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As long as the balance is being paid on or before the due date (The entire balance) you won't get interest accrued. Most cards however, you start carrying a balance, you start accruing interest on ALL purchases, that grace period is gone. As long as the balance is paid, it doesn't matter where it comes from.
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Jul 11, 2013 13:15
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Gothmog1065 posted:As long as the balance is being paid on or before the due date (The entire balance) you won't get interest accrued. Most cards however, you start carrying a balance, you start accruing interest on ALL purchases, that grace period is gone. Where 'entire balance' means 'balance as of your last statement'. If you make more purchases between your statement closing and making payment, those don't come due until the next statement.
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Jul 11, 2013 14:59
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I'd like a general opinion on this decision because it makes sense to me but I feel like I'm being impulsive. Kind of crosses over into retirement/investment but I've read some good answers in this thread so I'll try here first. As general background, I'm single with 0 debt and make between $40k-$50k/year. I'm technically a self-employed audio engineer, my company is a sole proprietorship that makes its money entirely on my services and labor. Where I live now, some of my income has been from venues and production companies that have IATSE union contracts, and I am a member of IATSE so my pay from them has come in the form of W-2s with taxes taken out and some hourly benefits contributions, etc. Where I am moving to, IATSE exists but has no exclusive contracts so it's very unlikely that this kind of arrangement will continue, in the future all of my income will probably be 1099 subcontracts (like most of it is now). As part of the benefits from those paychecks over the last 5-6 years, I have ~$8000 in an annuity fund that IATSE setup for me. I never really paid attention to that account, I pretty much forgot it existed. For the last 3 months I've been shopping for a house. I found one I could put 20% down on, got preapproved for the mortgage, and had an offer accepted. Yesterday I liquidated mutual fund holdings that will cover my down payment and closing costs with a little bit to spare and I began putting together the paperwork the lender needs to document the loan. This morning I suddenly remembered that annuity fund for some reason, and IIRC I can make withdrawals on it to purchase my first home without paying taxes to the government. I now have a strong desire to clean that account out while I can, even though I don't actually need the money to close, and put it aside with some other money as an emergency fund. Once I'm on my feet for 6 months to a year in my new location, I'd start to think about investing that and any other extra money I put in that emergency fund. Does liquidating that annuity make any sense in my situation? Or am I starting to go insane after trying to figure out how to buy my first house?
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Jul 11, 2013 15:14
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Okay, I have a lot of difficulty making decisions, and I've got several moderately large ones piling up and driving me crazy with anxiety, so, I need some help. I have ~$14K in the bank. I have no debts. I make ~$16K/year and health insurance working a seasonal position for the state; the position gets renewed annually around March. I live with my parents, about 30 miles out of town. I have a two year degree in Generic Engineering and will be transferring to a state school to get a four year in...something. Biochemistry or CS, I can't decide. University is also in town. Tuition is ~$9K/year, and I don't think not going is an option for me. I want to move into town. That's, uh, ~$600/month, ~$7K/year for a studio? Is this affordable? A good idea? I want to get rid of my commute, and do stuff in town. Are things like residence halls or university apartments a better idea? The University is listing things in the $7-12 thousand range The other big thing is that I really really want to buy a new bike, for exercise and commuting. Something nice, something fast, and something folding so I don't have to worry about locking it up somewhere. Maybe something that lets me exercise and type at the same time. Possibly more than one, for different purposes. $1500-4000. I can't really tell what a sane choice here would be. Can I even look at it as "Well, this is what I buy instead of a car?"
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Jul 11, 2013 16:21
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Your tuition and rent use up your entire income. Your 14k savings gives you 7k a year for expenses, assuming you're only going to college for two years. This expenses include things like food (Say 2k a year), phone (Say $500 a year), school books (Say $1000 a year)... You've got 3500 a year left for poo poo like fun, clothes, insurance, transportation, internet, and school supplies. What was that about bikes, plural?
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Jul 11, 2013 16:31
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edit: missed the boat.
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Jul 11, 2013 16:31
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wixard posted:I'd like a general opinion on this decision because it makes sense to me but I feel like I'm being impulsive. Kind of crosses over into retirement/investment but I've read some good answers in this thread so I'll try here first. As general background, I'm single with 0 debt and make between $40k-$50k/year. In other words, you're planning on withdrawing an investment in a tax advantaged account, sitting on it as an emergency fund and then re-investing it within the next year?
