Personal Finance Thread

[FiveThous]

Hey folks,

I'm creating this thread for those of us who have dealt or are dealing with paying down debt. Whether it be CC or Student loan debt or paying off cars/homes/toys early etc..

Hopefully this thread can be a guide for those looking to get help or those who'd like to share their own successes.

Since May of this year I've dropped my CC utilization rate from 96% to 52% and should be CC debt free by end of January 2015.

 

[Man Called X]

Hey folks,

I'm creating this thread for those of us who have dealt or are dealing with paying down debt. Whether it be CC or Student loan debt or paying off cars/homes/toys early etc..

Hopefully this thread can be a guide for those looking to get help or those who'd like to share their own successes.

Since May of this year I've dropped my CC utilization rate from 96% to 52% and should be CC debt free by end of January 2015.

I was on my way to that. Had my CC uti rate down to 30% in like 2 years. Then life took a shit, and now they're all maxed out and I'll be filing bankruptcy next year. Hooray to starting over again.

 

[Deezus]

Hey folks,

I'm creating this thread for those of us who have dealt or are dealing with paying down debt. Whether it be CC or Student loan debt or paying off cars/homes/toys early etc..

Hopefully this thread can be a guide for those looking to get help or those who'd like to share their own successes.

Since May of this year I've dropped my CC utilization rate from 96% to 52% and should be CC debt free by end of January 2015.

Definitely don't buy a house.

 

[Pick6]

My CC utilization rate is near 100%. Have zero CC debt though. Use it for everything and pay it off every month just like any other bill. Just something I have always done.

I think the single most thing that has helped me is to sit down and look at all my expenses, see what I can cut down, create a budget and stick to it. I've been able to cut out $30-50 a month in expense in numerous areas. Groceries, eating out, bars, etc. Concentrate on eating out less. Budget one night out a week instead of two. Pack lunch two days a week instead of zero.

Something I'd like to get cleaned up is my student loans. Have ~700 a month in student loans. Only making minimum payments as I am saving for a down payment for a house hopefully within the next year. Federal loan is a low enough rate, but I have around 20k with Sallie Mae (Navient now I guess?) which I am paying 10% on. Anyone have any experience with refinancing student loans? Need some suggestions here.

Definitely don't buy a house.

I couldn't disagree with this more. Unless you are planning to leave whatever area you are in within the next 2-3 years.

 

[FiveThous]

My CC utilization rate is near 100%. Have zero CC debt though.

Does not compute

 

[The Oi]

You get that mortgage yet, Five?

 

[FiveThous]

Nope, just rented a different apartment in my same complex.

 

[natedagg]

My CC utilization rate is near 100%. Have zero CC debt though. Use it for everything and pay it off every month just like any other bill. Just something I have always done.

I think the single most thing that has helped me is to sit down and look at all my expenses, see what I can cut down, create a budget and stick to it. I've been able to cut out $30-50 a month in expense in numerous areas. Groceries, eating out, bars, etc. Concentrate on eating out less. Budget one night out a week instead of two. Pack lunch two days a week instead of zero.

Something I'd like to get cleaned up is my student loans. Have ~700 a month in student loans. Only making minimum payments as I am saving for a down payment for a house hopefully within the next year. Federal loan is a low enough rate, but I have around 20k with Sallie Mae (Navient now I guess?) which I am paying 10% on. Anyone have any experience with refinancing student loans? Need some suggestions here.



I couldn't disagree with this more. Unless you are planning to leave whatever area you are in within the next 2-3 years.

Yes to budget. It doesn't have to be some sort of super-tight thing. I find it best to tell clients that a budget is simply a reallocation of resources/capital. That's the only thing I can tell people to get them to act.

Let's give a quick example to illustrate the point. Let's say that you have a Keurig, and before work you are smart enough to make yourself a cup of coffee versus buying one. Your cost is say, .60, versus the 1.60 you would spend to get the coffee otherwise. Now, let's say that you would rather get the coffee at a starbucks because your buddies all go before work and it's fun to talk about the weekend or football or whatnot, but you are exercising discipline by not doing that. Now to me a budget means buying a refillable Keurig cup at $10, bringing your daily home cost down to what, .10, and going to get coffee with the crew once a week. So now you are spending $2/week versus $3, and you are simply re-allocating your resources. Obviously this is small potatoes, but the point is made.

Another better one: just call your cable company once a year and bitch about your bill. You haven't gone extreme no cable mode, but chances are there are promotions that, unless you bitch, you aren't getting. That could save you $20/month-->$240 year in 15 minutes a year. That's $960 post-tax dollars an hour, so if you don't gross ~$1800/hour, you should do that. If you don't like the confrontation of such a call, then pay someone to do it for you. This is simply an allocation of resources, framing budgeting to mean anything BUT a sacrifice.

We all naturally make financial sacrifices. I think that's what economics is (I have never taken an econ class): unlimited desires meeting limited resources.

And remember,

 

[Cavsfan1985]

My CC utilization rate is near 100%. Have zero CC debt though. Use it for everything and pay it off every month just like any other bill. Just something I have always done.

I think the single most thing that has helped me is to sit down and look at all my expenses, see what I can cut down, create a budget and stick to it. I've been able to cut out $30-50 a month in expense in numerous areas. Groceries, eating out, bars, etc. Concentrate on eating out less. Budget one night out a week instead of two. Pack lunch two days a week instead of zero.

