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

Damn, did I screw up? So I was posted in a rural area. It's nice and all, but somewhat lacking in facilities. So the clinic I'm working on didn't have a culture media, so patient who came will need to go a a hospital which will take 30 minutes. Some other clinic will take up to 1 hr from the hospital. People who're here are not very rich, but most have transportation. SOme poor one will need to go by cab or something. So I sent a patient to go take a culture. And then a senior doctor suggested to the clinics (via smartphone messaging app group) that we should have our own culture media thingies (for a specific culture), and take the culture at our clinic, and send it to hospital, instead of making the patient go to hospital, so it's easier on the patient. It's also an easy procedure to do. It's just that the clinics didn't have the culture media by default, onl the hospital has it. Then a lot of the clinic disagree, they said it's hard to arrange for the culture thingies. They also didn't like the senior doctor's way of saying this, they thought it's too overbearing. Then I asked the hospital lab, and they said that the culture just need a swab stick and a culture medium, so it's easy to make. They can provide some if it's in small quantity to be brought to our clinic. Then I tell the messaging group that. The another guy in another group accuses me of trying to be smart-aleck, and suggested that we do all the culture. Then I PM the guy, saying that I just planned to stock the culture medium for just like 5 sets, because it's not a very frequent thing to do, and we wouldn't need any special things to do it anyway, so we can probably try to help patient who can't go to hospital since it's not too much trouble anyway. The other guy said that it's actually quite inconvenient for the patient to go to the hospital for the culture Then the next day I just go and rob some media from the hospital, and just bring it to my clinic, and leave it at that. Do you think it's a stupid thing to do? Should I just shut up in the first place? (Since the culture is not a life-or-death matter, and I'm new there) Probably I should just quietly do those thing in my own clinic, and not share any of that info with the group?

Got a bit of a niche business (UK) question - I'm currently registered as self employed with HMRC and I earn less than the income tax threshold, so I essentially keep everything I earn. However, recently I've been thinking about transitioning to a Limited Company since it's more professional. At the same time, I don't want all of my income to be taxed to shit. What's the best method of taking out money from a Limited Company pre-corporation tax?

Embezzlement

[QUOTE=Dorkslayz;52406278]Got a bit of a niche business (UK) question - I'm currently registered as self employed with HMRC and I earn less than the income tax threshold, so I essentially keep everything I earn. However, recently I've been thinking about transitioning to a Limited Company since it's more professional. At the same time, I don't want all of my income to be taxed to shit. What's the best method of taking out money from a Limited Company pre-corporation tax?[/QUOTE] Charity? Then launder that money back to yourself

My new job on monday is the first job I have that involves social interaction, and constantly working with people with logistics and merchandise. What are some thumb rules not to screw something up? I've always been used with working by myself like night jobs driving around, so even for my age it's very stressful to be placed into a complete new environment, because it feels like my first job as a kid.

Small update; unsurprisingly I didn't the job at the Apple Store after the group interview (massively outclassed in terms to resume and answers) but after I bit of searching around and sending in apps I applied, interviewed, and accepted a job at Goodwill. Unfortunately its only going to last about 2 months. I loaded up my school schedule and its been a while since I did full classes, I don't want to overload myself. Orientation is tomorrow morning so wish me luck!

[QUOTE=Political Gamer;52411987]Small update; unsurprisingly I didn't the job at the Apple Store after the group interview (massively outclassed in terms to resume and answers) but after I bit of searching around and sending in apps I applied, interviewed, and accepted a job at Goodwill. Unfortunately its only going to last about 2 months. I loaded up my school schedule and its been a while since I did full classes, I don't want to overload myself. Orientation is tomorrow morning so wish me luck![/QUOTE] First day of work stats tomorrow [t]http://i.imgur.com/RkNfeJB.jpg[/t] My main worry is if I filled out all the tax forums correctly, hope I did!

[QUOTE=Political Gamer;52414878]First day of work stats tomorrow [t]http://i.imgur.com/RkNfeJB.jpg[/t] My main worry is if I filled out all the tax forums correctly, hope I did![/QUOTE] What is Goodwill and what do they do? What will you do?

[QUOTE=hakimhakim;52421789]What is Goodwill and what do they do? What will you do?[/QUOTE]It's a charity/thrift shop, I'll probably only be working the cash register for most of time till school starts at the end of august.

Welp, a month and half ago I got a pilonidal cyst removed, and just last week after almost a month of healing I developed a pilonidal sinus below the scar. All the factors that play a role in developing one hit home for me. Just a day after my follow up visit it started discharging and a sizable hole/tunnel appeared after my surgeon drained the boil that appeared. At first he said it wasn't exactly a infection but something most likely just opened up but after some research it pretty much is an infection. :disgust: At this point I want to go back to the trades and say fuck college but the medical bills and lack of money prevent any kind of transition between jobs, especially if I need another operation to close up the sinus.

