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Rodge posted:He's been telling me all this time that owning a business means you have to make sacrifices for the good of the business, and he's been paying off his loving credit cards with money we could have used to eat or buy clothes that fit or fix our loving boiler so we don't freeze this winter. Believe me, I was furious when I found out why we hadn't made any money, but I can't properly confront him about it because he will flip his poo poo and probably take my family off the will, and we need that loving money. He makes stupid, stupid decisions when he's angry. If he's having that much issue with debt, is there really going to be anything for him to leave you in a will once his creditors have their way with what he owned?
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Oct 11, 2010 03:26
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Rodge posted:Jeepers. You need to figure out a plan as to how you can a.) save money and b.) not get treated as the family piggy bank. I know they're your family and they probably have a million ways to guilt you into it, but you need to set some boundaries and stick to them if you want to make meaningful progress. I'm not saying refuse to give any money to them, however you need to say 'okay mum, I will give you $x per month for my rent and board. I can't give you anything above that'. If they question it, say that it would be unfair of you to just move out and leave them high and dry, and this way you're doing your bit for the household without having to worry about pulling your weight. Also, you should tell your brother about how your mum is using his money to pay the mortgage. Keeping the truth from him isn't doing him any favours either now or in the future. Is he seeing a therapist/mental health professional at all? If so, you might want to have a discussion with him or her about how to break the news to your brother if he's in a fragile state and that sort of thing would really upset him. froglet fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 11, 2010 |
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Oct 11, 2010 03:54
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First, I need to get money, and put it in my bank. That's gonna be a battle in itself. I've told my mum that if she wants a holiday (which is easily going to be £3000) we're going to have to go into total lock-down on luxuries. I don't know how well that's gonna hold up. My youngest brother has a zaurg-like love of football (although it's the European kind) and she's always giving in and buying us all tickets to matches, which can cost up to £150. I admit football's more fun when it's live, but that's a lot to pay for 90 minutes of entertainment. Also, we eat out way too much. We're gonna have to start eating cheaply and cooking every night. (I have been a large part of the problem on this one.) After this last game thing, which I can't get out of, I'm done buying games without making absolutely sure I can afford them. I'd say I'm done buying games but that'd just be setting myself up for failure. My sister goes to a pretty expensive stage school, and I don't think we're willing to give that up, so I'll have to account for that in the budget. She's definitely going to have to start getting her clothes cheaper, though, I don't care how fashionable she is. She starts high school next September, and the uniform is ungodly expensive, so we need to budget for that too. Mum says she'd be better off if I moved out anyway. I think she blocks out the 8pm trips to the bank. Then again, this is the woman who thinks a boiler which consistently leaks in the winter, means we have to shut off the water at night AND means my bedroom gets literally no heat is less important than a kitchen where the cupboard doors fall off sometimes, so what do I know? I think I know what her problem is. When she was a kid they lived in a beautiful house and went on six-week international cruises all the time. We have to save up to spend a week in a caravan park in Filey. She tries to make up for that by buying us everything she can. Of course, when she loses it that's the first thing that gets brought up, that she wears rags so we can have nice things. ...I can't believe I thought this was a normal way to live. My brother would absolutely flip his poo poo if he knew. It's like a farce. Every time I bring up money around him she starts frantically changing the subject because she's afraid he'll say 'Oh, I'll pay for that' and look in his glasses case (where he keeps it). He's just been diagnosed with Asperger's (he's fifteen) and we've kind of been thrown in the deep end. Honestly, I don't think it will accomplish much to tell him, except him never trusting her again. I got angry when I found out she'd bled my childhood savings account dry and all I got was into trouble. I did go and sign up for that book-keeping course today, though. It doesn't start until after Christmas but if it wasn't for this place getting me motivated I wouldn't even have thought about it, and definitely wouldn't have signed up. So I guess that's a step forward.
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Oct 11, 2010 14:03
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Your family sucks, man. Stop letting them take your money. Stop giving them money. What is your family business? If your grandfather isn't paying you, why can't you just quit working and tell him to gently caress off?
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Oct 11, 2010 14:42
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Rodge posted:Your family is crazy, and taking a bookkeeping course is not going to change that. Good luck with everything.
