Wisconsin Beth
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No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on May 18, 2020 10:45:22 GMT -5
My job is stable. I work for local gov't. I will probably be taking furloughs but in the past they tried to stagger them out over time. I cover the health insurance.
DH's job is probably stable. He's fairly integral to the company so my take is that they have to go under before he loses his job.
I used to think where I was was very stable to. I'm lucky. I expect up to 1/2 of our department to get extra furloughs on top of the ones we already have to take. We're seeing our dean go after relatively small sums of money in the great scheme of things: we got restructured so our particular school could get 1-2 million, instead of that money going back to campus. I'm betting the special furloughs are only going to save 10% off of our operating budget.
I feel like it's the equivalent of looking for change in the sofa cushions...And when it gets to that point, that one is scrounging for change...it's bad.
I provide IT support for the Fire Dept. We've had a lot of staff turnover, including being down 2 hardware guys since before the beginning of the year. Which is about $36K in salary not paid. My Capt. is going at the end of the month and my officemate is being promoted to his spot (she's earned it) but I'm betting her vacancy will remain until the end of the year which is another $26K or so. And one thing COVID has done is prove that they need us.
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on May 18, 2020 12:27:39 GMT -5
If we had to, I could cash in savings bonds, or sell Walmart stock, but I'm not going to. Still its nice to know I could. We could buy another house if we wanted to from those 2 funds.
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jelloshots4all
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Post by jelloshots4all on May 18, 2020 12:39:46 GMT -5
If we had to, I could cash in savings bonds, or sell Walmart stock, but I'm not going to. Still its nice to know I could. We could buy another house if we wanted to from those 2 funds. Why would you buy another house ??
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2020 14:12:30 GMT -5
Empress of self-improvement
Your reference to Polcari's blew me out of the water.
I grew up in Revere MA. We lived across from the Polcaris. This was back in the sixties. AT the tIme I think they only had the restaurant in the North End.
The old man, Louis, probably the original owner, died of a heart attack. When the undertaker arrived for the body all hell broke loose. The maiden daughter, Lilly ran out of the house and started screaming. Her mother, the widow hauled off and slapped her right across the face. Ah fond memories of growing up in a mostly Italian neighborhood
Happy anniversary.
Best wishes from Best Bun.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on May 18, 2020 16:27:04 GMT -5
Empress of self-improvement Your reference to Polcari's blew me out of the water. I grew up in Revere MA. We lived across from the Polcaris. This was back in the sixties. AT the tIme I think they only had the restaurant in the North End. The old man, Louis, probably the original owner, died of a heart attack. When the undertaker arrived for the body all hell broke loose. The maiden daughter, Lilly ran out of the house and started screaming. Her mother, the widow hauled off and slapped her right across the face. Ah fond memories of growing up in a mostly Italian neighborhood
Happy anniversary. Best wishes from Best Bun. You sure post a wonderful visual. Sounds like a scene out of an old movie!!
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on May 18, 2020 18:01:20 GMT -5
I would love to move elsewhere I don't want to live out here. If something happened to hubs I would have a heck of a time getting all this ready for a sale alone. And we need to sell before the bottom drops out of prices here. There is a beautiful place in the little town, similar to ours, price down to $189k and I bet they took less. We have more land, more outbuildings, but a lot of the rest is comparable. I would sure hate to take so little for our place, we have $300k in it. Also lots of farmland for sale, that's not the norm you don't see that often so we are guessing farmers are trying to sell some to pay off bills and keep going or are about to lose it. But they will still likely vote for this pres, poor misguided souls.
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emma1420
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Post by emma1420 on May 19, 2020 13:48:53 GMT -5
I have just shy of 15K of liquid cash between my checking buffer and savings. I could live off beefed up unemployment (it would be rough, but I think I could cover all my expenses on a bare bones budget), with just regular unemployment I could probably make it six months with my EF. Depending on how much COBRA payments were for my health insurance.
I'm also a lot more nervous about things now. Until March I would have said that I had a very stable job, but while now i don't think I'm in immediate danger of being laid off I do think that my job is a lot more unstable.
To be honest, I think the only people who don't have anything to worry about are those who have incomes like social security or have at least 2-3 years worth of savings. I think for the rest of us the rule book just got tossed out.
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WannabeWealthy
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Post by WannabeWealthy on May 19, 2020 14:29:40 GMT -5
I have no EF either. I try to keep a surplus of $5k in my checking at the end of each month. That's it. All of my other after-tax money is locked up into a brokerage account (stocks/RothIRA). I use this residual money in my checking for a variety of things all the time. This month, my car's A/C needs to be fixed so I'll be having to pull extra from my monthly 'car bill' budget to pay for the A/C and I just wait for an extra check one month (I have 2 months left with extra paydays) to put it back. If I need something dire that's > $5k, I go to my credit cards, get the 0% loan and pay it down gradually. I'm actually pushing up against a wall with cash right now because I'm not able to save any at the moment. I have too many bills that I'm trying to bring down quickly (2 car notes and 1 furniture bill), so I don't really have room to maneuver.
If I REALLY need the money, then I'll pull from my stocks/RothIRA (>$230k) account but it would have to be a really dire situation. I have no room for having cash laying around and not working for me since I'm 50yrs old, newly divorced and way behind on retirement.
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skubikky
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Post by skubikky on May 19, 2020 14:41:25 GMT -5
We 15% to retirement and I'll have a pension. I still need to rebalance but at this point, I figure I'll just keep on riding it out until July when I turn 50. DH's accounts are less risky than mine so he's probably doing better but we're not looking at either account right now.
Our Beth is turning 50! I always think of you as about 32. I know your kids are probably in grade school now but I still think of them as babies. Congratulations kiddo.
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Post by empress of self-improvement on May 19, 2020 16:37:10 GMT -5
Empress of self-improvement Your reference to Polcari's blew me out of the water. I grew up in Revere MA. We lived across from the Polcaris. This was back in the sixties. AT the tIme I think they only had the restaurant in the North End. The old man, Louis, probably the original owner, died of a heart attack. When the undertaker arrived for the body all hell broke loose. The maiden daughter, Lilly ran out of the house and started screaming. Her mother, the widow hauled off and slapped her right across the face. Ah fond memories of growing up in a mostly Italian neighborhood Happy anniversary. Best wishes from Best Bun. bestbun, Hey Neighbor! I wasn't around in the sixties but I did grow up in Lynn in the 80s and 90s! Polcari's now has a location on Route One in Saugus and in Woburn. I'm too lazy to drive into Boston even with traffic being next to nothing. Plus they own Pizzeria Regina now so those are all over the place.
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Wisconsin Beth
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No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on May 20, 2020 7:39:05 GMT -5
We 15% to retirement and I'll have a pension. I still need to rebalance but at this point, I figure I'll just keep on riding it out until July when I turn 50. DH's accounts are less risky than mine so he's probably doing better but we're not looking at either account right now.
Our Beth is turning 50! I always think of you as about 32. I know your kids are probably in grade school now but I still think of them as babies. Congratulations kiddo. LOL. Thanks.
My daughter turned 12 earlier this month. My son is 10. They're both almost as tall as me!
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on May 20, 2020 9:50:18 GMT -5
I have just shy of 15K of liquid cash between my checking buffer and savings. I could live off beefed up unemployment (it would be rough, but I think I could cover all my expenses on a bare bones budget), with just regular unemployment I could probably make it six months with my EF. Depending on how much COBRA payments were for my health insurance. I'm also a lot more nervous about things now. Until March I would have said that I had a very stable job, but while now i don't think I'm in immediate danger of being laid off I do think that my job is a lot more unstable. To be honest, I think the only people who don't have anything to worry about are those who have incomes like social security or have at least 2-3 years worth of savings. I think for the rest of us the rule book just got tossed out. My opinion also.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2020 13:01:47 GMT -5
I have no EF either. I try to keep a surplus of $5k in my checking at the end of each month. That's it. All of my other after-tax money is locked up into a brokerage account (stocks/RothIRA). I use this residual money in my checking for a variety of things all the time. This month, my car's A/C needs to be fixed so I'll be having to pull extra from my monthly 'car bill' budget to pay for the A/C and I just wait for an extra check one month (I have 2 months left with extra paydays) to put it back. If I need something dire that's > $5k, I go to my credit cards, get the 0% loan and pay it down gradually. I'm actually pushing up against a wall with cash right now because I'm not able to save any at the moment. I have too many bills that I'm trying to bring down quickly (2 car notes and 1 furniture bill), so I don't really have room to maneuver.
If I REALLY need the money, then I'll pull from my stocks/RothIRA (>$230k) account but it would have to be a really dire situation. I have no room for having cash laying around and not working for me since I'm 50yrs old, newly divorced and way behind on retirement. You make it sound so simple. What CC do you have that constantly offers a 0% loan whenever you want it?
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on May 20, 2020 13:58:57 GMT -5
So I was thinking about the general question in the title "Have Emergency Funds ever been so vital?" and I started thinking if maybe this is like the BEST time to need emergency funds and not have them. Bumps in unemployment payments, stimulus checks, companies letting payments slide for the time being. Maybe this whole thing makes people think "I'm not prepared, I need to get ready for the next time"...but I could also see it going the opposite way "If I'm not prepared, the government will bail me out" even though the "next time" someone needs an EF is not likely to be in the midst of a pandemic where the government will step in.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on May 20, 2020 16:17:22 GMT -5
I have just shy of 15K of liquid cash between my checking buffer and savings. I could live off beefed up unemployment (it would be rough, but I think I could cover all my expenses on a bare bones budget), with just regular unemployment I could probably make it six months with my EF. Depending on how much COBRA payments were for my health insurance. I'm also a lot more nervous about things now. Until March I would have said that I had a very stable job, but while now i don't think I'm in immediate danger of being laid off I do think that my job is a lot more unstable. To be honest, I think the only people who don't have anything to worry about are those who have incomes like social security or have at least 2-3 years worth of savings. I think for the rest of us the rule book just got tossed out. I was on a virtual meeting with other Executive Directors today. Everyone was commenting on how strapped their budgets are, and one got a little teary eyed because she is probably going to have to let people go soon. My best friend has been told her organization can survive through December with the current climate (she is in an association related to travel). This is after letting half the staff go. Everyone is talking about wait staff, retailers, and other low income people being unemployed but I think come late summer and fall we are going to start seeing the middle class workers really suffering as well.
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on May 20, 2020 18:23:44 GMT -5
I feel so sorry for folks. This is going to set so many people back. I know I warned son and some friends that it was time to sell stocks, it was getting way overheated and was going to adjust. But I never thought stuff like this would happen. Just goes to show you never know.
Believe me I'm thankful, things the last 15 years just fell into place for us, year after year. I still can't believe how it all turned out. I am thankful daily.
With the national debt we have and the way things are being screwed up for this country even SS and medicare could take hits. We are going to suffer for a long time I think.
Also I imagine with people working and doing well many could have been in debt and added more debt then normal. Not good.
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jelloshots4all
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Post by jelloshots4all on May 20, 2020 18:50:08 GMT -5
So I was thinking about the general question in the title "Have Emergency Funds ever been so vital?" and I started thinking if maybe this is like the BEST time to need emergency funds and not have them. Bumps in unemployment payments, stimulus checks, companies letting payments slide for the time being. Maybe this whole thing makes people think "I'm not prepared, I need to get ready for the next time"...but I could also see it going the opposite way "If I'm not prepared, the government will bail me out" even though the "next time" someone needs an EF is not likely to be in the midst of a pandemic where the government will step in. hoops I rarely agree with you, but I agree with this. I have friends, a married couple both in hospitality and poof their jobs were gone. I've known for 10 years they live paycheck to paycheck and on tips. They came to my house the day after this happened for my internet and computer help. He was running around like a chicken with his head cutoff and she was crying. He said he had $14 in his pocket. Their State UI is $140 each/wk. They did each get the $1200, and then the $600/wk. So making $1.500 combined per week is likely more than they typically made. I hope they are catching up on bills and saving some, but I doubt it. It's a good thing the casinos are closed or they would probably be spending their surplus there. It's a mindset I think. They are both 50 and have never really had even a rainy day fund for a car repair. Have been late on bills, etc. Hopefully the fear factor it took them in finally receiving their UI put some type of fire under their asses to save. But I doubt it. Just sad.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on May 20, 2020 19:19:02 GMT -5
