General Adulthood, Planning for the Future: Business, College, Budgeting, Investments, etc! $$$ - General

I just find it odd considering they told me i was practically already hired as soon as i gave them the application. They said it would take a day to do a background check and they'd call me in in 2 days, never got the call and it's been a few weeks.

[QUOTE=Qaus;50557436]I just find it odd considering they told me i was practically already hired as soon as i gave them the application. They said it would take a day to do a background check and they'd call me in in 2 days, never got the call and it's been a few weeks.[/QUOTE] Did you call them back the week they said they would hire you? A few weeks out would be a little late I'm afraid

I don't have a phone. [editline]20th June 2016[/editline] I assumed the part where they said that they'd call me was because they didn't read the application yet because i just handed it to them. I only left them an email.

[QUOTE=Qaus;50557739]I don't have a phone. [editline]20th June 2016[/editline] I assumed the part where they said that they'd call me was because they didn't read the application yet because i just handed it to them. I only left them an email.[/QUOTE] For many employers a phone will be a primary method of contact, especially in the retail work environment. A mobile phone with a few minutes of talk can be had for very cheap nowadays, many locales even offer subsidized phone plans for a few bucks a month if you are low income, which I definitely recommend looking into

"very cheap" and "a few bucks a month" is far above my annual income of fuckall. i have a phone a friend gave me for free and it's basically a tiny wifi tablet.

[QUOTE=Qaus;50557905]"very cheap" and "a few bucks a month" is far above my annual income of fuckall. i have a phone a friend gave me for free and it's basically a tiny wifi tablet.[/QUOTE] If you're starting to get into job interviews or looking for anything long-term, you're going to need a phone. That's just how the world works today.

[QUOTE=Qaus;50557905]"very cheap" and "a few bucks a month" is far above my annual income of fuckall. i have a phone a friend gave me for free and it's basically a tiny wifi tablet.[/QUOTE] What state do you live in? The resources are there if you're willing to look.

I went and viewed the perfect apartment for my boyfriend and I. They're not accepting applications until Wednesday but I am unbelievably nervous. I really, [I]really[/I] need this one to work. My recent pay stubs are all over the place, so I'm not sure what's going to happen but all I can do is apply and hope. I need to get him out before his landlord escalates things. (please don't talk about legal aid vs landlord, I've tried for months to get him to). Is there anything I can do more than just filling out the applications and providing everything they ask?

[QUOTE=DanTehMan;50558082]What state do you live in? The resources are there if you're willing to look.[/QUOTE] Washington [editline]20th June 2016[/editline] I don't think there's such thing as free cell service.

[QUOTE=Qaus;50559216] I don't think there's such thing as free cell service.[/QUOTE] My grandpa has an obamaphone, I'm not sure if it's available for low income people in general or just people on medicare or something. You should look into it.

[QUOTE=Trekintosh;50558096]I went and viewed the perfect apartment for my boyfriend and I. They're not accepting applications until Wednesday but I am unbelievably nervous. I really, [I]really[/I] need this one to work. My recent pay stubs are all over the place, so I'm not sure what's going to happen but all I can do is apply and hope. I need to get him out before his landlord escalates things. (please don't talk about legal aid vs landlord, I've tried for months to get him to). Is there anything I can do more than just filling out the applications and providing everything they ask?[/QUOTE] Include a cover letter explaining who you and your boyfriend are, what you are hoping to accomplish, and perhaps an explanation of anything you are nervous about with your application-- though use your best judgment on this last point. It's a little extra step that most applicants don't take. All a landlord wants is a courteous tenant who always pays their rent on time and doesn't put undue stress on the property. A polite letter with some general background info and future plans can help reassure a landlord that you are less likely to cause problems than other tenants and could well be the deciding factor between whether or not you get accepted.

Woah, so cool that there's a thread for this! I feel like a lot of people I know (of course that's all personal experience and probably a smallish sample size) are really uneducated on adulthood planning, so it's awesome that this thread's here. [editline]21st June 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Taepodong-2;50510969]I'm getting really god damn frustrated with looking for a job. I'm applying to work as an English teacher in Korea, but I doubt I'll get that so I'm being more realistic and looking for jobs closer to home. But there's literally nothing. I'm not qualified to do anything. Even fucking Home Depot wouldn't hire me as a cashier. There's no work where I live so I have to move, but I can't afford to move because I don't have a job. My family refuses to help at all beyond my mom allowing me to live in her house. What the fuck do I do?[/QUOTE] Hey man, I know you said you've moved home for financial reasons, but that doesn't mean you can't apply jobs elsewhere from there. May I ask what your aspirations were with your history degree? It's not as useless as some might say. I have one and I work in a nice job with very well pay, and honestly there is a whole host of options for that degree, it just takes creativity to find them. Also do you have any types of internships, work experience, field experience, special projects in your belt?