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Oct 11, 2010 14:50
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The craziness isn't ever gonna stop, but I want to be able to keep an eye on the takings at least. If I sell the business I want to do it AFTER I move out, because now it'd just get absorbed into the black hole of debt that is my family. I love my family, especially my siblings. I'm the oldest at 21, my brothers are 15 and 11 and my sister is 10. I feel like the worst father ever most days, even though I'm a girl, because I can't provide for them. When she was pregnant with the two youngest, each time my mum told me that if she was going to keep this baby, I'd have to be responsible for them and help out a lot more. I didn't help out a lot more then, so I feel like I should now.  In other, non E/N news, my family business is shoe repairs and key cutting. I own the business- entirely against my will, may I add- and my grandad's been assuring me he's taking care of the finances until he can find the time to teach me how to do it. So I'm gonna try and do this poo poo by myself. If I tell him to gently caress off, he will get angry. He does silly, financially destructive things when he's angry. Like selling a huge house in the country for about 1/10th of what it's worth and moving into a hovel on a truck route. I wouldn't put it past him to shut down all the businesses in a fit of rage, and sabotage mine, so I'm trying to step carefully. Honestly, things seem pretty hopeless right now. I have a vague idea of what I have to do to improve things for me, but I don't know if anything can be done for my family. I'm just grabbing on to anything I can do and following it. Rodge fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Oct 12, 2010 |
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Oct 11, 2010 15:17
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Rodge posted:I've told my mum that if she wants a holiday (which is easily going to be £3000) we're going to have to go into total lock-down on luxuries. So you're putting a stop to luxuries so that you can save up for a different luxury. Wouldn't it be better to stop paying for all those luxuries so that you guys can have an emergency fund and be able to do things like fix your water heater or whatever? (hopefully in your bank account so that you can allocate it properly) I just don't really get this attitude of "Alright, time to buckle down and save. No more nice clothes, no more football games, no more video games, no more dinners out. Time to get serious. Then once we've saved enough - we'll just spend it all right away on a vacation and go back to being broke!" It sounds like you guys do need to go on lock down for luxuries but not so you guys can go on an expensive vacation.
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Oct 11, 2010 17:47
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She says if we don't have a holiday she's going to end up killing herself, she's so depressed. And before you ask she doesn't believe in counselling and doesn't have time anyway (her words, not mine). She says she'd feel better if her life wasn't so hard. I'd be happy just getting the gently caress out of debt so that every time the post comes she doesn't panic, but I'm trying to get us started on not throwing money at everything that crosses our paths. Baby steps and everything. A holiday is a goal to work towards so we don't lose focus, and hopefully by then our spending habits will have changed enough that it's sustainable. Hopefully. I'm pretty sure mine will have, at least.
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Oct 11, 2010 17:55
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Qaz Kwaz posted:Geez, $35k on a car... I think that's way too much for your situation. Really? At age 28 with $25k down, zero debt, $25k safety net, 401k and Roths maxed the last 4 years, and about $2000 to burn a month? I didn't think I was in that bad shape. Care to explain? It's not like I buy a BMW every 2 years. I bought a Subaru that I'll drive for 10 years, just like my last one. Edit: Forgot the Roths. pauld fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Oct 11, 2010 |
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Oct 11, 2010 18:39
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pauld posted:Care to explain?
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Oct 11, 2010 22:55
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pauld posted:Really? At age 28 with $25k down, zero debt, $25k safety net, 401k and Roths maxed the last 4 years, and about $2000 to burn a month? I didn't think I was in that bad shape. Care to explain? It's not like I buy a BMW every 2 years. I bought a Subaru that I'll drive for 10 years, just like my last one. Just so we are on the same page, when you say 401k maxed you do mean to the federal limit right, not just the employer match? If so you should have just shy of $100k in the those accounts. If that is the case I'd reconsider my original assessment.
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Oct 12, 2010 00:33
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moana posted:I'm guessing it's simply that most people your age are saving for a house, and $35k is a lot of car. Well said. I think you guys are in a great spot, and that's why losing so much of what you've saved for a car is a big deal. $35k is a really, really good downpayment for a house. Are you guys considering that? I've just been listening to a lot of Dave Ramsey, who hammered into me "no new car until I'm a millionaire".
