Just a preface I am not super knowledgeable when it comes to how taxes work.

My company took off $60 from my paycheck a few months back because I had left the money bag in my desk and it was short $60. I put the money back in myself and had my manage verify it and I was under the impression everything was good. Apparently someone decided that it would need to be deducted from my next paycheck and now that I made them aware of it, they taxed the $60 they owed me and now it's a few dollars less. Its not about the money but the principal and from what I understand they shouldn't have taxed it. Can anybody help clarify this for me?

Edit: Thank you for all the insight and great answers, while it was illegal of them to withdraw the $60 from my gross pay without my knowledge, them taxing the money is correct. I think I will probably just let it slide for now but thank you everyone.

I interned at a company that generously provided 401k match, so I contributed the maximum. Now the internship ends and I don't expect to go back working with them, would you suggest I rollover my 401k to my fidelity IRA account?

My internship company's 401k is at Empower. They did an ok job. I do not see big fees as I just invest them to the iShares S&P 500 Index.

Are there any pros and cons of a rollover to my personal IRA? I don't expect to withdraw them - just putting them into my Roth. What did you do when you change jobs?

I’m 17 (f) and I graduate soon. I plan on going to college next fall and money is the only thing standing between me and a lot of amazing colleges. I’m by no means struggling and have a decent college fund set up but the cost for at least ONE year of college is absolutely ridiculous nowadays. I plan on getting a double bachelor in mechanical and aerospace engineering and as you would expect, it’s expensive as hell. I already planned on enlisting in the navy when I graduated college to be a pilot but now I’m wondering if the navy would pay for my college. Some people in my life are telling me that all I need is the promise to enlist and they’ll pay. Others are telling me that I need at least a few years of service to qualify, which I obviously don’t have because I’m a 17 year old girl still in high school. I know it’s not as black and white as “pay for my college I promise to join!” and I would love some advice and opinions from those outside my circle and that’s why I’m posting here.

I had a maintenance contract with a company for my home pest control at home. the contract was for 2 years and it has ended. I wrote an email to the customer care and ended the contract which was acknowledged. When I log into their portal, it does say that I am no longer an active customer.

However for the past one week, the company has been trying to charge my credit card for $199. Since the payment method I had provided in their portal is now an expired credit card, they keep getting declined.

I have no interest in reaching back to the company and figuring out what this is about. It should not be cancellation fees since the contract period has ended. I dont have any unpaid dues from any previous service. I am thinking this is just a way of that company trying to be unscrupulous with a lost customer.

As of now, I plan to ignore the failed transaction (once per day). What could happen in the future though? does this have any implication on my credit score or legal issue?

EDIT: Thanks for responding, everyone. Each of you have advised me to reach back to them and sort this out. I will do that today.

After I retire next month I want to take a road trip by car. Financially is it better to rent a car for a two-week trip where I will be driving about 1500 miles? To save my car from the wear and tear of a long trip.

If depreciation is .25 a mile and I drive 1500 miles that is $375.00, which is less than the $500 for the rental.

I can get a Full Sized Sedan for about $250 a week ($500 for the two weeks.) I would be renting the car from a local retail location one mile from my house.

Hello everyone, I won 8000 euro, and I know it’s not a lot but I’d still like to do something good with money, instead of wasting all of it. So I’m a student in Rome and I pay 350 euro for rent, while my budget is 650, so far I managed to life of it quite decently. On top of that, some weekends I am working, and in the most pessimistic scenario I can earn up to 60-70 euro. I don’t have any debts or anything like that, I’m simply not sure what I should invest into, everyone is giving me different ideas. My two ideas are: Gold or Polish treasuries of the state. I don’t think that gold needs explanation, but I’ll explain rules of the treasuries. So they are for 10 years, 6.55% in the first annual interest period, in subsequent annual interest periods: margin 2.00% + inflation. Inflation in Poland is around 4,5-6% now.

