Advice on Next Steps

[Anonymous]

My Amazon.com store card is through GE; that will report, right?

If Billmelater doesn't report and is only a HP to get started, is there a chance it will ever update my credit again?

Thanks in advance,

--Kit

[jamie123]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My Amazon.com store card is through GE; that will report, right?

If Billmelater doesn't report and is only a HP to get started, is there a chance it will ever update my credit again?

Thanks in advance,

--Kit

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Yes, the Amazon store card is through GE. Amazon also offers a Visa card but that is through Chase. Either one will report. GE is really good with automatic credit line increases no matter which store it is for. Chase, not so much.

The only time Billmelater will update is if you don't pay or pay late.

The way you need to think about credit is as if you are borrowing money from a friend. It is a short term loan that should be paid back in full and on time. You should not carry a balance month to month. You do however need to use your credit every month. What you want to do is transfer as much of your daily living expenses as you can onto your credit cards and pay them off a few days before the payment due date. So instead of paying cash for gas you use your credit card. Instead of paying cash for groceries you use your credit card. Its not that you spend more, you just change the method of payment. This is why you want credit cards that match your current spending habits. (Please don't spend more. We don't want to see you back here with new problems.)

When you get used to this method you can then fine tune it by having one card report less than 9% of all credit lines and the rest of your cards report zero. I just added this last bit of info in so others won't be jumping on me for not informing you of the very best way to maximize your scores. If you use your credit and pay in full every month you will do just fine for now. You can always stop back and learn about the less than 9% rule later.

[jamie123]

Just something else I forgot to mention.....

If you are ever going to apply for NEW credit like an auto loan, mortgage or a new credit card, you want to make sure your credit cards are reporting zero or near zero balances if possible. This will affect the utilization portion of your score and sometimes has a huge impact to your scores.

[Anonymous]

We do some of this already including automatic payments via our credit cards for our cell phone bills, myfico.com (woot), a couple of web hosting services and domain management services I use, our ISP bill and a few others. It's money that would be spent via the checking account anyways so we pay with credit and then pay off each month.

The stuff that gets us once in a while is the funeral we just went to (and I had to buy and tailor a suit last minute, doh), vehicle repair over the summer when a high pressure vacuum line gave out, etc.

We move money from savings as necessary and build it up again but sometimes we have to use a card to get home or take care of business and the transfer from savings isn't fast enough to pay in full before the statement drops. Our savings is through ING Direct (Orange) and I have to wait 2-3 business days before the transfer is deposited so I can pay the credit cards. We have ING for the high yeild benefits over my credit union savings or BoA savings so I really want to keep my money there.

Most would say just link your credit card to your savings and my response is I'm a bit of a security nut so if someone gets my credit card number and/or access to my accounts, they could easily wipe my savings and I scared of that happening.

--Kit

[webhopper]

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@Anonymous wrote:

We do some of this already including automatic payments via our credit cards for our cell phone bills, myfico.com (woot), a couple of web hosting services and domain management services I use, our ISP bill and a few others. It's money that would be spent via the checking account anyways so we pay with credit and then pay off each month.

The stuff that gets us once in a while is the funeral we just went to (and I had to buy and tailor a suit last minute, doh), vehicle repair over the summer when a high pressure vacuum line gave out, etc.

We move money from savings as necessary and build it up again but sometimes we have to use a card to get home or take care of business and the transfer from savings isn't fast enough to pay in full before the statement drops. Our savings is through ING Direct (Orange) and I have to wait 2-3 business days before the transfer is deposited so I can pay the credit cards. We have ING for the high yeild benefits over my credit union savings or BoA savings so I really want to keep my money there.

Most would say just link your credit card to your savings and my response is I'm a bit of a security nut so if someone gets my credit card number and/or access to my accounts, they could easily wipe my savings and I scared of that happening.

--Kit

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Have you thought about popping some of those savings into a brokerage account. Fidelity comes to mind. They have an Amex which gives you 2% cash back automatically deposited into your brokerage account. It can be something as simple as a few k into a 529 for the kiddo

[jamie123]

You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. You will do well!

I know what a GTX680 is. It is a really good graphics card!

Do you build your own computers?

I'm contemplating building one myself. A father/son project. My son is 11 years old and plays Minecraft like crazy. I'm more of a Battlefield 3 guy myself.

[Anonymous]

...and this is about the point that I get lost.

I don't have tons of money. I have some. Very little compared to others, but I'm working as hard as I can for it and I try hard not to lose it. I have a crazy high work ethic and love rewards and knowing I'm working for a better future and I love to put money in savings because it feels effing awesome.

So, the thought of moving money around too much or investing or buying bonds or whatever when I don't know what exactly it is I'm doing scares the crap out of me, lol.

I wish I had 1 good friend that I could trust that could invest it or something because I know a savings account isn't the best place for it. I did finally let someone manage my 401k bologna, I thought that was a first good step, lol.

--Kit

[Anonymous]

BF3 on the PC is so much better than console, no? Love the game and the card makes it great! :0)

I am an enthusiats, yup. I haven't owned a store built or name brand system in such a long time, haha. With the way technology is going right now, a father/son project would be fun and you could have a me for a kid (that kinda sounds weird). I didn't touch a computer until I was 15 and it was like I was infected or something once I did. I quickly picked up just about every book I could find, buried myself in all things PC (mac for a bit and then I realized... lol) and ran with it. I hobby with web development now and know just enough PHP and AJAX to break together a website that works with MySQL. I have built multiple solutions for the company I work for to automate some processes we have and make them mobile (even though my work has nothing to do with web development, I managed so squeeze it in there!).

Compared to pros, what I think I know with computers is laughable but I love it anyways, it's fun. BF3 is fun. I keep up on the hardware and usually do a new build every couple of years. Now if I could get my ISP to have consistent connections, I'd be all set!

--Kit

[jamie123]

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@Anonymous wrote:

...and this is about the point that I get lost.

I don't have tons of money. I have some. Very little compared to others, but I'm working as hard as I can for it and I try hard not to lose it. I have a crazy high work ethic and love rewards and knowing I'm working for a better future and I love to put money in savings because it feels effing awesome.

So, the thought of moving money around too much or investing or buying bonds or whatever when I don't know what exactly it is I'm doing scares the crap out of me, lol.

I wish I had 1 good friend that I could trust that could invest it or something because I know a savings account isn't the best place for it. I did finally let someone manage my 401k bologna, I thought that was a first good step, lol.

--Kit

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See, I knew you had a good head on your shoulders!

Anybody that tells you that THEY know exactly what to do with YOUR money are the people you want to stay away from.

Investing is just like anything else, you need to read and learn. There are risks associated with whatever you invest in, some more riskier than others. Invest in only something you are comfortable with and understand.

You're a young guy. Have you thought about purchasing a life insurance policy that also has an investment portion? That seems like it might fit your conservative investment style. You should really think about getting a life insurance policy while you are still young, it is relatively cheap for you at this point.

[webhopper]

Kit; for someone who loves saving money... and getting a good savings yield; you might find it fun to look at options as far as domestic equity funds in the large small and mid cap arenas; as well as specialty funds which deal with a particular industry.
I'm young so I don't mess with bonds. I'm aggressively investing in mid cap; mid growth; small cap; and real estate funds. There are also index funds which are supposed to perform as well or better than the index they are following


I stick with mutual funds because they are diversified. I also split my money up and rebalance every six months to avoid risk.

I think you would have fun learning about the options. Give your plan administrator a call and ask if they have a resource available to teach you about investing. Don't ever take advice from someone who works from a commission.... they wont be looking out for you!