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Jul 11, 2013 16:49
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canyoneer posted:In other words, you're planning on withdrawing an investment in a tax advantaged account, sitting on it as an emergency fund and then re-investing it within the next year? After more research, it seems like I may not be able to do it because of the rules of the plan, but I'm in pretty unfamiliar territory.
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Jul 11, 2013 16:56
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If you don't need the money to close, I'd probably just roll it over into a retirement account somewhere you'll be contributing to later. If that's even possible, I have no idea about the specifics of your instrument.
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Jul 11, 2013 17:55
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I'm curious what my best banking solution would be, and also would like to know which the best banks are for checking accounts. I have 28k of student loans, 2k credit card, I have 3k in the bank, and also some PG stock and savings bonds that have matured. I recently got taken up from part time to full, which when combined with my night job, should net me around 3500 per month. I live somewhat meagerly and don't tend to spend outside my means, and my rent and bills are probably 675 a month I have an interesting banking situation. My current bank, Bank of America, has no offices near me. I'm getting two paychecks now. The smaller one has a direct deposit to BoA, and the larger one has no direct deposit, so I need to cash checks. I'm not sure what type of account to open, and also I would like a bank with a good reputation. Some options near me are Wells Fargo, Key Bank, and a credit union. What would be the frugal thing to do?
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Jul 12, 2013 01:27
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Personally I like the credit union, but others may have better reasons  I, personally, got burned with the big banks too often and went to a credit union about 10 years ago. Haven't had any issues and love it! Nice thing is that with my CU I can do direct deposit, but also can photo deposit my checks in. Might want to see if that feature is available for you; it might be something you could use. Disco Salmon fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 01:39
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Macaroni Surprise posted:I'm curious what my best banking solution would be, and also would like to know which the best banks are for checking accounts. I'm not a huge fan of big banks so assuming all is equal the credit union, but I guess you can compare things like minimum balance requirements, fees, what ATM networks they are a part of and see what matters more to you. But all checking accounts work pretty much the same. If I were you I would take your savings bonds and put them on your credit card debt and if anything is left over pay down your student loans. I'm not a huge fan of single stocks if you are broke or have a negative net worth so I would think about using that on your debt too, or diversifying more. wixard posted:Yes. An account that isn't likely to collect any contributions in that year, or really any years after I move, with a plan that I probably wouldn't choose when I eventually get serious about my own retirement savings. Read up on the specifics of your plan, but if something is in a tax advantaged retirement plan, you can generally move it within different types of tax advantaged plans without an issue, but take it out you will be taxed and penalized. You probably have something that lets you take it out for first time purchase of a house without incurring a penalty, but I would be very surprised if you avoided tax too. I agree with canyoneer, I would roll it into your IRA. Zeta Taskforce fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 01:45
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Read up on the specifics of your plan, but if something is in a tax advantaged retirement plan, you can generally move it within different types of tax advantaged plans without an issue, but take it out you will be taxed and penalized. You probably have something that lets you take it out for first time purchase of a house without incurring a penalty, but I would be very surprised if you avoided tax too. I agree with canyoneer, I would roll it into your IRA. The plan is pretty silly in my opinion. I can't make contributions myself, only employers can - I was pretty sure that was the case and confirmed it reading the details. Apparently once I've been "out of service" with the union for 12 months, I can get the balance of the account in a lump sum or roll it into something else but otherwise it's pretty difficult to touch until I'm 59.5. I naively thought it would be available because of the first-time house thing. I think you can actually get a first-time federal tax break taking funds from retirement plans for a house or improvement, it's the fees to the insurance company you can't avoid but my research may have been outdated. In my case I could have only taken out the interest I had earned, not the contributions, so without being able to get all of it I would definitely rather just leave it there and take the lump sum or roll it into something else in a year. Now I have to figure out how to become defined as "out of service" for 12 consecutive months, which seems like it would be easy but will probably be complicated in this business.
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Jul 12, 2013 17:21
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I'd just pick one near you that's going to be the most convenient; realistically there's not going to be much difference in what they offer for checking. Everywhere I can think of allows you to deposit checks with your phone too.
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Jul 12, 2013 17:57
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Is there any reason not to close a bank account if you have moved out of the area? I have been banking with the same bank since I was 8 years old and up until a few years ago it was fine. Even when I moved out of the area I would have direct deposit sent there and transfer part of it to ING for storage and use ATMs for cash withdrawals. Now that I am banking with a national company I can't think of any reason to keep my original account open unless my history with them would help me when it comes time to buy a house. Am I likely to get a better rate because I have kept money with a smaller bank for almost 20 years? Would they even deal with a mortgage on a house 800 miles away?
