Any bank would do that If you were overdrawn for two months.

Open a new account elsewhere

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You're worried that your social life will tank? So invite people over instead of going elsewhere.

That’s almost always a better strategy anyway. Picking stocks on average loses to investing in the whole market even for expert, full-time investors.

You don’t need to know everything for the next five years. If you expect to spend money, it makes sense to save it. If you have unexpected emergencies, that’s what an emergency fund is for. If you have an unexpected change in priorities, it’s not the end of the world to cash out investments. That’s the point of them! There’s just more short-term volatility so it might make you loads of money but also might lose money.

Thanks for the advice. Part of my concern/fear is not knowing what I don’t know in terms of things for the next 5-ish years.

But understood it’s not the right mentality to have a set ratio, per se.

My investment strategy is restricted due to my job. We’re prohibited from trading single name securities so ETFs/mutual funds/BDCs are the majority of what we can invest in. But I realize I could be more aggressive with what funds I choose.

Figure out how to cut your hair yourself, have your partner cut it, change your hairstyle of something else. Quite the fancy coffees and date nights. (picnic, movies, board games, bubble bath together) You cannot afford subscriptions and since you have a partner you can cut back on seeing friends and social life that costs money. No need to worry about your social life. All these friends will be history when you move out of the country.

Bottom line you need to cut your expenses. In each category you need to trim. If you are moving in 6 months stop paying extra on your car as you will be selling it in a few months.

Get a pastime job that’s after your regular job

I've looked into the websites and I can cancel all of the subscriptions, which I'm doing right now. They're all "free trial" sort of sites with the first payment being $1, then a $30 monthly subscription.

I thought it might be a scam as well, but that's something about Hawaii is a lot of people set up rentals kind of precariously. I had thought it was just a verification strategy so that dude didn't have to pay for it. I looked up the websites and everywhere says that they are legitimate, though.

Anyway I'm not trying this guy anymore, it does seem kind of sketchy

This is almost an impossible question to answer, because the ratio is going to (drastically) change based on personal circumstances.

For example, we are getting ready to buy a house, so we are overly cash heavy right now because we want to put a significant down payment on the house.

Someone who is going to retire might decide it best for them to have a heavier than normal cash position to use as a cushion.

People in certain industries and/or house owners vs renters might have different cash emergency funds based on their personal beliefs in what they will need to use it for.

All that said, I believe in a solid four legged stool for retirement.

1 - pre-tax traditional 401k

2 - after-tax roth 401k

3 - after-tax brokerage accounts

4 - cash

All of these have their pros and cons. And, those pros and cons will be different for groups of people based on their situation in retirement (not to even mention early retirement). I feel you need resources in all four buckets so that you can take advantage of those pros and cons planning for and the executing retirement.

I am no expert, but I feel a lot of people just think of the now. Taxes now. Money now. Growth now. And, that is all very important. But, you also have to plan (as best as you can) for the future and what those things will/might look like during retirement.

YMMV

Other than a at home business as a side hustle or rental homes it can be tough once you exhaust all your HSA/IRA/401k areas. Goodluck!

here you go: https://www.irs.gov/faqs/capital-gains-losses-and-sale-of-home/property-basis-sale-of-home-etc/property-basis-sale-of-home-etc

I believe the cost basis explanation applies for more than real property. It is referenced in a turbotax questions here regarding your exact scenario:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/how-to-handle-sales-of-personal-and-gifted-items-on-ebay/00/2692991

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Thanks for this. I do NOT operate a business. To clarify, the items sold are items that I am getting rid of from my home, such as selling old clothes or old electronics. My brother gifted me the laptop for a birthday years ago, I used it for personal use (school etc), and sold it this year so that I could buy a new laptop. I never paid for the laptop, but I kept the money from the sale.

Choosing between a 'tanked' social life and breaking your debt should be pretty easy.

Even more so if you are trying to move out of country within a year. Find new friends/hobbies that don't require a car in meantime.

If its not required for your work, seems like a pretty clear and easy solution... You could spend 500$ a month on ubering for your social life and still save by dropping the car. (however incredibly ill advised as that is)

I have been broke and in big debt too.

Cut back if possible.

Bring lunch to work.

Eat out less.

Have date night at home or go for dessert.

Little cuts add up.

Don’t charge anything you can’t pay off in full. Don’t carry balances forward. The interest is a life sentence.

If you’re planning on moving soon, maybe downsize to a cheaper car.

Good luck. You can do it.

Everything sold was for personal use (laptops, earbuds, clothes, appliances, etc) and nothing was used for business. I think I confused Schedule C and Schedule D in my post.

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>You cannot take a capital loss on personal property, so you’ll have to adjust the gain/loss to $0 for that sale on schedule D.

This was more my question: not can I factor in a loss, but is there any profit in the sale even if I never paid for the sold item originally. It sounds like it would be $0 then.

$400 between eating out and shopping would make a huge dent in saving and/or paying off the car faster.

Neither of which are essential

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Yeah

Generally, you "inherit" the cost basis from the gift donor. Read this caveat.

> 1. My brother buys me a laptop in 2018 for $1,000 using HIS credit card > 2. I use the laptop for 4 years > 3. I sell the laptop in 2022 for $750 and keep the money

Since donor's cost basis (step 1) and FMV at time of gifting (step 1) are identical, use $1,000 as the cost basis of your sale (step 3). Capital loss of personal use item is not deductible. Reporting is generally not required for selling personal items at a loss in a non-business setting.

If reporting is desired, on Form 8949, enter $750 as sale proceed, $1000 as cost basis, and $250 as adjustment (code L) so the subtotal is $0 (no taxable gain and no deductible loss).

Note: If you run a business, you cannot just turn your own personal-use item into a business inventory just so you can deduct it.

I see. So basically I did not gain and therefore don't show a profit on this sale?

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Edit: The state is VA

Your post is asking about federal rules and you didn’t include your state

Regardless, your cost basis in a gift is either the donors adjusted Basis or FMV, whichever is “worse” for you, so it doesn’t matter since you don’t have a gain

This is what I've heard too, but am unsure how to verify this.

Um, possibly. That's not much of an employment history. So it brings up a few questions:

Did you get the new job after leaving an old one (without much 'down' time between gigs)? If so, then you have an employment history that goes longer than 4 months.

If this is your first job, 4 months is not a lot of time. Is this a job you expect to hold for a long-ish time, or is it biding you over until you get something else? Are you sure you need to get a car loan? Taking on a loan without a steady full-time job is kinda dangerous to your wealth. Have you worked out a budget for your life or lifestyle? If not, there are plenty of tools online to develop a budget to determine what you can reasonably afford. I've even got a half-baked one you can have.

>As a result of this delay, which follows over a year of eBay Government Relations advocacy on behalf of the eBay community, only sellers who: 1) exceed the previous threshold of $20,000 and 200 transactions, 2) that were subject to backup withholding or, 3) whose states of residence have a lower reporting threshold will receive a Form 1099-K.

I am in a state whose reporting threshold is $600, so I think this still applies to me?