Yeah it doesn't matter if you know anything or not, there's usually a trading window and an insider trading policy and no trades are allowed outside that window at all, unless preauthorized
There's also a bunch of other restrictions. At my company, I can't
- buy or sell outside the trading window
- short sell or own options or derivatives
- any speculation or short term trading
- hold the stock in a margin account
Huh.
I should probably look into this stuff if I plan on ever doing anything other than my ESPP.
the 401k may have access to institutional pricing if you like the offerings! they might not necessarily be lower fees. you have to check the plans.
and like, what kind of IRA? Roth? Traditional? what kind of 401k was it?
A rollover IRA is specifically for rolling over 401k money into, and keeps the money pre-tax. The reason I recommended it is to keep all your investment accounts under one roof, and to get access to more and better options. A corporate 401k is generally not the best. You appear to have access to unusual offerings, but you work for a trading firm. This is not a usual situation.
I ran up a little more credit card debt than I meant to. Got offered a 6.8% consolidation loan paid over 3 years. Would save me like 30% in interest for my mistake if I paid minimums on the credit card debt vs this payment. Is that a bad choice?
Why short? If you're getting into all these fancy options, then why not straddle or strangle the position so that you make money whether it goes up or down?
6.8% is a pretty good rate for unsecured debt, and presumedly a lot less than the interest your currently paying.
I think the only way this would be a big idea is if you thought you might at some point be unable to afford the payments on this loan and but could afford the minimums on the CC? But that's kind of threading the needle.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
6.8% is a pretty good rate for unsecured debt, and presumedly a lot less than the interest your currently paying.
I think the only way this would be a big idea is if you thought you might at some point be unable to afford the payments on this loan and but could afford the minimums on the CC? But that's kind of threading the needle.
The loan payment and cc minimum are the same. I would just clear out the debt on a better clock.
the 401k may have access to institutional pricing if you like the offerings! they might not necessarily be lower fees. you have to check the plans.
and like, what kind of IRA? Roth? Traditional? what kind of 401k was it?
A rollover IRA is specifically for rolling over 401k money into, and keeps the money pre-tax. The reason I recommended it is to keep all your investment accounts under one roof, and to get access to more and better options. A corporate 401k is generally not the best. You appear to have access to unusual offerings, but you work for a trading firm. This is not a usual situation.
see, as a former CPA, i've seen clients burned by exceptions than anything else
Why short? If you're getting into all these fancy options, then why not straddle or strangle the position so that you make money whether it goes up or down?
Yeah it doesn't matter if you know anything or not, there's usually a trading window and an insider trading policy and no trades are allowed outside that window at all, unless preauthorized
There's also a bunch of other restrictions. At my company, I can't
- buy or sell outside the trading window
- short sell or own options or derivatives
- any speculation or short term trading
- hold the stock in a margin account
This is very uncommon for normal employees except at a few tech companies who decided that everyone was an insider.
6.8% is a pretty good rate for unsecured debt, and presumedly a lot less than the interest your currently paying.
I think the only way this would be a big idea is if you thought you might at some point be unable to afford the payments on this loan and but could afford the minimums on the CC? But that's kind of threading the needle.
The loan payment and cc minimum are the same. I would just clear out the debt on a better clock.
Sounds like a good deal to me. Just make sure you can actually make the payments.
I have a question regarding 401k contributions. I started a new job at the start of this year, but I could only start contributing to my 401k in March. Am I able to still contribute to the contribution limit of $19,500 for the rest of the year? Additionally, it looks like my options for 401k contributions are not great and the fees are higher than I would like. Do I have any other options or am I stuck with them?
If your fees are under 0.5%, you're chasing the wrong dragon. That being said, you should contribute at least to the maximum that your company matches (if they match), even if the fees are high. Example, if they match up to 5%, put 5% in that plan and put the rest of your contribution in a personal 401k.
Taking some guesses at your age, if you just do a 2040 or 2050 target date fund, you're more than good. If that's not an option, a S&P500 fund is going to generally be good enough.
For your other question, you can contribute a total of $19500 across all your plans, for the year. If you were at a different employer for Jan and most of Feb, those contributions still apply. If this is a first job, you can spread the 19500 across all the remaining pay periods for this year (if you're paid biweekly; then....48?)
I'm not sure if this is possible, I don't know if I've seen someone do this before, but I don't see why you couldn't do a rollover from your 401(k) into a IRA. You could probably even roll the accumulated amount out once a year, so that the 401(k) never builds up a big balance.