So I was thinking about the general question in the title "Have Emergency Funds ever been so vital?" and I started thinking if maybe this is like the BEST time to need emergency funds and not have them. Bumps in unemployment payments, stimulus checks, companies letting payments slide for the time being. Maybe this whole thing makes people think "I'm not prepared, I need to get ready for the next time"...but I could also see it going the opposite way "If I'm not prepared, the government will bail me out" even though the "next time" someone needs an EF is not likely to be in the midst of a pandemic where the government will step in. hoops I rarely agree with you, but I agree with this. I have friends, a married couple both in hospitality and poof their jobs were gone. I've known for 10 years they live paycheck to paycheck and on tips. They came to my house the day after this happened for my internet and computer help. He was running around like a chicken with his head cutoff and she was crying. He said he had $14 in his pocket. Their State UI is $140 each/wk. They did each get the $1200, and then the $600/wk. So making $1.500 combined per week is likely more than they typically made. I hope they are catching up on bills and saving some, but I doubt it. It's a good thing the casinos are closed or they would probably be spending their surplus there. It's a mindset I think. They are both 50 and have never really had even a rainy day fund for a car repair. Have been late on bills, etc. Hopefully the fear factor it took them in finally receiving their UI put some type of fire under their asses to save. But I doubt it. Just sad. I tend to think that if they're 50, and live paycheck to paycheck...that this isn't the first emergency they've faced that would make them say "holy crap, we gotta get our stuff together". Of the people I know who live paycheck to paycheck...I feel like that kind of smaller event of "oh no, we're unprepared" comes once a year. Ultimately, it seems to rarely last...even if they change in the short term. Not much different than people who are unhealthy who say "I gotta lose some weight". It might happen for a bit, but change..long term change...is hard.
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jelloshots4all
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Post by jelloshots4all on May 20, 2020 19:34:17 GMT -5
hoops I rarely agree with you, but I agree with this. I have friends, a married couple both in hospitality and poof their jobs were gone. I've known for 10 years they live paycheck to paycheck and on tips. They came to my house the day after this happened for my internet and computer help. He was running around like a chicken with his head cutoff and she was crying. He said he had $14 in his pocket. Their State UI is $140 each/wk. They did each get the $1200, and then the $600/wk. So making $1.500 combined per week is likely more than they typically made. I hope they are catching up on bills and saving some, but I doubt it. It's a good thing the casinos are closed or they would probably be spending their surplus there. It's a mindset I think. They are both 50 and have never really had even a rainy day fund for a car repair. Have been late on bills, etc. Hopefully the fear factor it took them in finally receiving their UI put some type of fire under their asses to save. But I doubt it. Just sad. I tend to think that if they're 50, and live paycheck to paycheck...that this isn't the first emergency they've faced that would make them say "holy crap, we gotta get our stuff together". Of the people I know who live paycheck to paycheck...I feel like that kind of smaller event of "oh no, we're unprepared" comes once a year. Ultimately, it seems to rarely last...even if they change in the short term. Not much different than people who are unhealthy who say "I gotta lose some weight". It might happen for a bit, but change..long term change...is hard. It's not the first and happens at least once a year. Fortunately for them his sister married a man who is very successful and generous (they both are and great friends of mine too). If nothing else, it helps me show my kids great life lessons on what NOT to do! They work with him and have know him for 10 yrs as my daughter went to kindy with his sisters daughter. We have other friends in the paycheck to paycheck mode too. It makes me sad, but their choices. I have taught my kids how important it is to save!
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WannabeWealthy
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Post by WannabeWealthy on May 23, 2020 19:47:31 GMT -5
I have no EF either. I try to keep a surplus of $5k in my checking at the end of each month. That's it. All of my other after-tax money is locked up into a brokerage account (stocks/RothIRA). I use this residual money in my checking for a variety of things all the time. This month, my car's A/C needs to be fixed so I'll be having to pull extra from my monthly 'car bill' budget to pay for the A/C and I just wait for an extra check one month (I have 2 months left with extra paydays) to put it back. If I need something dire that's > $5k, I go to my credit cards, get the 0% loan and pay it down gradually. I'm actually pushing up against a wall with cash right now because I'm not able to save any at the moment. I have too many bills that I'm trying to bring down quickly (2 car notes and 1 furniture bill), so I don't really have room to maneuver.
