I think I found a job, I need to find an apartment, I'm wondering if the money I have now is enough to get the ball rolling, and I'm moving by July 1st hell or high water, and high water isn't too common around here.
This should be interesting.
I think I found a job, I need to find an apartment, I'm wondering if the money I have now is enough to get the ball rolling, and I'm moving by July 1st hell or high water, and high water isn't too common around here.
This should be interesting.
"I kill for the code to disarm this mess..."
As long as you don't blow your money on women & booze!
"The number of threads by one poster in the OT is getting a little out of hand, IMHO. "
"In the land of freedom we are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness...If we speak..we say it the wrong way; if we do not speak we are cowards…."
Groan as in painful? Or grown as in aging older. Maybe it is a little of both.
Good luck to you as you step forward. Put together a budget and live within your means. The ad that says "I got to have it and have it right now" is a plan to be an indentured servant to some company with no heart. Use your credit card wisely by being able to make the full payment monthly. Start putting some away each pay starting now for your future - by the time it compounds, you will have something later to enjoy. It takes self-dicipline to seperate "wants" from "needs." Welcome to the real world.
Witnessed Mario's "Miracle at Indy"...Watched 3 win their 4th Indy 500...Was there for Petty's 200th win...Saw the last Novi qualify
dine out rarely but still treat yourself occasionally
buy no name whenever possible.
rent a flick instead of going out
soemday you will look back on these as the good ole' days
trust me on that.
Faster than a bullet from a gun
He is faster than everyone
Quicker than the blinking of an eye
Like a flash you could miss him going by
No one knows quite how he does it but it's true they say
He's the master of going faster. -George Harrison
Dude! I was just about to tell him that car payments may be the American way, but it doesn't have to be his way. Sometimes you just need somebody to tell you to stop the insanity of car loans.Originally Posted by Fueler
PS: Following a somewhat modified Dave Ramsey plan, I'm going to be debt-free (except for a manageable mortgage) ... tomorrow! I'm hoping to call in to DR's show sometime in the next couple weeks.
This is GREAT advice. Do whatever Ramsey says to do. Trust me. Debt is a very bad thing.
I read Dave Ramsey's book some years back. It was the best thing I could have ever done. The man is just brilliant at managing money. He will transform your entire way of thinking about money and debt.
I did a budget a while ago and after paying all of my bills, paying for groceries and fuel, I would still have a decent cushion of money left over and it was based on rent being higher and pay being lower than what I am looking at. In fact, I just did the Dave Ramsey budget thing and it came out looking almost 100% identical.
I'm not into the sucker bet of using debt to live beyond my means. Credit card charges are paid within three days of being posted and the bank said my record is so good that even when I was unemployed they offered to double my limit for being on time all the time.
Right now I have a car that's running fine and is in good enough shape it'd still be worth putting a rebuilt engine/transmission in if something happened. A few thousand versus $400 a month for x-amount of time. Once I can afford it practically I will probably shop for a year old lease return so some other sucker can eat $15,000+ of depreciation on a car I want. Right now you can buy a Cadillac DTS that's a year old with 12,000 miles on it for only $4,000 more than a decently equipped new Civic. GM dropped their pants when I finished school and offered me 0% for up to six years, $2500 in incentives, plus making my first two payments but I would be paying $60 more per month in insurance plus a $260 a month car payment I don't need. I also am fairly diligent with taking care of vehicles and driving something ten years old doesn't bother me. I'm not trying to impress anyone.
When I move, I have six months to repay $2250 of grants before the grace period is up. The percentage rate is prime plus one, but I want to get that gone before I am paying interest on it. I had the choice of borrowing from the government and getting it forgiven for working in this area, so I figured it was a toss up. It was the only money I borrowed during college.
What I really want to do is get into a house because a mortgage payment is the same as a rent payment, except this way I'd be building equity in something. Mortgage interest is not tax deductible up here so basically, you do not buy more than you can afford on a fifteen year loan because you will pay more than the value of the home in interest due to compounding. I'd probably make payments weekly to cut back the interest and pay down the principle as much as reasonable annually. A paid off house is the freedom to basically do whatever you want otherwise and it's an asset where if it's paid off and gains value, you are benefiting from the appreciation in value, and if it does lose value no matter what you still have the house. If I have a paid off house, as long as my taxes are paid, nobody is taking it from me.
I own basically everything I need except some living room furniture and a kitchen table and chairs, and people change their home decorating so often I can score something almost new for next to nothing or nothing and skip having to blow a pile of money on that.
I grew up with my parents in the position where the house was paid off when I was seven and they used a line of credit rather than an auto loan for the little bit of financing they would take and vehicles were generally paid off in a year and kept for a decade, we've lived firmly within our means and we don't have all the toys everyone else does but I've never had to hear my parents argue about where the next mortgage payment was going to come from.
Marc, you absolutely sound like you have a good head on your shoulders!
The only thing I would say is not to be in TOO big of a hurry to buy a house. Sure, you're building equity in a house, but you also take on risk.
As long as you can get a reasonable interest rate on a 15-year loan payment that's no more than 25-30% of your take-home pay, you should be fine.
Good luck!
I agree there is risk but I have a feeling interest rates only have room to go a 1/4 percent lower, and housing is still appreciating consistently at 5% or more, so the cost of the mortgage versus renting makes a house in the $110,000-$150,000 range a practical investment with the income to support it, as the mortgage payments won't exceed rent. Most of the jobs I am looking at (financial sector) include extremely low rate mortgages as part of the benefit packages so it is something I hope to take advantage of.
and remember young man,
A fire extinguisher is NOT a toy
It's like they compressed a good time into a canister. A good time that suffocates people.
seems like a fair trade if its someone you dont like
i would also suggest reading "the millionaire next door"
i read it for the first time about 10 years ago
i continue to read it yearly for motivation and affirmation
i am also a fan of dave ramsey, although i was already out of debt when i heard of him (outside of my mortgage). seems i was on the "ramsey plan" without even knowing it.
"live like no one else so later you can live like no one else." it works.
and paying cash for your cars is COOL .... even if the car is a clunker!
big 10-4 there
I dont care about keeping up w/the Joneses
The Joneses arent gonna help me out at the end of the month when a car payment is due and the fridge is empty.
We just paid of the wifes car and she wants to keep if for a long time
my truck was bought used and I dont really care that its not the latest/greatest.
We're a 2 vehicle family and our monthly vehicle payments right now are a few dollars North of $200
Just my POV, of course, because I've never been married or had kids or anything yet, but just sayin'.....
It's been my experience that Real Life has been easier than School on a day-to-day basis. Just my experience, of course.
You'll do fine, dude.
"Only a fool fights in a burning house."-Kang
"If you listen to fools....The Maaahhhhb Ruuuules....."-Ronnie James Dio
Two words: Dollar Tree.
Have a very blessed day!
You have one?Two words: Dollar Tree.
Two more words: Big Lots.Two words: Dollar Tree.
I shop both of these stores regularly.
Yep. Me too.Two more words: Big Lots.
I shop both of these stores regularly.
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