Excitings news: I'm getting involved in my very first real estate investment deal tomorrow! Well, sort of, anyway! I've been reaching out through my network looking for active investors in the hopes that I could find a mentor, and it finally payed off. I managed to get in touch with a fellow named Sylvester who does quite a few "fix and flip" real estate trades. It's not my preferred investment strategy, but it has its benefits, and could be a great way to help me start earning the initial investment capital I'll need for my longer term buy-and-hold properties. Plus, learning how to analyze a potential "fix and flip" property for profitability will be invaluable for picking out great buy-and-hold deals, as "fix and flip" deals require wider margins, and very tight schedules, to stay profitable. I'm meeting with Sylvester tomorrow. We're going to go take a look at his current project, which should be wrapping up in a couple of weeks, and then go scout out some locations for his next deal. I should be able to be involved from start to finish, shadowing him throughout the process and learning from first hand experience how to manage a deal like this. As I become more experienced, and am able to start finding and analyzing deals myself, he's expressed a willingness to partner up. He could potentially provide the financing and some oversight, while I handle the day-to-day management of the project and see it through to the sale. Nice for him, because he can make more money with less work. Nice for me, because I can get the firsthand experience I've been craving towards my investment goals (and make some money in the process, hopefully)! Nervous, but excited. As for my real estate business: it's been keeping food on the table, but it's tough. As a newby agent with limited experience, most of my clients are first time buyers, and my local market is [I]harsh[/I] for first time homebuyers. Prices at record highs, inventory is at record lows. Buyer competition is fierce. In the locations and price ranges that my clients are searching, most homes are gone within 48 hours of being listed, with multiple offers. It's not impossible to secure a good, or anything, it's just taking a lot longer than usual, and is necessitating boldness from my buyers, which is scary for a lot of them. I've already lost two buyer groups to concern and frustration over the market conditions, despite my best efforts. I'm keeping the lights on, and paying down our debt, which is what's important, but it's clear that I'm going to have to ramp up my efforts, and seek alternative income streams, if I want to get to a level that I'm content with. I'm hoping that my meeting with Sylvester tomorrow can set at least one wheel in motion to that end.

Stupid question, but does anyone know how to cash a check without using a bank? I had to close all of my bank accounts because I found out they charge you a monthly fee if you don't have direct deposit, completely ate up everything I had in my checking account that I didn't touch for two years. I looked into it, and all of my local banks have this fee. So, I have no bank, 90% of my savings is in some kind of weird type of cashiers check that nobody in my family has ever seen before, and I have a check coming in the mail in my name. What do I do about this? Could I use my parent's bank to cash it, because they are customers there?

Grocery stores will setimes cash checks, but you're eventually going to have to bite the bullet and get a bank account. There are some great options out there with no/limited fees. I use PNC, and have been quite pleased with them. They don't charge maintenance fees on their virtual wallet accounts, and they have a great online and mobile banking interface.

For those who know little about the US medical school application process, it's a long and involved process from start to finish. The first part of it is getting good grades throughout college. Meanwhile, prospective students are expected to volunteer and shadow for hundreds of hours, and usually do research on top of that. They are also expected to study for months for the MCAT, a 7 hour long exam that tests over 4 semesters worth of college science classes. Then they send in their primary application, which contains grades, test scores, personal information (name, address, etc.), and a personal statement essay about why they want to practice medicine. After that, they fill out secondary applications which are school-specific, and usually require writing 1-5 essays about any number of topics pertaining to motivation, unique traits and diversity, hobbies, you name it. If a school deems a student's grades, MCAT score, volunteering/shadow experience, primary application, and secondary application essays good enough, they invite that student for an interview. And if the student interviews well, they might be one of a small number of people accepted for a spot (generally class sizes are 25-100 for one school). I am currently at the secondary application step, writing essay after essay. This process is grueling, but its rigor pales in comparison to medical school itself. Sometimes I wonder if I've made a huge mistake getting myself so far into this process, but I [i]do[/i] love science, and I do think being a doctor would be a great career for me. But there's no way to know for sure until you're there, and my biggest fear is putting ridiculous amounts of effort into this whole thing and then being wrong. Or failing. I don't know.

