@Sara B. Thank you for mentioning Netflix's Money, Explained. I just finished it today (I think. Last episode I watched was on retirement…I cannot remember if there was one more after); it was quite interesting and informative. I think the episode that helped me the most was actually the first with its topic of "Get Rick Quick" and explaining different schemes/scams. I am still a bit confused between how to tell the difference between a Pyramid scheme and Multi-Level Marketing if one is not actually in that specific industry, but it did make me a bit more cautious towards coaching programs (something I know is one of my pit-falls).
Today is my Friday as well. 
I must say, as disappointed as I am about the failed investment opportunity, it put me in a different headspace. I started back with meal prep. I usually listen to music to keep me in an upbeat mood while I cook but I may start listening to the podcasts instead.
Side note: Food cooked by others still tastes better to me… but, if I want to reestablish the travel fund, I will have to minimize the takeaways.
@Sarah, that sounds fun! I haven't been to a fair in years but used to really enjoy them, especially how great the food smells!
@Kristen, thanks for bringing that Netflix show back up, I had forgotten about it. Once I send the kids off to school I'm definitely checking that out today.
@Candice, delivery and takeout is wonderful but soooo expensive. I used to spend $100 each month on that but cut it out completely when my competition started on 6/1. It's only been 4 months and I don't miss it at all, compared to the extra $400 I have because of it.
I’m not sure but atleast it’s helps you
Anyone received the child tax credit points
@Katie I've managed to get us down to about half of the amount of delivery/drive thru meals, but its hard sometimes. I have enough in our fund to have pizza about once a week, which generally lasts us for 2 meals (dinner + lunch after). There is at least one day during the week (usually Thursday or Friday) where I end up off schedule/short on time or I'm just too tired to cook. So far I've knocked off $200 from our overall food bill. I'm hoping with time I can get us to having pizza night every other week. Food in general is our biggest variable expense.
@Myeska I am assuming I have since I filled out the survey, but the quiz is bugged so it's still showing as incomplete for me. All of the quizzes I had marked as complete are now all marked as incomplete and don't change even if I take the quiz a second time. The website glitches often, but the points in the background are usually correct. I would go by what you have listed in your Points Summary. If you don't see your points in the points store but they are in the points summary, you can email customer support and they should fix it for you relatively fast.
Good morning! I watched the Netflix show Money Explained and my 12 year old daughter was around for the retirement episode. She was shocked by how much money is needed to be ready for retirement and I told her that was why I had her older brother set up a Roth IRA when he got a job and I'll do the same with her. She asked the question that he originally did, "Why can't I just keep it in a savings account?" I played her episode 197 of the Popcorn Finance podcast that explains how investing outpaces inflation, using an example of Apple AirPod prices and breaks it down so simply, only 7 minutes long. It helped my son understand and a lightbulb went off over my daughter's head, too. I wish they would teach this stuff in school. I know they didn't when I was growing up and my parents were too busy working all the time to explain things to me. I don't even know if they even understood finances themselves.
Katie, how is the contest going so far?
Myeska, I have taken the Child Tax quiz 4 or 5 times and gone through all of the read-alongs and games on the dashboard and haven't received any points other than the first time I submitted it… I don't fill it out anymore.
Sarah and Katie, I forgot how good of a cook I am!! I thought takeout was better but maybe it was my mindset and the upset from the incident I shall no longer mention. 
With that said, Let's Save Money!!!
Thanks for asking, Candice! As of August end, my numbers are +$5,877.05 (savings) -$1,760.76 (debt reduction). I have no clue how the other teams are doing but I'm shocked that I could accomplish those numbers after only 3 months! I'm going to keep pushing myself through December 31st and try to save as much as possible. My only debt is mortgage and it's a really low rate so that isn't going to be my focus. I'm hoping to come out of this with a really good start on a down payment for my intro to real estate investing. This forum has been really great motivation to keep going so thank you all for continuing to post your updates!
Way to go, Katie!! Keep it up. I'm rooting for you.
About the real estate investing… Has anyone heard of or tried Ellevest or Fundrise? I'm interested in whether or not they are as legit as they claim and what downsides to investing with them there are, if any.
