I might be buying some rope at this rate.
Are either of you near retirement age? Never heard of fully liquidating your retirement nor it being advocatedMy husband sold all his retirement funds about 1.5 - 2 months ago. Not sure if it’s in bonds or cash. I only know about 80K cash in bank, probably more after we sell current house. Don’t know where the market will go. Will have to find something to do. Just can’t keep so much money as cash.
Are either of you near retirement age? Never heard of fully liquidating your retirement nor it being advocated
What have you found to be the most affordable company for home and auto insurance? Ive been going through Progressive for 10 years now, but the premiums seem to slowly creep up. Is it true that you can save money by jumping around between insurance companies every few years? Seems like a hassle. Will insurance companies lower rates if you threaten to leave?
For me it's Erie Insurance. I ask for new quotes every year...and every year they are the cheapest. I think they are just a regional company, though. You may not have access to their insurance if you live on the West Coast.
im at WagsDid you try going through the CVS auto and home insurance and see what the rates would be?
Did you try going through the CVS auto and home insurance and see what the rates would be?
I'm about to get steady cash flow in and been pondering this. Any recommended resources to get started on investing and get the ball rolling? I'm curious how I should allocate funds being a new grad between investments, student loans, and future house down payment. As for loans vs house down payment.. I'd like to tackle loans as fast as possible, but I recently got married too so I think they're pretty much equal on the priority ladder at this point - hard to choose. Obviously if ROI is better in investments than interest on loans you should put $ there, but I'm looking for more info on reading the market, fluctuations, potential untapped investments, & anything else that may be relevant. And being in debt like we are/was, it'd be nice to hear directly from experiences similar to mine.
I followed Dave Ramsey's advice to go hard at paying off debt first. The main reason why is to free up cash flow. Otherwise you'll find it hard to do everything at once: invest, student loans, down payment/mortgage, car loans, etc. It is definitely hard work, but once everything is paid off including the mortgage, it feels amazing to have $5k+/mo in free cash flow and no payments to make. I just invest most of it and it compounds like crazy. That was my road to becoming a millionaire 9 years after graduating on a single RPh salary.I'm about to get steady cash flow in and been pondering this. Any recommended resources to get started on investing and get the ball rolling? I'm curious how I should allocate funds being a new grad between investments, student loans, and future house down payment. As for loans vs house down payment.. I'd like to tackle loans as fast as possible, but I recently got married too so I think they're pretty much equal on the priority ladder at this point - hard to choose. Obviously if ROI is better in investments than interest on loans you should put $ there, but I'm looking for more info on reading the market, fluctuations, potential untapped investments, & anything else that may be relevant. And being in debt like we are/was, it'd be nice to hear directly from experiences similar to mine.
I normally call a local insurance broker that deals a lot with many insurance, not just one insurance. Make sure you know the lingo so you compare the same coverage, not comparing apples and oranges.Fellow SDN'ers - How do y'all compare auto insurance quotes? Every site that I have seen that advertises to compare quotes seems super fishy/scammy to me and the alternative seems to be the endless drudgery of filling out long forms for individual quotes from each company (not to mention that I could still be missing out on the best rate).
Anyone have a website, service, or method they recommend?
Some people need a handholding more so than the others. They need a human to talk to. This is something that everyone can learn without paying anyone. Financial education is so simple. A couple statement such as live below your means, max retirement accounts, minimize tax, never market timing, and pick a low fee index funds. That's literally 99% of the lessons...What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Some people need a handholding more so than the others. They need a human to talk to. This is something that everyone can learn without paying anyone. Financial education is so simple. A couple statement such as live below your means, max retirement accounts, minimize tax, never market timing, and pick a low fee index funds. That's literally 99% of the lessons...
It might be helpful for others but their services feels like a rip off to me.
What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
It's a good podcast for beginners. But it's pretty clearly just a conduit for them to sell their financial planning services. There is nothing different at all that they've discussed that someone from any other profession could follow as well. You're just as well off listening to Dave Ramsey or Stacking Benjamins. If they really wanted to tailor it to pharmacists, they'd spend a show going over the CVS or Walgreens retirement plan and giving examples of which funds have low fees, which funds might make up a diversified portfolio, etc. I wouldn't pay them for what they are offering, but people that are too lazy or too unwilling to learn how to invest in a measured, statistically advantageous way (it literally takes a couple of hours to get the basics down) would benefit from their hand holding. I've gathered that they are a fiduciary, which is a good starting point. So at least it isn't a scam. But that's honestly a brilliant strategy for the financial planner. If they got a bunch of people as clients that only work for a handful of corporations, making about the same income, you can set up an easy template investing strategy for each company's plan options and extrapolate it for several clients at the same time.
What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
You don't need to do research on this or try to understand it because I have already done it for you:
(1) 401 k: contribute at least to the match which is usually 5%. If you put in a dollar, your company will give you a dollar = $2. Don't ever touch this money.
- Why? Tax saving and retirement money
- How should I distribute my 401 k?
For a new grad: 35% large size companies, 25% small size companies, 20% mid size companies, 20% international companies.
Look for Vanguard funds (low fee) and look for the word "index" in the fund name.
(2) Tackle your student loans within the first 5 years. Cut down on unnecessary cost. Don't be foolish and buy a new car. Live with friends or family when possible.
