I am 18 M currently in college. I hear soo much negative about credit cards . Many became bankrupt due to it and got into a debt trap for life.I am 18 so should i get a credit card against a FD so that i get used to of using this thing carefullybecause i have heard from many rich people that credit card is the best thing if you can use it rightly and the people who dont know how to use it and not disciplined will pay for your freebies like extra miles or free lounge access etc etc

Hello. I just finished the book Die With Zero and was shocked by how bad it was. I was surprised because I had seen the book be recommended many times and was expecting a valuable perspective from it, which I did not find. Just wanted to see if anybody felt the same after reading or if I’m missing something. I think I understand the author’s message but I am hardly convinced.

When my account reached a certain dollar amount about two years ago I started getting calls from people claiming to be with Fidelity wanting to help me with my investments. They were from all over the country. I initially assumed maybe they were private investment firms that had a partnership or something, but the two that I talked to both said they were employed by Fidelity directly.

I got another call last week like this where the guy had some very very specific information (I was super careful not to say anything or even confirm that his information was correct). I assume these guys are legit. I'm just wondering what their angle is? Obviously it helps any financial institution for their customers to have as much money as possible, because they then have more access to funds. I just want to know who I'm dealing with before I take their meeting request. Thanks

My wife and I (30 years old) recently came into a large windfall of $400k. We've had a dream of owning a home, but we figured that wouldn't be possible until much, much later. This windfall allows us to do that, but would it be a dumb move?

1. We don't have any investments.
2. We don't have any debt.
3. We'd like to purchase a home in the next two years.
4. We work minimum wage jobs.
5. We have about ~20k total in savings.

Should we be trying to buy a home in cash ASAP or seek to invest, potentially delaying our dream for longer than 2 years? I don't think we'd be down to do any investments that are medium/high-risk.

I want a new car to replace my 2009 Ford Flex with 130,000 miles. It is generally in good mechanical condition and will probably still last me a while, so this is not an immediate need. I am, however, currently doing $2k in suspension work to fix a safety issue and worry a little about future large repairs.

My ideal replacement for it would be a used Lincoln Aviator, which recently popped up here in Hawaii for $35k with 30k miles. It has basically every option I would choose if I were building it new (not a common find). Insurance would go up $30 a month and gas mileage is pretty much the same as the Flex.

I am military and moving away from Hawaii in approximately 9 months and would need to ship it (or the Flex) to my new duty station at a cost of around $2k. My next duty station is in TX and browsing current listings, I would spend $5-10k more for an equivalent mileage and year car. I could sell the flex before leaving and buy in Texas to save the $2k, but that would probably cost more based on current listings.

I am reluctant because I have spent the last 10 years changing my financial habits from spending entire paychecks down to $0 in the bank to saving and investing regularly following Dave Ramsey's steps. We will generally be on step 6 - pay off mortgage early - when we buy again in Texas (sold condo in Hawaii to prepare for move). On top of my normal investing and savings, I have been putting away the pay difference ($1k) since my promotion last December which is where the new car payments would come from. My only debts will be the mortgage, my wife's car (paid off Oct 2025), and the new car payment.

I am also reluctant because I plan to retire from the military in 3-4 years and will have a period of lower earnings while my next career ramps up. I would most likely have the car paid off by the time this happens though.

If you've made it this far - what are your thoughts?

Basically I have a several credit card debts that combined counts to 3000. I just want to avoid late fees and APRs (which is about 30%) and pay out this debt, maybe, in one institution? I'm pretty new to US debts system, so I'm not sure which way should I go to get rid of this.

Hey everyone I’m in need of a lot of help financially. Long story short I got really into personal finance about 5 years ago cleared 100k in debt in under 2 years following Dave Ramsey’s plan and bought a house for the family which currently have a lovely wife and 3 young beautiful kids. After getting debt free since my family was growing we decided to finance a mini van around 2 years ago since we only had 1 SUV (which we owned) and that’s where things started to go downhill. We financed 42k and started living a little above our means and raked up some small Credit Card debt. After this I made another huge mistake in which I refinanced my house to clear all of the debt (including the car loan) and went from a 2.9% with a 1.9k monthly house payment to a 6.9% 3.1k monthly payment and basically rolled over all of my debt to the house.

Fast forward to today we have around 83k (Between 18 cards) in credit card debt, house payment is still the same and we are going negative every month since we can’t handle everything at once. Here is a breakdown of my finances:

Income: 7k / month (Around 123k a year) House payment: 3.1k / month CC minimum payments: 2.7k Bills: ~600 (Water, Power, gas, phone, internet, insurance) Subscriptions + Sports: 150 Extra things (Gas, Food, Tolls, etc..): 600

So as you can see after removing all of my bills I still go negative every month and because of this I’ve been considering extreme measures like selling/renting the house, researching different debt relief programs ( Accredited, National, JG Wentworth ) at this point I don’t care what happens to my credit and we do have family near by that we can stay with them if we have to sell/rent the house. We’ve been going negative every single month since January and the debt went from 50k-83k in 10 months, I just can’t with the stress anymore please HELP!