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;50543861]Crossposting this in here in case any of you want to know a bit more about the processes behind investing in real estate:[/QUOTE] I'm 3 days late here, but as a Finance major who is abruptly getting into Investments, you can boil down your bit about Cyptocurrencies/Investments into: [B]Never invest in things you don't understand.[/B] And by understand, I mean [B]as close to as fully as possible.[/B] It should never be a case of "I think it'll take off!!" or you might as well just go buy lottery tickets. The only way you make a return on something you're extremely ignorant about is either to be lucky, or you have some kind of absurd insider information/informant. And furthermore, by return, I mean a good one. I could say "oh well I made 8% investing in Harley last year!!", but if the entire market moved up 16%, you actually lost by quite a bit. And certainly, if whatever you're investing in has less return than a risk-free rate (think treasury bills/bonds) ((or inflation)), then you're wasting time. As excited as I am for being able to break down the stock market into analytics right now, even a golden investment that always showed positive return, always beat the market, had low deviation, etc - that would be [I]just the starting point[/I] of researching it. Someone I know made a very short turn-around return of about 30% on a phone company and made a quick $2,995 just to prove a point. But to do so, he had an absurd stack of information about the company, listened in on their investor meetings, read the reports - hell, he could even talk like he worked telecommunications and that wasn't even his job.

[QUOTE=Doom14;50561748]I'm 3 days late here, but as a Finance major who is abruptly getting into Investments, you can boil down your bit about Cyptocurrencies/Investments into: [B]Never invest in things you don't understand.[/B] And by understand, I mean [B]as close to as fully as possible.[/B] It should never be a case of "I think it'll take off!!" or you might as well just go buy lottery tickets. The only way you make a return on something you're extremely ignorant about is either to be lucky, or you have some kind of absurd insider information/informant. And furthermore, by return, I mean a good one. I could say "oh well I made 8% investing in Harley last year!!", but if the entire market moved up 16%, you actually lost by quite a bit. And certainly, if whatever you're investing in has less return than a risk-free rate (think treasury bills/bonds) ((or inflation)), then you're wasting time. As excited as I am for being able to break down the stock market into analytics right now, even a golden investment that always showed positive return, always beat the market, had low deviation, etc - that would be [I]just the starting point[/I] of researching it. Someone I know made a very short turn-around return of about 30% on a phone company and made a quick $2,995 just to prove a point. But to do so, he had an absurd stack of information about the company, listened in on their investor meetings, read the reports - hell, he could even talk like he worked telecommunications and that wasn't even his job.[/QUOTE] I know this is obviously a stupid question before I say anything But as a Finance major, what are major areas you recommend the uninitiated study or learn about as to best make use of their time and money while investing?

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;50563687]I know this is obviously a stupid question before I say anything But as a Finance major, what are major areas you recommend the uninitiated study or learn about as to best make use of their time and money while investing?[/QUOTE] I am an absolute beginner in this stuff, so I'd really rather refrain from making suggestions on what to do with your money because I don't feel confident enough to speak on it when someone elses' money is at stake. Maybe in a year or two, if I'm nestled in a nice job and this is my lifeblood, I'll hand our free advice on Facepunch for being my online [del]confinement zone[/del] haven for so many years. Go to your bank/broker/someone else for that. I can give a very, very basic run-down on the statistics you need to pay attention to with investments, if that helps - or some general information like "what diversification means and does for you" and "why you never get a 30 year mortgage" - but it'll take me awhile to write up. The gist of all of it is, though, you want your money doing something. Keeping large sums in the bank is almost useless unless you need access to it ASAP all the time. The the utmost basic, "oh god I know nothing and want to assume 0.00000000000~00001% risk", you should be dumping money into federal no-risk investments (as long as they beat inflation rates or what your bank gives you for holding.) Diversification means getting away from specific (ie firm)-based risk and being only subject to the entire market itself (or beating it if you have good picks.) There are mutual funds and investment programs for the uninitiated and busy that handle a lot of that for you. If you're looking to do/learn this stuff totally solo, look for free online courses or course materials (MIT and a few others have some I think?), constantly Google things you don't know, etc. Investopedia has a lot of definitions and explanations for financial stuff, but it can tend to simplify it. Try not to use Wikipedia - which will have information, but it will never really be construed in a way to teach you. Day 2 Sidenote: Had a friend make over $200,000 when Bitcoin exploded and I still wouldn't recommend [I]seriously [/I]investing in cryptocurrencies. Feel free to drop some dollars on it instead of a candy bar or a video game, but don't cry when "Memecoin 2.0" crashes and burns. Bitcoin stole the market, and until they seriously fuck up, they're gonna hold it for quite awhile.

