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44 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments even if it reduces half of my savings? Unless you can still live for quite a while with that half of your savings and no income, then no. ...
D Stanley's user avatar
  • 142k
42 votes

How to fight an unemployment tax bill that I do not owe in NY?

I actually called the number on the notice: 518-599-6837 -- It's quite a number of prompts, but they reps picked up pretty fast and was informative. They let me know that this has been happening very ...
Patoshi パトシ's user avatar
25 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

Dave Ramsey, the famous personal-finance guru and radio personality, has a concept he developed after counseling thousands of families in crisis situations called the four-walls. The idea is to ...
Andrew Neely's user avatar
18 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

No. By paying off your credit cards now, you'll be losing money you won't be recouping in the foreseeable future. I imagine the second part of your question is related to being able to use the ...
Ivan's user avatar
  • 1,171
13 votes

Should I file my taxes? No income, unemployed, but paid 2k in student loan interest

Student loan interest is a deduction. A deduction reduces your tax liability. If you had no income and you don't have a tax liability you can't get a refund since you didn't get more tax withheld than ...
xyious's user avatar
  • 2,778
12 votes

Should I file my taxes? No income, unemployed, but paid 2k in student loan interest

The word "refund" means "money that you previously paid and that you are now getting back". A tax refund is where you had money withheld from your paycheck (or you otherwise made tax payments), and ...
Acccumulation's user avatar
10 votes

Paid under the table prior to putting me on the books- recently told me they're issuing a 1099 for all the income they paid

Unemployment fraud is a crime. If you believe that what you were doing could be seen as fraud, you may want to contact an attorney to discuss your options. To answer your follow-up question: A 1099 ...
Ben Miller's user avatar
  • 116k
8 votes

Can my grandfather receive money in the state of Wisconsin if he's unemployed?

To be eligible for unemployment benefits in Wisconsin, you must have been employed in the base period, which is a year-long period prior to the date you apply for unemployment benefits. Since your ...
Ben Miller's user avatar
  • 116k
7 votes
Accepted

Can a jobless person get a home equity loan if he has other sources of income such as stock dividends?

As Ron’s comment implies, it’s a matter of the numbers. My HELOC recently reached the end of its draw period, and I preferred to keep it active. I opened the conversation with the bank by saying I ...
JTP - Apologise to Monica's user avatar
7 votes

In the next year I plan to live primarily off a saved bulk sum of money. What are my options for investing it while keeping it fairly accessible?

To begin with, bear in mind that over the time horizon you are talking about, the practical impact of inflation will be quite limited. Inflation for 2017 is forecast at 2.7%, and since you are talking ...
Ganesh Sittampalam's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Company Received Unemployment Claim - I Still Work There

Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of stolen identities were used to file billions of dollars in unemployment claims. One affected person was my spouse. I just read last week that $36 billion were ...
stannius's user avatar
  • 5,327
7 votes

Paid under the table prior to putting me on the books- recently told me they're issuing a 1099 for all the income they paid

You and your employer face multiple potential problems, some legal legal and some tax issues: You and potentially your employer may be accused of conspiring to commit unemployment fraud. States know ...
mhoran_psprep's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

Financial Security for a Starting Family

If I was wrong please let me know how so I can learn for next time. This is way off-topic for Money.SE, but I feel compelled to offer my advice. Feel free to downvote and I'll consider deleting (or ...
D Stanley's user avatar
  • 142k
6 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

Others have mentioned this in comments, but I think it is worth having in an answer: the answer to this question depends on your situation. If your level of savings is relatively low compared to your ...
reirab's user avatar
  • 825
6 votes
Accepted

Can my spouse use her HSA funds to pay for insurance premiums if she lost her job?

