240
votes
Accepted
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
This is a very generous impulse on your part. I'm going to criticize it, but please understand that I believe your intentions are great.
What can go wrong
You pay off her $40,000 debt. She is ...
- 21k
116
votes
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
I personally have no financial problems
Are you in desperate need of a financial problem? Taking a loan to pay someone else's debt is the fast lane to a financial problem.
Unless this is your ...
- 49.1k
77
votes
Accepted
Is insurance company’s preferred auto shop biased?
The answer is YES. The responses saying no are so wrong it isn't even funny. How do I know - I used to do tech work for a repair shop and saw all of the inner-goings.
A shop is a preferred shop ...
- 4,757
66
votes
Accepted
What's the cheapest way to buy out a sibling's share of our parents house if I have no cash and want to pay less than the appraised value?
You need to negotiate the price with your sister. Until she agrees, you each own the share you each own, and can not unilaterally force the other to sell. She has told you what she thinks her share is ...
- 51.4k
64
votes
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
First, you loaning her money is out of the question. In my sternest Suze Orman voice, You Will Not.
Money is more intimate than sex, and there is a very wide gulf between "listening to her ...
58
votes
What's the cheapest way to buy out a sibling's share of our parents house if I have no cash and want to pay less than the appraised value?
You ask about the cheapest way.
Agreeing with your sister on a price you both find fair is cheaper than trying to force a lower buyout price on her.
Hiring a lawyer now to do the deal correctly is ...
- 5,327
53
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between salary and bonus with respect to taxes?
Not in the U.S. (and I presume not in California, but I don't know for certain). There's no distinction on tax returns between salary income and bonus income.
What you're probably noticing is that ...
- 142k
53
votes
Accepted
Do I need to pay taxes as a food delivery worker if I make less than $12,000 in a year?
Because you're self-employed and make more than $400, you'll need to file a federal return. If you make less than the standard deduction ($12,400 for a single person in 2020), you won't owe any income ...
- 16.2k
52
votes
Accepted
How to pay less tax on a high salary?
Assuming the bulk of your income comes from "earned income," your best bets are moves that lower your taxable income.
You say that some of your salary goes into a 401(k). The more you contribute to ...
- 5,350
49
votes
Property tax on land where you discover you can't build anything on?
Property tax in California is administered at the county level. You can contact your county tax assessor and request a reassessment if you think the property’s value has decreased.
- 1,402
30
votes
Is it typical to start charging HOA fees before a community is fully built?
Yes, it is typical and usual to pay HOA fees after moving in because you will be part of the community and will be consuming services (trash pickup, for example) immediately. When the new phases are ...
- 24.4k
29
votes
How to pay less tax on a high salary?
Generally speaking, you cannot lower your expenses related to taxes. You can lower your taxes, but not in a way that will make sense.
For example, if you qualify for itemized deductions, then a $1 ...
- 4,277
28
votes
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
I currently assist a cousin who is struggling. Like your relative, she and her husband are in their early seventies, retired, and living on a fixed retirement income. Her husband is blind, disabled ...
- 77k
28
votes
Is there any way to form an anonymous General Partnership?
The answer is simple in my opinion: Don't form a General Partnership with someone you barely know on the internet.
The General Partnership is something that makes it easier to start a small business ...
- 831
26
votes
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
Obtain solid evidence that this debt exists. It is not impossible that she has been misled to believe she has a huge debt by scammers preying on the elderly. If you don't 100% know the debt exists and ...
- 366
25
votes
Is it typical to start charging HOA fees before a community is fully built?
It is normal to be required to start paying the HOA fees even though the community isn't fully completed. As others have stated there are some things that start day one, and others that phase in over ...
- 145k
24
votes
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
Of course not. The two options are basically:
The bank is out $40k and never gets paid back.
You're out $40k and never get paid back.
Why trade option 1 for 2? If you want to help her, help her get ...
22
votes
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Understanding underpayment penalty: implications and how to avoid it in the future
Option 1 is that you're generating enough capital gains, interest, and dividends from your brokerage account that you want to increase your withholdings to account for that. Option 2 is that the W-4 ...
- 28.3k
20
votes
Accepted
Company options after leaving
Stock options mean you have the opportunity to purchase the stock at a given price. They don't mean you actually own company stock, even after they vest, unless you exercise your options which ...
- 16.2k
19
votes
Accepted
Property tax on land where you discover you can't build anything on?
First, if this change occurred before you bought the property, then this is a critical failure in your due diligence, and the fault is at your feet. Most of us use a variety of advisors in land ...
18
votes
Is insurance company’s preferred auto shop biased?
1) The insurance company is normally obligated to return your car to the condition it was before the accident. It is between the insurance company and the repair company to decide which is cheapest.
...
- 1,738
18
votes
Is there any way to form an anonymous General Partnership?
Both of us want to remain anonymous and don't want to even tell each other each other's names. Is there any way to do this anonymously?
Yeah. Fire up those Wyoming LLCs.
An LLC can be a general ...
18
votes
Is it typical to start charging HOA fees before a community is fully built?
Don't forget that a new neighborhood can take a very long time to build out. One near me built a handful of phases, lost their developer, took several years to find another, and finally finished ...
- 2,685
16
votes
Accepted
Can I expense guest amenities for my AirBnB?
Yes, absolutely. These are expenses related to your trade/business and you can deduct them. You should check under what conditions you can deduct them in full, and if these are not met you may need to ...
- 184k
15
votes
What is the difference between salary and bonus with respect to taxes?
This is a broad response for any country with a progressive tax system (basically all of them), which means that you pay incrementally higher tax for each new dollar of income earned.
In short, your ...
- 43k
14
votes
Should I take out a loan to pay off a relative's credit card debt?
Rather than take on secured debt to pay off her unsecured debt, I suggest helping her in other ways.
Start looking for resources/programs aimed at assisting those who are ill-prepared for retirement, ...
- 71.2k
14
votes
Property tax on land where you discover you can't build anything on?
Every jurisdiction in the US (city/county/state) has a process for appealing the assessed value of a property. Some only do it during a specific window of time each year, others are more flexible. You ...
- 145k
14
votes
Am I considered a non-resident of California?
You're most definitely liable for CA State tax. You have income sourced to California, and California is going to want its share of it. Your residency status is irrelevant to that.
The only difference ...
- 184k
13
votes
Company options after leaving
Options generally have an expiration date. Your original option grant contract document should have outlined when your options would ultimately expire. I have not seen options that last forever.
...
- 31.8k
13
votes
Questions from dealer when paying cash for a car
When I went to purchase a car, I refused to give them any of this information. I told them I'd bring a certified bank check, but would not agree to give my SSN, or sign off on a credit report. I told ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible