Madison MoneySports - Personal Finance Thread

[Senor_Taylor]

With Justin making the Purchase decision thread, I think the other major theme of my catastrophe of a thread was personal finance. We don't have a thread for this already, right? We have a stock market thread, but I don't know if that is broad enough.

So everyone has convinced me to get a new CC, which I did last night, so now I'm looking for a bank. What's everyone's opinion on PNC? What's their presence like nationwide?

Also, what are some things a normal recent grad doesn't think to do financially but should? What's something you wish you did when you graduated? Let's avoid "Live in a hut, spend no money, eat lentils." please. I like my income, but I'd really like to supplement is somehow, some way.

[JPolen01]

I like PNC a lot. They have an okay presence - 2,600 PNC branches and 9,000 ATMs across 19 states. Mainly focused on the east coast and into the mid-west it looks like. They reimburse some ATM fees every month and have low to no minimums on their checking accounts when you meet a certain direct deposit threshold. Customer service has always been really good as well. A nice bonus is you can take out any denomination from an ATM. Seems silly but it's nice to get exactly what you need.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Also, what are some things a normal recent grad doesn't think to do financially but should? What's something you wish you did when you graduated? Let's avoid "Live in a hut, spend no money, eat lentils." please. I like my income, but I'd really like to supplement is somehow, some way.

This is probably where I will spend 90% of my posting from here on out lol. I like helping people with this stuff. Not that I'm an expert, but have enjoyed reading and learning as much as I can and always look for advice from others.

The two biggest things I can point out and may seem obvious are the following:

1) ALWAYS pay yourself first. Setup some reoccurring amount per paycheck and deposit into a savings account. You'll never miss it and it's the easiest way to save money.

2) Spend less than you earn. It's really easy to watch your peers get new clothes, dinners, cars, what have you. Keep those two things in mind and you're on your way.

I have a few books your are welcome to borrow and read if that's your thing.

[Senor_Taylor]

Yeah, I might take a peak at the books. I've spent < $800 on clothing in the last 5 years combined. I really don't buy anything other than food and car parts. I've only taken one vacation that I paid for in the last 4 years. (ex-gf's family took me once). Should I be investing? Use this money to do something on the side like flip cars?

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[ViPER1313]

I'm sure Chris and Lee will disagree with me, but consider joining a credit union over a large bank until you are more financially established. COFCU has great deals for JMU grads (like guaranteed best interest rate, regardless of credit score). I was able to get a 3% interest rate on a car loan from them (years back, when 3% was low) when other banks and dealers wouldn't go below 5% because of lack of credit history.

I have a ballin PNC account and still have the COFCU account, but if I was not financially established, I would never have signed up for PNC - their entry level accounts were trash, fees all over the place.

[Apoc]

I am in the process of moving from Wells Fargo to a credit union. Take that!

[D_Eclipse9916]

PenFed has great rates for loans and free checking with a minimum of $20.

I personally bank with BB&T because their convenient. ATMs are across from my house and across the street from work. No ATM fees as long as you pull from BBT which across the East Coast isn't a problem.
I have my mortgage through them, and strangely they had the best mortgage rate at the time of 3.75%.

I tend not to talk on the forums much about money since people tend to just humble brag. More than welcome to talk about it with me in person.

Most the arguments tend to be centered around risk, not who is right or wrong. So keep that in mind.


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[JustinG]

We were with WF prior to our employment with them, but have stuck with them due to some employee perks we both get.

Should our employment change, who knows what we will do, cause switching over all the auto drafts we have setup would be such a pain in the D.

We shopped our mortgage around, but stuck with WF cause the employee rate discount couldn't be beat. it was obviously sold off 10 seconds after the ink dried. Surprisingly, WF had the better rate with the rate discount when I bought the Prius vs VACU, who usually blew everyone out of the water when it came to an auto loan.

I dunno, for me, shopping around for a bank = who has the most ATMs in the area should I need to grab some cash. For cars I go VACU.

[WRXtranceformed]

Also, what are some things a normal recent grad doesn't think to do financially but should? What's something you wish you did when you graduated? Let's avoid "Live in a hut, spend no money, eat lentils." please. I like my income, but I'd really like to supplement is somehow, some way.

