Investing and Personal Finance

[Amsel_]

This thread is devoted to the discussion of investing and personal finance. Topics include: What subject should I major in? Credit Cards. Stock picks and recommendations. Budgeting. And anything else related to personal finance.

[Amsel_]

Personal Finance Q&A

Q: Isn't there going to be a recession soon?

A: You can't time the market. The most successful course of action for people has been to consistently invest money perpetually, and not try to time things.

Q: Aren't credit cards a scam?

A: Credit cards are 100% free if you choose a card without annual fees (this is mostly reserved to high-end cards), and remember to pay the balance off at the end of the month. It's recommended to set your credit card up to automatically pay the balance off in full at the end of the month, that way you won't have to pay any interest. You can also get cash back or reward points on most credit cards, so it's actually more profitable to use credit cards instead of cash.

Q: What brokerage should I use?

A: Robinhood and Charles Schwab are highly rated for beginners.

Q: Don't you need a lot of money to invest?

A: You can start investing with the cost of a cup of coffee. The best time to invest was yesterday. The next best time is today!

[fightinfrenchman]

I have a few thousand dollars of credit card debt, would it make more sense to just continue paying it off over the next couple months, or should I get a personal loan, pay it all off immediately, then start paying off that loan?

[Amsel_]

[Amsel_]

I have a few thousand dollars of credit card debt, would it make more sense to just continue paying it off over the next couple months, or should I get a personal loan, pay it all off immediately, then start paying off that loan?

I recommend applying for a credit card with an introductory 0% APR, and transferring your balance over to that. This is a good way to avoid interest while paying down your credit card debt. It's how I helped my dad get out of the credit card debt hole. Because this method is interest free (Note that some credit cards will charge a small fee on balance transfers.) it is preferable to opening a business loan. I wouldn't advise getting an actual loan unless your credit is particularly poor, and you can't get a balance transfer card.

Remember in the future to start paying off your credit cards at the end of the month. Credit cards are great tools for getting cash back, but a lot of people have trouble keeping track of what they spend.

[fightinfrenchman]

I have a few thousand dollars of credit card debt, would it make more sense to just continue paying it off over the next couple months, or should I get a personal loan, pay it all off immediately, then start paying off that loan?

I recommend applying for a credit card with an introductory 0% APR, and transferring your balance over to that. This is a good way to avoid interest while paying down your credit card debt. It's how I helped my dad get out of the credit card debt hole. Because this method is interest free (Note that some credit cards will charge a small fee on balance transfers.) it is preferable to opening a business loan. I wouldn't advise getting an actual loan unless your credit is particularly poor, and you can't get a balance transfer card.

Remember in the future to start paying off your credit cards at the end of the month. Credit cards are great tools for getting cash back, but a lot of people have trouble keeping track of what they spend.

Ye I was paying them off but then decided to stop working for several months and just take fun vacations instead

[Amsel_]

So after just over a week at my new job I've realized that I hate working and want to never have to do it again. So let's all use this thread as a place to brainstorm ideas that let you get rich fast and retire basically immediately without having to wake up at any specific time ever again.

Getting rich quick is a meme, but you can get rather well off in the span of 5-10 years with basic personal finance advice. Make sure to make the maximum $6,000 contribution to your Roth IRA. If your employer offers one, and you're fairly healthy, try and get an HSA/HDHP too. Build your credit as soon as possible, so that you can get good interest rates. An effective strategy is to mortgage a house to live in, and once you build around 20k in equity, do a cash-out refinance and use that money as the down-payment on an investment property, while you can still keep your home. This is far better than renting, because renters don't earn equity on their housing payments; whereas, a homeowner will have a sort of savings account in the form of home equity, that they can utilize strategically.

Very few people will have noteworthy capital while they're young, so it's important to pay attention to cash flow. Try and cut down on expenses as much as possible, things like netflix and cable aren't really necessary. You can also find some pretty good coupons to help lower expenses; they're almost always free. For awhile my mom was the sort to obsessively coupon, but you don't need to get crazy with it. Just casually looking through what's available before heading to the store is good enough. Credit cards are also great, if you use them correctly. Pay back the entire balance at the end of the month, and collect points/cash back. Because you don't pay interest if you don't carry a balance, and you always get rewards on spending, there is no reason to use cash when you could use a card. You can get some great deals with credit cards. I think Amex offers like 3% back on groceries. You can find others for gas, cell phone bills, amazon, and virtually anything else.

Your income is also important, albeit harder to change. It's practically impossible to escape wage-slavery making under 40k a year, unless your parents will let you live with them and pay for all your expenses. If you make less than that, earning a degree or technical certificate could prove fruitful. Try and avoid heavy student loans, however. There are so many "non-starters" among American youth, specifically because student loan payments stop them from building savings.