No - Insurance premiums are not eligible HSA expenses except in certain circumstances (one being receiving unemployment benefits). From the IRS: Insurance premiums. You can’t treat insurance premiums ...
D Stanley's user avatar
  • 142k
5 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

Pay of your credit cards. You run them up later again, if you run out of cash and have no other way of getting a loan. Simple math: let's assume you owe $5000 at 18% interest rate. That's 75$ of ...
Hilmar's user avatar
  • 9,347
5 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

Pay off all your credit. Only start using credit again when you see that next month you won't be able to make ends meet. This will preserve most money, cash-flow and credit. Any other answers are... ...
Stian Yttervik's user avatar
5 votes

How do I get a seat on the board of directors?

The point is: you get enough shares to DEMAND a seat on the board. Board members are representatives of shareholders and generally "a few shares of a public company" is nothing. Zero. No One ...
TomTom's user avatar
  • 11.6k
4 votes
Accepted

Short term life insurance between jobs?

You didn’t say your location which could matter for the insurance laws and policies available. Realistically you won’t get an issued policy in 6 days so you’d be relying on provisional coverage ...
T. M.'s user avatar
  • 1,523
4 votes
Accepted

I fear I may be laid off soon. How do ensure additional income?

You can certainly work food/package delivery or similar while still hunting a proper job to keep money flowing in. You could take on extra work now to supplement income if you were so motivated. If ...
Hart CO's user avatar
  • 71.2k
3 votes

Short term life insurance between jobs?

Typically, life insurance provided as a employee benefit is dependent on your salary (sometimes as much as 2 or 3 times annual salary is available) with an option to buy more life insurance (how much ...
Dilip Sarwate's user avatar
3 votes

HSA unemployement lump sum

The are two distinct parts to this answer: You can only contribute up to the HSA limit for 2019 if you have a HDHP eligible health plan for the entire year. If not, the contribution limit is reduced ...
TTT's user avatar
  • 47.3k
3 votes
Accepted

Lost job a week before closing with a mortgage. Options?

For posterity, here's what happened: Short version A family member offered to co-sign. We found a different bank which offered a (smaller) mortgage. We did that. I later refinanced to free the ...
s4y's user avatar
  • 181
3 votes

In the next year I plan to live primarily off a saved bulk sum of money. What are my options for investing it while keeping it fairly accessible?

Money you need in the next year should not be invested. It should be in a cash-equivalent account such as a savings or money market account. You might be able to construct a CD ladder but it probably ...
stannius's user avatar
  • 5,327
3 votes

I fear I may be laid off soon. How do ensure additional income?

You mentioned you are "highly skilled". Do you think your employer agrees, and if so, do you feel they would be reluctant to let you go, except that maybe they cannot currently afford to ...
TTT's user avatar
  • 47.3k
3 votes

Paid under the table prior to putting me on the books- recently told me they're issuing a 1099 for all the income they paid

Is there a way for a 1099 to show that I was working during unemployment benefits? The only date on a 1099 is the calendar year. If the IRS audits the company, they might see the company paying you ...
RonJohn's user avatar
  • 50.8k
3 votes

I own and run a business. Today I received from NYS that I owe money on taxes for Unemployment Insurance that I received. I never filed it

When you employ someone and later lay them off or fire them without strong reason, they get unemployment benefits. The employer must pay a fraction of that. You are being charged for this. If that ...
Harper - Reinstate Monica's user avatar
2 votes

Does cashing out 401k interfere in unemployment

It depends on your state's unemployment rules. But it appears that AZ will reduce your employment benefits if you take out money from your 401(k). The advice in the link is to wait until you have ...
xirt's user avatar
  • 5,173
2 votes

I'm unemployed. Should I pay off my credit cards to avoid monthly payments?

Until you get a new job, you need cash (savings) and credit. I recommend that you continue making the minimum monthly payments on your credit cards, so you keep the cash and you keep your credit ...
gnasher729's user avatar
  • 23.9k
2 votes

Unemployment eligibility for U.S. citizen working overseas for California based company

You are “currently” working outside the USA -it depends on how long “currently” is. For example, if you moved to Germany to install things or train people for a month, you would be treated like ...
gnasher729's user avatar
  • 23.9k

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