NT: Official Personal Finances Thread

SuperAntigen said:
[COLOR=#red]BROTHERS, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT ON THIS DAY, 4/1/2016, I, YOUR BROTHER; FRIEND; COMRADE; HOMEY; BROKE FREE OF THOSE TYRANNICAL SHACKLES KNOWN AS STUDENT LOANS. TODAY, I STAND HERE AMONGST YOU AS A FREE MAN...[/COLOR]:smokin :smokin




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Exactly 2 years ago (4/1/2014), I was over 35K in debt: 5k+ in credit card debt, and a lil over 30K in student loan debt. When I landed a full time gig that paid me well enough to allow me to tackle my debt, I devised to plan to become "financially healthy" as soon as possible.

The first step in this plan was to create an excel budget sheet to help me keep track of my money and spending. I watched youtube tutorials to figure out how to to create my excel budget:



2014 budget...

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2015 budget...

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2016 budget...

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If you notice, the "look" of my budget has changed every single year since I started keeping one. This is not for cosmetic purposes. I feel that a budget should mirror the growth and/or evolution of its user; thus, mine has improved upon itself as I have gotten better at managing my money. With a budget in hand to track my spending, I next began the process of tackling my debt.

The first debt I tackled was my credit card (Discover; 5K+) debt due to its high interest rate. After settling this debt, I moved on to my student loans.

For my student loans, I took the "psychological win" approach. In other words, I paid off the smallest loan balances first. I also employed the snowball method to help my settle accounts faster. Now after two years, I am legit debt free and i could not be any happier. It feels great...



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Becoming debt free was phase one of three of my "financially healthy" plan. Today, i begin phase two, which is to bulk up my emergency fund (at least 6 months of expenses). Phase three will be largely concerned with maximizing my investments opportunities...:smokin

I look forward to continuing this journey with y'all, my "personal finance" brahs... :lol







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Jelly AF. Got about 200k to go lol. Want to get it out of the way asap since it's at 6.55%. Going to refi with a variable rate of that makes sense and go from there. Hopefully in 3-5 years it's all out of the way.

Btw loving those budget sheets. Any chance you can post up a blank template? Or email?
 
BeezyGotSole said:
What rates are you looking at for variable? That's alot of debt to have on variable pretty much a house worth.
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Hopefully something under 3%. I have some liquid money to pay off a good amount of it right now, but if I can get a lower rate and it makes sense, i'll pay it off that way while having some funds to invest with (RE, offices, etc) but hopefully keep enough liquid to pay it off if/when the rates increase.

That being said, it fixed makes more sense, I'll go with that as well. Still shopping around for rates. Anyone refi and do a variable rate? LIBOR rates have been at it's lowest and holding steady for a while, don't want to guess or speculate, but what are the thoughts on LIBOR rates increasing vs holding steady hopefully in the timeframe I get these paid off? Also, for those with variable rates, how much notice do they give you before raising the rates?
 
sole searchin said:
That being said, it fixed makes more sense, I'll go with that as well. Still shopping around for rates. Anyone refi and do a variable rate? LIBOR rates have been at it's lowest and holding steady for a while, don't want to guess or speculate, but what are the thoughts on LIBOR rates increasing vs holding steady hopefully in the timeframe I get these paid off? Also, for those with variable rates, how much notice do they give you before raising the rates?
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i have a LIBOR+4 loan rate (about $4k left) through AES, based on the 30-day rate...

that rate has hardly changed in the 5 years I've been paying this loan down, AES has dropped my rate a handful of times (not sure if based on rate movement or other factors)...

http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/1-month-libor.aspx
 
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sole searchin said:
SuperAntigen said:
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Jelly AF. Got about 200k to go lol. Want to get it out of the way asap since it's at 6.55%. Going to refi with a variable rate of that makes sense and go from there. Hopefully in 3-5 years it's all out of the way.

Btw loving those budget sheets. Any chance you can post up a blank template? Or email?
Click to expand...



Don't quite know how I would link a blank template to NT, so just PM me your email and I'll gladly send you the excel file... :D




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Theres an attach file button in the post box right below the Source button. Its a paperclip icon
 
[h1]‘Customers First’ to Become the Law in Retirement Investing[/h1]
By TARA SIEGEL BERNARDAPRIL 6, 2016

  •  

The rules governing how financial professionals handle the trillions of dollars they invest on behalf of Americans saving for retirement  are about to get a lot tougher.

