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

[QUOTE=Dysplasia;52684250]...that is pretty strict. A private money lender? I hope you know who you're dealing with. Even GSEs aren't that strict on rehab loans - up to 85% on investment properties. Do you guys just not have the cash flow history or credit to go a safer, cheaper route?[/QUOTE] Honestly, I'm not terribly familiar with that side of the process. My partner is handling the financing, I'm responsible for locating possible investments, researching market conditions, hang sales and marketing, etc. My partner handles the rehab itself and sells out financing and investors. He was a mortgage broker for fifteen years, so he's got connections to fall back on. I can say that experience certainly isn't an issue, though. My guy has about fifty deals under his belt under his belt. We may have an issue with his financial history, though -- he lost everything during the '08 market crash. In addition to his highly successful short term real estate trading, he had nearly two million dollars in long term investments that were all tanked by the crash. That said, we can make 65% work in the short term, but it's definitely not ideal for scaling up. Too many good deals are eliminated.

[QUOTE=No Party Hats;52682808]wow so in 2015 i was big into dogecoin mining, really just for fun. Ive been repairing my pcs from years gone by and i just recovered my wallet with 104 mbtc from my meme coin days. shits worth 400 bucks now, im pretty sure when i did the transfer from doge to mbtc it was worth a bit over 20 bucks? i feel like this is a sign to invest more[/QUOTE] there is never a sign to invest more in cryptocurrency imo

What's a reasonable % of yearly income to spend on rent? Asking for a friend. (for real)

I usually go with the third rule per month. So whatever your income is for the month, you should anticipate spending a third of that on rent. That'll also dictate what sort of living budget that your job will allow.

Google says at most 30%

Yeah that's generally what I thought. A good friend of mine is looking to get her first place in the Seattle area, it's going to be 57% of her monthly income of $2600... It's all teetering on the expectation that a long distance partner of about 2 years is going to move in with her and cover some of the expenses (without a job or degree or skills or familiarity with the location) Am I crazy for being concerned that this is incredibly risky?

57% is way too much. I would definitely advise her to look for cheaper accommodations, live outside the Seattle area and commute, or move in with more than just one roommate. Especially if the other person has no idea what they're going to do or how they're going to earn an income once they're there. If they had something lined up then that'd be a different story. I'd definitely tell her she's setting herself up for some severe financial trouble if she goes this route without a plan.

I don't know all of her expenses but I figured she would have about $363 after expenses(rent, utilities, internet, etc) for things like food and other shit you need to live. It's basically built on the expectation of this guy being able to get a min wage job within a week (supposedly about 11 bucks in the area) adding an additional 1760. I told her she's being incredibly risky and we got in an argument about it with her saying I'm not going to talk her out of it and she wants to be happy. She's said shes thought about it for awhile but I can't see how it's anything but extremely risky with zero wiggle room for car trouble, cat trouble, health trouble, relationship trouble, trouble at all. I tend to plan for the worst case scenario, in this case just her living there. She also has about 7 grand in savings. I don't know. :disappoint:

50 /30 / 20 is what you need to aim for on the long term. I did a few years in London on a 60/0/40 was literally cleaning the bank account out each momth. Was in a secure job and in all honesty I was treating the whole thing like a working holiday.

[QUOTE=OvB;52686355]I don't know all of her expenses but I figured she would have about $363 after expenses(rent, utilities, internet, etc) for things like food and other shit you need to live. It's basically built on the expectation of this guy being able to get a min wage job within a week (supposedly about 11 bucks in the area) adding an additional 1760. I told her she's being incredibly risky and we got in an argument about it with her saying I'm not going to talk her out of it and she wants to be happy. She's said shes thought about it for awhile but I can't see how it's anything but extremely risky with zero wiggle room for car trouble, cat trouble, health trouble, relationship trouble, trouble at all. I tend to plan for the worst case scenario, in this case just her living there. She also has about 7 grand in savings. I don't know. :disappoint:[/QUOTE] If things worked out and her partner did move in with her and find a job, it could be fine, but it's definitely risky for her to plan her entire budget around that possibility [I]before[/I] it's happened, of course. I suppose that all you can really do at the end of the day is what you've already done. Let her know you're concerned, but understand that it's ultimately her decision. On a more "social-advicey" side of things: I think if I were in your position, I would probably apologize. It sounds like she's going to do this either way, and you've already made your concerns heard, so at this point I'd just try to keep the friendship strong. Let her know that your concerns are coming from a good place, but that you understand that this is her decision and enthusiastically wish her the best in her new adventure. Hopefully things will all work out well for her, but in the event that they don't, the last thing she's going to need is to be too embarrassed to fall back on you for emotional support for fear of a harsh "I Told You So."