I found my first potential investment project last night! It's a bank-owned property in a beautiful neighborhood. It's listed at $150,000 (probably can negotiate it down even further), and when I ran the comps I determined that I could resell the property for ~$230,000 after repairs and renovations. I already visited the property once on my own, and it definitely needs some work. With an $80,000 margin, however, it's looking pretty juicy. I'm heading back out at 1:00 with my investment mentor to start figuring out a loose repair budget, but he said it was a great find and could be an excellent deal for us depending on what actually needs to be done to get it market ready. I'm incredibly excited! [editline]/[/editline] Well, "investment" project. It's a fix and flip kind of deal. That's technically real estate trading, not investing. I'm being a bit persnickety tho lol.

Today's second tour of that potential investment property went pretty well! My mentor told me it was a great catch, because the inside of the property doesn't need all that much TLC to put it in great shape. For only about $15,000 we could make it the most beautiful house on the block, which is comfortably within the margins on our budget. It starts to get problematic outside, unfortunately. A large retaining wall is buckling under the pressure of a big tree's roots. Several other very large trees are encroaching on other structures, damaging the dozen or so steps to the front door, and potentially causing future problems. So, the trees have to come down, the roots have to come out, the wall has to be rebuilt, and the old wooden steps have to be taken out, and strong concrete replacement steps poured. Long story short is that this can be a perfectly functional deal, but only if we can get it for about $15,000 less than the bank is asking. Tough sell, but we're gonna try I think! It never hurts to try. Even if we don't, today was amazing. I showed up at this house, and my mentor came, and our financier. We all went through this place together, and then went to look at two other nearby properties and did the same there. I learned a lot, and I also realized that, practically overnight, I'm suddenly part of an honest-to-god investment team. I handle the hunt and the resale, finding potential investment properties and then selling them as they near completion. My mentor handles the rehab and budgeting. The financier handles the money and the draw schedule. It's amazing, you know? I mean, I still have a [I]ton[/I] to learn about this, but my mentor's excited about teaching me, and is talking as if I'm already a part of the team. And even with my gaps in knowledge relating to the rehab and budgeting, I [I]do[/I] know how to market a property, so I can still fulfill a critical role, and that's what it boils down to. We each have our own role, and together we make up a well rounded group. It's wonderful.

So my graduation from University by December is hinging on some REALLY WILD variables right now. I'm applying for an internship to a place that I just found out about, but in order to apply, I need a letter of recommendation, so I e-mailed a teacher that agreed to offer me one at the start of the summer when I thought I would be interning for summer but had to put it off because of reasons So not only do I have to wait for a reply from that teacher, I also have to send in my resume, a cover letter, and my portfolio (all of which are prepared and ready to go), and then hopefully get a reply from the organization in time and have them actually ACCEPT me in time to submit the paperwork to the school (who says on their website that the paperwork has to be submitted TWO MONTHS prior to the start of the internship) and so I'm in a MASSIVE time crunch. I would have kickstarted all this sooner but I barely found out that I could graduate by the end of this year since I snuck in another summer class and now I just need 3 more credits to add onto my fall semester to finish off my degree, which this internship will fill if I manage. There are literally no other options for me at this point because there are no other fall classes available that fit my schedule and no teachers willing to do any independent studies with me either. ANYWAY I'M super stressed and I'm mega crossing my fingers that it works out. I want to get out of school and start working already.

If anyone here is crypto investor: I found Rialto.AI, very good thing to invest in, in my opinion. TL;DR I checked team, it's made out of real geniuses. They do arbitrage, market making and in future AI trading. The thing will make profit even in bear market. They will pay out dividends. First dividend payout is in 12 months. Still, project is in vaporware stage & it's risky. Just letting word out since this is investment thread :).

Would this be the place to get some tips on writing up a CV? I've practiced it a past but that was a while ago, and I'd like to know some tips for people with experience

[QUOTE=Fourier;52484860]If anyone here is crypto investor: I found Rialto.AI, very good thing to invest in, in my opinion. TL;DR I checked team, it's made out of real geniuses. They do arbitrage, market making and in future AI trading. [b]The thing will make profit even in bear market[/B]. They will pay out dividends. First dividend payout is in 12 months. Still, project is in vaporware stage & it's risky. Just letting word out since this is investment thread :).[/QUOTE] Cryptocurrency is a bit too speculative for me. Too many variables that I can't accurately account for, too many things that could go sideways because of a complete lack of regulation. It's subject to manipulation, bubbles, and collapses at a moment's notice. I'm glad that people are having success with it, but I don't personally understand the appeal of investing in anything so volatile, and I don't tend to invest in what I don't understand. I [I]might[/I] even be tempted to put a marginal amount of money in as a tertiary investment, just to see what it does, but I prefer more predictable and accountable investments as my primary vehicle. [editline]/[/editline] I definitely didn't mix up the terms "bear" and "bull" when referring to market conditions and make a bad joke about them. That never happened, as you can see from this post, obviously devoid of any such joke.

