Search found 162 matches

by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:32 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Credit Cards [Bad Experience]
Replies: 40
Views: 5977

Re: Credit Cards [Bad Experience]

Change your name. Having family members with the same name complicates things, especially when the fAmily member has bad credit. JT My brother married a woman with the same first name as mine. Worse, for awhile as they were divorcing he lived in my house. Credit bureaus, it turns out, cross reference addresses of spouses so it looked like she and I lived at the same address. It took a couple of years to stop her bad debts from showing up on my credit reports. Although I will say it was easy to get them removed, since the Social Security numbers which credit bureaus are supposed to check before making entries, were, of course, not the same. Fortunately we have different middle names also. This is why I now use my middle name on all records ...
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: To continue to fund an IRA or not?
Replies: 10
Views: 1034

Re: To continue to fund an IRA or not?

Watty wrote: when you are much older and the RMD's start getting large.
RMDs decrease with time, unless money is being put into the IRA or it's earning a lot.
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401k rollover now sitting in Prime Money Mkt - now what?
Replies: 20
Views: 2052

Re: 401k rollover now sitting in Prime Money Mkt - now what?

You can still monitor it without having it all in one fund. Excel is not hard to learn to do adequate stuff in it. I have an Excel spreadsheet with entries for each individual thing I want to monitor. I update it a few days into each month, since that's when interest posts on the CDs. As it happens, for me for Vanguard there is a 1 to 1 for the accounts and Vanguard Wellesley, but if there weren't I would just have the assets in those accounts as separate line items and a total for each Vanguard account. This also lets me see the changes from one month to another by using separate spreadsheets in one workbook and in some cases like total traditional or Roth IRAs having difference lines. If you were comfortable with the things you had before...
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:41 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Father considering cashing out 401K early -- market fear
Replies: 34
Views: 4301

Re: Father considering cashing out 401K early -- market fear

You might ask your Dad what he plans to put his money into if he withdraws it and takes the tax hit. Unless it's his mattress, he could instead, if he's determined to do this, do a trustee-to-trustee transfer into credit union or bank IRA CDs or whatever safer thing he's aiming for. Five year CDs are earning 1.8% something in my area and the low interest rate means that if he changes him mind and money is taken out before maturity it's not a giant hit. I don't know anything about gold, but if it's a reasonable thing, heck he could probably buy that in an IRA. You could also look at his investments and tax returns and do some number crunching and show him how much money he'd lose just in taxes alone for this year taking the money out of IRA ...
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:17 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Lionel Trains and your Crystal Ball
Replies: 21
Views: 3127

Re: Lionel Trains and your Crystal Ball

I had a sudden desire to acquire a train set, but then I remembered that I'm getting rid of stuff.

I went over to ebay, typed in Lionel, and pieces are going for 2 or 3 digits. If I were you, I'd keep enough for a small setup and sell the rest. If you don't want the ebay hassle, there are businesses around that handle that for you.
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Umbrella Cost - Is Agent upset he lost auto business
Replies: 13
Views: 2394

Re: Umbrella Cost - Is Agent upset he lost auto business

Take a look at AMICA. They may be slightly higher in premiums (don't forget to factor in the member refund) but they have superb customer service.

State Farm turned my hair gray (well, not really) during a flood insurance claim some years ago, while AMICA was super when I had a hydroplaning accident just a month or two after getting auto insurance with them.

In my view, AMICA: State Farm is like Vanguard: other brokerages.
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Ally bank rate reduction to 0.84%
Replies: 45
Views: 6845

Re: Ally bank rate reduction to 0.84%

ProfessorX wrote: Since the economy is supposedly "on the rise" when are rates going to start "moving up"?
[Political and economic policy comment removed by admin LadyGeek]
by trudy
Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Free Credit Score
Replies: 2
Views: 487

Re: Free Credit Score

Digital Federal Credit Union emails (in their secure email system) free Experian credit scores monthly to its members.
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Prudential sent my info to someone else
Replies: 26
Views: 3572

