Finance

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  Credit Card limit your max amount if possible.
  • mom2jel

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  @principalmember said in Credit Card limit your max amount if possible.:

  Yes, we charge everything, and I have it set so that all bills are paid in full, automatically every month - I track it all in Quicken.

  I hope people will get over this fascination/addiction to tracking things in Quicken - what purpose does it serve? I charge everything, I forward pay my bills, the credit card companies auto magically withdraw their payments from my brokerage account which can never be overdrawn. Periodically, I will glance at my monthly transactions to make sure I recognize something - but other than that, everything is on auto pilot with no tracking. For that matter, what is quicken?

  I don’t use Quicken, but I do export transactions to CSV files every couple months and keep them all in a massive excel workbook. That way, when I need to find a transaction I can just filter/search for it and find out which credit card I made the purchase with. This is something that would also be possible if I used Quicken, so there is some benefit, even if only used as an aggregator. The other functions of Quicken may be helpful to some as well. It’s nice to be able to determine how much you spend at particular merchants or in particular categories. I’ve tried Quicken and Mint, but they just get things wrong too often that it makes it not worth it, not to mention the fact that they still seem to be unable to match up transfers to/from accounts. But if Quicken worked well without any extra effort from me in recategorizing, etc. I’d use it.

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  How to buy used/pre-owned car, PWF/FWF style
  • rasheed

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  The one car I bought from a dealer was from a Porsche dealer. The car was received on a trade in and they only wanted to unload it quick as keeping it on the lot would lower their reputation, since it wasn’t comparable to a Porsche. All other cars purchased from Craigslist/newspaper ads. I normally spend at least a month looking over craigslist before something good comes around.

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  Wells Fargo $200 Checking Bonus [Select Areas Only; No DD Required]
  • marcopolomle

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  Thanks. Will try this in the branch and report back.

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  Wells Fargo $300 Checking Bonus [Select Areas Only; DD Required]
  • marcopolomle

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  IIRC last time around many people successfully received second bonus just 1-2 month after receiving the first bonus and closing the account.
  YMMV

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  Wells Fargo $200 Checking Bonus - Direct Deposit Required
  • marcopolomle

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  Mortgage app?
  • CajunDavid

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  How to buy a new car, PhWF (FWF) style
  • gheldean

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  @alexsj said in How to buy a new car, PhWF (FWF) style:

  @marcopolomle trust me, they will not answer questions - instead they will ask you to come to the dealer to have the questions answered… (fml, kill me)

  I make it clear to them in my first email that I don’t have the time to visit dealership until the deal is finalized and till then I will only communicate via emails.
  Most do if they want my business.

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  Thorough analysis of the various reasons I lose money on a stock trade
  • BarnyardRomeo

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  I only came in here to comment on how enticing the title is. Laughed so hard that I almost forgot.

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  Best Safe Way To Pay Google Play
  • redmed

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  @jcantanixon said in Best Safe Way To Pay Google Play:

  I’ve had my CC compromised several times in the last decade. Over $30k worth total. Doesn’t really bother me since that’s someone else’s money. Few minutes on the phone to cancel, reverse the charges, and get a replacement card sent. No big deal. Less annoying than a parking ticket.

  Ours have only been compromised twice that I know of, and most probably occurred after use at B&M … although one time it was after I bought something at buy.com.

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  Nationwide Checking and Savings
  • craig10x

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  @craig10x yeah they closed the prepaid cards last year. It was an easy route although not the cheapest but manageable enough to MS w/o going out of the house.

  If there are still prepaid cards around that are being used for MS, they are not discussed in public and understandably so or else they’d get shutdown immediately once the FI notices the spike in applications and the way they’re being used. USBuxx was around for more than TEN years, it hurt so much when they closed it!

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  Pay student loan with prepaid debit cards
  • doveroftke

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  Thanks for the tip. Earnest apparently doesn’t do this, in case anyone is wondering.

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  Good Forums With Info On Stocks
  • redmed

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  morningstar.com discuss

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  Experian Dark Web Email Scan
  • marcopolomle

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  @ma-barker said in Experian Dark Web Email Scan:

  @dangeruss yes and so far I’m satisfied with their service.

