As an adult, what things do you still not understand and at this point are too afraid to ask?

How do I file taxes?
How do adults not understand how to make financially sound decisions? I know there are plenty of different situations that require it, but I've watched many adults willingly buy boats when there isn't a body of water within 50 miles, or buy horses when they complain about not affording groceries.

Easily being swindled by the idea of a "good deal" and not having ever been taught how to properly budget or manage money.

Yeah same, lmao. I had my mom help me do mine 8D
That's my usual go-to! xD

The key to doing it yourself is to remember what you worked with mom on.

TurboTax is a wooonderful thing!

TurboTax is probably better for not missing benefits, but I use HR Block's free e-filing because my taxes aren't as complex as people make taxes sound like.

It's kinda scary at first, but it's something where you kinda just have to do it, and you'll eventually get used to it and it won't be scary anymore. That's how it was for me at least.

now it's just the thought of driving to and from places i've never been to before that makes me shit myself

STUDY THE MAP AND ASSERT YOUR DOMINANCE BY DRIVING AN SUV THAT'S WAY BIGGER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE.

But seriously, just study the map for the route you're taking and make sure to flag a couple alternate routes in the event you miss your exit/turn or need to turn off early.

How does the internet get to my computer?

What are all the things you can do with money instead of putting it in the bank and why are they supposed to be better?

How detailed do you want on the internet one?

RE money: Well, pretty much all of the better things you can do with money still involve a bank in some way. It's just a matter of whether you have the capital to do so. One of the more affordable options if you're employed full-time is to go to a credit union and apply to open an account. The benefits of credit unions are generally better than the benefits of banking with banks, such as usually having higher interest and lower fees on savings and checking accounts while also having lower interest rates on loans.

You can also open an IRA independent of any 401k or pension your employer offers. Never hurts to have a backup plan for retirement.

Here's a list of non-checking/non-savings account services my bank offers:

Retirement Planning
Wealth Management
Small Business Services
College Planning
Estate Planning
Insurance Services

Granted, all of these cost money, and none of these are insured by the FDIC.

One thing you can do is open yourself an IRA independently of any pension or 401k your employer provides. You can buy treasury bonds (such as I-bonds). You can look into municipal, county, and school district bonds.

It's a bit tricky right now because the last financial crash caught a lot of banks with their metaphorical pants down where investment banks and savings & loan banks were dipping their hands into the other type of banking, and this was broken up, so the variance in account types is lower because bank executives got greedy pre-recession and had to be barred from the irresponsible practices that led to the '08 crash.

Things that your normal bank offers that could be beneficial include Certificate of Deposit accounts, money market accounts, and high yield interest checking and savings accounts.


You still want to build a 6 month or 12 month buffer if you haven't already built one before you even consider other things with your money, though.

Also you could look at buying a house down the line as that is usually something that increases in value as the years go by.

I think there's more worthwhile for knowing on this topic, but I can't remember any of it.

This is a good resource: https://www.fool.com/personal-finance/saving/where-to-park-your-cash.aspx

why is america so racist

All sorts of reasons.
 
I'm 24 and really have no freaking clue how taxes work. My dad does it for me. I know lower bracket people get returns and higher bracket people have to pay taxes but... that's pretty much it :[
 
Probably...doing my own taxes? Yeah.

I'm not there yet, but.
 
I still don't know how to file tax returns. Blame it on being unemployed for the past year and spending 6 years in college. I also still don't completely understand how exactly my country's healthcare system works and from what I've heard it's a major pain in the ass that other Western countries don't have to deal with because they have tax-funded single-payer state systems.
 
what do you mean we don't know exactly how or why domestic cats purr but we can make small green wavy plastic things in a beep-boop box connect with people all around the world on site dedicated to fictional monsters that live in your pants E X P L A I N
 
what do you mean we don't know exactly how or why domestic cats purr but we can make small green wavy plastic things in a beep-boop box connect with people all around the world on site dedicated to fictional monsters that live in your pants E X P L A I N
Are you even trying. I entered "how does cat purring work" into DDG and these are literally the first two results.

How:
It turns out that cats have special wiring! The wiring travels from the brain to the muscles in the voice box, and this wiring is able to vibrate the muscles so that they act as a valve for air flowing past the voice box. The muscles work both during inhalation and exhalation, which creates the impression that cats can purr continuously. The air passes through the valve, which opens and closes rapidly to create the purring sound.

Why: https://pets.webmd.com/why-do-cats-purr

See also (because this reminded me of the false notion that we don't understand how bumblebees fly): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions
 
I was not expecting an answer to this. If only it was as easy to go to the bank and say "Hey, I want to do responsible things with my money" and get a good response there.

Banks as a collective are pretty bad at that (often deliberately) since they stand to make more money off of giving you a loan rather than helping you be smart with your money.

I really just want people to be informed on things like this since they're so important to one's well-being. I personally don't feel terribly informed on the matter, myself.
 
i just want to know if i'm doing it right
 
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