

I like your advice about making your own baby food. It's also another way to do something that's directly nice for the baby. But one thing I didn't get:

> and you don't get the preservatives that are necessary to keep baby food from spoiling on a grocer's shelf

Maybe there's different baby food near you, but even the cheaper stuff near me either has no preservatives of just vitamin C.

Here's a link to Gerber sweet potatoes on amazon. The price certainly is higher than I'd see at a grocery store, but I included it because you can see a picture of the ingredients.

Ramit Sethi's book, "I Will Teach You to be Rich" really helped me distinguish the difference between being cheap and being frugal. And it's important to know this to help you save money on things that don't really matter, and spend it on the things you truly value.

Here is some of what he says:

"Cheap people care about the cost of something.

Frugal people care about the value of something.

Cheap people try to get the lowest price on everything.

Frugal people try to get the lowest price on most things, but spend a lot on items they really care about."

He emphasizes living a happy life and spending money on things you truly enjoy, while eliminating the rest. I save a ton of money on eating out with friends, but I do find other great ways to hang out with them (such as hiking). In the meantime, all those extra dollars of being frugal from eating out allows me to use my money on traveling often which I love and feel no guilt with using my money on.

You should definitely look into his book if you haven't yet. Enjoy your life while saving money!

that doesn't sound right. you can buy costco brand off amazon right now, 365 pills for like $15

edit: cheaper to buy it from costco directly plus then jeff bezos doesn't get any more money

also the Kirkland and Good Sense brands are both the same pill, look at the back of the box, they literally come from the same factory, so just get whichever's cheaper.

> Spend an hour in excel

Give me 10 minutes and I'll edit this post with a link.

Edit: here you go, OP

Let me know if anything in that spreadsheet looks wrong, but if my formulas are right, you and your grandchildren should really prefer taking that $400/wk. That "amount spent" is just how much of the 20k you're spending... Make it whatever you want (between 0-20k, anyway). I picked 3%, 4%, and $10,000 somewhat randomly, but happily, it works out to you having almost no money left when you're planning on dying.

Edit 2: Note to self: read the whole post first. I'll work on factoring in the mortgage...

Edit 3: It's creepy when you guys watch me work. I just want to make a note of the fact that you will not be able to completely pay off your mortgage with a lump sum (taxes...), but if anyone can give me an estimated tax rate I can help OP out there.

Perfect example of why you never take the counter offer your employer gives you when you tell them you plan on leaving. LinkedIn has a great article that says taking a counter offer is career suicide.

EDIT: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-accepting-counter-offer-career-suicide-sarabjeet-sachar

http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/28/counter-offer-employer-lead-careers-cx_hr_0630counteroffer.html

Step 1, if your husband has such serious ealth issues that he can't even provide childcare then he needs to be on disability. Make sure to get all the government options. Secondly for yourself if you have a solid internet connection I would scour for jobs on upwork.com. There are a lot of assistant jobs out there and they won't even need you to travel. Considering your situation with childcare and not having a vehicle I would consider remote work to be the only real option you have. Also it would get you out of the economy of your local area into the thriving economies of the cities. Just keep in mind, when you're working remotely the expectation of competence on you is doubled. You can't just show up, you have to be extremely eager to work and make a difference for your employer.

You may be able to find personal assistant positions, if you speak well, people might have you do voice overs, editing documents if your English is good. You'd be surprised how many marketable skills you have.

Try advion. That stuff is roach killing magic. https://www.amazon.com/advion-Plungers-Cockroach-Insecticide-Australian/dp/B00730QW70/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=advion&qid=1564814580&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I know, right? I used to freak out whether I would have enough cash in the account for the automatic withdrawals (and many times I didn't). Since YNAB, my checking account is nice and healthy, and there's a magical amount of cash left over at the end of the month.

I got a few increases at work, and expenses were creeping up, then read Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Not a life changer, but pretty darn good and stuck in my head the idea that pay increases go towards debt. Now, I'm like... where the heck did that extra $700 come from? This is AWESOME!!!

And yes, YNAB rules.

Semi-related, but not exactly the same: Economics.

I've read several books on econ, mostly behavioral economics, that have really shaped the way I look at the world. Just a little bit of psychology/economic knowledge can really transform your entire decision-making process.

Currently reading: Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan. Also recommend: The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

Assuming you're in the US, or someplace with the same "credit score" racket, I would offer this: You're pretty much in the same situation I was at your age. I did end up opening a credit card that year, and that account is still open to this day. That gives me a long credit history with good payment records, and has been great for my credit score as well as ability to get other financial services. I'd say go for it.