Re: Prudential sent my info to someone else

I actually think this is a kind a scam. Not a scam with your information, but a scam to get you sign up with a credit bureau. My kid in college got a letter similar to this that the 1098-T tuition tax information thingie..... got sent to someone else, but they are not sure who did and did not get the wrong info. ie.......if you got your correct 1098-T then your information was not compromised, but if you didn't or got someone else's then it was. Either way you got like an explanation of the benefits that you would get for free for 12 moths for signing up with the credit bureau first 12 months free...only God knows what it costs after that. My opinion is it's a scam to get you to enroll in the credit monitoring service I used to work for HP...
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Amend for $1? [Poll] [Fix tax return, Schedule K-1]
Replies: 17
Views: 3057

Re: Amend for $1? [Poll] [Fix tax return, Schedule K-1]

I read up on K-1s. How is it that they don't know how many they can expect to get?
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Prudential sent my info to someone else
Replies: 26
Views: 3572

Re: Prudential sent my info to someone else

Google has this coming up for Unisys. Is any other company affected? How could this happen, were addresses off by 1 or something. And why on earth would an insurance company send out that much data to an individual, especially by email.
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Brand New to Investing- Lost
Replies: 37
Views: 4655

Re: Brand New to Investing- Lost

How old are you?
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Nationwide money market prime/Gartmore what is it doing?
Replies: 3
Views: 594

Re: Nationwide money market prime/Gartmore what is it doing?

Valuethinker wrote:UK data? Nationwide is a UK bank/ building society. Gartmore a UK fund manager.

Sounds simply like they have not loaded the data. Also money market funds by definition should have NAV per unit of $1.00 (in the USA). The rest is paid out to investors, as I understand it.
This is Nationwide the insurance company that runs my friends 457 plan. But if they are paying out to investors, why are the earnings zero...

This is Morningstar's page:
http://www.morningstar.com/invest/funds ... prime.html
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Treasury Direct - A Cautionary Tale
Replies: 15
Views: 6005

Re: Treasury Direct - A Cautionary Tale

Examples of lax security procedures include questions based on "the name of your high school mascot" (easily acquired online if you have basic biographical information on an account holder) and "what is your social security number?" (a prime target for identity thieves). Even with Vanguard it is distressingly easy to change passwords. The account holder is only notified of such changes by snail mail several days later, when all the money in an account could be long gone. I think the latter is not correct. I spoke to Vanguard awhile back about security on such things as transferring money out. They do have something in place, although I have forgotten what it is. Someone can mess up your account with trades, but it is ha...
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Nationwide money market prime/Gartmore what is it doing?
Replies: 3
Views: 594

Nationwide money market prime/Gartmore what is it doing?

I'm sorting through funds for my friend whom I mentioned in another thread, and in the list her 457 manager, Nationwide, has on the web, is Nationwide money market prime "formerly Gartmore money market prime."

I am puzzled about this. In the performance of funds list on the Nationwide site for the last quarter and previous quarter they have it earning 3.5% annualized. Yet when I look at the fact sheet they provide and look it up in Morningstar, the earnings history is zero and the growth of $10,000 chart is absolutely flat for the past several years. Ditto for the prospectus.

What the heck?
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:42 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Help With Lowering my Taxes?
Replies: 3
Views: 633

Re: Help With Lowering my Taxes?

Did you deduce medical expenses (insurance premiums, etc.)? Charitable contributions?
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:37 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fraudulent Income Tax Refunds
Replies: 20
Views: 2736

Re: Fraudulent Income Tax Refunds

avmax8 wrote: There is no way that anyone could look at both returns and think that they were sent by the same person. The automated IRS system simply processed the 1st return it received (due the refund) and then processed our paper return when it was received. It makes no sense to me how this would not set off alarms within the IRS and is discouraging to see how easy it is.
Yet at least one poster above had a duplicate caught. Puzzlement. Are they only checking when both are filed electronically?
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: My former financial advisor-do I have any recourse?
Replies: 38
Views: 4830

Re: My former financial advisor-do I have any recourse?

