I am 18 years old and a freshman in college living at home. I have 0 expenses except $3,000 a year for college and gas for my current car. I am currently looking into purchasing a brand new honda civic type R for around $38,000. I work full time making around $3,000 a month and have $15,000 saved up. I plan to put the $15,000 as down payment, finance for 3 years, and put aside $1000 a month for all the cars expenses (payment, insurance, gas, repairs). What would your opinion on this be and whether its a good idea?
102415
I'm from Arizona and I will be 18 in 4 months. I make about $1,200 a month from my job. I have $600 in my bank account and I don't plan to  spend any of it until I'm  18.     I'm looking to get a brand new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that costs about  $43,000. The down payment is 10% (about $5,000) with an APR of  4.28%. The duration is 60 months with a monthly payment of  $800.  I don't have any credit. My friend suggested that I ask my parents to put my name on one of their credit cards so that I can build some credit. I'm not sure how that works. Can someone suggest a good way of going about this so I can get this car on or around my birthday?  My mom does finance work  for a big company and she told me that I should get a cheaper car. I really want this one and I'm willing to work for it. I'm getting a second job to get more money rolling in. My mom said that the only way that this would work is if I have a down payment of $15-20k. She also said that not everyone qualifies  for a car like this one. What can get me to qualify ASAP when I turn 18?
61767
There was asked a similar question   It was about buying fonds and shares. Those are derivatives.  Here is an example. 2019 year in central Europe. A flat costs 150 000 USD. If a person buys it, the person can rent it for 700 USD per month = 8 400 USD per year, which can be considered as 5.6 % per year (assuming that economical situation is more or less stable). Also down-payment can be 20 %. In 2019 interests rates are low - 3 % per year.  What does it mean? A person needs to have 30 000 USD, and take a loan 120 000 USD. The person will pay 3 % from 120 000 USD per year, and receive 5.6 % from 120 000 USD.  As we see, it is beneficial for a person (who has 30 000 USD) to make such investment.  The bank which gives the person 120 000 USD also feels good because it will get payments. Let's assume that the person is solvent and has his primary place of residence (another flat where he lives). Why not the bank buy a flat and rent it out to make 5.6 % per year instead of giving it out to people at the rate of 3 %.  Also I learned when a company buys another company, the bank can lend most of money to make the deal.
9810
One specific (popular online) bank is offering a 9 month 1.25% CD, while it's savings account is 1.90%.  There's no way I see interest rates tumbling in the next nine months, so why should I -- why should anyone -- get a 1.25% CD when savings accounts are paying 52% more interest?  (This question is not specific to this particular bank at this particular time.  It's about the general practice of buying low-rate CDs when savings accounts have a higher rate.)
86614
I am a foreigner to USA and would like to pursue masters in CS in USA. But based on the current state of USD, I won't be able to pay the costs of tuition on my own. So, I will be taking a loan from international student loan lenders.  The thing is, they mostly require US citizen or US PR cosigners, which I don't know any. I have found online that there are websites which offer to find a cosigner for people who have bad credit scores or can't find anyone to cosign their agreements.    I am very sceptical about their services, and mostly think that they are scam, but I don't have much choice left to find a cosigner elsewhere. Just wanted to ask, have you ever heard of these services, and do you believe they are real ?  (Sorry if this is out of context, this is my first question here.)
20117
I have an HSA that allows me to invest the money in the account in the stock market. Any money not invested is available to be used for health expenses. I currently have ~50% of the total balance of the HSA invested, with the other ~50% on hand for expenses.  I've run into a situation where the ~50% on hand for expenses does not cover all of my current expenses. To cover the remaining costs, should I sell off my the HSA investments or should I leave those as is and use money from my savings account?  I'm trying to determine if the tax advantages of the HSA combined with the returns the invested money is seeing is worth me leaving that money alone - and instead, take the money from my savings account to cover the costs.
75936
We just arrived in Hawaii this afternoon, and when I went to pick up the rental car, I discovered I hadn't done my homework with regard to the insurance options.  I recall that my credit card will provide some level of insurance when I use it to rent a car, but when I mentioned it to the Customer Services Representative, he informed me that my credit card only covers collision, and he suggested I purchase liability insurance from the rental agency.  For the future, what information do I need to collect in order to make an informed decision about what insurance policies I should (or should not) purchase when I rent a car?
90562
I am 29 years old and have a 401(k) already with my company. I just started contributing 10% to my 401(k), up from my 8%. My company does not match but they do put 10% of my salary into my 401(k) as their contribution every February, once per year. I make between 95k and 110k a year and as stated started to put 10% of my pay into my 401(k). My current 401(k) balance is at $53k-ish.  My question is: When do I max out in the year 2012? I read at $17,000, but does that cover only my contributions, or both mine and my employer's? If I do max out with mine and my employer's, how do I know that, and how will I be notified? If I do max out, what do I do with the extra funds beyond the max? Should I put that into a Roth IRA? I am concerned as I get paid more year after year when I will be maxed out. What penalties or options do I have?  Thanks in advanced for the information and I look forward to reading more on this forum!
77415
I've heard the principle of "Pay yourself first", implying that saving some money each month should be a priority.  However, I've also heard that being debt free is important, and it would be good not to lose income to the interest payment on the loan.  In general, we're trying to get to a savings cushion by setting some money aside each month.  But we are also trying to pay off a HELOC so that we are not throwing away money on interest. If we did have a financial crisis, we could draw more from our home equity line of credit. In prioritizing where the money goes each month, is funding the savings account more important than paying off the HELOC as soon as possible?