Shit's getting real boys. Moving to a new full time position from my old one next month, while still working my new second job, while now closing on my first house at end of july, while also going on my honeymoon to Europe next week.

Home ownership is in my near future. I have the income, I now have great credit, interest rates are low, and property is cheap in my area. I'm still lost, though. I almost don't know where to begin. I could qualify for like $150k in a mortgage but realistically speaking if I want to be able to afford it all by myself, like let's say my girlfriend leaves and all my friends wouldn't have me as a landlord, I need to be able to cover everything all by myself. So that means that really I should only spend like $100k on a house. But then as I look at it, a 15 year term on a $60k house comes out to about the same monthly payment as a 30 year term on a $100k house, with the added benefit being that I might actually pay off the 15 year one and maybe have an income property on the other side of it, where the 30 year plan sounds more like perpetual debt with no ownership or even any equity depending on how the market goes. Should I live Spartan in a small cheap 60k house on a short term loan that I could realistically pay back soon, or should I resign myself to the American dream of ignoring an ever-growing pile of debt and find a nice house?

[QUOTE=J Paul;50628743]Home ownership is in my near future. I have the income, I now have great credit, interest rates are low, and property is cheap in my area. I'm still lost, though. I almost don't know where to begin. I could qualify for like $150k in a mortgage but realistically speaking if I want to be able to afford it all by myself, like let's say my girlfriend leaves and all my friends wouldn't have me as a landlord, I need to be able to cover everything all by myself. So that means that really I should only spend like $100k on a house. But then as I look at it, a 15 year term on a $60k house comes out to about the same monthly payment as a 30 year term on a $100k house, with the added benefit being that I might actually pay off the 15 year one and maybe have an income property on the other side of it, where the 30 year plan sounds more like perpetual debt with no ownership or even any equity depending on how the market goes. Should I live Spartan in a small cheap 60k house on a short term loan that I could realistically pay back soon, or should I resign myself to the American dream of ignoring an ever-growing pile of debt and find a nice house?[/QUOTE] We'll what is your income?

[QUOTE=DanTehMan;50628888]We'll what is your income?[/QUOTE] After taxes, I bring home just under 30k annually. I'm also going to get a raise next month so that's cool. Might bump me up above 30.

[QUOTE=J Paul;50628902]After taxes, I bring home just under 30k annually. I'm also going to get a raise next month so that's cool.[/QUOTE] That's essentially my same income bracket, I've been looking into the exact question you pose. Remember this, just because you take a 30 year loan, that doesn't mean you need to take 30 years to pay it back. I would take a 30 year loan simply as a safety net, while still having my own personal time line to pay it off much more quickly. On your income, you should be able to spend around $750 on home costs (assuming the 30% rule) which leaves you quite a lot of wiggle room in terms of mortgage amounts.

