I am an expert: Ask me your questions about money

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While I have what formerly was referred to as Aspergers Syndrome, I have become an expert on money, credit, and all other matters in personal finance through my former employment at one of my state's largest credit unions as well as extensive personal research and practice. To give you an indication of my expertise, in seven years' time, I went from a credit score of 300 to 780, eliminated all consumer debt, bought a house, bought a brand new car with cash, became an active and very successful stock market investor, and I have a large personally-managed retirement account.

Money matters can be very frightening for many people, particularly people on the spectrum, so I would like to offer advice for free to anyone who has questions. Give me your questions about bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, investing, retirement savings, and all other personal finance matters and I'll give you free advice.

Why don't I have any money?

OK then. If I moved into my partner's apartment, with no job, will I be able to claim anything like job-seekers? He works full-time but has a high rent to pay and bills, so doesn't have a lot of money to be able to keep me. I have tried ringing the jobcentre to ask this but they didn't seem that helpful, and I don't know who else to ask.

But if you're not from the UK you probably won't know what I'm talking about.

What's your religion and/or cultural background?

Would you say Protestants tend to be a bit more hardworking and organized than people who belong to other cultures?

How do I get my stolen identity back?.

I've been denied all credit cards, is there a way for me to build up my credit whilst getting my identity back?

Do you have experience with BitCoin?.

What is the best beginner stock investment strategy?.

Are Certificates of Deposits worth the effort?.

Thank you for starting this thread. These questions have been nagging me for awhile. I've gotta get more money/stability and a credit card.

As you will be cohabiting your claim for jobseekers will based on what your partner earns.

Use this CALCULATOR to see what your entitled too

how do I attract money and stop repelling it?

You are full of s**t.

[sarcasm] dont mince your words , say what you really mean [/sarcasm]

I am from the USA, but I'll try to help if I can. In the USA, if you aren't married, then they don't consider you a "household" per se for tax purposes. Therefore, you can claim various government benefits without regard to your unmarried live-in partner's employment status. Hope that helps.

I am an American of mostly mixed European ancestry and I am a practicing Catholic. Protestants do tend to be a little more hardworking and organized than Catholics, in my own experience, because many Protestant denominations seem to believe that the only factor that determines success is hard work. Most Protestants I have interacted with -- and I have many Protestant friends and family members -- think that if you are not successful it's because you are lazy and then they put a religious spin on it by saying that means that God is frowning on you for being poor. Catholics tend to believe that poverty is something that just happens to people and if you are poor it means you aren't exploiting anybody, therefore you are less sinful.

American Catholics are strongly influenced by Protestants -- because the majority of Christians in the USA are Protestant even though Catholicism is the largest single church -- so American Catholics tend to also frown on people in poverty.

1. When your identity has been stolen, you need to contact the FTC and fill out a recovery form to get the process rolling. This process may take several months, so you need to ensure that you have cashflow during that time. You can start the process at this website: https://www.identitytheft.gov/If your identity theft prevents you from getting a bank account, try getting an unbanked debit card with low fees. You can find a good analysis of these cards with some choices here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/nerdwallets-best-prepaid-debit-cards/

2. It will be extremely hard to get a credit card until the identity theft is resolved. Your best option at this point -- if you can get approved -- is to get a secured credit card with a credit union. Secured credit cards are credit cards on which you make a deposit to generate your credit line. For example, you put down a deposit of $300 for the duration of the credit card and now you have a credit line of $300 to use while you have the card. The deposit is returned to you when you "graduate" the card to being unsecured after improving your credit and you will usually earn interest on that deposit like its in a savings account. You should get this card at a credit union, which is similar to a bank except the customers (called "members") are all co-owners of the financial institution, so there's no profit motive. That means that credit unions have extremely low fees and interest rates. You can find a credit union in your area by checking this website: http://mapping.ncua.gov/

3. I do have experience with BitCoin and it has some positives and negatives. The positive is that it is very hard to track BitCoin, so if you have purchases that you want to keep private, it can be a good method of protecting yourself. The negatives are that BitCoin is not protected by the FDIC or NCUA (insurance in case the financial institution fails) and it's not issued by a government so it's technically not legal tender. Without a central bank backing it, the value of BitCoin goes up and down and there's a risk that it may lose all value entirely, which would leave you with nothing. Buyer beware.

4. The absolute best beginner stock strategy is to buy index funds. Index funds are stock funds that cover entire sectors or entire stock markets, which reduces your risk of ruin. When you buy an index fund that covers the entire NY Stock Exchange, for example, it doesn't really matter if individual stocks lose their value or go out of business. You have hundreds of other stocks in your fund that continue to gain in value. You should also invest with a low-cost, invester-owned financial institution like Vanguard to avoid paying high fees. You do not need to pay for an expert to choose your funds, because studies have proven that "experts" are no better at it than investors doing it for themselves. I started out by investing in VTSMX (Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index) which charged only 0.16% in fees per year. After I had $10,000 invested, I was able to change that to their "admiral shares" with VTSAX (same fund but lower cost) at only 0.05% fees. This past year I earned 13%, so paying the 0.05% in fees felt like absolutely nothing at all.

5. Right now, Certificates of Deposit (CDs) aren't really worth a whole lot due to the fact that the rates are generally below 1%. I wouldn't recommend investing in them until the rates are up to 3-5% so they will be higher than the rate of inflation. If CD rates are lower than the rate of inflation, you are basically locking in your money so you can't use it for years at a time, while your money actually loses value. Just something to think about.

Do you mean in terms of earning money yourself? You have to ignore advice telling you to "pursue your passion and the money will follow." The reality is that you need to discover what you are good at and develop those skills and then find a way to monetize your talents and skills. This usually is something that isn't terribly interesting, which is why a lot of people with autism struggle with money and careers. If you can, try to develop a perseveration for something that will earn you money -- like computer repairs, data analysis, home crafts you can sell, etc. Anything in STEM is hot right now and unlikely to be made obsolete by automation, so that might be your best bet.

Thanks for your input. The fact that I spent ten days on vacation at a resort in Hawaii this summer just using some cash I had lying around suggests that you may be wrong about me.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to everyone's questions. I was away for a little bit. If anyone has more questions about money and investments, I am glad to share what I know.

How did you get that much money?