How You're Handling Finances During This Time

[Anonymous]

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@CreditInspired wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditInspired wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditInspired wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not much has changed. I paid off my DCU card early just to get rid of the 30% utilization but that was only $300. Everything else is still being paid as scheduled. I owe Citi 4 more payments (0% doesn't expire until December) and Capital One 3 more payments (0% expires in October) before I am back to PIF so I am just sticking with that schedule. Spending a bit more on dry storage items. My grocery budget will probably double with my plans to turn my second closet into a pantry. I don't want to be caught unprepared again. 

Took my stimulus today and put $600 to max out DCU's $1K at 6.17%, put $100 in AOD, $100 in Langley, $300 in Alliant, and left $100 in 1stBank for now. If US Bank ever gets my name fixed the last $100 is going in there. Going to put $400 in my savings accounts next month to cap my $2K limit. Since Medicaid eligibility won't be impacted by the stimulus payments for a year, I feel safe putting $2K in the bank while the limit should be $3200. 

Everything else is the same since I already had been spending my life in my room long before this happened. 

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YOU GOT YOUR STIMULUS!!

Kudos @Anonymous . I'm still waiting. Well at least this tells me that for SS ppl who havent received it yet, it's right around the corner. Was it DD?

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@CreditInspired I got a check in the mail. I'm under $20K so they did it quick. SS recipients are supposed to go out early May (they have a cut off of 5/4 for people to add kids on the simple filing form so probably by the 11th). I hope the IRS doesn't screw up and have the Treasury do DD for everyone who gets SS or I will have a second stimulus payment and have to return it. 

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I was able to put my DD info in the IRS Portal this afternoon. Hip hip hooray, it accepted it. I guess it took it because I work and get SS. Now if it can be on my checking account by Friday, I'll be one happy camper. 

Oh, Saeren, on another note. I love, love your tagline 😆😆 So, I guess I wasnt the only one who took eons to get it right 😆😆

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Glad you were able to get it in there!

And no, you were far from the only one. I actually had many others express shock when they saw that I am actually a male. I guess I use too many emoji or something 🤣 

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Nope, not too many emojis. I just thought from the name. Of course, I'm probably pronouncing it incorrectly in my head 🤣

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Its an Irish name with the second a substituted with an e since it's less likely to be taken.  https://www.babynames.com/name/saeran

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditInspired wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditInspired wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditInspired wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not much has changed. I paid off my DCU card early just to get rid of the 30% utilization but that was only $300. Everything else is still being paid as scheduled. I owe Citi 4 more payments (0% doesn't expire until December) and Capital One 3 more payments (0% expires in October) before I am back to PIF so I am just sticking with that schedule. Spending a bit more on dry storage items. My grocery budget will probably double with my plans to turn my second closet into a pantry. I don't want to be caught unprepared again. 

Took my stimulus today and put $600 to max out DCU's $1K at 6.17%, put $100 in AOD, $100 in Langley, $300 in Alliant, and left $100 in 1stBank for now. If US Bank ever gets my name fixed the last $100 is going in there. Going to put $400 in my savings accounts next month to cap my $2K limit. Since Medicaid eligibility won't be impacted by the stimulus payments for a year, I feel safe putting $2K in the bank while the limit should be $3200. 

Everything else is the same since I already had been spending my life in my room long before this happened. 

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YOU GOT YOUR STIMULUS!!

Kudos @Anonymous . I'm still waiting. Well at least this tells me that for SS ppl who havent received it yet, it's right around the corner. Was it DD?

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@CreditInspired I got a check in the mail. I'm under $20K so they did it quick. SS recipients are supposed to go out early May (they have a cut off of 5/4 for people to add kids on the simple filing form so probably by the 11th). I hope the IRS doesn't screw up and have the Treasury do DD for everyone who gets SS or I will have a second stimulus payment and have to return it. 

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I was able to put my DD info in the IRS Portal this afternoon. Hip hip hooray, it accepted it. I guess it took it because I work and get SS. Now if it can be on my checking account by Friday, I'll be one happy camper. 

Oh, Saeren, on another note. I love, love your tagline 😆😆 So, I guess I wasnt the only one who took eons to get it right 😆😆

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Glad you were able to get it in there!

And no, you were far from the only one. I actually had many others express shock when they saw that I am actually a male. I guess I use too many emoji or something 🤣 

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Nope, not too many emojis. I just thought from the name. Of course, I'm probably pronouncing it incorrectly in my head 🤣

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Its an Irish name with the second a substituted with an e since it's less likely to be taken.  https://www.babynames.com/name/saeran

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Thanks Saeren for sharing.