[QUOTE=J Paul;50628743]Home ownership is in my near future. I have the income, I now have great credit, interest rates are low, and property is cheap in my area. I'm still lost, though. I almost don't know where to begin. I could qualify for like $150k in a mortgage but realistically speaking if I want to be able to afford it all by myself, like let's say my girlfriend leaves and all my friends wouldn't have me as a landlord, I need to be able to cover everything all by myself. So that means that really I should only spend like $100k on a house. But then as I look at it, a 15 year term on a $60k house comes out to about the same monthly payment as a 30 year term on a $100k house, with the added benefit being that I might actually pay off the 15 year one and maybe have an income property on the other side of it, where the 30 year plan sounds more like perpetual debt with no ownership or even any equity depending on how the market goes. Should I live Spartan in a small cheap 60k house on a short term loan that I could realistically pay back soon, or should I resign myself to the American dream of ignoring an ever-growing pile of debt and find a nice house?[/QUOTE] There's really no right or wrong answer to this, it's mostly about personal preference. The philosophy of building rapid equity in your home through large payments is certainly a valid one. It can be especially powerful in that it opens you up to equity lines of credit, loans against the equity on your property. This can be a good long-term way to access funds for future investments. I personally prefer to leverage my money as far as possible with long term, low-interest loans, however, especially considering that my plan is to buy and [I]hold[/I] properties. I'm interested in maximizing cashflow from rentals, not turning the property around and selling it. Smaller monthly payments will give me a wider net operating income from each rental property. In the meantime, since I don't actually have any rental properties yet, the smaller mortgage payments on my primary residence reduce my monthly expenses by quite a bit, giving me more short-term funds for building up my investment portfolio. One more thing to keep in mind is that mortgage payments aren't the [I]only[/I] way to build equity in a home. There are actually a few different kinds of appreciation to consider: 1) Payments: paying off your loan through a down payment and/or high monthly payments, reducing the amount you owe on the property as quickly as possible. 2) Forced appreciation: raising the value of your property through renovations, repairs, etc-- keeping in mind that you can only improve a property [I]so much[/I] before any additional renovations have increasingly smaller returns. This is about finding the best bang for your buck. A new coat of paint, new carpet/floors, new countertops, and replacing the ugly old bathroom tiles can be relatively inexpensive ways to give a property a facelift and raise its value. It'd be a good idea to consult a local realtor or appraiser to get an idea of the kinds of changes that can raise values in your area, and what your highest point of return is going to be. 3) Natural appreciation: On average, the value of property climbs. There are up years and down years; short term housing values can seem uncertain when a market slumps, but on a longer timeline property values almost always tend to climb. Since 1975, property values have risen in every state by an average of about 4-5% annually. If you're planning to hold the property for quite some time, this can be a huge source of equity. A home bought fifteen years ago for $100k would now, on average, be worth about $180k. This is another reason why I like to leverage my money, keeping my payments low and avoiding high downpayments when possible. Even if I do the bare minimum to keep the property maintained and updated during that fifteen years, and make only minimum payments, I'll have made an average of at $80k per single family home that I hold, plus whatever equity was build through payments and forced appreciation. Having more liquid capital on hand in the short term, and wider profit margins in my rental cashflows, will allow me to pick up more properties more quickly than I could if I focused on paying them down one at a time. More properties means greater overall appreciation, potentially means a lot more money in the long run. That's my perspective, at least! There are also investors out there that do it the opposite way. They buy one property, pay it off completely as soon as they can using the cashflow from the tenants and their own personal investments, then get their next property. They then pay off the second property using the combined cashflows of the first and second, plus their own funds. They then get a third property, paying it off as quickly as possible using the combined cashflow from the first, second, and third property and their own funds. Etc, etc. It's a slow rolling start that builds momentum. With each property you acquire, you can pay off the next one that much more quickly. My problem with this approach is that natural appreciation is working against you here. While you'll be able to pay down properties more quickly, each property will, on average, by more expensive than the last one due to the time that has passed. [editline]1st July 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=DanTehMan;50628924]That's essentially my same income bracket, I've been looking into the exact question you pose. Remember this, just because you take a 30 year loan, that doesn't mean you need to take 30 years to pay it back. I would take a 30 year loan simply as a safety net, while still having my own personal time line to pay it off much more quickly. On your income, you should be able to spend around $750 on home costs (assuming the 30% rule) which leaves you quite a lot of wiggle room in terms of mortgage amounts.[/QUOTE] I was going to recommend this as well. Don't buy what you [I]qualify[/I] for, buy what you can [I]afford.[/I] If possible, try not to spend more than 30% of your [U]current[/U] monthly income on your mortgage payment, homeowners insurance, and property taxes. That pit of ever increasing debt you mentioned occurs because people ignore this "rule." They assume, "my income will rise, so even though this loan payment eats up 60% of my income, I'll be fine within a few years." But, of course, they stretch themselves too thin, maybe treat themselves to a new car, have to start relying on their credit cards to make ends meet, etc. Thus begins the downward spiral. [editline]1st July 2016[/editline] Personal note: my meeting with the "super broker" I mentioned a week or so ago is in an hour. I can't tell whether I'm incredibly nervous, or incredibly excited. I can barely catch my breath!