My word of warning: I'm assuming since you said you have no expenses that you're living with your folks or similar. Not long after I turned 18, I started working fewer hours (to make time for college classes) but expenses started to rise because I wasn't living with the folks anymore. Watch out for that shift. The first time I couldn't make the payment in full, I felt just sick. I thought I'd never be "stupid enough" to end up in credit card debt, but it did happen even if it wasn't a deep hole. This didn't happen because of the credit card, but with a credit card, I accidentally mentally separated the "money I have" and the "money I was spending" at a time when my income-to-expense balance totally shifted and I was distracted with school. When you put a charge on a debit card, it draws from your account as soon as it clears; treat your credit card the same way. You can do it in your head, or you can use a tool: YNAB (/r/ynab) has been great for financial planning and is what I use, Mint is automatic at the expense of being less robust. So it's not about the credit card (you could be writing hot checks, too), but about watching for the financial changes that happen around that age when you use a method of payment that doesn't cut you off if you run out of cash (similarly, watch out for overdraft "protection").

Read I Will Teach you To Be Rich next. It walks you thru starting from scratch. https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second/dp/1523505745/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22ZIDQDRP595X&keywords=i+will+teach+you+to+be+rich&qid=1560644428&s=gateway&sprefix=i+wil+tea%2Caps%2C193&sr=8-1

There's a windfall section in the sidebar you should check out: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/windfall

I'd add, just do nothing for a while. Put it in a savings account and don't spend it, don't worry about investing it. Take 6 months or a year just to learn about investing. Read books. I really like this one which is 100 pages and does a great job covering all your bases.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of financial advisors based on their business models, but it would be fine to talk to a professional while you're learning. Seek out a fee-only advisor who is a fiduciary.

Really? Online businesses are really fickle. Did you know people actually invested in a flashlight app for the iPhone? It's gonna be a free feature with the next iOS, so that market is gone.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/10/apples-flashlight-is-why-we-cant-fund-nice-dumb-things/

Never place all your eggs in one basket. Especially if that basket is online. It can topple any second.

Ever heard of Dave Ramsey? The Total Money Makeover? Buy it. Read it. Internalize it. Live by it. And know that those of us who are clawing our way back from our financial mistakes will be envious of you until the day we die.

This is the oldest scam in the book and is called the Nigerian scam. Been around for a while surprised they still use it. Your roommate has been hiding under a rock or something. Read the earnings about this and other scams that are very clearly mentioned on Craigslist now.

https://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

See #2

The domain 'capitaloneemail.com' is registered to Capital One Services, Inc.; P.O. Box 85565, Richmond, VA, 23285. The registrant is , and the tech email is .

All of that looks above board. I work in email marketing, and the body content of the email also looks pretty legit and on the level to me. If you're in gmail and click the drop-down arrow by the message and click 'show original', do the headers indicate SPF PASS and DKIM PASS with domain capitaloneemail.com ?

This sort of looks legit to me. Sounds like they might not have been breached themselves, but they found your username/password combination in the dataset from some other company's breach and suspect someone used those credentials to login to your capital one online account. You can enter the email address you have tied to your capital one account here to see if that email was compromised in any of the major data breaches of the past few years: https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Lights don't have to be expensive. I just picked up this set off Amazon for $14 and the headlight is bright AF and doubles as a flashlight when I'm not riding my bike - works well. Rear light is whatever and works so for under $20 there's no excuse to not have SOMETHING Amazon Bike Light Set

While I don't believe you would be able to stay on their Medicaid plan it is worth contacting the appropriate agency and finding out for sure. That could potentially be huge savings.

Some more things I thought of that might be helpful:

• You will need furnishings in your new apartment. Buy as much as possible from places like Goodwill, Habitat Restore, and Craigslist. You can get basic appliances, cookware, plates, utensils, as well as furniture from these sources very cheap. You should be able to furnish your kitchen with the basics for a few hundred bucks. You can rent trucks by the hour from Lowe's and Home Depot for pretty cheap if you need to haul larger items from the store or to go pick up from someone. Inspect any furniture thoroughly for bedbugs, especially things like couches as that is not something you will want to deal with in the future and can be costly to fix.

• That said, don't buy a used mattress. It's gross and you're unlikely to get a good deal anyway. Also don't go to a local mattress seller because their markup is insane. Buy a cheap memory foam mattress like this one from Amazon. Your back will thank you and you'll save a bunch of money.

I'm curious - what's the component?

