Personal Finance

So I'm considering just using excel to keep track of all my expenses and income, but is there a better solution? What do you use to track how you spend money? I want something from which I can freely export the data if need be so excel is tempting.

I've gone on a Vacation with some Friends recently and one of them was going on and on about how I should go get myself a Trade Republic account for General Payment and savings, Singing its Praises along the way.

The, what was Basically a Sales Pitch, came down to the Points that you'd get 2% Monthly on any Money you saved on that Account... but also, you'd get 1% back on any purchase, no matter what.

To be quite Frankly, this sounds too good to be True. And If something sounds too good, it probably is. So I'm rather a bit cautious here and wanted to ask your Folks Thoughts on Trade Republic?

Now, another reason that I'm cautious is that I could sweaaaar that I've heard thier name involved in some Crypto Scam a while back. I feel that I may just be plain wrong with that however...?

I guess I can introduce stop-loss and other cautionary measures to prevent snowballing loss, but shorting is shorting.. Wonder if I could resist the urge.

Inlike Charlie Bilello's regular updates on the state of the market. He steps through an array of charts to provide a snapshot for where we are an might be headed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36846875

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36846875

For example some credit cards have ridiculous monthly interest like 29.9%

While offering a low 0.9% APR.

Please explain.

This might be duh for some people, but if you're like me and considering a mortgage; at today's rates in the US at around 5-6%, over 30yr mortgage you will pay about same in interest as you will for your house price.

Your $500k house will cost you around $1M total over thirty years.

I was surprised.

https://m.mortgagecalculator.org/?q=A1Nzy-8KX

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8784661

Trying to send something to my Mom which encapsulates this and debunks it.

Hi, there. I want to start saving money for my younger sibling so they can go to college easier.

I have financial aid and managed to get a scholarship to pay for a good amount.

I don't spend a lot of money. So I can put some aside every month for the next 5 years. Wouldn't the rates be pretty good to put money into?

Any reasons why I shouldn't be trying this? Should I save for myself or something? The potential earnings seem like a better idea.

https://www.fidelity.com/529-plans/overview

Hey, maybe y'all can give some unbiased advice. My wife co-owns a €1.4 million villa in Spain with her grandma. The property has been on the market for 2 years. I'm inclined to believe that the realtors are incompetent and that something is being done wrong. Am I crazy, or is something wrong here?

There's an older lady who's a family friend who currently manages the property and deals with the realtors on my wife's behalf. She's lovely, but not an expert in this, by any means. We are told by her that an appraisal late last year upheld the €1.4 million valuation, but to be fair, neither of us have seen that appraisal.

The property is currently listed by several realtors in the area – namely, Villa Iberia, Inmo Palafrugell, La Clau Brava, Espigul, and Cala Maset. My understanding is whoever manages to sell the house, gets the commission.

The house is in the Platja d'Aro region and is ~350 m2 in size, with 4 bedrooms and a large outdoor pool, a short drive away from the beach.

Is the price way off, or is something else wrong? Surely 2 years is too long for selling this! Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to give some advice.

I'm trying to get advice from a professional for my personal tax/investment situation since I probably complicated things. I don't know where to start. I've always just googled things and kinda went with it but things got really complicated and I didn't know who to go to for help. How do you guys get finance advice? Do you go to a bank branch or someone else? Is there a good way to get personalized advice without being charged out the wazoo for it?

Currently I'm just buying IWDA as my long term investments. I came across some informative yt video about factor investing and how it's the next sound and logical step after all-market ETFs. Does anyone have any advice on ETF setup that includes small caps and value stocks?

Just went through a mess trying to finance a used car. I haven’t borrowed money since 2012, no debt, no credit cards, just living within my means. When I applied for a loan, I was told I was refused. Not because of bad credit, but because I hadn’t used credit recently enough.

The dealership advertises “no applications refused,” but apparently if you don’t have an active debt history, you’re too much of a mystery for the system.

Co-signer? Not allowed. Using my own bank account for payments? Denied. Their solution? Open a joint account with my dad just to satisfy a bank’s paperwork, pay hundreds in fees over 6 years just to make it work.

The credit system says you can't borrow money unless you've already been borrowing money, like somehow living within your means disqualifies you. It's not about good credit, it's about loyalty to the debt game. Screw you for standing on your own feet, I guess.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Anyone else run into this nonsense?

cross-posted from: https://linux.community/post/2819981

SRI ETF = social responsible index exchange trade fund

I'm a total newbie looking for one world ETF for a 30 year investment to keep it simple and to reduce risk.

ETFs I'm considering are

MSCI World SRI Index (USD) https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/641712d5-6435-4b2d-9abb-84a53f6c00e4

MSCI World Climate Change ESG Select Index (EUR) https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/84e37acb-a91e-8ff3-a909-6f8c7c6306dd

most people I asked know about the SRI but not about the climate change one. climate change's annual performance is way higher than SRI's. Very unsure about how to proceed.

Just to be sure, annual performance is way more important than the cumulative index performance - net returns, right? Because here climate change is better than SRI.

If I'm US based, is it better to invest in a USD denominated ETF or does it simply don't matter if I invest in a EUR denominated one (like climate change)?