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Jul 13, 2013 23:20
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Sound_man posted:Is there any reason not to close a bank account if you have moved out of the area? I have been banking with the same bank since I was 8 years old and up until a few years ago it was fine. Even when I moved out of the area I would have direct deposit sent there and transfer part of it to ING for storage and use ATMs for cash withdrawals. Now that I am banking with a national company I can't think of any reason to keep my original account open unless my history with them would help me when it comes time to buy a house. There is no compelling reason to close it, but not any compelling reason to keep it open either. Mortgages are so competitive and no matter where you are, you have so many options, and there is a near 100% chance that it will be sold to Fannie Mae or Fredie Mac anyway that I doubt you will do better on rate and a lot of small places are only licensed to do mortgages only in their state or maybe a few nearby ones, so it is probably likely they can't do it, but I guess you can call them up on Monday and ask.
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Jul 14, 2013 02:23
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Sound_man posted:Is there any reason not to close a bank account if you have moved out of the area?
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Jul 14, 2013 04:08
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I need some objective advice since it is apparently impossible for me to think about large quantities of money without tons of anxiety. For background, I’m 22 (so basically no dependants, not a ton of financial obligations) with a monthly income of approx. $3400. I was going through and catching up my budget for the past couple months, and realized that I have $21k in my savings account (and like $2.6k in my checking account). I’ve already maxed out my Roth IRA, so my first instinct is hoard it all forever  . But it also occurred to me that this might be a good opportunity to kill one of my debts off completely. The debts in question - quote:Car loan: $19000, $500/mo. This debt is not in my name - I took over payments on it for my parents. It is also my single biggest expense. I semi-resent being stuck with it, but I do drive/maintenance it full time so it’s not like I’m paying for something I don’t use. Killing this loan would basically wipe out my savings, but I’d be able to save $500 more each month? Like I said, I would appreciate any advice on whether or not repaying one of these loans in full would be a good idea at this point
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Jul 14, 2013 23:26
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John Cenas Jorts posted:I need some objective advice since it is apparently impossible for me to think about large quantities of money without tons of anxiety. For background, I’m 22 (so basically no dependants, not a ton of financial obligations) with a monthly income of approx. $3400. Pay off the (your?) debt today. Congratulations on having your act so together. I would do the car loan first since it has created some weirdness with your parents. After you become debt free and rebuild your emergency fund you have the freedom to be very deliberate and intentional about what you do with your money. I think you should do a combination of increasing your life style, saving and investing outside of your Roth, and giving. You can think about traveling and the experiences you want to have that money can buy, the things that will add quality to your life, your goals and how much you should save to hit those goals, and the causes that you wish to support, whether it be in your community, nationally, or internationally. Edit: I just reread what you asked, and confused about the car. Is this car titled to you or to them? Assuming it is in your name and you like the car, then pay it off. If it is in their name, don't pay off their debt until they title it over to you. If you sort of took it over because they couldn't afford it and you needed a car, but you never would have picked that one, then the car needs to be sold. Zeta Taskforce fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Jul 15, 2013 |
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Jul 14, 2013 23:49
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Zeta Taskforce posted:If it is in their name, don't pay off their debt until they title it over to you. This one. I'll talk to them about it tonight, thanks for the encouragement
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Jul 15, 2013 01:08
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John Cenas Jorts posted:This one. I'll talk to them about it tonight, thanks for the encouragement Good luck. I think the reason you semi-resent this payment and this debt is something happened where you were stuck with something and there were no clear boundaries about who owned what and how this would end except for some vague notion of how family helps family out. If you like the car, it is well within your budget if you want to keep it, especially if this is something you can see yourself holding onto for a long time. But if it just sort of happened and it is never the car you would have picked out for yourself, there is no reason to hold onto it because of how events went down.
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Jul 15, 2013 05:02
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I'm very strict with our money and we have a great budget, but sometimes you just have to say "gently caress it" and abandon the frugal lifestyle for a few minutes. My wife had a miscarriage last week and we were pretty down in the dumps. So we went to the mall and bought new bath towels and accessories because why not? Spent like $80 and we can still save $320 for the week, so I'm not upset about it. Clearly it's not a replacement for therapy and we will seek counselling but as a momentary pleasure I don't see the harm. Sometimes, as long as you're living within your means and not going into debt, splurging is okay. Or maybe I'm just kidding myself, I don't know!