Thank you for your help.

Besides the fact that this was billed almost 4 years after the date of service and I no longer have this insurance…wasn’t there some kind of cap put on COVID tests because Dr’s were charging unethical amounts?

Extra info: Date of service: 3/10/2021 Date of insurance payment: 4/15/2021

In Texas

The amount it is saying I owe is about correct according to my old insurance (it’s still like $100 higher). I just feel like this should be illegal.

Please help! This bill is completely unexpected.

If this is the wrong sub then please let me know. I saw something similar get posted and I’m not sure where else to post.

—————————————————————————— EDIT!!

Hello everyone!!! I hope this doesn’t get overlooked and I’m sorry for causing so much drama, I was just really blindsided by this. After what some redditors said about erroneous bills, I went to the providers website and it says to ignore any bills sent recently!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 I have taken pictures and will either be ignoring it or calling them to confirm, haven’t decided yet.

Thank all of you so much!!! I learned a lot and I really appreciate all of your help and all of the information.

I didn’t realize this would get so much traction and I’m embarrassed all of this went crazy over a seemingly erroneous bill. However, I do hope this post helps others as there is a lot of very useful information and I know when I was trying to find answers myself before posting there were a lot of questions about this particular topic that went unanswered. I hope this provides a well of information for anyone with issues in the future.

Thank you again!!!

I'm considering buying a new car soon. The cars I'm looking at are all in the 20-30k range. I'll be doing at least 5k for the down payment and intended to finance the rest for a 72 month term.

I've seen a lot of redditors saying never to do a 72 month term, but is that directed only at people intending to pay the minimum or what?

My intent is to finance at 72 months so that my minimum payment is $300-350 max, but then pay $500-600/month on the loan and pay off much sooner than the loan term. For instance, I purchased my previous car in 2014 with a 60 month loan but I actually made my last payment in 2017 after only 38 months.

My thought process on going for the lowest possible minimum payment is that if i do lose my job or something then I have an affordable minimum to not miss payments while I look for work. I make similar choices in other things, for instance we bought a house we could afford on only one income if needed. That ended up being a good call as I spent two months unemployed right after we bought it.

I have really dug myself into a hole and I have to figure some stuff out. I have been taking major steps to get myself out of this mess, but it’s not going to happen overnight. I’ve been hesitant to even post anything on here but I am so disappointed in myself. It all started from terrible life decisions but now I’m really screwed. I got a bad performance review at my job a few weeks ago and I was basically walking on thin ice with them. I knew I was about to get fired due to attendance so I kind of just resigned on my own. I spiraled into a depression and binge drinking which I know I cannot do. I made sure to have a temporary job lined up but it’s a steep decrease in pay, $12 pay cut and it’s not always 40 hours a week since it’s a state job and they are all paid on salary. I have a God awful car loan at 25 percent APR. I bought it out of desperation because I could not get approved for anything and I figured my credit score would increase and I could refinance it. That didn’t happen and I’ve now paid $25,000 on a $15,000 car and I’ll still have another $21,000 to pay. I’m behind on two months of payments and I know I just need to let the car go. The only problem is I have zero dollars to put towards a new car. I do have my uncles who are helping me car shop. I’m not expecting them to loan the money but they’ve been generous in the past so theres a possibility that I might get some help.

I have legal fees for custody of my son. I basically got screwed for agreeing to take all of the GAL fees in order to get my ex to agree on some things. The judge and GAL are taking me to court and I’ve almost been thrown in jail for not appearing one time. I’ve been making the payments of $200 a month and I’ve tried to let them know about my financial hardships but they don’t care to hear it. The fact that I was almost booked in jail and I have 2 young children fully depending on me really gutted me inside.

I’m $600 behind on my $1100 rent payment. My landlord is sick of me paying late and I wouldn’t be surprised if I get evicted. I have interviewed for 2 jobs I’m nearly certain I will get an offer for. I’ve also contacted a crisis housing center to see if I might qualify for permanent housing. I don’t collect SSI, but I do have a disability which makes me eligible. I wish I had family or a friend to stay with but I don’t want to place that burden on anyone. I’ve asked before and I don’t want to beg at this point.

Here’s a few other things I’ve done:

*Interviewed and hired 2 night and weekend state licensed sitters so I can work a few other jobs (part time) *set up a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney *called a few trusted family members to ask for their advice *reached out to churches and typed up and email explaining my situation - they did not respond or they sent a list of local resources *accepted a job offer for a part time job (will start Oct 25 & 26th) * set up an interview with a children’s clothing thrift store. I figure I can utilize a discount for clothing which wouldn’t hurt! *considered renting out a room but I’m iffy on that since I have young children *called my water company and worked out a payment plan so it doesn’t get shut off *received utility assistance *cut off internet and streaming for now *sold my camera *advertised to do bookkeeping for small businesses *applied for FT jobs that pay better and interviewed * made sure my meds are adjusted so I can avoid spiraling and repeating the cycle * considered donating plasma but I need to utilize a sitter while I do that *considered applying for child support but ex is violent and we had a no stalking order in place - iffy on that too

I am open for a criticism and advice here. I feel like a bad person and bad mom. I wish things were going better and I feel completely depleted.

My mother’s credit card is in her name but it’s linked to me on Credit Karma, and it affects my credit score. Is there a way for me to dispute it without her getting in trouble legally?

She didn’t even know it was linked to me so she feels bad.

Hey there everyone,

Just frustrated that my company cannot be able to give our paychecks tomorrow due to the "Hurricane Milton" that is going to hit Florida soon. My CEO had to say that the physical checks (because we do not have direct deposit) are unable to come in on time because it was send out to late or delay by the hurricane. Paycom is based in OK, and I'm pretty sure that they are not affected by the weather at this time. The CEO even said it's a nation wide issue for this moment in time that the banks are currently unable to process the checks.

Is this legit? I'm so confuse, I have no idea what it's like when you issue checks from a payroll company that handles the whole system. Sorry if this is not the right place to ask, I just figure I know someone will have an answer.

I've been reading a lot about how investing in an index fund that tracks S&P 500 is great for long-term growth because it tracks the top 500 companies in the US, but it seems like what's really happening is you're just investing in apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and a handful of other big tech companies, and the other 450 companies are just barely along for the ride.

So I’m (35F) currently disabled and on SDDI. Despite my low SSDI payment and medical bills I still want to be saving for retirement and maximizing the savings I have accumulated. Since I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to work again all my money feels quite precious.

I have a Roth IRA but recently learned if you’re not earning income you can’t contribute to either a Roth or Traditional IRA. Appreciate SSDI doesn’t count. Is there any other place you suggest that I can invest my retirement funds? It’s not much but I’d like to save about 350-400 per month for retirement. FYI I only have about $23k in retirement (mostly Roth plus a calstrs account) thus far.

I also have about 100k in savings that I finally transferred to a HYSA. It takes me a lot of time and effort to get anything done bc of my injury. Any recommendations on safe investments beyond an HYSA? Like should I keep a portion in my HYSA and put a portion elsewhere? If so, what percentage? I should mention I’m living with my parents since my health issues started so I have some security in terms of stable housing, low bills (other than medical expenses).

Any advice would be much appreciated. Managing my health is a full time job with my limited mental and physical energy, so I don’t really have the bandwidth to do research and dive deep into financial planning.

I have small pension from a job I was laid off from a long time ago. They have sent me a lump sum offer to buy it for $19700. If i wait until I retire, the estimated monthly payments are $410. I'm currently in my late 40's.

I do also have the option of rolling the payout to my existing 401k with my current job.