The Labor Department, after years of battling Wall Street and the insurance  industry, issued new regulations on Wednesday that will require financial advisers  and brokers handling individual retirement and 401(k) accounts to act in the best interests of their clients.

The government move is expected to encourage a shift of retirement funds into lower-cost investments — potentially saving billions of dollars for many ordinary investors — while setting off one of the biggest upheavals in the financial services industry in decades.

“The marketing material that I see from many firms is, ‘We put our customers first,’” Thomas E. Perez, the secretary of labor, said in an interview. “This is no longer a marketing slogan. It’s the law.”

The new regulations, which may be challenged in court, were proposed a year ago  by the department — which oversees pensions and retirement accounts — and were modified after hearings and industry criticism. They are not expected to take effect until next spring at the earliest.

Many consumers assume the individuals and firms investing their money are operating under the same sort of ethical and legal standards as a family doctor — someone who is obliged to provide the very best advice.

But brokers are generally required only to recommend “suitable” investments, which means, for example, that they can push a more expensive mutual fund  that pays a higher commission when an otherwise identical, cheaper fund would have been an equal or better alternative

The Obama administration, relying on extensive academic research, estimated that conflicts of interest embedded in the way many investment professionals do business cost Americans about $17 billion a year, leading to annual returns that are about 1 percentage point lower.

“It has the potential to really change the way advice is delivered to retail investors,” said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America. “It is a really big deal. Revolutionary, even.”

The so-called conflict-of-interest rule covers only tax-advantaged retirement accounts and does not apply to most other investments. But it could lead to more sweeping changes across the financial services industry, making it harder for some smaller firms to do business and perhaps encouraging a further consolidation into larger companies better able to handle the detailed rules of compliance.

It is also expected to promote a shift away from commissions for individual transactions toward a greater reliance on flat annual fees for managing accounts, a move that would not benefit all investors equally.

Critics of the rule in its earlier proposed form said they were still reviewing the specific details of the new regulations to determine its effect on investors.

Jules Gaudreau, president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, whose members include insurance agents and brokers, said the organization was pleased that the Labor Department had incorporated some of the changes it suggested.

But he said his members still had reservations. “We remain concerned,” Mr. Gaudreau said, “that the costs to implement such a complex rule will result in higher costs and reduced access to advice, service and products for retirement savers.”

For the last year, the industry has lobbied Congress to delay or kill the rules, so far without success. Before going ahead with the final rules, the Labor Department held four days of public hearings at which nearly 80 parties testified; it also received more than 3,000 comments  on the proposal from consumer advocates, industry stakeholders and others.

“We heard the concerns. We listened. We acted,” Secretary Perez said. “And I think we improved the rule as a result.’’

Generally speaking, the new rules — six years in the making — require a broader group of professionals to act as “fiduciaries,” the legal term for putting customers’ interests first. They cannot accept compensation or payments that would create a conflict unless they qualify for an exemption that ensures the customer is protected.

If brokers want to receive certain types of compensation that can pose a conflict, they will be required to offer an enforceable contract that promises to put the customer’s interests first.

The firms must also disclose any conflicts and direct consumers to a website that describes how they make money. Firms can charge only “reasonable compensation,” and they cannot offer advisers financial incentives to act in a way that would hurt investors.

In using the contract, brokers will still be permitted to charge commissions and engage in a practice known as revenue sharing, which allows a mutual fund company, for example, to share a slice of its revenue with the brokerage firm selling the fund. Companies that pay more, for example, may secure a spot on the firm’s list of recommended funds.

The rules also aim to protect investors when they roll over money from a 401(k) retirement plan to an I.R.A.  Right now, because the recommendation provided is considered “one-time” advice, brokers do not necessarily have to act in the investor’s best interest.

There are piles of money at stake: Individual retirement accounts held $7.3 trillion at the end of 2015, according to the Investment Company Institute, while 401(k)-type plans had $6.7 trillion — money that may eventually be rolled over into I.R.A.s.