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Oct 12, 2010 13:52
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Qaz Kwaz posted:Well said. I think you guys are in a great spot, and that's why losing so much of what you've saved for a car is a big deal. $35k is a really, really good downpayment for a house. Are you guys considering that? And I agree that 35k is a lot of money and that maybe the smartest thing would have been to wait until we were worth much more before spending it. One thing I will say is that, looking at craigslist and dealers, most used SUVs seem to be $10k-$15k, with no guarantees of lasting performance. What it came down to though, was that I wanted to buy new and decided to take the hit, knowing that it wouldn't really affect our 5 year plan. I really appreciate your input though, and I promise not to buy another brand new car until we are worth a million, which should be 8-10 years away, right in line with how long I'd like to keep the Outback 
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Oct 12, 2010 16:12
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pauld posted:I see. For us, a house will not work for us until school is finished and we've moved. I mean, I understand that it is a better financial decision, but now is not the right time for us to own a place. Once we've moved and are both employed (in 4 years), our income will have more than doubled and we should have around $100,000 to put toward a house, though depending on where we end up (we won't have a lot of choice) we might rent for another year to get the lay of the land. It sounds like your mind is made up, and its your money so you can do what you want, but assuming you actually need something big, there is no reason why you can’t find one of those $15K trucks that you have your mechanic go through and give a thumbs up. If you don’t need something that big, you could get a creampuff of a used car for that price. It will be practically new. Especially if gas goes back to $4.00 a gallon, and it will when the world economy improves, it will be just like 2008 when $35,000 trucks became $12,000 trucks overnight. Waiting until you are a millionaire to buy new is very conservative, but that’s true of almost everything Dave says. But you will not go wrong by doing that, and the point remains that unless you are wealthy, you can not afford a $20K hit to your net worth.
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Oct 12, 2010 16:32
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Rodge posted:She says if we don't have a holiday she's going to end up killing herself, she's so depressed. You guys are still spending a lot of money on a vacation, especially in your situation - that's like $5000. You can definitely rent a caravan or cottage on the shore for less than that. So long as it has a kitchen so you can cook while you're there and is near cheap outdoor activities, I think you can find something that won't cost you anywhere near your budget.
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Oct 12, 2010 17:40
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Waiting until you are a millionaire to buy new is very conservative, but that’s true of almost everything Dave says. But you will not go wrong by doing that, and the point remains that unless you are wealthy, you can not afford a $20K hit to your net worth. Why not? I don't understand what I lose by buying this car. Well I do, but my calculations give a fairly insignificant amount of money over 20 years. Do we have different philosophies about money? Our goal is not to accumulate the maximum amount of money is the shortest possible time (well it is, but it's a subgoal rather than THE goal). Instead, we want to live modest lives (in comparison to our means) and to retire when we're ready, since we both enjoy our fields. There is such a thing as enough money. We feel that what we have put away for retirement, and what we will be able to add once we are dual income, will give us enough to make a decision about retirement around age 50. This is true, whether we bought a $10,000 or a $50,000 dollar car, because we are very lucky to be in fields that pay well. So while I understand that money saved earlier pays off exponentially more, I do not see this purchase affecting our financial goals or quality of life. I understand that expensive cars can be symptomatic of underlying financial recklessness, especially in these forums, but I assure you that we are about as flashy as...something dull (our financial aspirations?). I have the feeling you're not going to agree with my attitude about this. I guess what it comes down to is a question: are we willing to work 6 more months before retirement to enjoy a new car right now? Answer for us: yes.
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Oct 12, 2010 20:04
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KarmaCandy posted:You guys are still spending a lot of money on a vacation, especially in your situation - that's like $5000. You can definitely rent a caravan or cottage on the shore for less than that. So long as it has a kitchen so you can cook while you're there and is near cheap outdoor activities, I think you can find something that won't cost you anywhere near your budget. To my mum, a proper holiday = Cyprus. No question about it. It'd be a lot cheaper if we could go during school time, but we can't. I'll talk to her about it, but I don't think I'll get anywhere. It's not like we have an equal relationship, after all. Argh, I think it'd be easier to just abandon them and build a life on my own. Totally unfair, but easier.