Today I got two interview invites from medical schools! I am excited, but nervous!

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52485752]Cryptocurrency is a bit too speculative for me. Too many variables that I can't accurately account for, too many things that could go sideways because of a complete lack of regulation. It's subject to manipulation, bubbles, and collapses at a moment's notice. I'm glad that people are having success with it, but I don't personally understand the appeal of investing in anything so volatile, and I don't tend to invest in what I don't understand. I [I]might[/I] even be tempted to put a marginal amount of money in as a tertiary investment, just to see what it does, but I prefer more predictable and accountable investments as my primary vehicle. [editline]/[/editline] I definitely didn't mix up the terms "bear" and "bull" when referring to market conditions and make a bad joke about them. That never happened, as you can see from this post, obviously devoid of any such joke.[/QUOTE] Honestly, the best (safest) thing one can do is just put some savings in a good index fund and forget about it for a while, just re-balancing the portfolio out depending on the level of risk you're comfortable with and sticking with it. Warren Buffett does it, hell, even told his wife to do it with his money when he's gone.

You technicality don't even have to get a good index fund, you could just buy all the individual stock of the index you're following, they're easy to find, the only thing you might have a problem with is that you might not be balancing your portfolio properly if you don't have enough money when you start out investing.

That is most likely exactly what I'll be doing with at least some of my investment money. My longer term investment plan is currently geared towards retiring off the passive income of rental property investments, but I don't want to put [I]all[/I] my money towards property. Speaking of, I've been having fun with the investment research. My mentor has sent me some properties to look at with the homework of finding out whether or not they could be sound investments. Here are the criteria I'm looking at for distressed properties in need of rehab, in case anybody's curious! [B][U]List Price[/U][/B] Pretty straightforward. If I'm looking at bank-owned properties, the first thing to note is what they're currently asking. [B][U]Physical Characteristics[/U][/B] The number of bedroom and bathrooms. Square footage. Lot size. Basic features and amenities. Not the state of repair, however. That comes later. [B][U]Environmental Characteristics[/U][/B] Desirability of neighborhood. School rating. Proximity to shopping. Attractiveness of nearby homes. This all largely subjective stuff, but if we're going to put money into the home we want to ensure that it's not going to be in a location that will make it difficult to sell. [B][U]Market Conditions and Activity[/U][/B] Average days on market for listings in this area, to determine how long we should realistically expect the home to be on the market before it sells. Important, because each day it sits empty is money out of pocket. I also use the data gathered in the previous steps to estimate an after-repair value by finding similar properties in the same area that have sold recently. My guy has a high standard when it comes to renovations, so he knows that his home will be the best looking one for sale in the neighborhood. We find properties who share similar physical characteristics, look at the price and condition they sold in, and come up with a range of numbers. Knowing that ours will be near the top of that range due to the work we're putting in, we're able to estimate our after repair value. [B][U]Total Budget[/U][/B] Knowing the after repair value of the property, we can calculate our total budget. Our goal is to find a property that can be [B]purchased[/B] and [B]repaired[/B] for less than [B]68%[/B] of its after-repair market value. This isn't a random number or a hard rule, it's just the lending cap that our private lender currently has. We can finance 100% of the project, including the purchase and all repairs, so long as we stay below that value. Exceeding it costs us money out of pocket, which isn't ideal when you don't have money to spare. [B][U]Profit Margin Outlook[/U][/B] Knowing the asking price, the after-repair value, and the total budget, we are able to determine whether it's possible to make the deal work. Remember, that the total budget includes the purchase price [I]and[/I] repairs/renovations. So, if the asking price on the property is too high relative to our total budget, we either need to get a discount, or search for a new deal. [B][U]Necessary Repairs[/U][/B] Assuming our total budget looks good, we're finally able to go look at the property in person. My mentor comes and starts working up a general repair and renovation plan. He thoroughly inspects the property, noting everything that obviously needs to be repaired, replaced, or updated, and searches for signs of less obvious problems. It's unlikely we will get EVERYTHING, but the rest of the team will come in after his initial offer has been accepted and do a more thorough inspection. Anyway, with his list of obvious problems, he works up an expected repair budget. We compare the repair budget to the total budget, and thus learn what our actual purchase price should be in order to meet our criteria. If the asking price is too high, our goal is to then negotiate it down to that point. Otherwise, we just start the process over on a new property

Been working at my job for just over four years now, worked 4/10s for those four years. Starting July 31st I'm moving to a more regular 5/8s schedule. Other than when I worked as support for another warehouse in a different state last summer I haven't been scheduled for more than 4 days a week in...well 4 years. I'm excited as I'll get a $1 raise, but also a little nervous I guess as my schedule was basically made for me, no one has held my position before at my warehouse so I'm not sure what to expect. Also, I started a 401k last year and iv e got about 7k in it last I checked. I have the option of taking out a loan on it, right now I can borrow just shy of 4k. I'm thinking about taking out a loan and either buying a car, or what might be smarter, paying off some debt. I'd like to talk to a debt councilor before doing so though, as some of my debt is pretty old, maybe old enough to not be valid anymore.