But I agree with Mugsley, if the fees aren't terribly high, and if you have some decent options for funds, I wouldn't necessarily worry about. You can always roll it all out if/when you leave that job.
If your fees are under 0.5%, you're chasing the wrong dragon. That being said, you should contribute at least to the maximum that your company matches (if they match), even if the fees are high. Example, if they match up to 5%, put 5% in that plan and put the rest of your contribution in a personal 401k.
Taking some guesses at your age, if you just do a 2040 or 2050 target date fund, you're more than good. If that's not an option, a S&P500 fund is going to generally be good enough.
For your other question, you can contribute a total of $19500 across all your plans, for the year. If you were at a different employer for Jan and most of Feb, those contributions still apply. If this is a first job, you can spread the 19500 across all the remaining pay periods for this year (if you're paid biweekly; then....48?)
Thank you for the input, I appreciate it! I have a Roth IRA and I have been contributing to through Vanguard. I am already maxing that out, now I am looking at my 401k. It looks like my best bet with my 401k is American Funds Tgr 2050. This position does not have any matching, I am hoping this will change in a few years.
This is what I have found on that fund, what fees and expenses will be most relevant?
"Expense ratio" is what we mean by fee, and .73% is high.
See if there's something relatively equivalent to the s&p 500
Thanks for the advice. It looks like I could use "Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund Inv" with an expense ratio of 0 51%. That looks like the best I'll get, but that still seems high compared my the expense ratio I have through Vanguard, 0.15%. I wish I could put my 401k wherever I wanted.
You may be able to rollover your 401k even while you're still employed. It's not common for plans to allow it, and it seems less likely if the plan charges high fees, but it is an option a plan can allow.
For your other question, you can contribute a total of $19500 across all your plans, for the year. If you were at a different employer for Jan and most of Feb, those contributions still apply. If this is a first job, you can spread the 19500 across all the remaining pay periods for this year (if you're paid biweekly; then....48?)
Just one other note for Klein, and anyone maxing out contributions, most employers have a policy of setting their match based on the paycheck, rather than your salary. So you need to set your contributions to max out during your last or second to last paycheck of the year to actually get your full employer match. I've heard some beneficent companies do an end of the year match to make things right, but not in any I've ever worked at.
+1
Options
thatassemblyguyJanitor of Technical Debt.Registered Userregular
"Expense ratio" is what we mean by fee, and .73% is high.
See if there's something relatively equivalent to the s&p 500
Thanks for the advice. It looks like I could use "Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund Inv" with an expense ratio of 0 51%. That looks like the best I'll get, but that still seems high compared my the expense ratio I have through Vanguard, 0.15%. I wish I could put my 401k wherever I wanted.
You're loaded with American Funds options?
Someone in your HR department is getting a kickback.
For your other question, you can contribute a total of $19500 across all your plans, for the year. If you were at a different employer for Jan and most of Feb, those contributions still apply. If this is a first job, you can spread the 19500 across all the remaining pay periods for this year (if you're paid biweekly; then....48?)
Just one other note for Klein, and anyone maxing out contributions, most employers have a policy of setting their match based on the paycheck, rather than your salary. So you need to set your contributions to max out during your last or second to last paycheck of the year to actually get your full employer match. I've heard some beneficent companies do an end of the year match to make things right, but not in any I've ever worked at.
To piggy back on this I've also seen employers who match after a certain amount of time, so for example after 1 yr you start getting a match.
I knew of 1 employee who maxed out their annual contributions before they were eligible for a match. Sucked for them, but not much could be done. I doubt that will be an issue for most people, but still might be worth keeping in mind
It's the same line of thinking for Traditional vs Roth IRAs. If you strongly believe you will be in a higher bracket (or taxes will be higher) in retirement than now, then go for a Roth.
I personally split the difference and do Traditional 401k and Roth IRA.
It's the same line of thinking for Traditional vs Roth IRAs. If you strongly believe you will be in a higher bracket (or taxes will be higher) in retirement than now, then go for a Roth.
I personally split the difference and do Traditional 401k and Roth IRA.
I'm at a 2 to 1 split traditional style vs Roth with the traditional having about a decade head start.
RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Yeah, I haven't been contributing to my IRA at all in favor of getting towards maxing my 401k. Looking at savings rate and projected raises, I'll probably get back to my IRA in my early 40s.