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Oct 12, 2010 21:00
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pauld posted:It doesn’t matter if I agree with it. You had asked earlier why BFC thought it wasn’t the best decision. I answered. I don’t follow your reasoning, but you can do what you want. You are obviously in pretty good shape, and probably better than the average buyer of a new car. At least you are not leasing it. I’m a loan officer and every day I approve people for loans that I wouldn’t personally do myself. Frankly if you came to me, based on what you say, I would approve you too. (well, perhaps not quite, for car loans over $30K, I need to get one of our senior staff to back me up.) However, personally if I ever found myself in a very lucrative career (I do OK, but wouldn’t call what I do lucrative) there are tons of charities and causes that I would love to be able to support on a larger scale than I do now. My boyfriend’s best friend co-founded a school in rural Haiti and I would feel guilty spending an extra $15,000 a super-doper truck when I could still drive a pretty good truck and afford to buy breakfast for every single student for an entire year.
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Oct 12, 2010 21:15
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Ok thanks for the advice.
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Oct 12, 2010 21:46
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Rodge posted:Argh, I think it'd be easier to just abandon them and build a life on my own. Totally unfair, but easier. What does your mom do for a living? Family business stuff too? You're 21 years old - there's nothing unfair about going out on your own and starting your own life, pursuing a career you want and building your own nest egg so that you can live your own life. If you can't move out and never look back - at least take control of your own money and say no to things that are unnecessary. I don't really get the point of sticking around - you're not helping her learn to budget so that she can feed the kids and fix the water heater, you're just staying around and helping her save for a vacation that she still can't afford. Just let her live off credit like she's been doing and help out with the mortgage if you can and encourage each of your siblings to leave as soon as possible. Also, your mom is not going to kill herself if you guys don't go to Cyprus - she's being dramatic.
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Oct 12, 2010 23:46
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I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question, but it seems best. I have an idea for a clothing company, what do you guys think is the best minimum run to test the market? The last thing that got popular around here was sold at bars by random people wearing it.
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Oct 14, 2010 11:21
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I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out this defined benefits retirement fund from work. As far as I can tell this is pretty much how it works: You pay in 3.5% per pay cheque, pre-tax, and when you retire, you get 2% of the TOTAL of your annual salaries annually, so if you made $50,000 for 20 years you would be eligible for a $20,000 annual pension. Since I'm making close to that already, I get bi-annual pay increases (4%), not taking into account the fact that I've been promoted like 3 times in 2 years, and I'm only 27, I figure this plan could net me at least $50,000 annual upon retirement. And if things keep going the way they're going, probably more. Plus, they've been "upgrading" the program over the years, meaning your "pensionable earnings" for previous years of service could actually be significantly more than you actually made that year. In addition, since I started here so young, if I were to stay with this company, I would actually reach 30 years of service at 55, which would qualify me for early retirement without reduced benefits, should I want the option to retire early. What I'm trying to figure out is if any other strategy would be more beneficial to my retirement fund. I just don't really know what the equivalent in savings would be required to match this program. Say I never make more than $50,000, if I were to deduct 3.5% of my salary to put into savings, that would be about $64,750 or $47,250 total which I could put into anything else. It doesn't seem like that kind of meager capital could provide me with $27,000 annually when I retire, but I could be wrong! Bear in mind, I'm already maxed out on the share accumulation program, which is 10% of my salary, pre-tax, to company stock, which the company matches at 50% (I just sold a load of stock, most of which was valued at $27 per at just a hair over $40 per. Score! I wanted to diversify a bit, since pretty much all of my savings were in company stock up until now). I'm also going to be starting on my RRSP soon. I don't know, do I just need to see a financial planner about all this shiz? I just want to optimize my investment strategy while I've still got money to spend Between me and my girlfriend we've got a combined gross income just topping $100,000, our rent is only $1400 (not bad in Toronto), we both take public transit, don't own a car, and don't have any significant debt (I've got about $5,000 in student loans with a very low interest rate). After working out a rough budget, I should have at least $1k to play with nearly every month which seems to disappear into the ether every time. The time to save is NOW, I just can't figure out what's the best way to do it! man thats gross fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Oct 17, 2010 |
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Oct 17, 2010 14:56
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Quick questions: I am twenty and attempting to build good credit. I applied for a student credit card, mostly because it has no annual fee, with my bank (Bank of America), and was accepted. It has like a $700 limit. I put my Netflix on the account so that I have activity once a month on it. The card has been locked away unless I need it for a rainy day. I have heard that you need to carry a balance from month to month or else it doesn't do anything for your credit score. Is this true? If I paid off the entire balance each pay period, it won't do anything for my score? I've read some things when I searched old posts, that talked about secured vs. unsecured credit. What does this mean? Also, any tips for helping me to build strong credit, using the card?
