worst day in a long time owch gop needs to pass something outta the house thursday so people on wall st wont get scared they cant get tax reform done
On that note, I just moved money from checking to my investment account and put it to work. Chugga-chugga choo-choo!
tax reform will be in the fall, not summer. big whoop. but yeah, assuming the house passes something thurs it should come back on confidence alone
Looking to buy my first house soon and most likely not putting down 20%. What are the thoughts on financing the difference between the 80% and downpayment (likely 7.5-10%) to avoid PMI? The rate will be slightly higher on the 2nd loan than the mortgage but without doing the math I'd think the extra interest (not even considering the tax advantage) would be less than paying PMI. I'd look at all of the numbers but curious if this thought process is sound.
I think PMI is usually 1%, it seems like you'd be better off throwing more money at the mortgage but it should be easy to run the numbers. Don't know which is more 1% of a lot or 20% of not a lot.
This may be what you're implying, but I'm not sure. The second loan would have to be a home equity loan to get the tax break. A good friend of mine just did this and has been very happy with it. He was fortunate his folks fronted half the down payment until he was able to take out the home equity loan to pay them back. *needs to be noted that money gifted to you for a down payment cannot be under obligation to be paid back
Doesn't your lender typically require a signed letter from the person giving the gift to state that there is no obligation?
You should be able to find something that makes sense. I did something similar. I needed ~30k to keep my mortgage under the jumbo loan threshold, and I financed that separately via a HELOC at a slightly higher (and adjustable) rate. I would guess you will have a harder time finding a long-term loan to finance the delta (I found my options to be fairly limited relative to my options on structuring the primary mortgage), so your monthly payment on the 2nd loan may be disproportionately higher, even ignoring the interest, or you might end up with an interest-only loan with the balloon principal due in say 5 years (thats what I ended up with).
Honestly, one of the biggest things I would change if I could would be putting off my first house purchase. My wife was adamant on buying, and we could "afford" a 0% down 30-year fixed doctor loan to do it. Knowing what I know now, owning your own home is way more expensive than you realize. If you can't afford 20% down and a 15-year fixed mortgage, I would rent a little longer before buying. People talk themselves into buying too much home too early as if it is some great investment. It just isn't. I know this is probably not what you were looking for, but it's the best advice I can give.
coming into a home with 20-30k equity is p nice also, GOP aint gonna pass that shit tomorrow. markets gonna be fucked short term. they need to just pass something smallish that says o'care gone by 2018/2019 period. and then everyone can claim a victory and wall st will have faith that tax reform can be done this summer/fall. otherwise....
Why would congress essentially kicking another can further down the proverbial road give anyone faith that they will do anything substantive with tax reform any time soon?It's not like tax reform is any less convoluted or contentious.
Fair point. Kramer made the point on mad money people too focused on trump and not fedex blowin it out and good guidence in small caps etc. Lotta volitility but itll still head higher
well, the whipping/arm twisting is working apparently. may not be DOA tomorrow now per cnn saying freedom caucus coming around via trump personally calling guys and some hand wringing
I was looking at my portfolio yesterday and was checking this thread. Started watching this because you mentioned it. Up 20% yesterday and almost 15% today. Did you get in?
Yeah but I didn't get in at the bottom. I bought in at $1.05. Should have bought more when it was @ $0.80. I still haven't seen why it's been going up the last two days.
Consumers' attitudes to current conditions in the U.S. jumped in March, according to a monthly survey out on Tuesday. The Consumer Confidence Index hit 125.6 in March according to data from The Conference Board, its highest level since December 2000. Economists expected the Conference Board's consumer confidence index to hit 114 in March, according to a consensus estimate from Reuters. "Consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions improved considerably," Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement on Tuesday. "Consumers' also expressed much greater optimism regarding the short-term outlook for business, jobs and personal income prospects. Thus, consumers feel current economic conditions have improved over the recent period, and their renewed optimism suggests the possibility of some upside to the prospects for economic growth in the coming months," Franco said. The survey also found that those saying business conditions are "good" rose to 32.2 percent from 28.2 percent. Those saying business conditions are "bad" fell to 12.9 percent from 13.4 percent. Their outlook for the labor market was also more upbeat, according to the report. The survey, a closely followed barometer of consumer attitudes, measures confidence toward business conditions, short-term outlook, personal finances and jobs.