[Amsel_]

I have a few thousand dollars of credit card debt, would it make more sense to just continue paying it off over the next couple months, or should I get a personal loan, pay it all off immediately, then start paying off that loan?

I recommend applying for a credit card with an introductory 0% APR, and transferring your balance over to that. This is a good way to avoid interest while paying down your credit card debt. It's how I helped my dad get out of the credit card debt hole. Because this method is interest free (Note that some credit cards will charge a small fee on balance transfers.) it is preferable to opening a business loan. I wouldn't advise getting an actual loan unless your credit is particularly poor, and you can't get a balance transfer card.

Remember in the future to start paying off your credit cards at the end of the month. Credit cards are great tools for getting cash back, but a lot of people have trouble keeping track of what they spend.

Ye I was paying them off but then decided to stop working for several months and just take fun vacations instead

It happens. I met a guy who was a millionaire, he was one of my college professors actually, and he told the class that when he was young he couldn't control his credit card habits. Millions of people get that itch to pull out the plastic and buy something nice - every day! You can and will recover. We're all gonna make it.

[fightinfrenchman]

I would say it was worth it. There's no better feeling than going on vacation, then coming home and not having to go back to work

[Amsel_]

I would say it was worth it. There's no better feeling than going on vacation, then coming home and not having to go back to work

Vacations are fun, and a lot of people benefit greatly from the experience of visiting places and seeing new things. But if you want to get the most vacations possible in life, it's worth it to handle your money properly.

[jesus3]

As I'm fulfilling that German cliche I own only one credit card and have no debt whatsoever. I've got about 2k € to my disposal, what is a good thing to invest in?

[fightinfrenchman]

As I'm fulfilling that German cliche I own only one credit card and have no debt whatsoever. I've got about 2k € to my disposal, what is a good thing to invest in?

Yu-Gi-Oh cards

[Amsel_]

As I'm fulfilling that German cliche I own only one credit card and have no debt whatsoever. I've got about 2k € to my disposal, what is a good thing to invest in?

It's hard to go wrong with an index fund tracking the S&P 500.

As I'm fulfilling that German cliche I own only one credit card and have no debt whatsoever. I've got about 2k € to my disposal, what is a good thing to invest in?

Yu-Gi-Oh cards

How do I short solemn strike?

[jesus3]

As I'm fulfilling that German cliche I own only one credit card and have no debt whatsoever. I've got about 2k € to my disposal, what is a good thing to invest in?

It's hard to go wrong with an index fund tracking the S&P 500

Thanks, I've now read into it a little. Seems reasonable and definitely better than letting inflation eat my Euros on my bank account

[Horsemen]

thanks for turning my investing thread into a physics thread

[Dolan]

Every thread is about everything, if you think deeply enough.

[Jam]

thanks for turning my investing thread into a physics thread

So much money these days is stored electronically. I wonder how all the money in the world weighs. You can add up the weights all of the coins and bills, but do you add up the weight of the harddrives used to store money electronically? Or just the particular portions of the hard disks where the money 'exists'. If property counts as money do you weigh everyone's property?

[Dolan]

Money is just a tokenised abstraction. Your central bank could decide tomorrow to pay you in bell jingles and that would be currency.

[fightinfrenchman]

Money is just a tokenised abstraction. Your central bank could decide tomorrow to pay you in bell jingles and that would be currency.

Imagine the extortionists demand 83 bell jingles in exchange for not destroying all of my stuff

[Riotcoke]

I like how 'Extreme Budgeting' is $550/m and i already live on less than that

[fightinfrenchman]

I like how 'Extreme Budgeting' is $550/m and i already live on less than that

How much do you pay in rent?

[Horsemen]

I like how 'Extreme Budgeting' is $550/m and i already live on less than that

How much do you pay in rent?

lives with his parents

[Riotcoke]

I like how 'Extreme Budgeting' is $550/m and i already live on less than that

How much do you pay in rent?

£375/m

[jesus3]

Money is just a tokenised abstraction. Your central bank could decide tomorrow to pay you in bell jingles and that would be currency.

Imagine the extortionists demand 83 bell jingles in exchange for not destroying all of my stuff

gotta drop your Raigeki on them

[fightinfrenchman]

Money is just a tokenised abstraction. Your central bank could decide tomorrow to pay you in bell jingles and that would be currency.

Imagine the extortionists demand 83 bell jingles in exchange for not destroying all of my stuff

gotta drop your Raigeki on them

I'm still waiting on an apology from them