Mr. Perez said that government rule makers had made several changes to their last proposal in an effort to respond to criticism and avoid creating a bias toward certain investment products. He said advisers would not be obliged to sell lowest-cost products if a more expensive product like a variable annuity made sense for a particular individual’s situation.

The industry was also concerned that simply providing educational information could set off the rule; regulators said that education would not be considered advice until a broker made a specific recommendation.

Wall Street was worried that brokers would need to provide a contract even before they began talking with a potential client. Regulators said the contract can be signed at the same time as other account-opening documents, though any advice given before the signing must still be in the customer’s best interest.

The new rules also simplify disclosures. For example, firms will no longer be required to disclose performance projections for one, five- and 10-year periods.

There are also allowances for small 401(k) plans. Under the final rules, advisers who provide advice to small businesses that sponsor 401(k) plans, or plans with less than $50 million, as well as advice to participants, can qualify for an exemption from the strictest rules.

Consumer advocates and lawyers say that a robust fiduciary rule will help thwart more unscrupulous brokers, like the one encountered by Russell Kazda, a retired mechanic, and his wife, Christine, a fourth-grade teacher in Illinois.

Their advisers took $172,000 of the Kazdas’ I.R.A. savings and put it in illiquid real estate investment trusts and later invested money in an options strategy. They ended up losing about $125,000, which prompted the Kazdas to sue the advisers.

“I could have had my fourth graders do it and they would’ve done a better job,” Mrs. Kazda said.

Andrew Stoltmann, a securities lawyer in Chicago who represented the Kazdas, applauded the changes.

“By imposing a fiduciary duty standard, this will cause the brokerage firms to self-police,” he said, protecting most people from often unsuitable investments like “nontraded REITs, variable annuities  in I.R.A.s and active trading of stocks and options.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/y...r-retirement-accounts-financial-advisers.html
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Sorry for the late upload, but for privacy reasons, I chose to recreate my budget in Google Docs for y'allz benefit instead of uploading my original file. Also, as a mac user, my original excel document would not have been compatible for certain users' windows operating system.

A quick note about the budget sheet: it's been formatted to cater to my personal finances. For example, I pay tithes, so my budget sheet reflects that. If you are going to make it your own, let it reflect your specific financial circumstances. Of course, and additionally, learn how to use excel formulas if you don't already know how to. If you are truly going to personalize this, which carries the possibility of breaking the file and rebuilding it as you see fit, then it behooves you to understand some of the basic formulas. If you don't know how to add and subtract (and these are all you really need to know for a simple budget sheet) in excel, consider watching a few tutorials on youtube. You can also find excel budget building tutorials on youtube as well.

In the file, I've taken the liberty of filling out January just so y'all can see how I use it. Feel free to ask me questions if you need help and/or guidance while budgeting with or without the file.

:D







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question for you guys, figure this is the best spot to get help.

I want to open an online investing account, I have between 3-6k I'd like to put in.
I would like to get a Roth IRA from everything I've read.
I would like to own stock in a company.
From what I've read I would like to have an index fund instead of having ETFs.
I would like to keep everything in one site instead of having multiple accounts just for simplicity.
I don't really plan on having daily/weekly transactions, mainly want to invest in something & review things monthly at the most.


So far I've been looking at Vanguard & TD Ameritrade. Vanguard seems to have good rates from what I'm reading if I understand things, their platform I guess isn't as user-friendly though & for stock trading I'd need to look elsewhere based on the charges. TD Ameritrade seems like the best all around if I'm understanding things based on them 1: offering all types of investments, having a nice online platform & ways to help educate myself. I keep reading things that make them seem like they aren't the best though & a lot of the talk comes back to Vanguard.

idk what it is I'm missing...because idk what the hell I'm looking at or for really. Can someone help me out?
 
Looks like you want to start investing and you've decided Vanguard>Ameritrade. 

Pick one, open up an account, open up a ROTH, choose your favorite index fund.
 
C Money 88 05 said:
question for you guys, figure this is the best spot to get help.

I want to open an online investing account, I have between 3-6k I'd like to put in.
I would like to get a Roth IRA from everything I've read.
I would like to own stock in a company.
From what I've read I would like to have an index fund instead of having ETFs.
I would like to keep everything in one site instead of having multiple accounts just for simplicity.
I don't really plan on having daily/weekly transactions, mainly want to invest in something & review things monthly at the most.