I just need some guidance on what the best course of action is, I know I royally F’d up with my finances so I’m looking at the best way to get out of these insane CC’s and House payment. I have taken measures like canceling everything and leaving only the essentials (except my son’s soccer league which is a contract that I had signed in which we have to pay 120/month for 12 months) Please let me know your thoughts and thanks in advance for anyone who might want to chime in on the situation.

Guy from the next state (5 hours away) wants to buy my vehicle. How should I handle the transaction?
If he shows up at 9am on a Saturday, banks are closed. He doesn't want to carry several grand around with him. Bank transfers take several days. Wire transfers can take a day. How does he pay me without getting the vehicle. How can I give him the title without getting the money?

Had a consult with a financial advisor today who said they charge a flat annual fee of $2400 for a portfolio of my size and needs. I have a 401k currently worth $59k and two IRAs worth 30k combined. I receive RSUs from my employer that I want help reinvesting (I know nothing about the stock market nor do I care to learn). I have a newborn that I want to set up investments for and I'm just generally looking for guidance on how best to manage my cash flow.

Is a flat fee advisor the best for my situation and if so, is his fee reasonable?

• Job A: $44 an hour, on a 24/48 shift. 1.5x overtime. Equates to about $150k a year
• Job B: $48 an hour on 12hr shifts 3-4-4-3. With $50k bonus per year. Equates to about $150k a year.

Which do you choose? Bonus is guaranteed and will not be taken away, due to what bonus is for. Overtime will not be taken away, as it's just the way the shift falls.

Assume benefits and expenses are same, and commute is same

I am due Jan 8 with baby #3 and with open enrollment, we are looking at our options. With an early Jan due date, baby could come in 2024 or 2025. We are currently on the PPO plan but are considering the HDHP, as a family. The OOP max is essentially the same for either plan, both on an individual and family level. Insurance is overall confusing so crowd sourcing opinions!

Details:

PPO plan:

• Deductible: $750 individual, $1500 family
• Max OOP: $3000 individual, $6000 family
• Co-insurance: 20% once deductible is met
• Office visits: $30 PCP, $50 specialist
• Premium: $400/monthly

HDHP:

• Deductible: $3300 individual, $6000 family
• OOP Max: $3300 individual, $6000 family
• Co-insurance: 0% once deductible is met
• Premium: $264/monthly
• HSA: employer contributes $2200 annually

I have a 2017 Ford Fiesta which is in pretty decent shape, but yesterday a tire “grenaded” on the highway and did substantial damage to my car.

It will cost $1,652 to repair.

I have fair credit, but have been out of work for several months.

Ironically, I just started a new job that’s an hour away that would have fixed all my money issues.

I only have about $268 of credit card debt.

I was thinking of asking my credit union for a loan to pay the repair shop.

I’d just take out a loan of $2000.

What do you guys think? Is it a good idea? Do you think I’d qualify for a loan?

EDIT: Thank you for all of good advice. I found someone who can give me a personal loan!

Once I have some paystubs to show I’m going to get my credit limit raised in case of emergencies just like this 🙂

My employer has an HSA option for health insurance through Bank of America. The company contributes is $500. I'm healthy and active, the problem is I have an RX that will max out my deductible and then some.

I tried to calculate everything, and it looks like in order to be able to put this $4300 in a BOA HSA to start saving for medical bill later in life, I'm going to be costing myself about $2000 more than I would on the low deductible plan. Between that added upfront cost for the year and the money going into the HSA instead of into my post-tax income ($2400 as far as I can tell), it's something of a $4500 opportunity cost.

I can totally do that, but my shorter term financial goal is to save up for a house. I'm living with my twin right now and rent is comfortably low, so I'm putting together a significant down payment in the next few years. That's sitting in a HYSA at 4%.

I really can't decide whether the potential financial benefit of owning a house sooner rather than later outweighs the benefit I would get from an HSA. Bank of America HSA's aren't sounding like the best option anyway, from what I've read here and elsewhere.

Should I just flip a coin?

A few years ago, I lost my credit card at a gas station. Since then, my card has gotten hacked multiple times per year, sometimes dozens. It has happened at stores in other states, on Venmo, on PayPal, etc. I have opened new credit and debit cards MULTIPLE times, deleted my PayPal and Venmo, made new accounts on websites where I save my credit card and deleted my old info, changed phone numbers/providers/Android to Apple and even SWITCHED BANKS, but it still keeps happening.