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Jul 16, 2013 01:19
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Condolences. That's a major shame. 
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Jul 16, 2013 02:46
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That's awful. So sorry for your loss.
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Jul 16, 2013 05:10
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I'm so sorry to hear that, CS. I can't imagine how hard it must be. Condolences.
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Jul 16, 2013 06:07
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CelestialScribe posted:I'm very strict with our money and we have a great budget, but sometimes you just have to say "gently caress it" and abandon the frugal lifestyle for a few minutes. My wife had a miscarriage last week and we were pretty down in the dumps. So we went to the mall and bought new bath towels and accessories because why not? Spent like $80 and we can still save $320 for the week, so I'm not upset about it. Clearly it's not a replacement for therapy and we will seek counselling but as a momentary pleasure I don't see the harm. Sorry man, that's a really lovely situation. As a side note, you're absolutely right that splurging is okay sometimes. It's very difficult to find the balance between saving money to have fun when you're retired, and having fun now. The majority of people probably don't save enough for their retirement, but the flip side (seen much more regularly on financial forums) is really not all that much better a situation to be in honestly. I've seen your posts in here before, and you have a good handle on your finances. You can definitely afford bath towels, and you can definitely afford to do a lot more than that. Go do something memorable and fun, go on a vacation or something.
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Jul 16, 2013 14:27
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Freeze posted:Sorry man, that's a really lovely situation. The book "The Richest Man in Babylon" is basically a whole book on "spread money between savings and spending now." If you get a bonus of $1,000, deposit $500-700 and use the rest towards something more immediate. I think it varies person to person (and does risk creating bad habits), but the theory to me is appeasing the greed that we all tend to have on immediate satisfaction.
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Jul 16, 2013 17:17
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Rockopolis posted:Okay, I have a lot of difficulty making decisions, and I've got several moderately large ones piling up and driving me crazy with anxiety, so, I need some help. To figure out if it's affordable, my reasoning would go something like this: -Forget your $14k for now. Savings are savings. They'll come in handy for a security deposit, or maybe to knock out your debts when it's all said and done, but don't go in planning to spend this $14k until you have a clear plan of where your money's coming from and going for a while. -Figure out how much surplus you have historically been able to set aside per school year while living with the folks. -Use that and other considerations to come up with your best estimate of how much surplus money you'll have in the year to come, while living with the folks. Be honest with yourself, be a pessimist, understand that this is an estimate. Subtract from that projected surplus your estimate of tuition, books, recreation etc. If it's negative already, that's the annual debt you'll be accruing while staying with your parents and going to school. You say the school part's not really negotiable so this is your baseline. Then subtract your additional estimate of living expenses if you moved out- rent, food, laundry (see the budget thread here for many peoples' real numbers). That's roughly the debt you'd accrue annually while living on your own. Worth it for the quality of life improvement while going to school? That's a judgement call. The bike thing seems excessive to me. If you want a bike you don't need to worry about getting stolen, get something used that you won't cry over. People spend tons of money building super light road bikes only to what, use them to get stronger? Fancy mountain bikes to beat the hell out of? More money doesn't really mean more fun, only slightly means a better ride, but that's just, like, my opinion. I understand the urge to build and ride something with extremely good guts, but that's a hobby for people with money to burn. For those of us as close to the wire as you are, a bike off Craigslist restored to suit your needs for less than $200 is more common (and can still produce a bike you love). I can understand two bikes if you do a lot of trail riding AND long distances on the road.
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Jul 16, 2013 19:25
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I have a car loan with a balance of ~$4500, monthly payment $178. 3% interest rate. I have enough cash in savings to pay it off outright. Should I do it? I don't feel particularly burdened by the payment but the thought of getting that extra $178/mo sounds kind of nice.
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Jul 17, 2013 19:03
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ZentraediElite posted:I have a car loan with a balance of ~$4500, monthly payment $178. 3% interest rate. I have enough cash in savings to pay it off outright. Should I do it? I don't feel particularly burdened by the payment but the thought of getting that extra $178/mo sounds kind of nice. If you have plenty of savings then it's probably worthwhile to get rid of your debt.