If I REALLY need the money, then I'll pull from my stocks/RothIRA (>$230k) account but it would have to be a really dire situation. I have no room for having cash laying around and not working for me since I'm 50yrs old, newly divorced and way behind on retirement. You make it sound so simple. What CC do you have that constantly offers a 0% loan whenever you want it? I have several 0% ( + the 3-4% one time fee) offers on a lot of my credit cards. Granted, I'm having to pay for a 3-4% fee, but it would have to be a BIG loan that I would need, like 10-20k or something. The only reason why I would go this route is because my stocks will definitely make more than that. I'm like Phil on this aspect. I borrow as much as I can because rates are just so dang low.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2020 7:28:28 GMT -5
You make it sound so simple. What CC do you have that constantly offers a 0% loan whenever you want it? I have several 0% ( + the 3-4% one time fee) offers on a lot of my credit cards. Granted, I'm having to pay for a 3-4% fee, but it would have to be a BIG loan that I would need, like 10-20k or something. The only reason why I would go this route is because my stocks will definitely make more than that. I'm like Phil on this aspect. I borrow as much as I can because rates are just so dang low. I'm not arguing with you in particular. Your system works for you. But this is what I mean by you make it sound so simple. 3-4% isn't really interest-free. Interest-free usually is for a limited amount of time. A little over a year is the most I've seen although there are no doubt longer ones since I don't go looking for them. You do have to pay it back with either sizeable monthly payments or a minimum payment with a balloon at the end. And although I have several cards with $10,000 and even $16,000 credit limits, none of them will let me take that much out in cash. That's usually capped at around $5k. So for that "BIG loan," I would have to get these 0% offers from 3 or 4 different credit cards. And while stock definitely make more than 3-4%, you cannot count on that happening in the short period of time that you have the CC loan. I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways. One thing about that LL loan that was interesting. According to the statement, it would take 24 years to pay off that $6000 if I made just the minimum payment! And the minimum payment isn't dirt cheap. Right now I think it is $164 a month whereas I am paying $250 for the interest-free option. That potential interest is frightening.
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oped
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Post by oped on May 25, 2020 7:36:12 GMT -5
So I was thinking about the general question in the title "Have Emergency Funds ever been so vital?" and I started thinking if maybe this is like the BEST time to need emergency funds and not have them. Bumps in unemployment payments, stimulus checks, companies letting payments slide for the time being. Maybe this whole thing makes people think "I'm not prepared, I need to get ready for the next time"...but I could also see it going the opposite way "If I'm not prepared, the government will bail me out" even though the "next time" someone needs an EF is not likely to be in the midst of a pandemic where the government will step in. My stimulus got here 2 weeks ago. Gig people might have been eligible for unemployment... but it was like 6 weeks before they even had a system here to try to claim it and then it was so convoluted it wasn’t worth it. I have heard many didn’t get paid. ... I just don’t think it’s as ‘happy suck the teet days’ as you think for many people.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2020 10:24:26 GMT -5
My stimulus got here 2 weeks ago. Gig people might have been eligible for unemployment... but it was like 6 weeks before they even had a system here to try to claim it and then it was so convoluted it wasn’t worth it. I have heard many didn’t get paid. ... I just don’t think it’s as ‘happy suck the teet days’ as you think for many people. I got a call/email 2 days ago that my application for the CARE act UI was received and would be approved/denied within the next few weeks. I submitted the day we could apply and people are already returning to work. My son's GF is a cosmetologist here in OR and applied for regular UI the day she got laid-off in mid-March. She still has yet to see a dime. She went back to work on Saturday and was one of the few who volunteered. She's scared but has bills to pay. As for the high interest issue, that's exactly how poor people get stuck in poverty and people end up filing for bankruptcy. You need an expensive car repair and end up with CC payments for decades and they just snowball after that.