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Oct 18, 2010 00:58
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PoorUser posted:Quick questions: Absolutely not, don't get suckered into paying interest to "build credit". PoorUser posted:I've read some things when I searched old posts, that talked about secured vs. unsecured credit. What does this mean? http://www.lendingtree.com/stmrc/credarticle3.asp Basically, secured cards require a deposit put down in the amount of credit you have ($500 deposit on a $500 secured credit card) whereas an unsecured does not have this requirement. PoorUser posted:Also, any tips for helping me to build strong credit, using the card? If you want credit, buy stuff on your card and pay it off right away. A credit score is not indicative of financial security, it's nothing more than a score saying you can be in debt and pay it back.
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Oct 18, 2010 01:18
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Out of curiousity, is there anything about finance that you wished you were taught? What is the most valuable lesson you've learned about money/finance in general? Also, while looking up 'finance' on youtube to see what was out there, I found this video that pretty aptly explains the financial choice between renting and buying a house. (side note: the rest of the videos are pretty good, too - it's from a non-profit organisation dedicated to free education)
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Oct 18, 2010 16:25
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froglet posted:Out of curiousity, is there anything about finance that you wished you were taught? What is the most valuable lesson you've learned about money/finance in general? Compound interest, retirement strategies, house buying, and pretty much general investment info. I mean, I took economics up to grade twelve, and while I learned how much money I'd need to retire comfortably, no one really ever taught me how to get there. We also did a mock stock market thing. And while I learned a bit about market research and general strategy (this was during the .com burst way back, everyone invested in tech and I bought up a few oil companies poised to start new tar sands projects in Alberta. When the bubble burst, they all took a huge dive, and I doubled my "money".  ), we never got into, y'know, actually BUYING stock. Like, actually buying it. So I felt all awesome about making kajilions but never learned how to apply what I learned to my life.Basically, if I had been taught how I could turn a few hundred or a few thousand dollars when I was a kid into a hell of a lot more 10-20 years down the road, I probably wouldn't have blown all my money on bullshit when I was a teenager. It's not all school's fault though. My parents didn't really teach me any of that either. I mean, any money I earned just sat in a chequing account earning peanuts, and no one taught me to do anything else with it, so I blew it. The funny part is, knowing how much money I could have made when I was a teenager with a relatively small investment, I probably wouldn't have been such a slacker about finding work throughout high school. It really pissed me off to work my rear end off for minimum wage, but if I had been taught how easy it was to make money investing, it would have motivated me to keep at it, knowing that if I was smart about my money my "actual" income from that lovely minimum wage job would have been tremendously higher in 10-15 years. I'm only learning all of this recently. Thankfully I've got a decent job and no kids (yet) so I'm in a good position to start squirreling away, but even the last two years or so I've been pissing away a lot of money and it really stings knowing how much money I lost out on. So basically, everything. man thats gross fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Oct 18, 2010 |
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Oct 18, 2010 23:15
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Ok this is an auto loan question: I make 500$USD every 2 weeks on temp disability currently but should be able to return to work eventually. I need a new car and my loan options were basically shot to hell save from a Dealership who offered me 8.9% Financing, I want that car so bad but here's the thing. I could POSSIBLY afford to pay off the loan in a 3 year stretch but it would be way easier for me to do it in 4 years or 5 years. There is no penalty for early payment. Is there ANY REASON why I should not get a 4 or 5 year loan instead?
