Debt/Credit Score/Budgeting

[Sasha]

What's an 8 ball of charlie go for in the UK?

Depends on what it is. The number £1500 was been thrown around a bit the other day. £1200 if you buy 4.5.

[barcodebilly]

So about $1,420,6969

[Prodigal Son]

Exchange rate is down buddy.

[ginger]

Fucking hell, that must be some good quality snow or we're getting good prices down here at the moment. A$400/g.

[Sasha]

Oh, for a G it's like £40-50 for "bash" or £80-100 for "flake". I'll be honest and say I had to google what 8-ball meant.

[LukeTom]

Where do I select an index fund? I spent a half hour googling about and sorta understand.

If your in America almost always the best thing to do is S&P500, I believe Vanguard do one with a low operating cost. It essentially buys a share in every company in the top 500 companies. It then goes up (or down) with the market. Many choose it because it is very diversified (if the price of raw materials goes down, then mining companies share price drops, but manufacturers increase) This means that your stocks arn't very volatile. On the down side it means you wont make hundreds of thousands in months. But it will generally outperform interests rates and is one of the safer ways to do it on the stock market. Also, keep putting money in no matter what, it is too difficult to time the market.

[dude...]

tax return will clear off the majority of my remaining student loan, and i should be in the black in a few months. fuckin stoked

[ediotism]

Financial planning doesn't start with 'tricks and tips' like little nuggets; entire studies are devoted to this subject to balance income, spending, expected returns and risks. i can't write a usual wall of text at the moment (a lot of reading can be done via /r/financialplanning as a lesson one anyway) but i'll return to this thread with some stuff slightly more comprehensive

I'm about $1200 in debt via credit cards. I really want to pay them off ASAP, but with bills I'm lucky to pay off $100 here and there. Is getting a personal loan to pay all my cards off in one sweep worth it? Will this negatively affect my credit? Or help it? Or would you say I'm better off chugging along slowly but surely as I am now? I make about $2600 a month and pay about $2300 in rent, car notes, etc...

you're almost always better off to do that, essentially refinancing your debt yourself. credit card debts are some of the most undesirable debts to owe, and people that have them usually already have other bank debts. is this the case with you? if not, it is highly advisable to take a personal loan out to pay off your credit card debts immediately, they really fuck you when you can't pay everything off every month.

Given that you're currently struggling with monthly income, i'd assume you dont have a rainy day fund (usually considered 3 month of income equivlant, or 6 months of spending). You need to start reducing financial liabilities and outgoings now. the slowcooker is a very good start - hefty, healthy meals at low efforts, there are a lot of recipes online, and if you go to local farmers markets you can pick up a lot of vegetables for cheap, and they provide ample nutrients. potatos (with skin) will become a major part of your diet since they have a lot of essential nutrients for your health, and this is extremely important. you need to reduce fast food consumption both for your health and your wallet - what seems like a cheap meal actually costs much more than cooking enough for 3-4 meals, especially with the slow cooker, ample cheap veggies and cheap cuts of meat (which get tender when using slowcookers anyway).

should you have specific financial related questions pls ask

[Prodigal Son]

So, do I find someone like you cow to begin an index fund?

[Kinchy]

It baffles me when people are concerned about their finances and yet are eating out regularly and have cars on finance. My colleague is always complaining she is poor yet eats out for lunch everyday.

Why not sell your cars, pay off the finance, and buy a cheaper car outright? Will save you loads each month

[amishrob]

It baffles me when people are concerned about their finances and yet are eating out regularly and have cars on finance. My colleague is always complaining she is poor yet eats out for lunch everyday.

Why not sell your cars, pay off the finance, and buy a cheaper car outright? Will save you loads each month

my mate was like this, stated he had to leave london as it's too expensive, but was paying £400 a month finance on a car that was way beyond his means. we managed to convince him to trade it in eventually, he now has a car which he owns outright and is still very nice.

[LukeTom]

So, do I find someone like you cow to begin an index fund?

You just need a broker to sell you them. In america there is an app called robinhood, which has no fee trading, which is the best you can really do if your not investing six figures. In the UK I use DeGiro, which has commission free ETFs, and very low prices for trading anyway.

[ginger]

Not sure if you have it, but Acorns is a nice app that deposits your change into a fund. If you buy a drink for $3.50, it rounds up the change to the nearest dollar, i.e. 50c, and puts that in your Acorns fund.

[paranoidmexican]

Not sure if you have it, but Acorns is a nice app that deposits your change into a fund. If you buy a drink for $3.50, it rounds up the change to the nearest dollar, i.e. 50c, and puts that in your Acorns fund.

I'm going to look into this.

I've started driving for Uber, and that seems to help a little. I need to get a TNC license to pick up in Houston city limits though. One guy that's been driving for Uber told me he goes around 10pm-3am to Downtown all weekend and will average 500 dollars a weekend. Stupid hours and probably stupid people but definitely seems worth it. And to get where I need to be I would only have to do a crazy shift like that once a month (assuming I can average at least 300) The goal after paying my cards off will be to pay off at least one vehicle next year.

[PabstBlueRibbon]

I use digit savings. Take a few dollars here and there and puts it into a savings account