Investment BS Thread - Stocks/Futures/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Commodities/Options/ETFs/401ks/Etc

How long those accounts have been open would have more of an effect than the size of the loan. Because the average age of your accounts is another factor in your score. And they are open accounts as soon as the loans are distributed, even though you don't have to pay anything(typically) until you've been graduated 6 months.

 

Yea I learned that when I consolidated them. They were almost 10 years old, about 10 loans, suddenly closed and 1 new loan. My credit score didn’t like that, but rebounded over some time.

 

They're absolutely worth the little bit of effort it takes. I opened a new card a few months back and between my normal spending and the sign-on bonuses offered I have like $500 I could redeem for straight cash back, or $800 if I use it for travel. With no changes in my spending habits, just being rewarded for using the card. And that's with only a few thousand in spending of my own.

 

Too late, this is probably the last card I'll ever have haha

 

I use 3 cards. 2% cash back citi card, Costco card for dining/travel bc 3%, and sams club card for 5% back on fuel.

Recently I opened a credit card that had a $95 yearly fee, I used it bc I was buying a very expensive generator/welder. It gave me $500 + 1% (52.05) for a total of 552.05 off the generator. I closed the account 2 months after bc I’m not paying $95 a year.

If you’re smart and don’t abuse credit cards you’ll for life get 2% at least back on all purchase.

 

That’s a good deal lol

I opened a card to get a suit tailored for free then never used it again. Saved me a bunch.

 

Yup, I've got a few different cards I use depending on what I'm buying. And will continue to open more new ones to get the big sign up bonuses. If you call and bitch about the annual fees, lots of times they'll just waive them for you haha Or you can downgrade the card to one without the fee and just leave it unused but open so you don't have to close an account.

 

If anybody said flat for last week they were right it was -.22
I think for next week down 8%

 

Holy shit you think earnings are going to tank that bad?!

Is there a way we can bet on this? lol

 

That would have been me.

I can toss a dart like mofo.

That would be me
I can toss a dart like a mofo.

 

That’s why I said big move, up or down. Who knows.

 

Hitting on the credit card thing, if you are active military you can get pretty much any credit card free even if it has a $500 fee (still have to qualify of course). The military lending act covers this and most will waive the annual fees. When I had it applied to my Capital One card I got about $450 back, my wife got $700ish back. If you are active duty call in and drop those words. Most cards will apply it retroactively back to the open date or your military entrance date.

I’ve got one of the Chase and AMEX cards for free (various airline/ priority pass lounge access, annual travel credit, etc).

 

The credit card companies aren’t required to waive the fees but as of now Amex and Chase will choose to do so. I have an Amex Platinum and a Chase Sapphire Reserve only because the $1000 combined fee is waived. The benefits are well worth it for no no fees and free drinks at the airport is awesome.

 

Alright guys so I am enrolling in my employers roth 401k right now! So they offer 50% match up to the first 6% of my pay. So in order to get the maximum match contribution from them I will need to put away 6% of my paycheck every pay period? Or does it mean that if I put away 12% they will contribute half of that since it would be 6% of my pay that they're matching?

 

Wow thank you for all this info. Makes sense with everything else I’ve been researching on my own. I did not consider the more advantageous options available with a Roth IRA though. I was planning on contributing 17% to my employers Roth 401k. I’m living at home with my parents and commuting downtown for work so I’m saving a ton on rent and food. I could probably contribute a lot more but I’m hoping to save as much cash as possible for a down payment on a property in a year or two

 

Look at the fees associated with the different investment options available in your company 401k. They’re likely going to be much higher than in a Roth IRA. So you could invest in the same ETF/mutual fund/target date fund and make more money in the Roth IRA simply because you are paying less fees. What I would do is contribute the 6% to get the full company match in the 401k, then contribute to a Roth IRA until that’s maxed($6k), then go back and max the 401k($19k), and then contribute to a taxable brokerage account. That’s assuming you don’t have any high interest debt like private student loans or credit card debt. If you have any debt more than like 4% interest, I would pay that down before fully maxing out the 401k.

 

Seems like prices have been trending down for maybe 4-5 months. But on the upswing for 3 weeks. I'd say theylo fall back down some.

 

I have to agree with this, lots of dip buyers in Jan after tax loss harvesting was done in Dec. Gov shutdown means we don't have any economic data coming in, the last of which showed the housing market finally declining. Earnings season may show weaknesses in several sectors.

 

I think some bad news will come in that outweighs any good news. And the government reopening and putting out new data for home sales and other metrics probably wont be horrible but I dont think itll be good.