So far I've been looking at Vanguard & TD Ameritrade. Vanguard seems to have good rates from what I'm reading if I understand things, their platform I guess isn't as user-friendly though & for stock trading I'd need to look elsewhere based on the charges. TD Ameritrade seems like the best all around if I'm understanding things based on them 1: offering all types of investments, having a nice online platform & ways to help educate myself. I keep reading things that make them seem like they aren't the best though & a lot of the talk comes back to Vanguard.

idk what it is I'm missing...because idk what the hell I'm looking at or for really. Can someone help me out?
Click to expand...

Do your due diligence man. This is YOUR money. Lots of resources out there that'll likely explain things better than anybody on this board can.

Couple of things:

  • Roth IRA maxes out at $5,500 per calendar year
  • You can own stock in companies with a Roth IRA with Vanguard, but they charge a transaction fee
  • Don't know what you mean by "have an index fund instead of having ETFs" since you can invest in an index fund of your choice via ETFs or mutual funds

I would personally throw money into an index fund and leave it be. I've lost good chunks of money being greedy with daytrading.
 
Based Mod said:
Do your due diligence man. This is YOUR money. Lots of resources out there that'll likely explain things better than anybody on this board can.

Couple of things:

  • Roth IRA maxes out at $5,500 per calendar year
  • You can own stock in companies with a Roth IRA with Vanguard, but they charge a transaction fee
  • Don't know what you mean by "have an index fund instead of having ETFs" since you can invest in an index fund of your choice via ETFs or mutual funds

I would personally throw money into an index fund and leave it be. I've lost good chunks of money being greedy with daytrading.
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I think your last statement is what I was meaning when I said I didn't want to get into ETFs, when I was looking at the different vanguard accounts the same thing kept coming up where ETFs were ok for people looking to do in-day trading & that's not me. I'm looking to put my money in some index fund & ride it out.

& if I'm understanding things right, to own stock in Vanguard's system I would pay a higher fee than I would going to a place like Ameritrade or E-Trade or something. I think that's what makes me start looking at other places until I take myself in a circle. I didn't know if anyone here used any of these online brokers & had any words of advice for who they use.
At this point I feel like I would have two different accounts, one for the Roth & one for stock trading so I could have the best fees if I'm understanding what I'm reading correctly.


Pdino said:
Looks like you want to start investing and you've decided Vanguard>Ameritrade. 

Pick one, open up an account, open up a ROTH, choose your favorite index fund.
Click to expand...

I feel like I chose Vanguard in my mind too but I'm not sure since I don't want to miss something I didn't understand & be wrong.
 
If u invest in vanguard's funds, there's no transaction fee. And they're known to have one of the lower expense ratio. If you do want to trade stock, their transaction fee are higher than most. I pay $7 per trade but I don't do a lot of stocks, mostly funds.
 
nrg1604 said:
If u invest in vanguard's funds, there's no transaction fee. And they're known to have one of the lower expense ratio. If you do want to trade stock, their transaction fee are higher than most. I pay $7 per trade but I don't do a lot of stocks, mostly funds.
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Yea I don't feel like I'll get into trading stocks too much but I think I want to have that option if I find I like it more & that made me look elsewhere. After sleeping on it I think I'll go with Vanguard for the Roth & index fund investing & just open a 2nd account elsewhere if I do start trading individual stock more or something.
 
C Money 88 05 said:
nrg1604 said:
If u invest in vanguard's funds, there's no transaction fee. And they're known to have one of the lower expense ratio. If you do want to trade stock, their transaction fee are higher than most. I pay $7 per trade but I don't do a lot of stocks, mostly funds.
Click to expand...

Yea I don't feel like I'll get into trading stocks too much but I think I want to have that option if I find I like it more & that made me look elsewhere. After sleeping on it I think I'll go with Vanguard for the Roth & index fund investing & just open a 2nd account elsewhere if I do start trading individual stock more or something.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan. Vanguard is great for retirement options. For a brokerage account, there's plenty of better options.
 
One thing that jumped out on me was even the Vietnamese Guy at the top said he's worried about money about once a week
 
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