financial portfolio

[davidscott]

The emergency fund should be in a separate savings account. Keep 3mo expenses minimum. This will give you and your family some peace of mind.

Personally it makes zero sense to me for anyone with a cc balance to be trying to invest other than their company 401k / Roth IRA / HSA. Those cc interest charges are crazy.

Agreed on the CC interest. Try to get those paid off asap. Also, I'd recommend a 6-month minimum emergency fund.

 

[Trebdp83]

The emergency fund should be in a separate savings account. Keep 3mo expenses minimum. This will give you and your family some peace of mind.

Personally it makes zero sense to me for anyone with a cc balance to be trying to invest other than their company 401k / Roth IRA / HSA. Those cc interest charges are crazy.

That is for sure. It's not currently possible for many to do in short time, but everybody should make a goal to pay those cards off and use them as charge cards that get paid off monthly. One will not pay interest on the charges if paid off by the due date and can even get "rewards", depending on the card, in the the form of rebates that one can directly deposit into their bank account. Rebates are not taxable income. Taking the credit card interest savings and using it as an additional principal payment on one's mortgage is an investment in itself. It will help build equity more quickly and lower the total interest paid on the loan substantially over time.

 

[snakeeyes]

Agreed on the CC interest. Try to get those paid off asap. Also, I'd recommend a 6-month minimum emergency fund.

Heck most of the time emergencies are less than 2K. But ya if you lose your job or something happens a 6mo cushion is better than 3.

 

[davidscott]

Heck most of the time emergencies are less than 2K. But ya if you lose your job or something happens a 6mo cushion is better than 3.

Yeah, that what I'm basing it on.

 

[snakeeyes]

That is for sure. It's not currently possible for many to do in short time, but everybody should make a goal to pay those cards off and use them as charge cards that get paid off monthly. One will not pay interest on the charges if paid off by the due date and can even get "rewards", depending on the card, in the the form of rebates that one can directly deposit into their bank account. Rebates are not taxable income. Taking the credit card interest savings and using it as an additional principal payment on one's mortgage is an investment in itself. It will help build equity more quickly and lower the total interest paid on the loan substantially over time.

And once the CC are paid off you can mostly use debit cards anyhow. Keep a couple CC active though and pay them off right away.

 

[davidscott]

And once the CC are paid off you can mostly use debit cards anyhow. Keep a couple CC active though and pay them off right away.

Sound advice.

 

[Trebdp83]

And once the CC are paid off you can mostly use debit cards anyhow. Keep a couple CC active though and pay them off right away.

Yes, keep accounts open even when paid off to better the debt to credit ratio. Using them as charge cards instead of using debits card can make one a few bucks in rewards and dealing with a stolen credit card is far less stressful than dealing with a stolen debit card. Fraudulent credit card charges aren't coming right out of the bank account one may be using to pay their bills.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Heck most of the time emergencies are less than 2K. But ya if you lose your job or something happens a 6mo cushion is better than 3.

Yes, and a 12 month is better yet.

 

[jinjuku]

For every 10K you make you should expect a month to get a job at that rate. On average.

 

[SithZedi]

For every 10K you make you should expect a month to get a job at that rate. On average.

What's the modifier on that formula for over age 50?

 

[panteragstk]

Agreed on the CC interest. Try to get those paid off asap. Also, I'd recommend a 6-month minimum emergency fund.

Good advice, I need to get my "oh sh!t" fund back up again.

 

[jinjuku]

What's the modifier on that formula for over age 50?

Knock $10K off your ask...

 

[jinjuku]

And once the CC are paid off you can mostly use debit cards anyhow. Keep a couple CC active though and pay them off right away.

I keep 3 CC active and they take care of Cellphone, Internet, Streaming services. Just setup auto pay for the full amount every month.

My ex business partner was horrible with $$/Credit. Was paying $225 a month for car insurance even though he had a clean driving record (fortunately some states have outlawed the practice but not enough).

I put him on as a named user on two of my cards and in 90 days he went from a 545 to 630. Was able to get his insurance requoted at $75/month.

Then being the idiot that he was: He gets a pre-approved Amazon Chase Visa with a $2400 limit. I told him: Put your cell phone bill on it. Setup auto-pay. Cut up the card.

What's he do? $2200 drum set. Idiot. I took him off my cards and let his credit return to poop and negotiated a buyout.

 

[davidscott]

I keep 3 CC active and they take care of Cellphone, Internet, Streaming services. Just setup auto pay for the full amount every month.

My ex business partner was horrible with $$/Credit. Was paying $225 a month for car insurance even though he had a clean driving record (fortunately some states have outlawed the practice but not enough).

I put him on as a named user on two of my cards and in 90 days he went from a 545 to 630. Was able to get his insurance requoted at $75/month.

Then being the idiot that he was: He gets a pre-approved Amazon Chase Visa with a $2400 limit. I told him: Put your cell phone bill on it. Setup auto-pay. Cut up the card.

What's he do? $2200 drum set. Idiot. I took him off my cards and let his credit return to poop and negotiated a buyout.

Is he still using the drum set?

 

[SithZedi]

A good reminder on high fees eroding your returns.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

 

[Dude#1279435]

For every 10K you make you should expect a month to get a job at that rate. On average.

I don't understand. Can you explain please?

 

[Old Onkyo]

I don't understand. Can you explain please?

If you make $100,000 a year, he expects it will take 10 months to get a similar paying job. There are a lot of variables there…location, profession, age etc.