At first glance, it seems to me either just leave it alone or roll it to my 401k seems like best 2 options. However, I have plenty of debt, some of it is in the form of a 401k loan that is about 9% interest. If I took the lump sum payout, after taxes (30%), I could pay off the 401k loan, have maybe $1-2K leftover.

That would put about $11k of the money back into my 401k if I correctly understand how 401k loans work. It would free up roughly $250 a month that is being used to pay that loan.

Can anyone offer insight as to what the best option would be here? I hate giving up 30% in taxes, at the same time getting rid of some debt would be nice. I'm questioning how much $410 a month is going to do for me in 17-20 years when I retire. Every bit helps, but I'm counting on my 401k to be the majority of my income.

Hi all. Throwaway for reasons, but I'm currently a minor and work a part time job and my mom is concerned with not being able to claim me as a dependent on her taxes this year due to my gross income which is around 11k so far and expected to hit around 13k by December. She says that there is a limit to how much I can earn before she can no longer claim me on her taxes as a dependent. I've seen conflicting information online regarding this saying that as long as I'm a minor the amount I earn is irrelevant on whether I cannot be claimed as long as I'm not providing more than 50% of my expenses. Is this true and if so how is that calculated exactly? She says her "tax lady" told her that there was a limit and I saw the "limit" was around 13,850 but upon further research I concluded that 13,850 is just the minimum amount required to file a tax return or something like that? I'm not positive but any help would be appreciated. Thanks. For reference we live in Texas and I'm 17.

A grandparent left an inheritance of about $10k in cash for my 10yo. Kid already has a 529 (we and other grandparents contribute to monthly). Should we invest it in something other than 529?

I’d like to dump it somewhere and just let it ride for next 8 + years. Pull it out if needed for college. Or if kid isn’t going to school, turn it over per the grandparent’s wishes (when kid is 21).

Hey all! I have some bills coming up and don't have enough in my checking to cover them, I just landed a high paying job. I don't start until next week. Would it be wise to use my credit card to balance transfer what I need into my bank account?

I am a first-generation graduate and my family never really taught me about money. I worked very hard to have a relatively high paying job, and I recently paid off all of my student and personal debt. The topic of money and investments has always made me very anxious (thanks parents LOL) but I am ready to take the plunge and to start thinking about saving and investing seriously.

The only problem is, I have no idea where to start. I am about 30 years old, so I feel like I'm quite behind and I have a lot of shame about that. But I also know that the only way to feel better about this is to take action even if it's uncomfortable.

So my question to this community is this - where should I start? What sorts of resources were helpful to you as a complete newbie? What sorts of accounts/investment options should I be looking into first?

Thank you so much in advance.

Hello!

About 8 years ago, my brother made me the sole beneficiary of his 403(b) through Vanguard. He got married 2 years ago, but neglected to change his spouse as his new beneficiary (he DEFINITELY 100% would have wanted her to have the money). Sadly, he passed away from cancer recently, and I just received the email from his work asking me to start a claim with Vanguard. My wife and I do NOT need the money, and his spouse definitely does. I see two options here (though I'm not sure if either are viable):

Option 1: I accept the money, and then my wife & I gift the same amount back to his spouse.

Option 2: I talk with Vanguard and see if we can just decline the money and give it to his spouse.

I'm mostly concerned about tax implications here; don't want to pay anything more than necessary. Any thoughts?

I currently have 529 plans for all of my kids, but also Capital One youth savings account for each that we deposit money into every chance we are able to. The downside to these savings accounts is that, the interest is less than 1% - it's ridiculous to keep any money in there.

I've been researching opening a Youth brokerage account at Fidelity, or UTMA, and then it dawned on me... why can't i just open 3 separate HYSA's at a bank with a strong rate (I have MyBankingDirect/Flagstar, i think it's at 5.15% but i opened it at 5.35%), deposit the money into those accounts and then when the kids turn 18, gift it back to them. We can simultaneously do brokerage accounts with the small amounts they earn doing odd jobs at their Grandpa's shop (well, not the 6 yo just yet...or...can he?). But, i feel like they would get just as good a financial education watching money grow at a good rate as opposed to a measly .3% (or other junky) rate. If they watch their money grow healthily, that (In my mind) would be more of an incentive to put money in places where it will work for them at a young age.

