[stoney]

Came across this today. It's incredibly simple stuff, but I find daily that a lot of people don't understand it. I would hope most of you do know this stuff though:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/bmk27m/things_you_should_know/

Consolidated best-practice tips that should be part of your common knowledge:

• A higher tax bracket due to a raise doesn't offset the whole raise, since the higher rate applies only to the amount in the new bracket. (You might lose some income-limited deductions, though.)
  
  
• Likewise, all employment income goes in one bucket to determine tax liability. Your overtime / bonus is taxed the same as regular income, even if it is withheld at higher rates. You square that up when you file.
  
  
• Keeping a significant savings account while paying 20%+ interest on an outstanding credit card balance means you are losing something like 18% annually on money that could pay down debt.
  
  
• If you take out (or keep making payments on) an interest-bearing loan to help your credit history, then you are spending money to get a better credit rating. That's backwards. You want to improve credit at no cost to save money on loans.
  
  
• You want to always pay off the statement balance on your (interest-bearing) credit card each month without fail. That will keep you from paying interest. You don't have to pay the full balance, since that includes any new charges. Just the statement balance.
  
  
• There is no appreciable downside to an online High Yield savings account with a 2.0+% interest rate, vs. keeping the money with your local bank at .01% or some such thing.
  
  
• Credit unions are a great source of day-to-day banking services if you want better service and competitive rates. Some credit unions have easy-to-meet membership requirements.
  
  
• You won't get a risk-free, high (>~3%) rate of return on your investments in any standard financial services product. You can compensate for higher risk of stock market investments by leaving the money for a period of five to ten years, to allow time for growth to overcome price fluctuations.
  
  
• There are generally no federal gift taxes due to either the recipient or to the donor (giver), even on largeish gifts of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you give someone over $15,000 in one year, you file a form that reduces your lifetime exclusion, but you still don't pay gift taxes.

 

[Full Trucker]

Shouldn't you be Mexicoing?

 

[Toshi]

Yeah, well what about if your gifts exceed $11 mm? Huh? And where's the sage advice on avocado toast?

 

[Pesqueeb]

Shouldn't you be Mexicoing?

///Mexicoing

 

[SkaredShtles]

Shouldn't you be shagging your wife, drinking tequila, and eating tacos?

Fixed!

Wait. That's the actual DEFINITION of Mexicoing.

 

[stoney]

Fixed!

Wait. That's the actual DEFINITION of Mexicoing.

Who said I'm not taking a break?

 

[stoney]

Yeah, well what about if your gifts exceed $11 mm? Huh? And where's the sage advice on avocado toast?

Go be an outlier that nobody here qualifies for and move along.

 

[Jozz]

What is it with those misleading thread titles?

I though this would be about the housing market and how to avoid the pitfalls of large decks...

 

[SkaredShtles]

Who said I'm not taking a break?

Me.

You've been sitting on the deck/porch all day reading.

Don't tell me I'm wrong.

 

[stoney]

Me.

You've been sitting on the deck/porch all day reading.

Don't tell me I'm wrong.

You are wrong. There was sleeping under the umbrella in there too. And we're going into town now for an art festival and dinner.

The break below us is garbage, so no surfing for me unless we drive further west. I'm taking 5 days of FTS, sleeping in the sun, reading, and stuff.

 

[SkaredShtles]

You are wrong. There was sleeping under the umbrella in there too. And we're going into town now for an art festival and dinner.

The break below us is garbage, so no surfing for me unless we drive further west. I'm taking 5 days of FTS, sleeping in the sun, reading, and stuff.

Wait - you said you were south of Cabo... now you're saying you're going into "town" for an art festival... are you going into Cabo San Lucas or San Jose del Cabo?

 

[rockofullr]

You are wrong. There was sleeping under the umbrella in there too. And we're going into town now for an art festival and dinner.

The break below us is garbage, so no surfing for me unless we drive further west. I'm taking 5 days of FTS, sleeping in the sun, reading, and stuff.

Sounds like you are blowing it. That's not how you Mexico.

 

[stoney]

Wait - you said you were south of Cabo... now you're saying you're going into "town" for an art festival... are you going into Cabo San Lucas or San Jose del Cabo?

The later.

 

[stoney]

Sounds like you are blowing it. That's not how you Mexico.

Call me 10 yrs and 2 kids from now.

 

[Full Trucker]

Call me 10 yrs and 2 kids from now.

The Wookie needs sleep, people. Back the fuck off!

 

[SkaredShtles]

The Wookie needs sleep, people. Back the fuck off!

Even with 12 solid, there should be enough time for at least a couple shaggings/day along with a 1/2 bottle of tequila and at LEAST 20 tacos.

 

[jonKranked]

Call me 10 yrs and 2 kids from now.

By then you'll be on kid 3 and house 5

 

[4xBoy]

So how much can you give in a life time?

If my mom gave me 50k today, neither of us have to pay any taxes?

How much more could she give me?

I dream of this hypothetical world.

 

[Nick]

So how much can you give in a life time?

If my mom gave me 50k today, neither of us have to pay any taxes?

How much more could she give me?

I dream of this hypothetical world.

If my memory of the shawshank redemption serves, she could give you and each of her children $14,000 tax free.

After that you get thrown off of the roof.

 

[Montana rider]

So how much can you give in a life time?

If my mom gave me 50k today, neither of us have to pay any taxes?

How much more could she give me?

I dream of this hypothetical world.

The maximum (tax-free) gift is currently 15K, some estate planning folks would recommend parents with high assets at death would have been better served to gift some of that money out yearly the decade or two prior...

If you have wife/kids, they can be given 15K too, and each parent could gift the same...

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes#1
For 2018 and 2019, the annual exclusion is $15,000.

 

[Toshi]

So how much can you give in a life time?

If my mom gave me 50k today, neither of us have to pay any taxes?

How much more could she give me?

I dream of this hypothetical world.

She personally could give you $5,450,000 more. Then after that her estate tax exemption would be reduced by additional gifts.

If giving as a couple it’s $11 mm ex $50k.

 

[stevew]

Yeah, well what about if your gifts exceed $11 mm? Huh? And where's the sage advice on avocado toast?

someone left you a money tree....