[QUOTE=OvB;52686355]I don't know all of her expenses but I figured she would have about $363 after expenses(rent, utilities, internet, etc) for things like food and other shit you need to live. It's basically built on the expectation of this guy being able to get a min wage job within a week (supposedly about 11 bucks in the area) adding an additional 1760. I told her she's being incredibly risky and we got in an argument about it with her saying I'm not going to talk her out of it and she wants to be happy. She's said shes thought about it for awhile but I can't see how it's anything but extremely risky with zero wiggle room for car trouble, cat trouble, health trouble, relationship trouble, trouble at all. I tend to plan for the worst case scenario, in this case just her living there. She also has about 7 grand in savings. I don't know. :disappoint:[/QUOTE] With the extra 1760 they'd be at 33%, which is still pretty high. Also I don't see this working at all if that 2600 is before taxes. Taxes take out another 20something%. If you're generous and call it 20% (it won't be lol) then she'd have $600 for all her other expenses after rent, which isn't enough unless she has zero debts and bills. [editline]16th September 2017[/editline] Sometimes you just gotta let people be stupid and it'll work itself out. Hopefully they learn something from it.

She found a place for $1285 in the same building.

[QUOTE=thrawn2787;52687508]With the extra 1760 they'd be at 33%, which is still pretty high. Also I don't see this working at all if that 2600 is before taxes. Taxes take out another 20something%. If you're generous and call it 20% (it won't be lol) then she'd have $600 for all her other expenses after rent, which isn't enough unless she has zero debts and bills. [editline]16th September 2017[/editline] Sometimes you just gotta let people be stupid and it'll work itself out. Hopefully they learn something from it.[/QUOTE] 33% is fine tbh. The 30% ratio is a rule of thumb, not a rule of law. Its not always going to be possible to get it perfect. Just do the best you can to get at or below that value and you're fine.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52689987]33% is fine tbh. The 30% ratio is a rule of thumb, not a rule of law. Its not always going to be possible to get it perfect. Just do the best you can to get at or below that value and you're fine.[/QUOTE] This You'd be surprised how many people live off of using up to 45-50% of their GROSS income just on a housing payment. NOT saying that's a good idea, cause it isn't(at least when you're buying), but it shows that there's a bit of flexibility to this rule if needed.

So I finished school 3 months ago and just turned 19 On sept 1st I started a part time programming job at a local startup like company (it's not really a startup since its self-funded and has been going strong for over 2 years but has a lot of the startup culture) I also signed up for uni in landscape architecture (I know its weird but I have a technical and an artistic side to me) The thing is my first few work days of work have actually been going fucking great, I even went to a programming marathon competition with the company and won an innovation prize with my idea Now a lot of my co workers are telling me that I should consider joining them full time as a real software dev and that they would support me fully in that quest - I even got higher ups on my side Now imo this would be a tremendous opportunity since normally a full time software dev is something you need a university degree for here - and having like 2 years of being a software dev on my resume would eliminate that requirement even at other more conservative companies in the future I can even withdraw my uni enrollment without any penalties and drawbacks until 10.31, it would be as if I never I even considered studying Oh and also pay would be pretty great for just coming out of school, plus I'm still staying with my parents for now. Though I want to change that in a year or two max Can you see any potential risks? I mean even if the company goes under or smth I can still easily get a paid internship at other tech companies here and start studying in a year, maybe even in half a year in certain cases

So I've been following up on my job applications as usual with emails at least two weeks after applying as tradition, however I applied to Siemens over three weeks ago and haven't found the means to send an email to them to follow up. I have the phone number of the place that I would be working for but I suspect the hiring manager or HR is definitely not there (probably just a manager and a handle full of engineers and scientists). Would it be okay to call them via this phone number for a follow up? I just dislike being left in the dark.

i have an education question, id like to do the CELTA ESL course what preliminary qualifications/courses should i do? i was thinking i should get at least CEFR C2 and do a foundation english, i dont think the CELTA has strict requirements and those would put me in good position going forward

[QUOTE=LennyPenny;52692907]So I finished school 3 months ago and just turned 19 On sept 1st I started a part time programming job at a local startup like company (it's not really a startup since its self-funded and has been going strong for over 2 years but has a lot of the startup culture) I also signed up for uni in landscape architecture (I know its weird but I have a technical and an artistic side to me) The thing is my first few work days of work have actually been going fucking great, I even went to a programming marathon competition with the company and won an innovation prize with my idea Now a lot of my co workers are telling me that I should consider joining them full time as a real software dev and that they would support me fully in that quest - I even got higher ups on my side Now imo this would be a tremendous opportunity since normally a full time software dev is something you need a university degree for here - and having like 2 years of being a software dev on my resume would eliminate that requirement even at other more conservative companies in the future I can even withdraw my uni enrollment without any penalties and drawbacks until 10.31, it would be as if I never I even considered studying Oh and also pay would be pretty great for just coming out of school, plus I'm still staying with my parents for now. Though I want to change that in a year or two max Can you see any potential risks? I mean even if the company goes under or smth I can still easily get a paid internship at other tech companies here and start studying in a year, maybe even in half a year in certain cases[/QUOTE] Honestly I think it would be great experience, if they are willing to take people on full time then they're obviously quite confident they're not going anywhere anytime soon, if you leave it to complete education you might find yourself stuck trying to find something down the line; would returning to university in the future (should something happen) be a viable option? If so then it sounds like it's win win; you'll gain experience, earn some nice money as you're still living at home and should anything shit like hit the fan you have the safety net of the cash you earnt and the option to go back to Uni.