63071
My fiancee and I are shopping for a house, and very fortunate to have the assets to allow us to make a healthy downpayment.  We both like the idea of a lower monthly mortgage payment, specifically the career flexibility that comes with it.  We are looking at houses in the $1.2-1.4MM range, and can put down ~$800K, which delivers a very affordable monthly. After doing so, we'd have ~1.4MM in equities together outside of the house, though about $550K would be locked in retirement accounts.  Question is - are we misguided to make such a large downpayment, even though it buys us some job choices and peace of mind?
117811
We have a  with 105,000 miles that we purchased in 2011.  We have made many repairs such as replacing the transmission, repairing the radiator, heating and AC system, thermostat, belt, rotors and brake pads, alternator, gaskets, and we are now facing an $800 repair for the fuel tank.  The average cost of repair has been about $1470 per year since the beginning of 2015 if I include the pending $800 cost to repair the fuel tank. The transmission disproportionately weighted the average since it cost $2000.  Since we have a good credit rating, at a cost of about $1470 per year for repairs for this car, does it make sense to get rid of this car and either buy or lease a new comparable car? I am asking about this from a cost perspective and ignoring any other advantages that a new car may offer.  We own the Impala in full: no payments.
39782
I have a two-and-a-half year old  (with a road-bike-like frame and thin tires; it's somewhere in the loosely-defined "hybrid" range) that I use to commute to work, twenty-five miles round-trip, once or twice a week. The bike has straight handlebars, and having gotten used to the idea of commuting via bike, I'm interested in upgrading to drop handlebars. It looks like I'd need new break/shift levers to go with the handlebars; the whole upgrade looks like it'd run a couple hundred dollars. This is a sizable fraction of the original cost of the bike, which leads me to wonder if I'm better off saving my money for a new bike that's a little better adapted to my use.  Is upgrading my bike's handlebars a reasonable investment?
119200
I'm considering taking a loan on my 401k in order to pay off and close 2 credit cards.  I have approximately 30 years until I consider retiring.  The amount of the loan will be $1700 which is less then 20% of my current 401k balance.  I will continue to put 9% of my paycheck into a Roth 401k, and my employer matches 9%.  The loan will be paid back at 3.25% (to myself) and does have $183 in fees.  There are 2 cards I will pay off and close if I follow through with this plan.  One card is 17.9% interest with roughly a $650 balance.  The other is 23% (ish) with roughly a $1,025 balance.  Both of these cards do have an annual fee associated with them, I used them to rebuild my credit and have a newer, lower interest, no fee card that I will keep active for emergencies.  Would it be advantageous for me to pay off these two credit cards and cancel them with a 401k loan?
106864
I can pay $1200 extra once a year or $100 every month - which is better?  The first one does sound better, but for a 30 year mortgage, is it that significant?  Say the mortgage is for $200,000.  Thanks.
111779
I live &amp; work in the UK.  Having pretty much exhausted all of the avenues I can find for saving (none of which have great returns anyway at the moment, obviously), I have recently started looking to buy my first house.  I have a reasonable sum saved up for a deposit, but I'm wondering what to do with that in the mean time, as a fair amount of it is not currently earning any interest. For the moment, I have put any surplus, that I'm not earning interest on into premium bonds, just in the off-chance that I win something with it, but this is obviously more of a lottery than an investment, and I'm not 'expecting' to win anything noteworthy with it.  Ideally, I would like to buy a house within the next year or so, so investing in the stock market is not really an option, as I understand the commonly accepted advice is that you invest with a minimum 5 year horizon.  What other options do I have for any surplus cash while I look for a house?
4713
I have recently purchased a home which will presumably be my long-term residence. I have not yet sold my original home, and I am trying to decide whether I should rent it out, or sell it.  The 1st home has a mortgage remaining of $175,000, with a 5/5 ARM at 2.5% The next adjustment is in 4 years, and the maximum it could go up to is 4.5% This home was purchased 10 years ago for $203,000 - just before the real estate bubble burst.  The home I just purchased has a 1st mortgage of $608,000 @ 4.25% for 30 years fixed. It also has a second mortgage of $76,000 @ 5.5% for 15 years.  I think I can rent out the 1st house for $1500, and after property management fees, take home about $435 per month. That is not including any additional taxes on that income, or deductions based on repair work, etc.   I think I could sell the first house for about $227,000 which after fees and loan payoff nets me $35000  If I sold the house, I could use my existing cash reserve and the net proceeds to pay off the 2nd mortgage. I could also pay off some, or none of the 2nd mortgage, and try to beat that 5.5% by investing the $35000  If I do not sell the house, I could use the $434 to almost pay off the 2nd mortgage per month/invest the $434 into an IRA or something, and try to beat the 5.5% over time.     According to this website, the S&amp;P500 has gained 6.6% over the last 10 years, or 10.3% since 1970. At 6.6%, over 7 years, I would have $46,000 dollars in the account, which would be enough to make up the $35000 sale proceeds, and additionally cover any upcoming repairs to that house.  Should I sell the house now, or hold onto it and rent it out?
87127
I have NO idea what I'm doing :). I'm looking to buy some pots/pans for my appartment (just moved out). Considering these:    I want to spend under $250 and this seems like a good value for my money. Wanted to check with some experts before I take the plunge.   I'd ideally like to be able to washing machine whatever I buy...  Thanks!
110442
I recognized that renting a car in the US is allowed at the age of 21 or 25. But are 18 to 21 year olds allowed to drive it if their parents or another 25 year old person signed the contract?