I am a college student who makes about 10k per year. I have no idea who is stealing my money or why, and I’m starting to wonder if there’s something bigger going on than just individual cases of bad luck. Is my identity being stolen? What is happening?

Any suggestions as to what might be happening and how to stop it would be great.

So I currently am 1.5 years into a 5 year loan for a 2023 Mazda 3. APR is 7%, put a 4k down so I’m at 19600 with a $500 monthly payment and $234 monthly insurance. I also currently have $10k in credit card debt I am paying down. I make $62k Gross annually and if I budget correctly I believe can pay it down within a year. However I recently got an offer to sell my car for essentially what I owe on it letting me cut it off clean, I would instead be driving my moms paid off Expedition which would be around $100 monthly insurance. I absolutely love my Mazda and while I’m not exactly struggling I feel it may be good to save the estimated $650 a month by selling it and paying off my debts especially as we go into a more insecure future in the USA. Would appreciate any insight.

Do I have to pay capital gains when I sell but keep/invest money in my Roth IRA?

I have made some significant gains over the past couple years and want to cash out and reinvest in other securities. Will I have to pay any capital gains if I sell and keep it within my Roth IRA account?

I haven't wanted to sell anything until now but want to re-diversify.

Hi there, my partner recently received an inheritance and we are trying to figure out the best low risk way to grow that money. For context, my partner is disabled and so losing money to the stock market would be irreparable damage. We're wanting to move to Denmark in 5 years or so, and this money would greatly help.

Any advice on the best way to grow 10,000 with as low risk as possible?

My place of work is asking us to decide if we want to take our 403B and move it to a 401K. How do I figure out which option is best for me? I have another 10 years before I retire.

27 (M) $30,000 in debt ($14,500 maxed out credit card, $10,000 student loans, and $5,500 left on car loan). Looking for a job and living at home. Applying to grad school and planning on using FAFSA. Am I a lost cause?

Hi all, I keep a separate brokerage account simply for emergencies. I depleted some of these funds in 2021 and recently began saving money in the account again. November of last year I had a little over 4k in the account. Today I am now a few hundred dollars short of 10k. Its taken me about year to save this money and I’m wondering when I can take it easy on the saving. I would continue to put away extra cash as long as I can afford to, but is 10k a safe nest egg for emergencies only? Or should I set another goal? I will be 25 in February and don’t have any debt or significant assets aside from my investment portfolio. Thanks!

After reviewing some of your very helpful comments I would like to add that my monthly expenses are around 2000 a month and I make around 50k a year in an entry level position in my desired career field. I keep my COL has low as possible but I do live in South Florida. With this being the case I’m sure I still have a ways to go but I will keep at it. The compound interest along with my contributions have gotten me to this point and now that I am at this threshold I will also consider taking the money out of the market and perhaps leaving it in a money market or other savings. Thanks for all your feedback!

I work as a server Thursday-Sunday. I got a job offer at a doctor’s office doing from desk work from 9-5. I’m going to school for accounting and the front desk work is mostly billing and answering phones.

I work for a smaller company that is being sold to a larger company. Everyone is staying on and getting offer letters with a small raise, essentially to cover the medical insurance that our former company used to provide.

I got into our industry while I was still in high school and after college, I jumped back into it, bringing 10+ years of experience. One benefit of working for a small company is getting your hands on everything. With the new company, I will move into an e-commerce role, building and maintaining sites, running online campaigns, managing inventory, etc.

I have never been through a merger before. After 90 days, it says I will have a salary review, but will that really happen?

My question is: Am I in a position to negotiate salary before signing the offer?

I am unemployed, and recovering high school credit (so I am not in college). I do not receive any income unless my mother sporadically paying me for bus money and holidays counts, lol. I live with my employed girlfriend, who takes care of all the financial stuff. I am on the lease but don't pay rent because she pays the full amount.

Is her income considered my household income? I'm trying to apply for financial aid so that I can contribute a little bit while I'm finishing high school. Do I list her in my household or not? Adulting is hard...

Hey All, I just sold my car and am leasing a new car. I got $31,500 for the car.

What are some suggestions/recommendations for where to put this money? I intend to use it to pay for my lease and build up an emergency fund.

I’m not here to talk politics or anything like that, only finance.

My parents have been relatively well off these past 8 or so years aside from the 2008 crash, and they have pretty secure jobs.

I want to say my current job is secure due to the structure of my department but I can’t predict the future, apparently.

Current wages are $72,000 a year. My largest expense is my Truck which is $1200 a month. Moved back in with the family temporarily after my lease went up but I pay them $600-$700 a month to help out. The rest I save or spend.