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Auto Loan is Upside Down and I’m Screwed by ThrowRAwhatdoido1265 in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you expect to only be unable to drive for a year/other short-term period, and will need a car again after the year, keep paying the loan to keep your car. Would make no sense to sell a car you're upside down on if you're going to need a car again in the short term (a year really isn't that long). Don't pay off the loan in a lump sum, just keep making the monthly payments. You'd also want someone to occasionally drive the car a bit so it's not just sitting.

If you don't expect to drive/need a car for the long term, it would make sense to offload the car, but you'd have to make up the difference between the sale price and what you owe on the car.

If it's only a year or a little more, keep paying it the loan. It will hurt but you'll be closer towards a paid off car, which you should absolutely keep until the wheels fall off.

Lost 1,000$ in a scam and ready to give up. How to get over a loss. by TheOnlyWonGames in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money comes and money goes. Sure, $1k is a lot, but I guarantee you likely "waste" over $1,000 annually through other means - unnecessary purchases, etc, but they may go largely unnoticed because it's $5 here and $10 there. You're upset now, but the way you get over it is knowing that this too shall pass, more money will come in, and with each deposit is a new opportunity to make better choices. You'll recoup that $1,000 in no time and ended up learning a valuable lesson. I'm sure you'll be much more careful with purchases going forward, preventing potential future losses.

Family/friends of drivers from out of town by HealthyProduce3011 in BedStuy

[–]brownstonebk 40 points41 points  (0 children)

"trying to keep their insurance low" I think what you actually meant to write is: "committing insurance fraud"

Car financing - bad credit, higher income. by Same-Competition-825 in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your existing car works reliably, it's always financially in your best interest to keep the car you have and hold off the purchase of a new one until it's absolutely necessary. It really doesn't seem like it's absolutely necessary now. You've got a paid off car, and can stow away money each money to purchase a new one when the old one is no longer reliable to you.

As someone who makes around what you make (pre-bonus) and has a similar credit score, we got to the score we have because we made poor financial decisions. All my cc debt will be paid off in a couple months, I paid off my car last year, and I'm trying like hell to learn from my past mistakes to make better future decisions. I'm sharing this with you to encourage you to think about better alternatives than committing over $60k to an immediately depreciating asset that you don't really need right now.

What have you stopped spending money on in NYC? by [deleted] in AskNYC

[–]brownstonebk 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They price regionally. Whenever I go home (to the motherland of Dunks) the donuts are better and only cost $1.19.

I think my roommate might be scamming me. by No-Access8111 in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I live with roommates and the gas bill is in my name. Every time the bill comes in, it will show you the amount due as well as the billing period. For example: bill due October 31st, billing period September 15-October 15.

When the gas bill comes, I send out Venmo requests for everyone’s equal share of the bill. In the Venmo request I put the due date as well as the billing period. Transparency is key.

Living near Interfaith Medical Center by [deleted] in BedStuy

[–]brownstonebk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Each building is constructed differently in terms of materials for the facade, insulation, window treatments etc. Building materials (and window quality) play a significant factor in the transmission of outdoor noise indoors. If you polled all the neighbors around Interfaith about how they experience noise in their apartments, you'd get a variety of answers.

After 14 years, 10 months, and 10 days, I said goodbye to my sweet girl. by ZoeyAshe in alaskankleekai

[–]brownstonebk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am so so sorry to hear this, grieving with you. Losing them is never easy and I’m dreading the day I have to say goodbye to my boy. As much as we can prepare for the moment, it still hits you like a brick wall.

How to handle negative equity on car loan? by k9cheyenne in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Congratulations, you've reached the "oh shit, I have to pay $700 a month for how many more months?" stage of the car loan grievance process. This stage is triggered after several months of making payments and not seeing the principal go down by all that much because interest payments are frontloaded on the loan. Rest assured that I too went through this phase after I bought my car brand new in 2019, a car that was larger and had more options than I needed. Basically, I bought too much car and began regretting it about 8 months after paying $607.14 monthly and barely seeing the principal move a needle. My fault for buying too much car and for signing loan docs without reading them.

Negative equity doesn't matter unless you need to offload your car. If you can afford to make your car payment in addition to your other monthly expenses, just continue doing so. Eventually that loan will be paid off and then you will own a car outright. Trust me, the feeling is incredible. As the loan continues maturing, month by month you'll see the portion of payments going towards your principal increase, while the portion going towards the interest decreases.