I'm obsessive about keeping an offline Excel record of my accounts each month. Which means I browse around in each account at least that often. It is actually kind of fun, as you can see how you're doing from month to month, including tightening up spending. Schwab charged me a closing fee for each account when I transferred them to Vanguard; I forget what it was, maybe $50 apiece. I was annoyed. I think it is mostly a way to make some money off a customer because the brokerage doesn't care about good will because the customer is leaving. What they do is guarantee the customer will never return. I just found this list of closing fees, I don't know how valid it is: http://www.onlinebrokerrev.com/commissions_and_fees/account-transfer-fees.php...
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:48 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Any of you Bogleheads NOT going to retire?
Replies: 35
Views: 5270

Re: Any of you Bogleheads NOT going to retire?

My Dad is an architect, still working in his seventies. He says most architects do their best work late in life. He says he will never retire, although he may become more selective about the work he takes on. I have seen this with a lot of artists, not so much in business. For him this has really simplified retirement planning! :D I love the idea of a profession you loved so much that you never wanted to stop doing it. Any of you Bogleheads there? What do you do? i would have loved to have not retired. But I was a software engineer (two MIT degrees) and got laid off in the dot com collapse, and the job market for women in their fifties in a technical field is zero. I got told to my face more than once that I was "too old" or &quo...
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:54 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Could bogleheads vote on Top 10 "asks" of Vanguard?
Replies: 100
Views: 10582

Re: Could bogleheads vote on Top 10 "asks" of Vanguard?

red5 wrote:
nisiprius wrote:a) Seamless connection between Vanguard mutual fund accounts and VBS accounts.
+1
It took me awhile to get used to the twinned accounts. Now I don't notice it so much, but I would prefer everything in one account for each type (Trad. ira, roth, etc.)
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:49 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 28, new to investing, what would you do with my 3k tax retur
Replies: 12
Views: 1742

Re: 28, new to investing, what would you do with my 3k tax r

I also normally think maxing into IRAs is a good policy.

But the interest rate on that student loan is horrifying. I haven't been following the student loan situation except to glance at articles in the news and note that there are some oddities about them, but is it not possible to refinance that or at least some of it, to a lower rate?
by trudy
Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How do you estimate dividends for tax purposes?
Replies: 7
Views: 1286

Re: How do you estimate dividends for tax purposes?

I just use the stuff from last year's return, but I don't have a lot of stuff in taxable, and my things are fairly sedate.

I just looked at Vanguard Wellesley on Vanguard's site, and the quarterly dividends are almost uniform, but the short and long term capital gains both came just in December. Interestingly enough the December-paid dividends and short and long term capital gains are equal amounts. Why is that, I wonder.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 4:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Giving away a couple of Lexmark printer cartridges
Replies: 8
Views: 1214

Re: Giving away a couple of Lexmark printer cartridges

Frobie wrote:This is probably a long shot, but...

I have one each of Lexmark cartridges #41 and #42 that I bought for a printer that has since gone to printer heaven.

I would hate for them to go to waste. If you have a use for them, let me know and I'll send 'em your way.

Free of charge, of course.

Jeff
A non-profit in your local area may be able to use these. If so, they will probably list the type on the wish list on their web site. Or some have wish lists on amazon - on the amazon home page in the upper right click on wish list and search by organization name.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 4:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Casual Wardrobe Advice Wanted
Replies: 65
Views: 15156

Re: Casual Wardrobe Advice Wanted

I would get more than three shirts. Otherwise you're going to be doing laundry too often.

LLBean has some nice stuff, but they think all women are short. (I know that MM is not a woman, I am just raising a flag.) LLBean has no idea how to size clothes for a tall woman (they just lengthen the legs), so I assume the same may be true of their men's clothes. Read the reviews for the items.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:54 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Scammed [on Craigslist]: I feel like a fool (and dumb)
Replies: 14
Views: 7398

Re: Scammed : I feel like a fool (and dumb)

tc101 wrote: You are not dumb. You are not a fool. You are a crime victim.
Exactly.

I am not sure paypal is any better. I bought something on ebay a few years ago, never received it, and got no help from paypal.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Where And How Do You Carry Your Cell Phone?
Replies: 61
Views: 5483

Re: Where And How Do You Carry Your Cell Phone?

investomajic wrote:I keep my iphone in my right front pocket. I do not have a case on it.
i wonder if the no-case thing is why my brother's cell phone occasionally decides it's lonely and phones me without my brother being aware of it.

This is why I have a clamshell.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Career Change - RN-NP vs. PA
Replies: 26
Views: 6046

Re: Thanks again

I realize that this is almost two years old, but I'm curious how your career exploration turned out? Did you decide to pursue the BSN or PA route? I've noticed a few health-care/ career change threads lately, and as someone contemplating a similar change, I'm curious to learn more about others' experiences. I went looking to see if the OP was still around, and found that he had posted recently in another thread that he'd picked nursing. I was glad to see that. If I were going into the healthcare field, that's what I would have done instead of a PA. When you get to be my age, any number of things take you to the doctor's or occasionally the ER or hospital, so I've seen nurses and PAs a lot. Nurses are almost uniformly great. PA are almost u...
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:16 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any Minimalists on here?
Replies: 345
Views: 43748

Re: Any Minimalists on here?

I'm getting rid of more and more stuff as I get older. It only takes being an executor or watching someone else being an executor and, after charitable donations or recycling things, having three dumpsters of her Mom's stuff taken away to decide not to do that to your survivors. It does take a few cycles of going through stuff to really pare things down. On the other hand, it is emotionally much easier for the survivors to get rid of someone's junk than for the owner herself. If the goal is to minimize misery, why not to delegate the disposal to the executors? Victoria No, the opposite I think. "Gosh, this was Mom's how can I throw it out." When I think about throwing out my own stuff, I use the "flood rule." Some years...
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any Minimalists on here?
Replies: 345
Views: 43748

Re: Any Minimalists on here?

happymob wrote:Too many books. OK, 10-year-old travel books really should go. Much of the fictions could go. Non-fiction we won't possibly read again... should go.
You may know this already, but libraries often take used books to sell at book sales and get money to buy new books. Also flea markets or thrift stores run by local charitable groups may take them. Paperbacks can, of course, also go into recycling.

For getting rid of other stuff, freecycle works fairly well. Be prepared for people to not show up. Or things put next to the street with a Free sign on them disappear quickly in most places.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any Minimalists on here?
Replies: 345
Views: 43748

Re: Any Minimalists on here?

I'm getting rid of more and more stuff as I get older. It only takes being an executor or watching someone else being an executor and, after charitable donations or recycling things, having three dumpsters of her Mom's stuff taken away to decide not to do that to your survivors.

It does take a few cycles of going through stuff to really pare things down.
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Helaine Olen: Pound Foolish
Replies: 73
Views: 17905

Re: Helaine Olen: Pound Foolish

Novine wrote:I wouldn't be so quick to discount her arguments. The median household income in the US is around $50,000. If you have kids and a mortgage and are working in a job where your income hasn't gone up in the past few years, how much are you really going to be able to put away for retirement? For your kids education?
How many people have 3 or 4 kids (or even more) instead of 2? How many think about how very expensive it is to raise a kid through college, or longer if they can't find a job?
by trudy
Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Where And How Do You Carry Your Cell Phone?
Replies: 61
Views: 5483

Re: Where And How Do You Carry Your Cell Phone?

This is why women carry purses :-)

However, when I go out walking, I carry my cell phone, which is quite small, in my pocket, just in case I keel over or something.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mathematicians or statisticians here? Seeking your advice
Replies: 70
Views: 9892

Re: Mathematicians or statisticians here? Seeking your advic

JupiterJones wrote:Some (uniformly-distributed) random thoughts:

Thought #1

One great piece of advice I heard about switching careers for your "passion" was that you should audition the job first.
Yes. Back in the day, I ran a programming group. This was so long ago, people learned on the job. More than once someone from elsewhere in the company wanted to join the group, but after a day or so working on a sample problem and realizing the level of obsessiveness required, ran for the hills.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investing RMD
Replies: 8
Views: 1322

Re: Investing RMD

I haven't worked out the implications of the qualified charitable distribution feature for required distributions, since I'm not at that age yet, but possibly that applies to your situation.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I financially ready to buy this house?
Replies: 40
Views: 3651

Re: Am I financially ready to buy this house?

I was a landlady once, and would never be again. In my state, at least, if you wind up with a bad tenant or a tenant who goes bad, it is an expensive, nerve-wracking long drawn out mess to get them out, with ups and downs as you sink money into legal stuff and then at the last minute they come up with the rent. Repeat several times. Not to mention worrying that after awhile they will trash the place. This is a good way to get a heart attack.

I have friends who are landlords in a neighboring state, and periodically a tenant who has been responsible "goes bad." A nice couple, the girl moves out, the guy starts drinking, etc.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: savings account [Looking for higher interest rates]
Replies: 25
Views: 5520

Re: savings account

Digital Federal Credit Union is offering 0.85% at that balance for their Ltd Savings account. They don't mess with their rates very often.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best Way to do Withholding
Replies: 3
Views: 551

Re: Best Way to do Withholding

leo383 wrote:I generally have had an amount withheld from pay so that we owe very little to the Feds and state.

I have come to understand that this is sub-optimal, and the best thing to do is have very little withheld so that the money that will be owed can be invested.

What do you do?
I think if you underpay by too much, you can wind up owing a penalty. Check the 1040 (or whatever form you use) instructions in the area of the owed or refund section.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Getting mortgage in 6 mths. Should I get a new credit card?
Replies: 14
Views: 1669

Re: Getting mortgage in 6 mths. Should I get a new credit ca

Since no one else has answered, I looked on the Equifax site. This page gives some hints: https://help.equifax.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/136/noIntercept/1 Among other things it says: # Ratio of balances to credit limits on revolving accounts is too high # Length of time accounts has been established is too short # Too many accounts with balances I would take that to mean that you ought to have your current credit card company increase your limit as opposed to getting an additional card. Either one would check your credit, I assume, but the new card would have the short time factor. For what it's worth, I shuffled my cards a couple of times in the past few years before I settled on the two I wanted. I did see a short term drop in my credit...
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 457 advice for not a knowledgable investor
Replies: 17
Views: 1752

Re: 457 advice for not a knowledgable investor

I should have been clearer. She turns out to have both a 457 and a 401(a). I think she is managing her finances very well, minimal debt, thinking about things, just has this black hole of knowledge about her 457 and 401(a) investment options. She actually has them both invested in a money market account (that somehow managed to lose money.)

Does the minimum distribution stuff for 401(a)s and 401ks treat them like IRAs - same calculations, etc?
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Admiral Funds
Replies: 23
Views: 3059

Re: Admiral Funds

SpaceSashimi wrote:Can someone explain to me the difference between a fund with admiral shares and a regular mutual fund? Thank you.
This is too short a time frame to be indicative of much, but I looked back at my monthly records. I own both types of shares in Wellesley. (My account balance in one account is less than the $50,000 minimum.) I looked at the gain from about March 1st to now. I can't go back further than that because I did a deposit into the smaller account just before that, changing the base.

In that time period, Wellesley Admiral gained 0.20% and Investor gained 0.16%.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: So how long will I live? How long do I plan for?
Replies: 117
Views: 13562

Re: So how long will I live? How long do I plan for?

My financial plan is I have to consider the possibility that I will live forever. Well, into the 90s or even longer. Anything else opens up the cardboard box possibility.

Longevity varies all over the board in my family. Even if it didn't, you never know.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: how much leverage in buying a house?
Replies: 13
Views: 2663

Re: how much leverage in buying a house?