Joe Louis need to change the thread title to 'Official Investing Thread - Where you wont get rich quick, but you wont go broke like ORIG'
Anyone have a good link for 401k/profit sharing explanations? About to work for someone that isn't myself for the first time.
All a 401k is/means is that it is a tax advantaged retirement account that you and your employer can contribute to. Typically employers will do a % match of your contribution, up to a limit. For example, mine will match 50% of my contributions up to 6.5% of my income. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/08/401k-info.asp
So if the plan automatically enrolls new employs at a "3% individual contribution level" with ability to "make changes including increasing participation level up to 50% of eligible pay", does that mean that the employer will match 100% of contributions (up to a stated limit)? Or does it mean that they match 100% of contributions up to 3%? It doesn't say anything about employer matching, it just says company contributions are paid out annually and that employees become 100% vested in company contributions following 3 years of service.
3% individual contribution is your contribution. You can choose to invest up to $18k of your money in a 401k annually. Company contribution = employer match. My guess is that it is dollar-for-dollar (100%) up to 3% of your salary. Most tend to either do dollar-for-dollar for 3%-4% or 50% for 6%-8%. There has to be something in the literature about what percentage they match. Is the 401k linked to a profit sharing plan? A payment from that can be another form of company contribution (and that isn't a match). Typically that would be in addition to a match though.
So this means that you will automatically have 3% of your paycheck deducted and put into the 401k plan - unless you go onto the website of the 401k plan manager (usually some investment company like Prudential) and change it. It sounds like you can change it to be as high as 50% of your paycheck (likely post-tax) down to 0%. If they start your contribution at 3% then that is probably the highest they will match. That's weird that it is paid out annually, mine has always matched each paycheck but I've only worked at two companies. The vestment part is regarding your ownership of the contributions made to the plan by your employer. Your contributions are 100% yours from day one. For example: your company has contributed $1000 to your 401k and you're 50% vested when you leave the company, then you're entitled to $500 of that $1000.
Ah I see. So I'm assuming I should ask about match levels next time I speak with them? And possibly about the annual contributions as well. "Company contributions are paid into an employee’s 401(k) account, are paid at the discretion of the company, and are paid-out annually in February for the previous year." Above is the exact text.
The company matching at the end of the year is borderline criminal. Depending on the size of the company it could save them a ton of money in interest at the employee's expense.
Sounds fucking sketchy and that the % can fluctuate. I doubt they'll tell you an exact number. I'm reading that to say they wont' match your contribution every paycheck, and just do it once every Feb.
Assuming the 401k is linked to a profit sharing plan, an annual contribution after year-end makes sense for that portion of the employer contribution. However, my experience the only time I was part of a profit sharing plan like that was that they also did a separate annual match to my 401k contribution. For simplicity assume a salary of $100k w/ 3% match + profit sharing. Employee contributed 5% of salary or $5000. Company matches 3% or $3000. Company gives an additional profit sharing contribution based on a predetermined formula that is available to employees to view. Ours was based on Return on Equity and was only paid out if the calculation was greater than X%. From what you're saying, it sounds like they might just do a profit sharing which kind of sucks for employees because that makes the retirement saving more volatile. Are you working in a really cyclical industry or for a distressed company? A company with volatile results that wants to maintain as much financial flexibility as possible is the type of company that would structure it that way.
I reread it, you are correct, the 401k is indeed linked to a profit sharing plan. The letter is just extremely vague (and brief) regarding both the employer match amounts for the 401k and the profit sharing plan and I mistook the two for being one.
It's not sketchy at all. It's a profit sharing component to a regular defined contribution plan. If the employer doesn't want to offer a match, that's their prerogative. The most common reason for doing this is cash flow. The employer isn't locked into providing a benefit every year or complying with Safe Harbor provisions. In good years he should receive more and in bad years receive less. At the end of the day, it is still free money from the employer, which is a great thing. The question I would ask GGCD Is what has their profit sharing component been each of the last 5 years. That will give you a better idea of what to expect.