2022 Personal Finance - What Action Steps Have You Taken?

[mumof2]

I am nowhere close to any of you guys when it comes to money so this year we are hoping to get last year and this years US taxes done to start with...building up some savings and paying off our CC again and then see where we go from there. I am going to try and itemize our budget more than what we do..so instead of groceries to write what we spend within the groceries etc....want to try and build up our ice acct again....one thing I find weird is you guys use CC to help build your credit scores but over here it actually goes against you...

[kork13]

- Cashed in $277 of cash back from one of our primary credit cards, about 4-5 months' worth.
- Submitted our family's Alaska PFD (oil money) applications. It's always a crapshoot for how much they disburse every October, but typically between $1k-$2k per person... So an hour's paperwork (plus meeting the residency requirements, of course) should net at least $5k for us.

[disneysteve]

one thing I find weird is you guys use CC to help build your credit scores but over here it actually goes against you...

That's interesting. What factors are credit scores based on in Australia? In the US, it's based on how you handle your debt, so if you don't have any debt, that negatively impacts your score. Having too much debt is also a negative. With credit cards, the ideal is to never charge more than 10% of your credit limit and always make your payments on time. The length of your credit history helps too, so the longer you have a credit card account, the better off you are.

[disneysteve]

Just mailed the estimated tax payments - $9,400. We still owe another $1,300 approximately which we'll pay at tax time. I don't know the exact amount because the one fund didn't break down short vs long term gains. They just reported one number. Once we know the breakdown, that will determine the final amount due. Hopefully at least some of it is LTCG which will result in a lower tax bill.

[mumof2]

That's interesting. What factors are credit scores based on in Australia? In the US, it's based on how you handle your debt, so if you don't have any debt, that negatively impacts your score. Having too much debt is also a negative. With credit cards, the ideal is to never charge more than 10% of your credit limit and always make your payments on time. The length of your credit history helps too, so the longer you have a credit card account, the better off you are.

So basically it is paying your bills on time and the less debt the better.....having debt actually makes it worse...but as long as you pay everything on time you can good a good credit rating...also over there improving your credit rating doesn't take that long apparently, from what I have seen on tv....here it can take a long time...my daughter has never had any debt except a cell fone and she has good credit...she pays cash for everything she buys like her cars, furniture etc....so not having bills/debts doesn't really hurt either

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I have so much stupid tax to pay. I need to sit down tonight and go over if i contribute to ira in 2021 for 2021 or was it 2020. We switched too many accounts

[scfr]

I just paid our 4th estimated tax payment for tax year 2021 online through IRS Direct Pay.

[kork13]

Just put in the order for another $10K I-Bond, set for purchase on 28 Jan. Our EF is $25k, and I put $10K of it into I-Bonds again in May'21. With inflation running as high as it is, I may as well take advantage of the >7% interest rate they're currently earning.... far better than the .5% peanuts it's otherwise earning in the savings account. I'll keep the last $5K in place for immediate access though...

[scfr]

Just put in the order for another $10K I-Bond, set for purchase on 28 Jan. Our EF is $25k, and I put $10K of it into I-Bonds again in May'21. With inflation running as high as it is, I may as well take advantage of the >7% interest rate they're currently earning.... far better than the .5% peanuts it's otherwise earning in the savings account. I'll keep the last $5K in place for immediate access though...

Good moves.

[Like2Plan]

Printed out tax forms from Fidelity. Unfortunately, the 1099R for DH appears to be incorrect (by a long shot). Called Fidelity: front end representative admonished me that they couldn't give "tax advice", but he would check with somebody "in the back office".... After a few minutes on hold, call failed. We can't do our taxes until they correct this, so if they don't call back, I'll have to give it another go.....

[Scallywag]

Printed out tax forms from Fidelity. Unfortunately, the 1099R for DH appears to be incorrect (by a long shot). Called Fidelity: front end representative admonished me that they couldn't give "tax advice", but he would check with somebody "in the back office".... After a few minutes on hold, call failed. We can't do our taxes until they correct this, so if they don't call back, I'll have to give it another go.....

Did you get the 1099-R already? We see two forms on H's Fidelity a/c. One says consolidated - is that it?

[Like2Plan]

Did you get the 1099-R already? We see two forms on H's Fidelity a/c. One says consolidated - is that it?

Yes. We got the 1099-R consolidated form for the taxable and another 1099-R for the traditional IRA. But, it turns out there were actually 2-1099-R's for the tIRA attached to the same link. (I still have to verify the numbers, but it now makes more sense). We did all kinds of wild things last year from the tIRA account. We took distributions, we did conversions to Roth and we rolled over DH's 401k into his tIRA (all the pretax) and rolled the Roth 401K into his Roth. So, taxes are going to be lots of fun this year.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Printed out tax forms from Fidelity. Unfortunately, the 1099R for DH appears to be incorrect (by a long shot). Called Fidelity: front end representative admonished me that they couldn't give "tax advice", but he would check with somebody "in the back office".... After a few minutes on hold, call failed. We can't do our taxes until they correct this, so if they don't call back, I'll have to give it another go.....

way to early for 1099R. Usually they say 2/15 or by 2/28 this year

[Like2Plan]

way to early for 1099R. Usually they say 2/15 or by 2/28 this year

I thought that, too, except they sent out an email saying they were ready. (Way earlier than Vanguard, for sure). But, it looks like they have multiple 1099-Rs under the same link for DH's t-IRA (my addled brain, I didn't notice.) Good thing my other stuff is not ready. I have to go back and review the supporting documents from the past to compare the figures, but I think I'm going to give it a rest for a little bit.

[Scallywag]

Yes. We got the 1099-R consolidated form for the taxable and another 1099-R for the traditional IRA. But, it turns out there were actually 2-1099-R's for the tIRA attached to the same link. (I still have to verify the numbers, but it now makes more sense). We did all kinds of wild things last year from the tIRA account. We took distributions, we did conversions to Roth and we rolled over DH's 401k into his tIRA (all the pretax) and rolled the Roth 401K into his Roth. So, taxes are going to be lots of fun this year.

Oh wow - turns out that both Fidelity AND Vanguard issued their 1099-Rs already! We converted a small amount to Roth so we will owe taxes. I imagine distributions and large rollovers would drive you nuts! That's why we do a little at a time.

But no conversions this year, but once we've got into a house of our own, we hope to convert a little each year and have everything in Roth when he's retired! Wish us luck!

Turbo Tax won't let us file yet claiming it needs s a form for a non-deductible IRA leaving me scratching my head because we made NO contributions to a non-deductible IRA! I'm tired so will go back tomorrow and figure out what it's all about!