[QUOTE=Ardosos;52452634]Stupid question, but does anyone know how to cash a check without using a bank? I had to close all of my bank accounts because I found out they charge you a monthly fee if you don't have direct deposit, completely ate up everything I had in my checking account that I didn't touch for two years. I looked into it, and all of my local banks have this fee. So, I have no bank, 90% of my savings is in some kind of weird type of cashiers check that nobody in my family has ever seen before, and I have a check coming in the mail in my name. What do I do about this? Could I use my parent's bank to cash it, because they are customers there?[/QUOTE] Instead of going to banks, check your local credit unions. All of the banks in my area have that fee, but none of the credit unions do. Also, you can use any credit union ATM free of charge across the country, whether it's from your specific CU or not. [QUOTE=Kabstrac;52448334]The worst thing about being self employed and in a trade which requires tools is replacing those tools. I had $1300 worth of high end DeWalt power tools stolen from a "secured" commercial site Thursday night and I don't have any coverage on them. I filed a police report and trying to get the developer to work something out with the security company but the developer is a prick so I'm not betting on anything. I knew I should've loaded up my tools, but it takes a long time to get it all to my truck and back to my work areas so I was trying to be efficient. Many other trades work there and they leave their tools but I ended up being the target this time. I know most of the guys so I'm not too suspicious of them, though there are some greasy noobs working the exterior of the building so who knows[/QUOTE] Might sound weird, but check local swap meets. There's one near me every weekend that always has a massive amount of tools that definitely seem stolen. As for me, I've been working on fixing my diet lately. The biggest difficulty for me in the past has been avoiding alcohol. Whenever I drink, I also make the worst possible food choices. For work, I've gradually made it into a good stable decent-paying job that I don't hate. My progression looked something like this: 19 - Retail Cashier 19 - Retail Sales 20 - Retail Tech Support 22 - Freelance tech support 22 - Gas station job (whoops wtf happened??) 22 - Back to Retail Tech/Sales (at the same company as before, different location) 23 - Performing installs / doing documentation / providing support and eventually doing some development for a small software company 24 - IT at a local healthcare clinic I'm 25 now, still at the clinic. I feel like I've gotten really lucky considering I never got any degrees or certifications at all. I've almost tripled my income in 6 years, and I want to keep that going. I'm one of 3 guys at the clinic I work at, but we have several locations so there's plenty of work (too much actually). But this job has been teaching me a ton about networking and servers that I didn't know before. Also, my boss is apparently willing to pay for all the training materials and the test for some cisco certs for me and my coworker. Woo!

I've posted this in the Dutch thread but I thought I'd ask here too since it seems appropriate. I am moving to the Netherlands in a few weeks and I was wondering what my weekly food/etc. budget should be. My monthly income comfortably covers my rent and bills and I was expecting to spend a maximum of €50/$60 a week. I know that things change depending on where you shop/where you live etc. but does this sound reasonable?

[QUOTE=Mr Kotov;52500152]I've posted this in the Dutch thread but I thought I'd ask here too since it seems appropriate. I am moving to the Netherlands in a few weeks and I was wondering what my weekly food/etc. budget should be. My monthly income comfortably covers my rent and bills and I was expecting to spend a maximum of €50/$60 a week. I know that things change depending on where you shop/where you live etc. but does this sound reasonable?[/QUOTE] I find that guessing has gotten a lot easier when you can look up the price of nearly everything on Amazon these days :v: So basically, I just compile a list of all of my current expense items, create a virtual monthly shopping list of items, look up the price individually on Amazon and get what I consider a "higher than is needed" cost estimate for my lifestyle. Typically prices tend to go down from the Amazon estimate because supermarkets often have offers, so those help.

Personally I'd say that seems reasonable, if you don't work out and therefore eat a lot. I used to manage a food cost on €200 a month and I think Sweden has slightly more expensive groceries so I'd say it's totally reasonable. But checking stuff out online isn't a bad idea.

What's a good first credit card so I can start building credit? I live in the northeastern US