I have heard of Fundrise through the Bigger Pockets Money podcast but I have no personal experience with anything so far. I might suggest joining the BPM Facebook group and posing the question there. They moderate those posts and get rid of people who are clearly scamming or trying to make money off of other members of the group so the answers you get are usually always real people with real experience to share. The main Bigger Pockets brand is strictly about real estate and the Bigger Pockets Money offshoot brings in all aspects of growing financial wealth. Both are great
@Candice Just looking at the website Ellevest looks like a managed investment portfolio with add on life coaching. It seems pretty similar to Stash (which I use). I like the ease of access I get with Stash, but the fees tend to be on the higher side. I have a basic Stash membership (similar to Ellevest, $1/month). Nerdwallet has a review of them and its a 5/5 so seems legit. They are a robo advisor, so if you are hands off, it might be for you. Not sure if there are better choices with lower fees though.
Fundrise also has a 5/5 rating on Nerdwallet; looks like a REIT with different levels of membership based on initial contributions. They do have a $0 basic memebership that's just a basic investment in the fund; higher membership tiers look like they start adding on investment products. I am interested in something like this; I listened to a podcast (I think it was in NPRs Life Kit: Money the "Your Cheat Sheet for Smarter Investing") that listed a diversified portfolio should include about 20% real estate. Something like Fundrise would be a good choice I think. Plus you can see the properties they own on the website; I like that. Nerdwallet has an article on real estate crowdfunding: "Real Estate Crowdfunding: What to Consider" . I would also rate it as seems legit.
I would try to find out what fees they would charge (looks like Fundrise charges 1%, which seems high). There may be some better investment app/account options (I am considering moving to JP Morgan Investment because I bank with Chase and its a lower fee than my Stash account). There are also REIT EFT funds that might be a better choice/lower fees than 1%.
@Katie Another podcast to add to the pile :) I listen to podcasts while I work and I've been hitting the finance podcasts hard. I added So Money last week.
The fair was super fun! I got my kettle corn, the kid had her first Ferris wheel ride and we managed to get in and out before the Friday night rodeo crowd. We went a little over budget, but not too much. I have not played a carnival game in YEARS and holy cow they charge a lot now! It was worth it for the joy on the kids face when she 'won' a terribly overpriced stuffed animal but it made her night :)
Katie, I have no social media accounts. This is as social as I get so I won't be able to use the Facebook groups, but hopefully there is another outlet for the Bigger Pockets.
I'm glad your little one enjoyed her first fair experience. I went to the fair a few years ago and I must admit, I had sooo much fun!! I'm more of a cotton candy person than kettle corn but they are both delicious.
You noth have given me a lot to research, but I know it will be worth it in a few months/years.
Have a great week everyone!
I had no idea there were robo-investors that dealt in real estate. (Might have to look into these two, as well.) Anyone know about how to potentially keep different investing accounts separate while still having all the information needed for taxes? While uncertain, I think there are different tax-tiers based on investment amounts and time held? ("Tiers" may not be the right word…but I couldn't think of it.)
On a side note, for me it's almost time for another statement, and I am well below my [current] average of $110 for this account. Yay!
That's a good question, Kristen, about taxes. I'm so clueless when it comes to what has to be reported, what can be a write-off, etc. It's actually been one of the major hurdles to me wanting to start any new investing. Currently I have a Roth 401k and I know that nothing needs to be reported if I don't touch it and I know that my losses can't be written off like with a traditional 401k, but that's the extent of what I know. It all seems so complicated and I'm a little embarrassed that I've never tried to learn.
@Kristen Long term capital gains and short term gains have different tax rates; both have to be paid when you sell an asset. Long vs short is basically a different rate depending on how long you held a stock before selling (I think long > 1yr). If you are just holding the stock, I don't think you pay either in a given year. (you do pay tax on dividends paid though)
I usually just rely on the tax statement given to me by the investment company. You do have to pay taxes on dividends paid over a certain amount ( I wanna say $10?) and you can get a tax credit for any loss. I've been trying to move my investments from single company stocks to ETFs this year, so my tax statement is gonna be real interesting lol!
To be honest, I have used turbo tax for several years (since 2007? I think?) and usually get whatever version they recommend (usually $100-200). I make a listing of all of my accounts and checkoff when I receive their respective tax statements. I type in the information and let it do its magic. I probably miss out on some deductions ( I think I did do a human review when I was running the small business), but I'm usually done by the beginning of Feb and I file ASAP. I use electronic deposit and get my refund usually by the end of Feb/beg of March.