(3) Try to work OT if possible especially when you are being paid 1.5x. Working on holidays also helps. Get a per diem job at a non retail pharmacy if you are working in retail. Nobody wants to do retail for 30 years. You need a Plan B.
(4) Take a small vacation every 6 months. Go with a large group of friends or family. Don't overspend.
(5) Spend your money wisely. If it helps you grow or advance your career, then it may be worth it. Staying at a 4 star hotel? Not worth it.
(6) If you have some money left over:
- First, max out your health saving account (HSA), not the same as flexible spending account. This is your health care money. It gets rolled over if you don't use it. Tax saving.
- Second, max out your 401 k (up to 18 k this year). Again, tax saving and retirement money.
- Third, put money in ROTH IRA (do a back door conversion)
(7) Start saving for a house. If you put 20% down, you don't have to pay for PMI (extra cost added to money borrowed from the bank).
(8) Don't spend ridiculous money on your friends or family. You are just a pharmacist, not Rockefeller Jr.
(9) Date someone who is financially stable and has a good career. It helps tremendously. A bad divorce is a destroyer of wealth. Don't forget that.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
You don’t need them. My guide is much better and I am not making money from you:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Don't forget 1% in Bitcoin
Yeah when it is $1-2 k per coin.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You don’t need them. My guide is much better and I am not making money from you:
Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.
Put at least 5% (put as much as you can afford = money that you don't have to touch until you are old). If you are doing a lot of OT, why pay a lot on tax on it? Put it into your 401 k, HSA.
You're misunderstanding my question. I contribute 8% to 401k, and max out my HSA already. Of that 8% that goes to 401k, what percent should I invest into those 2 Vanguard funds? My portfolio is already distributed very close to what you recommended in your outline above.
70-90% of your funds. You can risk 10-30% since you are still young. You have to play the long game.
Do the math on how much a constant drag of 1% will cost you over the next 30 years. If you are maxing out your 401k every year for the next 30 years, and you reduce your return from 7% to 6% due to the fees, you are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stick with the vanguard. I would do 90% stock, 10% bonds if you are <35 y.o.Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.
I have a few funds that have net expense ratios that are quite high (1.16%, 1.15%, 1.05%) and after reading about how much that costs you over the long-term, it makes me uneasy. I really like the stocks they hold though (high percentage of FANG, Lockheed, Boeing, Tencent, Alibaba, etc).... is it dumb for me to hold these?
Unless working for CVS/Wags, how would one be able to access their retirement plan info and give specific advice? None of them work for those companies (I believe).
Why would you max out HSA before maxing out your 401k at 18k?
I assume you are young and healthy....I am not a financial expert so I would like to see what the other guys say because you're losing out of on compound interest for the future it seems.
Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.
I have a few funds that have net expense ratios that are quite high (1.16%, 1.15%, 1.05%) and after reading about how much that costs you over the long-term, it makes me uneasy. I really like the stocks they hold though (high percentage of FANG, Lockheed, Boeing, Tencent, Alibaba, etc).... is it dumb for me to hold these?
Why would you max out HSA before maxing out your 401k at 18k?
I assume you are young and healthy....I am not a financial expert so I would like to see what the other guys say because you're losing out of on compound interest for the future it seems.
You basically have to set the number of W-4 allowances to match the deductions and credits on your tax return. Each allowance reduces your taxable income by $4,150. The tax withholding tables also start off by deducting your first $3,700 single/$11,550 married of income, even if you claim 0 allowances. So since everyone starts off by claiming at least the $12k single/$24k married standard deduction on their tax returns, the baseline number of allowances is:Pretty sure I've asked for this before (sorry), but can someone help me find the post that was a thorough description on how to fill out w-4 appropriately? I think I need to change mine since I'm working more PRN than I thought I would. Originally put 2 down, and have a child coming soon.
I think it was @pezdispenser who wrote it?
China strategy: fighting without fighting
Instead of matching Trump’s $60B tariff, China is making indirect threats like stop buying US treasuries, soybeans, airplanes, Apple products, etc.
Why? By directly going at Trump, it would give him more reason to keep on fighting and give him the political advantage to fight back. He is not only fighting China but he is also defending the US from China. China doesn’t want that.
By just making indirect threats, corporations, their employees, and their representatives would fight the fight for China. They will lobby Trump to end it. As the stock market keeps on going down, more and more people would want Trump to find a solution to this mess. But Trump can’t just leave...he needs something. That is when China will throw him a bone (always give your opponent a way out).
This battle is for the US to lose. It needs a clear victory or its image around the world would take a hit. The long term damage would be felt for years to come.
The manner in which Trump has gone about this is half-baked. It was done in his usual manner with no thought to strategy. First he rolls out an aluminum and steel tax on everyone. Then the next week it rolls it back on our allies. Then he threatens other undefined tariffs. The Chinese were so ready for this with a long list. Made us look like rookies. For someone who grades himself on the stock market he did a pretty bad job last week. Even the steel and aluminum stocks crashed.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not so fast. Looks like the American First faction has it out for Amazon.Anyone buying AMZN on this dip?
I am. I sold some in the 1500s so I've been waiting for a dip like this to buy them back.Anyone buying AMZN on this dip?
Bought my bi-weekly share of VOO.Anyone else buying? Considering picking up some S&P ETFs... not sure if this is the bottom though.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Bought my bi-weekly share of VOO.