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Oct 19, 2010 02:39
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Bob Log posted:Ok this is an auto loan question: What kind of car are you getting. You are very clear about how you NEED a new car, and you WANT that one so bad, but what is it? If your income is temporarily low and/or uncertain, it makes sense to stretch the loan out, and 8.9% isn’t horrible (its not great either). You can get a 5 year loan and calculate what a 3 year payment would be very easily, and if you pay that amount you just gave yourself a 3 year loan. But please be realistic. There are other costs associated with car ownership, and knowing that intellectually is different than scraping together the money to make it happen, you will have to get full insurance coverage, and at $500 every 2 weeks, those costs will hit you hard, no matter how good your intentions are to pay off the loan early. And that is the downside. A 3 year loan forces you to be honest. Edit: You answered my question. I know you are not getting THAT one, but with your income and situation, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS EVEN LOOKING AT THAT TYPE OF CAR! Zeta Taskforce fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Oct 19, 2010 |
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Oct 19, 2010 16:57
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Bob Log posted:I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. My 2011 WRX that I ordered just came in today and they approved me for financing (which was a shocker). But it's at 8.9% for 3 years on 16k. Bob Log posted:650 credit score and I'm a first time buyer with no real credit outside of credit cards to speak of. This is with me putting 13,000 Dollars down on the 2011. Did a bit more detective work. I’m sorry, you’re not going to get a lot of love over here in BFC when you are on disability and hardly receiving any money, yet willing to blow what is likely most of your savings on a down payment so you can qualify for a marginal loan to buy a high performance car you don’t need that will cost an arm and leg to insure.
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Oct 19, 2010 18:50
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Did a bit more detective work. I’m sorry, you’re not going to get a lot of love over here in BFC when you are on disability and hardly receiving any money, yet willing to blow what is likely most of your savings on a down payment so you can qualify for a marginal loan to buy a high performance car you don’t need that will cost an arm and leg to insure. I won't speak for this guy, or anyone else, but I know I would have appreciated it if, instead of making baseless assumptions, ignoring what I wrote, and then talking down to me, you actually asked for clarification about my situation when something didn't seem right. It's conceivable that someone who needs to ask BFC for help might leave out an important piece of information.
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Oct 19, 2010 22:56
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pauld, you never did answer my question and I still don't understand your full financial picture. In one post you said you were eliminating half your savings with a $25k down payment so roughly $50,000 in savings. But then you said you maxed out your Roth IRA and 401k for four years which if correct would be at least around $80,000 in those accounts (more or less depending on investment and market fluctuations). I'm guessing either you aren't counting your retirements in the savings number (which is probably a good way to look at things) or when you say 'maxed' you meant only to employer match. If you have saved that much in four years I'd say that's indicative of something with good sense for their money and go for the Subaru. If you have only saved up to the employer match you're still doing better the average person and would just caution against spending 35k on a new car. Also Zeta, this is a little smug: Zeta Taskforce posted:However, personally if I ever found myself in a very lucrative career (I do OK, but wouldn’t call what I do lucrative) there are tons of charities and causes that I would love to be able to support on a larger scale than I do now. My boyfriend’s best friend co-founded a school in rural Haiti and I would feel guilty spending an extra $15,000 a super-doper truck when I could still drive a pretty good truck and afford to buy breakfast for every single student for an entire year.
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Oct 20, 2010 01:36
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alreadybeen posted:pauld, you never did answer my question and I still don't understand your full financial picture. Sorry. That was hypocritical of me to complain about not being asked to elaborate on my situation when you already had. I guess that I didn't want to give up more information than necessary, as I didn't really plan to discuss all our finances here. But yes, the $50k I quoted originally ($25k of which went to the car) was separate from the retirement savings, which include 4 years of fulling funding the IRA/401k (not just the employer max).
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Oct 20, 2010 04:42
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 Zeta is my favorite Zeta.I wish I were taught earlier how to invest properly, and I don't think people are informed enough about how dangerous CC debt or new car payments (or heck, active investment) can be. I'd love to teach finance mathematics in school just to get people started on the right foot because gosh, it would have been nice to know that instead of getting thrown blindly into the adult world of personal finance.
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Oct 20, 2010 04:43
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pauld posted:Sorry. That was hypocritical of me to complain about not being asked to elaborate on my situation when you already had. I guess that I didn't want to give up more information than necessary, as I didn't really plan to discuss all our finances here. So four years of fully funded 401k and IRA, and 50k on top of that with surplus income of 2000 a month after typical expenses? I retract my earlier statement and say you can absolutely afford the car. In addition to just having the assets, it just demonstrates your ability to save and budget. I understand your reservations with losing liquidity and think taking out a 10k loan that you pay off quickly with some of your monthly surplus if the rate is higher than a couple percent.