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Jul 17, 2013 19:32
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Uranium 235 posted:3% interest rate is really low. On the other hand, are you going to have those savings in a vehicle that's going to return more than 3% after taxes? That's the other part of that question. Note that Uranium's points about keeping enough saving to cover an emergency is very valid.
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Jul 17, 2013 20:29
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Like has been said, if you can comfortably afford to pay off the loan balance without negatively impacting your emergency fund or other savings goals then definitely do it. 3% is indeed a pretty low interest rate, but it is still costing you a small amount and it is great to pay off debts entirely. It frees up some of your monthly cash flow as well and can allow you to restructure your budget a bit. If paying off the loan in one chunk would wipe out too much of your cash cushion, then don't sweat it too much. 3% on a sub-5k balance isn't very expensive in the grand scheme of things. If paying off the balance all at once is too much, you could make overpayments spread out over the next couple of months as well. If you paid the minimum, then did a principle-only payment of $500 or $1000 per month on top of that the loan would be gone within just a few months.
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Jul 17, 2013 20:42
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Guinness posted:Like has been said, if you can comfortably afford to pay off the loan balance without negatively impacting your emergency fund or other savings goals then definitely do it. 3% is indeed a pretty low interest rate, but it is still costing you a small amount and it is great to pay off debts entirely. It frees up some of your monthly cash flow as well and can allow you to restructure your budget a bit. I will look into whether or not I can make some lump payments against the principal.
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Jul 17, 2013 20:52
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I have a question on how much you all might recommend keeping in a bank account, given my circumstances. It's not really a big enough question to rate a thread of its own I think, since it's not really a problem I'm trying to fix per se. My wife and I presently have a monthly income of about 2800. Most of this is from her salary, some of it is from mine. We have $150,000 or so in stock investment in a not-very diverse portfolio heavy on BMY and a few others. She owes about $24,000 in student loan debt. We have a vehicle loan for $15,000 or so. Our monthly expenses come to roughly the same as our monthly income, so we are constantly floating with a balance that ranges from $1,000 to $3,000 in the bank account depending on where we are in the month with bills relative to paychecks. We make about $1000 biweekly, with another $200-700 on the off week from my per diem work depending on how many shifts I pick up. The thing is, I think sometimes she worries a lot about whether we'll have money in the bank account. The investment holdings are mine, she didn't grow up with any of that stuff, so she doesn't "get" sometimes that if I need to I can pull money out of my rear end. I also prefer not to do that as much as possible, both because investments beat inflation, and because there is a huge tax liability as many of those stocks (BMY, for example) are super long with cost bases of $8 or so (currently ~$45). The other problem is of course that we have no real "emergency fund" except to sell stocks, which takes 3 days for the sale to clear and then until the next business day for me to move funds from brokerage to banking. Of course, there aren't many things I think we need an emergency fund for that I wouldn't be able to raise cash in 5 days for and still be okay. Even in that worst case scenario of her being critically injured, we don't need cash the next day to pay for the ER and we usually pay rent early so they can wait until it's due if they have to. So, the question is, should we keep on going with just $1000 or so in banking, kinda close to being out of cash if something came up but able to pull from reserves by making a sale, or should I go solvent on some stocks to raise some cash, but eat massive taxes at the end of the year? If the latter, how much cash should we raise? A figure I see around a lot is 6 months of living expenses, so to that end I could raise about $10k and stuff it in savings, but I hate doing that and knowing that cash will suffer versus inflation versus if I leave it in the market. Edit to mention: We have a credit card with $8000 allowed which we pay off completely monthly, mainly just use it for buying gas and some things towards the end of the month when I'm being more mindful of the bank balance. It's enough to cover us in an emergency but I hates it. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Jul 18, 2013 |
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Jul 18, 2013 16:27
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I think the general BFC opinion is 3 months of income as an emergency fund, something liquid and guaranteed - saving accounts are the go-to choice. I keep 6 months because I'm an anxious person and I'm not yet used to stable employment. I assume you've already determined that keeping the stocks was more beneficial than getting rid of your debt? Having 4.5 times your yearly income in investment while carrying 1x in debt seems a little lopsided to me, but not knowing interest rates and ROI, I can't really comment.
