Money Matters randoms

[ohgillian]

Feb 9, 2021 12:23:54 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Our heat pump compressor is leaking, and I feel like we're getting the run around from our home warranty company about getting it fixed. Tonight it will be 3 weeks since I put in a ticket, and we still don't have an answer on what they are covering or when (or if) they are fixing it. If they cover up to the maximum allowed, they will cover about half or less what it will cost to replace the unit. I am going to flip if they refuse to cover it at all at this point, not only because of the money but because we could have been making progress on fixing it 3 weeks ago. I have called 4 times in the last few days and they keep just saying they are working on it. I am debating calling again today and being more pushy about speaking to someone other than the person answering the phone, since they haven't really been able to actually do anything yet.

Any updates?

[wildrice]

Feb 11, 2021 8:55:54 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

Feb 9, 2021 12:23:54 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Our heat pump compressor is leaking, and I feel like we're getting the run around from our home warranty company about getting it fixed. Tonight it will be 3 weeks since I put in a ticket, and we still don't have an answer on what they are covering or when (or if) they are fixing it. If they cover up to the maximum allowed, they will cover about half or less what it will cost to replace the unit. I am going to flip if they refuse to cover it at all at this point, not only because of the money but because we could have been making progress on fixing it 3 weeks ago. I have called 4 times in the last few days and they keep just saying they are working on it. I am debating calling again today and being more pushy about speaking to someone other than the person answering the phone, since they haven't really been able to actually do anything yet.

Any updates?

No! I've called twice since I posted this, and emailed twice, and all I've gotten is "we're sorry, we're working on it". I'm going to call again today. I am kind of at a loss on what else to do, since I have asked several times for this to be escalated already. 

I am very unimpressed! I've heard home warranties are a scam but this one came well recommended so I was hoping it would be different...

[woowoo]

Feb 10, 2021 12:07:28 GMT -5 coffee said:

DH and I are 34 and 39, 12 years of marriage, and this month is the very first time we meet with a financial advisor. That made me REALLY HAPPY.
We felt we didn’t need one before because we have healthy financial habits, and we were not investing in any other than our 401K/ roths and 529s.
This year we are excited to finally get into the “investing -extra money- game” so we thought it was time for some fresh eyes to look at our financial picture. He tweaked some of the things we were doing, which won’t make a significant change but that we believe would be better, also he suggested an umbrella protection and to cancel some things we had insured which were not worth it. He said we should only insured the things what will significantly impact or change our life, and because we have a healthy savings account is not worth “the little things”.
He also motivated us to get our trust done which we had in our to do list this year. Now we are in process
He also gave us a nice plan for investing. Hiring him was definitely worth it. Right now hired him for a flat fee since we are not investing that much to justify his annual fee, but plan to hire him again in a couple more years for a re-check.

How did you find him and decide on him?  DO you mind sharing the flat fee amount? 

[tacokick]

Feb 9, 2021 16:37:30 GMT -5 jinkies said:

Feb 9, 2021 16:12:34 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I don’t think it should be too difficult, the threshold to send out a 1099 is $600 and I do a lot of one off freelance writing (lots of online publications) that is just under that and reporting it without a 1099 has never been an issue.

Most of the time foreign companies do have to send you a 1099 unless somehow they themselves are exempt from US taxes so that sounds a little off to me

Sorry to detail the thread with this. Their email said that they paid me through their limited entity, not their US entity, so they do not issue 1099s. The arm that paid me probably is exempt from US taxes. They aren't based here at all. I do have a relationship with an accountant, so I will run it past her just to make sure I shouldn't be pushing them for more.

Glad to hear that you've managed to report income without a 1099 without too much trouble!

Good luck! It has not been an issue for me at all, even with international clients so I hope it is the same for you!

[heygrey]

We're debating boring adulting decisions - do we fix up our 11 year old car and get another 3-4 years out of it or try to save aggressively for our next vehicle before it completely dies. The last time we had to make this decision someone backed into our car while it was parked and totalled it. Is it too much to hope for that to happen again? Probably yes, because we have a garage now and don't rely on street parking.

[ohgillian]

Feb 12, 2021 23:58:54 GMT -5 heygrey said:

We're debating boring adulting decisions - do we fix up our 11 year old car and get another 3-4 years out of it or try to save aggressively for our next vehicle before it completely dies. The last time we had to make this decision someone backed into our car while it was parked and totalled it. Is it too much to hope for that to happen again? Probably yes, because we have a garage now and don't rely on street parking.

As someone who keeps my cars for 10–15 years, I always hate having to make this decision. It’s so hard to know when it’s the right time to stop doing repairs.

[steamboat185]

Feb 12, 2021 23:58:54 GMT -5 heygrey said:

We're debating boring adulting decisions - do we fix up our 11 year old car and get another 3-4 years out of it or try to save aggressively for our next vehicle before it completely dies. The last time we had to make this decision someone backed into our car while it was parked and totalled it. Is it too much to hope for that to happen again? Probably yes, because we have a garage now and don't rely on street parking.

My car is 17 years old and I keep hoping for something similar. No luck yet.

We did just put new brakes and rotors on it, but it only gets driven about 30 miles a week. At this rate I’ll have it 10 more years.

[steamboat185]

We passed a new net worth milestone this week, which is crazy. It felt like it took us forever to hit the first few, but now they seem to come much more quickly.

[Mushe]

We have a joint stock account where we’ve thrown extra cash over the years, and I discovered that H moved it all into cash around June, after it had lost around 20% in value during a dip. 🤦‍♀️ I put 3/5 into the market in a mix of stocks I picked and some index funds, and I’m up $2k in two weeks! I was pretty mad that he didn’t consult me before selling last year. Grr.

[Mushe]

scm1011 that’s amazing! I am excited to hear what you’re planning.

I finally got H to agree to refi after I did all the work 🤣🤣🤣 and our payment is the same as what we’ve been paying ahead (because we’re old lol) but we’ll drop to a 15 year, just in time for B to go to college.

[mlkgls]

Feb 12, 2021 23:58:54 GMT -5 heygrey said:

We're debating boring adulting decisions - do we fix up our 11 year old car and get another 3-4 years out of it or try to save aggressively for our next vehicle before it completely dies. The last time we had to make this decision someone backed into our car while it was parked and totalled it. Is it too much to hope for that to happen again? Probably yes, because we have a garage now and don't rely on street parking.

I was in the same position about two years ago when my 2007 needed a substantial amount of preventative maintenance around the 150K mark. I window shopped my most likely replacement and none of the features wowed me enough to even tempt me to buy. (I went near closing time on a Saturday and only looked at their display models so no salesperson was bothered.)

I started a sinking fund this year as I know it won’t last forever, but I’m hoping for a few more years out of my Toyota. It’s seriously been the best car so I would be surprised. @@@my 8yo has claimed it for when he starts driving. We’ll see. Lol.