What kind of people can afford 1 million dollar homes?
I bought a $1.25M house by leveraging a combo of selling a previous rental property and using another rental property for monthly income.Bought a condo 15 years ago for $100K, sold it for $115k, doesn’t sound like a large profit but I collected ~$75k in equity and walked away with $90k. I had another $110k saved up. Had a little help from family (think it was around $25k). So my total down payment was $225k. My mortgage is $4k/month, on a $100k/year income and take-home pay of $5k/mth. I would be cutting it close but have $1.5k rental income from another property I paid off. That rental property was bought for $90k 15 years ago, was paid off and could’ve fetched about $225k on the market. Basically, had I decided to sell it rather than leverage the income I could’ve bought in the $1.75M range but would’ve struggled with monthly mortgage payments.With total monthly income of $6.5k, a $4k mortgage (including tax, insurance), and other bills like utilities-internet totaling $500/mth I got $2k left over. I set aside $250-500/mth for emergency and renovation projects.I’m going well over the 25% rule of thumb on mortgage/income. However, I have no educational debt and minimal credit card debt. No married and no kids. I view my house as a savings account growing at a good interest rate, so the more I put into it the better. I plan to sell the house when it hits $2M, then buy a much smaller place and live extra comfortably.
I feel I waste 30 minutes driving from home to work. Do we have some solution to this problem?
Find another way to get to work. Car pool it, take a bus or train, but try something different. Get some good motivation tapes or books on tape and listen to the great classics . Listen to some great music and even stage productions. there’s some great stuff out there and you’re missing the boat, my friend.
This problem solving is killing me please help!?
800-350=450 450/0.10=4500. $4500
Do i need to file taxes if i live with my parents?
First off, if you were still 18 as of Dec 31, 2010, your parents CAN claim you as a dependent. The cutoff if you are not a full-time student is your 19th birthday, not your 18th as you seem to think. There's little chance that you provided more than half of your own support for the entire year out of your $4,500 income, so you are still a dependent. The filing requirement for a dependent with wage income is $5,700. Since you earned less than that, you are not required to file a return. However if there is any dollar amount in box 2 of your W-2 you must file a return to have that refunded to you. The FICA taxes in boxes 4 and 6 are not refundable.
National Guard and College money?
I'm a little confused about the actual benefits of joining the national guard. On the website it says that they'll pay 100% of your college tuition, but it also says that that's nearly $20,000 over four years (like $4500 per year or something like that) . So how is that 100% if you only get $20,000 in 4 years when most schools have tuitions that are like $14,000 per year (and that's without the room and board fees). I'm am interested in going to penn state main, that's why it's $14,000 per year but even the cheaper schools that are about $7,000 a year, in 4 years that's over $20,000. So do they really pay 100%?? I dont get it. Also I was wondering if they pay for your dorm as well? And would it be 100% too? Note: I am actually interested in serving for the country, but I really want to help out my mom with the college fees as well
Can I live comfortably in Singapore with a wife and kid on an annual package of S$120k?
Broadly speaking, the definition of comfortable life will vary depending on your own terms of lifestyle. The point is, can the salary maintain what you comfortably have back home?As a general rule, it's a good sign when expected net salary is above the average.Being said that , according to World Cost of Living spreadsheet (crowdsourced data), the average salary for Singapore jobs is SGD4,229.02. As an expat you must way more than average.Moreover, the most expensive thing about Singapore is the rents. Once you have that accounted for most other things are pretty decent value.If you can spend only HALF of your salary for rental, and save other HALF for transportation, groceries, recreation, apparel and utilities then it’s likely you can live comfortably.That being said, the best way to make it worth is whether your lifestyle can match the same way as your own lifestyle in your home country.You use this Cost of Living Calculator spreadsheet. It calculates based on your own lifestyle spending not generic spending.Reference / download : World Cost of Living spreadsheet (crowdsourced data)
How do I get my wife to stop spending money?
I've been married to my wife for 4 years and we have a 2-year-old daughter. My wife always liked 'nicer' things, but after our daughter was born she came obsessed. She only buys our daughter's clothes from GAP baby, The children's place, Gymboree, etc. Obviously it's very expensive.. I was with her last week and she bought our daughter a swim suit that cost close to $70. I tried explaining to her that by the time it's summer our daughter won't be able fit in it, but she just walked away and I didn't go after her because I didn't want to start an argument. Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart to get some diapers and I seen a really nice outfit that I knew my daughter would like and it was cheap, so I bought for her. Well when my wife seen it she liked it, but when I told her it came from Wal-Mart she was disgusted with me. My wife goes shopping almost every other day. She usually spends around 3,500 - 4,000 a month. That seems absolutely absurd to me, but then again I've never been the one to really care about what I'm wearing.. as long as it fits and it's not ripped, stained, etc. then it's fine. But I'm also not a women either, so I guess it's probably extremely tempting for a women to buy things (at least that's what I heard). I'm getting extremely frustrated with all the bills. She pays for some of it with her own money, but I'm usually stuck with the rest. My parents have been in debt for years because my mom was a shopaholic and I don't want to end up like them. I've tried talking to my wife about this, but she just gets pissed and doesn't talk to me for days. Today I lost it and told her to come into my daughters room, where I showed her all the clothes (with price tags still on them) piled everywhere. And I asked her if she really thinks our daughter needs more stuff and she said "You can never have too much stuff" and now she won't talk to me. How do I convince her to at least take a break from shopping, so we can catch up on the bills?
Why is college so expensive for the poor?
Going to my state's flagship is going to cost $10,000 a year after grants. Why is this? My efc from the FAFSA is 0. My mom is single, there are 9 people in my family AND I have 3 older siblings in college. And even AFTER loans, I need about 4,500 dollars a year. WTF? I'm a good student, get straight A's, have an SAT of 1460 (M + CR) Why the hell is college so expensive for us poor folk??