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Jul 18, 2013 16:37
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FrozenVent posted:I assume you've already determined that keeping the stocks was more beneficial than getting rid of your debt? Having 4.5 times your yearly income in investment while carrying 1x in debt seems a little lopsided to me, but not knowing interest rates and ROI, I can't really comment. I haven't done specific maths but my understanding growing up has always been that it is better to pay debts later with money that is less valuable (due to inflation) than now with money that is more valuable. Also the rate of growth on the investments is better than the interest rates (right now) due to a correction, but I never rely on that because I don't watch the market closely enough to even pretend to worry about prices changing. Paying off the debts completely would be nice in terms of not having to make monthly payments, but the stocks promise growth against inflation, whereas paying the debt at the current value of money does not. Then again, that wisdom might be meant for people who are on scales where inflation really matters, like my grandparents. For me inflation isn't that big a deal if I can still buy things. What maths/research should I do for interest rates and ROI? My understanding is that paying the principal sooner on Stafford Loans and auto loans doesn't actually help with interest because the interest is pre-calculated to the duration of the loan, and you're in it for the full amount regardless of when you pay down the principal. I may be totally horribly wrong about that though. If paying the thing off now would spare the interest from the future, then that's almost certainly worth it since interest is higher than inflation. Edit: regardless, paying off the debts now while the market is up would allow us to keep the money going towards debt payments and start building up cash rather than paying it off and having investments grow. To me I'm really utility minded and not really into gaining hella wealth past "living comfortably," so having $500 extra income monthly that isn't getting spent would be pretty handy. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jul 18, 2013 |
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Jul 18, 2013 17:53
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Paramemetic posted:What maths/research should I do for interest rates and ROI? My understanding is that paying the principal sooner on Stafford Loans and auto loans doesn't actually help with interest because the interest is pre-calculated to the duration of the loan, and you're in it for the full amount regardless of when you pay down the principal. I may be totally horribly wrong about that though. If paying the thing off now would spare the interest from the future, then that's almost certainly worth it since interest is higher than inflation. This depends completely on the terms of your loan - it's not common for loans to work this way (look at prepayment penalty clause). If you pay down the principal, interest going forward is calculated on the reduced principal rather than the original terms. If you've held your stock for more than two years, you're in a long-term capital gains situation, which is going to be far less tax than you'd pay if it were ordinary income, and less taxes than you'd pay if you had more earned income. All told, I think it depends heavily on the interest rates on your loans. More than around 3% and I'd pay it off soon - split over a few years if you want to game long-term capital gains taxes.
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Jul 18, 2013 18:10
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While doing your math, don't undervalue the psychological needs of wife. Like you said, you're used to having that buffer and the ability to pull money out of your rear end, but I don't blame her for feeling uncomfortable with a breakeven budget and only $1000 grace in the accounts she's more familiar with. Even if it's not the most efficient place to keep it, it may be worth it for her peace of mind to have a buffer that's big enough to handle more than a couple of plane tickets. Plus if you knocked out some loans and made the former payments into old-fashioned savings she'd be able to actually see an account growing from month to month in a reliable, non-market-voodoo way.
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Jul 18, 2013 18:32
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Paramemetic posted:I haven't done specific maths but my understanding growing up has always been that it is better to pay debts later with money that is less valuable (due to inflation) than now with money that is more valuable. Also the rate of growth on the investments is better than the interest rates (right now) due to a correction, but I never rely on that because I don't watch the market closely enough to even pretend to worry about prices changing. Paying off the debts completely would be nice in terms of not having to make monthly payments, but the stocks promise growth against inflation, whereas paying the debt at the current value of money does not. If you want to get technical, I think you have to compare the "real" interest rate (Interest - inflation) of your loan to the "real" return of your investment (Return - inflation - taxes). I think, anyway; I don't claim to be a smart person. Paramemetic posted:Edit: regardless, paying off the debts now while the market is up would allow us to keep the money going towards debt payments and start building up cash rather than paying it off and having investments grow. To me I'm really utility minded and not really into gaining hella wealth past "living comfortably," so having $500 extra income monthly that isn't getting spent would be pretty handy. That's what tickled me in your original post - you have a relatively low income; that debt service must be making a pretty sizeable dent in your spending money. It seems weird to me to spend about 20% of your income on debt service when you have so much invested, especially at your income level. I'm sure there are situations where that makes sense, and you might be in one of them.
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Jul 18, 2013 18:33
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Not going to get into the debt since you didn't give us much on that, but if you use a credit card for your emergency fund that will give basically 25+ days to conjure up the money to pay it off which is good enough.
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Jul 18, 2013 18:41
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