[Revelate]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@iced wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

New question for some of you that are seeing this excess of money and quality of life improvement, what happens when everything goes back to the way it was? Are you going to be able to? I have a feeling, many employees are going to start making work from home a bigger part of their business, but some will go back to business as usual.

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I've been a full-time remote/work-from-home employee of my company for around 5 years now, so the main changes for me will be three-fold:

1. I can walk out to lunch during the day instead of doing takeout and eating back at home.

2. Kid goes back to daycare so I get my days to myself again. 

3. I'll be able to start traveling to offices and conferences again. It's nice to get out of the condo to visit different places around the world.

If anything, I'm worried things won't go back to the way it was before, primarily because of reason 3.

I've joked with some of my colleagues who are new to the WFH game about welcoming them to my world and how they're building an appreciation for the pros and cons of that lifestyle.

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That's a good point and something the airlines are worried about. If businesses are finding it more efficient and cost effective to do teleconferencing, business travel could be permanently resuced. By some businesses 

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I don't think business travel is going to get cut off at the knees.

My big company gig has still been sending folks out, just not their employees because of liability reasons TBH.  The customers still want to see us, and sometimes it's just a reassuring thing during a migration to have expertise onsite.

I honestly don't know how it's going to go though, to my knowledge we're not giving money back but for example I was expecting to do 4 in-person knowledge transfers which are probably not going to happen at all at this point since that project is over in June regardless.  I am seeing an uptick in Remote job postings though and there's nothing "remote for now" about them.  I should go and trawl some job sites for companies that traditionally have a heavy travel component on some of their gigs: if those 20-80% travel requirements are removed, then I think the airlines have a big honking problem but I haven't seen that yet.

[Anonymous]

This whole ordeal actually ties in to things I was already doing/had plans to do, but accelerated things. I requested my position be converted to full-time remote before the pandemic hit and it was approved.

• I went conservative with all of my 401k allocations in December. Something told me troubled times were coming, but I had NO idea it would be a virus pandemic!
• I reduced my 401k contribution from 12% to 6% in order to increase my savings.
• I left my city apartment, got rid of my parking space, and eliminated gas/tolls for commuting. Moved in with the in-laws in the suburbs. My monthly obligations are about $500 now.
• I paid down my reported revolving debt by $10k. I want my CR to show a noticeable improvement at the start of this (i.e. the opposite of any signs of distress.) 
• I'm starting to pay my typical PIF cards before the statement cuts so I have more cards reporting $0 . . will pull my 3B in a few weeks to see how the scores are looking.
• Reallocated my direct deposit setup to route 70% of my take home income to savings and 30% to checking for spending. Giving myself a little more leeway with spending money than when I've done this previously. On paper I should only need to spend 15% of my take home, but that never seems to match reality.
• Looking to buy a condo near my family in FL this Fall. Will go down frequently to spend some more time with them + give the in-laws some breathing room. They're awesome and love having us here, but I wholeheartedly believe everyone needs the house to themselves sometimes.

[sarge12]

Well as insane as it might sound, I am one of the few who has only benefited from this crisis. Due to a permenantly damaged spinal cord I am disabled and my income is from SSDI and my 401k and retirement savings. Neither was affected by the virus, so those 2 income sources remain unchanged. Then for reasons only known to them they decided to give me an extra 1200 dollars this month in stimulus. I actually would have sent it back, except my Neice and her husband are both out of work due to the virus, so I am helping them. I wonder how many others were also given the stimulus even though the virus did not result in financial hardship for them. In my opinion, I should not have gotten that stimulus while others are living through a financial nightmare, but it is not in my control. What is in my control is what I do with it, and I am helping all my Neices and Nephews who have been harmed, but to be honest, I would have done so even without the stimulus. I just honestly could not eat a bite of my food if I knew family members and close friends were struggeling to feed themselves and their Children, while I had the resources to feed them all. They don't even have to ask for help if I am aware of their situation. That use to just be what nearly everyone did that had the means, but somehow society has strangely moved away from that in many cases. Since everyone will someday die, just why are people who have more than they need holding on so tightly to it until they die? It makes no sense to me. I can't take it with me, and I have yet to see a hearse pulling a safe full of money. I might could buy myself a 50,000 dollar car, but the car I have does not hardly get driven, and it can sit in the garage just as well. Due to my health, the only places I ever go is the doctor and grocery store, and occasionaly visiting family.

[tacpoly]

The $1200 is to boost the economy. It is given to lower income brackets because they are more likely to spend it / boost their spending vs higher income brackets.  Giving it to someone who needs it is a great option, as is donating the money to a food bank or other charitable organizations. 

I have been taking money out of the market since late 2019.  Put some money back in the market during the big drop. Have taken profits on some that have run up so I'm up ~50%.  I have more cash sitting in the sidelines waiting for more good opportunities.