Just laughing at myself here. I bought my first house when I was young and jobs were plentiful (thank you, no longer existing American Savings & Loan for renting to a girl buying a house by herself, almost unheard of at the time.) Prices were climbing rapidly, so I didn't want to wait; even saving hand over fist while looking, I managed to just stay even with having 20% to put down.

I spent every cent I had on the purchase and getting a refrigerator (on sale, any color you like as long as it's avocado green.) I couldn't even afford to drive my car for about a year and biked everywhere, including to the grocery store. Hint: eggs do not survive a bike ride.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:33 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I'm 23 and moving out, should I get a credit card?
Replies: 46
Views: 3719

Re: I'm 23 and moving out, should I get a credit card?

bigirish wrote:
kenschmidt wrote:
bigirish wrote:I can't believe how many of you are saying "get one for emergencies." What a ridiculous statement! Build up an emergency fund of at least 3-6 months in a money market account, never to be touched except for an emergency. Don't rely on a credit card for that. Credit cards will bite you more than they will help you.
It is hard to access your money market fund when your car breaks down while traveling and you need to pay the tow truck and mechanic now! That's the type of emergency I think many are talking about...
Not really. My Ally App will transfer from the MM to checking instantly.
Glad you are never in an area with no Internet access.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I'm 23 and moving out, should I get a credit card?
Replies: 46
Views: 3719

Re: I'm 23 and moving out, should I get a credit card?

I say NO!! I would not get a credit card. I regret getting a credit card when I was in my twenties. It's too easy to have something come up and not make that full payment to pay it off at the end of every month. There isn't anything a credit card can do that a debit card can't do. If you're really set on having one to "build credit", you should get a secured credit card. However, credit in reality is not needed if you are wise with your money and pay cash for large purchases (cars, furniture, appliances, electronics, etc). You can even get a mortgage without a FICO score if you don't want to pay cash for a home. I can't believe how many of you are saying "get one for emergencies." What a ridiculous statement! Build up a...
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:20 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hey, Vanguard has hired me! [Payment for taking survey]
Replies: 28
Views: 6940

Re: Hey, Vanguard has hired me!

hicabob wrote:
JDaniels wrote:$50 per hour rate. Not bad :D
tax-free I assume?
I'm guessing this is self-employment and so below the reporting threshold. :-)
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 457 advice for not a knowledgable investor
Replies: 17
Views: 1752

Re: 457 advice for not a knowledgable investor

I'm still chatting away with my friend.

She has a 401(a). I read up on these and realized I have an area of ignorance. I turned my 401ks into traditional IRAs when I left jobs, because I wanted to control them myself. The latter, of course, have mandatory minimum distributions at 70 1/2 plus maybe another year.

What happens with 401ks (and 401(a)s) if they don't get turned into IRAs? Is that a possible scenario? Do they stay 401ks and 401(a)s ad infinitum? Are there mandatory minimum distributions?

(I realize 401(a)s are a bit different from 401ks in other respects - more employer control on employee contributions, etc.)

Thanks.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: grass trimmer?
Replies: 18
Views: 2791

Re: grass trimmer?

Thanks, folks.
by trudy
Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:55 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: managing emergency dollars
Replies: 17
Views: 7175

Re: managing emergency dollars

sommerfeld wrote:
knowmad wrote:Your emergency fund should be in an FDIC insured bank.
an NCUA-insured credit union will be just as safe.
And probably earn slightly more.
by trudy
Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hey, Vanguard has hired me! [Payment for taking survey]
Replies: 28
Views: 6940

Re: Hey, Vanguard has hired me!

How am I missing out on this :-)

Well, at least they sent me a free Vanguard logo blanket awhile ago.
by trudy
Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to fight a speeding ticket?
Replies: 30
Views: 3014

Re: How to fight a speeding ticket?

dziuniek wrote:No tickets in the past 6years whooo! (knock on wood).

That being said, I would go to court and ask if instead of a ticket you can make a charitable donation to the police. During my younger years, this worked for me twice. Also, the donation was less than the amount of the ticket (although I wouldn't ask for it necessarily).

That's how I would approach it.

Good luck!
That sounds like a bribe to me, which is illegal.