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WannabeWealthy
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Post by WannabeWealthy on May 25, 2020 14:46:01 GMT -5
I have several 0% ( + the 3-4% one time fee) offers on a lot of my credit cards. Granted, I'm having to pay for a 3-4% fee, but it would have to be a BIG loan that I would need, like 10-20k or something. The only reason why I would go this route is because my stocks will definitely make more than that. I'm like Phil on this aspect. I borrow as much as I can because rates are just so dang low. I'm not arguing with you in particular. Your system works for you. But this is what I mean by you make it sound so simple. 3-4% isn't really interest-free. Interest-free usually is for a limited amount of time. A little over a year is the most I've seen although there are no doubt longer ones since I don't go looking for them. You do have to pay it back with either sizeable monthly payments or a minimum payment with a balloon at the end. And although I have several cards with $10,000 and even $16,000 credit limits, none of them will let me take that much out in cash. That's usually capped at around $5k. So for that "BIG loan," I would have to get these 0% offers from 3 or 4 different credit cards. And while stock definitely make more than 3-4%, you cannot count on that happening in the short period of time that you have the CC loan. I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways. One thing about that LL loan that was interesting. According to the statement, it would take 24 years to pay off that $6000 if I made just the minimum payment! And the minimum payment isn't dirt cheap. Right now I think it is $164 a month whereas I am paying $250 for the interest-free option. That potential interest is frightening. Yea, it's more of preference for me. I do have CCs that have very high limits (>$35k) with 0 balance. It would be a way of delaying having to pay a large bill before I am forced to spend money out of my stocks. But what I would do is pay the monthly payment for this loan term (until it ends in 12months or so) with my stock money. That way I'm trickling the money down to the loan to buy me some time to get a handle on everything. It's better than just pulling that money out from the stocks at one time and it buys me a LOT of time to get my emergency under control (whether it's finding a new job or whatever). In my opinion, it's better to have $30k in stocks than to have $30k sitting in a money market or cash. Waiting for that emergency to show up could be a long time missing out on the money working for you.
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obelisk
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Post by obelisk on May 25, 2020 17:45:15 GMT -5
I'm not arguing with you in particular. Your system works for you. But this is what I mean by you make it sound so simple. 3-4% isn't really interest-free. Interest-free usually is for a limited amount of time. A little over a year is the most I've seen although there are no doubt longer ones since I don't go looking for them. You do have to pay it back with either sizeable monthly payments or a minimum payment with a balloon at the end. And although I have several cards with $10,000 and even $16,000 credit limits, none of them will let me take that much out in cash. That's usually capped at around $5k. So for that "BIG loan," I would have to get these 0% offers from 3 or 4 different credit cards. And while stock definitely make more than 3-4%, you cannot count on that happening in the short period of time that you have the CC loan. I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways. One thing about that LL loan that was interesting. According to the statement, it would take 24 years to pay off that $6000 if I made just the minimum payment! And the minimum payment isn't dirt cheap. Right now I think it is $164 a month whereas I am paying $250 for the interest-free option. That potential interest is frightening. Yea, it's more of preference for me. I do have CCs that have very high limits (>$35k) with 0 balance. It would be a way of delaying having to pay a large bill before I am forced to spend money out of my stocks. But what I would do is pay the monthly payment for this loan term (until it ends in 12months or so) with my stock money. That way I'm trickling the money down to the loan to buy me some time to get a handle on everything. It's better than just pulling that money out from the stocks at one time and it buys me a LOT of time to get my emergency under control (whether it's finding a new job or whatever). In my opinion, it's better to have $30k in stocks than to have $30k sitting in a money market or cash. Waiting for that emergency to show up could be a long time missing out on the money working for you. At this time I would highly recommend not paying you mortgage and rent. You will have a minimum of a year backlog to deal with the courts. At the end or middle of next year, the payments will be reduced. The landlords and mortgage holders will negotiate.
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phil5185
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 26, 2010 15:45:49 GMT -5
Posts: 6,409
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Post by phil5185 on May 25, 2020 17:52:18 GMT -5
""I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways."""
Another way would be to refi your real estate for 30 years, fixed rated ,<4%. $13k would add about $62/m. Meanwhile, your $13k would be doubling about every 7 years in your stock fund. That eliminates the time constraints and the punitive interest rates.
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Deleted
Joined: Apr 24, 2024 11:35:36 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2020 18:25:30 GMT -5
""I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways."""
Another way would be to refi your real estate for 30 years, fixed rated ,<4%. $13k would add about $62/m. Meanwhile, your $13k would be doubling about every 7 years in your stock fund. That eliminates the time constraints and the punitive interest rates.
That's a young person's game, Phil. I have reached the point where I don't want to play. That said, I was willing to take 6k of their money to leave $6k in cash in savings. I am not playing the stock market game right now, but I don't want to touch what I have in there. The $30k that I have in cash is supposed to keep me from touching my retirement funds until I am 72 and mandatory withdrawals. That is 6 more years. So that $30k needs to last awhile. I have never wanted to be "rich." I saw what happened to my elderly aunt who got involved in leveraged real estate thanks to her con brother (convicted so a real thing). I want to be comfortable, and I think that will happen. ETA: I don't think it is that easy to refinance my house. I only owe about $48k. Even adding $13k would have been awfully low.