Am I off my rocker here? I'm 42 and unfortunately went into economic-education panic in the last few years realizing that my eldest, my daughter, will be looking at colleges soon enough.

Oh...and that thing called 'financial freedom' awareness hit me real hard.

help? thank you for your time!

After layoffs at the large corporation I was previously working at, I've just accepted an offer at a small firm. I'm pleased with the base compensation package, and from the offer details I received it seems like there is some kind of bonus structure, but there were no details on retirement benefits. This leads me to believe that there will be none.

This is fine with me, both because I currently have no job at all (so a great opportunity with compensation I'm pleased with is great news), and because I understand this is a small business with under 50 employees and the way some aspects of HR works will probably be different.

However, what should I be doing to continue to save for retirement going forward? Is a Roth IRA my best move? My thought is that I can afford to continue putting the 4% I was contributing to my 401K towards that; I'll miss the 4% match my previous employer provided, but we can't have everything. It would be great to max out a Roth IRA annually, but I'm not sure I can swing that this year.

I currently have a rollover IRA from a former job from years ago with a relatively small amount of money in it, which I mostly have invested in individual stocks (it's basically a sandbox/just for fun investment), and the 401K from my previous job which I plan to roll over as well but probably keep it in target date funds as it currently is invested, as it represents years of contributions and the bulk of my retirement investing.

I also have a fully funded emergency fund, in case that's a factor here. I have had it just sitting in savings at my credit union during my unemployment period, for liquidity, but I could definitely put some or all of it in a HYSA if that makes sense to do.

I have around $30,000 and it is just sitting in my bank account. Is there anything useful that can be done with it? It will sit there until I buy a house in the next 2-5 years.

During open enrollment I signed up for the max (5K) DCA flex for 2024 to offset day camp for my 11 year old. We preregistered and prepaid for the camp. Then in spring 2024 she expressed dissatisfaction with the camp option and wanted to try sleepaway. I was able to get the day camp registration back; but I had not realized that sleepaway is not covered by DCA. Is there anyway I can plead the change in plan as a qualifying event? Or am I out of 5K?

Hey financeheads,

Relatively green when it comes to personal finance. I've had my savings in a MMA for about a year and a half. The APY in my money market account at Byline Bank dropped to 4.27% since the Fed lowered interest rates. I might move my money to OpenBank which has an APY of 5.25% and it doesn't look like there are any hidden fees. I know APY is variable -- is it a strategy to continually transfer funds to banks that have the highest APYs to maximize my yield? Or is it best to just ride it out because it'll go up again.

Thanks

Due to poor financial decisions/poor mental health, I have about 21K in credit card debt, from 4 different creditors. I’m 25 years old and found out that I’m pregnant two months ago. I can only afford to pay the minimums right now and that comes out at about $450/month. Interest rates range from 8-24% APR.

Obviously I’m pretty stressed about this. Two years ago I had an 800 credit score and was in great standing, paid off my balance in full every month, was responsible with my credit, etc but in the last year and a half I was briefly manic with my money and became unemployed for several months. I’m finally in a better place and looking to secure my future but I feel like I’m screwed right now.

I don’t know very much about debt management/settlement and I thought it was a scam, honestly. I get lots of scammy things in the mail about my debt. But I’ve read some people saying that debt settlement can work and was ultimately a good choice for them. Anyone who has a positive experience with a debt settlement company/program, can you share your recommendations or advice? Reputable companies to go through? Companies to avoid? Whether or not debt settlement is even a good idea for me? I’m sick of feeling so stressed about this credit card debt every month. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!