!personalfinance
@lemmy.mlhttps://inthesetimes.com/article/big-idea-debtor-power-collective-resistance
Alone, our debt is a liability. Together, it’s our leverage.
I've been on an HSA+HDHP for a couple of years now and only realized recently the interest earned from investing HSA money is also tax free, so I want to start investing a part of my savings and see how it goes. I have 2 options, Betterment or Mutual Funds. I figured I'd try the latter to avoid fees, but I'm not sure which funds to choose. My HSA currently provides 30 fund options.
I see people mentioning Vanguard a lot so I spread out my initial investment into 25% chunks across 4 different Vanguard funds. How did I choose them? Well I literally just looked at the performance graphs and selected the ones that historically went up steadily without major dips. As a total noob, how can I improve my choices? Is there a simple way to decide without having to dive deep into the stock market?
I have been putting part of my paycheck into a high yield savings account, but haven't bothered with investing it in a responsible manner partially due a fear of losing the money due to bad investments. I'm finally realizing how much potential money I've lost by letting my money stagnate. Please advise me on how to responsibly invest my money, thanks!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/09/02/american-workers-fear-retirement-more-than-death/75012002007/
These are the reasons some Americans are more scared of retirement than of getting divorced or fired.
I like the idea of a less profit-driven business that is maybe more community-focused but I wonder if they have the same capability as a bank? Have you been able to do your banking needs at a credit union? Was the customer service decent?
tl;dr - They haven't reported updated information since last year. How do I get them to do so, or how can I otherwise correct the information on my credit report?
Longer version:
Got a personal loan a few years ago through Lending Point. Earlier this year, I noticed that the last time they reported any updated information to the credit bureaus was December of last year. I paid the thing off back this past May, and had hoped that would trigger them to update it within a month or two, But they didn't, and as far as anyone(such as a new lender) is concerned, I still have an open personal loan that I owe a bunch of money on. Do I have to call these people and complain? Should I dispute the inaccurate information on my credit report? I spent quite a few years banging away at that stupid fucking thing, eliminating every negative account/collections/etc. Don't want to dispute that information just to find out that it's going to somehow backfire on me. As far as it stands now, I have no negative anything whatsoever on my report, and every single account on there is in good standing with a 100% perfect payment history.
Problem is, full-time job pays so little that for the last few years(basically since the pandemic started) I've been stuck more and more using credit cards and Affirm/After pay loans for "luxuries" such as... food, and having electricity, and clean clothes. You know, non-essentials. Using up more than half my (tiny) monthly income just to pay the minimums on the cards and the monthly Affirm payments at this point. Could use a new personal loan to consolidate all of that down to a single payment, but the fact that my cards are all maxed out is keeping my score down, making it difficult. And having it look like I already have an active personal loan when I don't, sure as shit isn't helping my case when trying to get a new one. Being able to consolidate would set me back into a position to where I have enough cash throughout the month to not have to rely on the cards to pay for basic shit in the first place.
https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/banking/americans-broke-study/
MarketWatch Guides surveyed different generations of Americans about their financial situation – and nearly half consider themselves broke.
My employer recently switched to Fidelity and for now I've chosen the LIFEPATH IDX 2050 A
option. It looks like this one provides quarterly dividends, but the yield is 0.0%(?)
I'm looking for some fairly risk adverse options or blends that provide dividends that will be reinvested. Anyone have any recommendations?
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/31/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
Stocks dropped Thursday as investors weighed the latest corporate earnings reports and economic data.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-16/car-repossessions-surge-23-as-americans-fall-behind-on-payments-lyoklofb
High interest rates and tight budgets are making monthly bills unaffordable for a growing number of vehicle owners.