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WannabeWealthy
Established Member
Joined: Dec 27, 2010 12:25:17 GMT -5
Posts: 357
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Post by WannabeWealthy on May 27, 2020 13:04:08 GMT -5
""I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways."""
Another way would be to refi your real estate for 30 years, fixed rated ,<4%. $13k would add about $62/m. Meanwhile, your $13k would be doubling about every 7 years in your stock fund. That eliminates the time constraints and the punitive interest rates.
That's a young person's game, Phil. I have reached the point where I don't want to play. That said, I was willing to take 6k of their money to leave $6k in cash in savings. I am not playing the stock market game right now, but I don't want to touch what I have in there. The $30k that I have in cash is supposed to keep me from touching my retirement funds until I am 72 and mandatory withdrawals. That is 6 more years. So that $30k needs to last awhile. I have never wanted to be "rich." I saw what happened to my elderly aunt who got involved in leveraged real estate thanks to her con brother (convicted so a real thing). I want to be comfortable, and I think that will happen. ETA: I don't think it is that easy to refinance my house. I only owe about $48k. Even adding $13k would have been awfully low. I'm with you on not wanting to be "rich" but live comfortable. Once I hit 67yo, I'm done with playing. It'll be time to just enjoy the last little bit of life I have left in this universe.
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Rukh O'Rorke
Senior Associate
Joined: Jul 4, 2016 13:31:15 GMT -5
Posts: 10,030
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on May 29, 2020 17:29:27 GMT -5
""I have a 0% loan from Synchrony for the flooring I bought at Lumber Liquidators. With installation, the total came to over $13k. I had that in the bank in cash, but I didn't want to spend that much. So I paid $7800 and put $6000 on their credit card. Why? To pay the loan off within 2 years, I would have had to pay over $500 a month. That was too much of a commitment for me. If I fail to get it paid off, the rate of retroactive interest is 29.9%. I've made 6 payments already and accumulated $800 worth of deferred interest. That scares the crap out of me. So I did it both ways."""
Another way would be to refi your real estate for 30 years, fixed rated ,<4%. $13k would add about $62/m. Meanwhile, your $13k would be doubling about every 7 years in your stock fund. That eliminates the time constraints and the punitive interest rates.
That's a young person's game, Phil. I have reached the point where I don't want to play. That said, I was willing to take 6k of their money to leave $6k in cash in savings. I am not playing the stock market game right now, but I don't want to touch what I have in there. The $30k that I have in cash is supposed to keep me from touching my retirement funds until I am 72 and mandatory withdrawals. That is 6 more years. So that $30k needs to last awhile. I have never wanted to be "rich." I saw what happened to my elderly aunt who got involved in leveraged real estate thanks to her con brother (convicted so a real thing). I want to be comfortable, and I think that will happen.ETA: I don't think it is that easy to refinance my house. I only owe about $48k. Even adding $13k would have been awfully low. Are you not comfortable now? I'm concerned! I thought everything was lined up ok for you. Do you just mean it will continue on?
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Deleted
Joined: Apr 24, 2024 11:35:36 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 17:37:20 GMT -5
That's a young person's game, Phil. I have reached the point where I don't want to play. That said, I was willing to take 6k of their money to leave $6k in cash in savings. I am not playing the stock market game right now, but I don't want to touch what I have in there. The $30k that I have in cash is supposed to keep me from touching my retirement funds until I am 72 and mandatory withdrawals. That is 6 more years. So that $30k needs to last awhile. I have never wanted to be "rich." I saw what happened to my elderly aunt who got involved in leveraged real estate thanks to her con brother (convicted so a real thing). I want to be comfortable, and I think that will happen.ETA: I don't think it is that easy to refinance my house. I only owe about $48k. Even adding $13k would have been awfully low. Are you not comfortable now? I'm concerned! I thought everything was lined up ok for you. Do you just mean it will continue on? Yes, I mean that I am comfortable. Hopefully, it will continue on. You never know about inflation, etc., but don't worry about me. I am fine. I think I think about stuff as if I am not retired. Old habits are hard to break.
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