How does trump play into all of this?

Some even give it away for free.

Keywords for search discoverability: toner ink cartridge brother canon hp epson xerox kyocera lexmark drucker imprimante impresora save money saving personal finance thrift

Obviously for most vendors, it would be ideal to boycott them entirely, but since many people have a few things they won't live without, it's good to know how to spend less.

Hello!

I am considering performing either contract or part-time employment with an employer in a different state (KY). I currently work full-time, remotely, in FL.

I believe because my residence is in FL that contracting will be my only option (due to employer rules on hiring out of state).

To contract, I believe I’d have to be a sole proprietor (I think) and submit a bid, etc.

I don’t need to do this financially - and am going to move to KY in the next year (making part time employment possible instead of contracting). In other words, I could just.. wait or not do this at all. My main goal here is just to make some extra money - but if taxes or something was going to make me miserable then I can just not do this.

Questions:

• What effect would contracting in a different state have on my taxes?
• Should I just wait til I move to KY and try to go the part-time employment option instead of dealing with the sole proprietorship?
• Any other advice / thoughts you have?

Hello,

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong community to ask in, new here (and if so please direct me to the correct one)

I am looking to register a company in the EU to carry out business activities there. I am not currently a tax resident or citizen of an EU country, although I hold Greek permanent residency. I am a freelance in the creative industries and will be the sole shareholder and paying myself through dividends not a salary and paying taxes in my current country.

Greece is as far as I understand a bureaucratic nightmare. I am looking at Estonia’s ‘e-residency’ program although there doesn’t really seem to he honest opinions of it online as well as Cyprus due to almost no taxes on IP which would benefit me.

Important factors are ease of dealing with bureaucracy, less registration and accounting fees and ability to open a Euro-denominated bank account. Less taxes are also obviously positive but that’s not a main concern.

US - For the first time in my life I'm not living paycheck to paycheck, but now that I've got a bit of savings it feels like the US dollar and economy is on the cusp of death.

I'm wondering if I should split my bank account into another one that isn't affiliated with the US, maybe even have a percentage of each paycheck go to that one automatically. The thought being to not have all my eggs in one basket.

No idea the best way to go about this, or if it's even remotely a good idea. What do y'all think? Any relatively stable economy to shoot for / ease of opening/accessing an account in a country I'm not physically in?

This is new territory for me - my financial planning historically hasn't gone much past comparing the price tags of 40 lb bags of rice, so... Idk, I have no idea what I'm doing. I have this dread that the income I have now is about to become worthless, and not sure how to protect myself from that.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/7687104

What's a way to get SSDI (I think that's the acronym)?

I thought I had it. I put in 10 disabilities which I had and I wasn't lying about any of them. I would honestly never commit fraud, despite my circumstances, and never intend to.

But they said that I "didn't work enough hours."

I'm not sure how to make it go to my credit (Social Security credits, that is).

How many jobs or hours should you work?

I can also give you all the full message through a DM, perhaps.

I've worked, I think, eight jobs in total in the last decade with one year that I wasn't working (during the pandemic). Frankly, I could use the money; I'm trying to get into nursing school, though am getting my CNA first. And I need a car now. I have a Bachelor's degree in Communications, but want to change my career path for the time being.

To be fair, I didn't put all my work experience and there's more that I could put.

Is there a way to keep track of all the credits you have? Or "input" them or however you're supposed to do factor them into the system?

Also, assuming you get disability assistance from Social Security Administration, what's a good way to phrase or say certain things in the application process?

Do help out if you can. Thanks!

I am a US citizen living in the US (glass it from orbit please) and as the title implies I am wondering if it is possible to move my checking and savings account(s) to a bank that would allow that money to be converted and held as euros. From my research so far it does appear there are some banks that may be able to facilitate this (HSBC, Citi, Wells Fargo), but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with doing so?

In addition to recommendations or general thoughts about the bank(s) I should consider looking at I was also curious if:

• Direct deposits in USD were possible and how they were handled in terms of converting them (does it happen automatically, or is it a manual action)?
• Is it possible to use ACH debiting?

For whatever it's worth in case someone asks or wants to interject, most of my money is currently in my retirement accounts and not in my savings, I have an emergency fund and I won't be doing anything that might harm it.

Regardless of whether what I am asking is dumb or ill advised I am currently looking for information on how one might implement this if it is possible at all. Feel free to offer your opinion/take on it if you are also able to point me to resources on doing this or additional reading on the matter. If this is just straight up not possible in any capacity (my initial looking seems to indicate it is possible, but I could be wrong) then feel free to let me know that as well. If the only feedback that can be provided is to tell me how dumb it is, or ask why I would want to do this my reasons are my own, and I would kindly ask it be kept to one's self, but I obviously can't stop anyone if they don't.

Regardless, I very much appreciate your reading this far, and thank anyone for their replies in advanced.

I'm curious how you budget as a couple or budget with family. Does one person take the lead and it's their duty? Are you equal participants? Does each person leverage their strengths?

What works for you?

Off course you can handle your expenses. But maybe you still want to know exactly how much you can spend TODAY.

Read on then.