[QUOTE=LennyPenny;52692907]So I finished school 3 months ago and just turned 19 On sept 1st I started a part time programming job at a local startup like company (it's not really a startup since its self-funded and has been going strong for over 2 years but has a lot of the startup culture) I also signed up for uni in landscape architecture (I know its weird but I have a technical and an artistic side to me) The thing is my first few work days of work have actually been going fucking great, I even went to a programming marathon competition with the company and won an innovation prize with my idea Now a lot of my co workers are telling me that I should consider joining them full time as a real software dev and that they would support me fully in that quest - I even got higher ups on my side Now imo this would be a tremendous opportunity since normally a full time software dev is something you need a university degree for here - and having like 2 years of being a software dev on my resume would eliminate that requirement even at other more conservative companies in the future I can even withdraw my uni enrollment without any penalties and drawbacks until 10.31, it would be as if I never I even considered studying Oh and also pay would be pretty great for just coming out of school, plus I'm still staying with my parents for now. Though I want to change that in a year or two max Can you see any potential risks? I mean even if the company goes under or smth I can still easily get a paid internship at other tech companies here and start studying in a year, maybe even in half a year in certain cases[/QUOTE] Do it.

[QUOTE=LUHG!;52703734]Honestly I think it would be great experience, if they are willing to take people on full time then they're obviously quite confident they're not going anywhere anytime soon, if you leave it to complete education you might find yourself stuck trying to find something down the line; would returning to university in the future (should something happen) be a viable option? If so then it sounds like it's win win; you'll gain experience, earn some nice money as you're still living at home and should anything shit like hit the fan you have the safety net of the cash you earnt and the option to go back to Uni.[/QUOTE] Yea I can go back to uni any time (well probably not in my 30s (I think)) and still receive full student benefits from the state [editline]21st September 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=viper shtf;52703910]Do it.[/QUOTE] Ok I now checked with friends, family and the [I]internet[/I]! It's probably a safe bet :v:

Issue is they may hire you for less without a degree. Just keep that in mind.

Nah as I said it's very much a startup in spirit There's a set salary grid, you basically know what others, even the vps and ceo, earn

Just received some flashy-lookin' business cards designed by fellow FP'er, lope, based on a concept by me. [t]https://i.imgur.com/rYdYMf4.png[/t] [t]https://i.imgur.com/pVewfrj.png[/t] I'm super happy with how they turned out; they look good in-person with a gloss finish. I'm hoping they make an impression at the college job/internship fair next week.

Anyone here invested in the S&P 500?

Don't really follow any american index except DJ. No investments there though. Where you thinking of getting and index fund?

Why stop at the S&P500? [url]http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/v/vanguard-lifestrategy-80-equity-accumulation/fund-analysis[/url] If you are truly looking at diversification I can recommend the above, low fees and still holding a majority percentage in the US 38%....

[QUOTE=Boss;52711857]Why stop at the S&P500? [url]http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/v/vanguard-lifestrategy-80-equity-accumulation/fund-analysis[/url] If you are truly looking at diversification I can recommend the above, low fees and still holding a majority percentage in the US 38%....[/QUOTE] Vanguard is situated in Australia as well, I will definitely be getting a better scope of the options before committing.

[QUOTE=Thomo;52717161]Hi guys and girls, I am meaning to ask any British students or have-been or to-be, your personal statement, how long did you spend on it, do you have any tips or just generally what structure I should be using? How early should I file off my applications to universities? Is it okay to apply for more than one course in a similar field at the same university? All of these questions seem to have multiple answers, even speaking to actual people from universities at EGX, nothing is really clear so any help would be appreciated.[/QUOTE] Personally didn't spend too long on it, you want to summarize quickly what you wish to study and how it is applicable to your long term goal. Just remember that you'll potentially be one of hundreds applying for the course and that your personal statement is for both university courses you pick. Did see the Uni stands at EGX looked a pretty piss poor showing.

Idk if it's the same in the UK, but I'm pretty sure that here in the US how much a school cares about it really depends on the school itself. So you might want to research the specific school, see what students and advisors say about what's prioritized in the application.

Went to my alma mater's career fair and had an in person interview with a recruiter there and talked with another recruiter/senior engineer for Lockheed Martin. He was impressed with what I had, talked about his line of work and offered to pass along my resume/etc to his hiring manager past the ATS filters. He even gave me his business card (I was watching him and the other recruiters talk to students and they just toke their resumes and added their contact info/resume to a forum). I had already had a couple positions in mind for the location he was at anyways. Needless to say I obviously feel I need to follow up with him if not just to thank him and send my resume along. But is there a waiting period or something? I don't know if following up with him literally less than a day after the career fair is being pushy or not.