Something I'd like to get cleaned up is my student loans. Have ~700 a month in student loans. Only making minimum payments as I am saving for a down payment for a house hopefully within the next year. Federal loan is a low enough rate, but I have around 20k with Sallie Mae (Navient now I guess?) which I am paying 10% on. Anyone have any experience with refinancing student loans? Need some suggestions here.



I couldn't disagree with this more. Unless you are planning to leave whatever area you are in within the next 2-3 years.

I just refi some of my student loans with Citizen bank, I was able to go from 10% to around 6.5%. It was very easy.

As far as the home buying, there is no right or wrong answer. In some cases it does make sense to rent and others it makes sense to own. The point being made on how long you will be in area is just one thing to look at. Even if you plan to be in an area for 3-4 years, it might still be better to rent. You need to look at total costs, when you rent you just have a payment that could go up or stay the same, you can leave when ever you want, (might lose deposit if you leave before term). With a house you need to look at a few things, the first 3-4 years you will be paying mostly interest expense so you are gaining little to no equity in your house outside of appreciation. One of the most common things I hear is well you can save tax's on the interest, property taxes, etc. This is true in some cases, in most cases unless you have an expensive house, that amount is less then the standard deduction so it has no benefit.

I do think it does make sense to own when you get in the 180+ range for a house, more so at 250+. At these levels you will have a write off for taxes and as you get into this range, you may start losing other tax breaks depending on if you are married or single. I used to think it was stupid to buy a house in the Midwest for more then 250k, but if you can afford it a house can become a nice tax shelter.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

Yes to budget. It doesn't have to be some sort of super-tight thing. I find it best to tell clients that a budget is simply a reallocation of resources/capital. That's the only thing I can tell people to get them to act.

Let's give a quick example to illustrate the point. Let's say that you have a Keurig, and before work you are smart enough to make yourself a cup of coffee versus buying one. Your cost is say, .60, versus the 1.60 you would spend to get the coffee otherwise. Now, let's say that you would rather get the coffee at a starbucks because your buddies all go before work and it's fun to talk about the weekend or football or whatnot, but you are exercising discipline by not doing that. Now to me a budget means buying a refillable Keurig cup at $10, bringing your daily home cost down to what, .10, and going to get coffee with the crew once a week. So now you are spending $2/week versus $3, and you are simply re-allocating your resources. Obviously this is small potatoes, but the point is made.

Another better one: just call your cable company once a year and bitch about your bill. You haven't gone extreme no cable mode, but chances are there are promotions that, unless you bitch, you aren't getting. That could save you $20/month-->$240 year in 15 minutes a year. That's $960 post-tax dollars an hour, so if you don't gross ~$1800/hour, you should do that. If you don't like the confrontation of such a call, then pay someone to do it for you. This is simply an allocation of resources, framing budgeting to mean anything BUT a sacrifice.

We all naturally make financial sacrifices. I think that's what economics is (I have never taken an econ class): unlimited desires meeting limited resources.

And remember,

I think this is great advice, one thing I would challenge everyone to do is to write down anytime you spend money on for an entire month. At the end of every week record this data into excel and put into different buckets. You will be amazed at how much you spend on things you never could budget for. It also starts to train you to stop wasting money on silly items as you have to record everything you buy. I was able to use this to save almost $200 month between my wife and I on stupid things.

Make a budget, track every penny, compare to budget, make adjustments and repeat. I would do this for 3 months to get a good average on what you spend.

 

[Deezus]

I couldn't disagree with this more. Unless you are planning to leave whatever area you are in within the next 2-3 years.

Just to clarify, my comment about not buying a house was a sarcastic one. Fivethous and I had a little back-and-forth about the merits of owning a home vs renting probably a year or so ago. I'm in agreement with you.

 

[FiveThous]

Just to clarify, my comment about not buying a house was a sarcastic one. Fivethous and I had a little back-and-forth about the merits of owning a home vs renting probably a year or so ago. I'm in agreement with you.

I'm just the contrarian ahead of his time.

 

[MikeOC33]

Last night I got 2 of the 3 major credit reports printed out (annualcreditreport .com). It was free, so I thought it would be interesting to check. I'm proud to say that I have never been late (knock on wood) with a mortgage, car or credit card payment.

As an aside, I wanted to know my credit score, but you have to pay extra.... so I know my history is good, but do not know what my credit score is. Scammers.

Also, the 3 reports are all different and kinda give a different focus. I printed out Experian (which gives you an understanding on how you can improve your credit rating) and Equifax (which more focuses on credit risk). I understand the Transunion report gives a more detailed work history, and I've not changed jobs a lot so I skipped it.

They also look pretty easy to challenge info you feel is incorrect, it gives you data on when certain credit factors will no longer be considered, who has checked your credit in recent years, and a lot of other info. I think between the 2 reports I printed out 40 pages.

 

[FiveThous]

Last night I got 2 of the 3 major credit reports printed out (annualcreditreport .com). It was free, so I thought it would be interesting to check. I'm proud to say that I have never been late (knock on wood) with a mortgage, car or credit card payment.

As an aside, I wanted to know my credit score, but you have to pay extra.... so I know my history is good, but do not know what my credit score is. Scammers.

Also, the 3 reports are all different and kinda give a different focus. I printed out Experian (which gives you an understanding on how you can improve your credit rating) and Equifax (which more focuses on credit risk). I understand the Transunion report gives a more detailed work history, and I've not changed jobs a lot so I skipped it.

They also look pretty easy to challenge info you feel is incorrect, it gives you data on when certain credit factors will no longer be considered, who has checked your credit in recent years, and a lot of other info. I think between the 2 reports I printed out 40 pages.

CreditKarma.com gives you your TransUnion score for free.