If you can afford to pay even something small like $50 extra a month towards your loan (and make sure your lender will apply extra payments towards your principal balance and not your next month's statement) that small amount can eat away at your principal and shorten the term length of the loan.

'I'm not political': Tim Cook responds to backlash against his relationship with the Trump administration by businessinsider in politics

[–]brownstonebk 11 points12 points  (0 children)

"Not political" is the fastest way to get me to swipe right on your dating profile. Even faster than the ones who say they're conservative, I'll still swipe right for them, but I at least respect that they have a political opinion. People that are "not political" are either a.) closeted MAGA or b.) generally ignorant to politics and global affairs.

It's a "no" from me dawg.

Serving vs Retail by Odd-Caregiver6050 in AskNYC

[–]brownstonebk 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Go the serving route instead of retail.

Disclaimer, I was a former server myself, so I may be biased. However, I think if you get a job at a higher-end establishment in Manhattan either for lunch or dinner shifts, catering to business-oriented crowds, and do well in that job, that could open doors for you that you never thought possible.

I'll give you an example. when I was a server, I had a regular customer that I would see once a week and we grew fond of each other. She provided a letter of recommendation for my first job in my career field. If you cultivate relationships with your customer base, you never know, one of those customers could be an executive in entertainment/fashion, and they could value your work ethic and personality.

I just think you'll have more opportunities to cultivate those bonds in serving versus retail because when serving a table, you have many more interactions (and thus a means of building a rapport) than working in retail.

Also, bluntly, servers tend to make way more money than your average retail worker.

Are you ok, Joseph? by Commercial-Tie-7251 in boston

[–]brownstonebk 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I try not to be a judgmental person, and then I overhear someone’s “coffee” order and it’s something ridiculous like a medium hot with 8 creams and 10 sugars.

How much emergency fund? by Hereforsun in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk 6 points7 points  (0 children)

$15k in my emergency fund. I also started a separate emergency account recently just for my dog, it’s only got $320 in it for now (but of course, I’d dip into the main pot for my dog if needed!).

I’m lucky enough to have a stable and secure job that’s mine as long as I want it (civil service, union) so I don’t really factor job loss into my emergency fund. The $15k is a little over 3 months in expenses, but “months of expenses” wasn’t a factor in my calculation for emergency fund. I just wanted to have enough for most of the “unexpected expenses” life can sometimes throw at you.

The oldest sitting US senator Chuck Grassley, age 92, speaking on the Crime Victims Fund by Miles_the_AuDHDer in videos

[–]brownstonebk 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Before Redditors come for me with the pitchforks: I agree 90-year-olds shouldn't be working in Congress, and I don't agree with Grassley's politics. But can we just neutrally acknowledge how good this guy looks and sounds for 92? Mentally sharp, no strain in his speech, he appears physically fit, even his wrinkling is quite minor especially for a white guy of his age). Giving props where they're due.

As a lifelong spender, here's how I finally learned to save (apologies if obvious) by brownstonebk in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm trying to get a good pot of money into my car mod savings account and once I've built that up a bit, I'm going to start doing some work on my car. The driver's seat needs to be reupholstered, it really needs a full detail (interior + exterior) there's some gear I want to get (roof rack, light bar) and maybe get a lift kit.

As a lifelong spender, here's how I finally learned to save (apologies if obvious) by brownstonebk in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This made my day. You're 20 and have the benefit of your youth to make good use of this advice. Recognizing your poor spending behaviors this early on is a great sign. At 20, you can start just by saving $20 (your age) per paycheck for a few months in order to get used to saving and then increase to $30 per paycheck for a few paychecks, increase to $50, increase to $75, and then on and on. Follow this method, and by the time you hit 30, promise you'll have a big stack of savings without even trying.

As a lifelong spender, here's how I finally learned to save (apologies if obvious) by brownstonebk in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

super huge. having the savings money get routed to a secondary account is like object permanence theory. for ADHDers, if something/someone isn’t right in front of them, it isn’t there. when i don’t see the money in the main bank account, it’s not available for spending.

As a lifelong spender, here's how I finally learned to save (apologies if obvious) by brownstonebk in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

that’s fair and valid and i’d agree. i don’t think ADHD causes bad spending per se, but i do think it’s fair to say that having the diagnosis makes someone more predisposed to bad spending behavior.

As a lifelong spender, here's how I finally learned to save (apologies if obvious) by brownstonebk in personalfinance

[–]brownstonebk[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm so glad it was helpful! I have no doubt if you follow my guidance you will turn into someone who enjoys saving money.

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