Taxes are going to have to be higher in the future since we keep electing Republicans, but your retirement income is likely to be less than your full salary to begin with. Ideally ~80% or so. Which, also, bear in mind that if you're socking away 10% to retirement now, you're actually living on 90% of your income (less, considering all the other deductions)
So even with the higher taxes to make up for pretending we can have everything half off for a generation without consequences, you'll probably still be in a lower bracket anyway.
@Klein if you're not getting a match, you can just set up your own account at Fidelity/Vanguard/other and contribute. I'm not 100% on how you can get pre-tax money into it (likely not). I'll try to find some articles.
That being said, even 401k's with high expense ratios are still worthwhile due to deferred taxes, forced savings (if you traditionally spend most of your paycheck, it's a great way to save for retirement without 'noticing'), and some others.
In your case, I'd recommend fully funding a personal Roth IRA, then contributing any leftover funds into the 401k. (do a notional budget and make conservative estimates for your expenses; then work out a retirement savings budget from there)
Am I missing something or does the traditional advice on leasing vs buying cars (i.e., leasing is always a waste of money) not seem to make any sense these days?
Especially with newer cars being so expensive, like, by the time you've paid off the long-ass loan you have hardly any equity left, so it's not like you're really recovering much... It seems to me it makes more sense to think of cars in strictly $/month terms. Even a car you own outright is still gonna cost you X per month in maintenance costs.
I guess if you have a car you plan on keeping for 20 years and running it into the ground?
What numbers are you using to reach this conclusion? Barring outside factors, I don't know that I've ever seen leasing a car be cheaper than getting a (reasonable) loan.
If you're planning to never be without a car payment, then yeah, leasing works out (more or less). But that's almost always been true?
The key with buying is that you have a long time between when your loan ends and maintenance/repair costs get anywhere near that amount.
a5ehren on
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
If you're replacing your car every year or two, sure, lease. Cars these days can last a long while (my last one was 18 years old when I replaced it; my current one is 4 years old and I expect it to last at least another 10+ years before I replace it). 10 years without car payments is a long time and a lot of money.
Oh, yeah, as an update, this had more to do with me having down payment money saved (which, I guess generally people don't do down payments on leases), so putting that in threw the numbers to weird places. And also buying electric cars so base prices are higher. (Like if you get a 15k new gas car and run it into the ground that's gonna be cheaper yeah.)
I think my "problem" here is even if I owned the car outright I'd probably still be budgeting ~$200 a month to save up for repairs etc, which is approaching the cost of leasing anyway and having a new car that isn't going to need repairs.
I know some people don't really care but I just really hate the experience of having an unreliable vehicle and having to deal with major engine repair.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
The other factor is with emerging technologies - Electric vehicles make a bit more sense to lease because the shelf-life of EV batteries hasn't fully stabilized and battery technology is still improving comparatively rapidly, so by the time the lease period is done, the landscape of how good the car is could have changed.
The other factor is with emerging technologies - Electric vehicles make a bit more sense to lease because the shelf-life of EV batteries hasn't fully stabilized and battery technology is still improving comparatively rapidly, so by the time the lease period is done, the landscape of how good the car is could have changed.
Yeah that, too. (Though it does seem that battery longevity is not as much of a concern as feared, but new tech is always a thing.)
I leased my Leaf in 2013, when the lease was up in 2016 and the newer ~200mi cars were hitting the market the value of the 80mi leafs plummeted. I was able to negotiate something like $10k off the buyout price even though normally those are pretty hard set, since nobody wanted them.
In three more years who knows what the standard will be?
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Posts
Huh.
I should probably look into this stuff if I plan on ever doing anything other than my ESPP.
A rollover IRA is specifically for rolling over 401k money into, and keeps the money pre-tax. The reason I recommended it is to keep all your investment accounts under one roof, and to get access to more and better options. A corporate 401k is generally not the best. You appear to have access to unusual offerings, but you work for a trading firm. This is not a usual situation.
The ol' Iron Condor.
I think the only way this would be a big idea is if you thought you might at some point be unable to afford the payments on this loan and but could afford the minimums on the CC? But that's kind of threading the needle.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
see, as a former CPA, i've seen clients burned by exceptions than anything else
only way to know for sure is to check
there's extra costs associated with straddles/strangles. you can check out the payout windows/percent on https://www.optionsprofitcalculator.com/
Nothing beats the "It's Literally Free Money" Box Spread though.
This is very uncommon for normal employees except at a few tech companies who decided that everyone was an insider.