  Kind of like these guys were satisfied?
  https://xkcd.com/937/

  I guess you really won’t know how good these guys are until your # ends up on the dark web and one of them catches it and not the other.

  And once you find out that it is on the dark Web - what do you do?

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  [Targeted FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, NC, OH, TN, WV] Fifth Third $750 Business Checking Bonus
  • marcopolomle

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  FAQ- The Consolidated HELOC Home Equity Line of Credit thread, and list of BEST HELOC DEALS
  • gremln007

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  Need help understanding the different types of Equity Loans offered by PenFed.

  Owe 100k on my home. Based on recent comps, it’s estimated at 205k. I would like to renovate kitchen and roof and budgeting 35k. I plan to sell the house in 2 years. If current plans to sell change, I may refinance and get a second home for a rental. Either way would like to pay off credit line at time of closing.
  Based on my situation, which one would work best for me?

  Home Equity Loan - 60 month, 4.74%, closing cost included (excludes appraisal and notary fees), 85-90% LTV
  Home Equity Line of Credit - 4.25% variable apr (prime + 0%), closing cost included (excludes appraisal and notary fees), 80% LTV
  5/5 Home Equity Line of Credit - 3.75% variable apr(min rate floor of 3.75% and maximum of 18%, closing cost included (excludes appraisal and notary fees), 75% LTV
  Interest Only Line of Credit - 4.25% variable apr (prime + 0%), closing cost included (excludes appraisal and notary fees), 80% LTV

  I appreciate the guidance!

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  Opting-In to the 2018 Military Blended Retirement System
  • diffeldoof

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  i left the service at 8 years, i did not think the pension was worthwhile nor sustainable, the VA medical is a toilet that benefits VA executives under the guise of taking care of our vets.
  i wanted to get started on my own retirement plan that had fk-all to do with the government, and pulling $175k annual , so anyone in the service should,
  gobble up all the free education you can get, make sure you get into a marketable MOS/AFSC ect… and start an IRA/ROTH early, and not the one the hucksters will try to sell G.I.'s, go educate yourself on retirement investing , so basically you don’t feel tied down if an opportunity in the civilian world comes around the lines up with a separation opportunity, marketable skills + money in the bank + retirement savings = you in control

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  OhmConnect - Get paid to save electricity (California, TX, Toronto only)
  • tedteddy

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  Posting your referral link is not allowed on Phatwalletforums. If anyone wishes to request a referral, you may do so here: https://phatwalletforums.com/topic/133/official-request-a-referral-thread

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  Official Crown Vic Thread
  • mikk1

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  @barrytuneup said in Official Crown Vic Thread:

  I keep in in a garage during the snow and ice. (upstate NY) only bad thing 1)uses premium gas

  Yikes! NY and premium gas - deadly combo … guess it could be Cali or Canada.
  With that much weight on the tires, the roads probably don’t feel quite so bad.

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  Withdrawing From Roth
  • redmed

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  First off, this isn’t legal advice. See your CPA/Attorney/Financial Adviser.

  There are kind of two “Five year rules”,

  The 5-year rule for IRA beneficiaries to withdraw 100% of the IRA by December 31 of the year containing the fifth anniversary of the owner’s death. The 5-year rule for Roth Conversions

  Bankrate explains the 5 year rule
  Also AAII has an excellent review of ordering rules
  Lastly the IRS Pub 590-B is the reference source

  IF you take distributions early, you need to keep good records of the contributions.
  You’ll need to order them into three groups.

  Regular contributions. Conversion and rollover contributions, on a first-in, first-out basis (generally, total conversions and rollovers from the earliest year first). See Aggregation (grouping and adding) rules, later. Take these conversion and rollover contributions into account as follows:
  – Taxable portion (the amount required to be included in gross income because of the conversion or rollover) first, and then the
  – Nontaxable portion. Earnings on contributions.

  Once the conversion occurs from Traditional to Roth, you need to wait 5 years to take a distribution without penalty, even if it’s an inherited Roth account.

  The short of it is that you will want to distribute only up to contributions until five years pass from your conversion.