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Oct 20, 2010 05:04
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moana posted:
Could we get this in some kind of OP? CC debt is what killed me for years, and now it's the number one thing I worry about when it comes to my long-term finances. I wish there was some kind of...pie chat or ratio to warn young people about the dangers of frivilous spending and purchasing on credit. "Your budget should be 80% need/20% want" or something along those lines.
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Oct 20, 2010 15:31
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CobiWann posted:I wish there was some kind of...pie chat or ratio to warn young people about the dangers of frivilous spending and purchasing on credit. "Your budget should be 80% need/20% want" or something along those lines. I think the whole idea of budgeting has a bad rap. People look at it like it is something to restrict them, and not just a plan. I really wish my parents had helped me create a budget and see where all my money was going when I got my first job. It's pretty sad, but I've only had a written, detailed budget for a couple of years now (I am 29).
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Oct 20, 2010 17:38
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pauld posted:Whether or not you are spot-on with this guy, I think you need to work on your communication skills. You come across as a smug rear end in a top hat who is participating in this thread to lord superiority over others rather than help them. And I doubt that this is moving anyone toward good financial decisions. I didn't even realize that the question about financing a modest car because you didn't want to use up your cash, and the question about how you were doing well, everything fully funded, all your ducks are in a row, and you want to get a very nice car came, that both questions came from the same person. Is there something you want to clarify? I believe in my core that those of us who are doing well have a moral obligation to give part of our surplus to worthy causes. Am I smug? Maybe. I have strong opinions, and its not like I can share them in the course of my job. But the true smug, and I am not accusing you of this, are those who win in life and attribute it only to how smart and hard working they are, and are oblivious to the needs around them. In the course of my career as a loan officer and part time tax preparer, I see people with 6 figure incomes, tons of rental property, investments, and yet they give nothing, or close to it. There is something evil about that. And no, I don't know everything. My only apology to you is if you and your wife are already giving generously to causes and charities that you believe in and are passionate about, then I am sorry if I implied you didn't. And I stand behind every word I said to Bob "WRX" Log, and as what seems likely he goes ahead with it, then it is clear that nothing anyone said would have stopped him.
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Oct 20, 2010 19:30
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Is it true that the only way credit card companies will work with you on negotiating debt is if you stop making payments all together? I have a couple cards that are out of control, and I simply don't have the money to pay them off, and barely enough to make my minimum payments (which isn't loving getting me anywhere). I was considering going to a local brick and mortar debt consolidation place to see what they have to say, but I wanted to hear from some friendly goons first. I have about 10k across 3 cards. I missed this past months payments because i'm flat broke from school/moving jobs and would prefer having electricity and hot water over making visa happy.
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Oct 20, 2010 19:38
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Quarantini posted:Is it true that the only way credit card companies will work with you on negotiating debt is if you stop making payments all together? I have a couple cards that are out of control, and I simply don't have the money to pay them off, and barely enough to make my minimum payments (which isn't loving getting me anywhere). I was considering going to a local brick and mortar debt consolidation place to see what they have to say, but I wanted to hear from some friendly goons first. Pretty much. Look at it from their perspective. If you're making the monthly payments on time, why would they want to negotiate with you? The only time they're willing to negotiate or settle a debt is if they think you can't pay and that they won't get any money from you. If you go to a debt consolidation place, they will tell you the same thing. You'll pay them a few hundred or thousand dollars, and they will tell you to stop paying your cards and that they'll negotiate on your behalf. You can do the same thing yourself. If you can't pay the cards then you can't pay the cards. Take care of food, clothing, shelter and water/heat first, everyone else can wait. If you're late a few payments, call up your CC company and ask for a settlement in full, in writing. Send them a check, no electronic access to your account, and settle it yourself.
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Oct 20, 2010 22:43
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CobiWann posted:I wish there was some kind of...pie chat or ratio to warn young people about the dangers of frivilous spending and purchasing on credit. "Your budget should be 80% need/20% want" or something along those lines. Speaking of this, I would love to see a general budgeting FAQ or something. For example, I've heard that you shouldn't spend more than ~30% of your income on housing/rent. Are there similar "suggested" figures for other expenses, like utilities and groceries and stuff? I know there's a budget thread, but it's mostly people just offering each other critiques - it would be nice to have some kind of centralized document to look over.
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Oct 21, 2010 11:58
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