Sounds like a good deal to me. Just make sure you can actually make the payments.
---
TSP yearly statement showed up over the weekend. Personal return for 2019: 25.51%
Fistpumpkid.jpg
1. New loans ding your credit a bit. This is probably offset by the effects of paying down the card and having a fixed payment.
2. As you pay off the CC the minimum will go down. A loan won't. This shouldn't be an issue except in emergencies but it is a factor.
Taking some guesses at your age, if you just do a 2040 or 2050 target date fund, you're more than good. If that's not an option, a S&P500 fund is going to generally be good enough.
For your other question, you can contribute a total of $19500 across all your plans, for the year. If you were at a different employer for Jan and most of Feb, those contributions still apply. If this is a first job, you can spread the 19500 across all the remaining pay periods for this year (if you're paid biweekly; then....48?)
But I agree with Mugsley, if the fees aren't terribly high, and if you have some decent options for funds, I wouldn't necessarily worry about. You can always roll it all out if/when you leave that job.
Thank you for the input, I appreciate it! I have a Roth IRA and I have been contributing to through Vanguard. I am already maxing that out, now I am looking at my 401k. It looks like my best bet with my 401k is American Funds Tgr 2050. This position does not have any matching, I am hoping this will change in a few years.
This is what I have found on that fund, what fees and expenses will be most relevant?
https://www.capitalgroup.com/individual/investments/fund/aaltx
See if there's something relatively equivalent to the s&p 500
Thanks for the advice. It looks like I could use "Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund Inv" with an expense ratio of 0 51%. That looks like the best I'll get, but that still seems high compared my the expense ratio I have through Vanguard, 0.15%. I wish I could put my 401k wherever I wanted.
Just one other note for Klein, and anyone maxing out contributions, most employers have a policy of setting their match based on the paycheck, rather than your salary. So you need to set your contributions to max out during your last or second to last paycheck of the year to actually get your full employer match. I've heard some beneficent companies do an end of the year match to make things right, but not in any I've ever worked at.
You're loaded with American Funds options?
Someone in your HR department is getting a kickback.
To piggy back on this I've also seen employers who match after a certain amount of time, so for example after 1 yr you start getting a match.
I knew of 1 employee who maxed out their annual contributions before they were eligible for a match. Sucked for them, but not much could be done. I doubt that will be an issue for most people, but still might be worth keeping in mind
My company offers the 0.035% Vanguard Institutional Index, for comparison.
but yes, the vanguard index fund is 0.035%
even the vanguard target date retirement funds have a 0.08% expense ratio
actually, here's a question
i have the option of a roth 401k too
right now i've just been putting everything into the regular 401k
(can no longer do roth IRA tho i contributed plenty when i made less)
should i think about using it, i have no idea
I personally split the difference and do Traditional 401k and Roth IRA.
I'm at a 2 to 1 split traditional style vs Roth with the traditional having about a decade head start.
Come Overwatch with meeeee
maybe it's time to hedge my bets and put some into the roth 401k hmm
So even with the higher taxes to make up for pretending we can have everything half off for a generation without consequences, you'll probably still be in a lower bracket anyway.
That being said, even 401k's with high expense ratios are still worthwhile due to deferred taxes, forced savings (if you traditionally spend most of your paycheck, it's a great way to save for retirement without 'noticing'), and some others.
In your case, I'd recommend fully funding a personal Roth IRA, then contributing any leftover funds into the 401k. (do a notional budget and make conservative estimates for your expenses; then work out a retirement savings budget from there)
@Aioua
What numbers are you using to reach this conclusion? Barring outside factors, I don't know that I've ever seen leasing a car be cheaper than getting a (reasonable) loan.
The key with buying is that you have a long time between when your loan ends and maintenance/repair costs get anywhere near that amount.
I think my "problem" here is even if I owned the car outright I'd probably still be budgeting ~$200 a month to save up for repairs etc, which is approaching the cost of leasing anyway and having a new car that isn't going to need repairs.
I know some people don't really care but I just really hate the experience of having an unreliable vehicle and having to deal with major engine repair.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Yeah that, too. (Though it does seem that battery longevity is not as much of a concern as feared, but new tech is always a thing.)
I leased my Leaf in 2013, when the lease was up in 2016 and the newer ~200mi cars were hitting the market the value of the 80mi leafs plummeted. I was able to negotiate something like $10k off the buyout price even though normally those are pretty hard set, since nobody wanted them.
In three more years who knows what the standard will be?
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies