NT: Official Personal Finances Thread

[antidope]

How is Betterment as an investing account?

I like it. I use it as a supplement to my PA and run my IRA through there exclusively. They have a few features that I think really add value like the tax sensitive portfolio and a tax loss harvesting. 25 BPS is cheap too but I havent been subject to fees yet.

 

[based mod]

 
You can do FHA 3.5% down payment loan

You can also do 0%, 3%, 5%, 10% Conventional loans.
Yes it is ideal to put down 20% , but if you live in a HCOL area that is extremely unrealistic.
Unless your like my 24 yo friend and mommy and daddy are dropping 70K on your 20% DP lol .

I did a 3.5% FHA with a first time home buyers program don't regret it one bit. Plan on refinancing in the next 2 years to a conventional loan.

I'll check out FHA. I'm assuming, in the end, the total cost of the house is gonna be much higher than 20% down with a conventional loan, right? I'll have to do some number crunching.

I want to avoid getting a condo/townhouse cause I know I just wouldn't be able to really feel at home knowing there's neighbors on the other side of the wall. That and HOA costs and rules/regulations for the life of the property. The restriction and extra $3-400/mo doesn't sit well with me. If I do go with a house, I'll probably have to pick up a roommate or two to help subsidize the mortgage |I

 

[capital sb]

You can refinance from FHA to a conventional loan at anytime . Yeah you should crunch some numbers .

 

[based mod]

You can refinance from FHA to a conventional loan at anytime . Yeah you should crunch some numbers .

Appreciate it. I'm gonna hit you and Pdino up in PMs for specifics at some point once I get a better plan laid out.

 

[trynafeelmink]

so much good info in here

 

[rbk93]

Anyone here recommend using Acorns and Stash?

 

[capital sb]

Personally I see no point in investing change. Work on good saving habits then invest that money.

 

[antidope]

Being that there's four days left in the year I'm basically considering my budget done. An entire year of tracking every dollar I've made and spent via an excel spreadsheet.

Going to use the averages column to set a baseline for how much I should spend on certain things per month and seriously try to cut back on some wastes of money I.E eating out.

 

[jordman23]

Being that there's four days left in the year I'm basically considering my budget done. An entire year of tracking every dollar I've made and spent via an excel spreadsheet.

Going to use the averages column to set a baseline for how much I should spend on certain things per month and seriously try to cut back on some wastes of money I.E eating out.

^^ Do you have a template you could share, I remember someone made one but I haven't checked this thread in a while.

Now that new year's is a week away, I want to start tracking every expense and start fresh.

Do you guys like Mint?

 

[antidope]

Being that there's four days left in the year I'm basically considering my budget done. An entire year of tracking every dollar I've made and spent via an excel spreadsheet.

Going to use the averages column to set a baseline for how much I should spend on certain things per month and seriously try to cut back on some wastes of money I.E eating out.

^^ Do you have a template you could share, I remember someone made one but I haven't checked this thread in a while.

Now that new year's is a week away, I want to start tracking every expense and start fresh.

Do you guys like Mint?

I can do it when I get home.

I like mint as a supplement to my spreadsheet. They categorize too many things incorrectly for my liking. It's definitely cool though I check it multiple times a day

 

[bobbyphills]

I'm looking to get myself a new/nearly new car. With a poor credit score but plenty in savings, is it better to pay cash or finance at a high rate?

Let's just say it's a $35,000 car.

 

[jordman23]

I'm looking to get myself a new/nearly new car. With a poor credit score but plenty in savings, is it better to pay cash or finance at a high rate?

Let's just say it's a $35,000 car.

^^ Really depends on your situation and expenses.

But if you plan to buy a car, make sure you don't buy it new from the lot. It will depreciate exponentially. Let the first owner take that depreciation hit, and then swoop in and get a 1-2 year car with warranty still good. Lots of people default on their leases/contracts, and you can save some dough.

 

[John Wick]

I'm looking to get myself a new/nearly new car. With a poor credit score but plenty in savings, is it better to pay cash or finance at a high rate?

Let's just say it's a $35,000 car.

@DatZNasty

 

[lilchico4life]

I'm looking to get myself a new/nearly new car. With a poor credit score but plenty in savings, is it better to pay cash or finance at a high rate?

Let's just say it's a $35,000 car.

I was in a similar situation when I was 17, only that I had zero credit. I purchased a car at a higher interest rate and paid it off in half the time. If your goal is to better your score, finance the car and just pay if off early.

 

[da mecca]

I make 4k a month, just graduated college a couple of months ago. Between bills and starting my clothing brand, don't have that much saved up.

 

[capital sb]

I can do it when I get home.

I like mint as a supplement to my spreadsheet. They categorize too many things incorrectly for my liking. It's definitely cool though I check it multiple times a day

That is Mint's main downfall smh. Wish there was something better out.

 

[antidope]

I used to update everything in Mint myself but now have more fun with be spreadsheet.

 

[Xennial]

32 and think I'm going to open up IRA with Vanguard since I don't have any retirement accounts.  Do I have to open up 2 seperate accounts if I want to open both a roth and a traditional IRA or would I do it with the same account?

 

[antidope]

32 and think I'm going to open up IRA with Vanguard since I don't have any retirement accounts.  Do I have to open up 2 seperate accounts if I want to open both a roth and a traditional IRA or would I do it with the same account?

Two separate accounts.

Also that $5,500 isn't for each of them, you can only contribute $5,500 a year between the both of them. Just wanted to mention that since you're seeking to do both.

 

[Xennial]

Two separate accounts.

Also that $5,500 isn't for each of them, you can only contribute $5,500 a year between the both of them. Just wanted to mention that since you're seeking to do both.

 

[antidope]

Two separate accounts.


Also that $5,500 isn't for each of them, you can only contribute $5,500 a year between the both of them. Just wanted to mention that since you're seeking to do both.

Without knowing all the information I'm more inclined to lean towards mutual funds. All things being equal, if we're taking about a choice between VOO or VFINX or something.

The tax efficiencies of Etfs are a moot point being that it's being done in an IRA and add that to the fact that with the mutual fund your dividends can be reinvested right back into the fund regardless of the dollar amount whereas with the ETF you would need enough to actually buy one share of it.

One could make the expense ratio argument but I don't even think that matters cause these are vanguard funds and they're all dirt cheap in that regard anyways.

Idk much about the vanguard platform but commissions for those etf trades is also something that would make me lean toward mutual funds.

The only thing I would put in favour of ETFs in this situation is the initial ticket size. If you go etfs, and you start the account off with $500 and buy whatever you want in most cases. With the mutual funds you'll need at least $1,000 for your initial purchase.

I was in the same situation you were in, I just opted to move my IRA to betterment for a handful of reasons mainly the commissions and the reinvesting of the dividends. Betterment charges an advisory fee so that may not suit you but it was a much better option than keeping my IRA at fidelity and paying 7$ every time I wanted to place a trade in the thing, and even though it's etfs they can trade in partial shares and all my dividends get automatically reinvested.

 

[Xennial]

 

 

[antidope]

 

It ranges from 0.35% to 0.15% but that's why they take a fee. They are taking discretion and investing on your behalf.

Even 0.35% is a de minimus amount to me. Wealth front is cheaper overall though, the first 10k is free.

 

[antidope]

 

Being that there's four days left in the year I'm basically considering my budget done. An entire year of tracking every dollar I've made and spent via an excel spreadsheet.

Going to use the averages column to set a baseline for how much I should spend on certain things per month and seriously try to cut back on some wastes of money I.E eating out.

^^ Do you have a template you could share, I remember someone made one but I haven't checked this thread in a while.

Now that new year's is a week away, I want to start tracking every expense and start fresh.

Do you guys like Mint?

This is what I use. In the first tab of the sheet I key in everything I make and spend, and then there are a few sum formulas across the sheet. After the first three months, I took the average of what I spent in the "Total" lines for each category and used that to create a baseline of what I would like to spend in each category every month. Now that the year is over I plan to use the averages for the year 2016 to create a budget for 2017.

Tab two contains a tab I titled "Cash Projection". Whenever I get my check, I drop it in the top line, and then allocate what of my check is going to go out the door.

Whatever is left over I keep in my checking until the next check rolls around and whatever is left gets rolled into savings.  It is tedious at first, but I do it at work now and just key in things as soon as I spend money. 

 

[sole searchin]

End of the year already.

Ended up refinancing my student loans ~165k with Earnest (imo much better experience then SOFI, DRB, etc) and at this time, could pay the all off, but rather have the cash in the accounts if needed for business purposes.

Went with Vanguard for my Sep IRA accounts as well, not much research done this past year when I put money into it but it did well I suppose.

If anyone is thinking about REFI and earnest I'd recommend it, just LMK and I can send my referral link (I think it's a $400 bonus to you as of now, not to sure).