Irrespective of what it is, I think it will be difficult to prove causality. We have power surges in my neighborhood too, so 3 or 4 years ago, I installed a surge protector at the disconnect for the outside unit and also a whole house surge protector. I realize that an "n" of 1 is statistically irrelevant, but based on conversations with neighbors, either I've been incredibly lucky at dodging bullets since installing both the surge protectors, or they've been doing their job.

The Millionaire Next Door gets recommended a whole lot on financial advice forums.

The book really challenged my perceptions of wealth and spending habits. The most common path to becoming a millionaire is not as sexy as most folks would think - instead of buying fancy cars and vacation houses, you work your ass off and make good financial decisions.

It can be a little dry and tends to repeat itself, but I think its worth a read if you are early in your PF learning.

> my friends have fancy cars, luxury holidays, designer clothes and nice home

You may be surprised; I'd bet that they haven't saved anything because they're blowing their money on these things. Generally, high savers don't spend a lot on luxury goods. "The Millionaire Next Door" talks a lot about this, if you are interested.

> How do you actually save

1. Figure out where your income is going now; make a full analysis of how every cent that you earn is spent.
2. Find ways to reduce expenses; you may find that it will be pretty obvious depending on the result of the previous step.
3. Now that you have lower expenses, save the left-over income.
4. ???
5. Profit!

Of course, if you don't already have an emergency fund, that should be the first thing that you save for - read the article and check out the flowcharts here.

By paying $900/month on your loans, you are paying 45% of your gross pay on just your loans, which obviously doesn't leave much for anything else you'd want to do. That's 55% for everything else - housing, food, utilities, transportation, entertainment, etc. I'll toss out some questions as food for thought:

• Can you get more hours in broadcasting (to qualify as a FT employee) or pick up a second job (broadcasting or not) to increase your income? Are there better-paying jobs you could get in broadcasting?

• Consider getting a credit card if you don't have one. Don't use it in excess, but pay off the balance on time every month. This could help you establish credit.

• How long can you live with your parents? It's not the optimal choice for young people, but that could help you accumulate some savings, establish credit, and pay down some of the loans. I lived with my parents for 15 months after I finished school, and financially it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

• If you are $70k in debt and make $24k/year, you should consider holding off on investing for awhile - at least until you have a plan of attack for your loans. You're getting way ahead of yourself on that one.

• What does your girlfriend do, and how much will she make? If she doesn't know already, you'll eventually have to tell her how much you have in loans if you plan to get married. If you're absolutely set on broadcasting as a career, she will have to do her part to help provide for the family, especially if you want a family someday.

• Consider reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. I read it when revamping my finances years ago, and it will help you think more about the big picture. Some on this sub don't care for Dave Ramsey, but I found his insights to be helpful.

The S&P 500 has a compound rate of return of 9.8% over its history (1928–present). The comment being referenced mentioned 8% over 40 years. The worst performing 40-year period in the history of the S&P 500 still had a compound rate of return of 8.9%.

Source: Understanding performance: The S&P 500 Index

The fees charged by check cashing places are way too high imo, every dollar you earn counts.

Mobile app deposits into my Schwab bank account are instantaneous, never had a hold put on them, even for larger checks around $5k. The only time I've experienced a hold is when my account was brand new and I tried mobile deposit for the first time, but ever since it's been great.

I'd try a different bank account as those hold times are unreasonable especially if you've never never had any hot/fraud deposits, I'm surprised USAA would do that.

There are great suggestions here for handling your finances, but I hope you don't mind a non-finance suggestion... I have not been where you are, but it's a constant fear. I'm in the midst of a divorce from a wonderful man, who is not a good partner, and who I worry about taking his own life. The book Tiny Beautiful Things has been something to hold onto, when nothing is making sense. It's healing in a way that doesn't deny how hard, and cruel and capricious these parts of life can be. It's easy to pick up for a while and put down too.

Anyways, just wanted to say how sorry I am you're going through this. I'm glad you're focused on your practicalities, but take care of your heart too. There's no right or wrong way to handle it, and I hope you will come out of this in your own way and your own time. <3

https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Beautiful-Things-Advice-Sugar/dp/0307949338

I second this excellent advice. Vanguard ETFs.

Read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street", written by Burton Gordon Malkie if you want to know the basis of the above investment advice.

And congrats on a great job saving.

Saw an article a while back that said $10k in an index fund in 1980 would be worth $760k today. I’m sure there are ways to maximize tax deductions as well.

I hope someone who is an expert comments on this one.

Motley Fool $10k in an index fund

I think you mean 2015 tax return. The penalty on your 2014 tax return would be for not having coverage in 2014.

Also note that there are several exceptions to the penalty based on financial hardship, religious objections, citizenship status, etc. More info here.