@Katie My rule of thumb has always been to rely on what the investment company gives me (1099-B I think?). The only time I had to file a correction was when I owned some company stock that was a special case tax situation that releases statements at midyear. It was super weird, but all I had to do was file an amendment to that years taxes. I hired an actual person for that.
I used to buy the TurboTax but when I moved to a (significantly) more expensive state, I had to find a way to get it done and save money. Now, I take all of my tax information to one of the Free Tax Filing centers and they sort out all the good stuff and file for me. It usually takes 2 weeks for the return to come back. I haven't had any issues yet.
Thanks for sharing your tax experiences! I've had a lady do my taxes for the last 15 years but she's made mistakes requiring amendments twice now. I still haven't gotten my federal tax refund this year and I e-filed in February, then e-filed the amendment on April 15th. I've called the IRS twice (on hold for 2 hours each time) and both times they told me to wait 90 more days but gave no information whatsoever on why it was taking so long. I'm thinking that if I add real estate investing to my portfolio then I should probably not have this woman do my taxes anymore, not sure if she can handle things as well as she used to.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences and understood knowledge of tax-code[s for investing]. I haven't used any of the free resources for taxes [tried a few times, but cannot seem to find enough explanation for what exactly the programs/software is asking] nor hired someone to help, so I'm always a bit…"what are the details again?"
Still, get my taxes filed usually by the end of February when my tax documents arrive "on time" [early].
How's everyone doing?
@Katie P: That contest you are in seem to have amazing results. Way to go! Cannot say I recall exactly what your contest is about, but I'm glad it seems to be motivating/working out for you. Not in a contest myself, but this month I have spent significantly less than my average personal expenses.
Today is my Friday! I am planning on a low spend weekend. Biggest expense will be taking my commuter car in for its oil change/maintenance. Other than that, I don't think we will be doing much other than enjoying some cooler weather and maybe some yardwork. Payday is next Friday; so far we have kept our spending lower than average (or so Nerd Wallet has told me). Debt paydown in on track! Hopefully we will have no surprises this month :)
I recently got a Rocket Book, so I have been using it to create some useful visuals to keep myself motivated. I created a debt paydown thermometer for the last bit of our short term debt which is a little silly, but it feels good to see the percentage paid grow! I also made a Christmas plan. My total budget for Christmas is sitting at ~1200 total between gifts/cards/food, which is doable with what I have saved and will save over the next couple months barring any emergencies. I'm hoping I can get all the gifts early since there are supposed to be some supply chain issues this year.
Katie, I'm sorry you're having an experience with your tax professional. It may be time to find someone else since the mistakes were there 2 yrs in a row… bright side is you will get 3 years worth of back taxes all at once. You'll be a millionaire by the end of it, LOL!🤞
Sarah, a few years ago holiday time became really stressful for me. I felt overwhelmed and obligated to travel to my home state, buy gifts for all our family members and prepare for my son's birthday the next month. I decided that I wouldn't buy anymore holiday gifts but send gifts to family members throughout the year and only for things I know they (would) use regularly… I also stopped accepting holiday gifts. I think as I get older, time with family and friends is becoming more important to me than gifts, especially since I missed everything in 2020.
In the meantime, I am still trying to figure out how hard I need to pinch pennies to pay off the student loan before the interest kicks back in.
I'll keep you all tuned to my progress and I'll be encouraging you all on budgeting and saving, as well.
@Sarah, I love making visuals, too, and a thermometer isn't silly at all. I made slips of paper representing $1,000 and marked ten lines on them, horizontally, so each representing $100. I made enough of them to equal what I owe on my mortgage. Each payment I make, I let the kids rip of the "amount" we've paid off and throw it away. I hope I explained that well enough, lol. My point is things like that can be a great way to get excited about savings or debt goals all throughout the process, rather than just when it's over.
I've been wanting to try trackers such as the thermometer, but I haven't really found any I like the visual look of that also makes sense.
May just draw myself a little piggy bank and make "coins" representing x-amounts. My question/worry with the trackers are: what if something where to reverse a thing you already recorded, how would one go about keeping the tracker "accurate"?
Kristen, I used this technique with a site called She's On The Money. They have different bingo board type of sheets that give different amounts to be deposited weekly/bi-weekly. I wrote on the back every deposit and if I need to withdraw I deducted it from the balance and put a small tick mark in the box(es) that equal the amount I need to subtract… if that makes sense.
I'm going to use the horizontal tear off tracker for the student loan. I'm excited to tear those strips of paper and finally get rid of the loan.