Finally gonna open a brokerage account and put this 50mb something Excel file I've been drafting to use. Time to see if I crash and burn or not. It tracks about 1490 S&P stocks, and a few commodities too. I set it up for correlations, financial statement info/ratios, and all kinds of other fun stuff.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;50628996]Personal note: my meeting with the "super broker" I mentioned a week or so ago is in an hour. I can't tell whether I'm incredibly nervous, or incredibly excited. I can barely catch my breath![/QUOTE] I did it! She wants me in her team! Next week she will be introducing me to everybody else. I will be working for a few months semi-independently. I'll be going through all her training, attending team meetings, setting goals with the group, etc. She'll also be providing me with some tools and resources. Once I've proven that I can bring in enough clients to justify hiring me in as a dedicated agent, I'll be able to join the team full-time and gain access to her extended database, be fed leads that come in through it, etc. I presented her with my sales goals tonight, and she helped me refine them a bit, break them down even farther into the most basic figures. If I can stay on track, meet this goal, then I will be making more money my first year with her than I have in the previous five combined.

My diagnoses are causing severe mental pain on the job, and I want to quit. I'm driving newspapers every sunday from 01:30-7/10:00, and I've become a danger to myself and other drivers around me. I'm a substitute for another worker, and my contract says that if I wish to resign, I must work 2 weeks before I can leave, unless my employer says otherwise. This is my first job so I have no idea how this works. In the contract it also says (which I don't quit understand): [QUOTE]When hiring, we apply the six-month probationary period, this transition - provided that both parties are satisfied and do not exit the position.[/QUOTE] So under this "six-month probationary period" I'm not actually 100% employed, so I can reject my application instantly?

[QUOTE=The bird Man;50640130]So under this "six-month probationary period" I'm not actually 100% employed, so I can reject my application instantly?[/QUOTE] I am entirely uninformed on Swedish work laws, but this sounds a lot like a process here we call "Temp-to-Hire" wherein companies route you through a temporary employment agency for the express purpose of easily firing you (or letting you leave/quit on a whim) for the first 1-6 months. A formal resignation probably involves differential treatment next to abruptly quitting/being fire/etc. I would try talking to your supervisor (or getting a hold of your HR department) to express your concerns. That is, if you actually wish to quit.

I just produced my first client! A young woman I went to high school with is looking for a multi-family investment unit. Could be a sweet deal! Unfortunately, I'm not yet fully licensed, so I can't assist her myself, but I can still get a cut of the commission for the referral if it results in a closed deal. Pretty cool, since I've only been at this for a few days. BTW [B][U]SELF PROMOTION:[/U][/B] If any of you know anybody who is considering buying or selling property, let your old pal BDA know. My brokerage has offices all over the world. I can find them proper representation, and get a cut of the deal for doing so at no cost to the client his or herself. It's a lovely arrangement.

[QUOTE=Doom14;50640394]I am entirely uninformed on Swedish work laws, but this sounds a lot like a process here we call "Temp-to-Hire" wherein companies route you through a temporary employment agency for the express purpose of easily firing you (or letting you leave/quit on a whim) for the first 1-6 months. A formal resignation probably involves differential treatment next to abruptly quitting/being fire/etc. I would try talking to your supervisor (or getting a hold of your HR department) to express your concerns. That is, if you actually wish to quit.[/QUOTE] Why did you get permanent banned, I've always like you :cry: By the way it says he got banned for "requested", never understood what that meant. Well atleast I've quit my job, it turned out I was on a test period so I could just call them and end it, and I get to keep the $562!

[QUOTE=The bird Man;50647424]Why did you get permanent banned, I've always like you :cry: By the way it says he got banned for "requested", never understood what that meant. Well atleast I've quit my job, it turned out I was on a test period so I could just call them and end it, and I get to keep the $562![/QUOTE] It usually just means the user requested to be banned.

What kind of jobs do you guys recommend for an incoming university student with no job experience (except for volunteer work) and no idea what to do?

Generally, you wanna get at least a few months of retail or food service under your belt. They're shitty jobs, but they give you some invaluable skills, like dealing with stressful customers, being flexible, negotiating with supervisors, customer service skills, etc. Something like that would be a good first step. I usually go for working at a hotel or resort, if one is available nearby. Depends on the job market in your area. What sort of things do you have around you?