You probably won't take this advice, and most people who are older than you don't take this advice either, but I wish I had talked to a financial advisor much sooner than I did. It does not matter if you are wealthy, if you are broke or what stage of saving you are at. A lot of people think they are savvy when it comes to investing, but 95% of them are not. I was one of those people, and I did okay...I always saved into traditional investment vehicles. It was really eye opening when I finally sat down with professionals and realized that not only was I not saving nearly enough, I wasn't saving in the right ways to maximize my investment growth, diversify to mitigate risk and avoid the inevitable sting of inflation, rising cost of living and the tax implications when I retire.

All of this stuff sounds really big and heavy but it's really, really important dude. If you don't want to work forever, these are things that everyone should have a professional who does this stuff for a living at least give them a second opinion on. It's up to you whether you want to use their services. Do you know what my brother just texted me the other day? The median retirement savings for ages 32-37 is $480. $480. The median retirement savings for ages 56-61 is $17,000. You don't have to make a ton of money to be able to retire comfortably, clearly the numbers support the fact that people generally need help with their finances.

As far as banks it's really personal preference. I've maintained a $5 balance PenFed account for years just in case their rates are better than another banks when I go to borrow money, but to date they haven't been. BoA's personal banking is incredible. We have no ATM fees anywhere for any ATM, waived wire transfer fees, discounts on interest rates for loans, no fee trades if you go that route, tons more perks that I would have to look up. They also have interactive ATMs where you live video chat with a teller 24/7 down here in case it's after bank hours and you need to do something more complicated than pulling $20s out of a machine. Good banking app, good online interface that is constantly improving. But yeah you can find whatever bank is willing to work with you the best at your stage in life and go for it, it really isn't going to make much of a difference

[WRXtranceformed]

Also: To DJ's point I think it's fine to talk about finances openly and honestly. For some reason it's such a big taboo in the US but in a lot of other countries people are more willing to talk about what works and what doesn't work for them. We've all been around the block, burned through cash and are still figuring out how best to save it. There's nothing wrong with spreading some wisdom around when you find what is successful. Joey and I talk finances fairly regularly and it's refreshing to be able to get new perspectives on what is one of the most important things you should be paying attention to in adult life

[Senor_Taylor]

I've actually thought about taking to a professional. Surely the benefits outweigh the costs?

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[Apoc]

At least do it once or twice. There are a lot of misconceptions about finances (see posts about credit score) and getting a brain dump from a professional can help build confidence that you're maximizing your money.

[JPolen01]

The wife and I are currently interviewing financial advisors. I've narrowed it down to 3 from recommendations from friends and family and will talk to each to see who is the best fit for us, their strategies, and fee structures.

[rherold9]

My opinion after reading some things online. Take it right or wrong I don't care but what I focused on/realized for financials in order is:

• Focus on savings account (3-4 months is a good amount at our age with our skillset of tech, this should increase as you gain more responsibilities)
  
• Focus on paying off debt with high interest rates or re-financing to lower rates
  
• Then make use of the company's full match on 401k
  
• If no match or none yet focus on opening a Roth IRA and adding at least 15% of your income to it if you can swing it
  
• Focus on paying off debt with the low interest rates or buying/doing fun things for a hobby
  
• Since you are young you can spend a little more like going out to or doing whatever with friends
  
• If you don't do the step above just invest that money into something simple like a sector ETFs or something if you don't want to worry about day to day trading and such. Putting too much money in savings you don't need in savings is a waste when you could be earning money by simple investments.

It's been mentioned but don't overspend on your card that you can't pay in cash because you have a high limit. High limits aren't a bad thing if you have self-control which isn't hard when you realize how debt feels. I mean most college kids know how this feels haha.

Other than that just browse around and read about those financial products you are interested in learning or obtaining which I'm sure you already do.

[Goodspeed]

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsi...k-is-there




https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance...mmontopics

[V1GiLaNtE]

Deloitte recently partnered with LearnVest so they are offering us free financial advice and planning. I just signed up and am curious to have a Pro take a look at things.

Also, that workflow Goodspeed posted is spot on.

[.RJ]

Good for you for thinking about this.

I blew all my money on cars and motorcycles in my 20's before I figured out that I should be an adult. Fortunately I've gotten all that shit together, have a bunch of home equity and my investment $ is sitting mostly unsupervised in betterment for now and an 800+ credit score.

I'm at the point now where I'm working on reducing expenses and debts (pretty close to the point of only owing money on the house) and setting us up to retire in about 10-12 years. We both make good money now so it should be achievable as long as we keep focused on that.

[Apoc]

Just wait until you have an "accident" and that plans goes away. :lol:

[*insertusernamehere*]

Jesus my head hurts, I need to go home and read.

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[D_Eclipse9916]